1 Timothy 4:12-16 ><)))*> ><)))*> ><)))*> Luke 7:36-50
Photo by Ms. Jo Villafuerte, Atok, Benguet, 01 September 2019.
It has been raining for quite some time, Lord, dampening our moods. Some of us have been trying hard cheering ourselves up despite the rains and gloomy skies that have gotten inside inside us too!
Thank you very much for your soothing words of encouragement through St. Paul, sweet Jesus.
Beloved: Let no one have contempt for your youth, but set an example for those who believe, in speech, conduct, love, faith, and purity… Do not neglect the gift you have, which was conferred on you through the prophetic word with the imposition of hands of the presbyterate.
1 Timothy 4:12, 14
There are times Lord Jesus when we just hit it so low, when everything does not seem to be going in the right directions, when we feel even under attack.
How reassuring are your words through St. Paul reminding us of our giftedness and the gifts we have to offer you and others.
More reassuring were the words you spoke about that “sinful woman” who came to anoint you with oil and perfume as you dined with a certain Pharisee.
“Do you see this woman? When I entered your house, you did not give me water for my feet, but she has bathed them with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You did not give me a kiss, but she has not ceased kissing my feel since the time I entered. You did not anoint my head with oil, but she anointed my feet with ointment. So I tell you, her may sins have been forgiven; hence, she has shown great love. But the one to whom little is forgiven, loves little.”
Luke 7:44-47
So nice of you to remind us today to keep on doing what we think and feel as good and beautiful, to see ourselves still blessed despite our weaknesses and sins like that woman who has so much goodness to share like the oil and perfume she poured on you, Lord.
We pray for those going through hard times these days due to many problems not only with others but with their very selves – those feeling so guilty with their sins, feeling bad with themselves due to failures, or just having the “blues”.
We pray for those having difficulties with their loved ones who are sick and simply misunderstood even unwelcomed. Those having problems with family members who refuse to admit their faults for all the problems their family is going through.
Lastly we pray for those of us misunderstood and boxed or labelled. O Lord, help us bring out the goodness and giftedness we have inside to fill our homes, offices and schools with your fragrance, sparkle, and presence. Amen.
Colossians 3:1-11 ><)))*> ><)))*> ><)))*> Luke 6:20-26
Petra in Jordan. Photo by author, May 2019.
Lord Jesus Christ, today your apostle Paul calls us to “Think of what is above, not of what is on earth” (Col. 3: 2).
Then, in the gospel also today, you raised your eyes toward your disciples and began your “sermon on the plain” (Lk. 6:20)
What is up there, Lord Jesus, that we have to look up, that you have to raise your eyes looking at us?
When I was young, I was so afraid of heights but I have always wanted to be on top to see the beautiful sights that I did my best climbing trees and walls, even rooftops.
Now I am older, I still yearn to be on top to enjoy the sights but too weak to climb even the stairs.
All I can do now Lord is raise my eyes up to the skies, to treetops and mountains to enjoy the moments of looking up, and most of all, wondering at all your wonderful blessings to me — right here in my heart to find you and see you looking up at me!
What a beautiful lesson today of looking up, of seeing ourselves exalted by you despite our weaknesses and sinfulness. What a wonderful teaching about our new stature as your brothers and sisters, O Jesus, redeemed and loved. What a way of teaching us of our new life in you, dearest Christ and of the need to live accordingly as Christians!
So many times, we look down at ourselves, Lord, forgetting our blessedness in being poor and hungry, weeping and rejected in the name of your love and mercy.
Teach us to realise and value our being blessed in you so that our lives and actions may conform to your beatitudes. Amen.
Colossians 1:1-8 ><)))*> ><)))*> ><)))*> Luke 4:38-44
Photo by Ms. Jo Villafuerte, Atok, Benguet, 01 September 2019.
Heavenly Father, I always thank you in my prayers. Early in life, I have been told to always say “thank you” and I have diligently kept that, always thanking people especially you for your goodness to me.
But, now I wonder if I have been “thanking” so much without being truly grateful?
There are “thank you’s” that come from lips and there are “thank you’s” that come from the heart which is what gratitude is all about. So often, I say “thank you” out of habit without really looking into the heart, the goodness of the one doing or giving me a favor. Too often, I thank for the thing or favor, not the person.
