Marriage is a prayer

Quiet Storm by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, 11 June 2024

*From stillromancatholicafteralltheseyears.com*, *January 2022.*

What is very sad in this ongoing debate against divorce in our country is how some people claiming to be graduates and professors of Catholic institutions insist on their many “intellectual reasonings” why divorce should be allowed while at the same time declaring it is wrong to profess we are against divorce simply because we are Catholics.

What a tragedy when those educated or teaching in Catholic schools and universities who are supposed to know more and better about Jesus Christ and His teachings are the ones favoring divorce. They cite so many studies and authors even theologians to support their stand in favor of divorce without ever mentioning Christ’s teachings found in the Sacred Scriptures that were explained by the Church in our Catechism as well as in so many other documents by the Popes and bishops.

We understand how journalists could err regarding names and other details that essentially do not effect the veracity of their news like the recent sakalan blues in Gagalangin, Tondo when the interview of a priest was ascribed to another; but, to be one sided in the presentation of a story is something else like Rappler’s “The Problem with I am Catholic, I say no to divorce”. There’s a reliable maxim in journalism that says “Opinions are free but facts are sacred.”

*Photo by Joseph Kettaneh on Pexels.com*

The main fact we have been holding on the sanctity and indissolubility of marriage for over 2000 years is our Lord Jesus Christ’s teaching against divorce that the pro-divorce everywhere have refused to accept.

Yes, we need to listen to different views about divorce but not to those views condemned by the Church because they are wrong.

Divorce cannot be isolated as merely a political issue to be resolved because marriage as a natural sacrament is spiritual in nature, a path to holiness.

Marriage is a gift and a call from God for men and women to live and work together in order to attain eternal life. This we achieve firstly by having a prayer life, a relationship with God expressed in our love for one another especially between husband and wife.

In arguing against divorce, we need to look for those couples who have made it through thick and thin in their marriage in order to inspire others in following the path of Holy Matrimony.

*Joyce and Tony in 2019 with son Atty. JA and wife Kathleen with their two sons, and daughter Rosella.*

As a contribution in our fight against divorce, I share with you my homily at the 40th wedding anniversary of my cousin Joyce Pollard to Tony Lopez in October 2019 which I titled as “Married life is a prayer”.

Oh what a joy to officiate weddings especially of relatives and friends!

Hope you find some lessons and inspirations on the beauty of marriage we have to keep.

As I prepared my homily for your anniversary, Joyce and Tony… “the moment I woke up and before your Mommy Fely put on her make-up, I said a little prayer for you.”

Of course that is not the theme song of Joyce and Tony. They haven’t met yet in 1967 when Dione Warwick recorded I Say a Little Prayer. But they were already married when it became one of the tracks in the movie “My Best Friend’s Wedding” starring Julia Roberts.

And since this is my “best cousin’s wedding anniversary” in this part of the city, I have thought of reflecting on married life as a prayer.

In our gospel we have heard Jesus Christ narrating the parable of the unjust judge and persistent widow to underscore “the necessity to pray always without becoming weary” (Lk. 18:1).

Prayer is an expression of faith.

When there is faith, there is also love.

And when there is prayer, faith, and love, what we have is a relationship, a community of believers who love each other.

People who love and believe with each other always talk and communicate. They make time to be with one another. And most often, that is what really matters with people who love and believe – simply to be together.

Even in silence.

Like prayer.

Prayer is more than asking things from God but most of all, prayer is a relationship with God expressed with others. That is the beauty of the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony: husband and wife are bound together in marriage to become signs of the saving presence of Jesus Christ.

Marriage as a sacrament means it is a prayer as well, a relationship of a man and woman with God as its source and foundation.

I am sure, Joyce and Tony along with all the other married couples here today will agree that married life requires a lot of prayers. In fact, married life is a prayer, a very difficult one that is much needed.

Like in that movie My Best Friend’s Wedding, there are real forces of evil that are trying to destroy couples. So many couples have already fallen, going their separate lives after several years of being together while on the other hand, more and more couples are refusing to get married at all due to this reality of breakups and separations.

And that is why we are celebrating today Joyce and Tony’s 40th wedding anniversary! We are praying with them in expressing our faith and love for them in Christ Jesus. Prayers have kept them together, transforming them into better persons.

