Prayer To Always Profess Who Jesus Is

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Friday//28September2018//Week XXV//Year II

Ecclesiastes 3:1-11///Luke 9:18-22

Today we remember and celebrate, O God, San Lorenzo Ruiz and his Dominican companions martyred in Nagasaki. Most of all, we recall the strange circumstances behind his wonderful story, of how in your mercy and grace San Lorenzo Ruiz ended up victorious and glorious as the first Filipino saint when he shed blood for his great faith in you, O God. Truly, “There is an appointed time for everything, and a time for every affair under the heavens.” (Eccl.3:1)

Bless us, O God, like San Lorenzo Ruiz to recognize every time, every moment of our lives as an occasion to answer the question of Jesus, “who do you say that I am?” (Lk.9:20). Give us the courage to cooperate with your grace always present in us like with St. Peter and with all the other saints to profess who Jesus Christ is.

You, O God, “has made everything appropriate to its time, and has put the timeless into their hearts, without man’s ever discovering, from beginning to end, the work which God has done.”(Eccl.3:11) Let us seize always every appropriate time you have made for us to be faithful to you in Jesus Christ like San Lorenzo Ruiz who professed to his executioners that “if I had a thousand lives, I would gladly offer them all to God.” 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.

The Light of Christ Conquers Darkness of Sin

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Feast of St. Matthew, Apostle and Evangelist//21 September 2018

Ephesians 4:1-7, 11-13///Matthew 9:9-13

Heavenly Father, we thank you for this feast of Matthew the Apostle who wrote for us one of the gospels that gave us a wonderful picture of the humanity of your Son Jesus Christ. In His humanity, Christ showed us in turn your gift of divinity for sinners like us in calling Matthew.

As Jesus passed by, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the customs post. He said to him, “Follow me.” And he got up and followed him. (Mt.9:9)

How wonderful it is that most of the Apostles you have called Lord are of low standing in the society like fishermen and now, a tax collector considered a sinner who is corrupt and a traitor as well. We are all a Matthew, a sinner with a dark past, a dark background, even hiding in the darkness of sins and evil.

How wonderful O Lord that you have come to call us from the dark, lighting up our path, most especially our faces to bring out that image and likeness of the Father when we were first created. Like that beautiful painting of Caravaggio in the call of Matthew, come in our darkness not with flashing but with soft light that brightens us with hope and meaning in life.

Continue to enlighten us, O Lord, with your warm light to enable us to “live in a manner worthy of the call we have received from you.” (Eph.4:1) Most of all, help us like Matthew to rise always from our sinfulness and weaknesses, to leave the dark so we could follow you more closely and freely. 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: the famous painting by Caravaggio and the favorite of Pope Francis on the call of Matthew hanging at the Contarelli Chapel of San Luigi Francesci in Rome. Caravaggio is famous for his play of light and shadows.

Focusing On God Than With Self

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Wednesday, 05 September 2018, Week XXII, Year II

1Corinthians 3:1-9///Luke 4:38-44

We praise and thank you O God our heavenly Father in giving us today a modern saint who had lived in our midst, in our own time: St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta.

What is really joyful in celebrating her memorial today is the very fact you are real! You exist, O God! because right among us in this modern time when everyone either discards you or disregards you, we have met and encountered – personally or on TV and media – a “living saint” whose focused was YOU among the poorest of the poor. St. Mother Teresa had taught us in this modern time what St. Paul insisted to the Corinthians of his time that “we are God’s co-workers; we are God’s field, we are God’s building” (1Cor.3:9) and we have no any right to brag about our “spirituality” or “holiness”.

True saints do not even know that they are holy because their only focus is YOU, in finding YOU among those living in the margins of the society. Give us that same grace you have given St. Mother Teresa to imitate Jesus Christ to always go to the fringes to proclaim the Kingdom of God (Lk.4:44) in words and in deeds. 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.

Heads Without Hearts

300px-The_Beheading_of_Saint_John-Caravaggio_(1608)

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Wednesday, 29 August 2018, Passion of John the Baptist

Jeremiah 1:17-19///Mark 6:17-29

What a bloody morning today, O God, as we celebrate the Passion of Jesus Christ’s forerunner, John the Baptist. Yesterday you gave us the feast of St. Augustine who taught us that our hearts are restless until they rest in you, Lord. Today in the beheading of John the Baptist, you remind us how Herod was intrigued and confused with John’s teachings; but, due to an oath he had given upon enjoying Salome’s dance, Herod finally decided to have John killed in prison by beheading.

