The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Wednesday, Memorial of St. Augustine, Bishop & Doctor of the Church, 28 August 2024 2 Thessalonians 3:6-10, 16-18 <*{{{{>< + ><}}}}*> Matthew 23:27-32
Commuters hang from the back of a jeepney as it travels along a road in Manila, the Philippines, on Sunday, April 9, 2017. Photographer: Veejay Villafranca/Bloomberg via Getty Images.
Glory and praise to you, God our loving Father for the gift of this great Saint, Augustine, son of St. Monica, Bishop and Teacher of the Church; in him, O God, you showed us every saint has a sinful past and that no sinner can be denied of a saintly future.
It was St. Augustine who taught us among his so many teachings that "grace builds on nature" which he must have learned from his own experiences, from his conversion to Christianity to becoming a priest then a bishop that did not happen like a magic trick by God but with hard work wrapped in intense prayers by him and St. Monica; what a tremendous blessing that as we honor him today, our first is from a letter by his inspiration, St. Paul:
For you know how one must imitate us. For we did not act in a disorderly way among you, nor did we eat food received free from anyone. On the contrary, in toil and drudgery, night and day we worked, so as not to burden any of you. Not that we do not have the right. Rather, we wanted to present ourselves as a model for you, so that you might imitate us. In fact, when we were with you, we instructed you that if anyone was unwilling to work, neither should that one eat (2 Thessalonians 3:7-10).
Remind us, O God in Jesus Christ like St. Augustine, what is essential is the inside not the outside; let us not be like the Pharisees and scribes, hypocrites, looking like "whitewashed tombs that appear beautiful on then outside but inside are full of dead men's bones and every kind of filth" (Matthew 23:27).
Grant us the zeal and enthusiasm like St. Augustine to strive in becoming a better person, most of all a better Christian by working hard in cultivating the prayer life, love for the Sacred Scriptures so that Jesus may dwell always in our hearts. Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Tuesday, Memorial of St. Monica, Married Mother, 27 August 2024 2 Thessalonians 2:1-3, 14-17 <*((((>< + ><))))*> Matthew 23:23-26
Photo by author, St. Scholastica Spiritual Center, Tagaytay City, 20 August 2024.
I thank you today, dear God our Father for the gift of mothers as we celebrate today the Memorial of St. Monica, mother of St. Augustine.
Therefore, brothers and sisters, stand firm and hold fast to the traditions that you were taught, either by an oral statement or by a letter of ours. May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who has loved us and given us everlasting encouragement and good hope through his grace, encourage your hearts and strengthen them in every good deed and word (2 Thessalonians 2:15-17).
How wonderful to find St. Monica handled her life with prayer, the most beautiful tradition the Church had always taught and passed on since its beginning; it was St. Monica's life of prayer that flowed out into the grace of patience and perseverance as well as kindness to others leading ultimately to undying hope in God's goodness in converting first her pagan husband Patricius and then their three sons led by the eldest St. Augustine.
Thank you dear God for our mothers who shed tears when we go wayward as children so lost in a life of sin, and for us aching and hurting deep inside only mothers can detect and empathize with.
Thank you dear God for our mothers who have taught us the importance of prayer and goodness to others and most especially of the value of sincerity than hypocrisy. Bless all mothers today, merciful Father, may they find comfort in Jesus always. Amen.
Photo of St. Monica from the cover of the book “St. Monica Club: How to Wait, Hope and Pray For Your Fallen-away Loved Ones by Maggie Green, Sophia Institute Press, 2019.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Monday in the Twenty-first Week of Ordinary Time, Year II, 26 August 2024 2 Thessalonians 1:1-5, 11-12 <*((((>< + ><))))*> Matthew 23:13-22
Photo by author, St. Scholastica Spirituality Center, Tagaytay City, 21 August 2024.
Thanks be to God, our loving Father, the month of August is about to end, always a difficult time of the year for various reasons that some have called it a "ghost month"; of course, it is not true at all! August is the month of so many great saints and celebrations that remind us of your presence among us amid the many hardships and difficulties.
