The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Wednesday, Memorial of St. Charles Lwanga and Companion Martyrs, 03 June 2020
2 Timothy 1:1-3, 6-12 ><)))*> + <*(((>< Mark 12:18-27
Photo by Mr. Raffy Tima of GMA-7 News, April 2020.
We thank you, most loving God our Father, for the grace of perseverance and patience in this time of the pandemic. We thank you for the gift of trusting in your love and mercy despite all the sufferings and hardships our people have been going through amid the callousness and insensitivity of our leaders in government who have allowed to open offices, factories, and malls without providing adequate transportation while keeping all houses of worship closed.
May they heed, O Lord, the reminders of St. Paul to Timothy:
“I remind you to stir into flame the gift of God that you have through the imposition of my hands. For God did not give us a spirit of cowardice but rather of power and love and self-control.”
2 Timothy 1:6-7
We pray for more courage for our leaders in government so they may not cower in fear to the threats of COVID-19 when there are so many measures to control its spread which they should have taken long time ago but have failed to do so for reasons only they know.
Give them courage to stand up to their superiors, to admit their faults and failures instead of being so concerned in building their image as strong and capable that deceive no one.
Remind us all, O Lord, that we own nothing in this life. Everything is yours even the power and authority we have that must be tempered with genuine love and concern for the people and most especially with self-control.
How sad, O Lord, that until now, there are people who insist on possessing persons like the Sadducees who cannot accept resurrection of the dead because they are stuck into the belief couples “own” each other:
“At the resurrection when they arise whose wife will she be? For all seven had been married to her.”
Matthew 12:23
From ShareCatholic.com
One of those who thought of owning people was the pedophile King Mwanga of Uganda who persecuted the Christians in 1885-1887.
Inspire us, Lord, with the examples of St. Charles Lwanga and companion martyrs who remained pure and chaste, choosing tortures and death than to give in to the sexual perversions and immoralities of King Mwanga.
Their martyrdom became the seeds for the growth of Christianity in Uganda.
Help us to lead holy lives, Lord, amid the many sufferings we have to endure especially at this time of pandemic worsened by those who do not seem to care at all about you and spirituality, of the elderly and the sick, of the poor and needy among us.
Keep us all strong and let us not be perverted by the corrupt among us, always bearing our share of hardship for the Gospel with the strength that comes from you, O God. Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul, Friday, Easter Week VII, 29 May 2020
Acts of the Apostles 25:13-21 ><)))*> ><)))*> ><)))*> John 21:15-19
Photo by author, ancient ruins of Caesarea in Israel, May 2019.
Dearest Lord Jesus, give us the courage to truly follow you, the courage to forget our selves, and most of all, the courage to truly desire and seek you.
So often, we always desire you but we are not willing to set aside our own plans and agenda. We are afraid of starting all over again, afraid of what others would say to our great visions and dreams.
We ask for your directions but we are never willing to go with you because we are afraid of going to uncharted and untested situations and places. We are afraid of getting lost, of losing time and money for our endeavors and pursuits in life.
We ask for strength but we refuse to give up our attachments because we are afraid of not having any fall back just in case we fail. We are afraid of losing everything if we entrust everything to the Holy Spirit.
Lord, let us realize like Peter that to desire and follow you requires courage on our part because to have you, to follow you means losing our very selves in you so we can be with you wherever you may be.
Jesus said to Peter, “Feed my sheep. Amen, amen, I say to you, when you were younger, you used to dress yourself and go where you wanted; but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.”
John 21:18
Even St. Paul in the first reading courageously followed you, Lord, from Miletus to Jerusalem to Caesarea and finally to Rome to fulfill the mission you have entrusted to him.
May we find courage in you Lord that like St. Peter and St. Paul, we may also answer and fulfill your call. Amen.
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.
