Prayer To Always Profess Who Jesus Is

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe-Prayer

Friday//28September2018//Week XXV//Year II

Ecclesiastes 3:1-11///Luke 9:18-22

Today we remember and celebrate, O God, San Lorenzo Ruiz and his Dominican companions martyred in Nagasaki. Most of all, we recall the strange circumstances behind his wonderful story, of how in your mercy and grace San Lorenzo Ruiz ended up victorious and glorious as the first Filipino saint when he shed blood for his great faith in you, O God. Truly, “There is an appointed time for everything, and a time for every affair under the heavens.” (Eccl.3:1)

Bless us, O God, like San Lorenzo Ruiz to recognize every time, every moment of our lives as an occasion to answer the question of Jesus, “who do you say that I am?” (Lk.9:20). Give us the courage to cooperate with your grace always present in us like with St. Peter and with all the other saints to profess who Jesus Christ is.

You, O God, “has made everything appropriate to its time, and has put the timeless into their hearts, without man’s ever discovering, from beginning to end, the work which God has done.”(Eccl.3:11) Let us seize always every appropriate time you have made for us to be faithful to you in Jesus Christ like San Lorenzo Ruiz who professed to his executioners that “if I had a thousand lives, I would gladly offer them all to God.” 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 Lamp of Jesus

person standing on shoreline beside gray tubular lantern — Photo by Alan Cabello on Pexels.com

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe-Prayer

Monday//24September2018//Week XXV//Year II

Proverbs 3:27-34///Luke 8:16-18

God our Father, it is again a Monday. Thank you for the gift of life, the gift of work, the gift of responsibilities, the gift of one another. Give us the grace to always do whatever is good and remain humble before you through others (Prov.3:35).

Open our eyes to see more of the many things we can learn instead of seeing the many faults and failures of others as well as shortcomings in many situations we find ourselves in. The world is one vast classroom with so many wonderful things to enjoy and cherish!

Make me a lamp of the light of your Son Jesus Christ to dispel the darkness not only in the world but most especially within each one of us. Make me a lamp that would reveal the truth of our being your beloved children, sanctified and forgiven in Christ Jesus. Let us all gain more of your love and mercy, more of your justice and peace, more of you in the power of the Holy Spirit. AMEN.Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Parokya ng San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Gov. F. Halili Ave., Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria, Bulacan 3022.

The Way of the World Or, The Way of the Lord?

The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe, Week XXV-B, 23 September 2018

Wisdom 2:12, 17-20///James 3:16-4:3///Mark 9:30-37

One of the things I enjoy with driving is getting lost, asking for directions, and making a lot of U-turns. And as I age, the more I realize as I have told in July that life is about direction than of destination. As we go on with life, we need to always go back and make many U-turns. Maybe this explains why as we get older, we go back to being like children with less hair, less teeth, and less control of many things that eventually, we have to be cared for by others. It is this imagery of going back in life that our gospeI today is presenting us with Jesus making a U-turn from Caesarea Philippi to head down south to Jerusalem with His disciples. It is a beautiful imagery of ageing gracefully, of how Jesus would direct our sights back to God the Father symbolized by Jerusalem by directing our attention to a child.

They came to Capernaum and, once inside the house, he began to ask to ask them, “What were you arguing about on the way?” But they remained silent. They had been discussing among themselves on the way who was the greatest. Then he sat down, called the Twelve, and said to them, “If anyone wishes to be first, he shall be the last of all and the servant of all.” Taking a child he placed it in their midst, and putting his arms around it said to them, “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.9:33-37)

By identifying Himself with a child, Jesus is not only asking us to be childlike but most of all to examine how we treat children – and women – because that mirrors how we relate with God! See how sad and tragic in this age when children (and women) are abused, maltreated and molested by adults, by the very people supposed to love and care for them that include some priests! These shameful sins and crimes against children and women show how far we have deviated from God, including those religious men supposed to lead us closer to God. We in the clergy are so pained and deeply hurt within why some of our fellow workers in the Lord have committed those grievous sins, destroying lives and siding with the devil in the way of the world. They have turned away from God, miserably and tragically failing to see God among the children and women. It is plain and simple: anyone who abuses and molests children and women are not of God. They may know but do not believe in God just like the devil.

