Malachi 3:13-20 ><}}}*> ><}}}*> ><}}}*> Luke 11:5-13
Photo by Mr. Jim Marpa, September 2019.
Nothing and nobody escapes you, O God. You know very well not only what is in our hearts and in our thoughts but you can also hear what we talk and discuss. Most of all, you know what we need.
Give us the grace to persevere in your words, Lord; to remain faithful in your precepts and promises.
Let us strive to bear pains, ready to sacrifice comforts because there are no shortcuts in this life.
Let us keep in our minds and our hearts that basic truth that “life is difficult”. In this world where everything seems readily available that many have disregarded your presence and even existence, teach us Lord to persevere, to be patient in waiting for your coming to fulfill us, to grant our prayers.
Teach us to value silence more than noise.
To surrender everything to you than be manipulative.
Let us find time to be alone with you and for you than be preoccupied with people and things.
Grant us the Holy Spirit, Lord, to fill us with your love and wisdom to always persevere in life for we hold on to your promise that
“…there will arise the sun of justice with its healing rays.”
Saturday, Memorial of St. Lorenzo Ruiz and Companions, 28 September 2019
Zechariah 2:5-9, 14-15 ><)))*> ><)))*> ><)))*> Luke 9:43-45
From Google.
Today, O God our loving Father, we praise and thank you for the gift of our first Filipino saint, San Lorenzo Ruiz along with his companions martyred in Japan on this day in 1637.
What a great blessing too, dear Father, that our first saint is a layman, someone we need these days to look up to and follow your universal call to holiness.
Bless our lay people who make up most of our faithful who are also our most essential co-workers in your vineyard, Lord.
We need them so much in this world that has become very secularized.
Restore their faith not only to you O God but also to us your priests, their priests and teachers and guides to you. May the lay people be faithful to your teachings through the Church they now question in the name of progress and liberalism.
Like San Lorenzo Ruiz, may the faithful trust again their priests and bishops despite the scandals that continue to rock our wounded Church.
What a beautiful sight to behold the martyrdom of San Lorenzo Ruiz with other fellow lay faithful and Dominican priests who all comprise the Body of Christ, the Church. In them were fulfilled your words to the prophet:
“People will live in Jerusalem as though in an open country, because of the multitude of men and beasts in her midst. But I will be for her an encircling wall of fire, says the Lord, and I will be the glory in her midst.”
Zechariah 2:8-9
May we all trust you, O Lord, especially in this time of varied forms of persecution against the Catholic Church here and abroad. May we have the courage of San Lorenzo Ruiz and companions to suffer with you, and to suffer for you. Amen.
Chapel of San Padre Pio at San Giovanni Rotondo, Italy. Photo by Arch. Philip Santiago, 2017.
Praise and glory to you, O Lord our God and almighty Father! You never cease to amaze us, doing great marvels for us your people. Despite our sins, you always make yourself present among us in so many ways.
In the first reading from Ezra, you have used the pagan king of Persia, Cyrus, to be the instrument in fulfilling your promise to Israel to bring them back home from their Babylonian exile.
In our modern time, you have sent us San Padre Pio to prove and show to us that worrying is useless in this age when we believe and rely more with science and technology than with you, a loving and personal God who had come to us in Jesus Christ.
Teach us to be like San Padre Pio to “pray, hope and not worry” by embracing Christ crucified, by bearing all the pains and sufferings in love contrary to the ways of the world seeking power, wealth, fame, and pleasures.
From Google.
May we befriend silence and prayer than the noise of the world; may we persevere in patiently waiting for you than be in the foolish “rat race” with no winner at all; and, may we believe in things we cannot see with our eyes contrary the modern dictum to see is to believe.
Give us the courage of San Padre Pio to bring out your light, Lord, especially at this time when people claiming to be liberal and progressive are calling for so many rights that are outrightly wrong, destroying the human person, family, and society.
May our hands bear the wounds of your crucifixion, Lord Jesus, like San Padre Pio in praying to you and serving you through those most in need. Amen.
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.
The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe, Week XX-C, 18 August 2019
Jeremiah 38:4-6. 8-10 ><)))*> Hebrews 12:1-4 ><)))*> Luke 12:49-53
Batanes sunset after a storm, 2018. Photo by Mr. Raffy Tima of GMA-7 News.
