The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul, Wk. X, Yr. II
Memorial of Mary, Mother of the Church, 10 June 2019
Genesis 3:9-15, 20 >< }}}*> <*{{{ >< John 19:25-34
From Google.
As we resume the Ordinary Time today Lord Jesus, remind us not to take this longest period in our liturgical calendar lightly because it is “ordinary”. It must have been your will when you instructed Pope Francis last year to declare every Monday after the Pentecost as the Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church.
Thank you Lord for reminding us today to always relive and fulfill the words you have spoken as you hung upon the Cross:
When Jesus saw his mother, and the disciple whom he loved standing near, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold your son!” Then he said to the disciple, “Behold your mother!” And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home.
John 19:26-27
How wonderful that in one of your final acts before your death, you ensured an adoption arrangement for your mother whom you would leave behind when you finally ascended into heaven to sit at the right hand of the Father.
But more than that, you are also teaching us that Mary as the image of the Church is also our home, that like the beloved disciple, we have to take her home we may come home to her.
Give us that grace in this Ordinary Time as your disciples that we take Mary your Mother as our Mother too, both as an individual and as the Church. What a great honor to be like your beloved disciple that you entrusted your Mother to us. May we be your true disciples always in loving union with you like Mary.
To love Mary and to protect her is to love and protect your Church O Lord that is now under attacks more than ever in history.
Forgive us for the many times we have wounded and hurt in so many instances the Church in the same manner we have done with our own mother.
Teach us to be like you, a faithful and loving son, who thought until the end at your brink of death the safety and security of your Mother and of your Church. Amen.
It’s Pentecost Sunday, the coming of the Holy Spirit to the first disciples of Jesus Christ who were filled with fire and zeal in spreading the good news from Jerusalem to the whole world. But more than an event in the past, Pentecost is something the Church needs so badly these days to continue the work of Christ in the world that has become cold and without direction and fulfillment.
What we need in the Church that has become so rigid and lethargic in one end and pompous and glitzy at the other end is a “perennial Pentecost”, the daily coming of the Holy Spirit to enlighten us again in following and sharing Jesus with others in loving service. We need the Holy Spirit to convert us and go back to Christ in the Blessed Sacrament and the Holy Eucharist which is the sacrament of love.
From Google.
The Blackbyrds’ 1975 hit “Walking in Rhythm” captures the image of somebody filled with the Holy Spirit who is so full of love and life, joy and excitement. The smooth rhythm and blues jazzy beat of the song is so moving and uplifting. It is exactly what the Holy Spirit does when its fire burns and purifies us to realize that our true greatness as human is in being small, in our ability to share to become a part of a larger whole.
“Walking in Rhythm” tells of a man so in love and passionately driven to come home to meet his sweetheart after being away for some time. He is walking in rhythm because he knew he would be complete again when he becomes one with his beloved.
That is essentially the meaning of being a Christian, of being a member of the Church: we become whole with others in Christ. Jesus is our head and we are the body. Every body is important. How sad that whenever we gather every Sunday during the Mass, we are on our own! The priest delivers a boring homily he himself does not understand because he had not prayed nor prepared at all. The congregation are on their own, some asleep, others with thoughts wandering, while the young are either texting or plugged to their playlists. We have to dispose ourselves to the coming of the Holy Spirit always. It is Pentecost or nothing if we want to walk in rhythm, to be fill with life and joy.
From Google.
Like the lover in “Walking in Rhythm”, or the apostles at the Upper Room in Jerusalem during that Pentecost, we have to open ourselves to give a space within us for the Holy Spirit to work in us, to fill us with life and joy. Most of all, with love.
Walking in rhythm Movin' in sound Hummin' to the music Trying to move on I'm walking in rhythm Singin' my song Thinkin' about my baby Tryin to get home....
After the last Mass tonight in every parish, the Paschal Candle is extinguished and from the ambo where it had stayed since the Easter Vigil, it is brought back to the baptistry to signal the start of Ordinary Time tomorrow.
