40 Shades of Lent by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Wednesday in the First Week of Lent, 21 February 2024 Jonah 3:1-10 ><}}}}*> + ><}}}}*> + ><}}}}*> Luke 11:29-32
Photo by Ms. Ria De Vera, somewhere in Alberta, Canada, 17 February 2024.
God our Father, in this Season of Lent, let us take one step backward to let you do your work in us, among us.
We have been so used to our expertise and knowledge that we seem to know everything, even better than you like Jonah.
Allow us to take "sackcloth and ashes" like the people of Nineveh to transcend our habits by taking the back seat this time, limiting ourselves to your simple instructions as we try to believe in you and others too.
Jonah began his journey through the city, and had gone but a single day’s walk announcing, “Forty days more and Nineveh shall be destroyed,” when the people of Nineveh believed God; they proclaimed a fast and all of them, great and small, put on sackcloth.
Jonah 3:4-5
Continue to speak to us even harshly like Jesus in the gospel, calling us an "evil generation" seeking signs of your presence in Christ; very often, we need to be shaken deep inside, to stop a while so you can work in us and among us, filling us with your love and mercy so that we discover your love and mercy in us when we are able to cry like the psalmist: "Have mercy on me, O God, in your goodness; in the greatness of your compassion wipe out my offense. Thoroughly wash me from my guilt and of my sin cleanse me" (Ps. 51:3-4). Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Wednesday, Memorial of St. Vincent de Paul, Priest, 27 September 2023
Ezra 9:5-9 <*(((>< + ><)))*> __ <*(((>< + ><)))*> Luke 9:1-6
Photo by author, San Juan, La Union, 25 July 2023.
Show us your will,
your ways,
and your path,
loving Father
in the face of the many
great changes happening now
in our lives,
in our world,
in our places of work;
truly, changes are
inevitable; in the process,
there would be alterations,
destructions in order to build
like the restoration of your
temple after the exile;
but, dear God,
let us not forget in all these
our own sinfulness
and your mercy and forgiveness.
Give us the grace to cry
and pray like Ezra:
I said: “My God, I am too ashamed and confounded to raise my face to you, O my God, for our wicked deeds are heaped up above our heads and our guilt reaches up to heaven. From the time of our fathers even to this day great has been our guilt, and for our wicked deeds we have been delivered up, we and our kings and our priests, to the will of the kings of foreign lands, to the sword, to captivity, to pillage, and to disgrace, as is the case today. And now, but a short time ago, mercy came to us from the Lord our God…”
Ezra 9:6-8
How sad that we
never learn from
our lessons of past sins,
of how the many scourges
we deserve fell on us that
we still keep on living in evil,
denying its hold on us,
becoming blind to all
the excesses around us
that indeed our wicked deeds
are heaped up above our heads!
How sad, most of all,
that we easily forget your
love and mercy,
the forgiveness and
new life you gave us
to start anew
in rebuilding our lives
in you.
Let us heed
your call and summons
to proclaim Christ's
gospel of forgiveness
and healing like
St. Vincent de Paul
to the many people
deep into sin
and evil these days
because of fame
and power
and wealth.
Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Thursday, Feast of St. Matthew, Apostle, 21 September 2023
Ephesians 4:1-7, 11-13 ><}}}}*> + ><}}}}*> + ><}}}}*> Matthew 9:9-13
Photo by Mr. Virgie Ongleo in Singapore, 2021.
God our loving Father,
on this feast of your Son's
Apostle St. Matthew who used
to be known as Levi, a tax collector,
I pray for all the men and women
who work hard to provide food,
shelter, and clothing for their
families; through St. Matthew,
Jesus Christ had shown us
you love so dearly every working
man and woman who toil and labor
under the most harsh conditions
trying to earn a living.
As Jesus passed by, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the customs post. He said to him, “Follow me.” And he got up and followed him.
Matthew 9:9
St. John Chrysostom rightly
noticed how the gospels mentioned
the work of some Apostles called
by Jesus: Peter, James and John were
fishing while Matthew was collecting
taxes; oh how perceptive were the eyes
and tongue of St. John Chrysostom!
Because fishing was seen as a lowly job
during that time while the taxman was
the most despicable person for Jews
and yet, Jesus called them!
Lord Jesus,
grant your mercy and comfort,
consolation and help to all workers
so hard pressed in this life,
especially the forgotten who strive
to earn money decently like our
farmers and fishermen,
drivers and vendors,
maidservants and nannies
who working abroad
to care for other families as they
left their own families behind;
bless the cops and traffic enforcers,
our government workers
and officials who live in the darkness
of sin, trapped in the lures of wealth
and money; in calling St. Matthew,
Jesus showed us his daily passing
and calling of everyone of us,
people of all social classes while
they go about their ordinary,
daily work.
