The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Monday, Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, 14 September 2020
Number 21:4-9 >><)))*> Philippians 2:6-11 >><)))*> John 3:13-17
Photo by author, Lent 2019.
Thank you very much, God our loving Father, for this Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross of your Son Jesus Christ. Please increase our patience lest we complain like your people at the desert to Moses.
With their patience worn out by the journey, the people complained against God and Moses, “Why have you brought us up from Egypt to die in this desert, where there is no food or water? We are disgusted with this wretched food!
Numbers 21:4-5
You know, dear God, how we feel right now after seven months of journey in the pandemic: we are tired and exhausted, wearied and anxious, most of all, afraid of how things can go worst specially with the incompetence of our government officials.
Please, grant us patience to continue with the journey but allow us too to complain from our hearts, to cry out our pains and fears to you because it is only you who can help us in our situation. Most of all, let us complain from our hearts as an expression of faith and hope in you, Lord.
We are convinced of your love and presence but sometimes we are overwhelmed by the sufferings and difficulties on this period of the pandemic that we think more of ourselves, of our well-being that we forget you are our companion in the journey.
We fail and even refuse to see you in this journey as we complain from our minds, when we are filled with pride, believing in our ourselves that we question you, when we dare you, when we think of ways of manipulating you in our favor.
Open our eyes to see again on this feast and celebrate how you have transformed the worst signs of death and torture in history to be the doorway to life and healing like snakes becoming medicines to snake bites and the cross becoming the sign of love.
Open our minds that instead of complaining of the death of Jesus Christ, we celebrate his resurrection and glory in heaven. Instead of dwelling on pain and suffering, we focus more on healing and salvation.
May we keep in our minds that taking the form of a slave, of carrying our crosses leads to your exaltation, our loving and merciful Father. Amen.
Photo by author of Brazen Serpent Monument on Mt. Nebo inside the Franciscan Monastery in Jordan, May 2019.
The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Music by Fr. Nick F. Lalog II, 13 September 2020
Entering through the narrow door of the Church of Nativity in Bethlehem, the Holy Land, May 2019.
Above is a photo I have taken of some pilgrims entering through the small door of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem last year. I have always loved the story why this entrance door is so small as it leads to a huge and very important church where the site of Jesus Christ’s birth is located.
According to tradition, pilgrims used to bring even their animals inside the church whenever they would come to worship at the site of the Lord’s birth. The priests and monks were so kind that they could not tell them to leave their horses outside to keep the church clean; and so, they built another entrance into the church with a door so small that even pilgrims have to bow in order to get inside.
Eventually, the small door taught everyone especially pilgrims the important lesson that to experience the coming of the Son of God to the world, one must learn to be humble, to bow or get low to get inside the Church of Nativity.
I know Christmas is still four months away but that is one reality we always forget, the we are all brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ. That is the meaning of Christ’s call in today’s gospel to “forgive from one’s heart” son we can forgive without limits because we are all brothers and sisters in God the Father who loves and forgives us all (https://lordmychef.com/2020/09/12/forgiving-from-the-heart-2/).
It is for this reason that we have chosen for our Sunday music “Every Kinda People” by the late English singer-songwriter Robert Palmer. It was his first top 40 hit released in 1978 that was rereleased in 1992 climbing the charts again for its beautiful music and superb lyrics that convey love and respect for every person.
Though the word forgiveness is nowhere to be found in the lyrics, it is implied because after all, the best expression of any love as shown to us by Jesus Christ is also the ability to forgive others and forego any revenge.
There’s no profit in deceit Honest men know that Revenge do not taste sweet Whether yellow, black or white Each and every man’s the same inside
What really hurts us most that we find it difficult to forgive those who have sinned against us is not only the injustice done to us but our being disrespected as a person who is a family like a spouse or a wife, a brother or a sister, a son or a daughter, a father or a mother, a kin or a friend, a confidant.
Our offenders thought only of themselves and forgot all about us, our love and kindness to them. Our oneness with them.
That is the unkindest cut of all, my brothers and sisters.
Have a blessed Sunday and a week ahead, keep loving and forgiving even if others do not. At least we remind them of that basic reality of every kinda people…
Music video by Robert Palmer performing Every Kinda People. (C) 1978 Universal Island Records Ltd. A Universal Music Company.