The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul, Tuesday, Easter Week-VI, 19 May 2020
Acts of the Apostles 16:22-34 <*(((>< +++ 0 +++ ><)))*> John 16:5-11
Photo by author, Chapel of Holy Family, Sacred Heart Spirituality Center in Novaliches, QC, 2016.
Dearest Jesus Christ:
Today I pray to you for a stop of the many forms of violence going on in this time of the corona pandemic.
How sad that in midst of all the sufferings we are going through, we still cannot have prolonged moments of peace with one another.
Can we not just skip some rigidity and selective justice that make the marginalized people suffer more?
My heart is so moved with the news I saw about Mang Dodong, a fish vendor from Caloocan who was detained in Navotas May 07 due to lack of a quarantine pass. It was only tis Monday, after ten days since his detention, that his wife learned of his arrest. His wife is said to be illiterate and knows nothing about procedures for his release.
How can some people let an old man trying to make ends meet be subjected to these kinds of hardships?
It pains our hearts, Lord, to hear this kind of news vis-a-vis of a police official said to be so good that he cannot be sacked and replaced, much less suffer for violating COVID-19 rules of which he is said to be an expert?
Lord, can you not make an instant, sweeping miracle, like Moses with his powerful staff that will suddenly make us all compassionate and sympathetic with those truly deserving of understanding and mercy or clemency?
Why do we have to be so harsh, even violent, in these days of pandemic, something so similar with the experiences of Paul and Silas in the first reading today.
The crowd in Philippi joined in the attack on Paul and Silas, and the magistrates had them stripped and ordered them to be beaten with rods. After inflicting many blows on them, they threw them into prison and instructed the jailer to guard them securely.
Acts of the Apostles 16:22-23
What is most ironic is when after a powerful earthquake that flung open the doors of the jail in Philippi, the guard thought the prisoners including Paul and Silas have all escaped that he tried to kill himself when…
Paul shouted out in a loud voice, “Do no harm to yourself; we are all here.”
Acts of the Apostles 16:28
What a heartless world we have, Lord! We continue to inflict so much violence on others physically, verbally, and emotionally. And the worst part of this is that we inflict them on the most weakest among us, the least and then powerless like Mand Dodong and Aling Patring!
“Do no harm to yourself; we are all here.”
Is it not Lord when there are people around that we should all feel safe and secured, free from all harm? It is the opposite that is happening exactly today!
How I wish we could boldly say these same words by Paul to others to feel safe in buying much needed medicines, or to safely and freely go to work for much needed money to pay electric bills and buy food.
Save us, Lord Jesus, from so much pains and sufferings, and violence we inflict upon others in words and in deeds.
Send us your Holy Spirit to comfort us from all the violence we experience, we feel, we see and hear. Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe, Easter Week VI-A, 17 May 2020
Acts of the Apostle 8:5-8, 14-17 ><)))*> 1 Peter 3:15-18 ><)))*> John 14:15-21
Nuns bringing relief goods to a remote village. Photo from Facebook.
We are about to end two great seasons in our liturgy and still, here we are in our enhanced community quarantine due to COVID-19. Prospects remain dim as experts say the corona virus may never be totally eradicated despite the discovery of vaccines and medicines later this year.
It is in this background we find our readings this Sunday so reassuring, reminding us of how so often in history that tragic or painful events in the lives of individuals and societies have led to happy endings.
In our first reading, we have seen how the persecution of the Church at Jerusalem so tragic but at the same time also helped spread Christianity so fast led by the Holy Spirit promised by Jesus Christ before he was betrayed and arrested on that Holy Thursday evening.
All this is possible if we believe in Jesus, if we love Jesus.
Jesus said to his disciples: “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you always, the Spirit of truth, which the world cannot accept, because it neither sees nor knows it. But you know it, because it remains with you, and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.”
John 14:15-18
Photo by author, flowers at Church of Gallicantu near Jerusalem, May 2019.
Intimacy with Jesus Christ in the Holy Spirit
For the first time, Jesus promised during their Last Supper the sending of the Holy Spirit when he fulfills his mission.
