Epiphany: New Beginnings in Christ

The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe

Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord, 06 January 2019

Isaiah 60:1-6///Ephesians 3:2-3, 5-6///Matthew 2:1-12

Metro Manila’s main thoroughfare is called EDSA for Epifanio delos Santos Avenue. Its namesake is a famous scholar from the province of Rizal whose name means “manifestation” or “appearance” from the Greek epiphanes. EDSA today may be considered as the epiphany of everything that is wrong in the country, from government inefficiency to people lacking in discipline and patriotism. Mention the word EDSA and you feel sad and gloomy all of a sudden. On the other hand, the Epiphany we celebrate today brings joy and jubilation because it is the manifestation of the universal kingdom of Jesus Christ to the pagans symbolized by the magi from the East. After the octave of Christmas, it is celebrated within this joyous season to remind us that while deep within each one of us is a natural search or inclination for God, it is actually God who looks for us and eventually finds us. Though it is God who appears to us or “epiphanies” to us, we have to be like the magi who must look and find Him as well as lead others to Him too!

When Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of King Herod, behold, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying, “Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We saw his star at its rising and have come to do him homage.” (Mt. 2:1-2)

It takes a wise person to search for Jesus – and a wiser person to lead others to Him! How sad that so many people today feel so lost and could not find the right directions to Jesus because as we have reflected last Christmas, there are so many of us who pretend to be the Christ. When somebody comes to us, seeking comfort or counsel or simply company, do they find the newborn King in us? When people come to our homes, do they experience Jesus in our family? When people come to pray and celebrate the sacraments in our parish or chapel, do they find Christ present there among the people and the place itself? How sad that so many churches are desecrated in the name of finding Christ among the people that we have allowed everything and everyone to disregard their sanctity with so much pomp and pageantry that tend to manifest more the pride and ego, or insecurities of those in charge of these sacred places. People continue to search for that Bethlehem where they could find rest and comfort, solace and consolation in the newborn king Jesus Christ. The Epiphany of the Lord reminds us that Christ came to the world to be the fulfillment of everyone and He had become human like us in everything except sin so we can find Him easily. There are many symbolisms that may be gleaned from these wise men representing us today.

They are sometimes called as kings as attested from our first reading, “Rise up in splendor! Your light has come, the glory of the Lord shines upon you… Nations shall walk by your light; kings by your shining radiance. Caravans of camels shall fill you, dromedaries from Midian and Ephah; all from Sheba shall come bearing gold and frankincense, and proclaiming the praises of the Lord” (Is.60:1, 4, 6). From this part of Isaiah’s prophecy we also got that picture of the three wise men travelling as kings from the farthest parts of the world of that time riding on camels to show that even the most powerful men of the world recognize Jesus as the King of Kings. In our responsorial psalm today, we heard ancient places that extend from the extreme west like Tarshish which is in Tartessos, Spain up to the isles off the coast of Africa and the Middle East which is part of Asia to represent rulers of the world who would come to worship Christ. Notice how these places mentioned in Isaiah and Psalms refer to the three continents known during that time, namely, Africa, Asia, and Europe symbolizing the whole world coming to Christ. Some Church Fathers even preached that the three kings symbolize the three stages of our life where Christ leads and guides us: youth, maturity and old age. In whatever state or stage of life we are, true wisdom and peace can only be found in Christ Jesus regardless of our differences.

But above all of these we find that with the wise men coming from the East where the sun rises is that they show us the Epiphany as a new beginning in our lives. The magi represent our inner journey in life to find and follow Jesus Christ. Last year, I have dwelt a lot in that realization that life is more of a directional than a destination. What matters most in life is that we keep on following Jesus Christ our light, our star. That is direction, where He is leading us. It never stops. We just keep on following Him until we reach our final destination in heaven for we are all “coheirs, members of the same body, and copartners in the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel” (Eph. 3:6). This direction we have to follow in life never stops for the discovery of God is not the end but the beginning of a journey. And in this journey in Jesus Christ, we do not simply go as followers but are expected to eventually become believers too. Matthew noted at the end of the gospel today how the magi“departed for their country by another way” (Mt. 2: 12), meaning they have become believers eventually of Christ. Their lives have changed and must have never been the same as before after finding Jesus because they have believed. That is their big advantage and difference with Herod and the experts of Jerusalem who knew everything about the Messiah being born in Bethlehem but refused to believe Him. This is the danger with us today: many Christians today are mere followers but not wise enough to be believers of Christ.

