The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Friday in the Twenty-fourth Week of Ordinary Time, Year I, 22 September 2023
1 Timothy 6:2-12 ><]]]]'> + ><]]]]'> + ><]]]]'> Luke 8:1-3
Photo by Dra. Mai Dela Peña, Mt. Carmel, Israel, 2017.
Excuse me,
loving Father
for being musical since
yesterday in my prayers;
your words have been
literally hitting some
musical chords within me
as I pray and experience
your presence.
How beautiful are the words
of St. Paul today as he urged
St. Timothy and us
to focus on the really precious
things in life that are often
having less of things
and more of you,
more of others
so we can share
more love,
more kindness,
more being with.
But you, man of God, avoid all this. Instead, pursue righteousness, devotion, faith, love, patience, and gentleness. Compete well for the faith. Lay hold of eternal life, to which you were called when you made the noble confession in the presence of many witnesses.
1 Timothy 6:11-12
Forgive us,
Father, for filling our
lives not only with
endless desires for
money and things,
fame and honor
but also with so many
ideas and words that
pretend to promote equality
and freedom but actually
result in "arguments and
verbal disputes" that lead to
"envy, rivalry, insults, evil suspicions,
and mutual friction among people
with corrupted minds, deprived
of the truth" (1 Tm. 6:4-5).
Grant us,
dear God,
the courage
to strip ourselves naked
of earthly desires
in order to focus more
in journeying in Jesus Christ
like those women who
accompanied him and Twelve
by "providing for them out
of their resources" (Lk.8:3).
Let us trust in you alone,
Father, that you provide
everything we need
in this life
as we seek first
your kingdom.
Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Thursday, Feast of St. Matthew, Apostle, 21 September 2023
Ephesians 4:1-7, 11-13 ><}}}}*> + ><}}}}*> + ><}}}}*> Matthew 9:9-13
Photo by Mr. Virgie Ongleo in Singapore, 2021.
God our loving Father,
on this feast of your Son's
Apostle St. Matthew who used
to be known as Levi, a tax collector,
I pray for all the men and women
who work hard to provide food,
shelter, and clothing for their
families; through St. Matthew,
Jesus Christ had shown us
you love so dearly every working
man and woman who toil and labor
under the most harsh conditions
trying to earn a living.
As Jesus passed by, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the customs post. He said to him, “Follow me.” And he got up and followed him.
Matthew 9:9
St. John Chrysostom rightly
noticed how the gospels mentioned
the work of some Apostles called
by Jesus: Peter, James and John were
fishing while Matthew was collecting
taxes; oh how perceptive were the eyes
and tongue of St. John Chrysostom!
Because fishing was seen as a lowly job
during that time while the taxman was
the most despicable person for Jews
and yet, Jesus called them!
Lord Jesus,
grant your mercy and comfort,
consolation and help to all workers
so hard pressed in this life,
especially the forgotten who strive
to earn money decently like our
farmers and fishermen,
drivers and vendors,
maidservants and nannies
who working abroad
to care for other families as they
left their own families behind;
bless the cops and traffic enforcers,
our government workers
and officials who live in the darkness
of sin, trapped in the lures of wealth
and money; in calling St. Matthew,
Jesus showed us his daily passing
and calling of everyone of us,
people of all social classes while
they go about their ordinary,
daily work.
Grant us the strength
and courage, dear Jesus,
to be like St. Matthew
to immediately rise up and
follow you, to leave everything
behind especially sin and evil,
to be detached and to finally
stop activities that are not
compatible in following
you, Lord; like St. Matthew,
may we "write" your gospel
with our very lives of holiness,
making known to everyone
your Divine Mercy.
Dearest Jesus,
open our hearts to
intently listen to St. Matthew's
voice and message
so we may learn to
rise and stand
then follow you,
Lord,
with determination.
Amen.
St. Matthew,
pray for us!
Quiet Storm by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, 20 September 2023
Photo by Mr. Ryan John Jacob, December 2022.
