Jesus the Good Shepherd, our Gate

The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Fourth Sunday in Easter-A, Good Shepherd Sunday, 30 April 2023
Acts 2:14, 36-41 ><}}}*> 1 Peter 2:20-25 ><}}}*> John 10:1-10

*Photo by author, Baguio City, January 2018.*

Beginning this Sunday, all our gospel readings will be about the major teachings of Jesus before his arrest that led to his Passion, Death, and Resurrection. Like the Apostles, we are reviewing the Lord’s final teachings in the light of Easter to fully appreciates its meaning and significance.

First of these teachings is the Lord’s declaration, “I am the good shepherd” (Jn. 10:11).

This is very significant in the fourth gospel where we find Jesus using the phrase I AM. It was not just reminiscent of God identifying himself as I AM WHO AM to Moses in the Old Testament but most of all, for Jesus it is his self-identification as the Christ, the Son of God whom his enemies refused to accept nor recognize.

More interesting in our gospel this Sunday is how the Good Shepherd discourse of Jesus actually began with his claim as being the gate or door through whom the sheep enter and pass through.

Jesus said: “Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever does not enter a sheepfold through the gate but climbs over elsewhere is a thief and a robber. But whoever enters enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. I am the gate. Whoever enters through me will be saved, and will come in and go our and find pasture. A thief comes only to steal and slaughter and destroy; I came that they might have life and have it more abundantly.”
John 10:1-2, 9-10

*Photo from https://aleteia.org/2019/05/12/three-of-the-oldest-images-of-jesus-portrays-him-as-the-good-shepherd/.*

Jesus spoke twice “I am the gate” in vv. 7 and 9 to emphasize and clarify that flock belongs to him, never to us. That is why Jesus is the gate, the only way through whom the sheep pass through. Hence, the true mark of a good shepherd is one who passes in Jesus as the gate, the owner of the sheep. Whoever does not pass through Jesus is a thief, a robber. A fake shepherd.

Nobody else could ever replace Jesus as Shepherd of the flock but he wants us all to be shepherds like him, passing in him our gate. This we can understand when we fast-forward to his third and final appearance to the seven disciples at Lake Tiberias after Easter. After their breakfast at the lakeshore, Jesus asked Simon Peter thrice, “Do you love me?” In every question, Peter professed his love for Jesus who asked him only for one thing, “feed my sheep” until finally adding at the end, “follow me” (cf. Jn. 21: 15-19). His call to follow him came after describing to Peter how he would suffer and die for him.

To pass in Jesus as the door to the sheep is first of all to love Jesus.

We all have experienced that loving calls for nearness which Nat King Cole described perfectly in his hit “The Nearness of You”. Whenever we love somebody, we want to be always near our beloved. The same desire we must possess if we truly love God. Furthermore, being near demands that we share feelings with the one we love – his/her joy is our joy, his/her pain is our pain. No wonder when we love somebody, we are willing to suffer. That is the first true mark of our love for Christ – we are willing to suffer for him and with him on the Cross!

That is the first meaning of Jesus is the gate of the sheep as the Good Shepherd: his Cross is our path to fulfillment, to true joy in this life and to eternal life eventually. We can only have a true relationship with him through others when we are willing to share in others’ sufferings like Jesus. Because of his Passion, Death and Resurrection, Jesus has turned suffering into a grace itself and a source of grace too because to suffer with somebody else is love. Anyone who avoids suffering does not love at all and can never be a shepherd like Jesus.

The second meaning of Jesus is the gate flows from that nearness with him – it is not enough to be close but most of all, to be obedient, submitting our total self to him in the same manner he obeyed the Father as expressed in St. Paul’s beautiful hymn found in Philippians 2:6-11.

How close can we come to Jesus is the sum of our obedience to him. Or to anyone we love. It is only in being obedient can we truly follow Christ and those we love. When we love, we are not presented right away with everything that could happen in our relationship and journey in life. Love is a wholesale, a package deal always without ifs nor buts. Nobody knows to where our lives would lead to as most couples could attest. That is why, more than being close and near to Jesus or our beloved, we need to be obedient too because that is the mark of true love when we humbly submit ourselves to the one we love.

