Tag: life

We are nothing without God

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul

Thursday, Week XXVIII, Year I, 17 October 2019

Romans 3:21-30 ><)))*> ><)))*> ><)))*> Luke 11:47-54

Photo by Mr. Jim Marpa, September 2019.

O God our loving Father, we worship you and praise you for your majesty and kindness.

In this world where the self-made person is the ideal and economic achievement is the benchmark of success, everybody has become so busy in achieving something, carving a name for one’s self that we forget you.

We have become so proud and vain, O Lord!

Once we have tasted the sweet elixir of “success” in life, the more we thirst and work for so many other things until we finally forget you.

And that is when we become so proud, claiming everything is because of us – that, we are good, we are talented, we are brilliant. We are god, in fact.

But, Lord, I felt it too that when I boast of something in myself, I always run out of many other good things to be proud of myself! I just noticed that whatever we boast in life, it is always the same we thing just boast over and over again to make it big because the truth is, we have nothing to be proud of by our mere selves alone apart from you.

Worst, like in the gospel today, behind every boast we brag is a “woe” from Christ, of trails of evil and sin behind the “success” we are so proud of.

Forgive us, O Lord, for being so proud, for feeling like you, a God.

And this is the funny thing I have realized too about boasting: the more I see whatever I have in life as a grace from you, the more I see so many other good things in me to be proud of because of YOU!

St. Paul was absolutely right: we have all been redeemed and save by God in Christ Jesus. We are all forgiven and beloved sinners of God.

Should we brag or boast of anything, we can only do so in Christ because we all live in utter dependence in you, God.

There is nothing we can do in this world without your grace, O loving God. Amen.

Bakit nagkaganito buhay natin?

Lawiswis Ng Salita ni P. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Ika-21 ng Setyembre 2019

Larawan kuha ni G. Chester Ocampo sa Catanduanes, Abril 2019.



Isang gabi pagkaraang magdasal at magnilay
kinailangang pansinin at sagutin 
isang nagtext sa akin:
kanyang tanong ay napakalalim
bumaon din sa aking loobin.
Aniya'y, "bakit nagkaganito ang buhay namin?"
isang tanong tumimo sa akin 
marahil ilang ulit din sa inyo dumating 
nakaka-praning, ang hirap sagutin
bagkus maraming katanungan pa rin.
Ang hirap naman kasi sa atin
kapag maganda buhay natin
dinaraanang landasin ayaw suriin
sa pag-aakalang kasiyahan magpapatuloy pa rin
hindi alintana lahat lilipas din.
Kapag ito ang naitatanong natin
mas malamang mga salarin 
ng suliraning kinalalagyan natin
tiyak hanggang ngayon ay mga tulog at lasing pa rin
hindi kayang aminin ni tanggapin kanilang pagkukulang din. 
Kaya kung ikaw ay nagtatanong
"bakit nagkanito buhay natin?"
tiyak ikaw ay gising at higit na mapalad pa rin
iyong maaapuhap balang araw dahilan
nitong hantungang hindi para sa atin. 
Mga taong nagpapasakit sa atin
kadalasan maraming sugat at sakit na dalahin
sadyang kaawa-awa kung tutuusin 
ni hindi nila batid bakit nagkanito buhay natin 
sigaw ng kanilang loobin sila'y pansinin at saklolohan natin!
Larawan kuha ni G. Chester Ocampo sa Catanduanes, Abril 2019.

“Livin’ It Up” by Bill LaBounty (1982)

Lord My Chef Sunday Music, 11 August 2019
Baguio Pines, January 2018.

I turned 50 in 2015.

People told me that is the “age of enlightenment”.

And I believe so.

After living half a century, I have realised so many things in life that I had Bill LaBounty’s 1982 hit as my theme song, “Livin’ It Up.”

Like the gospel today when Jesus tells us to “gird your loins” or be on guard because death could come so sudden, LaBounty’s “Livin’ It Up” is the perfect Sunday music.

