Category: jesus christ

Christ the King, the Power to Love

The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus, King of the Universe, Cycle A, 26 November 2023
Ezekiel 14:11-12, 15-17 ><}}}*> 1 Corinthians 15:20-26, 28 ><}}}*> Matthew 25:31-46
Detail of Jesus Christ at the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, Turkey; photo from wikipedia.org.

We now come to the final Sunday celebration of the year, the Solemnity of Christ the King. See how we close the liturgical calendar celebrating Christ’s kingship, only to open it anew next Sunday with Advent Season in preparation for Christmas, the birth of the King of kings.

Far from the connotations of power and authority of kings of the world, Christ’s kingship is more pastoral in nature by taking its cue from the image of a shepherd prevalent in the ancient Middle Eastern culture. In fact, Jesus is more perfect than any shepherd being the Good Shepherd himself, the fulfillment of the promise of God we heard in the first reading who would come to personally tend his flock.

As I prayed over our readings of this Solemnity which is one of the youngest feasts we have in the church at less than 100 years old since its introduction in 1925 by Pope Pius XI, my thoughts wandered during that first year of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 when churches were closed and public Masses were prohibited.

Photo by Ms. Ria De Vera, Christ the King celebration in our former parish during pandemic, November 2020.

Right on the first Sunday when lockdown was imposed, we started our weekly “motorized procession” of the Blessed Sacrament around our former parish in Bulacan. I was so moved at the piety of our parishioners who knelt on the streets whenever we passed by.

We continued the practice until the Solemnity of Christ the King on that year of 2020. As usual, the people knelt on the streets when we passed by with the Blessed Sacrament. Even passengers of buses and other vehicles that chanced upon our procession paid homage to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.

Photo by Ms. Anne Ramos, March 2020.

Looking back to those days during my prayer periods this week, I realized that it was on that first year of the pandemic when we had the most meaningful liturgical celebrations in the Church when people felt intensely the need for God, when they clearly had Jesus alone as King and Lord.

Everyone’s faith was put to test as we were all gripped in fears and uncertainties with the deadly effects of COVID virus. Almost every family prayed the Rosary daily or nightly, so many trying to sneak inside churches to attend Mass celebrations. Of course, there were still some who went on their evil ways during those difficult times with the tokhang still implemented while those in power shamelessly grabbed the opportunity to rake in millions of pesos from corruption at the expense of the poor and suffering people.

When we recall that year 2020 of the pandemic, it was at that time we experienced Christ’s Second Coming as everyday was a judgment day, the end of the world — though not entirely fearful because it was also during that time we felt closest to God in Jesus our Lord and King!

Behind all those acts of kindness and goodness of the people are the immense love and mercy of God in Jesus Christ we have experienced in the recovery of infected loved ones or in the simple negative results of our COVID tests.

It was during those days when we experienced and felt Jesus truly present in us and among us that we simply radiated him on many occasions. That first year of the pandemic proved to many of us that being good, being kind, being helpful would never destroy nor diminish our person but had actually strengthened us as individuals and as a community. Recall how the “community pantry” caught the whole country on fire in just a matter of weeks when a young lady started it in their neighborhood at Maguinhawa Street, UP Village in Quezon City.

When families and communities banded together in love and kindness to help the poor and needy, the sick and those who have lost loved ones, the experience did not pulverize them but actually crystallized them as family or friends or neighbors. Walang nadurog sa pagdadamayan bagkus nabuo ang lahat ng nagtulungan!

That is the kingship of Jesus Christ. His power and authority were never meant to destroy us. In fact, when he came to us, he showed us and made us experience that the power and authority of his kingship is found not in force but in love and mercy that sadly many see these days as weaknesses.

Then the righteous will answer him and say, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? When did we see you ill or in prison, and visit you?’ And the king will say to them in reply, ‘Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.’

Matthew 25:37-40
Photo by Ms. Marivic Tribiana, April 2020.

Christ the King today reminds us that true authority and power lead to humility which is more than being lowly but also of seeing the other person as another human in need, vulnerable and weak. Being humble is not only accepting our humanity but recognizing the humanity of those around us who need to be respected, loved and cared too.

Moreover, Christ the King reminds us that whatever authority and power we have is a sharing in God’s power and authority; hence, these must be used to help others, not lord over them. True power and authority lead to compassion, enabling us to feel the sufferings of others that move us to do something for them like Jesus.

This is what St. Paul reminds us in the second reading: the kingship of Jesus Christ – his power and authority – are a sharing in God. Unlike the worldly kings, Christ’s kingship is intimately related to the rule of God and ultimately subjected to the Father that is why it is transformative and performative to borrow one of Pope Benedict XVI’s favorite terms.