The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Week XXIV, Cycle A in Ordinary Time, 13 September 2020
Sirach 27:30-28:7 >><)))*> Romans 14:7-9 >><)))*> Matthew 18:21-35
Photo by author, dusk in our parish, July 2020.
This Sunday we go deeper into the lessons gathered by Matthew from Jesus regarding love as the basis of our relationships. Last week we were told how mutual love is the sole reason why we correct brothers and sisters going stray in life.
But, more sensitive and delicate, not to mention most difficult than fraternal correction is the question of forgiving.
How many times should we forgive?
Peter approached Jesus and asked him, “Lord, if my brother sins against me, how often must I forgive? As many as seven times?” Jesus answered, “I say to you, not seven times but seventy-seven times. That is why the kingdom of heaven may be likened to a kind who decided to settle accounts wit his servants. When he began the accounting, a debtor was brought before hm who owed him a huge amount. Since he had no way of paying it back, his master ordered him to be sold, along with his wife, his children, and all is property, in payment of the debt. At that, the servant fell down, did him homage, and said, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back in full.’ Moved with compassion the master of that servant let him go and forgave him the loan.
Matthew 18:21-27
Forgiving is always difficult because it is from God, calling us to be one with him, one in him, and be like him as that saying perfectly summed up, “To err is human, to forgive is divine.” It is beyond human abilities, reserved only for God until he became human like us in Jesus Christ who made us share in his greatest expression of love which is forgiveness. Hence, every time we forgive, we also become like God, divine and holy that unfortunately, we refuse and even hate!
Yes, it is very difficult because like love, forgiving is the nature of God. In fact, any kind of love is best expressed when it is forgiving. The good news is that we now share in this great love of God in forgiving others like him as we shall see in today’s parable, keeping in mind also that it was the Risen Lord’s commission to his disciples when he appeared to them on that Easter evening (John 20:22-23).
Photo by author, Baguio Cathedral, January 2018.
Forgiving like God our Father
The beauty of forgiving is that it is always a grace from God freely given to us. It is doable in Jesus Christ. The problem is when we refuse to let God work in us, when we refuse to level up our relationships to that of brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ.
There is always that pride in us exhibited by Peter at the start of the gospel today when he asked Jesus how many times he must forgive his brother. Must it be seven times?
Of course, seven being a “perfect number” does not specify a numerical figure of times to forgive except that it gives enough room to let go of a sinner or an offender. However, it still connotes some form of “counting” or taking tabs at how many times must one forgive, implying a limit.
But Jesus pushed it further when he told Peter to forgive “not seven times but seventy-seven times” — that is, twice the perfect number he had cited!
The Lord is telling Peter, and us today, to forget all about keeping tabs, of counting how many times you must forgive because God forgives us without limits which his parable tells us.
The king or master in the parable is God, so wealthy that he could lend sums exceeding the normal level of what one can borrow. Most surprising is like God, the master lent so much amount beyond the debtor’s ability to pay!
That is how rich our God is — so rich in love and mercy, giving us with so much even beyond our ability to pay him back in return. Exactly what we have in the responsorial psalm: “The Lord is kind and merciful; slow to anger and rich in compassion.”
And when that servant prostrated before his master, then the more we see in that religious gesture the deeper meaning of the parable: the rich mercy of God forgiving us for our debts even after we have lost everything like that debtor with nothing enough to pay his loans, not even his wife and children.
See the contrast of the king moved with compassion echoing the same attitude of Jesus so often like in the wilderness where he fed more than 5000 people and that servant so lost with nothing else left but still forgiven.
The parable could have stopped there but Jesus went on to continue what happened next to teach us the deeper truth of forgiving, which is imitating God our Father because we are brothers and sisters in him.
From Google.
When this servant had left, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a much smaller amount. He seized him and started to choke him, demanding, ‘Pay back what you owe.’ Falling to his knees, his fellow servant begged him… but he refused. Instead, he had the fellow servant put in prison until he paid back the debt. Now when his fellow servants saw what had happened, they were deeply disturbed, and went to their master and reported the whole affair. His master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you your entire debt because you begged me to. should you not have had pity on your fellow servant, as I had pity on you?’ Then in anger is master handed him over to the torturers until he should pay back the whole debt. So will my heavenly Father do to you, unless each of you forgives his brother from his heart.”
