Category: saints

August month, not ghost month

Quiet Storm by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, 19 August 2026
Photo by Boris Pavlikovsky on Pexels.com

Of all the months in the year, August has the most beautiful name of all but sadly most maligned as a “ghost month”: from the Latin augustus that signifies reverence or to hold someone in high regard, august as an adjective means “respected and impressive” like when we say “in this august hall of men and women” of science or faith.

Yes, it was also taken from the name of the Roman emperor Augustus Caesar but like the rest of the months and days of each year, it is always a blessed one.

No day nor date nor time is malas because these each day is a gift from God who is all good. Nothing bad can come from God.

Moreover, when God became human like us in the coming of Jesus Christ, life has become holy, filled with God, debunking those ancient beliefs of the Divine being seen in various cosmic forces. Pope Benedict explained this so well in his second encyclical:

Photo by a friend in Washington, 28 July 2026.

In this regard a text by Saint Gregory Nazianzen is enlightening. He says that at the very moment when the Magi, guided by the star, adored Christ the new king, astrology came to an end, because the stars were now moving in the orbit determined by Christ[2]. This scene, in fact, overturns the world-view of that time, which in a different way has become fashionable once again today. It is not the elemental spirits of the universe, the laws of matter, which ultimately govern the world and mankind, but a personal God governs the stars, that is, the universe; it is not the laws of matter and of evolution that have the final say, but reason, will, love—a Person. And if we know this Person and he knows us, then truly the inexorable power of material elements no longer has the last word; we are not slaves of the universe and of its laws, we are free. In ancient times, honest enquiring minds were aware of this. Heaven is not empty. Life is not a simple product of laws and the randomness of matter, but within everything and at the same time above everything, there is a personal will, there is a Spirit who in Jesus has revealed himself as Love[3]. (#5, Spe Salvi by Pope Benedict XVI, 30 November 2007)

That’s quite a volume but so lucid, so true, so beautiful. Especially this part: “It is not the elemental spirits of the universe, the laws of matter, which ultimately govern the world and mankind, but a personal God governs the stars, that is, the universe; it is not the laws of matter and of evolution that have the final say, but reason, will, love—a Person.”

This is the whole meaning of the recent Sunday gospel of Jesus walking on water: God in total control of this world.

“Christ Walking On Water” painting by Julius Servus von Klever (1880) from commons.wikipedia.org.

It is this Person of Jesus Christ why so many great men and women then and now have abandoned their previous ways of life to lead holy lives even in the face of death.

Very interesting in this modern time are two great saints we celebrate on this month of August, St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (August 09) and St. Maximilian Kolbe (August 14) who died at the gas chambers of Auschwitz during the Second World War.

St. Teresa Benedicta is the German philosopher Edith Stein. She came from a prosperous Jewish family gifted with a great mind becoming one of the first female university student and later professor in Germany.

An associate of the famed Edmund Husserl of the philosophical method of phenomenology, St. Teresa Benedicta became an atheist during her teenage years; but, upon further studies and prayer, converted into Catholicism, becoming a Carmelite nun where she adopted her new name. She wrote that “Those who seek truth seek God, whether they realize it or not“.

She actually had all the chances to leave for South America and then to Switzerland to escape the Nazis but opted to stay in their monastery in the Netherlands with her younger sister Rosa who had also converted as Catholic and joined the Third Order Carmelite. When they were arrested on August 2, 1942, she told her, “Come, Rosa… we go for our people.”

Photo from FB page of Scott Hahn, 09 August 2024.

St. Teresa Benedicta honored her Jewish roots by dying among them as a martyr of Christ, one who had “learned to live in God’s hands” according to Sr. Josephine Koeppel, OCD, a translator of much of her works.

According to various accounts, St. Teresa Benedicta showed great inner strength by encouraging her fellow prisoners to have faith in God while helping in looking after the small children when their mothers were so distressed to do so. One woman who survived the war wrote: “Every time I think of her sitting in the barracks, the same picture comes to mind: a Pieta without the Christ.”

