The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Friday in the Thirteenth Week of Ordinary Time, 07 July 2023
Genesis 23:1-4, 19; 24:1-8, 62-67 ><]]]'> + <'[[[>< Matthew 9:9-13
Photo by Dra. Mylene A. Santos, MD, in France, 2022.
O God our Father,
your words today are so
beautiful and amazing,
proving to us how you move
in so mysterious ways!
Open our eyes and
our hearts to your movements,
Lord, like Abraham and his steward:
make us trust in your ways and
instructions, to be patient and
persevering in your actions
even if it could take time
and would even involve
long distances to cover.
“Never take my son back there for any reason,” Abraham told him. “The Lord, the God of heaven, who took me from my father’s house and the land of my kin, and who confirmed by oath the promise he made to me… he will send his messenger before you, and you will obtain a wife for my son there.”
Genesis 24:6-7
Grant us the wisdom and prudence,
O God, to balance and find your
holy will and presence especially
in this age of relativism at one end
and fundamentalism at the other extreme;
let us heed your Son Jesus Christ's
instruction, "Go and learn
the meaning of the words,
I desire mercy, not sacrifice.
I did not come to call the righteous
but sinners" (Mt. 9:13).
In everything,
may we bring your soothing
balm of solace and comfort
among those suffering and lost
for meaning in life like Matthew,
especially those grieving
like Isaac over the death
his mother Sarah.
Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Thursday in the Thirteenth Week in OrdinaryTime, 06 July 2023
Genesis 22:1-19 ><]]]]'> + ><]]]]'> + ><]]]]'> Matthew 9:1-8
Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, Quezon City, 20 March 2023.
God our loving Father,
teach me to offer to you,
to give up like Abraham
the most precious
and the best I have in life;
give me that same kind of
faith and trust in you, O God,
that in life, you are the only
most precious and best
I have in life.
So many times in life,
dear Father, I always question
your will,
your plans,
your instructions
to me;
worst, many times,
I even question and doubt
your goodness to me
and to others like those scribes
who questioned Jesus Christ's
authority to forgive sins.
We have strayed so far from you,
O God; we have believed
so much in ourselves,
in our beliefs,
in our technologies,
in our strengths
and achievements
as if we are gods like you!
Forgive us, merciful Father;
help us find our way back to you
in your Son Jesus Christ.
Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Monday in the Thirteenth Week of Ordinary Time, 26 June 2023
Genesis 12:1-9 ><))))*> + ><))))*> + ><))))*> Matthew 7:1-5
Photo by author, Sonnen Berg, Davao City, August 2018.
Another month soon to close,
another month soon to open
at the end of this week;
thank you very much, God
our loving Father for the wonderful
journey in life.
Continue to call us,
continue to lead us
to new directions,
to new challenges
to new stages in life
to newer selves.
Like Abraham,
teach us to leave
our comfort zones,
teach us to trust in you,
teach us to realize we are
never too old to move out
and grow; most of all,
teach us to chill,
to slow down, to stop rushing
and worrying in life.
Make us move in "stages", Lord,
like Abraham for you are the
first to know who we are,
where we are,
and how we are.
The Lord said to Abram: “Go forth from the land of your kinsfolk and from your father’s house to a land that I will show you.” Then Abram journeyed on by stages to the Negeb.
Genesis 12:1,9
Let us follow Jesus,
"the way and the truth
and the life" in this journey
in life in whatever stages
we may be;
may we stop judging
so we may not be judged
and simply enjoy this
journey in life
in whatever stage
we may be.
Amen.
*Since last night after praying for today's readings, I was struck by that passage of Abram journeyed by "stages" that instantly reminded me of David Benoit's 1982 album and single, "Stages". Blessed Monday!
The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle A, 18 June 2023
Exodus 19:2-6 ><}}}}*> Romans 5:6-11 ><}}}}*> Matthew 9:36-10:8
Photo by Ms. April Oliveros at Mt. Pulag, March 2023.
I recently had a long lunch that extended to a longer dinner recently with a good friend who was widowed last January. It was the first time we met again after the funeral of her husband who died three weeks after I had anointed him last Christmas Day.