We ought to thank you God always for you, brothers and sisters, as is fitting, because your faith flourishes ever more, and the love of every one of you for one another grows ever greater… This is evidence of the just judgment of God, so that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God for which you are suffering. We always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling and powerfully bring to fulfillment every good purpose and every effort of faith, that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and you in him, in accord with the grace of our God and Lord Jesus Christ (2 Thessalonians 1:3, 5, 11-12).
Dear God our Father, make us twice worthy like the Thessalonians in the midst of many trials this August: to be worthy of the kingdom of God who is Jesus Christ our Lord, and to be worthy of your calling in His most Holy Name; many times, we have become the modern scribes and Pharisees, modern hypocrites who "lock the Kingdom of heaven before men" with so many of us, especially in the clergy without any desires at all of getting closer to Jesus nor entering heaven!
Make us worthy of Jesus Christ, the Kingdom of God by embracing and carrying our cross, of suffering with the people, most especially praying and sacrificing with the people.
Make us worthy of your calling, dear Father to be your presence among men and women in this turbulent times when ironically, as we advance in science and technology, that more we grow apart from each other and from our very selves.
Help us find our way back to You, Father in Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit with Mary and your Saints. Amen.
Photo by author, St. Scholastica Spirituality Center, Tagaytay City, 21 August 2024.
The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B, 25 August 2024 Joshua 24:1-2, 15-17, 18 ><}}}}*> Ephesians 5:21-32 ><}}}}*> John 6:60-69
Photo by author, St. Scholastica Spirituality Center in Tagaytay City, 21 August 2024.
We now come to the fifth and final installment of the “Bread of Life” discourse by Jesus found only in John’s gospel. The series comes to a full circle this Sunday with the appearance anew of the disciples.
Recall when this started last Sunday of July, Jesus and His disciples were supposed to rest in a deserted place but a great crowd had followed them. After teaching the people, Jesus asked Philip to test him where they could buy food for the crowd; Andrew joined their conversation to present a young boy with five loaves of bread and two pieces of fish. Jesus took the bread and fish to miraculously feed the more than 5000 people with many leftovers!
Jesus then fled from the scene when He felt the people planned to make Him their king; the people caught up with Him in Capernaum where Jesus taught them about Himself as the “living bread that came down from heaven.” The people questioned Jesus, then they murmured, and later quarreled among themselves upon hearing these words from Jesus.
A depiction of a biblical scene from John 6:61. The scene captures the moment when Jesus perceives that his disciples are murmuring among themselves and he addresses them with the question, ‘Doth this offend you?’. The illustration is in the style of early-century religious frescoes, prominent during the Byzantine era, represented in a digital format. Imagine brightly colored robes, expressions of perplexity on the disciples’ faces, and a tranquil yet questioning expression on Jesus’s face. The overall tone should be intense yet enlightening, inspired by digital art aesthetic. From bible.art.
All along these past three weeks during the discourse by Jesus with the people interacting with Him extensively, the disciples were silent, even nowhere nor mentioned at all by John until today.
Many of Jesus’ disciples who were listening said, “This saying is hard; who can accept it?” Since Jesus knew his disciples were murmuring about this, he said to them, “Does this shock you? What if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? It is the spirit that gives life, while the flesh is of no avail. The words I have spoken to you are Spirit and life. But there are some of you who do not believe” (John 6:60-64).
Photo by author, St. Scholastica Spirituality Center in Tagaytay City, 21 August 2024.
The scene is worth reflecting which started and ended with the disciples at the forefront but unfortunately, this time sadly mimicked the murmuring of the people as they expressed too the worst about the bread of life discourse of Jesus, “This saying is hard; who can accept it?”
It was as if the gavel had banged the table to finish all discussions by Jesus who was again not bothered at all like in the past four weeks. In fact, John tells us Jesus was not surprised at all with the adverse reactions by His disciples, “Since Jesus knew his disciples were murmuring about this, he said to them, ‘Does this shock you? What if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before?'”
