First of all, be a child of God

The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul

Feast of Sto. Niño, 19 January 2020

Isaiah 9:1-6 ><)))*> Ephesians 1:3-6, 15-18 ><)))*> Matthew 18:1-5, 10

The Cross and the Bell of our parish church. Photo by Gelo N. Carpio, 12 January 2020.

Looming high always at the center of our Christian faith is the Cross of Jesus Christ. Whether inside or outside any church, there is always the Cross reminding us of our salvation in Jesus and of the path we have to follow as his disciples.

But, so often we forget that the first call of the Cross is for us to be a child of God above all in order to follow his Son our Lord in his Passion, Death, and Resurrection.

Here we find the full meaning of our celebration of the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord last Sunday, of how in our Baptism we have become the children of God in Jesus Christ who became like us so that we may become like him, blessed and divine as the eternal Son of the Father.

Such is the plan of God in the very beginning of his Creation.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavens, as he chose us in him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and without blemish before him. In love he destined us for adoption to himself through Jesus Christ, in accord with the favor of his will, for the praise of the glory of his grace that he granted us in the beloved.

Ephesians 1:3-6

It is only in our becoming first the sons and daughters of the Father in Jesus Christ that St. Paul declares how we are saved in this part of the second reading skipped by the liturgy today:

In him we have redemption by his blood, the forgiveness of transgressions, in accord with the riches of his grace that he lavished upon us.

Ephesians 1:7-8
A painting of Sto. Niño devotees by Bulakenyo artist Aris Bagtas, 2018.

Work of Christmas continues

We are already into the second week of Ordinary Time in our liturgy but, we in the Philippines are still celebrating an “extension” of the Christmas Season this third Sunday of January for the Feast of the Sto. Niño, the Holy Child Jesus.

And, for a very good reason! to remind us the story of Christmas continues even after the Feast of the Lord’s Baptism or when all decors have been kept.

The work of Christmas, of sharing Jesus Christ in our loving service with others continues the whole year through. In fact, it is during the 34 weeks of Ordinary Time where we are most challenged to continue Christ’s work he started at Christmas when he became a child among us.

And there lies the very core of his teachings, of his message to us: our being like a child!

At that time the disciples approached Jesus and said, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” Jesus called a child over, placed it in their midst, and said, “Amen, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever receives one child such as this in my name receives me.”

Matthew 18:1-5

Jesus remained the Child of God until the end

If we examine everything in the Gospel, from the Incarnation and Nativity of Jesus, his hidden and public lives, his miracles and preaching, into his Passion, Death, and Resurrection, everything is anchored in Christ’s being like a child, the eternal Son of God.

When he was lost and found in the temple at the age of 12, right away he told his Mother his being the Son of God: “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” (Lk.2:49)

Painting by Aris Bagtas, 2018.

At Last Supper, Jesus explained his being the Child of the Father: “The words that I speak to you I do not speak on my own. The Father who dwells in me is doing his works” (Jn.14:10).

His being one with the Father is due to his being the Eternal Son that reached its highest point of expression at the crucifixion where Jesus repeatedly called God his “Father”.

Here we find as in our gospel today the essential requirement of first becoming a child of God to make it into the kingdom of heaven. It is impossible to follow Jesus to his Cross when we remain adults who know everything!

This is the problem with the Traslacion that has become rowdy, even crazy over the years which is completely the opposite of the Pit Señor de Sto. Niño in Cebu that remains solemn and orderly despite its vast crowd of devotees.

See how in Quiapo the devotees “fight” and insist on their own ways of doing the procession, of how things are now turned upside down with the hijos lording over (pun intended) everything every January 9 with the gall to call Christ “Padre Nuestro Jesus de Nazareno”?

Everybody wants to fulfill one’s panata of jumping into the revered image of the Nazareno, in total disregard of others.

Where is the spirit of being a child, of being generous and kind with others?

What we have been seeing these past years in the Traslacion is more of machismo, of who is the greatest to be able to reach the Nazareno. And included among them are the growing members of media suddenly becoming devotees with the panata to anchor Traslacion!

