The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Thursday, Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, 14 September 2023 Numbers 21:4-9 ><}}}}*> Philippians 2:6-11 ><}}}}*> John 3:13-17
With their patience worn out by the journey, the people complained against God and Moses…
Numbers 21:4
Forgive us, God our Father, for always complaining even challenging you when things get difficult and rough for us in life; forgive us, merciful Father when our patience is worn out by life's journey that we forget all your good works, not seeing the long distances we have covered, the rivers we have crossed, and mountains and hills we have overcome with you, through you, in you.
Brothers and sisters: Christ Jesus, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God something to be grasped. Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness; and found human in appearance, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross.
Philippians 2:6-8
Empty our hearts of our pride, Lord Jesus Christ and fill us with your humility, justice, and love; make us realize Jesus that it is in being empty and detached when we are truly free and hence, more faithful and loving without any encumbersome or excess baggages that bog us down in moving on in life.
For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that anyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.
John 3:16
Let me love like you, dear God: a love that seeks relationships and connections not isolation nor self-sufficiency; let me love like Jesus, a love rooted in the Father, a love that is more than a feeling but a decision, a choice made daily, affirmed in actions of fidelity and kindness, obedience and trust; let me love like you, O God: a love that gives life, other-centered, veritable/truthful, and enduring. Let me love my Cross, Jesus, to let me lose everything in you and for you in order to gain life and you. Amen.