At the end of the parable of the persistent widow and unjust judge, Jesus posed a very crucial question for us, especially to every married couple here today: When the Son of Man comes again at the end of time, will he find faith on earth? (Lk.18:8)

And what shall be our response?

“Yes, Lord, you shall find faith when you come again in Joyce and Tony!”

Like Moses in the first reading, they both prayed hard with arms outstretched on many occasions as they battled life’s many challenges and struggles.

“Yes, Lord, you shall find faith when you come again in Joyce and Tony” because they have both proclaimed your word with persistence, whether it is convenient or inconvenient like St. Paul in his second letter to Timothy. They have weathered so many storms in the past 40 years and your words, O Lord, have kept them together, sharing these with their children and with everyone in their life of fidelity and love.

“Yes, Lord, you shall find faith when you come again in Joyce and Tony” now before your altar to renew their vows to love and cherish each other for the rest of their lives!

“Yes, Lord, you shall find faith when you come again” among the many couples gathered here who have remained faithful to each other despite their many sins and failures, weaknesses and shortcomings.

Joyce and Tony, you are not only a prayer of faith but also a homily of the Holy Matrimony, showing us the light and power of Jesus Christ to transform people in prayer and bring them to fulfillment.

Prayer does not change things like typhoons and earthquakes. We cannot ask God in prayer to spare us from getting sick or be exempted from life’s many trials and sufferings. Prayer cannot stop those from happening.

What prayer does is change us, change our attitude so we may hurdle life’s many blows and obstacles. Especially with couples who always find God in their lives, in good times and in bad.

Prayers transform us into better persons as children of God, especially couples who eventually look like brothers and sisters after living together in faith, hope and love.

Tony and Joyce, I am sure everyone in our family and among your friends here can attest to the many good things that have transformed you in the past 40 years.

You have changed to become the best for each other.

In the bible, the number 40 means perfect.

May God continue to perfect you, Tony and Joyce.

Keep us too in your prayers as we pray for you. Amen.
https://lordmychef.com/2019/10/23/married-life-is-a-prayer/

*Joyce and Tony in 1979…may forever basta may prayer!*

We are all St. Barnabas!

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Tuesday, Memorial of St. Barnabas, Apostle, 11 June 2024
Acts 11:21-26, 13:1-3 ><]]]]'> + <'[[[[>< Matthew 10:7-13

*Photo by author, Mt. St. Paul, La Trinidad, Benguet, 2016.*

Praise and glory
to You, God our loving Father
for this memorial of St. Barnabas,
one of the first to embrace Christianity
after the Resurrection of your Son
Jesus Christ.

A Levite Jew born in Cyprus,
his original name was Joseph but
upon joining the Apostles in Jerusalem,
he was nicknamed Barnabas 
which means "son of encouragement"
or "son of consolation" whom  
St. Luke described as "a good man,
filled with the Holy Spirit and faith"
(Acts 11:24).

Fill us, dear Jesus 
with the same goodness and faith
of St. Barnabas, truly children of 
encouragement and consolation,
believing in our brothers and
sisters especially those have withdrawn
from the ministry and apostolate 
for various reasons 
including shame and embarrassment 
for past mistakes and sins like St. Paul.

Then he (Barnabas) went to Tarsus to look for Saul, and when he had found him he brought him to Antioch. For a whole year they met with the church and taught a large number of people, and it was in Antioch that the disciples were first called Christians.

Fill us with your gift
of peace, Lord Jesus,
to imitate St. Barnabas
who vouched for St. Paul's sincerity
of conversion
as well as in encouraging
and consoling the early Christians
who were persecuted for their
faith in You.

Help us imitate St. Barnabas
in his beautiful disposition of
focusing more on You, Jesus
than in the problems and personalities
we encounter in fulfilling your mission;
most of all,
grant us the humility of St. Barnabas
to reconcile later with St. Paul
 after a serious disagreement
that led to their parting of ways
as companions in their mission.

Make us realize,
Jesus,
that saints like St. Barnabas
do not fall from Heaven
but are people like us who have many
and complicated problems in life;
let us arise from our sins
and mistakes like St. Barnabas
who showed in his life that holiness
is not being sinless but being humble
to admit one's sins and faults,
going through conversion daily
with a willingness to forgive others
to be reconciled anew
in You, Jesus.
Amen.

