Monday, Memorial of St. Charles Borromeo, 04 November 2019
Romans 11:29-36 ><)))*> ><)))*> ><)))*> Luke 14:12-14
Sculpture of a homeless man sleeping on a bench fronting the Franciscan Fathers’ Residence in Capernaum, the Holy Land. On closer examination of the sculpture, one realises it is in fact Jesus Christ living in our midst! Photo by the author, May 2019.
Praise and glory to you, our heavenly Father!
Thank you very much for never changing your mind regarding your gifts and call to us as St. Paul reminds us today in our first reading:
Brothers and sisters: The gifts and call of God are irrevocable.
Romans 11:29
It is always a struggle with us to come to grip with this truth and reality.
Very often, we tend to forget your gifts and call to us to be holy, to be like you in Christ Jesus, always kind and loving, forgiving and merciful, just and understanding.
There is always that inner temptation within us to think too much of ourselves, to have our rewards or share of the fruits of our labor.
Help us to keep in mind like St. Charles Borromeo, who despite his very colourful and illustrious background, he lived out his call and vocation to the priesthood exactly as your servant, Lord.
Help us to forget our selves so we may always see you, Lord, among the poor and needy, the ones who cannot pay us back, or invite us to dinner. Amen.
Wisdom 3:1-9 ><}}}*> Romans 5:5-11 ><}}}*> John 6:37-40
Dominican Hills, Baguio City, January 2019.
Praise and glory to you, our heavenly Father, for the gift of salvation you have given s through your Son Jesus Christ!
Today you give us this special day of remembering not only our dearly departed loved ones awaiting entrance into heaven but most of all, a day to remember our own salvation in Jesus Christ.
Forgive us, Lord, for being so desensitized by the world to our need for to be saved by you, to be reconciled with you. Many of us now take salvation for granted as something due to us, so confident that we would be saved on our own merits.
But God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us. How much more then, since we are now justified by his blood, will we be saved through him from the wrath. Indeed, if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through death of his Son, how much more, once reconciled, will we be saved by his life. Not only that, but we also boast of God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
Romans 5:8-11
Let us re-member you, Lord, or make you a part, a member of our lives today inasmuch as we re-member too our departed loved ones.
Salvation and reconciliation always come together: no man is an island, even in death.
No one lives alone. No one sins alone. No one dies alone. No one is saved alone.
That is why on this second day of November, we pray together in Jesus Christ, our only boast in life whose love purifies us here and in the afterlife, so that our departed dear ones may finally be with you in eternity. Amen.
Friday, Solemnity of All the Saints, 01 November 2019
Revelation 7:2-4. 9-14 ><}}}*> 1 John 3:1-3 ><}}}*> Matthew 5:1-12
“Mary with the Child and the Angels and the Saints” by Duccio Di Buoninsegna (d. 1319).
Glory and praise to you, O Lord our almighty and loving Father in heaven!
Thank you very much for this celebration of the Solemnity of All Saints — of those all ahead of us and have died now enjoying your company in heaven.
Whenever we think of holiness, we always think of men and women not committing sins, of moral exemplars.
Remind us always that holiness is being filled with you, O God, and that saints are givers of life.
“Blessed are the clean of heart, for they will see God.”
Matthew 5:8
Fill us with your Holy Spirit, Lord, cleanse us of our sins and evil desires and inclinations as we strive to bear all pains and sufferings to lead holy lives.
It is in purifying our hearts, our very selves, when we are able to truly offer our lives for the loving service of the poor and needy so that while still here on earth, we may already see your face, Lord, among the people we meet until that day we are one in you in eternity. Amen.
Romans 8:26-30 ><)))*> ><)))*> ><)))*> Luke 13:22-30
Photo by Dra. Mai Dela Pena, Chapel of St. John of God Hospital in Barcelona, Spain (August 2019).
Every day, every night, O Lord, we come to you to pray.
But so often, we forget we merely respond to your call when we pray.
How sad that when we pray, we come to you demanding you, asking you for so many things without us realizing that we pray primarily to ask you what you want us to do for you!
We are not the masters telling you, O God, what you must do or give us; we are your “unworthy” servants who must ask what you want from us.