Being a child is a call to daily conversion in Christ Jesus

Becoming like a child a daily call to conversion to Jesus, a going back to the story of Christmas, of being humble and small. I like that word used by Jesus today – turn – when he declared, “Amen, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children…”

To be able to carry our cross and follow Jesus, we have to turn first, that is, be transformed from world-wise, self-sufficient, all-knowing adults of the world into abiding children of the Father of Jesus Christ by the grace of the Holy Spirit.

Children always have that glow within them that can disarm us of our insecurities and fears. Below is a painting by the Danish-German Modern Artist Emil Nolde (1867-1956) portrayed children with Christ in bright colors while the adults were all dark and gloomy.

“Christ Among Children” (1910) by Emil Nolde.

Being like a child is letting go of our fears and insecurities to entrust ourselves to God’s care and providence. And to others dependability and reliability too!

Maybe that is why as we get older, we mellow: we realize after all that we remain children of God and of somebody else in the end. There is always somebody out there who would look after us especially when we are already old and weak. There is always somebody whose heart would always be moved to come to our rescue or simply to warm our hearts or make us smile.

If each of us can become like a child daily, simply loving and trusting others, then we can bring light into this world deeply plunged in the darkness of sin and pride, of rat race without any winner, or arms race without any war at all.

If we can become like the child, we can become like Jesus Christ, the great light in the land of gloom bringing joy and great rejoicing (Is.9:1-2) with his life of love flowing from the great sacrifice at the Cross. Amen.

Katotohanan ng bulkan

Lawiswis ng Salita ni P. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Ika-17 ng Enero 2020
Larawan mula sa Inquirer.net, 12 Enero 2019
Lahat ay nagimbal
nang pumutok bulkan ng Taal:
nagdarasal, nagninilay
kahulugan at mga aral 
na sa atin sana'y gumabay.
Isang katiyakang ating mapananaligan
hindi kaparusahan pagsabog ng bulkan
na batay sa kaayusang tinakda 
noon pa man nitong kalikasan
sa karunungan ng Poong Maykapal.
Gayon pa man,
mahalaga nating mapaglimi-limihan
kung ano baga mga aral
sa atin ay inuusal nitong 
pagsabog ng bulkang Taal.
Larawan ay kuha ni G. Raffy Tima ng GMA-7 News, 12 Enero 2020.
Una kong napagtanto
laganap na pagkalat ng abo
mula nang pumutok ang Taal
upang ipaala-ala sa ating mga tao
ating pinagmulan at hahantungan.
Iyon nga lang
sa inyong pakundangan
bakit nga ba yaring mga kinauukulan
pati na rin sambayanan
tila baga mga isipan walang laman kungdi abo lamang?
Kanya-kanyang bidahan kinabukasan
mayroong ibig magpaulan upang abo ay mahugasan
habang isa pang kasamahang hunghang sa batasan
nagmungkahing imbestigahan diumano'y 
kapabayaan ng mga nagbabantay sa bulkan.
Natuyot nang islang kinaroonan ng bulkang Taal. Larawan ay kuha ni G. Raffy Tima ng GMA-7 News, 15 Enero 2020.
Iyan unang aral ng bulkang Taal:
huwag nang ihalal mga upisyal na hangal
na walang ibang kayang gawin kungdi
samsamin kaban ng bayan at palitan
pangalan ng mga lansangan.
Ngayon ibig nilang pakialaman
gawain ng mga nasa agham
matapos pabayaan at bawasan
pondong kinakailangan
sakaling mayroong mga di inaasahang kalamidad.
Mas makakapal pa sila sa abo ng Taal
masangsang pa kanilang amoy sa asupre
mga salot ng lipunan, mga upisyal na walang pakialam
maliban dilaan sino mang nasa Malakanyang
na lihis din takbo ng isipan kahit may kaguluhan.
Mapayapang tanawin ng Taal bagama’t umuusok pa rin. Larawan kuha ni G. Raffy Tima ng GMA-7 News, 17 Enero 2020.
Larawan ng kagandahan at kaayusan
sa kanyang katahimikan itong bulkan
sa loob ng lawa ng Taal na ngayo'y
kay hirap na ring masilayaan 
dahil sa mga gusaling nagtataasan sa daanan ng Tagaytay.
Marahil isang hinaing
at pinag-aalburoto ng Taal
ating kawalang galang sa kanya
sampu ng buong kalikasan
na ating winawasak at sinalaula.
Gayon din mga nagkabitak-bitak
na lupa waring nagsasaad 
malaon nang mga pitak
sa ating mga kapatiran 
maging kaisahan sa Inang Kalikasan.
Kung sakali mang
puputok at sasabog ng tuluyan
yaring bulkan ng Taal
nawa'y walang mapahamak sino man
ngunit aral niya ating matutuhan at matandaan.