Every time we pray is a moment of grace from God, not only to the one praying or pray-er but most of all to others. To see somebody at prayer is a sight filled with great wonder and blessings from God because every prayer period is a divine operation.
Please don’t get me wrong. Whenever we pray and others see us, it always has an effect on them. Many times we have heard some people saying nasty things at the sight of those deep in prayer especially here at social media with ready templates casting moral aspersions on pray-ers as hypocrites and show offs. People who do that most likely do not pray at all, do not know anything about prayer. Most likely, they are a variant of the self-righteous Pharisee in the Lord’s parable (Lk. 18:9-14). Prayer moments are founts of grace not only for pray-ers but for others as well.
My point is simple. Just keep praying. Follow your inner leading to pray, to stop by a church or a chapel, to kneel and make the Sign of the Cross because every time we pray, our prayer is already answered by God. Not only for us but for others too.
Photo by author, Our Lady of Fatima University, 13 September 2023.
The other day I shared with you how my mother had taught us how to pray. Today I share with you an aspect of prayer I have learned from my father who witnessed to us the essence and beauty of praying.
As far as I can remember in my early childhood days until I have become a priest, my immediate, unforgettable image of my dad is being a man of prayer, a man at prayer.
Every morning before he would go to office, I have seen him praying in front of our altar of Christ the King and Sacred Heart. It was a ritual I have come to unconsciously imitate that would start with the lighting of candles before the sacred images, after which he would genuflect making the Sign of the Cross in deep silence and as he rose after a few moments of pause, that is when he pulls out his Rosary. That’s every morning before leaving for work he had continued until his retirement.
When he comes home in the afternoon, his ritual began with washing himself to change clothes before going to the altar with the usual lighting of candles, silent genuflection while making the Sign of the Cross. He would leave the candles burning to go down and join us kids in front of the grotto to pray the Angelus at 6pm while listening to Radio Veritas.
On weekends, he did the same routine in the afternoon. Daddy spent Saturdays and Sundays doing his two favorite things, cooking in the morning and reading in the afternoon. Oh, he read everything from old newspapers and magazines to his many book collections and finally in the afternoon, his two staple reading companions – that big, red Holy Bible and that little green book called “My Spiritual Diary” by the Daughters of St. Paul which I could not remember where I have kept.
My mom and dad always together, our first teachers about God and prayer.
When people ask me how my vocation started, I tell them my parents never encouraged me to become a priest. In fact both were surprised when I sought their permission to enter the seminary after grade six. But, I believe it was my father who unconsciously planted the seeds of my priestly vocation when I would always see him praying since childhood.
When my only brother Willy, our youngest, was born prematurely at eight months in December 15, 1973, dad gathered us three siblings in our sala downstairs near his big escritorio to inform us of his condition, of how he was very sick inside the incubator and would have to stay longer in the hospital for treatment while my mom might come home before Christmas. Then he told us almost in whisper as his voice would crack that we pray hard for Willy and mommy. We did not understand then what he meant to pray hard. All I remembered was how that night I saw him in bed alone as my mother was still in GSIS Hospital (now East Avenue Medical Center), staring at the ceiling as he held his rosary on his chest. Decades later when I was back in the seminary, he told me that was the only time he really learned to pray hard when Willy was born prematurely. I never understood dad’s words of “praying hard” except that like him, I have tried to pray always.
Photo by author, Jerusalem, May 2019.
I have no claims to holiness for I am a sinner. And that is why I always pray even if at times I doubt my prayers or if God listens at all to me! But God never fails to console me at times when people tell me how they have learned to pray after seeing me prayed.
Parishioners notice us priests when we pray or not. Both here and abroad, I have heard lay people saying how they love seeing us priests pray because they are touched. Imagine that simple act of praying as a form of witnessing to Christ. What is wonderful is that parishioners learn to pray more for their priests when they see them praying which leads to more grace and blessings for everyone from God!
