Rest is to be close with Jesus, close with others

The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B, 21 July 2024
Jeremiah 23:1-6 ><}}}}*> Ephesians 2:13-18 ><}}}}*> Mark 6:30-34

*Photo by author, Katmon Nature Sanctuary &Beach Resort, Infanta, Quezon March 2023.*

After being sent “two by two” last Sunday, the Apostles now return to Jesus, reporting “all they had done and taught.” What a beautiful gospel scene this Sunday, supposed to be our day of rest that begins in God and must be rooted in God.

The apostles gathered together with Jesus and reported all they had done and taught. He said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while.” People were coming and going in great numbers, and they had no opportunity even to eat. So they went off in the boat by themselves to a deserted place (Mark 6:30-32).

Last Sunday we were reminded to rediscover the family and friends sent with us “two by two” in this life while today the Lord wants us to be aware of our need to rest in order to rediscover Him first of all, then one’s self and others.

Unfortunately, many people today have entirely forgotten the meaning and importance of rest that we succumb to all kinds of sickness related with stress and fatigue. In fact, Filipino workers were recently ranked as the second worst in terms of work-life balance in a worldwide survey. One factor it cited is the lesser paid vacation leaves our workers have compared with their counterparts in other countries.

*Photo by author, Sonnenberg Resort, Davao City, 2017.*

Rest is not only stopping from work to be recharged like cellphone batteries; we are not things like robots and drones sent out simply for a task that once achieved, no more. We are inter-related persons meant to form bonds and unity, a family and a community. That is the result of our being sent on a mission to share God’s creative works leading to our union in Him with others.

God rested and made Sabbath holy after creation because He had completed all His works that were all good; we, on the other hand, merely participate in His creative works. That is why no matter how hard we push ourselves with our work, we can’t completely finish them as more things to do come along the way, making us bored or stressed out because we could no longer find life but simply routine. We have been so focused on accomplishing many things as if we are the savior of the world (messianic complex) that we feel so important, bloating our ego. That is when we start literally throwing our weight to those around us like in those reels of road rage. The sad part of this is how we eventually hurt the people we love and supposed to serve like the shepherds of the Old Testament that God through Jeremiah had accused to have “misled and scattered” the people of Israel (Jer.23:1).

*Photo by author, border between Jordan and Israel, May 2019.*

Today, Jesus is inviting us to “Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while (Mk.6:31)” to remind us that in everything we do in this life, what matters most is not the task but us, the persons we love and care for, and Christ who is our only fulfillment in life.

Like the apostles, we have to return to Jesus precisely because our mission, our work is not ours but Christ’s. We need to return to Jesus every Sunday in the Eucharist when we are nourished by His words and strengthened by His Body and Blood to sustain us in our mission.

Rest is neither doing nothing like sleeping all day or doing anything we like that we forget God and in the process, our very self and others. Rest is a time of conversion when we lay aside our plans and agenda by returning to God so that we could have focus again in this life. Rest is actually to be filled with God, to be holy.

This we find expressed perfectly in our Filipino word for rest which is pahinga from the root hinga or breath that is spiritus in Latin. To rest in Filipino is mag-pa-hinga that literally means hingahan, to be breathed on. Genesis tells us how God breathed on man to be alive after creating him while in John’s Gospel we find Jesus breathed on His apostles after greeting them with peace twice on the night of Easter when He appeared to them at the Upper Room. From here we get that beautiful imagery of rest as being breathed on by God – mag-pa-hinga sa Diyos – which is to be closer with God!

Here now is the challenge and best part of the good news this Sunday: the more closer we get to God in Jesus and through Jesus especially on Sunday our day of rest, the more we must get closer with others. The more we pray, the more we rest in the Lord, the more we serve, the more we love.

Mark told us how Jesus invited the Twelve to “come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while” but the people saw them and even got earlier to the other side of the lake!

When he disembarked and saw the vast crowd, his heart was moved with pity for them, for they were like sheep without a shepherd and he began to teach them many things (Mark 6:34).

*Photo by author in the Holy Land, 2019.*

Rest is more than the amount of time spent “resting” but the disposition to be with the Lord, to be one with Him that we become holy like Him. That moment when Jesus led the Twelve to rest was already a “rest” for Him that resulted in serving more the people who have followed them.

