Photo by author, Betania Retreat House in Tagaytay City, 2017.
How ironic and even sad, Lord Jesus Christ that in this age of too much information around us, when nothing is hidden with everything revealed without any propriety and decency, all the more we live in a world of lies and insincerity.
There is the great disparity between what is deep inside our hearts and what we put up front for all to see.
We have become like the scribes and Pharisees who give too much emphasis on little things, forgetting the more essential ones in life like love and mercy, kindness and goodwill to one another.
We have become so concerned with our outside appearances, forgetting what is in our hearts.
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You cleanse the outside of cup and dish, but inside they are full of plunder and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee, cleanse first the inside of the cup, so that the outside also may be clean.”
Matthew 23:25-26
Teach us, O Lord, to have a pure heart so we may see you!
Remove our blindness to fame and popularity, blindness to what is easy and convenient, blindness to our false beliefs, and blindness to you, Lord Jesus because we are so full of ourselves. Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Monday, Feast of St. Bartholomew, Apostle, 24 August 2020
Revelation 21:9-14 >><}}}*> |+| >><}}}*> |+| >><}}}*> John 1:45-51
Photo by author, Subic, 2018.
Glory and praise to you, Lord Jesus, the “Word who became flesh and dwelt among us” to reveal the Father’s immense love for us all. He was not contented in just telling the prophets of Old Testament how he loved us that He came and lived with us in you, Lord Jesus!
And that is why we also rejoice on this Feast of St. Bartholomew, a.k.a. Nathanael, who was introduced to you by another Apostle you have called earlier:
Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the one about whom Moses wrote in the law, and also the prophets, Jesus, son of Joseph, from Nazareth.” But Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, “Here is a true child of Israel. There is no duplicity in him.” Nathanael said to him, “How did you know me?” Jesus answered and said to him, “Before Philip called you, I saw you under the fig tree.” Nathanael answered him, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel.”
John 1:45-49
O dear Jesus, like St. Peter in the gospel yesterday and now St. Bartholomew, you are telling us anew to never be contented with mere words, with the “what” of who you really are, that we must always “come and see you” in order to experience your very person and truly know you.
I really wonder O Lord what your words meant that before Philip called Nathanael-Batholomew, you have seen him under the fig tree; however, I am so convinced that in your words, Nathanael-Bartholomew must have felt something deep inside him that he threw himself totally to you as your Apostle.
Most of all, teach me to remain simple and hidden in you, Jesus that like St. Bartholomew, despite the scarcity of stories and information about him except this little anecdote from the fourth Gospel, he remained faithful to you until his death by flaying reportedly in India.
May we imitate St. Bartholomew who had shown us that more than words, what matters is our oneness in you, Jesus, without any need for us doing sensational deeds, earning thousands of “likes” and “followers” in social media because only you, Lord, remains extraordinary above all. Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Friday, Memorial of St. Ignatius of Loyola, Priest, 31 July 2020
Jeremiah 26:1-9 >>><)))*> >><)))*> ><)))*> Matthew 13:54-58
Photo by author, Wailing Wall of Jerusalem, May 2019.
Praise and glory to you, O God our Father for another week and month about to close before us. And still here we are, alive and safe, making through the many trials and difficulties as we all continue to bear the sufferings of this COVID-19 pandemic.
Thank you for sending us your Son our Lord Jesus Christ who have made our hearts your indwelling.
Unfortunately, like his neighbors, so many times we fail or even refuse to recognize his coming to us.
Jesus came to his native place and taught the people in their synagogue. They were astonished and said, “Where did this man get such wisdom and mighty deeds? Is he not the carpenter’s son?” And they took offense at him.
Matthew 13:54-55, 57
So many times, many things run in our minds and in our hearts that we always fail to see and recognize you, sweet Jesus.
Teach us through St. Ignatius your faithful servant who gave us your wonderful gift of discerning the spirits.
Teach us to lay bare ourselves before you, to be true to our thoughts and feelings so that we may sift through all of these to find your holy will, Lord.
Teach us to “omit nothing” as you commanded Jeremiah in the first reading from your words so that we may be able to discern properly what you want from us.
Make our hearts your temple, O Lord, dwell inside and reign over us so that we may understand fully the meaning of “positive indifference” taught us by St. Ignatius:
“We should not prefer health to sickness, riches to poverty, honor to dishonor, a long life to a short life. . . . Our one desire and choice should be what is more conducive to the end for which we are created.”
