The Sound of Silence by Simon and Garfunkel (1964)

The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Music, 07 April 2019

*Photo by Dra. Mai Dela Pena in Athens, Greece, April 2017.*

Hello…! Today is the last Sunday of Lent. It is hoped that by this time since Ash Wednesday, we have slowly acquired a contemplative spirit of prayerful silence. It is something very essential not only during these 40 days and in the coming Holy Week. It is only in silence can we truly find balance in life as we discover what is valuable and what is worthless, things that last and things that pass. Silence teaches us to slow down, to be more discerning, and more trusting. It is in silence where we learn to pray deeply, to enter into communion with God to allow Him to suffuse us with His love and grace, mercy and forgiveness to be transformed into a better person.

In today’s gospel only found in St. John’s account, we find the remarkable silence of Jesus Christ among the crowd demanding his opinion on whether the woman caught committing adultery should be stoned to death or not as per the Law given by Moses. Jesus chose to be silent so we may realize that issues of sin and evil are best resolved in a contemplative spirit where we find the value of every person.

“Condemn the sin, not the sinner.” History has shown us that where there is severity in measures against evil, we find only more deaths and burials happening but never peace and justice. In Christ Jesus, we have found and experienced God’s mercy so abounding and closest to us sinners if we are truly sorry and ready to change. It is in silence where we discover our sinfulness that leads us to conversion which leads us to more silence which is the contemplative spirit.

*Photo by Mr. Raffy Tima of GMA7-News, Natonin, Mountain Province after landslides, Nov. 2018.*

In the spirit of this Sunday gospel about the woman caught committing adultery, I invite you to listen anew to Paul Simon’s classic “The Sound of Silence” first released in 1964 with his friend Art Garfunkel. It was a commercial flop upon its release but, “silently” the following year when some radio stations started playing it in Florida and Boston areas when it gained followers, forcing Columbia records to rerelease the song in 1965.

 
Hello darkness, my old friend
I've come to talk with you again
Because a vision softly creeping
Left its seeds while I was sleeping
And the vision that was planted in my brain
Still remains
Within the sound of silence

In restless dreams I walked alone
Narrow streets of cobblestone
'Neath the halo of a street lamp
I turned my collar to the cold and damp
When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light
That split the night
And touched the sound of silence

 And in the naked light I saw
Ten thousand people, maybe more
People talking without speaking
People hearing without listening
People writing songs that voices never share
No one dared
Disturb the sound of silence

"Fools" said I, "You do not know
Silence like a cancer grows
Hear my words that I might teach you
Take my arms that I might reach you"
But my words like silent raindrops fell
And echoed in the wells of silence

*Sunset at Fatima Shrine, Portugal by Arch. Philip Santiago, October 2018.*

And the people bowed and prayed
To the neon god they made
And the sign flashed out its warning
In the words that it was forming

And the sign said, "The words of the prophets
Are written on the subway walls
And tenement halls"
And whispered in the sounds of silence

https://youtu.be/f7McpVPlidc

“I’ll Always Stay In Love This Way” by Boy Katindig feat. Baron Barbers (1983)

The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Music, 31 March 2019

*Detail of Rembrandt’s painting “Return of the Prodigal Son” from Bing.com.*

It was still very dark early yesterday when I left Tagaytay after giving a Friday retreat to a group of couples. There were two things in my mind as I drove back to my parish: watch the sunrise over the picturesque Taal Volcano and think of the song to feature in LordMyChef Sunday music today. Upon reaching the intersection leading to Manila still in darkness, I gave up all hopes of seeing the sunrise up there in Tagaytay, contenting myself with my music and the cold winds keeping me company in my traffic-free driving.

