Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul, 18 November 2025 Tuesday in the Thirty-Third Week of Ordinary Time, Year I Memorial of the Dedication of the Basilicas of Sts. Peter & Paul, Apostles 2 Maccabees 16:18-31 ><))))*> + ><))))*> + ><))))*> Luke 19:1-10
Photo by author, sycamore tree in Jericho, Israel, May 2019.
What a most blessed day today, Lord Jesus Christ for you to teach us today of that most essential teaching of yours - of forgetting one's self to the point of giving up one's life and reputation to gain you and eternal life:
Eleazar in the Old Testament, Zacchaeus in the gospel plus today's memorial of the dedication of the basilicas in honor of the two pillars of your church, the Apostles St. Peter and St. Paul.
They all gave up themselves for you by standing for what is true and good and just: despite his old age of 90, Eleazar chose to face torture and death than defile himself by pretending before the people of eating pork as ordered their pagan occupiers; Zacchaeus, on the other hand, disregarded what others would say about him despite his being "small in stature" as a sinner that he climbed a sycamore tree to see Jesus.
Eleazar, one of the foremost scribes, a man of advanced age and noble appearance, was being forced to open his mouth to eat pork… He told them to send him at once to the abode of the dead, explaining, “At our age it would be unbecoming to make such a pretense… should I thus pretend for the sake of a brief moment of life, they would be led astray by me, while I would bring shame and dishonor on my old age” (2 Maccabees 6:18, 24, 25).
At that time Jesus came to Jericho and intended to pass through the town. Now a man there named Zacchaeus, who was a chief tax collector and also a wealthy man, was seeking to see who Jesus was…so he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree in order to see Jesus, who was about to pass that way. When he reached the place, Jesus looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down quickly for today I must stay at your house… When they all saw this, they began to grumlbe, saying, “He has gone to stay at the house of a sinner.” But Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, “Behold, half of my possessions, Lord, I shall give to the poor, and if I have extorted anything from anyone I shall repay it four times over” (Luke 19:1-2, 4-5, 7-8).
As we celebrate today the memorial of the dedication of the Basilicas of your Apostles St. Peter and St. Paul, teach us to have their courage for standing for what is true: like Eleazar, let us never think even of committing sin "for a brief moment" and mislead others into evil; like Zacchaeus, teach us to forget about what others may say about us but what you would tell us.
Let us realize, Lord, that in this life, something's gotta give - possessions and things, pride and ego, sin and addictions - to be truly free and fulfilled in you. Amen.
Photo by author, Bucharest, Romania, 08 Noovember 2025.
I had published my Sunday homily that Saturday morning when I decided to unwind by watching any movie on Netflix which I do only on weekends. So glad it was the first movie I saw, very related with the story of Prophet Elijah and Jesus Christ’s “Bread of Life Discourse” that Sunday.
First think I liked with Lolo and the Kid is its fast-paced story that revolved around the two characters played by veteran Joel Torre and GMA7’s famed Firefly star Euwenn Mikael Aleta.
Second thing so interesting with me is how Lolo and Kid have no proper names at all (I just learned Lolo’s name was Mario after reading the various write ups) maybe because they stand for all of us who are caught in this great race for money and material things but deep inside longing for the more essential and truly lasting in life like love. And people who love us too, who care for us, and would stand by us.
We are Lolo and Kid who many times have traded our principles for momentary satisfaction but despite our seemingly strong facades of pragmatism and “resourcefulness” or madiskarte as Lolo taught Kid in the movie, deep inside us is still our conscience where God dwells, telling us to pursue good and shun evil. Joel Torre perfectly portrayed this beautiful side in each one of us (with his Ilonggo accent) of keeping a conscience despite our sinfulness, like a soft shell we delicately keep whole and intact inside lest we lose everything in life.
Photo from de.flixable.com
Recall our first reading last Sunday about Elijah fleeing to the mountain from an army pursuing to kill him. Elijah felt a total failure like Lolo and us many times in life when after all our goodwill and love, we are dumped by the very people we care for.
Elijah went a day’s journey into the desert, until he came to a broom tree and sat beneath it. He prayed for death, saying: “This is enough, O Lord! Take my life, for I am no better than my fathers” (1 Kings 19:4).
