The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Tuesday in the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time, Year II, 18 June 2024 1 Kings 21:17-29 <'[[[[><< + ><]]]]'> Matthew 5:43-48
Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, 20 March 2024.
God our merciful Father, grant me the grace today to understand my sins more clearly so that I may come to sorrow for them, sorrow that leads to love of your Son Jesus Christ and not despair; let me keep in mind that sin is not just a breaking of your laws and rules but simply a refusal to love You and others around me; and the worst part of sin we are not aware of is how it seriously affects our personality, our personhood because whenever we sin we become a less-loving person.
So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.
Matthew 5:48
Being perfect, being holy like You, dear Father, means being filled by You which is a process of daily conversion when we ask your forgiveness Father, to gain a better self-knowledge of ourselves to identify our weaknesses and sinfulness so that in your grace, we become a better person than before.
Let us have within us that sense of sinfulness and sense of sin, Father so that we we may grow in your love. Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Monday in the Eleventh Week of Ordinary Time, Year II, 17 June 2024 1 Kings 21:1-16 <*((((><< + >><))))*> Matthew 5:38-42
Photo by Dra. Mylene A. Santos, MD in Infanta, Quezon, April 2020.
Your words today, O God are so agitating, "nakaka-init po ng ulo": it is an old story we have all memorized but every time we hear it, we are so moved in anger because it continues to happen in our own time, especially the truth that we never run out of scoundrels, of corrupt and evil people willing to sell their souls, to lie and malign others, even kill for money and wealth.
This is what Jezebel wrote in the letters: “Proclaim a fast and set Naboth at the head of the people. Next, get two scoundrels to face him and accuse him of having cursed God and king. Then take himmout and stone him to death.” His fellow citizens – the elders and the nobles who dwelt in his city – dis as Jezebel had ordered them in writing, through the letters she had sent them… On hearing that Naboth was dead, Ahab started off on his way down to the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, to take possession of it.
1 Kings 21:9-11, 16
Forgive us, merciful Father in conniving with the modern Jezebels and scoundrels with our nasty talks and comments against others especially in social media; we may not be committing sin at the same scale as that of Jezebel and her cohorts but still, we continue this cycle of evil and violence in what we consider at small talks that are true after all... Oh God, forgive us in taking away the honor and dignity of so many people with our careless comments and even likes in social media posts.
Teach us in Jesus Christ your Son, Father, to go the extra mile in fighting this vicious circle of evil; give us the courage in Jesus to turn the other cheek by firmly standing on our ground at His Cross in resisting violence and revenge, in showing others that love always prevails, the love is the most potent force in the universe not greed nor hatred, that only love conquers all. Amen.
Photo by Dra. Mylene A. Santos, MD in Infanta, Quezon, April 2020.
The Lord Is My Chef Easter Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Pentecost Sunday-B, 19 May 2024 Acts 2:1-11 ><]]]]'> Galatians 5:16-25 ><]]]]'> John 15:26-27, 16:12-15
Illustration from istockphoto.com.
Blessed happy birthday to everyone this Pentecost Sunday, the “birthday” or official coming out party of the Church! In the Ascension of Jesus last Sunday, we have an upward movement that was a “leveling up” in our relationships with God and one another, calling us to be light to rise.
Today’s Pentecost Sunday is opposite, a downward move that “presses” us to “spread” like in compressing a sandwich to make it wider or bigger, calling us to be small and be “dissolved” so we can be mixed or shared with others.
Sorry for sounding a recipe but that’s how we are all as the kingdom of God here on earth – the Body of Christ we His disciples make up as the Church in the power of the Holy Spirit whose very image is us.
When time for Pentecost was fulfilled, they were all in one place together. And suddenly there came from the sky a noise like a strong driving wind, and it filled the entire hose in which they were. Then there appeared to them tongues of fire, which parted and came to rest on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in different tongues, as the Spirit enabled them to proclaim.
Acts 2:1-4
Pentecost is not just an event in the past but a daily reality calling us to be “dissolved” in ourselves, to be little and small so that we can be one with others to be united in Christ through the Holy Spirit.
