40 Shades of Lent by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Friday, Fourth Week in Lent, 04 April 2025 Wisdom 2:1, 12-22 + + + + + John 7:2, 10, 25-30
Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, 17 March 2025.
Life indeed is a daily Lent, Lord Jesus: as we come to close this fourth week in Lent while entering its penultimate week, our readings today show us the reality of life that can be confusing sometimes.
Jesus moved about within Galilee; but he did not wish to travel in Judea, because the Jews were trying to kill him. But when his brothers had gone up to the feast (of the Tabernacle), he himself also went up, not openly but as it were in secret. Some of the inhabitants of Jerusalem said, “Is he not the one they are trying to kill? And look, he is speaking openly and they say nothing to him” (John 7:1, 10, 25, 26).
Of course, you were never confused Lord Jesus but we your disciples and almost everyone including bystanders are the ones confused: you moved in secret but everybody recognized you; most of all, threats never deterred you from speaking what is true, that the one who sent you whom many do not know is true (John 7:28).
The first reading also gives us an impression of confusion among peoples, but never from God; like what the author of the Book of Wisdom had written, the wicked are most confused though pretending to know all, plotting against the just and the believers.
Confusions happen in Lent in life when we refuse to believe and trust in you, Jesus; confusions happen in Lent in life when we disregard you who is truth himself, when we choose not to love.
Teach us Jesus that truth is not just an object an objective reality of concurrence what is in our mind and what is outside but most of all truth is a person, when we accept you wholly among those around us especially the needy and disadvantaged. Amen.
Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, 17 March 2025.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Tuesday, First Week in Ordinary Time, Year II, 14 January 2025 Hebrews 2:5-12 <'[[[[>< + ><]]]]'> Mark 1:21-28
Photo by author, Sakura Park, Atok, Benguet, 27 December 2024.
"Jesus came to Capernaum with his followers, and on the sabbath he entered the synagogue and taught. The people were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority... All were amazed and asked one another, 'What is this? A new teaching with authority'" (Mark 1:21-22, 27).
When does a teaching sound new? When the teaching makes an impact on me. But how?
I have been wondering, Jesus, of being there with you in the synagogue that sabbath; what was so new with your teaching?
It was and still is the authority, and your authority comes not from your power nor position, Lord Jesus: your authority is so felt because you are one with us, you have always been with us.
What's new with your teaching, Jesus, is the authority that inversely makes us free, liberates us from fears and false presuppositions, never oppressive nor subjugating. A teaching is new when there is authority that does not impose but rather liberates others because it is the Truth (John 8:32) - Jesus himself who claimed "A am the way the truth and the life" (John 14:6).
More than words and power, teaching and authority are felt and become liberating in the real sense, ever new, so fresh that it is not subjugating because in the final analysis it is the person who loves and cares, wiling to sacrifice and suffer for another. Exactly like Jesus. This new year, O Lord, make me new a teaching so true as a person so loving and caring like you. Amen.
Photo by authoir, Northern Blossom, Atok, Benguet, 27 December 2025.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Wednesday in the Twenty-eighth Week of Ordinary Time Year II, 16 October 2024 Galatians 5:18-25 ><))))*> + ><))))*> + ><))))*> Luke 11:42-46
Photo by author, Fatima Ave., Valenzuela City, 25 July 2024.
Lead and guide us, O Most Holy Spirit; set us free from "the works of the flesh: immorality, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, hatreds, rivalry, jealousy, outbursts of fury, acts of selfishness, dissensions, factions" (Galatians 5:19-20); cleanse our nation now facing the realities of the truth of what we have long suspected of filth and evil that have shrouded the past administration's drug war; so many lives were lost and destroyed not only by the deaths but all the lies that were glorified; be the courage and strength, O Holy Spirit, of those finally given the chance to stand for what is true so that never again such reign of darkness and terror be repeated.
Woe to us and everyone who continue to overlook the good of others!
Let your Spirit, dear Jesus, bear fruit in us with "love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control" (Galatians 5:22-23); fills us with your Spirit today, Jesus, so we may be more loving, thinking always of the good of others above all. Amen.
Photo by author, Fatima Ave., Valenzuela City, 25 July 2024.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Wednesday in the Twenty-seventh Week of Ordinary Time, Year II, 09 October 2024 Galatians 2:1-2, 7-14 ><]]]]'> + <'[[[[>< Luke 11:1-4
Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, 2017.
