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The Lord Is My Chef Christmas Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Wednesday in the Octave of Christmas, Feast of Holy Innocents, Martyrs, 28 December 2022 1 John 1:5-2:2 ><]]]]'> + ><]]]]'> + ><]]]]'> Matthew 2:13-18
Beloved: This is the message that we have heard from Jesus Christ and proclaim to you: God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all. If we say, “We have fellowship with him,” while we continue to walk in darkness, we lie and do not act in truth. But if we walk in darkness, we lie and do not act in truth. But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, then we have fellowship with one another, and the Blood of his Son Jesus cleanses us from all sin.
1 John 1:5-7
God our loving Father, thank you for sending us your Son Jesus Christ, the light of the world; we have experienced many times in life especially during these three years of pandemic that no matter how dark our lives may be, for as long as we walk in Jesus Christ, there is always light.
Forgive us, Father, that many times we look for other lights; we are so tempted and delighted in following the lights of the world with its vast array of colors that blind our eyes or with klieg lights that put us on spot like stars yet leave us groping in emptiness after; forgive us, Father, in following other lights that turn us away from one another and you; until now, many of us act and think like Herod and the experts of Jerusalem who refuse to follow the light of Jesus that make us recognize you on the face of one another.
Let the light of Jesus born on Christmas enlighten our minds and our hearts to see and follow you, O God our Father, found on the face of every child still in the womb, on the face of every child who must be cared and protected, on the face of every woman, especially mothers and grandmothers forgotten after nurturing us, on the face of every dad especially those working away from family and loved ones, rarely seen crying and rejoicing for their loved ones, on the face of young people so lost with no one to listen to them, be with them, assure them of love, on the face of our health workers considered heroes yet still taken for granted and even forgotten, on the face of farmers and fishermen marked with so many lines of hardships and sufferings under the sun to feed us yet totally left on their own, on the face of others in the margins and the disadvantaged, those forgotten by the society and unfortunately by families: this Christmas, call us into our own Egypt, into a retreat and soul-searching for enlightenment to find your face anew within us so we may find you on one another. Amen.
