Tag: prayer

Where are you leading me, Lord?

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul
Solemnity of the Birth of John the Baptist, 24 June 2019
Isaiah 49:1-6 >< }}}*> Acts 13:22-26 >< }}}*> Luke 1:57-66, 80
St. John the Baptist Church in Ein Karem, birthplace of St. John the Baptist. Photo by author, 05 May 2019.

Praise and glory to you, O God our almighty Father! Thank you very much for the gift of life, for the gift of being born into this world to see and experience your majesty. Indeed, it is always good to be alive, no matter what our condition or status in life may be.

Unfortunately, Lord, there are so many times in life that we fail to see life’s beauty because we have taken control over ourselves and everything, leaving no room for you to work in us, with us and through us. So many times, Lord, we wonder what we would be like what the neighbors and relatives of John the Baptist said when he was born.

All who heard this these things took them to heart, saying, “What, then, will this child be?” For surely the hand of the Lord was with him.

Luke 1:66

Perhaps, it will be best for us today to be silent as we celebrate John the Baptist’s birthday to let your hand be upon us too, O God, so we may ponder and pray where you are leading us.

It is the start of work and studies for another week. Some of us are getting tired of the routine, some of us could no longer find meaning and direction in life. And some of us are on the brink of giving up on our many plans and even with our very lives!

Let your hand be upon us, Lord, and lead us to your direction. Guide us with your Holy Spirit. Teach us to lay aside our plans and personal agenda to allow you to take us where you would want us to be. Give us the courage to take that plunge into the unknown, trusting you alone wherever you may be leading us.

So many times Lord, we are like John the Baptist’s father Zechariah who believe so much with ourselves that we forget to trust you.

And many times, too, we are like the relatives and neighbors of Elizabeth who always interfere with your plans, insisting on following traditions and patterns, preventing you from surprising us.

Keep us silent today, Lord, to hear you more, to follow you more wherever you are leading us. Amen.

Pilgrims outside the Church of St. John the Baptist in Ein Karem waiting for their turn to enter his birthplace. What a beautiful sight of people still patiently waiting for God to lead them closer to him.

Bragging rights from Jesus

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul, Friday, Wk.XI, Yr.I, 21 June 2019
2 Corinthians 11:18,21-30 >< )))*> >< )))*> >< )))*> Matthew 6:19-23
Photo by Quang Nguyen Vinh on Pexels.com

St. Paul’s “little foolishness” yesterday of taking some pride of himself was therapeutic, Lord, for us feeling low. After all, St. Teresa de Avila said “humility is walking in truth” and like St. Paul, we need to be proud sometimes to let people realize the talents you have blessed us with.

But today, Lord, we thank you anew for this beautiful though trying day. And once again, like St. Paul, we have realized that the only bragging rights you have given us is so opposite with the world’s:

Brothers and sisters: since many boast according to the flesh, I too will boast. To my shame I say that we were too weak! But what anyone dares to boast of (I am speaking in foolishness) I also dare. If I must boast, I will boast of the things that who my weakness.

2 Corinthians 11:18, 21,30

Lord, what really sets us apart from others, from what St. Paul calls as “super apostles”, are the wounds and hurts we bear in love for you and others. We are all the same in everything but anyone’s greatness can truly be found in his/her weakness as the world sees it: in taking all the beatings of this life, in being patient, in being forgiving, in being understanding, in being persevering.

Yes, Jesus, everybody talks about their achievements and what they have done, of how great they are. But those who truly love and serve you, those who follow you as Christ-ians, boast only of their weakness.

In our weakness, Jesus, we become your dwelling place, we become like you — our only treasure in this life!

Continue to bless, Lord, those who ” store up treasures in heaven”, those who truly love with sincerity in their hearts, those who sacrifice for others, those who suffer in the name of truth and justice. Let their light shine on in you. Amen.

Photo from Google.

The need to be proud sometimes

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul, Thursday, Wk.XI, Yr.I, 20 June 2019
2 Corinthians 11:1-11 >< )))*> >< )))*> >< )))*> Matthew 6:7-15
The Our Father Church outside Jerusalem where Jesus is believed to have taught his disciples the “Lord’s Prayer”. Photo by author, 05 May 2019.

For the second straight day, Lord, I could identify with St. Paul in his feelings deep within, the urge to brag something in your name!

Brothers and sisters: if only you would put up with a little foolishness from me! Please put up with me. For I think that I am not in any way inferior to these “super apostles.” Even if I am untrained in speaking, I am not so in knowledge; in every way we have made this plain to you in all things.