She was still grieving and yes, angry with God why her husband had to go at an early age. She told me how during her daily prayers she would complain to God, and how she wanted her husband to be still alive, not minding at all of nursing him again.
Likewise, she was worried God might be fed up with her, even mad and angry with her negative feelings and attitudes even though she prays and celebrates Mass more often these days since her husband’s demise.
Photo by Ms. April Oliveros at Mt. Pulag, March 2023.
Does God get angry with us?
The psalmist says, “But you, Lord, are a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger, most loving and true” (Ps. 86:15). If God is slow to anger, does it mean he gets angry, even sometimes?
No. Never.
God does not get angry at all because God is love. God is perfect unlike us who easily get angry and could remain angry over a long period of time because we are imperfect. But God, who is also spirit, does not have emotions, neither gets angry nor irritated with us and yet, always one with us in our feelings especially when we are down in pain and sufferings.
In Christ Jesus who became human like us in everything except sin, God became more one with us to prove his love and oneness for us.
At the sight of the crowds, Jesus’ heart was moved with pity for them because they were troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send our laborers for his harvest.”
Matthew 9:36-38
Photo by Mr. Raffy Tima, GMA-7 News, June 2020.
See how Matthew noted that “At the sight of the crowds, Jesus’ heart was moved with pity for them because they were troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd.” So beautiful. So powerful.
That expression his “heart was moved with pity” is the literal meaning of the Latin word misericordia – mercy in English – that means “a heart moved strongly” like disturbed or thrown off perhaps. More than just a feeling, that virtue of mercy is expressed into compassion which is another Latin word that means “to suffer with” or cum patior. Matthew here is telling us it was more than a feeling for Jesus to have his heart moved with pity but a firm resolve to uplift the crowds because in the first place he has that oneness with them.
Until now in our own time, that heart of Jesus is moved with pity for us whenever he sees us troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd. Just like my friend grieving the loss of her husband. Or anyone who had lost a beloved, a leg or a part of the body, maybe a job or a career, a dream or a future.
For Jesus, it is always the person who matters that is why his proposal has always been to send us another person, another companion, a fellow to accompany us in our brokenness and darkness. There is his move of gathering us, calling us, and sending us forth to a mission.
Jesus never taught us to ask for more money nor food nor gadgets to solve the problems of the world. Recall his temptation in the desert when he rejected the devil’s challenge to change stones into bread because man does not live by bread alone but with every word from God.
For the world, everything is a problem to be solved, including mysteries of God and of the human person. As we have reflected the past two Sundays, mysteries are not problems and therefore not solvable at all. Mysteries are non-logical realities we must embrace or even allow ourselves to be wrapped with to discover the richness and meaning of this life like God and persons.
When people are down and lost in this life, feeling troubled and abandoned, where do we focus more, to their woes and problems or their very persons? Try thinking of the people you consider as “heaven sent” and helped you in your darkest moments. Are they not the ones who brought out our giftedness as a person, as a beloved child of God with Christ’s gospel?
Photo by author, December 2022 at the National Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima, Valenzuela City.
Problem these days, many people no longer believe in God totally, not giving a care at all with the value and meaning of justification and salvation, of reconciliation and communion in Christ through one another that St. Paul explained in the second reading.
Modern man has become so complacent that he would be saved by a loving and merciful God. It is a wrong kind of confidence because it is a confidence in one’s own powers than in God’s saving act through Jesus Christ as St. Paul preached.
Sad to say, such kind of confidence afflicts mostly the so-called religious and pious ones in the Church, especially us priests and bishops who lose sight of the flock and of Christ in the process. No synod nor meetings and documents would make the local even Philippine Church attuned with the present time unless we the clergy and other disciples must first have our confidence in God, not in ourselves.
How tragic that we are still a Church so steeped in being a hierarchy, lightyears away from being any of the other models of the Church proposed by the late Jesuit Cardinal Avery Dulles: sacrament, herald, communion, and servant. Despite our many denials, priesthood is power and prestige where ministry is more of an office and a privilege. We are more concerned with the call, the vocation of priesthood totally ignoring the Caller, Jesus Christ. Visit any parish and chances are, you find the priest throwing his weight around – literally and figuratively speaking so that the sheep remain without a shepherd.