St. Barnabas,
Pray for us!

*Photo by Ms. Analyn Dela Torre, March 2024.*

Drought & blessedness

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Monday in Tenth Week of Ordinary Time, Year II, 10 June 2024
1 Kings 17:1-6 <*((((>< + ><))))*> Matthew 5:1-12

*Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, 20 March 2024.*

Your words today, O Lord,
seem to be so apart,
unconnected, even disconsonant
to some respect:
in the first reading,
You declared a drought as
punishment against Israel
who turned their backs from You,
worshipping Baal;
in the gospel,
Jesus preached His Sermon
on the mount, declaring as 
"blessed" are those who are poor,
the meek, the hungry and thirsty,
the persecuted and insulted -
conditions and situations
directly contrary to the ways of the world,
so uncomfortable and difficult.

Every time we are facing
trials and difficulties in life,
we consider it as a drought,
a time when You, O God,
seem to be so far from us
when in fact, it is us who have gone
astray and away from You!

Let us see, dear Jesus,
your blessings
in every drought,
in every hardship,
in every poverty,
 and persecutions
we go through;
 let us realize the blessedness
of these moments of drought
and trials and difficulties
when we can examine what's
in our hearts,
who's in our hearts.

Many times we unconsciously
drift apart from You, O Lord,
when we are carried away by
our modern baals and gods
that separate us from You
and one another;
help us find our way
back to You,
rejoicing always in times of drought
to seek You and follow You.
Amen.

Inside, outside of Jesus

The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Tenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B, 09 June 2024
Genesis 3:9-15 ><}}}}*> 2 Corinthians 4:13-5:1 ><}}}}*> Mark 3:20-35

*Photo by author, from the refectory of Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, 18 March 2024.*

In this age of so much emphasis on appearances, social media never run out of lists of what’s in, what’s out not only in fashion and lifestyles but practically in everything we do. Everybody wants to be “in” and nobody wants to be left out of the latest trends.

Yet, the irony is, we do not realize that the more we try to be “in”, the more we are actually “out” as in passe and baduy or jologs; in our efforts to be “in” and always on top of the latest in everything, the more we are actually lost, the more we become ordinary. The more we try to be “in”, the more we become “out” like in the gospel this Sunday.

Jesus came home with his disciples. Again the crowd gathered, making it impossible for them even to eat. When his relatives heard of this they set out to seize him, for they said, “He is out of his mind.” the scribes who had come from Jerusalem said, “He is possessed by Beelzebul,” and “By the prince of demons he drives out demons.” 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 mother 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.”
Mark 3:20-22, 32-35

*Photo from https://santoninodecebubasilica.org/chronicles/viva-pit-senor-viva-senor-santo-nino/*

Mark wrote the first gospel account of Jesus Christ that is very short and straight to the point, making it so engaging with its quick pace that brings us his readers right inside the scene he describes like our gospel this Sunday.

Jesus in Mark’s gospel is portrayed as a person so filled with mystery that the only way to know Him is to enter into a personal relationship with Him. It is not enough to be physically close with Jesus. For Mark, there is an inner dynamics of faith involved in knowing Jesus as we have seen in the last three Sundays before Lent interrupted our Ordinary Time in February this year when people began following Him as He spoke with authority that He could drive away demons (Mk.1:21), heal the sick like Peter’s mother-in-law (Mk.1:29) and cleanse lepers (Mk.1:40).

Let us come with Mark inside that house with Jesus to see if those inside with Him were really “in” or “out”.

*Photo by author, sculpture of Jesus wandering Galilee, sleeping on a bench in Capernaum; taken in May 2019 at the entrance to Capernaum.*

In that house perhaps owned by one of the Lord’s disciples, we find through Mark that not everybody inside was “in” with Jesus. Many did not actually believe Him like His relatives who have come to get Him out, claiming “He is out of his mind”. Likewise, there were inside His enemies from the start like the scribes who accused Him of being possessed by demons.

Very clear that not everybody inside the house believed Jesus nor were one with Him. That is why Jesus narrated the parable of a kingdom and a house divided against itself, asking those present, “How can Satan drive out Satan?”