Artwork by Fr. Marc Ocariza based on Ms. Tribiana’s photo, April 2020.

The Kingship of Jesus Christ is the power to love, the most potent force in the universe. Yes, there are still evil and sin in the world today but soon, they shall be finally removed in Christ’s return as king. The present moment calls us to see Jesus in everyone we meet so that we act like him in loving service to others.

Notice how Jesus ended today his teachings at the temple area with a parable of the judgment of nations where people are separated according to their deeds. At the end of time, that is what Jesus will ask and judge us: how much have we loved like him? What have we done in this world, in life?

For us to better answer that, let us keep in mind what Jesus had done and still does to us and for us, of how much he loves us as our King and Protector. Recall the countless times he poured us his love for us. The moment we see his kingship in God’s way, then we follow Christ’s power and authority in the name of love and mercy, kindness and gentleness. Amen. Have a blessed week ahead!

Our “dying” cities

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Thursday, Memorial of St. Clement, Pope & Martyr, 23 November 2023
1 Maccabees 2:15-29   ><)))*> + <*(((>< = ><)))*> + <*(((><   Luke 19:41-44
Photo by author, Metro Manila seen from Antipolo City, August 2022.
God our Father,
bless our cities,
bring back life to our
dying cities;
amid the many signs
of progress and affluence,
there are also the many signs
of decay and poverty
that cannot be hidden.
And they all begin in
our hearts that have
turned away from you.

Jesus drew near Jerusalem, he saw the city and wept over it, saying, “If this day you only knew what makes for peace – but now it is hidden from your eyes.

Luke 19:41
So many of us, O Lord,
are so allured by the glitter
and lights of the city
that we forget you,
our only light that can vanish
all darkness within us;
we have been so fascinated with
the material prosperity,
wealth and fame our cities
offer us that we have forgotten
your Cross, dear Jesus,
that enable us to love truly
and bring life to others;
we have turned away from you,
Jesus, our Lord and God,
to worship new gods
that leave us empty,
lost and confused than ever.
Like Mattathias and his sons
along with his many followers
during the Maccabean revolt in Israel,
let us "leave" our cities and its
many temptations and sins,
lies and empty promises
to search our hearts,
to find you again
and follow you
in order to bring you back
to our cities like
your martyr St. Clement.
Amen.
Photo by author, the Church of Dominus Flevit (the Lord Cried/Wept) with roof shaped like four tears believed to be the very site where Jesus wept over the impending destruction of Jerusalem that happened in year 70 AD.

Little things are “the” big things

The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Sunday in the Thirty-Third Week of Ordinary Time, Cycle A, 19 November 2023
Proverbs 31:10-13, 19-20, 30-31 ><}}}*> 1 Thessalonians 5:1-6 ><}}}*> Matthew 25:14-30
Photo by Mr. Jim Marpa in Carigara, Leyte 2018.

Our first reading today from the Book of Proverbs is very interesting on this penultimate Sunday of the liturgical calendar before the Solemnity of Christ the King next week. If we go by today’s way of thinking, it sounds “sexist”, stereotyping the tasks of a “worthy” or perfect wife:

She obtains wool and flax and works with loving hands. She puts her hands to the distaff, and her fingers ply the spindle. She reaches her hands to the poor, and extends her arms to the needy.

Proverbs 31:13, 19-20

But for those like me who grew up in the generation reared by mothers proudly described as “plain housewife”, there’s no sexism nor stereotyping of women by the author of the Book of Proverbs. It is actually in praise of women, of housewives and mothers supposed to be the most attentive in details, truly dedicated and faithful in daily house chores.

Photo by Mr. Jim Marpa in Carigara, Leyte 2018.

Our first reading reminds us to be like a “worthy wife” who is consistent in doing those little things mothers do to keep our homes warm and tidy. Most of all, orderly.

Moms are blessed with special grace and talent in budgeting limited resources to come out with outstanding meals daily, of keeping socks and handkerchiefs as well as cuff links and old clothes ready and handy just in case there is an instant out of town trip or school project. With moms, life is practically worry-free because she gets everything covered even outside home! I remembered how my mom had everything in her little bag, from medicines like Cortal to Vick’s Vaporub and Band-Aid, candies and money, tissues and even tape measure called medida! Truly a Girl Scout, always ready for any eventuality.