In the Old Testament, the image of Israel as a lost sheep was the result of failures and even of sins of infidelity of their religious and political leaders. History has proven not only in Israel but everywhere especially the Philippines that when there are failures in leadership in both the political and religious spheres, it is always the common people who suffer most.
Photo by Mr. Mon Macatangga, 12 May 2023.
If we think about it, Jesus could have reacted negatively at the sight of the crowds and even with us today. He could have felt angry and irritated, even annoyed, frustrated and disappointed with how we are wasting all his gifts and grace, his call and his mission. But Jesus chose empathy and sympathy because he always looks into our hearts, into our total person than to our sins and failures, mistakes and errors.
Let us return to our “desert of Sinai” spoken of in the first reading, a reminder of our turning point in life and history when God called and sent us to be a “kingdom of priests, a holy nation” whose confidence is in him alone, not in our very selves nor our programs and structures to find again the many lost sheep of our flock. It is never too late to make a U-turn for God is full of mercy and compassion, slow to anger, loving and true. Amen.Have a blessed week ahead!
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Wednesday, Feast of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, 31 May 2023
Romans 12:9-16 ><}}}}*> + ><}}}}*> + ><}}}}*> Luke 1:39-56
Photo by author, sunrise at Anvaya Cove, Morong, Bataan, 19 May 2023.
Glory and praise to you,
God our loving Father
who had come and comes
daily in Christ Jesus our Lord!
Just like in this Feast of the
Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary,
you always surprise us dear God
like Elizabeth.
Every visitation is always
surprising, especially when
you are the one coming,
O God.
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. And how does this happen to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me?”
Luke 1:41-43
Like Elizabeth,
we are so surprised
with your visitation in
Christ Jesus because
if ever there is anyone
who should be making
the visit, it should be us -
or Elizabeth who should
have visited Mary who was
pregnant with Jesus Christ.
What a beautiful anticipation
it was of Christ's mission through
his self-emptying or kenosis
when he said "The Son of Man
has come to serve and not to be
served" (see Mt.20:28, Mk. 10:45).
Keep us home,
keep us grounded in you,
Lord, like Elizabeth,
always ready to be
surprised with your visit,
to welcome your coming
in the Holy Spirit to shake us
and examine our many beliefs,
traditions and conventions
that have prevented us from
making Jesus more present among us
especially the poor and marginalized;
keep us home,
keep us rooted in you
like Elizabeth, Lord,
ready to be radical,
to go back to our roots
and rootedness so that only
what is most essential we must
keep - the person of
Jesus Christ himself
because many times,
we do not recognize your coming,
your visits as we are busy
"visiting" worldly concerns
than being focused in you
our Lord.
Come, Lord Jesus,
visit us like when you
visited Elizabeth and
John through Mary your
Mother so we may imitate
her in bringing you to the
hungry and poor so that
we may learn to practice
St. Paul's admonition,
"Let love be sincere:
hate what is evil, hold on
to what is good; love one
another with mutual affection;
anticipate one another in
showing honor" (Rom. 12:9-10).
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Wednesday in the Fifth Week of Easter, 10 May 2023
Acts 15:1-6 <*((((>< + ><))))*> John 15:1-8
From Google.com
Thank you dear Jesus
for not just coming to us
but also in becoming human
like us in everything except sin,
in being planted here on earth
to be one with us
and we be one in you,
one with you.
Thank you dear Jesus
for being our true vine,
making us your branches;
many times we do not understand
and would even refuse your Father's
ways and methods of "pruning" us,
of purifying us so that we
may bear more fruit.
But, what fruit must we bear,
Lord Jesus?
“I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit, because without me you can do nothing.”
John 15:5
Lord Jesus,
when you died on the Cross,
you bore only one fruit we
continue to savor and
enjoy today --- LOVE.
Thank you for the fruit
of love; we can only be
fruitful in love if we
remain in you,
when we are purified
and pruned.
Many times,
our pruning and
purification do not look
good at all like when there are
differences among us
that arise like with
the first Christians
when some insisted that
Gentile converts be subjected
to Mosaic laws like circumcision;
keep us intact with you, Lord,
so that we may see more
of you, our true vine than us
who are merely your branches;
keep us open to one another,
trying to find you, Jesus,
by being more kind,
more understanding,
more open to overcome
our differences
so that in the end,
without us even knowing,
we have become fruitful,
not necessarily successful
because we have become
abundant
in your love.