As we have been reflecting these past days, life is a series of coming than of leaving. This is very true in today’s celebration of the Solemnity of the Pentecost: when Jesus ascended into heaven last Sunday, the Holy Spirit now comes to fire up the disciples to continue God’s presence in the world. Last Sunday we said the Ascension does not mean Jesus going to a particular place “up there” but his entry into a higher level of relating with us. Today is the fulfillment of that promise he made, that he would remain with us until the end of time in the power of the Holy Spirit sent by the Father.
Pentecost means fifty. After God handed to Moses the Ten Commandments at Sinai, the Israelites ratified that covenant 50 days after. Eventually when they entered the Promised Land, Pentecost became an agricultural celebration of their harvests that eventually extended into a celebration of weeks. When the Holy Spirit came on that Pentecost day in Jerusalem, it became the “coming out party” of the Church when the Apostles were emboldened to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ to everyone.
In this evolution of the Pentecost from Sinai to Promised Land to the early Church, it has remained true to its essence as life in God. As such, we must keep in mind it is not an isolated event in the past but a reality we must allow to happen every day in our lives. If there is one thing very much missing in the Church these days, it is the Holy Spirit. We need a “perennial Pentecost” to fill us with life and zest in living the Gospel, from the bishops to the priests to every baptized Catholic. See the vibrancy among other Christian denominations. They are so alive while we Catholics as so rigid and lethargic. We need to be “fired up” by the burning fire of the Holy Spirit everyday. It is Pentecost or nothing!
Chair of St. Peter at the High altar of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. From Google.
Above the Chair of St. Peter at the Vatican is a stained glass depicting the coming of the Holy Spirit like a dove. According to Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, that is in essence the Church which is like a window where God and man get in contact. At the middle of that meeting point or contact of God and man is the Holy Spirit. Without the Holy Spirit, we can never be in touch with God and with others. The Holy Spirit is the spirit of love that binds us all with each other and with God in the same manner it unites the Three Persons of the Blessed Trinity to remain as One God. This explains why we heard again today the Gospel three Sundays ago of Jesus teaching about love at the Last Supper.
Jesus said to his disciples: “If you love me, you will keep the commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to be with you always. Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him.”
John 14:15-16, 23
These words are repeated today to present to us the new and definite context of the Pentecost flowing from that Last Supper discourse of Jesus about love, keeping his commandments, and coming of the Holy Spirit.
During his Last Supper, Jesus clearly showed that in the new covenant sealed by his blood, the Law is more than the personification of God: obedience to his commandments and to the Father is first of all an expression of love. Jesus is the new Torah, the new law of love found in his oneness with the Father. On this Pentecost Sunday, we hear again the Last Supper discourse of Jesus to remind us that being Christian is becoming united as one in him as “indwelling of the Father and the Son.”
That can only happen when we allow ourselves to be small. See that at the Ascension, we were presented with an upward movement that called for the need to be light and powerless in order to rise above. Now, Pentecost’s downward movement shows us the need to be small in order to be mixed or fused with God and with others. Every downward push leads to spreading out, of thinning out, of getting small.
As limited beings, our greatness can only be found in our ability to share, to be small to participate and become a part of a larger whole. In our very selves, we cannot do anything. I am so amused to realize this basic truth while watching those crime shows in Netflix like Narcos and Bad Blood where even the most evil men need to be small, to band together to be powerful. We all need conversion which is very essential to be truly great!
For true conversion to happen, there has to be love, even at least, an openness to love. It is no wonder that love is always presented in the fiery shades of red and orange because almost everything is purified and broken into little particles by fire. When love is intense, expect fire to be hotter with its hues of red and orange more aglow. Only when we are willing to be subjected to love’s purifying fire can we be truly filled with the Holy Spirit and its gifts, particularly joy.
Conversion and love demand constant dying into one’s self, of living in the spirit and not in flesh that St. Paul explained in the second reading. We can never be one in Christ without conversion, without getting off our ivory tower of pride and arrogance. We need to go down, if we have to lie face down, so be it. Most of all, oneness with others is impossible without conversion because we cannot insist on ourselves on others. We need to be broken, we need to smash our high walls that keep us away from others. That is what the Holy Spirit’s fire did on that Pentecost Sunday in Jerusalem, the very same thing needed to happen these days in our Church.
