Disciplined living

Quiet Storm by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, 05 February 2025

*Photo by author, Cathedral of St. Catherine of Alexandria, Dumaguete City, 07 November 2024.*

Discipline is a word so misunderstood these days that too often, it is frowned upon or even feared by many. In this age of so much “freedom” without any regard to “responsibility”, discipline has become its main casualty.

Discipline has very interesting origins. From the Latin verb discere which is to learn or to follow, its noun is disciplina for teaching or learning from which came the word discipulus for disciple, a follower or a pupil. Hence, a person of discipline is one who follows or obeys teachings.

The more disciplined a person is,
the more free a person becomes!

As we have mentioned at the start, due to the wrong perception of “freedom” these days as the ability to do whatever one wants, many see discipline as suppression of freedom. But what is most true is its opposite – the more disciplined a person is, the more free the person becomes!

*Photo by author, sunrise at St. Paul Spirituality Center, Pico, La Trinidad, Benguet, 06 January 2025.*

When we discipline ourselves in every aspect of our lives like in food and drink intake, in using our time wisely, in budgeting our money and resources among other things, the more we become free to many other things in life. Remove discipline and do whatever you like in your life, eventually you become “unfree” because definitely you will miss your responsibilities and obligations like studies in school and duties at home and the office.

Freedom is never absolute. It has always been limited to choosing and doing what is good. When freedom is abused, it can lead us into being not free at all.

Likewise, some people think discipline is temporary and optional. Many believe that discipline is just for kids and young people who ought to follow their parents and elders. What about adults following their superiors and those above them in the natural and social hierarchy of things and relationships? This perhaps explain the reason why there is a growing complaint against young people lacking respect to elders and those in authority.

Discipline is a life-long process, the one sure thing we would need even rely upon so much as we age and get old. Discipline is imposed and taught in our younger age so that we would mature, grow and develop as persons. It is a lifelong process, a habit, a good that we keep on doing until we die. Or, even if we get old and sick, discipline is our North Star, the Polaris within ourselves especially when everything is dark, when we seem lost in life. Discipline enables us to succeed and be fulfilled in life. Find any bum and surely you shall find no discipline at all; but, you can never find a successful person without any discipline.

*“Jesus Unrolls Book In the Synagogue” painting by James Tissot (1886-1894), brooklynmuseum.org*

Our Lord Jesus Christ is the most perfect example of a disciplined person, of leading a disciplined life. All evangelists tell us how Jesus always went to the synagogue on a sabbath to worship and to preach. Most of all, Jesus always prayed early in the morning or later in the evening in some deserted place. These were all forms of discipline He must have learned from His parents Mary and Joseph who were both portrayed in the gospels as devout Jews, both with high degrees of discipline in life even before Christ was born.

Prayer after all is a discipline, something we have to cultivate that leads to a loving relationship with God and with others too! And here we find the deeper reality of discipline which is not just a human effort and endeavor. Discipline is the work of God, His gift and grace to each one of us to have fulfillment in life

Discipline is not just a human effort;
discipline is the work of God too!

Brothers and sisters: You have also forgotten the exhortation addressed to you as children: My son, do not disdain the discipline of the Lord or lose heart when reproved by him; for whom the Lord loves, he disciplines; he scourges every son he acknowledges. Endure your trials as “discipline”… At the time, all discipline seems a cause not for joy but for pain, yet later it brings the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who are trained by it (Hebrews 12:5-7, 11).

*Photo by author, St. Scholastica Spirituality Center, Tagaytay, August 2024.*

How I wish parents would still use that analogy by the author of the Letter to the Hebrews regarding discipline. When we were growing up, our parents would always explain to us after scolding us due to misdemeanor or a mistake that it was to discipline us in doing what is right or what is good.

This is something so evident these days, when you hear the older folks saying how life was more orderly before because of discipline unlike today. And one may find this lack of discipline everywhere – in public places not only home, including in churches. Partly to be blamed for that is us, the older folks who have stopped teaching discipline to kids and the youth.

Lately I have been seeing many of my former students in elementary and high school. I have always known many of them hated me when in school because I was a strict teacher (and priest). Including many of our teachers too! That is why whenever we talked about their school days, I always asked them to forgive me for making their lives so difficult as I demanded excellence and precision in their studies and most of all, discipline at all times like cleanliness in their clothing and bearing, order and silence in classrooms, and of course, proper decorum inside the church.

