We the Church, an image of the Holy Spirit

The Lord Is My Chef Easter Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Pentecost Sunday-B, 19 May 2024
Acts 2:1-11 ><]]]]'> Galatians 5:16-25 ><]]]]'> John 15:26-27, 16:12-15

Blessed happy birthday to everyone this Pentecost Sunday, the “birthday” or official coming out party of the Church! In the Ascension of Jesus last Sunday, we have an upward movement that was a “leveling up” in our relationships with God and one another, calling us to be light to rise.

Today’s Pentecost Sunday is opposite, a downward move that “presses” us to “spread” like in compressing a sandwich to make it wider or bigger, calling us to be small and be “dissolved” so we can be mixed or shared with others.

Sorry for sounding a recipe but that’s how we are all as the kingdom of God here on earth – the Body of Christ we His disciples make up as the Church in the power of the Holy Spirit whose very image is us.

When time for Pentecost was fulfilled, they were all in one place together. And suddenly there came from the sky a noise like a strong driving wind, and it filled the entire hose in which they were. Then there appeared to them tongues of fire, which parted and came to rest on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in different tongues, as the Spirit enabled them to proclaim.
Acts 2:1-4

Pentecost is not just an event in the past but a daily reality calling us to be “dissolved” in ourselves, to be little and small so that we can be one with others to be united in Christ through the Holy Spirit.

Being a Christian is being united, being one in Jesus; remove “Christ” in the word Christian, we are left with the letters -ian that stand for “I-am-nothing”.

That is why we as the Church is the image or icon of the Holy Spirit, the Third Person of the Blessed Trinity promised by Jesus to come after His ascension. It is the principle of unity in the Trinity because the Holy Spirit is the love that exists between the Father and the Son. This union between the Father and the Son happens also among us, the community of believers despite our diversities and differences when we allow the Holy Spirit to empower us in our daily dying to ourselves that Jesus likened to the grain of wheat that falls to the ground in order to grow and yield bountiful harvest (Jn. 12:24-26). This is the reason why St. Paul calls us to live in the Spirit in the second reading:

I say, then: live by the Spirit and you will certainly not gratify the desire of the flesh. For the flesh has desires against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; these are opposed to each other, so that you may not do what you want… Now those who belong to Christ have crucified their flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit. Let us not be conceited, provoking one another, envious of one another.
Galatians 5:16-17, 24-26

Jesus is inviting us today to go through daily Pentecost by allowing the Holy Spirit to “burn” us with its fire, to dissolve our old selves to become new in Him. It is a process of conversion, of daily dying in our flesh in order to build up His Church.

Here we go back to one of the central theme of Jesus of becoming like a child, becoming small which is true greatness because that is when we no longer live but Christ in us as St. Paul experienced. Today he tells us some of the works of our old self we must turn away from like “immorality, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, hatreds, rivalry, jealousy, outbursts of fury, acts of selfishness, dissensions, factions, occasions of envy, drinking bouts, orgies, and the like” (Gal. 5:19-21).

See how all his examples lead to disunity and divisions instead of unity that is happening today. Some people call for inclusivity but the opposite happens as we get divided so sharply that anyone who opposes them is accused of “gaslighting” or worst, end up being “cancelled”! So sad that some people are exaggerating truth when in fact they are exaggerating themselves as new standards of truth, insisting themselves and their beliefs on us.

Why change the rules of grammar or beauty pageants or genders just because they are different? Worst, they want to change even religious feasts like Santacruzan or the praying of the Our Father! Where is the unity in diversity if there is one group insisting on themselves? What happens is a repeat of the Tower of Babel, not of the Pentecost.

Losing ourselves in the Holy Spirit does not hinder our search for truth. The Holy Spirit actually leads us to the whole truth of Jesus revealed in His coming but He is too big to be grasped wholly that He continues to unfold, telling us we can only arrive at truth when we think in Him, with Him, and through Him in the Holy Spirit.

