The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Wednesday, Memorial of St. Boniface, Bishop & Martyr, 05 June 2024 2 Timothy 1:1-3, 6-12 <*((((>< + ><))))*> Mark 12:18-27
Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, 20 March 2024.
Thank you so much, dear Jesus for your words today that shed light again to this issue about divorce: of how resurrection is real because God is very much alive, very much present with us and in us!
Jesus said to them, “Are you not misled because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God? When they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but they are like the angels in heaven. As for the dead being raised, have you not read in the Book of Moses, in the passage about the bush, how God told him, I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? He is not God of the dead but of the living. You are greatly misled.
Mark 12:24-27
Most of all, you have shown us too how marriage is a path towards heaven: man and woman marry in this life for a taste of heaven, to work for heaven, to try making this imperfect world a heaven, your dwelling; we pray for all couples especially those going through crises these days to heed St. Paul's words to Timothy, "to stir into flame the gift of God" they have received on their wedding day before your altar:
For God did not give us a spirit of cowardice but rather of power and love and self-control. So do not be ashamed of your testimony to our Lord, not to me, a prisoner for his sake; but bear your share of hardship for the Gospel with the strength that comes from God.
2 Timothy 1:7-8
Remind us that life is always difficult because there is always the cross we have to carry; however, let it sink into us too that the cross is meant to make us better and stronger, that every sacrifice and mortification we make is not to lose life but actually to gain it more, to have it more fully! Most of all, every perseverance to love and to forgive, to be kind and be caring happen all in your grace, O God; in this age of instants when every difficulty has become a door to escape and exit from problems, let us not be ashamed of the real stuff that truly makes life meaningful by suffering and dying in You, dear Jesus; in this time of serious attacks against marriage, may we remember the words of your servant St. Boniface "Let us be neither dogs that do not bark nor silent onlookers nor paid servants who run away before the wolf. Instead, let us be careful shepherds watching over Christ's flock."
May we stand for what is true and good, O Lord, not only in words but especially in deeds, witnessing your Gospel. Amen.
Photo by author, Ubihan Island, Meycauyan City, December 2021.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Tuesday in the Ninth Week of Ordinary Time, Year II, 04 June 2024 2 Peter 3:12-15, 17-18 <*((((><< + >><))))*> Mark 12:13-17
Photo by Dra. Mylene A. Santos, MD, an orange-bellied flowerpecker (Dicaeum trigonostigma) somewhere in the Visayas, December 2023.
Therefore, beloved, since you are forewarned, be on your guard not to be led into the error of the unprincipled and to fall from your own stability.
2 Peter 3:17
Your words of caution
through St. Peter are so timely,
Lord Jesus in this time
of discussions and debate
on the proposed law on divorce;
how sad there are some
supposed to be learned and
knowledgeable, seemingly stable
in their positions as teachers
and educators and journalists
calling for more openness
in the discussions
of moral and social issues
are the ones who are really
closed to their own thoughts
and ideas they have labeled as
progressive and liberal,
insisting their own interpretations
of Scriptures and moral laws;
what is most sad,
even deplorable at times,
is when they cite so many
thinkers without even citing You,
dear Jesus
regarding Your own words
and teachings
that are clearly against divorce.
Forgive us, Jesus, when we look so highly of ourselves, believing so much to whatever we know like those Pharisees and Herodians who banded together to test You; keep us humble, Lord with whatever sense of stability we feel we have or know; let us grow in grace by constantly affirming that feeling and experience of being loved by God and most of all, to grow in Your knowledge which is to grow in a deeper and personal relationship with You. dear Jesus.
Lord Jesus, let us not only fall from our own stability but most of all. may we not mislead others to joining us in our follies. Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Monday, Memorial of St. Charles Lwanga & Companion Martyrs, 03 June 2024 2 Peter 1:2-7 ><]]]]'> + ><]]]]'> + ><]]]]'> + ><]]]]'> Mark 12:1-12
Photo by author, Petra in Jordan, May 2019.
Praise and glory to You, God our loving Father! What a grace from You to let us make halfway through 2024 that seemed to have only began a few months ago!
