Tag: life

“Cross” My Heart

Lake Tiberias
The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe, Week XXII-B, 02 September 2018
Deuteronomy 4:1-2, 6-8///James 1:17-18, 21-22, 27///Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23

            When we were growing up, one of the common expressions among us was “cross my heart” to indicate the sincerity and truthfulness of what one is saying.  It is often reinforced with the making of a sign of the cross on one’s chest or heart.  It is a beautiful expression that shows us the centrality of the human heart in our very being and person.  Today’s gospel speaks also of the heart and the many “crossings” we have to make to ensure it remains true.

            After an interruption of five Sundays, we now go back to Mark’s Gospel which we continue to read until the Solemnity of Christ the King in November that closes this liturgical year to usher in Advent, those four Sundays before Christmas.  It is very funny, even ridiculous, that as early as last week, people have been raring to start the Christmas countdown in social media as they hurried to cross into September to get rid of the last few days of ghost month August which actually ends in September 9.  Observe my dear reader that concept of “crossing” into the “ber” months while in the gospel, we find Jesus repeatedly crossing the lake to proclaim the kingdom of God.  After miraculously feeding the more than 5000 people, Jesus sent the Twelve ahead of Him in crossing Lake Tiberias as He sent the crowd home.  He then prayed on top of a hill and at 3AM, He followed His apostles by walking on water in the midst of a storm at the lake.  After calming the sea, they came to Gennesaret, the setting of our gospel today.  Mark reports the growing tensions among Jewish officials and Jesus who have become so popular among the people for His teachings and healings.  Now, some Pharisees and scribes from Jerusalem have found a case against Jesus after observing His disciples non-compliance with their rituals of washing and purification.  But Jesus would mince no words explaining the meaning of the rituals, citing the Prophet Isaiah to highlight their hypocrisy in showing off their “holiness” in complying with their ancient traditions of washing and cleansing.

            See that after His initial explanation, Jesus “summoned the crowd again and said to them that nothing enters one from outside can defile that person; but the things that come out from within are what defile.”(Mk.7:14-15)  After this second explanation to the crowd, Mark tells us that “when Jesus got home away from the crowd … He said to His disciples that from within people, from their hearts, come evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, arrogance, folly.  All these evils come from within and they defile.”(Mk.7:17,21-22)  Jesus had to separate – a sort of “crossing” the crowd from the Pharisees and scribes, and later separate too the Twelve from the rest to insist that holiness is about having a clean heart through conversion from sins, not from cleaning and washing of hands and utensils.  That is what all these “crossings” imply in the gospel today, the need for our continuous conversion of the heart within, not in some outward appearances and practices.  Discipleship is a life of crossing the lake with Jesus every night in darkness, even in the midst of storms.  Discipleship is a daily crossing of the Red Sea, an Exodus, from slavery to freedom – a crossing from death into life, from sin into grace.  Discipleship is a daily conversion of our hearts so that Jesus truly reigns in our lives.

