Category: life

Five reminders from high school for married life

The Lord Is My Chef Wedding Homily for Micah and Lery Magsaysay

20 February 2020, Parish of Hearts of Jesus and Mary, Malolos City

Book of Tobit 8:4-9 ><)))*> ><)))*> ><)))*> John 15:12-17

Photo from Micah Magsaysay.

Thank you very much Micah for inviting me to officiate your wedding today with Lery. I love doing this especially with you my former students at the Immaculate Conception School for Boys (ICSB).

I have realized while praying over this wedding homily that those five things I used to tell you every true gentleman should have in his pocket are also applicable to married life.

And so, let us review and reflect on these five things you should have not only in your pocket but in your lives as husband and wife, Micah and Lery.

Handkerchief

Photo by THR GRLN on Pexels.com

Now more than ever, in this time of corona virus, you see what we have discussed 20 years ago is very much valid today: always have a clean handkerchief for hygiene. Have two handkerchieves – one for sneezing and coughing, the other for wiping perspirations and dirt from your face.

Preferably, have a white handkerchief to remind you of Jesus Christ who is so pure and clean, sinless and spotless who came to save us by wiping away, taking all the dirt of sins in us.

Every husband and wife is like a handkerchief to each other – cleansing you of dirt and smudges, wiping dry your tears whether caused by pains and hurts or joys and laughters.

A handkerchief reminds us to be kind and merciful with others like Jesus Christ who declared in our gospel this afternoon that it was him who chose you and not you who chose him to be his signs of his presence as husband and wife.

Lery, thank you for making Micah so clean today. You know when they were in high school, he has always been good looking like his buddies – guwaping lang sila talaga, okey na pumapasa – because deep in their eyes I could see they were not ready for the class, all tired and sleepy after playing computers, waiting for their next gimmick.

But today before the Mass started, I went to see Micah and was surprised, not only is he more handsome but this time, serious and really prepared! How you have changed him, Lery, I am amazed. Have more handkerchieves, though, beginning today so you continue to make him clean.

Micah, always have that handkerchief full of pure love like Jesus, ready to die for Lery. Should you make her cry, be man enough to wipe her tears dry. And clean whatever mess you have.

Money

Money is important, Micah and Lery but it is not the most important thing in life, especially for married couples. Do not be enslaved by money. Instead, be generous with others.

Remember the story of Tobiah, the son of Tobit who went to search for a wife in Media where he is also tasked to recover the money his father had deposited in that city. On his way there, he met the Archangel Raphael disguised as a man to work for him as his guide in the journey.

Tobiah was generous to St. Raphael, paying his wage justly. St. Raphael soon found a wife for Tobiah in Sarah. Not only that: St. Raphael taught Tobiah how to drive away the devil Asmodeus who had disrupted Sarah’s earlier seven honeymoons when he would kill her husband just before they would sleep together.

With Asmodeus gone through St. Raphael’s intercession, Tobiah and Sarah prayed and went home to Tobit whose blindness was also cured by the Archangel of healing.

Be like Tobiah and Tobit. Never quarrel about money matters. When you are generous with money in helping those in need, that means you are not yet enslaved by wealth and material things.

Later, Micah you shall hand over to Lery the arrhae or arras that symbolize your money and material wealth. Be true to your pledges to be wise in handling your finances. Heed Mr. Wickfield’s admonition to Aunt Betsey’s nephew David Copperfield to never spend more than what you earn.

Pen

Photo by Plush Design Studio on Pexels.com

Micah and Lery, you are both professionals, working in the office. You are both used to seeing and using all kinds of pen to write and jot things down very important to remember.

Be like the pen, Micah and Lery. In your lives together, always leave a mark of love, a mark of kindness, a mark of understanding.

Most of all, as husband and wife, leave the marks of Jesus Christ. That is the meaning of getting married in the Church, of the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony: you are now the signs of the saving presence of Jesus Christ.

When people see you and feel your deep love for each other, Micah and Lery, they will thank and praise God because they experience Christ’s coming in you.

Photo from Micah Magsaysay.

Comb

I used to tell you in high school that a real man always has a comb, ang sandata ng tunay na lalaki!

Always look good, Micah and Lery! Do not forget your self. Keep in mind that when your kids come and your careers flourish, you were first called by Jesus Christ for each other. Take care of your self, and take extra care of each other!

Photo from Micah Magsaysay.

Continue to go out and date, keep the fire of love burning inside.

