Lawiswis ng Salita ni P. Nicanor F. Lalog II, ika-8 ng Abril 2019
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Madalas nating akalain Pananahimik ay kawalan ng imik Tinitikom yaring mga bibig Di pinapansin mga naririnig.
Ang tunay na pananahimik ay pakikinig Sa gitna ng katahimikang pilit dinaraig Ibuka ang bibig dahil baka kumabig ang dibdib Manaig iniisip sa loob ng munting daigdig.
Larawan kuha ni G. Howie G. Severino ng GMA-7 News sa Taal, Batangas, Nobyembre 2018.
Taliwas na madalas na kaisipan Katahimikan ay hindi kawalan kungdi kaganapan Mundo'y hindi iniiwan bagkus tinutunguhan Niyayakap at niyayapakan upang lubos na maranasan.
Sa panahong atin ngayong ginagalawan Puro ingay at salitaan, walang unawaan Hindi mapigilan talastasan na wala namang kaliwanagan Puro kadiliman, walang naiintindihan dahil walang katahimikan.
Tanging sa katahimikan mapapakinggan Ibinubulong at kinukuyom ng ating kalooban; Gayon din naman sa katahimikan matutukalasan Kahulugan ng sinasaysay ng sino mang pinakikiharapan.
Kung ibig ninumang Diyos ay makaniig at mapakinggan Kanyang mga Salita kailanma'y hindi maiintidihan Kung ang Kanyang katahimikan ay di natin kayang sakyan Dahil ang Diyos sa Kanyang kaibuturan ay pawang kahulugan at kaganapan.
Ang talong Shifen sa Taiwan. Larawan kuha ng may-akda, Enero 2019.
Sikaping makaibigan ang katahimikan Bagama't hindi madali, ito ay maaring pagsumakitan Dahil dito lamang matatagpuan mahahalaga at walang kabuluhan Pati na mga bagay na pansamantala at pangmagpakailanman.
Sa katahimakan ating nabibistay Mga bagay na lantay at walang saysay Buhay ay nahihimay, nakikita ang tunay Kapag tayo ay naghinay-hinay sa daloy nitong buhay.
Ating pagkatao ang siyang dinadalisay Takbo ng buhay nagiging matiwasay Dahil sa katahimikan buo ang ating pagtitiwala Kasabay ang pananampalatayang walang kapantay.
Larawan kuha ni G. Raffy Tima ng GMA-7 News sa Batanes, Agosto 2018.
40 Shades of Lent, Tuesday, Week IV, 02 April 2019
Ezekiel 47:1-9, 12///John 5:1-16
Dearest Jesus: Last night as I prayed amid the heat of summer, I realized that since the start of our 40-day journey of Lent, it is only now I have been reminded of one of the highlights of this Season, the sacrament of Baptism symbolized by water in the two readings today.
So often, Lord Jesus, we take water for granted, not realizing its value until it is gone.
Just like you, Lord.
Cleanse us, O Jesus, with your purifying waters of Baptism, keep us nourished like the trees seen in Ezekiel’s vision planted near the rivers, always filled with life, always green, always bearing fruits of good works.
Most of all, come to us Lord Jesus like in the pool at Bethesda or “house of mercy”.
Quench our thirsts for life’s meaning. Without you as our water, we are dehydrated, weakened, dried up by life’s so many demands and concerns. May you always refresh us, awaken us to many possibilities of life especially when the well runs dry. Amen.
Sin can be mysterious at times because it can also be a religious experience that leads us back to God and holiness. We have a saying that “every saint has a sinful past and every sinner can have a saintly future.” So many men and women who were so notorious in their lives have proven this so true like St. Paul and St. Augustine.
After reflecting on the call for conversion last Sunday, our gospel today tells us a lot about the nature of sin. Unless we understand what is sin and why we sin, then we get imprisoned by sin as we keep on committing it no matter how hard we try to be better persons. But once we understand even a little bit of it, its hows and whys, then we sin less often as we slowly break free from its bondage.
“A man had two sons, and the younger son said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of your estate that should come to me.’ So the father divided the property between them.”
Luke 15:11-12
Sin is when we separate from the Father like the younger son when we ask for our “share of your estate that should come to me” referring to that part of this whole life only God can have in its fullness. We always have the idea that it must be so vast and huge that even just a part of it would be more than enough for us. We want to be on our own that we break away from Him, thinking wrongly that the share we have is more than enough for us without truly realizing how great and so vast is the Father’s estate which is life itself!
And so it happens, we break away from God and live on our own that sooner or later, our share dissipates until we lose everything.
This estate, this very life of God will never be gone like Him, will never diminish nor dissipate. We shall always have it, enjoy it for as long as we are with Him, our loving Father! This is also the point of the Father to the elder son when he refused to join their celebration when his younger brother returned. Life, love, kindness, family, everything that is good dissipates when held individually away from God. But when we share it with the Father through Christ, it is like the river that never runs dry.
When he had freely spent everything, a severe famine struck that country, and he found himself in dire need… And he longed to eat his fill of the pods on which the swine fed, but nobody gave him any.
Luke 15:14,16
Sin always gives us the sense of “freedom” like the young son who “freely spent everything”. There is always that wrong understanding of freedom as the ability to do everything and anything, feeling that everything in this life is ours alone. Freedom is first of all choosing what is truly good. To be free is to be loving, being a part of the whole and never separated from the whole. To be truly free is always to be one. This explains why when we are deep into sin and all alone, separated from others, we suddenly long to be one with others. The sense of belonging suddenly pops up within us because we find ourselves incomplete when in sin.
“My son, you are here with me always; everything I have is yours.”
