Sent to Cleanse Evil

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe-Prayer, Wednesday

11 July 2018, Week-14/Year-2 Ordinary Time

Hosea 10:1-3, 7-8, 12///Matthew 10:1-7

God our almighty Father, as we celebrate today the feast of St. Benedict, we implore You send us the Holy Spirit so we may pray and work – “ora et labora” – in fighting evil in this world. Remind us always that like the 12 Apostles, we are sent by Your Son Jesus Christ with “authority over unclean spirits to drive them out and to cure every disease and every illness.” (Mt.10:1)

Like St. Benedict who admonished at the start of his Monastic Rule, may we “listen carefully” to Your voice in our prayers and labors, always“seeking your face” like what the psalmist sings today. We admit that our time is similar with that of Hosea’s Israel when idolatry is rampant, our “hearts so false” (Hos.10:2) and far from You. May we emulate St. Benedict in reawakening Christian life and ideals to heal us of so many infirmities plaguing our body and soul due to the spiritual and moral decadence around us. Amen.

St. Benedict, pray for us. Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II,Parokya ni San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Gov. F. Halili Ave., Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria,Bulacan 3022.

Every Kinda People

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Prayer-Recipe, Tuesday

10 July 2018, Week-14/Year-2 Ordinary Time

Hosea 8:4-7, 11-13///Matthew 9:32-38

How easy for us Lord to always pray like the psalmist that we trust in You but, in reality we rely more with our very selves and with material things! Like what You told Hosea in the first reading, “we make kings not by Your authority and we make princes without Your approval (Hos.8:4)” for we are so self-centered.

Most of the time, we forget that what we really need here on earth are people – persons like each one of us with equal dignity created in Your image and likeness who must be respected regardless of creed and color. Whenever something good happens with our brethren like when Jesus healed a demoniac in today’s gospel, we are like those people of His time who were either struck in awe or doubtful and suspicious without realizing that You come to us with every person who loves and cares for the sick and the poor.

Move and stir our hearts, let us be merciful like Jesus Christ who said “the harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest.”(Mt.9:37-38) Teach us to stop praying for more things and start praying for brothers and sisters capable of loving and caring for one another. AMEN. Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II,Parokya ni San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Gov. F. Halili Ave., Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria,Bulacan 3022. Photo from Google.

Pray this with the late Robert Palmer’s “Every Kinda People”, have breakfast and be kind with everyone you meet today.

Praying with Anthony, the Saint of Padua

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe-Wednesday

13 June 2018, Week-10/Year-2 Ordinary Time

1 Kings 18:20-39///Matthew 5:17-19

Thank You, God our Father in giving us St. Anthony of Padua who is renowned in interceding for anything that is lost – perhaps, including lost faith in You, lost values and lost selves. So many times, we are like the Israelites in our first reading today who are lost in our faith in You. Like them, we have become “wishy-washy” in following and trusting You, relying more with the modern Baals of wealth and fame.

We are so lost with the worldly things that we have become callous and insensitive with the plight of the poor and the suffering among us. Help us to find our way back to you, Father, through Your Son Jesus Christ who is the fulfillment of the laws and the prophets. Amen.

St. Anthony of Padua, pray for us! Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II,Parokya ni San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Gov. F. Halili Ave., Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria,Bulacan 3022.

Praying with Anthony Bourdain

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for Tuesday

12 June 2018, Week-10/Year-2 Ordinary Time

1Kings 17:7-16///Matthew 5:13-16

God Almighty, You never fail to surprise me: last night while praying, You sent me the late atheist (?) celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain to inspire me in my homily and prayer.

He said, “Food and sin are two words that have long been linked.”

It is true. You banished Adam and Eve from Paradise after they have eaten the forbidden fruit. Then, You sent us Your Son Jesus Christ to redeem us from sin by giving us His Body and Blood as our food and drink in this long journey back home to You in Paradise.

It is very amazing that our faith is always tested and strengthened through food. A non-believer in You like Bourdain, the widow of Zarephath became Your instrument to deliver Elijah from hunger and thirst. For a year amid a drought, the widow’s “jar of flour did not go empty, nor the jug of oil run dry” as You have foretold through Elijah, keeping them alive and strong.

So often, we who are supposed to be religious, who are supposed to believe and trust in You are the ones who also doubt You and Your providence. We refuse to share our food along with money and other treasures because we are afraid of having too little of these gifts. Not only that. So many times we are selfish to share Your love and joy, mercy and forgiveness, kindness and warmth, including knowledge and guidance with those suffering and who are lost, those who have forgotten the real taste of life, pushing some of them to suicide.

Make us the salt of the earth, Lord, so that through our loving presence with others, we may become food to nourish their tired body and soul, to let them taste the goodness of life despite its many pains and sufferings, preserving them wholly until Jesus comes again. Amen. Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II,Parokya ni San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Gov. F. Halili Ave., Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria,Bulacan 3022.

Photo from Google.