The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Monday, Memorial of St. Athanasius, Doctor of the Church, 02 May 2022
Acts 6:8-15 ><))))*> + <*((((>< John 6:22-29
Photo by Ms. Jing Rey Henderson in Taroytoy, Aklan, 29 April 2022.
In this Season of Easter,
help us, dear Lord Jesus
to know you more clearly
so that we may deepen our
faith in you and eventually do
your work of loving service
to one another; so many times
in life we seek you for selfish
and personal reasons
like the people you have fed
at the wilderness.
And when they found him across the sea they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?” Jesus answered them and said, “Amen, amen, I say to you, you are looking for me not because you saw the signs but because you ate the loaves and were filled. Do not work for food that perishes but for food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him the Father, God, has set his seal.”
John 6:25-27
Like St. Stephen in the first
reading, fill us with passion
in "working for God" which is
primarily to believe in you as
the Christ, the one he sent;
but so many times, even in this
modern age, we doubt you,
O Jesus, as the Son of God:
like those Jews, we ask
"when did you get here" -
from where are you, Jesus,
because we always doubt you
as the Son of God like our separated
brothers and sisters until now
influenced by Arianism.
Hence, it is not enough for us
to be simply passionate like St. Stephen -
grant us the academic discipline
of St. Athanasius whose memorial
we celebrate today;
his sound mental acumen formed by
his deep spirituality based on prayers
made him a pillar of the Church in
defending your truth as the Son of God.
The more he knew you more clearly,
the more he followed you closely
even if he was banished so many
times from his posts due to his rootedness
in you; most of all, in his knowledge
and wisdom, the more he loved you dearly,
Jesus, by serving the flock entrusted to him.
Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Second Week of Easter-C or Divine Mercy Sunday, 24 April 2022 Acts 5:12-16 ><]]]]’> Revelation 9:1-11, 12-13, 17-19 ><]]]]’> John 20:19-31
Photo by author at Puerto del Sol, Bolinao, Pangasinan, 20 April 2022.
Admittedly, Lent is easier to experience and express than Easter due to its many practicalities. Lent is easier to understand and embrace with the many penitential practices we can undertake like fasting and abstinence, penance, and alms-giving that all came from and directed to our daily living. Remember our expression last season that “life is a daily Lent.”
Easter is different. It is not easily understood especially in our country when it is the hottest season when everything is dried and seems to be dying unlike in Europe and North America where it is springtime with a dazzling display of wonderful colors evoking life everywhere.
Our gospel this Sunday shows us how Easter had confronted the Lord’s disciples with an entirely new reality that was far beyond the limits of their experience, something which continues to our days, in our very lives. Christ’s Resurrection has opened new possibilities in our existence that affects everyone and leads us to a new kind of future so difficult in explaining and expressing but something very true inside us perfectly captured in our Filipino expression of “ah basta!”
See how simple are the accounts of the Lord’s appearances to his disciples without much details and descriptions:
Photo by author, Holy Sepulchre Church, Jerusalem, 2017.
On the evening of that first day of the week, when the doors were locked, where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be with you.” When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.”
John 20:19-23
Last Sunday we have mentioned the need for us to be open and empty at the same time to truly experience the joy and grandeur of Easter, exactly what our gospel tells us today. Nothing much is said about the reactions by the disciples of Jesus except that they “rejoiced” upon seeing him breaking through locked doors and windows.
But, if we try to dwell into the scene, we can feel a certain amount of energy bursting forth, an inexpressible intensity found in Jesus and in his disciples as well on that evening of the first day of the week.
John did not tell us how long Jesus stayed with the disciples nor how they rejoiced upon seeing him but we can imagine and feel the intensity both in Jesus and among the disciples on that evening and eventually the following Sunday when Jesus appeared anew in the same manner with Thomas already present.
See in both instances how John simply stated Jesus broke through locked doors and windows that caught the disciples in deep silence and adoration of the Risen Lord, of how their fears were allayed by the the gift of peace, of how sins were forgiven and doubts erased by Christ’s presence that eventually led to their seeing and believing in him.
And what happened? Jesus rose from the dead! He did not merely resuscitate from death but broke out into entirely new form of life, a life no longer subject to death and physical realities paving the way for us to enter into new dimensions in life too.
