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.

“Cross” My Heart

The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe, Week XXII-B, 02 September 2018

Deuteronomy 4:1-2, 6-8///James 1:17-18, 21-22, 27///Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23

When we were growing up, one of the common expressions among us was “cross my heart” to indicate the sincerity and truthfulness of what one is saying. It is often reinforced with the making of a sign of the cross on one’s chest or heart. It is a beautiful expression that shows us the centrality of the human heart in our very being and person. Today’s gospel speaks also of the heart and the many “crossings” we have to make to ensure it remains true.

After an interruption of five Sundays, we now go back to Mark’s Gospel which we continue to read until the Solemnity of Christ the King in November that closes this liturgical year to usher in Advent, those four Sundays before Christmas. It is very funny, even ridiculous, that as early as last week, people have been raring to start the Christmas countdown in social media as they hurried to cross into September to get rid of the last few days of ghost month August which actually ends in September 9. Observe my dear reader that concept of “crossing” into the “ber” months while in the gospel, we find Jesus repeatedly crossing the lake to proclaim the kingdom of God. After miraculously feeding the more than 5000 people, Jesus sent the Twelve ahead of Him in crossing Lake Tiberias as He sent the crowd home. He then prayed on top of a hill and at 3AM, He followed His apostles by walking on water in the midst of a storm at the lake. After calming the sea, they came to Gennesaret, the setting of our gospel today. Mark reports the growing tensions among Jewish officials and Jesus who have become so popular among the people for His teachings and healings. Now, some Pharisees and scribes from Jerusalem have found a case against Jesus after observing His disciples non-compliance with their rituals of washing and purification. But Jesus would mince no words explaining the meaning of the rituals, citing the Prophet Isaiah to highlight their hypocrisy in showing off their “holiness” in complying with their ancient traditions of washing and cleansing.

See that after His initial explanation, Jesus “summoned the crowd again and said to them that nothing enters one from outside can defile that person; but the things that come out from within are what defile.”(Mk.7:14-15) After this second explanation to the crowd, Mark tells us that “when Jesus got home away from the crowd … He said to His disciples that 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) Jesus had to separate – a sort of “crossing” the crowd from the Pharisees and scribes, and later separate too the Twelve from the rest to insist that holiness is about having a clean heart through conversion from sins, not from cleaning and washing of hands and utensils. That is what all these “crossings” imply in the gospel today, the need for our continuous conversion of the heart within, not in some outward appearances and practices. Discipleship is a life of crossing the lake with Jesus every night in darkness, even in the midst of storms. Discipleship is a daily crossing of the Red Sea, an Exodus, from slavery to freedom – a crossing from death into life, from sin into grace. Discipleship is a daily conversion of our hearts so that Jesus truly reigns in our lives.

Since the start of His ministry in Galilee, Jesus had been crossing the lake to pray and to rest with His disciples, to preach and to heal the people. He always crossed that great lake so as to reach out everyone, especially the marginalized ones like the poor, the sick, the orphans, and the widows. In becoming human like us, Jesus “crossed” heaven to earth, from eternity to temporal to be among us. His Passion, Death, and Resurrection was in fact a “crossing” that led Him to the glory of Easter. Through Him, we too are able to cross into a life of fulfillment in Him when we are able to bear our crosses with Him. In preaching about the purity of one’s heart while in Gennesaret, Jesus dared the Pharisees and scribes to “cross” to His side by discarding their truncated views and practice of the rituals. In summoning the crowd closer to Him away from the Pharisees and scribes, Jesus invited the people to “cross” to Him to realize true purity based on a clean heart and not from external rituals. Most of all, He repeated this important teaching to His disciples again after they have gone home, away from the Pharisees and scribes and from the crowd, implying the need to always cross from everyone and everything so that we can solely be focused in God.