Being a Christian is being united, being one in Jesus; remove “Christ” in the word Christian, we are left with the letters -ian that stand for “I-am-nothing”.
That is why we as the Church is the image or icon of the Holy Spirit, the Third Person of the Blessed Trinity promised by Jesus to come after His ascension. It is the principle of unity in the Trinity because the Holy Spirit is the love that exists between the Father and the Son. This union between the Father and the Son happens also among us, the community of believers despite our diversities and differences when we allow the Holy Spirit to empower us in our daily dying to ourselves that Jesus likened to the grain of wheat that falls to the ground in order to grow and yield bountiful harvest (Jn. 12:24-26). This is the reason why St. Paul calls us to live in the Spirit in the second reading:
I say, then: live by the Spirit and you will certainly not gratify the desire of the flesh. For the flesh has desires against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; these are opposed to each other, so that you may not do what you want… Now those who belong to Christ have crucified their flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit. Let us not be conceited, provoking one another, envious of one another.
Galatians 5:16-17, 24-26
Jesus is inviting us today to go through daily Pentecost by allowing the Holy Spirit to “burn” us with its fire, to dissolve our old selves to become new in Him. It is a process of conversion, of daily dying in our flesh in order to build up His Church.
Here we go back to one of the central theme of Jesus of becoming like a child, becoming small which is true greatness because that is when we no longer live but Christ in us as St. Paul experienced. Today he tells us some of the works of our old self we must turn away from like “immorality, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, hatreds, rivalry, jealousy, outbursts of fury, acts of selfishness, dissensions, factions, occasions of envy, drinking bouts, orgies, and the like” (Gal. 5:19-21).
See how all his examples lead to disunity and divisions instead of unity that is happening today. Some people call for inclusivity but the opposite happens as we get divided so sharply that anyone who opposes them is accused of “gaslighting” or worst, end up being “cancelled”! So sad that some people are exaggeratingtruth when in fact they are exaggerating themselves as new standards of truth, insisting themselves and their beliefs on us.
Why change the rules of grammar or beauty pageants or genders just because they are different? Worst, they want to change even religious feasts like Santacruzan or the praying of the Our Father! Where is the unity in diversity if there is one group insisting on themselves? What happens is a repeat of the Tower of Babel, not of the Pentecost.
Losing ourselves in the Holy Spirit does not hinder our search for truth. The Holy Spirit actually leads us to the whole truth of Jesus revealed in His coming but He is too big to be grasped wholly that He continues to unfold, telling us we can only arrive at truth when we think in Him, with Him, and through Him in the Holy Spirit.
“I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now. But when he comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth. He will not speak on his own, but he will speak wht he hears, and will declare to you the things that are coming. He will glorify me, because he will take from what is mine and declare it to you. Everything that the Father has is mine; for this reason I told you that he will take from what is mine and declare it to you.”
John 16:12-15
The key here is being small, being dissolved in the Holy Spirit to see the larger whole who is Jesus Christ found in the face of every person next to us. See how we find in the first reading the reality of the Church starting out big right away as “catholic” or universal when it began on Pentecost speaking all the languages of the world, uniting the peoples as one in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Stained glass of the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove as background of the Chair of St. Peter in the Vatican in Rome; photo from wikipedia.
The Church never started small like a club spreading into federations to become one. We become a part of that big reality of the Church in Christ by becoming small, by being dissolved by the fire of the Holy Spirit by letting go of our selfish selves.
The Holy Spirit continues to come down to us in daily Pentecost explaining and revealing to us the truth of Jesus through the many events iand persons in our lives. When my mother was still alive, she was the only reason why I came home; but, after she had left us peacefully last week, I have realized I still have to come home for my family and relatives and friends. It is a process of dying in myself amid the pain of seeing her room empty, that she is gone.
Death, like the ascension of Jesus is not about replacing those who have left us but a Pentecost, of allowing the Spirit to come to make us smaller, to be one with those still with us to continue celebrating life. That is when we experience the “fruit of Spirit” like “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (Gal. 5:22-23). When that happens, then we have the Church as well as our own family as an image and indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Let us pray:
Lord Jesus Christ, make us aware of the coming of the Holy Spirit to us in our daily Pentecost; keep us open and humble, dissolve our selfishness, our pride, our "flesh" so that we may live in the Holy Spirit as the Church, its very image here on earth. Amen. Have a Spirit-filled week ahead!
