The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Thursday, Twenty-third Week in Ordinary Time, Year II, 12 September 2024 1 Corinthians 8:1-7, 11-13 <'[[[[>< + ><]]]]'> Luke 6:27-38
Photo by author, 2018.
Brothers and sisters: Knowledge inflates with pride, love builds up. If anyone supposes he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know. But if one loves God, one is known by him (1 Corinthians 8:1-2).
O dear Jesus, how lovely are your words today through St. Paul; so timely like during his time when so many of us today have become so proud and arrogant in knowing so much that have bloated their egos, seeing only themselves unmindful of others around them, losing their personal touch, forgetting their humanity, miserably failing to love at all.
Dear Jesus, remind us anew of that basic truth that true knowledge is when we realize we know so little, that we must learn more not only from books but most of all from persons; let us be more loving so that we can build more lasting and fulfilling relationships; let us be more loving so we can build more trust and understanding when we learn to love our enemies; let us be more loving so we can build more goodwill and fellowship by being more merciful like the Father in heaven; let us be more loving so we can build persons than destroy them by being non-judgmental of one another; let us be more loving, Jesus, so we can build and overflow with more grace and gifts as we give more of Jesus Christ. Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Wednesday in the Twenty-third Week of Ordinary Time, Year II, 11 September 2024 1 Corinthians 7:25-31 <*[[[[>< + ><]]]]*> Luke 6:20-26
Photo by author at Anvaya Beach Resort, Morong, Bataan, April 2024.
I tell you, brothers, the time is running out. From now on, let those having wives act as not having them, those weeping as not weeping, those rejoicing as not rejoicing, those buying as not owning, those using the world as not using it fully. For the world in its present form is passing away (1 Corinthians 7:29-31).
Thank you, dear Father for these timely and wonderful reminders as we often compare our selves with others or are never contented with what we have or where we stand, always wondering amid great temptations that "the grass is greener at the other side of the fence."
Teach us contentment in your Son Jesus Christ; teach us dear Father to be always aware of the day of the Lord, of Parousia; while many times most Christians believe in parousia, only a few believe it will happen in their lifetime; many of us forget that even if the parousia does not occur in our lifetime, our life will definitely end, making us stand before the judgment seat of Christ for sure; help us realize that to live as if our life will never end is the height of folly, while to live with the knowledge that our life will end is the beginning of wisdom. That is why, Jesus calls us blessed when we are poor, when we hunger, when we weep, when we are hated and maligned because in your beatitudes you make us look forward what is beyond material and temporary, that is passing away; let us set our sights more on things that shall remain after everything has ended, with things that shall persist in eternity like our souls and You, O God. Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Tuesday in the Twenty-third Week of Ordinary Time, Year II, 10 September 2024 1 Corinthians 6:1-11 <*[[[[>< + ><]]]]*> Luke 6:12-19
By Kay Bratt, Facebook, 13 December 2023.
Thank you, Lord Jesus Christ for continuing to call us to be your disciples and apostles, inviting us to get closer with You like the Twelve to share your light first of all to our fellow disciples and apostles who have lost their will to burn.
Now indeed then it is, in any case, a failure on your part that you have lawsuits against one another. Why not rather put up with injustice? Why not rather let yourselves be cheated? Instead, you inflict injustice and cheat, and this to brothers. Do you not know that the unjust will not inherit the Kingdom of God? That is what some of you used to be; but now you have had yourselves washed , you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God (1 Corinthians 6:7-9, 11).
Forgive us, Lord Jesus, when many times we live and act like the Corinthian Christians forgetting our new person in You received in Baptism, when we turn to the courts to get justice that often terribly end in bitterness and recriminations; instead of bearing your light of justice and mercy, love and equality, kindness and tenderness, we resort to the ways of the world, endlessly debating on technicalities that we forget the person and the wrongs and evil done; let us return to you, Jesus, the true Light of the world to dispel the darkness of sin and evil around us by being your witnesses of the good news of salvation as your new chosen people. Amen.
