Category: Holy Spirit

End of Christmas, start of daily “theophany”

The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, Cycle C, 12January 2025
Isaiah 40:1-5, 9-11  ><}}}*>  Titus 2:11-14; 3:4-7  ><}}}*>  Luke 3:15-16, 21-22
Photo by author, San Fernando, Pampanga, November 2021.

Today is your last chance to greet “Merry Christmas” the people you have forgotten as well as claim your gifts from Santa because this Sunday’s “Feast of the Lord’s Baptism” closes the Christmas Season.

The Lord’s Baptism shows us that Jesus did not remain an infant on the manger in Bethlehem nor a child in Nazareth. It is sad to note both the religious and secular emphasis on this child imagery of Christ have reinforced the notion among people that Christmas is for children and a time for adults to return to the innocence and joy of their childhood.

Jesus grew up and matured into an adult on a mission from the Father to save us that led to His Passion, Death and Resurrection at Easter. Through our baptism in becoming the children of God, Jesus invites us to continue His Christmas story by maturing in our faith, hope and love in Him by embracing His Cross that His Baptism anticipated.

This Sunday Feast of the Lord’s Baptism is a coming to full circle of last week’s Epiphany into a theophany. Yes, they sound Greek because both are from the Greek words “epiphanes” and “theophanes”.

Epiphany is Jesus manifesting Himself to all nations through the Magi as the King of kings last Sunday; today, it is God the Father who recognizes Jesus as His Christ, His Anointed One with the voice declaring as a theophany, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased” (Lk.3:22).

Every morning as we wake up is a theophany with God telling us “You are my beloved child; with you I am well pleased.” Three things I wish to share with you for us to hear God’s daily theophany and fulfill our mission as baptized children of the Father.

Photo by author, sunrise in Atok, Benguet, 27 December 2024.

First, let us recognize and affirm our being, identity, and existence. Many times, we are more of a “zombie” than a human person who can’t find life nor experience living at all, wasting precious time to be somebody else, living in the past or living in the future.

When Luke noted “The people were filled with expectation, and all were asking in their hearts whether John might be the Messiah” (Lk.3:15), he wished to inform us how the people at that time recognized and admitted they were sinners, that they were broken, that they were sick physically, emotionally and spiritually as they all affirmed their need for salvation. They accepted and owned the realities of their lives that they needed God, they needed the Christ whom they thought was John the Baptizer. 

The Baptism of Christ by John the Baptist in the Jordan River. Detail of dome mosaic in the Battistero Neoniano (Orthodox Baptistery) in Ravenna, dating from 451-75. On lower right is a personification of the Jordan River as an old man rising from the water, holding a reed in one hand and offering a garment to Christ in the other. The right arm and dish of John the Baptist, the dove, and Christ’s head are 18th- and 19th-century restorations; the rest is original.

Even John the Baptizer is presented by Luke as also so sure of who he was as the precursor of the Messiah. Among the expectant people and John, we realize that indeed, growth happens the moment we accept who we are.

Examine the testimonies of many devotees of the Nazareno at Quiapo, of how they support each other in their woes and sufferings in life that we find a sort of theophanies by God, something like what we have heard from the first reading today, “Comfort, give comfort to my people, says your God” (Is.40:1). That comfort, that salvation, happened right there and then, in the now and not in a distant future.

Despite my “dislike” for their attitudes during the Traslacion, devotees of the Nazareno have always amazed me for daring to be truthful and honest with themselves, admitting their own sinfulness and weaknesses as they recognized too their need for help and most especially of their desire for God. This desire for God and admission of one’s sinfulness are very crucial to experience and hear God’s daily theophanies to us.

Photo by Mr. Jay Javier, 09 January 2019.

Second, for us to hear God’s theophany, we need to imitate Jesus Christ in taking the downward movement in life. His baptism at Jordan clearly illustrates this with His coming down to the Jordan valley through the mountains that evoked His own coming down from heaven to be born here on earth, in Bethlehem. 

What is so beautiful with Jesus Christ’s downward movement is essentially a being with the sinful, the sick, the rejected, the marginalized, the poor, and those considered dirty. From being purely clean and sinless, Jesus took all our dirt to be cleansed like Him. Such is the kindness of God that Paul speaks today to Titus “so that we might become heirs in hope of eternal life” (Titus 3:7).

