The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Thursday in the Fourth Week of Easter, 12 May 2022
Acts 13:13-25 ><]]]]'> + <'[[[[>< John 13:16-20
Photo from gettyimages.com.
Thank you, Lord Jesus Christ,
for this timely reminder in today's
gospel in being your true servant -
one who is always present in you,
and present for you.
When Jesus had washed the disciples’ feet, he said to them: “Amen, amen, I say to you, no slave is greater than his master nor any messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you understand this, blessed are you if you do it.”
John 13:16-17
Let us do your work of
loving service for one another,
dear Jesus by imitating you in
your humble presence with everyone,
especially enemies; let us be like you,
kind and magnanimous with everyone,
without any airs of superiority even if
you are our Master.
In this time of sadness and
disappointment and failures,
let us look back to our own lives
like Paul in his preaching
to see how God's providence
has always been at work in
various key moments leading us
to something bigger and higher;
these experiences have always
left us both with happy and painful
memories but you were always there
present with us.
Teach us to continue to be
present in you and for you
in our loving service for others,
like John the Baptist heralding
your coming and your very
presence among us. Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Wednesday in the Fourth Week of Easter, 11 May 2022
Acts 12:24-13:5 ><}}}}*> + <*{{{{>< John 12:44-50
Photo by author, Bolinao, Pangasinan, 19 April 2022.
God our loving Father,
give us the stamina to continue
in this life's journey, most especially
to fulfill your mission; do not let us
to be sidetracked by failures and
disappointments; most of all,
"reset" our buttons to refresh us
in your Son Jesus Christ
so that we may do your work anew
than insist on doing our work for you.
We have been working so hard for you
without truly asking you what work you
want us to do for you; we have forgotten
to await your mission task in true prayers
and discernment, relying mostly in our
good intentions when all mission is yours.
Now there were in the Church at Antioch prophets and teachers… Then, completing their fasting and prayer, they laid hands on Barnabas and Saul and sent them off. So they, sent forth by the Holy Spirit, went down to Seleucia and from there sailed to Cyprus.
Acts 13:1, 3-4
Enlighten our minds and our hearts,
Lord Jesus; shout or cry out again
so we may listen and believe in you
that we may do your work as teachers
and prophets among your people.
Let us return to you, dear Jesus,
and be rooted in you so we may have
a deeper insight into where you are
calling us to serve as your prophets,
following you to find new ways in
proclaiming your gospel in these times.
Let us be converted in you, dear Jesus,
to remain rooted in you, giving only you,
teaching you solely to the people,
conserving and handing on to them
your teachings, not ours.
Let us come to your words, Lord Jesus,
to be led anew in doing your work,
fulfilling your mission. Amen.
Photo by author, Bolinao, Pangasinan, 19 April 2022.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Tuesday in the Fourth Week of Easter, 10 May 2022
Acts 11:19-26 ><]]]]'> + <'[[[[>< John 10:22-30
Photo by Ms. Jing Rey Henderson in Taroytoy, Aklan, 30 April 2022.
God our loving Father,
it has been almost a day
since we had perhaps our
most hotly-contested elections
so far that have divided us not
only as a nation but also as
family and friends, and sadly
as followers of your Son,
Jesus Christ.
How sad that long before
the start of the campaign period
many among us have forgotten
being Christians; it was the opposite
that have happened lately, Christians
persecuting fellow Christians simply
because they belong to different
camps in politics.
Those who ad been scattered by the persecution that arose because of Stephen went as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, preaching the word to no one but Jews. The news about them reached the ears of the Church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to go to Antioch. Then he went to Tarsus to look for Saul, and when he had found him he brought him to Antioch. For a whole year they met with the Church and taught a large number of people, and it was in Antioch that the disciples were first called Christians.
Acts 11:19, 22, 25-26
Though there was the sad note
of persecution at the beginning of the Church,
it turned out to be a blessing for it helped
spread fast the good news to more
people in more places; what is most
wonderful, dear Father is the virtue of
magnanimity among the disciples and early
followers.