In one of the scenes of Lolo and the Kid, we find Lolo crying, cursing everyone and murmuring just like in last Sunday’s gospel. As he tried to end his life with a knife, Lolo suddenly heard the cry of an infant from the heap of garbage around him. What a beautiful portrayal of that infant left in the trash like Jesus Christ born on a manger becoming the savior of Lolo, a definitive message of mercy and love from God after his apparent cry of “This is enough, Lord!”
How many times have we found ourselves in the same situation, often in less momentous ones than Elijah or any prophet and saint, crying out to God in the heavens “this is enough”?
But, what is also most true behind every cry of “this is enough” that we make, we continue to believe and to hope in God that there is still a way out of our plight. And very often like in the story of Elijah last Sunday and in that scene in Lolo and the Kid, God comes at the nick of time like that infant crying in the garbage heap, a reminder of life and beauty found within us despite all the dirt we may have around us.
From netflixlovers.it
Here we find the Kid, perfectly played by Euwenn like in Firefly, as the saving grace, the Christ-figure in the movie bringing salvation to Lolo. Kid was “the bread of life from heaven” who “fed” Lolo with life with its meaning and direction. And joy found in Kid, the image of Christ Jesus.
Now, joy according to Jesus at the Last Supper is like a woman at the pangs of childbirth (Jn.16:21-22); it is deeper than happiness. True joy is borne out of self-sacrifice, a fruit of self-denial, of loving somebody more than one’s self. This we find at the end of this moving film.
Now all grown up, Kid finally met again Lolo in the hospital a day after his college graduation. Kid brought Lolo while seated on a wheelchair to visit Taba (another character without a name), their suki in fencing. From there, they went to their usual stop, a videoke bar to eat and drink, singing repeatedly Kenny Roger’s Through the Years.
Then, Lolo died, singing the only tune he knew that summed their beautiful relationship.
Photo from list23.com.
After Lolo’s body was taken out of the videoke bar, Kid opened Lolo’s bag that had a tin can of biscuit filled with old photographs taken with their stolen Polaroid camera. The photos did not merely remind Kid of their happy times together but most especially when they were already apart!
Unknown to Kid, Lolo hid to take photos when he moved to his adoptive parents, from his first ever birthday party to his college graduation! Through the years, Lolo, like God, was always there, present in all of Kid’s milestones in life because he is truly loved.
I have never liked that song Through the Years even when it was a hit during our high school days in 1981 but since Saturday, I have been humming it silently, hearing it inside me as an LSS until now. We hear the song playing throughout the end of the movie with scenes of how Lolo secretly took Kid’s photos filled with love and joy amid the strong current of pain within he had to endure to be far and away yet so near to his beloved apo.
If the Kid is the Christ figure in this film, Lolo is the God-the-Father figure, the One who seems so far from us as if He does not care at all. In Lolo and the Kid, there is that message of God never leaving us wherever we may be, whether we are in the squalor of poverty and sin or in the purity and cleanliness of affluence and grace maybe. God like Lolo to Kid is always with us but never interferes, silently doing many things to ensure that despite our many faults and failures in life, we end up in Him and His love.
We go back to Elijah’s cry of “This is enough, Lord!”, our very same cry like Lolo in the movie.
It is a cry that is also a prayer coming from our innermost being when we feel so saddled with no one to unload our woes except to God – who after all is the very reason why we cry! Watch for Lolo’s soliloquy on this reality we often do.
Photo by author, James Alberione Center, QC, 08 August 2024.
It is a cry of faith so akin with love because to believe and to love go hand in hand. It is during that moment when we feel like giving up to God, crying “this is enough” when in reality we surrender everything to God because we have been caught up by Him that we cannot resist His attraction.
It is that moment when we feel so “fed up with life” but deep inside, we hear God telling us like Lolo with the cries of an infant or like Elijah with an angel instructing him, “Get up and eat, else the journey will be too long for you!” (1 Kings 19:7).
Yes, our life journey is still long but we have a companion in Jesus, our bread of life from heaven, nourishing us, strengthening us, teaching us that essential beauty of love found only in sharing one’s life for the other. As we have said in last Sunday’s homily, it is when we cry “it is enough, Lord” when God gives us more than enough to sustain us sometimes in the form of a good movie like this one. May we have more “bread” like Lolo and the Kid that feeds our soul and gladdens our heart.
