The Lord Is My Chef Easter Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Friday in the Seventh Week of Easter before the Pentecost, 17 May 2024 Acts 25:13-21 ><]]]]'> + ><]]]]'> + ><]]]]'> John 21:15-19
Photo by Mr. Gelo Carpio, 2020.
Today, O Lord Jesus, You asked me the loveliest yet most dreaded question of all: "Do you love me?"
And You know very well my answer, "Yes, Lord! I love You!" even if most often my yes to You does not flow to my works and actions: You know so well, dear Jesus, how my yes to You remains only in my lips and in my heart because more often I turn away from Your love to commit sins; yet, despite these, You still love me very much, Jesus.
Yes, I love You, Jesus! Please help me to pray always to You, to center my life in You, to be close and intimate with You, to be one in You because love first of all means being one with the beloved, making time, not finding time.
Yes, I love You, Jesus! Help me to appreciate myself more, to find You in myself despite my sinfulness and weaknesses like Peter whom You have called in his original name, Simon because loving You and others begins in loving myself, being grateful to You that I am alive and most of all, loved.
Yes, I love You, Jesus! Let me love You with all my heart, with all my soul, with all my very self; let me love You first so that I may truly love everyone, especially the poor and the needy You have entrusted to me; let me love You first, Jesus, so that I may love deeply the Church; O my Jesus, let me love You first so I can truly love because without You as basis and foundation of my love, that love could be self-serving, momentary and merely an altruism without meaning and depth that truly liberates the beloved. Amen.
Photo by author, Chapel of St. Francis Xavier, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, 20 March 2024.
The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Music by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, 12 May 2024
With my sisters Bing and Meg in Egypt, part of our Holy Land pilgrimage in 2019.
Since it is a Mother’s Day this Sunday, we are featuring my late mom’s favorite music as far as I can remember, Jo Stafford’s You Belong To Me that was released in 1952. I am not really sure if it was her favorite music in fact or simply one of the few old records (78 RPM) of my dad she kept playing in our Radiowealth phonograph.
I remembered the song very well because of its opening line “See the pyramids along the Nile” she would sing to my dad. Sometimes they would duet as they danced in our large sala. Truth is, it was only recently when I learned its title You Belong To Me courtesy of YouTube.
I was four years old in 1969 and we have moved to a spacious, two storey apartment of Aling Metring in Alibangbang Street, Project 7 when mommy finally had dad’s old stereo phonograph brought to QC from Bulacan along with albums of 45 rpm records with some LP’s and those rare 78’s. That was how I got hooked with music and radio early in childhood. Through my parents.
It was mommy who made an important impact on my tastes for music. During that time, there was record peddler who came to our apartment once a month offering the latest records. Mommy was so kind to have allowed me to choose and buy a record album I was so fascinated with the jacket design and music. She never said anything negative about my choice, that it was the music of the devil. From Santana, I came to love Led Zep, Steely Dan and the rest. Of course, Beatles was a staple during that time at home and in my elder cousins.
Back to her favorite… You Belong To Me.
Early this morning in my room, I saw the many posts of relatives and friends about Mother’s Day. I cried and remembered mommy. My first motherless Mother’s Day. But, I realized, even after mothers have died, we never become motherless. Mothers are like God: they are always present everywhere!
And that is the meaning of Ascension: Jesus did not go to any place but leveled up in His relationships with the Father and us. Ascension is Jesus sitting at the right hand of the Father to assert we all belong to Him. That is what Ascension is, our belonging to God and with each other as Jo Stafford said so well:
See the pyramids along the Nile Watch the sun rise on a tropic isle Just remember, darling, all the while You belong to me
See the marketplace in old Algiers Send me photographs and souvenirs Just remember when a dream appears You belong to me
I’ll be so alone without you Maybe you’ll be lonesome too, and blue
See how every stanza is closed with the line You belong to me, reminding her beloved that no matter wherever he may go, she would still be loving him. So motherly!
Her chorus line speaks well of the Ascension: we’ll be so alone without Jesus who came here to bring us all back to God the Father. Like God, mothers love us her family so much that even in heaven, we still have that invisible umbilical cord connecting us to them.
Blessed happy mother’s day, Mommy and my others moms! This is for you.
The Lord Is My Chef Easter Recipe by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Sixth Sunday in the Easter Season, Cycle B, 05 May 2024 Acts 10:25-26, 34-35, 44-48 ><}}}*> 1 John 4:7-10 ><}}}*> John 15:9-17
Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, 22 March 2023.
