Tag: shamelesness

Lent is being shamefaced

40 Shades of Lent by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Monday, Second Week in Lent, 17 March 2025
Daniel 9:4-10     + + +     Luke 6:36-38
Photo by author, Canyon Woods Resort, Laurel, Batangas, 15 March 2025.
Lord Jesus Christ,
on this first working day of
Second Week in Lent,
give me the grace
to be
 shamefaced;
give me the sense of
embarrassment,
the sense of sinfulness,
a sense of humanity.

Yes, Lord,
we have been so
callous
and numb,
so thick-faced
as in "kapal"!

“Lord, great and awesome god, you who keep your merciful covenant toward those who love you and observe your commandments! We have sinned, been wicked and done evil; we have rebelled and departed from your commandments and your laws. We have not obeyed your servants the prophets… Justice, O Lord, is on your side; we are shamefaced even to this day… O Lord, we are shamefaced, like our kings, our princes, and our fathers for having sinned against you” (Daniel 9:4-7, 8).

Do not let us sink deeper
into sin and misery 
like your people
in the time 
of your Prophet Daniel,
Lord, for us to be shamefaced 
in admitting our sins,
our treachery against you;
our nation is so divided these days
with no one having any sense of shame
at all with the decadence we have sank
into like excessive profanities,
rampant fake news,
overt personalisms,
too much politics
without any regard
at all with what is right
and wrong,
with what is evil
and what is good
and worst of all,
without any respect
for one another
and for life in general;
many of us have 
discarded your image and
likeness in us as we have lost
our sense of sinfulness
and shame.
Let us be shamefaced
like Daniel, Jesus;
mahiya naman kami, Lord!

Before we can be merciful with
others, let us be shamefaced
first; let us be shamefaced,
Jesus, so we can be generous
with others for without any 
shame at all like with what
is happening now 
in our country,
we are sinking deeper
into the pit of destruction.
Amen.
Photo by author, Canyon Woods Resort, Laurel, Batangas, 15 March 2025.

Our shameless nakedness & deafness

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Friday, Memorial of Sts. Cyril (Monk) & Methodius (Bishop), 14 February 2025
Genesis 3:1-8     ><0000'> + ><0000'> + ><0000'>     Mark 7:31-37
Photo by author, 14 August 2024.
On this most joyous day
when most hearts has only 
one thing to say,
I pray dear Lord Jesus Christ
that I remain and stay
at your side,
never to hide
because of shame
and sin.

Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked… When they heard the sound of the Lord God moving about in the garden at the breezy time of the day, the man and his wife hid themselves from the Lord god among the trees of the garden (Genesis 3:7, 8).

How times have changed,
Lord, when in the garden at Eden
the man and his wife sinned,
they hid whereas today
no one is ashamed anymore
of their nakedness;
what a shame that today,
we don't hide in shame
instead flaunt our nakedness
for everyone to be convinced
we are clean,
we are right,
we have not sinned.
Heal our deafness,
Jesus;
take us off away from others
to be with yourself
like that deaf mute,
put your fingers into our ears,
pierce our hearts,
touch our souls
for us to see our
indifference to sin 
and evil
and shout your words
"Ephphatha"
that we may be opened
anew to the sad realities
of our nakedness
we ironically use 
to cover
our sins.
Amen.