Genesis 41:55-57; 42:5-7, 17-24 >< )))*> Matthew 10:1-7
Pyramids of Egypt. Photo by author, 09 May 2019.
Thank you very much, our loving Father, for making us all come together as family and friends, colleagues and acquaintances on many occasions you have planned in all eternity in your infinite wisdom.
Like the sons of Israel who have come to Egypt to buy food during a famine and the 12 Apostles summoned by your Son Jesus, our coming together for various reasons in different seasons were all caused by your divine will.
The sons of Israel did not know how their coming into Egypt would reunite them with their lost brother Joseph they have maltreated and sold a long time ago. The 12 Apostles never had an inkling at that time how they would be betrayed by one of their very own that they welcomed each other as disciples of Jesus.
In your time, God, you perfectly know when and where and how we would meet the many people we now have in our lives.
Give us the grace to always seek your holy will, your grand design and plan with the people who come to our lives. Let us take care of them as precious gifts of family and friends you give us, let us shower them with your love and attention while still around us. May we never take them for granted, value them always as they value us too as gifts coming from you.
Let us not take them into someone not meant to be in our lives.
We pray also for people without friends and family around them, for those in far and distant lands working away from their loved ones, for those languishing in jails especially the innocent one that they may soon be reunited with their family.
Most of all, our loving Father, may we always see your face on every person we shall meet this day. Amen.
With our fellow pilgrims at the Sphinx in Egypt, 09 May, 2019.
Lawiswis ng Salita ni P. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Ika-09 ng Hulyo 2019
Imahen ng Inmaculada Concepcion sa tuktok ng kampanaryo ng Katedral ng Malolos. Larawan kuha ni Lorenzo Atienza, 12 Hunyo 2019.
Nakakagulat, nakakagimbal Marami ang nagulantang Sa balitang napakinggan Lalawigan ng Bulakan Number one ngayon sa patayan.
Kadluan ng katagalugan Na siyang wika ng mga makata Dito sa Bulakan iba na yata sinasalita: Tokhang na mula sa Bisaya Nawala na ang puso sa pananalita pati sa gawa.
Nasaan mga namumuno ng pamahalaan at Simbahan Paano nagkaganyan itong duyan ng kasaysayan Naging bukirin ng patayan Nang hindi namamalayan o Dahil wala tayong pakialam?
Noon pa mang makalawang taon Pinakamaraming natokhang noong linggo ng Bulakan Natabunan lamang ng balitang pagpatay Ng mga pulis sa walang kamalay-malay na kabataan Kian kanyang pangalan doon sa Kalookan.
Pansamantalang tumigil mga patayan Kinasuhan mga berdugo ni Kian Ngunit kanilang hepe sa Kalookan Binigyan ng pabuya upang pamunuan Pulisya sa buong lalawigan ng Bulakan.
Ano na nga ba nangyari sa atin, mga kababayan? Di lamang nanunungkulan kungdi pati mga mamamayan Wala na ba tayong pakialam Mga dating luntiang sakahan ay tinambakan Upang gawing paradahan ng mga container van?
Bago pa dumating ang tokhang Pinatay na rin mga ilog at sapa natin Kaya maraming lupain naging dagat-dagatan na rin Habang hinahayaan nating gahasain Bulubundukin ng Sierra Madre upang samsamin kayamanan natin.
Nawala na yata pasintabi Pati mga simbahan ginigiba, iniiba Kabanalan hinalinhan ng kaartehan Diyos hindi ni makita o maramdaman Puro palabas, nawala na napapaloob na kahulugan.
Halina at magsuri, magmuni-muni Ating pagbulayan kahulugan nitong buhay Matatagpuan kung ano ating niyuyungyungan Madalas siya rin nating pinahahalagahan At tiyak naroon din ating kayamanan.
Mabuting Pastol, kaawaan at kalingain aming lalawigan na tila pinabayaan ng iyong mga pinagkatiwalaan! Larawan ng luklukan ng Katedral ng Malolos. Kuha ni Lorenzo Atienza, 12 Hunyo 2019.
Genesis 32:23-33 >< )))*> >< )))*> Matthew 9:32-38
Photo by John Bonding, Architecture & Design, May 25, 2019 via Facebook.
Dearest God our Father:
Teach us to live every moment of our lives with you and with one another.
