The Ides of March

40 Shades of Lent, Friday, Week-1, 15 March 2019
Ezekiel 18:21-28///Matthew 5:20-26

Lord Jesus Christ, it is “the Ides of March” and like “Friday the 13th” some of us are thinking of so many misfortunes and bad things that could befall us on this date made notorious by the assassination of the Roman emperor Julius Ceasar. Forgive us in professing our faith in you yet continue to subscribe to so many superstitious beliefs.

Remind us O Lord of the ironic twist that the Ides of March is not gone if we continue to live in sin, or, if after leading a virtuous life we turn into evil deeds because in both instances we shall die. It is true that you “never derive joy in the death of the wicked” (Ez. 18:23) because you have come to forgive us from our sins so we can lead holy lives as children of the Father.

Indeed, Shakespeare was absolutely right when Cassius voiced out in his play Julius Caesar that “the fault my dear Brutus is not in the stars but in ourselves.”

Give us the courage to look into our hearts to examine our lives and see if our worship of You and our dealing with others are in congruent with each other. Let us stop our attitudes of blaming and complaining to start changing our ways according to your will O Lord. Amen.

Sin is having more “I”, less God and others

40 Shades of Lent, Monday, Week 1, 11 March 2019
Leviticus 19:1-2, 11-18///Matthew 25:31-46

Your readings today, O Lord, invite us to examine the choices we have made recently in our lives. It is always easy to say “I love you, Lord” but when we examine the decisions we have made, it seem to show we really do not love you at all because we have been selfish. Most of the time in making choices, we think first of our self. And that is when we sin.

Every time we have more of our selves – that big, personal, pronoun “I” – in every choice and decision we make, we s-I-n.

When we refuse to be like you who is holy, when we disregard you as our Lord and God whom we must see in everyone, we s-I-n because we see only our self.

When we disregard the hungry and the thirsty, the stranger and the naked, when we do not care at all to those ill or in prison, we s-I-n because we refuse to love.

Help us, Lord Jesus, to have less of our self and more of your Holy Spirit so that we may be attentive and docile to the Father speaking to us in our hearts and crying out to us among the suffering people around us. Amen.

“Stuck In A Moment You Can’t Get Out” by U2 (2000)

The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Music, Lent Week 1-C, 10 March 2019

Every year on this first Sunday of Lent, we always hear the story of the tempting of Jesus by the devil in the wilderness. According to St. Luke, Jesus was “filled with the Holy Spirit” when He went to the desert to pray and fast for 40 days. He was able to resist the temptations of the devil because Jesus was filled with the Holy Spirit.

To be filled with the Holy Spirit means to be docile to the Holy Spirit. Being docile is not merely being obedient; from the Latin word docilitas, being docile literally means being “attentive”. Lent is the season that invites us to bring back the spirit of docility in our lives, that is, to be attentive to one’s self, to God and to others. How sad that in this world of advanced technologies, we have become more attentive with things and gadgets than with persons. Maybe if we are more attentive to our inner selves, to God and to others, we could have prevented the many disasters and problems we now have.

If we have been attentive to our self, to God and to others, we would not be “stuck in a moment we can’t get out” – the very same title of a cut from the U2’s 2000 album All That You Can’t Leave Behind. I have always loved that song – and that album which I feel is their second best after Joshua Tree – that I used it so many times in my talks and recollections with young people. According to Bono, it was written after his friend from another band committed suicide, of how he wished he had exerted more effort to prevent his friend from killing self, of being stuck in a moment you can’t get out.

The song perfectly suits our gospel today. Every time the devil tempts us, its aim is not merely for us to commit a sin. The devil’s ultimate goal in tempting us to sin is to destroy our lives, to get us stuck in a moment we can’t get out. The good news is that Jesus had shown us how we can get over every temptation by the devil. Moreover, He has filled us with the Holy Spirit so that like Him, we can be docile – attentive – to God, to others and to our self so that we avoid sins and avert destroying our lives.

 
You've got to get yourself together
You've got stuck in a moment
And now you can't get out of it
Don't say that later will be better
Now you're stuck in a moment
And you can't get out of it

Photo above from Bing.com; music video from Youtube.

Of Sighs, Signs, and Sin

Words-may-be-false-Quotes-by-Thomas-Shadwell-By-POPOPICS

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul

Monday, 18 February 2019, Week VI, Year I

Genesis 4:1-15, 25///Mark 8:11-13

Good morning Lord Jesus Christ! I hope you don’t mind my asking you on this first day of work and studies: why did you sigh in the gospel today?

The Pharisees came forward and began to argue with Jesus, seeking from him a sign from heaven to test him. He sighed from the depth of his spirit and said, “Why does this generation seek a sign? Amen, I say to you, no sign will be given to this generation.” Then he left them, got into the boat again, and went off to the other shore (Mk.8:11-13).

Some people tell me it is not good to sigh; but, they have never explained to me why, and so, I sigh even more! Most often, I sigh when I feel helpless and even hopeless with people and situations; but, surely O Lord, you neither get helpless nor hopeless with us as we keep on asking you for more signs.

Did you sigh, O Lord, because you were so tempted to get down to their level?

Did you sigh, O Lord, so that you would not give in to sin and be like Cain who lost sight of himself and of his brother Abel and eventually of God?

What a beautiful sign of your humanity and divinity as well is your sighing, O Lord, reminding us of our need to always reconnect with the Holy Spirit in the depths of our being especially when temptations for us to sin are so strong that we forget we are our brother’s keeper.

Remind us always O Lord when we sigh that we may think of your many signs of wonder before us, of the many signs of your mercy and love so that we remain rooted in you. Amen. Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Parokya ng San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Gov. F. Halili Ave., Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria, Bulacan.