Tag: stress

When Jesus is “stressed”

Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul, 23 October 2025
Thursday in Twenty-Ninth Week of Ordinary Time, Year I
Romans 16:19-23     <'[[[[><  +  ><]]]]'>     Luke 12:49-53
Photo by Dra. Mai B. Dela Peña, Japan, 2016.
I may be struggling with
stress daily like most
people these days,
Lord Jesus,
but today's gospel made me
realize how you too experienced
"stress" like us because, 
after all , you are 
truly human
like us.

Jesus said to his disciples: “I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already blazing! There is a baptism with which I must be baptized, and how great is my anguish until it is accomplished! Do you think that I have come to establish peace on the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division (Luke 12:49-51).

How good it is to realize
that you, Lord Jesus,
was also stressed -
"I have come to set the earth
on fire...
There is a baptism with which
I must be baptized...";
like you, we could feel
the weight of things to be done,
of mission to be accomplished;
like you, we too could feel
 the great responsibilities
on our shoulders.

Thank you,
Jesus,
thank you
for being one with us
in our stress.
Teach us Lord your
way of handling stress
so we can put these
challenges into good use,
into more evangelical in nature
by first accepting and embracing
 like you our mission and
 responsibilities when you said,
"how I wish it were already blazing"
and "how great is my anguish
until it is accomplished";
many times what we do
is as much as possible avoid
our mission and responsibilities
or, if not, delay acting on them
that eventually stress us further;
give us also the courage like you,
Jesus,
to face and deal with our
many divisions in life
that stress us,
of learning to bridge the many
gaps between the ideal
and the sad realities
we are into
as well as the many
limitations and handicaps
we have.
Photo by Dra. Mai B. Dela Peña, Mt. Carmel, Israel, 2015.
Make us whole,
Lord Jesus
in your love and 
kindness and peace
by claiming our 
blessedness in your
gift of salvation
and sanctification
as we pursue
holiness
according to
St. Paul's advice
in the first reading.
Amen.

Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Our Lady of Fatima University
Valenzuela City
(lordmychef@gmail.com)

Prayer against panic

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Tuesday, Memorial of St. Rose of Lima, Virgin, 23 August 2022
2 Thessalonians 2:1-3, 14-17   ><]]]'> + ><]]]'> + ><]]]'>   Matthew 23:23-26
Photo by Dr. Mylene A. Santos, MD, near Lamon Bay, Polilio, Quezon, 15 August 2022.
Praise and glory to you,
God our loving Father!
You know very well what 
our needs are especially
in these busy days when 
many of us are into 
"panic modes":  stress and
anxieties are peaking again
as classes begin with almost 
everyone overwhelmed with
the many tasks to fulfill amid 
all the crowd and traffic,
chaos and noise outside and 
within us like the early Christians
of Thessalonica so bothered with
Christ's Second Coming.
Teach us, dear Father,
to slow down, to trust in you,
and most especially, remove
our focus on little things that
are not essential like the Pharisees
and scribes.

Jesus said, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You pay tithes of mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier things of the law: Judgment and mercy and fidelity. Blind guides, who strain out the gnat and swallow the camel!”

Matthew 23:23, 24
Like St. Paul and 
St. Rose of Lima, through 
our witnessing of faith in you,
through our examples of deep
prayer life and loving service
to others, may we "encourage 
hearts and strengthen them in
every good deed and word"
(2 Thess.2:17).
May we be aware of your 
presence in Jesus Christ in
every here and now, to chill
and relax, not to overstretch 
ourselves trying to cover the 
whole world or even universe!
Let us learn to focus on what
is before us at the present 
moment which is to live out
Christ's gospel, day in and day out,
for the rest will take care of itself.
Amen.