The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Wednesday in the Third Week of Advent, 15 December 2021
Isaiah 45:6-8, 18, 21-25 ><)))*> + ><)))*> Luke 7:18-23
Lord Jesus,
like the disciples of John
the Baptist, we are so
tempted to ask you at this
time of pandemic and confusion:
"Are you the one who is to come,
or should we look for another?"
(Luke 7:18)
Yes, dear Jesus,
you are the One
who is to come because
all these things like healing
of the sick and proclamation
of the good news to the poor
are happening before our very
eyes even to these days.
The problem, Lord Jesus,
is our failure or hesitancy and
sometimes refusal to contribute
our part in making your presence
known and felt in this time of the
pandemic and election campaigns.
Liberate us, Jesus,
from the blindness, deafness,
paralysis and darkness that
prevent us in making your Kingdom
and power felt here on earth;
in the same manner you have used
the pagan king Cyrus, use us, O Lord,
in building your Kingdom here on earth
so that people may finally find that
there is no other God except you alone.
Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Tuesday, Memorial of St. John of the Cross, 14 December 2021
Zephaniah 3:1-2, 9-13 ><}}}*> + <*{{{>< Matthew 21:28-32
Photo by Gelo Nicolas Carpio, 2020.
God our loving Father,
teach us humility and simplicity
in life in this time of the year
when temptations are so strong,
even irresistible to be proud
and powerful and sufficient in
things we need that we forget you
in the people around us.
As we celebrate the memorial of
St. John of the Cross who was so
eloquent both in his words and in deeds,
help us to choose always in finding the
path of Jesus Christ on the Cross which
for him is the "highest wisdom attainable
in this life".
The gate that gives entry into these riches of his wisdom is the cross; because it is a narrow gate, while many seek the joys that can be gained through it, it is given to few to desire to pass through it.
St. John of the Cross, Office of Readings, 14 December
In both the first reading and
the gospel today, your words
assure us, dear God, that it is never
too late to start listening to you and
to follow your Son Jesus Christ in
his life of simplicity and dedication
to the well-being of others.
Teach us to be "a people humble
and lowly" before you, O God, who
"shall do no wrong and speak no lies,
who would pasture and couch your
flocks with none to disturb them"
(Zephaniah 3:12-13). Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Monday, Memorial of St. Lucy, Virgin and Martyr, 13 December 2021
Numbers 24:2-7, 15-17 ><]]]]'> + <'[[[[>< Matthew 21:23-27
Photo by Fr. Pop Dela Cruz, June 2021, Binuangan, Obando, Bulacan.
Dearest God our Father:
with the days fast-approaching
to Christmas, we pray you open
our eyes to see you more clearly
so that we can love you dearly
and follow you more closely each day.
As celebrate the memorial of St. Lucy,
your Virgin Martyr who chose to see
the glory of heaven than sin, open our
eyes to see you more in others and in
many occasions in our lives.
Clear our eyes and vision of pride
and evil like Balaam who first came
to curse the Israelites but in your
divine power, he instead blessed
your people upon seeing the coming of
Jesus Christ!
Then Balaam gave voice to his oracle: The utterance of Balaam, son of Beor, the utterance of the man whose eye is true, the utterance of one who hears what God says, and knows what the Most High knows, of one who sees what the Almighty sees, enraptured and with eyes unveiled. I see him, though not now; I behold him, though not near: a star shall advance from Jacob, and a staff shall arise from Israel.
Numbers 24:15-17
Forgive us, Lord, despite your coming
we remain and insist in being stubborn
like the chief priests in your time who
refused to see the hand of God in your
mission nor in John's preaching; let us be
open and willing to find you coming,
to hear your speaking through unexpected
channels and occasions. Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Third Sunday of Advent-C, 12 December 2021
Zephaniah 3:14-18 ><}}}*> Philippians 4:4-7 ><}}}*> Luke 3:10-18
Photo by author, Gaudete Sunday 2019.
Our liturgy bursts in colorful hues of pink this Third Sunday of Advent known as “Gaudete Sunday” or “Rejoice Sunday” following the calls of our readings to rejoice in God’s coming and nearness among us.
Brothers and sisters: Rejoice in the Lord always. I shall say it again – rejoice!
Philippians 4:4
We rejoice because of a person. Always. Gadgets and material things can never bring joy to us; joy is something deeper, touching one’s heart and soul.
