The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Monday after the Ascension of the Lord, 30 May 2022
Acts 19:1-8 ><))))*> + <*((((>< John 26:29-33
Photo by Mr. Cristian Pasion, Easter Vigil 2022, National Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima, Valenzuela City.
On this first working of the week after
the Solemnity of your Ascension, Lord Jesus,
I pray on this last Monday of May for all
people going through a lot of troubles in
life these days especially the children and
people of Uvalde in Texas, those living
in Ukraine, and everyone trying to make
ends meet, trying to just survive in this
cruel world, those abandoned by family
and friends. I pray for all of them, lifting
them up to your light and truth, healing and
protection.
“I have told you this so that you might have peace in me. In the world you will have trouble, but take courage, I have conquered the world.”
John 26:33
Yes, we believe in you, Jesus Christ,
our Lord and Master but so many times
without truly understanding nor comprehending
the full meaning of faith in you until troubles
come into our lives; many times we abandon
you and choose the path of sin, being
scattered and so afraid of sufferings and
trials, trying to escape your Cross.
Yes, we believe you have conquered the world,
Jesus, but many times, we are overpowered
by the temptations of the world
that we turn away from you, believing we
can live on bread alone, that we can overcome
everything with our powers of wealth and
science.
Remind us once in a while, dear Jesus,
of your gift of the Holy Spirit like what
St. Paul told some believers in Ephesus;
even after celebrating Easter and renewing
our Baptismal promises, we remain dormant
as Christians, living separately from other
people in the community; help us deepen
our commitment in you, dear Jesus, and
in the way of life you have called us.
Let us be your instruments of peace in
this troubled world today, Lord, by first
conquering our sinfulness. Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord, 29 May 2022
Acts 1:1-11 ><]]]]'> Hebrews 9:24-28, 10:19-23 ><]]]]'> Luke 24:46-53
Photo by author, Chapel of the Ascension at the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, May 2017.
Today’s Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord is a celebration of the mystery of Jesus Christ our Savior. It is not just an episode in his life because it is something about his very person and his personal relationship with us his followers that continues to this day.
In his Ascension into heaven, Jesus had brought us closer to heaven – and God – even while we are still here on earth! It is part of the mystery of his Person whose coming and going, so to speak, closed the wide gap before between heaven and earth which is actually relational than spatial in nature. Hence, the Ascension is not about Christ’s departure to a distant galaxy in the universe where heaven is supposed to be but a new and higher or deeper kind of relationship of humans with God in Jesus.
Ascension is a leveling up as kids would say these days in our relationships with God in Jesus. This we realize in a careful reading of our short gospel account by starting at its ending:
Then he led them out as far as Bethany, raised his hands, and blessed them. As he blessed them he parted from them and was taken up to heaven. They did him homage and then returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and they were continually in the temple praising God.
Luke 24:50-53
Did you notice Luke’s description of how the disciples “returned to Jerusalem with great joy”?
Photo by author, inside the Chapel of the Ascension on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, 2017.
Normally, we feel sad in every departure of a loved one, be it permanent like in death or temporary like when they move to a new residence or work or when kids go to college. Every parting with loved ones brings sadness in our hearts, rarely a great joy.
So, where did that great joy of the disciples come from after Jesus left them and ascended into heaven?
Recall how these past two Sundays when Jesus insisted on his disciples including us the need to obey his commandment to love, reassuring them not to let their hearts be troubled and disturbed when he leaves them. Loving Jesus is keeping his words of loving one another as he has loved us. Where there is love, there is always the gift of presence and relationships, of peace, of intimacy. Even if we are apart from one another, even if we do not see each other, love transcends the physical distance and presence; hence, heaven is oneness with God while hell is separation from God!
Mystery of Christ, our intimacy with God
The joy of the disciples at the Lord’s Ascension is the continuing intimacy they have with Jesus because of his commandment to love and his gift of peace. He said last Sunday that anyone who keeps his words shall be loved by him and the Father who shall both dwell on that person.
