Friday, Feast of St. Joachim and St. Anne, 26 July 2019
Song of Songs 44:1, 10-15 >< }}}*><*{{{ >< Matthew 13:16-17
Photo by Jim Marpa. September 2018.
On this feast of the parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary, St. Joachim and St. Anne, we praise and thank you almighty Father for the gift of our dear parents as well as grandparents.
In your Ten Commandments, immediately after the first three laws pertaining to you, you commanded us to “honor our father and mother” to stress that “charity begins at home”, that before we can love anybody else in this world, it must first be our parents and grandparents.
Before we can love any other person, we must first love our parents and grandparents for they are the signs of your presence with us, O God. From them we receive our first religious instructions, and most of all, we experience first from them your love and mercy.
Bless us, O Lord, to respect and love them, especially when they are old.
Give us strong hands and arms always ready to reach out to them when they could no longer move well. Let us return that favor this time for us children to help them walk.
Give us more patience and understanding with a lot of kindness when our parents become forgetful and sometimes childish in their ways. Let us be loving to them in their old age and senior moments in the same way they were so fond of us when we were kids and knew nothing at all.
Give us also, O Lord, the eyes to see those white hair and wrinkles they have, including those sickness they now bear were all partly because of us when they have to suffer so much, work so hard to give us a brighter today.
Remind us always, Lord, that of your Ten Commandments, the fourth is the only one with a promise, “Honor your father and your mother and I shall bless you in your old age.”
Remind us, Lord, that even if we are older and wiser, or even if we are already parents too, we always remain children of our parents.
Likewise, we pray for those parents who refuse to take on their roles as mother or father to their children, for those who refuse to be responsible enough to be truly parents teaching their children what is true and good and right.
We pray for all parents that they may all bring you forth, Lord Jesus Christ, onto the world through their children and grandchildren. Amen.
Thursday, Feast of St. James the Greater, 25 July 2019
2 Corinthians 4:7-15 >< )))*> <*((( >< Matthew 20:20-28
St. James the Greater. From Google.
Praise and glory to you, O God our loving Father! In sending us your Son Jesus Christ, you have shown us the path to you is being truly human, accepting our weaknesses and sinfulness by relying in your mercy and forgiveness.
Thank you for the gift of St. James the Greater, one of the Twelve Apostles who started out very much like us in the beginning as a sinner than a saint. He had shown us a wonderful path of growing in faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.
We always remember him as the brother of your beloved disciple, sons of Zebedee also known as “sons of thunder” for their quick temper like proposing to scorch a Samaritan town that have refused to allow you to pass through on your way to Jerusalem.
Together with his brother again but this time with their mother, they were so proud to support her request that they be seated at your left and your right in your Kingdom, claiming they could drink from your cup of suffering (Mt.20:20-28).
But, after witnessing your Transfiguration and your Agony in the Garden, everything changed in our beloved St. James the Greater.
Transfiguration by Raphael, From Google.
At the Transfiguration along with his brother and St. Peter, St. James the Greater witnessed your divine glory with the two greatest prophets of Israel, Moses and Elijah.
He must have not understood it so well at that time, including your command not to speak about the event until you rise from the dead.
But what a beautiful first-hand lesson about your divinity, O Lord, for St. James the Greater!
Agony in the Garden by El Greco. From Google.
Then, on the night before you were betrayed, he was again with the two privileged disciples to witness your Agony in the Garden.
This time, you have given St. James the Greater a first-hand lesson about your suffering and humiliation about to happen on the Cross.
Like in the Transfiguration, St. James the Greater may have not fully understood the meaning of the Agony in the Garden; but, it must have helped him discern the balance between your divine splendor and humiliation. Most of all, he had witnessed your humble obedience unto death to the Father.
These two distinct paths would finally merge into one after the Pentecost when St. James the Greater became the first bishop of Jerusalem.
And true to his bold claim when he was still young and ambitious, he became the first Apostle to suffer martyrdom by drinking your “cup of suffering”, Lord, when King Herod Agrippa had him killed with the sword (Acts 12:1-2).
