The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Music by Fr. Nick F. Lalog II, 15 November 2020
Photo by author, after the floods, typhoon Ulysses, 12 November 2020.
We try to be subdued and sober this Sunday in thanksgiving to the gift of life as we remember and pray too for our brethren in Cagayan and Isabela suffering from the worst floods in decades after typhoon Ulysses pummeled our region this week with heavy winds and rains.
Here is Mexican Pepe Marquez and his band for his cover of William DeVaughn’s 1972 soul song “Be Thankful for What You Got” that was released two years later in 1974, selling almost two million copies as it reached #1 on the US R&B chart and #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart that year.
There are other versions of this cool, cool music notably by Curtis Mayfield who had actually influenced DeVaughn in this song; thanks to Manny Pagsuyuin who shared me this music recently that I now prefer than the other covers for its superb percussions and instrumentations plus Marquez’s trademark videos of classic cars.
The song is so simple with gospel-like lyrics that remarkably hit home specially in a time of calamity like this when we have to be sensitive with others’ sufferings.
Most of all, despite its oft-repeated line “Diamond in the back, sunroof top, diggin’ the scene, with a gangsta lean”, the music is so clean and crisp with its second part reminding us that of all that we have, the most precious are our loved ones.
Part of the Lord’s message today in being vigilant for his return is for us to be thankful for everything we have because he gives us according to our abilities. It is not how much or how little we have in life but how we make use of it that matters.
How sad we only realize this after a calamity or a crisis in life.
Let’s make it a habit to be thankful daily for our gifts, use them wisely in serving others as we thank and praise God for his goodness. A blessed Sunday, everyone. Amen.
Directed by: Pepe Marquez & Carlos Guillen with Gabriella Guillen for LA CIMA MUSIC along with Cj Infinito & Carlos Alvarez Aragon for CJ Infinito Productions. #lacimamusic Featuring: Jeff Lewis on Trumpet – Dora Sanchez on Vocals & Lorenzo Martinez on Percussion. Album available on, Spotify, cdbaby, Amazon Music and all digital download sites. https://www.facebook.com/pepe.marquez.33
The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Week XXXIII-A in Ordinary Time, 15 November 2020
Proverbs 31:10-13, 19-20, 30-31 >><)))*> 1Thessalonians 5:1-6 >><)))*> Matthew 25:14-30
From inquirer.net
It is my fervent hope and prayer that by this time, everybody is feeling better after those harrowing experience of winds and rains by typhoon Ulysses that have induced flash floods and left a path of destruction and deaths in Central Luzon and Metro Manila this week.
Indeed, it was like tropical storm Ondoy happening again after eleven years when everybody was caught by surprise by the floods and severe aftermath of dirt and trash left behind with no electricity nor water supply available in many parts of the affected areas.
As a result, many of us have again reflected on the one topic we have always avoided in life – death and things of the end like parousia or Second Coming of Christ, end of the world, and judgement day that have preoccupied the early Christians. St. Paul’s reminder to them in today’s second reading is so timely and relevant even for us today to be vigilant for Christ’s coming.
But you, brothers and sisters, are not in darkness, for that day to overtake you like a thief. For all of you are children of the light and children of the day. We are not of the night or of darkness. Therefore, let us not sleep as the rest do, but let us stay alert and sober.
1Thessalonians 5:4-6
Vigilance is faith in Christ.
Jesus gives us another parable today to illustrate his Second Coming and judgement; but unlike last week, today is more picturesque, touching our innermost core, challenging us to be “wiser” in daring to gain eternal life by working harder in this life.
Jesus told his disciples this parable: “A man going on a journey called in his servants and entrusted his possessions to them. To one he gave five talents; to another, two; to a third, one — to each according to his ability. Then he went away. Immediately the one who received five talents went and traded with them, and made another five. Likewise, the one who received two made another two. But the man who received one went off and dug a hole in the ground and buried his master’s money.”