See how Jesus lovingly embraced that child in the midst of the Apostles. Like the Greeks and the Romans of that time, the Jews considered children of no value at all because they were not complete humans. Childhood was largely seen then as a stage on the way to fullness of humanity. That is why in the feeding of 5000 in the wilderness, children like women were not counted. It was the reason why the apostles drove away the children coming to Jesus one day for which they were reprimanded, telling them that “unless you become like little children you will never enter the Kingdom of heaven.”(Mt.18:3) By lovingly embracing that child in the midst of the Twelve, Jesus is reminding us to go back to the most pristine image of holiness, of God Himself. Childhood is a value in itself! Children are the most loving, the most trusting, and the kindest of anyone. They always tell the truth, they never lie and make stories. All they see is beauty and goodness that they always have that sense of awe and wonder. And that is God, is He not?

“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) Last week, Jesus asked us “who do you say I am?” Maybe until now we are still grappling for our answers, still wondering or searching, trying to figure out who is really Jesus for us. Today while He lovingly embraced a child in our midst, Jesus is inviting us to look into their eyes to find Him, to discover anew the giftedness and preciousness of life as well as its fragility and mortality. Everybody is so excited that we are now just 100 before Christmas but has anyone reflected on God’s wonderful gift of His own Son becoming human, born as an infant, a helpless, little baby entrusting Himself to our care? What have we done with the children? Are we still with God?

“Ephphata!” Let us be opened to God again, to see Him and welcome Him in Himself as He is, just like the way we take children that is not according to our own ideas. When we go back in the gospels and see the teachings of Jesus Christ, we always find His constant reference to children and to childhood, warning us not to lead them into sin because their angels are always guarding them (Mt.18:1-10). This shows us that everything in Christ is all about our return to God, of entering the Kingdom of heaven by “becoming like a little child.” (Mt.18:3) Jesus was the first to become a child, being born unto us and now identifying Himself with a child to reveal to us Himself as one who is the “last and the servant of all” like a child among us, serving us! How ironic! Most of the time, we always brag about our being “adults”, of being the “captain of my ship, master of my fate.” That may be good to a certain extent but it is not really what life is all about which is going back to a child, going back to God, being lowly and humble to bend down and serve. It is something that runs contrary to the way of the world like what we have heard in the first reading. St. James reminds us too to go back to God, to go back relating with a child, becoming like a child who is pure and simple for us to attain peace within. Along with Jesus and the Twelve from Caesarea Philippi, let us make that U-turn and follow the way of the Lord, not the way of the world by seeing God among children and women. 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. Raffy Tima of GMA News in Batanes a day before Typhoon Ompong hit the country last week. Used with permission.

The Light of Christ Conquers Darkness of Sin

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe-Prayer

Feast of St. Matthew, Apostle and Evangelist//21 September 2018

Ephesians 4:1-7, 11-13///Matthew 9:9-13

Heavenly Father, we thank you for this feast of Matthew the Apostle who wrote for us one of the gospels that gave us a wonderful picture of the humanity of your Son Jesus Christ. In His humanity, Christ showed us in turn your gift of divinity for sinners like us in calling Matthew.

As Jesus passed by, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the customs post. He said to him, “Follow me.” And he got up and followed him. (Mt.9:9)

How wonderful it is that most of the Apostles you have called Lord are of low standing in the society like fishermen and now, a tax collector considered a sinner who is corrupt and a traitor as well. We are all a Matthew, a sinner with a dark past, a dark background, even hiding in the darkness of sins and evil.

