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.
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.
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.
Quiet Storm by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, 09 August 2024
Photo by author, Parish of the National Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima, Valenzuela City, 24 July 2024.
I was recently asked to bless a little store the other day, the seventh day of August. My schedule was toxic with another appointment in another city but the owner begged because she believed it is the most auspicious date for blessing.
How I wanted to ask her why have a blessing at all if you believe in luck than in God? Para wala nang gulo, I blessed her store but explained the meaning of blessing and of superstitions during the rites. It is one of those occasions when all we can do is sigh, saying haynaku and Juice colored!
What a sad reality in our Catholic Christian country where the kind of religiosity that binds most of us is more on rites and rituals but lacking in roots and spirituality, centered on ourselves to be assured of every kind of material blessings, forgetting all about the very object of faith who is God expressed in our concern for one another.
And in the light of all these things going on especially the never ending topics in social media, we ask, pera pera na lang ba talaga ang lahat sa buhay natin?
From catholicapostolatecenter.org.
Consider the name of this month August which was borrowed from the Roman Caesar Augustus that signifies reverence or to hold someone in high regard. As an adjective, august means “respected and impressive” like when we say “in this august hall of men and women of science”.
August is not a ghost month nor any other month of the year.
Like the days of the week, every month is a blessed one. No day nor date nor time is malas because these were all created by God who is all good. Nothing bad can come from God. Period.
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 author, St.Scholastica Retreat House, Baguio City, 2023.
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 (Saved in Hope) by Pope Benedict XVI, 30 November 2007)
Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, 20 March 2024.
I love this part of his encyclical, “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.”
It was 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. Let’s reflect first on St. Teresa Benedicta whose memorial we celebrate today.
Photo from FB page of Scott Hahn, 09 August 2024.
St. Teresa Benedicta is the German philosopher Edith Stein. She came from a prosperous Jewish family gifted with 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.”
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. Until now, men and women, young and old alike including those not yet born in their mother’s womb are hunted and killed to correct what many perceived as excesses and wrongs in the society. Just like what Hitler and his men have thought of the Jews at that time.
The Nazi officers and soldiers of Auschwitz 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.
Photo by author, James Alberione Center, QC, 08 August 2024.
Many times, they insist on following or speaking the truth – a truth so empty of the person of Jesus Christ. As we have been saying amid this growing trend of wokism and inclusivity that have badly infected the Olympics, people tend to exaggerate the truth they believe or follow when actually, they are just exaggerating themselves.
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 simply 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.
Let us make every month holy and blessed with our good deeds to make everyone aware of Christ’s presence among us. Have a blessed weekend!
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Thursday, Memorial of St. Anthony of Padua, Priest & Doctor of the Church, 13 June 2024 1 Kings 18:41-46 ><]]]]’> + <‘[[[[>< Matthew 5:20-26
Photo by author, 2023.
God our loving Father, thank you for this memorial of St. Anthony de Padua, your humble servant who is also the patron of lost items; in sending us your Son Jesus Christ, You gave us the chance to recover, to have anew, to find whatever we have lost like our dignity and honor as your children, life in You with all the grace and fulfillment, forgiveness, and peace.
In a trice, the sky grew dark with clouds and wind, and a heavy rain fell. Ahab mounted his chariot and made for Jezreel. But the hand of the Lord was on Elijah, who girded up his clothing and ran before Ahab as far as the approaches to Jezreel.
1Kings 19:45-46
How lovely is this scene, Father: of You sending rains again to Israel after punishing them with a drought that lasted three years; most especially of your prophet Elijah despite his old age and weak body being able to outrun King Ahab in your immense power and grace simply because he relied only in You; help us find our way back to You, O God, through Jesus Christ your Son; take us back to your side, to seek and follow your will by being pure and clean before You through our dealings with one another; like St. Anthony, may we immerse ourselves in your words and teachings so that we may be more loving caring and understanding, Amen.
St. Anthony of Padua, Pray for us!
