Nicodemus and James Taylor

Lord My Chef Sunday Music by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, 10 March 2024

*“Nicodemus and Jesus” painting by James Tissot (1836-1902) from SuperStock/GettyImages via learnreligions.com.*

One of our favorite singer-songwriters James Taylor is coming next month for a one-night concert at the Mall of Asia Arena; hence, we are featuring two of his songs we find so related with the gospel message this fourth Sunday in Lent also known as Laetare or Rejoice Sunday.

But first, let us take a slight deviation from our usual manner of coming up with the music right away as we realized too the strong links between Nicodemus and James Taylor in their experiences.

Nicodemus belonged to the group of Pharisees, one of the enemies of Jesus at that time. But he admired and believed in Jesus that is why he chose to visit the Lord at night so that people would not notice. Eventually, Nicodemus became a disciple of Jesus after Good Friday after he and another Pharisee named Joseph of Arimathea took the body of Christ and buried him in a tomb (https://lordmychef.com/2024/03/09/lent-is-the-love-mercy-of-god-in-me/).

Nicodemus’ coming to see Jesus at night evoked his situation of being in the darkness of fears and confusions, trying to find directions in life which he found in Christ. It was similar with James Taylor’s plight he beautifully expressed in his 1970 hit Fire and Rain which is about the suicide of a childhood friend as well as his coping with his addiction and depression following his fame.

Just yesterday morning, they let me know you were gone.
Suzanne, the plans they made put an end to you.
I walked out this morning and I wrote down this song,
I just can’t remember who to send it to.
I’ve seen fire and I’ve seen rain. I’ve seen sunny days that I thought would never end.
I’ve seen lonely times when I could not find a friend, but I always thought that I’d see you again.

Won’t you look down upon me, Jesus, You’ve got to help me make a stand.
You’ve just got to see me through another day.
My body’s aching and my time is at hand and I won’t make it any other way.
Oh, I’ve seen fire and I’ve seen rain. I’ve seen sunny days that I thought would never end.
I’ve seen lonely times when I could not find a friend, but I always thought that I’d see you again.

*From https://www.wildflowersprovence.fr/plant/convolvulus-lanuginosus/*

Many times, we find ourselves in situations like Nicodemus when everything is all dark like the night, or James Taylor going through fire and rain.

Now look, Jesus is most present with us when we are in the darkest darkness of the night, right in the middle of a raging storm. Many times we could not see him because he hugs us, embraces us to shield us from more harms.

When Jesus told Nicodemus about his coming crucifixion – “when the Son of Man is raised up” – it was an assurance to us all too that Christ is with us in our worst situation because he suffered first for us on the Cross. I am so glad that JT mentioned Jesus in his song, pleading to the Lord to “look down upon me and help me make a stand.”

That is why we rejoice this Sunday: in the midst of our troubles and sufferings, there are bursts of joy and relief from Jesus within us dwelling in our hearts. And that is why, we find JT’s 1976 hit, Shower the People, so related too with our gospel this Sunday.

When Jesus told Nicodemus how “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life” (Jn.3:16), it was also a call for us all to be the love and mercy of Christ in the world.

Nicodemus eventually became a disciple of Jesus while JT is still very much around, having weathered so many fires and rains or storms in his life, both telling us how God finds ways to save us, even extricate us from our worst situation. Hence, the need for us to become the presence of Christ’s joy and mercy to people especially those closest to us so that they may realize and experience that God so loved the world because of the way we shower them with love through us.

You can play the game and you can act out the part,
even though you know it wasn’t written for you.
Tell me, how can you stand there with your broken heart ashamed of playing the fool?
One thing can lead to another; it doesn’t take any sacrifice.
Oh, father and mother, sister and brother, if it feels nice, don’t think twice,
just shower the people you love with love, show them the way that you feel.
Things are gonna work out fine if you only will do as I say, just
shower the people you love with love, show them the way you feel.
Things are gonna be much better if you only will.

Here is our doubleheader from the “Sweet Baby James”. Have a blessed, lovely week ahead!

*Both materials are not ours without any intentions at all of infringing its copyrights.

From YouTube.com

From YouTube.com.

Lent is the love & mercy of God in me

40 Shades of Lent by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Sunday Recipe for the Soul, Lent IV-B, 10 March 2024
2 Chronicles 36:14-16, 19-23 ><}}}}*> Ephesians 2:4-10 ><}}}}*> John 3:14-21

*Photo of pink convolvulus from the Botanical Gardens of Jerusalem, flora.org.il.*

Many times during prayer periods I banter with God especially when I feel overwhelmed by his kindness and love. Like last Thursday on my way to the adoration chapel when I passed by a row of banks.

