Advent is Looking Back – and Forward – to God’s Goodness

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The Lord Is My Chef Simbang Gabi Recipe-7

22 December 2018

1Samuel 1:24-28///Luke 1:46-56

Mary’s prominence lies not only in giving birth to Jesus Christ but more of her being His perfect disciple, the first Christian, the first receiver and doer of the Word who became flesh in her womb. After sharing Christ with Elizabeth in the Visitation, Mary now sings the Magnificat like the song of Hannah in the first reading when she was gifted by God with the child Samuel despite her barrenness. It is very amazing that the Blessed Virgin Mary is the only person who has appeared most – five times – as a cover of the TIME Magazine. Likewise, her Magnificat is said to be the only poem that has been set to music more than any other in the whole history. Almost every great musician has worked on Mary’s canticle like Bach, Mozart, Vivaldi and Rachmaninoff while for over a thousand years it had been sung or recited in the evening in monasteries around the world following St. Benedict’s rule in the sixth century. The Magnificat is a song of praise and thanksgiving to God, Mary’s own experience of God not only in her own life but also in her cousin Elizabeth who was barren and old yet conceived a child to become the Lord’s precursor, John the Baptizer. At the Visitation, Elizabeth praised Mary but when it was Mary’s turn to speak, she praised God instead of Elizabeth contrary to common gesture of returning her favour because it was very clear with her that every gift is from God, and the greatest gift we can all have from God is His Son Jesus Christ whose birthday we celebrate on Tuesday.

What is so remarkable with the Magnificat is its Advent flavor: it is not only a praise and thanksgiving to God for all the wondrous things He had done to Mary and to us all but also a song of looking forward to more blessings to come from Him! That is what Advent is all about, a looking back to the first Christmas and a joyful waiting for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ! This is very evident in her opening lines, “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my savior. For he has looked upon his lowly servant. From this day all generations will call me blessed: the Almighty has done great things for me, and holy is his Name” (Lk.1:46-49). It is definitely a fruit of her prayer or gestational silence we mentioned the other day like what Elizabeth did. Mary took into her inmost being the message of the angel to rejoice as a highly favored one of God, acknowledging the work of grace in her despite her stature in life. Again we find here some strong Jewish flavors of which Mary must be aware of like the expression “the Almighty has done great things for me” which has strong roots in the Old Testament experience of the Israelites and their prophets when God saved them from Egypt and so many trials. Think of the great things God has done to you also and rejoice! Look back to the past 12 months and here we are, still together although some badly beaten with some even bruised in life but like Mary and Elizabeth meeting together, there are so many reasons for us to celebrate and thank the Almighty for the great things He had done to us. And the most wonderful blessing next to God is the gift of family and friends around us, like the two cousins, a beautiful imagery of two pregnant women rejoicing together, celebrating life as they looked back in their personal lives and in their nation’s history the many good things God had done to them since the time of Abraham.

The Magnificat shows us too that most of the things Mary mentioned have not happened yet: “He has mercy on those who fear him in every generation. He has shown the strength of his arm, and has scattered the proud in their conceit. He has cast down the mighty from their thrones and has lifted up the lowly. He has filled the hungry with good things and the rich he has sent away empty. He has come to the help of servant Israel for he has remembered his promise of mercy, the promise he made to our fathers, to Abraham and his children forever” (Lk.1:50-57). These are a mixture of images from the Old Testament about the things God had done to Israel and to the two cousins but at the same time mention other things that would happen only upon the completion of Christ’s mission. This is to show us that Mary’s Magnificat is also about the perfect presence of God in Jesus Christ in our lives who is the “same yesterday, today and forever” (Heb. 13:8).

Last year I was privileged to join my former colleagues at GMA-7 News as their chaplain on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land – all for free with everything in first class! On our flight back to Manila, we met some OFW’s and one of them was so ecstatic in meeting Ms. Jessica Soho, making a commotion like crazy at the Ben Gurion Airport which is noted for its strict security measures. A female security officer caught our attention and held us for a while as she checked our papers and passports. Making things worse, the crazy OFW kept telling the officer to let us go because Ms. Jessica is a celebrity in our country. That got the Israeli’s blood boiled and turned her attention to me, the only man in our group, asking me to go with her to their office. That was when the three women of GMA News stood for me – our SVP Ms. Marissa Flores, Ms. Jessica Soho, and newly retired VP Ms. Kelly Vergel de Dios – telling the airport official that I am their friend, a friend for over 30 years, explaining how I used to work with them until I resigned and became a priest. I felt my world stopping momentarily like in a dream sequence: everything happened so fast! There was the possible delay and a lot of interviews but I also felt God’s strong arm holding me, also tenderly caressing me with His mercy when I heard the three veterans of news defending me. It was the final blessing I got from God during that pilgrimage when the three women of GMA-7 News were like Mary and Elizabeth reminding me how God had worked in our lives all these years. It was like a Magnificat moment for me that until now I can recall the sweet smile that incident had left me. Try praying the Magnificatstarting tonight as you thank God for the many wondrous things He had done to you despite the many trials you have also gone. Thank God for the faithful and wonderful friends who have visited you to see His plans for you and most of all, be open for more blessings to come from Him this Christmas. Let us pray for the many great women who have changed our lives, the Marys and Elizabeths who visited us and brought us closer to Jesus Christ. AMEN. Fr.NicanorF.LalogII,Parokya ng San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Gov. F. Halili Ave., Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria, Bulacan

*Photos by the author: above are the bronze statues of Mary and Elizabeth at the Church of the Visitation; below, our group photo during our Holy Land Pilgrimage last April 2017.