After 21 years as a priest, I have less hair now but I still have a comb in my pocket. Just in case the wind blows my hair.

How I wish I have the same long, thick hair of Remo.

The comb does not merely set your hair; it also massages the scalp, soothing you when things are getting so tough and rough.

Take care of yourself, Micah and Lery… never let a “bad hair day” get you down and ruin your love for each other. When you have so much love and care for each other, even if you get old, “kahit maputi na ang buhok ninyo, Micah and Lery”, comb each other’s hair with affections.

Rosary

Photo from Micah Magsaysay.

Last but not least, I used to tell you in high school to always have a rosary in your pocket. A real man is a man of prayer.

Micah and Lery, handle your life with prayer always. Inasmuch as you have invited Jesus today to your wedding day, every day, every Sunday, invite and welcome Jesus into your lives.

May the rosary remind you always of the need to grow deeper in the love of Christ Jesus who chose and called you before this altar today.

Today, you are in Glorious Mysteries where everything is so beautiful and wonderful. But not all days are bright and sunny, Micah and Lery. The Joyful Mysteries are always followed by the Sorrowful Mysteries.

Remember the word PUSH – Pray Until Something Happens.

When you are going through a lot of darkness, the more you should pray and ask for the Luminous Mysteries, the Light of Jesus Christ to guide you and lead you into better days.

Remember those five things we have learned while in high school, Micah. They are still good and applicable in your married life. Teach them to Lery and your future children too.

Handkerchief. Money. Pen. Comb. And Rosary.

May today be the least happiest day of your lives, Micah and Lery. Amen.

Photo from Micah Magsaysay.

Love: Morality of Christianity

The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul, Week VII-A, 23 February 2020

Leviticus 19:1-2, 17-18 ><)))*> 1 Corinthians 3:16-23 ><)))*> Matthew 5:38-48

Altar of the modern Minor Basilica of the Holy Trinity at Fatima, Portugal. Photo by Arch. Philip Santiago, 2017.

Jesus concludes his Sermon on the Mount this Sunday just in time for the start of Lent this coming Ash Wednesday. He taught us last Sunday that righteousness is not only measured by acts but most of all by the purity of the heart’s intentions that we call “education of the heart”.

Today Christ comes to the demands of charity and love, the fullness of the Laws in himself.

Jesus said to his disciples: “You have heard that it was said, An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. But I say to you, offer no resistance to one who is evil. When someone strikes you on your right cheek, turn the other one as well… You have heard that it was said, You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your heavenly Father..”

Matthew 5:38-39, 43-45

See again the Lord’s pattern in his preaching like last Sunday: a recall of the laws to show his adherence to them contrary to claims of his enemies, and then his infusion of his teaching that perfects the laws: “You have heard… But I say to you…”

Jesus focuses only on two laws today, that of revenge or “lex talionis” (from Latin talio for the word such) and that of hate for enemy which needs some clarifications.

Nowhere do we find in the Laws of Israel “to love your neighbor and hate your enemy”. Experts say Jesus must be citing a popular saying of his time in this part of his teaching. Besides, the Aramiac spoken by the Lord does not connote the harsh meaning we have today for the word “hate”. In short, Jesus is correcting here the norm among Jews of his time to “just love those who love us”.

This is why he adds this beautiful explanation with the most unique conclusion of all.

“For if you love those who love you, what recompense will you have? Do not the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brothers only, what is unusual about that? Do not the pagans do the same? So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

Matthew 5:46-48
Photo by Lorenzo Atienza, 12 June 2019, Malolos Cathedral.

A fraternity of humanity in the Father

Here we find a beautiful dimension of Jesus Christ’s assertion last week that he had come to fulfill the Laws: more than having a broader approach to the spirit of the laws, education of the heart leads us to see everyone as a brother and a sister.

No one is different. Every one is a family – a kin! which is the root of the word “kind”.

Being kind is more than being good as we say in Filipino, mabait or mabuti.

Being kind is treating the other person as a kin, a relative or family; someone who is not different from us. When we say “he is kind to me”, it means more than being good to me but treating me as a family, a brother or a sister – not as “another” or “iba sa akin” as we say in Filipino.

Photo by author, Mt. St. Paul, Baguio City, 03 February 2020.

This is the essence of our “Year of Inter-religious Dialogue, Ecumenism, and Indigenous Peoples” in preparation next year of our 500 years of Christianity in the country.