               Since the start of His ministry in Galilee, Jesus had been crossing the lake to pray and to rest with His disciples, to preach and to heal the people.  He always crossed that great lake so as to reach out everyone, especially the marginalized ones like the poor, the sick, the orphans, and the widows.  In becoming human like us, Jesus “crossed” heaven to earth, from eternity to temporal to be among us.  His Passion, Death, and Resurrection was in fact a “crossing” that led Him to the glory of Easter.  Through Him, we too are able to cross into a life of fulfillment in Him when we are able to bear our crosses with Him.  In preaching about the purity of one’s heart while in Gennesaret, Jesus dared the Pharisees and scribes to “cross” to His side by discarding their truncated views and practice of the rituals.  In summoning the crowd closer to Him away from the Pharisees and scribes, Jesus invited the people to “cross” to Him to realize true purity based on a clean heart and not from external rituals.  Most of all, He repeated this important teaching to His disciples again after they have gone home, away from the Pharisees and scribes and from the crowd, implying the need to always cross from everyone and everything so that we can solely be focused in God.
                 When we cross our hearts in words and in gestures, let us remember that it was God who first crossed His heart to reach out to us to experience His Fatherly love through His commandments as explained by Moses in the first reading today.  God’s laws are not mere letters to be obeyed but words meant to take root in our hearts for it is also a call to a relationship with Him and with others.  When we cross our hearts in words and in gestures, let us remember how Jesus Christ crossed from heaven to reach us and die on the Cross because of His love for us.  Like Him, when we cross our hearts with words and gestures, we express our desire to follow Him by leaving our comfort zones into the fringes to meet and serve our wounded brothers and sisters as expressed by Pope Francis in his latest encyclical (Gaudete et Exultate, 135).  He calls this as “boldness and passion” or“parrhesia” that are signs of holiness in our modern time.  It is exactly what St. James referred to in the second reading, “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God and the Father when we care for orphans and widows in their afflictions and when we keep ourselves unstained by the world.”(James 1:27)  When we celebrate the Sunday Eucharist, we also cross from the past week into the new week filled with many opportunities to grow and mature in holiness by nurturing in our hearts Jesus we have receive in the Holy Communion, His daily crossing from heaven.  A blessed week to everyone!Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Parokya ni San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Gov. F. Halili Ave., Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria, Bulacan 3022
*Photo by the author.  Lake Tiberias at sunrise, 22 April 2017.

Words That Heal, Words of Eternal Life

SHNswing
The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe, Week XXI-B, 26 August 2018
Joshua 24:1-2,15-17,18///Ephesians 5:21-32///John 6:60-69

            After celebrating the Sunday Mass, try watching “The Day After Valentine’s” starring Bela Padilla and JC Santos, the same tandem behind last year’s “Isang Daang Tula Para Kay Stella” both directed by Jason Paul Laxamana.   Without telling you the story, there are three beautiful things in the film that perfectly fit it with the final episode of Jesus Christ’s “bread of life discourse” we have been reflecting these past five Sundays:  first, the mystery and power of words, then the wounds and scars we all have in life, and finally, the temptation to walk away from our loved ones or to abandon a cause or a belief.

            Like in most romantic films, Lani (Bella) and Kai (JC) accidentally fell in love with each other.  Both are very interested with “Baybayin”, the ancient Filipino alphabet which they used to express many of their thoughts and feelings.  Both also have scars in their bodies:  Kai in his arm that are self-inflicted following his breakup with his last girlfriend and Lani on her whole back due to physical abuse by her own father while still a child.  And there lies the twist in the film:  Kai sought ways of erasing his physical scars and healing his inner pains that eventually led him back home in Hawaii to reunite with his family while Lani, on the other hand, kept her scars to herself, never allowing anyone to see or know them that made her ran away from home.

            Now, the gospel:  Many of Jesus’ disciples who were listening said, “This saying is hard; who can accept it?”  Since Jesus knew that his disciples were murmuring about this, he said to them, “Does this shock you?  What if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before?  It is the spirit that gives life, while the flesh is of no avail.  The words I have spoken are Spirit and life.  But there are some of you who do not believe.”  As a result of this, many of his disiciples returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied him.  Jesus then said to the Twelve, “Do you also want to leave?”  Simon Peter answered him, “Master, to whom shall we go?  You have the words of eternal life.  we have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God.”(Jn.6:60-64,66-69)

            For the past four weeks, John has been telling us how the people were murmuring and then quarrelling among themselves over the words of Jesus in His bread of life discourse.  All along these commotions, the disciples of the Lord have been silent until today.  There were two groups of followers of Jesus:  the Twelve who composed His inner circle known as the Apostles and the other 72 referred to as disciples who have been following Him for some time.  For the first time in five weeks since the feeding of 5000, they would be expressing their unbelief in Christ’s words that eventually led to their walking away from Him along with the rest of the crowds.  Only the Twelve would remain with Jesus.