What is intriguing, Lord, is not what was going on inside Herod’s head at that time but more importantly for us today is the same question, what is in our heads? We are supposed to be living in an age of sophistication when knowledge is readily available with a superabundance of information on everything. We have smart phones, smart bombs and guided missiles but sad to say, we are still dumb and misguided in our relationships with one another.

So many times, we even behead our very selves when we think and decide separately from our whole body and from others. We have become very cerebral that have bloated our egos in the process and made us heartless. Teach us, O God, through John the Baptist, to always search and follow and stand by the Truth of your Son Jesus Christ by always bridging the distance between our minds and hearts. 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: “The Beheading of St. John the Baptist” by Italian artist Caravaggio considered as one of the ten “greatest paintings of all time.”)

Our Restless, Foolish Hearts

Philippe de Champaigne-16-Saint Augustine (1645-1650) 62.2x78.7

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Tuesday, 28 August 2018, Memorial of St. Augustine

2Thessalonians 2:1-3,14-17///Matthew 23:23-26

Our dearest loving God and Father, we praise and thank you in giving us a great saint in Augustine who have experienced our same situation of searching for you and most especially in finding you. Allow us to own his confession and prayer, “Late have I known you, O Beauty ever ancient, ever new, late have I loved you! You were within me, but I was outside, and it was there that I searched for you. In my unloveliness I plunged into the lovely things which you created. You were with me, but I was not with you. Created things kept me from you.”

Cleanse out hearts, O Lord! Keep us firm in our faith in you, “encourage our hearts strengthen them in every good deed and word.”(2Thess.2:17)

Cleanse our hearts, O Lord, to remember always the deeper meaning of our rituals and practices meant to purify us within (Mt.23:25-26) for as St. Augustine have realized, “our hearts are restless until they rest in 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: A painting of St. Augustine by renowned French painter Philippe de Champaigne done between 1645-1650 now hanging at the Los Angeles County Museum in California, USA.)

Praying For Mothers with St. Monica

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Monday, 27 August 2018, Memorial of St. Monica

2Thessalonians 1:1-5,11-12///Matthew 23:13-22

God our loving Father, today we pray with St. Monica the mother of St. Augustine for all mothers, those still alive and those whom you have called to join you in heaven. Thank you very much for the gift of mother whom we have always taken for granted! They must truly be your most special creation of all. Mothers came later because you have to bless them with so much to be able to conceive us, carry us, deliver us, nurture us and always care for us. Thank you very much God for the mothers who bear with us even if everyone, including our own father and siblings have given up on us.

Please bless mothers who are sick, those who suffer in pain and anguish alone and in silence. Heal them in their body, heart, mind and soul. Be their strength in their weakness and their company in their loneliness. Enlighten their minds and their hearts especially those mothers who have to work for a living. We pray in a special manner for the single-mothers, by choice or by circumstances.

Through St. Monica, we pray for mothers with problematic husband and children to always have faith in you, to never lose hope their loved ones would still be converted. Give them the grace like St. Monica to “forget the past and push on to the future” (from today’s Office of Readings), that like the Thessalonians, all mothers may keep longing for what is good (1:11).

Likewise, we pray for the mothers who have died. Grant them eternal rest especially those who have persevered while here on earth to lead their children and others closer to you. The mothers who have been true and not hypocrite like those condemned today by Jesus in the gospel, so concerned only with what is external and not important. Reward them with eternal peace and joy through Jesus Christ your Son who lives and reigns with you in the power of the Holy Spirit. 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: St. Monica with her son, St. Augustine.)

On Being True To Jesus

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Friday, 24 August 2018, Feast of St. Bartholomew the Apostle

Revelation 21:9-14///John 1:45-51

What really happened Lord Jesus Christ when you saw Nathanael or St. Bartholomew “under the fig tree” that prompted him to give that great confession of faith that “you are the Son of God; the King of Israel”? (Jn.1:48,49)

Give me O Lord the grace and courage to strip myself naked, to be flayed like St. Bartholomew in order to reveal and accept what is deep beneath my skin, to be without guile like him. Despite his harsh words about you and your origins which are not really true because you actually came from Bethlehem, it became an opportunity for St. Bartholomew to feel being loved and accepted by you. In calling him a “true child of Israel”(Jn.1:47), St. Bartholomew must have felt that here at last is the Son of God, the Messiah who truly knows him and most of all, accepts him. He must have felt so good of finding you who finally understood and accepted him as he is.

