Shifen Waterfall in Pingxi District, New Taipei City, Taiwan. Photo by the author, 29 January 2019.
The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul
Tuesday, 12 February 2019, Week V, Year I
Genesis 1:20-2:4///Mark 7:1-13
Everyday O God we praise you in our prayers and most especially when we see your majesty in nature. You never fail to remind us of your presence in your wonderful creation as we have heard in the first reading today (Gen.1:20-31). Indeed like the psalmist, we always exult of “how wonderful your name in all the earth” (Ps.8).
However, too often like the Pharisees and some scribes in the gospel today, we tend to look for what is missing or lacking that we perceive to be not good: When the Pharisees with some scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus, they observed that some of his disciples ate their meals with unclean, that is, unwashed, hands (Mk.7:1-2).
Like those Pharisees and scribes, we “nullify the word of God in favor of our tradition that we have handed on.” And yes, Jesus, it is so true with us today like the Pharisees and scribes, “we have many such things” (Mk.7:13). We make so many rules and precepts, traditions and beliefs that eventually supersede your Laws and worst, have even replaced you O God!
Forgive us O Lord in worshiping traditions and other practices than You.
Forgive us O Lord in disregarding persons, the crown of your creation, and giving more importance with our beliefs and other concepts so detached from You.
Teach us O Lord to see more of you our God and Creator by seeing more of what is good around us and among us. Amen.Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Parokya ng San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Gov. F. Halili Ave., Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria, Bulacan.
Sunset at the main plaza of Fatima in Portugal by my former student at ICSB Architect Philip Santiago during his pilgrimage there October 2018. Used with permission.
The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul
Thursday, 07 February 2019, Week IV, Year I
Hebrews 12:18-19, 21-24///Mark 6:7-13
Lord Jesus Christ, thank you in bringing God closer to us, in enabling us to experience of belonging to him as our loving Father unlike in the Exodus when his presence was a fearful spectacle that made even Moses “terrified and trembling” (Heb.12:21).
Thank you Jesus for being our mediator with God whose love and mercy we have experienced in you. Let us not be distracted with so many things of the world like food and clothing, fame and wealth, and other allurements that feed on our ego and blind us from you.
Give us the faith and courage to make God present in this world among the poor, the sick and the sinful. Let us continue your work of bringing joy and salvation, mercy and forgiveness, healing and life. Amen. Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Parokya ng San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Gov. F. Halili Ave., Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria, Bulacan.
The “amazing” rock formations at Yehliu Geopark in Taiwan: one may see so many images for as long one’s eyes and minds are open. Photo by the author, 30 January 2019.
The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul
Wednesday, 06 February 2019, Week IV, Year I
Hebrews 12:4-7, 11-15///Mark 6:1-6
How amazing O Lord Jesus Christ is the word “amazed” used today in the gospel.
When you came to your native synagogue at Nazareth, the people were amazed or “astonished” with your speech that immediately they doubted where you have learned so many things when you were just one of them, a son of Joseph the carpenter.
As a result O Lord, you were “amazed at their lack of faith” in you that you did not perform many miracles among them.
To be amazed is a feeling borne out of being surprised that could either lead one to see more or see less. Being amazed is never enough. Amazement leads to more wonder and curiosity, to deeper conviction and faith, to more love and appreciation. But when amazement leads to doubts and skepticism even unbelief, then, we were not really amazed but simply surprised because we simply felt but did not see at all.
Teach us Lord Jesus Christ today not to be contented with being surprised and amazed with you and other things. Open our eyes and our hearts to see more of the bigger picture, more of the details of every scene that comes in our lives, be it good or not so good like those moments we have to go through many trials and difficulties that have disciplined and made us into better persons in you (Heb.12:5-7). Amen. Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Parokya ng San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Gov. F. Halili Ave., Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria, Bulacan.
Photo I have taken at the Yehliu Geopark, Taiwan of a unique rock formation depicting intimacy. (29 January 2019)
The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul
Tuesday, 05 February 2019, Week IV, Year I
Hebrews 12:1-4///Mark 5:21-43
Everyday O Jesus I pray to be near you like Jairus falling at your feet, begging for something or someone so dear to me. Or like that woman afflicted with hemorrhages for twelve years, hoping to be close to you, contented in just touching your cloak (Mk.5:22, 27).
But being near you O Jesus is not enough for you. You desire us to be intimate with you, to be one in you not simply be with you.
