The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Tuesday in the Seventh Week of Easter, 23 May 2023
Acts 20:17-27 ><))))*> + ><))))*> + ><))))*> John 17:1-11
Photo by author, Anvaya Cove, Morong, Bataan, 19 May 2023.
Lord Jesus Christ,
give me the courage and
strength to choose what is
most difficult
in order for me to follow you
more closely.
It is in choosing
the most difficult
that we are able to
follow and do your
most holy will, Lord;
it is in the most difficult,
in the most painful,
and in the most trying
when we become truly selfless,
being able to give ourselves to you,
Lord,
through others
like your great apostle
St. Paul.
“But now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem. What will happen to me there I do not know, except that in one city after another the Holy Spirit has been warning me that imprisonment and hardships await me. Yet I consider life of no importance to me, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to bear witness to the Gospel of God’s grace.”
Acts of the Apostles 20:22-24
How ironic, dear Jesus
that in this age when
the instant and easy ways
are glorified and desired much
especially when they bring
fame and wealth,
the more our lives
have become empty
of meaning and
lacking directions.
Keep me close to you,
Jesus, especially
to your Cross
for it is through
your suffering and
death we also enter
eternal life in you.
Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Friday in the Sixth Week of Easter, 19 May 2023
Acts 18:9-18 ><]]]]'> + ><]]]]'> + ><]]]]'> John 16:20-23
Photo by Mr. Mon Macatangga, 12 May 2023.
Dearest Lord Jesus,
thank you very much for this
week about to close,
thank you for this Friday
before the Solemnity of your
Ascension.
Your words today are very
encouraging, inviting us to
keep on working in your vineyard,
to keep your love alive amid the many
sufferings and trials in this life.
Jesus said to his disciples: “Amen, amen, I say to you, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices; you will grieve but your grief will become joy. When a woman is in labor, she is in anguish because her hour has arrived; but when she has given birth to a child, she no longer remembers the pain because of her joy that a child has been born into the world.”
John 16:20-22
What a lovely description of joy,
Lord Jesus!
So encouraging to keep us going
in your mission of proclaiming your gospel,
so encouraging even without you appearing
to us in a vision like with St. Paul
at Corinth to become witnesses
of your loving presence and service
to one another.
Remind us, dear Jesus,
to never look for numbers in measuring
the results of your mission;
true joy comes from the life
we bring forth into this world
like a mother giving birth to a child;
keep us simple in our goals today
in giving life, in keeping the love alive
through simple gestures of a smile,
a handshake, a pat on the shoulder,
a hi or hello to anyone,
a thank you and welcome,
a joke that tickles the bone.
Enable us to become your
loving presence to those grieving
today in silence while the world rejoices;
through us, may they experience
life and joy in you,
dear Jesus.
Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Music by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, 15 May 2023
Photo by author, Jesuit Cemetery at the Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, Quezon City, 21 March 2023.
Hello dear friends! After almost a year of absence, we are back with our featured music we find related with our Sunday Mass gospel yesterday when Jesus told his disciples to keep his commandment of love as he prepared them for his approaching Passion, Death, and Resurrection leading to his Ascension.
In our homily, we have reflected that loving entails suffering.
And the most painful suffering in loving is when our beloved leaves us, whether temporarily or permanently like in death (https://lordmychef.com/2023/05/14/loving-living-leaving/) or infidelity of a partner in any relationship.
The song “Everytime You Go Away” captures that pain of leaving, of being left behind by a beloved because every leaving tears him apart as she takes a piece of him.
And everytime you go away
You take a piece of me with you
And everytime you go away
You take a piece of me with you, you
Sharing with you that part of our homily yeterday:
“Leaving is the most painful part of loving because every time a beloved leaves us, he/she takes a part of us, leaving us hollowed for the rest of our lives. The pain remains, leaving a hole in us. We merely transcend and move on but that hole remains. This is where loving and living become most challenging, most beautiful as they lead us to more amazing revelations as Christ had promised: “And whoever loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and reveal myself to him” (Jn.14:21).