As I knelt before the Blessed Sacrament to pray, I just felt like asking God: “BDO (Banco De Oro) ka ba, Lord? Kasi…you always find ways.”

That, for me, my dear friends is the meaning of this fourth Sunday in Lent – God never stops in finding ways to reach out to us, to be with us, to make us experience his love and mercy, kindness and forgiveness despite the hardness of our hearts.

Our altars burst in shades of pink this Sunday called Laetare (Latin, rejoice) Sunday from the entrance antiphon that says, “Rejoice, Jerusalem, and all who love her. Be joyful, all who were in mourning; exult and be satisfied at her consoling breast.”

It is a misconception to see Lent as dull and drab due to its penitential nature; while there is the sober tone in our liturgy, let us keep in mind that it is also a season filled with joy and excitement for the coming Easter, the mother of all feasts in the Church.

And today we rightly rejoice because John reminds us in our gospel scene only him narrates – Nicodemus meeting with Jesus in the cover of the darkness of the night – of God’s immense love for us manifested in the dying of Jesus on the Cross.

Jesus said to Nicodemus: “Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.” For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.”
John 3:14-16

John saw a deeper meaning, of a sign pointing to Jesus as the Christ in this conversation with Nicodemus at night. Nicodemus was a Pharisee afraid to come out in the open to show his admiration and belief in Jesus. He eventually joined the disciples on Good Friday with another Pharisee, Joseph of Arimathea when they buried Jesus in a tomb.

See the deep perception of John in this recalling by Jesus to Nicodemus of the bronze serpent raised by Moses in the wilderness (see Num. 21:4-9) as a prefiguration of his own crucifixion.

In the gospel of John, the “lifting up” of the Son of Man refers to Jesus on the Cross. After that scene with the woman caught committing adultery, Jesus declared, “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will realize that I AM…” (Jn.8:28). Then on Palm Sunday while in the temple area, Jesus told the crowd “‘And when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to myself.’ He said this indicating the kind of death he would die” (Jn.12:32-33).

John’s gospel teems with other similar passages showing the inseparability of Christ’s Cross and glory. And so with our life, that is why in the middle of Lent, we rejoice this Sunday!

*Photo by author in Petra, Jordan, May 2019.*

Like last Sunday, here we find again early in the gospel of John how Jesus laid his vision-mission statement of coming to save us by dying on the Cross during his conversation with Nicodemus that night.

Jesus assured Nicodemus and us today that even while we are in the darkness of life’s many confusions and fears, problems and sufferings, we just have look up to him crucified lighting up our way to life and salvation. That night in their conversation, Jesus assured Nicodemus and us today that even in the worst situations in life when “darkness is our only light and hopelessness is our only hope” as T.S. Eliot wrote in his Four Quartets, God is in us, with us and for us in Christ. Just as when the world was covered in darkness on Good Friday when Jesus died on the Cross, it was the precise moment too of Christ’s glory when he conquered death and sin in obedience to the Father.

Yes, it is true these things are easier said than done but like Nicodemus, even in the darkness of the night we have to dare come close to Jesus, to speak to him and most of all, to hear and listen to him. As one poet had said, “only the brave who walk the darkness of the night shall see the brightness of the stars above.” Most of all, Jesus calls us today to be his love and mercy, his joy and light to the many other Nicodemus groping in the darkness of sin and evil.

In my three years as chaplain in a hospital, I have experienced personally and through others that truth so clear as crystal of God most closest with us in the worst days of our lives. Sometimes, we just sigh deeply as we feel him inside us, assuring us how everything is taken cared of, that everything would be fine.

Like the Israelites in the first reading, we too have to go through an “exile”, a kind of “punishment” not from God but as a result of own our sins and wrongdoing. Many times God let bad things happen to us because we insist on our ways; as God retreats to the back or sides of our lives, he never stops finding ways to save us, even “extricate” us from our imprisonment to sin and sufferings!

Indeed, as St. Paul had said in our second reading today, God is “rich in mercy, because of the great love he had for us” (Eph.2:4). Let us not waste that gift. Even though God forgives every sin no matter how bad it may be, do not forget some of our sins have irreversible consequences we shall face and suffer. Of course, God would still be there to help and guide us but, why wait for that to happen?

There lies the joy and grace – and challenge – of this fourth Sunday in Lent: even while we are in our worst situations in life, in our darkest nights, Jesus is always there for us, in fact, the first to have suffered and died for us so that with him on Easter, we may rise again to new life.

Be the sower of his love and mercy. Be his presence. Be another Nicodemus in the night leading others to the light of Jesus. Let us, therefore, rejoice in the Lord as we pray:

Praise and glory to you,
dearest Father 
in giving us your Son 
Jesus Christ our Lord,
our light,
our life,
our joy;
make us, O Lord,
your love and mercy
in this world 
so everyone may experience
that indeed, God loves the world
that He gives us Jesus through me;
let your Holy Sprit enlighten 
my mind and my heart
like Nicodemus 
leading those in darkness
into the light of Christ.
Amen.