Quiet Storm by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, 09 September 2024
Image from crossroadsinitiative.com.
And people brought to Jesus a deaf man who had a speech impediment and begged him to lay his hand on him. He took him off by himself away from the crowd. He put his finger into the man’s ears and, spitting, touched his tongue; then he looked up to heaven and groaned, and said to him, “Ephphatha!” – that is, “Be opened!” – And immediately the man’s ears were opened, his speech impediment was removed, and he spoke plainly (Mark 7:31-35).
Come, Lord Jesus, take me away from the routines and ordinariness of this life that has become my comfort zone; touch me again and speak to me that word "Ephphatha" so I may be opened to speak plainly again: let me speak plainly of love not with eloquent words but with sincere gestures of care and kindness for the other person; let me speak plainly of love not with technicalities of the laws and rituals but with mercy and compassion for a sinner and those who have gone wayward; let me speak plainly of love, dear Jesus, like you, not with letters and punctuations but full of tenderness for the weak and the sick; let me speak plainly by being open, giving all that I have not only whatever is in excess; let me speak plainly not with advocacies so passionate but simply doing what is right and good to keep this world clean and just; let me speak plainly, O Lord, with a ready smile to anyone, wide arms to hug and welcome family and friends, warmth and joy to inspire those lost and about to give up; let me speak plainly, Jesus, like you that in the end of this life the heavens may open as I pray, "into your hands I commend my spirit." Amen.
Photo by author, Chapel of St. Francis Xavier, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, 20 March 2024.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Monday, Memorial of St. Peter Claver, Priest, 09 September 2024 1 Corinthians 5:1-8 <*((((>< + ><))))*> Luke 6:6-11
God our loving Father, make me a yeast, a leaven for your people, bringing them into a community, a communion.
Do you not know that a little yeast leavens all the dough? Clear out the old yeast, so that you may become a fresh batch of dough, inasmuch as you are unleavened. For our Paschal Lamb, Christ, has been sacrificed. Therefore, let us celebrate the feast, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavend bread of sincerity and truth (1 Corinthians 5:6-8).
Many times, we in the Church fail to recognize the importance of corporate witness to the Gospel as one body; many times, we pretend to be blind and deaf and mute in the evil pervading among us, afraid of hurting others feelings, worst, afraid of being unmasked in living a double standard life; straighten our lives, Lord Jesus like that man with a withered hand in the synagogue; straighten our paths to your righteousness as we discern justice and mercy and love whenever there are some of us on the wrong side of the road. Like St. Peter Claver who called himself a "slave of the slaves forever" in his pioneering work among the African slaves in in Colombia, grant us the grace of courage and strength to dare start the impossible of being a yeast, a leaven to the people transforming them into witnesses of your Gospel. Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B, 08 September 2024 Isaiah 35:4-7 ><}}}}*> James 2:1-5 ><}}}}*> Mark 7:31-37
Photo by author, sunrise at Galilee, the Holy Land, 2017.
Thank God the rains have finally stopped here in Metro Manila and nearby provinces but the flood remains widespread as we brace for two more weather disturbances due this week.
So timely is our gospel this Sunday that reminds us of something so essential during calamities, the need to speak plainly and clearly.
Image from crossroadsinitiative.com.
Again Jesus left the district of Tyre and went by way of Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, into the district of Decapolis. And people brought to him a deaf man who had a speech impediment and begged him to his hand on him. He took him off by himself away from the crowd. He put his finger into the man’s ears and, spitting, touched his tongue; then he looked up to heaven and groaned, and said to him, “Ephphatha!” – that is, “Be opened!” – And immediately the man’s ears were opened, his speech impediment was removed, and he spoke plainly (Mark 7:31-35).
"...and he spoke plainly."
From forbes.com, 2019.
Think of our many misunderstandings and quarrels happening in these days of modern means of communications. How ironic that in this age of instant and wireless communications so accessible to everyone, the more we have misinformation and miscommunications.
