The “amazing” rock formations at Yehliu Geopark in Taiwan: one may see so many images for as long one’s eyes and minds are open. Photo by the author, 30 January 2019.
The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul
Wednesday, 06 February 2019, Week IV, Year I
Hebrews 12:4-7, 11-15///Mark 6:1-6
How amazing O Lord Jesus Christ is the word “amazed” used today in the gospel.
When you came to your native synagogue at Nazareth, the people were amazed or “astonished” with your speech that immediately they doubted where you have learned so many things when you were just one of them, a son of Joseph the carpenter.
As a result O Lord, you were “amazed at their lack of faith” in you that you did not perform many miracles among them.
To be amazed is a feeling borne out of being surprised that could either lead one to see more or see less. Being amazed is never enough. Amazement leads to more wonder and curiosity, to deeper conviction and faith, to more love and appreciation. But when amazement leads to doubts and skepticism even unbelief, then, we were not really amazed but simply surprised because we simply felt but did not see at all.
Teach us Lord Jesus Christ today not to be contented with being surprised and amazed with you and other things. Open our eyes and our hearts to see more of the bigger picture, more of the details of every scene that comes in our lives, be it good or not so good like those moments we have to go through many trials and difficulties that have disciplined and made us into better persons in you (Heb.12:5-7). Amen. Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Parokya ng San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Gov. F. Halili Ave., Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria, Bulacan.
Neptune, Uranus, and Pluto visible to the naked eye at dawn for those willing to go through the darkness of the night. Photo by GMA-7’s Mr. Raffy Tima at Sampaloc Cove in Subic, Zambales, 20 January 2019. Used with permission.
The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul
Monday, 04 February 2019, Week IV, Year I
Hebrews 11:32-40///Mark 5:1-20
Thank you very much Lord God Almighty for this beautiful Monday. So often, we get the blues on Mondays and yet even if our days get bluer, even darker than ever, there is always that glimmer of hope that you give us, O Lord.
Like the author of the Letter to the Hebrews today, we recall not only the heroes of Old Testament but our very own trying moments too when we chose to bear all the pain and hurts and sufferings because we believe in you, we trust in you.
Thank you very much O Lord God Almighty in sending us your son Jesus Christ at the nick of time when everything is out of control, when everything seemed to be dead… as if there is no more way out because it is all over as it seemed to be. It is something very close with that scene at the Gerasenes where “a man had been dwelling among the tombs, and no one could restrain him any longer, even with a chain. In fact, he had frequently been bound with shackles and chains, but the chains had been pulled apart by him and the shackles smashed, and no one was strong enough to subdue him. Night and day among the tombs and on the hillsides he was always crying out and bruising himself with stones” (Mk.5:3- 5).
O Lord, you know how many times we have gone through such situations when we felt a no way out, imprisoned and possessed by sin and evil, sickness and disease, so many problems and difficult situations when all we can do is hide in tombs and cry at night!
Teach us today to always wait for that flicker of hope in Christ our light of salvation. Most of all, teach us to value life over sickness and death, persons over possessions, and above everything else, Jesus Christ our Lord and God. Amen.Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Parokya ng San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Gov. F. Halili Ave., Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria, Bulacan.
14 Giotto Presentation of Christ in the Temple 1310s Fresco North transept, Lower Church, San Francesco, Assisi….Web Gallery Of Art
The Lord Is My Chef Special Recipe, 02 February 2019
Feast of the Presentation of the Lord at the Temple
Malachi 3:1-4//Hebrews 2:14-18//Luke 2:22-40
Here’s good news to those who have not yet removed their Christmas decors: today’s Feast of the Presentation of the Lord is the actual end of Christmas Season when the Child Jesus was presented at the Temple in Jerusalem 40 days after Epiphany. According to this tradition, it is also on this day when the Vatican removes its giant Christmas tree at the St. Peter’s Square. And so, after this day and you still have your Christmas tree and other decors hanging, then you must be a certified slob or simply one who refuses to move on to meet Jesus Christ.
