Keeping The Church A Good News Amid Bad News

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe-Prayer

Thursday, 30 August 2018, Week XXI, Year II

1Corinthians 1:1-9///Matthew 24:42-51

Lord Jesus Christ, we come to you today deeply saddened with the many scandals and divisions rocking YOUR Church. The new series of sexual abuses brought out in the open recently are not only scandalous but very sickening. And what makes this so viciously evil is the claim by some from within that they are doing this for the good of the Church by attacking your Vicar, the Holy Father Pope Francis.

May we imitate St. Paul in his manner of dealing with the “problematic” Corinthians as we start reading and hearing today his first letter to them.

How wonderful it is to be filled with the Holy Spirit like St. Paul in greeting the Corinthians first with “grace and peace from the Father” (1Cor.1:3) despite the divisions and infighting that beset them at that time. Give us that same grace of St. Paul in seeing first the Father’s wonderful work of calling us all to “sanctification and election as a holy people (1Cor.1:2).”

May we keep in mind like the “the faithful and prudent servant” (Mt. 24:45) in your parable today that we are mere stewards of the Church, keepers of your precious gift of communion which enables us all to feel and experience being welcomed and loved by God. Amen. Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Parokya ng San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Gov. F. Halili Ave., Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria,Bulacan 3022. (Photo by the author, 5:18AM of 01 August 2018 at the Parish.)

Heads Without Hearts

300px-The_Beheading_of_Saint_John-Caravaggio_(1608)

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe-Prayer

Wednesday, 29 August 2018, Passion of John the Baptist

Jeremiah 1:17-19///Mark 6:17-29

What a bloody morning today, O God, as we celebrate the Passion of Jesus Christ’s forerunner, John the Baptist. Yesterday you gave us the feast of St. Augustine who taught us that our hearts are restless until they rest in you, Lord. Today in the beheading of John the Baptist, you remind us how Herod was intrigued and confused with John’s teachings; but, due to an oath he had given upon enjoying Salome’s dance, Herod finally decided to have John killed in prison by beheading.

What is intriguing, Lord, is not what was going on inside Herod’s head at that time but more importantly for us today is the same question, what is in our heads? We are supposed to be living in an age of sophistication when knowledge is readily available with a superabundance of information on everything. We have smart phones, smart bombs and guided missiles but sad to say, we are still dumb and misguided in our relationships with one another.

So many times, we even behead our very selves when we think and decide separately from our whole body and from others. We have become very cerebral that have bloated our egos in the process and made us heartless. Teach us, O God, through John the Baptist, to always search and follow and stand by the Truth of your Son Jesus Christ by always bridging the distance between our minds and hearts. Amen. Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Parokya ng San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Gov. F. Halili Ave., Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria,Bulacan 3022. (Photo from Google: “The Beheading of St. John the Baptist” by Italian artist Caravaggio considered as one of the ten “greatest paintings of all time.”)

Our Restless, Foolish Hearts

Philippe de Champaigne-16-Saint Augustine (1645-1650) 62.2x78.7

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Tuesday, 28 August 2018, Memorial of St. Augustine

2Thessalonians 2:1-3,14-17///Matthew 23:23-26

Our dearest loving God and Father, we praise and thank you in giving us a great saint in Augustine who have experienced our same situation of searching for you and most especially in finding you. Allow us to own his confession and prayer, “Late have I known you, O Beauty ever ancient, ever new, late have I loved you! You were within me, but I was outside, and it was there that I searched for you. In my unloveliness I plunged into the lovely things which you created. You were with me, but I was not with you. Created things kept me from you.”

Cleanse out hearts, O Lord! Keep us firm in our faith in you, “encourage our hearts strengthen them in every good deed and word.”(2Thess.2:17)

Cleanse our hearts, O Lord, to remember always the deeper meaning of our rituals and practices meant to purify us within (Mt.23:25-26) for as St. Augustine have realized, “our hearts are restless until they rest in you.” Amen. Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Parokya ng San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Gov. F. Halili Ave., Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria,Bulacan 3022. (Photo from Google: A painting of St. Augustine by renowned French painter Philippe de Champaigne done between 1645-1650 now hanging at the Los Angeles County Museum in California, USA.)

Praying For Mothers with St. Monica

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Monday, 27 August 2018, Memorial of St. Monica

2Thessalonians 1:1-5,11-12///Matthew 23:13-22

God our loving Father, today we pray with St. Monica the mother of St. Augustine for all mothers, those still alive and those whom you have called to join you in heaven. Thank you very much for the gift of mother whom we have always taken for granted! They must truly be your most special creation of all. Mothers came later because you have to bless them with so much to be able to conceive us, carry us, deliver us, nurture us and always care for us. Thank you very much God for the mothers who bear with us even if everyone, including our own father and siblings have given up on us.