Mark reminds us here that physical presence is not enough with Jesus as well as with everyone. It is always easier to go inside without really coming inside. As we have reflected after my mother’s death, going home is going to one’s place but coming home is being one with persons like our loved ones (https://lordmychef.com/2024/05/10/coming-home-going-home/).

That’s when Mark dropped his kicker in the story towards end when Jesus declared about the sin against the Holy Spirit:

“Amen, I say to you, all sins and all blasphemies that people utter will be forgiven them. But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an everlasting sin.” For they had said, “He has an unclean spirit.”
Mark 3:28-30

Notice how Mark explained why Jesus declared sin against the Holy Spirit cannot be forgiven: because they had said “He has an unclean spirit.” What’s the big deal? It is so big!

We are able to learn and follow the path of right living in Christ through the Holy Spirit who was sent by Jesus to explain to us everything He had taught us while still here. Therefore, to sin against the Holy Spirit is to reject God Himself, to reject Jesus and His teachings!

How can we be forgiven if we do not believe God forgives sins, that Jesus has redeemed us already? How could one be healed of one’s sickness if the person does not believe in doctors or nurses?

That was precisely the sin of the Lord’s relatives and the scribes who were there inside with Him in the house: instead of seeing the power of God in Jesus Christ, His love and mercy and healing, they saw the devil. If they have opened themselves to the guidance and light of the Holy Spirit, they would have recognized Jesus indeed is the Christ just like the people of Nain after Jesus brought back to life the widow’s only son, exclaiming, “The Lord has visited his people” (Lk.7:16).

But wait… there is still the punch line of Mark in today’s gospel when those around Jesus told Him, “Your mother and your brothers and your sisters are outside asking for you.”

That’s the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of the Lord whose Memorial of the Immaculate Heart we celebrated yesterday after the Sacred Heart Solemnity.

Now look at that great irony in our gospel today. There was the Blessed Mother Mary outside with the Lord’s cousins wanting to see Him when in fact, she was the one Jesus was referring to when He replied, “Who are my mother 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.”

So, who’s really inside and outside of Jesus?

Of course, it is so easy to answer that but what about us? Where are we in this gospel scene? Inside but one of the relatives and scribes or, one of the disciples? Or, outside like the Blessed Mother who has always been inside Jesus her Son?

It is not enough to be inside the church and the Catholic Church or simply inside your house or wherever there is a gathering of people. Or, in marriage. We have to be one in Christ with the persons around us.

In the first reading we have heard how our first parents, Adam and Eve were already inside Paradise, with God face to face but still, not really inside Him for inside themselves were pride and desires to become like God. Deep inside them they wanted to be outside of God without realizing its dire results that have been passed on to us in this generation too, keeping us away and apart from each other. Worst, we have refused to follow the Holy Spirit’s promptings that until now, peace and justice have both remained elusive to us because we could not trust Jesus, always finding easier for many to just quit or leave marriages and family by having a divorce.

Jesus came to change us along with our many perceptions and beliefs of who God is. Many times, we find the ways of Jesus so different, even far out from our own ideas and wishes and desires for ourselves and for others.

Last Sunday, we reflected how Jesus saved the world by suffering and dying on the Cross, not by programs and activities. Today, Mark invites us to come inside the 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 marked by so many divisions among us due to our own making like divorce and wars, our readings remind us how it had always been the trend that is why the Son of God, Jesus Christ became human to fulfill the Father’s promise of salvation and wholeness right after Adam and Eve sinned against Him.

Everything can be overcome in Christ Jesus who is our only fulfillment and salvation in life. St. Paul instructs us in the second reading to always search Jesus in every suffering we are going through especially in our family or marriages so that we are not “discouraged because although our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day”(2Cor.4:16).

Let us pray:

Dearest Jesus:
help me find my way home
back to You
into the Father's house;
forgive for always running
away from You,
always trying to get inside
the world only to find myself
more lost and outside;
home is where the heart is,
Jesus, as they say;
and it is so true with You
especially in this time when
"place" is no longer physical location
but wherever You are proclaimed
and made known.
Let me believe in every possibilities
in You, Lord Jesus.
Amen.