*At the wedding of one of my former student with his classmates in January 2020.*

Surprisingly, they always ended up thanking me for the discipline I have taught and instilled in them that according to them led to their success in both their personal and professional life. Many of them have their family of their own now with some living overseas. It brings me so much joy with some tears when they tell me how they have taught their own children of the discipline I drilled in them about studies and reading, of prayer, and of simply being the very best for God in everything. It is the same thing with some of our teachers who have remained some of my dearest friends today with some living and working abroad. In fact, they claimed that it was my “terroristic discipline” that greatly prepared them for their lives and work in foreign lands and cultures.

We need to discipline ourselves for God’s grace to work in us. And remember, grace builds on nature – that’s the beauty of discipline: the more we practice it, the more blessed we become! It is a built-in app or program God has installed in each of us. Use it extensively by switching it on always. In case there’s a glitch, still, switch it on and surely it would work. As always. Have a disciplined week ahead.

Pag-ibig ay kusang dumarating, di dapat hanapin

Lawiswis ng Salita ni P. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Ika-04 ng Pebrero 2025

*Larawan kuha ng may-akda, Tagaytay, 17 Enero 2025.*

Sampung araw 
bago sumapit 
ang Valentine's
sa akin ay lumapit
isang dalagita
nahihiyang nagtanong
bagama't ibig niyang
mabatid kung
"makakahanap po ba ako
ng lalaking magmamahal 
sa akin ng tunay
at tapat?"

Ako'y nanahimik,
ngumiti at tumingin sa
dalagitang nahihiyang
nakatungo ang ulo
sa kanyang tanong
at nang ako'y magsimulang
mangusap,
mukha niya ay bumusilak
sa tuwa sa bagong 
kaalaman sa pag-ibig
na matiyaga niyang 
sinasaliksik.

*Larawan kuha ng may-akda, Atok, Benguet, 27 Disyembre 2024.*

Ito ang wika ko sa dalagita:
"Ang pag-ibig,"
ay hindi hinahanap
parang gamit nakakamit
dahil ang pag-ibig
ay kusang dumarating
kaya iyong matiyagang hintayin
ikaw ang kanyang hahanapin;
tangi mong gampanin
buksang palagi iyong
puso at damdamin
dahil itong pag-ibig
ay dumarating sa mga tao
 at pagkakataong
hindi inaasahan natin;
banayad at mayumi
hindi magaspang pag-uugali
magugulat ka na lamang
ika’y kanyang natagpuan
palagi na siyang laman
 ng puso at isipan."

"Pakaingatan din naman",
wika ko sa dalagita
"itong pag-ibig ay higit pa
sa damdamin na dapat
payabungin tulad ng mga
pananim,
linangin upang lumalim
hanggang maging
isang pasya
na laging pipiliin
ano man ang sapitin
at hantungan."

Ang pag-ibig
ay parating dumarating 
ngunit kadalasan hindi
natin pansin 
kung minsan tinatanggihan,
inaayawan
dahil ang ibig ay kumabig;
darating at mananatili 
itong pag-ibig 
sa simula na ating limutin
lahat ng para sa sarili
natin.

That “Simeon Moment”

Quiet Storm by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, 03 February 2025

*Photo from the Presentation Chapel of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington DC.*

Every night before going to bed, we priests and religious along with some laypeople pray the Compline or Night Prayer of the Liturgy of the Hours. From the Latin completus, the Compline completes the daily prayers of the Church.

It is also my most favorite since our seminary days when we chanted Simeon’s Canticle which we heard proclaimed in yesterday’s gospel in the celebration of the Feast of the Lord’s Presentation.

He (Simeon) came in the Spirit into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus to perform the custom of the law in regard to him, he took him in his arms and blessed God, saying: “Now, Master you may let your servant go in peace, according to your word, for my eyes have seen your salvation, which you prepared in sight of all the peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and glory for your people Israel” (Luke 2:27-32).

*A painting of Simeon with the Child Jesus from the dailyprayerblog.blogspot.com*

The Simeon Moment 
is befriending death
as we find Jesus Christ.

The “Simeon Moment” is when we are like Simeon in realizing that nothing matters most in this life except God found within us and those closest to us like family and friends whom we would never trade for anybody and anything. It is finding true joy in Christ alone that we are able to befriend death like St. Francis of Assisi who called death a “cousin”.

According to Luke, God had promised Simeon that he would not die until he had seen the promised Messiah (Christ). All his life, Simeon prayed and offered sacrifices at the temple in Jerusalem awaiting the coming of Christ – and he was not disappointed even if it took so long! That is why, he burst into a song which we now pray every night because that is when we experience in the stillness of the darkness within and outside us that only Jesus and always Jesus who fulfills us.

