Advent Is Seeing God Among Others

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe-Prayer

Wednesday, 05 December 2018, Advent Week 1

Isaiah 25:6-10///Matthew 15:29-37

Like during the season of Lent, Lord, I have always been amazed with the antiphons and prayers of Advent. Since Monday, we have been praying after Communion for the grace to focus more about things of heaven than of earth. And the most amazing thing about it is we really do not have to look up high to see what is heavenly; we simply have to look at one another just like what you did on the mountain today in the gospel.

After receiving the heavenly food last Monday, we prayed “to love the things of heaven and to hold fast to what endures”; then at Tuesday we implored “to judge wisely of the things of earth and to hold firm to the things of heaven” while today we asked “to be cleansed of our faults and prepare us for the coming feasts” in heaven. These are all calls from you, Lord Jesus, for us to see you among our suffering brothers and sisters.

Stir our hearts, O Christ, and move them into pity like when you worried at the great crowd of people that included “the lame, the blind, the mute, and many others” (Mt.15:30) who have followed you for three days on the mountain with nothing to eat. Make us worry like you for all the sufferings of those forgotten by the society and even by their families. Use our hands to “wipe away the tears from all faces” (Is. 25:28) and let us be the heavenly food and drinks to be partaken by everyone after receiving your words and your Body and Blood in the Eucharist.

Come, Lord Jesus, this holy season of Advent, “illumine what is hidden in darkness” (Entrance antiphon) and let your light penetrate my inner self so I may truly see how far I have been from you and from others, and most especially that I may see you as you are so that in the process I may also see my real self. Renew me this season, Jesus, and let me enter your fullness of life. AMEN. Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Parokya ng San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Gov. F. Halili Ave., Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria, Bulacan 3022.

*Photo by Jim Marpa, a former colleague at the Varsitarian of UST (circa 1986). Used with permission.

LMC

Advent Is Conversion of the Heart

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe-Prayer

Tuesday, 04 December 2018, Advent Week 1

Isaiah 11:1-10///Luke 10:21-24

“Behold, the Lord will come, and all his holy ones with him; and on that day there will be great light” (from the entrance antiphon of today’s Mass).

Has this day come, Lord? It is supposed to have been fulfilled a long time ago in your birth, Lord Jesus, after Isaiah had prophesied of how a “shoot shall sprout from the stump of Jesse, and from his roots a bud shall blossom.” (Is.11:1) But it has not happened yet, remaining only a dream and a sight to behold in our imaginations when there would be peace and harmony at your coming, “when the wolf shall be a guest of the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the young lion shall browse together with a little child as their guide, the cow and the bear with their young resting as neighbors, the lion eating hay like ox, and the baby playing by the cobra’s den as he lay his hand on the adder’s lair.” (Is.11:6-8)

It is a beautiful sight, a reality we are all wishing for but has never happened despite your coming to us, Lord Jesus Christ. And we know why: because we have not truly welcomed you in our hearts like children.

Give us the grace to be filled with your Holy Spirit, that we may be childlike so that this blessed season of Advent may dispose us to conversion and single-mindedness in you alone. Fill us with your Holy Spirit so we may attend to our deepest needs and hopes like peace and justice by being more compassionate with those who are suffering like the poor and the weak. Let us bring your light in this world darkened with sin and individualism, marred by senseless wars and petty competitions and rivalries among us. Hear our prayer, Lord, that we learn “to judge wisely the things of earth and hold firm to the things of heaven” (from today’s prayer after Communion). AMEN. Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Parokya ng San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Gov. F. Halili Ave., Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria, Bulacan 3022.

*Photo by the author, altar inside our parish sacristy, 03 December 2018.

Advent Is For Discerning The Most Essential

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe-Prayer

Monday, 03 December 2018, Advent Week 1

Isaiah 2:1-5///Matthew 8:5-11

Dearest Lord Jesus: Forgive me on this first Monday of December of the first week of the Season of Advent when I joined everyone in the Christmas rush that has nothing to do with your coming at all. Forgive me in feeling it is a time of no room, a time of the end that I have to finish everything, fulfill so many tasks without finding you. Forgive me for being so obsessed with lack of time, lack of space, of having no room even for myself this Christmas.

How sad, and what a shame when I myself forget that Advent in its truest sense as a time of joyful expectation and preparation for your Second Coming is when we must dare to open up for you, when we must create and find more time, more space, and yes – a room in our hearts for you Jesus who is definitely coming again.