Obedience calls us to go down to our lowest level because that is the highest mark of our love too. Recall how Jesus at their last supper “loved his own in the world and he loved them to the end” (Jn.13:1) by washing their feet. See how the Son of God went so low, lower than what slaves were not supposed to do, that is, wash feet of others. Jesus showed this in no uncertain terms the following Good Friday by dying on the Cross, of literally going under earth at his burial that led to his highest glory, his Resurrection.

That is why Jesus is the Good Shepherd by first being the gate because in him, we have shared in his pasch to share in his glory. As the gate or door, we enter in Jesus by sharing in his paschal mystery of loving, suffering, and following.

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

Today we are reminded that our being the flock of Jesus, a sheep of the Good Shepherd is not our choice but a gift of God himself.

Our coming together in the church, in our celebrations and sacraments is not a mere social function out of our own volition. It is a gift and a call from Jesus. That is why it is very important to celebrate the Sunday Mass.

It is Christ himself we refuse and turn down when we skip Sunday Masses because when we love somebody, we show it by being present, being near, ready to suffer and obey to show our love.

Jesus is not asking us too much except an hour each week to immerse ourselves in his life giving words, to find him with others we meet and live with.

Peter said something still very true especially in our time, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation” (Acts 2:41) where God is totally disregarded as if we can live without him, without loving like him. Let us return to Jesus, pass in him our door to life and fulfillment by loving, suffering and following him our Good Shepherd. Amen. Have a blessed week and month of May ahead!

Jesus calling us to work for him, follow him, and suffer for him

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Friday in the Third Week of Easter, 28 April 2023
Acts 9:1-20   ><}}}}"> + ><}}}}"> + ><}}}}">   John 6:52-59

*Photo by author, Lian, Batangas, 2022.*

Thank you dear Jesus
for your wonderful words
today that remind us of your
personal call to each one of us
like St. Paul; sometimes we envy
O Lord the manner you have called
the saints to follow you but at
closer look, you have called us all
in the most personal manner,
in the most unique way 
according to our person
and situation, 
our own "Damascus".

Today's first reading is so
marvelous because we too
have experienced you personally
calling us in our name like "Saul",
who like us too, many times do not
know you nor recognize you at all;
sometimes, we are like Ananias
arguing with you, telling you what
we know as if you do not know!

Dearest Lord Jesus,
like Saul or St. Paul and
Ananias, give us the grace to
answer and respond to your calls:

First, to work for you, the Christ:
"I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.
Now get up and go into the city
and you will be told
what you must do" (Acts 9:5,6).

Second, to follow you, the Christ:
"Go, for this man is a chosen
instrument of mine to carry
my name before Gentiles, kings,
and children of Israel" (Acts 9:15).

Third, most of all, to suffer for you, O Christ:
"and I will show show him
what he will have to suffer
for my name" (Acts 9:16).

Let us keep this in our minds
and hearts, Lord Jesus:
that each day you come to meet
us in our various "Damascus",
calling us to work for you,
follow you,
and most of all,
suffer for you.

Stop us, dear Jesus,
in our many quarrels
 like the Jews at your time;
let us go with you
and suffer with you to be
a bread too for others
in sustaining their
journey with you.
Amen.

Hearing, coming

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Thursday in the Second Week of Ordinary Time, Year I, 19 January 2023
Hebrews 7:25-8:6 <'000>< + ><000'> + <'000>< + ><000'> Mark 3:7-12

*Photo by Dra. Mylene A. Santos, MD, 2022.*

Open our ears and our hearts,
God our loving Father, 
to always hear your voice,
to heed your calls in Jesus Christ
so that like the people in the gospel
we too may come to him.

Jesus withdrew toward the sea with his disciples. A large number of people followed from Galilee and from Judea. Hearing what he was doing, a large number of people came to him also from Jerusalem, from Idumea, from beyond the Jordan, and from the neighborhood of Tyre and Sidon.
Mark 3:7-8

In the fourth gospel, John
tells us how Jesus invited 
Andrew and companion to
"come and see" where he stayed;
in a beautiful manner, Mark
tells us today how people
"heard and came" to Jesus!
"Coming" to you, O Lord,
is always accompanied either
by seeing as a result of coming
or by hearing that leads to coming.