And that is why we have this part of the Book of Proverbs this Sunday: to wait for the Second Coming of Christ which is also the end of the world is to be like a “worthy wife” concentrated on life’s essentials “who fears the Lord” (v.30) and “reaches out her hands to the poor, and extends her arms to the needy” (v. 20). It is basically being wise like the five virgins last Sunday – faithful to God, to his laws and commandments expressed in lovingly serving others especially the poor.

Photo by author, sunset in Tagaytay City, 07 February 2023.

That is the whole point of Jesus in today’s parable of the talents where he spoke to his disciples who include us today “of his coming” that no one knows like those servants awaiting their master’s return.

The parable did not tell us how the first two servants made use of their talents that earned them interests but it clearly pointed out what the third servant did not do. The time of waiting for the Parousia is an active waiting, of keeping up with the tasks entrusted to us by Jesus our Master. Instead of knowing its date with all those useless calculations and speculations, we are called to be diligent and committed in striving and persevering to be good at what is entrusted to us according to our ability like the first two servants and the perfect wife in the Book of Proverbs.

To wait for Jesus is not to be idle, doing nothing like the third servant in the parable who simply buried the talent entrusted to him. He was lazy, lacked any initiative, a whiner and a complainer.

Perfection and holiness lead to readiness for Christ, achieved in our faithfulness to our daily duties as his disciples, not elsewhere like in great moments we often await but never happen at all nor in appearances that do not matter like “charm and beauty” as the author of Proverbs said (v.30). Active waiting for the return of Jesus is living fully in every present moment, not in useless crying over the past or fearful anxieties of the future.

Photo from inquirer.net, 2021.

Jesus is not asking us – and would never ask us anything beyond our abilities – to do great feats like that master who simply entrusted his possessions according to his servants’ abilities.

Jesus is not telling us to do a Mother Teresa but simply be kind first to your family. Smile more often at people, laugh your heart out at the simple joys and stories especially of children. Choose silence than answering every call and conversation. Forgive a lot and you forget what isn’t nice. Then you see the hidden beauty of every person and thing. And not far from that, you find Christ coming right in front of you, too.

When we do the work of God, it does not really matter how big or small nor how simple or complicated that may be. It is always great to do the work of God because it is God’s work entrusted to us! A basketball is just an ordinary rubber ball but when used by Michael Jordan, it becomes of great value. The same is true when we do the works of God.

When Christ comes again to judge both the living and the dead, the only thing he would ask us is what have we done to those people and responsibilities he had entrusted to us. Ultimately, it is a question of how much have we loved, have we lived like him? Remember Jesus said “Not everyone who says to me ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of his Father in heaven” (Mt. 7:21-23). What are we doing, how are we living our faith in God these days are the questions we must answer to be ready for the Second Coming.

Photo by author, Jesuit Cemetery at the Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, 21 March 2023.

St. Paul lived at a time when people were so excited for the apocalypse, the end of time when Christ is expected to come again. They believed – along with St. Paul – that they would witness the return of Jesus in their lifetime.

And that is why St. Paul wrote them, trying to calm them by telling them to always live in the present moment, to live fully every day because the Parousia will come like a thief in the night, just “when people are saying ‘Peace and security,’ then suddenly disaster comes upon them, like labor pains upon a pregnant woman” (1 Thes. 5:2-3).

How sad that what is happening today is exactly the opposite. These days, many people live as if Christ is never coming back to judge us at the end of time. Worst, many people live as if there is no God at all with all the wars and crimes going on, the continuing disrespect for life and persons, as well the many abuses and injustices committed with impunity.

Photo by Mr. Jim Marpa in Carigara, Leyte 2018.

These very presence of sin and evil in the world show that God’s final victory has not taken place yet. Therefore, each day is actually a reminder of the coming end of time, the return of Jesus to establish final peace and order. Far from terrifying and discouraging us, it is a call for us to live fully in the present, mindful of that Latin phrase “memento mori” that means “remember you must die.”

The German philosopher Martin Heidegger said we are all “beings-towards-death”, meaning, we all die someday.

It is in being aware of this certainty of death that we humans live authentically. It is only when we have come to terms with death that we also come to terms with life. We fear death because we have not yet started living truly. Now is the time. No need to write those bucket list. Simply live in God, in Jesus. Be good, be joyful. Then, it does not matter anymore when death comes. Amen. Have a blessed, faithful week ahead.