Those who have cared and lost a loved one to cancer or any terminal illness have experienced that “Simeon Moment”. Remember when our loved ones have finally accepted their fate, when they suddenly become more emotionally stable and even joyful in their dispositions? Unlike before when they were first diagnosed with their illness, they were so afraid, always crying but as they came to embrace the reality, they cried less with a strong sense of courage while we are the ones crying more and most stressed out?

That is because the dying must have seen their their final destination in life, Jesus Christ. Like Simeon during the presentation at the temple after seeing and holding in his hands so close to himself the Holy Infant, we find the dying so calm and peaceful during their final hours because they have seen or were already in the presence of the Lord.

Like Simeon, they were silently joyful in Christ’s presence while we who were left behind cried not only due to the pain and sadness of separation but because we do not know where we are going, where we are heading unlike our departed loved ones.

Feel the courage and confidence of Simeon boldly telling God to “take him” at that instance because he had found Jesus Christ. Its Filipino translation says it so well, “Kunin mo na, Panginoon, ang iyong abang alipin, ayon sa iyong pangako, yamang nakita na ng aking mga mata ang iyong pagliligtas (Lk.2:29-30).”

We Filipinos often take it as a joke, always laughing to dismiss the topic or cope with the reality that to see God literally means to die like when we say “gusto nang makita si Lord”. But, that was how Simeon really felt because he had literally seen the Son of God, as if telling him to take him “now na!” because the Simeon Moment is therefore we have that realization within us that coming to terms with death is coming to terms with life, and vice versa.

The Simeon Moment
is living in the Holy Spirit

Wherever is Jesus Christ, there is always the Holy Spirit. We will never find Christ and have the Simeon Moment unless we are attuned first with Holy Spirit who animates us and opens us to Christ’s coming.

Imagine the great crowds of people at the temple on that day, of couples trying to fulfill the law of Moses of purification and presenting their first-born son to God. How did Simeon know Joseph and Mary were the parents of the Christ? How was he able to accurately spot and find Jesus is the Messiah amid the many male children being offered on that day at the temple?

“To come in the Spirit” like Simeon is more than being faithful to God; it is having a good and pure heart that is ready to believe and act openly with courage, always looking forward at the fulfillment of what we believe. Coming in the Spirit is being at the right place at the right time when we make things happen than wait, exactly how Luke portrayed Simeon and Anna who both lived in the presence of God! Coming in the Spirit is living in the present moment in God.

*“Simeon’s Moment” by American illustrator Ron DiCianni. From* http://www.tapestryproductions.com

The Simeon Moment
is being rooted in God

We cannot see Christ nor live in the Spirit unless we humbly submit ourselves to God, our Lord and Master. Seeing Christ and living in the Spirit presuppose humility before God – we His creatures, He our Lord and Master.

Most of all, our origin and our end too!

It is the principle and foundation of life as St. Ignatius of Loyola stressed in his Spiritual Exercises, “El hombre es criado para alabar, hacer reverencia y servir a Dios nuestro Señor, y mediante esto, salvar su anima”, that is, “Man is created to praise and serve God his Lord and Master and by doing this save his soul”.

There is something so beautiful and lovely, so touching in the opening verse of Simeon’s canticle that underscores firmly this basic truth we have always forgotten since the fall of Adam and Eve when he asked God to take him after seeing the Christ. Every time we sin, we act like Adam and Eve, playing gods, desiring to be like God.

Also known as Nunc Dimittis, Simeon’s canticle echoes the fiat of Mary to God during the Annunciation, expressing his fidelity and humility, his total submission to God. Most of all, it summarizes both the Magnificat of the Blessed Mother and the Benedictus of Zechariah, making Simeon’s Nunc Dimittis the finale in Luke’s Christmas “concert” on the birth of the Messiah.

This is the reason why we chant Nunc dimittis at the end of our Night Prayer. It is the perfect prayer to close each day as we prepare for the coming new day to meet Jesus again, hoping we may be enlightened in our life’s mission expressed by the antiphon we recite before and after chanting it, “Protect us Lord as we stay awake; watch over us as we sleep that awake we may keep watch with Christ and asleep rest in his peace”.

Or, if ever we ever do not wake up the following day, we still thank God all the more in making us meet Jesus the past day, eager to finally sing to him our praises in eternity with Night Prayer’s final blessing, “May the Lord grant us a restful night and a peaceful death”.