How ironic,
even ridiculous
in our time with all the earphones
and earplugs and pods stacked in
our ears listening, hearing the 
cacophony of sounds and noise
of the world and everyone peddling
lies after lies but we would not 
even bother to hear nor listen 
to the gospel and stories of Jesus Christ!
In fact, we are so busy listening
to others and the world without
ever hearing our true selves
at all!

Teach us to listen,
to hear and follow your
voice and calls, dear Jesus
for you alone is our perfect 
mediator, our perfect high priest
"who is always able to save those
who approach God through him,
since he lives forever to make 
intercessions for them" (Heb. 7:25).

Refine our listening
pleasures and abilities
that touch our very core
not just our senses,
massaging our ego;
may we have the courage
to hear and listen to what is
true and just, no matter how
painful they may be
for it is only in that way
we can be healed of our
many diseases and maladies.
Amen.

Something old, something new

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Monday in the Second Week of Ordinary Time, Year I, 16 January 2023
Hebrews 5:1-10 ><000'> + ><000'> + ><000'> Mark 2:18-22

Glory and praise to you,
O God our loving Father,
for this brand new day
to begin anew in life,
to bridge and process
our past so we may live fully
in every present moment 
as we project our future.

Beginning today,
teach us in Christ Jesus your Son
the need for us to understand fully
and put into practice his teaching
"new wine is poured into
fresh wineskins" (Mk.2;22).
Enable us to always welcome change,
to find you coming to us in new
and often unexpected situations or
things and persons;
may we learn to bridge,
in fact become a bridge like Jesus,
the old and new,
the past and the present,
God and your people:
"In the days when he was in the Flesh,
he offered prayers and supplications
with loud cries and tears to the one
who was able to save him from death,
and he was heard because of his reverence.
Son though he was, he learned obedience
from what he suffered; and when he was made
perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation
for all who obey him" (Hebrews 5:7-9).

Dear Jesus,
teach me to have new perspectives,
new outlook in life in you,
by focusing more on you,
by believing in you,
in seeking and following you,
most of all, 
in seeing everything in you
so that I may learn to accept 
things of old
like pains and sufferings,
need for trials and difficulties
so that I may grow in
strength and maturity,
love and compassion
like you.
Amen.

Prayer is emptiness

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 difficulty and beauty of intimacy

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Wednesday in the Eighteenth Week of Ordinary Time, 03 August 2022
Jeremiah 31:1-7 ><)))*> + + + <*(((>< Matthew 15:21-28

*Photo by Dr. Mylene A. Santos, MD, 2021.*

Many times I have felt you,
dear Jesus coming to me in unfamiliar
grounds and situations
like when you came to the pagan
district of Tyre and Sidon;
for what, Jesus?
To test us?
Why do you come to me
when I am weakest,
when I am sinful,
when I am in doubt,
when I am unfaithful?
Why did you go to a pagan region but
would not even pay attention to the
Canaanite woman begging for your help
to free her daughter from evil possession?

At that time Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. And behold, a Canaanite woman of that district came and called out, “Have pity on me, Lord, Son of David! My daughter is tormented by a demon.” But he did not say a word in answer to her.
Matthew 15:21-23

O dear Jesus!
Teach me to be more engaging with you,
arguing, debating, "fighting" like
in close contact karate in order to be intimate;
intimacy is more than being close with you
but also involves personal contact and
engagement with you that best happens
in unfamiliar territories
like Tyre and Sidon where we have
no one else to turn to except you,
when we have to bare to you our vulnerabilities
and weaknesses, our skin until we are stripped
naked before you like that Canaanite woman
admitting her being referred to as "dogs"
and be clothed only with your very self,
with your love and company.

That is INTIMACY,
dear Jesus!  A most beautiful status
and gift but most difficult because it is
a journey into foreign territories
requiring our complete trust and
faith in God who loves us so much.

Thus says the Lord: The people that escaped the sword have found favor in the desert. As Israel comes forward to be given his rest, the Lord appears to him from afar: with age-old love I have loved you; so I have kept my mercy toward you.
Jeremiah 31:2-3

O God, loving Father,
keep me faithful,
keep me close to you,
especially when the path
is difficult,
when the journey is
exhausting.
Amen.