When we cross our hearts in words and in gestures, let us remember that it was God who first crossed His heart to reach out to us to experience His Fatherly love through His commandments as explained by Moses in the first reading today. God’s laws are not mere letters to be obeyed but words meant to take root in our hearts for it is also a call to a relationship with Him and with others. When we cross our hearts in words and in gestures, let us remember how Jesus Christ crossed from heaven to reach us and die on the Cross because of His love for us. Like Him, when we cross our hearts with words and gestures, we express our desire to follow Him by leaving our comfort zones into the fringes to meet and serve our wounded brothers and sisters as expressed by Pope Francis in his latest encyclical (Gaudete et Exultate, 135). He calls this as “boldness and passion” or“parrhesia” that are signs of holiness in our modern time. It is exactly what St. James referred to in the second reading, “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God and the Father when we care for orphans and widows in their afflictions and when we keep ourselves unstained by the world.”(James 1:27) When we celebrate the Sunday Eucharist, we also cross from the past week into the new week filled with many opportunities to grow and mature in holiness by nurturing in our hearts Jesus we have receive in the Holy Communion, His daily crossing from heaven. A blessed week to everyone!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. Lake Tiberias at sunrise, 22 April 2017.

The Body and Blood of Christ, Our Communion with God

The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe, Week XX-B, 19 August 2018

Proverbs 9:1-6///Ephesians 5:15-20///John 6:51-58

Our gospel is now getting more interesting as the drama among the Jews and Jesus Christ unfold into new dimensions on this penultimate Sunday of the “bread of life” discourse. Last week, the Jews murmured among themselves when Jesus declared “I am the bread that came down from heaven” (Jn.6:41); today, the Jews quarreled among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”(Jn.6:52)

Notice the beautiful interplay of “antes” noted by John in this part of the bread of life discourse: from murmuring, the Jews have turned into quarrelling among themselves in their renewed refusal to believe in Jesus. They have deteriorated from being skeptical into being insidious, reaching its lowest point next week when in their refusal to take the words of Jesus, they would eventually leave Him behind along with other disciples who have followed Him after that episode of feeding of more than 5000 people. Only the 12 would remain with Jesus. On the other hand, we find Jesus speaking more boldly to the unfriendly audience by increasing the force of His declaration as “the bread of life” by repeating it eight times in eight verses! And this time, He would even add that not only His flesh is food but also His blood is drink for eternal life. Jesus did not budge in the arguments of the crowd and instead slowly spiraled up His discourse as food and drink for eternal life. Jesus is trying to establish here a new direction in knowing Him, in following Him. In presenting Himself as our food and drink for eternal life, Jesus is also showing us the direction we have to follow in Him. Remember our reflection last July 15 that discipleship is not destination but directional? And the direction Jesus is taking us in His bread of life discourse is about our Holy Communion in God.

If you have observed in these past four weeks, sometimes the discourse by Jesus seems to be going nowhere, could be vague or ambiguous that it does not seem to progress at all. See how since last Sunday Jesus was repeating over and over His being the bread of life who came down from heaven and that whoever eats His flesh and drinks His blood will have eternal life. Jesus is not trying to get our attention with some fancy thoughts or brilliant expositions; Jesus is inviting us to a more personal experience of Himself in His bread of life discourse. He is asking us to take our time in listening and digesting His words because in the end, His goal is not to fill our minds but to rest in our hearts. Jesus is seeking communion with us, a oneness that can be achieved in the mystery of faith with a certitude deep in our hearts. It is something like our daily prayers and weekly celebration of the Sunday Mass when we sometimes feel nothing is happening; even in our minds, we know we have known everything. Yet, as we try to be open, holding on to our faith in God, we continue to pray and celebrate the Sunday Mass that deep within us we are convinced something had changed, that we have experienced Someone so real and profound. That is communion. When we receive Jesus Body and Blood, we realize and know for a fact we are not one. We have a communion not only with others with similar pains and hurts like ours but most of all with God who became human like us because He loves us so much. Now in Holy Communion, He is one with us, truly inside our body, flesh and blood under the signs of bread and wine. There is now an existing relationship on common experiences inexhaustible in its richness. That is how personal God is with us.

Since the fall of Adam and Eve, God had always longed to restore our union with Him. In the first reading, we have heard how the author of the Book of Proverbs had personified God as Wisdom (a feminine) inviting us to come to her. “Let whoever is simple turn in here; to the one who lacks understanding, I say, Come, eat of my food, and drink of the wine I have mixed! Forsake foolishness that you may live; advance in the way of understanding.”(Prov.9:4-6) Wisdom is God Himself who is at once transcendent and close at hand, very lofty but also in the daily realities of life because He is always seeking a communion with us humans. Note in this passage, God is food and wine – the essentials of life! In the Eucharist, we have the most ordinary food, bread and wine, becoming the most divine presence of God with us in Christ Jesus. It is our common union with God in Christ who became human like us in everything except sin so that we can become like Him who is divine. Observe when the priest prepares the wine during the Mass, he would pause before pouring water to recite the silent prayer, “By the mystery of this water and wine may we come to share in the divinity of Christ who humbled himself to share in our humanity.” I love praying that, especially when I could see that amid the great amount of wine, our human contribution is just a droplet of water because Jesus did everything for us, we just have to believe! Then again while the “Agnus Dei” is sung in preparation of the Holy Communion, the priest pauses in silence as he breaks the bread, takes a little piece of it and puts it into the wine, silently praying “May this mingling of the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ bring eternal life to us who receive Him.”