            In the film “The Day After Valentine’s”, Lani and Kai spelled out some significant words into “baybayin” like “paghihilom” or healing.  It is the usual problem with words that are easier said or written than done and proven in actions.  Like Lani and Kai, the disciples at Capernaum and us today, we all have a hard time living up to our words’ meaning and realities.  It is always so easy to say yes, to commit and pledge our love and support in words but when things get tough and rough, we back out and go back to our former way of life.  Sometimes, we really do not mean what we say for they are merely words, words, and words.  It is so different with God whose words are His realities that He only had to speak to create everything.  His very name in the words “I Am Who Am” is Himself, perfect.  Most of all, when He sent us His Son to save us, that was exactly the name given Him, Jesus, which means “God is my savior”.  As the Word who became flesh, Jesus revealed to us how much God loves us not only by speaking to us words of Spirit and life but fulfilling these on the Cross on Good Friday.  He had shown us that more than the indication of our thoughts and feelings, communication at its most profound level is the giving of self in love.  Here we find the great value of silence, especially during times of suffering and pain.  Silence is more than being quiet, but being open to God’s words in the scriptures and in our hearts to let its meaning and realities be fulfilled in us.  The crowd gathered with Jesus at Capernaum these past five Sundays have been murmuring and quarrelling over His bread of life discourse, refusing to allow His words to permeate them that they eventually left Him.  Just like us, not only with God but with our loved ones.

            Since Jesus knew that his disciples were murmuring about this, he said to them, “Does this shock you?  What if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before?”  I love this part in the gospel which I also remembered at the end of “The Day After Valentine’s” when Lani visited her parents’ gravesites.  After laying flowers on them, Lani took off her shawl to finally expose her scarred back.  She then sat on the ground, looked into the horizon with the camera at her back zooming out until she is framed at the middle between the two crosses of her father and mother’s tombs like the crucified Jesus.  The scene was very symbolic, and shocking.  Seeing the scars on her back, one could imagine the terrible ordeal Lani had gone through from an abusive father, the shocking truth now happening in many families.

            Here at the end of the bread of life discourse, Jesus is asking us to stay, to remain in Him amid all the pains and sufferings of life for only Him can truly heal us and lead us to fullness of life.  This was the challenge posed by Jesus to the crowd at Capernaum and with us today when He spoke of His moment of death when He is “lifted up on the Cross”, His ascending to where He was before.  Christ’s crucifixion remains the most shocking scandal of all time when the all-powerful God was put to death in the most shameful manner.  This we make present in every celebration of the Holy Mass, when we reaffirm to Him like the people with Joshua at Shechem that we choose to stay and serve the Lord our God (Josh.24:18).  Staying with Jesus means taking concrete steps to prevent and stop all forms of human abuses especially against children and women.  But it requires patience on our part too.  There are no shortcuts that could only worsen the situation like retribution and executions.  The more wounds we inflict, the more healing becomes elusive.  Remain in Jesus, stay with Him.  After so many experiments, we realize deep inside like Simon Peter that there is no one else to go to except Jesus who has the words of eternal life.  Like Peter, we have to believe Jesus despite our many disillusions in life, in family, and with the Church, His Body.  By remaining in Christ, taking the painful path of believing and trusting Him to overcome disillusions, we can enter into joy when life finally blooms to its fullest meaning in love.  Too often, there is the temptation to always leave, to go back to our previous life of pains and darkness away from God and others.  Amen. Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Parokya ni San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Gov. F. Halili Ave., Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria, Bulacan 3022

*Photo by Fr. Nick F. Lalog II, Sacred Heart Novitiate in Novaliches, 04 July 2018.

