The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Wednesday, Feast of St. Thomas, Apostle, 03 July 2024 Ephesians 2:19-22 <*{{{{>< + ><}}}}*> John 20:24-29
From the the Catholic Diocese of Little Rock, Arkansas, dolr.org.
Praise and glory to You, God our Father for your gift of the Church, the Body of Christ built on the foundation of the Apostles as a community of faith, hope, and love!
Thank You for the gift of St. Thomas also known as Didymus; though he was not present on the evening of Easter when the Risen Lord appeared to his fellow disciples, he joined them eight days later to be with them, most especially with Jesus; what a beautiful gesture of him who could not believe of the Resurrection; what a gift of courage for him to submit himself to actual tests to prove to himself that Jesus had risen; most of all, his goodwill to be one in communion with his brother Apostles and Lord Jesus.
Brothers and sisters: You are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the holy ones and members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the Apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the capstone. Through him the whole structure is held together and grows into a temple sacred in the Lord, in him you also are being built together into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit (Ephesians 2:19-22).
Let us keep those words of St. Paul, dear Jesus, "Through him the whole structure is held together and grows into a temple sacred in the Lord, in him you also are being built together into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit": what will happen if we destroy this communion in You and with You through one another? What could have happened if St. Thomas remained adamant with his "doubts" and never came to join the other Apostles on that eighth day after Easter?
Caravaggio’s painting “The Incredulity of St. Thomas” (1602) from en.wikipedia.org.
Lord Jesus Christ, teach me to have the healthy doubts of St. Thomas, to dare test himself, not You nor others, to find You, the Truth; grant us the humility to accept and embrace not only your wounds but also those wounds of our fellow disciples because the twofold communion with God and with one another is inseparable - wherever communion with God in the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit is destroyed, the root and source of our communion with each other is destroyed too; whenever we do not live communion among ourselves, communion with God is not alive and true either. Like St. Thomas, enlighten us with your light and truth, Jesus, to see you among one another to live in communion. Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Tuesday in the Thirteenth Week of Ordinary Time, Year II, 02 July 2024 Amos 3:1-8, 4:11-12 <'[[[[>< + ><]]]]'> Matthew 8:23-27
Photo by author in San Juan, La Union, 25 July 2023.
Your words are weighty and terrifying today, O God as You left us with a warning - "prepare to meet your God, O Israel" (Amos 4:12); how must we prepare to meet You, O God, whom we have turned away from so often in the past? How must we prepare to meet You, O God, whose voice we have never heeded despite our hearing them?
Let us learn from nature who heeds your voice like the storm and the waves in the sea becoming quiet at Jesus Christ's command; let us learn to accept the simple laws of nature governing this world, of simply following the cause and effect pattern in everything instead of destroying it for in the end, it shall get upon us:
Do two walk together unless they have agreed? Does a lion roar in the forest when it has no prey? Does a young lion cry from its den unless it has seized something? Is a bird brought to a snare when there is no lure for it? Does a snare spring up from the ground without catching anything? If the trumpet sounds in a city, will the people not be frightened? If evil befalls a city, has not the Lord caused it? (Amos 3:3-6)
For so long, You have been most patient with us, Lord, letting us go on our own sinful ways despite all the love and graces You have showered us; You are all good, loving Father, full of mercy and forgiveness for our sins but lest we forget, there are so many sinful things we do with irreversible consequences that can unfree us, making us suffer from its dismal effects. This we pray we may realize so that when we meet You, O God, there may be justice still left for us. Amen.
Many people today see marriage in the human level, downplaying or outrightly refusing its supernatural dimension being a gift and a grace from God. What is most funny with them is how they also insist on giving weddings some semblance of “spiritual” meanings with all the crazy symbolisms and dramatics conjured by some wedding planners that have prompted – rightly so – many parishes to impose strict rules and guidelines to stop all these follies that have robbed Matrimony of its holiness and sanctity.
We in the Church have never failed to remind couples getting married that more important than their weddings becoming Instagrammable is their spiritual preparation because marriage is a vocation, a call from God to a life of holiness for husband and wife to become Christ’s saving presence in the world.
Divorce has always been the easiest way out of many failed marriages even among God’s chosen people in the Old Testament, an attempt to free couples of moral responsibility and culpability in their failures they could not humbly admit. Jesus had explained and clarified it 2000 years ago and still, here we are insisting for divorce which is a symptom of pride, the first sin of Adam and Eve when they broke away from God. That is why, divorce is a breaking away from God too.