And when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face because he clearly was wrong… (Galatians 2:11).
For so long, I have always wondered how You look like, Lord Jesus, of what or how your face looks like really; your face deeply in pain on the Cross has always been the face I have known when thinking of You; how I wished I could see your face moved with pity with that widow of Nain or how your face looked full of love to the rich young man whose face fell after You asked him to sell his belongings, share them to the poor and follow you.
St. Paul's account of "opposing Cephas to his face" invites me today to see face in a more deeper sense than something physical; as I immersed into the scene, I could sense and picture the courage and sincerity on St. Paul's face in telling St. Peter into his face his double standards in dealing with early Christians, that is, of having two faces: one with Jewish converts and another with Gentile converts!
The lithography of Sts. Peter and Paul in Missale Romanum by unknown artist with initials F.M.S (19. cent.) printed by Typis Friderici Pustet. (Renáta Sedmáková | us.fotolia.com)
How sad, dear Jesus, that until now, we your disciples are like St. Peter before: many of us are not only double-faced but even multiple-faced with one another, never our true selves at all! Worst, many of us can't even show our true face as we put on masks that literally in Greek are called hypokritein --- hypocrites!
Teach us, Lord Jesus, how to pray, that is, to be single-faced in our prayers: to face up before our Father as His children forgiving each other's debts, living as brothers and sisters; teach us, Lord Jesus, to face up our prayers, of living out what we pray not with many faces nor with masks on our face; teach us, Lord Jesus, to face You more often in prayers to transform our face into your face that is truly an image and likeness of God, radiating with your loving presence. Amen.
Photo by author, CAS Chapel, Our Lady of Fatima University, August 2023.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Wednesday in the Twenty-fourth Week of Ordinary Time, Year II, 18 September 2024 1 Corinthians 12:31-13:13 <*{{{{>< + ><}}}}*> Luke 7:31-35
Photo by author, 20 August 2024.
What a lovely Wednesday today, O God our merciful Father! Thank you for this wonderful moment, thank you for your presence, thank you for the gift of life. Thank you for the love.
St. Paul tells us today that love is the greatest of all your gifts, O God because no amount of goodness and giftedness will ever be worthy without love. And what is love?
Love is. That is, being present always. Never absent.
Love happens in the present moment, never in the past nor the future.
That is why love is patient, love is kind, love is not jealous, love is not pompous, love is not inflated, love is not rude, love is not self-interested, love is not quick-tempered, love does not brood over injury, love does not rejoice over wrongdoing, love rejoices with the truth, love bears all things, love believes all things, love hopes all things, love endures all things (1 Corinthians 13:4-7) because precisely, love is always in present tense.
Jesus said to the crowds: “Then to what shall I compare the people of this generation? What are they like? They are the children who sit in the marketplace and call to one another, ‘We played the flute for you, but you did not dance. We sang a dirge, but you did not weep'” (Luke 7:31-32).
Forgive us, dear Jesus for being loveless, always missing every moment to love, missing every chance to be kind to others, for desiring and having always the best intentions but never having even the the smallest kind deeds for anyone; let us live in every present moment, that thin line between here and now called present which is the other word for gift.
Let us live, O Lord, in love, finding and cherishing the gift of every presence right here, right now. By being a gift too to others in You. Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Twenty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B, 01 September 2024 Deuteronomy 4:1-2, 6-8 ><}}}*> James 1;17-18, 21-22, 27 ><}}}*> Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23
Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, 20 March 2024.
After five Sundays of journeying with John, we now return to Mark’s Gospel and shall continue to read it through the 33rd Sunday before we cap the current liturgical calendar with the Solemnity of Christ the King on November 24, 2024.
Oh yes! It’s beginning to feel like Christmas but the liturgy cautions us this Sunday through Mark that there are still many things we have to fix and cleanse in our hearts in the remaining stretch of the year, particularly our motivations in doing things. After dwelling on the “bread of life discourse” from John for five Sundays that gave us time to examine our faith, Mark brings us now to the other side of the lake in Gennesaret to listen to a discussion about the Jewish customs and traditions of ritual cleansing and washing in chapter seven.