When we continue to love and live despite our loved ones leaving us, we soon realize that life is actually more of a series of coming than of leaving. When children leave home to go to college, they come to new sage in their lives; when they get married and leave home, they come to form their own family too! When a beloved leaves us in death, he/she comes to eternal life.
Meanwhile, we who are left behind live on, loving amid the pains of a beloved’s leaving, risking and hoping in love. That is when new things open up for us as we slowly discover many other things that do not necessarily replace the one we love and left us but actually make them more present in their absence. That is because we sooner or later find out that we have become like the ones we love who have left us! We are slowly transformed by their physical absence because their leaving had pushed us to love more that in the process, we have become like them. Is it not that is the reason of love, that we become like the one we love, be it God or another person?”
Everytime You Go Away was composed by Daryl Hall in 1980 that was included in their studio album Voices with John Oates. It was covered by Paul Young in 1985 and became an instant hit worldwide.
We prefer the Hall & Oates original not only because we are a big fan of the dynamic duo ever since the 80’s but we find Paul Young’s version so pop and light, even cheesy. Daryl Hall’s version is still the best, so heart-felt rendition as you could feel his soul in his impressive vocals that are so powerful yet, so lovingly muy simpatico! Here is a man truly in love despite the pains and hurts by his girlfriend’s leaving and infidelity. Worth mentioning too are the great instrumentations so characteristic of every Hall & Oates music that are mostly considered now as classics.
Hear now and listen to Hall & Oates’ Everytime You Go Away… fall in love again despite the loss.
We have no intentions of infringing into the copyrights of this music and its uploader except to share its beauty and listening pleasure.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Monday in the Sixth Week of Easter, 15 May 2023
Acts 16:11-15 ><)))*> + ><)))*> + ><)))*> John 15:26-16:4
Photo by author, Jesuit cemetery, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, Quezon City, 21 March 2023.
Dearest Jesus,
this prayer is for those
who are about to quit,
for those who feel like giving up,
for those losing hope and
meaning in life because of
failures and disappointments,
of sickness and medical conditions,
of all kinds of brokenness.
Send them your Holy Spirit, Lord,
to touch their hearts and souls,
to enlighten their minds and their hearts
that they are loved,
that nothing happens in life without
your knowing,
and most of all, setbacks are temporary;
not all days are bright
and shiny!
Console, dear Jesus,
those at the edge of giving up
their dreams and goals,
of giving up in life;
let them see the beautiful journey
they have taken even though marred
and punctuated with losses
and defeats;
give them strength and courage
to move on, to forge on,
to persevere like St. Paul;
give them breaks to lighten their loads,
to put smiles on their lips,
and deep sighs of relief
with little moments of grace
and consolation.
For those undergoing different
forms of persecution in life,
keep them strong testifying
and witnessing to your truth, Jesus;
despite the many oppositions
and darkness we face in life,
let us still choose
love because it is stronger than fear,
life which is stronger than death,
hope that is stronger than despair;
let us choose you always, dear Jesus,
because it is always worth the risk
in following your Cross.
Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Sixth Sunday in Easter-A, 14 May 2023
Acts 8:5-8, 14-17 ><}}}*> 1 Peter 3:15-18 ><}}}*> John 14:15-21
Photo by author, sunrise at Katmon Nature Sanctuary & Beach Resort, Infanta, Quezon, 04 March 2023.
Jesus continues with his final teachings at their last supper on that Holy Thursday evening. This Sunday we hear him giving an aspect of his most important lesson of all which is to love: “If you love me, you will keep my commandments… In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me, because I live and you will live. On that day you will realize that I am in my Father and you are in me and I in you. Whoever has my commandments and observes them is the one who loves me. And whoever loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and reveal myself to him” (Jn.14:15,19-21).
Today is the last installment of the important lessons Jesus gave during their last supper because next Sunday will be his Ascension. That is why our gospel today is so compact and so rich we could summarize into three words – loving, living, and leaving.
