A Sunday “detox”

The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Sunday in the Seventh Week of Ordinary Time, Cycle A, 19 February 2023
Leviticus 19:1-2, 17-18 ><}}}*> 1 Corinthians 3:16-23 ><}}}*> Matthew 5:38-48

Jesus continues his Sermon on the Mount this Sunday, reminding his listeners that include us today that more is expected of us as his disciples in putting into practice the Commandments of God. Last Sunday he brought us into the heart of the commandments which is love; today, he gives us the concrete demands of this love like offering no resistance to one who is evil, loving our enemies, and praying for those who persecute us (Mt.5:39, 44).

For us to have a fuller grasp and appreciation of these two very difficult teachings by Jesus, it is best to see them in the context of holiness which is not being sinless but being filled with God, being like God himself. See how the opening line of today’s first reading and the last line of the gospel express very similar commandments:

The Lord God said to Moses, “Speak to the whole Israelite community and tell them: Be holy, for I, the Lord your God, am holy.”
Leviticus 19:1-2

In the gospel, Jesus concluded his teachings with these words of admonition:

“So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
Matthew 5:48

*Photo by author, Mt. Sinai, Egypt, 2019.*

A lot often, people are allergic in hearing the word “holiness”. Many think holiness is something not for them, something exclusively for us priests and religious, and worst, that it is just a thing of the past that no longer exists! Vatican II clarified that the universal call to holiness falls on everyone. We are all called to be holy by God and holiness is actually close to us as a reality and experience because God is closest with us!

Imagine God the all-powerful, all-encompassing who is beyond our comprehension yet telling us to be like him? Is it not so beautiful and amazing that this God we find so far from us, so different from us, is the one who made the moves to be close to us by living with us and among us in Jesus Christ, the Emmanuel or God-is-with-us? He later sent the Holy Spirit on Pentecost so that he may be most closest to us as our breath, dwelling in us, making us his very temple as St. Paul explained in the second reading today.

The whole Bible shows us this nearness of God with us. He is a personal God, Someone who relates with us, directing the world and history not from afar but by getting involved in them himself, even with our very lives! It is in this aspect that Jesus is now asking us to show concretely the demands of discipleship by being holy. It is a very difficult task we cannot do on our own but through the grace of God. And here lies the great wonder – we the sinful ones becoming the image of God’s holiness when we learn to let go of retaliation or revenge and vengeance, when we love and pray for those who persecute us.

Jesus said to his disciples: “You have heard that it was said, An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. But I say to you, offer no resistance to one who is evil. When someone strikes you on your right cheek, turn the other one to him as well… You have heard that it was said, You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you.
Matthew 5:38-39, 43-44

See how our gospel this final Sunday so apt as we begin our Lenten journey this Ash Wednesday.

In giving us these concrete demands of love, Jesus is inviting us to “detox” ourselves of the many toxins in our souls that prevent us from being holy, from being the presence of God in this world. Everyday we find on Facebook many posts about toxic people, of how to detect them and the need to avoid them, even cut ties with them. Problem is, everybody is suspecting everyone as a toxic person with nobody ever admitting he/she is a toxic one needing detoxification.

Jesus is reminding us this Sunday to check on the many toxins of hatred and violence, resentment and bitterness that poison us as a person that also poison our many relationships. Last week, he asked us to look into our hearts, today we move into our souls. What fills us as a person, as a disciple of Jesus? The spirit of the world or the Spirit of God?

When Jesus asked us “to offer no resistance to one who is evil” by foregoing retaliation or even revenge and vengeance, he is not asking us to behave with naivete or yield to injustice and violence. To offer our other cheek when slapped on the right, to give our cloak not just tunic, to walk for two miles instead of just one mile, and never to turn our back on those who borrow is actually to be peace-maker like Jesus in his beatitudes.

