The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Friday, Memorial of St. John XXIII, Pope, 11 October 2024 Galatians 3:7-14 <*((((>< + ><))))*> Luke 11:15-26
Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, 20 March 2024.
Lord Jesus Christ, fill me with your Holy Spirit, enliven my faith, hope and love in You; in this age of so many divisions when we are being pulled by the strong forces of the past to go back to what was before due to the excesses of modern time, let us look for your Cross, O Lord, to let the "finger of God" work in us to cleanse us of all evil and filth that make us "scatter" than "gather".
“But if is by the finger of God that I drive out demons, then the Kingdom of God has come upon you… Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters. When an unclean spirit goes out of someone, it roams through arid regions searching for rest but, finding none, it says, ‘I shall return to my home from which I came.’ But upon returning, it finds it swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and brings back seven other spirits more wicked than itself who move in and dwell there, and the last condition of that person is worse than the first” (Luke 11:20, 23-26).
Let us realize, like what St. Paul tells us in today's first reading that we who "have faith in You are the children of Abraham, that the blessing of Abraham might be extended to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith" (Galatians 3:7, 14).
Let us embrace that truth, Jesus, that You have done everything for our salvation, for our freedom, for our being children of the Father; You have cleansed us, come fill us with your Spirit for us to see our similarities not differences to build a more humane society here on earth; fill us with your Spirit, Jesus, let not the bonds and shackles of sin hold us, isolated from others, always competing that prevent peace in finally happening.
Help us imitate your faithful servant St. John XXIII who convened the Second Vatican Council to open the windows of the Church and welcome this modern age so we may find You Jesus ever more present in this changing time; most of all, to share You, Jesus who is still most needed in this troubled age.
You have done everything for us, Jesus. Let us rest on that by remaining in You, doing your work and make us stop playing god, savior of the world. Amen.
Photo by Ka Ruben, new stained glass of the National Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima, Valenzuela City to be blessed on Sunday, the 107th anniversary of the last Apparition of the Virgin Mary in Fatima, Portugal.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Wednesday in the Twenty-seventh Week of Ordinary Time, Year II, 09 October 2024 Galatians 2:1-2, 7-14 ><]]]]'> + <'[[[[>< Luke 11:1-4
Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, 2017.
And when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face because he clearly was wrong… (Galatians 2:11).
For so long, I have always wondered how You look like, Lord Jesus, of what or how your face looks like really; your face deeply in pain on the Cross has always been the face I have known when thinking of You; how I wished I could see your face moved with pity with that widow of Nain or how your face looked full of love to the rich young man whose face fell after You asked him to sell his belongings, share them to the poor and follow you.
St. Paul's account of "opposing Cephas to his face" invites me today to see face in a more deeper sense than something physical; as I immersed into the scene, I could sense and picture the courage and sincerity on St. Paul's face in telling St. Peter into his face his double standards in dealing with early Christians, that is, of having two faces: one with Jewish converts and another with Gentile converts!
The lithography of Sts. Peter and Paul in Missale Romanum by unknown artist with initials F.M.S (19. cent.) printed by Typis Friderici Pustet. (Renáta Sedmáková | us.fotolia.com)
How sad, dear Jesus, that until now, we your disciples are like St. Peter before: many of us are not only double-faced but even multiple-faced with one another, never our true selves at all! Worst, many of us can't even show our true face as we put on masks that literally in Greek are called hypokritein --- hypocrites!
Teach us, Lord Jesus, how to pray, that is, to be single-faced in our prayers: to face up before our Father as His children forgiving each other's debts, living as brothers and sisters; teach us, Lord Jesus, to face up our prayers, of living out what we pray not with many faces nor with masks on our face; teach us, Lord Jesus, to face You more often in prayers to transform our face into your face that is truly an image and likeness of God, radiating with your loving presence. Amen.
Photo by author, CAS Chapel, Our Lady of Fatima University, August 2023.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Tuesday in the Twenty-seventh Week of Ordinary Time, Year II, 08 October 2024 Galatians 2:1-2, 7-14 ><000'> + <'000>< Luke 10:38-42
Photo by Ms. Ria De Vera at Banff, Canada, August 2024.
O Lord, you have probed me and you know me, you know when I sit and when I stand; you understand my thoughts from afar. Truly you have formed my inmost being; you knit me in my mother’s womb. I give you thanks that I am fearfully, wonderfully made; wonderful are your works (Psalm 139:1-2, 13-14).
