Lawiswis ng Salita ni P. Nicanor F. Lalog, Parokya ni San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Bagbaguin, Santa Maria, Bulacan
Martes, Ika-5 Linggo ng Kuwaresma, 31 Marso 2020
Bilang 21:4-9 ><)))*> +++ <*(((>< Juan 8:21-30
Ang eskultura ng ginawang ahas na tanso ni Moises sa tikin sa lugar kung saan mismo nangyari na ngayon nasa pangangalaga ng mga Paring Franciscano sa Jordan. Larawan kuha ng may-akda, Mayo 2019.
Batay sa salaysay ng aklat ng buhay
nainip mga Israelita sa paglalakbay sa ilang
nang sila ay dumaing, nagreklamo
kay Moises ng ganito:
"Kami ba'y inialis mo sa Egipto
upang patayin na ilang na ito?
Wala kaming makain ni mainom!
Sawa na kami sa walang kwentang pagkaing ito."
Bakit nga ba hindi na naubos
ating mga reklamo
lalo na kapag mayroong krisis
walang mintis yaring mga bibig
walang hanggang daing
tila hindi aabutin, napakamainipin
nakakasakit na ng damdamin
pati Diyos sinusubok, hinahamon natin?
Kung inyong mapapansin
yung talagang walang makain
hindi na makuhang dumaing
tanging isipin saan hahanapin
kanilang isasaing, lakas ay iipunin
sa pagbabaka-sakaling dinggin
dalanging tulong dumating
kanilang hahatiin at titipirin.
Ang masakit na kapansin-pansin
ngayong panahon ng COVID-19
marami sa mga daing ng daing
sa Facebook pinararating!
Akala mo walang makain
bakit nasa harapan ng computer screen?
Katulad nilang nagmamagaling
ibang natulungan may reklamo pa rin!
Magandang pagkakataon
kaloob nitong COVID-19 sa ating panahon
mabuksan puso at kalooban sa katotohanan
"Hindi lamang sa tinapay nabubuhay ang tao"
na kung uunahin natin si Kristo
makikilala natin bawat kapwa tao
ka-patid at ka-putol na dapat bahaginan
ano man mayroon ako.
Madalas sa maraming reklamo
puso ay sinarahan, pinanlalabuan ang isipan
bibig ang laging binubuksan, hindi mawalan ng laman
pinababayaan kaluluwa at kalooban
tiyan lamang nilalagyan
kaya walang kahulugan ni katuturan
ano mang karanasan hindi mapagyaman
kaunting hirap at tiisin, puro daing at hinaing.
40 Shades of Lent, Sunday Week-V, Year-A, 29 March 2020
Ezekiel 37:12-14 +++ Romans 8:8-11 +++ John 11:1-45
Photo by Ms. Anne Ramos last March 22, 2020 during our procession of Blessed Sacrament in the Parish when a rainbow appeared at the horizon.
Once again as we near the closing of our Lenten journey, Jesus does another “sign” or miracle — his last and grandest in anticipation of his coming Passion, Death, and Resurrection: the raising from death of his friend Lazarus.
What is so beautiful in this story is how the evangelist involves us his readers and hearers into a conversation with Jesus unlike last Sunday at the healing of a man born blind where the characters conversed only among themselves.
The raising of Lazarus to life is more engaging because it is deeply personal and intimate as it involves friends dearest to Jesus — exactly like each one of us! And that is why it is also very timely as we go through the ongoing lockdown due to COVID-19.
When Jesus heard this he said, “This illness is not to end in death, but is for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”
John 11:4
My dear family and friends, Jesus assures us today of the Father’s love and healing, that he would save us from the deadly corona virus. Come and let us converse with him with the sisters of Lazarus, Martha and Mary.
After my “private Mass” (Missa sine populo) during the Solemnity of the Annunciation, 25 March 2020.
Presence of Jesus
Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you.”
John 11:21-22
Twice do we hear this line in this very long story of the raising of Lazarus when Mary repeated it upon meeting Jesus later at the entrance of their town of Bethany.
And like Martha and Mary, we always say it to Jesus too as if he ever leaves us alone!
“Lord, if you had been here…”
Jesus is always with us.
We are the ones who always leave Jesus behind.
We always have so many other things to do, so many other people to meet that we have no time to truly pray and most of all, celebrate the Sunday Mass every week.
It is my hope that following the suspension of the “public Masses” due to lockdown, people now realize the value of the Holy Eucharist which is the “summit” of our Christian life where we are nourished by the words of God and strengthened by the Body and Blood of Christ.
Photo from Forbes.com via Facebook, 2019.
Long before we were told to observe “social distancing” in this time of pandemic, we have long been distant from one another and from God.