Joy brings assurance of presence and of love; hence, joy comes only from another person for what he or she brings or for what happens to him or to her. And too often, it can happen that we share in another’s joy.
Now, imagine if the joy is coming from the Second Person, Jesus Christ the Son of God – it is “joy to the max!” as young people would say these days. Jesus, the Emmanuel or God-with-us who had come more than 2000 years ago, who always comes to us, and who will come again in the end of time.
To rejoice in the Lord as St. Paul puts it in our second reading today means to be one with Christ who is the source of “every spiritual blessing in the heavens” (Eph.1:3) in whom “nothing can ever separate us from the love of God, not even death nor any creature” (Rom. 8:38-39).
And that is the essence of joy: the firm assurance that when worst comes to worst in life, there is always Jesus Christ remaining faithful to us when our chips are down, when we are alone and abandoned by family and friends, even in death.
Joy is a result of salvation, of being free in Jesus
Joy is when the heart and soul smile even when we are in the midst of suffering. It is unlike happiness expressed by laughter or smiles that depend on external factors that trigger happiness. Joy bursts from within us, something automatic because of a deeper feeling of right there in our heart, deep in our soul dwells Jesus Christ, assuring us we shall never be alone. That is why we can rejoice while in the midst of pains and sufferings, unlike happiness.
In the first reading we heard four imperative verbs that call us to rejoice, each evoking God’s coming to save his people which is fulfilled in Jesus Christ:
Photo by author, San Fernando, Pampanga, 18 November 2021.
Shout for joy, O daughter Zion! Sing joyfully, O Israel! Be glad and exult with all your heart, O daughter Jerusalem! The Lord has removed the judgment against you, he has turned away your enemies; the King of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst, you have no further misfortune to fear.
Zephaniah 3:14-15
Here we find joy synonymous with salvation, with freedom.
The people of God at that time were in exile, feeling so low and so sad as they saw their plight as punishment for their sins.
Recall how when the angel announced to Mary the coming birth of Jesus, he told her to “Do not fear” (Lk.1:30) while Jesus himself told the same words – “Do not fear” – to the women at the tomb on Easter morning and later to his disciples (Mt. 28:10). Every time the disciples and the people were in danger and overcome with fear, Jesus always comes saying to everyone the same thing, “Do not be afraid…it is I”.
That is the most wondrous thing about joy – one experiences not only assurance of love and support, presence and security but one also becomes free specially from all sins and fears!
Such was the mood of the people when John the Baptist preached repentance and baptized people at Jordan. Even the most hopeless among them like sinners and marginalized people at that time felt joy within with John’s proclamation of the good news, of Jesus himself.
Now the people were filled with expectation, and all were asking in their hearts whether John might be the Christ. John answered them all, saying, “I am baptizing you with water, but one mightier than I is coming. I am not worthy to loosen the thongs of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fan is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.” Exhorting them in many other ways, he preached good news to the people.
Luke 3:15-18
Luke beautifully summarized the mission of John the Baptist by saying “he preached good news to the people” (Lk.3:18). This is the grace of the third Sunday of Advent: that the Lord is with us, that he had set us free from our sins and from all our fears. Let us go out of our toxic relationships and toxic mindset to claim this salvation in Christ!
Like John, let us experience Jesus in our selves, in our lives in order to bring hope and joy to others by proclaiming not only the coming but the very presence of Jesus Christ among us.
See how John told the crowds to live simply so that others may simply leave while at the same time, he never asked the tax collectors and soldiers to leave their jobs by them to be fair and just with everyone.
Photo by author, San Fernando, Pampanga, 18 November 2021.
So many times in life, we desire so many material things in life because of our wrong belief we can only be joyful in life with whatever money can buy that in the process, we miserably forget to love and care for the other persons, especially those nearest to us.
We sadly realize later in life that what truly prevent us from experiencing joy are these things like wealth and fame we have tried accumulating in our entire lives!
As we have said earlier, joy can only come from persons, not things. Those people in the gospel felt joy upon listening to John’s preaching and experiencing his baptism of water.
In our time, we are called to be another John the Baptist but this time to baptize people “in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” as commanded by Jesus on his Ascension. Moreover, this third Sunday of Advent calls us to emulate John in telling people to be vigilant for the final judgment when Jesus comes again at the end of time which is NOW for “His winnowing fan is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.” These we do with our lives of witnessing to the gospel values of Christ seen in the joy we have in our lives.
