Category: Presence of God

Breathe on me, Lord…

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul

Saturday, Feast of the Dedication of St. John Lateran Church, 09 November 2019

Ezekiel 47:1-2, 8-9, 12 ><)))*> 1 Corinthians 3:9-11, 16-17 ><)))*> John 2:13-22

“Praise be to Christ” says the floor of the Church of the Beatitudes, Galilee, Holy Land, 2019.

Our loving Father in heaven:

Thank you very much for the gift of church, especially beautiful and lovely churches where we encounter you in prayers and the sacraments.

How amazing that these churches “breathe” with their walls, “whispering” to you the many praises and thanksgiving of countless people who have encountered you there.

Whenever I come inside a church, I try to feel your presence as well as those other faithful including those who have gone home to you in heaven.

Indeed, we your “chosen people as living stones” are your buildings, your temple and dwelling place.

Whenever we enter a church, we also enter you, our God as you fill us with life like those fruitful trees saw by Ezekiel in the first reading growing on the banks of the river flowing from the temple.

Forgive us when we destroy our bodies and our communities, forgetting that we are your temple.

Forgive us when we refuse to celebrate the Sunday Mass with our fellow believers.

St. John Lateran Basilica, the Cathedral of the Pope as Bishop of Rome, our Mother Church. Photo by Arch. Philip Santiago, 2017.

As we celebrate today the Feast of the Dedication of the Mother of all churches, the Major Basilica of St. John Lateran in Rome, remind us also to take care of our churches, to always maintain their sacredness, do away with all profanities and “shows” so many priests and lay people are now so fond of doing forgetting it is always your house, not ours.

Breathe into us your life-giving Spirit, Lord Jesus, for us to create a space within us and in our churches for you to come and renew us. Amen.

Jesus among us

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul

Monday, Memorial of St. Charles Borromeo, 04 November 2019

Romans 11:29-36 ><)))*> ><)))*> ><)))*> Luke 14:12-14

Sculpture of a homeless man sleeping on a bench fronting the Franciscan Fathers’ Residence in Capernaum, the Holy Land. On closer examination of the sculpture, one realises it is in fact Jesus Christ living in our midst! Photo by the author, May 2019.

Praise and glory to you, our heavenly Father!

Thank you very much for never changing your mind regarding your gifts and call to us as St. Paul reminds us today in our first reading:

Brothers and sisters: The gifts and call of God are irrevocable.

Romans 11:29

It is always a struggle with us to come to grip with this truth and reality.

Very often, we tend to forget your gifts and call to us to be holy, to be like you in Christ Jesus, always kind and loving, forgiving and merciful, just and understanding.

There is always that inner temptation within us to think too much of ourselves, to have our rewards or share of the fruits of our labor.

Help us to keep in mind like St. Charles Borromeo, who despite his very colourful and illustrious background, he lived out his call and vocation to the priesthood exactly as your servant, Lord.

Help us to forget our selves so we may always see you, Lord, among the poor and needy, the ones who cannot pay us back, or invite us to dinner. Amen.

Re-membering our departed loved ones

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul

Saturday, All Souls’ Day, 02 November 2019

Wisdom 3:1-9 ><}}}*> Romans 5:5-11 ><}}}*> John 6:37-40

Dominican Hills, Baguio City, January 2019.

Praise and glory to you, our heavenly Father, for the gift of salvation you have given s through your Son Jesus Christ!

Today you give us this special day of remembering not only our dearly departed loved ones awaiting entrance into heaven but most of all, a day to remember our own salvation in Jesus Christ.

Forgive us, Lord, for being so desensitized by the world to our need for to be saved by you, to be reconciled with you. Many of us now take salvation for granted as something due to us, so confident that we would be saved on our own merits.

But God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us. How much more then, since we are now justified by his blood, will we be saved through him from the wrath. Indeed, if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through death of his Son, how much more, once reconciled, will we be saved by his life. Not only that, but we also boast of God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

Romans 5:8-11

Let us re-member you, Lord, or make you a part, a member of our lives today inasmuch as we re-member too our departed loved ones.

Salvation and reconciliation always come together: no man is an island, even in death.

No one lives alone. No one sins alone. No one dies alone. No one is saved alone.

That is why on this second day of November, we pray together in Jesus Christ, our only boast in life whose love purifies us here and in the afterlife, so that our departed dear ones may finally be with you in eternity. Amen.

Saints are life-givers

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul

Friday, Solemnity of All the Saints, 01 November 2019

Revelation 7:2-4. 9-14 ><}}}*> 1 John 3:1-3 ><}}}*> Matthew 5:1-12

“Mary with the Child and the Angels and the Saints” by Duccio Di Buoninsegna (d. 1319).