True authority leads to humility

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Wednesday, Memorial of St. Albert the Great, Doctor of the Church, 15 November 2023
Wisdom 6:1-11   ><))))*> + ><))))*> + ><))))*>   Luke 17:11-19
Photo by author, Jesuit Cemetery, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, 21 March 2023.
Thank you dear God
for the gift of authority,
a share in your authority 
to govern other people regardless
if they are a few or a handful of
loosely organized people like
family and friends
or a large number of subjects
in our work or organization,
community and the Church,
and the whole nation.

But most especially,
we pray for our civil and 
Church people of authority
to heed your counsel:

To you therefore O princes are my words addressed that you may learn wisdom and that you may not sin. For those who keep the holy precepts hallowed shall be found holy, and those learned in them will have ready a response. Desire therefore my words; long for them and you shall be instructed.

Wisdom 6:9-11
You have sent us your Son,
our Lord Jesus Christ as the
perfect example of authority figure,
who spoke with authority during his time
because his authority is a sharing
in your authority, Father,
an expression of his perfect 
obedience to you; 
let us realize that every authority 
must be lived in total obedience
to you, O God, like Jesus.
When authority is lived in obedience,
those in authority become humble,
getting closer to their subjects
especially those in the margins
like the weak and the sick;
the Samaritan leper was the only one
who returned to Jesus to thank him
because not only because 
he was the least of the ten
lepers being an outsider;
but, most of all, he humbly
and gratefully returned to thank Jesus
because he lived his obedience with
authority, Jesus whom he called Master.

Like St. Albert the Great
whose feast we celebrate today,
patron of scientists and a man
of learning and wisdom who held 
great authority in his Order
and in the Church in Germany 
during his time, may we always
live our authority in obedience
and live obedience with authority
to lead us all into humility
like Jesus Christ.
Amen.

Living in the end of time

The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Sunday in the Thirty-second Week of Ordinary Time, Cycle A, 12 November 2023
Wisdom 6:12-16 ><}}}}*> 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 ><}}}}*> Matthew 25:1-13
Photo by author, PDDM Chapel, James Alberione Center, G. Araneta Ave., QC, 09 November 2023.

For the next two Sundays before the Solemnity of Christ the King, our readings deal with the urgency of the end of time, of the final judgment when Jesus comes again. Every Sunday in the Mass we profess in the Creed that “Jesus will come again to judge the living and the dead” and proclaim after Consecration that “Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again!”

But, do we really take Christ’s Second Coming to our hearts?

Maybe not at all if you scan the social media like Facebook or the news these days. Many people live as if there is no God nor final judgment. Worst, many have lost the virtue of waiting as nobody waits anymore in this age of instants! So unlike the Thessalonians during the time of St. Paul who all believed Jesus would come again in their lifetime. In fact, they were even so concerned with the sequence of entrance to heaven after some of them died ahead of the Parousia (Greek for Christ’s Second Coming). In explaining Christ’s return at the end of time, St. Paul insisted on two important points in his letter we have heard today.

Photo by author, National Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima, Valenzuela City, 06 November 2023.

First, the Resurrection of Jesus is the beginning of the end of time. We have to live daily as if it is the end of time. Easter is not an isolated event in the past; it is directly linked with everyone for all ages. Like Jesus, all those who have died shall go through “general resurrection” at the end of time when he comes again anytime he wishes. “For if we believe that Jesus died and rose, so too will God, through Jesus, bring with him those who have fallen asleep” (1 Thes. 4:14).

Second, the Parousia is God’s final victory over sin and death. Jesus had definitively won over sin and death on the Cross on Good Friday but its “powers” would finally cease and end at the end of time when Christ comes again to start anew everything in God with “new heaven, new earth”. That is why while awaiting his Parousia, we persevere in witnessing his gospel message of salvation amid the many sufferings we go through in this world like diseases and sickness, famine and poverty, wars and violence.

Here lies our problem – and foolishness – when we turn away from God, refusing to wait by falling into the devil’s temptation of “turning stones into bread” for instant solutions that have left us more divided, more miserable. We need faith in God who is our oil to keep our lamps aglow, giving light in this dark world even if we “become drowsy and fall asleep” while awaiting Christ’s return.

Jesus told the disciples this parable: “The Kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and five were wise. The foolish ones, when taking their lamps, brought no oil with them, but the wise brought flasks of oil with their lamps. Since the bridegroom was long delayed, they all became drowsy and fell asleep.

Matthew 25:1-5
Photo by author, Chapel of the Holy Family, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, 2016.

Nobody knows when the Parousia will happen, not even Jesus except the Father. But the good news is that Jesus assures us today that it is normal to be drowsy and fall asleep in our lives while awaiting his final coming.

