The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Music by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, 21 July 2024
Photo by Dra. Mylene A. Santos, MD, Infanta, Quezon, 2020.
We’re back on this lazy but blessed Sunday when our gospel is about rest, “Jesus said to his apostles, ‘Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while'” (Mk. 6:31).
And we thank God for the gift of music that is the easiest, most affordable and most rewarding manner of rest for us next to prayer and the Mass. Most of all, see that every song, every musical piece is always about love who is God Himself!
For this Sunday, we go back to 1977 with Roberta Flack’s romantic ballad The Closer I Get to You that is more than a song of love but a story of love in itself.
According to Ms. Flack, it was her manager David Franklin’s idea that she record a duet of that song with her college friend Donny Hathaway who was then suffering with clinical depression. Both have worked together earlier in several duets. As a way of helping her friend get over his depression, the song was re-written while Ms. Flack had to make a lot of sacrifices in recording and shuttling between New York City and Chicago where Hathaway was confined to a hospital and had refused to travel.
Hathaway never recovered from his depression and eventually died a few years after the release of their duet in 1978 that became an instant hit, earning praises and had them nominated for Grammy the following year.
Ms. Flack said in an interview that their duet would always be her dedication to Hathaway as she donated all the money earned from that song to Hathaway’s widow and two children.
As we have mentioned in our homily today, rest is getting closer with God and the closer we get to Him, the closer we get with others. That is why Jesus was moved with pity to the vast crowds who have followed them to a deserted place to rest: His oneness with the Father moved Him closer to people especially the poor and the suffering. And that is why we find The Closer I Get to You perfect with our gospel this Sunday: the more we get closer with Jesus, the more we get closer with our family and friends and those in need.
The closer I get to you The more you make me see By giving me all you've got Your love has captured me
I love that first stanza of The Closer I Get to You; it says the very essence of the song which is a gospel in itself. It reminds us of St. John’s first letter when he wrote, “No one has ever seen God. Yet, if we love one another, God remains in us, and his love is brought to perfection in us” (1Jn.4:12).
The more we get closer with anyone, the more we love, because the more our eyes are opened to see others to love. And God becomes more present among us!
It’s a Sunday, go celebrate the Mass and enjoy some beautiful music to remind us of God’s presence among us. Here now is The Close I Get To You…
The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B, 21 July 2024 Jeremiah 23:1-6 ><}}}}*> Ephesians 2:13-18 ><}}}}*> Mark 6:30-34
Photo by author, Katmon Nature Sanctuary &Beach Resort, Infanta, Quezon March 2023.
After being sent“two by two” last Sunday, the Apostles now return to Jesus, reporting “all they had done and taught.” What a beautiful gospel scene this Sunday, supposed to be our day of rest that begins in God and must be rooted in God.
The apostles gathered together with Jesus and reported all they had done and taught. He said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while.” People were coming and going in great numbers, and they had no opportunity even to eat. So they went off in the boat by themselves to a deserted place (Mark 6:30-32).
Last Sunday we were reminded to rediscover the family and friends sent with us “two by two” in this life while today the Lord wants us to be aware of our need to rest in order to rediscover Him first of all, then one’s self and others.
Unfortunately, many people today have entirely forgotten the meaning and importance of rest that we succumb to all kinds of sickness related with stress and fatigue. In fact, Filipino workers were recently ranked as the second worst in terms of work-life balance in a worldwide survey. One factor it cited is the lesser paid vacation leaves our workers have compared with their counterparts in other countries.
Photo by author, Sonnenberg Resort, Davao City, 2017.
Rest is not only stopping from work to be recharged like cellphone batteries; we are not things like robots and drones sent out simply for a task that once achieved, no more. We are inter-related persons meant to form bonds and unity, a family and a community. That is the result of our being sent on a mission to share God’s creative works leading to our union in Him with others.
God rested and made Sabbath holy after creation because He had completed all His works that were all good; we, on the other hand, merely participate in His creative works. That is why no matter how hard we push ourselves with our work, we can’t completely finish them as more things to do come along the way, making us bored or stressed out because we could no longer find life but simply routine. We have been so focused on accomplishing many things as if we are the savior of the world (messianic complex) that we feel so important, bloating our ego. That is when we start literally throwing our weight to those around us like in those reels of road rage. The sad part of this is how we eventually hurt the people we love and supposed to serve like the shepherds of the Old Testament that God through Jeremiah had accused to have “misled and scattered” the people of Israel (Jer.23:1).