Photo by author, sunrise at Katmon Nature Sanctuary & Beach Resort, Infanta, Quezon, 04 March 2023.
Loving is more than a feeling that may sometimes be high, sometimes low. Or even zero. Love is a decision, a choice we make everyday which we affirm with our actions, not just with mere words nor intentions. And the truest sign that we love is when we are able to love another person more than our self.
Love is having less of “I” and “me”, and more of “others”. If we put it in an equation, when the word “live” is replaced with an “o”, it becomes love. That is, to live is to love. When we love truly like Jesus Christ, that is when we are living meaningfully.
There comes a time in our lives that material things, even fame and name, honor and titles would no longer satisfy us. There comes a time in our lives when despite everything we have we still feel empty inside because no one is an island. No one lives by himself nor for himself alone. We live for others. We can never find our life’s meaning simply in ourselves. All our careers, passion, and dedication are propelled by our finding meaning in others that is why we serve, we sacrifice, we share and give ourselves to others.
It is difficult but that is the way it is with love. Love is always outward bound in movement, never inward. It is never private but always expressed with others. That is why Thomas Merton wrote that “Love is not only a special way of being alive, it is the perfection of life. He who loves is more alive and more real than he was when he did not love.”
The other Sunday we have reflected that when we love, there is the movement of getting nearer with the one we love which leads to oneness and unity so that his/her joy becomes your joy, his/her pain becomes your pain too. Hence, true love always entails suffering especially when more than being near, we become obedient to show and prove how far can our love go for our beloved. (See https://lordmychef.com/2023/04/29/jesus-the-good-shepherd-our-gate/)
That is why Jesus asked his disciples including us today to obey his commandments which is all about loving God through others.
Most of all, inasmuch as loving leads to living, deeper loving is found in every leaving. If we truly love Jesus, we must be willing to suffer too like him. And always, a greater part of that suffering in every loving and living is in leaving.
Photo by author, sunrise at Katmon Nature Sanctuary & Beach Resort, Infanta, Quezon, 04 March 2023.
Love entails suffering. Like life. From the very start we all came into this world in pain and suffering – kicking and crying from our mother’s womb to be alive. That is why it is proper the world has designated every third Sunday of May as mothers’ day because they know very well that love entails suffering. And the greatest suffering we go through in life, in love is leaving or separation.
In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me, because I live and you will live.
Simple words yet so mysterious. Literally speaking, Jesus was telling his disciples about his coming Passion, Death, Resurrection and Ascension. He is leaving them soon physically yet would remain with them, living with them so they would live fully. Leaving may be painful but it is also a prelude to a deeper relationship. As they say, absence makes the heart fonder.
Leaving is the most painful part of loving because every time a beloved leaves us, he/she takes a part of us, leaving us hollowed for the rest of our lives. The pain remains, leaving a hole in us. We merely transcend and move on but that hole remains. This is where loving and living become most challenging, most beautiful as they lead us to more amazing revelations as Christ had promised: “And whoever loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and reveal myself to him” (Jn.14:21).
When we continue to love and live despite our loved ones leaving us, we soon realize that life is actually more of a series of coming than of leaving. When children leave home to go to college, they come to new sage in their lives; when they get married and leave home, they come to form their own family too! When a beloved leaves us in death, he/she comes to eternal life.
Meanwhile, we who are left behind live on, loving amid the pains of a beloved’s leaving, risking and hoping in love. That is when new things open up for us as we slowly discover many other things that do not necessarily replace the one we love and left us but actually make them more present in their absence. That is because we sooner or later find out that we have become like the ones we love who have left us! We are slowly transformed by their physical absence because their leaving had pushed us to love more that in the process, we have become like them. Is it not that is the reason of love, that we become like the one we love, be it God or another person?
Lately as I age, every morning as I looked at the mirror, the more I see my beloved late dad. Old relatives. especially his siblings and cousins always tell me whenever we would meet that I am a carbon-copy of my late dad.
