People told me that is the “age of enlightenment”.
And I believe so.
After living half a century, I have realised so many things in life that I had Bill LaBounty’s 1982 hit as my theme song, “Livin’ It Up.”
Like the gospel today when Jesus tells us to “gird your loins” or be on guard because death could come so sudden, LaBounty’s “Livin’ It Up” is the perfect Sunday music.
Girding up one’s loins, being on guard means living it up… taking a new persona when we learn to let go of our past to accept and appreciate every present moment, believing deep inside our hearts of more better and more meaningful things to come in our lives.
Girding up on’e loins, being on guard means living it up as matured men and women disposed to more things that are more profound and meaningful than mere existence because we are so aware of our mortality, of our coming to something more lasting that is eternal.
I finally got my life together Scraped my heart up off the floor My attitude is so much better And I hardly ever cry the way I did before
I’ve been livin’ it up Having my self in time Livin’ it up Right from the women to the wine Livin’ out all those fantasies I never did get to Those Crazy things I never got to do
I got my self a new persona Took the service off my phone These days I live the way I wanna And I’d do just fine as long as I’m not left alone
I always tell people that prayer does not necessarily change situations like preventing a calamity from happening like typhoons and earthquakes. Prayer primarily changes people, of how we cope and respond to bad things happening to us and to others. Prayer is more of becoming like Jesus Christ, loving and compassionate, merciful and forgiving. Prayer is the expression of our love that is why it is always transformative.
That is essentially the meaning of our Sunday music today by the great Boz Scaggs, “Look What You’ve Done to Me” from the 1980 movie Urban Cowboy starring John Travolta and Debra Winger. Never saw that movie but I have always been a follower of Scaggs since 1976 when I was only in grade four and hopelessly in love with a classmate singing his poignant ballad We’re All Alone.
In this 1980 hit he had reportedly written hurriedly with David Foster, we also find the right attitude in praying taught by Jesus in the Our Father which is primarily to lose one’s self with God or with one’s beloved. That is exactly what Scaggs is saying in “Look What You’ve Done to Me” – of how love had formed and transformed him into a better person despite all the pains and sufferings.
Hope you enjoy our music today.
And yes, do not forget to pray for it is our expression of our love to God who makes us better persons by being more loving like him.
Old experiment from my room while assigned at the Fatima Shrine in Valenzuela City, June 2010-2011.
Our Sunday gospel today speaks about true hospitality that leads to an encounter of Jesus Christ in our home and family.
Burt Bacharach’s “A House Is Not A Home” composed in 1964 for a movie of the same title easily came as our choice for this Sunday’s music.
Problem was choosing which of the many versions to feature in our blog today.
Though the different versions do matter a lot with slight variations in the lyrics, we decided in favor of the original recording by Ms. Dionne Warwick in 1964 that was the B-side of her top 40 single “You’ll Never Get To Heaven (If You Break My Heart)”.
Despite her excellent voice (a favorite of Bacharach), Warwick’s “A House Is Not A Home” did not fare well in the US charts. However, since its release in 1964 it has become a classic for its lovely tune and truthful lyrics.
A chair is still a chair, even when there’s no one sittin’ there But a chair is not a house and a house is not a home When there’s no one there to hold you tight And no one there you can kiss goodnight….
A room is a still a room, even when there’s nothin’ there but gloom But a room is not a house and a house is not a home When the two of us are far apart And one of us has a broken heart
Hospitality is from the Latin hospes that means to welcome. From this root came also the word hospital.
The story of Martha and Mary reminds us of the need to first welcome our family members so Jesus could dwell in our home. And this calls for love and respect for one another, for kindness and care.
How sad that right in our own family we could feel unwelcomed, or even hostaged which is from another Latin word hostis that means enemy.
This Sunday, experience Jesus and his good news of salvation in your family by breaking those barriers that prevent you from welcoming one another.