Like Thomas, Jesus touches us in the most personal and unique manner that deep inside us we also cry with intensity “my Lord and my God” to him especially during consecration at the Mass. In the second reading, we have heard how John who was then a prisoner at Patmos Island off the coast of Greece was also touched by Jesus with his right hand and told not to be afraid (Rev. 1:17) in proclaiming his gospel of salvation.
Though we can enumerate so many reasons and persons who have led us into believing in Jesus, we also admit at the same time that there is no specifically single reason nor person for our faith in God except our very selves, of our personal conviction that transcends all proofs and logic as well. Again, that expression we have of “ah basta!”
Photo by author at Puerto del Sol, Bolinao, Pangasinan, 20 April 2022.
The grace of this second Sunday of Easter which is also the eighth day of the octave known recently as “Divine Mercy Sunday” is how God through Jesus Christ comes to us as someone so small and invisible. And so intense in his love for us, breaking all barriers just to be with us especially when we too feel so locked inside with fears like the disciples.
As we have reflected last week by becoming empty and open, we often find our mighty God in little things we usually dismiss or disregard like the mustard seed.
On that evening of Easter, Jesus came in all silence and simplicity, leaving us with not much material proofs except the testimony and works of his witnesses, the disciples.
Such is the mystery of the Resurrection by Jesus that is beyond descriptions and reason because it is of another dimension and world; but, we know it is true because we ourselves have experienced the Risen Lord in so many ways sometimes so plain and simple, even sometimes too funny to mention.
One undeniable fact of the veracity of the Resurrection of Jesus is the shift by the early Christians from the Sabbath day of worship into Sunday, the first day of the week. Remember the first Christians were all Jewish like Jesus; for them to abandon the Sabbath day worship and replaced it with Sunday means something so intense must have happened on that day itself and with them as well.
Because of Christ’s Resurrection, life is forever changed for the best amid all the many problems and chaos we have been through in the past 2000 years, giving us with so much hopes for a better tomorrow despite the many darkness coming our way. The key is to remain intense in our faith in Jesus Christ.
Dearest Jesus,
grant me the intensity to proclaim
you and your gospel of salvation
in both words and deeds;
use my hands
to do many signs and wonders
among your people like your Apostles
but never to replace you;
let my mission be an intense
proclamation always that you alone
is my Lord and my God.
Amen.
Video by author at Puerto del Sol, Bolinao, Pangasinan, 20 April 2022.
Quiet Storm by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Holy Tuesday, 12 April 2022
Isaiah 49:1-6 + John 13:21-33, 36-38
Photo by Ms. Ria De Vera, Christ the King Procession, 2020.
Maybe so many times you have felt nothing seems to be happening with all your efforts in school or office, in your relationships, and even in your prayers and devotions. Everything seems to be going to nothing at all.
Have a heart. Just be faithful in your studies, in your work, with your family and friends, most especially with God.
Though I thoughts I had toiled in vain, and for nothing, uselessly, spent my strength, yet my reward is with the Lord, my recompense is with my God.
Isaiah 49:4
When I was still a seminarian, there was a moment after our class when I went straight into our chapel and slouched on a pew, complaining and whining to God for the many problems that never stopped coming my way despite my efforts to be good. With my head bowed down, I had a litany of complaints to God that I felt like packing my things, go home and forget all about the priesthood. But after getting tired with my monologue and as I raised my head, something struck me that I felt so good while looking at our huge image of the Crucifixion at the altar of the chapel. As I looked in silence, I felt myself praying,
"Lord Jesus Christ,
before all these pains and sufferings came,
before all these problems happened,
you were there first on the Cross -
suffering for me, dying for me first."
Photo by author, ICMAS Chapel (Theology Dept.), 2020.
My dear friends, holiness is being faithful to God in Jesus Christ. St. Mother Teresa perfectly said that, “We are called to be faithful, not successful.” In my 24 years in the priesthood, I have realized that many times, our success are actually failures with God while our failures are what he often considers as success!
Of course, we need to plan and set goals in life and in work but we need to focus more on Jesus Christ as center of our lives, trying to see everything in his light not in our own limited views and perceptions. There so many things in life that cannot be quantified like our spiritual and emotional well-being on which actually depend many of our other aims in our personal and professional life.
Notice how in our gospel today the Apostles were so focused on themselves instead with Jesus that they totally missed what he was telling them about his coming betrayal by “one of them”. Particularly interesting was Simon Peter who asked the beloved disciple, John, to clarify it with Jesus since he was seated closest to him.