Thank you, loving God our Father for this brand new day! Like the psalmist today, I am at awe with your creation, beginning with me at how you have formed my inmost being that enables me to connect with You through your wonderful creation!
In forming my inmost being, You have made me yours, enabling me to realize my connection with You, O God, my Creator as well as with your entire creation; and if I am lost or had gone astray, it is still my inmost being You have formed in me that enables me to reconnect with You and myself and others.
Photo by Ms. Ria De Vera at Banff, Canada, August 2024.
Brothers and sisters: You heard of my former way of life in Judaism, how I persecuted the Church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it… But when he, who from my mother’s womb had set me apart and called me through his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son to me, so that I might proclaim him to the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult flesh and blood, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were Apostles before me: rather, I went into Arabia and then returned to Damascus (Galatians 1:13, 15-17).
How lovely and so true like St. Paul, You have formed our inmost being so that we may remain connected or be reconnected with You when we are lost and separated.
Grant us O God the gift of discipline in cultivating a prayer life, a life centered in You so that we remain connected in You through Jesus Christ like Mary sitting beside Him at His feet, listening to His every word; let us be aware of your precious gift of our inmost being by cultivating a prayer life to make our connections stronger; You created us, O God to be connected always with You, our self, and with others; keep us strong in resisting temptations to sin, to separate and be isolated from You and others by destroying our connections, disregarding our inmost being. Amen.
Photo by Ms. Ria De Vera at Banff, Canada, August 2024.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Monday, Memorial of the Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary, 07 October 2024 Acts 1:12-14 <*{{{{>< + ><}}}}*> Luke 1:26-38
Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, 20 March 2024.
God our loving Father, You are the God of History: nothing happens without your knowing as You ensure that despite setbacks, history is always directed to your Divine Plan.
As we celebrate today the Memorial of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary, we remember too how You answered our prayers in that decisive victory of the Spanish Armada against the more and better-equipped navy of the Ottoman Turks at the Battle of Lepanto Bay in 1571 that finally stopped the Moslems from occupying Europe.
Photo by author, St. Scholastica Retreat Center, Baguio City, August 2023.
We pray, O God, that in a similar way, teach us to "lose" in order to "win": like the Blessed Mother Mary, grant us the grace to lose ourself to You in Jesus Christ; how lovely to think Mary was a "loser" of her self to You when she told the Archangel Gabriel, "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word" (Luke 1:38); it was in losing herself to You, dear God, that Mary became your instrument for our victory of salvation through her Son Jesus Christ.
Teach us, O Lord, to be like Mary in submitting our total selves to the Father's will and plans, ready to endure sufferings and trials in life that many times we feel we are at the losing end; when we are patient and understanding, when we are forgiving of others sins, when we bear all pains because we love, that is when we win as we lose ourselves and begins to be filled with Jesus like Mary in the gospel.
Photo from canningliturgicalarts.com, painting of the Battle of Lepanto Bay with our Lady of Victory or Rosary.
Remind us always,
God our loving Father,
that when we feel losing
many battles in life
like when we stand
for what is true and good,
that is actually when we win
the war against evil and sin,
the greatest victory Christ
had gifted us, first with His
Mother Mary - salvation!
Blessed Mother of the Rosary,
continue praying for us sinners
now and at the hour of our death.
Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Twenty-seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B, 06 October 2024 Genesis 2:18-24 ><}}}}*> Hebrews 2:9-11 ><}}}}*> Mark 10:2-16
With our student sacristans in our San Fernando Campus in Pampanga during the Mass of the Holy Spirit last year.
One of the joys of my ministry as chaplain in a university and a hospital is the daily interaction I have with young people who keep me young like them, always updated with the many trends happening among them especially in the languages they speak. In them I continue to find the many faces of Jesus Christ who continues to pass by even in this modern world so swiftly changing due to social media.
Two terms I have recently learned from them are “love language” and “situationship”. Let’s just talk about “love language” this Sunday that is more appropriate with our gospel and reserve that other word “situationship” when the setting is more apt. Lately I have noticed the term “love language” mentioned quite often in social media posts and reels. I never bothered to know it until somebody asked me what is my “love language” that threw me off balance with many wild things rushing into my mind, thinking what is it!
