A blessed day of the hearts to you O God our loving Father!
Everybody is greeting happy Valentine’s in honor of your saint who found ways of bringing together in holy matrimony lovers forbidden by so many circumstances. On the other hand, our liturgy reminds us on this day the holiness of two brothers, St. Cyril and St. Methodius who preached the gospel among the Slavs.
All three saints showed what true love is, a love that is rooted in you expressed in their love for others. This is the love that your Son Jesus Christ had concretely showed us, to make us experience anew that we are all one, brothers and sisters in you our Father despite our different colors and beliefs.
On this day of hearts, remind us O Lord to always see with our hearts so we can be filled with awe and joy in seeing one another like the first man, saying “This one at last, is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh” (Gen.2:23). Give us also the courage of that Syrophoenician woman who came to beg Jesus to heal her daughter possessed by the devil by admitting her being a foreigner and different in race yet the same in stature as a child of God (Mk.7:28).
Like the first man and the Syrophoenician woman who saw with their hearts the other persons and Jesus, then we can destroy the walls that separate us from one another and build bridges of love that bring us together in kindness and respect.
May we always look with our hearts, O Lord Jesus, because it is only with the heart that we can truly see. Amen.Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Parokya ng San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Gov. F. Halili Ave., Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria, Bulacan.
The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Music, 10 February 2019
It is a very lovely Sunday despite the very warm weather. Perfect for listening to the music of Seawind with vocals by Fil-Am Ms. Pauline Wilson who would surely touch your heart and delight your soul with “Still in Love” from their self-titled album “Seawind” released in 1980.
How lovely to realize that after all these years, you are still loved by someone you have loved. Exactly the kind of love of Jesus Christ to us all. In the gospel today, we find Jesus calling His first apostles while preaching by the shores of Lake Gennesaret after being rejected at their synagogue in Nazareth. That is how true and faithful Jesus is with His mission to reach out to everyone proclaiming His good news of salvation. Jesus is the only one who would always still be in love with us no matter how often we turn away from Him or reject Him.
Are you still in love with someone special? Or with Jesus?
Rejoice because most likely, you are still loved by that someone.
For the past three weeks we have seen how Luke had been true to his intent of writing in an “orderly sequence” the events in the life of Jesus Christ so we may realize the “certainty of the teachings” handed down to us by the apostles (Lk.1:3-4, Jan. 28). Taking off from the scene at the Nazareth synagogue, Luke showed us how Jesus is the “word who became flesh” when He told the people, “Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing” (Lk.4:21). And like those people in the synagogue, we too are so amazed with the words of Jesus but likewise disturbed, even mad when He hits a soft spot within us. That is how Jesus does His mission, always inviting us to listen and act on His word that is fulfilled in the “today” like in the calling of the first four apostles, the brothers Simon and Andrew, James and John. After driving Him out of their synagogue, Jesus went to preach to the crowd who followed Him along the shores of Gennesaret.
While the crowd was pressing in on Jesus and listening to the word of God, he was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret. He saw two boats there alongside the lake; the fishermen had disembarked and were washing their nets. Getting into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, he asked him to put out a short distance from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat (Lk.5:1-3).
What a lovely sight to behold, my dear readers, of Jesus Christ borrowing the boat of Simon to preach to the people. Imagine the Son of God, through whom everything was created, borrowing the boat of Peter? Imagine how that boat of Simon must have looked like. It must be so ordinary and most likely, even with some holes with nothing so outstanding – just like us! Yet, here is the King of kings borrowing that boat from Simon. Luke is showing us here a “parable in action” of how the Gospel is to be preached to all people with no exception. It is a beautiful imagery of the Church gathered around our Lord and Master with Simon – like us – in supporting role. Today, it is the boat of Simon being borrowed but later on, it would be his voice, his total self that Jesus would borrow, very similar with us too.
After he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water and lower your nets for a catch.” Simon said in reply, “Master, we have worked hard all night and have caught nothing, but at your command I will lower the nets.” When they had done this, they caught a great number of fish and their nets were tearing. When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at the knees of Jesus and said, “Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.” Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.” When they brought their boats to the shore, they left everything and followed him (Lk.5:4-6,8,10-11).