Suddenly, these lovely lyrics wafted through the air…

I have never lost the love that I have given you
With all the things that we have all been through
I’ve never stayed in love before
As much as I have stayed in love with you

The Lord answered my prayer! I have found our LordMyChef Sunday Music – “I’ll Always Stay In Love This Way” composed by US-based Filipino jazz artist Boy Katindig and released in 1983 as part of his album In My Inner Fantasies. The song relates how a man tries to convince the woman of his dream of his great love for her. The words and the music plus the muy simpatico voice of another US-based Filipino singer Baron Barbers make this song so lovely (not cheesy) and relevant with our Sunday gospel on the parable of the prodigal son. Moreover, Boy Katindig’s “I’ll Always Stay In Love This Way” is also attuned with the pink motif of rejoicing in our liturgy as we near our holiest days, the Holy Week and Easter Sunday.

Imagine God the Father singing Boy Katindig’s composition, assuring us of His immense love and mercy despite our sinfulness. Unlike Katindig’s song, God had proven His love for us by sending His Son Jesus Christ who died on the cross in order to save us and bring us back to life again in Him! Here are the rest of the lyrics of “I’ll Always Stay In Love This Way” and hope you like it too!

You, you never thought the feelings
Meant for you were true
‘Coz everytime we’re all alone you wonder
If I’ll really never change
And if I’ll really stay in love with you

Love, it needs just you and me to stay together
Even if there’s nothing more
The best is there forever
Love, we have to stay this way in love forever
Even if you change your ways
I’ll always stay this way’

Coz I, I will always stay this way in love with you
I will always stay this way in love with you
I will always stay in love this way

You, you never thought the feelings
Meant for you were true
‘Coz everytime we’re all alone you wonder
If I’ll really never change
And if I’ll really stay in love with you

Love…
It needs just you and me to stay together
Even if there’s nothing more
The best is there forever
Love…
We have to stay this way in love forever
Even if you change your ways
I’ll always stay this way

‘Coz I, I will always stay this way in love with you
I will always stay this way in love with you
I will always stay this way in love with you
I will always stay this way in love with you

“Everybody Wants to Rule the World” by Tears for Fears (1985)

The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Music, 24 March 2019

It’s a very humid third Sunday of Lent, perfect for a New Wave music from the 80’s to remind us of the season’s call for conversion. But before going to our music, a little background about our gospel today that sounds like our news headlines.

Pontius Pilate massacred a great number of Galileans while many others were killed in an accident at Siloe. People were talking about the tragedies, blaming all victims as sinners being punished by God. But Jesus stopped all their blaming games, warning them that unless they repent and change their ways, they could also perish and suffer the same fate.

For Jesus, all the problems and sufferings in the world are either directly or indirectly caused by sins. He is not trying to offer a simplistic approach but invites us to see events in history as well as in our personal lives as calls to conversion, that is, turning our hearts back to God so we may experience the deeper meaning of life.

How sad that since His coming, after offering Himself on the Cross and rising to new life on Easter, mankind has continued to ignore Jesus Christ and His call to conversion. This is the reality presented by the English band Tears for Fears in their 1985 hit “Everybody Wants to Rule the World”. Wit its superb instrumentation and vocals, this signature song by Tears for Fears next to “Shout” (1984) can immediately catch our attention with its lyrics that confront us with the shameful truths and realities within each one of us like dominion and power, arrogance and corruption, wealth and fame, and total disregard for the environment. Its message remains very true to this day that ironically, has fallen on deaf ears. May its lyrics finally hit us and move us to a conversion of the heart!

Welcome to your life
There’s no turning back
Even while we sleep
We will find You acting on your best behavior
Turn your back on mother nature
Everybody wants to rule the world

It’s my own desire
It’s my own remorse
Help me to decide
Help me make the most Of freedom and of pleasure
Nothing ever lasts forever
Everybody wants to rule the world

There’s a room where the light won’t find you
Holding hands while the walls come tumbling down
When they do, I’ll be right behind you
So glad we’ve almost made it
So sad they had to fade it
Everybody wants to rule the world

I can’t stand this indecision
Married with a lack of vision
Everybody wants to rule the world

Say that you’ll never, never, never, need it
One headline, why believe it?
Everybody wants to rule the world

All for freedom and for pleasure
Nothing ever lasts forever
Everybody wants to rule the world

“Good Times” by Bobbi Humphrey (1978)

LordMyChef Sunday Music, 17 March 2019

For our hot and humid second Sunday of Lent, here is Bobbi Humphrey’s “Good Times” from her 1978 album Freestyle to cool you off and remind you of the many storms you have weathered in life.