May we allow always the Holy Spirit to direct our prayers the way you would want it to be because…
“We know that all things work for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.”
Romans 8:28
Instead of being so concerned with how many or how few would be saved, may we focus more on how to “strive to enter through the narrow gate” of salvation.
Direct us, O Lord, to your holy will in the way you would want us to fulfill it. Amen.
But hope, says God, that is something that surprises me…
And my grace must indeed be an incredible force.
Charles Peguy, “The Portal of the Mystery of Hope”
Whenever I come across the word “hope”, O Lord, I always remember this lovely poem by your faithful writer Charles Peguy (1873-1914) of France.
And I agree with Peguy, hope is your favorite virtue because it always surprises you and everybody else!
Again Jesus said, “To what shall I compare the kingdom of God? It is like the yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of wheat flour until the whole batch of dough is leavened.”
Luke 13:20-21
Hope surprises us, Lord, because it is often so small, almost negligible for some.
And that is how you work, how your wonders perform, Lord.
Hope is not positive thinking because hope is still believing in you even if things do not get any better at all. In fact, things can get worst and that is when hope surprises us!
St. Paul said it so well.
For in hope we were saved. Now hope that sees for itself is not hope. For who hopes for what one sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait with endurance.
Romans 8:24-25
In positive thinking, we hold on to at least something tangible, something we can see and feel clearly like the weather or the stock market.
But in hope, we only have you, Lord, whom we cannot see but can simply feel, believe and rely on that we hope would always remain and be still with us til the end.
In this world when size always matters, when everything has to be bigger and biggest, what remains true is the fact that no matter how big or great is anything, it surely came from a minute, little something.
Like the yeast that has become a wonderful bread or any baker’s creation.
Nobody had seen how it would turn out except that hope in one’s heart and mind that teases us with something big and wonderful and surprising.
Please surprise us today, Lord and let us live differently in you! Amen.
Monday, Feast of St. Simon and St. Jude, Apostles, 28 October 2019
Ephesians 2:19-22 ><)))*> ><)))*> ><)))*> Luke 6:12-16
From Google
What a glorious Monday, O Lord, we have today with the Feast of your Apostles St. Simon and St. Jude!
Whenever I think of your Apostles, O sweet Jesus, I am always filled with hope and love because they show us how you are interested with people, not with social classes or labels.
Jesus went to the mountain to pray, and he spent the night in prayer to God. When day came, he called his disciples to himself, and from them he chose Twelve, whom he also named Apostles: Simon, whom he named Peter, and his brother Andrew, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, Simon who was called Zealot, and Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.
Luke 6:12-16
How amazing you have called and gathered these people of different backgrounds and temperament.
Like St. Simon described as “the Zealot” who must be so passionate with his Jewish identity advocating independence yet working with the former Roman collaborator, St. Matthew the tax collector.
How they were able to overcome their many differences is a wonderful lesson for us all who tend to highlight our polarities and contrasts, forgetting that in you, Lord Jesus, we are given the grace to overcome our many conflicts in life.
But, at the same time, you call us to be men and women of integrity like St. Jude Thaddeus who minced no words in his letter against some Christians who “pervert the grace of our God into licentiousness and who deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ” (v.4) by sowing divisions through their erroneous teachings.
May we have the courage of St. Jude to defend your teachings Lord strongly especially in this age when we try to tolerate everything for the sake of pluralism and openness and acceptance.
May St. Simon the Zealot and St. Jude Thaddeus help us rediscover the beauty of Christian faith to live it without tiring, knowing how to bear a strong and yet peaceful witness to it in Christ our Good Shepherd. Amen.
Photo by the author. Baguio City Cathedral, January 2019.
We have reflected last Sunday that prayer is an expression of our faith.
Where there is faith and prayer, there is always love.
And when we have prayer, faith and love, we have a relationship and community of two or three and more persons together as one, rooted in God.
Today we hear another parable by Jesus only St. Luke has, that of the Pharisee and the tax collector to show us another dimension of faith expressed in prayer.
Photo by the author at the Wall of Jerusalem, May 2017.
