Tag: prayer

Lamenting in time of quarantine

Quiet Storm by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, 03 May 2020
Photo by author, Parokya ni San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Bagbaguin, Santa Maria, Bulacan. April 2020.

Against the advice of good friends, I went out to distribute Holy Communion in the streets to some parishioners who have participated in our Sunday Mass early this morning at Facebook Live.

I know the risks involved despite our best efforts in having all the precautionary measures but, what convinced me to go on with it is a beautiful Psalm so appropriate during this quarantine period.

As the deer longs for streams of water, so my soul longs for you, O God.

My being thirsts for God, the living God. When can I go and see the face of God?

Psalm 42:2-3
Photo from Reddit.

Sometime in March, I had some blues when I came across a reflection in one of the blogs I follow that soothed me like a gentle caress from God himself that I began praying Psalm 42 again (https://prodigalthought.net/2020/03/02/lament-in-silence/#comments).

And when our quarantine period was extended for the second time before the end of Holy Week last month, I began praying again Psalm 42 every night for that is when I truly long for God so much, most of the time lamenting to him our situation, my condition of being alone in my rectory.

This is the first time I felt like this, so different from those so-called “desolation” or “dryness” because I could feel God present in my prayers but… he is not “fresh”.

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Like the deer longing for streams of water, my soul longs for God too.

Not just like the water we buy from a filling station but exactly what the deer yearns for — fresh water that is refreshingly cool not only on your face but deep into your body when sipped amid the burbling sounds of the spring, babbling through rocks and branches of trees with the loamy aroma of earth adding a dash of freshness in you.

Admittedly, sometimes I wonder if I still know how to pray or if I still pray at all!

I can feel God present but he is like someone stacked there in my mind, in my memory, in my ideas shaped by my years of learning and praying.

What I am longing for is a God so alive, so true not only in me but also in another person.

And that is when I realized, most likely, my parishioners must be longing for God too in the same way — the God we all come to meet and celebrate with every Sunday in our little parish, among the people present who are so alive, so vibrant, so true, so touching.

Our empty church since March due to COVID-19.

Psalm 42 is believed to have been sang by David when he was prevented from coming to the tent of God either during the reign of King Saul who plotted to kill him or during the revolt of his own son Absalom when he was already the king of Israel.

Like David or the psalmist, I miss celebrating Mass with my parishioners.

And maybe it is safe to assume that two or three of my parishioners are also feeling the same way with me and David, saying these to the Lord:

My tears have been my food day and night, as they ask daily, “Where is your God?”

Those times I recall as I pour out my soul,

When I went in procession with the crowd, I went with them to the house of God,

Amid loud cries of thanksgiving, with the multitude keeping festival.

Psalm 42:4-5

If there is one very essential thing this pandemic has brought back to us in our very busy lives, it is most certainly God. And if ever this is one thing people need most in this time of corona virus, it is spiritual guidance and nourishment from God through his priests.

Of course, people can pray and talk to God straight as the Pope had reminded us before Holy Week.

But, human as we are, we always experience God and his love, his kindness, his mercy, his presence among other people who guide us and join us in our spiritual journey. They are special people like friends or relatives or pastors with whom they can be themselves, let off some steam, get some rays of light of hope and encouragement.

And that this is why I try to keep in touch with my parishioners in various ways in this time of corona: even I myself can feel so low and dark despite my prayers and very condition of living right here in the house of God who can still feel alone and desolate, even depressed.

If I – a priest – go through all these uncertainties and doubts this in this time of quarantine, how much more are the people, the beloved sheep of Jesus the Good Shepherd?

Why are you downcast, my soul; why do you groan within me?

Wait for God, whom I shall praise again, my savior and my God.

Psalm 42:6
Photo by Ms. Ria De Vera, 10 April 2020.

After our Mass this morning when we set out to distribute the Holy Communion, there was a little drizzle. It did not last long that I just wore a hat and left my umbrella in the rectory.

There were about 30 people who waited for us to receive Holy Communion, most of them along the main highway that stretched to about 2 kilometers. Some families gathered with a little altar at their front gate while a waited a couple waited in a gas station along our route.

In less than 20 minutes, we have completed our mission and as we headed back to the parish, the rains fell again, this time stronger than before.