Amen.
Quiet Storm by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, 02 May 2023
Reflections on the occasion of my 25th year in the Priesthood
With our Bishop, Most Rev. Dennis C. Villarojo, DD after our anniversary and his birthday Mass in his private chapel; from left Fr. Romy Sasi, Fr. Arnel Camacho, Fr. Leonard Hernandez, the Bishop, Fr. Ed Rodriguez, and me. Not in photo was Fr. Joshua Panganiban who was sick and another classmate who had left the ministry more than five years ago. Photo by Fr. Leonard.
I first entered the seminary as a second year high school in 1979. When we were about to graduate in 1982, I was told to leave the seminary after failing admission to San Carlos Seminary due to the unfavorable results of my psychological exam. It was a very painful experience for me. It is only now on my 25th year of priesthood that I am coming to terms with that dark episode in my life. In fact, it is only now that I can admit it unashamed.
Making it doubly hard for me was when San Carlos Seminary Prefect of Discipline Msgr. Sunga refused to tell me the findings in my psychological exam except I would find it out as I moved on in life. And I think, I have found the reason. “It is the Lord!”
My classmates from UST AB Journalism class of 1986, from left, Lito Zulueta, Dante Santiago, Ellen Jurado-Cobarrubias, front Marie Ann, Luz Lopez Urquiola, Bel De Leon, beside me, Pia Pajarillo-Bantolo, Vilma Capellan, Rose Munoz-Landicho and Ross.
From that experience, I have realized that Christ comes to us even in the darkest moments of our lives. It is often when we have nothing, when we are empty that we are abundant in Christ. It is a mystery that continues to unfold until now! Difficult to explain fully. What was a setback and a dark spot for me before, that failure in my psychological exam has become more of a blessing later to me.
From the seminary, I went to the University of Sto. Tomas to pursue my first love, journalism. Everything happened so fast from UST where I had the chance to join the staff of the Varsitarian, covering the sports beat.
For my internship program, I trained at GMA-7 News to explore broadcast news. Immediately, I was amazed with the speed and timeliness of broadcast news with the constant clacking and ringing or sometimes whining of the UPI and PNA telex machines either from breaking news or when they ran out of newsprint reels. Luckily after graduation in 1986, I was hired by Ms. Tina Monzon-Palma as radio news writer for DZBB-AM and DWLS-FM.
With my co-staffers at the Varsitarian of UST, from left, Alane Ty, Jenny Bartolome, Sr. Gina Kuizon, Mother superior of RGS who was the assistant of Ms. Jesselyn G. Dela Cruz our Asst. Publications Director, Lito Zulueta of Inquirer, at the back are Romy the husband of Mam Jess and Jun Carnecer.
From a news writer in 1986, I became a reporter in 1988 covering the police beat on the night shift until 1990 when Ms. Jessica Soho recommended me to replace her in the the military/defense she used to cover after she was promoted to having a regular morning show, “Kape at Balita”.
I refused the position because I was so afraid of failing to measure up to Jessica’s stature but most of all, I felt not qualified of not having the voice for broadcast news. Yes, I have never wanted to be an “on-cam” reporter because I do not have the broadcast voice. Got no problem with that. That is why my application at GMA-7 was for a news writer. Again, it was the Lord I moved to become a police reporter at that time.
It is funny how I have always refused tasks that put me at the forefront since my GMA-7 days as a result of that “psych exam” in high school. Since college, I have found myself working best behind the scenes and behind the camera, working in hiddenness.
And yes, most of all, for lack of self-confidence. That is why I could not also believe when I felt God calling me to the priesthood again! And when I have become a priest, I have always wanted to be sent into the far-flung areas unnoticed but God would always bring me to major assignments like first, our diocesan school beside the Malolos Cathedral and now as chaplain of Our Lady of Fatima University with six campuses and two Medical Centers!
Me in our old newsroom filing my report after the graveyard shift 1989; photo by Mr. Jack Taylaran.