The Simeon Moment is a grace and gift Jesus gives us daily not only for the dying but to everyone of us seeking Him, awaiting Him like Simeon. And like Simeon, we are assured that anyone who seeks and awaits God is never disappointed. Have a blessed day in Christ Jesus! Amen.

*Photo by author, sunrise bursting through thick fogs over Taal Lake in Bgy. Dayap Itaas, Laurel, Batangas, 17 January 2025.*

Jesus our light & fulfillment

The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Feast of the Presentation of the Lord, 02 February 2025
Malachi 3:1-4 ><}}}}*> Hebrews 2:14-18 ><}}}}*> Luke 2:22-40

“Presentation at the Temple” painting by Italian Renaissance artist Andrea Mantegna done around 1455; Mary holding Baby Jesus while St. Joseph at the middle looks on the bearded Simeon. The man at the right is said to be a self-portrait of the artist while the woman at the back of Mary could be his wife. Photo from wikipedia.org.

We take a break from our regular Sunday cycle of readings today being the second of February, the Feast of the Presentation of Jesus at the Temple which is also 40 days after His birth. That is why it is technically the end of Christmas when Joseph and Mary left Bethlehem to bring Jesus to the Temple in Jerusalem.

The Presentation of Jesus at the Temple is one of the earliest major feasts celebrated by the Church in Jerusalem in the third century that reached Rome 300 years later with the designation as the Purification of Mary. Years later as it spread to France, it came to be known as Chandeleur, or Candlemas in English speaking countries and Candelaria in Spanish when the blessing of candles with a short procession was incorporated into its liturgy due to that part of Simeon’s Canticle calling Jesus as the “light of the world” (gentiles). Following the reforms of Vatican II in 1969, St. Paul VI brought it back to its original title as the “Feast of the Presentation of the Lord” due to its Christological emphasis while retaining the traditional rite of the blessing of candles and short procession into the church.

In the Eastern Churches, this Feast is called the Encounter or the meeting of Jesus with the two elderly Simeon and Anna who were both promised by God to witness the coming of His promised salvation before they died.

One thing remains clear in its long history of celebrating the Lord’s Presentation is the beautiful assurance and sign of Jesus Christ’s presence among us enlightening us, lighting our paths, meeting us most especially in our old age as our fulfillment in life.

Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon. This man was righteous and devout, awaiting the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he should not see death before he had seen the Christ of the Lord. He came in the Spirit into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus to perform the custom of the law in regard to him, he took him into his arms and blessed God, saying: “Now, Master, you may let your servant go in peace, according to your word, for my eyes have seen your salvation, which you prepared in sight of all the peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and glory for your people Israel” (Luke 2:25-32).

*Presentation in the Temple painting by Fra Angelico from fineartamerica.com.*

For our reflection, let us identify ourselves with Simeon as we dwell on his actions and words in that momentous Presentation of the Lord in the Temple.

From our long gospel account this Sunday, we get a picture of Simeon as an old man; however, not just chronologically speaking in age but also in his feeling isolated and weak deep inside, waiting for so long in faith and in hope for the coming of the Christ who would bring salvation and peace to a troubled world and a troubled self like us. Let us now reflect on Simeon’s action:

"he took him into his arms and blessed God" 
(Luke 2:28)

Look at the artistry of Luke as a storyteller and a physician who knew so well how people felt when approaching death whether due to an illness or old age like Simeon and Anna. See how Luke had assembled in one scene the two old people meeting the eternally young Son of God in the temple as if telling us not only to meet Jesus Christ but also to take Him into our arms to embrace and carry Him!

To embrace and carry the Infant Jesus like Simeon and Anna is a call for us to transform and level up our way of looking at old age as a reality we must accept and appreciate than hide or avoid with many illusory tactics that only make it more difficult and leave us more fearful.

Be proud of your grey or white hair like George Clooney and Meryl Streep. Don’t be ashamed of those wrinkles for they are our badges of the many wars and battles we have fought in life, regardless whether we have won or lost. One thing is clear though and that is we are still alive. Laugh it off when our memory fails, when we get slow in everything because life is not a race nor a competition but an art that is perfected as we age.

Taking to carry Baby Jesus like Simeon and Anna is embracing old age called “ageing gracefully” – a modern virtue that calls us to deepen our prayer life as we realize and accept the fact that it is now our “boarding time” for the final Encounter with the Lord in eternity.