Our world today teaches us the opposite direction Jesus Christ had taken by climbing up the pinnacle of success, of good life, of supremacy, of power, of everything! They call it “upward mobility” that has prompted everyone even those in the Church to join the rat race for being rich and famous, of being somebody, putting on masks and taking more of the goods the world offers until we get lost in misery finding no meaning at all with one’s self because we thought life is “up there.”

Jesus Christ is not up there but down here, in our very selves, in our very hearts filled and battered with our many agonies and failures, hurts and pains, weaknesses and sins. Look down more into our very selves to find Jesus in our dirt and miseries which is the message of Jesus Nazareno.

Observe all those interviewed in Quiapo have only one prayer – well-being of a loved one. They never asked to be rich or have money. Just heal a sick child or parent was the most requested prayer of devotees. Our favorite Pope Benedict XVI explained this downward movement so well:

To accept the invitation to be baptized now means to go to the place of Jesus’ Baptism. It is to go where he identifies himself with us and to receive there our identification with him. The point where he anticipates death has now become the point where we anticipate rising again with him (Jesus of Nazareth, page 18).

Photo by author, sunset in Liputan Island, Meycauayan City, Bulacan 31 December 2022.

Last but not least for our reflection is something very peculiar with Luke alone: the theophany of Jesus happened not right after His baptism but while He was praying, “After all the people had been baptized and Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove” (Lk.3:21-22).

In the Acts of the Apostles, Luke recorded the Pentecost happened while the Apostles with the Blessed Mother Mary were all praying when the Holy Spirit descended upon them like tongues of fires which is similar with what took place at Jesus’ Baptism. In all books of the whole Bible, divine revelation is always preceded with prayer. As we shall see this year when Luke guides us every Sunday with his gospel account, he is the one who portrayed Jesus most in prayer than any of the other evangelists.

Photo by author, Garden of Gethsemane, the Holy Land, May 2017.

If we want to hear God’s theophanies to us, let us handle life with prayer which is more of listening and being one with God. Begin and end each day with prayer. There is no other way to hear God’s voice, to hear Him affirming us, to know His plans for us until we are one with with Jesus in prayer. 

In His baptism at Jordan, Jesus Christ as the Second Person in the Holy Trinity prayed not because He needed something from the Father but because He is one with Him in the Holy Spirit.  That was when the Father affirmed Him as the Christ being sent on a mission.

Through the Sacrament of Baptism we have received, we are reminded today of God’s anointing of each of us as His beloved child. May we heed His voice and be one with Him for a more blessed 2025 ahead of us as we begin Ordinary Time tomorrow. Have a blessed week. Amen.

Advent & Christmas begin in the church

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Simbang Gabi-4 Homily, 19 December 2024
Judges 13:2-7, 24-25     <*((((><  +  ><))))*>     Luke 1:5-25
Photo by author, wailing wall of Jerusalem where Jews pray until now being the section closest to the Holy Holies destroyed in year 70AD.

From Matthew, we now shift to Luke to listen to his account of Christmas which is the most complete and detailed. In fact, most artistic renditions of Christmas were inspired by Luke’s gospel.

Very surprising in his Christmas story, Luke started it with the annunciation of the birth of John the Baptist to his father Zechariah who was then serving at the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem. It is a reminder to us all these days that Advent and Christmas begin in the church, in our holy celebrations.

In the days of Herod, King of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah of the priestly division of Abijah; his wife was from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. Once when he was serving as priest in his division’s turn before God, according to the practice of the priestly service, he was chosen by lot to enter the sanctuary of the Lord to burn incense. Then, when the whole assembly of the people was praying outside at the hour of the incense offering, the angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right of the altar of incense (Luke 1:5, 8-11).

Luke’s detailed account of the event is the Jewish Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) when their priests incense yearly between September 18-24 the Holy of Holies where they used to keep the Ark of the Covenant. From this detail by Luke we got the reliable timetable in the celebration of Christmas on December 25 by considering this event as the time of Elizabeth’s conception of John who was born June 24 or nine months after. Tomorrow we shall hear in the gospel how “on the sixth month” of Elizabeth’s pregnancy which fell on March 25, the angel Gabriel announced to Mary the birth of Jesus, the Solemnity of the Annunciation we celebrate on that date. Nine months from March 25, we have December 25! Who said our Christmas date is not in the Bible? We got it here in our gospel today courtesy of Luke!

