Category: Evil/Sin

When darkness becomes light

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe, Holy Wednesday, 08 April 2020

Photo by icon0.com on Pexels.com

Tonight is “Spy Wednesday” – the night traitors and betrayers are put on the spotlight because it was on this night after Palm Sunday when Judas Iscariot struck a deal with the chief priests to hand them over Jesus for 30 pieces of silver (Mt. 26:14-16).

The “Tenebrae” is celebrated in some churches when candles are gradually extinguished with the beating of drums and sounding of matraca to evoke silence and some fear among people as they leave in total darkness to signal the temporary victory of evil in the world for tomorrow we enter the Paschal Triduum of Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Vigil of the Lord.

From Google.

Darkness generally evokes evil and sin, uncertainties and sufferings. But, at the same time, darkness preludes light!

That is why Jesus Christ was born during the darkest night of the year to bring us light of salvation.

Beginning tonight, especially tomorrow at his agony in the garden, we shall see Christ entering through darkness reaching its climax on Friday when he dies on the cross with the whole earth covered in darkness, rising on Easter in all his glory and majesty.

Our present situation in an extended Luzon-wide lockdown offers us this unique experience of darkness within and without where we can learn some important lessons from the Lord’s dark hours beginning tomorrow evening of his Last Supper.

St. John gives us a glimpse into how we must deal with life’s darkness that plagues us almost daily with his unique story of the Lord’s washing of his disciples’ feet on the night he was betrayed.

Before the feast of Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to pass from this world to the Father. He loved his own in the world and he loved them to the end. The devil had already induced Judas, son of Simon the Iscariot, to hand him over. So, during supper… he rose from supper and took off his outer garments. He took a towel and tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and dry them with the towel around his waist. He came to Simon Peter…

John 13:1-2, 4-6
Photo from aleteia.org.

It is very interesting to reflect how Judas Iscariot and Simon Peter dealt with their own inner darkness on that night of Holy Thursday when Jesus was arrested.

Though Judas Iscariot and Simon Peter are poles apart in their personalities, they both give us some traits that are so characteristic also of our very selves when we are in darkness. In the end, we shall see how Jesus turned the darkness of Holy Thursday into becoming the very light of Easter.

Getting lost in darkness like Judas Iscariot

Right after explaining the meaning of his washing of their feet and exhorting them to do the same to one another, Jesus begins to speak of Judas Iscariot as his betrayer.

When he had said this, Jesus was deeply troubled and testified, “Amen, amen, I say to you, one of you will betray me …It is the one to whom I hand the morsel after I had dipped it.” So he dipped the morsel and handed it to Judas, son of Simon the Iscariot. After he took the morsel, Satan entered him… and left at once. And it was night.

John 13:21, 26-27, 30
Photo from desiringgod.org

The scene is very dramatic.

Imagine the darkness outside the streets of Jerusalem in the stillness of the night and the darkness inside the Upper Room where they were staying.

More darker than that was the darkness among the Apostles not understanding what Jesus was saying about his betrayer because they thought when Judas left, he was being told to buy more wine or give money to the poor!

Most of all, imagine the darkness within Judas.

To betray means to hand over to suffering someone dear to you.

That’s one darkness we always have within, of betraying Jesus, betraying our loved ones because we have found somebody else to love more than them. Satan had taken over Judas. The same thing happens to us when we sin, when we love someone more than those who truly love us or those we have vowed to love always.

And the darkest darkness of all is after handing over our loved ones, after dumping them for something or somebody else, we realize deep within the beautiful light of truth and love imprinted in our hearts by our betrayed loved ones – then doubt it too!

The flickering light of truth and love within is short lived that we immediately extinguish it, plunging us into total darkness of destruction like Judas when he hanged himself.

See how Judas went back to the chief priests because “he had sinned”, giving them back the 30 pieces of silver to regain Jesus.

Here we find the glow of Jesus, of his teachings and friendship within Judas still etched in his heart — the light of truth and love flickering within.

Any person along with their kindness and goodness like Jesus, our family and true friends can never be removed from one’s heart and person. They will always be there, sometimes spurting out in our unguarded moments because they are very true.

That is the darkest darkness of Judas – and of some of us – who think we can never be forgiven by God, that we are doomed, that there is no more hope and any chance at all.

See how the evangelist said it: “Judas left at once. And it was night.”