Here again is Jesus Christ before us, like the scene at Capernaum after the feeding of more than 5000 people, inviting us to enter into a communion with Him and in Him without murmuring and quarrelling to calmly reflect on this mystery of the Lord as our food and drink to eternal life. Let us heed St. Paul’s reminder to the Ephesians today “to watch carefully how we live, not as foolish persons but as wise” (Eph.5:15) more concerned with God and not of the worldly things. Most of all, let us not rush God like the crowd at Capernaum by demanding spectacular and verifiable things to remind us of His presence. Jesus is with us in the most ordinary things like bread and wine, in the most common experience like the Mass. He speaks to us in the most consistent manner, always repeating the same words of assurances of His love and mercy, kindness and presence. Never doubt for we are making progress every Sunday, from Eucharist to Eucharist. Sooner or later, we shall come to that promised day of eternal life in the Father through Jesus Christ. Amen. A blessed week to you!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, Church at Tabgha where Jesus is believed to have fed more than 5000 people; at the altar floor is a mosaic of the loaves of bread and two pieces of fish. Taken during our Holy Land pilgrimage April 2017.

Jesus Transforms First Our Questions to Transform Us

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The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe-Prayer

Thursday, 16 August 2018, Week XIX, Year II

Ezekiel 12:1-12///Matthew 18:21-19:1

Dearest Lord Jesus:

Every day we come to you with so many questions, an endless series of who, why and why not, and how. As I prayed today’s gospel, I realized you seldom give straight answers to questions given to you in many instances like when Peter asked you about how many times should we forgive a brother who sins against us. In many occasions in the gospel like today, you answer questions with a parable. It is as if you first transform our questions in order to transform us eventually with the answers we can glean from your parables.

As I dwelled on your parable of the unforgiving servant, I have realized one important aspect with our questions to you, Lord Jesus. And that is our being so fearful of many things in life, especially of being loving and merciful like you.

We try to be specific like Peter, asking in a numerical form “how many times should I forgive… seven times?” The other day, we asked “who is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven?” Once we have asked you “who is my neighbor?” or “Lord, are you going to establish your kingdom now?” In these instances, you never gave in to our questions because you knew very well we asked these while bounded by fears. We lacked freedom. Or, we refused to be free to be who we really are as beloved children of a very loving Father in heaven. Because we doubt your love and mercy.

And so, you give us parables like today’s unforgiving servant to assure us that we are loved and forgiven by the Father. Give us the grace to fully embrace this truth, that we would always listen to your gentle voice within to forgive and to love with all our hearts. 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, still life experiment, September 2016.

Meaningful Existence In Christ, the Bread of Life

grayscale photography of crucifix — Photo by Pete Johnson on Pexels.com

Meaningful Existence in Christ, the Bread of Life

The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe, Week XVIII-B, 05 August 2018

Exodus 16:2-4,12-15///4:17,20-24///John 6:24-35

Existence. From “ex estare”, “to stand out.”

The word “existence” is a very obvious concept in our lives but also the most overlooked if not seen or understood at all. A very peculiar greeting among us Filipinos when we meet someone is “Hi! Nandito ka pala?” When translated into English, the more it is illogical and dumb as “Hi! You are here?” or worst, “Hi! Are you here?” Now, what kind of a question is it especially if the person you meet is like me standing at 5”5’, weighing 265 pounds? Do you ask “are you here?” when the presence is very obvious? It is a case of what teenagers call “MEMA” for “may masabi” or “just to have something to say”, indicating a very shallow perception and a lack of depth in friendship or acquaintanceship. The normal and most sane things to say when you meet anyone anywhere after the usual greeting of “Hi” and “Hello” are “how are you”, “what’s up”, and “what are you buying or looking for?” It was exactly the situation with the people who asked Jesus a silly question upon finding him on the other side of the lake in our gospel today.