How wonderful O Lord that you have come to call us from the dark, lighting up our path, most especially our faces to bring out that image and likeness of the Father when we were first created. Like that beautiful painting of Caravaggio in the call of Matthew, come in our darkness not with flashing but with soft light that brightens us with hope and meaning in life.

Continue to enlighten us, O Lord, with your warm light to enable us to “live in a manner worthy of the call we have received from you.” (Eph.4:1) Most of all, help us like Matthew to rise always from our sinfulness and weaknesses, to leave the dark so we could follow you more closely and freely. 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: the famous painting by Caravaggio and the favorite of Pope Francis on the call of Matthew hanging at the Contarelli Chapel of San Luigi Francesci in Rome. Caravaggio is famous for his play of light and shadows.

Being One In Jesus Christ

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe-Prayer

Tuesday//18 September 2018//Week XXIV//Year II

1 Corinthians 12:12-14, 27-31///Luke 7:11-17

Dear God in heaven, we always call you “our Father” but we never really live as brothers and sisters. Everywhere there is always separation and worst are the competitions among us. We could not see our being one family, as one body with many parts because we are so focused in our illusions of greatness and importance in the world. Everyone claims to be better than the other, forgetting that we need each other.

Rekindle in us again the “one Spirit we were all baptized into one Body in Christ” (1Cor. 12:13) as one people, the sheep of your flock (Ps.100:3).

Come and visit us again in your Son Jesus Christ. Restore us to life like that young man in Nain you raised from the dead to be reunited with one another. Let no color or status or belief separate us from one another so that we may be one in Jesus Christ your Son. Most of all, take away our illusions of greatness to make us see the reality that we are not complete in ourselves without you 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 from Google.)

Jesus Christ Among Us

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe-Prayer

Monday//17 September 2018//Week XXIV//Year II

1 Corinthians 11:17-26, 33///Luke 7:1-10

“Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof; but say the word and let my servant be healed.” (Lk.7:6, 7)

So often we pray – or, actually recite this to you, O Lord, without realizing its beautiful meaning just before the Holy Communion. Like the Corinthians being reprimanded today by St. Paul in our first reading, we have become so individualistic that in forgetting those around us we have also disregarded your presence in our midst especially in the Holy Eucharist.

How sad when we eat, we simply fill our body with food and drinks, forgetting our souls to be nourished by the stories shared by those we dine with. In this world of fast-food, we have lost the beautiful meaning of every meal, of being together and sharing not only food but ourselves with the persons seated with us. Sometimes, we do not mind eating alone for as long as we have our most honored guests at the table, our smartphone or tablet. Worst, we do not even pray to you at all, Lord, unmindful of your goodness while we are busy taking pictures of our food, almost worshipping it as a god!

As we start our new week of work and studies, let us heed St. Paul’s call that when we come together to eat, we wait for one another like that centurion in the gospel who loved his slave so much, inviting Jesus to heal him even from afar. 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, “Hapag ng Pag-Asa” painting by the late Joey Velasco.

Realizing Who Jesus Is

The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe, Week XXIV-B, 16 September 2018

Isaiah 50:5-9///James 2:14-18///Mark 8:27-35

We have a Filipino dictum that says you will never truly know a person until you live with him/her under the same roof. It is very true, whether you are a married couple or a priest assigned to a parish with another priest. It is in living together, in staying together especially on hard, trying times when we come to know the other person we are living with. This requires openness like the command last week by Jesus in healing a deaf mute, “Ephphatha!”, “Be opened!” Beginning today for three consecutive Sundays, Jesus asks us to be open as He brings us into the very core of His teachings and of His person as the Suffering Christ. From Decapolis where He had healed that deaf mute last Sunday, He and the Twelve today continue their journey into the pagan regions reaching its capital city of Caesarea Philippi.