Bobbi’s soothing voice, lovely lyrics and jazzy beat match so well with the gospel message this Sunday of the Transfiguration of Jesus that at the very core of His glorious Easter is always the Cross of Good Friday. There can never be a complete and correct picture of Jesus Christ without the Cross. In the same manner, there can be no real change in us, transformation into better persons and “good times” without pain and sufferings with Christ leading the way.

You and I have traveled life’s uncharted courses
We’ve been tossed around at many times on dark and stormy seas
But now the clouds are parting and the sun is shining through
It feels so good to know… you’re here with me,
To share the Good Times, that we waited for so long
I know the Good Times, will prove we weren’t wrong
To hold on to the dreams of how we knew it could be
We worked so hard at easin’ all the pain and misery
Until the Good Times had come ‘round for you and me
And now they’re here, now they’re here

Things may even get worst than better in the world, in our country and in our personal lives marked by sickness and deaths, problems and other woes but the story of the Transfiguration this Sunday assures us of our future glory in Jesus. Let us “stand firm in the Lord” as Paul tells us in his letter to the Philippians by reviewing the many decisions and choices we have made in the past to go back to Christ’s direction to His Cross with more love and faith with one another.

I remember all the hard times when there wasn’t much to eat
And the longest coldest winter, when we didn’t have much heat
But we had all we needed with love enough to spare
Cause more than money we had what I knew would get us here

We fought and won each battle that we had to fight
Made it through the darkness when we couldn’t see the light
And deep inside I guess we always knew that we were right
To try and catch that star….’cause baby here we are.
(Let’s share Good Times…. )

Enjoy your Sunday with good food and drinks, great company of family and friends with some music and a lot of prayers. A blessed week ahead with you!

“The Keys to Your Heart” by Orup (1991)

The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Music, 03 March 2019

It’s a very beautiful Sunday, the first in this month of March.

I have been thinking of so many other songs that best capture our reflection for the Sunday gospel which is about education of the heart when Jesus said, “A good person out of the store of goodness in his heart produces good, but an evil person out of a store of evil produces evil; for from the fullness of the heart the mouth speaks” (Lk.6:45).

Our heart is the core of our person and that is why it is called “corazon” in Spanish from the Latin “cor”. And the best way to understand it is to simply feel what is inside.

Can we really look inside one’s heart as David Benoit said?

The French mathematician and philosopher Blaise Pascal wrote that “the heart has its own reasons that the mind can never understand.”

Another Frenchman, the aviator and writer Antoine de St. Exupery expressed in his book “The Little Prince” that “what is essential is invisible to the eye; it is only with the heart one can truly see.”

And so, I have decided this Sunday to share with you the music of the Swedish pop singer Orup (Thomas Eriksson) called “The Keys to Your Heart” released in 1991. I can’t find its lyrics but that’s the key to our heart – just feel the music and enjoy!

https://youtu.be/ONmJrQsqHe0

“Ashes to Ashes” by Dennis Lambert (1972)

DSCF1487 — *Yehliu Geopark in Taiwan with “mushroom” rock formations at the background. Photo by the author, 30 January 2019.*

The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Music, 17 February 2019

Every year when Valentine’s comes, I only think of one song: Dennis Lambert’s “Of All the Things”. It is probably the ultimate love song of all time especially for us die-hard romantic Filipinos that even Sr. Bubbles Bandojo, rc covered it for a Jesuit CD of popular songs often sung in weddings in the country. No wonder, Dennis Lambert gained a cult following in the country for that song he released in 1972 from the album “Bags and Things”.