How ironic that these modern means of communications were invented to bring us closer but have actually brought us farther apart! Most often, we are close enough with someone miles across the seas but too distant and cold to persons physically near us, even seated beside us.
Let us spend more time with our family and most especially with God in prayer during this enhanced quarantine period to be the presence of Christ with one another. Let us remember Fr. Patrick Peyton’s expression, “The family that prays together, stays together; a world at prayer is a world at peace”.
Remember: the most wonderful and enriching relationships we can have are those rooted in Jesus Christ who is always present in us.
Jesus is perturbed and deeply troubled
While praying over this long gospel, this photo by Raffy Lerma kept on flashing in my mind, showing me how Jesus must have reacted upon seeing Mary weeping over the death of her brother Lazarus.
He became perturbed and deeply troubled, and said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Sir, come and see.” And Jesus wept.
John 11:33-35
Like our gospel today, Lerma’s photo of a mother crying over her son lost to “tokhang” at the height of this administration’s war against drug in July 2016 is very conversant, so moving like the Pieta by Michaelangelo in Rome. In fact, the government doubted the veracity of the photo, claiming through its trolls it was merely “staged” or “drawing” as we say in journalism. The photo is authentic because the event truly happened. And continued to happen before this lockdown.
What I like most with this photo is the composure of the mother. You can feel she was deeply sad and troubled, weeping without the hysterical theatrics or palahaw in Tagalog that we see in many instances like funerals.
Photo by Mr. Jay Javier, Quiapo, January 2020.
Multiply that to the highest degree and we get the image of Jesus “perturbed and deeply troubled, weeping” at the death of his friend Lazarus.
There is the gentle yet firm mastery by Jesus of the situation, of the loss and tragedy.
No hysterics nor theatrics. Pure and all-encompassing presence.
It would be the same mastery and composure Jesus would exhibit at his coming Passion and Death, reaching its highest point on Easter.
Here we find Jesus Christ truly human, truly Divine. Yes, he was perturbed and deeply troubled; he cried and wept not because of weakness but rather more of strength, of being true and determined in overcoming not only his coming Passion but most of all, our own setbacks and losses.
Have faith, my dear reader. Jesus is surely “perturbed and deeply troubled, weeping” again with us in this time of the corona pandemic. Step back and let him be himself in being one with us; then, wait and see what he is going to do next for us.
Photo from theguardian.com, 19 March 2020 reporting how a “generation has died” in Bergamo, Italy struggling with 1959 deaths from corona virus that has overwhelmed the nation’s funeral sector.
Jesus joins us in death so we can rise to life in him
Today is not a beautiful day to die, especially for victims of COVID-19. No wakes. No Masses. Just simple blessings after cremation. If ever possible.
The scenes from Italy are deeply disturbing that has become the new epicenter of corona pandemic. According to a report last Monday, the obituary page of a local newspaper had increased tenfold in a week, listing up to 150 deaths daily! More disturbing is the fact that “death and mourning happen in isolation”.
Our readings this Sunday speak a lot about death symbolized by graves.
But not on a morbid sense like a defeat or a loss; rather, as a victory, a raising to new life!
Thus says the Lord God: O my people, I will open your graves and have you rise from them, and bring you back to the land of Israel. Then you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and have you rise from them, O my people! I will put my spirit in you that you may live.
Ezekiel 37:12-14
Ezekiel proclaimed these words of the Lord to the Israelites during their Babylonian Exile when they lost everything and everyone, including God as they thought have forsaken them for their sinfulness. This prophecy is finally fulfilled in Christ’s coming and victory over death on Easter.
In calling back Lazarus to life, Jesus shows us in this scene his tremendous power over death and defeat, agony and pain, sin and evil. It is a prefiguration to a grander scale of his own Resurrection on Easter after the Good Friday.
And when he had said this, he cried out in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” The dead man came out, tied hand and foot with burial bands, and his face was wrapped in cloth. So Jesus said to them, “Untie him and let him go.”
John 11:43-44
Photo by Mr. Raffy Tima of GMA-7 News. Used with permission. Seen here from atop the GMA Network Center in QC is Mt. Samat in Bataan with the Memorial Cross visible, across the Manila Bay, taken on 26 March 2020.
Do you believe this?
Jesus is calling us to have faith in him, to believe in him especially in this time of COVID-19 pandemic. And like his question to Martha which he repeated twice, the Lord is asking us the same question today:
Jesus told her, “I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?
John 11:25-26
Do you believe in him, Jesus the Christ?
Good things have also been happening lately in this two-week old lockdown.
Families are again getting together, staying together. Finally we now have more time than ever to converse once again as husband and wife, children and parents, brothers and sisters.
Some people have rediscovered God and are back to praying again, to believing again.
Even Mother Nature is said to have taken a big break during this lockdown, giving us spectacular views never seen before due to cleaner air, less pollution and congestion in the cities.
