Getting married in time of pandemic

Quiet Storm by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, 25 June 2024

*Photo by Joseph Kettaneh on Pexels.com*

It’s been more than four years since the breakout of the COVID-19 pandemic that threw many of us out of sync in life, especially those planning to get married during those critical years of 2020-2022.

I had four weddings affected by the COVID-19 lockdowns in that period; three were postponed but I was able to officiate at the two weddings when reset to another dates except the first one that did not fit my schedule. The fourth wedding I was not able to officiate because I got the virus and had to be isolated.

This is the homily I delivered at one of those three weddings postponed I officiated, between Cris my former student at the Immaculate Conception School for Boys (ICSB) in Malolos City and Tim whom I met when they were going steady while we were all taking MA courses at UST.

More funny than that was the fact Cris and Tim have planned of getting married in 2020 but have to move it to 2021 due to the pandemic; but, when COVID still persisted that year, they finally fixed their altar date to early 2022. Alas! Just as they were all set in January 2022, the church was closed on the week of their wedding after its priests got the virus!

Cris and Tim were at a loss when their wedding would finally take place until they were offered by the parish the date February 22, 2022 after the weddings of those others postponed like them. I told them to go for it than wait further for other dates lest they in turn get the virus too!

Looking back to their wedding day, I have realized how God always finds ways in helping married couples in all their problems for as long as they are willing to cooperate. This is why we cannot allow divorce to be legalized in the country for God never fails in His grace and blessings. We just have to work on them.

*From stillromancatholicafteralltheseyears.com, January 2022.*

You must have heard the saying that “God writes straight crooked lines”. And today that proves so true not only with how God wrote so crooked His straight lines in your life, Cris and Tim, but even wrote in circles to make this date your wedding day – 22 February 2022!

Cris and Tim, God has always been so sure in calling you before His altar on this date, which will similarly happen again in 200 years – 22 February 2222! God writes straight crooked lines because everything in him is perfect, like numbers. Precise and exact. Like this date you never chose, 02-22-2022.

When you consulted me last month when priests here offered you this date due to their recent lockdown, right away I told you it is the most wonderful date for your wedding being the Feast of St. Peter’s Chair… St. Peter as in San Pedro like Cristopher Tabafunda San Pedro and later, Mrs. Fatima Macam San Pedro!

It was God who willed in all eternity that you, Cris and Tim, be married today — not last year, not the other week nor next week because today is the day that the Lord has made!

*Cris and Tim are both very prayerful and good, practicing Catholics.*

You are both good with numbers like God, a mathematician who is very precise and exact like an economist and stock trader (Cris) and a marketing and sales executive (Tim) who used to do a lot of chemical research before.

But God has better and deeper plans for you that numbers cannot count nor quantify.

God wants you to always go back to basic numbers, not to those found in equations only you two can understand or multiple digits only you can count.

Jesus said it so well in the gospel today: two is equal to one. So mathematical ba?

“For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh? So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, no human being must separate.”Matthew 19:5-6

Life is not about having the most but the least. That is where faith grows and deepens.

When we have so much in life, when we feel so sufficient, when we are so filled with things, we forget God. We stop believing in him, we believe more in ourselves.

And when we stop believing in God, we lose our faith and then, we stop loving, too. Sooner or later, we become empty and miserable.

So, be simple, Cris and Tim.

Reduce everything to the barest and simplest. Simplify, simplify, simplify as Henry David Thoreau said: “let your affairs be two or three, and not a hundred or a thousand.”

When we get complicated like our Facebook, life becomes difficult as we can’t find right away who and what matters most to us.

Kaya nga isa lang ang asawa, Cris at Tim, kasi hindi puwede marami. Hindi lang magulo. Magastos pa. Imagine kung dalawa o tatlo wedding rings? Pag isa lang, kita agad at alam na this – married na ang mamang ito na may cute na dimple o itong girl na ito na naka glasses at dalawa pa ang dimples! Hayaan ninyo sabihin ng mga makakita singsing ninyo na sayang at taken na pala siya!

You see, the lower the number, the simpler, the better. Madaling tumaya at manampalataya.

That’s faith! Parang PBA game kung saan kayo nagkakilala. And you have both experienced, walang tatalo sa faith in God ninyong dalawa!

God is greater and more than the numbers the wiz kids and supercomputers of the world can calculate and predict. His thoughts are not our thoughts, nor His ways. He first created just one man and one woman – just two – to be one with each other in Him, and to be faithful to Him and each other.

Because the more we become faithful, the more we become loving.

That is the message of this Feast of the Chair of St. Peter which is the “Primacy of Rome” or of the Pope: it is the primacy of faith and the primacy of love together which cannot be separated.

*Chair of St. Peter in Rome, from Wikipedia.*

Forget all those numbers Cris and Tim, focus only in the One – God in Jesus Christ. Just focus on Jesus, always Jesus.

Love is not about counting or keeping tabs and tallies, like how many “likes” and “followers” we get in our posts.

The true measure of love is when we love without measure, when we simply love, love, love. And love.

That is why we only have one heart so we can love with all our heart. Forget Sana Dalawa ang Puso Ko. It is just a song.

When you have LQ (lover’s quarrel), who should blink first, or smile? Who should take the first move to reconcile, the first to offer the hand of peace?

Whenever lovers and couples or even friends quarrel, I always say, whoever has more love to give must be the first one to initiate reconciliation, the first to blink, or smile, the first to offer the hand of peace.

To have the most love to give and share does not mean to be better or superior than the other; to have the most love to give and share is to have more faith, to have a deeper faith the he/she is ready and willing to lose everything for the sake of the loved one.

Like Jesus Christ who gave everything for us on that Cross because of love.

God bless you more, Cris and Tim. Amen.

