Quiet Storm by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, 17 April 2023
Photo by author, 08 February 2023, Taal Vista Hotel, Tagaytay City.
We all know
that feeling happening
more often lately
a foreboding of senility?
when we go like crazy
why can't we see suddenly
some things we have
held or kept momentarily
until we sound the alarm
and call everyone
to join in the search
but still nowhere to be found.
It could be the key
or the glasses or the phone
that in exasperation
we say begone
only to make us
forlorn figures
in our own home
or tiny room
but sometimes too soon
other times would take
too long, our lost
things are suddenly found!
Is it part of the riddle of that black hole they call when missing things suddenly appear without being sought much less thought? But here is the thrill: when things even persons are missing, are we not the ones who are lost and waiting to be found?
More than the
naked shouts of eureka
is our profound joy
when missing things
even persons suddenly
appear because the truth
is, we were the ones lost
and could not be found
in our cluttered minds
and hearts shut and closed
by our fears and doubts,
anxieties and insecurities.
In this life
far wider than the world
where planes still go missing
amid modern technologies
and endless searching,
could it be that we are
missing our bearings
as beings, forgetting
God and others when we are
lost to our own beliefs or
locked in our small world
of lies and prejudice?
To find those missing
persons or things dear to us
it might help if we first lose
whatever is holding us
for the world is so wide
for anyone or anything
to just disappear
they surely must be here
awaiting for our hearts
to be clear until we hear
that sweet voice
giving us peace within.
On the evening of that first day of the week, when the doors were locked, where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be with you.” When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Friday in the Thirty-Fourth Week in Ordinary Time, 25 November 2022
Revelation 20:1-4, 11-22:2 ><]]]'> + ><]]]'> + ><]]]'> Luke 21:29-33
God our loving Father,
your words today spoken both by
John and your Son Jesus Christ
are frightening at first hearing;
but, as we dwell more on your words,
we are comforted because your promised
end of the world is the beginning
of "new heaven and new earth"
(Revelation 21:1-2);
it has started coming already
in the birth of Jesus Christ
as we join the psalmist
in proclaiming this wonderful truth,
"Here God lives among his people"
(responsorial psalm).
"My soul yearns and pines for
the courts of the Lord.
My heart and my flesh
cry out for the living God.
Even the sparrow finds a home,
and the swallow a nest in which
she puts her young ---
your altars, O Lord of hosts,
my king and my God!
Blessed they who dwell in your house!
Blessed the men whose strength
you are!"
(Psalm 84:3, 4, 5, 6)
Despite the many trials
and sufferings we have been going
through, you never ceased to
guide us to life and fulfillment
in you through Jesus Christ.
Make us aware and conscious
of your presence among our brothers
and sisters especially those in pain
and in the margins;
may our eyes,
our minds,
and our hearts
be open to your presence
in everyone we meet inasmuch
as we can read the signs of
the fig tree and other trees
(Luke 21:29-30);
may we stop for a while
in our tasks and duties
to feel each one's humanity
and personhood to find you
and experience you.
Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Friday in the Twenty-Ninth Week of Ordinary Time, Year II, 21 October 2022
Ephesians 4:1-6 ><000'> + ><000'> + ><000'> Luke 12:54-59
Photo by Mr. Jim Marpa, 2018.
Another week is closing,
another week is beginning
and still, Lord Jesus,
as you have noticed,
we still can't interpret
the present time as
your very presence
in everyone of us.
Jesus said to the crowds, “When you see a cloud rising in the west you say immediately that it is going to rain – and do it does; and when you notice that the wind is blowing from the south you say that it is going to be hot – and so it is. You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky; why do you not know how to interpret the present time? Why do you not judge for yourselves what is right?
Luke 12:54-57
St. Paul's admonition
to the Ephesians is most
timely even to us these days
when our season is in transition
but not our sensitivities to one another;
teach us to live in a manner worthy of
our calling as "Christians" - brothers and
sisters in you, dear Jesus and most of all,
your followers.