Everybody is included in that celebration as we reach out to peoples of other faith and beliefs as well as to the indigenous peoples whose forefathers were actually the first settlers of the country.

This is very important in any dialogue and relationship and partnerships including marriage: there must always be the acceptance of everyone in equal footing with same dignity as a person. It is from here we start that fullness of the Laws in Christ in love.

Human holiness as a reflection of God’s holiness in love

Love can only happen where there is equality and fairness. Love demands we are first of all at equal footing with each other. This is why Jesus became human like us: the Son of God became human to stand on equal footing with us that we cannot argue that he is greater because he is truly human, too, going through everything we have gone through except sin.

When he said that we offer our other cheek, to give our cloak, and go for another mile, he is not referring to criminal or penal codes but more into our humanity, that spirit of universal brotherhood so that even our oppressors and enemies come to realize within them that we are one, that we should be caring for one another, not hating and hurting each other.

Loving our enemies does not mean we let evil continue; loving our enemies means continuing to “love” perpetrators of evils until they realize we are brothers and sisters, keeping each other, caring for each other.

Loving our enemies is making them realize that there are nobody else here on earth for them except us – why fight and perish?

Yes, these are easier said than done. And admittedly, I must confess it is the most difficult part of the gospel, of being a Christ-ian. But it is something Jesus is asking us in the most personal manner.

From Google.

Let it be clear that Jesus is not asking us to behave with naiveté that we give in to injustice, evil, and violence but that we always be peacemakers, the blessed ones he said in his Beatitudes. In our fight for justice and peace, we fight with the moral persuasions of love which is the morality of Christ.

The American civil rights leader Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. had shown in our modern time that the Lord’s teachings are doable: we just have to be convinced and must truly believe in Jesus.

“Love is the most durable power in the world. This creative force is the most potent instrument available in mankind’s quest for peace and security.”

Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.

When we love truly in Jesus Christ, asserting what is true, what good, what is just, we make God truly present in the world. When that happens, the more we allow him to do his works of changing us within, of transforming us within. It is in our imperfect love that we make God present, the perfect I Am.

The Lord said to Moses, “Speak to the whole Israelite community and tell them: Be holy, for I, the Lord your God, am holy. Take no revenge and cherish no grudge against your people. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.”

Leviticus 19:1-2, 18
Photo by Dra. Mai B. Dela Peña, Santorini in Greece, 2016.

Hubris, our greatest temptation and sin

The Season of Lent is fast approaching us, set to start with Ash Wednesday this week. It is a season characterized by barrenness: no Gloria and Alleluias, no flowers, no decorations, no images to make us turn back to God again, our Lord and Master alone.

St. Paul reminds us today in our second reading that we are “God’s temple… that there is no need to boast of anyone including one’s self” (1Cor. 3:16, 21). Instead of embracing or holding on to anyone including one’s self, we have to embrace the scandal of the cross of Christ, that is, power in weakness, wisdom in what the world considers folly.

For the ancient Greeks as depicted in their epics, the greatest temptation and sin of man is hubris – the arrogant presumption that he is god, that he can do everything, he can have everything that he defies the gods.

Hubris is the sin of pride that has led everyone from Adam and Eve to all the powerful men and women of history into their downfall. It is absolute power crumbling absolutely, always tragically.

In his Sermon on the Mount where we heard many of the Lord’s teachings this whole month of February, Jesus shows us the path away from hubris, his path of love and holiness in the Father. Let us heed his calls, give his teachings a try and a chance to be fulfilled in us.

A very lovely and loving Sunday to you!

That “Eureka!” moment of life – and death

The Lord Is My Chef Recipe for the Soul

Homily at the Funeral of Archimedes Lazaro (ICS ’97), 18 February 2020

Wisdom of Solomon 3:1-9 ><)))*> 0 <*(((>< Luke 7:11-17

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Soon afterward Jesus journeyed to a city called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd accompanied him. As he drew near to the gate of the city, a man who had died was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. A large crowd from the city was with her. When the Lord saw her, he was moved with pity for her and said to her, “Do not weep.” He stepped forward and touched the coffin; at this the bearers halted, and he said, “Young man, I tell you, arise!” The dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother. Fear seized them all, and they glorified God, exclaiming, “A great prophet has arisen in our midst,” and “God has visited his people.”

Luke 7:11-16

Today, we are like at the city of Nain. Traffic is so heavy outside as many of us – family and friends, former classmates, colleagues at work from all over and neighbors – gather to pray and pay our last respects for Archie.