Dying ahead of her in Auschwitz on August 14, 1941 was St. Maximilian Kolbe, a Franciscan priest who was arrested for his writings against the evil Nazis. It was actually his second time to be arrested.

When a prisoner had escaped from the camp, authorities rounded up ten men to die in exchange of the lone escapee. Fr. Kolbe volunteered to take the place of a married man with children. They were all tortured and starved in order to die slowly in pain.

A devotee of the Blessed Virgin Mary, St. Maximilian was injected with carbolic acid on the eve of the Assumption after guards found him along with three other prisoners still alive, without any signs of fear like screaming but silently praying.

Photo of Auschwitz from Google.

We no longer have gas chambers but atrocities against human life continue in our time, hiding in the pretext of science and laws with some like the wokes exaggerating the truth they believe or follow in the name of inclusivity and various rights.

And yet, there are men and women, young and old alike including those not yet born in their mother’s womb are hunted and killed both for profits and for convenience to correct what many perceived as excesses and wrongs in the society like the grim drug war of the past administration.

Or those corrupt government officials and despicable politicians, from the highest offices down to the barangay behind the flood control scam that are all ghost projects that have submerged vast areas and communities into floods.

The Nazi officers and soldiers of Auschwitz of the past and those involved in the flood control scam as well as the tokhang drug war remind us the true “ghosts” and evil spirits of our time sowing hatred and deaths are people who may be well-dressed, even educated in the best schools, and come from devout or “normal” families. They sow evil every day without choosing any particular month, blindly following orders without much thinking and reflections or introspection. These people entrusted with positions and power are mostly the ones who bring ghosts into our lives causing so much miseries among our people especially the poor ones. Many times, they insist on following or speaking the truth – a truth so empty of the person of Jesus Christ who is “the way and the truth and the life” (Jn.14:6).

Photo by author, 21 July 2026.

I have always believed that the opposite of love is not hatred but hopelessness – without hope, people will just destroy everything for the sake of wealth and power.

Saints have shown us that with much love in our hearts in Jesus Christ, we are also filled with his hopes for better, holier days and months.

By the lives of the many great saints of August, or of any other month for that matter, we are reminded that holiness is not being sinless but being filled with God, being converted daily to the truth of Jesus Christ by allowing that holiness to spill over and flow onto others with our lives of authenticity expressed in charity and mercy, kindness and justice, humility and openness with one another. As St. Paul had written, “Do not conform yourself to this age but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and pleasing and perfect” (Rom.12:2).

And so, discard those thoughts of a ghost month and let us keep every month an august time and space for our good deeds to make Christ’s loving presence felt among us. A blessed week to everyone!

Remembering our roots and origin

Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Friday, Nineteenth Week in Ordinary Time, Year II
Memorial of St. Maximilian Kolbe, Priest & Martyr, 14 August 2026
Photo by Mariam Antadze on Pexels.com
O God our loving Father,
help us to always remember -
our origins and beginnings,
our past especially
the people who had cared
and nurtured us,
our parents and siblings,
relatives and friends,
those who gave us 
the breaks and sparks
to begin our great journeys in life,
the people who stood by
when we were down
and nobody believed us:
dear God,
remind us always
of the basic fact,
of the principle and foundation
of our being:
that we came from you
and shall return to you.
Forgive us,
Lord God,
in forgetting you always,
in forgetting others,
in forgetting
we are nothing without you;
touch us,
nudge us if needed
whenever we forget 
you and our lowly beginnings;
let us not be amazed 
by our feats
and abilities.

But you were captivated by your own beauty, you used your renown to make yourself a harlot, and you lavished your harlotry on every passer-by, whose own you became. Yet I will remember the covenant I made with you when you were a girl, and I will set up an everlasting covenant with you, that you may remember and be covered with confusion, and that you may be utterly silenced for shame when I pardon you for all you have done, says the Lord God (Ezekiel 16:15, 60-63).