There are times we get so used to the darkness around us in life that we become cynical and even indifferent in our attitudes. We fall asleep, choosing to be mere bystanders, seeing nothing, hearing nothing, saying nothing, and doing nothing.

It is not good, of course. But, it can happen as we find our hands so full of our own personal and family issues that many times, we would opt to just “pray” than actively take part in advocacies and crusades against the many problems that plague the world today from poverty to hunger, wars and violence, human trafficking and prostitution to the destruction of our environment and climate change.

Becoming drowsy and falling asleep mean we get tired of all the problems and chaos in the world, even in our personal lives that we just want to stop and be detached, away from all troubles. No more dramas. To be silent until Jesus Christ comes to us in the dead of the night. Like the wise virgins, we keep focused on Jesus even if we become drowsy and fall asleep in his sure arrival.

Photo by Irina Anastasiu on Pexels.com

Being foolish like those other five virgins in the parable is abandoning God, not waiting for him, being busy with worldly concerns without thinking and looking into the wider horizons of life and realities.

Many times, the world seeks quick fixes to our many problems only to create bigger problems. Jesus had to wait until the hearts of the more than 5000 people who have followed him in the wilderness were opened to God and to one another before he miraculously fed them with bread and fish.

Being wise is having faith in God with good works. How sad that many people have foolishly turned away from God, even declared “God is dead” as they relied more on themselves and their technologies and modern thoughts that are often old mistakes in the past being repeated. Our bodies may get tired but never should we let our minds and spirits droop and fall behind, joining the materialistic and selfish bandwagon of the world. Being wise is to continuously seek God and his ways for a more meaningful way of living. This is the message of the author of the Book of Wisdom we heard today where God is personified as Wisdom like a beloved being sought.

Resplendent and unfading is wisdom, and she is readily perceived by those who love her, and found by those who seek her… because she makes her own rounds, seeking those worthy of her, and graciously appears to them in the ways, and meets them with all solicitude.

Wisdom 6:12, 16
Photo by author, 2019.

God is never far from those who truly seek him, who truly await him. There are always delays as God takes time before coming to us until we are ready for him and his plans.

There are many times in life that the solution to our problems require long waiting not only to find the best answers but most of all to purify our very selves. After all, the problems in the world are mere reflections of what is within each one of us as Jesuit Fr. Manoling Francisco expressed in his song One More Gift.

This is the sad thing with social media around us. Many times, some people use social media only to advance their own agendas that only add flames of hatred and violence. Instead of gathering first the facts and evaluating them prayerfully, we tend to react quickly, becoming emotional that we forget the face of every human person already suffering on the ground, regardless of their color and creed, thus continue the cycle of sins and evil.

Being wise is being grounded in Jesus, believing and trusting in his presence among us in everyone, that he shall surely come to save us and change everything for the best. Far from making us nervous and anxious, discouraged and careless in the uncertainty of his Second Coming, Jesus invites us today to be watchful and attentive to his presence especially in our Sunday Mass when we live in the end time, rehearsing our entrance into heaven as we wait. Amen. Have a blessed week!

Cleanse us, O Lord!

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Thursday, Feast of the Dedication of St. John Lateran, 09 November 2023
Ezekiel 47:1-2, 8-9, 12 ><)))*> 1 Corinthians 3:9-11, 16-17 ><)))*> John 2:13-22
Photo by Arch. Philip Santiago, St. John Lateran in Rome, 2022.
Praise and glory to you,
God our loving Father
in choosing to dwell in us
your people
as your temple;
how sad we have always 
desecrated ourselves and 
houses of worship with sin and evil
yet you never stopped 
building us up over and over
in Jesus Christ
as your dwelling place.

Brothers and sisters: You are God’s building. Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?

1 Corithians 3:9, 16
Please, come again, Lord Jesus;
come more often to us your people
especially to us your priests,
to cleanse us of all filth of pride and conceit
when we eject you from the Eucharist 
by making it our own celebration, 
making a mockery of your sacrifice 
we have turned into a carnival, 
a spectacle for entertainment 
in the name of money and fame; 
forgive us, Jesus, 
in misleading the people,
 using God like in the temple of Jerusalem;
shame on us when we preach
more of ourselves and interests
than your words that free the people
from bondage to sin and disease;
cleanse us, O Lord, so that life 
may spring forth again from our parishes 
where people experience your love and mercy
that "Wherever the river flows,
every sort of living creature that can
multiply shall live, and there shall be
abundant fish, for wherever this water
comes the sea shall be made fresh"
(Ezekiel 47:9).
Come, Lord Jesus,
bind us again like cords,
whip us if necessary,
awaken our pastors and bishops
who have forgotten your call
to shepherd your people,
choosing to graze in the green
pastures of the rich and powerful
enclosed in their buildings and
ivory towers bereft of
your spirit and life;
awaken your people too
in the spirit of synodality
to stand for what is true and sacred,
to demand from religious leaders
to give only you, Jesus,
always you, Jesus.
Amen.

