The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Monday, Memorial of St. Peter Claver, Priest, 09 September 2024 1 Corinthians 5:1-8 <*((((>< + ><))))*> Luke 6:6-11
God our loving Father, make me a yeast, a leaven for your people, bringing them into a community, a communion.
Do you not know that a little yeast leavens all the dough? Clear out the old yeast, so that you may become a fresh batch of dough, inasmuch as you are unleavened. For our Paschal Lamb, Christ, has been sacrificed. Therefore, let us celebrate the feast, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavend bread of sincerity and truth (1 Corinthians 5:6-8).
Many times, we in the Church fail to recognize the importance of corporate witness to the Gospel as one body; many times, we pretend to be blind and deaf and mute in the evil pervading among us, afraid of hurting others feelings, worst, afraid of being unmasked in living a double standard life; straighten our lives, Lord Jesus like that man with a withered hand in the synagogue; straighten our paths to your righteousness as we discern justice and mercy and love whenever there are some of us on the wrong side of the road. Like St. Peter Claver who called himself a "slave of the slaves forever" in his pioneering work among the African slaves in in Colombia, grant us the grace of courage and strength to dare start the impossible of being a yeast, a leaven to the people transforming them into witnesses of your Gospel. Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B, 08 September 2024 Isaiah 35:4-7 ><}}}}*> James 2:1-5 ><}}}}*> Mark 7:31-37
Photo by author, sunrise at Galilee, the Holy Land, 2017.
Thank God the rains have finally stopped here in Metro Manila and nearby provinces but the flood remains widespread as we brace for two more weather disturbances due this week.
So timely is our gospel this Sunday that reminds us of something so essential during calamities, the need to speak plainly and clearly.
Image from crossroadsinitiative.com.
Again Jesus left the district of Tyre and went by way of Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, into the district of Decapolis. And people brought to him a deaf man who had a speech impediment and begged him to his hand on him. He took him off by himself away from the crowd. He put his finger into the man’s ears and, spitting, touched his tongue; then he looked up to heaven and groaned, and said to him, “Ephphatha!” – that is, “Be opened!” – And immediately the man’s ears were opened, his speech impediment was removed, and he spoke plainly (Mark 7:31-35).
"...and he spoke plainly."
From forbes.com, 2019.
Think of our many misunderstandings and quarrels happening in these days of modern means of communications. How ironic that in this age of instant and wireless communications so accessible to everyone, the more we have misinformation and miscommunications.
No one seems to be speaking plainly and clearly anymore because we have been so blinded by the many images and colors competing for our attention, becoming deaf and mute due to the cacophony of sounds we hear even from machines and things that speak. Instead of life becoming easier and convenient in this age of social media and modern technologies, it has become so complicated like Facebook as more and more of us becoming deaf and mute to the realities within and around us.
I have just checked the internet today to find out that there are now over 7.2 billion cellphones in the world as of June 2024, a figure that accounts for about 90% of the global population now at 8 billion. Of course, it does not mean that 90% of the peoples across the world own a cellphone but we can just imagine how this little gadget has become the new “god”, a baal of the modern world everybody worship and follow. Jesus comes to us today, inviting us to separate ourselves from everything mundane even for a few hours to experience Him and His healing of our own deafness and blindness.
Photo by author, shore of Galilee, 2017.
Once again we find Mark guiding us in Jesus Christ’s itinerary that is often so quick and most of all, not really a destination found in maps but within us.
From Gennesaret last Sunday when Pharisees and scribes from Jerusalem questioned Him about the disciples’ non-compliance with their rites of washing and cleansing, Jesus swiftly moved to visit the pagan territories of Tyre and Sidon, making a stop-over at Decapolis where He healed a deaf-mute. Those pagan territories are not mere locations nor sites in the Holy Land but areas within each one of us, our very person who have forgotten God completely even on Sundays as we worship so many other gods running our lives.
Jesus is now visiting us in our own paganism, asking us to separate ourselves even for a while from everything to experience humanity, our human-ness, our being one with God who is the very basis and foundation of our lives.
We are probably one of those people in Decapolis who begged Jesus to heal the nameless deaf-mute or most likely, ourselves the deaf-mute needing healing by Jesus! This healing of the nameless deaf-mute is a parable of the cure of another kind of deafness and speech impediment afflicting us these days that only grace can heal.
Photo by author, wailing wall of Jerusalem, 2017.
