Giftedness of a gift

The Lord I My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul, Thursday, Easter Week VII, 28 May 2020

***Acts of the Apostles 22:30; 23:6-11* ><)))> ><)))> ><)))> John 17:20-26***

Lifting up his eyes to heaven, Jesus prayed, saying: “Father, they are your gift to me. I wish that where I am they also may be with me, that they may see my glory that you gave me, because you loved me before the foundation of the world.”
John 17:24

Wow! What a tremendous blessing you have poured upon us today, Lord Jesus Christ! Yesterday, you proved yourself to be a great friend to us, and today, you give us the great honor of being a gift to you from the Father.

We are nothing before you, O Lord, and yet that is who we are to you – a gift from the Father.

What an honor for us all when in fact, we have nothing except your gift of self, your gift of life.

And that is where the giftedness of any gift lies – not in the gift itself but in the giver and the receiver of the gift. Any gift is worthless unless somebody gives it and somebody receives it too.

Between the giving and receiving, therein happens the giftedness of gift when it is opened and offered. A gift left unopened under a Christmas tree or in a drawer remains nothing unless opened and used and appreciated.

We are a gift given by God to everyone in Christ Jesus. It is only when we are able to open and offer our selves do we become truly a gift.

Give us that grace, Jesus, of offering and sharing our giftedness like St. Paul in the first reading.

The following night the Lord stood by him (St. Paul) and said, “Take courage. For just as you have borne witness to my cause in Jerusalem, so you must also bear witness in Rome.”
Acts of the Apostles 23:11

There are many occasions, Lord, when we pray and ask you to spare us of all the sufferings and trials but now we have realized that it is only in being one with you in your passion when we truly become a gift to you from the Father.

It is in our becoming a gift to you that we become a gift to others and eventually realize our many gifts in ourselves too. Amen.

Lent is making God present

40 Shades of Lent, Friday after Ash Wednesday, 28 February 2020

***Isaiah 58:1-9* +++ 0 +++ *Matthew 9:14-15***

Have mercy on us, O God, have mercy… for we are still totally lost on the real meaning of fasting and abstinence. We have lost its spiritual meaning, focusing more on ourselves for vanity reasons like losing weight and looking good, totally forgetting fasting is all about you and others than us!

How unfortunate, dear God, that we no longer fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday but even on Sundays before receiving your Son Jesus in the Holy Communion by making all kinds of excuses with bold claims of having sacrificed so much in doing good deeds for you.

Thus says the Lord God: Cry out full-throated and unsparingly, lift up your voice like a trumpet blast. Tell my people their wickedness, and the house of Jacob their sins. They seek me day after day, and desire to know my ways, like a nation that has done what is just and not abandoned the law of their God. They ask me to declare what is due them, pleased to gain access to God. “Why do we fast, and you do not see it? Afflict ourselves, and you take no note of it?” Lo, on your fast day you carry out your own pursuits, and drive all your laborers. Yes, your fast ends in quarreling and fighting, striking with wicked claw. This, rather, is the fasting that I wish: releasing those bound unjustly, untying the thongs of the yoke; setting free the oppressed, breaking every yoke; sharing your bread with the hungry, sheltering the oppressed and the homeless; clothing the naked when you see them, and not turning your back on your own.”
Isaiah 58:1-4, 6-7

Make us realize that fasting is not punishing ourselves, of denying ourselves with goods and pleasures of the world that leave us empty, wanting for more but never fulfilled deep inside.

Fasting is actually rewarding ourselves with you, O God, our only wealth and treasure, our only fulfillment.

Help us create an empty space within ourselves through fasting and abstinence so that your Son Jesus may dwell and reign in our hearts, saying from within us, “Here I am!” (Is. 58:9). Amen.

“Man in the Mirror” by Michael Jackson (1987)

The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Music, 19 January 2019

Today we are celebrating an extension of Christmas Season with the Feast of the Sto. Niño that falls every third Sunday of January.

It is a special indult granted by Rome to the Philippines in recognition of the crucial role of the image of the Child Jesus we fondly call Sto. Niño given by Magellan to Queen Juana of Cebu almost 500 years ago when the Spaniards came to our shores to colonize and Christianize us as well.

The Sto. Niño is the second most popular Catholic devotion in our predominantly Christian nation, next to the Black Nazarene of Quiapo which we celebrated two weeks ago.

“Sleeping Sto. Niño” at our altar, 19 January 2020 photo by Jasper Dacutanan.

