Faith of Jesus, faith we imitate

Lord My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle C, 17 August 2025
Jeremiah 38:4-6, 8-10 ><}}}*> Hebrews 12:1-4 ><}}}*> Luke 12:49-53

Photo by author, *Archdiocesan Shrine of Nuestra Señora De Guia, Ermita, Manila, 28 November 2024.*

We Christians believe in and trust in Jesus but seldom think of him as a man of faith because very often our concept of faith is always in terms of creeds and beliefs.

As we have reflected last Sunday in the second reading from the Letter to the Hebrews, faith is more than of the mind; faith is more of the heart, of the relationship one has with God or with whomever one believes in. Hence, “Faith is the realization of what is hoped for and evidence of things not seen” (Heb.11:1).

This Sunday we start anew our reflections from the second reading, the letter to the Hebrews that supports today’s gospel where Jesus is asking us to have more faith in him because following him can lead to distressing situations and painful, or even tragic choices. In identifying Jesus as “the leader and perfecter of faith”, Hebrews insisted on the human side of Jesus we rarely consider – that he was sustained by faith, who trusted God in vindicating him as he died on the Cross.

Brothers and sisters: Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us rid ourselves of every burden and sin that clings to us and persevere in running the race that lies before us while keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, the leader and perfecter of faith… Consider how he endured such opposition from sinners, in order that you may not grow weary and lose heart. In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood (Hebrews 12:1-2, 3-4).

*Photo by author, Malagos Garden Resort, Davao City, August 2018.*

Every time I face difficulties and trials in life, I always think of my mom and dad, my “cloud of witnesses” of faith like those mentioned in Hebrews who have attained faith’s goal in the Old Testament.

Usually, I would ask my departed parents for prayers, asking them for guidance on how to deal with difficult situations I am facing. It is therapeutic for me because after that, my memory would waft into those days and nights I used to listen to mom and dad tell their many struggles and hardships they both endured early in life like dropping out from school in order to find work early and eventually why they married late.

“Mahirap ang buhay noon, anak” they would always tell me, followed by a litany of not having enough money for food, clothes and shoes and various forms of leisure and comforts we take for granted these days. After that short trip in memory lane with my parents, I feel better, inspired and energized knowing that I have poor souls praying for me.

Think of those people like family, friends, and mentors who have been part of this “cloud of witnesses” in your life. Include your favorite saints too. And of course, Jesus Christ our Lord and God who, as perfecter of faith shocks us with his teachings this Sunday:

Jesus said to his disciples: “I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it already blazing! There is a baptism with which I must be baptized, and how great is my anguish until it is accomplished! Do you think that I have come to establish peace on the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division (Luke 12:49-51).

*Photo by author, St. Paul Spirituality Center, La Trinidad, Benguet, January 2025.*

Unlike in the fourth gospel, it is very rare in Matthew, Mark and Luke to hear Jesus speaking of himself in the first person like today when he said “I have come… I wish… I must.” These are “involved expressions” where Jesus not only reveals to us the nature of his mission but especially his determination to fulfill it as Luke had earlier noted this at the start of this long journey to Jerusalem, “When the days for his being taken up were fulfilled, he resolutely determined to journey to Jerusalem” (Lk.9:51).

Feel in these expressions the ardent desire of Jesus, the burning fire within him to transform us and the world in his coming Passion, Death and Resurrection which is the baptism he must undergo.

The fire he mentioned here is the fire of the Holy Spirit he sent on Pentecost that filled his disciples with zeal to spread the gospel and the nascent Church as well. Luke knew so well in how those tongues of fire that hovered over the disciples’ heads on Pentecost was also the same fire Jesus referred here that dissolves our old selves to convert us into his disciples filled with zeal and enthusiasm in witnessing the gospel in the world that has gone cold and dark with sin and evil.

