The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Wednesday, Memorial of St. Agatha, Virgin & Martyr, 05 February 2025 Hebrews 12:4-7, 11-15 ><))))*> + ><))))*> + ><))))*> Mark 6:1-6
Photo by author, Sakura Farm, Atok, Benguet, 27 December 2024.
Today dear Lord, I pray for more discipline which is a frightening and misunderstood word and concept for many these days.
There are some who think discipline is suppression of freedom, a kind of constriction not realizing it is in discipline we truly become free; for some, discipline is optional, even seasonal when in reality, we need discipline in our entire life; lastly, people have difficulty with discipline because they see it only as a human activity, a human effort forgetting that God has a large part in our discipline.
Brothers and sisters: You have also forgotten the exhortation addressed to you as children: My son, do not disdain the discipline of the Lord or lose heart when reproved by him; for whom the Lord loves, he disciplines; he scourges every son he acknowledges. Endure your trials as “discipline”… At the time, all discipline seems a cause not for joy but for pain, yet later it brings the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who are trained by it (Hebrews 12:5-7, 11).
“Jesus Unrolls Book In the Synagogue” painting by James Tissot (1886-1894), brooklynmuseum.org
How I admire your own discipline, Lord Jesus: your coming home to Nazareth and most especially your practice of sabbath are clear indications of your great discipline!
How lovely that the word discipline is also from disciple, a follower; as your follower, help me continue with my self-discipline to inspire and teach others too of the importance of discipline in life and in discipleship. Amen.
*We also pray today for all with breast cancer being the memorial of their patroness, St. Agatha whose breasts were cut off as one of the tortures she endured; but after having a vision of St. Peter, her breasts were restored and completely healed while in prison.
Lawiswis ng Salita ni P. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Ika-04 ng Pebrero 2025
Larawan kuha ng may-akda, Tagaytay, 17 Enero 2025.
Sampung araw bago sumapit ang Valentine's sa akin ay lumapit isang dalagita nahihiyang nagtanong bagama't ibig niyang mabatid kung "makakahanap po ba ako ng lalaking magmamahal sa akin ng tunay at tapat?"
Ako'y nanahimik, ngumiti at tumingin sa dalagitang nahihiyang nakatungo ang ulo sa kanyang tanong at nang ako'y magsimulang mangusap, mukha niya ay bumusilak sa tuwa sa bagong kaalaman sa pag-ibig na matiyaga niyang sinasaliksik.
Larawan kuha ng may-akda, Atok, Benguet, 27 Disyembre 2024.
Ito ang wika ko sa dalagita: "Ang pag-ibig," ay hindi hinahanap parang gamit nakakamit dahil ang pag-ibig ay kusang dumarating kaya iyong matiyagang hintayin ikaw ang kanyang hahanapin; tangi mong gampanin buksang palagi iyong puso at damdamin dahil itong pag-ibig ay dumarating sa mga tao at pagkakataong hindi inaasahan natin; banayad at mayumi hindi magaspang pag-uugali magugulat ka na lamang ika’y kanyang natagpuan palagi na siyang laman ng puso at isipan."
"Pakaingatan din naman", wika ko sa dalagita "itong pag-ibig ay higit pa sa damdamin na dapat payabungin tulad ng mga pananim, linangin upang lumalim hanggang maging isang pasya na laging pipiliin ano man ang sapitin at hantungan."
Ang pag-ibig ay parating dumarating ngunit kadalasan hindi natin pansin kung minsan tinatanggihan, inaayawan dahil ang ibig ay kumabig; darating at mananatili itong pag-ibig sa simula na ating limutin lahat ng para sa sarili natin.
Larawan kuha ng may-akda, Atok, Benguet, 27 Disyembre 2024.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Tuesday, Fourth Week in Ordinary Time, Year I, 04 February 2025 Hebrews 12:1-4 ><]]]]'> + ><]]]]'> + ><]]]]'> Mark 5:21-43
Photo by author, sunrise at the Sea (Lake) of Galilee, the Holy Land, 18 May 2019.
When Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a large crowd gathered around him, and he stayed close to the sea (Mark 5:21).
Lord Jesus Christ:
How lovely to hear this story of your frequent crossing of the sea to the other side to reach out to more people hungry and thirsty for your words that comfort and forgive, ease one's burdens and most especially for your healing touch.