Photo of Auschwitz from internet.
As we celebrate today
the Memorial of your most
faithful servant 
St. Maximilian Kolbe
who offered himself not just
once for a fellow prisoner in
Auschwitz for he had
dedicated himself to you
entirely before World War II
began,
may we remember
the lessons that led
to the Holocaust;
like St. Maximilian Kolbe
may we continue to remember
your covenant in Jesus Christ
by making a stand against
injustice and immorality,
in defending life especially
at its weakest points,
and most of all,
in remembering
the equal dignity of every person
created in your image and likeness;
like what Jesus told
the Pharisees,
let us go back
to Paradise,
let us return to you,
O God,
as our Lord and Master
alone,
not ourselves,
nor our pride and convenience,
nor anyone
nor their flimsy, 
modern thoughts
and ideas;
like St. Maximilian Kolbe,
may we have the courage
to always stand forward
for what is true
and good
and holy.
Amen.

Contemplating to attain love of God

Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Friday in the Seventeenth Week of Ordinary Time, Year II, 31 July 2026
Memorial of St. Ignatius of Loyola, Priest
Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, Quezon City, 20 March 2024.
Glory and praise
to you, O God our loving
Father for the gift of 
St. Ignatius of Loyola
who taught us that
"Man is created 
to praise, reverence, 
and serve God our Lord,
and by this means 
to save his soul"
(First Principle and Foundation,
Spiritual Exercises #23).
Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, Quezon City, 20 March 2024.
How sad,
dear God, 
that the most painful
truth is that you are most 
often rejected by us 
who assume to know you most,
too familiar with you and
your ways like what
our two readings reveal today:
Jeremiah was rejected 
by your people 
led by their priests
after speaking your words
to them to change their evil
ways lest their Temple lie in ruins
like in Shiloh along with
other disasters God was planning
to punish them (Jeremiah 26:4, 7-9);
in the gospel,
Jesus went home to Nazareth
but "the people took offense
at him" for his mighty
words and deeds
(Matthew 13:57-58).
Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, Quezon City, 20 March 2024.
Two scenarios,
same message
of rejecting you,
O God because we 
believe more in our selves,
in our ideas and understanding
of who you are than believing
your very person in
Jesus Christ;
teach us, O Lord,
to be empty always
so that you may fill us 
with your love
like St. Ignatius
who taught us to 
pray and contemplate
to attain your love:
"Take, Lord,
and accept 
all my liberty,
my memory,
my understanding,
and my entire will,
all that I have and possess.
Thou hast given all to me.
To Thee, O Lord, I return it.
All is Thine,
dispose of it wholly
according to Thy will.
Give me Thy love
and Thy grace,
for this is sufficient 
for me" 
(#234, Spiritual Exercises).

All for your greater glory,
O Lord.
Amen.
Photo by author, the three core group of the Society of Jesus founded by St. Ignatius of Loyola at the middle, St. Francis Xavier at his right, and St. Peter Faber at his left; frame at the facade of Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, Quezon City, 20 March 2024.

Our many idols

Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Monday, Memorial of Sts. John Fisher & Thomas More, Martyrs, 22 June 2026
2 Kings 17:5-8, 13-15, 18     <*((((>< + ><))))*>     Matthew 7:1-5
Photo by author, Malolos Cathedral, June 2019.
Teach us,
O Lord, to pray
and persevere like
Sts. John Fisher 
and Thomas More
to always have the same 
wisdom and courage
to serve our country well
by remaining your faithful servants
first; in this world so advanced
in science and technology,
many have veered away from
you, God our Father;
we have come to worship so many idols:
our bloated egos with all kinds
of selfish thoughts and ideas 
we hide as rights and freedom;
our body that we adore,
more like vanity than health;
other personalities we blindly follow
and imitate; relationships and habits
that take precedence over you,
O Lord.
May the fall of Israel to Assyria
in the first reading remind us today
to always examine the "plank" in our
eyes Jesus spoke of in the gospel,
of how modern things may be blinding us,
leading us away from you, God
who is our life and meaning.
Amen.
Photo by author, St. Michael Retreat House, Antipolo City, 16 June 2026.

