Tag: remaining in God

Girding loins and guarding self

The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul, Wk. XIX-C, 11 August 2019
Wisdom 18:6-9 >< }}}*> Hebrews 11:1-2, 8-19 >< }}}*> Luke 12:32-48
From Google.

One of the series I am following at Netflix is “Money Heist”. It is very suspenseful because unlike other crime series, its plot is unpredictable and spiced with amusing conversations. Like one episode when the lead character called Professor repeatedly mentioned to the Police Inspector during their first date of how he is not a “Basic Instinct” material, referring to Michael Douglas who starred in the movie with Sharon Stone. I felt the line anachronistic because the Professor is so young in the series to make a point reference to the 1992 erotic thriller. But it was a very good line expressing fully what the scene was all about, of a man and a woman following their basic instinct in having sex without really knowing each other so well, especially the Inspector who is a battered wife newly divorced from her husband – also a police officer- and in a relationship with her sister!

Now you see what I have been telling you… but, what I really wish to share with you is an archaic term related with “basic instinct” that Jesus used in the gospel today:

Jesus said to his disciples: “Gird your loins and light your lamps and be like servants who await their master’s return from a wedding, ready to open immediately when he comes and knocks. Blessed are those servants whom the master finds vigilant on his arrival. Amen, I say to you, he will gird himself, have the servants recline at table, and proceed to wait on them.”

Luke 12:35-37
From Google.

Loins refer to that part of our body between the lowest ribs and hipbones, the pelvic area where the genitals are also located. It is believed to be the source of erotic or procreative powers we refer to as “basic instinct” or simply guts as in gut feeling.

During the time of our Lord, men wore long clothes and they have to “gird their loins” in order to move freely when walking and working. Eventually, men ceased wearing long clothes with no need to gird their loins but still have to tighten their pants, sometimes with a belt, to move freely as well. And even if there were no more loins to gird, the expression continued to be used to mean being on guard, being ready for any emergency and situation like a military attack.

This is the whole point of the Lord’s teaching this Sunday: we have to be on guard and ready always for his coming. In fact, anything can happen instantly that could also be life-changing. Girding one’s loins, being on guard and ready for the Lord’s coming requires active faith on our part, an inclination towards God already present in us.

There are actually three parables in our gospel this Sunday but we are given the option to use only the one we have heard which is the second set. In this parable, Jesus used the imagery of being on guard like the “faithful servants waiting for their master’s arrival from a wedding feast” to indicate his coming in the Eucharistic celebrations. Every Mass is our dress rehearsal for our entrance into heaven but we always take it for granted, finding all the reasons and excuses to skip especially the Sunday Mass.

Altar table of the Church of Dominus Flevit (the Lord Wept) with the old Jerusalem at the background. Photo by author, April 2017.

The Mass is our expression of our readiness to enter heaven as we joyfully proclaim after every consecration of the bread and wine that “Christ will come again.” But, even those who regularly come for the Sunday Mass do not take it seriously, not truly present with “full and conscious participation” enunciated by Vatican II 50 years ago.

Notice how in the third parable Jesus mentioned “faithful and prudent stewards” (Lk.12:42) to emphasize the need for servants and ministers at the altar to be more prepared than anyone else for his coming. So true! How can the people pay attention to the scriptures being proclaimed if the lector’s voice is very soft or incomprehensible? How can the congregation thank God for speaking to them anew if the lector’s face and disposition are so gloomy and even horrific?

And this refers more to the priest as presider of the Mass! Much is expected from us priests not only by the congregation but also by the Lord himself! How can the people feel Christ’s coming in every Mass when the priest himself does not meet the Lord, when he is not prepared physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually? What a shame when people complain that they hardly feel the Divine in every Eucharistic celebration! Always we find two extremes in many parishes where at one end are lethargic priests lacking the energy to lead their people into heaven during the Mass while at the other side are the showbiz priests so in love with themselves, with their voice and showmanship that the Eucharist has become a variety show.

