Only God can quench our thirst

Quiet Storm by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
The Seven Last Words, 05 April 2023

*Photo by author, Chapel of the Holy Family, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, Quezon City, 2014.*

After this, aware that everything was now finished, in order that the scripture might be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I thirst.” There was a vessel filled with common wine. So they put a sponge soaked in win on a sprig of hyssop and put it up to his mouth.
John 19:28-29

This is one of the remarkable scenes in the fourth gospel, our Lord Jesus Christ feeling thirsty, the second time as recorded by John. The first was in the town of Sychar in Samaria when Jesus sat by Jacob’s well at noon and asked a Samaritan woman who came to draw water, “Give me a drink” (Jn. 4:7). A beautiful conversation followed between Jesus who was thirsty and the Samaritan woman, thirsting for God, for love and mercy.

Unlike being hungry for food which we can always bear because its feeling is localized in the stomach that we can easily forego by catching some sleep, thirst is different. When we are thirsty, we feel our whole body sapped dry even to our fingertips that we feel so weak, even affecting our mental faculties. That is why, thirst means more than physical but something deeper that concerns our very soul and being.

Here we find Jesus truly human, thirsting not just for water like us but most of all, for love and attention.

See also that for John, water is one of the most significant signs of Jesus Christ. His first “sign” as John would call his miracles was at the wedding feast at Cana when Jesus turned water into wine. After that wedding, Nicodemus came to Jesus at night where he first mentioned the need to be born in water and spirit (Jn. 3:5). It was after that night when Jesus went to Sychar and asked water from the Samaritan woman with whome he identified himself as “the living water (Jn. 4:10)”.

Here again is Jesus thirsty, but not just asking for water.

How foolish are we in responding to him like the Roman soldiers who gave him an ordinary wine. Worst, there are times we give him tepid, or perhaps turbid water that tastes so awful like that ordinary wine offered by the Romans at Golgotha.

Here is our living water, Jesus Christ who promised that “whoever drinks the water I shall give will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (Jn. 4:14) thirsting for us, for our love and attention because he alone can quench our thirsts in life.

Jesus is the wife and mother who thirsts for the love and affection of her unfaithful husband and wayward son or daughter who think only of themselves.

Jesus is the husband and father who thirsts for simple calls and expressions of concern from his family those back home while toiling abroad or in the high seas as an OFW or thirsting for understanding and care from those around him when he forgets so many things due to Alzheimer’s or paralyzed by a stroke or handicap.

Jesus is the young man or woman who thirsts for time and presence of a sibling or parents who could not find meaning and directions in life despite the money, clothes and gadgets the world offers.

Jesus is the person nearest to you thirsting for warmth and company, or simply a smile or a friendly gaze that assures him or her that “you are welcomed”.

Let us not be like those Roman soldiers or that Samaritan woman looking for material water to give Jesus present in every person we meet. Many times, the best water is found inside our hearts, deep in our souls where Jesus dwells with his abounding love and mercy, kindness and forgiveness. Let us thirst more for Jesus for he alone can quench our thirsts!

Let us pray:

Dearest Lord Jesus,
forgive me
when I quench my thirst
with things the world offers
that often leave me 
more thirsty,
more dry,
more empty;
let me have more of YOU
to share more of YOU
our living water 
who quenches our
deepest thirsts
for life's meaning
and fulfillment.
Amen.

Our sins, our relationships

Quiet Storm by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
The Seven Last Words, 01 April 2023

When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified him and the criminals there, one on his right, the other on his left. Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do.”
Luke 23:33-34

Such is “the breadth, and length, and depth, and height of Christ’s love for us all” (Eph. 3:18-19) that right upon His crucifixion, Jesus begged God for our forgiveness. And that was not only for those who nailed Him on the cross on that Good Friday but also for us today who continue to crucify Him whenever we destroy our relationships.

In the Jewish thought, “to know” is not just of the mind but of the heart because to know is to have or enter into a relationship with others. Hence, Jesus begged first for our forgiveness when crucified because if there is something we must “know” above all is the fact that we are brothers and sisters in Him, one family in God our Father.

Every time there is a breakdown in our relationships, when we destroy our ties with one another, that is when we sin and know not what we do. And crucify Jesus anew.

We sin and know not what we do when we hurt those dearest to us – our mom and dad, sisters and brothers, relatives and friends – when we speak harsh words to them, calling them names, denigrating their persons as things.

