The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Simbang Gabi-9 Homily, 24 December 2024
2 Samuel 7:1-5, 8-12, 14, 16     <*((((><  +  ><))))*>     Luke 1:67-79

Finally! This may be the word and expression today, the 24^th of December. Finally, a lot of you would be bragging about having completed the nine-day novena to Christmas. Finally, it would be Christmas day. And finally, we could sleep longer.

But then, finally what?

When Zechariah’s tongue was loosened after naming his son John in fulfillment of the angel’s instruction to him, it was not the word “finally” that came from his mouth but “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel!”(Lk.1:68). After being mute for nine months, Zechariah’s silence became praise with gratitude and wonder giving him the voice to speak again.

Zechariah his father, filled with the Holy Spirit, prophesied, saying: “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, for he has come to his people and set them free. He has raised up for us a mighty Savior, born of the house of his servant David. Through his prophets he promised of old that he would save us from our enemies, from the hand of all who hate us, He promised to show mercy to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant. This was the oath he swore to our father Abraham: to set us free from the hand of enemies, free to worship him without fear (Luke 1:67-74).

We have reflected last Thursday that Advent and Christmas is a journey that begin in the church, in the celebration of the Mass as Luke opened his Christmas story with the annunciation of John’s birth to Zechariah during their Yom Kippur at the Jerusalem Temple.

Luke’s artistry and mastery in weaving stories brought us right into every scene leading into Christmas – from Jerusalem to Nazareth then to the hill country of Judah in the home of Zechariah until John’s birth where our scene remains today. Tonight and tomorrow, he will be leading us along with Matthew and John to Bethlehem for the birth of the Lord.

But this journeys Luke recounted to us were not only about places but most of all an inner journey into our hearts. As we all know, the destination does not really matter but the journey, the trip. It is most true with our Simbang Gabi too – it is not about completing the nine-day novena that matters most but what have we become!

After tonight and tomorrow’s Masses, our churches would be empty again, only to be filled up on Ash Wednesday, and then Palm Sunday and Holy Thursday. How tragic that on Easter which is “the Mother of all feasts in the Church”, people are miserably absent because they are out in the beach and resort enjoying summer. In fact, more people come to Christmas (Pasko ng Pagsilang) than with Easter (Pasko ng Pagkabuhay) when it is actually the very foundation of our faith.

So, what have we become after these nine days of waking up early or staying up late at night, praying, listening and reflecting on the word of God, sharing our material blessings in the collections and gift-giving if we stop going to Mass the whole coming new year?

American Trappist monk Thomas Merton wrote that seeking God is not like searching for a “thing” or a lost object because God is more than an intellectual pursuit or a contemplative illumination of the mind. Merton explained that God reveals Himself to us in our hearts through our communion and fellowships in the Church. 

We come to church to celebrate the Mass and pray with the whole community to express our communion with one another in Jesus Christ. It is in this communal aspect of prayer we become holy, when we are transformed and as Zechariah prophesied, we are “set free” by Jesus Christ who is the main focus of his Benedictus.

Who are those enemies Zechariah mentioned twice in his Benedictus? Who are those enemies we have to be set free for God and free to love?

Again, look at this minute detail Luke used in composing Zechariah’s Benedictus when he spoke twice of the word “enemies”: first of “saving us from our enemies, from the hand of all who hate us” (Lk.1:71) and then, the fulfillment of God’s promise to Abraham “to set us free from the hand of enemies, free to worship him without fear” (Lk.1:74).

Surely, those “enemies” were not just the Romans and other pagans around Israel at that time nor the Pharisees and scribes, the priests and Sadducees of the temple who had hands in Christ’s death for they are now gone. The gospel accounts were written in the past but remain true and relevant at all time in history, especially now more than ever in our own time.

Are we the “enemies” within who think only of our selves even in our religious and spirituality, manipulating God, controlling God?

A friend asked me last week if their priest was right in saying that the Simbang Gabi is the most effective means to obtain special favors from God. I emphatically told her “no”, adding that their priest’s claim is misleading. We cannot dictate God. God blesses everyone, including sinners who do not even go to Mass. We do not need to multiply our prayers as Jesus warned us because God know’s very well our needs before we pray. Then, why pray at all?

We pray and most especially celebrate the Mass especially on Sundays to know what God wants from us because we love God. Period. And that love for God must flow in our loving service and kindness with others. If gaining favors is the main reason we go to Mass or even pray, then, we are the “enemies” who prevent ourselves to freely worship God!

Mr. Paterno Esmaquel of Rappler rightly said it in his Sunday column:

“We are a society obsessed with achievement and success, command and control… Even we who try to complete the Simbang Gabi can plead guilty. During the Simbang Gabi, for example, we are tempted to focus on achieving all the nine days and succeeding for another year. By fulfilling this tradition, we can then ask God (or “command” God, like a genie) to grant our wishes. We can therefore wield greater control over life that is otherwise unpredictable (https://www.rappler.com/voices/thought-leaders/the-wide-shot-missed-simbang-gabi-found-christmas-grace/).

And who are feeding all these misleading and erroneous thoughts on the people? We your priests and bishops!

How sad as we have mentioned last week when many priests have totally lost any sense at all of the sacred in the celebration of the Mass. Some of them not only come unprepared for the celebration without any homily, even so untidy and shabbily dressed and worst of all, make fun of almost everything and everyone that the Mass has become a cheap variety show. Online Masses continue not for evangelization for “shameful profits” in the Sacrament through “likes” and “followers” that some priests are now more concerned in finding ways to be trending and viral instead of how to effectively evangelize the people with our good liturgical celebrations flowing into our witnessing of life.

Yes, we priests and bishops are the enemies right here in the church when we align more with the rich and powerful, when we have no qualms asking/receiving gifts and favors from politicians and still, would want to collect more money and donations from people with our endless envelops that have totally alienated the poor from the church. The poor are the ones who suffer most, paying for the corruption of the politicians who help the clergy in their projects for the poor. Poor Jesus Christ!

Perhaps, on this last day of our novena to Christmas, let us all force ourselves – especially us priests and bishops – to go into silence to identify, to weed out those enemies within and outside us that prevent us from welcoming Jesus Christ in our hearts.

Let us pray to God that He may set us free from these enemies within us, around us so we can be like John the Baptist who will “go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give his people knowledge of salvation.” Amen. See you tonight or tomorrow, Christmas in the Holy Mass!