Keeping our confidence

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Friday, Memorial of St. John Bosco, Priest, 31 January 2025
Hebrews 10:32-39 <*((((>< <*(((>< + ><)))*> ><))))*> Mark 4:26-34

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

Remember the days past when, after you had been enlightened, you endured a great contest of suffering… Therefore, do not throw away your confidence; it will have great recompense (Hebrews 10:32, 35).

Thank you,
O God our loving Father
for another month past
this new year;
there is indeed no other path
to take but forward
in you and with you
through Jesus.

How amazing,
dear Lord as I look back
to my many setbacks and problems
hurdled in the past,
the more I look forward
into the future!
The more I am excited
of the coming days ahead
because if I made it through
in the past,
through the long, dark nights
of trials and sufferings,
you are always with me
in Jesus.

*Photo by author, St. Scholastica Spirituality Center, Tagaytay, August 2024.*

Keep me faithful, Jesus;
let me not lose that confidence
in you, Lord, like the farmer
in your parable:
let me keep on sowing your
gospel in words and in deeds
especially among the young and 
the underprivileged like
St. John Bosco whose memorial
we celebrate today;
let me do whatever good 
I can do today;
most of all, 
like St. John Bosco,
let me love without measure
without claiming anything at all
except as your work, Lord Jesus
in sowing seeds until they
sprout to life and grow
until harvest time.
Amen.

*Photo by author, Northern Blossoms, Atok, Benguet, 27 December 2024.*

Our colored lenses

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Monday, Third Week in Ordinary Time, Year I, 27 January 2025
Hebrews 9:15, 24-28 ><}}}}*> + ><}}}}*> + ><}}}}*> Mark 3:22-30

Lord Jesus Christ,
take away our colored lenses
that prevent us from seeing 
the real pictures in the world 
and of life; many times, 
our lenses are not only colored
but even defective
that make us see distorted images
as the realities when they are not.

Like the Pharisees,
we wear different lenses
that prevent us from seeing
your true self as full of good,
of love and mercy;
like the Pharisees,
our views of others are
distorted because we see
only ourselves as better
while at the same time,
still like the Pharisees,
we debate truth because we could
not accept others as better than us,
leaving us all trapped in self-condemned 
state of sinning that make us see
everything as hopeless,
worst, nothing is good at all
in the world even in our 
very selves which is the sin
agains the Holy Spirit.

Make us see through
your loving and merciful
lens our selves,
others,
the world around us,
and most especially YOU;
give us your lenses
to see we have been saved
and most of all,
worth saving because
we are loved by
YOU and the Father
in heaven.

Let us rejoice and
relish your saving power,
Lord, when You as the Christ,
"Offered once to take away
the sins of many,
will appear a second time,
not to take away sins
but to bring salvation 
to those who eagerly await
Him"
(Hebrews 9:28).
Amen.

Our deepest longings…

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Thursday, Week II in Ordinary Time, Year I, 23 January 2025
Hebrews 7:25-8:6 <*{{{{>< + ><}}}}*> Mark 3:7-12

*Photo by author, St. Paul Spirituality Center, Pico, La Trinidad, Benguet, 06 December 2024.*

Let me come to you,
Jesus, with confidence
and humility to express
to you my deepest longings
and desires,
my deepest needs
and cries you know so well
but I always deny or too shy
to tell you completely.

Though I know very well
how your death on the Cross
is the single most important event
in history for all times
and for all peoples,
I balk its realities not for lack
of faith but due to low self-esteem, 
lack of self-acceptance
that you do love me truly.

The main point of what has been said is this: we have such a high priest, who has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of Majesty in heaven, a minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle that the Lord, not man, set up. Now he has obtained so much more excellent a ministry as he is a mediator of a better covenant, enacted on better promises (Hebrews 8:1-2, 6).

Let me follow you,
Jesus like the people in
the gospel:
let me not follow you only
to the sea but even to the
Cross to be one in you,
one with you
for you alone
is truly one with me
everywhere,
all the time.
Amen.