Imagine that beautiful imagery of Jesus last Sunday, of Him saying “I am the true vine… you are the branches” calling us to remain in Him to be fruitful (Jn.15:1, 5, 8). What a lovely sight to behold are the vines, climbing and winding up or creeping on the ground with its vast network of leaves and stems, tiny tendrils and shoots, flowers and fruits.
Jesus identified Himself with the vine to show us the immensity and profundity of His love for us as this plant species sprawls widely with its strong roots and stem system extending to its branches that reach out to its flowers and clusters of fruits like grapes. It is as if in every turn of the vine, there is so much life, full of love like God who is both Life and Love Himself.
Photo by Dra. Carol Reyes-Santos, MD at Napa Valley in California, September 2023.
And that is the essence of Jesus as He had explained during their Last Supper, showing its meaning on Good Friday when He died on the Cross, summarizing everything on Easter when He rose again and appeared later to His disciples.
It is love, love, and still, love in every turn just like the vine.
In being the true vine, we find God’s immense love for us expressed in His Son Jesus Christ who now tells us clearly to love one another shortly before He showed and proved that love for us on Good Friday at the Cross.
Jesus said to his disciples: “As the Father loves me, so I also love you. Remain in my love. This is my commandment: love one another as I love you. This I command you: love one another.”
John 15:9, 12, 17
See how Jesus speaks of and lives in love in every turn in this gospel scene this Sunday which is a continuation of His discourse last week during their Last Supper. Nine times Jesus used the word “love” in nine verses.
He began his discourse by laying down the foundation of this love which is the Father’s love in verse 9: it is in “remaining” in His love that we truly have joy which is more than happiness but firm assurance that no matter what happens to us even in the worst situations including death as Jesus went through, there is always God loving us to the end and beyond.
After that, Jesus twice mentioned love as His commandment to us. Actually, Christ’s command to love one another seems pretty simple, and easy if you say so; but, what He added makes it so difficult – “love one another as I love you.”
That part “as I love you” is the challenge of Jesus to each one of us every day because He loved even unto death, literally and figuratively speaking. We do not need to die literally as martyrs but even dying figuratively speaking is already so difficult when we have to make many sacrifices, when we have to love somebody else more than our very selves!
Loving one another like Christ is more than to “feeling good” because…
To love like Jesus is to forget ourselves, to think less of our own good and comfort like a mother despite her being sick would still rise early to prepare her family to school and work or a dad going abroad in order to have food, clothing and shelter for his family.
Loving like Christ is giving up our wants and needs, including our dreams sometimes like the many Ate and Kuya who remain single in order to send their younger siblings to school until they graduate and be able to stand on their own.
To love like Jesus is to die in our own POV (point-of-view) and other long held beliefs in order to find Christ in everyone especially those different from us or from those who hurt us.
Loving one another like Jesus Christ is choosing the Father above all every day.
Admittedly, to love like Jesus is very difficult indeed but, the good news this Sunday is that it is doable as the beloved disciple explains in the second reading, “In this is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as expiation for our sins” (1Jn.4:10).
And the best part of this Sunday’s gospel is when Jesus declared twice He loves us, “As the Father loves me, so I also love you… This is my commandment: love one another as I love you” (Jn. 15:9,12).
Wow! Everyone knows so well the deep joy one feels in hearing someone say “I love you”. For as long as it is the true kind of love, these words of “I love you” are not only transformative but also performative because they are powerful, filled with the powers of God that can change us, heal us and inspire us.
The words “I love you” are the nicest and most life-changing things one can always hear but unfortunately we rarely say these words to others because we are afraid of running out of love. The truth is, the more love we give, the more we share love in words and in deeds like Jesus, the more we are filled with His love but by those around us too!
Never say nor claim we cannot love like Christ because we are humans like that cheesy Filipino love song of yore, sapagkat ako’y tao lamang. That ability to love like Jesus is already here in our hearts, in our being, in us because He had lavishly loved us first so that we too can love. Every day Jesus repeats those words of the Last Supper whenever we wake up, telling us, “I love you”.
It was the same experience Peter and later the household of Cornelius have experienced in our first reading when the Holy Spirit came down upon them to fill them with the love of God that prompted Peter to realize earlier how “In truth, I see that God shows no partiality” (Acts 10:34), meaning, God loves everyone lavishly regardless of color, gender, and creed. The problem is with us when we love only those “like us”; hence, the need to remain in Christ to be able to find Him in everyone.