In my previous parish assignment, there were three elderly men I have become friends with until their death. As they declined in their health, they came to me so often and later called for me to hear their Confessions whenever they would suddenly remember sins they have committed when they were younger. It must have been a unique grace from God to have that “Simeon moment” of carrying and embracing Jesus to be cleansed and purified before they have died. And I am convinced in my four years as a hospital chaplain that everyone is gifted with this “Simeon moment” to carry Jesus just before our final Encounter with Him in the afterlife. To carry Jesus is to cultivate a spiritual life centered in prayer like Simeon and Anna and those three friends I had.

Inversely, the young are blessed too with “Simeon moment” when like Mary and Joseph they share the Christ in them with those who are old and weak by accompanying them, understanding them, and bearing with them in their old age. It is only after we have “taken” the Child Jesus into our hands to hold and carry and embrace can we sing praise to God like Simeon:

"Now, Master, you may let your servant 
go in peace, according to your word, 
for my eyes have seen your salvation"
(Luke 2:29-30)

To age gracefully by carrying and embracing the Infant Jesus like Simeon is realizing deep within us that getting old and weak is also part of our celebration of life because that is when we enter Life Himself and when we also let Him enter us completely.

How did Simeon recognize it was the Savior that the two poor couple with a pair of turtledoves or pigeons were presenting in the temple that day?

Long before Joseph and Mary came to offer Jesus at the temple that day, Simeon had already entered into God’s presence in his long period of waiting through prayers and sacrifices. When Mary and Joseph came to the temple to present Jesus, God entered Simeon through the Holy Spirit to recognize the coming of the awaited Christ. Simeon’s prayerful singing of his praise to God while holding the Infant Jesus on that day was the fulfillment and expression of his long fidelity to God, of his being attuned to the Divine presence and promptings all his life.

In this age of instants, nobody waits anymore because many think that waiting is empty, a weakness and a poverty. A waste of time and energy.

*The Fourth Joyful Mystery portrayed in the Presentation Chapel of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington DC.*

But Simeon shows us the exact opposite in his Canticle. It is in our waiting for God amidst the darkness and nothingness when Jesus really comes like that day in the temple. God is most present and closest with us when all we can do is cry “Lord” or “Jesus” because His very name is already His presence. If we keep that in mind like Simeon, we will surely find and embrace Jesus wherever, whenever.

As we celebrate the Jubilee of Hope this 2025, let us be reminded of Simeon along with the Prophetess Anna who were both Pilgrims of Hope who never lost sight of Christ in the midst of their long waiting. The first and second readings this Sunday assure us that God is coming, God has come in Jesus amid our many darkness and nothingness, weakness and decline.

Like Simeon and Anna, let us await to approach Jesus always for He alone matters most in this life found within us, among our family and friends and the people around us, expressed in love and mercy, kindness and forgiveness, and joy. Just be patient and wait, Jesus will appear for you to take Him and embrace Him in your arms like Simeon. Tell that to Jesus now with your other deep longings and you will not be disappointed. Amen.

Forgiving & listening

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Wednesday, Third Week in Ordinary Time, Year I, 29 January 2025
Hebrews 10:11-18 ><]]]]'> + ><]]]]'> ><]]]]'> Mark 4:1-20

Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer offering for sin (Hebrews 10:18).

How lovely and reassuring
are these words from the author
of the Letter to the Hebrews today,
Lord Jesus Christ;
thank you for coming 
to save us from our sins,
for forgiving our sins,
for teaching us to forgive others
most especially by being more
loving.

Thank you, Jesus,
for being the Sower,
always coming out to
scatter seeds of love and mercy
to us; open our ears, Lord,
that we may ought to hear
you: forgive us for being hard
and harsh in our ways and words,
forgive us for being easily
pricked and agitated,
forgive us for not listening
at all to you, Jesus.

Let me open myself to you,
Jesus, by opening myself too
with others to listen to their
points of view in order 
to understand them, 
not to judge them;
open myself to your healing
words so I may also soothe 
others pains and hurts
than add salt to their injuries.
Lastly, let me do your will
Jesus by always listening
and forgiving.
Amen.

To be one with God

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Tuesday, Memorial of St. Thomas Aquinas, Priest & Doctor of the Church, 28 January 2025
Hebrews 10:1-10 ><))))*> + ><))))*> + ><))))*> Mark 3:31-35

*Photo by author, St. Joseph Friary, Order of Friars Minor Conventual, Tagaytay City, 16 January 2025.*

Lord Jesus Christ,
I pray for one thing today:
for us to be made whole again,
for us to be one in union in God
in you and through you;
forgive us O Lord
for being so fragmented,
so divided with each to his/her own;
everyone insisting one's self
and many beliefs and views
often truncated and far from you.