As fire purifies metals like gold, fire leads to divisions so to speak. It is a positive division that builds and perfects, not destroys. It is the kind of fire Jesus meant here as he continued his teachings on the way to Jerusalem to prepare us for the End with a capital “E”. It is a fire that sets apart truth from falsehoods and lies and most of all, of good from evil and sin so necessary in making it to eternal life. To fully appreciate this shocking lesson of Jesus today, we need to go back to the second reading where the author of Hebrews called us to “rid ourselves of every burden and sin that clings to us and persevere in running the race that lies before us while keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, the leader and perfecter of faith” (Heb.12:1-2).

What are those burdens and sin that cling to us or we carry that make it difficult to imitate Jesus, to have faith in Jesus?

*Photo from Fatima Tribune, Red Wednesday, Chapel of the Angel of Peace, Our Lady of Fatima University, 27 November 2024.*

Very often, we are the ones who make our problems and sufferings worse with the excess baggage we keep on carrying like bitterness and resentments, self-doubts and self-rejection, and many other negative feelings that we allow to fester within us. Sometimes, we are like that man who asked Jesus to tell his brother to give his share of inheritance when we refuse to look more into our own sins, preferring to look more into other’s faults and failures. Or, maybe like Martha we are so busy and preoccupied with many other things that we not only forget God but even our very selves in the process.

Focus on Jesus alone, let him perfect our faith by purifying us with his fire of love.

Be on guard, however, that the more we follow Jesus on his path of the Cross, the more we experience “complexities” in life like Jeremiah in the first reading. He found enemies among his own people who tried to put him into death because he spoke the truth. Discipleship in Christ is being a prophet – a sign of contradiction especially in today’s world where sin and profanity are extolled while rights are exaggerated and truth and morals are relativized. There are strong temptations for us to withdraw to one’s corner, refusing to choose a side or take a stand especially when loved ones or those dear to us get involved.

This Sunday, Jesus invites us to focus on him alone, to have faith in him, to be like him. He perfects our faith in him, enabling us to choose and stand for what is true and good, fair and just. Let us pray to Jesus for more fire and warmth in our faith in him, remembering those words of the author of Hebrews that “In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood.” Amen. Have a blessed week ahead everyone!

We the Church, an image of the Holy Spirit

The Lord Is My Chef Easter Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Pentecost Sunday-B, 19 May 2024
Acts 2:1-11 ><]]]]'> Galatians 5:16-25 ><]]]]'> John 15:26-27, 16:12-15

Blessed happy birthday to everyone this Pentecost Sunday, the “birthday” or official coming out party of the Church! In the Ascension of Jesus last Sunday, we have an upward movement that was a “leveling up” in our relationships with God and one another, calling us to be light to rise.

Today’s Pentecost Sunday is opposite, a downward move that “presses” us to “spread” like in compressing a sandwich to make it wider or bigger, calling us to be small and be “dissolved” so we can be mixed or shared with others.

Sorry for sounding a recipe but that’s how we are all as the kingdom of God here on earth – the Body of Christ we His disciples make up as the Church in the power of the Holy Spirit whose very image is us.

When time for Pentecost was fulfilled, they were all in one place together. And suddenly there came from the sky a noise like a strong driving wind, and it filled the entire hose in which they were. Then there appeared to them tongues of fire, which parted and came to rest on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in different tongues, as the Spirit enabled them to proclaim.
Acts 2:1-4

Pentecost is not just an event in the past but a daily reality calling us to be “dissolved” in ourselves, to be little and small so that we can be one with others to be united in Christ through the Holy Spirit.

Being a Christian is being united, being one in Jesus; remove “Christ” in the word Christian, we are left with the letters -ian that stand for “I-am-nothing”.

