40 Shades of Lent, Friday after Ash Wednesday, 28 February 2020
Isaiah 58:1-9 +++ 0 +++ Matthew 9:14-15
Have mercy on us, O God, have mercy… for we are still totally lost on the real meaning of fasting and abstinence. We have lost its spiritual meaning, focusing more on ourselves for vanity reasons like losing weight and looking good, totally forgetting fasting is all about you and others than us!
How unfortunate, dear God, that we no longer fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday but even on Sundays before receiving your Son Jesus in the Holy Communion by making all kinds of excuses with bold claims of having sacrificed so much in doing good deeds for you.
Thus says the Lord God: Cry out full-throated and unsparingly, lift up your voice like a trumpet blast. Tell my people their wickedness, and the house of Jacob their sins. They seek me day after day, and desire to know my ways, like a nation that has done what is just and not abandoned the law of their God. They ask me to declare what is due them, pleased to gain access to God. “Why do we fast, and you do not see it? Afflict ourselves, and you take no note of it?” Lo, on your fast day you carry out your own pursuits, and drive all your laborers. Yes, your fast ends in quarreling and fighting, striking with wicked claw. This, rather, is the fasting that I wish: releasing those bound unjustly, untying the thongs of the yoke; setting free the oppressed, breaking every yoke; sharing your bread with the hungry, sheltering the oppressed and the homeless; clothing the naked when you see them, and not turning your back on your own.”
Isaiah 58:1-4, 6-7
Make us realize that fasting is not punishing ourselves, of denying ourselves with goods and pleasures of the world that leave us empty, wanting for more but never fulfilled deep inside.
Fasting is actually rewarding ourselves with you, O God, our only wealth and treasure, our only fulfillment.
Help us create an empty space within ourselves through fasting and abstinence so that your Son Jesus may dwell and reign in our hearts, saying from within us, “Here I am!” (Is. 58:9).Amen.
40 Shades of Lent, Thursday after Ash Wednesday, 27 February 2020
Deuteronomy 30:15-20 +++ 0 +++ Luke 9:22-25
As we step forward into the second day of Lent, O Lord, you remind us today of your call to conversion which is actually a call to love and a call to life.
Forgive us, O Lord, for those times we have turned away from you in sins, thinking that is the path to life, the path to freedom, the path to fulfillment – only to find out later it is the path to destruction and death.
Moses said to the people: “Today I have set before you life and prosperity, death and doom. If you obey the commandments of the Lord, your God, which I enjoin on you today, loving him, and walking in his ways, and keeping his commandments, statutes and decrees, you will live and grow numerous, and the Lord, your God, will bless you in the land you are entering to occupy. I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. Choose life, then, that you and your descendants may live, by loving the Lord, your God, heeding his voice, and holding fast to him.”
Deuteronomy 30:15-16, 19-20
Photo by author, our Parish altar candle, Lent 2019.
Help us, Jesus, “to deny ourselves, take up our crosses daily, and follow you” (Lk.9:23) in the path of conversion and fidelity to your everlasting covenant.
Make us realize that Lent is more than a season we yearly celebrate but a reality of life itself, a life so blessed in your coming to be one with us in our sufferings and struggles.
Give us the strength, dear Jesus, to renew your covenant with us, to always choose God, choose life.
May we also share your love and mercy, understanding and patience, kindness and compassion to our fellow pilgrims in this journey of life so that together in the end, we may all enter into the house of the Father in heaven. Amen.
Lawiswis Ng Salita ni P. Nicanor F. Lalog II, ika-26 ng Pebrero 2020
Mula sa Google.
Mierculés de ceniza
araw ng pag-aayuno at abstinensiya
ngunit tila wala nang nagpapahalaga
ni nakaka-alala.
Marahil ay nalimot na nga
at binalewala mga banal na gawain
tuwing cuaresma na nagpapa-alala
kahalgahan ng Diyos higit sa lahat.
Nagtitiis ng gutom
hindi pinapayagang sayaran
ng anumang laman ang tiyan
alang-alang sa kaganapan at kabanalan.