Please bless mothers who are sick, those who suffer in pain and anguish alone and in silence. Heal them in their body, heart, mind and soul. Be their strength in their weakness and their company in their loneliness. Enlighten their minds and their hearts especially those mothers who have to work for a living. We pray in a special manner for the single-mothers, by choice or by circumstances.

Through St. Monica, we pray for mothers with problematic husband and children to always have faith in you, to never lose hope their loved ones would still be converted. Give them the grace like St. Monica to “forget the past and push on to the future” (from today’s Office of Readings), that like the Thessalonians, all mothers may keep longing for what is good (1:11).

Likewise, we pray for the mothers who have died. Grant them eternal rest especially those who have persevered while here on earth to lead their children and others closer to you. The mothers who have been true and not hypocrite like those condemned today by Jesus in the gospel, so concerned only with what is external and not important. Reward them with eternal peace and joy through Jesus Christ your Son who lives and reigns with you in the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Parokya ng San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Gov. F. Halili Ave., Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria,Bulacan 3022 (Photo from Google: St. Monica with her son, St. Augustine.)

On Being True To Jesus

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Friday, 24 August 2018, Feast of St. Bartholomew the Apostle

Revelation 21:9-14///John 1:45-51

What really happened Lord Jesus Christ when you saw Nathanael or St. Bartholomew “under the fig tree” that prompted him to give that great confession of faith that “you are the Son of God; the King of Israel”? (Jn.1:48,49)

Give me O Lord the grace and courage to strip myself naked, to be flayed like St. Bartholomew in order to reveal and accept what is deep beneath my skin, to be without guile like him. Despite his harsh words about you and your origins which are not really true because you actually came from Bethlehem, it became an opportunity for St. Bartholomew to feel being loved and accepted by you. In calling him a “true child of Israel”(Jn.1:47), St. Bartholomew must have felt that here at last is the Son of God, the Messiah who truly knows him and most of all, accepts him. He must have felt so good of finding you who finally understood and accepted him as he is.

Sometimes Lord Jesus, we refuse to make that bold move of knowing you more clearly, of being under the fig tree, praying for your coming to us personally. And most of all, so often we refuse to be surprised by you like St. Bartholomew in that simple encounter. Make us “come and see” you as you are, Lord Jesus, true God and true Man. Amen. Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Parokya ng San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Gov. F. Halili Ave., Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria,Bulacan 3022

*A popular sketch of the call of Nathanael under the fig tree (courtesy of Google).

Our Stony Hearts and God’s Natural Heart

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Thursday, 23 August 2018, St. Rose of Lima

Ezekiel 36:23-28///Matthew 22:1-14

Our dearest God Almighty Father, “cleanse us from all of our impurities, take away our stony hearts and fills us with your natural heart” (Ez.36:25-26) that beats with firm faith, fervent hope and unceasing charity and love. Dress us with your “spirit that we may live in your statutes, careful to observe your decrees” (Ez.36:27-28) to make us worthy to celebrate in your wedding banquet (Mt.22:11-12). This we ask through our Lord Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Pray for us too, St. Rose of Lima, that we may keep in mind that outer beauty is nothing compared with inner beauty, always radiating the kindness and love of God in whatever we say and most especially do. Amen.Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Parokya ng San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Gov. F. Halili Ave., Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria,Bulacan 3022

*Photo by Fr. Nick F. Lalog II, sunrise at Sonnenberg Mountain View, Davao, 11 August 2018.

Mary Is Queen Because God Reigns In Her Supreme

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Memorial of the Queenship of Mary, 22 August 2018

Isaiah 9:1-6///Luke 1:26-38

Praise and glory to you, O God our almighty Father on this Memorial of Mary as Queen of Heaven and Earth! It is purely because of your goodness that we now honor her as Queen. Since the beginning, we have always revered Mary as Queen for being the Mother of your Son Jesus, the King of Kings. Most of all, you remind us, O God, that Mary is rightly a Queen because you reigned supreme in her whole life while here on earth.

“Hail, favored one! The Lord is with you” was Archangel Gabriel’s greeting to her, repeated to us every morning when we wake up, announcing Jesus Christ’s presence in us and with us. Like Mary, in our humanity you have found favor to bring into the world our Savior; but, unlike her, we refuse to say “yes” to your gift, we refuse to believe your Good News of salvation, we refuse to trust in the fulfillment of your will.

Give us the grace today to be like Mary in saying “yes” to you, O God, of believing that Jesus is your Son whom we must welcome everyday in our lives to truly come into this world. May Jesus reign in our hearts, fill us with His humility, justice and love like His Mother Mary so that your heavenly kingdom may come here on earth. Amen.

Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Parokya ng San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Gov. F. Halili Ave., Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria,Bulacan 3022

*Photo from Google: “Coronation of the Virgin” by Spanish painter Diego Velasquez in 1645 at Museo del Prado, Madrid.