Grant us the strength
and courage, dear Jesus,
to be like St. Matthew
to immediately rise up and
follow you, to leave everything
behind especially sin and evil,
to be detached and to finally
stop activities that are not
compatible in following
you, Lord; like St. Matthew,
may we "write" your gospel
with our very lives of holiness,
making known to everyone
your Divine Mercy.
Dearest Jesus,
open our hearts to
intently listen to St. Matthew's
voice and message
so we may learn to
rise and stand
then follow you,
Lord,
with determination.
Amen.
St. Matthew,
pray for us!
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Tuesday in the Twenty-Second Week of Ordinary Time, Year I, 05 September 2023
1 Thessalonians 5:1-6, 9-11 <*((((>< + ><))))*> Luke 4:31-37
Photo by author, sunrise at Camp John Hay, Baguio City, 12 July 2023.
Praise and glory to you,
God our loving Father
for this wonderful day!
Please, we pray, for lesser
rains today,
for a better weather
today for everyone
to make up for the
many losses we have
incurred since the
rains and floods came
two weeks ago.
In this time of calamities,
we pray for those in authority;
enough with excessive display
of authority by anyone vested
with any kind of authority
by the law who throw their
weight around even in
public; help us realize,
dear God that authority
is not about having powers
that set them apart from us,
of those in the higher up;
authority is about being
one with us below like
Jesus Christ your Son.
Jesus went down to Capernaum, a town of Galilee. He taught them on the sabbath, and they were astonished at his teaching because he spoke with authority. They were all amazed and said to one another, “What is there about his word? For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and they come out.”
Luke 4:31-32, 36
Help us realize,
dear Jesus,
that to have authority like you
is being nearer your subjects,
that true authority is not power
but solidarity with those subject
to one's authority.
Authority is not power but
mercy and compassion with
subjects deep in miseries
and sufferings.
Authority is walking
and feeling the joys and pains,
sharing the hopes and desires
of the subjects to be liberated
and freed.
Authority is empowering
others to discover their giftedness
"encouraging one another
and building one another up"
(1 Thess. 5:11).
Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle A, 18 June 2023
Exodus 19:2-6 ><}}}}*> Romans 5:6-11 ><}}}}*> Matthew 9:36-10:8
Photo by Ms. April Oliveros at Mt. Pulag, March 2023.
I recently had a long lunch that extended to a longer dinner recently with a good friend who was widowed last January. It was the first time we met again after the funeral of her husband who died three weeks after I had anointed him last Christmas Day.
She was still grieving and yes, angry with God why her husband had to go at an early age. She told me how during her daily prayers she would complain to God, and how she wanted her husband to be still alive, not minding at all of nursing him again.
Likewise, she was worried God might be fed up with her, even mad and angry with her negative feelings and attitudes even though she prays and celebrates Mass more often these days since her husband’s demise.
Photo by Ms. April Oliveros at Mt. Pulag, March 2023.
Does God get angry with us?
The psalmist says, “But you, Lord, are a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger, most loving and true” (Ps. 86:15). If God is slow to anger, does it mean he gets angry, even sometimes?
No. Never.
God does not get angry at all because God is love. God is perfect unlike us who easily get angry and could remain angry over a long period of time because we are imperfect. But God, who is also spirit, does not have emotions, neither gets angry nor irritated with us and yet, always one with us in our feelings especially when we are down in pain and sufferings.
In Christ Jesus who became human like us in everything except sin, God became more one with us to prove his love and oneness for us.
At the sight of the crowds, Jesus’ heart was moved with pity for them because they were troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send our laborers for his harvest.”
Matthew 9:36-38
Photo by Mr. Raffy Tima, GMA-7 News, June 2020.
See how Matthew noted that “At the sight of the crowds, Jesus’ heart was moved with pity for them because they were troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd.” So beautiful. So powerful.
That expression his “heart was moved with pity” is the literal meaning of the Latin word misericordia – mercy in English – that means “a heart moved strongly” like disturbed or thrown off perhaps. More than just a feeling, that virtue of mercy is expressed into compassion which is another Latin word that means “to suffer with” or cum patior. Matthew here is telling us it was more than a feeling for Jesus to have his heart moved with pity but a firm resolve to uplift the crowds because in the first place he has that oneness with them.