Blessedness of mourning

Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul, 01 November 2025
Saturday, Solemnity of All Saints
Revelation 7:2-4, 9-24 ><]]]'> 1 John 3:1-3 ><]]]'> Matthew 5:1-12
Thousands of people arrive to pray at the graves of their relatives at a cemetery during the annual observance of All Saint’s Day in Manila on November 1, 2019. Millions of Filipinos flocked to cemeteries to visit and pray at the graves of their loved ones to mark the holiday. Photo by Ted Aljibe, AFP.

Many are amused even some of us Filipinos why all roads lead to cemeteries during this time of the year to celebrate the Solemnity of All Saints when remembering our departed loved ones actually falls on the following day, November 2.

There’s nothing wrong with this tradition except that people forget celebrating Mass on All Saints’ Day which is the essence of the feast ranked as a Solemnity, the highest in our liturgy. Offer a Mass first for your departed loved ones on November 1 before going to the cemetery!

More than the close connections of All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day in its theology and tradition, our celebration of these two feasts collectively referred to as Undas is the classic tension of our experiences of heaven on earth, of the here and not yet, of the mixture of joy and sadness within us when we remember our dead best expressed in our grief and mourning.

When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain, and after he had sat down, his disciples came to him. He began to teach them, saying: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they who mourn, for they will be comforted” (Matthew 5:1-4).

From forbes.com, 2019.

In a world that thrives and promotes so much fun and merry-making, our second beatitude is difficult to understand or even grasp in this time of faith in a mass-mediated culture.

What is “blessed” with grieving and mourning or crying when you have lost a loved one, like a parent or a child or a friend?

Pope Benedict XVI explained in his book “Jesus of Nazareth” there are two kinds of mourning that the gospels offer us exemplified by the two most extreme of the Apostles, Judas Iscariot who betrayed Jesus and, Simon Peter who denied the Lord thrice (pp.86-89).

Photo by author, Church of St. Anne, Jerusalem, Israel, May 2017.

This first kind of mourning as shown by Judas Iscariot is when one has lost hope, succumbing to the miseries of losing a beloved and becomes mistrustful of love that leads to self-destruction. It is the worst kind of mourning that eats away and destroys man within just like Judas Iscariot who hanged himself (see Matt. 27:3-5).

The second kind of mourning according to Pope Benedict XVI that Jesus must be referring to as “blessed” in his Beatitudes which leads to salvation is when the mourning is caused by an encounter with the truth that leads to conversion like what happened to Simon Peter when he was struck by the gaze of Jesus that he burst into healing tears and cleansed his soul to enable him to begin anew in his life in the Lord (see Lk.22:60-61,62).

This will have its lovely conclusion eight days after Easter before Jesus ascended into heaven when he asked Simon Peter thrice, “Do you love me?” (Jn.21:15ff.) to remind him of that episode that eventually pushed him to follow Christ unreservedly “by taking care of his sheep”. Guided by these thoughts of Pope Benedict XVI, let us see reflect the blessedness of weeping…

Photo by Juan Pablo Serrano on Pexels.com

Blessed are those who weep because that means they have love in their hearts. Deaths and bad news that befall our loved ones sadden us, even jolt us with deep pain that move us to console them, to suffer with them, and to be one with them by reconnecting with them and their loved ones like when we go to a funeral or a wake.

This did not happen with Judas Iscariot. The little love he had in his heart when he realized his sin was completely wiped out when he chose to surrender totally to evil, finding no more hope for forgiveness and reconciliation with Jesus.

Photo by Mr. Jay Javier, September 2024.

Never lose hope in Jesus. Seek that love in your heart. Seek Jesus in that tiny voice telling you to always come home to him. Do not be shy nor ashamed of your loss and failure. Keep that fire of love in Jesus burning.

Do not let grief overcome and consume you, wiping out the embers of love left in your heart with the loss of a loved one. Life goes on in Jesus and in that same love we have in our hearts that surprisingly even grows deeper as we move on after the death of a loved one.

In the recent ghost projects scam by government and elected officials, we too felt the pain of loss too in the billions of pesos stolen from us. We are deeply affected because we love the Philippines; let us keep that love for the country burning within us by taking concrete steps against corruption while preventing opportunists from plunging us into chaos.