And that is getting lost in darkness permanently, eaten up by darkness within us because we refuse to believe in the reality of a loving and forgiving God who had come to plunge into the darkness of death to be one with us so we can be one in him. What a loss.

Groping in the dark into the light like Peter

Photo by author, Church of Gallicantu, Jerusalem where the cock crowed after Peter denied Jesus the third time, May 2017.

Of the Twelve, it is perhaps with Simon Peter we always find ourselves identified with: the eager beaver, almost a “bolero” type who is so good in speaking but many times cannot walk his talk.

“Master, are you going to wash my feet?” Jesus answered and said to him, “What I am doing, you do not understand now, but you will understand later.” Peter said to him, “You will never wash my feet.”

John 13:6-8

Here is Peter so typical of us: always assuming of knowing what is right, which is best, as if we have a monopoly of the light when in fact we are in darkness.

See how during the trial of Jesus before the priests, Peter denied him thrice, declaring he never knew Jesus while outside in the dark, completely in contrast with Jesus brilliantly answering every question and false accusation against him inside among his accusers!

Many times in our lives, it is so easy for us to speak on everything when we are in our comfort zones, safe and secured in our lives and career. But when left or thrown out into the harsh realities of life, we grope in the darkness of ignorance and incompetence, trials and difficulties.

How often we are like Peter refusing Jesus to wash our feet because we could not accept the Lord being so humble to do that simply because he is the Lord and Master who must never bow low before anyone.

And that is one darkness we refuse to let go now shaken and shattered by the pandemic lockdown! The people we used to look down upon are mostly now in the frontlines providing us with all the comforts we enjoy in this crisis like electricity, internet, security, food, and other basic services.


Bronze statue of the call of Peter by Jesus. Photo by author, May 2017.

We have always thought of the world, of peoples in hierarchy, in certain status where there are clear delineations and levels of importance, totally forgetting the lessons of Jesus of being like a child, of service and humility: “whoever wants to be great must be the least and servant of all.”

According to Matthew and Luke, Peter realized his sins – the darkness within him – of denying Jesus thrice after the cock crowed that he left the scene weeping bitterly, feeling so sorry. Eventually after Easter, Peter would meet Jesus again on the shores of the Lake of Tiberias, asking him thrice, “do you love me?”

Peter realized how dark his world has always been but in that instance when he declared his love that is so limited and weak did he finally see the light of Christ in his love and mercy!

Unlike Judas, Peter moved out of darkness and finally saw the light in the Risen Lord right in the very place where everything started when he was called to be a fisher of men, in his humanity as he was called by his original name, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me?”.

Human love is always imperfect and Jesus knows this perfectly well!

The best way to step out of darkness within us is to be like Simon — simply be your imperfect self, accepting one’s sins and weakness for that is when we can truly love Jesus who is the only one who can love us perfectly.

Overcoming darkness in, Jesus, with Jesus, through Jesus

Though the fourth gospel and the synoptic gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke differ in providing us with the transition from the Upper Room of the Last Supper into the agony in the garden, the four evangelists provide us with one clear message at how Jesus faced darkness: with prayer, of being one in the Father.

Even on the cross of widespread darkness, Jesus spoke only to pray to the Father.

Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to his disciples, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” He took along Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to feel sorrow and distress.

Matthew 26:36-37
Photo by author, altar of the Church of All Nations beside the Garden of Gethsemane, May 2017. The church is always dimly lit to keep the sense of darkness during the Agony in the Garden of Jesus.

Before, darkness for man was seen more as a curse falling under the realm of evil and sin; but, with the coming of Jesus, darkness became a blessing, a prelude to the coming of light.

We have mentioned at the start of our reflection that Jesus was born during the darkest night of the year to show us he that is the light of the world, who had come to enlighten us in this widespread darkness, within us and outside us.

As the light of the world, Jesus was no stranger to darkness which he conquered and tamed in many instances like when they were caught in a storm at sea and in fact, when walked on water to join his disciples caught in another storm.

But most of all, Jesus had befriended darkness and made it a prelude to light.

How? By always praying during darkness. By prayer, it is more than reciting some prayers common during his time as a Jew but as a form of submission to the will of the Father. Jesus befriended darkness by setting aside, forgetting his very self to let the Father’s will be done.

Bass relief of agony in the garden on the wall of the Church of All Nations at Gethsemane. Photo by author, May 2019.

