“Ashes to Ashes” by Dennis Lambert (1972)

DSCF1487 — *Yehliu Geopark in Taiwan with “mushroom” rock formations at the background. Photo by the author, 30 January 2019.*

The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Music, 17 February 2019

Every year when Valentine’s comes, I only think of one song: Dennis Lambert’s “Of All the Things”. It is probably the ultimate love song of all time especially for us die-hard romantic Filipinos that even Sr. Bubbles Bandojo, rc covered it for a Jesuit CD of popular songs often sung in weddings in the country. No wonder, Dennis Lambert gained a cult following in the country for that song he released in 1972 from the album “Bags and Things”.

Another cut from that great album is “Ashes to Ashes” which I find as a perfect match for our gospel this Sunday about the Beatitudes preached by Jesus Christ during His sermon on the plain based on St. Luke’s gospel. In the Beatitudes, Jesus tells us true blessedness and happiness in following Him is being poor, hungry, weeping, and hated by others. They are paradoxical because they run directly against the values of the world and yet, we know deep in our hearts how they are very true! Life is not about having and amassing but giving and sharing. Dennis Lambert reminds us that in the end, we are all “ashes to ashes, dust to dust.” And there lies the great paradox in this life that Jesus has always reminded us, “Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses it will save it” (Lk.17:33). The saints who have followed the Lord knew it so well and lived it through as well as poets, writers and musicians like Lambert wrote about it too. A blessed Sunday to you!

Valentine’s Is Love and Death Together

DSCF1341 — *Lover’s Bridge in Tamsui Fisherman’s Wharf, New Taipei City, Taiwan opened on Feb. 14, 2003. Photo by author, 29 January 2019.*

Quiet Storm by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, 15 February 2019

I thought last year’s Valentine’s Day was the most interesting in recent years because February 14 fell on an Ash Wednesday, a beautiful juxtaposition of the secular and the sacred that both remind us of love and death. It happened again to me yesterday very early morning when I drove with my brother down south to visit a beloved aunt who is our late father’s favorite sister sick with Parkinson’s for the last seven years. It was the closest experience I ever had with the realities of love and death intimately related.

Unlike my previous visits to her in the last two years, the latest last January 03, Tita Neneng has always looked so sad and depressed with her situation, choosing to be left alone than be seen in her plight. She used to be bursting with life, so busy with her career and family that upon retirement, she spent it going almost everywhere especially to visit her children in the US. Yesterday, Tita Neneng was so different, almost like back to her old self as she smiled and talked a lot. Her face was radiant, exuding with her beauty that had captivated so many men until her 50’s! She was bubbling with joy as we reminisced the good old days when my father was still alive along with her older siblings, our many family reunions, and of course, our Lola Queta. After anointing her with Holy Oil for the Sick and giving her the Viaticum, she told me something that made me cry so hard after: “Father, I am ready.”

Of course, I knew what she meant but I had to lean close to her to ask her again what she just said. “Father, handa na ako mamatay,” she told me with a smile on her lips while her eyes lovingly looked at me. I asked her if she had told it to her husband, Tito Terry and she replied, “hindi pa.” I told her she must tell it to Tito Terry so he would also be ready. She then looked down, then faced me again and told me, “yung mga anak ko umaasa pa sa milagro. Ayaw pa nila ako payagan.” I looked at her and asked permission to inform her children in the States of her feeling ready.

She just smiled. And I cried. Very hard.

I had to excuse myself to run for some tissue in her bathroom as I could not contain myself crying and sobbing beside her. Once in a while, a lesson from our pastoral psychology crossed my mind that as a pastor or minister, I should not cry in front of a patient, but, what can I do? She’s my dearest aunt who had made me feel so loved and special even before I ever thought of becoming a priest in high school?!

Deep inside me, I also felt some joy amidst the sadness because I felt my Tita Neneng is indeed ready to go anytime soon because she was so composed without any tear in her eyes and always with that sweet smile on her lips. Before, Tita Neneng would always cry to me, begging me to pray that God would take her as she could not endure her sufferings anymore. That was before when she begged for death out of desperation as a way out of her pains and sickness. But yesterday, she simply told me she was ready to die maybe because she must have found her direction in life already.