There are many ways to succeed in marriage but there is only one sure way to fail which is to turn away from God, to disregard God, to stop believing in God. Here now is a homily I shared two years ago at the wedding of a very good friend in my former parish in Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria, Bulacan.
Photo by author, Don Bosco Chapel on the Hill, Bgy. Cahil, Calaca, Batangas, 03 January 2023.
My dearest Gracie and Chino:
Congratulations on this most joyous day of your lives. Finally, after much prayers and waiting, following so many detours in your lives, you are now before the altar of the Lord to exchange vows in the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony.
I am sure you must have heard so many things on being successful and fruitful in marriage. In fact while praying over this homily since last year (yes, believe me), a lot of things have also come to my mind that I felt very important so you may grow and mature in your married life. But, as I prayed more, I realized lately that while there are many ways to be successful and fruitful in marriage, there is only one sure way in order to fail as husband and wife.
Disregard God.
Stop believing in God.
Live as if there is no God.
Do not pray. Do not celebrate the Sunday Mass.
Forget God. And you will surely fail in marriage.
Without God, Gracie and Chino, you cannot truly love each other because the only true love we must all imitate despite our weaknesses and imperfections is the love of Jesus Christ poured out on us there on the Cross. He said it so clearly today in our gospel, “This is my commandment: love one another as I have loved you. There is no greater love than to offer one’s life for a friend.”
Remember, Gracie and Chino, human love is always imperfect; only God can love us perfectly.
Here lies the great mystery and joy of human love, of marriage: God willed from the very start that man and woman be united in marriage. When His Son Jesus Christ came to the world, He not only reminded us of this wonderful plan of the Father for us but also elevated marriage into a sacrament, a sign of the saving presence of God.
In sharing His life with us, we are able to love like Jesus that is why He tells us too that it was Him who chose and called you, Gracie and Chino, not you who chose Him. God willed that on this day, Gracie and Chino that you get married. It was also part of His plan that you met during the COVID pandemic when we were locked down and when many weddings were either postponed or cancelled.
Very clear, Gracie and Chino, it was God who designed your marriage! Do not disregard Him. Invite Him daily into your lives in the same manner you invited Him on this day of your wedding.
Photo by author, Don Bosco Chapel On The Hill, Bgy. Cahil, Calaca, Batangas, 08 February 2023.
Let me warn and remind you, Gracie and Chino, that a wedding nor a sacrament is not everything. Love is difficult because love is not just a feeling but a decision we renew daily. You must have heard how some couples ran out of love that eventually, they split up, separated and failed. When we have that deep faith, fervent hope and unceasing charity and love of God, you will never run out of love, Gracie and Chino, because God is love.
Keep that in mind. If you want to remain in love, love God. That is what marriage is all about: in loving your wife, your husband, you are actually expressing your love to God who is after all our very first love. That’s what Tobias realized when he married Sarah in our first reading. Tobias went to a far away land not only to look for a wife and a cure for his father Tobit’s blindness but also for God! When he found Sarah, he also found God.
Is it not the same thing happened with you, Chino, upon meeting Gracie? It was not love at first sight but more like the experience of Tobias when God revealed by silently speaking into your heart Gracie is the woman whom you shall marry. In a flash, you felt so certain about it, Chino, and despite your distance from each other, you felt this love growing deeper every day.
There is no perfect marriage, Gracie and Chino, but every couple is surely blessed by God. Cooperate with Him, do whatever He tells you as the Blessed Mother told the waiters in the wedding at Cana where Jesus transformed water into wine. Imagine, the first miracle by Jesus Christ was in a wedding just like this!
You know why? Because love is most truest when there is forgiveness and mercy. As I have told you, human love is imperfect, only God can love us perfectly. Without God, it is impossible for us to forgive and move on with life. Without God, it is impossible for us to say sorry and ask forgiveness too. It is God who gives us the grace to be sorry and to be merciful and forgiving like Him.
Photo by author, Don Bosco Chapel on the Hill, Bgy. Cahil, Calaca, Batangas, 08 February 2023.
When couples become hardened in their hearts as they keep tabs of each other’s sins and mistakes and misgivings, they get tired and fed up with each other and then separate.
