Category: Darkness

Journeying into God in parables

The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Week XVI, Cycle A in Ordinary Time, 19 July 2020
Wisdom 12:13, 16-19 >><}}}*> Romans 8:26-27 >><}}}*> Matthew 13:24-43

Our Lord Jesus Christ invites us today to join him into a different kind of journey that would take us deep into God’s mystery in our very selves through the parables he has started to tell us last Sunday.

Recall, dear readers, that parables constitute the heart of the Lord’s preaching.

We have defined these as simple stories with deep realities that must be cracked open through prayers and reflections to get its meaning. From the French para bolein that literally means “along the path”, a parable is likewise a bridge that leads us into something unknown to us before.

In itself, a parable is a journey calling us to walk through it into our inner selves to discover the many inner beauties that lie within us but we take for granted. Ultimately, as we discover these giftedness within us, we then uncover God dwelling within us.

This is the reason why Jesus would always tell his audience after narrating his parables that “Whoever has ears ought to hear” (Mt.13:43) to insist on them to go deeper inside themselves for their meaning.

And that is when we are transformed, when our lives are changed into true disciples of Jesus Christ.

Greatness in littleness

First thing we notice in the three parables of Jesus today is his insistence on the coming of the kingdom of heaven or kingdom of God through him as the mysterious seed.

This kingdom of heaven is used interchangeably with “kingdom of God” that Jesus would always speak of in his entire ministry until his crucifixion is not according to our understanding of a kingdom: it is not about a territorial domain or the exercise of power over subjects using force.

St. John Paul the Second expressed it beautifully by declaring the person of Jesus Christ himself is the kingdom of God. No wonder, Christ would always liken himself and the kingdom of God with the seed being sown.

It is always good. It is for everyone as the sower scatters the seeds everywhere. And it is always small like Jesus who was born like any infant so fragile and even poor like most of us. He is like the seed we take for granted from which comes forth all kinds of plants like trees, big and small.

Flowers of a mustard plant from which seeds are taken. Photo by author, Israel, 2017.

Or most specially, like those seeds that turn into crops of wheat and shrubs like the mustard with leaves and branches where birds may dwell that describe the first two parables today.

Jesus then added a third parable of the yeast mixed into flour that leavened the dough into a bread.

Like him our Lord, we his disciples are also like the small seeds packed with great possibilities in God.

In all these three parables today, there is that element of smallness, of littleness that remind us how everything that is great always starts small.

When we come to think of this, we realize how we embarked on this great mission of making Jesus Christ known: it started like a small spark within us, perhaps from a single word we have heard or read, a simple inspiration by God through the most ordinary persons and situation.

Not only in things regarding our spiritual lives but even our personal lives when we recall those humble beginnings of our family and of our business.

Like a little seed or yeast, they just grew!

Now we are surprised, even amazed, how we have changed, how we have grown. Of how we are now reaping the fruits of our labors and sacrifices.

Most of all, how we have known and experienced Jesus Christ who fulfills our lives.

Weeds among the wheat

But not all days are bright and sunny. There are dark clouds that hover above us bringing storms and heavy rains that lead into floodings. A lot often in life, the darkest nights turn out to be the longest nights too.

And this is the meaning of Christ’s main parable for today.

Jesus proposed another parable to the crowds, saying: “The kingdom of heaven may be likened to a man who sowed good seeds in his field. While everyone was asleep his enemy came and sowed weeds all through the wheat, and then went off. When the crop grew and bore fruit, the weeds appeared as well. The slave of the householder came to him and said, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where have the weeds come from?’ He answered, ‘An enemy has done this.’ His slaves said to him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’ He replied, ‘No, if you pull up the weeds you might uproot the wheat along with them. Let them grow together until harvest; then at harvest time I will say to the harvesters, ‘First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles for burning; but gather the wheat into my barn.'”

Matthew 13:24-30
Photo by Onnye on Pexels.com

During my prayer periods this past week, I have been filled with anger and disappointments at how things are going on in our country and even in my personal life. It pains me so much why at this time of the pandemic when we have to go through all these bad things.

Last Friday morning before our daily Mass, we discovered the glasses shattered in our windows near the office door and at the side door of the church. There were scratches outside indicating attempts to unlock the doors inside and steal from the church.

After the Mass, I grew more angry as we inspected the damages, thinking so negatively harsh against whoever tried to burglarize us.

By night time during prayers, I remembered Victor Hugo’s Les Miserables where Valjean was caught by the police stealing silver from the good bishop who had welcomed him into his rectory with food and accommodations. Instead of pinning him down for his crime, the bishop told the police he had given Valjean the silver found in his bag, even chastising him he had left behind the other silver candlesticks he had asked to take!