Today’s feast has many names because it has many facets. This was first celebrated in Jerusalem in the early year 300 as “the Feast of Presentation at the Temple” based on the Gospel account of St. Luke we have heard earlier. The Syrians adopted the feast 300 years later, reaching the seat of the Eastern Church in Constantinople where it came to be known as “the Encounter” or Ypapante in Greek, emphasizing the “meeting” of the Savior and the two elderly people, Simeon and Ana. At about that same time in Rome, Pope Sergius I adapted the same feast from Jerusalem with a procession of lighted candles to show Jesus as the “light for revelation” to Simeon and everyone. When it reached France in the year 800, the French adapted it further with a new designation as “Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary” or“Chandeleur” which came to be known as “Candlemass” in English-speaking countries and “Candelaria” in Spain and her colonies like the Philippines. Over a thousand years later in 1969 during the Vatican II reform of the liturgy, the Church decreed it to be known in its original name, Feast of the Presentation of the Lord.
That’s the beauty of our Catholic faith when certain feasts evolved depending on the various emphases of the many periods in history yet remaining true to its very essence who is Jesus Christ our Savior and Son of God. Anyone who truly meets or encounters Jesus is always enlightened by Him to meet Him among other peoples. Recall how we started the celebration with the paschal candle also at the entry to our church. It is the same paschal candle we have lighted and blessed during the Easter Vigil last year to symbolize the risen Christ lighting our path of salvation. Today in our procession, the light of Candlemass announces that paschal candle: inasmuch as we celebrate today the presentation of Jesus at the Temple by His parents, 33 years later or a little more than two months from now, Jesus would be back in Jerusalem to offer – or present – Himself to the Father in fulfilling His pasch or Passion, Death, and Resurrection. This is the meaning of Simeon’s beautiful canticle we all sing at bedtime: “Now, Master, you may let your servant go in peace, according to your word, for my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in sight of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and glory for your people Israel” (Lk. 2:29-32).
Jesus is the light of the nations – lumen gentium – or light of men or peoples because He enables us to see the face of every human being as a brother and a sister in Him. How sad that this human face has so often been disfigured, trying to hide or even remove the face of Christ in whose image we have all been created. Imagine how Simeon and Anna were able to recognize Christ among the many infants being offered that day at the Temple in Jerusalem because both have always been opened with God. We can never meet God unless we also meet others as brothers and sisters. Remember during our Simbang Gabi how we reflected about true holiness through St. Joseph who always found God in everything so that upon learning Mary’s pregnancy, he decided to divorce her silently so as not to put her into shame. But upon learning from an angel in a dream the circumstances about her pregnancy, St. Joseph took her as wife and Christmas happened with him standing as the Lord’s legal father. When Joseph saw God in Mary, Jesus came; when he saw Jesus coming, Joseph accepted Mary. That is the light of Candlemass when we are able to see God in each one’s face – most especially among our senior citizens.
In a society where old age is seen like a disease with ads telling everyone to “arrest ageing”, giving so much premium on being young and looking young so glorified in media, we all fail to see the significance of this stage in life. Worst, we abhor it, refusing to talk about it as if it is a curse. Wrong! Actually, most of the people God called for His mission in the Old Testament were mostly old people starting with Noah and Abraham as well as Moses who all performed great wonders for Him in their advanced ages! Today’s gospel is no exception as it invites us to see Christ among our elderly brethren in the church and community, especially in the family whom we often take for granted. See how St. Joseph and Mary shared Jesus with Simeon and Anna. In 1999, St. John Paul wrote a letter to his fellow elders, saying that “The line separating life and death runs through our communities and moves inexorably nearer to each of us. If life is a pilgrimage to towards our heavenly home, then old age is the most natural time to look towards the threshold of eternity (14).”
Today’s Feast of the Presentation of the Lord at the Temple reveals to us the mystery of every encounter with God is often preceded with an encounter with another person, even strangers. Every encounter with God is often verified by our encounter with others because through them, we experience that “invisible line” that seems to bind all of us as one big family. And this is most true when we encounter the elderly people, especially those who have “aged gracefully” who often confirm with us the presence of God in our lives which they have already started to experience. Every encounter with an elderly is an encounter with Jesus Christ because it is a prelude to our final encounter with Him in eternity. And all these encounters are made possible by the grace and light only of Jesus Christ. Remember: the moment we are able to recognize the face of the person next to us as the face of a brother and sister in Jesus Christ, then we are sure that darkness has ended and day has begun. Amen.Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Parokya ng San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Gov. F. Halili Ave., Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria, Bulacan.
