Category: love

God among us in our family

The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul

Feast of the Holy Family, 29 December 2019

Sirach 3:2-7, 12-14 ><}}}*> Colossians 3:12-21 ><}}}*> Matthew 2:13-15, 19-23

One of the many bas reliefs at the Cavern Church complex in Cairo, Egypt where the Holy Family fled to escape Herod’s wrath when he ordered the murder of all male children below three years old after learning from the Magi the birth of the “new king of the Jews”.

Among the celebrations during this Christmas Season, the Feast of the Holy Family is something peculiar because it was not borne out of liturgical origins but more of the changing times in the past 126 years since it was first celebrated as a devotion.

In the beginning, it was designed to counteract the growing attacks against family life and morality of the rapidly changing times.

Since 1969 when Vatican II designated its feast to be celebrated within the Christmas octave, the feast of the Holy Family has proven to be a major contribution in helping us understand the mystery of the Lord’s nativity in our modern time.

When the magi had departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Rise, take the child and his mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you. Herod is going to search for the child to destroy him.” Joseph rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed for Egypt. He stayed there until the death of Herod, so that what the Lord had said through the prophet might be fulfilled, out of Egypt I called my son.

Matthew 2:13-15
A diptych mosaic depicting the story of the flight to Egypt of the Holy Family on the walls of the Saint Virgin Mary’s Coptic Church in Cairo, Egypt beside the Cavern Church. It is one of the oldest churches in Egypt that dates back to the third century.

Christmas, a living story continuing in our family

The feast of the Holy Family reminds us that Christmas is a living story that continues to this day wherein God comes first in and through our family.

We go back to Matthew’s gospel to hear again the important role of Joseph not only in taking Mary as his wife in order to give name to Jesus but also to protect them from all harm.

We have seen during Christmas how Jesus had always been subjected to suffering right in his mother’s womb when Joseph and Mary have to travel from Nazareth to Bethlehem to comply with Augustus Caesar’s directive to all subjects of the empire to register.

Now, they have to travel outside Israel to flee to another country to escape the murderous plot of Herod against Baby Jesus.

We have heard again the continuation of Joseph’s mission revealed again to him by an angel in a dream. But, Matthew added something very interesting that is the key to understanding our gospel today and our feast of the Holy Family.

He (Joseph) stayed there until the death of Herod, so that what the Lord had said through the prophet might be fulfilled, out of Egypt I called my son.

Matthew 2:15
Entrance to the Cavern Church where the Holy Family lived for about three years while in Egypt before going back to Israel.

Remember Matthew’s audience and followers were Christians of Jewish origins.

The Holy Family’s flight to Egypt is very similar to the story of Jacob’s migration into that country during the great famine when one of his sons, Joseph the dreamer, became a governor there.

Many years later, the Egyptians would make them suffer that God sent them Moses to bring them back to the Promised Land through Exodus that has become the single most important date in their entire history. Also known as the “passover”, it was at that time when Israel passed over from slavery in Egypt into freedom in the Promised Land.

But, the result was not favorable because after settling back into the Promised Land, the people would repeatedly break God’s covenant by worshipping foreign gods and idols that eventually led to their Babylonian exile, not to mention the division of the kingdom into two after David’s death.

By citing a prophecy by Hosea, Matthew is now telling us how Jesus, the Son of God, is the new beginning of fidelity to the covenant. Like Moses, God took out Jesus from Egypt; but greater than Moses and unlike him, Jesus would never be unfaithful to the covenant.

As the new beginning not only for Israel but also for the whole world, Jesus in fact passed us over from sin to grace with his own passover or pasch – his Passion, Death and Resurrection.

Welcoming Jesus in our family through our love and care for each member

The family is the basic unit of every society. Destroy the family, we destroy the society. Eventually, we destroy our nation.

The same is true with us in the Church: the family is a domestic church. Jesus comes first in our family.

But how can he now come when our family is disintegrating, when it is right in the family where women and children are first abused?

How can Jesus come in our family when we have lost all senses of the holy, of God that we no longer pray and gather together in the Sunday Mass and other sacraments?

See how the giant flatscreen has become every family’s altar and deity, replacing the Christ the King or any other Poon in our homes. Malls have replaced our places of worship. Worst of all, the great feasts and seasons of Christmas and Easter have become so commercialized, reduced to become our modern excuses for much needed breaks and supposed family bonding in beaches and abroad.