Jesus continues with his “shock preaching” for the third consecutive Sunday today as “he resolutely determined to journey to Jerusalem” and face his death there.
And his preaching is getting more shocking.
Unlike the previous two Sundays, it was easier to see why Jesus had to shake us with his teachings as he wants us to seriously consider the reality of death that comes “like a thief at night” (Lk. 12:39, Aug. 11). Far from being morbid, Jesus is inviting us to be more concerned with things that last even after death because “life does not consist of possessions” (Lk. 12:15, Aug. 04).
This Sunday, Jesus gets bolder with his teaching of three provocative statements that challenge and motivate us in being like him who is “resolutely determined” in facing his passion and death by setting the world on fire, eagerly awaiting another baptism, and the most controversial, bringing division – not peace – among us his followers.
Jesus said to his disciples: “I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already blazing! There is a baptism with which I must be baptised, and how great is my anguish until it is accomplished!”
Luke 12:49-50
Sunset in Athens, Greece by Dra. Mai B. Dela Pena, 2016.
These first two pronouncements by Jesus go together like our expression “baptism of fire” to mean an initiation into something very new and life-changing or, as we say these days, a “game changer”.
In St. Luke’s second book, the Acts of the Apostles, we find the Holy Spirit coming down as “tongues of fire” upon the Apostles and the Blessed Virgin Mary on Pentecost, filling them with wisdom and courage to proclaim the Good News of salvation by Jesus Christ. For St. Luke, this imagery of the Holy Spirit like fire is very important.
Fire gives heat, symbolising life itself. Without heat, we become cold and die.
Fire also means energy that can move and propel anything including people, covering great distances.
Most of all, fire purifies, removing impurities in so many things including persons.
Since June 30, we have been following Jesus as “he resolutely determined to journey to Jerusalem” (Lk. 9:51). This is the baptism Jesus is so eager, his Passion and Death on the Cross that leads to Easter. It is a path characterized by fire that emboldens us, purifies us, and most of all, illumines us of the more essential things in life!
From Google.
When we recall those trying moments in our lives, those many “baptisms of fire” we have gone through, there is always that sense of inner joy and gratitude in “passing over” through our little deaths that have made us stronger today. Whether we have triumphed or failed in those many baptisms of fire, what matters most is we went through it, deepening our faith that made us more determined in life.
And one very difficult lesson we have also learned in our little deaths is the painful reality of divisions among us.
“Do you think that I have come to establish peace on the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division.”
Luke 12:51
In this age when sound reasoning is being pushed aside in making decisions on many issues and conflicts confronting us by following what is merely popular as “trending” and “viral” measured in the most number of “likes” or “followers”, we find ourselves plunging into more darkness than ever. What used to be not normal has become normal today like obscenity and profanity. Life is reduced to mere lifestyle with everybody insisting on one’s rights in total disregard of one’s responsibilities that anyone may use whichever toilet is preferred. Death in its many masks has become a solution to many problems that has spawned more serious problems. And worst, in the midst of these discussions that disregard morality, proponents of the Godless ways are the ones invoking the name of God!
Jesus tells us in the fourth gospel that “the peace I give you is not like the peace the world gives” (Jn.14:27) which is often more of appeasing one another, of compromises that eventually fails. Peace is more than the absence of war but is appropriately called the effect of righteousness, of love and justice (Vatican II, Gaudium et Spes, #78). And always, that path to peace is the Cross of Christ.
Jesus wants us his disciples going through our little passion and deaths to illumine the world with the Holy Spirit as it is slowly being engulfed in the darkness of sin and evil. And he knows it is not an easy task. Like him, we have to grow in faith completely relying on the Father who vindicated him as he died on the Cross.
Brothers and sisters: Let us rid ourselves of every burden and sin that clings to us and persevere in running the race that lies before us while keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, the leader and perfecter of faith. In you struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood.
Hebrews 12:1-2, 4
In 1945, the late Fr. Hans Urs Von Balthasar titled a chapter of his book “God is dangerous”, writing that
“He presents his victory over death as an example to be imitated, he draws us beyond our limits, into his adventure, which is inevitable fatal.”