The wheatfield owner in our parable and the good bishop of Les Miserables are both the merciful God mentioned by the author of the Book of Wisdom in our first reading today:

But though you are master of might, you judge with clemency, and with much lenience you govern us; for power, whenever you will, attends you. And you taught your people, by these deeds, that those who are just must be kind; and you gave your children good ground for hope that you would permit repentance for their sins.

Wisdom 12:18-19

Think of our parents and elders, our mentors or those we look up to for their wisdom gifted with wonderful insights in life called perspicacity which means “a penetrating discernment… a clarity of vision or intellect which provides a deep understanding and insight.”

Being perspicacious or having perspicacity like the wheatfield owner or the good bishop of Les Miserable means having a deeper wisdom that one can keenly see and understand things beyond ordinary perception following a long process of silent reflections in life.

Many times, our sights can be limited that we do not see the other repercussions and even ramifications of our decisions on certain situations. There are times we think only of finding solutions, of winning the battle but not the war.

Photo by Life Of Pix on Pexels.com

It is also along this line that Jesus added the third parable: the yeast is mixed with the flour to leaven the dough.

We are like the yeast who have to mix with others, including the evil ones to become bread that will feed the world.

We are the wheat, the mustard seed, the yeast thrown into the world to make a difference in Christ! We are not the ones who will change the world but Jesus Christ, the mysterious seed, the yeast in the dough who grows and effects the changes in us and among us.

Parables as inner journey in Christ Jesus

With Jesus living and nurturing within us, that is when we become fruitful like the wheat and mustard plant or leavened bread that we are able to feed more people who would eventually become bearers his in the future. That is how the kingdom of heaven comes into this world, when God is seen and felt by everyone through us

This we achieve in prayers as St. Paul reminds us in the second reading. It is not just reciting our basic prayers as Christians including the novenas we love to collect and follow through. The kind of prayer that St. Paul speaks here is a prayer guided by God’s Holy Spirit who perfectly knows God’s will.

Photo by Dr. Mylene A. Santos of kids she’s teaching on the values of health, education and nature at Katmon Harbor Nature Sanctuary, Infanta, Quezon.

Brothers and sisters: The Spirit comes to the aid of our weakness for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes with inexpressible groanings.

Romans 8:26

In this time of too much weeds among the wheat, of so many evil and sins prevailing over us, we can feel frustrated at times that make it so difficult for us to pray.

Sometimes, the evil and sins, or the plain sufferings we go through in our own family, in our community or at work and in school can be so overwhelming that we feel our prayers are useless, that God is not listening at all to us.

Then we stop praying, we stop journeying within even with weeds among the wheat. How can the flour be leavened if the yeast is not mixed with the dough to become bread or cake.

Remain in the Lord!

Pulling out the weeds will not solve the problem; worst, it may endanger us all too in the process that we become like our enemies in the end. Never lose hope in God who knows very well of the presence and source of weeds. Sometimes, these pains and sufferings from evils we go through from others may actually lead us to our being fruitful!

Evil and sins are a parable in themselves that can teach us so well in life if we handle them with prayers.

Photo by Dr. Mylene A. Santos, Infanta, Quezon, May 2020.

Praying in the Holy Spirit is when we spend time with Jesus to reflect and crack open his words that come to us in the Sacred Scriptures and ordinary events in daily life through long hours of silent meditation and contemplation.

The more we dive into God’s mysteries in the parables he sends us in daily living, the more we see the beauty and wonder of life because our horizons are widened and get clearer.

Praying into our parables in life is like looking into a telescope or binoculars that enable us to see something distant within reach.

Like God himself.

And salvation as well as fulfillment in Christ.

Amen.

A blessed new week ahead of you!

When evil becomes life

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Wednesday, Week XIII, Year II in Ordinary Time, 01 July 2020
Amos 5:14-15, 21-24 <*(((><< <*(((><< >><)))*> >><)))*> Matthew 8:28-34
Photo by Mr. Raffy Tima of GMA7 News, Taal eruption, January 2020.

Praise and glory to you O God our loving Father for this brand new month of July! It is our hope this month will be kinder and more gentle with us than June. It is our hope that this July, we can all come closer to you doing what is good, what is right.

Seek good and not evil, that you may live. Then truly will the Lord, the God of hosts, be with you as you claim! I hate, I spurn your feasts, says the Lord, I take no pleasure in your solemnities… Away with your noisy songs! I will not listen to the melodies of your harps. But if you would offer me burnt offerings, then let justice surge like water, and goodness like an unfailing stream.

Amos 5:14, 21, 23-24

Most of all, through your Son Jesus Christ our Lord, it is our hope O merciful Father that beginning today we start to reject and shake off evil from our lives, from our very selves.