It turned out that “love language” is a term coined in 1992 by Baptist pastor Gary Chapman in his book of the same title where he identified five love languages we give and (prefer) to receive: words of affirmation, acts of service, receiving gifts, quality time, and physical touch. It was an amazing moment of learning from me when I realized that everyone – including us priests – has a favorite love language in expressing our love to everyone. And in our gospel today, we find that even God who is love Himself has a love language in the very person of His Son Jesus Christ!
The Pharisees approached Jesus and asked, “Is it lawful for a husband to divorce his wife?” They were testing him. He said to them in reply, “What did Moses command you?” They replied, “Moses permitted a husband to write a bill of divorce and dismiss her.” But Jesus told them, “Because of the hardness of your hearts he wrote you this commandment. But from the beginning of creation, God made them male and female. For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. So they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, no human being must separate” (Mark 10:2-9).
Photo by author, 2024; I have loved mosses that thrive even with little sunlight, reminding us of God’s grace especially when we are in darkness and tribulations.
Jesus and the Twelve continued their journey to Jerusalem with His teachings not only getting more exciting but actually more difficult and hard as He addressed the thorny issue of divorce which continues to divide us in this modern age.
Interestingly enough, this scene happened while Jesus and the Twelve were in Judea, the province governed by King Herod who had John the Baptist arrested and later beheaded upon the instigation of his wife Herodias. John spoke against Herod’s taking of Herodias as wife because she used to be the wife of his own brother Philip then governing another province. One can just imagine the grave danger the Pharisees have exposed Jesus in discussing divorce right in the turf of an evil ruler living with an adulteress!
As usual, Jesus did not fall into the test by the Pharisees because He had no intentions of joining our endless debates about divorce as He knew very well that it is something so complicated that has continued to ruin human relationships as a result of the “hardness of our hearts”. Recall too similar instances when Jesus was asked for an opinion in politics like the paying of taxes to Caesar and the settlement of disputes among brothers regarding their inheritance. See how Jesus would always make it clear that His mission is not to settle our disputes in economics and politics nor personal relationships but to always reveal to us the will of God.
Instead of giving a simple answer of “yes” or “no” on the lawfulness of a divorce or the paying of taxes to the Romans, Jesus would always bring us to God our Father, the very core of our being and relationships. It is only in being rooted again in God when we realize personally, existentially why we have to strive in choosing what is true, good and beautiful no matter how difficult it may be.
This Sunday, Jesus is not offering compromises to us weak human beings about divorce but rather proposes the ideal of marriage by going back to its very source and beginning, God Himself who is love.
That is why our first reading was taken from Genesis to remind us and make us realize that everything, most especially man and woman – is created by God. Everything in this world was from God, especially our desire for union and communion which we also find expressed even by trees and plants as well as animals.
However, what makes us distinct from the rest of creation as we see in other parts of Genesis is God breathing on us His breath of life that gives us the consciousness of our oneness, of that transcendent otherness called humanity that makes us realize our deeper reality in the “I-Thou” relationship. Plants and animals do not have that consciousness.
Photo by author, St. Scholastica Retreat Center, Tagaytay City, August 2024.
The creation of a woman as suitable partner of man is not a result of an after-thought of God as if He never knew man would never be fulfilled without a woman. The creation of woman being taken from one of the ribs of man cast into a deep sleep by God reminds us of each person being a gift to everyone. No pet nor plant can bring that kind of ecstasy and joy of finding somebody like us, of bringing unity in every one who is incomplete in one’s self.
See how Jesus repeated the Genesis account “that is why” or “for this reason” a man leaves his father and mother and be joined with his wife to become one.
This tendency of ours towards one another, a consciousness of then other person, is a gift and a grace indicating our origin who is God who always relates with us. Every time we destroy this unity, whenever we upset this complementarity among us in God, that is when disorder happens, generating competitions among us that lead to our endless conflicts that only leave us with more pains and sorrows. Hence, back in the house again towards the end of our gospel scene this Sunday, Jesus reiterated the example of the child after His disciples drove them away.
Photo by author, statue of the Child Jesus hugging St. Joseph, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, March 2024.
How lovely and ironic that despite the weaknesses and incompleteness of children, we find in them all five love languages too. What a joy to play and converse with children, especially carry babies despite their lack of language skills we find each one a love language in himself/herself – exactly like Jesus Christ, the love language of God who gave us everything to experience oneness in love.