Jesus reminds us in all his parables this Sunday that we priests and ministers at his altar of the Sacrifice of the Mass are his servants waiting for him, our Lord. We are never the focus but Jesus Christ alone! Let us not steal that honor from him.

Pyramids of Egypt, May 2019.

Speaking of stealing, Jesus added towards the end of his second parable on the need to gird one’s loins for his coming because it is like the coming of the thief at night. We must always be prepared because nobody knows when the thief strikes. And we find elucidations of this from the first and second readings we have earlier heard that speak about disposition for God.

From the Book of Wisdom, we are reminded how the liberation of the Israelites – their Exodus from Egypt – happened in the darkness of the night. Every celebration of the Mass is an active waiting for the Lord’s coming that also calls for an active faith wherein we are disposed or inclined towards God already with us. Such was the attitude of the Israelites leading to their Exodus from Egypt when Moses told them of God’s plan that every day, they were raring to go.

In the Letter to the Hebrews, the author beautifully expressed that “Faith is the realization of what is hoped for and evidence of things not seen” (Heb.11:1). He gives us Abraham as the perfect example of a truly faithful one to the Lord, always ready for his coming. In three instances, the author of the Letter to the Hebrews showed how Abraham had the perfect disposition of actively waiting for God’s fulfillment of his promises to him: journeying from Ur to the Promised Land he did not know where; being the father of nations as numerous as the stars of the sky when he and Sarah were still childless at their age of 90; and, in obediently offering Isaac to God.

Girding our loins, being on guard also means having the discipline of waiting for God. It is not enough to wait; we need discipline, we need to follow certain things to stay focused. As we have mentioned earlier, the loins is the region of our basic instinct. So many opportunities have been missed by many men and women simply because of small mistakes, of being caught off-guard in simple instances when everything snaps in an instant when they followed the lower basic instinct, forgetting the higher ideals.

Abraham girded his loins so well that he never wavered in his faith in God until his promises were fulfilled because he always had that disposition for him. This Sunday, Jesus is reminding us to be patient in waiting for him, to have the discipline to stay focused with him and our dreams and aspirations in life for he will fulfill them in his time. It is very important that like Abraham and the faithful servants in his parable, we are always present when he comes to seize his blessings! A blessed week ahead with you! Amen.

Making God present in a world where God is absent

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul
Friday, Memorial of St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, 09 August 2019
Deuteronomy 4:32-40 >< )))*> <*((( >< Matthew 16:24-28
A 1970 stained-glass window of St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross by German artist Alois Plum at the Herz Jesu Church in Kassel, Germany. She holds a book symbolising her learning, wears a Star of David as a sign of her Jewish roots, and is consumed by flames to refer to her martyrdom at the Nazi gas chambers of Auschwitz. Photo from Google.

Praise and glory to you O Lord our God! Indeed, there is no other God except you as Moses reminds us in today’s first reading:

“Ask now of the days of old, before your time, ever since God created man upon the earth; ask from one end of the sky to the other: Did anything so great ever happen before? Was it ever heard of? Did a people ever hear the voice of God speaking from the midst of fire, as you did, and live? Or did any god venture to go and take a nation for himself from the midst of another nation, by testings, by signs and wonders, by war, with his strong hand and outstretched arm, and by great terrors, all of which the Lord, your God, did for you in Egypt before your very eyes? All this you were allowed to see that you might know the Lord is God and there is no other.”

Deuteronomy 4:32-35

And yet, O Lord, still many refuse to believe in you especially when hard times come upon us like wars and persecution.

This month of August, you gifted us with two great saints martyred at the gas chambers of Auschwitz: St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, also known as St. Edith Stein whose memorial we celebrate today, and, St. Maximilian Kolbe whose feast is on the 14th.

Both are modern saints whose lives and times are very close and similar with our generation. Both saints have made you present, O God, at a time when many people thought and believed you were absent.