Matthew 18:28-35
Forgiving from the heart
After hearing the second part of the parable, we all felt like the master, angry and indignant with that merciless servant whose action was very shameless and scandalous. But, more than being like the king who properly judged the conduct of that merciless servant, Jesus is also inviting us to probe deeper into our hearts the realities why we felt like the king in the parable?
How many times have we felt so angry and frustrated during this pandemic period at the many occasions when we heard news of injustices and abuse of powers against the little ones like Mang Dodong or the Marawi verteran shot to death in Quezon City? Of those punished in violating the protocols when its chief implementor got away free after attending a mañanita party?
The list goes on specially in our country where laws favor the abusive rich and powerful, those with connections while ordinary citizens with lesser violations, even without any crimes at all suffer the same fate as the servant with lesser debts.
Photo by author, “patak-dugo”, 2019.
We all feel so angry and very sad because more than the injustices and lack of mercies committed by those in powers, they have forgotten we are brothers and sisters in one God our Father. Parang sila lang ang anak ng Diyos…
We feel like the king in the parable because we felt left out, disregarded, and disrespected despite our kindness and mercy with others.
Forgiving from the heart means to forgive others not because we are fellow servants but most of all as brothers and sisters of a loving and merciful Father who forgives us always from our unpayable debts of sin and evil against each other.
This is the very thing St. Paul is telling us in the second reading, that “None of us lives for oneself, and no one dies for oneself” (Rom.14:7). Sometimes we need to be in control of our lives but the truth is, when we try to live St. Paul’s message that our lives belong to one another in Christ, the more we become truly free and happy.
It is the same reminder from Ben Sirach in the first reading telling us how we must avoid anger and resentment specially revenge because it is contrary to our faith in God. Most of all, we also know so well that we need the mercy of God in forgiving our countless sins.
The example of St. John Paul II about forgiving like God
I know what I am telling you are easier said than done. And I confess that I also find it so hard to forgive people who have wronged me, specially those I have loved and helped. Allow me to end this reflection with this beautiful bit of history that happened in our lifetime.
We were in high school seminary when Mehmet Agca shot and almost killed St. John Paul II at St. Peter’s Square on May 13, 1981. We were shocked, so sad for him and very angry with Agca. But, two years later after Christmas in 1983, we were more shocked in disbelief while at the same time in tears with joy when news came out that St. John Paul II came to visit Agca in his cell to forgive him!
It was a major news that landed on TIME magazine the following year with the cover story so relevant with our gospel today:
From Pinterest.
Those who do not forgive are those who are least capable of changing the circumstances of their lives…
Not to forgive is to be imprisoned by the past, by old grievances that do not permit life to proceed with new business.
Not to forgive is to yield oneself to another’s control. If one does not forgive, then one is controlled by the other’s initiatives and is locked into a sequence of act and response, of outrage and revenge, tit for tat, escalating always. The present is endlessly overwhelmed and devoured by the past. Forgiveness frees the forgiver. It extracts the forgiver from someone else’s nightmare. “Unless there is a breach with the evil past,” says Donald Shriver, “all we get is this stuttering repetition of evil.”
Lance Morrow, TIME Magazine, 19 January 1984
As I searched for photos of the assassination attempt on him by Agca, I came across this photo below of their meeting with an accompanying report that made me admire and love St. “JP2” more than ever.
It said that while recuperating in the hospital, St. JP2 learned from the news how people hated Agca, prompting him to ask everyone to “pray for my brother (Agca)… whom I have sincerely forgiven.” That is how holy is this great Pope of our time! Long before visiting Agca in 1983, St. JP2 had already forgiven him, calling him a “brother” despite the evil and sin done to him.
What a great Amen!
Have a blessed and wonderful week ahead, brothers and sisters in Christ!
The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Friday, Week XXIII, Year II in Ordinary Time, 11 September 2020
1 Corinthians 9:16-19, 22-27 <*(((><< |+| >><)))*> Luke 6:39-42
NEW YORK – SEPTEMBER 11, 2001. Photo by Robert Giroux/Getty Images.
Today, we remember, O Lord, 9/11 – more than the date but the people who have perished, those injured, those who risked their lives for others, and countless others whose lives were forever changed by the terror attacks of that day.