My driver commented, “The weather cooperated with us, Father”1

I just nodded my head to him inside his tricycle but deep inside me, I felt joy because God answered my prayer, my lamentations for he was crying too, – for me and his people.

May this lamentation be an answer to your lamentations during this pandemic of COVID-19.

Continue with your lamentations to God our Father for this very act of crying out to him is the working of the Holy Spirit he had sent us through our Lord Christ Jesus. Amen.

Photo by Ms. Ria De Vera, 26 April 2020.

When in a crisis of faith…

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe, Memorial of St. Athanasius, 02 May 2020

Acts of the Apostles 9:31-42 <*(((>< ><)))*> <*(((>< ><)))*> John 6:60-69

Photo by author inside the Holy Sepulchre Church in Jerusalem near the tomb of Jesus, 2017.

Dearest Lord Jesus:

We are getting tired and weary.

This community quarantine is slowly taking its toll in us with its emotional and psychological stresses especially for those living alone, for the elderlies, those with debilitating diseases and condition, for those in the margins of the society.

Give us the gift of faith like that of St. Peter in the first reading and the gospel: in this time of the corona virus when many of us are wishing to give up and walk away, may the words of faith by St. Peter re-echo within us too…

“Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God.”

John 6:68-69

Let us be reminded that like St. Peter, there are moments of crisis in faith when we are so tempted to walk away from you or even deny you, Lord; yet, your grace is always there to encourage us, to strengthen us, and most of all, to inspire us to find those going through various tests of their faith.

In this time of the quarantine, help us to make that extra effort to learn and know you more like St. Athanasius who spent many hours praying and studying your teachings so more people may be enlightened, especially those who are misled by heresies and trappings of the modern world.

Keep us faithful and focused only on you, Jesus, so we may always follow you alone. Amen.

Why believe?

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul, Memorial of St. Pius V, 30 April 2020

Acts of the Apostles 8:26-40 <*(((>< 000 ><)))*> John 6:44-51

Photo by Mr. Raffy Tima of GMA-7 News, 2020.

It is the last day of April 2020 and we still cannot rejoice, Lord, because we still have to continue with our enhanced community quarantine until the 15th of next month to further control the spread of the dreaded COVID-19 virus.

Yes, it is very difficult and sad for everyone but deep inside each one of us is the excitement too of seeing that day finally when the pandemic is finally over and the corona virus wiped away.

And that is why we have to believe in you, O God our Father for you alone is the God of history, you have the final say at how things are in this life and the good news is, you always ensure that even tragedies and miseries end for our own good.

“Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life.”

John 6:47

Yes, Lord Jesus, we believe in you because we want to see how all these things will end, if not in this life then in the eternity.

We have to believe to understand further and accept how things are in this life.

Like St. Pius V, the first Dominican Pope, he believed in your presence and power in the praying of the Holy Rosary that helped the Spanish Armada crushed the Ottoman Turks in Lepanto Bay to finally stop them from getting into Europe any further.

Incidentally, every Rosary begins with the Credo, “I believe in God…”

He believed in your works, O Lord, that despite the gargantuan tasks ahead of him, St. Pius pushed for the reforms of the Council of Trent that revitalized the whole Church after the Protestantism movement that swept the whole of Europe at that time.

We have to believe because believing is the starting point of everything in you; without it, we can never see through and look beyond to discover more meanings in life here and thereafter. Amen.

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Building up the Body of Christ

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul, Memorial of St. Catherine of Siena, Virgin and Doctor of the Church, 29 April 2020

Acts of the Apostles 8:1-8 ><)))*> 000 <*(((>< John 6:35-40

Our empty church since March 17, 2020.

Once again, O Lord Jesus Christ, your Body the Church is facing severe trials and difficulties at this moment of history with the pandemic COVID-19 that have closed churches worldwide even in Rome, Italy which is one of the worst hit countries of the corona disease.

Since the martyrdom of St. Stephen, the Church has always been persecuted but never defeated. On the contrary, it was during the persecutions when your Church had really grown beyond leaps and bounds, so to speak.

St. Catherine lived at that time when she was able to unite warring factions in Europe as well as in the Church with her counsels while through her, many individuals found directions in life with her holiness, teachings and directions.