No one seems to be speaking plainly and clearly anymore because we have been so blinded by the many images and colors competing for our attention, becoming deaf and mute due to the cacophony of sounds we hear even from machines and things that speak. Instead of life becoming easier and convenient in this age of social media and modern technologies, it has become so complicated like Facebook as more and more of us becoming deaf and mute to the realities within and around us.
I have just checked the internet today to find out that there are now over 7.2 billion cellphones in the world as of June 2024, a figure that accounts for about 90% of the global population now at 8 billion. Of course, it does not mean that 90% of the peoples across the world own a cellphone but we can just imagine how this little gadget has become the new “god”, a baal of the modern world everybody worship and follow. Jesus comes to us today, inviting us to separate ourselves from everything mundane even for a few hours to experience Him and His healing of our own deafness and blindness.
Photo by author, shore of Galilee, 2017.
Once again we find Mark guiding us in Jesus Christ’s itinerary that is often so quick and most of all, not really a destination found in maps but within us.
From Gennesaret last Sunday when Pharisees and scribes from Jerusalem questioned Him about the disciples’ non-compliance with their rites of washing and cleansing, Jesus swiftly moved to visit the pagan territories of Tyre and Sidon, making a stop-over at Decapolis where He healed a deaf-mute. Those pagan territories are not mere locations nor sites in the Holy Land but areas within each one of us, our very person who have forgotten God completely even on Sundays as we worship so many other gods running our lives.
Jesus is now visiting us in our own paganism, asking us to separate ourselves even for a while from everything to experience humanity, our human-ness, our being one with God who is the very basis and foundation of our lives.
We are probably one of those people in Decapolis who begged Jesus to heal the nameless deaf-mute or most likely, ourselves the deaf-mute needing healing by Jesus! This healing of the nameless deaf-mute is a parable of the cure of another kind of deafness and speech impediment afflicting us these days that only grace can heal.
Photo by author, wailing wall of Jerusalem, 2017.
Recall how last Sunday Jesus reminded us of checking into our motivations, on what is inside us in doing things. Jesus was not actually against rites and rituals but simply wants us to do things for the glory of God.
Today, Jesus separates us from our daily routines, from the mundane to touch us, to breathe on us His spirit so we can be more attuned with Him and therefore reflect Him in our lives by opening us – Ephphatha – to speak plainly again of God’s love and mercy, of life’s beauty, of our own giftedness.
To “speak plainly” like that healed deaf-mute at Decapolis is to be able to put into actions the words of Jesus Christ. To “speak plainly” is more than verbally pronouncing words and sounds but most of all touching others with our kindness and love. To “speak plainly” is to hold the hands of those afraid to move on in life after a failure, to caress a sick’s forehead or feet, to hug and embrace the lonely and lost, to be present with those in grief and in pain. To “speak plainly” is to be a presence of God to everyone especially strangers, the elderly, the weak and the helpless.
To “speak plainly” first of all requires us to be opened to God’s words. The gospel accounts teem with many instances of Jesus reminding His disciples that include us today of taking into our hearts to understand and put into practice His words. In the second reading, St. James reminds us how we have become deaf and blind of each other that we behave so badly because we have been so molded by worldly standards even in the church:
My brothers and sisters, show no partiality as you adhere to the faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ. For if a man with gold rings and in fine clothes comes into your assembly, and a poor person in shabby clothes also comes in, and you pay attention to the one wearing the fine clothes and say, “Sit here, please”, while you say to the poor one, “Stand there”, or “sit at my feel”, have you not made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil designs (James 2:1-4)?
Photo by author at Dominus Flevit church outside Jerusalem, 2017.
Think of our many rules and regulations, of our so many documents not only in government but even in the Church. Do they speak plainly?
Many times, we have so much rites and rituals as well documents and laws everywhere that are far from God and from the people, speaking so eloquently of lofty thoughts that are empty, so far from realities that have become only a burden to many, mostly the poor and the powerless.
