Words That Heal, Words of Eternal Life

The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe, Week XXI-B, 26 August 2018

Joshua 24:1-2,15-17,18///Ephesians 5:21-32///John 6:60-69

After celebrating the Sunday Mass, try watching “The Day After Valentine’s” starring Bela Padilla and JC Santos, the same tandem behind last year’s “Isang Daang Tula Para Kay Stella” both directed by Jason Paul Laxamana. Without telling you the story, there are three beautiful things in the film that perfectly fit it with the final episode of Jesus Christ’s “bread of life discourse” we have been reflecting these past five Sundays: first, the mystery and power of words, then the wounds and scars we all have in life, and finally, the temptation to walk away from our loved ones or to abandon a cause or a belief.

Like in most romantic films, Lani (Bella) and Kai (JC) accidentally fell in love with each other. Both are very interested with “Baybayin”, the ancient Filipino alphabet which they used to express many of their thoughts and feelings. Both also have scars in their bodies: Kai in his arm that are self-inflicted following his breakup with his last girlfriend and Lani on her whole back due to physical abuse by her own father while still a child. And there lies the twist in the film: Kai sought ways of erasing his physical scars and healing his inner pains that eventually led him back home in Hawaii to reunite with his family while Lani, on the other hand, kept her scars to herself, never allowing anyone to see or know them that made her ran away from home.

Now, the gospel: Many of Jesus’ disciples who were listening said, “This saying is hard; who can accept it?” Since Jesus knew that his disciples were murmuring about this, he said to them, “Does this shock you? What if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? It is the spirit that gives life, while the flesh is of no avail. The words I have spoken are Spirit and life. But there are some of you who do not believe.” As a result of this, many of his disiciples returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied him. Jesus then said to the Twelve, “Do you also want to leave?” Simon Peter answered him, “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. we have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God.”(Jn.6:60-64,66-69)

For the past four weeks, John has been telling us how the people were murmuring and then quarrelling among themselves over the words of Jesus in His bread of life discourse. All along these commotions, the disciples of the Lord have been silent until today. There were two groups of followers of Jesus: the Twelve who composed His inner circle known as the Apostles and the other 72 referred to as disciples who have been following Him for some time. For the first time in five weeks since the feeding of 5000, they would be expressing their unbelief in Christ’s words that eventually led to their walking away from Him along with the rest of the crowds. Only the Twelve would remain with Jesus.

In the film “The Day After Valentine’s”, Lani and Kai spelled out some significant words into “baybayin” like “paghihilom” or healing. It is the usual problem with words that are easier said or written than done and proven in actions. Like Lani and Kai, the disciples at Capernaum and us today, we all have a hard time living up to our words’ meaning and realities. It is always so easy to say yes, to commit and pledge our love and support in words but when things get tough and rough, we back out and go back to our former way of life. Sometimes, we really do not mean what we say for they are merely words, words, and words. It is so different with God whose words are His realities that He only had to speak to create everything. His very name in the words “I Am Who Am” is Himself, perfect. Most of all, when He sent us His Son to save us, that was exactly the name given Him, Jesus, which means “God is my savior”. As the Word who became flesh, Jesus revealed to us how much God loves us not only by speaking to us words of Spirit and life but fulfilling these on the Cross on Good Friday. He had shown us that more than the indication of our thoughts and feelings, communication at its most profound level is the giving of self in love. Here we find the great value of silence, especially during times of suffering and pain. Silence is more than being quiet, but being open to God’s words in the scriptures and in our hearts to let its meaning and realities be fulfilled in us. The crowd gathered with Jesus at Capernaum these past five Sundays have been murmuring and quarrelling over His bread of life discourse, refusing to allow His words to permeate them that they eventually left Him. Just like us, not only with God but with our loved ones.

Since Jesus knew that his disciples were murmuring about this, he said to them, “Does this shock you? What if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before?” I love this part in the gospel which I also remembered at the end of “The Day After Valentine’s” when Lani visited her parents’ gravesites. After laying flowers on them, Lani took off her shawl to finally expose her scarred back. She then sat on the ground, looked into the horizon with the camera at her back zooming out until she is framed at the middle between the two crosses of her father and mother’s tombs like the crucified Jesus. The scene was very symbolic, and shocking. Seeing the scars on her back, one could imagine the terrible ordeal Lani had gone through from an abusive father, the shocking truth now happening in many families.

Here at the end of the bread of life discourse, Jesus is asking us to stay, to remain in Him amid all the pains and sufferings of life for only Him can truly heal us and lead us to fullness of life. This was the challenge posed by Jesus to the crowd at Capernaum and with us today when He spoke of His moment of death when He is “lifted up on the Cross”, His ascending to where He was before. Christ’s crucifixion remains the most shocking scandal of all time when the all-powerful God was put to death in the most shameful manner. This we make present in every celebration of the Holy Mass, when we reaffirm to Him like the people with Joshua at Shechem that we choose to stay and serve the Lord our God (Josh.24:18). Staying with Jesus means taking concrete steps to prevent and stop all forms of human abuses especially against children and women. But it requires patience on our part too. There are no shortcuts that could only worsen the situation like retribution and executions. The more wounds we inflict, the more healing becomes elusive. Remain in Jesus, stay with Him. After so many experiments, we realize deep inside like Simon Peter that there is no one else to go to except Jesus who has the words of eternal life. Like Peter, we have to believe Jesus despite our many disillusions in life, in family, and with the Church, His Body. By remaining in Christ, taking the painful path of believing and trusting Him to overcome disillusions, we can enter into joy when life finally blooms to its fullest meaning in love. Too often, there is the temptation to always leave, to go back to our previous life of pains and darkness away from God and others. Amen. Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Parokya ni San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Gov. F. Halili Ave., Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria, Bulacan 3022

*Photo by Fr. Nick F. Lalog II, Sacred Heart Novitiate in Novaliches, 04 July 2018.