This he showed so well in two instances, first on Mount Tabor where he transfigured and second in Gethsemane before his arrest.

In both events, Jesus showed us the path to overcoming darkness is always through prayers, of being one in the Father.

It is in darkness when God is most closest to us because it is then when we get a glimpse of himself, of his love and mercy, of his own sufferings and pains, and of his glory.

This is something the three privileged disciples – Simon Peter, James and his brother John – did not realize while being with Jesus at both instances until after Easter. We are those three who always fall asleep, who could not keep with praying in Jesus, with Jesus, and through Jesus.

It was in the darkness of the night when Jesus spent most of his prayer periods, communing with the Father up in a mountain or a deserted place.

On Mount Tabor, Jesus showed his coming glory while in Gethsemane he showed his coming suffering and death. But whether in Gethsemane or on Mount Tabor, it is always Jesus we meet inviting us to share in his oneness with the Father, in his power in the Holy Spirit to overcome every darkness in life.

And the good news is he had already won for us!

Photo by Mr. Raffy Tima of GMA-7 News of Mt. Samat with the Memorial Cross across the Manila Bay following clear skies resulting from the lockdown imposed since March 17, 2020.

In these extended darker days of quarantine period, let us come to the Lord closer in prayer to. experience more of his Passion and Death, more of his darkness so we may see his coming glory when everything is finally cleared in this corona pandemic.

Prayer does not necessarily change things but primarily changes the person first. And that is when prayer changes everything when we become like Jesus in praying.

Jesus is asking us to leave everything behind, to forget one’s self anew to rediscover him in this darkness when we get out of our comfort zones to see the many sufferings he continues to endure with our brothers and sisters with lesser things in this life, with those in total darkness, with those groping in the dark.

Now more than ever, we have realized the beauty of poverty and simplicity, of persons than things.

And most especially of darkness itself becoming light for us in this tunnel.

May Jesus enlighten us and vanish all darkness in us so that soon, we shall celebrate together the joy of his coming again in this world darkened by sin. Amen.

A blessed and prayerful Paschal Triduum to you.

Lent is for “debugging”

40 Shades of Lent, Friday, Week-I, 06 March 2020

Ezekiel 18:21-28 +++ 0 +++ Matthew 5:20-26

Photo by author, Parokya ni San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Bagbaguin, Santa Maria, Bulacan, Lent 2020.

Once again, our loving Father, I take the computer as my point of comparison for my prayer reflection on this second Friday of Lent.

Thank you in giving us this blessed season of Lent when we are able to “debug” our “internal hard drive” – the heart – to be cleansed of bugs and virus as well as unnecessary materials that slow us down to be holy and perfect like you.

Your words are very reassuring of how you want us to be “fixed” always, to be in good condition, filled with life and holiness.

Thus says the Lord God: “Do I indeed derive any pleasure from the death of a wicked?” says the Lord God. “Do I not rather rejoice when he turns from his evil way that he may live? Hear now, house of Israel: Is it my way that is unfair, or rather, are not your ways unfair? When someone virtuous man turns away from virtue to commit iniquity, and dies, it is because of the iniqity he committed that he must die. But if the wicked, trning from the wickedness he has committed, does what is right and just, he shall preserve his life; since he has turned away from all the sins that he committed, he shall surely live, he shall not die.”

Ezekiel 18:23, 25-28

Educate our hearts, O Lord.

Help us “surpass the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees” in Jesus Christ who have come to perfect the laws in himself, in love.

May your purifying love, sweet Jesus, cleanse us of our sins, delete our painful memories that continue to hold us back, preventing us to move forward and forgive others and especially our very selves.

Make us rejoice, O Lord, in your immense love and share it with others so that we may grow more in holiness in you. Amen.

Who we are vs. who we are not

40 Shades of Lent, Sunday Week I-A, 01 March 2020

Genesis 2:7-9, 3:1-7 +++ Romans 5:12-19 +++ Matthew 4:1-11

From Google.

Lent has always been associated with the Sacrament of Baptism since the beginning of the Church. In fact our Sunday readings this 2020 (Cycle A) are among the oldest in our liturgy used in the preparation of candidates or catechumens to Baptism on Easter Vigil.

This intimate link between Lent and Baptism is very evident in our synoptic gospels as Matthew, Mark, and Luke present to us how after Jesus was baptized by John in Jordan River, his temptations by the devil in the desert immediately comes next.