The Lord Is My Chef Easter Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Tuesday in the Sixth Week of Easter, 07 May 2024 Acts 16:22-34 <*((((>< + ><))))*> John 16:5-11
Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, March 2023.
The crowd in Philippi joined in the attack on Paul and Silas, and 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 16:22-23
Lord Jesus, thank You for joining us in our humanity, in everything except sin so that we too are able to join You in Your divinity. Unfortunately, most often we join the wrong causes, the wrong people, the sinful and evil ways of the world instead of joining You and Your works. Until now this scene in Philippi continues in our days when we join others in bringing down those doing good, to hurt and put to shame those doing Your work.
Teach us, Jesus,
to join,
to connect,
to link,
to unite,
and to attach
ourselves
with You,
in You
and through You
like the jailer of
St. Paul
who chose to join
life and light
than join his masters
in evil;
keep us attuned
always to the Holy Spirit
to be aware
and conscious always
of Your ways and moves
we must follow
so that eventually at the end
of this journey on earth,
we join You in
eternal life.
Amen.
Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, March 2023.
The Lord Is My Chef Easter Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Wednesday in the Second Week of Easter, 10 April 2024 Acts 5:17-26 ><}}}}*> + ><}}}}*> + ><}}}}*> John 3:16-21
Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, 20 March 2024.
When the captain of the temple guard and the chief priests heard this report, they were at a loss about them, as to what this would come to.
Acts 5:24
Your words, O Lord, from the first reading are very amusing: after discovering the jail securely locked with guards stationed outside but the apostles nowhere, they were the ones who felt at a "loss"; they who have imprisoned the Apostles were the ones LOST when they were supposed to control the situation.
How ironic so often in life when we feel to have been more in control of everything even people, when we feel we lord over everyone, that is when we feel more empty, and more at a loss.
And this is the verdict, that the light came into the world, but people preferred darkness to light, because their works were evil.
John 3:19
Photo by author, Jesuit Cemetery at the Sacred Heart Novitiate.
Forgive us, Lord Jesus in choosing darkness of sin, darkness of pride, darkness of bitterness and of unforgiving that is why many times we are at a loss in life especially when we profess to believe in You, when we claim to be Your disciples; let us go toward Your light of truth and justice, Your light of loving service, Your light of mercy and forgiveness so that in our very selves, people may truly experience "God so loved the world." Amen.
40 Shades of Lent by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Holy Wednesday, "Spy Wednesday", 27 March 2024 Isaiah 50:4-9 + + + Matthew 26:14-25
Photo by author, dusk falls at the Sacred Heart Novitiate in Novaliches, 20 March 2024.
Today is "spy Wednesday" for it was on this night when Judas Iscariot struck a deal with your enemies, Lord Jesus to betray you; tonight is said to be the night of traitors, of betrayers.
One of the Twelve, who was called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, “What are you willing to give me if I hand him over to you?” They paid him thirty pieces of silver, and from that time on he looked for an opportunity to hand him over.
Matthew 26:14-16
Photo by author, dusk falls at the Sacred Heart Novitiate in Novaliches, 20 March 2024.
Oh how we hate, O Lord Jesus to be called a traitor, a betrayer, a Judas Iscariot! And yet, too often, it is so true of us whenever we sin, not only when we turn away from you but most of all, when we "hand you over" - the literal meaning of betrayal - when we pass you over for somebody better, for something useful and convenient.
Forgive us, Lord Jesus, for having the same Judas Iscariot within us, in collaborating with the Judas Iscariot among us when we repeatedly hand you over like a thing or a tool for our own selfish ends as we say in Filipino, "pinagpapasa-pasahan" repeatedly passed on like a thing in exchange of what or whom we find better, convenient and useful; most sad part in betrayal dear Jesus, is how we disregard the trust we have with each other and from each other.
Same photo with preceding one this time with filters.
