Our imperfect love: a Maundy Thursday reflection

Quiet Storm by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, 17 April 2025

*Photo by author, Sacred heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, 17 March 2025.*

I have always loved Thursday since my first job in 1986 at GMA-7 News and Public Affairs. It was the day-off given to me by our office because I have to write news for our radio stations DZBB-AM and DWLS-FM even on Saturdays and cover news for television on Sundays.

After resigning from my job to enter the seminary in 1991 and got ordained as priest in 1998, I still chose Thursday as my day off from the ministry.

The reason for this is from a news I have found from the wires of United Press International during my GMA days that reported the findings by researchers in a US university that people are more kind on Thursday. According to the report which I used in our two radio stations, people are normally grouchy on Monday because of hangover from the weekend. They only start working on Tuesday, getting so tired on Wednesday, the two most toxic days in the week. Friday is TGIF when employees shelve their work in preparation for the weekend.

It is only on Thursday when people are most human and kind as they wanted to get everything done before TGIF. Hence, it is also the best day in the week to ask for a raise or to ask for favors from anyone. It is also on Thursdays when traffic is lighter because people are more relaxed, not so stressed out than the other days of weekday.

*Photo from wikipediacommons.org of Christ’s washing of feet of Apostles at Monreale Cathedral in Palermo, Italy*.

Perhaps it is no coincidence at all, in fact truly a part of the mystery of Jesus Christ’s Incarnation, i.e., his becoming human like us in everything except sin that he gave us his new commandment during their last supper also on a Thursday.

“I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another. This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:34-35).

This is the reason Holy Thursday is called Maundy Thursday from the Latin word mandatum or commandment when Jesus gave us his commandment of love.

Love is the only thing we all have to do in life. This love is expressed in our love for God through one another. That is why Jesus clarified that during his ministry: love of God is always expressed in our love for one another. Love as a commandment is like a face with two cheeks always together. Isang mukha, dalawang pisngi.

Every time we sin, it is not only a breaking of a law of God or human but most of all a refusal to love, a refusal to obey Christ’s commandment to love. Our Tagalog word for sin says it all: kasalanan from the root word sala which is “to miss” or “to fail”. Every sin – a kasalanan – is a failure, a missing (sala) of our one task which is to love. Every time we sin, we become less of a loving person.

It is indeed a very tall order from the Lord, to love like the way he loves us.

So when he had washed their feet and put his garments back on and reclined at table again, he said to them, “Do you realize what I have done for you? You call me ‘teacher’ and ‘master’, and rightly so, for indeed I am. If I, therefore, the master ands teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash one another’s feet. I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you shouild also do” (John 13:12-15).

However, Jesus is not the stiff nor strict at all in demanding that we totally be like him right away in our love for one another. All he asks us is to try, to persevere in his love. He knows very well that our love is imperfect, that only him can love us perfectly.

Many times we complain (rightly so!) as we get hurt emotionally, physically and even spiritually from people we look up to like priests and teachers and to those supposed to love us most like parents and siblings and friends.

It is part of the mystery of life and of love specifically that the ones we love most are the ones we hurt most too and vice versa. That pain is from that love that ironically fails always. And that is because we are not God. Our love is always imperfect. We need to have some room within us for others’ sins and failures.

*Photo by author, last supper scene of our youth’s senakulo, 15 April 2025.*

We are all imperfect that is why our love is also imperfect. There are times we think the love we share or give is the very best but to our beloved, it could be misconstrued as not love at all like parents being too strict with their children. There are times when we think our beloved would love our gifts as expression of our love but unknown to us they were expecting something else.

Only God can love us perfectly. That is the love of Jesus Christ for us on the Cross so vividly portrayed in his last supper on Holy Thursday evening when he washed the feet of his disciples.

Jesus washed the disciples’ feet because he knew they would get dirty again. And that would need constant washing by those he would leave behind, including us. To wash another’s feet is the highest or deepest form and expression of love because it is an imitation of Jesus Christ.

Imagine how Jesus bowed down to each of the Twelve that Holy Thursday evening. Every day, Jesus does that to us too!

Normally, we look up to God in the heavens to pray, to beg his mercy, to ask for his favors, to praise and thank him. Jesus reversed this at his last supper: with him washing our feet, Jesus is the one looking up to us mere mortals and sinners?!