With God, we are able to clean our slate, delete our memories and restart/refresh our programs like the computer to begin anew each day.
Without God, the festering anger within us gets worst and soon, everything crashes. That is when we fail because we do not have God as our foundation and root.
Try seeing it this way: human relationships are like two hands together.
Without God, they are like interlocking fingers where the partners are both so good, so bilib in themselves, filling each other’s needs that soon, they get filled with themselves. Like interlocking fingers that get painful, they eventually breakaway or separate from each other because love has become a demand than a gift, sex an obligation than an offering, with each one becoming more an object to be possessed than a person to be loved.
With God, human relationships are like two praying hands. Very flexible. You keep your identities and personalities intact, growing together, maturing together in love as you both create an empty space for each one’s shortcomings and most especially for God to have a place in your lives.
Like Tobit and Sarah in our first reading, pray always. Handle your lives with prayer, Gracie and Chino. The more you pray and believe in God, the more you will love Him, and the more you will believe each other too and hence, love more each other too! Keep God in your life as husband and wife. Whatever you do to each other, that you do first to Jesus who is always between you.
You see, Gracie and Chino, there are so many ways to be fruitful in marriage for as long as you are rooted in God. Take away God and you will surely fail as an individual and as a couple.
My prayer for you, Gracie and Chino is that today may be the least joyful day of your lives. Live in God through Jesus Christ with Mary our Mother. Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Monday in the Thirteenth Week of Ordinary Time, Year II, 01 July 2024 Amos 2:6-10, 13-16 <*((((><< + >><))))*> Matthew 8:18-22
Photo by author, Anvaya Cove, 15 April 2024.
Glory and praise to You, God our loving Father for this brand new month of July; we have passed the first half of 2024, help us to make good of its remaining six months, most especially in finding ways to address and mitigate if not eradicate the social injustices that continue to happen among us since 3000 years ago your Prophet Amos had denounced.
Thus says the Lord: For three crimes of Israel, and for four, I will not revoke my word; because they sell the just man for silver, and the poor man for a pair of sandals. They trample the heads of the weak into the dust of the earth, and force the lowly out of the way. Son and father go to the same prostitute, profaning my holy name (Amos 2:6-7).
What a shame, O God, how this passage written in 750 BC remains still the same these days; give us the sincerity to confront our selves, to look into our own lives to see how these accusations can be thrown against us too; let us realize there can be no real love of God nor even true religion without the practice of justice and loving concern for the weak and marginalized.
Give us the will to have Jesus our priority in life in order to build a more humane and just society in this imperfect world, instead of relying on our abilities and expertise as well as comfort and ease; both Amos and Jesus have showed that doing the work of God is always other-centered, entails a lot of sacrifices and suffering so that we decrease and lose our very selves for God through others. Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B, 30 June 2024 Wisdom 1:13-15, 2:23-24 ><}}}}*> 2 Corinthians 8:7, 9, 13-15 ><}}}}*> Mark 5:21-43
August 20, 2021 frontpage photo of the Philippine Daily Inquirer at the height of COVID-19 pandemic.
A young brother-priest recently interviewed me about my ministry as chaplain in a university and a hospital, inquiring about its similarities and differences with a parish assignment, difficulties and challenges. I told him first, it is the priesthood, an answer to the call of Jesus Christ to serve. How? By reminding the people I serve that we are still humans – that it is good and normal to fail and get disappointed, to get sick and be not well in life.
As a chaplain, my ministry involves the hospitality of Jesus Christ like in our gospel today, that is, to welcome everyone especially those who are sick and troubled to experience God’s love and mercy, healing and salvation. It is a ministry of accompanying, of journeying with those who have to “cross” so often the turbulent sea of life, of opening their eyes and hearts to faith in God.
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. One of the synagogue officials, named Jairus, came forward. Seeing him he fell at his feet and pleaded earnestly with him, saying, “My daughter is at the point of death. Please, come lay your hands on her that she may get well and live.” He went off with him, nd a large crowd followed him and pressed upon him (Mark 5:21-24).
Photo by author, Lake of Galilee, Israel, May 2019.
I love that little detail Mark mentioned in today’s gospel, of how Jesus “had crossed again” the Lake of Galilee. That’s what Jesus had done when He crossed from heaven to earth to lead us cross from here to eternity. And Jesus keeps on crossing the sea and the streets with us to get to the side of life with its fullness in heaven.