Yesterday was actually a déjà vu for me, having experienced it before with my bestest friend from high school seminary, Gil who was diagnosed with colorectal cancer in January 2013. He would always cry to me whenever I would visit him, asking “why me” with the Big C? Seven months after undergoing surgery and some chemo treatment, his doctors gave up. It was time to face the inevitable as his cancer cells were so strongly active; but, surprisingly, my friend Gil accepted it gallantly, even with joy on his face! I visited him thrice on his final week before he died. And there I was, breaking into tears before him, crying like a child. A reversal of roles had suddenly happened with Gil assuring me with everything, explaining things I should know more as a priest. The most remarkable thing I have discovered with Gil as he approached death was the inner peace he head when he told me how he had forgiven his wife who had abandoned them, telling me how much he still loved her, vowing to keep his marital vows until his end!

The beloved disciple of Christ wrote, “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” (1Jn.4:12).

Have you ever noticed how when our loved ones were diagnosed with serious illness, they always cried to us while we tried to assure them that everything would be fine? Then, as our loved ones slowly embraced their mortality and faced death, we in turn cried before them who also assured us that everything would be fine? There seems to be a reversal of roles when our loved ones embrace death because their love has been perfected that they no longer fear anything at all. They must be so assured of where they are going to in life, unlike us who are still uncertain of what awaits us and that is why we cry when they go. We not only cry for them but we cry more for ourselves because we have not seen the bigger picture yet that we still love imperfectly. The great love stories of literature like Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” and Charles Dickens’ “A Tale of Two Cities” show us that death and love always go together not only for a beautiful story but precisely because death shows the depth of one’s love. It is in suffering and death love is perfected. A heart willing to suffer and die for another is the heart that truly loves. Though love is symbolized by the heart as we have it on Valentine’s day, love is best expressed by the Cross of Jesus Christ who showed us the way of true love. Coming to terms with life is coming to terms with death and vice versa. So, let us have Valentine’s day every day!

“Still in Love” by Seawind (1980)

The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Music, 10 February 2019

It is a very lovely Sunday despite the very warm weather. Perfect for listening to the music of Seawind with vocals by Fil-Am Ms. Pauline Wilson who would surely touch your heart and delight your soul with “Still in Love” from their self-titled album “Seawind” released in 1980.

How lovely to realize that after all these years, you are still loved by someone you have loved. Exactly the kind of love of Jesus Christ to us all. In the gospel today, we find Jesus calling His first apostles while preaching by the shores of Lake Gennesaret after being rejected at their synagogue in Nazareth. That is how true and faithful Jesus is with His mission to reach out to everyone proclaiming His good news of salvation. Jesus is the only one who would always still be in love with us no matter how often we turn away from Him or reject Him.

Are you still in love with someone special? Or with Jesus?

Rejoice because most likely, you are still loved by that someone.

And definitely by Jesus!

“O-o-h Child” cover by Lisa Loeb (2017)-

RaffySampaloc Cove4 — *Photo by Mr. Raffy Tima of GMA-7 News, Sampaloc Cove in Subic, Zambales, 20 January 2019. Used with permission.*

The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Music, 03 February 2019

As I was telling you in my last blog, we had a unique weekend yesterday when we celebrated the Feast of the Presentation of the Child Jesus in the Temple because its gospel reading complements our gospel this Sunday. Recall how yesterday we have heard Simeon telling Mary the Mother of Jesus, “Behold, this child is destined for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be contradicted – and you yourself a sword will pierce you – so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed” (Lk.2:34-35). Today in our gospel we have seen the fulfillment of Simeon’s prophecy of Jesus being a sign of contradiction when people at their synagogue were amazed at His “gracious words” in proclaiming the word of God on a Sabbath. Then suddenly, the same people became skeptical of Him, wondering where or how He got such wisdom, asking “is he not the son of Joseph the carpenter?” This deteriorated more when the people became furious of Jesus, trying to hurl Him down headlong a ravine after He had explained to them the meaning of the word of God that revealed their hypocrisies.

So many times we go through the same experiences like Jesus in His own hometown when family and relatives and friends would speak highly of us but later put us down with their gossips and nasty words. Like Jesus when we try to be true and just with everyone, there are those would feel insecure that they would backstab us and even worse, betray us like Judas to Jesus. These are all a part of our being a prophet like Jesus Christ. A prophet is more than being a spokesman of God but someone who makes the word of God happen and fulfilled in every here and now like Jesus declaring in the synagogue on that Sabbath day, “Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing” (Lk.4:21). Sometimes, the more we try to truly love, the more we try to truly care and be kind with others, the more we are maligned and disliked by others. Indeed, no prophet is accepted in his own native place.