Your servant St. Pope John Paul II lamented at that time how year 2001 – the start of the new century – was marked by that unimaginable attack on human life and freedom.
Nineteen years after, we still remember those vivid moments caught on television that stunned us in disbelief. Most of all, we can still feel the pain and fear 9/11 had stirred in us even if we were thousands of miles away from ground zero.
May this occasion remind us too, Lord Jesus, of our task of great efforts that lie ahead to proclaim your gospel of salvation amidst these troubled times.
All the more that we feel the importance of proclaiming the gospel in this time of the pandemic, 19 years after 9/11 as we go through many crises and calamities of biblical proportions. How sad that until now, we have refused to examine our true selves so we can see clearly the path we are taking.
Jesus told his disciples a parable: “Can a blind person guide a blind person? Will not both fall into a pit? Why do you notice the splinter in your brother’s eye, but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own?”
Luke 6:39, 41
Until now, wars and attacks on life continue everywhere around the world because right inside our hearts, Lord, we have refused to forget ourselves, think more of others so that we can be like St. Paul to “become all things to all” (omnia omnibus) like a slave foregoing our own good and comforts for the sake of more people.
Teach us to discipline ourselves, Lord, for all these crises we are facing today begin inside us.
thus I do not run aimlessly; I do not fight as if I were shadowboxing. No, I drive my body and train it, for fear that, after having preached to others, I myself should be disqualified.
1 Corinthians 9:26-27
To remember anyone and anything in the past, Lord, is to always change to make them better. Let it begin in me by first remembering your dying on the Cross for me. Amen.
The wildfires created a natural Instagram filter across California. Photo: MediaNews Group/The Mercury News via Getty Images; 10 September 2020.
Quiet Storm by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, 10 September 2020
Chapel of the Milk Grotto in Bethlehem where the Holy Family hid before fleeing to Egypt to escape Herod’s murder of innocent babies. According to tradition, a drop of milk from the Virgin Mary fell on the floor of the cave that turned color of the stones to white.
We have just celebrated the Feast of the Birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the most perfect example of one who had experienced God’s hiddenness in her life, teaching us with some important lessons in rediscovering and keeping God’s hiddenness specially in this age of social media when everything is shown and has to be seen.
We have mentioned in our previous blog that hiddenness is different from being invisible that simply means “not visible”; hiddenness is more than not being seen per se but that feeling with certainty that God is present though hiding because he wants to surprise us. If God were not hidden, we would have not found him at all. And the more God is hidden, the more we are able to see him and experience him too as seen in the life of Mary (https://lordmychef.com/2020/09/04/the-hiddenness-of-god/).
The hiddenness of Mary.
Simplicity and humility of Mary as venue for the perfect setting of God’s coming in Jesus Christ. Consider her origins: her town of Nazareth in the province of Galilee was definitely outside the more popular city of Jerusalem that was the place to be at that time. Most of all, it is the only town in the New Testament never mentioned in the Old Testament nor by the prophets for lack of any significance in the coming of the Messiah.
Nazareth was largely unknown with some hint of notoriety as expressed by Nathanael (aka, Apostle Bartholomew) when he expressed disbelief to Philip who told him they have found the Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, by saying “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” (John 1:46)
Photo by author of chapel at the grotto believed where Mary received the good news of bearing Jesus Christ in her womb underneath the Basilica of the Annunciation at Nazareth, Israel (2019).
But that is how God works in his hiddenness, coming to us in the most ordinary places and circumstances, even least expected like Mary who was definitely not “in” if we go by today’s popular standard of “who’s in and who’s out?”
In fact, she was so “outside” the circle of influence of their time with her being promdi as we say these days, without any illustrious lineage to be proud of like her spouse Joseph who was from the royal Davidic line or her cousin Elizabeth from the priestly branch of Aaron, the brother of Moses whose husband, Zechariah belonged to another priestly clan in Israel.
Yet, God chose Mary to be the Mother of Jesus Christ because of her hiddenness expressed in her simplicity and humility. It is a far cry from our extreme “Marianism” when we almost worship Mary forgetting Jesus Christ her Son and our Savior! Worst still is the growing trend of “triumphalism” in many parishes racing for the so-called “episcopal” and “canonical” coronation of their various images of the Virgin Mary that come in all kinds of names and titles that has come to look more of a fad than authentic Marian devotion.