Recall how last Sunday Jesus reminded us of checking into our motivations, on what is inside us in doing things. Jesus was not actually against rites and rituals but simply wants us to do things for the glory of God.
Today, Jesus separates us from our daily routines, from the mundane to touch us, to breathe on us His spirit so we can be more attuned with Him and therefore reflect Him in our lives by opening us – Ephphatha – to speak plainly again of God’s love and mercy, of life’s beauty, of our own giftedness.
To “speak plainly” like that healed deaf-mute at Decapolis is to be able to put into actions the words of Jesus Christ. To “speak plainly” is more than verbally pronouncing words and sounds but most of all touching others with our kindness and love. To “speak plainly” is to hold the hands of those afraid to move on in life after a failure, to caress a sick’s forehead or feet, to hug and embrace the lonely and lost, to be present with those in grief and in pain. To “speak plainly” is to be a presence of God to everyone especially strangers, the elderly, the weak and the helpless.
To “speak plainly” first of all requires us to be opened to God’s words. The gospel accounts teem with many instances of Jesus reminding His disciples that include us today of taking into our hearts to understand and put into practice His words. In the second reading, St. James reminds us how we have become deaf and blind of each other that we behave so badly because we have been so molded by worldly standards even in the church:
My brothers and sisters, show no partiality as you adhere to the faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ. For if a man with gold rings and in fine clothes comes into your assembly, and a poor person in shabby clothes also comes in, and you pay attention to the one wearing the fine clothes and say, “Sit here, please”, while you say to the poor one, “Stand there”, or “sit at my feel”, have you not made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil designs (James 2:1-4)?
Photo by author at Dominus Flevit church outside Jerusalem, 2017.
Think of our many rules and regulations, of our so many documents not only in government but even in the Church. Do they speak plainly?
Many times, we have so much rites and rituals as well documents and laws everywhere that are far from God and from the people, speaking so eloquently of lofty thoughts that are empty, so far from realities that have become only a burden to many, mostly the poor and the powerless.
How sad that those in power, both civil and ecclesiastical authorities have only complacent ears, oblivious to the din from below, the very voice of God among the ordinary people. They have not only turned deaf to the voice of the masses but have even forgotten God’s name in the process! The Apostle Paul gives us the most wonderful lesson about “speaking plainly” of God’s mystery by proclaiming more of Christ crucified than using the world’s “sublimity of words or wisdom” (cf. 1 Cor. 2:1-5).
Photo by author, 2017.
This is the tragedy among us modern Christians today, of us denying even totally unaware of our own deafness, of being mute not able to speak plainly of God in Jesus Christ who came to fulfill Isaiah’s prophecy in the first reading to heal the sick, to strengthen the weak and afraid, and to redeem us held captive by the world’s lies and evil.
Let Ephphatha be our prayer too this Sunday to heal us of our deafness so we may speak plainly again of God’s love and mercy and kindness. Amen. Have a blessed week ahead, everyone!
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Friday in the Twenty-Second Week of Ordinary Time, Year II, 06 September 2024 1 Corinthians 4:1-5 <*((((>< + ><))))*> Luke 5:33-39
Photo by author, 15 August 2024.
Thank you, our loving Father for another week about to close; thank you dear God for this first Friday in September 2024: despite the rains and the floods and the inconveniences these have brought, thank you for a new beginning today. Let us celebrate this gift of life you have given us by putting on a new attitude, a new disposition, a new outlook in life for you have made everything new in Jesus Christ.
And he also told them a parable. “No one tears a piece from a new cloak to patch an old one. Otherwise, he will tear the new and the piece from it will not match the old cloak. Likewise, no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled, and the skins will be ruined. Rather, new wine must be pured into fresh wineskins” (Luke 5:36-38).
Make us your trustworthy stewards of your mysteries, Lord; make us truly your servants who shall reveal your many mysteries of life and death, of joy and sufferings, of poverty and wealth, of fruitfulness and fulfillment, of redemption and forgiveness be known in our life of witnessing without any regard for fame nor popularity except that we do your work in Jesus faithfully. Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Wednesday, Memorial of St. Ignatius of Loyola, Priest, 31 July 2024 Jeremiah 15:10, 16-21 <*((((>< + ><))))*> Matthew 13:44-46
Photo by Ms. Jessica Soho, caves of Manresa in Spain where St. Ignatius prayed and compiled his journals, the Spiritual Exercises, May 2024.