Celebrating a funeral Mass for a young person is always difficult for me. Like Jesus, I feel so sad for their parents. Normally, it is the children who bury their parents. It must be so painful for parents burying a son or a daughter. That is why in our gospel, Jesus was “moved with pity” with the widow of Nain.

But today, amid the pains and sorrows with the sudden death of Archie last week at a very young age, we actually celebrate life in Jesus Christ.

Photo by author of the hills of Galilee from the Walls of Jerusalem, May 2017.

Jesus comes to visit us always

Like in that scene at Nain, we remember and celebrate the life of Archie who had come to visit us even for a short time.

I love that part of the gospel where the people at Nain exclaimed at how “God has visited his people” when Jesus raised the dead young man.

Jesus continues to visit us everyday through one another like Archie.

Despite his many sins and imperfections, Archie made us experience Jesus Christ’s love and friendship, warmth and kindness, especially to his two sons, family, and friends.

Surely, Jesus must have visited Archie, too, during those dark moments of his life.

And the good news is, Archie visited Jesus so often especially these last two years when he started to pick up the pieces of his life.

Last time I saw Archie was last November when he came to celebrate Mass in our Parish. And I have heard how he had sought spiritual guidance from Fr. Carl, driving that far to Paco every month as he renewed his relationship with Christ, trying to follow anew the Lord he had served since elementary as a sacristan and later as a seminarian in our high school seminary.

It is Jesus who first finds us always

Photo by author at Mt. St. Paul Spirituality Center, Baguio, 04 February 2020.

We all know Archie’s tocayo is one of ancient Greece’s great scientist and inventor, Archimedes.

It is said that he discovered the principle of buoyancy – the “Archimedes’ principle” – while taking a bath.

When Archimedes sat onto his bathtub, he observed that “when a body is submerged in a fluid, it experiences an apparent loss in weight that is equal to the weight of fluid displaced by the immersed body.”

Archimedes was so ecstatic with his accidental discovery that he jumped naked from his bathtub out to the streets, shouting “eureka!” or “I have found” the solution to a problem he was trying to solve at that time.

Archimedes had not only enriched the field of mathematics and sciences with his discoveries but also the English language with the word “eureka” or “eureka moment”: when somebody discovers something very significant in business and economics, the sciences especially medicine, and practically in every field and subject.

Most especially in life.

Photo by author, Mt. St. Paul Spirituality Center, Baguio, 04 February 2020.

Archie had the same eureka moment in life: he had found Jesus Christ again that he went back to Mass and Confessions.

He had found meaning in life again after losing hope and directions.

Most of all, Archie had found love again.

Like his namesake of ancient Greece, Archie is now exclaiming “eureka” ecstatically into heaven – naked – with nothing but the love and mercy of Jesus Christ who first found him and brought him back to life a few years ago.

Today as we bring the remains of Archie into his final resting place, we thank God who never stops looking for us, finding us so that we can find him again and finally rest in him.

Today it is Jesus who is most ecstatic of all because he is the first to have found Archie and that is why, he had called him back to him, never to get lost again.

But the souls of the just are in the hand of God, and no torment shall touch them. They seemed, in the view of the foolish, to be dead; and their passing away was thought an affliction and their going forth from us, utter destruction. But they are in peace. In the time of their visitation they shall shine.

Wisdom of Solomon 3:1-3, 7

Amen.

Seeing, hearing, speaking in Christ

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul

Wednesday, Week VI, Year II, 19 February 2020

James 1:19-27 <*(((>< 0 ><)))*> Mark 8:22-26

Photo by Noelle Otto on Pexels.com

Your words today, O Lord, are disturbing, dealing with our senses, with our face, reminding us to attune everything we see, hear, and say – our very selves – to you as your reflection of the Father’s mercy.

Know this, my dear brothers and sisters: everyone should be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger. Therefore, put away all filth and evil excess and humbly welcome the word that has been planted in you and is able to save your souls. Be doers of the word and not hearers only, deluding yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and is not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his own face in a mirror. He sees himself, then goes off and promptly forgets what he looks like.

James 1:19,21-24

What really matters is what is inside of us, of what comes out from us, our thoughts and actions that reveal our faith in you.

So many times, Lord Jesus, we fail to walk our talk.

Indeed, what we see can be deceiving.

We need to once in a while separate from the crowd, from our daily routine to be with you to adjust our sights.

There are times we see the same things and that is why we live the same way too.