We have not only sinned, O sweet Jesus; worst part of our sinfulness is how we have accepted sin and evil as a way of life, as a part of life itself with our usual excuses and arguments “wala nang magagawa, nariyan na yan, hayaan na lang” (there’s nothing that can be done, just accept it).

We have got so used to immoralities and lies that we simply accept them as facts of life.

Like those people at Gadarenes where two demoniacs have terrorized them for some time that “no one could travel by that road” (Mt.8:28).

But when you came, Lord Jesus and drove the demons into entering the herd of swine that jumped and drowned into the sea, the whole town came out to meet you and begged you to leave their district!

Instead of being thankful, they begged you to leave, Lord, because you have disturbed their lives so used to the demons. They have failed to see how two people were finally healed and exorcised. Most of all, they have refused to accept the new order in their place.

What a silly turn of events that continues to happen day when people have grown so used to evil and sin, refusing changes and conversion.

How sad that whenever we make a stand for what is right and good, what is true and just, we are the ones made to suffer, even persecuted for bringing order because we have disturbed the evil that people have been used to.

We pray for those who continue to fight injustice and immoralities in our communities, in our church that they may always be guided and strengthened by the Holy Spirit.

And we pray for those among us who have lost the sense of sinfulness, of living with sin and evil and yet continue to worship and praise you O God. Amen.

Photo by Gelo Nicolas Carpio, June 2020.

Praying for prophets and martyrs

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Tuesday, Memorial of the First Martyrs of the Holy Roman Church, 30 June 2020
Amos 3:1-8, 4:11-12 >><)))*> <*(((><< >><)))*> <*(((><< Matthew 8:23-27
First Martyrs of the Holy Roman Church photo from ucatholic.com.

As we remember today, O Lord our God, the courage and fidelity of the first martyrs of Rome, we also pray for more martyrs and prophets who may inspire us to be your witnesses in this troubled time.

Or better still, make us one!

How sad that until now, we live in a time so similar with ancient Israel and ancient Rome where many of us turn away from you to worship money and other false gods, blinded by the material wealth and prosperity around us.

Many of us have become greedy and unjust in our ways to others especially the poor and marginalized.

Send us a prophet, Lord, like Amos who would dare to speak your words of truth, warning people who have gone astray.

The lion roars — who will not be afraid! The Lord God speaks — who will not prophesy! I brought upon you such upheaval as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah: you were like a brand plucked from the fire; yet you returned not to me, says the Lord. So now I will deal with you in my own way, O Israel! And since I will deal thus with you, prepare to meet your God, O Israel.

Amos 3:8, 4:11-12

Increase our faith in you, O God, while at the middle of this great storm of COVID-19 pandemic worsened by many social upheavals happening around the world and right in our country.

Sometimes, we feel like the disciples of your Son Jesus, so terrified with the violent storm going on with waves almost swamping us.

Forgive us, Lord, when we panic because we sometimes feel that you do not care at all that we are perishing in the storm while you are “sound asleep”.

Fill us with your courage, sweet Jesus, to give witness to you like the martyrs of Rome who chose death than be one with the modern Neros of our time who lie and mislead many others into evils and sin. Amen.

Red Wednesday in our Parish last November 2019.

A holy déja vu?

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Monday, Solemnity of St. Peter and St. Paul, Apostles, 29 June 2020
Acts of the Apostles 12:1-11 >><)))*> 2 Timothy 4:6-8, 17-18 <*(((><< Matthew 16:13-19
Photo from americamagazine.org.

As I prepared to celebrate today’s Solemnity of the two pillars of the Church you have established, Lord Jesus Christ, that image of your Vicar and St. Peter’s successor, Pope Francis delivering his extraordinary Urbi et Orbi message last March 27, 2020 before an empty St. Peter’s Square flashed into my mind, something like a deja vu.

It is a holy deja vu, Lord, of St. Peter’s experience in prison on a Sunday night…

In those days, King Herod laid hands upon some members of the Church to harm them… he proceeded to arrest Peter also – it was the feast of the Unleavened Bread – he had him taken into custody and put in prison under the guard of four squads of four soldiers each. He intended to bring him before the people after the Passover. Peter thus was being kept in prison, but prayer by the Church was fervently being made to God on his behalf. Suddenly the angel of the Lord stood by him and light shone in the cell. He tapped Peter on the side and awakened him, saying, “Get up quickly.” The chains fell from his wrists. The angel said to him, “Put hi on your cloak and follow me.” So he followed him out, not realizing what was happening through the angel was real; he thought he was seeing a vision.

Acts of the Apostles 12:1, 3-5, 7-9

It is happening again, Lord, when we are all in great darkness due to this COVID-19 pandemic.

