When Little Things Mean So Much

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The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe-Prayer

Wednesday//17October2018//Week XXVIII, Year II

Galatians 5:18-25///Luke 12:13-21

Lord Jesus Christ, you have taught us to be like little children, to be always the least. In you we have found the beauty of being small. And how wonderful when little things we often take for granted like the Holy Spirit can really mean so much for our growth and maturity!

The Holy Spirit often means so little for us because it is the Person in your Blessed Trinity who is least known, least understood. But as St. Paul tells us today in the first reading, a little of the Holy Spirit that can hardly be imagined or visualized lead to a harvest of great fruits in us of “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” (Gal.5:22-23)

On the other hand, small thoughts of sin and evil always lead to our own destruction like “immorality, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, rivalry, jealousy, outbursts of fury, acts of selfishness, dissensions, factions, occasions of envy, drinking bouts, orgies and the like.” (Gal.5:19-21)

There are times we are like the Pharisees and the scholars of the law you have scolded in the gospel today who “pay tithes of mint and rue and every garden herb” forgetting the more essential demands of love for God through others, of always seeking seats of honor when our lives are empty and rotten inside like graves or when we burden those around us with many demands while we refuse to lift even a finger to do the same (Lk.12:13-21).

Yes, we are guilty O Lord of making little things of nothing into something, forgetting the little things that mean so much. Give us the grace to spice up our lives with great little things of your Holy Spirit like St. Ignatius of Antioch who preached the unity of the Church by emphasizing the importance of every little community united in you and the Pope. AMEN. Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Parokya ng San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Gov. F. Halili Ave., Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria, Bulacan 3022. E-mail to lordmychef@gmail.com.

Photo by Fr. Nick F. Lalog II, Church of St. Agnes garden in Jerusalem, 20 April 2017.

The Heart Is Also the Hearth

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe-Prayer

Tuesday//16October2018//Week XXVIII, Year II

Galatians 5:1-6///Luke 11:37-41

Praised be O God, our loving Father!

So many times, we are like the Pharisee in the gospel, always inviting Jesus your Son who readily comes to us. Unfortunately, like that Pharisee, we are concerned only with externalities than what is inside. We invite Jesus only into our house but never into our home, only to be beside us but never in our hearts! True hospitality is when the heart is also the hearth.

“Oh you Pharisees! Although you cleanse the outside of the cup and the dish, inside you are filled with plunder and evil. You fools! Did not the maker of the outside also make the inside?”(Lk.11:39-40)

Help us, O Lord to have what St. Paul preached to the Galatians, “faith working through love” (Gal.5:6) when we welcome you into our hearts to fill it with your warmth of love and mercy for everyone, giving life to others in a world that has gone selfishly cold with pride. AMEN. Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Parokya ng San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Gov. F. Halili Ave., Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria, Bulacan 3022. E-mail to lordmychef@gmail.com.

*Photo by Dra. Mai Dela Pena in Germany. Used with permission.

Only God Suffices

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe-Prayer

Monday//15October2018//Week XXVIII, Year II

Galatians 4:22-26, 24-27, 31-5:1///Luke 11:29-32

Today, O Lord, let me take into my heart the notes in the breviary of your blessed St. Teresa of Avila whose feast we celebrate today: “Let nothing disturb me… only God suffices.”

So many times, Lord Jesus, I feel like the Galatians who always doubted your mercy and love for me, your gift of freedom and salvation that I always feel nothing is enough in this life. And that is even if I have experienced so many times how you have never abandoned me, seeing for myself how true were the words of St. Teresa that “only God suffices because God never changes.”

So many times, Lord Jesus, I feel like your contemporaries who keep on asking for signs from you not because I want to feel and experience you more but for more of my own personal needs and gains. Grant me peace and stillness, to let nothing disturb me and let me patiently endure every darkness and desolation like St. Teresa of Avila so that eventually, God may possess me. AMEN. Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Parokya ng San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Gov. F. Halili Ave., Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria, Bulacan 3022. E-mail to lordmychef@gmail.com.

*Photo by Dra. Mai Dela Pena, a rose in the Carmelite Monastery during a Holy Land Pilgrimage. Used with permission.

The Works of the Lord

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Friday//12October2018//Week XXVII, Year II

Galatians 3:7-14///Luke 11:15-26

On this weekend, I join the psalmist in giving thanks to you, O Lord, for “great are your works, exquisite in all their delights.” (Ps. 111:2) As I prepare myself for the welcome break of Saturday and Sunday, I look back with joy for all the wondrous things you have done to me this week.