Matthew 25:14-18
Photo by author, Chapel of the ICMAS Theologate, 05 October 2020.
Vigilance is more than being prepared and ready for any eventuality. It is active waiting by taking risks to ensure a more safe and sound situation when emergencies strike. This is the reason why investors are always surveyed how much risks they are willing to take with their investments: the bigger the risks, the higher the returns are. But, can we take the risks?
The same is true with everything if we wish to have a better future. We have to take risks like working harder, sacrificing more in order to save money and have better homes, to keep our body physically fit and healthy, and burning the night lamp to finish our studies and achieve our goals in life. In this all we find the need to maximize what we have – no one can claim as having nothing at all or “walang-wala” as we would always claim in Tagalog.
Jesus clarifies this today in his parable, telling us that each servant was given with talents “according to his ability”. We are all blessed by God! It is not a question of how much we have received but what have we done to what we are given with.
Of course, not everyone can have all in life but each one has his/her many talents as well as weaknesses. Focus more on what we have than what we do not have. Keep in mind that nobody is perfect, that everybody is going through some struggles in life.
Being vigilant, being “children of light” means striving for the best, choosing what is the best which is part of being holy, an expression of our faith in God. Whenever we dare to take risks like casting our nets into the deep like Simon Peter, we express our deep faith in God as we hope and trust in him.
Photo by Dr. Mylene A. Santos, MD, 30 October 2020.
We are made by the choices we make.
When I was still teaching in our diocesan schools, I used to tell my students to “study hard, work harder and pray hardest”, reminding them that their being good and successful lawyers, doctors, engineers or any professional starts not in the future but today, in the here and now.
Make the right choices in life by truly working on them not just at the spur of the moment or simply based on what others say. Most of all, pray first to discern God’s will for our decisions so we may choose what is best for us according to him.
God wants only the best for us — he made us share in his Life and gave us his only Son Jesus Christ to have its fullness in him here and in eternity. Unlike wealth managers who help people invest for their future, only Jesus assures us with sure, high yields in our “investments” in life by being good and holy.
A lot often, we decide and take risks based on the people we are with like when we have friends or superiors who are good and trustworthy. In the first reading we have heard how a faithful wife uses all her talents in serving her family as she is moved by the fidelity and love of her husband. The same is true if we have good and inspiring friends and employers who move us to be our very best. And most true of all with God who moves us to be our very best to lovingly serve him in others.
Here we find Jesus in his parable as the master who went on a long journey who risked all for us and continues to believe in us, giving us all the grace we need in this life to be fruitful in him.
All we have to do is just be faithful to him to whatever task and mission he has given us. It does not matter how big or small that may be; all he wants is for us to remain faithful to him, of not wasting that talent that must be put into good use not only for us but for others too.
If we are faithful to Jesus, anytime he returns to call us back to eternity, we can be sure of “sharing in his (master’s) joy” of Eternal Life! And if we are not faithful, then….
Photo by Dr. Mylene A. Santos, MD, 07 November 2020.
Today as we praise and thank God for the gift of life with the sun shining anew, let us ask ourselves following the recent calamities happening: what have I done with the many gifts and blessing God has given me? with the tasks, big and small, he has entrusted me?
Remember, it is not how big or how little talents we have received but how we have made it grow that matters. Our lives are the gift of God to us, what we do with our lives, that is our gift to him!
Have a blessed Sunday! Please pray and help our brothers and sisters in Cagayan and Rizal provinces severely affected by typhoon Ulysses. Lastly, kindly say a prayer for me and my six other classmates as we celebrate today (15 November 1997) our 23rd anniversary of ordination as Deacons. Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Friday, Week XXXII, Year II in Ordinary Time, 13 November 2020
2 John 4-9 >><)))*> |\ >><)))*> || >><)))*> Luke 17:26-37
Photo by author, ICMAS Theologate Chapel, 05 October 2020.