Photo by author, Parish Church of St. Joseph in Morong, Rizal, January 2021.

It may sound simple yet, it is so profound. In narrating this to us, Luke reminds us today that the Christmas story began in a holy celebration in the temple of Jerusalem now happening in our Eucharistic celebrations in every church around the world.

Many take our Sunday Masses for granted these days with so many excuses and alibis but, let us set aside all these to reflect on this simple detail from Luke’s first story on Christmas.

Photo by Mr. Jim Marpa, 2018.

First, this is a call for us all to go back to the church by finally putting a stop NOW of online Masses. Online Mass as a term is an oxymoron because it presupposes actual presence of people. There can be no virtual Mass because there is no such thing as virtual sacrament nor virtual grace. That is why God introduced Himself to Moses as “I AM WHO AM”, the One who is perfectly present, always actual never virtual.

Since the waning of the COVID virus last year, both the Pope and the CBCP have called for the ending of online Masses but unfortunately, so many priests have remained stubborn with some making “shameful profit” out of it which is strongly prohibited by Canon Law and other Church and papal documents. Unless online Masses are stopped, people will always find reasons and alibis not to go to church on Sundays.

As we reflect on Luke’s account of the celebration at that time of the annunciation of the angel to Zechariah while he was incensing the Holy of Holies, we get the feel of solemnity and sacredness that are sorely missing these days in many of our celebrations of the Mass.

Like Zechariah and the priests of the Jerusalem temple at that time who were all steeped in traditions and presumably spirituality, we have every reason to expect the same, even more, from our bishops and priests today. They are the ones who set the tone of every celebration and of life in the parish; their spirituality or lack of it is manifested in the parish life, from its building structure to its witnessing.

Photo by author, pious Jews and Rabbis in another enclosed section of the wall of the temple of Jerusalem, May 2017.

How sad when priests have lost the sense of the sacred of the Holy Mass when they disregard the solemnity of the celebration with all their antics and gimmicks; worst of all, of coming to Mass unprepared without a homily and good vestments, sometimes without having showered or shaved! What is tragic is when the priest attends all socials in proper attire, but never in the Mass.

The other day, I saw a sticker at the back of a delivery van that asks, “How’s my driving? And my grooming?” Too bad I was not able to get the name of the company of that delivery van but how great are its people must be in giving a premium on how their drivers behave and look!

Some priests shamelessly argue that what is essential is what is inside but they forget that the outward appearance is an indication of what’s inside them too. How can the people feel and experience God if their pastor comes shabbily dressed without any good vestments, so untidy as in dugyot, unprepared for the Mass, without a good homily?

What had become of our churches that have been the shining glory of architecture through the centuries but now look like malls? Some churches look like videoke bars with a lot of giant TV screens while priests serenade the people with their wonderful voices instead of delivering a homily.

How sad that many churches are untidy and ugly. Yes, ugly is the word. And kitschy, bereft of any sense of the holy that people cannot experience God except be played on their emotions with dramas and not to forget, second and third collections. Choirs are on their own with a concert, totally deaf to the fact their music is supposed to lead the congregation into prayerful reflections not to applaud them for a performance. It is about time we restore the dictum of the Roman liturgy of noble simplicity not only of the church and also of celebrations.

Photo by author, Archdiocesan Shrine of Nuestra Señora De Guia, Ermita, Manila, 28 November 2024.

Our gospel invites us today, especially us priests and bishops along with those involved in preparing our parish celebrations to be silent like Elizabeth – lest we be silenced and be made mute by the Lord like Zechariah to finally open ourselves to listen to God’s instructions about His Son’s coming.

Let’s face that sad reality of so many of us clergy and laity in the church who are like Zechariah trying to control everything including God, even playing God who give the people enough reasons to turn away from the Church completely.

Photo by author of the beautiful sacristy of the Archdiocesan Shrine of Nuestra Señora De Guia in Ermita, Manila where even a guest priest could feel at “home” with everything in order.