The former residence of St. Anthony in Lisbon, Portugal converted into a church after his canonization as saint, a year after his death in 1231 at the age of 36. Photo courtesy of Mr. Jilson Tio of Our Lady of Fatima University, Valenzuela City.
The Lord Is My Chef Easter Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Thursday, Memorial of St. Athanasius, Bishop & Doctor of the Church, 02 May 2024 Acts 15:7-21 ><}}}}*> Psalm 96:1-2, 2-3, 10 ><}}}}*> John 15:9-11
Your words today, Lord Jesus, are so dramatic like in the movies when Your disciples twice went silent: "The whole assembly fell silent, and they listened while Paul and Barnabas described the signs and wonders God worked among the gentiles through them. After they had fallen silent, James responded, 'My brothers, listen to me...'" (Acts 15:12-13).
Teach me to be silent, Lord, so that I may listen and hear what others are saying, what You are telling me through others; let me be silent, Jesus, to listen more to You, to experience Your presence, Your love and care, Your mercy and forgiveness, and Your wisdom and direction I must take in this life harassed by so many noises and competing voices to follow.
How interesting that Your great servant and theologian St. Athanasius whose Memorial we celebrate today, the first of the Doctors of the Church who fought the heretics to insist on Your being true God and true man was forced into exile so many times defending You and Your truth as the Christ; how lovely to reflect in those repeated exiles of St. Athanasius he fell silent not because of fear but because of courage by continuing to pray and reflect on Your Person as the Son of God.
Lord Jesus Christ, silence is the domain of trust; hence, teach me most especially to be silent like the saints in order to trust You more so that I can love more like You by remaining close with You, in You always (John 15:9). Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Thursday in the First Week of Advent, Memorial of St. Ambrose, 07 December 2023 Isaiah 26:1-6 ><]]]]'> + ><]]]]'> + ><]]]]'> Matthew 7:21, 24-27
Photo by author, San Fernando, Pampanga, November 2021.
Unlike Lent, this Season of Advent is always superseded by too much ado and noise of commercialism as Christmas approaches; there is hardly a hint not even among us in the church of the need to be silent, of the value of silence, and essence of silence in life no matter what is the season.
Although our first reading evokes in us a great feeling of joyful celebrations following the salvation of people, there is still the underlying tone of silence in you and with you, dear God our loving Father, of silent witnessing to your justice and righteousness.
How lovely that today we also celebrate the Memorial of St. Ambrose, a great bishop and Doctor of the Church whom St. Augustine deeply admired and converted him to Christianity; may we appreciate like St. Augustine the silence of St. Ambrose:
When [Ambrose] read, his eyes scanned the page and his heart sought out the meaning, but his voice was silent and his tongue was still. Anyone could approach him freely and guests were not commonly announced, so that often, when we came to visit him, we found him reading like this in silence, for he never read aloud.
Confessions of St. Augustine
At that time, knowledgeable and learned people read aloud for everyone to be aware of their presence but not St. Ambrose who deeply moved St. Augustine to notice it in his Confessions.
This Advent, teach us O Lord to cultivate the discipline and virtue of silence, especially in doing what is good, in witnessing Jesus Christ who warned us, "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven" (Matthew 7:21).
May our deeds speak louder than our words and beliefs. Amen.
Lawiswis Ng Salita ni P. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Ika-15 ng Nobyembre 2023
Ang kauna-unahang may sakit na aking pinahiran ng Banal na Langis ay ang tiyahin ng aking ina na kung tawagin namin ay Ned. Ayon sa nanay ng aming ina na Ate ng Ned, utal daw kasi ang dalawang nauna niyang anak at hindi masabi ang Nana Cedeng(o Chedeng), ang palayaw ng kanyang tunay na pangalang Mercedes.