Dearest Lord Jesus, teach me to be generous like your servant St. Ignatius of Loyola, like the Prophet Jeremiah; grant me the grace of "positive indifference", of letting go whatever keeps me from loving God and others while remaining engaged with whatever that makes me love God and others so that I may always praise, revere and serve God my Lord and Master.
Forgive me, dear Jesus, at times when I complain, when I cry out to You like the Prophet Jeremiah today: "Why is my pain continuous, my wounds incurable, refusing to be healed? You have indeed become for me a treacherous brook, whose waters do not abide!" (Jeremiah 15:18)
Let me realize that as a disciple, as your prophet especially in this time of so much emphasis on relativism, on having one's self as the measure of what is right and acceptable, of what is cultured and intellectual even at the expense of making a mockery of you, our Lord and God, I have to speak in clear and blunt language, calling a male as a he or a sir, a female as a she or a ma'am, nothing of them or their as singular, of immoral as wrong and sinful, of every life in whatever stage as precious that may all make me be an object of attacks and ridicule even among friends and relatives.
Let me realize, Jesus, my Lord and Master, that despite the trend of many today to wave the banner of evil in multi-colors and shades, we have to be firm in waving your white and pure banner of truth even if it may be old and tattered in time; most of all, let me keep in mind and heart and soul that as we continue to love and forgive even our bashers and haters, we would never be loved in return just like You.
Take my will, O Lord, my liberty and everything I have like that man in today's parable (Matthew 13:44-46), let me leave everything behind to gain You like that great treasure and pearl of great price; give me the grace and courage to do your most holy will. Amen.
St. Ignatius of Loyola, Pray for us.
Photo by Ms. Jessica Soho, Santa Maria de Montserrat Abbey, Spain where St. Ignatius pledged his loyalty to the Mother of God, May 2024.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Monday, Feast of St. Mary Magdalene, 22 July 2024 Song of Songs 3:1-4 <*{{{{>< + ><}}}}*> John 20:1-2, 11-18
“The Appearance of Christ to Mary Magdalene” painting by Alexander Ivanov (1834-1836) at the Russian Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia from commons.wikimedia.org.
We rejoice today, Lord Jesus, for this most wondrous Feast of your friend St. Mary Magdalene: in her we find hope and joy that like her, we who are sinners are assured of a grace-filled future, of a trustworthy friend in You, and abounding love and mercy also in You.
We are, dear Jesus,
the modern Mary Magdalene:
sinful and worldly,
perhaps so vain with our
outside appearance and bearing
in public, sometimes on the brink
of giving up in life because nobody seem
to care at all for us;
many times like Mary Magdalene,
we walk alone in darkness
searching for You, Lord Jesus;
many times we wonder too
how we could move the huge
and heavy stone of past sins,
weaknesses and failures,
addictions and vices
that cover us and prevent us
from moving forward, finding You;
many times, O Lord,
we mistake You for somebody else
like Mary Magdalene when she mistook
You to be the gardener at the tomb
because we are so preoccupied
of many things in life.
But, You assure us today
on this Feast of St. Mary Magdalene
our fears and assumptions are not
true at all; help us to stop clinging
to our many past for You are not there,
Jesus; You are always in the here and now,
in the present moment, personally calling us
in our name like Mary!
The Bride says: On my bed at night I sought him whom my heart loves – I sought him but I did not find him. I will rise then and go about the city; in the streets and crossings I will seek him whom my heart loves. I sought him but I did not find him. The watchmen came upon me as they made their rounds of the city. Have you seen him whom my heart loves? I have hardly left them when I found him whom my heart loves (Song of Songs 3:1-4).
Like that lover, the Bride in the first reading, we are Mary Magdalene in search of love and meaning in this world; in search of You, Jesus, our Lord and Savior; so often, we seek You in this world, in its loud noise of too much self bragging as well as in the midst of the world's riches and powers; the more we seek You, the more elusive You have become until You came when like Mary Magdalene we have believed in You, we have listened to You. we have become silent and attentive to You, Lord Jesus; thank You for coming, thank You for finding me, thank You for calling me like Mary to proclaim You are risen to others who believe in You, searching You, waiting for You. Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Thursday, Feast of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Eternal High Priest, 23 May 2024 Hebrews 10:11-18 <*{{{{>< + <*{{{{>< + ><}}}}*> + ><}}}}*> Mark 14:22-25
Praise and glory to You, Lord Jesus Christ for reminding us this Thursday after the Pentecost of Your call for us to be like You, our Eternal High Priest, in gentleness and mercy, kindness and love; and the good news is all these are already in us when we were baptized to share in Your priesthood the Father had promised to Jeremiah fulfilled in You:
The holy Spirit also testifiesd to us, for after saying: “This is the covenant I will establish with them after those days, says the Lord: ‘I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them upon their minds,'” he also says: “Their sins and their evildoing I will remember no more.” Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer offering for sin.