In this long gospel, we see how Jesus crossed again and again for the worried father, the sickly widow along the way, and the dead daughter. Here we find Jesus welcoming us, our humanity with all its weaknesses and imperfections. That first act of Jesus of coming with Jairus to his home in itself was the start of the healing process. That is the hospitality of Jesus.
From the Latin word hospis which means to welcome, it is the origin of the English terms hospitality and hospital. Both terms are so trending today as the most in demand careers are those in the hospitality business of hotels and travels and in the hospital care system following the pandemic.
Medical professionals during the time of Jesus were very rare that most people have no other recourse but to muster all their faith for healing and well-being. Sickness and death were so negative for them, seen at its worst as a punishment from God for sins committed. That context makes our gospel scene this Sunday so uplifting because Mark shows us Jesus came to bring healing and life to us humans who are frail and weak, even dead to sin!
We know this story of double healing by Jesus, of the hemorrhaging woman who touched His clothes that right away stopped her bleeding and of Jairus’ daughter raised from the dead after taking her hand, telling her to arise, “Talitha koum”.
In both instances, we first experience Christ’s hospitality, of how Jesus right away made those afflicted welcomed. Blessed are those with family and friends, even total strangers hospitable enough to encourage the sock and troubled among us to hold on to their faith when life’s too difficult and rough, to keep on hoping for the best and to believe in love when all is dark. The sad truth is, many were lost not really in their battles with diseases and trials but with no one on their side to support and encourage them during their trying moments.
Today, Jesus is inviting us to keep on crossing the seas and streets of life, to bring Him with those finding difficult or terrifying to cross to the side of life of grace, of acceptance, and of forgiveness as the world has become so perfectionist and unrealistic.
Of course, the woman and the daughter as well as all the others healed and brought back to life by Jesus eventually died later in life; our whole life is an unceasing struggle against the relentless assaults of diseases and death that have become more violent and insidious. Surely, we shall all die one day.
What makes the difference is the faith we have in Jesus who had come to bring salvation, healing and life to the world, more than our physical well-being. See how in every healing Jesus would engage us first into a personal encounter with Him with His eyes full of mercy and tenderness, touching and raising up those sick and dead before saying the words “arise” or “be opened” finished off with the most unique of all, “your faith has saved you”.
Photo by author, 2023.
Only faith will enable us to understand these cures and resurrections worked by Jesus. It was the same thing He had asked us with the disciples during the storm in the middle of the sea (or lake).
Let us have that welcoming spirit or hospitality of Jesus with others too! We may not have His actual powers of healing but we can be the extensions of Him by first being hospitable, welcoming those in distress especially. Since Friday, I have felt the Lord telling me to speak more about encouragement. In telling us these story of Jesus bringing back to life the daughter of Jairus sandwiched with the healing of the hemorrhaging woman along the way, Mark was encouraging the persecuted Christians of his time and us today to be hospitable with one another going through many trials in life. People actually come to us not really for help nor solutions to their problems but simply to be welcomed and encouraged in what they were going through.
The first reading clearly tells us that death and sickness were not from God but from the devil. Only good things come from God – including us! Though sin had thwarted the beautiful plan of God in the beginning, right away after the fall He promised salvation in Christ who became poor to make us rich in life with love and mercy in Him.
your abundance at the present time should supply their needs, so that their abundance may also supply your needs, that there may be equality. As it is written: “Whoever had much did not have more, and whoever had little did not have less” (2 Corinthians 8:14-15).
Photo by author, Anvaya in Morong, Bataan 17 June 2024.
St. Paul was in prison, thanking the Corinthians for their hospitality and generosity in providing for his needs. He was reminding them and us too that every hospitality and generosity we do must be rooted in Christ.
We in the church are always accused of so many collections, and rightly so. These collections get to their nerves not because of the money they have to give but the sheer lack of Jesus! They could hardly feel nor find Jesus as the reason and essence not only for their generosity but most especially in the Mass celebration. How sad when priests are demanding of the people’s generosity when they lack the hospitality of Jesus. People are most generous, both the rich and the poor alike, when their pastor are hospitable like Christ, when they feel the parish as a community with Jesus always leading them to cross every street, every sea of trials and challenges.