You may check our original post at https://lordmychef.com/2022/02/23/faithful-and-most-loving/.

Into the sea of life & love

The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Twelfth Sunday in the Ordinary Time, Cycle B, 23 June 2024
Job 38:1, 8-11 ><}}}}*> 2 Corinthians 5:14-17 ><}}}}*> Mark 4:35-41

*Photo by author, San Juan, La Union, 25 July 2023.*

From examples of trees in the forest and sowing of seeds in the fields last week, our readings this Sunday situate us at the middle of the sea with a raging storm to remind us of God’s immense power and most of all, love and care for us in Jesus Christ. Right away we get that hint from our short first reading:

The Lord addressed Job out of the storm and said: Who shut within doors the sea, when it burst forth from the womb; when I made the clouds its garments and thick darkness its swaddling hands? When I set limits for it and fastened the bar of its door, and said: Thus far shall you come but no farther, and here shall your proud waves be stilled!” (Job 38:1, 8-11).

Nothing so struck humans since time immemorial as the sea that is so immense, seemingly without limits. It has been so loved yet dreaded with many literatures around the world teeming with all kinds of stories about the sea’s many mysteries that still baffle us in this age of computers and satellites. Experts say that big ships and jumbo jets are so minuscule compared with any area of the sea where they could still get lost like the missing Malaysian Airlines not too long ago.

That is the imagery of the sea, similar with life itself that is lovely to behold yet frightening with many mysteries and dangers. Life like the sea must be crossed and lived out to experience its boundless beauty, joys, and gifts waiting to be discovered by those willing to have faith in Jesus who assures us today that He had come to accompany us in crossing this great sea of life with His love and power.

A violent squall came up and waves were breaking over the boat, so that it was already filling up. Jesus was in the stern, asleep on a cushion. They woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” He woke up, rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Quiet! Be still!” The wind ceased and there was great calm (Mk.4:37-39).

*Photo by author, Anvaya Cove in Morong, Bataan, 15 April 2024.*

“Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?”

Most likely we have also asked God the same question especially when everything seems to be so wrong in our lives with God seemed to be so far from us, not caring at all. That was the situation of the fictional character Job we have in the first reading. Towards the end of the book, God assured Job that as the Creator of this universe, He is in control of everything in this life. This became more real in the coming of Jesus, the Son of God, our Emmanuel or “God-is-with-us” that Mark showed in his story of Christ’s calming of the sea.

See Mark’s details as so weird and exaggerated to show us that even in the worst scenarios in life, God is present in Jesus Christ. Remember that Mark wrote his gospel account to inspire and strengthen the faith of early Christians persecuted and felt exactly like the disciples in the boat caught in a violent squall with nowhere to go except to Jesus soundly asleep in the stern on a cushion.

Both the incident at the sea and the persecution of early Christians must be so terrifying, reminding us of the times we felt the same way too in many instances in our lives like when the whole world stood still during the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

*Photo by author, Lake of Galilee, the Holy Land, May 2017.*

This was the same gospel scene Pope Francis used in his reflections at the special Urbi et Orbi benediction in March 2020 at the start of COVID-19. That surreal scene of an empty St. Peter Square with the Pope alone limping his way to the altar was so much like this scene in the gospel. How sad that four years after crossing modern history’s stormiest sea, many have forgotten while others refuse to recognize that it was Jesus who pacified the virus that caused the pandemic.

Jesus reminds us today that He is always in the boat, silently sailing with us in this stormy sea of life. Do not expect Him to be like most stage mothers or protective parents who keep on interfering in the lives of their children especially when there are difficulties.

During a vacation in Canada more than a decade ago, I noticed the big difference between Filipino and Canadian parents when relatives brought me to experience “apple picking”. While waiting at the entrance, I observed how Canadian parents simply looked at their children playing, never intervening except when kids were hurt and started to cry. So amazing at how the parents would just smile and carry their children to comfort them, so unlike Filipino parents who acted like Secret Service agents watching, reprimanding every move of their children. Worst was when children got hurt and cried as parents scolded them! – which continues even after their children have all grown up with families of their own. Maybe we never progressed as a nation because so many of us have never really matured as individuals partly due to our “stage parents”.

*Photo by author, Lake of Galilee, May 2019.*

Going back to the boat caught in a violent squall in the middle of the Lake of Galillee, see the dramatic contrast of Jesus soundly asleep in the stern while His disciples were deep in anguish and fears. Like those Canadian parents I have observed, Jesus prefers to be silent during storms in life than to interfere so that we would grow and mature in our faith and prayers, becoming stronger inside and out.

Instead of frantically shouting and scrambling on what to do like the disciples in the boat when trials come our way, let us go inside to Jesus in the stern, no need to wake Him up nor speak. Simply stay, be still and be one with Him in prayers, trusting Him more than anyone.

That’s how we are transformed into better persons by letting Jesus live inside our hearts, the stern of our boat.

To let Jesus live in our hearts is to live in love of Christ despite the many storms and darkness we encounter like St. Paul who implored us in the second reading, “Brothers and sisters: The love of Christ impels us, once we have come to the conviction that one died for all; therefore, all have died (2Cor.5;14).

*Photo by Dra. Mylene A. Santos, MD in Infanta, Quezon, 2023.*

St. Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians is his most personal letter where he poured his heart out in response to the nasty talks hurled against him. Throughout this letter, we find St. Paul narrating all the trials and sufferings he endured in following Jesus that led him to experience Christ’s love in the most personal way that gave him the conviction to live in Christ, to love Christ. Hence, his call every Paulinian knows by heart, Caritas Christi urget nos.