A joyful week to everyone!

Lent is acceptance

40 Shades of Lent by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Friday, Memorial of St. John of God, Religious, 08 March 2024
Hosea 14:2-10     ><]]]]]'> + ><]]]]]'> + ><]]]]]'>     Mark 12:28-34

*Photo of convolvulus sabatius from frustratedgardener.com*

Your words today,
dear Father, 
led me back to the 
Monday reflection of another
blogger about the word
"acceptance":

“Acceptance” can be seen as a passive word suggesting that we just put up with something we cannot change.

On the other hand, it can be a positive condition in our spirituality by which we prepare ourselves to hospitably receive that which we had not expected. Such positive acceptance suggests a non-judgmental, wise, and discerning heart.
Sr. Renee Yann, RSM, https://lavishmercy.com/2024/03/03/accepted/

Why are we so fond,
O God, of doing anything
except precisely what you want
us to do?
Why can't we just accept
your words,
your plans,
or your instructions
we always disregard, 
"hoping" there could be 
something better?

Forgive us, Father,
when even in the 
quagmire of sin and evil,
we keep resisting you,
refusing to accept
your suggestions;
let us learn 
beginning this Lent
when to just stop
and simply accept
you and your words.

Thus says the Lord: Return, O Israel, to the Lord, your God; you have collapsed through your guilt. Take with you words, and return to the Lord; say to him, “Forgive all iniquity, and receive what is good, that we may render as offerings the bullocks from our stalls.”
Hosea 14:2-3

Draw us closer to you,
Lord Jesus Christ and your
kingdom by accepting
the basic truth of our faith
that the love of God is
always the love of others;
help us realize
life is more than searching
for what is the best
possible condition
or situation we can have
but to accept our whereabouts
where we can give our best selves
to you through others
to make this world a
better one.
'
Everything, O Lord,
begins in finding you
within each of us
so we may find you in others
especially the sick and
the weakest like St. John of God
who simply accepted
everything that came to his life
as coming from you;
it is in our acceptance
of you, O Lord,
that we begin to lovingly serve
you in others because that is
also when we are able to relate
our lives
with your Church,
with the world,
with our callings;
it is in accepting these
that we become
"not far
from the Kingdom
 of God."
Amen.

*Photo of a convolvulus tricolor from BBC Gardeners World Magazine.*

Lent is reconciliation

40 Shades of Lent by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Thursday, Memorial of Sts. Perpetua & Felicity, Martyrs, 07 March 2024
Jeremiah 7:23-28   ><}}}}*> + ><}}}}*> + ><}}}}*>     Luke 11:14-23

Your words today, O God,
are too strong,
that we are so bad
and, that is so true, too.

Thus says the Lord: When you speak all these words to them, they will not listen to you either; when you call to them, they will not answer you. Say to them: This is a nation which does not listen to the voice of the Lord, its God, or take correction. Faithfulness has disappeared; the word itself is banished from their speech.
Jeremiah 7:27-28

Though we are so bad,
you are still so good to us,
Father; you continue to speak to us
even if you know we do not listen
nor heed your voice.

What is worst,
even in the coming of your Son
Jesus Christ who offered himself
on the Cross, we still refused
to listen and heed his calls,
always asking for signs.

Some of them said, “By the power of Beelzebul, the prince of demons, he drives out demons.” Others, to test him, asked him for a sign from heaven. But he knew their thoughts and said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself will be laid waste and house will fall against house. Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.”
Luke 11:15-17, 23

Lord Jesus Christ,
in your dying on the the Cross,
you have expressed to us
the Father's immense love for us;
indeed, your Cross until now remains 
a sign of contradiction in the world
as your calls to love and to forgive,
to be humble and be kind,
to give than to receive
remains a foolishness and weakness
for many of us; 
but you continue to speak to us
despite our being deaf and hard-hearted
because by your Cross,
you have shown us too 
it is the greatest sign of reconciliation, 
reminding us of the many
contradictions within and around us,
of the many contradictions
in the world that can be
reconciled and be made one
in your self-giving in love
we must imitate like your martyrs
Saints Perpetua and Felicity.

Reconcile us
in you, dear Jesus,
make us one in you
on the Cross!
Amen.

Paalala ng Kuwaresma

Lawiswis ng Salita ni P. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Ika-06 ng Marso 2024

Sa lahat ng panahon sa ating liturhiya ng Simbahan, bukod tangi ang Kuwaresma dahil ito lamang ang nagsisimula ng ordinaryong araw, ang Miyerkules ng Abo o Ash Wedensday at hindi araw ng Linggo.

