40 Shades of Lent by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Friday in the Fourth Week of Lent, 01 April 2022
Wisdom 2:1, 12-22 <*{{{{>< + ><}}}}*> John 7:1-2, 10, 25-30
As we move closer
to the final week of Lent
leading to the Holy Week,
give me the courage, O God
our loving Father to confront my
true self and be true before you.
Let me strip myself naked
before you, merciful Lord, minus
all my masks and pretensions
to truly examine myself:
on whose side am I really with,
with you or the enemies?
A lot often, when we feel we are good
and virtuous, and most especially when
we are indeed good and virtuous, we
believe that people are inspired to
follow our example; but, in reality, the
opposite happens. Like in our first
reading today when the wicked dare to test
us, subjecting us to many evils:
Let us see whether his words be true; let us find out what will happen to him. For if the just one be the son of God, he will defend him and deliver him from the hand of his foes. With revilement and torture let us put him to the test that we may have proof of his gentleness and try his patience. Let us condemn him to a shameful death; for according to his own words, God will take care of him.
Wisdom 2:17-20
Yes, the words of the author
refer to Jesus Christ your Son
and our Lord but, so many times
we have felt challenged by almost
everyone if like our Lord, we could
bear all their taunts and tortures;
in the gospel, you courageously stood
and spoke dear Jesus in public
during the Feast of the Tabernacles
despite threats of being arrested
and killed!
Purify me, O God,
to witness your truth, justice,
and love, avoiding any taint of
Pharisaism or holier-than-thou
attitudes so common these days,
pretending to be a victim when
in fact a victimizer.
There were three crosses
on that Good Friday at the Calvary:
lead me to the true Cross,
standing at the foot of the Lord
Jesus Christ, witnessing his
love and mercy, justice and
peace. Amen.
40 Shades of Lent by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Thursday in the Fourth Week of Lent, 31 March 2022
Exodus 32:7-14 <*[[[[>< + ><]]]]*> John 5:31-47
Image from chabad.org
Forgive us, O God our Father
for being so quick to forget you,
quick to turn away from you,
quick to create our own god,
our golden calf that suits our
belief on who you must be,
not on who you really are.
Forgive us, O God our Father,
in always making our own gods
when we refuse to wait for you,
when we are in a hurry, and most
specially when we avoid pains and
sufferings.
Forgive us, O God our Father,
for being thankless, for being
ungrateful to all your blessings
that come our way without us
even recognizing these for we are
so focused with our selves.
Teach us to be like Moses before you,
a prefiguration of Christ, mediating
for others, aware of your countless
gifts and most especially of your
immense love and mercy that we may
point and lead people to you alone.
Amen.
40 Shades of Lent by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Wednesday in the Fourth Week of Lent, 30 March 2022
Isaiah 49:8-15 <*(((>< + ><)))*> John 5:17-30
Photo by Mr. Raffy Tima of GMA-7 News, local residents stranded at the airport hoping to fly home to families during the 2020 lockdown.
There were so many times
in life especially during the
first year of the prolonged
COVID-19 lockdown that we
felt like your people thrown
into exile to Babylon, crying
out, "The Lord has forsaken me;
my Lord has forgotten me"
(Isaiah 49:14).
But looking back to those days of
the lockdown, of how we have
survived COVID and so many other
problems, sickness and difficulties,
the more we have realized your loving
presence and involvement in our
struggles and hardships; you have not
only healed and saved us but even
opened many opportunities in life
during those trying moments!
Can a mother forget her infant, be without tenderness for the child of her womb? Even should she forget, I will never forget you.
Isaiah 49:15
Deepen our faith in you, O God,
especially when we could not
understand the things happening
in our lives and around us; many times,
we could not also understand your
very words expressed to us by
Jesus like in the gospel today.
In times like that, Lord, please
let us just feel you, love you,
and trust you for surely, nothing
ever happens without your knowing.
Amen.
40 Shades of Lent by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Tuesday in the Fourth Week of Lent, 29 March 2022
Ezekiel 47:1-9, 12 <'[[[[>< + ><]]]]'> John 5:1-16
Photo from stisidoreparish.org program for baptism.