The Holy Family’s flight to Egypt brought them closer with one another and most especially with God. Unfortunately, our own “flight to Egypt” has become our excuse to leave God behind and focus more with our own lives.

A portion of a larger mix of bronze reliefs on one of the doors of the Duomo Cathedral in Florence, Italy depicting the harsh conditions the Holy Family have to face in Egypt while escaping Herod. Photo by Ms. Janine Lloren, 2015.

A friend had shared this photo with me which she had taken while on a trip in Italy, home to thousands of our OFW’s who, like the Holy Family, have to leave our country to find life, to escape “death”.

Like Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, God “sends” us out to our own, different “flight to Egypt”, pulling us out from the comforts of our family and home, career and other comfort zones in order to gather ourselves so we can start anew in Christ to be more free to love and be faithful to him and our loved ones.

Many times in our lives, separations and other adversarial situations make us better persons, enabling us to be more fruitful in life than just having everything for granted and so easily.

The adversarial conditions the child Jesus have experienced very early on – from his birth to early childhood in Egypt – strike many similarities with our situations today.

It is hoped that with this Feast of the Holy Family, we may be reawakened again with our sense of mission in bringing Jesus Christ more present especially when life is threatened, when persons are denied of justice and freedom.

May the first and second readings remind us that every relationship we have here on earth, starting in our families must always be based on our relationship with God our Father. Amen.

The other side of Christmas

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul

Thursday, Feast of St. Stephen, First Martyr, 26 December 2019

Acts 6:8-10, 7:54-59 ><)))*> ><)))*> ><)))*> Matthew 10:17-22

From The Holy Orders of St. Stephen. Seated in blue is Saul who would alter become known as Paul; at the upper right corner is Jesus Christ appearing to our first martyr of the Church.

How blessed indeed is your birth and coming to us, Lord Jesus Christ! You became like us human so we can become like you, divine!

And now, a day after we celebrated your birthday with joy, you have deepened this joy in us by being one in you, one with you in your humility and love to offer one’s self totally like our first martyr in the Church, St. Stephen.

As they were stoning Stephen, he called out, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”

Acts 7:59

You give us the spirit of love and courage, the spirit of truth and justice, the spirit of mercy and forgiveness, the spirit of self-surrender to be one with you, sweet Jesus.

Teach us to be like St. Stephen to be able to give back to you this same spirit from you as we continue to follow you amid so many forms of persecutions. Amen.

“When It Was Done” by Hugo Montenegro (1970)

The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Music, 17 November 2019

Photo by Johannes Plenio on Pexels.com

Today’s gospel speaks about the end of time, the Second Coming of Jesus Christ when he predicted the fall of Jerusalem and destruction of its Temple in 70 A.D.

Every coming of Jesus Christ is a day of judgment and salvation, a call to love, love, and love.

When Jesus comes again at the end of time, he won’t be asking us how much money we have but how much do we share?

He won’t be asking us what car do we drive but how we move people with our kindness and warmth?

Jesus will not ask us those questions we are so preoccupied in this life but instead ask us the basic question we have always avoided answering, “how much do you love”?

Everything follows from that question because only those who truly love are the ones willing to suffer and sacrifice, even give life so others may live.

And that is why we have chosen this very poetic song, When It Was Done by the famed American composer Jimmy Webb in 1969 and first recorded by Winter Wanderley that same year.

There are other artists who have covered this beautiful song but Hugo Montenegro’s version is the best, giving it a more ethereal quality despite its poignant character.

It is a story of a man’s love presumably to a very lovely woman he never had the chance to express his feelings because she had been taken by somebody else.

If I could bind your mind to mine in
time, to keep you from that world of his
If I could change the strangers in
your kind, then I’d know where your soul is
Then I’d know what song I’d have to
sing, to touch that chord within you
Then I would weave such wondrous
songs, and when it was done, I’d win you
If I could stand with the stars on
either hand, and say girl this ain’t the answer
If I had been where you’re going, but then I’ll never be no dancer
If I was I’d know what step to take, and laugh at what had freed me
And smash the great wall down girl,
and when it was done, you’d need me

Too late… but the gentleman pins his hopes to the end of time when probably on judgment day he could have the chance to finally have that lovely woman.

If I can face the fate that waits to cast me into shambles
And sit across the velvet boards from God then I would gamble
And if I could,
I’d know what chance to take and before the devil sold you
I’d bet my soul against the stars, and when it as done, I’d hold you

Of course, it is all wishful thinking. And that is why – “when all was done” – there’s no more going back because it is judgement day. So let’s do whatever good we can in the here and now where Christ comes again.

