The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Thursday, Memorial of St. Anthony of Padua, Priest & Doctor of the Church, 13 June 2024 1 Kings 18:41-46 ><]]]]’> + <‘[[[[>< Matthew 5:20-26
Photo by author, 2023.
God our loving Father, thank you for this memorial of St. Anthony de Padua, your humble servant who is also the patron of lost items; in sending us your Son Jesus Christ, You gave us the chance to recover, to have anew, to find whatever we have lost like our dignity and honor as your children, life in You with all the grace and fulfillment, forgiveness, and peace.
In a trice, the sky grew dark with clouds and wind, and a heavy rain fell. Ahab mounted his chariot and made for Jezreel. But the hand of the Lord was on Elijah, who girded up his clothing and ran before Ahab as far as the approaches to Jezreel.
1Kings 19:45-46
How lovely is this scene, Father: of You sending rains again to Israel after punishing them with a drought that lasted three years; most especially of your prophet Elijah despite his old age and weak body being able to outrun King Ahab in your immense power and grace simply because he relied only in You; help us find our way back to You, O God, through Jesus Christ your Son; take us back to your side, to seek and follow your will by being pure and clean before You through our dealings with one another; like St. Anthony, may we immerse ourselves in your words and teachings so that we may be more loving caring and understanding, Amen.
St. Anthony of Padua, Pray for us!
The former residence of St. Anthony in Lisbon, Portugal converted into a church after his canonization as saint, a year after his death in 1231 at the age of 36. Photo courtesy of Mr. Jilson Tio of Our Lady of Fatima University, Valenzuela City.
Lawiswis ng Salita ni P. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Ika-12 ng Hunyo 2024
Mula sa Colombo Plan Staff College, cpstech.org, 12 June 2020.
Tuwing sasapit petsa dose ng Hunyo problema nating mga Filipino nahahayag sa pagdiriwang na ito: alin nga ba ang wasto at totoo, Araw ng Kalayaan o Araw ng Kasarinlan?
Parehong totoo, magkahawig sinasaad ng mga ito ngunit malalim at malaki kaibahan ng mga ugat nito: kung pagbabatayan ating kasaysaysan araw ito ng kasarinlan nang magsarili tayo bilang isang bansa pinatatakbo ng sariling mamamayan, magkakababayan; ngunit totoo rin namang sabihing higit pa sa kasarinlan ating nakamtan nang lumaya ating Inang Bayan sa pang-aalipin ng mga dayuhan!
Kuha ng may akda, Camp John Hay, 2018.
Maituturing bang mayroon tayong kasarinlan kung wala namang kalayaang linangin at pakinabangan ating likas na kayamanan lalo na ang karagatan gayong tayo ay bansang binubuo ng mga kapuluan? Tayo nga ba ay mayroong kasarinlan at nagsasariling bansa kung turing sa atin ay mga dayuhan sa sariling bayan walang matirhan lalo mga maliliit at maralitang kababayan dahil sa kasakiman ng mga makapangyarihan sa pangangamkam?
Gayon din naman ating tingnan kung tunay itong ating kalayaan marami pa ring nabubulagan, ayaw kilalanin dangal ng kapwa madalas tinatapakan dahil ang tunay na kalayaan ay ang piliin at gawin ang kabutihan kaya ito man ay kasarinlan dahil kumawala at lumaya sa panunupil ng sariling pagpapasya na walang impluwensiya ng iba kundi dikta ng konsiyensiya!
Larawan kuha ni G. Jay Javier sa Luneta, 2022.
Kalayaan at kasarinlan kung pagninilayan dalawang katotohanang nagsasalapungan kung saan din matatagpuan ang kabutihan, paglago at pagyabong ng ating buhay!
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Wednesday in the Tenth Week of Ordinary Time, Year II, 12 June 2024 1 Kings 18:20-39 <*{{{{>< + ><}}}}*> Matthew 5:17-19
Photo from Colombo Plan Staff College, cpstech.org, 12 June 2020.