Until now in our own time, that heart of Jesus is moved with pity for us whenever he sees us troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd. Just like my friend grieving the loss of her husband. Or anyone who had lost a beloved, a leg or a part of the body, maybe a job or a career, a dream or a future.
For Jesus, it is always the person who matters that is why his proposal has always been to send us another person, another companion, a fellow to accompany us in our brokenness and darkness. There is his move of gathering us, calling us, and sending us forth to a mission.
Jesus never taught us to ask for more money nor food nor gadgets to solve the problems of the world. Recall his temptation in the desert when he rejected the devil’s challenge to change stones into bread because man does not live by bread alone but with every word from God.
For the world, everything is a problem to be solved, including mysteries of God and of the human person. As we have reflected the past two Sundays, mysteries are not problems and therefore not solvable at all. Mysteries are non-logical realities we must embrace or even allow ourselves to be wrapped with to discover the richness and meaning of this life like God and persons.
When people are down and lost in this life, feeling troubled and abandoned, where do we focus more, to their woes and problems or their very persons? Try thinking of the people you consider as “heaven sent” and helped you in your darkest moments. Are they not the ones who brought out our giftedness as a person, as a beloved child of God with Christ’s gospel?
Photo by author, December 2022 at the National Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima, Valenzuela City.
Problem these days, many people no longer believe in God totally, not giving a care at all with the value and meaning of justification and salvation, of reconciliation and communion in Christ through one another that St. Paul explained in the second reading.
Modern man has become so complacent that he would be saved by a loving and merciful God. It is a wrong kind of confidence because it is a confidence in one’s own powers than in God’s saving act through Jesus Christ as St. Paul preached.
Sad to say, such kind of confidence afflicts mostly the so-called religious and pious ones in the Church, especially us priests and bishops who lose sight of the flock and of Christ in the process. No synod nor meetings and documents would make the local even Philippine Church attuned with the present time unless we the clergy and other disciples must first have our confidence in God, not in ourselves.
How tragic that we are still a Church so steeped in being a hierarchy, lightyears away from being any of the other models of the Church proposed by the late Jesuit Cardinal Avery Dulles: sacrament, herald, communion, and servant. Despite our many denials, priesthood is power and prestige where ministry is more of an office and a privilege. We are more concerned with the call, the vocation of priesthood totally ignoring the Caller, Jesus Christ. Visit any parish and chances are, you find the priest throwing his weight around – literally and figuratively speaking so that the sheep remain without a shepherd.
In the Old Testament, the image of Israel as a lost sheep was the result of failures and even of sins of infidelity of their religious and political leaders. History has proven not only in Israel but everywhere especially the Philippines that when there are failures in leadership in both the political and religious spheres, it is always the common people who suffer most.
Photo by Mr. Mon Macatangga, 12 May 2023.
If we think about it, Jesus could have reacted negatively at the sight of the crowds and even with us today. He could have felt angry and irritated, even annoyed, frustrated and disappointed with how we are wasting all his gifts and grace, his call and his mission. But Jesus chose empathy and sympathy because he always looks into our hearts, into our total person than to our sins and failures, mistakes and errors.
Let us return to our “desert of Sinai” spoken of in the first reading, a reminder of our turning point in life and history when God called and sent us to be a “kingdom of priests, a holy nation” whose confidence is in him alone, not in our very selves nor our programs and structures to find again the many lost sheep of our flock. It is never too late to make a U-turn for God is full of mercy and compassion, slow to anger, loving and true. Amen.Have a blessed week ahead!
Quiet Storm by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
The Seven Last Words, 05 April 2023
Photo by author, Chapel of the Holy Family, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, Quezon City, 2014.
After this, aware that everything was now finished, in order that the scripture might be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I thirst.” There was a vessel filled with common wine. So they put a sponge soaked in win on a sprig of hyssop and put it up to his mouth.
John 19:28-29
This is one of the remarkable scenes in the fourth gospel, our Lord Jesus Christ feeling thirsty, the second time as recorded by John. The first was in the town of Sychar in Samaria when Jesus sat by Jacob’s well at noon and asked a Samaritan woman who came to draw water, “Give me a drink” (Jn. 4:7). A beautiful conversation followed between Jesus who was thirsty and the Samaritan woman, thirsting for God, for love and mercy.
Unlike being hungry for food which we can always bear because its feeling is localized in the stomach that we can easily forego by catching some sleep, thirst is different. When we are thirsty, we feel our whole body sapped dry even to our fingertips that we feel so weak, even affecting our mental faculties. That is why, thirst means more than physical but something deeper that concerns our very soul and being.