St. James the Greater, so many people have found peace and solace, growth and maturity in faith in Christ in their pilgrimage to Compostela, Spain. Like them, help us to follow your path to Jesus Christ that is filled with so many difficulties and sufferings. Amen.
Exodus 16:1-5, 9-15 >< }}}*> <*{{{ >< Matthew 13:1-9
Clouds over the Egyptian desert, May 2019.
The Lord spoke to Moses and said, “I have heard the grumbling of the children of Israel. Tell them: in the evening twilight you shall eat flesh and in the morning you shall have your fill of bread, so that you may know that I, the Lord , am your God.” In the evening, quail came up and covered the camp. In the morning, a dew lay all about the camp, and when the dew evaporated, there on the surface of the desert were fine flakes like hoarfrost on the ground.
Exodus 16:11-14
Like the psalmist, so often I wonder O God when I see the heavens the work of your hands, I ask what are we humans that you are mindful of us, mere mortals that you care for us (Ps. 8:4-5)?
You could have remained there in the heavens, O Lord, and yet you choose to stoop down upon us, listening to our voices, even to our cries and senseless grumblings.
Most wonderful of all, you have blessed us and our land when you decided to be one with us on the ground with the coming of our Savior Jesus Christ, the Word who became flesh and dwelt among us.
You have never stopped like the sower in the parable patiently sowing your seeds of love and mercy among us.
Open us, O Lord, and make us like the fertile ground so your word may grow and bear fruit abundantly in us with good works.
Make us fertile ground for your seed that we may become your presence and bring your healing and justice on your people who until now grumble, refusing to pause in silence to experience your presence on these hallowed grounds we have desecrated with wars and hate. Amen.
Exodus 14:21-15:1 >< }}}*> >< }}}*> Matthew 12:46-50
Holy Family Chapel, Sacred Heart Retreat and Spirituality Center, Novaliches, July 2017.
Thrice in our readings today, O loving Father, we heard “stretching of hands” to impart your power and grace. What a beautiful gesture so that today, we also stretch our hands in praising and thanking you God for all your love and kindness.
Stretching of hands is a gesture we usually do to you and others when we are pleading for something or when we express surrender or submission. We also stretch our hands over people and things to show our power or your power passing through us.
Moses stretched out his hand over the sea ,and the Lord swept the sea with a strong east wind throughout the night and so turned it into dry land…
Then the Lord told Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea, that the water may flow back to the Egyptians, upon their chariots and their charioteers.”
Exodus 14:21, 26
In our gospel, when your Son our Lord Jesus Christ identified his family, he used the same gesture to show his grace and blessing of making us his family, making us one in him and with him.
And stretching his hand toward his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my heavenly Father is my brother, my sister, my mother.”
Matthew 12:49-50
Keep us always in the protection and care of your powerful and loving hands, Lord, that are always stretched upon the sick especially the bed-ridden and seriously ill, to those who have to work far from their loved ones, those who have to deal and handle with delicate matters and situations.
Continue also to stretch your hands upon us, Lord, to shower us with your blessings especially the fresh graduates, for the newly weds, for those working hard for their families, for those pursuing their stars and dreams with passion and determination, and for those getting tired and weak with their many burdens and load on their shoulders.
Help us also, Lord, to be like you on the Cross when you stretched your hands to express your deep love and mercy for each one of us. Give us that power and grace to stretch our hands in your name to be your instruments of change, healing and joy to everyone especially those in pain and sufferings. Amen.
Holy Family Chapel, Sacred Heart Retreat and Spirituality Center, Novaliches, July 2017.
Monday, Wk. XVI, Yr. I, Feast of St. Mary Magdalene, 22 July 2019
2 Corinthians 5:14-17 >< }}}*> >< }}}*> John 20:1-2, 11-18
Jesus telling Mary Magdalene not to touch him in a painting at the Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi in Italy. Photo from Google.
What a beautiful way to start our week of work and studies today with the feast of St. Mary Magdalene, O Lord!
In St. Mary Magdalene we see, O Jesus, your infinite love and mercy and forgiveness no matter how dark is our past. In St. Mary Magdalene we also see, O Jesus, our new life and relationship with you especially when you called her by her name “Mary” on that Easter morning.