“We always give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, for we have heard of your faith in Christ Jess and the love that you have for all the holy ones because of the hope reserved for you in heaven.”
Colossians 1:3-5
How lovely it is to dwell on St. Paul’s expression of his gratitude, his thanksgiving that is clearly directed to persons – including you, O God!
Like the people of Capernaum where you have healed Simon’s mother-in-law and others, they saw your person to thank that they begged you to stay in their town.
Remind me always, Lord, that whenever I say “thank you”, I may first try to feel the heart and experience the goodness of the person doing me good for a grateful heart always sees the loving face. Amen.
Tuesday, Memorial of St. Gregory the Great, 03 September 2019
1 Thessalonians 5:1-6, 9-11 ><)))*> ><)))*> Luke 4:31-37
Photo by Jo Villafuerte, Atok, Benguet, 31 August 2019.
“For God did not destine us for wrath, but to gain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep we may live together with him. Therefore, encourage one another and build one another up, as indeed you do.”
1 Thessalonians 5:9-11
Dearest God our Father: Yesterday your words moved me to pray for consolation, to accompany those “alone”. Today, your words call me to “encourage one another and build up one another.”
How beautiful and wonderful indeed are your words, so powerful and fulfilling, indicating your very presence!
In this highly competitive world, it is not enough that we encourage people but also to build them up. From the Latin words “en” and “cor”, literally meaning to hearten or strengthen the heart, there are times that encouragement without community can be misleading and even destructive too.
Encouragement is going within every person, right into one’s heart like in your Son’s exorcism of a man possessed by “unclean demon” who “left the man without harming him” (Lk.4:35). From the heart, true encouragement moves outward to touch others’ hearts to form a community. Every time you heal the sick, Lord, people are moved to build up their families and community.
Encouragement is not pushing people to do and achieve things. Encouragement is bringing others closer to you through Jesus Christ our Lord. It is actually Jesus Christ who encourages for it is him alone who touches hearts and moves them to build up a person, families, and communities.
Like your servant St. Gregory the Great he encouraged not only Christians but also pagans to work for unity and to pursue so many efforts that built up not only persons and families, nations and tribes, monasteries and churches but most of all, an entire civilization now slowly turning away from you.
Fill us with more courage and wisdom, holiness and patience in encouraging one another to build up communities as we await for your joyful coming again. Amen.
While praying over today’s gospel during the week, I came across this photo of Ms. Rosa Parks in my Facebook feed saying something like, “Rosa Parks made a stand for her rights by refusing to give up her seat in a bus 60 years ago.”
I love the caption and the play of words of the photo that convey the same message of our Sunday gospel: it is not where we seat but where we stand that matters most.
On a sabbath, Jesus went to dine at the home of one of the leading Pharisees, and the people there were observing him carefully. He told a parable to those who had been invited, noticing how they were choosing the places of honor at the table.
Luke 14:1, 7
For the next three Sundays beginning today while Jesus resolutely decided to journey to Jerusalem, he will be teaching us with some “table talks” as he spoke about the heavenly banquets as expressions of God’s vast ocean of mercy where everyone is welcomed. But, more than lessons on table manners and etiquette, Jesus is also teaching us of finding our own places in his kingdom here on earth where everybody is welcomed just like in heaven.
Key to appreciating our gospel today is found in the first reading:
My child, conduct your affairs with humility, and you will be loved more than a giver of gifts. Humble yourself the more, the greater you are, and you will find favor with God.
Sirach 3:17-18
From Google.
Remember that very central in the teaching of Jesus is the need to be like a child when he would always remind us that “unless you become like a child, you will never inherit the kingdom of heaven.” Being like a child is being humble and obedient, being open to learning new things that are all necessary in building relationships that lead to communion with God and with others. Heaven is the perfect communion of God and everyone but it has to start here on earth among us.
Jesus lived at a time when society and people were so fragmented, just like now. Everybody feels being entitled to heaven and on earth, to every position and honor everywhere even in the church.
While at a sabbath dinner hosted by a Pharisee, Jesus took the occasion to teach the people of the need to be humble to be accepted anywhere. According to St. Teresa of Avila, humility is walking in truth. Humility is being real!
“For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
Luke 14:11
Photo by Jim Marpa, 2018.