How sad that even Pope Francis had noticed early in his pontificate how many of us Christians lack joy in our lives, in our attitudes and in our faces specially when celebrating the Holy Eucharist.
Joy is the mark of every true Christian who rejoices always in the salvation and freedom Jesus had brought us. Let us share the joy of life in Christ not only today but everyday for Jesus comes to us in every person filled with joy, free from sin and worries! Amen.
Have a joyful week ahead!
Photo by author, San Fernando, Pampanga, 18 November 2021.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Friday in the Second Week of Advent, 10 December 2021
Isaiah 48:17-19 ><]]]]*> + <*[[[[>< Matthew 11:16-19
Photo by author, chapel at the Shepherd’s Field, Israel, 2019.
Yesterday, dear God our Father,
you reminded us not to be stuck
with the past and instead move
on and look forward to a better
future you have for us; thank you
for telling us today how we can
fulfill your promised prosperity and
blessings to come:
Thus says the Lord, your redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: I, the Lord, your God, teach you what is for your good, and lead you on the way you should go. If you would hearken to my commandments, your prosperity would be like a river, and your vindication like the waves of the sea.
Isaiah 48:17-18
Forgive us, loving Father,
for being stubborn, for refusing
to listen with our hearts to
obey your words; so often, we
are like your people Israel who
who were thrown into exile
long time ago because of the
hardness of their hearts - they
listened to your words with their
ears but never took them to their
hearts which they followed into
sin; we have abused our freedom
and free will insisting what we want,
believing more to our selves than
obeying you, trusting you.
It is so true that we are like
the children "who sit in the
marketplace and call to one
another, 'We played the flute
for you, but you did not dance,
we sang a dirge but you did not
mourn'" (Mt.11:16-17): your Son
Jesus Christ had come, always
comes daily in our lives, and will
still come in the end of time which
could be now and yet, we have been
deaf and blind to his presence, to his
mercy, and to his love.
Teach us, O Lord, this Advent
to listen with our hearts to your
words, accepting them truly and
wholly to incorporate them into
our daily lives and be surprised
with your plans for us specially
this Christmas! Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Thursday in the Second Week of Advent, 09 December 2021
Isaiah 41:13-20 ><)))*> + ><)))*> + ><)))*> Matthew 11:11-15
Photo by author, 08 December 2021.
Thank you very much, O God
for all the beautiful memories
we have in the past, especially
those moments you have blessed
us with the good life - freedom
and security, food and clothings,
family and friends, and everything
that is good in between them.
But the problem with our beautiful
and sweet memories of the past is
how often we are fixated to them,
especially when hard times happen
to us, like with your people Israel who
were exiled to Babylon for so long:
they could not believe their days are
ending when you would set them free
and allow them to come home that they
kept on harking back to the good old
days of the past, unable to look forward
to the fulfillment of your wonderful promises
through the prophet Isaiah.
Give us the grace, O Lord,
on this season of Advent to look
forward to a better future,
to a more blessed present moment
than the past; help us understand
the words of Jesus Christ your Son
about John the Baptist:
Jesus said to the crowds, “Amen, I say to you, among those born of women there has been none greater than John the Baptist; yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.”
Matthew 11:11
Yes, in the past before
Jesus Christ's coming,
it was such a very great time
to have heard and witnessed
John's ministry; there is no doubt
about his great role in preparing
the way of the Lord; however,
it was Jesus himself who claimed,
and rightly so, even the least
among us is greater than John
who never witnessed and experienced
the fruits of Christ's sacrifice on the
Cross!
It has been two years since
this pandemic altered our
lives and made life so difficult
to many of us; until now, we keep
on going back to the good old days
of the past before the pandemic;
help us to move on, Jesus, and look
forward to better Christmas,
better new year in 2022 if we can
be more open to you. Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Wednesday, Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, 08 December 2021 Genesis 3:9-15, 20 ><}}}*> Ephesians 1:3-6, 11-12 ><}}}*> Luke 1:26-38
Photo by Rev. Fr. Gerry Pascual at Palazzo Borromeo, Isola Bella, Stresa, Italia, 2019.
Recently I saw on a Facebook post the photo of American model Kendall Jenner in a swimsuit showing what for many is the “perfect body” in a woman. The photo had reportedly gone viral last year.