Like Elizabeth, let us choose to be silent in order to pray truly, awaiting God in the Holy Spirit to stir us into His Divine Plans like Samson in the first reading, “The boy grew up and the Lord blessed him; the Spirit of the Lord first stirred” (Jgs.13:24-25). We find the same thing in the gospel when Gabriel told Zechariah how John while still in Elizabeth’s womb would be filled with the Holy Spirit (Lk.1:15) in accomplishing his mission as precursor of Jesus.

If we could allow ourselves to be stirred by God first – not by fad or ulterior motives in our church celebrations – then every Mass becomes a Christmas, a coming of Christ.

Let us do away with unnecessary things in the church and in our celebrations that call attention to us, to our abilities and talents, even power like Zechariah by being more daring in silence and noble simplicity to experience God’s coming every Mass.

As we shall see in the coming days from the gospel of Luke, Christmas is both a journey into Bethlehem, Jerusalem and other places as well as into the very hearts of Joseph and Mary and of those who would recognize and accept Jesus Christ. May our churches reflect what is in our hearts as disciples of Christ, always with a space for Jesus to come and dwell inside and among us. Amen.

Photo by author, Simbang Gabi in our previous parish, 2018.

Led by the Holy Spirit

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Wednesday in the Twenty-eighth Week of Ordinary Time Year II, 16 October 2024
Galatians 5:18-25     ><))))*> + ><))))*> + ><))))*>     Luke 11:42-46
Photo by author, Fatima Ave., Valenzuela City, 25 July 2024.
Lead and guide us,
O Most Holy Spirit;
set us free from "the works
of the flesh: immorality,
impurity, licentiousness,
idolatry, sorcery, hatreds,
rivalry, jealousy, outbursts of fury,
acts of selfishness, dissensions,
factions" (Galatians 5:19-20);
cleanse our nation now facing
the realities of the truth of what we
have long suspected of filth and evil
that have shrouded the past 
administration's drug war;
so many lives were lost
and destroyed not only by
the deaths but all the lies
that were glorified;
be the courage and strength,
O Holy Spirit, of those finally
given the chance to stand for what is true
so that never again such reign of
darkness and terror be repeated.
Woe to us
and everyone who continue
to overlook the good of others!

Let your Spirit, dear Jesus,
bear fruit in us with "love, joy,
peace, patience, kindness, generosity,
faithfulness, gentleness, self-control"
(Galatians 5:22-23); fills us with your
Spirit today, Jesus, so we may be
more loving, thinking always of the
good of others above all.
Amen.
Photo by author, Fatima Ave., Valenzuela City, 25 July 2024.

Filled with Spirit

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Friday, Memorial of St. John XXIII, Pope, 11 October 2024
Galatians 3:7-14     <*((((><  +  ><))))*>    Luke 11:15-26
Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, 20 March 2024.
Lord Jesus Christ,
fill me with your Holy Spirit,
enliven my faith,
hope and love in You;
in this age of so many divisions
when we are being pulled by
the strong forces of the past
to go back to what was before
due to the excesses of modern time,
let us look for your Cross,
O Lord, to let the "finger of God"
work in us to cleanse us of
all evil and filth that make us
"scatter" than "gather".

“But if is by the finger of God that I drive out demons, then the Kingdom of God has come upon you… Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters. When an unclean spirit goes out of someone, it roams through arid regions searching for rest but, finding none, it says, ‘I shall return to my home from which I came.’ But upon returning, it finds it swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and brings back seven other spirits more wicked than itself who move in and dwell there, and the last condition of that person is worse than the first” (Luke 11:20, 23-26).

Let us realize,
like what St. Paul tells us
in today's first reading that 
we who "have faith in You are
the children of Abraham,
that the blessing of Abraham 
might be extended to the Gentiles
through Christ Jesus, so that
we might receive the promise of 
the Spirit through faith" 
(Galatians 3:7, 14).
Let us embrace that truth,
Jesus, that You have done everything
for our salvation,
for our freedom,
for our being children of the Father;
You have cleansed us,
come fill us with your Spirit
for us to see our similarities
not differences to build a more
humane society here on earth;
fill us with your Spirit, Jesus,
let not the bonds and shackles of sin
hold us, isolated from others,
always competing that prevent
peace in finally happening.
Help us imitate your faithful servant
St. John XXIII who convened the
Second Vatican Council to open
the windows of the Church
and welcome this modern age
so we may find You Jesus ever more
present in this changing time;
most of all, to share You, Jesus
who is still most needed
in this troubled age.

