Lawiswis ng Salita ni P. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Ika-29 ng Oktubre 2019
Tula na aking hinalaw sa “The Portal of the Mystery of Hope” ng makatang Pranses na si Charles Peguy (pe-gi). Bagamat hindi siya debotong Katoliko, nang maglaon malaki ang naging impluwensiya sa kanya ng Katolisismo hanggang sa siya ay mamatay noong 1914 sa Villeroy, France.
Sa tatlong pangunahing birtud nating taglay mula sa Kanyang mapagpalang kamay sinabi ng Diyos: "Pag-Asa ang aking pinaka-paborito" sapagkat ito lamang aniya ang "nakasosorpresa" sa kanya.
Paliwanag ng Diyos, hindi siya nasosorpresa sa Pananampalataya dahil sa kanyang kaningningang taglay aba'y bulag at manhid lamang ang sa Kanya'y hindi magkamalay!
Hindi rin Siya aniya nasosorpresa sa Pag-ibig sapagkat maliban na lamang kung sing-tigas ng bato ang puso ng tao at hindi pa sila magmamahalan sila na aniya pinaka-aba at kaawa-awa sa lahat ng kanyang nilalang.
Ngunit itong Pag-Asa ay kakaiba Diyos ay laging nasosorpresa dito nakikita kapangyarihan ng kanyang grasya para mga tao ay umasa pa kahit wala nang nakikita!
Alalahanin sulat ni Apostol San Pablo sa mga taga-Roma: "ang pag-asa ay hindi pag-asa kapag nakikita na ang inaasahan. Sapagkat sino ang aasa sa nakikita na?"
Kakaiba sa pagiging positibo ang Pag-Asa dahil nakabatay ito sa mga nakikitang palatandaan o mga senyales upang mahulaan at matanawan tinatantiyang kalalabasan ng isang inaasam.
Optimistic ang tao na umaasa gaganda panahon o iigi sitwasyon batay sa mga indikasyon na kanyang nakikita; ngunit ang taong umaasa batid niya mas lalala pa mga bagay at sitwasyon, mas malamang hindi na iigi pa.
Ito ang kaibahan at kaibayuhan nitong Pag-Asa na kahit talo na at wala nang nakikita kumpiyansa sa Diyos ay di nawawala.
Sa ating panahon ng social media kung saan ang lahat ay nakikita at ipinakikita, kitang-kita pa rin ang katotohanang mga dakilang bagay sa buhay ay mula sa mga hindi nakikita.
Iyan ang nakasosorpresa sa Pag-Asa, kahit wala ka nang nakikita kitang-kita Kita pa rin Panginoon namin kaya aking hiling ako'y lagi mong sorpresahin!
But hope, says God, that is something that surprises me…
And my grace must indeed be an incredible force.
Charles Peguy, “The Portal of the Mystery of Hope”
Whenever I come across the word “hope”, O Lord, I always remember this lovely poem by your faithful writer Charles Peguy (1873-1914) of France.
And I agree with Peguy, hope is your favorite virtue because it always surprises you and everybody else!
Again Jesus said, “To what shall I compare the kingdom of God? It is like the yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of wheat flour until the whole batch of dough is leavened.”
Luke 13:20-21
Hope surprises us, Lord, because it is often so small, almost negligible for some.
And that is how you work, how your wonders perform, Lord.
Hope is not positive thinking because hope is still believing in you even if things do not get any better at all. In fact, things can get worst and that is when hope surprises us!
St. Paul said it so well.
For in hope we were saved. Now hope that sees for itself is not hope. For who hopes for what one sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait with endurance.
Romans 8:24-25
In positive thinking, we hold on to at least something tangible, something we can see and feel clearly like the weather or the stock market.
But in hope, we only have you, Lord, whom we cannot see but can simply feel, believe and rely on that we hope would always remain and be still with us til the end.
In this world when size always matters, when everything has to be bigger and biggest, what remains true is the fact that no matter how big or great is anything, it surely came from a minute, little something.
Like the yeast that has become a wonderful bread or any baker’s creation.
Nobody had seen how it would turn out except that hope in one’s heart and mind that teases us with something big and wonderful and surprising.
Please surprise us today, Lord and let us live differently in you! Amen.
Last Wednesday evening I visited to anoint with oil one of your beloved poor patients in the government hospital. She died eventually two days after.
But what remained etched in my memory was the sight of some children crying in pain at the emergency room.