Going back to my vocation story… Every time I moved up in GMA-7 News, I would feel a reawakening or a resurging of my vocation. In the midst of the perks of the job plus the “celebrity” status, that was when I felt empty and unfulfilled! Something was missing in my life at the beginning I could not figure out. Tried to find fulfillment in everything including relationships but, I still felt empty. In fact, my vocation to the priesthood “pestered” me most when I was into relationships, feeling so praning with a voice within asking me “paano pagpapari mo?” As a result, I tried going back to prayers, then to Sunday Masses that slowly gave me some sense of fulfillment and peace within.
But after covering the December coup attempt of 1989 I felt something so strange deep within me: the more I felt empty within. Despite the adrenalin rush of covering the bloodiest coup attempt in our history, the thoughts of the priesthood would always cross my mind even without my thinking. It happened again the following year during coverage of the July 1990 earthquake. I was not feeling contented with my life. All I felt was a deeper longing for God and spiritual things like serving the people not just as a reporter. I felt God calling me to something more than covering the news but proclaiming the good news of Christ.
On my first day off after the July 1990 earthquake, I went to see my former minor seminary rector, Fr. Memeng Salonga for spiritual direction. He told me what I was feeling could be a vocation to the priesthood. My plan at that time was to wait for about five years before deciding for the priesthood. What if I were wrong again like what happened when I applied to San Carlos Seminary? Most of all, I had no more plans of becoming a priest. And I thought of running away from God like the Prophet Jonah, without realizing I ended up exactly like him!
It happened in January 1991 when it was my turn to join then Armed Forces chief Gen. Lisandro Abadia in his inspection of troops in northern Luzon. On our last stop at Laoag airport, one of the tires of our plane exploded upon landing!
It happened at the right side of the plane where I was seated near the window. Instinctively on seeing and hearing the explosion, I ducked my head down and braced myself for impact while deep inside me, I was frantically praying in silence to God, telling him, “magpapari na po ako, magpapari na po ako!”
That is why Jonah is my favorite character in the Old Testament as I felt like him inside the belly of PAF’s Fokker plane in 1991 trying to escape God’s call to the priesthood.
My GMA-7 colleagues, from left, JJ Jimeno, Jimmy Gil, Boy Sonza, Jun Fronda, Atty. Dan de Padua, Kelly B. Vergel de Dios, Marissa Flores, Jessica Soho, and Ben Cab of PNA.
When we got back to Manila late that afternoon, everybody was congratulating me, saying I could be the next Jessica Soho as I figured out in a near-fatal accident with the Chief-of-Staff. Behind my smiles was a firm resolve inside to finally follow Jesus. Weeks after Mt. Pinatubo spewed smokes in March, I gave my letter of resignation to Ms. Palma and simply told her, I was going back to the seminary to give my vocation a second chance. Mt. Pinatubo would finally erupt on June 12, 1991 when I was already inside the seminary.
My first year in the seminary, 1991, after resigning from GMA-7 News.
Life was not easy in the seminary. Temptations to leave the seminary and go back to work were most tempting during my first three years as I knew already where to go, what to do in life. Maybe about three times I have tried leaving the seminary while I was constantly warned of being sent out too!
The Portuguese have a saying that “God writes straight crooked lines.” True. Nine years after leaving the seminary in high school, I went back to the seminary in 1991 eventually being ordained in 1998. Now 25 years as a priest, I thank God for this most precious gift of priesthood. It is very difficult but most fulfilling.
As a priest and an individual, I have realized that if there are 8-billion people in the world, there are also 8-billion kinds of love God has specifically for each one of us. God loves us in the most personal manner. It is the greatest mystery in life we would never be able to solve because it is insolvable. We just have to live on it, be wrapped in his mystery that once in a while, like the beloved disciple amid the darkness of dawn, we would have glimpses of him, making us shout “It is the Lord!” Thank my dear friends for showing me always the Lord. Hope and pray you too have seen the Lord in me! God bless!
Quiet Storm by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, 17 April 2023
Photo by author, 08 February 2023, Taal Vista Hotel, Tagaytay City.
We all know
that feeling happening
more often lately
a foreboding of senility?
when we go like crazy
why can't we see suddenly
some things we have
held or kept momentarily
until we sound the alarm
and call everyone
to join in the search
but still nowhere to be found.
