The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Monday in the Sixth Week of Ordinary Time, Year II, 12 February 2023 James 1:1-11 ><))))*> + ><))))*> + ><))))*> Mark 8:11-13
Photo by author, Lake of Galilee in Israel, May 2019.
Dear Jesus: I love that word "kind" from the responsorial psalm "Be kind to me, Lord, and I shall live" and that scene from the Gospel when you "sighed": the word "kind" is from the root "kin" or "kindred", that is, someone like us, from the same family, or the same tribe; being kind is treating others as one's family or kin and that is how you are to us - kind!
And you were most like one of us, and kind, dear Jesus when you "sighed from the depth of your spirit" (Mk. 8:12) after the Pharisees asked you for sign from heaven to prove you were the Christ; of course, that meant nothing for the Pharisees but for us who believe in you, it was something; like you, dear Jesus, many times we sigh out of exasperation and exhaustion, acceptance and surrender, hope and inspiration to persevere, to keep on, to forge on in life.
You became like us, dear Jesus, in everything except sin but, when you sighed we felt you being so kind too, truly a brother to us like when St. James addressed us 15 times as "brothers and sisters" in his short letter while teaching us the important lesson of bearing all trials in life as you did at your Crucifixion, Lord.
Whenever we sigh, may we remember your kindness, your being one with us, Jesus because you too sighed during those amazing moments of difficulties and trials, powerlessness and poverty when we most gain character and depth as person, not when we are strong and powerful or successful. Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Sunday in the Thirty-first Week of Ordinary Time, Cycle A, 05 November 2023 Malachi 1:14-2:2, 8-10 ><}}}}*> 1 Thessalonians 2:7-9, 13 ><}}}}*> Matthew 23:1-12
Photo by author, Malagos Orchid Farm, Davao City, 2017.
More than 18 years ago when we were assigned to a parish in our concurrent positions as school administrators in Malolos, an older priest offered to help us think of “gimmicks” so people would come to our parish. He insisted how the Church must have “marketing strategies” to attract more people celebrate Mass especially on Sundays.
After that older priest had left, I told our Rector to dismiss everything he had heard. I explained to him we do not need any marketing strategies because we have the best to offer – God in Jesus Christ. I stressed to him that only two things are essential in the parish: good liturgy that flows to good service.
A few years later, I was assigned to a parish of my own and held on that conviction. Modesty aside, that parish entrusted to me grew and became so vibrant during my nine years of stay there. Even during the pandemic lockdown, we continued with our good liturgies on line and in the ground that enabled us to serve everyone, especially the poor regardless of their religion. We never asked donations but people volunteered to give cash and goods to sustain the parish and our outreach programs.
Photo by Ms. Ria De Vera, Christ the King procession in November 2020.
Our readings today are very timely as the Synod on Synodality concluded in Rome recently that sought new ways in getting everyone in the Church especially those in the margins may journey together in Christ, with Christ to God our Father.
Although we priests and bishops remain as the biggest problems in the Church since the beginning like the Pharisees and scribes during the time of Jesus, having a good and meaningful liturgy that is living and fruitful is everyone’s responsibility.
And now, O priests, this commandment is for you: If you do not listen, and if you do not lay it to heart, to give glory to my name, says the Lird of hosts, I will send a curse upon you and of your blessing I will make a curse. You have turned aside from the way, and have caused many to falter by your instruction; you have made void the covenant of Levi, says the Lord of hosts.
Malachi 2:1-2, 8
How appropriate were the words by Prophet Malachi spoken in 480 BC who invites us too today to examine the manner we celebrate the liturgy in our communities, the spirit and seriousness that animate us, the image of God our celebrations project.
Is God still among us in our liturgy that after every celebration, we find him in our midst?
Is there still a sense of awe and wonder, of mysterium fascinans or we – priests and people – have replaced God in our worship?