Jesus and the Father dwelling in us is intimacy, a deep and personal relationship that is as close as our breath. This is the whole point of the author of the Letter to the Hebrews in explaining the great difference of the old temple worship and worship in Jesus Christ: “Christ did not enter into a sanctuary made by hands, a copy of the true one, but heaven itself” (Heb.9:24) that enabled us all to reach and enter heaven “by the new and living way he opened for us through the veil, that is, his flesh” (Heb.10:20).
Heaven is not just a place or location but most of all a state of life, a state of grace made possible by Jesus Christ, in Jesus Christ. It is something we already have in our hearts which we feel and experience when we strive to live in communion with Jesus and everyone around us through personal and communal prayers, especially in the Holy Eucharist.
Photo by author, part of the site believed where Jesus stepped on during his Ascension inside the Chapel of the Ascension on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, May 2017.
Keep in mind the upward movement of the Ascension which calls for a “leveling up” in our perspectives and way of life, of “witnessing” Jesus Christ to everyone “to the ends of the earth” as he instructed them outside Bethany (Acts 1:8) before “going up” to heaven to be seated at the right hand of God our almighty Father.
But that mystery of Christ is not everything. See how Luke mentioned both in Acts and in his gospel account the disciples as “witnesses” of Jesus.
The Ascension challenges every disciple of Christ to witness his mystery in a life in union with God, a mystery we must nurture and keep, calling us to “approach with a sincere heart and in absolute trust, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed in pure water. Let us hold unwaveringly to our confession that gives hope, for he who made the promise is trustworthy” (Heb.10:22-23).
Ascension is therefore a call to holiness, to a life centered in God. But with the recent turn of events both here and abroad, we find we are still too far from the gifts and realities of Christ’s Ascension as life and societies seem to go down to the pit of death and destruction, pains and despair.
May 25: People attend a prayer vigil for the Robb Elementary School students and teachers killed in a mass shooting Tuesday at the Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Uvalde, Texas. Joshua Lott/The Washington Post via Getty Images
All mystery and tragedy, but no Christ?
We are thousands of kilometers away from Uvalde, Texas but we too were pierced in the hearts by the reports of the killing of 19 school children and their two teachers in a shooting spree by an 18-year old who started his carnage by first shooting his own grandmother at home before going to their local school.
Two weeks earlier, another ten people were also gunned down in Buffalo, New York that has made mass shooting like a persistent plague in the US getting worst each year without any signs of being eradicated at all with the never-ending debates about guns especially by politicians.
See how amid all these decadence in our time, from the mass shootings in the US to the war in Ukraine and the never ending bickering in our local politics show us the exact opposite of the mystery of Christ expressed in this Solemnity of his Ascension, of how we have sank deeper in evil and sin, away from one another and from God.
Everybody is speaking each one’s point of view but never considered God at all and the value of every human life especially at its most vulnerable stage in the womb and old age. Media barrage us with so much statistics but never about the value and importance of virtues like kindness and love and spirituality.
Going back to our gospel this Sunday, Luke leads us to finding and witnessing Christ’s mystery as a person and of his Ascension in its opening when Jesus said to his disciples:
Photo by Mr. Chester Ocampo, springtime in Japan, 2017.
“Thus it is written that the Christ would suffer and rise from the dead on the third day and that repentance, for the forgiveness of sins, would be preached in his name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.”
Luke 24:46-48
See the flow starting from the Scriptures or words of God that were written leading into its fulfillment in the Pasch of Jesus Christ we are tasked to preach and proclaim in words and in deeds which is what witnessing is all about.
This Sunday, Jesus is leading us out of our homes like his disciples to meet him in our churches where his mystery is celebrated daily in the Holy Eucharist as we listen and pray over his words in the Sacred Scriptures that open us to the many tasks of improving our relationships with one another, in learning to forget ourselves and love like Jesus did, not in attacking each other or defending ourselves from their attacks.
How sad that until now, so many of the faithful are still hesitant of going back to church celebrations due to misplaced priorities in life while some of us in the clergy continue to twist and bend the words of the Lord to suit their own way of thinking, especially in politics.