"Do you want to be well?"
(John 5:6).
How blessed was that sick man
at the Sheep Gate pool called
Bethesda or "house of mercy":
like him, we all want to be well and
healed of our ailments not only in
body but also in mind, heart, and
soul; but, alas, nobody would help
us.
Thank you dear Jesus in passing by,
in coming to our lives daily to heal us,
to wash us of our sins; help us to not
sin anymore, to match our physical
wholeness with spiritual wholeness.
"Do you want to be well?"
(John 5:6).
Yes, dear Jesus!
Have mercy on us, poor sinners;
heal us and make us well from our blindness
that prevent us from seeing you and
from recognizing you as our Savior.
"Do you want to be well?"
(John 5:6).
Yes, dear Jesus, we want to be well
and healed from our paralysis that
prevent us from following you, from
doing your work and from leading
others to you, the only way, truth,
and life in this world.
Let us remain in you, dear Jesus;
like the prophet Ezekiel, may we realize
that for as long as we are with you like
the plants and trees by the side of the river,
we shall always be fully alive, bearing fruits,
even abloom despite the drought
and summer. Amen.
40 Shades of Lent by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Monday in the Fourth Week of Lent, 28 March 2022
Isaiah 65:17-21 <*[[[[>< + ><]]]]*> John 4:43-54
Photo by author, view of Israel from Mt. Nebo in Jordan, May 2019.
How sweet are to the ears
your words today, O God our
loving Father, when you promised
to create new heavens and
a new earth, when the things of
the past shall not be remembered
or come to mind, when there shall
always be rejoicing and happiness.
No longer shall there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not round out his full lifetime; he dies a mere youth who reaches but a hundred years, and he who fails of a hundred shall be thought accursed. They shall live in the houses they build, and eat the fruit of the vineyards they plant.
Isaiah 65:20-21
Sana now na, Lord!
Sanaol, God!
But I know you are speaking
not in literal sense though that
time would surely happen when
we experience no more pain and
sufferings nor crying and wailing
nor death of any infant nor of anyone
less before 100 years of age.
Yes, I know Father
this life will always be filled
with pains and sufferings,
trials and tribulations but these
are meant to make us stronger
and more trusting to your coming
to us in Jesus Christ; give us the
grace to be wholly committed
to you in Jesus, in your words
like that royal official from Capernaum
for it is only in our total trust in you
can we experience peace
and healing that only you
can give in Christ while in these
troubled earth. Amen.
Alfie, poster, Michael Caine, 1966. (Photo by LMPC via Getty Images)
Sorry for being out for a long time with our Sunday music collection we try to relate with the Sunday gospel. But on this Fourth Sunday of Lent, we can’t let it past without coming up with our choice that perfectly matches the parable of the prodigal son – “Alfie” from the 1966 classic film of the same title.
Written by the formidable tandem of Burt Bacharach and Hal David, “Alfie” is the main character played by Michael Caine in the film about a young man who played on so many women and almost everyone without any regard for persons and relationships. Alfie is practically like the prodigal son in today’s gospel who also in the end realized the mess and waste of life he had done to himself and others (https://lordmychef.com/2022/03/26/the-joy-of-coming-home-in-the-father/).
I never had the chance to watch the classic film except the 2004 version that starred Jude Law but the song remains so touching and meaningful then and now in our generation. It is also said to be the favorite of Bacharach among his many great songs composed with David.
Learned about the song through the music of Dionne Warwick who had interpreted most of the works of Bacharach and David; but, it was only now that I have learned the original version by Ms. Cilla Black that was released in 1966. Funny that when the movie was released in the US, the producers had the young Cher recorded it too which became the version heard in the film.
The song had been covered by so many other artists with the latest by a Japanese named Fuji Kaze but, regardless of the artist singing Alfie, it is one song everyone of us can claim as ours with its sincerity and truth that come from the heart of someone truly on a Lenten journey of coming home to self, others, and God.
What's it all about, Alfie?