That is how the gospel spread as we heard in the first reading: after the Pentecost, the disciples went on to love and live as Jesus had taught them. Many of them were like us who have never seen Jesus physically yet have kept on loving and living in him, being transformed somehow like him that caused many others to be added and kept in the fold of the Church.
Surely one of them who have mastered this art and grace of loving and living amid the many leaving are the mothers who made us experienced being touched and loved by God.
May we heed St. Peter’s call in the second reading to “Sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts. Always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope” (1Pt.3:15) making the Lord really present among us in little acts of kindness and goodness in this world filled with so many sins and evil that many wonder where God is. Our little steps of loving and living are like little candles in the dark; we may not see the whole path ahead but when we look back, we find we have advanced greatly, almost nearing our destination. Amen.Have a blessed week ahead!
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Friday in the Fifth Week of Easter, 12 May 2023
Acts 15:22-31 ><)))*> + ><)))*> + ><)))*> John 15:12-17
Photo by author, Chapel of the Holy Family, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, Quezon City, 2016.
As we come to close the week,
I tried reimagining your last supper,
that Holy Thursday before you were
betrayed, arrested and tried
then sentenced to death
the following Good Friday;
also known as Maundy Thursday
from the Latin word "mandatum, mandatus"
which is "commandment" because
it was on that evening you gave us
your only commandment.
Jesus said to his disciples: “This is my commandment: love one an other as I love you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I no longer call you slaves, because a slave does not know what his master is doing. I have called you friends, because I have told you everything I have heard from my Father.”
John 15:12-15
Oh sweet Jesus!
Earlier after washing
your disciples' feet that evening,
you told them you were their
Lord and Master
even if you acted like their
slave in washing their feet;
but still in that scene came
these words, you calling them
and us --- as friends with whom
you have revealed everything
from the Father, and most of all,
friends for whom you offered
your very life for our salvation!
That evening, you have shown us,
dear Jesus, that love is our destiny;
to love like you is more than obeying
your commandment to love but
becoming like you who is love himself!
Is it not that is the goal of every love,
to become like the beloved?
You first showed us how is that possible
when you as the Son of God became human
like us, your beloved so that
we may become like you,
holy, our beloved.
Let us grow in that wonderful friendship
only you can offer us;
may we not be like those some early
Christians who insisted on imposing
their beliefs on others;
let us learn that to truly love like you
is to think less of ourselves,
of our beliefs
in order to see your face on
others not like us
so that we start becoming
like you, Jesus our beloved
found in others;
teach us, Jesus,
to be a friend
to others especially
those in the margins
who for the longest
time have been looking
at us from afar,
hoping they could be
like us too -
"upwardly mobile",
with access to education,
to clean water
and decent home.
Wash and cleanse
our eyes, Lord,
so we could also see
others wishing to be
your friends too
in us.
Amen.
Lawiswis Ng Salita ni P. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Ika-09 ng Mayo 2023
Larawan kuha ng may-akda, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, Quezon City, 20 Marso 2023.
Paano nga ba
pananaligan
panghahawakan
katiyakan sa atin
ni Jesus,
"huwag kayong mabalisa"
sa dami ng sakbibi
nitong buhay
walang katapusan
di malaman hahantungan?
Ngunit kung susuriin
pagkabalisa natin
ay hindi naman
mga bagay-bagay
sa labas kungdi yaong
nasa loob
mismong sarili
ang sumisinsay
upang manalig
at pumanatag.
Nababalisa
sa pagkakasakit
hindi dahil sa hirap
at sakit kungdi
sa panahon at pagkakataong
winaldas, lahat natapon
walang naipon;
nababalisa
sa kamatayan
hindi dahil sa di alam
patutunguhan kungdi
malabo pinanggalingan
at pinagdaanan,
walang kinaibigan
ni hiningan ng kapatawaran;
nababalisa hindi sa mga nangyayari
kungdi sa mga pagkukunwari
kapalaluan di matalikuran
gayong sukol na
sa sariling kapahamakan.