Like those young people aspiring to follow their stars at GMA-7’s talent search program “StarStruck”, we also need to dream, believe,and survive. We all dream to be fulfilled in life. And every lofty dream is always from above, from God as Matthew told us this Christmas the dreams of Joseph and now the dream of the magi. It is said that those who dream with their eyes wide open are the real dreamers, the trailblazers who change the world. That is because they did not only believe in their dreams and with themselves but most of all, they believed in God. On this Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord, He is inviting us to dream and believe so that we may live fully in Him. Every day is a new beginning to search and follow and believe Jesus Christ our light. Today we are given with over 350 days to begin anew in Jesus. Be wise. Search Him. Follow Him. Believe Him. Happy Epiphany of the Lord! AMEN. Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Parokya ng San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Gov. F. Halili Ave., Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria, Bulacan

*Photos from Google.

starstruck

Let the Light of Christ Shine In You

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Quiet Storm by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, 02 January 2019

I come from the fireworks capital of the country, Bocaue in Bulacan about 25 kms. north of Manila. Unlike most of my town mates, I have always advocated for the total ban of manufacture and sale of fireworks and firecrackers long before I became a priest. My first reason is because I have seen firsthand how many lives were lost in the manufacture and use of these products meant to bring good luck and more life. My second reason is simply because it is a pagan practice. What an irony it is so widespread in our country considered to be the only Christian nation in this part of the world! The best way to welcome every New Year is to pray in silence to thank God for all the graces of the past year and to ask Him to keep us anew and to guide us through 2019.

My third reason why fireworks and firecrackers must be banned is the fact these destroy and damage our already fragile environment. While many are rejoicing that firecracker injuries are down by 68% this New Year celebrations, air quality almost everywhere remained dismal and even hazardous especially for the sick and elderly people. Coming home to my parish after midnight of January 01, I thought my staff members have forgotten to turn on the lights outside the church or worst, there was a brownout because our whole neighborhood was so dark. It turned out that thick smokes from the fireworks and firecrackers lit earlier to brighten our lives this 2019 have actually darkened our whole surroundings! The scene was very surreal that spoke a lot of our inconsistencies and stupidity as a nation and most of all, as Christians. How crazy that we as Christians are not only imitating the pagans in welcoming the New Year in the hope to better our lives when in fact we are destroying life itself in damaging the environment!

Jesus Christ was born more than 2000 years ago during the darkest night of the year at winter primarily to be our light. This is what Christmas reminds us at the end of each year as we usher in the new one that we have no other light but Christ alone. And the light of Christ shines not from any bright star or comet up in the sky but right from the faces and hearts of every believer to whom Jesus is born within. This is the daily challenge we all face that we must let the light of Christ shine in us so that people are illumined by His light not by our selfish, bloated ego projected by our supposed to be bright ideas. How sad that even in the Church and among us priests, what we really project is our own light not Christ’s. We cannot have the humility of John the Baptizer to admit that we are not the Christ because like during the first Christmas, so many modern day Caesars and Herods continue to claim these days that they are the Messiah or Savior of the world, even in the name of Jesus.

To be a light of Christ in the world requires us His disciples to first withdraw from the limelight and go back to Jesus in prayer and meditations. We are now living our faith in a mass-mediated culture but it does not mean we have to immerse into social media and other modern forms of communication. We in the Church, both the clergy and the lay people have to realize and understand that while these modern communications are a gift from God, we do not have to allow it to overwhelm us that eventually, unknown to us, become our guide replacing Jesus Christ. What a pity that many churches today look like conference halls with giant TV screens everywhere, tarpaulins covering every wall even the altar that people could no longer feel the sense of the sacred. See how some priests have become as entertainers even clowns with all the jokes and antics without delivering any homily at all. Or act like marketing agents using power points to deliver homilies without any point at all. There are churches that have become ballrooms in total disregard of the sanctity of the place complete with all kinds of lights for dramatic effects with giant ceiling fans hovering above that do not necessarily complement the interiors. People are rightly complaining of the commercialization of some churches that have become to look like a giant birthday cake than a house of worship due to so many decorations that are mostly cheap and kitschy. Worst of all are those churches that have become like a perya (fair) with all gimmicks and publicity stunts that fool people by heightening their feeling levels only to get more collections but never to share Jesus Christ.

What a shame! People come to church for Jesus, only Jesus and always Jesus. And they would always come because that is something natural within each of us, even unbelievers. The Church does not need public relations as advertisements for media mileage because we offer only Jesus Christ alive within each one of us. I have always believed that there are only two essential things needed to share Jesus Christ and let His light shine in a parish: meaningful liturgy and true charity and service to everyone. Our dignified worship and celebrations of the sacraments along with our loving service and kindness to everyone who comes to our parish are more than enough to be the presence of Christ, to beam His light. Stop making the church and everything in it a spectacle or a show we call palabas because Christ came in silent simplicity of the darkness of the night to be felt more deep inside by the heart not to be feasted on by the eyes. The late German-born thinker Eugen Rosenstock-Huessy who converted into Christianity from the Jewish faith after World War II said that “A Christian is a person to whom Christ speaks. The body of Christ is those who listen to him.” How beautiful! All we really need is Jesus Christ alone, not so much of things and gadgets, gimmicks and publicity stunts for He alone is our light who gives life. The beloved disciple said it so well last Christmas Day, “through him was life, and this life was the light of the human race; the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (Jn.1:4-5). Bring out that light of Christ in you this New Year!