How blessed are we, O Lord, here with us in the midst of this pandemic is Pope Francis, St. Peter’s successor and St. Paul’s reminder to continue in proclaiming your Gospel in season, out of season.

Keep him strong and inspired always in order to lead us through this dark 2020.

We pray, O dear Jesus, for our Church especially here in the Philippines.

Our churches remain closed, some of our leaders are under attack while some of them along with our fellow workers are so afraid, so timid, abandoning their flock in this crucial moments of tests. Others are so concerned with trivial things, pursuing positions, fame, and wealth.

Have mercy on us, Jesus in veering away from your person and your Cross.

Strengthen us your Church, Lord, especially Pope Francis and all the bishops and priests, to always be aware of the angels you are sending us to deliver us from so many dangers in this time of crisis.

May we avoid “over thinking” that results into “analysis paralysis” that we forget to focus and do the more important things at this time which is to accompany, to be one with your flock now under various attacks not only by the corona virus but the diseases of indifference and convenience.

May we your body, the Church continue to pray with confidence, remembering your own pasch that brought us to salvation as we thank you too in keeping us safe and alive since March.

Give us the courage of St. Paul to take this period of pandemic and crisis as a form of pasch for each one of us, that we may willingly die in our selves and offer ourselves to you through others as an offering through worship with our loving service to one another.

May we keep our sights focused on you alone, Lord Jesus, the Christ of the living God sent to make us one.

Like St. Peter and St. Paul, though they were poles apart in their personalities and backgrounds, they were united in serving you, working for you by seeking only your face, your voice, your will and your presence.

May we keep in mind that when we fail to know you, Lord, that is when people fail to know and meet you too like the people of your time who claimed you were one of the prophets

Yes, the situations today may be like a holy deja vu from the past but you are definitely and truly present among us in this time of crisis.

St. Peter and St. Paul, pray for us!

Amen.

St. Peter by ecclesiastical artist Willy Layug at the Malolos Cathedral.
St. Paul by ecclesiastical artist Will Layug at the Malolos Cathedral.

Christ’s ascension, our mission

The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe, Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord, 24 May 2020

Acts of the Apostles 1:1-11 ><)))*> Ephesians 4:1-13 ><)))*> Matthew 28:16-20

Paschal candles at the entrance to the burial site of Jesus inside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. Photo by author, May 2017.

We are now at the penultimate Sunday of the Easter Season with the Solemnity of the Ascension of Jesus into heaven. Next Sunday we close the season with Pentecost and begin the Ordinary Time following Monday.

But, with our situation expected to last until 2021 when we shall have a vaccine against COVID-19, it still feels like Lent for many of us who now feel the economic and psychological impact of this pandemic.

More than ever before, we are challenged today to give testimony to Christ’s Resurrection so we can grasp the meaning and beauty of our celebration today.

The Ascension of Jesus is not about his movement or change of residence from earth into heaven or some remote part of the deep space to start his “working from home”: the Ascension of Jesus is the “leveling up” of the relationship of Christ with his disciples who include us all today.

Then Jesus approached and said to them, “All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.”

Matthew 28:18-20
Dome of the Chapel of the Ascension beside a mosque outside Jerusalem. Photo by author, May 2019.

Giving testimony to the Risen Christ

Notice how our gospel today does not speak much about Jesus Christ’s ascension or his being taken up to heaven unlike with Luke both in his gospel account and Book of Acts of the Apostles.

With Matthew, it is very clear that with Jesus Christ’s departure comes the mission to give testimony to him who is risen from the dead. Every disciple’s testimony is essentially his/her mission to proclaim to the world that Jesus is alive, that he is Life itself.

Like during his Ascension on a hill outside Jerusalem, Jesus is calling us all today to gather again around him, to seek those who are lost and forgotten in order to bring them all together in Christ especially at this time when people suffer more from the neglect and double-standards of this government than from COVID-19 itself.

Where is God?

We are about to end two great seasons in our liturgical calendar but it seems that we are stuck in the Holy Week. We wonder what have happened to us in this pandemic when every scene we see, every situation we are into are unbelievable, something we see only in movies. And this one’s for real!

For those of us who have not lived through wars like our parents, the atrocities of Martial Law like others, or great catastrophes like the Baguio earthquake of 1990 and the recent “Yolanda” in Samar and Leyte, when the only sufferings we can “brag” are “Ondoy” and EDSA traffic, we now live life in the most uncertain way. In between the temporary escapes and respites offered by Netflix and social media platforms, we go through a lot of self-doubts, sometimes with fits of depression or sadness and loneliness especially when the day ends and darkness begins to envelop us.