As they gained followers
with strong footholds especially
at Antioch where they were first called
Christians, they have always been
magnanimous in their successes.
Teach us all to be magnanimous,
Lord, especially the victors in these
elections though it is still too early;
may our words and deeds, especially
our behavior and attitudes testify
to our being Christians; enough with
our sanctimonious stance with
those opposed to us; may we
imitate Barnabas is reaching out
to others, of being open, of
being converted daily in Jesus
our Good Shepherd. Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Monday in the Fourth Week of Easter, 09 May 2022
Acts 11:1-18 ><))))*> + <*((((>< John 10:1-10
Photo by author, a house near the home of Cornelius in Jaffa, Israel, 2017.
Today O Lord we go to the polls
to cast our votes for the next group
of national and local leaders of our
nation; we have long been praying
for these elections to be peaceful
and orderly.
Most of all, a matured and intelligent one.
That we finally learn to vote according
to our informed and guided conscience,
carefully and prayerfully evaluating every
candidate, listening more to the voice
of Jesus the Good Shepherd.
But for us to be able to listen to Jesus,
let us first pass through him, our
only door.
Jesus said: “Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever does not enter a sheepfold through the gate but climbs over elsewhere is a thief and a robber.” So Jesus said again, “Amen, amen, I say to you, I am the gate for the sheep.”
John 10:1, 7
To pass through Jesus our gate
requires our own conversion to him;
and not just a conversion like that of
unbelievers and Gentiles in the first
reading but to be converted like Peter
himself and the rest of his fellow
believers who were of Jewish roots:
Peter began and explained it to them (Apostles and brothers in Jerusalem) step by step, saying, “If then God gave them the same gift he gave us when we came to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to be able to hinder God?” When they heard this, they stopped objecting and glorified God, saying, “God has then granted life-saving repentance to the Gentiles too.”
Acts 11:4,17-18
To pass through you, dear Jesus,
is to be one in you which calls for our
daily conversion to you; so many times
we feel complacent, resting on whatever
we have achieved or reached in our
relating with you; it is in our daily-
conversion in you that truly leads us
to communion in you. Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Mother’s Day, Second Sunday of May Fourth Sunday in Easter, 08 May 2022
Photo by author, 2019.
O God our loving Father,
when you sent the Archangel Gabriel
to the Blessed Virgin Mary
to announce her becoming the
Mother of your Son Jesus Christ,
she was greeted “Hail, favored one!
The Lord is with you" (Lk.1:28).
On this second Sunday of May,
I thank you for the gift of all mothers,
especially my Mom and all the other
Moms so dear to me: they are
your favored ones, being chosen
to bring life and us into this world,
enabling us to experience you, O God,
in them for you are always with every Mom
in all their love and kindness and tenderness,
including their vast knowledge and wisdom
in knowing almost everything;
you know how we disliked them so much in
acting like Google and Wikipedia rolled into one
but, lo and behold! - most of the time they
they were proven right with what they knew.
Photo by Ms. Jo Villafuerte, 2019.
Thank you, our loving Father,
in giving us a glimpse of your beauty
and majesty in our Mothers; most of all, for being
our first teacher and catechist who taught
us how to love and care, respect and obey
others and most especially you, God
in prayers and spirituality.
Thank you for our Mother's patience and
perseverance, for their being the best
economists who taught us how to save
and invest not only money and tangible
wealth but most of all with virtues and
values that give us fulfillment and joy
in your Son Jesus Christ.
Thank you most of all for our Mother's
mercy and forgiveness like you:
you know, dear Father, how many times
we have hurt our mothers, how we have
disappointed them but despite all these,
they have remained most loyal and faithful to us,
ready to forgive us, giving us with countless
chances that many of us have abused.
Photo by author, 2017.