Meanwhile, enjoy this lovely piece and shower your loved ones with all the love you now have.

How much do you love?

The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul

Week XXXIII-C, 17 November 2019

Malaci 3:19-20 ><}}}*> 2 Thessalonians 3:7-12 ><}}}*> Luke 21:5-19

The Wailing Wall of Jerusalem Temple, May 2019.

We are now at the penultimate Sunday of the year as Jesus continues to summarize his teachings today at the Temple area in Jerusalem about his final coming at the end of time.

While some people were speaking about how the temple was adorned with costly stones and votive offerings, Jesus said, “All that you see here — the days will come when there will not be left a stone upon another stone that will not be thrown down.” Then they asked him, “Teacher, when will this happen? And what sign will there be when all these things are about to happen?” He answered, “See that you not be deceived… “

Luke 21:5-8

On the surface, Jesus seemed like to be a “kill joy” in making those bold assertions about the coming destruction of the Temple while everybody was admiring it. But notice how the people reacted: instead of being worried, they asked when it would happen and what would be the warning signs before it takes place as if it is just an ordinary thing!

“Wala lang…” as the young would say these days. Nothing, duh…?

View of Jerusalem from the Church of Dominus Flevit where Jesus wept upon seeing the city from the Mount of Olives.

St. Luke tells us that before Jesus entered Jerusalem, “he wept over it” at the thought that it would be destroyed and that its enemies would not “leave one stone upon another” (Lk.19: 41-44).

If there is anyone deeply hurt and saddened with the Temple’s destruction, it is not other than Jesus Christ our Lord. He certainly shared the people’s admiration for the Temple which he had also claimed as “my Father’s house” (Lk.2:49) when he was accidentally left behind there by Mary and Joseph when he was 12 years old.

Imagine what Jesus must have felt when he spoke of the destruction of the Temple which is the heart of Jerusalem, the jewel of the city, and most of all, the sign of God’s presence among his chosen people!

There must be something deeper with his warning words of the Temple’s destruction that pertains not only to his people at that time but also to us today.

Wailing Wall of Jerusalem, may 2019.

For the Jews at that time, the destruction of the Temple is the end of the world, the signal of the apocalypse. More than a catastrophe involving the destruction of buildings and almost everything including life, it is judgment day that must not be taken lightly.

It is a day calling for conversion as the prophet Malachi in the first reading reminds us that every coming of God is a day of judgment and salvation.

Lo, the day is coming, blazing like an oven, when all the proud and all evildoers will be stubble, and the day that is coming will set them on fire… But for you who fear my name, there will arise the sun of justice with its healing rays.

Malachi 3:19-20

Christ had already come and will come again.

This was his promise and this is what he meant at the cleansing of the temple, “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up” (Jn.2:19). At his Passion, Death, and Resurrection, Jesus Christ had replaced the old Temple worship with himself!

This is what we celebrate in every Holy Mass, God’s coming to us in Jesus Christ his Son.

Jesus comes in every here and now, and his every coming is a process of destroying our old temple of self to give rise to a new temple in Christ. Our concern need not be about a future date of his Second Coming or specific signs of its fulfillment.

Every day Jesus comes again and the challenge is for us to live authentically as Christians daily and not be bothered about the future. He warns us not to be deceived by all of these apocalyptic predictions and statements.

The key word is conversion, of living in the present. Jesus tells us so many things that can be very frightening and scary because what he wants us to do in preparation for his Second Coming is to love, love, and love.

And to love is to always suffer in Christ, with Christ.

He answered, “See that you not be deceived, for many will come in in my name… Do not follow them! When you hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified; for such things must happen first, but it will not immediately be the end.” Then he said to them, “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be powerful earthquakes, famines, and plagues from place to place; and awesome sights and mighty signs will come from the sky. Before all this happens, however, they will seize and persecute you… You will even be handed over by parents, brothers, relatives, and friends, and they will put some of you to death. You will be hated by all because of my name, but not a hair of on your head will be destroyed. By your perseverance you will secure your lives.”

Luke 21:8-19
From I.REDD.IT.

Yes, Jesus will definitely come again at the end of time. Like last Sunday, definitely, there is a resurrection of the dead and life everlasting. But both must be seen in the context of the present time, of the here and now.

When Jesus comes again to judge us at the end of time, he won’t be asking us about the things we have been so preoccupied with in this life like how much money we earn, what car do you drive, or how big is your house?