Photo by author, border between Jordan and Israel, May 2019.
Today, Jesus is inviting us to “Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while (Mk.6:31)” to remind us that in everything we do in this life, what matters most is not the task but us, the persons we love and care for, and Christ who is our only fulfillment in life.
Like the apostles, we have to return to Jesus precisely because our mission, our work is not ours but Christ’s. We need to return to Jesus every Sunday in the Eucharist when we are nourished by His words and strengthened by His Body and Blood to sustain us in our mission.
Rest is neither doing nothing like sleeping all day or doing anything we like that we forget God and in the process, our very self and others. Rest is a time of conversion when we lay aside our plans and agenda by returning to God so that we could have focus again in this life. Rest is actually to be filled with God, to be holy.
This we find expressed perfectly in our Filipino word for rest which is pahinga from the root hinga or breath that is spiritus in Latin. To rest in Filipino is mag-pa-hinga that literally means hingahan, to be breathed on. Genesis tells us how God breathed on man to be alive after creating him while in John’s Gospel we find Jesus breathed on His apostles after greeting them with peace twice on the night of Easter when He appeared to them at the Upper Room. From here we get that beautiful imagery of rest as being breathed on by God – mag-pa-hinga sa Diyos – which is to be closer with God!
Here now is the challenge and best part of the good news this Sunday: the more closer we get to God in Jesus and through Jesus especially on Sunday our day of rest, the more we must get closer with others. The more we pray, the more we rest in the Lord, the more we serve, the more we love.
Mark told us how Jesus invited the Twelve to “come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while” but the people saw them and even got earlier to the other side of the lake!
When he disembarked and saw the vast crowd, his heart was moved with pity for them, for they were like sheep without a shepherd and he began to teach them many things (Mark 6:34).
Photo by author in the Holy Land, 2019.
Rest is more than the amount of time spent “resting” but the disposition to be with the Lord, to be one with Him that we become holy like Him. That moment when Jesus led the Twelve to rest was already a “rest” for Him that resulted in serving more the people who have followed them.
Jesus being moved with pity for the people indicated His rest and communion with the Father expressed in His oneness with the suffering people who were like sheep without a shepherd. Jesus has always been one with the Father right from the very start until His death on the Cross where He declared “It is finished” and commended His total self to the Father.
The truest sense of us having a real rest, of getting closer with God is when we get closer with others especially those entrusted to our love and care like our loved ones and those who are poor and sick.
Problem these days among us priests including laypeople is our wrong idea about rest; we do not really rest at all but simply indulge in pleasures that are many times scandalous for being godless and unmindful of other people. True rest makes our hearts natural to be aware of the sufferings of others, to be one with them or at least take their plight into consideration in our rest.
We can only say “mission accomplished” to rest when we are one with God through others that St. Paul explains in the second reading at how Jesus Christ reconciled us all through the Cross, “putting an enmity to death by it” (Eph. 2:16). Next Sunday, this we shall see when after teaching and healing the people in that deserted place, Jesus would feed the crowd of over 5000 people from just a few loaves of bread and pieces of fish.
Let us rest in the Lord to prepare our hearts and souls as well as our tired body to be filled with God so we can fill others too with Him. Let us pray:
Lord Jesus Christ, we live in a highly competitive world of 24/7 wherein everyone is so busy that we forget You and the persons You have entrusted to us; remind us we are not the Messiah nor a superhero to save the world; we can only do as much in this life as God had accomplished all for us in You, the Christ; let us take two or three even five steps backwards to let You, Jesus, do your work in us. Amen.
Our gospel today speaks so well of your graduation when “Jesus summoned his Twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits to drive them out and to cure every disease and even illness. The names of the Twelve Apostles are these…” (Matthew 10:1).
See how Matthew distinguished the Twelve: first, as disciples then as Apostles, a beautiful reminder to us all that first we learn and then we are sent out like you upon graduation.
“Disciple” is from the Latin word discipulos or follower which came from the verb discere, to learn. A follower or tagasunod in Filipino is a learner, someone who learns from a teacher. From it came also the word discipline; that is why, a disciplined person – one who is masunurin – is one who follows and obeys always not only persons but also the truths and new learnings he/she may have learned.