Jesus is not asking us to be passive to evil doers but is in fact telling us to show them the wrongness, the evil of what they are doing. To continue to be good to those who do evil means to actively teach them of what is proper, what is right. It is not weakness but actually a sign of inner strength, courage, and security like Jesus before the Sanhedrin on Holy Thursday night and his enemies while on the Cross on Good Friday. Retaliation makes us no different from evil men and even further escalates the troubles instead of solving them. World history and daily news prove to us daily the foolishness of men and wisdom of God in Jesus Christ’s path of non-violence. A long time ago I have read an article about the never-ending clashes in Israel where a father told a reporter that war does not solve anything but only makes people bury more of their children and parents.

Very true. And yes, it is easier said than done but we have great men like Martin Luther King Jr., Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela who have showed us that the path of non-violence preached by Christ is always the best way to end war and killings. The Rev. King Jr. used to say that love is more powerful than guns and bullets. We have shown that in EDSA 1986 and we have seen it at the fall of Berlin Wall as well as in the triumph of democracy in South Africa.

This Sunday, let us flush out those toxins of festering anger within us, of the desire to get even with those who have hurt us. However, let it also be clear that Jesus is not asking us to have warm feelings of affection towards people who do us evil. When Jesus told us to love our enemies, the context of the word “to love” here means to “wish their well-being” which is a unilateral, unconditional desire for the deepest well-being of another person.

Again, Jesus is not asking us to be in love with people who do evil especially against us; he is not even asking us to have warm feelings for someone doing us serious harm and injuries. That would be ridiculous and insane. All Jesus wants us to do is to strongly show them how wrong they are in what they are doing. In a sense, by our strong actions of non-violence, of still wishing their well-being, we are actually teaching them hard lessons of truth and justice, and of holiness itself. We do not have to be friends with terrorists or kidnap men and murderers but we have to sincerely wish their well-being that they may finally stop their evil deeds not only for their own good but for everyone. In fact, all the more we should pray for their conversion, that they may stop from hating and hurting others and begin to learn to love and care for others. English poet Lord Alfred Tennyson said it so well, “More things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of.”

*Photo by Mr. Gelo Nicolas Carpio, 2020.*

These past weeks we have seen since his sermon on the mount how Jesus has consistently taught us to go beyond the letters of the law, to go against the ways of the world, and to imitate his way of love and mercy, service and kindness that spring from the goodness of his heart. Through his words and actions, Jesus had taught us very concretely the fulfillment of the Law in love.

On our own we cannot achieve it but only through the grace of God. It is a process that requires constant detoxification of our selves, of our sins and other negativities inside us that prevent us from being holy like God. And likewise, we must keep watch on ourselves too that Christ’s call is never meant for us to outdo each other in doing what is good, what is right. One major toxins we need to flush from ourselves is the spirit of competition, of outdoing others in holiness and goodness. What must animate us always is to be perfect as the heavenly Father is perfect – not being better than anybody else that often leads to our vicious circles of hatred and violence. Amen.

Have a blessed week ahead as you prepare for the holy season of Lent.

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.

New beginnings

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Thursday in the Sixth Week of Ordinary Time, Year I, 16 February 2023
Genesis 9:1-13 <*(((>< + ><)))*> = <*(((>< + ><)))*> Mark 8:27-33

*Photo by PhotoMIX Company on Pexels.com*

Blessing.
Blood.
Covenant.
Three things you repeatedly
said, O God our Father,
to Noah after the great floods
to mark the new beginnings
not only for him but also for us
today.

You blessed and consecrated man anew
in Noah and his sons,
telling them to go and multiply
with all the animals at their disposal
while assuring them with absolute
respect for human life.
With Noah, you gave the
rainbow as the sign of your
covenant to never again
destroy bodily creatures
on earth with floods.

How lovely, O God,
are your blessings and covenant
with Noah and his sons that
reached its highest point in
Jesus Christ who, upon his death
on the Cross looked like a rainbow
with arms outstretched between 
heaven and earth,
establishing the everlasting
covenant sealed with his own blood
as he himself predicted at Caesarea Philippi
after being identified as the Christ.