Let us immerse ourselves into that amazing reality that we are personally loved by Jesus as we pray:
Dearest Jesus: let me remain in Your love so I may learn to forget myself, set aside my plans and agenda so that I may love like You by keeping Your commandments, laying down my life for others, echoing Your very words of "I love you" to those who hardly know You because they have never felt being loved as they suffer alone in diseases, poverty, and injustice; let me bask in Your love, Lord to lead others back to You in my loving service and kindness especially those who have lost faith in You and humanity. Amen.
Quiet Storm by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, 03 May 2024
Photo by author, Anvaya Cove in Morong, Bataan, 15 April 2024.
How I wish I could strum and sing like Simon and Garfunkel saying hello and listening to the sound of silence that nobody hears, nobody cares; what a lovely commodity now a rarity in the time of Siri, everybody is so afraid of silence when its loudest sound is less than a breath, feebler than a whisper.
How foolish have we become to disregard silence when it is the only sound before we have all become that is why when death comes, in silence we shall return; woe the Walkman that pushed us back to the caves of our own world enslaved by gadgets that muffle our ears and head from the warmth of another soul speaking in silence.
Let us touch and be disturbed by the sound of silence! Listen to its wisdom and truth for it is not emptiness but fullness; embrace silence, feel its warmth to see life's vibrance in its natural sound telling us to trust again so we can love anew that is most true when words are few because the heart is empty, silently awaiting YOU!
Photo by author, Anvaya Cove in Morong, Bataan, 15 April 2024.
The Lord Is My Chef Easter Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Thursday, Memorial of St. Athanasius, Bishop & Doctor of the Church, 02 May 2024 Acts 15:7-21 ><}}}}*> Psalm 96:1-2, 2-3, 10 ><}}}}*> John 15:9-11
Your words today, Lord Jesus, are so dramatic like in the movies when Your disciples twice went silent: "The whole assembly fell silent, and they listened while Paul and Barnabas described the signs and wonders God worked among the gentiles through them. After they had fallen silent, James responded, 'My brothers, listen to me...'" (Acts 15:12-13).
Teach me to be silent, Lord, so that I may listen and hear what others are saying, what You are telling me through others; let me be silent, Jesus, to listen more to You, to experience Your presence, Your love and care, Your mercy and forgiveness, and Your wisdom and direction I must take in this life harassed by so many noises and competing voices to follow.
How interesting that Your great servant and theologian St. Athanasius whose Memorial we celebrate today, the first of the Doctors of the Church who fought the heretics to insist on Your being true God and true man was forced into exile so many times defending You and Your truth as the Christ; how lovely to reflect in those repeated exiles of St. Athanasius he fell silent not because of fear but because of courage by continuing to pray and reflect on Your Person as the Son of God.
Lord Jesus Christ, silence is the domain of trust; hence, teach me most especially to be silent like the saints in order to trust You more so that I can love more like You by remaining close with You, in You always (John 15:9). Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Easter Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Wednesday, Memorial of St. Joseph the Worker, 01 May 2024 Colossians 3:14-15, 17, 23-24 >>> + <<< Matthew 13:54-58
“Childhood of Christ” painting by Gerard von Honthorst, franciscanmedia.org.
Praise and glory to You, God our Father in entrusting Your Son Jesus Christ to the most noble and holiest of men, St. Joseph who came from the lineage of King David.
Though he never spoke a word in the Gospel, St. Joseph's obedience in doing everything as You had commanded him (Mt. 1:24) proved his being a model disciple too of Jesus like his wife, the Blessed Virgin Mary.
On this first day of May when we celebrate his memorial as St. Joseph the Worker, our beloved Patron shows us how family life is so sacred as part of Your Divine plan, O gracious Father in heaven.
St. Joseph worked as a carpenter, a provider to the Holy Family who must have also experienced every dad's problem of never making enough for Mary and Jesus; most likely, the Holy Family he headed did not live a perfect idyllic life, living through scandals and gossips as our gospel today showed when the people of Nazareth rejected the adult Jesus Christ, taking offense at him by asking, "Is he not the carpenter's son?" (Mt. 13:55, 57).
Photo by author, site of St. Joseph’s carpentry shop beneath St. Joseph’s Church in Nazareth, Israel, May 2017.