This is the climax not only of our gospel scene today but also of the whole series these three Sundays that started on a day of rest inside the synagogue of Nazareth when Jesus came to proclaim the word of God. The actualizing power of the word of Jesus Christ fulfilled in every “today” when proclaimed and heard and accepted. See how Simon was filled with fear that he fell into his knees after seeing the bountiful catch after obeying the words of Jesus, “Master, we have worked hard all night and have caught nothing, but at your command I will lower the nets.” Of course, the fish is always in the sea; the key to their great catch was the presence of Jesus Christ. It is the same with our own lives when we work so hard in our jobs or career and in our studies and other pursuits but we are still left empty. But after finding Jesus, we are so overwhelmed with so much blessings not really in material form but something more deeper and lasting. The word of God is His very presence and its effect is always in the here and now, not later. Like the other Sunday, we said it is not enough to enter the church but we enter the person of Jesus Christ. And the moment we enter Jesus, we then become like Simon, filled with His presence that we no longer address Christ as Master or Teacher but also Lord. Like Simon, we also experience a deepening in our recognition and relationship with Jesus: at first, we relate to Him more as a Master and Teacher but later, we realize that He alone is our Lord.
See how by placing the miraculous catch, the call of Simon and his companions, and their response at the beginning, Luke is teaching us the spirit that must guide us in proclaiming and listening to the Gospel Jesus Christ. In these three Sundays, we have seen Jesus Christ as the central figure for He alone is our Master and Lord. He alone is the one calling us all to be fishers of men and to follow Him means to leave everything behind like Simon and company.
Here lies our problem today when we forget Jesus our Master and Lord. So many times we in the Church, especially us priests and those in the hierarchy as well as some laypeople forget Jesus, usurping His Lordship that we speak and act like God. Luke reminds us in this scene at the Gennesaret that we do not replace Christ! In the first place, remember that people come for Jesus in the first place and only Him, always Him whom we must share to everyone. How sad that so often, consciously or unconsciously, some priests create cults around their very selves, we become the standard of everything, we claim everything that people look up to us more than to Christ. Like Simon who would be called as Peter later, our job is to lend our boat and our voice to Jesus and not to replace Him. Like the prophet Isaiah, we are being sent forth by the Lord to bring Him among people, to make Him present among them. As Paul explained also these past three weeks in his first letter to the Corinthians, the Church is the living body of Christ that we all build together. There is the diversity of graces, gifts, and ministries that come from the Holy Spirit to complement each other. Most of all, in proclaiming and listening to the word of God, there must always be love for without it, nothing would have value at all. And that alone proves to us the centrality of Jesus Christ who alone is our Master and Lord, who calls us despite our many defects like Simon. Jesus alone is the one we must love and serve, His very person and not only His call and teachings. A blessed week to you! Amen. Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Parokya ng San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Gov. F. Halili Ave., Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria, Bulacan.
Photo by Mr. Raffy Tima of GMA-7 News, Sampaloc Cove in Subic, Zambales, 20 January 2019. Used with permission.
The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Music, 03 February 2019
As I was telling you in my last blog, we had a unique weekend yesterday when we celebrated the Feast of the Presentation of the Child Jesus in the Temple because its gospel reading complements our gospel this Sunday. Recall how yesterday we have heard Simeon telling Mary the Mother of Jesus, “Behold, this child is destined for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be contradicted – and you yourself a sword will pierce you – so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed” (Lk.2:34-35). Today in our gospel we have seen the fulfillment of Simeon’s prophecy of Jesus being a sign of contradiction when people at their synagogue were amazed at His “gracious words” in proclaiming the word of God on a Sabbath. Then suddenly, the same people became skeptical of Him, wondering where or how He got such wisdom, asking “is he not the son of Joseph the carpenter?” This deteriorated more when the people became furious of Jesus, trying to hurl Him down headlong a ravine after He had explained to them the meaning of the word of God that revealed their hypocrisies.
