Category: love

More than natural, love is supernatural & divine

The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle C, 23 February 2025
1 Samuel 26:2, 7-9, 12-13, 22-23 ><)))*> 1 Corinthians 15:45-49 ><)))*> Luke 6:27-38
Photo by author Santisima Trinidad Parish, Malolos City, 18 March 2023.

We continue this Sunday Jesus Christ’s Sermon on the Plain with his teachings getting more disturbing, twice telling us to love our enemies. Yes, you heard it right…

Jesus said to his disciples: “To you who hear I say, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse, pray for those who mistreat you… But rather, love your enemies and do good to them, and lend expecting nothing back; then your reward will be great and you will be children of the Most High, for he himself is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful” (Luke 6:27-28, 35-36).

See that after selecting Twelve from among his many disciples, Jesus will be asking more from his followers that includes us today. As we have reflected last Sunday with the four woes of Christ, there is no middle ground in being a Christian. We have to make a decision, to choose Jesus always.

This Sunday, Jesus shows us it is no simple choice we have to make because loving our enemies is easier said than done.

In this age of social media when everything is blown out of proportion with everyone dragged even into the quarrels and infidelities among celebrities, the more it is difficult to avoid making enemies with many of us easily taking sides in the petty issues that are trending.

It is the same thing with our way of loving these days with how easy it is to love people who love us too. Anyone can be so nice to people nice also to them as it comes naturally.

But real love is not really that natural.

True love as Jesus had shown us on the Cross is more than the natural flow of things. It is always supernatural, beyond the natural flow of emotions. Jesus is asking us that we go beyond what comes naturally especially with love because love is a decision, a fruit of the meeting of mind and of heart, a oneness within every person that is also a sure sign of one’s maturity, spirituality.

Loving our enemies, doing good on those who do bad against us is love of the highest order. It is not weakness but actually a strength for no weakling can muster the courage and clarity to be loving with one’s enemies.

Loving our enemies is knowing better than the rest on the repercussions, the intricacies and complexities of being adamant and insistent.

This is the beautiful example shown by David in the first reading: instead of delivering into his hands King Saul he had found sleeping unguarded inside a cave while pursuing him and his men, David spared his life out of respect for God who anointed Saul as King of Israel.

See also the practicality of Jesus in teaching us to love our enemies and those who do us bad: if you only love or care or be kind with those who love and care and are kind to us, then it is not real love and caring and kindness at all you are giving. Jesus pointed out that even criminals and bad people do it. If that is the case, then, we are no different from them if we love only those who love us!

Fatima University students spent a Sunday afternoon of prayers and fun with kids with cerebral palsy and their families, 09 February 2025.

True love, real love is never transactional, never a deal nor an agreement in this age of many marriages punctuated with pre-nuptials. True love is freely given without any reservations, no ifs nor buts. As St. Mother Teresa used to say, the true measure of love is to love without measure.

Love is something we fully give away, never kept. You never scrimp on love. It is always given in full. Scrimp on your love, you lose because the love you keep and withdraw is never kept nor save. In fact, a love not shared and given becomes stale. Or expired. Napapanis.

Like the things we love eating or using, love comes without any expiration date that says “best consumed before February 23, 2025.”

Love is best when freely given and shared. Once “opened” or given, no need to keep and refrigerate it. Consume it right away! Everything. No love is ever wasted. Walang sayang na pagmamahal, lahat may pinatutunguhan at binubungang mabuti.

Photo by author, Hidden Springs Resort, Calauan, Laguna, 20 February 2025.

Love is like a natural spring water, or the waterfalls that keep flowing, watering and refreshing countless tributaries, people, plants and animals. Just keep loving! Love, love, love!

At his Sermon on the Plain, Jesus clarifies that true love like his love is first of all not of natural level and flow but of supernatural nature, divine like him. Jesus emphasized this at his Last Supper, describing it as a “new commandment of love” because it is a love rooted in God not just in man.

The following Good Friday on the Cross, Jesus proved his love as true and real. Most of all, free.