Kaya nga kung titingnan
pag-aayuno ay higit pa sa sakripisyo
na kung saan tiyan ay walang laman
upang magkapuwang Tagapagligtas ng tanan.
Ngayong cuaresma sana iyong mabuksan
puso at kalooban tingnan ano ba kanilang mga laman
baka naman mga wala nang kabuluhan
pabigat lamang sa kalooban.
Bigyan ng puwang upang makapanahan
sa ating puso at kalooban si Kristong maasahan
upang ngayon pa lamang maranasan
hatid ng Diyos na kaligtasan sa mga sa kanya'y mayroong puwang.
40 Shades of Lent, Ash Wednesday, 26 February 2020
Joel 2:12-18 + + + 2 Corinthians 5:20-6:2 + + + Matthew 6:1-6,16-18
From Google.
We begin today the Season of Lent, the 40 days of prayers and fasting, contrition and alms-giving in preparation for Easter Sunday. It is the only season in our liturgical calendar that starts on an ordinary day, Ash Wednesday when we are reminded of that basic truth in life we have always evaded: that we all die and go back to God.
“Remember man that dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.”
In this age of social media where many practically live in media making known to everyone everything happening to them from confinement to hospital to drinking coffee somewhere or simply saying “thank you” to someone just beside for a gift they have received, the more we need this blessed season to recover the essential realities in life like our true self and God.
So unlike Adam and Eve who went into hiding after their fall, modern men and women have shamelessly flaunt everything they think they have that actually indicate what they lack – depth and meaning, sense and respect.
Ash Wednesday enables us to find anew our bearings in life that must be centered in God, our very life and meaning of being and existence.
Life is a daily Lent.
From Google.
St. Benedict tells his followers in his Rule that “the life of a monk ought to be a continuous Lent”. And this is also very true for every Christian who follows Jesus Christ as Lord and Master.
Our life is a daily Exodus from darkness into light, from sin into grace, from failure into victory, from slavery into freedom when we experience the Paschal mystery of Jesus Christ even if we are not aware of it.
And the sooner we become aware of this reality, the better for us because that is when we find more meaning in life, the deeper our existence becomes.
Pope Francis tells us in his Lenten Message this year that “Jesus’ Pasch is not a past event; rather, through the power of the Holy Spirit it is ever present, enabling us to see and touch with faith the flesh of Christ in those who suffer.”
Life is all about God. This life we live is a sharing in his very life and the more are aware of this reality and link, the more we discover its beauty because we get to know God more in Jesus Christ who have come in flesh and blood for us.
“Brothers and sisters: We are ambassadors for Christ, as if God were appealing through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.”
2 Corinthians 5:20
To be reconciled to God is to be one in God in Christ Jesus through daily conversion. This we achieve through the many sacrifices and corporal and spiritual works of mercy during this season. Fact is, these pious practices are meant to be done even outside the Lenten season so we never lose sight that life is all about God, not us.
From Google.
Lent is a journey into our hearts, and into the heart of God, too!
In these 40 days of Lent, we try little by little to “rend our hearts, not our garments to return to the Lord our God” (Joel 2:13) through prayers and sacrifices. These are done not for others to see but primarily for us to find and meet God waiting for us always to experience his love and mercy, his life and his fullness right in our hearts.
Like in our gospels these past two weeks when we reflected on the “education of the heart”, it is the truth of the heart that is being worked out in Lent. It is our heart that must be strengthened and converted by all these religious practices of the season.
It is in our hearts where God dwells and resides though we often try to bury and disregard.
All these fasting and abstinence, confessions and alms-giving as well as other works of mercy are meant to create a space in our hearts for God and for others. Without the proper attitude in our hearts, everything then becomes a hypocrisy that neither deceives God nor fools humans.
See how Jesus in the gospel which is also a part of his Sermon on the Mount which we have been reflecting these past three Sundays of Ordinary Time have painstakingly reminded us to guard against pleasing humans than God.
