The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Wednesday, Week I in Ordinary Time, Year I, 15 January 2025 Hebrews 4:12-16 ><))))*> + ><))))*> + ><))))*> Mark 2:13-17
Photo by author, Northern Blossom Farm, Atok, Benguet, 27 December 2024.
therefore, he (Jesus) had to become like his brothers and sisters in every way, that he might be a merciful and faithful priest before God to expiate the sins of the people. Because he himself was tested through what he suffered, he is able to help those who are being tested (Hebrews 2:17-18).
How lovely are your words today, dearest Jesus! They are so true! While others are still wondering, asking "what if God is one of us", we have always believed and have experienced God truly one of us, among us, and within us in you, Jesus Christ.
How sad that many of us humans are more inclined to believe in things and persons bigger than than ourselves, not realizing our greatness in being small that even you, O Son of God, chose to be like us, little and vulnerable so that we can be like you, divine and eternal.
Teach us to see more of your person, of your being one of us, dearest Jesus, for us to experience your authority and power; like Simon and Andrew, teach us to have that intimacy with you Lord that, "immediately" they told you about Simon's mother-in-law being sick; most of all, let me be one with my own brothers and sisters like you, Jesus, "approaching them, grasping them, and helping them rise up when they are down" (Mark 1:31) Amen.
Jesus Heals Peter’s Mother-in-Law, a mosaic in the Cathedral of the Assumption, Monreale, Sicily, from christianiconography.info.
The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Feast of the Holy Family, Cycle C, 29 December 2024 1 Samuel 1:20-22, 24-28 ><)))*> 1 John 3:1-2, 21-24 ><)))*> Luke 2:41-52
Photo by author of a depiction of the Holy Family near the main door of St. Joseph the Worker Parish in Pacdal, Baguio City, 28 December 2024.
You must have heard of the classic song “A House Is Not A Home” composed by the great tandem of Burt Bacharach and Hal David recorded by Dionne Warwick in 1964 for a movie of the same title. It went back to charts in 1981 when the late Luther Vandross covered it in his first album.
It is a very lovely ballad of a love lost, teaching us that indeed, “a house is made of walls and beams while a home is made of love and dreams”.
A chair is still a chair Even when there's no one sitting there But a chair is not a house And a house is not a home When there's no one there to hold you tight And no one there you can kiss good night
A room is still a room Even when there's nothing there but gloom But a room is not a house And a house is not a home When the two of us are far apart And one of us has a broken heart
But, in the Hebrew language and Jewish thought, the word “house” in itself connotes relationships. There are no distinctions between a house and a home for them that is why we find Jesus claiming the temple as His Father’s house.
Pope Francis opening the Jubiliee Door at St. Peter’s in Rome to launch the start of the Jubilee Year of 2025. Photo by Maurix/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images.
In fact, the first letter of the Hebrew word for God (Yahweh) is actually shaped as a door or a house. That is why there is the blessing of church doors in dioceses today worldwide following the blessing and opening of the Jubilee Door at St. Peter’s in the Vatican by Pope Francis last Christmas Eve to launch the Jubilee Year. The Jubilee Door signifies our passing through, an entering into a relationship with God.
In John’s gospel we find Jesus as an adult using the word “house” twice when He cleansed the temple, telling everyone to “stop making my Father’s house a marketplace” (Jn.2:16) and at their last supper when He assured the disciples, “In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places or rooms” (Jn.14:2).
The only other occasion Jesus used the word “house” to mean the same thing as John was when He was found by His parents in the temple as we heard today on this Feast of the Holy Family.
Each year Jesus’ parents went to Jerusalem for the feast of Passover, and when he was twelve years old, they went up according to festival custom. After they had completed its days, as they were returning, the boy Jesus remained behind in Jerusalem, but his parents did not know it. After three days they found him in the temple… When his parents saw him, they were astonished, and his mother said to him, “Son, why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been looking for you with great anxiety?” And he said to them, “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” But they did not understand what he said to them (Luke 2:41-43, 46, 48-50).
“The Finding of the Savior at the Temple” painting by William Holman Hunt (1860) from en.wikipedia.org.
We find in the story of the finding of Child Jesus in the temple that even at a very young age, Jesus had always been clear with His oneness in God by always referring to the temple as His “Father’s house”.
As we have reflected in December 19 in Luke’s first Christmas story, the annunciation of John’s birth to his father Zechariah while incensing at the temple in Jerusalem during a major Jewish feast that Christmas begins in the church where we gather to praise and worship God as a community. See how this Sunday after Christmas our many empty pews in the church. How sad that many Catholics after Christmas have totally disregarded the Sunday Mass, going to all the vacation spots here and abroad with many of them having no qualms at all that this is the “day of the Lord”, a Sunday obligation.