That is why we as the Church is the image or icon of the Holy Spirit, the Third Person of the Blessed Trinity promised by Jesus to come after His ascension. It is the principle of unity in the Trinity because the Holy Spirit is the love that exists between the Father and the Son. This union between the Father and the Son happens also among us, the community of believers despite our diversities and differences when we allow the Holy Spirit to empower us in our daily dying to ourselves that Jesus likened to the grain of wheat that falls to the ground in order to grow and yield bountiful harvest (Jn. 12:24-26). This is the reason why St. Paul calls us to live in the Spirit in the second reading:

I say, then: live by the Spirit and you will certainly not gratify the desire of the flesh. For the flesh has desires against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; these are opposed to each other, so that you may not do what you want… Now those who belong to Christ have crucified their flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit. Let us not be conceited, provoking one another, envious of one another.
Galatians 5:16-17, 24-26

Jesus is inviting us today to go through daily Pentecost by allowing the Holy Spirit to “burn” us with its fire, to dissolve our old selves to become new in Him. It is a process of conversion, of daily dying in our flesh in order to build up His Church.

Here we go back to one of the central theme of Jesus of becoming like a child, becoming small which is true greatness because that is when we no longer live but Christ in us as St. Paul experienced. Today he tells us some of the works of our old self we must turn away from like “immorality, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, hatreds, rivalry, jealousy, outbursts of fury, acts of selfishness, dissensions, factions, occasions of envy, drinking bouts, orgies, and the like” (Gal. 5:19-21).

See how all his examples lead to disunity and divisions instead of unity that is happening today. Some people call for inclusivity but the opposite happens as we get divided so sharply that anyone who opposes them is accused of “gaslighting” or worst, end up being “cancelled”! So sad that some people are exaggerating truth when in fact they are exaggerating themselves as new standards of truth, insisting themselves and their beliefs on us.

Why change the rules of grammar or beauty pageants or genders just because they are different? Worst, they want to change even religious feasts like Santacruzan or the praying of the Our Father! Where is the unity in diversity if there is one group insisting on themselves? What happens is a repeat of the Tower of Babel, not of the Pentecost.

Losing ourselves in the Holy Spirit does not hinder our search for truth. The Holy Spirit actually leads us to the whole truth of Jesus revealed in His coming but He is too big to be grasped wholly that He continues to unfold, telling us we can only arrive at truth when we think in Him, with Him, and through Him in the Holy Spirit.

“I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now. But when he comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth. He will not speak on his own, but he will speak wht he hears, and will declare to you the things that are coming. He will glorify me, because he will take from what is mine and declare it to you. Everything that the Father has is mine; for this reason I told you that he will take from what is mine and declare it to you.”
John 16:12-15

The key here is being small, being dissolved in the Holy Spirit to see the larger whole who is Jesus Christ found in the face of every person next to us. See how we find in the first reading the reality of the Church starting out big right away as “catholic” or universal when it began on Pentecost speaking all the languages of the world, uniting the peoples as one in the power of the Holy Spirit.

*Stained glass of the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove as background of the Chair of St. Peter in the Vatican in Rome; photo from wikipedia.*

The Church never started small like a club spreading into federations to become one. We become a part of that big reality of the Church in Christ by becoming small, by being dissolved by the fire of the Holy Spirit by letting go of our selfish selves.

The Holy Spirit continues to come down to us in daily Pentecost explaining and revealing to us the truth of Jesus through the many events iand persons in our lives. When my mother was still alive, she was the only reason why I came home; but, after she had left us peacefully last week, I have realized I still have to come home for my family and relatives and friends. It is a process of dying in myself amid the pain of seeing her room empty, that she is gone.

Death, like the ascension of Jesus is not about replacing those who have left us but a Pentecost, of allowing the Spirit to come to make us smaller, to be one with those still with us to continue celebrating life. That is when we experience the “fruit of Spirit” like “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (Gal. 5:22-23). When that happens, then we have the Church as well as our own family as an image and indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Let us pray:

Lord Jesus Christ,
make us aware of
the coming of the Holy Spirit
to us in our daily Pentecost;
keep us open and humble,
dissolve our selfishness,
our pride, our "flesh"
so that we may live in
the Holy Spirit
as the Church,
its very image
here on earth.
Amen. 
Have a Spirit-filled week ahead!

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.