Girding up one’s loins, being on guard means living it up… taking a new persona when we learn to let go of our past to accept and appreciate every present moment, believing deep inside our hearts of more better and more meaningful things to come in our lives.

Girding up on’e loins, being on guard means living it up as matured men and women disposed to more things that are more profound and meaningful than mere existence because we are so aware of our mortality, of our coming to something more lasting that is eternal.

I finally got my life together
Scraped my heart up off the floor
My attitude is so much better
And I hardly ever cry the way I did before
I’ve been livin’ it up
Having my self in time
Livin’ it up
Right from the women to the wine
Livin’ out all those fantasies I never did get to
Those Crazy things I never got to do
I got my self a new persona
Took the service off my phone
These days I live the way I wanna
And I’d do just fine as long as I’m not left alone

Enjoy life in Christ Jesus, our only fulfillment.

When you feel like giving up…

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul
Thursday, Wk. XV, Yr. I, 18 July 2019
Exodus 3:13-20 >< )))*> <*((( >< Matthew 11:28-30
Taal Lake and Volcano from Tagaytay City. Photo by author, 03 July 2019.

Praise and glory to you, our loving Father for always remembering us, for always loving us. So many times, people doubt you. They feel you do not care at all, that you do not listen to their prayers, that you do not visit them anymore.

We pray today most especially for those losing hope and meaning in life amid their many pains and sufferings, those about to give up on their dreams due to many failures and disappointments, and those who refuse to believe and trust others anymore due to betrayals by family and friends.

Let us be your Moses today to announce to them that you are concerned with us, that you care for us.

“I am concerned about you and about the way you are being treated in Egypt; so I have decided to lead you up out of the misery of Egypt into a land flowing with milk and honey.”

Exodus 3:16-17

Open our hearts and our minds to realize this great truth of your concern for us that you have given us your Son Jesus Christ to help us in our burdens, calling us to receive him in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass every day, especially on Sundays.

Our altar, 18 July 2019.

“Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

Matthew 11:28-30

Send us a new Moses, Lord, to lead us out of our modern Egypt today that enslave us, making life so difficult for your people especially those in the margins.

We have become a nation without any sense of sin anymore that we do not care at all with the many deaths going on around us. Our mouths have become so filthy with languages too vile as if you do not exist anymore. Nobody seem to care anymore, no one is concerned.

We pray for our leaders in government as well as in the Church who are like the Pharaoh who make it so hard for the people to go and come to you. Do wondrous deeds among us again, Lord, so we may remember anew that you keep your covenant forever. Amen.

Living the moment

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul
Tuesday, Week XIV, Year I, 09 July 2019
Genesis 32:23-33 >< )))*> >< )))*> Matthew 9:32-38
Photo by John Bonding, Architecture & Design, May 25, 2019 via Facebook.

Dearest God our Father:

Teach us to live every moment of our lives with you and with one another.

Teach us to be like your servant Jacob who wrestled with you and prevailed that you named him Israel “because you have contended with divine and human beings and have prevailed” (Gen. 32:29).

So many times in this “digital age” when everything is “mass mediated” like our relationships and even faith in you, we have forgotten to live every moment with you and with others.

We are so out of touch with the reality, tinkering with our gadgets that are meant to bring us closer together but have in fact brought us more apart.

We are so concerned with our gadgets than persons and nature and you, Lord.

Until now, we are a “people who are troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd” (Mt.9:36), lacking in real, personal relationships and intimacy with others and you.

We pray through your Son Jesus Christ that you may send us more workers for your harvest, not more gadgets or money or things but persons who love and care. Amen.

From Google.

We are God’s earthen vessels

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul, Friday, Wk. X, Yr. I, 14 June 2019
2 Corinthians 4:7-15 >< )))*> >< )))*> Matthew 5:27-32
Photo by Quang Nguyen Vinh on Pexels.com

Thank you very much Lord Jesus Christ for this Friday, for another weekend.

As the days moved on since Monday, we didn’t know how this week would move on for many of us: the pressures and stress at home, in the office and the school with all kinds of problems.