Spiritual Exercises by St. Ignatius
Let our thoughts and actions always begin and happily end in your greater glory, Lord.
The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul by fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Monday, Week XVII, Year II in Ordinary Time, 27 July 2020
Jeremiah 13:1-11 >><)))*> >>><)))*> >><)))*> Matthew 13:31-35
Photo from Google.
What a great way to start our last week of work and studies in July with your sense of humor, O God! Your words are so witty and funny but with a strong punch. Hard-hitting, so biting. And so revealing.
For, as close as the loincloth clings to a man’s loins, so I had made the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah cling to me, says the Lord; to be my people, my renown, my praise, my beauty. But they did not listen.
Jeremiah 13:11
You really got me, Lord.
What can I say?
Our underwear, that is, the loincloth of Jeremiah’s time, is our most intimate clothing, always in contact with our very selves, in that part of our body that we always guard and keep to ourselves.
But, what happens when we “dirty” ourselves with sins, when we put on all those filth in ourselves, we also feel the same way inside, no matter how clean and crisp our clothes are but when deep down our loincloth – underwear – is rotted and good for nothing?
We can always hide it from others and they will never know the kind of underwear we have but we cannot deceive ourselves of how dirty we are with sins and evil.
And so far from you, O God.
Forgive us when you are supposed to be the closest to us, the one we are always in contact with but we have totally disregarded because of our many sins, when we thought we can always have our own ways without you, denying the fact it simply cannot be for indeed, you have made us to be that closest to you.
Forgive us in your Son and our Lord Jesus Christ. Renew us inside, cleanse us and refresh us to be in close contact with you again, O God.
Help us to remain good and clean inside like the little mustard seed so we may grow to have leafy branches for birds to come and dwell in us.
In your mercy, cleanse us of our sins and be our yeast to mix with us again to leaven into a dough to make your kingdom come here on earth. Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Friday, Week XVI, Year II in Ordinary Time, 24 July 2020
Jeremiah 3:14-17 <*(((><< ) + ( >><)))*> Matthew 13:18-23
Photo by author, Sonnen Berg Mountain View, Davao City, August 2018.
It is a Friday and we thank you, O God our loving Father, for your boundless grace and mercy of another week to close and a new one to start. Amid the many struggles we have to go through this week with the staggering number of people infected with COVID-19, you continue to bless us.
Help us return to you, your “rebellious children” (Jer.3:14), so we may be renewed in you and with you.
Keep our sights looking forward to our future with your promises of growth and fulfillment.
Let us forget and learn our lessons from our past mistakes and sins so we may walk uprightly, guided by “shepherds you have appointed after your own heart who will shepherd us wisely and prudently” (Jer.3:15), never again to grow “hardhearted in wickedness” against you and others.
Thank you for sending us your Son Jesus Christ, the Sower who never gets tired sowing seeds into our hearts of all your grace necessary for us to be fruitful in life. May we become good soil who will accept and take care of your seeds. Amen.
Photo by author, ricefields in Pulilan, Bulacan, January 2020.
The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Wednesday, Week XIII, Year II in Ordinary Time, 01 July 2020
Amos 5:14-15, 21-24 <*(((><< <*(((><< >><)))*> >><)))*> Matthew 8:28-34
Photo by Mr. Raffy Tima of GMA7 News, Taal eruption, January 2020.
Praise and glory to you O God our loving Father for this brand new month of July! It is our hope this month will be kinder and more gentle with us than June. It is our hope that this July, we can all come closer to you doing what is good, what is right.
Seek good and not evil, that you may live. Then truly will the Lord, the God of hosts, be with you as you claim! I hate, I spurn your feasts, says the Lord, I take no pleasure in your solemnities… Away with your noisy songs! I will not listen to the melodies of your harps. But if you would offer me burnt offerings, then let justice surge like water, and goodness like an unfailing stream.
Amos 5:14, 21, 23-24
Most of all, through your Son Jesus Christ our Lord, it is our hope O merciful Father that beginning today we start to reject and shake off evil from our lives, from our very selves.
We have not only sinned, O sweet Jesus; worst part of our sinfulness is how we have accepted sin and evil as a way of life, as a part of life itself with our usual excuses and arguments “wala nang magagawa, nariyan na yan, hayaan na lang” (there’s nothing that can be done, just accept it).