Without any intentions of denigrating the role and stature of the Blessed Virgin Mary in our faith as well as her proper place in the life of the Church defined by Vatican II’s Lumen Gentium, I dare ask the following questions:
Photo by author, a replica of Our Lady of the Poor of Banneux, Belgium at Girlstown, Cavite (2009).
Is her coronation in heaven as Queen of heaven and earth not enough?
Why the need for these lavish spectacles for the coronation of the most simplest and humblest woman to have lived on earth?
It is a clear case of triumphalism – that exaggeration or overdoing our worship and rituals – especially if the Marian image is less than 200 years old without widespread devotions like the ones at Sto. Domingo (Quezon City) and Manaoag (Pangasinan).
I do not think the Blessed Mother would favor this considering her simplicity and solidarity with the poor and marginalized peoples seen in her many apparitions.
See the quaint and charming simplicity of Mary at Fatima in Portugal (1917) and lately at Banneux in Liege, Belgium (1933) where she identified herself as “Lady of the Poor”.
Note how the Virgin Mary reads “the signs of the times” in her apparitions and appearances when during the 1500’s at the height of European royalties and expeditions, she was always portrayed as victorious in regal clothes; but since Fatima in the 20th century as the world sank into the excesses of Industrial Revolution and affluence, Mary appeared simple, always in solidarity with the poor and suffering.
It is a cue we are sorely missing and sad to say, instead of renewing the world as St. Paul had asked us, we have allowed ourselves with the Mother of God to be transformed into the ways of the world by immersing in its showbiz frenzies, focusing on the material aspects like expensive clothes and jewelries.
Second example of Mary’s hiddenness is her oneness with Jesus Christ. She was never on her own, always seen in Jesus, with Jesus her Son and Lord. She believed in him so much, making him the focus at the wedding feast at Cana as well as at the foot of the Cross where she expressed in the most strongest terms her solidarity with the Savior of the world.
This has always been insisted by the Church since Vatican II regarding our devotions to Mary that must always be in relation with Jesus and his mission — never on her own.
Photo by author, 2019.
In all her apparitions, the Blessed Mother has always been consistent with her messages of conversion and return to God through her Son Jesus Christ, the frequent reception of the Sacraments of the Eucharist and Confession or Reconciliation.
Mary’s Christocentricity is best seen in her oneness with him in pains and sufferings like in the Pieta and the Mater Dolorosa where Jesus is the one standing out, not her. Nor anybody else.
When Mary, or anybody else for that matter goes on one’s own, Jesus is no longer hidden but removed from the scene. Then his Cross disappears and all that is seen is Mary in all her “beauty and glory” that are empty, very secular because these attributes come precisely from her communion in Jesus!
Perhaps, this pandemic is teaching us today to review our Marian devotions and processions that have become more of a show and a spectacle for Instagram than for deepening of our faith.
I pray that the Cofradia that holds the annual December 8 processions at Intramuros would take a rest this year until 2022 to discern their noble efforts before that have degenerated to pomp and pageantry among “devotees” specially camareros and camareras trying to outshine and outclass each other with some participation at the sidelights of their pastors and sacristans.
Keeping the hiddenness of God while we remain hidden in contemplation.
Of all the qualities of Mary we all must imitate to help people rediscover God’s hiddenness is her being hidden in prayer and contemplation.
St. John Paul II noted in Rosarium Virginis Mariae when he launched the Luminous Mysteries in 2002 that although the scriptures are silent about where was Mary during the other significant moments of the life of Jesus, especially at the institution of the Holy Eucharist, it was most likely that Mary was also present deep in prayer.
This we find clearly at the Pentecost when the Holy Spirit descended upon the apostles and the Blessed Virgin Mary while they were praying at the Upper Room in Jerusalem (Acts 1:13-14).
Modern rendition of the Pentecost with Mary among the other disciples of Jesus. From Google.
Pope emeritus Benedict XVI shares with us his profound insight in his second Jesus of Nazareth book series (Birth of Jesus) how after the annunciation of the the birth of Christ to Mary, the angel left her totally without ever coming back to warn or instruct her unlike with Joseph. After saying “Yes” to the plan of God to be the Mother of Jesus, Mary immersed herself deep in prayers and contemplation, becoming hidden herself in God.