Every time I touch you, I get near you, you always look for me, asking me to step forward like what you did to that woman because you want more than a mere encounter but a relationship, face to face, heart to heart. Every time I beg you to walk with me in darkness and dangers, you always demand complete faith and trust in you like Jairus when things get worst, insisting that I dismiss what I know, disregard my plans, and ignore what others say so I can rise up and be alive and free to be myself.
O Jesus, help me to trust you more, to believe you more. How foolish I am, O Jesus, when so often you ask simple things from me like looking at you, staying with you, remaining in you to always remember that “in my struggle against sin I have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood” (Heb. 12:4) like you. Amen. Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Parokya ng San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Gov. F. Halili Ave., Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria, Bulacan.
Neptune, Uranus, and Pluto visible to the naked eye at dawn for those willing to go through the darkness of the night. Photo by GMA-7’s Mr. Raffy Tima at Sampaloc Cove in Subic, Zambales, 20 January 2019. Used with permission.
The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul
Monday, 04 February 2019, Week IV, Year I
Hebrews 11:32-40///Mark 5:1-20
Thank you very much Lord God Almighty for this beautiful Monday. So often, we get the blues on Mondays and yet even if our days get bluer, even darker than ever, there is always that glimmer of hope that you give us, O Lord.
Like the author of the Letter to the Hebrews today, we recall not only the heroes of Old Testament but our very own trying moments too when we chose to bear all the pain and hurts and sufferings because we believe in you, we trust in you.
Thank you very much O Lord God Almighty in sending us your son Jesus Christ at the nick of time when everything is out of control, when everything seemed to be dead… as if there is no more way out because it is all over as it seemed to be. It is something very close with that scene at the Gerasenes where “a man had been dwelling among the tombs, and no one could restrain him any longer, even with a chain. In fact, he had frequently been bound with shackles and chains, but the chains had been pulled apart by him and the shackles smashed, and no one was strong enough to subdue him. Night and day among the tombs and on the hillsides he was always crying out and bruising himself with stones” (Mk.5:3- 5).
O Lord, you know how many times we have gone through such situations when we felt a no way out, imprisoned and possessed by sin and evil, sickness and disease, so many problems and difficult situations when all we can do is hide in tombs and cry at night!
Teach us today to always wait for that flicker of hope in Christ our light of salvation. Most of all, teach us to value life over sickness and death, persons over possessions, and above everything else, Jesus Christ our Lord and God. Amen.Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Parokya ng San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Gov. F. Halili Ave., Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria, Bulacan.
14 Giotto Presentation of Christ in the Temple 1310s Fresco North transept, Lower Church, San Francesco, Assisi….Web Gallery Of Art
The Lord Is My Chef Special Recipe, 02 February 2019
Feast of the Presentation of the Lord at the Temple
Malachi 3:1-4//Hebrews 2:14-18//Luke 2:22-40
Here’s good news to those who have not yet removed their Christmas decors: today’s Feast of the Presentation of the Lord is the actual end of Christmas Season when the Child Jesus was presented at the Temple in Jerusalem 40 days after Epiphany. According to this tradition, it is also on this day when the Vatican removes its giant Christmas tree at the St. Peter’s Square. And so, after this day and you still have your Christmas tree and other decors hanging, then you must be a certified slob or simply one who refuses to move on to meet Jesus Christ.
Today’s feast has many names because it has many facets. This was first celebrated in Jerusalem in the early year 300 as “the Feast of Presentation at the Temple” based on the Gospel account of St. Luke we have heard earlier. The Syrians adopted the feast 300 years later, reaching the seat of the Eastern Church in Constantinople where it came to be known as “the Encounter” or Ypapante in Greek, emphasizing the “meeting” of the Savior and the two elderly people, Simeon and Ana. At about that same time in Rome, Pope Sergius I adapted the same feast from Jerusalem with a procession of lighted candles to show Jesus as the “light for revelation” to Simeon and everyone. When it reached France in the year 800, the French adapted it further with a new designation as “Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary” or“Chandeleur” which came to be known as “Candlemass” in English-speaking countries and “Candelaria” in Spain and her colonies like the Philippines. Over a thousand years later in 1969 during the Vatican II reform of the liturgy, the Church decreed it to be known in its original name, Feast of the Presentation of the Lord.