I am contented with my life, O Lord; there is no need for me to join those long lines to super lotto betting stations. Your majesty and glory are enough to delight me of the beauty of life while your justice assures me of eternal rewards. Most of all, you have always provided me with everything I need as you always remember your covenant forever (Ps. 111:3-6).

Forgive me O Lord for the many times I doubt your fidelity, when I am like the Galatians who feel your works are not enough as if our works could amount to something at all. Give me that strong faith, like Abraham’s, to believe in you and your promise. Cast away my doubts, O Lord, so I may not be like the Jews of your time who thought you have the power of Beelzebul or asked you for signs to prove your divine omnipotence. Make me whole in faith, hope and love in you, never be divided lest I fall prey to evil and sins. AMEN. Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Parokya ng San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Gov. F. Halili Ave., Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria, Bulacan 3022. E-mail to lordmychef@gmail.com.

*Photo by Mr. Raffy Tima of GMA-7 News, Iceland Northern Lights, October 2018. Used with permission.

The Spirit of Prayer

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Thursday//11October2018//Week XXVII, Year II

Galatians 3:1-5///Luke 11:5-13

Fifty six years ago today, your Holy Spirit O Lord breathed fresh air into our Holy Mother Church with the first session of the Second Vatican Council convened by Pope St. John XXIII whose memorial we also celebrate today.

A man of great wisdom and wit with great love for the poor, St. John XXIII came to be known as the “good Pope” because the faithful saw in him your goodness, O God. Even if his pontificate lasted only five years as he was already advanced in age when he became a Pope, St. John XXIII accomplished so much in his words and actions because he was evidently sustained with a profound spirit of prayer.

Like St. Paul, he called on the entire Church to go back again to the Gospel Himself – Jesus Christ so we can be more responsive to the modern time. But 56 years after the start of Vatican II, we have become “stupid” like the Galatians who, “after beginning with the Spirit, are now ending with the flesh?” (Gal.3:3)

Help us O Lord, through the prayers and inspiration of Pope St. John XXIII to always go back to the spirit of prayer, to persist in asking for you, in seeking you, and knocking at your door so we could enter into your heart and be closer to you so you would take over us. That is the true power of prayer: it is not with what we say but how we say like in today’s parable. AMEN. Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Parokya ng San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Gov. F. Halili Ave., Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria, Bulacan 3022. E-mail to lordmychef@gmail.com.

st.JohnxxiiiPrayer

Photos from Google.

Praying With Courage Like Jesus

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Wednesday//10October2018//Week XXVII, Year II

Galatians 2:1-2, 7-14///Luke 11:1-4

What a wonderful grace for your apostles to have witnessed you prayed, O Lord! It must have been a great sight to behold, seeing you deep in prayer that they asked you to teach them how to pray.

How sad, though, that we have taken for granted the only prayer you have taught us to pray, the Our Father. It has become so ordinary, even mechanical for us. Sometimes, we really do not pray your prayer but merely recite it, lacking courage and vibrancy to inspire others to pray.

Give us courage, O Lord, a lot of courage to pray your prayer with more conviction by making “God’s kingdom come and His will be done” as we pray it. Give us courage to pray it not only begging for forgiveness to our sins but most of all to forgive those who have sinned against us.

Like St. Paul in the first reading, give us the courage to boldly profess to everyone, even to our peers, the truth of your gospel. Make us truthful in praying the “Our Father” so that when others see and hear us, they may ask us too to teach them to pray like the Twelve. AMEN. Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Parokya ng San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Gov. F. Halili Ave., Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria, Bulacan 3022. Send e-mail to < lordmychef@gmail.com>.

Photo by Fr. Nick F. Lalog II, the Church of the Our Father, Holy Land Pilgrimage, 19 April 2017.

Resting and Remaining in the Lord

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe-Prayer

Tuesday//09October2018//Week XXVII, Year II

Galatians 1:13-24///Luke 10:38-42

Your words today O Lord are so comforting, inviting me to rest in you, to stay in you like a child peacefully asleep on a parent’s lap or tummy. Today O Lord I just wish to be comforted by your loving presence as I try to examine my past and present life.