Jesus said to his disciples: “Take care not to perform righteous deeds in order that people may see them; otherwise, you will have no recompense from your heavenly Father.”
Matthew 6:1
It is not that we are encouraged to give alms, pray and fast to get rewards from God that Jesus is telling us to practice these pieties but in order to be more focused with the Father. Ultimately, getting into heaven is the reason why Jesus came to save us, to assure us of this reward of being with the Father eternally. There is nothing else greater than that.
This is why Lent is all about God, not us.
From Google.
In our journey to him this season, both as an individual and as a community, Lent enables us to free ourselves from our strong individualistic drives within so we can truly experience conversion in the midst of a community of believers.
The more we see God, we see our sinful selves, and that is when we are converted and renewed in Christ.
This is always marked with a deep realization that we are not alone, that there are also others suffering with whom we must share with God’s rich mercy and love rather than keep these for ourselves alone.
That is what that ash on our forehead reminds us, of God who loves us all, dwelling within each one of us, renewing us, loving us, and most of all, forgiving us. Amen.
40 Shades of Lent, Saturday, Week-V, 13 April 2019
Ezekiel 37:21-28///John 11:45-56
From Google.
After forty days, we are finally home in you, God our Father. Finally. But, are we really home? Are we ready for the holiest of all your days, Lord, set to begin tonight with the Palm Sunday of your Passion?
Continue to cleanse our hearts and our souls, Lord.
Continue to guide us into your direction, not like some of the people of your time.
Many of the Jews who had come to Mary and seen what Jesus had done began to believe in him. But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done.
John 11:45-46
Lead us home into the Father, Lord Jesus.
Fulfill in us Ezekiel’s prophecy:
My dwelling shall be with them; I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Thus the nations shall know that it is I, the Lord, who makes Israel holy, when my sanctuary shall be set up among them forever.
Thank you Lord for Lent, for the 40 days of journey. May each day be always a journey with you and in you always. Amen.
Lawiswis ng Salita ni P. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Ika-12 ng Abril 2019
Larawan mula sa Google.
Papatapos na ang Kuwaresma Malapit na ang Semana Santa Halina't magtika sa ating mga pagkakasala Upang madama dakilang pag-ibig Niya.
Minsa'y aking nakita estatwa sa karosa Paglalatigo sa haliging bato ni Hesu-Kristo; Natigilan at nagmuni-muni ako Pinagnilayan kaawa-awang larawan.
Ayon sa kuwento sa ebanghelyo Ng minamahal na disipulo ni Kristo Nagkakagulo mga tao kaya natakot si Pilato Na palayain si Kristo sa mga bintang na di totoo.
Naramdaman ko sa pagninilay ko Pagbabakasakali ni Pilato Kung ipahampas niya sa haliging bato Baka maawa mga tao kay Kristo.
Simbahan ng Sagrada Familia, Barcelona, Espana. Kuha ni Arch. Philip Santiago, Oktubre 2018.
Nagkamali si Pilato, hindi nabago mga lilo Kaya binabaran ko tagpong ito sa praetorio Sinikap kong sulyapan habang pinagninilayan Sugatan niyang katawan labis pinagmalupitan.
Sa aking katahimikan at kalungkutan Aking napakinggan kanyang tinuran: "Masdan kagagawan tuwing katotohanan Ay hindi ninyo mapangatawanan."
Natigilan ako, totoo ba aking napakinggan Muli sa aki'y tinuran ng Poong sugatan: "Hindi naman ako talagang inyong sinasaktan Sa ginagawa ninyong mga kasalanan."
Sa katahimikan nitong aking pagninilay Ako nasaktan nang makita siyang duguan Sa mga mata niyang malamlam aking ramdam Kanyang habag at kaamuhan.
Ginawa ni Pilato alalaong-baga Sa kasabihan nating mga Filipino Ay namangka sa dalawang ilog Kanyang pinagsabay mga bagay na magkahiwalay.