My prayer to you today, O God our loving Father, is simple: thank you very much for the gift of a new day, thank you very much for the warm sunshine amid overcast skies, thank you very much most of all for the gift of life.
Once again you have made us experience your saving hand and protection the other night from the terrifying winds and rains of typhoon Ulysses; then yesterday, everybody was surprised at how fast the waters have risen following widespread floods.
So many of us are asking – not complaining – why all these things happening this year 2020?
Open our hearts, open our eyes and ears to listen and heed your voice amid these calamities happening among us.
Make us more sensitive to the needs and cries of others by living in love and charity, of witnessing the gospel of Jesus Christ your Son instead of entertaining so many “progressive” ideas and thoughts that lead nowhere.
Let us live in love, Lord.
For this is love, that we walk according to his commandments… Many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh… Look to yourselves that you do not lose what we worked for but may receive a full recompense. Anyone who is so “progressive” as not to remain in the teaching of the Christ does not have God; whoever remains in the teaching has the Father and the Son.
1 John 6,7, 8-9
May these calamities open ourselves to the reality and mystery of Christ’s coming again, of how we must strive to live in love, to see every body not just as a body like vultures but as somebody needing love and attention. Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Thursday, Memorial of St. Josaphat, Bishop and Martyr, 12 November 2020
Philemon 7-20 >><)))*> + >><)))*> + >><)))*> Luke 17:20-25
Photo from TurboSquid.com
How beautiful are your words, O Lord Jesus, today from St. Paul to Philemon! So techie! So timely:
Refresh my heart in Christ.
Philemon 20
As we continue to practice some forms of quarantine with the ongoing pandemic, help us, O dear Jesus to find time to “refresh – or reset – our hearts in you” like what we do we with our devices and gadgets when they “hang” and would not function properly.
Time and again have shown us how we have had too much of technologies and social media lately that have turned us away from you and from one another.
Teach us like Philemon and Onesimus, and St. Josaphat that true faith in you and the gospel demand changes in our social circumstances and conditions when our relationships with one another go beyond gender, race, and even religions and beliefs.
Let us refresh or reset our hearts in you, Jesus, and break all barriers that keep us apart from each other, preventing us to see the coming of the kingdom of God in you even if we have to pay this with our blood like St. Josaphat in trying to unite the Ukrainian Church and Rome. Amen.
Photo by author, Sacred heart Novitiate, Novaliches, 2018.
My little contribution in celebrating the Memorial of our beloved Patron in our hometown Bocaue, Bulacan – St. Martin of Tours.
Kay buti niyang tunay, kapa ipinahiram sa pulubi
kapa bilang kawal, hinuhubad tuwing mananalangin
kaya munting bahay dalanginan naging “kapilya”
mula sa kapa si San Martin na butihin!
Lawiswis ng Salita ni P. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Ika-11 ng Nobyembre 2019
Larawan mula sa Google.
Madalas ilarawan itong dakilang kawal ng Diyos si San Martin ng Tours sa France hinahati kanyang kapa upang bihisan dukhang matanda nakasalubong sa daan.
Kinagabihan kanyang napanaginipan Panginoong Hesus sa kanyang paanan tangan-tangan kapang ipinahiram sa matandang tinulungan.
Ito ang katuparan ng Ebanghelyong sa atin ibinalita mismo ni Hesus na ano man ang ating gawin sa kapwa natin siyang ginagawa din natin sa kanyang Panginoon natin.
Kapilya ng Santisimo Sakramento sa UP-Diliman. Kuha ni Bb. JJ Jimeno ng GMA7 News, 2019.
Kay gandang pagnilayan isa pang aral nitong kapa ni Martin na Banal: lingid sa kaalaman ng karamihan, dito rin nagmula kataga ng pook na munting dasalan.
Sinasabi sa kasaysayan, noong bagong Kristiyano si Martin kanyang iniiwan mga tauhan para manalangin sa kagubatan; hinuhubad kanyang kapa upang makapanalangin ng taimtiman.
