The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Monday, Memorial of St. Ignatius of Loyola, Priest, 31 July 2023
Exodus 32:15-24, 30-34 <*((((>< + ><))))*> Matthew 13:31-35
Photo by author Camp John Hay, Baguio City, 12 July 2023.
Glory and praise to you,
God our loving Father,
our Lord and Master,
our Origin and Home;
thank you for the gift
of St. Ignatius of Loyola
who taught us through his
"Spiritual Exercises"
to truly pray by seeking
you and only you alone.
Teach me, O Lord,
to be patient
and persevering
in my prayer life,
to never be contented
with mere feelings and
self-absorption that are
manipulative like what your people
felt at the foot of Mount Sinai
while awaiting Moses;
let me be at home
with desolation and dryness,
being still when nothing seems to happen,
finding you when you seem nowhere,
desiring you most while amid
all of these like in awaiting the
sprouting of a mustard seed
or the leavening of bread
in Christ's parable.
Many times we feel
we are awaiting you, God
when actually it is you who
awaits us always to experience
you and your presence,
your love and mercy
if we could just be still and
silent. Amen.
St. Ignatius of Loyola,
Pray for us.
The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Music by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, 30 July 2023
Photo by author in San Juan, La Union, 26 July 2023.
Finally we’re back! Sorry for being silent with our Sunday music blog relating secular songs with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
For our return engagement since our last blog in June 11, 2023 with Stephen Bishop’s Parked Cars (https://lordmychef.com/2023/06/11/parked-cars-by-stephen-bishop/), we feature this Sunday one of our favorite local talents, Mr. Zack Tabudlo with his 2021 hit Habang Buhay from his album called Episode.
We can’t recall where and when we first heard this swinging OPM love song that sounds like from our era of VST & Co. Fact is, Tabudlo has other previous hits before Habang Buhay which struck us with two important things we find so close to our Sunday gospel.
First is its melodic upbeat tune teeming with profundity despite its being so light and refreshing to listening (and dancing). Though we find traces of influence from the late 1970 to1980’s disco era in Tabudlo’s music, Habang Buhay is so sincere with its Gen Z identity that is authentically so Pinoy especially with its shouts of Halika nga that is twice repeated.
Aking sinta, ano ba'ng mayro'n sa iyo?
'Pag nakikita ka na, bumabagal ang mundo
'Pag ngumingiti ka, para bang may iba
'Pag tumitingin sa 'kin, mapupungay mong mga mata
Wala akong takas sa nakakalunod mong ganda, ha
Halika nga (ha, ha, ha)
That shout of Halika nga is so typically Pinoy, so warm and genteel like Jesus Christ calling us to be open to his parables, to find God hidden in the most simplest things of ordinary life. Halika nga evokes those tender, loving calls of our Lola during summer vacation calling us to change clothes soaked in dirt and perspiration with a glass of Julep or Sunny Orange juice during those endless afternoons of fun and games.
Halika nga sometimes is an expression of playfulness masking as deeply serious. It is something we rarely hear these days because nobody seems to offer us with comfort and company, with love and concern anymore.
In Habang Buhay, Tabudlo is overjoyed, playfully or teasingly calling his beloved halika nga for them to bask and savor this wonderful love they have found. If we could just hear Jesus calling us too, telling us halika nga to stay with him to discover God as the only worthwhile love and treasure we could ever have in this life.
And where do we find that kind of love? In Christ’s dying for us on the Cross which Tabuldo had thought of as the true expression of his love that is faithful until the end.
Andito 'ko hanggang sa 'ting pagtanda
Mamahalin kita basta't 'pag nahulog
Nakahawak ako, 'wag ka lang bibitaw
Habang-buhay na ako'y iyo
Wala nang ibang nakagawa sa 'kin nang ganito
Kundi ikaw, nag-iisang diyosa ng buhay ko
'Wag ka nang matakot, 'wag kang mangamba
Andito ako 'pag ika'y mag-isa
Wala akong takas sa nakakalunod mong ganda, ha
Halika nga (ha, ha, ha)
This is the second thing that struck us in Habang Buhay, an amazing song that speaks of love that is pure and true, and most of all, willing to suffer and sacrifice. Like in the gospel today of the parables of the treasure buried in the field that prompted the farmer to sell all his possessions to acquire that property and of the fine pearl found by a merchant who also sold everything he had just to have it. The same is true with love, and with God: what are we willing to let go to have the love of our life?