*BTW, we are not paid to endorse this movie; simply sharing with you its good news.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Wednesday, Memorial of St. Ignatius of Loyola, Priest, 31 July 2024 Jeremiah 15:10, 16-21 <*((((>< + ><))))*> Matthew 13:44-46
Photo by Ms. Jessica Soho, caves of Manresa in Spain where St. Ignatius prayed and compiled his journals, the Spiritual Exercises, May 2024.
Dearest Lord Jesus, teach me to be generous like your servant St. Ignatius of Loyola, like the Prophet Jeremiah; grant me the grace of "positive indifference", of letting go whatever keeps me from loving God and others while remaining engaged with whatever that makes me love God and others so that I may always praise, revere and serve God my Lord and Master.
Forgive me, dear Jesus, at times when I complain, when I cry out to You like the Prophet Jeremiah today: "Why is my pain continuous, my wounds incurable, refusing to be healed? You have indeed become for me a treacherous brook, whose waters do not abide!" (Jeremiah 15:18)
Let me realize that as a disciple, as your prophet especially in this time of so much emphasis on relativism, on having one's self as the measure of what is right and acceptable, of what is cultured and intellectual even at the expense of making a mockery of you, our Lord and God, I have to speak in clear and blunt language, calling a male as a he or a sir, a female as a she or a ma'am, nothing of them or their as singular, of immoral as wrong and sinful, of every life in whatever stage as precious that may all make me be an object of attacks and ridicule even among friends and relatives.
Let me realize, Jesus, my Lord and Master, that despite the trend of many today to wave the banner of evil in multi-colors and shades, we have to be firm in waving your white and pure banner of truth even if it may be old and tattered in time; most of all, let me keep in mind and heart and soul that as we continue to love and forgive even our bashers and haters, we would never be loved in return just like You.
Take my will, O Lord, my liberty and everything I have like that man in today's parable (Matthew 13:44-46), let me leave everything behind to gain You like that great treasure and pearl of great price; give me the grace and courage to do your most holy will. Amen.
St. Ignatius of Loyola, Pray for us.
Photo by Ms. Jessica Soho, Santa Maria de Montserrat Abbey, Spain where St. Ignatius pledged his loyalty to the Mother of God, May 2024.
Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Friday in the Twentieth Week of Ordinary Time, 25 August 2023
Ruth 1:1, 3-6, 14-16, 22 <*{{{{>< + ><}}}}*> Matthew 22:34-40
Photo by Mr. Jay Javier at Tayabas, Quezon, 13 August 2023.
O how often,
Lord Jesus Christ
that we ask you until now
the same question by
a scholar of the law:
"Teacher,
which commandment
of the law is the greatest?"
(Matthew 22:34).
And we have always known
your answer, which is, loving God
with one's total self
and loving others as we love our
very selves.
But why do we keep on asking
the same question until now?
Because, we have always believed
that loving is having,
that loving is fullness,
when in fact, it is the
exact opposite:
loving is not having,
loving is being poor,
loving is emptiness,
loving is letting go,
loving is surrendering
for the one you love.
Just like Ruth,
that Moabite woman,
a pagan who left everything
to join her widowed
mother-in-law Naomi to go
back to Bethlehem;
both of them were
widowed, both were
childless and empty,
so poor without anything
except each other
and God.
Let the words of Ruth
be our prayer today
to those we love
without if nor buts,
especially those empty
and poor, sick and dying:
"Do not ask me to abandon
or forsake you! for wherever
you go I will go, wherever
you lodge I will lodge,
your people shall by my people,
and your God my God"
(Ruth 1:16).
God our Father,
help us to remain faithful
and to keep loving when
in the midst of sufferings
and trials, of emptiness
and nothingness like Ruth
to Naomi; how lovely to recall
that Ruth's love for Naomi led
to her becoming the grandmother
of King David and one of the four women
in Matthew's genealogy of Jesus
for it is loving without nothing in return
that we gain, and it is in loving
even in losing ourselves
that we find ourselves in you.
Amen.
40 Shades of Lent by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Thursday in the First Week of Lent, 02 March 2023
Esther C:12, 14-16, 23-25 > + + + < Matthew 7:7-12
Photo by Dra. Mylene A. Santos, MD, 2022.
God our loving Father,
let me desire only you in my life
so that it is YOU whom I always ask for
and receive,
YOU whom I seek and find,
YOU whom I knock for
the door to be opened
(Mt. 7:7).