Like that centurion in the gospel, grant me that grace to learn and to discern what is most relevant, what is most essential for us individually and communally because with you, there is always plenty of room, plenty of space, and plenty of time for everyone who is welcomed to “climb the Lord’s mountain, to the house of the God of Jacob” (Is.2:3).

May the centurion’s words be my prayer today and always, sweet Jesus: “Lord, I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof; only say the word and my servant will be healed.” (Mt. 8:8). AMEN. Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Parokya ng San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Gov. F. Halili Ave., Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria, Bulacan 3022.

*Photo by the author of the eagle, the symbol of our Patron St. John Evangelist, known for it sharp sense of sight in seeing the details in the life of Jesus Christ. Taken yesterday first Sunday of Advent 2018.

Disturb Me Within, Lord

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe-Prayer

Friday, 30 November 2018, Feast of St. Andrew the Apostle

Romans 10:9-18///Matthew 4:18-22

Thank you very much Lord Jesus for the gift of your Apostle Andrew whose feast we celebrate today. I have always loved his attitude of always being disturbed deep within his heart and bringing it out in the open with you.

The moment he first saw you when John the Baptist proclaimed you as the “Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world,” Andrew was there, moved in his heart and asked you, “Rabbi, where are you staying?” You asked him and his companion to “come and see,” and he believed you are the Messiah! (Jn.1:35-41)

When you tested Philip in the wilderness and asked him where you could buy food to feed more than 5000 people, Andrew again felt his heart stirred within, presenting to you a boy with a boy with five loaves of bread and two pieces of fish. But, Andrew could not also contain himself in knowing their situation then that he asked you, “what good are these for so many?” And the great miracle happened when everyone was fed and satisfied with so many leftovers! (Jn.6:1-15)

“For one believes with the heart and so is justified, and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved.” (Rom. 10:10)

Indeed, Lord Jesus Christ! St. Andrew the Apostle always believed in his heart, always allowed his heart to be stirred with your words, with your presence, with your feelings. And he dared to open his mouth, to express to you these stirrings in his heart, always asking you and voicing out his feelings and thoughts no matter how crazy or even stupid they may be. But because of his inquiries that you were made known as the Christ!

Give me that grace Lord Jesus, to always recognize the stirrings in my heart, no matter how crazy they may be and to always tell these to you. Give me that same courage Lord to ask you, to express whatever disturbs me deep within so that like Andrew, you may reveal more of your ways, more of your heart, and more of your very Self to me and others. AMEN. Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Parokya ng San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Gov. F. Halili Ave., Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria, Bulacan 3022.

*Photo by Mr. Raffy Tima of GMA-7 News, Batanes before typhoon Ompong, 14 September 2018. Used with permission. Photo below from Google. St. Andrew, like his brother St. Peter, felt unworthy of being crucified like Jesus Christ; he asked to be crucified on an X-shaped cross.

st.andrew

Prayer to Avoid Destruction

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe-Prayer

Thursday, 29 November 2018, Week XXXIV, Year II

Revelation 18:1-2, 21-23; 19:1-3,9///Luke 21:20-28

Lord Jesus Christ, let me put all my trust and hope in you to avoid destruction.

In the world today, all I hear and see are destruction. In your words too are all about destruction. Destruction is inevitable, especially if we remain in our sinful, evil ways. Your words have always been fulfilled and we have always seen how cities and nations have risen and fallen. Most especially, people who have refused to recognize you, those who have dared challenged you, those who have blasphemed you have all vanished, now totally forgotten.

One thing I ask you Jesus Christ is to keep my eyes and my heart open to you, to always heed your voice and your lessons, to always stand erect and raise my head (Lk.21:28) to submit to you, to follow you, to abide in you for that is the only way to avoid destruction and gain redemption.

Let me be among those blessed to have been called to the wedding feast of the Lamb (Rev.19:9) by remaining faithful to you, doing what is right and just despite all the destruction going on. AMEN. Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Parokya ng San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Gov. F. Halili Ave., Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria, Bulacan 3022.

*Photo by Mr. Raffy Tima of GMA-7 News at Natonin, Mountain Province 04 November 2018 after a destructive landslide hit the town. Used with permission.

Prayer to Persevere

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe-Prayer

Wednesday, 28 November 2018, Week XXXIV, Year II

Revelation 15:1-4///Luke 21:12-19

Everything you have said in today’s gospel, Lord, is now happening: so many of us are facing so many forms of persecutions, being maligned and hated by so many people filled with evil thoughts and deeds. The other day you told us how false prophets would come claiming to be you as savior and they, too, are now in our midst with mouths full of blasphemies and deceits, sowing confusion and division among us as a people.

