Presence of Jesus

Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul, 04 September 2025
Thursday in the Twenty-Second Week of Ordinary Time, Year I
Colossians 1:9-14 <*((((>< + ><))))*> Luke 5:1-11
Photo by Mr. Raffy Tima of GMA7 News in Batanes, September 2018.
Today's gospel story
of your first meeting with
Simon reminds me
of how your presence
made a difference in my life
when I finally said "yes"
to your call
to give my vocation
to the priesthood
a second chance in 1991
when I resigned from my job
to enter the seminary again;
it was pure joy at first that later
became more intense,
more deep and wonderful
as the going got tough and rough;
it was never easy following you,
Jesus but you have never forsaken me
since then until now though many times
I have balked and even backed out
from you as you kept telling me
those same words you told Simon,
"Do not be afraid" (Luke 5:10).
Fill me, Jesus,
"with the knowledge of God's will
through all spiritual wisdom
and understanding to walk
in a manner worthy of the Lord,
so as to be fully pleasing,
in every good work
bearing fruit nd growing
in the knowledge of God"
(Colossians 1:9-10);
teach me to trust you more
by surrendering, giving up
my total self to you
so that I may continue
casting my net into the deep;
though I have given up a lot,
I still feel I have not given up
that much of myself to you -
take away from me, Jesus
whatever I still hold on deep inside,
help me surrender
myself to you totally so that
I may know you more clearly,
love you more dearly,
follow you most closely daily
for it is in your presence
when I am most fulfilled.
Amen.
From Pexels.com.

The trouble with us.

Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul, 21 August 2025
Thursday, Memorial of St. Pius X, Pope
Judges 11:29-39 <*((((>< + ><))))*> Matthew 22:1-14
Photo by Mr. Vigie Ongleo, Virginia, August 2021.
Oh how true are your words,
dear God our Father
these past days
of how clearly we make
life more difficult;
Monday you showed us
in the Book of Judges how
problem is with us always
when we repeatedly turn away
from you in sin and despite your
mercy and forgiveness,
we still refuse to rectify our
mistakes to lead an orderly life;
today, the Lord Jesus Christ's
parable speaks again of our folly,
of the trouble with us
when we take you
and your calls for granted,
refusing to come to you,
to celebrate life 
in you
with you:

“The Kingdom of heaven may be likened to aking who gave a wedding feast for his son. He dispatched his servants to summon the invited guests to the feast, but they refused to come. A second time time he sent other servants, saying, ‘Tell those invited: “Behold, I have prepared a banquet, my caleves and fattened cattle are killed, and everything is ready; come to the feast.”” Some ignored the invitation and went away , one to his farm, another to his business. The rest laid hold of his servants, mistreated them, and killed them. The king was enraged and sent his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city” (Matthew 22:2-6).

On the other hand,
we waste and destroy
every opportunity
you give us to be with you,
to make a difference in life
with many of us
making it close to you
in answering your calls
but unfortunately
could not keep up with the mission:

“The servants went out into the streets and gathered all they found, bad and good alike, and the hall was filled with guests. But when the king came in to meet the guests he saw a man there not dressed in a wedding garment. He said to him, ‘My friend, how is it that you came in here without a wedding garment?’ But he was reduced to silence. Then the king said to his attendants, ‘Bind his hands and feet, and cast him into the darkness outside, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.’ Many are invited, but few are chosen” (Matthew 22:10-14).

Teach us to be aware
of your presence, Lord;
teach us to be conscious
of your precious gift of call;
teach us to remember always
the gladness and joy of
being invited to the wedding feast
to be one with you,
to work for you,
to do your will,
to be chosen
and choose
to remain in you
to renew all things
in Christ
like St. Pius X.
Amen.
Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Our Lady of Fatima University
Valenzuela City
lordmychef@gmail.com

Seeing ourselves as Jesus sees us

Lord My Chef Sunday Recipe, Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Solemnity of Sts. Peter & Paul, Apostles, 29 June 2025
Acts 12:1-11 ><}}}}*> 2 Timothy 4:6-8, 17-18 ><}}}}*> Matthew 16:13-19
St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican in Rome.

We enter today the 13th week in Ordinary Time with a fourth celebration on a Sunday of another Solemnity, that of Saints Peter and Paul, the two pillars of the Church Jesus Christ established over 2000 years ago.

