The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Monday in the Eleventh Week of Ordinary Time, Year II, 17 June 2024 1 Kings 21:1-16 <*((((><< + >><))))*> Matthew 5:38-42
Photo by Dra. Mylene A. Santos, MD in Infanta, Quezon, April 2020.
Your words today, O God are so agitating, "nakaka-init po ng ulo": it is an old story we have all memorized but every time we hear it, we are so moved in anger because it continues to happen in our own time, especially the truth that we never run out of scoundrels, of corrupt and evil people willing to sell their souls, to lie and malign others, even kill for money and wealth.
This is what Jezebel wrote in the letters: “Proclaim a fast and set Naboth at the head of the people. Next, get two scoundrels to face him and accuse him of having cursed God and king. Then take himmout and stone him to death.” His fellow citizens – the elders and the nobles who dwelt in his city – dis as Jezebel had ordered them in writing, through the letters she had sent them… On hearing that Naboth was dead, Ahab started off on his way down to the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, to take possession of it.
1 Kings 21:9-11, 16
Forgive us, merciful Father in conniving with the modern Jezebels and scoundrels with our nasty talks and comments against others especially in social media; we may not be committing sin at the same scale as that of Jezebel and her cohorts but still, we continue this cycle of evil and violence in what we consider at small talks that are true after all... Oh God, forgive us in taking away the honor and dignity of so many people with our careless comments and even likes in social media posts.
Teach us in Jesus Christ your Son, Father, to go the extra mile in fighting this vicious circle of evil; give us the courage in Jesus to turn the other cheek by firmly standing on our ground at His Cross in resisting violence and revenge, in showing others that love always prevails, the love is the most potent force in the universe not greed nor hatred, that only love conquers all. Amen.
Photo by Dra. Mylene A. Santos, MD in Infanta, Quezon, April 2020.
It is the final Sunday in Lent as we enter its final week with temperatures soaring into the 30’s as we get into the heat of summer in the country. To soothe us in our Sunday feature, we have chosen Lee Ritenour’s classic smooth jazz Is It You? from his 1981 album Rit.
An American jazz-guitarist, Ritenour is considered as one of the great movers in the jazz scene since the late 1960’s until now, being a part of so many groups and individual musicians in producing great music and tunes that unknown to many of us have were surely delighted and even uplifted.
Is It You? is one of those music by Ritenour with Eric Tagg doing the vocals as well as co-writing it along with Bill Champlin.
So characteristic of Ritenour’s jazz experiments fusing it with rock and pop, Is It You? speaks of a man’s feelings of doubts amid strong convictions of being ready to love a woman he is asking if she too is ready; hence, the question, Is It You?
Someone’s just outside, knocking at my door A stranger, somebody unknown Someone’s in my dreams, can’t get it off my mind, yeah I’m tired of being alone Someone’s trying to find an easy way inside Come on, I’m right here at home, right at home
Is it you? Is it you? Is it you? Is it you, you, you?
Who’s that deep inside me, sneaking around my heart? Are you somebody in love? Show me what you’re doing and tell me who you are Hey, I’m ready for love, for love
Is it you? Is it you? Is it you? Is it you, you, you?
If it’s you, come out in the open You don’t need to hide your love If it’s you, you know I’m hoping ‘Cause it’s way too late to run away Don’t run away from love, my love Is it you?
Photo of a convolvulus tricolor from BBC Gardeners World Magazine.
Many times we felt that way too that despite the uncertainties we feel, there is that strong thrust from within to dare step forward and make the move to find out like Ritenour if is it you?
In some ways, it must have been the feeling too of those Greek converts in Jerusalem that Palm Sunday who asked Philip if they could see Jesus. They too had that strong feeling towards Jesus after hearing the many good things about himself, his teachings and his miracles. When they said they wanted to see Jesus, it was more than seeing him literally because the Lord was never in hiding. The Greeks, like us and Ritenour in his song, were seeking something more, something deeper, something about faith (https://lordmychef.com/2024/03/16/lent-is-believing-in-order-to-see-jesus/).
There lies the beauty of life, of following Jesus: while the world tells us that to see is to believe, Jesus tells us that to believe so we would see; the world tells us to enjoy life without inhibitions one’s enjoyment, Jesus tells us that it is in dying that we truly live.
Both happens when we dare to ask, when we dare to step forward and take the plunge, of giving one’s self in love. To ask of seeing Jesus, of seeing somebody special, of asking if is it you is also believing in him or the other person.
Believe. And you shall see that indeed, it is you, Jesus!