Again, here is Luke in his artistic narration of Christmas into Christ’s adolescence insisting on us the importance of communal worship and prayer. Not surprising that of the four evangelists, Luke is the one who presented Jesus always at prayer as an expression of His oneness or communion in the Father and he wants us hearers of his gospel account to cultivate that same communion with God in Jesus, with Jesus, and through Jesus.
Christmas is essentially Jesus Christ becoming human so that God may be “at home” with us humans as John beautifully wrote in his prologue we heard last Christmas Day, “And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us” (Jn.1:14).
But, are we at home with God in Jesus?
Photo by author, the small entrance door leading to the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem where one needs to bow low literally and figuratively to enter Christ’s birthplace.
On this Feast of the Holy Family, our gospel reminds us this Sunday of how even Mary and Joseph had trouble with their adolescent son Jesus like most parents these days, a kind of family conflict so familiar with many people everywhere.
What a lovely scene today this Christmas season amid widespread reports of child kidnappings and so many children caught in the middle of many conflicts among adults like wars in many parts of the world and worst, right inside every family, right in their house, or homes where there are no relationships at all.
Luke was a physician who understood very well the anguish and sufferings of many people, especially parents during his time that continue to these days. In narrating to us this sad episode of his Christmas stories when Jesus was lost but eventually found in the temple, Luke is assuring us that despite all the darkness and troubles that engulf many families today, we have a very loving, personal God in Christ always with us.
Photo by author, picture taken from the inside of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem of its small entrance door.
Mary and Joseph did not understand what Jesus meant that He must be at His Father’s house but it did not deter them from exploring its meaning so that only Mary with John and two other women remained with Christ at the foot of the Cross on that Good Friday.
How lovely that Mary and those others at the foot of the Cross were the ones truly “at home” with the Lord, in the Lord! The same thing speaks so true with Joseph who in his silence was so “at home” with God in Jesus, whether awake or asleep. He kept that relationship with God alive through Mary and those others around him especially Jesus.
As an adult approaching His pasch, Jesus assured His disciples including us today of having a dwelling place or room in His Father’s house in heaven – that, despite our many sins, God would never cut off His ties with us in Jesus, with Jesus! That is how God loved us so much as the author of the Letter to the Hebrews reminds us “God is greater than our hearts and knows everything” (1Jn.3:20).
Like Hanna the mother of the child Samuel, let us start cultivating this relationship with God even while still very young. It does not really matter if we destroy and cut it so often; what matters is we keep on trying to let it grow anew for it is and would never ever get lost again. Thanks to Christmas!
That is why I personally insist in my homilies and writings that we keep greeting everyone with a Merry Christmas until January 12, the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord that closes the Christmas season. It is still Christmas after all!
Photo by author, Chapel of the Angel of Peace, RISE Tower, Our Lady of Fatma University, Valenzuela City, Christmas 2024.
Like Mary and Joseph, let us keep coming back to God symbolized by Jerusalem and its temple now replaced with our churches. Let us go back to prayer and to Sunday Masses to find Jesus again present in the signs and symbols of the liturgy and most of all, in everyone present celebrating His coming.
Let us continue the story of Christmas with our relationships with God through others, of our being at home with the Father in Jesus Christ who “advanced in wisdom and age and favor before God and man” (Lk.2:52) after this episode which closed Luke’s Christmas account.
Let us be at home with God and with one another in Jesus, with Jesus, and through Jesus. May you continue to have blessed Christmas Season. Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Monday, Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of Mary, 09 December 2024 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.
The Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary is one of the most awaited feasts in our predominantly Catholic Christian country due to its timing that is so close to Christmas as well as our deep devotion to the Blessed Mother.
Yet, it is also the most problematic because every year, the biblical passage we hear in its celebration is the Annunciation of the Birth of Jesus Christ that is held on March 25 so that people often confuse the December 8 Solemnity as Mary’s Immaculate Conception of Jesus. Of course, there is no direct quotation in the bible of Mary’s Immaculate Conception for it is a fruit of long process of deliberations and reflections in the Church that was finally made official in 1854 as a Dogma.
For those still confused, today’s celebration is when Mary was immaculately conceived in St. Anne’s womb through the merits of Jesus in all eternity, being freed from any stain of original sin so that she may bear our Savior, the Son of God, all-perfect, into the world who is the Christ.
Photo by Rev. Fr. Gerry Pascual of Iba, Zambales at Santuario di Greccio, Rieti, Italy in 2019.
Mary was chosen by God to be His Son’s Mother not because of her having any special traits but purely out of God’s goodness. It is a beautiful story that continues to happen daily we hardly notice nor recognize when God intervenes into our time to bless us not because we deserve to be blessed but simply out of His immense love for us.
This is what we celebrate in the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary: we have a very loving God making a room among us so we may dwell and live in His grace since the very beginning of time.
