40 Shades of Lent by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Monday in the Third Week of Lent, 21 March 2022
2 Kings 5:1-15 <*{{{>< + ><}}}*> Luke 4:24-30
Photo by author, St. Catherine’s Monastery at the foot of Mt. Sinai, Egypt, May 2019.
Thank you dear Father
in bringing us to this third week
of Lent, of experiencing your loving
presence, your mystery, your
person; but, still, O God, I continue
to seek you.
Or, do I really seek you?
So many times I seek you
God like a lost object, a thing
I need at the moment like Naaman
seeking for a cure to my sickness that
in the process, I try to pull strings
around, asking help from everyone -
the more knowledgeable, the more
famous and credible, the better.
Why can't I just take the word of a believer
like that captured slave girl
in our first today?
So many times I seek you
God like an idea, merely with
an operation of my intellect
that I reason out a lot, even arguing
with all my preconceived ideas of
who you are, of what you like, even of
what must be done like Naaman
who felt insulted when your prophet Elisha
merely sent him a message to wash seven times
in Jordan river; why can't I just be like
his servants who knew better of
simply obeying orders, of keeping
things simple than our preference
for complicated ones?
Worst, O God, are the many times like
the people of Nazareth when I seek you
to dominate you, to insist myself on
you than me surrendering to you!
Remove my many blindspots,
Lord Jesus in truly seeking God
especially in this season of Lent;
teach me to seek him by surrendering
myself to his will like you,
simply believing in him who
dwells within me and in others
through my loving service
and kindness to everyone.
Amen.
40 Shades of Lent by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Wednesday in the Second Week of Lent, 16 March 2022
Jeremiah 18:18-20 <'[[[[>< + ><]]]]'> Matthew 20:17-28
Photo by author, Pater Noster Church outside Jerusalem, 2019.
Praise and glory to you,
O Lord our God, our loving
Father! Thank you very much
for every blessing you send me
even in the midst of sickness,
trials and blessings. Indeed,
everything is pure grace from you.
Cleanse my mind and my heart
of my sins and negative thoughts;
may you be alone the first and
the last in my mind and in my heart.
Like Jeremiah:
Heed me, O Lord, and listen to what my adversaries say. Must good be repaid with evil that they should dig a pit to take my life? Remember that I stood before you to speak in their behalf, to turn away your wrath from them.
Jeremiah 18:19-20
How inspiring is your prophet Jeremiah,
Lord! Amid grave dangers as he heard
the words of his enemies whom he had
pleaded before you, the only thing he had
in his mind and his heart was you - just
to remember him.
In the same manner,
give me such courage and
lucidity to remain faithful to
you even in grave dangers!
Please, purify me in the same
manner you cleansed the brothers
James and John along with their
mother who pleaded to your Son
for power and position when he
was nearing his passion, death
and resurrection. Turn away our
minds and hearts from things of
the world, of selfish interests
most especially in moments of
trials and difficulties. Amen.
40 Shades of Lent by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Tuesday in the Second Week of Lent, 15 March 2022
Isaiah 1:10, 16-20 <'[[[[>< + ><]]]]'> Matthew 23:1-12
Photo by author, Parish Via Crucis, 11 March 2022.
Come now, let us set things right, says the Lord: Though your sins be like scarlet, they may become white as snow; though they be crimson red, they may become white as wool. If you are willing, and obey, you shall eat the good things of the land; but if you refuse and resist, the sword shall consume you: for the mouth of the Lord has spoken!
Isaiah 1:18-20
Let us heed your call,
dear Lord, let us set things
right this season of Lent;
let us be sorry for our sins,
be humble for who we really are
before you and one another.
Teach us through your Son
Jesus Christ to be true to ourselves,
practicing what we preach
and doing things for you and not
for others admiration; let us realize
that authority is not for power but
for empowering and enabling others;
most of all, let us realize that
authority is service, never a way of control
or domination or a claim to special
perks and privileges.
Let us set things right, Lord,
by breaking this cycle of trying
to be someone else, of being
somebody to be admired and
looked up to when what is most
essential is for us to see one
another as brothers and sisters
in one God as our Father. Amen.
40 Shades of Lent by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Monday in the Second Week of Lent, 14 March 2022
Daniel 9:4-10 <*(((>< + ><)))*> Luke 6:36-38
Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, 2017.
Praise and glory to you,
O God Our Father,
despite our sinfulness
you continue to bless us!