Dear God, grant us the same grace You gave St. Joseph who lived through scandal and gossip in a righteous way, just like what St. Paul had told us in the first reading, "And over all these put on love, that is, the bond of perfection"; help us to be like St. Joseph who "let the peace of Christ controlled his heart" (Col.3:14-15) in everything to show us that holiness in life is not a poster card but one lived in the ambiguity and complexity of this world rooted in Jesus our Lord. Amen.
St. Joseph, Protector of the Child Jesus and Mary, Pray for us!
Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, 20 March 2024.
The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Music by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, 28 April 2024
Photo by author, somewhere in Bgy. Kaysuyo, Alfonso, Cavite, 27 April 2024.
It is a “frying Sunday” as heat index rose to over 40 degrees today and there’s no stopping at temperature rising in this final week of April. And so, we offer you this Sunday one of the coolest music we have grown up with courtesy of Ms. Carole King.
From her beautiful Tapestry album released in 1971, we find So Far Away perfectly expressing the essence of Jesus Christ’s call for us to remain in him, our true vine:
To remain is more than physical like to stay. A branch remaining, staying intact with the vine but had turned yellow and dried up is clearly not one with the vine. We can be inside the church but be detached with everyone and the celebration. We may be staying or residing in the same address and home but our heart and very self may be so far away from our siblings or parents, or from your wife or husband.
Remaining implies something more than physical presence. To remain is to have a relationship, a bonding that is deep and intimate. To remain is to be of one heart as GMA7 claims to be a kapuso which is more important than being a kapamilya or a kapatid. There is no sense of being a family (kapamilya) when there is no love in the family or at the other hand, a sibling (kapatid) is nothing if the brother or sister is your enemy. We remain with God and everyone when our hearts are attuned or inclined to God and with others in love which is the fruit of the vine, Jesus Christ.
So Far Away is a gospel in itself about love which is about oneness. Even if we are apart – temporarily or eternally – for as long as we have that communion and bonding of our hearts, that love will always be truly felt. Perhaps, one reason for the saying “absence makes the heart grow fonder” when lovers are apart. Remaining and presence are more than physical but a bonding of the hearts that Ms. King beautifully sings to us in her classic So Far Away:
So far away Doesn’t anybody stay in one place anymore? It would be so fine to see your face at my door Doesn’t help to know you’re just time away Long ago, I reached for you and there you stood Holding you again could only do me good How I wish I could, but you’re so far away
One more song about movin’ along the highway Can’t say much of anything that’s new If I could only work this life out my way I’d rather spend it bein’ close to you
In this age of modern communications, how ironic that we are brought closer with those so far from us by distance but have caused us too to be distant from those nearest to us. The Risen Jesus Christ tells us this Sunday that being close, remaining in love happens even without seeing the other person for as long as our heart is attuned with the one we love. What really happens is that for as long we keep that love in our hearts, even if our beloved is gone or far from us, the more we experience his/her presence in their absence.
Let Ms. Carole King bring back those loving moments we had.
The Lord Is My Chef Easter Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Fifth Sunday in the Easter Season, Cycle B, 28 April 2024 Acts 9:26-31 ><}}}}*> 1 John 3:18-24 ><}}}}*> John 15:1-8
From the Good Shepherd last Sunday, Jesus today declares himself as the “true vine”. Notice that qualifier true vine similar with last Sunday’s good shepherd because Jesus “lays down his life for the sheep” (Jn. 10:11, 17, 18); so we ask, was there an untrue vine?
Yes. Jesus was referring to Israel, God’s vineyard lavished with all his care but produced wild grapes as portrayed in Isaiah’s “Vineyard Song” that he vowed to take it away and plant a new vine fulfilled in Christ (Is. 5:1-7). Jesus as the true vine is an expression of his Incarnation, of how God in Jesus Christ became human like us in everything except sin so that we in turn would become like him, holy and divine. This can only be when keep that union intact by remaining in Christ.
Jesus said to his disciples: “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine grower. He takes away every branch in me that does not bear fruit, and every one that does he prunes so that it bears more fruit. You are already pruned because of the word that I spoke to you. Remain in me, as I remain in you. Just as a branch cannot bear fruit on its own unless it remains on the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in me.
Our scene is now at the Last Supper, after the washing of the feet of the disciples. Judas had already left and Jesus began his series of discourses capped with his high priestly prayer after which they proceeded to Gethsemane for his betrayal and arrest.