Blessed are those who weep because more than the love they have in their hearts, they have been loved first of all. We weep and grieve the death of a beloved family member or relative or friend because of the love they have given us, of the kindness they have shown us, and the care they have lavished upon us.

Photo by Oscar Millu00e1n on Pexels.com

Simon Peter did not merely have love in his heart; he was so loved by Christ!

Luke dramatically described to us how Peter’s eyes met the merciful and loving eyes of Jesus while he was denying the Lord. It must have struck him so hard that immediately he felt contrition for his sin, feeling strongly the need to reform himself and reconnect with the Lord. He could not let the imperfect love he has in his heart to just go to waste that is why when he wept bitterly on that Holy Thursday evening, it was not the end but the beginning of another chapter in his beautiful story of love for Jesus. It was precisely what he meant when he told Jesus at Tiberias, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you” (Jn.21:17) – that despite his weaknesses and failures, he loves Jesus, he tries so hard to love Jesus in his little ways.

There’s a saying that “If you have love in your heart, you have been blessed by God; if you have been loved, you have been touched by God.” We are blessed in mourning our departed loved ones because through them, we felt being touched by God. That is why we have to move on after every death – so we may love more those left around us for them to feel God’s loving touch too!

Residents of Hagonoy Bulacan walk their way to flooded portions of premise surrondings St. Anne Parish as they protest this was following exposes of flood control anomalies. The Bulacan has been under scrutiny for receiving multi million worth of flood control projects but still suffers severe flooding. (Photo by Michael Varcas)

Blessed are those who mourn because that is when we actually stand for what is true and good, for what is just and right.

When we weep, it does not mean we have lost; in fact, even in the face of apparent loss like Jesus on the Cross, mourning is the most firm expression of our belief in what is right and just, and what is true and good.

According to Pope Benedict, this blessed mourning that leads to salvation is found at the death of Jesus Christ where his Mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary stood by the foot of his Cross with the beloved disciple and other women (Ibid.,p. 87). At the Cross, Mary showed us that mourning is blessed because it is the strongest expression of our solidarity with Christ, of our going against evil and sin.

In this world when conformity to whatever “everyone is doing” is the rule of the game like corruption, dishonesty, infidelity, and lies, mourning and weeping with the victims of oppression and persecution and corruption too can be our strongest signs of protest and resistance against the prevailing evils of our time. When we weep and mourn for victims of violence and evil, that is when we become God’s instruments of his comfort to his people, when we strengthen them in their pains and sufferings.

To comfort means “to strengthen” – from the Latin cum fortis, “with strength”. When we mourn and stand by those weeping and suffering, we are blessed because that is when we resolve to live and love more like Christ on the Cross.

Photo by Dra. Mai B. Dela Peña, Mt. Carmel, Israel, 2015.

What are your griefs today?

Blessed are you in your weeping not only in having love in your heart but most of all, for being loved. Dwell in the love of God in Jesus Christ like the saints who have gone ahead of us, resisting all evils and temptations to sin for the Lord comforts us his people always. Amen. A blessed All Saints’ Day to you! Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Our Lady of Fatima University, Valenzuela City

*This is based on our previous blog in 2022. Salamuch.

Household of God

Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul, 28 October 2025
Tuesday, Feast of St. Simon & St. Jude, Apostles
Ephesians 2:19-22   ><))))*> + ><))))*> + ><))))*>   Luke 6:12-16
Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, 20 March 2025.

Brothers and sisters: You are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the holy ones and members of the household of God built upon the foundation of the Apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the capstone. Through him the whole structure is held together and grows into a temple sacred in the Lord; in him you are also being built together into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit (Ephesians 2:19-22).