He leaned back against Jesus’ chest and said to him, “Master, who is it?” Jesus answered, “It is the one to whom I had the morsel after I have dipped it.” So he dipped the morsel and took it and handed it to Judas, son of Simon the Iscariot. After Judas took the morsel, Satan entered him. So Jesus said to him, “What you are going to do, do quickly.” Now none of those reclining at table realized why he said this to him.
John 13:25-28
Did you see the comedy, the humor?
Everybody was so focused on everyone and with each self except with Jesus! Were they so dumb not to understand the words of Jesus that to whomever he would give the morsel dipped in wine is the one who would betray him? Not really. Most likely, they were not listening, they were not focused on Jesus but with their very selves.
Being faithful is first of all being focused on God, in Jesus.
How can God fill us with his holiness when our thoughts and our being are always somewhere else or with somebody else? How can God fill us with his holiness when we cannot spend time with him every day in prayer?
Photo by author, Mass by the shore of Galilee, the Holy Land, 2017.
How lovely is the context of Simon Peter’s question that it happened during their Last Supper because that is where our fidelity to God is first nurtured to grow and deepened – at the Holy Eucharist of the Mass.
Remember, the minimum requirement for anyone to be called a good, practicing Catholic is to go Mass every Sunday. That is the most minimum but, have we kept it? It has been more than two months since we returned to alert level 1 in this time of the pandemic with almost everybody going to the malls and many vacation spots but what a shame when many still refuse to go to churches for the Sunday Mass!
Being faithful to Jesus to become holy begins with the Sunday Eucharist where we are nourished by the words of God and by the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ himself who enables us to overcome the many trials and difficulties of this life and make it into the Father’s house in eternity.
Have you gone back to your parish church for the Sunday Masses?
Forgive us, Lord Jesus Christ,
for being unfaithful to you,
for betraying you like Judas Iscariot
right in the context of the Holy Eucharist
when we skip Sunday Masses;
when we come to Mass not for you
but for our friends to whom we listen more;
and most especially when we refuse or fail
to practice the essence of the Eucharist
of sharing the love of Christ to everyone.
Amen.
Photo by author, Parish of St. John the Baptist in Calumpit, Bulacan, 31 March 2022.
40 Shades of Lent by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Friday in the Fifth Week of Lent, 08 April 2022
Jeremiah 20:10-13 <*[[[[>< + ><]]]]*> John 10:31-42
Photo by author, Lent 2020 in the midst of COVID-19 lockdown.
As we approach
the closing of Lent
this weekend with the
start of the Holy Week,
we pray, dear God our Father,
for the grace to continue to
seek and follow your Son
Jesus Christ:
They they tried again to arrest him; but he escaped from their power. He went back across the Jordan to the place where John first baptized, and there he remained. Many came to him and said, “John performed no sign, but everything John said about this man was true.” And many there began to believe in him.
John 10:39-42
Indeed, life is a daily Lent,
a constant coming of your Son
Jesus Christ accompanying us to
pass over every day from darkness
into light, from sickness into health,
and from sin into grace; Lent is
both a preparation and a fulfillment
of Easter if we believe as John
had testified in Jordan a long time ago
that Jesus is the Christ,
the one on whom the Spirit
dwells (cf. Jn.1:32-34).
Until now, O God,
many among us still doubt
you, refusing to accept Jesus
as the Christ like his enemies in
Jerusalem; no miracle will suffice
for them to be believe unless
they remove their blindness and
shed off their layers of pretensions
of knowing you even in the
scriptures; like those who have
followed Jesus at Jordan after
being stoned in Jerusalem, may we
truly believe in him by deepening
our faith in him especially in moments
of trials and tribulations like Jeremiah.
Most especially, dear God,
we pray for those who continue
to refuse to believe in you,
those who malign your good
and holy name in words and
in deeds by persecuting those
testifying to Jesus as the Christ.
Help us to witness the truth
of Jesus Christ, to tell others
of your unconditional love as
testified in the many good works
through Christ. Amen.
Quiet Storm by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
A Wedding Homily for Cristopher T. San Pedro & Fatima Macam
National Shrine of St. Jude, Manila, 22 February 2022
Photo by Ms. Jo Villafuerte, 21 February 2022.
You must have heard the saying that “God writes straight crooked lines”. And today that proves so true not only with how God wrote so crooked his straight lines in your life, Cris and Tim, but even wrote in circles to make this date your wedding day – 22 February 2022!