And while churches remain closed with dim prospects of opening soon, you never fail to send us men and women full of devotion to you who continue to work tirelessly in building your Body, the Church.

One of them is Fr. Jun Villanueva from the Diocese of Balanga in Bataan who was infected with COVID-19 while serving in New York.

As he recovered from the deadly disease celebrating Mass in his parish, he had a wonderful realization that many of us priests have seem to forget:

“Then I realized that the Mass is not a show but our union with Jesus, whether there are people or none… from then on I started to look at the situation from that perspective”.

CBCP News, 27 April 2020

In the first reading we are told of the zeal of Saul in destroying the early church alongside the devotion of the early disciples in keeping the young church alive.

Devout men buried Stephen and made a loud lament over him.

Acts of the Apostles 8:2

Only St. Luke used that adjective “devout” in the New Testament to describe people of “good heart, ready to believe, and then act openly and with courage” according to Timothy Clayton of the book “Exploring Advent with Luke”.

Devout people make thing happen for God like St. Stephen and the early Christians.

From Google.

Devout people give themselves to God wholly like St. Catherine and all the saints who remained attuned with the Holy Spirit like Philip in the first reading today, ready to follow its promptings and leads.

Give us the same gift of devotion to you, Jesus, the “Bread of Life” who had come down from heaven so we can build up your Church as your body here on earth.

Help us avoid the pitfalls of pride and self-centeredness that tend to destroy the unity of your Body, the Church.

Most specially, keep us devoted to you in the Blessed Sacrament like St. Catherine of Siena with whom you have shown in a vision while she was sick the celebration of the Eucharist in their chapel making her a patroness of those in television. Amen.

Playing God

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul, Tuesday, Easter Week-III, 28 April 2020

Acts of the Apostles 7:51-8:1 ><)))*> ><)))*> ><)))*> John 6:30-35

Photo by Alex Powell on Pexels.com

Thank you… and forgive us also, Lord Jesus, in this time of the corona virus.

Thank you in giving us the much needed time to be with you and with our loved ones in this time of quarantine. Thank you most of all, Lord, in giving us this chance to meet our true selves too.

The enhanced community quarantine has brought out the best in us, like with St. Stephen in the first reading who was filled with the Holy Spirit while being stoned to death by the people in proclaiming your gospel.

Thank you for the gifts of humility and courage to confront our true selves to see your true glory.

Forgive us also, Lord, because this same quarantine period has brought out the worst in us: every day in the news we see disturbing reports of people getting into all kinds of troubles displaying arrogance and pride that have wounded many bloated egos and, sadly even led to death.

We have been playing gods more than ever in this time of the corona virus, Lord Jesus.

Are we the ones also being referred to by St. Stephen in the first reading?

Stephen said to the people, the elders, and the scribes: “You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always oppose the Holy Spirit; you are just like your ancestors.”

Acts of the Apostle 7:51

On the other hand, sometimes we act like the people of your time in Capernaum who, despite the many signs you have shown as being the Christ, we continue to doubt you, Lord Jesus, even daring you to do more than Moses and others!

The crowd said to Jesus: “What sign can you do, that we may see and believe in you? What can you do? Our ancestors ate manna in the desert, as it is written: He gave them bread from heaven to eat.”

John 6:30-31

Forgive us, Lord Jesus in playing gods when we neither see you among others nor in your very self because the sad truth, all we can see, that we choose and insist on seeing is only our very selves.

Open our eyes, dear Jesus. And if needed, humiliate us so we may be humble again to see you are our Lord and our God and nobody else before we end up inflicting more harm to one another than the corona virus . Amen.

From quotefancy.com

Standing for Jesus

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul, Monday, Easter Week-III, 27 April 2020

Acts of the Apostles 6:8-15 <*(((>< 000+000 ><)))*> John 6:22-29

Photo by Mr. Jim Marpa, Panglao Beach, 2019.

Thank you very much, our loving Father for this very different Monday: it is the last for the month of April, but most of all, so unlike of all the other Mondays of our lives as we continue to stay home under our enhanced community quarantine extended until May 15, 2020.