The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Wednesday, Memorial of St. Martin of Tours, Bishop, 11 November 2020
Titus 3:1-7 >><)))*> + <*(((><< Luke 17:20-25
Photo from blog.obitel-minsk.com.
Glory and praise to you, O God our almighty Father, the Supreme Authority over the whole universe. As we celebrate the Memorial of St. Martin of Tours, one of your most glorious saints of the fourth century, we are reminded today by this former soldier of the important relationship of obedience and authority.
St. Paul in the first reading tells us:
Beloved: Remind them to be under the control of magistrates and authorities, to be obedient, to be open to every good enterprise.
Titus 3:1
Teach us, O God, how obedience and authority always go together, never apart from each other. May we see that obedience is not a virtue when authority is taken for granted and not rooted in you, our loving Father. At the same time, authority is corrupted when exercised without obedience to higher authority.
Your Son Jesus Christ had taught us so well that he spoke with authority, even the evil spirits obey his words; however, he had always insisted though that even if all authority has been given to him, all his life is a YES and obedience to you, God our Father.
Like St. Martin of Tours who had lived obedient to you O God all his life through his superiors and the people, may we live our obedience in authority in Jesus Christ our Savior while at the same time, may we live our authority in obedience to him by trusting in you alone.
We pray that we do not fall to the trap of the nine lepers healed by Jesus who obeyed him to present themselves to the priests after being healed; they were obedient but were not rooted in God, so mechanical in their obedience, unmindful of the authority of Jesus who healed them.
Instead, may we imitate the Samaritan who upon realizing his healing, returned to thank Jesus: here is a man whose obedience is not only rooted in you, O God, but most of all, whose exercise of authority will surely be in obedience to you for he is full of gratitude.
From being a soldier of the State into being a soldier of God, pray for us St. Martin of Tours to remain rooted in God so that in our obedience to authority as well as exercise of authority in obedience, may we begin and end in him. Amen.
Photo of St. Martin of Tours from St. Martin of Tours Parish, Bocaue, Bulacan.
Lawiswis ng Salita ni P. Nicanor F. Lalog II, 10 Nobyembre 2020
Larawan kuha ng may-akda, Kuwaresma 2019.
Ang problema sa mabait -
hindi iyong daga at mga bubwit -
kungdi mga tao nating pinipilit
ituring na mabubuti
pinupuring lagi
dahil lahat sa kanila ay maaari:
lahat pinapayagan, pinalalampas
kahit malayo sa katuwiran.
Laging tandaan malaking kaibhan
ng mabuti sa mabait
dahil mas malamang ang mabait
hindi makatarungan
hindi patas tumingin,
kung tumimbang
palaging kulang.
Ang problema sa "mabait"
ayaw makapanakit
damdami't isipan
kaya hinahayaan
mga kalabisan,
sinasabing pagbigyan
mga panlalamang
nakakalimutan
ang katarungan;
ibig nila sila'y kagiliwan
walang imik sa mga kamalian
di alintana
kanilang tinatapakan
dangal at paninindigan
ng mga makatuwiran.
Ang problema sa mabait
sa simula lamang kaakit-akit
paglaon napapanis, nabubulok
sinasabing "nasisiraan ng bait" -
bait ay pansamantala
likha ng ating isip
minsa'y mapanlinlang
sakim at sarili ang ipinipilit;
kaibayo nito ang kabutihan
na bumubukal mula sa kalooban
kung saan nanahan
ang Diyos na tanging mabuti:
mapagpatawad, mapagbigay
hindi humahanay sa kasalanan
at kasamaan dahil Siya ang kabanalan.
The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Tuesday, Memorial of St. Leo the Great, Pope, 10 November 2020
Titus 2:1-8, 11-14 >><)))*> >><)))*> >><)))*> Luke 17:7-10
Photo by author, 2019.