Open our hearts every morning, especially when we feel everything is lost, when everything is so dark to that we too may hear your sweet voice calling us by name.
One beautiful lesson we have learned from St. Mary Magdalene is the need to remain in you, Jesus. After being converted, Mary never left your side along with the other women who have come to follow you and help you in your needs.
On the Cross when your disciples have left you, St. Mary Magdalene remained at your foot along with your Mother and beloved disciple John.
On the first day of the week, it was also St. Mary Magdalene who remained faithful to you by coming to your tomb to bring spices and perfume; and, when she found it empty, she was the one who remained faithful to your teachings by informing St. Peter of the situation.
Most of all, during that dark morning at the empty tomb, it was St. Mary Magdalene who remained outside, remaining faithful to you, waiting in tears for developments as she asked everyone around in the hope of finding and retrieving your missing body.
The scene may be funny, Lord, but embarrassing and shameful to us your disciples who always leave you especially when the cross becomes too heavy and bloody! And when everything is dark and empty, unlike St. Mary Magdalene, we are nowhere to be found.
From Google.
Let us remain in you, Jesus, like St. Mary Magdalene especially when everybody else is leaving or had left you at the cross or the empty tomb.
Let us boldly proclaim not only in words but most especially in deeds like St. Mary Magdalene that we have seen you, that we are now a new creation in you. Amen.
Old experiment from my room while assigned at the Fatima Shrine in Valenzuela City, June 2010-2011.
Our Sunday gospel today speaks about true hospitality that leads to an encounter of Jesus Christ in our home and family.
Burt Bacharach’s “A House Is Not A Home” composed in 1964 for a movie of the same title easily came as our choice for this Sunday’s music.
Problem was choosing which of the many versions to feature in our blog today.
Though the different versions do matter a lot with slight variations in the lyrics, we decided in favor of the original recording by Ms. Dionne Warwick in 1964 that was the B-side of her top 40 single “You’ll Never Get To Heaven (If You Break My Heart)”.
Despite her excellent voice (a favorite of Bacharach), Warwick’s “A House Is Not A Home” did not fare well in the US charts. However, since its release in 1964 it has become a classic for its lovely tune and truthful lyrics.
A chair is still a chair, even when there’s no one sittin’ there But a chair is not a house and a house is not a home When there’s no one there to hold you tight And no one there you can kiss goodnight….
A room is a still a room, even when there’s nothin’ there but gloom But a room is not a house and a house is not a home When the two of us are far apart And one of us has a broken heart
Hospitality is from the Latin hospes that means to welcome. From this root came also the word hospital.
The story of Martha and Mary reminds us of the need to first welcome our family members so Jesus could dwell in our home. And this calls for love and respect for one another, for kindness and care.
How sad that right in our own family we could feel unwelcomed, or even hostaged which is from another Latin word hostis that means enemy.
This Sunday, experience Jesus and his good news of salvation in your family by breaking those barriers that prevent you from welcoming one another.
Have a “home sweet home” in Christ Jesus with a lot of love and kindness to one another in the family. God bless everyone!
The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe Wk. XVI-C, 21 July 2019
Genesis 18:1-10 >< }}}*> Colossians 1:24-28 >< }}}*> Luke 10:38-42
A restaurant in the desert of Meribah on the way to the ancient city of Petra in Jordan. Photo by author, 01 May 2019.
Jesus our Good Samaritan continues his “resolutely determined journey” to Jerusalem. On his way, “Jesus entered a village where a woman whose name was Martha welcomed him. She had a sister named Mary who sat beside the Lord at his feet listening to him speak” (Lk.10:38-39).
It is another story only St. Luke has like the parable of the Good Samaritan last Sunday. And like that parable, we have memorized this story so well that we think there is nothing new we can find regarding the attitudes of Martha and Mary in receiving Jesus. Worst of all is when we look at its simplistic interpretation that Jesus favored Mary’s contemplative spirit than Martha’s active characteristic.