Have a “home sweet home” in Christ Jesus with a lot of love and kindness to one another in the family. God bless everyone!
Walking back to 300 BC on the streets leading to ancient city of Petra in Jordan. Photo by author, 30 April 2019.
It’s a lazy, rainy Sunday.
And today’s gospel speaks of Jesus “resolutely determined to journey to Jerusalem” to face his death in fulfillment of his mission from the Father for our salvation.
Jesus is inviting us today to see death in his perspective as something beautiful and even glorious. Coming to terms with death is coming to terms with life. The moment we start accepting the certainty and reality of death like Jesus, the more we lead authentic lives filled with love and celebrations, not with bitterness and resentment.
We are all pilgrims, aliens and sojourners here on earth whose true home is heaven. And the only way to get there is death. It is a journey we all have to take.
Pauline Wilson’s “Follow the Road” captures this so well while her lovely voice assures us of the beauty and joy in taking all the risks in following this road of life. Very interesting is the second stanza where Pauline sings of “this one road that journeys far out of sight” that seems to imply of fullness and fulfillment in God considering her Filipino roots and strong Christian grounding in faith.
Jesus followed the road to Jerusalem over 2000 years ago and conquered death with his glorious Resurrection. Let us follow him more closely each day as we follow the road of life, trusting him, loving him.
It is Father’s Day and I cannot help being nostalgic because I lost my father 19 years ago at around this time of the year. It was June 17, 2000, the eve of Father’s day when my dad died of a heart attack before dawn. It was also the birthday of my mother.
And that is why I have always loved Luther Vandross Jr.’s “Dancing With My Father” he had co-written with Richard Marx released May 30, 2003.
It is the perfect song on this Father’s Day as it speaks of the tenderness and love of a father to his wife and children. No wonder, when Jesus taught us how to pray, he told us to call God “Dad” or “Daddy” which is the more literal translation of “Abba”.
What I like most in “Dancing With My Father” is at the end of the song:
Sometimes I’d listen outside her door And I’d hear how mama would cry for him I’d pray for her even more than me I’d pray for her even more than meI know I’m praying for much to much But could you send her The only man she loved I know you don’t do it usually But Dear Lord She’s dying to dance with my father againEvery night I fall asleep And this is all I ever dream
My father loved my mother so much. Since childhood until I became a priest, he never ate without my mother with him at the table. He does her coffee and he is our chef. It was doubly hard losing him because he died on her birthday. Every time I would visit my dad’s grave, I asked him only one question: why did you die on mom’s birthday? After two years, I felt his answer that he died on my mom’s birthday so I would also love her as he had loved her. And that is what I have always tried to fulfill.
My father never asked me to become a priest but it was him who unconsciously planted the seeds of my vocation when I would always see him praying before our altar before leaving for work and upon arriving home in the evening. It was from him I have learned and realized what true love is and most of all, that indeed, God is love. He loved us so much and even though it has been 19 years since he died, I can still feel his love.
For all the faithful and loving dads especially those with God our Father in heaven, here’s one for you….
Our second song is another tribute to a late father, Bread’s 1970 hit “Make It with You”.
According to its composer David Gates, he got the inspiration for “Make It With You” not from his girlfriend but from his late father. Gates claimed that during an interview, a reporter asked him with whom would he want to share his success in music with? Right away, he answered it would be his late father, of how he would want to “make it with him” so his dad would see his successful career in music.
Perhaps, that’s what we all miss with our late dads who worked so hard to give us good future, a good career: we all want them to see the fruits of their labors in us, to share with them whatever good things we now have is because of them. It is from these experiences with our loving dads that we have had glimpses of our personal God who became human like us in Jesus Christ, joining us in our pains and sufferings to be one with him in his triumphs and glory.
As we celebrate today the Solemnity of the Blessed Trinity, may we get into the very selves of our dad in Spirit to realize how immense that love God has for everyone meant to be shared with others too. Cheers to all dads!
