The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Thursday in the Thirty-Fourth Week of Ordinary Time, Year II, 28 November 2024 Revelation 18:1-2, 21-23; 19:1-3, 9 <*((((>< + ><))))*> Luke 21:20-28
Photo by author, Pulong Sampalok, DRT, Bulacan, 22 November 2024.
God our loving Father, have mercy on us your people marching towards You in Jesus Christ; as we approach the closing of this liturgical calendar to usher in the Advent Season, let us see with an upbeat mood the upheavals going on these days especially in our own country.
Keep us strong, Father, in our faith in You and in our firm resolve to persevere in doing what is good and just amid all the destabilizations and noise going on; keep us patient with all the evil still going on, aware always of the sufferings and tribulations we all must endure as part of our witnessing to the Cross of Jesus Christ.
Keep us upbeat in Jesus Christ our Lord, to always live and share in the vision and values of His Gospel despite the many immoralities and profanities by some in power; may we strive to seek and find and follow Jesus always because truth and justice and goodness have the final say in everything in this life - not lies and malice and evil. Amid all the hardships, may we continue to sing the song of the Lamb here on earth so that eventually in the end, we too may be invited to come to the wedding feast of the Lamb there in heaven like what You have shown John in Revelation. Amen.
Photo by author, Pulong Sampalok, DRT, Bulacan, 23 November 2024.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Thursday, Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, 14 September 2023
Numbers 21:4-9 ><}}}}*> Philippians 2:6-11 ><}}}}*> John 3:13-17
Photo by author, 02 September 2023.
With their patience worn out by the journey, the people complained against God and Moses…
Numbers 21:4
Forgive us,
God our Father,
for always complaining
even challenging you
when things get
difficult and rough
for us in life;
forgive us,
merciful Father
when our patience
is worn out
by life's journey
that we forget all
your good works,
not seeing the long
distances we have
covered,
the rivers we have crossed,
and mountains and hills
we have overcome
with you,
through you,
in you.
Brothers and sisters: Christ Jesus, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God something to be grasped. Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness; and found human in appearance, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross.
Philippians 2:6-8
Empty our hearts
of our pride,
Lord Jesus Christ
and fill us
with your humility,
justice,
and love;
make us realize
Jesus that it is in
being empty
and detached
when we are truly free
and hence, more faithful
and loving without
any encumbersome
or excess baggages
that bog us down
in moving on in life.
For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that anyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.
John 3:16
Let me love
like you,
dear God:
a love that seeks
relationships
and connections
not isolation
nor self-sufficiency;
let me love
like Jesus,
a love rooted in the Father,
a love that is more than a feeling
but a decision,
a choice made daily,
affirmed in actions of
fidelity and kindness,
obedience and trust;
let me love
like you, O God:
a love that gives life,
other-centered,
veritable/truthful,
and enduring.
Let me love my Cross,
Jesus,
to let me lose
everything in you
and for you
in order to gain
life and you.
Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Friday in the Third Week of Ordinary Time, Year I, 27 January 2023
Hebrews 10:32-39 ><0000'> + ><0000'> + ><0000'> Mark 4:26-34
Photo by Fr. Pop dela Cruz in San Miguel, Bulacan, 15 June 2022.
Lord Jesus Christ,
your words this last Friday of January 2023
are so lovely, so inspiring:
"Therefore, do not throw away your confidence;
it will have great recompense.
You need endurance to do the will of God
and receive what he has promised" (Heb. 10:35-36).
What is to not throw away our confidence?
Simply be assured always in God, with God.
Have faith because he knows very well what is
happening with each of us.
Help us to keep that in mind and heart!
Now, this is what I like, Lord Jesus,
when the author of the Letter to the Hebrews
told us to have "endurance to do the will of God
and receive what he has promised."
Teach us, Jesus, to bear and endure
all pains in doing your will,
in standing for what is true and good,
in keeping on doing what is good,
in continuing to love amid the pains.
Along with endurance,
give us also perseverance, Lord Jesus:
more than enduring the pains, let us go against
all these difficulties and hardships to perfect
ourselves, our faith and our love like you!
Like the farmer in your parable,
let us persevere, to keep on farming despite
the rains and drought without really knowing
if there would be bountiful harvest or not
except in having that deep faith in God
that whatever we plant, no matter small,
would always grow and bloom.
Amen.
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