Every Sunday when we gather like the Apostles at the Upper Room during the Lord’s supper, we are invited to keep his commandments in love. This can only happen when we pray for conversion through the fire of the Holy Spirit. Let us be open to receive this fire of the Holy Spirit again every Eucharistic celebration so that after our gathering, we may set the world anew in fire with Jesus Christ’s loving presence. Amen.
Quiet Storm by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, 07 June 2019
Statue of the Sacred Heart of Jesus at the Jesuits’ Sacred Heart Retreat House and Seminar Center, Novaliches, Quezon City. Photo by author, July 2018.
It is perhaps the most disarming question of all.
And too often, before answering the question, we try to brush it aside or even belittle it because we always feel the answer is very obvious and yet, it hits us so hard deep within that we could not answer it right away because it demands honesty and sincerity.
Do you love me?
Whether you are a priest or a religious or a layperson, much of the difficulty in answering this question lies on the fact that too often, it comes to us in those moments we have sinned to a loved one. When we were unfaithful and have not loved much as expected.
It was the context when Jesus asked Simon Peter three times “Do you love me?” after their breakfast at the shore of Lake Tiberias three weeks after Easter. Simon knew it so well that he felt sad after the third question of the Lord because it referred to his three denials of Jesus on Holy Thursday evening outside the residence of the chief priest. He must have heard the cock crowing again at that instance.
Church of Gallicantu (Rooster), the site where St. Peter denied the Lord thrice. Photo by author, April 2017.
I realized only last year as a guest spiritual director to our seminarians at the Theologate that our main problem as priests is when we get so focused with our vocation which is the priesthood, forgetting its very essence, Jesus Christ.
It is the Caller, not the call!
When we priests forget Jesus, even if we are so centered even obsessed with priesthood, problems arise. It is a misplaced priority. The call gets into our bloated egos that eventually deteriorate into careerism among us priests that we compete and complain a lot in our assignments. No more ministry because everything comes with a fee. Pains and sufferings have become costs of discipleship and not life.
Eventually, we end up being gods and kings, even larger than the Lord himself in our parishes or particular assignment. We become the standard of everything because we are all-knowing, so great at building churches and other structures, establishing every organization while consciously or unconsciously building cults around our very selves that in the process, we have evicted Jesus Christ completely from our hearts and the parish itself!
The same is true with couples. The husband and wife forget each other, getting focused more with married life and children until eventually, they just drifted apart, becoming strangers to each other and lose all love. This is most evident when couples enter into a sort of spiritual divorce, when they are “so far away” from each other though they still live together “for the sake of the children” or, as we always hear, “alang-alang sa mga bata.”
Love makes us see Jesus in himself and in others too.
In St. John’s account of the third appearance of the risen Lord to the seven apostles who have gone fishing at Lake Tiberias that Sunday morning, no one among them recognized him except the beloved disciple because he was the only one who remained loving Jesus.
When it was already dawn, Jesus was standing on the shore; but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus… who said to them, “Cast the net over the right side of the boat and you will find something.” So they cast it, and were not able to pull it in because of the number of fish. So the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord.”
John 21:4,6-7
Appearance of the Risen Lord at Lake Tiberias. From Google.
Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI recently answered some questions given to him for an interview before the Holy Week. When asked about the festering problem of sex scandal in the Church, he said that is a sign of how we priests have entirely forgotten Jesus Christ, especially to pray to him at the Blessed Sacrament.
That is very true. Jesus could no longer be seen among us, in our person, in our actions, in our way of living, and most especially in our churches that have become so empty of God and so filled of our selves.
We have forgotten the fact that before we were ordained priests, there was Jesus Christ first. We converse with him less in prayer because priesthood demands so much of our time and energy like a profession or a job. Slowly, Jesus is nowhere to be found in us and in our parishes. And that is when we also start to get lost as priests, eaten up by materialism and fame.
The same is true with couples who forget after several years of living together that before they were married, there was also Jesus Christ first in each other. When children start coming, more concerns are shifted on the couple’s career in order to earn more and live comfortably. Couples then forget each other, even their very selves who end up married with their jobs or profession. Eventually, they part ways because they could no longer see each other.
