Category: Homily/Spirituality

Sowing the Seeds of Love, the Gift of Fatherhood

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The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe, Week XI-B, 17 June 2018
Ezekiel 17:22-24///2Corinthians 5:6-10///Mark 4:26-34

            Thank you very much for your “happy father’s day” greetings.  Thank you for considering me your “spiritual father” in the parish.  However, I hope you don’t mind me telling you that I do not really feel the celebration of “father’s day” every third Sunday of June because 18 years ago on the Saturday before this civil celebration, my dad passed away shortly before dawn due to a heart attack.  It was also the birthday of my mother, June 17, 2000.

            Last Friday, I again realized another sad note of this “happy father’s day” for me as a priest when Fr. Richmond V. Nilo was laid to rest in San Antonio, Nueva Ecija.  As you all know, Fr. Nilo is the third priest to be shot and killed in the country in six months.  Another priest was also ambushed last month but survived the attack.

            Am I bothered?  Not really for myself but for others, for the nation.  Suffering and death is our life as priests.  Too often you only see so little of who we are as priests but for those who truly take a deeper look into why we chose to become priests, why we do all these sacrifices, why we refuse to follow the current of the world today, then you start to wonder why we have chosen to be a priest of Jesus Christ.

            And there is no easy answer except the Lord.  Dominus est!

            It is the same for every dad out there:  why work so hard, sacrifice so much, love so much, suffer so much for the children and for the mother?  Why not must leave everything and everyone behind like others have done?  Every time a dad would claim that he bears everything because of love, that he strives hard to keep his family alive and secured, it is simply because of the Lord!  It is not being simplistic but simply because it is the truth.  That is why when Jesus taught us to pray, He told us to call God, Abba or Daddy.  That is who God is, Somebody always around us, ensuring our safety and security, enabling us to fulfill our dreams and aspirations.

            Our first reading today beautifully captures this enigma of fatherhood, of priesthood, of our life of love and suffering as a follower of Jesus Christ.  “Thus says the Lord God:  I, too, will take from the crest of the cedar, from its top most branches tear off a tender shoot, plant it on high and lofty mountain… and become a majestic cedar.  And all the trees of the filed shall know that I, the Lord, bring low the high tree, lift high the lowly tree, wither up the green tree, and make the withered tree bloom.  As I, the Lord, have spoken, so will I do.” (Ez.17: 22, 23b,24)

            Recall, fathers, that day when you got married, pledging to love your wife “for richer and for poorer, in sickness and in health, till death do us part”?  I also felt like you when I was ordained, saying yes to every question of our bishop particularly to proclaim the Gospel, to be obedient to him and his successor, and to remain celibate and not get married.  We were all young and perhaps blinded of the whole reality but we all said yes, we vowed before God to be faithful and true without realizing fully what it totally meant.  We were like St. Paul and continues to be like him, “walking by faith, not by sight.”(2Cor.5:7)  We were nobody.  We had nothing to boast in life during that time we were ordained or when you got married.  Or when you stepped into college or senior high school, or when you moved out of town or out of the country to work and pursue your dreams in life.  Look back to those days and we all realize we were nothing but fresh green shoots of the crest of the cedar tree plucked by the Lord and planted where we are now, fulfilled in our lives amid all the pains and sufferings.  God has always been present in our lives though many times we never noticed Him or refused to recognize Him.  He makes everything possible and most especially so beautiful.  And that is why we forge on despite the many hardships and difficulties our chosen path in life entail.  Deep inside us we are convinced “God is greater than our hearts.”(1Jn.3:20)

            This Sunday, we continue our journey in Jesus Christ with Mark as our guide.  Last week, we have seen ourselves among the relatives and family of Jesus who also misunderstood Him, yet still believed Him as the Christ.  Today Jesus begins to teach us in parables, inviting us to be open in receiving Him like a seed sown in the land wherein we would “sleep and rise night and day and the seed would sprout and grow, with us not knowing how.”(Mk.4:27)   This is the time of being patient in listening more to Jesus especially in prayer as we discern His mystery for only He knows the secrets of the kingdom of God.  Indeed, Jesus is asking us like St. Paul to “walk by faith, not in sight” because the most important things in life are not always visible with the eyes, always hidden in the heart of every person whom we must always love and respect as a brother or a sister.

            In 1989, the British pop duo Tears for Fears released their third hit single called “Sowing the Seeds of Love.”  Like their previous hit “Everybody Wants to Rule the World”, it had political undertones that remain so relevant up to this day.  Its opening line right away leads us to the urgency of their call to sow seeds of love, “High time, we made a stand, And shook up the views of the common man.”  Today’s gospel is a call for us to sow seeds of love, to make a stand for Christ, to shake up our views on real love for God, real love for others, and real love for country.  There are times we priests like married fathers fail to live up to our vows, even causing others to sin.  But, there is no amount of any wrong doing or sin, or whatever differences we may have with others can give anyone the power to destroy that seed sown in each of us because it is only God who makes that sprout into life, germinate and grow until it bears fruit for harvesting.  Cheer up your father, thank your dad, and start sowing seeds of love in everyone!  A blessed week to everyone! Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Parokya ni San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Gov. F. Halili Ave., Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria, Bulacan 3022

Are you an admirer or a follower?