Last Sunday, Mark portrayed God’s presence in Jesus Christ among us like the seed sown in the field that grows without us knowing how, always present among us. Today, Mark portrayed Jesus present among us in exaggerated manner like sleeping in the stern while the boat filled with many leaks crosses this sea of life in a violent storm. How interesting that in crossing the sea – on the Cross itself – Jesus reconciled us with God, with others and with our very selves so that we may pass over and cross to the other side of life and love in Christ. Let us pray:

Lord Jesus Christ,
cast away our fears 
in this sea of life we cross
filled with darkness and storms;
many times, our boat is filled with
many leaks of our sins
but You chose to stay with us,
sleeping soundly in the stern;
teach us to be silent,
to trust You more
when the going gets rough
and tough like during an exam:
You are our Teacher,
You know all the answers,
You are silent because 
You want us to learn,
You want us to pass.
Amen.

Ascension is newness in Christ

The Lord Is My Chef Easter Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord, Cycle B, 12 May 2024
Acts 1:1-11 ><}}}}*> Ephesians 4:1-13 ><}}}}*> Mark 16:15-20

*“The Ascension of Christ” (1304-1306) by Giotto, a fresco at the Arena Chapel, Padua, Italy from wikimediacommons.org.*

We laid mommy to rest Saturday morning, the eve of today’s Ascension Sunday which happens to be a Mother’s Day too. I really can’t describe my feelings except having that emptiness in me amid a sense of joy too. Let me explain…

In my 26 years in the priesthood, I have always reflected the Ascension scene from Luke’s gospel in the many funeral Masses I have presided as something unusual to weird, even impossible: “As he blessed them he parted from them and was taken up to heaven. They did him homage and then returned to Jerusalem with great joy and they were continually in the temple praising God” (Lk.24:51-53).

How could anybody be with great joy after a funeral that is very much like the Ascension where there is a departure or a leaving of a beloved?

*Photo by author, inside the chapel built over the site of the Ascension of Jesus outside of Jerusalem, May 2017.*

But, after our guests have left at my mom’s funeral yesterday, that was exactly how we felt! Of course we are sad, we are in grief yet joyful with some sense of lightness within us. Like the death of our loved ones, Ascension is more than just the moving of Jesus to somewhere up in the heavens or to any location and place in the universe. Both the Ascension and death are about new state and level of relationships of Jesus and our departed loved ones hopefully entering into final union with God the Father. It is a leveling up not only of their existence with God but also of our own existence with God and one another.

Ascension is newness in our very selves to experience the glory of Jesus Christ now seated at the right hand of the Father in heaven. It is a breaking free from our many presuppositions and fears about life and dying.

When they had gathered together they asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” He answered them, “It is not for you to know the times or seasons that the Father has established by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” When he had said this, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him from their sight.
Acts 1:6-9

*From the the Catholic Diocese of Little Rock, Arkansas, dolr.org.*

We have long been reflecting since Lent into Easter of how Jesus in becoming truly human like us in everything except sin had made us like Him, holy in His resurrection. If we have remained in Christ on His Cross, we have been made new in Him.

That is the lesson of His transfiguration in the second Sunday of Lent. Being new in Jesus, being transfigured in Him is getting out of the trappings of the worldly concerns like Peter offering to build three tents on Mount Tabor. Or worst, even after Easter like the disciples in the first reading today asking Jesus about the restoration of the kingdom of Israel.

Being new in Jesus following His Passion, Death and Resurrection is leveling up in our perceptions and outlook in life wherein we become simpler, taking life’s lessons bravely. We no longer go for “drama” like the disciples asking the restoration of the kingdom of Israel because we have grown in our faith in Christ as we hurdled life’s light and darkness, joy and sadness, triumph and defeat, even death that keeps on hovering above us, enveloping us at times. All these experiences of hardships and difficulties have changed us into better persons in the grace of God in times we did not even realize at all.

*Photo by author at the site believed to be the Ascension site of Jesus outside Jerusalem, May 2017.*

My ministry as a chaplain Fatima University Medical Center have greatly reshaped and affected my views on life and death, sickness and sufferings that enabled me to decide prudently when my younger sister was diagnosed with cancer in 2022 and lately this time with my mom when she had her second stroke that led to her recent death. As a chaplain face to face daily with the dying, I have come to terms with death by coming to terms with life at the same time. No more false hopes of getting any better but simply following the flow of life by having more meaningful moments especially with everyone, especially my late mom and siblings.

That is what St. Paul was saying in the second reading on the meaning of “he ascended” as the “one who also descended into the lower regions of the earth” (Eph.4:9). The more we go down into pains and sufferings, darkness and failures including sin or even death, the more we get closer to Jesus because we also get closer with our true selves and with others. To ascend with Jesus is to leave behind all those toxic topics and concerns, including persons who saddle our backs with extra luggages that prevent us from being light.

Ascension is also living in the present than wasting precious time and energy on past’s mistakes and failures or worrying about the the coming future. See how Jesus commissioned us all His disciples to be His witnesses to the ends of the earth with two angels later reiterating the Lord’s command.

While they were looking intently at the sky as he was going, suddenly two men dressed in white garments stood beside them. They said, “Men of Galilee, why are you standing there looking at the sky? This Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven will return in the same way as you have seen him going into heaven.”
Acts 1:10-11

“Why are you standing there looking at the sky?” is a beautiful reminder for us to live in the present moment, to be vigilant always in doing what is true and good, just and kind in this world so marred by the darkness of evil and sin. Remember, the Ascension is not about a place nor a location where Jesus went up to but a “leveling up” or a “shift_” in our relationship with Him and with others.

Therefore, it is also something that happens in the present moment. It is more than a distant moment in history but a reality happening daily.