Jesus is telling us that for his grace and mercy to truly work on us, we have to be really who we are. In this age when life has been replaced with lifestyle and people have usurped the power and authority of God as well as the natural order of things, everybody feels entitled to everything insisting on their rights forgetting their responsibilities. Homosexuality is not a sin; what is sinful are homosexual acts. The challenge is for the person to accept his/her true self as a beloved child of God doing his/her best to be the bestest person. No need to alter one’s body nor be somebody else he/she is not. Homosexuality is not about insisting on something just for the sake of insisting or making a statement for one’s self regardless of others like in the use of toilets. We have a Tagalog expression that perfectly captures the Lord’s lesson, “lumagay ka sa dapat mong kalagyan”. Loosely translated, it means simply be where you are supposed to be.
Last Wednesday we celebrated the memorial of St. Augustine, one of the most famous and colorful saints of the Church. His life is a gospel in itself, showing us that nobody is too late to change and be a better person. Most of all, nothing is too late for God. Like St. Augustine, we must first accept who we are, be humble for our weaknesses for it is only when we accept that we start to grow and everything follows like acceptance by others. How can we expect others to accept us if we cannot accept first our very selves? This is the most beautiful mark of humility of children that make them so irresistible to adults: they have no guile, all-natural and no plasticity or synthetic fronts to be loved and appreciated.
More than table manners and etiquette, Jesus is teaching us that if we can be humble and accept who we are, we can definitely find our place in the kingdom of God, here on earth and in heaven. God loves us so much he has a plan for each on of us if we play our roles wholeheartedly. We will never experience his mercy and grace unless we become humble.
Photo by Reuters, 2018.
“Rather, when you hold a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind; blessed indeed will you be because of their inability to repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”
Luke 14:13-14
To further ensure the lesson of his parable about each of us having a place in his kingdom here on earth, Jesus reminds us too while in the context of his sabbath dinner that for us to be able to establish a more humane society, we have to guard against stereotypes of peoples that we tend to box them into categories.
Jesus is asking us to radically change our prevailing social mores, suggesting a very different value-system in the here-and-now kingdom of God. Far from the cries of the communists for a classless society, Jesus tells us to see the value of every person rather than focusing on the few powerful, wealthy, and influential people we always deal with in exchange of so many favors.
It is a patronage system so prevalent everywhere especially in politics and in our social relationships like the compradazo system of getting ninong and ninang who are rich and famous to get influence and other perks and rewards. It is so unfortunate that some clergymen are so guilty of this that the Church’s credibility has eroded so much for the mistakes and sins of a few.
In this manner of patronage system, the poor and the weak are always left out to the margins, forgotten and even disregarded. What kind of Christianity do we have when we are so concerned with Christmas carols and counting the days before Christmas and be oblivious to the plight of the farmers and fishermen?
Lorenzo Atienza, June 2019.
What Jesus is telling us today is that those who have less in life should have more of God because, truly in the end, they are the ones who shall be exalted!
In these parable and admonition by Jesus, St. Luke our guide these Sundays is not only giving us an advice on how to prepare for the end times but also on how to live according to the Lord’s vision of a just and humane society in our imperfect world.
We in the Church play a very vital role in bringing about this change by witnessing the gospel that often brings about a reversal of fortunes in the end.
The author of the Letter to the Hebrews reminds us that the ultimate goal of our Christian life is communion with God made possible by Christ’s offering of himself on the Cross. Do our Sunday Mass celebrations and Parish set-ups witness to the gospel values of a just and a humane city of God here on earth?
Do we really have a choice with you? Of course, you are not forcing us to choose you because you gave us freedom, your most wonderful gift expressing your love for us. You never impose yourself on us and, we are always free to choose you or not!
But, how can we not choose you, O God? You are the only good, the ultimate good. And you never fail to give us the best, nothing less.
Joshua addressed all the people: “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: I gave you a land which you had not tilled and cities which you had not built, to dwell in; you have eaten of vineyards and olive groves which you did not plant.”
Joshua 24:2, 13
Problem with us, Lord, is our failure to accept and own your gifts. We keep on looking for something else when you are giving us the very best. We always insist on what we want, on our choices we think to be good but not really good. But, because we are free, you allow us to disregard your gifts and choose something else – and still bless us!
And so we pray today that you teach us to both accept and own your gifts to us, Lord.
