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
The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Music, Ascension Sunday, 02 June 2019
Pilgrims on top of Mt. Sinai, Egypt. Photo by Atty. Grace Polaris Rivas-Beron, 07 May 2019.
Today is the Solemnity of the Ascension of Jesus Christ, the beginning of a new level of “nearness of God” with us.
And that explains the reason for our music this Sunday, “The Nearness of You” composed way back in 1938 by Hoagy Carmichael with lyrics by Ned Washington. The song debuted in 194o and since then has delighted many hearts and souls with its lovely melody and music interpreted by so many artists in every generation.
I have chosen Rod Stewart’s version taken from his 2002 album It Had to be You: The Great American Songbook because the song fits him so well. Yes, Rod is a rocker but he had matured so well that after all the noise, he has grown deeper in his art that his unique voice suddenly had acquired a depth coming not only from the heart but even from the soul. I won’t be surprised at all if one day Rod Stewart would be talking about some sort of spirituality and holiness.
Now back to our Sunday celebration of the Ascension of Jesus Christ…
15th century Greek icon of the Ascension of Jesus. From Google.
In the gospel today, St. Luke tells us that after Jesus had ascended into heave, the disciples “returned to Jerusalem filled with great joy.”
That is totally strange because whenever someone leaves, the general feeling is always sadness like when we have to change residence or old neighbors move out, when loved ones have to go abroad to work or worst, when a beloved dies. They all bring sadness.
Where did that great joy among the disciples of Jesus come from after the Lord had ascended into heaven?
From their hearts! The key to understanding and appreciating the Ascension of Jesus into heaven is not in looking up the skies or looking down on the ground where he stood. It is in looking deep into our hearts.
Anything that remains in our head or in our mind is always open to doubts. When that truth we believe in sinks into our hearts, then we get the conviction that it is really true. And that is when we experience great joy within: It is in the heart where we come to conviction that leads us into living authentically no matter how painful that truth may be. That is why there are saints and heroes – including lovers – willing to die for their beliefs because they are so convinced with the truth in their hearts.
From Google.
At the Ascension, the disciples had the conviction that Jesus is truly alive, that his going to heaven is more of coming to a new level of existence and relating with them, something no longer bounded by time and space, something always so near and so personal.
It is the same feeling we have with those we love. Even if they are not physically present with us, we feel their nearness because we love.
There lies the beauty and timelessness of the song “The Nearness of You”: nothing beats the love that brings us so close, so near with one another. Unless we have that deep conviction and love for a person, we will never rise up – or ascend – to higher level of relationship that is so near, so close.
It's not the pale moon that excites me That thrills and delights me, oh no It's just the nearness of you
It isn't your sweet conversation That brings this sensation, oh no It's just the nearness of you
When you're in my arms And I feel you so close to me All my wildest dreams come true
If you can say these words to a beloved, imagine when you level this up to Jesus Christ? That would definitely be a new level of nearness with him and with others.
The Chapel of the Ascension believed to be the site where Jesus stood before ascending into heaven while his disciples looked at. Photo by author, 04 May 2019.
Outside the old city of Jerusalem on the Mount of Olives is the Chapel of the Ascension believed to be the site of Jesus Christ’s Ascension into heaven. Though the octagon-shaped structure is massive and very high, it is quite small inside with just one door for entrance and exit. Immediately upon entering that door on the floor is a framed slab of stone called the “Ascension Rock” venerated by pilgrims because that is where Jesus stood before going up to heaven.
The Ascension Rock. Photo by author, April 2017.
But personally, in the two occasions I have been there in 2017 and last month, my focus have always been more on the four windows of the chapel’s dome.
The rays of light coming through them have always evoked in me the beauty of Christ’s Ascension with a feeling that is so uplifting. The morning rays of the sun gently filling the room with light warms your heart as if angels are keeping you company like what we heard from the first reading during the Ascension of Jesus.
A window at the dome of the Chapel of the Ascension. Photo by author, April 2017.
As I prayed this week on the meaning of the Solemnity of the Ascension by recalling my two pilgrimages to the Holy Land in the light of our readings today, it is only now have I realized that the key to this feast is not found in looking up to the skies or looking down on where Jesus stood before going up to heaven.
It is in looking more into our hearts, looking deep inside us can we truly find the meaning of the Ascension of the Lord.
This feast is an invitation to get inside our hearts, not just into our minds and imagination to appreciate the words of Jesus Christ these past two Sundays about his “going and coming in a little while” (Jn.13:31, 33;14:25;16:16,20).