Everyday you ask us, Lord,
like at Caesarea Philippi,
who do we say you are?
Unless we are able to 
recognize you truly in our
own experience,
in our own being
as the Christ who suffered
and died for us on the Cross,
we can never experience 
the fresh new beginnings
you offer us daily just like
to Noah and his sons.

Let us see in Christ's Cross -
the new and perfect rainbow -
the new beginnings you
promised after the great flood,
being fulfilled daily in Jesus.
Amen.

Post-Valentine notes

Quiet Storm by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, 15 February 2023

It has been 24 hours since
Valentine's Day
and I wonder what happened
with all the flowers
not sold yesterday;
do the lovers still stay
and remain true with
all that they say
to love and behold each
other every day?

The flowers declare
what the hearts convey
but too often they are so
lovely beyond compare
when love is not that easy
because in reality,
love is difficult, even painful
that most likely I would
dare say that a loving heart
is more of thorns than of blooms.

A loving heart is first of all
a listening heart;
a heart that listens in silence,
a heart that hears and feels
 the silent screams and cries
 of a beloved;
many times in life,
when our hearts are tired and weary,
saddled with burdens so heavy,
the most lovely company to have
is a listening heart
where words do not matter
because what we bear are too painful
to bare; just a warm, loving heart
that listens and cares is more than enough.

A loving heart is a heart that sings.
Have you noticed
the loveliest love songs
are those that speak
 of a love lost,
of a love that did not end
happily ever after,
a love hoping against hope
that someday would be
redeemed , if not here, even beyond?
A loving heart is able to sing
only when that heart is scarred
for not being loved in return,
of being disappointed,
even betrayed,
of losing
because a heart that continues to love
in darkness and pains
is the one that truly loves,
creating harmony and melodies,
a song or a poem
that ease and soothe
the many hearts hurting.

When a heart listens in silence
and sings amidst the pain,
then the heart celebrates
in finding love in what is true
and in what is good,
in self-sacrifice and
in self-giving;
only the ones who dare
to love even in pain of losing
one's self can celebrate
because in the end,
love prevails,
love triumphs;
that is why we have
Valentine's day -
a celebration of
how lovers of God and
lovers of fellowmen
overcame death
in giving their hearts,
their very selves.
Not just flowers
and chocolates.

Praying to see and thank

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Wednesday in the Sixth Week of Ordinary Time, Year I, 15 February 2023
Genesis 8:6-13, 20-22 ><)))*> + <*(((>< _ ><)))*> + <*(((>< Mark 8:22-26

*Photo by author, Tagaytay City, 07 February 2023.*

In the six hundred and first year of Noah’s life, in the first month, on the first day of the month, the water began to dry up on the earth. Noah then removed the covering of the ark and saw that the surface of the ground was drying up. Noah built an altar to the Lord, and choosing from every clean animal and every clean bird, he offered burnt offerings on the altar.
Genesis 8:13

Have we thanked you already,
O Lord God our loving Father,
since this COVID-19 pandemic 
had subsided in our country?
How beautiful was Noah's gesture
upon seeing the floods gone and 
the earth drying up when he first
built an altar to you to offer you
burnt offerings from among the best
animal and bird he had in the ark.

It has been a year since things
have gone better for us though
there is still the pandemic but,
it seems we have not thanked you
so well yet; we have been so eager
and so busy attending to recover
our material losses due to the 
lockdowns of the pandemic that
we have already forgotten the many
beautiful lessons of COVID-19 
like the value of every person,
the importance of prayer,
and most of all, your presence
among us in these most troubled 
years of modern history.