That’s the beauty of our Catholic faith when certain feasts evolved depending on the various emphases of the many periods in history yet remaining true to its very essence who is Jesus Christ our Savior and Son of God. Anyone who truly meets or encounters Jesus is always enlightened by Him to meet Him among other peoples. Recall how we started the celebration with the paschal candle also at the entry to our church. It is the same paschal candle we have lighted and blessed during the Easter Vigil last year to symbolize the risen Christ lighting our path of salvation. Today in our procession, the light of Candlemass announces that paschal candle: inasmuch as we celebrate today the presentation of Jesus at the Temple by His parents, 33 years later or a little more than two months from now, Jesus would be back in Jerusalem to offer – or present – Himself to the Father in fulfilling His pasch or Passion, Death, and Resurrection. This is the meaning of Simeon’s beautiful canticle we all sing at bedtime: “Now, Master, you may let your servant go in peace, according to your word, for my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in sight of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and glory for your people Israel” (Lk. 2:29-32).
Jesus is the light of the nations – lumen gentium – or light of men or peoples because He enables us to see the face of every human being as a brother and a sister in Him. How sad that this human face has so often been disfigured, trying to hide or even remove the face of Christ in whose image we have all been created. Imagine how Simeon and Anna were able to recognize Christ among the many infants being offered that day at the Temple in Jerusalem because both have always been opened with God. We can never meet God unless we also meet others as brothers and sisters. Remember during our Simbang Gabi how we reflected about true holiness through St. Joseph who always found God in everything so that upon learning Mary’s pregnancy, he decided to divorce her silently so as not to put her into shame. But upon learning from an angel in a dream the circumstances about her pregnancy, St. Joseph took her as wife and Christmas happened with him standing as the Lord’s legal father. When Joseph saw God in Mary, Jesus came; when he saw Jesus coming, Joseph accepted Mary. That is the light of Candlemass when we are able to see God in each one’s face – most especially among our senior citizens.
In a society where old age is seen like a disease with ads telling everyone to “arrest ageing”, giving so much premium on being young and looking young so glorified in media, we all fail to see the significance of this stage in life. Worst, we abhor it, refusing to talk about it as if it is a curse. Wrong! Actually, most of the people God called for His mission in the Old Testament were mostly old people starting with Noah and Abraham as well as Moses who all performed great wonders for Him in their advanced ages! Today’s gospel is no exception as it invites us to see Christ among our elderly brethren in the church and community, especially in the family whom we often take for granted. See how St. Joseph and Mary shared Jesus with Simeon and Anna. In 1999, St. John Paul wrote a letter to his fellow elders, saying that “The line separating life and death runs through our communities and moves inexorably nearer to each of us. If life is a pilgrimage to towards our heavenly home, then old age is the most natural time to look towards the threshold of eternity (14).”
Today’s Feast of the Presentation of the Lord at the Temple reveals to us the mystery of every encounter with God is often preceded with an encounter with another person, even strangers. Every encounter with God is often verified by our encounter with others because through them, we experience that “invisible line” that seems to bind all of us as one big family. And this is most true when we encounter the elderly people, especially those who have “aged gracefully” who often confirm with us the presence of God in our lives which they have already started to experience. Every encounter with an elderly is an encounter with Jesus Christ because it is a prelude to our final encounter with Him in eternity. And all these encounters are made possible by the grace and light only of Jesus Christ. Remember: the moment we are able to recognize the face of the person next to us as the face of a brother and sister in Jesus Christ, then we are sure that darkness has ended and day has begun. Amen.Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Parokya ng San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Gov. F. Halili Ave., Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria, Bulacan.
Quiet Storm by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, 24 January 2019
Vacation and vocation are two important realities for us priests. In fact, the two are closely related because both are rooted in God. Problems happen when we priests totally forget God both in our vacation and in our vocation. And this has always been our problem because we have refused to go back, get closer and enter God Himself.
Both vacation and vocation came from Latin: the former is from the word “vacare” that means to be emptied or vacant while the latter has its roots in “vocare” which is to be called. Every vacation is a sabbath, a resting in God who calls us to this priestly vocation. This concept is beautifully expressed in our Filipino word “magpahinga” that literally means to be breathed on by God. When we priests go on vacation, the more we are able to serve people better with joy because that is when we are filled with God. Every vacation is a path leading us closer to God that is why priests are encouraged to go on sabbatical leaves, whether the usual weekly breaks or the yearly longer vacations. This past week we have heard from the gospels in our daily Masses how the enemies of Jesus missed this important aspect of sabbath when they would always question His healings on days of rest, prompting Him to ask them, “Is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath rather than to do evil, to save life rather than destroy it?” (Mk.3:4). God is always bigger than Sabbath because “Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. That is why the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath” (Mk.2:27-28). Even laypeople have fallen into this trap of emphasizing sabbath more than God Himself that we make many excuses of not going to Sunday Masses because bonding with family and friends is more important. Every year, less and less people are going to Church celebrations of the Holy Week and Easter because they would rather take the opportunity to go on vacation as they try hard to convince themselves that God would perfectly understand them anyway.