We sin and know not what we do when we betray the trust of those with whom we promised to love forever, keep their secrets and protect them like your husband or wife, your children, your BFF, your student, your ward.

We sin and know not what we do when we lose hope in persons around us, choosing to do them evil because we thought they could no longer change for better, that they could never learn and overcome life’s pains and tragedies, that they could no longer get well from an illness or, sadly, because they are old and dying.

We sin and know not what we do when we cheat on those true to us, when we hide from those open to us, when we back stab those who believe and support us.

We sin and know not what we do when we abuse and use those people we are supposed to serve and protect, when we regard persons as objects to be possessed even if we do not know them personally.

Is there anyone whom you might have hurt in words or in deeds which you might not be aware of?

Who are the people who cause you pains and sufferings, who do not know what they are doing?

Let us pray:

Lord Jesus Christ,
I am sorry in crucifying You again,
when I know not what I am doing
like hurting the people You give and send me
to experience your love and mercy,
your trust and confidence
your kindness and fidelity;
I pray also for those who make me
suffer physically and emotionally,
those who do not know what they are doing;
help us build again 
our many broken relationships;
make us humble and true;
let us believe in Your love
expressed by our family and friends
and by everyone who cares for us.
Amen.

Photo above is a sculpture called *“Love”* by Ukrainian artist Alexander Milov he created in 2015 showing two adults after a disagreement sitting with their back to each other while their inner child in both of them wanting to connect. A beautiful expression of how we are all interconnected and related as brothers and sisters. This Holy Week, let us mend and heal our broken relationships, let the inner child within us come out and simply say “I am sorry” or “I forgive you” and most especially, “I love you”. Photo from reddit.com. See also our blog, https://lordmychef.com/2023/01/14/the-human-child-mystery-of-gods-love/.

On being kind

40 Shades of Lent by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Friday in the Second Week of Lent, 10 March 2023
Genesis 37:3-4, 12-13, 17-28   >>> + <<<   Matthew 21:33-43, 45-46

*Photo by author, Anvaya Cove, Bataan, January 2023.*

Being kind is more than being good. The word “kind” is from the old English kin – as in kindred or kinsfolk or same family, clan, or tribe. A kind person is someone who treats you as a kin, a family and not as an alien or a stranger. “Hindi ka naman iba sa amin” as we would say in Tagalog (“You are not different from us”). It is perhaps the most Christian word in the English language as it refers to our belonging to one big family with God as our Father and everyone a brother and a sister in Christ.

Unfortunately, kindness has become a rarity in our world today that has become so unkind where we feel so “different” as in “iba” in Tagalog even right in our own family like in the experience of Joseph in our first reading today.

They said to one another: “Here comes the master dreamer! Come on, let us kill him and throw him into one of the cisterns here; we could say that a wild beast devoured him. We shall then see what comes of his dreams.”
Genesis 37:19-20

Most often, it is jealousy that makes people unkind like with the elder brothers of Joseph. This is expressed in our name-calling as we refuse to acknowledge someone as our kin by giving them aliases like Joseph referred to by his brothers as “master dreamer”. We Filipinos have all kinds of aliases and codes for the family members we hate like “bruha”, “demonyo”, “Hudas” or even “Hitler”. The more mean, the better, without us realizing how our jealousies expressed in name-calling deteriorate into sinister plots against our own kin. It is the most unkindest kind of unkindness demonstrated in the selling of Joseph:

Judah said to his brothers, “What is to be gained by killing our brother and concealing his blood? Rather, let us sell him to these Ishmaelites, instead of doing away with him ourselves. After all, he is our brother, our own flesh.” His brothers agreed. They sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver. (Gen.37:26-28).
Genesis 37:26-28

*Photo by author, Infanta, Quezon, 04 March 2023.*

This is the tragedy now going on in our family when we call our parents and siblings as “mom” and “dad”, “kuya” and “ate” yet at the same time, disrespect them in our thoughts and deeds! See the absurdity of Judah in concluding, “after all, he is our brother, our own flesh” that they sold him! He miserably missed the whole point that if Joseph were their brother and own flesh, all the more he should have cared and saved him even from being sold to slavery right there!

This is the curse of many fraternities in our universities. Even worst than Judah, there are some fratmen blinded by their rites and rituals of initiations that they have forgotten or have become oblivious to the meaning of brotherhood or fraternity. The most incomprehensible of all is with every death happening among their brods, still the same story of silence and cowardice happening with all attempts to hide their heinous crimes.