The Body and Blood of Christ, Our Communion with God

The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe, Week XX-B, 19 August 2018

Proverbs 9:1-6///Ephesians 5:15-20///John 6:51-58

Our gospel is now getting more interesting as the drama among the Jews and Jesus Christ unfold into new dimensions on this penultimate Sunday of the “bread of life” discourse. Last week, the Jews murmured among themselves when Jesus declared “I am the bread that came down from heaven” (Jn.6:41); today, the Jews quarreled among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”(Jn.6:52)

Notice the beautiful interplay of “antes” noted by John in this part of the bread of life discourse: from murmuring, the Jews have turned into quarrelling among themselves in their renewed refusal to believe in Jesus. They have deteriorated from being skeptical into being insidious, reaching its lowest point next week when in their refusal to take the words of Jesus, they would eventually leave Him behind along with other disciples who have followed Him after that episode of feeding of more than 5000 people. Only the 12 would remain with Jesus. On the other hand, we find Jesus speaking more boldly to the unfriendly audience by increasing the force of His declaration as “the bread of life” by repeating it eight times in eight verses! And this time, He would even add that not only His flesh is food but also His blood is drink for eternal life. Jesus did not budge in the arguments of the crowd and instead slowly spiraled up His discourse as food and drink for eternal life. Jesus is trying to establish here a new direction in knowing Him, in following Him. In presenting Himself as our food and drink for eternal life, Jesus is also showing us the direction we have to follow in Him. Remember our reflection last July 15 that discipleship is not destination but directional? And the direction Jesus is taking us in His bread of life discourse is about our Holy Communion in God.

If you have observed in these past four weeks, sometimes the discourse by Jesus seems to be going nowhere, could be vague or ambiguous that it does not seem to progress at all. See how since last Sunday Jesus was repeating over and over His being the bread of life who came down from heaven and that whoever eats His flesh and drinks His blood will have eternal life. Jesus is not trying to get our attention with some fancy thoughts or brilliant expositions; Jesus is inviting us to a more personal experience of Himself in His bread of life discourse. He is asking us to take our time in listening and digesting His words because in the end, His goal is not to fill our minds but to rest in our hearts. Jesus is seeking communion with us, a oneness that can be achieved in the mystery of faith with a certitude deep in our hearts. It is something like our daily prayers and weekly celebration of the Sunday Mass when we sometimes feel nothing is happening; even in our minds, we know we have known everything. Yet, as we try to be open, holding on to our faith in God, we continue to pray and celebrate the Sunday Mass that deep within us we are convinced something had changed, that we have experienced Someone so real and profound. That is communion. When we receive Jesus Body and Blood, we realize and know for a fact we are not one. We have a communion not only with others with similar pains and hurts like ours but most of all with God who became human like us because He loves us so much. Now in Holy Communion, He is one with us, truly inside our body, flesh and blood under the signs of bread and wine. There is now an existing relationship on common experiences inexhaustible in its richness. That is how personal God is with us.

Since the fall of Adam and Eve, God had always longed to restore our union with Him. In the first reading, we have heard how the author of the Book of Proverbs had personified God as Wisdom (a feminine) inviting us to come to her. “Let whoever is simple turn in here; to the one who lacks understanding, I say, Come, eat of my food, and drink of the wine I have mixed! Forsake foolishness that you may live; advance in the way of understanding.”(Prov.9:4-6) Wisdom is God Himself who is at once transcendent and close at hand, very lofty but also in the daily realities of life because He is always seeking a communion with us humans. Note in this passage, God is food and wine – the essentials of life! In the Eucharist, we have the most ordinary food, bread and wine, becoming the most divine presence of God with us in Christ Jesus. It is our common union with God in Christ who became human like us in everything except sin so that we can become like Him who is divine. Observe when the priest prepares the wine during the Mass, he would pause before pouring water to recite the silent prayer, “By the mystery of this water and wine may we come to share in the divinity of Christ who humbled himself to share in our humanity.” I love praying that, especially when I could see that amid the great amount of wine, our human contribution is just a droplet of water because Jesus did everything for us, we just have to believe! Then again while the “Agnus Dei” is sung in preparation of the Holy Communion, the priest pauses in silence as he breaks the bread, takes a little piece of it and puts it into the wine, silently praying “May this mingling of the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ bring eternal life to us who receive Him.”

Here again is Jesus Christ before us, like the scene at Capernaum after the feeding of more than 5000 people, inviting us to enter into a communion with Him and in Him without murmuring and quarrelling to calmly reflect on this mystery of the Lord as our food and drink to eternal life. Let us heed St. Paul’s reminder to the Ephesians today “to watch carefully how we live, not as foolish persons but as wise” (Eph.5:15) more concerned with God and not of the worldly things. Most of all, let us not rush God like the crowd at Capernaum by demanding spectacular and verifiable things to remind us of His presence. Jesus is with us in the most ordinary things like bread and wine, in the most common experience like the Mass. He speaks to us in the most consistent manner, always repeating the same words of assurances of His love and mercy, kindness and presence. Never doubt for we are making progress every Sunday, from Eucharist to Eucharist. Sooner or later, we shall come to that promised day of eternal life in the Father through Jesus Christ. Amen. A blessed week to you!Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Parokya ng San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Gov. F. Halili Ave., Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria, Bulacan 3022

*Photo by Fr. Nick F. Lalog II, Church at Tabgha where Jesus is believed to have fed more than 5000 people; at the altar floor is a mosaic of the loaves of bread and two pieces of fish. Taken during our Holy Land pilgrimage April 2017.

Believe. Love. And Live.

The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe, Week XIX-B, 12 August 2018

1Kings 19:4-8///Ephesians 4:30-5:2///John 6:41-51

Is it sinful to complain to God?

This is the most frequently asked question (FAQ) I get from everyone especially during confessions. And I always explain that it is not really sinful to complain to God in the sense that complaining to Him may actually be an expression of our deep faith and intimate relationship with Him. In our first reading we find the prophet Elijah complaining to God as he fled to the desert from the soldiers of Queen Jezebel sent to kill him: “This is enough, O Lord! Take my life, for I am no better than my fathers.”(1Kgs.19:4) In that sense, complaining is a prayer that comes from our hearts, expressing our deep, emotional pain as well as physical sufferings when we all we wanted is to take a deep sigh and blurt out what’s deep inside to complain or share with others. Especially with God whom we believe would do something to our plight. What is sinful is the “murmuring” we have heard from today’s gospel: The Jews murmured about Jesus because he said, “I am the bread of life that came down from heaven,” and they said, “Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph? Do we not know his father and mother? Then how can he say, ‘I have come down from heave’?” Jesus answered and said to them, “Stop murmuring among yourselves. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draw him, and I will raise him on the last day.”(Jn.6:41-44)