I am not complaining, Lord Jesus. I am even thanking you for warning us about these trials and tribulations, assuring us that we need not worry how to defend ourselves from their attacks for not even a hair on our head will be destroyed (Lk.21:14,18).

All I ask you, Lord Jesus Christ is to bless me with the grace of perseverance (Lk.21:19), that amidst this plague that have come upon us as a nation and as a Church, I may sing with the victors of heaven the song of the Lamb John heard in his vision of heaven (Rev.15:2-4).

Let me persevere in loving you Jesus even if I am a sinner.

Let me persevere in following you Jesus even if I often stumble and fall.

Let me persevere in serving you Jesus even if I am self-centered, seeking recognition. AMEN. Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Parokya ng San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Gov. F. Halili Ave., Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria, Bulacan 3022.

*Photo above by my former student, Arch, Philip Santiago, Basilica della Santissima Trinita at Fatima, Portugal during his pilgrimage October 2018. I have always loved this photo shared by Arch. Philip: at the back of the modern metal cross is a mosaic of the Lamb seen by John in Book of Revelation; at the left side is the mosaic of the BVM with Saints Francisco and Jacinta, visionary children of Fatima and to the right is the mosaic of St. John the Baptist. Very modern rendition of old concept in Eastern churches of images above the door of Jesus also at the middle flanked by BVM as the start of the New Testament and John the Baptist who closed the Old Testament. Beautiful images of perseverance in Christ!

“King of Pain” by the Police (1983)

birds flying over body of water during golden hour — Photo by Johannes Plenio on Pexels.com

LordMyChefSundayMusic//Solemnity of Christ the King-B//25 November 2018

What’s on your mind, Who’s in your heart?

The trial of Jesus before Pontius Pilate occupies a very important role in the gospel of John which is also full of symbolisms like our Sunday music by Sting of the Police. Unlike the other three evangelists, John mentioned only in passing – just a sentence – that Jesus was brought to the high priest Caiaphas (Jn.18:24) and spent great details in narrating to us His trial before Pilate. This is the first time, and the only time in all gospel accounts that Jesus is face to face with a representative of the world’s political power to show us that His kingdom is “in this world but not of this world.”

Jesus Christ is king when in our hearts He reigns supreme, when we see Him among others as our brothers and sisters in Him. More than our thoughts and ideas, more than our feelings and assumptions are persons to be loved and respected. To recognize Jesus our King is to follow Him by taking up our cross because His kingdom is based not on force or power but on love expressed in humility, kindness, patience, and mercy that are often seen as weakness in the world. Yes, one may say His kingship is out of this world but that is exactly what the world needs these days! Jesus Christ is the King of the Universe because He is also the “king of pain” who bore all sufferings for us because of His immense love for us.

“King of Pain” was written by Sting from their album “Synchronicity” released in 1983. Sting admits that “King of Pain” is about the pains of his separation from his first wife. To heal his soul, he went on a vacation to Jamaica and while looking at the sun with a friend who is now his second wife Trudie, Sting remarked “There’s a little black spot on the sun today.” He then paused a few minutes and said, “That’s my soul up there.” He went into his room to write its lyrics that evoke love and submission to pain, something not far from Christ’s call to us all that whoever wants to be great in His kingdom must be the slave of all like Him who came “not to be served but to serve and to give his life as ransom for many” (Mk.10:44-45).

There’s a little black spot on the sun today

It’s the same old thing as yesterday

There’s a black hat caught in the high tree top

There’s a flag pole rag and the wind won’t stop

I have stood here before inside the pouring rain

With the world turning circles running ’round my brain

I guess I’m always hoping that you’ll end this reign

But it’s my destiny to be the king of pain.

There’s a little black spot on the sun today, that’s my soul up there

It’s the same old thing as yesterday, that’s my soul up there

There’s a black hat caught in a high tree top, that’s my soul up there

There’s a flag pole rag and the wind won’t stop, that’s my soul up there

I have stood here before inside the pouring rain

With the world turning circles running ’round my brain

I guess I’m always hoping that you’ll end this reign

But it’s my destiny to be the king of pain.