Teach us, dear Jesus,
to "bear one another through love,
striving to preserve" our unity
as one family in one loving Father above;
so many times, we can read the weather
but not people, becoming callous
and numb to one another's presence
and needs, pains and hurts;
heighten our sensitivities so
we may be more compassionate
with everyone, be more consoling
and caring, most of all, understanding
and kind by seeing God's image and
likeness in each one's face.
Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Monday in the Twenty-Eighth Week of Ordinary Time, 10 October 2022
Galatians 4:22-24, 26-27, 31-5:1 ><]]]]'> + <'[[[[>< Luke 11:29-32
Photo by Dr. Mylene A. Santos, MD, in France, March 2022.
While still more people gathered in the crowd, Jesus said to them, “This generation is an evil generation; it seeks a sign, but no sign will be given it, except the sign of Jonah.”
Luke 11:29
I could feel your words,
Lord Jesus, today:
so strong,
so direct,
so true;
yes, dear Jesus,
your words are
meant for us
today.
What an evil generation
we are in still seeking
signs from you
for even those entrusted
to witness your presence,
your love and mercy
are nowhere to be found,
seeking signs of you
and worst,
creating so many conflicting
signs of you!
We have been so stubborn
like the Galatians;
we prefer going back to
old, evil ways
as we insist on what
we believe as true,
on what we have been used to
that until now so many of us
are still trapped
and enslaved to sins
of bigotry and prejudice,
refusing to find you
among everyone
especially the sick,
the poor,
and disadvantaged.
Bless us, dear Jesus,
and set us free from
our stubbornness;
soften our hardened hearts,
open wide our constricted
minds and perceptions
to find you present
in our lives daily,
both in our joys and pains,
in our ease and struggles,
and especially
with everyone we
meet each day.
Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Thursday, Memorial of St. Bruno, Priest, 06 October 2022
Galatians 3:1-5 ><000'> + ><000'> + ><000'> Luke 11:5-13
Photo by Dr. Mylene A. Santos, MD, 10 September 2022.
Remind us,
O Lord Jesus Christ,
that "while the world changes,
the cross stands firm",
that you alone,
Jesus Christ
is our salvation
and way to perfection
as the Carthusians
had held for almost
a thousand years.
Like St. Bruno
their founder and father,
let us "seek God
assiduously
to find God promptly
and to possess God
fully."
“And I tell you, ask and you will receive; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds; and to the one who knocks the door, the door will be opened.”
Luke 11:9-10
Stop our foolishness,
our being stupid like the
Galatians as St. Paul
called them in the first reading:
prayer is not an ATM
where we go to get cash
we need nor an apps
when we can just seek,
find and have whatever
we desire and need;
PRAYER IS EMPTINESS.
Teach us Jesus
to lay ourselves bare,
to strip ourselves
naked before you;
teach us to ask for YOU,
to seek YOU,
and to enter YOU.
How foolish we
have become
that we have been
misleading people
from you because
we teach wrongly
about prayer that
is centered on us
and our needs and
desires, making God
a Santa Claus
or even a genie.
Make us persevere
in emptying ourselves
of our pride
to be filled with your
humility and love,
to be an indwelling
of the Holy Spirit
so that we become more
like you, Jesus,
fulfilled and at peace.
Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Thursday in the Twenty-Fifth Week of Ordinary Time, Year II, 22 September 2022
Ecclesiastes 1:2-11 ><]]]]'> + ><]]]]'> + ><]]]]'> Luke 9:7-9
Photo by author, sunrise at Our Lady of Fatima University in Antipolo City, August 2022.
Your words today,
O Lord our God are
"greatly perplexing"
that I feel like Herod
the tetrarch in the gospel
"trying to see" you,
Jesus (Lk.9:7-9).
So many times
I have prayed before
asking you how I
wanted to see you
because "all is vanity
in this world; nothing is new
under the sun. Even the
thing we say as new has already
existed in the ages that
preceded us" (Eccl.1:2,9-10);
and so, what else is there
for us to see in this world,
in this life but you,
dear Jesus!