You always come to us, Jesus, reaching out to us when all we have to do is follow you and as much as possible, be near you to touch you like that sick woman who touched your clothe after Jairus had begged you to come to touch his sick and dying daughter.
That's all we have to do: follow you, be near you, and touch you; but, of the large crowd there like today, only one dared to touch you; only one father had the courage to ask you to come and lay your hands on his daughter.
Photo by Dra. Mylene A. Santos, MD in France, 2023.
Give me Jesus the courage to come to you, to get near you and touch you with faith and desire to meet you, to speak to you, to be with you; take away my fears of leaving the safety of the sidewalks, of walking the main street that leads to your Cross when in fact, it was you who have paid the price for me by dying on the Cross.
Let the words of the author of the Letter to the Hebrews sink in me, "In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood" (12:4) because I am always afraid, always hesitant in following you, in touching you.
Touch me, Jesus so I may cross the sea with you despite the storm and giant waves; touch me, Jesus so I may cross the street and walk beside you in your arduous journey; touch me, Jesus so I may stand with you at your Cross. Amen.
Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, 20 March 2024.
Quiet Storm by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, 03 February 2025
Photo from the Presentation Chapel of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington DC.
Every night before going to bed, we priests and religious along with some laypeople pray the Compline or Night Prayer of the Liturgy of the Hours. From the Latin completus, the Compline completes the daily prayers of the Church.
It is also my most favorite since our seminary days when we chanted Simeon’s Canticle which we heard proclaimed in yesterday’s gospel in the celebration of the Feast of the Lord’s Presentation.
He (Simeon) came in the Spirit into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus to perform the custom of the law in regard to him, he took him in his arms and blessed God, saying: “Now, Master you may let your servant go in peace, according to your word, for my eyes have seen your salvation, which you prepared in sight of all the peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and glory for your people Israel” (Luke 2:27-32).
A painting of Simeon with the Child Jesus from the dailyprayerblog.blogspot.com
The Simeon Moment is befriending death as we find Jesus Christ.
The “Simeon Moment” is when we are like Simeon in realizing that nothing matters most in this life except God found within us and those closest to us like family and friends whom we would never trade for anybody and anything. It is finding true joy in Christ alone that we are able to befriend death like St. Francis of Assisi who called death a “cousin”.
According to Luke, God had promised Simeon that he would not die until he had seen the promised Messiah (Christ). All his life, Simeon prayed and offered sacrifices at the temple in Jerusalem awaiting the coming of Christ – and he was not disappointed even if it took so long! That is why, he burst into a song which we now pray every night because that is when we experience in the stillness of the darkness within and outside us that only Jesus and always Jesus who fulfills us.
Those who have cared and lost a loved one to cancer or any terminal illness have experienced that “Simeon Moment”. Remember when our loved ones have finally accepted their fate, when they suddenly become more emotionally stable and even joyful in their dispositions? Unlike before when they were first diagnosed with their illness, they were so afraid, always crying but as they came to embrace the reality, they cried less with a strong sense of courage while we are the ones crying more and most stressed out?
Photo by author, November 2024.
That is because the dying must have seen their their final destination in life, Jesus Christ. Like Simeon during the presentation at the temple after seeing and holding in his hands so close to himself the Holy Infant, we find the dying so calm and peaceful during their final hours because they have seen or were already in the presence of the Lord.
Like Simeon, they were silently joyful in Christ’s presence while we who were left behind cried not only due to the pain and sadness of separation but because we do not know where we are going, where we are heading unlike our departed loved ones.
Feel the courage and confidence of Simeon boldly telling God to “take him” at that instance because he had found Jesus Christ. Its Filipino translation says it so well, “Kunin mo na, Panginoon, ang iyong abang alipin, ayon sa iyong pangako, yamang nakita na ng aking mga mata ang iyong pagliligtas (Lk.2:29-30).”
We Filipinos often take it as a joke, always laughing to dismiss the topic or cope with the reality that to see God literally means to die like when we say “gusto nang makita si Lord”. But, that was how Simeon really felt because he had literally seen the Son of God, as if telling him to take him “now na!” because the Simeon Moment is therefore we have that realization within us that coming to terms with death is coming to terms with life, and vice versa.
Photo from crossroadinitiative.com.
The Simeon Moment is living in the Holy Spirit
Wherever is Jesus Christ, there is always the Holy Spirit. We will never find Christ and have the Simeon Moment unless we are attuned first with Holy Spirit who animates us and opens us to Christ’s coming.