40 Shades of Lent by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Fifth Sunday in Lent-B, 17 March 2024 Jeremiah 31:31-34 + Hebrews 5:7-9 + John 12:20-33
From Google.com.
We now come to the penultimate Sunday of Lent before entering the Holy Week on Palm Sunday as we listened to the final installment of John’s narration of Jesus Christ’s final six days in Jerusalem before his Passion, Death, and Resurrection.
Our gospel today is actually set on Palm Sunday when Jesus triumphantly entered Jerusalem.
Some Greeks who had come up to worship at the Passover Feast came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, “Sir, we would like to see Jesus.” Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Amen, amen, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will preserve it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there also will my servant be. The Father will honor whoever serves me.
John 12:20-26
Praying at the wailing wall of Jerusalem, May 2019.
As we have been telling you, John’s gospel teems with many symbolisms and hidden meanings in the way he narrated events and scenes like when those Greeks asked Philip and Andrew to see Jesus.
If they simply wanted to catch a glimpse of Jesus, they could have easily satisfied themselves because Jesus never hid at that time. He had just entered Jerusalem, so warmly welcomed by the people, even by those Greeks perhaps. Most likely, they must have heard many things about Jesus that they wanted to go farther in requesting to see him. Hence, it was more than a request to have an audience with Jesus but something about their faith in him as they were pagans converted to Judaism.
We have to remember here that John used the verb “to see” to also mean “to believe” in his gospel account like when he narrated on Easter morning how Peter and the “other disciple” ran to the empty tomb “and he saw and believed” (Jn.20:8).
Keeping that detail on Easter morning at the empty tomb, we now understand why John never told us if Jesus met at all the Greeks requesting to see him because to see and believe Jesus is to accept and embrace wholly his Passion and Death on the Cross. This is why John jumped into Christ’s monologue upon being told by Philip and Andrew on the Greeks’ request.
Photo by author, 2018.
What a beauty we have here because we are those Greek converts too, constantly searching, seeking to go farther in our faith in Jesus despite our sins. As we get older and mature, we realize how our days are numbered, that we will definitely die someday and meet God.
Lately I have been thinking why do we really have to be happy on our birthday – much less why greet celebrators a happy birthday when in fact every birthday is a step closer to death, is it not? I am not being morbid but it is the truest matter of fact in life. Life is a lifelong process of preparation for death. What comes next when we age? Death.
However, our faith in Jesus tells us it is not simply death as an end but a blessed death that leads to fullness in life, literally and figuratively speaking.
That is where the beauty of Christ’s parable of the grain of wheat lies, “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit.”
We do not simply die in the end or even in the in-betweens of life through those failures and losses, defeats and wrong moves. We get better in life as we forge on.
It is the undeniable truth written in our hearts as God told Jeremiah in the first reading, that we are God’s, we solely belong to him no matter how hard we try to flee from him and disobey him in our sins, he would always find us even if we get lost. St. Augustine said it so well, “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.”
There is always that inner longing for God our Creator and End. That is why God sent us Jesus his Son as the author of the Letter to the Hebrews explained in the second reading so that through all our darkness and confusions, sufferings and trials, especially in those daily deaths that weaken us in our desire to search and follow him we may still find to have the strength and courage to forge on in wanting to see him by being with him where he is always – at the Cross.
Photo by author, 2018.
This is the grace of this fifth Sunday in Lent: we believe so we may see, we die in order to live. Both believing and dying in order to see and to live are grace from God freely given to us even if we are not worthy at all.
The world tells us always that to see is to believe but Christ tells us that first we must believe so that we would see; it is the same thing with living – die to one’s self in order to live fully because “whoever loves his life loses it.”
When we read or watch the news, many times we feel so exasperated and hopeless with the world. Imagine a resort right in a natural wonder there in the Chocolate Hills of Bohol? Or, land developers covering swamps without any considerations for others and the environment? Or, the mess and wastage happening in our offices, schools and homes? Do not forget us your priests living far from witnessing Christ in charity and service?
It’s a crazy world! And in all these abuses, the more we have become empty and lost that is why in the process, more and more of us never stop to believe and see, to hope and pray like those Greek converts seeking Jesus, for only in him we find rest and peace. Let us pray:
Lord Jesus Christ, many times I really do not know where I am going; I cannot see the road ahead of me while many times I wonder if I am really following you and doing your will; but at least, Jesus, I am sure it is still you whom I wish to see, it is you I always desire even if many times it does not show because this time I am sure you alone is my God, my life, my fulfillment. Therefore, like the psalmist, "Create a clean heart for me, O God, and a steadfast spirit renew within me. Cast me not out from your presence, and your Holy Spirit take not from me" (Psalm 51:12-13). Amen.