How lovely to hear
those words of St. Paul
in these times of great divisions
among us not only in politics
but in almost every topic!
What is most painful,
O Lord Jesus Christ is how
some among us have become
numb and callous of each other,
unmindful of things they say
especially of those suffering 
and in pain; with the little cellphone
each of us holding so addictively
the whole day, we have created our
own self-centered world
totally unmindful of others.
On this Feast of your
two great Apostles,
St. Simon and St. Jude 
who were poles apart 
in their differences
as persons and backgrounds,
may we realize that we are not 
"strangers and sojourners" 
but are" fellow citizens",
and "members of the 
household of God" in you,
Jesus Christ who is at the center
of this household as cornerstone.
Help us, Lord Jesus,
to imitate Sts. Simon and Jude 
who built up your Church, 
your household of God here on earth;
fill our hearts with the zeal 
and ardent love for you 
and your Church like Simon 
called the Zealot:
in this time when Catholics 
in the country are declining
in numbers as well as in professing
their faith, may we have the enthusiasm 
to make you known, Jesus,
in our loving actions of witnessing;
grant us also the strength,
clarity and courage like that of
St. Jude Thaddeus in dealing with
the many contradictions of the world
we live in today as Catholics and 
Christians:  
"But you, beloved, 
build yourselves up on your 
most holy faith; pray in the Holy Spirit;
keep yourselves in the love of God;
wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus
Christ unto eternal life.
And convince some,
who doubt..." (Jude 20-22).
Bless us, dearest Jesus,
through the help St. Simon and
St. Jude, to rediscover
the beauty of our Christian
faith and of our Catholic Church
by working hard to build it up
without tiring through our silent 
and peaceful witnessing
of the Gospel.
Amen.
Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Our Lady of Fatima University
Valenzuela City

One in Christ in life, in death

Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul, 29 July 2025
Tuesday, Memorial of Sts. Martha, Mary and Lazarus, Siblings
1 John 4:7-16     <'[[[[><  +  ><]]]]'>     John 11:19-27
“The Raising of Lazarus”, 1311 painting by Duccio de Buoninsegna from commons.wikimedia.org
What a beautiful reminder to us,
dear Jesus on this day as we celebrate
the Memorial of the Holy Siblings
Saints Martha, Mary and Lazarus:
the only time they are presented as one
and complete was during the raising of 
Lazarus; you were there in their most
sorrowful moment in life as brother and 
sisters because you have always been there
with them in good times when they were
all alive and well.
I pray,
dear Jesus,
for all siblings like
Saints Martha, Mary and Lazarus
to remain one as a family after
their parents have been gone;
so many times in such deep sorrow,
we are like Martha telling you Lord,
"if you had been here my brother -
or sister or parents -would not have
died" (John 11:21); but, your response
to her and to us was so rich in meaning
we can only summarize in love,
"your brother will rise... I am the resurrection
and the life; whoever believes in me,
even if he dies, will live, and anyone
who lives and believes in me will never die. 
Do you believe this?"
(John 11:23, 25-26)
Help me believe
like Martha,
Jesus;
help me believe by being
more loving and caring
with my family while still alive
and well;
help me believe by being
more understanding
and forgiving,
more kind and sensitive
with my brother or sister
while still alive;
please help, Jesus
 the siblings
at odds with each other,
not talking with each other,
grouping together against each other
because of betrayals
and dishonesty in their share
of inheritance;
help them seek your face
to be more just and loving
because "love is of God"
(1 John 4:7);
let siblings be like
Saints Martha, Mary and Lazarus
be one in you, Jesus
in faith,
hope
and love
while still alive
so that in their death
they remain one in you.
Amen.

Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Our Lady of Fatima University
Valenzuela City
(lordmychef@gmail.com)
An icon of Jesus visiting his friends, the siblings Sts. Lazarus, Mary and Martha. Photo from crossroadsinitiative.com.