It is not enough that we accept gifts but we must also own them to be truly a blessing that can be shared and given to others.
Material and spiritual blessings, life lessons and life-blows, and all the other good gifts from you Lord are easy to accept but unless we own them too as ours, they get wasted.
Anything received but not owned becomes useless because it does not prosper nor grow nor mature and bear fruits. Be it our very selves, our country, our jobs, our family and friends. Everything, especially you, Lord, whom we always receive but never shared because we never truly have you in us. Let us own you, Lord! Amen.
Lawiswis ng Salita ni P. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Ika-13 ng Agosto 2019
Larawan mula sa GMA News.
Bata pa lamang ako hindi ko na gusto ang buwan ng Agosto bago pa mauso tawag nila dito na buwan ng mga multo.
Nasa grade two ako nagtataka na ako bakit tuwing Agosto mabagal takbo ang panahon?
Ito ang bumaon sa murang isipan ko noon kaya hanggang ngayon hirap ako na umahon na tila baga nilalamon at nilalason ng karanasan kahapon.
Nagkataon lang ba nitong ilang taon bakit nagkagayon takbo ng buhay ko sa ngayon tuwing Agosto nagkakapatong-patong mga hindi mabubuting sitwasyon, lihis sa mga nilalayon?
Parang katulad ng lagay ng panahon mapanglaw ang kalangitan bumubuhos malakas na ulan parang walang katapusan katulad ng aking mga luha sa mga tao na di ko malaman kung kaibigan.
Kung minsan maiisip ko hindi lang buwan ng multo ang Agosto kungdi pati ng impakto at demonyo dahil kung titingnan ko ano ba ito, matapos lunurin tayo ng ulan saka naman sisikat matinding init ng araw?!
Iyan daw ang dahilan kaya maraming sakit sa katawan hanggang kasu-kasuan lagay ng panahon hindi maintindihan sala sa init, sala sa lamig parang mga tao sa paligid walang paninindigan, kay daling mang-iwan.
Bawat araw ng ating buhay ay pagpapalang kaloob ng Diyos nating mabuting-loob ngunit kung minsa'y nakakasama ng loob kapag tila lahat ay nakataob at ika'y nakasubsob.
Aking lang inaasahan at pinanaligan pagkatapos ng tag-ulan, doon mga dahon ay luntian sa bawat unos na dumaraan, nasusubok katatagan ng halaman mabalian man ng sanga o malagasan ng bunga naiiiba na siya at lalong gumaganda sapagka't sa bawat pagkakataon at panahon, Diyos ay naroon.
Larawan ay kuha ni G. Howie Severino ng GMA News sa Taal, Batangas, Nobyembre 2018.
One of the series I am following at Netflix is “Money Heist”. It is very suspenseful because unlike other crime series, its plot is unpredictable and spiced with amusing conversations. Like one episode when the lead character called Professor repeatedly mentioned to the Police Inspector during their first date of how he is not a “Basic Instinct” material, referring to Michael Douglas who starred in the movie with Sharon Stone. I felt the line anachronistic because the Professor is so young in the series to make a point reference to the 1992 erotic thriller. But it was a very good line expressing fully what the scene was all about, of a man and a woman following their basic instinct in having sex without really knowing each other so well, especially the Inspector who is a battered wife newly divorced from her husband – also a police officer- and in a relationship with her sister!
Now you see what I have been telling you… but, what I really wish to share with you is an archaic term related with “basic instinct” that Jesus used in the gospel today:
Jesus said to his disciples: “Gird your loins and light your lamps and be like servants who await their master’s return from a wedding, ready to open immediately when he comes and knocks. Blessed are those servants whom the master finds vigilant on his arrival. Amen, I say to you, he will gird himself, have the servants recline at table, and proceed to wait on them.”
Luke 12:35-37
From Google.
Loins refer to that part of our body between the lowest ribs and hipbones, the pelvic area where the genitals are also located. It is believed to be the source of erotic or procreative powers we refer to as “basic instinct” or simply guts as in gut feeling.
During the time of our Lord, men wore long clothes and they have to “gird their loins” in order to move freely when walking and working. Eventually, men ceased wearing long clothes with no need to gird their loins but still have to tighten their pants, sometimes with a belt, to move freely as well. And even if there were no more loins to gird, the expression continued to be used to mean being on guard, being ready for any emergency and situation like a military attack.