In the bible and in spirituality, the words room and dwelling actually refer to communion of man and God. In fact, the first letter of God’s name “Yahweh” is shaped like a door of a house in Hebrew writing. At the last supper, Jesus told the Twelve that in His Father’s house are many rooms where He shall go first to prepare one for us all. It is not a literal room but a relationship with God that begins here.
In Genesis, paradise as dwelling place of Adam and Eve was more of their oneness with God they have destroyed with sin.
God truly loves us, never gave up on us when He sent Jesus Christ to redeem us to take us back to Him by renewing that relationship with Him. It had always been part of the divine plan even before the fall of man as reflected by St. Paul in the second reading, “as he chose us in him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and without blemish before him” (Eph. 1:4).
Every December 8 (or 9, like today when the solemnity falls on a Sunday), we hear Luke’s beautiful account of the annunciation of Christ’s birth because it also conveys to us the same message of the Immaculate Conception of Mary who made a room too for God in her self.
The angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the house of David, and the virgin’s name was Mary (Luke 1:26-27).
“Cestello Annunciation” by Botticelli painted in 1490; from en.wikipedia.org.
The scene preceding this is the annunciation of John’s birth to Zechariah during the Jewish major feast of Yom Kippur or Day of Atonement at the temple in Jerusalem. Observe Luke’s account and we see how God entered through human activities in that scene. Nakisabay, naki-ride on ang Diyos sa takbo ng panahon noon nang ibalita ang pagsilang ni Juan Bautista.
In the Annunciation of the birth of Jesus, it was different: it was God setting everything on His own as we feel from Luke’s solemn reportage. The five major “W’s” of news were there present, namely, who (Mary), what (birth of Jesus), where (Nazareth), when (sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy) and why (Jesus to save the world).
With Mary in Nazareth, the major event was the Annunciation itself of Christ’s birth. It is the entrance of the eternal God into the temporal and finite time of man. That is why we pray the Angelus thrice a day, to sanctify our day as we remember that great event of God becoming human like us in Jesus. (Sadly, so few people pray the Angelus these days, giving more importance to social media, video games and noon time shows or news programs.)
Mary’s Immaculate Conception actually had its fullness in the Annunciation when Mary said yes to God by making a room for Jesus in herself and in her life that led to Christ’s birth and fulfillment of His mission of salvation for us. We see this also in Joseph as narrated by Matthew.
God made everything possible to restore this relationship through Mary who had to be immaculately conceived in order to be the room who would receive His Son Jesus Christ.
Photo by author, left side of the facade of the Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth, Holy Land, May 2019.
Nazareth is the only major place in the New Testament never mentioned in the Old Testament unlike Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus and actually His very root being from the lineage of King David was mentioned many times in the Old Testament.
Nazareth was Mary’s hometown, obscured and unknown like her. After returning from Egypt, the angel told Joseph to bring the Holy Family there to avoid Herod, son and namesake of his father who ordered the massacre of children in Bethlehem upon learning from the Magi the birth of the new king of Israel, Jesus Christ. Though officially from Bethlehem, Jesus grew up in Nazareth that is why the people refused to acknowledge Him as the Messiah who would come from Bethlehem.
Nazareth was so insignificant at that time that it was the butt of jokes in Israel. When one of the Lord’s early disciples Philip told Nathanael (Bartholomew) that they have found “the one about whom Moses wrote in the law” as the Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth, Nathanael replied, “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” (Jn.1:45-46). Jesus did not reprimand Nathanael for his comment because it was true, even praising him as a true Israelite without guile!
Photo by author, Nazareth Square, Holy Land, may 2019.
In the first reading, it was God who chose paradise as dwelling of Adam and Eve; in the New Testament, it was God anew who chose the obscured town of Nazareth as the room and dwelling of His Son Jesus Christ, so perfectly jibed with Mary also obscured, so young and perhaps no voice nor say in the Jewish society at that time.
That is how God works, always in silence, often choosing people and places so insignificant in human standards to eventually display His glory like in Mary.
Inasmuch as the Immaculate Conception is God making a room for us to dwell in Him in Mary, God needs also our cooperation and participation in the process. It is not a one-shot deal but an ongoing process, something that continues and most of all, we cultivate and nurture. It is a gift freely given by God, reminding us of our original state and being as clean and pure.
Like Mary, do we have a room for Jesus within us to come especially in this world so preoccupied with man’s pride and achievements? Let us reclaim our original status and pure and clean children of God in making a room for Him in our lives today. Amen.
Photo by Fr. Gerry Pascual of Iba, Zambales at Einsiedeln Abbey, Einsiedeln, Switzerland, 2019.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Monday, Memorial of St. Peter Claver, Priest, 09 September 2024 1 Corinthians 5:1-8 <*((((>< + ><))))*> Luke 6:6-11
God our loving Father, make me a yeast, a leaven for your people, bringing them into a community, a communion.