When we examine the life of Jesus, there has always been the letting go of everything in him, including his very life that when his Ascension came, he was totally light and free to go back to the Father. This in turn left so much imprints on his followers’ hearts including us today that even we have not seen Jesus, we can feel him present in us and with us.
How willing are we to be witnesses of Jesus, of letting go of our personal agendas and plans that prevent us from leveling up or arising to new heights of relationships with God and with others in Christ? Have a blessed and safe week ahead!
Photo by Mr. Chester Ocampo, springtime in Japan, 2017.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Friday in the Sixth Week of Easter, 27 May 2022
Acts 18:9-18 ><}}}}*> + <*{{{{>< John 16:20-23
Photo by Mr. Jim Marpa at Carigara Market, Leyte, 2018.
Today, Lord Jesus Christ,
you describe true joy in you,
scary yet so wonderful:
Jesus said to his disciples: “Amen, amen, I say to you, you will weep and mourn, while the world rejoices; you will grieve, but your grief will become joy. When a woman is in labor, she is in anguish because her hour has arrived; but when she has given birth to a child, she no longer remembers the pain because of her joy that a child has been born into the world.”
John 16:20-21
Joy is like a woman in labor,
in anguish because her hour has arrived
but after giving birth to a child, she
remembers no more the pain because
of her joy of bringing forth a child into
the world!
I wonder, dear Lord, in this time
when childbearing has become a major
issue with some women insisting on
their rights, refusing to bear a child,
that less and less people are also
experiencing true joy; we have come
to trust ourselves more than God that
many are so afraid of having children,
thinking it would lead to more joy when
ironically it had led to fewer joys in
their lives!
Joy is completely trusting in you, God,
in your providence and protection like
St. Paul who was so fruitful - and surely,
joyful - at his stay in Corinth because of his
complete trust in Jesus; no harm really
ever happened to him! How sad these days
when those in the pro-choice movement
focus more on the minority having problems in
childbearing than on the majority who make it
through all the pains and joys of giving birth.
Joy is more than happiness; it is a complete
trust and confidence in you, dear Jesus
that even if things turn to worst,
you will never abandon us until the end
for you alone is our joy dwelling within us
in our hearts. Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Thursday in the Sixth Week of Easter, Memorial of St. Philip Neri, Priest, 26 May 2022
Acts 18:1-8 ><))))*> + <*((((>< John 16:16-20
Photo by Mr. Jim Marpa, Carigara Market in Leyte, 2018.
So, brethren, rejoice in the Lord, not in the world. That is, rejoice in the truth, not in wickedness; rejoice in the hope of eternity, not in the fading flower of vanity. That is the way to rejoice. Wherever you are on earth, however long you remain on earth, the Lord is near, do not be anxious about anything.
From a sermon by Saint Augustine, Office of Readings, Memorial of St. Philip Neri, 26 May
Thank you, dear God our Father
in giving us a joyful saint whose
feast we celebrate today, St. Philip Neri.
Of course, every saint must be a
joyful one but St. Philip exuded with
so much joy in serving you among
the poor and the sick that according
to stories, two of his ribs were found
broken after his death because his
heart grew with so much joy and
love for Jesus Christ among the
people he served!
Whatever that means, we believe
in the great joy you must have given
St. Philip Neri and all the saints in
serving you; as St. Augustine
mentioned in his homily, to rejoice
in you is to rejoice in truth not in lies
and wickedness; and to rejoice in eternal
life not in temporal that is momentary.
Much of the world has remained
the same, meaning we still have a
lot of work to do in your name; like
St. Paul, give us the perseverance,
and the sense of humor of St. Philip
Neri to keep preaching the gospel of
Jesus Christ most specially in places
and among people we least expect
to accept it for you yourself, O God is
filled with humor: who would have
thought except you, Lord, that the
sinful city of Corinth would become
one of the leading cities in the spread
of Christianity than the sophisticated
Athens?
Keep us faithful to you, dear Jesus,
never to lose your sense of humor
in doing your work for you always write
straight crooked lines! This is part of
your riddle to your disciples about your
coming Pasch and departure as well as
our coming situation, "you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices, you will grieve but your grief will
become joy" (Jn.16:20).