*Photo by Dra. Mai Dela Pena, from a church in Sydney, Australia many Christmas ago. Used with permission.

“Bagong Taon, Bagong Panahon”

Lawiswis ng Salita ni P. Nicanor F. Lalog II

Ika-01 ng Enero 2019

Maraming pong salamat

Mga ginigiliw kong tagatangkilik

Nitong dati kong panaginip

Maisatula aking mga tilamsik ng pag-iisip.

Madalas tuwing bagong taon

Sa pagharap natin sa mga paghamon

Lagi nating tugon ay new year’s resolution

Na kalauna’y mga pangakong nababaon.

Hindi tayo makakasulong taun-taon

Kung parati mayroon tayong mga rason

Alibi at mga dahilan para bigyang katwiran

Iba’t ibang sitwasyon kaya tayo hindi makaahon.

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Bagong taon, bagong panahon

Bawat pagkakataon ay isang paghamon

Ng pagpapakatotoo sa ating pagkatao

Kung ibig nating lumago, iwanan nakaraan,

Mamuhay sa kasalukuyan, pag-aralan mga dating kamalian;

Mga sugat nating kinasaktan, huwag nang takpan

Bagkus pahanginan sa kasalukuyan upang tuluyang gumaling

Para ating maibaling mga paningin sa mga dapat gawin at ayusin.

Bagong taon, bagong panahon

Pumalaot sa mga dakong di nasusubukan o napupuntahan

Magsagwan kung kinakailangan

Sa gitna nitong ilog ng buhay na walang katiyakan

Maliban sa tahakin landas ng kabutihan at kababaan

Tulad ng pananalangin sa awa at habag ng Maykapal;

Hindi magtatagal lahat ng ating pagpapagal

Sa ati’y dadatal mga dasal nating inuusal.

*Larawan ay obra ng Bulakenyong pintor na si Aris Bagtas; pinili ko ang larawang ito upang maipakita ang pakikibaka ng may tuwa sa bagong taon ng 2019. Ginamit ng may kapahintulutan.

Meeting Jesus in 2019 with Mary

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The Lord Is My Chef New Year Recipe

Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, 01 January 2019

Numbers 6:22-27///Galatians 4:4-7///Luke 2:16-21

One of my favorite sayings came from the waiting the room of our former family dentist Dr. Eddie Calalec of Meycauyan, Bulacan that says, “Time is fast for those who rush; Time is slow for those who wait; but, Time is NOT for those who love.” We all complain of time being so fast. Everybody is always in a hurry. According to an elderly man I have talked to a couple of years ago, time moves so fast these days because people are always busy. He explained that before, time was so slow because after farming earlier that day, they just waited for sunset and for time of harvest. Life was so laid back at that time that truly time was so slow. But life is not about time being fast or slow but of love. The Church rightly celebrates today not the New Year which is time; remember that we celebrated the new year in the Church calendar last first Sunday of Advent. Today we are celebrating the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God to celebrate her great love for Jesus that we hope to emulate this 2019.

Mary embodies the whole meaning of that saying “TIME is not for those who love” as she presents to us not only the first but the perfect disciple of Jesus who loves Him so much. St. Paul beautifully expressed in the second reading when time is not because of love which is “the fullness of time” (Gal.4:4). When we love, there is fullness of time as if everything is suspended in animation, everything is frozen. Every man who had courted any woman knows this very well of how time freezes when conversing with a beloved, not realizing the passing of time. Old couples experience the same thing and so are good friends who could “waste” time together doing nothing, saying nothing to one another that after a few hours are all surprised at how long we have been together. Time and space cease to bound people who truly love. And that is why“if you want to be eternal, then, love” like God.

People who love are always in haste not to do things or accomplish tasks but to be with their loved ones. Luke tells us how “The shepherds went in haste to Bethlehem and found Mary and Joseph, and the infant lying in the manger” (Lk.2:16) after a heavenly host of angels proclaimed to them the good news of the birth of Jesus Christ. We also heard from Luke during our Simbang Gabi after the annunciation of the birth of Jesus when “Mary set out and travelled to the hill country in haste to a town of Judah” (Lk.1: 39). This is the kind of haste – to come quickly to meet God, to be with a beloved, dear one – that is slowly fading away among us in this crazy world always on a mad race. Everybody is rushing, running around, multitasking to accomplish so much that deplete us of energy even of time to be with our loved ones. Many parents are guilty of this who turn nights into days making money to send their kids into expensive schools because of love; yet, when you ask them to attend a school meeting, to get the card of their children, they send the grandparents or nannies because they are busy at work. More so with God as seen in the steady decrease of Mass attendance with people coming in late and then rushing to leave for meals and other things. And admittedly, this is partly because so many priests are also in a rush to celebrate more masses and sacraments sadly for the wrong reasons and most of all, many of us could not share Jesus in homilies because we could not even come to Him for prayers. It is simply a case of lack of any concern for God despite professions of faith or belief in Him. Would we be like the shepherds if a host of angels appear tonight or today to tell us where Jesus Christ is? Would we go in haste to find God, to meet God? Would we be in haste to be with our loved ones, really?