So many times we go through the same experiences like Jesus in His own hometown when family and relatives and friends would speak highly of us but later put us down with their gossips and nasty words. Like Jesus when we try to be true and just with everyone, there are those would feel insecure that they would backstab us and even worse, betray us like Judas to Jesus. These are all a part of our being a prophet like Jesus Christ. A prophet is more than being a spokesman of God but someone who makes the word of God happen and fulfilled in every here and now like Jesus declaring in the synagogue on that Sabbath day, “Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing” (Lk.4:21). Sometimes, the more we try to truly love, the more we try to truly care and be kind with others, the more we are maligned and disliked by others. Indeed, no prophet is accepted in his own native place.
And that is why I remembered this beautiful song originally sang and recorded in 1970 by the Chicago soul family group called the Five Stairsteps. This song was originally meant to be the B-side of the Five Stairsteps’ version of another song but due to its meaningful and soothing message of hope and love, it became an instant hit at that time. There have been so many versions of this song that has become timeless as it assures everyone in every generation of how things would get better despite the many obstacles and setback in life. It is the very same assurance of God to us all who try to follow His Son Jesus Christ in being a sign of contradiction in this world where the norm nowadays is selfishness and self-centeredness masquerading as love and service. A blessed Sunday to you!
You are the truest lover of all… so “nakaka-in-love” and so “kilig” as we say. You are so undeniably real, so personal, always my loving Dad, the only one who truly knows me and would always do things just to let me rest and have a break from all my worries and burdens in life.
As I prayed today’s readings, I could feel your strong presence that made me wonder what the author of the Letter to the Hebrews must have experienced when he wrote “God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love you have demonstrated for his name by having served and continuing to serve the holy ones” (6:10).
What he had written has always been true. So many among us at this very moment or past days are feeling so low, crying in silence, grappling with anger within while bearing all the pains of the continuing lack of love and respect, kindness and concern, even civility by some of those around us who feel so entitled in this world. Then out of nowhere, you are suddenly here beside me, coming like a lover, embracing me, hugging me, or simply touching me softly or just tenderly glancing at me full of love and affirmations.
Sometimes like the Twelve we get so tired and hungry following Jesus that we would pick the heads of the grain while passing through a field on the Sabbath when the holier-than-thou people around us would object like the Pharisees saying that is unlawful to do on a Sabbath (Mk.2:23-24). But Jesus would readily defend us because you are “not unjust so as to overlook our work and the love we have demonstrated for your name by having served and continuing to serve the holy ones” (6:10).
Thank you, dear God. Thank you. Help us to persevere in doing what is good in your sight, in fulfilling your will no matter how difficult it may be. Let us never doubt that you can never be outdone in kindness and generosity. Amen.Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Parokya ng San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Gov. F. Halili Ave., Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria, Bulacan.
Photo from Google. During my prayer period, I remembered the song “Like a Lover” that partly inspired me in writing this prayer. Good morning vibes and hope you love it!
It is still Christmas this Sunday here in the Philippines as we celebrate today the Feast of the Child Jesus known as Señor Sto. Niño. The feast reminds us of the most central teaching of Jesus Christ which is to be like a child for He said that “unless you become like children, you shall never inherit the kingdom of heaven.”
One distinct quality of being a child like Jesus Christ is to be always filled with love for everyone. In this age of modern technologies, how sad that we have become more technical than personal that slowly, real love has become so rare among us. Too often love is not only abused and misused but also misunderstood as mere feelings alone. No! Love is always a decision, a choice we make after the interplay of our mind and heart that leads to growth and maturity. And the more we stand on that decision and choice to love, the more it is deepened and perfected in God. So often, love is symbolized by the heart but its truest meaning can only be found in the great sign of the Cross of Jesus where we can find the perfect expression of Christian “childlikeness” and Christian maturity when we choose whatever is more painful and more difficult because we have found someone to love more than our self.