Hangga't wasak
at di buo ating samahan
at ugnayan
sa sarili,
sa Diyos at
sa kapwa
lagi tayong balisa
nanghihinayang at kulang
dahil sa kahuli-hulihan
sila ating kailangan;
iyan ang kahulugan
ng mga sumunod
na salitang binitiwan
ni Jesus na sa kanya
tayo ay manalig
upang siya at ang Ama
sa atin ay manahan
ating sandigan
tunay maasahan
magpakailanman.
The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Fifth Sunday in Easter-A, 07 May 2023
Acts 6:1-7 ><}}}*> 1 Peter 2:4-9 ><}}}*> John 14:1-12
Photo by Ms. April Oliveros, March 2023, Mt. Pulag.
From being our “gate” as the Good Shepherd last week, Jesus today introduces himself as our “home”, our dwelling by being “the way and the truth and the life”. Our scene is still at the last supper with Jesus teaching his disciples including us today with some of his important lessons expressed in words so touching and full of mysteries.
Jesus said to his disciples: “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You have faith in God; have faith also in me. In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If there were not, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back again and take you to myself, so that where I am you also may be.”
John 14:1-3
Though the apostles were still at a loss at the meaning of the words spoken by Jesus that night, they knew and felt something so bad would happen, that life for them would no longer be the same as before that troubled them so deeply inside.
To be troubled here means more than the feeling but experience itself of confrontation with the power of evil and death, when we get that existential feeling of our mortality, when we feel so helpless in a situation, asking “paano na ito?” or “paano na kaya ako/kami?” Like the apostles that night, we too have been into similar situations of being troubled deep inside when we realize in no uncertain terms something so sweeping is happening, altering our lives “forever” like when we or a loved one is diagnosed with cancer, gets a stroke, or has to undergo a major surgery of the heart or brain, and losing a loved one.
Jesus is telling us this Sunday like on that holy Thursday evening to stand firm because these evil and death will just have momentary control over us, a passing over that is why we have to summon all our strength and courage, confidence and perseverance in him as he himself had already triumphed with his own passion, death, and resurrection.
And that is the good news! Jesus had won over all our worst fears like death. It is the gift of Easter, of the Lord’s Resurrection right there inside our hearts, already in our very core we only need to recover by abiding in him always. But before going any further, let us first confront one important lesson this gospel scene offers us: When are we really most troubled in life?
Photo by Ms. April Oliveros, March 2023, Mt. Pulag.
When we examine the many troubles we have been through, we find that more than the difficult and harsh situations we have faced were the many troubles within our very selves. What really trouble us most are not those outside us but within us. These are those little guilt feelings we used to take for granted, little details in life we used to ignore and dismiss as nothing for so long that suddenly now under our very nose as so serious, so important after all.
The most troubling experience of all is when we realize how we have wasted so many opportunities to love and be kind, to be more forgiving and understanding, when we know we have done something wrong and have done nothing to rectify it. We are troubled when outside conditions throw us into situations that make us confront not only death and evil but our very selves that suddenly, we feel unprepared and inadequate especially sickness and death that both surely come. Always.
And here is the big difference: Jesus was not surprised, was never caught unaware of his pasch because all his life he has been one in the Father and one with us. See in all four gospel accounts how Jesus had total control over everything that is why he was so prepared for his passion, death and resurrection because he never turned away from the Father and anyone in need of healing, of forgiveness, of comfort, of his presence. Jesus never turned away from his very essence, his mission which is oneness in the Father and oneness with us his beloved.
Jesus was so at home, so to speak, with himself and with the Father that he never fell into sin despite the devil’s temptations nor the scheming traps and plots of his enemy. This is what Jesus is telling us of preparing a room for us in the Father’s house, that we be at home with our true selves in the Father in him.
We are most troubled when we are not home, literally and figuratively speaking. And sadly, many times as we have experienced in this pandemic that even in our own homes we could not be at home because we are detached and away from our families and loved ones.