Of course, we pray not to be seen but prayer is our life as priests and lay alike. We are all blessed when we pray. Period. No one can judge if we are praying right except God. What matters is we keep praying. Hence, give us your priests those sacred space and sacred moments to pray most of all! Don’t invite us out at night anymore.
Though Jesus had instructed us that “when you pray, go into your inner room to pray in secret” (Mt.6:6ff), he does not tell us not to pray in public. What is essential in prayer is being true and humble before God, of going inside our selves – our inner room in secret – like in Christ’s parable of the proud Pharisee and sinful tax collector at the temple (Lk. 18:9-14).
Prayer is being one with God. We call it communion. It happens most truly when we pray and others see us that they too are moved to be one with God. And that is when communion starts to happen, when we truly follow Jesus as his disciples by praying together.
Photo by Mr. Red Santiago, January 2020.
He summoned the crowd with his disciples and said to them, “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross and follow me. Whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this faithless and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.”
Mark 8:34, 38
For us to be truly the Church, the Body of Christ, we have to be a community of disciples at prayer. Together. In Christ, with Christ, through Christ. Amen. Have a blessed and prayerful remaining half of the week!
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Wednesday, Memorial of St. Andrew Kim Taegon & Companion Martyrs, 20 September 2023
1 Timothy 3:14-16 ><}}}}*> + ><}}}}*> + ><}}}}*> Luke 7:31-35
Photo by Dra. Mylene A. Santos, MD at Tagalag, Valenzuela City, 13 September 2023.
Praise and glory
to you, God our loving
Father! As we celebrate
today the Memorial of Korea's first
priest martyr St. Andrew Kim Taegon
and his companion martyrs of over
100 others, we thank you too
for the vibrant Christian faith
in that part of the world.
How amazing are your
grace and works, O God
in that "land of the morning calm" -
Korea - where the seeds of faith
were primarily planted by
lay people touched by
the few missionaries
who have reached their
shores.
Undeniably great is the mystery of devotion, Who was manifested in the flesh, vindicated in the spirit, seen by angel, proclaimed to the Gentiles, believed in throughout the world, taken up in glory.
1 Timothy 3:16
Great
is their mystery of devotion
as St Paul put it;
grant us the same grace
of continuing fascination
to Christ's mystery among us
through prayers and studies
of your words and of the
Church's teachings;
let Jesus be manifested
in our lives of witnessing
as vindicated by the Spirit,
proclaimed and believed,
accepted and embraced
because it is so true
by everyone.
Grant us discernment,
dear God,
to always recognize
and follow you in the
various persons and
instances, no matter how
unusual they or these may be,
for you are a God of surprises.
Amen.
St. Andrew Kim Taegon
and companion martyrs
of Korea,
Pray for us!
St. Andrew Kim Taegon, first Korean priest with his lay associate St. Paul Chong Hasan with 113 other Koreans died as martyrs between 1839 and 1867.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Tuesday in the Twenty-fourth Week of Ordinary Time, Year I, 19 September 2023
1 Timothy 3:1-13 ><))))*> _ ><))))*> _ ><))))*> Luke 7:11-17
Photo by author, CLLEX-Tarlac, 19 July 2023.
Your words today,
O God our loving Father,
are very encouraging
and assuring
with our varied
aspirations in life:
Beloved: This saying is trustworthy: whoever aspires to the office of bishop desires a noble task.
1 Timothy 3:1
When is an aspiration
to any office or post,
not just in the Church,
is a desire for a noble task?
Help us,
dear Jesus to make
our aspiration a desire
for a noble task
by first looking at the needs
of others and not for our
personal advantages;
looking at how
to console others,
alleviate their sufferings
and strengthen their
faith and hopes in life
like you did to the widow
at Nain when you were moved
with pity upon seeing the grieving
mother who had been widowed
with no one to turn to in life;
awaken and heighten
our sensitivities,
our sense of empathy
to the silent sufferings
of so many people these
days who sometimes hide
their grief because no one
seem to care at all for them.