God knows everything that He created us in His own image and likeness. Nothing, not even sin could ever destroy His grand design for us since creation so that right after the Fall, God right away promised salvation fulfilled in Jesus Christ whom He had sent to remind us anew of His wonderful plan for us.
I have a similar image like this in my room, my most favorite statue of St. Joseph as protector of the Child Jesus and Mary. But most of all, we find Jesus being the love language of God even in his childhood with His all-encompassing love that reached its highest point at the Crucifixion.
God knows everything, especially our weaknesses in keeping our relationships. Jesus is not judging us and knows very well the pains many are enduring as a result of separation and divorce. The Letter to the Hebrews we heard in the second reading tells us how Jesus in suffering death has become like us in order to share with us the grace we need to keep our human relationships strong.
Every Sunday, I visit our patients in the hospital to give them Holy Communion, hear their confessions and often, anoint most of them with Oil for the sick.
Whenever I meet couples especially those already old and with debilitating sickness, I praise God for the tremendous grace he gives them. In them I always find God so truly present among us, especially in every husband and wife lovingly serving each other in sickness and in health. Let us pray for all couples that they may cooperate with God’s grace in keeping their marriage alive. Amen. Have a blessed week ahead!
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Friday, Memorial of St. Francis of Assisi, 04 October 2024 Job 38:1, 12-21; 40:3-5 <*{{{{>< + ><}}}}*> Luke 10:13-16
Photo by Fr. Bien Miguel, Diocese of Antipolo, 25 September 2024.
This is actually a rejoinder to our prayer earlier published today on the Memorial of St. Francis of Assisi. And how I love the first reading today, of God’s “speech” to Job’s lamentations that remind us all of the wonder and majesty of creation St. Francis of Assisi highly regarded in his life and teachings.
The Lord addressed Job out of the storm and said: “Have you ever in your lifetime commanded the morning and shown the dawn its place for taking hold of the ends of the earth, till the wicked are shaken from its surface? Have you entered into the sources of the sea, or walked about in the depths of the abyss? have the gates of death been shown to you, or have you seen the gates of darkness? Have you comprehended the breadth of the earth? Tell me, if you know all” (Job 38:1, 12-13, 16-18).
How interesting too these words written about 2700 years ago in the Middle East are echoed in our own time in theme song of the Disney movie Pocahontas, “The Color of the Wind”:
Have you ever heard the wolf cry to the blue corn moon Or asked the grinning bobcat why he grinned? Can you sing with all the voices of the mountain? Can you paint with all the colors of the wind? Can you paint with all the colors of the wind?
Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, 20 March 2024.
Like Job, who was a fictional character, Pocahontas went through a lot of great sufferings beyond explanations which is the aim of the authors of the Book of Job – to reflect on the mystery of human sufferings and misery amid a loving God.
It is easy to understand our sufferings in life when we are the ones who have caused them like making wrong choices and decisions or simply not exerting enough efforts to our endeavors or projects.
The most painful sufferings that are really bothersome are those we feel “undeserved” at all like getting a rare cancer and disease, being offended by someone close to us despite our being good to them, or like Pocahontas who was then living in peace and quiet until the English colonizers came to America who kidnapped and gang raped her.
I have never seen that Disney movie Pocahontas that is loosely based on the life of a native American Indian woman Pocahontas whose actual name was Matoaka; she was the daughter of the Chief of the Powhatan tribe in Chesapeake, Virginia during the early 1600’s.
According to historians, there was really no romance at all between Pocahontas and the British colonizer Captain John Smith as portrayed in the Disney movie. After getting pregnant from that gangrape, Pocahontas was forced to marry the English explorer John Rolfe as a condition for her release that only made her life filled with great sufferings and humiliations until her death.
Though a work of fiction but a fruit of prayerful reflections about life’s realities unlike the Disney movie Pocahontas, Job suffered severely when he lost his children, properties and livestock in a single day. Worst of all, he was stricken with a rare disease and left to the care of a “nagging” wife and three friends who wanted him to curse God or admit his guilt for a sin for which God was punishing him.
But Job’s conscience was clear, remaining faithful to God throughout all his sufferings. His complaints and cries were actually a voicing out of his inner pains to God, an expression of his trust in Him, “But as for me, I know that my Vindicator lives, and that he will at last stand forth upon the dust… And from my flesh I shall see God; my inmost being is consumed with longing” (Job 19:25, 27).