It’s a rarity in this fast-paced world to hear from young people speaking about love in its deeper sense like the giving of self for a beloved, giving us deep sighs of relief that we’re leaving this world in good hands. Habang Buhay assures us not only of a love that is forever but invites us too to trust the next generation by witnessing to them Christ’s love found on the Cross. Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Sunday in the Seventeenth Week of Ordinary Time, Cycle A, 30 July 2023
1 Kings 3:5, 7-12 >><}}}}*> Romans 8:28-30 >><}}}}*> Matthew 13:44-46
Photo by author, San Juan, La Union, 24 July 2023.
We are now in the final installment of Jesus Christ’s parables this third consecutive Sunday of his teachings on the kingdom of heaven. It is hoped by this time we have learned and realized God is the only treasure we must have in this life.
And the good news is that God our treasure is found in the most ordinary things!
Many times he simply comes to us even without us looking for him while often would also appear if we truly seek him like in the two short parables we heard this Sunday.
Jesus said to his disciples: “The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure buried in a field, which a person finds and hides again, and out of joy goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant searching for fine pearls. When he finds a pearl of great price, he goes and sells all that he has and buys it.”
Matthew 13:44-46
Photo by author, San Juan, La Union, 25 July 2023.
Our gospel may be the shortest these past three Sundays but it challenges us to be wiser in making choices to acquire the only worthy treasure of all – God.
Both the farmer and the merchant exemplify to us this wisdom in letting go of their other possessions just to have the buried treasure and pearl they have found.
Note how the farmer merely chanced upon the treasure buried in a field not his, while the merchant finally found the fine pearl after years of searching all his life. Here we are reminded how God is not that difficult to find by those truly seeking him. The problem lies with us when we refuse to be the good soil so that the seeds sown in us may grow and bear fruit even amid the weeds! Many times, we have stopped having that sense of awe, of being surprised by God who is like a treasure buried in a field somewhere waiting to be found. Worst, a lot often we have simply given up searching for God as if it is impossible to find him like a fine pearl. God is with us in Jesus Christ, our Emmanuel.
This is the good news of our short parables today. Moreover, God even comes to ask us what we want in life like King Solomon in the first reading. Later in the gospel we find Jesus Christ also asking the blind Bartimaeus what does he want while passing by the city of Jericho. Notice how those healed by Jesus always had clear thoughts and focus, so wise in their choices of what they wanted in life like King Solomon. Can we be wise enough like Solomon in choosing well, in asking the right thing from God?
The Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream at night. God said, “Ask something of me and I will give it to you.” Solomon answered: “O Lord, my God, you have made me, your servant, king to succeed my father David; but I am a mere youth, not knowing at all how to act. Give your servant, therefore, an understanding heart to judge your people and to distinguish right from wrong. For who is able to govern this vast people of yours?” the Lord was pleased that Solomon made this request.
1 Kings 3:5-7, 9-10
Photo by author, San Juan, La Union, 25 July 2023.
What is so beautiful, even wonderful here is not just the nearness of God with us but his kindness in asking us what we want. Imagine God saying, “Ask something of me and I will give it to you.”
What shall we ask God if he were to come to us in a dream tonight like Solomon? Perhaps we would be at a loss! Remember, God is asking for just one thing we want. At least the genie usually gives three wishes, with only the third one as most crucial being the last for which we are told to always ask for three more wishes!
Here we find again Simon Sinek’s book Start with Why most useful because our whys give us the reason and meaning for whatever we wish to accomplish. Exactly what Solomon must have considered as he laid out to God his situation, his needs, most of all his weakness, “I am a mere youth, not knowing at all how to act.” See why Solomon asked for that grace instead of wealth or fame or strong army?
It is that consciousness of being small and weak before God that pleases him most in granting our prayers. Earlier before this scene Jesus praised and thanked God in giving wisdom to the little ones who accepted him than the wise and the learned who rejected him (Mt.11:25). That is the attitude of being a “good soil” who allows the seed to penetrate and absorb us!
God was so pleased with Solomon because he knew so well his whys that to govern Israel so well amid his many weaknesses, he needed God more than ever. Unlike Adam and Eve who tried to usurp God in his power in knowing right from wrong, Solomon recognized it as divine prerogative we can only share with God. Actually, what he asked for was God himself who is the treasure hidden in the field and the fine pearl found by the merchant. Solomon did not want to be like God inasmuch as he never thought of being wealthy and powerful nor famous that are of no value at all compared to having wisdom, in having a discerning heart to know right from wrong.
Photo by author, shore of the Lake of Galilee in Capernaum, Israel, May 2017.