Imagine the solemnity of the scene, of how Jesus had shown the Twelve the meaning of his being the good shepherd laying down his life by taking the bread and wine as his Body and Blood given to everyone. All these will have its fullness on Good Friday at the Cross while it would take some time after Easter and Pentecost when the disciples will finally grasp and understand its meanings.
We are not just going back to a past event, to what Jesus had done. In declaring himself as the true vine, Jesus reveals to us himself truly God and Risen from the dead, telling us how we can share in the joy and mystery of his Resurrection. And that is by remaining in Jesus first above all, “Remain in me, as I remain in you. Just as a branch cannot bear fruit on its own unless it remains on the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in me.”
Photo by Dra. Carol Reyes-Santos, MD at Napa Valley, California, 2023.
See how in eight verses, Jesus used the word “remain” eight times because it is not enough Jesus is the true vine in whom we are blessed and become fruitful; we must remain in him too.
There is no doubt of Jesus remaining in us which is what his being a true vine is all about; unlike Israel in the Old Testament that produced wild grapes, Jesus can no longer be uprooted because he is God himself who had become one in us. But, are we one in him and with him?
To remain is more than physical like to stay. A branch remaining, staying intact with the vine but had turned yellow and dried up is clearly not one with the vine. We can be inside the church but be detached with everyone and the celebration. We may be staying or residing in the same address and home but our heart and very self may be so far away from our siblings or parents, or from your wife or husband.
Remaining implies something more than physical presence. To remain is to have a relationship, a bonding that is deep and intimate. To remain is to be of one heart as GMA7 claims to be a kapuso which is more important than being a kapamilya or a kapatid. There is no sense of being a family (kapamilya) when there is no love in the family or at the other hand, a sibling (kapatid) is nothing if the brother or sister is your enemy. We remain with God and everyone when our hearts are attuned or inclined to God and with others in love which is the fruit of the vine, Jesus Christ.
We can only bear much fruit, be more loving, if we remain in Jesus Christ. It is an imperative, therefore in this life that we remain in Christ for without him, separated him, we can do nothing. Fruit and love are always together as shown in the institution narrative and on Good Friday.
Being fruitful is more than being successful that is often seen and measured in material things. Being fruitful, being more loving is spiritual in nature, can never be measured with what we have but what have we given. Most of all, being fruitful is depending, relying more in Jesus Christ than in one’s self. That is why remaining in Christ is a prerequisite to be fruitful.
We remain in Jesus in prayer when he said, “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask for whatever you want and it will be done for you” (Jn. 15:7). But, prayer here as in most parts of the gospel does not mean asking God for anything; to remain in Jesus in prayer is to ask for God himself. It is only in having God we can truly love and experience joy and peace within despite the many trials and pains we go through in life.
In the first reading we have heard how Paul, still known as Saul arrived in Jerusalem and “tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he was a disciple” (Acts 9:26). It must have been so difficult for Saul as well as for the early Christians too to welcome him! Saul must have a hard time convincing them he had really changed, that he had been converted in Christ while he must also understand the feelings of the Christians whom he persecuted before.
Photo by Dra. Carol Reyes-Santos,MD, at Napa Valley, California, 2023.
Let us keep in mind too that Saul’s conversion did not necessarily mean an end of their persecution; in fact, persecutions would turn more fierce later but it was during that time when the church grew so fast and wide too! That was because they remained in Christ who caused their efforts to bear much fruits no one expected.
Look back into our lives and see how when we remained in Christ and problems never stopped but that is when we are more fruitful, more fulfilled in life. Like our responsorial psalm this Sunday, “we praise the Lord in the midst of the assembly” to thank God from our hearts for all the blessings he bestows us like inner growth and maturity, feeling fruitful not just successful. Indeed, as the beloved disciple rightly noted in our second reading today, “God is greater than our hearts and knows everything” (1 Jn. 3:20).
This Sunday, Jesus is telling us “I am the true vine” to show us how God’s life is now in us through Christ and how our life is in God still through Christ. Let us remain in Jesus as he continues to reveal to us who he really is, our Lord and God, so we can share in the many joys and mysteries of his Resurrection. Let us pray:
Lord Jesus Christ, let me remain in You; let me stay in You when things are so difficult and let me still remain in You when life is so beautiful; let me be near and close to You as You are in me, speaking Your words, doing Your will; in my remaining in You, may I be fruitful by bringing others closer to You so that in the end, we all remain one in You. Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Easter Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Tuesday in the Fourth Week of Easter, 23 April 2024 Acts 11:19-26 ><}}}}*> + ><}}}}*> + ><}}}}*> John 10:22-30
Photo by Dra. Mylene A. Santos, MD, July 2020 in Katmon Nature Sanctuary & Beach Resort, Infanta, Quezon.