“Heart of the World” (Ignatius Press, 1980)
Yes, God is dangerous — too hot to handle and too difficult to resist. We have all felt like Jeremiah bearing all the pains and sufferings because we have allowed ourselves to be “seduced and duped by God’s irresistible charm” (Jer. 20:7). And despite this harsh reality, we choose to remain standing at the foot of our Master’s Cross because it is there we can see everything more clearly, where we experience real peace.
Would you rather be in grave danger with God on your side or be safe for now with no one and nothing to hold on in the end?
One of the series I am following at Netflix is “Money Heist”. It is very suspenseful because unlike other crime series, its plot is unpredictable and spiced with amusing conversations. Like one episode when the lead character called Professor repeatedly mentioned to the Police Inspector during their first date of how he is not a “Basic Instinct” material, referring to Michael Douglas who starred in the movie with Sharon Stone. I felt the line anachronistic because the Professor is so young in the series to make a point reference to the 1992 erotic thriller. But it was a very good line expressing fully what the scene was all about, of a man and a woman following their basic instinct in having sex without really knowing each other so well, especially the Inspector who is a battered wife newly divorced from her husband – also a police officer- and in a relationship with her sister!
Now you see what I have been telling you… but, what I really wish to share with you is an archaic term related with “basic instinct” that Jesus used in the gospel today:
Jesus said to his disciples: “Gird your loins and light your lamps and be like servants who await their master’s return from a wedding, ready to open immediately when he comes and knocks. Blessed are those servants whom the master finds vigilant on his arrival. Amen, I say to you, he will gird himself, have the servants recline at table, and proceed to wait on them.”
Luke 12:35-37
From Google.
Loins refer to that part of our body between the lowest ribs and hipbones, the pelvic area where the genitals are also located. It is believed to be the source of erotic or procreative powers we refer to as “basic instinct” or simply guts as in gut feeling.
During the time of our Lord, men wore long clothes and they have to “gird their loins” in order to move freely when walking and working. Eventually, men ceased wearing long clothes with no need to gird their loins but still have to tighten their pants, sometimes with a belt, to move freely as well. And even if there were no more loins to gird, the expression continued to be used to mean being on guard, being ready for any emergency and situation like a military attack.
This is the whole point of the Lord’s teaching this Sunday: we have to be on guard and ready always for his coming. In fact, anything can happen instantly that could also be life-changing. Girding one’s loins, being on guard and ready for the Lord’s coming requires active faith on our part, an inclination towards God already present in us.
There are actually three parables in our gospel this Sunday but we are given the option to use only the one we have heard which is the second set. In this parable, Jesus used the imagery of being on guard like the “faithful servants waiting for their master’s arrival from a wedding feast” to indicate his coming in the Eucharistic celebrations. Every Mass is our dress rehearsal for our entrance into heaven but we always take it for granted, finding all the reasons and excuses to skip especially the Sunday Mass.
Altar table of the Church of Dominus Flevit (the Lord Wept) with the old Jerusalem at the background. Photo by author, April 2017.
The Mass is our expression of our readiness to enter heaven as we joyfully proclaim after every consecration of the bread and wine that “Christ will come again.” But, even those who regularly come for the Sunday Mass do not take it seriously, not truly present with “full and conscious participation” enunciated by Vatican II 50 years ago.
Notice how in the third parable Jesus mentioned “faithful and prudent stewards” (Lk.12:42) to emphasize the need for servants and ministers at the altar to be more prepared than anyone else for his coming. So true! How can the people pay attention to the scriptures being proclaimed if the lector’s voice is very soft or incomprehensible? How can the congregation thank God for speaking to them anew if the lector’s face and disposition are so gloomy and even horrific?
And this refers more to the priest as presider of the Mass! Much is expected from us priests not only by the congregation but also by the Lord himself! How can the people feel Christ’s coming in every Mass when the priest himself does not meet the Lord, when he is not prepared physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually? What a shame when people complain that they hardly feel the Divine in every Eucharistic celebration! Always we find two extremes in many parishes where at one end are lethargic priests lacking the energy to lead their people into heaven during the Mass while at the other side are the showbiz priests so in love with themselves, with their voice and showmanship that the Eucharist has become a variety show.