Praise and glory to You, God our loving Father for the gift of Independence, for the gift of a country and a nation, of culture and identity until now many of us continue to debate; forgive us, Father, for being like your people during the time of Elijah when we could not make up our minds on whether to follow and obey You or follow other pagan gods that still about these days. How sad, dear Father, when many of our supposed learned men and women are ashamed of our being the remaining nation faithful to You, making divorce illegal; doubly sad, O God, when some of our own countrymen laugh and insult the Spaniards who conquered our land to bring Christianity here.
Ahab sent to all the children of Israel and had the prophets assemble on Mount Carmel. Elijah appealed to all the people and said, “How long will you straddle the issue? If the Lord is God, follow him; if Baal, follow him.” The people, however, did not answer him.
Like the psalmist today, I pray that You "keep me, O God, for in you I take refuge, show me the path to life, fullness of joys in your presence, the delights at your right hand forever" (Psalm 16:1, 11); teach me the way to true freedom and independence of lovingly serving the weakest among us by protecting life in all its stages especially its basic unit, the family.
May we take into hearts Jesus Christ's words to bring into fulfillment the words of your laws into our own laws like the 1987 Constitution that had enshrined marriage as an "inviolable social institution" in Article XV; let us stop all these fantasies of legalizing divorce, of separating from your divine order of things that only enslave us to sin and evil. Amen.
Quiet Storm by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, 11 June 2024
From stillromancatholicafteralltheseyears.com, January 2022.
What is very sad in this ongoing debate against divorce in our country is how some people claiming to be graduates and professors of Catholic institutions insist on their many “intellectual reasonings” why divorce should be allowed while at the same time declaring it is wrong to profess we are against divorce simply because we are Catholics.
What a tragedy when those educated or teaching in Catholic schools and universities who are supposed to know more and better about Jesus Christ and His teachings are the ones favoring divorce. They cite so many studies and authors even theologians to support their stand in favor of divorce without ever mentioning Christ’s teachings found in the Sacred Scriptures that were explained by the Church in our Catechism as well as in so many other documents by the Popes and bishops.
We understand how journalists could err regarding names and other details that essentially do not effect the veracity of their news like the recent sakalan blues in Gagalangin, Tondo when the interview of a priest was ascribed to another; but, to be one sided in the presentation of a story is something else like Rappler’s “The Problem with I am Catholic, I say no to divorce”. There’s a reliable maxim in journalism that says “Opinions are free but facts are sacred.”
The main fact we have been holding on the sanctity and indissolubility of marriage for over 2000 years is our Lord Jesus Christ’s teaching against divorce that the pro-divorce everywhere have refused to accept.
Yes, we need to listen to different views about divorce but not to those views condemned by the Church because they are wrong.
Divorce cannot be isolated as merely a political issue to be resolved because marriage as a natural sacrament is spiritual in nature, a path to holiness.
Marriage is a gift and a call from God for men and women to live and work together in order to attain eternal life. This we achieve firstly by having a prayer life, a relationship with God expressed in our love for one another especially between husband and wife.
In arguing against divorce, we need to look for those couples who have made it through thick and thin in their marriage in order to inspire others in following the path of Holy Matrimony.
Joyce and Tony in 2019 with son Atty. JA and wife Kathleen with their two sons, and daughter Rosella.
As a contribution in our fight against divorce, I share with you my homily at the 40th wedding anniversary of my cousin Joyce Pollard to Tony Lopez in October 2019 which I titled as “Married life is a prayer”.
Oh what a joy to officiate weddings especially of relatives and friends!
Hope you find some lessons and inspirations on the beauty of marriage we have to keep.
As I prepared my homily for your anniversary, Joyce and Tony… “the moment I woke up and before your Mommy Fely put on her make-up, I said a little prayer for you.”