Do you not know that a little yeast leavens all the dough? Clear out the old yeast, so that you may become a fresh batch of dough, inasmuch as you are unleavened. For our Paschal Lamb, Christ, has been sacrificed. Therefore, let us celebrate the feast, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavend bread of sincerity and truth (1 Corinthians 5:6-8).
Many times, we in the Church fail to recognize the importance of corporate witness to the Gospel as one body; many times, we pretend to be blind and deaf and mute in the evil pervading among us, afraid of hurting others feelings, worst, afraid of being unmasked in living a double standard life; straighten our lives, Lord Jesus like that man with a withered hand in the synagogue; straighten our paths to your righteousness as we discern justice and mercy and love whenever there are some of us on the wrong side of the road. Like St. Peter Claver who called himself a "slave of the slaves forever" in his pioneering work among the African slaves in in Colombia, grant us the grace of courage and strength to dare start the impossible of being a yeast, a leaven to the people transforming them into witnesses of your Gospel. Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Wednesday, Feast of St. Thomas, Apostle, 03 July 2024 Ephesians 2:19-22 <*{{{{>< + ><}}}}*> John 20:24-29
From the the Catholic Diocese of Little Rock, Arkansas, dolr.org.
Praise and glory to You, God our Father for your gift of the Church, the Body of Christ built on the foundation of the Apostles as a community of faith, hope, and love!
Thank You for the gift of St. Thomas also known as Didymus; though he was not present on the evening of Easter when the Risen Lord appeared to his fellow disciples, he joined them eight days later to be with them, most especially with Jesus; what a beautiful gesture of him who could not believe of the Resurrection; what a gift of courage for him to submit himself to actual tests to prove to himself that Jesus had risen; most of all, his goodwill to be one in communion with his brother Apostles and Lord Jesus.
Brothers and sisters: You are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the holy ones and members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the Apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the capstone. Through him the whole structure is held together and grows into a temple sacred in the Lord, in him you also are being built together into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit (Ephesians 2:19-22).
Let us keep those words of St. Paul, dear Jesus, "Through him the whole structure is held together and grows into a temple sacred in the Lord, in him you also are being built together into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit": what will happen if we destroy this communion in You and with You through one another? What could have happened if St. Thomas remained adamant with his "doubts" and never came to join the other Apostles on that eighth day after Easter?
Caravaggio’s painting “The Incredulity of St. Thomas” (1602) from en.wikipedia.org.
Lord Jesus Christ, teach me to have the healthy doubts of St. Thomas, to dare test himself, not You nor others, to find You, the Truth; grant us the humility to accept and embrace not only your wounds but also those wounds of our fellow disciples because the twofold communion with God and with one another is inseparable - wherever communion with God in the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit is destroyed, the root and source of our communion with each other is destroyed too; whenever we do not live communion among ourselves, communion with God is not alive and true either. Like St. Thomas, enlighten us with your light and truth, Jesus, to see you among one another to live in communion. Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Easter Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Tuesday in the Sixth Week of Easter, 07 May 2024 Acts 16:22-34 <*((((>< + ><))))*> John 16:5-11
Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, March 2023.
The crowd in Philippi joined in the attack on Paul and Silas, and magistrates had them stripped and ordered them to be beaten with rods. After inflicting many blows on them, they threw them into prison and instructed the jailer to guard them securely.
Acts 16:22-23
Lord Jesus, thank You for joining us in our humanity, in everything except sin so that we too are able to join You in Your divinity. Unfortunately, most often we join the wrong causes, the wrong people, the sinful and evil ways of the world instead of joining You and Your works. Until now this scene in Philippi continues in our days when we join others in bringing down those doing good, to hurt and put to shame those doing Your work.
Teach us, Jesus,
to join,
to connect,
to link,
to unite,
and to attach
ourselves
with You,
in You
and through You
like the jailer of
St. Paul
who chose to join
life and light
than join his masters
in evil;
keep us attuned
always to the Holy Spirit
to be aware
and conscious always
of Your ways and moves
we must follow
so that eventually at the end
of this journey on earth,
we join You in
eternal life.
Amen.
Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, March 2023.
Quiet Storm by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, 18 March 2024
A sweet Sunday reconnecting with my former students, Karen and Kweenie.
Had a very wonderful impromptu get together this Sunday with two former students from our girls’ high school in Malolos. But more than having a blast from 25 years we have known one another because Karen had been my student since her elementary school way back in 1998, it was for me a wonderful reconnection as Kweenie noted on our way home after our long lunch.
Reconnection.
