Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul, 03 September 2025 Wednesday, Memorial of St. Gregory the Great, Pope & Doctor of Church Colossians 1:1-8 <*((((>< + ><))))*> Luke 4:38-44
A surge in number of patients with leptospirosis after the series of flooding in Metro Manila, August 2025.
Lord Jesus, I am angry like most people in my country; so angry with the rampant corruption long been going on; so angry why we have allowed it to continue and worsened that people are getting sick, classes and work disrupted by the floods because no flood control project was ever delivered despite being paid for by the government; as I prayed, I feel nothing had changed since your time until now still with so many people seeking healing and comfort from you.
At sunset, all who had people sick with various diseases brought them to him. He laid his hands on each of them and cured them. At daybreak, Jesus left and went to a deserted place. The crowds went looking for him, and when they came to him, they tried to prevent him from leaving them (Luke 4:40, 42).
Yes, dear Jesus, the corruption and injustices happening today are so sickening but do not let these deviate my focus in you whom I must follow always; use my hands as extension of your healing hands, of your comforting touch to the sick and needy, that I may restore them to you, in you; you never remained in one place, Jesus as you kept moving to bring hope and healing to so many others forgotten by their family and the society; enlighten my mind and my heart, Jesus with your Holy Spirit to imitate you in going to a deserted place to remain one in the Father and most especially to find you among the suffering that the corrupt disregard. Amen.
Photo from “KLEPTOPIROSIS: When Corruption Becomes a Public Health Crisis” by Dr. Tony Leachon on Facebook, 08 August 2025.
Photo by author, somewhere in Rizal en route to Infanta, Quezon, March 2023.
It is widely held that our physical well-being has a direct relationship with our spiritual condition and vice versa. That is why aside from the treatment of physical sickness, there is also a need to address the spiritual well-being of patients for their “healing” which is more wholistic in nature and meaning.
Jesus Christ himself showed this relationship of the physical and the spiritual. The gospels are filled with accounts of Jesus not only treating the sick but also of healing them by first touching them (physical) then telling them how their sins were forgiven or how great was their faith (spiritual).
Photo by author, somewhere in Rizal en route to Infanta, Quezon, March 2023.
Here we find that healing involves the total person in body, mind, heart and soul. Healing is not just the restoration of health but transformation of the person. This is the spirit behind hospital ministry. Patients eventually die but may have still experienced healing when properly prepared for death by a priest or pastor or a nun through counseling and administering of the Sacraments of Confession, Viaticum, and Anointing of the Sick.
As I immersed myself in this ministry since 2021 as chaplain of a university with a medical center, I have realized too that it is actually more of what Jesus is doing to me than of what I am doing to our patients and our medical professionals. Indeed, priesthood is a ministry seeking new directions in Jesus Christ that is most true in the hospital ministry when the tables – or beds – are turned on me as patient needing medical and spiritual attention!
Twice I have been rushed to the ER for minor accidents: first in 2023 and second only this Sunday when I slipped in our garage and hurt my left knee. While recovering in my room from this recent injury, I decided to put into writing to share with you some lessons from my two experiences that may hopefully help in the healing process of those who are wounded physically and emotionally.
Photo by author, Hidden Spring & Resort, Calauan, Laguna, February 2025.
First thing to do when we are wounded physically and spiritually or emotionally is to have the wounds “cleansed”.
We were having a tug-o-war during our 2023 team-building when the rope snapped and sent me rolling down the ground. I quickly stood up and brushed the dirt and blood on my left arm, declining offers of others to wash and clean my wounds as I insisted to them sanay po ako sa ganito.