Is it just for the moment we live?
What's it all about when you sort it out, Alfie?
Are we meant to take more than we give?
Or are we meant to be kind?
And if only fools are kind, Alfie
Then I guess it is wise to be cruel
And if life belongs only to the strong, Alfie
What will you lend on an old golden rule?
As sure as I believe there's a heaven above, Alfie
I know there's something much more
Something even non-believers can believe in
I believe in love, Alfie
Without true love we just exist, Alfie
Until you find the love you've missed, you're nothing, Alfie
When you walk let your heart lead the way
And you'll find love any day, Alfie
Alfie
*We have no intentions of infringing into the copyrights of this music and its uploader except to share its beauty and listening pleasure.
40 Shades of Lent by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Fourth Sunday in Lent-C a.k.a. "Laetare Sunday", 27 March 2022
Joshua 5:9, 10-12 ><}}}*> 2 Corinthians 5:17-21 ><}}}*> Luke 15:1-3, 11-32
Photo by Dr. Mylene A. Santos, MD, in Lourdes, France, 20 March 2022.
Life is a daily Lent, a coming home to the Father. As I have been telling you, the 40-days of Lent is a journey back home to God in Jesus Christ with each Sunday like a door leading us closer to Him. We rejoice this Fourth Sunday – Laetare Sunday – as we near God’s inner room, knowing Him more than ever as we experience His immense love and mercy for us like a Father welcoming his children to “enter” and celebrate home in Him.
But, are we really in the journey?
Or, are we just like the two selfish, self-centered brothers in the parable who took their father for granted by pursuing for their own very selves?
Tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to listen to Jesus, but the Pharisees and scribes began to complain, saying, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” So to them Jesus addressed this parable: “A man had two sons…”
Luke 15:1, 3, 11
Photo by author, Laetare Sunday 2019 in my former parish.
Acting like the sons…
Once again, we hear another story from Luke that is uniquely his. It is more known as the parable of the prodigal son when in fact the center of the story is the loving and merciful father giving everything including his very self to his two sons.
There are two preceding parables before this third one, that of the lost sheep and of the lost coin that are in chapter 15 of Luke’s gospel. See how Jesus developed into a rising crescendo his series of parables starting with a lost sheep, a lost coin, and finally, lost sons. The common thread running through the three parables was the great joy of the shepherd, woman and father upon having their lost ones again. Clearly, God is the shepherd, the woman, and the father looking for the lost sheep, lost coin and lost sons. And here lies the very essence of the parables, especially in this third one about the loving and merciful father: “the Pharisees and scribes who began to complain why Jesuswelcomes sinners and eats with them.”
We are those Pharisees and scribes who doubt and refuse to believe, even run away from our loving God in the belief there must be somebody else there who could love us truly by giving us what we need.
Photo by author, Laetare Sunday 2019 in my former parish.
Exactly like the younger son in the parable who sees God merely as a provider, an ATM or a Western Union counter who gives the cash we need to buy things we believe would complete us without realizing God is our life, our identity and root of being. This we find at what prompted the younger son to return home (return home, not come home which happens only when home is a person, not a place nor thing).
When he had freely spent everything, a severe famine struck that country, and he found himself in dire need. So he hired himself out to one of the local citizens who sent him to his farm to tend the swine. And he longed to eat his fill of the pods on which the swine fed, but nobody gave him any. Coming to his senses he thought, “How many of my father’s hired workers have more than enough food to eat, but here am I, dying from hunger. I shall get up and go to my father and I shall say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I no longer deserve to be called your son; treat me as you would treat one of your hired workers.”
Luke 15:14-19
Sometimes we are like the younger son who returns home just to preserve one’s self – to have a roof and to have food so as not to starve, never go hungry. It is the first temptation of the devil, teasing Jesus and us to turn stones into bread because man lives to eat! That is why we keep on asserting our own power so we can do everything because we have forgotten our being-ness in God. We hate having nothing, being empty and would rather fill our bellies with whatever we can stuff our mouth with that in the process even swallow our pride and dignity to have, to possess everything, even everybody except God.