And that is why I remembered this beautiful song originally sang and recorded in 1970 by the Chicago soul family group called the Five Stairsteps. This song was originally meant to be the B-side of the Five Stairsteps’ version of another song but due to its meaningful and soothing message of hope and love, it became an instant hit at that time. There have been so many versions of this song that has become timeless as it assures everyone in every generation of how things would get better despite the many obstacles and setback in life. It is the very same assurance of God to us all who try to follow His Son Jesus Christ in being a sign of contradiction in this world where the norm nowadays is selfishness and self-centeredness masquerading as love and service. A blessed Sunday to you!

Christ, the Sign of Contradiction

PhilipLourdes — The Cross of Christ atop the church of our Lady of Lourdes in France. Photo by my former student Philip Santiago during his pilgrimage, September 2018.

The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe

03 February 2019, Week IV, Year C

Jeremiah 1:4-5, 17-19///1Corinthians 12:31-13:3///Luke 4:21-30

We had a rare weekend yesterday in the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord that wonderfully complemented our gospel on this Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time. Recall that last Sunday we were told how Jesus went home to Nazareth, entering the synagogue on a day of rest. Everybody was amazed with His “gracious words” in proclaiming the word of God that we ended the gospel with a very positive note when Jesus declared “Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing” (Lk.4:22). Our gospel today repeated this line as its take off point to continue the story of Jesus at the synagogue but, this time Luke tells us of a twist from the very positive “all spoke highly of him” to their skeptical “Isn’t this the son of Joseph?” (Lk.4:22). The mood deteriorated further after Jesus had spoken so that “the people at the synagogue were filled with fury. They rose up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town had been built, to hurl him down headlong” (Lk.4:28-29)!

What and how did this sudden turn of events happen? Here we find the complementing Feast of the Presentation yesterday based on the infancy narratives of Christmas by St. Luke when Simeon told Mary the mother of Jesus, “Behold, this child is destined for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be contradicted – and you yourself a sword will pierce you – so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed” (Lk.2:34-35). See how Jesus at the inauguration of His ministry at their Nazareth synagogue last week proclaiming the word of God would now start to be seen as a sign of contradiction among His people as prophesied by Simeon to His mother yesterday. That would reach its highest point 33 years later in Jerusalem where He was presented to the Temple 40 days after Epiphany after resolutely going there to offer or present Himself to the Father on the Cross. This explains why Jesus merely “passed through the midst of them and went away” when the people at the synagogue tried to hurl Him down headlong because His time of final offering had not yet come. But very clearly here at the synagogue of Nazareth, Christ is indeed the sign of contradiction not only to His people but also to us in this generation when we would also speak highly of Jesus, shouting Amen with clapping of hands and suddenly hit people near us with harsh and nasty words or even brutal force. Most of all, like the Lord, we too have experienced being a sign of contradiction when people would speak highly of us then suddenly or over time, turn against us and speak ill of us, betraying us like what Judas did to Jesus on Holy Thursday.

My dear friends in Christ, it is our calling and our life too in living out the word of God through our life of witnessing His immense love in service and mercy for those in the margins. Every time we gather for the Sunday Mass like when Jesus entered the synagogue of Nazareth on a day of rest, He invites us to follow Him to be a prophet by entering Him more than merely the church building. Being a sign of contradiction like Jesus is our prophetic mission in Him. So unlike what most people think, a prophet is not a fortune teller or a seer of the future. As the spokesperson of God, a prophet is one who makes God’s word happen or fulfilled in every here and now. Keep in mind that one feature of Luke’s gospel is the pre-eminence of “listening and doing” the word of God like when he reported how Jesus declared Isaiah’s prophecy fulfilled in their hearing that led into the sharp and sudden shifting in the reaction of people against the Lord, from approval to rejection.

First of all, those reactions were most evidently from His claiming to be the Messiah referred to in Isaiah’s prophecy on whom the “Spirit of the Lord rests upon.” He was the one who proclaimed the word and if we have truly immersed ourselves into this beautiful scene in the synagogue on that Sabbath day, we would really feel Jesus is in fact the one Isaiah is speaking of as being “anointed to bring glad tidings to the poor, liberty to captives, sight to the blind, freedom to those oppressed, and to usher in a year acceptable to the Lord” (Lk.4: 18-19). Salvation decisively begins in Christ and through Christ whenever we enter Him in His words. That “today” in Nazareth synagogue is also the today of our own time that continues to provoke astonishment among others when we try to be Christ’s witnesses of authentic love for others. That is perhaps the sad reality of these days when it becomes big news when people do something genuinely good and beautiful like the woman who impulsively rented 20 hotel rooms in Chicago so the homeless could escape the deep freeze this week in the US Midwest; her deed snowballed into other strangers doing the same! That is essentially the meaning of Paul’s lofty words on love being the greatest of all gifts because it makes God most present in our midst. To truly love like Christ is essentially being a sign of contradiction in this world where the norm is selfishness and self-centeredness often masked in different in lofty terms and ideals bereft of any love at all.