Finding our directions in life

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
First Friday in Week XIII of Ordinary Time, 01 July 2022
Amos 8:4-6, 9-12 ><))))*> + ><))))*> + ><))))*> Matthew 9:9-13

*Photo by author, 14 May 2022 in Los Baños, Laguna.*

Glory and praise to you,
God our loving Father for this
brand new month of July 2022:
new beginning, new batch of 31
days filled with your wonderful 
surprises, filled with life and joy!

Grant us, dear Father,
with sense of directions in you
through Jesus Christ your Son;
like Matthew, may we have the grace
to respond to his call to follow him;
help us realize like Matthew
that life is not about having 
wealth and every thing money can buy
but finding meaning and 
directions in life in you.

Forgive us, O Lord, 
when affluence and comforts
overtake us that we forget you
and the people around us
like the people of Israel at the time
of Amos who "trampled upon the needy
and destroyed the poor of the land"
(Amos 8:4); all the sad conditions
happening then still happen today when
nobody cares at all about Sunday worship
nor with honesty in trading and work.

Yes, days are coming, says the Lord God, when I will send famine upon the land: Not a famine of bread, or thirst for water, but for hearing the word of the Lord. Then shall they wander from sea to sea and rove from north to the east in search of the word of the Lord, but they shall not find it.
Amos 8:11-12

Continue to speak to us, Lord,
for without your words,
we are lost like many of those
among us today, "wandering from sea
to sea, roving from north to the east"
searching for your words,
searching for meaning and
directions in life.
Amen.

Life directions and freedom

The Quiet Storm by Fr. Nick F. Lalog II, 10 January 2022

*Photo by author, Ubihan Island, Meycauayan, 31 December 2021.*

It is said that “life is a journey” but I have found through the years that as a journey, life is more of a direction than a destination. It is always easy to plot our life destination but upon reaching them, what do we do next?

If life is a journey that is more on destination, all we will be doing in life is keep on thinking of new places to visit and new goals to achieve until we ran out of destinations and we have nowhere else to go!

That is why life is more of a direction.

It does not mean we stop making plans or setting goals to reach; we just learn to be more open with the directions life is leading us into.

So often it can happen that while pursuing a goal or reaching a destination, we find many things and meet persons along the way who make us change directions in life for something better we never knew existed before.

Sometimes we discover while at the middle of a journey the many directions we have been seeing or noticing earlier that suddenly later make sense, opening new routes for us to take to something more fulfilling or clearer and better.

As we become open for directions in life, the more we become free to be our true selves, free to pursue what is best than be fixated and even held hostage by a previous goal or destination we have set before which we find no longer viable.

It is like using those travel apps Waze and Google Maps that give us the pertinent information like traffic conditions that help us choose the best routes to reach a specific destination.

However, as we travel, we find the apps taking us to longer routes or may even be misleading us because the data available are obsolete or the internet signal is unreliable. And so, we disregard the apps and try to find our way to our destination through directions provided by actual people and signages we check on the streets. Recall how the apps would continue to “speak” and even insist us to turn left or right as it is bent on reaching the destination. Travel apps are concerned merely with the place to reach, totally “unaware” of the person traveling.

That’s the problem with journeying more on destination when we forget persons that we miss the fun and adventures along the way.

When we journey more on directions, we are more concerned with persons and people that we experience fun and adventures, learning new things about peoples we meet or travel with as well as places we pass through on the way to our destination.

Sometimes, we have to scrap everything as the new directions lead us to more interesting places to visit.

In that way, we grow and mature as persons because we have become more free to be ourselves, more free to follow our inner voices within our hearts that lead us to far and exciting new places. In the process, we also discover our true friends and companions in life!

Ultimately, when we are free to follow directions than simply reach destinations, the more we also discover God – the most wonderful journey in life because ultimately he is our only destination and end.

God as a direction demands us a deepening of our faith, hope and love in him whose “invisible hands” guide us to persons and places and situations that seem to be unrelated at first but as we journey, we discover their many linkages, like tiny pieces of a mosaic creating a wonderful picture bigger than us.

God as a direction leads us to more freedom to discover life itself. That is the beauty of every new year: those twelve months of the calendar have no specific destinations but give us directions to follow by being sensitive to where God is leading us. It is totally senseless and useless to consult fortune-tellers for their fearless forecasts of what is going to happen for that will only make you “unfree” to seek and follow new directions in life. Besides, only God knows what will happen and that is why we follow his directions.