How sad that those in power, both civil and ecclesiastical authorities have only complacent ears, oblivious to the din from below, the very voice of God among the ordinary people. They have not only turned deaf to the voice of the masses but have even forgotten God’s name in the process! The Apostle Paul gives us the most wonderful lesson about “speaking plainly” of God’s mystery by proclaiming more of Christ crucified than using the world’s “sublimity of words or wisdom” (cf. 1 Cor. 2:1-5).
Photo by author, 2017.
This is the tragedy among us modern Christians today, of us denying even totally unaware of our own deafness, of being mute not able to speak plainly of God in Jesus Christ who came to fulfill Isaiah’s prophecy in the first reading to heal the sick, to strengthen the weak and afraid, and to redeem us held captive by the world’s lies and evil.
Let Ephphatha be our prayer too this Sunday to heal us of our deafness so we may speak plainly again of God’s love and mercy and kindness. Amen. Have a blessed week ahead, everyone!
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Friday in the Twenty-Second Week of Ordinary Time, Year II, 06 September 2024 1 Corinthians 4:1-5 <*((((>< + ><))))*> Luke 5:33-39
Photo by author, 15 August 2024.
Thank you, our loving Father for another week about to close; thank you dear God for this first Friday in September 2024: despite the rains and the floods and the inconveniences these have brought, thank you for a new beginning today. Let us celebrate this gift of life you have given us by putting on a new attitude, a new disposition, a new outlook in life for you have made everything new in Jesus Christ.
And he also told them a parable. “No one tears a piece from a new cloak to patch an old one. Otherwise, he will tear the new and the piece from it will not match the old cloak. Likewise, no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled, and the skins will be ruined. Rather, new wine must be pured into fresh wineskins” (Luke 5:36-38).
Make us your trustworthy stewards of your mysteries, Lord; make us truly your servants who shall reveal your many mysteries of life and death, of joy and sufferings, of poverty and wealth, of fruitfulness and fulfillment, of redemption and forgiveness be known in our life of witnessing without any regard for fame nor popularity except that we do your work in Jesus faithfully. Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Twenty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B, 01 September 2024 Deuteronomy 4:1-2, 6-8 ><}}}*> James 1;17-18, 21-22, 27 ><}}}*> Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23
Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, 20 March 2024.
After five Sundays of journeying with John, we now return to Mark’s Gospel and shall continue to read it through the 33rd Sunday before we cap the current liturgical calendar with the Solemnity of Christ the King on November 24, 2024.
Oh yes! It’s beginning to feel like Christmas but the liturgy cautions us this Sunday through Mark that there are still many things we have to fix and cleanse in our hearts in the remaining stretch of the year, particularly our motivations in doing things. After dwelling on the “bread of life discourse” from John for five Sundays that gave us time to examine our faith, Mark brings us now to the other side of the lake in Gennesaret to listen to a discussion about the Jewish customs and traditions of ritual cleansing and washing in chapter seven.
When the Pharisees with some scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus, they observed that some of his disciples ate their meals with unclean, that is, unwashed, hands. For the Pharisees and, in fact, all Jews, do not eat without carefully washing their hands, keeping the tradition of the elders. So the Pharisees and scribes questioned him, “Why do your disciples not follow tradition of the elders but instead eat a meal with unclean hands?” He responded, “Well did Isaiah prophesy about you hypocrites, as it is written: This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines human precepts. You disregard God’s commandment but cling to human tradition” (Mark 7:1-3, 5-8).
Photo by author, St. Scholastica Spirituality Center, Tagaytay City, 20 August 2024.
It is easy to see in this scene how Mark must have tried to explain the many Jewish rituals and traditions that was a source of clashes among Jewish and pagan converts to Christianity in the early Church like circumcision and of eating of meat offered to gods. These were finally resolved in the Council of Jerusalem in year 50 when the Apostles acted upon instructions by the Holy Spirit “not to place on the pagan converts any burden beyond these necessities” (Acts 15:28).