The difficulty in answering the question “do you love me?” is found in the way we do our work, when we just see tasks. No love, no person.
Whatever we do in life, we have to do it with more love because when we love, we remain attached with persons not with things. When we do thing with more love, we have direction because we think of persons, not just goals. When we do things with more love, we see persons because only another person can love, not things. See how Jesus told the crowd who have come with him to the wilderness to pray to the Master to send more laborers to work on the great harvest (Mt.9:38). He did not instruct them and us to pray for more money, more food and clothing because what we really need is love. Only people can love.
Jesus Christ did everything in love, filled with love. That is why he is so gentle and merciful with us sinners. In his love, he sees more the person being defaced by sins and evil, pains and sufferings. And that is why he died on the Cross, the ultimate expression of doing everything in love.
The next time you want to prove your love to anyone, do your work with love, no matter how imperfect your love is. Jesus will fill in the rest because you are so loved.
Live in the love of Christ.
If you have love in your heart, you have been blessed by God;
if you have been loved, you have been touched by God.
The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul, Friday, Easter VII, 07 June 2019
Acts 25:13-21 >< }}}*> >< }}}*> >< }}}*> John 21:15-19
The shore of Lake Tiberias where Jesus asked Simon thrice, “Do you love me?” Photo by author, April 2017.
My dearest sweet Lord Jesus Christ: For the past twenty one years, I have always heard you asking me the same question you asked Simon along the shores of Tiberias. And you always come to me asking me those questions most especially after I have sinned against you, just like when Simon had denied you after you were arrested.
Peter was distressed that he had said to him a third time, “Do you love me?” and he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep…” And when Jesus had said this, he said to Simon, “Follow me.”
John 21:17b,19b
Lord, you know everything about me: you know my innermost thoughts, you know my sins, you know my weaknesses, you know my insecurities, you know my pains and darkness and most of all, you know how imperfectly I love you.
And that is why I am so in love with you, Jesus: I am not worthy of your love and yet you choose to love me, you choose to be patient with me, you choose to forgive me. And you continue to call me to follow you.
You have given me with so much, Lord, and I have given so little to you. Teach me to give more of your love, more of your fidelity, more of your kindness, more of YOU to others.
Keep us all, especially your priests, to always love you first before following you.
So many times, especially in this age, we have forgotten you our Caller and we have been so focused and madly in love with your call which is secondary.
You will always be our first love, Jesus and it is from that love where everything else follows. Amen.
Bronze statues of Jesus conversing with Simon at the shore of Tiberias before his ascension. We have to love Jesus first before we can follow him. Photo by author, April 2017.
Continue praying for us priests. Let us be focused more with Jesus our Caller, not with his call.
The lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul, Thursday, Easter VII, 06 June 2019
Acts 22:30;23:6-11 >< )))*> >< )))*> >< )))*> John 17:20-26
Part of the Mt. Sinai mountain range in Egypt. Photo by author, 07 May 2019.
More than 1500 years before your coming Lord Jesus Christ, God called Moses in a burning bush, introducing himself as “I Am Who Am”. That “name” was more than a word. It was his very presence among the chosen people.
With a name, you enabled us to invoke you, to call you O God for you are always present in us and among us.
But now, your name, your presence gets a deeper meaning in Jesus when he said:
“Righteous Father, the world also does not know you, but I know you, and they know that you sent me. I made known to them your name and I will make it known, that the love with which you loved me may be in them and I in them.”
John 17:25-26
So wonderful, O Lord, the in you, God is more than a mere presence but has become a loving presence among us and in us! In your great sacrifice for us, you did not introduce to us a new word for God’s name but a new mode of presence that anyone who encounters you Jesus encounters the Father too.
And it is always more than that, O God, for you are semper major, always greater.
In Christ Jesus, we encounter you Father as you approach us in him; then, you lead us out beyond our very selves into your infinite greatness and love for you are always more than a presence!
Exactly what you did to St. Paul during his trial in Jerusalem when the Pharisees and the Sadducees joined forces to pin him down eventually quarrelled when he spoke of Christ’s resurrection.