2 Corinthians 11:1, 5-6

You know it so well, Lord Jesus why I have been complaining a lot lately as I have told you yesterday: I feel so tired in life because I feel shortchanged. Not that I am asking anything in return but like St. Paul, it pains me so much when some people miss the love and dedication we pour upon our ministry.

Until now, Lord, we have those “super apostles” St. Paul called, preying on your sheep as false servants who seduce people like the snake only to feed on their egos and fatten their wallets.

They are everywhere, Lord. Not only among priests but also among other professionals.

It is so consoling to hear St. Paul today in our first reading of how we sometimes need to brag a little, to be proud of our efforts so the people may know and realize the sacrifices we make for them because, we love them.

We pray Jesus for all the silent workers, the silent servants who continue to lovingly serve you in others. Send them your proverbial “pat on the shoulder” to console them, O Lord, in their darkness and anguish. Let them shine in their true colors in you! Amen.

Santorini, Greece. Photo by Dra. Mai Dela Pena, 2017.

God loves a cheerful giver

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul, Wednesday, Wk. XI, Yr. I, 19 June 2019
2 Corinthians 9:6-11 >< )))*> >< )))*> >< )))*> Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18
Photo by Jim Marpa, 2018.

Our loving Father in heaven:

Lately I have been complaining a lot. And even if I keep it to myself, you know it very well because you see everything that is hidden.

I’m getting tired of helping and giving.

I’m getting tired of teaching and listening.

I’m getting tired of… living and doing everything.

I just want to stop and rest, Lord.

And the moment you give me that moment to stop and rest to start praying, I realize that whatever little or much do I have in this life is all yours. Nothing is really ours.

Even this very moment of stopping and resting in you. There is nothing we can claim to be totally ours to keep to ourselves. Not even a split second smile or a simple gesture of recognizing the other person.

Even that act of making the sign of the Cross is all yours and from you, Lord.

Moreover, God is able to make every grace abundant for you, so that in all things, always having all you need, you may have an abundance for every good work. You are being enriched in every way for all generosity, which through us produces thanksgiving to God.

2 Corinthians 9: 8, 11

Thank you, O Lord, for everything.

Take everything that I have, even the littlest thing I keep to myself as mine because it is still yours.

You see whatever is hidden and for us to see that too, is a pure grace from you.

Let us give more, love more, and most of all, see you more. Amen.

Wildflowers in the desert of Petra in Jordan. Photo by author, 30 April 2019.

In the light of the gospel

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul, Tuesday, Wk. XI, Yr. I, 18 June 2019
2 Corinthians 8:1-9 >< )))*> >< )))*> >< )))*> Matthew 5:43-48
Ceiling of the altar of the Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception, Malolos City. Photo by Lorenzo Atienza, 12 June 2019.

How great and deeply spiritual is your servant St. Paul, Lord Jesus Christ! No problem is too ordinary for him as he resolves them in the light of the gospel. He shows us in so many instances like in our first reading today how the gospel sheds light on seemingly secular matters like sharing treasures.

Now as you excel in every respect, in faith, discourse, knowledge, all earnestness, and in the love we have for you, may you excel in this gracious act also. I say this not by way of command, but to test the genuineness of your love by your concern for others. For you know the gracious act of our Lord Jesus Christ, that for your sake he became poor although he was rich, so that by his poverty you might become rich.

2 Corinthians 8:7-9

Here in St. Paul is the answer to our perennial question to your gospel teaching of how can we “love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us”? (Mt.5:44)

First, dispose us always to prayer, to communing in you and with you. Detach us from this world once in a while in silence and hiddeness. Just be with you. Alone. Listening to you, feeling you.

Then, open our hearts and minds to your words. Enflesh your words in us, through us and with us.

Once we have been emtpied of ourselves and filled with your words and spirit, move us, guide us, O Lord, to your will and direction like St. Paul. Make us your instrument in doing charity for others.

Cleanse our hearts and our lips that we may worthily proclaim your gospel in words and in deeds. Amen.

Rev. Bp. Jesse Mercado of Paranaque blessing the people with the Gospel book during a Mass. Photo by Lorenzo Atienza.

Lord Jesus, we are happy to be your priests!

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul, Wk. XI, Yr. I, 17 June 2019
2 Corinthians 6:1-10 >< )))*> >< )))*> Matthew 5:38-42
Ordination of our new deacons, 12 June 2019, Minor Basilica and Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, Malolos City. Photo by Lorenzo Atienza.

Our feast is still a month and a half away but Lord Jesus Christ, I just feel like telling you today along with my brothers in ministry that we are happy to be your priests!

Thank you for the gift of vocation, thank you for the gift of three new deacons, and thank you for the gift of a new bishop!