Imagine the great crowds of people at the temple on that day, of couples trying to fulfill the law of Moses of purification and presenting their first-born son to God. How did Simeon know Joseph and Mary were the parents of the Christ? How was he able to accurately spot and find Jesus is the Messiah amid the many male children being offered on that day at the temple?
“To come in the Spirit” like Simeon is more than being faithful to God; it is having a good and pure heart that is ready to believe and act openly with courage, always looking forward at the fulfillment of what we believe. Coming in the Spirit is being at the right place at the right time when we make things happen than wait, exactly how Luke portrayed Simeon and Anna who both lived in the presence of God! Coming in the Spirit is living in the present moment in God.
We cannot see Christ nor live in the Spirit unless we humbly submit ourselves to God, our Lord and Master. Seeing Christ and living in the Spirit presuppose humility before God – we His creatures, He our Lord and Master.
Most of all, our origin and our end too!
It is the principle and foundation of life as St. Ignatius of Loyola stressed in his Spiritual Exercises, “El hombre es criado para alabar, hacer reverencia y servir a Dios nuestro Señor, y mediante esto, salvar su anima”, that is, “Man is created to praise and serve God his Lord and Master and by doing this save his soul”.
There is something so beautiful and lovely, so touching in the opening verse of Simeon’s canticle that underscores firmly this basic truth we have always forgotten since the fall of Adam and Eve when he asked God to take him after seeing the Christ. Every time we sin, we act like Adam and Eve, playing gods, desiring to be like God.
Also known as Nunc Dimittis, Simeon’s canticle echoes the fiat of Mary to God during the Annunciation, expressing his fidelity and humility, his total submission to God. Most of all, it summarizes both the Magnificat of the Blessed Mother and the Benedictus of Zechariah, making Simeon’s Nunc Dimittis the finale in Luke’s Christmas “concert” on the birth of the Messiah.
This is the reason why we chant Nunc dimittis at the end of our Night Prayer. It is the perfect prayer to close each day as we prepare for the coming new day to meet Jesus again, hoping we may be enlightened in our life’s mission expressed by the antiphon we recite before and after chanting it, “Protect us Lord as we stay awake; watch over us as we sleep that awake we may keep watch with Christ and asleep rest in his peace”.
Or, if ever we ever do not wake up the following day, we still thank God all the more in making us meet Jesus the past day, eager to finally sing to him our praises in eternity with Night Prayer’s final blessing, “May the Lord grant us a restful night and a peaceful death”.
The Simeon Moment is a grace and gift Jesus gives us daily not only for the dying but to everyone of us seeking Him, awaiting Him like Simeon. And like Simeon, we are assured that anyone who seeks and awaits God is never disappointed. Have a blessed day in Christ Jesus! Amen.
Photo by author, sunrise bursting through thick fogs over Taal Lake in Bgy. Dayap Itaas, Laurel, Batangas, 17 January 2025.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Monday, Memorial of St. Blaise, Bishop & Martyr, 03 February 2025 Hebrews 11:32-40 ><))))*> + ><))))*> + ><))))*> Mark 5:1-20
Photo by author, Atok, Benguet, 27 December 2024.
Thank you, dear Father in heaven for making me feel your proverbial pat on the shoulder this Monday: while the author of the Letter to the Hebrews wrote of the heroes and heroines of Old Testament to remind us of their incredible deeds, great hardships and sufferings that led to their giving up their lives for the sake of their faith, you remind me too, dear God, of my own sufferings and trials in life far more greater and fulfilling than theirs not on my own account but in Jesus' name.
The world was not worthy of them. They wandered about in deserts and on mountains, in caves and in crevices in the earth. Yet all these, though approved because of their faith, did not receive what had been promised. God had foreseen something better for us, so that without us they should not be made perfect (Hebrews 11:38-40).
You have rewarded so well all those great men and women in the Old Testament but they have to wait until Jesus Christ's coming for the fulfillment of your promise to them in his life, death, and resurrection; in Jesus, every simplest deed of self denial and sacrifice lead to fulfillment like in his exorcism of that possessed man in Gerasenes who "had been dwelling among the tombs, and no one would restrain him any longer, even with a chain" (Mark 5:3); only Jesus was able to restore him to fullness in life, just like with everyone of us today.
Every miraculous healing by any saint, any martyrdom is a celebration of Christ's power over sin and evil, a proverbial pat on our shoulder for letting God, and letting go. Amen.
