Be careful not to fall

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Tuesday in the Ninth Week of Ordinary Time, Year II, 04 June 2024
2 Peter 3:12-15, 17-18 <*((((><< + >><))))*> Mark 12:13-17

*Photo by Dra. Mylene A. Santos, MD, an orange-bellied flowerpecker (Dicaeum trigonostigma) somewhere in the Visayas, December 2023.*

Therefore, beloved, since you are forewarned, be on your guard not to be led into the error of the unprincipled and to fall from your own stability.
2 Peter 3:17

Your words of caution
through St. Peter are so timely,
Lord Jesus in this time
of discussions and debate
on the proposed law on divorce;
how sad there are some
supposed to be learned and
knowledgeable, seemingly stable
in their positions as teachers
and educators and journalists
calling for more openness
in the discussions
 of moral and social issues
are the ones who are really
closed to their own thoughts
and ideas they have labeled as
progressive and liberal,
insisting their own interpretations
of Scriptures and moral laws;
what is most sad,
even deplorable at times,
is when they cite so many
thinkers without even citing You,
dear Jesus
 regarding Your own words
and teachings
that are clearly against divorce.

Forgive us, Jesus,
when we look so highly
of ourselves,
believing so much
 to whatever we know
like those Pharisees and
Herodians who banded together
to test You;
keep us humble, Lord
with whatever sense of stability
we feel we have or know;
let us grow in grace by constantly
affirming that feeling and
experience of being
loved by God
and most of all,
to grow in Your knowledge
which is to grow in a deeper
and personal relationship
with You.
dear Jesus.

Lord Jesus,
let us not only fall from our
own stability
but most of all.
may we not mislead
others to joining us in
our follies.
Amen.

We are a “puff of smoke”

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Wednesday, Memorial of St. Rita de Cascia, Religious, 22 May 2024
James 4:13-17 ><]]]]'> + ><]]]]'> + ><]]]]'> Mark 9:38-40

"you have no idea
what your life will be like
tomorrow. 
You are a puff of smoke
that appears briefly
and then disappears" 
(James 4:14).

St. James' imagery
of our lives
and of our very selves
are so light as the
puff of a smoke
but so heavy in meaning
for it is true indeed
we are nothing in this world
without God;
it is only in God
we have worth
and meaning.

Forgive us,
dear Jesus
when we are arrogant,
proud and boastful,
when we live so far from You,
detached from You,
living on our "own"
as if we have control
of everything;
forgive us,
dear Jesus
when we are like John
who tried to prevent
someone driving out demons
in Your name simply because
he was not one of us;
forgive us,
dear Jesus
whenever we think we
have an edge over others
simply because they are
not with us in the Church
or just because they are
different in their approach
and style.

Like St. Rita of Cascia
to whom You did so many
wondrous things,
help us to rely solely in
You, Jesus;
that nothing is too late
nor too early
with Your grace
for as long as we rely
on You.
Not in us.
Amen.

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

When we are at a loss

The Lord Is My Chef Easter Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Wednesday in the Second Week of Easter, 10 April 2024
Acts 5:17-26 ><}}}}*> + ><}}}}*> + ><}}}}*> John 3:16-21

*Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, 20 March 2024.*

When the captain of the temple guard and the chief priests heard this report, they were at a loss about them, as to what this would come to.
Acts 5:24

Your words, O Lord,
from the first reading are
very amusing:
after discovering the jail
securely locked
with guards stationed
outside but the apostles
nowhere,
they were the ones
who felt at a "loss";
they who have imprisoned
the Apostles
were the ones
LOST
when they were supposed
to control the situation.

How ironic
so often in life
when we feel to have
been more in control of
everything even people,
when we feel we lord
over everyone,
that is when we feel
more empty,
and more
at a loss.

And this is the verdict, that the light came into the world, but people preferred darkness to light, because their works were evil.
John 3:19

*Photo by author, Jesuit Cemetery at the Sacred Heart Novitiate.*

Forgive us,
Lord Jesus
in choosing darkness
of sin,
darkness of pride,
darkness of bitterness
and of unforgiving
that is why many times
we are at a loss
in life especially 
when we profess 
to believe in You,
when we claim to be
Your disciples;
let us go toward 
Your light of truth
and justice,
Your light of loving
service,
Your light of mercy
and forgiveness
so that in our very selves,
people may truly experience
"God so loved the world."
Amen.