Malachi was right on target then and now in echoing God’s anger and frustrations at the sight of our degenerate and perverted worship where anything goes as if God does not see us. And worst, as if we could fool him when our hearts are divided and so far from him and from one another which Jesus tried fixing these past two Sundays.
Photo by Mr. Gelo Nicolas, Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria, Bulacan, February 2020.
Jesus had silenced his enemies today in our gospel, he took it to unleash to them – and us – powerful tirades against their hypocrisies (and ours too), of how far our hearts been from God and one another, lacking in love due to its being so divided.
What a way to conclude his teachings these past two Sundays after failed attempts by his enemies to trick him into saying things that could lead to his arrest and execution.
Jesus spoke to the crowds and to his disciples, saying, “The scribes and the Pharisees have taken their seat on the chair of Moses. Therefore, do and observe all things whatsoever they tell you, but do not follow their example. For they preach but they do not practice. They tie up heavy burdens hard to carry and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they will not lift a finger to move them. All their works are performed to be seen.
Matthew 23:1-5
These past two Sundays, Jesus stressed the need of purifying our hearts so that we may give to God what is due to him which is our total selves. To purify our hearts, to have a clean heart to see God as in his beatitudes we heard proclaimed on All Saints Day means to enter into a communion with Jesus Christ, the One with the purest and cleanest heart who truly loves God and all of us.
Photo by author, St. Scholastica Retreat House, Baguio City, August 2023.
Today Jesus is calling us to walk our talk, to mean what we believe and say, to be true as his disciples who choose to love and suffer for God, who finds value in God dwelling in our hearts not in things outside like names and ranks, titles and designations, clothes and other signs.
Today Jesus is calling us to live and relate honestly with others wherein our whole selves – words and actions, body and soul – are united by hearts inclined, resting in God.
Today Jesus is calling us to focus on him alone for he is our only true Teacher and Master who lovingly humbled himself as servant of all to lead us to God our one Father in heaven.
Of course, Jesus is not asking us to disregard nor dismiss all titles and designations that define our roles and functions not only in the liturgy but even in the family and society. When we learn to give what is due to Caesar and what is due to God, then we discover that our proper “seat” is in this life is in the place of a servant and that our true “place of honor” is at God’s kingdom where everyone is equal. When we have this clearly in our minds and in our hearts, then, our words and deeds are no longer in opposition like the Pharisees and scribes who did not practice what they preached because we have become witnesses to integrity of self as disciples of Christ.
Photo by author, Our Lady of Fatima University, Valenzuela, 13 September 2023.
Vatican II rightly and beautifully called the liturgy as “fons et culmen” – the fount from which all blessings of our faith flow and the apex or summit of our lives as Christians, as disciples of Christ.
How true is our worship of God?
St. Paul gave us a glimpse of their living worship in Thessalonica, picturesquely telling them how “they were gentle among you, as a nursing mother cares for her children. With such affection for you, we were determined to share with you not only the gospel of God, but our very selves as well, so dearly beloved had tou become to us” (1Thes. 2:7-8).
How I wish we priests could be so sincere like St. Paul to the people and most especially to our Lord! This Sunday, may our worship be our lives too in Jesus like the admonition of St. Augustine to his congregation when distributing the Holy Communion, “Become what you receive: the Body of Christ”. Amen. Have a blessed new week!
40 Shades of Lent by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Wednesday in the First Week of Lent, 01 March 2023
Jonah 3:1-10 <*{{{{>< +++ ><}}}}*> Luke 11:29-31
Photo by author, 08 February 2023.
O loving Father,
teach us to believe again
during this blessed season of Lent;
help us rediscover our faith
to believe in you again amid our many
sins and guilt feelings;
help us to believe again in people
after so many betrayals by friends and family;
most of all, help us to believe again
in ourselves despite our failures
and weaknesses.
So many times we are like your
prophet Jonah,
so reluctant in answering your calls,
so stubborn and hardheaded in our
biases and prejudices against others,
many times we resort to pessimism
and cynicism with how life in the world
is going, feeling lost and hopeless.