Remember how Jesus these past two weeks kept on speaking about his leaving and his coming at the same time? Of how we reflected last Sunday that in life, we do not really leave but simply come into new level of existence and new level of relating with God and with others?
Then he led them out as far as Bethany, raised his hands, and blessed them. As he blessed them he parted from them and was taken up to heaven. They did him homage and then returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and they were continually in the temple praising God.
Luke 24:50-53
Normally, it is sadness that we feel most in every leaving and departures: when kids leave home to pursue college somewhere, when a father or a mother leaves abroad to work over a long period of time, or a beloved dies. Though the cliche may be right sometimes that “parting is such a sweet, sweet sorrow”, the fact remains there is always sadness whenever we leave or somebody leaves us.
That is why St. Luke’s account of the Ascension is strange when he tells us that Christ’s disciples “then returned to Jerusalem with great joy” after the Ascension. St. Luke does not give any hint or a tinge of sadness among the disciples when Jesus left them to sit at the right hand of God almighty Father in heaven. And, the Holy Spirit has not come down yet. Where did the disciples get this great joy after Jesus had left?
Detail of a 15th century Greek Orthodox icon of the Ascension of Christ with Mary so calm while the apostles very animated, eager to proclaim the gospel. From Google.
We do not have the details at how this great shift happened that the disciples were filled with great joy after Ascension but, the Scriptures and the stories of the saints as well as those of some true heroes provide us with some answers and reasons.
According to St. Luke as well as the other evangelists, Jesus came to see his disciples for many days (40 according to Luke) after Easter. The Lord taught them with some more lessons preparing them for his coming Ascension. Most of all, Jesus made his disciples experienced his new mode of presence in his glorious body. He showed them his wounds and dined with them so often to convince them that he had really risen.
In all instances of his appearances, there was always joy among the disciples. Slowly, the disciples’ joy in knowing Jesus is risen deepened into great joy at the Ascension when this truth sank deeper into their hearts too that they have finally and truly accepted Jesus is alive!
When a truth or a reality stays only in our minds, that is always open to doubts. But, the moment that truth or reality we know is brought down to our hearts, that is only when we truly accept it as really true. And that is when we are filled with great joy because we are already convinced without any doubts of the truth or reality we have received.
Saints and heroes alike find great joy in their sufferings and death because of their convictions in their hearts that what they knew in their minds are very true. They lead “authentic” lives because what they knew in their minds was what they felt in their hearts that they eventually say and do. It is only in authentic living can we find great joy in living, no matter how painful or difficult it may be.
15th century Greek Orthodox icon of the Ascension. From Google.
And that is the great joy in the Ascension of Jesus Christ: the disciples, like us, start living authentically because we are deeply convinced that the Lord had not left us but had in fact launched a new level of nearness with us. His Ascension is the finality of the redemption he had won for us coming right into our hearts when we realize that Jesus did not simply die and rose again for a nameless mass of people. He did everything personally for each one of us.
This is what social media can never give us. Despite its great popularity, social media have left many of us still sad and even sick with various forms of mental illnesses. Everything that happens in the Net often remains up in our heads, rarely sinking into our hearts that still keep us apart despite our connections.
In his message for the 53rd World Communications Sunday we also celebrate today, Pope Francis invites us to connect deeper into the human community and not just in social network communities. The Holy Father stresses that interconnection must go down into personal encounters in the flesh, not just in virtual reality, calling for a shift from “likes” to “amen”.
Poster by Kendrick Ivan Panganiban.
How ironic that all these modern means of communications were invented to bring us all closer together but it seems the opposite is happening. We are growing apart and have become more impersonal than ever! We are all guilty of so often clicking the “like” button without having read the complete post or seen the photos of our relatives and friends. We rarely take time to “process” what we read and see on Facebook by people we call “friends” who often number to thousands. What an inauthentic way of living!
The Ascension of the Lord is a call to authentic living as it launched a new level of nearness of God with us and us with him and with one another. Unlike in the Old Testament as the author of the Letter to the Hebrews explained, Jesus did not enter a sanctuary made of human hands, referring to the old Temple worship that was never complete due to human imperfections. When Jesus came and went through his pasch, he brought God closest to us. We can rise up or ascend to his new level of relationship, new level of existence by rising up also from our infirmities and limitations in him who dwells in our hearts. A joyful month of June to you! Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul, Friday, Easter VI
Feast of the Visitation of Mary, 31 May 2019
Zephaniah 3:14-18 >< }}}*> <*{{{ >< Luke 1:39-56
Bronze Statues of Mary visiting Elizabeth at the patio of the Church of Visitation, Ein-Karem, Israel. Photo by author, April 2017.