Some of us almost gave up life, Lord, because of sickness and loneliness, pains and sufferings, neglect and feelings of being misunderstood and unloved or unwelcomed.

But you were always there, Jesus, loving us, comforting us, assuring us of your presence and grace.

We hold this treasure in earthen vessels, that the surpassing power may be of God and not from us. We are afflicted in every way, but not constrained; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not abandoned, struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying about in the Body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our body.

2 Corinthians 4:7-10

Let us continue your work Jesus. There are still plenty of things to be done this day: so many loving and acts of kindness, a lot of caring and understanding, some forgiving and asking sorry over there, with a lot of smiles and hugs to share so that those in despair may realize life is so beautiful, that it is good to be alive, that there is beauty even in our dirt and brokenness.

Every Cross is a plus sign, O Lord: afflictions and darkness, suffering and pains in life are an addition, never a minus or a subtraction! Amen.

Dominican Hills, Baguio, January 2019. Photo by author.

I forgive only when you remember

Quiet Storm by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, 07 May 2019

We are now traveling to the Mt. Sinai area to cross into Egypt. As I have been telling you, this is my third time in the Holy Land and Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Memorial of Israel. I shall write later of my reflections but below is my email written the first time I came here:

23 June 2005
Shalom everyone!
Until now, I could still feel the impact Yad Vashem had on me.
 I would just like to add here a story shared with us by Ronnie before our tour….
 Accdg to Ronnie, he acted as a guide to a group of young Americans at the Yad Vashem last summer.  They met a Jewish woman who survived the holocaust after their tour and told them firsthand her own experience from the Auschwitz camp.
The young tourists were so touched with her story, of how she had lost her parents, siblings and friends.  As she wiped her tears, a young man asked the survivor:  have you forgiven the people who killed your family?
And Ronnie said, the woman replied this way: I could only forgive if you would always remember.
We were also so touched with the story and the woman’s declaration:  I could only forgive if you would always remember.

One of my favorite philosopher is Martin Heidegger, a German existentialist who, unfortunately, was blinded by Hitler’s rhetorics in the beginning but later denounced Nazism.
According to Heidegger, we are all “beings of forgetfullness”; he explained that this is the main reason why we always lead “inauthentic living.”
And that is true.  We always have to remember the past not to take tally of how we were hurt or maltreated by others; we remember the painful past so that we would not repeat it and do them again onto others.
It is so sad that in our lives, we keep on remembering how we got inflicted with wounds so that we could wound others; hence, what we have is a vicious circle of violence and retributions.
That I think is the essence of “learning from history”—-of not repeating the same mistakes over and over again.
This is often at the root of many of our problems in our dealings with other people:  parents, priests, teachers, supervisors or almost anyone who always remember the difficulties they have gone through when they were younger; we are sometimes guilty of harking at our painful past and get even with those presently under us.  And the pains and the hurts increase, forgetting the lessons that could have been learned.
Our country is in deep, deep, deep crises because we are mostly “beings of forgetfullness”—we have a poor sense of history, we can’t remember the lessons of the past because we did not learn at all or just maybe, preoccupied with getting even or vengeance.
Forgiving does not mean forgetting because that is impossible; God programmed us to always remember so that we could become more loving, more forgiving, more understanding, and more like Him in seeing what’s good in everyone.
At the back of Yad Vashem is a breathtaking view of Jerusalem below.  After seeing and somehow experiencing the horrors of the Holocaust, I can’t help thinking how come God could accept and allow the Jews, Moslems, and Christians live together in His old city when we can’t even stand the sight or the smell of the person next to us because he is not of same color or creed with us?
God bless!
With my parishioners the other day at Yad Vashem. Many cried at the sights in the museum but we were all touched with the personal story and reflections of our guide, a 70 year old man we fondly call Lolo Mendy. Will write his stories later.
 

What is a pilgrim?

Quiet Storm by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, 02 May 2011

As I was telling you since the eve of our departure Sunday… this is my third pilgrimage to the Holy Land, my first as a chaplain guiding 23 other pilgrims.