Like last week, St. Luke tells us anew the Lord’s purpose in narrating this parable:
Jesus addressed this parable to those who were convinced of their own righteousness and despised everyone else.
Luke 18:9
Were you moved or affected in any way upon hearing our parable today?
Did you feel a silent but swift, sharp thud inside your heart while your mind tried to reason out that the parable is not meant for you?
Listen again and pause, let the Lord’s words sink deeper into your heart:
“Two people went to the temple area to pray; one was a Pharisee and the other was a tax collector. The Pharisee took up his position and spoke this prayer to himself, ‘O God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of humanity — greedy, dishonest, adulterous —- or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week, and I pay tithes on my whole income.’ But the tax collector stood off at a distance and would not even raise his eyes to heaven but beat his breast and prayed, ‘O God, be merciful to me a sinner.’
Luke 18:10-13
If prayer creates a relationship, Jesus is teaching us today the right attitude we must have to keep this communion we have in faith and love. Any relationship is bound to fail, or would not even exist at all despite the formalities of having ties and links like what we see or even have in our various social circles where roles are just acted out.
We call it “plastic” or fake. Untrue!
Praying at the Garden of Gethsemane, May 2019.
Prayer to be efficacious like any relationship must always be true.
Here Jesus directs our attention in the “where” when we pray – not just the location or locus of our prayer but our “place” in that relationship first with God who is our very foundation.
When all we see is our self in prayer like in any relationship, there is always a problem. It is clearly a one way street, a monologue.
Worst of all, it is an indication of the absence of God or even others because the pray-er is so preoccupied with his or her very self!
The Pharisee was clearly not in God even if he were in front of the temple. His very self was very far from God and all he had was his bloated ego. He may be a very pious person but not really good at all for he has no space for God and for others. He is a very closed man without any room for others.
The tax collector, on the other hand, may be physically far outside the temple but was the one actually nearest to God with his self-acceptance and ownership of his sinfulness, of his need for God. He was closest to God because he was more open with God and with others by admitting his own sinfulness.
Again we find the key to tis Sunday’s parable towards the end:
(Jesus said) ‘I tell you, the latter (tax collector) went home justified, not the former; for whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.'”
Luke 18:14
Photo by Dra. Mai B. Dela Pena, Germany, 2016.
Prayer is more than entering a church or a prayer room, or finding our most suitable spot or space to pray.
Prayer is being one with God, of being suffused in God.
“Where” are we when we pray?
First, we become one with God, one in him in prayer when we first admit our sinfulness, when we confess our sins to him, and own them without any “ifs” and “buts”.
God always comes to those who truly open themselves to him by emptying themselves of their sins and inadequacies.
The tax collector was justified in his prayer more than the Pharisee because in confessing his sins, he admitted his need for God. He knew very well his place, so unlike the Pharisee who felt God owes him so much!
When Pope Francis granted his first media interview (to their Jesuit Magazine!), the first question asked of him was, “who is Jose Mario Bergoglio?”
The Holy Father quickly answered, “I am a sinner.”
No wonder when he was elected Pope on March 13, 2013 at the Vatican, he first asked for prayers from the huge crowd gathered before he bestowed his apostolic blessing to them. It clearly showed that despite his holding the highest post in the Church, he considers himself a sinner, so weak needing prayers from the people.
I always tell couples during weddings that when they have a quarrel, the first one to speak and make the move for reconciliation is the one with most love, the one who is most willing to bow to start anew.
Most often in life, friendships and relationships are kept when we are willing to take the lower stance, not necessarily admitting fault or guilt in any misunderstanding because being lowly indicates the person’s need for the other person and of one’s love to work on that relationship despite its fragility.
Ordination of deacons, Malolos Cathedral, 12 June 2019.
Second, we are in God and with God in prayer when we have that attitude and inner disposition of being poor and lowly. Being lowly or poor means having the conviction to leave everything behind and go down with God into the lowest point because one is so confident of the efficacy of prayer like what Ben Sirach tells us in the first reading.
Most of all, like Mary the Mother of Jesus during the Annunciation of the Christ’s birth.
The one who serves God willingly is heard; his petition reaches the heaven. The prayer of the lowly pierces the clouds; it does not rest till it reaches its goal.