O God, take care of our dearest Mothers,
ease their pains and sufferings not
only in body but also in heart and soul;
heal them of their sickness,
assure them of your presence and
providence so that they may not worry
so much; lighten their loads and burdens
in life and most of all, fill their hearts with
your Son Jesus Christ's peace and joy,
fulfilling their wishes and prayers
not only for themselves but also for their
loved ones; likewise, we pray for all Mothers
who have gone ahead us - please grant them
eternal rest in your Divine Presence.
Lastly we pray for our dear Motherland,
the Philippines: tomorrow we vote for
our next leaders; let us express our love
and gratitude to you and our dear Motherland
by choosing candidates closest to being like
your Son Jesus Christ, the Good Shepherd
who values life and every person,
values Mother Nature and most all,
values family - leaders with that beautiful virtue
of Motherhood of nurturing and caring
of every person and family,
not those who will promote death in all forms
and destruction of family through divorce or
same sex union. Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Fourth Sunday in Easter-C, 08 May 2022
Acts 13:14, 43-52 ><}}}}*> Revelation 7:9, 14-17 ><}}}}*> John 10:27-30
The Good Shepherd is the earliest portrayal of our Lord Jesus Christ in art. Mostly done in paintings in the catacombs of Rome, Jesus the Good Shepherd is shown as a young, muscular man to signify his eternity carrying on his shoulders a lost sheep.
But that imagery of a shepherd taking care of the lost sheep and flock was an original thought among peoples in the ancient Near East that included Israel. Kings in Babylonia and Assyria regarded themselves as shepherds tasked by their gods to care especially for the weak. This concept we also find in the Old Testament like in the Books of Psalms and of the prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel where God promised to send true “shepherds after his own heart” (Jer. 3:15) who shall lead his flock Israel with justice back to him.
That prophecy is fulfilled in Jesus Christ who is not just a shepherd but “the good shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep” (Jn.10:11) because he is one with his flock.
Oneness is an inner sense of belongingness in personhood and experiences, a common union or communion of selves and experiences like in Jesus becoming human like us to be one in our pains and sufferings and death so that we may be like him in his glorious resurrection and eternal life.
Jesus said: “My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish. No one can take them out of my hand. The Father and I are one.”
John 10:27-28, 30
Photo from Pinterest.com.
Jesus knows us, gives us eternal life; we hear and follow him.
To know in Jewish thought is not merely an intellectual activity of having information and details especially when used in relation with persons. To know somebody means to have a relationship. Knowing is belonging.
Jesus as the Good Shepherd knows us his sheep because we belong to him, and whether we like it or not, we know him precisely because we are his! Recall that during his trial before Pilate, Jesus declared “You say I am a king. For this I was born and for this I came into the world to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice” (Jn.18:37).
Photo by Dr. Mylene A. Santos, MD, 2020.
From the very start, we have always belonged to God so that out of his great love for us he sent us his Son Jesus Christ so we can find our way back home to him. We are all God’s children created in his “image and likeness” who have become in many instances prodigal sons and daughters living like lost and injured sheep who need all the care and redemption to gain our status again as the Father’s beloved.
Our “belonging” to God is different from “possessing” in the same manner we belong to our parents or spouses to their partner. Human belongingness is way different from things as belongings, although so many times, it happens that people treat persons as things and objects to be possessed than subjects to be loved and cherished.
What do we mean? Children belong to parents and spouses belong to their partner but they can never be considered as possessions or property to be used and manipulated. People belong to one another like children to parents, husband to wife, and wife to husband as most cherished possessions in the sense that they are gifts from God, so unique in one’s self, free to grow and mature as a person. We belong to one another in mutual responsibility not as property; hence, the need for us to accept and support each other in love which leads to deeper communion and oneness through intimacy that extends to eternity!
Now we see why Jesus said he knows his sheep and gives them eternal life. Here we find the image of Jesus the Good Shepherd is in fact the image of Christ the King of the universe which sheds light on his very kingship as seen by John in his vision in our second reading today “of a great multitude, which no one could count, from every nation, race, people, and tongue. They stood before the throne and before the Lamb, wearing white robes and holding palm branches in their hands” (Rev. 7:9) which is reminiscent of his triumphal entry to Jerusalem on Palm Sunday.