At that time Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. He fasted for forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was hungry. The tempter approached and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become loaves of bread.”

Matthew 4:1-3

The Season of Lent and the Sacrament of Baptism

From Google.

Let us go back a little to that Baptism scene of Jesus at Jordan so we can understand this link between Lent and Baptism as well as to appreciate the meaning of our celebration this first Sunday of Lent.

It was during his Baptism at Jordan when the Father formally launched and made known the mission of Jesus as the Christ or the “Anointed One” of God, that is, the Messiah in Hebrew or Christo in Greek from which we derived the word Christ in English.

As a prefiguration of his coming Pasch – Passion, Death, and Resurrection – Jesus Christ’s Baptism became his “investiture” or “commissioning” when the Father declared, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased” (Mt. 3:17).

In his Baptism, Jesus entered into solidarity with us sinners when he plunged into Jordan River to be one with us in everything except sin. It is here we find very clear the intimate link of Baptism with Lent when we are called to be faithful children of God like Jesus Christ

An anatomy of temptation and sin

Detail of the mosaic of the “Temptations of Christ” at the St. Mark Basilica in Venice. Photo from psephizo.com.

Every temptation by the devil, every sin is always a turning away from God, a deviation from our identity as children of the Father in Jesus Christ.

Whenever we would wake up, the Father reminds us like at the Baptism of Jesus at Jordan that we are his beloved son or daughter with whom he is well pleased despite our many sins, failures, and weaknesses.

And like Jesus Christ right after his Baptism at Jordan, the devil also comes every day to tempt us to turn away from the Father, echoing to us his same words in the desert with the Lord, “If you are the Son of God” to lure us into becoming someone we are not.

The tempter approached and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become loaves of bread.” He said in reply, “It is written: One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God. Then the devil took him to the holy city, and made him stand on the parapet of the temple, and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down. For it is written…”

Matthew 4:3-6

See this pattern of the devil in his first two temptations, “If you are the Son of God” – very enticing to be somebody else, to prove one’s worth and being.

This pattern will significantly change at the third temptation when the devil took Jesus to a high mountain to show him all the kingdoms of the world in their magnificence. No more “If you are the Son of God” but a more direct temptation that is affront and “garapal” as we say in Filipino:

“All these I shall give to you, if you will prostrate yourself and worship me.”

Matthew 4:9

Observe how cunning was the devil in his temptations of Jesus until finally, he brings out his sinister plot: worship him, turn away from God!

The same is true with us: the devil will lure and deceive us in so many ways with just one objective which is for us to turn away from God. In every temptation, in every sin, the issue has always been the primacy of God which Jesus Christ firmly affirmed in his triumph over the devil’s temptations at the desert.

And this issue on the primacy of God is always attacked by the devil in every temptation when he confuses us on who we really are like the woman in the first reading after the serpent had told her that she would be like God:

The woman saw that the tree was good for food, pleasing to the eyes, and desirable for gaining wisdom. So she took some of its frit and ate it; and she also gave some to her husband. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized that they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves.

Genesis 3:6-7

Do we not feel the same way after every sin? We feel naked – ugly, dirty, and alienated from our very selves precisely because we have not become our true selves!

These temptations of Jesus by the devil would persist up to his crucifixion where some people jeered and taunted him, telling him “if you are the Son of God” or “if you are the Messiah” so that he would turn away from the Father and forget all about his mission and Divine plan of salvation.

Notice that the last temptation of Jesus is exactly our last temptation too: abandon God the Father and simply be like the devil, with no dignity, with nothing at all because he is separated from God, our only grounding of being.

Hubris, our greatest temptation and sin

Photo by Mr. Raffy Tima of GMA-7 News, Batanes, 2018.

Last Sunday we have mentioned how the Greeks have always held that man’s first and greatest temptation and sin is hubris – that is, the arrogant presumption of man that he is god, or that he can defy the divine to do everything and have anything.

We call it pride which is at the very core of every temptation and sin. The director of the classic film “Ten Commandments”, Mr. Cecil de Mille was once asked which of the Lord’s commandments is most often violated by man?

According to Mr. De Mille, it is the first commandment of God that we always violate because whenever we sin, that is when we also have another false god or idol aside from the true God.

Very true!

Our problem in the world is not really hunger or war or poverty but our refusal to be faithful to God, to be who we really are as his blessed sons and daughters. In some instances, there are some who have totally rejected and denied God, believing more in themselves, in the sciences and technologies.