Of course that is not the theme song of Joyce and Tony. They haven’t met yet in 1967 when Dione Warwick recorded I Say a Little Prayer. But they were already married when it became one of the tracks in the movie “My Best Friend’s Wedding” starring Julia Roberts.
And since this is my “best cousin’s wedding anniversary” in this part of the city, I have thought of reflecting on married life as a prayer.
In our gospel we have heard Jesus Christ narrating the parable of the unjust judge and persistent widow to underscore “the necessity to pray always without becoming weary” (Lk. 18:1).
Prayer is an expression of faith.
When there is faith, there is also love.
And when there is prayer, faith, and love, what we have is a relationship, a community of believers who love each other.
People who love and believe with each other always talk and communicate. They make time to be with one another. And most often, that is what really matters with people who love and believe – simply to be together.
Even in silence.
Like prayer.
Prayer is more than asking things from God but most of all, prayer is a relationship with God expressed with others. That is the beauty of the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony: husband and wife are bound together in marriage to become signs of the saving presence of Jesus Christ.
Marriage as a sacrament means it is a prayer as well, a relationship of a man and woman with God as its source and foundation.
I am sure, Joyce and Tony along with all the other married couples here today will agree that married life requires a lot of prayers. In fact, married life is a prayer, a very difficult one that is much needed.
Like in that movie My Best Friend’s Wedding, there are real forces of evil that are trying to destroy couples. So many couples have already fallen, going their separate lives after several years of being together while on the other hand, more and more couples are refusing to get married at all due to this reality of breakups and separations.
And that is why we are celebrating today Joyce and Tony’s 40th wedding anniversary! We are praying with them in expressing our faith and love for them in Christ Jesus. Prayers have kept them together, transforming them into better persons.
At the end of the parable of the persistent widow and unjust judge, Jesus posed a very crucial question for us, especially to every married couple here today: When the Son of Man comes again at the end of time, will he find faith on earth? (Lk.18:8)
And what shall be our response?
“Yes, Lord, you shall find faith when you come again in Joyce and Tony!”
Like Moses in the first reading, they both prayed hard with arms outstretched on many occasions as they battled life’s many challenges and struggles.
“Yes, Lord, you shall find faith when you come again in Joyce and Tony” because they have both proclaimed your word with persistence, whether it is convenient or inconvenient like St. Paul in his second letter to Timothy. They have weathered so many storms in the past 40 years and your words, O Lord, have kept them together, sharing these with their children and with everyone in their life of fidelity and love.
“Yes, Lord, you shall find faith when you come again in Joyce and Tony” now before your altar to renew their vows to love and cherish each other for the rest of their lives!
“Yes, Lord, you shall find faith when you come again” among the many couples gathered here who have remained faithful to each other despite their many sins and failures, weaknesses and shortcomings.
Joyce and Tony, you are not only a prayer of faith but also a homily of the Holy Matrimony, showing us the light and power of Jesus Christ to transform people in prayer and bring them to fulfillment.
Prayer does not change things like typhoons and earthquakes. We cannot ask God in prayer to spare us from getting sick or be exempted from life’s many trials and sufferings. Prayer cannot stop those from happening.
What prayer does is change us, change our attitude so we may hurdle life’s many blows and obstacles. Especially with couples who always find God in their lives, in good times and in bad.
Prayers transform us into better persons as children of God, especially couples who eventually look like brothers and sisters after living together in faith, hope and love.
Tony and Joyce, I am sure everyone in our family and among your friends here can attest to the many good things that have transformed you in the past 40 years.
You have changed to become the best for each other.
In the bible, the number 40 means perfect.
May God continue to perfect you, Tony and Joyce.
Keep us too in your prayers as we pray for you. Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Tuesday, Memorial of St. Barnabas, Apostle, 11 June 2024 Acts 11:21-26, 13:1-3 ><]]]]'> + <'[[[[>< Matthew 10:7-13
Photo by author, Mt. St. Paul, La Trinidad, Benguet, 2016.