Our Stony Hearts and God’s Natural Heart

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The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe-Prayer
Thursday, 23 August 2018, St. Rose of Lima
Ezekiel 36:23-28///Matthew 22:1-14
 
            Our dearest God Almighty Father, “cleanse us from all of our impurities, take away our stony hearts and fills us with your natural heart” (Ez.36:25-26) that beats with firm faith, fervent hope and unceasing charity and love.  Dress us with your “spirit that we may live in your statutes, careful to observe your decrees” (Ez.36:27-28) to make us worthy to celebrate in your wedding banquet (Mt.22:11-12).  This we ask through our Lord Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.
             Pray for us too, St. Rose of Lima, that we may keep in mind that outer beauty is nothing compared with inner beauty, always radiating the kindness and love of God in whatever we say and most especially do.  Amen.Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Parokya ng San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Gov. F. Halili Ave., Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria,Bulacan 3022
*Photo by Fr. Nick F. Lalog II, sunrise at Sonnenberg Mountain View, Davao, 11 August 2018.

Playing “GOD”

Treedome
The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe-Prayer
Tuesday, 21 August 2018, Week XX, Year II
Ezekiel 28:1-10///Matthew 19:23-30

            We praise and thank you our loving Father for this holiday you have given us.  Give us the grace to renew everything in Christ your Son, especially our very selves as your servant St. Pius X envisioned during his papacy at the start of the 20th century.

            Until now, like the princes of Tyre of the Old Testament and the other men of the past century when two World Wars plunged the world into darkness, there are still many of us who believe and live as “god”.  Everywhere, Lord, we speak and act as if we are god, insisting on what we want, bragging on our achievements, and relying on our strength and power.  Everybody is claiming the streets and highway as his or her own sovereignty, feeling like a deity with our vehicles as our “seat of power and might”.  We have run out of solons and statesmen in congress and government for all they are concerned with is their own interests.

             It is very unfortunate, dear Father, even in your Church, we priests are so lost too in our belief and way of life as being god.  Instead of building lives, we have destroyed so many lives with all kinds of clergy abuses that are not only scandalous but very sickening.  We no longer smell like your sheep and worst, we have slaughtered many of your little lambs.

             In 1983, you sent us Ninoy, believing the “Filipino is worth dying for.”  He set aside all his plans, including his very safety and went home to work for peaceful transition.  A bullet felled him but not our belief in bringing back democracy in our country.   So sad, Lord, how we have easily forgotten YOU who made EDSA a miracle.  Many have played gods and destroyed EDSA like Jerusalem of old, making it a symbol of everything that is wrong with us.  Primary among these is our belief in being god.  We pray to you, our loving Father, in these moments of darkness in our history like at the fall of Jerusalem and at the start of World War I in St. Pius X’s time, give us the grace to renew our love and commitment to You, the only True God for only you who can deliver us.  Nothing is impossible with you, especially when we start being human and stop being god.  Amen.Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Parokya ng San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Gov. F. Halili Ave., Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria,Bulacan 3022 

Photo by Fr. Nick F. Lalog II, tree canopy at Sacred Heart Novitiate (Novaliches), 4-6 July 2018.

Our Sins of Omission

MalagosMoss
The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe-Prayer
Monday, 20 August 2018, Week XX, Year II
Ezekiel 24:18-23///Matthew 19:16-22

            Our dearest Lord Jesus Christ:  of the many questions we have always asked you, perhaps the young man’s question in the gospel today is the one you have always wanted – and waited us to ask you:  “What do I still lack?”(Mt.19:20)

            Every day we pray, confessing our sins for what “I have done and what I have failed to do.”  It is always easier Lord to think of what I done wrong; but rarely do we really take time reflecting on what we have failed to do, our sins of omission.

            The young man in the gospel today must have been dealing with a lot of people, like us today especially in the social media but, we never ask ourselves if we fulfill the requirements of love in these interactions with others.  Many times, our dealings these days are mediated by technology, lacking sincerity and love.  Like the young man, it is easy to obey commandments even without much love to our own discomfort because it is not right.  But, we do not care to reflect more about it because we are so afraid to discover the sins we are not aware of!