The word remained in my mind last night until today as I began my annual personal retreat just before my 59th birthday on Friday. When Karen brought up the idea of having lunch just to see each other, I felt it was more than a coincidence but part of God’s plan for my retreat, which is essentially, a reconnection of the highest order.
And here are my random thoughts on reconnecting before my vacation with the Lord starts tonight.
Photo by author, Baguio City, 12 July 2023.
Connect. From the Latin words, "con" for "with" and "nectere" or "to bind", to connect is to bind together; to fuse, to make as one. To unite. Opposite of being connected is to be separated. To be alone. To be apart.
Photo by Dra. Mylene A. Santos, MD, in France, 2022.
God designed nature to be connected: animal species gather together as herds and schools and flocks everywhere while flowers bloom facing the sun and other plants as twigs and vines extend so that they cover everything while trees though standing apart reach out to other trees with their tops always bending towards another tree.
Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, 20 March 2023.
How unfortunate that we humans who were ironically the only ones created in God's "image and likeness" are the ones who tend to separate always from God and one another - beginning with one's self; many times in our many "connections" when we spread ourselves so much as being scattered, we get disconnected with self, others, and God.
Wherever there is disconnection, there is also sin when connections are severed, cut-off, and destroyed.
Photo from en.wikipedia.org, “Creation of Adam” by Michaelangelo at the Sistine Chapel, the Vatican.
God is the most vital of all of our connections; He is in fact THE connection because He is our life; to be separated from Him means sickness or death, even damnation as in hell; that is why Jesus came so that we may reconnect with God, with self, and with others.
Photo by author in Baras, Rizal, January 2021.
To be connected, to reconnect is to be whole again; getting connected happens when there is acceptance of being separated, when we are humble enough to say sorry with those connections we have abused or taken for granted, neglected and rejected; reconnection happens when we realize that everything - time, place, people, and God are interconnected as one big whole that no matter how small we may be in this vast universe, we matter. That's when we find meaning and purpose and direction; not far from that, we find and experience fullness amid the many brokenness.
Lord Jesus, keep me connected with you, with others, and with my very self. Amen.
Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, 18 March 2024.
Lawiswis ng Salita ni P. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Ika-26 ng Setyembre 2023
Larawan mula sa redditt.com ng iskulturang pinamagatang “Love” ni Ukrainian artist Alexander Milov naglalarawan ng inner child sa bawat isa sa atin na ibig palaging makipag-ugnayan sa kapwa.
Hindi po tungkol sa pulitika ang aking lathalain kungdi ukol sa tila lumalabis nang pagkahumaling ng mga tao sa computer at mga makabagong teknolohiya. Sa aking palagay ay sumusobra na pagsaklaw ng teknolihiya sa ating buhay at nawawala na ating pagkatao. Hindi ako magtataka na bukas makalawa, magkakatotoo na nga yata yung dating ipinangangamba na pananakop ng mga robot sa ating buhay o mismo sa ating mga tao!
Ang katotohanan po ay tumigil na akong kumain sa mga fastfood restaurant hindi dahil sa magastos at unhealthy nilang pagkain at inumin kungdi ang mga nakaka-inis na sisteng kailangang pa akong umorder nang nagpipindot sa mga screen nila ng kakanin gayong may mga crew naman sila.
Minsan pauwi ako mula sa pagmimisa sa lamay sa patay sa Bulacan. Hindi ako gaanong nakakain kaya dumaan ako sa McDonald’s sa Nlex Drive and Dine. Ayokong mag-drive thru para doon na rin makapagpahinga ng konti sabay pagpag na rin maski hindi ako naniniwala doon.
Sising-sisi ako at dumaan pa ako doon; sana nga pala ay nag-drive thru na lang ako kasi naman ay ganito po ang nangyari.
Larawan mula sa news.abs-cbn.com
Pagpasok ko sa McDonald’s doon ay tumambad sa akin ang mga higanteng screen na doon daw oorder. Kasinglaki ni Ronald McDonald yung mga screen pero hindi sila friendly kasi natakot ako. Aminado akong tanga at walang alam sa mga iyon. Hindi po ako techie. Kahit naka-iPhone ako, inaamin kong hindi ko pa rin alam hanggang ngayon kung paano ito gamitin. Di ko naintidihan yang mga hacks na iyan.
Wala akong nagawa kungdi sumunod sa crew na naka-ngiti naman. Binasa ko instructions. Pindot dito, pindot doon. Ewan ko. Naghalo na rin siguro gutom at katangahan, pabalik-balik ako sa simula at hindi maka-order. Mayroon akong nakasabay na engot din at lumapit sa amin yung guwardiya upang tulungan kami. Nawalan na ako ng ganang kumain sa inis sa screen, sa sarili ko na rin, at sa pamunuan ng McDonald’s. Bakit hindi na lang kinuha order ko kesa pinahirapan pa ako doon sa electronic counter na yun?