Jesus being moved with pity for the people indicated His rest and communion with the Father expressed in His oneness with the suffering people who were like sheep without a shepherd. Jesus has always been one with the Father right from the very start until His death on the Cross where He declared “It is finished” and commended His total self to the Father.

The truest sense of us having a real rest, of getting closer with God is when we get closer with others especially those entrusted to our love and care like our loved ones and those who are poor and sick.

Problem these days among us priests including laypeople is our wrong idea about rest; we do not really rest at all but simply indulge in pleasures that are many times scandalous for being godless and unmindful of other people. True rest makes our hearts natural to be aware of the sufferings of others, to be one with them or at least take their plight into consideration in our rest.

We can only say “mission accomplished” to rest when we are one with God through others that St. Paul explains in the second reading at how Jesus Christ reconciled us all through the Cross, “putting an enmity to death by it” (Eph. 2:16). Next Sunday, this we shall see when after teaching and healing the people in that deserted place, Jesus would feed the crowd of over 5000 people from just a few loaves of bread and pieces of fish.

Let us rest in the Lord to prepare our hearts and souls as well as our tired body to be filled with God so we can fill others too with Him. Let us pray:

Lord Jesus Christ,
we live in a highly competitive world
of 24/7 wherein everyone is so busy
that we forget You and the persons 
You have entrusted to us;
remind us we are not the Messiah
nor a superhero to save the world;
we can only do as much in this life
as God had accomplished all for us
 in You, the Christ;
let us take two or three 
even five steps backwards 
to let You, Jesus,
do your work in us.
Amen.

First we learn, then we are sent

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Wednesday in the Fourteenth Week of Ordinary Time, Year II, 10 July 2024
Hosea 10:1-3, 7-8, 12 <*((((>< + ><))))*> Matthew 10:1-7

Jesus summoned his Twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits to drive them out and to cure every disease and every illness. The names of the Twelve Apostles are these… (Matthew 10:1-2).

Latin "discipulus" from "discere" which is to learn,
is a follower, someone who learns from a teacher;

Greek "apostolos" from "apostello"
is someone sent ahead out on a mission,
deputed to disseminate the teaching of
the master to others.

Lord Jesus Christ,
teach us to patiently learn
your lessons,
following and obeying
your instructions always
as true disciples
so that eventually,
You could send us out
like the Twelve Apostles
to carry out your mission
in this highly complicated and
competitive world.

How sad the words
 of the Prophet Hosea
are still happening these days
among us:
"Israel is a luxuriant vine
whose fruit matches its growth.
The more abundant his fruit,
the more altars he set up"
(Hosea 10:1-2).

Sad to say, O Lord,
those You have sent
have refused to learn,
have ceased from being
disciples because they too
have been lured into the ways
of the world; like yesterday,
many disciples follow the calls
of the world instead of God;
that is why, we have no more
Apostles who could be sent ahead
of You, Jesus, to proclaim You;
many of us have never learned
truly from You,
lacking discipline
in prayer and discerning
your will and plans;
let us seek your face
always, Lord,
so we may do your will
not the ways of the world;
let us seek your face,
Lord, among your people
especially the weak and marginalized
so we may be able to proclaim
"the Kingdom of heaven
is at hand."
Amen.

Expect the unexpected

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Monday, Solemnity of the Birth of John the Baptist, 24 June 2024
Isaiah 49:1-6 ><}}}}*> Acts 13:22-26 ><}}}}*> Luke 1:57-66.80

*Photo from Wikipedia, mosaic of Jesus with Mary and John the Baptist at the Hagia Sophia in Turkey.*

Praise and glory to You,
God our loving Father
in sending us John the Baptist
as Precursor of your Son
Jesus Christ our Savior;
on this Solemnity of his birth
six months before Christmas
during the summer solstice to
remind us of John's vocation,
"a burning and shining lamp"
(John 5:35) set to decrease 
when the Light that illuminates
the world appeared in December,
the winter solstice.