In the original Greek, the word used by John was “skandalizo” – somewhat like, “were you scandalized?” The verbs used vary in the English translations, from “offend”, “disturb”, and “shock” as we have in our lectionary. All words evoke disbelief and distrust that lead to desertion because literally speaking, skandal in Greek means a stone that causes one to trip or fall, a stumbling block. Nobody would ever want to trip or fall or be led into a sin or troubles like what we see these days with so many scams going on especially in the internet.
Photo by author, James Alberione Center, QC, 15 August 2024.
What is so sad and very strange with today’s gospel is how of all people there in Capernaum, the disciples were the ones who were “shocked” with the statements by Jesus that “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink” (Jn.6:54-55, August 18)!
Jesus must be saying the same thing today when so many Catholics are still the ones who could not believe the teachings of Christ as echoed by the Church not only about the Eucharist but those on sex and marriage, and most of all, on heaven and eternal life!
“Does this shock you?“ How hard it is to believe and accept the words of Jesus Christ these days when we His disciples are the ones who who could not accept the value of the Holy Mass? Until now since the waning of COVID-19, people have refused to go back to the Mass, preferring to go online, surfing on a smorgasbord of homilies by priests turned celebrities.
Remember, the minimum requirement for any Catholic to be considered as “good” is celebrating the Mass every Sunday. When we go to Mass on Sundays inside an actual church with others, we reassert and reaffirm our faith in God just like Joshua and the Israelites in the first reading before entering the Promised Land. Every participation in the Sunday Mass as a community of disciples and believers is an expression of our shared commitment and public profession of faith in God.
“Does this shock you?” With all kinds of alibis and excuses amid many murmurings, some Catholics believe that for as long as you do not commit murder, you can still get to heaven even if you skip the third commandment. Going back to the first reading, every Mass is that pledge in the wilderness by the chosen people led by Joshua, whose name means, “God is my Savior”, a derivative of the name Jesus; but, this time, it is Jesus Christ Himself, the Son of God who is with us celebrating the Holy Mass, speaking to us in the liturgy of the Word and giving Himself to us, Body and Blood, to sustain our long journey to the promised land of eternal life that begins right here, right now. Every Sunday Mass is a dress rehearsal of our entry into heaven!
Photo by author, St. Scholastica Spirituality Center in Tagaytay City, 21 August 2024.
“Does this shock you?” Most shocking of all is when priests as disciples of Christ do not prepare for the Holy Mass, when they do not celebrate the Mass prayerfully that people find valid reasons not to come at all. It is the most shocking shock of all when priests themselves have no plans of going to heaven, dragging the people to hell with their mediocre celebrations!
We always say the Eucharist is the summit and source of Christian life but how can it be when Jesus is missing in the celebrations that priests could not even dress properly for the Mass? Whatever happened to Paul’s reminder for us to be subordinate to one another out of reverence to Christ (Eph. 5:21), of having Jesus as the center and foundation of our lives especially priests?
If the Eucharist is the source and summit of Christian life, then our lives are changed in Christ, starting with the priest himself as pastor of the community. We priests have a great role and responsibility in making every liturgy meaningful, filled with Christ in our life of prayer and service centered on Christ. Everything then follows in the parish when there is a good liturgy. St. John Paul II stressed in Ecclesia de Eucharistia that everything in the parish must be rooted, must spring forth from the Eucharist, a fruit of the Eucharist. Where do we go if the priest does not celebrate the Mass daily or meaningfully, nourishing the people’s hunger and thirst for Christ?
Photo by author, St. Scholastica Spirituality Center in Tagaytay City, 21 August 2024.
After five weeks of listening to Christ’s discourse of the bread of life, Jesus is asking each of us here, “Do you also want to leave?” Shall we answer like Peter who said, “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and are convinced that you are theHoly One of God” (Jn. 6:68-69)?
Can we make that same stand for Jesus like Peter in Capernaum or that centurion on Good Friday who declared with conviction, “Truly this man is the Son of God” (Mk.15:39) that is why we come to Mass every Sunday? Or, like Thomas the Apostle eight days after Easter, can we pray with conviction “my Lord and my God” when the Body and Blood of Christ are lifted up during consecration?