But when our university physician approached me on my way to the wash area to check my wounds and asked if I had had anti-tetanus shots before because I would be needing one that afternoon, everything changed. Fear crept in me with all the scary imaginations running through my mind as I asked him why the tetanus shots? The doctor explained that the ground is dirty with harmful bacteria including animal shit that may infect my wounds; hence, the need to first wash my wounds with clean water and soap and get anti-tetanus shots for sure. Oh my God…
Looking back to that experience after this recent fall (when I got another pair of tetanus shots), I realized the same thing is true when our heart and soul are wounded: we need to wash them clean with sincerity and honesty of one’s self. Cleansing our spiritual and emotional wounds require self-confrontation, no ifs nor buts why it happened. It is recalling the incident no matter how painful it may be like in washing our physical wounds with water and soap to clean ourselves of harmful microbes of anger and hatred that might infect us later.
Cleansing our emotional and spiritual wounds is being true to ourselves to face, accept, then embrace the realities why and how it happened. Crying may be good as a catharsis which is literally a cleansing process. Cleansing our spiritual and emotional wounds is suspending any conclusions that may lead to unnecessary self-pity and self-blame of the incident by facing the mirror like when after we have washed our wounds on any part of the body to check and see its extent of damage. It is normal to be sad and even angry because it is painful as it is something hurting from deep inside us. The more we face our wounds, the more we become at home with them.
Photo by author, Katmon Nature Sanctuary & Beach Resort, Infanta, Quezon, March 2023.
Next is disinfect the wounds and apply medications to prevent infection. After washing my wounds with soap and water that Sunday, I disinfected these with Cutasept that resulted in more pain as if the antiseptic solution was fiercely battling the germs and microbes trying to infect my left knee.
When our soul is wounded, we do the same procedure after cleansing by facing the realities of pains and hurts with prayer, our spiritual antiseptic. Even doctors prescribe prayers to their patients in critical situation. And here is the interesting part in this process: prayer does not change the situation, it will not remove the wounds even the scars in our memory and soul; but, prayers make us stronger and better after the spiritual and emotional woundings we have had. Most of all, prayer facilitates our healing process because it opens us to Jesus, the only doctor who will heal us completely from both physical and spiritual and emotional wounds.
Photo by author, Katmon Nature Sanctuary & Beach Resort, Infanta, Quezon, March 2023.
Part of disinfecting and applying medications to our spiritual and emotional wounds is seeking help from others, finding Jesus our healer from priests and nuns, pastors and counsellors, and persons you look up to for their wisdom and maturity in Christ. Like when we are physically wounded that we go consult doctors, the same thing is needed when we are emotionally and spiritually wounded. Prayers like disinfectants and medicines are not everything; persons give the personal touch of the spiritual disinfection and healing of our brokenness inside. There is no need to let everyone know our spiritual and emotional wounds; simply share your hurts with someone who could help you “treat” your wounds and willing to journey with you in its long process of healing.
Do not broadcast these in social media which would only worsen the situation. That’s rubbing salt on your wounds because not everyone out there cares for you! It will just feed the frenzy of the many “low life” hungry for anything negative to feast upon. Every time I come across selfies of people while at the ER or confined in the hospital, I wonder how sick they really are that they could still hold their cellphone while being treated for an injury. Getting sick physically and emotionally is always an occasion for more prayers and conversion in Christ.
Finally, dress your wounds for protection. I am from Generation X and most of us were never hospitalized nor brought to the ER for any treatment while still a child despite our many mischiefs and misadventures while growing up.
We only had our mother as doctor who treated our wounds with agua oxinada and gamot na pula that was so painful that we need to blow dry our wounds once dabbed with it. Then, mom would leave our wounds open like that, no kuritas and gauze because makukulob ang sugat, magtutubig at magnanana (infection).That is why after that 2023 injury, I did not follow the doctor’s instruction to cover my wounds on my left arm with gauze; I would later learn its value in a painful and embarrassing way a week after when I was called to anoint a patient in our ICU.
On my way there, the elevator door suddenly closed that instinctively I used my left wounded arm to stop it. Anyway, I thought the wounds were already healing and felt no pain at all when hit by the elevator door. When I entered the ICU, the nurses and doctors stared at me and asked what had happened because blood was dripping from my left arm. It was only then I realized the elevator door had scratched my wounds!