And when they found him across the sea they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?” Jesus answered them and said, “Amen, amen, I say to you, you are looking for me not because you saw signs but because you ate the loaves and were filled. Do not work for food that perishes but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him the Father, God, has set his seal.”(Jn.6:25-27)

At least the people did not ask Jesus “Rabbi, are you here?” But still, their query of “Rabbi, when did you get here?” showed their lack of deep appreciation for the person of Jesus. They were really looking for bread and for things. Not for Jesus and His person which is exactly what our relationship with God and with others too! We always look for something else except for the very persons we relate with like family and friends and God. This is what I refer to as “objectifying” the subject or taking persons as things. Sometimes, we feel we truly love God and those around us but when we examine our priorities in life, we do not really love that much because we fail and even refuse to care, recognize and look for the person. What we easily and often look for is the object, the things we can have to fill us, even bloat us.

It is very amazing that John recorded this seemingly trivial anecdote but loaded with meanings. After all, he is often referred to as the “beloved disciple” that, for his love for Jesus he must have seen something very special in this episode. It was not merely a simple question on the part of the people but the sad reality of their lack of love for God and others, something we too must admit as very true with us today. Like in the first reading, the people were so tired and seem to have lost all zeal in following God in the wilderness that they have become very shallow in their perception of everything and of themselves. They were disillusioned and tired with the wandering in the desert, the circuitous route they were taking that suddenly, they have forgotten their deepest desires and aspirations when still in Egypt as slaves. They have forgotten God. Like us in this life of so many concerns when we forget the most essential ones like persons and the values they represent – love, kindness, and loyalty.

See how Jesus did not answer the people’s question and instead declared to them in very clear manner something that echoes even within us today: “Do not work for food that perishes but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him the Father, God, has set his seal… This is the work of God, that you believe in the one he sent – the Christ.” Have we become like those people who approached Jesus at the other side of the lake with the silly question to mask their desire for things, for material bread than for the person of Jesus Christ? Have we forgotten all the lofty ideals of life and being a person created in God’s image and likeness? Is this the reason why these days we could easily dispense prayer and celebration of the Mass because we have been so focused with material things than with deeper realities? How ironic that when life has become more convenient and easier today, the more we experience of being lost and anxious, sad and unfulfilled. What a tragedy that amidst the material affluence of life these days, lives and people have become more empty and unfulfilled.

Last Sunday we reflected on the need to see things with the eyes of Christ to fully understand and appreciate the feeding of more than five thousand people by Jesus from five loaves of bread and two fish. Today, Jesus is telling us to search for Him, for His very person and not for the bread and other material things it represents. Jesus Himself is the bread of life, the bread from heaven – the Christ or the Anointed One of God. When we believe in Him, then we see Him too in the many signs He comes in our lives daily. Then we eventually realize we are also like Him – bread offered, blessed, broken and shared with others to sustain earthly life into eternity. That is when we find meaning in our lives! This is the direction of life we must all take as we reflected three weeks ago. It is a direction demanding a continuous laboring in love, of always finding and giving meaning in our lives in God. And that is the wondrous reality in every Eucharistic celebration we have when we are constantly renewed in Christ as St. Paul told the Ephesians in our second reading today. The great St. John Paul II described the Eucharist as a “cosmic reality” or the brief experience of eternity while still here on earth!

When Jesus declared Himself as the bread of life, He made Himself existent among us, very present in us and among us. In the Eucharist, Jesus exists, standing out to us, reaching out to us to fulfill our very person so we could also stand out and reach out unto others in loving service and presence. For a meaningful existence, may we desire more of the person of Jesus, the only essential in life readily available to us in the Holy Eucharist. A blessed week to you! Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Parokya ni San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Gov. F. Halili Ave., Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria, Bulacan 3022

Seeing With The Eyes of Christ

The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe, Week XVII-B, 29 July 2018

2Kings 4:42-44///Ephesians 4:1-6///John 6:1-15

Beginning today for five weeks of Sunday we shall hear from the sixth chapter of John to discover and experience the mystery of the person of Jesus Christ. Taking off from where Mark left us last week when Jesus and His apostles crossed the lake to rest at a deserted place, John now introduces us to the long but beautiful bread of life discourse of Jesus Christ: Jesus went across the Sea of Galilee. A large crowd followed him, because they saw the signs he was performing on the sick.(Jn.6:1-2)