Photo by author, Laetare Sunday 2019.
On the other hand, we are like the Pharisees and scribes “complaining why Jesus welcomes sinners and eats with them” so personified by the elder son who refused to enter their house to join the celebrations at the return of his prodigal brother because his manipulative schemes have been unmasked. For him, serving his father was just a show because he was only an actor, everything was a movie or a teleserye playing one’s roles in exchange of a fee and fame.
He said to his father in reply, “Look all these years I served you and not once did I disobey your orders; yet you never gave me even a young goat to feast with my friends. But when your son returns who swallowed up your property with prostitutes, for him you slaughter the fattened calf.”
Luke 15:29-30
Again, we find here some semblance of the second and third temptations to Jesus and to us by the devil: worship him and you will be popular and powerful! We all want having the best for us to be the very best among our peers and neighbors. We are willing to buy time, even buy people just to be known and popular. We would not mind being patient over a long period of time believing in the end, we could end up having all.
When we think of our needs to be secured and safe, popular and powerful, the first that comes to our minds and consciousness are things that money can buy, food that fill stomach, and drinks that refresh the body. Like the two brothers, they were all concerned with material and physical, nothing spiritual nor emotional or even mental. A life without any depth like Alfie played by Michael Caine with music by Burt Bacharach asking, “What’s it all about, Alfie? Is it just for the moment we live?”
That’s the tragedy of our lives, of being like the Pharisees and scribes personified by the two brothers who were so lost in their own selves, refusing to see beyond to find others and God, now and eternity, earth and heaven.
Photo by author, view from the Old Jerusalem, May 2019.
…becoming like the Father
This is the grace of this fourth Sunday, its greatest joy and cause for celebration: our being home in God, being whole again in Him after realizing and accepting our broken and sinful selves.
Make no mistake that it was us who have found God; no, it is the other way around.
God is the Father always awaiting for us that He sent Jesus Christ to lead us home again in Him. In this parable, the late Fr. Henri Nouwen rightly said Jesus is the “prodigal son” who left heaven not out of rebellion but because of obedience and submission to lead us all back to the Father, the only One who loves us truly, our very “first love” for He is the one who loves us first and still loves us no matter what.
Stop seeking for the world’s basic staples of food and wealth, fame and power because the most basic truth in this life is we are loved by God who is love Himself because He is life. See Luke’s sense of humor: the prodigal son wanted only food and shelter but the father gave him back his status as son with the ring, fine clothes and slippers, and feast while the elder son was longing for a mere young goat without realizing it has long been his for everything the father has was his too! Like us in many occasions in life, we fail to see how much we already have in God that we turn away from Him to settle for lesser things.
See our foolishness in desiring the world when it has always been ours if we remain in God. That is why we need to celebrate because finally we have found what is truly basic and valuable, God who gave us his Son Jesus Christ so we can find our way back home to Him and learn what is most valuable in life.
In this parable, Jesus is asking us to “level up” our existence, to rise above our very selves and be who we really are as beloved children of the Father who is merciful and rich in kindness.
Like in the first reading, no more manna for we have entered the Promised Land where we can have real food and real drink – Jesus Christ who sustains us to eternal life. Let us keep in mind and heart Paul’s reminder and call in the second reading that “Whoever is in Christ is a new creation… so, let us be reconciled in God” (2 Cor. 5:17, 20). Only those who are reconciled in God in Jesus can experience true joy… so, stop complaining and whining of others getting close with God. Join us and celebrate! Amen.
40 Shades of Lent by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Thursday in the Third Week of Lent, 24 March 2022
Jeremiah 7:23-28 <*(((>< + ><)))*> Luke 11:14-23
Photo by author, 11 March 2022.
Bless us, dear God our Father
this Lent which happens to be
the campaign period for our
coming elections in May, a day
of deliverance towards true
freedom and democracy,
most of all, political maturity
if we choose rightly.