Kapuna-puna ang nakaraang Ash Wednesday na pumatak ng Pebrero 14, Valentine’s Day na nangyari din noong 2018. Pinag-usapan ng marami sa social media kung alin ang pipiliing ipagdiwang, Valentine’s Day o Ash Wednesday?

Nakatutuwang isipin na marami pa rin ang sumagot sa survey na pipiliin nila ang mangilin sa araw ng pagpapahid ng abo kesa ang makipag-date sa Pebrero 14; iba ang ipinakita ng mga balita at ng social media kung saan panalo ang mga nagdiwang ng Araw ng mga Puso! At tila gayon nga ang nangyari o marahil, pinagsabay nating mga Pinoy ang dalawang pagdiriwang, di alintana mga panawagan ng Kuwaresma at Miyerkules ng Abo na manalangin, magtika ng mga sala, maglimos, at mag-ayuno.

Kaya nga taun-taon, ito ang laging tanong natin, ano nga ba ang kahalagahan ng Kuwaresma sa makabagong panahong ito na kung saan mga tao ay tila hindi na nag-aayuno, wala nang sakripisyo? Higit sa lahat, paunti nang paunti na mga nagsisimba.

Ang problema natin sa Pilipinas ay hindi pa naman katulad sa kanlurang Europa at hilagang Amerika na marami nang tao ang ayaw maniwala sa Diyos. Halos lahat pa rin ng mga tao sa ating bansa ay naniniwala sa Diyos ngunit naguguluhan marahil at hindi makita Kanyang kahalagahan at kaugnayan (relevance) sa buhay sa gitna ng makabagong panahon na wala nang hindi naiimbento at naso-solusyunan. Bagama’t sasabihan ng marami naniniwala sila sa Diyos, mas tiwala kadalasan ang mga tao sa panahong ito sa agham at teknolohiya.

Narito tatlong bagay na binibigyang-diin sa panahon ng Kuwaresma na makatutulong sa ating matagpuan muli at maranasan katotohanan, kahalagahan at kaugnayan ng Diyos sa ating buhay sa gitna nitong makabagong panahon.

*larawan kuha ni Walid Ahmad sa Pexels.com*

Hindi lahat ay nakikita. Sa panahon ng Kuwaresma, pinag-aayuno din kung baga ang ating mga mata upang ituon ating pananaw at pansin sa ating kalooban at sa mga bagay na hindi nakikita, unang una na ang Diyos.

Kaya walang dekorasyon ang mga altar sa panahong ito, walang mga bulaklak at hangga’t maari wala ring mga halaman. “Bare” wika nga sa Inggles ang altar. Pagdating ng Biyernes Dolores bago mag-Linggo ng Palaspas, tinatakpan o binabalutan ng telang lila ang mga imahen at larawan sa simbahan sa gayon ding kadahilanan – upang tingnan natin mga mas malalim na katotohan ng ating buhay.

Sa panahong ito ng social media, lahat na lang ay ibig ipakita at ipangalandakan maski kasamaan, kabastusan, at kasalanan. Bakit nga ba nang magkasala sina Eba at Adan, sila ay nagtago dahil sa kahihiyan samantalang ngayon ipinagmamalaki pa ng ilan kanilang ginawang kasamaan?

Hindi lahat ng bagay sa buhay na ito ay nakikita at lalo din namang hindi lahat dapat ay ipakita. Wika nga ng Munting Prinsipe o Little Prince ni Antoine de St. Exupery, “What is essential is invisible to the eye; it is only with the heart that one can truly see.”

Lahat na lamang sa mundo ngayon ay palabas, showbiz na showbiz ang dating upang ipagyabang mga kayang kainin at bilhin, puntahan at gawin. Ngunit, sadya bang nagbibigay ng kaganapan at katuwaan mga iyon? Hindi ba mas masarap pa ring namnamin mga sandali nating kapiling ang mahal sa buhay? Kung tutuusin nga, kadalasan o palagi, yaong mga bagay na natatago at hindi nakikita ang siyang pinakamakahulugan, pinakamainam sa buhay.

Katulad ng Diyos: “Walang taong nakakita sa Diyos kailanman, ngunit kung tayo’y nag-iibigan, nasa atin siya at nagiging ganap sa atin ang kanyang pag-ibig” (1 Jn. 4:12).

Sa buhay, mas mainam pa rin yung simple at nakukubli, mayroong pa ring misteryo o hiwaga na natatago kaya ang lahat ay nagtataka. At minsan-minsan ay namamangha.