In this age of instant connections and social media via modern communications, actual meetings and coming together person to person have been replaced by mediated interactions. We hardly experience anyone’s presence anymore that relationships have become superficial without any depths and meaning at all. There is always the TV and the gadgets to entertain everyone, forgetting the tremendous blessing of everyone’s presence. In the first reading we heard how God instructed Moses and Aaron to bless the people whenever they gather because every human presence is a blessing, a gift or a present. And the highest blessing we can all have is the presence of God among us in Christ Jesus! Mary as the Mother of Jesus is teaching us today that God is always present within us and with one another. Let us not waste our time rushing for so many things that we only realize the giftedness of everyone most especially of our very selves when we are already old or sick. Mary as the Mother of God and our Mother too shows us the need to always be in haste to meet Jesus right here inside us for He is here to stay with us, to be with us for the next 365 days of 2019, come rain or shine, no matter what. AMEN. Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Parokya ng San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Gov. F. Halili Ave., Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria, Bulacan.

Photo of another painting by Bulakenyo visual artist Aris Bagtas depicting Mary with the child Jesus in lively colors, going out perhaps to meet the rainy new year. Used with permission.

On Becoming Children of God

The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe

Feast of the Holy Family, 30 December 2018

1 Samuel 1:20-22, 24-28///1 John 3:1-2, 21-24///Luke 2:41-52

Christmas reminds us that Jesus Christ comes through our family in the same manner He came through the husband and wife of Joseph and Mary. It is right and fitting that within the octave or eight days of Christmas we also celebrate this Sunday the Feast of the Holy Family. In this world of broken families, by choice or by circumstances, the gospel reminds us that a family is always made up of a father, mother and child: When his parents saw him, they were astonished, and his mother said to him, “Son, why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been looking for you with great anxiety” (Lk.2:48). But more than our human families, Christmas reminds us most of all of our being a family of God with Him as our Father: And he said to them, “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” But they did not understand what he said to them. He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them; and his mother kept all these things in her heart. And Jesus advanced in wisdom and age and favor before God and man (Lk.2:49-52).

The good news is that we all remain God’s children no matter how old we may be like Nat King Cole singing “to kids from one to ninety-two” which the beloved disciple reminds us in the second reading, “Beloved: See what love the Father has bestowed on us that we may be called the children of God. Yes so we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him” (1Jn.3:1). It is becoming disheartening when people claim that Christmas is for kids because of the superficial things about the season like happiness over gifts. We seem to have forgotten that Christmas came because of adults like Joseph and Mary, Zechariah and Elizabeth who remained children of God in being obedient to His holy will which is at the very core of experiencing Christ’s coming not only on Christmas Day when we remain like children. This Sunday we are invited to join Mary and Joseph in searching for the child Jesus whom we have often lost in our busy schedules, responsibilities and careers so we may also rediscover in the process our being children of the Father in heaven.

See the beauty of the response of Jesus to His parents upon finding Him at the temple, “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” (Lk.2: 49). Though Jesus Christ is truly human like us in everything except sin, growing up and maturing in all aspects, His divine Sonship has always been clear with Him even as a 12 year-old child. His intimacy with the Father was never lost in His becoming human. His being the Son of the Father in heaven is the very core of His mission that we always hear Him telling us in His preaching about His being one with the Father and most of all, of the need for us to become children to be included in His kingdom. This He reveals to us in three ways through this only episode about His childhood as recorded by St. Luke. First is His complete freedom as a person.

Jesus has always been free from so many conventions and rules even laws that limit humans from being totally free for God as Father. Remember how Joseph His legal father also showed that true holiness is abiding in the Laws of Moses based on love that he decided to leave Mary in silence after learning of her pregnancy. But after hearing the angel’s explanation in a dream, Joseph freely decided on himself based on his love for God, for Mary and for Jesus to take her as his wife. How funny that when we were growing up we kept on demanding for freedom from our parents thinking that being free is being able to do whatever pleases us. Then we realize that true freedom is choosing what is good, what is true. That true freedom leads us to be more loving and faithful. Too often it seems that as the world gives so much emphasis on freedom, the fact remains that the more we try to be free, the more we become unfree, finding ourselves imprisoned and caught up in too much binds and traps that most of us would always go somewhere to be alone, to have “me time” because we are not free deep within as we have forgotten our basic identity as beloved children of God the Father. Jesus was so free that He stayed behind at the Temple because deep within Him he was at home at His Father’s house. And deep within Him He spoke freely of His Father that amazed the experts with Him at the Temple because they were constricted with many concepts and thoughts about God when Jesus was so free to share the love He has inside.