Praise and glory to You, God our loving Father for this memorial of St. Barnabas, one of the first to embrace Christianity after the Resurrection of your Son Jesus Christ.
A Levite Jew born in Cyprus, his original name was Joseph but upon joining the Apostles in Jerusalem, he was nicknamed Barnabas which means "son of encouragement" or "son of consolation" whom St. Luke described as "a good man, filled with the Holy Spirit and faith" (Acts 11:24).
Fill us, dear Jesus with the same goodness and faith of St. Barnabas, truly children of encouragement and consolation, believing in our brothers and sisters especially those have withdrawn from the ministry and apostolate for various reasons including shame and embarrassment for past mistakes and sins like St. Paul.
Then he (Barnabas) went to Tarsus to look for Saul, and when he had found him he brought him to Antioch. For a whole year they met with the church and taught a large number of people, and it was in Antioch that the disciples were first called Christians.
Fill us with your gift of peace, Lord Jesus, to imitate St. Barnabas who vouched for St. Paul's sincerity of conversion as well as in encouraging and consoling the early Christians who were persecuted for their faith in You.
Help us imitate St. Barnabas in his beautiful disposition of focusing more on You, Jesus than in the problems and personalities we encounter in fulfilling your mission; most of all, grant us the humility of St. Barnabas to reconcile later with St. Paul after a serious disagreement that led to their parting of ways as companions in their mission.
Make us realize, Jesus, that saints like St. Barnabas do not fall from Heaven but are people like us who have many and complicated problems in life; let us arise from our sins and mistakes like St. Barnabas who showed in his life that holiness is not being sinless but being humble to admit one's sins and faults, going through conversion daily with a willingness to forgive others to be reconciled anew in You, Jesus. Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Monday in Tenth Week of Ordinary Time, Year II, 10 June 2024 1 Kings 17:1-6 <*((((>< + ><))))*> Matthew 5:1-12
Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, 20 March 2024.
Your words today, O Lord, seem to be so apart, unconnected, even disconsonant to some respect: in the first reading, You declared a drought as punishment against Israel who turned their backs from You, worshipping Baal; in the gospel, Jesus preached His Sermon on the mount, declaring as "blessed" are those who are poor, the meek, the hungry and thirsty, the persecuted and insulted - conditions and situations directly contrary to the ways of the world, so uncomfortable and difficult.
Every time we are facing trials and difficulties in life, we consider it as a drought, a time when You, O God, seem to be so far from us when in fact, it is us who have gone astray and away from You!
Let us see, dear Jesus, your blessings in every drought, in every hardship, in every poverty, and persecutions we go through; let us realize the blessedness of these moments of drought and trials and difficulties when we can examine what's in our hearts, who's in our hearts.
Many times we unconsciously drift apart from You, O Lord, when we are carried away by our modern baals and gods that separate us from You and one another; help us find our way back to You, rejoicing always in times of drought to seek You and follow You. Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Tenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B, 09 June 2024 Genesis 3:9-15 ><}}}}*> 2 Corinthians 4:13-5:1 ><}}}}*> Mark 3:20-35
Photo by author, from the refectory of Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, 18 March 2024.
In this age of so much emphasis on appearances, social media never run out of lists of what’s in, what’s out not only in fashion and lifestyles but practically in everything we do. Everybody wants to be “in” and nobody wants to be left out of the latest trends.
Yet, the irony is, we do not realize that the more we try to be “in”, the more we are actually “out” as in passe and baduy or jologs; in our efforts to be “in” and always on top of the latest in everything, the more we are actually lost, the more we become ordinary. The more we try to be “in”, the more we become “out” like in the gospel this Sunday.