I have always wondered how difficult it must be for children to be sick when they cannot speak of what they feel that they simply cry and hold on to their mother and maybe trust her and the doctors attending.
“Whoever receives one child such as this in my name, receives me; and whoever receives me, receives not me but the One who sent me” (Mk.9:37).
Give me O Lord that same grace of children to suffer and bear all pains.
Teach me O Lord “to trust God and wait for His mercy, hope in Him and love in Him so my heart may be enlightened” (Sir.2:6-9).Amen.
Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Parokya ng San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Gov. F. Halili Ave., Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria, Bulacan.
Neptune, Uranus, and Pluto visible to the naked eye at dawn for those willing to go through the darkness of the night. Photo by GMA-7’s Mr. Raffy Tima at Sampaloc Cove in Subic, Zambales, 20 January 2019. Used with permission.
The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul
Monday, 04 February 2019, Week IV, Year I
Hebrews 11:32-40///Mark 5:1-20
Thank you very much Lord God Almighty for this beautiful Monday. So often, we get the blues on Mondays and yet even if our days get bluer, even darker than ever, there is always that glimmer of hope that you give us, O Lord.
Like the author of the Letter to the Hebrews today, we recall not only the heroes of Old Testament but our very own trying moments too when we chose to bear all the pain and hurts and sufferings because we believe in you, we trust in you.
Thank you very much O Lord God Almighty in sending us your son Jesus Christ at the nick of time when everything is out of control, when everything seemed to be dead… as if there is no more way out because it is all over as it seemed to be. It is something very close with that scene at the Gerasenes where “a man had been dwelling among the tombs, and no one could restrain him any longer, even with a chain. In fact, he had frequently been bound with shackles and chains, but the chains had been pulled apart by him and the shackles smashed, and no one was strong enough to subdue him. Night and day among the tombs and on the hillsides he was always crying out and bruising himself with stones” (Mk.5:3- 5).
O Lord, you know how many times we have gone through such situations when we felt a no way out, imprisoned and possessed by sin and evil, sickness and disease, so many problems and difficult situations when all we can do is hide in tombs and cry at night!
Teach us today to always wait for that flicker of hope in Christ our light of salvation. Most of all, teach us to value life over sickness and death, persons over possessions, and above everything else, Jesus Christ our Lord and God. Amen.Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Parokya ng San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Gov. F. Halili Ave., Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria, Bulacan.
Friday, 02 November 2018, Commemoration of All Souls
2 Maccabees 12:43-46//Romans 5:5-11//John 6:37-40
On this second day of November, O God, before praying for the souls of our dearly departed ones, let me praise and thank you for the gift of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI whose reflections on hope led us to the beauty of eternal life with you. For my prayer today, I have borrowed his reflection and teaching on Purgatory found in “Spe Salvi” (47-48):
Lord Jesus Christ, you are the fire which burns and saves us as our Judge and Savior. In the Purgatory, it is still that encounter with your love that our faithful departed are purified so they may enter heaven.
You have showed us how our lives are involved with one another, linked together through innumerable interactions. You have taught us and shown us while here on earth that no one lives alone, no one sins alone, and no one is saved alone. Indeed, no man is an island.
The lives of other people continually spill over mine, in what I think, say, do, and achieve. And conversely, my life spills over into that of others, for better and for worse.
Let me continue, O Lord, to pray for the poor souls in Purgatory even if my prayer can only play a small part in their purification. Let my prayer express my interconnectedness with God our Father and with one another, here on earth and in the hereafter. It is never too late to touch the heart of another, nor is it in vain. Let me continue praying for the departed, O Lord, like Judas had instructed his army in the second book of Maccabees for our hope is essentially also a hope for others too.
Remind me always that I shall never limit myself to asking how I shall be saved but also what can I do that others may be saved too so that in praying for all the souls in Purgatory, then I have done my utmost for my own personal salvation as well. AMEN. Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Parokya ng San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Gov. F. Halili Ave., Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria, Bulacan 3022. *All images from Google.
“No loss can be mourned without some intuition that we will find new life… That’s how we generally approach the Eucharist. With a strange mixture of despair and hope. As we listen carefully to the deeper voices in our heart we realize that beneath our skepticism and cynicism there is a yearning for love, unity and communion that doesn’t go away even when there remain so many arguments to dismiss it as sentimental childhood memories.”
Henri Nouwen, “With Burning Hearts”, pp. 39-41.
Photo by Fr. Nick F. Lalog II, Chapel of St. Jerome, Bethlehem, 18 April 2017.
lordmychef.com 