Sometimes Lord Jesus, we refuse to make that bold move of knowing you more clearly, of being under the fig tree, praying for your coming to us personally. And most of all, so often we refuse to be surprised by you like St. Bartholomew in that simple encounter. Make us “come and see” you as you are, Lord Jesus, true God and true Man. Amen. Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Parokya ng San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Gov. F. Halili Ave., Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria,Bulacan 3022

*A popular sketch of the call of Nathanael under the fig tree (courtesy of Google).

Mary Is Queen Because God Reigns In Her Supreme

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Memorial of the Queenship of Mary, 22 August 2018

Isaiah 9:1-6///Luke 1:26-38

Praise and glory to you, O God our almighty Father on this Memorial of Mary as Queen of Heaven and Earth! It is purely because of your goodness that we now honor her as Queen. Since the beginning, we have always revered Mary as Queen for being the Mother of your Son Jesus, the King of Kings. Most of all, you remind us, O God, that Mary is rightly a Queen because you reigned supreme in her whole life while here on earth.

“Hail, favored one! The Lord is with you” was Archangel Gabriel’s greeting to her, repeated to us every morning when we wake up, announcing Jesus Christ’s presence in us and with us. Like Mary, in our humanity you have found favor to bring into the world our Savior; but, unlike her, we refuse to say “yes” to your gift, we refuse to believe your Good News of salvation, we refuse to trust in the fulfillment of your will.

Give us the grace today to be like Mary in saying “yes” to you, O God, of believing that Jesus is your Son whom we must welcome everyday in our lives to truly come into this world. May Jesus reign in our hearts, fill us with His humility, justice and love like His Mother Mary so that your heavenly kingdom may come here on earth. 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: “Coronation of the Virgin” by Spanish painter Diego Velasquez in 1645 at Museo del Prado, Madrid.

Memorare

LordMyChef “I-Like-Mondays” Quote, 20 August 2018

Today is the memorial of one of my favorite saints, Bernard of Clairvaux. A devotee of the Blessed Virgin Mary, he wrote the lovely prayer Memorare. For this gloomy Monday due to the weather and whatever troubles that may happen this week especially on our streets, let us pray with St. Bernard:

Remember O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to thy protection, implored thy help, or sought thy intercession was left unaided.

Inspired by this confidence, I fly unto thee, O Virgin of virgins, my mother.

To thee do I come, before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful. O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions, but in thy mercy hear and asnwer me. Amen.

St.BernardBVM

Photo from Google: Painting by Italian artist Pietro Perugino at a church in Florence. St. Bernard was in deep study when the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to him in a vision. The two men beside St. Bernard at Apostles St. John Evangelist and St. Bartholomew whose feast we celebrate this Friday, August 24.

The Sweetest Things In Life

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe-Prayer Tuesday

14 August 2018, Memorial of St. Maximillian Kolbe

Week-XIX, Year II, Ordinary Time

Ezekiel 2:8-3:4///Matthew 18:1-5,10,12-14

Together with the psalmist this morning, I sing to you O Lord, “How sweet to my palate are your promises, sweeter than honey to my mouth!”(Ps.119:103)

So many times in life, I seek and long for some “sweetness” that would comfort me, assure me of being loved and cared for. But, sadly, O Lord, I end up bitter and sad after seeking sweetness in sugar-coated promises of the world. Teach me to be like Ezekiel, to eat your words, to speak your words, to live your words. Indeed, the only sweetest thing in this life is to remain a child before you, trusting you, relying more on you.

I feel so ashamed before you O Lord for the many times I act like your apostles, asking “who is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven” in the belief deep inside that, it could be me. Yes, you know it so well when deep inside I feel so entitled being your disciple, of being “good” and worthy unlike others.

Give me the grace Lord Jesus Christ to be like St. Maximillian Kolbe who truly led a life so sweet when he faithfully followed you like your Mother the Blessed Virgin Mary. He led a life so sweet because in his loving service and sacrifices for your words using modern media, many lives were touched and blessed. Without any sugary pretensions to greatness and fame known only as prisoner “16670” at Auschwitz, St. Maximillian made the ultimate sweet sacrifice of his life for the love of the family of a man due for execution. Indeed, he is the patron saint of our “troubled century”, showing us the truly sweetest things in life are you, O Lord, your words, and your Cross. 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.