These are all conversations going on – thanks to COVID-19!
Let us join the conversations with our loved ones, with nature, with our self, and with God.
Below is one of my favorite photos this week taken by GMA-7 reporter Mr. Raffy Tima. Again, another photo conversing with us, like Jesus in the story of the raising to life of Lazarus.
See the Memorial Cross on Mt. Samat in Bataan?
The raising of Lazarus is the “sign” or miracle as the other evangelists would say, that prefigures the definitive victory of Jesus on the cross.
Like the sisters of Lazarus, believe in Jesus who is awakening us today amid the threats or crosses of corona virus to bear all these sufferings, to passover like him to the life that bodily death cannot touch “through his Spirit dwelling in us” (Rom. 8:11). Amen.
Lawiswis Ng Salita ni P. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Ika-26 ng Marso 2020
Eksena hango sa pelikulang “The Ten Commandments” noong 1956.
Tinuturing ng mga Hudyo
ang pagsamba ng kanilang ninuno
sa guyang ginto
ang pinaka-nakakahiyang yugto
sa kanilang kasaysayan
nang talikuran nila sa ilang
butihing Diyos hanap katapatan lamang.
Mula noon hanggang ngayon
guyang ginto ang naging larawan
na siyang kumakatawan sa ating
mga sinasambang diyos-diyusan:
salapi at kayamanan,
kapangyarihan at katanyagan,
lahat iiwan, tatalikuran makamit lamang.
Hindi ako kumibo noong una
kahit napupuno ng nag-aalimpuyo
na galit at ngitngit sa mga balitang sumisingit
mga VIP para sa kakaunting testing kit;
ngunit nang itong si Koko Pimentel
hindi nagpigil, di napasupil
ako ma'y kumulo ang dugo sa gigil.
Di niya inalintana mahawahan
mga karamihan ng sakit na di pa maunawaan
siya pa ngayon ang nangangatuwiran
sa kanyang kapabayaan at kapalaluan
pakiwari siya ay tama at kawawa
kaya sa kanya ang madla
nagalit halos siya ay isumpa.
Ito ang malungkot na katotohanan
nalantad sa isang iglap ng kapabayaan,
kahangalan at kayabangan
silang mga halal at makapangyarihan
sa taumbayan walang pakialam
sila na mismo ang guyang ginto
na ibig sila ang sambahin at paglingkuran!
Kaya nga aking mga kababayan
huwag kalilimutan mga taksil ng bayan
huwag nang ibalik sa luklukan
dahil ngayon pa lamang ay nagkasubukan
sa oras ng kagipitan tayo ay kanilang iniwan
hindi dapat pagkatiwalaan
sapagkat sila'y mga propetang bulaan.
Painting ng Pagbabalita ng Anghel kay Maria ng Pagsilang ni Hesus sa harapan ng Basilica ng Annunciation sa Nazareth, Israel. Larawan kuha ng may-akda, Mayo 2017.
Wala akong kahilig-hilig sa ano mang countdown ngunit kagabi sa aking pagninilay ng Dakilang Kapistahan ng Pagbabalita kay Maria ng Pagsilang ng Mesiyas, bigla ko naisip siyam na buwan na lamang mula ngayon ay Pasko na ng Pagsilang!
Kaya… Merry Christmas sa inyong lahat ngayon pa lamang!
Naisip ko tama lang isipin na natin ngayon siyam na buwan bago ang Pasko ng Pagsilang sa gitna ng lockdown sanhi ng COVID-19 upang magbago ating kamalayan sa Christmas countdown sapagkat higit pa sa petsa ang Disyembre 25 — ito ay isang kaganapan o “event” wika nga sa Inggles na nangangahulugan din ng “fulfillment” o kabuuan.
Ang Pasko ay si Hesu-Kristo, ang Diyos Anak na nagkatawang-tao!
Sinasabi na maraming binabago sa buhay ang COVID-19 at una na rito ang “back to basics” tulad ng paghuhugas ng mga kamay palagi, pagsasama-sama ng pamilya, at taimtim na pananalangin.
At isa sa mgapangunahing basic ng buhay ay ang Diyos na nagkatawang-tao, si Hesus. Dapat nating mapagtanto muli na bagaman dumating na si Hesus 2000 taon na nakalipas, patuloy pa rin siyang dumarating sa piling natin at muling darating sa wakas ng panahon.
Paglibot ng Santisimo Sakramento sa Parokya ni San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Bagbaguin, Santa Maria, Bulacan noong 22 Marso 2020. Larawan kuha ni Bb. Ria De Vera
Si Kristo ay dumating, dumarating, at darating sa tao na bukas ang puso at kalooban
Isang mabuting halimbawa ang ipinakita sa atin ng Mahal na Birheng Maria nang ibalita sa kanya ng Anghel Gabriel ang mabuting balita ng pagsilang niya kay Hesus na ating Tagapagligtas. Tatlong bagay ang ating nakikita rito.