May times in life
we fail to see your goodness
and blessings around us, Lord,
that we keep on looking for what 
we do not have, what we have lost,
what have been taken from us;
through Jesus Christ,
take us aside from our busy
schedules and crazy rat race
to recover our losses from these
three years of hardships;
like that blind man in the gospel,
cleanse our eyes
to see the big difference 
we now have than before 
since this pandemic started;
help us see clearly one another
as brothers and sisters in Christ
and most of all,
let us see everything distinctly,
especially those that matter most, 
especially you, 
our very essence.
Amen.

A Valentine’s day prayer

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Tuesday, Memorial of Sts. Cyril, Monk & Methodius, Bishop, 14 February 2023
Genesis 6:5-8; 7:1-5, 10 ><]]]'> + ><]]]'> + ><]]]'> Mark 8:14-21

On this most joyous day of hearts,
dear God our Father,
I pray for us all with a heart
to have a natural heart
not hardened by sin and bitterness,
not a heart lacking in understanding
nor a heart so caught up with selfish
and personal agenda.

When the Lord saw how great was man’s wickedness on earth, and how no desire that his heart conceived was ever anything but evil, he regretted that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was grieved.
Genesis 6:5-6

Give us a heart
inclined to you, O Lord,
a heart that listens in silence,
a heart that rejoices in truth,
a heart that celebrates what is good,
a heart that sings amid the many scars
and pains of infidelity and betrayal, 
unkindness and unfriendliness,
a heart that is whole and undivided
in courage and freedom to do what 
is most loving, most self-sacrificing
and self-giving like that of Jesus Christ.

Let us not be carried away
and worst, give rise to the commercialization
of Valentine's Day that we forget the 
true meaning of loving which is 
forgetting one's self and thinking more of
the other person; how lovely it is to read how
you, O God, directed Noah to build an ark
to save his family from the great flood:
Everyone inside the ark was in pair -
Noah and his wife,
his three sons and each one's wife
as well as the animals with one male
and one female each to show us that
love is never alone,
always with another person
with a community of believers!

Many times, O Lord,
we miss your point because we are so
caught up with our own thoughts and ideas
that our eyes cannot see,
and ears cannot hear.
Teach like our brother saints today,
St. Cyril and St. Methodius
to seek your holy will 
so we may love truly
like Jesus Christ who
died on the Cross
for us.
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.

A very Valentine Sunday Gospel

The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Sunday in the Sixth Week of the Ordinary Time, Cycle A, 12 February 2023
Sirach 15:15-20 ><]]]]'> 1 Corinthians 2:6-10 ><]]]]'> Matthew 5:17-37

*Photo by author, Tagaytay City, 08 February 2023.*

We are two days away from Valentine’s Day and a week from Ash Wednesday for the start of the Lenten Season. And our Gospel this Sunday speaks so much of how our hearts may be whole and pure like that of Jesus, filled with love for others as Christ’s disciples.

We are still with Jesus giving us his Sermon on the Mount. Last week we have heard him showing us the practical side of the beatitudes, of blessedness which is being the salt of the earth and the light of the world. Today, Jesus elaborates to us the meaning of putting into practice our blessedness, of being the salt of the earth and light of the world by going right into our hearts in fulfilling the Laws in him as he clarified, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish but to fulfill” (Mt. 5:17).

Living our lives as disciples of Jesus means that we follow a standard or norm totally different from the world’s standard that has become very personalistic and self-centered. The late Pope emeritus Benedict XVII called it as “dictatorship of relativism” – no more absolutes, no more God nor morality to follow because everything is relative that had given rise to everyone invoking each one’s rights totally disregarding the rights of others especially the weakest and most vulnerable. Worst, as most people insist on their individual rights these days, they also forget the other aspect of every right which is responsibility. What happens now is the covering up of temptations of lust so as not to deal with it like the promotion of abortion and artificial contraceptives or of divorce as a solution to marital infidelities.

The problem is not with the laws but with the heart of every person.