Along the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” They said in reply, “John the Baptist, others Elijah, still others one of the prophets.” And he asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter said to him in reply, “You are the Christ.” Then he warned them not to tell anyone about him. He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and rise after three days. (Mk.8:27-31)

Here we find anew the significance of Mark setting the gospel at Caesarea Philippi where a magnificent temple in honor of the Roman god Pan was located. Recall how in telling us that healing of a deaf mute at Decapolis, Mark shows us Jesus would reach out to us even in the most hostile and alien situations we are into. And now in this leading Roman city, Mark is reminding us how in our own time in the midst of all kinds of gods competing for our attention and allegiance is also Jesus Christ present, revealing Himself as the “Suffering Messiah” who would die on the Cross but rose again after three days for our salvation. The invitation of Jesus remains the same, “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and that of the gospel will save it.”(Mk.8:34-35) What a beautiful setting there at Caesarea Philippi like today when we are surrounded by so many gods offering us fame and pleasures while the True God willing to suffer and die for us, asking us if we still know Him, if we are still with Him.

See the very simple presentation by Mark unlike in Matthew and Luke where Jesus praised Peter after identifying Him as“the Christ.” Right after Peter’s answer, we find Mark with his usual “Messianic secret” when Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about Him being the Christ or Messiah. Jesus, as well as Mark, wanted everyone to experience personally His being the Christ and not just any miracle worker who would give the people’s usual requests for health and wealth. It is an echo of Christ’s groan last week to be opened with God’s thoughts, not with man’s thoughts like Peter always trying to avoid even negate pains and sufferings. In revealing to us for the first time the sufferings He would undergo, Jesus is also inviting us all to live with Him, to stay with Him in His Passion and Death to experience His Resurrection. We can never get to know Him and answer His question “Who do you say that I am?” unless we must first learn to be with Him at the Cross. Jesus had to insist here at how He “must” suffer greatly because that is the reality of love: without sacrifice, without giving of self, it is not love at all. To truly love, one must be willing to give without ifs and buts.

The Cross is the essence of the good news of Jesus Christ. We need to ask for that grace from God for us to accept and embrace this Cross that has always been a scandal and stumbling block for everyone’s faith journey. It is the key in answering His question “Who do you say that I am?” because it was on the Cross where Jesus Christ was fully revealed, the fulfillment of God’s “Suffering Servant” Isaiah had prophesied at the first reading. Despite its violent tones, it is a beautiful reminder to us of the need for total reliance in God alone, of our need to always pray for that grace of God to free our thoughts of the things that go against His plans as Satan would always do. To know who Jesus Christ is to join Him in His Cross. When we refuse to do so, we not only fail in truly knowing Jesus Christ but also mislead others into thinking He is “John the Baptist or Elijah or one of the prophets”as the Twelve told Him at Caesarea Philippi.

After writing this reflection last night, I saw the viral photo of a student in Atimonan, Quezon doing his homework inside their classroom (https://ph.news.yahoo.com/viral-student-stays-classroom-finish-052524025.html). It is a very touching story of a student staying behind in their classroom to finish his homework because they have no electricity at home. His teacher had asked him to go home because it was already 7:30PM with Typhoon Ompong threatening Luzon. The teacher noted in his Facebook post how the student had “befriended” hunger after so many nights of staying behind in their classroom to do his assignments because it was more difficult to study at home using a gas lamp. He said such students inspire him to continue teaching in public school no matter how difficult it may be. See how when we are willing to join Jesus Christ in His Cross, we not only get to know Him but we in fact meet Him as well, introducing Him to more people like that teacher and his student in Quezon. After Jesus Christ’s revelation at Caesarea Philippi, He then made a U-turn to go down to Jerusalem to finally fulfill His mission. Let us join Him, let us follow Him. Amen. Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Parokya ni San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Gov. F. Halili Ave., Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria, Bulacan 3022

Photo by the author taken at Betania-Tagaytay, 22 August 2017.

The Uniqueness of the Cross

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The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe-Prayer

Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, 14 September 2018

Numbers 21:4-9///Philippians 2:6-11///John 3:13-17

Our loving Father, today we celebrate the unique Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross.