Una ang kanyang pagiging bukas palagi sa salita at kalooban ng Diyos.
Kapag pingninilayan ko ang tagpong ito ng ebanghelyo ayon kay San Lukas, palagi ko naiisip na mas malamang nananalangin noon ang Birheng Maria.
Kaya paulit-ulit ko na sinasabi sa inyo mga ginigiliw ko, lalo na mga magulang na gamitin ang pagkakataong ito ng lockdown na ituro muli ang mga dasal na nakalimutan na ng mga bata. Higit sa lahat, magdasal ng sama-sama tulad ng pagrorosaryo. Mamyang alas-7:00 ng gabi, sabay-sabay tayo sa buong daigdig makiisa sa panawagan ni Papa Francisco na dasalin ang “Ama namin” kontra sa COVID-19.
Tanging sa pananalangin lamang natin mapapakinggang tunay ang kalooban ng Diyos sa atin.
Ikalawa ang pagtanggap ng Mahal na Birheng Maria sa salita at kalooban ng Diyos.
Hindi sasapat ang pananalangin lamang; kung hindi rin naman pumayag si Maria sa hiling ng Diyos na maging Ina ni Hesus, wala ring Pasko at hanggang ngayon marahil inaabangan pa natin ang Kristo.
Katulad ng Mahal na Birheng Maria, nawa tayo man ay pumayag at sumang-ayon sa hinihiling sa atin ng Diyos. Gaya ni Maria, masabi rin natin ang matamis na pananalita niya sa anghel matapos mapakinggan ang mabuting balita, “Maganap na nawa sa aking ang iyong mga sinabi” (Lk.1:38).
Ikatlo, pinangatawanan ni Maria ang kanyang “Oo” o “Opo” sa Panginoon.
Masdan mabuti ang huling talata ng ebanghelyo sa araw na ito: “At iniwan siya ng anghel” (Lk.1:39).
Tingnan ninyo ang lahat ng nasusulat sa Bagong Tipan: wala nang ibang pagkakataon na ang anghel ay nakipag-usap pa muli kay Maria! Kay San Jose at mga Apostol tulad ni San Pedro, ilang ulit nagpakita ang anghel upang liwanagin mga gawain nila. Nguni’t si Maria pagkaraan nito ay naiwan nang mag-isa sa kanyang matibay na pananampalataya sa Diyos!
Ang tanging sigurado lang si Maria ay ang pangalang ibibgay sa kanyang sanggol na Hesus. Maliban dito ay pawang pagtitiwala at pananalig ang umiral kay Maria na naging tapat sa pagsunod sa Diyos hanggang sa mapako sa Krus si Hesus. Kaya naman sa kanya unang nagpakita si Hesus na muling nabuhay sapagkat si Maria ang unang tunay at lubos na nanalig sa kanya, sa salita at sa gawa.
Ang lugar kung saan binati ng anghel si Maria na ngayon ay nasa ilalim ng Basilica ng Annunciation sa Nazareth. Larawan ay kuha ng may-akda, Mayo 2019.
Hamon ng Ebanghelyo
Nakakatuwa ang maraming balita ng mga taong nagsasakripisyo, naglalaan ng sarili para sa kapwa sa gitna ng pandemiyang COVID-19. Una na sa kanila ang mga tinaguriang frontliners na health workers – mga duktor, nars, med tech, at lahat ng naglilingkod sa mga pagamutan.
Kahapon ay naikuwento ko sa inyo isang tindero ng saging na hindi nagtaas ng presyo bilang tulong niya sa lockdown na umiiral.
Kaibayo naman nito ang napakalungkot at masakit – at nakakapikon! – na mga balita ng mga mapagsamantalang tao sa gitna ng krisis.
Unang-una na ang mga halal na upisyal ng bayan sampu ng kanilang mga pamilya na nagpa-VIP treatment para sa COVID testing. Gayun din iba pang upisyal ng bansa na hanggang ngayon ang inaatupag ay sariling kapakanan habang buong bayan ay nagdurusa.
Sila ang mga makabagong Haring Acaz na noon ay kunwari tumangging humingi ng palatandaan mula sa Diyos kung tunay niyang ililigtas ang Israel. Ang totoo, nakipag-alyansa na si Haring Acaz sa mga katabing bansa laban sa Assyria gayong kabilin-bilinan sa kanya ni Propeta Isaias na magtiwala sa Diyos lamang. Batid ng Diyos ang katotohanan at kunwari’y tiwala si Haring Acaz sa kanya!
