Who’s in, who’s out?

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Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Tuesday, Third Week in Ordinary Time, Year II, 27 January 2026
2 Samuel 6:12-15, 17-19     <*{{{{><  +++  ><}}}}*>     Mark 3:31-35

Your words today
are very interesting,
God our loving Father:
both the first reading and
the gospel show us a setting
of people gathered, inside and outside
a circle of crowd; but, what makes it
so interesting is the fact that more
than the location of being "inside"
and "outside" in any setting especially
in gathering and in coming to you,
what truly matters most is our action,
of what are we doing because many times,
we may be "inside" without doing your will
while be "outside" doing your will.

The mother of Jesus and his brothers arrived. Standing outside they sent word to Jesus and called him. A crowd seated around him told him, “Your mother and your brothers and your sisters are outside for you.” But he said to them in reply, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” And looking around at those seated in the circle he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother” (Mark 3:31-35).

Thank you dear Jesus
for coming to us,
bringing us closer to you,
to God our Father,
and most especially with everyone;
how sad at times when we
are seated right in your circle
yet too far from you and others
because we are away from your will,
from your very self, from your works;
it does not really matter wherever we
are seated but where we stand in you
and with you in doing the will of God.

Teach us to imitate King David
who rejoiced triumphantly in the 
arrival of the Ark of the Covenant
where he was closest to God's presence
not because of the Ark but most because
of his care for the people around 
to whom "he distributed to each man
and each woman in the entire multitude
of Israel, a loaf of bread, a cut of roast
meat, and a raising cake" (2Samuel 6:19).

Let us come
to you,
in you,
and through you, dear Jesus
in holy communion
welcoming everyone
with our loving service
so that no one may feel far
and outside from you
and one another.
Amen.