You have done everything
for us, Jesus.
Let us rest on that by
remaining in You, 
doing your work
and make us stop
playing god, savior
of the world.
Amen.
Photo by Ka Ruben, new stained glass of the National Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima, Valenzuela City to be blessed on Sunday, the 107th anniversary of the last Apparition of the Virgin Mary in Fatima, Portugal.

Bad news is good news

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Monday, Memorial of Dedication of St. Mary Major in Rome, 05 August 2024
Jeremiah 28:1-17     <*((((><  +  ><))))*>     Matthew 14:13-21
From en.wikipedia.org
God our loving Father,
teach us to appreciate bad news
that comes our way because
most often from it comes too
the good news;
like in the life of your prophet Jeremiah
who spoke always of bad news,
of gloom and doom to the people of Judah
so that they would repent and be converted;
but they chose to listen to the good news
of Hananiah you have not authorized
to speak on your behalf,
greatly misleading them
with false hopes of liberation
from the Babylonians that
actually worsened as Jeremiah
had told them.
Truth hurts
but we must always hear
and accept it so that we may
grow and mature like the Apostles
when Jesus told them,
"There is no need for them to go away;
give them some food yourselves"
(Matthew 14:16);
from that bad news,
the Apostles were able to surrender
themselves and their loaves of bread
to Jesus who multiplied them to
satisfy the great crowds with
so many leftovers!
The construction and 
dedication of St. Mary Major in Rome
happened during those problematic
years of the fourth century Church
with many bad news like 
Nestorianism that denied Christ's divinity;
in accepting all the bad news at that time,
the church of St. Mary Major
was miraculously built
and finally named in honor
of Mary, Mother of God
after resolving the heresy of Nestorianism.
In this time of so many bad news
especially when immorality and decadence
seem to prevail and govern lives these days,
help us dear Jesus to hold on more to you,
to implore the Holy Spirit to
enlighten our minds and our hearts
in seeking, following and standing 
by your truth
to finally win over people
back to sanity
and deceny.
Amen.

Rest is to be close with Jesus, close with others

The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B, 21 July 2024
Jeremiah 23:1-6 ><}}}}*> Ephesians 2:13-18 ><}}}}*> Mark 6:30-34
Photo by author, Katmon Nature Sanctuary &Beach Resort, Infanta, Quezon March 2023.

After being sent “two by two” last Sunday, the Apostles now return to Jesus, reporting “all they had done and taught.”  What a beautiful gospel scene this Sunday, supposed to be our day of rest that begins in God and must be rooted in God.

The apostles gathered together with Jesus and reported all they had done and taught.  He said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while.”  People were coming and going in great numbers, and they had no opportunity even to eat.  So they went off in the boat by themselves to a deserted place (Mark 6:30-32).

Last Sunday we were reminded to rediscover the family and friends sent with us “two by two” in this life while today the Lord wants us to be aware of our need to rest in order to rediscover Him first of all, then one’s self and others.

Unfortunately, many people today have entirely forgotten the meaning and importance of rest that we succumb to all kinds of sickness related with stress and fatigue. In fact, Filipino workers were recently ranked as the second worst in terms of work-life balance in a worldwide survey. One factor it cited is the lesser paid vacation leaves our workers have compared with their counterparts in other countries. 

Photo by author, Sonnenberg Resort, Davao City, 2017.

Rest is not only stopping from work to be recharged like cellphone batteries; we are not things like robots and drones sent out simply for a task that once achieved, no more.  We are inter-related persons meant to form bonds and unity, a family and a community. That is the result of our being sent on a mission to share God’s creative works leading to our union in Him with others. 

God rested and made Sabbath holy after creation because He had completed all His works that were all good; we, on the other hand, merely participate in His creative works. That is why no matter how hard we push ourselves with our work, we can’t completely finish them as more things to do come along the way, making us bored or stressed out because we could no longer find life but simply routine. We have been so focused on accomplishing many things as if we are the savior of the world (messianic complex) that we feel so important, bloating our ego. That is when we start literally throwing our weight to those around us like in those reels of road rage. The sad part of this is how we eventually hurt the people we love and supposed to serve like the shepherds of the Old Testament that God through Jeremiah had accused to have “misled and scattered” the people of Israel (Jer.23:1).