Jesus is not indifferent to hunger or wars still going on in many parts of the world today; he had come to show us the path to our problems is to reclaim our being children of the Father, listening and living his words, worshiping and trusting him alone.

In going through his Pasch, in fighting all temptations, Jesus shows us the path to see and experience the God we can meet when we come to our desert where we rely only in him alone. It involves hard work, without any shortcut and quick fixes or instants that have become our norm these days.

It is not a simplistic approach to the many problems we are facing, but if you read the newspapers or watch the news, we see how humanity is still in solidarity with Adam, with sin, with the material world as St. Paul explained in the second reading.

On this first Sunday of Lent, we are reminded anew of our identity as beloved children of the Father in Jesus Christ who showers us with every grace and blessing that we need. Let us live in him, trust in him, hold on to him to experience life anew.

Let us give Jesus a chance to work in us, rise with him to our being beloved children of the Father! Amen.

Photo by author at the ancient city of Jericho, Israel, May 2019.

Our prophetic mission in Christ

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul

First Friday, Week IV, Year II, 07 February 2020

Sirach 47:2-11 ><)))*> 0 <*(((>< Mark 6:14-29

Photo from catholicworldreport.com, “The Beheading of St. John the Baptist” (1869) by Pierre Puvis de Chevannes.

Your gospel today, O Lord, is so appropriate and timely: while we were busy, albeit foolishly discussing the novel coronavirus in every fora, a technical committee in the House of Representatives has approved three measures seeking to legalize divorce in the country.

We do not know what have really happened but it is so sad that no one among the Catholic and Christian lawmakers there made a solid stand against these measures like St. John the Baptist who was imprisoned on account of his objection to Herod’s taking of his brother’s wife Herodias.

So many times, Lord, we are so afraid and worried of what others might say against us when we make a stand for what is right and just, for what is proper and decent, for what is right and good, for what is your will.

Worst, O Lord, many of us are like Herodias who have prostituted our very selves in the service of the worldly allures of sex, fame, and wealth, choosing to be silent with all the many immoralities going on in government, in the society, and even in the church!

Give us the same courage, Lord, you have given your precursor St. John the Baptist to be prophets in this modern age, to be a voice in the wilderness, making a stand for what is holy, true, and just.

Like David, may we always seek your ways, ask for your grace to do your will against the giants and monsters of this world who ram into us every modern thought and idea that disregard the sanctity of life, the value of every person, as well as the sanctity of marriage.

Let us not be silent anymore with the growing impunity of many in their arrogant display of authority, throwing their weight around us with their cuss words and fallacious arguments that dignify their truncated egos and pride for the sake of progress and modernity. Amen.

The evil that is sin

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul

Wednesday, Week 4, Year 2, 05 February 2020

2 Samuel 24:2, 9-17 ><)))*> 0 <*(((>< Mark 6:1-6

The thing we dearly miss in Baguio is the beautiful scenery now marred by houses and buildings sprouting everywhere that pose grave risks to lives in case of calamities.

O God our Father, you are so loving and merciful. You have only one desire for each one of us to be fulfilled in life that you always insist on our obedience and fidelity to you.

One thing we fail to see is the reality of evil that is sin found actually within each one of us, not from without or outside of us. Worst part of sin is how we kind of “assert” its reality in the world through us!

In the first reading, you have given David three options to choose from as his punishment for his grave sin (again) in ordering a census of Israel; he chose pestilence than fall into the hands of his enemies as well as three years of pestilence in his kingdom.

But upon seeing the severity of the pestilence that happened during the wheat harvest, David felt so sorry for his people. Most of all, so guilty of his sin. Just like us whenever we commit grave sins, when we never think of its serious repercussions on others, especially those dearest to us.

When David saw the angel who was striking the people, he said to the Lord: “It is I who have sinned; it is I, the shepherd, who have done wrong. But these are sheep; what have they done? Punish me and my kindred.”

2 Samuel 24:17

In the gospel, we also find ourselves among the town folks of Jesus Christ who “took offense at him” (Mk.6:3) that he was not able to perform any mighty deed there because of their lack of faith.

Yes, Lord Jesus, the problem is with us, not with you.

We are the ones who always make life so miserable and unbearable for us and for others because of our sinfulness.