Jesus came home with his disciples. Again the crowd gathered, making it impossible for them even to eat. When his relatives heard of this they set out to seize him, for they said, “He is out of his mind.” the scribes who had come from Jerusalem said, “He is possessed by Beelzebul,” and “By the prince of demons he drives out demons.” A crowd seated around him told him, “Your mother and your brothers and your sisters are outside asking for you.” But he said to them in reply, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” And looking around at those seated in the circle he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.”
Mark wrote the first gospel account of Jesus Christ that is very short and straight to the point, making it so engaging with its quick pace that brings us his readers right inside the scene he describes like our gospel this Sunday.
Jesus in Mark’s gospel is portrayed as a person so filled with mystery that the only way to know Him is to enter into a personal relationship with Him. It is not enough to be physically close with Jesus. For Mark, there is an inner dynamics of faith involved in knowing Jesus as we have seen in the last three Sundays before Lent interrupted our Ordinary Time in February this year when people began following Him as He spoke with authority that He could drive away demons (Mk.1:21), heal the sick like Peter’s mother-in-law (Mk.1:29) and cleanse lepers (Mk.1:40).
Let us come with Mark inside that house with Jesus to see if those inside with Him were really “in” or “out”.
Photo by author, sculpture of Jesus wandering Galilee, sleeping on a bench in Capernaum; taken in May 2019 at the entrance to Capernaum.
In that house perhaps owned by one of the Lord’s disciples, we find through Mark that not everybody inside was “in” with Jesus. Many did not actually believe Him like His relatives who have come to get Him out, claiming “He is out of his mind”. Likewise, there were inside His enemies from the start like the scribes who accused Him of being possessed by demons.
Very clear that not everybody inside the house believed Jesus nor were one with Him. That is why Jesus narrated the parable of a kingdom and a house divided against itself, asking those present, “How can Satan drive out Satan?”
Mark reminds us here that physical presence is not enough with Jesus as well as with everyone. It is always easier to go inside without really coming inside. As we have reflected after my mother’s death, going home is going to one’s place but coming home is being one with persons like our loved ones (https://lordmychef.com/2024/05/10/coming-home-going-home/).
That’s when Mark dropped his kicker in the story towards end when Jesus declared about the sin against the Holy Spirit:
“Amen, I say to you, all sins and all blasphemies that people utter will be forgiven them. But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an everlasting sin.” For they had said, “He has an unclean spirit.”
Mark 3:28-30
Image from shutterstock.com.
Notice how Mark explained why Jesus declared sin against the Holy Spirit cannot be forgiven: because they had said “He has an unclean spirit.” What’s the big deal? It is so big!
We are able to learn and follow the path of right living in Christ through the Holy Spirit who was sent by Jesus to explain to us everything He had taught us while still here. Therefore, to sin against the Holy Spirit is to reject God Himself, to reject Jesus and His teachings!
How can we be forgiven if we do not believe God forgives sins, that Jesus has redeemed us already? How could one be healed of one’s sickness if the person does not believe in doctors or nurses?
That was precisely the sin of the Lord’s relatives and the scribes who were there inside with Him in the house: instead of seeing the power of God in Jesus Christ, His love and mercy and healing, they saw the devil. If they have opened themselves to the guidance and light of the Holy Spirit, they would have recognized Jesus indeed is the Christ just like the people of Nain after Jesus brought back to life the widow’s only son, exclaiming, “The Lord has visited his people” (Lk.7:16).
Photo by author, 2010.
But wait… there is still the punch line of Mark in today’s gospel when those around Jesus told Him, “Your mother and your brothers and your sisters are outside asking for you.”
That’s the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of the Lord whose Memorial of the Immaculate Heart we celebrated yesterday after the Sacred Heart Solemnity.
Now look at that great irony in our gospel today. There was the Blessed Mother Mary outside with the Lord’s cousins wanting to see Him when in fact, she was the one Jesus was referring to when He replied, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” And looking around at those seated in the circle he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.”
So, who’s really inside and outside of Jesus?