Photo by author, border between Jordan and Israel, May 2019.

Today, Jesus is inviting us to “Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while (Mk.6:31)” to remind us that in everything we do in this life, what matters most is not the task but us, the persons we love and care for, and Christ who is our only fulfillment in life. 

Like the apostles, we have to return to Jesus precisely because our mission, our work is not ours but Christ’s. We need to return to Jesus every Sunday in the Eucharist when we are nourished by His words and strengthened by His Body and Blood to sustain us in our mission.

Rest is neither doing nothing like sleeping all day or doing anything we like that we forget God and in the process, our very self and others. Rest is a time of conversion when we lay aside our plans and agenda by returning to God so that we could have focus again in this life. Rest is actually to be filled with God, to be holy.

This we find expressed perfectly in our Filipino word for rest which is pahinga from the root hinga or breath that is spiritus in Latin. To rest in Filipino is mag-pa-hinga that literally means hingahan, to be breathed on. Genesis tells us how God breathed on man to be alive after creating him while in John’s Gospel we find Jesus breathed on His apostles after greeting them with peace twice on the night of Easter when He appeared to them at the Upper Room. From here we get that beautiful imagery of rest as being breathed on by God – mag-pa-hinga sa Diyos – which is to be closer with God!

Here now is the challenge and best part of the good news this Sunday: the more closer we get to God in Jesus and through Jesus especially on Sunday our day of rest, the more we must get closer with others. The more we pray, the more we rest in the Lord, the more we serve, the more we love.

Mark told us how Jesus invited the Twelve to “come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while” but the people saw them and even got earlier to the other side of the lake!

When he disembarked and saw the vast crowd, his heart was moved with pity for them, for they were like sheep without a shepherd and he began to teach them many things (Mark 6:34).

Photo by author in the Holy Land, 2019.

Rest is more than the amount of time spent “resting” but the disposition to be with the Lord, to be one with Him that we become holy like Him. That moment when Jesus led the Twelve to rest was already a “rest” for Him that resulted in serving more the people who have followed them.

Jesus being moved with pity for the people indicated His rest and communion with the Father expressed in His oneness with the suffering people who were like sheep without a shepherd. Jesus has always been one with the Father right from the very start until His death on the Cross where He declared “It is finished” and commended His total self to the Father.

The truest sense of us having a real rest, of getting closer with God is when we get closer with others especially those entrusted to our love and care like our loved ones and those who are poor and sick.

Problem these days among us priests including laypeople is our wrong idea about rest; we do not really rest at all but simply indulge in pleasures that are many times scandalous for being godless and unmindful of other people. True rest makes our hearts natural to be aware of the sufferings of others, to be one with them or at least take their plight into consideration in our rest.

We can only say “mission accomplished” to rest when we are one with God through others that St. Paul explains in the second reading at how Jesus Christ reconciled us all through the Cross, “putting an enmity to death by it” (Eph. 2:16). Next Sunday, this we shall see when after teaching and healing the people in that deserted place, Jesus would feed the crowd of over 5000 people from just a few loaves of bread and pieces of fish.

Let us rest in the Lord to prepare our hearts and souls as well as our tired body to be filled with God so we can fill others too with Him. Let us pray: 

Lord Jesus Christ,
we live in a highly competitive world
of 24/7 wherein everyone is so busy
that we forget You and the persons 
You have entrusted to us;
remind us we are not the Messiah
nor a superhero to save the world;
we can only do as much in this life
as God had accomplished all for us
 in You, the Christ;
let us take two or three 
even five steps backwards 
to let You, Jesus,
do your work in us.
Amen.

Words, words, words…

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Friday in the Fourteenth Week of Ordinary Time, Year II, 12 July 2024
Hosea 14:2-10     <*[[[[><<  +  >><]]]]*>     Matthew 10:16-23
Photo by Skitterphoto on Pexels.com

Thus says the Lord: Return, O Israel, to the Lord, your God; you have collapsed through your guilt. Take with you words, and return to then Lord; Say to him, “Forgive all iniquity, and receive what is good, that we may render as offerings the bullocks from our stalls” (Hosea 24:2-3).