Friday, 25 January 2019, Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul
Acts 22:3-16///Mark 16:15-18
Today we thank you O Lord for your gift of St. Paul whom you converted from being a persecutor of the early Christians to becoming your “Thirteenth Apostle” who stands at equal footing with St. Peter in the growth of your Church.
What made him truly great and effective as an apostle, O Jesus, is not his brilliant rhetoric and sophisticated strategies but his willingness to suffer so much for you and your gospel. He had shown us the essence of discipleship which is to live one’s life completely in you alone – “I have been crucified with Christ; yet I live, no longer I, but Christ lives in me; insofar as I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who has loved me and given himself up for me” (Gal. 2:20).
St. Paul was able to accomplish this by showing us true conversion that we always misunderstand as something like changing into another person completely like turning around a shirt, from being proud and violent to becoming meek, or from being so shy to becoming daring or being impulsive to almost timid. While his letters teem with so many gems in teaching us how he was converted into loving you until the end, his imposing images with his sword remain his most beautiful symbol of conversion.
All his life as his images rightly portray him everywhere, he had kept that sword: when still called Saul, he had that sword to express his zeal and fire for the Law that he persecuted Christians; but on the way to Damascus, you called him and after a period of prayers and studies, he picked up again his sword to preach your gospel with the same fire and zeal that eventually in the end, he willingly accepted death by the sword in your name. From the sword that inflicted pain on others, it became a sword that slew his defects until later at the end of his life in Rome, it caused his martyrdom.
Help me Lord to keep my sword – my weaknesses and shortcomings – not for their own sake but because that’s me, that’s my personality. Help me to change my ways not my heart by using this same sword to slay the defects within me without extinguishing that fire for you and your gospel. Let these defects I have remind me always like St. Paul that “whatever gains I had, these I have come to consider a loss because of Christ… everything as a loss because of the supreme good of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord” (Phil 3:7-8). Let me fight, O Lord, for your gospel, for your Spirit as I fight pride and other sins within me. Amen. Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Parokya ng San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Gov. F. Halili Ave., Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria, Bulacan.
*Photo from Google, statue of St. Paul in front of the Major Basilica of St. Paul Outside-the- Walls, Rome.
Sometimes Lord I envy your apostles, the people who have lived during your time and have actually met you, heard you, and most of all touched you.
Of course it is a useless and even a non-sense wishful thinking or daydreaming because as the author of the Letter to the Hebrews explains to us today, you have not really left us. In your great sacrifice on the Cross as our High Priest, you have become present with us always.
“The main point of what has been said is this: we have such a high priest, who has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, a minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle that the Lord, not man, set up” (Heb.8:1-2).
And that is the challenge for us today: rather than imagining we were present during your time, what we must always think and reflect upon is making you present today, like your disciples who looked for boats where you preached and healed people. Now more than ever as you sit at the right hand of the Father, every moment is your presence of love and mercy, healing and growing.
Make us realize O Lord Jesus that you are communication yourself, your giving of self in love on the Cross is the most perfect communication of all. More than an expression of your thoughts and feelings for us, Lord, your crucifixion became the most profound level of your communication, actualizing your love and mercy for us even today.
Help us communicate your love and mercy to others not only in words but most of all in deeds. Give us the same grace you have given St. Francis de Sales in ensuring our every communication make you present. Amen. Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Parokya ng San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Gov. F. Halili Ave., Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria, Bulacan.
Lord Jesus Christ, your gospel today is so simple and so meaningful, making me wonder why would you even bother to enter the synagogue when you are the Lord of Sabbath, the Son of God, our Eternal High Priest in the line of Melchizedek?
How wonderful is that imagery of you always entering the synagogue to remind us of something deeper than praying and obeying your laws and that is the need to enter more the person of God. To enter the synagogue like you Jesus is to enter the Father and be one with Him in His love and mercy.
So sad that too often, we enter only your thoughts and calling, your words and your laws that have all come to replace your very Person within us. We have worshiped things about you but never yourself! No wonder so many of us choose to remain silent than answer your question “Is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath than to evil, to save life rather than destroy it?” (Mk.3:4) when facing real life situations between what we believe and what we feel as a person.