Again, Jesus invites us today to suspend our beliefs about the story of Martha and Mary by going deep inside us to discover its true meaning as it tells us something about that inner question we shared last Sunday with the scholar who asked the Lord, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” (Lk.10:25).
Kettle-lamp inside a restaurant in Meribah, Jordan.
Martha, burdened with much serving, came to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me by myself to do the serving? Tell her to help me.” The Lord said to her in reply, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about so many things. There is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken from her.”
Luke 10:40-42
Too often, the simplistic preaching we hear about this story is very unconvincing when some would argue the primacy of the “contemplative spirit” displayed by Mary over Martha’s zeal in hosting or “catering” for Jesus that is both necessary and valuable. Recall the many instances when Jesus also warmly accepted invitations by Pharisees and other sinners like Zacchaeus who also waited on him during meal. Two Sundays ago we heard how Jesus instructed the 72 disciples he had sent to “eat and drink whatever is offered to you” (Lk.10:7) when they are received as guests.
Very clearly, the lesson here is about hospitality that is more than staying at the feet of the Lord like Mary or getting busy at the kitchen like Martha. True hospitality in the Lord is welcoming him right in our hearts whether we are praying or doing something. Hospitality is from the Latin word “hospes” that means to welcome or to receive. In everything we do, whether in our actions and contemplation, it is Jesus who is our only focus and attention. We work in Jesus, through Jesus and with Jesus.
Jesus reproached Martha not for preparing their meal but for being “too anxious and upset” with so many things except him who had come to visit her and Mary. The gospels teem with so many instances where Jesus warned us his followers not to worry so much of the things of the world like food and clothing, money and other forms of security including how we shall defend ourselves against enemies when persecuted. Jesus has us all covered, so to speak.
The problem among so many of us priests and nuns these days is when we have become politicized than evangelized that we are so anxious and upset of so many things that we feel we are the savior of the world. The messianic complex plagues us in the Church where we have been so focused with our call, forgetting our Caller, Jesus Christ. Worst of all, we have stopped praying to Jesus especially in the Blessed Sacrament.
Last Sunday Jesus asked us to look more inside of us so that the more we see ourselves, the more we see him in others. Today, Jesus tells us that the more we become active, the more we must be contemplative looking to him within us. And when we are truly contemplative, we become more active in him with others! At its core is always that deep relationship, personal relationship with the Lord who always comes to visit us.
15th century icon of Abraham’s visitors at Mamre by Russian artist Andrei Rublev.
In the first reading we have heard Abraham welcoming his visitors believed to be the Blessed Trinity at his tent in Mamre. What a lovely story and a scene to behold where Abraham was like Martha busy preparing for the Lord his visitor. But unlike Martha, Abraham was never reproached because the Lord remained his focus in his waiting and hosting! It was during that visit at Mamre when God promised Abraham before leaving that his wife Sarai would bear a son the following year, fulfilling the earlier promise made to him that he would he would be the father of a great nation. If you have time to read further, Abraham’s wife came to be called Sarah from Sarai after the Lord heard her laughed upon hearing him spoke of their having a son the following year. It was Sarah who was reproached by God like Martha for not believing she would bear Abraham a son because she must be anxious and upset with so many other things like her age and being barren. There was no true hospitality in her too like Martha.
Back with Abraham at Mamre, the Lord revealed that true hospitality always leads to salvation, the fulfillment of the Divine promises. There in his tent where Abraham welcomed God wholeheartedly in himself, he received the good news of the birth of Isaac, the fulfillment of being the father of a great nation.
In Nazareth the same thing happened when Mary wholeheartedly welcomed the Angel Gabriel’s good news of the birth of Jesus, the Christ now in us according to St. Paul who is our “hope for glory” (Col.1:27).
In this simple story of Martha and Mary, St. Luke tells us something more than true hospitality, that whenever we receive somebody as a guest, when we reach out to help those in need like the Good Samaritan last Sunday, it is always Jesus whom we meet. Don’t be caught up with so many other things except Jesus because whenever he comes, he always has good news for us! A blessed week to everyone. Amen.
Welcome to our Parish of St. John Evangelist, Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria, Bulacan. Saturday Vigil mass at 5:30 PM and Sunday Masses at 7AM and 5:30PM. Don’t miss Jesus with his blessings and good news for you this Sunday!
