Tag: prayer

Knowing and Relating

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul, Easter Week VI, 27 May 2019
Acts 16:11-15 >< }}}*> <*{{{ >< John 15:26-16:4
Photo by Dra. Mai dela Pena, Carmel Monastery in Israel, 2014.

Praise and glory to you O Lord Jesus Christ! Today I praise and thank you in a very special way because of this immense love you have made me experience these days. I feel so blessed because I feel so loved. And I feel so loving too.

You know O Lord I have always looked down at myself, always doubting my abilities and most of all, my goodness. Every time I go on my personal retreats, in my own silent moments with you, I find it so hard to see myself as you see me — a beloved one.

So many times even if I know you have forgiven me for my many sins, I always still feel unworthy and untidy before you.

But when people come to thank me, to remind me of some kindness and charity I have extended them, you overwhelm me.

Maybe that’s the problem with us: we always doubt you love us, that we are loved, that we mean so much to other people. We tend to look on our dark side than on the bright moments you have worked in us and through us.

Teach us to be realistic and humble like Paul who was prevailed upon by Lydia in her generosity to receive them because of their goodness coming from you.

You are absolutely right, Lord Jesus: some people think they are doing God a big favor hurting us your followers because they have not really known you and the Father.

They have never experienced really knowing you, entering into a relationship with you as a person, as a Father, as a Brother.

That’s what make Christianity so different where we have a relating God, a God who knows when to give us that proverbial pat on the shoulders when we forget our goodness in you. You are a personal God who knows us and relates with us.

We pray for those burdened today, for those who feel neglected and even useless because of their plight and sorry condition. Remind us always that despite our many flaws and weaknesses, sins and failures in life, you still love us and would always love us no matter what. Amen.

Our pilgrimage team at Petra in Jordan, 01 May 2019.
 Did our prayer touch you?
Share us your thoughts and prayers.
You are prayed for.
Follow us for you daily recipe for the soul.
God bless you!
fr nick

Friend, or fiend?

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul
Friday, Easter Week V, 24 May 2019
Acts 15:22-31 ><}}}*> John 15:12-17
From Google.

What a lovely Friday you calling us friends, Lord Jesus! What an honor for you to regard as your friends even though so many times we disappoint you, even betray you with our sins.

You are my friends if you do what I command you. I no longer call you slaves, because a slave does not know what his master is doing. I have called you friends, because I have told you everything I have heard from my Father.

John 15:14-15

How funny, Lord, that just one letter in the word “friend” can spell the big difference to turn it into its exact opposite, the letter “r”: from friend to fiend or enemy.

So many times, Lord, it is the lack of respect that leads us to sin against you and one another, that we become fiend than friend. Friends always respect, which is from the Latin roots re and specere or to “look again”.

Teach us, like your apostles in the first reading to learn to respect one another, especially those different from us that we may always see them as brothers and sisters despite our differences like backgrounds, culture, and color.

Teach us, O Lord, to see more of you in others to be the very basis of our friendships rather than looking more into our many differences that we always make as excuses in being apart. Amen.

An optical shop in Madaba, Jordan. Photo by author, 02 May 2019.
Did our prayer touch you?
Share us your thoughts and prayers.
You are prayed for.
Follow us for you daily recipe for the soul.
God bless you!
fr nick

When words mean the world

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul
Thursday, Easter Week V, 23 May 2019
Acts 15:7-21 ><)))*> John 15:9-11
The Sphinx with the Great Pyramids that express more than words the great love of ancient Egyptians to their gods and rulers. Photo by author, 09 May 2019.

Today is “throwback Thursday”, Lord. We call it tbt. And I cannot resist humming that song by the Extreme, “More than Words” as I prayed over your words for today.

How amazing is the power of a word, especially your words, Lord. Whatever you said came into existence for you words and your being are one. In your goodness, you shared this great power of the words with us that we are your only creatures able to communicate using words.

Before you went back to the Father, you told us to keep your words, to remain in your love so that our joy may be complete.

How sad that we have taken this for granted as we desecrate words of their sanctity and true meaning.

How sad that so often we never meant what we said. We have to multiply our words in order to be meaningful, for others to believe us and trust us.