When we were growing up, it was a big “no-no” to murmur to elders like mothers, lolas and titas. Recall how sharp their eyes and ears that even if you are already on your way up to your room or leaving their presence, they knew so well you were murmuring that the next thing you knew, you have been slapped! “Tumigil ka sa kabubulong-bulong at tatamaan ka sa akin” is a clear a present danger situation, not a warning. It is bad, and sinful to murmur because it comes from the intellect than from the heart. There is resistance and refusal to be open, an insistence on what we know or deem as right and better to something being presented. See how the Jews rehashed their perceptions against Jesus when He first came home and preached in their synagogue as “they took offense at him” (Mk.6:1-6, 14^th week) again in this scene in Capernaum. Murmuring is sinful not only because it lacks respect but most of all, there is the underlying current, even a sinister one that runs deep within us to undermine or go against somebody, especially God and those above us like parents and superiors. It is an expression of a lack of faith. That’s the problem with those around Jesus in Capernaum: they refused and could not believe Jesus because He was one of them as they thought. We need to be open to enter into the reality and mystery of Jesus. Hence, after telling them to stop murmuring, Jesus said “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draw him, and I will raise him on the last day… Everyone who listens to my Father and learns from him comes to me.”

According to St. Augustine, “everything is grace but grace builds on nature.” It is always a grace from God to believe in Him, to have faith in Him but we have to nurture that gift within to grow and bloom. It is difficult to grow in faith and be captured by this faith if we do not stop “murmuring”: being too cerebral cannot solve everything because there are more realities in this life not visible with our eyes. It is only with the eyes of faith can we truly see the most essential things in life as the Little Prince realized. Through faith, we not only become open to God but also experience and realize something bigger which is love. Faith is akin to love. Both always go hand in hand because when we believe, we love. The more we love, the more we believe! When we believe, we love, then we live authentically. When we stop believing, we also stop loving, and we refuse to live anymore because there is nothing else to hope for in this life.

Believe. Love. And live. When we believe in Jesus, we love more truly – that is when we live authentically. This we shall see in the Lord’s discourse of His being the bread of life. But why “bread”? Bread is the most basic and essential food anywhere. Jesus offers Himself as the bread of life to show us that more essential and more basic than food and other material things for man is God alone. In declaring Himself as the bread of life, Jesus now presents Himself as the reality of God we do not see. Like the reality of bread as food, God is truly our life and sustenance not only in this life but in eternity! This we can see in the wonderful flow of the Lord’s discourse when He solemnly declared “Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life” in verse 47. Then, two more times He declares His being bread of life as the “bread that comes down from heaven”(v.50) and “the living bread” before concluding that the bread He shall give is His “flesh for the life of the world” both found in verse 51. We do not eat simply to be nourished or worst, to be filled with food; we eat to celebrate life with others. Every celebration always has some food to offer because ultimately, what we offer in every meal is also our very selves. That is most true in Jesus as the bread of life we eat in the Eucharist to partake in His divine life so that our lives are not only lived but also fulfilled in Him with others. May we “live in love” as St. Paul admonished the Ephesians in today’s second reading by always believing in Jesus Christ so we could love like Him and live in Him. Amen.Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Parokya ni San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Gov. F. Halili Ave., Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria, Bulacan 3022

*Photo taken by Fr. Nick F. Lalog II at Sonnem Berg Mountain View, Davao City, 10 August 2018.

Meaningful Existence In Christ, the Bread of Life

grayscale photography of crucifix — Photo by Pete Johnson on Pexels.com

Meaningful Existence in Christ, the Bread of Life

The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe, Week XVIII-B, 05 August 2018

Exodus 16:2-4,12-15///4:17,20-24///John 6:24-35

Existence. From “ex estare”, “to stand out.”

The word “existence” is a very obvious concept in our lives but also the most overlooked if not seen or understood at all. A very peculiar greeting among us Filipinos when we meet someone is “Hi! Nandito ka pala?” When translated into English, the more it is illogical and dumb as “Hi! You are here?” or worst, “Hi! Are you here?” Now, what kind of a question is it especially if the person you meet is like me standing at 5”5’, weighing 265 pounds? Do you ask “are you here?” when the presence is very obvious? It is a case of what teenagers call “MEMA” for “may masabi” or “just to have something to say”, indicating a very shallow perception and a lack of depth in friendship or acquaintanceship. The normal and most sane things to say when you meet anyone anywhere after the usual greeting of “Hi” and “Hello” are “how are you”, “what’s up”, and “what are you buying or looking for?” It was exactly the situation with the people who asked Jesus a silly question upon finding him on the other side of the lake in our gospel today.

And when they found him across the sea they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?” Jesus answered them and said, “Amen, amen, I say to you, you are looking for me not because you saw signs but because you ate the loaves and were filled. Do not work for food that perishes but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him the Father, God, has set his seal.”(Jn.6:25-27)

At least the people did not ask Jesus “Rabbi, are you here?” But still, their query of “Rabbi, when did you get here?” showed their lack of deep appreciation for the person of Jesus. They were really looking for bread and for things. Not for Jesus and His person which is exactly what our relationship with God and with others too! We always look for something else except for the very persons we relate with like family and friends and God. This is what I refer to as “objectifying” the subject or taking persons as things. Sometimes, we feel we truly love God and those around us but when we examine our priorities in life, we do not really love that much because we fail and even refuse to care, recognize and look for the person. What we easily and often look for is the object, the things we can have to fill us, even bloat us.

It is very amazing that John recorded this seemingly trivial anecdote but loaded with meanings. After all, he is often referred to as the “beloved disciple” that, for his love for Jesus he must have seen something very special in this episode. It was not merely a simple question on the part of the people but the sad reality of their lack of love for God and others, something we too must admit as very true with us today. Like in the first reading, the people were so tired and seem to have lost all zeal in following God in the wilderness that they have become very shallow in their perception of everything and of themselves. They were disillusioned and tired with the wandering in the desert, the circuitous route they were taking that suddenly, they have forgotten their deepest desires and aspirations when still in Egypt as slaves. They have forgotten God. Like us in this life of so many concerns when we forget the most essential ones like persons and the values they represent – love, kindness, and loyalty.