What a shame that doctors and nurses attended first to my wounds before letting me anoint the patient; I felt so embarrassed especially when the attending physician explained the need to cover wounds for protection from dirt and other elements as well as accidents like what had happened to me at the elevator.
Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, 20 March 2025.
From that experience, I realized that one reason our spiritual and emotional wounds never get healed is because we “expose” them. When a person is wounded in heart or soul, it is not enough we clean and disinfect and treat them. We need to protect them from further pains and hurts from those who have inflicted their emotional wounds. Protecting them is to stop blaming them in causing their inner pains and hurts. Nasaktan na nga, nasisi pa. Ibinaon pa!
Friends and loved ones are the spiritual gauze who cover and protect spiritual wounds from more hurts and pains. They are the Band-aid strips protecting those spiritually and emotionally wounded by being at their side, assuring them with love and support, of still believing them despite their painful experiences. There is no need to engage the guilty offenders into a skirmish. If their wounds were of their own doing, soften the impact by motivating them to be better, to hope for the best, that it is not the end of their lives. And most of all, assure them their life is not defined by their emotional and spiritual wounds.
Protecting those wounded emotionally and spiritually means helping them find anew their true selves and worth as persons who are beloved children of God. Protecting them like gauze is helping them bear the long process of healing.
Photo by author, 2019.
There is a saying that “time heals” but time can only heal when there is human intervention in the treatment of our emotional wounds aided by prayers and faith in God. Time alone, no matter how long the years are, cannot heal us in itself if we remain exposed to dirt and elements that contribute to “infecting” us further. Or worst, if we remain with the very causes of our wounds.
For those hurting spiritually or emotionally, may Jesus Christ heal you and give you the courage to confront and deal with your inner wounds and pains. Seek God and seek persons too to help you. Amen. May God bless you on your road to recovery and healing! Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Our Lady of Fatima University, Valenzuela City (lordmychef@gmail.com).
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Tuesday, Memorial of Our Lady of Lourdes & World Day of Sick, 11 February 2025 Isaiah 66:10-14 <'000>< + ><000'> + <'000>< + ><000'> John 2:1-11
Photo by author, Our Lady of Lourdes Parish, Bignay, Valenzuela City, 03 February 2025.
Thank you, dearest God our loving Father in sending us your Son Jesus Christ who gave us his Mother the Blessed Virgin Mary to be our Mother too!
From the very beginning of his ministry to our modern time, Mary has always been close with Jesus who showed us your great signs of your loving presence, generosity and mercy, life and joy first anticipated at the wedding at Cana, his first miracle.
On the third day there was a wedding in Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus and his disciples were also invited to the wedding. when the wine ran short, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” Jesus said to her, “Woman, how does your concern affect me? My hour has not yet come.” His mother said to the servers, “Do whatever he tells you” (John 2:1-5).
From stillromancatholicafteralltheseyears.com, January 2022.
How lovely that Jesus Christ's first sign (miracle) happened "on the third day" - a prefiguration of Easter - the fullness of your coming to us, the fullness of our healing and salvation, the third day after his "hour"; how prominent that at his "hour" on the Cross, blood and water flowed out from Jesus' side pierced by a lance while there at the wedding at Cana, Jesus transformed water into an excellent wine.
Both at Cana and at Lourdes there was water, the sign of life; most of all, in both instances like at the Cross, Mary was present bringing us healing and joy.
At Cana, water became an excellent wine to prefigure the Lord’s Supper we celebrate each day in the Holy Mass as a foretaste of our promised glory in heaven while at Lourdes, water transformed and healed the sick.
Photo by author, Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes at St. Paul Spirituality Center in Pico, La Trinidad, Benguet, 06 January 2025.