Help us to regain the sanctity of words, of “palabra de honor” that has long been gone in a world of words that lie, mislead, and deceive.

Help us rediscover anew your words of life, Lord, like the Apostles who relied heavily on your words when they met at the Council of Jerusalem to resolve their first issues as a Church.

May your words guide us anew so we may discover the true meaning of life that in the process, like the ancient peoples, we may express in more than words our great love for you through our wonderful works of art and charity with others. Amen.

The Treasury of the lost city of Petra in Jordan built in 1 BC that express in more than words the beliefs and values of the ancient Nabataeans. Photo by author, 01 May 2019.
 *Were you touched by our prayer today? 
Share us your thoughts and touch other hearts too.
If you have prayer intentions, we'll be glad to pray for you.  
Follow us for your daily recipes for the soul.
God bless!
fr nick

Remaining in Jesus, our true vine

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul
Wednesday, Easter Week V, 22 May 2019
Acts 15:1-6 ><}}}*> <*{{{>< John 15:1-8
From Google.

Thank you very much, Lord Jesus Christ, for coming to us, for bringing God the Father closest to us. Thank you for being our true vine, for being planted in the earth, one with our humanity in everything except sin.

Through your mystery of Incarnation, you have bound yourself to us, Lord, assuring us of your indestructible unity with us who always separate from you, run away from you, and turn away from you in so many sins.

Teach us to remain always in you, Jesus.

To remain in you is to rely more on your powers than on our own strength.

To remain in you is to trust in your promises that you will fulfill them.

To remain in you is to be fruitful in firm faith, fervent hope and unceasing charity and love.

Since the time of Adam and Eve, there has always been that strong temptation to go on our own ways, to break away from you, O God, to be on our own. We have not only put you on trial 2000 years ago but, over a hundred years ago, we have even declared “God is dead”!

Forgive us when we refuse to be pruned of our ego and pride.

Let us overcome our fears to settle our differences like in the Council of Jerusalem so that we may continue to bear fruit in you O Christ. Amen.

From Google.
 *Were you touched by our prayer today? 
Share us your thoughts and touch other hearts too.
If you have prayer intentions, we'll be glad to pray for you.  
Follow us for your daily recipes for the soul.
God bless!
fr nick

The small door of the “little town of Bethlehem”

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul
Tuesday, Easter Week V, 21 May 2019
Acts 14:19-28 ><“)))*> <*(((“>< John 14:27-31
Pilgrims entering through the small door of the Church of Nativity in Bethlehem, 02 May 2019.

Lately, Lord Jesus Christ, doors have been fascinating me: more than passages where we come and go, or enter and leave, doors are indeed like you! Last week you claimed yourself to be the gate of the sheep with you, Lord as our door, we never leave but, simply, come and come.

When you told your disciples at your Last Supper in today’s gospel that you were going away and will come back to them (Jn.14:28), you were very much like a door, Lord: for how can our hearts be not troubled or afraid when you are going away only to come to another level of relationship and existence with us?

That is the beauty of the door in you, Lord: your going away in your Ascension is your coming to us in new form of closeness, of continuing presence that leads to peace within each one of us.

How wonderful to remember Lord Jesus why the door to your birthplace in Bethlehem is so small: we have to go down, we have to bow and be humble in order to enter you:

They (Paul and Barnabas) strengthened the spirits of the disciples and exhorted them to persevere in the faith, saying, “It is necessary for us to undergo many hardships to enter the Kingdom of God.”

Acts 14:22

Give us the courage and strength, patience and perseverance, Lord, along with faith, hope and love to enter through you our door so that we may always come out as better persons than yesterday. Amen.

View from the inside of the Nativity Church in Bethlehem of its small doors. Photos by author, 02 May 2019.
*Were you touched by our prayer today? 
Share us your thoughts or your prayers and touch other hearts too.
Send us your prayer intentions, we'll be glad to pray for you.  
Follow us for your daily recipes for the soul.
God bless!
fr nick

The way of God

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul
Monday, Easter Week V, 20 May 2019
Acts 14:5-18 ><)))*><*(((>< John 14:21-26
Dusk at the Sinai desert in Egypt, 06 May 2019.