For some of us, the past five months have been so difficult and this sixth month is a much needed welcome for rest and hoping for better things ahead; for others, may June be the start of finally fulfilling those promises we have not kept all these years or projects we have not finished or have neglected; please, Father, grant us the grace and peace we have always sought in life.
Beloved: May grace and peace be yours in abundance through knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.
2 Peter 1:2
Help me realize in Jesus Christ that great truth I always forget, that abundant grace and peace come only from knowledge of God which is first of all a personal relationship with You, O Lord; so often like most people, we pursue so much knowledge of the world to make life better but not necessarily meaningful and fulfilling; like those tenants at the vineyard, in our too much knowledge, we have taken for ourselves ownership of the world - deciding on who is to live, who is to die, choosing or creating our own gender, and worst, destroying the family with measures like divorce; forgive us, God our Father, in deleting You from the world, insisting we decide on our fate and future like those tenants who said to one another, "This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours" (Mark 12:7).
Make us realize like St. Charles Lwanga and his over 100 companion martyrs in Uganda that knowledge of God is more of the heart than of the head or the emotions; that knowledge of God is doing what is true and good; that knowledge of God is having personal relationship with You in Jesus Christ which leads to following His Way to the Cross of loving service to others. Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Friday, Feast of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, 31 May 2024 Romans 12:9-16 ><]]]]'> + >>]]]]'> + >>>]]]]'> Luke 1:39-56
Photo by author, statues of Mary and Elizabeth at the Church of the Visitation in ein-Karem, the Holy Land, May 2017.
What a lovely way to end the month with this feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary’s Visitation of her cousin Elizabeth after starting off May on its very first day with another feast, St. Joseph the Worker that remind us of God’s coming to us in Jesus Christ.
Visit and visitation may seem to be one and the same, sharing the common Latin root word of the verb vide, videre “to see” from which came the word video.
But, a visit is more casual and informal without intimacy at all. We say it so well in Filipino, napadaan lang or just passing by which is more concerned with the place or location and site, not the person there. Napadaan lang ako kaya dinalaw na rin kita (I was just passing by and decided to see you). There was really no intention in seeing the other person there.
Photo by author, Church of the Visitation, Ein-Karem, Holy land, May 2017.
Visitation is more intentional. Mr. Webster described it as a more formal visit commonly used in church language like when bishop and priests come to see their parishioners. This explains why we refer to a chapel as a visita which is actually a small church in remote places that missionaries used to visit for the sacraments. Likewise, visitas became venues too for catechism classes and other religious even social gatherings in places far from the town itself where the parish is usually situated too.
Thus, visitation connotes a deeper meaning because there is an expression or implication at least of care and concern among the people, a kind of love shared by the visitor like Mary to the one visited, Elizabeth.
Visitation is more of entering into someone’s life and personhood as reported by Luke in Mary’s visitation of Elizabeth when “Mary entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth” (Lk.1:40). There was a communion and sharing of their common experience of being blessed with the presence of God in their wombs.
Visitation is a sharing, a oneness in the joys and pains of those dear to us. The word becomes more meaningful when we examine its Filipino equivalent pagdalaw from the root word dala or something you bring like food or any gift when visiting relatives and friends. What you bring or dala is called pasalubong from the root salubong that literally means “meeting” or “encounter”. When the visitor and ones visited meet, they salubong.
Here it becomes more colorful and meaningful because more than the gifts we bring or dala in our visitations, we bring our very selves as a gift of presence. In every visitation, it is our very selves we gift, we share with those we visit, offering them our time and talent, joys and sadness and ears and heart to listen to their stories and absorb their woes and whatever they may have to unload upon us.
Photo by author, 2019.
That was what Mary did exactly in her visitation of Elizabeth with an extra gift, the most precious pasalubong to share with everyone, Jesus Christ in her womb, right in her very self and body!
We too are invited every day to be like Mary, a bringer or taga-dala of Jesus Christ to everyone we meet, the best pasalubong we can share with everyone. If we can only be like Mary in our dealings with others, trying to make every encounter a visitation that is a willful bringing and sharing of Christ with others, then we also bring with us God’s tenderness and mercy for this dark world that admires toughness and roughness.
How sad are those news of daily road rages happening almost everywhere, many times resulting in the loss of lives like the recent fatal shooting of a family driver in Makati.