*Photo by author, Don Bosco Chapel on the Hill, Batangas, 08 February 2023.*

Jesus is challenging us today to look into our hearts, placing the responsibility on every individual and not on the object of temptations or anger or lust. He is inviting us to lead our lives with integrity where we follow not only the letter of the law but more important, its spirit. This integrity calls us to a whole-hearted living whereby more than the beautiful words we speak, our lives, our very actions reveal we are the children of the Father in Christ Jesus, animated by the Holy Spirit.

See how Matthew composed and arranged the Lord’s teachings today; there is always the reminder from the Laws of the Old Testament followed by the Lord’s clarification of its deeper meaning and application.

You have heard that it was said to your ancestors, “You shall not kill; and whoever kills will be liable to judgment. But I say to you, whoever is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment. You have heard that it was said, “You shall not commit adultery.” But I say to you, everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart. Again you have heard that it was said to your ancestors, “Do not take a false oath, but make good to the Lord all that you vow.” But I say to you, do not swear at all. Let your “Yes” mean “Yes,” and your “No” mean “No.” anything more is from the evil one.
Matthew 5:21-22, 27-28, 33-34, 37

See how Jesus is directing us into his own heart, into the very heart of his Gospel found in the beatitudes we heard the other Sunday so that our hearts would also imitate. To be truly blessed, to be a salt of the earth and a light of the world is to have a clean, pure heart like Jesus, a heart filled with love and mercy. It is very difficult to do on our own but in the grace of Jesus Christ, it is doable.

At the very heart of Christ’s teachings today is the fact that not everything in life can be written and even fiscalized or enacted as a law. Human life is dynamic, always changing, supposedly for the best. Unfortunately, what we are seeing these days in history is decadence: when we are supposed to know more and know better, the more we are becoming less human, less personal because in our “reasoning”, what prevails upon us is our ego, our pride, our self-interests. These are what Jesus is attacking in his teachings today as he invites us to examine and cleanse our hearts, and to truly “feel” the depths and meaning of the Laws long given by God.

How sad that our usual argument against old laws is how they have become obsolete, not attuned with the times like the proponents of divorce. The problem is not with the natural order of things but us. And the tragedy is that we have not only polluted our hearts but also our minds, turning them away from God and from others.

Very often, especially these days, many people insist on their freedom, on their power to choose forgetting that freedom is never absolute, that freedom demands also responsibilities. Though we are free to express our thoughts and feelings, it is not allowed to use the same freedom in spreading lies or maligning others.

The key to such “whole-hearted” living is found in our first reading from the Book of Sirach which emphasizes the meeting of the heart and the mind in God to choose, to decide and to do what is right, what is good.

If you choose, you can keep the commandments, they will save you; if you trust in God, you too shall live; he has set before you fire and water; to whichever you choose, stretch forth your hand. Before man are life and death, good and evil, whichever he chooses shall be given him. No one does he command to act unjustly, to none does he give license to sin.
Sirach 15:15-17, 20

We have the natural laws etched by God in our hearts to always do good, to do no harm on others. We also have his words and teachings finally revealed and fulfilled in Jesus Christ that must guide us in making the right exercise of freedom, of choosing life not death. Here we have true integrity, the meeting of the mind and the heart at what is true, what is good!

Freedom is the ability to choose what is good. Moreover, to be free is also to decide knowingly. Freedom is diminished and impaired when judgement is disturbed. As the Latin saying goes, Mens sana in corpore sano – a sound mind in a sound body. That is why our responsorial psalm says it so well that “Blessed are they who follow the law of the Lord”.

One fine example of this blessed man who follows the Lord is our national athlete and the world’s number three pole vaulter, EJ Obiena.

A UST student who has represented us in various competitions including the 2020 Olympics in Japan, Obiena opened 2023 by winning two gold medals in four tournaments. Unfortunately due to usual red tapes and inefficiencies of those in government, Obiena had to skip the Asian Indoor Championship in Kazakhstan this weekend because of lack of logistical support and fundings. He never ran out of problems despite the many honors he had brought to our country in sports that in the process had shown us also his giftedness as an athlete and as a person with his good moral character.