Jesus said to his disciples: “Whoever has my commandments and observes them is the one who loves me. And whoever loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and reveal myself to him.” Judas, not the Iscariot, said to him, “Master, then what happened that you will reveal yourself to us and not to the world?”

John 14:21-22

So often in life, Lord Jesus, we feel like St. Jude Thaddeus asking you the same question of why did you not reveal your self to more people, especially the unbelievers and your enemies so there would be no more questions about your Resurrection and most of all, of your existence.

Why did you not appear to powerful nations and not just Israel or to more people not just the few Apostles whose testimony about you we must now rely?

But, Lord, the more we wonder about your ways and compare it to our supposed to be bright ideas of making you known and accepted, the more we experience your presence and realize your goodness. Most of all, the more we appreciate and embrace your mystery.

You always act so gently in history, Lord, always waiting for the right time to come and reveal your self. You chose the more difficult way by becoming human, being born an infant subjected to so much dangers early in life and when you matured, you chose to suffer and die so that when you rose again, you came knocking into everyone’s heart inviting us all to have faith that you have risen.

For the world, your way is always laughed at because we always think we know better like the people at Lystra who insisted that Paul and Barnabas are gods, without us knowing that the more we insist on our ways, the more we get lost from what is really true.

Teach us today, Lord Jesus Christ, to learn from your divine way of revelations by choosing silence than noise, simplicity than complexity, hiddenness than spectacles.

Teach us today, Lord Jesus Christ, that your divine way of revelation is always the path of weakness and smallness that lead us to more freedom and more love. Amen.

Rock formations at Petra in Jordan that nature had carved slowly through time. Photo by author, 01 May 2019.
*For prayer requests, leave a comment below or write me at lordmychef@gmail.com.
To receive a copy of our daily recipe for the soul, follow this blog.  God bless!

Seeing Jesus, Seeing God

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul
Saturday, Easter Week IV, 18 May 2019
Acts 13:44-52///John 14:7-14
Facade of the wall enclosing the St. Katherine Monastery in Sinai, Egypt. At its back is Mt. Sinai where pilgrims begin their ascent to the mountain where God met with Moses. Photo by author 06 May 2019.

So many times, Lord Jesus, we desire to see your Father. But so many times, too, we forget that whoever has seen you has also seen the Father…

Philip said to Jesus, “Master, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you for so long a time and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?”

John 14:8-9

But, what is really to see you, Lord, that we may also see the Father?

If seeing the Father is seeing in our lives its unity and oneness with you, then, let us imitate you Jesus that our lives may also be like yours.

If seeing the Father is seeing in our lives your mercy and forgiveness of our sins, then, let us be merciful and forgiving with others so we see more of you Jesus among us.

If seeing the Father is seeing in our lives the grace to rise above our lowly selves to become better persons, to be holy like the Father in heaven, then, let us strive to get closer to you Jesus by following you faithfully in loving service with others.

Through you, O Christ, you have brought the Father closest to us; and in you, O Jesus, the Father approaches us, drawing us unto him by leading us beyond ourselves into his infinite greatness and love.

Like what you did through the Holy Spirit to Paul and Barnabas in the first reading today, help us to keep our cool amid many adversaries, filled with joy in the face of many crises and obstacles because we have seen seen you and the Father too! Amen.

Kept inside this chapel in the Monastery of St. Katherine in Sinai, Egypt is said to be the burning bush where God first appeared to Moses. Photo by author, 06 May 2019.

Jesus our Way

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul
Friday, Easter Week IV, 17 May 2019
Acts 12:26-33///John 14:1-6
Stations of the Cross at the wall of the Catholic chapel inside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. Photo by author, 04 May 2019.

Praise and glory to you, O Lord Jesus Christ! Thank you for another week about to close with another one soon to start. Most of all, thank you, Jesus, for always standing by our side especially in our moments of crisis and darkness.

So many times we find ourselves like your Apostle Thomas the Twin in today’s gospel who ask you with so many questions that are often simple and even silly. But, you always answer them filled with profound truth.