Thank you, Lord,
for allowing
me to tell you my
needs and plans,
thank you for listening
even if there is no need
because YOU know best
and that is why,
here I am to you
asking for your grace
of enlightenment to put on my lips
the words I must speak
and in my heart the grace of
docility and surrender to
your holy will.
Thank you, O God,
for always answering my calls,
for building up strength
within me (Ps.138:3);
I am still learning
and struggling to pray,
of totally submitting myself
to you like Queen Esther
in the first reading when she,
like Jesus your Son,
offered her very self
in total submission
to you.
Amen.
40 Shades of Lent by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Friday in the Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord, 25 March 2022
Isaiah 7:10-14, 8:10 ><}}}*> Hebrews 10:4-10 ><}}}*> Luke 1:26-38
Photo by author, chapel beneath the Basilica of the Annunciation, Nazareth, Israel, May 2019.
Beneath the huge and magnificent Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth is a beautiful chapel where one may find a small cave converted into another little chapel with iron grills to keep off people from approaching the brightly lit altar believed to be the site where the Archangel Gabriel announced the good news of Christ’s birth to Mary.
At the base of the altar are the words, Verbum caro hic factum est, “The Word was made flesh here.”
Borrowed from John’s gospel who declared Verbum caro factum est – The Word was made flesh – the one who have thought of adding the demonstrative pronoun here to declare it as the site of the Annunciation – Verbum caro hic factum est – was definitely divinely inspired to remind us that the reality of God is something deeply ingrained in our own realities of here and now, in our very selves.
Photo by author, site of the Annunciation, May 2019.
The angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the house of David, and the virgin’s name was Mary. And coming to her, he said, “Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you.”
Luke 1:26-28
Only Luke has this account of the Annunciation of the birth of Jesus to Mary. And true to his prologue to his gospel of “investigating everything accurately anew” about the life and teachings of Jesus, Luke tells us how the Annunciation happened with all the details like the five w’s in a news report, the who-what-where-when-why as we have heard proclaimed today.
This is very important because it tells us the factuality of the great spiritual reality that changed world history and the whole humanity when God became human, when eternity entered the temporal.
It is a beautiful presentation of this great event so profound and so touching that continues to happen within each one of us every day of our lives, of God coming to us, filling us with his grace because each of us is a beloved, a highly favored one chosen to be the indwelling of his Son, Jesus Christ like Mary.
This is the grace of this solemnity we celebrate nine months before Christmas, that God comes to us in our very humanity, always inviting us like Mary to receive Jesus, to be the vessel and instrument in fulfilling God’s great plans. We are like Mary in everything except in her being immaculately conceived – we are all poor and lowly, mostly a nobody in the society, but so loved by God!
Photo by author, flowers outside the Basilica of the Annunciation, Nazareth 2019.
God comes to us precisely where we are, in our every here and now even when we are most lowly and down, when we are deep in sin and despair, in trials and sufferings, in pains and in hurts because like Mary, even before the angel came, God had already silently started working on many things to save us.
There is always God’s perfect timing when we would meet the right people who would guide and help us.
There is always an Elizabeth that God would point us to as a signpost and proof of his reality, of his wonderful plan starting to uncover right in our very lives if we would stop like Mary to listen further to his words.
Speaking of Elizabeth, recall in Luke’s account that the angel mentioned her to Mary to allay her of her fears upon receiving the good news of Christ’s coming.
So often when God comes to us, fear naturally follows. In the Bible, it is described as “reverential fear” which comes upon an experience of the Holy; it is a feeling of being so small before the almighty God (mysterium fascinans) yet deep in this fear is a joy within about to burst because of the great honor and privilege of being loved and recognized by God. There is that normal feeling of doubts of whether we can do God’s mission or not as well as the feeling of checking the reality if it is really happening at all! Once we have verified we are not dreaming, that indeed we are called by God despite our smallness, that is when we suddenly remember our fellow mortals doing the work of God.
Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God… And behold, Elizabeth, your relative, has also conceived a son in her old age and this is the sixth month for her who was called barren; for nothing will be impossible for God.” Mary said, “Behold I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her.
Luke 1:36-38
Photo by author, Basilica of the Annunciation, Nazareth, 2019.
By this “will,” we have been consecrated through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
Hebrews 10:10
Last week I underwent a surgery. It was my first time to be hospitalized and to go under the knife. Though it was a very simple procedure, I was nervous. Very nervous in fact although I tried to keep my sense of humor especially with my doctors and nurses.