Hebrews 10:15-18
Two Sundays ago, we celebrated Your Ascension that is more relational in nature than spatial, the leveling up of our relationships with You and with one another that is affirmed today by this feast of You, Jesus our Eternal High Priest and Mediator when You established the New Covenant on that Last Supper:
As they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and broke it, and gave it to them, and said, “Take; this is my body.” And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, and they all drank of it. And he said to them, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many.”
Mark 14:22-24
Photo by author, Chapel of St. Francis Xavier, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, 20 March 2024.
These words, dear Jesus You fulfilled on the Cross the following Good Friday; in Your self-offering on the Cross, You fulfilled the temple worship by putting an end to those bloody sacrifices, rites and rituals of the Old that were empty due to the sins and weaknesses of the priests and people; in Your dying on the Cross as fulfillment of Your words at the Last Supper as our Eternal High Priest and Mediator, You have consecrated us as Your holy people; this perfect offering is what we celebrate, what we remember, what we make present daily in the Holy Eucharist; help us, therefore, dear Jesus, to be faithful and true to You by being more loving with one another as we face the Father in the Sacrifice of the Mass in You, through You and with You Jesus by sharing in Your Priesthood, help us laity and priests alike to be true in our witnessing, in our loving sacrifices for each other.
Every priest stands daily at his ministry, offering frequently those same sacrifices that can never take away sins. But this one offered one sacrifice for sins, and took his seat forever at the right hand of God. For by one offering he has made perfect those who are being consecrated.
Hebrews 10:11-12, 14
Photo by author, 2023.
Forgive us, Your priests and bishops, dearest Jesus whom You have called to act in "persona Christi" but have become more like the priests of the Old Testament so concerned with our name and position, power and wealth; forgive us, Lord Jesus, when we Your priests and bishops look and move like matinee idols or think and speak like managers than pastors of souls; forgive us, O Lord, when we Your priests and bishops have no more time to kneel daily be with You in prayers because we prefer to socialize and party with the rich and powerful that we miserably fail in finding You among the poor and the suffering.
Transform us priests and bishops to be more like You Jesus Christ, our Eternal Priest and Mediator in thinking, in speaking, in doing, in living, most especially in loving.
Let us not forget that You saved mankind by suffering and dying on the Cross, not with with programs and activities because Your glory can only be found on the Cross where death is conquered and led to life and light. Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Easter Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Feast of St. Mark, Evangelist, 25 April 2024 1 Peter 5:5-14 ><}}}}*> + ><}}}}*> + ><}}}}*> Mark 16:15-20
“Judas Betrays Jesus With A Kiss”, painting by Russian Pavel Popov from arthive.com; notice young man fleeing from the scene naked believed to be St. Mark.
"Beloved: Clothe yourselves with humility in your dealings with one another, for: God opposes the proud but bestows favor on the humble" (1 Peter 5:5).
Your words, O Lord Jesus from St. Peter's first letter are amazing, a most beautiful juxtaposition of being "clothed with humility" on this feast of St. Mark who is believed to have been that naked man fleeing from the scene of Your arrest at Gethsemane: "Now a young man followed him wearing nothing but a linen cloth about his body. They seized him, but he left the cloth behind and ran off naked" (Mark 14:51-52).
A painting of St. Mark the Evangelist by French artist Valentin de Boulogne done in 1624-1625 from en.wikipedia.org.
Only St. Mark
has this detail on that scene
because only him could have known
that embarrassing moment
but have boldly kept it because,
before we can ever be
"clothed with humility"
and any other virtue,
we must first be naked
like him,
laying bare not only our body
but most of all,
our heart and soul
with its kind of
superficial discipleship;
very notable too how
St. Mark later ran away too
from Paul and Barnabas
at Perga (Acts 13:13)
for reasons unknown
except his being so young
and immature.
But everything changed, during the Roman persecution when St. Mark remained to work with St. Peter and St. Paul, and after their martyrdom, that was when he ventured into writing the first gospel account that inspired the early Christians to remain faithful in You, Jesus, amid the persecutions.