Teach us to be like your servant Jacob who wrestled with you and prevailed that you named him Israel “because you have contended with divine and human beings and have prevailed” (Gen. 32:29).
So many times in this “digital age” when everything is “mass mediated” like our relationships and even faith in you, we have forgotten to live every moment with you and with others.
We are so out of touch with the reality, tinkering with our gadgets that are meant to bring us closer together but have in fact brought us more apart.
We are so concerned with our gadgets than persons and nature and you, Lord.
Until now, we are a “people who are troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd” (Mt.9:36), lacking in real, personal relationships and intimacy with others and you.
We pray through your Son Jesus Christ that you may send us more workers for your harvest, not more gadgets or money or things but persons who love and care. Amen.
Genesis 28:10-22 >< )))*> >< )))*> Matthew 9:18-26
Tourists taking a peek into the awesome ancient city of Petra in Jordan. Photo by author 30 April 2019.
Surprise us always, O Lord!
Surprise us with your simple presence in the most ordinary events and things of daily life.
Envelop us in your surprising presence like Jacob in today’s first reading.
When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he exclaimed, “Truly, the Lord is in this spot, although I did not know it!” In solemn wonder he cried out: “How awesome is this shrine! This is nothing else but an abode of God, and that is the gateway to heaven!”
Genesis 28:16-17
The whole earth, O Lord God, is your abode but we do not know it. Or, we refuse to recognize it most of the time.
Grant us that “solemn wonder” of Jacob beyond ordinary things your presence O God.
Grant us that deep faith on Jesus by the official who begged he could bring back to life his dead daughter.
Grant us that fervent hope of the hemorrhagic woman who reached to touch the tassel of the cloak of Jesus so she can be healed of her sickness.
Like these three people, let us not be limited or constricted by simple and complex things and situations alike because we have an awesome God in you, O Lord!
Thank you in surprising us again with this morning, Lord. Amen.
Sunrise at Lake Tiberias, the Holy Land. Photo by author, 02 May 2019.
Jesus Christ the Good Shepherd always taking care of us all his little sheep, especially the lost and wounded. Photo from Google.
Lately I’ve been winning battles left and right But even winners can get wounded in the fight People say that I’m amazing I’m strong beyond my years But they don’t see inside of me I’m hiding all the tears
They don’t know that I come running home when I fall down.They don’t know who picks me up when no one is around I drop my sword and cry for just a while ‘Coz deep inside this armor The warrior is a child
Some of you must have sang the lyrics above from Gary Valenciano’s 2000 hit “Warrior Is A Child”, our Lord My Chef Music this 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time.
Gary’s song speaks so well of our reflections for today that the only bragging rights we have as disciples of Jesus Christ is to be one with him in his Cross, to be weak and wounded to manifest the power and greatness of God in us.
Almost everybody can identify with this song who seem to be so strong on the outside when in fact inside, we are all hurting in pain – a sick loved one, a broken relationship, a failure in an important exam, a lost family member.
That is discipleship in Christ for only those who truly love are willing to sacrifice and even offer their lives for their beloved. It is from this great love like Jesus Christ we his disciples are gifted with his peace, the only possession we are all allowed to have in order to share with others.
May we persevere in our struggles in life, may we keep on loving and forgiving in the name of Jesus Christ, continue to wage his war against evil and darkness for he is fighting with us, fighting for us.
Photo by Lorenzo Atienza, Malolos Cathedral, 12 June 2019.
Please forgive me for my curiosity: lately I have noticed the sudden sprouting of many “breastfeeding stations” and “lactation sections” in many public places that I feel so tempted getting inside them just to see how the mothers would react.
One of the joys of prayer is how God would communicate with us even with the most crazy ideas we have like that thought of entering a breastfeeding station. I recalled this thought as I dwelt deeply into Isaiah’s prophecy in our first reading today presenting God like a mother comforting her children the Israelites who were exiled to Babylon.
It was one of the lowest points in the history of the Jewish people when they lost everything – family and friends, country and nation, and most of all, their Temple in Jerusalem that they felt they were forsaken by God. As exiles, they were slaves without any freedom at all.
Thus says the Lord: “Rejoice with Jerusalem and be glad because of her, all you who love her, exult, exult with her, all you who were mourning over her! Oh, that you may suck fully of the milk of her comfort, that you may nurse with delight at her abundant breasts! As nurslings, you shall be carried in her arms, and fondled in her lap; as a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you; in Jerusalem you shall find your comfort.”