We today experience that true love of Jesus even to this day because of his rising three days after his crucifixion at Easter. This is what Paul meant in the second reading that in Jesus Christ, we have become heavenly and spiritual. The love of Christ have made us like him, divine and heavenly. What a great honor we now have! For being so loved by God in Jesus Christ, we too must love truly and freely like him!

Photo from vaticannews.va.

Last month, I strongly reacted to a statement by Rappler’s Ms. Maria Ressa in her interview before a speech at the Vatican Jubilee of Journalists.

I called her “heretic” when she told her interviewer that Filipinos should “stay away from dogmas and be good” (https://lordmychef.com/2025/01/27/on-being-good-as-a-catholic/)

That night in my prayer, I felt God “disturbed” me for being so harsh and judgmental of a journalist presumably totally unaware of the meaning of “dogma” in the Church.

The following day, I got a message from the reporter who posted that story and naturally, did not like what I wrote. As days went on, I felt “disturbed” and “uneasy” with my calling her “heretic”. After three days, I edited my blog and removed the harsh word as I realized calling others with names or labels would not help at all in clarifying things especially about our faith.

Most of all, it is not the Christian way of loving others, of putting others down just to uphold our faith and beliefs. It is not love. And I felt so afraid Jesus might personally get down from his Cross to take away that harsh word I have written.

Next month, I will be turning 60 years old, a senior sixty-cent so excited with my discount card. As I reflected these days on the immense love of Jesus for me in these 60 years, 27 as his priest, I have been praying, where in my life is God asking me to love more like Christ?

Loving our enemies is not merely the people we hate, or those who have hurt us or different from us, not like us. Loving our enemies includes those darkness within us, those weaknesses we hide and cover, sins we refuse to admit or continue to justify. Many times our worst enemies are those within us, our very selves.

It is difficult. And terrifying. Loving our enemies is easier said than done. It is also disturbing but at the same time, so liberating because the more we love, the more we feel free for Christ and for others. Amen. Have a blessed, loving week ahead.

Sharing with you a video I have taken last Thursday at the Hidden Springs Resort in Laguna; the sight and scene of a waterfalls reminded me so much of God’s love that never runs out.

Praying for more understanding

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Tuesday, Sixth Week in Ordinary Time, Year I, 18 February 2025
Genesis 6:5-8; 7:1-5, 10     <*000><  +  ><000*>     Mark 8:14-21
Photo by author, Nagsasa Cove, San Antonio, Zambales, October 2024.

When he became aware of this he said to them, “Why do you conclude that it is because you have no bread? Do you not understand or comprehend? Are your hearts hardened? Do you have eyes and not see, ears and not hear? Do you still not understand?” (Mark 8:17-18, 20)

Yes,
dear Jesus,
I still do not understand;
enlighten my mind and my heart,
Jesus,
to see your light,
to find your face
among the people I meet
so I could understand more;
I still do not understand
so many things
and people, Lord Jesus,
because I have become numb
and oblivious to your presence;
worst,
I have become so complacent
with those around me
without realizing
their needs
nor situation
as I focus more on
what I have
and what I do not have. 
Cleanse my heart 
and my mind,
Jesus,
like what the Father did
to earth at the time of Noah;
wash away my many
presumptions
and prejudices
against others
so I may understand more,
stop concluding right away
until I have seen more
in order to love more
like you.
Amen.
Photo by Mr. Jay Javier, July 2024.