Here we find Jesus truly human, thirsting not just for water like us but most of all, for love and attention.
See also that for John, water is one of the most significant signs of Jesus Christ. His first “sign” as John would call his miracles was at the wedding feast at Cana when Jesus turned water into wine. After that wedding, Nicodemus came to Jesus at night where he first mentioned the need to be born in water and spirit (Jn. 3:5). It was after that night when Jesus went to Sychar and asked water from the Samaritan woman with whome he identified himself as “the living water (Jn. 4:10)”.
Here again is Jesus thirsty, but not just asking for water.
How foolish are we in responding to him like the Roman soldiers who gave him an ordinary wine. Worst, there are times we give him tepid, or perhaps turbid water that tastes so awful like that ordinary wine offered by the Romans at Golgotha.
Here is our living water, Jesus Christ who promised that “whoever drinks the water I shall give will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (Jn. 4:14) thirsting for us, for our love and attention because he alone can quench our thirsts in life.
Jesus is the wife and mother who thirsts for the love and affection of her unfaithful husband and wayward son or daughter who think only of themselves.
Jesus is the husband and father who thirsts for simple calls and expressions of concern from his family those back home while toiling abroad or in the high seas as an OFW or thirsting for understanding and care from those around him when he forgets so many things due to Alzheimer’s or paralyzed by a stroke or handicap.
Jesus is the young man or woman who thirsts for time and presence of a sibling or parents who could not find meaning and directions in life despite the money, clothes and gadgets the world offers.
Jesus is the person nearest to you thirsting for warmth and company, or simply a smile or a friendly gaze that assures him or her that “you are welcomed”.
Let us not be like those Roman soldiers or that Samaritan woman looking for material water to give Jesus present in every person we meet. Many times, the best water is found inside our hearts, deep in our souls where Jesus dwells with his abounding love and mercy, kindness and forgiveness. Let us thirst more for Jesus for he alone can quench our thirsts!
Let us pray:
Dearest Lord Jesus,
forgive me
when I quench my thirst
with things the world offers
that often leave me
more thirsty,
more dry,
more empty;
let me have more of YOU
to share more of YOU
our living water
who quenches our
deepest thirsts
for life's meaning
and fulfillment.
Amen.
40 Shades of Lent by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Tuesday in the Third Week of Lent, 14 March 2023
Daniel 3:25, 34-43 >>> + <<< Matthew 18:21-35
Photo by author, sunrise at Katmon Nature Sanctuary & Beach Resort, Bgy. Binulusan, Infanta, Quezon, 04 March 2023.
God our Father,
grant me the grace of sincerity
to pray like Azariah whom you
spared from death along with
Shadrach and Meschach in the fiery
furnace of King Nebuchadnezzar;
not even their clothes were singed
by the intense heat that burned to death
their executioners!
Teach me to be sincere
like Azariah who prayed to you while
walking into the furnace with his
companions, telling you one of the
most beautiful prayers in the Bible
we too pray in our Sunday Lauds:
“For we are reduced, O Lord, beyond any other nation, brought low everywhere in the world this day because of our sins. We have in our day no prince, no prophets, or leader, no burnt offering, sacrifice, oblation, or incense, no place to offer first fruits, to find favor with you. But with contrite heart and humble spirit let us be received. Do not let us be put to shame, but deal with us in your kindness and great mercy. Deliver us by your wonders, and bring glory to your name, O Lord.”
Daniel 3:37-39, 42-43
Yes, dear God,
there is no need,
not even necessary,
for us to do anything
"to win your favor"
to grant our prayers except
that we be sincere before you,
that is, to be true and humble,
putting ourselves into your hands
completely that you would take care
of us like Azariah and companions.
Many times, O God,
we can't be like you and be
forgiving as a Father to those
who have wronged us because
we ourselves are not true,
lacking sincerity in begging
your mercy and forgiveness;
many times we doubt your
mercy and forgiveness
that often we act like
the unforgiving servant
in Jesus Christ's parable.
Amen.
40 Shades of Lent by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Monday in the Second Week of Lent, 06 March 2023
Daniel 9:4-10 >< +++ >< +++ >< Luke 6:36-38
Photo by author, sunrise at Katmon Nature Sanctuary & Beach Resort, Infanta, Quezon, 04 March 2023.