Rejection and Sin

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul

Friday, Memorial of St. Anthony, Abbot, 17 January 2020

1 Samuel 8:4-7, 10-22 ><)))*> ><)))*> ><)))*> Mark 2:1-12

Grotto, Baguio City, January 2019.

Thank you very much, O God for another week of work and school about to close this day. Most of all, thank you for for the rest you have given us these past few days from our restive Taal Volcano. Continue to keep everyone safe and ready for any worst eventuality.

Today we pray, O Lord, for those people who have rejected us, those who have rejected our friendships, those who continue to reject our peace offerings, those who still reject the mercy and forgiveness we have given them.

Our lives have all been marred with so many rejections. Too often, we do not complain and just take them as part of life, the risk in any relationships, though, deep inside, we are hurt.

But, so often, we also forget how we have always rejected you, O God, in our lives. Of how we would rather choose our own ways that often lead us into sins and destruction, rejecting your wonderful plans that simply ask us to trust in you, to believe in you, and to rely in you.

Samuel was displeased when they asked for a king to judge them. He prayed to the Lord, however, who said in answer: “Grant the people’s every request. It is not you they reject, they are rejecting me as their king.”

1 Samuel 8:6-7

Teach us, O God, to open up to you again. To be open to your love and mercy, to your mercy and forgiveness brought to us by your Son Jesus Christ.

Help us to break this cycle of rejections we within that lead us to sin.

Every time we reject you, O Lord, or our brothers and sisters in love and mercy to insist on our own ways, our own ideas and thoughts, and beliefs, that is when we often sin.

Help us to be like St. Antony who left everything in life to be a hermit in the desert in order to find you and follow you. Help us find our own desert of desolation where we can always be alone with you to rely only in you, to accept your truths to guide us in our daily life. Amen.

St. Anthony the Abbot, a.k.a. the Great, pray for us!

Wanted: Prayer from the heart!

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul

Thursday, Week 1, Year 2, 16 January 2020

1 Samuel 4:1-11 ><)))*> ><)))*> ><)))*> Mark 1:40-45

Altar of the Church of All Nations beside the Garden of Gethsemane in Jerusalem where Jesus prayed before his arrest on Holy Thursday. Photo by author May 2019.

Lord Jesus Christ, our Master and Divine Teacher, please teach us how to pray like you. Teach us how to truly pray that is pleasing to the Father not in the social media as many of us seem to be doing these days amid the eruptions of Taal Volcano recently.

May we be reminded of the experience of the Israelites in the first reading that despite the presence of God’s Ark of the Covenant in their battle with the Philistines, they were defeated.

Worst, the Ark of the Covenant was captured and among those dead were Eli’s sons, Hophni and Phinehas (1Sm.4:10-11)!

Remind us that it is the Holy Spirit within us who prays and calls out to you, O God, because we do not really know how to pray. Dispose ourselves unto your will, O God, like that who came and knelt to beg before Jesus, saying,

“If you wish, you can make me clean.” Moved with pity, Jesus stretched out his hand, touched the leper, and said to him, “I do will it. Be made clean.” The leprosy left him immediately, and he was made clean.