What caught my attention was the other photo posted opposite Jenner: that of 19-year-old Alyssa Carson who became the youngest female in history to pass all NASA aerospace tests to train as astronaut for future travel to Mars! The caption said it so well, lamenting the fact how the world gives so much attention to “fashion models” with many going insane imitating their bodies forgetting the more essential like inner beauty and intelligence.
More sad is how we have fixed our human understanding and analogies of a “model” as someone who poses and remains still to be painted or photographed for glossy magazines and giant billboards that people are willing to buy or pay for just to view and let their senses feast on.
It may sound funny but those two photos accompanied me while praying and preparing for our celebration today of the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception. Sorry, I am not going to show you the link to those photos but wha I want to share with you are the two beautiful expressions depicting Mary as “advocate of grace” and “model of holiness” found in the Preface of today’s Mass (that is the prayer before the Holy, Holy leading to the consecration): “She, the most pure Virgin, was to bring forth a Son, the innocent lamb who would wipe away our offenses; you placed herabove all others to be for your people an advocate of grace and a model of holiness.”
Photo by Fr. Gerry Pascual at Einsiedeln Abbey, Einsiedeln, Switzerland, 2019.
So often with Marian feasts, many people complain and find it hard to relate with the Blessed Virgin because they find them as celebrations of the privileges of Mary who was so blessed and unique, thinking she’s almost a god, not human anymore whom we cannot imitate and emulate.
That is totally untrue and baseless!
Of course, only she has the distinction of being immaculately conceived, one never stained by sin but, aside from that, Mary is like all of us, so human; and we too can be like her, full of grace and holy!
Brothers and sisters: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavens, as he chose us in him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and without blemish before him. In love he destined us for adoption to himself through Jesus Christ, in accord with the favor of his will.
Ephesians 1:3-5
Very clear in this reflection by St. Paul in our second reading that our truest destiny is to be holy and without blemish – that is, immaculate. It is the plan of God since the beginning that we all become his people until sin came and destroyed momentarily that divine plan as we have heard in the first reading.
With the coming of Jesus through his sacrifice on the Cross, we were redeemed from sin to become God’s holy people which the same Preface mentions Mary as the “beginning of the Church”. The same prayer reiterates to us our universal calling from God which is to be holy and blameless before God through Jesus Christ. It is very doable and attainable “for nothing is impossible for God” as the Archangel Gabriel told Mary during the Annunciation (Lk.1:37). And Mary is our proof to that!
Photo by Rev. Fr. Gerry Pascual at Santuario di Greccio, Rieti, Italy in 2019.
While it is very true that nothing is impossible for God, today’s celebration of the Immaculate Conception reminds of how God “needs” us to cooperate and participate in his beautiful plans for us like Mary to be his instrument or seedbed for his Divine Word to receive and grow and bloom.
That is the meaning of Mary as “advocate of grace” who became the vessel in the coming of Jesus Christ. See how St. Luke was very clear in narrating Mary’s “supporting” role and place in the plan of God: she remains a human being – not God – like us except she was full of grace, that is, immaculately conceived.
Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father, and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end… The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God.”
Luke 1:31-33, 35
The Church Fathers used to call Mary as the “aquaeductus ecclesiae” or neck of the Church connecting Jesus the caput or head and us the corpus or body. Mary as an advocate of grace is that vessel of all blessings we now have in Jesus Christ because of her obedience and participation in that plan of God of sending Jesus.
Keep in mind that as advocate of grace, Mary brings us all to Jesus as the one Mediator, not away from him. True devotees of Mary bring others to Jesus not away from him for he alone is the Mediator. A true and authentic devotion to Mary always result in deeper knowledge and intimacy with Jesus and his gospel. Notice this in her apparitions especially at Fatima in 1911 where her messages call us to get closer to Jesus, not her.
Mary continues as our advocate of grace telling us the very same words she had told the servers at Cana to “do whatever he tells you” (Jn.2:5).
Do we do the same? Or, mislead others into putting Mary at par or even above Jesus her Son and Lord? In this time of pandemic, are we like Mary as an advocate of grace, a vessel and instrument of blessings to others or do we grab every credit of “charity” and “kindness”, grandstanding for more media mileage of “likes” and “followers” to be viral and trending?
Photo by Fr. Gerry Pascual at the Cathedral of Barcelona, Spain in 2019.