Again, we are called to faith in Jesus Christ today. Like love, faith is to commit one’s self to God or to anyone not because one is so sure of one’s self but because one is so sure of the other. Sadly, the other disciples were not sure with Christ – nor with themselves that they simply left and went back to their old ways! And that’s the most shocking of all in these days of too much self and bloated egos.
It is a very long weekend in the Philippines, don’t forget to go to Mass today! Have a blessed week ahead, everyone.
Quiet Storm by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, 21 August 2024 Photos and poem, annual clergy retreat, 19-23 August 2024 St. Scholastica Spiritual Center in Tagaytay City
Vacare Deo: A vacation with God a most awaited Sabbath when He is truly Lord and God, and we are His children; He the Creator, we His creature so beloved coming home to Him, back in Paradise.
Vacare Deo: A vacation with God to be with Him, to experience Him, to find and listen to Him, not that He is lost but because we have drifted and turned away from Him.
Thank you for finding me, O God, in making me stop to find myself anew to enjoy this beautiful journey with your gift of company; breathe in me your Holy Spirit to fill and animate me with love and passion in finding and following Jesus Christ in everything especially within!
Quiet Storm by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, 19 August 2024
“Christ and Rich Young Ruler” by Heinrich Hofmann from en.wikipedia.org.
The volcanic smog from Taal that has shrouded the south since early Monday morning inspired me tonight to share with you this short reflection from the gospel:
Jesus said to him,”If you wish to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” When the young man heard this statement, he went away sad, for he had many possessions (Matthew 19:21-22).
I have been trying to imagine not only the sad face of the young man but most of all, the sadness of Jesus. Most often, the first image of a sad Jesus who comes to our mind is when he was in His Passion and Crucifixion.
That’s understandable.
Try imagining, reflecting Jesus sad when we are sad like at the death of His friend Lazarus. The beloved disciple tells us in his gospel account that upon seeing the sisters Mary and Marta, Jesus became more sad not only with the death of a good friend.
If there is one thing we can always be sure of, Jesus shares our feelings too! When we are sad, Jesus must be most sad too. And how unfair when we fail to see the sadness too of Jesus as if we suffer or grieve alone. Perhaps, it is a part of our pa-victim syndrome, of us being on the distaff side always of the story. Let us not forget Jesus because failing to experience and realize the sadness of Christ means we are still filled with pride, so self-centered and most likely, after overcoming our sadness, we would still keep our “possessions”. What a tragedy that has become a vicious circle with us priests.
Photo by author, Chapel of the Angel of Peace, 25 June 2024.
When is Jesus sad?
As we begin our retreat tonight here in Tagaytay, I feel Jesus saddest when we His priests are sad in celebrating the Mass and other sacraments, in doing our ministry. Jesus cries so hard in shame when we priests are not only sad but also angry, even insolently ministering to the people especially when they are poor.
How easy it is for us priests to readily identify with the young man being sad even with our admission or confession of having many possessions. That’s very easy, like saying sorry from the nose. But, are we ready to let go of our attachments so we become joyful in Christ again as seen in the way we celebrate especially the Mass?
When we priests are sad in our ministry, people are more sad that makes Jesus most sad of all! In the first place, no one – nobody – among the people must be saddened by priests or by the Church as an institution. Priesthood is the joy of Jesus Christ!
It is a grave contradiction that we ever be that rich young man in the gospel portrayed as sad due to many possessions. Its deepest pain and cut is found in the very reason of this sadness: Jesus is most sad when we priests are sad because He knows very well we are no longer His.
Photo by author, St. Scholastica Spiritual Center, Baguio City, August 2023.
This kind of sadness which is so negative (because we can be sad too like everyone) starts subtly when we priests are inconvenienced, when we have to sacrifice and suffer, forgetting that it is the life we have freely embraced in the first place. Some priests presumed we can suspend for a while our commitments and vows, and simply be human, whatever that means. So, they stop praying, stop sacrificing, stop living out the vows of poverty, obedience and celibacy.
As priests sink deeper into sadness, they find themselves already trapped in a festering evil and sin, becoming angry and lazy, making so many alibis and excuses from celebrating the Mass especially funerals for poor parishioners.