Lent is self-confrontation

40 Shades of Lent by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Friday after Ash Wednesday, 16 February 2024
Isaiah 58:1-9  + + +  Matthew 9:14-15

Thank you, dear Father
for this lovely season of Lent
when everything is in hue
of violets representing the future,
the imagination and dreams,
while spiritually calming
our emotions to attain 
spiritual enlightenment 
while at the same time
keeping us grounded in you, 
O God,
our very first love.

Give us the courage
in Christ Jesus your Son 
to confront our very selves, 
to accept who we 
really are before you 
minus all the pretensions
and alibis and excuses: 
forgive us, Lord
because very often we look so 
highly of ourselves,
unconsciously or consciously
playing god, 
keeping ourselves
as standard and measure 
of what is right and proper,
even of truth; worst, 
many times, we demand you 
to conform to us 
than we conforming to you.

Thus says the Lord God: Cry out full-throated and unsparingly, lift up your voice like a trumpet blast; tell my people their wickedness, and the house of Jacob their sins. They seek me day after day, and desire to know my ways, like a nation that has done what is just and not abandoned the law of their God; they ask me to declare what is due them, pleased to gain access to God.
Isaiah 58:1-2

Let us be your prophets
especially in this age when
we no longer fast nor abstain,
no longer praying individually
and communally,
so contented with online Masses,
so that we have forgotten not only
you, Father but even those
around us, both those nearest
to us in the family circle
and those outside our margins;
Father, in this age with
so much emphasis 
on individual rights,
we have forgotten about
others: we have refused to
see each others plight
and condition in life
because we have bloated
our egos,
has failed to look at the mirror
to confront our own dirt
and smudges,
questioning everyone
even you, O Lord,
except our very selves.
Amen.

Cleanse us, O Lord!

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Thursday, Feast of the Dedication of St. John Lateran, 09 November 2023
Ezekiel 47:1-2, 8-9, 12 ><)))*> 1 Corinthians 3:9-11, 16-17 ><)))*> John 2:13-22

*Photo by Arch. Philip Santiago, St. John Lateran in Rome, 2022.*

Praise and glory to you,
God our loving Father
in choosing to dwell in us
your people
as your temple;
how sad we have always 
desecrated ourselves and 
houses of worship with sin and evil
yet you never stopped 
building us up over and over
in Jesus Christ
as your dwelling place.

Brothers and sisters: You are God’s building. Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?
1 Corithians 3:9, 16

Please, come again, Lord Jesus;
come more often to us your people
especially to us your priests,
to cleanse us of all filth of pride and conceit
when we eject you from the Eucharist 
by making it our own celebration, 
making a mockery of your sacrifice 
we have turned into a carnival, 
a spectacle for entertainment 
in the name of money and fame; 
forgive us, Jesus, 
in misleading the people,
 using God like in the temple of Jerusalem;
shame on us when we preach
more of ourselves and interests
than your words that free the people
from bondage to sin and disease;
cleanse us, O Lord, so that life 
may spring forth again from our parishes 
where people experience your love and mercy
that "Wherever the river flows,
every sort of living creature that can
multiply shall live, and there shall be
abundant fish, for wherever this water
comes the sea shall be made fresh"
(Ezekiel 47:9).

Come, Lord Jesus,
bind us again like cords,
whip us if necessary,
awaken our pastors and bishops
who have forgotten your call
to shepherd your people,
choosing to graze in the green
pastures of the rich and powerful
enclosed in their buildings and
ivory towers bereft of
your spirit and life;
awaken your people too
in the spirit of synodality
to stand for what is true and sacred,
to demand from religious leaders
to give only you, Jesus,
always you, Jesus.
Amen.

Stop & Go. In God, with God.