On the other hand, the word “apostle” is from the Greek apostolos which is to be sent forth. In the gospel, the Apostles are the Twelve members of Christ’s inner circle, those closest with Jesus. Though the gospel would always have that distinction between a disciple and an apostle, they are essentially inseparable because before one is sent forth, he/she has to be learned first. Therefore, every baptized person is both a disciple and an apostle, a learner of the Lord’s ways and teachings who is sent out to proclaim the Gospel to others in words and in deeds.
Every Christian is a disciple and an apostle with a special relationship with Jesus Christ.
That is most specially true with you, my dear Fatimanians, students and graduates of Our Lady of Fatima University here in Antipolo City.
“The Exhortation to the Apostles” painting by James Tissot (ca.1886-1894) from commons.wikimedia.org.
Being a disciple and an apostle is a continuous process of learning, following and sending.
Don’t ever think that graduation is the end of your studies. The more you get into your professional life, the more you must pursue learning to follow new trends in your fields of specialization as you are sent not only across the Philippines but even abroad, across the globe like most of our alumni.
Being a disciple and an apostle, learning and following and being sent, are more of the inside than of the outside. Remember that first lesson of the pencil: what is inside is most important, not the outside which today is given more importance and prominence especially in social media.
Puro palabas. All about the outside and externalities that are superficial like having the most likes, becoming viral and trending. It is all show which is what the word palabas means. Showbiz na show biz tayo pero walang laman.
When you look at the mirror like what the BINI would sing, “salamin, salamin…”, what do you see? Are you a reflection of a man or a woman of depth and meaning or one who is empty?
Learning is not about stacking information and data inside the brain like a computer; learning involves the education of the heart, of becoming “man as man himself” as we say here at OLFU. “To rise to the top” is not to rule over others but becoming “the glory of God in man fully alive”, reflecting our mottos Veritas et Misericordia.
As you leave the portals of our beloved alma mater, ask yourself: am I more loving and understanding with all the knowledge and learning I have gained after years of studies here at OLFU?
Education literally means “to lead out”… from darkness into light, from slavery into freedom, from ignorance into wisdom. St. Thomas Aquinas wrote that the more we gain knowledge, the more we become intelligent, the more we must become holy. A truly intelligent person is one who does what is good and avoids evil and sinful. But, why are we as a nation of so many graduates still kulelat in many aspects in life?
From The Valenzuela Times, 02 July 2024.
You must have seen that photo of our nursing student carrying on his back his girlfriend while crossing the flooded McArthur Highway in Valenzuela City last week.
At first I was so happy seeing that chivalry is still alive in this modern age; later that night, I felt disappointed and so sad when I saw the negative reactions. Most netizens clicked the LOL emoticons with others commenting the girl was OA, saying, sana nagholding hands na lang sila. At least some were honest enough to admit their jealousy, commenting sanaol!
Why the negative reaction these days when somebody does something good like sacrificing? Why do people seem to approve when we see videos and reels of wrongdoings and stupidities? Have we become a nation of delulu?
Even the words we use are being altered. I cannot understand why a girl is now spelled as gurl? Somebody asked me who is my bias among the lovely members of BINI; why say bias when you mean favorite?
Call me old and conservative but the trend these days seem to be rejoicing in what is negative and wrong and frowning at whatever is good and beautiful. Clearly it is not generation gap but more of a symptom of a sick society and generation, exactly like what Hosea mentioned in the first reading, of how people have turned away from God worshipping idols. Who and what are these modern idols we worship and follow these days? Do we still call on God our Father and to His Son Jesus Christ our Savior?
Photo by author, Our Lady of Fatima University, Valenzuela City, 2023.
If there is anything most important we must have learned in our university, it is the value of prayer, of opening to God like those three children at Fatima in 1917. See how the Blessed Mother, our Patroness, came to see and teach St. Francisco and his sister St. Jacinta Marto with their elder cousin Sr. Lucia for six consecutive months every 13th day to pray, do penance and celebrate the Mass.
It is my hope that you continue to pray the Rosary, you continue to celebrate Masses on Sundays after your graduation to always learn and follow Jesus who actually sends you to serve those most in need as nurses, medical technologists, pharmacists, accountants, and criminologists. Be the loving hands, the healing hands of Jesus Christ!
Remember what I have been telling you since I came here in Our Lady of Fatima University: even now that you are professionals, continue to study hard, work harder, and pray hardest. God bless you, dear graduates of 2024!