From her being an “advocate of grace”, Mary thus becomes our “model of holiness” too as she reminds us of God’s original plan for us, created in his image and likeness destroyed by sin with the fall of Adam and Eve. See how God immediately promised salvation through the woman fulfilled in Mary as he reprimanded the serpent in tempting Eve:
“I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; He will strike you at your head, while you strike at his heel.”
Genesis 3:15
Because of her being the advocate of grace of God by giving birth to Jesus, Mary stands before us as the perfect reminder of Christ’s work of purification and recovery of the image of God in us. Described as the “perfect disciple” and “doer of the Word”, Mary had shown us in her very life which continues to this day in her intercessions and apparitions how discipleship is a life-long process and commitment of holiness. From giving birth to Jesus to his dying on the Cross until his burial, Mary had always been with Jesus that on Easter, it was to her that the Risen Lord first appeared because she was the first to believe totally in him.
At the Pentecost, Mary was with the Apostles awaiting the coming of the Holy Spirit that became the coming out party of the Church. In her life, Mary is the model of holiness because she keeps on working with us and in us, guiding us in following Jesus our Lord and Master so that we might be “conformed to his image” (Rom. 8:29).
Photo by author, Christmas 2020.
Holiness is not being sinless but being filled with God who is all-holy, being like Jesus Christ. Mary showed us the way to holiness is being humble before God, seeing herself as the “handmaid” or servant of the Lord.
If there is one thing the world needs now so badly in this time of the pandemic, it is holiness. Before the pandemic came, mankind was so filled with self, so arrogant and proud acting like god, manipulating everything.
How ironic that a microscopic virus with the simplest signs similar to the common colds made the world stood still for some time, reminding us that there is a God all-powerful who is in control of everything.
Through Mary, may this Solemnity of her Immaculate Conception lead us back to God to recover in us his image and likeness, cleansed and purified of our blemishes and wrinkles of sin by having an enlightened devotion to her, the servant of the Lord par excellence. Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Music by Fr. Nick F. Lalog II, 05 December 2021
Photo by author, sunrise at the Lake of Galilee, Israel, May 2019.
Lately everybody has been saying “Christmas is around the corner” or “Christmas is in the air” or simply “It’s Christmas”! This is the time of the year when we are most conscious of the season not of the Person behind the celebrations.
Christmas is Jesus Christ, of God becoming human like us, of God dwelling and living among us.
Christmas is the nearness of God among us.
That is why as we get closer to Christmas on this Second Sunday of Advent, we have chosen the very popular and lovely song The Nearness of You written in 1938 by Hoagy Carmichael with lyrics by Ned Washington to remind us of the Person of God so near among us ( see our reflection https://lordmychef.com/2021/12/04/advent-is-being-small-and-simple/).
Covered by so many artists since its debut in the 1938 movie Romance in the Dark, The Nearness of You has been covered since then by so many artists. Our favorite is still Frank Sinatra’s and this duet by Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong.
The song is very short but very touching because it is person-oriented which is what Christmas is all about, of God in Jesus Christ getting closest to man and vice-versa.
It’s not the pale moon That excites me That thrills and delights me Oh no It’s just the nearness of you
It isn’t your sweet conversation That brings this sensation Oh no It’s just the nearness of you
Here we find in our relationships, whether with God or with others, the importance of being small, of being humble before everyone to be absorbed by the magic of the moment, of the relationship. When we look at the stars and the moon above us at night or watch a majestic sunrise or sunset, we experience our littleness yet it is in that being small when we also feel our greatness. It is in that being small when we feel so aware of our very selves, of others around us and of this beautiful world.
It is the same story of Christmas, of Christ born a Child on a lowly manger. Most of all, before his coming, there was also John the Baptist his Precursor who went to the desert to become small before God in preparing the way of the Lord.
On this Second Week of Advent we are reminded of God’s nearness among us if we can be small like John in the wilderness who preached the need to repent our sins to make a space within us for the coming Jesus Christ. Amen.
*We have no intentions of infringing into the copyrights of this music and its uploader except to share its beauty and listening pleasure.
The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Second Sunday of Advent-C, 05 December 2021
Baruch 5:1-9 ><}}}*> Philippians 1:4-6, 8-11 ><}}}*> Luke 3:1-6
Photo by Mr. Jim Marpa, 2018.