That is the love of Christ for us he proved the following Good Friday when he plunged himself to the lowest point of life, of dying on the Cross because of his immense love for each of us that led to his Resurrection at Easter.

At the start of the Mass of the Lord’s Supper this afternoon before sundown, the rubrics instructs that “the tabernacle should be entirely empty, but a sufficient amount of bread should be consecrated in this Mass for the Communion of the Clergy and the people on this and the following day.”

This is a beautiful reminder too for us as we come for the celebration of Jesus Christ’s supper and sacrifice, we too must empty ourselves of our pride, to accept our own imperfections in order to have some room for others also imperfect just like us. Let us empty ourselves of our sins for us to be filled with Christ’s love and mercy, kindness and forgiveness.

This Maundy Thursday, let us reflect on how deep is our love for Christ and for one another. Look at your feet and admit how difficult it is to even wash our own feet. Whose feet do not get dirty in this life’s journey? Everyone does. Let’s admit that and start helping each other in washing our feet. That is love. We do not stop loving because that is all we have to do in life and afterlife. Amen.

Love your enemies

Quiet Storm by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, 23 February 2025

*Photo by author, Hidden Valley Springs Resort, Calauan, Laguna, 20 February 2025.*

Jesus said to his disciples: “To you who hear I say, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse, pray for those who mistreat you… But rather, love your enemies and do good to them, and lend expecting nothing back; then your reward will be great and you will be children of the Most High, for he himself is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful” (Luke 6:27-28, 35-36).

yes, i hear you Lord.
love my enemies.
i have tried
and continue to strive
at loving my enemies;
but, who are my enemies?

yes, it is easier said than done,
loving my enemies
who are most easy to identify
as those i hate and do not agree with,
those who have hurt me,
those who do not believe in me,
those who simply differ with me
both outside
and inside.

as i rested in you, Jesus
i have realized 
something deeper,
and pernicious: 
my worst enemies
are those within me
like a sin i refuse to admit,
a sin i continue to justify,
a darkness i'm afraid to look into.

yes, Jesus!
my worst enemy 
is actually myself 
when i deny your love 
and presence in me;
let me look deep inside me
where in my life
is God asking me to love
more like you, Jesus?

yes, it is terrifying,
disturbing and difficult
but it is only when i love more
like you Jesus
that i experience your love more
and begin loving my enemies within!

More than natural, love is supernatural & divine

The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle C, 23 February 2025
1 Samuel 26:2, 7-9, 12-13, 22-23 ><)))*> 1 Corinthians 15:45-49 ><)))*> Luke 6:27-38

*Photo by author Santisima Trinidad Parish, Malolos City, 18 March 2023.*

We continue this Sunday Jesus Christ’s Sermon on the Plain with his teachings getting more disturbing, twice telling us to love our enemies. Yes, you heard it right…

Jesus said to his disciples: “To you who hear I say, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse, pray for those who mistreat you… But rather, love your enemies and do good to them, and lend expecting nothing back; then your reward will be great and you will be children of the Most High, for he himself is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful” (Luke 6:27-28, 35-36).

See that after selecting Twelve from among his many disciples, Jesus will be asking more from his followers that includes us today. As we have reflected last Sunday with the four woes of Christ, there is no middle ground in being a Christian. We have to make a decision, to choose Jesus always.

This Sunday, Jesus shows us it is no simple choice we have to make because loving our enemies is easier said than done.

In this age of social media when everything is blown out of proportion with everyone dragged even into the quarrels and infidelities among celebrities, the more it is difficult to avoid making enemies with many of us easily taking sides in the petty issues that are trending.

It is the same thing with our way of loving these days with how easy it is to love people who love us too. Anyone can be so nice to people nice also to them as it comes naturally.

But real love is not really that natural.

True love as Jesus had shown us on the Cross is more than the natural flow of things. It is always supernatural, beyond the natural flow of emotions. Jesus is asking us that we go beyond what comes naturally especially with love because love is a decision, a fruit of the meeting of mind and of heart, a oneness within every person that is also a sure sign of one’s maturity, spirituality.

Loving our enemies, doing good on those who do bad against us is love of the highest order. It is not weakness but actually a strength for no weakling can muster the courage and clarity to be loving with one’s enemies.