It’s Pentecost Sunday, the coming of the Holy Spirit to the first disciples of Jesus Christ who were filled with fire and zeal in spreading the good news from Jerusalem to the whole world. But more than an event in the past, Pentecost is something the Church needs so badly these days to continue the work of Christ in the world that has become cold and without direction and fulfillment.
What we need in the Church that has become so rigid and lethargic in one end and pompous and glitzy at the other end is a “perennial Pentecost”, the daily coming of the Holy Spirit to enlighten us again in following and sharing Jesus with others in loving service. We need the Holy Spirit to convert us and go back to Christ in the Blessed Sacrament and the Holy Eucharist which is the sacrament of love.
From Google.
The Blackbyrds’ 1975 hit “Walking in Rhythm” captures the image of somebody filled with the Holy Spirit who is so full of love and life, joy and excitement. The smooth rhythm and blues jazzy beat of the song is so moving and uplifting. It is exactly what the Holy Spirit does when its fire burns and purifies us to realize that our true greatness as human is in being small, in our ability to share to become a part of a larger whole.
“Walking in Rhythm” tells of a man so in love and passionately driven to come home to meet his sweetheart after being away for some time. He is walking in rhythm because he knew he would be complete again when he becomes one with his beloved.
That is essentially the meaning of being a Christian, of being a member of the Church: we become whole with others in Christ. Jesus is our head and we are the body. Every body is important. How sad that whenever we gather every Sunday during the Mass, we are on our own! The priest delivers a boring homily he himself does not understand because he had not prayed nor prepared at all. The congregation are on their own, some asleep, others with thoughts wandering, while the young are either texting or plugged to their playlists. We have to dispose ourselves to the coming of the Holy Spirit always. It is Pentecost or nothing if we want to walk in rhythm, to be fill with life and joy.
From Google.
Like the lover in “Walking in Rhythm”, or the apostles at the Upper Room in Jerusalem during that Pentecost, we have to open ourselves to give a space within us for the Holy Spirit to work in us, to fill us with life and joy. Most of all, with love.
Walking in rhythm Movin' in sound Hummin' to the music Trying to move on I'm walking in rhythm Singin' my song Thinkin' about my baby Tryin to get home....
The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Music, Ascension Sunday, 02 June 2019
Pilgrims on top of Mt. Sinai, Egypt. Photo by Atty. Grace Polaris Rivas-Beron, 07 May 2019.
Today is the Solemnity of the Ascension of Jesus Christ, the beginning of a new level of “nearness of God” with us.
And that explains the reason for our music this Sunday, “The Nearness of You” composed way back in 1938 by Hoagy Carmichael with lyrics by Ned Washington. The song debuted in 194o and since then has delighted many hearts and souls with its lovely melody and music interpreted by so many artists in every generation.
I have chosen Rod Stewart’s version taken from his 2002 album It Had to be You: The Great American Songbook because the song fits him so well. Yes, Rod is a rocker but he had matured so well that after all the noise, he has grown deeper in his art that his unique voice suddenly had acquired a depth coming not only from the heart but even from the soul. I won’t be surprised at all if one day Rod Stewart would be talking about some sort of spirituality and holiness.
Now back to our Sunday celebration of the Ascension of Jesus Christ…
15th century Greek icon of the Ascension of Jesus. From Google.
In the gospel today, St. Luke tells us that after Jesus had ascended into heave, the disciples “returned to Jerusalem filled with great joy.”
That is totally strange because whenever someone leaves, the general feeling is always sadness like when we have to change residence or old neighbors move out, when loved ones have to go abroad to work or worst, when a beloved dies. They all bring sadness.
Where did that great joy among the disciples of Jesus come from after the Lord had ascended into heaven?
From their hearts! The key to understanding and appreciating the Ascension of Jesus into heaven is not in looking up the skies or looking down on the ground where he stood. It is in looking deep into our hearts.