Make us realize that in 
your life, death and rising again,
you have greatly changed
the way we look at everything
that was so fragmented before
but it seems, we have returned
to that situation again;
worst, many of us have chosen
to be separated,
to be on our own,
to remain fragmented.

Brothers and sisters: Since the law has only a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of them, it can never make perfect those who come to worship by the same sacrifices that they offer continually each year…Then he says, “Behold, I come to do your will.” He (Jesus) takes away the first to establish the second. By this “will”, we have been consecrated through then offering of the body of Jesus Christ once and for all (Hebrews 10:1, 9-10).

Like yesterday in our prayer,
let us put on your lenses, Jesus
so that we can see life and persons
in your light not in our distorted
and colored views;
open us to see more 
of you and of your will
so that "whoever does the will
of God is my brother and sister
and mother" (Mark 3:35)!

Grant us the humility and simplicity
of St. Thomas Aquinas,
the Angelic Doctor whose memorial
we celebrate today
that we may always turn away from sin
in order to be in union with you always
so we may have that peace
because as he had taught us,
 "from the union of different appetites 
in man tending towards the same object 
that peace results"
(Unio autem horum motuum
est quidem de ratione pacis)
Amen.

Our colored lenses

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Monday, Third Week in Ordinary Time, Year I, 27 January 2025
Hebrews 9:15, 24-28 ><}}}}*> + ><}}}}*> + ><}}}}*> Mark 3:22-30

Lord Jesus Christ,
take away our colored lenses
that prevent us from seeing 
the real pictures in the world 
and of life; many times, 
our lenses are not only colored
but even defective
that make us see distorted images
as the realities when they are not.

Like the Pharisees,
we wear different lenses
that prevent us from seeing
your true self as full of good,
of love and mercy;
like the Pharisees,
our views of others are
distorted because we see
only ourselves as better
while at the same time,
still like the Pharisees,
we debate truth because we could
not accept others as better than us,
leaving us all trapped in self-condemned 
state of sinning that make us see
everything as hopeless,
worst, nothing is good at all
in the world even in our 
very selves which is the sin
agains the Holy Spirit.

Make us see through
your loving and merciful
lens our selves,
others,
the world around us,
and most especially YOU;
give us your lenses
to see we have been saved
and most of all,
worth saving because
we are loved by
YOU and the Father
in heaven.

Let us rejoice and
relish your saving power,
Lord, when You as the Christ,
"Offered once to take away
the sins of many,
will appear a second time,
not to take away sins
but to bring salvation 
to those who eagerly await
Him"
(Hebrews 9:28).
Amen.

“Stand by Me” by Ben E. King (1962)

The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Music by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, 26 January 2025

*Photo of the cast of the 1986 film “Stand By Me” from goldenglobes.com.*

Glad to be back with our Sunday music after six months of absence! Hope you are doing well as we keep our good old music playing.

We cannot resist linking Ben E. King’s 1962 classic Stand By Me with our Sunday gospel about Jesus “standing” at the synagogue one sabbath day to proclaim the Sacred Scripture to his town folks in Nazareth. I have known the song all along having grown with old music at home but fell in love with it only in 1986 when it was adapted as the title of a coming-of-age movie called Stand By Me.

The song’s lyrics perfectly blended with the story of the movie based on Stephen King’s novella The Body, of how four teenagers in Oregon went on a hike to find the dead body of a missing boy. Though the song played only at the end of the movie as the main character closed his narration of what happened after to their friendship as young boys standing by each other, their hike was filled with so many misadventures and realizations that underscored the noble aspirations for fidelity and truth, love and care as well as importance of family we find exactly in the beautiful lyrics by King which is about his standing by his beloved.

When the night has come
And the land is dark
And the moon is the only light we'll see
No, I won't be afraid
Oh, I won't be afraid
Just as long as you stand
Stand by me

So darlin', darlin', stand by me
Oh, stand by me
Oh, stand
Stand by me, stand by me

If the sky that we look upon
Should tumble and fall
Or the mountain should crumble to the sea
I won't cry, I won't cry
No, I won't shed a tear
Just as long as you stand
Stand by me

And darlin', darlin', stand by me
Oh, stand by me
Oh, stand now
Stand by me, stand by me

And darlin', darlin', stand by me
Oh, stand by me
Oh, stand now
Stand by me, stand by me

Whenever you're in trouble won't you stand by me
Oh, stand by me
Won't you stand by

We remembered the song Stand By Me while praying over this Sunday’s homily as we focused on Jesus always standing for what is true and good, what is just and fair and most especially, for His standing for each one of us always despite our weaknesses and sins. That is why we said in our homily that what matters most in life is not where we sit but where we stand (https://lordmychef.com/2025/01/25/standing-with-jesus-standing-like-jesus/).