It could be the key
or the glasses or the phone
that in exasperation
we say begone
only to make us
forlorn figures
in our own home
or tiny room
but sometimes too soon
other times would take
too long, our lost
things are suddenly found!
Is it part of the riddle of that black hole they call when missing things suddenly appear without being sought much less thought? But here is the thrill: when things even persons are missing, are we not the ones who are lost and waiting to be found?
More than the
naked shouts of eureka
is our profound joy
when missing things
even persons suddenly
appear because the truth
is, we were the ones lost
and could not be found
in our cluttered minds
and hearts shut and closed
by our fears and doubts,
anxieties and insecurities.
In this life
far wider than the world
where planes still go missing
amid modern technologies
and endless searching,
could it be that we are
missing our bearings
as beings, forgetting
God and others when we are
lost to our own beliefs or
locked in our small world
of lies and prejudice?
To find those missing
persons or things dear to us
it might help if we first lose
whatever is holding us
for the world is so wide
for anyone or anything
to just disappear
they surely must be here
awaiting for our hearts
to be clear until we hear
that sweet voice
giving us peace within.
On the evening of that first day of the week, when the doors were locked, where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be with you.” When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Monday in the Second Week of Easter, 17 April 2023
Acts 4:23-31 ><]]]]'> + ><]]]]'> + ><]]]]'> John 3:1-8
Photo by author, sunrise at Bolinao, Pangasinan, 18 April 2022.
When is a prayer powerful,
Lord Jesus Christ?
Many times in prayer,
I shake and tremble in fear;
afraid of what would happen
next, if things would work out
in my favor or not.
Many times in prayer,
I rationalize, not really
understanding your words
like Nicodemus.
Many times in prayer,
Lord, I remain here below
on earth, could not level up
with you, of being above,
of being born again.
How I wish I could pray
like Peter and John with your
early followers after their
release from prison!
And when they heard it, they raised their voices to God with one accord and said, “And now, Lord, take note of their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with all boldness, as you stretch forth your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are done through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” As they prayed, the place where they were gathered shook, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.
Acts 4:24, 29-31
How beautiful was that scene, Lord:
your followers were of one accord,
praying for courage and boldness,
most especially for "healing"
of your people as many continued
to resist change;
and the place "shook" while they
were filled with the Holy Spirit.
Let us not be shaken by events, Lord;
shake our world and fill us with your
Holy Spirit to heal each one. Amen.
Quiet Storm by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, 06 March 2023
Photo by author, 03 March 2023, Teresa, Rizal.
Why are there so many songs about rainbows
And what's on the other side?
Rainbows are visions
But only illusions
And rainbows have nothing to hide
As a child, I have always heard many stories about rainbows from grownups telling me about the “pot of gold” at its end. I have never believed their stories because even at that young age, I have found them as total lies for if it were true, there would be no more poor people on earth as rainbows appeared daily or weekly.
Besides, I doubted stories about rainbows because no matter how hard I looked at them, I could not find the primary colors of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet in them as taught by my teachers. All I could identify until now are the colors red and blue with the third hue of pink which is not even part of the primary colors! The only truth about rainbows I have always accepted since elementary is the fact that it is caused by sunlight hitting the rains that cast such colorful display in the skies. Most often, I just thought binobola lang kami ng teacher namin para pagbigyan kung sino man itong si Roy G. Biv na may-ari ng mga rainbow!
Later, our elementary school principal Sr. Domitilla of St. Paul College Bocaue would tell us over and over again the story of Noah and the great flood, of how God promised him never to destroy earth again with floods by giving him the sign of the rainbow.
You bet! I did not believe her totally because growing up in Bocaue, I have experienced so many floods annually that destroyed many of our belongings like photos and vinyl records not to mention the hardships – pahirap in the real sense of cleaning after each flooding.
But all these changed only for me during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Photo by Ms. Anne Ramos, 22 March 2020, Bgy. Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria, Bulacan.
It was the first Sunday of the lockdown, my 55th birthday, March 22, 2020. There were no public Masses. So I decided to start on that Sunday the weekly libot or motorized procession of the Blessed Sacrament around our parish in Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria, Bulacan. Seeing the people kneeling on the streets was so moving but what really brought me tears was the sight of a rainbow that afternoon.