Last Sunday, the gospel reminded us how Jesus silently journeys with us even in turbulent seas, asking us to have faith and trust in His powers. This Sunday, the gospel reminds us that we become the presence of Christ in helping people cross the seas and the streets of sickness even of death. Can we? Let us pray:
Lord Jesus, teach us to have your courage to believe and trust You in crossing stormy seas; teach us too to be warm and hospitable with the many people we meet while crossing busy streets, those who are sick and "dead" to life and living; let us be your silent presence, encouraging, consoling, uplifting those with sagging spirits to experience your healing and life in our loving service in You. Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Friday, Memorial of St. Irenaeus, Bishop & Martyr, 28 June 2024 2 Kings 25:1-12 <'[[[[>< + ><]]]]'> Matthew 8:1-4
It is the end of another week of work and studies for most of us, God our loving Father, but for some, it is like the end of everything for them like your people at Judah and Jerusalem:
In the tenth month of the ninth year of Zedekiah’s reign, on the tenth day of the month, Nebuchadnezzar, king od Babylon, and his whole army advanced against Jerusalem, encamped around it and built siege walls on every side. On the ninth day of the fourth month, when famine had gripped the city, and the people had no more bread, the city walls were breached. The king was therefore arrested and brought to Riblah to the king of Babylon, who pronounced sentence on him. He had Zedekiah’;s sons slain before his eyes. He then blinded Zedekiah, bound him with fetters, and had him brought to Babylon (2 Kings 25:1, 3, 6-7).
Many times, when life becomes so difficult even so terrible for us, all we ask, O God, are simple words and acts of encouragement; send us someone who is like Jesus your Son, our Lord and Savior who, upon meeting a leper, told him, "I will do it. Be made clean" (Matthew 8:3).
Like Jesus, may we stay and remain even for a few minutes with those so burdened in life; when the leper approached him, Jesus did not hide nor run but stayed to let the leper feel He was with him; many times, we forget our mere presence can be so encouraging; forgive us for abandoning and turning away from those who come to us even for company and warmth.
Like Jesus, even if we do not have the power to heal and cleanse anyone of sickness, grant us the gift of words that encourage others to hold on in faith, to keep hoping, and most of all, to believe in love when all is dark because like Jesus, we may tell them how much we desire their well-being. Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Thursday, Memorial of St. Cyril, Bishop & Doctor of the Church, 27 June 2024 2 Kings 24:8-17 <*((((><< + >><))))*> Matthew 7:21-29
Photo by Ms. Analyn Dela Torre, March 2024.
God our loving Father, help us find You where we are now - especially those feeling so down at the bottom of the pits, those who are burdened with so much in life - help us find You O Lord in our darkness and sadness not where we would like to be.
It is a very beautiful day but your words in the first reading are very distressing like what many of us today are feeling; we have failed, we have sinned like the people of Judah and Jerusalem who were conquered and exiled by the Babylonians; it is the final week June, closing the first half of 2024 when life slows down, when tasks seem too difficult, when our spirits are also sagging; uplift our weary souls, inspire us and fill us with the warmth and zeal of the Holy Spirit to find You, dear God, where we are and let us stop our usual blaming game and wishful thinking of worlds and situations we imagined where You are not present.
Give us the courage like Jesus to speak with authority like St. Cyril of Alexandria who defended the truth of Christ as true God and true Man that paved the way to recognize Mary as the Mother of God; like St. Cyril of Alexandria, let us mean mean what we say, most of all, to be one with Jesus always among the poor and rejected and neglected for Jesus is always found among them. Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Wednesday in the Twelfth Week of Ordinary Time, Year II, 26 June 2024 2 Kings 22:8-1`3, 23:1-3 <*((((><< + >><))))*> Matthew 7:15-20
Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, 20 March 2024.
Keep us faithful to You, God our Father; keep us searching for You especially in the Sacred Scriptures to learn and listen to your words that are ever-present and true and relevant.
The high priest Hilkiah informed the scribe Shaphan, “I have found the book of the law in the temple of the Lord.” Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, who read it. The scribe Shaphan also informed the king that the priest Hilkiah had given him a book, and then read it aloud to the king. When the king had heard the contents of the book of the law, he tore his garments and issued this command… “Go, consult the Lord for me, for the people, for all Judah, about the stipulation of this book that has been found, for the anger of the Lord has been set furiously ablaze against us, because our fathers did not obey the stipulations of this book, nor fulfill our written obligations” (2 Kings 22:8, 10-12, 13).