Loving our enemies is knowing better than the rest on the repercussions, the intricacies and complexities of being adamant and insistent.

This is the beautiful example shown by David in the first reading: instead of delivering into his hands King Saul he had found sleeping unguarded inside a cave while pursuing him and his men, David spared his life out of respect for God who anointed Saul as King of Israel.

See also the practicality of Jesus in teaching us to love our enemies and those who do us bad: if you only love or care or be kind with those who love and care and are kind to us, then it is not real love and caring and kindness at all you are giving. Jesus pointed out that even criminals and bad people do it. If that is the case, then, we are no different from them if we love only those who love us!

*Fatima University students spent a Sunday afternoon of prayers and fun with kids with cerebral palsy and their families, 09 February 2025.*

True love, real love is never transactional, never a deal nor an agreement in this age of many marriages punctuated with pre-nuptials. True love is freely given without any reservations, no ifs nor buts. As St. Mother Teresa used to say, the true measure of love is to love without measure.

Love is something we fully give away, never kept. You never scrimp on love. It is always given in full. Scrimp on your love, you lose because the love you keep and withdraw is never kept nor save. In fact, a love not shared and given becomes stale. Or expired. Napapanis.

Like the things we love eating or using, love comes without any expiration date that says “best consumed before February 23, 2025.”

Love is best when freely given and shared. Once “opened” or given, no need to keep and refrigerate it. Consume it right away! Everything. No love is ever wasted. Walang sayang na pagmamahal, lahat may pinatutunguhan at binubungang mabuti.

*Photo by author, Hidden Springs Resort, Calauan, Laguna, 20 February 2025.*

Love is like a natural spring water, or the waterfalls that keep flowing, watering and refreshing countless tributaries, people, plants and animals. Just keep loving! Love, love, love!

At his Sermon on the Plain, Jesus clarifies that true love like his love is first of all not of natural level and flow but of supernatural nature, divine like him. Jesus emphasized this at his Last Supper, describing it as a “new commandment of love” because it is a love rooted in God not just in man.

The following Good Friday on the Cross, Jesus proved his love as true and real. Most of all, free.

We today experience that true love of Jesus even to this day because of his rising three days after his crucifixion at Easter. This is what Paul meant in the second reading that in Jesus Christ, we have become heavenly and spiritual. The love of Christ have made us like him, divine and heavenly. What a great honor we now have! For being so loved by God in Jesus Christ, we too must love truly and freely like him!

Last month, I strongly reacted to a statement by Rappler’s Ms. Maria Ressa in her interview before a speech at the Vatican Jubilee of Journalists.

I called her “heretic” when she told her interviewer that Filipinos should “stay away from dogmas and be good” (https://lordmychef.com/2025/01/27/on-being-good-as-a-catholic/)

That night in my prayer, I felt God “disturbed” me for being so harsh and judgmental of a journalist presumably totally unaware of the meaning of “dogma” in the Church.

The following day, I got a message from the reporter who posted that story and naturally, did not like what I wrote. As days went on, I felt “disturbed” and “uneasy” with my calling her “heretic”. After three days, I edited my blog and removed the harsh word as I realized calling others with names or labels would not help at all in clarifying things especially about our faith.

Most of all, it is not the Christian way of loving others, of putting others down just to uphold our faith and beliefs. It is not love. And I felt so afraid Jesus might personally get down from his Cross to take away that harsh word I have written.

Next month, I will be turning 60 years old, a senior sixty-cent so excited with my discount card. As I reflected these days on the immense love of Jesus for me in these 60 years, 27 as his priest, I have been praying, where in my life is God asking me to love more like Christ?

Loving our enemies is not merely the people we hate, or those who have hurt us or different from us, not like us. Loving our enemies includes those darkness within us, those weaknesses we hide and cover, sins we refuse to admit or continue to justify. Many times our worst enemies are those within us, our very selves.

It is difficult. And terrifying. Loving our enemies is easier said than done. It is also disturbing but at the same time, so liberating because the more we love, the more we feel free for Christ and for others. Amen. Have a blessed, loving week ahead.

Sharing with you a video I have taken last Thursday at the Hidden Springs Resort in Laguna; the sight and scene of a waterfalls reminded me so much of God’s love that never runs out.