And here lies the beauty of true freedom that leads to amazement and wonder, to being surprised by something bigger, greater, and so beautiful. Poets claim that children are the closest to God and the spiritual realms because they always have the sense of wonder and awe. Even Mary and Joseph must have been amazed at the response of the child Jesus, reminding them of the announcements made to them by the angel before His coming. In this age of Netflix and daily video streaming of everything, we are being robbed of the simple and deep joy of being surprised unlike when we were younger that we have to wait for the next series of the Knight Rider or Dallas or ChiPS. With these modern technologies, the more we have become not free at all as we just follow the flow of networks, tech giants, advertisers and markets. We have been imprisoned by economics and profits along with gimmicks that we miss life in the process. The finding of Jesus at the Temple reminds us that our God is a God of surprises, that when we are truly free for the Father in heaven, there is always awe and amazement with life. We live and do not rush, enjoying time and every present moment in life, unafraid of what would happen next. Then, we become grateful or thankful for everything we have, material and spiritual.

Every Sunday as children of God we gather in the Holy Mass we call Eucharist, the Greek word for thanksgiving. In the first reading we have heard Hannah offering her son Samuel to the temple as her thanksgiving for the gift of a child after God answered her prayers. The gospels teem with so many occasions when Jesus would pray often to praise and thank God His Father, even in public. His life is a thanksgiving in itself that He gave it entirely to the Father for us. Though I am not a beauty pageant expert, I feel that Ms. Catriona Gray’s winning the Miss Universe title was largely because of her childlike traits of being free, amazing, and thankful. Only a child-like attitude like hers can see the silver linings amid the children growing at the slums of Tondo and still be grateful. It is exactly what Jesus had said that“unless you become like children, you shall never inherit the kingdom of heaven” that she was eventually crowned as Miss Universe!

To be a child is to owe one’s existence from another, from God and from parents and elders. When we teach our children to always sayplease and thank you including po and opo, we are actually reminding them of that deep reality within each of us that we are here on earth because we were given as a gift. We are not really teaching them something new but more of awakening in them something inherent that our existence is not of our own, our “I” or self not of our own making that we have to be thankful always to God and with our parents and with others. This is something we adults always forget or even discard and abandon especially when we fill to have achieved so much in life. We all remain children in our whole lives because are always in need of one another especially when we get older and eventually lose our memories and abilities to do things that rightly so, we get into a second childhood. On this Feast of the Holy Family, let us be thankful for the gift of one another, especially of our family. How lovely were those Christmas greetings on Facebook – “from our family to yours” – if each one remains a child of God, freely loving and surprising everyone of the reality of the God among us Jesus Christ, the Emmanuel. AMEN. Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Parokya ng San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Gov. F. Halili Ave., Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria, Bulacan

*Photo above by Jim Marpa. Used with permission. Below from Google.

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Christmas is Reclaiming Our Being Children

Quiet Storm by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, 28 December 2018

Christmas is always regarded as for children, of being like children. What a joy to always remember that God the Almighty chose to become human like us – who likes to always pretend being like Him and powerful – that the path to true greatness and power is in becoming small like an infant, being like a child. The late Cardinal Hans Urs von Balthasar claims in his last book shortly before he died in 1988 that the central mystery of Christianity is our “transformation from world-wise, self-sufficient ‘adults’ into abiding children of the Father of Jesus by the grace of the Holy Spirit. All else in the Gospel, from the Incarnation of the Lord to His hidden and public lives, His miracles and preaching, His Passion, Death and Resurrection has been for this, of becoming like a child” (Unless You Become Like This Child, Ignatius Press, 1991).

This probably explains why we adults as we mature and age, we mellow: we realize that we cannot simply control everything. That it is always best to act than to react in almost every situation in life. The gospel tells us today how King Herod reacted furiously after realizing the Magis have tricked him that he ordered the murder of every male child in Bethlehem below the age of two for fears of the “newborn king of Israel.” Herod lived in constant fears of being deposed in power that he also had three of his sons as well as some of his ten wives killed after suspecting them of trying to overthrow him. It is crazy but very true! We may not be like Herod with the way we react and deal with our many fears but have the same effects: death of friendships, death of love, death of everything, the end of life and adventure.

Fear is not totally negative; it has its good effects that have actually led mankind to every great progress in life like the discovery of new lands and territories, new medicines, new inventions and other things. Fear becomes a liability when it prevents us to trust more like little children. Kids and young people are often “positively” fearless because they trust so much that nobody would hurt them or that nobody would forsake them. As we age, our fears increase because our trust decreases: we fear so many things because we are afraid of losing the little we have, we are afraid of getting hurt, we are afraid of starting all over again. That’s the irony of life: we start fearing almost nothing that we grow so fast but as we age, we begin to fear everything that we stop growing and stop living. Christmas is a beautiful reminder to be children again like God the Son Jesus Christ who entrusted Himself to us, to care Him, to love Him, to protect Him, to keep Him. Let us reclaim that childhood again by casting away our fears so we can truly love faithfully and freely!