Kaya, naging Ned na ang nagisnang tawag ng mga mommy ko at pati na kaming magpipinsan na kanyang mga apo. Walang anak ang Ned dahil maaga siyang nabiyuda nang magka-cancer ang kanyang kabiyak na siyang tunay na taga-Bocaue, Bulacan. Mula sa Aliaga, Nueva Ecija ang mga lola ko sa panig ng aking ina na mula sa angkan ng mga Bocobo.
Nang ako ay magdiriwang ng aking Primera Misa Solemne bilang bagong orden na pari noong ika-26 ng Abril 1998, hindi na nakapaglalakad ang Ned kaya bago kami magprusisyon, siya ay aking dinalaw at pinahiran ng Langis ng Maysakit. Pagkaraan ng ilang Linggo, sinugod siya sa ospital dahil sa stroke at nag-comatose kaya kinailangang ipasok sa ICU. Hindi naman siya kaagad namatay tulad ng iba kong pinahiran ng Langis ng Maysakit….
Pagkaraan ng isang linggo, inilipat na siya ng regular na silid at aking dinalaw. Hindi naapektuhan ng stroke ang kanyang pananalita. Tumingin siya ng matagal sa akin at pagkaraan ay hiniling na lumapit sa kanya.
“Mayroon akong ikukuwento sa iyo, Father, pero hindi ko alam kung ikaw ay maniniwala” sabi niya sa akin. Hinagod ko kanyang noo gaya ng ginawa niya sa akin noong ako ay natigdas nang bata pa. “Ano po inyong sasabihin?”, tanong ko sa kanya.
Larawan kuha ni G. Bryan San Luis, Kapistahan ni San Martin ng Tours, Patron ng Bayan ng Bocaue, Bulacan, 11 Nobyembre 2023.
“Father… ako e namatay na. Ang natatandaan ko lang ay naglalakad ako mag-isa sa madilim na kalsada. Maya-maya may nakita akong liwanag at bigla mayroong sumalubong sa aking mama na naka-kabayong puti. Sinabi sa akin nung mama, ‘Cedeng, magbalik ka na ika… hindi mo pa oras.'”
Sabi ng Ned, kaagad naman siyang tumalikod at naglakad pabalik ngunit muli niyang nilingon yung mama na naka-kabayo. Tinanong daw niya, “Hindi ba kayo si San Martin ng Tours?” At sumagot naman daw yung mama na siya nga si San Martin ng Tours. “E paano po ninyo ako nakilalang si Cedeng?” tanong daw niya. Sumagot daw si San Martin, “Paanong hindi kita makikilala, Cedeng, e kada piyesta ng Mahal na Krus at kapistahan ko ay nagsisimba ka palagi sa Bocaue?” Nangiti raw si San Martin sa kanya at di na niya nalaman ang mga sumunod maliban sa makita sarili niya naroon na sa ospital.
Wala daw siyang pinagsabihan ng karanasang iyon maliban sa akin dahil ako ay pari. At muli niya akong tinanong, “naniniwala ka ba Father na pinabalik ako dito ni San Martin ng Tours?” Hinagod ko muli ang noo ng Ned at sinabi ko sa kanyang “Opo, naniniwala po ako sa inyo.”
Larawan kuha ni G. Bryan San Luis, si San Martin aming Patron kasama ang Mahal na Krus sa Wawa na amin ding ipinagpipista tuwing buwan ng Hulyo sakay ng pagoda sa Ilog ng Bocaue.
Tumagal pa ang Ned ng limang taon bago siya pumanaw noong ika-5 ng Hulyo, 2003. Mismong sa harap ko siya namatay nang siya ay aking dalawin matapos ako magmisa sa kapit-bahay niyang namatay.
Naku, kay laking isyu noon sa aming lugar ang pagkamatay ng Ned. Ako sinisisi ng matatanda kasi daw inuna kong puntahan ang patay bago ang buhay! Ewan ko sa kanila ngunit pagpapala ang aking naranasan at nakita sa pangyayari: nang malagutan ng hininga ang Ned sa harap ko, kaagad kong tinawag ang kanyang tagapag-alaga, pinahiran ko pa rin siya ng Banal na Langis, at nang matiyak na patay na siya, kaagad akong nagmisa mag-isa doon sa kanyang silid kasama malamig niyang bangkay. (Ewan ko ba. Dalawang pari na rin, parehong Monsignor, ang namatay sa harapan ko at sa pangangalaga ko.) .