Through the Blessed Mother’s humility and obedience before God, Christ came into the world to make us experience the Father’s tenderness in the many healings and miracles He performed. This tenderness of God in Jesus we saw too in Mary His Mother in the Visitation: Mary visited Elizabeth because she knew and felt her many wounds who for a long time bore no child, living in “disgrace before others” as she had claimed (Lk.1:25). A tender person like Jesus and Mary is one who comes to comfort and heal the wounds of those hurt in life, trying to lullaby the restless and sleepless, never adding insult to injuries.
Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, 20 March 2024.
One last thing about the Visitation of Mary to her cousin Elizabeth. One of the best things we can experience from visitations and visits of family and friends like during wakes and funerals is that quality of sweetness.
Sweetness always goes with tenderness. It is the essence of God who is love. Anyone who loves is always sweet that always comes naturally from within, bringing out good vibes. It is never artificial like Splenda, always flowing freely and naturally that leaves a good taste and feeling to anyone.
In the Hail Holy Queen, Mary is portrayed as “O clement, O sweet Virgin Mary” to show her sweetness as a Mother. Recently I have seen some posts making a meme (?) of the Hail Holy Queen’s part that says “to you do we cry poor banished children of Eve”. I have not really dealt it with much attention because too often, there are a lot of generation gaps in many posts in social media; I really cannot relate much to the young perhaps due to my age. I just hope that post on the Hail Holy Queen is not derogatory. Back to our reflection…
Tenderness and sweetness are the most God-like qualities we all have but have unconsciously buried deep in our innermost selves, refusing them to surface because of our refusal to love for fears of getting hurt and left behind or lost. When Mary heard Elizabeth’s pregnancy, she simply followed her human and motherly instincts that in fact so Godly that she went in haste to hill country of Judah. How lovely!
Tomorrow it is already June, reminding us all we are halfway through the year. And it would be surprisingly quick that soon, it is already Christmas again! This feast of the Visitation reminds us of Mary’s great role in making Christmas a reality when God almighty became human, little and vulnerable like us to experience His sweetness and tenderness in Jesus Christ. Through Mary.
Let us pray:
God our loving Father, thank for coming to us, for staying with us, not just visiting us; help us imitate Your Son Jesus Christ's Mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary whose "love is so sincere", loving one another like Elizabeth with "mutual affection, showing honor, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; help us imitate Mary to always rejoice in hope, endure afflictions and most of all, persevere in prayer" (cf. Romans 12:9-12) so we may always bring Jesus Christ with everyone we meet. Amen.
From cbcpnews.net, 13 May 2022, at the Parish of the National Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima, Valenzuela City.
The Lord Is My Chef Easter Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Fourth Sunday in the Easter Season, Cycle B, 21 April 2024 Acts 4:8-12 ><}}}}*> 1 John 3:1-2 ><}}}}*> John 10:1-10
Photo by author, dusk at Anvaya Cove in Bataan, 15 April 2024.
My kinakapatid is turning 60 this week with a dinner to be prepared by an Italian chef. His sister texted me for my main course and I chose lamb chops. And immediately she replied, “Pareho tayo. Mary’s little pet… the one who takes away the sins of the world.” Her wit floored me that I had to agree with a text, “Right. The most biblical and holiest food.”
Sorry for some little bragging as we celebrate this fourth Sunday in Easter as “Good Shepherd Sunday”…
We Filipinos have a hard time getting the “feel” of the shepherd because we have never had that image in our culture. Hence, it is a most welcomed development that there is now a growing popularity in tending sheep in the country while the Filipino palate had finally discovered a taste for lamb.
Come to think of this: the sheep exists only for two reasons, for food and clothing. They are meant to be slaughtered unlike dogs or cats or birds kept as pets. Another notable thing with sheep is the fact it is the only land animal that go against the flow when crossing a river like the salmon!
Photo by Dra. Mylene A. Santos, MD, at Katmon Nature Sanctuary & Beach Resort in Infanta, Quezon, 03 April 2024.
I love those characteristics of the sheep, for slaughtering which is almost like offering and always going against the tide. Exactly just like our Lord Jesus Christ who identified Himself as the good shepherd.