“In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places… Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I speak to you do not speak on my own. The Father who dwells in me is doing his works.”
John 14: 2, 10
Photo by author, Katmon Nature Sanctuary & Beach Resort, 04 March 2023.
The word “dwelling” is a favorite of John especially in this part of his gospel. For John, dwelling is more than a home but unity of Jesus and the Father as well as unity of Jesus and his disciples including us. In his prologue he spoke of Jesus as the Word who became flesh and “dwelled” among us. So beautiful an imagery of the Son of God living among us, being one with us and in us, not just physically present but through and through like going through our human experiences except sin.
To dwell is not just to reside but most of all to abide in Christ, to be united, to be one in him which he would say in the following chapter when he identified himself as the true vine and we are his branches.
Therefore, to dwell is to be one, to commune in the Lord. That is why heaven is not just a place but a condition, a being of eternal union with God where Jesus assures us of a dwelling. And because Jesus is our dwelling, our home, that is why he is also our way because he alone is the truth and the life.
Now, if anyone lives in Jesus, he/she lives in the Father too as he clarified with Philip who asked him to show them the Father and that would be enough.
How lovely that Jesus taught these lessons of unity and oneness in him and the Father and with one another in the context of the table, of a meal.
Here we find his last supper was not just a prelude to his coming Passion, Death and Resurrection but to his Ascension into heaven too when Jesus was already speaking of his entrance into a new and higher level of relating with the Father and with us his disciples, his Body as the Church.
This “dwelling” continues in our Eucharistic celebrations especially the Sunday Mass and even right in our own homes too during meal time. And there lies the challenge of our gospel this Sunday.
The first major problem in the early church came in the context of the table when “the Hellenists complained against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution” (Acts 6:1) of food. The Hellenists were the Jews who have lived outside Israel that when they returned home, they have become so alienated because of language barriers even of outlook in life. The Apostles resolved the issue by ordaining the first seven deacons.
It is interesting that the word “deacon” came from the Greek word diakonia which means “to serve at the table”. In Latin, diakonia is ministerium which is service in the table too. How lovely that to serve is actually rooted in the table found in homes!
We say home is where the heart is. In that case, God is our home. Jesus is our dwelling. We are troubled when we are not at home with God in Jesus and with our own families. Any problem at home takes priority in us too because family is important to us. How sad that some people could reject their own family without realizing that no matter what happens to us, it is still our family who would save us and stand by us in the end. This is what St. Peter’s was saying in the second reading of Jesus being the stone rejected to become the cornerstone when often we dismiss our family but in the end remain with us when our chips are down.
This Sunday, let us go home in Jesus our true home found in our own families. Home in Filipino is tahanan from the root word tahan which means to stop crying. To dwell in Filipino is manahan, from the same root too. We stop crying in our home because that is where we find security and comfort, love and acceptance, most of all, life and direction. Amen. Have a blessed week ahead!
Quiet Storm by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, 05 May 2023
Homily on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of my friend and classmate,
Fr. Ed Rodriguez last 18 April 2023
Tatlong ulit tinanong ni Jesus si Pedro sa ating ebanghelyong napakinggan natin, “Simon, anak ni Juan, iniibig mo ba ako?” (Jn. 21:15-17). Hindi ko na po hihimayin ang kahulugan ng mga iyon bagkus ay hayaan ninyong ibahagi ko sa inyo tatlong pagkakataon ng pag-ibig na aking naranasan.
Una, katulad ninyo, ako man po ay nagmahal at nabigo.
That is one story of love that has the most impact on us. In fact, most love songs have this as theme like unrequited love, unfaithful love, of being unloved despite your love. And they are the most loved and popular love songs because we have experienced that when we truly love, there is always pain and hurting like rejection.
Pangalawa ay iyong iniibig ka rin ng iniibig mo. Yung mahal mo, mahal ka rin. Yun ang matamis! This is the love that has made the world go round and brought us into this world. This is the love why men and women get married because you are loved by the one you love. A very lovely kind of love that tells us may forever.