*Photo by author, Mount Olis, Atok, Benguet, 27 December 2024.*

Angry Jesus, magnanimous Jesus

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Wednesday, Memorial of St. Vincent, Deacon & Martyr, 22 January 2025
Hebrews 7:1-3, 15-17 <*((((>< + ><))))*> Mark 3:1-6

Dearest Jesus:
Your words today are
so difficult;
I cannot imagine 
you angry 
as you looked
at the Pharisees 
"with anger and grieved 
at their hardness 
of heart" (Mark 3:5);
but, as I imagined your face, Lord,
I experienced deep in me 
what made you angry enough
to do something so drastic like healing
the withered hand of a man
on a sabbath:
it was purely love,
it was not anger due to
hate and bitterness
but magnanimity
or generosity despite
and in spite of everything
because you are indeed, 
Jesus our High Priest forever 
according to the order 
of Melchizedek:

Melchizedek, king of Salem and priest of God Most High… His name first means righteous king, and he was also “king of Salem,” that is, king of peace. Without father, mother, or ancestry, without beginning of days or end of life, thus made to resemble the Son of God, he remains a priest forever (Hebrews 7:1, 2-3).

Let me examine myself
what is it about you, Jesus
 that I am so afraid of you
and made me many times
 like the Pharisees
be so hardened against you;
take away my stony heart,
dear Jesus and give me a
natural heart that beats with
firm faith, fervent hope,
and unceasing love and charity
for others especially those
in need and
those lost.

Like your deacon
and martyr St. Vincent,
the first martyr of Spain,
fill me Jesus with your peace
and tranquility
to bear all sufferings that
his jailer repented
and was converted;
make me magnanimous,
Jesus, like you
especially in this time
when losers refuse
to accept defeat
that they insist on their
wrongful ways
due to hardened hearts.
Amen.

*Photo by author, Sakura Park, Atok, Benguet, 27 December 2024.*

God our anchor of hope

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Tuesday, Memorial of St. Agnes, Virgin & Martyr, 21 January 2025
Hebrews 6:10-20 <'[[[[>< + ><]]]]'> Mark 2:23-28

*Photo by author, Nagsasa Cove, San Antonio, Zambales, 19 October 2024.*

Brothers and sisters: God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love you have demonstrated for his name by having served and continuing to serve the holy ones… This we have as an anchor of the soul, sure and firm, which reaches into the interior behind the veil, where Jesus entered on our behalf as forerunner, becoming high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek (Hebrews 6:10,19-20).

What a beautiful passage,
so reassuring and timely in
this Ordinary Jubilee of 2025
with the theme of Hope;
in this world where promises
are often made to be broken
than kept, thank you dear Jesus
in assuring us of your keeping
your promises.

Like the anchor that keeps
a ship or a boat stable
while moored,
you O Lord Jesus Christ
as our anchor keeps us
filled with hope
because you never disappoint
like most humans.

Forgive us, dear Jesus,
when we anchor our hopes in
rituals and things like the Pharisees
who were so focused on the letters
about sabbath, forgetting its essence
as a good news, a break, a release
and freedom from the burdens of
work and time to be attentive to God
our very root and life.

Forgive us, dear Jesus,
when we are so afraid not to break
rules but we break persons,
we break promises to love
and to be kind with one another;
grant us the grace of courage 
to persevere holding on to your promises
in the gospel like St. Agnes, 
Virgin and Martyr
who opened herself to your Spirit
because you alone, O Christ
is able to "reach into the interior 
behind the veil" of the temple into
the very presence of God in Heaven.

Grant us, O Lord, a true sabbath,
a break from our harsh judgments
of others based simply on 
incomplete videos
and stories.
Amen.

Embracing life’s paradox

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Monday, Week II in Ordinary Time, Year I, 20 January 2025
Hebrews 5:1-10 <*((((>< + ><))))*> Mark 2:18-22

*Photo by author, sunrise at St. Paul Spirituality Center, Pico, La Trinidad, Benguet, 06 January 2025.*

Praise and glory to you,
God our loving Father!
Thank you for this wonderful
Monday as we pray for one 
another, especially to those
still baffled with life's many
mysteries, its many
paradoxes beginning to
appear anew as we dive
into Ordinary Time.