I have realized in my 25 years as a priest that what we treasure most are not the ones that give us pleasure but the ones who complete us. We ask and pray to God for something or someone not because of need but more of fulfillment found only in Jesus Christ who promised that whatever we ask from his Father would be granted to us in his name if it is for the mission he had entrusted to us. That is why in my prayers, I no longer ask God for anything except of being with him in eternity because I am so sure that whatever I need, he would give. Most of all, if I have God, then I am complete.
The parables of Jesus are inexhaustibly rich yet so accessible to everyone with open minds and open hearts to meet God in Christ through the simple realities of life. That is why St. Paul tells us in the second reading today that “all things work for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose” (Rom. 8:28).
Let us pray for more zeal and enthusiasm in being the good soil, in choosing wisely the only treasure worthy in this life who is Jesus Christ, our Emmanuel or God-is-with-us. Let us welcome him in the many parables of life we take for granted that are all part of God’s plan of salvation for us leading to glory that is our destiny. Amen. Today is Sunday, go to Mass and pray for those severely affected by super typhoon Egay especially our brothers and sisters in northern Luzon.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Friday in the Sixteenth Week of Ordinary Time, Year I, 28 July 2023
Exodus 20:1-27 ><]]]]'> + ><]]]]'> + ><]]]]'> Matthew 13:18-23
Photo by Ms. Nikki Vergara in Victoria, Laguna, July 2020.
God our loving Father,
make me a good soil,
a real "good earth" who
welcomes your word
to penetrate my heart.
Let me be a
good soil, O Lord,
by allowing myself
to be absorbed
by your word,
your seed.
Let your word,
O God, grow
and bear fruit
in my heart!
Forgive us
that until now
from Mount Sinai
where you gave us
your Ten Commandments
to the shores of Galilee
where Jesus spoke to us
in parables of your kingdom
up to now in the comforts
of our homes and
parish church amid
the squalor of our many
brothers and sisters
without decent home,
your words seem to have
fallen on deaf ears.
O how you amaze me
so greatly, loving God
for your patience in
continuing to speak to us,
inviting us to enter into a
dialogue and relationship
with you; and yet, here we
are, not listening,
still stubborn;
teach me to give myself
to you completely so
you would absorb me
and fill me with your life
and energy.
Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Sunday in the Sixteenth Week of Ordinary Time, Cycle A, 22 July 2023
Wisdom 12:13, 16-19 ><}}}*> Romans 8:26-27 ><}}}*> Matthew 13:24-30
Photo by author, Bgy. Alno, La Trinidad, Benguet, 11 July 2023.
Start with Why is Simon Sinek’s bestselling book written more than a decade ago about the need to focus on asking first “why” before making any choice and decision in life. I have found it very enlightening and useful even in matters of spirituality and prayers.
This is seen in our readings too this Sunday as we continue to listen to our Lord’s teachings using parables until next week. In all occasions of his teachings, his disciples asked him always “Why do you speak to them in parables?” (Mt. 13:10).
As we have explained many times before, parables are simple stories we usually take for granted that reveal to us profound truths about life and our very selves, most especially of God and his kingdom which Jesus had come to proclaim.
The key to unlocking the beauty and lessons within parables is having that spirit of openness and sincerity of heart, especially in asking why which may often take different forms.
Jesus proposed another parable to the crowds, saying: “The kingdom of heaven may be likened to a man who sowed good seed in his field. While everyone was asleep his enemy came and sowed weeds all through the wheat, and then went off. When the crop grew and bore fruit, the weeds appeared as well. The slaves of the householder came to him and said, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where have the weeds come from?'”
It is the question we ask most often, why is there evil at all if God our Creator is good? It is most difficult, even scandalizing when evil happens to us despite our efforts to be better and holy.
Today’s parable of the weeds among the wheat answers those many whys we have in life. It is a beautiful continuation of last Sunday’s parable of the sower that offers us Christians with many insights and challenges for the deepening of our faith and commitment to our mission.
First is our sense of sinfulness. It is one of the most serious problem Christianity, even the whole humanity is facing today. More and more people are losing that sense of sinfulness with so many becoming complacent in their faith and morals, always having reasons and alibis, worst, even justifications in committing sins. Or just about everything!
Today’s parable reminds us to always ask like the slaves, “Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where have the weeds come from?”
Photo by author, Bgy. Bahong, La Trinidad, Benguet, 12 July 2023.
Why all the evil in the world today?
