Shamefaced in Lent

40 Shades of Lent by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Monday in the Second Week of Lent, 26 February 2024
Daniel 9:4-10     <*((((>< + + + ><))))*>     Luke 6:36-38

Thank you, Lord,
"great and awesome God"
(Daniel 9:4) for another month
about to end as we entered 
the second week in Lent;
by this time,
let us feel more your mercy
and forgiveness,
your immense love
despite our repeated sins
that have actually
habitual to many of us.

Like Daniel your prophet,
make us "shamefaced"
before you instead of being
shameless.

Justice, O Lord, is on your side; we are shamefaced even to this day: we, the men of Judah, the residents of Jerusalem, and all Israel, near and far, in all the countries to which you have scattered them because of their treachery toward you. O Lord, we are shamefaced, like our kings, our princes, and our fathers, for having sinned against you.
Daniel 9:7-8

Before we can be
merciful as you are 
merciful dear Father
according to Jesus Christ,
let us be shamefaced first
of all for our sinfulness;
many of us have lost that
sense of sinfulness,
becoming shameless
and so thick-faced
that saying it in Tagalog
is best, "makapal
ang mukha".

This Lent,
teach us to be
ashamed of our sins
and iniquities;
teach us to let go 
of our many excuses
and alibis that only
make our face grow
thicker like the soles
of our feet; make us
realize the more shame 
we put on our selves 
when we feel so
self-righteous
that we have no room
to be kind and understanding,
even caring and 
forgiving of others.

This Lent,
let us start
being shamefaced,
of having a healthy 
mistrust of our selves
so that we begin to trust you more,
O Lord, and become like you,
loving and merciful,
and eventually a vessel
of your blessings for others.
Amen.

Lent is self-confrontation

40 Shades of Lent by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Friday after Ash Wednesday, 16 February 2024
Isaiah 58:1-9  + + +  Matthew 9:14-15

Thank you, dear Father
for this lovely season of Lent
when everything is in hue
of violets representing the future,
the imagination and dreams,
while spiritually calming
our emotions to attain 
spiritual enlightenment 
while at the same time
keeping us grounded in you, 
O God,
our very first love.

Give us the courage
in Christ Jesus your Son 
to confront our very selves, 
to accept who we 
really are before you 
minus all the pretensions
and alibis and excuses: 
forgive us, Lord
because very often we look so 
highly of ourselves,
unconsciously or consciously
playing god, 
keeping ourselves
as standard and measure 
of what is right and proper,
even of truth; worst, 
many times, we demand you 
to conform to us 
than we conforming to you.

Thus says the Lord God: Cry out full-throated and unsparingly, lift up your voice like a trumpet blast; tell my people their wickedness, and the house of Jacob their sins. They seek me day after day, and desire to know my ways, like a nation that has done what is just and not abandoned the law of their God; they ask me to declare what is due them, pleased to gain access to God.
Isaiah 58:1-2

Let us be your prophets
especially in this age when
we no longer fast nor abstain,
no longer praying individually
and communally,
so contented with online Masses,
so that we have forgotten not only
you, Father but even those
around us, both those nearest
to us in the family circle
and those outside our margins;
Father, in this age with
so much emphasis 
on individual rights,
we have forgotten about
others: we have refused to
see each others plight
and condition in life
because we have bloated
our egos,
has failed to look at the mirror
to confront our own dirt
and smudges,
questioning everyone
even you, O Lord,
except our very selves.
Amen.

True faith in God

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Thursday in the First Week of Ordinary Time, 11 January 2024
1 Samuel 4:1-11 <*[[[[>< + ><]]]]*> Mark 1:40-45

*Photo from Inquirer.net, 09 January 2024.*

God our loving Father,
your words today 
from the first reading
as so similar with our 
annual experiences at
Traslacion of Quiapo's
Black Nazarene image;
every year, we all ask in 
awe and wonder
as well as with skepticism
even cynicism by some
if this is faith or fanaticism
because after January 9,
our nation remains the same -
defeated in corruption,
defeated in inequality,
defeated in poverty,
so defeated in fact that
many are still suffering 
from all kinds of impoverishments
that like the Israelites
at Ebenezer, we ask:

“Why has the Lord permitted us to be defeated today by the Philistines? Let us fetch the ark of the Lord from Shiloh that it may gointo battle among us and save us from the grasp of our enemies.”
1 Samuel 4:3

We have the Black Nazarene,
we have the Sto. Niño,
we have the La Naval,
we have everything like your
Ark of the Covenant, dear God
and yet like the Israelites,
we are still defeated:
we elect into office
to govern us men and women
without integrity nor abilities,
much less concern for our well-being;
we ourselves disobey simple
traffic rules,
could not give the due respect
to our parents at home!

Forgive us, dear God,
in relying so much on what eyes
can see, what hands can do,
what mouths can shout or speak
as we forget to move our hearts,
to deepen our faith like that leper,
wholeheartedly believing in Jesus Christ
that he was cleansed and healed;
but, unlike him,
let us obey the prescriptions
of the law, of those above us
to avoid sensationalisms
that may spark faith in many
but fail in deepening that same faith
when we turn more on ourselves
than to you, O God, in Christ Jesus
found in everyone whom
we eventually forget
as we become self-centered.
Amen.