To look for…

The Lord Is My Chef Easter Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Tuesday in the Fourth Week of Easter, 23 April 2024
Acts 11:19-26 ><}}}}*> + ><}}}}*> + ><}}}}*> John 10:22-30

*Photo by Dra. Mylene A. Santos, MD, July 2020 in Katmon Nature Sanctuary & Beach Resort, Infanta, Quezon.*

What a lovely story today,
Lord Jesus of Barnabas
who was sent by the Apostles
from Jerusalem to Antioch
to check on the growing number
of Your followers who were
called for the first time as "Christians";
what is most touching in this story,
dear Jesus is when Barnabas 
went to Tarsus to look for Saul,
Your former persecutor,
their former enemy:

And when he had found him he brought him to Antioch. For a whole year they met with the Church and taught a large number of people, and it was in Antioch that the disciples were first called Christians (Acts 11:26).

Surely it was not simply because
they believed in You, O Jesus,
that they were called Christians;
most likely because they have lived
truly like You, Lord,
imitators of the Christ who 
truly cared for one another
by forgiving those who have sinned,
and most likely too,
truly loving their enemies
like Saul;
I pray, dear Lord, for those
who truly love and care for me,
for those who look for me,
for those who check on me
how life has been going on,
for those who stay with me
to guide me back to You, Jesus.

Grant me the grace, Lord Jesus,
like Barnabas to look for those
we have forgotten,
those we take for granted,
those who annoy us,
those we can easily dismiss
as nonsense and ordinary,
those who have hurt us,
those we hate;
grant us the courage to let 
Your voice lead us Lord Jesus
to other Sauls of this world
so we may lead them to You
to find life in You.
Amen.

*Photo by author, Anvaya Cove, 15 April 2024.*

Love is perfection of life

Quiet Storm by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
The Seven Last Words, 06 April 2023

*Photo by author, Chapel of the Holy Family, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, Quezon City, 2014.*

There was a vessel filled with common wine. So they put a sponge soaked in wine on a sprig of hyssop and put it up to his mouth. When Jesus had taken the wine, he said, “It is finished.” And bowing his head, he handed over the spirit.
John 19:29-30

Every Maundy Thursday, people await that most unique part of the Mass every year when the priest washes the feet of some members of the community. As a priest, it is one of the most humbling experiences I have had when a brother priest washed my feet on that Mass I attended in 2008 and 2021.

But there is something more beautiful to the ritual washing of feet. It is the context and words that accompany that: “Before the feast of Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to pass from this world to the Father. He loved his own in the world and he loved them to the end” (John 13:1).

The Greek word for the “end” is telos which is not just a terminal end in itself but indicates or connotes direction. Or fulfillment and perfection, not just a ceasing or end or stoppage of life or any operation.

When Jesus said on the Cross “It is finished”, he meant he had fulfilled his mission, that is, he had perfectly loved us to the end by giving us his very life.

At his death on the Cross, Jesus showed us perfectly in no uncertain terms his love for us, the Father’s love for us that he had told to Nicodemus at the start of the fourth gospel that “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son” (Jn. 3:16).

There on the Cross this was definitively fulfilled and perfected more than ever. Jesus did not have to die on the Cross but he chose to go through it because of his love for us.

Here we find the beautiful meaning of love. It is not just obeying the commandments nor being good and kind with everyone. Love in its totality is the perfection of life. It is our only destiny in life, our call to life from the very beginning. Love, love, love. Keep on loving until it hurts. Until the end.

Beloved, if God so loved us, we also must love one another. No one has ever seen God. yet, if we love one another, God remains in us, and his love is brought to perfection in us.
1 John 4:11-12

From that same letter, John declared at the very start that God is love which according to Pope Benedict XVI in his first encyclical is the most profound statement about God found only in Christianity.

My dear friends, only God can love us perfectly. Only Jesus can love us perfectly like what he did on the Cross. Human love is always imperfect. In our imperfect love, let us find Jesus filling up, making whole, perfecting our love for each other. Let us die in our selves sometimes when we have to let go with each one’s imperfection like when they make side comments. Forget all about revenge. Forgive. Understand the shortcomings of everyone. Accept and own the pains and hurts inflicted on us by our loved ones like our mom and dad, your former wife or husband, your friends, of those who have hurt you in words and deeds. That is being like Christ, dying on the Cross because of love.

Let us pray for those we love and those who love us despite our imperfections.