Thomas said to him, “Master, we do not know where you are going; how can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

John 14:5-6

O Lord, forgive us for being so slow sometimes like Thomas with our level of understanding your words and teachings, even your very self.

However, we pray also for the sincerity of Thomas in asking that question that now defines you as “the way, the truth, and the life.” In answering that question, you have assured us of never abandoning us, of always fulfilling your words and your plans for us that so often we could not see nor understand at the start.

Help us to be faithful to your words as Paul preached in the synagogue of Antioch in our first reading today. May we always trust your words, Jesus, by following your path of the Cross for you always fulfill them and crowned it with your glorious Resurrection. Amen.

Ninth Station of the Cross before entering the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. Photo by author April 2017.

We are the mosaic of God

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul
Thursday, Easter Week IV, 16 May 2019
Acts 13:13-25///John 13:16-20
Madaba Mosaic Map on the floor of the Byzantine church of St. George in Madaba, Jordan dating back to 560 AD, one of the oldest maps of the Holy Land discovered in late 19th century. Photo by author, 02 May 2019.

Your readings for today, Lord Jesus, remind me of that wonderful experience you gave us to see so many beautiful mosaics in your Holy Land. Some are very old, some are new. But they are all so lovely not only for our sight to behold but also for our hearts to reflect and cherish.

It was only then when I realized in the production of a mosaic that each stone represents every one of us who has rough edges cut into a tiny piece then glued together to form one big picture by highlighting each one’s smooth and shiny surface.

Just one shiny, smooth surface needed to complete a beautiful picture.

Just one good character or trait of us, never mind our rough and uneven edges and sides, to portray your beauty, your majesty, your glory.

Thank you, Lord, for looking more on our beautiful side like in a mosaic.

Thank you for washing us of our sins so we may be smoother and shinier.

Thank you for that long story of salvation Paul summarized in the first reading at how you patiently waited in time to fix everything until you came to save us. It is the same kind of patience and love you must have put on each of us to be a part of your big picture, Lord.

May we always see the bigger picture of you among us who are tiny pieces of little stones with many rough sides with just one good side needed to portray you. May we keep in our minds and our hearts that “no slave is greater than his master nor any messenger greater than the one who sent him” (Jn.13:16) so we may always focus on the brighter and smoother side of us and of life to reflect you more. Amen.

The Madaba Mosaic Factory in Jordan employs disabled persons with a large part of its earnings supporting other disadvantaged people in the area. Photo by the author, 02 May 2019.

Going back to our roots

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul
Wednesday, Easter Week IV, 15 May 2019 (Feast of St. Isidore Labrador)
Acts 1224-13:5///John 13:16-20
Plants growing on walls along the Palm Sunday Path of Jesus in Jerusalem. Photo by author, 03 May 2019.

You know O Lord Jesus Christ how grateful I am and my fellow pilgrims for the gift of coming to your Holy Land last week. And you know how we felt later when we were so eager to come home, to get back to the Philippines.

Partly it was homesickness but largely I think due to our “rootedness”, to our desire to get back to our roots in our home, with our family, with my parishioners.

Yes, we have felt and experienced you Lord in the Holy Land but you are felt most when we all go back to our roots, when we touch base to our home, family and friends.

After Barnabas and Saul completed their relief mission, they returned to Jerusalem… While they were worshipping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.”

Acts 12:25, 13:2

This touched me so much,Lord: Barnabas and Saul began to venture far and wide in their mission to the Gentiles while they were praying with the others in Jerusalem. It happened when they returned to Jerusalem, their home, their base where you first gathered them together after Easter!

Yes… you are most present whenever we come home and touch base with our roots like family and relatives, friends and neighbors, even schools or places where we first met you!

You can boldly claim that whoever believes in you believes also in the Father who sent you because you remained rooted in the Father, Lord Jesus.

Help us, Lord, to find our way back home to you in the Father. Give us the courage to touch base with our roots, to find you in our selves, in others around us including our places of work and study.

Like St. Isidore Labrador who always prayed and visited you, touching base with you as his roots always before farming, may we come to realize that ultimately, our rootedness is in God alone. Amen.

The Our Father Church in Jerusalem. Photo by the author, 03 May 2019.