New year holiness

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Wednesday, Memorial of the Most Holy Name of Jesus, 03 January 2024
1 John 2:29-3:6 <*{{{{>< + ><}}}}*> John 1:29-34

*Photo by Mr. Boy Cabrido, National Shrine of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, New Manila, QC, 21 December 2023.*

On this third day of the new year,
O Lord, your words are calling us to
live as children of God,
holy and righteous like you;
many times,
we could not heed this call
and most often,
we laugh at the mere thought
of holiness because
we look down at ourselves
as incapable of being good
because we refuse 
to break free from sin.

Everyone who commits sin commits lawlessness, for sin is lawlessness. You know that he was revealed to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. No one who remains in him sins; no one who sins has seen him or known him.
1 John 3:4-6

Sin is lawlessness
not only in the sense it is
a disobedience
and a breaking of your laws,
Lord;
sin is lawlessness 
because it is a refusal to
love and be true like you,
Lord Jesus;
every time we refuse 
to reflect your love and your truth,
there is disorder in life,
their is disharmony among us,
there is destruction and
dirt in us;
you have come precisely
O Lord Jesus, 
to take away our sins
as the Lamb of God
identified by John the Baptist; 
grant us courage and strength,
determination as well
to live up to our new person,
our new being as forgiven
and loved children of the Father;
may we desire order and peace,
serenity and fulfillment
in our lives,
in our selves,
in our world
by turning away from sins
and turning towards you
in love and truth,
kindness and care
because any failure to find you,
Lord Jesus,
will always lead us 
to selfishness,
to conceit,
and to emptiness
because without you
and others,
we are alone
without any point reference
for our being 
and existence.
Amen.

Our “dying” cities

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Thursday, Memorial of St. Clement, Pope & Martyr, 23 November 2023
1 Maccabees 2:15-29 ><)))*> + <*(((>< = ><)))*> + <*(((>< Luke 19:41-44

*Photo by author, Metro Manila seen from Antipolo City, August 2022.*

God our Father,
bless our cities,
bring back life to our
dying cities;
amid the many signs
of progress and affluence,
there are also the many signs
of decay and poverty
that cannot be hidden.
And they all begin in
our hearts that have
turned away from you.

Jesus drew near Jerusalem, he saw the city and wept over it, saying, “If this day you only knew what makes for peace – but now it is hidden from your eyes.
Luke 19:41

So many of us, O Lord,
are so allured by the glitter
and lights of the city
that we forget you,
our only light that can vanish
all darkness within us;
we have been so fascinated with
the material prosperity,
wealth and fame our cities
offer us that we have forgotten
your Cross, dear Jesus,
that enable us to love truly
and bring life to others;
we have turned away from you,
Jesus, our Lord and God,
to worship new gods
that leave us empty,
lost and confused than ever.

Like Mattathias and his sons
along with his many followers
during the Maccabean revolt in Israel,
let us "leave" our cities and its
many temptations and sins,
lies and empty promises
to search our hearts,
to find you again
and follow you
in order to bring you back
to our cities like
your martyr St. Clement.
Amen.

Photo by author, the Church of Dominus Flevit (the Lord Cried/Wept) with roof shaped like four tears believed to be the very site where Jesus wept over the impending destruction of Jerusalem that happened in year 70 AD.

Noble spirit

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Wednesday, Memorial of St. Cecilia, Virgin & Martyr, 22 November 2023
2 Maccabees 7:1, 20-31 ><]]]]'> + ><]]]]'> + ><]]]]'> Luke 19:11-28

*Photo by Dra. Mylene A. Santos, MD, in Tagalag, Valenzuela City, 13 September 2023.*

Praise and glory to you,
God our loving Father!

Today I pray to you for 
the gift of a "noble spirit"
like that courageous mother
of seven brothers who died on
the same day before her as she
extolled them to resist temptations
and remained faithful to you:
"Filled with a noble sprit that 
stirred her womanly heart with
manly courage" (2 Maccabees 7:21).

What a beautiful description of that
woman's great courage and faith 
in you, dear God!

Give us a noble spirit, Lord, 
a selfless soul that thinks more
of others than one's self especially
in this age when we are so self-conscious
and conceited with our bloated egos
always on the take, as if the world
revolves around us; a soul that is
not selfish and other centered
because of deep faith and trust
in you, Father.

Stir your noble spirit in us, Lord;
let us find anew our moral compass,
our moral grounding in you and your
laws especially in this age when
"everything and anything goes"
regardless of morals and virtues,
an age that glorifies every person as
a universe in himself,
crowning himself as god, 
yet so afraid of the truth,
so ignorant of freedom,
without any idea of 
the real meaning of living
and loving that in the end,
could not accept death.

Like that courageous woman
and St. Cecilia, stir the noble spirit
within us, Lord Jesus,
to embrace wholeheartedly
our being human,
our being finite,
our being-towards-death
so that we may start living
as you have taught us by
giving and sharing ourselves
and everything we have
in order to be fulfilled,
by facing death so that
we may live in you.
Amen.