Lawiswis ng Salita ni P. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Ika-25 ng Mayo 2022
Larawan mula sa gettyimages.com at bbc.com.
Huwag sanang masamain
aking pagkagambala
pagkahumaling sa app
na kung tawagin ay TikTok;
batid ko ang maraming kabutihan
dulot nito sa pakikipagtalastasan
at ugnayan ngunit bakit tila
nauungusan ng mga kahalayan
at kabastusan makabagong laruan?
Nakakaaliw mga katatawanan
at kalokohang napapanood
ngunit nakakabagabag mga
kalaswaan nilalarawan at
napapakinggang usapang
natutungahayan sa munting screen
buong kamalayan ang winawasak,
murang isipan nalilinlang
habang oras at panahon nasasayang.
Hindi sa pagmamarunong
ibig ko ring itanong,
"kailangan pa bang picturan"
maski sa lansangan, dalampasigan
at may pampang mga pasiklaban
sa pag-giling ng katawan at
suot-suot ay kakapiranggot?
"Kailangan pa bang picturan"
ipangalandakan kagandahan ng katawan?
Kung ating babalikan
sariling kapanahunan
dekada ochenta mayroong
lathalain kung tawagin Tiktik Magasin,
mga kuwento at dibuho pulos
seksuwal at kabastusan
pinararaan sa panitikan
bilang pagsasalang-alang
sa karamihang tao na maselan.
Ang kahalayan saan mang
paraan ipahayag ay masagwa
at masama pa rin; ngunit may
higit na banta sa lahat, lalo samga bata
nababantad sa mahahalay na
panoorin lalo na sa TikTok at Youtube:
mga mura nilang kaisipan at kamalayan
nasisira at nalalason na tila ang buhay
ay puro palabas na lamang.
Kaya sana ay pagnilayan
makabagong teknolohiya
sa pakikipagtalastasan
ay biyaya ng Diyos upang
mga tao ay mapaglapit at
mabuklod sa kanilang ugnayan,
mapalawak ang kanyang kamalayan
sa kagandahan nitong buhay at
sariling dangal bilang kalarawan ng Maykapal!
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Wednesday in the Sixth Week of Easter, 25 May 2022
Acts 17:15, 22-18:1 ><]]]]'> + <'[[[[>< John 16:12-15
Photo by Mr. Chester Ocampo, springtime in Japan, 2017.
God our Father,
your words today are so
loving, so caring especially
for us who feel lost or at a loss,
simply could not find our bearing
and directions in life at the moment
for so many reasons like situations
and peoples so unfavorable to us.
St. Paul in the first reading perfectly
said it, we are groping for you in the
dark, dear God. Please help us
find our way back to you in Christ!
Then Paul stood up at the Areopagus and said: “The God who made the world and all that is in it, the Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in sanctuaries made by human hands, nor is he served by human hands because he needs anything. Rather it is he who gives to everyone life and breath and everything. He made from one the whole human race to dwell on the entire surface of the earth, and fixed the ordered seasons and the boundaries of their regions, so that people might seek God, even perhaps grope for him and find him, though indeed he is not far from any one of us.”
Acts 17:15, 24-27
I know, dear God that you
are always at my side;
and I know very well that
always, we are the ones
who turn away from you,
we are the ones who get lost
and not you.
Thank you in sending us
your Son Jesus Christ who always
finds us when we are lost;
so many times in life we feel
it is us who find you, that we are
the ones searching for you
and eventually discovers you.
And we are grossly wrong.
It is you, O God in Jesus,
who finds us always.
Yes, it is true our heart is restless
until it rests on you but it is only you
who can move our hearts to desire you,
to search you, to look for you.
And we always find you because
you found us first!
Today I pray, dear Jesus,
that when life has so many lessons
to teach me and I could not bear it,
please send me quick the Holy Spirit
to enlighten my mind and my heart
to speak to me the things that are coming
while I forge on with life's many trials
until your glory is revealed. Amen.