Sts. Peter and Paul were men of diverse backgrounds with Peter the fisherman, impulsive and so human while Paul the Pharisee was an intellectual converted by an encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus. Both were flawed as persons yet so loved and called by the Lord – Peter as first leader of his church and Paul as its first missionary to the Gentiles. Their Solemnity reminds us of Christ’s call for us to build his Body, his Church here on earth.

While this celebration is about the two great apostles of Jesus, our readings direct us to God’s goodness and grace in his actions on behalf of the church founded by Christ. Its focus is on God, not ourselves.

Statues of Sts. Peter & Paul, st. Peter’s Basilica, Rome; photos from opusdei.org

Being an apostle of Jesus is not about doing great things or being so good but more of encountering and keeping faith in Christ our Lord. By recognizing ourselves as the church – the Body of Christ as we have reflected last Sunday, all of our actions are indeed God’s actions on behalf of the church because it is through us that the proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus’ death and resurrection is continued and completed in this age.

What is essential is we constantly enter into a conversation with Jesus in prayer not only to tell him things but most especially for us to realize how he sees us!

When Jesus went into the region of Caesarea Philippi he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” They replied, “Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah, still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter said in reply, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus said to him in reply, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father. And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:13-18).

Photo by author at Caesarea, Israel, May 2017.

What really happened at Caesarea Philippi was a close encounter of the apostles with Jesus, especially Simon whom would he called as Peter on that day on.

Very often in most reflections and commentaries, we are told to answer the question of Jesus like Peter in our most personal way not based from what we have read or heard: “who do you say I am?”

Of course, what else can we say but imitate Peter’s answer that seems to be the most correct answer.

But, is it really the best answer? Not really.

Paul later in his many writings will declare similar answers but far more better like when he said “For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Phil.1:21).

Jesus is telling us something else in this scene, as if asking us too, would you want to know “who do I say you are?” What the Lord is actually telling us in this scene is the fact that he knows us so well inasmuch as he knows himself perfectly because he is God. In fact, he had said there was no need for him to have human testimony as the Christ (Jn. 2:25; 5:34).

Photo by author, Sea of Galilee, Israel, May 2019.

What I see more at Caesarea Philippi is Jesus Christ’s omniscience as God who knows everything – even that early he already knew Peter would deny him thrice, that Judas Iscariot would betray him, so on and so forth.

Jesus knows everything about us but he chose to love and believe in us that despite and in spite of everything he knew that could go wrong with us later in life, of how we would fall into sin over and over, STILL – he calls us, he sends us on a mission because he believes in us, he loves us.

Many times in life, we forget the truth about the saints who are just like us, ordinary people with many weaknesses and flaws, imperfections and even idiosyncrasies. What made them stand out and did all those great feats for the Lord was because they were able to see themselves the way Jesus sees them.

That’s the very core of the story at Caesarea Philippi – Jesus made the apostles felt especially Peter how valuable they were, how they were all loved, of how Jesus saw them as his ambassadors later when he returns to the Father.

Bass relief of St. Peter at the Malolos Cathedral, 2019.

Jesus had no need of knowing what people were saying about him because he knew himself so well aside from the fact he surely knew what they were saying about him. Actually, the answers the apostles gave him were for them to know and think about why people wrongly perceived Jesus.

Most of all, Jesus had no need to know what everyone of us is saying about who he is because, again, he knows himself perfectly. Whatever answer others would have given about him would have been surely appreciated and praised by Jesus. What matters most for everyone to realize is the fact that despite Christ’s foreknowledge of Peter’s fall and weaknesses, he still dared to call him to head his church. The same holds true with everyone of us. Jesus wants us to continue building his Body, his church here on earth, to make Jesus more present in us in this world so dark and lost searching for meaning except in Christ.

The same thing is true with Paul when Jesus called him on the road to Damascus to persecute the first Christians. Jesus knew everything Paul was doing; most of all, Jesus knew that even when converted, Paul would still be stubborn and insistent, would eventually quarrel with other disciples like Peter, Barnabas and John Mark but still, Jesus called him and even set him aside for a special mission to the Gentiles.