For the first time, many of us have truly experienced of not having that much in life, whether they are family and friends, or money and things.

Window inside the Chapel of Ascension, May 2017.

This is the call of the Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord: that we gather ourselves anew, our families and friends, our memories, most of all, our faith and hope in God whom we have always taken for granted all these years.

This is the great challenge of our time as Christians: how can we be like the Apostles and other followers of Jesus along with his Mother the Blessed Virgin Mary be filled with joy at his departure, bearing all the pains and sufferings of persecution in this time of the corona virus?

Can we gather ourselves anew – not only our family and friends but our very selves to proclaim in our lives, in our presence, in our social media posts, in everything that Jesus Christ is risen, that he is with us always?

Brothers and sisters: May the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a Spirit of wisdom and revelation resulting in knowledge of him. May the eyes of your hearts be enlightened, that you may know what is the hope that belongs to his call, what are the riches of glory in his inheritance among the holy ones, and what is the surpassing greatness of his power for us who believe, in accord with the exercise of his great might….

Ephesians 1:17-19

Opening our hearts

I have always loved that part of St. Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, imploring God that the eyes of our hearts may be enlightened, that we may be opened to the truths and realities of Jesus Christ truly alive in our midst.

Giving testimony that Jesus Christ is risen, that he is alive, that he is Life itself needs an open heart.

Our minds will never be enough to capture, to understand and process everything about the Resurrection of Jesus Christ because it is something beyond history, beyond logic. We are sure it had truly happened, leaving imprints in the hearts and persons of all of Christ’s followers, from his first witnesses like the apostles down to us in our own time. What we need are listening hearts, seeing hearts… hearts that are open to the realities of God dwelling in us.

You must have followed the news last week about Mang Dodong of Caloocan City who was detained for more than ten days in Navotas where he was caught buying fish without a quarantine pass.

We were all saddened and affected by the news because it was at that same time when the President had pardoned and retained in position a police general who had violated quarantine rules he had vowed to implement. In fact, so severely in many instances including with Mang Dodong!

Good news is how so many people helped him pay his bail to be set free. That’s the risen Jesus working in our own time!

Fish vendor Joseph Jimeda, aka, Mang Dodong in his detention cell in Navotas. Photo from GMA News.

The path of love towards Easter and Ascension

What really makes this quarantine period too difficult and painful is not COVID-19 itself but the incompetence and injustice of this government personified by officials who are mostly arrogant, inconsistent, liars, and closed from the realities of life. They are so blinded by material things that they see businesses like malls as more essential than houses of worship that remain closed up to this day (unfortunately, even our bishops are so silent about it except for a few of them).

Sometimes, I feel we are not doing enough as witnesses and disciples of Christ, that we must be bolder and more adamant in insisting what is right, what is just with various social media platforms offering us venues for expressing our views.

But, as I prayed more about the pandemic in the light of our Risen Lord Jesus Christ, the more I see him present in his seeming absence by being silent amidst all these threats of the pandemic worsened by the government’s irresponsibilities, insensitivities, and injustice.

The very site where Jesus is believed to have stood during his ascension now encased in glass inside the Chapel of the Ascension. Photo by ator, May 2017.

To give testimony to the Risen Lord, to make disciples of all nations, and to teach everyone all he had commanded us to observe need not use force. Like Jesus and the Father, we need to remain gentle and patient despite the violence prevailing around us.

See how God patiently waited for the fullness of time before sending us his Son; and when Jesus was born, notice also the many trials he went through from Bethlehem to Egypt and back to Nazareth, reaching its highest point in his Passion and Death on the Cross on Good Friday.

Then came Easter Sunday and now, his Ascension.

Everything happened in silence, so gently and gradually, mostly with only a few people present.

That has always been the way of God from the Old Testament to the New Testament and right into our own time: no use of external powers and violent forces, only freedom to offer and elicit love that conquers all.

Today we are also celebrating the 54th World Communication Sunday, the only feast mandated by Vatican II for us to realize the importance of modern means of communications in proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ.

For this year, Pope Francis has chosen the topic of the human story, of how our individual story is woven into our collective stories as a family, nation, and church. And the good news is, according to the Pope, all these stories of ours are made part of God’s story of love, the greatest story of all, the story that renews us.

Yes, we all have dark stories in this time of pandemic. Or even in childhood or the past. But, if we look into our hearts in prayer and in faith, we find Jesus there, loving us, keeping us, guiding us. Most of all, authenticating his resurrection in us, in our own life!

There are more beautiful stories we can tell during this pandemic that enable others to see the Risen Lord among us. Let us entrust ourselves to Jesus, to keep our hearts open as he authenticates our many experiences of witnessing to his Resurrection like he did to all others ahead of us.