“I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now. But when he comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth. He will not speak on his own, but he will speak wht he hears, and will declare to you the things that are coming. He will glorify me, because he will take from what is mine and declare it to you. Everything that the Father has is mine; for this reason I told you that he will take from what is mine and declare it to you.”
John 16:12-15

The key here is being small, being dissolved in the Holy Spirit to see the larger whole who is Jesus Christ found in the face of every person next to us. See how we find in the first reading the reality of the Church starting out big right away as “catholic” or universal when it began on Pentecost speaking all the languages of the world, uniting the peoples as one in the power of the Holy Spirit.

*Stained glass of the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove as background of the Chair of St. Peter in the Vatican in Rome; photo from wikipedia.*

The Church never started small like a club spreading into federations to become one. We become a part of that big reality of the Church in Christ by becoming small, by being dissolved by the fire of the Holy Spirit by letting go of our selfish selves.

The Holy Spirit continues to come down to us in daily Pentecost explaining and revealing to us the truth of Jesus through the many events iand persons in our lives. When my mother was still alive, she was the only reason why I came home; but, after she had left us peacefully last week, I have realized I still have to come home for my family and relatives and friends. It is a process of dying in myself amid the pain of seeing her room empty, that she is gone.

Death, like the ascension of Jesus is not about replacing those who have left us but a Pentecost, of allowing the Spirit to come to make us smaller, to be one with those still with us to continue celebrating life. That is when we experience the “fruit of Spirit” like “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (Gal. 5:22-23). When that happens, then we have the Church as well as our own family as an image and indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Let us pray:

Lord Jesus Christ,
make us aware of
the coming of the Holy Spirit
to us in our daily Pentecost;
keep us open and humble,
dissolve our selfishness,
our pride, our "flesh"
so that we may live in
the Holy Spirit
as the Church,
its very image
here on earth.
Amen. 
Have a Spirit-filled week ahead!

Sowing the seeds of love

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Wednesday, Memorial, St. Francis Sales, Bishop & Doctor of the Church, 24 January 2024
2 Samuel 7:4-17 <*((((>< + ><))))*> Mark 4:1-20

*“The Sower at Sunset” by Vincent Van Gogh, oil on canvas painted in June 1888 from wikimedia commons.*

Lord Jesus Christ,
as you narrated to us today
the parable of the sower,
I wonder what were the other
seeds you have sowed 
aside from your word?

On another occasion, Jesus began to teach by the sea. A very large crowd gathered around him so that he got into a boat on the sea and sat down. And the whole crowd was beside the sea on land. And he taught them at length in parables, and in the course of his instruction he said to them, “Hear this! A sower went out to sow.”
Mark 4:1-3

We are not just the different
kinds of soil where your seeds
fell, Lord Jesus;
like you, may we also be 
sowers of your word and teachings,
sowers of your love and mercy,
sowers of compassion and kindness,
sowers of your light and life,
sowers of your hope and healing,
sowers of your very presence.

When God told David not to build
him a temple as he promised to raise 
a house for him from whom 
shall come the Christ,
that was when the Father also
sowed the seeds of redemption 
and fulfillment in you,
Lord Jesus!

On this feast of St. Francis Sales,
patron of Catholic journalists and 
media practitioners,
we pray for all communicators
to sow unity and peace,
not division
nor misunderstanding,
nor animosities;
we pray for all journalists
of different platforms
to sow understanding
and clarity,
to sow justice and equality
among peoples,
and to sow respect for life
at all times because every
communication must promote
first of all the dignity
 of every person.
Amen.

Advent heals our fragmented life

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Wednesday, Memorial of St. Lucy, Virgin & Martyr, 13 December 2023
Isaiah 40:25-31 ><]]]]'> + <'[[[[>< Matthew 11:11-15

*Photo by author, Advent week II, Basic Education Department chapel, Our Lady of Fatima University, Valenzuela, 2021.*

My dear Jesus:
despite the cold weather
and festive mood of this season,
there is this feeling inside me of
the world, even your church
being so fragmented and broken,
with so many divisions and 
competitions among us, 
the favoritisms and injustices 
by those above us that have
spawned in us so many feelings
of entitlement and privileges.