To enter the synagogue is to first of all enter you, God – and be one with you in your love and mercy. When we fail to enter you God our Father, then we also fail to enter our very selves that we are detached from others and from life itself. To enter God is to enter our hearts and to feel one with others, especially the sick and the suffering. To enter God is to be like you, Jesus, our priest forever in the line of Melchizedek who is full of holiness and peace. Amen. Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Parokya ng San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Gov. F. Halili Ave., Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria, Bulacan.
Loving Father, lately I was again hurting deep inside, feeling alone and forgotten, even taken for granted but, after praying and remembering the immense love of your Son Jesus for me, for us all, I felt so consoled because I am no longer alone. I felt relieved and lighter at how your Son Jesus who is sinless bore all our sins by suffering and dying on the Cross to renew forever our relationship with you, opening for us a fount of constant joy and comfort within us.
“In the days when he was in the Flesh, he offered prayers and supplications with loud cries and tears to the one who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered; and when he was made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him” (Heb.5:7-8).
Remind us always to remember this great truth, of how you have made Christ your Son as our sole mediator, designating Him our eternal High Priest who offered for us the most perfect sacrifice for our salvation. Make us your new piece of cloth, your new wineskin so others may experience your refreshing presence in the world today where many of us have become technical rather than personal, hiding in traditions and rituals long renewed in Jesus Christ, always asking “Why do the disciples of John and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” (Mk.2:18).
Give us the courage O Lord like St. Agnes to be firm in our faith, vibrant in our hope in your presence among us in Christ. Refresh us in your abiding love so we may be renewed as a people, as disciples. Amen.Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Parokya ng San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Gov. F. Halili Ave., Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria, Bulacan.
Photo above by the author, Dominican Hill, Baguio City, 18 January 2019.
Thursday after Epiphany of the Lord, 10 January 2019
1 John 4:19-5:4///Luke 4:14-22
Every nation on earth shall adore you, O God our loving Father because you are just and holy!
Through your Son Jesus Christ, you call us everyday to be like you, holy. And that is, to always love you through one another for“whoever loves God must also love his brother and sister” (1Jn.4:19).
Holiness is being filled with you, O God, “the Spirit of the Lord is upon me” (Lk.4:18). Holiness is perfecting our imperfect love by loving one another. That is your only vocation, your only calling to us all: to be holy like you.
Help to us to sustain your call by always being close to you in prayer through Jesus who showed us that the “strength of the vocation lies in prayer” (Pope Francis in 2016). Teach us to always come home to you like Jesus in the gospel today, to always immerse in your words. Most of all, like Jesus Christ “the word who became flesh”, make us your true prophets who do not merely speak your words but fulfill them in every hearing, making them happen, realized and actualized in our witnessing in love. AMEN.Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Parokya ng San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Gov. F. Halili Ave., Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria, Bulacan.
*Photo by Mr. Raffy Tima of GMA7 News during Yolanda coverage in Ormoc City, 2014. Used with permission.
Tuesday after Epiphany of the Lord, 08 January 2019
1 John 4:7-10///Mark 6:34-44
“In this is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as expiation for our sins” (1 Jn. 4:10).
Today as we move on to new directions and new beginnings this 2019 on this first full week of work and school – when we claim to be back to “normal” in life – you remind us also Lord Jesus Christ of the nature of love: that everything is because of you because “God is love.”
As we return to the usual grind of life, teach us always Lord to feel with the people like you when you were moved with pity upon seeing the vast crowd following you. Most of all, teach us Lord that love is being a food myself for others to receive, to share with. Yes, this is precisely what you meant when you told your disciples in the wilderness to “give the crowd some food yourselves” (Mk.6:37). Whenever we share food and drinks to others, when we offer them to partake of our meals, we actually share ourselves with them. That is the meaning of your sacred meal, the Eucharist. And that is why such meal is also called agape, the highest form of love when nothing is expected in return.
Give us the grace O Lord this New Year to be more loving, more caring with others by giving more of ourselves to others. AMEN. Fr.Nicanor F. Lalog II, Parokya ng San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Gov. F. Halili Ave., Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria, Bulacan.
Quiet Storm by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, 02 January 2019
I come from the fireworks capital of the country, Bocaue in Bulacan about 25 kms. north of Manila. Unlike most of my town mates, I have always advocated for the total ban of manufacture and sale of fireworks and firecrackers long before I became a priest. My first reason is because I have seen firsthand how many lives were lost in the manufacture and use of these products meant to bring good luck and more life. My second reason is simply because it is a pagan practice. What an irony it is so widespread in our country considered to be the only Christian nation in this part of the world! The best way to welcome every New Year is to pray in silence to thank God for all the graces of the past year and to ask Him to keep us anew and to guide us through 2019.