Cris and Tim, God has always been so sure in calling you before his altar on this date, which will similarly happen again in 200 years – 22 February 2222!
God writes straight crooked lines because everything in him is perfect, like numbers. Precise and exact.
Like this date you never chose, 02-22-2022.
When you consulted me last month when priests here offered you this date due to their recent lockdown, right away I told you it is the most wonderful date for your wedding being the Feast of St. Peter’s Chair… St. Peter as in San Pedro like Cristopher Tabafunda San Pedro and later, Mrs. Fatima Macam San Pedro!
It was God who willed in all eternity that you, Cris and Tim, be married today — not last year, not the other week nor next week because today is the day that the Lord has made!
From Facebook of couple.
You are both good with numbers like God, a mathematician who is very precise and exact like an economist and stock trader (Cris) and a marketing and sales executive (Tim) who used to do a lot of chemical research before.
But God has better and deeper plans for you that numbers cannot count nor quantify.
God wants you to always go back to basic numbers, not to those found in equations only you two can understand or multiple digits only you can count.
Jesus said it so well in the gospel today: two is equal to one, just like 1 + 1 + 1 = 1 of the Trinity.
“For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh? So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, no human being must separate.”
Matthew 19:5-6
Life is not about having the most but the least. That is where faith grows and deepens.
Photo by Ms. Jo Villafuerte, 21 February 2022.
When we have so much in life, when we feel so sufficient, when we are so filled with things, we forget God. We stop believing in him, we believe more in ourselves.
And when we stop believing in God, we lose our faith and then, we stop loving, too. Sooner or later, we become empty and miserable.
So, be simple, Cris and Tim.
Reduce everything to the barest and simplest. Simplify, simplify, simplify as Henry David Thoreau said: “let your affairs be two or three, and not a hundred or a thousand.”
When we get complicated like our Facebook, life becomes difficult as we can’t find right away who and what matters most to us.
Kaya nga isa lang ang asawa, Cris at Tim, kasi hindi puwede marami.Hindi lang magulo. Magastos pa. Imagine kung dalawa o tatlo wedding rings? Pag isa lang, kita agad at alam na this – married na ang mamang ito na may cute na dimple o itong girl na ito na naka glasses at dalawa pa ang dimples! Hayaan ninyo sabihin ng mga makakita singsing ninyo na sayang at taken na pala siya!
You see, the lower the number, the simpler, the better. Madaling tumaya at manampalataya.
That’s faith. Parang PBA game kung saan kayo nagkakilala. And you have both experienced, walang tatalo sa faith in God ninyong dalawa!
Photo by Ms. Jo Villafuerte, 21 February 2022.
God is greater and more than the numbers the wizkids and supercomputers of the world can calculate and predict. His thoughts are not our thoughts, nor his ways. He first created just one man and one woman – just two – to be one with each other in him, and to be faithful to him and each other.
Because the more we become faithful, the more we become loving.
That is the message of this Feast of the Chair of St. Peter which is the “Primacy of Rome” or of the Pope: it is the primacy of faith and the primacy of love together which cannot be separated.
Forget all those numbers Cris and Tim, focus only in the One – God in Jesus Christ. Just focus on Jesus, always Jesus.
Love is not about counting or keeping tabs and tallies, like how many “likes” and “followers” we get in our posts.
The true measure of love is when we love without measure, when we simply love, love, love. And love.
That is why we only have one heart so we can love with all our heart. Forget Sana Dalawa ang Puso Ko. It is just a song.
When you have LQ (lover’s quarrel), who should blink first, or smile? Who should take the first move to reconcile, the first to offer the hand of peace?
Photo by Ms. Jo Villafuerte, 21 February 2022.
Whenever lovers and couples or even friends quarrel, I always say, whoever has more love to give must be the first one to initiate reconciliation, the first to blink, or smile, the first to offer the hand of peace.
To have the most love to give and share does not mean to be better or superior than the other; to have the most love to give and share is to have more faith, to have a deeper faith the he/she is ready and willing to lose everything for the sake of the loved one.
Like Jesus Christ who gave everything for us on that Cross because of love.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Tuesday, Feast of the Chair of St. Peter, 22 February 2022
1 Peter 5:1-4 ><}}}}*> + ><}}}}*> + ><}}}}*> Matthew 16:13-19
Photo from en.wikipedia.org.