Holiness of work

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Wednesday, Memorial of St. Augustine, Bishop & Doctor of the Church, 28 August 2024
2 Thessalonians 3:6-10, 16-18     <*{{{{><  +  ><}}}}*>     Matthew 23:27-32
Commuters hang from the back of a jeepney as it travels along a road in Manila, the Philippines, on Sunday, April 9, 2017. Photographer: Veejay Villafranca/Bloomberg via Getty Images.
Glory and praise to you,
God our loving Father
for the gift of this great Saint,
Augustine, son of St. Monica,
Bishop and Teacher of the Church;
in him, O God,
you showed us every saint
has a sinful past 
and that no sinner 
can be denied of a saintly future.
It was St. Augustine who taught us
among his so many teachings that
"grace builds on nature"
which he must have learned from
his own experiences,
from his conversion to Christianity
to becoming a priest then a bishop
that did not happen like a magic trick
by God but with hard work wrapped in
intense prayers by him and St. Monica;
what a tremendous blessing that 
as we honor him today, 
our first is from a letter by his inspiration,
St. Paul:

For you know how one must imitate us. For we did not act in a disorderly way among you, nor did we eat food received free from anyone. On the contrary, in toil and drudgery, night and day we worked, so as not to burden any of you. Not that we do not have the right. Rather, we wanted to present ourselves as a model for you, so that you might imitate us. In fact, when we were with you, we instructed you that if anyone was unwilling to work, neither should that one eat (2 Thessalonians 3:7-10). 

Remind us, O God
in Jesus Christ like St. Augustine,
what is essential is the inside
not the outside;
let us not be like the Pharisees
and scribes, hypocrites,
looking like "whitewashed tombs
that appear beautiful on then outside
but inside are full of dead men's bones
and every kind of filth"
(Matthew 23:27).
Grant us the zeal and
enthusiasm like St. Augustine
to strive in becoming a better person,
most of all a better Christian
by working hard in cultivating
the prayer life,
love for the Sacred Scriptures
so that Jesus may dwell always
in our hearts.
Amen.
From Pinterest.com.

Nanay Sta. Monica

Quiet Storm by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, 27 August 2024
Photo of St. Monica from the cover of the book “St. Monica Club: How to Wait, Hope and Pray For Your Fallen-away Loved Ones by Maggie Green, Sophia Institute Press, 2019.

Today we celebrate the Memorial of St. Monica, mother of St. Augustine. She has always been associated with her son Augustine who is considered as one of the great saints of the Church with so much impact in our theology and almost every Catholic teaching. It was through the prayers and many sacrifices by St. Monica that St. Augustine was converted to Christianity who eventually became a priest then later as Bishop and Doctor of the Church. That is why during the Vatican II reforms of the liturgy, her memorial celebration was moved from May 4 to August 27, a day before St. Augustine’s memorial too.

Next to the Blessed Virgin Mary, St. Monica is perhaps the best example of motherhood beyond compare. Patron saint not only of wives and mothers, St. Monica is also the Patroness of those seeking patience and victims of abuse.

Most probably, stories about her suffering in silence in being married to an abusive and philandering pagan husband named Patricius were “overextended” to the extent we Filipinos got a very wrong impression of a “martyr” as being a wife who willingly bears without complaints the abuses by her husband.

St. Monica was very far from that kind of “martyr” but was in fact a “martyr” to the truest sense of its meaning from the Greek word martyria that means to witness Jesus Christ. Witnessing for Christ by bearing sufferings does not mean allowing one’s self to be abused freely by anyone; witnessing for Christ is primarily living a life centered on Jesus in prayers that flow into good works and holiness. Martyrdom is overcoming evil with goodness that is why many times, it ends with death – but, it is not as a defeat but as a triumph that leads to conversion of sinners and unbelievers, exactly how Christianity spread before and until now wherever Christians are persecuted.

According to St. Augustine’s own account in his book Confessions, although domestic abuse was prevalent during their time, their ill-tempered father never beat their mother. Her daily prayers especially her frequent going to the Mass with so many acts of charities to the poor irritated their father Patricius and yet led him to respect St. Monica. Eventually, her prayer life that found expressions in her almsgiving and kindness to everyone won the heart of Patricius, calmed his violent tendencies until he finally converted to Christianity before his death.

Before calming and converting her husband, St. Monica first won over her equally difficult to deal with mother-in-law! So, for those having problems with in-laws, St. Monica is the go-to saint for you!

But it is not that easy at all. We need to do the efforts, to cultivate a prayer life and allow God to work in us in order to grow in faith, hope, and love as well as the virtues especially patience. All these aspects of her faith flowed in her remaining so sweet and gentle despite her problematic husband and three children (whom Patricius refused to be baptized as Christians) that she was able to exercise a good influence over abused wives and suffering mothers who were so moved by St. Monica’s example.