Why, O Jacob, do you say, and declare, O Israel, “My way is hidden from the Lord, and my right is disregarded by my God?” Do you not know or have you not heard? The Lord is eternal God, creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint nor grow weary, and his knowledge is beyond scrutiny. He gives strength to the fainting; for the weak he makes vigor abound.
Isaiah 40:27-29

Thank you, dear Jesus,
for your coming to us,
for your Advent;
most of all, for your sublime
gentleness, calling us all to
"Come to me, all you who labor 
and are burdened, 
and I will give your rest"
(Matthew 11:28).

Heal our fragmented lives,
our fragmented society,
our fragmented Church;
open our eyes,
open our hearts
and our arms to embrace you
especially among those broken too
so we may finally forge anew that
bonding in you.
Amen.

Our Lady of Sorrows: absorbed in sorrow, absorbed by glory

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Friday, Memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows, 15 September 2023
1 Timothy 1:1-2, 12-14 ><}}}*> + ><}}}*> + ><}}}*> John 19:25-27

*Lady of Sorrows from a triptych by the Master of the Stauffenberg Altarpiece, Alsace c. 1455; photo from fraangelicoinstitute.com.*

What a joy for us,
sinful children of the Father
to be your children too,
O Blessed Virgin Mary
through your Son
our Lord Jesus Christ!

Standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary of Magdala. When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple there whom he loved, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son.” Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother.” And from that hour the disciple took her into his home.
John 19:25-27

More than the tears and sorrow
 on your face portrayed in arts,
O Sorrowful Mother, 
all I see and experience
in you is a disciple
 so absorbed in prayer,
so united and close
 with our Lord Jesus;
yours is a different kind
of sadness
that I feel when I look
at your images
as our Lady of Sorrows:
no pity but dignity,
no dramatics nor theatrics
but purely
noble simplicity.

How sad,
dear Mother and Lady of Sorrows
 that many of us disciples
 of your Son Jesus
have forgotten this very
important aspect of discipleship
you have shown us,
a life centered on prayer
that is more than reciting prayers
but residing in Christ,
of being absorbed in his
Passion and Death
so that like you,
we may be absorbed by
his glorious Resurrection!

Indeed,
 dear Lady of Sorrows,
as St. Paul tells us today,
"the grace of our Lord has been
abundant, along with the faith
and love that are
in Christ" (1 Tim.1:14);
pray for us your children
and fellow disciples
to be first absorbed in prayers
because before everything
else came,
there was Jesus
who first came
calling us
to be one in him,
with him,
and through him
like you
absorbed by his glory
in heaven.
Amen.

Healing our community

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Wednesday, Memorial of San Roque, Healer, 16 August 2023
Deuteronomy 34:1-12 ><)))*> + ><)))*> + ><)))*> Matthew 18:15-20

*Photo by author, view of Israel from Mt. Nebo in Jordan, May 2019.*

God our loving Father,
today we thank you for the gift
of another popular saint among us,
San Roque or St. Rock of France;
he was like Moses, Joshua,
and our Lord Jesus Christ
who primarily worked for the
"healing" of our community,
of your chosen people.

Invoked in time of pestilence
like in the recent pandemic,
San Roque cared and cured many 
sick people infected during a plague
in Italy in the 14th century;
when he caught the disease himself,
he hid in the woods to die so that
others may not be infected through him;
but, in your divine providence, O Lord,
you sent him a dog that licked his wounds
and brought him bread until he was saved 
by its owner until he could finally get home 
to settle the disputes among his relatives 
when an uncle usurped his position
and inheritance from his late father,
the former governor of Montpellier.

Today you remind us, O Lord,
to always care for the unity of
our community that includes our
family, our church, our school even our
office where you call us to gather as one;
like Moses who spent all his life
keeping your chosen people united in you,
may we also work for the common good 
of our designated community.