St. Blaise, Bishop and Martyr, Pray for us.
Photo by author, Mt. Olis, Atok, Benguet, 27 December 2024.
The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Feast of the Presentation of the Lord, 02 February 2025 Malachi 3:1-4 ><}}}}*> Hebrews 2:14-18 ><}}}}*> Luke 2:22-40
“Presentation at the Temple” painting by Italian Renaissance artist Andrea Mantegna done around 1455; Mary holding Baby Jesus while St. Joseph at the middle looks on the bearded Simeon. The man at the right is said to be a self-portrait of the artist while the woman at the back of Mary could be his wife. Photo from wikipedia.org.
We take a break from our regular Sunday cycle of readings today being the second of February, the Feast of the Presentation of Jesus at the Temple which is also 40 days after His birth. That is why it is technically the end of Christmas when Joseph and Mary left Bethlehem to bring Jesus to the Temple in Jerusalem.
The Presentation of Jesus at the Temple is one of the earliest major feasts celebrated by the Church in Jerusalem in the third century that reached Rome 300 years later with the designation as the Purification of Mary. Years later as it spread to France, it came to be known as Chandeleur, or Candlemas in English speaking countries and Candelaria in Spanish when the blessing of candles with a short procession was incorporated into its liturgy due to that part of Simeon’s Canticle calling Jesus as the “light of the world” (gentiles). Following the reforms of Vatican II in 1969, St. Paul VI brought it back to its original title as the “Feast of the Presentation of the Lord” due to its Christological emphasis while retaining the traditional rite of the blessing of candles and short procession into the church.
In the Eastern Churches, this Feast is called the Encounter or the meeting of Jesus with the two elderly Simeon and Anna who were both promised by God to witness the coming of His promised salvation before they died.
One thing remains clear in its long history of celebrating the Lord’s Presentation is the beautiful assurance and sign of Jesus Christ’s presence among us enlightening us, lighting our paths, meeting us most especially in our old age as our fulfillment in life.
Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon. This man was righteous and devout, awaiting the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he should not see death before he had seen the Christ of the Lord. He came in the Spirit into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus to perform the custom of the law in regard to him, he took him into his arms and blessed God, saying: “Now, Master, you may let your servant go in peace, according to your word, for my eyes have seen your salvation, which you prepared in sight of all the peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and glory for your people Israel” (Luke 2:25-32).
Presentation in the Temple painting by Fra Angelico from fineartamerica.com.
For our reflection, let us identify ourselves with Simeon as we dwell on his actions and words in that momentous Presentation of the Lord in the Temple.
From our long gospel account this Sunday, we get a picture of Simeon as an old man; however, not just chronologically speaking in age but also in his feeling isolated and weak deep inside, waiting for so long in faith and in hope for the coming of the Christ who would bring salvation and peace to a troubled world and a troubled self like us. Let us now reflect on Simeon’s action:
"he took him into his arms and blessed God" (Luke 2:28)
Photo from crossroadinitiative.com.
Look at the artistry of Luke as a storyteller and a physician who knew so well how people felt when approaching death whether due to an illness or old age like Simeon and Anna. See how Luke had assembled in one scene the two old people meeting the eternally young Son of God in the temple as if telling us not only to meet Jesus Christ but also to take Him into our arms to embrace and carry Him!
To embrace and carry the Infant Jesus like Simeon and Anna is a call for us to transform and level up our way of looking at old age as a reality we must accept and appreciate than hide or avoid with many illusory tactics that only make it more difficult and leave us more fearful.
Be proud of your grey or white hair like George Clooney and Meryl Streep. Don’t be ashamed of those wrinkles for they are our badges of the many wars and battles we have fought in life, regardless whether we have won or lost. One thing is clear though and that is we are still alive. Laugh it off when our memory fails, when we get slow in everything because life is not a race nor a competition but an art that is perfected as we age.
Taking to carry Baby Jesus like Simeon and Anna is embracing old age called “ageing gracefully” – a modern virtue that calls us to deepen our prayer life as we realize and accept the fact that it is now our “boarding time” for the final Encounter with the Lord in eternity.