How sad that many people have grown cynical with evil, simply accepting its existence in the world as a given reality, to be accepted wholly as if we can do nothing about it. Some even go to the extent of thinking the devil does not exist at all with evil simply existing like weeds?!
Here we find the importance of prayer life when we get to examine our conscience daily, asking why all the evils are happening. From there, we learn humility by examining too how we may have contributed in the commission of evil. Most of all, it makes us aware of that tricky “sins of omission”, of how we might have failed by omitting in doing what is good that have contributed to the spread of evil and sin. It is always easy to look outside blaming others, pointing at others for all the evil happening without seeing our own sins.
Second is the danger of neglect and complacency among us disciples of Christ. See the genius of Jesus as a storyteller when he mentioned that the planting of the bad seed or weeds happened while the Master was asleep, “The kingdom of heaven may be likened to a man who sowed good seed in his field. While everyone was asleep his enemy came and sowed weeds all through the wheat, and then went off. When the crop grew and bore fruit, the weeds appeared as well.”
From Pinterest.com.
In the New Testament, sleep is a metaphor for neglect. Jesus cautions us his disciples that if we are not vigilant and discerning of what we allow to influence us, bad seeds can get planted in our lives, families and relationships, even in the Church and in our ministry!
In some translations, the word used for the weeds is darnel, a kind of weed that looks like the wheat to show how evil works itself into our lives by masking itself to look something as good and harmless for a moment. “Wala namang masama” is our usual excuse until later when that evil is unmasked and revealed, its devastating impact had already wreak havoc on us because we have complacently tolerated its growth for some time.
Remember the saying, the devil is in the details. Likewise, keep in mind that the devil does not merely want us to sin but to eventually destroy our lives! “Be sober and vigilant. Your opponent the devil is prowling around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour” (1 Pt. 5:8).
Third is Christ’s call for us to be patient but firm in dealing with evil and sin. We live in an imperfect world. There will always be evil and sin like this growing trend called liberalism and wokism that stress everyone’s rights without any regard at all with personal responsibility and accountability. These liberals and wokes who have infiltrated the media and government, maybe even the Church, want the natural order of things be changed like gender and marriage. For them, everything is relative. To each his own like praying the Our Father in a drag version.
Photo by Fr. Pop dela Cruz, San Miguel, Bulacan, 2022.
We have to be patient with them and fight them squarely with more reason and charity, to never stoop down to their level that only shows their weaknesses within.
The author of the Book of Wisdom tells us today how God in his power and might chose to be patient and moderate with us sinners precisely because he is strong; the exercise of strength like being noisy, the flexing of muscles with large gatherings actually indicate weakness.
That is why St. Paul in the second reading reminds us of our own weaknesses too in this time of hope and waiting for Christ’s Second Coming while in the midst of all these evils happening. Hence, our need to pray for the Holy Spirit to enable us to carry out our mission in this world marred by sin.
Here we find again the primacy of prayer life. Not just the recitation of prayers. What St. Paul envisions in our short reading today is the kind of prayer wherein God’s own Spirit is the one interceding for us according to God’s will. Teaching people to pray effectively is one of the most challenging of all pastoral duties because we priests and bishops must first be the ones deep into prayer. When we live in the Spirit, we would always be faithfully in prayer.
Sorry to mention here again our disappointment to our bishops in failing to reflect more on the reasons of upholding the rule that only the priest extends his hands in praying the Our Father. It is fidelity to the liturgy to prevent us from being misled by plain emotions that is already happening like in those “charismatic” Mass and gatherings with emphasis on health and wealth (gagaling, gagaling…siksik, liglig at umaapaw) interspersed with clapping of hands.
Photo by author, Bgy. Alno, La Trinidad, Benguet, 11 July 2023.
Jesus assures us in this parable there will be a time for separation, judgment, and punishment but it is not ours to carry out those actions in the present. Let us continue probing our hearts in prayer. Always start by asking why, not with what we think we know. Many times, as the parables of Jesus tell us, the kingdom of God is found in the simplest things in life like a simple word or a sentence we tend to interpret with our many assumptions. Amen. Have a blessed week ahead everyone!
The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Sunday in the Fifteenth Week of Ordinary Time, Cycle A, 16
Isaiah 55:10-11 ><]]]]'> Romans 8:18-23 ><]]]]'> Matthew 13:1-23
Photo by author, Bgy. Bahong, La Trinidad, Benguet, 12 July 2023.
Surely you will hear in almost all homilies today something about that blasphemous drag version of the Lord’s Prayer trending in social media. What a coincidence that our Scripture readings this Sunday say a lot about words that teach us so much in dealing with this new kind of pandemic sweeping the world, the “LGBTQ+ woke” syndrome happening in the realm of words and languages.