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Best Christmas Gift Is When We Let God Touch Our Hearts

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Quiet Storm by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, 27 December 2018

Christmas is perhaps the toughest celebration we priests always have. More tiring and exhausting than the nine-day novena popularly known as “Simbang Gabi”, Christmas is the most emotionally challenging for us especially at this age of social media. I felt it so strong the other night as I tried catching up with Facebook. As I looked at everyone’s Christmas greeting with joyous photos of their families and friends, I felt some sense of bitterness within. The pain was more intense than all the Sunday evenings after Masses I have had as I sat at my desk with my laptop, literally stuck in my parish until New Year’s Day when I would be done with all my duties to finally visit my own family, especially my sick mother and some friends. How I wished I did not check on my Facebook that night! But then, I also remembered my homily that Christmas is about making a conscious decision to choose Jesus Christ. That there will always be darkness in life, people who would make life difficult for us but despite all these troubles, Christmas reminds us of our power to let God touch our hearts, to always create that room or space within us where Jesus could be born and dwell the whole year through. The late American scholar of the Church of the Latter-Day Saints Neal A. Maxwell said it right that “Each of us is an innkeeper who decides if there is room for Jesus” in our hearts.

Indeed, the best Christmas gift we can ever have is when we open and allow our hearts to be touched by God. Since 2011 when I arrived in this parish of the “beloved disciple”, the Lord has always revealed to me new and wonderful things not only about Christmas but about life itself. After seven years of laboring in love with so many hardships and sacrifices, I still consider it as a failure on my part to unite my parishioners. Majority of them refuse to cut the umbilical cord with the mother parish at the town proper or bayan where they prefer celebrating all the sacraments while others are simply divisive by nature, feeling a sense of superiority over the rest of us that they preferred celebrating Simbang Gabi and Christmas separate from the parish without realizing that the Holy Eucharist is the sacrament of unity. It is the most painful cut, the deepest I have had in my 20 years of priesthood to see some sheep going astray led by a shepherd filled with messianic complex. I have chosen to bear all these in silence, praying for them all as I opened my heart to Jesus to come and comfort me, eventually to heal me.

As I nursed those wounds within, Christmas Eve came when the four choirs of the parish serenaded us with some Christmas carols half an hour before our Midnight Mass. My eyes were in tears as I listened to their angelic voices and most especially when I saw the different choir members mostly from poor families with nothing else to offer the parish but their very selves and beautiful voices. Most moving were the poor children who came wearing simple clothes singing their hearts out for Jesus. I felt so blessed that there are people, even kids who love our parish so much, willing to support me their pastor with their very gift of presence. They never asked for anything during their practices, not even snacks though I tried providing them with some simple refreshments even meals when they practiced until supper time. I have learned from them that when Jesus Christ is preached and shared with the poor, they forget their poverty that they start to share everything they have including their very selves because they have felt that they are blessed and rich.

During our Mass on the eve of the feast of our Patron Saint John the Evangelist last night, our guest celebrant Fr. Efren Basco shared in his homily how God touched his heart last Christmas after Mass at a housing project for the poor where he met a mother who could only afford one new pair of socks for her two sons – that is, one new sock for just one of their two feet! And when Fr. Efren saw the two brothers, they even boasted to him their new socks paired with an old one! Though Christmas is a reality, it is always a choice we have to make for we can only do as much in this world but only God can touch hearts to change the world. Let God touch your hearts to feel His Son Jesus born in your hearts this Christmas and the whole year through. A blessed Christmas and joyous New Year to everyone! (Photos from Google.)

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“Kaya May Araw ng Pasko”

Lawiswis ng Salita ni P. Nicanor F. Lalog II

Ika-26 ng Disyembre 2018

Ilang araw bago sumapit araw ng Pasko

Nakaramdam ako ng magkahalo na pagkahapo at lungkot

Dahil sa masalimuot at nakakainis na ilang tao at sitwasyon

Sinabayan pa ng maghapong pag-ulan, Biyernes hanggang Lunes.

Pilit kong nilabanan mga hindi magandang nararamdaman

Dinagdagan pahinga at tulog, higit sa lahat ang pagdulog sa Panginoon

Upang ilahad sa Kanya lahat ng aking tanong

Na banayad naman Niyang sinagot tila baga sa pag-ambon.

Hindi ba nang isinilang Siya noon, napakagulo din ng panahon?

Noon pa man hanggang sa ngayon,

May mga tao pakiramdam o paniwala na sila ang Kristo –

Tagapagligtas ng mga tao pero kung umasta, diktador at emperador?