Mark 1:40-42

Dear God, may we heed the calls of Pope Francis in Laudato Si that each of us seriously change our own ways of living, to have a shift in our lifestyles that respects nature as part of your creation, part of our lives.

We have long disrespected you and nature, O God.

Cleanse our hearts, strengthen us in facing Taal’s fury and heed her voice hereafter to take care of her. Amen.

Valuing the human person always: A review of the series “Giri/Haji”

Quiet Storm by Fr. Nick F. Lalog II, 15 January 2020

From The Times.

Now streaming at Netflix is this excellent original 2019 BBC production, Giri/Haji (Duty/Shame), a Japanese story of two brothers set almost entirely in London seemingly inspired by French existentialist writer Albert Camus with closing scenes set in Paris.

Midway through the series, one notices right away the complexities or, absurdities of life that one cannot simply categorize it between “duty and shame”, or good and evil, right and wrong, black and white.

It is a series that hits our innermost core when we find ourselves in those gray areas of confronting what we believe as right and just versus the value of every human person that Camus beautifully expressed in his 1947 novel “The Plague”:

“A loveless world is a dead world, and always there comes an hour when one is weary of prisons, of one’s work, and of devotion to duty; and all one craves for is a loved face, the warmth and wonder of a loving heart.”

Albert Camus, The Plague

Like most Netflix series, Giri/Haji is rated 18+ for its violence, language, substance, and nudity but everything is done beautifully and artistically.

It is a masterpiece that shows some common threads among us humans regardless of our color and culture, gender and age, belief and language. How the creators were able to perfectly blend these all with the excellent cinematography, music, and fine prints into uncluttered and pure simplicity of Japanese Zen principles are a work of art and film genius.

Simple plot but very personal and universal

The plot is simple: an elder, straight brother is a cop with a younger brother who is a Yakuza member hiding in London after being presumed dead when he got the daughter of his boss pregnant. He staged his revenge in London where he killed a Japanese executive with the knife of his former boss that had sparked a war among Yakuza families in Tokyo that was going out of control. Cop-brother comes to London to bring his gangster brother back to Japan to atone for his sins so that peace is restored among the Yakuzas.

Along the way, the two brothers’ stories converged with the stories of three other main characters that provided the many uneventful twists to be united by the element of deaths in various forms and circumstances.

From Google.

Giri/Haji honestly confronts our basic issues of love and acceptance so lacking or taken for granted in our own families that lead to a host of so many other problems and situations like drugs and other crimes, infidelity and promiscuity, as well as homosexuality and sexual orientations.

What is so unique with the series is how it was able to take these sensitive issues as subjects to be seen in relation with persons, not as objects to be studied or examined apart from anyone that it becomes more of an experience, not just an entertainment.

Giri/Haji is so personal, you can feel yourself “slashed” so you experience the subjects’ pains and hurts, longings and desires, dreams and aspirations.

Like the samurai blade that can cut through almost anything, the series hits you at almost every turn that you find yourself laughing and weeping without realizing that along with the characters, you have also laid your soul bare for serious self-confrontation and examination about your very self and the people around you in the relationships you keep as well as skipped or taken for granted.

Death and new life

There is no glorification of evil and immoralities but Giri/Haji invites us to see these as realities in our imperfect world that must be seen more with our hearts than with our minds and convictions. The series contrasts the Western frame of mind of morals as codes to be followed to the minutest details that slashes even persons into categories with the Oriental point of view of seeing morality in the totality of the person.

How it is resolved in the end is amazing!

And despite its genre being crime and violence, I would still say Giri/Haji is so lovely, even quaint and as Japanese as it can be especially with the depiction of changing of seasons that peaked at autumn.

Despite the dark and gloomy nature of the topics of death in all of its forms, there is the radiance of hope always that will lead to new life. The series teems with other symbolisms and signs including great music selections that add intensity to its drama and tragedy that make us hope the new season comes soonest.

For the meantime, listen to the beautiful music theme of the Giri/Haji by British singer Tom Odell.