We were on our way to the last sitio of our parish when it started to rain lightly. Our volunteers asked if we should go back to the parish as the clouds indicated heavy rains were coming our way. But as I held the monstrance, I told my companions to proceed because the people were waiting for Jesus.
Lo and behold! as we turned to our last sitio, a rainbow appeared and I remembered the story of Noah and the rainbow.
That’s when I cried and started believing in rainbows as I felt that very moment God assuring me of his protection from COVID-19. True enough, until I left in February 2021 my former parish of Parokya ni San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista had the lowest rate of COVID infections in our town. Most of all, me and our volunteers never had COVID except for one as we continued with our libot of the Blessed Sacrament that soon evolved into “drive-thru” and “door-to-door” communion after our online Mass on Sundays!
So we've been told and some choose to believe it
I know they're wrong, wait and see
Someday we'll find it
The rainbow connection
The lovers, the dreamers, and me
Photo by author, August 2022, Parish of Holy Cross, Paco, Obando, Bulacan.
One of the best stories I have read about rainbows is from my favorite Pope, Benedict XVI. In one of his books in the series Jesus of Nazareth, Pope Benedict explained how the rainbow of Noah’s time had become the arms of Jesus Christ outstretched on the Cross, the fullness of God’s promise to never destroy earth, of his immense love to save us through his Son. Furthermore, he explained how the rainbow as the outstretched arms of Jesus is also the same bow of arrow referred to in the Book of Psalms signifying God’s salvation.
It is so funny that after passing the age 50 that I started believing in rainbows! And what a sight indeed for me of the rainbow like a bow of an arrow shooting in the sky assuring us of God’s love and protection, of the arms of Jesus embracing us all in his love and mercy, kindness and forgiveness.
Photo by author, Teresa, Rizal, 03 March 2023.
Last Wednesday we celebrated Mass for the opening of our annual strategic planning in Our Lady of Fatima University (composed of six campuses) and Fatima University Medical Center (with two hospitals). In my homily, I shared that “lent is the time for us to start believing again” like Jonah in the first reading (Jon.3:1-10), of believing again in God, in others and in ourselves.
How I wished I have added that this is also the time to start believing again in rainbows because on our way to Katmon Nature Sanctuary and Beach Resort in Infanta, Quezon for the final day of our strategic planning, I saw again another rainbow during a stopover in a gas station in Teresa, Rizal. It was so beautiful with the arc, the bow, the arms of Jesus embracing us all symbolized by our coaster.
But the rainbows – or God – did not stop appearing there for us.
The following Saturday before we went home, I woke early to catch the sunrise at the beach that faces the Pacific Ocean. The sun was already up and I felt satisfied with all my photos and videos when it started to rain. As I ran back to our resort, another rainbow appeared, greeting me again that early morning.
Photo by author, 04 March 2023, Katmon Nature Sanctuary & Beach Resort, Infanta, Quezon,
I've heard it too many times to ignore it
It's something that I'm supposed to be
Someday we'll find it
The rainbow connection
The lovers, the dreamers, and me
Oh God! Praise and glory to you! I did not mind stopping in the morning rain that Saturday. It was the best morning prayer I ever had in years. Something very silent. So natural. So picturesque of God’s love, of his promise to bless us all in my new home, my new family, my new ministry – Our Lady of Fatima University (OLFU) and Fatima University Medical Center (FUMC).
It is here in OLFU and FUMC that God has started to unravel his other beautiful plans for me that at first I could not understand and even resisted at times. It is here I have come to embrace him more. And more tightly in ministering to students and faculty members alike, to doctors and nurses, patients and everyone especially our kind administrators.
Thank you for all your warm welcome, love and acceptance, OLFU and FUMC. And for your care beyond compare.
Glad to be with you in this very promising year assured by the rainbows. Let’s keep connected as we rise to the top!
Someday we'll find it
The rainbow connection
The lovers, the dreamers, and me
Photo by author, 04 March 2023, Katmon Nature Sanctuary & Beach Resort, Infanta, Quezon.
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