But a lot often, people forget the deeper meaning within the Sto. Niño that the path leading to becoming true disciples of Jesus, of following him to the Cross starts in becoming like a child, “Amen, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven” (Mt.18:3).

We will never be able to carry our cross and follow Jesus in selfless service and love to others unless we set aside our attitudes of being adults who know everything, insist on everything.

And that is why for this Sunday we have chosen the late Michael Jackson hit from his 1987 “Bad” album, Man in the Mirror.

It is one of the two songs in the album Michael Jackson did not write. It was written by Siedah Garrett and Glen Ballard who eventually both carved names for themselves in the music scene composing for other artists later.

According to stories, Michael and his producer Quincy Jones have asked their pool of composers to come up with a song that would serve as “an anthem” for the Bad album that would “spread some sunshine on the world”.

Michael liked the song right away and even after he had died, the song has become a classic with its timeless message that if you want to change the world, change yourself first.

And we say that looking on the man or woman on the mirror is the first step in becoming like a child as Jesus would want us all to do to enter the kingdom of heaven.

A blessed Sunday to you, dear reader and follower!

God is love

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul

Tuesday After Epiphany of the Lord, 07 January 2020

***1 John 4:7-10* ><)))> ><)))> ><)))> Mark 6:34-44***

Baby Jesus near our ambo, Christmas 2019. Photo by author.

Praise and thanksgiving to you, O Lord Jesus Christ in coming to us, in becoming human like us that we have experienced and realized deeply all about love.

Christmas itself can be spelled as L-O-V-E.

It is your birthday yet you were the one who gave us yourself as both “the gift and the giver” according to the great Karl Rahner, SJ. Most of all, even it is your birthday we celebrate, we are still the ones receiving gifts at Christmas!

In this is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent us his son as expiation for our sins.
1 John 4:7-10

In our gospel today, Lord Jesus, you have shown us that your being “love” is your very person because love is being with others, a gift of presence, of staying and remaining with the people.

Love, dear Jesus, is exactly what you did in the feeding of the more than 5000 people in the wilderness when you blessed, broke and gave the little bread you have with the people.

Love, dear Jesus, is exactly what you did in the feeding of the more than 5000 people in the wilderness when you divided the two pieces of fish to be shared with the crowd there in the wilderness.

And still, Lord Jesus, after feeding them, love is still being the one to pick up the pieces of leftovers to be kept by the 12 among themselves.

You are love, dearest Jesus because your very person is love, a giving of self to others.

Teach us to love like you, dearest Jesus. Amen.

A Prayer For Those Who Love Like Christ

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe-Prayer

Tuesday, 06 November 2018, Week XXXI, Year II

Philippians 2:5-11//Luke 14:15-24

Lord Jesus Christ, I praise and thank you today for your gift of kenosis, your self-emptying love for us all that even “though you were in the form of God, you did not regard equality with God something to be grasped. Rather, you emptied yourself, coming to us as a human, humbling yourself in obedience to death on a cross.” (Phil.2:6-8)

Today Lord Jesus, I pray for all the men and women, including the children from all walks of life who imitate you in their own little ways of self-emptying to express their deep love and concern for others. First among them are the rescuers and relatives coming to Natonin, Mountain Province.

When I first saw the story of how Raffy Tima and his team, along with the rescue workers and relatives of residents walked more than seven hours to the site buried by the landslide, I was moved by their great sacrifice and love to go there when it is already empty of life. Theirs was also a kenosis, an emptying of themselves of so many things to communicate your love for people wiped out by the landslide.

Every day Lord, there are also countless people who dare to walk despite the dangers and discomforts so we can all have a good morning like those who delivered various goods and services during the night, those who have to cut short their sleep and leave their families so we can have fresh vegetables and meat and fish, newspapers to read and newscasts to watch and listen, doctors and nurses to monitor our loved ones in the hospitals, and so many others who do many things that can never be compensated by any amount of money.

I pray most specially Lord Jesus for those closest to us, our family and loved ones, including our helpers who never get tired of patiently walking up to us, emptying themselves even of their dignity and honor, sacrificing everything just to take care of us, to tend our wounds and sickness, to listen to our woes and endless complaints, bearing all our insensitivities.

Bless them, Lord Jesus, in their kenosis or self-emptying to fill many of us empty of respect and dignity within. Bless them Jesus that they may always heed your call to come to your banquet of loving service for others by setting aside their own comforts and concerns like in your parable today. 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, early Sunday morning at Natonin, 04 November 2018. Used with permission.