            Give us the grace, Lord Jesus to identify our sins of omission so we can achieve greater self-knowledge of our selves for it is the surest way to truly love you and others.  Help us to learn from St. Bernard of Clairvaux whose we feast we celebrate today that “Love is a great thing so long as it continually returns to its fountainhead, flows back to its source, always drawing from there the water which constantly replenishes it.”(from the Office of Reading)

            This is what we really lack, Lord Jesus Christ:  the real good we must do of letting go of our selves, giving away our wealth and other valuables, setting aside our plans and agenda so we can follow you more closely daily.  Amen.Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Parokya ng San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Gov. F. Halili Ave., Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria,Bulacan 3022 .

*Photo by Fr. Nick F. Lalog II, moss at Malagos Garden, Davao City, 10 August 2018.

On Being Brave

LordMyChef “I-Like-Mondays” Quote, 13 August 2018:

“The universe favors the brave.  When you resolve, once and for all, to lift your life to its highest level, the strength of your soul will guide you.” (Robin Sharma, “The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari”, pp.139-140)

SanJuan,LU3

Photo by Fr. Nick F. Lalog II, Sunrise at San Juan, La Union, January 2018.

A Prayer to Weather the Storms

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The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe-Prayer Monday
13 August 2018, Week-XIX, Year II, Ordinary Time
Ezekiel 1:2-5,24-28///Matthew 17:22-27

            You know very well my prayers last night, O Lord:  that you take care of my family and friends affected by the floods and the rains that are expected to worsen this week.  These past years I have learned to accept the flow of nature, never bothering you to stop or reverse it except that you give us the grace to cope with it.  Most of all, that we finally learn to respect your wonderful creation we have destroyed these past years due to greed and lack of concern.

            As we brace for more rains this week, give us the grace to see your glory amidst life’s many storms.  In the first reading there is Ezekiel living during the Babylonian exile by the river of Chebar who saw a vision of the coming of your Son Jesus Christ.  There was splendor all over his vision though he did not readily understand its meaning during that most trying time in Israel’s history.

            In the gospel, Jesus predicted anew His coming passion and death that deeply grieved His disciples not knowing it would eventually lead to His Resurrection.  And in the midst of His coming pasch were the many controversies against Him by His enemies like the paying of temple tax.  Yet, Jesus kept His cool filled with wit and humor when He told Peter to catch a fish to find a shekel in its mouth to pay for their temple taxes.

            And finally today, we celebrate the martyrdom of St. Pontian and St. Hippolytus whose lives presented us a quirky twist that eventually revealed your glory.  St. Hippolytus became an anti-pope of St. Pontian due to many differences that threatened the stability of the early Church.  But their exile and suffering in Sardinia became the occasion for them to be reconciled before giving their very lives for the glory of the Christ.

            Like Ezekiel, Jesus, Hippolytus and Pontian, give us the grace, loving Father, to keep in mind that you always prevail despite many setbacks due to nature and human faults.  May we sing like the psalmist, “Heaven and earth are filled with your glory!”  Amen. Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II,Parokya ng San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Gov. F. Halili Ave., Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria,Bulacan 3022 . 

Photo by Fr. Nick F. Lalog II, Sonnem Berg Mountain View, Davao City. 11 August 2018

Believe.  Love. And Live.

SonnemBerg3
The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe, Week XIX-B, 12 August 2018
1Kings 19:4-8///Ephesians 4:30-5:2///John 6:41-51

            Is it sinful to complain to God?

            This is the most frequently asked question (FAQ) I get from everyone especially during confessions.  And I always explain that it is not really sinful to complain to God in the sense that complaining to Him may actually be an expression of our deep faith and intimate relationship with Him.  In our first reading we find the prophet Elijah complaining to God as he fled to the desert from the soldiers of Queen Jezebel sent to kill him:  “This is enough, O Lord!  Take my life, for I am no better than my fathers.”(1Kgs.19:4)  In that sense, complaining is a prayer that comes from our hearts, expressing our deep, emotional pain as well as physical sufferings when we all we wanted is to take a deep sigh and blurt out what’s deep inside to complain or share with others.  Especially with God whom we believe would do something to our plight.  What is sinful is the “murmuring” we have heard from today’s gospel:  The Jews murmured about Jesus because he said, “I am the bread of life that came down from heaven,” and they said, “Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph?  Do we not know his father and mother?  Then how can he say, ‘I have come down from heave’?”  Jesus answered and said to them, “Stop murmuring among yourselves.  No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draw him, and I will raise him on the last day.”(Jn.6:41-44)