Clothe us in humility, O Lord, like St. Mark by having the courage to admit our nakedness, to remember and learn from our shameful humiliations in the past because more important than these are Your love and mercy dear Jesus to start anew in You after every failure and sin; most of all, fill us Jesus Christ with Your strength and courage to be Your witnesses proclaiming the Gospel to every creature because in every disciple, what really matters most is being present with You, Lord, and not our absences nor lapses in the past. Amen.
40 Shades of Lent by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Thursday, Feast of St. Peter's Chair, 22 February 2024 1 Peter 5:1-4 <*{{{{>< + + + ><}}}}*> Matthew 16:13-19
Photo by author, Chapel of the Holy Family, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, 2018.
My Lord Jesus, on this Feast of St. Peter's Chair when the Church's authority especially of the Pope and bishops is put into question, even challenged, you remind us also your priests that “the primacy of Peter symbolized by his chair atop the magnificent altar at the Vatican is the primacy of faith and the primacy of love” (Pope Benedict XVI, "Images of Hope", Ignatius Press, 2006).
These beautiful words by your servant Pope Benedict XVI remind us too that discipleship and life itself are about where we stand not about where we are seated; make us realize, dear Jesus, that like St. Peter and all the saints who served you faithfully in love, we need to make a stand as witnesses of your gospel values of love and justice, mercy and kindness; no one can truly be your disciple nor be fruitful in life by remaining seated comfortably by the roadside; let us do our mission not profession, be concerned with persons not programs, focused on ministry and services not in perks and positions. May we remain standing by your Cross, Jesus, even when the world prefers to avoid pains and sufferings, sacrifices and sharing, inefficiencies and waiting. Amen.
Photo by author, Chapel of the Holy Family, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, 2018.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Tuesday in the Third Week of Ordinary Time, Year II, 23 January 2024 2 Samuel 6:12-15, 17-19 <'[[[[>< + ><]]]]'> Mark 3:31-35
Photo by Mr. Jim Marpa, 15 January 2024 in Davao.
How timely are your words today, O God, for us always checking on what is trending and viral, on who's in, and who's out:
The mother of Jesus and his brothers arrived at the house. Standing outside they sent word to Jesus and called him. A crowd seated around him told him, “Your mother and your brothers and your sisters are outside asking for you.” And looking around at those seated in the circle he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.”
Mark 3:31-32, 34-35
Remind us, dear Jesus that being in and being out with you is not physical nor spatial but spiritual in nature; even with one another! How sad many of us these days are preoccupied in being in, being hip, being included and accepted for the sake of status and fame; being in being out is being close, being far from the beloved's heart.
Help us, dear God to imitate King David though he was inside the circle of those carrying your ark to Jerusalem, his heart, his mind, his very self was in you totally! Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Monday in the Second Week of Ordinary Time, Year II, 15 January 2024 1 Samuel 15:16-23 ><))))*> + ><))))*> + ><))))*> Mark 2:18-22
Photo by author, 2019.
God our Father, teach me to be innovative in witnessing you, in proclaiming you, in making you present in this fast changing world but at the same time still rooted in you, obedient to you; how sad that in our Church today with so many efforts in the guise of "creativity" that led only to empty novelties pretending to be attuned with the time, many have slowly desecrated our liturgy, our celebrations and worst, put into question the relevance of our long held beliefs and teachings on faith and morals; while we have to embrace change happening in the world and in the Church, may we not forget it is YOU, dear Lord, whom we seek, whom we desire, whom we aspire not the social influencers nor rock stars nor any celebrities; teach us to innovate in our ways that are still rooted in you and your precepts not with technology nor with new thoughts; may we learn to understand your Son Jesus Christ's words in today's gospel:
“No one sews a piece of unshrunken cloth on an old cloak. If he does, its fullness pulls away, the new from the old, and the tear gets worse. Likewise, no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the skins are ruined. Rather, new wine is poured into fresh wineskins.”
Mark 2:21-22
Forgive us, dear God, for all the novelties we have brought even into our worship and teachings that have detached us more from you and one another; instead of fostering openness and inclusivity, the opposite had happened because to win more people is first of all to remain faithful and obedient to you which King Saul of Israel had forgotten:
But Samuel said: ”Does the Lord so delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obedience to the command of the Lord? Obedience is better than sacrifice, and submission than the fat of rams.
1 Samuel 15:23
This New Year, lead us back to you, God, through our leaders in the Church who are faithful to you in prayers, in liturgy, in teachings; innovative like Jesus Christ who fulfilled your Laws of Old in the New settings. Amen.
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