Tag: heart

Refresh My Heart in Jesus

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The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe-Prayer
Thursday, 15 November 2018, 21st Anniversary of Diaconal Ordination
Philemon 7-20//Luke 17:20-25

            Alleluia!  The Lord shall reign forever!  Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob.

            Twenty-one years ago today, Lord Jesus Christ, you gifted me with six of my other classmates the Holy Order of Diaconate.  For 21 years, you have never left me Lord Jesus Christ as I continue to serve you despite my many limitations and sins.

            How wonderful O Lord that on this day as I remember my diaconal ordination, St. Paul writes Philemon about his slave – servant – Onesimus.  And how perfect is the request of St. Paul to Philemon to be my prayer too on this joyous occasion, “refresh my heart in you (v.20)”, Lord Jesus Christ.

            Refresh my heart in you Lord by letting me behold always that the Kingdom of God is among us when we serve as you willed in the washing of the apostles’ feet on Holy Thursday.

            Refresh my heart in you Lord by letting me behold always that the Kingdom of God is among us when we proclaim the gospel in words and in deeds, destroying barriers of race, gender and class among us.

             Refresh my heart in you Lord by letting me behold always that the Kingdom of God is among us when we live in harmony with one another in you Christ Jesus, letting go of our many “perceived” privileges and entitlements that betray the truth of your gospel.

            Twenty-one years ago, O Jesus our Eternal High Priest, every morning I have the same prayer before you:  “Here I am Lord, send me.  For every here and now, let me do your will.”  AMEN. Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Parokya ng San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Gov. F. Halili Ave., Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria, Bulacan 3022.

Photo above from Google, Jesus washes feet of Apostles on Holy Thursday when He asked us to serve one another like Him (see John 13:12-15).

Photo below taken last year during our annual clergy retreat in Tagaytay clockwise from center Fr. Arnel Camacho, Fr. Joshua Panganiban, me, Fr. Ed Rodriguez our class president when we were ordained, Fr. Romy Sasi and Fr. Len Hernandez.  God is so good with us.  Pray for us to “refresh our hearts in Christ”.  Salamuch.

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“You’re In My Heart” by Rod Stewart (1977)

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The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Music//Week XXII-B//02September2018
Cross My Heart

            Today’s gospel invites us to examine our hearts because as Jesus Christ told the people of His time and us today, “Nothing enters one from outside can defile that person; but the things that come out from within are what defile.  From within people, from their hearts, come evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, arrogance, folly.  All these evils come from within and they defile.” (Mk.7: 17,21-22) 

            There was only one song that I kept on hearing at the back of my mind while reflecting on the Lord’s teaching:  Rod Stewart’s “You’re In My Heart”.   I was in elementary school when this song came in 1977 that perfectly expressed my feelings with the only “crush” I had from Grade 1 to Grade 6.  Now that I am a priest and still very much in love – with Jesus Christ! – I still find this song very relevant, of how a love that is true and noble inside one’s heart could inspire anyone to change ways to become a better person!

I took all those habits of yours
That in the beginning were hard to accept
Your fashion sense, Beardsly prints
I put down to experience
The big bosomed lady with the Dutch accent
Who tried to change my point of view
Her ad lib lines were well rehearsed
But my heart cried out for you
Chorus:  You’re in my heart, you’re in my soul
You’ll be my breath should I grow old
You are my lover, you’re my best friend
You’re in my soul
My love for you is immeasurable
My respect for you immense
You’re ageless, timeless, lace and fineness
You’re beauty and elegance
You’re a rhapsody, a comedy
You’re a symphony and a play
You’re every love song ever written
But honey what do you see in me [Chorus:]
You’re an essay in glamour
Please pardon the grammar
But you’re every schoolboy’s dream
You’re Celtic, United, but baby I’ve decided
You’re the best team I’ve ever seen…

Our Restless, Foolish Hearts

Philippe de Champaigne-16-Saint Augustine (1645-1650) 62.2x78.7
The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe-Prayer
Tuesday, 28 August 2018, Memorial of St. Augustine
2Thessalonians 2:1-3,14-17///Matthew 23:23-26 

            Our dearest loving God and Father, we praise and thank you in giving us a great saint in Augustine who have experienced our same situation of searching for you and most especially in finding you.  Allow us to own his confession and prayer, “Late have I known you, O Beauty ever ancient, ever new, late have I loved you!  You were within me, but I was outside, and it was there that I searched for you.  In my unloveliness I plunged into the lovely things which you created.  You were with me, but I was not with you.  Created things kept me from you.”

             Cleanse out hearts, O Lord!  Keep us firm in our faith in you, “encourage our hearts strengthen them in every good deed and word.”(2Thess.2:17) 

            Cleanse our hearts, O Lord, to remember always the deeper meaning of our rituals and practices meant to purify us within (Mt.23:25-26) for as St. Augustine have realized, “our hearts are restless until they rest in you.”  Amen. Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Parokya ng San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Gov. F. Halili Ave., Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria,Bulacan 3022.  (Photo from Google:  A painting of St. Augustine by renowned French painter Philippe de Champaigne done between 1645-1650 now hanging at the Los Angeles County Museum in California, USA.)

Our Stony Hearts and God’s Natural Heart

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The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe-Prayer
Thursday, 23 August 2018, St. Rose of Lima
Ezekiel 36:23-28///Matthew 22:1-14
 
            Our dearest God Almighty Father, “cleanse us from all of our impurities, take away our stony hearts and fills us with your natural heart” (Ez.36:25-26) that beats with firm faith, fervent hope and unceasing charity and love.  Dress us with your “spirit that we may live in your statutes, careful to observe your decrees” (Ez.36:27-28) to make us worthy to celebrate in your wedding banquet (Mt.22:11-12).  This we ask through our Lord Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.
             Pray for us too, St. Rose of Lima, that we may keep in mind that outer beauty is nothing compared with inner beauty, always radiating the kindness and love of God in whatever we say and most especially do.  Amen.Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Parokya ng San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Gov. F. Halili Ave., Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria,Bulacan 3022
*Photo by Fr. Nick F. Lalog II, sunrise at Sonnenberg Mountain View, Davao, 11 August 2018.