The experience had taught me so many valuable lessons that I am still “masticating” them, trying to find words on how to express those learnings and realizations.
One of those is the discovery of my humanity, of my mortality. I feel I have become more human with that experience when I finally accepted my body, when slowly I have learned to look closely at my body parts I took for granted even so ashamed to look at, with all the blood and abscess and wounds.
Hindi pala puwede na hindi tayo magkakasakit, na mahina tayo, at walang perpekto sa atin na hindi kakailanganin ang tulong ng iba.
As I learned to accept my mortal body, slowly it dawned upon me how it is the true path to letting go and let God with my spiritual and emotional woundedness for it is in our humanity when God’s reality is most felt, most true. It is only when we are faced with the real threat of “harm” or being hurt, of possibly being extinct and gone from this earth when we realize what is to be afraid and finally entrust our total self to God for whatever will happen next.
That is the gift of the Incarnation of Jesus Christ that formally began in the annunciation of his birth to Mary. It is in accepting our very humanity and mortality when God truly comes, when we become one in him through Jesus Christ on the Cross. Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Tuesday, Memorial of St. Sr. Faustina Kowalska, 05 October 2021
Jonah 3:1-10 ><]]]]'> + ><]]]]*> + ><]]]]'> Luke 10:38-42
Photo by Mr. Jim Marpa, 2019.
My Lord and my God, Jesus:
as we celebrate today the memorial
of your modern saint, Sr. Faustina Kowalska
whom you have chosen to deliver
to the modern world your message
of Divine Mercy which is as old as eternity,
I have realized too how I have not
fully grown nor matured in you -
in prayer and in spirituality;
like our readings today, I can see myself
so clearly both in the persons of
Jonah in the first reading and
Martha in the gospel.
Jonah began his journey through the city, and had gone but a single day’s walk announcing, “Forty days more and Nineveh shall be destroyed,” when the people of Nineveh believed God; they proclaimed a fast and all of them, great and small, put on a sackcloth. When the news reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, laid aside his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in the ashes.
Jonah 3:4-6
Forgive me, Jesus,
for being like your prophet Jonah
in so many times and occasions:
always running away from you,
always reluctant to proclaim your words,
and always thinking of myself;
like Jonah, I pray but as much as
possible, I cannot let go of myself,
of the things I know and feel so much
that I cannot let you control
everything in me, including me!
The Lord said to her in reply, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things. There is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken from her.”
Luke 10:41-42
Forgive me again, Jesus,
for being like your friend Martha
in so many times and occasions:
always busy working for you
without really doing your work,
always looking at the shortcomings
of others without seeing mine,
and always complaining to you
of having my hands filled with
things I believe you want me to do;
like Martha, I love having you in my life,
always welcoming your coming to me,
but always forgetting the most important
of all, YOU.
Lord Jesus Christ,
help me shed off the Jonah
and Martha in me; let me be like
St. Sr. Faustina to give not from
my wealth but from my want:
too often, I just give you some
of my time, some of my money,
some of my talents, some of myself,
keeping more to maintain my security;
teach, Lord, to give more of my time,
more of my money, more of my talents
and more of myself so that
I may truly give you the chance
to show me and let me experience
your boundless love, your Divine Mercy.
It is only in totally surrendering
myself to you can I truly pray,
"Jesus, King of Mercy,
I trust in YOU."
Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Thursday, Week XI, Year I in Ordinary Time, 17 June 2021
2 Corinthians 11:1-11 ><)))*> + <*(((>< Matthew 6:7-15
Photo by author, Church of the Our Father outside Jerusalem, 2017.
Dear God: Every day we call on you as “Our Father” so many times without truly knowing the meaning of the supplication “your kingdom come” (Mt. 6:10) which is to submit and surrender ourselves to your reign or kingship in Christ Jesus.
More than being called the “Lord’s Prayer” being taught by your Son our Lord Jesus Christ, help us realize that the “Our Father” is also about our proper attitude in praying which is to submit ourselves to you our God and our Father.
What is the use of calling to you “Our Father” if we decide solely on our own without listening to your voice, to your will or if we choose only a few whom to respect and love, forgetting our being one family?
Help us, O God, to consciously pray and work with others to make this world more humane where we all strive despite our sins and weaknesses to establish peace and justice, love and truth, sharing and caring for one another especially the most needy.