Everything about John pointed 
to the unexpected - his conception
in the womb of his old, barren mother
Elizabeth, his being named not after
his father Zechariah, and his life being
spent in the wilderness, not in the
temple to follow the footsteps of
his father; most of all, his "manifestation
to Israel"  (Lk.1:80) was not about himself 
but pointed to the Christ, Jesus our Lord
and Savior.

What is not unexpected, dear Father,
is the connection between John and
Jesus and the salvific events that have
everyone filled with joy and fear at the
same time for "surely your hand hand
was with him" (Lk.1:66).

*Photo by author, Binuangan Is., Meycauayan, Bulacan, 31 December 2021.*

Open our eyes and our hearts, 
merciful Father, to always expect 
the unexpected in this life and mission,
to learn to withdraw in the wilderness 
of our lives like John 
to realize that our whole being 
like his is directed to our relationship
with Jesus the Christ.

Let us decrease
so that Jesus may increase!
Let us strive to go to the wilderness
to empty ourselves to be filled
by the Holy Spirit;
most of all,
let your words comfort us
when life becomes so difficult
in being a herald of Jesus by proclaiming
repentance and conversion (Acts 13:24):

“You are my servant, he said to me, Israel, through whom I show my glory. Though I thought I had toiled in vain, and for nothing, uselessly, spent my strength, yet my reward is with the Lord, my recompense is with my God” (Isaiah 49:3,4).

How wonderful
that when I learn to expect
the unexpected from You,
O God,
that is when I am less,
Jesus becomes more in me,
then truly,
You are most gracious,
 Father through me,
like John.
Amen.

*Photo by author, birthplace of St. John the Baptist beneath the church in his honor in Ein Karem, Israel, May 2019*

Set apart…

The Lord Is My Chef Easter Recipe by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Wednesday in the Fourth Week of Easter, 24 April 2024
Acts 12:24-13:5     <*((((>< + ><))))*>     John 12:44-50

*Photo by author, Anvaya Cove, 15 April 2024.*

It was You, dear God,
who started that beautiful
process of "setting apart"
day from night,
darkness from light,
land from water;
and now, You tell us
in Your words how You
set apart some people
for special mission for You.

While they were worshipping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” Then, completing their fasting and prayer, they laid hands on them and sent them off. So they, sent forth by the Holy Spirit, went down to Seleucia and from there sailed to Cyprus. When they arrived in Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the Jewish synagogues (Acts 13:2-5).

In our Baptism and Confirmation,
most especially in the Holy Eucharist,
You set us apart, O Lord,
to special mission too
to proclaim Your word,
to make You present 
in this world.

Help us imitate the early Church
of always praying and fasting
to be filled with Your Word
Jesus Christ who became flesh
and dwelled among us;
enable us to set apart 
our own biases and differences
for Your mission;
let us set apart our own words
from Your divine word
to only speak of You
and never about us;
most of all, 
let us set apart
our own glory and interests
so that like Jesus,
we may only "say 
as the Father told me"
(Jn. 12:50).
Amen.

Life is where we stand not where we sit

40 Shades of Lent by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Thursday, Feast of St. Peter's Chair, 22 February 2024
1 Peter 5:1-4    <*{{{{>< + + + ><}}}}*>     Matthew 16:13-19

*Photo by author, Chapel of the Holy Family, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, 2018.*

My Lord Jesus,
on this Feast of St. Peter's Chair
when the Church's authority
especially of the Pope and bishops
is put into question,
even challenged,
you remind us also your priests
that “the primacy of Peter 
symbolized by his chair atop 
the magnificent altar at the Vatican 
is the primacy of faith 
and the primacy of love” 
(Pope Benedict XVI,
"Images of Hope", 
Ignatius Press, 2006).

These beautiful words by your
servant Pope Benedict XVI
remind us too that discipleship
and life itself are about where we stand
not about where we are seated;
make us realize, dear Jesus,
that like St. Peter and all the saints
who served you faithfully in love,
we need to make a stand as witnesses
of your gospel values of love and justice,
mercy and kindness;
no one can truly be your disciple nor 
be fruitful in life by remaining
seated comfortably by the roadside;
let us do our mission not profession,
be concerned with persons not programs,
focused on ministry and services
not in perks and positions.
May we remain standing by your Cross,
Jesus, even when the world prefers
 to avoid pains and sufferings, 
sacrifices and sharing,
inefficiencies and waiting.
Amen.