When the Pharisees with some scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus, they observed that some of his disciples ate their meals with unclean, that is, unwashed, hands. For the Pharisees and, in fact, all Jews, do not eat without carefully washing their hands, keeping the tradition of the elders. So the Pharisees and scribes questioned him, “Why do your disciples not follow tradition of the elders but instead eat a meal with unclean hands?” He responded, “Well did Isaiah prophesy about you hypocrites, as it is written: This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines human precepts. You disregard God’s commandment but cling to human tradition” (Mark 7:1-3, 5-8).
Photo by author, St. Scholastica Spirituality Center, Tagaytay City, 20 August 2024.
It is easy to see in this scene how Mark must have tried to explain the many Jewish rituals and traditions that was a source of clashes among Jewish and pagan converts to Christianity in the early Church like circumcision and of eating of meat offered to gods. These were finally resolved in the Council of Jerusalem in year 50 when the Apostles acted upon instructions by the Holy Spirit “not to place on the pagan converts any burden beyond these necessities” (Acts 15:28).
However, it is unfair and a misreading to limit ourselves to this as a lesson in history because the practices criticized in this scene continue among us when we focus on the externalities of any ritual and tradition while missing their more essential and deeper meanings. Worst of all is the strong temptation among us to believe that by our actions and good deeds, like the Pharisees and scribes of that time, we make ourselves worthy of God or of anyone!
That is why Christ’s teaching in this Sunday gospel on the hypocrisy of the Pharisees and scribes of that time refers also for us today.
From Facebook, 29 August 2024.
From the halls of Congress to our own homes, classrooms and offices, pulpits and parish halls, we find many of us acting like the Pharisees and scribes who have come from Jerusalem to test and intimidate Jesus through people around us and under us by flexing their muscles in insisting strict adherence to their rituals and traditions that were passed on from Moses we have heard in the first reading. Observe how the Pharisees and scribes capitalized on these as “tradition of the elders” without really going into its very core and essence because they have forgotten or were totally unaware of Moses’ reminder that faithful observance of the Law and its tradition and rituals is a form of witnessing to God before all the peoples.
Observe them carefully, for thus you will give evidence of your wisdom and intelligence to the nations, who will hear of all these statues and say, “This great nation is truly wise and intelligent people. For what great nation is there that has gods so close to it as the Lord our God, it is to whenever we call upon him? Or what great nation has statutes and decrees that are as just as this whole law which I am setting before you today?” (Deuteronomy 4:6-8)
Photo by author, St. Scholastica Spirituality Center, Tagaytay City, 20 August 2024.
Every adherence and compliance to the Laws, to its accompanying rites and rituals must come from the heart, a result of the conversion of heart, of purification of one’s heart, especially the celebration of the liturgy we refer to as “the summit and font of our Christian life”. Every Mass celebration is an outflowing of what is in our hearts, beginning with the priest as celebrant.
But, what is the reality we have? As we concluded last Sunday Jesus Christ’s “bread of life discourse”, we realized the “shocking truths” of so many Catholics who have totally stopped coming to Sunday Masses, of some priests not giving the proper respect in prayerfully celebrating the Eucharist and the other Sacraments, and of most faithfuls just simply coming without seriously taking part in the Mass. That is why this gospel scene applies to us this time too as Jesus asks us, do we understand the things we are doing in the Church? What is in our hearts in doing these?
He summoned the crowd again and said to them, “Hear me, all of you, and understand. Nothing that enters one from outside can defile that person; but the things that come out from within are what defile. “From within people, from their hearts, come evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, arrogance, folly. All these evils come from within and they defile” (Mark 7:14-15, 21-23).
Photo by author, St. Scholastica Spirituality Center, Tagaytay City, 20 August 2024.
This Sunday, Jesus is inviting us to a new perspective at looking at things, not just from what is clean and not clean, or simply what is good and evil, what is traditional and modern; Jesus wants us to examine our motivations, of what is in our hearts in doing things, anything and everything.
Ultimately, it is a question of who is in our heart, Jesus or somebody else or another thing?
It is reality versus hypocrisy. Reality is the truth and meaning that things, events, persons, most of all, of our very selves have before God and for God. It is in this reality that we must scrutinize to strip ourselves naked of the hidden hypocrisies, the many masks and alibis we use to justify our selves.
Photo by author, 13 August 2024.