Loving Father,
let us "take words" with us
this Friday,
words of contrition for our sins,
words of true repentance,
words begging your mercy,
words that are sincere
not empty words;
many times in this world
of social media,
we multiply words,
we shout words,
we alter words
to give new meanings
that suit us;
many times our words
are mere words,
never bearing fruit,
could not even stand
because they are not true;
like Jesus your Son,
teach us to "enflesh"
our words,
let our words to You be
translated into realities of
conversion and loving service 
for one another.

When they hand you over, do not worry about how you are to speak or what to say. You will be given at that moment what you are to say. For it will not be you who speak but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you” (Matthew 10:20).

Let us heed your words,
Lord Jesus Christ,
for us to be "shrewd as serpents
and simple as doves"
by learning to be silent
to let the Holy Spirit speak
through us;
in this noisy world
with so many competing 
words and sounds,
it has become indeed 
a persecution to be silent;
it is more difficult to be silent
to await your words, Lord;
it is always easier to speak
and add to the cacophony of
deafening and hurtful words
against each other
than to just listen to
our hearts,
to listen to your words
of love and mercy;
like the psalmist,
let my mouth
declare your praise
by awaiting your words
first, not mine.
Amen.
Photo by Jimmy Chan on Pexels.com

We the Church, an image of the Holy Spirit

The Lord Is My Chef Easter Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Pentecost Sunday-B, 19 May 2024
Acts 2:1-11 ><]]]]'> Galatians 5:16-25 ><]]]]'> John 15:26-27, 16:12-15
Illustration from istockphoto.com.

Blessed happy birthday to everyone this Pentecost Sunday, the “birthday” or official coming out party of the Church! In the Ascension of Jesus last Sunday, we have an upward movement that was a “leveling up” in our relationships with God and one another, calling us to be light to rise.

Today’s Pentecost Sunday is opposite, a downward move that “presses” us to “spread” like in compressing a sandwich to make it wider or bigger, calling us to be small and be “dissolved” so we can be mixed or shared with others.

Sorry for sounding a recipe but that’s how we are all as the kingdom of God here on earth – the Body of Christ we His disciples make up as the Church in the power of the Holy Spirit whose very image is us.

When time for Pentecost was fulfilled, they were all in one place together. And suddenly there came from the sky a noise like a strong driving wind, and it filled the entire hose in which they were. Then there appeared to them tongues of fire, which parted and came to rest on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in different tongues, as the Spirit enabled them to proclaim.

Acts 2:1-4

Pentecost is not just an event in the past but a daily reality calling us to be “dissolved” in ourselves, to be little and small so that we can be one with others to be united in Christ through the Holy Spirit.

Being a Christian is being united, being one in Jesus; remove “Christ” in the word Christian, we are left with the letters -ian that stand for “I-am-nothing”.

That is why we as the Church is the image or icon of the Holy Spirit, the Third Person of the Blessed Trinity promised by Jesus to come after His ascension. It is the principle of unity in the Trinity because the Holy Spirit is the love that exists between the Father and the Son. This union between the Father and the Son happens also among us, the community of believers despite our diversities and differences when we allow the Holy Spirit to empower us in our daily dying to ourselves that Jesus likened to the grain of wheat that falls to the ground in order to grow and yield bountiful harvest (Jn. 12:24-26). This is the reason why St. Paul calls us to live in the Spirit in the second reading:

I say, then: live by the Spirit and you will certainly not gratify the desire of the flesh. For the flesh has desires against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; these are opposed to each other, so that you may not do what you want… Now those who belong to Christ have crucified their flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit. Let us not be conceited, provoking one another, envious of one another.

Galatians 5:16-17, 24-26

Jesus is inviting us today to go through daily Pentecost by allowing the Holy Spirit to “burn” us with its fire, to dissolve our old selves to become new in Him. It is a process of conversion, of daily dying in our flesh in order to build up His Church.

Here we go back to one of the central theme of Jesus of becoming like a child, becoming small which is true greatness because that is when we no longer live but Christ in us as St. Paul experienced. Today he tells us some of the works of our old self we must turn away from like “immorality, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, hatreds, rivalry, jealousy, outbursts of fury, acts of selfishness, dissensions, factions, occasions of envy, drinking bouts, orgies, and the like” (Gal. 5:19-21).