Your words, Your will, Your laws are always among us especially in Jesus Christ, the Word who became flesh and dwelt among us; but, how sad especially in this decadent period and age despite our many advances in science and technology, we have morally retrogressed as many people who are also believers in You choose to believe the false prophets in our midst - influencers in the social media who peddle lies, massaging the minds of many people too lazy to think and pray, preferring to follow the many vogues and trends that lead nowhere but destruction; there are also the modern gnostics claiming to be progressive and liberal in their thinking espousing themselves as more fair and inclusive but actually followers of dictatorship of relativism who allow everything in the name of inclusivity without responsibility.
Teach us, O Lord Jesus, in the way of your decrees; most of all, let us look hard on the fruits of every prophet who promise to lead us to fulfillment and truth. Amen.
It’s been more than four years since the breakout of the COVID-19 pandemic that threw many of us out of sync in life, especially those planning to get married during those critical years of 2020-2022.
I had four weddings affected by the COVID-19 lockdowns in that period; three were postponed but I was able to officiate at the two weddings when reset to another dates except the first one that did not fit my schedule. The fourth wedding I was not able to officiate because I got the virus and had to be isolated.
This is the homily I delivered at one of those three weddings postponed I officiated, between Cris my former student at the Immaculate Conception School for Boys (ICSB) in Malolos City and Tim whom I met when they were going steady while we were all taking MA courses at UST.
More funny than that was the fact Cris and Tim have planned of getting married in 2020 but have to move it to 2021 due to the pandemic; but, when COVID still persisted that year, they finally fixed their altar date to early 2022. Alas! Just as they were all set in January 2022, the church was closed on the week of their wedding after its priests got the virus!
Cris and Tim were at a loss when their wedding would finally take place until they were offered by the parish the date February 22, 2022 after the weddings of those others postponed like them. I told them to go for it than wait further for other dates lest they in turn get the virus too!
Looking back to their wedding day, I have realized how God always finds ways in helping married couples in all their problems for as long as they are willing to cooperate. This is why we cannot allow divorce to be legalized in the country for God never fails in His grace and blessings. We just have to work on them.
From stillromancatholicafteralltheseyears.com, January 2022.
You must have heard the saying that “God writes straight crooked lines”. And today that proves so true not only with how God wrote so crooked His straight lines in your life, Cris and Tim, but even wrote in circles to make this date your wedding day – 22 February 2022!
Cris and Tim, God has always been so sure in calling you before His altar on this date, which will similarly happen again in 200 years – 22 February 2222! God writes straight crooked lines because everything in him is perfect, like numbers. Precise and exact. Like this date you never chose, 02-22-2022.
When you consulted me last month when priests here offered you this date due to their recent lockdown, right away I told you it is the most wonderful date for your wedding being the Feast of St. Peter’s Chair… St. Peter as in San Pedro like Cristopher Tabafunda San Pedro and later, Mrs. Fatima Macam San Pedro!
It was God who willed in all eternity that you, Cris and Tim, be married today — not last year, not the other week nor next week because today is the day that the Lord has made!
Cris and Tim are both very prayerful and good, practicing Catholics.
You are both good with numbers like God, a mathematician who is very precise and exact like an economist and stock trader (Cris) and a marketing and sales executive (Tim) who used to do a lot of chemical research before.
But God has better and deeper plans for you that numbers cannot count nor quantify.
God wants you to always go back to basic numbers, not to those found in equations only you two can understand or multiple digits only you can count.
Jesus said it so well in the gospel today: two is equal to one. So mathematical ba?
Photo by author, 2021.
“For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh? So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, no human being must separate.”Matthew 19:5-6
Life is not about having the most but the least. That is where faith grows and deepens.
When we have so much in life, when we feel so sufficient, when we are so filled with things, we forget God. We stop believing in him, we believe more in ourselves.
And when we stop believing in God, we lose our faith and then, we stop loving, too. Sooner or later, we become empty and miserable.
So, be simple, Cris and Tim.
Reduce everything to the barest and simplest. Simplify, simplify, simplify as Henry David Thoreau said: “let your affairs be two or three, and not a hundred or a thousand.”
When we get complicated like our Facebook, life becomes difficult as we can’t find right away who and what matters most to us.