From “beginning with the end” last Sunday at the start of Advent, we now move into its second week when we are reminded by the readings and gospel that “everything begins small and simple” in God and with God’s kingdom.
So often in life, God’s beauty and majesty are revealed in small, little beginnings that are hidden and obscured, things and persons we take for granted without knowing it is in them and through them that God silently continues his works of wonder among us.
Such is the reality of Christ’s coming – then and now and in the end of time – as presented by Luke who began his account this Second Sunday of Advent with the introduction of John the Baptist.
“St. John the Baptist Preaching In the Wilderness” by Anton Raphael Mengs from en.wikipedia.org.
In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias was tetrarch of Abilene, during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the desert.
Luke 3:1-2
Feel the solemnity of Luke’s report, so formal, evoking a sense of power and might, an air of superiority with all the trappings of those in the corridors of power in government and religion.
Then abruptly, he wrote tersely, “the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the desert”. Boom! So simple yet elegantly emphatic.
Notice Luke’s artistry presenting a list of who’s who living in palaces and Temple with all the comfort and luxury available at that time when in a sudden shift, without losing the building up of the drama that led to the climax that is John “proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, as it is written in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah: A voice of one crying out in the desert: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths'” (Lk.3:3-4).
In introducing to us the person of John the Baptist which started in the very first chapter of his gospel, Luke is actually telling us how John was already the presence of Christ, that aside from being his precursor, he had Jesus in himself already! For Luke, John foreshadowed Christ’s work of salvation reaching its summit at Easter even while orienting us to Christmas.
The nearness of God
Every year, the second and third Sundays of Advent narrate the preaching and baptism by John the Baptist at Jordan to remind us how Jesus comes to us whenever, wherever the word of God is heard, accepted, and proclaimed that result into repentance and forgiveness of sins.
See how Luke shows us the overlapping of salvation history with our secular history, a clear indication of the presence and nearness of God with us in Christ’s coming. Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate, Herod, Philip, and Lysania with the high priests Caiaphas and Ananias were true persons who have lived in a particular time and specific places when John and Jesus lived too.
Here we find so true that God works silently and subtly in Jesus in our own personal lives and in the whole world for indeed, he is the God of history.
Photo by author, Chapel at the Basic Education Department, Our Lady of Fatima University, Valenzuela City, 28 November 2021.
This Second Sunday of Advent we are assured of God’s nearness with us in Christ, especially when there are those darkness and obscurity, hiddenness and being unknown. These little and simple things in life are occasions where God reveals himself to us! Take them to heart.
Sometimes in life it is good to be down and even unknown, away from the limelight specially in this age of social media where everything even coffee breaks and new purchases or grades and medals of children are made known to everyone with much noise like blaring trumpets.
This boom in social media is so tiring and even disgusting with nothing hidden anymore, nothing is personal, and worst, nothing sacred any more! God and faith and sacraments have become commodities, persons are cheapened and used for personal advantages that even personal messages or PM’s have become “public happenings”. No more respect and dignity to others and most of all, unknown to those so immersed in the social media, they are the ones in the losing end, losing their very selves as they lose touch and grounding with reality.
Contrast it with John the Baptist in the desert with his balanced life between solitude and community and most of all, his rootedness in God and with realities of life that he can speak about the need for repentance to renew one’s self.
The gift of Advent
It can happen that when we are so filled with our selves, when we are so spread out feeling famous, “viral” and “trending” that we are also most empty and nothing like those powerful men mentioned by Luke, from the Roman emperor to the high priests; hence, the need to be hidden and unknown, little and small once in a while to allow enough room for changes and growth, and most especially to have a room within us for Jesus to work in us.
This is the gift of Advent Season: a time for us to be like John, to withdraw from the busy and toxic world so we may be alone and at home again with one’s true self, with loved ones, and with God in Jesus, through Jesus.
In the first reading we heard the end of a poem by Baruch where God consoles his people personified by Jerusalem, giving them hope of redemption someday from their Babylonian conquerors. It was the lowest point in the Jewish history when Jerusalem and their Temple were destroyed with the entire nation exiled to Babylon as slaves. No country, no Temple, so down and so small yet, God tells them:
Photo by author, Advent 2019.
Jerusalem take off your robe of mourning and misery; put on the splendor of glory from God forever: wrapped in the cloak of justice from God, bear on your head the mitre that displays the glory of eternal name. For God will show all the earth your splendor; you will be named by God forever the peace of justice, the glory of God’s worship.