Another cut from that great album is “Ashes to Ashes” which I find as a perfect match for our gospel this Sunday about the Beatitudes preached by Jesus Christ during His sermon on the plain based on St. Luke’s gospel. In the Beatitudes, Jesus tells us true blessedness and happiness in following Him is being poor, hungry, weeping, and hated by others. They are paradoxical because they run directly against the values of the world and yet, we know deep in our hearts how they are very true! Life is not about having and amassing but giving and sharing. Dennis Lambert reminds us that in the end, we are all “ashes to ashes, dust to dust.” And there lies the great paradox in this life that Jesus has always reminded us, “Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses it will save it” (Lk.17:33). The saints who have followed the Lord knew it so well and lived it through as well as poets, writers and musicians like Lambert wrote about it too. A blessed Sunday to you!

“Still in Love” by Seawind (1980)

The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Music, 10 February 2019

It is a very lovely Sunday despite the very warm weather. Perfect for listening to the music of Seawind with vocals by Fil-Am Ms. Pauline Wilson who would surely touch your heart and delight your soul with “Still in Love” from their self-titled album “Seawind” released in 1980.

How lovely to realize that after all these years, you are still loved by someone you have loved. Exactly the kind of love of Jesus Christ to us all. In the gospel today, we find Jesus calling His first apostles while preaching by the shores of Lake Gennesaret after being rejected at their synagogue in Nazareth. That is how true and faithful Jesus is with His mission to reach out to everyone proclaiming His good news of salvation. Jesus is the only one who would always still be in love with us no matter how often we turn away from Him or reject Him.

Are you still in love with someone special? Or with Jesus?

Rejoice because most likely, you are still loved by that someone.

And definitely by Jesus!

“O-o-h Child” cover by Lisa Loeb (2017)-

RaffySampaloc Cove4 — *Photo by Mr. Raffy Tima of GMA-7 News, Sampaloc Cove in Subic, Zambales, 20 January 2019. Used with permission.*

The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Music, 03 February 2019

As I was telling you in my last blog, we had a unique weekend yesterday when we celebrated the Feast of the Presentation of the Child Jesus in the Temple because its gospel reading complements our gospel this Sunday. Recall how yesterday we have heard Simeon telling Mary the Mother of Jesus, “Behold, this child is destined for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be contradicted – and you yourself a sword will pierce you – so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed” (Lk.2:34-35). Today in our gospel we have seen the fulfillment of Simeon’s prophecy of Jesus being a sign of contradiction when people at their synagogue were amazed at His “gracious words” in proclaiming the word of God on a Sabbath. Then suddenly, the same people became skeptical of Him, wondering where or how He got such wisdom, asking “is he not the son of Joseph the carpenter?” This deteriorated more when the people became furious of Jesus, trying to hurl Him down headlong a ravine after He had explained to them the meaning of the word of God that revealed their hypocrisies.

So many times we go through the same experiences like Jesus in His own hometown when family and relatives and friends would speak highly of us but later put us down with their gossips and nasty words. Like Jesus when we try to be true and just with everyone, there are those would feel insecure that they would backstab us and even worse, betray us like Judas to Jesus. These are all a part of our being a prophet like Jesus Christ. A prophet is more than being a spokesman of God but someone who makes the word of God happen and fulfilled in every here and now like Jesus declaring in the synagogue on that Sabbath day, “Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing” (Lk.4:21). Sometimes, the more we try to truly love, the more we try to truly care and be kind with others, the more we are maligned and disliked by others. Indeed, no prophet is accepted in his own native place.