Kaya nga isa lang ang asawa, Cris at Tim, kasi hindi puwede marami.Hindi lang magulo. Magastos pa. Imagine kung dalawa o tatlo wedding rings? Pag isa lang, kita agad at alam na this – married na ang mamang ito na may cute na dimple o itong girl na ito na naka glasses at dalawa pa ang dimples! Hayaan ninyo sabihin ng mga makakita singsing ninyo na sayang at taken na pala siya!
You see, the lower the number, the simpler, the better. Madaling tumaya at manampalataya.
That’s faith! Parang PBA game kung saan kayo nagkakilala. And you have both experienced, walang tatalo sa faith in God ninyong dalawa!
God is greater and more than the numbers the wiz kids and supercomputers of the world can calculate and predict. His thoughts are not our thoughts, nor His ways. He first created just one man and one woman – just two – to be one with each other in Him, and to be faithful to Him and each other.
Because the more we become faithful, the more we become loving.
That is the message of this Feast of the Chair of St. Peter which is the “Primacy of Rome” or of the Pope: it is the primacy of faith and the primacy of love together which cannot be separated.
Chair of St. Peter in Rome, from Wikipedia.
Forget all those numbers Cris and Tim, focus only in the One – God in Jesus Christ. Just focus on Jesus, always Jesus.
Love is not about counting or keeping tabs and tallies, like how many “likes” and “followers” we get in our posts.
The true measure of love is when we love without measure, when we simply love, love, love. And love.
That is why we only have one heart so we can love with all our heart. Forget Sana Dalawa ang Puso Ko. It is just a song.
When you have LQ (lover’s quarrel), who should blink first, or smile? Who should take the first move to reconcile, the first to offer the hand of peace?
Whenever lovers and couples or even friends quarrel, I always say, whoever has more love to give must be the first one to initiate reconciliation, the first to blink, or smile, the first to offer the hand of peace.
To have the most love to give and share does not mean to be better or superior than the other; to have the most love to give and share is to have more faith, to have a deeper faith the he/she is ready and willing to lose everything for the sake of the loved one.
Like Jesus Christ who gave everything for us on that Cross because of love.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Monday, Solemnity of the Birth of John the Baptist, 24 June 2024 Isaiah 49:1-6 ><}}}}*> Acts 13:22-26 ><}}}}*> Luke 1:57-66.80
Photo from Wikipedia, mosaic of Jesus with Mary and John the Baptist at the Hagia Sophia in Turkey.
Praise and glory to You, God our loving Father in sending us John the Baptist as Precursor of your Son Jesus Christ our Savior; on this Solemnity of his birth six months before Christmas during the summer solstice to remind us of John's vocation, "a burning and shining lamp" (John 5:35) set to decrease when the Light that illuminates the world appeared in December, the winter solstice.
Everything about John pointed to the unexpected - his conception in the womb of his old, barren mother Elizabeth, his being named not after his father Zechariah, and his life being spent in the wilderness, not in the temple to follow the footsteps of his father; most of all, his "manifestation to Israel" (Lk.1:80) was not about himself but pointed to the Christ, Jesus our Lord and Savior.
What is not unexpected, dear Father, is the connection between John and Jesus and the salvific events that have everyone filled with joy and fear at the same time for "surely your hand hand was with him" (Lk.1:66).
Photo by author, Binuangan Is., Meycauayan, Bulacan, 31 December 2021.
Open our eyes and our hearts, merciful Father, to always expect the unexpected in this life and mission, to learn to withdraw in the wilderness of our lives like John to realize that our whole being like his is directed to our relationship with Jesus the Christ.
Let us decrease
so that Jesus may increase!
Let us strive to go to the wilderness
to empty ourselves to be filled
by the Holy Spirit;
most of all,
let your words comfort us
when life becomes so difficult
in being a herald of Jesus by proclaiming
repentance and conversion (Acts 13:24):
“You are my servant, he said to me, Israel, through whom I show my glory. Though I thought I had toiled in vain, and for nothing, uselessly, spent my strength, yet my reward is with the Lord, my recompense is with my God” (Isaiah 49:3,4).
How wonderful that when I learn to expect the unexpected from You, O God, that is when I am less, Jesus becomes more in me, then truly, You are most gracious, Father through me, like John. Amen.
Photo by author, birthplace of St. John the Baptist beneath the church in his honor in Ein Karem, Israel, May 2019
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