It is so unique because when we come to think of it, how could two pieces of wood that are very ordinary things in life became the means to express to us your immense love through Jesus Christ’s sacrifice on the cross? It is so unique for how can two pieces of wood used to punish people now remind us of how you “so loved the world that you gave your only Son, so that he who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life (Jn.3:16)”?

In the cross is hidden the power of your love to transform us to better persons. In the cross is hidden the power to lead us closer to you with its vertical beam and to others with its horizontal beam. In the cross is the power of good if we choose to embrace it and be subjected to you in Christ Jesus as our Lord and Master.

What is most unique with the Cross, O God, is that underneath its ordinariness, that is where we see your glory and your majesty. Underneath the Cross of darkness and gloom, that is where we see glimpses of light and hope. And underneath the Cross of sufferings and death, we get to feel assured of the resurrection.

Give us the grace, O God, to always embrace the Cross like your Son Jesus Christ where we can all be empty of ourselves to be filled with your Spirit to make your love visible in us. 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, Fourth Sunday of Lent in our Parish, 11 March 2018.

To Love Like Jesus

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The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe-Prayer

Thursday, 13 September 2018, Week XXIII, Year II

1 Corinthians 8:1-7,11-13///Luke 6:27-38

O loving Father, today we pray for those who have hurt us, for those who have wounded us so deeply, those we have loved but turned against us. Most especially, we pray for those who have hurt us who are now asking our forgiveness. It is very difficult Lord but it can be done in your Son.

“Knowledge inflates with pride, but love builds up. If anyone supposes he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know.” (1Cor.8:1)

When we use more of our minds, loving especially those who have hurt us becomes difficult, even impossible. We could not get over the pain and the hurts that are so bad enough, worsened by the accompanying shame and embarrassment brought on us when we were disregarded as persons that in turn lead us to think of revenge, of getting even, of demanding “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.”

Thank for the grace, O God, of enabling us to enter into the very heart of Jesus Christ’s teaching which is to love like Him, to love radically that means “loving our enemies, doing good for them, lending without expecting returns and being merciful like you our Father.” (Lk.6: 35, 36) Thank you for the grace, O God, of enabling us to get into the very person of your Son Jesus Christ who is so poor, so empty of Himself with enough space to host everyone inside His heart with nothing to keep except with everything to give within. Amen. St. John Chrysostom, pray for us! 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, St. Paul-Mt. Pico Retreat House, Baguio City, 17 July 2017.

Opening to God

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The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe, Week XXIII-B, 09 September 2018

Isaiah 35:4-7///James 2:1-5///Mark 7:31-37

Whenever people come to me for counselling or spiritual direction, the first thing I ask them after listening to their story is“where is God in your experience?” Most often, they pause, then nod their heads or look up, staring somewhere as they reflect on my question. But when they get ready to answer my query, their faces would always glow with a sparkle in their eyes or smiles on their lips as if telling me “God has always been with me but I rarely noticed Him.” A friend once wrote in his blog that “whenever we face difficult situations in life and there is that deafening silence, always remember that the same thing happens when there is an exam: it is always silent but the teacher is always present.” Today in our gospel, Jesus is reassuring us of the love of the Father, of His constant presence among us especially in the most trying times of our lives. Jesus continues to reach out to us, always moving around, visiting us, staying with us.

Again Jesus left the district of Tyre and went by way of Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, into the district of the Decapolis. And people brought to him a deaf man who had a speech impediment and begged him to lay his hand on him. (Mk.7:31-32)

There are two striking things about Christ’s healing this Sunday. First is the location that happened in a pagan territory. Mark rarely mentioned the place visited by Jesus unlike today when he specified the Lord going to the “district of Decapolis” or district of ten cities. It was a region inhabited by pagans and foreigners considered outcasts by Jews who regarded themselves as the chosen people of God. Jesus did not only reach out to His fellow Jews but even to their considered enemies like pagans and Samaritans. In today’s gospel, Mark is telling us that Jesus also comes and stays with us in unfamiliar, foreign places and situations in life. When we feel alienated and lost due to a failure or a defeat, when we feel alone and abandoned and hopeless because of so much pains and sufferings, these are our “Decapolis” where Jesus comes to heal and comfort us.