There’s a fossil that’s trapped in a high cliff wall, that’s my soul up there
There’s a dead salmon frozen in a waterfall, that’s my soul up there
There’s a blue whale beached by a springtide’s ebb, that’s my soul up there
There’s a butterfly trapped in a spider’s web, that’s my soul up there
I have stood here before inside the pouring rain
With the world turning circles running ’round my brain
I guess I’m always hoping that you’ll end this reign

But it’s my destiny to be the king of pain.

There’s a king on a throne with his eyes torn out
There’s a blind man looking for a shadow of doubt
There’s a rich man sleeping on a golden bed
There’s a skeleton choking on a crust of bread

There’s a red fox torn by a huntmen’s pack, that’s my soul up there
There’s a black winged gull with a broken back, that’s my soul up there
There’s a little black spot on the sun today
It’s the same old thing as yesterday
I have stood here before inside the pouring rain
With the world turning circles running ’round my brain
I guess I’m always hoping that you’ll end this reign
But it’s my destiny to be the king of pain
King of pain
King of pain, king of pain, I always be king of pain

What’s on your mind, Who’s in your heart?

The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe, 25 November 2018

Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe

Daniel 7:13-14///Revelation 1:5-8///John 18:33-37

The trial of Jesus before Pontius Pilate occupies a very important role in the fourth gospel. Unlike the other three evangelists, John mentioned only in passing that Jesus was brought to the high priest Caiaphas (Jn.18:24) after being examined by his father-in-law Annas while Simon Peter was outside denying the Lord thrice (Jn.18:12-23). In narrating to us this trial of Jesus before Pilate, we see the spirituality and artistry of the beloved disciple who began his gospel account by solemnly declaring the eternal divinity of the Lord, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (Jn.1:1). Building up the climax of his gospel, John placed Jesus for the first time – in fact the only time – face to face with the world’s representative of political power. And this shows us the meaning and essence of what we are celebrating today with Jesus Christ our Lord as King of the Universe, that His kingdom is “in this world but not of this world.”

Pilate said to Jesus, “Are you the king of the Jews?” Jesus answered, “Do you say this on your own or have others told you about me?” Pilate answered, “I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests handed you over to me. What have you done?” (Jn.18:33-35)

Every morning when we open our Facebook, this scene seems to be happening again in a similar manner when Mark Zuckerberg’s creation asks us“What’s on your mind?” Facebook and social media are gifts from God, a tremendous blessing for mankind where people meet to forge new friendships and renew old ones. However, its overuse and abuse have led to many occasions of sins and evil. In asking Pilate “Do you say this on your own or have others told you about me”, Jesus was not merely asking him what was on his mind but more of who was in his heart. And we all perfectly know what happened next: despite pleadings even by his own wife when he himself knew deep inside him the truth, Pilate washed his hands and went on with what was on his mind to sentence Jesus to death even if he knew deep in his heart He was totally innocent and in fact a very good man.

The question “what’s on your mind” is so enticing for us to just open up without really thinking hard with what we say that may hurt others or have long lasting negative effects not only on other persons but especially to us. It is a question with so many other implications that do not really seek to address anything substantial but only to affirm our own selves that in this world, at this very moment, “I am the king or the queen” and I can do everything! We say whatever is on our minds to lord it over other people, sometimes literally throwing our weight around on others that in the process, we destroy our relationships. Worst of all, when we keep on letting out what is on our minds without checking its veracity, we actually reveal our stupidity than sanity. If we have to ask any question, we have to be ready to know its answer. That is why, when we ask Jesus a question, we must inquire things of the above than things of this world for we might not like His answer that eventually would forcibly bring out from our hearts the right answer like what happened with Pilate later. When Pilate asked Jesus “are you the king of the Jews”, he was not really ready to know yet the answer because deep in his heart he felt and knew the people behind the plot to kill Jesus. Pilate was not ready to confront them because he also knew the Jewish leaders were very much aware of his corrupt practices. How sad that so often we ask not to know the answers but simply to affirm our convictions especially if we know they are not sound at all. When we ask more of this world, of things verifiable by facts and things that can be seen and tested, then we are not yet ready for the truth.

Jesus answered, “My kingdom does not belong to this world. If my kingdom did belong to this world, my attendants would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not here.” So Pilate said to him, “Then you are a king.” Jesus answered, “You say I am a king. For this I was born and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.” (Jn. 18:36-37)

Jesus Christ is king but His kingdom does not belong to this world. It is in the world but not of the world. His kingdom transcends beyond this world but right here in us. Jesus Christ is king when in our hearts He reigns supreme, when we see Him among others as our brothers and sisters in Him. More than our thoughts and ideas, more than our feelings and assumptions are persons to be loved and respected. This is the reason why the question is not“what’s on your mind” but “who’s in your heart” which asks the more crucial question, “is Jesus our king?”