When there is the confluence of sloth and anger, then it becomes a point of no return because sadness detaches us priests from Jesus and His people. That is the saddest part of this sadness, of priests living in their make-believe world of vanities and all kinds of possessions. Worst part of this is how the sad priests are totally oblivious to the fact they have infected with their sadness the people they were sent to help liberated from burdens and miseries. That is when people come to the Mass and sacraments because they just have to fulfill an obligation to God that is most sad because God sent priests to bring joy, not sadness.
If a priest is making you sad, pray hard for that priest. You are not alone. Priests are sad when their brother-priests are sad in the ministry too.
But, Jesus is most sad when His priest is sad. Pray hard for His priests especially those who seem to enjoy and laugh with the “good life” but sadly empty inside. A priest is supposed to be a leaven to the people, someone who would help others to rise and grow. And glow in Jesus. Let us pray:
Lord Jesus Christ, our Eternal Priest, sorry for making you sad; most of all, for being sad because of my many possessions; help me find my way back to you to be filled anew with your joy. Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B, 18 August 2024 Proverbs 9:1-6 ><}}}}*> Ephesians 5:15-20 ><}}}}*> John 6:51-58
Photo by author, James Alberione Center, QC, 15 August 2024.
It is our fourth consecutive Sunday listening to the sixth chapter of John’s gospel that opened with the miraculous feeding by Jesus of more than five thousand people in a deserted place; Jesus fled from there, went back in Capernaum where people caught with Him and disciples as He began three Sundays ago His “Bread of Life” discourse now getting deeper while the drama among the crowd is heating up.
From murmuring last Sunday about Jesus who said “I am the bread that came down from heaven” (Jn.6:41), the people today quarreled among themselves after Jesus said “I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world” (Jn. 6:51).
Photo by author, James Alberione Center, QC, 15 August 2024.
Notice the beautiful contrast of reactions by people to Jesus: from murmuring last Sunday, they sank deep into quarreling while Jesus leveled up to “the living bread from heaven” from merely “the bread from heaven” last week. For us to live well, we have to eat well by having Jesus Himself as our food and drink.
The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him. Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me” (John 6:52-57).
Photo by Ms. Ria De Vera in Banff, Alberta, Canada, 07 August 2024.
Eating is the most common human activity anywhere, any time. Human life basically revolves around eating as we have seen since time immemorial how we have progressed following our search for food. We work to feed ourselves and loved ones. Without food, we die. Food is so essential that there is always food to share in our gatherings.
That is why Jesus chose the bread and wine as the signs of His living presence among us in the Holy Eucharist He established during the Last Supper on Holy Thursday. In the Eucharist, Jesus elevated the most ordinary human activity of eating as most sublime and Divine. In the Holy Mass, we share in Christ’s Body and Blood so we too may share our very selves with one another.
When Jesus said in Capernaum that the bread He is giving is His own flesh with His blood as drink, He was already preparing the people for the Eucharist while at the same time teaching them that eating is not everything. We have to eat well to live well. When tempted by the devil in the wilderness, Jesus right away taught us to remember that man does not live by bread alone but with every word from God. At the start of this discourse last August 04, Jesus challenged the people, “Do not work for the food that perishes but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you” (Jn.6:27).
Photo by Ms. Ria De Vera in Banff, Alberta, Canada, 07 August 2024.
Many times, we get so used in our many activities that unconsciously, we miss life itself as we punish ourselves with exhaustion and sickness as well as emptiness.
Food is not just something that fills our stomach but must also lead into our heart and soul. Observe any cuisine and you get a taste of the culture and people it represents, even with strong hints of its geographical origin. In the first reading we find how the Book of Proverbs personified Wisdom as God to remind us that though He is transcendent and so above us, God is easily accessed even in the most ordinary instances like eating.
Wisdom has built her house, she has set up her seven columns; she has dressed her meat, mixed her wine, yes, she has spread her table. She has sent out her maidens; she calls from the heights out over the city: “Let whoever is simple turn in here; to him who lacks understanding, I say, Come, eat of my food, drink of the wine I have mixed! Forsake foolishness that you may live; advance in the way of understanding” (Proverbs 9:1-6).