In most translations, the Holy Spirit is referred to as Advocate although some prefer the transliteration Paraclete from its original Greek Parakletos to truly capture its full meaning or context.
Only St. John used the word Parakletos to denote the Holy Spirit. In its Hellenistic context, Parakletos had come to be known as Advocate like a lawyer or a friend who speaks on behalf of the “accused” like Jesus in a hostile world (Jn.16:7-11).
However, St. John also used parakletos in different contexts like in our gospel today.
See how before introducing to us the sending of the Holy Spirit, Jesus speaks more of a grand instruction – in fact, a reality, a truth in the life of his every disciple: “If you love me, you will keep my commandments” (Jn.14:15).
Without specifying any commandments to keep, Jesus further explained that “Whoever has my commandments and observes them is the one who loves me” (Jn.14:21). He would be speaking of this like a refrain four more times later to stress that loving Jesus is keeping his commandments.
It is a very difficult task to fulfill and most often, more difficult to understand or interpret especially when we are in real life-situations like loving an arrogant president or loving officials who break the rules of quarantine!
This is so because Jesus himself is the law, the commandments which is his very person; therefore, to love him is to be like him and that is always keeping his commandments of love.
And that is why Jesus made sure to inscribe this lesson and reality into his disciples’ memory and hearts during their last supper by promising the Holy Spirit he called as Parakletos who would be acting as his Advocate, Counsellor, and Comforter when he returns to the Father.
It is the Holy Spirit who leads us now into an intimacy with Christ that we are able to love Jesus, love like Jesus, and love in Jesus. This is the same Holy Spirit who binds the Three Persons of the Trinity in love who also makes us one with God and with others.
Photo from Facebook post by Ms. Marivic Tribiana, 17 April 2020 fire in Tondo area.
Making Jesus present in our love
We make Jesus most present when we love because when we love, everything changes for the best, even the most difficult and worst situations in life.
Albert Camus rightly said when he wrote in his 1947 novel The Plague now being reread due to the corona virus, that “A loveless world is a dead world.”
Without love, we would have gone extinct by now.
Because of love, every tragedy, every suffering and problem we go through leads to happy ending primarily because we discover something, someone beyond far more important than any situation or plight we may be into.
Artwork by Fr. Marc Ocariza upon seeing the FB post by Ms. Marivic Tribiana above on the eve of Divine Mercy Sunday 2020.
Most of all, love has a distinctive characteristic that moves the lover to become like the beloved. This is the reason why we who love strive harder, persevere and forge into every obstacle and fight until we are one with our beloved!
And who is ultimately our very love?
God.
The God revealed to us by Jesus Christ his Son who became human like us to be one with us in everything including death except sin so that we become like him – divine – in his Resurrection.
Jesus Christ whom we “sanctify as Lord in our hearts” (1Pt.3:15) is the one we imitate and follow, the one we see and, most of all, the only one we (must) share when we love, when we serve especially in this time of the corona pandemic.
Sometimes, it is still difficult to believe how these pandemic and quarantine are happening to us when all of a sudden here comes typhoon Ambo that wreaked a path of destruction in the Visayas and Bicolandia the other day, making us wonder what is happening in the world right now?
Making things worst that have stressed us all so much is our government at all levels lacking preparations, with some officials into alleged corruptions while the enforcers of the laws are the ones breaking all the rules of quarantine!
We just keep on hoping things would get better by starting right at our own end.
Sometimes it can be funny although painful when some people forget us or take us for granted, thinking we are fine or doing great without any hint of the sufferings within.
But the grace is always there because Jesus is within each one of us who believes in him and tries hard to keep his commandments.
“In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me, because I live and you will live. On that day you will realize that I am in my Father and you are in me and I in you.”
John 14:19-20
We just have to do our part, to keep on believing in Jesus, loving Jesus, and most of all, keeping his commandments because Jesus is the “explanation to anyone who asks us for a reason for our hope” (1Pt.3:15).
