Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul, 26 September 2025
Friday, Memorial of Sts. Cosmas & Damian, Martyrs
Haggai 2:1-9     ><]]]]'> + ><]]]]'> + ><]]]]'>     Luke 9:18-22

God our loving Father,
we praise and thank you
for the magnificent places
of worship we have for you,
churches so beautiful,
so wide to accommodate us
especially on Sundays
to praise and worship you;
but, dear God,
forgive us when we forget
so often that its glory 
is not in us nor because of us
but from your divine presence,
in the presence of Jesus Christ
not only in the Tabernacle
but among the people
as you have told us through
Haggai your prophet.

For thus says the Lord of hosts: One moment yet, a little while, and I will shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land. I will shake all the nations, and the treasures of all the nations will come in, and I will fill this house with with glory, says the Lord of hosts (Haggai 2:6-7).

That prophecy 
has been fulfilled in
Jesus Christ your Son,
our Savior
who now asks us daily
with his same question
to the Twelve:
"Who do the crowds
say that I am?"

Grant us the courage
and strength you gave Peter
as well as the early Christians
to acknowledge Jesus
as the Christ - 
something so 
subversive at that time,
so dangerous
as it disregarded
the earthly rulers
especially the Roman emperor;
so much have changed,
Lord in our time
when the church has become
so elaborately decorated
like our faith
but deep inside
is hollow that no wonder
we can't even profess your
being Lord just before every
meal especially in public places;
grant us the same courage
you gave the brothers 
Cosmas and Damian
who treated the sick for free
in your name,
who dared the powers
and stood firm 
in their faith in you.
Amen.

Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Our Lady of Fatima University
Valenzuela City
(lordmychef@gmail.com)