Glory and praise to you,
O Lord Jesus Christ,
as we celebrate today
a most unique feast,
the Chair of St. Peter
your anointed leader of
your Church here on earth.
It is so unique especially
in this time
when we are so concerned
where we sit - whether at home,
in school, in offices, in churches,
and in buses and planes - everywhere!
because every seat is about position,
rank, power and convenience,
always having the "keys" so to speak.
Sadly, as we seek the comfort
of our "asses", we have forgotten
that more important than where we seat
is where we stand.
Remind us, dear Jesus,
on this Feast of the Chair of St. Peter,
especially us your priests
of that beautiful example
you have shown at the Last Supper
when you left your seat
to wash the feet of the Apostles.
How sad and shameful, O Lord,
when we your priests fail to realize
that the throne of the Eucharist
is not a seat of power or prestige
but a seat of loving service to everyone.
St. Ignatius of Antioch said it so well
in his Letter to the Romans (year 110)
that the Primacy of Rome
is the Primacy of Love
because primacy in faith
is always primacy in love,
two things we can never separate.
May we all heed the call of St. Peter,
the designated “owner” of that Chair,
that we “Tend the flock of God in your midst,
overseeing not by constraint but willingly,
as God would have it,
not for shameful profit but eagerly.
Do not lord it over those assigned to you,
but be examples to the flock” (1Pt.5:2-3).
Lord Jesus,
as we grow deeper in faith,
make us more loving too!
Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Friday, Week VI, Year II in Ordinary Time, 18 February 2022
James 2:14-24, 26 ><)))*> + ><)))*> + ><)))*> Mark 8:34-9:1
Photo from inquirer.net, 2021.
Awaken us, O Lord,
from our mistake and
error of insisting
that our pious and religious
exercises are the "good works"
that express our faith in you;
let us realize that it is not
enough that we simply
celebrate Mass, recite the
Rosary, join processions and
pilgrimages and keep other
devotions that make us good
practicing Catholics; these are
not the good works that St. James
is asking from us in the first reading:
faith is the true living out
of our faith in you, Jesus Christ!
For just as a body without spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.
James 2:26
True faith in you,
O Lord, is forgetting
one's self to reach out
to those in need, fighting
for justice and peace,
being more loving and kind,
forgiving and understanding
of others just like you, dear Jesus.
True faith in you,
dear Jesus, is being
your disciple which is
a call to deny one's self,
to take up one's cross in life,
and to follow YOU always
(Mark 8:34).
Give me the grace
this day, Jesus,
to sincerely look into
myself and examine
how true is my
faith in you,
how my very life
and actions reveal
the faith I have
or simply do not have
at all. Amen.
Lawiswis ng Salita ni P. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Ika-04 ng Pebrero 2022
Larawan mula sa Catholic News Agency.
Napag-isipan ko lang naman
hindi upang pagtawanan
kungdi upang makita iba pang
kahulugan ng kapistahan ng ating
pinagpipitaganang San Blas,
patron ng mga may sakit
sa leeg at lalamunan
matapos niyang masagip
sa kamatayan batang natinik
ang lalamunan.
Sa aking pagkakaalam,
tinik sa lalamunan nalulunasan
ng sino mang suhi nang isilang;
ngunit bago ninyo ako pagtawanan
ibig ko sanang inyo ring tingnan
hindi ba't tayo ay nabibilaukan,
nahihirinan, at natitinik sa lalamunan
kapag pilit nating sinusubo, nilulunok
higit sa kaya nating kainin,
pilit inaangkin maski hindi atin?
Pagmasdan at pagnilayan
leeg at lalamunan na pinapagaling
ni San Blas ang siyang bahagi
sa pagitan ng ulo at katawan kaya
marahil ang nalalaman ng isipan at
ang nararamdaman ng puso at kalooban
hindi magsalakupan dahil nababarahan
ng kamunduhan leeg at lalamunan
kaya katotohanan at kabutihan
hindi natin masundan at mapanindigan!
Ito rin ang karanasang inilalarawan
sa Banal na Kasulatan tungkol kay
Haring Herodes nang kanyang mabalitaan
mga himala ni Hesus sa pag-aakalang
nabuhay mag-uli si Juan Bautista na
kanyang pinapugatan ng ulo
dahil lamang sa sumpang binitiwan;
nahirinan siya sa kapangyarihan
at kapalaluan, kaya di kalaunan, gumawa
din ng sariling multong kinatakutan!