Praying for tenderness of heart

Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Friday, Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus-B, 07 June 2024
Hosea 11:1, 3-4, 8-9 ><}}}*> Ephesians 3:8-12, 14-19 ><}}}*> John 19:31-37

*Photo by PhotoMIX Company on Pexels.com*

Being tender and
caring are essentially your works,
O God, made known to us
by your Son Jesus Christ
in His Most Sacred Heart
where there is enough room
for each one of us
wounded and hurting to find healing;
bitter and disgusted to have rest
and solace; lost to find way back home.

Thus says the Lord: When Israel was a child I loved him, out of Egypt I called my son. Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk, who took them in my arms; I drew them with human cords, with bands of love; I fostered them like one who raises an infant to his cheeks; Yet. though I stooped to feed my child, they did not know that I was their healer.
Hosea 11:1, 3-4

I must admit, O God,
that I have not yet really known You
that until now, I lack your tenderness
and care for others;
to have tenderness like You, Lord,
is first of all for me to be intimate
with You, my Father,
my Life,
my Mission;
You have nurtured me as your son
but I never recognized You fully
that is why many times I followed
my doubts and negative thoughts
than You.
So many times I pray
yet still so far from You,
O God!

Lord Jesus Christ,
"dwell in my heart through faith
so that I may be rooted
and grounded in love"
(Ephesians 3:17)
because when my love with God
is superficial,
all my relationships are also skin-deep
that make me forget my love experiences,
giving more emphasis on others'
shortcomings, expectations,
and returns;
tenderness is being like You, O God,
 of having a big heart able to accommodate
 those suffering because You know and realize
 the gravity of what others are going through;
more than a feeling,
tenderness is love and mercy in action
because it is to feel what others
are going through.

Jesus,
meek and humble of heart,
make my heart like Thine,
close to the Father,
close to His children.
Amen.

Sacred Heart, love language of God

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Friday, Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus-B, 07 June 2024
Hosea 11:1, 3-4, 8-9 ><}}}*> Ephesians 3:8-12, 14-19 ><}}}*> John 19:31-37

You must be wondering why this photo of a quote from Tom Hanks’ 1994 character Forrest Gump on the Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. What’s with shoes and the Sacred Heart of Jesus? Let me explain…

Last Tuesday while checking on my Facebook, I saw the post of a former seminarian who said, “Buying us shoes has been the love language of my parents to us… It will not change.” Posted below were photos of him buying two kids with new pairs of shoes.

How I admired him for being a father to those less fortunate kids! And that’s why I remembered Forrest Gump too who said how his mother used to tell him that shoes tell a lot about people, “Where they are going. Where they been.”

There’s something special with our feet, with the shoes we wear. Or do not wear. One is clear, though: our feet being at the lowest part of our body are most cared when we are growing up but later forgotten though overworked. That is why, it is so wonderful to go back to those days of childhood when our parents used to buy us with new pair of shoes, of how they would stoop down to help us fit the right ones for us. Just like God who is a Father to each one of us!

Thus says the Lord: when Israel was a child I loved him, out of Egypt I called my son. Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk, who took them in my arms; I drew them with human cords, with bands of love; I fostered them like one who raises an infant to his cheeks; Yet, though I stooped to feed my child, they did not know that I was their healer.
Hosea 11:1, 3-4

That’s the tenderness of God, so Fatherly to us in taking care of us, teaching us to walk, taking us to his arms, lovingly raising us to his cheeks while we burst in laughter. Try reading that whole quotation to include the second verse skipped by our lectionary today, the more you can feel God’s tenderness. And our sinfulness.

Thus says the Lord: When Israel was a child I loved him, out of Egypt I called my son. The more I called them, the farther they went away from me.
Hosea 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 parents, taking pride for being their son or daughter, always clinging to their big hands. Or, like couples at their early years in marriage who seem to be inseparable and always together. Then, as years passed by as we 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 like betrayal and infidelity, failures and losses, we return to our parents or to our original spouse or family, and most especially to God, rediscovering their genuine love that is so tender and very comforting again: “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).

That “stooping down” by God 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. In fact, Jesus literally “stooped down” on the night He was betrayed when He washed the feet of His disciples to portray to them the depth of His love for us all.

From His birth to His passion and death, Jesus Christ, therefore, is the Father’s love language.