Palagi ko ikinukuwento ang “near-death experience” na iyon ng aking Lola hindi lamang sa dahil kakaiba kungdi mayroong malalim na katotohanang inihahayag – ang pagmamahal sa ating parokya, ang pananalangin ng mga Banal sa atin at higit sa lahat, ang kahalagahan ng Banal na Misa na siyang “daluyan ng lahat ng biyaya at rurok ng buhay Kristiyano” ayon sa Vatican II. Wika ni San Juan Pablo II, sa Banal na Misa aniya ay mayroong cosmic reality
Nang magkaroon ako ng sariling parokya noong 2011, isa iyon sa mga una kong kinuwento sa mga tao upang ituro pagmamahal sa kanilang parokya. Ipinaliwanag ko sa kanilang ang mga Banal na mga Patron ng parokya ang unang nangangalaga sa mga mananampalataya, ang ating mga tagapagdasal doon sa langit, mga taga-pamagitan.
Larawan kuha ni G. Bryan San Luis, prusisyon noong Kapistahan ni San Martin ng Tours, Patron ng Bayan ng Bocaue, Bulacan, 11 Nobyembre 2023.
Naniniwala ako na si San Martin ng Tours ang sumalubong kay Ned kasi nga hindi pa naman niya oras, kaya wala pang paghuhukom na naganap sa kanya na tanging si Jesu-Kristo lang ang makagagawa.
Ang pinaka-gusto kong bahagi ng kanyang kuwento ay ang kanilang usapan kung paano nakilala ni San Martin ang aking Lola sa tunay niyang palayaw na Cedeng. At hindi Ned.
Ipinakikita nito sa atin ang kahalagahan ng pagsisimba tuwing Linggo at mga pistang pangilin sa simbahan lalo ngayon panahon na akala ng marami ay sapat na ang online Mass. Ang Banal na Misa ay “dress rehearsal” natin ng pagpasok sa Langit. Kay sarap isipin na bukod sa Panginoon at Mahal na Birheng Maria na sasalubong sa atin doon ay kasama din ang Patron ng ating Parokya na kinabibilangan natin. Nakalulungkot maraming tao ngayon ni hindi rin alam kung ano at saan kanilang parokya! Alalahanin mga nakita ni San Juan Ebanghelista sa langit habang siya ay nabubuhay pa upang isulat sa Aklat ng Pahayag:
At narinig ko ang isang tinig mula sa langit na nagsasabi, “Isulat mo ito: Mula ngayon, mapapalad ang naglilingkod sa Panginoon hanggang kamatayan!” “Tunay nga,” sabi ng Espiritu. Magpapahinga na sila sa kanilang pagpapagal; sapagkat susundan sila ng kanilang mga gawa.”
Pahayag 14:13
Anu-ano nga ba ating mga pinagkakaabalahanan sa buhay ngayon? Anu-ano ating pinag-gagawa na susundan tayo sa kabilang buhay upang ating ipagpatuloy? Kabutihan ba o kasamaan? Huwag nating sayangin pagkakataong ipinagkakaloob sa atin ng Diyos ngayon. Siya nawa.
San Martin ng Tours, ipanalangin mo kami.
Larawan mula sa flickr.com ng isang icon ni San Martin ng Tours hinahati kanyang kapa para sa isang pulubi.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Friday, Memorial of St. Martin de Porres, Religious, 03 November 2023
Romans 9:1-5 ><))))*> + <*((((>< Luke 14:1-6
Photo by author, Camp John Hay, 12 July 2023.
Silence is your language,
God our loving Father;
hence, silence is fullness,
not emptiness;
silence is when we listen
to every sound to discern
and follow your voice within
because silence is within
not without.