This is the whole point of the Lord’s teaching this Sunday: we have to be on guard and ready always for his coming. In fact, anything can happen instantly that could also be life-changing. Girding one’s loins, being on guard and ready for the Lord’s coming requires active faith on our part, an inclination towards God already present in us.
There are actually three parables in our gospel this Sunday but we are given the option to use only the one we have heard which is the second set. In this parable, Jesus used the imagery of being on guard like the “faithful servants waiting for their master’s arrival from a wedding feast” to indicate his coming in the Eucharistic celebrations. Every Mass is our dress rehearsal for our entrance into heaven but we always take it for granted, finding all the reasons and excuses to skip especially the Sunday Mass.
Altar table of the Church of Dominus Flevit (the Lord Wept) with the old Jerusalem at the background. Photo by author, April 2017.
The Mass is our expression of our readiness to enter heaven as we joyfully proclaim after every consecration of the bread and wine that “Christ will come again.” But, even those who regularly come for the Sunday Mass do not take it seriously, not truly present with “full and conscious participation” enunciated by Vatican II 50 years ago.
Notice how in the third parable Jesus mentioned “faithful and prudent stewards” (Lk.12:42) to emphasize the need for servants and ministers at the altar to be more prepared than anyone else for his coming. So true! How can the people pay attention to the scriptures being proclaimed if the lector’s voice is very soft or incomprehensible? How can the congregation thank God for speaking to them anew if the lector’s face and disposition are so gloomy and even horrific?
And this refers more to the priest as presider of the Mass! Much is expected from us priests not only by the congregation but also by the Lord himself! How can the people feel Christ’s coming in every Mass when the priest himself does not meet the Lord, when he is not prepared physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually? What a shame when people complain that they hardly feel the Divine in every Eucharistic celebration! Always we find two extremes in many parishes where at one end are lethargic priests lacking the energy to lead their people into heaven during the Mass while at the other side are the showbiz priests so in love with themselves, with their voice and showmanship that the Eucharist has become a variety show.
Jesus reminds us in all his parables this Sunday that we priests and ministers at his altar of the Sacrifice of the Mass are his servants waiting for him, our Lord. We are never the focus but Jesus Christ alone! Let us not steal that honor from him.
Pyramids of Egypt, May 2019.
Speaking of stealing, Jesus added towards the end of his second parable on the need to gird one’s loins for his coming because it is like the coming of the thief at night. We must always be prepared because nobody knows when the thief strikes. And we find elucidations of this from the first and second readings we have earlier heard that speak about disposition for God.
From the Book of Wisdom, we are reminded how the liberation of the Israelites – their Exodus from Egypt – happened in the darkness of the night. Every celebration of the Mass is an active waiting for the Lord’s coming that also calls for an active faith wherein we are disposed or inclined towards God already with us. Such was the attitude of the Israelites leading to their Exodus from Egypt when Moses told them of God’s plan that every day, they were raring to go.
In the Letter to the Hebrews, the author beautifully expressed that “Faith is the realization of what is hoped for and evidence of things not seen” (Heb.11:1). He gives us Abraham as the perfect example of a truly faithful one to the Lord, always ready for his coming. In three instances, the author of the Letter to the Hebrews showed how Abraham had the perfect disposition of actively waiting for God’s fulfillment of his promises to him: journeying from Ur to the Promised Land he did not know where; being the father of nations as numerous as the stars of the sky when he and Sarah were still childless at their age of 90; and, in obediently offering Isaac to God.
Girding our loins, being on guard also means having the discipline of waiting for God. It is not enough to wait; we need discipline, we need to follow certain things to stay focused. As we have mentioned earlier, the loins is the region of our basic instinct. So many opportunities have been missed by many men and women simply because of small mistakes, of being caught off-guard in simple instances when everything snaps in an instant when they followed the lower basic instinct, forgetting the higher ideals.
Abraham girded his loins so well that he never wavered in his faith in God until his promises were fulfilled because he always had that disposition for him. This Sunday, Jesus is reminding us to be patient in waiting for him, to have the discipline to stay focused with him and our dreams and aspirations in life for he will fulfill them in his time. It is very important that like Abraham and the faithful servants in his parable, we are always present when he comes to seize his blessings! A blessed week ahead with you! Amen.
Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord, 06 August 2019
Daniel 7:9-10, 13-14 >< }}}*> 2 Peter 1:16-19 >< }}}*> Luke 9:28-36
Photo by Atty. Grace Polaris Rivas-Beron, top of Mt. Sinai, May 2019.
Lord Jesus Christ, two Sundays ago you have taught us how to pray, welcoming us into your inner self on having the right attitude in prayer, of being formed like you, obedient unto death to the will of the Father in heaven.
Today as we celebrate your feast of Transfiguration, once again through St. Luke, you welcome us into your prayer moment to be transformed like you on Mount Tabor.
Jesus took Peter, John, and James and went up the mountain to pray. While he was praying, his face changed in appearance and his clothing became dazzling white. And behold, two men were conversing with him, Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory and spoke of his exodus that he was going to accomplish in Jerusalem.
Luke 9:28-31
Thank you for bringing us along like your three privileged apostles up on the mountain to pray. Thank you in enabling us to pray with you, in you, and like you. Indeed, every prayer is a moment of transfiguration and transformation.
Most of all, every prayer period is also an exodus, our passing over from darkness to light, from sinfulness to grace, from slavery to freedom.
On the evening of your Resurrection as St. Luke recorded, you walked with two disciples going home to Emmaus, explaining to them how the “Law and the Prophets” spoke about your own pasch or passover and exodus on the Cross.
There on top of the mountain during your transfiguration while you were praying, Moses and Elijah, representing the Law and the Prophets, came to discuss with you your own exodus of Passion, Death, and Resurrection.
When we are so hard pressed with our life, with our pains and hurts, when nobody seem to care, when everybody seem to forget us, join us in our mountain of prayerful transfiguration.
When we feel giving up, when things are breaking apart in our life whether at home or office or school, when we feel hopeless even in the Church, in our Parish and among our parishioners, when we see you dear Jesus “dead” on the Cross, let us hold on to that revelation on Mt. Tabor that you are “the chosen Son” of the Father so we may listen to you always to deny our selves, take up our crosses and follow you.
May we stop seeking some “cleverly devised myths” (1Pt.1:16) towards Transfiguration for there is no other way but through your Cross that makes us your indwelling and presence. Let your face shine on us today to bring more light and hope in this world darkened by sin. Amen.
Happy 13th Anniversary to our Parish of St. John Evangelist, 06 August 2019.
Exodus 14:21-15:1 >< }}}*> >< }}}*> Matthew 12:46-50
Holy Family Chapel, Sacred Heart Retreat and Spirituality Center, Novaliches, July 2017.
Thrice in our readings today, O loving Father, we heard “stretching of hands” to impart your power and grace. What a beautiful gesture so that today, we also stretch our hands in praising and thanking you God for all your love and kindness.
Stretching of hands is a gesture we usually do to you and others when we are pleading for something or when we express surrender or submission. We also stretch our hands over people and things to show our power or your power passing through us.
Moses stretched out his hand over the sea ,and the Lord swept the sea with a strong east wind throughout the night and so turned it into dry land…
Then the Lord told Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea, that the water may flow back to the Egyptians, upon their chariots and their charioteers.”
Exodus 14:21, 26
In our gospel, when your Son our Lord Jesus Christ identified his family, he used the same gesture to show his grace and blessing of making us his family, making us one in him and with him.
And stretching his hand toward his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my heavenly Father is my brother, my sister, my mother.”
Matthew 12:49-50
Keep us always in the protection and care of your powerful and loving hands, Lord, that are always stretched upon the sick especially the bed-ridden and seriously ill, to those who have to work far from their loved ones, those who have to deal and handle with delicate matters and situations.
Continue also to stretch your hands upon us, Lord, to shower us with your blessings especially the fresh graduates, for the newly weds, for those working hard for their families, for those pursuing their stars and dreams with passion and determination, and for those getting tired and weak with their many burdens and load on their shoulders.
Help us also, Lord, to be like you on the Cross when you stretched your hands to express your deep love and mercy for each one of us. Give us that power and grace to stretch our hands in your name to be your instruments of change, healing and joy to everyone especially those in pain and sufferings. Amen.
Holy Family Chapel, Sacred Heart Retreat and Spirituality Center, Novaliches, July 2017.
lordmychef.com 