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The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe, Week X-B, 10 June 2018

Genesis 3:9-15///2Corinthians 4:13-5:1///Mark 3:20-35

             Just like you, I am also a big fan of the late Anthony Bourdain.  In fact, I got the idea for my email address from him, lordmychef.   When I heard the news of his death, something at the back of my mind was saying they should not write or report his alleged suicide because I was hoping he was still alive.  And now that he is really gone, I just felt it is not right to tell of negative things of him or of anyone still alive especially if he/she is a rock star, like an icon or an idol.  Or, like the Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ.

Much like the news on the alleged suicide of Bourdain, probably we also ask why did Mark write this event in his gospel?  Was it necessary to tell us that even His relatives took shot at Him?  Never mind about the allegations by His enemies that He was possessed by the devil but, His relatives and family not understanding Him so well?

Jesus came home with his disciples.  Again the crowd gathered, making it impossible for them to even eat.  When his relatives heard of this they set out to seize him, for they said, “He is out of his mind.”  His mother and his brothers arrived.  Standing outside they sent word to him and called him.  A crowd seated around him told him, “Your mother and your brothers and your sisters are outside asking for you.”  But he said to them in reply, “Who are my m other and my brothers?”  And looking around at those seated in the circle he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers.  For whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.”(Mk. 3:20-21,31-35)

Mark wrote the first gospel account of Jesus Christ.  Matthew and Luke patterned their versions from Mark’s work that collectively they are called “synoptic gospels” from the Greek word synoptikos that means “able to be seen together” due to their similar stories.  Of the three evangelists, Mark used a literary style of “sandwiching” one story within another like the other week when Jesus cursed a fig tree with no fruits with the cleansing of the temple.  Today, Mark sandwiched the accusation by scribes that Jesus was possessed by evil spirits with the two stories of His relatives calling Him “out of his mind” and later His mother and brothers calling for him.  In doing this, Mark wanted to highlight the growing mystery of the person of Jesus.   Recall last February before Lent interrupted our Ordinary Time, Jesus was already preaching around Galilee, choosing 12 Apostles to accompany Him in His ministry.  Many people followed Him as they wondered at His preaching and powers to exorcise demons (Mk.1:21), to cure the sick like Peter’s mother-in-law (Mk.1:29), cleanse lepers (Mk.1: 40), and heal by forgiving the sins of a paralytic who was lowered from the roof of the house where He was teaching (Mk.2:1).  Everybody was wondering, asking who is this Jesus Christ?

In telling us the story of Jesus’ relatives saying “He is out of his mind” by sandwiching the episode of scribes accusing Him of being possessed with the arrival of His mother and brothers who then “sent word to call him”, Mark shows us that it is not really that easy to understand who Jesus really is.  His behavior defies human reason to the max.  You cannot just take Him for granted like any rock star or icon still living or already dead.  By making us see how the relatives and family with their reactions to Jesus, Mark is asking us too, “what do you think of Him really?”  Do you sincerely believe He is the Christ?

Along with his literary style of sandwiching, Mark is also fond of portraying negatively those closest to Jesus like His disciples and in this story, His relatives and family.  In the original short ending of his gospel, Mark said that on Easter after Magdalene and the other women were instructed by the angel in the empty tomb to inform the 11 about the resurrection, they “fled… seized with trembling and bewilderment.  They said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.”(Mk.16:8)   Mark always presented negatively the disciples and family of Jesus like in our story today to show the early Christians as well as today that these people who were closest to the Lord had many weaknesses too except for the Blessed Virgin Mary.  But, eventually they were able to overcome these negative traits to boldly spread the Good News of salvation everywhere.  By showing us the negative side of the family of Jesus, Mark challenges us whether we are admirers of Jesus or His followers?  It is always easier to be an admirer of the Lord or of anyone.  We admire celebrities for their talents and convictions but we rarely follow and imitate them except perhaps for their fashion.  But with Jesus Christ, it is not enough to simply admire Him.  Maybe His relatives and family admired Him that they wanted Him to come home to be shielded from further nasty talks and accusations.  But Jesus could not be swayed because He is so sure of Himself, of His person and of His mission.  And so therefore, at the end of his story, Mark obliges us too to be there inside that crowded house to join the true family of Jesus, to be His mother and brother and sister by “doing the will of His Father.”