Teach us to take into heart
Jesus Christ's teaching today:

“Likewise, no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the skins are ruined. Rather, new wine is poured into fresh wineskins” (Mark 2:22).

Help us change our attitudes in life,
Jesus: make us realize that like
your life, our life is always a
mixture of joy and sufferings;
most of all,
make us experience
in your coming into our human reality
as our Eternal High Priest,
you have brought newness and
significance in storage and taste
of wine that symbolizes life itself,
as you put a new vigor of spirit
in celebrating life.

*Photo by author, sunset in Atok, Benguet, 27 December 2024.*

“Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered; and when he was made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him…” (Hebrews 5:8-9).

How lovely and
wonderful to realize
how your true humanity,
dear Jesus, actually makes you
more than less an effective Priest
to truly "bridge" us
with the Father and one another;
like you Jesus,
we pray the Father to take away
our pains but in your example
on the Cross,
we learn how God
is actually found in pain!

Change our attitudes
to be like you, Jesus
 who came to join
us in our many sufferings
to show us that in our dealing
with our own pain and the pain of others,
that is when we grow
in strength and maturity,
in love and compassion
that eventually lead us
to deeper and true joy
in you our Lord.

Help us embrace 
this paradox of life, Jesus,
that a life devoid of the challenge
of pain is an incomplete life;
and when we are puzzled
by the many sufferings in us
and around us, let us gaze into
your Cross to reflect,
"Why did God not spare
you his own Son?"
Amen.

*Photo by author, St. Paul Spirituality Center, Pico, La Trinidad, Benguet, 04 January 2025.*

Entering God’s rest

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Thursday, Memorial of St. Anthony, Abbot, 17 January 2025
Hebrews 4:1-5, 11 ><]]]]'> + ><]]]]'> + ><]]]]'> Mark 2:1-12

*Photo by author, sunset in Atok, Benguet, 27 January 2025.*

God our Father,
let us enter into your rest,
let us go back to you in Jesus Christ
and enter your rest like in Paradise
before the Fall;
spare us of your wrath like with
the Israelites in Meribah and Massah
when they challenged and provoked you
and thus be prevented from entering
your rest, the Promised Land.

Let us be on guard while the promise of entering into his rest remains, that none of you seem to have failed. For in fact we have received the Good News just as our ancestors did. But the word that they heard did not profit them, for they were not united in faith with those who listened. Therefore, let us strive to enter into that rest, so that no one may fall after the same example of disobedience (Hebrews 4:1-2, 11).

With Christ's coming,
you have opened anew heaven
to us, enabling us to enter your rest
like what happened in the
opening of the roof above him
to lower a paralytic;
in Jesus,
that rest you have after creating
everything in Genesis
has become a reality
with his gift of forgiveness
and reconciliation
to everyone as experienced by
the paralytic in today's gospel;
O dearest Lord Jesus,
help me to rise again
by picking up the pieces of my life
made whole in you again
filled with your breath,
filled with your life,
soundly at rest
in your love
and mercy.
Amen.

We are partners of Christ

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Thursday, Week I in Ordinary Time, Year I, 16 January 2025
Hebrews 3:17-14 <*((((>< + ><))))*> Mark 1:40-45

*Photo from Fatima Tribune, Red Wednesday at the Angel of Peace Chapel, Our Lady of Fatima University, 27 November 2024.*

Encourage yourselves daily while it is still “today,” so that none of you may grow hardened by the deceit of sin. We have become partners of Christ only if we hold the beginning of the reality firm until the end (Hebrews 3:13-14).

Let us not waste
the present moment,
the "today", 
Lord Jesus
to be faithful and true to you
always;
may we not imitate
the Israelites at Meribah and Massah
where they tested God though
they have seen his works;
soften our hearts
and open them
to your truth, Jesus
that we may not turn like
the Jewish Christians 
to whom this letter
was addressed 
because they could not accept
you as the Christ,
the Messiah.