Kahapon sinabi ng Punong Ministro ng Italya na siyang bagong sentro ng COVID-19 na lahat ay nagawa na nila sa lupang ibabaw laban sa pandemiyang ito; inamin niyang wala na silang maaring takbuhan ng tulong kungdi ang Diyos sa langit.
Alalahanin natin na hindi sapat ang basta manalangin.
Katulad ni Maria, atin nawa maisabuhay ang pagiging bukas palagi sa Diyos sa pakikinig sa kanyang tinig at higit sa lahat, pagsang-ayon dito at paninindigan sa pamamagitan ng ating mabubuting gawa.
Manalangin tayo:
Larawan kuha ni Bb. Anne Ramos, 22 Marso 2020, paglibot ng Santisimo Sakramento sa Parokya ni San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Bagbaguin, Santa Maria, Bulacan.
O Diyos Ama naming mapagmahal, kami ay nagpapasalamat sa pagbibigay mo sa amin sa iyong Anak, ang Panginoong Hesu-Kristo na siyang aming kaligtasan lalo’t higit sa panahong ito ng COVID-19.
Buksan po ninyo aming puso at kalooban katulad ni Maria upang manahan din sa amin si Hesus, gawin niyang luklukan ang aming mga puso at kalooban.
Bigyan mo rin kami ng tapang at pananampalataya tulad ni Mari upang lahat ng aming sasabihin at gagawin ay pawang nilalayon at kalooban ng Panginoong Hesus.
Maging matatag nawa kami tulad ni Maria na samahan si Hesus hanggang paanan ng Krus upang mapanindigan kanyang kalooban sa kapangyarihan ng Espiritu Santo. Amen.
Lawiswis ng Salita ni P. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Ika-23 ng Marso 2020
Larawan kuha ni Bb. Ria De Vera, Parokya ni San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Bagbaguin, Santa Maria, Bulacan (22 Marso 2020).
Kahapon aking ipinagdiwang
ika-limamput-limang taon
ng kapanganakan sa
gitna nitong lockdown.
Wala akong inaasahang pagdiriwang
o ano mang kasiyahan maski walang lockdown
dahil hindi ko naman nakagisnan
mga gayong handaan sa aking kaarawan.
Mula kabataan lagi akong nagka-countdown
kinagabihan ng bisperas ng aking kaarawan
at saka mananalangin, magpapasalamat
sa Poong Maykapal sa buhay niyang kaloob.
Subalit aaminin ko rin
napakalungkot sa akin
na dahil sa COVID-19
walang nakapiling sa misa at pananalangin.
Larawan kuha ni Bb. Ria De Vera, Parokya ni San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Bagbaguin, Santa Maria, Bulacan (22 Marso 2020).
Matapos Banal na Oras namin
Banal na Sakramento inilibot sa parokya namin
noon ko nadama lambing at pagmamahal
ng Panginoon Hesus tumawag sa akin.
Habang tangan kanyang sisidlan
aking binubulong mga panalangin
sa kawan kanyang pinagkatiwala sa akin
nawa maligtas sa sakit sanhi nitong COVID-19.
Pagkagaling Purok ng Fatima
ibig ko sanang maglakad sa Balutan
ngunit biglang pumatak mga ulan
anong ganda ng aking nasilayan!
Mahiwagang bahag-hari
tumambad sa aming harapan
busilak ng magagandang kulay
naghatid ng aliw at katuwaan.
Larawan kuha ni Bb. Anne Ramos, Parokya ni San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Bagbaguin, Santa Maria, Bulacan (22 Marso 2020).
Sa aking pagyuko,
bumukal sa aking puso
kakaibang katuwaan naramdaman
sadyang napaka hirap ilarawan.
Alam ninyo yung karanasan
minsan-minsan wala tayong alinlangan
sa isang iglap ating nalalaman katotohanan
ngunit kulang, walang sasapat na salita man lamang?
Tila baga sa aki'y nawika
waring nagpapaalala Panginoong Maylikha
tipan kanyang iniwan pagkaraan
ng delubyo at ulan:
Higit pa sa makulay na bahag-hari sa kalangitan
kahawig na larawan iniwan, katiyakang hindi tayo pababayaan
ating mamamasdan sa simbahan at tahanan
Krus pinagpakuan ni Hesus, sa atin nagtawid sa kaligtasan!
Parokya ni San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, 2019.
Photo by author, Parokya ni San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Bagbaguin, Santa Maria, Bulacan, Lent 2020.
Once again, our loving Father, I take the computer as my point of comparison for my prayer reflection on this second Friday of Lent.
Thank you in giving us this blessed season of Lent when we are able to “debug” our “internal hard drive” – the heart – to be cleansed of bugs and virus as well as unnecessary materials that slow us down to be holy and perfect like you.