Bakit kailangang pilitin ang lahat na gumamit ng computer para sa pag-order? Hindi ba naiisip ng mga fastfood na ito na mayroong mga taong hindi pa rin gamay at handa sa gayong uri ng transsaksiyon? Ang pinaka-ayoko sa sisteng ito ng modernisasyon na ang lahat ay automated at computerized ay nawawala ang ating “pagkatao”, iyon bang human touch at humanness ika sa Inggles.
Larawan mula sa NLEX.
Sa expressway ay mauunawaan ko pa dahil upang mapabilis ang biyahe, mainam ang RFID. Ngunit may mga pagkakataon na hindi ako nagmamadali na pagkaraan ng nakakapagod na pagmamaneho sa trapik, ang ibig ko lang ay mayroong makitang isang kapwa-tao. Yung bang madama lang yung “warmth of another human person” ay malaking bagay na rin upang mapawi pagod at stress, na para bang nagsasabing hindi ka nag-iisa. Noong dati ay nakakausap ko pa ng kaunti mga teller sa Nlex sa paniniwala na makapagpasaya lang ako ng isa pang nilalang na maaring bigat na bigat sa problema. Ngayon, wala na yung koneksiyon na iyon kaya hindi kataka-taka, marami sa atin ang disconnected sa isa’t-isa maging sa sarili! Kaya sabog maraming tao ngayon. Siguro kung maibabalik lang natin marami nang nawalang human interaction, mababawasan yang mga road rage sa lansangan.
Isang nakakamiss para sa akin ang magpunta sa bangko at pumila, makahunta ilang mga tao doong kakilala pati na ang manager at magagandang teller. Iyon ang wala sa electronic banking. Totoong convenient at mabilis ang pagbabangko gamit ang cellphone o computer ngunit napaka-impersonal! Iyon na ba ang mahalaga sa atin ngayon, kaginhawahan kesa ugnayan sa kapwa tao?
Pakikipag-ugnayan ang layon ng komunikasyon. Para sa akin, ang pinakamagandang paglalahad ng kahulugan ng komunikasyon ay mula sa Pastoral Instruction na Communio et Progressio sa pagpapatupad ng dokumento ng Vatican II sa social communication na Inter Mirifica:
Communication is more than the expression of ideas and the indication of emotion. At its most profound level it is the giving of self in love. Christ’s communication was, in fact, spirit and life.
Communio et Progessio, #11
Sa lahat ng nilalang ng Diyos, tao lamang ang kanyang binahaginan ng kanyang kapangyarihang makipagtalastasan o komunikasyon. Ang aso ay tumatahol, pusa nagme-meow at ang baboy ay nag-o-oink-oink. Ngunit ang tao, nagsasalita, nangungusap. Naiintindihan, nauunawaan. At kapag nangyari iyon, nagkakaroon ng ugnayan at kaisahan. Communication, tapos communion.
Hindi ito nangyayari sa computer. Manapa, madalas pakiwari ko ay inuulol tayo ng mga ito! Ano kalokohan yung alam mo namang AI (artificial intelligence) o robot ang “kausap” mo tapos sasagot ka sa kahon na “I am not a robot”? At, mantakin mong utusan ka ng Waze o Google map na pakiwari mas alam niya lahat kesa iyo?
Kaya siguro maraming high blood din ngayon kasi nga kapag sumablay mga teknolohiyang ito lalo na ang mahinang signal, tapos na lahat ng usapan. Sa gayon, walang napagkakayarian, walang napagkakasunduan kaya wala ring kaisahan.
Ito rin ang hindi ko magustuhan sa ipinagmamalaki ng dati kong upisina at network, iyong kailang AI-sportscasters.
larawan mula sa gmanetwork.com.
Heto na yata ang rurok ng kalabisan sa pagkamaliw ng karamihan sa teknolohiya. Unang tanong natin dito ay ano po ba ang turing ng mga kumpanyang gumagamit nito sa kanilang mga taga-tangkilik? Tayo ba ay pinahahalagahan pa nila at ipinauubaya na lamang tayo sa mga robot?
Higit sa maraming mahuhusay na tagapagbalita, sa ganang akin walang puwang sa newscast o ano mang uri ng pagbabalita ang mga AI dahil ang komunikasyon ay ugnayan. Communication is a relationship, lalo na balita at isports. Kahit na maperfect pa ang teknolohiyang iyan, hindi mapapalitan at di dapat mapalitan ang tao sa pakikipag-ugnayan sa kapwa tao.
Ikalawa, ano ang dahilan para magkaroon ng AI na sportscaster? Magmalaki? Magyabang? Ano pa kaya gusto ng GMA-7 gayong wala na silang kalaban?