In the light of recent things happening in our society, today’s readings tell us two important things we have forgotten or have deliberately disregarded: the power of God’s word and the need to listen.
Thus says the Lord: Just as from the heavens the rain and snow come down and do not return there till they have watered the earth, making it fertile and fruitful, giving seed to him who sows and bread to him who eats, so shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth; it shall not return to me void, but shall do my will, achieving the end for which I sent it.
Isaiah 55:10-11
Photo by author, Bgy. Alno, La Trinidad, Benguet, 11 July 2023.
The power of God's word
Our short reading from Isaiah perfectly introduces us to the sequence of Christ’s teachings in the next three Sundays beginning today about the power of God’s word, a preparation for us to understand the parable of the sower.
Here we find from the Prophet Isaiah God’s word as totally “other” – ibang-iba sa lahat – as it reveals and acts because it is the truth and effectiveness in one. See how Isaiah picturesquely expressed the power of God’s word, “Just as from the heavens the rain and snow come down and do not return there till they have watered the earth, making it fertile and fruitful… so shall my word be; it shall not return to me void, but shall do my will, achieving the end for which I sent it.“
The Bible never fails in attesting to this conviction, of how God means what he says that has become the very basis of our hopes in him since the very beginning. Everything flows from God’s word, from the creation of the world and the universe to its fulfillment in Jesus Christ until he comes again at the end of time. God’s word creates history with power to renew and restore life, the power to save us as experienced by the thief on the Cross when he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom” (Lk.23:42).
Photo by author, Camp John Hay, Baguio City, 12 July 2023.
Contrast God’s word with our human experience aptly expressed by Shakespeare in Hamlet’s famous quote, “words, words, words!” – of how we use so many words in the belief more is powerful when in fact our words are vain and empty, lacking in substance. Instead of giving life, many times our words hurt and even kill others. In this age of social media, see how we use words to distort truth with lies and deceptions. Its worst aspect is not found in the words we use but in us who pronounce them when we say things without any commitment at all so that many times, our words never stood the test of time because they are easily forgotten when spoken or heard.
St. Paul said it so well in the second reading, of how “all creation is groaning in labor pains even until now” (Rom.8:22) especially when we distort the truth of our words, when we do not mean what we say, when we our words divide instead of unite, when our words destroy instead of build.
See how sin entered through the “words” of the devil that deceived Adam and Eve with the first “fake news” in history that they would not die if they ate the forbidden fruit but instead become like God. Sin took on its ugly face in the use of words again after the first crime of murder committed by Cain who dared to say to God “am I my brother’s keeper” when asked of the whereabouts of Abel.
Words continued to be the means through which sin permeated humans reaching its lowest point when people played God again by building the Tower of Babel to reach the heavens. God punished them by making them speak different languages that resulted in confusion and the collapse of the tower.
How sad that these days, human words are made louder, spread faster by technologies try so hard to undermine God’s word. There is no doubt on the power of the word of God for he himself had shown and assured it. For his words to be fully operational and experienced, we must first listen to Jesus, the word who became flesh.
Photo by author, Camp John Hay, Baguio City, 12 July 2023.
Listening to the word of God
“Whoever has ears ought to hear.”
Matthew 13:9
Jesus used these words seven times in the synoptic gospels, usually in connection with parables like in Matthew chapter 13 which we shall be using in the next three Sundays. We heard it first today and again next Sunday when Jesus explained the parable of the weeds.
His command to “hear” requires more than just taking in the words he speaks to us. To truly hear what Jesus is saying especially within the context of the parables, we must profoundly ponder what he wishes us to know. Just like in our prayers: what is essential is to be able to listen more to God than to tell him our needs which he already knew.
This can only happen in the spirit of silence and openness to God when we suspend our many preconceptions and other ideas especially about the parables we have been so familiar with.
Photo by author, Camp John Hay, Baguio City, 12 July 2023.
The seed is the word of God and Jesus is the Sower who comes to us everyday, speaking to us, telling us the most important things we need to know and do in this life for us to be fulfilled and joyful.
But, do we have our ears attuned to the word of God? Many of us practically live in media, so hooked with gadgets either or both the cellphone and headsets or pods. Nobody seems to listen anymore as we are so engrossed in our own little world centered in the endless me, me, me and I.
In the parable, it does not really matter where the seeds fell; it is always good, at least even as food for the birds! Wherever it fell, the seed always sprang into life! That is the power of the word of God! We just have to give it a chance to grow and mature to bear fruits of “a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold”.