I have something to confess to you, my dear followers: I have been sick these past three weeks with different ailments. All my lab tests were good. Doctors find nothing wrong with my body with everything normal.
Last Tuesday I saw my longtime doctor for my scheduled check-up. As I explained everything to her, I broke down in tears as I admitted the fact I am in denial stage of my mom’s passing last May. I have repressed my griefs, trying to fill in the void within me with workloads as if I am still young that finally, it manifested in my body. That same Tuesday evening, I dreamt of my mom: she looked younger and healthier without signs of stroke but she wore a black dress and looked to have cried. I hugged her tightly in my dream, we cried together as I said sorry to her, promising that I would finally come home even if it hurts me to see her room empty.
Two days after that, we celebrated John the Baptist’s passion with a reading from Mark telling us of the “grudge” Herodias had on him that led to his beheading. Many times, grudges and other negative things that Jesus cited in today’s gospel not only cover us but actually destroy us, eating us up in the process. The festering negativities in our hearts cannot be hidden, eventually erupting like blisters, not only hurting others around us but most especially us.
In the Mass, Jesus knows very well we are not worthy with our hypocrisies to receive Him but only say the word, we are healed. And blessed to cleanse ourselves. Let us pray:
God our loving Father, "all good giving and every perfect gift is from You with whom there is no alteration or shadow caused by change"; empty our hearts of pride and evil to welcome Jesus your Word who became flesh to dwell inside us so that we may be "doers of the word not just hearers" (James 1:17, 22) by being more loving to others without any strings attached. Amen.
Quiet Storm by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, 26 August 2024
Image from Pinterest.
There are two great documentaries now streaming at Netflix worth watching to cap your long weekend this Monday. I watch Netflix only on Sunday afternoon to evening after my Masses but with so much spare time these long weekend, we tried doing it earlier than usual.
Very often, choosing a movie has always been a struggle with me that always ends up with replays like last Friday of Steven Seagal’s 1988 Above the Law. Aside from old movies, I have always loved old actors that is why when I saw Ed Harris and John Malkovich in the cast of new offerings by Netflix, I immediately jumped on them.
Ed Harris photo from m.imdb.com.
Having spent my early childhood with the weekly series Wild Wild West in the late 60’s, I naturally went first with Ed Harris as narrator of that six-part Western documentary series “Wyatt Earp and the Cowboy War”. You can finish it in one sitting with each series less than 50 minutes each. Though he is not like the voice-over talents of History Channel, Harris breathed on life and contemporariness in one of America’s earliest version of today’s so media-hyped stories and personalities. Harris was so cool and suave as narrator yet authoritative even pedagogical in his manner in explaining history and social psychology in presenting the latest facts and insights on the celebrated life of Wyatt Earp complete with photos and reenactments.
From Netflix.com.
Earp and his two brothers served as marshals in the prosperous town of Tombstone in Arizona following the discovery of silver in the area after the American Civil War. Before the coming of gold, it was silver that was propelling the American economy at that time to new heights. However, following the shooting incident between the Earps and a group of bandits led by one Ike Clanton at the O.K. Corral, it eventually led to the so-called Cowboy War.
The series is very engaging with a lot of sprinklings of American politics and businesses, notably the stories behind the growth and influences behind notable banks Wells-Fargo and investment house JP Morgan along with the growing power of newspaper industry in the US that fed on the appetite of so many people eager for news and chismis!
In short, the series delved on the resolution and ending of the Cowboy War that eventually paved the way for the conquest of the American West through business and economics that have cemented it until now as a bastion of the mighty dollar.
John Malkovich from netflix.com.
After that quick marathon, we shifted to our next movie, Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile. Actually, I had to check again the details of the movie that sounded like a horror one; but, after finding out that one of our all-time favorite John Malkovich was indeed in the cast of the movie based on the first-person account book by Liz Kendall as long-time girlfriend of the “most sadistic sociopath” in crime history, Ted Bundy, we went for it straight!
You know very well the flamboyance of Malkovich in whatever role he had played in his long career. In this docu-film based on that book by Kendall, Malkovich superbly handled Bundy’s trial like the actual judge, Edward Cowart. At the end of the movie, they were splices of actual footages of the Bundy trial that was also the first nationally televised court trial in the US. At first I thought it was part of the “dramatic enhancement” by Malkovich of the hearing for dramatic impact but it turned out that it was exactly how Judge Cowart spoke and behaved in his courtroom. It was so close to the truth except Cowart was portly unlike Malkovich who was nonetheless able to mimic him perfectly in his antics and style.