Be assured we are on the right path in him. Amen.

Pilgrims waiting to enter the Chapel of the Ascension in the Holy Land, May 2019.

Tensions lead to life and joy

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul, Friday, Easter Week-VI, 22 May 2020

Acts of the Apostles 18:9-18 <*(((>< + 0 + ><)))*> John 16:20-23

Photo by Ms. Ria De Vera, Sunrise along Halili Ave. in front of our Parish, 21 May 2020.

Your words today, dear Jesus, are very mysterious, so difficult to understand but so delightful to dwell on, or chew — as St. Ignatius of Loyola reminded us in his “Spiritual Exercises”.

There are many tensions present in your words today, Lord.

And that is where I have found you — in the many tensions that come into our lives!

So often, we find the word “tensions” so negative as they lead to wars and troubles of all sorts. But in deeper reflection, tensions are like frictions that without them, we can never experience life at its fullest.

The beauty of every sunrise and sunset is due to the tensions between light and darkness.

Tensions often occur between good things, never between good and evil. Tensions help us purify our intentions, clarify our priorities because tensions lead us to deeper discernment of your plans and will for us.

In the first reading, there was the tension among St. Paul and the Jews about your good news of salvation. The division resulted into more conversions and baptisms that made Corinth so dear to St. Paul.

Photo by author, altar of our Parish at sunrise, 2019.

But what is most beautiful about tensions is found in the gospel, of how joy is borne out of pain and sufferings like a woman in the pangs of childbirth:

Jesus said to his disciples: “Amen, amen, I say to you, you will weep and mourn, while the world rejoices; you will grieve, but your grief will become joy. When a woman is in labor, she is in anguish because her hour has arrived; but when she had given birth to a child, she no longer remembers the pain because of her joy that a child has been born into the world. so you also are now in anguish. But I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you.”

John 16:20-22

Lord Jesus Christ, there are so many tensions in our lives these days since the start of quarantine period due to the pandemic.

Help us first identify the tensions in our lives these days.

Some of these tensions are between the need for us to pray more and immerse ourselves with those in need; the tension of going out to help and staying indoor to plan for our actions.

Send us your Holy Spirit, Jesus, to enlighten our minds and our hearts so we may identify the tensions we encounter that lead to life and joy in you. Amen.

Buksan ang aming Puso

Lawiswis ng Salita ni P. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Ika-19 ng Mayo 2020
Larawan kuha ng may-akda, tabernakulo na walang laman bago magsimula Misa ng Huwebes Santo, 2020.
Kay hirap maunawaan
at hindi ko mailarawan
matay ko mang isipin
ngayong panahon ng COVID-19
pinaiiral nati'y karahasan
sa halip na kahinahunan
at kabutihan.
Minsa'y aking napakinggan
kaya aking tinunghayan
balita sa telebisyon nang 
si Mang Dodong ay nakulong
mahigit sampung araw sa Navotas
nang siya ay dakpin dahil 
walang papeles ng quarantine.
Asawa niyang si Aling Patring
di malaman gagawin 
dahil ayon sa balita, 
walang gaanong napag-aralan
mabuti't tinulungan ng mayroong 
magagandang kalooban.
Kayo na mga mayroong pinag-aralan
napakaraming kaalaman at nalalaman
tingnan itong larawan kung pagdududahan
kakayahan at katauhan ni Mang Dodong
 na kailangan siyang pahirapan
sa tanging pagkukulang sa panahon ng lockdown
hindi nakakuha sa tirahan sa Kalookan
ng quarantine pass upang makahango ng isda sa Navotas.
Sino ang hindi mababagbag
at mababagabag sa mga kuwento
ng karahasan at karanasang ganito
sa panahon ng pandemya
na sa halip tayo ay magtulungan at magdamayan
nagpapahirapan at nagmamatigasan
sa mga bagay na mapapalampas naman.
Hindi ba puwedeng pagbigyan na lamang
kung hindi naman gaanong kabigatan, kalala ang kasalanan?
Nasaan ang katarungan kapag mga makapangyarihan
pinalalampas, kinakatuwiran taglay na husay at galing
samantalang nagkamali rin naman at masahol pa sa karamihan?!
Larawan kuha ng may-akda.
Hindi sasapat kailanman ating isipan
dapat mabuksan din ating puso at kalooban
dahil ang katotohanan hindi lamang
karunungang nababatid, naikakatuwiran
kungdi isang kapatid nararanasan
nararamdaman bawat pintig ng kalooban,
hangad makatawid sa gutom, mabuhay lamang.
Maraming pagkakataon sa iba't-ibang panahon
kapag nabubuksan isipan sa maraming kaalaman
mga kasangkapan pinahahalagahan, kapwa tao nalilimutan
tulad sa mga digmaan at labanan ng kanya-kanyang karapatan
hindi baleng tapakan at yurakan katauhan ng iba
pati sanggol sa sinapupunan
huwag lamang mahadlangan sariling kagustuhan.
O Diyos naming makapangyarihan,
Iyo sanang buksan aming puso at kalooban
upang sa amin Ika'y makapanahan;
Iyong mukha na puno ng awa at kabutihan 
sa amin ay mabanaagan, huwag mong hayaan
paghariin kapos naming isipan at baka kami magkaubusan.