But, how can we see you
truly, O Lord Jesus, so that
we may also find the meaning
of this life amid all the vanities
around us?
When a group of Greeks
came to Jerusalem and
requested to see you
just before Good Friday,
you replied through Philip
with the falling and dying
of a grain of wheat
(Jn.12:20-26) to show us
that in order to see you,
we have to learn to look
through your Cross;
that we can only see you,
Jesus, in your Passion
and Death to see your glory
in your Resurrection.
Forgive us, Lord,
when so many times
we wax our desire to see you
with novelties and sentimentalities
of the world that are simply
vanities like Herod the Tetrarch;
let us go down to our knees
before you on the Cross,
commune with you in
prayers before the Blessed
Sacrament and most especially,
live by witnessing your pasch
in a world so fascinated with
drama and effects
than with essence
that is love willing to
suffer and die like you
on the Cross.
Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Monday, Memorial of St. Dominic de Guzman, Priest, 08 August 2022
Ezekiel 1:2-5, 24-28 ><))))*> + <*((((>< Matthew 17:22-27
Photo by Ms. Jo Villafuerte in Atok, Benguet, 01 September 2019.
Once in a while,
I imagine dear God
our Father what would
it be like to have a vision
of you, to find you and
your dwelling place?
Would I have the
courage and composure
of your prophet Ezekiel?
As I looked, a storm wind came from the North, a huge cloud with flashing fire enveloped its brightness, from the midst of which (the midst of fire) something gleamed like spectrum. Within it there were figures resembling four living creatures that looked like this: Their form was human… Like the bow that appears in the clouds on a rainy day, was the splendor that surrounded him. Such was the vision of the likeness of the glory of the Lord.
Ezekiel 1:4-5, 28
You are always with us,
dear God, revealing your
truth, goodness, and beauty;
you cannot be kept in any
particular place for you are
all-powerful and in fact,
the sole legitimate power
for everything belongs to
you as implied by Jesus to Simon
in today's gospel (Mt.17:22-27).
There is no need for me to have
the apocalyptic vision of Ezekiel
to find and see your dazzling
majesty; just give me the humility
like of St. Dominic to passionately
seek you in prayers and studies,
following his footsteps in simplicity
of life and self-denial so that upon
finding your light and your truth,
I may share you in Jesus Christ
with everyone.
Amen.
St. Dominic from a detail of a fresco painted by Fra Angelico in 1441 in Convento di San Marcos in Florence, Italy; photo from commons.wikimedia.org.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Friday in the Tenth Week of Ordinary Time, 10 June 2022
1 Kings 19:9, 11-16 ><))))*> + ><))))*> + ><))))*> Matthew 5:27-32
Photo by author, Los Baños, Laguna, 14 May 2022.
I do not want to say
that we find you, God because
the truth is it is you who find us
always; that is why, I prefer saying
meeting you.
So often, you find us but we do
not meet you at all because we
look for you, always expecting you
in great things and spectacular sights
and happenings, in shows where we are
the focus not you, where we are heard
and you are disregarded.
Teach us to be patient and silent
like Elijah, awaiting for your passing
in the most simple and ordinary things
like the tiny whispering sound.
O dearest Lord, forgive us in our
many inanities of trying to meet you in
great things while we indulge in little
things we consider as harmless and
nothing at all like a simple look at women
filled with lust that reveal great tendencies of
corruption within us.
May we learn to take care of the little
things in our lives that truly matter most
when aggregated into a whole. Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Wednesday in the Sixth Week of Easter, 25 May 2022
Acts 17:15, 22-18:1 ><]]]]'> + <'[[[[>< John 16:12-15
Photo by Mr. Chester Ocampo, springtime in Japan, 2017.
God our Father,
your words today are so
loving, so caring especially
for us who feel lost or at a loss,
simply could not find our bearing
and directions in life at the moment
for so many reasons like situations
and peoples so unfavorable to us.
St. Paul in the first reading perfectly
said it, we are groping for you in the
dark, dear God. Please help us
find our way back to you in Christ!
