letting go

Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Tuesday, Twentieth Week in Ordinary Time, Year II
Ezekiel 28:1-10     ><))))*> + ><))))*> + ><))))*>     Matthew 19:23-30

*Photo from tidycasa.com, KonMari Method of Decluttering.*

How wonderful
for the second straight day
your words, O Lord,
are still about "losing",
about the radical question
of what I still lack
in this life to have fulfillment!

We still have a long way
to go to really learn how to lose,
how to let go of so many things
even persons so we may finally
realize what we still lack.

Foremost of this is 
losing,
letting go
of our pride.

The word of the Lord came to me: Son of man, say to the prince of Tyre: therefore thus says the Lord God: Because you have thought yourself to have the mind of a god, therefore I will bring against you foreigners, the most barbarous nations. They shall draw their swords against your beauteous wisdom, they shall run them through your splendid apparel. They shall thrust you down to the pit, there to die a bloodied corpse, in the heart of the sea. Will you then say, “I am a god!” when you face your murderers? No, you are a man, not a god, handed over to those who will slay you (Ezekiel 28:1-2, 7-9).

Like the king of Tyre,
many times our ego gets bloated
by our success and achievements
that we believe so much in ourselves
as if we are gods;
many times when we are on top
of everything because of our 
talents and abilities,
even of our goodness,
we forget you, God
and think we are
the Lord.

Such was the sinister pride
in Peter when he dared to tell
you Jesus, "We have given up
everything and followed you.
What will there be for us?"
(Matthew 19:27);
remind us always,
Jesus,
that no matter goodness
we have done,
it was still purely from
your grace,
and not really ours alone.

Truly,
Lord Jesus Christ, 
"it is easier for a camel
to pass through the eye of a needle
that for one who is rich 
to enter the Kingdom of God"
(Matthew 19:24);
help us,
therefore,
to be poo in you,
Lord Jesus;
help us to give up
whatever we still keep
in us that we believe
we have given up
like any iota of pride.
Amen.

Both readings are
so timely for us these days
when we have so much of
every thing except of you,
O Lord; we rarely ask
"what do I still lack" in its
truest sense - of learning to let
go of what we have in order to have
the most essential.

Often,
we think of having what
we still lack in order to have
more of every thing;
but you teach us today,
Jesus, what we really lack
is you through others;
what we really lack are
the poor and the sick,
those who have less in life;
what we really lack still
is life eternal,
of having you O Lord
as basis and foundation
of our relationships.

In this time when rains
continue to pour
for the third straight week,
the more we are concerned
of what material things we still
lack and forget about the warmth
and smiles of others so disadvantaged
due to floods and lack of work;
teach us, Jesus,
to be like Ezekiel in the first
reading to see and realize
that the most painful loss
in this life is not losing a loved one
nor wealth and things
but in losing our souls to
sin and evil.
Amen.

Tag: letting go

What have we really given up?

What do I still lack?