But whenever we spend time just with you alone, Jesus, then we see the realities and most of all, we see far and beyond what is before us.

O sweet Jesus, continue to disturb us, to cleanse our senses – our eyes, our ears, our lips – so that we may mirror your love and mercy in our face, in our lives today especially for those going through many difficulties, those who have lost faith and hope in you and the church. Amen.

Hayyyy… buntung-hininga!

Lawiswis ng Salita ni P. Nicanor F. LaLog II, 18 Pebrero 2020

Larawan kuha ng may-akda sa Mt. St. Paul, Trinidad, Benguet, 05 Pebrero 2020.
Buhat nung isang gabi
hindi ako mapakali
nang si Hesus ay hindi makapagtimpi
napabuntung-hininga ng malalim
nang makipagtalo sa kanya
mga Pariseo humihingi ng tanda 
na siya nga ang Kristo.
Hindi ba turo ng matatanda
hanggang ngayon siyang laging paalala
masama magbuntung-hininga
na tila baga wala ka nang pag-asa?
Gayun pa man maski ito ay ating alam
madalas hindi natin mapigilan
kapag nahihirapan at nabibigatan.
Katulad natin marahil
si Hesus napupuno na rin:
nagbubuntung-hininga,
humuhugot ng kabutihan
sa kanyang kaibuturan 
upang malampasan
mga kasamaan ng kalaban.
Iyan ang kabutihan
magandang kahulugan
nitong pagbubuntung-hininga
na pilit tinatanggihan, di naman maiwasan
dahil ating nang nakagawian
pumaloob sa kaibuturan 
kaysa makipag-awayan
Hindi kaduwagan
bagkus katapangan kung minsan
dahil iyong sinasaalang-alang 
katiwasayan ng ating mga ugnayan 
kaya pilit sinisisid, sinasaid kabutihan
doon sa kalaliman ng kalooban
kung saan nanahan Panginoon ng Kapayapaan.
Larawan kuha ng may-akda, Poblacion ng Los Baños, Laguna, 13 Pebrero 2020.

“You’re In My Heart” by Rod Stewart (1977)

The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Music, 16 February 2020

From Google.

I have always been a big fan of Rod Stewart since my elementary days when his 1977 hit “You’re In My Heart” was released. Since then I have followed his career, saving on my baon to buy some of his records and cassette tapes that some of my relatives doubted if I would ever become a priest with my kind of music!

But, when I entered the high school seminary in 1979 and heard our rector and spiritual director playing Rod Stewart’s music, that’s when I realized I could still become a priest with my kind of music.

And so, I finally became a priest in 1998 after leaving the seminary in 1982 – not because of rock music – that 21 years after, here still rockin’, now blogging to relate secular music with our Sunday gospel.

Pilgrims entering the Church of the Beatitudes with a painting of the Jesus giving his Sermon on the Mount. Photo by author, May 2019, the Holy Land.

This Sunday, Jesus continues his Sermon on the Mount, inviting us to look deeper into our hearts to see how much love and respect we have there for God and for others.

He cites four grave sins – murder, adultery, divorce, and lies – that all begin in our hearts.

Like what Jesus would later tell us, it is not what enters us that defile us but what comes from our hearts.

All troubles and sins outside like the wars and famines, the corruption and injustices that happen begin right inside our hearts.

And that is why we have chosen Rod Stewart’s classic “You’re In My Heart” that speaks of the great love – perhaps a crush or first love to a high school classmate.

Rod Stewart wrote this song and the lyrics are not only poetic but also playfully true that we can all identify with it, especially us men who have gone through the same feelings and experiences when we think of girls and sports at the same time while always lagging in our academics (LOL).

It is something like what our teachers used to tell us in elementary and high school: “boys will always be boys but girls turn into ladies and then into women”.

Have a heart, bask in the feeling of loving, and mature in our love in Christ!

You’re in my heart, you’re in my soul
You’ll be my breath should I grow old
You are my lover, you’re my best friend
You’re in my soul
My love for you is immeasurable
My respect for you immense
You’re ageless, timeless, lace and fineness
You’re beauty and elegance
You’re a rhapsody, a comedy
You’re a symphony and a play
You’re every love song ever written
But honey, what do you see in me?
You’re in my heart, you’re in my soul
You’ll be my breath should I grow old
You are my lover, you’re my best friend
You’re in my soul
You’re an essay in glamor
Please pardon the grammar
But you’re every schoolboy’s dream
You’re Celtic, United, but baby I’ve decided
You’re the best team I’ve ever seen

Fullness of person, fulfillment of law

The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul, Week VI-A, 16 February 2020

Sirach 15:15-20 ><)))*> 1 Corinthians 2:6-10 ><)))*> Matthew 5:17-37

Photo by author of pilgrims entering the Church of the Beatitudes with a painting of the Sermon on the Mount above the door, May 2019.