Luke 15:31
Here lies the problem also with the elder son who has always been present with their father but had never been one with him, never belonging to him. He is guilty of “sin of omission” when he felt nothing seems to be wrong with him as he breaks no rules of their father – except their relationship and ties. The apostle James wrote in his letter that “a person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by own desire” (Jas.1:14). Sin is always the desire to be sufficiently alone, to be powerful, to be God! See how since the beginning, we have never outgrown that sin of Adam and Eve of becoming like God, of playing god.
My dear sisters and brothers, like Paul in our second reading today, let us be reconciled to God in Christ. To be reconciled is to be one, to belong, to become a part again of God. In the dryness and desolation of sin like the desert in the experience of Joshua and the Hebrew people, God continues to bless us with so many gifts, so many blessings. The two brothers in the parable are both sinners but loved by their father. And so are we.
More than avoiding sins, our gospel parable this Sunday invites us to love God more by seeking His will always. Yes, we have all been hurt by someone else’s sins and we have also caused pain on others with our sins. Let us focus more on this vast gift of life and love expressed in God’s mercy and forgiveness that no sin could ever diminish. And the good news is that it is all free and totally being given to us by Jesus Christ especially in our Sunday Eucharist. A blessed week to you!
Quiet Storm by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, 22 March 2019
Moss on a pathway in Malagos Garden Resort, Davao, August 2018. Photo by author.
Last midnight I waited for my 54th birthday in our church to thank God for another year in my life. I just wanted to be with Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament and all I could tell Him was, “Lord, you have given me with so much and I have given you with so little. Teach me to give more of myself and most especially of YOU with others. Amen.”
As I sat alone in darkness, I thought of the many blessings and its lessons I have learned lately.
Everything indeed is grace. Whatever we get in life is always a blessing from God like love, patience, kindness, joy, mercy, knowledge and understanding as well every material thing we have. They are all from God. Share them, or better give them away to make life easier.
We only have two choices in life, either we become better or bitter.
Life is not about destinations but directions. Destinations are just points in life you reach or achieve, often connected with lines. And that’s it. So structured. But directions are about persons we journey with in life, something like your favorite pen or crayon that you pick to write or draw anything. It is always there, either following you or leading you wherever your writing or drawing flows into without any definite pattern, often in curves and circular motions. Always funny and enjoyable. Even crazy.
We do not find God, He finds us. Sooner or later in life and that is for sure.
In every situation in life, always look for Jesus Christ. Without Him, there’s no meaning in life or anything. And we find Jesus always on the cross.
Liars know very well the truth and that is why they lie. So, do not worry about gossips and lies they spread even if some people would believe them. Don’t waste time convincing them of the truth. They know it but refuse to accept it.
Anyone who is afraid to make enemies will never be able to stand for what is true and good.
Sad to say, life is not about intelligence. That is why we have so many stupid leaders everywhere – government, society, and even the Church! No one is gifted with everything in life because we are meant to relate and help each other. Like liars, stupids are not good company. Remember, only intelligent people go to heaven because St. Thomas said, the more we know things, the more we avoid sins and become holy. Idiots and liars are the most evil as they refuse to accept their sinfulness. Pray for them.
Enjoy life. Stop pleasing everybody except God alone.
Always handle life with prayers. No matter what happens with us, prayer is the final straw we are always left with to start anew in life.
40 Shades of Lent, Friday, Week II, 22 March 2019 Genesis 37:3-4, 12-13, 17-28///Matthew 21:33-43, 45-46
Glory and praise to you O God our loving Father for the gift of life! As I celebrate my 54th birthday today which I welcomed last midnight, let me pray this to you: Lord God, you have given me with so much and I have given you with so little.
I have never been like Joseph a dreamer in the first reading. It was late in life – after I have met you or you have found me, Lord – when I started dreaming like Joseph, envisioning myself in the future with you my God.
You have entrusted me with so much and I have wasted so many of these in the past like those tenants in the parable of Jesus today. I feel so unworthy being your servant in those times I have refused to give your share of the many fruits of your vineyard by being more loving and merciful, more kind and humble with others. There were times I have rejected your Son Jesus Christ when I would insist on my own ways than your will.
Yet, despite all these, loving Father, you have always been gentle and generous with me. That is why I have stopped asking you for many things for myself because whatever I need, you always provide. Indeed, you have done so many for me that I never asked for that are “so wonderful in my eyes” (Mt. 21:42)!
Lord God, all I pray again on my 54th birthday today is that you help me to share more of myself and most especially more of YOU with others, that in every here and now, I may always say Yes to your Holy Will. Amen.
Thank you for your prayers for me too, my dear readers and followers. May God bless you always!
Sunrise at Lake Tiberias, the Holy Land, April 2017 photo by the author.
40 Shades Of Lent Thursday after Ash Wednesday, 07 March 2019 Deuteronomy 30:15-20///Luke 9:22-25
Dearest God:
Life is a mystery, life is Lent. Of course, we always choose life over death but in reality, you know it is not so: though our lips, our minds agree in the words of Moses, our hearts are so far from you.
“Today I have set before you life and prosperity, death and doom. If you obey the commandments of the Lord, your God, which I enjoin on you today, loving him, and walking in his ways, and keeping his commandments, statutes and decrees, you will live and grow numerous, and the Lord, your God, will bless you in the land you are entering to occupy.”
(Deut.30:15-16)
Teach us, O God, through your Son Jesus Christ our Lord to rightly choose life by being responsible with this gift of life, of taking care of others by forgetting our very self; of bearing with all the pains of life by carrying our cross daily; and most of all, by following his direction, being present and one in him and with him in every persecution.
Life is a daily Lent when we lose ourselves in you to be renewed into a better person more like you, our true image and likeness. Amen.
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