Secondly,
make our aspirations a
noble task by sincerely
confronting our very selves
if we have the qualifications
for any office; let us not aspire
for positions for selfish, personal motives
nor to what would please us;
like the criteria set by St. Paul
for those seeking to become
bishop and deacon, may we
realize that you also give the
gifts necessary to respond
to your call; let us not insist
on ourselves, Lord.
Lastly,
may we always leave
your mark, dear Jesus
in our works
as the surest sign
that ours is an aspiration
for a noble task; may God
our Father be the only One
recognized and seen,
felt and experienced
in our tasks like when
you raised the dead
young man in Nain
with everyone exclaiming
"God has visited
his people" (Lk. 7:16).
Many times,
O God, many are losing
that aspiration to serve
you in others lest they be
mistaken for many
opportunists politicians
who shamelessly aspire
for posts with purely
personal motives;
send us, dear God,
with many people
who would aspire
for noble tasks
of serving you
through our poor and
marginalized brothers
and sisters totally forgotten
in our many social equations.
Amen.
Quiet Storm by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, 18 September 2023
Photo by author, Katmon Nature Sanctuary & Beach Resort, Infant, Quezon, 04 March 2023.
It was my mother who taught us how to pray early in childhood. Beginning with the Sign of the Cross, she taught us also to be more specific in our prayers by mentioning our names to God as well as everything we need.
We were still two siblings then, with me as the eldest. After instructing us how to put on our kulambo with its long lines of cord tied to nails on the walls because our beds have no posts, Mommy would always ensure that me and my sister pray as she tucked us in our respective bed which went like this:
Thank you very much God for today;
please bless my Daddy Will and my Mommy Cory,
my sister Meg, and I, Nick. Amen.
Later on came my second sister Bing-Bing and she was added to our list of names to mention in prayer every night. When Bing-Bing was learning to speak and her turn to learn to pray, Mommy added another prayer just for her, had to learn to pray, “God, give me patatas” because she loved potatoes found in our favorite nilaga, pochero, afritada, even the little cubes of menudo!
I still pray this prayer that had automatically added the names of new members of our family, from our bunso my only brother Willy born in 1973 to my brother-in-law when Meg got married, all my four nieces and only nephew, Mommy’s two yayas, along with other relatives and friends that include some of my parishioners as well as brother priests in the ministry all kept in a list in my breviary. Lately, I have been praying that God would bless my nieces and nephew with good marriage partners so I can already have apo, and I don’t mind mentioning their names in my future prayers!
With my two sisters and three pamangkins in a recent Baguio vacation.
The only other person next to my mother who had taught me to pray mentioning the names of the people I pray for is my Jesuit spiritual guide Fr. Arthur Shea (RIP). During our 30-day retreat in 1995 before our third year in theology, Fr. Shea asked us to always mention the names of the people we pray for, whether still living or already dead because according to him, that makes our prayer truly personal. He assured us that something beautiful happens within us when we mention the names of the people we pray for. And I believed him 100%!
Now I am 58 years old and 25 years as a priest, I have realized that the most effective prayer is always those most personal when we specify the people with their names and the intentions we pray for.
Prayers change and transform people, not situations; when people are transformed, relationships improve, peace and harmony happen among us. Mentioning the name of people we pray for is practical as it lessens the anger and negativities we have against any person. Most of all, it is difficult to pray for people we hate and thus, mentioning their names not only make our prayers effective but also affective.
Even if we do not mention the names of people we pray for, at least when we specify the kinds of people we are praying for produce the same results, both effective and affective. One of the beautiful prayers I have learned in high school seminary was praying for specific people we hardly know but who affect us directly or indirectly like those working overnight to deliver us goods we need the following morning such as drivers and delivery men, market vendors, and bakers. Also included in our night prayers then were those traveling overnight that they may reach their destinations safely and for prisoners languishing in jail especially the innocent ones. It was in those prayers where I learned to think more of other people, to see more outside of myself and search for those in the margins and forgotten whom God loves so much.