We have been so used in our entire lives that Monday is always the start of work, the start of everything when in fact, Sunday is the first day of the week.

Due to COVID-19, we have started to lose track of dates and days, thus making us less mechanical and more natural, giving us with enough time to review our selves and our lives, to see the peoples and things we value most, and finally, to make a stand on so many things we have taken for granted and even disregarded in the past.

We have never been like your deacon Stephen in the first reading who at a very young age chose to stand for Jesus Christ and his teachings, never giving into the fear of going against prevailing thoughts and sentiments. Most of all, he never gave into the lies thrown against him by his many detractors.

Enlighten us, dear Jesus, to seek for “food that endures for eternal life so we can accomplish your works, O Lord” (Jn.6:27-28).

Let us believe in you always, Jesus.

Nourish and sustain us with your words of life so that we can remain firm in our faith and conviction in you, always willing to go back to Jerusalem and Galilee to start anew in you like the two disciples you walked with to Emmaus on Easter. Amen.

Urgency and Trust

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul, Saturday, Feast of St. Mark the Evangelist, 25 April 2020

1 Peter 5:5-14 ><)))*> ><)))*> ><)))*> Mark 16:15-20

Statue of St. Mark and his symbol the lion below him at the western facade of St. Mark Cathedral in Venice, Italy. Photo from Google.

Lord Jesus Christ, as we move into the final week of April and face – with dismay – the extension of this enhanced community quarantine into May 15, the celebration of the feast of your evangelist St. Mark today gives us the much needed boost to persevere in these trying times.

In writing the first gospel account, St. Mark stressed two important things that are very helpful for us today in this time of the corona virus: urgency in proclaiming your gospel and trust in you.

It is something very similar to Stephen Covey Jr.’s concept of “the speed of trust” that when there is trust among people like in a relationship or a team, speed goes up wherein costs are minimized, productivity is increased due to trust.

Give us the grace to trust in you, Lord Jesus, so we can urgently proclaim your gospel of salvation most especially at this time when people are feeling worn out by this lockdown.

So many people are already suffering not only physically but also emotionally and spiritually.

Help us to bring them more joy and hope, healing and renewal not only through our gifts and financial aid but also with our presence and concern for them.

Let us not worry in doing your work with the assuring words of St. Peter in the first reading:

The God of all grace who called you to his eternal glory through Christ Jesus will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you after you have suffered a little.

1 Peter 5:10

Like in the beginning of the gospel by St. Mark, may we always proclaim your good news Lord whenever and wherever there is a wilderness, emptiness, and weariness among peoples for you are always faithful in enabling us to fulfill your work. Amen.

Nuns bringing relief goods to remote villages in this time of Luzon-wide lockdown due to COVID-19.

Looking up to heaven, looking down within us for God

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul, Friday, Easter Week-II, 24 April 2020

Acts of the Apostles 5:34-42 ><)))*> + 0 + <*(((>< John 6:1-15

Photo by Ms. Jo Villafuerte, Atok, Benguet, September 2019.

Praise and glory to you, O God our loving Father in heaven!

I have been taught since childhood that you dwell up in the sky and that is why like all the others, I always point up to you whenever we refer to your dwelling place, O God.

And I am certain, too, that you are indeed up there that every time we wake up, every time we feel happy or troubled, we always glance upwards like praying to you, calling to you, and looking for you.

Indeed, Gamaliel was absolutely correct when he cautioned his fellow Pharisees in the first reading to remind us too of this certainty:

“Fellow children of Israel, be careful what you are about to do to these men… But if it comes from God, you will not be able to destroy them; you may even find yourselves fighting against God.”

Acts 5:35, 39

Give us the gift of discernment of your Holy Will, Father, that we may always know what to do, that we may always decide according to your plan.

As we look up to you in the sky where believe heaven is, the more we also look down inside ourselves and everyone to find you among us in your Son Jesus Christ.

Yes, loving Father, you have sent us Jesus so that as we look up to you in the heavens, the more we shall search and probe our hearts, our lives, our situations, and our brothers and sisters to find you dwelling among us in Christ like there in the wilderness when he fed more than 5000 people.

