Tag: brokenness

Faith is hope

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Wednesday in the Eighteenth Week of Ordinary Time, Year II, 07 August 2024
Jeremiah 31:1-7     <*((((><  +  ><))))*>     Matthew 15:21-28
Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, 20 March 2024.

Yes, a day will come when the watchmen will call out on Mount Ephraim: “Rise up, let us go to Zion, to the Lord, our God.” For thus says the Lord: Shout with joy for Jacob, exult at the head of the nations; proclaim your praise and say: The Lord has delivered his people, the remnant of Israel (Jeremiah 31:6-7).

How refreshing are your words
today, God our loving Father;
so upbeat with hope
for the divided nation of
Judah and Israel to finally
be one just like us today:
so divided recently with all
the mockery and sacrilege
in the Paris Olympics
only to be united
by Carlos Yulo's 
recent harvest of two gold medals;
what a beautiful lesson in faith in You
that is also hope itself;
from being the least supported
and known sport in the country,
Yulo remained faithful
filled with hope in You
while persevering in gymnastics;
like Yulo and Jeremiah's command,
let us shout with joy to You,
proclaiming your redemption
that literally means "Hosanna"
in Hebrew, the very shouts of joy
when Jesus entered Jerusalem
on Palm Sunday.

She said, “Please, Lord, for even the dogs eat the scraps that fall from the table of their masters.” Then Jesus said to her in reply, “O woman, great is uyour faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.” And her daughter was healed from that hour (Matthew 15:27-28).

Like that Canaanite woman
who begged Jesus,
even bantered with Him
about dogs and puppies,
bread and crumbs
for mercy and healing to her
sick daughter,
help us realize that faith is hope;
that hope is more than positive thinking
of how things would get better
but could even get worse
yet still believe in God!

Thank you Jesus
for always coming to "pagan"
territories like Tyre and Sidon;
keep our faith and hope burning
to await You,
to recognize You,
to meet You
coming in the midst of our
many darkness and brokenness.
Amen.

Advent heals our fragmented life

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Wednesday, Memorial of St. Lucy, Virgin & Martyr, 13 December 2023
Isaiah 40:25-31   ><]]]]'> + <'[[[[><   Matthew 11:11-15
Photo by author, Advent week II, Basic Education Department chapel, Our Lady of Fatima University, Valenzuela, 2021.
My dear Jesus:
despite the cold weather
and festive mood of this season,
there is this feeling inside me of
the world, even your church
being so fragmented and broken,
with so many divisions and 
competitions among us, 
the favoritisms and injustices 
by those above us that have
spawned in us so many feelings
of entitlement and privileges.

Why, O Jacob, do you say, and declare, O Israel, “My way is hidden from the Lord, and my right is disregarded by my God?” Do you not know or have you not heard? The Lord is eternal God, creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint nor grow weary, and his knowledge is beyond scrutiny. He gives strength to the fainting; for the weak he makes vigor abound.

Isaiah 40:27-29
Thank you, dear Jesus,
for your coming to us,
for your Advent;
most of all, for your sublime
gentleness, calling us all to
"Come to me, all you who labor 
and are burdened, 
and I will give your rest"
(Matthew 11:28).

Heal our fragmented lives,
our fragmented society,
our fragmented Church;
open our eyes,
open our hearts
and our arms to embrace you
especially among those broken too
so we may finally forge anew that
bonding in you.
Amen.

Blessedness springs from brokenness

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Saturday, Week XXVI, Year II in Ordinary Time, 03 October 2020
Job 42:1-3, 5-6, 12-17   |||+|||  >><)))*> <*(((><<   |||+|||   Luke 10:17-24
Photo by author, Mt. St. Paul Spirituality Center, La Trinidad, Benguet, 2017.

God our loving Father, another week is closing and another is coming. Thank you for the many blessings you have given us, most especially for those blessings that have come our way through many trials and sufferings.

Like Job, if not for my many brokenness, pains and disappointments, I would have never been this strong and so blessed. Looking back to those days of trials, I am so grateful to you like Job, O God, in opening my eyes to so many wonderful things I cannot know nor even understand!

I have dealt with great things that I do not understand; things too wonderful for me, which I cannot know. I had heard of you by word of mouth, but now my eye has seen you.

Job 42:3, 5

I pray in a very special way today for people going through very rough times of crises, those diagnosed with cancer, those who have lost a loved one, and those whose business have hit rock bottom due to the pandemic.

Keep us all faithful to your call, God, for true blessedness is not found in doing but in being in you through your Son Jesus who told us “Nevertheless, do not rejoice because the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice because your names are written in heaven” (Lk.10:20). Amen.

His wounds – not his face – make us recognize Jesus

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Friday, Feast of St. Thomas, Apostle, 03 July 2020
Ephesians 2:19-22 >><)))*> <*(((><< >><)))*> <*(((><< John 20:24-29

Thank you very much, dearest Jesus, in founding your church upon your Apostles who were all like us: full of flaws and weaknesses, faults and failures, sins and imperfections.

Every time we celebrate their feasts, you remind us of your call to be near you like the Apostles despite our sins and inadequacies, to be sorry and make amends to return to you to be built into a dwelling of the Holy Spirit.

Brothers and sisters: You are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the holy ones and members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the Apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the capstone. Through him the whole structure is held together and grows into a temple sacred in the Lord; in him you are also being built together into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

Ephesians 2:19-22

Help us, Lord Jesus, to be like St. Thomas your Apostle who came but doubted, returned and saw you a week later and believed, declaring “My Lord and my God” upon seeing you.

But what did St. Thomas really see that he believed?

Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands, and bring your hand and out it into my side, and do not be unbelieving, but believe.” Thomas answered and said to him, “My Lord and my God!”

John 20:27


Through St. Thomas, you have blessed us and helped us, dear Jesus to believe in you not in seeing your face but more in seeing and feeling your wounds.

How wonderful, O Lord!

It is not your face but your wounds that enable us to recognize you and believe in you.

We will never see your face in this lifetime, Lord, but every day in our trials and sufferings, in our pains and hurts, in our wounds and woundedness, in our brokenness — there you are most present in us and among us.

Heighten our awareness of your presence, to accept pains and sufferings for your love and mercy so we may deepen our faith in you, following you always in your path of the Cross.

Like St. Thomas, may we follow you closely at your Cross, offering ourselves like you to be broken and shared so that in our wounds and woundedness, others may find healing, most especially you, sweet Jesus. Amen.