In my previous parish assignment, there were three elderly men I have become friends with until their death. As they declined in their health, they came to me so often and later called for me to hear their Confessions whenever they would suddenly remember sins they have committed when they were younger. It must have been a unique grace from God to have that “Simeon moment” of carrying and embracing Jesus to be cleansed and purified before they have died. And I am convinced in my four years as a hospital chaplain that everyone is gifted with this “Simeon moment” to carry Jesus just before our final Encounter with Him in the afterlife. To carry Jesus is to cultivate a spiritual life centered in prayer like Simeon and Anna and those three friends I had.
Inversely, the young are blessed too with “Simeon moment” when like Mary and Joseph they share the Christ in them with those who are old and weak by accompanying them, understanding them, and bearing with them in their old age. It is only after we have “taken” the Child Jesus into our hands to hold and carry and embrace can we sing praise to God like Simeon:
"Now, Master, you may let your servant go in peace, according to your word, for my eyes have seen your salvation" (Luke 2:29-30)
A painting of Simeon with the Child Jesus from the dailyprayerblog.blogspot.com
To age gracefully by carrying and embracing the Infant Jesus like Simeon is realizing deep within us that getting old and weak is also part of our celebration of life because that is when we enter Life Himself and when we also let Him enter us completely.
How did Simeon recognize it was the Savior that the two poor couple with a pair of turtledoves or pigeons were presenting in the temple that day?
Long before Joseph and Mary came to offer Jesus at the temple that day, Simeon had already entered into God’s presence in his long period of waiting through prayers and sacrifices. When Mary and Joseph came to the temple to present Jesus, God entered Simeon through the Holy Spirit to recognize the coming of the awaited Christ. Simeon’s prayerful singing of his praise to God while holding the Infant Jesus on that day was the fulfillment and expression of his long fidelity to God, of his being attuned to the Divine presence and promptings all his life.
In this age of instants, nobody waits anymore because many think that waiting is empty, a weakness and a poverty. A waste of time and energy.
The Fourth Joyful Mystery portrayed in the Presentation Chapel of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington DC.
But Simeon shows us the exact opposite in his Canticle. It is in our waiting for God amidst the darkness and nothingness when Jesus really comes like that day in the temple. God is most present and closest with us when all we can do is cry “Lord” or “Jesus” because His very name is already His presence. If we keep that in mind like Simeon, we will surely find and embrace Jesus wherever, whenever.
As we celebrate the Jubilee of Hope this 2025, let us be reminded of Simeon along with the Prophetess Anna who were both Pilgrims of Hope who never lost sight of Christ in the midst of their long waiting. The first and second readings this Sunday assure us that God is coming, God has come in Jesus amid our many darkness and nothingness, weakness and decline.
Like Simeon and Anna, let us await to approach Jesus always for He alone matters most in this life found within us, among our family and friends and the people around us, expressed in love and mercy, kindness and forgiveness, and joy. Just be patient and wait, Jesus will appear for you to take Him and embrace Him in your arms like Simeon. Tell that to Jesus now with your other deep longings and you will not be disappointed. Amen.
Photo by author, sunrise bursting through thick fogs over Taal Lake in Bgy. Dayap Itaas, Laurel, Batangas, 17 January 2025.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Friday, Memorial of St. John Bosco, Priest, 31 January 2025 Hebrews 10:32-39 <*((((>< <*(((>< + ><)))*> ><))))*> Mark 4:26-34
Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, 20 March 2024.
Remember the days past when, after you had been enlightened, you endured a great contest of suffering… Therefore, do not throw away your confidence; it will have great recompense (Hebrews 10:32, 35).
Thank you, O God our loving Father for another month past this new year; there is indeed no other path to take but forward in you and with you through Jesus.
How amazing, dear Lord as I look back to my many setbacks and problems hurdled in the past, the more I look forward into the future! The more I am excited of the coming days ahead because if I made it through in the past, through the long, dark nights of trials and sufferings, you are always with me in Jesus.
Photo by author, St. Scholastica Spirituality Center, Tagaytay, August 2024.
Keep me faithful, Jesus; let me not lose that confidence in you, Lord, like the farmer in your parable: let me keep on sowing your gospel in words and in deeds especially among the young and the underprivileged like St. John Bosco whose memorial we celebrate today; let me do whatever good I can do today; most of all, like St. John Bosco, let me love without measure without claiming anything at all except as your work, Lord Jesus in sowing seeds until they sprout to life and grow until harvest time. Amen.
Photo by author, Northern Blossoms, Atok, Benguet, 27 December 2024.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Thursday, Third Week in Ordinary Time, Year I, 30 January 2025 Hebrews 10:19-23 ><}}}}*> + ><}}}}*> + ><}}}}*> Mark 4:21-25
Photo by author, sunset in Atok, Benguet, 27 December 2024.