And that is why I remembered this beautiful song originally sang and recorded in 1970 by the Chicago soul family group called the Five Stairsteps. This song was originally meant to be the B-side of the Five Stairsteps’ version of another song but due to its meaningful and soothing message of hope and love, it became an instant hit at that time. There have been so many versions of this song that has become timeless as it assures everyone in every generation of how things would get better despite the many obstacles and setback in life. It is the very same assurance of God to us all who try to follow His Son Jesus Christ in being a sign of contradiction in this world where the norm nowadays is selfishness and self-centeredness masquerading as love and service. A blessed Sunday to you!

“Better Days” by Dianne Reeves (1987)

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The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Music, 20 January 2019

It is still Christmas this Sunday here in the Philippines as we celebrate today the Feast of the Child Jesus known as Señor Sto. Niño. The feast reminds us of the most central teaching of Jesus Christ which is to be like a child for He said that “unless you become like children, you shall never inherit the kingdom of heaven.”

One distinct quality of being a child like Jesus Christ is to be always filled with love for everyone. In this age of modern technologies, how sad that we have become more technical than personal that slowly, real love has become so rare among us. Too often love is not only abused and misused but also misunderstood as mere feelings alone. No! Love is always a decision, a choice we make after the interplay of our mind and heart that leads to growth and maturity. And the more we stand on that decision and choice to love, the more it is deepened and perfected in God. So often, love is symbolized by the heart but its truest meaning can only be found in the great sign of the Cross of Jesus where we can find the perfect expression of Christian “childlikeness” and Christian maturity when we choose whatever is more painful and more difficult because we have found someone to love more than our self.

This is the child-like love that Dianne Reeves tells us in her 1987 crossover hit “Better Days” also known as the “Grandma Song” where she spoke of her grandmother not only teaching her but making her experience love that leads to better days. We find in the song her grandmother somehow portraying to us what we have said as Christian “childlikeness” and Christian maturity so that in the end, she peacefully joined God because she had always been faithful and loving as a child of the Father like Christ. That is also the challenge to us of this Feast of the Sto. Niño: to remain children of God even as adults like Jesus Christ. Or Dianne’s grandmother. If only we can be child-like like Jesus or Dianne’s Grandma, we can be assured of better days too not only here but in eternity.

Photo by the author, Dominican Hill, Baguio City, 18 January 2019.

“Waiting for Love” by Sergio Mendes and Brazil ‘77

waiting for love

The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Music, 06 January 2019

It’s the first Sunday of 2019 and we are celebrating in the Church today the Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord used to be known as feast of the Three Kings. From the Greek word epiphanes that means appearance or manifestation, today’s celebration reminds us that Jesus came for everyone especially those forgotten and unloved, the poor and marginalized, the sinner and those lost. Most of all, Christ became human like us except in sin so that it would be easier for us to find God. In fact, it is actually God who searches for us and always finds us. Whenever we think we are looking for God and have found Him, it was actually God who first sought us and found us.

While praying over the scriptures for today’s celebration, one song kept playing at the back of my mind, “Waiting for Love” by Sergio Mendes and the Brazil ’77. Composed by Randy McNeill, it is from their 1974 album “Vintage 74” that features for the second time around the vocals by Gracinha Leporace and Bonnie Bowden. It is a very beautiful song with a haunting music because it is so true with many of us who are so afraid to love, afraid to follow our stars, and perhaps afraid to fail and get hurt in life. “Waiting for Love” challenges us like the Epiphany if who among us are wise enough to recognize and follow Jesus appearing daily in our lives in many occasions and circumstances? Surely, there were other people who have seen the bright star of Bethlehem when Christ was born but why only the three magi from the East came to follow it and search for Jesus? Matthew tells us how the whole Jerusalem along with Herod were greatly troubled upon hearing the magi looking for the newborn king of the Jews as indicated by the bright star! This is what the song “Waiting for Love” is saying, of how often that “(And) it seems I’ve spent my whole life, Waiting for love, And when it comes, I always run away.” This 2019, stop being “afraid of being close where I need to be the most” – follow and believe in the bright star of Jesus Christ! Cheers to more love this 2019!

Photo from Google.