This does not mean the world is lacking the Lord’s presence.
He has not left us indeed and sooner or later, we shall see how he, the God of history, will direct everything according to his greater plan for us.
Today’s gospel reminds us of his assurance to be with us always in the Holy Spirit.
It is now our turn to pick up the pieces and make him more felt, especially in comforting those affected severely by the many storms that hit us in this time of the corona virus.
Have a blessed Sunday and stay safe! Amen.
Photo from CBCPNews of the debris left by Typhoon Ambo in Arteche, Eastern Samar, 14 May 2020.
The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul, Feast of St. Matthias, Apostle, 14 May 2020
Acts of the Apostles 1:15-17, 20-26 ><)))*> ><)))*> ><)))*> John 15:9-17
Photo by author, Mirador, Baguio City, 2019.
Lord Jesus Christ, as we celebrate today the feast of St. Matthias your Apostle chosen to replace your betrayer Judas Iscariot, you remind us anew that in every call in life, it is you -the Caller – who matters most not the mission at all.
It does not really matter if we play at the starting line-up or the second team or substitute like St. Matthias who was originally one of your 72 disciples who have witnessed your works and preaching until your Resurrection and Ascension.
The only thing is he was never a part of those closest to you as one of the Twelve.
But, nothing is “second-rate” when we see you Jesus in every task, every mission given to us.
From Google.
Like St. Matthias, may we always be counted as one of your faithful followers ready to counter the evils by some of our traitorous and unworthy members of the Church like Judas Iscariot with our life of witnessing for you our Caller.
Thank you for the gift of being called by you as a friend.
May we always have the courage to remain faithful to you, Jesus, so we may accomplish our call. Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul, Memorial of Our Lady of Fatima, 13 May 2020
Acts of the Apostles 1:12-14 <*(((>< 000+000 ><)))*> Luke 1:39-47
Our Lady of Fatima procession at the Fatima Shrine in Portugal, 2017. Photo from vaticannews.va.
O God our Father, today we come to you on this most trying time in modern history at the heels of the COVID-19 pandemic that has disrupted our lives – for better and for worse – to ask for your mercy and healing.
As we celebrate the Memorial of Our Lady of Fatima who had appeared in Portugal 103 years ago today, we are reminded by the Blessed Mother of your Son Jesus Christ that true blessedness is not being wealthy and powerful, of being well and strong but above all of believing in you, our God Almighty.
When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the infant leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, cried out in a loud voice and said, “Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb… Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled.”
Luke 1:41-42, 45
COVID-19 has shown us that in this life, true blessedness is not found in money and things, nor in popularity and influence or other things that have become the benchmark of everything that is good in this life.
Our lady of Fatima Shrine in Fatima, Portugal. Photo from Pinterest.
In less than six months, the corona virus had shown us what the Lady of Fatima has always been telling us since 1917: to go back to you, God our Father through your Son Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist and Sacrament of Reconciliation.
Thank you in giving us all a Mother in the Blessed Virgin Mary who is the perfect image and model of discipleship in Christ:
-Mary was the first to believe in Jesus by receiving him in her womb;
-Mary was the first to share the Incarnate Word by visiting her cousin Elizabeth while six months pregnant with his precursor John;
– Mary was the first to believe in the saving work of Jesus when she interceded at a wedding in Cana;
Mary was the first to believe in the Resurrection that she remained standing at the foot of the Cross; and,
Mary was the first to believe in the coming of the Holy Spirit that she accompanied the Apostles praying at Jerusalem on Pentecost day.
Like Mary, may we grow deeper in our faith, believe more in you than believe in the world or with our very selves.
Like Mary, may we bring unity to our family and community, church and nation, so we may help strengthening the faith of one another, in believing in you by submitting ourselves to your holy will.