“O Lord, you have probed me and you know me… Truly you have formed my inmost being; you knit me in my mother’s womb.” (Ps.139:1,13)

Like St. Paul, give me the grace to realize deep within me how you have personally called me for this mission in life that began “from my mother’s womb when you set me apart and called me.”(Gal.1:15)

Teach me to be like St. Paul that before going to anyone or anywhere, I must first seek you within me, right inside my own wilderness, my own “Arabia” in a retreat to reconnect with you before “consulting flesh and blood.” (Gal.1:16-17)

So often, I am like Martha who is so “anxious and worried about so many things” (Lk.10:41), forgetting that to truly welcome you like Mary is to sit at your feet, listen to you as you speak for it is the only one thing needed in life that St. Padre Pio had also taught us in this modern time to simply “pray, hope and don’t worry.” AMEN. Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Parokya ng San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Gov. F. Halili Ave., Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria, Bulacan 3022.

Photo from Google.

Pleasing People or Pleasing God?

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe-Prayer

Monday//08October2018//Week XXVII, Year II

Galatians 1:6-12///Luke 10:25-37

Lord, this Monday I feel like St. Paul, wondering at why many people would rather believe and accept fake people who are so good at putting up a show just to please them. Sometimes it can be so sad and even frustrating when most people would prefer clowns with all their gimmicks and antics than apostles and workers who are truthful and faithful to your Words.

“Am I now currying favor with human beings or God? Or am I seeking to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a slave of Christ.” (Gal.1:10)

Like in the parable of the Good Samaritan, how sad that many people with authority and responsibilities are more concerned with the superficialities of their positions than the task of making you felt and known by those at the side of the road.

Teach us, O Lord, to please you more than to please others by getting down from our high seats of power and pride like the good Samaritan so we may uplift those badly beaten down the road and forsaken. Teach us, O Lord, to be more acceptable before you than with others by our willingness to stand for what is true and good, by standing firm at the foot of your cross always. AMEN.Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Parokya ng San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Gov. F. Halili Ave., Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria, Bulacan 3022.

Photo from Google.

Knowing Too Much, Understanding Too Little

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe-Prayer

Friday//05October2018//Week XXVI, Year II

Job 38:1, 12-21; 40:3-5///Luke 10:13-16

It is the first Friday of the month, the end our work week O God. Some of us are rejoicing for the weekend, others are thankful for the many blessings of the past week but many are still complaining. Sometimes we are like Job: we complain a lot in life because we claim to know so much yet understand so little.

“Have you ever in your lifetime commanded the morning and shown the dawn its place for taking hold of the ends of the earth, till the wicked are shaken from its surface? Have you entered into the sources of the sea, or walked about in the depth of the abyss? Have the gates of death been shown to you, or have you seen the gates of darkness? Have you comprehended the breadth of the earth? Tell me, if you know all…” (Job 38:12,16-18)

O God, deflate our bloated egos when we feel to know all yet understand nothing in this life, when we complain and whine more than simply work and try our best, when we become cynical and pessimistic because things do not happen according to our plans.

Most especially, take away our feeling of entitlement and open our eyes to the many blessings you have showered upon us that only a few have seen because we are like the people of Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum who disregarded the coming and the miracles by Jesus Christ. AMEN. Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Parokya ng San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Gov. F. Halili Ave., Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria, Bulacan 3022.

Photo by Mr. Raffy Tima of GMA-7 News, Batanes, 17 September 2018. Used with permission.

Prayer to become like St. Francis of Assisi

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Thursday//04October2018//Week XXVI, Year II

Job 19:21-27///Luke 10:1-12

What a blessed first week of October, O God, when we celebrate so many great saints like Francis of Assisi today!

We rejoice O God for your gift of St. Francis who taught us to be an instrument of your peace. We rejoice for St. Francis who taught us 600 years ahead of his time the oneness of your creation, the value of nature and environment. We rejoice most especially for St. Francis who witnessed for us simplicity of life based entirely on trust in you.

This, O Lord, is what we ask from you: the grace of complete trust in you like St. Francis and Job in the first reading that no matter what befalls us in this world, may we always trust in you alone, our Vindicator whom our “inmost being is consumed with longing.” (Job 19:25) May we go like the seventy-two other disciples of your Son Jesus Christ into the world with nothing except YOU. AMEN. Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Parokya ng San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Gov. F. Halili Ave., Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria, Bulacan 3022.

Photo from Google, http://www.sistermoongraphics.com/blog/2017/10/4/feast-of-st-francis-of-assisi