Giving permission to die

Quiet Storm by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, 08 November 2023
Photo by author, National Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima, Valenzuela City, 06 November 2023.

A very dear friend died last October 16 after more than three years of fighting cancer. She used to be one of our elementary teachers at the school I was first assigned after ordination. She later resigned to teach abroad but every year whenever she was home for summer vacation, she always invited me to join their mini-reunions of former co-teachers.

Everything changed in 2020 when she had to retire early to return home for her cancer treatment. We could not visit her during the pandemic lockdown, occasionally meeting her via zoom and video phone calls. When COVID subsided a little in late 2021 and early 2022, we finally met briefly. She seemed to be responding well to her chemotherapy except that she had lost hair that was natural. Last December, we were finally able to go out with other fellow co-teachers twice after Christmas and after New Year’s day last January. We were so glad she had regained weight and strength. And hair too!

Saw her again last June but in late August, she stopped answering our messages. It turned out that her cancer had metastasized to her lungs and liver. When I came to see her October 7, the first thing she told me was for me to “allow her to die”. According to her brothers and elder sister, she had also asked them for “permission to die” earlier that night because she said, she was already tired and was ready to go back to God.

Photo by author, National Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima, Valenzuela City, 06 November 2023.

It was not the first time somebody had asked me a “permission to die”, especially since I have become a hospital chaplain two years ago. But, I must confess, in all instances, there was always hesitancy on my part in giving “permission to die” especially when those dying are close to me like friends and relatives. In fact, the first person who asked me “permission to die” was my best friend from high school seminary. I just cried, said nothing when he calmly told me he was ready to go.

That scene remains vivid to my memory to this day, including the many lessons he had taught about life and dying.

By the way, let me put it clear that what we are referring here as giving “permission to die” is allowing death take its natural course, not mercy killing or euthanasia which is intrinsically evil we should never allow.

In my 25 years in the priesthood, two years as hospital chaplain since 2021, I have always felt the process of dying as a “grace-filled moment” too like in the birth of an infant or recovery of a sick person. Both the dying and their family and friends are blessed when death approaches or had come, like when Jesus visited Martha and Mary four days after the death of their brother Lazarus. That scene of Jesus speaking to Martha before bringing Lazarus back to life assures us of how God had turned death into a blessing in Christ: Jesus told her, “I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” (Jn. 11:25-26)

Photo by author, National Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima, Valenzuela City, 06 November 2023.

If we believe Jesus and his words to Martha, we too shall find him coming to us when a beloved is dying, especially when they ask us that “permission to die” which is not actually a permission per se because only God decides when we are going to die.

When patients ask for “permission to die”, they are actually bidding us goodbye. Dying people always knew when they had to go because they have already accepted the reality. This is very noticeable at the serenity, even of joy, on their face. Despite their sickness, dying patients who have truly made peace with God and had given up everything to Him always have that grace of composure like Jesus when he died on the Cross, crying his same prayer, “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit” (Lk.23:46).

Photo by author, National Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima, Valenzuela City, September 2021.

Giving “permission to die” is a grace from God He gives to relatives and friends to accept and embrace that difficult reality.

“Permitting” our loved ones to die is to assure them of our love and forgiveness of their sins against us. It is our final act of love for them when we assist them to that great passageway onto eternity like when we would lead our guests out to the door to ensure them our separation is just temporary until we meet again soon.

Due to this great amount of love in our final goodbyes, some people sometimes “fake” their dying moments, creating a “drama” in asking “permission to die” when actually, they are not yet ready to die but merely demanding love and care from family and friends. One clear sign is they tend to be more cerebral than cordial, becoming bitter and angry than ever. Even amid sufferings, they think more of themselves than feel others around them. Like the boy who cried wolf, they have not yet really seen death approaching because most likely, they have not yet faced life and living truly. Coming to terms with death is coming to terms with life. When loved ones “fake” their dying, what they really seek is how to live fully and responsibly, to be their true self. But that’s a different topic…

Photo by author, Malagos Orchid Farm, Davao City, 2017.

Death is the most terrifying moment in life because we do not know what’s next, where we are going. That is why, when people truly mean that they have accepted death, that is also when they have accepted life in its fullness. They do not reason out. They just feel God and those around them. Most of all, they have peace within amid pains.