This was very evident on Good Friday as John narrated how the 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. For this happened so that the Scripture passage might be fulfilled: Not a bone of it will be broken. And again another passage says: They will look upon him whom they have pierced” (Jn.19:33-34, 36-37).

Jesus Christ is the Father’s love language to us all because 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 have tender moments with Him, to have the same “love language” of sacrifice and giving of self for others 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”(Eph.3:17-19).

Unlike us humans, God makes no mistakes in loving. 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.

That is why we must heed St. Paul’s admonition in the second reading 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.

Today we complete the series of three Solemnities in Ordinary Time right after the great season of Easter: Trinity, Body and Blood of Christ, and now, the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. All three Solemnities tell us how great is this God we believe in, someone so immense and powerful, yet so loving and so gentle; most of all, a God so personal that He is much like us but at the same time so different from us.

This Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus is an occasion for us to meditate deeply on how God touches us in the most intimate manner when He stooped down in Christ through the Cross to experience His love and mercy so that we could make others feel that too.

Like John who witnessed everything on the Cross, we need to see more with the eyes of faith the realities of God’s immense love for us who gave His Son Jesus as the new Lamb offered for our many sins and that is why, in accordance with the Jewish law and with the Old Testament, not one of His bones were broken on the Cross. May we learn to stoop down like God in Jesus by looking down to our feet by first examining our hearts as we pray, Jesus meek and humble heart make my heart like thine! Amen.

Tenderness of God, sweetness of Mary

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Friday, Feast of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, 31 May 2024
Romans 12:9-16 ><]]]]'> + >>]]]]'> + >>>]]]]'> Luke 1:39-56

*Photo by author, statues of Mary and Elizabeth at the Church of the Visitation in ein-Karem, the Holy Land, May 2017.*

What a lovely way to end the month with this feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary’s Visitation of her cousin Elizabeth after starting off May on its very first day with another feast, St. Joseph the Worker that remind us of God’s coming to us in Jesus Christ.

Visit and visitation may seem to be one and the same, sharing the common Latin root word of the verb vide, videre “to see” from which came the word video.

But, a visit is more casual and informal without intimacy at all. We say it so well in Filipino, napadaan lang or just passing by which is more concerned with the place or location and site, not the person there. Napadaan lang ako kaya dinalaw na rin kita (I was just passing by and decided to see you). There was really no intention in seeing the other person there.

*Photo by author, Church of the Visitation, Ein-Karem, Holy land, May 2017.*

Visitation is more intentional. Mr. Webster described it as a more formal visit commonly used in church language like when bishop and priests come to see their parishioners. This explains why we refer to a chapel as a visita which is actually a small church in remote places that missionaries used to visit for the sacraments. Likewise, visitas became venues too for catechism classes and other religious even social gatherings in places far from the town itself where the parish is usually situated too.

Thus, visitation connotes a deeper meaning because there is an expression or implication at least of care and concern among the people, a kind of love shared by the visitor like Mary to the one visited, Elizabeth.

Visitation is more of entering into someone’s life and personhood as reported by Luke in Mary’s visitation of Elizabeth when “Mary entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth” (Lk.1:40). There was a communion and sharing of their common experience of being blessed with the presence of God in their wombs.

Visitation is a sharing, a oneness in the joys and pains of those dear to us. The word becomes more meaningful when we examine its Filipino equivalent pagdalaw from the root word dala or something you bring like food or any gift when visiting relatives and friends. What you bring or dala is called pasalubong from the root salubong that literally means “meeting” or “encounter”. When the visitor and ones visited meet, they salubong.

Here it becomes more colorful and meaningful because more than the gifts we bring or dala in our visitations, we bring our very selves as a gift of presence. In every visitation, it is our very selves we gift, we share with those we visit, offering them our time and talent, joys and sadness and ears and heart to listen to their stories and absorb their woes and whatever they may have to unload upon us.

That was what Mary did exactly in her visitation of Elizabeth with an extra gift, the most precious pasalubong to share with everyone, Jesus Christ in her womb, right in her very self and body!

We too are invited every day to be like Mary, a bringer or taga-dala of Jesus Christ to everyone we meet, the best pasalubong we can share with everyone. If we can only be like Mary in our dealings with others, trying to make every encounter a visitation that is a willful bringing and sharing of Christ with others, then we also bring with us God’s tenderness and mercy for this dark world that admires toughness and roughness.