At dapat nilang asikasuhin ay mabigyan tayo ng buhay na mga programa, coverage na umaantig sa aming pagkatao, kayang hipuin kaibuturan ng aming sarili upang madama tuwa at lungkot ng bawat tagumpay at kabiguan saan mang larangan ng buhay. Maramdaman nating hindi tayo nag-iisa sa pag-aasam ng tagumpay at kaunlaran dahil mayroong kaming mga kalakbay sa biyaheng ito ng buhay. Iyon ang kahulugahan ng integrated news – buo. Paanong naging integrated news kung hindi naman tao ang sportscaster nila? Hindi ba doon pa lamang ay sira na ang kabuuan? Sila ba ay mayroong puso para ituring na Kapuso?
Ang kailangan ay isang kapwa na makakasama sa buhay lalo na sa media. Sa Inggles, tawag doon ay companion. Mula sa dalawang salitang Latin, cum na ibig sabihi’y with o kasama at panis na kahulugan ay bread o tinapay; sa literal na salin, ang companion – cum panis – ay kahati sa tinapay. “Someone you break bread with.” Ang tinapay naman ay tanda ng ating sarili, ng ating buhay. .
Samakatwid, ang companion o kasama ay isang kapwa na nagbabahagi ng kanyang sarili sa kapwa upang mabuhay din. Iyan ang dangal at karangalan ng pagbabalita na sadya namang maipagmamalaki ng GMA News mula marami nilang mahuhusay na newscasters at reporters. Kaya lahat ay nalungkot nang pumanaw si G. Mike Enriquez na naging bahagi ng buhay ng maraming kababayan natin sa kanyang estilo ng pagbabalita. Taong-tao siya, ika nga.
Larawan kuha ng may-akda, Our Lady of Fatima University, Valenzuela City, 13 Setyembre 2023.
Kaya rin naman sa Banal na Misa, ang tawag doon ay Banal na Komunyon, ang pagbabahagi at pagtanggap sa Katawan ni Kristo sa anyo ng tinapay. Nakiisa sa atin si Jesus sa lahat ng bagay sa ating katauhan liban sa kasalanan tulad ng gutom at uhaw, lungkot at hapis, kabiguan maging sakit at kamatayan upang makabahagi niya tayo sa kanyang buhay at tagumpay.
Walang ganyang umiiral sa mga AI na ito at computerization ng mga sistema sa ating buhay. Sana ay isaalang-alang ito ng mga negosyante at umuugit sa mga industriya lalo na sa media. Ang masakit na katotohanan kasi ay kunwari ay kaunlaran at kadalian o convenience ang kanilang dahilan (para kanino?) kungdi kitang kita naman, pera lang ang suma total. Sa gayon, sa landas na ito ng pagiging impersonal na kalakaran ng maraming bagay gamit ang teknolohiya, unti unti rin tayong nade-dehumanize, nawawala katauhan. Kapag nawala ang katauhan, ano ang pumapalit? Alam na natin iyan. Salamuch po.
Quiet Storm by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, 20 September 2023
Photo by Mr. Ryan John Jacob, December 2022.
Every time we pray is a moment of grace from God, not only to the one praying or pray-er but most of all to others. To see somebody at prayer is a sight filled with great wonder and blessings from God because every prayer period is a divine operation.
Please don’t get me wrong. Whenever we pray and others see us, it always has an effect on them. Many times we have heard some people saying nasty things at the sight of those deep in prayer especially here at social media with ready templates casting moral aspersions on pray-ers as hypocrites and show offs. People who do that most likely do not pray at all, do not know anything about prayer. Most likely, they are a variant of the self-righteous Pharisee in the Lord’s parable (Lk. 18:9-14). Prayer moments are founts of grace not only for pray-ers but for others as well.
My point is simple. Just keep praying. Follow your inner leading to pray, to stop by a church or a chapel, to kneel and make the Sign of the Cross because every time we pray, our prayer is already answered by God. Not only for us but for others too.
Photo by author, Our Lady of Fatima University, 13 September 2023.
The other day I shared with you how my mother had taught us how to pray. Today I share with you an aspect of prayer I have learned from my father who witnessed to us the essence and beauty of praying.
As far as I can remember in my early childhood days until I have become a priest, my immediate, unforgettable image of my dad is being a man of prayer, a man at prayer.
Every morning before he would go to office, I have seen him praying in front of our altar of Christ the King and Sacred Heart. It was a ritual I have come to unconsciously imitate that would start with the lighting of candles before the sacred images, after which he would genuflect making the Sign of the Cross in deep silence and as he rose after a few moments of pause, that is when he pulls out his Rosary. That’s every morning before leaving for work he had continued until his retirement.