The same thing happens with us relatives and friends of the dying. We feel their sense of peace within, affecting us, infecting us. Hence, we get lost at how to express our giving them of that permission to die. Very often, we cry because our hearts overflow with love. When we feel their seeking of permission to die is genuine, our mouths and tongues are shut, incapable of expressing our love for them that is diverted into our eyes as tears, bursting forth like waters from a collapsed dam that cleanse also us of our fears and sadness at our impending loss.

Finally, giving permission to die to our beloved is an expression of our faith in God, affirming we all came from God and would someday go home to God in heaven. Thus, giving permission to die is actually to comfort – literally, “to give strength to” – the dying of their faith in God while facing their final tests and temptations in life, assuring them that soon, we shall join them in eternal joy.

Many times, our family and friends suffer so much before death because of our refusal to let them go too. We keep on holding them back that terrify them in making the great crossover. Giving them permission to die is easing and sharing their fears so they can finally let go and let God, that is, die – the meaning of the letter “d” that stands between the words “go” and “God”. According to the prayer by St. Francis of Assisi, it is in dying when we are born into eternal life. Amen.

*Aside from All Saints’ Day and All Souls Day, the whole month of November is a traditional time for visiting the graves of our loved ones. Go and offer them prayers, especially that “permission to die” if you are still holding them and have not yet let them go.

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Love sincerely

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Tuesday in the Thirty-first Week of Ordinary Time, Year I, 07 November 2023
Romans 12:5-16   ><]]]]'> + ><]]]]'> + ><]]]]'>   Luke 14:15-24
Photo by Mr. Jim Marpa, 2019.
God our merciful Father:
let us love sincerely
like your Son Jesus Christ
as St. Paul beautifully tells us
in today's first reading:

Let love be sincere; hate what is evil, hold on to what is good; love one another with mutual affection; anticipate one another in showing honor. Do not grow slack in zeal, be fervent in spirit, and serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, endure in affliction, and persevere in prayer.

Romans 12:9-12
Our loving Father,
let us love sincerely by loving in Jesus,
with Jesus and through Jesus,
not according to one's self nor 
with what the world knows that is
superficial, emotional, and temporary;
let us love sincerely without
pretensions but solely because
we find you in one another;
make us love sincerely
without thinking of our own
good and benefit but more of
the needs of others, especially
the poor and the needy;
let us love sincerely by making you
visible to others, making them
experience your love by bringing out
the giftedness of everyone around us, 
making them realize they are blessed, 
they are good in themselves,
that we need them in as much as we need
one another to grow and mature as persons;
let us love sincerely by avoiding instances
for hatred and envy and jealousy
to take shape within us and in our
relationships;
let us love sincerely by holding on
to what is good and true, 
never to what is false and evil
even if they may seem to be convenient
especially when one is untrue, unfaithful;
let us love sincerely by serving others
without expecting anything in return;
let us love sincerely by remaining
enthusiastic in life despite the sufferings
we go through, rejoicing in hope in you,
enduring afflictions and trials as we
handle life in prayer, together.

O Father, like Jesus Christ,
may we love sincerely by always
finding our place in your banquet table
(Luke 14:15-24)
among our brothers and sisters as
our equal, saying yes to your
every call to serve
in every here and now.
Amen.
Photo by author, National Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima, 06 November 2023.

Our worship, our life

The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Sunday in the Thirty-first Week of Ordinary Time, Cycle A, 05 November 2023
Malachi 1:14-2:2, 8-10 ><}}}}*> 1 Thessalonians 2:7-9, 13 ><}}}}*> Matthew 23:1-12
Photo by author, Malagos Orchid Farm, Davao City, 2017.

More than 18 years ago when we were assigned to a parish in our concurrent positions as school administrators in Malolos, an older priest offered to help us think of “gimmicks” so people would come to our parish. He insisted how the Church must have “marketing strategies” to attract more people celebrate Mass especially on Sundays.

After that older priest had left, I told our Rector to dismiss everything he had heard. I explained to him we do not need any marketing strategies because we have the best to offer – God in Jesus Christ. I stressed to him that only two things are essential in the parish: good liturgy that flows to good service.

A few years later, I was assigned to a parish of my own and held on that conviction. Modesty aside, that parish entrusted to me grew and became so vibrant during my nine years of stay there. Even during the pandemic lockdown, we continued with our good liturgies on line and in the ground that enabled us to serve everyone, especially the poor regardless of their religion. We never asked donations but people volunteered to give cash and goods to sustain the parish and our outreach programs.