What a beautiful sight to behold of Moses
seeing the Promised Land from Jordan!
More than our home here on earth,
give us a glimpse of your heavenly
dwelling, dear God, by continuing
your works of leading our community
close to you like Joshua who succeeded Moses.

Teach us to forgive and correct
those who sin and err with humility
and sole concern of being good
and holy like you, O God,
never to put others into shame
nor to look as better than others;
in the name of Jesus Christ your Son,
help us to work for our unity so that
"whenever two or three of us are
gathered in his name, he may truly be
in our midst" (Mt.18:20), 
reflected and mirrored in our community
as we live in justice and mercy,
love and kindness
and holiness.
Amen.

*Photo by author, view of Israel from Mt. Nebo, Jordan, May 2019.*

Jesus our home, our tahanan

The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Fifth Sunday in Easter-A, 07 May 2023
Acts 6:1-7 ><}}}*> 1 Peter 2:4-9 ><}}}*> John 14:1-12

*Photo by Ms. April Oliveros, March 2023, Mt. Pulag.*

From being our “gate” as the Good Shepherd last week, Jesus today introduces himself as our “home”, our dwelling by being “the way and the truth and the life”. Our scene is still at the last supper with Jesus teaching his disciples including us today with some of his important lessons expressed in words so touching and full of mysteries.

Jesus said to his disciples: “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You have faith in God; have faith also in me. In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If there were not, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back again and take you to myself, so that where I am you also may be.”
John 14:1-3

Though the apostles were still at a loss at the meaning of the words spoken by Jesus that night, they knew and felt something so bad would happen, that life for them would no longer be the same as before that troubled them so deeply inside.

To be troubled here means more than the feeling but experience itself of confrontation with the power of evil and death, when we get that existential feeling of our mortality, when we feel so helpless in a situation, asking “paano na ito?” or “paano na kaya ako/kami?” Like the apostles that night, we too have been into similar situations of being troubled deep inside when we realize in no uncertain terms something so sweeping is happening, altering our lives “forever” like when we or a loved one is diagnosed with cancer, gets a stroke, or has to undergo a major surgery of the heart or brain, and losing a loved one.

Jesus is telling us this Sunday like on that holy Thursday evening to stand firm because these evil and death will just have momentary control over us, a passing over that is why we have to summon all our strength and courage, confidence and perseverance in him as he himself had already triumphed with his own passion, death, and resurrection.

And that is the good news! Jesus had won over all our worst fears like death. It is the gift of Easter, of the Lord’s Resurrection right there inside our hearts, already in our very core we only need to recover by abiding in him always. But before going any further, let us first confront one important lesson this gospel scene offers us: When are we really most troubled in life?

When we examine the many troubles we have been through, we find that more than the difficult and harsh situations we have faced were the many troubles within our very selves. What really trouble us most are not those outside us but within us. These are those little guilt feelings we used to take for granted, little details in life we used to ignore and dismiss as nothing for so long that suddenly now under our very nose as so serious, so important after all.

The most troubling experience of all is when we realize how we have wasted so many opportunities to love and be kind, to be more forgiving and understanding, when we know we have done something wrong and have done nothing to rectify it. We are troubled when outside conditions throw us into situations that make us confront not only death and evil but our very selves that suddenly, we feel unprepared and inadequate especially sickness and death that both surely come. Always.

And here is the big difference: Jesus was not surprised, was never caught unaware of his pasch because all his life he has been one in the Father and one with us. See in all four gospel accounts how Jesus had total control over everything that is why he was so prepared for his passion, death and resurrection because he never turned away from the Father and anyone in need of healing, of forgiveness, of comfort, of his presence. Jesus never turned away from his very essence, his mission which is oneness in the Father and oneness with us his beloved.

Jesus was so at home, so to speak, with himself and with the Father that he never fell into sin despite the devil’s temptations nor the scheming traps and plots of his enemy. This is what Jesus is telling us of preparing a room for us in the Father’s house, that we be at home with our true selves in the Father in him.