Guided by the Holy Spirit

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Wednesday in the Twenty-Eighth Week of Ordinary Time, 12 October 2022
Galatians 5:18-25 ><000'> + ><000'> + ><000'> Luke 11:42-46

*Photo by Dr. Mylene A. Santos, MD, 2020.*

Come, O Holy Spirit,
guide us in our daily life;
give us the courage 
to do what is good,
to follow what is true,
to practice justice,
most of all, to love
until it hurts.

So often
we are focused 
with the flesh 
with the corporeal
with the material
aspects of life that
only lead to dissension
and divisions among us
because of our pride
and selfishness
that evil thoughts form
and preoccupy our minds
that we eventually express in
our words and then in deeds.

Now the works of the flesh are obvious: immorality, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, hatreds, rivalry, jealousy, outbursts of fury, acts of selfishness, dissensions, factions, occasions of envy, drinking bouts, orgies, and the like.
Galatians 5:19-21

Be the "silent guest 
of our soul" (St. Augustine),
O Holy Spirit so we may
fulfill the law of Jesus Christ,
the law of love; 
overshadow us
with your fire and zeal,
power and wisdom,
gentleness and kindness
so we may remain with
Christ crucified
witnessing his loving
service to one another
without imposing 
heavy burdens on them
as we bring out your goodness
and presence within them.
Amen.

Diversity without the divisions

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Wednesday in the Fifth Week of Easter, 18 May 2022
Acts 15:1-6   ><}}}}*> + <*{{{{><   John 15:1-8

Lord Jesus Christ,
you are the "true vine,
we are the branches...
Let us remain in you, 
just as you remain in us"
(John 15:4).

Today I pray for diversity
without the divisions that come
along this beautiful development
among us when we learn to accept
one another amid our many
differences in color and cultures,
traditions and roots.
May we focus more on what is
common among us than on 
what differentiates us from each other.
While it is true that we have to
keep some of our traditions from
the past, make us realize the need
to always assess its centrality to
our faith in you as well as its 
meaningfulness in our practices.
Keep us open and sincere in
keeping up with the signs of the
times without losing sight of
you, dear Jesus as the very
core of our being together
as one Body, one Church.

May we emulate the Apostles
and the presbyters to enter
into a dialogue in resolving
issues of differences among us
(cf. Acts 15:6), a very fine example
of your kind of peace being given 
to us that calls for sacrifices and
dying into one's self, exactly the
meaning of being pruned like
the vine in order to bear much
fruit in you (Jn.15:2-3).
May we always focus on you,
Lord Jesus, so that we may keep
our communion intact amid our 
diversities.  Amen.

Praying for unity

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Monday, Memorial of St. Francis de Sales, Bishop & Doctor of the Church, 24 January 2022
2 Samuel 5:1-7, 10 ><))))*> + ><))))*> + ><))))*> Mark 3:22-30

*Photo by Mr. Raffy Tima of GMA-7 News, 18 January 2022.*

Bless us, dear God our Father,
with the gift of unity among us -
in the family, in the community,
in office and in school, even in the
church; how sad that with the recent
surge of COVID-19, we have forgotten
the Church's annual Week of Prayer
for Christian Unity that closes tomorrow.

Like your servant King David, 
let us always seek you, God our Father
to be the very center and foundation
of our lives; like David, may we find 
you among one another as our kin -
"our bone and our flesh" - and never 
forget to serve you like a shepherd
to his flock.

Unlike the scribes who had come from
Jerusalem to accuse Jesus of driving out
demons by the power of Beelzebul, let us
not be instruments of divisions and 
fragmentations but of peace and unity.

May we heed the teachings of St. Francis
de Sales that in whatever situations we happen 
to be, may we always aspire to the life of
perfection through the practice of devotion
in different ways proper to our calling.  Amen.

Imitating the attitude of Christ

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Tuesday, Memorial of St. Martin de Porres, Religious, 03 November 2020
Philippians 2:5-11 +++ ||| +++ Luke 14:15-24

Photo by author, Chapel of the Holy Family, Sacred Heart Center for Spirituality, Novaliches, 2018.