Help me imitate you, Lord Jesus Christ like the Suffering Servant according to Isaiah in the first reading by being the person who breaks the cycle of violence and betrayal; like the psalmist today, let "zeal for your house consume me" Lord, that is, be filled with your Holy Spirit so that I may act and respond to others from my heart where you dwell not from my pains and hurts, nor from the many betrayals inflicted on me by others. Amen.
Quiet Storm by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, 18 March 2024
A sweet Sunday reconnecting with my former students, Karen and Kweenie.
Had a very wonderful impromptu get together this Sunday with two former students from our girls’ high school in Malolos. But more than having a blast from 25 years we have known one another because Karen had been my student since her elementary school way back in 1998, it was for me a wonderful reconnection as Kweenie noted on our way home after our long lunch.
Reconnection.
The word remained in my mind last night until today as I began my annual personal retreat just before my 59th birthday on Friday. When Karen brought up the idea of having lunch just to see each other, I felt it was more than a coincidence but part of God’s plan for my retreat, which is essentially, a reconnection of the highest order.
And here are my random thoughts on reconnecting before my vacation with the Lord starts tonight.
Photo by author, Baguio City, 12 July 2023.
Connect. From the Latin words, "con" for "with" and "nectere" or "to bind", to connect is to bind together; to fuse, to make as one. To unite. Opposite of being connected is to be separated. To be alone. To be apart.
Photo by Dra. Mylene A. Santos, MD, in France, 2022.
God designed nature to be connected: animal species gather together as herds and schools and flocks everywhere while flowers bloom facing the sun and other plants as twigs and vines extend so that they cover everything while trees though standing apart reach out to other trees with their tops always bending towards another tree.
Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, 20 March 2023.
How unfortunate that we humans who were ironically the only ones created in God's "image and likeness" are the ones who tend to separate always from God and one another - beginning with one's self; many times in our many "connections" when we spread ourselves so much as being scattered, we get disconnected with self, others, and God.
Wherever there is disconnection, there is also sin when connections are severed, cut-off, and destroyed.
Photo from en.wikipedia.org, “Creation of Adam” by Michaelangelo at the Sistine Chapel, the Vatican.
God is the most vital of all of our connections; He is in fact THE connection because He is our life; to be separated from Him means sickness or death, even damnation as in hell; that is why Jesus came so that we may reconnect with God, with self, and with others.
Photo by author in Baras, Rizal, January 2021.
To be connected, to reconnect is to be whole again; getting connected happens when there is acceptance of being separated, when we are humble enough to say sorry with those connections we have abused or taken for granted, neglected and rejected; reconnection happens when we realize that everything - time, place, people, and God are interconnected as one big whole that no matter how small we may be in this vast universe, we matter. That's when we find meaning and purpose and direction; not far from that, we find and experience fullness amid the many brokenness.
Lord Jesus, keep me connected with you, with others, and with my very self. Amen.
Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, 18 March 2024.
40 Shades of Lent by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Wednesday in the Second Week of Lent, 28 February 2024 Jeremiah 18:18-20 <*[[[[>< + + + ><]]]]*> Matthew 20:17-28
Photo by author, Dominus Flevit Church in Jerusalem, 2017.
Lord God our Father, your words today are too heavy, so difficult to grasp as they seem to be totally unrelated with each other until they showed me a frightening reality - that Lent is facing rejection, of hearing our enemies speak strongly against us.
The people of Judah and the citizens of Jerusalem said, “Come, let us contrive a plot against Jeremiah. It will not mean the loss of instruction from the priests nor of counsel from the wise nor of messages from the prophets. And so, let us destroy him by his own tongue; let us carefully note his every word.”
Jeremiah 18:18
Photo by author, near the Dead Sea, May 2017.
Like Jeremiah, so many times we have cried to you his very same words, "Must good be repaid with evil that they should dig a pit to take my life?" (Jeremiah 18:20).
In the gospel today, the other ten disciples heard the mother of James and John asking Jesus to sit her sons on his right and his left in his kingdom, making them "indignant" of their fellow disciples baring their selfish plans before their faces to supersede them, to outsmart them.