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Thursday in the Seventeenth Week of Ordinary Time, Year I, 03 August 2023
Exodus 40:16-21, 34-38 ><}}}}*> + ><}}}}*> + ><}}}}*> Matthew 13:47-53

*Photo by author, San Juan, La Union, 24 July 2023.*

God our Father,
it is undeniably true
that days are getting 
faster and shorter;
life is quickly passing
without us really realizing;
how crazy we have become
working so hard eight to
ten hours a day, five days
a week only to enjoy life
in less than 24 hours;
we are all in a hurry in a 
rat race that has no winner,
wishing we could be older
too soon only to wish later
how we could be young again.

Help us to center our lives
in you again like when your
people were in the wilderness;
let us be aware and mindful
of your presence in our midst
like your tent:
"Whenever the cloud rose
from the Dwelling,
the children of Israel
would set out on their journey.
But if the cloud did not lift,
they would not go forward;
only when it lifted
did they go forward"
(Exodus 40:36-37).

Let us be discerning,
Lord, in our moves,
in our lives "like the head
of the household who brings
from his storeroom
both the new and the old"
(Matthew 13:52);
lead me, Lord,
and do not let me be
led by the world,
by my desires,
by my ego
and pride.
Amen.

Holiness is sensitivity of others

40 Shades of Lent by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Holy Tuesday, 04 April 2023
Isaiah 49:1-6   >>> + <<<   John 13:21-33, 36-38

*Photo by Ms. April Oliveros, Mt. Pulag, 25 March 2023.*

Dear Jesus,
let me be sensitive of other people,
of their feelings and beliefs,
of their roots and situations,
most especially of their needs,
their fears,
their pains,
their losses
and their longings.

How sad, dear Lord,
when you expressed to the Twelve
on your Last Supper how you were
"deeply troubled" that one of them would
betray him, "they looked at one another
and were at a loss as to whom you meant";
more sad was after you have identified 
Judas Iscariot as the one to betray you,
they still did not get it!
(cf. John 13:21-30).

Many times, dear Jesus,
we are like them, so self-centered,
always looking at others,
at a loss at what you mean
because we lack sensitivity:
we rarely think about you really 
nor of others as we are preoccupied
with our own ideas and perceptions
about you and others, refusing to suspend
or let go of them even for a while 
to feel exactly how others felt;
we have lost that sensitivity to have the eyes
to see what others see when they are lost,
who stop to notice others are missing
or crying or been left behind as their
pace slowed down due to heavy burdens.

My sweet Lord,
knock me off my senses,
from my self-centeredness
and self-righteousness
giving reasons even justifications
to whatever I do,
when I have become results-oriented
than person-oriented
that as a result, I could not take failures 
and disappointments in life.
May I have your sensitivity
and humility as God's Suffering Servant.

Though I thought I had toiled in vain, and for nothing, uselessly, spent my strength, yet my reward is with the Lord, my recompense is with my God.
Isaiah 49:4

Let me sing of your salvation,
Lord Jesus Christ
in unison with my suffering
brothers and sisters,
trusting in you alone.
Amen.

Lent is choosing God

40 Shades of Lent by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Thursday after Ash Wednesday, 23 February 2023
Deuteronomy 30:15-20   ><000'> + ><000'> + ><000'>   Luke 9:22-25

Everyday you bless us,
O God, with that great power
to choose freely what we desire
best for us; but, many times, we make
the wrong choices that often lead us
to more pains and emptiness,
sadness and that feeling of being
lost.

Most of all,
we choose sin,
we choose evil,
than choosing good,
than choosing you, O God.

Moses said to the people: “I call heaven and earth today to witness against you: I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. Choose life, then, that you and your descendants may live, by loving the Lord, your God, heeding his voice, and holding fast to him. For that will mean life for you, a long life for you to live on the land that the Lord swore he would give to your fathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.”
Deuteronomy 30:19-20

So many times
we make the wrong choices
when we insist on what we like
without really knowing what it is;
we make wrong choices
when we choose to disregard
you and your ways, Lord;
worst, we make the wrong choices
because we reject our very selves!

What a tragedy
when we ourselves refuse
to believe in ourselves,
in our worth,
in our possibilities
because we have lost all hope
in life, in you, and in others
due to failures or disappointments
or frustrations in life;
we choose wrongly when we
avoid pains and sufferings,
when we refuse to choose
the Cross not realizing
it is the one that truly leads
to life and prosperity
because every suffering,
every pain
leads to maturity
that make us better
and more open to
life and prosperity.