Forgive us, Lord, for those many times when we were so absorbed with our selves that we totally ignored those around us who have to suffer the consequences of our sins.

Today we pray for the gift of sensitivity and consideration for others. Amen.

Walking the path of the Lord

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul

Friday, St. John Bosco, Priest, Patron of the Youth, 31 January 2020

2 Samuel 11:1-4, 5-10,13-17 ><)))*> 0 <*(((>< Mark 4:26-34

Pilgrims waiting for their turn into the Ascension Chapel at the Mount of Olives outside Jerusalem in Israel. Photo by author, May 2019.

On this last day of January 2020, we thank you God our Father for the grace of being alive and safe, for not forsaking us in this most trying first month of the year where we have seen and experienced many calamities here and abroad, deaths and sickness even among our relatives and friends as well people we look up to for inspirations.

It was a very trying month, Lord, that have sent many of us down into our knees in prayer and reflection, making us realize the many moments you have talked to us “in private” – the same way you did to your Apostles to explain the parables you have narrated (Mk.4:34).

How lovely are those words indeed, evoking a sense of kinship and intimacy with you and the Twelve. You know very well everything in our hearts, our innermost thoughts and feelings that you talk to us personally, in private.

What a shame, O Lord, when we commit despicable sins, believing we do them “in private” like David who had relations with Bathsheba and caused the death of her husband Uriah to cover up his sins.

So many times, Lord, we act like David as if nobody would ever know our sins and evil ways except us alone in private – “walang makakaalam kungdi ako lang” -as if you are not all-powerful (omnipotent), all-knowing (omniscient), and ever-present (omnipresent).

It is so foolish of us, Lord! And we are sorry.

Remind us that our most private moments are in fact the time you are most present with us, and in us. That there is no other path to follow in this life except your path, O Lord. Walk us through, Lord.

Like St. John Bosco, instill in our hearts this beautiful lesson he had taught us with:

From twitter.com

Like St. John Bosco, may we “always have fun in life, but never sin”, thinking only the glory of heaven as the ultimate end of everything we do in life! Amen.

St. John Bosco, pray for us!

Fighting the “beasts” among us

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul

Friday, Week XXXIV, Year I, 29 November 2019

Daniel 7:2-14 ><)))*> ><)))*> ><)))*> Luke 21:29-33

Praise and glory to you, O God! Thank for this blessed Friday, the last working day of November 2019. Most of all, thank you for keeping us safe always in your protection despite our sins and being stubborn.

Like the vision of Prophet Daniel in the first reading, so many “beasts” have tried destroying us. In fact, these “beasts” are so “horrible” that so many people have come to believe them, accepting them and all their lies and malice.

Red Wednesday 2019, Parokya ng San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Bagbaguin, Santa Maria, Bulacan.

There are times that we lose hope, fearing that everything is going to nothing.

Sometimes, it is so difficult to find meaning in life at all amidst all the sufferings and miseries around us and even within us!

May we always trust in your Word, Jesus Christ who became flesh to be with us.

In the many trials and tribulations that come our way, may we always hold on to his assurance:

“Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.”

Luke 21:33

Keep our sights fixed always to you, Jesus.

To never lose hope, to always trust you.

Most of all, to always follow you.

Amen.

Prayer to cleanse our lips

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul

Monday, Memorial of St. Martin of Tours, 11 November 2019

Wisdom 1:1-7 ><)))*> ><)))*> ><)))*> Luke 17:1-6

Photo by jami jari on Pexels.com

It is the start of work and school today, Lord.

Thank you for our jobs, thank you for our schools, thank you for the food and clothes we have.

Thank you very much for the gift of self and most especially for the gift of others.

Unfortunately, O Lord, they are the ones we always hurt with our painful words, and yes, with all sorts of profanities.

If our words were like swords or clubs, or even at least like thorns of the cactus, everyone of us would be beaten black and blue or worst, mangled.

For wisdom is a kindly spirit, yet she acquits not the blasphemer of his guilty lips; because God is the witness of his inmost self and the sure observer of his heart and the listener to his tongue. For the spirit of the Lord fill the world, is all embracing, and knows what man says.

Wisdom 1:6-7

Bless us today, Lord, to be like St. Martin of Tours who always spoke with humility and gentility, full of wisdom and kindness to everyone. Most of all, bless us to be like him to see you Lord among everyone and treat them with respect and dignity always.