Running away from God

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Monday in the Twenty-Seventh Week of Ordinary Time, Year I, 09 October 2023
Jonah 1:1-2:1-2, 11 <*((((>< + ><))))*> Luke 10:25-37

*Photo by author, Central Luzon Link Expressway (CLLEx) in Tarlac, 19 July 2023.*

As we embark to
our work and duties this
first working day of this new week,
bless us, dear God our Father,
to follow your path;
if we have to cross the street,
if we have to go to the other side
of the road or of life's terrain,
let us follow you.

Like with Jonah,
find ways so we can go back
to your path,
to your mission.

This is the word of the Lord to Jonah, the son of Amittai: “Set out for the great city of Nineveh, and preach against it; their wickedness has come up before me.” But Jonah made ready to flee to Tarhish away from the Lord. He went down to Joppa, found a ship going to Tarhish, paid the fare, and went aboard to journey with them to Tarhish, away from the Lord.
Jonah 1:1-3

Forgive us,
merciful Father,
how often we are like
Jonah trying to run away
from you,
always going out the
opposite direction far from you,
refusing to accept your invitation
to a destination where you 
may be found too.

Like the Good Samaritan
in today's gospel,
teach us to be kind
with everyone,
to dare cross the street,
to go to the other side
to care,
to feel,
to know 
others not like us
for you, O God,
comes most often
in people and circumstances
we least expected.
Amen.

Fables and parables

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Wednesday, Memorial of St. Rose of Lima, 23 August 2023
Judges 9:6-15 ><))))*> + ><))))*> + ><))))*> Matthew 20:1-16

*Photo by author, St. Scholastica Spirituality Center, 22 August 2023.*

How lovely are your words
today, god our loving Father,
expressed in fables and parables
to remind us to remain true
to our self to be faithful to our calls.

Once the trees went to anoint a king over themselves. So they said to the olive tree, ‘Reign over us.’ But the olive tree answered them, ‘Must I give up my rich oil, whereby men and gods are honored, and go to wave over the trees?’ Then the trees said to the fig tree, ‘Come; you reign over us!’ But the fig tree answered them, ‘Must I give up my sweetness and my good fruit, and go to wave over the trees?’ Then the trees said to the vine, ‘Come you, reign over us.’ But the vine answered them, ‘Must I give up my wine that cheers gods and men, and go to wave over the trees?'”
Judges 9:8-13

Heal us inside, Lord,
make us whole again
and regain our nature,
our identity,
of who we are
so we may do what we are
supposed to do;
many times we are divided inside
that we also divide those around us
and peace becomes elusive
precisely because we are
not at peace.

Let us be like you,
O God, in the parable 
of vineyard owner:
filled with love and justice,
fair and kind to everyone;
never preoccupied with
competition because 
everyone is regarded
as a beloved.
Amen.

Finding Jesus in two unlikely partners

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Thursday, Solemnity of Sts. Peter & Paul, Apostles, 29 June 2023
Acts 12:1-11 ><}}}}*> 2 Timothy 4:6-8, 17-18 ><}}}}*> Matthew 16:13-19

**The lithography of Sts. Peter and Paul in Missale Romanum by unknown artist with initials F.M.S (19. cent.) printed by Typis Friderici Pustet. (Renáta Sedmáková | us.fotolia.com)**

Praise and glory to you,
Lord Jesus Christ
for this Solemnity of your
two great Apostles,
Sts. Peter and Paul
whom you have both 
chosen to be the solid rock
on which your Church is built,
remaining forever her 
protectors and guides;
to them Rome owes her greatness
when you, O Lord, led them to
sanctify that capital of the 
ancient Empire
with their martyrdom 
to become the center of
the Christian world
until now.

In their great efforts
of fulfilling your mission,
there emerged a most unique
even unlikely partnership
in making you known,
O Lord, teaching us
that important lesson 
that discipleship is always
being together with others
being sent on a mission,
never alone nor simply a case 
of "me and Jesus"  
as we would always
insist.