Like the Blessed Virgin Mary in today’s feast of the Visitation, I rejoice in you O God:
“My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant. From this day all generations will call me blessed: the Almighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name.”
Luke 1:46-49
And like her cousin Elizabeth, O Lord, I also wonder:
“And how does this happen to me, that (the mother of) my Lord should come to me?”
Luke 1:43
You always surprise me, O Lord, whenever you would come to visit me and do great things for me that people recognize you in me.
Of course, it feels good, Lord, when people affirm us for doing your work.
Problem is, fear creeps into us the moment we see the great tasks and mission you have for us. That is when we start wondering why visit us, Lord or why choose us, Lord? Then, we look at others, telling you they are better than us in doing your work.
And that is when we walk away from you, or worst, if we remain, we pretend to be doing your work.
Give us the grace of humility like Mary to accept and own our blessedness from you, of being chosen by you for a specific work and mission. Give us the grace to walk and live in the truth of being blessed like Mary to share you, Jesus, with others.
Visit us always, Lord, to surprise us of your great works in us so we may visit others too to share you with them.
Like Mary, let us welcome you in your every visitation to us.
Most of all, like Mary, let us always believe your words would be fulfilled in us, O Lord. Amen.
Church of Visitation at Ein Karem, Israel. Photo by author, April 2017.
The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul, Thursday, Easter VI, 30 May 2019
Acts 18:1-8 >< }}}*> <*{{{ >< John 16:16-20
From Google.
My dearest Jesus Christ, I am tired. There are times I just force myself to do your work, fighting off temptations of disappointments and disillusions. Like your apostles, I am baffled with your words:
“A little while and you will no longer see me, and again a little while later and you will see me… Amen, amen, I say to you, you will weep and mourn, while the world rejoices; you will grieve, but your grief will become joy.”
John 16:16, 20
A little while… you were with us, Lord. Not only during those 33 years you spent on earth more than 2000 years ago. A little while in times of joy and success, we feel you so close, Jesus.
But then, a little while, we no longer see you. Not only during those three days of your pasch from Holy Thursday evening to Holy Saturday but especially when we go through our own passion and little deaths.
And a little while later, we see you again in our little resurrections in life, every time we hurdle some obstacles here and there.
Give us the grace always, Lord Jesus, to persevere in our many hardships and trials in life to find you and meet you in between those “little whiles”.
Like St. Paul in the first reading, help us to move on, to accept this is your work and not ours, that our standards are different from yours when defeat for us is victory for you, or when loss for us is a gain for you.
Strengthen us inside, Jesus, so we may be focused on you alone, waiting to encounter you, to meet you in the Church, in your many Sacraments and signs. In these tensions of your being here and not yet, of your sure coming, may we be always on guard and present to meet you. Amen.
Stations of the Cross on the wall of the Catholic Church inside the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. Photo by the author, 03 May 2019.
Did our prayer touch you? Share us your thoughts and prayers. You are prayed for. Follow our blog for you daily recipe for the soul. God bless you! fr nick
The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul, Wednesday, Easter Wk. VI, 29 May 2019
Acts 17:15,22-18:1 >< }}}*> John 16:12-15 >< }}}*>
My dearest Lord Jesus: As I prayed last night, I cannot remove from my mind that beautiful sight of a man in a chapel, so absorbed in conversing with you, that he seemed to have lost his head in prayer.
Photo by JJ Jimeno of GMA News, UP Chapel, 27 May 2019.
Today our readings speak of the need to lose our selves in you.
St. Paul tried to win over the people of Athens at the Areopagus, proclaiming your Gospel without condemning or attacking their religion. He even cited their shrine “To An Unknown God” (Acts 17:23) as a step closer to discovering you and following you as the true God.
He never lost his cool even when people did not believe his teachings of your resurrection from the dead. He simply had himself lost to your will and left Athens to proceed to Corinth where you have prepared great things for his ministry.
Lord, so many times, we cannot let go of our heads, of our know-it-all-attitude in life that we cannot let go and let God.
Let us always remember your words during the Last Supper, “I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now” (Jn.16:12).
Let us be patient, waiting for your Holy Spirit to come to us, to fill us with your wisdom, to remind us of your teachings and to guide us in doing your work.
Let us lose not only our heads but our very selves to you so we may do your work in the way you would want it be done. Amen.