*Larawan kuha ni Skyler Ewing sa Pexels.com*

Hindi lahat ay minamadali. Kaya tinatawag na Kuwaresma ang panahong ito ng paghahanda sa Panahon ng Pasko ng Pagkabuhay ay dahil sa bilang na kuwarenta o apatnapung araw mula Miyerkules ng Abo haggang Sabado bisperas ng Palaspas (bagama’t di naman eksakto palagi) na kung tutuusin ay limang Linggo bago ang mga Mahal na Araw. Samakatwid, mayroong paghihintay dahil kailangang makabuo muna ng apatnapung araw o limang linggo.

Ito ang isang bagay na nawawala na sa mundo ngayon, ang paghihintay. Lahat mainipin kaya siguro maiinit ang ulo ng lahat na ultimo mga bata ay stressed out. Minamadali ang lahat na hindi malaman ano at sino nga ba ang hinahabol natin. Lahat ay instant – hindi lang kape at noodles pati pagkakaibigan, pag-aasawa at pagkakaroon ng baby!

Dahil sa teknolohiya, pilit na minamanipula ng tao ngayon ang panahon na madalas ay minamadali kaya marami ang hindi na maranasan ang Diyos pati sariling pagkatao at mga kapwa-tao sa pagmamadali. Hindi kataka-taka, nawawala na rin mga mabubuting ugali ng paghihintay, pagtitiyaga, pagtitimpi at pagpipigil.

Ang lahat na pangyayari sa daigdig ay nagaganap sa panahong itinakda ng Diyos. Ang panahon ng pagsilang at panahon ng pagkamatay; Ang panahon ng pagtatanim at panahon ng pagbunot ng tanim… Ano ang mapapala ng tao sa kanyang ginagawa? Alam ko na ang itinakda ng Diyos sa tao. Iniangkop niya ang lahat ng bagay sa kapanahunan. Ang tao’y binigyan niya ng pagnanasang alamin ang bukas ngunit hindi binigyan ng pakaunawa sa ginawa ng Diyos mula sa pasimula hanggang sa wakas.
Ang Mangangaral (Qoheleth) 3:1-2, 9-11

Minsan-minsa’y matutunan nating maghintay, magrelax o mag-chill wika nga ng mga kabataan. Masyado na tayong abala sa mga bagay-bagay kaya hindi natin napapansin, namamalayan ang Diyos na nagmamahal sa atin ay kapiling natin. Ang Diyos kabaligtaran natin: maski buong buhay natin hinihintay niya tayong lumapit sa kanyang muli sakaling magpasya tayong iwanan ating mga kasalanan at maling pamumuhay upang sa kanya maranasan ang kapanatagan at kapaypaan. Tinuturuan tayo ng panahon ng Kuwaresma na tumigil at manatili sandali sa buhay, maghintay sa Diyos at kanyang biyayang nakalaan para sa atin.

*Larawan kuha ni Natalie Bond sa Pexels.com*

Katahimikan. Sa lahat ng mahahalagang aspekto ng Kuwaresma, ito ang pinakamahalaga sapagkat hindi tayo makapagdarasal, makapagninilay, o magsisi sa ating mga kasalanan ng walang katahimikan. Bahagi ng paghihintay ang pananahimik.

Naalala ko noong bata kami tuwing bakasyon sa halamanan ng aming Lola. Maraming tutubi noon at lahat kaming magpipinsan ang unahan sa paghuli habang nag-aasaran sa kantang “tutubi tutubi huwag magpahuli sa batang mapanghi!”

Wala ka talagang mahuhuling tutubi kapag ika’y malikot at maingay ngunit sa sandaling ikaw ay pumirmi at manahimik, kusa pang lalapit ang mailap na tutubi.

Iyon ang buhay, iyon ang Kuwaresma. Manahimik tayo upang higit nating mapakinggan ating sariling kalooban na madalas hindi natin pinakikinggan dahil bantad na bantad tayo sa iba’t ibang tinig at ingay sa atin nagdidikta ng nararapat. Kaya madalas tayong lito kasi sarili natin di natin pinapansin. Gayon din naman, sa sobrang pakikinig sa mga sabi-sabi, nag-aaway away tayo kasi hindi nating pinakikinggan kapwa natin. Ang pananahimik ay hindi pagiging bingi kungdi pakikinig na mabuti; ang katahimikan ay hindi kawalan kungdi kapunuan na kahit pinakamahinang tinig ay sinisikap nating pakinggan.

Tanging mga tao na kayang manahimik ang tunay na nagtitiwala sapagkat ang katahimikan ang tahanan at lunan ng pagtitiwala. Kaya ito rin ang tinig at wika ng Diyos. Sa ating pananahimik, tayo ay nagtitiwala, naghihintay maski wala tayong nakikita dahil batid natin kumikilos ang Diyos ng tahimik.