Lord Jesus Christ,
how I wish I could love until the end,
how I wish I could say too like you
"It is finished";
forgive me because many times with me,
the pains and hurts I have had are not yet
finished, even festering inside me,
eating me up, rotting inside me
that I could not grow and bloom in you.
Forgive me and teach me to forgive too
for it is in forgiving we truly love
perfectly like you.
Amen.

*Photo by my former student, Ms. April Oliveros on their ascent to Mt. Pulag, 25 March 2023.*

The wages of sin

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Tuesday in the Eleventh Week of Ordinary Time, 14 June 2022
1 Kings 21:17-29 ><))))*> + ><))))*> + ><))))*> Matthew 5:43-48

*Photo by author, Ubihan Island, Meycauayan, Bulacan, 31 December 2021.*

"For the wages of sin
is death;but the gift of God
is eternal life through 
Jesus Christ " (Romans 6:23).

Although your words today,
dear God are not from St. Paul,
his words to the Romans immediately
came to me as I prayed on the sins of
King Ahab and his queen Jezebel
in the first reading.
Though you have forgiven Ahab for
his sins after he had confessed 
having caused the death of Naboth
to have his vineyard, you never took back'
his punishments which fell upon his whole
family line.
Although I feel it a bit unfair,
your Son's teachings in the gospel
cleared all questions in me.

Jesus said to his disciples: “You have heard that is was said, You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your heavenly Father, for he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust.”
Matthew 5:43-45

Yes, your words O God are so
difficult to comprehend, even insane
when we come to think about them;
but the more I dwell on your words,
the more I try to follow you in Jesus Christ,
the more I realize you are not only holy but
also practical.
Holiness is being practical.
Staying holy, being good, being loving
and forgiving are the most practical
and sanest things to do:  so often, life
becomes miserable for us because of 
our own making, of our wrong choices 
to do what is sinful, what is unjust,
what is wrong.
In the case of Ahab and Jezebel, there were
the clear results of death due to sin
because sin begets sin; unless a sin is
rectified, it will destroy every person
perpetuating it.
And that is why we have to love our enemies;
it is for practical reasons too because to return evil
for evil increases evil and sin.
Only love can stop sin and all the follies
of mankind.

Today, dear God, help me to bring more
love in this world, to bring more peace
and mercy to stop the spread of evil and
sin further.  Amen.

Praying to recover “lost humanity”

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Monday, Memorial of St. Anthony of Padua, Priest and Doctor of the Church, 13 June 2022
1 Kings 21:1-16 ><]]]]'> + ><]]]]'> + ><]]]]'> Matthew 5:38-42

*The Church of St. Anthony called Igreja de Santo António de Lisboa built at the site of his birthplace in Lisbon, Portugal. Photo by Mr. Jilson Tio taken in his 2018 pilgrimage.*

Today as we celebrate the
Memorial of your beloved Saint
Anthony of Padua famous for
interceding in the recovery of 
things lost, we pray to you O God
our loving Father also for the recovery
of something so precious becoming
so rare these days - decency and honor,
love and kindness, respect and justice.
Through the intercession of St. Anthony,
Lord, please help us recover our 
"lost humanity" so vividly exposed
last week in that viral video of an
SUV hitting and running over a traffic
aide in Mandaluyong City.

How sad, even tragic, dear God
in this modern time of too much
sophistication in science and technology,
we have lagged behind in our humanity;
aside from the war at Ukraine, how could
violent shootings continue in the States
at the loss of so many children?
What is so tragic is how politicians there
talk about protecting children when the
same politicians push so hard for abortions,
in killing the most innocent persons of all!

Have we become like Jezebel, the pagan wife
and queen of Ahab who have no regard at all
for humans, creating fake news and gossips
against people, promoting corruption among
people for material gains?

So she wrote letters in Ahab’s name and, having sealed them with his seal, sent them to the elders and to the nobles who lived in the same city with Naboth. This is what she wrote in the letters: “Proclaim a fast and set Naboth at the head of the people. Next, get two scoundrels to face him and accuse him of having cursed God and the king. Then take him out and stone him to death.” On hearing Naboth was dead, Ahab started off on his way down to the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, to take possession of it.
1 Kings 21:8-10, 16

Your Son Jesus Christ
taught us the ways to recover our
lost humanity more than 2000 years
ago but until now, we have not recovered
it yet because of our refusal to let go 
of our pride and attachment with wealth
and other things of the world.
Like St. Anthony, help us to let go of
our possessions and comforts, "to give
to the one who asks of us, and to not
turn our back on one who wants 
to borrow" (Matthew 5:42).