How lovely is that part of God calling us to come like Jesus in the gospel when He said “come to me all who are burdened” or when He ordered to “let the children come to me”. Is it not the same thing we say when we are about to eat, to come and get it?
Sadly these days, we seem to have retrogressed in our manner of eating. Social media rightly labeled it as “food porn” when we are flooded with everything about food and drinks minus its deeper meanings. Food is sadly seen in its material aspect that eating is more on filling the stomach, forgetting the soul because we have totally forgotten God and the people around us. No wonder that despite the growing food production and plethora of food we have these days, many still starve while the rest of us remain lost in life, more sick.
Photo by Ms. Ria De Vera in Banff, Alberta, Canada, 07 August 2024.
See, my dear friends, the great coincidence on the very Sunday Jesus began his bread of life discourse, it was also the opening of the Paris Olympics with a mockery of the Last Supper that led us into a kind of “quarrel” as organizers and their supporters insisted it wasn’t the Last Supper at all despite the clear indications and proofs.
“How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” Suddenly, we heard anew that same question by the people in Capernaum to Jesus reechoed in the Olympics at the capital city of the Church’s so-called “eldest daughter”, France. Of course, we know this bread of life discourse by Jesus refers to the Holy Eucharist and surely, the many defenders of the Paris Olympics are aware for many of them are Catholics. But, Jesus must have willed this gospel be proclaimed at this time coinciding with the Olympics for us to evaluate anew our faith in Him because at the very core of this bread of life discourse is the mystery of faith.
“How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” In the gospel of Luke, we find a similar question by Mary at the Annunciation that is filled with faith, “How can this be?” (Lk.1:34); but today, like in Capernaum as exemplified by the Paris Olympics, that question is a renewed refusal to believe in the words of Jesus Christ. Worst of all as we noted earlier in our perceptions of food and eating these days, that question shows modern man’s insistence on everything material, totally disregarding our spiritual nature.
Photo by Ms. Ria De Vera in Banff, Alberta, Canada, 07 August 2024.
Like in Capernaum, many people today who refuse to believe Christ’s words resort to malicious and insidious arguments that it becomes useless to really converse with them as they would rather insist on their grossly material understanding and perception of life these days. Many prefer to quarrel these days than accept life’s many mysteries not merely seen nor tasted by the senses but experienced and realized through faith in God.
Life for them has become merely material which in Greek is bios as in biology. There is another Greek word for life which is zoe that refers to the eternal, divine life of God that Jesus repeatedly used in our gospel today.
Like last Sunday, Jesus did not engage Himself into debating with the crowd in Capernaum by simply repeating the words living and life to emphasize the total acceptance of Him – Body and Blood – in faith: “I am the living bread… my flesh for the life of the world. Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me.” These are the very same words too, life and living that Jesus would mention before His Passion and Death as well as after His Resurrection because eating His flesh and drinking His blood is to share in His life that is also the fullness of life. It is only in Christ Jesus can we find fulfillment in life. Let us pray:
Lord Jesus Christ, help me watch carefully how I live, not as a fool but as wise as St. Paul taught us today in his letter to the Ephesians; let us not be intoxicated with life's pleasures and worldly pursuits but let us be filled with the Holy Spirit. Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Friday, Memorial of San Roque (St. Rock/Roche), Healer, 16 August 2024 Ezekiel 16:1-15, 60, 63 <*((((>< + ><))))*> Matthew 19:3-12
Photo by author, 15 August 2024.
God our loving Father, thank you for the gift of personhood, for your gift of personal relationship with each one of us; your servant St. John Paul II defined a person as a "full, conscious, relating being."
Very true but sadly, we never recognize your gift of personhood, of our being a person and its fruit of relationships; instead of looking into the heart and soul of every one of us, we prefer to see each one in the mind, in the letter, in the technical than personal:
Some Pharisees approached Jesus, and tested him, saying, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any cause whatever?” (Matthew 19:3)
Soften our hearts, Jesus; take away our stony hearts and give us natural hearts that beats with firm faith, fervent hope in You, and unceasing charity for everyone.