In the first reading we have also heard how from the very beginning, it has been God’s plan to lead all men to salvation in Jesus Christ. Despite the setbacks encountered by Paul and Barnabas in Antioch when they were rejected by their fellow Jews, their decision to turn to the gentiles to proclaim the Gospel was in fulfillment of of the Lord’s will that “have made them a light to the Gentiles to be instruments of salvation to the ends of the earth” (Acts 13:47).
The mark of a true shepherd is like a light who leads us to Jesus Christ and his values of prayer, life, persons, family, and justice among others. Here is the distinction between the true shepherd and a thief – a robber does not pass through Jesus, the gate of the sheep (Jn.10:1ff). A thief like many politicians and dictators including their handlers see the flock as things and properties they own and possess who can be bought and be forgotten, even disregarded, until the next elections. (So, vote wisely by listening more to Jesus than to anyone like the candidates’ endorsers.)
Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, 2018.
Belonging and mutuality
Human belongingness calls for mutuality for it to truly lead to oneness and communion. Jesus said he knows us and gives us eternal life because according to him, we his sheep hear his voice and follow him (v.27).
Do we listen to him and follow him?
Today we are also celebrating Mother’s Day. What a wonderful tribute to mothers who are indeed one of the truest good shepherdess in the world – the one to whom we all belong to, having cared for us from the very beginning in their womb.
Mothers are the most loving, most merciful, and most forgiving of all persons in the world, just like Jesus our Good Shepherd but sad to say, the one we most hurt when we disrespect her, from answering her back to swearing and sadly, when we disobey her. Ironically, when things go wrong with us and our lives, the first person we go to and accepts us is our mother too!
So many times, mothers bear all pains and hardships in life just to see their children fulfilled in life, choosing to suffer and cry in silence to hide the great difficulties they face daily, both physically and emotionally. That is how loving mothers are that in the Old Testament, God introduced himself as a mother, “Can a mother forget her infant, be without tenderness for the child of her womb? Even should she forget, I will never forget you” (Is.49:15).
It is so easy to say “we love our mom” like claiming “Jesus is our Good Shepherd” but it is entirely another thing to live as a mother’s child or Christ’s sheep.
The grace of this Good Shepherd Sunday is Christ’s coming to us not only to lead us to greener pastures but to renew our relationships, our belonging to him and the Father to experience fulfillment in life. Whether at home or in our nation, may we listen more to Jesus by being mutual in our respect and love for one another and to our Motherland too!
May we have a peaceful and matured elections this Monday! Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Friday in the Third Week of Easter, 06 May 2022
Acts 9:1-20 ><))))*> + <*((((>< John 6:52-59
Photo by author, Puerto del Sol, Bolinao, Pangasinan, 19 April 2022.
Our readings today,
O God our Father,
are very much alike with
our situation these days:
so many tensions, so many
quarrels among friends and
families due to elections on
Monday.
Saul, still breathing murderous threats against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, that, if he should find any men or women who belonged to the Way, he might bring them back to Jerusalem in chains.
Acts 9:1-2
The Jews quarreled among themselves…
John 6:52
Only Jesus Christ your Son,
our Lord can dispel all these
negative feelings and disharmony
if we can be humble like Paul and
Ananias who prayed over him;
"level up" our thoughts to higher
realities in life, in spirituality so
that we may realize the inner truth
and beauty of Jesus our bread of life;
how sad that in this highly advanced
age and time, we can "shift" our
thoughts to higher levels or
advanced stages in terms of material
things only like garnering most scores
or sales or followers and other numbers
that rarely speak about realities in life.