Then Paul stood up at the Areopagus and said: “The God who made the world and all that is in it, the Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in sanctuaries made by human hands, nor is he served by human hands because he needs anything. Rather it is he who gives to everyone life and breath and everything. He made from one the whole human race to dwell on the entire surface of the earth, and fixed the ordered seasons and the boundaries of their regions, so that people might seek God, even perhaps grope for him and find him, though indeed he is not far from any one of us.”
Acts 17:15, 24-27
I know, dear God that you
are always at my side;
and I know very well that
always, we are the ones
who turn away from you,
we are the ones who get lost
and not you.
Thank you in sending us
your Son Jesus Christ who always
finds us when we are lost;
so many times in life we feel
it is us who find you, that we are
the ones searching for you
and eventually discovers you.
And we are grossly wrong.
It is you, O God in Jesus,
who finds us always.
Yes, it is true our heart is restless
until it rests on you but it is only you
who can move our hearts to desire you,
to search you, to look for you.
And we always find you because
you found us first!
Today I pray, dear Jesus,
that when life has so many lessons
to teach me and I could not bear it,
please send me quick the Holy Spirit
to enlighten my mind and my heart
to speak to me the things that are coming
while I forge on with life's many trials
until your glory is revealed. Amen.
Photo by Mr. Chester Ocampo, springtime in Japan, 2017.
The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Third Sunday in Easter-C, 01 May 2022
Acts 5:27-32, 40-41 ><]]]]'> Revelation 5:11-14 ><]]]]'> John 21:1-19
Photo by author, sunrise at the Lake of Tiberias, Israel, 2017.
This is the last Sunday in this Easter Season when we shall hear a story of the Risen Lord appearing to his disciples; starting next Sunday, our gospels will be from his Last Supper discourse that were his final instructions before his Passion, Death, and Resurrection.
This is the third appearance by Jesus to his disciples that happened at the shore of Lake Tiberias (aka, Galilee) one early morning after Simon Peter and six other disciples went fishing the night before and caught nothing. The story is quite long but very remarkable with how Jesus was recognized in the blessedness of John the beloved and in the sinfulness of Peter.
Such is the beauty and power of Easter, of Jesus breaking all barriers to come to us so we may experience his love and mercy and forgiveness. As we have reflected last week, it is not the number nor length of our Risen Lord’s appearances that matter but its inexpressible intensity demanding our intense response to him which we find today in John and Simon Peter.
Photo by author, November 2018.
“It is the Lord!”
The disciples were still at a loss three weeks after the Lord had risen. Despite his twice appearances to them, they could not yet grasp Easter’s meaning; it would still be a long way to go before they understand everything when the Holy Spirit comes on Pentecost as Jesus had promised them.
Trying to pick up the pieces of their lives, the seven disciples led by Simon Peter went fishing one night but caught nothing until Jesus appeared to them unrecognized.
When it was already dawn, Jesus was standing on the shore; but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus. Jesus said to them, “Children, have you caught anything to eat?” They answered him, “No.” So he said to them, “Cast the net over the right side of the boat and you will find something.” So they cast it, and were not able to pull it in because of the number of fish. So the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord.” When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he tucked in his garment, for he was lightly clad, and jumped into the sea.
John 21:4-7
What a beautiful story reminding us of the need to be always in the state of grace, of being in love first with Jesus to see and recognize him in the bountiful blessings he pours upon us daily!
See how it was the disciple whom Jesus loved who first recognized the Lord upon seeing the plentiful catch of fish with a wonderful interplay of catching many fish and recognizing Jesus.
Photo by author, Puerto del Sol, Bolinao, Pangasinan, 20 April 2022.
For people truly in love with Jesus, everyday is a miracle, a day of his coming, of his loving presence among us.
Being in love with Jesus is having a prayer life in him that makes us attuned with him, becoming automatic with us to find Christ present in the various events happening in our lives, whether they are good or bad as both count as blessings to anyone who truly believes in him.