My third reason why fireworks and firecrackers must be banned is the fact these destroy and damage our already fragile environment. While many are rejoicing that firecracker injuries are down by 68% this New Year celebrations, air quality almost everywhere remained dismal and even hazardous especially for the sick and elderly people. Coming home to my parish after midnight of January 01, I thought my staff members have forgotten to turn on the lights outside the church or worst, there was a brownout because our whole neighborhood was so dark. It turned out that thick smokes from the fireworks and firecrackers lit earlier to brighten our lives this 2019 have actually darkened our whole surroundings! The scene was very surreal that spoke a lot of our inconsistencies and stupidity as a nation and most of all, as Christians. How crazy that we as Christians are not only imitating the pagans in welcoming the New Year in the hope to better our lives when in fact we are destroying life itself in damaging the environment!
Jesus Christ was born more than 2000 years ago during the darkest night of the year at winter primarily to be our light. This is what Christmas reminds us at the end of each year as we usher in the new one that we have no other light but Christ alone. And the light of Christ shines not from any bright star or comet up in the sky but right from the faces and hearts of every believer to whom Jesus is born within. This is the daily challenge we all face that we must let the light of Christ shine in us so that people are illumined by His light not by our selfish, bloated ego projected by our supposed to be bright ideas. How sad that even in the Church and among us priests, what we really project is our own light not Christ’s. We cannot have the humility of John the Baptizer to admit that we are not the Christ because like during the first Christmas, so many modern day Caesars and Herods continue to claim these days that they are the Messiah or Savior of the world, even in the name of Jesus.
To be a light of Christ in the world requires us His disciples to first withdraw from the limelight and go back to Jesus in prayer and meditations. We are now living our faith in a mass-mediated culture but it does not mean we have to immerse into social media and other modern forms of communication. We in the Church, both the clergy and the lay people have to realize and understand that while these modern communications are a gift from God, we do not have to allow it to overwhelm us that eventually, unknown to us, become our guide replacing Jesus Christ. What a pity that many churches today look like conference halls with giant TV screens everywhere, tarpaulins covering every wall even the altar that people could no longer feel the sense of the sacred. See how some priests have become as entertainers even clowns with all the jokes and antics without delivering any homily at all. Or act like marketing agents using power points to deliver homilies without any point at all. There are churches that have become ballrooms in total disregard of the sanctity of the place complete with all kinds of lights for dramatic effects with giant ceiling fans hovering above that do not necessarily complement the interiors. People are rightly complaining of the commercialization of some churches that have become to look like a giant birthday cake than a house of worship due to so many decorations that are mostly cheap and kitschy. Worst of all are those churches that have become like a perya (fair) with all gimmicks and publicity stunts that fool people by heightening their feeling levels only to get more collections but never to share Jesus Christ.
What a shame! People come to church for Jesus, only Jesus and always Jesus. And they would always come because that is something natural within each of us, even unbelievers. The Church does not need public relations as advertisements for media mileage because we offer only Jesus Christ alive within each one of us. I have always believed that there are only two essential things needed to share Jesus Christ and let His light shine in a parish: meaningful liturgy and true charity and service to everyone. Our dignified worship and celebrations of the sacraments along with our loving service and kindness to everyone who comes to our parish are more than enough to be the presence of Christ, to beam His light. Stop making the church and everything in it a spectacle or a show we call palabas because Christ came in silent simplicity of the darkness of the night to be felt more deep inside by the heart not to be feasted on by the eyes. The late German-born thinker Eugen Rosenstock-Huessy who converted into Christianity from the Jewish faith after World War II said that “A Christian is a person to whom Christ speaks. The body of Christ is those who listen to him.” How beautiful! All we really need is Jesus Christ alone, not so much of things and gadgets, gimmicks and publicity stunts for He alone is our light who gives life. The beloved disciple said it so well last Christmas Day, “through him was life, and this life was the light of the human race; the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (Jn.1:4-5). Bring out that light of Christ in you this New Year!
*Photo by Dra. Mai Dela Pena, from a church in Sydney, Australia many Christmas ago. Used with permission.