As we go on a rest this Sunday, let us recall and remember our family and friends we have stood by all these years as well as those who stood by our side too while praying for those who have left us or betrayed us including those we have deserted too. Through all these standing and falling, there is always Jesus remaining, always standing by our side because He loves us, giving us all the chances to rise and stand again for Him and with Him through our family and friends. Have a blessed Sunday!

From YouTube.com, no copyright infringements intended except to enjoy good music.

Embracing life’s paradox

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Monday, Week II in Ordinary Time, Year I, 20 January 2025
Hebrews 5:1-10 <*((((>< + ><))))*> Mark 2:18-22

Praise and glory to you,
God our loving Father!
Thank you for this wonderful
Monday as we pray for one 
another, especially to those
still baffled with life's many
mysteries, its many
paradoxes beginning to
appear anew as we dive
into Ordinary Time.

Teach us to take into heart
Jesus Christ's teaching today:

“Likewise, no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the skins are ruined. Rather, new wine is poured into fresh wineskins” (Mark 2:22).

Help us change our attitudes in life,
Jesus: make us realize that like
your life, our life is always a
mixture of joy and sufferings;
most of all,
make us experience
in your coming into our human reality
as our Eternal High Priest,
you have brought newness and
significance in storage and taste
of wine that symbolizes life itself,
as you put a new vigor of spirit
in celebrating life.

*Photo by author, sunset in Atok, Benguet, 27 December 2024.*

“Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered; and when he was made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him…” (Hebrews 5:8-9).

How lovely and
wonderful to realize
how your true humanity,
dear Jesus, actually makes you
more than less an effective Priest
to truly "bridge" us
with the Father and one another;
like you Jesus,
we pray the Father to take away
our pains but in your example
on the Cross,
we learn how God
is actually found in pain!

Change our attitudes
to be like you, Jesus
 who came to join
us in our many sufferings
to show us that in our dealing
with our own pain and the pain of others,
that is when we grow
in strength and maturity,
in love and compassion
that eventually lead us
to deeper and true joy
in you our Lord.

Help us embrace 
this paradox of life, Jesus,
that a life devoid of the challenge
of pain is an incomplete life;
and when we are puzzled
by the many sufferings in us
and around us, let us gaze into
your Cross to reflect,
"Why did God not spare
you his own Son?"
Amen.

*Photo by author, St. Paul Spirituality Center, Pico, La Trinidad, Benguet, 04 January 2025.*

True freedom is being like children

The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Feast of the Sto. Niño, Cycle C, 19 January 2025
Isaiah 9:1-6 ><}}}}*> Ephesians 1:3-6, 15-18 ><}}}}*> Luke 2:41-52

I have never liked children especially infants not until these last twenty years of my life. Before, I could not understand when parents especially mothers giggled with joy in seeing babies, describing how handsome or pretty they are when they all look the same to me.

Everything changed when I became a priest especially when I turned 40 and had my own nieces and nephew. Suddenly, I realized how children could be so nice with their energy and laughter and wits too. As I now approach my 60th birthday serving as a chaplain in a University with a hospital since 2021, I have come to love children that I have been telling my sister to push her two daughters to get married so we could have babies again in the family!

As my attitudes with children changed, the more I understand why our Lord Jesus Christ had insisted in His teachings the need for us to become like them. Until His death, Jesus showed us the importance of being like a child not only in trusting and having faith in the Father but most of all on the true meaning of freedom.

*Photo by author, Tagaytay City, 17 January 2025.*

Contrary to common beliefs of many, freedom is not the ability to do whatever one likes; freedom is choosing to do what is good. That is why freedom is never absolute. In the Book of Genesis we find God telling Adam and Eve to eat every fruit of trees in Eden except the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden (cf. Gen. 3:2-3). And we have seen how in the abuse of their freedom, they including us today have become “unfree”.

In Christ’s coming, He made us recover our freedom, giving us the grace to always choose and do what is good, to be free from sin and free to love, free to forgive, free to be kind. This essence of freedom He taught even at His early age as the true Son of God.