Teach us, Lord, to be simple and humble so we may believe more in you. Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul, Tuesday, Easter Week-V, 12 May 2020
Acts of the Apostles 14:19-28 ><)))*> +++0+++ <*(((>< John 14:27-31
Photo by author, a bass relief of the Agony in the Garden by Jesus at the Church of All Nations beside Gethsemane near Jerusalem, May 2017.
Lord Jesus Christ, I pray for more faith and trust in you today to experience your peace within so we can truly appreciate the beauty and meaning of life.
Jesus said to his disciples: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give it to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid. You heard me tell you, ‘I am going away and I will come back to you.’ If you loved me, you would rejoice that I am going to the Father; for the Father is greater than I.”
John 14:27-28
So many sufferings, so many uncertainties in life but indeed, Lord, you have never left us.
It is so difficult to rejoice – even absurd – when “you are not with us because you are with the Father”.
I could just imagine the increased fears and anxieties your apostles must have felt when you told them to not let their hearts be troubled or afraid when you were to be betrayed and arrested, and eventually suffered and died.
I always wonder, Lord, why during this quarantine period, as I reviewed my life, there are so many painful memories coming back to me that I thought I have transcended or even outgrown, and hoped forgotten and deleted in my memory bank. Worst, the longer the time had lapsed, the more painful these memories become, like death and other losses in life.
but, no word can ever be enough to express and explain how in these painful past you have stayed in us, now coming back to remind us you will always be with us. And that is when we finally feel your peace within.
Your peace is not found outside us but within us – right in our hearts where we allow you to dwell, to reign in us amid all our trials and sufferings that we continue to forge on in this life, to keep the struggle alive.
Grant us the courage and wisdom you have given Paul and Barnabas who, despite the physical harm and emotional distresses they went through, they never wavered in their mission of proclaiming your Gospel because they have you in their hearts.
Please, Lord Jesus, reign in my heart and fill me with your humility, justice, and love. Amen.
Photo by author, garden beside St. Anne’s Catholic Church in Jerusalem, May 2017.
Quiet Storm by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, 08 May 2020
Photo by author, dome of the Malolos Cathedral, December 2019.
I hope our bishop and my brother priests forgive me with this piece.
Or at least, understand my points and feelings about our clergy reshuffle due on June 30, 2020.
It is a long overdue reshuffle, twice postponed in 2018 and 2019.
We have all been looking forward to it.
In fact, I have packed all my things, so ready to go that since December, I have been saying good bye to my parishioners.
I have explained to them that I am so eager to transfer – not “leave” – because we have been programmed for it since 2018.
Besides, I strongly felt I have fulfilled my mission here in my current assignment which is my first parish to shepherd since 2011.
But came this COVID-19 pandemic.
Listening to Jesus in this quarantine
Admittedly, at the beginning of this quarantine I was still hoping that somehow our reshuffle in June will push through. But, everything changed slowly with me as the quarantine days moved on.
On the first Sunday of the Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ), we borrowed a truck to bring around our parish the Blessed Sacrament.
I was so moved by the sight of the people waiting for Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, kneeling on the street, some holding candles. There were people raising their hands praising God while others were in tears that made me think that despite our live streaming of the Mass, people were still longing for Jesus in reality through our ministry as priests.
Towards the end of our “libot”, we saw a rainbow.
Photo by Ms. Anne Ramos of our Social Communication Ministry.
I held the monstrance tightly and prayed hard, thanking Jesus for the grace to serve him, to bring him around my parish.
Most especially, I felt the rainbow as God’s reminder of his promise to Noah that he would never destroy earth, that he would take care of us in this pandemic.
As I prayed for my parishioners and loved ones to be delivered from the deadly COVID-19, I felt the Lord telling me to stay in my parish, to forget all about our reshuffle in June, and to take care of his flock entrusted to him.
I dismissed it, though I have always knew, the faintest voice within is always Jesus Christ.
Sharing Jesus in this quarantine
We kept that Sunday “libot” (going around) of the Blessed Sacrament, except on Palm Sunday when we blessed palms and on Easter when we brought around the parish the statue of the Risen Lord at dawn and afternoon to make the people feel Jesus is with us.