It is a tragedy we also participate daily in our homes when we regard our family as kin yet at the same time disregard all kindness and respect due to our parents and brothers and sisters, or to husband and wife. What an unkind world we have when we cheat on one another with our infidelity and betrayals, when we stab each other with harsh words of suspicions without bases at all as well as our never ending sumbatan.

Jesus himself shows us in his parable of the wicked tenants the face of this “unkindest kind of being unkind” springing not only from jealousy but from our self-centeredness and self-righteousness.

“when the tenants saw the son, they said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and acquire his inheritance.’ They seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him.”
Matthew 21:38-39

What an unkind world when after recognizing one another as a kindred, instead of being kind and respectful, of having malasakit, like the wicked tenants we use our ties and kinships as bases for murderous and other evil plots against those we know and closest to us.

It is disheartening and frustrating when our social media are filled with moral aspersions as well as downright accusations so harsh that could sometimes get into one’s nerves, hurting our sensibilities. True, charity is never imposed and respect has to be earned but kindness is demanded of us because being kind is the hallmark of a person’s goodness.

Our responsorial psalm captures the reason why we must always be kind, “Remember the marvels the Lord has done.” And here lies the warning to those unkind, “When the Lord called down a famine on the land and ruined the crop that sustained them, he sent a man before them, Joseph, sold as a slave” (Ps. 105:16-17).

The story of Joseph the Dreamer never fails to move us of how in the end, his brothers wept in shame upon meeting him as their brother whom they have sold into Egypt. As Jesus said too to the chief priests and Pharisees of his time, “Did you never read in the Scriptures: the stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; by the Lord has this been done, and it is wonderful in our eyes?” (Mt.21:42).

This season of Lent, let us try to bring back kindness in our hearts, in our words, in our thoughts and in our deeds even if others are not kind to us. Sometimes, kindness has a way of teaching us the importance of this virtue that may not be always be so kind at all. Amen.

We are all part-ners in Christ

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Thursday in the Fifth Week of Ordinary Time, Year I, 09 February 2023
Genesis 2:18-25 <*(((>< <*(((>< + ><)))*> ><)))*> Mark 7:24-30

*Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, 2017.*

Indeed, O God, as you have said
in the beginning, "It is not good for the man
to be alone" (Genesis 2:18) and yet,
so often in life, we choose to be alone,
by ourselves, thinking only of our own
good and personal interest.
Very often we forget that you have
created us all as "suitable partner"
of one another.

May we always keep in mind this 
fundamental truth and reality
that each one of us is a part-ner
of another; that every person we meet
in this life is your gift.

May we always keep that sense of awe
and joy, of excitement in meeting,
in discovering the other person as
my part-ner, somebody like me
created in your image and likeness,
with same equal dignity taken from the 
ribs to show we are at par with everyone;
most of all, like the ribs, may we take care
of each one of us,
protect each one from harm
in the same manner the ribs
safely secure the vital organs
of the body like heart, lungs, 
kidneys, and liver.

Like that Syro-Phoenician woman
who begged Jesus to heal 
her possessed daughter,
may we always come to you
O Lord certain of the fact
that every person is loved
by you for we too 
came from you
and shall return to you.
Amen.

Jopay, kumusta ka na?

Lawiswis Ng Salita ni P. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Ika-13 ng Enero 2023

Kumusta?
Paborito nating pagbati
pero ano nga ba ating minimithi?
Mausisa kalagayan ng binabati,
madama kanyang pighati kung sakali,
O sadyang bukambibig lang
dahil wala tayong masabi?

Minsan sa aking 
pagpakumpisal ng mga kabataan,
kinumusta ko isang dalagita
at sukat bigla na lamang 
siyang naluha!
Sa pag-asang mapipigil 
kanyang pag-iyak, muli ko siyang
kinamusta nang kami'y nakaupo na
ngunit, bagkus ay lalong bumaha 
kanyang mga luha!
Sa pagitan ng mga hikbi
at pagpahid ng kanyang mga mata
siya ay nangingiti, nagsusuri 
kung bakit nga siya umiiyak?
Akala ko'y nasisiraan ng bait
o may dala-dalang hapdi at pait
mula sa malalim na sugat o sakit
gaya ng ibang nakausap ko na;
ilang sandali pa nang siya ay
mahimasmasan sa pag-iyak
inamin niya sa akin
bakit siya umiiyak 
at ito ang kanyang sinabi: 
wala naman kasi sa kanya
ay nangangamusta
o nagaalala 
kung napano na siya!