Kunwari’y malasakit sa mga tao ginagawa,

pero “ego” nila ang walang pagsasawa;

Lahat ng kanilang ginagawa kunwa’y para sa madla

At marami ang natututwa na di alintana pagwasak ng buhay

Pagsira ng pagbubuklod bilang bayan, simbahan, at tahanan.

Kay sarap paglimi-limihin itong Panginoong Hesus natin

Likas na dakila at makapangyarihan, piniling maging maliit

Upang itong tao na likas na maliit at laging nagpipilit magmalaki

Mabatid na ang pinakamakapangyarihang puwersa

Ay ang pag-ibig na naroon lamang sa kababaang-loob at kahinaan.

Ito ang dahilan kaya mayroong araw ng Pasko:

Upang lagi nating maalala na ang Diyos ay naparito dahil nga sa gulo,

Isinilang ang Kristo sa gitna ng kadiliman dahil gayon ang mundo.

Ibinalot sa lampin at inihiga sa sabsaban

Dahil noon pa man hanggang ngayon, Siya ay tinatanggihan ng karamihan.

Kung ating titingnan lamang mga kaguluhan

At iba pang mga kalabisan sa mundo at buhay natin

Minsan man lamang isang araw maalala natin tuwing Pasko

Ang Diyos ay naparito upang samahan tayo sa lahat ng ito

At kung Siya patutuluyin at pananatilihin sa ating piling

Tiyak ang ibayong biyaya at pagpapala dahil laging Pasko sa atin!

(Mga larawan mula sa Google.)

“Ang Tuwa at Galak ng Pasko”

Lawiswis ng Salita ni P. Nicanor F. Lalog II

Ika-25 ng Disyembre 2018

Tiyak at totoo naman ang kasabihan ng lahat

Na Pasko ang pinakamasayang panahon sa buong sangtaon

Dahil sa kapanganakan ng ating Panginoon

Bagama’t hindi naman siyang tuon ng mga pagdiriwang sa ngayon.

Tayo raw mga Filipino ang may pinakamasayang Pasko

Dahil tayo rin ang pinakamahabang magdiwang nito

Ngunit wala naman sa mga ito kahulugan at diwa ng Pasko

Lalo na kung kasiyahan at hindi katuwaan ang usapan.

Kasiyaha’y kapag mga ngiti ay hanggang labi lamang

Kaya ito ay pansamantala at hindi pangmatagalan o palagian;

Ngunit kung mayroong kagalakan, yaring puso ang nakangiti

Maski sa gitna ng dalamhati at pighati.

Ang ganitong uri ng tuwa ay maari lamang nating mahabi

Kung ating pinipili sa puso natin maghari at manatili

Itong si Hesu-Kristo na paulit-ulit na sumilang muli

Upang mga kadiliman at kasalanan sa budhi ay mapawi

Maging lubos ang kagalakan na matatagpuan lamang

Sa Diyos Anak na nagkatawang-tao tulad nating hamak

Upang katulad niya tayo’y makapagmahal din ng tunay at wagas.

Ang tuwa at galak ng kapaskuhan ay malayang pagpapasiya o desisyon

Ng sino man na handang magbigay ng silid at puwang sa puso at kalooban

Upang si Kristo ay muling sumilang, maghari at punan ating mga kakulangan

Na akala nati’y matatagpuan sa mga kayamanan at kagamitan

Kungdi sa ugnayan ng pagmamahalan na siyang diwa ng kapaskuhan

Nang unang dumating si Hesus doon sa sabsaban

Upang tayo ay samahan sa landas ng kabutihan at kabanalan.

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Ang larawan ay isang obra ni G. Aris Bagtas, “Musika ng Liwanag at Gabay” (4×5 ft., 2012 acrylic painting) na tumatalakay sa mabuting samahan ng pamilya at magkakamag-anak. Araw-araw ang Pasko kung nasa puso palagi ng bawat isa ang pagmamahal at samahan ng pamilya at mga kamag-anakan.

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Christmas: A Decision To Choose Jesus, Our Highest Good

The Lord Is My Chef Christmas Recipe 2018

My dearest readers,

A blessed Christmas to you all! Thank you very much in joining me in this journey with our Lord Jesus Christ. Thank you very much for following and “liking” my blogs. It is my hope that somehow you have seen a glimpse of God’s majesty and kindness in my reflections. On this joyous day of Christmas, join me in simply praying to our Lord Jesus born on this day. Join me in reflecting some important things I have learned about Christmas.

These past nine days in our reflections, I have tried asking Jesus about any message for me and for you, my readers and my parishioners. As His birthday approached, I told Him some thoughts within me about Christmas although I am very sure those were not really mine but His also. That is prayer: conversing with God who has always been speaking to us. We simply respond to Him. And here is our prayer this Christmas…

A blessed happy birthday to you, Lord Jesus Christ! Thank you for the gift of the Holy Spirit in enabling me to start this prayer like Zechariah, giving praise and glory to you for “coming to us to save us and set us free” (Lk.1:68). As I prayed over the gospels for the three Masses of your birthday, there were some things that came to my mind that I wish to offer to you. Most likely, these must have actually come also from you.