Forgive us for being so captivated by our own beauty and prowess, remove our confusion and let us be silenced for shame (Ezekiel 16:15, 63) to remember your covenant by appreciating and being open to your gift of person and relationships by striving to keep this alive despite our many flaws and sins. Amen.
St. Rock, pray for us so infected by another kind of pestilence of pandemic proportion when we see persons as objects and make objects like persons. Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Thursday, Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, 15 August 2024 Revelation 11:19;12:1-6, 10 ><}}}}*> 1 Corinthians 15:20-27 ><}}}}*> Luke 1:39-56
Photo from shutterstock.com
Glory and praise, God Almighty Father in sending us Jesus our Savior who gave us His Mother the Blessed Virgin Mary, the very first fruit as St. Paul said of Christ's wondrous work of salvation due her oneness in Him.
Mary set out and traveled to the hill country in haste to a town of Judah, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth (Luke 1:39-40).
Right after the Annunciation to Mary, her path to her Assumption began when she "set out and travelled to the hill country in haste" to share Christ in her with Elizabeth; what a beautiful imagery of the same path to the Calvary, another hill outside Jerusalem to be with Christ her Son.
Bless us with the same grace You gave Mary your Mother, Lord Jesus, to follow your path to every hill in this life, to be one with those especially who are in pain and suffering; let us trust in You fully in faith, hope and love that the sufferings we may endure in setting out to travel to the hills of this life is the very path of our assumption in You; let us realize that despite the many comforts and ease of technology today, it is not what life really is, that we all have to go through your Passion, Death, and Resurrection. Like Mary, may we believe your words, Jesus, will be fulfilled. Amen.
“The Assumption of the Virgin” by Italian Renaissance painter Titian completed in 1518 for the main altar of Frari church in Venice. Photo from en.wikipedia.org.
The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B, 11 August 2024 1 Kings 19:4-8 ><}}}}*> Ephesians 4:30-5:2 ><}}}}*> John 6:41-51
Photo by Ms. Ria De Vera in Banff, Alberta, Canada, 07 August 2024.
Like the Prophet Elijah in the first reading, many times we have found ourselves in the same situation of utter desperation, begging God to take our life to end our sufferings and miseries, crying to Him, “Lord, this is enough!”
Elijah was fleeing from the army of Queen Jezebel out to kill him after the priests of Baal were massacred by the people in a showdown with him in sending fire to their offerings as well as the rains after a long period of drought. He felt a total failure because despite God’s manifestation of powers through him, the Israelites and their King Ahab have refused to be converted to God. And here now is Queen Jezebel making things worst when she vowed to kill him.
Exhausted and deeply discouraged at the turn of things for him, Elijah stopped to rest and lament under the shade of a tree:
Elijah went a day’s journey into the desert, until he came to a broom tree and sat beneath it. He prayed for death, saying: “This is enough, O Lord! Take my life, for I am no better than my fathers” (1 Kings 19:4).
Photo by Ms. Ria De Vera in Banff, Alberta, Canada, 07 August 2024.
“This is enough.”It was the same cry of Moses when he felt so bent under the weight of the load God had placed on his shoulders with the people complaining endlessly after their Exodus from Egypt (Num. 10:11-12).
“This is enough.” It was the same cry by Prophet Jeremiah who in his faithfulness to God was subjected to ridicule and persecution by his own people for telling the truth as we heard daily in the first readings of Masses these past two weeks (Jer. 15:10-11; 20:14-15).
“This is enough.”It is also our cry to God like all the other Biblical figures and saints even if we are not going through difficulties not as momentous as theirs. It is a cry that is also a prayer coming from our innermost being when we feel so saddled with no one to unload our woes except to God – who after all is the very reason why we cry!
It is a cry of faith so akin with love because to believe and to love go hand in hand. It is during that moment when we feel like giving up to God, crying “this is enough” when in reality we surrender everything to God because we have been caught up by Him that we cannot resist His attraction. It is that moment when we feel so “fed up with life” but deep inside, we hear God telling us, like Elijah, “Get up and eat, else the journey will be too long for you!” (1 Kings 19:7).