Since then, she never doubted Jesus her Son as the Christ, nurturing her faith with prayers beautifully expressed by St. Luke in saying how “Mary treasured things in her heart” when facing difficult situations like during his birth and his finding at the temple. It is not surprising that in the contemplation by St. Ignatius of Loyola, the Risen Lord must have first appeared to his Mother upon rising from the dead because she was the first to believe totally in him (which became the basis of our tradition of the Salubong).
Mary has always been present in the hiddenness of Christ from his coming in the darkness of the night on a manger in Bethlehem, to his hidden years in Nazareth, to his ministry when he would always retreat to a deserted place to pray, to his Crucifixion and death and burial on Good Friday and finally, in the darkness of Easter.
In this age of social media where everyone and everything has to be seen and shown with nothing hidden anymore even without qualms and shame at all, part of our mission and ministry as priests and religious is to lead people back to God’s hiddenness like the Virgin Mary so they may realize anew that the best things in this life are not always seen.
To fulfill this is for us first of all to imitate God like Mary — be hidden!
How unfortunate that instead of leading the people back to God’s hiddenness, we priests and religious have in fact joined the secular world, imitating the “influencers” like bloggers and vloggers that instead of focusing on God who is hidden, we are concerned with our selves and all the “porma” for the sake of number of “likes” and “followers” we have in our posts.
The more we try so hard to make God visible in our ministry by imitating the styles and gimicks of some media personalities that make our liturgy look like a variety show complete with song and dance numbers with our altars heavily decorated like a studio set with giant tarpaulins like in EDSA, that is when we remove God totally – not only his hiddenness – from the scene and inverse proportionately, the more we priests and pastors become more popular than the Lord himself.
“The Assumption of the Virgin” by Italian Renaissance painter Titian completed in 1518 for the main altar of Frari church in Venice. Photo from wikidata.org.
And that is how cults begin, with or without Jesus. It is very sad, even tragic and ironic because we have removed God himself – even Mary! – by unconsciously making ourselves the center of attention like pop icons and idols.
Mary had shown us the most perfect example of discipleship which is more of Jesus, less of self.
Can we not post without using our own pictures – no matter how profound our thoughts are – so the people may see the hiddenness of God in a photo of a lovely flower or a magnificent sunset? Unless you are a bishop or the Pope himself, having your photo published specially in the news is part of the information process about the person in focus. It is totally different in Church communications which is all about God and his message of love, not us.
The quarantine period invites us in the Church to appreciate and share this wonderful hiddenness of God by first becoming incognito, unknown and hidden from others, preferring to be at the background or “behind the camera” as we follow God in his hiddenness until we go to that great beyond of totally hidden from everybody except God.
Do not worry. We have Mary in every step along the way. Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Thursday, Week XXIII, Year II in Ordinary Time, 10 September 2020
1 Corinthians 8:1-7, 11-13 >><)))*> >><)))*> >><)))*> Luke 6:27-38
Photo by author, dusk at my parish, July 2020.
Thank you, dear Jesus, for the grace of being together again with our family and relatives at this time of the pandemic. Your words from St. Paul today are so timely as we now spend more time together at home due to shortened work periods while kids have online classes.
But, despite these grace-filled moments in the pandemic while being together again with our family, frictions happen because we have never been truly at home with each other. We always forget the fact that love of one another is more important than being right.
Brothers and sisters: Knowledge inflates with pride, but love builds up. If anyone supposes he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know. But if one loves God, one is known by him.
1 Corinthians 8:1-3
Oh yes, Lord! We are sometimes surprised at how fast we have grown in age with our parents and siblings. And yes, how we have grown apart too from each other, still carrying those sentiments and memories we have had when younger.
Purify us, Jesus. Heal our memories. Enable us to let our love flow to others specially those dearest and closest to us. Remove all emotional blockages in our hearts and mental blocks in our minds that prevent us from being kind and understanding, and be more spontaneous and more sincere with everyone.
Make us realize that the more we know, the more we must be loving and understanding.
Photo by author, Malagos Garden Resort, Davao City, 2018.
Let our knowledge make us “holier” because to know what is right always leads us to being more loving as we heed your words in the gospel today, “Do to others as you would have them do to you” (Lk.6:31).