First lesson I have realized this Christmas: there is always somebody trying to be a king or an emperor among us, even within us. There is always somebody wishing to unseat you, even claiming to be the Messiah or the Christ. That has always been the setting of your coming, Lord: “In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that the whole world should be enrolled. This was the first enrollment, when Quirinius was governor of Syria. So all went to be enrolled, each to his own town” (Lk.2:1-3). Among those who followed that order were your parents who were poor with no choice but obey the Roman emperor who believed in himself to be a god, the savior of the world. Until now, Lord, there are people who act like emperors by coming out with all kinds of plans and dreams of grandeur, lording it over their people with many programs that benefit the poor and the needy but in reality are just feeding on their bloated egos and twisted minds. They are everywhere, not only in government but sadly even in the church when some priests and volunteers destroy the unity of the parish or the clergy with their liturgies and plans so everyone would come for you Jesus but actually for them. More sadly are these people found also in many families like the perfect father who feels he had never made any mistake in life or the manipulative mother who is convinced she knows everything; the monster brother or sister who always feels as sacrificing the most when in fact the one grabbing everything even the slightest attention. They are the “pa-bida” always feeling as the “vida” when in fact are the “contravida”, sowing divisions and animosities everywhere.

Give us the grace of humility, to always recognize you as the great and almighty God who chose to be born like a child to show us that the greatest power in the universe lies in being small like a child and not in being big. Remind us always that each of us is an inn keeper who must always make room for you in our hearts. Remind us always that we are your own, that you always come to us but sadly, many of us refuse to accept you as your beloved disciple John said, “He came to what was his own , but his own people did not accept him” (Jn.1:11). St. Luke noted that it was the first enrollment when you were born 2000 years ago, meaning, there were still others that subsequently followed that until now continues to this day with the many people claiming to be you the Messiah, acting like emperors. As we celebrate your birth today, keep us grateful to your coming and most of all for staying with us since then, give us the grace of Joseph and Mary to brave the long and dark journey to bring you forth in this world, truly the Son of God, the Savior of the world.

Second lesson you have taught me this Christmas Lord Jesus is the opposite of the first: there would always be those taken for granted, those ignored and rejected who are like the stone rejected by the builders who become the cornerstone of the building as you used to say in your preaching. Of course that is clearly you, Lord Jesus! But we thank you for making us share in your greatness. How brilliant is the wit and humor of St. Luke who said that all went to be enrolled only to reveal later in his narration that not entirely everyone. There were those unmindful of the census going on since the officials also did not care at all about them too like the shepherds who were among the poorest of the poor of that time. And the funny twist is that they got the best seats on your birth! Now there were shepherds in that region living in the fields and keeping the night watch over their flock. The angel of the Lord appeared to them and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were struck with great fear. The angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For today in the city of David a savior has been born for you who is Messiah and Lord.” And suddenly, there was a multitude of the heavenly host with the angel, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests” (Lk.2:8-11,13-14).

What a beautiful story, Lord! Your birth echoes the song of your Mother Mary, her Magnificat where she proclaimed “He has shown the strength of his arm, and has scattered the proud in their conceit. He has cast down the mighty from their thrones and has lifted up the lowly. He has filled the hungry with good things and the rich he has sent away empty” (Lk.1:51-53). Many people still don’t get it, Lord. First with you: in crucifying you on the Cross, you have changed entirely the course of human history. You who have been so ridiculed and put to shame with all the false accusations until now is the only person with the most influence in the world. The Church you have established has also gone through so many destabilization plots within and outside but still here, despite our many sins and weaknesses, and yes, amid our hypocrisies. And many of us today celebrating your birthday have just gone through so much beatings this year but now thankful before you because you have never forsaken us. And those fake gods and emperors? Trying to amuse themselves with more lies as they suffer being totally alone and empty within.

Lord Jesus Christ, it has been raining since two days ago and more rains are expected this week. Some, including me, feel your birthday today seems sad and gloomy. But as I prayed over the stories of St. Luke about the harsh conditions when you were born, I have learned that is what Christmas Day is for – a beacon of light to guide us in the many mountains and valleys, cliffs and ravines we travel in this journey of life. There would always be people who would make life difficult for us, conditions everywhere that are unfavorable to us but on this day of your birth, you are asking us to stand by you, to make that conscious decision to trust you that good things and better days are ahead of us. Christmas is about making that conscious decision to always have you, Lord Jesus Christ as our highest good in life. As our patron saint said, “From your fullness O Lord, we have all received , grace in place of grace” (Jn.1:16). AMEN. Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Parokya ng San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Gov. F. Halili Ave., Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria, Bulacan.

Photos from Google.

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