Jesus said: “I am the good shepherd. A good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep… This is why the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down on my own. I have power to lay it down, and power to raise it up again. This command I have received from my Father (John 10:11, 17-18).
First we notice here His use of the “I AM” which for the Jews refers to God when He told Moses “I AM WHO AM.” Clearly, Jesus was declaring to the people at that time that He is the Son of God, the awaited Messiah or Christ.
This scene was shortly before the feast of the dedication of the Jews after Jesus had healed a man born blind, a miracle never heard of at that time. It was a big issue then as authorities refused to accept that Jesus did indeed healed the man born blind.
Secondly, Jesus mentioned four times in just three verses the act of “laying down his life for the sheep” (vv. 11, 17, and 18). It sounded so good to hear how Jesus loves us so much that He would lay down His life for us his sheep; but, those were not just mere words Jesus expressed but a reality that happened at the Cross on Good Friday that He actually explained after this discourse at their Last Supper!
Keep in mind that we are now going back to the earlier discourses and teachings of Jesus that only became clear to the disciples including us today after Easter. We shall be having a lot of these “flashbacks” to understand and love Jesus more and His teachings.
According to Pope Benedict XVI in his first book of the Jesus of Nazareth series, “The Cross is at the center of the shepherd discourse” (page 280). When Jesus said “This is my Body… This is my Blood”, He meant really Himself being given for us; Jesus did not merely give something for us but His very self as seen on the Cross on Good Friday.
That is how Jesus gives life – by giving up His life for us so that when He arose, we then share in His being a good shepherd through our little dying to ourselves because of love, giving life to those around us.
As the good shepherd, Jesus was the first to enter death, to be slaughtered but this time minus the violence and gore of the Cross that was the worst punishment of all time when He said “I lay down my life in order to take it up again”. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down on my own.”
Yes, there was victimhood but more than that was His being an offering never forced nor imposed by anyone or by circumstances. Jesus did it all for love!
Though He was handed over (paradidomi) and betrayed by Judas, Jesus was totally free, actively passive went to his Passion and Death because He was very certain of His Resurrection.
We experience the same thing many times in life when we have to make great sacrifices like when we have to allow a loved one to die after a long illness. Death is a grace and a blessing when freely given too by those around the dying, freeing the dying person of any guilt when he/she finally goes.
The same thing is true when friends and lovers separate either because they have found other loves to pursue or worst, have fallen out of love with us despite all our love for them. It is the most unkindest cut of all breakups and separations, excruciatingly painful as we blindly give up our relationships ironically for love. More than the persons and circumstances involved, we freely choose to let go – magparaya in Filipino – because deep in our wounded and hollowed heart is the hope they may grow in their new love.
Here we are like Jesus the Good Shepherd because even in the death of our relationships is still found our love. Like Jesus Christ, we do not simply give something but our very selves. The Jesuit theologian Karl Rahner beautifully expressed this when he described Jesus is both “the Gift and the Giver.”
Photo by Dra. Mylene A. Santos, MD of the sheep’s wool, 03 April 2024.
Love is better shown than said. Love cannot be defined but only be described for it is so wide and vast in its nature and scope. Love simply shows itself. That is why when we speak of love, we use comparisons and analogies and yet, they are not enough. How much more when we speak of the love of God?!
This Sunday, Jesus spoke of His love like every human being using the language of parable and allegories. But truly Divine, we find so much more when He claimed “I AM the good shepherd.” It is His total person and self, His being both the Gift and the Giver.
The good news is, because of His giving of self, we too have become like Him able to give ourselves wholly in love. Like Peter in the first reading, we experienced great powers within us not innately ours but God working in us, enabling us to empower others by healing them not literally but figuratively speaking.
When Jesus declared “I AM the good shepherd”, He reminds us of being the children of God, His indwelling, our being an “I AM” of God Himself. Like Him, we are good shepherds able to love in Christ to the point of being foolish as St. Paul experienced.
Like the sheep, let us continue to forge on with life’s many difficulties, even if many times we have to go against the flow of the world that is always selfish and misleading. Let us pray:
Dearest Jesus, help me to give more of myself not just of something from me; help me to lay down my life for my friends even if it means not just losing myself but losing them in order to gain You; help me to remain in You, my Good Shepherd, to never go astray because life and love are found only in You, the Gift and Giver. Amen. Have a blessed week ahead!