John must have been so in love with Jesus, remembering so well the first time he met the Lord with his brother James and their partners Peter and brother Andrew after a similar incident when they have caught nothing the previous night and Jesus invited them to “cast their net into the deep.” It must have been a “love at first sight” for him with the Lord that they eventually left everything including their father to follow Jesus as “fishers of men” (Lk.5:1-11, Fifth Sunday Ordinary Time, 06 February 2022).
When we love, our senses and our memories are heightened of our beloved’s words and actions that we can see and feel them around us even after they are gone. When we love, we find newness in life every day with Jesus standing at the shore every dawn waiting for us to wake up and lead us to a bountiful catch of fish daily. Of course, the fish is found only in the sea or lake but for us to catch them, we need to find Jesus first.
That is why it is necessary that we begin and end each day in Jesus praying. When we love someone, we always talk and listen, always communicating in various ways with our beloved.
Problem is when we do not pray, we get preoccupied with what we do not have – of not catching anything – of looking more into the dark or murky waters of life not seeing the light in the horizon, of Jesus at the shore.
Photo by author (2017), the shore of Lake Tiberias where Jesus asked Simon Peter thrice “Do you love me?”
“Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.”
After bringing in their haul of “one hundred fifty-three large fish” to the shore for breakfast with Jesus, our story reaches its climax with Jesus asking Peter thrice, using his original name Simon with the question, “Do you love me?”.
Peter was distressed that Jesus had said to him a third time, “Do you love me?” and he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep… And when he had said this, he said to him, “Follow me.”
John 21:17, 19
Peter understood fully well (gets niya, as the young would say) why Jesus asked him thrice with “do you love me?” to signify the three occasions he denied knowing him while being arraigned by the Sanhedrin on the night of Holy Thursday.
This time, there was no denying on Peter’s part that he had truly sinned that night in denying Jesus three times! And he was distressed because he was deeply sorry, telling Jesus, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” See the humility and sincerity of Peter in responding to the Lord’s question as he admitted his guilt of denying Jesus; but at the same time, his love and faith in the Lord despite his sinfulness and weaknesses. In telling Jesus “Lord you know everything; you know that I love you”, Peter was declaring his deep conviction that Jesus knows very well all our sins but at the same time knows too as well how much we love him in all of our imperfections.
Sin is not really that bad at all, so to speak, in the sense that even in our sinfulness, Jesus comes to meet us, assuring us of his love, of his mercy and forgiveness.
Photo by author, September 2021.
Just like his first words when nailed on the Cross, “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do” (Lk.23:34), Jesus comes to us quickly in our moments of sin, inviting us to come back to him. Every time we feel that guilt after committing a sin, when we feel that shame within, that is the moment too when Jesus calls us personally like Simon, not only asking us if we love him but assuring us most of all that he loves us in spite and despite our sins.
Here we find a different interplay: the more Jesus directed Simon unto himself – do you love me?– the more Simon saw his sinfulness but at the same time experienced Christ’s forgiveness and love for him because like John the beloved, he had always loved Jesus from the start despite his many flaws and weaknesses that would later be smoothened by the Lord.
Remain in love with Jesus. This is the grace of this third Sunday in Easter. We cannot follow nor meet Jesus whether in our blessedness or sinfulness unless we love him first of all. Jesus perfectly knows human love is imperfect; only he can love us perfectly. We do not have to pretend to be perfect before him; just be our true selves, sinful yet sorrowful, to surely meet him who never leaves our side.
Dearest Lord Jesus,
open my heart to love you more
so that my eyes may always see you
in life's many blessings and trials
that come my way daily;
let me love you more so that
I obey God rather than men and women
who keep on demanding so many things
from me, enslaving me with their many
offers that pretend to make me perfect;
when things become difficult,
open my eyes like your Apostles
who found themselves worthy
to suffer dishonor for your sake (Acts 5:29, 31)
who alone is "worthy to receive power
and riches, wisdom and strength,
honor and glory and blessing" (Rev.5:12).
Amen.
Photo by author, Puerto del Sol, Bolinao, Pangasinan, 19 April 2022.
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