John’s gospel is also known as “the book of signs” wherein he arranged the major miracles of Jesus as revelations of His being the awaited Messiah or Christ. But unlike the other evangelists, John preferred to call these miracles as “signs”, from the Greek “semeion”that denotes the existence and character of unseen, deeper reality. The word miracle is from Latin “mirum oculis” or something that causes wonder when seen or beheld. But a sign is deeper in meaning that John preferred to use it to show that the healings and other acts performed by Jesus are proofs and evidence that indeed He is the Christ. In doing so, John is inviting us to see more beyond the healings and other acts by Jesus the deeper realities He wishes to reveal and share with us to be experienced too. He wants us to shift our perceptions of persons and things to higher levels. Like Jesus Christ, John wants us to see beyond material things for every detail can be a bearer of meaning, a sign of deeper reality and of Christ Himself. Let us try:

Jesus went up on the mountain, and there he sat down with his disciples. The Jewish Passover was near. When Jesus raised his eyes and saw that a large crowd was coming to him, he said to Philip, “Where can we buy enough food for them to eat?” He said this to test him, because he himself knew what he was going to do. Philip answered him, “Two hundred days’ wages worth of food would not be enough for each of them to have a little.” One of his disciples, Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, said to him, “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish; but what good are these for so many?”(Jn.6:3-9)

Imagine standing there with Jesus, looking at the great crowd of people coming. It was getting dark, the feast of Passover was approaching and you were at a deserted place. Then suddenly Jesus asks you like Philip where can we buy enough food for them to eat?

Notice that if we examine the Lord at how He looked at the situation, it could lead to a shift in our perception from scarcity to plenty by first seeing the people coming as persons who need to be fed and cared for. Jesus felt their hunger and thirst, seeing them as brothers and sisters. It was an opportunity for Him to teach them some lessons about God. Unfortunately, the disciples saw the opposite – it was a big problem. Philip even viewed it as a nightmare when he told Jesus that even “Two hundred days’ wages worth of food would not be enough for each of them to have a little.” The same thing with Andrew who found a boy with five loaves of bread and two fish not good enough for everyone. They saw it as a hopeless situation.

This is perhaps one of the main tragedies of our time when we begin to see and look at people as problems and mere statistics. We have failed and even refused to see each one as a person to be loved and cherished! Andrew did not even bother to ask the name of the boy and just brought him to Jesus with his bread and fish. Exactly how in media these days people are objectified and made into things, referring to persons with demonstrative pronouns this and that or ito at iyan in Filipino. On the other hand, objects are subjectified like food as “he/she’s delicious” or “masarap siya”. Sometimes I fear that one day PAGASA might even ask us priests to baptize typhoons as forecasters keep on referring to them like a human being: ang bagyon si Josie ay kumikilos pakanluran at may lakas siya ng hanging na… The most glaring sign of how low we have come to regard persons came from Congress during the SONA when Duterte reiterated the relentless continuation of his anti-drug campaign based on his erroneous view that human rights and human lives are two distinct realities. The list of instances continues when we take people for granted especially women and children when we give more emphases on things like money and clothes than persons. There is always more than enough bread for everyone when we learn to stop looking at everyone as a commodity to be bought and used. In the first reading, the prophet Elisha highly regarded those around him as persons who need to be fed with food that he had to remind his servant there was enough for everyone. With God, there are always plenty of bread for everyone but to the devil, there is never enough that is why its first temptation to Jesus was to turn stones into bread, the temptation to always take people for granted.

There is no doubt in the powers of Jesus Christ and most of all of His knowing what to do when in such difficult situations. Inasmuch as we trust in His powers, we also need to see others as brothers and sisters who are beloved by the Father. John mentioned in our gospel today the setting of this feeding of 5000 when the Jewish feast of Passover was near to show us the Eucharistic nature of the sign. How wonderful to remember that during His supper, Jesus took the same gestures at the wilderness and gave the bread to His disciples, saying “This is my body which will be given up for you.” Notice how there in the wilderness that the Son of God who had become man like us took on a body to remind everybody is a somebody and no one is a nobody. We are all bread meant to be shared and broken with one another for we are all one Body in Christ as Paul reminds us today in his letter to the Ephesians. Amen.Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Parokya ni San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Gov. F. Halili Ave., Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria, Bulacan 3022

*Photo from Google.