To hear the word of God means also to have our hearts opened to receive God so we can gain insight into the kingdom of God. It is in our hearts where the word of God is sown. Stones and thorns refer to the hardness of our hearts, our refusal to welcome Jesus Christ because we have been dominated by fame and power and other cares of this modern world.
Receiving the word of God is a process, not just a one-shot deal. It is a relationship we have to cultivate in Jesus Christ, just like the ones we try to have with our plants. The Lord himself had warned us repeatedly in the gospels of how there would always be opposition and indifference, even mockery and blasphemy right in the very places where his word should manifest its effectiveness like in our country, the only Christian-nation in this part of the world. If ever the word is not fruitful, it is primarily due to our dispositions and attitudes to God and his word.
Photo by author, Camp John Hay, Baguio City, 12 July 2023.
How timely that at this particular moment in our country we heard again this classic parable of the sower by Jesus Christ.
We, especially in the Church, are being reminded anew to humbly open ourselves to God and his word, to give it a chance to grow and bear fruit, including our rules and other documents especially in the liturgy.
In spending so much time about the posture the laypeople should take in praying the Our Father in the Mass notwithstanding what the rubric says, the devil sneaked into the scene with this drag cover of the Lord’s Prayer. This is something we must reflect. Why even the drag queen had joined the discussion of the Our Father that have deeply hurt us all! With this recent decision by the bishops, the more it seems that the drag version of the Lord’s Prayer is partly our fault too. Let us go back to God and trust his word anew. And the words of the liturgy too. Amen.Have a blessed week ahead!
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Friday in the Third Week of Ordinary Time, Year I, 27 January 2023
Hebrews 10:32-39 ><0000'> + ><0000'> + ><0000'> Mark 4:26-34
Photo by Fr. Pop dela Cruz in San Miguel, Bulacan, 15 June 2022.
Lord Jesus Christ,
your words this last Friday of January 2023
are so lovely, so inspiring:
"Therefore, do not throw away your confidence;
it will have great recompense.
You need endurance to do the will of God
and receive what he has promised" (Heb. 10:35-36).
What is to not throw away our confidence?
Simply be assured always in God, with God.
Have faith because he knows very well what is
happening with each of us.
Help us to keep that in mind and heart!
Now, this is what I like, Lord Jesus,
when the author of the Letter to the Hebrews
told us to have "endurance to do the will of God
and receive what he has promised."
Teach us, Jesus, to bear and endure
all pains in doing your will,
in standing for what is true and good,
in keeping on doing what is good,
in continuing to love amid the pains.
Along with endurance,
give us also perseverance, Lord Jesus:
more than enduring the pains, let us go against
all these difficulties and hardships to perfect
ourselves, our faith and our love like you!
Like the farmer in your parable,
let us persevere, to keep on farming despite
the rains and drought without really knowing
if there would be bountiful harvest or not
except in having that deep faith in God
that whatever we plant, no matter small,
would always grow and bloom.
Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Tuesday, Memorial of St. Lucy, Virgin & Martyr, 13 December 2022
Zephaniah 3:1-2, 9-13 ><)))*> + ><)))*> +><)))*> Matthew 21:28-32
Photo by author, Gaudete Sunday 2021.
O loving and merciful Father,
forgive us for not being faithful and true,
for being a disappointment to you
this past year when many of our words
and promises remained on our lips,
miserably falling short in good deeds
and actions especially with the poor and needy,
for believing only to ourselves
than in you.
Thus says the Lord: Woe to the city, rebellious and polluted, to the tyrannical city! She hears no voice, accepts no correction; in the Lord she has not trusted, to her God she has not drawn near… But I will leave as a remnant in your midst a people humble and lowly, who shall take refuge in the name of the Lord; the remnant of Israel. They shall do no wrong and speak no lies; nor shall there be found in their mouths deceitful tongue; they shall pasture and couch their flock with none to disturb them.
Zephaniah 3:1-2, 12-13
Keep us faithful to you in Christ Jesus;
make us realize like the first son in his parable
today to change our minds,
change our attitudes,
change our way of life
to realize the folly of pride
and self-centeredness;
may these remaining days of the year
in this season of Advent be an opportunity
for us all to remain faithful to you,
to deepen our faith in you,
to entrust our very selves to you
like St. Lucy, enable us to see beyond
what is material and physical,
remaining grounded in you.
Amen.