Above all, remember that the discovery of God is not the end of a journey but the beginning of a new one in him, with him, and through him. The journey never stops in Christ Jesus to God our Father in heaven. So, have life and be free to follow new directions from God this new year!

Keep traveling in Christ this 2022. Who knows, we might meet once or twice along the way. Amen.

Seeing Jesus, walking with Jesus

The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Sunday Week XXX-B in Ordinary Time, 24 October 2021
Jeremiah 31:7-9 ><]]]]'> Hebrews 5:1-6 ><]]]]'> Mark 10:46-52

*Photo by Mr. Jay Javier, Quiapo, January 2020.*

We are about to end our liturgical calendar in five Sundays from now and Jesus is fast approaching Jerusalem, his final destination in fulfilling his mission to redeem us from our sins. Along this path, we are reminded of the many blindness within us that prevent us from meeting Jesus who is passing by.

Recall how last week we reflected on the “blindness” of the brothers James and John to their ambitions, wishing to Jesus that once he becomes king, they would be seated at his right and at his left, forgetting the Lord’s teaching that he is a “suffering Messiah”, far from their expectations of a triumphant victor or liberator.

Today, we heard the story of a blind man named Bartimaeus who kept shouting, pleading to Jesus’ attention who was passing by the city of Jericho on his way to Jerusalem.

The story reminds us of the need for us to be aware of our many blindness in life, of things that keep us from seeing Jesus, others and our very selves. Here is a man very realistic, aware of his blindness, focused on his need and goal to be able to see, most specially Jesus.

As Jesus was leaving Jericho with his disciples and a sizable crowd, Bartimaeus, a blind man, the son of Timaeus, sat by the roadside begging. On hearing that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, “Jesus, Son of David, have pity on me.” And many rebuked him, telling him to be silent. But he kept calling out all the more, “Son of David, have pity on me.” Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.” So they called the blind man, saying to him, “Take courage; get up, Jesus is calling you.”
Mark 10:46-49

So often, we get blinded by even the most obvious things in life like our present condition that needs to be improved or even saved. In the Book of the Acts of the Apostles is a story of that crippled beggar at the Beautiful Gate of the temple whom Peter and John healed one afternoon after the Pentecost. According to Acts 3:1-9, when the beggar who was crippled from birth saw Peter and John approaching him, he thought they would give him alms; but much to his surprise and of everybody, Peter made him walk in the name of “Jesus Christ the Nazorean”!

Imagine how the crippled beggar so used to his condition, so comfortable to some extent that he was preoccupied to just begging for alms, forgetting or abandoning all hopes to be able to walk like most people.

There are times we really do not know what we need and want in life that we are easily distracted and defocused from having the essential things in life like seeing our true selves, those around us and even our need for God who has been loving us, showering us with his many blessings and grace we hardly notice because we are busy complaining for so much wants not important.

Here, Bartimaeus was so sure of what he wanted: to recover his sight.

And the most wonderful thing is how he completely had faith in Jesus as the only one who can restore his sight, calling him “Son of David” which is the title of the coming Messiah or Christ. He must have heard a lot about his healings and preaching, realizing Isaiah’s prophecy of how the Messiah would restore sight to the blind. Jesus himself had confirmed this at the inauguration of his ministry at Nazareth when he proclaimed that part of the Book of Isaiah in the synagogue (Lk.4:18).

That is how realistic and grounded was Bartimaeus to the realities of himself that he shouted to beg Jesus to have pity on him. His faith in Jesus was so firm that when people tried to silence him, the more he persisted and shouted aloud so Jesus would hear him!

How well do we know the many blindness we have in ourselves that we would exert such effort like Bartimaeus in asking Jesus for light, to restore our sight so we would see and know him clearly, love him dearly and follow him closely?

He threw aside his cloak, sprang up, and came to Jesus. Jesus said to him in reply, “What do you want me to do for you?” The blind man replied to him, “Master, I want to see.” Jesus told him, “Go your way; your faith has saved you.” Immediately he received his sight and followed him on the way.
Mark 10:50-52

Moreover, it is not enough to be healed of our blindness in faith; 
the truest sign of having our sights back, 
of being healed from blindness is to leave 
the roadside to follow Jesus "on the way".