What I like with him most is his passion for what is ethical, for what is right. He is very consistent with that. He is a man with an undivided heart, clearly inclined to what is true, good and just.

When people wrote and offered him help to join the competition in Kazakhstan, Obiena politely declined the offers because of ethical reasons, of “double-dipping” wherein he explained how the people have already given their share for him with their tax payments, that for them to give donations was too much already, even unjust.

Wow! Praise God for a man like Mr. Obiena! Truly a man with a heart full of passion in God, in what is right, what is true!

What EJ Obiena has consistently shown us – and taught us unconsciously – is the wisdom of God in Christ crucified, the favorite topic of St. Paul in his letters like the one we have heard earlier. See how Obiena was ready to suffer and sacrifice for what is true and good that so often, he is vindicated and has won our hearts and admiration.

This Sunday, let us listen more to God’s voice there in our heart, often the softest and most feeble covered by the more noisy sounds of the world. Let us look into our hearts and see if we have more of our selves, or of others? Of persons or things? Of laws or spirit of the laws? Amen.

Have a blessed week ahead!

Stop hiding from God

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Saturday, Memorial of Our Lady of Lourdes, World Day of the Sick, 11 February 2023
Genesis 3:9-24 ><000'> + ><000'> + ><000'> Mark 8:1-10

*Photo by Arch. Philip Santiago in Lourdes, France, 2018.*

The Lord God called to Adam and asked him, “Where are you?”
Genesis 3:9

Praise and glory to you,
O God our loving Father!
Until now, you never stop from
calling us,
asking us
like Adam after the Fall,
"Where are you?"

On this Memorial of Our Lady of Lourdes
which is also the World Day of the Sick
we come to you,
presenting ourselves before you,
sinful and sorrowful,
weak and very sick,
hurt and aching inside,
lost and searching for meaning
in this life.

Have mercy on us,
dear God our Father;
your Son Jesus Christ
came to look for us
to bring us closer to you
by giving us his very self as
food and drink
in this journey of life.

Make us stop from
hiding from you,
from running away from you;
let us stop
to be with you,
to be healed,
to be consoled,
and most of all,
to be restored in you
in Christ Jesus
with Mary our Mother,
the Immaculate Conception.
Amen.

Opening to God

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Friday, Memorial of St. Scholastica, Virgin, 10 February 2023
Genesis 3:1-8 ><]]]]'> + ><]]]]'> + ><]]]]'> Mark 7:31-37

God our Father,
today your words teach us
what is to be truly opened,
when openness leads us to sin
and when the same openness leads
us to grace.

But the serpent said to the woman: “You certainly will not die! No, God knows well that the moment you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like gods who know what is good and what is evil.” …Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized that they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves.
Genesis 3:4-5, 7

Keep us open to you always, Lord;
let us not dare open our eyes to things
we cannot completely see nor
comprehend;
keep us at home with the truth that
there are many things that seem only to be
apparently good and better not seen at all
because our eyes cannot completely see
and embrace the whole reality;
let us not dare to open things that
would only close us, 
shut us out from you.

then he (Jesus) looked up to heaven and groaned, and said to him, “Ephphatha!” (that is, “Be opened!”). And immediately the man’s ear’s were opened, his speech impediment was removed, and he spoke plainly.
Mark 7:34-35

Like that deaf man
with a speech impediment
healed in the gospel today,
open us, O God our Father
in your Son Jesus Christ by
setting us aside from the noise
of the world, touching our senses,
and opening ourselves 
to your loving presence
and to your very person
so we may experience too
your healing comfort
and consolation;
give us the courage 
to open up to you,
like St. Scholastica
to bare our souls
and give our lives to you
in Christ Jesus who had come
to open for us anew the heavens
and finally be one in you
and with you.
Amen.