This is the child-like love that Dianne Reeves tells us in her 1987 crossover hit “Better Days” also known as the “Grandma Song” where she spoke of her grandmother not only teaching her but making her experience love that leads to better days. We find in the song her grandmother somehow portraying to us what we have said as Christian “childlikeness” and Christian maturity so that in the end, she peacefully joined God because she had always been faithful and loving as a child of the Father like Christ. That is also the challenge to us of this Feast of the Sto. Niño: to remain children of God even as adults like Jesus Christ. Or Dianne’s grandmother. If only we can be child-like like Jesus or Dianne’s Grandma, we can be assured of better days too not only here but in eternity.
Photo by the author, Dominican Hill, Baguio City, 18 January 2019.
Sometimes when we look at our religious celebrations we get the impression that we as a people seem to be very ritualistic and even fanatics. But, on deeper examinations, we find in these feasts the expressions of our deep faith nurtured through our history and culture as a nation by God’s invisible hand. A perfect example is today’s Feast of the Sto. Nino celebrated every third Sunday of January that is proper only to our country in recognition of the important role played by the image of the Child Jesus in our Christianization almost 500 years ago. All the readings and prayers of today’s Mass are taken from Christmas Season even if we are already in the Second Sunday of Ordinary Time because the Sto. Nino is an extension of Christmas. Recall also that two weeks ago right after the Epiphany of the Lord we have celebrated the Traslacion in Quiapo featuring the adult Jesus Christ carrying the Cross more known as the Black Nazarene. They are the two most popular Christ devotions in our country that every region and province, town and barrio up to the smallest sitio has its own version of celebrating Traslacion and/or Sto. Nino. In both devotions we find the finest examples of our vibrant faith in Jesus Christ who became like us in everything except sin in order to save us, heal us, and bring us closer with one another as one big family with God as our Father. And in both devotions too, Christ calls us to continue living into our adulthood as God’s little children like Him the Sto. Nino and the Black Nazarene.
After three days of searching, Mary and Joseph found the 12 year-old child Jesus at the Temple and he said to them, “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” But they did not understand what he said to them. He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them; and his mother kept all these things in her heart. And Jesus advanced in wisdom and age and favor before God and man (Lk. 2:51-52).
From His childhood into His adulthood, Jesus remained a child of His heavenly Father and of His parents Mary and Joseph. In this scene on His finding at the temple, we again see the centrality of Christ’s teaching of remaining like a child in order to belong to the kingdom of heaven. And it was not only Him who showed it in this short account by St. Luke but also Mary and Joseph who “both did not understand” what Jesus had told them but still took care of Him very well as “He advanced in wisdom and age and favor before God and man.” Here we find the importance of love in remaining children of God as shown by the deep love among the members of the Holy Family that is rooted in the Father’s love. Notice how in this age of so much advancement in technologies that we have become more technical than personal, love has also suffered so greatly. It is not only abused and misused but most of all, misunderstood. Love has become a commodity that people think could be had simply and instantly like anything in a store or a vending machine, forgetting that love is more than a feeling but a decision we must keep. Most of all, love is a choice we make by choosing what is most painful and most difficult because true love is found only on the Cross of Christ.
This is what I am telling you at the beginning, the seemingly funny or weird flow of our celebrations after Christmas: Traslacion and then Sto. Nino that are both anchored on love of God that did not merely happen in Christ’s birth and coming but most of all in His suffering and death on the Cross. Love is often symbolized by the heart but its total meaning can only be found in the great sign of the Cross where we can find the perfect expression of Christian “childlikeness” and Christian maturity. Recall how Jesus on the Cross remained a child of the Father to whom He entrusted His total self while at the same time remained faithful to His mission, resolutely going to Jerusalem to face His fate as a matured adult. That is love when we can be tender and docile to our beloved and at the same time stand our ground to keep our promise, no matter what or how painful it could be. It is a love until the end that is always willing to share and give, never thinking of anything in return.