Photo by the author, parish sacristy, 10 March 2019.
Did our prayer touch you? Share us your thoughts and prayers. You are prayed for. Follow our blog for you daily recipe for the soul. God bless you! fr nick
Lawiswis ng Salita ni P. Nicanor F. Lalog, ika-27 ng Mayo 2019
Larawan mula sa Google.
Ipagpaumanhin kahit ako'y hindi naman mahinhin Bakit tila baga tayo ay nahuhumaling sa mga usapin At paksang karimarimarim kung saa'y Kalaswaan nagiging isang katatawanan?
Hindi lamang minsan kungdi kadalasan Ito na nga yata katauhan ng mama sa Malakanyang Na kung hindi kasinungalingan o kalokohan Kasalahulaan at kalaswaan laging binibitiwan.
Kailanman ay hindi katatawanan Gawing biro lamang o paksa sa usapan Na wala namang katuturan Panghahalay sa kababaihan.
Larawan mula sa Google.
Simula't sapul palagi na lamang Kababaihan tampulan ng mga panlalait at sisihan Na tila baga walang kasalanan Mga kalalakihan sakdal sa kalinisan at kahusayan.
Madalas hindi nalalaman ng kalalakihan Hinugot ang babae sa kanyang tadyang Hindi lamang upang siya ay ingatan at pangalagaan Kungdi dahil kapantay sa dangal at katauhan.
Sa lahat ng paglapastangan sa kababaihan Panghahalay ang kasukdulan Dahil niyuyurakan sinapupunan Na siyang pinanggalingan ng sangkatauhan.
Larawan mula sa Google.
Napakinggan mo na ba Daing na hindi maisigaw o maibulalas Ng isang hinalay, lalo na yaong nag-alay ng buhay Upang mamasukan sa ibang bansa?
Nakita mo na ba mga mata na hindi makatingin Ulo ay nakatungo dahil sa bangungot na hindi magising Luha hindi mapahirin sa bigat at sakit ng damdamin Ng isang babaeng hinalay o puri'y nadungisan?
Aynakupo...! Nag-aalimpuyong galit kasabay Ang pait at sakit sa tiyan at dibdib Na halos ika'y mabuwal at maduwal Sa gayong sinapit na dama pa rin ang sakit.
Ang pinakamalupit kapag babae ay hinalay Ay iyong mapagtanto na isa itong impakto Nagkukubli sa inapi na maaring babaeng iyong itinatangi: Sariling ina o asawa, kapatid o anak.
Kapag kalaswaan ay nagiging isang katatawanan Dangal ng katauhan di lamang ng kababaihan Ang hindi na pinahahalagahan hanggang maubos ang halakhakan Dahil mga tao'y magsasakmalan na parang mga hayop na lamang.
Estatwa ni Maria nang dalawin niya si Elizabeth sa kaburulan ng Judea; mula sa kanilang sinapupunan sumilang ating kaligtasang hatid ni Hesus na inihanda ni Juan Bautista. Dalawang kababaihan kumakatawan sa kadakilaan at karangalan ng mga babae sa ating buhay: ina, asawa, kapatid, anak, at kaibigan. Larawan ng may-akda, Abril 2017.
The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul, Tuesday, Easter Wk. VI, 28 May 2019
Acts 16:22-34 >< }}}*> John 16:5-11 >< }}}*>
Church of St. Peter Gallicantu (Rooster), Jerusalem, 05 May 2019.
Praise and glory to you, O God our loving Father! Thank you for the night, whether we were able to sleep soundly or not; thank you for the rains, for the sunrise, for the brand new day! Thank you for the internet, thank for the grace of prayer, thank you for the gift of life.
Thank you for your gift of presence in Jesus Christ!
Your readings for today remind us that every presence is always a gift. It is always best to have even a little of anything than nothing at all.
Some of us while reading this still have same problems that persist like a sickness not getting worse, bills to be paid, debts piling up, problems getting bigger. Sometimes for many of us, life is so dark that we cannot even feel you, Lord.
In moments we feel like giving up in life, giving up on you, Jesus, please send us a St. Paul who would shout in a loud voice to us like in the first reading, “Do no harm to yourself; we are all here” (Acts 16:28).
Give us the grace and courage to be present to anyone like St. Paul so we can uplift their sagging spirits and continue to find meaning in life in our simple presence.
Fill us with the Holy Spirit to bring joy and conviction to those who doubt you. May they believe in you and find your presence, find fulfillment to be reassured of the beauty of life. Amen.