Fill us with your wisdom, Lord, especially our public figures that they may never let speak evil of anyone and be an occasion of sin as you warned in the gospel today.

Help us to bring back decency and kindness especially in our language for indeed, “from the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks” (Mt. 12:34).

Cleanse our lips, Lord. Amen.

Ang ating kamukha

Lawiswis ng Salita ni P. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Ika-28 ng Oktubre 2019

Mula sa Google.
Todos los Santos na naman
at kay laking kabaligtaran
naka-ugalian ng karamihan
ipagdiwang mga aswang at katatakutan
sa halip na mga banal at kanilang kabutihan.
Dati-rati nama'y hindi laganap
sa ating kapuluan banyagang kaugalian
pagdiriwang ng Halloween na nasira 
tunay na kahulugan sa kaisipan ng mga
makamundong taga-kanluran.
Halloween ang taguring na nagmula sa 
pinagsamang "hallowed evening"
na kahuluga'y "gabi ng mga banal"
ngunit pilit binabalikan ng mga hangal
maling paniniwala noon pa napasinungalingan.
Akala ng mga paganong Druids 
ng Scotland at Wales sa Bretanya noong unang-una
lumilitaw sa lupa tuwing katapuasan ng Oktubre
mga impakto at masasamang espiritu 
upang makabihag ng mga tao.
Nagdaramit sila at nag-aayos na nakakatakot
parang multo, kamukha ng mga lamang lupa
sa paniniwalang malilito mga impakto na sila'y kasamahan
kampon ng kadiliman at kasamaan
kaya sila iniiwan at hindi sinasaktan.
Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com
Maraming Kristiyano hindi ito nalalaman ni nauunawaan
nakalimutan pangunahing katotohanan ating pinananaligan
nang pumarito si Hesu Kristo, kanya nang tinalo
kapangyarihan ng demonyo 
nang pumaroon siya sa dako ng mga yumao.
Nang mabuhay mag-uli ang Panginoong Hesu Kristo
napanibago niya buong sangnilikha
higit sa lahat, muli nating nakamukha 
Diyos Ama sa ati'y lumikha,
tiniyak ating tahahanan sa piling niya sa kalangitan.
Bakit nga ba ikaw, Kristiyano
ang siya pa ngayong lito at sadyong lilo
mas ibig pag makamukha mga impakto at demonyo
nakukuha pa ninyong matuwa at ikagalak
mga anak ninyong mukhang tiyanak?!
Akala ba ninyo demonyo ang mga nalilito 
sa inyong pagbibihis at pag-aanyong multo?
Hindi ba ninyo batid kayo ang nalilinlang 
sa pagdaramit at pag-aayos ng hunghang
at magtataka pa kayo asal ng inyong anak parang animal?
Madalas kay hirap unawain mga gawi natin 
na katakutan kabutihan at katuwaan ang kasamaan;
sadya nga bang atin nakalimutan
dakilang karangalang tayo'y nilalang 
katulad at kawangis ng mabuting Maykapal?
Diyos ang kamukha natin
kanyang liwanag sana'y mabanaagan din sa atin
upang maghatid ng kagalakang bumubukal
sa malinis at magandang kalooban
lipos ng kabanguhan ng kabutihan at kadalisayan.

“Where” we pray

The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul, Wk. XXX-C, 27 October 2019

Sirach 35:12-14. 16-18 ><}}}*> 2 Timothy 4:6-8. 16-18 ><}}}*> Luke 18:9-14

Photo by the author. Baguio City Cathedral, January 2019.

We have reflected last Sunday that prayer is an expression of our faith.

Where there is faith and prayer, there is always love.

And when we have prayer, faith and love, we have a relationship and community of two or three and more persons together as one, rooted in God.

Today we hear another parable by Jesus only St. Luke has, that of the Pharisee and the tax collector to show us another dimension of faith expressed in prayer.

Photo by the author at the Wall of Jerusalem, May 2017.

Like last week, St. Luke tells us anew the Lord’s purpose in narrating this parable:

Jesus addressed this parable to those who were convinced of their own righteousness and despised everyone else.

Luke 18:9

Were you moved or affected in any way upon hearing our parable today?

Did you feel a silent but swift, sharp thud inside your heart while your mind tried to reason out that the parable is not meant for you?