In this time when your
most holy name dear Jesus
is being mocked and laughed
at by those supposed to be
learned and sophisticated,
make us realize the fact
there are so many things in this
world and universe still so beyond
our knowing nor understanding;
instead of disregarding
and ignoring you among us,
may we acknowledge
your presence in the many 
instances of grace and 
salvation in life; 
teach us to turn to you more
often, Lord Jesus
as your part-ners,
that is, part of your very self
because without you,
we are incomplete;
open our eyes so we may
meet you especially when
you go out of your way
to find us in our alienation
and sin
as well as darkness and sufferings
like that leper you have healed;
make us ponder more deeply
your realities
and mystery, Jesus
as we follow your instruction
to be silent and to go
to the temple
to the church
to pray more,
to listen more
to your instructions.
Amen.

*Photo by author, Mt. St. Paul Spirituality Center, Pico, La Trinidad, Benguet, 04 January 2025.*

Yes, God is one of us, among us.

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Wednesday, Week I in Ordinary Time, Year I, 15 January 2025
Hebrews 4:12-16 ><))))*> + ><))))*> + ><))))*> Mark 2:13-17

*Photo by author, Northern Blossom Farm, Atok, Benguet, 27 December 2024.*

therefore, he (Jesus) had to become like his brothers and sisters in every way, that he might be a merciful and faithful priest before God to expiate the sins of the people. Because he himself was tested through what he suffered, he is able to help those who are being tested (Hebrews 2:17-18).

How lovely are your words today,
dearest Jesus!
They are so true!
While others are still wondering,
asking "what if God is one of us",
we have always believed
and have experienced 
God truly one of us,
among us,
and within us
in you, 
Jesus Christ.

How sad that many of us humans
are more inclined to believe
in things and persons bigger than
than ourselves,
not realizing our greatness 
in being small that even you,
O Son of God,
chose to be like us,
little and vulnerable
so that we can be like you,
divine and eternal.

Teach us to see more of your
person, of your being one of us,
dearest Jesus, 
for us to experience your 
authority and power;
like Simon and Andrew,
teach us to have that intimacy
with you Lord that,
"immediately" they told you about
Simon's mother-in-law being sick;
most of all, let me be one with
my own brothers and sisters 
like you, Jesus,
"approaching them,
grasping them,
and helping them 
rise up when they are 
down"
(Mark 1:31)
Amen.

*Jesus Heals Peter’s Mother-in-Law, a mosaic in the Cathedral of the Assumption, Monreale, Sicily, from christianiconography.info.*

New teaching & authority

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Tuesday, First Week in Ordinary Time, Year II, 14 January 2025
Hebrews 2:5-12 <'[[[[>< + ><]]]]'> Mark 1:21-28

"Jesus came to Capernaum
with his followers,
and on the sabbath he entered
the synagogue and taught.
The people were astonished 
at his teaching,
for he taught them as one having authority...
All were amazed and asked
one another, 'What is this?
A new teaching with authority'"
(Mark 1:21-22, 27).

When does a teaching
sound new?
When the teaching makes
an impact on me.
But how?

I have been wondering, 
Jesus, of being there with you
in the synagogue that sabbath;
what was so new with your
teaching?

It was and still is the authority,
and your authority comes not
from your power nor position,
Lord Jesus: your authority is so felt
because you are one with us,
you have always been with us.

What's new with your teaching,
Jesus, is the authority that inversely
makes us free,
liberates us from fears
and false presuppositions,
never oppressive nor
subjugating.
A teaching is new when 
there is authority that does
not impose but rather
liberates others
because 
it is the Truth (John 8:32) -
Jesus himself who claimed
"A am the way the truth and the life"
(John 14:6).

More than words and power,
teaching and authority
are felt and become liberating
in the real sense,
ever new,
so fresh  
that it is not subjugating
because 
in the final analysis
it is the person
who loves and cares,
wiling to sacrifice and suffer
for another.
Exactly like Jesus.
This new year, O Lord,
make me new
a teaching so true
as a person so loving
and caring like you.
Amen.