Thank you most Blessed Virgin Mary to your witness of faith in Christ; your example enabled us to encounter the gift of God in Jesus, to create the feast of joy of communion, of healing, of fulfillment that can only be made possible by God’s presence and his gift of self in Christ; in Cana and on to Lourdes and wherever we may be, every day is God’s coming, the “hour” of Jesus in every “here” and “now” when we experience the sign of God’s overflowing generosity to us all who are so tired and exhausted most especially so sickly; you, O Blessed Virgin Mary, are the fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy of God sending us a mother who shall comfort us in moments of sickness and darkness; continue to help us, most Blessed Virgin Mary of Lourdes to get through these times of many diseases and sickness; get us closer to Jesus your Son who is our true peace and joy by doing whatever he tells us like the servants at Cana. Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Tuesday, Fourth Week in Ordinary Time, Year I, 04 February 2025 Hebrews 12:1-4 ><]]]]'> + ><]]]]'> + ><]]]]'> Mark 5:21-43
Photo by author, sunrise at the Sea (Lake) of Galilee, the Holy Land, 18 May 2019.
When Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a large crowd gathered around him, and he stayed close to the sea (Mark 5:21).
Lord Jesus Christ:
How lovely to hear this story of your frequent crossing of the sea to the other side to reach out to more people hungry and thirsty for your words that comfort and forgive, ease one's burdens and most especially for your healing touch.
You always come to us, Jesus, reaching out to us when all we have to do is follow you and as much as possible, be near you to touch you like that sick woman who touched your clothe after Jairus had begged you to come to touch his sick and dying daughter.
That's all we have to do: follow you, be near you, and touch you; but, of the large crowd there like today, only one dared to touch you; only one father had the courage to ask you to come and lay your hands on his daughter.
Photo by Dra. Mylene A. Santos, MD in France, 2023.
Give me Jesus the courage to come to you, to get near you and touch you with faith and desire to meet you, to speak to you, to be with you; take away my fears of leaving the safety of the sidewalks, of walking the main street that leads to your Cross when in fact, it was you who have paid the price for me by dying on the Cross.
Let the words of the author of the Letter to the Hebrews sink in me, "In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood" (12:4) because I am always afraid, always hesitant in following you, in touching you.
Touch me, Jesus so I may cross the sea with you despite the storm and giant waves; touch me, Jesus so I may cross the street and walk beside you in your arduous journey; touch me, Jesus so I may stand with you at your Cross. Amen.
Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, 20 March 2024.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Wednesday, Third Week in Ordinary Time, Year I, 29 January 2025 Hebrews 10:11-18 ><]]]]'> + ><]]]]'> ><]]]]'> Mark 4:1-20
From Facebook, 11 March 2024.
Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer offering for sin (Hebrews 10:18).
How lovely and reassuring are these words from the author of the Letter to the Hebrews today, Lord Jesus Christ; thank you for coming to save us from our sins, for forgiving our sins, for teaching us to forgive others most especially by being more loving.
Thank you, Jesus, for being the Sower, always coming out to scatter seeds of love and mercy to us; open our ears, Lord, that we may ought to hear you: forgive us for being hard and harsh in our ways and words, forgive us for being easily pricked and agitated, forgive us for not listening at all to you, Jesus.
Let me open myself to you, Jesus, by opening myself too with others to listen to their points of view in order to understand them, not to judge them; open myself to your healing words so I may also soothe others pains and hurts than add salt to their injuries. Lastly, let me do your will Jesus by always listening and forgiving. Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Thursday, Week I in Ordinary Time, Year I, 16 January 2025 Hebrews 3:17-14 <*((((>< + ><))))*> Mark 1:40-45
Photo from Fatima Tribune, Red Wednesday at the Angel of Peace Chapel, Our Lady of Fatima University, 27 November 2024.
Encourage yourselves daily while it is still “today,” so that none of you may grow hardened by the deceit of sin. We have become partners of Christ only if we hold the beginning of the reality firm until the end (Hebrews 3:13-14).