To recognize Jesus our King is to follow Him by taking up our cross because His kingdom is based not on force or power but on love expressed in humility, kindness, patience, and mercy that are often seen as weakness in the world. Yes, one may say His kingship is out of this world but that is exactly what the world needs these days! Remember His lessons to us His disciples these past weeks when He sent us with “no food, no sack, no money in our belts” (Mk.6:8), that we must be like little children for “whoever does not accept the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it” (Mk.10:15), insisting that whoever wants to be great in His kingdom must be the slave of all like Him who came “not to be served but to serve and to give his life as ransom for many” (Mk.10:44-45).

The Solemnity of Christ the King reminds us at the closing of our liturgical calendar as we prepare for Advent next week of that main truth that we as a Church must continue to be an image of this kingdom. And what is the truth? In the bible, truth is a road or a path one can follow with complete trust to have life found in God’s law. Truth is something that must be done as in the expression “to walk in truth” (Ps. 119:105) by conforming our lives to the word of God. See again the spirituality and artistry of the beloved disciple, of how he alone recorded the Lord’s declaration “I am the way, the truth, and the life” (Jn.14:6). Here we find the totality of Christ the King who is the Truth because He is the way and the life. Let us recognize today with thanksgiving to God Christ’s coming to us as our Alpha and Omega, our beginning and end. May His kingdom come as we heed His call every day, especially in the Holy Mass as “the time of fulfillment… Repent, and believe in the gospel” (Mk.1:14-15). Jesus my King, stay in my heart, reign in my life always! AMEN. Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Parokya ni San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Gov. F. Halili Ave., Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria, Bulacan 3022. Email: lordmychef@gmail.com

*Photo by my former student Arch. Philip Santiago, Basilica of St. Paul Outside-the-Walls in Rome, October 2018.

LMC

And Life Goes On…with Love

The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe, Week XXXIII-B, 18 November 2018

Daniel 12:1-3///Hebrews 10:11-14, 18///Mark 13:24-32

A clockmaker was about to finish a grandfather’s clock when the pendulum spoke and begged him not to be given that task of swinging back and forth to measure time. “I am afraid I might not be able to do my job well when I have to swing every second or 60 times a minute, about 3600 an hour or 86400 a day,” the pendulum explained to the clockmaker who assured him everything would be fine. The pendulum believed his maker. Life goes on with the pendulum, tick-tock, tick-tock, sounding the chime every hour long even after his clockmaker had died. In a sense, our lives are like the pendulum continually swinging, sometimes late, sometimes advanced. When 2018 started, we felt so unsure of how this year would be but here we are, about to end the year as we look forward for the coming 2019.

After celebrating All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day, we are now in the penultimate week of our liturgical calendar set to close on Sunday with the Solemnity of Christ the King. Today we are invited to focus on the “end time” called the eschaton or days of fulfillment of all that God has promised. In fact, every celebration of the Mass is oriented towards this end, especially when we proclaim the mystery of faith, “Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again.” In the Apostle’s Creed we profess every Sunday our belief in Jesus Christ “who shall come again to judge the living and the dead” as well as in the “communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of body and life everlasting.”

Jesus said to his disciples: “In those days after that tribulation the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from the sky, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.” (Mk.13:24-25)

Jesus was still in the Temple and the people were marveling at its beauty when he spoke of these words, predicting its fall that would happen in the year 70 AD when Rome sacked Jerusalem. But most of all, Jesus was speaking here in the classical language of apocalypse (from the Greek apocalypsis or revelation). It is the same literary genre used in our first reading from the Book of Daniel. Apocalyptic writings are not meant to be taken literally or even be imagined and pictured in its cosmic upheavals alluded to. Jesus is not scaring us of the coming tribulations but is trying to evoke in us the image of a new creation dawning where the sun will be darkened, the moon will lose its light as the stars fall before His splendor as the returning Son of Man (see Rev. 21:23). Recall how in Genesis God first created light by separating it from darkness when earth was all chaos and formless; then, He created the sun, moon, and stars to light the earth by fixing days and nights and years. “In those days” life was simple and a bliss until sin came and everything was shattered. In His infinite goodness, God preserved His creation and promised salvation to renew everything in the coming Savior. “In those days” though there were disturbances and breaks from all the beauty of creation, life went on. There was no need to destroy everything to start anew. God perfects His creation amidst the many imperfections we are into. Just like in our own experiences with the many tribulations we are going through like sickness, losses and deaths. These words of the Lord and of the prophet Daniel are actually encouraging us to look at the fulfillment of the good news, the Gospel of Jesus Christ Himself personally coming to us, personally involved with us and in us.