Job like us today was not seeking any answer nor explanation at all for his sufferings; he cries to God like us because we believe only God can save us. We do not cry or air our pains to someone we do not trust or believe in; the same is true why we cry and complain to God!
God’s response to Job’s laments remind us today of the need for us to see the whole picture we are into in this vast universe, of how everyone and everything is interconnected in God through His own Son Jesus Christ.
Notice how the author structured the speech of God of seeming opposites in life: commanding the morning and being shown the dawn in verse 12; sources of the sea and depths of the abyss in verse 16; and, gates of death and gates of darkness in verse 17. Jewish thought at that time was so structured that they saw everything distinctly different like morning and dawn, sea and abyss, death and darkness. That explains why they were so strict with the letters of the law that they eventually forgot the primacy of the human person which Jesus tried to emphasized to them in His teachings and healings. Jesus came to show us how everything and everyone in this whole creation is linked together, interrelated in God through Him.
This He did when He died on the Cross.
Photo by Fr. Gerry Pascual of the fresco at the Assisi Basilica, Italy, 2019.
It is sad that St. Francis of Assisi is often “romanticized” by many nature lovers even by some “new agers” for his love for nature and animals. More than sentimental reasons, St. Francis’ love and concern for nature and animals were all the result of his deep love and devotion to Jesus Christ crucified found daily in the celebration of the Holy Eucharist.
St. Francis realized and experienced the interconnectedness of everything and everyone in his own sufferings and pains in life he humbly embraced and accepted as we see in that verse we pray at every Station of the Cross he had composed:
V. We adore You, O Lord Jesus Christ, and we bless you. R. Because by Your holy Cross, You have redeemed the world.
For his love for the Cross and his own sufferings, Jesus blessed St. Francis with the stigmata, His five wounds at His crucifixion.
Photo by Fr. Gerry Pascual, Sculpture of the young St. Francis in Assisi, Italy, 2019.
After receiving those wounds, St. Francis was blinded as he went through severe sufferings after going through well-intentioned surgeries that went so bad. He was in his 40’s at that time and despite his great sufferings, it was during that period when he produced so many great writings we all cherish until now, notably the Canticle of the Sun where we find his famous expressions “brother sun, sister moon, and cousin death” – the very same things God expressed to Job in that speech out of the storm in our first reading today that is echoed by Disney’s Pocahontas in the theme “The Color of the Wind”.
But unlike that Disney movie that sugarcoats life’s realities of sufferings and pains, both Job and St. Francis of Assisi remind us today that the more we embrace our pains and sufferings in life like them, the more we see life’s wholeness, our oneness in God and the rest of His creations when seen in the light of the Cross of Jesus Christ.
When we see this oneness and interconnectedness in life, that is when we actually grow and mature, become fruitful as we find fulfillment in life despite the difficulties and pains we go through. Have a blessed weekend everyone! Happy feast day too to our Franciscan brothers and sisters!
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Friday, Memorial of St. Francis of Assisi, 04 October 2024 Job 38:1, 12-21, 40:3-5 <*{{{{>< + ><}}}}*> Luke 10:13-16
Photo by Ms. Marissa La Torre Flores in Switzerland, August 2024.
As we celebrate today the memorial of St. Francis of Assisi in the light of our first reading from the Book of Job, You open our eyes anew O God our loving Father into your unfathomable mystery of majesty and love for us.
Like Job, we ask many questions not really because we complain to You but simply we have no one else to turn to; we have so many questions in life and we are willing to wait if ever there would be any answer at all but one thing for sure, we are certain You have all the answers.
Be patient with our many whys, O God, for we have no any reply to any of your single question "Have you ever in your lifetime commanded the morning and shown the dawn its place...? Have you entered into the sources of the sea, or walked about in the depths of the abyss? Have the gates of death been shown to you, or have you seen the gates of darkness? Have you comprehended the breadth of the earth? Tell me if you know all" (Job 38:12, 16-18).
Like St. Francis of Assisi, give us the grace to dare follow your Son Jesus Christ not only in humility and poverty but most especially in His Cross; forgive us, Father and let us do away with all the "sentimentality" cultivated by nature lovers including "new agers" on St. Francis' love for nature rooted in Christ's sufferings and commitment to a poor and simple life.
Like Job and St. Francis who lovingly embraced Jesus with His Cross, may we also realize our "smallness" before you, O Lord in our trials and sufferings to experience at the same time the joy and glory in comprehending the "breadth and length and height and depth" of Christ's love that surpasses knowledge so that we may be filled with your fullness, dear God (Ephesians 3:18). Amen.