However, it is unfair and a misreading to limit ourselves to this as a lesson in history because the practices criticized in this scene continue among us when we focus on the externalities of any ritual and tradition while missing their more essential and deeper meanings. Worst of all is the strong temptation among us to believe that by our actions and good deeds, like the Pharisees and scribes of that time, we make ourselves worthy of God or of anyone!
That is why Christ’s teaching in this Sunday gospel on the hypocrisy of the Pharisees and scribes of that time refers also for us today.
From Facebook, 29 August 2024.
From the halls of Congress to our own homes, classrooms and offices, pulpits and parish halls, we find many of us acting like the Pharisees and scribes who have come from Jerusalem to test and intimidate Jesus through people around us and under us by flexing their muscles in insisting strict adherence to their rituals and traditions that were passed on from Moses we have heard in the first reading. Observe how the Pharisees and scribes capitalized on these as “tradition of the elders” without really going into its very core and essence because they have forgotten or were totally unaware of Moses’ reminder that faithful observance of the Law and its tradition and rituals is a form of witnessing to God before all the peoples.
Observe them carefully, for thus you will give evidence of your wisdom and intelligence to the nations, who will hear of all these statues and say, “This great nation is truly wise and intelligent people. For what great nation is there that has gods so close to it as the Lord our God, it is to whenever we call upon him? Or what great nation has statutes and decrees that are as just as this whole law which I am setting before you today?” (Deuteronomy 4:6-8)
Photo by author, St. Scholastica Spirituality Center, Tagaytay City, 20 August 2024.
Every adherence and compliance to the Laws, to its accompanying rites and rituals must come from the heart, a result of the conversion of heart, of purification of one’s heart, especially the celebration of the liturgy we refer to as “the summit and font of our Christian life”. Every Mass celebration is an outflowing of what is in our hearts, beginning with the priest as celebrant.
But, what is the reality we have? As we concluded last Sunday Jesus Christ’s “bread of life discourse”, we realized the “shocking truths” of so many Catholics who have totally stopped coming to Sunday Masses, of some priests not giving the proper respect in prayerfully celebrating the Eucharist and the other Sacraments, and of most faithfuls just simply coming without seriously taking part in the Mass. That is why this gospel scene applies to us this time too as Jesus asks us, do we understand the things we are doing in the Church? What is in our hearts in doing these?
He summoned the crowd again and said to them, “Hear me, all of you, and understand. Nothing that enters one from outside can defile that person; but the things that come out from within are what defile. “From within people, from their hearts, come evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, arrogance, folly. All these evils come from within and they defile” (Mark 7:14-15, 21-23).
Photo by author, St. Scholastica Spirituality Center, Tagaytay City, 20 August 2024.
This Sunday, Jesus is inviting us to a new perspective at looking at things, not just from what is clean and not clean, or simply what is good and evil, what is traditional and modern; Jesus wants us to examine our motivations, of what is in our hearts in doing things, anything and everything.
Ultimately, it is a question of who is in our heart, Jesus or somebody else or another thing?
It is reality versus hypocrisy. Reality is the truth and meaning that things, events, persons, most of all, of our very selves have before God and for God. It is in this reality that we must scrutinize to strip ourselves naked of the hidden hypocrisies, the many masks and alibis we use to justify our selves.
Photo by author, 13 August 2024.
I have something to confess to you, my dear followers: I have been sick these past three weeks with different ailments. All my lab tests were good. Doctors find nothing wrong with my body with everything normal.
Last Tuesday I saw my longtime doctor for my scheduled check-up. As I explained everything to her, I broke down in tears as I admitted the fact I am in denial stage of my mom’s passing last May. I have repressed my griefs, trying to fill in the void within me with workloads as if I am still young that finally, it manifested in my body. That same Tuesday evening, I dreamt of my mom: she looked younger and healthier without signs of stroke but she wore a black dress and looked to have cried. I hugged her tightly in my dream, we cried together as I said sorry to her, promising that I would finally come home even if it hurts me to see her room empty.