Hindi makapamili kung susundin ang budhi Nahihirati sa kiliti ng ilang sandali Hindi alintana mga sugat at hapdi Lalo lamang tayo nasasawi.
Halina't magsuri ng maigi Baka tayo ma'y ganyan ang gawi at ugali Katotohanan at kabutihan hindi kayang panindigan Inaasam kusang bubuti masamang kalagayan.
Ipahahampas mo ba muli si Kristo Sa haliging bato ng ating pagkalito? Hahatol ka ba tulad ni Pilato Na tiyak naman tayo ang talo?
The Jews picked up rocks to stone Jesus. Jesus answered them, “I have shown you many good works from my Father. For which of these are you trying to stone me?”
John 10:31-32
O dear Jesus, my Lord and my God, I could relate so much with you in this episode in your life. Lately, I have been feeling so down, wondering how could people give me in return evil deeds and pains after all the goodness I have shown them? There are still many others out there wondering the same, feeling the same.
We all feel like, you, O Jesus, asking our detractors, our very own relatives and friends, which of the good works we have done to them are they stoning us?
We all feel like Jeremiah too, your the prophet.
I hear the whisperings of many: “Terror on every side! Denounce! Let us denounce him!” All those who were my friends are on the watch for any misstep of mine. “Perhaps he will be trapped; then we can prevail, and take our vengeance on him.”
Jeremiah 20:10
In our distress, O Lord, hear our calls!
Keep us strong and faithful always to you. If life is Lent, then life is about persecutions, about sufferings. We have accepted it Lord but sometimes we cry, we get weak, we want to rest and stop because things are getting too much.
But, Lent has a spirit and character that refresh us, renew us with the thought that before all these persecutions and sufferings came our way, you were there first for us, Lord Jesus to, bear all these pains. Even dying on the Cross. Amen.
40 Shades of Lent, Thursday, Week-V, 11 April 2019
Genesis 17:3-9///John 8:51-59
From Google.
Almost forty days ago since we started this journey on Ash Wednesday, we have reflected that “life is Lent”. Today, O Lord, as we nearly conclude this Season of Lent on Saturday morning, we come full circle to that reality.
Life is Lent because it is about being with you, our God, our Father following your direction in Christ Jesus.
With you, God, we find life.
Without you, God, we lose life.
Help us to remain in you, dear God. To always stay with you as you have told Abraham from the very beginning.
God also said to Abraham: “On your part, you and your descendants after you must keep my covenant throughout the ages.”
Genesis 17:9
Help us to remember and keep this always as you remind us too, that Jesus Christ your Son is our Savior primarily because everything he said and done were said and done in obedience to you his Father.
Jesus is the obedient one just like Abraham who first showed us how life is a daily Lent, of being centered on you, always listening to you, always doing your will.
In a few days we shall enter the Holy Week. May we always bring with us the lessons of this Season of Lent, that life will always be Lent, of being with you, staying with you, our God and Master. Amen.
40 Shades of Lent, Wednesday, Week-V, 10 April 2019
Daniel 3:14-20, 91-92, 95///John 8:31-42
From Google.
If you remain in my word, you will truly be my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.
John 8:31-32
Very often Lord Jesus, when you talk of us being set free, we feel like the people of your time bragging
…we have never been enslaved to anyone.
John 8:33
Very often, Lord, we feel so proud to claim being one with you, truly serving you when in fact we are enslaved by so many pleasures in life.
There are many ways of serving you, of being free for you, of being faithful to you.
But there is only one sure way of being enslaved: when we desire to please our very selves and others.
Like in the first reading, it is very easy to please King Nebuchadnezzar in serving false gods, thinking these would not harm us, that we can control ourselves, that we would not completely fall into it. There are many instances we think that with these modern times with the modern thoughts and modern ways of life sweeping all around us, just a little pleasure would not mean anything at all, would never have a control over us until we are trapped, enslaved, and have lost everything.
Knowing the truth is being one with you, O Lord: remaining in you, staying with you. Loving you, serving you. Through others. Not pleasing myself. Amen.
lordmychef.com 