Take my mind
And take my pain
Like an empty bottle takes the rain
And heal, heal, heal, heal
And take my past
And take my sense
Like an empty sail takes the wind
And heal, heal, heal, heal

Lessons in prayer

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul

Wednesday, Week 1, Year 2, 15 January 2020

1 Samuel 3:1-10, 19-20 ><)))*> ><)))*> ><)))*> Mark 1:29-39

Photo by author, Grotto chapel, Baguio City, January 2020.

Thank you very much, O God, to your inspired words today that teach us some important lessons about prayer especially at this time of calamity from Taal Volcano’s eruptions.

Once again, you remind us to always have you first in every situation:

Simon’s mother-in-law lay sick with a fever. They immediately told Jesus about her.

Mark 1:30

Forgive us, O Lord Jesus especially in this time of social media, we have adored and followed our smartphones as our new gods, replacing you in prominence and importance.

Forgive us that upon waking up, the first thing we do is immediately check our messages, count our likes than kneel and thank you for the gift of life.

Teach us to be like Simon and his companions to always think first of you.

Most of all, teach us to center our lives in you through prayers like Jesus your Son who always went out of the way to pray before and after every ministry.

Give us that attitude of being open to you, of willingly presenting ourselves before you to listen and obey your words, O Lord, like Samuel.

Samuel answered, “Speak, for your servant is listening.”

1 Samuel 3:10

Today we pray for all travelers whose work have been seriously affected by Taal’s eruptions as we continue praying for the people of Batangas and Cavite affected by the calamity. Amen.

Thinking kindly of others

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul

Tuesday, Week 1, Year 2, 14 January 2020

1 Samuel 1:9-20 ><)))*> ><)))*> ><)))*> Mark 1:21-28

Inside our church from the altar table. Photo by author, November 2019.

Hanna replied to Eli, “Think kindly of your maidservant,” and she left..

1 Samuel 1:18

While praying over your words, O Lord, of that scene at the temple when Eli mistook Hannah to being drunk while praying intensely to you for a child, it reminded me of Taal Volcano’s restive behavior, of her spewing ashes and causing tremors.

But despite all these, Taal remains lovely and magnificent.

Sometimes, Lord, that is what exactly we need in life: to think kindly of others always.

The people were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes. All were amazed and asked one another, “What is this? A new teaching with authority. He commands even the unclean spirits and they obey him.”

Mark 1:22, 27

Purify our thoughts, Lord, to always think kindly of others.

To always have that disposition for silence and being non-judgmental with others to always listen to them and be open to their thoughts and feelings as well.

Like you, Lord Jesus Christ, enable us to share in the power of your words, to speak with authority by entering into that daily union with you in silence and prayers.

May we learn also from the gentle Taal: to be still and silent, to speak only when necessary so that everyone listens intently to her inner rumblings when she finally “speaks”.

We continue to pray for those severely affected by Taal’s eruptions, most especially that they may remain kind with people and nature alike in this trying moments of a major calamity.

We pray for businessmen to have a heart, to think kindly of those affected by Taal’s eruptions and stop jacking up prices of much needed goods. Amen.

From inqirer.net

Of funerals and weddings and Alzheimer’s in between

Quiet Storm by Fr. Nick F. Lalog II, 13 January 2020

Photo by my high school seminary friend, Mr. Chester Ocampo, taken at the UST Senior High where he teaches art (2019).

Life goes on, long after the thrill of living is gone..

John Mellencamp, “Jack & Diane” (1982)

Maybe this is part of getting old, of maturing. Of learning to grapple with life’s mortal realities and still be excited with living. It is a grace that is both fulfilling but also deeply moving and often, chilling.

An uncle and a friend have commented to me in our recent chats how 2020 had come in hard and difficult with so many sickness and deaths in the family.

Some relatives have to fly to Singapore on New Year’s Day to support a cousin whose husband had an office accident that left him in comatose for five days following a brain surgery. He eventually died and had to be cremated a few days later.

December 11 I had to drive to Manila to visit and anoint the father of my best friend from high school seminary who arrived December 2 from the States, fell ill December 4, and had to spen Christmas and New year in the hospital.