See how Jesus did not answer the people’s question and instead declared to them in very clear manner something that echoes even within us today: “Do not work for food that perishes but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him the Father, God, has set his seal… This is the work of God, that you believe in the one he sent – the Christ.” Have we become like those people who approached Jesus at the other side of the lake with the silly question to mask their desire for things, for material bread than for the person of Jesus Christ? Have we forgotten all the lofty ideals of life and being a person created in God’s image and likeness? Is this the reason why these days we could easily dispense prayer and celebration of the Mass because we have been so focused with material things than with deeper realities? How ironic that when life has become more convenient and easier today, the more we experience of being lost and anxious, sad and unfulfilled. What a tragedy that amidst the material affluence of life these days, lives and people have become more empty and unfulfilled.

Last Sunday we reflected on the need to see things with the eyes of Christ to fully understand and appreciate the feeding of more than five thousand people by Jesus from five loaves of bread and two fish. Today, Jesus is telling us to search for Him, for His very person and not for the bread and other material things it represents. Jesus Himself is the bread of life, the bread from heaven – the Christ or the Anointed One of God. When we believe in Him, then we see Him too in the many signs He comes in our lives daily. Then we eventually realize we are also like Him – bread offered, blessed, broken and shared with others to sustain earthly life into eternity. That is when we find meaning in our lives! This is the direction of life we must all take as we reflected three weeks ago. It is a direction demanding a continuous laboring in love, of always finding and giving meaning in our lives in God. And that is the wondrous reality in every Eucharistic celebration we have when we are constantly renewed in Christ as St. Paul told the Ephesians in our second reading today. The great St. John Paul II described the Eucharist as a “cosmic reality” or the brief experience of eternity while still here on earth!

When Jesus declared Himself as the bread of life, He made Himself existent among us, very present in us and among us. In the Eucharist, Jesus exists, standing out to us, reaching out to us to fulfill our very person so we could also stand out and reach out unto others in loving service and presence. For a meaningful existence, may we desire more of the person of Jesus, the only essential in life readily available to us in the Holy Eucharist. A blessed week to you! Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Parokya ni San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Gov. F. Halili Ave., Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria, Bulacan 3022

Seeing With The Eyes of Christ

The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe, Week XVII-B, 29 July 2018

2Kings 4:42-44///Ephesians 4:1-6///John 6:1-15

Beginning today for five weeks of Sunday we shall hear from the sixth chapter of John to discover and experience the mystery of the person of Jesus Christ. Taking off from where Mark left us last week when Jesus and His apostles crossed the lake to rest at a deserted place, John now introduces us to the long but beautiful bread of life discourse of Jesus Christ: Jesus went across the Sea of Galilee. A large crowd followed him, because they saw the signs he was performing on the sick.(Jn.6:1-2)

John’s gospel is also known as “the book of signs” wherein he arranged the major miracles of Jesus as revelations of His being the awaited Messiah or Christ. But unlike the other evangelists, John preferred to call these miracles as “signs”, from the Greek “semeion”that denotes the existence and character of unseen, deeper reality. The word miracle is from Latin “mirum oculis” or something that causes wonder when seen or beheld. But a sign is deeper in meaning that John preferred to use it to show that the healings and other acts performed by Jesus are proofs and evidence that indeed He is the Christ. In doing so, John is inviting us to see more beyond the healings and other acts by Jesus the deeper realities He wishes to reveal and share with us to be experienced too. He wants us to shift our perceptions of persons and things to higher levels. Like Jesus Christ, John wants us to see beyond material things for every detail can be a bearer of meaning, a sign of deeper reality and of Christ Himself. Let us try:

Jesus went up on the mountain, and there he sat down with his disciples. The Jewish Passover was near. When Jesus raised his eyes and saw that a large crowd was coming to him, he said to Philip, “Where can we buy enough food for them to eat?” He said this to test him, because he himself knew what he was going to do. Philip answered him, “Two hundred days’ wages worth of food would not be enough for each of them to have a little.” One of his disciples, Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, said to him, “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish; but what good are these for so many?”(Jn.6:3-9)

Imagine standing there with Jesus, looking at the great crowd of people coming. It was getting dark, the feast of Passover was approaching and you were at a deserted place. Then suddenly Jesus asks you like Philip where can we buy enough food for them to eat?

Notice that if we examine the Lord at how He looked at the situation, it could lead to a shift in our perception from scarcity to plenty by first seeing the people coming as persons who need to be fed and cared for. Jesus felt their hunger and thirst, seeing them as brothers and sisters. It was an opportunity for Him to teach them some lessons about God. Unfortunately, the disciples saw the opposite – it was a big problem. Philip even viewed it as a nightmare when he told Jesus that even “Two hundred days’ wages worth of food would not be enough for each of them to have a little.” The same thing with Andrew who found a boy with five loaves of bread and two fish not good enough for everyone. They saw it as a hopeless situation.

This is perhaps one of the main tragedies of our time when we begin to see and look at people as problems and mere statistics. We have failed and even refused to see each one as a person to be loved and cherished! Andrew did not even bother to ask the name of the boy and just brought him to Jesus with his bread and fish. Exactly how in media these days people are objectified and made into things, referring to persons with demonstrative pronouns this and that or ito at iyan in Filipino. On the other hand, objects are subjectified like food as “he/she’s delicious” or “masarap siya”. Sometimes I fear that one day PAGASA might even ask us priests to baptize typhoons as forecasters keep on referring to them like a human being: ang bagyon si Josie ay kumikilos pakanluran at may lakas siya ng hanging na… The most glaring sign of how low we have come to regard persons came from Congress during the SONA when Duterte reiterated the relentless continuation of his anti-drug campaign based on his erroneous view that human rights and human lives are two distinct realities. The list of instances continues when we take people for granted especially women and children when we give more emphases on things like money and clothes than persons. There is always more than enough bread for everyone when we learn to stop looking at everyone as a commodity to be bought and used. In the first reading, the prophet Elisha highly regarded those around him as persons who need to be fed with food that he had to remind his servant there was enough for everyone. With God, there are always plenty of bread for everyone but to the devil, there is never enough that is why its first temptation to Jesus was to turn stones into bread, the temptation to always take people for granted.