Bass relief of St. Paul at Malolos Cathedral 2019.

Again in his experiences, Paul saw how Jesus loved and trusted him that even he were the worst of all the apostles of the Lord, he was given such great task of proclaiming the gospel to the ends of the earth at that time. That is why in our second reading we find Paul giving up his whole life in the service of Jesus after experiencing Christ’s tremendous love for him.

Like Peter and Paul, we are all gifted with the same faith in Christ Jesus who challenges us to accept the same mission to continue in this modern time of proclaiming his gospel of love and mercy, of building up his Body the church so that there would be a more humane and just society here on earth as Vatican II envisioned (Lumen Gentium).

Many times when God works in us and through us, we could not believe it as happening like Peter when set free from prison by an angel at night. There are times we are resigned with our situations, of being deserving of the many hardships and sufferings without realizing that there are more bad things we deserve to suffer in this life but Jesus spared us because he believes in us that he sends us to some more missions for him.

Lord Jesus Christ,
thank you for still calling me,
sending me to a mission
despite my many flaws
and imperfections;
thank you for trusting me,
believing me;
let me see myself the way
you see me as someone
worth loving and trusting.
Amen.

St. Peter and St. Paul,
pray for us!

Jesus wants YOU.

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Friday, Memorial of St. Francis de Sales, Bishop & Doctor of the Church, 24 January 2025
Hebrews 8:6-13 ><))))*> + ><))))*> + ><))))*> Mark 3:13-19
Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, 20 March 2024.

Jesus went up the mountain and summoned those whom he wanted and they came to him (Mark 3:13).

How lovely to my ears,
to my heart,
to repeat over and over
again as I bask into your warmth
O Lord Jesus Christ
with these powerful account
by Saint Mark today:
"summoned those whom he wanted
and they came to him."
Thank you, Jesus,
for the grace and courage
to answer your call,
to come to you,
to follow you
like the original Twelve;
forgive me,
Jesus when your call
gets into my head than
into my heart and arms
and legs;
forgive me,
Jesus when your want for me
inflates my ego to one extreme
and makes me doubt myself
at the other end;
bless me, Jesus,
to always cherish your call to me
using my name as I also renew my yes
to you; keep me faithful
in being close to you
so that I may share you
whenever you send me.
I pray also,
dear Jesus,
for all the others
you want,
you call
but refuse to respond
and worst,
doubt if you really wanted
them; through the intercession
of your tireless saint Francis de Sales
we pray that you grant them
the grace
to move on with life,
to let go of their past hurts
and sins for you are now
our perfect mediator of the
perfect covenant (first reading);
may your kindness
and truth meet in them
finally.
Amen.
Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, 20 March 2024.

Age is just a number

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Wednesday in the Sixteenth Week of Ordinary Time, Year II, 24 July 2024
Jeremiah 1:1, 4-10 <*((((><< + >><))))*> Matthew 13:1-9
Photo by Hatice Nou011fman on Pexels.com
"Ah, Lord God!"
I said,
"I know not how to speak;
I am too young."
But the Lord answered me,
say not, "I am too young."
To whomever I send you,
you shall go;
whatever I command you,
you shall speak
(Jeremiah 1:6-7).
I have always heard
that expression
"age is just a number"
without really understanding
nor having a grasp of its real meaning
until recently after losing my mom
and be totally orphaned of our parents;
how different it is now to live without
our parents and quickly realize
time flies so fast indeed
because suddenly we are catapulted
into that state in life when we are
in the very same situations
of our parents when we were younger;
now I could feel we are never too young
nor too old to be called and entrusted
by God with a mission in life.
Life indeed is a parable,
dear Jesus:
You come to us daily
whether we are too young
or too old to sow your seeds;
keep us open to receive You
so that we may bear You
and share You.
Amen.
“The Sower”, a painting by Van Gogh from commons.wikimedia.org.

Every kind of people

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Thursday, Feast of St. Matthew, Apostle, 21 September 2023
Ephesians 4:1-7, 11-13   ><}}}}*> + ><}}}}*> + ><}}}}*>   Matthew 9:9-13
Photo by Mr. Virgie Ongleo in Singapore, 2021.
God our loving Father,
on this feast of your Son's
Apostle St. Matthew who used
to be known as Levi, a tax collector,
I pray for all the men and women
who work hard to provide food,
shelter, and clothing for their
families; through St. Matthew,
Jesus Christ had shown us
you love so dearly every working
man and woman who toil and labor
under the most harsh conditions
trying to earn a living.