St. Anthony of the World, 
Pray for us!

*The room where St. Anthony was born in the year 1195 preserved in the church built at the former site of their home in Lisbon, Portugal. Photo by Mr. Jilson Tio, 2018.*

The Portuguese people have always referred to St. Anthony of Lisbon than of Padua where his body is buried in Italy; in 1982, St. John Paul II visited his birthplace, and told the crowd their native saint was not St. Anthony of Padua to which the crowd cheered. Then, the Pope said he is neither St. Anthony of Lisbon and the people fell silent. But when the great Pope said their native saint is St. Anthony of the World, they cheered loudly! (Anecdote and photo courtesy of Mr. Jilson Tio)

*Praying at the birthplace of St. Anthony protected by iron grills. Photo by Mr. Jilson Tio, 2018.*

*Mr. Jilson Tio (third from left) with fellow pilgrims outside the room where St. Anthony was born in Lisbon, Portugal in 2018.*

Praying for someone with “anything against us”

40 Shades of Lent by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Friday in the First Week of Lent, 11 March 2022
Ezekiel 18:21-28   <'[[[[>< + ><]]]]'>   Matthew 5:20-26

*Photo by author, Chapel of the Holy Family, Sacred Heart Novitiate, 2017.*

You, O God,
are indeed so good and loving!  
How true is our Responsorial Psalm 
as we close Lent’s first week, 
“If you, O Lord, mark iniquities, 
who can stand?” because nothing 
can be hidden from you; 
yet, so many times you pretend like 
a dumb - “nagtatanga- tangahan" po kayo - 
as if not knowing our sins and evil 
just because you love us like when 
Jesus said in the gospel, 
“if you bring your gift to the altar, 
and there recall that your brother 
has anything against you, 
leave your gift there at the altar, 
go first and be reconciled with your brother, 
and then come and offer your gift (Mt.5:23-24).”

When does 
a “brother has anything against us?”, Lord?

If you mean, dear Jesus,
that a brother/sister has something 
against us because of his/her wrongdoing, 
then we could never be able 
to offer anything at all to you
because we all have something 
against each other!  
But here, it is very clear, 
“a brother has anything against you” 
because we have done something wrong 
against somebody; the burden is on us 
that is why we are obliged, 
even ought to be 
“reconciled with him first then offer our gift” 
because we’re the guilty one.

Forgive us, Jesus,
for always pretending to be 
the offended or aggrieved ones
when in fact, we are the offender,
the sinner who had done wrong 
to another that is why he/she
has anything against us".

We pray for those who have something
against us because of our own making,
of our own provocations; let us be real
with you, O God, to change our ways
beginning this Lent as you assure us
through Prophet Ezekiel, 
“When someone virtuous 
turns away from virtue to commit iniquity, 
and dies, it is because of the iniquity 
he committed that he must die.  
But if the wicked, turning from wickedness 
he has committed, does what is right and just, 
he shall preserve his life; 
since he has turned away from all the sins 
that he committed, he shall surely live, 
he shall not die (18:26-28).”
Amen.

Desiring God

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Tuesday, Week XI in Ordinary Time, Year I, 15 June 2021
2 Corinthians 8:1-9 ><)))'> + <'(((>< Matthew 5:43-48

*Photo by Ms. Ria De Vera, 01 June 2021 at Bgy. Lalakhan, Sta. Maria, Bulacan*.

Thank you very much again, O God our loving Father for the grace of prayer, most especially in the grace of desiring you which is what prayer is all about. Keep us steady in our desire for you, to be with you, to be like you – holy and loving.

Enrich us today with your holiness and love by being poor of our selves like Jesus Christ your Son as experienced by St. Paul.

For you know the gracious act
of our Lord Jesus Christ,
that for our sake he became poor 
although he was rich,
so that by his poverty you might become rich.
(2 Corinthians 8:9)

Being poor like Jesus and St. Paul is thinking less of myself, more of others. How ironic that in our world of today where there is a surplus of everything, the more we have become worried of having less because we remain unconvinced of your love and blessings as we live detached from you. Hence, our constant feeling of being impoverished, needing to be filled and satisfied.