Teach us, dear Jesus,
to be like Sts. Peter and Paul
focused only in you to overcome
our many differences in the Church; 
help us to set aside 
our biases and prejudices
to always find you 
as the very essence 
of our discipleship;
may we learn to
respect each other
by finding you in
each co-worker
and with everyone
we serve and meet.

May our lives
mirror your true person,
Lord Jesus, 
so that people are not
misled to who 
you really are.

How inspiring 
that both Sts. Peter and Paul 
were imprisoned for preaching
your name and yet, 
no bars nor chains not
even death held them captives
in spreading your good news;  
in fact, some of the finest 
parts of the New Testament
were composed when both
Apostles were in prison;
what a grace for us today 
their many letters 
still sound 
so true and relevant,
providing us compass
in charting our ways
in a world so divided
and so sick with
individualism, relativism,
and materialism. 

Help us, dear Jesus,
to break free from
the many prisons
that hold us from freely 
witnessing your loving service 
for others like Sts. Peter
and Paul; set us free, Lord, 
from the chains that hold us
and make us fearful
of standing by our faith 
and of your teachings
in this time of total disrespect
for life; most of all, free us, O Lord,
like St. Peter from our prison cells
of indifference in the face of 
continued erosion of 
marriage and family 
as envisioned by God
since creation.

Dear Jesus, 
make us realize
that every present moment
is the time of our departure;
may we live fully at your service
by keeping the faith in you
like Sts. Peter and Paul.
Amen.

The joy of Easter: Jesus going the opposite direction with us

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Wednesday in the Easter Octave, 12 April 2023
Acts 3:1-10   ><}}}'> + <'{{{><   Luke 24:13-35

*“The Road to Emmaus” painting by American Daniel Bonnell from fineartamerica.com.*

Thank you, Lord Jesus Christ
in leading us back to you,
to Jerusalem in those 
many nights of our lives
when we walked the opposite
direction of going back to Emmaus,
to our previous ways of life like
those two disciples on that
Easter afternoon.

Oh what a joy,
dearest Lord that even for a while
you walk with us going the
opposite direction,
listening to our frustrations and
disappointments when things do not
happen as we have planned and
expected; no coercions, no reprimands
except for calling us "foolish" and
"slow of the heart" to believe the
Scriptures (Lk.24:25) for that is 
what we really are!

Forgive us, Jesus,
when we easily give up
to failures and shortcomings
that we leave you and your mission
entrusted to us; help us find our way
back to you, to Jerusalem!
Most especially,
keep our hearts "burning"
with love and zeal for you,
sharing you with others,
strengthening them,
raising them up like
what Peter and John did 
to the crippled man at the
Beautiful Gate
as we continue to seek
you O Lord even
in darkness and emptiness,
sadness and losses,
sickness and failures.
Amen.

*Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, Quezon City, 22 March 2023.*

Our first task

40 Shades of Lent by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, 19 March 2023
Monday, Solemnity of St. Joseph, Spouse of Blessed Virgin Mary
2 Samuel 7:4-5, 12-14, 16 + Romans 4:13, 16-18, 22 + Matthew 1:16, 18-21, 24

*Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, 20 March 2023.*

Praise and thanksgiving to you, God our Father
for the gift of calling me like St. Joseph
to bring your Son Jesus into the world
despite my many fears and doubts,
inadequacies, weaknesses 
and sinfulness, 
you entrusted me 
with the same task you gave St. Joseph 
of making known your Son
as “God Saves” - Jesus.

…the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home… She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”
Matthew 1:20, 21

Remind me always, dear God,
of this first task you gave us 
your beloved children
to make known to everyone 
that Jesus came to die on the Cross 
to show us “God saves” - 
that we are so wrong to think
you are domineering and ruthless God,
that you are not a God hungry of power,
that you are not insistent, and demanding God,
most of all, you are not a God who competes
with us your mere creatures like everyone thinks
from Adam and Eve down to us today.

*Photo by author, Chapel of Holy Family, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, 2014.*

Teach me to be silent, 
trustful of you, O Father, 
like St. Joseph not bothered at all
of how things would turn out 
with my task to make people realize and
experience Jesus Christ;
give me the courage and obedience 
of St. Joseph to do as you have
tasked me to witness this great mystery 
and wonder of your love
because “God saves”.
Amen.