In this final stretch of the campaign
period, remind us anew like Paul that
we are all brothers and sisters in Christ,
that whatever we do to one another,
we do exactly to you, dear Jesus;
open our minds and hearts to listen
to your voice, Lord Jesus Christ
on whom to vote this Monday based
on your teachings of love and truth.
Amen.
Photo by author, sunrise at the Lake of Tiberias (Galilee) in Israel, May 2019.
Our gospel last Sunday spoke of the Risen Lord’s third appearance to his disciples at the Lake of Tiberias. No one, except the beloved disciple recognized Jesus standing at the shore after he had told them to cast their net to the right side of the boat that led to their plentiful catch of fish.
When it was already dawn, Jesus was standing on the shore; but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus. Jesus said to them, “Children, have you caught anything to eat?” They answered him, “No.” So he said to them, “Cast the net over the right side of the boat and you will find something.” So they cast it, and were not able to pull it in because of the number of fish. So the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord.” When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he tucked in his garment, for he was lightly clad, and jumped into the sea.
John 21:4-7
Photo by author, sunrise at Lake of Tiberias, May 2017.
I love the way it is narrated. What a wonderful interplay of realities, of John the beloved recognizing Jesus standing at the shore upon seeing the many fish caught in their net!
The story speaks of the beauty of every sunrise many of us seem to take for granted, of how so many of us miss the beautiful sight and silence of the morning. It is a story of every new day filled not only with promises but in itself a blessing we can surely experience when we first recognize Christ present in us.
That is perhaps one problem with us who always prefer spectacular sights and events to find God.
Unlike sunset, sunrise does not have radiant displays of colors and shades. It is very simple which is the lesson of Easter to us, of how our great God comes to us in the simplest moments of life. Recall too that Jesus was born in the middle of the darkest night of the year when everyone was asleep and rose from the dead very, very early in the morning that no one had seen! And here lies one of the wonderful mysteries in life – the hiddenness of God!
It is in God’s hiddenness that we can find him not because he is hiding but inviting us to be hidden in him too. That is the beauty of sunrise when you have to wake up early to see the beauty of life unfolding, awaiting something we are totally unaware of what is going to happen next. It is easier to wait for the sunset because you have been up and going the whole day; you just have to stop and pause for a while to await the sun going down.
Photo by Ms. Jo Villafuerte, sunrise at Atok, Benguet, September 2019.
Sunrise is different. It is like awaiting a total stranger, compared with sunset after we have befriended the the day about to end.
Every morning when we wake up, we do not know what is in store for us. Some people are excited, others are not while the rest simply got the blues or too lazy to work and study that they would rather sleep more.
Maybe that is why sunrise is more subdued with its hues and shades. Like God, sunrise is so kind, very accommodating with everyone, no spectacular display of colors so that one could buy his own time on whether to go out and move or snuggle more in bed, alone or with somebody else.
Like a beloved someone or God himself, sunrise looks soft and calm, reassuring everyone the day ahead would be just fine for us all.
Its light is so gentle, though bursting filled with life but never insistent to the eyes, so gentle. This we feel in our favorite word and activity every morning – breakfast – which came from the literal “breaking of fast” the night before by the monks in the monasteries. We can feel this gentleness of sunrise in that Christian hymn Morning Has Broken, whether you sing it or listen to Cat Steven’s cover or to its original Gaelic Scottish tune. And along this line, we find sunrise as the sweetest breaking of all in Angela Bofil’s 1981 love song Break It To Me Gently.
Photo by author, sunrise at Camp John Hay, Baguio City, November 2018.
Sometimes, sunrise can be a bit wild, bursting with light that can penetrate one’s soul with its light traveling so fast, eager to cover the whole surrounding with the good news of life coming.
Think of the Beatles’ 1969 Here Comes the Sun with its lovely guitar introduction, assuring everyone, especially your beloved “little darling” that “it’s all right” with “smiles returning to the faces.”
Photo by author, sunrise at Bolinao, Pangasinan, 20 April 2022.
