In the beginning…

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Monday, Memorial of St. Scholastica, Virgin, 10 February 2025
Genesis 1:1-19 ><))))*> + ><))))*> + ><))))*> Mark 6:53-56

*Photo by author, sunset in Atok, Benguet, 27 December 2024*.

Blessed are you,
God our loving Father
in giving us a taste of
the beginning everyday
especially on this first day
of work and of school
as your words in the first reading
remind of our daily
beginning in you!

In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless wasteland, and darkness covered the abyss, while a mighty wind swept over the waters. Then God said, “Let there be…” Thus evening came, and morning followed… (Genesis 1:1-3, 7).

In the beginning
there was nothing but
chaos just like in our lives
until you brought light,
order and life, God;
it is always light and order
that come first to set the
stage for life like in those first
two days; what is most lovely,
Father is when the third day came
and there began balance and
symmetry in your creation 
like sea and earth, 
day and night,
sun and moon
that relationships happened
and everything started to be good.

In the gospel today
as in our lives,
every day is a new beginning
with its many chaos:
sickness and diseases,
emptiness,
self-alienation,
rejection in all forms,
failures and disappointments
as well frustrations
that all remind us of how
everything was in the beginning;
but, with Jesus Christ's coming
and healing
we saw the light
and experienced healing
and order.

Everything becomes good
when seen in your light
and design, Lord Jesus;
when our relationships are
kept and maintained
especially at home like with
our siblings,
parents and family
as exemplified by the twins
St. Scholastica
and St. Benedict.

Make everything new again
and most of all good,
dear Jesus in our lives
like in the Genesis
as shown by St. Scholastica
who was able to do more
because she loved most.
Amen.

*Painting “Altar of St. Scholastica” by Johann Baptist Wenzel Bergl (1765), ncregister.com*

Ordinarily extraordinary

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Monday, Week I in Ordinary Time, Year I, 13 January 2025
Hebrews 1:1-6 <*((((>< + ><))))*> Mark 1:14-20

*Photo by author, Mt. St. Paul Spirutality Center, Pico, La Trinidad, Benguet, 04 January 2025.*

Brothers and sisters: In times past, God spoke in partial and various ways to our ancestors through the prophets; in these last days, he spoke to us through the Son, whom he made heir of all things and through whom he created the universe, who is the refulgence of his glory, the very imprint of his being, and who sustains all things by his mighty word (Hebrews 1:1-3).

O how lovely and so deep,
dear God are your words 
on this first day of Ordinary Time;
they are so touching and personal
yet very ordinary,
common,
and typical.

That is how we take the word
"ordinary" so often -
lacking in special or 
distinctive features
that we take for granted 
anything ordinary
because it is...
ordinary.

Maybe this is the reason why we
find it so hard to really believe
in you, Father;
when you sent us your Son,
Jesus Christ, the "refulgence" or
reflection of your glory and
"imprint" of your being,
we find him so ordinary 
because we wanted someone more,
someone bombastic,
someone so different from us,
not so like us
because we feel so ordinary.

It is so funny and silly
of us, God, that we 
cannot accept you in Jesus
who became human like us,
who chose to be ordinary,
preferring to be poor than rich,
simple than complicated
yet so kind, so very much akin to us
in everything except sin;
instead of being honored
and grateful in your choosing
to be ordinary like us,
we rejected him
and us in the process.

Open our minds and our hearts
to your coming to us in Jesus like
the brothers Simon and Andrew,
James and John
who left everything behind to follow
Jesus whom they have found to be
extraordinarily ordinary;
may we find meaning in life
in Jesus your Son in whom
the ordinary is actually the
orderly order of things in life
with you Father always above all.
Amen.

*Photo by author, sunrise at Mt. St. Paul Spirituality Center, Pico, La Trinidad, Benguet, 06 January 2025.*

When God speaks

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Tuesday in the Thirteenth Week of Ordinary Time, Year II, 02 July 2024
Amos 3:1-8, 4:11-12 <'[[[[>< + ><]]]]'> Matthew 8:23-27

*Photo by author in San Juan, La Union, 25 July 2023.*

Your words are weighty
and terrifying today,
O God as You left us with a
warning - "prepare to meet your God,
O Israel" (Amos 4:12);
how must we prepare
to meet You, O God,
whom we have turned away 
from so often in the past?
How must we prepare 
to meet You, O God,
whose voice we have
never heeded despite
our hearing them?

Let us learn from nature
who heeds your voice
like the storm and the waves
in the sea becoming quiet
at Jesus Christ's command;
let us learn to accept the simple
laws of nature governing this world,
of simply following the cause and 
effect pattern in everything
instead of destroying it 
for in the end, it shall get upon us:

Do two walk together unless they have agreed? Does a lion roar in the forest when it has no prey? Does a young lion cry from its den unless it has seized something? Is a bird brought to a snare when there is no lure for it? Does a snare spring up from the ground without catching anything? If the trumpet sounds in a city, will the people not be frightened? If evil befalls a city, has not the Lord caused it? (Amos 3:3-6)

For so long,
You have been most 
patient with us, Lord,
letting us go on our own
sinful ways despite all the
love and graces You have
showered us; You are all good,
loving Father, full of mercy
and forgiveness for our sins
but lest we forget, there are
so many sinful things we do with
irreversible consequences that
can unfree us, making us suffer
from its dismal effects.
This we pray we may realize
so that when we meet You,
O God, there may be justice
still left for us.
Amen.

Wisdom of Solomon

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Wednesday in the Fifth Week of Ordinary Time, Year II, 07 February 2024
1 Kings 10:1-10 <*((((>< + ><))))*> + <*((((>< + ><))))*> Mark 7:14-23

*Photo by Ms. Analyn Dela Torre at Caypombo, Santa Maria, Bulacan, 04 February 2024.*

I wonder, God our dear Father,
what did the Queen of Sheba
ask King Solomon when she visited him
that she was so convinced that indeed
he was a man of great wisdom?
Did she ask Solomon of the
Big Bang Theory and everything before history?
The evolution of humans and theodicy?
Or, did she ask him if the world was flat or round? 

The scriptures tell us nothing except that...

When the queen of Sheba witnessed Solomon’s great wisdom, the palace he had built, the food at his table, the seating of his ministers, the attendance and garb of his waiters, his banquet service, and the burnt offerings he offered in the temple of the Lord, she was breathless.
1 Kings 10:4-5

You are a God of order and
balance,
of fairness and justice,
of beauty and majesty,
O Lord;
these are the attributes
of a magnificent palace,
of exquisite cuisine,
of men and women of great
bearing as guests and servants
that the Queen of Sheba
had noticed that impressed
her so much of Solomon's wisdom.

Most of all,
the spiritual maturity of Solomon
that in his worship,
the Queen of Sheba was so
impressed and left breathless!

Therefore,
what made Solomon so wise,
what is true wisdom?

It is this, O Lord
which we also pray you grant us
to be like King Solomon:
perfect our faith in you,
most loving God,
that we may learn to value
those things we believe
through faith,
starting with you
in Christ Jesus
right here in our hearts;
let your grace and wisdom
O Lord flow out like streams
from our heart,
out to our mouth
and into our arms and limbs,
into our whole person
in loving service to others.
Amen.