We have got so used to immoralities and lies that we simply accept them as facts of life.
Like those people at Gadarenes where two demoniacs have terrorized them for some time that “no one could travel by that road” (Mt.8:28).
But when you came, Lord Jesus and drove the demons into entering the herd of swine that jumped and drowned into the sea, the whole town came out to meet you and begged you to leave their district!
Instead of being thankful, they begged you to leave, Lord, because you have disturbed their lives so used to the demons. They have failed to see how two people were finally healed and exorcised. Most of all, they have refused to accept the new order in their place.
What a silly turn of events that continues to happen day when people have grown so used to evil and sin, refusing changes and conversion.
How sad that whenever we make a stand for what is right and good, what is true and just, we are the ones made to suffer, even persecuted for bringing order because we have disturbed the evil that people have been used to.
We pray for those who continue to fight injustice and immoralities in our communities, in our church that they may always be guided and strengthened by the Holy Spirit.
And we pray for those among us who have lost the sense of sinfulness, of living with sin and evil and yet continue to worship and praise you O God. Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Friday, Week XII, Year II in Ordinary Time, 26 June 2020
2 Kings 25:1-12 >>)))*> >>)))*> >>)))*> Matthew 8:1-4
Photo by author, Assumption Sabbath, Baguio City, 2019.
When Jesus came down from the mountain, great crowds followed him. And then a leper approached, did him homage, and said, “Lord, if you wish, you can make me clean.” He stretched out his hand, touched him, and said, “I will do it. Be made clean.” His leprosy was cleansed immediately.
Matthew 8:1-3
Nothing happens in this life without you fully knowing all about it, Lord God almighty. From the air that we breathe, to the rising and the setting of the sun, to everything —- you fully know them all, Lord and you choose to let them work in our favor despite our turning away from you in sins.
Praise and glory to you, God, and we thank you for your goodness to continue to will what is best for us despite our sinfulness.
May we keep this always in our minds and hearts that nothing escapes you; that sometimes, you just let us go on with our lives so we can finally have a taste of what we choose in this life.
And we seem to never ever learn as we continue to be proud before you, refusing to be humble that until the end, we are forced by our wrong and sinful decisions to eat us up, to shame us like Jerusalem that was almost annihilated by the Babylonians after her fall.
You never punish your people; you only will what is good for us — to be healed, to be cleansed, to be saved in Jesus Christ your Son!
May we always come to you, Lord, asking your will and plans for us, as we readily submit to you. Amen.
Lobby of the Assumption Sabbath in Baguio City, 2019.
Lawiswis ng Salita ni P. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Ika-18 ng Hunyo 2020
Nasubukan mo na bang
manahimik
upang makinig
at makipag-niig
sa Diyos
na tanging ibig
ating kaganapan
at kagalakan?
Minsan kung kailan
hindi mo inaasahan
saka Siya mararanasan:
nangungusap, nagpaparamdam
lalo na kapag binabalikan
mga nakaraan ika'y
nasaktan at nasugatan,
o nasiyahan at maraming natutunan.
At habang iyong ninanamnam
Kanyang kabutihan
kailanman hindi ka iniwan
pinabayaan o tinalikuran
saka daratal buong kalaliman
ang hindi maikakaila
mayroon ngang Diyos
sa atin nagmamahal!
At iyan ang higit
nating mapapanaligang
katotohanan
higit nakakikilabot
kesa multo o ano pang kuwento;
dahil ang Diyos ay totoong-totoo
ngunit ang multo
doon lang sa guni-guni mo!
*Mga larawan kuha ng may-akda maliban sa takip-silim at bongavilla sa aming simbahan na parehong kuha ni G. Gelo Nicolas Carpio.
The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Monday, Week XI, Year II in Ordinary Time, 15 June 2020
1 Kings 21:1-16 ><)))*> ><)))*> <*(((>< <*(((>< Matthew 5:38-42
Photo by Mr. Raffy Tima of GMA-7 News, stranded people staying at the underpass near the NAIA after waiting for so long to catch their flights back to their provinces since March.
So many times in life, O God our Father, we hear so many stories of injustice, of how our neighbors are treated so badly that we feel so disgusted at how it could happen at all.
Like all these stories of people stranded in Metro Manila, of the lowly income earners who have to walk for hours just to get to work because there are not enough public transport system allowed to operate.