As Jesus passed by, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the customs post. He said to him, “Follow me.” And he got up and followed him.

Matthew 9:9
St. John Chrysostom rightly
noticed how the gospels mentioned
the work of some Apostles called
by Jesus:  Peter, James and John were
fishing while Matthew was collecting
taxes; oh how perceptive were the eyes
and tongue of St. John Chrysostom!
Because fishing was seen as a lowly job
during that time while the taxman was 
the most despicable person for Jews
and yet, Jesus called them!
Lord Jesus,
grant your mercy and comfort,
consolation and help to all workers
so hard pressed in this life,
especially the forgotten who strive
to earn money decently like our
farmers and fishermen,
drivers and vendors,
maidservants and nannies
who working abroad
to care for other families as they
left their own families behind;
bless the cops and traffic enforcers,
our government workers
and officials who live in the darkness
of sin, trapped in the lures of wealth
and money; in calling St. Matthew,
Jesus showed us his daily passing
and calling of everyone of us,
people of all social classes while
they go about their ordinary,
daily work.
Grant us the strength
and courage, dear Jesus,
to be like St. Matthew 
to immediately rise up and
follow you, to leave everything
behind especially sin and evil,
to be detached and to finally
stop activities that are not
compatible in following
you, Lord; like St. Matthew,
may we "write" your gospel
with our very lives of holiness,
making known to everyone
your Divine Mercy.
Dearest Jesus,
open our hearts to 
intently listen to St. Matthew's
voice and message
so we may learn to
rise and stand
then follow you,
Lord, 
with determination.
Amen.

St. Matthew,
pray for us!

Pray to not delay

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Wednesday, Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul, Apostle, 25 January 2023
Acts 22:3-16     ><}}}}*> + ><}}}}*> + ><}}}}*>     Mark 16:15-18
Praise and glory
to you, O God our Father
for this glorious day of
celebration of the Feast of
Conversion of St. Paul, 
the 13th Apostle of Jesus Christ!
He is the perfect example of
your boundless mercy in Christ,
that every sinner can always be
a saint, that every sin can be
forgiven for your love is more
immense and vast than all the evils
that men do!
While St. Luke tells us of the vision
that led St. Paul to conversion,
the great Apostle himself tells us
it was more of an illumination
when God's light "has shone in our
hearts to bring to light the knowledge
of the glory of God on the face of 
Jesus Christ" (2 Cor. 4:6); moreover, 
St. Paul claimed conversion 
was a revelation and a vocation 
in the encounter with Jesus Christ 
that began "from my mother's womb" 
when God "had set me apart and 
called me through his grace, 
was pleased to reveal his Son to me, 
so that I may proclaim him
to the gentiles" (Gal. 1:15-16).

If we could just realize this most
wonderful truth like St. Paul 
that you have called us too 
while we were in our mother's womb
because you have a beautiful plan for us
in this world, in this life;
that we all have a special mission,
an important role,
and noble purpose in being 
alive, 
in being here
in this world! 
Therefore, Lord Jesus,
let us not delay our own 
conversion in the same manner
that Ananias told St. Paul after
regaining his sight in Damascus
that "The God of our ancestors 
designated you to know his will,
to see the Righteous One,
and to hear the sound of his voice;
for you will be his witness before
all to what you have seen and heard.
Now, why delay?  Get up and have
yourself baptized and your sins
washed away, calling upon his name"
(Acts 22:14-16).
Most of all, dear Jesus,
like St. Paul, may we put you
at the center of our lives so that
our identity is marked by our
encounter with you,
by communion in your Person
and with your Word; help us reach
that wonderful stage of conversion
when like St. Paul we begin to see everything
considered as value is just a loss and refuse
(Phil. 3:7-10) because you, O Lord,
is the only essential, the most precious
one we can ever have in this life; hence,
place all our energy and being 
at your service, dear Jesus and your Gospel 
so that eventually, we may truly be
your Apostle, becoming 
"all things to all men" or 
"omnia omnibus"
(1 Cor. 9:19-23).
Amen.