So Jonah made ready and went to Nineveh, according to the Lord’s bidding. Now Nineveh was an enormously large city; it took three days to go through it. Jonah began his journey through the city, and had gone but a single day’s walk announcing, “Forty days more and Nineveh shall be destroyed,” when the people of Nineveh believed God; they proclaimed a fast and all of them, great and small, put on sackcloth.
Jonah 3:3-5
Help us in our unbelief, Lord!
Help us stop asking for many signs
except Jesus Christ present to us
in the Sacraments especially
the Eucharist and Confession
we often receive these days.
Help us to simply believe
and obey your words
like Jonah at Nineveh.
Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Monday in the Sixth Week of Ordinary Time, Year I, 13 February 2023
Genesis 4:1-15, 25 ><))))*> + ><))))*> + ><))))*> Mark 8:11-13
Photo by Mr. Jim Marpa, 2019.
Praise and glory to you,
God our loving Father,
for this wonderful Monday!
How amazing and lovely
to contemplate your words
daily, to experience your love
and mercy you lavishly pour
upon us despite our sinfulness.
Then the Lord asked Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?” He answered, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?” The Lord then said: “What have you done! Listen: your brother’s blood cries out to me from the soil!”
Genesis 4:9-10
How often we act like
Cain, O Lord!
How often we miserably
fail one another,
pretending not to know
each one when we cut off
our ties as kins,
as brothers and sisters in
you our Father!
What a shame how everyday,
you ask us those basic questions
in Paradise after the fall of our
first parents: "Where are you?" and
then, "Where is your brother?"
Merciful Father,
let us ponder on these
questions of "where are you?"
and now "where is your brother?":
to find our place in you
is always to find
and recognize too
those around us as our kin,
our family in you;
open our eyes and
our hearts to one another
as a sign of your presence
in Jesus Christ (Mk.8:11-13);
let us feel the gravity
of our sinfulness of
how evil in its darkest
reality happens right inside
our circles of family and
friends, when we strike one
another with our painful words,
or sharp looks, or indifference
and coldness; let us realize, however,
that even in the midst of these
sinful thoughts and jealousies
we harbor against others in
our hearts, you remain in us,
still there continuing your
inner dialogue with us not to be
"resentful and crestfallen,
to do well in order to hold up
our heads, and resist the demon
urging toward us" (Gen. 4:6-7).
In the name of Jesus Christ
your Son, in the power
of the Holy Spirit,
enlighten our minds
and our hearts,
dear Father,
to keep this basic truth
that we are indeed
our brother's keeper,
that to keep our ties in you
tightly knit is to keep
our kinship always
because you are our Father,
our origin and our end,
We pray in the most special
way for our family members
who have cut off ties with us,
those we have hurt or have hurt
us, choosing not to know us.
Touch their hearts.
Ask them too,
"Where is your brother,
your sister?"
Show them the way back
home, to experience
love and forgiveness
and mercy again.
Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Friday in the Thirty-Fourth Week in Ordinary Time, 25 November 2022
Revelation 20:1-4, 11-22:2 ><]]]'> + ><]]]'> + ><]]]'> Luke 21:29-33
God our loving Father,
your words today spoken both by
John and your Son Jesus Christ
are frightening at first hearing;
but, as we dwell more on your words,
we are comforted because your promised
end of the world is the beginning
of "new heaven and new earth"
(Revelation 21:1-2);
it has started coming already
in the birth of Jesus Christ
as we join the psalmist
in proclaiming this wonderful truth,
"Here God lives among his people"
(responsorial psalm).
"My soul yearns and pines for
the courts of the Lord.
My heart and my flesh
cry out for the living God.
Even the sparrow finds a home,
and the swallow a nest in which
she puts her young ---
your altars, O Lord of hosts,
my king and my God!
Blessed they who dwell in your house!