God our Father, fill us with your Holy Spirit today so we may show you to others with our good examples of kind deeds and gentle words, loving patience and silent perseverance in the face of life’s many challenges worsened by the pandemic and recent events that make witnessing to your Son’s gospel so difficult.
Surely, if we speak like St. Paul today calling on Titus to be “consistent with sound doctrine” (Titus 2:1) in telling elder men and women as well as younger men and women on how to behave properly, people would laugh at us and even scorn us for being old-fashioned.
How sad that today, we no longer talk about setting good examples for others to follow and emulate but simply rely on what is seen on television and social media, pointing out what’s wrong or what should not be imitated without really trying to be a witness of gospel values like saying prayers, dressing properly and decently, being considerate of others in everything.
Give us the courage, Lord, “to reject godless ways and worldly desires and to live temperately, justly, and devoutly in this age” (Titus 1:11-12).
Like the servant in the parable today, may we take pride in our tasks and roles as your servants, O God, leading holy lives and genuinely caring for one another in love like St. Leo the Great who rose to fame and holiness “without much effort” of trying hard but by simply leading a holy life. Amen.
Quiet Storm by Fr. Nick F. Lalog II, 09 November 2020
Photo by Dr. Mylene A. Santos, MD, 30 October 2020.
I have always believed
life is more on coming
than on leaving
because
whenever we leave,
we also come.
But,
there is something
about leaving
that makes
it strongly felt
than coming:
from the pain of leaving
follows emptiness -
the angst of still living
when someone is missing.
Most painful part of leaving
is when you are the one left behind;
it is the one who leaves
who actually comes
to somewhere else
while the one left
bears the scars
of leaving,
like grappling
with the unseen
presence
of nothing
but memories
gone
with the one who had left
who might never come again.
But, I think
it is when leaving
is truly hurting
that it turns into a coming -
an arrival
of blessing
of opening
to a new lease on life
and living when we discover
somebody anew
filling what's missing within
not necessarily seen
that together we spin
a new thread in life again.
The other person
gone is never replaced
by a newfound one;
that's the beauty
of every leaving
and coming
when we leave
in order to come
creating a space
for a new one
until it leaves again
to come another one
until finally
we become one in the Only One.
Friendships should depend on nothing like TIME and SPACE. Remove TIME and what we have is NOW; remove SPACE and what we have is HERE. Don’t you think we could meet once or twice between NOW and HERE?
Richard Bach, Jonathan Livingston Seagull (1970)
Photo by Dr. Mylene A. Santos, MD, 07 November 2020.
The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Monday, Feast of Dedication of the Lateran Basilica, 09 November 2020
Ezekiel 47:1-2, 8-9, 12 >><)))*> 1 Corinthians 3:9-11, 16-17 >><)))*> John 2:13-22
Photo by Arch. Philip Santiago, 2018.
Glory and praise to you O God our Father who had sent us your Son Jesus Christ to establish his Body among us, both as the Church made up of his people and made of stones. As we celebrate the Feast of the Dedication the Cathedral of Rome, the Basilica of St. John Lateran, we pray also for Pope Francis, all bishops and priests, and all the faithful who make us the Body of Christ.
May our temple of stones be a symbol of the living Church, the Christian community, your Building among us as St. Paul reminds us today.
Let life flow like waters from the vision of Ezekiel in the first reading from our Church and give life to its members especially the sick and the poor, the marginalized and the forgotten.
Dearest Jesus, help us draw inspiration from the beauty and harmony of your beautiful churches despite our many flaws and sins to form a unity in you in the Holy Eucharist we celebrate day in, day out in our sacred buildings to proclaim your glory and majesty.
At the same time, as we strive to follow your will in building a spiritual temple of people who worship in truth and in spirit, may this feast remind us also to take special care in keeping your house in order where we meet you in our liturgy. Guide us with the Holy Spirit to make every sacred building a living temple of your love, a church of the poor. Amen.
lordmychef.com 