Baruch 5:1-4
See the beautiful image of God taking possession of his people exiled and enslaved, changing their lot into something so wonderful filled with splendor!
The same thing happens with us when we are down and lost for that is when God doubles his efforts in finding us, redeeming us, uplifting us. It had happened before in the coming of his Son Jesus Christ more than 2000 years ago which continues to happen now and would surely happen again in its fullness at his Parousia.
Nothing happens in life and in the world without God knowing even the minutest, single details we do not notice at all. Let us imitate the confidence of Paul this Season of Advent:
I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work in you will continue to complete it until the day of Christ Jesus. God is my witness, how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.
Philippians 1:6, 8
Photo by author, Advent 2020.
This Second Sunday of Advent we are told that even if we do not see Jesus like in the gospel of Luke when it is still concerned with the preaching of John the Baptist, he is already with us in those small and little sacrifices we do out of love for him.
Like John, Advent invites us to withdraw to the wilderness, to the desert to be hidden from the limelight to give God a space to come to us, to be present in us.
Like John, Advent invites us to empty ourselves of our pride and sins, to repent and be washed clean by God’s loving mercy and forgiveness to be filled with his humility, justice and love.
Like John, Advent wants us to be the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy: to be the voice of reason and faith in this noisy world of lies and superficialities; to make straight the path so bended with many excuses and alibis that have moved the lines of morality and propriety; to fill the valleys with sense and meaning; and, to make low every mountain and hill of human pride and arrogance that have left us more empty and lost than before.
Let us all be a John the Baptist, not only a precursor but also a presence of Jesus.
Lawiswis ng Salita ni P. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Ika-03 ng Disyembre 2021
Larawan kuha ng may-akda, 2018.
Kay sarap namnamin,
O Diyos Ama namin
paglalarawan ni San Lukas
ng panahon noong dumating
si San Juan Bautista sa ilang
upang ihanda daraanan ng
Panginoong darating:
Ikalabinlimang taon noon ng paghahari ni Emperador Tiberio. Si Poncio Pilato ang gobernador sa Judea, si Herodes ang tetrarka sa Galilea at ang kapatid naman niyang si Felipe, sa lupain ng Iturea at Traconite. Si Lisanias ang tetrarka sa Abilinia. Sina Anas at Caifas naman ang mga pinakapunong saserdote noon. Nang panahong iyon, nasa ilang si Juan na anak ni Zacarias. Dumating sa kanya ang salita ng Diyos…
Lucas 3:1-2
Dumating ka na sa amin, Panginoon,
sa panahong ito sa gitna ng social media
ng mga nakabibinging ingay
at mga sari-saring tanawin sa amin ay
umaaliw ngunit madalas ay sagwil
upang Ika'y makita at maranasan
kay Hesus na palaging dumarating
sa gitna ng kasaysayan ng daigdig
maging sa sariling buhay namin.
Nawa matularan namin si Juan Bautista
upang ilang ay puntahan, maglaan ng
panahon ng pananahimik upang
Iyong mga salita ay mapakinggan at
mapagnilayan, maranasan pananahan
Mo sa amin kay Kristo.
Itulot po ninyo, O Diyos,
sa liwanag ng Espiritu Santo
aming matularan si Juan doon sa ilang
aming maisigaw upang umalingawngaw
sa mundong nagbibingi-bingihan
sa Iyong mga panawagan na tuwirin
aming landas ng pamumuhay:
nawa'y masaid namin aming puso
at kalooban ng aming kapalaluan
at mga kasalanan upang mapunan
ng Iyong kababaang-loob, pag-ibig
at katarungan;
katulad ni Juan ay maging tinig nawa kami
ng katotohanan sa gitna ng pagpipilit ng
marami na bigyang katuwiran mga
kasinungalingan at kasalaulaan;
tambakan nawa namin bawat lambak
ng kababawan at kawalan ng kabuluhan
ng katuturan at kahulugan kay Kristo
lamang matatagpuan;
at higit sa lahat, nawa aming matibag
sa mabubuting gawa at halimbawa
mga bundok at burol ng aming
kayabangan at katanyagan,
maalis aming mga tarpaulin at ilawan
at tanging ikaw lamang O Diyos
ang aming matanawan, sundan,
at paglingkuran magpasawalang-
hanggan. Amen.
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