When Jesus comes again, he will be asking us questions we have always refused to answer in our daily lives like how much have you loved, how much have you sacrificed and suffered for a loved one, or how much have you shared to a stranger?

These are the questions we must be asking ourselves as we near towards the end of the year: how close have I followed Jesus Christ in his Passion and Death so I may be with him in his Resurrection?

May we imitate St. Paul in his second letter to the Thessalonians today to faithfully and calmly fulfill our daily tasks in this life, avoiding being idle for each day is the day of the Lord. Amen.

The beauty of love

Quiet Storm by Fr. Nick F. Lalog II, 07 November 2019

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Love can never be defined because it is a reality that cannot be restricted to certain parameters unlike other words or virtues or concepts for that matter.

The most we can do about love is describe it.

And, live it — as St. Paul has been telling us this week in our daily readings.

Let love be sincere; hate what is evil, hold on to what is good; love one another with mutual affection; anticipate one another in showing honor.

Romans 12:9-10
Photo by Ms. Jo Villafuerte, Atok, Benguet, 01 September 2019.

There lies the beauty of love, in being sincere, being true.

Not fake as we know and must have experienced somehow.

Sincere literally means “without plaster” that came from two Latin terms, sin for without and cero for plaster.

In ancient Rome, good sculptures were highly prized, must be “sin cero” – no plaster and purely carved out from wood or stone. Like in the usual practice today, some sculptors “fake” their work with plasters (masilya) to cover uneven surface or disfigured portion that eventually wears out.

To love sincerely means loving like Jesus without strings attached, not expecting anything in return.

But, how can we love sincerely when others are so untrue with their love to us? How can we hate evil and hold on to what is good when people continue to hurt us, or oblivious to their wrongdoing and sins? Most of all, how can we anticipate one another with honor when nobody seems respectable at all these days?

It is always difficult to love because it is also difficult to be true when everything is artificial these days.

And that makes love beautiful not only because it is true but it is something we assert and insist despite the many evils around us.

Violets in our old sacristy, 2016.

Love becomes more beautiful when it is hurt and rejected, continuing to love, doing good and showing kindness even if others are not true because it is only then in pains and sufferings when more love is born and summoned from within us.

The more tears we shed, the more love flows to clean the mess.

Love never runs out, never dries up like a well or a river. It is the greatest virtue and gift we can have as St. Paul tells us in another letter because in the end, only love remains as it is from God who is Love himself.

When our love is true, no matter how untrue are the people around us, for as long as we love in Christ, the more we are able to love, the more love we have to share and give. The more we love, the more love we receive; withhold love, keep love to yourself, that is when you lose love.

Photo by Mr. Chester Ocampo, multi-media artist, and teacher (October 2019).

Brothers and sisters: owe nothing to anyone, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.

Romans 13:8

During his last supper, Jesus mentioned to his Apostles about his new commandment of loving each other as “I have loved you”.

Though other ancient sages have taught about love or similar attitudes especially in the East long before Jesus Christ’s coming, his commandment was new because it is a love rooted in God. More than a moral prescription or a code of conduct as seen in other religions and cultures, Christian love is so unique because it is rooted in God who is love himself.

Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI’s first encyclical issued on Christmas 2005.

Love is the only thing asked of us by God; hence, any failure to love is always a sin.

How sad that in this age of affluence and sophistication in terms of technology and knowledge, men and women are getting more isolated and alienated, giving rise to hosts of mental illnesses that lead into rising incidence of suicides worldwide.

One usual complaint of many people, young and old alike, is the lack of love. They always ask “where is the love?” even in the midst of every relationship that have become transactional in nature, forgetting the human face longing for affection, crying inside, alone.

Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another because it is love that defines us; without love, we are nothing.

To live is essentially to love.

If you have love in your heart, you have been blessed by God; If you have been loved, you have been touched by God.

Author unknown

Love and let someone be touched by God today!

Photo by Dra. Mai B. Dela Pena, Holy Land, 2016.

When “I-O-U” means “I love you”

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul

Wednesday, Week XXXI, Year I, 06 November 2019

Romans 13:8-10 ><)))*> ><)))*> ><)))*> Luke 14:25-33

Photo by Mr. Jim Marpa, market in Carigara, Leyte, September 2019.

Glory and praise to you, O God, for this Wednesday!

Your words through St. Paul today are very encouraging and reassuring as well.

Brothers and sisters: owe nothing to anyone, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.