How sad are those news of daily road rages happening almost everywhere, many times resulting in the loss of lives like the recent fatal shooting of a family driver in Makati.

Through the Blessed Mother’s humility and obedience before God, Christ came into the world to make us experience the Father’s tenderness in the many healings and miracles He performed. This tenderness of God in Jesus we saw too in Mary His Mother in the Visitation: Mary visited Elizabeth because she knew and felt her many wounds who for a long time bore no child, living in “disgrace before others” as she had claimed (Lk.1:25). A tender person like Jesus and Mary is one who comes to comfort and heal the wounds of those hurt in life, trying to lullaby the restless and sleepless, never adding insult to injuries.

One last thing about the Visitation of Mary to her cousin Elizabeth. One of the best things we can experience from visitations and visits of family and friends like during wakes and funerals is that quality of sweetness.

Sweetness always goes with tenderness. It is the essence of God who is love. Anyone who loves is always sweet that always comes naturally from within, bringing out good vibes. It is never artificial like Splenda, always flowing freely and naturally that leaves a good taste and feeling to anyone.

In the Hail Holy Queen, Mary is portrayed as “O clement, O sweet Virgin Mary” to show her sweetness as a Mother. Recently I have seen some posts making a meme (?) of the Hail Holy Queen’s part that says “to you do we cry poor banished children of Eve”. I have not really dealt it with much attention because too often, there are a lot of generation gaps in many posts in social media; I really cannot relate much to the young perhaps due to my age. I just hope that post on the Hail Holy Queen is not derogatory. Back to our reflection…

Tenderness and sweetness are the most God-like qualities we all have but have unconsciously buried deep in our innermost selves, refusing them to surface because of our refusal to love for fears of getting hurt and left behind or lost. When Mary heard Elizabeth’s pregnancy, she simply followed her human and motherly instincts that in fact so Godly that she went in haste to hill country of Judah. How lovely!

Tomorrow it is already June, reminding us all we are halfway through the year. And it would be surprisingly quick that soon, it is already Christmas again! This feast of the Visitation reminds us of Mary’s great role in making Christmas a reality when God almighty became human, little and vulnerable like us to experience His sweetness and tenderness in Jesus Christ. Through Mary.

Let us pray:

God our loving Father,
thank for coming to us,
for staying with us,
not just visiting us;
help us imitate Your Son
Jesus Christ's Mother,
the Blessed Virgin Mary
whose "love is so sincere",
loving one another like Elizabeth
with "mutual affection,
showing honor,
fervent in spirit,
serving the Lord;
help us imitate Mary
to always rejoice in hope,
endure afflictions and
most of all, persevere in prayer"
(cf. Romans 12:9-12)
so we may always bring 
Jesus Christ with everyone
we meet.
Amen.

*From cbcpnews.net, 13 May 2022, at the Parish of the National Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima, Valenzuela City.*

Becoming a Bartimaeus

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Thursday in the Eighth Week of Ordinary Time, Year II, 30 May 2024
1 Peter 2:2-5, 9-12 <*((((>< + ><))))*> Mark 10:46-52

Teach us, Jesus,
to be like Bartimaeus;
let us admit our blindness
to what true and good and beautiful
that is YOU;
teach us to be like
Bartimaeus to cry out to
You, Jesus, 
to wait for You always, 
to believe in You as the Only One
who can heal us of our blindness;
most of all,
teach us, Lord,
to leave the side of the streets,
to come to You, Jesus
to the middle of the road
to follow You on the way to
the Cross!

He threw his cloak, sprang up, and came to Jesus.
Mark 10:50

Forgive us, dear Jesus
for being so afraid,
to confront head on
the many ongoing
debates and attacks
against Your teachings
we hold so dearly
like the value of every person,
the inviolability of human life,
the sanctity of marriage;
forgive us, Jesus
when we hide in being "open"
choosing to be silent
just to accommodate the few
noisy people advocating for
too much rights without any
responsibilities,
speaking about equality
without any regard at all for
God and religion,
spirituality and theology.