Now here is the funny thing that most likely mothers and wives today would surely laugh at – St. Monica’s advise: “If you can master your tongue, not only do you run less risk of being beaten, but perhaps you may even, one day, make your husband better.”

Huwag daw po kuda nang kuda, mga Nanay at mga Misis…

Having spent most of my 26 years as a priest ministering to students and young people (exactly 17 years and counting), I used to tell them how often our mothers’ nagging is actually their love language; they may be saying a lot even without thinking at all but that’s because they love us, they care for us. That is why I find it amazing, so prophetic when Filipino mothers speak the same thing when children come home, hurt and beaten after not listening to their words of caution: “Sinasabi ko na nga ba…!”

Photo from shutterstock.com

Many times, mothers are prophetic; listen to whatever they may be saying because so often, they tell the truth. About us or of then people we go out with.

One thing I miss these days after my mom’s death in May are her words of love and wisdom as well as her nagging with accompanying threats (tatamaan ka sa akin or lalayasan ko kayo). Psychologists say that is wrong for parents to threaten their kids. I don’t really know but from my own experience those were perfectly examples of tough love that made us strong.

Now Mommy or Mamu as we called her since becoming a grandma is gone, no one reminds us or nags us anymore. And the worst part of that is, you have no one to make sumbong. We have lost somebody willing listen to all of our kuda.

That I think makes every mother to suffer a lot because they keep so many of her children’s pains and hurts, including anger and complaints in their hearts: many times they explain but we refuse to listen, accusing her of bias and favoritism. There are times she would say “hayaan mo na lang anak”… she would be talking and talking again of many things.

Every Nanay is a Sta. Monica, suffering in silence because she has always been loving us in silence. Truly, when a mother dies, our links are never cut off from her as if the umbilical cord remains intact. And wireless up to heaven. How funny that we complain often our our mother’s nagging and endless talking but when she becomes silent, we miss her. Now because we are sure she loves us so much.

Sharing with you this most beautiful tribute of four brothers to their Nanay I found last night in the internet now with 4M views. Pray for all mothers today, thank God for their great gift of life.

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/SJHtTEMdeiPdESJh/?mibextid=KsPBc6

Handle life with prayer

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Tuesday, Memorial of St. Monica, Married Mother, 27 August 2024
2 Thessalonians 2:1-3, 14-17     <*((((><  +  ><))))*>     Matthew 23:23-26
Photo by author, St. Scholastica Spiritual Center, Tagaytay City, 20 August 2024.
I thank you today,
dear God our Father
for the gift of mothers
as we celebrate today
the Memorial of St. Monica,
mother of St. Augustine.

Therefore, brothers and sisters, stand firm and hold fast to the traditions that you were taught, either by an oral statement or by a letter of ours. May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who has loved us and given us everlasting encouragement and good hope through his grace, encourage your hearts and strengthen them in every good deed and word (2 Thessalonians 2:15-17).

How wonderful to find 
St. Monica handled her life with prayer,
the most beautiful tradition
the Church had always taught
and passed on since its beginning;
it was St. Monica's life of prayer
that flowed out into the grace of
patience and perseverance
as well as kindness to others
leading ultimately to undying hope
in God's goodness in converting
first her pagan husband Patricius
and then their three sons
led by the eldest St. Augustine.
Thank you dear God 
for our mothers who shed tears
when we go wayward as children
so lost in a life of sin,
and for us aching and hurting deep
inside only mothers can detect
and empathize with.

Thank you dear God
for our mothers who have 
taught us the importance of prayer
and goodness to others
and most especially of the value
of sincerity than hypocrisy.
Bless all mothers today, merciful Father,
may they find comfort in Jesus always.
Amen.
Photo of St. Monica from the cover of the book “St. Monica Club: How to Wait, Hope and Pray For Your Fallen-away Loved Ones by Maggie Green, Sophia Institute Press, 2019.