Tag: pleasures

Bewitched

Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Thursday, Twenty-Seventh Week in Ordinary Time, Year II, 08 October 2026
Galatians 3:1-5     ><))))*> + ><))))*> + ><))))*>     Luke 11:5-13
Photo by Mr. Raffy Tima, GMA News, Batanes, October 2018.
Your words today,
O Lord through St. Paul
speak directly to us in this
time too:

O stupid Galatians! Who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus was publicly portrayed as crucified? (Galatians 3:1)

O how we your people
hate to hear those words
these days because they are
hurtfully true -
it is plain stupidity
on our part to abandon all
your teachings to adopt 
all these strange ideas
about life that overstretch
our rights without any regard
to what is true and good;
to insist that only matter matters
without accepting the fact that
the most profound realities in life
are those felt than seen; and,
to believe more in ourselves
than in you, Lord Jesus Christ.
We have been so bewitched,
enthralled, and amazed by new 
ideas and beliefs that are clearly
self-serving and untrue,
"budol" or fake in every sense,
totally forgetting how you have never
left nor abandon us all these years
through thick and thin,
doing only what is best and good
for us only to follow the fascinating
special effects of those trash
peddled in social media, 
fabricated by AI.
Awaken us,
dear Jesus to the realities
of your loving presence
in us, in our lives,
to follow our hearts where
we find peace and joy
despite pains and sacrifices
than follow our flesh 
and whims
of pleasures and convenience
so temporary,
ephemeral,
most of all
superficial;
ignite our hearts
to seek and follow you
in a life of prayer
that changes primarily 
us, not the situations.
Amen.
Photo by a friend at Seabrook, Washington, 06 September 2026.

Easter is making our lives whole again in Christ

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Thursday in the Second Week of Easter, 28 April 2022
Acts 5:27-33   ><))))*> + <*((((><   John 3:31-36
Photo by author, 20 April 2022.
Lord Jesus Christ,
in this season of Easter,
help me make my fragmented
life whole again in you.
So many times, I feel like 
the many members of the
Sanhedrin in the first reading
today demanding so many things
from myself that I fail to obey God;
grant me the courage like of Peter
and the Apostles who boldly declared,
"We must obey God rather than men"
(Acts 5:29). 
Like Nicodemus in the gospel,
I am still afraid to come to you
in broad daylight, still hiding in the
night because I am afraid of what
people would say and tell about me
in being faithful to you, in being one
with you.

Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever disobeys the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God remains upon him.

John 3:36
To believe in you, dear Jesus,
is to enter into a relationship with
you at the center; to believe in you
is to live and abide in you, Lord.
And that is why our lives are fragmented:
we are so divided and broken because
we follow the world, not you; we are
easily tempted and enticed to the 
many lures of pleasures the world
offers that only leave us more empty,
and more lost.
This season of Easter,
help me go back to you, Lord,
in prayers and silence;
let me focus on you again.
Amen.

The way of the world

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul, Wednesday, Easter Week-VI, 20 May 2020

Acts of the Apostles 17:15, 22-18:1 ><)))*> + <*(((>< John 16:12-15

From Facebook, 18 May 2020.

As I prayed over the readings for today, dear Jesus, I felt the great similarity of the time of St. Paul in Athens and of the world in this time of the corona virus that made me wonder what would your apostle tell the people of today who have made the malls as their new temples of worship.

Or, what would St. Paul tell those in government who see businesses as most essential needs, totally disregarding the need to open houses of worship where people can find spiritual nourishment?

What would St. Paul tell us your priests and Bishops who have suddenly become less assertive in pushing for the opening of churches so people may celebrate and receive the sacraments so essential in this time of crisis?

Lord Jesus, you know how like St. Paul we have always stressed to the people that

“The God who made the world and all that is in it, the Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in sanctuaries made by human hands, nor is he served by human hands because he needs anything. Rather it is he who gives to everyone life and breath and everything.”

Acts of the Apostles 17:24-25

…. and yet, they continue to consider you anything spiritual as non-essential?

Tell us Lord what we must do these days so we may reach the modern pagans and Athenians of this age who have turned to worship to other gods aside from you, O Lord.

May we probe more the reasons why like the Athenians at that time people today still “scoff and leave” when they hear about you, your Resurrection and other spiritual things.

Is it because we would rather massage ourselves with our own thoughts about you and the Divine that seem so magical and more delightful like Hollywood?

How sad that until now, we cannot accept and believe you truly love us so much that you rose again from the dead to bring us back to life too!

Dear Jesus, teach us to be patient and be opened to the Holy Spirit who enables us to understand slowly in your own time at our own pace the realities and truth of your Resurrection.

May the Holy Spirit open us to more imaginative ways like St. Paul in preaching you to the modern pagans and Athenians of today. Amen.

St. Bernardine of Sienna, pray for us!

The “IHS” Christogram: the ancient way of writing the name “Jesus Christ” with the first three letters of his name in Greek substituting the sigma with “S” in Latin. It was St. Bernardine of Sienna who popularized reverence to the Holy Name of Jesus, encouraging Christians to put the letters “IHS” on their doors. Later St.Ignatius of Loyola adopted the Christogram to symbolize his newly founded Society of Jesus that eventually became a part of our Christian art and tradition.

Lent is being free

40 Shades of Lent, Wednesday, Week-V, 10 April 2019
Daniel 3:14-20, 91-92, 95///John 8:31-42
From Google.

If you remain in my word, you will truly be my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.

John 8:31-32

Very often Lord Jesus, when you talk of us being set free, we feel like the people of your time bragging

…we have never been enslaved to anyone.

John 8:33

Very often, Lord, we feel so proud to claim being one with you, truly serving you when in fact we are enslaved by so many pleasures in life.

There are many ways of serving you, of being free for you, of being faithful to you.

But there is only one sure way of being enslaved: when we desire to please our very selves and others.

Like in the first reading, it is very easy to please King Nebuchadnezzar in serving false gods, thinking these would not harm us, that we can control ourselves, that we would not completely fall into it. There are many instances we think that with these modern times with the modern thoughts and modern ways of life sweeping all around us, just a little pleasure would not mean anything at all, would never have a control over us until we are trapped, enslaved, and have lost everything.

Knowing the truth is being one with you, O Lord: remaining in you, staying with you. Loving you, serving you. Through others. Not pleasing myself. Amen.

Photo by the author, Lent 2018.