In this age of troubled and dysfunctional families with separated parents or solo parents so anxious with children hooked on drugs, or into depression and suicidal tendencies, the family of Jesus offers us with some solace.  They were troubled too.  But everything can be overcome in Christ Jesus who is our only fulfillment and salvation promised by God on the very day Adam and Eve sinned (first reading).  For us to be followers of Christ, St. Paul is telling us in the second reading to always search Jesus in every suffering we are going through especially in our family.  When are able to see Jesus even in our troubled family and personal sufferings, we are not “discouraged because although our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.”(2Cor.4:16)   Despite our troubled backgrounds, family or personal, we can be followers of Jesus, listening and acting on His words to lovingly serve others, to be forgiving and kind with everyone especially those silently suffering in our family circles.  Jesus values each one of us no matter what we think of Him because He is sure of Himself as the Christ, our Savior.  Amen.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 at Mt. St. Paul Retreat House, Baguio City, July 2017.

The Tenderness of God

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The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe, Sacred Heart-B, 08 June 2018
Hosea 11:1,3-4,8-9///Ephesians 3:8-12,14-9///John 19:31-37 

One of my all-time favorite love songs is Billy Joel’s “Leave a Tender Moment Alone.” (https://youtu.be/JHpIC4Kk0MU)  The poetry of its lyrics and its lovely melody introduced by a stirring harmonica always bring the “kilig moments” of every man’s love experience:

Even though I’m in love
Sometimes I get so afraid
I’ll say something so wrong
Just to have something to say

I know the moment isn’t right
To tell the girl a comical line
To keep the conversation light
I guess I’m just frightened out of my mind

But if that’s how I feel
Then it’s the best feeling I’ve even known
It’s undeniably real
Leave a tender moment alone

While praying over the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, I kept on hearing this song playing in my mind because our celebration today is actually about the tenderness of God.  See how He had spoken through the prophet Hosea in the first reading like a Father to us.  Let us personalize His words and be immersed in His tenderness: “As a child I loved you, I called you my son.  The more I called you, the farther you went away from me.”(Hos.11:1-2)

             Is it not this is how our love relationship is with our parents and family including God? When we were kids, we loved running to our dad, taking pride for being his son or daughter, always clinging to his big hands?  During the early years of marriage, couples seem to be so inseparable.  But as we mature and find new friends and new relationships, we drift apart from our parents or spouse, including God.  And worst, we drive them away, even feeling ashamed of them especially when they come near us with their gestures of love and concern.  But, when problems arise in our new relationships like betrayal and infidelity, we go back to them, most especially to God, rediscovering their genuine love that is so tender and very comforting:  “I took you in my arms, drew you with human cords with bands of love. I fostered you like one who raises an infant to his cheeks; yet, though I stooped to feed you my child, you did not know I am your healer.”(Hos.11:3-7)

             Unlike Billy Joel in his song “Leave A Tender Moment Alone,” God makes no mistakes in loving us.  He remains faithful to us with His love, even “allowing” us often to sin and commit mistakes so that eventually, when we hit rock bottom, we rediscover Him and His love that is so real and so personal.  This “stooping down” by God that He had spoken to Hosea hundreds of years earlier took its deepest plunge when He sent us Jesus Christ His Son as our Savior by dying on the Cross.  St. John tells us how on that Good Friday soldiers broke the legs of the other two thieves crucified with Jesus to hasten their death; but, when they saw Jesus “already dead, they did not break his legs, but one soldier thrust his lance into his side, and immediately blood and water flowed out.” (Jn.19:33-34)

According to St. John, this fulfilled the Old Testament that “Not a bone of it will be broken” and that “They will look upon him whom they have pierced”(Jn.19:36), thus identifying Jesus Christ as the new lamb offered once and for all to God for the forgiveness of our sins.  It verified the words of John the Baptist also found in the fourth gospel describing Jesus as “the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world”, the perfect offering on the Cross and expression of God’s immense love for each of us.  His death on the Cross is the most tender moment of love in history when our God who personally loves us by becoming like us in everything except sin loved us until the last drop of His blood because we are His beloved brothers and sisters in His loving and faithful Father in heaven we have always deserted in our many sins.  Indeed, when blood and water flowed out from His pierced side on the Cross, the ocean of Divine Mercy flowed out for us, forgiving our most grievous sins, regardless of our many weaknesses.  In His Most Sacred heart, Jesus is inviting us to always leave some tender moments alone with Him so that “He may dwell also in our hearts through faith so that once we are rooted and grounded in His love, we may have the strength to comprehend the breadth and length and height and depth of His love that surpasses knowledge and be filled with the fullness of God.”(cf. Eph.3:17-19)

It is an imperative for us all to be “rooted and grounded in His love” because human love is always imperfect.  Only God can love us perfectly in Christ Jesus who offered Himself on the Cross to fulfill what we have failed since the beginning – that is, to love God and others. Oh what a loving God we have in Him as we pray, Jesus meek and humble heart make my heart like thine!  Amen. Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Parokya ng San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Gov. F. Halili Ave., Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria, Bulacan.