Lawiswis ng Salita ni P. Nicanor F. Lalog II, 20 Hulyo 2019
Mula sa Google.
Noong ako'y bata pa Aking pinagtataka Bakit "mabait" ang tawag ni Ina Sa mga daga?
Ngayong ako'y matanda na Aking napagtanto ganyan din mga tao Tinuturing nating mababait Parang bubwit kahit maliit ay buwisit.
Mabait daw ang tahimik at walang imik Mga salitang sinasambit suwabe at walang sabit Ngunit kung makapanlait Malalasap pait ng kanilang pag-iisip.
Bulang-gugo kanilang mga kamay sa pagdamay Hindi nakikipag-away kaya ating palagay Sila'y makakasabay at laging aalalay Ngunit sa paninindigan sila'y sablay.
Iyan ang malaking kaibahan ng mabuting tao: May paninindigan kaya laging nakikipaglaban Para sa katotohanan, katarungan, at kabutihan Magalit ka man o sino pa man.
Sigurado sa sarili ang taong mabuti Hindi nagpapadala sa mga sabi-sabi May busilak kanyang puso at kalooban Kung saan nananahan katarungan at pagmamahal.
Ang bait ng tao naroon sa kanyang isipan Ngunit hindi sapat kung talino lamang ating sasandigan Sapagkat maraming katotohanan Na tanging puso lamang ang nakatatalos.
Si Hesus na tanging Mabuti ang nagsabi Mapapalad ang mayroong malinis na puso At makikita nila ang Diyos Dahil silang mabubuti ang handang mapako sa krus.
Exodus 11:10-12:14 >< }}}*> <*{{{ >< Matthew 12:1-8
Sunset from Bgy. Dapdap, Tagaytay City, 03 July 2019.
Another Friday, another week passing, another new week coming. Thank you so much, O Lord and we are able to move on, to pass over so many challenges and trials.
Every day indeed, O Lord, is an Exodus – a passing over with you leading us, saving us, delivering us from darkness into light, from ignorance into knowledge and wisdom, from sinfulness into grace.
“It is the Passover of the Lord. For on this same night I will go through Egypt, striking down every firstborn of the land, both man and beast, executing judgment on all the gods of Egypt – I, the Lord!”
Exodus 12:11-12
Keep us always ready to go with you, to follow you in every passing over from our Egypt of slavery into freedom of your Promised Land.
We pray, O God, for those among us who are like the Pharisees in the gospel today who see only your laws and rituals but not YOU.
Open our eyes that we may see the main distinction of your every pass over in us is mercy and love.
Come to us Jesus, the Lord of sabbath, and show us the true meaning of your sacrifice which is to find you more among our brothers and sisters.
Let us rediscover anew the beauty and value of life that comes only from you, especially the people around us regardless of their status, color, and creed.
We pray also for those who are struggling in life, those who find it so difficult to make ends meet, those who have to pass over great distances in life just to survive because we have refused to find you among them. Amen.
Lawiswis ng Salita ni P. Nicanor F. Lalog II, ika-18 ng Hulyo 2019
Tuwing tag-ulan Aking binabalikan Paliligo sa ulan Noong aking kamusmusan.
Bakit nga ba sa ating katandaan Hindi na tayo makapaligo sa ulan? Dala ba ng makabagong panahon At iba na ang ating laruan at kasiyahan?
Tayo nga ba ay maselan Dahil marumi na ang ulan? Hindi ba ito ay ating kagagawan Winasak natin magandang kalikasan?
Aking pinaka-iibig kapag umuulan Tubig mula sa kalangitan, pinakikilig aking kaibuturan Bibig dinidilig, pisngi'y dinadampian Habang mukha'y nakatingala kay Bathala.
Ito ang kagandahan at kabutihan Ng paliligo sa ulan Muli nating nararamdaman ating kalikasan Ganan ng ating katauhan.
Nagbabadyang ulan, kay sarap pagmasdan. Aking inaasam-asam, paliligo sa ulan sana’y maisakatuparan!
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