Tula at paalala sa araw ng mga puso

Lawiswis ng Salita ni P. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Ika-14 ng Pebrero 2025
Larawan kuha ng may-akda, Tagaytay, 17 Enero 2025.
Pansamantalang titigil
sa mga kinikilig 
pag-inog nitong daigdig
sa araw na ito 
ng mga pusong umiibig;
tiyak bibigay din
ano mang hinhin
at yumi 
ng sinomang dilag
kapag nakatanggap
ng bulaklak kanino man
magbuhat.
Ngunit 
ang masaklap tuwing
katorse ng Pebrero 
ang maraming pag-ibig
katulad na lamang ng
petsang dumaraan,
wala nang katapatan
at kadalisayan
mga magkasintahan
pag-ibig dinurumihan
isa't isa'y sinasaktan
at dinudungisan.
Pagmasdan
ating kapanahunan
pilit binibigyang katuwiran
kasalanan at kasamaan
matutunghayan saanman
mga larawan ng kataksilan
wala nang kahihiyan
ipinangangalandakan
mga kapalaluan 
sa gitna ng kapangahasang
magmaang-maangan
na wala silang kalaswaan.
Photo by Designecologist on Pexels.com
Alalahanin
at balikan tagpo sa
halamanan 
nang magkasala
una nating mga magulang
sila'y nagulantang
sa kanilang kahubaran
nabuksan murang malay
at kaisipan
nang kainin bawal na bunga
ng puno ng kaalaman 
ng mabuti at masama;
mabuti pa sila noon
nahiya at nagtago
habang ngayon
namamayagpag
sa yabang at kapalaluan
ang karamihan
kanya-kanyang rason
maraming palusot
puro baluktot
at paninindigan
2day
2morrow
4ever
nakalimutang
pag-ibig 
ay panig
sa katotohanan
hindi kasinungalingan;
ang tunay na pag-ibig
hatid ay kaayusan
hindi kaguluhan,
kapayapaan at kapanatagan
hindi takot
at kahihiyan
ang diwa
nitong Valentine's.

Remaining in Jesus

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
First Friday, Fourth Week in Ordinary Time, 07 February 2025
Hebrews 13:1-8     ><}}}}*>  +  ><}}}}*>  +  ><}}}}*>     Mark 6:14-29
Photo by Mr. Gelo Carpio Nicolas, January 2020.
Keep me faithful and true
to you,
Jesus
because 
you are 
"the same yesterday,
today, 
and forever"
(Hebrews 13:8);
it is I who forgets
all the time,
who chooses to turn away
from you and be unloving,
unkind,
unforgiving.
Forgive me, Jesus
when you tell me
"Let brotherly love continue"
(Hebrews 13:1)....
...but many times
I can't look or even consider
 each one a brother or a sister
because of our many differences.
"Do not neglect hospitality,
for through it some have unknowingly
entertained angels"
(Hebrews 13:2)...
...I think,
more than the angels
but on many occasions it was
you whom I have turned away,
Jesus because I am
so suspicious of others
who come to me for whatever
needs.
"Be mindful of prisoners
as if sharing their imprisonment,
and of the ill-treated as of yourselves,
for you are also in the body"
(Hebrews 13:3)...
I'm sorry,
Jesus for the many times
I have imprisoned others
in my narrow mind
of many biases
 and prejudices.
"Let marriage be honored
among all and the marriage bed
be kept undefiled"
(Hebrews (13:4)...
what a shame,
Jesus in our age when
marriage is no longer honored
and just taken for granted
with many couples
defiling their bed.
"Let your life be free
from love of money but
be content with what you have"
(Hebrews 13:5)...
alas!
my dearest Jesus,
save us your priests
our diocese so in love
with money,
with the rich
and powerful with whom
we are so close
and identified with,
totally neglecting
the poor and the suffering
among us with our
many excuses and alibis,
always at their beck and calls.
Yes, Jesus,
many times we feel like
Herod: bothered
only by the gospel,
bothered only of your
presence among the poor
and suffering
but so much like Herod,
we never bothered ourselves
to truly find you
and follow you.
Amen.
Photo from Wikipedia, mosaic of Jesus with Mary and John the Baptist at the Hagia Sophia in Turkey.

