Category: motherhood/mothers

Remembering Mary and our own mother on this month of Rosary

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul

Friday, Feast of St. Luke the Evangelist, 18 October 2019

2 Timothy 4:10-17 ><)))*> ><)))*> ><)))*> Luke 10:1-9

From Google.

Lord Jesus Christ, on this feast of your Evangelist and Apostle St. Luke that falls in the month of the Holy Rosary, we remember your Mother and our Mother too, the Blessed Virgin Mary.

It is so edifying to learn that St. Luke did not only write a two-part series of your gospel but is also considered as the first iconographer of the Blessed Mother Mary.

Mother of Perpetual Help. Photo from Aleteia/Google.

How wonderful that there are four popular icons of Mary attributed to him: the Our Mother of Perpetual Help, the Our Lady of Czestochowa, the Our Lady of Vladimir, and the Salus Populi Romani or Mother of the Savior of the Roman People.

These are considered as the earliest icons of Mary and although there are not enough historical proofs to ascertain these traditions of whether St. Luke could have painted these icons or not, one thing clearly remains: St. Luke had a particular trait of the Blessed Mother of being faithful in Jesus Christ.

Our Lady of Czestochowa. Photo from Aleteia/Google.

St. Paul tells us in our first reading this wonderful distinction of St. Luke that is so similar with the Virgin Mary for being faithful and true to Jesus most especially during his darkest moments in life while there on the Cross. See how St. Paul narrated in the first reading his sad plight with no one else left to accompany him but St. Luke.

Our Lady of Vladimir. Photo from Aleteia/Google.

Beloved: Demas, enamored of the present world, deserted me and went to Thessalonica, Crescens to Galatia, and Titus to Dalmatia. Luke is the only one with me.

2 Timothy 4:10-11

Mary stayed at the foot of the Cross of Jesus Christ, remaining faithful and true to her Son and Lord. Like Mary, St. Luke stayed behind with St. Paul in prison.

Too often, O Lord, we feel like St. Paul, of being so alone and abandoned with no one to turn to in times of trials and sufferings.

Like that famous tune by the Beatles, we find solace in the warmth and love of our own mother who has become like Mother Mary to us. Paul McCartney admitted that those lines of their last famous song was inspired by his own mother and the Blessed Mother herself.

When I find myself in times of troubles

Mother Mary comes to me.

Speaking words of wisdom: Let it be.

Paul McCartney, “Let It Be”

Maybe, St. Luke must have developed that devotion and love for the Blessed Mother Mary from the great love he had experienced from his own mother who must had been so loving and merciful, faithful and simple in her ways.

Salus Populi Romani. From Aleteia/Google.

Most of all, in both his gospel and Acts of the Apostles accounts, St. Luke never failed to mention the important role Mary played in giving birth to Jesus and taking care of his infant community, the Church, after he had Ascended into heaven.

Mary has always been there, her presence inspiring the Apostles and early Christians to strive further in the mission of evangelization.

And so, we pray for all mothers, especially our own mother who taught us our first prayers, narrated our first stories from the Bible, and taught us as well as made us feel the immense love of Jesus for each one of us.

Behind every evangelist and missionary is always a faithful and loving mother like Mary. In response to calls by Jesus Christ to pray that the Master of harvest may send out more workers for his harvest, bless all mothers to ensure that children continue to experience the love of the Father for everyone.

Always misunderstood in her ways and concern for us, we pray for all mothers may have the strength and patience to stand by their children even in their old age. And when their final hour comes to leave this earth, we pray Lord Jesus that you make it peaceful as you grant them eternal rest with your Mother Mary. Amen.

St. Luke, pray for us to genuinely love our mother and the Blessed Mother Mary too!