Inspire us to reflect further on these words by St. Bernard about spiritual life so that it may soothe our souls and calm our minds:
The whole of the spiritual life consists of these two elements. When we think of ourselves, we are perturbed and filled with salutary sadness. And when we think of the Lord, we are revived to find consolation in the joy of the Holy Spirit. From the first we derive fear and humility, from the second hope and love.
Office of Readings, Wednesday of 23rd Week, The stages of contemplation by St. Bernard
We pray in a very special way today, Lord, for our family and relatives, for those we live together at home. Amen.
Lawiswis ng Salita ni P. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Ika-09 ng Setyembre, 2020
Larawan kuha ni G. Jim Marpa, 2019.
Kay ganda ng paalala
ni San Pablo sa mga taga-Roma
na hanggang ngayon sa ating panahon
gawin nating tuntunin:
"Huwag kayong magkaroon ng sagutin
kaninuman, liban sa saguting tayo'y mag-ibigan...
Ang umiibig ay hindi gumagawa ng masama kaninuman,
kaya't ang pag-ibig ang kabuuan ng kautusan."
(Roma 13:8, 10)
Ano nga ba ang sagutin natin sa bawat isa?
Hindi ba ano mang sagutin ay pagkaka-utang din?
Kung gayon,
tayong lahat ay mayroong tungkulin
at sagutin na bayaran pagkakautang natin
na walang dili iba kungdi pag-ibig pa rin!
Sa lahat naman ng sagutin at bayarin
pag-ibig ang pinakamamahalin at mainam utangin;
hindi tulad ng salapi, pag-ibig ng Diyos ay hindi tinitingi
walang tinatangi, hindi na kailangan pang humingi
kahit ikaw ay mabaon at hindi makaahon
sagot palagi ng ating Panginoon!
Kaya si Hesus pumarito noon
upang tubusin sangla ng pagkakautang natin
sa pag-ibig ng Ama na tinalikuran at tinanggihan
ng mga unang magulang natin;
Sa Kanyang kabutihang-loob
sa atin ay ipinagkaloob buhay Niyang handog.
Pag-ibig ang siyang pumupuno sa atin
siya ring nagpapairal sa atin
dahil ang mabuhay ay umibig;
sino mang hindi umiibig ay patay
parang naglalakad na kalansay
hungkag at walang laman, puso at kalooban.
Kaya naman sumasama ating loob
kapag minamahal natin ay walang utang na loob
dahil pag-ibig ang tanging nasa ating loob;
kapag pag-ibig ay hindi sinuob
upang humalimuyak gaya ng insenso at bulaklak,
ito'y nakukulob, umaantong, sa kamatayan humahantong.
Katulad ang pag-ibig ng tubig sa ilog
mahirap masundan pinagmumulan at patutunguhan
ngunit iyon ang kagandahan at kainaman
habang tayo'y patuloy sa pag-ibig, dumadaloy, umaagos
hindi ito nasasaid dahil ang Diyos ay pag-ibig
at walang hanggan na Siyang ating hantungan at kaganapan.
The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Wednesday, Week XXIII, Year II, 09 September 2020
1 Corinthians 7:25-31 /// Luke 6:20-26
Photo by Ms. Ria De Vera, 13 August 2020.
Dearest Jesus:
Now more than ever, the words of St. Paul of your Second Coming or parousia are so true with all the deaths happening around us. Before, we used to take your parousia for granted: believing it will not happen during our lifetime.
And even if we do not care at all with your parousia that nobody knows when except the Father, death has become more real these days, something that has come to hit us closest to home each day; suddenly, we have began taking seriously our way of life, of where we are going to.
Hence, our tendency to shortcut, to find the easier and surest way, wondering what state of life is the best.
But, the question is not really what is the best state of life we must choose for it does not really matter if we are married or celibate. What matters is if we are faithful at all to you!
Photo from dominusest.com, Pandacan Fire, June 2020.
I tell you, brothers, the time is running out. From now on, let those having wives act as not having them, those weeping as not as weeping, those rejoicing as not rejoicing, those buying as not owning, those using the world as not using it fully. For the world in its present form is passing away.
1 Corinthians 7:29-31
Even if your parousia does not happen in our lifetime, we now know fully well due to COVID-19 that our life will end, that we shall stand before your judgment seat, Lord Jesus.