Following His Ascension, Jesus has become more accessible than ever because He remains with us on a deeper, personal level. Recall how He asked Mary Magdalene not to touch Him upon appearing to her on Easter Sunday; that was to remind her and everyone that our relationships with Him is more than the physical level, that He cannot be bounded by time and space anymore as He is really present in us and among us in the most personal and spiritual manner.

Jesus lives in us that we have to keep on doing His work here on earth. The gospel clearly says it all, of the urgency for us to “stop standing, looking up” to start proclaiming the gospel to everyone. See how mothers are always busy doing something at home for us her family. Mothers never get tired cooking and doing everything for us family members because they love us so much that even after death, unknown to us, we imitate them by being so busy loving too.

Blessed Sunday to all mothers, especially those in heaven! Amen.

*Photo by author, pilgrims waiting their turn to enter site of Ascension outside Jerusalem, May 2019.*

Lent is keeping the ties that bind us

40 Shades of Lent by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Wednesday in the Fourth Week of Lent, 13 March 2024
Isaiah 49:8-15     <*(((((>< + ><)))))*>     John 5:17-30

Until now I still relish in delight,
Father that expression
I realized this Monday:
Lent is God always "now here"
and us people "nowhere";
your words today are about
your abiding presence among us,
of remembering and not forgetting,
of the ties that bind us together
of we your beloved children
and you our loving Father in
Christ Jesus our Brother.

Can a mother forget her infant, be without tenderness for the child of her womb? Even should she forget, I will never forget you.
Isaiah 49:15

Jesus answered the Jews, “My Father is at work until now, so I am at work… Amen, amen, I say to you, the Son cannot do anything on his own, but only what he sees the father doing; for what he does, the Son will do also. For the Father loves the Son and shows him everything that he himself does, and he will show him greater works than these, so that you may be amazed.
John 5:17, 19-20

How sad is the fact that
what we most often forget
and fail to remember is our
ties and relationships;
every sin,
every injustice,
every hurt
happens in the context
of our relationships disregarded:
with you God our Father,
we as brothers and sisters;
between husband and wife,
among siblings,
children with their parents,
parents with their kids;
persons of authority
with their subjects supposed
to protect and care for;
worst of all, Father,
we forget that marvelous truth
and reality of you always
finding ways to save us,
to free us,
to forgive us,
and to bless us
because we your beloved children!

Thus says the Lord: In a time of favor I answer you, on the day of salvation I help you; and I have kept you and given you as covenant to the people, to restore the land and allot desolate heritages, saying to the prisoners: Come out! To those in darkness: Show yourselves! Along the ways they shall find pasture, on every bare height shall their pastures be.
Isaiah 49:8-9

In this Season of Lent,
let us go back to our relationships
in you through Jesus with one another
for even if we forget our tasks and
responsibilities in life,
for as long as we remember 
the ties that bond us together
then, we shall never forget,
will always remember,
to be present like you 
"now here" never "nowhere"
filled with your love and
kindness for everyone.
Amen.

Lent: God “now here”, we “nowhere”?

40 Shades of Lent by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Monday in the Fourth Week of Lent, 11 March 2024
Isaiah 65:17-21     ><)))))*> + <*(((((><     John 4:43-54

God our Father,
you are so amazing!
You never fail to surprise us,
never runs out of mysteries
that convey deep truths so
difficult to dissect and understand
but just enough to be experienced
and savored to be delighted
again and again
when remembered
and realized
like when you said
through the Prophet Isaiah:

Thus says the Lord: Lo, I am about to create new heavens and a new earth; the things of the past shall not be remembered or come to mind. Instead, there shall always be rejoicing and happiness in what I create; for I create Jerusalem to be a joy and its people to be delight.
Isaiah 65:17-18

Later, John the Beloved
in his Book of Revelation linked
this idea of new heaven and new earth
with the new Jerusalem (Rev. 21:1-2)
with both passages speaking of a world
free of pain and sickness,
no weeping nor wailing
with no kids dying before
their time and no one living
below 100 years old.
Wonderful!

Of course, your words are
symbolic though we are sure
it would literally happen some day;
but what we are sure now is how
your words have paved the way
for the coming of Jesus Christ
who bridged the gaps
among us;
in Jesus Christ,
the reality of physics
is experienced daily like
in that remote healing of
a royal official's son in
Capernaum.

Our loving Father,
we do not expect to live
lives without pain,
sickness,
or tragedy
even though we wish
that so often;
grant us the grace
to remain committed
to Jesus and his Way of the
Cross to experience the peace
only he can give for he is always
NOW HERE, present in us
and among us
when so often
we are NOWHERE
by his side.

Let us remain in you,
O Lord,
let us stay with you,
in you, 
even if nothing seems to happen 
because 
that is when 
our faith and trust 
in you are deepened
like with that royal official.
Amen.

Nicodemus and James Taylor

Lord My Chef Sunday Music by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, 10 March 2024

*“Nicodemus and Jesus” painting by James Tissot (1836-1902) from SuperStock/GettyImages via learnreligions.com.*

One of our favorite singer-songwriters James Taylor is coming next month for a one-night concert at the Mall of Asia Arena; hence, we are featuring two of his songs we find so related with the gospel message this fourth Sunday in Lent also known as Laetare or Rejoice Sunday.

But first, let us take a slight deviation from our usual manner of coming up with the music right away as we realized too the strong links between Nicodemus and James Taylor in their experiences.

Nicodemus belonged to the group of Pharisees, one of the enemies of Jesus at that time. But he admired and believed in Jesus that is why he chose to visit the Lord at night so that people would not notice. Eventually, Nicodemus became a disciple of Jesus after Good Friday after he and another Pharisee named Joseph of Arimathea took the body of Christ and buried him in a tomb (https://lordmychef.com/2024/03/09/lent-is-the-love-mercy-of-god-in-me/).