Each year his parents went to Jerusalem for the feast of Passover, and when he was twelve years old, they went up according to festival custom. After they had completed its days, as they were returning, the boy Jesus remained behind in Jerusalem but his parents did not know it… After three days they found in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, listening to them and asking them question, and all who heard him were astounded at his understanding and his answers. When his parents saw him, they were astonished, and his mother said to him, “Son, why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been looking for you with great anxiety.” And he said to them, “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” (Luke 2:41-43, 46-49)

*“The Finding of the Savior at the Temple” painting by William Holman Hunt (1860) from en.wikipedia.org.*

First thing we notice in our gospel regarding freedom as the ability to choose what is good is Luke’s portrayal of Joseph and Mary as devout Jews who regularly went on pilgrimage to Jerusalem.

Each year his parents went to Jerusalem for the feast of Passover, and when he was twelve years old, they went up according to festival custom.

What a simple expression of the essence of freedom of choosing what is good, choosing God: the parents of Jesus devoutly practiced their faith that Jesus fully imbibed. The gospels teem with many stories of Jesus regularly going to the synagogues on sabbath to proclaim the word and to preach to the people.

This is something many parents today are missing, the Sunday devotion. No wonder that many children today do not understand the meaning and importance of the Sunday Mass, even the preeminence of God in our lives. How sad that many families even on holy days of obligation choose malls and vacation than choose God to worship Him in the church.

And many have the gall to defend this as part of their freedom, an expression of unity as family. But, where is God among them? Most of all, have we really become free by not going to the Sunday Mass?

Definitely not. Even at the surface some people would not seem to have any qualms at all in skipping Sunday Masses, deep inside many are bothered. Many of them feel an emptiness within, a kind of darkness that Isaiah described in the first reading. See how despite the affluence of many people today than three decades ago yet more and more are feeling lost and depressed because they have lost their roots in God who leads us to our rootedness in ourselves and with others.

Speaking of roots, its Latin origin is radix from which the word radical came from.

When we hear the word radical, we associate it always with someone who is a revolutionary, someone who literally or figuratively “destabilizes” our status and ways of thinking like Jesus Christ.

Very often, we find Jesus presented to us as one who was radical in His teachings who was thought to have been a revolutionary member of the Zealot party that worked to overthrow the Roman occupiers in ancient Israel. It was one of the accusations hurled against Him at His trial, citing His declaration to destroy the temple that He would rebuild in three days after its cleansing. Of course, these are not true; Jesus was not a radical revolutionary like the communists or power grabbers of modern century.

However, if we examine His teachings and mission, Jesus was a radical revolutionary because He preached and worked to bring humanity back to our very “root” – radix – who is God Himself. Listen to His words to His Mother after being found in the temple…

And he said to them, "Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father's house?"

*Photo by author, Parish of St. Joseph, Pacdal, Baguio City, 28 December 2024.*

Here Jesus showed His Mother and us today that true freedom is being one always with the Father. Jesus was a truly free person because even at His early age, He was totally united with the Father’s will.

All throughout His life and mission, Jesus helped us all attain that freedom of inner communion with God our Father to be truly free from sin and evil to be free to love, free to understand, free to serve and whatever is good.

See how Jesus spoke so plainly to Mary and Joseph, as if reminding them and us today that our roots is in God alone and that is what we must always be concerned with, of how we must remain rooted in God as His children.

In the fourth gospel, we find this imagery of remaining rooted in God in Jesus Christ so beautifully explained during the Lord’s Last Supper discourses specifically in that of the vine and the branches (Jn. 15:15:1-17).

That’s the paradox of true freedom in Christ: being one in God does not limit but rather expands one’s freedom as a person. Any freedom outside of God is a fake and most likely, leads only to bondage because it is only in doing what is good when we truly grow and mature as persons.

*Photo by author, Malolos Cathedral January 2022.*

This Sunday we celebrate an extra day of Christmas for the Feast of the Sto. Niño in recognition of its great role in the spread of Christianity to our country since its coming in 1521 when Magellan gifted Queen Juana of Cebu with a Sto. Niño image.

The late Nick Joaquin rightly claimed in his many writings that the Philippines was actually conquered by the Sto. Niño than by the guns and cannons of the invading Spaniards more than 500 years ago. That’s probably because of this lesson on true freedom by the Child Jesus.

Let us learn and grow in true freedom by first choosing God especially on Sundays by celebrating the Lord’s Supper, the Holy Mass. Like the Child Jesus, let us remain in the Father, be free to ask most of all to listen and learn about life.

Like Mary and Joseph, it takes time before we can truly understand the words of Jesus Christ; what matters is like them, we keep on choosing always Jesus, only Jesus because Jesus is the truth. May the Lord “enlighten the eyes of our hearts so we may know what is the hope that belongs to his call, what are the riches of glory in his inheritance” (Eph.1:18). Amen. Have a blessed and free week ahead!