Jesus continues his Sermon on the Mount this Sunday, expounding the meaning of his teachings called the Beatitudes. As we have reflected last week, the Beatitudes tell us the person of Jesus Christ as being “poor, merciful, clean of heart” whom we must all imitate to become the salt and the light of the world.

Most important of all, Matthew presents to us at the Sermon on the Mount that Jesus is more than the new Moses as giver of laws like at Mt. Sinai in the Old Testament: Jesus himself is the Law, who is both our Teacher and Redeemer.

This we see in his teachings today when he claims to be the fulfillment of the Laws and the Prophets from God in the Old Testament.

Jesus said to his disciples: “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish but to fulfill it. Amen, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or the smallest part of a letter will pass from the law, until all things have taken place.”

Matthew 5:17-18

Essence of the Laws: reflection of God, the good of man

Today, Jesus is teaching us to see the laws in the right perspectives, in the light of the will of God for the good of every person. Throughout his ministry, Jesus has always been consistent in reminding everyone that the laws were made for man, not the other way around.

During Christ’s time, people have lost the real meaning of the Commandments of God as priests and religious leaders focused more on its letters than in its essence and spirit that in the process, the laws have become burdensome. It has continued in our own generation with laws taking precedence over God and persons.

Photo by author of the Church of the Beatitudes at the Holy Land, May 2019.

At the Sermon on the Mount, we find Jesus restoring and recalibrating the laws so that these become more relevant and powerful as reflections of God in the service of man.

Jesus “relectures” us the laws in this part of his Sermon on the Mount by adding more righteousness (holiness), declaring that,

“I tell you, unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.”

Matthew 5:20

By using a pattern where he would cite Laws, saying, “You have heard that it was said”– Jesus shows us his fidelity and obedience to Judaism, contrary to his enemies’ accusations that he had abolished their laws. Moreover, in fulfilling the laws, Jesus put himself in the midst of every law and precept by declaring, “Amen, I say to you” or “but I say to you”.

In following that formula, Jesus gave the laws with a human face and a human heart in himself as its fulfillment so that from then on at his Sermon on the Mount, Christ made every law, every tradition, everything else to be seen always in his person.

Black and white photo by Mr. Jay Javier in Quiapo, 09 January 2020.

Performative powers of the laws in Jesus Christ

With Jesus in the midst of every law and precept as its fulfillment, God’s laws then become not only informative but most of all, performative to borrow one of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI’s favorite expression. This we find Jesus teaching us in three stages in our long gospel this Sunday.

  1. Education of the heart.

The first two laws cited by Jesus in this long list of commandments are “You shall not kill” and “you shall not commit adultery”. Both laws bring us to the very core of our personhood, of what is in our hearts and in our minds. The Lord explains that being angry as well as saying bad words against another person is like murder while looking lustfully at a woman is a form of adultery because in both cases, we have ceased to regard the other individuals as persons to be loved and respected, created in the image and likeness of God.

From Google.

It is an invitation for us to purify our hearts and minds for what defiles man is not what enters him but what comes out from him (Mt.15:11). Whatever is within us will always have an effect in all of our actions, for better or for worse.

What a tragedy that right here in the middle of our wired world of social media and instant communications, we have actually grown apart than together in the last 35 year with so much animosities fed on by lies and misinformation.

How ironic also that despite the information explosion from the Net, we have more benighted souls today than ever before who have actually gone to schools who know nothing of our history and geography?!

Education of the heart is formation of the whole person, not just a training of skills. One problem we have these days is when information is geared on data and facts without integration that we forget our relationships as well as the values we keep like respect, kindness, and dedication. Unless we have an education of the heart, a wholistic and integral formation, we can never be transformed into like Jesus Christ.

2. Get into the roots of our sins.

In telling us to pluck out our right eye or cut off our right hand if these cause us to sin, Jesus is inviting us again to probe deep into our hearts and being to understand what causes us to sin.

Photo by author, water plants in my room at the Fatima Parish and National Shrine, Valenzuela City, 2010.