That is the most beautiful part of catching the sunrise when all is silent with you all alone, listening to Jesus whispering, “Little darling, it’s all right” because whatever had happened yesterday, with all your sins and mistakes, are all forgotten and forgiven. Today is a new beginning, like what he told Peter in last Sunday’s gospel when he asked him thrice, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?”
Photo by author, sunrise at Bolinao, Pangasinan, 20 April 2022.
Peter was distressed that Jesus had said to him a third time, “Do you love me?” and he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep… And when he had said this, he said to him, “Follow me.”John 21:17, 19
John 21:17, 19
It is said that whatever one feels in describing the sunrise is one’s perception of love – warm and refreshing, joyful and so alive, filled with hopes and raring to go.
Sunrise is beautiful because it is when we experience closest with our truest self, with those most faithful and loving to us, and most of all, with God, our very root and being. Every morning is the fulfillment of Zechariah’s prophecy of each of us becoming a John the Baptist whose name means “graciousness of God.” This we pray every morning in the Benedictus (cf. Lk.1:68-79):
In the tender compassion of our God
the dawn from on high shall break upon us,
to shine on those who dwell in darkness and the
shadow of death,
and to guide our feet into the way of peace.
May you be blessed every morning, every day of the week. Amen.
Photo by Ms. Jing Rey Henderson, sunrise at Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental, 27 April 2022.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Thursday in the Third Week of Easter, 05 May 2022
Acts 8:26-40 ><}}}}*> + <*{{{{>< John 6:44-51
Photo by author, 2021.
Praise and thanksgiving
to you, most loving Lord,
Jesus Christ, in making us
come to you daily!
Jesus said to the crowds: “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draw him, and I will raise him on the last day. It is written in the prophets: They shall all be taught by God. Everyone who listen to my Father and learns from him comes to me.”
John 6:44-45
Grant me the courage
and docility of Philip your
Apostle whose feast we
celebrated yesterday to
always come to you, ready
to "get up and set out"
wherever you send us.
May we spend time,
make time daily to come to you,
Jesus, to put into practice
that grace of the Father to
meet and experience you in
prayers and the sacraments
so we may be filled with your
presence and mercy.
And wisdom.
Then the eunuch said to Philip in reply, “I beg you, about whom is the prophet saying this? About himself, or about someone else?” Then Philip opened his mouth and, beginning with this Scripture passage, he proclaimed Jesus to him.
Acts 8:34-35
First, let us come to you,
Jesus so that we may come
to share you with others.
Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Wednesday in Third Week of Easter, 04 May 2022
Acts 8:1-8 ><]]]]'> + <'[[[[>< John 6:35-40
Photo by author, ICSB in Malolos City, Summer 2021.
"Sanaol" - a wish and a prayer
that all may be blessed,
that like the flowers of summer,
everyone may bloom in the Lord.
"Sanaol" was the good news
after that Pentecost when
Jesus Christ's good news of
salvation was proclaimed to all;
despite the persecutions that
began in Jerusalem and "all were
scattered throughout Judea and
Samaria, except the Apostles,
there were great joy in that
city" (Acts 8:1, 8) because
everyone was blessed,
everyone was welcomed,
everyone was accepted.
"Sanaol", Lord Jesus,
would accept you in the
Eucharist and eventually in
the person of everyone we meet;
it is you, dear Jesus, who brings
joy and fulfillment in everyone
of us whenever we receive and
welcome you in the Eucharist
and in every person we meet.
Jesus said to the crowds, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst. But I told you that although you have seen me, you do not believe.
John 6:35-36
What has happened to us,
Lord Jesus?
We have turned away from you
and from each other, choosing to
believe in thoughts and ideas,
in personalities, and all the
fancies around them from colors
to cults that have brought us
divisions and even persecutions.
Let us seek you again, dear Jesus,
and listen more to your voice
than to all the noises barraging us
especially at this crucial time
of the elections.
"Sanaol" will listen to you again,
and find you anew in everyone.
Amen.
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