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The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Wednesday in the Twenty-fourth Week of Ordinary Time, Year II, 18 September 2024
1 Corinthians 12:31-13:13 <*{{{{>< + ><}}}}*> Luke 7:31-35
What a lovely Wednesday today, O God our merciful Father! Thank you for this wonderful moment, thank you for your presence, thank you for the gift of life. Thank you for the love.
St. Paul tells us today that love is the greatest of all your gifts, O God because no amount of goodness and giftedness will ever be worthy without love. And what is love? Love is. That is, being present always. Never absent. Love happens in the present moment, never in the past nor the future. That is why love is patient, love is kind, love is not jealous, love is not pompous, love is not inflated, love is not rude, love is not self-interested, love is not quick-tempered, love does not brood over injury, love does not rejoice over wrongdoing, love rejoices with the truth, love bears all things, love believes all things, love hopes all things, love endures all things (1 Corinthians 13:4-7) because precisely, love is always in present tense.
Jesus said to the crowds: “Then to what shall I compare the people of this generation? What are they like? They are the children who sit in the marketplace and call to one another, ‘We played the flute for you, but you did not dance. We sang a dirge, but you did not weep’” (Luke 7:31-32).
Forgive us, dear Jesus for being loveless, always missing every moment to love, missing every chance to be kind to others, for desiring and having always the best intentions but never having even the the smallest kind deeds for anyone; let us live in every present moment, that thin line between here and now called present which is the other word for gift. Let us live, O Lord, in love, finding and cherishing the gift of every presence right here, right now. By being a gift too to others in You. Amen.