There is no doubt in the powers of Jesus Christ and most of all of His knowing what to do when in such difficult situations. Inasmuch as we trust in His powers, we also need to see others as brothers and sisters who are beloved by the Father. John mentioned in our gospel today the setting of this feeding of 5000 when the Jewish feast of Passover was near to show us the Eucharistic nature of the sign. How wonderful to remember that during His supper, Jesus took the same gestures at the wilderness and gave the bread to His disciples, saying “This is my body which will be given up for you.” Notice how there in the wilderness that the Son of God who had become man like us took on a body to remind everybody is a somebody and no one is a nobody. We are all bread meant to be shared and broken with one another for we are all one Body in Christ as Paul reminds us today in his letter to the Ephesians. Amen.Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Parokya ni San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Gov. F. Halili Ave., Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria, Bulacan 3022

*Photo from Google.

Resting In Jesus

Resting in Jesus Christ

The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe, Week XVI-B, 22 July 2018

Jeremiah 23:1-6///Ephesians 2:13-18///Mark 6:30-34

As I was telling you last Sunday, discipleship is directional than about destination. And though we have different missions in life, every mission always has Jesus Christ as direction. Today we deepen this direction in Christ with the return of the Twelve after being sent by Jesus to their first mission last week when He invited them to rest with Him to a deserted place.

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… 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 preach them many things. (Mk.6:30-31)

Friends always wonder what kind of “rest” I take when I go on a little solitude every Thursday on my weekly day-off or during my annual personal retreat. They ask, “anong klaseng pahinga po iyon Father kung nagdarasal pa rin kayo?” Of course, I sometimes go on out-of-town vacation but when we try to reflect on our gospel today, we discover some beautiful dimensions about rest. To rest means to stop because tasks have been completed. This we find in Genesis 2:2 when God rested on the seventh day after creating everything good. In John 19:30, we find Jesus Christ saying “it is finished” when He died to complete His work of salvation that after His Resurrection, He ascended into heaven to seat at the right hand of His Father in heaven. To rest primarily means to stop because work has been completed like God when He completed His works of creation and salvation. But in the gospel today we find how Jesus and the Twelve could not rest nor eat because of the people coming!

Here we find the essential reality about rest which is always to rest in the Lord. We do not only rest with Jesus Christ but also rest in Him. Unlike God, we complete our works by episodes, not in its entirety. Jesus invited the Twelve to rest after completing their first mission given them. There would still be other missions to be given to them until Jesus ascended into heaven. Those missions continue to this day and would never be fully completed until His Second Coming. For us to fulfill any mission in life, we need to rest always in Christ because as we have seen last week, He Himself is our direction in the ministry. That is the direction of intimacy with Jesus, of being close with Jesus because it is Jesus Himself whom we share with the people we serve.

People would always be coming to us but never forget that before they all came, Jesus came first to call us and send us. Therefore, when we rest, we rest in Him too which is a call to a personal and intimate relationship with Him. Note how Mark referred to the “Twelve” last week and now being called as “apostles” upon their return from their first mission. This is an important shift in calling them as apostles for later we shall see they are distinct from followers or disciples. An apostle is someone who is sent forth ahead of Jesus. It is from the Greek verb “apostolein”, to send forth while disciple is from “discipulous”, to follow like discipline. Most of all, an apostle is someone who had seen Jesus Christ like the Twelve so that Paul had to insist on this title too because he met the Lord on the way to Damascus. In a deeper sense, an apostle is also someone very intimate with Jesus Christ, always interacting with Him, doing His works. We are all apostles of the Lord sent into the world to continue His saving works which demands a close relationship with Him in fulfilling that mission that is very demanding, even impossible. Most of all, what the people are really hungry and thirsty of are not things of this world but Jesus Christ Himself – His love and presence, His mercy and forgiveness, His joy and consolation. It is for this reason that when a priest asked St. Mother Teresa for any message to priests, she simply asked them “to give them Jesus, only Jesus, and always Jesus.” This will also be the focus of the gospel in the next five weeks when we shift to John’s gospel account of the bread of life discourse in chapter six.

In the recent Philippine Conference on New Evangelization, speakers kept on reminding us priests, religious and consecrated persons on this essence of our ministry: we can never be moved with compassion to feed the multitude like Jesus Christ when we are apart from Him. Of the many speakers there, I was moved most on the first day by the Bulakenyo Jesuit Fr. Albert Alejo who asked us, “who/what gives you joy in the ministry?” He reminded us to always go back to Jesus Christ in everything we do because without Him, we could never lead people to Him. He capped his talk with a beautiful metaphor of the rooster by demonstrating and mimicking how the rooster would crow at the break of dawn. According to Fr. Alejo, once the rooster had seen the first rays of light of the day, he stands erect first, flaps his wings to make sure he is already awake, then beats his chest to muster enough courage and strength to announce morning has broken with a powerful crow. And when other roosters follow with the same methodology of crowing, the whole farm is awakened as the new day begins filled with life and hope.

Without Jesus in our hearts, without resting in Jesus in every mission we have labored along with its triumphs and failures, pains and joys, it would always be difficult to feed the multitude. Worst like the shepherds of Israel, we could “mislead and scatter the flock of the Lord’s pasture”(Jer. 23:1) that has sorely marred our own history of the Church with the many scandals that have rocked us. Jesus Christ is the promised Good Shepherd God had spoken through Jeremiah (Jer.23: 5-6), the one sent to reconcile us all in God and with others (Eph.2: 16) whom Paul proclaimed in the second reading. This Sunday, let us not just stop from our work to rest with our gadgets and other things. Let us rest in God – magpahinga – let Him breathe on us His life-giving spirit so we may be recreated for the challenges of this new week. Amen. Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Parokya ng San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Gov. F. Halili Ave., Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria, Bulacan. <lordmychef@gmail.com>

Discipleship Is About Direction, Not Destination

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The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe, Week XV-B, 15 July 2018

Amos 7:12-15///Ephesians 1:3-14///Mark 6:7-13

I have always thought that since life is a journey, then life must be about arriving at a certain destination. This is very evident in early childhood when we keep on asking “are we there yet?” Later in life, this question evolved into the expression of “having arrived” to mark the different milestones in our lives. It has always been about destination that sometimes we wonder deep inside if we are in the “right place” at this particular time of our lives especially if you are near or past age 50. The problem is not about our chosen vocation or profession or path in life; the issue is, as we fulfill our mission, we continue to discover many other aspects and facets of our life’s calling that sometimes nudge us with the existential question if we have really arrived or are we at the right place already?