Netflix displayed a great genius in this film made a few years after their docuseries The Ted Bundy Tapes. When we saw that series, we were so focused on the evil ways of Bundy; in this movie, we are offered with a more personal or human touch in the inhumanity of Bundy through his longtime girlfriend Kendall.
From Netflix.com
And here lies the point of convergence of this two new Netflix movies: both Wyatt Earp and the Cowboy War and Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile presented the veracity of that expression widely attributed to Edmund Burke that “The only thing necessary for evil to triumph if for good men to do nothing.”
It is always good to see the triumph of good over evil even if sometimes it takes a long while.
In Wyatt Earp and the Cowboy War, Harris narrated so well how Earp was so maligned by the vicious liar Clanton who got the whole town behind him for a time. In the movie we are reminded how we always have to sacrifice and endure sufferings to correct evils prevailing even in the society. Most of all, no one can live forever on sin and evil, on violence and war. There will come a time when we just have to cease all violence and retire in silence to let peace have a chance to be won and restored.
In Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile, we are cofnronted with the most difficult truth and reality of standing against evil and sin even if the ones perpetrating them is a loved one. Admittedly, I have forgotten how Bundy was finally arrested and linked to the numerous cases of kidnapping, rape and murders that experts believe may run to more than 100 women and young girls.
From Netflix.com.
So interesting in this movie is the fact that it was Kendall, his girlfriend who actually tipped the police about Bundy that eventually led to his arrest. You should see the opening and the closing scenes when Kendall and Bundy finally met anew in prison while he was awaiting execution. That was during those ten years of incarceration while awaiting his execution when Bundy who was superbly played by Zac Efron had maintained innocence to all the crimes until after that visit by Kendall. It was very chilling but praiseworthy of the great courage and strong moral compass of that woman Kendall who did not allow evil to perpetuate even inside her home.
See both movies and examine also your stand for what is true and good, fair and just. And human, most of all.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Monday, Memorial of Dedication of St. Mary Major in Rome, 05 August 2024 Jeremiah 28:1-17 <*((((>< + ><))))*> Matthew 14:13-21
From en.wikipedia.org
God our loving Father, teach us to appreciate bad news that comes our way because most often from it comes too the good news; like in the life of your prophet Jeremiah who spoke always of bad news, of gloom and doom to the people of Judah so that they would repent and be converted; but they chose to listen to the good news of Hananiah you have not authorized to speak on your behalf, greatly misleading them with false hopes of liberation from the Babylonians that actually worsened as Jeremiah had told them.
Truth hurts but we must always hear and accept it so that we may grow and mature like the Apostles when Jesus told them, "There is no need for them to go away; give them some food yourselves" (Matthew 14:16); from that bad news, the Apostles were able to surrender themselves and their loaves of bread to Jesus who multiplied them to satisfy the great crowds with so many leftovers!
The construction and dedication of St. Mary Major in Rome happened during those problematic years of the fourth century Church with many bad news like Nestorianism that denied Christ's divinity; in accepting all the bad news at that time, the church of St. Mary Major was miraculously built and finally named in honor of Mary, Mother of God after resolving the heresy of Nestorianism.
In this time of so many bad news especially when immorality and decadence seem to prevail and govern lives these days, help us dear Jesus to hold on more to you, to implore the Holy Spirit to enlighten our minds and our hearts in seeking, following and standing by your truth to finally win over people back to sanity and deceny. Amen.
Quiet Storm by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, 23 July 2024
Photo from sunstar.com.ph of that viral incident between a Cebu personality addressed as a “Sir” by a waiter in a mall last Sunday.
It is a classic case of “brouhaha” in the real sense, especially if we consider our Tagalog word buruha or bruha: a waiter was told to stand for more than an hour to be “lectured” on gender sensitivity by a Cebu personality belonging to the LGBTQ community after being addressed as a “Sir”.
Well, at least, the issue had been settled amicably with an apology by the celebrity after a deluge of negative reactions from netizens. Likewise, we can now sigh with some relief that there are no plans among the LGBTQ community to imitate their sistah from the Queen City of Cebu, proof that there are more sane and kind LGBTQ who have better things to do than make a big fuss about themselves or the rainbow. Imagine if every LGBTQ will lecture everyone of us just on how to address them in Metro Manila alone, life would be disrupted and paralyzed, worst than what we went through during the lockdowns during COVID-19!