So many times in life when we feel like giving up, when we feel it is over, you suddenly surprise us with sudden turn of events that are so amazing, bringing joy into our hearts and most of all, reassuring us with your love and protection.
We pray for those hoping for miracles, whether big or small, that they may feel your loving presence to realize you are the “emmanu elohim” or Emmanuel for God-is-with-us. Amen.
Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches. Photo by author, July 2018.
Did our prayer help you? Share us your thoughts and prayers too. Follow our blog for your daily recipe for the soul. God bless! fr nick
The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul, Wednesday, Easter VII, 05 June 2019
Acts 20:28-28 >< )))*> >< )))*> >< )))*> John 17:11-19
Facade of the Church of All Nations beside the Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus prayed his “high priestly prayer” consecrating us to the Father. Photo by author, 04 May 2019.
As I prayed last night, O Lord Jesus Christ, I felt out of words for all the love and joy you have poured me yesterday. As I looked back on the day that had passed and meditate on your words today, I do not know what else to say except thank you, thank you, and thank you.
Lifting up his eyes to heaven, Jesus prayed, saying: “Holy Father, keep them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one just as we are one. Consecrate them in truth. Your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I send them into the world. And I consecrate myself for them, so that they also may be consecrated in truth.”
John 17:11,17-19
Wow…! How lovely to hear and experience being prayed for by you, Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God. How comforting to dwell on your prayer for us, consecrating us in truth, consecrating yourself for us so that we may be consecrated in truth.
All these despite our unworthiness. You still consecrated us priests, made us holy not because we are good or talented but all because of your love.
Help us to keep in our minds this great honor is not for our own sake but for the world, to continue your work and mission of consecrating the world to the Father.
Keep us united always in you, Jesus who is the Truth, the we may be able to do your work always of making you present among those in need, present especially in our lives, in our prayers, in our church, in our celebration of the Sacraments.
Lord, we have turned away from you. We have forgotten you. Please cast out from us all these prevailing thoughts in the Church of pomp and pageantry on the pretext of glorifying you with so much rituals and decorations in our churches and celebrations.
Consecration and sanctification can never be equated with silver and gold that adorn our churches while the flock go hungry, remaining in the darkness of ignorance and slavery to sins because we have never worked hard to teach them the truth, you.
How can we be holy, O Lord, when we have become of the world? When we have “perverted the truth to draw disciples away from the people” (Acts 20:30).
What a shame, Jesus our High Priest that we your priests cannot sincerely speak like St. Paul as he bid goodbye to his flock in the first reading:
“I have never wanted anyone’s silver or gold or clothing. You know well that these very hands have served my needs and my companions. In every way I have shown you that by hard work of that sort we must help the weak, and keep in mind the words of the Lord Jesus who himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.'”
Acts 20:33-35
Consecrate us anew, Lord, sanctify us to be one with you again and to serve your truth with fervor and commitment. Forgive us your priests, Lord and let find our way back home to you. Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul, Tuesday, Easter VII, 04 June 2019
Acts 20:17-27 >< )))*> >< )))*> >< )))*> John 17:1-11
Altar of the Church of All Nations beside the Garden of Gethsemane in the Holy Land. Photo by author, April 2017.
I am hesitant in greeting you a good morning, Lord Jesus Christ. How I wish I could have even a fifth of your courage in facing death. All throughout your life here on earth, you faced death squarely. You were never caught by surprise.
Jesus raised his eyes to heaven and said, “Father, the hour has come.”
John 17:1
In the first reading, St. Paul also spoke about his coming death when he summoned the leaders of the church in Ephesus to a meeting in Miletus where he told them that after that meeting, they would never see his face again.
Every day, Lord, we face death every time we make choices and decisions. But rarely are we aware about death with the capital “D” except when we are in extreme danger or when diagnosed with the big “C”.
Last night as I prayed, I got focused about facing death. I am afraid, Lord even though I know that when it comes, I will not feel anything. The pain would be with those I would leave behind, with those who love me and care for me. Yet, I am still afraid.