Your words are very reassuring of how you want us to be “fixed” always, to be in good condition, filled with life and holiness.
Thus says the Lord God: “Do I indeed derive any pleasure from the death of a wicked?” says the Lord God. “Do I not rather rejoice when he turns from his evil way that he may live? Hear now, house of Israel: Is it my way that is unfair, or rather, are not your ways unfair? When someone virtuous man turns away from virtue to commit iniquity, and dies, it is because of the iniqity he committed that he must die. But if the wicked, trning from the wickedness he has committed, does what is right and just, he shall preserve his life; since he has turned away from all the sins that he committed, he shall surely live, he shall not die.”
Ezekiel 18:23, 25-28
Educate our hearts, O Lord.
Help us “surpass the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees” in Jesus Christ who have come to perfect the laws in himself, in love.
May your purifying love, sweet Jesus, cleanse us of our sins, delete our painful memories that continue to hold us back, preventing us to move forward and forgive others and especially our very selves.
Make us rejoice, O Lord, in your immense love and share it with others so that we may grow more in holiness in you. Amen.
40 Shades of Lent, Thursday after Ash Wednesday, 27 February 2020
Deuteronomy 30:15-20 +++ 0 +++ Luke 9:22-25
As we step forward into the second day of Lent, O Lord, you remind us today of your call to conversion which is actually a call to love and a call to life.
Forgive us, O Lord, for those times we have turned away from you in sins, thinking that is the path to life, the path to freedom, the path to fulfillment – only to find out later it is the path to destruction and death.
Moses said to the people: “Today I have set before you life and prosperity, death and doom. If you obey the commandments of the Lord, your God, which I enjoin on you today, loving him, and walking in his ways, and keeping his commandments, statutes and decrees, you will live and grow numerous, and the Lord, your God, will bless you in the land you are entering to occupy. 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.”
Deuteronomy 30:15-16, 19-20
Photo by author, our Parish altar candle, Lent 2019.
Help us, Jesus, “to deny ourselves, take up our crosses daily, and follow you” (Lk.9:23) in the path of conversion and fidelity to your everlasting covenant.
Make us realize that Lent is more than a season we yearly celebrate but a reality of life itself, a life so blessed in your coming to be one with us in our sufferings and struggles.
Give us the strength, dear Jesus, to renew your covenant with us, to always choose God, choose life.
May we also share your love and mercy, understanding and patience, kindness and compassion to our fellow pilgrims in this journey of life so that together in the end, we may all enter into the house of the Father in heaven. Amen.
Lawiswis Ng Salita ni P. Nicanor F. Lalog II, ika-26 ng Pebrero 2020
Mula sa Google.
Mierculés de ceniza
araw ng pag-aayuno at abstinensiya
ngunit tila wala nang nagpapahalaga
ni nakaka-alala.
Marahil ay nalimot na nga
at binalewala mga banal na gawain
tuwing cuaresma na nagpapa-alala
kahalgahan ng Diyos higit sa lahat.
Nagtitiis ng gutom
hindi pinapayagang sayaran
ng anumang laman ang tiyan
alang-alang sa kaganapan at kabanalan.
Kaya nga kung titingnan
pag-aayuno ay higit pa sa sakripisyo
na kung saan tiyan ay walang laman
upang magkapuwang Tagapagligtas ng tanan.
Ngayong cuaresma sana iyong mabuksan
puso at kalooban tingnan ano ba kanilang mga laman
baka naman mga wala nang kabuluhan
pabigat lamang sa kalooban.
Bigyan ng puwang upang makapanahan
sa ating puso at kalooban si Kristong maasahan
upang ngayon pa lamang maranasan
hatid ng Diyos na kaligtasan sa mga sa kanya'y mayroong puwang.
40 Shades of Lent, Ash Wednesday, 26 February 2020
Joel 2:12-18 + + + 2 Corinthians 5:20-6:2 + + + Matthew 6:1-6,16-18
From Google.
We begin today the Season of Lent, the 40 days of prayers and fasting, contrition and alms-giving in preparation for Easter Sunday. It is the only season in our liturgical calendar that starts on an ordinary day, Ash Wednesday when we are reminded of that basic truth in life we have always evaded: that we all die and go back to God.
“Remember man that dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.”
In this age of social media where many practically live in media making known to everyone everything happening to them from confinement to hospital to drinking coffee somewhere or simply saying “thank you” to someone just beside for a gift they have received, the more we need this blessed season to recover the essential realities in life like our true self and God.
So unlike Adam and Eve who went into hiding after their fall, modern men and women have shamelessly flaunt everything they think they have that actually indicate what they lack – depth and meaning, sense and respect.
Ash Wednesday enables us to find anew our bearings in life that must be centered in God, our very life and meaning of being and existence.
Life is a daily Lent.
From Google.