Photo by author, PDDM chapel, James Alberione Center, QC, 08 August 2024.
Crying “this is enough” is different from murmuring which comes directly from the intellect. It is not coming from the heart that is an outflow of faith and love. To murmur is to reason out and to challenge God and most often our parents and elders.
The Jews murmured about Jesus because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven,” and they said, “Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph? Do we not know his father and mother? How can he say, ‘I have come down from heaven?'” Jesus answered and said to them, “Stop murmuring among yourselves. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draw him, and I will raise him the last day” (John 6:41-44).
When we were growing up as kids, it was a mortal sin to murmur to parents and elders. Most of all, it is not only sinful but also bastos because when we murmur, we dare and challenge God and our elders. Murmuring is a willful act, an activity of the intellect tinged with malice and insubordination as we imply to know better, even superior than others. The murmuring of the people against Jesus was clearly their failure and refusal to see Him as the Christ, regarding Him merely as one of them with an insinuation of how could He speak that way and be better than them.
Photo by author, PDDM chapel, James Alberione Center, QC, 08 August 2024.
Our scene is still in Capernaum where the people have caught up with Jesus and His apostles after that feeding of more than five thousand people in the deserted place before the Jewish Feast of Passover. See the exciting progression of Christ’s Discourse on the Bread of Life with the subtle interplay of questions and answers like when Jesus was narrating a parable to the people.
However, here we find Jesus continuing with His discourse by simply declaring Himself as “I am the bread that came down from heaven”. Next week, Jesus will say “I am the living bread that came down from heaven” that would lead the people to quarreling among themselves, not just murmuring! Eventually all these interplay of questions and answers would lead to Jesus challenging the people and us on the last Sunday of this month to either leave or follow Him (August 25, 21st Sunday).
There is no need for Jesus to explain or clarify things as in defending Himself. Clearly, plain and simple, Jesus tells us the truth of Himself as the Bread from Heaven who sustains our life here on earth, precisely more than that bread sent by God to Elijah in the wilderness to continue with his long journey. This requires faith and love on our part.
Photo by Ms. Ria De Vera in Banff, Alberta, Canada, 07 August 2024.
Jesus is telling us today as He had expressed to the people in Capernaum that there is another dimension, of a higher degree and deeper sense of existence in Him that makes us live forever. When He said “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draw him”, He was referring to our gift of faith that is akin with love we have mentioned earlier.
But unlike our concept of a gift as being given to a selected few, Jesus here is assuring us all of being gifted with that faith and love. We all have these virtues along with hope that is why we come to the Sunday Mass. Others may have just left these gifts unopened but surely time will come when like Elijah, they will cry out from their hearts “this is enough.”
It is difficult to explain – if it is really possible at all – the deep cause of faith and love except that it is a gift from God. Many times, we may lose faith and love of God but later find them again especially when we are shaken by life-changing moments that may be either good or bad. Just like in falling in love: recall those time when we took some people for granted in our lives only to discover later he or she is the love of your life! Then we become aware of the many reasons beyond explanations why we love them because we are so caught up by that love.
Photo by Ms. Ria De Vera in Banff, Alberta, Canada, 07 August 2024.
Level up that experience in God when believing in Him is to allow ourselves to be captured or seized by Him who alone is infinitely worthy of love when we say, “ah, basta si Lord iyon!” like Carlo Yulo after winning his two gold medals in the Paris Olympics.
We gather today in this Sunday Mass with all of our cries of surrender and desperations to God, sometimes we murmur but Jesus understands us very well as He continues to give Himself to us in the liturgy of the word and in the Eucharist. You are loved and welcomed to rest inside the church to receive that bread from heaven to enable you to journey farther in life. Let us pray:
God our most loving Father, let us live in the love of your Son Jesus Christ as St. Paul urged us today in his letter to the Ephesians; our life is a long march that is monotonous and even painful; many times we feel like Elijah giving up, so fed up in life; thank You, dear Father in giving us your Son Jesus who is more than enough to strengthen us in this long journey back to You. Amen.
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