Less than 24 hours after being discharged January 3, he died the following morning after talking with my friend based in Chicago, three days short before eldest daughter arrived to accompany him and wife back to New Jersey this week.

Meanwhile last January 2, I had to rush again this time to Quezon City for the wake of our high school seminary classmate Rommel who had died of multiple complications morning of December 31.

He is the third to “rest in peace” in our batch of 18 men who graduated the minor seminary in 1982. We last saw him in our reunion, September 9, 1990 (9-9-90).

Suddenly, I felt myself in some kind of a time warp when everything seemed to be not too long ago, as if we have just graduated recently, or that my dad and their dads have just passed away one after the other these past months.

Death can sometimes be magical when life is lived in love

I realized that when we have so much love for everyone like relatives and friends, including parishioners in the last eight years, time stands still after their deaths. You do not count the days and weeks and months and years you were together and when they have all gone.

They all seem to be still present because you are focused on how those departed have enriched your very life, your very person no matter how fleeting or long ago you were together.

Death can sometimes be magical, most of all grace-filled, when our lives are lived in love.

Life goes on, long after the thrill of living is gone…

John Mellencamp, “Jack & Diane” (1982)
Photo by author, our sacristy 2019.

Memories and knowledge fade, but love remains

Finally I had the chance to visit my mom – for Christmas! – evening of January 6. It was so good that just before leaving, a cousin arrived with his family to visit also my mother who is the younger sister of his mother, my Tita Celia.

It was only at that evening we have finally confirmed that Tita Celia has Alzheimer’s, the reason why her ways and attitudes have been noticeably erratic in 2019 as she was slowly losing grip of her senses.

And now, it is almost all gone according to my cousin whose sadness I strongly felt as he narrated to me the deterioration of his mother, of forgetting and losing so many things, of not recognizing familiar people like relatives and friends.

That same night, we also learned from him how our moms’ younger brother seem to be having signs of the onset of Alzheimer’s disease that are very similar with Tita Celia.

Again, I found myself in a “time warp” while they were happily conversing I was silently trying to recall the last time I have seen my mother’s siblings now afflicted with Alzheimer’s disease, wondering if they will still recognize me if I visit them later.

Moreover, I also realized how afraid I am with the prospects of getting sick in old age than of dying, sooner or later!

In fact, I was so scared that I had a nightmare that same night: in my dream I found myself lost, apparently with Alzheimer’s as I was searching for my parish rectory, looking for my bedroom, asking people about my parish staff, crying like a child.

What a relief when I woke up Tuesday morning that it was just a dream, that I was in fact in my bed, inside my room, in my parish rectory, so alive and still whole!

It seems it is easier to think and accept of one’s death than of getting sick and incapacitated later in old age. It is something we have to slowly come to terms with while still younger and stronger, and perhaps wiser.

How?

As I recalled our conversations with my cousin Louie that Monday night at home, I was amazed at his great love for his mother, Tita Celia. I remembered how he would always have pasalubong for his mother even upon coming home from school!

Maybe that is why even she had forgotten most of us her relatives, she always remembers Louie her son because he is the one who has truly loved her next to the late Tito Memo, her husband. The same is true with others taking care of their old parents afflicted with Alzheimer’s: they are recognized and remembered because they love.

Our memories and knowledge may be erased but the love we have in our hearts, the love we have experienced always remain even if everything has failed in life. That is why St. Paul declared that “love is the greatest of all gifts of God”.

Life goes on, long after the thrill of living is gone…

John Mellencamp, “Jack & Diane” (1982)
With my former students at the Cubao Cathedral after the wedding of their classmate. I felt so proud, and old, that afternoon seeing them all with their career and family, of how they have maintained their friendships all these years like brothers, of they love one another. Photo by Peter dela Cruz, one in blue.

To live is to love

December 2019 and January 2020 are perhaps my most “marrying months” in my 21 years of priesthood.

Aside from the weddings of friends and students I have officiated these past two months, three more are coming next month of February.

Again, as I saw friends and especially former students getting married, I could not believe at how fast time had passed.