Nicodemus’ coming to see Jesus at night evoked his situation of being in the darkness of fears and confusions, trying to find directions in life which he found in Christ. It was similar with James Taylor’s plight he beautifully expressed in his 1970 hit Fire and Rain which is about the suicide of a childhood friend as well as his coping with his addiction and depression following his fame.

Just yesterday morning, they let me know you were gone.
Suzanne, the plans they made put an end to you.
I walked out this morning and I wrote down this song,
I just can’t remember who to send it to.
I’ve seen fire and I’ve seen rain. I’ve seen sunny days that I thought would never end.
I’ve seen lonely times when I could not find a friend, but I always thought that I’d see you again.

Won’t you look down upon me, Jesus, You’ve got to help me make a stand.
You’ve just got to see me through another day.
My body’s aching and my time is at hand and I won’t make it any other way.
Oh, I’ve seen fire and I’ve seen rain. I’ve seen sunny days that I thought would never end.
I’ve seen lonely times when I could not find a friend, but I always thought that I’d see you again.

*From https://www.wildflowersprovence.fr/plant/convolvulus-lanuginosus/*

Many times, we find ourselves in situations like Nicodemus when everything is all dark like the night, or James Taylor going through fire and rain.

Now look, Jesus is most present with us when we are in the darkest darkness of the night, right in the middle of a raging storm. Many times we could not see him because he hugs us, embraces us to shield us from more harms.

When Jesus told Nicodemus about his coming crucifixion – “when the Son of Man is raised up” – it was an assurance to us all too that Christ is with us in our worst situation because he suffered first for us on the Cross. I am so glad that JT mentioned Jesus in his song, pleading to the Lord to “look down upon me and help me make a stand.”

That is why we rejoice this Sunday: in the midst of our troubles and sufferings, there are bursts of joy and relief from Jesus within us dwelling in our hearts. And that is why, we find JT’s 1976 hit, Shower the People, so related too with our gospel this Sunday.

When Jesus told Nicodemus how “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life” (Jn.3:16), it was also a call for us all to be the love and mercy of Christ in the world.

Nicodemus eventually became a disciple of Jesus while JT is still very much around, having weathered so many fires and rains or storms in his life, both telling us how God finds ways to save us, even extricate us from our worst situation. Hence, the need for us to become the presence of Christ’s joy and mercy to people especially those closest to us so that they may realize and experience that God so loved the world because of the way we shower them with love through us.

You can play the game and you can act out the part,
even though you know it wasn’t written for you.
Tell me, how can you stand there with your broken heart ashamed of playing the fool?
One thing can lead to another; it doesn’t take any sacrifice.
Oh, father and mother, sister and brother, if it feels nice, don’t think twice,
just shower the people you love with love, show them the way that you feel.
Things are gonna work out fine if you only will do as I say, just
shower the people you love with love, show them the way you feel.
Things are gonna be much better if you only will.

Here is our doubleheader from the “Sweet Baby James”. Have a blessed, lovely week ahead!

*Both materials are not ours without any intentions at all of infringing its copyrights.

From YouTube.com

From YouTube.com.

Lent is the love & mercy of God in me

40 Shades of Lent by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Sunday Recipe for the Soul, Lent IV-B, 10 March 2024
2 Chronicles 36:14-16, 19-23 ><}}}}*> Ephesians 2:4-10 ><}}}}*> John 3:14-21

*Photo of pink convolvulus from the Botanical Gardens of Jerusalem, flora.org.il.*

Many times during prayer periods I banter with God especially when I feel overwhelmed by his kindness and love. Like last Thursday on my way to the adoration chapel when I passed by a row of banks.

As I knelt before the Blessed Sacrament to pray, I just felt like asking God: “BDO (Banco De Oro) ka ba, Lord? Kasi…you always find ways.”

That, for me, my dear friends is the meaning of this fourth Sunday in Lent – God never stops in finding ways to reach out to us, to be with us, to make us experience his love and mercy, kindness and forgiveness despite the hardness of our hearts.

Our altars burst in shades of pink this Sunday called Laetare (Latin, rejoice) Sunday from the entrance antiphon that says, “Rejoice, Jerusalem, and all who love her. Be joyful, all who were in mourning; exult and be satisfied at her consoling breast.”

It is a misconception to see Lent as dull and drab due to its penitential nature; while there is the sober tone in our liturgy, let us keep in mind that it is also a season filled with joy and excitement for the coming Easter, the mother of all feasts in the Church.

And today we rightly rejoice because John reminds us in our gospel scene only him narrates – Nicodemus meeting with Jesus in the cover of the darkness of the night – of God’s immense love for us manifested in the dying of Jesus on the Cross.

Jesus said to Nicodemus: “Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.” For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.”
John 3:14-16

John saw a deeper meaning, of a sign pointing to Jesus as the Christ in this conversation with Nicodemus at night. Nicodemus was a Pharisee afraid to come out in the open to show his admiration and belief in Jesus. He eventually joined the disciples on Good Friday with another Pharisee, Joseph of Arimathea when they buried Jesus in a tomb.

See the deep perception of John in this recalling by Jesus to Nicodemus of the bronze serpent raised by Moses in the wilderness (see Num. 21:4-9) as a prefiguration of his own crucifixion.

In the gospel of John, the “lifting up” of the Son of Man refers to Jesus on the Cross. After that scene with the woman caught committing adultery, Jesus declared, “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will realize that I AM…” (Jn.8:28). Then on Palm Sunday while in the temple area, Jesus told the crowd “‘And when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to myself.’ He said this indicating the kind of death he would die” (Jn.12:32-33).

John’s gospel teems with other similar passages showing the inseparability of Christ’s Cross and glory. And so with our life, that is why in the middle of Lent, we rejoice this Sunday!