Let us not waste the present moment, the "today", Lord Jesus to be faithful and true to you always; may we not imitate the Israelites at Meribah and Massah where they tested God though they have seen his works; soften our hearts and open them to your truth, Jesus that we may not turn like the Jewish Christians to whom this letter was addressed because they could not accept you as the Christ, the Messiah.
In this time when your most holy name dear Jesus is being mocked and laughed at by those supposed to be learned and sophisticated, make us realize the fact there are so many things in this world and universe still so beyond our knowing nor understanding; instead of disregarding and ignoring you among us, may we acknowledge your presence in the many instances of grace and salvation in life; teach us to turn to you more often, Lord Jesus as your part-ners, that is, part of your very self because without you, we are incomplete; open our eyes so we may meet you especially when you go out of your way to find us in our alienation and sin as well as darkness and sufferings like that leper you have healed; make us ponder more deeply your realities and mystery, Jesus as we follow your instruction to be silent and to go to the temple to the church to pray more, to listen more to your instructions. Amen.
Photo by author, Mt. St. Paul Spirituality Center, Pico, La Trinidad, Benguet, 04 January 2025.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Wednesday, Week I in Ordinary Time, Year I, 15 January 2025 Hebrews 4:12-16 ><))))*> + ><))))*> + ><))))*> Mark 2:13-17
Photo by author, Northern Blossom Farm, Atok, Benguet, 27 December 2024.
therefore, he (Jesus) had to become like his brothers and sisters in every way, that he might be a merciful and faithful priest before God to expiate the sins of the people. Because he himself was tested through what he suffered, he is able to help those who are being tested (Hebrews 2:17-18).
How lovely are your words today, dearest Jesus! They are so true! While others are still wondering, asking "what if God is one of us", we have always believed and have experienced God truly one of us, among us, and within us in you, Jesus Christ.
How sad that many of us humans are more inclined to believe in things and persons bigger than than ourselves, not realizing our greatness in being small that even you, O Son of God, chose to be like us, little and vulnerable so that we can be like you, divine and eternal.
Teach us to see more of your person, of your being one of us, dearest Jesus, for us to experience your authority and power; like Simon and Andrew, teach us to have that intimacy with you Lord that, "immediately" they told you about Simon's mother-in-law being sick; most of all, let me be one with my own brothers and sisters like you, Jesus, "approaching them, grasping them, and helping them rise up when they are down" (Mark 1:31) Amen.
Jesus Heals Peter’s Mother-in-Law, a mosaic in the Cathedral of the Assumption, Monreale, Sicily, from christianiconography.info.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Friday in the First Week of Advent, 06 December 2024 Isaiah 29:17-24 <*((((>< + ><))))*> Matthew 9:27-31
Photo by author, Pulong Sampalok, DRT, Bulacan, 23 November 2024.
Forgive me, most merciful Father, when disappointments and hurts deep within me lead me to doubt you, your love and concern for me; this season of Advent, grant me the grace to be more daring in being open to you, Lord, believing and trusting you especially your words:
Thus says the Lord God: but a very little while, and Lebanon shall be changed into an orchard, and the orchard be regarded as a forest! On that day the deaf shall hear the words of a brook; and out of gloom and darkness, the eyes of the blind shall see. The lowly will ever find joy in the Lord, and the poor rejoice in the Holy One of Israel (Isaiah 29:17-19).
Reawaken that gift of hope
in Jesus Christ who had come,
would come again at the end of time,
and continues to come daily in life
I always miss as I have stopped
daring to be open to you, Lord;
grant me the same courage and boldness
of those two blind men in today's gospel,
so daring in following
and insisting to Jesus
to heal them;
only you, Jesus, has the power to heal,
to change and transform each one of us
but so often, the pains and darkness
we go through life make us balk even
mistrust you that we no longer come to you
unlike the two blind men, ironically;
please, make me dare to open myself
to you again Lord this Advent and hereafter.