Blessed the men whose strength
you are!"
(Psalm 84:3, 4, 5, 6)
Despite the many trials
and sufferings we have been going
through, you never ceased to
guide us to life and fulfillment
in you through Jesus Christ.
Make us aware and conscious
of your presence among our brothers
and sisters especially those in pain
and in the margins;
may our eyes,
our minds,
and our hearts
be open to your presence
in everyone we meet inasmuch
as we can read the signs of
the fig tree and other trees
(Luke 21:29-30);
may we stop for a while
in our tasks and duties
to feel each one's humanity
and personhood to find you
and experience you.
Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Monday, Week XVI, Year I in Ordinary Time, 19 July 2021
Exodus 14:5-18 ><]]]'> ><]]]*> ><]]]'> Matthew 12:38-42
Photo by Mr. Raffy Tima of GMA7-News, June 2020.
What a beautiful day to reflect
on your very unusual ways, O God our Father;
once again, there is that issue of
being lost in our readings today:
your people have to take a long and
circuitous route out of Egypt
going to your Promised Land only to be
caught up near the Red Sea by
their former masters pursuing them
to take them back to slavery.
But Moses answered the people,
"Fear not! Stand your ground,
and you will see the victory
the Lord will win for you today."
Then the Lord said to Moses,
"Why are you crying out to me?
Tell the children of Israel to go forward.
And you, lift up your staff and,
with hand outstretched over the sea,
split the sea in two, that the children
of Israel may pass through it
on dry land." (Exodus 14:13,15-16)
Yes, dearest God our Father,
sometimes we need to get lost
in order to find you and one's self;
we have to be led to unfamiliar routes
and places and situations in life for indeed,
complacency breeds contempt.
Set us free from our routines and
own ways of thinking and doing
that have unconsciously enslaved us
that we no longer trust you.
Teach us to "stand our ground"
like when Moses answered his
people amid their many complaints
that we may be consistent with our
desires to be truly free and fulfilled.
Teach us to "go forward"
as you commanded your people
to cross the Red Sea and believe in you,
follow your lead to experience
your great power and wonders.
He said to them in reply,
"An evil and unfaithful generation
seeks a sign, but no sign
will be given it except
the sign of Jonah the prophet."
(Matthew 12:39)
Forgive us, dear Jesus
in seeking so many signs from you,
doubting you, mistrusting you
despite all the love and mercy
and blessings you have showered us.
When we are lost in the many
trappings of this world,
help us find our way back
home to you, to rest anew
in your gentle mercy and love. Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Friday, Week XXXIV, Year II in Ordinary Time, 27 November 2020
Revelations 20:1-4, 11-21:2 >>> + <<< Luke 21:29-33
Photo by author, October 2020.
O God our loving Father, today I echo the song of the psalmist, yearning to be with you, hoping to dwell with you: “My soul yearns and pines for the courts of the Lord. My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God. Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest in which she puts her young — Your altars, O Lord of hosts, my king and my God!” (Ps.84:3, 4).
As we come closer to the end of the current liturgical calendar, looking forward to Advent and Christmas, make us more sensitive in finding you Lord in the signs you always give us by cleansing our hearts so that there is always a sacred space for you there within us.
May we always abide in you, O Lord, living in your precepts, finding you among us in the many signs you send us so that when your promised “new heaven and new earth” is realized in Jesus Christ, may we find favor in his judgement as we strived to live his gospel.
You have created us, fashioned us in your hands, breathing in us your life-giving spirit, Father; we are yours and meant to dwell in you in all eternity. Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Monday, Week XXVIII, Year II in Ordinary Time, 12 October 2020
Galatians 4:22-24, 26-27, 31-5:1 ||| +++ ||| Luke 11:29-32
Cross of Christ atop the church of our Lady of Lourdes in France. Photo by Arch. Philip Santiago, September 2018.
