223 total views

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Monday in the Third Week of Easter, 24 April 2023
Acts 6:8-15   ><)))*> + <*(((><   John 6:22-29

Many times
people ask me 
how your face looks like,
Lord?
Often I tell them you
are spirit like the angels
without a physical face
as we know so well
but even I, dear Lord,
wonder too how your face
really looks like.

Today's first reading 
does not give us a direct 
answer to that but somehow
helps us a lot in finding 
the meaning of what's 
in a face, inviting us to
face our face.

All who sat in the Sanhedrin looked intently at him (Stephen) and saw that his face was like the face of an angel.

Acts 6:15

In Genesis,
we are told you created us
in your image and likeness,
O God, the crowning glory 
of all your creation;
image and likeness imply a face,
an identity, a recognition;
O Lord, help us to find your face,
to imitate your face,
to have a face like yours
that must be totally 
different from the face 
of those in the Sanhedrin
who looked intently at Stephen.
How sad that it is either we 
could not look at the face of
others because of lack of interest 
or with anger and suspicion that we
look intently for the wrong reason; 
what a face we have filled
with malevolence and negativities,
locked in ourselves unlike the face of
an angel, your face that must be aglow
with love and joy, openness and
kindness!

On the other hand,
like those people looking
for Jesus who found him at
Capernaum, we also have 
a thick face, a shameless one 
that sees the other face for self-interests;
no matter how we hide what's
in our heart, the face would 
always show and radiate
what is inside us!

And so we pray,
dear Jesus today,
as we face another week
of work and studies,
another week of showing
our face, looking or avoiding
other's faces, let us face
the truth within us
by purifying our hearts
of our pride so that our
face may be filled with warmth
and tenderness to reflect 
your presence in our hearts.
Amen.