See how all his examples lead to disunity and divisions instead of unity that is happening today. Some people call for inclusivity but the opposite happens as we get divided so sharply that anyone who opposes them is accused of “gaslighting” or worst, end up being “cancelled”! So sad that some people are exaggerating truth when in fact they are exaggerating themselves as new standards of truth, insisting themselves and their beliefs on us.

Why change the rules of grammar or beauty pageants or genders just because they are different? Worst, they want to change even religious feasts like Santacruzan or the praying of the Our Father! Where is the unity in diversity if there is one group insisting on themselves? What happens is a repeat of the Tower of Babel, not of the Pentecost.

Losing ourselves in the Holy Spirit does not hinder our search for truth. The Holy Spirit actually leads us to the whole truth of Jesus revealed in His coming but He is too big to be grasped wholly that He continues to unfold, telling us we can only arrive at truth when we think in Him, with Him, and through Him in the Holy Spirit.

“I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now. But when he comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth. He will not speak on his own, but he will speak wht he hears, and will declare to you the things that are coming. He will glorify me, because he will take from what is mine and declare it to you. Everything that the Father has is mine; for this reason I told you that he will take from what is mine and declare it to you.”

John 16:12-15

The key here is being small, being dissolved in the Holy Spirit to see the larger whole who is Jesus Christ found in the face of every person next to us. See how we find in the first reading the reality of the Church starting out big right away as “catholic” or universal when it began on Pentecost speaking all the languages of the world, uniting the peoples as one in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Stained glass of the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove as background of the Chair of St. Peter in the Vatican in Rome; photo from wikipedia.

The Church never started small like a club spreading into federations to become one. We become a part of that big reality of the Church in Christ by becoming small, by being dissolved by the fire of the Holy Spirit by letting go of our selfish selves.

The Holy Spirit continues to come down to us in daily Pentecost explaining and revealing to us the truth of Jesus through the many events iand persons in our lives. When my mother was still alive, she was the only reason why I came home; but, after she had left us peacefully last week, I have realized I still have to come home for my family and relatives and friends. It is a process of dying in myself amid the pain of seeing her room empty, that she is gone.

Death, like the ascension of Jesus is not about replacing those who have left us but a Pentecost, of allowing the Spirit to come to make us smaller, to be one with those still with us to continue celebrating life. That is when we experience the “fruit of Spirit” like “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (Gal. 5:22-23). When that happens, then we have the Church as well as our own family as an image and indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Let us pray: 

Lord Jesus Christ,
make us aware of
the coming of the Holy Spirit
to us in our daily Pentecost;
keep us open and humble,
dissolve our selfishness,
our pride, our "flesh"
so that we may live in
the Holy Spirit
as the Church,
its very image
here on earth.
Amen. 
Have a Spirit-filled week ahead!

What “joins” us?

The Lord Is My Chef Easter Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Tuesday in the Sixth Week of Easter, 07 May 2024
Acts 16:22-34     <*((((>< + ><))))*>     John 16:5-11
Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, March 2023.

The crowd in Philippi joined in the attack on Paul and Silas, and magistrates had them stripped and ordered them to be beaten with rods. After inflicting many blows on them, they threw them into prison and instructed the jailer to guard them securely.

Acts 16:22-23
Lord Jesus,
thank You for joining us
in our humanity,
in everything except sin
so that we too are able
to join You in Your
divinity.
Unfortunately,
most often we join
the wrong causes,
the wrong people,
the sinful and evil ways
of the world
instead of joining You
and Your works.
Until now
this scene in Philippi
continues in our days
when we join others
in bringing down
those doing good,
to hurt and put
 to shame
 those doing Your work.
Teach us, Jesus,
to join,
to connect,
to link,
to unite,
and to attach
ourselves
with You,
in You
and through You
like the jailer of
St. Paul
who chose to join
life and light
than join his masters
in evil;
keep us attuned
always to the Holy Spirit
to be aware
and conscious always
of Your ways and moves
we must follow
so that eventually at the end
of this journey on earth,
we join You in
eternal life.
Amen.
Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, March 2023.