We are most troubled when we are not home, literally and figuratively speaking. And sadly, many times as we have experienced in this pandemic that even in our own homes we could not be at home because we are detached and away from our families and loved ones.

“In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places… Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I speak to you do not speak on my own. The Father who dwells in me is doing his works.”
John 14: 2, 10

*Photo by author, Katmon Nature Sanctuary & Beach Resort, 04 March 2023.*

The word “dwelling” is a favorite of John especially in this part of his gospel. For John, dwelling is more than a home but unity of Jesus and the Father as well as unity of Jesus and his disciples including us. In his prologue he spoke of Jesus as the Word who became flesh and “dwelled” among us. So beautiful an imagery of the Son of God living among us, being one with us and in us, not just physically present but through and through like going through our human experiences except sin.

To dwell is not just to reside but most of all to abide in Christ, to be united, to be one in him which he would say in the following chapter when he identified himself as the true vine and we are his branches.

Therefore, to dwell is to be one, to commune in the Lord. That is why heaven is not just a place but a condition, a being of eternal union with God where Jesus assures us of a dwelling. And because Jesus is our dwelling, our home, that is why he is also our way because he alone is the truth and the life.

Now, if anyone lives in Jesus, he/she lives in the Father too as he clarified with Philip who asked him to show them the Father and that would be enough.

How lovely that Jesus taught these lessons of unity and oneness in him and the Father and with one another in the context of the table, of a meal.

Here we find his last supper was not just a prelude to his coming Passion, Death and Resurrection but to his Ascension into heaven too when Jesus was already speaking of his entrance into a new and higher level of relating with the Father and with us his disciples, his Body as the Church.

This “dwelling” continues in our Eucharistic celebrations especially the Sunday Mass and even right in our own homes too during meal time. And there lies the challenge of our gospel this Sunday.

The first major problem in the early church came in the context of the table when “the Hellenists complained against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution” (Acts 6:1) of food. The Hellenists were the Jews who have lived outside Israel that when they returned home, they have become so alienated because of language barriers even of outlook in life. The Apostles resolved the issue by ordaining the first seven deacons.

It is interesting that the word “deacon” came from the Greek word diakonia which means “to serve at the table”. In Latin, diakonia is ministerium which is service in the table too. How lovely that to serve is actually rooted in the table found in homes!

We say home is where the heart is. In that case, God is our home. Jesus is our dwelling. We are troubled when we are not at home with God in Jesus and with our own families. Any problem at home takes priority in us too because family is important to us. How sad that some people could reject their own family without realizing that no matter what happens to us, it is still our family who would save us and stand by us in the end. This is what St. Peter’s was saying in the second reading of Jesus being the stone rejected to become the cornerstone when often we dismiss our family but in the end remain with us when our chips are down.

This Sunday, let us go home in Jesus our true home found in our own families. Home in Filipino is tahanan from the root word tahan which means to stop crying. To dwell in Filipino is manahan, from the same root too. We stop crying in our home because that is where we find security and comfort, love and acceptance, most of all, life and direction. Amen. Have a blessed week ahead!

Dwelling in Jesus

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Wednesday, Feast of Sts. Philip & James the Less, Apostles, 03 May 2023
1 Corinthians 15:1-8 ><))))"> + ><))))"> + ><))))"> John 14:6-14

*Photo by author, sunrise at Katmon Nature Sanctuary & Beach Resort, Infanta, Quezon, 04 March 2023.*

Thank you, dearest Lord Jesus Christ
for the gift of two Apostles whose
feast we celebrate today,
St. Philip and St. James the Less;
thank you in giving us examples
to personally be near you,
to be one with you 
and to be one in you.

How lovely it is to recall
when Philip along with Andrew 
approached and asked you 
where you stayed and you told them
to "come and see"; what they saw
and experienced must be so wonderful
that Philip was so convinced in
calling Nathanael to come and see you
whom he had recognized as the Messiah.

