The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Wednesday in the Eighteenth Week of Ordinary Time, 03 August 2022 Jeremiah 31:1-7 ><)))*> + + + <*(((>< Matthew 15:21-28
Many times I have felt you, dear Jesus coming to me in unfamiliar grounds and situations like when you came to the pagan district of Tyre and Sidon; for what, Jesus? To test us? Why do you come to me when I am weakest, when I am sinful, when I am in doubt, when I am unfaithful? Why did you go to a pagan region but would not even pay attention to the Canaanite woman begging for your help to free her daughter from evil possession?
At that time Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. And behold, a Canaanite woman of that district came and called out, “Have pity on me, Lord, Son of David! My daughter is tormented by a demon.” But he did not say a word in answer to her.
Matthew 15:21-23
O dear Jesus! Teach me to be more engaging with you, arguing, debating, "fighting" like in close contact karate in order to be intimate; intimacy is more than being close with you but also involves personal contact and engagement with you that best happens in unfamiliar territories like Tyre and Sidon where we have no one else to turn to except you, when we have to bare to you our vulnerabilities and weaknesses, our skin until we are stripped naked before you like that Canaanite woman admitting her being referred to as "dogs" and be clothed only with your very self, with your love and company.
That is INTIMACY, dear Jesus! A most beautiful status and gift but most difficult because it is a journey into foreign territories requiring our complete trust and faith in God who loves us so much.
Thus says the Lord: The people that escaped the sword have found favor in the desert. As Israel comes forward to be given his rest, the Lord appears to him from afar: with age-old love I have loved you; so I have kept my mercy toward you.
Jeremiah 31:2-3
O God, loving Father, keep me faithful, keep me close to you, especially when the path is difficult, when the journey is exhausting. Amen.