And thirdly, we are in God in prayer when there is an offering daily of one’s self to God.
It is not enough to be lowly and sorry for our sins in prayer. It has to be sustained because prayer is also a discipline like any sport. In the second reading, St. Paul calls us to persevere and endure until the end for Jesus Christ.
We need to be passionate with our prayer life, willing to go to all extent to offer everything for the Lord, to fulfill his will “who shall award us with the crown of righteousness in heaven.”
We are all sinners forgiven and beloved by God.
May we find ourselves in God and with God always both in our sinfulness and lowliness. Amen.
What a beautiful way to end the week of work and studies, O Lord, when you asked us to read the signs of the times.
Jesus said to the crowds, “When you see a cloud rising in the west you say immediately tat it is going to rain — and so it does; and when you notice that the wind is blowing from the south you say that it is going to be hot — and so it is. You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky; why do you not know how to interpret the present time? Why do you not judge for yourselves what is right?”
Luke 12:54-57
In this age of social media where everything is being shown and seen by everyone, it is very unfortunate that we still fail to see beyond the physical realities.
In an age when everything and everyone is seen, we have become more superficial than ever and have refused to see more deeper than what appears to the eyes.
We look outside of us to explain everything like in the news and in the internet, at YouTube and Facebook, Google and Wikipedia.
Rarely do we look deep inside ourselves like St. Paul to realize the greater battle going on deep within each one of us between good and evil.
Teach us Lord to see more the spiritual meanings of the things happening in us and around us, to always look deep into our hearts to see and realize the need to be good and just, kind and loving.
Maybe if we can look more often into our hearts and look piercingly into the heavens to find you, perhaps we can have a better world with lesser crimes and hatred among peoples. Amen.
Romans 6:19-23 ><)))*> ><)))*> ><)))*> Luke 12:49-53
The late Joey Velasco at work. From Google.
As I prayed today’s gospel, Lord Jesus, I remembered the late painter Joey Velasco who is best known for his “Hapag ng Pag-Asa”.
Joey portrayed you in a very unique way that is very disturbing, even harsh just like the way you spoke in today’s gospel.
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 baptized, and how great is my anguish until it is accomplished! Do you think I have come to establish peace on the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division.”
Luke 12:49-51
Why did I feel that way, Lord?
It seems I have been so conditioned to your image of being “meek and humble”, so gentle like Isaiah’s Suffering Servant who bore all pains and insults.
But more than that imagery that we have nurtured of you like a “baby” within us, Joey’s paintings of you among the poor and suffering disturb us because we are so detached from you.
Yes, we are disturbed and even pained because we have refused to follow you closer among the poor and suffering.
So often, your words shock us and actually bring us back to life because we have actually been dead to sin and evil or the “wages of sin” according to St. Paul in our first reading today.
“That All May Be One” painting by Joey Velasco. Photo from Google.
We are disturbed because our silence in reaching out to the poor and oppressed is more harsh than your words.
Your words are “harsh” because they are so radical in the truest sense, from the Latin radix or roots – you are shaking us down into our inner core and being to set the earth out on fire with your love!
Your words disturb us because they call us to leave our comfort zones and sidewalks to follow you right onto the dirty road of pain and suffering with the poor.
Yes, you have come Jesus to bring divisions, but not out of our petty quarrels and whims and fanaticisms.
Let us be divided for what is true and good, for what is just and fair.
Let us be divided, Lord, by choosing your side, by standing by your side at the foot of cross with the wounded and unaccepted.
Open our hearts, O Jesus, to the truest sense and meaning of your words to reawaken in us your fire and spirit of loving service for the less fortunate. Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Recipe for 40th Wedding Anniversary
Tony and Joyce Lopez, 20 October 2019
Presentation of Our Lord Parish, Filinvest 1, Batasan Hills, QC
Tony and Joyce on their 40th Wedding Anniversary, 20 October 2019 at the Presentation of the Lord Parish, Filinvest I, QC joined by their son Atty. JA and wife Kathleen with two kids, and youngest daughter Rosella.
Every Sunday I write a blog connecting the gospel with a secular song.