Glory and praise to you, O Lord our almighty and loving Father in heaven!

Thank you very much for this celebration of the Solemnity of All Saints — of those all ahead of us and have died now enjoying your company in heaven.

Whenever we think of holiness, we always think of men and women not committing sins, of moral exemplars.

Remind us always that holiness is being filled with you, O God, and that saints are givers of life.

“Blessed are the clean of heart, for they will see God.”

Matthew 5:8

Fill us with your Holy Spirit, Lord, cleanse us of our sins and evil desires and inclinations as we strive to bear all pains and sufferings to lead holy lives.

It is in purifying our hearts, our very selves, when we are able to truly offer our lives for the loving service of the poor and needy so that while still here on earth, we may already see your face, Lord, among the people we meet until that day we are one in you in eternity. Amen.

Our gift to God

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul

Wednesday, Week XXIX, Year I, 23 October 2019

Romans 6:12-18 ><)))*> ><)))*> ><)))*> Luke 12:39-48

Sacred Heart Novitiate in Novaliches, QC, July 2017.

God our Father, All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day are still a week from now but today’s gospel reminds us that death is so certain to come one day to each one of us.

Nobody is exempted.

And the sooner we come to accept this fact and reality, the better for us.

Then Peter said, “Lord, is this parable meant for us or for everyone?” And the Lord replied, “Who, then, is the faithful and prudent steward whom the master will put in charge of his servants to distribute the food allowance at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master on arrival finds doing so.”

Luke 12:41-43

Too often, we are like St. Peter, feeling so secured with our association with you, that we are always exempted from others.

Today you are reminding us that death will certainly come to each one of us, your stewards here on earth.

Remind us that the greatest gift you have entrusted with us is this gift of self, this gift of life.

Give us the grace to use our very selves, our whole body, for your greater glory as St. Paul told the Romans in our first reading.

It is in coming to terms with death when we begin to come to terms with life because that is when we start living authentically and readily for the great inevitability.

Not in fear but in great honor and privilege in serving you well, our Lord.

Whatever we do with our life shall be our gift to you. Amen.

Our two humanity

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul

Tuesday, Memorial of St. Pope John Paul II, 22 October 2019

Romans 5:12. 15. 17-19. 20-21 ><)))*> Luke 12:35-38

From Google.

Praise and glory to you, O God our loving Father!

Thank you very much in giving us the great St. John Paul II.

When I think and remember him, the more I feel the reality of St. Paul’s words today:

Where sin increased, grace overflowed all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through justification for eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Romans 5:20-21

Yes, you made us experience your loving presence among us O God in Jesus Christ during the pontificate of St. John Paul II. He lived in our own time when there was so much sin and evil in the world that he courageously battled head on with his life and preaching.

How true were the words of St. Paul today: there is that part of our sinful humanity in Adam still thriving in the world with its “culture of death” as St. John Paul II would always say.

On the other hand, St. John Paul II showed us in his life, words and examples our redeemed humanity in Christ, especially when he would always insist we can only find fulfillment in you, O dear Jesus.

Reawaken within us O Lord today on this memorial of St. John Paul II his favorite quote from you when he was elected St. Peter’s successor on October 16, 1978 – “Be not afraid!”

Let us “gird our loins” to continue to proclaim you, Lord Jesus Christ into this new millennium the way St. John Paul II envisioned when we crossed into the great jubilee of 2000. Amen.

From Google.

When faith is not enough

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul

Monday, Week XXIX, Year I, 21 October 2019

Romans 4:20-25 ><)))*> <*(((>< Luke 12:13-21

Baguio Cathedral, January 2019.

God our Father, so often we profess our faith in you.

But so often, it is not authentic faith at all because it is more of manipulating you for we can actually see all possibilities.

Like that someone in the crowd who said to Jesus:

“Teacher, tell my brother to share the inheritance with me.” Jesus replied to him, “Friend, who appointed me as your judge and arbitrator?” Then he said to the crowd, “Take care to guard against all greed, for though one may be rich, one’s life does not consist of possessions.”

Luke 12:13-15

Forgive us Lord in believing more in our selves than in you, in believing our selves that we can use you for our selfish ends even if it something rightly ours.

Give us an authentic faith like that one Abraham had when he believed in you, O God, that you would still fulfill your promise to make him the father of all nations despite his advanced age as well as Sarah’s condition.

As explained by St. Paul in today’s first reading, teach us to have the same faith of Abraham who showed a kind of resurrection faith – of faith that God could bring forth life from the barren or “dead” womb of Sarah.