Photo by Ms. Marissa La Torre Flores in Switzerland, August 2024.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Thursday in the Twenty-sixth Week of Ordinary Time, Year II, 03 October 2024 Job 19:21-27 <*((((>< + ><))))*> Luke 10:1-12
Photo by Mr. Jay Javier, 07 September 2024.
God our loving Father:
Grant me the "patience of Job". Like him, everyday I go through many trials and sufferings: some are of my own-making, some can be explained and understood, but most often, many of them are a mystery, beyond explanations, beyond comprehension. Yes, Lord: many times I have so many questions in life that are left unanswered but like Job, I believe You alone knows everything I am going through, especially the pains and hurts, the difficulties and hardships.
But as for me, I know that my Vindicator lives, and that he will at last stand forth upon the dust; Whom I myself shall see: my own eyes, not another’s, shall behold him, And from my flesh I shall see God: my inmost being is consumed with longing (Job 19:25-27).
Thank you for calling me, for sending me into your great harvest; how lovely are your words, "The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master to send out laborers for his harvest" (Matthew 10:2); so many times, we think the solution to our problems are found in things without knowing nor realizing what we need are more people willing to labor with somebody else's pains and hurts, people willing to labor for people so lost in the mysteries of life saddled with many things without clear explanations except to be patient like Job, trusting that in the end, our vindication is in You. Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Wednesday, Memorial of Guardian Angels, 02 October 2024 Exodus 23:20-23 <*((((>< + ><))))*> Matthew 18:1-5, 10
Photo by author, Baguio City Cathedral, January 2019.
How good and gracious are You, God our Father in assigning a guardian angel to each one of us in order to lead us closer to You and eventually, face-to-face with You in all eternity!
“See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that their angels in heaven always look upon the face of my heavenly Father” (Matthew 18:10).
Forgive us, O God, for disobeying our guardian angels so often when we choose to sin than remain in your grace; forgive us most especially when we forget we too are an angel to everyone tasked to care and look after of every one especially the children and elderly who are weak, the sick and the poor, those disadvantaged in our society that does not believe in You anymore and in angels.
Photo by author, Fatima Avenue, Valenzuela City, December 2023.
“See, I am sending an angel before you, to guard you on the way and bring you to the place I have prepared. Be attentive to him and heed his voice. Do not rebel against him, for he will not forgive your sin. My authority resides in him (Exodus 23:20-21).
Bless us, dear God to be humble always like your angels leading others from darkness into light, from ignorance into wisdom and knowledge, from bondage to sin into the grace of freedom to be more loving and faithful in serving You through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Photo by author, Fatima Avenue, Valenzuela City, December 2023.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Tuesday, Memorial of Therese of the Child Jesus, Virgin & Doctor of Church, 01 October 2024 Job 3:1-3, 11-17, 20-23 <*[[[[>< +. ><]]]]*> Luke 9:51-56
Photo by author, 2018.
Thank you, dear God our loving Father for the month of October! Most of all, thank you for sending us Jesus Christ your Son and thus "opened your Kingdom to those who are humble and to little ones" like St. Therese of the Child Jesus whose memorial we celebrate today.
Lead us to follow trustingly in the little way of St. Therese of the Child Jesus especially in bearing patiently filled with hope life's many sufferings like Job.
Job opened his mouth and cursed his day. Job spoke out and said: Why is light given to the toilers, and life to the bitter in spirit? they wait for death and it comes not; they search for it rather than for hidden treasures, Rejoice in it exultingly, and are glad when they reache the grave: Those whose path is hidden from them, and whom God has hemmed in! (Job 3:1-2, 20-23)
Fill us too with true hope, dear Jesus like You, Job and St. Therese, a hope that trusts in God even if things are sure to get worst, even end in death; like You, Jesus, may we resolutely determine to journey to Jerusalem even when we know it could lead to our passion and death; help us live in hope like St. Therese that despite her sickness, she did everything filled with love for the Church missionaries; may our pains in life like St. Therese and Job have both experienced help us understand the pain of others so that we may bring healing compassion to their situation; make us realize that a world totally free of pain can actually become a place of total selfishness and self-indulgence because it is through pains we truly love and hope and become holy and saint. Amen.
lordmychef.com 