In this season of Lent
teach us the true meaning
of penance by getting into
the root of our sinfulness,
of being radical, shamefaced
in fact like Daniel by wholeheartedly
admitting our wickedness in
rebelling and departing from your side, Lord:
“Lord, great and awesome God, you who keep your merciful covenant toward those who love you and observe your commandments! 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 the prophets, who spoke in your name ton our kings, our princes, our fathers, and all the people of the land. Justice, O Lord, is on your side; we are shamefaced ever to this day like our kings, our princes, and our fathers, for having sinned against you.
Daniel 9:4-7, 8
Indeed, we are shamefaced,
O Lord, even to this day
for our many sins against you
when we neglected you
in our brothers and sisters in need,
unmindful of their great sufferings
not only for their physical needs
but most especially for their emotional
and spiritual needs; we are shamefaced,
O Lord in thinking the good times
would never end, when we lived in excesses,
bloating our egos as if we were gods.
Help us to return to you,
O God through Jesus Christ
your Son by turning our hearts
back to you, by going into the very
roots of our sins so that when we
have understood our sins, we may
no longer fall into its traps as we
get closer to you, becoming holy
and merciful like you.
Amen.
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.
40 Shades of Lent by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Thursday in the First Week of Lent, 10 March 2022
Esther C12, 14-16, 23-25 <*(((>< + ><)))*> Matthew 7:7-12
Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, Quezon City, 2017.
In this season of Lent,
help us rediscover you, God
as our Father, one who truly
relates with us your beloved
children; and as we rediscover
you God as our Father, may we
begin to realize more deeply that
prayer is not about for asking
never ending petitions from you
but an expression of our relationship
with you in Jesus Christ.
Forgive us, dear God,
when we pray only because
we need something from you;
may we absorb deeply the
beautiful attitude of Queen Esther
to you on that grave situation when
she prayed to you, expressing her
total abandonment to you,
speaking more of her relationship
with you nurtured by her forefathers
through the Sacred Scriptures:
Queen Esther, seized with mortal anguish, had recourse to the Lord. She lay prostrate upon the ground… and said: God of Abraham, God of Isaac, and God of Jacob, blessed are you. Help me, who am alone and have no help but you, for I am taking my life in my hand. As a child I used to hear from the books of my forefathers that you, O Lord, always free those who are pleasing to you. Now help me, who am alone and have no one but you, O Lord, my God.
Esther 12, 14-16, 23
Create a clean heart in me,
God; give me that sense of
belonging to you, that experience
of personal relationship that
you are the very one whom I ask for
and seek first above all. Amen.
40 Shades of Lent by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Wednesday, First Week of Lent, 09 March 2022
Jonah 3:1-10 <*{{{>< + ><}}}*> Luke 11:29-32
Photo by author, April 2021.
God our Father,
so often we are like Jonah
who doubt and mistrust people
of the good they could do;
like Jonah, we refuse to follow
your instructions because we see
others as good for nothing,
hopeless to change and become better.
Sadly, the very people we doubt of
their own abilities and goodness
are the ones closest to us like husband or wife,
children, brother or sister, and friends!
How sad in our modern time,
despite our many "achievements",
we continue to refuse in appreciating
our worth as your beloved children
that we also fail to value others around us,
especially those who truly care and
love us like family and friends.
Help us see, dear God,
this spirit and challenge of Lent
for us to be trusting first of ourselves,
of our worth, of our identity as your
beloved children to believe in others too.
May the words of your Son Jesus awaken
us to how "This generation
is an evil generation; it seeks a sign,
but no sign will be given it,
except the sign of Jonah" (Luke 11:29).
Yes, Lord, we keep looking for signs
from you and others so that we could
believe in ourselves forgetting that
we are already your sign of presence
in Jesus Christ who offered us his life
on the Cross to be whole again in you.
On this season of Lent,
give us dear Jesus,
the grace to rediscover and
return to the sacrament of reconciliation
to confess our sins, experience your
forgiveness through your priests;
let us return with our whole heart
for you are gracious and merciful,
O God; take away those silent burdens of
guilt feelings that nag and disturb
our conscience which prevent us from
seeing your light in us and in others.
Amen.
Thank you so much,
dear God for you reassuring
words today:
"Just as from the heavens
the rain and snow come down
and do not return there
till they have watered the earth,
making it fertile and fruitful,
giving seed to the one who sows
and bread to the one who eats,
so shall my word be that goes forth
from my mouth; it shall not return
to me void, but shall do my will,
achieving the end for which I sent it"
(Isaiah 55:10-11).