The word pilgrim entered the English language during the Holy Wars of 1100’s courtesy of the French Crusaders. But its root can be traced to the Latin noun “peregrinus”, the combination of the words “per” or through and “ager” for land. Literally speaking, a peregrinus or pilgrim is one who walks through the land. A pilgrim is a wayfarer as the Hebrews would claim that we have “no lasting city” on earth. We are merely passing through this earth on the way back home to God who is also our origin.

So, what is a pilgrim?

A pilgrim is a follower or a seeker of God. In our age when traveling is a way of life not only in one’s own country but to various parts of the world, a pilgrimage to a holy site is different from a tour primarily because of God himself.

In a pilgrimage, it is God who calls us to follow him or seek him in the Holy Land and other holy sites. It is God who gives us the strength – physically, emotionally, and spiritually – to follow or seek him in a holy site. It is God himself who plans our itinerary for any pilgrimage we undertake! Believe me, every sacred site has a calling and no matter how much you have heard about it that you want to visit but God has others plans for you, you’ll never make it.

It is not superstition. Just today we were prevented from going to Mt. Tabor which we failed to visit in 2017; first time I went there was in 2005. I just don’t know why Jesus is keeping me away from his mount of transfiguration. I just feel deep inside it is not meant for me again. In 2017 I came to visit anew the tomb of King David but it was only then I realized that above it is the Upper Room of Christ’s Last Supper.

Every pilgrimage is an invitation from God. Does he play favorite why not everyone is invited especially in this age of frequent traveling?

God is not playing favorite among us when it comes with pilgrimages. It is more about the question of who is truly serious in following or seeking him for a more intimate relationship through a Holy Land or holy site pilgrimage. And this is because a pilgrim goes through the land to meet himself first. Unless we have come to terms with our very selves, we shall never come to terms with life. Or death. And ultimately with God.

A pilgrim is a serious follower or seeker of God.

A pilgrim walks through the land in order to meet himself or herself. The time and distance or destination do not really matter that much. The goal of any pilgrim is to experience and find God by discovering himself or herself. From being a journey, life then becomes a pilgrimage because a pilgrim is someone who keeps on going through the land, going through all the pains and sufferings to find himself or herself more in order to be with God always.

Ultimately, a pilgrim is someone who willingly enters into a relationship with God to follow Him and be with Him in any direction to reach His home, our final destination which is heaven.

Listen. The Lord must be calling you too to be a pilgrim. Follow Him.

All photos by the author. From the top: Mt. Nebo monastery where God gave Moses the chance to see the Promised Land; statue of Jesus sleeping on a bench in Capernaum; travelling through the desert highway in Jordan; and, morning boat ride at the Lake of Galilee.

Life will always be Lent.

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.

From Google.

Lent is embracing God’s truth

40 Shades of Lent, Wednesday, Week-IV, 03 April 2019
Isaiah 49:8-15///John 5:17-30

How lovely are your words for us today, O God our loving Father! So refreshing, so reassuring especially at times when dark clouds loom above us, when we are in deep turmoils or when our pains hurt so much.

Thus says the Lord: In a time of favor I answer you, on the day of salvation I help you, and I have kept you and given you as a covenant to the people, to restore the land and allot the desolate heritages, saying to prisoners: Come out! To those in darkness, Show yourselves! Can a mother forget her infant, be without tenderness for the child of her womb? Even should she forget, I will never forget you.

Isaiah 49:8-9, 15

What an amazing God indeed! So close, so personal like anyone.

Yet, O God, how unfortunate that so often we are tempted to doubt your love, your truth, your presence! So often we choose not to believe that we are loved by you or by those closest to us.

We keep on denying you have chosen to love us, preferring to live trapped in the many worries of this life.

Give us the grace of faith to embrace your truth, your love, especially Jesus Christ your Son who had come to make you closest to us as our breath. Let us see your work continuing in Christ that may eventually continue them in us and among us. Amen.

A snapshot from the painting exhibit we viewed at the Davao City Museum, August 2018. Too bad never had the chance to get artists and title of artworks.