Along this line of self-centeredness we find Luke reminding us in this scene at the Nazareth synagogue of the persisting problem self-entitlement among people then and now when we prophetically live out our mission of making Christ present. People always look down and frown upon those who try to be good and holy by striving to do what is right and just while the holier-than-thou sanctimoniously feel they are the only ones anointed to do such things because they are entitled. They are the modern Gnostics according to Pope Francis in his latest encyclical about holiness in our modern time (Gaudete et Exsulatate)” who feel as the only ones gifted in knowing what is right or wrong, true and good as if they are God. Like those people at the synagogue in Nazareth, they refused to accept Jesus of being more knowledgeable because He is the son of Joseph who was a carpenter. Jesus would strike at the very core of their self- entitlement when He told them “Amen, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his native place” (Lk.4:24), citing how Elijah and Elisha of the Old Testament days were both sent by God to help pagan peoples and not the Jews who have turned away from Him exactly like them. That filled them with fury against Jesus, wanting to hurl Him down the hill headlong. It is the same feeling those people around us experience like our relatives and friends who could not accept we are better than them that they start spreading all kinds of lies and nasty talks against us as they see their self-entitlement slowly eroding. Such is our life as a prophet like Jeremiah, always going against the flow of the people, choosing Christ to be a sign of contradiction and give way to the fulfilment of God’s word among us. Amen. Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Parokya ng San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Gov. F. Halili Ave., Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria, Bulacan.

What a Loving God We Have

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul

Tuesday, 22 January 2019, Week II, Year I

Hebrews 6:10-20///Mark 2:23-28

O God! You are so loveable and so loving!

You are the truest lover of all… so “nakaka-in-love” and so “kilig” as we say. You are so undeniably real, so personal, always my loving Dad, the only one who truly knows me and would always do things just to let me rest and have a break from all my worries and burdens in life.

As I prayed today’s readings, I could feel your strong presence that made me wonder what the author of the Letter to the Hebrews must have experienced when he wrote “God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love you have demonstrated for his name by having served and continuing to serve the holy ones” (6:10).

What he had written has always been true. So many among us at this very moment or past days are feeling so low, crying in silence, grappling with anger within while bearing all the pains of the continuing lack of love and respect, kindness and concern, even civility by some of those around us who feel so entitled in this world. Then out of nowhere, you are suddenly here beside me, coming like a lover, embracing me, hugging me, or simply touching me softly or just tenderly glancing at me full of love and affirmations.

Sometimes like the Twelve we get so tired and hungry following Jesus that we would pick the heads of the grain while passing through a field on the Sabbath when the holier-than-thou people around us would object like the Pharisees saying that is unlawful to do on a Sabbath (Mk.2:23-24). But Jesus would readily defend us because you are “not unjust so as to overlook our work and the love we have demonstrated for your name by having served and continuing to serve the holy ones” (6:10).

Thank you, dear God. Thank you. Help us to persevere in doing what is good in your sight, in fulfilling your will no matter how difficult it may be. Let us never doubt that you can never be outdone in kindness and generosity. Amen. Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Parokya ng San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Gov. F. Halili Ave., Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria, Bulacan.

Photo from Google. During my prayer period, I remembered the song “Like a Lover” that partly inspired me in writing this prayer. Good morning vibes and hope you love it!

“Better Days” by Dianne Reeves (1987)

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The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Music, 20 January 2019

It is still Christmas this Sunday here in the Philippines as we celebrate today the Feast of the Child Jesus known as Señor Sto. Niño. The feast reminds us of the most central teaching of Jesus Christ which is to be like a child for He said that “unless you become like children, you shall never inherit the kingdom of heaven.”