Last Sunday, against the advise of friends and relatives, I went to distribute Holy Communion to some parishioners after our 7AM Mass. Many came out to the streets to receive Jesus.
Again, there was a drizzle and soon after the last faithful received the Holy Communion, there was a heavy downpour.
“Pinagbigyan lang po tayo ng ulan, Father,” my tricycle driver told me.
I just nodded my head in agreement but deep inside, I felt Jesus crying with me, crying with us for all these sufferings and uncertainties we are going through.
In all these experiences nurtured in prayers, I felt Jesus asking me to stay, to remain in my current assignment.
Moreover, I am now more convinced we must forget all about this clergy reshuffle altogether while we are in a pandemic.
Photo from Reddit.com
Remaining in Jesus in quarantine, in suffering with his sheep
We are living in a very historic moment of humanity, a suffering so widespread the world over, perhaps eclipsed only by the two world wars of the past century.
We in the country, especially in our province of Bulacan, are so blessed we have never gone through wars and other major calamities except for the perennial floods of the rainy season.
This is the only time we are truly one in suffering with our people.
And to think, we are not yet suffering that much as priests unlike in Italy and Spain where many priests have died due to corona virus!
I am not asking nor praying for more sufferings, of getting infected with COVID-19.
Simply be with our people for a longer period of time not until we get a semblance of some “normalcy” from this pandemic.
Yes, that could take until 2021 or November the soonest because for us to be thinking or be preoccupied with our new assignments at this time must be the least of our concerns, even something we should not be thinking at all considering the plight of our sheep these days.
The quarantine must be heaven sent for us priests to finally go down on our knees to pray more often than before, to be silent and be one with the Lord again whom we have banished from our altars and ministry especially at this time when many of us have already fallen into the trappings of television and social media to become instant celebrities.
For those having problems in their parish, transferring to another assignment will not solve our many issues. We just have to accept the truth the problem is not among the people but in us, priests. This quarantine is a silver-lining to show the goodness within us, the Christ in us who have been muddled by past mistakes and misinterpretations by people and brother priests.
Photo by Lorenzo Atienza, carving of the Good Shepherd on the cathedra at our Malolos Cathedral.
Again, my apologies to our bishop and brother priests.
I have no intentions of knowing more nor claims to have received a message from God or his angels, not even in my dreams.
We may all be ready to transfer but, how about our people?
On May 11, we shall be commemorating the second year of the passing of Bishop Jose Oliveros.
I do not have fond memories with him.
But one thing I have learned from him is this: in 2006 I asked him permission for me to serve in Canada. He allowed me to go there to see for my self. He asked me to return after one year before making any decision because he told me, whatever is the will of God for me, God will surely let him know it too.
Glad I have obeyed him.
In the same way I am sure the Lord is speaking to us about his plans for our reshuffle.
The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe, Easter Week IV-A, 03 May 2020
Acts of the Apostles 2:14, 36-41 ><)))*> 1 Peter 2:20-25 ><)))*> John 10:1-10
Entrance to the Sepulchre Church in Jerusalem where Jesus was crucified, buried, and rose again. Photo by author, May 2017.
Starting this Sunday, we stop hearing stories of the appearances of the Risen Lord as we go back to the days before his Passion, Death, and Resurrection to reflect further on his words and teachings.
In fact, it is the same path taken by his followers after Easter when they recounted everything Jesus had done and told them as they slowly understood their meanings later in the coming of the Holy Spirt at Pentecost.
Also today is “Good Shepherd Sunday” when every year on this fourth Sunday of Easter the gospel is taken from John 10 which is about Christ’s “Good Shepherd” discourse that actually begins with him declaring he is the gate or the door for the sheep.
So Jesus said again, “Amen, amen, I say to you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate. Whoever enters through me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. A thief comes only to steal and slaughter and destroy; I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly.”