What a lovely story today,
Lord Jesus of Barnabas
who was sent by the Apostles
from Jerusalem to Antioch
to check on the growing number
of Your followers who were
called for the first time as "Christians";
what is most touching in this story,
dear Jesus is when Barnabas
went to Tarsus to look for Saul,
Your former persecutor,
their former enemy:
And when he had found him he brought him to Antioch. For a whole year they met with the Church and taught a large number of people, and it was in Antioch that the disciples were first called Christians (Acts 11:26).
Surely it was not simply because they believed in You, O Jesus, that they were called Christians; most likely because they have lived truly like You, Lord, imitators of the Christ who truly cared for one another by forgiving those who have sinned, and most likely too, truly loving their enemies like Saul; I pray, dear Lord, for those who truly love and care for me, for those who look for me, for those who check on me how life has been going on, for those who stay with me to guide me back to You, Jesus.
Grant me the grace, Lord Jesus, like Barnabas to look for those we have forgotten, those we take for granted, those who annoy us, those we can easily dismiss as nonsense and ordinary, those who have hurt us, those we hate; grant us the courage to let Your voice lead us Lord Jesus to other Sauls of this world so we may lead them to You to find life in You. Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Music by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, 21 April 2024
Photo by author, Anvaya Cove in Morong, Bataan, 15 April 2024.
Today is the Good Shepherd Sunday and we take a classic number from the lovely shepherdess of R&B and Soul, Ms. Chaka Khan with her 1975 hit Sweet Thing as vocalist of the group Rufus.
What I like most with Ms. Khan’s music next to her great voice and instrumentations being a percussionist herself is her ability to open us up to the woman’s heart and feelings. Her songs are so womanly that reveal the inner dynamics of womanhood we take for granted. (See our other piece, https://lordmychef.com/2021/06/27/through-the-fire-by-chaka-khan-1984/). That is why we find her so much like a good shepherdess leading us to find expressions of our love.
When Jesus Christ declared “I am the good shepherd who lays down his life”, He was expressing something more than His mission but His very being as “the Gift and the Giver” at the same time of this most precious thing called love.
The same thing is true when friends and lovers separate either because they have found other loves to pursue or worst, have fallen out of love with us despite all our love for them. It is the most unkindest cut of all breakups and separations, excruciatingly painful as we blindly give up our relationships ironically for love. More than the persons and circumstances involved, we freely choose to let go – magparaya in Filipino – because deep in our wounded and hollowed heart is the hope they may grow in their new love.
Here we are like Jesus the Good Shepherd because even in the death of our relationships is still found our love. Like Jesus Christ, we do not simply give something but our very selves. The Jesuit theologian Karl Rahner beautifully expressed this when he described Jesus is both “the Gift and the Giver.”
This is very evident in Sweet Thing which Ms. Khan co-wrote with Tony Maiden.
I will love you anyway Even if you cannot stay I think you are the one for me Here is where you ought to be I just want to satisfy you Though you’re not mine I can’t deny you Don’t you hear me talking baby? Love me now or I’ll go crazy
Oh sweet thing Don’t you know you’re my everything? Oh sweet thing Don’t you know you’re my everything? Yes, you are
I wish you were my lover But you act so undercover To love you child my whole life long Be it right, or be it wrong I’m only what you make me, baby Don’t walk away, don’t be so shady Don’t want your mind, don’t want your money These words I say, they may sound funny, but
Isn’t it so sweet!? Beginning with its guitar intro lately making rounds in social media courtesy of Prince’s unplugged cover, Sweet Thing is an overload of love and self-giving, of how a woman in her great love for a man is willing to let go of him because of love.
When we speak of love, we use comparisons and analogies and yet, they are not enough. How much more when we speak of the love of God, a love so sublime like Ms. Khan’s Sweet Thing?
In that case, we sing like Ms. Khan and her other co-shepherds of souls with their music that captures our deepest feelings and convictions in life. Like Jesus in saying “I am the good shepherd” which is more than a declaration of His mission but of His self-giving in love, Ms. Khan’s Sweet Thing reminds us of this tremendous grace to love like God despite the pains and hurts we go through in loving selflessly.
lordmychef.com 