Listen again and pause, let the Lord’s words sink deeper into your heart:

“Two people went to the temple area to pray; one was a Pharisee and the other was a tax collector. The Pharisee took up his position and spoke this prayer to himself, ‘O God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of humanity — greedy, dishonest, adulterous —- or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week, and I pay tithes on my whole income.’ But the tax collector stood off at a distance and would not even raise his eyes to heaven but beat his breast and prayed, ‘O God, be merciful to me a sinner.’

Luke 18:10-13

If prayer creates a relationship, Jesus is teaching us today the right attitude we must have to keep this communion we have in faith and love. Any relationship is bound to fail, or would not even exist at all despite the formalities of having ties and links like what we see or even have in our various social circles where roles are just acted out.

We call it “plastic” or fake. Untrue!

Praying at the Garden of Gethsemane, May 2019.

Prayer to be efficacious like any relationship must always be true.

Here Jesus directs our attention in the “where” when we pray – not just the location or locus of our prayer but our “place” in that relationship first with God who is our very foundation.

When all we see is our self in prayer like in any relationship, there is always a problem. It is clearly a one way street, a monologue.

Worst of all, it is an indication of the absence of God or even others because the pray-er is so preoccupied with his or her very self!

The Pharisee was clearly not in God even if he were in front of the temple. His very self was very far from God and all he had was his bloated ego. He may be a very pious person but not really good at all for he has no space for God and for others. He is a very closed man without any room for others.

The tax collector, on the other hand, may be physically far outside the temple but was the one actually nearest to God with his self-acceptance and ownership of his sinfulness, of his need for God. He was closest to God because he was more open with God and with others by admitting his own sinfulness.

Again we find the key to tis Sunday’s parable towards the end:

(Jesus said) ‘I tell you, the latter (tax collector) went home justified, not the former; for whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.'”

Luke 18:14
Photo by Dra. Mai B. Dela Pena, Germany, 2016.

Prayer is more than entering a church or a prayer room, or finding our most suitable spot or space to pray.

Prayer is being one with God, of being suffused in God.

“Where” are we when we pray?

First, we become one with God, one in him in prayer when we first admit our sinfulness, when we confess our sins to him, and own them without any “ifs” and “buts”.

God always comes to those who truly open themselves to him by emptying themselves of their sins and inadequacies.

The tax collector was justified in his prayer more than the Pharisee because in confessing his sins, he admitted his need for God. He knew very well his place, so unlike the Pharisee who felt God owes him so much!

When Pope Francis granted his first media interview (to their Jesuit Magazine!), the first question asked of him was, “who is Jose Mario Bergoglio?”

The Holy Father quickly answered, “I am a sinner.”

No wonder when he was elected Pope on March 13, 2013 at the Vatican, he first asked for prayers from the huge crowd gathered before he bestowed his apostolic blessing to them. It clearly showed that despite his holding the highest post in the Church, he considers himself a sinner, so weak needing prayers from the people.

I always tell couples during weddings that when they have a quarrel, the first one to speak and make the move for reconciliation is the one with most love, the one who is most willing to bow to start anew.

Most often in life, friendships and relationships are kept when we are willing to take the lower stance, not necessarily admitting fault or guilt in any misunderstanding because being lowly indicates the person’s need for the other person and of one’s love to work on that relationship despite its fragility.

Ordination of deacons, Malolos Cathedral, 12 June 2019.

Second, we are in God and with God in prayer when we have that attitude and inner disposition of being poor and lowly. Being lowly or poor means having the conviction to leave everything behind and go down with God into the lowest point because one is so confident of the efficacy of prayer like what Ben Sirach tells us in the first reading.

Most of all, like Mary the Mother of Jesus during the Annunciation of the Christ’s birth.

The one who serves God willingly is heard; his petition reaches the heaven. The prayer of the lowly pierces the clouds; it does not rest till it reaches its goal.

And thirdly, we are in God in prayer when there is an offering daily of one’s self to God.

It is not enough to be lowly and sorry for our sins in prayer. It has to be sustained because prayer is also a discipline like any sport. In the second reading, St. Paul calls us to persevere and endure until the end for Jesus Christ.

We need to be passionate with our prayer life, willing to go to all extent to offer everything for the Lord, to fulfill his will “who shall award us with the crown of righteousness in heaven.”

We are all sinners forgiven and beloved by God.

May we find ourselves in God and with God always both in our sinfulness and lowliness. Amen.