Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Thursday in the Seventeenth Week of Ordinary Time, Year II, 30 July 2026 Memorial of St. Peter Chrysologus, Bishop & Doctor of the Church Jeremiah 18:1-6 <*((((>< + ><))))*> Matthew 13:47-53
Help me deepen my relationship with you, God our loving Father by making me more sensitive to your touch, to your creative hands always forming me to a better self, a better person, a new creation in Jesus Christ daily; let me be still and pliant like the clay, O Lord, trusting you always.
Sometimes, your hands have to smash me, destroy me whenever like a clay I turn out badly; most of the time, those hands of yours Father exert the perfect pressure with the most delicate touch to keep perfecting me like a clay, transforming me into a beautiful work of art so unbelievable considering my origin of a simple lump of clay.
Oh, Lord, how easy it is like your disciples to answer you "Yes, we understand all these things" without really realizing the ongoing process of your hands shaping me like the clay.
One thing very clear with me, O God, is that whether I am smashed into a lump of clay anew or delicately turned into a beautiful pottery, these are both the works of your loving and creative hands; grant me the grace of patience to this tedious process of "trial and error" molding me like a clay pot; keep me "malleable" to the powers of your hands that sometimes are harsh, but often gentle and soft; and lastly, make my heart "pliable", to bend without breaking when the goings get so tough in bringing out the best in me for your greater glory. Amen.
Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Wednesday in the Seventeenth Week of Ordinary Time, Year II Memorial of Sts. Mary, Martha, and Lazarus, 29 July 2026 1 John 4:7-16 <*{{{{>< + ><}}}}*> John 11:19-27
“The Raising of Lazarus”, 1311 painting by Duccio de Buoninsegna. Photo from commons.wikimedia.org
Glory and praise to you, God our Father for sending us your Son Jesus Christ who continues to come to us in various ways: in nature, in the events that happen to us in our lives, both good and bad, most especially in persons like our siblings that this Memorial of Saints Mary, Martha and Lazarus reminds us; how lovely to remember how our Lord Jesus was described as very close with the blessed sisters and brother he frequently visited in their home at Bethany.
We pray for all brothers and sisters now living apart from each other due to work and marriage, raising a family of their own; may they never forget each other as siblings, "magkakapatid" with invisible bonds that transcend their physical separations; keep them mindful of one another, checking on each others needs and well-being, becoming your very presence in each other especially when there is sickness and death: Martha said to Jesus, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died" (John 11:21).
Like the blessed siblings of Sts. Mary, Martha and Lazarus, keep every brother and sister open to your coming and visits, Lord Jesus, that are always in disguise; make our hearts like theirs filled with warmth and hospitality, understanding and forgiveness for each other so that you may stay and reign in our hearts, revealing the face of God with one another; most of all, Lord Jesus, like the three holy sisters and brother, may we share your gift of kindness of being a kin to everyone in you, with you, through you. Amen.
An icon of Jesus visiting his friends, the siblings Sts. Lazarus, Mary and Martha from crossroadsinitiative.com.
Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Tuesday in the Seventeenth Week of Ordinary Time, Year II, 28 July 2026 Jeremiah 14:17-22 ><))))*> + ><))))*> + ><))))*> Matthew 13:36-43
Photo by author, Anvaya Cove Resort, Morong, Bataan, 21 July 2026.
Your words today are so tender, so loving, most merciful of all:
Let my eyes stream with tears day and night, without rest, over the great destruction which overwhelms the virgin daughter of my people, over her incurable wound. If I walk out into the field, look! those slain by the sword; if I enter the city, look! those consumed by hunger. Even the prophet and the priest forage in a land they know not (Jeremiah 14:17-18).
Photo by author, Anvaya Cove Resort, Morong, Bataan, 21 July 2026.
Many times it is so easy for us your people to complain about you being far and distant even nowhere when we are deep into sufferings not realizing you are the first to be so deeply hurt with our plight and woes; many times because of our bloated egos and self-centeredness, we could not feel your being one with our hurts and pains in life that usually are caused by our own sins and stubbornness as Jeremiah lamented, "We recognize, O Lord, our wickedness, the guilt of our fathers; that we have sinned against you" (Jeremiah 14:20).
Photo by author, Anvaya Cove Resort, Morong, Bataan, 21 July 2026.
And despite all our sins, you remain with us, loving us, forgiving us, blessing us for you alone can give life, can promise a better tomorrow, because you alone is our hope when everything is dark and dried.
Among the nations’ idols is there any that gives rain? Or can the mere heavens send showers? Is it not you alone, O Lord, our God, to whom we look? You alone have done all these things (Jeremiah 14:22).
Keep us radiant in our hopes in you, Jesus when everything seems to be ruined and lost, when weeds seem to have taken over the wheat; you always have the last say in everything when all we can shout is a firm Amen!
Photo by author, Anvaya Cove Resort, Morong, Bataan, 21 July 2026.
Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Monday in the Seventeenth Week of Ordinary Time, Year II, 27 July 2026 Jeremiah 13:1-11 ><))))*> + ><))))*> + ><))))*> Matthew 13:31-35
Photo by author, Mt. St. Paul Spirituality Center, La Trinidad, Benguet, June 2017.
How lovely and so practical, O God, is your portrayal to us today of your intimacy with us like a "linen loincloth": the most simple and ordinary part of our clothing we take for granted yet so important and crucial because it is so close, so intimate to our skin, to our private parts; an intimacy we take for granted because it is something hidden, too personal.
But, do we really care at all?
For, as close as the loincloth clings to a man’s loins, so had I made the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah cling to me, says the Lord; to be my people, my renown, my praise, my beauty. But they did not listen (Jeremiah 13:11).
Like that linen loincloth you asked Jeremiah to hide and retrieve later from a river, ending up as "rotted, good for nothing", we have betrayed you Lord, we have abandoned you to follow our many idols and false gods by keeping you in name, in rituals and rites yet compromising your laws and teachings with the ways of the world; we pretend to be close and intimate with you, Lord while choosing to be fence-sitters in situations demanding we make a stand for you, for what is true, for what is good.
True intimacy with you, O God is found in the most private moments when we choose you, when we abide in you, when we uphold your teachings and live in your ways of justice and love, kindness and mercy especially with those closest to us; may we realize, O Lord, that to whom we are most intimate and closest in following and imitating is found our Lord and God. Or sadly, our mammon too for where our treasure is, there our heart is. Amen.
Photo by author, St. Michael Retreat House, Antipolo City, 16 June 2026.
Lord My Chef Sunday Recipe for Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle A, 26 July 2026 1 Kings 3:5, 7-12 ><}}}*> Romans 8:28-30 ><}}}*> Matthew 13:44-52
Photo by author, Anvaya Cove, Morong, Bataan, 20 July 2026.
We now come to the final installment of the last three parables by Jesus that began two Sundays ago that speak of the mystery of the kingdom of heaven, its unfolding and demands from us his disciples.
There are a total of seven parables in Matthew 13 known as discourse in parables which started with the parable of the sower until last Sunday where Jesus repeatedly told his listeners that included us today that “whoever has ears ought to hear”; now at its final installment, Jesus asks us after explaining everything, “Do you understand all these things?”
“Do you understand all these things?” They answered “Yes.” And he replied, “Then every scribe who has been instructed in the kingdom of heaven is like the head of a household who brings from the storeroom both the new and the old” (Matthew 13:51-52).
Photo by author, Anvaya Cove, Morong, Bataan, 20 July 2026.
From the French word parabolein for “along the road/path”, parables are stories taken from daily life that offer us deep, profound lessons and realities especially about God and his loving presence among us, of the coming of his kingdom in Jesus Christ. Unfortunately, most of us dismiss them because they are so plain and simple. Or ordinary, not realizing that the deepest truths in life actually come from the simplest aspects of daily living. That is why Jesus kept reminding everyone to always listen, not just hear.
Listening is more intentional, deliberate and conscious, leading to understanding which is an internalization of the lessons and message said. Our Filipino translation shows this so well: to listen is makinig while to hear is madinig or marinig.
Makinig demands attention while dinig is passive, indicating more of the surface level of sounds and words, not really minding the meaning and context. That is why, listening is more reliable, more certain than hearing that has no intention of understanding at all what is meant by being said.
Photo by author, “St. Joseph Protector of the Child Jesus”, 20 March 2024.
Listening leads to knowing and understanding the what, where, when, how and why of events and things of the story or lessons. When there is understanding, relationship happens because more than the facts and details we listen to, we encounter persons. Pope Leo XIV beautifully said this in his first Lenten Message in February that “listening is the first sign of our willingness to enter into a relationship.”
Now we see the intention of Jesus in teaching in parables which is to have a personal relationship with us his listeners and disciples. Moreover, the very act of listening leading to understanding is a process of formation and transformation which is the bigger picture of Jesus teaching in parables – that we may be transformed in him especially when he asked today, “Do you understand all these things?”
Again, its Filipino translation reveals its true meaning and inner dynamics, Nauunawaan ba ninyo ang mga ito? To understand is maunawaan, from the root word una or first in order.
More than knowing, to understand or maunawaan is to realize which is the first of all others because that is the most essential, the most important. “To understand all these things” is not a question of human intelligence that is often short and lacking, and unreliable. “To understand all these things” is a spiritual intelligence, of the humble and lowly, the child-like whom Jesus praised the other week in our weekday gospel (15th week, Wednesday, 15 July 2026, Mt.11:25-27).
Jesus asks us this Sunday “do you understand all these things” to stress that the kingdom of heaven which is actually the person of Christ himself is a treasure beyond price like that treasure found by a man in the field or that precious pearl a trader had found that we are willing to renounce everything to have and possess him!