Relasyon, hindi emosyon – 2

Lawiswis ng Salita ni P. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Ika-17 ng Setyembre 2019
Relasyon at ugnayan
hindi emosyon at damdamin
ang sabi natin na pangunahin turo sa atin
ng talinhaga ng alibughang anak.
Kay gandang larawan ng Diyos
ang nakintal sa ating puso't isipan
nang ilahad ng mahabaging ama sa dalawang anak niya
na sila ay iisang pamilya, binibigkis ng buhay na mula sa kanya.
Ano mang kasalanan ay mapapatawad
maging kamatayan ay malalampasan
nitong habag at awa ng Diyos na ibinuhos 
kay Kristo Hesus para sa ating mga alibughang anak niya.
Ganyan ang habag at awa ng Diyos bilang Ama
na dumadaloy din mula sa kanyang pagiging ina
nang mawika niya, "hindi kita malilimutan kailanman
katulad ng isang ina sa kanyang anak na mula sa kanyang sinapupunan."
Para sa kanilang kaisipan, 
ang habag at awa ay "hesed" ---
damdaming napaka-lalim gaya ng pag-ibig
nagpapahiwatig ng maka-amang katapatan at pananalig.
Nagmumula ito sa sinapupunan o "raham" ---
yaong matris ng kababaihan na siyang kanlungan
ng simula ng buhay, lundo ng katuwaan pagsapit ng kagampan
kapag napawi mga agam-agam, pagsilang ng bagong buhay.
Kapag umiiral habag at awa sa ating buhay
doon tayo buong-buo sa pagkatao
nagiging ganap at banal tulad ng Diyos
puno ng buhay at pagmamahal.
Kaya't kapag mga patayan ay naglipana
at pagkitil sa buhay ang nakikitang paraan
upang lunasan maraming kasalanan at kasamaan
nasisira ating kapatiran, di maglalaon, tayo ang mababaon.

A prayer for all mothers

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul

Tuesday, Feast of St. Monica, 27 August 2019

1 Thessalonians 2:1-8 ><)))*> <*(((>< Matthew 23:23-26

How wonderful, O God, that on this feast of the patroness of mothers, St. Monica, the Apostle Paul identified himself as a mother caring the church he founded.

“Rather, we were gentle among you, as a nursing mother cares for her children. With such affection for you, we were determined to share with you not only the Gospel of God, but our very selves as well, so dearly beloved had you become to us.”

1 Thessalonians 2:7-8

Teach us to be like St. Paul in his passion and drive caring for those you have entrusted to us like “a nursing mother who cares for her children”.

But most especially, as we remember St. Monica who embodied true motherhood with her patience and perseverance and undying love for her wayward son St. Augustine, we pray also today for all mothers.

We pray, O Lord, for mothers in their old age, sick and fragile, afraid of the inevitable, feeling alone filled with so many doubts and uncertainties of what is coming, of what is next: give them the firm faith and enlightenment of mind and heart like St. Monica.

We pray for the departed mothers and may you grant them, O Lord, eternal rest and peace in your presence. May they reap the fruits of their hard work here on earth that have caused so much physical and emotional pains for them here on earth.

Photo by Jim Marpa, 2017.

We pray for the many suffering mothers, Lord: those sick with cancer and other diseases; for those who have to suffer and cry in silence due to lack of concern and understanding by their unfaithful husband or ungrateful children; for those mothers who have to leave home to earn decent living abroad, taking care of somebody else’s children while their own children are left home alone.

We pray, O Lord, for the widows who always feel alone and misunderstood by everyone especially by their grown up children, always trying to put up a front that everything is going well so as not to make others worry.

We pray also for mothers who take care of their sick children who suffer twice even thrice seeing their sons and daughters writhing in pain; bless those mothers who have lost their children for various reasons that shattered all their dreams and hopes for a wonderful future.

We pray, Lord, for mothers left behind by their own families and by the society, living on the streets or in some orphanages, unwanted, unloved. We pray also for mothers-in-law especially those “boxed” by their in-laws.

We pray for the young mothers especially the first-timers at a loss at how to care for their babies, for working mothers trying to juggle motherhood and career.

Do not forget also, Lord, the many mothers who have forgotten their children have their own lives to live too, who have wrongly thought they are always right, manipulating their children who eventually were pushed over the cliff and now lost. Help them and their mothers find their way back to you, O Lord, and to each others’ loving arms.

Bless also, O Lord, all the other mothers who are forced to work under unfavorable conditions due to poverty, for mothers languishing in jails especially the innocent ones, for mothers into some other forms of crusades and advocacies nobody cares.

Lastly, we pray for us all children and for the husbands too that we may keep in mind only you, O God, can love perfectly. A mother’s love is always imperfect but no matter how defective it may be, it is the best love she can give. Help us create a room for our mother’s imperfections filled with your divine love that would console them, soothe them, and make them feel they are loved and appreciated. Amen.

St. Monica with her son St. Augustine. She died at the age of 56, always depicted dressed like a nun with a black habit to symbolise her being a widow.