Romans 13:8

How sad, O Lord, that these days, one of the cries and questions we either hear or ask is “where is the love?”.

Even in our personal relationships, we have forgotten love and kindness, mercy and forgiveness, always insisting on the letters of the laws disregarding the human face crying for help, crying in pain. 

We have become so materialistic and legalistic, going into the details and other nitty-gritty in life forgetting the warmth of a human face, of a person.

It is love that defines who we are; without love, we are nothing! 

Love speaks well of you, O Lord our God whom we believe in; without love, then, we have become monsters and Antichrists! 

In the midst of our many transactions today, let us keep in mind to “owe nothing to anyone except to love one another”!

As I start this day, fill me with your Holy Spirit to cleanse and purify me with your breath, with your life, with your joy. Empty me of my pride, fears, insecurities and replace these with your humility, justice and love.

Help me renounce things that I am supposed to own yet possess me in reality so that only you, Jesus, always you, Jesus whom I shall only have and share. Amen.

Love that is sincere

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul

Tuesday, Week XXXI, Year I, 05 November 2019

Romans 12:5-16 ><)))*> ><)))*> ><)))*> Luke 14:15-24

Photo by Mr. Chester Ocampo, October 2019.

Lord Jesus Christ, I come to you in darkness, desolate and sad with so much pains and fears. And anger.

You are the only one I can turn to, Lord.

You alone are the one who can heal me and console me.

You alone can fill me with life and love.

Like the psalmist, it is only in you, O Lord, can I find peace.

Help me to respond to St. Paul’s call today:

Brothers and sisters: Let love be sincere; hate what is evil, hold on to what is good; love one another with mutual affection; anticipate one another in showing honor.

Romans 12:9-10

How can our love be sincere and not hate evil or even show honor to those who continue to do evil against us?

O sweet Jesus, give us the courage to come to your “banquet”; enable us to let go of our many excuses like those you have invited to your banquet.

It is only in communing in you, in being with you can our love be sincere, Lord, when we are able to disarm ourselves of our doubts and anxieties, fears and hatred to receive you and share you with others. Amen.

“Never Existed Before” by Minnie Riperton (1979)

The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Music, 03 November 2019

My cousin Joyce Pollard-Lopez with Tony during their honeymoon 40 years ago in Greece, still together and very much in love with each other!

It’s the end of a long weekend of bonding and prayers for the All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day that ushered in the penultimate month of every year that is November.

Let us not forget that on these days dedicated for our departed loved ones, we are also reminded to remember more of God and those people he sends us to experience his immense love for us.

They are the people who have profoundly changed us into who we are today, that made us live like we never existed before…

So you ask me what do I see
When I look in your eyes
I see things that have never existed before
Shall I tell you all that I find
In those beautiful eyes I can try
But it never existed before
The silvery moon… a walk in the park
The tunnel of love… a kiss in the dark
The light of the stars… the clouds in the sky
The fireworks on the fourth of july
And you ask me what do I hear
When you whisper my name
Music plays that has never existed before
Oh, and I don’t know why
But it’s there just the same
And it’s plain that it never existed before
The song of the rain the flowers in spring
The wind in the willow trees murmuring
The laughter that falls the children at play
Like church bells that call all the people to pray
So you ask me why do I glow
Well, I think you should know
I’m in love and I never existed before

Minnie Riperton co-wrote this song released in May 9, 1979 as part of her fifth and final album called Minnie.

Two months later, Minnie died of cancer at the age of 31.

Never Existed Before speaks so well of how Minnie had experienced the great love of her husband Richard Rudolph especially in her long struggle against cancer.

The song leaves no trace of her great sufferings as Minnie herself was filled with joy by actively working for her advocacies in cancer prevention and research.

Beautiful voice, beautiful woman, and beautiful song.

Just like Zacchaeus.

He only had one desire – to see Jesus who surprised him by coming into his house as a guest!

It is a story of faith, no matter how little it may be for as long as there is that desire for God.

Jesus comes first in our hearts, to those who truly seek him in their hearts.

And the mark of being saved and loved by Jesus is to be filled with joy like Zacchaeus who promised to change his life and even repay those he had cheated.

Truly, any encounter with the Lord Jesus Christ can change us deeply to live differently, like we never existed before.

“Love On a Two Way Street” by The Moments (1968)

The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Music, 27 October 2019

Photo by d0n mil0 on Pexels.com

We have reflected last week that prayer is an expression of our faith by citing Dione Warwick’s 1967 hit, “I Say a Little Prayer”.