The Lord Is My Chef Easter Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Thursday in the Second Week of Easter, 11 April 2024 Acts 5:27-33 ><))))*> + <*(((((>< John 3:31-36
Photo by author, Bolinao, Pangasinan, April 2022.
Once again, O Lord, Your words are very amusing today: "For the one whom God sent speaks the words of God. He does not ration his gift of the Spirit" (John 3:34).
It sounds so funny yet so true, dear Jesus! We not only ration the Holy Spirit but we also ration every good gift You give us as if it would run out, as if You would stop blessing us, as if You are not God.
Forgive us, Lord, when we ration especially Your love to others, when we do not realize that love and life and every blessing You give are meant to be given and shared fully with others.
“We gave you strict orders did we not, to stop teaching in that name. Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and want to bring this man’s blood upon us.”
Acts 5:28
Dearest Jesus, fill us with courage like Your Apostles after Pentecost that we too may give all to fill the world with Your Good News of salvation in You, with You, and through You! Amen.
Lawiswis ng Salita ni P. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Ika-06 ng Disyembre 2023
Larawan kuha ng may akda sa Dau, Mabalacat, Pampanga noong Nobyembre 2022.
Huwag sanang masamain itong aking lathalain tungkol sa isang hindi magandang gawain tuwing panahon ng Pasko ng Pagsilang ng Panginoong Jesus nating mahal. Totoong sa panahong ito na malamig ang simoy ng hangin at dama ang tuwa at kagalakan ng lahat saanman ngunit mayroong ilan na hindi maganda ang mga nasa loobin at damdamin.
Tunay nga na ang diwa ng Pasko ay ang pagbibigay ng dakilang handog ng Diyos sa atin ng Kanyang Bugtong na Anak kung kaya tayo man ay tinatawagang magbahagi ng biyaya at pagpapala Niya sa ating kapwa; ngunit, hindi nangangahulugang sasamantalahin natin ang panghihingi kaninuman. Hindi naman malaking bahagi ng Kapaskuhan ang panghihingi kumpara sa gampaning magbigay at magbahagi.
Gayun din naman, sakaling tayo ay manghihingi, ito ay dapat sa diwa pa rin ng ginawang pagbibigay ng Diyos ng Kanyang Anak sa atin. Alalaong baga, lagi nating isaalang-alang ang pagmamahal o charity sa tuwing tayo ay hihingi. At mamamasko. Magbigay man o manghingi, Pasko man o hindi, dapat si Kristo ang batayan ng ating gawain.
Dalawang bagay ang ibig kong ibahagi.
Larawan kuha ng may akda sa Dau, Mabalacat, Pampanga noong Nobyembre 2022.
Una ay dapat nating alalahanin na kusa ang pagbibigay at pagbabahagi. Huwag tayong namimilit sa panghihingi. Mayroong mga iba na kung makahingi at mamasko ay parang may pinatago. Higit sa lahat, akala mo obligasyon ng lahat ng hingian ay magbigay!
Minsan nakita ko post ng isang kaibigan naninirahan sa Canada. Tahasan niyang sinabi sa kanyang post sa Facebook na huwag na siyang anyayahan maging “friend” kasi malulungkot lang sila. Paliwanag ng kaibigan ko palagi na lang daw kasunod ng pag-anyaya sa kanya sa Facebook ay, “mare, pahiram naman…”
Juice colored! Akala ko ako lang ang ginaganoon! At lalong nagulat ang kaibigan ko na pati daw ba ako ay hinihingian? E oo ika ko. Gusto pa nga ng iba ay G-cash e wala naman akong ganun.
Larawan kuha ng may akda sa Dau, Mabalacat, Pampanga noong Nobyembre 2022.
Hindi lahat ng tao ay nakaluluwag sa buhay. At kung sakali mang sila ay nakaririwasa, hindi ito dahilan para sila ay hingan. At hingan ng hingan.
Aaminin ko sa inyo na talamak ito sa mga taong-simbahan na wala nang ginawa kungdi manghingi nang manghingi.