Amen.
Slide from Ms. Regina Buenaventura, Campus Ministry of Our Lady of Fatima University, 05 December 2024.
Quiet Storm by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, 09 September 2024
Image from crossroadsinitiative.com.
And people brought to Jesus a deaf man who had a speech impediment and begged him to lay his hand on him. He took him off by himself away from the crowd. He put his finger into the man’s ears and, spitting, touched his tongue; then he looked up to heaven and groaned, and said to him, “Ephphatha!” – that is, “Be opened!” – And immediately the man’s ears were opened, his speech impediment was removed, and he spoke plainly (Mark 7:31-35).
Come, Lord Jesus, take me away from the routines and ordinariness of this life that has become my comfort zone; touch me again and speak to me that word "Ephphatha" so I may be opened to speak plainly again: let me speak plainly of love not with eloquent words but with sincere gestures of care and kindness for the other person; let me speak plainly of love not with technicalities of the laws and rituals but with mercy and compassion for a sinner and those who have gone wayward; let me speak plainly of love, dear Jesus, like you, not with letters and punctuations but full of tenderness for the weak and the sick; let me speak plainly by being open, giving all that I have not only whatever is in excess; let me speak plainly not with advocacies so passionate but simply doing what is right and good to keep this world clean and just; let me speak plainly, O Lord, with a ready smile to anyone, wide arms to hug and welcome family and friends, warmth and joy to inspire those lost and about to give up; let me speak plainly, Jesus, like you that in the end of this life the heavens may open as I pray, "into your hands I commend my spirit." Amen.
Photo by author, Chapel of St. Francis Xavier, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, 20 March 2024.
The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B, 08 September 2024 Isaiah 35:4-7 ><}}}}*> James 2:1-5 ><}}}}*> Mark 7:31-37
Photo by author, sunrise at Galilee, the Holy Land, 2017.
Thank God the rains have finally stopped here in Metro Manila and nearby provinces but the flood remains widespread as we brace for two more weather disturbances due this week.
So timely is our gospel this Sunday that reminds us of something so essential during calamities, the need to speak plainly and clearly.
Image from crossroadsinitiative.com.
Again Jesus left the district of Tyre and went by way of Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, into the district of Decapolis. And people brought to him a deaf man who had a speech impediment and begged him to his hand on him. He took him off by himself away from the crowd. He put his finger into the man’s ears and, spitting, touched his tongue; then he looked up to heaven and groaned, and said to him, “Ephphatha!” – that is, “Be opened!” – And immediately the man’s ears were opened, his speech impediment was removed, and he spoke plainly (Mark 7:31-35).
"...and he spoke plainly."
From forbes.com, 2019.
Think of our many misunderstandings and quarrels happening in these days of modern means of communications. How ironic that in this age of instant and wireless communications so accessible to everyone, the more we have misinformation and miscommunications.
No one seems to be speaking plainly and clearly anymore because we have been so blinded by the many images and colors competing for our attention, becoming deaf and mute due to the cacophony of sounds we hear even from machines and things that speak. Instead of life becoming easier and convenient in this age of social media and modern technologies, it has become so complicated like Facebook as more and more of us becoming deaf and mute to the realities within and around us.
I have just checked the internet today to find out that there are now over 7.2 billion cellphones in the world as of June 2024, a figure that accounts for about 90% of the global population now at 8 billion. Of course, it does not mean that 90% of the peoples across the world own a cellphone but we can just imagine how this little gadget has become the new “god”, a baal of the modern world everybody worship and follow. Jesus comes to us today, inviting us to separate ourselves from everything mundane even for a few hours to experience Him and His healing of our own deafness and blindness.
Photo by author, shore of Galilee, 2017.
Once again we find Mark guiding us in Jesus Christ’s itinerary that is often so quick and most of all, not really a destination found in maps but within us.
