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The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Tuesday, Memorial of Sts. Pedro Bautista, Paul Miki & Companion Martyrs, 06 February 2024 1 Kings 8:22-23, 27-30 <*[[[[>< + ><]]]]'> Mark 7:1-13
Dear God our Father, thank you for being for us, thank you for being with us, thank you for being in us; you are our foundation, our root, and our very life. Everyday in nature you show us your beauty and majesty, but most of all, in all history, you have allowed us to express your might and power with our magnificent buildings of worship everywhere that like King Solomon, we pray and wonder:
“Can it indeed be that God dwells on earth? If the heavens and the highest heavens cannot contain you, how much less this temple which I have built! Look kindly on the prayer and petition of your servant, O Lord, my God, and listen to the cry of supplication which I, your servant, utter before you this day.”
1 Kings 8:27-28
Thank you dear God for the gift of missionaries who have come to build churches and schools and hospitals and towns that until now testify to your being with us; many of them have literally given their lives for the gospel of Jesus Christ your Son like San Pedro Bautista who worked only for nine years in the Philippines but had transformed lives from Bulacan to Camarines Sur; he later joined the first Japanese martyr and Jesuit priest St. Paul Miki and other companions in Nagasaki when rulers there became suspicious of their missionary works that have won so many converts. May we remain faithful to you, O God, as our sole foundation in life even in death.
Forgive us, Father, when many times we confine you in our churches, in our beliefs and traditions becoming more focused with material foundations than your divine foundation like the Pharisees and scribes in the gospel today; let us continue to pursue learning in the light of Christ's teaching, sometimes relearning and unlearning things we have been used to by always going back to you O God as our sole foundation in this life. Amen.