St. Paul’s words in today’s first reading are so touching, reminding us of your great love for us to be your ministers of the word. But, they are also very challenging especially when there are some of us who have received your grace in vain, so attached with the trimmings and perks of your call, forgetting you Jesus, our Caller.

Forgive us in failing you, Lord, and help us find our way back to you.

Thank you for our faithful priests who lead and inspire us especially our fellow workers silently shepherding the flock, smelling like the sheep as Pope Francis had asked us to be, always avoiding the limelight now so glaring in the Church.

Thank you also for our old and sick priests, especially those who have aged gracefully, embracing retirement without much complaints and whines.

With St. Paul, we commend ourselves to you O Jesus “through much endurance, in afflictions, hardships, constraints” (2Cor.6:4) that many of us now evade or, deny.

It is a very interesting time to be your priests today, Lord, when people no longer believe us and your Church, when people doubt and malign us, and when the “faithful” are not so faithful at all, deserting us. Keep us to remain standing by your side at the Cross like the beloved disciple with Mary our Mother.

We are treated as deceivers and yet at truthful; as unrecognized and yet acknowledged; as dying and behold we live; as chastised and yet not put to death; as sorrowful yet always rejoicing; as poor yet enriching many, as having nothing and yet possessing all things.

2 Corinthians 6:8-10

Fill us with Holy Spirit, Jesus our Eternal Priest, so our minds and hearts may be enlightened to seek and follow and stand by your truth always. Amen.

The Gospel Book on which every new deacon and priest professes his faith before the Bishop shortly before the Mass of his Ordination. Photo by Lorenzo Atienza.

We are God’s earthen vessels

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul, Friday, Wk. X, Yr. I, 14 June 2019
2 Corinthians 4:7-15 >< )))*> >< )))*> Matthew 5:27-32
Photo by Quang Nguyen Vinh on Pexels.com

Thank you very much Lord Jesus Christ for this Friday, for another weekend.

As the days moved on since Monday, we didn’t know how this week would move on for many of us: the pressures and stress at home, in the office and the school with all kinds of problems.

Some of us almost gave up life, Lord, because of sickness and loneliness, pains and sufferings, neglect and feelings of being misunderstood and unloved or unwelcomed.

But you were always there, Jesus, loving us, comforting us, assuring us of your presence and grace.

We hold this treasure in earthen vessels, that the surpassing power may be of God and not from us. We are afflicted in every way, but not constrained; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not abandoned, struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying about in the Body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our body.

2 Corinthians 4:7-10

Let us continue your work Jesus. There are still plenty of things to be done this day: so many loving and acts of kindness, a lot of caring and understanding, some forgiving and asking sorry over there, with a lot of smiles and hugs to share so that those in despair may realize life is so beautiful, that it is good to be alive, that there is beauty even in our dirt and brokenness.

Every Cross is a plus sign, O Lord: afflictions and darkness, suffering and pains in life are an addition, never a minus or a subtraction! Amen.

Dominican Hills, Baguio, January 2019. Photo by author.

Man is what he looks at

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe, Thursday, Wk. X, Yr. I, 13 June 2019
2 Corinthians 3:15-4:1, 3-6 >< )))*> >< )))*> Matthew 5:20-26
Man “losing his head in prayer”. Photo by JJ Jimeno of GMA News, 27 May 2019.

Today we are celebrating, O Lord Jesus Christ, the feast of one of your most loved Saints, Anthony of Padua, the patron of those searching for any thing that is lost.

Most of the time, it is you Jesus whom we could not find. We always lose you not because you abandon us or hide from us but because we turn away from you. And that is why, in our pursuit of so many things of the world, we eventually end up more lost in life.

Help us to find our way back to you, Jesus. Transform us into your image by making us “gaze with unveiled face on your glory Lord” (2Cor.3:18) in prayerful meditation of the Sacred Scriptures and of the Blessed Sacrament like St. Anthony of Padua.

When the Israelites who were bitten by the snakes in the desert gazed at the bronze serpent Moses hanged on the cross, they were healed of their illness.

When Peter denied you thrice on Holy Thursday, your loving gaze on him made him sorrowful with his sin.

When St. John Vianney was asked by a farmer why he always spent a Holy Hour before you in the Blessed Sacrament, the holy priest said he simply looked at you as you looked at him too.

Lord Jesus Christ, the more we look at you, the more you look intently on us full of love. And the more we look at you, according to the Venerable Archbishop Fulton Sheen, the more we look like you!

Give us the grace to keep looking at you so that the more you look intently to us full of love and mercy, we experience your healing and comfort, wisdom and counsel, peace and joy. Amen. 