Panaghoy sa COVID-19

Lawiswis Ng Salita ni P. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Ika-06 ng Mayo 2020

Photo by icon0.com on Pexels.com
Nalimot ko na bilang 
ng mga araw at buwan
mula nang simulan 
lockdown upang mapigilan
pagkalat ng pandemyang COVID-19.
Madaling tanggapin 
mahirap pasanin mga tiisin
ngunit ngayon pakiwari ko
hindi na maaring palampasin
kadilimang bumabalot sa atin.
Kay hirap isipin
sa napakaraming alalahanin
at mga suliranin hinaharap natin
bakit sa panahong ito mayroon pa rin
mga tao lihis ang mga isipan at damdamin?
Dahil sa COVID-19 nabuking ugali natin
panlalamang sa kapwa gawi pa rin
karahasan pinaiiral nang ang ilan ay 
makatangan ng kaunting kapangyarihan
hirap na taumbayan, pinagmamalupitan.
Batid namin Panginoon
marami naming kasalanan
noon magpasahanggang ngayon
kami'y baon na baon
tila hindi na makakaahon.
Kagagawan namin ang lahat ng ito
mga lilo na pulitiko binoboto
sa halaga ng ilang daang piso
habang wala namang ibang tumakbo
na matino at mabuting pagkatao.
Marami sa amin 
nahirati na sa dilim
ngunit mas marami ang ibig ay dilim
dahil doon kanilang naililihim
mga gawa nilang marumi at karimarimarim.
Hanggang kailan kami, Panginoon
magkikimkim nitong aming damdamin
saloobin nami'y nasasaktan 
sa mga patuloy nilang kabuktutan
pati iyong Dakilang Ngalan nilalapastangan!
Larawan mula sa Reddit.com
Buksan mo Panginoon
aming mga paningin
huwag nang hayaang bulagin
ng mga sinungaling
mayroong mga dilang matatalim.
Dinggin mo Panginoon
aming panaghoy
para kaming tuyong kahoy
naluoy, 
binaboy at tinaboy.
Ibangon kami, O Panginoon
manindigan para sa katotohanan
ipaglaban kahalagahan ng buhay
malayang makapaghayag
saloobin tulad ng sa nililiyag.
Sa amin ika'y mahabag
Panginoong Diyos naming butihin
itong aming hapis at pait
iyo sanang patamisin
upang ika'y aming hanapin at sundin!
Larawan mula sa Varsitarian ng UST.

Prayer in darkness

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul, Wednesday, Easter Week-IV, 06 May 2020

Acts of the Apostles 12:24-13:5 ><)))*> + ><)))*> + ><)))*> John 12:44-50

Photo by icon0.com on Pexels.com

Our lamentations continue, O Lord, as our nation is plunged into deeper and disturbing darkness. How can all kinds of darkness fall upon us in this administration? First, they found death as solution to many problems. And then came all their lies and fake news.

Not to mention their diplomatic ties with a godless government that has been dishonest from the very beginning regarding this pandemic.

They themselves have chosen to be in darkness at the very start of the COVID-19 pandemic who would rather pass blame and wash hands for every confusion in implementing the quarantine.

And, now comes their most serious attack to light, in shutting down a beacon of light of news and information.

The more we cry out to you, O dear Jesus, please come to us now. Quickly. And save us!

Jesus cried out and said, “Whoever believes in me believes not only in me but also in the one who sent me, and whoever sees me sees the one who sent me. I came into the world as light, so that everyone who believes in me might not remain in darkness.”

John 12:44-46

We pray for those in government, in this administration who’s leader had blasphemed your Most Holy Name not only once or twice for the grace of enlightenment and decency from the Holy Spirit.

We pray like your early church for the Holy Spirit to set aside just one or two good souls in this government – if there are still any – to be sent to bring enlightenment to this administration who thrives on lies and malice along with their minions and supporters.

Have mercy on us, Lord, have mercy.

Hear our cries and our pleas, O Lord of justice.

Show us your path of holiness amid this time of darkness and evil. Amen.

Photo from the Varistarian of UST.