This problem with vacation takes on its most unfortunate turn when we priests deal with our vocation. In my 20 years in the priesthood with the last seven years spent in direct interactions with seminarians as teacher and spiritual director, I have found something so wrong now becoming a trend that is probably one of the reasons why we are plagued with all kinds of problematic priests in the Church. It is a new kind of idolatry when we have come to worship and adore more our vocation and priesthood than God Himself. We have forgotten the great distinction between the call and the Caller. When the one being called, whether a priest or a seminarian, gets so focused with the call forgetting the Caller, problems arise and not too far from the scene are evil and sin.
“Brothers and sisters: Every high priest is taken from among men and made their representative before God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. No one takes this honor upon himself but only when called by God, just as Aaron was. In the same way, it was not Christ who glorified himself in becoming high priest, but rather the one who said to him: You are my son; this day I have begotten you” (Heb.5:1,4-5).
Priestly vocation is always a gift and a call from God to be closer and be one in Him and with Him in Christ. Vocation is the call of God but not God. The Caller is always above and distinct from the call. The one being called is meant to end with the Caller and not with the call. It is a terrible problem when a seminarian insists on being ordained as if it is a right simply because he is called even if the seminary fathers do not see him responding properly to his priestly calling. It becomes a tragedy when priests insist with their own beliefs and perceptions of things as part of their responding to their vocation, forgetting or even totally disregarding Christ as well as the norms and teachings of the Church, His visible presence (sacrament) on earth. The sex scandals that continue to rock and deeply hurt the Church stem from this erroneous perception by some priests who cling to their vocation, unmindful of the Caller we all need to imitate in holiness so we can also embrace children and uplift women like Him in love and respect. See how some of our churches have become like birthday cakes, malls and even dance halls when pastors pretend to be bringing the people closer to God with all their pomp and pageantry when in fact are just massaging unconsciously their bloated egos. When priests get busy more with church constructions, fund raising and other social events without any time for prayer to be with God and His flock, they worship the call, not the Caller. The height of this idolatrous worship of the vocation by priests is when we make up so many alibis and excuses to justify our various preoccupations like luxurious living, vanities that include too much sports and body-building, vices in all forms like addiction with telenovelas, engaging in businesses, frequent travels that Pope Francis had branded as “scandal of the airports”and yes, even adopting children!
I wrote this not to put down my brother priests and students in the seminary but to contribute in whatever way that we can grow closer with Jesus Christ who calls us to be one in Him. I am also a sinner, “a worthless servant of the Lord who tries to do my duty” as His priest (Lk.17:10). Lately in our daily Masses as well as this coming Sunday we shall hear in the gospel of how Jesus would enter their synagogue in Capernaum on a sabbath. It is a very simple scene but filled with meanings, asking me whether I simply enter the church or do I enter God? How sad that until now there are people like the Magi from the East asking “where is the newborn king of Israel?” while inside our churches that have merely become a building but never the Body of Christ because what we only have is the call, or maybe just the echo of that call without the Caller.
*Photo by the author, chapel of Holy Family, Sacred Heart Novitiate and Retreat House, Novaliches, Quezon City, June 2015.
Sometimes Lord I envy your apostles, the people who have lived during your time and have actually met you, heard you, and most of all touched you.
Of course it is a useless and even a non-sense wishful thinking or daydreaming because as the author of the Letter to the Hebrews explains to us today, you have not really left us. In your great sacrifice on the Cross as our High Priest, you have become present with us always.
“The main point of what has been said is this: we have such a high priest, who has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, a minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle that the Lord, not man, set up” (Heb.8:1-2).
And that is the challenge for us today: rather than imagining we were present during your time, what we must always think and reflect upon is making you present today, like your disciples who looked for boats where you preached and healed people. Now more than ever as you sit at the right hand of the Father, every moment is your presence of love and mercy, healing and growing.
Make us realize O Lord Jesus that you are communication yourself, your giving of self in love on the Cross is the most perfect communication of all. More than an expression of your thoughts and feelings for us, Lord, your crucifixion became the most profound level of your communication, actualizing your love and mercy for us even today.
Help us communicate your love and mercy to others not only in words but most of all in deeds. Give us the same grace you have given St. Francis de Sales in ensuring our every communication make you present. Amen. Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Parokya ng San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Gov. F. Halili Ave., Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria, Bulacan.
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