Jesus went across the Sea of Galilee. A large crowd followed him, because they saw the signs he was performing on the sick. Jesus went up on the mountain, there he sat down with his disciples. The Jewish feast of Passover was near. When Jesus raised his eyes and saw that a large crowds was coming to him, he said to Philip, “Where can we buy enough food for them?” He said this to test him because he himself knew what he was going to do.

John 6:1-6

What a lovely scene repeated to us daily, especially in this time of the quarantine!

Jesus raising his eyes, seeing a large crowd hungry, sick, afraid… and then talking to us where to find bread in order to test us — because he always knows what he is going to do….

If we could all be like that little boy who looked into himself, into what he had, no matter how little they may be like the five barley loaves of bread and two pieces of fish….

O Lord, keep us looking for you first within us, into whatever we have, and unto others so we may let you do your work in us to feed and heal the people locked in this quarantine.

Give us the grace, Lord, to always search and find you and follow you not only up in the heavens most especially down deep in our hearts, in the face of the people we meet, in our situation in this time of the corona virus.

It is in finding you in our hearts, on the face of one another, and in the situation we are into when we truly dwell in your house, O Lord. Amen.

Sunrise at the Sea of Galilee, Israel. Photo by author, May 2017.

Obeying God than men

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul, Thursday, Easter Week-II, 23 April 2020

Acts of the Apostles 5:27-33 ><)))*> 0 + 0 <*(((>< John 3:31-36

Photo by author, Mt. St. Paul Spirituality Center, La Trinidad, Benguet, February 2020.

Yesterday Lord was so humid but it was a lovely sight while the sun was about to set, you sent some rains to quench the thirsty earth, to remind us you have never left us, that you are still with us in the midst of this lockdown due to corona pandemic.

Thank you, O Lord!

Give us the same fervor and attitude of Peter and companions after being arrested as they stood before the Sanhedrin in the first reading, so that like them we may boldly declare:

“We must obey God rather than men.”

Acts of the Apostles 5:29

How sad, O Lord, in this time of pandemic while so many are attesting and witnessing to your saving power, there are still some who refuse to recognize you, or even believe you.

On the other hand, there are those who ride on your goodness and kindness, taking upon themselves all your blessings, claiming everything in their name on the pretext of working for you, doing your work.

Lord Jesus Christ, please clear our minds and our hearts that the very reason why we should rather obey God than men is what you have told Nicodemus that night:

“For the one one whom God sent speaks the words of God. He does not ration his gift of the Spirit.”

John 3:34

Yes, dearest Jesus, you never ration your gift of the Spirit to us.

You always pour out unto us your many gifts that indeed, you have given us with so much and we have given so little.

And in spite of that, we still complain!

Please forgive us, Lord, when we feel so afraid, so unsure, even insecured to the point of being delusional that we might be forgotten that we choose to obey men than you. Amen.

Being bold for the Lord

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul, Monday, Easter Week II, 20 April 2020

Acts of the Apostles 4:23-31 <*(((>< +0+ ><)))*> John 3:1-8

Photo from news.abs-cbn.com

Thank you very much, Jesus, in giving us a taste of the first Easter in our own time with the COVID-19 pandemic. In both instances – then and now – you have shown us that Easter is about being bold not in ourselves or for our own sake but being bold in you in the Holy Spirit.

As they prayed, the place where they were gathered shook, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.

Acts 4:31

What a shame to our national leaders and to us in the society, Lord when we have acted just like the priests and Pharisees of your time who looked down on your apostles and the masses who boldly proclaimed your good news in words and in deeds!

Today, our nurses in the frontline of battling the pandemic have long been maligned and even insulted by some of our leaders. Although now being praised for their heroism and boldness in fighting COVID-19, they still lag behind in total support from our leaders.

Likewise, our lives in this extended lockdown would surely be more difficult without our other frontliners like garbage collectors, drivers and so-called “ordinary” people who work even in the dead of the night so we can have food and clean surroundings.

Open our eyes and our hearts, Jesus, to be born from above, to claim the power of the Holy Spirit you have given us so we can be bold and daring this time of the corona virus to serve you among our brothers and sisters so much in need of help.

Lead us, Jesus, to enlighten others so they may keep their balance and sanity in this most troubling time of modern history. Amen.