From the cbcpnews.net, 13 May 2022, at the Parish of the National Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima, Valenzuela City.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Friday in the Fifteenth Week of Ordinary Time, Year II, 19 July 2024 Isaiah 38:1-6, 21-22, 7-8 <*((((>< + ><))))*> Matthew 12:1-8
Photo by author, somewhere in Bgy. Kaysuyo, Alfonso, Cavite, 27 April 2024.
When Hezekiah was mortally ill, the prophet Isaiah, son of Amoz, came and said to him: “Thus says the Lord: Put your house in order, for you are about to die; you shall not recover. Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord… Then the word of the Lord came to Isaiah: “Go, tell Hezekiah: Thus says the Lord, the God of your father David: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears. I will heal you: in three days you shall go up to the Lord’s temple; I will add fifteen years to your life” (Isaiah 38:1-2, 4-5).
God our Father, help us to put our house in order; give us the courage and strength to put our lives in order by sincerely admitting our sins with a firm resolve to turn away from them and live the gospel of Jesus your Son.
Let me put order to my spiritual life by cultivating the discipline to pray daily keeping that relationship with You; let me put order in my life by seeking ways to be more loving with others than finding their faults; let me put order in my life by being less judgmental of others to be more charitable and understanding.
Like Hezekiah let me accept my fate, let me accept death: "In the noontime of life I must depart! To the gates of the nether world I shall be consigned for the rest of my years" (Isaiah 38:10); how wonderful that without praying for his healing but for the grace to accept your will, You healed Hezekiah and prolonged his life to serve You more than ever. Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Thursday in the Fifteenth Week of Ordinary Time, Year II, 18 July 2024 Isaiah 26: 7-9, 12, 16-19 <'[[[[>< + ><]]]]'> Matthew 11:28-30
Your words today, O God, are so refreshing that I wish to pray like your Prophet Isaiah: "The way of the just is smooth; the path of the just you make level. My soul yearns for you in the night, yes, my spirit within me keeps vigil for you; For your dew is a dew of light, and the land of shades gives birth" (Isaiah 26:7, 9, 19).
Freshen us, O Lord, from our dirt and exhaustion from sin!
Refresh our thoughts and our feelings, make them crystal clear like the dew in the morning to see your kindness and mercy!
Gladden our hearts, uplift our souls with your presence in Christ Jesus who calls us daily to come to Him and have rest, because His yoke is easy, His burden is light (Matthew 11:28-30).
Let us surrender to You in Jesus Christ for there is no salvation outside from You except in Him; so true are the words of Isaiah: "As a woman about to give birth writhes and cries out in pains, so were we in your presence, O Lord. We conceived and writhed in pain, giving birth to wind; salvation we have not achieved for the earth, the inhabitants of the world cannot bring it forth. But your dead shall live, their corpses shall rise; awake and sing, you who lie in the dust" (Isaiah 11: 17-19).
Teach us to appreciate and value the little things in life we take for granted like the droplets of dew in the morning enough to set our face aglow again of new beginnings; in coming to us, Jesus taught us the value of being small, being little, being silent, being humble when life begins and regenerates always. Let us arise anew in Jesus from our deep sleep in sin through His dew of light, a glimmer of better days ahead. Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Wednesday in the Fifteenth Week of Ordinary Time, Year II, 17 July 2024 Isaiah 10:5-7, 13-16 ><))))*> + ><))))*> + ><))))*> Matthew11:25-27
Photo by Dra. Mylene A. Santos, MD in Infanta, Quezon 2020.
Praise and glory to You, God our loving Father who has the whole world in your hands; nothing happens by chance, all good things come from You and if ever something bad happens, You know it for sure; You never punish us for our sins and whatever bad happens to us is a result of our transgressions, of turning away from You; therefore, let us always hope and trust in You for You never abandon us your children especially in our times of trials and tribulations; in the same manner, let us not be so proud when we are in the height of our success believing we are the best because You have the final say in history; let us not be proud like Assyria of old:
“My hand has seized like a nest the riches of nations; as one takes eggs left alone, so I took in all the earth; no one fluttered a wing, or opened a mouth, or chirped!”
Will the axe boast against him who hews with it? Will the saw exalt itself above him who wields it? As if a rod could sway him who lifts it, or a staff him who is not wool! Therefore the Lord, the Lord of hosts, will send among his fat leanness, and instead of his glory there will be kindling like the kindling of fire (Isaiah 10:14-16).