And that is when you consoled me, making me realize that what is most terrifying with death is when we fail to live authentically. When we waste every opportunity to live fully because coming to terms with death is coming to terms with life too!
That is the reason why you – and the saints – were never afraid with death. That is part of the joy of Easter, of living authentically.
Help us, O Lord, to live truthfully, and fully in your love and mercy so that when our time comes, we have no regrets leaving this life on earth because while still here, we are already one with you in the Father (Jn.17:3).
We pray also for those who are terminally ill, undergoing surgery and other medical procedures today, for those languishing in jail especially those who are innocent, for those barely surviving the many trials of every day living trying to make ends meet. Comfort them, Lord Jesus with your healing presence. Amen.
A sculpture of Jesus’ Agony at the Garden below a window of the Church of All Nations beside the Garden of Gethsemane. Photo by author, April 2017.
Did our prayer help you? Share us your thoughts and prayers too. Follow our blog for your daily recipe for the soul. God bless! fr nick
Lawiswis ng Salita ni P. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Ika-3 ng Hunyo 2019
Larawan mula sa Google.
Noong si Hesus ay nilitis Ni Pilato na tingin sa kanya'y malinis, Ano aniya ang katotohanan Na hanggang ngayon ating tinatanong Sa Panginoong lagi nating hinahamon.
Sayang noon ay hindi tumugon Itong Panginoon sa naturang tanong Upang sana'y maliwanag na sa ating ngayon Kahulugan ng katotohan na palaging naaayon Sa kanya-kanya at sariling interpretasyon.
Ngunit kung ating paglilimi-limihan Hindi sinagot ng Panginoon si Pilato noon Dahil mali ang kanyang tanong: hindo "ano" Kungdi "nasaan" ang katotohanan upang kapag natunton Ito'y maisasabuhay natin sa lahat ng pagkakataon.
Mismong ang Panginoon nagsabi noon Na siya ang daan, ang katotohanan, at ang buhay; Alalaong-baga, itong katotohanan ay isang "person" Kaya naman ang pagsuri sa katotohanan Masasalalay palagi sa pagpapahalaga natin sa buhay.
Umiiral lamang ang kasinungalingan Na siyang kabaligtaran ng katotohanan Kapag katauhan ng kapwa hindi natin pinahahalagahan, Binabale-wala at isinasantabi dangal ng kapwa Kaya lahat ng masasabi ay malayo sa laman ng budhi.
Kung sisikapin lamang natin Mapahalagahan bawat kapwa natin Hindi tayo magsisinungaling o magmamagaling Dahil maliwanag di lamang sa isipan natin Yaring katotohanang nananahan sa puso natin.
We are fast approaching the closing of your Easter Season, Lord Jesus, but your daily readings remind us that following you is not all glory. The joy of Easter remains to be found in the Cross of your Good Friday.
Behold, the hour is coming and has arrived when each of you will be scattered to his own home and you will leave me alone. But I am not alone, because the Father is with me. I have told you this so that you might have peace in me. In the world you will have trouble, but take courage, I have conquered the world.
John 16:32-33
It is very true, Lord Jesus, how in the world we always have trouble witnessing for what is true and good, for what right and just, for what is decent and moral.
We are so scattered not only due to our running away from you but also scattered within us when we often choose what we know is wrong and sinful but later get so bothered and guilty without any peace at all.
Free us, Jesus from the powers of darkness that envelop us and let your Holy Spirit enlighten our minds and our hearts to follow your holy will even to the Cross.
Let it sink into our hearts that there is no shortcut to peace, that we always have to allow your Holy Spirit to work in us like the example of St. Paul when he preached you among the people of Ephesus.
True peace in you can only come from love borne out in the spirit of justice and respect for life and persons. Like St. Charles Lwanga and his 21 companion martyrs in Uganda, help us to see our value as a person, keeping our body, mind and spirit clean from all sins.
Help us muster your gift of courage in our hearts like the martyrs to witness your truth and your love. Amen.
Did our prayer help you? Share us your thoughts and prayers too. Follow our blog for your daily recipe for the soul. God bless! fr nick
lordmychef.com 