In being your apostles,
Philip and James remind us 
of the need to be close 
and familiar with you to
discover your true identity,
to enter into a personal contact
with you by listening, responding
and communing in you Jesus daily,
of the need to dwell in you always.

During your last supper,
you expressed clearly how
the word "dwelling" means -
intimacy and oneness in the Father
in you and with one another also
in you, dear Jesus.

Your cousin James who eventually
became the bishop of Jerusalem
practiced this meaning of dwelling
in you by working to resolve the
the tensions among the Jewish 
and Hellenist converts to
Christianity; how beautiful that
the early Church lived in 
harmony with each other,
rooted in you, Jesus, 
our home,
our dwelling.
Amen.

Powerful prayer

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Monday in the Second Week of Easter, 17 April 2023
Acts 4:23-31   ><]]]]'> + ><]]]]'> + ><]]]]'>   John 3:1-8

*Photo by author, sunrise at Bolinao, Pangasinan, 18 April 2022.*

When is a prayer powerful,
Lord Jesus Christ?

Many times in prayer,
I shake and tremble in fear;
afraid of what would happen
next, if things would work out
in my favor or not.

Many times in prayer,
I rationalize, not really
understanding your words
like Nicodemus.

Many times in prayer,
Lord, I remain here below
on earth, could not level up
with you, of being above,
of being born again.

How I wish I could pray
like Peter and John with your
early followers after their 
release from prison!

And when they heard it, they raised their voices to God with one accord and said, “And now, Lord, take note of their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with all boldness, as you stretch forth your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are done through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” As they prayed, the place where they were gathered shook, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.
Acts 4:24, 29-31

How beautiful was that scene, Lord:
your followers were of one accord,
praying for courage and boldness,
most especially for "healing"
of your people as many continued
to resist change;
and the place "shook" while they
were filled with the Holy Spirit.

Let us not be shaken by events, Lord;
shake our world and fill us with your
Holy Spirit to heal each one.  Amen.

The problem with unity

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Friday in the Sixth Week of Ordinary Time, Year I, 17 February 2023
Genesis 11:1-9 ><]]]]'> + ><]]]]'> + ><]]]]'> Mark 8:34-9:1

Thank you, O God our loving Father
for this wonderful Friday;
after a week of stories of our Creation
and Fall, your words today invite us
anew to look deeper into our hearts 
to find you and see your plans for us.

The story of the tower of Babel reveals
many things about our hearts,
of how we would always start seeming
to be good, like being one and united
as a people which you have always desired;
but, like the people at that time, our seemingly
good and innocent plans reveal sinister
evil within our hearts:  "Come,
let us build ourselves a city 
and a tower with its top in the sky,
and so make a name for ourselves;
otherwise we shall be scattered 
all over the earth" (Genesis 11:4).

Forgive us, O God, 
the many times we have tried
manipulating you, fooling our selves
with our supposed to be good intentions
when in fact full of evil and selfish motives;
how funny we have never learned that in
our efforts to preserve ourselves through
our many selfish schemes, the more we fall,
the more we ended up divided like at Babel.

The Lord brings to nought the plans of nations; he foils the designs of peoples. But the plan of the Lord stands forever, the design of his heart through all generations.
Psalm 33:10-11

Let us not confuse unity
with oneness right away;
yes we have to be one in you
through others, but never one
in ourselves or with others for a
vested interest for it shall surely collapse
and crash like Babel;
take away our arrogance that pretend
to be sincere and true in always having
the best intentions, the most beautiful plans
when in fact are all self-serving,
trying to impose our very selves on others;
make us realize that life is fragile,
that anything can always happen 
with us and with our plans, 
that we have no total control of everything
and hence, simply be open to your
new directions and instructions.

Help us forget our selves, 
to take up our cross and follow 
your Son Jesus Christ 
in humility and simplicity,
in hiddenness and silence,
in kindness and love
for others which is your
original plan for us as a people. 
Make us one in you, dear Father,
regardless of our language and color,
or any other differences like at Pentecost.
Amen.

We are our “brother’s keeper”

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

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.