Tanungin ninyo kung ano kanilang naibigay pati ng kanilang pari, wala. Ni panahon hindi makapagbigay, ni ayaw magmisa, hindi mahagilap at kung makahingi, wagas. At may presyo pa!
Higit sa lahat, yung iba nananakot pa kung hindi magbibigay ay baka daw “malasin”. Sila na rin ang sumalungat sa turo na walag suwerte suwerte sa pananampalataya dahil lahat ay pagpapala.
Pakaisipin din sana natin ngayong panahon ng Kapaskuhan lalo na marahil ay mayroong “favorite charity” o mga sadyang binabahaginan at tinutulungan ang marami nating mga kababayan lalo na yaong mga nakaluluwag sa kabuhayan. Maging ang Panginoong Jesus ay hindi naman pinagbigyan ang lahat ng lumapit sa kanya noon.
Larawan kuha ng may akda sa Dau, Mabalacat, Pampanga noong Nobyembre 2022.
Ikalawa, maging magalang sa panghihingi. Nakalulungkot kasi na maraming tao ngayon ang hindi na yata marunong mahiya sa panghihingi. Wala man lamang pagpipitagan. Gaya nga ng daing ng kaibigan ko, akala mo makikipag-kaibigan pero iba pala ang layon.
Ito yung mga text na bitin tulad ng “Pare…” o kaya ay “mare”. Sinasabi ko yan maski sa mga kakilala ko. Huwag na huwag kayong magtetext ng bitin. Yun bang akala mo mayroong masamang nangyari kaya ikaw naman biglang titingin sabay text ulit ng humihingi ng pabor.
Pasensiya na po. Ang tawag doon ay “kawalan ng modo.” Kabastusan.
Laganap ang sisteng ito sa internet lalo na noong 2020 nang kasagsagan ng COVID pandemic at lockdown. Noong Kapaskuhan noon, mayroong nagtanong sa akin na tama daw ba iyong gawain ng ilang inaanak na namamasko at sinasabing i-Gcash na lang kanilang aguinaldo?
Sabi ko ay hindi. Iyon ika ko ay kawalan ng paggalang. Pang-aabuso. Walang pinagkaiba sa holdap.
Larawan kuha ng may akda sa Dau, Mabalacat, Pampanga noong Nobyembre 2022.
Muli, walang obligasyon ang sino man na magbigay at magregalo kanino man kahit kailan. Kusa ang pagreregalo. Higit sa lahat, ang regalo ay tanda ng pagkatao ng nagbigay. Kung ipipilit ang panghihingi ng tulong o abuloy o regalo, samakatwid, kinalimutan ang pagkatao ng hinihingian.
At iyan ang mabahong simoy ng Pasko.
Pumarito si Kristo at nagkatawang-tao katulad natin upang ipakita sa atin ang ating dangal bilang tao. Na ang daan sa pagiging katulad ng Diyos na banal ay sa pagpapakatao. Kung ang tuon ng pansin ngayong Pasko ay ang regalo, abuloy, o tulong na makakamit, ibig sabihin wala ang diwa ni Kristo sa nanghihingi.
Ituring na lang silang mga tulisan o mga mapagsamantala sa pagkakataon. At sana ay maimulat din sa tunay na diwa ng Pasko, ng pagbibigay at panghihingi. Simple lang naman ang paanyaya ng Diyos sa atin na ibahagi si Kristo araw-araw sa ating pagmamahal at paglilingkod ano mang panahon. Higit sa mga pera at bagay na kaloob ay ang sariling pagkatao. Nawa ay maging makabuluhan at kaaya-aya ang inyong Kapaskuhan!
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Monday in the Thirty-first Week of Ordinary Time, Year I, 06 November 2023
Romans 11:29-36 ><))))*> + ><))))*> + ><))))*> Luke 14:12-14
Photo by author, St. Scholastica Retreat Center, Baguio City, August 2023.
Dearest God our loving Father,
I join St. Paul today in praising
you through Jesus Christ your Son
who made us experience personally
your transcendence and
immanence:
"Oh, the depth of the riches
and wisdom and knowledge
of God! How inscrutable
are his judgments and how
unsearchable his ways!