            When we were growing up, it was a big “no-no” to murmur to elders like mothers, lolas and titas.  Recall how sharp their eyes and ears that even if you are already on your way up to your room or leaving their presence, they knew so well you were murmuring that the next thing you knew, you have been slapped!  “Tumigil ka sa kabubulong-bulong at tatamaan ka sa akin” is a clear a present danger situation, not a warning.  It is bad, and sinful to murmur because it comes from the intellect than from the heart.  There is resistance and refusal to be open, an insistence on what we know or deem as right and better to something being presented.  See how the Jews rehashed their perceptions against Jesus when He first came home and preached in their synagogue as “they took offense at him” (Mk.6:1-6, 14th week) again in this scene in Capernaum.  Murmuring is sinful not only because it lacks respect but most of all, there is the underlying current, even a sinister one that runs deep within us to undermine or go against somebody, especially God and those above us like parents and superiors.  It is an expression of a lack of faith.  That’s the problem with those around Jesus in Capernaum:  they refused and could not believe Jesus because He was one of them as they thought.  We need to be open to enter into the reality and mystery of Jesus.  Hence, after telling them to stop murmuring, Jesus said “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draw him, and I will raise him on the last day… Everyone who listens to my Father and learns from him comes to me.”

          According to St. Augustine, “everything is grace but grace builds on nature.”  It is always a grace from God to believe in Him, to have faith in Him but we have to nurture that gift within to grow and bloom.  It is difficult to grow in faith and be captured by this faith if we do not stop “murmuring”:  being too cerebral cannot solve everything because there are more realities in this life not visible with our eyes.  It is only with the eyes of faith can we truly see the most essential things in life as the Little Prince realized.  Through faith, we not only become open to God but also experience and realize something bigger which is love.  Faith is akin to love.  Both always go hand in hand because when we believe, we love.  The more we love, the more we believe!  When we believe, we love, then we live authentically.  When we stop believing, we also stop loving, and we refuse to live anymore because there is nothing else to hope for in this life.

           Believe.  Love.  And live.  When we believe in Jesus, we love more truly – that is when we live authentically.  This we shall see in the Lord’s discourse of His being the bread of life.  But why “bread”?  Bread is the most basic and essential food anywhere.  Jesus offers Himself as the bread of life to show us that more essential and more basic than food and other material things for man is God alone.  In declaring Himself as the bread of life, Jesus now presents Himself as the reality of God we do not see.  Like the reality of bread as food, God is truly our life and sustenance not only in this life but in eternity!  This we can see in the wonderful flow of the Lord’s discourse when He solemnly declared “Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life” in verse 47.  Then, two more times He declares His being bread of life as the “bread that comes down from heaven”(v.50) and “the living bread” before concluding that the bread He shall give is His “flesh for the life of the world” both found in verse 51.  We do not eat simply to be nourished or worst, to be filled with food; we eat to celebrate life with others.  Every celebration always has some food to offer because ultimately, what we offer in every meal is also our very selves.  That is most true in Jesus as the bread of life we eat in the Eucharist to partake in His divine life so that our lives are not only lived but also fulfilled in Him with others.  May we “live in love” as St. Paul admonished the Ephesians in today’s second reading by always believing in Jesus Christ so we could love like Him and live in Him.  Amen.Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Parokya ni San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Gov. F. Halili Ave., Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria, Bulacan 3022

*Photo taken by Fr. Nick F. Lalog II at Sonnem Berg Mountain View, Davao City, 10 August 2018.