Of course, it is so easy to answer that but what about us? Where are we in this gospel scene? Inside but one of the relatives and scribes or, one of the disciples? Or, outside like the Blessed Mother who has always been inside Jesus her Son?
It is not enough to be inside the church and the Catholic Church or simply inside your house or wherever there is a gathering of people. Or, in marriage. We have to be one in Christ with the persons around us.
In the first reading we have heard how our first parents, Adam and Eve were already inside Paradise, with God face to face but still, not really inside Him for inside themselves were pride and desires to become like God. Deep inside them they wanted to be outside of God without realizing its dire results that have been passed on to us in this generation too, keeping us away and apart from each other. Worst, we have refused to follow the Holy Spirit’s promptings that until now, peace and justice have both remained elusive to us because we could not trust Jesus, always finding easier for many to just quit or leave marriages and family by having a divorce.
Jesus came to change us along with our many perceptions and beliefs of who God is. Many times, we find the ways of Jesus so different, even far out from our own ideas and wishes and desires for ourselves and for others.
Photo by author, 13 September 2023.
Last Sunday, we reflected how Jesus saved the world by suffering and dying on the Cross, not by programs and activities. Today, Mark invites us to come inside the crowded house to join the true family of Jesus, to be His mother and brother and sister by doing the will of His Father.
In this age marked by so many divisions among us due to our own making like divorce and wars, our readings remind us how it had always been the trend that is why the Son of God, Jesus Christ became human to fulfill the Father’s promise of salvation and wholeness right after Adam and Eve sinned against Him.
Everything can be overcome in Christ Jesus who is our only fulfillment and salvation in life. St. Paul instructs us in the second reading to always search Jesus in every suffering we are going through especially in our family or marriages so that we are not “discouraged because although our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day”(2Cor.4:16).
Let us pray:
Dearest Jesus: help me find my way home back to You into the Father's house; forgive for always running away from You, always trying to get inside the world only to find myself more lost and outside; home is where the heart is, Jesus, as they say; and it is so true with You especially in this time when "place" is no longer physical location but wherever You are proclaimed and made known. Let me believe in every possibilities in You, Lord Jesus. Amen.
Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Friday, Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus-B, 07 June 2024 Hosea 11:1, 3-4, 8-9 ><}}}*> Ephesians 3:8-12, 14-19 ><}}}*> John 19:31-37
Being tender and caring are essentially your works, O God, made known to us by your Son Jesus Christ in His Most Sacred Heart where there is enough room for each one of us wounded and hurting to find healing; bitter and disgusted to have rest and solace; lost to find way back home.
Thus says the Lord: When Israel was a child I loved him, out of Egypt I called my son. Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk, who took them in my arms; I drew them with human cords, with bands of love; I fostered them like one who raises an infant to his cheeks; Yet. though I stooped to feed my child, they did not know that I was their healer.
Hosea 11:1, 3-4
I must admit, O God, that I have not yet really known You that until now, I lack your tenderness and care for others; to have tenderness like You, Lord, is first of all for me to be intimate with You, my Father, my Life, my Mission; You have nurtured me as your son but I never recognized You fully that is why many times I followed my doubts and negative thoughts than You. So many times I pray yet still so far from You, O God!
Lord Jesus Christ, "dwell in my heart through faith so that I may be rooted and grounded in love" (Ephesians 3:17) because when my love with God is superficial, all my relationships are also skin-deep that make me forget my love experiences, giving more emphasis on others' shortcomings, expectations, and returns; tenderness is being like You, O God, of having a big heart able to accommodate those suffering because You know and realize the gravity of what others are going through; more than a feeling, tenderness is love and mercy in action because it is to feel what others are going through.
Jesus, meek and humble of heart, make my heart like Thine, close to the Father, close to His children. Amen.
Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, 20 March 2024.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Friday, Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus-B, 07 June 2024 Hosea 11:1, 3-4, 8-9 ><}}}*> Ephesians 3:8-12, 14-19 ><}}}*> John 19:31-37
You must be wondering why this photo of a quote from Tom Hanks’ 1994 character Forrest Gump on the Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. What’s with shoes and the Sacred Heart of Jesus? Let me explain…
Last Tuesday while checking on my Facebook, I saw the post of a former seminarian who said, “Buying us shoes has been the love language of my parents to us… It will not change.” Posted below were photos of him buying two kids with new pairs of shoes.
How I admired him for being a father to those less fortunate kids! And that’s why I remembered Forrest Gump too who said how his mother used to tell him that shoes tell a lot about people, “Where they are going. Where they been.”
There’s something special with our feet, with the shoes we wear. Or do not wear. One is clear, though: our feet being at the lowest part of our body are most cared when we are growing up but later forgotten though overworked. That is why, it is so wonderful to go back to those days of childhood when our parents used to buy us with new pair of shoes, of how they would stoop down to help us fit the right ones for us. Just like God who is a Father to each one of us!
Thus says the Lord: when Israel was a child I loved him, out of Egypt I called my son. Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk, who took them in my arms; I drew them with human cords, with bands of love; I fostered them like one who raises an infant to his cheeks; Yet, though I stooped to feed my child, they did not know that I was their healer.
That’s the tenderness of God, so Fatherly to us in taking care of us, teaching us to walk, taking us to his arms, lovingly raising us to his cheeks while we burst in laughter. Try reading that whole quotation to include the second verse skipped by our lectionary today, the more you can feel God’s tenderness. And our sinfulness.
Thus says the Lord: When Israel was a child I loved him, out of Egypt I called my son. The more I called them, the farther they went away from me.
Hosea 11:1-2
Is it not this is how our love relationship is with our parents and family including God?
When we were kids, we loved running to our parents, taking pride for being their son or daughter, always clinging to their big hands. Or, like couples at their early years in marriage who seem to be inseparable and always together. Then, as years passed by as we find new friends and new relationships, we drift apart from our parents or spouse, including God. And worst, we drive them away, even feeling ashamed of them especially when they come near us with their gestures of love and concern. But, when problems arise like betrayal and infidelity, failures and losses, we return to our parents or to our original spouse or family, and most especially to God, rediscovering their genuine love that is so tender and very comforting again: “I took you in my arms, drew you with human cords with bands of love. I fostered you like one who raises an infant to his cheeks; yet, though I stooped to feed you my child, you did not know I am your healer” (Hos.11:3-7).
From GettyImages.com.
That “stooping down” by God He had spoken to Hosea hundreds of years earlier took its deepest plunge when He sent us Jesus Christ His Son as our Savior by dying on the Cross. In fact, Jesus literally “stooped down” on the night He was betrayed when He washed the feet of His disciples to portray to them the depth of His love for us all.
From His birth to His passion and death, Jesus Christ, therefore, is the Father’s love language.
This was very evident on Good Friday as John narrated how the soldiers broke the legs of the other two thieves crucified with Jesus to hasten their death; but, when they saw Jesus “already dead, they did not break his legs, but one soldier thrust his lance into his side, and immediately blood and water flowed out. For this happened so that the Scripture passage might be fulfilled: Not a bone of it will be broken. And again another passage says: They will look upon him whom they have pierced” (Jn.19:33-34, 36-37).
Jesus Christ is the Father’s love language to us all because His death on the Cross is the most tender moment of love in history when our God who personally loves us by becoming like us in everything except sin loved us until the last drop of His blood because we are His beloved brothers and sisters in His loving and faithful Father in heaven we have always deserted in our many sins.
Photo by author, Baguio City, 2023.
Indeed, when blood and water flowed out from His pierced side on the Cross, the ocean of Divine Mercy flowed out for us, forgiving our most grievous sins, regardless of our many weaknesses.