Nang sandaling iyon
nagbalik sa aking alaala
mga pagkakataon
ako ay kinakamusta
ng iba maski sa simpleng text
na wala akong pagpapahalaga
sa pagaakala
wala lang silang masabi;
iniiwan ko sila sa "seen zone"
at sasagutin lang kung
may oras at pagkakataon
di alintana nilaan nila
sa akin na panahon;
pinakamainam nga palang
pagbati itong "kumusta ka"
gaya ng sa kanta na "Jopay,
kumusta ka na?" kasi
 nagpapahayag ito
ng pagkakandili at pagmamahal
na salat na salat ngayon sa mundo!
Sa pangungumusta
maraming iba pang Jopay
ang nabubuhayan, nabibigyan
 ng pag-asa na sila naaalala
kahit tila nalimot na.

Sabi nga sa kanta
"Jopay, kumusta ka na?"
kasi maski mukha tayong masaya
 mabibigat ating mga dala-dala
at kadalasan ang tanging nagpapagaan
 ay ang simpleng pagbati ng
Kumusta?

*Tingnang ating
tula ng nakaraan,
"Jopay"
https://lordmychef.com/2022/12/29/jopay/

*Larawan kuha ni G. John Ryan Jacob, Isla ng Liputan, Meycauayan, Bulacan, 10 Enero 2023.*

Come in order to see

The Lord Is My Chef Christmas Recipe by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Wednesday in the Christmas Weekday, 04 January 2023
1 John 3:7-10     ><]]]]'> + ><]]]]'> + ><]]]]'>     John 1:35-42

*Photo by Mr. Ryan John Jacob, 02 January 2023 in Paco, Obando, Bulacan.*

I have always wondered, Lord Jesus,
what have you shown Andrew and his
companion that day you invited them
to "come and see"?

He said to them, “Come, and you will see.” So they went and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day. It was about four in the afternoon. Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, was one of the two who heard John and followed Jesus. He first found his own brother Simon and told him, “We have found the Messiah,” which is translated Christ.
John 1:39-41

Everyday, you also invite me 
to come so that I will see you but
rarely do I really COME to experience
you; rarely do I come to feel you;
rarely do I come to listen to you;
rarely do I come to just sit beside you
nor watch the day go by; forgive me,
Jesus for always refusing to come to you
especially when you are down and sad,
sick and aching inside, when you are
boxed by people, imprisoned in wrongful
thoughts, or simply because you are poor,
not like me and my friends who are cool
and hip and modern...

That is why, many times,
I also fail to SEE you in person,
Lord Jesus that I do not see your smiles 
and your tears; I do not see
your sufferings and pains; 
I do not see your point of view; 
I cannot see your reasons and your
situations nor plight; most of all,
I fail to see your love and trust in me
because I keep on spending more time
coming to see the make believe world of media.

What did Andrew and companion
see that whole day, Jesus?
It must be a lot of you!
A lot of you in yourself,
a lot of you in themselves,
and a lot of you in others
as well as in life and in nature!

Dearest Lord Jesus,
bless me and let me 
this 2023 to always come
and see where you stay
so that at the end of each day
I may also say or exclaim like Andrew
"We have found the Messiah"!
Amen.

Christmas is family

The Lord Is My Chef Christmas Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Friday in the Octave of Christmas, Feast of the Holy Family, 30 December 2022
Sirach 3:2-6, 12-14 ><}}}}*> Colossians 3:12-21 ><}}}}*> Matthew 2:13-15, 19-23

*Photo by Ms. Janine Lloren (2015), Duomo Cathedral in Florence, Italy depicting the harsh conditions the Holy Family faced in Egypt while escaping Herod.*

God our loving Father,
thank you for sending us
your Son Jesus through the
husband and wife of 
Joseph and Mary;
as we celebrate today
the feast of the Holy Family
of Jesus, Mary and Joseph,
you remind us too that
Christmas is a living story
that happens daily when you
come first in every family.

Help us imitate the Holy Family
in getting closer with you
and with one another in their
flight to Egypt when they faced
so much sufferings and hardships;
how sad that as families face
so many attacks these days from 
within and from the outside,
family members have failed to 
realize that our flights to Egypt 
when we have to go through trials
and difficulties are occasions 
to get closer to Jesus and one another; 
teach us to go back to you in prayer as
a family, to bring back our altars
of sacred images and icons now 
replaced by the giant flatscreen TV;
enable us to reach out more to one
another, to hug more, to converse more
than to spend the whole day before the
computer screen and cellphone
or with business partners and colleagues
or friends and classmates.