Teach me, dear Jesus, to be small like a child, simple and trusting in You; feeling more than thinking more, kind and loving than analyzing and sizing up others, most of all, lowly and humble because You alone has the whole world in your hands. Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Tuesday, Memorial of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, 16 July 2024 Isaiah 7:1-9 <*((((>< M+ ><))))*> Matthew 11:20-24
Photo by author, Holy Family Monastery of Our Lady of Carmel, Guiguinto, Bulacan 2019.
Thank You, dear God our Father to your reminder today through your prophet, "Unless your faith is firm you shall not be firm!" (Isaiah 7:9).
So many times I forget this truth as I try to do everything to make myself strong physically, mentally and emotionally; so many times I forget that everything is fleeting in this world especially my body, including my enemies; many times I forget that the path to real strength of my person is in having a firm faith in You because only You remain.
Everything passes in this world; nations and peoples, cities and states rise and fall but, not You, O Lord! You never stop speaking your words of wisdom into the silence of my heart, calling me to trust in You, to have faith in You as You find ways in saving me from my many problems and miseries. Give me the grace to repent and to harden not my heart when I hear Your voice in Christ Jesus with Mary our Lady of Carmel. Amen.
It is very disappointing that the recent statement of the CBCP on divorce was so unusually soft, trying to balance everything like walking on a thin line, very cautious of not stepping on whoever’s feet or hurting their feelings.
What is most sad is how this statement so watered down unlike the bishops’ previous pronouncements in the last elections supporting a candidate. It is so frustrating for us Catholics when our bishops have repeatedly crossed boundaries getting into partisan politics supporting many election candidates when on this part of our nation’s history they are tepid in standing by the Lord’s flock under attack by fierce and intense pro-divorce lawmakers and supporters. This is the crucial moment when our bishops should rally us more in defending our stand against divorce being the last country where it is still illegal.
We shall have another piece on that later as we continue today our sharing of our past wedding homilies we hope can help you be clarified why we must oppose the divorce bill. Of course, we cannot impose our stand against divorce but we make it clear to everyone why we are against it. After all, it is an informed choice we make guided by the grace of God and the Holy Spirit.
Here is our homily at the wedding at the Manila Cathedral on January 16, 2006 of our very good friend from UST’s the Varsitarian, Dra. Chona T. Capulong and Mr. Stephen Kemp of Kansas.
Twenty three years ago and less than 50 pounds today, our friend and former managing editor Chona had a column at the Varsitarian called “Choice Cuts.”
I will never forget her column with its very catchy title, so well written and most of all, more than 20 years later today, the gospel she had chosen for her wedding speaks about choosing, about choices, Jesus told his disciples, “It was not you who chose me, but I who chose and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain…” (John 15:16).
Today we are so blessed to have been called and chosen by Chona and Stephen to be present in this most joyous day of their lives when they pledge their love for each other before God and His people. Let me stress on those words of Jesus saying how we are all “called and chosen to bear fruit.”
God calling and choosing us to bear fruit. The all-knowing God making a choice for us and should we be glad and grateful for that!?
When God calls and chooses us, He does not remove our freedom which is the ability to choose what is good, not simply whatever you want. What happens is that when God calls and chooses us, this gift of freedom is actually enhanced because the Ultimate Good shows us what’s best for us.
That God choosing us rather than us choosing Him is evidently true in friendships and marriage. Chona is from this city of Manila, thousands of kilometers from Wichita, Kansas where Stephen comes from.
How they have met and be in love is a long story; what matters is the choice made by God for them and how they cooperated in that choice.
Most often, whenever we make a choice, it is oriented towards success and triumph. We always make it a point that it would be advantageous for us and most of all, easy and convenient because as much as possible, we want lesser problems and lesser risks.
Being successful, whether in life or in marriage or in business is characterized and based on strength and powers, of how we are able to control situations and bend them to our own advantage. It is about power.
On the other hand, when God makes a choice for us, it is different.
When God makes a choice for us, it is always difficult and never convenient, slow and time-consuming. Most of all, God’s choice always entails sacrifices from our part because, it is so good that we have to be emptied first in order to receive such a beautiful gift like marriage.
When God makes a choice for us, it is always based on our weakness and vulnerabilities. God is not concerned with our being “successful” but more with being fruitful because in this life, especially in marriage, it does not really matter what or how much we have achieved but what have we become.
We may have all the wealth and power in the world, all the success but, what have we become?
Have we been more loving, more forgiving, more understanding, more generous, more honest, more faithful?
