Advent is Walking and Dancing with God

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Friday, 14 December 2018, Advent Week 2

Isaiah 48:17-19///Matthew 11:16-19

Thank you once again, loving Father, for the gift of another great saint for today who was a great mystic who guided us in so many ways of knowing you, seeing you clearly, and following you closely. What I like most with St. John of the Cross is your gift for him to perfectly blend poetry and prayer to express your highest truths: “El alma que anda en amor, ni cansa ni se cansa.” So beautiful! “The soul that walks in love, neither tires nor is tired.”

Let us walk in the love of your Son Jesus Christ to learn to follow “the way we should go” (Is. 48:17) so that like in today’s responsorial psalm, “we may have the light of life always.”

Most of all, as we learn to walk your path O Lord, let us rise to join your dance as you complained in today’s gospel, “We played the flute for you, but you did not dance” (Mt.11:17). Let us leave the sides to get in the middle of the floor and of the road, to walk and dance with you, celebrating life with your GUIDANCE, that is, God, U and I, DANCE for life. AMEN.Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II,Parokya ng San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Gov. F. Halili Ave., Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria,Bulacan 3022.

Photos from Google. I have included the poster of one of my all time favorite movies that expresses my prayer today.

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Advent is God’s Tender Moment with Us

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Thursday, 13 December 2018, Advent Week 2

Isaiah 41:13-20///Matthew 11:11-15

O my sweet loving Father in heaven…! Your words today through the Prophet Isaiah made me sing one of my favorite love songs by Billy Joel, “Leave a Tender Moment Alone”:

Even though I’m in love
Sometimes I get so afraid
I’ll say something so wrong
Just to have something to say

I know the moment isn’t right
To tell the girl a comical line
To keep the conversation light
I guess I’m just frightened out of my mind

But if that’s how I feel
Then it’s the best feeling I’ve even known
It’s undeniably real

Leave a tender moment alone

Of course, O sweet Lord my God! I did get it: you are trying to be extra sweet even so charming when you said “Fear not, I will help you. Fear not, O worm Jacob, O maggot Israel; I will help you, says the Lord; your redeemer is the Holy One of Israel” (Is.41:14). Yes, I get it when you called me a worm and a maggot, I do not feel insulted. You have actually tickled my bones, loving Father as you try to make some“lambing” as we say in Bulacan for you are oozing with so much TLC (tender loving care) for me. Like Billy Joel, you seem to say something so wrong just to have something to say because you love so much. And most of all, because you are asking me for some tender moment alone.

How true then are the words of your Son Jesus Christ that “among those born of women there has been none greater than John the Baptist; yet the least in the Kingdom of heaven is greater than he” (Mt.11:11) for we have seen you, and heard you loving Father in Him. Above all, for we have been redeemed in Him!

Let me experience your intense presence by letting go of everything within me in deep prayer and silence, in giving you those “tender moments alone” to experience your person with conviction. AMEN.Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II,Parokya ng San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Gov. F. Halili Ave., Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria, Bulacan 3022.

*Photo by the author, violets, Parokya ng San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Gov. F. Halili Ave., Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria, Bulacan, 12 December 2018.

Advent is Answering God’s Call

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Wednesday, 12 December 2018, Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe

Revelation 11:19; 12:1-6, 10///Luke 1:39-47

Thank you very much, O loving Father, in giving us in this season of Advent the wonderful feasts of Mary and the saints who inspire us to always create a room for your Son Jesus Christ in our hearts.

On this feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, we remember your wondrous way of calling the Blessed Virgin Mary, her cousin Elizabeth, and St. Juan Diego for your specific mission. All were “ordinary” people just like most of us. Mary was a young maiden from an obscure town you have chosen to be the Mother of Jesus Christ while Elizabeth her cousin was already old and barren when you blessed her to conceive the Lord’s precursor, John the Baptizer. Like these two women of simplicity and humility was St. Juan Diego, an Aztec Indian who became the visionary of Guadalupe.

Like Elizabeth, I always ask myself and, you, O Lord my God, “how does this happen to me that you my Lord should come to visit and call me (Lk.1:43)?” St. Juan Diego also asked the Blessed Mother to call somebody else for her mission but she replied, “My little son, there are many I could send. But you are the one I have chosen.”