Jesus reminds us in all his parables this Sunday that we priests and ministers at his altar of the Sacrifice of the Mass are his servants waiting for him, our Lord. We are never the focus but Jesus Christ alone! Let us not steal that honor from him.
Pyramids of Egypt, May 2019.
Speaking of stealing, Jesus added towards the end of his second parable on the need to gird one’s loins for his coming because it is like the coming of the thief at night. We must always be prepared because nobody knows when the thief strikes. And we find elucidations of this from the first and second readings we have earlier heard that speak about disposition for God.
From the Book of Wisdom, we are reminded how the liberation of the Israelites – their Exodus from Egypt – happened in the darkness of the night. Every celebration of the Mass is an active waiting for the Lord’s coming that also calls for an active faith wherein we are disposed or inclined towards God already with us. Such was the attitude of the Israelites leading to their Exodus from Egypt when Moses told them of God’s plan that every day, they were raring to go.
In the Letter to the Hebrews, the author beautifully expressed that “Faith is the realization of what is hoped for and evidence of things not seen” (Heb.11:1). He gives us Abraham as the perfect example of a truly faithful one to the Lord, always ready for his coming. In three instances, the author of the Letter to the Hebrews showed how Abraham had the perfect disposition of actively waiting for God’s fulfillment of his promises to him: journeying from Ur to the Promised Land he did not know where; being the father of nations as numerous as the stars of the sky when he and Sarah were still childless at their age of 90; and, in obediently offering Isaac to God.
Girding our loins, being on guard also means having the discipline of waiting for God. It is not enough to wait; we need discipline, we need to follow certain things to stay focused. As we have mentioned earlier, the loins is the region of our basic instinct. So many opportunities have been missed by many men and women simply because of small mistakes, of being caught off-guard in simple instances when everything snaps in an instant when they followed the lower basic instinct, forgetting the higher ideals.
Abraham girded his loins so well that he never wavered in his faith in God until his promises were fulfilled because he always had that disposition for him. This Sunday, Jesus is reminding us to be patient in waiting for him, to have the discipline to stay focused with him and our dreams and aspirations in life for he will fulfill them in his time. It is very important that like Abraham and the faithful servants in his parable, we are always present when he comes to seize his blessings! A blessed week ahead with you! Amen.
Thank you very much, O Lord, for this brand new day, for this breath of new hope at the middle of the week as I pray for those who make life difficult for me, for those who mess your plans like those spies Moses sent to reconnoiter the Promised Land.
Instead of building up the people to meet the challenges of settling in the Promised Land, “they spread discouraging reports among the children of Israel about the land they had scouted” (Num.13:32).
Forgive me Lord for doubting you, for thinking that you do not seem to care at all for me when I feel so alone with nobody on my side.
Increase my faith in you like that Canaanite woman who begged you to heal her daughter possessed by the devil. You did not say a word to her that prompted your disciples to intercede for her just to silence her, telling them you had come to search the lost sheep of Israel until….
He said to her in reply, “It is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs.” She said, “Please, Lord, for even the dogs eat the scraps that fall from the table of their masters.”
Matthew 15:26-27
You praised that Canaanite woman, Lord, for her great faith; but, those children of Israel who trusted more the lies of those sent to scout the Promised Land were eventually punished, paying the very dear price of wandering for 40 years in the desert because they chose to mess your plans.
Vanish all anger and bitterness in me against these people who would surely soon “realize what it means to oppose you, O Lord” (Num.14:34) while I await your further plans and instructions. Amen.
Lawiswis ng Salita ni P. Nicanor F. Lalog II, ika-29 ng Hulyo 2019
Minsan sa aking pananalangin Sa Panginoon ako'y dumaing Ngunit ang sumagi sa akin Yaring tagpo nang kanyang sabihin:
"Marta, Marta naliligalig ka At abalang-abala sa maraming bagay Ngunit iisa lamang ang talagang mahalaga."