A “faith that justifies” like that of Abraham is a faith that saves because more than fulfilling his promise, Abraham believed that God can bring back to life anyone already dead like the womb of wife Sarah who was already old and barren.

Let us grow in having an authentic faith like Abraham who entrusted his total self to you, Lord, even if human reason reason tells us there is no hope at all. Amen.

Kindly say a prayer for the recovery of our brother priest, Fr. Federico dela Cruz, who had brain surgery last night due to a head injury he sustained in an accident Saturday night. Thank yo.

“I Say a Little Prayer” OST “My Best Friend’s Wedding” (1997)

The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Music, 20 October 2019

Photo by Emre Kuzu on Pexels.com

It’s a lovely Sunday especially for all married couples.

I am officiating the 40th Wedding Anniversary later today of a dear cousin when I remembered the 1997 movie “My Best Friend’s Wedding” with one of its most romantic scene with the singing of I Say a Little Prayer.

Composed by Burt Bacharach and Hal David in 1966 for Dionne Warwick, the song is meant to convey the woman’s sentiment for her man serving at the Vietnam War. It was finally released in 1967 and became an instant hit not only in the US but around the world. Since then, I Say a Little Prayer has been covered so many times even by male vocalists and went back to the charts again in 1997 as one of the tracks in the romantic comedy that starred Julia Roberts.

Prayer is the expression of our faith that always presupposes the presence of love. If there is love, there must be a community, a relationship.

Like people who love each other, believing in each other, they always speak and communicate even in silence. What matters most is their being together, their being one in faith and in love.

Exactly like in prayer.

If we love God, then we must always speak to him and most of all, be one with him, like most people who truly love.

We have chosen that lovely scene from “My Best Friend’s Wedding” singing I Say a Little Prayer because it evokes a lot about prayer: faith and love and relationships.

Most of all, in that movie, the prayer was heard loud and clear for Julia’s best friend.

See the movie again and have those kilig moments back with your loved one 22 years ago.

Befriending Jesus

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul

Tuesday, Memorial of St. Teresa of Avila, 15 October 2019

Romans 1:16-25 ><)))*> ><)))*> ><)))*> Luke 11:37-41

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

“If Christ Jesus dwells in a man as his friend and noble leader, that man can endure all things, for Christ helps and strengthens us and never abandon us. He is a true friend.

Many, many times I have perceived this through experience. The Lord has told it to me. I have definitely seen that we must enter by this gate if we wish his Sovereign Majesty to reveal to us great and hidden mysteries. A person should desire no other path, even if he is at the summit of contemplation… All blessings come to us through our Lord. He will teach us, for in beholding his life we find that he is the best example.

St. Teresa of Avila, from the Breviary

Many times in our lives we have always believed that holiness is just for a few people you have chosen, O God. We feel excluded from holiness, from being a saint.

Because we refuse to try to get near you, doubting you despite our belief in you as God!

“For what can be known about God is evident to them, because God made it evident to them.

They exchanged the truth of God for a lie and revered and worshipped the creature rather than the creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.”

Romans 1:19, 25

Sometimes we have tried befriending you through Jesus Christ your Son.

And like the saints, we have indeed experienced your presence, your reality, your blessedness but unfortunately we stopped striving further as St. Teresa tells us.

O dear Jesus, you always come to me, you always make me experience you but I always try explaining everything, letting my mind work more than my heart and soul that I fail to feel and experience you inside me like those Pharisees bent on finding faults in you.

Give me the grace to be silent and still in you, to wait for you as a friend full of love and trust like St. Teresa of Avila. Amen.

Rejoicing in the Lord

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul

Saturday, Week XXVII, Year I, 12 October 2019

Joel 4:12-21 ><}}}*> ><}}}*> ><}}}*> Luke 11:27-28

Mosses have always amused me since childhood. This photo taken at the St. Paul Spirituality Center in Alfonso, Cavite last month during our annual clergy retreat.

Today I join the psalmist’s call to “Rejoice in the Lord, you just!” We have not yet won our battles, many of us are still struggling with illness and many other problems and issues in life while our nation is not getting any better with leaders so far from us who simply want to amuse us like clowns.

Still, we have to rejoice because you are with us, Lord.

Keep us steadfast in our struggles to follow your will, to be patient and persevering.

Enlighten our minds and our hearts with your Holy Spirit to always listen and obey your will revealed in the Sacred Scriptures.

Despite all the heat and mess we are into, life thrives under your loving shade that may sometimes be dark and damp. Just like the moss, take care of us and dwell in us, Lord, and let us live in you. Amen.