Hitik sa mga kahulugan ang talinghaga ng mayaman at ni Lazaro noong araw ng Linggo (Lukas 16:19-31). Kaya namang aking napag-isipan ano nga kaya at sumulat si Lazaro doon sa mayaman? Ano kaya kanyang sasabihin?
Isang kathang-isip lamang ang liham na ito katulad na rin ng talinghaga ng Panginoong Jesu-Kristo. Gayon pa man, batay ito sa mga kuwento na aking pinakinggan at pinagnilayan mula sa mga tao na aking nakadaupang-palad sa mahabang panahon bilang pari. Sinikap ko na mahabi kanilang mga istorya ng buhay na parang hibla ng sinulid upang maging isang telon na maglalarawan ng iba’t-ibang mukha ni Lazaro at ng mayaman.
Wala akong pinatatamaan maliban sa maihatid mahalagang mga aral ng naturang talinghaga ukol sa buhay at kamatayan na tila nalilimutan na ng maraming pamilya at mag-anak kung saan maraming mayaman at Lazaro na nakalupasay, pinababayaan at tinalikdan.
Sinabi ni Jesus sa mga Pariseo, “May isang mayamang nagdaramit nang mamahalin at saganang-sagana sa pagkain araw-araw. At may isang pulubing nagngangalang Lazaro, tadtad ng sugat, na nakalupasay sa may pintuan ng mayaman upang mamulot kahit mumong nahuhulog mula sa hapag ng mayaman. At doo’y nilalapitan siya ng aso at dinidilaan ang kanyang mga sugat.
Lukas 16:19-21
Larawan ng painting ni Bonifacio de Pitati noong 1540 ng “Dives and Lazarus” mula sa commons.wikimedia.org.
Minamahal kong mayaman,
Ako nga si Lazaro at sumusulat ako sa iyo na manhid at ayaw pumansin sa akin dahil ako ay tadtad ng sugat sa buong katawan, nakakadiring tingnan sa aking karumihan at kawalan ng kagandahang mabanaagan dahil ako ay naiiba sa iyo na kinikilala at maraming kaibigan, malakas at malinis. Kung tingnan.
Mabuti pa ang aso, napapansin ako, dinidilaan aking mga sugat na kailanma'y hindi niya mauunawaan pinagmulan at naging mga sanhi, na pawang mga tao ang may kagagawan.
Isang bagay lang ibig kong ipahayag sa iyo, kapatid ko na mayaman: sapat na bang dahilan na ako ay iyong talikuran at kalimutan dahil lamang sa ilang halaga ng salapi, mga gamit at ari-arian gaya ng kapirasong lupa na higit pa ang sukat sa ating libingan?
Dahil lamang sa magkakaiba nating paniniwala at sa iyong sariling katuwiran na hindi mabitiw-bitiwan ay ipagpapalit mo ako na kapwa tao gaya ng iyong ina o ama, at kapatid?
Madalas, ako si Lazaro yung magulang na kung ituring ng mga anak ay kontra-bida sa buhay nila.
Ikaw iyon, kapatid kong mayaman.
Ikaw iyong bata, yung anak na sadyang mayaman sa kaalaman at kahusayan sa maraming bagay ngunit hindi kailanman sasapat ang mga iyan upang tayo ay mabuhay; mahalaga ang mga kapwa, lalo na mga magulang na nagpalaki at nag-aruga sa atin, mga kapatid na kasabay nating lumaki at lumago, nagkamalay sa mundo, kasama at kasalo sa maraming pagkakataon ng buhay.
Walang perfect love maliban sa pag-ibig ng Diyos; ano man mga nakaraan ikaw ay nasaktan kung maari ay lampasan, pag-usapan, at magpatawaran.
Saan mang tahanan, maraming mga desisyon ang mga magulang na hindi nagugustuhan at marahil hindi rin naunawaan hanggang ngayon; sakaling nagkamali man mga magulang, hindi ba ang mga iyon din ang nagpatibay at nagpatatag upang mga anak ay maging mayaman? Bakit sila ngayon ang iniiwan, mga Lazaro na nakalupasay sa pintuan na hindi pinapansin, ipinagpalit sa ego at prinsipyo?
Hindi ito drama dahil ang totoo, darating ang panahon tayong lahat mamamatay.
Huwag nating hintayin tulad sa talinghaga ng Panginoon na malibing at mabaon ang mayaman doon sa Hades; ibig mo ba talaga na tayo ay magkahiwalay hindi lamang sa daigdig kungdi hanggang sa kabilang buhay?