Bihag ng kasalanan
kaya si Herodes ay naguguluhan,
nalilito at hindi magawa ang kabutihan,
naliligalig sa mga ginawang kabuktutan
nang marinig ang Mabuting Balita
ni Hesus sa tanan;
ganyan din tayo kadalasan:
gumagawa ng sariling multo na katatakutan
nililibang sarili sa kasalanan, kunwa'y
kayang lampasan pinagdaraanan.
Tinawag ni Hesus ang Labindalawa, at sinugong dala-dalawa. Binigyan ng kapangyarihang magpalayas ng masasamang espiritu, at pinagbilinan: “Sa inyong paglalakbay, huwag kayong magdala ng anuman, maliban sa tungkod. Ni pagkain, balutan, salapi sa inyong lukbutan o bihisan, ay huwag kayong magdala. Ngunit magsuot kayo ng panyapak.”
Marcos 6:7-9
Iyan ang bilin ng Panginoon
na sinikap sundin ni San Blas
na siya namang tinanggihan
ni Haring Herodes at mga kagaya niya
hanggang sa kasalukuyan, di alintana
pagdarahop ng karamihan,
nagpapasasa sa kapangyarihan
at karangyaan hanggang sa mahirinan,
nakalimutan na ang tunay na kayamanan
ay sa Diyos lamang matatagpuan!
Lawiswis ng Salita ni P. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Miyerkules, Paggunita kina San Timoteo at San Tito, mga Obispo, 26 Enero 2022
2 Timoteo 1:1-8 ><}}}}*> + ><}}}}*> + ><}}}}*> Lucas 10:1-9
Tatlong taon bago nagsimula ang pandemya noong 2017, naanyayahan ako na pangunahan ang pananalangin sa “retirement ceremony” ng kaibigan na dati ring kasamahan sa trabaho.
Nakatutuwa pala na makita at makausap muli mga dating kasamahan maging mga naging “bossing” namin na dati’y aming iniilagan dahil baka kami masabon. Ganoon pala ang magka-edad, ang pumalo sa 50 anyos pataas, pare-pareho kaming nakasalamin at malalabo mga mata, mapuputi ang mga buhok at bago kumain, umiinom ng iba’t ibang mga gamot.
At ang mga usapan, puro “noong araw”!
Kaya naman hindi maiwasan magkumparahan sa bagong henerasyon at isang nakatatanda na retiree dati naming boss ang nagsabi, “bakit kaya mga bata ngayon maski 40 anyos na, bata pa rin?”
Napagnilay ako ng katanungang iyon at habang nagkakasiyahan kami sa mga alaala ng aming kabataan, naalala ko ang mga kuwentuhan namin noon kasi ay bihirang-bihira mapag-usapan ang Diyos at mga tungkol sa Kanya gaya ng pagsisimba at mga paksang espiritwal maliban lamang na ako ay kanilang tatanungin lalo na kapag nasa lamayan.
Kaya nawika ko sa aking sarili “marahil kaya bata pa rin mga bata ngayon maski 40 anyos na” dahil nagkulang kaming nakatatanda, ang mga magulang at mga lolo at lola ngayon sa pagdiriin ng pangangaral at pagsasabuhay ng pananampalataya.
Pansinin po natin si San Pablo paano niya itinuring sina San Timoteo at San Tito bilang kanyang mga anak habang ipinagdiinan ang kanilang pagkamulat sa pananampalataya: “Hindi ko malilimutan ang tapat mong pananampalataya, katulad ng pananampalataya ng iyong Lola Loida at ni Eunice na iyong ina. Natitiyak kong taglay mo pa ngayon ang pananampalatayang iyon. Dahil dito, ipinaalala ko sa iyo na maging masigasig ka sa pagtupad sa tungkuling tinanggap mo sa Diyos nang ipatong ko ang aking mga kamay sa ulo mo. Sapagkat hindi espiritu ng kaduwagan ang ibinigay sa atin ng Diyos kundi Espiritu ng kapangyarihan, pag-ibig, at pagpipigil ng sarili” (1Tim.1:5-7).
Larawan kuha ni G. Jim Marpa, 2017.