As I prepared my homily for your anniversary, Joyce and Tony… “the moment I woke up and before your Mommy Fely put on her make-up, I said a little prayer for you.”
Joyce mom Fely Pollard with late husband Charles’ cousin, Beth Javier.
Of course that is not the theme song of Joyce and Tony. They haven’t met yet in 1967 when Dione Warwick recorded I Say a Little Prayer. But they were already married when it became one of the tracks in the movie “My Best Friend’s Wedding” starring Julia Roberts.
And since this is my “best cousin’s wedding anniversary” in this part of the city, I have thought of reflecting on married life as a form of prayer.
In our gospel we have heard Jesus Christ narrating the parable of the unjust judge and persistent widow to underscore “the necessity to pray always without becoming weary” (Lk. 18:1).
Prayer is an expression of faith.
When there is faith, there is also love.
And when there is prayer, faith, and love, what we have is a relationship, a community of believers who love each other.
People who love and believe with each other always talk and communicate. They make time to be with one another. And most often, that is what really matters with people who love and believe – simply to be together.
Even in silence.
Like prayer.
Joyce: “During our first few years as couple, I was the one always embracing Tony; but, later until now, it is Tony who often hugs and embraces me! Nabaligtad ang scenario.”
Prayer is more than asking things from God but most of all, prayer is a relationship with God expressed with others. That is the beauty of the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony: husband and wife are bound together in marriage to become signs of the saving presence of Jesus Christ.
Marriage as a sacrament means it is a prayer as well, a relationship of a man and woman with God as its source and foundation.
I am sure, Joyce and Tony along with all the other married couples here today will agree that married life requires a lot of prayers. In fact, married life is a prayer, a very difficult one that is much needed.
Like in that movie My Best Friend’s Wedding, there are real forces of evil that are trying to destroy couples. So many couples have already fallen, going their separate lives after several years of being together while on the other hand, more and more couples are refusing to get married at all due to this reality of breakups and separations.
And that is why we are celebrating today on this 40th anniversary of Joyce and Tony’s wedding! We are praying with them in expressing our faith and love for them in Christ Jesus. Prayers have kept them together, transforming them into better persons.
At the end of the parable of the persistent widow and unjust judge, Jesus posed a very crucial question for us, especially to every married couple here today: When the Son of Man comes again at the end of time, will he find faith on earth? (Lk.18:8)
Tony and Joyce at Villa San Miguel, Mandaluyong 1979.
And what shall be our response?
“Yes, Lord, you shall find faith when you come again in Joyce and Tony!”
Like Moses in the first reading, they both prayed hard with arms outstretched on many occasions as they battled life’s many challenges and struggles.
“Yes, Lord, you shall find faith when you come again in Joyce and Tony” because they have both proclaimed your word with persistence, whether it is convenient or inconvenient like St. Paul in his second letter to Timothy. They have weathered so many storms in the past 40 years and your words, O Lord, have kept them together, sharing these with their children and with everyone in their life of fidelity and love.
“Yes, Lord, you shall find faith when you come again in Joyce and Tony” now before your altar to renew their vows to love and cherish each other for the rest of their lives!
“Yes, Lord, you shall find faith when you come again” among the many couples gathered here who have remained faithful to each other despite their many sins and failures, weaknesses and shortcomings.
Joyce and Tony, you are not only a prayer of faith but also a homily of the Holy Matrimony, showing us the light and power of Jesus Christ to transform people in prayer and bring them to fulfillment.
Prayer does not change things like typhoons and earthquakes. We cannot ask God in prayer to spare us from getting sick or be exempted from life’s many trials and sufferings. Prayer cannot stop those from happening.
What prayer does is change us, change our attitude so we may hurdle life’s many blows and obstacles. Especially with couples who always find God in their lives, in good times and in bad.
Prayers transform us into better persons as children of God, especially couples who eventually look like brothers and sisters after living together in faith, hope and love.
Tony and Joyce, I am sure everyone in our family and among your friends here can attest to the many good things that have transformed you in the past 40 years.
You have changed to become the best for each other.
In the bible, the number 40 means perfect.
May God continue to perfect you, Tony and Joyce.
Keep us too in your prayers as we pray for you. Amen.
lordmychef.com 