O God, on this first
working day in the second week
of Lent, I imitate Daniel's prayer
and confession of sins in the first
reading:
“We have sinned, been wicked and done evil; we have rebelled and departed from your commandments and your laws. We have not obeyed your servants… we are shamefaced even to this day.”
Daniel 9:5-6, 7
It has been a long time,
dear Father, when I have been
bold and true enough to admit,
to confess before you that indeed,
I have SINNED, been WICKED...
I have REBELLED and DEPARTED
from your commandments...
I have NOT OBEYED...
and now SHAMEFACED.
Dear God,
for so long, I have followed
the trend of this world,
of this life,
of "diluting" my sinfulness and
culpability, of always looking for
somebody else or something to blame
for my sins and evil deed, of moving
the lines of morality so as to feel
less guilty, less sinful, not really bad
when in fact, it is when we are most evil,
when I am so far from you
and shamefaced.
God, help me recover
this being shamefaced;
help us all for we have no more
shame at all that we cover up
our sins and evil; worst, O Lord,
our lack of shame for our sins
prevent us to a large degree
in being merciful like you
and tragically pushes us to
being so judgmental of others
sinfulness.
This Lent, O God,
let us recover our sense
of shame; let us be shamefaced
in Jesus Christ your Son.
Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Friday, Memorial of St. Charles Borromeo, Bishop, 04 November 2022
Philippians 3:17-4:1 ><}}}*> + ><}}}*> + ><}}}*> Luke 16:1-8
Praise and thanksgiving,
God our loving Father
for the grace of your Son
Jesus Christ
who had come
to make us closer to you
more than ever,
making us "citizens of heaven"
(Philippinas 3:20).
Teach us, dear Jesus,
to be imitators of St. Paul
witnessing your Cross,
the only path to salvation
because it is our liberation from sin;
do not allow us to be
"enemies of the cross"
whose "God is their stomach;
their glory is in their shame.
Their minds occupied with earthly
things" (Philippians 3:18-19);
keep us faithful to your teachings
and example, Lord Jesus Christ
by living your paschal mystery.
Like St. Charles Borromeo
whose memorial we celebrate today,
give us the grace of determination
and perseverance in keeping us
true and faithful to you
by making things happen
like making Christ present
no matter how difficult and
unpopular it may be especially
when others especially our pastors
have forgotten to live in your footsteps,
when too much time and emphasis
are spent with outward appearances
forgetting internal reformation;
let us stop wishful thinking that
things may get better by being just idle,
simply awaiting for events to happen.
Like that shrewd steward in the gospel,
let us find ways, O Lord, in making
justice and mercy,
love and kindness
become realities
by making them happen
by standing firm in you
Jesus Christ.
Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Twenty-Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle-C, 11 September 2022
Exodus 32:7-11, 13-14 ><}}}}*> 1 Timothy 1:12-17 ><}}}}*> Luke 15:1-10
Photo by author, 2018.
Last Wednesday morning during breakfast, we heard on television news the interview of the undersecretary of agriculture blaming our farmers for the recent oversupply of garlic in Batanes and cabbage in Benguet, saying “they plant crops but they don’t think about the market for their harvests.”
We have been so used to such comments by many heartless government officials ever since; and, they also happen everywhere like in our schools where teachers blame students, at homes with parents blaming children and siblings blaming one another and of course, not to be left out is our church where priests always blame people for whatever problems and mishaps that happen in the parish.
No wonder, we feel more comfortable with God depicted in the Old Testament like in our first reading today when God was so angry and instructed to immediately get down from the mountain to punish the people who have created a golden calf to worship.
We find it so difficult to fully and truly accept despite Christ’s words and assurances that God our Father finds joy in forgiving as depicted today in our gospel. So often, we are like the Pharisees and scribes who could not understand why we have to share in the joy of God when a sinner repents.
Tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to listen to Jesus, but the Pharisees and scribes began to complain, saying, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them. So to them he addressed this parable.
Luke 15:1-3
Photo by author, 2018.
Jesus reminded us these past two Sundays of the demands of discipleship, of the need for us to conform to his very person and not just with morality and even religiosity. Discipleship is being like Jesus, always having him as our top priority in life.
This progression of Christ’s teaching on discipleship reaches its peak as we move into the 15th chapter of Luke’s gospel account considered as the “heart” of the Gospel in presenting to us three parables showing God full of mercy and forgiveness for sinners. Actually, it does not merely present God as forgiving but in fact as the One who finds joy in forgiving, who is inviting us to share in his joy of forgiving repentant sinners.