In His Most Sacred heart, Jesus is inviting us to have tender moments with Him, to have the same “love language” of sacrifice and giving of self for others so that “He may dwell also in our hearts through faith so that once we are rooted and grounded in His love, we may have the strength to comprehend the breadth and length and height and depth of His love that surpasses knowledge and be filled with the fullness of God”(Eph.3:17-19).
Unlike us humans, God makes no mistakes in loving. He remains faithful to us with His love, even “allowing” us often to sin and commit mistakes so that eventually, when we hit rock bottom, we rediscover Him and His love that is so real and so personal.
That is why we must heed St. Paul’s admonition in the second reading to be “rooted and grounded in His love” because human love is always imperfect. Only God can love us perfectly in Christ Jesus who offered Himself on the Cross to fulfill what we have failed since the beginning – that is, to love God and others.
Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, 20 March 2024.
Today we complete the series of three Solemnities in Ordinary Time right after the great season of Easter: Trinity, Body and Blood of Christ, and now, the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. All three Solemnities tell us how great is this God we believe in, someone so immense and powerful, yet so loving and so gentle; most of all, a God so personal that He is much like us but at the same time so different from us.
This Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus is an occasion for us to meditate deeply on how God touches us in the most intimate manner when He stooped down in Christ through the Cross to experience His love and mercy so that we could make others feel that too.
Like John who witnessed everything on the Cross, we need to see more with the eyes of faith the realities of God’s immense love for us who gave His Son Jesus as the new Lamb offered for our many sins and that is why, in accordance with the Jewish law and with the Old Testament, not one of His bones were broken on the Cross. May we learn to stoop down like God in Jesus by looking down to our feet by first examining our hearts as we pray, Jesus meek and humble heart make my heart like thine! Amen.
Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, 20 March 2024.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Wednesday, Memorial of St. Boniface, Bishop & Martyr, 05 June 2024 2 Timothy 1:1-3, 6-12 <*((((>< + ><))))*> Mark 12:18-27
Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, 20 March 2024.
Thank you so much, dear Jesus for your words today that shed light again to this issue about divorce: of how resurrection is real because God is very much alive, very much present with us and in us!
Jesus said to them, “Are you not misled because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God? When they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but they are like the angels in heaven. As for the dead being raised, have you not read in the Book of Moses, in the passage about the bush, how God told him, I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? He is not God of the dead but of the living. You are greatly misled.
Mark 12:24-27
Most of all, you have shown us too how marriage is a path towards heaven: man and woman marry in this life for a taste of heaven, to work for heaven, to try making this imperfect world a heaven, your dwelling; we pray for all couples especially those going through crises these days to heed St. Paul's words to Timothy, "to stir into flame the gift of God" they have received on their wedding day before your altar:
For God did not give us a spirit of cowardice but rather of power and love and self-control. So do not be ashamed of your testimony to our Lord, not to me, a prisoner for his sake; but bear your share of hardship for the Gospel with the strength that comes from God.
2 Timothy 1:7-8
Remind us that life is always difficult because there is always the cross we have to carry; however, let it sink into us too that the cross is meant to make us better and stronger, that every sacrifice and mortification we make is not to lose life but actually to gain it more, to have it more fully! Most of all, every perseverance to love and to forgive, to be kind and be caring happen all in your grace, O God; in this age of instants when every difficulty has become a door to escape and exit from problems, let us not be ashamed of the real stuff that truly makes life meaningful by suffering and dying in You, dear Jesus; in this time of serious attacks against marriage, may we remember the words of your servant St. Boniface "Let us be neither dogs that do not bark nor silent onlookers nor paid servants who run away before the wolf. Instead, let us be careful shepherds watching over Christ's flock."
May we stand for what is true and good, O Lord, not only in words but especially in deeds, witnessing your Gospel. Amen.
Photo by author, Ubihan Island, Meycauyan City, December 2021.
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