*“Jesus healing the Blind Man” painted by Brian Jekel (born 1951) in 2008, oil on canvas. From http://www.Christian.Art.com*.

What a wonderful story of healing and faith, of seeing and following Jesus! “Immediately he received his sight and followed him on the way.” Today the gospel reminds us to take a critical look at ourselves to root out whatever it is that keeps us from seeing who Jesus is like self-centeredness and pride, preoccupation with fame and wealth, or our toxic relationships and painful past we could not let go.

See how Bartimaeus “threw aside his cloak, sprang up, and came to Jesus” upon being called from the roadside. That is the key to any real prayer, of encountering and meeting Jesus when we are willing to let go of whatever we have, of letting ourselves be stripped naked before God without any ifs and buts, offering him our very selves.

Moreover, it is not enough to be healed of our blindness in faith; the truest sign of having our sights back, of being healed from blindness is to leave the roadside to follow Jesus “on the way”.

Again, we hear from St. Mark using that word “way”: last month Jesus asked his disciples what were they arguing along the way and no one could answer him because they were discussing who was the greatest among them. In the healing of Bartimaeus, there is that beautiful imagery of Jesus our way, truth and life; of Jesus passing by, calling everyone to come to him, to leave the roadside and walk with him on the way to Jerusalem like Bartimaeus.

In this critical period of our history when we are celebrating the 500 years of the coming of Christianity while we are in the midst of a crucial election campaign period on the second year of a crippling pandemic, we are all called by Jesus to leave the roadside like Bartimaeus to join him on the main road, to journey with him, and most of all, to carry our cross with him.

Joining Jesus on the main road with his Cross means becoming his very presence among other people too. Discipleship is more than seeing and following Jesus – it means setting aside our false securities and “springing up” from our comfort zones in order to give ourselves to others too.

Discipleship is walking with God, walking with his people, bringing them joy and hope while in the midst of sufferings like the prophecy of Jeremiah in the first reading: “Behold, I will bring them back from the land of the north; I will gather them from the ends of the world, with the blind and the lame in their midst, the mothers and those with child; they shall return as an immense throng” (Jer.31:8).

Yes, this has been fulfilled by Jesus in his coming but the journey continues to this day with his faithful disciples who guard against all kinds of blindness within, leaving the roadside of comforts to meet and share Jesus on the dusty road of life.

Many times, Jesus is passing by the road invisible to many, unnoticed by many due to various kinds of blindness. Jesus wants us all to be with him, to join in his journey to light, to freedom, to peace and to joy. Everybody is invited to leave the roadside and hit the main road with Jesus.

Let us be open to listen to his coming, to his calls.

Most of all, let us beg him for mercy to open our eyes, to heal us from the many blindness we have so we may see and meet him, love and follow him always. Amen.

Have a blessed week ahead!

Remembering our call

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Monday, Week XXVIII, Year I in Ordinary Time, 11 October 2021
Romans 1:1-7 ><]]]]*> + ><]]]]*> + ><]]]]*> Luke 11:29-32

Praise and glory to you,
O God our loving Father
who has called us through
Jesus Christ your Son 
to be your servants.
As we begin this brand new
week of work and school, 
let us be reminded
of this great honor from you
that we have taken for granted,
even forgotten and disregarded.
May we learn from St. Paul
to take pride in this calling
to be your servant.

Paul, a slave of Christ Jesus, called to be an Apostle and set apart for the Gospel of God… among whom are you also, who are called to belong to Jesus Christ; to all the beloved of God in Rome, called to be holy. Grace and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Romans 1:1, 6-7

In Baptism, we have been called
to be your servant and apostle,
most of all called to be holy
like you, God our Father;
help us recapture the beauty
and honor of this call from you;
enable us to activate this call in us
set apart as a people for a very special
mission especially in this time of the
pandemic.
Most of all, let us remember today
your call for us to witness to Jesus Christ
and his Gospel of salvation through the
particular circumstances of our lives
lest that day of judgment catch us by
surprise immersed in sin and evil,
forgetting the sign of Jonah 
and Nineveh (Lk.11:29-32).
Amen.