St. Anthony of Padua, pray for us.
From Google.

A prayer for the ordination of a parishioner as deacon

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul, Wednesday, Wk. X, Yr. I, 12 June 2019
2Corinthians 3:4-11 >< )))*> >< )))*> Matthew 5:17-19
Detail of “Ordination of the Seven Deacons” by Fra Angelico, 1447-49, Cappella Niccolina, Palazzi Pontifici, Vatican. From Google.

My dearest Lord Jesus Christ, our Eternal High Priest: Like your Blessed Mother, my soul proclaims your greatness and my spirit rejoices in you O Lord on this great gift of ordination as deacon of our parishioner, Rev. Roel Aldwin and his two classmates, Rev. Howard and Rev. Laurence.

As his ordination day got nearer, the more I realized your goodness, your love and your mercy. So true are the words of St. Paul in our first reading today:

Brothers and sisters: such confidence we have through Christ toward God. Not that of ourselves we are qualified to take credit for anything as coming from us; rather, our qualification comes from God, who has indeed qualified us as ministers of a new covenant, not of letter but of spirit; for the letter brings death, but the Spirit gives life.

2 Corinthians 3:4-6

Thank you very much for new brothers in the ministry, for new co-workers in your vineyard, Lord. Indeed, you do not call the qualified but you do qualify your calls! As St. Paul had said, no one can lay claim for this great gift of being your “alter Christus” at the altar.

And so, I thank you for this rare gift of having a new deacon in my parish during my tenure. You know how much I have loved your parish amid the many difficulties and pains that continue up to this moment. I hope and pray that your people here would realize this immense gift of a deacon you have called from among them to serve your Church.

But what I like most Lord in your gift of the first deacon from our Parish is also your gift to me to be a better pastor to encourage Rev. RA to strive and persevere in his vocation with so much love and dedication. I am a sinner, Lord, and you know very well how I have discouraged with my words and actions some members of my flock. And despite all this, you have used me to guide our new deacon in his journey.

Soon, he shall find so many flaws among us priests in the ministry. Soon he shall find the many crosses and many crucifixions we shall go through. Soon he shall find that ultimately, no one else is to be followed except you alone, Jesus.

I pray that our new deacons may be the signs of your fulfillment of the Laws of love and mercy. Keep them faithful and obedient to your commandments, Lord, that they may be your indwelling, your presence in this world slowly plunging into darkness and coldness, like what you described as “a sheep without a shepherd”.

I pray for our new deacons to love you more, Jesus our Caller – and not your call so that as they serve in your name, it is you whom they proclaim, it is you whom they make known above all.

Jesus our High Priest, let us your priests and deacons decrease so that you may increase. Amen.

From Google.

The Grace of Encouragement

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul
Tuesday, Week X, Year II, Feast of St. Barnabas, 11 June 2019
Acts 11:21-26;13:1-3 >< }}}*> >< }}}*> Matthew 5:13-16
From Google.

As we resume the longest season in our liturgical calendar called Ordinary Time, you give us a wonderful guide O Lord Jesus Christ in your Apostle St. Barnabas whose feast we celebrate today.

St. Barnabas lived out the meaning of his name, “son of encouragement” or “son of consolation” when he became instrumental in bringing Saul from Tarsus after his conversion to join the Apostles in Jerusalem. St. Barnabas was the first to vouch for the sincerity of Saul’s conversion who later came to be known as St. Paul.

When controversy arose among the early Christians, St. Barnabas encouraged St. Paul to join the discussions at the Council of Jerusalem so as to encourage too the Apostles to accept gentile converts into Christianity without going through the Jewish ritual of circumcision for men.

Eventually after that meeting, St. Barnabas encouraged St. Paul to direct their missionary efforts to the Gentiles that helped spread Christianity throughout the world.

When things went so wrong between him and St. Paul later due to their companion Mark at their second missionary journey that they have to part ways, eventually later before the death of St. Paul in Rome, St. Barnabas was able to encourage them to reconcile and let go of their differences before.

Grant us, Jesus Christ, the same gift of encouragement of St. Barnabas so we may be willing to transcend our weaknesses and sinfulness to cooperate with others to fulfill your work and mission.

We pray also for those losing hope, being discouraged by so many failures and events in their lives that push them to give up and abandon all your plans and dreams for them. Fill them with your Holy Spirit to be encouraged to persevere and to trust in you. Amen.

People with Disabilities being encouraged by Christian groups in Jordan to work in mosaic shops so they could hone their skills and earn for their family. Photo by author, May 2019.