Sunset in the desert of Jordan on our way to Amman, 01 May 2019.
Did our prayer touch you? Share us your thoughts and prayers. You are prayed for. Follow our blog for you daily recipe for the soul. God bless you! fr nick
The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul, Easter Week VI, 27 May 2019
Acts 16:11-15 >< }}}*> <*{{{ >< John 15:26-16:4
Photo by Dra. Mai dela Pena, Carmel Monastery in Israel, 2014.
Praise and glory to you O Lord Jesus Christ! Today I praise and thank you in a very special way because of this immense love you have made me experience these days. I feel so blessed because I feel so loved. And I feel so loving too.
You know O Lord I have always looked down at myself, always doubting my abilities and most of all, my goodness. Every time I go on my personal retreats, in my own silent moments with you, I find it so hard to see myself as you see me — a beloved one.
So many times even if I know you have forgiven me for my many sins, I always still feel unworthy and untidy before you.
But when people come to thank me, to remind me of some kindness and charity I have extended them, you overwhelm me.
Maybe that’s the problem with us: we always doubt you love us, that we are loved, that we mean so much to other people. We tend to look on our dark side than on the bright moments you have worked in us and through us.
Teach us to be realistic and humble like Paul who was prevailed upon by Lydia in her generosity to receive them because of their goodness coming from you.
You are absolutely right, Lord Jesus: some people think they are doing God a big favor hurting us your followers because they have not really known you and the Father.
They have never experienced really knowing you, entering into a relationship with you as a person, as a Father, as a Brother.
That’s what make Christianity so different where we have a relating God, a God who knows when to give us that proverbial pat on the shoulders when we forget our goodness in you. You are a personal God who knows us and relates with us.
We pray for those burdened today, for those who feel neglected and even useless because of their plight and sorry condition. Remind us always that despite our many flaws and weaknesses, sins and failures in life, you still love us and would always love us no matter what. Amen.
Our pilgrimage team at Petra in Jordan, 01 May 2019.
Did our prayer touch you? Share us your thoughts and prayers. You are prayed for. Follow us for you daily recipe for the soul. God bless you! fr nick
It’s a lovely day but before thoughts of the work load waiting for you tomorrow distract you, here’s The Boomtown Rats’ 1979 hit “I Don’t Like Mondays” for our last Lord My Chef Sunday Music this month of May.
Written by Sir Bob Geldof and his fellow Irish Johnnie Fingers, I Don’t Like Mondays is a song about the 1979 Cleveland Elementary School Shooting in San Diego, California that killed two adults and injured eight children and a police officer.
According to Geldof, he wrote the song after reading a telex report of the shooting incident while being interviewed at Georgia State University’s campus radio station WRAS. In that report, he learned how 16-year-old Brenda Ann Spencer fired at children in a school playground in San Diego because she said, “I don’t like Mondays. This livens up the day.”
Geldof found Spencer strange who also showed no remorse for her crime. She gave no other answers except “I don’t like Mondays” when journalists asked her to “tell me why” the shooting spree. On his way to his hotel, Geldof kept thinking about Spencer’s “senseless reason for the senseless act” that he told himself the “silicon chip inside her head had switched to overload.” He then wrote the song “to illustrate the perfect senseless reason for doing the perfect senseless act.”
Geldof clarified he never intended to exploit the tragedy though, after many years later, he admitted he regretted writing the song that made “Spencer famous.” The song hit the number spot in the UK charts after its release but reached only the 73rd spot in the US where the Spencers tried unsuccessfully to prevent the single from being released there.
In our reflection for this Sunday’s gospel, we said the Holy Spirit promised by Jesus and sent by his Father acts as the “memory” of the Church. Jesus told his disciples during their Last Supper that the “Advocate, the Holy Spirit will teach you everything and remind you of all that I told you” (Jn.14:26).
Like the “silicon chip” of a computer, the Holy Spirit “processes” in us the meaning of the words of the Sacred Scriptures so that we can respond accordingly to the many issues presented to us by the modern world. In that way, we continue to become the presence of Jesus Christ today where some people have become not only senseless but also loveless, causing so many pains and miseries among us.
I Don’t Like Mondays reminds us that despite the modern technologies we have today, what is still most essential among us is the love we have inside, the respect and concern we have for others around us. And this can only be found in Jesus Christ who dwells inside our hearts. Let us “switch” him on and become his presence of love and mercy in this world that is becoming heartless and even senseless sometimes.
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