Our readings this Sunday offer us with consolation that life, after all, even if it is a journey, is not about destination but more of directions. Or, preferably we shall say “directional” to indicate a deeper meaning of what God wants us to be. This direction we can discover in whatever mission God sends us in this life: Jesus summoned the Twelve and began to send them out two by two and gave them authority over unclean spirits. He instructed them to take nothing for the journey but a walking stick – no food, no sack, no money in their belts. They were, however, to wear sandals but not a second tunic. So they went off and preached repentance. The Twelve drove out many demons, and they anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them. (Mk.6:7-9,12-13)

Our first point of reflection that life is more of a directional nature than a destination is the sending of Apostles “two by two.” It is actually an old practice among Jews to send missionaries two by two so that there is always a companion to testify to the preaching of the other. Notice how the evangelists enumerate the names of the Twelve also two by two. This practice continues to this day but in a deeper sense of always having Jesus as our companion. It is always best to have Jesus in this journey of life. This is why we receive Holy Communion on Sundays so that Jesus may accompany us throughout the week. The last sacrament that a dying person receives is not really Anointing of the Sick but Holy Communion for the Sick called “Viaticum” that means “with Jesus along the way” of death to eternal life.

In the second reading we find Paul speaking this companionship with the Lord when he mentioned three times the expression “In him” to emphasize that we do everything in Christ and never on our own. Discipleship and life itself are directional, always in Christ. No one can lay claim for himself or herself being a self-appointed missionary or prophet of God. It is always the initiative of God like in the experience of Amos in our first reading. If last week we heard how difficult it was for Jesus to be accepted in His own town as a prophet, today the story of Amos tells us the more difficult situation when a prophet like Amos from Judea was sent to their rival Northern Kingdom or Israel: Amos answered Amaziah, “I was no prophet, nor have I belonged to a company of prophets. I was a shepherd and a dresser of sycamore. The Lord took me from following the flock, and said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’”(Amos 7:14-15)

Like us priests, or any volunteer in the Church, we were doing something else in life when the Lord called and sent us. We cannot lay claim to this mission of shepherding for we never wanted this on our own considering its enormous difficulties. It is not only an impossible job but even foolish if you say so! But we do it because of Jesus who initiated the call to follow Him while we were busy doing something else like building a career, preparing for marriage or just enjoying life in whatever form. We have no regrets in answering His call because we have found in Christ Jesus the person more worthy of our love and life. Life and discipleship are directional because both are a call to a relationship with Jesus which the song “Day by Day” says so well, “Day by day Lord, three things I pray: that I may know you more clearly, so that I may love you more dearly, and follow you more closely, day by day.” We do not really know where the Lord would lead us for there is no precise destination to speak of but only a direction which is to be like Jesus, to stay with Jesus.

Closely linked with this being with Jesus Christ is our task of being holy like Him. Following Jesus Christ is the direction of fighting evil, the very first mission He entrusted the 12 according to Mark in our gospel today. Authority over unclean spirits is the power to cast away the devil, the root of every illness in us and society. That authority can only be claimed in holiness, when we are filled with God. With the present situation we are into, we need to claim that authority more than ever as evil continues to destroy us, causing so much misery with deaths, divisions, and sickness it sows among us. The CBCP have recognized this sad fact in our society with the recent diabolic and blasphemous statements and events going on. The bishops have rightly reminded us that we do not fight evil with evil like vengeance but instead with prayer and fasting that purify us and give us strength to strive for holiness – the direction we all have to follow in whatever mission Jesus sends us to. Even Pope Francis reminds us in his third encyclical “Gaudete et Exultate” that holiness remains as our sacred call in life today.

Discipleship, like life in general is essentially directional. It is not about destination. It is useless to ask like children if “are we there yet?” because in this journey of life, we really do not know the place where we should be. Or we would be. But as we follow Jesus, we realize that what matters most is the inner direction within us He is leading us into to be able to fulfill His mission. And that is being holy like Him, always avoiding and fighting evil and sins. When we are holy like Jesus, then the more we realize that indeed, heaven is more than a place or destination. It is a “Now here”, a presence within us because we abide in God, we are inclined in His direction. A blessed week to you!Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Parokya ni San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Gov. F. Halili Ave., Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria, Bulacan 3022

Photo by the author, Sacred Heart Novitiate in Novaliches, 06 July 2018.

Recognizing Jesus

Photo from Google.

The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe, Week XIV-B, 08 July 2018

Ezekiel 2:2-5///2Corinthians 12:7-10///Mark 6:1-6

These past weeks we have seen the growing success and popularity of Jesus Christ. People were amazed with Him that great crowds kept on following Him wherever He would go to hear Him preach and most especially to touch Him or be touched by Him to be healed of all kinds of sickness. Jesus was “viral” and “trending” in every town He visited around the Lake of Galilee except in His hometown of Nazareth which is His next stop today.

Jesus departed from there and came to his native place, accompanied by his disciples. When the Sabbath came he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astonished. They said, “Where did this man get all this? What kind of wisdom has been given him? What mighty deeds are wrought by his hands? Is he not the carpenter, the son of Mary, and the brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him.(Mk.6:2-3)

In spite of the popular enthusiasm He had aroused during His ministry, Jesus was no stranger to bitter disappointments and failures. All four evangelists tell us of the many times Jesus was rejected by people, reaching its highest point in His crucifixion. See how Mark noted in our gospel today how the people refused to recognize Jesus Christ, “And they took offense at him.” It was an attack on the very person of Jesus, not on His works! See how the people’s queries about Him were tinted with malice and suspicion. This is the ugly side of that adage “familiarity breeds contempt” when those closest to you, when those who are supposed to know you more and better are the ones who refuse to believe you. This is the reason Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his native place and among his own kin and in his own house.”(Mk.6:4)

But it is also here where we find the good news for us this Sunday: when we feel rejected or unaccepted or doubted by those closest to us, do not despair. Not all days are bright and sunny for us that in everything we do we are accepted and appreciated. Sometimes, there are dark clouds of doubts and suspicions cast over us, on our very person by those closest to us like family and relatives, friends and neighbors. And in those moments of rejection, try to feel in your heart Jesus Christ who always believes in you because He Himself sent you as His prophets, His spokesperson. Like Ezekiel in the first reading, we are all prophets sent to speak of God’s love and mercy in this world where everything and everyone is doubted, questioned and examined like microorganisms under a microscope. It does not matter “whether they heed or resist – for they are a rebellious house – they shall know that a prophet has been among them.”(Ez.2:5) Like all the prophets, keep doing what you believe is good. Keep pursuing your dreams and keep striving to be better not to prove yourself and disprove those around you but because it is a mission from God Himself to express His love and concern for everyone. Even if others refuse to believe in us, even if they refuse to accept us, we continue to speak to them, we continue to serve them, we continue to love them, we continue to be among them just like Jesus because we believe. Most of all, because we love.