John 10:7-10
Photo from Google.
Entering Jesus our Gate who truly owns the sheep
Let us start our reflection today by recalling our Sunday gospel on the Fourth Week of Lent last March 22 which is about the healing of the man born blind on a sabbath day.
The healing stirred the people and the temple officials led by the Pharisees whom Jesus had hinted as being the ones truly blind who could not see God’s coming in him. As expected, the Pharisees dismissed Christ’s accusations, claiming themselves to be “clean” unlike the man born blind.
Our gospel today is the scene that immediately follows that where Jesus now speaks of himself as the gate where shepherds enter through to tend their sheep. According to the author of the gospel, Jesus was using a figure of speech in referring to himself as the gate for the sheep.
Unfortunately, the Pharisees did not understand Christ’s figure of speech, refusing to be referred to as “thieves and robbers” that Jesus had to use the emphatic “Amen, amen” to declare he is in fact the gate for the sheep.
To clearly understand his being the gate for the sheep, let us fast-forward to his last Easter appearance to Simon Peter and companions by the lake after a night of fishing when they caught nothing until Jesus told them to cast the net on the right side found in John chapter 21.
After their breakfast by the lake, Jesus asked Peter thrice, “do you love me?” and each time he would say yes, the Lord would always tell him to feed his sheep.
It was after that third query as Peter assured him of his love that Jesus told him, “Follow me” (Jn. 21:19).
Here we find the essential truth before anyone can follow Jesus, one has to love him first above all like Simon Peter!
It is only in loving Jesus can anyone truly care for his sheep who “belongs” only to Christ and nobody else.
And this is what we should pray for today as World Day of Prayer for Vocations: not only for more men and women to answer the call to priesthood and religious life but most of all, that we in the ministry love Jesus more than our vocation!
When priests and religious love more their vocation, that is when they become thieves, stealing the sheep from Jesus, claiming them to be theirs that lead to so many abuses in the church, in the liturgy, and in the ministry.
Jesus is the gate for the sheep because first of all the flock belongs to him!
And that is only when we can truly realize too why Jesus is the gate for the sheep.
Photo by Lorenzo Atienza, Malolos Cathedral, June 2019.
How to enter Jesus our Gate
Jesus is the gate who leads his sheep to greener pastures because he is “the way and the truth and the life” (Jn.14:6). And his way is no other than the way of the Cross, of being with him in his daily suffering and death so we can be with him in his resurrection!
One of my favorite scenes of the Crucifixion is when Jesus told Dimas – the good thief who stole heaven – “today you shall be with me in Paradise” (Lk.23:43).
From Google.
See my dear reader that Jesus did not tell Dimas that he would be with him in Paradise later when they die or on Easter when he rises from death.
Jesus was very clear in telling him that “today you shall be with me in Paradise”.
The today is the here and now of heaven in Jesus Christ present to us, present with us, present in us.
Jesus never promised Paradise to anyone when he was freely walking around, neither thirsty nor hungry to show us that every time we go through trials and difficulties, sufferings and pains, that is when we enter Paradise in him our Gate.
When a person suffers a long illness, he/she has already started entering Paradise long before his/her death. That is the unique grace of sickness, of suffering with Jesus and suffering in Jesus which St. Peter tells us in the second reading today:
Beloved: If you are patient when you suffer for doing what is good, this is a grace before God.
1 Peter 2:20
Yes, we are all into great suffering in this time of the corona virus without any clear sign yet when would this finally end.
This in itself is a clear presence of Jesus among us as our Gate: let us “follow in his footsteps” (1Pt. 2:21) to “save ourselves from this corrupt generation” (Acts 2:40) where so many shepherds in government even in the church unconsciously claiming theirs are the sheep, leading them to darkness and misery.
May we all first love the Caller, Jesus Christ our Gate and Good Shepherd, than see more our call or vocation in life that deludes us into owning his flock. Amen.
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