*Photo by author in Petra, Jordan, May 2019.*

Like last Sunday, here we find again early in the gospel of John how Jesus laid his vision-mission statement of coming to save us by dying on the Cross during his conversation with Nicodemus that night.

Jesus assured Nicodemus and us today that even while we are in the darkness of life’s many confusions and fears, problems and sufferings, we just have look up to him crucified lighting up our way to life and salvation. That night in their conversation, Jesus assured Nicodemus and us today that even in the worst situations in life when “darkness is our only light and hopelessness is our only hope” as T.S. Eliot wrote in his Four Quartets, God is in us, with us and for us in Christ. Just as when the world was covered in darkness on Good Friday when Jesus died on the Cross, it was the precise moment too of Christ’s glory when he conquered death and sin in obedience to the Father.

Yes, it is true these things are easier said than done but like Nicodemus, even in the darkness of the night we have to dare come close to Jesus, to speak to him and most of all, to hear and listen to him. As one poet had said, “only the brave who walk the darkness of the night shall see the brightness of the stars above.” Most of all, Jesus calls us today to be his love and mercy, his joy and light to the many other Nicodemus groping in the darkness of sin and evil.

In my three years as chaplain in a hospital, I have experienced personally and through others that truth so clear as crystal of God most closest with us in the worst days of our lives. Sometimes, we just sigh deeply as we feel him inside us, assuring us how everything is taken cared of, that everything would be fine.

Like the Israelites in the first reading, we too have to go through an “exile”, a kind of “punishment” not from God but as a result of own our sins and wrongdoing. Many times God let bad things happen to us because we insist on our ways; as God retreats to the back or sides of our lives, he never stops finding ways to save us, even “extricate” us from our imprisonment to sin and sufferings!

Indeed, as St. Paul had said in our second reading today, God is “rich in mercy, because of the great love he had for us” (Eph.2:4). Let us not waste that gift. Even though God forgives every sin no matter how bad it may be, do not forget some of our sins have irreversible consequences we shall face and suffer. Of course, God would still be there to help and guide us but, why wait for that to happen?

There lies the joy and grace – and challenge – of this fourth Sunday in Lent: even while we are in our worst situations in life, in our darkest nights, Jesus is always there for us, in fact, the first to have suffered and died for us so that with him on Easter, we may rise again to new life.

Be the sower of his love and mercy. Be his presence. Be another Nicodemus in the night leading others to the light of Jesus. Let us, therefore, rejoice in the Lord as we pray:

Praise and glory to you,
dearest Father 
in giving us your Son 
Jesus Christ our Lord,
our light,
our life,
our joy;
make us, O Lord,
your love and mercy
in this world 
so everyone may experience
that indeed, God loves the world
that He gives us Jesus through me;
let your Holy Sprit enlighten 
my mind and my heart
like Nicodemus 
leading those in darkness
into the light of Christ.
Amen.

A joyful week to everyone!

Lent is reconciliation

40 Shades of Lent by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Thursday, Memorial of Sts. Perpetua & Felicity, Martyrs, 07 March 2024
Jeremiah 7:23-28   ><}}}}*> + ><}}}}*> + ><}}}}*>     Luke 11:14-23

Your words today, O God,
are too strong,
that we are so bad
and, that is so true, too.

Thus says the Lord: When you speak all these words to them, they will not listen to you either; when you call to them, they will not answer you. Say to them: This is a nation which does not listen to the voice of the Lord, its God, or take correction. Faithfulness has disappeared; the word itself is banished from their speech.
Jeremiah 7:27-28

Though we are so bad,
you are still so good to us,
Father; you continue to speak to us
even if you know we do not listen
nor heed your voice.

What is worst,
even in the coming of your Son
Jesus Christ who offered himself
on the Cross, we still refused
to listen and heed his calls,
always asking for signs.

Some of them said, “By the power of Beelzebul, the prince of demons, he drives out demons.” Others, to test him, asked him for a sign from heaven. But he knew their thoughts and said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself will be laid waste and house will fall against house. Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.”
Luke 11:15-17, 23

Lord Jesus Christ,
in your dying on the the Cross,
you have expressed to us
the Father's immense love for us;
indeed, your Cross until now remains 
a sign of contradiction in the world
as your calls to love and to forgive,
to be humble and be kind,
to give than to receive
remains a foolishness and weakness
for many of us; 
but you continue to speak to us
despite our being deaf and hard-hearted
because by your Cross,
you have shown us too 
it is the greatest sign of reconciliation, 
reminding us of the many
contradictions within and around us,
of the many contradictions
in the world that can be
reconciled and be made one
in your self-giving in love
we must imitate like your martyrs
Saints Perpetua and Felicity.

Reconcile us
in you, dear Jesus,
make us one in you
on the Cross!
Amen.

Lent is for respect

40 Shades of Lent by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Friday in Second Week of Lent, 01 March 2024
Genesis 37:3-4, 12-13, 17-28     ><)))*> + <*(((><     Matthew 21:33-43, 45-46

Thank you, dear God,
for this first day and 
Friday of March;
teach us to learn anew this
blessed season of Lent
the virtue of respect from
two Latin words, re + specere
that literally mean "to look again";
many times,
we fail or choose not
to respect others
because we refuse to look
at them again, and again,
that they are our kin,
a brother and a sister
in Jesus Christ;
many times we see them
but do not recognize them
as one of us that we look
at them with suspicions,
jealousies, and mistrust.