Photo by Mr. Chester Ocampo, springtime in Japan, 2017.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Tuesday in the Sixth Week of Easter, 24 May 2022
Acts 16:22-34 ><))))*> + <*((((>< John 16:5-11
Photo by Mr. Chester Ocampo, springtime in Japan, 2017.
Lord Jesus Christ,
today I pray for those in a dilemma
on whether they should stay
or they should go; on whether
they have to remain or leave
as your words today offer us
with so many leads when
we must stay and when
we must go.
In the first reading, it is very
interesting why Paul and Silas
who were both in prison in Philippi
decided to remain inside their cell
than leave and go after a strong
earthquake shook the city:
When the jailer woke up and saw the prison doors wide open, he drew his word and was about to kill himself, thinking that the prisoners has escaped. But Paul shouted out in a loud voice, “Do not harm yourself; we are all here.” He asked for a light and rushed in and, trembling with fear, he fell down before Paul and Silas. Then he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you and your household will be saved.”
Acts 16:27-31
Lord, teach us to be patient to
always wait for you in joyful prayers
like Paul and Silas to prevent us
from jumping into hasty conclusions
when opportunities come for us to
leave and go; let us remain especially
in trying and difficult situations where
you may have other plans for others
who need our presence in difficult situations
like the jailer of Paul and Silas.
How ironic that it was the jailer who had to
ask Paul and Silas what he must do
to be saved, to be set free when your
two servants were the ones imprisoned!
On the other hand,
dear Jesus, teach us when to
go and leave in you and for you
like what you told your disciples
at the Last Supper:
But I tell you the truth, it is better for you that I go. For if I do not go, the Advocate will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.
John 16:7
There are times, Lord,
that we have to go like you
not for our own sake but for others;
we have experienced many times
when parents, friends and loved ones
have to go and leave us for our own good,
so we may grow and mature;
let us know when we must go, Jesus
when it is you to whom we are going,
when it is not for our own good
but for others.
Help us realize,
Lord Jesus that whether
we stay and remain or
go and leave, may our
primary consideration and
motivation is our love for you
alone and not our selfish motives;
most of all, either staying or leaving
is always for the good of others
and never for us as you surely
take care of us. Amen.
Photo by Mr. Chester Ocampo, springtime in Japan, 2017.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Monday in the Sixth Week of Easter, 23 May 2022
Acts 16:11-15 ><]]]]'> + <'[[[[>< John 15:26-16:4
Photo by author, sunrise at Bolinao, Pangasinan, 20 April 2022.
Praise and glory to you,
O God our loving Father in
giving us each day as a new
beginning, a fresh start in life
with every grace we need in Christ;
how amazing are your words today,
O Lord, that both speak of the
joys and perils of every beginning.
In the first reading,
we are inspired by the initial works
of St. Paul in that great city of Philippi
where he met and baptized Lydia, a gentile
convert in the Lord; it was the first European
city to listen and accept the Christian message,
the beginning of a glorious history that
transformed the continent not only in religion but
also in arts and culture.
What a beautiful example of St. Paul
being a "sower" of the gospel
so that others may "reap" its fruits
until now!
Teach us, Lord Jesus,
to be sowers of your word
to win more Lydias and most of all,
so that there would always be something
to reap in the future.
On the other hand,
your gospel today reassures us,
dear Jesus, of your presence and
defense in the Holy Spirit for the many
dangers we face in every beginning.
“I have told you this so that you may not fall away. They will expel you from the synagogues; in fact, the hour is coming when everyone who kills you will think he is offering worship to God. They will do this because they have not known either the Father or me. I have told you this so that when their hour comes you may remember that I told you.”
John 16:1-4
Our work in you, O God, is never finished.
Let us continue to welcome each day as a new
beginning to sow your seeds of love and kindness,
mercy and salvation to make known to everyone
of you as our loving Father in Christ Jesus. Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Music by Fr. Nick F. Lalog II, 22 May 2022
Photo by author, Bolinao, Pangasinan, 20 April 2022.
We are now in the penultimate Sunday of the Easter Season as Jesus reiterates in the gospel his commandment to love one another while giving us his precious gift of peace, two essential elements that keep him present among us as well our sources of joy amid the many difficulties in this life.