Most of all,
as Ben Sirach and St. Paul
reminded us in our first two readings
today, make us realize that our
relationships in the family 
mirror our relationship 
with you, O God, our Father;
let all our love and charity,
kindness and care begin at home
because that is where Christ
comes first to us!  Amen.

Christmas is being grateful

The Lord Is My Chef Simbang Gabi Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Thursday in the Fourth Week of Advent, Seventh Day of Christmas Novena, 22 December 2022
1 Samuel 1:24-28 ><000'> + ><000'> + ><000'> Luke 1:46-56

Christmas is a call for us to be grateful. Only a grateful heart can truly be emptied and be filled with Jesus Christ. A heart that truly praises God is first of all a grateful heart. Mary’s song, the Magnificat is a both a song of thanksgiving and gratitude to God for all his wondrous blessings to her and to mankind in general.

Yesterday we heard how Mary hastily went to visit her cousin Elizabeth in Judea to share with her the Good News she had received, our Lord Jesus Christ Himself. After being praised by Elizabeth, Mary responded today not by praising her cousin as we would always do; she instead praised and thanked God.

Again, we hear today wonderful stories of women – not just two like yesterday but three! – who were so blessed by God, thanking and praising God for blessing them with sons: Hannah in the first reading for her son Samuel who became one of Israel’s greatest prophet, Mary pregnant with Jesus Christ while visiting her cousin Elizabeth who was sixth month pregnant with John.

See how Hannah as a sign of her gratitude to God through the priest Eli who promised to pray for her to conceive a son gave Samuel at a very young age to serve in the Lord’s altar. The same is true with Mary in singing the Magnificat when she reaffirmed her fiat to God, of being his ever-faithful handmaid doing his will always.

“My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my savior. For he has looked upon his lowly servant. From this day all generations will call me blessed: the Almighty has done great things for me, and holy is his Name.”
Luke 1:46-49

*Photo by Mr. John Ryan Jacob, 20 December 2022, Paco, Obando, Bulacan.*

Gratitude is a virtue that works great wonders for everyone because it makes us live in the present moment. A grateful person is one who lives in the here and now, not in the past nor in the future. Look at the structure of Mary’s Magnificat that is in the present tense.

When our heart is filled with gratitude, we have no time to complain and nurse old wounds and pains in the past but simply learn from them and move on with life. Living in the present moment means making things happen, working hard on our dreams and aspirations to become a reality, exactly what the Magnificat is telling us! How are we going to continue God’s wondrous works like Mary? By remaining faithful to Jesus Christ all the way to his Cross on Good Friday.

People who refuse to be grateful in life are busy wishful thinking of how things should be or would be, always looking at the future as a fantasy that would just pop out of nowhere instead of working for it in the present moment.

Unknown to many, gratitude is the fount of all good vibes in life, enabling us to be more positive than negative. It helps us accept the reality we are into – whether it is good or bad.

And that is when we start growing and maturing as persons when we learn to accept our present realities.

Most of all, gratitude disposes us to more blessings and grace from God because a thankful heart is always the one that seeks relationships, with God and with others. See that Mary did not sing her Magnificat while with the angel Gabriel after announcing the birth of Christ nor after he had left, right in the comforts of her home. Mary went in haste to Judea to celebrate and thank God’s gifts with her cousin Elizabeth.

People who go out of their way to say thank you, 
to express gratitude are person-oriented. 
They see more the persons 
not just the kind deeds done to them 
and beautiful gifts given them.

Very often, people thank us priests especially for praying for them, enlightening and guiding them. That is why people lavish us with all kinds of gifts. Every time people thank me, I tell them, “kami po ang dapat magpasalamat sa inyo kasi lumalago kami kay Kristo!” In my 24 years as a priest, I have realized that the more faithful we are in serving God through his people, the more we are blessed and hence, the more we must be grateful!

People who go out of their way to say thank you, to express gratitude are person-oriented. They see more the persons not just the kind deeds done to them and beautiful gifts given them. When we say thank you, when we let others know of how grateful we are, we recognize their personhood that is why we reach out to them, trying to connect with them and befriend them. Or, to keep our ties alive and strong. As the old song says, “People who need people are the luckiest people in the world.”

Remember the ten lepers healed by Jesus Christ on his way to Jerusalem?