Help us imitate St. Paul with his courage and determination as well as clarity of mind with a dash of some wit and humor in witnessing to the gospel we all preach. May our lives be a revelation of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ we share in him in witnessing his gospel to everyone.
Your kingdom will only come, dear God, when we remain “sincere and committed to Jesus Christ (cf. 2 Cor. 11:3)” who is the center of our lives, our fulfillment, and our key to true happiness and joy not only in this life but hereafter. Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Tuesday in the Sixth Week of Easter, 11 May 2021
Acts 16:22-34 ><)))*> + ><)))'> + ><)))*> John 16:5-11
“Losing One’s Head to God” by Ms. JJ Jimeno of GMA-7 News at UP Parish of the Risen Lord, 2019.
You continue to amaze us, O Lord, with your wisdom and grace, presenting us again another paradox that is so timely to what we are going through in this time of pandemic and quarantine.
Yesterday, you taught us that the best way to get “in” to you is go “out” of our ordinary and usual ways.
Today, you are showing us another great paradox in life where you prove to us again your ways are so different from ours: in order to get “out” especially of problems and mess in life, sometimes we have to get “in”!
After inflicting many blows on Paul and Silas,
they threw them into prison
and instructed the jailer to guard them securely,
putting them in the innermost cell
and secured their feet to a stake.
An earthquake occurred at midnight
that the foundations of the jail shook;
all the doors flew open, and the chains
of all were pulled loose.
When the jailer woke up and thought the prisoners
have all escaped, he drew his sword to kill himself.
Paul shouted out in a loud voice,
"Do no harm to yourself; we are all here."
Then he brought them out, took them to his house
then he and all his family were baptized at once.
(Acts 16:23-33)
Lord Jesus, so many times we resist your ways as we insist on what we know but most of all, because we are afraid of what could happen next. We do not trust you that much, Jesus. Unlike Paul and Silas who were beaten up and thrown into jail, they never stopped believing in you, praying and singing hymns to you while in jail until that great earthquake happened.
Give us the courage to give in to your ways, to rely more on you than on what we believe and others say.
Let us come in to you empty, losing our selves to be filled with your Holy Spirit and be one in you and with you as you have promised on your last supper when you told your disciples that you are going to the Father to be one in him.
Today we pray for those dilly-dallying on whether they would seek medical help and attention to their conditions, for those to undergo surgery, for those to go “in” to many procedures to be healed of their sickness.
We pray also for those afraid to get in to their very selves to examine their conscience and be humble to accept and own any sins and mistakes they may have committed so they may find their way out of their many miseries and mess in life.
You know what is best for us, dear Jesus. Just let us in so we may come out alive and better! Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Friday in the Second Week of Easter, 16 April 2021
Acts 5:34-42 ><)))*> + ><)))*> + ><)))*> John 6:1-15
Photo by Dr. Mylene A. Santos, MD, Rhode Island, 10 April 2021.
Lord Jesus Christ, help me stop rationalizing, reasoning out so often at how you do things, on how you will change us and the world. Let me just trust you and be open to your works in me and among other people, following the inspired wisdom of Gamaliel in the first reading.
"So now I tell you,
have nothing to do with these men,
and let them go. For if this endeavor
or this activity is of human origin,
it will destroy itself.
But if it comes from God,
you will not be able to destroy them;
you may even find yourselves fighting against God."
(Acts 5:38-39)
You always know what to do, Lord; so many times in our lives like in the wilderness when crowds followed you, you ask us on what to do just to test us like Philip (Jn.6:5-6).
Teach to always trust you, Jesus. Though we have to be realistic with every situation like Philip and Andrew when they saw the great crowd of people who have followed you, let us submit ourselves to you wholly, to do as you command us.
Take away our narrow-mindedness and self-righteousness that you work only with us and through us.
Take away our pride and arrogance, making us accept the reality that you can work with everyone everywhere just like with Gamaliel of the Sanhedrin and that boy Andrew never bothered to ask his name when he came to offer you his five loaves of bread and two pieces of fish to feed the crowds.
This Easter season, may we learn that it does not matter at all where we are or with whom we are with to do your works, dear Jesus; what really matters is wherever we may be and with whom we may be, we are always in YOU our Lord and God, sharing you Jesus, only Jesus, always Jesus. Amen.
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