Playing “GOD”

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Tuesday, 21 August 2018, Week XX, Year II

Ezekiel 28:1-10///Matthew 19:23-30

We praise and thank you our loving Father for this holiday you have given us. Give us the grace to renew everything in Christ your Son, especially our very selves as your servant St. Pius X envisioned during his papacy at the start of the 20^th century.

Until now, like the princes of Tyre of the Old Testament and the other men of the past century when two World Wars plunged the world into darkness, there are still many of us who believe and live as “god”. Everywhere, Lord, we speak and act as if we are god, insisting on what we want, bragging on our achievements, and relying on our strength and power. Everybody is claiming the streets and highway as his or her own sovereignty, feeling like a deity with our vehicles as our “seat of power and might”. We have run out of solons and statesmen in congress and government for all they are concerned with is their own interests.

It is very unfortunate, dear Father, even in your Church, we priests are so lost too in our belief and way of life as being god. Instead of building lives, we have destroyed so many lives with all kinds of clergy abuses that are not only scandalous but very sickening. We no longer smell like your sheep and worst, we have slaughtered many of your little lambs.

In 1983, you sent us Ninoy, believing the “Filipino is worth dying for.” He set aside all his plans, including his very safety and went home to work for peaceful transition. A bullet felled him but not our belief in bringing back democracy in our country. So sad, Lord, how we have easily forgotten YOU who made EDSA a miracle. Many have played gods and destroyed EDSA like Jerusalem of old, making it a symbol of everything that is wrong with us. Primary among these is our belief in being god. We pray to you, our loving Father, in these moments of darkness in our history like at the fall of Jerusalem and at the start of World War I in St. Pius X’s time, give us the grace to renew our love and commitment to You, the only True God for only you who can deliver us. Nothing is impossible with you, especially when we start being human and stop being god. Amen.Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Parokya ng San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Gov. F. Halili Ave., Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria,Bulacan 3022

Photo by Fr. Nick F. Lalog II, tree canopy at Sacred Heart Novitiate (Novaliches), 4-6 July 2018.

Our Sins of Omission

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe-Prayer

Monday, 20 August 2018, Week XX, Year II

Ezekiel 24:18-23///Matthew 19:16-22

Our dearest Lord Jesus Christ: of the many questions we have always asked you, perhaps the young man’s question in the gospel today is the one you have always wanted – and waited us to ask you: “What do I still lack?”(Mt.19:20)

Every day we pray, confessing our sins for what “I have done and what I have failed to do.” It is always easier Lord to think of what I done wrong; but rarely do we really take time reflecting on what we have failed to do, our sins of omission.

The young man in the gospel today must have been dealing with a lot of people, like us today especially in the social media but, we never ask ourselves if we fulfill the requirements of love in these interactions with others. Many times, our dealings these days are mediated by technology, lacking sincerity and love. Like the young man, it is easy to obey commandments even without much love to our own discomfort because it is not right. But, we do not care to reflect more about it because we are so afraid to discover the sins we are not aware of!

Give us the grace, Lord Jesus to identify our sins of omission so we can achieve greater self-knowledge of our selves for it is the surest way to truly love you and others. Help us to learn from St. Bernard of Clairvaux whose we feast we celebrate today that “Love is a great thing so long as it continually returns to its fountainhead, flows back to its source, always drawing from there the water which constantly replenishes it.”(from the Office of Reading)

This is what we really lack, Lord Jesus Christ: the real good we must do of letting go of our selves, giving away our wealth and other valuables, setting aside our plans and agenda so we can follow you more closely daily. Amen.Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Parokya ng San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Gov. F. Halili Ave., Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria,Bulacan 3022 .

*Photo by Fr. Nick F. Lalog II, moss at Malagos Garden, Davao City, 10 August 2018.

Our Being of Forgetfulness

Photo by Fr. Nick F. Lalog II at the Sacred Heart Novitiate (Novaliches), July 4-6, 2018.

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe-Prayer

Friday, 17 August 2018, Week XIX, Year II

Ezekiel 16:59-63///Matthew 19:3-12

Another question again, O Lord Jesus Christ from us: “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any cause whatever?” (Mt.19:3)

Another question from us not seeking answers but justification for our own beliefs; another question not seeking the truth but a changing of order and rules.

Sorry Lord for the many times when we clearly know the answers deep in our hearts yet we keep on pretending we are confused or simply could not get it. Or, would not want to accept it at all because of the “hardness of our hearts.” It has always been like that as you beautifully narrated to Ezekiel of your experience with Israel who was like a little girl you have cared for since birth, lavished with so many good things until you took her as your bride and then disregarded your covenant.

A philosopher explained that we are all beings of forgetfulness that too often we lead inauthentic lives. Probably. I don’t remember.

But, one thing I always remember, O Lord, is that despite all our infidelities and hard-headedness, you have remained faithful, always reminding us to remember your love, your covenant. Give us the grace to “re-member” you, to make you a member and part of our present lives again. Amen. Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II,Parokya ng San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Gov. F. Halili Ave., Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria,Bulacan 3022 .