Anything that remains in our head or in our mind is always open to doubts. When that truth we believe in sinks into our hearts, then we get the conviction that it is really true. And that is when we experience great joy within: It is in the heart where we come to conviction that leads us into living authentically no matter how painful that truth may be. That is why there are saints and heroes – including lovers – willing to die for their beliefs because they are so convinced with the truth in their hearts.
From Google.
At the Ascension, the disciples had the conviction that Jesus is truly alive, that his going to heaven is more of coming to a new level of existence and relating with them, something no longer bounded by time and space, something always so near and so personal.
It is the same feeling we have with those we love. Even if they are not physically present with us, we feel their nearness because we love.
There lies the beauty and timelessness of the song “The Nearness of You”: nothing beats the love that brings us so close, so near with one another. Unless we have that deep conviction and love for a person, we will never rise up – or ascend – to higher level of relationship that is so near, so close.
It's not the pale moon that excites me That thrills and delights me, oh no It's just the nearness of you
It isn't your sweet conversation That brings this sensation, oh no It's just the nearness of you
When you're in my arms And I feel you so close to me All my wildest dreams come true
If you can say these words to a beloved, imagine when you level this up to Jesus Christ? That would definitely be a new level of nearness with him and with others.
It’s a lovely day but before thoughts of the work load waiting for you tomorrow distract you, here’s The Boomtown Rats’ 1979 hit “I Don’t Like Mondays” for our last Lord My Chef Sunday Music this month of May.
Written by Sir Bob Geldof and his fellow Irish Johnnie Fingers, I Don’t Like Mondays is a song about the 1979 Cleveland Elementary School Shooting in San Diego, California that killed two adults and injured eight children and a police officer.
According to Geldof, he wrote the song after reading a telex report of the shooting incident while being interviewed at Georgia State University’s campus radio station WRAS. In that report, he learned how 16-year-old Brenda Ann Spencer fired at children in a school playground in San Diego because she said, “I don’t like Mondays. This livens up the day.”
Geldof found Spencer strange who also showed no remorse for her crime. She gave no other answers except “I don’t like Mondays” when journalists asked her to “tell me why” the shooting spree. On his way to his hotel, Geldof kept thinking about Spencer’s “senseless reason for the senseless act” that he told himself the “silicon chip inside her head had switched to overload.” He then wrote the song “to illustrate the perfect senseless reason for doing the perfect senseless act.”
Geldof clarified he never intended to exploit the tragedy though, after many years later, he admitted he regretted writing the song that made “Spencer famous.” The song hit the number spot in the UK charts after its release but reached only the 73rd spot in the US where the Spencers tried unsuccessfully to prevent the single from being released there.
In our reflection for this Sunday’s gospel, we said the Holy Spirit promised by Jesus and sent by his Father acts as the “memory” of the Church. Jesus told his disciples during their Last Supper that the “Advocate, the Holy Spirit will teach you everything and remind you of all that I told you” (Jn.14:26).
Like the “silicon chip” of a computer, the Holy Spirit “processes” in us the meaning of the words of the Sacred Scriptures so that we can respond accordingly to the many issues presented to us by the modern world. In that way, we continue to become the presence of Jesus Christ today where some people have become not only senseless but also loveless, causing so many pains and miseries among us.
I Don’t Like Mondays reminds us that despite the modern technologies we have today, what is still most essential among us is the love we have inside, the respect and concern we have for others around us. And this can only be found in Jesus Christ who dwells inside our hearts. Let us “switch” him on and become his presence of love and mercy in this world that is becoming heartless and even senseless sometimes.
Clouds over the vast desert of Egypt going to Cairo, 07 May 2019.
Thank you for following our LordMyChef Sunday Music.
It is nice to be back again this Sunday with a music from the Bee Gees with their second international hit single called “To Love Somebody” released in 1967.