One distinct quality of being a child like Jesus Christ is to be always filled with love for everyone. In this age of modern technologies, how sad that we have become more technical than personal that slowly, real love has become so rare among us. Too often love is not only abused and misused but also misunderstood as mere feelings alone. No! Love is always a decision, a choice we make after the interplay of our mind and heart that leads to growth and maturity. And the more we stand on that decision and choice to love, the more it is deepened and perfected in God. So often, love is symbolized by the heart but its truest meaning can only be found in the great sign of the Cross of Jesus where we can find the perfect expression of Christian “childlikeness” and Christian maturity when we choose whatever is more painful and more difficult because we have found someone to love more than our self.

This is the child-like love that Dianne Reeves tells us in her 1987 crossover hit “Better Days” also known as the “Grandma Song” where she spoke of her grandmother not only teaching her but making her experience love that leads to better days. We find in the song her grandmother somehow portraying to us what we have said as Christian “childlikeness” and Christian maturity so that in the end, she peacefully joined God because she had always been faithful and loving as a child of the Father like Christ. That is also the challenge to us of this Feast of the Sto. Niño: to remain children of God even as adults like Jesus Christ. Or Dianne’s grandmother. If only we can be child-like like Jesus or Dianne’s Grandma, we can be assured of better days too not only here but in eternity.

Photo by the author, Dominican Hill, Baguio City, 18 January 2019.

Living As God’s Children

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The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe, 20 January 2019

Feast of the Sto. Nino, Week II, Year C

Isaiah 9:1-6///Ephesians 1:3-6, 15-18///Luke 2:41-52

Sometimes when we look at our religious celebrations we get the impression that we as a people seem to be very ritualistic and even fanatics. But, on deeper examinations, we find in these feasts the expressions of our deep faith nurtured through our history and culture as a nation by God’s invisible hand. A perfect example is today’s Feast of the Sto. Nino celebrated every third Sunday of January that is proper only to our country in recognition of the important role played by the image of the Child Jesus in our Christianization almost 500 years ago. All the readings and prayers of today’s Mass are taken from Christmas Season even if we are already in the Second Sunday of Ordinary Time because the Sto. Nino is an extension of Christmas. Recall also that two weeks ago right after the Epiphany of the Lord we have celebrated the Traslacion in Quiapo featuring the adult Jesus Christ carrying the Cross more known as the Black Nazarene. They are the two most popular Christ devotions in our country that every region and province, town and barrio up to the smallest sitio has its own version of celebrating Traslacion and/or Sto. Nino. In both devotions we find the finest examples of our vibrant faith in Jesus Christ who became like us in everything except sin in order to save us, heal us, and bring us closer with one another as one big family with God as our Father. And in both devotions too, Christ calls us to continue living into our adulthood as God’s little children like Him the Sto. Nino and the Black Nazarene.

After three days of searching, Mary and Joseph found the 12 year-old child Jesus at the Temple and he said to them, “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” But they did not understand what he said to them. He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them; and his mother kept all these things in her heart. And Jesus advanced in wisdom and age and favor before God and man (Lk. 2:51-52).

From His childhood into His adulthood, Jesus remained a child of His heavenly Father and of His parents Mary and Joseph. In this scene on His finding at the temple, we again see the centrality of Christ’s teaching of remaining like a child in order to belong to the kingdom of heaven. And it was not only Him who showed it in this short account by St. Luke but also Mary and Joseph who “both did not understand” what Jesus had told them but still took care of Him very well as “He advanced in wisdom and age and favor before God and man.” Here we find the importance of love in remaining children of God as shown by the deep love among the members of the Holy Family that is rooted in the Father’s love. Notice how in this age of so much advancement in technologies that we have become more technical than personal, love has also suffered so greatly. It is not only abused and misused but most of all, misunderstood. Love has become a commodity that people think could be had simply and instantly like anything in a store or a vending machine, forgetting that love is more than a feeling but a decision we must keep. Most of all, love is a choice we make by choosing what is most painful and most difficult because true love is found only on the Cross of Christ.

This is what I am telling you at the beginning, the seemingly funny or weird flow of our celebrations after Christmas: Traslacion and then Sto. Nino that are both anchored on love of God that did not merely happen in Christ’s birth and coming but most of all in His suffering and death on the Cross. Love is often symbolized by the heart but its total meaning can only be found in the great sign of the Cross where we can find the perfect expression of Christian “childlikeness” and Christian maturity. Recall how Jesus on the Cross remained a child of the Father to whom He entrusted His total self while at the same time remained faithful to His mission, resolutely going to Jerusalem to face His fate as a matured adult. That is love when we can be tender and docile to our beloved and at the same time stand our ground to keep our promise, no matter what or how painful it could be. It is a love until the end that is always willing to share and give, never thinking of anything in return.