How sad that people these days
are afraid of silence,
afraid of listening to your voice
that speaks what is true, good,
and beautiful;
that is why we muffle our ears
with pods and plugs and phones
not to hear your voice coming
from the silent screams and cries
of the sick and suffering;
forgive us, Father, when
we become silent for the wrong reason
of being empty and non-committed,
when we prefer not to speak nor
make a stand in moments we have to
respond to your voice,
remaining silent to ignore
you and those in pain.
Jesus spoke to the scholars of the law and the Pharisees in reply, asking, “Is it lawful to cure on the sabbath or not?” But they kept silent; so he took the man and, after he had healed him, dismissed him.
Luke 14:3-4
Lord Jesus Christ,
so many people especially
children and women are dying
these days while the world remains
silent of the atrocities and killings going on;
like St. Paul in the first reading,
"we have great sorrow and constant
anguish in our hearts" (Romans 9:2);
disturb our empty silence with your
voice and plans to alleviate
the sufferings of those caught
in firefights and hostilities;
do not let our silence be empty
but be filled with you
and your courage and strength
to stand for the value of every life
like St. Martin de Porres who worked
in silence, lived in silence as he silently
listened and obeyed your voice
O Lord.
Amen.
Quiet Storm by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, 31 October 2023
Whether you choose to celebrate Halloween in its truest sense which is the Christian and sacred celebration of All Saints or, the popular and pagan manner that is scary or spooky, November first reminds us always of things that are hidden and not seen.
What is really scary whenever November first approaches is the insistence of so many benighted souls including many Christians who highlight the erroneous pagan practice of dressing evil when halloween literally means “hallowed eve” or “holy evening” before the day set aside for all “holy souls” already in heaven we call “saints”. Any soul who enters heaven is considered a “saint”, that is, holy even if not recognized or canonized by the Church.
Remember the old Our Father translation when we used to say “Hallowed be thy name”? That’s it! Hallowed is the old English for holy. Where people got that idea of halloween as evil is clearly from the devil! And part of that sinister ploy by the devil in making evil funny and acceptable – and visible – is happening in the social media where everything must be seen, shown and exposed. Notice the expression “as seen on TV” to sell and market products while Facebook users brag their rule of thumb “show pictures or it never happened”.
Not everything can be seen and must be seen and shown. Recall how Genesis portrayed Adam and Eve hiding in shame, covering themselves with leaves after eating the forbidden fruit but these days, which could be the second phase of the Fall, men and women are not ashamed at all of their sins and scandals that instead of hiding, they make known to everyone deeds better kept in private, saying words better kept unsaid. They have absolutized the truth, baring all in total disregard of persons’ dignity and unity of the community. We have lost decency because we have also lost our sense of hiddenness, of privacy through silence and stillness.
Photo by author, sunrise at the Pacific from Katmon Nature Sanctuary & Beach Resort in Infanta, Quezon, 04 March 2023.
Hiddenness is a sacred presence where each of us can be all by one’s self focused on God who is the root of our being and existence no matter how one may call Him. St. John Paul II said in one of his writings that God created man first to be alone with Him. And that is how it will be to each of us in the end: we die alone. With God.
We all have this gift of hiddenness within each one of us. This we experience in our desires to be still, to go to the mountains or anywhere for a retreat or introspection, for some “me” time to rediscover and find one’s self anew.
Hiddenness is the passageway to the great gifts of silence and stillness that everyone needs to maintain balance in this highly competitive world filled with so much noise where everybody is talking, including cars and elevators. Compounding the problem of noise within and outside us are the cameras everywhere that entertain us and safeguard our well-being. But, are we really safer these days with all the CCTV’s and Face ID’s we use?
From forbes.com.