Forgive us for being impatient,
for rushing everything and everyone
especially YOU with our many plans
in life that too often we refuse
to trust so that we may control
everything and everyone.
Thank you for being so patient
with us, truly a lover who waits
when we are ready to surrender
everything so that YOU may
take charge with our lives.
I know, dear God, the question
with you is not how true are your
words and promises but when
will you fulfill them because you are
truly "Our Father" who wishes only the
best things for us your children.
Through your Son Jesus Christ,
teach us that when we call you
"Our Father", we may submit
ourselves to your will as we lay aside
our own plans and agenda so that
we may fully experience the reality
of your power and grace. Amen.
40 Shades of Lent by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Monday in the First Week of Lent, 07 March 2022
Leviticus 19:1-2, 11-18 <*(((>< + ><)))*> Matthew 25:31-46
Photo by author, the Holy Land, 2019.
On this blessed Monday,
I join dear God our Father
the psalmist in proclaiming
“Your words, Lord, are Spirit and Life”
for it summarizes the two long
readings for today: your instruction
to Moses telling us to “be holy, for I,
the Lord your God, am holy (Lev.19:2)”
and Jesus reminding us that
“whatever you did/did not do
for one of these least brothers of mine,
you did/did not do for me (Mt.25:40,45).”
Beginning this Lent as we slowly
begin to go back to some semblance
of normalcy in our lives, help us
recover our lost identity of being
your beloved children, of being
the dwelling-place of your Holy Spirit
who animates us to do what is good,
avoid what is evil, always seeing Jesus
Christ in everyone, especially those
silently suffering among us like the poor
and the sick.
Help us, Lord Jesus, to learn again
that it is our nature to share and
give life in you who is our Life;
how wonderful it would be that on
judgment day, we shall all be surprised,
asking “when were you Lord hungry
we gave you something to eat,
when were you Lord…?” in doing good
to everyone who turns out to be your
very presence!
The blessed ones, the holy ones
like the saints are never bothered
to think of anything else upon seeing
the poor and suffering except to love
and practice charity like St. Francis
of Assisi who taught his disciples
to preach always Jesus Christ,
speaking only when necessary.
Make us holy, like you,
O God, who is our life
present in everyone
we meet. Amen.
40 Shades of Lent by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Friday after Ash Wednesday, 04 March 2022
Isaiah 58:1-9 ><]]]]'> + <'[[[[>< Matthew 9:14-15
Photo by author, Lent 2019.
Thank you for this gift of first Friday
in March, a Friday after Ash Wednesday
as we begin our 40 day journey of Lent;
forgive us, dear God our Father, that
gone are the days when we your children
religiously observed fasting and abstinence;
we have ceased fasting not only on the
prescribed days of Ash Wednesday
and Good Friday but even before receiving
the Holy Communion in the Sunday Mass,
making all kinds of excuses with bold claims
of having sacrificed so much in doing "good deeds"
that we need not fast from food anymore.
Make us realize these are the same mistakes
of the people in the Old Testament
of having themselves as the focus of fasting
than you, O God, through others:
“Why do we fast, and you do not see it?
Afflict ourselves, and you take no note of it?”
Lo, on your fast day you carry out your own pursuits,
and drive all your laborers.
Yes, your fast ends in quarreling and fighting,
striking with wicked claw.
Would that today you might fast
so as to make your voice heard on high!”
(Isaiah 58:3-4)
In this age of affluence even in the midst
of a pandemic, make us realize, Lord Jesus
your mystery of Incarnation through "kenosis" -
of self-emptying which is what fasting is all about.
Teach us not to be always adequate, not to be
too self-sufficient that we forget the value of
being empty and in need of others and most
especially of you; let us rediscover this Lent
the beauty of denying ourselves of things
that give us pleasures and comfort
that we forget you and others; may we realize
that it is only in emptiness through fasting
that you can fill us with yourself, almighty God;
it is only in emptiness through fasting
we can learn to truly trust and believe
in you, dear Lord, as our only strength
and sustenance.
Surprise us, O Lord, of the many
benefits of self-denial, primary of
which is becoming better persons
without us really knowing it and most
of all, unconsciously becoming your
very presence among other people:
“Then your light shall break forth
like the dawn, and your wound
shall quickly be healed; your vindication
shall go before you,
and the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard.
Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer,
you shall cry for help,
and he will say, Here I am!”
(Isaiah 58:9).
How wonderful it is
when eventually we become
your presence, O God,
speaking through us,
saying, “Here I am”! for it is
only then your Son Jesus
is indeed the groom celebrating
with us. Amen.