Bearing fruit is different from being successful in the sense that when God makes the choices for us, He makes us into better persons, becoming the best husband or best wife or the best person in the world. This He does by letting us come to terms with our own weaknesses and vulnerabilities, emptying ourselves of these impurities and being filled by God’s goodness and holiness.
Being fruitful in marriage means being able to understand and accept, even own because of love the shortcomings of a spouse or of those around us. Being fruitful in life or in marriage is being able to bear all the pains and hardships of life because like in gardening, it is the constant pruning of trees and plants that lead to more blossoms and fruits. It is being like Jesus Christ who willingly accepted His Cross because of His great love for us. He did not remove the Cross but made it holy instead.
Chona and Stephen, this wedding is already a fruit of that call and choosing by Jesus on you. After so many pains and hurts as well as sacrifices from both of you, this day had finally come for both of you to stand before the altar of God and offer yourselves to His plans and choices. This is not the end but the beginning of more pains and hurts and sacrifices.
I am not scaring you, Chona and Stephen; however, may this wedding be an assurance for for both of you that, although there would be more problems and difficulties and trials waiting for you along the way of your married life, be assured of the great glory and fruitful life ahead for both of you.
Continue to cooperate with God’s choices for you by leading a life of faith, hope and love rooted in prayers. Jesus had called and chosen you, Chona and Stephen; Jesus would always be with you because He knows what’s best for you. Amen.
Stephen died a few years ago before the COVID pandemic but our friend Chona had remained firm in her faith in God, raising their daughter into a lovely young lady she is now. Last week, Chona told me how proud and happy she is her daughter is going to take her college abroad, away from her!
So glad that despite her fears as a mother, she had allowed her daughter to study abroad, believing, of course, it is God’s choice for her to eventually become a better woman someday. May we be faithful not only in our duties and responsibilities but especially with the people entrusted to us by God whom He had chosen to become parts of our lives.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Monday, Memorial of St. Bonaventure, Doctor of the Church, 15 July 2024 Isaiah 1:10-17 <*((((>< + ><))))*> Matthew 10:34-11:1
Photo from The Valenzuela Times, 02 July 2024.
On this blessed Monday, your word "bring" invites me to examine what I bring:
“Trample my courts no more! Bring no more worthless offerings; your incense is loathsome to me” (Isaiah 1:13).
Jesus said to his Apostles: “Do not think that I have come to bring peace upon the earth. I have come to bring not peace but the sword” (Matthew 10:34).
Teach me, O Lord, to bring your peace and justice, to bring your truth and light so that I may bring that much-needed balance we are searching in life.
Like St. Bonaventure, help me to bring myself before You, dear God in prayers, to immerse myself in your words in the scriptures so that I may bring together the ideal and practical, the spiritual and material.
Many times, O Lord, we bring our very selves, it is our ego and pride we love to bring everywhere for everyone to see, forgetting that we must first bring You back into our hearts, bring You back into our minds, bring You back into our lives so that we can finally bring out the best worship of You. Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Friday in the Fourteenth Week of Ordinary Time, Year II, 12 July 2024 Hosea 14:2-10 <*[[[[><< + >><]]]]*> Matthew 10:16-23
Thus says the Lord: Return, O Israel, to the Lord, your God; you have collapsed through your guilt. Take with you words, and return to then Lord; Say to him, “Forgive all iniquity, and receive what is good, that we may render as offerings the bullocks from our stalls” (Hosea 24:2-3).
Loving Father, let us "take words" with us this Friday, words of contrition for our sins, words of true repentance, words begging your mercy, words that are sincere not empty words; many times in this world of social media, we multiply words, we shout words, we alter words to give new meanings that suit us; many times our words are mere words, never bearing fruit, could not even stand because they are not true; like Jesus your Son, teach us to "enflesh" our words, let our words to You be translated into realities of conversion and loving service for one another.
When they hand you over, do not worry about how you are to speak or what to say. You will be given at that moment what you are to say. For it will not be you who speak but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you” (Matthew 10:20).
Let us heed your words, Lord Jesus Christ, for us to be "shrewd as serpents and simple as doves" by learning to be silent to let the Holy Spirit speak through us; in this noisy world with so many competing words and sounds, it has become indeed a persecution to be silent; it is more difficult to be silent to await your words, Lord; it is always easier to speak and add to the cacophony of deafening and hurtful words against each other than to just listen to our hearts, to listen to your words of love and mercy; like the psalmist, let my mouth declare your praise by awaiting your words first, not mine. Amen.
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