The key here is to be totally free. In the first reading, Ben Sirach counsels us to “choose” rightly what is good and avoid what is evil.

We can only exercise our true freedom when we have clearer knowledge and understanding of ourselves and of things within us. We fall into vices and sins because we do not know what is going on inside us; hence, we are enslaved by our desires and sins to be not free at all.

Once we understand our sins, we commit them less often. Most of all, when we understand our sins, our struggles against committing these become more persevering, resulting to more triumphs than defeats.

The Season of Lent is near. Once again, we shall be busy with fasting and abstinence, contrition and confession of sins, almsgiving and other spiritual works that make us holy. But too often, these acts become mechanical that sooner, we sometimes reach that point when we cannot find meaning in doing them anymore that we sink deeper into sins and evil.

This happens when we get focused with letters of the laws and we forget its spirit that we become mechanical because we have failed to understand our very selves as well as our sins.

3. Be true.

Jesus said it perfectly well at the end of his teachings today,

“Let your ‘Yes’ mean ‘Yes’ and your ‘No’ mean ‘No.’ Anything more is from the evil one.”

Matthew 5:37

In this last installment of reviewing the laws, Jesus underscored the problems with divorce as well as with lies that continue to this day because we always choose not to be true at all with ourselves, with God, and with others.

Photo by author of the last two Stations of the Cross at the chapel of my niece Ms. Babs Sison in Los Baños, Laguna 13 February 2020.

See the wisdom of Jesus in putting together divorce and oaths, the two great lies that until now continue to mislead so many among us who refuse to accept and carry the cross of Christ, preferring only the Easter Sunday minus the Good Friday.

Being true is embracing the Cross of Jesus Christ like St. Paul in the second reading. It is something we cannot deny in this life. There will always be pain and sufferings. As Dr. Scott Peck put it in his book The Road Less Travelled, “life is difficult.”

At his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus clearly showed in his Beatitudes that he and his values are in sharp contrast to the wisdom of the world. And this wisdom is only accessible to those willing to embrace the crucified Christ and the scandal of the cross.

It is there on the Cross with Jesus Christ we truly find the fulfillment of the laws as well as our fullness as persons. Amen.

Have a blessed Sunday, everyone!

Coming to terms with death is coming to terms with life

Quiet Storm by Fr. Nick F. Lalog II, 13 February 2020

Photo by author, Mt. St. Paul, Trinidad, Benguet, 04 February 2020.

At the Ascension of the Lord, St. Luke tells us something very unique and unusual: the disciples returned to Jerusalem filled with joy.

Unusual and unique because when someone leaves us, either permanently like death or temporarily due to change of residence or jobs, we always feel sad.

But not the Apostles of Jesus along with the other disciples including Mary who were filled joy!

And so are we today because when someone dies, the person or our beloved does not leave us entirely. Though we do not see and feel them physically anymore, we continue to experience them personally.

Sometimes, we even grow more personal that there are people we feel getting closer with them after they have died.

Photo by author, Mt. St. Paul, Trinidad, Benguet, 05 February 2020

As I have been telling you, 2020 for me is tough with so many deaths in our Parish, in my family, and among my friends. Since last week of Christmas until the other week, I have been praying and celebrating funeral Masses almost everywhere.

This week, funeral Masses continue while at the same time, I have started celebrating the 40th days of those relatives and friends who have died last month.

In 1995, my father’s younger sister was stricken with pancreatic cancer. Being the eldest at that time among his nine surviving siblings, another aunt called me to ask my dad’s decision regarding their sick sister, if she would still go through surgery and just go home to Los Banos and wait for the inevitable.

He simply told me, “tell your Tita to just bring home Tita Rose; she had suffered enough and had lived a full life.”

Photo by author, Los Banos, Laguna, 13 February 2020.

That is when I realized that coming to terms with death iscoming toterms with life, and vice versa.

I know it is easier to say but that is how life is: we are often afraid to die because we know we have not fulfilled something yet, a mission or a promise made.

People who enjoy life, people with a sense of contentment are always the ones without regrets, always fulfilled, and ready to go.

And always, they are the ones who truly love that is why they live fullest, Valentine’s day or not.

God bless you and keep loving!

Photo by author, Collegeville Subd., Los Banos, Laguna, 13 February 2020.