Isaiah 66:10-11, 12b-13
Sometimes, God allows us to experience several blows and beatings in life not because he punishes us or he takes delight in seeing us suffer; sometimes, we need to be like infants and children again to trust God more, to rely to his goodness. It is the surest way to remind us who we really are. That we are not god.
In our second reading, St. Paul bolstered this imagery of our being children of God by reminding us that the only bragging rights we have as disciples of Jesus is to be one with him in his Cross.
Brothers and sisters: May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.
As children of the Father and disciples of Jesus, our mark of distinction is not found in our greatness, achievements and success but in our being weak, in our being wounded and bruised, always needing the comfort by God like a mother to her children. This is very clear with St. Paul not only in our second reading today but most especially in his second letter to the Corinthians:
“I will rather boast most gladly of my weaknesses, in order that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and constraints, for the sake of Christ; for when I am weak, then I am strong.”
2 Corinthians 12:9-10
It is in our weakness when God is most manifested.
Try listening to anyone bragging about his or her achievements and talents: for a time, we get impressed, we admire them but in the long run, it becomes both convulsing and convoluting. But when we come to learn or hear the sacrifices and sufferings of people even those we do not personally know, we feel uplifted. We remember God and his goodness, his mercy and love.
Crucifix at the side wall of the chapel of St. John Evangelist at Cana, Galilee. Photo by author, 06 May 2019.
Only the disciples of Christ who join him in his Cross can be filled with the gift of peace, the only possession of every disciple. See how how when Jesus sent out the 72 other disciples, he asked them not to bring anything at all. The only thing they must have is the peace of Jesus Christ that they have to share with everyone they visit.
“Go on your way; behold, I am sending you like lambs among wolves. Carry no money bag, no sack, no sandals; and greet no one along the way. Into whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace to this household.'”
Luke 10:3-5
Remember that when Jesus visited his Apostles in the locked upper room on the evening of Easter Sunday, he also greeted them with “peace” or “shalom” which is God’s greatest gift to anyone. Shalom in Hebrew means having a good relationship with one’s self, with others, and with God. Peace is always borne out of love and only those willing to sacrifice, suffer and even die for someone are the ones who truly love.
Mt. St. Paul Retreat House, June 2017.
There can be no peace in our hearts when we are filled with pride and ego. We need to be like children again, relying solely in the powers of our parents.
Last Thursday we brought our niece to her doctor at UST Hospital. While waiting for my sister when she left to get the lab results, I saw my niece feeling sleepy. I asked her to sleep on my lap as I gently rubbed her shoulder until she fell asleep soundly and peacefully.
What an attitude of not being bothered by her sickness because she must have great trust in me her uncle, my sister her mom, and also her doctor!
When we embrace our crosses in life and rely solely in Christ, we can also experience peace within. That is when we can rejoice as Jesus assured us, “your names are written in heaven” (Lk. 10:20).
A blessed week ahead to everyone! Jesus loves you, entrust to him all your worries and woes. Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Recipe for Weddingof Matt Namuco and Marian Joson
29 June 2019, Minor Basilica of the Cathedral of Immaculate Conception, Malolos City,
Lovely bride is my former student from ICSM-Malolos, from elementary to high school.
Congratulations to you, my dearest Marian and Matt!
In God’s infinite wisdom, he had planned in all eternity that you get married on this date – not yesterday or last year, not tomorrow or next week or next month.
God willed that you get married today on the Solemnity of St. Peter and St. Paul, the two pillars of the Church established by our Lord Jesus Christ.
Like you, Marian and Matt, St. Peter and St. Paul are two people of opposite personalities, of different social and cultural backgrounds but were able to overcome these to work together for Jesus Christ. We celebrate their feast together because despite their many differences, they were united in their love for Jesus Christ. It was Christ who brought them together and kept them together so his Church would grow and be what it is today.
The same is true with you, Marian and Matt: Jesus Christ brought you together in spite of your many differences to be united in his love. Most of all, Marian and Matt, Jesus wants you to be his ICONS or images in the world today that has become individualistic.
Sacred Heart Novitiate, July 2018.
