“Do It for Love” by Hall and Oates (2003)

The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Music by Fr. Nick F. Lalog II, 16 August 2020
Our parish on a lazy afternoon before the pandemic in January 2020. Photo by Mr. Angelo Carpio.

Our Sunday gospel today is so touching at how great is the love of Jesus Christ for us who knows no boundaries when he “withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon” to heal the daughter of a Canaanite woman “tormented by a demon” (Mt.15:21, 28).

Two Sundays ago we heard how Jesus fed more than 5000 people who have followed him to a deserted place from just five loaves of bread and two pieces of fish; last week, he walked on water to rescue his disciples in a boat caught in a violent storm at the middle of the lake at night.

Very clear in all his actions is the immense love of Jesus Christ for everyone, doing everything in love and for love.

And that is why we have Rock n’ Roll’s dynamic duo, Daryl Hall and John Oates singing their eighth #1 hit released in 2003 “Do It For Love” from their sixteenth studio album of the same title.

I have always considered Hall and Oates as my topmost favorite musicians standing side by side with the equally great tandem of Walter Becker (+) and Donald Fagen of Steely Dan fame.

Smooth and sophisticated with their characteristic Phillysound, Hall and Oates’ Do It for Love tells of how a man would go to great lengths to express his love for his beloved.

I would fly ten thousand miles
In the pouring rain
Just to see your face

I’d bare my soul to a total stranger
Just to say your name
And I’m not ashamed
Just to love you into every morning

I would change my name
And run away
I won’t do it for money
I won’t do it for pride

I won’t do it to please somebody else
If it don’t feel right
But I’ll do it for you
And at least I’ll try

I don’t need any other reason
Than I feel it deep inside
I’ll Do It For Love

I have used it so many times in counseling single and married men having problems with their girlfriend and wife; and so far, it seems to have always worked with most of them still together and happily married!

Try it yourself this Sunday… with a lot of prayers and honest-to-goodness soul searching, miracles may still happen!

Stay safe and have a blessed new week!

From https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSRoN5Sxu5M-jc0JXt3E-xg

Two songs for a rainy Sunday in August 2020

The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Music by Fr. Nick F. Lalog II, 09 August 2020
Photo by Fr. Gener Garcia, “El camino de santiago de compostela” in Spain, 2019.

Don’t you feel it is like a Good Friday on this gloomy and rainy Sunday in August? Problems and trials continue to come our way this year 2020 that we are like the Apostles together in a boat in the middle of the sea caught in a violent storm at night with Jesus nowhere in sight!

But, we know the rest of the story, of how Jesus rescued the Twelve by walking on water, calmed the storm upon joining them in their boat until they reached the shore.

Sometimes in life, we need to get away from our “comfort zones” and cross to the other side of the lake or sea like in our gospel especially when life becomes so artificial that we need to experience it in its “rawness” from deep within our souls until we desire and meet God anew wherever we may be (https://lordmychef.com/2020/08/08/meeting-jesus/).

And because of the storms that continue to rage in us and among us in this ghost month of August, we offer you with inspiring songs from two lovely female artists that we hope will uplift you and soothe your tired body and soul.

First in our double header is Ms. Pauline Wilson’s 1997 solo version of their 1979 classic “Follow Your Road” when she was the lead singer of their Hawaii-based jazz fusion band called the Seawind.

So enticingly warm, Follow Your Road teems with a lot of Christian teachings that have strongly influenced Ms. Wilson and partners who are also into Gospel music. The song invites us to reflect on our lives in order to find its meaning and direction – exactly what Jesus has been telling us to follow him especially when we are into storms and darkness in our lives.

We are all but travelers living in a foreign land
Just trying to find our way – best as we can
Looking for an answer, trying to find some light
And though we have journeyed far, it’s not quite far enough.
Have you wondered where your road will lead you?
Maybe to a song that needs singing, or a summer rain
Or it might be you’re afraid to go, afraid to go
But you’ve got to follow your road, or you’ll never know
Uploaded by caddxprt, 17 September 2008.

Our second song on this rainy Sunday is from another Gospel singer Ms. Oleta Adams who was nominated to the Grammy Award as Best Female Pop Vocal Performance the following year after releasing “Get Here If You Can” in 1990.

Ms. Adams first caught the world’s attention in 1989 when she was invited by Curt Smith and Roland Orzabal of Tears for Fears to join them as singer and pianist for their 1989 “Seeds of Love” album from which came the hit single “Woman in Chains” with her singing a duet with Orzabal.

Get Here If You Can is a song putting to the test the love and fidelity of the song’s lover.

Faith, like love, is always an encounter, especially with the Lord Jesus Christ.

The experience of Peter sinking in water as he approached Jesus is a lesson in being focused with our love and faith in Christ despite the heavy storms and darkness that come into our lives.

There are hills and mountains between us
Always something to get over
If I had my way, surely you would be closer
I need you closer

Stay safe and have a blessed new week!

Uploaded by Official Oleta Adams, 2004.