This was the moving spirit behind St. Paul’s enthusiasm amidst many sufferings and rejections: “I will rather boast most gladly of my weaknesses, in order that the power of Christ may dwell with me. Therefore, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and constraints for the sake of Christ; for when I am weak then I am strong.” (2Cor.12:9-10) In imitating Jesus Christ, St. Paul realized power is made perfect in weakness on the Cross. When we let go of our power and strength, God fills us with life and resurrection. Recall the days you relied more on God, when you refused to fight back or resort to violence so as not to go down to “lowlife” level – those are the same moments of your sweetest victories and maturity because those were the moments we have truly loved. When we love, it means we believe. We have faith! Note how Mark ended his story today with a note that Jesus “was not able to do any mighty deed there, apart from curing a few sick people by laying his hand on them. He was amazed at their lack of faith.”(Mk.6:6)

The people took offense at Jesus for they lacked faith because they do not love Him. The problem is not with God if nothing good is happening in our lives like when we cannot experience healing and forgiveness. We have to believe in Jesus first for us to see Him present. To believe in Him, like with any person demands love. When we truly love a person including Jesus, our eyes are always opened, recognizing them even in their shadows or footsteps. When we truly love anyone, there is no need to see because in our hearts, that person is already present in us. And so we believe. Then miracles happen, joy overflows. A blessed week ahead of you! Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Parokya Ng San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Gov. F. Halili Ave., Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria, Bulacan

Touching Jesus, Being Touched by Jesus

The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe, Week XIII-B, 01 July 2018

Wisdom 1:13-15;2:23-24///2Corinthians 8:7,9,13-15///Mark 5:21-43

Experts claim that touching another person for at least five seconds is worth more than 300 words of encouragement. At the same time, they say that the sense of touch can hasten the healing process among people recuperating from illnesses and surgery. That is the power of touch that even the word “touch” itself is so powerful that it may be used in literal and figurative sense. We tell others to “keep in touch” to mean to stay connected, to make our relationships and bonds grow stronger. The same thing is true when we say we are “touched” by words or gestures of kindness as they strike deeper realities that connect us within. This explains why we always try to touch things literally because figuratively, every touch leads to bigger, inner realities that link us with persons and whatever they represent. That woman in today’s gospel suffering in hemorrhages believed that by touching even the clothes of Jesus could heal her. In fact, it was more than enough for her as it was the closest thing she could do to relate with Jesus who was always being followed by a vast crowd.

There was a woman afflicted with hemorrhages for twelve years. She had heard about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak. She said, “If I but touch his clothes, I shall be cured.” Immediately her flow of blood dried up. She felt in her body that she was healed of her affliction (Mk.5:25,27-29)

What is so beautiful with this story that St. Mark had sandwiched with the healing of the daughter of Jairus is the sensitivity of Jesus with our touch: He felt power had left Him that He stopped to ask among the crowd “Who touched me?” Jesus is not contented with just being touched as He wants a more intimate relationship with us. Jesus wants more than touching us but even hugging us, embracing us to feel the warmth of His love and mercy for us. More than a touch, Jesus wants a personal connection – a relationship – with everyone. That is why when He went into the room of the dying daughter of Jairus, He tenderly addressed her with the words “Talitha koum,” which means, “Little girl, I say to you, arise!” It is a connection of far more significance as it leads to more fulfillment and freedom, a relationship filled with life.

Touching Jesus and being touched by Jesus is always a step into an intimate relationship with the Lord calling for faith in us. How sad that most often we stop at touching Him, like with what we always see inside churches where people touch all statues and images of Jesus, His Mother Mary and the saints. Yes it is an expression of faith but that faith needs to grow more into a relationship. How many would really stop to stay for an hour or half an hour or mere 15 minutes to be in touch with the Lord and be touched by the Lord? Can we lay bare ourselves openly to Jesus, allowing Him to touch those sensitive nerves inside us that make us seethe with anger or jealousy? Can we allow Jesus to touch our closely guarded secrets and hurts so we could finally confront the ghosts within us and remove blocks in our relationships with God and with others?

The author of the Book Wisdom had reflected how God had wanted since the beginning to keep in touch with us that He made us in His likeness, “the image of his own nature to be imperishable. But by the envy of the devil, death entered the world, and they who are in his possession experience it.”(Wis.2:23-24) Recently the whole nation was disturbed and rose in indignation when the man in Malacanang called “God stupid” after he had wrongly interpreted the story of the Fall in the Book of Genesis. There is no doubt his words were blasphemous but after all the noise, we must also start reflecting about our own faith and personal relationship with God whom we also blame for all the sufferings and miseries in the world. There are times during funeral Masses I felt tearing apart my clothes when I hear priests claiming the death of a beloved as “God’s will.” Three years ago, I wished having a laser sword so I could chop off the brainless head of a priest declaring it was “kalooban ng Diyos, tanggapin natin” the deaths of the two brothers of a priest who were peppered with Armalite bullets by a neighbor. Both their bodies were mangled by the Armalite bullets, the other cut into half and then the priest saying the crime was the will of God? My God… And that is how stupid some of us Christians are including some priests who believe that sufferings like cancer and dying in a freak accident are willed by God. Our first reading is very clear today, “God did not make death, nor does he rejoice in the destruction of the living.” (Wis.1:13)

Let us be like St. Paul in the second reading who was definitely in touch with God and reality when he tried addressing the question of suffering with the Corinthians by encouraging them to share their wealth with those in need. St. Paul did not glorify suffering for its own sake nor did he encourage the Corinthians to seek suffering in this part of his second letter to the Corinthians. Instead, he tried explaining to them that suffering is part of the process of our inner transformation that leads to glory: “Not that others should have relief while you were burdened, but that as a matter of equality your abundance at the present time should supply their needs so that their abundance may also supply your needs, that there may be equality.” (2Cor.8:13-14) If we truly touch God, He would touch us too, experiencing His love and mercy that in turn becomes natural for us to personally touch others with the loving service of Christ. In this age when our communications and interactions are mediated by gadgets and other things, may we bring back that personal touch of love and kindness with others. May God bless and touch you today and the whole week through! Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Parokya ni San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Gov. F. Halili Ave., Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria, Bulacan 3022

Photo from Google.

