Tag: false hopes

God in our decadent period

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Wednesday in the Twelfth Week of Ordinary Time, Year II, 26 June 2024
2 Kings 22:8-1`3, 23:1-3     <*((((><< + >><))))*>     Matthew 7:15-20
Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, 20 March 2024.
Keep us faithful to You,
God our Father;
keep us searching for You
especially in the Sacred Scriptures
to learn and listen to your words
that are ever-present and true
and relevant.

The high priest Hilkiah informed the scribe Shaphan, “I have found the book of the law in the temple of the Lord.” Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, who read it. The scribe Shaphan also informed the king that the priest Hilkiah had given him a book, and then read it aloud to the king. When the king had heard the contents of the book of the law, he tore his garments and issued this command… “Go, consult the Lord for me, for the people, for all Judah, about the stipulation of this book that has been found, for the anger of the Lord has been set furiously ablaze against us, because our fathers did not obey the stipulations of this book, nor fulfill our written obligations” (2 Kings 22:8, 10-12, 13).

Your words,
Your will,
Your laws are
always among us
especially in Jesus Christ,
the Word who became flesh
and dwelt among us;
but, how sad especially
in this decadent period
and age despite our many 
advances in science and technology,
we have morally retrogressed
as many people who are also believers
in You choose to believe the
false prophets in our midst -
influencers in the social media 
who peddle lies, massaging the minds 
of many people too lazy to think
and pray, preferring to follow the
many vogues and trends that
lead nowhere but destruction;
there are also the modern gnostics
claiming to be progressive 
and liberal in their thinking
espousing themselves as more
fair and inclusive but actually 
followers of dictatorship of 
relativism who allow everything
in the name of inclusivity 
without responsibility.
Teach us, O Lord Jesus,
in the way of your decrees;
most of all, 
let us look hard on
the fruits of every prophet
who promise to lead us
to fulfillment and truth.
Amen.

Value of hiddenness

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Monday, Week XVIII, Year II in Ordinary Time, 03 August 2020
Jeremiah 28:1-17 >>><)))*> >><)))*> ><)))*> Matthew 14:22-36
Photo by Mr. Raffy Tima of GMA-7 News before a storm in Batanes, 2018.

God our Father, we come to you again fervently asking for your guidance and protection as the threats of COVID-19 infections are getting closer to home. More and more are getting sick and we could feel them so strongly for they are no longer statistics we read and see in news but persons we know very well in our home and community.

Thank you very much that finally, our government leaders have listened to the calls of medical experts to go on at least two weeks of quarantine to reassess our response to the pandemic.

In this quarantine period, we pray that we learn to value again silence and hiddenness that we have taken for granted in our 24-hour world of media and noise.

So many times, we have taken for granted things that are not seen, that are invisible and hidden, that we ourselves also hide in evil and sin, convincing ourselves nobody would know or “see” it.

And so, we try deceiving others with our false claims of knowledge and competencies like Hananiah and other false prophets among us who give false hopes to people who are eventually misled from you and from one another.

To the prophet Hananiah the prophet Jeremiah said: Hear this, Hananiah! The Lord has not sent you, and you have raised false confidence in this people. For this, says the Lord, I will dispatch you from the face of the earth; this very year you shall die, because you have preached rebellion against the Lord.

Jeremiah 28:15-16

In this time of modified enhanced community quarantine again, teach us O Lord Jesus to deepen our faith in you so that we may remain focused on you alone in moments of storms when it is so difficult to recognize you, when it is easier to “see” and “believe” the powers of the unseen winds like Simon Peter in today’s gospel.

Let us befriend your holy silence and stillness again, sweet Jesus, because in you, the most significant are always the most hidden too. Amen.