Photo by author, Benguet, 12 July 2023.
Many times, O Lord, it happens to us, when before us those we consider as friends, as colleagues have motives of getting ahead of us, of dominating us, of ruling over us.
It is painful and sickening of how people are preoccupied with themselves like the enemies of Jeremiah and the brothers James and John!
Remind us, Jesus, that we only share in your grace of being saved, of being redeemed as beloved children of the Father; when we hear harsh, nasty words against us; when people are so hard against us for whatever reasons; when people compete with us if there is no competition at all; when we are face-to-face with rejections, let us hold on more to you, Lord; in your kindness, save us!
Photo by Ms. Jo Villafuerte in Atok, Benguet, 01 September 2019.
Help me, Jesus, to be your faithful servant, called to serve not to be served; called to ministry not to me-nistry of popularity; most of all, let me be anchored in your Cross, of being like you, obedient to the Father for his glory. Amen.
40 Shades of Lent by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Tuesday in the Second Week of Lent, 27 February 2024 Isaiah 1;10, 16-20 <*[[[[>< + + + ><]]]]*> Matthew 23:1-12
Praise and glory to you, God our Father, for this Season of Lent! Though it is characterized with sobriety due to the the spirit of penance, you have ensured it not to be dull nor drab with the joy of Easter we all anticipate. And so, what a joy to listen to your words today of the bursts of reds you promised to cleanse and turn into white as snow.
Come now, let us set things right, says the Lord. Though your sins be like scarlet, they may become white as snow; though they be crimson red, they may become white as wool.
Isaiah 1:18
Your words make me wonder, Lord, why sins be like scarlet and crimson? Could it be because both shades evoke power we humans always abuse that consciously or unconsciously, we draw blood that in the process take life of others because of our sinful desires and schemes; forgive us, O Lord, for our hypocrisies that have killed others literally and figuratively.
In Jesus' name, help us, O God to "set things right", to be true and humble before you for "Whoever exalts himself will be humbled; but whoever humbles himself will be exalted" (Matthew 23:12); let us set things right by being fair and just especially to those weak and marginalized; let us set things right by giving back what we have stolen from others; let us set things right by being concerned with others through love and good works that uplift people physically, morally, and spiritually. Amen.
Photo by Ms. Ria De Vera in Calgary, Alberta, 21 February 2024.
Lawiswis ng Salita ni P. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Ika-21 ng Pebrero 2024
Larawan mula sa forbes.com, 2019.
Ang demonyong cellphone tukso at ugat ng pagkakasala sa maraming pagkakataon; mga chismis, maling impormasyon kinakalat agad namang kinakagat ng marami sa pag-iisip at pang-unawa ay salat.
Ang demonyong cellphone hindi mabitiwan hindi maiwanan palaging iniingatan mga tinatagong lihim larawan at kahalayan ng huwad nating katauhan.
Ang demonyong cellphone istorbo at pang-gulo panginoong hindi mapahindian napakalaking kawalan kung hindi matandaan saan naiwanan, katinuan nawala nang tuluyan.
Ang demonyong cellphone winawasak ating katahimikan nawala na rin ating kapanatagan sa halip maghatid ng kaisahan pagkakahiwa-hiwalay bunga sa maraming karanasan pinalitan pamilya at kaibigan.
Ang demonyong cellphone lahat na lang ibinunyag wala nang pitagan ni paggalang sa kasagraduhan ng bawat nilalang ultimo kasamaan nakabuyangyang, pinagpipistahan.
Ang demonyong cellphone palagi nang namamagitan sa ating mga ugnayan atin nang nakalimutan damhin kapanatilihan pinalitan nitong malamig na kasangkapan pintig ng kalooban.
Sa panahong ito ng Kuwaresma iwanan at bitiwan ang cellphone dumedemonyo, nagpapagulo sa buhay nating mga tao; manahimik katulad ni Kristo sa ilang nitong ating buhay upang Siya ay makaniig at marinig Kanyang tinig ika'y iniibig!
Ang painting na “Temptation in the Wilderness” ni Briton Riviere (1840-1920) mula sa commons.wikimedia.org.
lordmychef.com 