Loving Father, please bear with me if I always ask you with many whys, always unbelieving in my abilities to do your work and fulfill your mission. Help me to keep following you, cover me with your mantle of grace and protection like the Blessed Mother as seen by John, “a woman clothed with the sun” (Rev.12:1) so that like her I may “to give birth to Christ” (Rev.12:2) to this world deeply in sin, totally forgetting you. Wrap me also like St. Juan Diego with your mantle of love and affection so that from my words and deeds would come the fragrant blooms of your kindness and charity in serving others. AMEN.Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II,Parokya ng San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Gov. F. Halili Ave., Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria,Bulacan 3022.

*Photos from Google.

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Advent Is Time to Wake Up, to Rise and Walk in Christ

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Monday, 10 December 2018, Advent Week 2

Isaiah 35:1-10///Luke 5:17-26

As morning breaks on this first working day of the second week of Advent, I echo O Lord Jesus the joyful words of the people of your time,“We have seen incredible things today.” (Lk.5:26)

It is so incredible Lord that in this season of Advent as I try to befriend my inner self in the spirit of prayer and silence, as I try to accept all of me, my worth and unworthiness, the more you are amazingly loving and kind to me. I feel both like the paralyzed and those men in the gospel today who broke the roof of the house where you were staying so they could lower before you their sick friend. And the first words that came from you were not about healing but forgiveness! Most of all, you have forgiven the sick man after you have seen the faith of the friends who have taken apart the roof of your house. What a way of creating a room for you, Lord Jesus!

Teach me to be daring like them in creating a space for you by taking apart the many sins and pretensions I use to cover myself. Help me to take apart the various insecurities where I hide myself that prevent me from meeting you, from welcoming you into my life. So many times, Jesus, you know how I just sleepwalk in my being a Christian when I think I am radically living as your disciple when in fact I am just dreaming, just sleeping.

Teach me to abandon myself to you Lord, to relinquish all false securities that the world offers me. Most of all, let me abandon those thoughts I have about you that are not so you at all, those ideas I have about God like the scribes and Pharisees who have usurped upon themselves the standards of what is holy and not, of what is right or wrong. Let me start living in your pasch, unafraid of being vulnerable and weak so I can rise and walk again, freed from sins and infirmities. AMEN.Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II,Parokya ng San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Gov. F. Halili Ave., Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria,Bulacan 3022.

*Photo by Jim Marpa, 2018. Used with permission.

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Presence of God, Absence of Man

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Saturday, 08 December 2018

Solemnity of Immaculate Conception

Genesis 3:9-15, 20//Ephesians 1:3-6, 11-12//Luke 1:26-38

God our Father, on this most joyous Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, I join St. Paul in praying, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavens.” (Eph. 1:3)

Praise and thanksgiving to you our Father in heaven who has always been present among us, never leaving our side and in fact went out to seek us since the fall of Adam: After the man, Adam, had eaten of the tree, the Lord God called to the man and asked him, “Where are you?” (Gen.3:9)

Since that day, we have always been hiding from you, running away from you that the gap had widen so much that you have to send us your Son Jesus Christ to be born like us, become like us except in sin so we may be one with you again.

Yes, O God, we have always been absent from you when you are always present with us and in us though we always refuse to recognize you. In your infinite wisdom and in all eternity, you chose Mary to be immaculately conceived so she may be the worthy vessel of your Son Jesus Christ.

Give us the same grace of Mary to be always present in you, present for you and your will. Give us the courage to say “be it done unto me according to your word” (Lk.1:38) so that we may become your presence too. Give us that emptiness of Mary, of always having a room in our hearts for the Holy Spirit to come upon us and overshadow us with your power to become your presence in this world now so empty of values and meaning, so full of pride and sin and hatred.

Dwell upon us O Lord and fill us with your grace. AMEN.Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II,Parokya ng San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Gov. F. Halili Ave., Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria,Bulacan 3022.

Advent Is Conversion of the Heart

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Tuesday, 04 December 2018, Advent Week 1

Isaiah 11:1-10///Luke 10:21-24

“Behold, the Lord will come, and all his holy ones with him; and on that day there will be great light” (from the entrance antiphon of today’s Mass).