Until now I still relish in delight, Father that expression I realized this Monday: Lent is God always "now here" and us people "nowhere"; your words today are about your abiding presence among us, of remembering and not forgetting, of the ties that bind us together of we your beloved children and you our loving Father in Christ Jesus our Brother.
Can a mother forget her infant, be without tenderness for the child of her womb? Even should she forget, I will never forget you.
Isaiah 49:15
Jesus answered the Jews, “My Father is at work until now, so I am at work… Amen, amen, I say to you, the Son cannot do anything on his own, but only what he sees the father doing; for what he does, the Son will do also. For the Father loves the Son and shows him everything that he himself does, and he will show him greater works than these, so that you may be amazed.
John 5:17, 19-20
How sad is the fact that what we most often forget and fail to remember is our ties and relationships; every sin, every injustice, every hurt happens in the context of our relationships disregarded: with you God our Father, we as brothers and sisters; between husband and wife, among siblings, children with their parents, parents with their kids; persons of authority with their subjects supposed to protect and care for; worst of all, Father, we forget that marvelous truth and reality of you always finding ways to save us, to free us, to forgive us, and to bless us because we your beloved children!
Thus says the Lord: In a time of favor I answer you, on the day of salvation I help you; and I have kept you and given you as covenant to the people, to restore the land and allot desolate heritages, saying to the prisoners: Come out! To those in darkness: Show yourselves! Along the ways they shall find pasture, on every bare height shall their pastures be.
Isaiah 49:8-9
In this Season of Lent, let us go back to our relationships in you through Jesus with one another for even if we forget our tasks and responsibilities in life, for as long as we remember the ties that bond us together then, we shall never forget, will always remember, to be present like you "now here" never "nowhere" filled with your love and kindness for everyone. Amen.
40 Shades of Lent by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Friday in the First Week of Lent, 23 February 2024 Ezekiel 18:21-28 <*[[[[>< + + + ><]]]]*> Matthew 5:20-26
“Water Lilies” (1916-1919) painting by Frenchman Claude Monet from lopificio.it
As we come to close the first week of Lent today, your words in our Responsorial Psalm are so true, O God because nothing can be hidden from you, “If you, O Lord, mark iniquities, who can stand?”
Jesus said to his disciples: “Therefore, if you bring your gift to the altar, and there recall that your brother has anything against you, leave your gift there at the altar, go first and be reconciled with your brother, and then come and offer your gift.”
Matthew 5:23-24
When does a "brother has anything against us", Lord Jesus?
The Filipino translation “kung may sama ng loob sa iyo ang iyong kapatid” implies the problem lies with the brother, not us; but, here you are telling us we are the offender, who are obliged, even ought to be “reconciled with him first then offer your gift” as we are the guilty one!
Forgive us for acting immaturely clean and innocent when our feuds and animosities with others are due to our pretending to be the offended ones when in fact, we are the offender.
Let us get real with ourselves beginning this Lent for we can never fool you, God our Father.
“When someone virtuous turns away from virtue to commit iniquity, and dies, it is because of the iniquity he committed that he must die. But if the wicked, turning from wickedness he has committed, does what is right and just, he shall preserve his life; since he has turned away from all the sins that he committed, he shall surely live, he shall not die.”
Ezekiel 18:26-28
Thank you dear Father for being true with us always that we may also get real with you and everybody else. Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Tuesday in the Second Week of Ordinary Time, Year II, 16 January 2024 1 Samuel 16:1-13 <*((((>< + ><))))*> Mark 2:23-28
Photo by Dra. Mylene A. Santos, MD in Infanta, Quezon, 2020.
Is it really possible, dear God, that we shall be able to see and look at persons and things like you?
But the Lord said to Samuel: ”Do not judge from his appearance or from his lofty stature, because I have rejected him. Not as man sees does God see, because he sees the appearance but the Lord looks into the heart.”
1 Samuel 16: 7
If that is the case, O God, then, to see like you is most of all to feel, to listen to experience another person; to see and look at persons and things like you, O God, is to feel the vibes or vibrations, the spirit of another person or of a thing; to see like you, O God, is to be like Jesus mindful always of your will and plan, to you wait for your voice before deciding, before acting.
To see like you, therefore, dear God, is first of all to be one in you, with you in Christ Jesus. Amen.
Photo by Dra. Mylene A. Santos, MD in Infanta, Quezon, 2020.
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