But, I have long felt so saddened
at how this election campaign has
been going on, pushing aside the
beautiful and rich and meaningful
lessons of Lent: we have not only
forgotten that we are in a 40-day journey
in you and to you with Jesus Christ
but we have forgotten to listen to
your voice.
This is the nation that does not listen to the voice of the Lord, its God, or take correction. Faithfulness has disappeared; the word itself is banished from their speech.
Jeremiah 7:28
Awake us, O Lord,
before we perish and lost again:
many among us in the Church
have taken side with candidates
pretending to take side with
truth and with you; many among
us have drag your holy name
in the pulpit, trying to be modern
prophets when our lives are not
prophetic at all, when we have forgotten
to tend the sick and poor among your flock,
when we smell more like politicians we
rub elbows so often than smell like
your sheep; worst of all, O God, is how
we hurl harsh words, spewing them like
an erupting volcano when deep within
us are all the dirt and sins
we have refused to face and clean
amid our many double standards.
How easy, indeed, for us to find
the devil, the power of Beelzebul
present in our society specially in
politics without seeing more
and presenting more your Son,
Jesus Christ to everyone that too often,
we scatter than unite; teach us to
speak and act more to unite your
people than divide them. Amen.
40 Shades of Lent by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Tuesday in the Third Week of Lent, 22 March 2022
Daniel 3:25, 34-43 <*[[[[>< + ><]]]]*> Matthew 18:21-35
Image from wallpaperuse.com.
Like your servant Azariah,
I praise and thank you today,
dear God our loving Father,
for delivering us always from many
dangers and trials, enabling us
to make it through many fires -
still whole, still sane, still blessed.
Yes, like Azariah and his fellow Jews
exiled in Babylon at that time, we have
turned away from you with our many
sins and transgressions:
But with contrite heart and humble spirit let us be received; as though it were burnt offerings of rams and bullocks, or thousands of fat lambs, so let our sacrifice be in your presence today as we follow you unreservedly; for those who trust in you cannot be put to shame. And now we follow you with our whole heart, we fear you you and we pray to you. Do not let us be put to shame, but deal with us in your kindness and great mercy.
Daniel 3:39-42
It is not enough, O God,
that we be sorry for our sins;
like in the parable and the very
example of your Son Jesus Christ
our Lord, penance and contrition are
meant to fix and restore our many
broken relationships with you and with
one another, especially those dearest
to us, those closest to us we have hurt or
have hurt us with words and/or deeds.
Like you dear Father,
may we realize that forgiveness is
more than deletion of sins but
most of all, about reconciliation,
of being one again as brothers and
sisters in Christ. Amen.
40 Shades of Lent by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Monday in the Third Week of Lent, 21 March 2022
2 Kings 5:1-15 <*{{{>< + ><}}}*> Luke 4:24-30
Photo by author, St. Catherine’s Monastery at the foot of Mt. Sinai, Egypt, May 2019.
Thank you dear Father
in bringing us to this third week
of Lent, of experiencing your loving
presence, your mystery, your
person; but, still, O God, I continue
to seek you.
Or, do I really seek you?
So many times I seek you
God like a lost object, a thing
I need at the moment like Naaman
seeking for a cure to my sickness that
in the process, I try to pull strings
around, asking help from everyone -
the more knowledgeable, the more
famous and credible, the better.
Why can't I just take the word of a believer
like that captured slave girl
in our first today?
So many times I seek you
God like an idea, merely with
an operation of my intellect
that I reason out a lot, even arguing
with all my preconceived ideas of
who you are, of what you like, even of
what must be done like Naaman
who felt insulted when your prophet Elisha
merely sent him a message to wash seven times
in Jordan river; why can't I just be like
his servants who knew better of
simply obeying orders, of keeping
things simple than our preference
for complicated ones?
Worst, O God, are the many times like
the people of Nazareth when I seek you
to dominate you, to insist myself on
you than me surrendering to you!
Remove my many blindspots,
Lord Jesus in truly seeking God
especially in this season of Lent;
teach me to seek him by surrendering
myself to his will like you,
simply believing in him who
dwells within me and in others
through my loving service
and kindness to everyone.
Amen.
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