Pag-ibig ay kusang dumarating, di dapat hanapin

Lawiswis ng Salita ni P. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Ika-04 ng Pebrero 2025
Larawan kuha ng may-akda, Tagaytay, 17 Enero 2025.
Sampung araw 
bago sumapit 
ang Valentine's
sa akin ay lumapit
isang dalagita
nahihiyang nagtanong
bagama't ibig niyang
mabatid kung
"makakahanap po ba ako
ng lalaking magmamahal 
sa akin ng tunay
at tapat?"
Ako'y nanahimik,
ngumiti at tumingin sa
dalagitang nahihiyang
nakatungo ang ulo
sa kanyang tanong
at nang ako'y magsimulang
mangusap,
mukha niya ay bumusilak
sa tuwa sa bagong 
kaalaman sa pag-ibig
na matiyaga niyang 
sinasaliksik.
Larawan kuha ng may-akda, Atok, Benguet, 27 Disyembre 2024.
Ito ang wika ko sa dalagita:
"Ang pag-ibig,"
ay hindi hinahanap
parang gamit nakakamit
dahil ang pag-ibig
ay kusang dumarating
kaya iyong matiyagang hintayin
ikaw ang kanyang hahanapin;
tangi mong gampanin
buksang palagi iyong
puso at damdamin
dahil itong pag-ibig
ay dumarating sa mga tao
 at pagkakataong
hindi inaasahan natin;
banayad at mayumi
hindi magaspang pag-uugali
magugulat ka na lamang
ika’y kanyang natagpuan
palagi na siyang laman
 ng puso at isipan."
"Pakaingatan din naman",
wika ko sa dalagita
"itong pag-ibig ay higit pa
sa damdamin na dapat
payabungin tulad ng mga
pananim,
linangin upang lumalim
hanggang maging
isang pasya
na laging pipiliin
ano man ang sapitin
at hantungan."
Ang pag-ibig
ay parating dumarating 
ngunit kadalasan hindi
natin pansin 
kung minsan tinatanggihan,
inaayawan
dahil ang ibig ay kumabig;
darating at mananatili 
itong pag-ibig 
sa simula na ating limutin
lahat ng para sa sarili
natin.
Larawan kuha ng may-akda, Atok, Benguet, 27 Disyembre 2024.

Our deepest longings…

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Thursday, Week II in Ordinary Time, Year I, 23 January 2025
Hebrews 7:25-8:6     <*{{{{><  +  ><}}}}*>     Mark 3:7-12
Photo by author, St. Paul Spirituality Center, Pico, La Trinidad, Benguet, 06 December 2024.
Let me come to you,
Jesus, with confidence
and humility to express
to you my deepest longings
and desires,
my deepest needs
and cries you know so well
but I always deny or too shy
to tell you completely.
Though I know very well
how your death on the Cross
is the single most important event
in history for all times
and for all peoples,
I balk its realities not for lack
of faith but due to low self-esteem, 
lack of self-acceptance
that you do love me truly.

The main point of what has been said is this: we have such a high priest, who has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of Majesty in heaven, a minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle that the Lord, not man, set up. Now he has obtained so much more excellent a ministry as he is a mediator of a better covenant, enacted on better promises (Hebrews 8:1-2, 6).

Let me follow you,
Jesus like the people in
the gospel:
let me not follow you only
to the sea but even to the
Cross to be one in you,
one with you
for you alone
is truly one with me
everywhere,
all the time.
Amen.
Photo by author, Mount Olis, Atok, Benguet, 27 December 2024.

Advent & Christmas are a love story

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Simbang Gabi-6 Homily, 21 December 2024
Zephaniah 3:14-18     ><}}}*> + ><}}}*> + ><}}}*>     Luke 1:39-45
From Clergy Coaching Network, posted on Facebook 13 December 2023.

Advent and Christmas are a story of love of God’s love for us all that “He gave us His only Son.”  No wonder, it is on this blessed Season when we share gifts, and most of all, our gift of self to others. 