Being new & renewed

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Friday in the Second Week of Ordinary Time, Year I, 20 January 2023
Hebrews 8:6-13   <*(((>< + ><)))*> + <*(((>< + ><)))*>   Mark 3:13-19
Photo by Dra. Mylene A. Santos, MD, 2020.
Praise and gratitude to you,
our loving Father for this day 
filled with newness,
when everything is new -
new lease on life,
new hopes,
new joys,
new opportunities,
new blessings,
new friends to meet,
new problems to solve,
new situations to deal with,
new chances to grow and mature,
new me!
Most of all,
a new day to renew
your new covenant in Jesus!

Brothers and sisters: Now our high priest (Jesus Christ) has obtained so much more excellent a ministry as he is mediator of a better covenant, enacted on better promises. When he speaks of “new” covenant, he declares the first one obsolete. and what has become obsolete and has grown old is close to disappearing.

Hebrews 8:6, 13
Thank you, dear Jesus,
for your gift of call,
in renewing your call
every new day to be
your disciple,
your apostle like 
the Twelve;
let me value and
treasure, and
nurture your call,
Jesus, by growing
closer to you;
help me overcome
my sinful past
to welcome every
graceful present
in you even at the Cross;
let me renew myself
to you today,
to focus more on you
amid our many differences.
How ironic, dear Jesus,
when we were younger
we love and welcome 
everything that is new;
as we get older, the more
we refuse to let go of the old
to give way to new
like YOU who is ever new
and radiant!
Amen.
Photo by author, Lake of Galilee(Tiberias), Israel, 2017.

More than a visit, Christmas is a visitation!

The Lord Is My Chef Simbang Gabi Recipe by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Wednesday in the Fourth Week of Advent, Sixth Day of Christmas Novena, 21 December 2022
Song of Song 2:8-14     ><))))*> + ><))))*> + ><))))*>     Luke 1:39-45
Photo by Mr. John Ryan Jacob, 20 December 2022.

Did you know that there is a funny story behind that lovely entrance hymn in all our Masses we have been singing since the start of the Advent Season rightly called Halina Jesus, Halina?

According to the story, when Jesus turned seven years old – that’s the seventh Christmas of the world! – the Blessed Mother decided to bake him a beautiful birthday cake. The child Jesus was busy playing with his cousins when his Mother asked him to buy some flour, eggs, butter, and sugar. Of course, the young Messiah obeyed her and went to the store to buy the ingredients for his birthday cake. But, as the Catholic Catechism of the Church attests that Jesus is truly human like us, he suddenly forgot the most important ingredient needed in his cake, the flour. He rushed back home and asked Mama Mary again what was he supposed to buy. This happened thrice that for the third time, Mary was exasperated, wrote it on a piece of paper, telling the child Jesus, “Harina, Jesus, harina!”

For our non-Filipino followers, harina is flour, very close to halina which is come as the song tells us.

Christmas is a story of people, real persons like you and me meeting, encountering God. So far since Sunday we have heard stories of encounters by Joseph, Zechariah and Mary with an angel.  Today, we hear the beautiful encounter between two women so blessed by God, two mothers whose sons would usher in a new beginning of life on earth. 

Mary set out in those days and travelled to the hill country in haste to a town of Judah, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth.  When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the infant leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, cried out in a loud voice and said, “Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.  And how does this happen to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me?”

Luke 1:39-43

The Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary to her cousin Elizabeth is in itself a proclamation of the Good News of Jesus Christ that presents us with the beautiful personages of two women who are “beloved ones of God” as well as “lovers of God.” 

Both of them “believed” in the promised salvation from God through their mysterious maternity, Mary being a virgin while Elizabeth in her being old and barren. 

They both love God so much that they were gifted with exceptional vocations, Elizabeth bore the Precursor of the Lord Himself born by Mary. 

Most of all, both women waited patiently for the coming of the promised salvation in Christ Jesus.

Visit and visitation may seem to be one and the same in the sense that both have a common Latin root word, the verb to see or vidi, videre from which came the word video.  But, a visit is more casual and informal without intimacy because it is just “a passing by” or merely to see.  It is more concerned with the place or the location and site and not the person to be visited.   We say it clearly in Filipino as in “napadaan lang” when it just so happened you were passing by a place and even without any intentions, you tried seeing someone there. 