So Joseph went after his brothers and caught up with them in Dothan. They noticed him from a distance, and before he came up to them, they plotted to kill him. They said to one another: “Here comes that master dreamer! Come on, let us kill him and throw him into one of the cisterns here; we could say that a wild beast devoured him. We shall then see what comes of his dreams.”
Genesis 37:17-20

Father, instill
 in our minds and hearts 
through Jesus your Son,
that we own nothing
in this world,
that we are your stewards,
your tenants of the vineyard;
how sad
and tragic when we lay claim
to everything in this world
even our very own life
and those of others
as ours alone,
a private matter we alone
can decide on who is to live
and die; or, too much stress
on privacy that this is my body
that I alone can decide what to do
with my body.

Finally, he sent his son to them, thinking, ‘They will respect my son.’ But when the tenants saw the son, they said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come let us kill him and acquire his inheritance.’ They seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him.
Matthew 21:37-39

Forgive us, O Lord Jesus!
So many times we have acted
like those evil tenants
who lacked any respect
for you and others
when from afar,
even if we knew,
we are mere stewards,
we insist and poison
others into thinking
we can claim ownership
of everything
 including this most
precious life.

Forgive us,
Lord Jesus,
for our lack of respect
to you and to one another;
how sad that in our
rampant disrespect,
unknown to us,
we have lost respect
to our very selves too.
Help us regain
respect this Lent.
Amen.

Manalangin tayo…

Lawiswis ng Salita ni P. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Ika-28 ng Pebrero 2024

*Larawan kuha ni G. Red Santiago ng kanyang anak, Enero 2020, Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria, Bulacan.*

Pangunahing hiling ng mga tao sa aming mga pari ay panalangin, na sila ay ipagdasal sa kanilang iba’t-ibang mga pangangailangan. Ito ay dahil inaasahan – at dapat lamang – na kaming mga pari ay palaging nananalangin.

Kaugnay nito ay madalas din silang magtanong paanong magdasal at marami pang iba’t-ibang bagay ukol sa pananalangin. Kaya sa diwa ng panahon ng Kuwaresma kung kailan tayo hinihikayat linangin ating pananalangin, narito ilang mga pagmumuni-muni ko tungkol sa pagdarasal na aking napagtanto at natutunan mula nang pumasok ako ng seminaryo noong 1991 hanggang sa maging pari ng 1998 hanggang sa ngayon.

Una, walang maituturing na dalubhasa o eksperto sa pagdarasal. Tunay nga sinabi ni San Pablo, “tinutulungan tayo ng Espiritu sa ating kahinaan. Hindi tayo marunong manalangin nang wasto, kaya’t ang Espiritu ang lumuluhog para sa atin, sa paraang di magagawa ng pananalita” (Rom. 8:26).

*Larawan kuha ng may-akda, Our Lady of Fatima University, Valenzuela, Nobyembre 13, 2023.*

Kaya naman totoo kasabihang sa oras na ikaw ay nanalangin, sinagot na rin ng Diyos iyong mga dasal kasi ikaw ay nagdarasal. Kapag tayo nagdasal, tumugon tayo sa Diyos tawag niyang makaisa Siya. Noong kami ay high school sa seminaryo, iyon unang tinuro sa amin ni Fr. Danny Delos Reyes, aming Rektor: “Prayer is talking to God who has always been speaking to man.” Kaya sa oras na tayo ay nagdasal, purihin ang Panginoon dahil tumalima tayo sa Kanya!

Higit itong totoo kapag ating binabasa at pinagninilayan ang Kanyang mga salita sa Banal na Kasulatan. Sa Banal na Kasulatan, personal nakikipag-usap sa atin ang Diyos gamit ang salita ng tao. Kaya sino mang ibig na tunay lumalim sa buhay panalanign at buhay espiritwal, kinakailangang magkaroon ng personal na bibliya at daily bible guide upang masundan mga pagbasa. Sabi ni San Geronimo, ang kamangmangan sa Banal na Kasulatan ay kamangmangan kay Kristo.”

Ikalawang katotohanang nabatid ko sa pagdarasal ay kaugnay nito: hindi tayo ang susukat at susuri ng ating pananalangin kungdi Diyos. Madalas kasi maranasan natin lalo na sa mga nagsisimula pa lamang manalangin na ikumpara ating mga pagdarasal sa bawat araw kapag ating sinasabi “bakit dati madali at magaan pakiramdam ko”, “bakit ngayon parang hirap ako magdasal” o “parang walang saysay aking pananalangin”.

Hindi madaraan sa damdamin o feelings ang pagdarasal.

Malaking pagkakamali na akalain nating mga oras na tayo ay tuwang-tuwang o masarap ang pakiramdam sa pagdarasal ay tama at wasto ang pananalangin na samakatwid ay kinasihan ng Diyos ating pagdarasal. Hindi po totoo iyan.

Magugulat pa tayo na ang katotohanan ay kabaligtaran niyan dahil kung kailan tayo hirap magdasal, mas malamang naroong tunay ang Diyos! Sabi ng aking Heswitang Spiritual Director noon sa Cebu si Fr. Shea, The most difficult prayer period is actually the most meritorious. Kapag tayo ay dumaranas ng hirap sa pagdarasal na kung tawagin ay “spiritual dryness” na parang hindi tayo pansin ng Diyos o kaya hirap lumapit sa kanya, ito ay palatandaan ng paglalim sa pananalangin. At maaring tanda ng pagkilos ng Diyos na tayo ay inaakay sa mas matalik na ugnayan sa Kanya sa larangan ng pagdarasal.

*Larawan kuha ng may-akda, Oktubre 2022.*

Ikatlo, ang pananalangin ay pakikipag-isa sa Diyos o communion. Kaya hindi naman mahalaga masabi natin lahat ng ibig natin sa Diyos kungdi higit na mahalaga ay ating mapakinggan sinasabi sa atin ng Diyos.