Hindi ba nakakahiyang isipin na sa ngayon, ang mag-igib at maglinis ng bahay ay pawang mga “reality games” na lang sa telebisyon gayong ganito ang ating buhay noon?
Hindi ba nakakabahala na parang malaking balita ngayon yung makarinig ng mga tao na nagsusumakit sa pagsisikap na maging mabuti at marangal sa buhay at gawain?
Bakit mangha-mangha mga tao ngayon sa mga kuwento ng pagmamalasakitan ng pamilya at magkakaibigan gayong dapat naman ganoon talaga tayo sa buhay?
Hindi kaya masyadong na-spoil mga henerasyon ngayon, lahat ng kanilang hilig ay ibinigay ng mga magulang at lolo at lola di alintana masamang epekto sa gawi at pag-uugali ng mga bata? At dahil nga “napanis” o na-spoil ang mga bata, pati ang disiplina ng buhay espiritwal gaya ng pagdarasal at pagsisimba ay napabayaan.
Opo, disiplina ang pagdarasal at pagsisimba. Kapag pinabayaan mga ito at nawala sa mga tao, wala na tayong igagalang na kapwa o lugar man lamang at pagkakataon dahil maski Diyos at simbahan hindi na kayang igalang pa.
Nananatili hanggang ngayon lalo sa ating nakatatanda at di lamang sa mga bata ang misyon ni Hesus kaya siya humirang pa ng pitumpu’t dalawang mga alagad na kanyang sinugo na mauna sa kanya (Luc.10:1-9).
Larawan kuha ni G. Jim Marpa, 2019.
Tayo ang mga iyon sa panahong ito, tayong mga nakatatanda na dapat puno ng alab para sa Panginoon at Kanyang mabuting balita na hatid sa lahat na sa panahong ito ay litong-lito maski na sagana sa mga bagay na materyal.
Tayo ang inaasahan ni Hesus na gagabay sa maraming naliligaw ng landas, lalo na mga kabataan na ibig siluin at lapain ng mga nagkalat na “asong-gubat” sa gitna ng saganang anihin.
Tayo ang mga makabagong San Timoteo at San Tito, dalawang banal na nagparubdob ng alab para sa Diyos sa pagpapahayag nila noon sa salita at gawa na “Nalalapit na ang paghahari ng Diyos sa inyo” (Luc. 10:9) dahil sila rin mismong dalawa ay naranasan ang sigasig sa pananampalataya ng kanilang mga magulang at ninuno noon. Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Thursday, Week I, Year II in Ordinary Time, 13 January 2022
1 Samuel 4:1-11 ><]]]'> + ><]]]'> + ><]]]'> Mark 1:40-45
Photo by author, Pililla Wind Farm in Rizal, January 2021.
As we go into another year
with a new surge in COVID-19,
teach me, dear Lord,
how to fight life's many battles;
just when we thought we are almost
done with the pandemic, recent
events indicate more battles are
still coming our way for sure.
May we learn from the lessons of the
past two years to equip us better
this 2022 by deepening our faith in
you and stop manipulating you.
So the people sent to Shiloh and brought from there the ark of the Lord of hosts, who is enthroned upon the cherubim. The two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were with the ark of God. When the ark of the Lord arrived in the camp, all Israel shouted so loudly that the earth resounded. The Philistines fought and Israel was defeated; every man fled to his own tent. It was a disastrous defeat, in which Israel lost thirty thousand foot soldiers. The ark of God was captured, and Eli’s two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, were among the dead.
1 Samuel 4:4-5, 10-11
Forgive us, God our Father,
whenever we remember you most
when we are losing life's battles;
and worst, when we manipulate
you to turn the tide in our favor!
Forgive us, God our Father,
when we behave and act like
pagans, believing more in our
images and signs of your presence
than in your very Person.
How foolish like lately in an
accident in Brazil, many among us
even questioned why you have allowed
a boat named "Jesus" crushed by a
falling rock that killed ten people on
board including a child?!*
Teach me, O Jesus, to have the same
attitude of that leper who approached
you and humbly pleaded for healing,
"If you wish, you can make me clean."
And you were so moved with pity that
you stretched out your hand and touched
the leper, telling him, "I do will it.
Be made clean" (Mk.1:40-41).
You have come to join us in our battles,
Lord Jesus; let us then fight with you,
and give us the courage
to approach you and humbly beg you,
trusting you which is in itself a way of
fighting our life's battles. Amen.
lordmychef.com 