To be able to love like a child and remain loving as a matured adult like Jesus Christ, we need to always live in the present moment. God revealed Himself to Moses as “I AM WHO AM” while in the gospels particularly in John’s, we find Jesus always declaring the great “I AM” as the Resurrection and life, the way, the truth and the life, as well as the good shepherd and the true vine. God is love because He is always in the here and now, the present, not in the past and not in the future. See how a child always has a time to take time as it comes, one day at a time, so calmly without advance planning and thinking or greedy hoarding of time. Unlike us adults, we need planners and schedules to follow, finding or making time like a sausage to be sliced into portions to be eaten at a desired time. Kids always live in the fullness of time like a cup of milk or water that has everything that for them, any time is a time to sleep, a time to eat, a time to play. And that is why they love all the time! We adults are so pressured and stressed that even in loving others and especially God, we always bargain with time as if it can be done. We love to postpone time because we are not yet ready, even refusing to move on as we dwell with our painful past. Remember the warning of Jesus that nobody knows the time when He shall come that we must always be on guard and ready for that time by always loving God and others all the time. Recall our quotation last week that says, “For people who rush, time is fast; for people who wait, time is slow; but, for people who love, time is not.” A child of God lives in the present because he knows, like Jesus Christ, every moment is the fullness of time we must receive with gratitude because in every present moment we have everything. This is totally different from the young people’s concept of “YOLO” that is actually about living in the future now being advanced without realizing the beautiful present moment.
To be a child of God like the Senor Sto. Nino is to walk in the “great light” of Christ, our “Wonder-counselor, God-hero, Father-forever, and Prince of Peace” (Is.9:1,5) who calls us to love every moment of our lives by living in the present. May Jesus “enlighten the eyes of our hearts that we may know what is the hope that belongs to his call, what are the riches of glory in his inheritance among the holy ones” (Eph.1:18).AMEN.Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Parokya ng San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Gov. F. Halili Ave., Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria, Bulacan.
*Photo is a painting of Sto. Nino devotees by Bulakenyo artist Aris Bagtas. Used with permission.
Wednesday after Epiphany of the Lord, 09 January 2019
1 John 4:11-18///Mark 6:45-52
God our loving Father, we praise and thank you in giving us your Son Jesus Christ who taught us and showed us everything about love. He is your love, Father, as He is love. Indeed, “no one has ever seen You. Yet if we love one another in Christ, You remain in us and Your love is brought to perfection in us” (1 Jn. 4:12)
Our love is always imperfect. Only You can love us perfectly. Remind us always this truth so we stop looking for perfect love among us. Instead, keep us loving one another even in the darkness of fears and doubts of Your presence when we are so afraid we would lose everything and everyone, when we are afraid of being naked and hungry, when we are afraid of not being loved and forgiven. Let us always find Jesus Your Son amid the storms of life, like the Black Nazarene carrying His Cross, speaking to us, “Take courage, it is I, do not be afraid!” (Mk. 6:50). AMEN.Fr.Nicanor F. Lalog II, Parokya ng San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Gov. F. Halili Ave., Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria, Bulacan.
Tuesday after Epiphany of the Lord, 08 January 2019
1 John 4:7-10///Mark 6:34-44
“In this is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as expiation for our sins” (1 Jn. 4:10).
Today as we move on to new directions and new beginnings this 2019 on this first full week of work and school – when we claim to be back to “normal” in life – you remind us also Lord Jesus Christ of the nature of love: that everything is because of you because “God is love.”
As we return to the usual grind of life, teach us always Lord to feel with the people like you when you were moved with pity upon seeing the vast crowd following you. Most of all, teach us Lord that love is being a food myself for others to receive, to share with. Yes, this is precisely what you meant when you told your disciples in the wilderness to “give the crowd some food yourselves” (Mk.6:37). Whenever we share food and drinks to others, when we offer them to partake of our meals, we actually share ourselves with them. That is the meaning of your sacred meal, the Eucharist. And that is why such meal is also called agape, the highest form of love when nothing is expected in return.
Give us the grace O Lord this New Year to be more loving, more caring with others by giving more of ourselves to others. AMEN. Fr.Nicanor F. Lalog II, Parokya ng San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Gov. F. Halili Ave., Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria, Bulacan.