St. Benedict tells his followers in his Rule that “the life of a monk ought to be a continuous Lent”. And this is also very true for every Christian who follows Jesus Christ as Lord and Master.
Our life is a daily Exodus from darkness into light, from sin into grace, from failure into victory, from slavery into freedom when we experience the Paschal mystery of Jesus Christ even if we are not aware of it.
And the sooner we become aware of this reality, the better for us because that is when we find more meaning in life, the deeper our existence becomes.
Pope Francis tells us in his Lenten Message this year that “Jesus’ Pasch is not a past event; rather, through the power of the Holy Spirit it is ever present, enabling us to see and touch with faith the flesh of Christ in those who suffer.”
Life is all about God. This life we live is a sharing in his very life and the more are aware of this reality and link, the more we discover its beauty because we get to know God more in Jesus Christ who have come in flesh and blood for us.
“Brothers and sisters: We are ambassadors for Christ, as if God were appealing through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.”
2 Corinthians 5:20
To be reconciled to God is to be one in God in Christ Jesus through daily conversion. This we achieve through the many sacrifices and corporal and spiritual works of mercy during this season. Fact is, these pious practices are meant to be done even outside the Lenten season so we never lose sight that life is all about God, not us.
From Google.
Lent is a journey into our hearts, and into the heart of God, too!
In these 40 days of Lent, we try little by little to “rend our hearts, not our garments to return to the Lord our God” (Joel 2:13) through prayers and sacrifices. These are done not for others to see but primarily for us to find and meet God waiting for us always to experience his love and mercy, his life and his fullness right in our hearts.
Like in our gospels these past two weeks when we reflected on the “education of the heart”, it is the truth of the heart that is being worked out in Lent. It is our heart that must be strengthened and converted by all these religious practices of the season.
It is in our hearts where God dwells and resides though we often try to bury and disregard.
All these fasting and abstinence, confessions and alms-giving as well as other works of mercy are meant to create a space in our hearts for God and for others. Without the proper attitude in our hearts, everything then becomes a hypocrisy that neither deceives God nor fools humans.
See how Jesus in the gospel which is also a part of his Sermon on the Mount which we have been reflecting these past three Sundays of Ordinary Time have painstakingly reminded us to guard against pleasing humans than God.
Jesus said to his disciples: “Take care not to perform righteous deeds in order that people may see them; otherwise, you will have no recompense from your heavenly Father.”
Matthew 6:1
It is not that we are encouraged to give alms, pray and fast to get rewards from God that Jesus is telling us to practice these pieties but in order to be more focused with the Father. Ultimately, getting into heaven is the reason why Jesus came to save us, to assure us of this reward of being with the Father eternally. There is nothing else greater than that.
This is why Lent is all about God, not us.
From Google.
In our journey to him this season, both as an individual and as a community, Lent enables us to free ourselves from our strong individualistic drives within so we can truly experience conversion in the midst of a community of believers.
The more we see God, we see our sinful selves, and that is when we are converted and renewed in Christ.
This is always marked with a deep realization that we are not alone, that there are also others suffering with whom we must share with God’s rich mercy and love rather than keep these for ourselves alone.
That is what that ash on our forehead reminds us, of God who loves us all, dwelling within each one of us, renewing us, loving us, and most of all, forgiving us. Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul, Week VII-A, 23 February 2020
Leviticus 19:1-2, 17-18 ><)))*> 1 Corinthians 3:16-23 ><)))*> Matthew 5:38-48
Altar of the modern Minor Basilica of the Holy Trinity at Fatima, Portugal. Photo by Arch. Philip Santiago, 2017.
Jesus concludes his Sermon on the Mount this Sunday just in time for the start of Lent this coming Ash Wednesday. He taught us last Sunday that righteousness is not only measured by acts but most of all by the purity of the heart’s intentions that we call “education of the heart”.
Today Christ comes to the demands of charity and love, the fullness of the Laws in himself.
Jesus said to his disciples: “You have heard that it was said, An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. But I say to you, offer no resistance to one who is evil. When someone strikes you on your right cheek, turn the other one as well… You have heard that it was said, You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your heavenly Father..”
Matthew 5:38-39, 43-45
See again the Lord’s pattern in his preaching like last Sunday: a recall of the laws to show his adherence to them contrary to claims of his enemies, and then his infusion of his teaching that perfects the laws: “You have heard… But I say to you…”
Jesus focuses only on two laws today, that of revenge or “lex talionis” (from Latin talio for the word such) and that of hate for enemy which needs some clarifications.
Nowhere do we find in the Laws of Israel “to love your neighbor and hate your enemy”. Experts say Jesus must be citing a popular saying of his time in this part of his teaching. Besides, the Aramiac spoken by the Lord does not connote the harsh meaning we have today for the word “hate”. In short, Jesus is correcting here the norm among Jews of his time to “just love those who love us”.