Your beatitudes remind us that to live life as if our life will never end is a folly, a woe to us living the “good life” of the world, of having everything.
Remind us always that true blessedness is to live with the knowledge that our life will definitely end; it is the start of wisdom for that is when we learn to be poor before you, to only rely on you, Lord Jesus.
Let us always trust in you and no matter what is our status in life, may be remain faithful to your and your call. Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog IITuesday, Feast of the Birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary, 08 September 2020Romans 8:28-30 >><)))*> + <*(((><< Matthew 1:18-23
Photo by author, Christmas 2018.
Praise and glory to you our great and loving God the Father! In sending us your beloved Son Jesus Christ, you have truly blessed us all in his coming. First among us is his Blessed Mother, Virgin Mary who has become our Mother too through Jesus Christ!
You never fail to surprise us, O God our Father, with your plans not only with the Virgin Mary and the Saints but most especially with each one of us in the coming of your Son Jesus Christ.
St. Andrew of Crete beautifully explained in his discourse the meaning of this Feast of Mary’s Birth:
The present festival, the birth of the Mother of God is the prelude, while the final act is the foreordained union of the Word with flesh. Today the Virgin is born, tended and formed, and prepared for her role as Mother of God, who is the universal King of the ages.
Office of Readings, 08 September, Volume IV
How lovely that on this Feast of Mary’s nativity, the story we were told “is how the birth of Jesus came about” through her and St. Joseph her spouse with of a lot of working by the Holy Spirit.
Give us, O God, the faith and the strength to heed St. Paul’s teaching so that your plans are fulfilled in us like with Mother Mary:
We know that all things work for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.
Romans 8:28
Help us realize this great honor you have given us in sharing with the Motherhood of Mary by reflecting on St. John Paul the Second’s teaching that “Every birthday is a small Christmas because with the birth of every person comes Jesus Christ.” (Evangelium Vitae)
Like Mary, make us share Jesus Christ with everyone and in this world that has turned its back from you.
Like Mary, may we remain standing at the foot of Jesus Christ’s Cross when everything is dark and uncertain for that is when his light shines brightest leading to Easter.
And still like Mary, may we be faithful in our prayer life, always waiting for the coming of the Holy Spirit to fill us with fire and strength to proclaim the gospel not only in words but most of all in deeds like her.
O most blessed Virgin Mary our Mother, pray for us to grow closer with your Son Jesus Christ! Amen.
Photo by author, National Shrine of Mt. Carmel, QC, 2019.
Lawiswis ng Salita ni P. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Ika-08 ng Setyembre 2020Kapistahan ng Pagsilang ng Mahal na Birheng MariaRoma 8:28-30 >><)))*> + <*(((><< Mateo 1:18-23
Larawan kuha ng may-akda sa aming Parokya, Pasko 2018.
O Diyos Amang mapagmahal sa amin,
kay sarap isipin at namnamin pagdiriwang
ng pagsilang ng Mahal na Birheng Maria
na Ina ni Hesus at Ina din namin.
Sa unang tingin marahil tatanungin
bakit ang kuwento sa ebanghelyo ay pagsilang ng Kristo?
Ngunit sa dakilang karunungan po Ninyo, O Diyos Ama
dito Mo ibinalot kagandahan at kabutihan
hindi lamang ng kapistahan
kungdi ng katotohanang hatid nito:
Dumating si Hesus na Anak Mo sa pamamagitan
ng dalawang mabubuting tao ayon sa plano at kalooban Mo:
si Jose na mula sa angkan ni David
na lahi ni Abraham
naging esposo ni Maria
na siyang Ina ng tinatawag naming Kristo.
Dahil dito, hinatian Mo kami O Diyos
ng karangalan katulad ni Maria
maging tagapaghatid ni Hesus sa mundong gulung-gulo.
Hayaan po ninyo na aming mapagtanto at mapagyaman
turo sa amin ng Iyong lingkod sa San Papa Juan Pablo Ikalawa:
bawat kaarawan ay munting Pasko
dahil sa pagsilang ng bawat tao
si Jesu-Kristo ang naparito!
Huwag nawa naming malimutan karangalang ito
kaya aming hiling sa aming masintahing Ina
kami ay palaging ipanalangin,
ilapit kay Hesus na ating Panginoon
upang Siya ring maibahagi sa kapwa natin.
Amen.
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