Photo by Ms. Ria De Vera, Christ the King procession in November 2020.

Our readings today are very timely as the Synod on Synodality concluded in Rome recently that sought new ways in getting everyone in the Church especially those in the margins may journey together in Christ, with Christ to God our Father.

Although we priests and bishops remain as the biggest problems in the Church since the beginning like the Pharisees and scribes during the time of Jesus, having a good and meaningful liturgy that is living and fruitful is everyone’s responsibility.

And now, O priests, this commandment is for you: If you do not listen, and if you do not lay it to heart, to give glory to my name, says the Lird of hosts, I will send a curse upon you and of your blessing I will make a curse. You have turned aside from the way, and have caused many to falter by your instruction; you have made void the covenant of Levi, says the Lord of hosts.

Malachi 2:1-2, 8

How appropriate were the words by Prophet Malachi spoken in 480 BC who invites us too today to examine the manner we celebrate the liturgy in our communities, the spirit and seriousness that animate us, the image of God our celebrations project.

Is God still among us in our liturgy that after every celebration, we find him in our midst?

Is there still a sense of awe and wonder, of mysterium fascinans or we – priests and people – have replaced God in our worship?

Malachi was right on target then and now in echoing God’s anger and frustrations at the sight of our degenerate and perverted worship where anything goes as if God does not see us. And worst, as if we could fool him when our hearts are divided and so far from him and from one another which Jesus tried fixing these past two Sundays.

Photo by Mr. Gelo Nicolas, Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria, Bulacan, February 2020.

Jesus had silenced his enemies today in our gospel, he took it to unleash to them – and us – powerful tirades against their hypocrisies (and ours too), of how far our hearts been from God and one another, lacking in love due to its being so divided.

What a way to conclude his teachings these past two Sundays after failed attempts by his enemies to trick him into saying things that could lead to his arrest and execution.

Jesus spoke to the crowds and to his disciples, saying, “The scribes and the Pharisees have taken their seat on the chair of Moses. Therefore, do and observe all things whatsoever they tell you, but do not follow their example. For they preach but they do not practice. They tie up heavy burdens hard to carry and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they will not lift a finger to move them. All their works are performed to be seen.

Matthew 23:1-5

These past two Sundays, Jesus stressed the need of purifying our hearts so that we may give to God what is due to him which is our total selves. To purify our hearts, to have a clean heart to see God as in his beatitudes we heard proclaimed on All Saints Day means to enter into a communion with Jesus Christ, the One with the purest and cleanest heart who truly loves God and all of us.

Photo by author, St. Scholastica Retreat House, Baguio City, August 2023.

Today Jesus is calling us to walk our talk, to mean what we believe and say, to be true as his disciples who choose to love and suffer for God, who finds value in God dwelling in our hearts not in things outside like names and ranks, titles and designations, clothes and other signs.

Today Jesus is calling us to live and relate honestly with others wherein our whole selves – words and actions, body and soul – are united by hearts inclined, resting in God.

Today Jesus is calling us to focus on him alone for he is our only true Teacher and Master who lovingly humbled himself as servant of all to lead us to God our one Father in heaven.

Of course, Jesus is not asking us to disregard nor dismiss all titles and designations that define our roles and functions not only in the liturgy but even in the family and society. When we learn to give what is due to Caesar and what is due to God, then we discover that our proper “seat” is in this life is in the place of a servant and that our true “place of honor” is at God’s kingdom where everyone is equal. When we have this clearly in our minds and in our hearts, then, our words and deeds are no longer in opposition like the Pharisees and scribes who did not practice what they preached because we have become witnesses to integrity of self as disciples of Christ.

Photo by author, Our Lady of Fatima University, Valenzuela, 13 September 2023.

Vatican II rightly and beautifully called the liturgy as “fons et culmen” – the fount from which all blessings of our faith flow and the apex or summit of our lives as Christians, as disciples of Christ.

How true is our worship of God?

St. Paul gave us a glimpse of their living worship in Thessalonica, picturesquely telling them how “they were gentle among you, as a nursing mother cares for her children. With such affection for you, we were determined to share with you not only the gospel of God, but our very selves as well, so dearly beloved had tou become to us” (1Thes. 2:7-8).

How I wish we priests could be so sincere like St. Paul to the people and most especially to our Lord! This Sunday, may our worship be our lives too in Jesus like the admonition of St. Augustine to his congregation when distributing the Holy Communion, “Become what you receive: the Body of Christ”. Amen. Have a blessed new week!