Should I really be surprised when I find out my former students already in their early 30’s, some with families of their own and children whom they instruct to kiss my hand, calling me Lolo Fr. Nick?

It was a very “existential” experience that they are already old, and most of all, I am really that old after all!

Maybe that is what my married friends are telling me of the joy of fatherhood, of having your kids getting married, of having grandchildren, of the inner satisfaction that you have brought life to fruition.

That you have truly loved and now being loved.

It is perhaps the joy of getting old, of maturing, of dying or even forgetting everything when afflicted later with Alzheimer’s that you start to fade from the scene and hand over the stage to the next generation, thinking that life will still go on after us because you have loved much.

What really matters in the end is how we have lived and loved the people around us, of how we have enriched each other’s lives so that as the young ones discover life’s meaning in love, we who are older find life’s fulfillment still in the love from the relationships we keep.

Here’s a hill-billy rock music about love to drive your Monday’s blues away.

Prayer to find meaning this 2020

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul

Monday, Week 1, Year 2 of Ordinary Time, 13 January 2019

1 Samuel 1:1-8 ><)))*> ><)))*> ><)))*> Mark 1:14-20

Photo by the author, Taal Lake, July 2019.

Almighty God and Father, we implore your love and mercy today as we start the Ordinary Time to help us find the more essential things of life this 2020.

May the eruption of Taal Volcano yesterday remind us of the need to seek always the meaning of life which is more important than anything else because everything is passing.

How wonderful it is to recall from today’s gospel how your Son Jesus Christ had called his first four apostles at the shores of the Lake of Galilee, something very similar with the setting of Taal Lake and Volcano.

At this trying time of a major calamity, may we also hear his voice, follow his call to be his disciples and find the true meaning of life in you as we pray for the safety of all people affected by Taal Volcano’s eruption. Amen.

From Inquirer.net, 12 January 2020.

“Bridge Over Troubled Water” by Simon & Garfunkel

The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Music, 12 January 2020

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

“Bridge Over Troubled Water” is a song by American music duo Simon & Garfunkel released in January 1970, 50 years ago today as a follow up single to their other hit classic “The Boxer”.

The following year 1971, it won five awards at the 13th Annual Grammy Awards including Record of the Year and Song of the Year.

Ranked number 48 in Rolling Stones’ 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, Bridge Over Troubled Water became Simon & Garfunkel’s biggest hit single, considered as their signature song covered by more than 50 artists making it also as the most performed songs of the 20th century.

No wonder with its beautiful poetry composed by Paul Simon set in a soothing melody with a touch of gospel music that continues to touch so many lives to this day.

And that is why we have chosen it to be our Sunday Music to accompany our reflections on today’s Feast of the Baptism of Jesus Christ that closes the Christmas Season.

From Google.

When Jesus became human being born as a child in Bethlehem more than 2000 years ago, he became our Bridge both par excellence and non pareil.

In coming down to us, he became one of us truly human in everything except sin so that we can become like him who is divine and holy. In his Passion, Death, and Resurrection we have partaken through the Sacrament of Baptism, we have all become sons and daughters of the Father in heaven through him in the Holy Spirit.

Hence, every morning that we wake up, whether we are filled with joy and anticipation or saddled with pains and anxieties for the new day due to past failures, Jesus joins us in all of our dealings and tasks of each brand new day.

When you’re weary, feeling small
When tears are in your eyes, I’ll dry them all (all)
I’m on your side, oh, when times get rough
And friends just can’t be found
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay me down
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay me down
When you’re down and out
When you’re on the street
When evening falls so hard
I will comfort you (ooo)
I’ll take your part, oh, when darkness comes
And pain is all around
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay me down
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay me down
From Google.

No matter what you are going through today, as you strive to be good, to be loving and caring with others even if they do not reciprocate all your love and concern, when your loved ones are oblivious to your sacrifices for them, keep doing good for the Father is so well pleased with you like Jesus Christ, our Bridge over troubled water.

A blessed Sunday to you!