When there is faith expressed in prayer, there is also love.

And when there are faith, prayer and love, then we have a relationship like family and friends, and community.

Today in our gospel, Jesus tells us the right attitude we must have in maintaining our relationships, not only with him but also with others.

Jesus addressed this parable to those who were convinced of their own righteousness and despised everyone else. “Two people went up to the temple area to pray; one was a Pharisee and the other was a tax collector. The Pharisee took up his position and spoke this prayer to himself, ‘O God, thank that I am not like the rest of humanity – greedy, dishonest, adulterous – or even like this tax collector.’ But the tax collector stood off at a distance and would not even raise his eyes to heaven but beat his breast and prayed, ‘O God, be merciful to me, a sinner.’ I tell you, the latter went home justified, not the former.”

Luke 18:9-11, 13-14

From Dione Warwick’s 1967 “I Say a Little Prayer”, we move to the following year when Sylvia Robinson and Bert Keyes composed Love on a Two-Way Street recorded by The Moments as a filler for their 1968 album Not on the Outside, But the Inside, Strong!

It did not fare well in the charts and was released again as a single in 1970 when it spent five weeks at number one on Billboard’s Soul Singles chart. It become one of the greatest R&B song of that year that was later covered by other artists.

In 1981, 14-year-old Staci Lattisaw did a cover of the song that became so popular that others have thought it as her original.

But with all due respect to Staci, I have also always felt her version very cheesy that I prefer the originals singing it because they give more character and soul to the song.

I found love on a two way street and lost it on a lonely highway
Love on a two way street and lost it on a lonely highway

There was no specific experience behind the composition of Love on a Two-Way Street except that it was just a product of a play on words and poetry by Robinson supported by Keyes’ music.

The moment we become convinced of our righteousness that we despise everyone else (cf. Lk.18:9), then we shut ourselves in and leave no space for others even God.

Photo by Alex Powell on Pexels.com

Love as a two-way street based on today’s parable by Jesus requires three attitudes so our relationships would mature and grow deeper: a sense of sinfulness, self-surrender, and self-offering.

No love and faith would ever grow on a lonely highway, with no one else to relate with. That’s when we stop communicating and relating until we break up with others and end up alone and isolated.

That is when we become a “lonely highway” with nobody else but I, me, and myself.

Go back to the two-way street of God and others.

Though crowded with some traffic jams, there is always a space for everyone.




When Jesus speaks

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul

Thursday, Week XXIX, Year I, 24 October 2019

Romans 6:19-23 ><)))*> ><)))*> ><)))*> Luke 12:49-53

The late Joey Velasco at work. From Google.

As I prayed today’s gospel, Lord Jesus, I remembered the late painter Joey Velasco who is best known for his “Hapag ng Pag-Asa”.

Joey portrayed you in a very unique way that is very disturbing, even harsh just like the way you spoke in today’s gospel.

Jesus said to his disciples: “I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already blazing! There is a baptism with which I must be baptized, and how great is my anguish until it is accomplished! Do you think I have come to establish peace on the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division.”

Luke 12:49-51

Why did I feel that way, Lord?

It seems I have been so conditioned to your image of being “meek and humble”, so gentle like Isaiah’s Suffering Servant who bore all pains and insults.

But more than that imagery that we have nurtured of you like a “baby” within us, Joey’s paintings of you among the poor and suffering disturb us because we are so detached from you.

Yes, we are disturbed and even pained because we have refused to follow you closer among the poor and suffering.

So often, your words shock us and actually bring us back to life because we have actually been dead to sin and evil or the “wages of sin” according to St. Paul in our first reading today.

“That All May Be One” painting by Joey Velasco.
Photo from Google.

We are disturbed because our silence in reaching out to the poor and oppressed is more harsh than your words.

Your words are “harsh” because they are so radical in the truest sense, from the Latin radix or roots – you are shaking us down into our inner core and being to set the earth out on fire with your love!

Your words disturb us because they call us to leave our comfort zones and sidewalks to follow you right onto the dirty road of pain and suffering with the poor.

Yes, you have come Jesus to bring divisions, but not out of our petty quarrels and whims and fanaticisms.

Let us be divided for what is true and good, for what is just and fair.

Let us be divided, Lord, by choosing your side, by standing by your side at the foot of cross with the wounded and unaccepted.

Open our hearts, O Jesus, to the truest sense and meaning of your words to reawaken in us your fire and spirit of loving service for the less fortunate. Amen.