My youngest sister Bing works as an area manager of a Jollibee franchise in Bulacan.  A few years ago before Christmas during our family conversations over dinner, she told us of a story shared by the Jollibee manager at NLEX.  According to her story, two nuns entered their store there with some Dumagats with their driver.  Right away, the store manager noticed how the two nuns were busy “calculating” the meal they have to take until settling for the cheapest, a rice meal of shanghai rolls.  Obviously, the religious sisters have limited budget which did not escape the intuition of the lady manager who offered to treat them to a ChickenJoy meal for free.  But the nuns felt shy and refused the manager’s offer, asking her not to be bothered at all until another woman with two kids in tow interrupted them, giving them ChickenJoy buckets with extra rice enough for the religious sisters and their companions!  The woman refused to be identified and simply said that she too had noticed the nuns trying to budget their limited money that she ordered right away the food.  For her part, the kind manager treated them instead for desserts to complete their meal. 

That’s when my sister said “talagang Pasko na nga” (it’s really Christmas).

From Facebook, 10 December 2024.

Since the start of Advent, we have been advocating that we also remember on those not feeling merry and bright this Christmas for various reasons like having family problems, financial woes, grieving for loved ones, dealing with mental issues or serious sickness of a loved one (see https://lordmychef.com/2024/12/13/advent-is-journeying-like-joseph-mary-to-bring-jesus-in-darkness/).

Yesterday in our reflection on the annunciation of the birth of Christ, we said of the need for us to enter in a dialogue with others to let Christmas happen. Dialogue is not just about improving relationships with others by thinking through issues and problems but more of a way of being with others, of being present with others to experience and feel their situations, exactly what Jesus did in being human like us in everything except sin.

At the annunciation of the Lord’s birth, Mary dialogued with Gabriel unlike Zechariah who was eventually silenced in order to be open to God. True dialogue as an incarnation like Jesus with God and with others can only happen when we are convinced of God’s love for us. Mary went in haste to visit Elizabeth because she felt God’s love in her that she wanted to share it with her cousin right away.

Mary set out in those days and travelled to the hill country in haste to a town of Judah, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth (Luke 1:39).

Photo by author, Church of the Visitation, the Holy Land, May 2017.

Try imagining that scene of Mary’s Visitation of Elizabeth. What did you feel? Did you feel some sense of tenderness, of being loved, of being touched by God?

While praying over this scene as I recalled my second pilgrimage to the Holy Land when we went to the Church of Visitation, I remembered my early years in the ministry when I always felt ashamed accepting invitations for dinners because I could not bring a gift.

Maybe part of our upbringing, I have always felt inadequate coming to another home bringing nothing. That is why I keep cards and stampitas in my desk along with some chocolates so that when I visit families, I could bring a little something for them. 

It was only in 2011 after being assigned to a parish of my own when I was able to let go of this feeling of inadequacy after a parishioner told me how they deeply appreciated priests visiting them at home, sharing in their meal because they felt so blessed. That is why most of us priests are fat – we always get invited to meals and gatherings that sometimes I wonder if people really love me when they “force” me to eat more of their cholesterol-laden food and sugary desserts they serve! 

It was during these home visitations especially of the sick and for simple meals I felt “rootedness” or oneness with people, of being “a member of each family yet belonging to none” as the famous French Dominican Fr. Lacordaire said a hundred years ago about priesthood.  The more I visit families, bidden or unbidden, the more I feel the joy of my priesthood because of the family and community that I belong to. That is when I realized too that celibacy is lived in a community both of priests and laity.

For 26 years in schools and the parish and now the hospital, the more I felt Jesus present in me as a priest as I live among brother priests and lay people. Tenderness and intimacy take on a new dimension that is spiritual in nature because I don’t just touch people but am also being touched by them.  Every time they thank me, I also thank them for blessing me with their warm welcome. It is like Mary and Elizabeth during the Visitation blessed abundantly by God and still sharing that same blessing with each other. 

Photo by author, bronze statues of Mary and Elizabeth at the patio of the Church of Visitation, May 2017.

That is the meaning and significance of the Visitation: inasmuch as Christ comes to us individually, He behooves us to share Him also with others to form a community. 

Mary visited Elizabeth not merely to help her out in her pregnancy nor to confirm what Gabriel had told her but simply because she was so convinced of God’s love that she wanted to share it with her cousin. 