“And then they will see ‘the Son of Man coming in the clouds’ with great power and glory, and then he will send out the angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the end of the earth to the end of the sky.” (Mk.13:26-27)

A cousin in Canada emailed me one early Sunday morning last month of his being diagnosed with advanced stage of liver cancer. A former soldier who had spent ten years in Mindanao as a Scout Ranger, he simply told me to pray for him in his life’s final battle. More than the sadness is the pain still in my heart with his condition that it took me the whole day to write him back to assure him of my prayers. His siblings along with some cousins and relatives flew to visit him in Toronto, all praying for some miracle. I chose to be silent in their prayers for a miracle because that very day he told me of his cancer, I have offered him to God. Like Jesus Christ, it is not being a “kj” or killjoy to focus more on the coming eschaton and apocalyptic realities of present tribulations we are going through. Death surely comes. We are all going through many tribulations at the moment as individuals, as families, as communities and as a nation. And things could even get worst before things get any better, here or hereafter. That’s the reality of life we must face with joy and anticipation. The prophet Daniel mentions in his vision seeing God sending us Archangel Michael to help us in our battle with evil in this life. God recognizes the severity and gravity of our tribulations that He had sent us St. Michael so that life would go on while we await that eschaton that must be our gaze despite not knowing when it would be. What the Lord is telling us is to learn from the fig tree, to always see each passing day as a changing of season, a time of rebirth, of living in His presence which the author of the letter to the Hebrews implies as always standing and faithful in our duties as disciples of Christ now“seated at the right hand of the Father in heaven”.

Life goes on with all the tribulations in and around us because God never leaves us alone. There would always be destructions and endings in life to give way to more recreations and new beginnings. The key is to be like the pendulum, remaining faithful in our task of lovingly serving God among those around us. In 1996, the rock musical “Rent” opened in Broadway. Its theme song is called “Seasons of Love” which says life is measured not in minutes or time but in love. Very true! The most important and memorable events of our lives are those moments we have loved or we have been loved. To live is to love and that is why if you want to be eternal, love for only love shall remain. And it is love that will see us through in this life that is passing. You are loved! AMEN.Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Parokya ni San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Gov. F. Halili Ave., Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria, Bulacan 3022.

*Photo by Mr. Howie Severino of GMA-7 News, Taal Lake, 13 November 2018. Used with permission. Photo below from Google.

romans823

“That’s All” by Nat King Cole (1953)

LordMyChefSundayMusic//Week XXXII-B//11 November 2018

Giving Jesus

I can only give you love that lasts forever
And a promise to be near each time you call
And the only heart I own
For you and you alone
That’s all, that’s all

I can only give you country walks in springtime
And a hand to hold when leaves begin to fall
And a love whose burning light
Will warm the winter night
That’s all, that’s all

There are those, I am sure, that have told you
They would give you the world for a toy
All I have are these arms to enfold you
And a love time can never destroy

This for me is the ultimate love song of all. So perfect for this Sunday gospel where Jesus is asking us to give Him our total self like the poor widow who put two coins worth a few cents into the donation box in the temple. When we really come to think, God has given us with so much but we have given so little to Him and with others. In this age of social media, it is very disappointing to see especially family members gathered at the table or the living room each holding a cellphone or a tablet, busy with other people in the net forgetting the person right beside them. This Sunday Jesus is asking us to reconnect with Him as well as with our family and friends minus those gadgets. Let us reconnect person to person, feeling each other’s presence. You will be surprised at the amazing benefits of rediscovering God and others. Let us ask the Lord that we may have the grace to give more of ourselves, more of our time, and more of Jesus in us. Imagine Nat King Cole is Jesus singing to you this song…

If you’re wondering what I’m asking in return, dear
You’ll be glad to know that my demands are small
Say it’s me that you’ll adore
For now and ever more
That’s all, that’s all

If you’re wondering what I’m asking in return, dear
You’ll be glad to know that my demands are small
Say it’s me that you’ll adore
For now and ever more
That’s all…that’s all

*Photo by Dra. Mai B. Dela Pena, Tokyo, 2016. Used with permission.