Kapag magulung-magulo ang ating buhay, tumigil tayo at manahimik. Pakinggan at higit sa lahat damhin ang sarili at buong kapaligiran upang maranasan kaganapan at katotohanan ng buhay mula sa Diyos na kadalasan ay tahimik na nangungusap sa atin. Madalas sa buhay natin, ang Diyos iyong pinakamahinang tinig na pilit bumubulong-bulong mula sa ating puso. Sikaping tumigil at manahimik, iyon ang pakinggan at sundin at tiyak, ikaw ay pagpapalain.

Sana ay huwag palampasin pagkakataon ng Kuwaresma upang Diyos ay maranasang muli at masimulan natin ugnayang kanyang matagal nang ibig para sa atin. Salamat po.

Lent is remembering

40 Shades of Lent by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Wednesday in the Third Week of Lent, 06 March 2024
Deuteronomy 4:1, 5-9     ><}}}}*> + <*{{{{><     Matthew 5:17-19

Lent is remembering
especially because we are
beings of forgetfulness;
but, teach us Father,
that to remember you
is not like in remembering
an equation or a formula
as a task of the mind
or intellect;
to remember you, O God,
in the spirit of Lent is 
to surrender ourselves to
you whom we do not see
but present among our
brothers and sisters;
to remember you, dear God, 
is to surrender ourselves
to your Holy Will
that are not mere laws
and decrees
but the very person
of your Son Jesus Christ.

Jesus said to his disciples: “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. Amen, I say to yo, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or the smallest part of a letter will pass from the law, until all things have taken place.”
Matthew 5:17-18

To remember and keep your laws,
dear God is to remember and keep you
found in our brothers and sisters
through your Son Jesus Christ;
indeed, the greatness of any
nation is measured to a large part
in its legal system, in how it is justly
implemented and observed:

Moses spoke to the people and said: “Observe them carefully for thus will you give evidence to your wisdom and intelligence to the nations, who will hear of all these statutes 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, is to us whenever we call upon him? Or what great nation has statutes and decrees that are just as this whole law which I am setting before you today?'”
Deuteronomy 4:1, 6-8

Father, in this season of Lent,
may we recover and put into practice,
not just remember that your laws
are fulfilled in Christ when we love;
how sad that love of God
and love of neighbors
is your law we often forget,
and find hard to remember
because we keep it in our minds
than in our hearts where you dwell.

Most of all, to remember
means to make one a member
of the present moment again:
help us remember in making
you present always in our love
and good works.
Amen.

Lent is contrition with consistency

40 Shades of Lent by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Tuesday in the Third Week of Lent, 05 March 2024
Daniel 3:25, 34-43     <*((((>< + ><))))*>     Matthew 18:21-35

In this season of Lent,
teach us, Lord, to be
consistent in our contrition;
let us realize that true 
contrition for our sins is
not only when we have cried,
nor when we have beaten 
our breasts with mea culpa,
mea culpa, mea maxima culpa,
nor when we say sorry to
everyone we have sinned.

Being sorry for our sins
before you, God our Father,
is being consistent -
when our contrition leads us
to change our evil ways
and most of all, when we 
become consistent in our 
prayer and lives
that we stop with our
sins and evil ways.

Azariah stood up in the fire and prayed aloud: “For we are reduced, O Lord, beyond any other nation, brought low everywhere in the world this day because of our sins. But with contrite heart and humble spirit let us be received; as though it were burnt offerings of rams and bullocks, or thousands of fat lambs, so let our sacrifice be inn your presence today as we follow you unreservedly; for those who trust in you cannot be put to shame.
Daniel 3:25, 37, 39

Most of all,
O God,
to be contrite for our sins
is being consistent also
in being forgiving
with our fellow sinners;
every day, we call you
God "Our Father", 
asking you to forgive us 
our sins as we forgive
those who sin against us
but so often,
we just say these words
without really acting on them,
fulfilling them by forgiving
our fellow sinners;
to be sorry for our own sins
is to see also the pure
heart of another sinner
asking for forgiveness
of sins.

To be contrite
is to be consistent
in forgiving others
from one's heart
because a truly contrite heart
sees and feels
a fellow contrite heart too!
Amen.

Lent is simplicity

40 Shades of Lent by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Monday in the Third Week of Lent, 04 March 2024
2 Kings 5:1-15    ><]]]]'> + ><]]]]'> + ><]]]]'>     Luke 4:24-30

How amazing it is,
God our loving Father,
that Lent is often portrayed
in shades of violet that signify
"modesty" and "humility" -
or, simply put,
s-i-m-p-l-i-c-i-t-y.

May we rediscover 
in this Season of Lent
the beauty and fulness 
of simplicity,
of just being by our
true self,
without the ifs
and buts,
lovingly embracing
our weaknesses
and shortcomings,
contented with our
finite humanity
you created as good.