Mary visited Elizabeth because she felt touched by God in the Annunciation and wanted so much her cousin to be touched also by the Lord!  And indeed when Luke wrote that “When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the infant leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, cried out in a loud voice and said, ‘Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb'” (Lk.1:41-42).

Faith in Christ leads to love that moves us to bond with one another to form Christ’s body, a community of believers, a community of beloved, a community of lovers. 

After receiving Jesus, like Mary, we have to move to the Visitation and share Him with others.  To be able to do this, we must first be convinced that God loves us so much like what the Prophet Zephaniah said in the first reading and what Elizabeth told Mary in the Visitation, “Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled” (Lk.1:45).

There’s a saying, “If you have love in your heart, you have been blessed by God; if you have been loved, you have been touched by God.”

Let God touch somebody today with your visitation… believe and feel the love of Jesus! Amen.

Advent is going beyond, like a voice in the wilderness

The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Second Sunday in Advent, Cycle C, 08 December 2024
Baruch 5:1-9 ><}}}}*> Philippians 1:4-6, 8-11 ><}}}}*> Luke 3:1-6
Photo courtesy of Mr. Jilson Tio, Archdiocesan Shrine of Nuestra Señora De Guia, Ermita, Manila, 28 November 2024.

Two weeks ago I officiated the golden wedding anniversary of a friend’s parents where I said the best wedding homily is actually the couple themselves still much in love, filled with joy after 50 years as husband and wife.

“May forever pa rin,” despite all the celebrity break ups we feast on social media and the many separations happening among some couples these days. How I wish that more young people are invited to wedding anniversaries so they would aspire for lasting relationships too.

Photo by author at the Archdiocesan Shrine of Nuestra Señora De Guia, Ermita, Manila, 28 November 2024.

Of course, it is never easy – that is why there is the Sacrament of Marriage where couples pray to God and promise Him to cooperate in His grace so that until death, they would remain together in faith, hope and love that would eventually bring them to eternity.

It is the reality not only of marriage but of life itself. God calls us to a particular vocation or state in life like marriage, priesthood and religious life, or single-blessedness in order to lead us to Him in eternity.

And that is the two-fold meaning of Advent too! We are preparing not only for the first coming of Jesus at Christmas but most of all to His Second Coming at the end of time (parousia). This is the second Sunday in Advent so beautifully presented by Luke.

In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Iturea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias was tetrarch of Abilene, during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the desert (Luke 3:1-2).

Photo by author, Second Sunday Advent 2022, BED Chapel, Our Lady of Fatima University, Valenzuela City.

First we notice is Luke’s solemn account of how the Son of God Who is eternal entered through our own time that is temporal. If Luke were to write his gospel today, maybe he would simply change the names above into BBM and Sara Duterte, with Pope Francis and Cardinal Advincula representing the Church then spice it with some showbiz tidbits or whatever is trending in social media.

But, here also is the artistry of Luke when he segued to John the Baptist to direct our thoughts to the Second Coming of Christ without losing sight of the present moment, of the here and now.

John went throughout the whole region of the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, as it is written in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah: A voice of one crying out in the desert: “Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths. Every valley shall be filled and every mountain and hill shall be made low. The winding roads shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth, and all flesh shall see the salvation of God” (Luke 3:3-6).

“St. John the Baptist Preaching in the Wilderness” by German painter Anton Raphael Mengs (1728-1779) from commons.wikimedia.org.

Though John is the main character in today’s gospel and next Sunday, Luke is actually focused on Jesus Christ who had come, would come again, and continues to come to us today. All four evangelists were clear about John as secondary only to Jesus as His precursor.

However, only Luke of the four evangelists cited the Prophet Isaiah extensively regarding John’s unique mission with Christ to stress this future aspect of Advent, skipping only that part “the glory of the Lord shall be revealed” by closing it at “all flesh shall see the salvation of God” in Isaiah 40:3-5.

Luke is teaching us that Advent is looking beyond Christ’s birth but also to His Easter and most of all, to His Second Coming now happening.