“Those who seek the truth seek God, whether they realize it or not.” St. Edith Stein.

Born from a devout Jewish family, you showed your presence in the life of St. Teresa Benedicta with your gift of superior intellect. Although she had openly declared her being an atheist at the young age of 13, you never stopped “seducing” her in searching you in her studies of philosophy, giving her a rare chance to work closely with the leading thinkers at that time.

Slowly, she found you in her studies and in the Church that she converted to Catholicism!

And when you have caught her, O Lord, the more you inflamed her heart to seek you and be one with you by becoming a Carmelite nun through the writings of St. Teresa of Avila and St. John of the Cross.

You have revealed so much truths to her, O God, reaching its highest point in giving her the grace to join your Son Jesus Christ in losing her life as his witness in the gas chambers in 1942.

Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”

Matthew 16:24-25

In our present age, so many people are also thinking that you do not exist, Lord; some have already stopped believing in you, having themselves as the measure and standard of what is true, moral, and decent.

How sad that in this modern age when we are supposed to have advanced in our knowledge and thinking, we have remained so inhuman in our dealing with one another: wars and genocides of peoples continue while the weakest members of the human race, those old and sick and those helpless in their mother’s wombs, are murdered for the sake of economic well-being. How wonderful in having a woman saint so accomplished in life like St. Edith Stein when until now women are disrespected and regarded inferior to men.

Give us, Lord, the same clarity of mind and firmness of will and heart in standing for what is true like St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross so that we may also make you present in this world. Amen.

Never mess with God’s plan

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul
Wednesday, Wk. XVIII, Yr. I, 07 August 2019
Numbers 13:1-2, 25-14:1, 26-29, 34-35 >< )))*> Matthew 15:21-28
Photo by Jens Johnsson on Pexels.com

Thank you very much, O Lord, for this brand new day, for this breath of new hope at the middle of the week as I pray for those who make life difficult for me, for those who mess your plans like those spies Moses sent to reconnoiter the Promised Land.

Instead of building up the people to meet the challenges of settling in the Promised Land, “they spread discouraging reports among the children of Israel about the land they had scouted” (Num.13:32).

Forgive me Lord for doubting you, for thinking that you do not seem to care at all for me when I feel so alone with nobody on my side.

Increase my faith in you like that Canaanite woman who begged you to heal her daughter possessed by the devil. You did not say a word to her that prompted your disciples to intercede for her just to silence her, telling them you had come to search the lost sheep of Israel until….

He said to her in reply, “It is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs.” She said, “Please, Lord, for even the dogs eat the scraps that fall from the table of their masters.”

Matthew 15:26-27

You praised that Canaanite woman, Lord, for her great faith; but, those children of Israel who trusted more the lies of those sent to scout the Promised Land were eventually punished, paying the very dear price of wandering for 40 years in the desert because they chose to mess your plans.

Vanish all anger and bitterness in me against these people who would surely soon “realize what it means to oppose you, O Lord” (Num.14:34) while I await your further plans and instructions. Amen.

From Mindful Christianity Today via Facebook.

The Lord is Our Dwelling

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul
Tuesday, Wk. XVII, Yr. I, 30 July 2019
Exodus 33:7-11; 34:5-9, 28 >< )))*> Matthew 13:36-43
Photo by Jim Marpa, 2018.

Dear God:

When I come to think about your dwelling place, your tent like in the first reading today where Moses used to enter and converse with you, there is always that peaceful feeling within me. There is that kind of serenity, of stillness and calmness that is very “homey”.

To enter your tent or your dwelling place, O Lord, is simply to be in you, to be one with you. You dwelling place is lovely because it is YOU – how lovely indeed to be in your dwelling place, to be in you, O Lord!

In the same manner, when Matthew told us in today’s gospel your Son Jesus Christ “entered the house”, it is you, O Lord, in turn who comes not only to us but “in” us, when you fill us with your warmth and joy.