These 40 days of Lent,
let us choose you, Jesus
including your Cross;
let us choose people and
things outside of ourselves
because you have chosen to
care us and all our needs;
let us trust you 
so we may always choose you
because the times we choose
wrongly in life,
when we choose people
and things that are seemingly
favorable to us,
that is when 
we do doubt you,
when we do not 
trust you.
Amen.

Jesus,
King of Mercy,
we trust in you!

The problem with unity

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Friday in the Sixth Week of Ordinary Time, Year I, 17 February 2023
Genesis 11:1-9 ><]]]]'> + ><]]]]'> + ><]]]]'> Mark 8:34-9:1

Thank you, O God our loving Father
for this wonderful Friday;
after a week of stories of our Creation
and Fall, your words today invite us
anew to look deeper into our hearts 
to find you and see your plans for us.

The story of the tower of Babel reveals
many things about our hearts,
of how we would always start seeming
to be good, like being one and united
as a people which you have always desired;
but, like the people at that time, our seemingly
good and innocent plans reveal sinister
evil within our hearts:  "Come,
let us build ourselves a city 
and a tower with its top in the sky,
and so make a name for ourselves;
otherwise we shall be scattered 
all over the earth" (Genesis 11:4).

Forgive us, O God, 
the many times we have tried
manipulating you, fooling our selves
with our supposed to be good intentions
when in fact full of evil and selfish motives;
how funny we have never learned that in
our efforts to preserve ourselves through
our many selfish schemes, the more we fall,
the more we ended up divided like at Babel.

The Lord brings to nought the plans of nations; he foils the designs of peoples. But the plan of the Lord stands forever, the design of his heart through all generations.
Psalm 33:10-11

Let us not confuse unity
with oneness right away;
yes we have to be one in you
through others, but never one
in ourselves or with others for a
vested interest for it shall surely collapse
and crash like Babel;
take away our arrogance that pretend
to be sincere and true in always having
the best intentions, the most beautiful plans
when in fact are all self-serving,
trying to impose our very selves on others;
make us realize that life is fragile,
that anything can always happen 
with us and with our plans, 
that we have no total control of everything
and hence, simply be open to your
new directions and instructions.

Help us forget our selves, 
to take up our cross and follow 
your Son Jesus Christ 
in humility and simplicity,
in hiddenness and silence,
in kindness and love
for others which is your
original plan for us as a people. 
Make us one in you, dear Father,
regardless of our language and color,
or any other differences like at Pentecost.
Amen.

Breaking free from our prisons

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Friday, Memorial of St. Blaise, Bishop & Martyr, 03 February 2023
Hebrews 13:1-8 ><000'> + <'000>< = ><000'> + <'000>< Mark 6:14-29

*Photo by author, La Mesa Dam Eco-Park,*
*01 February 2023.*

Praise and glory to you,
O God our loving Father
in giving us your Son
Jesus Christ always with us
for indeed as the first reading
perfectly said it today, "Jesus
Christ is the same yesterday,
today, and forever" (Heb. 13:8).

Keep us aware with your
presence in our lives, Jesus,
whether we are in good times
or bad; "let our brotherly love
continue, without neglecting 
hospitality, for through some
have unknowingly entertained
angels" (Heb. 13:1-2).

Set us free from the prisons
we ourselves have made and
locked us in - the prisons of
ego and pride when we delight
in the thought of holding others
imprisoned to insist on our own
thoughts and whims like Herod
in the gospel and the Romans in
the story of St. Blaise whose 
memorial we celebrate today.

Many times, O Lord, what really
happens is that the more we 
keep others in prison with our 
pride and insistence of self,
dominations and manipulations,
of vengeance and revenge as we
believe we punish them with our
being unforgiving and unmerciful,
the more we imprison ourselves,
the more we are shutout from the 
world, the more we are alone 
in the darkness of evil.

You have come, Jesus,
to show us the beauty of life
by living in your light and truth,
love and mercy; set us free from
the sins and pride that obstruct us,
that hold us from being truly free
and faithful to you through others.
Amen.

St. Blaise,
pray for us and heal us
of our ailments in the 
throat so that our hearts
and minds may always be
bridged in Christ.  Amen.