The second striking thing about this healing is the manner how Jesus did it: Jesus took him off by himself away from the crowd. He put his finger into the man’s ears and, spitting, touched his tongue; then he looked up to heaven and groaned, and said to him, “Ephphata!” – that is, “Be opened!” And immediately the man’s ears were opened, his speech impediment was removed, and he spoke plainly. (Mk.7:33-35)

Whenever Jesus comes to visit us and heal us, He would always separate us first from other people and even situations or locations to be totally with Him. Here we find the value of “constant prayer” that remains very crucial in life even in this modern time (Pope Francis, Gaudete et Exultate 147-157). Likewise, Mark never bothered to tell us the name of that deaf mute because we are in fact that deaf mute too who live in our own worlds filled with so many thoughts and words of others and of ourselves except of God. Jesus “took him off” from the crowd to teach us that important lesson of praying, of separating from the rest to create a sacred space for God in our daily lives where we experience Him personally and intimately – just the two of us, me and God – like our own experience with a friend or a spouse.

Observe also how Jesus would usually heal by simply speaking. With this pagan, Jesus not only “took him off” from the crowd but also had to touch his ears and spit to touch his tongue! Imagine Jesus touching the deaf mute’s tongue with His own saliva, as if putting His personal seal to this unique healing! Moreover, in this healing Jesus reminds us of the spiritual nature of His coming to us: then he looked up to heaven and groaned, and said to him, “Ephphata!” – that is, “Be opened!” And immediately the man’s ears were opened, his speech impediment was removed, and he spoke plainly. What a beautiful image of the Son of God looking up to heaven, praying and making it known to all that this healing is the will of our loving and merciful Father. Jesus came precisely to bring God closer to us and to bring us back to Him. Of the four evangelists, only Mark would always report the Lord’s request not to tell anyone of a healing to stress the spiritual nature of His mission. Jesus wants to be known as the Messiah, our Savior and not just like any miracle worker providing health and wealth. Though it is true that there must be tangible signs of the salvation brought by Christ that we have to work for justice and peace in the society, we have to keep in mind also that effecting changes among peoples and the world are the works of God, not of humans. We are mere sowers of the seeds but it is God who makes that seed to sprout and grow.

The very word of Jesus to heal that deaf mute is what we also badly need these days, “Ephphata” or “Be opened!” We need to be opened daily to cleanse our hearts of sins and selfishness. Like the Pharisees and scribes last week, our faith and worship emanate more from our lips than from our hearts with all the troubles we are into right now as a nation and a Church. To be opened to God is to keep God in our hearts through daily conversions, not being focused with outward appearances. Openness to God is heeding the call of St. James in his letter to “show no partiality as you adhere to the faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ.”(Jms.2:1) How sad that today the celebration of the Holy Mass has become more of a show, and worst, a propaganda tool in politics. When the Mass is celebrated for political reasons, communion is shattered and destroyed because everybody – the priests and the congregation – are not looking up to heaven but looking down to people and to streets for their own solutions to a problem. To open our hearts to God means we, especially us priests, must go away from the limelight and partisan politics, to be hidden from the crowd so that it is Christ who is experienced because only He changes peoples and nations. Opening to God is allowing God to do His work in us and through us, always centered on Him and not to one’s self or anyone claiming to be a messiah. May we open our hearts today to God so He would truly dwell in us. Amen. Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Parokya ni San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Gov. F. Halili Ave., Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria, Bulacan 3022.

Photo by the author, sunrise at the Dead Sea, 21 April 2017.