Teach us to be poor by being intimate with you, O God our Father so that we worry less of ourselves because we already have you, disposed to being like you, able to love freely.

"So be perfect,
just as your heavenly Father
is perfect."
(Matthew 5:48)

Make us realize that in this life, it is only you whom we must desire first of all in order to be sufficient and enriched that we are able to love everyone, even our enemies because we are confident in ourselves of your love and intimacy. Amen.

Forgiving from the heart

The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Week XXIV, Cycle A in Ordinary Time, 13 September 2020
Sirach 27:30-28:7 >><)))*> Romans 14:7-9 >><)))*> Matthew 18:21-35

Photo by author, dusk in our parish, July 2020.

This Sunday we go deeper into the lessons gathered by Matthew from Jesus regarding love as the basis of our relationships. Last week we were told how mutual love is the sole reason why we correct brothers and sisters going stray in life.

But, more sensitive and delicate, not to mention most difficult than fraternal correction is the question of forgiving.

How many times should we forgive?

Peter approached Jesus and asked him, “Lord, if my brother sins against me, how often must I forgive? As many as seven times?” Jesus answered, “I say to you, not seven times but seventy-seven times. That is why the kingdom of heaven may be likened to a kind who decided to settle accounts wit his servants. When he began the accounting, a debtor was brought before hm who owed him a huge amount. Since he had no way of paying it back, his master ordered him to be sold, along with his wife, his children, and all is property, in payment of the debt. At that, the servant fell down, did him homage, and said, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back in full.’ Moved with compassion the master of that servant let him go and forgave him the loan.
Matthew 18:21-27

Forgiving is always difficult because it is from God, calling us to be one with him, one in him, and be like him as that saying perfectly summed up, “To err is human, to forgive is divine.” It is beyond human abilities, reserved only for God until he became human like us in Jesus Christ who made us share in his greatest expression of love which is forgiveness. Hence, every time we forgive, we also become like God, divine and holy that unfortunately, we refuse and even hate!

Yes, it is very difficult because like love, forgiving is the nature of God. In fact, any kind of love is best expressed when it is forgiving. The good news is that we now share in this great love of God in forgiving others like him as we shall see in today’s parable, keeping in mind also that it was the Risen Lord’s commission to his disciples when he appeared to them on that Easter evening (John 20:22-23).

Photo by author, Baguio Cathedral, January 2018.

Forgiving like God our Father

The beauty of forgiving is that it is always a grace from God freely given to us. It is doable in Jesus Christ. The problem is when we refuse to let God work in us, when we refuse to level up our relationships to that of brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ.

There is always that pride in us exhibited by Peter at the start of the gospel today when he asked Jesus how many times he must forgive his brother. Must it be seven times?

Of course, seven being a “perfect number” does not specify a numerical figure of times to forgive except that it gives enough room to let go of a sinner or an offender. However, it still connotes some form of “counting” or taking tabs at how many times must one forgive, implying a limit.

But Jesus pushed it further when he told Peter to forgive “not seven times but seventy-seven times” — that is, twice the perfect number he had cited!

The Lord is telling Peter, and us today, to forget all about keeping tabs, of counting how many times you must forgive because God forgives us without limits which his parable tells us.

The king or master in the parable is God, so wealthy that he could lend sums exceeding the normal level of what one can borrow. Most surprising is like God, the master lent so much amount beyond the debtor’s ability to pay!

That is how rich our God is — so rich in love and mercy, giving us with so much even beyond our ability to pay him back in return. Exactly what we have in the responsorial psalm: “The Lord is kind and merciful; slow to anger and rich in compassion.”

And when that servant prostrated before his master, then the more we see in that religious gesture the deeper meaning of the parable: the rich mercy of God forgiving us for our debts even after we have lost everything like that debtor with nothing enough to pay his loans, not even his wife and children.

See the contrast of the king moved with compassion echoing the same attitude of Jesus so often like in the wilderness where he fed more than 5000 people and that servant so lost with nothing else left but still forgiven.

The parable could have stopped there but Jesus went on to continue what happened next to teach us the deeper truth of forgiving, which is imitating God our Father because we are brothers and sisters in him.