On the other hand, visitation is more commonly used in church language like when a bishop or priests come to see the parishioners in remote places.  This is the reason a chapel is more known as a visita in our country because that is where priests visit and check on the well-being of people living in areas very far from the parish usually at the town proper.  Aside from being the venue for the celebration of Masses, the visita serves as classroom for catechism classes and other religious even social gatherings in a particular place. 

Thus, visitation connotes a deeper sense in meaning because there is an expression of care and concern among people, a kind of love shared by the visitator/visitor and the one visited like Mary and Elizabeth. 

Visitation is more of entering into someone’s life or personhood as reported by Luke on Mary’s visitation to Elizabeth where Mary “entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth” (Lk.1:40), implying communion or the sharing of a common experience.  In this case, the two women shared the great experience of being blessed with the presence of God in their wombs! 

Visitation, therefore, is a sharing or oneness in the joys and pains of those dear to us.  The word becomes more meaningful when we try to examine its Filipino equivalent which is “pagdalaw” from the root word “dala” that can be something you bring or a verb to bring.  When we come for a visitation, we dala or bring something like food or any gift.  But most of all we bring our very selves like a gift of presence wherein we share our total selves with our time and talents, joys and sadness, and everything to those being visited.  And that is what Mary did exactly in her visitation of Elizabeth where she brought with her the Lord Jesus Christ in her womb, becoming the first monstrance of the Lord as well as His first tabernacle. 

Today we are invited to become like Mary in the visitation of others to bring Christmas and Jesus Himself to others by allowing our very selves, our body, to be the “bringer” or taga-dala of Christ.  The Lord Himself is the highest good we can bring as pasalubong in every visitation we make.  And if we can only be like Mary in our visitations and dealings with one another sharing Jesus Christ, then we also bring with us God’s tenderness and sweetness to others. 

That is why we have to rush, we have to go in haste like Mary for we have the best good of all – Jesus Christ – to share for everyone!

Come, Lord Jesus Christ!
Come in haste like your Mother Mary
so we may also have a visitation of
persons we have forgotten,
we have taken for granted
all these years!
Come into my heart, Jesus,
and let me see my connections
and links with everyone in you!
We do not need so many presents to give,
just our presence is more than enough
for others to experience your coming
especially on this Christmas.
Amen.

Getting up to follow Jesus

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Wednesday, Feast of St. Matthew, Apostle, 21 September 2022
Ephesians 4:1-7, 11-13     <*{{{{><  +  ><}}}}*>     Matthew 9:9-13
Photo by author, Lake Tiberias from the side of Capernaum where Jesus called Matthew to follow him.
You never fail to amaze me,
Lord Jesus Christ with your
unique manner and ways
of finding us, calling us, 
and loving us.
Of your Twelve Apostles, 
only five were called while
working:  the brothers Simon
and Andrew, James and John
who were fishermen and 
Matthew, a tax collector;
the first four belonged 
to the most ordinary 
and lowliest job of the time, 
fishing, while Matthew did
the most despicable job of
collecting taxes unjustly for
Roman colonizers making him
both a sinner and a traitor.
But, you have your plans
that are so different from our
ways when you told the Pharisees
and scribes that "Those who are well
do not need a physician, 
but the sick do... I did not come
to call the righteous
but sinners" (Mt.9:12, 13).
Thank you, Lord Jesus
for still calling me when
I was at my lowest point in life,
when I was most sinful,
when everyone was rejecting me;
thank you, Jesus,
for believing in me,
in calling me to come,
follow you; help me to rise
from my pit of anger and
bitterness, hopelessness 
and desolation like Matthew,
leaving all evil and sins
to follow you
and share you with 
everyone.
Help me, Jesus,
to write the fifth gospel
according to my life
like Matthew
by "living in a manner
worthy of the call I have
received" (Eph. 4:1).
Amen.

St. Matthew,
pray for us!
Caravaggio’s painting, “Calling of St. Matthew” from en.wikipedia.org.

*You may also want to check our reflection on Caravaggio’s painting “Calling of St. Matthew” by clicking this link:

Following Jesus in lights and darkness by Caravaggio