There are three parables in Luke chapter 15: the lost sheep, the lost coin and the lost son known as prodigal son. We have opted to consider the shorter form of the gospel which skips the third parable which we have already reflected in the recent Season of Lent.
Photo by Dr. Mylene A. Santos, MD, in Quezon, July 2022.
The first two parables deal with things that are lost, a lamb and a coin; both deal with only one person like “one of you” and “a woman”. On surface, the two parables seem very ordinary but Jesus – and Luke – have a very captivating manner of narrating them, similarly ending each parable with great sense of rejoicing after finding the lost sheep and lost coin.
Simply put, Jesus is appealing to our common experience of how one lost item would surely claim our attention, no matter how small or even insignificant it may be compared with the rest of what we have.
How do you feel when after losing something you were so worried and disturbed searching for it then someone tells you, “para yun lang?”
We feel so mad, like being rubbed with salt on our wounds because such comment “para yun lang?” betrays their lack of concern and love for us, of not knowing at all or at least recognizing how much that missing thing means to us!
How much more with persons like family and friends who have gone wayward in life like the prodigal son and suddenly coming back to us, saying sorry, trying to pick up the broken pieces of our lives to be whole again as friends and family? Would we not also rejoice when they come home, when we finally find them again?
Photo by Dr. Mylene A. Santos, MD, 2020.
In narrating the two parables in such manner so common with us, Jesus now affirms the incomparable value of every repentant sinner. Moreover, Jesus is showing us in these parables the more deeper ties we have with each other that we must rejoice when a sinner is converted. Hence, the demand too on the part of the sinner, of everyone, to recognize our sinfulness first.
Notice how Luke began this new chapter by telling us how “Tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to listen to Jesus, but the Pharisees and scribes began to complain, saying, ‘This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.’ So to them he addressed this parable.”
Look at the attitudes of the Pharisees and scribes that are not just snobbish but recriminating against the tax collectors and sinners; for them, those kind of people were hopeless, improbable to change that no one should be socializing with them like Jesus.
But, what really got to their nerves that they were complaining why Jesus was sharing meals with them was the fact that tax collectors and sinners were not turning to the Law but to Jesus himself, following him, and even preferring him more than everything! They felt left out when in fact they were the first to separate themselves from everyone.
That’s what they could not accept, that they were no longer relevant.
And the main stumbling block to that was their lost their sense of sinfulness as they have believed so much with themselves as if they were like God, so pure and so clean. Due to their lost sense of sinfulness, they have been totally detached from God and from others as well because they were playing gods, setting them apart from everyone even from God himself because they believed they were sinless. In that sense, they felt God had nothing to do with them because they were sufficient in themselves.
There is nothing God cannot forgive.
This is the grace of this 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time.
Whenever we admit and confess our sins to him,
it is God who is first of all filled with so much joy
for he has long been searching
and waiting for us to return to him.
Photo by author, 2019.
This is the problem we have in this modern time, when we have all kinds of excuses and alibis, reasons and arguments in doing just everything, losing our sense of sin that unconsciously, we feel like God, in fact always playing God when we presume to know everything that we would neither rejoice when people change for the better nor sympathize with those suffering and in misery. Like the Pharisees and scribes and those heartless people in power and authority in government and schools, at home and in the church, they have no time to even see and review why and what have caused people to sin.
In the first reading, Moses is teaching us the attitude of a true disciple, of one who intercedes for the people by confessing the tender mercy and fidelity of God to his promises and to his people; Moses did not bargain with God to relent in punishing the people. Notice his language, his manner of praying to God, appealing to him as “Lord” filled with faith in God’s boundless mercy and forgiveness. We all know how in a twist of humor, it was Moses who was so furious later when he saw the people worshipping the golden calf that he threw on them the two tablets of stone of God’s Ten Commandments.
In the second reading, St. Paul reminds us through Timothy of God’s boundless love expressed in his mercy and forgiveness to us all sinners. We can never experience this unless we first realize and admit and own our sinfulness like St. Paul who may be considered the worst of sinners for having persecuted the early Christians. There are so many other saints who followed after him with so dark and sinful pasts but became great men and women of faith because they first admitted their sins and sinfulness. As the saying goes, there is no saint without a sinful past and there is no sinner who is denied of a saintly future.
There is nothing God cannot forgive. This is the grace of this 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time. Whenever we admit and confess our sins to him, it is God who is first of all filled with so much joy for he has long been searching and waiting for us to return to him. Amen.
Have a blessed week ahead!
Photo by author, Mount Sinai at the Monastery of St. Catherine, Egypt, 2019.
lordmychef.com 