Thank you for dwelling in us, Lord.

Indeed, you are kind because you chose to become “one of us”, your kin or kindred.

Help us today to be one like you in love and mercy, kindness and generosity where others especially the weak and the poor may dwell in you in us, Lord. Amen.

Remaining in the Lord

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul
Monday, Wk. XVI, Yr. I, Feast of St. Mary Magdalene, 22 July 2019
2 Corinthians 5:14-17 >< }}}*> >< }}}*> John 20:1-2, 11-18
Jesus telling Mary Magdalene not to touch him in a painting at the Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi in Italy. Photo from Google.

What a beautiful way to start our week of work and studies today with the feast of St. Mary Magdalene, O Lord!

In St. Mary Magdalene we see, O Jesus, your infinite love and mercy and forgiveness no matter how dark is our past. In St. Mary Magdalene we also see, O Jesus, our new life and relationship with you especially when you called her by her name “Mary” on that Easter morning.

Open our hearts every morning, especially when we feel everything is lost, when everything is so dark to that we too may hear your sweet voice calling us by name.

One beautiful lesson we have learned from St. Mary Magdalene is the need to remain in you, Jesus. After being converted, Mary never left your side along with the other women who have come to follow you and help you in your needs.

On the Cross when your disciples have left you, St. Mary Magdalene remained at your foot along with your Mother and beloved disciple John.

On the first day of the week, it was also St. Mary Magdalene who remained faithful to you by coming to your tomb to bring spices and perfume; and, when she found it empty, she was the one who remained faithful to your teachings by informing St. Peter of the situation.

Most of all, during that dark morning at the empty tomb, it was St. Mary Magdalene who remained outside, remaining faithful to you, waiting in tears for developments as she asked everyone around in the hope of finding and retrieving your missing body.

The scene may be funny, Lord, but embarrassing and shameful to us your disciples who always leave you especially when the cross becomes too heavy and bloody! And when everything is dark and empty, unlike St. Mary Magdalene, we are nowhere to be found.

From Google.

Let us remain in you, Jesus, like St. Mary Magdalene especially when everybody else is leaving or had left you at the cross or the empty tomb.

Let us boldly proclaim not only in words but most especially in deeds like St. Mary Magdalene that we have seen you, that we are now a new creation in you. Amen.

St. Mary Magdalene, pray for us!

God our foundation

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul
Thursday, Week-XII, Year-I, 27 June 2019
Genesis 16:1-12, 15-16 >< }}}*> <*{{{ >< Matthew 7:21-29
The massive Wailing Wall of Jerusalem reminds us of God as foundation of our lives: firm and unshakeable, always present with us. Photo by author, 04 May 2019.

It was raining so hard last night as I prayed to you, O God, about today’s gospel:

Jesus said to his disciples: “Everyone who listens to these words of mind and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and buffeted the house. But it did not collapse; it had been set solidly on rock.”

Matthew 7:24-25

So often, O Lord, we dilly dally with our decisions, we can’t stand on our choices.

Like Sarai, the wife of Abram: in our first reading, she asked Abram to have a son with her servant Hagar so he could have an heir of his own.

You allowed it to bear fruit, Lord – so, that means, you went with their decision though you still have your own plans for Abram to become the father of nations.

And this is what I like with you, Lord our God: even if we make wrong decisions or forget all about it, you are always there ready to keep us whole and together. You did not forsake Hagar and her son Ishmael. In fact, you blessed them both!

O Lord, help us to always have you as our foundation in life so that even if we get lost, we could still find our way back to you.

Help us to have you as our foundation in life, Lord, so that even if our lives are like a piece of cloth shredded of its threads, there is always one, last, single thread where we could spin another cloth anew to be whole again.

Give us the grace, Jesus, to call you “Lord, Lord” with conviction so that no matter what happens with us, we remain grounded on you our foundation. Amen.

From Google.

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.
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