Many times,
we are like Naaman:
despite our feelings of
inadequacy deep within
in contrast with our stature
following our many accomplishments,
we still insist on 
what is complicated,
extraordinary
and difficult
which we often take 
as more grand
and therefore,
better.

With this, he (Naaman) turned about in anger and left. But his servants came up and reasoned with him, “My father,” they said, “if the prophet had told you to do something extraordinary, would not have done it? All the more now, since he said to you, ‘Wash and be clean,’ should you do as he said.” So Naaman went down and plunged into the Jordan seven times at the word of the man of God. His flesh became again like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.
2 Kings 5:12b-14

Keep us simple,
Lord,
so we may believe more,
trust more,
dare more,
and achieve more!

The world has gone
so complicated
even with life and 
relationships we have made
into something like our  
technologies that accomplish
so much but still empty;
the world has gone
so complicated
and competitive
that unfortunately, 
we take pride in being so
even though deep
within us
we know it isn't good
at all, for you, O God,
is perfect because
you are first of all
simple.
Amen.

“You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin'” by The Righteous Brothers (1964)

The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Music by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, 03 March 2024

*Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, 2018.*

Our 40-day Lenten journey gets more intense this Sunday with the gospel scene where Jesus cleansed the Temple in Jerusalem to signify the need for us to recover our zeal for God who is also our first love (https://lordmychef.com/2024/03/02/lent-is-the-zeal-of-jesus/).

In a similar manner, we picked the intensely passionate 1964 hit You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’ by The Righteous Brothers matching today’s Sunday gospel as it tells us the similar teaching of Jesus Christ, of how we have lost our zeal for God and the need to bring it back for our own good.

Of course, You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’ is a love song with its usual sprinklings of sensuality but its sublimity and accuracy in describing the common experiences of love going bad have made it as the most-played song in American radio and television – perhaps even the world – in the 20th century. It is also the most successfully covered song by artists, including by our favorite Hall & Oates who must literally heed the song’s message after their falling apart as musicdom’s dynamic duo of all time.

Written by music producer Phil Spector with some help from Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil, You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’ as a ballad is soulfully penetrating with the contrasting vocal ranges of Bill Medley’s bass-baritone voice and Bobby Hatfield’s tenor that enabled them to create a distinctive sound as a duet.

This perfect blending of their voices is felt, not just heard in You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’ that is a kind of music that can disturb and awaken one’s callous conscience to put it in order. Or have it cleansed as Jesus did in the Temple when he drove out the oxen and sheep, overturned the tables of money changers and drove the doves away being sold.

Notable also is the song’s slow opening – and video – with Medley’s deep voice so hauntingly cool but not scary at all but simply disarming, making it perhaps the most coveted style in singing.

You never close your eyes anymore when I kiss your lips
And there’s no tenderness like before in your fingertips
You’re trying hard not to show it
But baby, baby I know it

You lost that lovin’ feelin’
Whoa, that lovin’ feelin’
You lost that lovin’ feelin’
Now it’s gone, gone, gone, whoa-oh

All in all, here is a most beautiful music, so universal as a language in its melody and lyrics that reminds us that love is not everything; love is more than a feeling but a decision we have to nurture and deepen in order to grow and mature. And bloom.

Most of all, to remain rooted in our first love of all, in God who gives us the zeal, the spark to keep it burning. Have lovin’ week ahead, everyone.

From YouTube.com

Lent is the zeal of Jesus

40 Shades of Lent by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Sunday Recipe for the Soul, Lent III-B, 03 March 2024
Exodus 20:1-17 ><}}}*> 1 Corinthians 1:22-25 ><}}}*> John 2:13-25

It has been 19 days since we started this 40-day journey of Lent as an internal pilgrimage to God our first love. Since the first Sunday of Lent, Mark guided us to Jesus as we joined him in the desert of our poverty and sinfulness to the heights of his transfiguration through the many trials and sufferings we have gone through in life.

Beginning this third Sunday in Lent until the fifth Sunday, all our gospel readings are taken from John as we come closer with God who dwells right in our hearts, his temple within us. Keep in mind that our Lenten itinerary is actually symbolic and theological in nature than an actual road map to follow; hence, our shift to the fourth gospel that is so rich in its narration of the events leading to the Holy Week.

Since the Passover of the Jews was near, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. He found in the temple area those who sold oxen, sheep, and doves, as well the moneychangers seated there. He made a whip out of cords and drove them all out of the temple area, with the sheep and oxen, and spilled the coins of the moneychangers and overturned their tables, and to those who sold doves he said, “Take these out of here, and stop making my Father’s house a marketplace.” His disciples recalled the words of the Scripture, Zeal for your house will consume me.
John 2:13-17

In the Bible, the Temple is the sign of God’s presence. That is how central is the Temple of Jerusalem for the Jews even until now. And John deepens this sign of the Temple for us with his most unique narration of its cleansing by Jesus in preparation for its new meaning found in Christ when he died on the Cross.