Kaya naman naglaro sa aking isipan Paano mangatwiran si Marta kung tayo sinabihan At marahil ganito kanyang tinuran: "Ako pa ba ngayon ang naliligalig Gayong batid ninyo Panginoon Pandarambong at kasakiman ng karamihan Pagkagahaman sa kayamanan ng ilan Habang kaming maliliit ang labis nahihirapan?"
At waring sumagi sa akin wika ng Panginoon, "Marta, Marta iisa lang ang mahalaga: Sa akin ay manalig ka sapagkat sinabi ko na, Mapapalad ang mga aba at dukha Na walang inaasahan kungdi ang Diyos."
Napahupa aking kalooban samandali Ngunit muli nag-alimpuyo aking galit at ngitngit Aking naisip isa pang hirit ni Marta Nang sa kanya'y nasambit: "Ako pa ba ngayon Panginoon ang nababahala At tila hindi mo alintana mga ginagawa ng masasama Na parang sila pa yata ang pinagpapala Pinapalakpakan, hinahangaan ng karamihan?"
At yaring sumagi muli ang wika ng Panginoon, "Marta, Marta isa lang ang kailangan kaya matuwa ka Kung dahil sa akin ika'y inaalimura, inuusig Pinagwiwikaan ng mga kasinungalingan: walang natatago Na di malalantad, walang lihim na hindi malalaman at mabubunyag."
Sa iyo ginigiliw kong kaibigan Nabibigatan sa maraming pinapasan Nahihirapan sa mga pinagdaraanan Laging tandaan si Kristo lamang ating kailangan.
Katulad ni Santa Martang uliran Tanging si Hesus ang asahan at abangan Ipagpatuloy gawang kabutihan Iyong pangarap tiyak makakamtan!
Monday, Wk. XV, Yr. I, 15 July 2019, Feast of St. Bonaventure
Exodus 1:8-14, 22 >< )))*> <*((( >< Matthew 10:34-11:1
The Sphinx and Pyramids of Egypt. Photo by author, 09 May 2019.
It is that time of the year again, Lord, when life gets harder with the rains, with all the expenses piling up along with a hosts of so many other problems besetting us.
Others call these months of July until August as the “ghost months” when so many difficulties come along our way. But of course, we believe more in you.
Like in our Responsorial Psalm today, we sing “Our help is in the name of the Lord.”
Most of all, like the people of Israel living in Egypt long after Joseph had gone who were subjected to cruel slavery by the Pharaoh and his men, “the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread” (Ex.1:12).
Our almighty Father, keep us close to you through your Son Jesus Christ.
Let us rely more to you in him through the Holy Spirit when life gets harder for us.
May we learn more from him so we may follow him closer than ever especially during times of trials and difficulties.
Keep us faithful in Christ for “whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it” (Mt.10:39).
St. Paul’s “little foolishness” yesterday of taking some pride of himself was therapeutic, Lord, for us feeling low. After all, St. Teresa de Avila said “humility is walking in truth” and like St. Paul, we need to be proud sometimes to let people realize the talents you have blessed us with.
But today, Lord, we thank you anew for this beautiful though trying day. And once again, like St. Paul, we have realized that the only bragging rights you have given us is so opposite with the world’s:
Brothers and sisters: since many boast according to the flesh, I too will boast. To my shame I say that we were too weak! But what anyone dares to boast of (I am speaking in foolishness) I also dare. If I must boast, I will boast of the things that who my weakness.
2 Corinthians 11:18, 21,30
Lord, what really sets us apart from others, from what St. Paul calls as “super apostles”, are the wounds and hurts we bear in love for you and others. We are all the same in everything but anyone’s greatness can truly be found in his/her weakness as the world sees it: in taking all the beatings of this life, in being patient, in being forgiving, in being understanding, in being persevering.
Yes, Jesus, everybody talks about their achievements and what they have done, of how great they are. But those who truly love and serve you, those who follow you as Christ-ians, boast only of their weakness.
In our weakness, Jesus, we become your dwelling place, we become like you — our only treasure in this life!
Continue to bless, Lord, those who ” store up treasures in heaven”, those who truly love with sincerity in their hearts, those who sacrifice for others, those who suffer in the name of truth and justice. Let their light shine on in you. Amen.
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