According to Barry Gibb, the only surviving member of one of the world’s most successful musical group composed of his late brothers Robin and Maurice (and Andy), To Love Somebody is his most loved composition because of its “clear, emotional message” (Piers Morgan’s Life Stories interview in 2017). In another interview earlier in 2001, Barry said the song was meant for their long-time producer Robert Stigwood’s gift and brilliance, as a sort of a tribute. He explained that Stigwood asked him to compose a soul for Otis Redding in 1967; they presented To Love Somebody to Redding in New York who liked it very much. Unfortunately, Redding never had the chance to record the song when he died in a plane crash that year. To Love Somebody was then offered to other artists but despite their good reviews of the song, nobody wanted to record it. Hence, the Bee Gees included it in their first international debut album Bee Gees 1st, releasing it as a single that reached the 17th spot in the US charts and 41 in UK. The brothers reissued it in 1980 and the song has been covered by so many other artists worldwide that included Michael Bolton, Rod Stewart, Janis Joplin and Nina Simone.
To Love Somebody sounds so close to our gospel today when Jesus gave his disciples a new commandment to love one another as he has loved us, which is, “to love somebody the way I love you”!
Of course, the song is romantic in nature but it gives us also a hint of the newness of Christ’s new commandment to love like him that is always unitive, creating a communion and bond of unity with the lover and the beloved. That unity for Jesus is rooted in God our Father who is love himself.
Human love is always imperfect. There will always be people so difficult to love or deal with or simply accept. Even more difficult to forgive. But when we love in Christ Jesus, in him and with him, our love becomes more truer and doable and possible. After all, as the Bee Gees sing in this song, it is Jesus Christ who first loved us too and desired so much that unity in him. We are able to love because of Christ’s gift of love for us. Let us not waste that gift of love. Love somebody, the way Jesus loves you! Amen.
Sunset in San Juan, La Union, January 2018. Photo by author.
A blessed happy Easter to everyone! Sorry for the delay with our LordMyChef Sunday Music – I can’t really think of a song that can go well with our reflection about Easter: the need to “internalize” our faith in our Risen Lord Jesus Christ while still being joyful filled with life. And so, we are having two songs in a row for our reflections. After all, it is Easter, the Mother of all our feasts!
Easter stories are always filled with shades of darkness. Unless we are willing to go through the darkness of Good Friday, we shall never experience the brightness of Easter. It is in darkness when we learn to trust more and believe more, hope more and love more.
To help us examine our selves, we share with you Marvin Gaye’s classic “What’s Going On” released in 1971. Aside from the timeless meaning of the song, the lyrics are very poetic.
Mother, mother There’s too many of you crying Brother, brother, brother There’s far too many of you dying You know we’ve got to find a way To bring some lovin’ here today
Father, father We don’t need to escalate You see, war is not the answer For only love can conquer hate You know we’ve got to find a way To bring some lovin’ here today, oh oh oh
Picket lines and picket signs Don’t punish me with brutality Talk to me, so you can see Oh, what’s going on What’s going on Yeah, what’s going on Ah, what’s going on
Mother, mother, everybody thinks we’re wrong Oh, but who are they to judge us Simply ’cause our hair is long Oh, you know we’ve got to find a way To bring some understanding here today Oh oh oh
For our second song in our twin header this Easter Sunday, we have the joyful 1983 hit by Christopher Cross “All Right”. Amid all the darkness we are going through in our lives, Jesus continues to walk with us, listening to us, and most of all sharing with us. With Jesus we can all make it!
I know, I know what’s on your mind And I know it gets tough sometimes. But you can give it one more try to find another reason why, You should pick it up and try it again â??Cause it’s all right – I think we’re gonna make it, I think it might just work out this time. It’s all right – I think we’re gonna make it I think it might work out fine this time It’s all right – I think we’re gonna make it I think it might just work out, cause it’s not too late for that too late for me.
A painting of the road to Emmaus with Jesus from Google.
lordmychef.com 