An icon or image of Jesus like St. Peter and St. Paul is to be one in the Lord. A man and woman get married to become disciples of Christ, to become one in Christ, to look like Christ. That is the meaning of the word sacrament, visible sign of the saving presence of Jesus in the world.
And that is why the gospel you have chosen for your wedding day is so perfect, the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus gave us his Beatitudes that are actually directions for discipleship. The Beatitudes show us the mystery of Christ himself, calling us into a communion in him to become his icons in the world that has been trying to negate him.
For your wedding, Marian and Matt, let us reflect on the sixth Beatitude of Jesus:
Blessed are the clean of heart, for they will see God.
Matthew 5:8
Remember the Little Prince where the fox told him that “What is essential is invisible to the eye; it is only with the heart one can truly see”?
We can only see God with our hearts. The intellect alone is never enough.
And so it is too with any person.
We can learn and know so many things about another person with our intellect but nothing will be enough for us to truly love him or her unless we let our hearts see the real him or her.
The heart is the wholeness of the person. Yesterday we celebrated the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Sometimes, when we use our minds, we see the world as so dark and so evil. But, if we have hearts that can see, we will be more surprised that there are more goodness, more beauty in this world than what we hear and see in the news and around us.
Marian and Matt, always have a clean heart to see each one’s goodness and beauty.
Always go back to those early days when you first saw each other with your hearts. Aside from the kilig factor, you felt and realized something deeper with each other. The beloved disciple, St. John, wrote in our first reading, “No one has ever seen God. Yet, if we love one another, God remains in us, and his love is brought to perfection in us” (1 Jn. 4:11-12).
And that is how we see God and others: always with our hearts when we love.
Mt. St. Paul Retreat House in Baguio, June 2017.
To have a clean heart, Marian and Matt, is to enter into the mind of Jesus Christ and that is to embrace his Cross. Having a clean heart is becoming one with Jesus Christ, especially in his love and fidelity.
A clean heart is a loving heart that always gives life, other-centered, veritable and enduring. Always in communion with Jesus Christ who gave us the new commandment to love like him by being rooted in the Father.
The love of Christ is the fire that purifies and cleanses our hearts, unifying our intellect, will and emotion that enables us to see oneness in ourselves before God. We see not only the good and the bad sides in ourselves but also among those around us, especially those we love.
Look back at your many experiences, Marian and Matt. Look at your past lives, your struggles, your mistakes and sins. Despite all these, you have also seen and experienced God’s loving presence in you in spite of your many darkness and divisions within.
That is why you are so “blessed”, Marian and Matt, because today on your wedding day, you enter God himself and you are able to “see” him with your loving hearts despite your pains and hurt, failures and shortcomings.
Remember Marian and Matt, you are both not only one in a million but most of all, you are both once in a lifetime made by God for each other. Keep your hearts clean in Jesus Christ so you may always see God in each other. Amen.
All wedding photos by Mindstream Project headed by Patrick Paragoso.
Genesis 23:1-4, 19; 24:1-8, 62-67 >< )))*> Matthew 9:9-13
From Google.
O Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, thank you for this first Friday of the month of July. Like yesterday, it is another “picturesque speechless” in our readings today.
From the first reading, twice did Abraham told his senior servant never to take back his son Isaac to his land of origin in Ur no matter what happens.
“Never take my son back there for any reason,” Abraham told him. The Lord, the God of heaven, who took me from my father’s house and the land of my kin, and who confirmed by oath the promise he then made to me, ‘I will give this land to your descendants’ — he will send his messenger before you, and you will obtain a wife for my son there. If the woman is unwilling to follow you, you will be released from this oath. But never take my son back there!”
Genesis 24:6-8
Help us, O Lord, to never return to our old ways of sins and vices, of broken promises and emptiness in the world. Give us the strength to persevere to bloom where you have planted us. Let us trust in your wisdom. Like Matthew in your gospel today. Let us rise, leave everything behind to follow you.
As Jesus passed by, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the customs post. He said to him, “Follow me.” And he got up and followed him.
Matthew 9:9
It is now the seventh month of 2019, Lord Jesus Christ. Time really flies so fast.
Help us in our struggles, in our efforts to follow you, to never go back to our old ways of sinful life.
Help us regain our moral compass in you. Help us stop our backslides. Most of all, help us in keeping our promises and commitments especially those made to you. Amen.
Going back in time to 300 BC to the ancient city of Petra in Jordan, 30 April 2019.