When this servant had left, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a much smaller amount. He seized him and started to choke him, demanding, ‘Pay back what you owe.’ Falling to his knees, his fellow servant begged him… but he refused. Instead, he had the fellow servant put in prison until he paid back the debt. Now when his fellow servants saw what had happened, they were deeply disturbed, and went to their master and reported the whole affair. His master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you your entire debt because you begged me to. should you not have had pity on your fellow servant, as I had pity on you?’ Then in anger is master handed him over to the torturers until he should pay back the whole debt. So will my heavenly Father do to you, unless each of you forgives his brother from his heart.”
Matthew 18:28-35

Forgiving from the heart

After hearing the second part of the parable, we all felt like the master, angry and indignant with that merciless servant whose action was very shameless and scandalous. But, more than being like the king who properly judged the conduct of that merciless servant, Jesus is also inviting us to probe deeper into our hearts the realities why we felt like the king in the parable?

How many times have we felt so angry and frustrated during this pandemic period at the many occasions when we heard news of injustices and abuse of powers against the little ones like Mang Dodong or the Marawi verteran shot to death in Quezon City? Of those punished in violating the protocols when its chief implementor got away free after attending a mañanita party?

The list goes on specially in our country where laws favor the abusive rich and powerful, those with connections while ordinary citizens with lesser violations, even without any crimes at all suffer the same fate as the servant with lesser debts.

We all feel so angry and very sad because more than the injustices and lack of mercies committed by those in powers, they have forgotten we are brothers and sisters in one God our Father. Parang sila lang ang anak ng Diyos…

We feel like the king in the parable because we felt left out, disregarded, and disrespected despite our kindness and mercy with others.

Forgiving from the heart means to forgive others not because we are fellow servants but most of all as brothers and sisters of a loving and merciful Father who forgives us always from our unpayable debts of sin and evil against each other.

This is the very thing St. Paul is telling us in the second reading, that “None of us lives for oneself, and no one dies for oneself” (Rom.14:7). Sometimes we need to be in control of our lives but the truth is, when we try to live St. Paul’s message that our lives belong to one another in Christ, the more we become truly free and happy.

It is the same reminder from Ben Sirach in the first reading telling us how we must avoid anger and resentment specially revenge because it is contrary to our faith in God. Most of all, we also know so well that we need the mercy of God in forgiving our countless sins.

The example of St. John Paul II about forgiving like God

I know what I am telling you are easier said than done. And I confess that I also find it so hard to forgive people who have wronged me, specially those I have loved and helped. Allow me to end this reflection with this beautiful bit of history that happened in our lifetime.

We were in high school seminary when Mehmet Agca shot and almost killed St. John Paul II at St. Peter’s Square on May 13, 1981. We were shocked, so sad for him and very angry with Agca. But, two years later after Christmas in 1983, we were more shocked in disbelief while at the same time in tears with joy when news came out that St. John Paul II came to visit Agca in his cell to forgive him!

It was a major news that landed on TIME magazine the following year with the cover story so relevant with our gospel today:

Those who do not forgive are those who are least capable of changing the circumstances of their lives…
Not to forgive is to be imprisoned by the past, by old grievances that do not permit life to proceed with new business.
Not to forgive is to yield oneself to another’s control. If one does not forgive, then one is controlled by the other’s initiatives and is locked into a sequence of act and response, of outrage and revenge, tit for tat, escalating always. The present is endlessly overwhelmed and devoured by the past. Forgiveness frees the forgiver. It extracts the forgiver from someone else’s nightmare. “Unless there is a breach with the evil past,” says Donald Shriver, “all we get is this stuttering repetition of evil.”
Lance Morrow, TIME Magazine, 19 January 1984

As I searched for photos of the assassination attempt on him by Agca, I came across this photo below of their meeting with an accompanying report that made me admire and love St. “JP2” more than ever.

It said that while recuperating in the hospital, St. JP2 learned from the news how people hated Agca, prompting him to ask everyone to “pray for my brother (Agca)… whom I have sincerely forgiven.” That is how holy is this great Pope of our time! Long before visiting Agca in 1983, St. JP2 had already forgiven him, calling him a “brother” despite the evil and sin done to him.

What a great Amen!

Have a blessed and wonderful week ahead, brothers and sisters in Christ!