Of those made to suffer the strict quarantine rules when police officials and politicians were allowed to get off the hook or, the arrest and incarceration of a poor, elderly jeepney driver who had joined a protest rally while the former First Lady who was convicted of corruption charges two years ago was spared of any jail term because of her age.
So much inequalities happening shamelessly, with much impunity by those in power, O Lord!
Exactly like the evil Queen Jezebel who instructed her people to find two scoundrels to testify against Naboth so she could take his vineyard so desired by her husband King Ahab.
Two scoundrels came in and confronted him with the accusation, “Naboth has cursed God and king.” And they led him out of the city and stoned him to death. When Jezebel learned that Naboth had been stoned to death, she said to Ahab, “Go on, take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite which he refused to sell you, because Naboth is nbot alive, but dead.” On hearing that Naboth was dead, Ahab started off on his way down to the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, to take possession of it.
1 Kings 21:13-16
Such stories are so revulsive, O God, not only of their nature but more because partly to be blamed is us — when we have refused to do anything good in fighting evil. Indeed, the only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.
Yes, O God, we are ashamed because we have unconsciously sided with the scoundrels when we chose to “see nothing, hear nothing, and say nothing” of their lies, their harsh words and vulgarities, and their systematic killing sprees to solve the problems of the society.
We have misread the words of your Son Jesus Christ by becoming passive in the face of evil.
Jesus said to his disciples: “You have heard that it was said, An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. But I say to you, offer no resistance to one who is evil. When someone strikes on your right cheek, turn the other one to him as well. Should anyone press you into service for one mile, go with him for two miles.”
Matthew 5:38-39, 41
Give us the wisdom and courage to turn our other cheek, to go the extra mile in asserting to evil doers that we are all brothers and sisters in Christ who must treat one another with respect and equal dignity as a person created in your image and likeness, God our Father.
Inspire us, O God, especially our leaders in the Church who have gone so timid and silent except for a very few on how we can be more prophetic in this time of crisis under an unfriendly government. Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul, Wednesday, Easter Week-VI, 20 May 2020
Acts of the Apostles 17:15, 22-18:1 ><)))*> + <*(((>< John 16:12-15
From Facebook, 18 May 2020.
As I prayed over the readings for today, dear Jesus, I felt the great similarity of the time of St. Paul in Athens and of the world in this time of the corona virus that made me wonder what would your apostle tell the people of today who have made the malls as their new temples of worship.
Or, what would St. Paul tell those in government who see businesses as most essential needs, totally disregarding the need to open houses of worship where people can find spiritual nourishment?
What would St. Paul tell us your priests and Bishops who have suddenly become less assertive in pushing for the opening of churches so people may celebrate and receive the sacraments so essential in this time of crisis?
Lord Jesus, you know how like St. Paul we have always stressed to the people that
“The God who made the world and all that is in it, the Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in sanctuaries made by human hands, nor is he served by human hands because he needs anything. Rather it is he who gives to everyone life and breath and everything.”
Acts of the Apostles 17:24-25
…. and yet, they continue to consider you anything spiritual as non-essential?
Tell us Lord what we must do these days so we may reach the modern pagans and Athenians of this age who have turned to worship to other gods aside from you, O Lord.
May we probe more the reasons why like the Athenians at that time people today still “scoff and leave” when they hear about you, your Resurrection and other spiritual things.
Is it because we would rather massage ourselves with our own thoughts about you and the Divine that seem so magical and more delightful like Hollywood?
How sad that until now, we cannot accept and believe you truly love us so much that you rose again from the dead to bring us back to life too!
Dear Jesus, teach us to be patient and be opened to the Holy Spirit who enables us to understand slowly in your own time at our own pace the realities and truth of your Resurrection.
May the Holy Spirit open us to more imaginative ways like St. Paul in preaching you to the modern pagans and Athenians of today. Amen.
St. Bernardine of Sienna, pray for us!
The “IHS” Christogram: the ancient way of writing the name “Jesus Christ” with the first three letters of his name in Greek substituting the sigma with “S” in Latin. It was St. Bernardine of Sienna who popularized reverence to the Holy Name of Jesus, encouraging Christians to put the letters “IHS” on their doors. Later St.Ignatius of Loyola adopted the Christogram to symbolize his newly founded Society of Jesus that eventually became a part of our Christian art and tradition.
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