We Are All A John the Baptist: A gift of God, herald of Jesus Christ

Baptism of Christ by John the Baptist in the Jordan River (mosaic) - Ravenna, Italy

The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe, Birth of John the Baptist, 24 June 2018

Isaiah 49:1-6///Acts 13:22-26///Luke 1:57-66,80

Today we take a break from our series of readings in Ordinary Time to give way for the Solemnity of the Birth of St. John the Baptist. Solemnity is our highest liturgical celebration as it shows a direct link with the salvific work of Jesus Christ like the birth of St. John the Baptist who prepared the way of the Lord. This is the reason he is the greatest of all prophets according to our Lord Jesus Christ Himself who declared “Amen, I say to you, among those born of women there has been none greater than John the Baptist; yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.”(Mt.11: 11) But, here we also discover our own greatness though we are the least in the kingdom of heaven because as disciples of Jesus Christ, we are tasked like John the Baptist to make way for Him whom we proclaim by preparing His path, showing Him to those who seek Him. We are all a precursor, a forerunner of the Lord like John whose name means “God is gracious” who is so good to call us for such a mission despite our sins and weaknesses. Three things I wish to share with on being another John the Baptist, a forerunner of the Lord: rejoicing, being amazed, and becoming strong in spirit.

“When the time arrived for Elizabeth to have her child she gave birth to a son. Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown his great mercy toward her and they rejoiced with her.”(Lk.1:57-58)

They rejoiced with her. How sad that in our world today characterized by affluence and convenience, there is that growing trend of dissatisfaction and gloom among us, giving rise to depression that leads to suicide. For the past couple of years, we have been shocked by news of celebrities here and abroad ending their lives. They are the people we looked up to for making our lives better with their thoughts and creations, people who have made us laugh and cry in the movies and arts, and people who have simply inspired us with their success. Joy is more than being happy; it is having that firm conviction within that no matter what happens in our life, there is always God who loves us despite our sins and shortcomings. Joy is always a gift of the Holy Spirit, a result of our faith in God. The neighbors of Elizabeth rejoiced because they have felt the spirit of God in the birth of John. Unless we are able to go back to our grounding in God, we can never experience joy. Wealth and fame, gadgets and other things can make us happy for a moment but never joyful which comes only from within. Pope Francis explained “Whenever our interior life becomes caught up in its own interests and concerns, there is no longer room for others, no place for the poor. God’s voice is no longer heard, the quiet joy of his love is no longer felt, and the desire to do good fades. This is a very real danger for believers too. Many fall prey to it, and end up resentful, angry and listless.”(Evangelii Gaudium, 2)

He asked for a tablet and wrote, “John is his name,” and all were amazed.(Lk.1:63)

All were amazed. Joy always leads to amazement or surprise and sense of awe. The neighbors were amazed not only with the miraculous birth of John by his mother who was not only old but also barren. Likewise, they were more amazed because when they asked his father what name to be given him, he wrote “John”. Immediately, Zechariah spoke anew after being deaf and mute as punishment in doubting the angel’s announcement of Elizabeth’s giving birth to their child. Being surprised or amazed is an expression of a sense of wonder that indicates our recognition of God and His presence. Remember how Isaac’s son, Jacob fled to Bethel where he slept and upon waking up from a dream, “he exclaimed, ‘Truly, the Lord is in this spot, although I did not know it.’ In solemn wonder he cried out: ‘How awesome is this shrine! This is nothing else but an abode of God, and that is the stairway to heaven!’”(Gen.28:16-17)

See how in our world today we are losing that sense of awe due to “demystification” when everything has to be empirical to be true. No more surprises, no more patient waiting, no more spiritual because when something cannot be dissected or explained, it is dismissed as untrue. What amazes us these days are often the extraordinary, the ones at the extremes of the scale like longest or shortest, bestest or worst. We have forgotten to appreciate and be surprised by the usual and ordinary things that actually make up real life! The most significant things in life are not the “pinaka” and “bonggacious” (spectacular) but the most ordinary and average things we experience and encounter like the usual people we meet day in and day out, the sunrise and sunset, the plants and trees we see around us, the gentle breeze on our face or simple sights of kids playing on the streets, licking an ice cream cone. Without that sense of awe in us, then we stop “taking things into our hearts” and everything becomes fleeting and temporary that we no longer pause to reflect on the meaning of life. It is that taking things into our hearts that truly enrich us, always surprising us to go on with life amidst all the pains and difficulties and uncertainties. Every time we are surprised in life, that is when God is beside us.

The child grew and became strong in spirit, and he was in the desert until the day of his manifestation to Israel. (Lk.1:80)

The child grew and became strong in spirit. Becoming strong in spirit is being holy. Again, Pope Francis reminds in his latest letter “Gaudete et Exultate” (Rejoice and Be Glad) that holiness remains our call as Christians. He writes, “We are frequently tempted to think that holiness is only for those who can withdraw from ordinary affairs to spend much time in prayer. That is not the case. We are all called to be holy by living our lives with love and by bearing witness in everything we do, wherever we find ourselves.”(14) The Holy Father stressed that holiness is “oneness in Christ” (20) which is the meaning of our celebration today in the birth of St. John the Baptist: we have to see our life as a mission in Christ. Sometimes like Isaiah, we feel discouraged because we “thought we have toiled in vain, and for nothing, uselessly spent our strength”; but, that is our task, to lead others to God, to be a light on their path to God (cf. Is.49: 4-6) that when they find Him, we vanish from the scene like John who said “He must increase; I must decrease.”(Jn.3:30) Continue to rejoice in the Lord always, be amazed of His love and mercy, grow and be strong in the spirit for God remembers His promise to His people like Elizabeth which means “God promised” and Zechariah that means “God remembered.” God be with you! Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Parokya ni San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Gov. F. Halili Ave., Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria, Bulacan 3022

*Photo from Google, mosaic detail of the Baptism of Christ found in Ravenna, Italy (c. 451 AD).