To be able to love like a child and remain loving as a matured adult like Jesus Christ, we need to always live in the present moment. God revealed Himself to Moses as “I AM WHO AM” while in the gospels particularly in John’s, we find Jesus always declaring the great “I AM” as the Resurrection and life, the way, the truth and the life, as well as the good shepherd and the true vine. God is love because He is always in the here and now, the present, not in the past and not in the future. See how a child always has a time to take time as it comes, one day at a time, so calmly without advance planning and thinking or greedy hoarding of time. Unlike us adults, we need planners and schedules to follow, finding or making time like a sausage to be sliced into portions to be eaten at a desired time. Kids always live in the fullness of time like a cup of milk or water that has everything that for them, any time is a time to sleep, a time to eat, a time to play. And that is why they love all the time! We adults are so pressured and stressed that even in loving others and especially God, we always bargain with time as if it can be done. We love to postpone time because we are not yet ready, even refusing to move on as we dwell with our painful past. Remember the warning of Jesus that nobody knows the time when He shall come that we must always be on guard and ready for that time by always loving God and others all the time. Recall our quotation last week that says, “For people who rush, time is fast; for people who wait, time is slow; but, for people who love, time is not.” A child of God lives in the present because he knows, like Jesus Christ, every moment is the fullness of time we must receive with gratitude because in every present moment we have everything. This is totally different from the young people’s concept of “YOLO” that is actually about living in the future now being advanced without realizing the beautiful present moment.

To be a child of God like the Senor Sto. Nino is to walk in the “great light” of Christ, our “Wonder-counselor, God-hero, Father-forever, and Prince of Peace” (Is.9:1,5) who calls us to love every moment of our lives by living in the present. May Jesus “enlighten the eyes of our hearts that we may know what is the hope that belongs to his call, what are the riches of glory in his inheritance among the holy ones” (Eph.1:18). AMEN. Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Parokya ng San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Gov. F. Halili Ave., Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria, Bulacan.

*Photo is a painting of Sto. Nino devotees by Bulakenyo artist Aris Bagtas. Used with permission.

Perfecting the Love of God in Our Imperfect Love

the feast of nuestro padre jesus nazareno

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul

Wednesday after Epiphany of the Lord, 09 January 2019

1 John 4:11-18///Mark 6:45-52

God our loving Father, we praise and thank you in giving us your Son Jesus Christ who taught us and showed us everything about love. He is your love, Father, as He is love. Indeed, “no one has ever seen You. Yet if we love one another in Christ, You remain in us and Your love is brought to perfection in us” (1 Jn. 4:12)

Our love is always imperfect. Only You can love us perfectly. Remind us always this truth so we stop looking for perfect love among us. Instead, keep us loving one another even in the darkness of fears and doubts of Your presence when we are so afraid we would lose everything and everyone, when we are afraid of being naked and hungry, when we are afraid of not being loved and forgiven. Let us always find Jesus Your Son amid the storms of life, like the Black Nazarene carrying His Cross, speaking to us, “Take courage, it is I, do not be afraid!” (Mk. 6:50). AMEN. Fr.Nicanor F. Lalog II, Parokya ng San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Gov. F. Halili Ave., Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria, Bulacan.

Photos from Google.

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Love is Being a Food for Others

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul

Tuesday after Epiphany of the Lord, 08 January 2019

1 John 4:7-10///Mark 6:34-44

“In this is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as expiation for our sins” (1 Jn. 4:10).

Today as we move on to new directions and new beginnings this 2019 on this first full week of work and school – when we claim to be back to “normal” in life – you remind us also Lord Jesus Christ of the nature of love: that everything is because of you because “God is love.”

As we return to the usual grind of life, teach us always Lord to feel with the people like you when you were moved with pity upon seeing the vast crowd following you. Most of all, teach us Lord that love is being a food myself for others to receive, to share with. Yes, this is precisely what you meant when you told your disciples in the wilderness to “give the crowd some food yourselves” (Mk.6:37). Whenever we share food and drinks to others, when we offer them to partake of our meals, we actually share ourselves with them. That is the meaning of your sacred meal, the Eucharist. And that is why such meal is also called agape, the highest form of love when nothing is expected in return.

Give us the grace O Lord this New Year to be more loving, more caring with others by giving more of ourselves to others. AMEN. Fr.Nicanor F. Lalog II, Parokya ng San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Gov. F. Halili Ave., Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria, Bulacan.

*Photos from Google.

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