But there is a third occasion of love I just realized lately, shortly before we celebrated our 25th anniversary of ordination to the priesthood. It is the kind of love we all experience but many times we are not aware of. Worst, it is the love we always reject.
Ito yung minamahal ka na nga, ayaw mo pa!
I found this while counseling adoptive parents who complain of how their adopted children go wayward in life, wasting their lives and their wealth because what prevails over them is the rejection they have experienced from their biological mother who gave them away for adoption. They could not get over that fact and in the process, fail to appreciate the love lavished upon them by their adoptive parents. It does happen too to many kids these days who reject the love their parents shower them, complaining a lot without realizing how they are so loved. Many times, we are not aware of the many blessings we have in life, of being so loved by God and others without us even knowing it.
This love is most especially true to us priests too. As we neared this date, I have realized in my prayers how much God loves me with the many graces he has been giving me which I am not even aware of! And yes, there were times I have rejected his immense love in my many moments of sin.
This love of God is what we always reject, the love we could not accept because what we see more are our weaknesses and shortcomings, failing to see and realize God’s immense love that covers a multitude of our sins and defects.
This love is the most powerful and most mysterious of all when affirmed especially by us priests, enabling us to do so many things in the name of God like building communities and building up lives, not just building structures and edifices.
This love of God is the reason we are rejoicing today, celebrating 25 years in the priesthood of my classmate and friend Fr. Ed who has embraced and affirmed this love God poured upon us on April 28, 1998 at the Malolos Cathedral.
We can only truly celebrate anniversaries, whether priesthood or wedding, if we continuously affirm the love bestowed upon us by God, shared and nurtured by you our parishioners as well as by your spouse. That is why Jesus had to ask Peter thrice the question “do you love me?” because before we can ever follow Jesus, we must first of all love him. To love Jesus is to first affirm and embrace that love he has for us no matter how imperfect we may be.
Notice that a person who loves is always looking good, always radiant with love. This we see also in priests who are filled with joy in the ministry as seen first in their cleanliness and orderliness. Malinis si Father di lamang sa sarili kungdi pati sa mga damit, gamit at parokya. May amirol ultimo mga purificator, corporal at finger towel. Palaging naka-sapatos sa Misa. Maayos ang buhok. At hindi humaharap kanino man ng marumi o di nakabihis ng maayos. In him we find exemplified that elementary school lesson that “cleanliness is next to godliness”. And it is not just being clean outside but also inside.
When we love, we always go near the one we love. That is the first sign of love, a desire to get closer with the one we love. That is why if we really love God in the same manner we love others, we make every move to get close to him in prayer primarily. A priest who loves God, who loves his flock, who loves his vocation is first of all a man of prayer. Everything in the ministry and person of a priest flows from his prayer life. And you know very well when a priest does not pray.
The more a priest prays and gets nearer to Jesus, the more he is united in Christ’s sufferings. No wonder that when Jesus suffered and died on the Cross, there stood by his side were his Mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary and the “beloved disciple” because they were the ones who truly loved him.
When there is love, there is nearness. That is when sharing and oneness happen. When we love, we share in everything, especially our beloved’s pains and hurts. Before we can share in anyone’s joy and glory, we must first of all share in their pains and sorrow. That is the love of a priest. Being one with Christ, one in Christ at the Cross. That is why a priest is a friend to everyone, the rich and poor alike, the young and old alike, the sick and healthy, yung maganda at pangit, mabango at mabaho. People who love always share, are always one with others in their love and pains, victory and failures, weakness and strength.
All the more with us priests who share our lives with you as you too share your lives with us. Together we grow nearer to Christ on the Cross leading to Easter. However, it is not enough in love that we get near or close to our beloved like Jesus.