Call me crazy or funny, I pray also for our local and world leaders by mentioning their names even if they do not know me or did not elected them at all! When I was in first year theology in 1993, I was so overjoyed that I submitted as my reflection in one of our subjects the historic meeting in Oslo, Norway of Israeli PM Yitzhak Rabin (later assassinated) and the late PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat; I have been praying for the peace process in Israel since I re-entered the seminary and I felt God answered my prayer with that historic meeting between the leaders of two bitter enemies. I just felt so good inside that God heard my prayer, convincing me that God answers prayers of his children, no matter how simple or complicated it may be. That Oslo Accord led to the 2000 Camp David Summit hosted by American President Bill Clinton between Israel and the PLO. Though peace remains elusive in that part of the world, I still pray for the people especially after I had visited the Holy Land thrice.
Of course, God knows everything and what is needed in this world not only in our lives. For sure, he knows us all by name too! But, when we pray for one another as St. Paul tells Timothy, that is when we begin to identify everyone and find our relationships with them as brothers and sisters whom we must love and respect to make this world a better place to live in.
Photo by author, Our Lady of Fatima University, Valenzuela, 13 September 2023.
Beloved: First of all, I ask that supplications, prayers, petitions, and thanksgiving be offered for everyone, for kings and for all in authority, that we may lead a quiet and tranquil life in all devotion and dignity.
1 Timothy 2:1-2
It all begins in our hearts when we pray. When we make a space in our hearts for other people by mentioning their names or simply identifying them in particular needs and situations, that is when God truly comes to fill us with his Spirit. Everything then follows like peace and harmony as we have seen in today’s gospel account of the healing the centurion’s servant by Jesus (Lk. 7:1-10).
See how the Jews “approached Jesus and strongly urged him to come, saying, ‘He deserves to have you do this for him, for he loves our nation and he built the synagogue for us.’ And Jesus went with them” (Lk.7: 4-6). Jesus answered their prayers by coming with them already! He must have been so surprised too with their attitude toward the pagan because finally, they saw not differences but similarities as persons believing in God. When we mention names of people, that is when we recognize them as one of us too, making our prayers effective and affective as change and miracles begin to happen. Amen. Have a blessed Monday!
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Monday in the Twenty-fourth Week of Ordinary Time, Year I, 18 September 2023
1 Timothy 2:1-8 ><]]]]'> _ ><]]]]'> _ ><]]]]'> Luke 7:1-10
Photo by Ms. Rose Anne, Our Lady of Fatima University Campus Ministry, Valenzuela, 13 September 2023.
Blessed be you,
O God our loving Father
for always hearing our prayers!
As I get older and hopefully
mature in life,
I have realized
dear Lord
that the most beautiful
thing with prayer is how
you have mellowed us
as persons,
of how we have become
more personal
with each other,
caring for each other,
accepting one another
as unique and a gift.
Indeed,
prayer changes more
the person than the situation;
thus, prayer changes too
the way we relate with each
other, dissipating the anger
and mistrust among us,
bringing about more peace and
harmony among us.
Oh how difficult it is to
hate a person we are
continually praying!
Beloved: First of all, I ask that supplications, prayers, petitions, and thanksgiving be offered for everyone, for kings and for all in authority, that we may lead a quiet and tranquil life in all devotion and dignity.
1 Timothy 2:1-2
How lovely is the gospel
scene, dear Jesus, when your
fellow Jews sort of "prayed"
for the centurion that you may
come to heal his servant
for he "deserves to have you
do this to him" because
he "loves our nation and he built
a synagogue for us" (Lk.7:4-5);
despite his being a pagan,
your fellow Jews highly
regarded him
that was quite a rarity
at that time!
Dearest Lord Jesus,
may we learn to pray
specifically for some people
by naming them for those
we personally know
and at least mentioning
or identifying the kinds of
people we are praying for.
You know them all, Lord,
but when we name them,
when we identify them,
the more we know them
and find our relationships
with them as brothers and
sisters to love and respect
always.
Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Sunday in the Twenty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time, Cycle A, 17 September 2023
Sirach 27:30-28:7 ><}}}}*> Romans 14:7-9 ><}}}}*> Matthew 18:21-35
Photo by author at the RISE Tower, Our Lady of Fatima University, Valenzuela City, 28 July 2023.
This past week has been a very toxic one for us in the hospital where I serve as a chaplain.
Beginning last Sunday morning after our Mass at the University adjacent to our hospital, I had to proceed to the ICU to anoint a critical patient who expired 20 minutes later while I was still attending to seven other patients there in the unit. One died that evening, the other the following day. Last Tuesday and Thursday I had to go back to the hospital to anoint four more patients, two of them eventually died before this Saturday.
When that patient died last Sunday morning, the doctors and nurses at the ICU thanked me, telling me how the deceased must have just waited for me to receive the Sacrament of Anointing. “Hinintay lang po kayo, Father.”
I have heard that so many times even while I was assigned in a parish. And every time people would tell me that, I thank God deep in my heart for his infinite love and mercy, in never allowing patients to die until they have been anointed and absolved of their sins. That is why I am so convinced that almost everybody goes to heaven or purgatory when they die because God ensures that each one of us will have a chance to prepare to meet him in heaven. Only a few, even almost no one, except anyone who would reject God totally goes to hell.
Photo by Dra. Mylene A. Santos, MD at Tagalag, Valenzuela City, 13 September 2023.
My dear friends and family, today we continue the second in a series of what I have told you last Sunday of the Lord’s teaching on some of life’s most delicate issues we are all aware of but find so difficult to accept and practice.
Last Sunday, it was about fraternal correction, of the need for us to speak to those living in sin. Today, Jesus teaches us to forgive those who sin against us.
Peter approached Jesus and asked him, “Lord, if my brother sins against me, how often must I forgive? As many as seven times?” Jesus answered, “I say to you, not seven times but seventy-seven times. That is why the kingdom of heaven may be likened to a king who decided to settle accounts with his servants….”
Matthew 18:21-23
Notice how Jesus used a parable in explaining forgiving to Peter and other apostles along with us today. Forgiving from the heart because of love can never be fully explained as a concept; love is best expressed in forgiveness which Jesus showed us on the Cross where his first words were for the forgiveness of his enemies who “knew not what they were doing”.
Photo by Dean Mon Macatangga, May 2023.
When we love, we level up in our existence and that becomes most true when we forgive. See how love remains the antidote to sin which is lack of love. Both fraternal correction and forgiving are expressions of love that is true, the love of Christ. That is the point of Christ’s parable when he said, “That is why the kingdom of heaven may be likened to a king who decided to settle accounts with his servants.”
To love, to forgive, to correct those who sin are all in the realms of God, of the divine as Shakespeare said, “to err is human, to forgive is divine.” Whenever we forgive because we love like God, we become like him!
Becoming like God, becoming divine happens when we recognize one another as brothers and sisters in Christ. Here lies the beautiful twist in the Lord’s parable: forgiving is in the realm of the kingdom of God where we are brothers and sisters, not just servants who owe God our king or anyone with debts to be paid that are measurable in exact amount or quantity. St. Paul expressed it beautifully last Sunday, “Brothers and sisters: Owe nothing to anyone, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law” (Rom. 13:8).
Love is the only debt we owe everyone. We can never repay love because it is a debt so huge, like the debt of that servant summoned by the king in today’s parable. Jesus came to “save” us from that debt of love that God asks us not because he needs it repaid but because he showers us with so much of that love. We just have to keep on sharing that love of God that is infinite because love is the essence of our lives. To live is to love and when we love, that is when we truly live. And that is why we must forgive also like him. On our own it is impossible to love and to forgive but that grace has always been there for us to take and share because we are all loved and forgiven children of God. To forget or disregard this truth is to separate from God and from everyone which is what hell is all about.