Kaya tayo nagdarasal hindi upang humingi ng humingi sa Diyos ng kung anu-ano kungdi upang Siya ay makaisa, malaman kanyang kalooban para sa atin. Kung tutuusin, hindi na nating kailangan pang humingi sa Diyos ng kung anu-ano dahil alam na niya pangangailangan natin.

Sapagkat alam na ng inyong Ama ang inyong kinakailangan bago pa ninyo hingin sa kanya. Ganito kayo manalangin: “Ama naming nasa langit…”
Mateo 6:8-9

Samakatwid, ang pananalangin ay upang higit nating makamit ang Diyos mismo! Siya ang dapat nating hangarin palagi sa pagdarasal, hindi mga bagay.

Kapag mahal mo sino mang tao, palagi mo siyang kinakausap, sinasamahan upang makapiling. Siya ang ibig mo, hindi gamit o pera o kayamanan niya. Ganoon din sa pananalangin – kung mahal nating tunay ang Diyos, mananalangin tayo palagi sa kanya upang sa tuwina Siya ay makapiling.

*Larawan kuha ni Bb. JJ Jimeno sa Holy Sacrifice Parish, UP Diliman, QC, Mayo 2019.*

Ikaapat, ang mga bumabagabag sa ating pagdarasal ay hindi tukso mula sa demonyo kungdi mas malamang, mga tulong at gabay ng Espiritu Santo tungo sa higit na mabungang pagdarasal.

Napansin ko iyan noong dati na kapag ako ay bagabag o aligaga sa pagdarasal, kung anu-anong pumapasok sa aking isipan, kadalasan ang mga iyon ay isyu sa aking sarili na pilit ko iniiwasan o binabale-wala; sa pagdarasal, lumalantad mga iyon na tila baga sinasabi ng Diyos sa atin, harapin mga isyu natin sa sarili bago Siya matatagpuan.

Hindi istorbo ang pagsagi ng sino mang kaaway sa iyong pagdarasal kungdi paanyaya na ayusin inyong di pagkakaunawaan. Kung palaging laman ng iyong isipan ay kahalayan o karangayaan o ano pa man, ang mga iyan ay isyu na dapat mong pagdasalan upang maharap at malunasan.

Hindi nating mararanasan ang Diyos nang lubusan sa pagdarasal habang tayo ay puno ng maraming bara sa espiritu at kaluluwa tulad ng mga tao na mayroon tayong problema, mga nararamdamang poot at galit, kahalayan at iba pang mga pagnanasa. Alisin muna mga bara sa ating espritu at kaluluwa, maginhawang dadaloy biyaya ng Espiritu Santo sa ating sarili at buhay.

At ikalima, ang pananalangin ay disiplina. Dahil ang pagdarasal ay pagpapahayag ng ating ugnayan at relasyon sa Diyos, kailangan nating maging tapat sa pakikipagtagpo sa Kanya.

Tulad ng mga magsing-ibig, magkaroon ng regularidad na pakikipagtagpo sa Diyos sa panalangin. Huwag humanap ng panahon bagkus gumawa ng panahon gaya ng ating gawi sa mahal natin sa buhay. Iyon ang nawika ng lobo sa Little Prince na kung regular silang magtatagpo tuwing alas-4:00 ng hapon, alas-3:30 pa lamang ng hapon aniya ay mananabik na siya!

Nasa ating sarili kung anong oras tayo makapagdarasal. Ang mahalaga ay kaya nating pangatawanan ano mang oras ating itakda para sa Panginoon.

Pati ang lunan din ay mainam na regular. Napansin ko ito nang maging pari ako, ilang ulit ako bumalik sa Jesuit Retreat House sa Cebu kung saan kami nag-30 day retreat noong 1995 bago magthird year sa theology. Pinilit kong magdasal sa ibang bahagi ng retreat house na hinangad kong pagdasalan noon pero hindi ako napalagay. Ngunit nang manalangin ako sa dating mga lugar na kung saan ako nagdasal noong 1995, sadya namang “mabunga” ika nga sa ilang ulit na balik ko doon noong 2002, 2003 at 2004. Ganoon din karanasan ko nang lumipat ako sa Sacred Heart Novitiate sa Novaliches para sa taunang personal retreat ko mula 2015.

Alalaong-baga, mayroon tayong isang “Bethel” tulad ni Jacob kung saan nagpakilala sa kanya ang Diyos nang tumatakas siya noon sa kanyang kapatid na si Esau (Gen. 28:10-22) at naiman na manatali doon hanggat hindi tayo inaaya ng Panginoon sa ibang lugar.

Hangga’t maari tungkol sa lunan ng pananalangin, piliin yaong tahimik at angkop sa pagdarasal tulad ng simbahan o adoration chapel kung saan maaring magdasal sa harapan ng Santisimo Sakramento.

Bilang pangwakas, alalahaning palagi na personal nakikipag-ugnayan sa atin ang Diyos kaya personal din tayo tumugon sa Kanyang paanyayang makipag-ugnayan tulad ng ginagawa natin sa sino mang kapwa natin.

Sa lahat ng ugnayan mayroon tayo, bukod tanging ang sa Diyos ang pinakamabuti sa lahat dahil kailanman hindi Niya tayo iiwanan at tatalikuran. Diyos lang tanging nagmamahal sa atin ng tunay kaya binigay Niya sa Atin bugtong Niyang Anak na si Jesus na naglapit sa atin sa Kanya sa pamamagitan ng Espiritu Santo. Sana nakatulong mga ito sa inyong pagdarasal. Kung hindi naman, ay huwag nang pansinin. Sumulat kayo sa akin dito o sa aking email para sa karagdagang mga katanungan o paliwanag (lordmychef@gmail.com).

Patuloy manalangin at yumabong sa Panginoon natin! Amen.