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The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Wednesday, Memorial of St. Vincent, Deacon & Martyr, 22 January 2025 Hebrews 7:1-3, 15-17 <*((((>< + ><))))*> Mark 3:1-6
Dearest Jesus: Your words today are so difficult; I cannot imagine you angry as you looked at the Pharisees "with anger and grieved at their hardness of heart" (Mark 3:5); but, as I imagined your face, Lord, I experienced deep in me what made you angry enough to do something so drastic like healing the withered hand of a man on a sabbath: it was purely love, it was not anger due to hate and bitterness but magnanimity or generosity despite and in spite of everything because you are indeed, Jesus our High Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek:
Melchizedek, king of Salem and priest of God Most High… His name first means righteous king, and he was also “king of Salem,” that is, king of peace. Without father, mother, or ancestry, without beginning of days or end of life, thus made to resemble the Son of God, he remains a priest forever (Hebrews 7:1, 2-3).
Let me examine myself what is it about you, Jesus that I am so afraid of you and made me many times like the Pharisees be so hardened against you; take away my stony heart, dear Jesus and give me a natural heart that beats with firm faith, fervent hope, and unceasing love and charity for others especially those in need and those lost.
Like your deacon and martyr St. Vincent, the first martyr of Spain, fill me Jesus with your peace and tranquility to bear all sufferings that his jailer repented and was converted; make me magnanimous, Jesus, like you especially in this time when losers refuse to accept defeat that they insist on their wrongful ways due to hardened hearts. Amen.