Photo by Dra. Mylene A. Santos, MD at Tagalag, Valenzuela City, 13 September 2023.
Both teachings and instructions by Jesus to correct our wayward brothers and sisters and to forgive those who often sin against us are expressions of our love of God. Indeed, they are both difficult, most especially forgiving from the heart. Problem with forgiveness is the fact that the most painful hurts we incur are always inflicted by those we love, by those people closest to us and dearest to us. It is a grace we have to pray for always, whether for us who have sinned or hurt by others.
But, there are also practical considerations why we have to forgive as Ben Sirach had noticed since the Old Testament days. It is something we continue to experience these days and sadly, even see on social media like the endless series of road rage everywhere in the world that has become like a pandemic.
How true were the observations by Ben Sirach that “Wrath and anger are hateful things, yet the sinner hugs them tight” (Sir. 27:30) as clips of road rage vividly show us in social media, from the lack of respect of those involved to abuse of authority as well as destruction of lives and properties. Like the other servants in the parable, we feel sorry for the victims of road rage considering mostly are about petty things blown out of proportions.
Photo by Dra. Mylene A. Santos, MD, Quezon Province, August 2022.
Psychologists and experts also tell us the importance of forgiving for practical reasons but they all pale in the light of the simple fact that the obligation to avoid resentment, hatred and violence is strictly enjoined on us who know God and are conscious of our own need for his forgiveness and mercy. In the end, let us forgive one another as St. Paul reminded us today in the second reading that everything will be determined and judged in our relationship with Jesus Christ who suffered and died for our sins. This we constantly honor and deepen when we forgive, when we pray the Our Father, and when we celebrate the Holy Eucharist. 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 Our Lady of Sorrows, 15 September 2023
1 Timothy 1:1-2, 12-14 ><}}}*> + ><}}}*> + ><}}}*> John 19:25-27
Lady of Sorrows from a triptych by the Master of the Stauffenberg Altarpiece, Alsace c. 1455; photo from fraangelicoinstitute.com.
What a joy for us,
sinful children of the Father
to be your children too,
O Blessed Virgin Mary
through your Son
our Lord Jesus Christ!
Standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary of Magdala. When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple there whom he loved, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son.” Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother.” And from that hour the disciple took her into his home.
John 19:25-27
More than the tears and sorrow
on your face portrayed in arts,
O Sorrowful Mother,
all I see and experience
in you is a disciple
so absorbed in prayer,
so united and close
with our Lord Jesus;
yours is a different kind
of sadness
that I feel when I look
at your images
as our Lady of Sorrows:
no pity but dignity,
no dramatics nor theatrics
but purely
noble simplicity.
How sad,
dear Mother and Lady of Sorrows
that many of us disciples
of your Son Jesus
have forgotten this very
important aspect of discipleship
you have shown us,
a life centered on prayer
that is more than reciting prayers
but residing in Christ,
of being absorbed in his
Passion and Death
so that like you,
we may be absorbed by
his glorious Resurrection!
Indeed,
dear Lady of Sorrows,
as St. Paul tells us today,
"the grace of our Lord has been
abundant, along with the faith
and love that are
in Christ" (1 Tim.1:14);
pray for us your children
and fellow disciples
to be first absorbed in prayers
because before everything
else came,
there was Jesus
who first came
calling us
to be one in him,
with him,
and through him
like you
absorbed by his glory
in heaven.
Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Thursday, Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, 14 September 2023
Numbers 21:4-9 ><]]]]'> Philippians 2:6-11 ><]]]]'> John 3:13-17
Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, 2017.
The cross is perhaps one of the most widely used but also abused and misunderstood sign in almost every generation. In fact, we are so accustomed to the cross of Jesus Christ found everywhere like in churches and cemeteries, offices and classrooms, hospitals, inside every kind of vehicle and, of course, houses. Almost everybody carry it on our persons for various reasons: as an object of veneration, as a badge, or as a jewel.