Waiting for the Mass to start, ready to light the candles. Photo by Lorenzo Atienza, 12 June 2019.
Our loving Father, your words today are so picturesque that I feel so speechless before you with the meanings they convey.
In the first reading when you tested Abraham to offer to you his son Isaac, he at once obeyed you without any question at all so that the following morning, he left for Moriah with his son, two servants, and some wood for the burnt offering.
On the third day, Abraham got sight of the place from afar. Then he said to his servants, “Both of you stay here with the donkey, while the boy and I go on over yonder. We will worship and then come back to you.” Thereupon, Abraham took the wood for the burn offering and laid it on his son Isaac’s shoulders, while he himself carried the fire and the knife.
Genesis 22:4-6
I really wonder O Lord what was in the mind of Abraham? Did he ever doubt you or at least entertain some other thoughts about your mood, of why you made him wait for so long to have a son then suddenly you would ask for him to be offered?
How great indeed is Abraham’s faith in you, O God! He was so composed in speaking to his servants and most especially to his son Isaac on whose shoulders he laid the wood for burnt offering. Not a hint did Abraham spill of your actual command that could have made Isaac fled in fear!
But what I like most is when Abraham carried the fire and the knife. Beautiful images of faith in you God: Abraham kept the warmth and illumination of his faith within him symbolized by the fire he carried and his generosity in offering Isaac symbolized by his knife.
I love that scene, Lord as I ask myself if I could truly offer you like Abraham who or what is most dearest to me?
That scene in the wilderness is complemented by Matthew’s story in the gospel that shows us how Jesus, like Abraham, continued to travel and reach out to you his Father to bring your mercy upon your people.
Jesus entered a boat, made the crossing, and came into his own town. And there people brought to him a paralytic lying on a stretcher. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Courage, child, your sins are forgiven.”
Matthew 9:1-2
Jesus himself is the fire of love who purified our hearts, our desires and most especially, our evil thoughts like some of the scribes there who accused him of blasphemy.
So many times Lord Jesus, we cannot keep the fire of faith burning within us that we keep on harboring evil thoughts in our minds, casting doubts not only on you but most especially with those around us. Like Abraham, teach us to be silent in your love. And like Jesus, teach us how to enter into our brothers and sisters that we may spare them of our evil thoughts. Teach us to speak words of wisdom and power of God to heal those sick among us, most especially us with our many anxieties and mistrust of others.
Teach us to be pure like Abraham in our faith in you and most especially, in our trust in your great mercy. Like Jesus, teach us to keep on crossing the street, of reaching out to others especially those trying so hard to find you.
Let us keep the fire of your faith, hope, and love burning within us, sharing it with others to find the fulfillment of your promises to us all. Amen.
Wednesday, Feast of St. Thomas the Apostle, 03 July 2019
Ephesians 2:19-22 >< )))*> >< )))*> John 20:24-29
Thomas touching the wound of the Risen Jesus. Painting by Caravaggio from Google.
Glory and praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ! As we celebrate today the feast of St. Thomas your Apostle, we recall the unique grace you have given him in encountering you personally despite his weaknesses.
During the Last Supper, he dared to ask you because of his willingness to follow you:
Thomas said to him, “Master, we do not know where you are going; how can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
John 14:5-6
In asking you with that question Lord, St. Thomas led us to realize that “the way and the truth and the life” is a Person, not a doctrine, nor a rule, nor a plan nor a program but YOU alone, Jesus Christ.
Eventually, when you rose again from the dead and he could not believe his fellow Apostles that you have appeared to them that Easter evening, you appeared anew to them with him on the eight day.
Jesus came, although the doors were locked and stood in their midst and said “Peace be with you.” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands, and bring your hand and put it into my side, and do not be unbelieving, but believe.” Thomas answered and said to him, “My Lord and my God.”
John 20:26-28
What a grace you have bestowed on Thomas, Lord Jesus who addressed you in the most personal manner as “My Lord and my God.”
Teach us O Lord to be like St. Thomas that despite our insecurity, we dare to ask you for clarifications to realize how you would want us to encounter you personally. Most of all, to have his courage in admitting our doubts in life that lead us to brighter outcome than any uncertainty.
St. Thomas, pray for us to be strengthened in faith in Jesus Christ, our Lord and our God! Amen.
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