One of my favorite sayings came from the waiting the room of our former family dentist Dr. Eddie Calalec of Meycauyan, Bulacan that says, “Time is fast for those who rush; Time is slow for those who wait; but, Time is NOT for those who love.” We all complain of time being so fast. Everybody is always in a hurry. According to an elderly man I have talked to a couple of years ago, time moves so fast these days because people are always busy. He explained that before, time was so slow because after farming earlier that day, they just waited for sunset and for time of harvest. Life was so laid back at that time that truly time was so slow. But life is not about time being fast or slow but of love. The Church rightly celebrates today not the New Year which is time; remember that we celebrated the new year in the Church calendar last first Sunday of Advent. Today we are celebrating the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God to celebrate her great love for Jesus that we hope to emulate this 2019.
Mary embodies the whole meaning of that saying “TIME is not for those who love” as she presents to us not only the first but the perfect disciple of Jesus who loves Him so much. St. Paul beautifully expressed in the second reading when time is not because of love which is “the fullness of time” (Gal.4:4). When we love, there is fullness of time as if everything is suspended in animation, everything is frozen. Every man who had courted any woman knows this very well of how time freezes when conversing with a beloved, not realizing the passing of time. Old couples experience the same thing and so are good friends who could “waste” time together doing nothing, saying nothing to one another that after a few hours are all surprised at how long we have been together. Time and space cease to bound people who truly love. And that is why“if you want to be eternal, then, love” like God.
People who love are always in haste not to do things or accomplish tasks but to be with their loved ones. Luke tells us how “The shepherds went in haste to Bethlehem and found Mary and Joseph, and the infant lying in the manger” (Lk.2:16) after a heavenly host of angels proclaimed to them the good news of the birth of Jesus Christ. We also heard from Luke during our Simbang Gabi after the annunciation of the birth of Jesus when “Mary set out and travelled to the hill country in haste to a town of Judah” (Lk.1: 39). This is the kind of haste – to come quickly to meet God, to be with a beloved, dear one – that is slowly fading away among us in this crazy world always on a mad race. Everybody is rushing, running around, multitasking to accomplish so much that deplete us of energy even of time to be with our loved ones. Many parents are guilty of this who turn nights into days making money to send their kids into expensive schools because of love; yet, when you ask them to attend a school meeting, to get the card of their children, they send the grandparents or nannies because they are busy at work. More so with God as seen in the steady decrease of Mass attendance with people coming in late and then rushing to leave for meals and other things. And admittedly, this is partly because so many priests are also in a rush to celebrate more masses and sacraments sadly for the wrong reasons and most of all, many of us could not share Jesus in homilies because we could not even come to Him for prayers. It is simply a case of lack of any concern for God despite professions of faith or belief in Him. Would we be like the shepherds if a host of angels appear tonight or today to tell us where Jesus Christ is? Would we go in haste to find God, to meet God? Would we be in haste to be with our loved ones, really?
In this age of instant connections and social media via modern communications, actual meetings and coming together person to person have been replaced by mediated interactions. We hardly experience anyone’s presence anymore that relationships have become superficial without any depths and meaning at all. There is always the TV and the gadgets to entertain everyone, forgetting the tremendous blessing of everyone’s presence. In the first reading we heard how God instructed Moses and Aaron to bless the people whenever they gather because every human presence is a blessing, a gift or a present. And the highest blessing we can all have is the presence of God among us in Christ Jesus! Mary as the Mother of Jesus is teaching us today that God is always present within us and with one another. Let us not waste our time rushing for so many things that we only realize the giftedness of everyone most especially of our very selves when we are already old or sick. Mary as the Mother of God and our Mother too shows us the need to always be in haste to meet Jesus right here inside us for He is here to stay with us, to be with us for the next 365 days of 2019, come rain or shine, no matter what. AMEN. Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Parokya ng San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Gov. F. Halili Ave., Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria, Bulacan.
Photo of another painting by Bulakenyo visual artist Aris Bagtas depicting Mary with the child Jesus in lively colors, going out perhaps to meet the rainy new year. Used with permission.
lordmychef.com 