Only one returned – a Samaritan – to thank Jesus. He was the only one who was “saved” when Jesus told him, “Stand up and go; your faith has saved you” (Lk.17:19).

*Photo by Mr. John Ryan Jacob, 20 December 2022 in Paco, Obando, Bulacan.*

Gratitude is a very practical virtue, “the parent of all virtues” according to the Roman scholar and statesman Cicero. It is the one virtue we need to recapture and reacquire in this time to make through the many challenges and trials this pandemic has brought us. Instead of complaining and being so sorry with the plight we are into due to COVID-19, let us start counting our many blessings in life to see the vast opportunities and lessons this crisis has given us. In fact, the more this pandemic has persisted, the more blessings we can find that we must be thankful too.

Because of the pandemic, we have learned to cherish more one another as we come to value persons and life again more than things. There are so many things we have to be grateful in life during this time of the pandemic, perhaps even more than the sufferings and trials we have gone through as it opened to us new views and perceptions about life itself.

Most of all, it had brought us back to the grounding of our being, to God who is life himself, the source of all good things we have long forgotten and now remember. And rightly praise and thank. That is why I keep on telling everyone, God willed Christmas 2022 falls on a Sunday so we may personally, face-to-face celebrate together. And thank him through the people he has given us! Let us pray:

My soul also proclaims 
your greatness, O Lord Jesus Christ
like Mary your Mother!
Thank you for the gift of life
with all of its pains and hurts
that have strengthened me,
for all the joys that have enriched me.
Most of all, for the call to serve you.
Who am I, O Lord, to be called
and visited by you?
Many times I have failed you
yet you keep on coming, still calling me,
still believing in me, still trusting me.
What else can I say except 
thank you from the bottom of my heart.
As your birthday approaches,
as my gift to you dearest Jesus,
enable me to remain faithful to you
like Mary your Mother and our Mother too
even up to your Cross.  
Here am I, Lord, send me.
Amen.

*Photo by Mr. John Ryan Jacob, 19 December 2022 in Paco, Obando, Bulacan.*

Advent is for building up

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Thursday in the First Week of Advent, 01 December 2022
Isaiah 26:1-6 ><))))*> + ><))))*> + ><))))*> Matthew 7:21, 24-27

Thank you, dear God,
our loving Father,
for this month of December,
for the year about to end,
most especially for this new
beginning of Advent!

Make us strong
like your new city of Jerusalem:
"A strong city have we;
he sets up walls and ramparts
to protect us" (Is.26:1) - Jesus Christ
who had come, will come again 
and comes!

Many times your strength
in us, O God, could not be felt
nor experienced because we have
been weak in doing what is good;
many times with closed minds and
hearts believing only in ourselves
than being open to welcome Jesus 
your Son into our lives;
many times, we profess our faith
in you only in words and mouth,
calling out "Lord, Lord"
without conviction
and concrete action
as a disciple;
make us wise, Lord, and return
to you to build up our faith,
to build up our lives,
to build up our ties and
relationships in you through 
others. 
Amen.

God living among us

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Friday in the Thirty-Fourth Week in Ordinary Time, 25 November 2022
Revelation 20:1-4, 11-22:2 ><]]]'> + ><]]]'> + ><]]]'> Luke 21:29-33

God our loving Father,
your words today spoken both by
John and your Son Jesus Christ
are frightening at first hearing;
but, as we dwell more on your words,
we are comforted because your promised
end of the world is the beginning
of "new heaven and new earth"
(Revelation 21:1-2);
it has started coming already
in the birth of Jesus Christ 
as we join the psalmist
in proclaiming this wonderful truth,
"Here God lives among his people"
(responsorial psalm).

"My soul yearns and pines for 
the courts of the Lord.
My heart and my flesh 
cry out for the living God.
Even the sparrow finds a home,
and the swallow a nest in which
she puts her young ---
your altars, O Lord of hosts,
my king and my God!
Blessed they who dwell in your house!
Blessed the men whose strength
you are!"
(Psalm 84:3, 4, 5, 6)

Despite the many trials
and sufferings we have been going 
through, you never ceased to
guide us to life and fulfillment
in you through Jesus Christ.
Make us aware and conscious
of your presence among our brothers
and sisters especially those in pain
and in the margins;
may our eyes,
our minds,
and our hearts
be open to your presence
in everyone we meet inasmuch
as we can read the signs of 
the fig tree and other trees
(Luke 21:29-30);
may we stop for a while
in our tasks and duties
to feel each one's humanity
and personhood to find you
and experience you.
Amen.