Many times, we have actually stripped ourselves of the innate mystery of being human, of the beauty and gift of personhood that some have tried to reveal using the camera but failed because we are beyond seeing. We do not notice how the cameras actually rob us of respect when unconsciously we give ourselves away to the world with our photos and videos spreading far without our knowing. Worst, we have allowed the camera to invade our hiddenness without us realizing that its effects backfire to us as we rarely have the time to analyze the possible outcomes of our photos and videos that usually tend to show what is negative and bad than what is positive and good about us. Our fascination with cameras perfectly capture our Filipino term palabas that literally means “outward”, a mere show without substance inside (loob). As a result of these sounds and images saturating us daily, the more we have become confused and lost because we do not have our grounding or “bearing” found only in hiddenness.
“In our society we are inclined to avoid hiddenness. We want to be seen and acknowledged. We want to be useful to others and influence the course of events. But as we become visible and popular, we quickly grow dependent on people and their responses and easily lose touch with God, the true source of our being. Hiddenness is the place of purification. In hiddenness we find our true selves.”
Fr. Henri Nouwen
Photo by author, Anvaya Cove in Morong, Bataan, July 2023.
We need to regain our hallowed hiddenness if we wish to grow and mature truly as persons – emotionally, psychologically and spiritually. With the phone and TV always around us even in the church, everybody and everything has become so ordinary and cheap.
Regaining our hiddenness is learning to put our technology in its proper place to be grounded in God in silence, the one commodity that has become so scarce these days since the invention of the Sony Walkman more than 40 years ago that spawned all these gadgets all over us now.
Silence is the language of God which leads us to Him and to our true selves. Every communication by God is always preceded by silence, something we have refused to learn as the most basic requirement of every communication. No wonder, we quarrel a lot, ending up more confused than ever because we never listen to others in silence. We never dialogue but simply talk, talk, and talk.
Genesis tells us in the beginning when God created everything, there was silence before He said, “Let there be light” while the fourth gospel solemnly tells us, “In the beginning was the Word… And the Word became flesh” (Jn.1:1, 14). Both instances evoke the beauty and majesty of God in grand silence.
All books in the Old Testament especially those of Psalms and of Job teem with many instances of God in silence amid every sunrise and sunset, in the gentle breeze and vast skies and oceans. In the New Testament, all four evangelists reported nothing Jesus said and did in childhood until the age 30 except for his lost and finding in the temple when 12 years old; Jesus was totally silent all those “hidden years” of his life in preparation for his ministry that lasted only three years, accomplishing so much whereas we speak all our lives and still end up empty. Most of all, the evangelists tell us too how Jesus frequently invited his disciples to a deserted place to pray, be silent and rest to be in communion with God his Father.
Hiddenness is God’s mode of presence that cannot be captured nor described in human terms. That is why He is hidden. It is not that God is hiding from us but He is inviting us to be intimately close with Him to exclusively and personally experience Him, be filled with Him.
Photo by Ms. Jo Villafuerte in Atok, Benguet, 01 September 2019.
It was the same thing Jesus did on Easter, remaining hidden from the disciples. When he finally appeared to Mary Magdalene who tried to touch him, Jesus stopped her to signal to her and to us all of the new level of relating with the Risen Lord in hiddenness. In all Easter stories, we are told how the disciples fell silent whenever Jesus appeared to them. In Emmaus, after the breaking of bread, the two disciples finally recognized Jesus who immediately vanished too! Why? Because Jesus wanted his disciples including us today to follow him personally in his hiddenness to find him and ourselves too.
Appearances or images and noise in life are very fleeting. Very often, the most significant moments and insights we have in life are those that come from our long periods of silence, of prayers and soul-searching.
This November 1 and 2 as we remember all those who have left us in this world, let us keep its sacred origins: All Saints Day for those souls already in heaven and All Souls’ Day for those who have departed but still being purified in the purgatory. Both dates invite us to “hide” in prayers, in silent remembering to experience God and our departed loved ones in the most intimate and personal manner without the gadgets and things that numb us of their presence. Amen. Have a blessed All Saints’ and All Souls’ Days!
