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The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Tuesday in the Twenty-Sixth Week of Ordinary Time, Year I, 03 October 2023 Zechariah 8:20-23 <*(((>< + ><)))*> Luke 9:51-56
Today O Dear God our loving Father, I pray for those going through many difficulties and sufferings in life; those travelling the road to Jerusalem, even inside Jerusalem already, one with Jesus without them knowing carrying their Cross to the Calvary.
When the days for Jesus being taken up were fulfilled, he resolutely determined to journey to Jerusalem.
Luke 9:51
Open our eyes, open our hearts, dear Father to recognize Jesus our companion to Jerusalem, in Jerusalem; help us to be "resolute" like Christ in going to Jerusalem to face Passion and Death to eventually realize our Resurrection in him too!
I pray, dear God, for those giving up, have given up to continue the journey to Jerusalem: those who have been living all these years with dialysis or chemotherapy, those with never-ending rehabilitation due to stroke and other accidents, those living daily with medications and motivations to fight depression, to resist suicide; those nursing so much pains and hurts within not only due to physical trauma but especially emotional and spiritual traumas; Lord, I pray also for their caregivers, their family and loved ones so often pushed to the limits physically, emotionally, and spiritually; console and comfort them with the warmth of the Holy Spirit, strengthen them and assure them of your love; tap their shoulders and whisper to them they are doing well.
I pray dear Father for those grieving, those still grappling with the loss of a loved one; those suddenly thrown into emptiness within and without with the death of a wife or husband, a mother or a father, a brother or a sister; Jesus Christ knew so well the deep hurt and emptiness every death creates; accompany them in the eerie silence and darkness of suddenly not seeing nor hearing, not embracing nor serving a beloved departed.
God, life is a journey; thank you in giving us Jesus our companion; like the two disciples going back to Emmaus in sadness and disappointments, ignite our hearts anew with Christ's loving presence, to go to you, to seek you right in our hearts, our little Jerusalem until we come to you in heaven, the new Jerusalem. Amen.