This is why he adds this beautiful explanation with the most unique conclusion of all.
“For if you love those who love you, what recompense will you have? Do not the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brothers only, what is unusual about that? Do not the pagans do the same? So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
Matthew 5:46-48
Photo by Lorenzo Atienza, 12 June 2019, Malolos Cathedral.
A fraternity of humanity in the Father
Here we find a beautiful dimension of Jesus Christ’s assertion last week that he had come to fulfill the Laws: more than having a broader approach to the spirit of the laws, education of the heart leads us to see everyone as a brother and a sister.
No one is different. Every one is a family – a kin! which is the root of the word “kind”.
Being kind is more than being good as we say in Filipino, mabait or mabuti.
Being kind is treating the other person as a kin, a relative or family; someone who is not different from us. When we say “he is kind to me”, it means more than being good to me but treating me as a family, a brother or a sister – not as “another” or “iba sa akin” as we say in Filipino.
Photo by author, Mt. St. Paul, Baguio City, 03 February 2020.
This is the essence of our “Year of Inter-religious Dialogue, Ecumenism, and Indigenous Peoples” in preparation next year of our 500 years of Christianity in the country.
Everybody is included in that celebration as we reach out to peoples of other faith and beliefs as well as to the indigenous peoples whose forefathers were actually the first settlers of the country.
This is very important in any dialogue and relationship and partnerships including marriage: there must always be the acceptance of everyone in equal footing with same dignity as a person. It is from here we start that fullness of the Laws in Christ in love.
Human holiness as a reflection of God’s holiness in love
Love can only happen where there is equality and fairness. Love demands we are first of all at equal footing with each other. This is why Jesus became human like us: the Son of God became human to stand on equal footing with us that we cannot argue that he is greater because he is truly human, too, going through everything we have gone through except sin.
When he said that we offer our other cheek, to give our cloak, and go for another mile, he is not referring to criminal or penal codes but more into our humanity, that spirit of universal brotherhood so that even our oppressors and enemies come to realize within them that we are one, that we should be caring for one another, not hating and hurting each other.
Loving our enemies does not mean we let evil continue; loving our enemies means continuing to “love” perpetrators of evils until they realize we are brothers and sisters, keeping each other, caring for each other.
Loving our enemies is making them realize that there are nobody else here on earth for them except us – why fight and perish?
Yes, these are easier said than done. And admittedly, I must confess it is the most difficult part of the gospel, of being a Christ-ian. But it is something Jesus is asking us in the most personal manner.
From Google.
Let it be clear that Jesus is not asking us to behave with naiveté that we give in to injustice, evil, and violence but that we always be peacemakers, the blessed ones he said in his Beatitudes. In our fight for justice and peace, we fight with the moral persuasions of love which is the morality of Christ.
The American civil rights leader Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. had shown in our modern time that the Lord’s teachings are doable: we just have to be convinced and must truly believe in Jesus.
“Love is the most durable power in the world. This creative force is the most potent instrument available in mankind’s quest for peace and security.”
Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.
When we love truly in Jesus Christ, asserting what is true, what good, what is just, we make God truly present in the world. When that happens, the more we allow him to do his works of changing us within, of transforming us within. It is in our imperfect love that we make God present, the perfect I Am.
The Lord said to Moses, “Speak to the whole Israelite community and tell them: Be holy, for I, the Lord your God, am holy. Take no revenge and cherish no grudge against your people. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.”
Leviticus 19:1-2, 18
Photo by Dra. Mai B. Dela Peña, Santorini in Greece, 2016.
Hubris, our greatest temptation and sin
The Season of Lent is fast approaching us, set to start with Ash Wednesday this week. It is a season characterized by barrenness: no Gloria and Alleluias, no flowers, no decorations, no images to make us turn back to God again, our Lord and Master alone.
St. Paul reminds us today in our second reading that we are “God’s temple… that there is no need to boast of anyone including one’s self” (1Cor. 3:16, 21). Instead of embracing or holding on to anyone including one’s self, we have to embrace the scandal of the cross of Christ, that is, power in weakness, wisdom in what the world considers folly.
For the ancient Greeks as depicted in their epics, the greatest temptation and sin of man is hubris – the arrogant presumption that he is god, that he can do everything, he can have everything that he defies the gods.
Hubris is the sin of pride that has led everyone from Adam and Eve to all the powerful men and women of history into their downfall. It is absolute power crumbling absolutely, always tragically.
In his Sermon on the Mount where we heard many of the Lord’s teachings this whole month of February, Jesus shows us the path away from hubris, his path of love and holiness in the Father. Let us heed his calls, give his teachings a try and a chance to be fulfilled in us.
lordmychef.com 