Deboto, debobo

Lawiswis ng Salita ni P. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Ika-11 ng Pebrero 2020

Larawan kuha ni G. Jay Javier, 09 Enero 2020 sa Quiapo, Maynila.
Deboto ang tawag sa isang tao
na malapit at namimintuho
Kay Kristong Nazareno o Sto. Niño
kasama na mga Santo at Santa
sa pangunguna ng Birheng Maria.
Kaya dapat bawat deboto totoo 
uliran at huwaran sa pamumuhay
taglay ay kabanalan nang sa kanya'y
mabanaagan larawan ng kabutihan
ng Diyos sa kanyang kadakilaan.
Kay laking katatawanan at kahangalan
kung ang debosyon ng sino man 
ay haggang simbahan lamang
nakikita paminsan-minsan 
tuwing kapistahan at mga prusisyon sa lansangan.
Larawan kuha ni G. Jay Javier, 09 Enero 2020 sa Quiapo, Maynila.
Anong kahulugan at saysay
ng mga pagpupugay
sa Diyos at kanyang mga banal
kung sa kapwa nama'y manhid
walang malasakit at pakialam?
Nag-aalaga ng mga Poon
binibihisan tila laruan
ngunit pag-uugali at katauhan
malayo sa katuwiran at katarungan
ganyang debosyon dapat tigilan!
Ang tunay na deboto
puso ay malapit kay Kristo
at sa kanyang Ina at mga Santo
may pagmamahal, malasakit
sa kapwa tao na kanyang nirerespeto.
Larawan kuha ni G. Jay Javier, 09 Enero 2016 sa Quiapo, Maynila.
Ano mang debosyon
iyong nakagawian o nakahiligan
araw-araw itong sinasabuhay 
pinaninindigan at tinutularan
aral at buhay ng sinusundang banal.
Sa dami ng mga deboto
bakit ganito pa rin tayo
walang pag-asenso
buhay ay kasing gulo 
ng eksena sa senakulo.
Ay naku!
Ano nga ba tayo,
mga deboto o debobo
asal demonyo, sobrang gulo
pinapako nating muli si Kristo!

God’s overflowing grace with Mary

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul

Tuesday, Memorial of Our Lady of Lourdes, World Day of the Sick, 11 February 2020

Isaiah 66:10-14 ><)))*> 0 <*(((>< John 2:1-11

Photo of Our Lady of Lourdes in France by Arch. Philip Santiago, September 2018.

Praise and glory to you O God, our loving and merciful Father who has given us a wonderful and most kind mother in the Blessed Virgin Mary through Jesus Christ your Son.

Through Mary, your abundant blessings, O God, have flowed and continue to overflow upon us even with the completion of her mission here on earth as Mother of Jesus.

How true were your words to the Prophet Isaiah that you shall send Israel a mother who shall comfort us, a mother in whom you shall spread prosperity and blessings upon us (Isaiah 66:10-14).

When Mary came into the scene when she was conceived without original sin, through her came our Savior Jesus Christ. From the very start, she worked to be the vessel of your blessings, God.

On the third day there was a wedding in Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus and his disciples were also invited to the wedding. When the wine ran short, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” His mother said to the servers, “Do whatever he tells you.” Jesus told them, “Fill the jars wit water.”

John 2:1-3, 5, 7

How wonderful to recall and meditate on this first miracle of Jesus of turning water into wine at the wedding feast at Cana through the intercession of his Mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary.

How lovely it is that more than 1800 years, another miracle would happen again from you, O God, at a grotto in Lourdes, France involving water through the Blessed Virgin Mary again!

Thank you dearest Jesus for the gift of water, the gift of life in you. Water is the primordial element of life, and water is also one of the primordial symbols of humanity. How amazing that since the miracle at Cana, your life continues to overflow upon us, Lord Jesus Christ, through Mary especially at Lourdes, France.

There are at Lourdes, Mary told the young St. Bernadette to dig on earth where water burst forth a spring, like life coming out of the womb of the earth. Until now, that spring is the origin and beginning of many healings and other miracles among generations of different peoples from all walks of life and nation, including to those who have not been there in Lourdes, France!

The waters of Lourdes remain a symbol of fruitfulness and of healing, of maternity in Mary who cares most to us and the sick next to Jesus our Lord and Savior..

Give us the grace, O God, the gift of purity, of cleanliness in our hearts so that we may become like Mary at Lourdes as a vessel of your healing and compassion especially for the sick of the world. Amen.

Photo of a cross of atop the church of Our Lady of Lourdes in France by Arch. Philip Santiago during his pilgrimage, September 2018.