Photo from Google.

The Eucharist, An Experience of Trinitarian Love and Unity

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The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe, Corpus Christi-B, 03 June 2018
Exodus 24:3-8///Hebrews 9:11-15///Mark 14:12-16, 22-26

When I was still assigned as teacher-administrator of the Immaculate Conception School for Boys (ICSB) of Malolos, I always reminded my students that in every first date they would have, always bring their girlfriend to a restaurant— the more expensive, the better! Because in every date, what matters most is not the food and drinks but the moment they share together to know each other. The same thing happens when we invite family and friends for a party or meal together at home when do much more than offer them food and drinks but friendship, fellowship, and intimacy or closeness. When we ask our guests to have more food and desserts as well as drinks of every kind plus “take-home” or “bitbit”, we actually offer them our very selves as food and drinks in the same manner they nourish us with their coming. This explains why we take time preparing everything, from the food down to the table-setting. It is not really the eating that matters but the togetherness, the growth of a spiritual bond as family and friends nourishing each other, becoming food and drinks for one another.

The same thing happens in a more complete and perfect manner whenever we celebrate the Holy Eucharist. By giving us His very self as Body and Blood, Jesus Christ our host in this sacred meal not only nourishes our spiritual and deepest longings but most of all offers us the most intimate communion possible with others and with God. He is the one who makes everything possible for us to be together, calling us to “come to Him with our burdens to find rest for He is humble and gentle of heart.”

On the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, when they sacrifice the Passover lamb, Jesus’ disciples said to him, “Where do you want us to go and prepare for you to eat the Passover?” He sent two of his disciples and said to them, “Go into the city and a man will meet you, carrying a jar of water. Follow him. Wherever he enters, say to the master of the house, “The Teacher says, ‘Where is my guest room where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’ Then he will show you a large upper room furnished and ready. Make the preparations for us there.” The disciples then went off, entered the city, and found it just as he had told them; and they prepared the Passover.(Mk.14:12-16)

See how Jesus prepared everything for their Passover meal: He had prepared everything most likely in secret to surprise His disciples for that important meal together. In His last supper, Jesus was like Jack Ryan or Jason Bourne when He arranged everything with coded messages like following “a man carrying a jar of water” because in ancient Israel, the woman is the one who fetches water. You cannot find a man carrying a jar of water unless there is something extraordinary like in our gospel today. And that is how much God loves us, always taking the initiative to meet us, to encounter us, to be closest with us. It is always Jesus Christ who takes the initiative to meet us and bless us like in the Holy Eucharist. Imagine at the start of the Mass, right away He welcomes us even if we are sinners, granting us pardon even before we have asked forgiveness. In the Eucharist, we are even far more better than the apostles who have lived and seen the Lord because we are more closer to Him than them when we receive His Body and Blood in Holy Communion. That is what really happens in the sacred meal of the Holy Eucharist, a divine communion! It is the most perfect moment to pray when Jesus is Body and Blood, truly Himself inside our body: tell Jesus whatever you want, complaint if you want to and after speaking to Him, listen. He always have something to tell us every day but we are so busy with so many things that we fail to even recognize His presence.

In celebrating the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ today, we experience the love and unity of God expressed in last week’s celebration of the Blessed Trinity, of how the three Persons in their mutual giving of self to each other outpoured upon us life and abundant blessings. Like the three Persons bonded in love, we too can achieve that unity with God and with others through the Holy Eucharist. As we get into the rhythm of Ordinary Time since after Pentecost Sunday, we have been celebrating in the past two consecutive Sundays the Solemnities of Trinity and Body and Blood to remind us of the great lessons of love and mercy we have realized and experienced in Easter must grow in us throughout this year. There is a beautiful descent of God’s mysteries into our very selves that culminates on Friday when we celebrate the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart. From the highest truth of our faith last Trinity Sunday, we now have this feast of Body and Blood of Christ as an experience in the Holy Eucharist of that Trinitarian love and unity that deepens into our very hearts on Friday’s Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. See how in every movement, in every step, there is always God taking the initiative to meet us, to be with us. A blessed week to you!

Fr.Nicanor F. Lalog II
Parokya Ng SanJuan Apostol At Ebanghelista
Gov.F.HaliliAve., Bagbaguin, Sta.Maria,
Bulacan3022

*Photo from Google, the famous icon of Trinity by Andrei Rublev (c. 1411) based on Gen. 18 when Abraham was visited by three angels at Mamre.  The icon now hangs at the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow.  It is one of the best portrayal of the Holy Trinity that is also very Eucharistic at the same time.