From Gennesaret last Sunday when Pharisees and scribes from Jerusalem questioned Him about the disciples’ non-compliance with their rites of washing and cleansing, Jesus swiftly moved to visit the pagan territories of Tyre and Sidon, making a stop-over at Decapolis where He healed a deaf-mute. Those pagan territories are not mere locations nor sites in the Holy Land but areas within each one of us, our very person who have forgotten God completely even on Sundays as we worship so many other gods running our lives.
Jesus is now visiting us in our own paganism, asking us to separate ourselves even for a while from everything to experience humanity, our human-ness, our being one with God who is the very basis and foundation of our lives.
We are probably one of those people in Decapolis who begged Jesus to heal the nameless deaf-mute or most likely, ourselves the deaf-mute needing healing by Jesus! This healing of the nameless deaf-mute is a parable of the cure of another kind of deafness and speech impediment afflicting us these days that only grace can heal.
Photo by author, wailing wall of Jerusalem, 2017.
Recall how last Sunday Jesus reminded us of checking into our motivations, on what is inside us in doing things. Jesus was not actually against rites and rituals but simply wants us to do things for the glory of God.
Today, Jesus separates us from our daily routines, from the mundane to touch us, to breathe on us His spirit so we can be more attuned with Him and therefore reflect Him in our lives by opening us – Ephphatha – to speak plainly again of God’s love and mercy, of life’s beauty, of our own giftedness.
To “speak plainly” like that healed deaf-mute at Decapolis is to be able to put into actions the words of Jesus Christ. To “speak plainly” is more than verbally pronouncing words and sounds but most of all touching others with our kindness and love. To “speak plainly” is to hold the hands of those afraid to move on in life after a failure, to caress a sick’s forehead or feet, to hug and embrace the lonely and lost, to be present with those in grief and in pain. To “speak plainly” is to be a presence of God to everyone especially strangers, the elderly, the weak and the helpless.
To “speak plainly” first of all requires us to be opened to God’s words. The gospel accounts teem with many instances of Jesus reminding His disciples that include us today of taking into our hearts to understand and put into practice His words. In the second reading, St. James reminds us how we have become deaf and blind of each other that we behave so badly because we have been so molded by worldly standards even in the church:
My brothers and sisters, show no partiality as you adhere to the faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ. For if a man with gold rings and in fine clothes comes into your assembly, and a poor person in shabby clothes also comes in, and you pay attention to the one wearing the fine clothes and say, “Sit here, please”, while you say to the poor one, “Stand there”, or “sit at my feel”, have you not made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil designs (James 2:1-4)?
Photo by author at Dominus Flevit church outside Jerusalem, 2017.
Think of our many rules and regulations, of our so many documents not only in government but even in the Church. Do they speak plainly?
Many times, we have so much rites and rituals as well documents and laws everywhere that are far from God and from the people, speaking so eloquently of lofty thoughts that are empty, so far from realities that have become only a burden to many, mostly the poor and the powerless.
How sad that those in power, both civil and ecclesiastical authorities have only complacent ears, oblivious to the din from below, the very voice of God among the ordinary people. They have not only turned deaf to the voice of the masses but have even forgotten God’s name in the process! The Apostle Paul gives us the most wonderful lesson about “speaking plainly” of God’s mystery by proclaiming more of Christ crucified than using the world’s “sublimity of words or wisdom” (cf. 1 Cor. 2:1-5).
Photo by author, 2017.
This is the tragedy among us modern Christians today, of us denying even totally unaware of our own deafness, of being mute not able to speak plainly of God in Jesus Christ who came to fulfill Isaiah’s prophecy in the first reading to heal the sick, to strengthen the weak and afraid, and to redeem us held captive by the world’s lies and evil.
Let Ephphatha be our prayer too this Sunday to heal us of our deafness so we may speak plainly again of God’s love and mercy and kindness. Amen. Have a blessed week ahead, everyone!