Huwag mo nang hintayin, kapatid ko na mayaman na matanawan ako, si Lazaro kapiling ni Abraham, walang dusa at sakit sa kabilang buhay habang ika'y hirap na hirap, kumakaway, tumatawag gayong kakilala mo naman pala ako. Gayun din naman, kakilala mo rin pala si Amang Abraham --- kung gayon, ikaw ay Kristiyano katulad ko, kilala si Kristo, sumasamba sa Diyos nating Ama! Bakit hindi mo ako nakilala noong tayo ay nabubuhay pa?
Bahala ka kung ayaw mo pa rin akong pansinin; ito na lamang iiwanan ko sa iyo, higit sa lahat: huwag kang umasa at maniwala sa ilusyon na makapagbabago ka pa sa tamang panahon lalo na kung kapani-paniwala ang magsasabi na mayroon nga buhay sa kabila! Ilusyon lang yan na may oras pa upang magbagong-buhay....
Habang maaga pa, magbalik-loob sa Diyos upang siya ay matagpuan at makilala sa mukha ng bawat kapwa, lalo na sa mga Lazaro na tadtad ng sugat ang katawan, nakalupasay sa iyong harapan.
Lubos na gumagalang,
Lazaro
(Mula sa salitang Hebreo
"El 'azar", ibig sabihi'y
"sinagip ng Diyos".)
Larawan kuha ni G. Jay Javier sa Taal, Batangas, 15 Pebrero 2014.
Lawiswis ng Salita ni P. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Ika-26 ng Setyembre 2022
Larawan mula sa bloomberg.com ng isang homeless sa New York habang dinaraos noon ang fashion week, 2019.
Sinabi ni Jesus sa mga Pariseo, “May isang mayamang nagdaramit nang mamahalin at saganang-sagana sa pagkain araw-araw. At may isang pulubing nagngangalang Lazaro, tadtad ng sugat, na nakalupasay sa may pintuan ng mayaman upang mamulot kahit mumong nahuhulog mula sa hapag ng mayaman. At doo’y nilalapitan siya ng aso at dinidilaan ang kanyang mga sugat.
Lukas 16:19-21
Alam na alam natin
ang talinghagang ito
na marahil isasaysay muli
sa atin ni Kristo
upang magising ating pagkatao,
makilala sinu-sino
mga tinutukoy
nitong kuwento
na walang iba kungdi tayo.
Tayo ang mayaman
sagana sa pagpapala di lamang
ng magagarang damit at gamit,
pagkain at inumin
kungdi ng biyaya ng buhay
handog ng Maykapal
na sawimpalad ay ating
sinasarili, manhid sa kapwa
sarili ang sa tuwina ay tama.
Mayaman tayo
sa mga pagpapala
ngunit hindi mabanaagan
ni masilayan aliwalas
nitong mukha, ipinagkakait
mga ngiti sa labi, hindi mabati
nakakasalubong upang mahawi
lambong ng kalungkutan,
mapawi pati mga sakbibi.
Ang tunay na mayaman
Diyos ang kayamanan
kanyang nababanaagan
sa mukha ng bawat kapwa
na kanyang pinahahalagahan
kesa sa gamit o kasangkapan;
hindi siya kailangang lapitan
ni daingan sapagkat dama niya
hirap at kapighatian ng nahihirapan.
Huwag tayong pakasigurado
na tayo ay mabuting tao
hindi tulad ng mayaman
sa talinghaga ni Kristo
sapagkat si Lazaro
ang taong pinakamalapit
sa iyo, nakalupasay,
nariyan lang sa tabi mo
nilalapitan ng aso maliban sa iyo.
Si Lazaro ang nanay
at ginang ng tahanan
tadtad sa sugat ang katawan
mula sa paglapastangan
ng mga anak at panloloko
ng sariling esposo;
ang mga lola at lolo rin
si Lazaro na namumulot ng mumo
ng pansin at kalinga mula sa mga apo.
Kung minsan si Lazaro
yaong nagtatrabaho sa barko
o malayong dako ng mundo
gaya ni tatay o nanay, ate o kuya
nasaan man sila, tanging pamilya
ang nasa puso nila
hindi alintana kanilang
pagtitiis at pagpapagal
winawalwal ng kanilang minamahal.
Sino nga ba ako
sa talinghagang ito?
Ang mayaman na manhid
walang pakialam sa kapatid
o si Lazaro nagtitiis ng tahimik
walang imik sa kanyang sinapit
tanging sa Diyos nakakapit
nananalig sa Kanyang pagsagip
upang langit ay masapit!