Many times, O Lord Jesus, I feel you "hide" from me not because you are avoiding me but simply because you want me to find you. And be surprised because that is how it is really with you and the Father and the Holy Spirit: you want us to experience that sense of awe and wonder of Jacob in Bethel when he dreamt of your stairway to heaven that upon waking up, he cried out in joy, "Truly, the Lord is in this spot, although I did not know it!" (Genesis 28:16)
Photo by author, Mt. Olis Park, Atok, Benguet, 27 December 2024.
Many times in the gospel you have asked those you have healed not to say anything about you to anyone but the more they talk about you, dear Jesus; and this is what you are telling us today, that we cannot hide a shining light or lamp; any good will always shine will always be known and be seen. And that is YOU, Jesus.
When I examine my life, I have experienced many instances when you, Jesus, had broken through the surface after being "hidden" for a long time deep within me; and what a joy until now especially when I am confused, when I feel alone, when I see nothing but darkness, that is actually when you are "hidden", waiting to reveal yourself in the simplest occasions, giving me with "more" even though I already have received so much from you just in finding you!
Grant me the grace, Jesus, "to approach and seek you with a sincere heart and in absolute trust... let me hold unwaveringly to our confession that gives us hope for you are trustworthy as I rouse one another to love and good works" (Hebrews 10:22, 23, 24). Amen.
Photo by author, sunrise at St. Paul Spirituality Center, Pico, La Trinidad, Benguet, 06 January 2025.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Wednesday, Third Week in Ordinary Time, Year I, 29 January 2025 Hebrews 10:11-18 ><]]]]'> + ><]]]]'> ><]]]]'> Mark 4:1-20
From Facebook, 11 March 2024.
Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer offering for sin (Hebrews 10:18).
How lovely and reassuring are these words from the author of the Letter to the Hebrews today, Lord Jesus Christ; thank you for coming to save us from our sins, for forgiving our sins, for teaching us to forgive others most especially by being more loving.
Thank you, Jesus, for being the Sower, always coming out to scatter seeds of love and mercy to us; open our ears, Lord, that we may ought to hear you: forgive us for being hard and harsh in our ways and words, forgive us for being easily pricked and agitated, forgive us for not listening at all to you, Jesus.
Let me open myself to you, Jesus, by opening myself too with others to listen to their points of view in order to understand them, not to judge them; open myself to your healing words so I may also soothe others pains and hurts than add salt to their injuries. Lastly, let me do your will Jesus by always listening and forgiving. Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Tuesday, Memorial of St. Thomas Aquinas, Priest & Doctor of the Church, 28 January 2025 Hebrews 10:1-10 ><))))*> + ><))))*> + ><))))*> Mark 3:31-35
Photo by author, St. Joseph Friary, Order of Friars Minor Conventual, Tagaytay City, 16 January 2025.
Lord Jesus Christ, I pray for one thing today: for us to be made whole again, for us to be one in union in God in you and through you; forgive us O Lord for being so fragmented, so divided with each to his/her own; everyone insisting one's self and many beliefs and views often truncated and far from you.
Make us realize that in your life, death and rising again, you have greatly changed the way we look at everything that was so fragmented before but it seems, we have returned to that situation again; worst, many of us have chosen to be separated, to be on our own, to remain fragmented.
Brothers and sisters: Since the law has only a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of them, it can never make perfect those who come to worship by the same sacrifices that they offer continually each year…Then he says, “Behold, I come to do your will.” He (Jesus) takes away the first to establish the second. By this “will”, we have been consecrated through then offering of the body of Jesus Christ once and for all (Hebrews 10:1, 9-10).
Like yesterday in our prayer, let us put on your lenses, Jesus so that we can see life and persons in your light not in our distorted and colored views; open us to see more of you and of your will so that "whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother" (Mark 3:35)!
Grant us the humility and simplicity of St. Thomas Aquinas, the Angelic Doctor whose memorial we celebrate today that we may always turn away from sin in order to be in union with you always so we may have that peace because as he had taught us, "from the union of different appetites in man tending towards the same object that peace results" (Unio autem horum motuum est quidem de ratione pacis) Amen.
Photo by author, St. Joseph Friary, Order of Friars Minor Conventual, Tagaytay City, 16 January 2025.
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