Today O God our Father I thank you for the gift of faith we have always taken for granted. Faith is not just for believing in you, God; faith is for believing what is true! Without faith, life would be a drab and even senseless for there is nothing we can ever hold as reliable and true.
Without faith is like living without friction with everything sliding, slipping, escaping our grasps. There is nothing we would ever believe in. Most of all, without faith we can never read and understand any kind of signs, especially your saving work in Jesus Christ.
While still more people gathered in the crowd, Jesus said to them, “This generation is an evil generation; it seeks a sign, but no sign will be given it, except the sign of Jonah. Just as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so will the Son of Man be to this generation.
Luke 11:29-30
We live in a world of so many signs and symbols but it is only through your gift of faith that they all become meaningful and useful.
Teach us, Lord, to deepen our faith so we can read your signs better like St. Paul in the first reading whose deep faith in you enabled him to interpret the meaning of the signs of Abraham’s two sons, Ishmael by Hagar and Isaac by Sarah.
May we love and care more for your gift of faith to us, Lord, because it is through our faith that we know and discover, follow and hold on to your plans for us. Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Friday, Memorial of St. Augustine, Doctor of the Church, 28 August 2020
1 Cortinthians 1:17-25 <*(((><< ||+|| >><)))*> Matthew 25:1-13
Philippe de Champaigne’s painting “Saint Augustine” (1645-1650) from wikimedia.org.
Whenever I look back in my life, Lord, the more I realize the truth that it is YOU who finds us when we are lost. Even before we searched for you, you have been asking us to come home to you. In fact, to look for you is a grace in itself because that is when you have finally found us!
Late have I loved you, O Beauty ever ancient, ever new, late have I loved you! You were within me, but I was outside, and it was there that I searched for you. In my unloveliness I plunged into the lovely things which you created. You were with me, but I was not with you… You called, you shouted, and you broke through my deafness. You flashed, you shone, and you dispelled my blindness… You touched me, and I burned for your peace.
From the Confessions of St. Augustine
Thank you dearest Jesus in giving us the great St. Augustine, another version of St. Paul who started so wrong in life but ended right on your side.
Please be patient with us, Lord, specially in those times we feel so wise, thinking we know everything, that we can direct our own lives without you.
Open our hearts and our minds that we may heed the words of St. Paul like St. Augustine:
For Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are called, Jews and Greeks alike, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.
1 Corinthians 1:22-25
We pray, O Jesus, for the gift of wisdom like the wise virgins of your parable that even in the darkness of our lives, our hearts may always be aflame with your love. Amen.
Photo by author inside our parish at sunset, 25 August 2020.
The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Monday, Week XVI, Year II in Ordinary Time, 20 July 2020
Micah 6:1-4, 6-8 <*(((><< )) + (( >><)))*> Matthew 12:38-42
Praise and glory to you, O God our loving Father for this beautiful Monday! We are midway through the month of July in this challenging year. Yes, 2020 is heavy for most of us with all the various problems we are going through but you have never left us, O Lord.
And that is why, Father, we also wonder what else have we not done that would set things right again?
Let us heed your words, O God.
Let us be reminded of your ways, of your very self by nature around us!
Hear what the Lord says: Arise, present your plea before the mountains, and let the hills hear your voices! Hear, O mountains, the plea of the Lord, pay attention, O foundations of the earth! For the Lord has a plea against his people, and he enters into trial with Israel. O my people, what have I done to you, or how have I wearied you? Answer me! You have been told, O man, what is good, and what the Lord requires of you: Only to do right and to love goodness, and to walk humbly with your God.
Micah 6:1-3, 8
Forgive us, merciful Father, for being “an evil and unfaithful generation” always looking for signs of your loving presence.
Teach us to trust you even if we cannot understand your plans.
May we learn from nature around us that thrives so well in your loving care – full of life, full of zest even without so much attention, reminding us of your saving power in Jesus Christ. Amen.
All photos by author except bougainvillea with our parish church by Gelo Nicolas Carpio in the collage above.
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