For Luke, to be like John in the wilderness is for us to be bold and daring in opening ourselves to God in Jesus Christ amid the turmoils of our time like wars and pandemic, calamities and upheavals. No matter how much pains and disappointments we have had this year that made us doubt God’s love and presence for us in Christ, let us dare anew like John in the wilderness to believe and live out His coming and presence.

In citing Isaiah 40:3-5, Luke is reminding us that we shall all see and experience God’s salvation in Jesus Christ today while awaiting His Parousia. Notice the similarity of Isaiah’s prophecy with that of Baruch’s in the first reading when “every lofty mountain be made low, and that age-old depths and gorges be filled to level ground, that Israel may advance to secure in the glory of God” (Bar. 5:7). Both prophets spoke of the future expectation expressed by John already unfolding in Christ who had come.

Photo by author, Fatima Avenua, Valoenzuela City, December 2023.

A friend texted me last week complaining if Christmas would happen at all in their family after a serious rift with their youngest brother. “Dinaraan-daanan lang po ako Father ng kapatid kong bata, para akong patay na.”

Being the eldest in the family, my friend asked his younger brother to shape up and fix his life (ayusin ang buhay) after taking a third partner. He had dumped his first wife after the birth of their son who turned out to be a special child; then, took a second partner and had a daughter whose godmother, his kumare is now his third partner. My friend had taken upon himself to rear his special nephew and niece while his brother does not care at all.

With that situation at home, my friend told me he could not feel Christmas at all despite the material things they have. After a few hours, I texted him back and told him no one can take away the joy of Christmas because that is Jesus in our hearts. Keep Jesus alive in your heart, I texted him, asking him to continue to still love his wayward brother, never losing that hope in Christ that someday, peace would be restored among them in the family. I ended my texts reminding him that Jesus was born during the darkest night of the year.

That’s the voice of John in the wilderness – when we dare to open to God amid our many pains and sufferings, proclaiming and living out His love in Jesus who had come, continues to come and would come again at the end of time. That’s preparing the way of the Lord even when it is all dark, taking small steps at a time as we could not see the next distant scene. In times like these, let St. Paul’s desire in the second reading be our Advent prayer, “that your love may increase ever more in knowledge and every kind of perception, to discern what is of value, so that you may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ” (Phil.1:9-10).

Photo by author, RISE Tower, Valenzuela City, 06 December 2022.

How lovely during this time of Advent when our days are getting shorter, dark earlier than usual because this is also the time sunsets are most awesome. Somewhere out there where the sun sets with skies redolent like embers of the dying day is the voice in the wilderness proclaiming to us Christ’s coming and presence even in the long dark night of waiting.

What do you long or desire most right now in your heart? Reawaken your hopes in Christ Jesus and be ready to be surprised as He shall straighten your path soon especially with your loved ones. Amen.

Advent is unveiling of veils of death and selfishness

Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Wednesday in the First Week of Advent, 04 December 2024
Isaiah 25:6-10     ><}}}}*> + ><}}}}*> + ><}}}}*>     Matthew 15:29-37
Photo by author, Pulong Sampalok, DRT, Bulacan, 22 November 2024.
Praise and glory to You,
God our loving Father
for this gift of Advent Season:
thank you in bringing us 
to this brand new day 
of salvation, of freedom,
of new life in Jesus;
most of all,
thank you for ending death
in Christ's advent.

On this mountain he will destroy he will destroy the veil that veils all peoples, the web that is woven over all nations; he will destroy death forever. The Lord God will wipe away the tears from all faces… (Isaiah 25:7-8).

Come to us this Advent,
dear Jesus and take away
all kinds of veils of selfishness
that cover and make us 
unloving,
unkind, unmerciful,
unhappy...
set us free, Jesus,
free to love and serve
especially the sick and hungry;
set us free, Jesus, 
this Advent to open our hearts
to bring out those treasures
You have filled us with like
goodwill and care for others
like the disciples in today's gospel.
Amen.
Photo courtesy of Our Lady of Fatima Tribune, 27 November 2024.