Has this day come, Lord? It is supposed to have been fulfilled a long time ago in your birth, Lord Jesus, after Isaiah had prophesied of how a “shoot shall sprout from the stump of Jesse, and from his roots a bud shall blossom.” (Is.11:1) But it has not happened yet, remaining only a dream and a sight to behold in our imaginations when there would be peace and harmony at your coming, “when the wolf shall be a guest of the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the young lion shall browse together with a little child as their guide, the cow and the bear with their young resting as neighbors, the lion eating hay like ox, and the baby playing by the cobra’s den as he lay his hand on the adder’s lair.” (Is.11:6-8)

It is a beautiful sight, a reality we are all wishing for but has never happened despite your coming to us, Lord Jesus Christ. And we know why: because we have not truly welcomed you in our hearts like children.

Give us the grace to be filled with your Holy Spirit, that we may be childlike so that this blessed season of Advent may dispose us to conversion and single-mindedness in you alone. Fill us with your Holy Spirit so we may attend to our deepest needs and hopes like peace and justice by being more compassionate with those who are suffering like the poor and the weak. Let us bring your light in this world darkened with sin and individualism, marred by senseless wars and petty competitions and rivalries among us. Hear our prayer, Lord, that we learn “to judge wisely the things of earth and hold firm to the things of heaven” (from today’s prayer after Communion). AMEN. Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Parokya ng San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Gov. F. Halili Ave., Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria, Bulacan 3022.

*Photo by the author, altar inside our parish sacristy, 03 December 2018.

Prayer to Persevere

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Wednesday, 28 November 2018, Week XXXIV, Year II

Revelation 15:1-4///Luke 21:12-19

Everything you have said in today’s gospel, Lord, is now happening: so many of us are facing so many forms of persecutions, being maligned and hated by so many people filled with evil thoughts and deeds. The other day you told us how false prophets would come claiming to be you as savior and they, too, are now in our midst with mouths full of blasphemies and deceits, sowing confusion and division among us as a people.

I am not complaining, Lord Jesus. I am even thanking you for warning us about these trials and tribulations, assuring us that we need not worry how to defend ourselves from their attacks for not even a hair on our head will be destroyed (Lk.21:14,18).

All I ask you, Lord Jesus Christ is to bless me with the grace of perseverance (Lk.21:19), that amidst this plague that have come upon us as a nation and as a Church, I may sing with the victors of heaven the song of the Lamb John heard in his vision of heaven (Rev.15:2-4).

Let me persevere in loving you Jesus even if I am a sinner.

Let me persevere in following you Jesus even if I often stumble and fall.

Let me persevere in serving you Jesus even if I am self-centered, seeking recognition. AMEN. Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Parokya ng San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Gov. F. Halili Ave., Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria, Bulacan 3022.

*Photo above by my former student, Arch, Philip Santiago, Basilica della Santissima Trinita at Fatima, Portugal during his pilgrimage October 2018. I have always loved this photo shared by Arch. Philip: at the back of the modern metal cross is a mosaic of the Lamb seen by John in Book of Revelation; at the left side is the mosaic of the BVM with Saints Francisco and Jacinta, visionary children of Fatima and to the right is the mosaic of St. John the Baptist. Very modern rendition of old concept in Eastern churches of images above the door of Jesus also at the middle flanked by BVM as the start of the New Testament and John the Baptist who closed the Old Testament. Beautiful images of perseverance in Christ!

Prayer to Look Inside than Outside

adult backpack blur business — Photo by Fabrizio Verrecchia on Pexels.com

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Tuesday, 27 November 2018, Week XXXIV, Year II

Revelation 14:14-19///Luke 21:5-11

Here I go again, O Lord, looking outside, looking at things like buildings and structures, events and other happenings for clues for your coming. Like the people of your time, I ask for signs outside when in fact you always come inside, deep within me.