If we truly love, we must be obedient to show how far, how deep can we go with our beloved especially in their sufferings. St. Paul described this obedience of Jesus Christ to the Father even to death in a beautiful hymn in his letter to the Philippians as a process of kenosis, of self-emptying. This the Lord showed after their last supper when he washed the apostles’ feet. St. John beautifully introduced the scene by telling us, “”He (Jesus) loved his own in the world and he loved them to the end” (Jn.13:1).
Love cannot be defined. It has no boundaries. Most of all, love is always a packaged deal, all inclusive! Like any man and woman getting married who vowed to love each other “in sickness and in health, for richer, for poorer until death do us part”, we your priests also vowed before the Bishop to love Jesus without measure by being celibate, poor, and obedient. Very understandable that priests have to be celibate and poor like Jesus; but, most of all like the Lord, priests take the vow of obedience too to prove the “breadth, length, depth, and height” (Eph. 3:18-19) of our love for Christ, his Church, and to everyone even enemies because it is very difficult to obey even to those we love after all.
How lovely that in Filipino, the word for obedience is pagsunod; an obedient person is masunurin, sumusunod.
It is also the word for following, pagsunod. An obedient person is one who follows because he loves, no matter how difficult it may be.
Now we can see the whole picture of that beautiful conversation of the Lord and Peter at the shore of Lake Tiberias: Jesus asked him thrice, “do you love me?” and after getting Peter’s “yes, I love you Lord”, Jesus described the apostle’s coming suffering and death before telling him, “Follow me” (Jn. 21:18-19).
From loving to suffering and finally, following. Everything begins in love, is sustained by love when there is suffering and following. Sometimes I ask couples if they say “I love you” to each other daily. Most of them would answer me with a question, “kailangan pa po ba yun, Father? Understood na po iyon.” Really?
Many times, we feel afraid, scared to say “I love you” because we know we do not love that much. And most terrified when confronted with the question “do you love me?” because deep inside, we know we have not truly loved. Do not worry. Do not be afraid. Just keep on loving no matter how imperfect you may be because love removes fear.
Most of all, Jesus knows that very well as Peter had said, “you know everything, you know I love you”. Human love is always imperfect. Only God can love us perfectly. But like Peter, in our unworthiness and defects, let us still say in words and in deeds, “you know everything Lord, you know that I LOVE YOU.”
My dear friends, Jesus is asking us every day the same questions he asked Simon Peter. To love Jesus is to love his Church, including his representative, his priest. Love Fr. Ed in Christ with your prayers and support. Give him the time and space to get nearer to Jesus in prayer and loving service to you. Keep Fr. Ed closest to Jesus. Not to you.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Friday in the Fourth Week of Easter, 05 May 2023
Acts 13:26-33 ><)))*> + <*(((>< John 14:1-6
Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, Quezon City, 20 March 2023.
Thank you very much,
Lord Jesus Christ
for the assurance
"Do not to let
your hearts be troubled.
You have faith in God;
have faith also in me.
In my Father's house
there are many dwelling places.
If there were not, would I have
told you that I am going
to prepare a place for you?"
(John 14:1-2).
Thank you,
thank you,
thank you, Lord Jesus!
We pray for those whose hearts
are so troubled these days:
those who will undergo surgery
especially in the heart and
in the brain; parents worried of
their sick children or children
who have gone wayward, lost
in life despite the love they
have showered them;
spouses taking care of their
sick husband or wife;
those of us going through
anxiety or panic attacks
for so many reasons that
are often not valid at all:
Lord, we are so troubled
with everything because
so often we do not dwell
in you, our true home!
Many times, we are troubled
because we do not abide
or dwell in you with each other
when some of us have suddenly
turned cold and distant,
unfaithful or feeling betrayed
and taken for granted.
Let us be present, Lord,
in you in others;
let us serve in love.
Loving God is a
continuous service
of being present
with others,
especially our family
and friends.
Help us renew our ties,
our dwelling in you,
Lord Jesus, God's
"begotten Son" (Acts 13:33)
by continuing this journey
of loving service in you
for you are "the way
and the truth
and the life" (Jn. 14:6).
Amen.
lordmychef.com 