Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Monday, Twenty-first Week In Ordinary Time, Year II
Feast of St. Bartholomew, Apostle of the Lord
Revelation 21:9-14 <*{{{{>< + ><}}}}*> John 1:45-51
Thank you,
God our loving Father
for this Monday;
though still gloomy
with forecast of more rains
like the past weeks,
we rejoice in celebrating
the Feast of St. Bartholomew,
one of the amazing Apostles
of Your Son Jesus Christ;
he died a martyr after being
skinned alive and crucified
upside down like St. Peter;
it must have been his most
glorious achievement because
after skinning him alive,
his torturers must have seen
and realized his faith was not
that skin-deep:
layers upon layers of skin
they must have found only
Jesus deeply ingrained
in his very person!
How lovely of St. Bartholomew
known earlier as Nathanael
his baring of his true self,
that first layer of our person
we often hide when he asked Philip
if anyone good could come
from Nazareth;
truly as Jesus had said,
there was no guile in him,
so unlike us with so many masks
and pretensions layered on our
person.
Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the one about whom Moses wrote in the law, and also the prophets, Jesus, son of Joseph, from Nazareth.” But Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, “Here is a true child of Israel. There is no duplicity in him.” (John 1:45-47)
Everywhere in this life
there are layers of everything:
layers of clothing,
layers of skin,
layers of meaning,
and layers of faith
and knowledge of
Jesus Christ
who asked us yesterday
"who do you say
that I am?"
Teach me,
Jesus to remove that
first layer of covering
myself with masks
pretending to be somebody
else as good;
let me bare my true self
before you, free and faithful
in telling you what I feel,
what I think
like St. Bartholomew
because you see
everything beneath
our many layers of covering.
Nathanael said to him, “How do you know me?” Jesus answered and said to him, “Before Philip called you, I saw you under the fig tree.” Nathanael answered him, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the king of Israel.” (John 1:48-49)
Most of lovely of all,
dear Jesus is how you "see"
us even from afar,
especially whenever we are
"under the fig tree";
you know very well our
desire to see you too,
to find you and to dwell in you;
unless we are able to remove
our layers of duplicity
and guile,
we shall never see
your promise
"you will see the heaven opened
and the angels of God ascending
and descending on the Son of Man"
(John 1:51);
thank you,
dear Jesus
for your loving gaze upon us
despite our many sins
and brokenness;
help me to look at you too,
to see you like St. Bartholomew
as "truly the Son of God,
the King of Israel."
Amen.
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