Lamenting in time of quarantine

Quiet Storm by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, 03 May 2020
Photo by author, Parokya ni San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Bagbaguin, Santa Maria, Bulacan. April 2020.

Against the advice of good friends, I went out to distribute Holy Communion in the streets to some parishioners who have participated in our Sunday Mass early this morning at Facebook Live.

I know the risks involved despite our best efforts in having all the precautionary measures but, what convinced me to go on with it is a beautiful Psalm so appropriate during this quarantine period.

As the deer longs for streams of water, so my soul longs for you, O God.

My being thirsts for God, the living God. When can I go and see the face of God?

Psalm 42:2-3
Photo from Reddit.

Sometime in March, I had some blues when I came across a reflection in one of the blogs I follow that soothed me like a gentle caress from God himself that I began praying Psalm 42 again (https://prodigalthought.net/2020/03/02/lament-in-silence/#comments).

And when our quarantine period was extended for the second time before the end of Holy Week last month, I began praying again Psalm 42 every night for that is when I truly long for God so much, most of the time lamenting to him our situation, my condition of being alone in my rectory.

This is the first time I felt like this, so different from those so-called “desolation” or “dryness” because I could feel God present in my prayers but… he is not “fresh”.

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Like the deer longing for streams of water, my soul longs for God too.

Not just like the water we buy from a filling station but exactly what the deer yearns for — fresh water that is refreshingly cool not only on your face but deep into your body when sipped amid the burbling sounds of the spring, babbling through rocks and branches of trees with the loamy aroma of earth adding a dash of freshness in you.

Admittedly, sometimes I wonder if I still know how to pray or if I still pray at all!

I can feel God present but he is like someone stacked there in my mind, in my memory, in my ideas shaped by my years of learning and praying.

What I am longing for is a God so alive, so true not only in me but also in another person.

And that is when I realized, most likely, my parishioners must be longing for God too in the same way — the God we all come to meet and celebrate with every Sunday in our little parish, among the people present who are so alive, so vibrant, so true, so touching.

Our empty church since March due to COVID-19.

Psalm 42 is believed to have been sang by David when he was prevented from coming to the tent of God either during the reign of King Saul who plotted to kill him or during the revolt of his own son Absalom when he was already the king of Israel.

Like David or the psalmist, I miss celebrating Mass with my parishioners.

And maybe it is safe to assume that two or three of my parishioners are also feeling the same way with me and David, saying these to the Lord:

My tears have been my food day and night, as they ask daily, “Where is your God?”

Those times I recall as I pour out my soul,

When I went in procession with the crowd, I went with them to the house of God,

Amid loud cries of thanksgiving, with the multitude keeping festival.

Psalm 42:4-5

If there is one very essential thing this pandemic has brought back to us in our very busy lives, it is most certainly God. And if ever this is one thing people need most in this time of corona virus, it is spiritual guidance and nourishment from God through his priests.

Of course, people can pray and talk to God straight as the Pope had reminded us before Holy Week.

But, human as we are, we always experience God and his love, his kindness, his mercy, his presence among other people who guide us and join us in our spiritual journey. They are special people like friends or relatives or pastors with whom they can be themselves, let off some steam, get some rays of light of hope and encouragement.

And that this is why I try to keep in touch with my parishioners in various ways in this time of corona: even I myself can feel so low and dark despite my prayers and very condition of living right here in the house of God who can still feel alone and desolate, even depressed.

If I – a priest – go through all these uncertainties and doubts this in this time of quarantine, how much more are the people, the beloved sheep of Jesus the Good Shepherd?

Why are you downcast, my soul; why do you groan within me?

Wait for God, whom I shall praise again, my savior and my God.

Psalm 42:6
Photo by Ms. Ria De Vera, 10 April 2020.

After our Mass this morning when we set out to distribute the Holy Communion, there was a little drizzle. It did not last long that I just wore a hat and left my umbrella in the rectory.

There were about 30 people who waited for us to receive Holy Communion, most of them along the main highway that stretched to about 2 kilometers. Some families gathered with a little altar at their front gate while a waited a couple waited in a gas station along our route.

In less than 20 minutes, we have completed our mission and as we headed back to the parish, the rains fell again, this time stronger than before.

My driver commented, “The weather cooperated with us, Father”1

I just nodded my head to him inside his tricycle but deep inside me, I felt joy because God answered my prayer, my lamentations for he was crying too, – for me and his people.

May this lamentation be an answer to your lamentations during this pandemic of COVID-19.

Continue with your lamentations to God our Father for this very act of crying out to him is the working of the Holy Spirit he had sent us through our Lord Christ Jesus. Amen.

Photo by Ms. Ria De Vera, 26 April 2020.