For who has known the mind
of the Lord or who has been
his counselor? Or who has
given him anything that he may
be repaid?
For from him and through him
and for him are all things.
To God be glory forever.
Amen."
(Romans 11:33-36)
Photo by author, Katmon Nature Sanctuary & Beach Resort, Infanta, Quezon, 04 March 2023.
Forgive me, O God,
in always trying to reduce you
to our human level when I try
to explain how and why things
are happening in my life,
in the world;
you are simply beyond and
transcendent, surpassing all
we can think about you -
the moment we realize a truth
about you, it is never enough;
at the same time, you are
immanent, totally present in
everything you have made,
yet still, so close and so far
at the same time!
Deepen my faith in you,
Father through Jesus Christ;
let me trust you as St. Paul
assured us today that your gifts
and call are permanent and
irrevocable (Romans 11:29);
let me follow Christ's admonition
in the gospel to think more of
others than of myself especially
the poor, the crippled, the lame,
the blind and those who could
never repay me (Luke 14:13);
let me realize that it is in
sharing your gifts to me with
others that I am truly enriched
not when I insist on my own interests.
Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Tuesday, Memorial of St. Anthony Claret, Bishop, 24 October 2023
Romans 5:12, 15, 17-19 <*((((>< + ><))))*> Luke 12:35-38
Photo by author at Forest Lodge, Camp John Hay, Baguio City, 12 July 2023.
Praise and glory
to you, God our Father!
So true are the words of
St. Paul everyday, "Where sin
increased, grace overflowed
all the more, so that, as sin
reigned in death, grace also
might reign through justification
for eternal life through
Jesus Christ our Lord"
(Romans 5:20-21).
Every day you bless us,
dear God in Jesus Christ
with the gift of forgiveness
in every present moment
to start anew and be free
from bondage to sin
and be free to do what is good,
to become a better person,
a better witness of your
grace of forgiveness,
prepared "like servants
who gird their loins and
light their lamp" awaiting his
return with our good deeds
amid all the evil and sin that
persist including death.
Though it is very sad
especially when we turn on the TV
or read in papers all those news
and images of wars and atrocities
that show the reality of how
humanity is still in solidarity
with Adam in our sinful ways,
may we always remember that
sin and death have no more
control over us; the death
is no longer the end we all fear
because it is no longer an end
but a beginning of something better
with Jesus who had overcome it
with his gift of forgiveness in every
here and now,
in every present
that assures us with eternal life.
May we not waste every
present that is a gift.
Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Wednesday, Memorial of St. Vincent de Paul, Priest, 27 September 2023
Ezra 9:5-9 <*(((>< + ><)))*> __ <*(((>< + ><)))*> Luke 9:1-6
Photo by author, San Juan, La Union, 25 July 2023.
Show us your will,
your ways,
and your path,
loving Father
in the face of the many
great changes happening now
in our lives,
in our world,
in our places of work;
truly, changes are
inevitable; in the process,
there would be alterations,
destructions in order to build
like the restoration of your
temple after the exile;
but, dear God,
let us not forget in all these
our own sinfulness
and your mercy and forgiveness.
Give us the grace to cry
and pray like Ezra:
I said: “My God, I am too ashamed and confounded to raise my face to you, O my God, for our wicked deeds are heaped up above our heads and our guilt reaches up to heaven. From the time of our fathers even to this day great has been our guilt, and for our wicked deeds we have been delivered up, we and our kings and our priests, to the will of the kings of foreign lands, to the sword, to captivity, to pillage, and to disgrace, as is the case today. And now, but a short time ago, mercy came to us from the Lord our God…”
Ezra 9:6-8
How sad that we
never learn from
our lessons of past sins,
of how the many scourges
we deserve fell on us that
we still keep on living in evil,
denying its hold on us,
becoming blind to all
the excesses around us
that indeed our wicked deeds
are heaped up above our heads!
How sad, most of all,
that we easily forget your
love and mercy,
the forgiveness and
new life you gave us
to start anew
in rebuilding our lives
in you.
Let us heed
your call and summons
to proclaim Christ's
gospel of forgiveness
and healing like
St. Vincent de Paul
to the many people
deep into sin
and evil these days
because of fame
and power
and wealth.
Amen.
lordmychef.com 