Right away, we thought of Marvin Gaye’s 1971 hit “What’s Going On?” as the perfect song this Sunday as it embodies both love and peace, two important realities in life we all wish and pray but afraid to work for (https://lordmychef.com/2022/05/21/love-peace-in-christ/).
From the eleventh studio album of the same title by Marvin Gaye, What’s Going On? is not only a commercial success but most of all critically-acclaimed for its superb music and lyrics so poetic with a message so Christ-like, always relevant for all time.
Mother, mother There’s too many of you crying Brother, brother, brother There’s far too many of you dying You know we’ve got to find a way To bring some lovin’ here today, yeah
Father, father We don’t need to escalate You see, war is not the answer For only love can conquer hate You know we’ve got to find a way To bring some lovin’ here today
Picket lines and picket signs Don’t punish me with brutality Talk to me So you can see Oh, what’s going on (What’s going on) What’s going on (What’s going on) What’s going on (What’s going on) What’s going on (What’s going on)
Right on, baby Right on, baby Right on
Mother, mother Everybody thinks we’re wrong Oh, but who are they to judge us Simply ’cause our hair is long Oh, you know we’ve got to find a way To bring some understanding here today
Right on, baby, right on Right on, baby Right on, baby, right on
What I like most in this song is the priority of love. See how Marvin Gaye mentioned the need for lovin’ first in stanzas 1 and 2, You know we’ve got to find a way, To bring some lovin’ here today, yeah before there can be understanding at stanza 3 after the chorus.
It is exactly what Jesus is asking us always, to have love as foundation and motivation of everything we do. It is from love that true peace can come from, the peace of Christ that is willing to suffer and sacrifice because it is rooted in God not in man nor in our selfish and personal interests.
Peace comes from within, not from outside. And it is very ironic that while What’s Going On? is considered as Marvin Gaye’s finest composition, it was also borne out of a lot of soul-searching within him, punctuated with depression and personal struggles with drugs and debts. He died on 01 April 1984 after being shot thrice on the chest by his own father in the course of a heated and physical argumentation at his parents’ home in Los Angeles. He was only 45 years old, always searching for love and peace all his life.
*We have no intentions of infringing into the copyrights of this music and its uploader except to share its beauty and listening pleasure.
The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Sixth Sunday in Easter-C, 22 May 2022
Acts 15:1-2, 22-29 ><}}}}*> Revelation 21:10-14, 22-23 ><}}}}*> John 14:23-29
Photo by Ms. Danna Hazel de Castro, Kiltepan Peak, Sagada, Mountain Province, 2017.
We are now in our penultimate Sunday of the Easter Season as Jesus announces his Ascension and the sending of the Holy Spirit “who would teach his followers everything and remind them of all he had told them” (cf. Jn.14:26).
Jesus was still having his heart-to-heart talk with his disciples at the Last Supper “after Judas had left”, teaching them two very important realities in life we all wish and pray for but always afraid to work for – love and peace. Keep in mind that during the Last Supper, Jesus was telling everyone about his coming departure from earth after going through his Pasch, making his disciples to worry and be fearful of what would happen to them when the Lord is “gone”. To assure them of his continuing presence among them when his departure happens, Jesus reiterated his commandment to love one another as he gave them his gift of peace, promising the sending of the Holy Spirit who would enlighten them to understand and remember everything he had taught them.
Photo by author, Bolinao. Pangasinan, 19 April 2022.
Jesus said to his disciples: “Whoever love me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him… The Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and remind you of all that I told you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give it to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid. You have heard me tell you, ‘I am going going away and I will come back to you. If you loved me, you would rejoice that I am going to the Father; for the Father is greater than I. And now, I have told you this before it happens, so that when it happens you may believe.'”
John 14:23, 26-29
Love & peace as deeper realities, not fancies
Jesus reminds us today like at the Last Supper how love and peace are essential to remain close to him after he had returned to the Father in heaven, making him present among us and in the world we live in filled with many sufferings and pains, trials and struggles.