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Mary Is the True Miss Universe

The Lord Is My Chef Simbang Gabi Recipe-5

20 December 2018

Isaiah 7:10-14///Luke 1:26-38

Allow me to join the jubilation over our very own Ms. Catriona Gray’s winning of the Miss Universe 2018 title last Monday in Thailand. As usual, I did not see it but cannot resist checking the news as everybody talked about her beauty and grace, and most especially her intelligence. Though I have not seen the other candidates and their performances, I am very convinced she rightly deserves the title especially with her answer to the final question given her. One quality I like most with Ms. Gray is her being filled with enthusiasm that was very evident with the way she projected herself, exuding with good vibes and life. Enthusiasm is from two Greek words “en theos” that mean to be filled with God – like the Blessed Virgin Mary who is “full of grace and the Lord is with her” (Lk.1:28).

On this fifth day of our Simbang Gabi we hear the second story by St. Luke of how the first Christmas happened. He tells us how six months after announcing to Zechariah the coming of their son John, the angel Gabriel went to Nazareth to announce the good news of the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ to the Blessed Virgin Mary who was betrothed to St. Joseph. Unlike Zechariah who doubted the angel’s message, Mary was more open with her response by asking how it would all take place. And the angel said to her in reply, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God” (Lk.1:35).

Last Monday we have reflected how St. Matthew ended his story of the genealogy of Jesus Christ with Mary to show her as the new beginning of everything in the world. Through Mary’s giving birth to Jesus, we now share with Him one common origin in faith who is God as our Father so that despite our many sins and failures, we are given with a fresh start, new opportunities in life daily. St. Luke bolsters this today with his account of the annunciation of the birth of Jesus to Mary. As a Jew, Mary must be totally aware of the words of the angel about herself being “overshadowed by the Most High” like in the Old Testament stories of God’s presence in the cloud during their journey in the wilderness after their exodus from Egypt. Even Moses could not enter the tent when “the cloud covered it and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle” (Ex.40:34-38). To be filled and overshadowed by the presence of God is to be to be possessed by God and eventually to be transformed by God. Remember how in the movie “The Ten Commandments” when the face of Moses was transformed after meeting God. The three synoptic gospels record a similar incident of God’s presence in a cloud hovering with Jesus during His transfiguration at Mount Tabor witnessed by Peter, James and John. The two great prophets of Israel were there, Elijah and Moses conversing with Jesus when a cloud overshadowed them with a voice declaring “this is my beloved Son, listen to Him.”

Matthew, Mark and Luke tell us how the apostles were all terrified at the sight of the Transfiguration. And we can also surmise how terrifying it must be to experience God’s presence, to be filled with God. But that is how grace works! After seeing our own limitations and yet we are still able to forge on, to achieve greater things, it is God working in us. This is the reason that St. Luke tells us how the angel greeted Mary during the annunciation using the Greek words “kaire” which is to rejoice and “charis” or “karis” for grace: “Hail (or rejoice), full of grace! The Lord is with you” (Lk.1:28). Wherever and whenever there is grace, surely there is rejoicing. We rejoice in the winning of Ms. Catriona Gray as Miss Universe because it is indeed a grace she had received as an individual and for us as a nation plagued with so much sufferings and miseries. The late American spiritual writer and monk Thomas Merton rightly said, “We live in a time of no room, which is the time of the end. The time when everyone is obsessed with lack of time, lack of space, with saving time, conquering space… The primordial blessing, ‘increase and multiply’ has suddenly become a hemorrhage of terror… In the time of the end there is no longer room for the desire to go on living. Why? Because they are part of a proliferation of life that is not fully alive, it is programmed for death” (Raids on the Unspeakable, pp. 70-72).

Advent is the time to get real, to stop pretending. Advent is the time for us to finally admit our own limitations, to create a space in our hearts and in our lives to let God fill us, to let God possess us. Like Mary, can we allow God’s power to hover over us and do the same to renew our lives in welcoming Jesus Christ? Like the question posed to Ms. Gray, think of the many instances in your life where you have learned your most important lessons in life and most surely like her, these were also the moments we have faced or seen many hardships and sufferings yet, instead of being down, they have inspired us, they have transformed us into better persons. It is here where I admired most Ms. Gray when she said how the slums of Tondo made her look among the poor children for beauty, to see the silver linings, and still be grateful. What a beautiful soul indeed – something like our Blessed Virgin Mary who told the angel, “Behold I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.” Let us now open our hearts to God so the Holy Spirit may hover us, fill us with Jesus Christ. AMEN. Fr.NicanorF.LalogII,Parokya ng San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, .Gov. F. Halili Ave., Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria, Bulacan

*Photo by my former student at ICSB, Arch. Philip Santiago, mosaic of the Annunciation to Mary at the San Giovanni Rotondo Church, Italy, October 2018. Used with permission.

Advent is Answering God’s Call

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe-Prayer

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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Presence of God, Absence of Man

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The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe-Prayer

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.