On the cross we find Jesus shown in glory, peacefully sleeping in death, sometimes with his body broken by suffering. Hence, many times we use the word “cross” like in “cross my heart” to indicate our sincerity and truthfulness. But, are we truly aware of its meaning and significance in our faith, of its centrality as the symbol of God’s love for us expressed by the self-sacrificing death of Jesus Christ his Son?
Photo by author, St. Scholastica Convent, Baguio City, 23 August 2023.
Today we celebrate the Exaltation of the Cross which started in the fourth century. According to legend it began with the miraculous discovery of the True Cross by Helena, mother of the Emperor Constantine, on 14 September 326, while she was on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. She then ordered through her son the emperor the building of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre that was dedicated nine years later with a portion of the True Cross placed inside it in September 13, 335. The following day, the Cross was brought outside of the church to be venerated by the clergy and the faithful.
In the year 627, during the reign of the Emperor Heraclius I of Constantinople, the Persians conquered the city of Jerusalem and removed a major part of the Cross from its sanctuary. The emperor then launched a campaign to recover the True Cross which he regarded as the new Ark of the Covenant for the new People of God. Before embarking into war, Emperor Heraclius went to church wearing black as a sign of penance, then prostrated himself before the altar and begged God for courage. His prayer was granted as he won the war and recovered the Cross from the Persians. He brought the Cross back to Jerusalem in 641 amid great celebrations by carrying it on his shoulders. Upon reaching the gate leading to Calvary, the emperor could not go forward! Heraclius and his retinue were astonished and could not understand what had happened until the Patriarch Zachary of Jerusalem told him, “Take care, O Emperor! In truth, the imperial clothing you are wearing does not sufficiently resemble the poor and humiliated condition of Jesus carrying His cross.”
Upon hearing those words, the emperor removed his shoes and bejewelled robes, put on a poor man’s clothing and was eventually able to proceed to Calvary and replaced the Cross inside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre where a number of miracles happened during the occasion: a dead man returned to life, four paralytics were cured, ten lepers were healed, 15 blind men were given their sight, with several possessed people exorcised and many sick people totally healed!
Photo by author, Mirador Jesuit Villa & Retreat House, Baguio City, 24 August 2023.
Very notable in this story were the words of the Patriarch of Jerusalem. It was only after the emperor had taken off his royal clothings and put on those of the poor was he able to carry the Cross.
It is the same thing that is asked of us today: it is so easy to display the cross inside our homes and cars, or wear it as a jewelry or even as a tattoo on our skin. But that would amount to nothing unless we have the cross inside our hearts, our very being. More than the many signs of the cross and imaginary drawing of its lines we draw on our chest is the need for us to empty ourselves of our pride and sins so that we can be filled by Jesus Christ.
Brothers and sisters: Christ Jesus, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God something to be grasped. Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness; and found human in appearance, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross.
Philippians 2:6-8
Called kenosis in Greek, self-emptying is the way of the Cross of Christ. It is choosing love and mercy than self-centeredness and self-righteousness; sacrifice than satisfaction; fairness and justice than greed and possession; bearing all the pains and perseverance than complaining and whining about difficulties and trials in life like the Israelites in the wilderness (first reading); and, thinking more of others than of one’s self.
Photo by author, 02 September 2023.
The recent COVID-19 pandemic had taught something very amusing about the positivity of being negative, when negative was actually positive – healthy and COVID free! Remember how during those days when we would always wish we would yield negative results in our swab tests for COVID?
When we look at the sign of the cross (+), it is a positive sign, a plus sign. Though the cross calls us to let go, to be detached and dispossessed, it is actually an invitation to have more of God, of life and fulfillment! In this time of affluence when everything is practically easily available for as long as you have the means and the resources, the sign of the Cross reminds us that life is more of letting go and of giving than of having like God who “so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that he who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life” (Jn.3:16). St. Francis of Assisi said it perfectly why the Cross is an exaltation, a triumph:
For it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
Amen.Have a blessed Thursday!
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