Two days after that, we celebrated John the Baptist’s passion with a reading from Mark telling us of the “grudge” Herodias had on him that led to his beheading. Many times, grudges and other negative things that Jesus cited in today’s gospel not only cover us but actually destroy us, eating us up in the process. The festering negativities in our hearts cannot be hidden, eventually erupting like blisters, not only hurting others around us but most especially us.
In the Mass, Jesus knows very well we are not worthy with our hypocrisies to receive Him but only say the word, we are healed. And blessed to cleanse ourselves. Let us pray:
God our loving Father, "all good giving and every perfect gift is from You with whom there is no alteration or shadow caused by change"; empty our hearts of pride and evil to welcome Jesus your Word who became flesh to dwell inside us so that we may be "doers of the word not just hearers" (James 1:17, 22) by being more loving to others without any strings attached. Amen.
Lawiswis ng Salita ni P. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Ika-30 ng Agosto 2024
Larawan mula sa Facebook, 29 Agosto 2024.
Tayong mga Pinoy
hindi mauunahan sa katatawanan
mga biru-biruang makatotohanan
sadya namang makahulugan
sumasalamin sa kasalukuyang
kabulukang umiiral
sakit na kumakalat
lumalason sa lipunan.
Pagmamaang-maangan
ng matataas nating upisyal
sa kanilang mga kasinungalingan
kapalaluang pilit pinagtatakpan
sa kahuli-hulihan kanila ring bibitiwan
sa pananalitang akala'y maanghang
kanilang unang matitikman pain sa simang
silang sumasakmal hanggang masakal;
nguni't kakaibang tunay si Inday
hindi nga siya isda, walang hasang
kungdi pusit hatid ay pusikit na kadiliman
tintang itim ikinakalat
upang kalaban ay marumihan
di alintana kanyang kasamaan
di kayang pagtakpan.
Sa pagtatapos nitong buwan ng wika English pa more asar pa more kanyang binitiwan hanggang maging pambansang katatawanan nang siya ay mag-slang "shiminet" na tanging kahuluga'y "she-may-not-like-my-answer" lamang ngayon sana kanyang malaman hindi rin namin gusto kanyang answer mga pangangatuwiran sana'y manahimik na lang at maghintay sa halalan.
Bago man pandinig ang "shiminet" matagal na nating ginagamit upang pagtakpan katotohanan; mag-isip, laging tandaan kasinungalingan at kasamaan ay iisang "puwersa ng kadiliman" at "puwersa rin ng karahasan" ng magkakaibigang hangal!
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Friday in the Twenty-first Week of Ordinary Time, Year II, 30 August 2024 1 Corinthians 1:17-25 <*((((>< + ><))))*> Matthew 25:1-13
Photo by author, Chapel of angel of Peace, Our Lady of Fatima University, Valenzuela City.
For Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are called, Jews and Greeks alike, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength (1 Corinthians 1:22-25).
One of the most enduring and endearing words by the great St. Paul, O Lord this final Friday of August.
In a milieu when even the Church is threatened by interest groups and ideologies running down to the many parishes sowing distractions and divisions, let us find our unity anew in the crucified Jesus Christ; let us be like the five wise virgins who brought extra oil in waiting the groom's coming, accepting the situation of darkness and bringing along extra oil of faith, hope, and love in Christ; make us humble, O Lord, that whatever we have achieved and gained are all by your grace, O God; let us not be complacent like the five foolish virgins; let us choose whatever is difficult like Christ crucified allowing each of us to change for the best in God; let us choose whatever is painful like Christ crucified allowing us to empathize more; let us choose always Christ crucified because the Cross is a plus sign, an addition than a subtraction in this life through eternity. Amen.
lordmychef.com 