Brothers and sisters: Have among yourselves the same attitude that is also yours in Christ Jesus. Who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God something to be grasped.
Philippians 2:5-6

God our Father, I feel too small, even ashamed before you today as I prayed on your words through St. Paul; it is not just a very tall order but the sad part is the fact that we have all known it all along since our catechism days in school or the parish but rarely put into practice.

We admit it is the fundamental rule of Christian life, to be like Jesus Christ your Son who had come to show us the way back to you is by emptying one’s self for others, to be one with others especially in their pains and sufferings, of being the last, being the servant of all, being like a child.

Unfortunately, we always find it so difficult to learn.

Partly because we lack the very attitude of Jesus Christ we must first imitate according to St. Paul.

And that is the attitude of being small, being the least.

Exactly like St. Martin de Porres:

Such was his humility that he loved them even more than himself and considered them to be better and more righteous that he was. He did not blame others for their shortcomings. Certain that he deserved more severe punishment for his sins than others did, he would overlook their worst offenses. He was tireless in his efforts to reform the criminal, and he would sit up with the sick to bring them comfort. for the poor he would provide food, clothing and medicine.
Homily by St. Pope John XXIII at the Canonization of Saint Martin de Porres in 1962

So often, our attitude is like with those invited by the king to his great dinner: feeling great, feeling so important with themselves that they find no need to be with others that they all turned down the invitation.

Sometimes our arrogance and high regard for ourselves miserably fail us in being like Jesus; hence, we continue to be divided into factions because no one would give way for others that lead to peace and harmony.

Teach us Lord to change that attitude of greatness in us with an attitude of smallness, of leaving a space for others in our lives so we can all work together as one community of believers in you like St. Martin de Porres and all the other saints. Amen.

Healing the divisions within and among us

The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Week XXIX-A in Ordinary Time, 18 October 2020
Isaiah 45:1, 4-6 ><)))*> + <*(((>< 1 Thessalonians 1:1-5 ><)))*> + <*(((>< Matthew 22:15-21

Photo by author, the Walls of Jerusalem, May 2019.

People are lonely because they build walls instead of bridges.
“I Like You Just Because” by Albert J. Nimeth, OFM

We live in a world with so many divisions of our own making. Most of the time we are divided on the things we possess not only of things like properties and borders, inheritance, and toys but also of persons like in child custody and “trading” players in sports! So many times these divisions have caused harm and destruction among us as nations and as individuals.

Sad to say, these divisions come from within us in our hearts where we always try to divide our lives between God and our very selves, especially in the realm of religion and civic life.

The Pharisees went off and plotted how they might entrap Jesus in speech. They sent their disciples to him, with the Herodians, saying, “Tell us, then, what is your opinion: Is it lawful to pay the census tax to Caesar or not?”
Matthew 22:15-16, 17

When our possessions possess us.

Today and next Sunday, Jesus is confronted by his enemies who have increased their efforts in finding faults against him in his speech to charge him with serious cases and get rid of him; but, more than dispatching his enemies with his brilliant answers to their question, Jesus brought to the fore the real score of the great divide within us.

In our gospel scene today, we can see clearly how divided within were the enemies of Jesus like the Pharisees and Herodians who joined forces to put Jesus down despite their being poles apart in their beliefs: the former who were against the Romans taking control in Israel while the latter were members of a faction supportive of the occupying forces.

As they sought the Lord’s opinion on the perceived deep divisions many still believe to exist up to this day between “Caesar” and God, Jesus brought to the open how divided inside were his enemies after all —- just like us today when we have been possessed by our very own possessions!

Knowing their malice, Jesus said, “Why are you testing me, you hypocrites? Show me the coin that pays the census tax.” Then they handed handed him the Roman coin. He said to them, “Whose image is this and whose inscription?” They replied, “Caesar’s.” At that he said to them, “Then repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.”
Matthew 22:18-21

Jesus is not proposing a compromise in his answer but rather trying to heal the false divisions we have created inside us.