Only John noted how the disciples recalled after Easter this episode of Jesus cleansing the Temple, linking it with that line from the Passion Psalm, “His disciples recalled the words of the Scripture, ‘Zeal for your house will consume me'”. Matthew, Mark, and Luke in their accounts identically quoted Jesus citing Isaiah 56:7 when he said, “My house shall be called a house of prayer but you have made it into a den of thieves” (Mt. 21:13; Mk. 11:17; Lk.19:46).

Here, John is reminding us – like when the Apostles remembered after Easter – that Jesus is the “just man”, the promised Messiah who not only prayed but embodied this psalm that led him to his Passion and Death on Good Friday.

Save me, God, for the waters have reached my neck. For your sake I bear insult, shame covers my face. Because zeal for your house consumes me, I am scorned by those who scorn you.
Psalm 69:2, 8, 10

That “zeal” of Jesus for the Temple and everything it stood for that consumed him was the zeal of his self-giving love on the Cross that we find in the following conversation he had with the Jews.

At this the Jews answered and said to him, “What sign can you show us for doing this?” Jesus answered and said to them, “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews said, “This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and you will raise it up in three days?” But he was speaking about the temple of his body. Therefore, when he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they came to believe the Scripture and the word Jesus had spoken.
John 2:18-22

So beautiful! Everything now becomes so clear that Jesus is the new Temple; his cleansing of the temple in Jerusalem was a declaration of his “vision-mission” right at the start of his ministry in John’s gospel (experts say John’s narration of events in Christ’s life was more of theology than chronology).

At his Crucifixion, Jesus Christ had replaced the Temple worship with “worship in Spirit and truth” (Jn.4:23) as he had told the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well (Third Sunday Lent-A). The synoptic gospels attest to this same view of John in their accounts that upon Christ’s death, “the veil of the sanctuary was torn from top to bottom” (Mt.27:51; Mk.15:38; Lk.23:45) that signaled the end of temple worship in Jesus Christ as the new Temple of God.

Therefore, this “zeal” of Jesus for the Temple symbolizing the Father is the same zeal every disciple must have for God, for others and his Church. It is the very same zeal laid out by God to Moses at Sinai in the Ten Commandments calling on everyone to be fair and just with each other regardless of age, color, sex, and belief. The first three commandments call us for a zeal in loving God above all expressed in the same zeal we must have in the remaining commandments for our neighbors.

*Photo by author, temple of Jerusalem, 2017.*

After the success of the movie The Ten Commandments in 1956, reporters asked its director Cecil B. DeMilled which of the Ten Commandments of God we often violate or disobey? DeMille said it is the first commandment because every time we commit a sin, that is when we have other gods besides our one, true God.

Very true!

This is the grace of this third Sunday in Lent as we continue this internal pilgrimage to God: that we also cleanse our hearts by examining our zeal for God and for others. The other word for “zeal” is “enthusiasm” which literally means in Greek as “to be filled with God” (from en theos). To be filled with God, to be with his zeal means to be empty of ourselves first by becoming like Jesus Christ. But, how can we proclaim Christ crucified as St. Paul asserted in the second reading when we are more concerned with money and trade, fame and prestige, especially in the Church? How can we proclaim Christ crucified when we avoid his Cross, always seeking shortcuts and instants in everything? How can we be more loving like Christ crucified when we do not have the zeal for others?

Let us pray.

Lord Jesus, 
"overturn" our many excuses 
and alibis of being so concerned
 with things of the world
 pretending we do them in the name
 of God and of our family and loved ones;  
"overturn" our many justifications
 for not going to Mass,
 for not receiving the Sacraments,
 for not making time
 with our family and loved ones;
set us free, Jesus,
from our many addictions
 that have cut off our ties
 and relationships with You
 and real persons 
like our family and friends.
Fill us, Jesus, with your zeal
 for the Father through the Church 
and everyone we meet. 
 Amen.

You never close your eyes anymore when I kiss your lipsAnd there’s no tenderness like before in your fingertipsYou’re trying hard not to show itBut baby, baby I know it

You lost that lovin’ feelin’Whoa, that lovin’ feelin’You lost that lovin’ feelin’Now it’s gone, gone, gone, whoa-oh

You never close your eyes anymore when I kiss your lips
And there’s no tenderness like before in your fingertips
You’re trying hard not to show it
But baby, baby I know it

You lost that lovin’ feelin’
Whoa, that lovin’ feelin’
You lost that lovin’ feelin’
Now it’s gone, gone, gone, whoa-oh