But kidding aside, what makes that incident disturbingly sad is how it had shown again the sad plight of the poor in our country. Bawal maging mahirap, maging dukha sa Pilipinas. So sad. Even in the church it is very true. We do not have to look far to see how this is so true among us. Kawawa palagi ang mga maliliit.
How do we treat our house helpers and drivers, delivery personnel, janitors and janitresses, even professionals doing not so glamorous tasks like nurses. And security guards, of course. (Kudos to our alma mater, the Faculty of Arts and Letters of UST who had their security personnel joined the march of their recent graduates!)
Photo by Mr. Jim Marpa, 2018.
The very sight of a waiter standing in front of a customer immediately caught my attention while scrolling my Facebook, asking myself, “what happened?” Gut feelings told me something was very wrong and surely, the guy must have been so disadvantaged.
For addressing that celebrity customer as “sir”, the waiter had to endure the humiliation of standing before him like in a trial. Even if it was just between the two of them. Even if he did not scream or yell at the waiter. What’s the big deal? Iyon lang?
His ego, his femininity more valuable than the very person of the waiter? It is the new pandemic among us spreading these last 20 years. The malady of entitlement, of never making the mortal sin to address some people as Doctor or Attorney or even Father. We have lost touched with our humanity, our being a human being, a person, a tao first of all.
Good thing there was a good soul around that mall who came to the waiter’s rescue.
What we have here is a classic case of “exaggeration of truth, exaggeration of self” – a phrase I have found years ago in one of the many writings of Pope Benedict XVI. It was my parting shot to our graduates of Senior High School last July 05, 2024 during our Baccalaureate Mass.
Many times in this age of so many platforms of communications, we tend to exaggerate the truths, of clamoring for so many things like inclusiveness everywhere when in the process, they have actually become so exclusive! Many times, people exaggerate the truth presenting themselves as disadvantaged and victimized when in fact it is far from reality. Many people are advancing so many things these days when in fact they are actually promoting themselves. Many are exaggerating the truths when they are actually exaggerating themselves (https://lordmychef.com/2024/07/10/exaggerating-truth-exaggerating-self/)
The tragedy of our time characterized by affluence and upward mobility so splattered across social media daily, is how so many among us who have lost touch with our humanity. Everything has become a show – a palabas we say in Filipino. We forget that inside – the loob – as more essential.
And what is inside each one of us?
Our dignity as image and likeness of God or pagkatao that is best seen and expressed in our being small, being little like the children, the very core of Jesus Christ’s teaching.
Look outside even in the countryside now invaded by those giant tarpaulins – why have we become like those tarpaulins, thinking and feeling we are larger than others?
Truth in Greek is aletheia that literally means an opening, of not being concealed like the blooming of a flower.
Simply be yourself. And don’t forget everyone as they are.
God bless everyone!
Photo by Dra. Mai B. Dela Pena, MD at Deir Al-Mukhraqa Carmelite Monastery in Isarel, 2014.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Monday, Memorial of St. Bonaventure, Doctor of the Church, 15 July 2024 Isaiah 1:10-17 <*((((>< + ><))))*> Matthew 10:34-11:1
Photo from The Valenzuela Times, 02 July 2024.
On this blessed Monday, your word "bring" invites me to examine what I bring:
“Trample my courts no more! Bring no more worthless offerings; your incense is loathsome to me” (Isaiah 1:13).
Jesus said to his Apostles: “Do not think that I have come to bring peace upon the earth. I have come to bring not peace but the sword” (Matthew 10:34).
Teach me, O Lord, to bring your peace and justice, to bring your truth and light so that I may bring that much-needed balance we are searching in life.
Like St. Bonaventure, help me to bring myself before You, dear God in prayers, to immerse myself in your words in the scriptures so that I may bring together the ideal and practical, the spiritual and material.
Many times, O Lord, we bring our very selves, it is our ego and pride we love to bring everywhere for everyone to see, forgetting that we must first bring You back into our hearts, bring You back into our minds, bring You back into our lives so that we can finally bring out the best worship of You. Amen.
lordmychef.com 