“See that you not be deceived, for many will come in my name… Do not follow them! When you hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified; for such things must happen first, but it will not immediately be the end. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be powerful earthquakes, famines, and plagues from place to place; and awesome sights and mighty signs will come from the sky.” (Lk. 21:8, 9, 10-11)

Give me the grace of your beloved disciple John to see you coming in my heart. Like the psalmist let me sing “The Lord is king. He has made the world firm, not to be moved; he governs the peoples with equity. He shall rule the world with justice and the peoples with his constancy.” (Ps.96:10, 13)

Let me be faithful to you, be just and most of all be loving and kind to others for you are coming not to destroy us but to renew us in you, Jesus. AMEN. Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Parokya ng San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Gov. F. Halili Ave., Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria, Bulacan 3022.

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Stir Me Within, O Lord

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Friday, 23 November 2018, Week XXXIII, Year II

Revelation 10:8-11///Luke 19:45-48

Lately Lord I have felt some intense feelings within me. You seem to be too far, even elusive, yet I feel so drawn to you. Is it love? Am I growing? Am I maturing?

Since Sunday all your words from the first reading to the gospel have all been directed to the end of time, to the fulfillment of everything as you have promised. I know deep in my heart it is easier said than done but that is how I feel – I am looking forward to it. No, I am not ready to die yet, Lord; you know how fearful I am of so many things.

But the more I pray and listen to your words, the more I discover you within me. Like John, I could taste the sweetness of your words in my mouth but once they get down deep within me, they turn sour, they upset my stomach. There are some inner stirrings within that invite me to listen attentively, intently, intensely to you within me.

What they are, at the moment, I do not know, Lord. They are disturbing but at the same time comforting. It is like Luke’s version of your cleansing of the temple that is more sober than the other evangelists’ narration of the same event. It is not so much of your anger but of the stirrings of your words that“all the people were hanging in your words” (Lk.19:48).

Continue to stir me within, O Lord Jesus, let me hang in your words too so I may be cleansed within, washed from my sins, healed of my pains and hurts that you may reign supreme in me. AMEN. Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Parokya ng San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Gov. F. Halili Ave., Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria, Bulacan 3022.

*Photo by Mr. Raffy Tima of GMA-7 News, Iceland, October 2018.

When Our Cries Become a Prayer

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Thursday, 22 November 2018, Week XXXIII, Year II

Revelation 5:1-10///Luke 19:41-44

Lord Jesus Christ, you taught us in your sermon on the mount that “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted” (Mt.5:4).

Thank you for blessing our crying, our weeping and most of all, thank you very much for crying with us, for crying for us: “As Jesus drew near Jerusalem, he saw the city and wept over it” (Lk.19:41). In our first reading today, your beloved disciple John “shed many tears because no one was found worthy to open or examine the scroll” (Rev.5:4).

Thank you for the gift of tears, Jesus. I pray for those crying, especially those who cry in silence, those who cry alone. Crying is praying. Tears are some of the sweetest prayers we can all offer to you because when we cry, we are blessed to be truly poor and helpless before you, relying only to your saving and healing powers. When we cry, we are so blessed because we can sympathize and suffer with those who are suffering. When we cry, our tears cleanse not only our eyes but also our hearts, slowly washing away the pains and hurts sins have left in us.

The world refuses to cry, trying to hide or cover pains and hurts including sins with pleasures and other forms of diversion. I pray also for them, Lord Jesus, that they may stop hiding their tears because when we refuse to cry, we deny your Holy Cross.

Give me the grace, Lord Jesus Christ, to see things as they truly are. Let me sympathize with those in pain and suffering, to “weep with those who weep” (Rom. 12:15) that together, you may all comfort and console us with your abiding love and mercy, might and presence.

Let us join the choirs in heaven saw by John to sing the new hymn, “Worthy are you to receive the scroll and break open its seals, for you were slain and with your Blood you purchased for God those from every tribe and tongue, people and nation. You made them a kingdom and priests for our God, and they will reign on earth” (Rev.5:9-10). AMEN. Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Parokya ng San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Gov. F. Halili Ave., Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria, Bulacan 3022.

*Photo by the author of the church Dominus Flevit (Latin for “the Lord wept”) with roof shaped like tears outside Jerusalem taken in April 2017. It is believed to be the site where our gospel scene today took place.

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