Let us be like Bartimaeus
shouting louder than ever
amid calls of some to be silent,
to not insist Your teachings on others
when it is indeed the only one
true and just;
let us be like Bartimaeus
by affirming who we are -
"a chosen race,
a royal priesthood,
a holy nation,
a people of his own,
so that we may announce
Your praises who called us out
of darkness into his wonderful
light"
(1 Peter 2:9).

Have pity on us,
Jesus,
we want to see You
and follow You.
Amen.

What we value most

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Wednesday, Memorial of St. Paul VI, Pope, 29 May 2024
1 Peter 1:18-25 ><}}}}"> + ><}}}}"> + ><}}}}"> Mark 10:32-45

What a lovely Wednesday
we have, God our loving Father
right in the middle of so many 
issues that make us examine our
heart and soul,
what we truly value in this life
as Peter reminds us of how much
You value us so much as a people,
every individual person:

Beloved: Realize that you were ransomed from your futile conduct, handed on by your ancestors, not with perishable things like silver or gold but with the precious Blood of Christ as of a spotless unblemished lamb… You have been born anew, not from perishable but from imperishable seed, through the living and abiding word of God.
1 Peter 1:18-19, 23

Through Your Son
Jesus Christ our Lord,
help us realize dear Father 
these truths and realities 
of Your immense love 
for each one of us
while we waste
and take for granted
the value of human life
especially at its most vulnerable 
stages of infancy and old age
as well as the sanctity of marriage;
enlighten our minds and our hearts,
especially those of our lawmakers
and policy makers,
most of all, 
the masses who are misled by
so many into believing in the need
for contraceptives and abortions,
and divorce.

Forgive us, dear Jesus
for the "hardness of our hearts"
in insisting our own 
rules and laws,
blinded by glory of power
and wealth like the brothers
James and John;
let us heed your call that
"whoever wishes to be great
among you will be your servant"
(Mark 10:43).

In this great period in our history
as a Christian nation when some people
claiming to know more,
claiming to know better
totally disregard facts
and true wisdom from the Spirit
in advocating divorce and other
agenda promoting the "culture of death",
grant us O Lord Jesus Christ
the courage You gave St. Paul VI
to go against the tide by standing firm
on Your truth in upholding human life
by choosing the minority report
"Humane vitae":
St. Paul VI did not mind at all
being maligned and persecuted
even within the Church
for he believed firmly at how You,
O God value every person;
how beautiful that in the end,
You proved him right
when You allowed
St. Paul VI to intercede twice
in the miraculous birth of two babies
recommended by doctors for abortion
due to difficult pregnancy and disability
that eventually paved the way for his
beatification and canonization.

Like St. Paul VI,
let us be rooted in You, O God
as we "dialogue with the modern world"
by leading people to You
in order to find fulfillment
and meaning in life
in the name of Christ.
Amen.

St. Paul VI,
Pray for us!

*Pope Paul VI is seen in this portrait made in early 1969 (CNS photo) via wikipedia.org.*

The “Simon Peter” within us

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Tuesday in the Eighth Week of Ordinary Time, Year II, 28 May 2024
1 Peter 1:10-16 ><]]]]'> + ><]]]]'> + ><]]]]'> Mark 10:28-31

*Photo by author, Simon Peter before Jesus after their bountiful catch in Galilee, May 2017.*

Forgive me Jesus
for being so like Simon Peter,
so irrepressible on many occasions,
saying things without much
thinking and reflection
like in today's gospel
when he bragged to You,
"We have given up everything
and followed you" (Mark 10:28);
let me be aware always that 
all that I have,
whatever good I can do
are all because of You, Jesus;
like Simon Peter,
let me grow and mature 
in my faith in You
when he wrote us today
"be holy yourselves in every
aspect of your conduct,
for it is written, Be holy
because I am holy"
(1 Peter 1:15-16).

Make me holy, Lord,
fill me with Your Spirit
by first emptying me 
of myself, 
of my pride, 
of my insecurities,
of my sins
in order to be filled
with Your Spirit 
so I may truly conform to You
and be Your presence
in the world today;
I know I have not 
given that much yet 
to You through others
for I still think of myself always;
take away whatever 
I still keep and hide to myself
that I am not aware of,
remind me to abandon
and offer everything to You.
Amen.