Aside from the silly alliance of the Pharisees and Herodians, Jesus bared how divided within they have always been when they gave him a coin used to pay taxes to the Caesar that has an image of the emperor and the inscription that says “son of god” – something that was clearly against the First Commandment of God that in fact, they should have not been carrying at all when in the temple area!

They have been divided inside because they have been possessed by their possessions like money. In telling them, and us today, to “repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar”, Jesus reminds us that what belongs to Caesar are inanimate objects that are external to the heart of things. When a young man asked Jesus one day to tell his brother to give him his share of inheritance, the Lord stressed that he had not come to settle our disputes about money and properties (Lk.12:13). Today, Jesus is telling us that it is our responsibility and not for him to decide for us how to settle our political and other problems.

Our undivided hearts are God’s alone.

Jesus clearly points out that what belongs to God is our whole selves, our whole hearts undivided by pride, hypocrisy, and selfishness. While we must give back to Caesar what is due them as further taught by St. Paul and St. Peter in their letters to the early Christians, Jesus directly tells us that our duties to God bind all, everywhere and all the time.

Unlike the image of the Caesar found on coins, we are stamped with the image and likeness of God who created us out of his immense love. It is our duty and moral obligation to always ensure that this image of God in us is never destroyed and always upheld.

Here falls the sensitive – and false issue of “separation of Church and state” in our time like the payment of Roman tax raised by the Pharisees and Herodians. Nowhere does the concept forbid us priests nor the Church as an institution not to speak out when the very image of God is destroyed among men and women with injustice, violence and abject poverty.

What the separation of Church and state forbids is the support and endorsement of a state religion; in a sense, it promotes more harmony and unity among government and religions in their exercise of their true freedom among peoples.

Even God himself works within our own settings in this world to fulfill his plans for us. Trust him because everything works best for those who have believe wholly in God.

In the first reading from the prophet Isaiah we find the most amusing bit of history of how God had used a pagan ruler, Cyrus the king of Persia or Iran today to become his anointed savior or messiah of Israel then in their Babylonian exile. Imagine how God used an outsider, an unbeliever to free his chosen people from one of their darkest moments in history to show us that God is the master of history because everything is his.

May we heed St. Paul’s words to the Thessalonians and to us today to never doubt it was God in Jesus Christ who called us out of darkness and sin to be his new chosen people. Everything in our lives specially in our ministries and apostolate are the initiatives of God – may our hearts be undivided in giving him back everything through Jesus Christ, our life and meaning. Amen.

A blessed new week to you!

Photo by the author, view of the hills from Jerusalem temple, May 2019.

A Prayer To Make Our Joy Complete

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe-Prayer

Monday, 05 November 2018, Week XXXI, Year II

Philippians 2:1-4//Luke 14:12-14

Heavenly Father, today I join St. Paul in the first reading in praying that our joy may be complete “by being of the same mind, with the same love, united in heart, thinking one thing.” Help me to “do nothing out of selfishness or vainglory; rather, humbly regard others as more important than me, as I look out not for my own interests but also for others.” (Phil. 2:2-4)

Most of the time, we cannot share with the “complete joy” your Son Jesus Christ promised us when He said He is the true vine and we are His branches (Jn. 15:11) because we keep on separating from Him. Worst of all, like in His parable today, we have created divisions among us when we chose to associate only with those who look like us, think like us, expecting like us for rewards, of being repaid for any good things we do unto them (Lk. 14:12).

Let me be the one to make that first move of completing our joy, and your joy too, O God, by reaching out in love to those in the margins like the poor and suffering, the sick and the dying, and those we see as different from us in so many other things whom we take for granted.

Let me bring joy to even just one of them, to let them feel we are one, hoping they can have a brighter Monday today. If I can brighten just one person today, then both of us would be completely joyful! The more joys are completed among persons, the world becomes brighter. And that is when our joy, your joy become truly complete for that is when we live as one in Jesus Christ. AMEN. Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Parokya ng San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Gov. F. Halili Ave., Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria, Bulacan 3022.

*Photo by Dra. Mai B. Dela Pena, Tokyo, Japan 2018. Used with permission.