When he comes home in the afternoon, his ritual began with washing himself to change clothes before going to the altar with the usual lighting of candles, silent genuflection while making the Sign of the Cross. He would leave the candles burning to go down and join us kids in front of the grotto to pray the Angelus at 6pm while listening to Radio Veritas.
On weekends, he did the same routine in the afternoon. Daddy spent Saturdays and Sundays doing his two favorite things, cooking in the morning and reading in the afternoon. Oh, he read everything from old newspapers and magazines to his many book collections and finally in the afternoon, his two staple reading companions – that big, red Holy Bible and that little green book called “My Spiritual Diary” by the Daughters of St. Paul which I could not remember where I have kept.
My mom and dad always together, our first teachers about God and prayer.
When people ask me how my vocation started, I tell them my parents never encouraged me to become a priest. In fact both were surprised when I sought their permission to enter the seminary after grade six. But, I believe it was my father who unconsciously planted the seeds of my priestly vocation when I would always see him praying since childhood.
When my only brother Willy, our youngest, was born prematurely at eight months in December 15, 1973, dad gathered us three siblings in our sala downstairs near his big escritorio to inform us of his condition, of how he was very sick inside the incubator and would have to stay longer in the hospital for treatment while my mom might come home before Christmas. Then he told us almost in whisper as his voice would crack that we pray hard for Willy and mommy. We did not understand then what he meant to pray hard. All I remembered was how that night I saw him in bed alone as my mother was still in GSIS Hospital (now East Avenue Medical Center), staring at the ceiling as he held his rosary on his chest. Decades later when I was back in the seminary, he told me that was the only time he really learned to pray hard when Willy was born prematurely. I never understood dad’s words of “praying hard” except that like him, I have tried to pray always.
Photo by author, Jerusalem, May 2019.
I have no claims to holiness for I am a sinner. And that is why I always pray even if at times I doubt my prayers or if God listens at all to me! But God never fails to console me at times when people tell me how they have learned to pray after seeing me prayed.
Parishioners notice us priests when we pray or not. Both here and abroad, I have heard lay people saying how they love seeing us priests pray because they are touched. Imagine that simple act of praying as a form of witnessing to Christ. What is wonderful is that parishioners learn to pray more for their priests when they see them praying which leads to more grace and blessings for everyone from God!
Of course, we pray not to be seen but prayer is our life as priests and lay alike. We are all blessed when we pray. Period. No one can judge if we are praying right except God. What matters is we keep praying. Hence, give us your priests those sacred space and sacred moments to pray most of all! Don’t invite us out at night anymore.
Though Jesus had instructed us that “when you pray, go into your inner room to pray in secret” (Mt.6:6ff), he does not tell us not to pray in public. What is essential in prayer is being true and humble before God, of going inside our selves – our inner room in secret – like in Christ’s parable of the proud Pharisee and sinful tax collector at the temple (Lk. 18:9-14).
Prayer is being one with God. We call it communion. It happens most truly when we pray and others see us that they too are moved to be one with God. And that is when communion starts to happen, when we truly follow Jesus as his disciples by praying together.
Photo by Mr. Red Santiago, January 2020.
He summoned the crowd with his disciples and said to them, “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross and follow me. Whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this faithless and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.”
Mark 8:34, 38
For us to be truly the Church, the Body of Christ, we have to be a community of disciples at prayer. Together. In Christ, with Christ, through Christ. Amen. Have a blessed and prayerful remaining half of the week!
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Wednesday in the Seventeenth Week of Ordinary Time, Year I, 02 August 2023
Exodus 34:29-35 >><)))*> + >><)))*> + >><)))*> Matthew 13:44-46
Photo by Mr. Jim Marpa, 2019.
God our loving Father,
let our face reflect your
glory and majesty,
your love and mercy
like Moses as described
in our first reading today.
How lovely
and awesome too
that after meeting
with you face to face,
the skin of Moses'
face was radiant
that they were afraid
to approach him;
very clearly
you have left traces
of you on his face
whereas we on the other
hand, despite our
coming to you,
listening to your word,
and receiving your Son
Jesus in the Eucharist,
our face remain the same?
More sad is how
we could not find
or refuse to recognize
your face on everyone's face
especially those nearest
to us like family and friends;
despite our
coming to you,
listening to your word,
and receiving your Son
Jesus in the Eucharist,
our face could not reflect
the joy of finding you, Lord,
like a hidden treasure
buried in the field or
a fine pearl finally
found by a merchant.
God our Father,
let us face squarely
our problem with our
face; it is not merely
the skin nor its lines
nor its glow that
creams and cosmetics
may hide for sometime;
like you and Moses
meeting face-to-face
in your tent,
may we realize
whatever is found
in our face is a reflection
of what is truly inside
our hearts,
when there is union
of life and love
that happens
in our union in you
through Jesus Christ.
Amen.
lordmychef.com 