From the love and peace we strive become also our sources of joy as we go through in life as followers of Jesus Christ. That is why Jesus insists in the gospel this Sunday that love and peace are not mere fancies nor emotions and feelings as the world presents them; love and peace in Christ demand the Cross. It is both a decision we have to keep and sustain through the Holy Spirit Jesus had promised to give us the courage and wisdom to truly love and work for peace.
Photo by author, Parish of St. John the Baptist, Calumpit, Bulacan, 02 May 2022.
Priority of love. See again Jesus teaching us today on the priority of love which must always be the foundation and motivation of our relationships with him and with one another. Recall how he told us last week of the “newness” of his commandment to love which is a radical commitment to Jesus, that in imitating his kind of love willing to sacrifice and die in one’s self, we remain one in the Father and with each other.
Love is the very foundation of our lives as image and likeness of God who is love himself. It is the kind of love that seeks to do the will of the Father like Jesus, willing to forget one’s own good, comfort and convenience. The Greeks call it agape, the very kind of love Jesus witnessed to us on the Cross, the same love he asked Simon Peter at the shores of Lake Tiberias after Easter.
It is humanly very difficult to love that is why the Greeks and Romans have thought of having gods and goddesses of love. It is the reason why Jesus became human so that we can love like God by asking us to keep his word so that he and the Father may dwell in us and enable us to do his works in us. Love is doable in Christ if we let him live in us. As the beloved disciple tells us, “No one has ever seen God. Yet if we love one another, God remains in us, and his love is brought to perfection in us” (1Jn.4:12).
Photo by Ms. Jing Rey Henderson in Taroytoy, Aklan, 30 April 2022.
Motivated by love. If love is the foundation of our lives, then, love must also be the motivation of everything we think, say and do. It is easy to be rooted in the love of God but it can happen that we may be doing things for God not truly borne out of love but due to fears and even selfish reasons. Hence, our need of constantly purifying our love for God
To love like Christ is to do away with all of our ifs and buts, excuses and alibis but simply to love like him. This is the most challenging part of discipleship, making it so difficult to be a Christian especially at this time. The recent events happening in our country challenge us to examine the purity of our love in him as disciples that despite of what have transpired, of whatever have been said and done, we continue to truly love and serve in Jesus.
We heard in the first reading how love inspired the early Christians to meet at the Council of Jerusalem in year 50 to discuss and resolve the many differences they encountered that early in the Church. It was first severe test of the Apostles and early Christians from within and because of love, they have triumphed and has continued to remain until now!
There will always be differences among us especially fellow Christians but these are not meant to divide us but to become means to be one in Christ in love. It is a tragedy when we disciples of Christ who claim to always know what is true and good when in fact we become the obstacles to dialogue and understanding, to peace and unity.
Love leads to peace. Here we find how love leads into peace. Like love, peace is not an emotion nor a feeling, a mere absence of war and differences but more of a product of love that is willing to sacrifice and suffer.
Jesus made it clear during Last Supper that the peace he gives is not like what the world gives that is often due to compromises, to quid pro quo in exchange of some concessions. The peace Jesus gives us is first of all one that is motivated by love of God that calls for a deep faith and trust in the Father.
Photo by author, Bolinao. Pangasinan, 19 April 2022.
Peace does not depend on everything going right in our lives, when all is “silent and peaceful” as we would say. Peace sometimes comes most to us when we go through many trials in life as we trust in God more, in his goodness and in his plans for us.
The peace of Jesus Christ comes and is found within us, not outside us. That is why Jesus tells us to not let our hearts be troubled or afraid. When we trust Jesus and do whatever he asks us out of love, then we experience peace even if there are temporary setbacks to our efforts for ourselves or family or even nation. We just have to have faith in God and continue to love in Christ for in the end, good and truth prevail.
In the Hebrew language, peace is shalom which means finding order or good relationships with one’s self, with others and with God. Let us examine our hearts and our lives this Sunday to see areas within us needing order, where we lack love as foundation and motivation in doing things that peace remains elusive to us.
May the love of Jesus Christ shine in us and through us like in the vision of John of the new Jerusalem coming down that “had no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gave it light, and its lamp was the Lamb, Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rev. 21:23). Amen.
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