The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Thursday, Week XIV, Year I in Ordinary Time, 08 July 2021
Genesis 44:18-21, 23-29; 45:1-5  >>+<<   Matthew 10:7-15

It is the rainy season again,
God our loving Father
and we are awashed with news
of furies of nature:  floods and 
landslides including a restive
volcano in our midst at Taal.

How lovely sometimes to think
when nature is full of hospitality
with its beauty for all to see; but,
there are times when nature 
is more of hostility like an enemy
leading us to sadness and distress.

Hospitality and hostility
are extremes in our personality
one indicating maturity
the other a lack of self mastery
borne out of jealousy
causing so many pains and miseries. 

Come closer to me,
he told his brothers.
"I am your brother Joseph,
whom you once sold into Egypt.
But now do not be distressed,
and do not reproach yourselves
for having sold me here.
It was really for the sake of
saving lives that God sent me here
ahead of you."
(Genesis 45:4,5)

We pray, O Lord
for the hostilities among us
when we try to imprison one another
taking them hostage to our whims and  
selfishness like the brothers of Joseph
disregarding the value of the other person.

"Whatever town or village you enter,
look for a worthy person in it,
and stay there until you leave.
As you enter a house,
wish it peace.
If the house is worthy,
let your peace come upon it;
if not, let your peace return to you.
Whoever will not receive you
or listen to your words ---
go outside that house or town
and shake the dust from your feet."
(Matthew 10:11-14)

Teach us hospitality, dear God,
to welcome and accept each other
as a brother and a sister
in Jesus our Lord and Master
finding security in him alone
so we may proclaim his salvation.

In this time of the pandemic
may we find amid the crises 
your image and likeness, O God
on the face of everyone so that  
your "marvels may be done" 
as we pray in the responsorial psalm.  Amen.