Understanding the parables of Jesus is finding “God first” before anything or anybody else. In the first reading, we find why King Solomon is the wisest person of all because when asked by God for any gift, he asked for “an understanding heart to judge your people and to distinguish right from wrong” (1Kings 3:9) which delighted God so much. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom indeed!
God is the first One we must always desire, think and search in life. Without God, we only come in vicious circles of addictions and emptiness and meaninglessness. It is no surprise at all that the most corrupt and vicious people are also the ones who disregard God, who live as if there is no eternity. Without God, we are reduced to mere creatures meant to just eat and survive. Nothing else. That is why some people do not mind at all looking stupid (mukhang tanga at tunay na tanga), without any self respect because only matter matters for them like money (mukhang pera) and things like power or popularity.
With God, we find meaning and direction in everything in life as St. Paul tells us in the second reading, “Brothers and sisters: We know that all things work for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose” (Rom. 8:28).
Photo by author, flower of a Balibago Tree, Anvaya Cove Resort, Bataan, 21 July 2026.
“All things”… including trials and tribulations for they make us stronger and better persons. When we look back to our past, we see there are more things we have to be thankful to God than be sorry and have regrets. Many times, our past failures and sufferings and tears have become our gateway to our victory and comfort and joy.
Understanding the parables of Jesus and of life in general is actually a movement into getting closer to Christ, of being “every scribe who has been instructed in the kingdom of heaven is like the head of a household who brings from the storeroom both the new and the old” (Mt. 13:52).
Here we find the coming into full circle of Christ’s discourse in parables: from listening to understanding which is a process of communion and oneness with the Master, Jesus whose very Person is the kingdom of heaven.
Looking back to these past three Sundays of listening and understanding the various parables of Jesus, we find a remarkable stage in his teachings that bring us closest to him, leading us for the next route of his itinerary which is actually an inner journey into our hearts where he alone dwells. Amen. A blessed week ahead of listening and understanding Jesus among the people we meet and happenings we experience.
*Happy Feast Day to all Lolos and Lolas for today is the feast of Sts. Joachim and Anne, parents of the the Blessed Virgin Mary, grandparents of Jesus Christ.
Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Friday in the Sixteenth Week of Ordinary Time, Year II, 24 July 2026 Jeremiah 3:14-17 ><))))*> + ><))))*> + ><))))*> Matthew 13:18-23
Photo by author, Balibago Tree flower, Anvaya Cove, Morong, Bataan, 21 July 2026.
Help us return to you, Lord, your rebellious children; let us take this opportunity of grace to be forgiven to start anew and to walk no longer in hardhearted wickedness (cf. Jeremiah 3:14, 17).
It is our heart that is always the problem, not your word like the seeds you scatter daily into our hearts, Jesus; many times, our heart are a mix of all kinds of soil - the path, the rocky ground, that among the thorns, and the rich soil; many times we are the problem when we are hardhearted; Lord Jesus, continue to be patient with us, watering us cultivating us so that eventually your words may grow and bear fruit in us.
In this age of instants when even plants are instantly made to bloom and bear fruits, may we never forget that being fruitful is what you desire most than being productive; like any good soil, a seed can only grow into a fruitful plant, whether a crop or a tree when there is openness to the cultivator; three things I ask you, dear Lord as your soil: patiently cultivate me to open my heart in welcoming you into my life; soften me as your soil, Lord, that I may always be open and welcoming to everyone you sent to change the world, and secondly, let me grow deeply and surely in you Jesus so that I may be fruitful not just successful; being fruitful is the more of what we have become while successful is more of what we have done and achieved. Amen.
Photo by author, Anvaya Cove, Morong, Bataan, 21 July 2026.
Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Thursday in the Fifteenth Week of Ordinary Time, Year II, 23 July 2026 Jeremiah 2:1-3, 7-8, 12-13 <*((((>< + ><))))*> Matthew 13:10-17
Scars on the foothills of Mt. Guiting-guiting Natural Park in Sibuyan Island, Romblon caused by an alleged mining without permit perpetrated by a company owned by a political dynasty; from Facebook post of Atty. Wilfredo Garrido, 22 July 2026.
God our loving Father, we pray so hard for our country the Philippines that has become so much like your country of Israel at the time of the Prophet Jeremiah: we have not only destroyed one another as brothers and sisters with our rampant corruption in government but at the same time desecrated our paradise in this part of earth with environmental destruction.
Two evils have my people done: they have forsaken me, the souce of living waters; they have dug themselves cisterns, broken cisterns, that hold no water (Jeremiah 2:13).
From Iskolar ng Bayan FB post, 22 July 2026.
What is happening in our country like in other parts of the world is our complete violation of your first commandment, Father - of having strange gods, of worshipping the Baals of money and power and influence through technologies that at the start were meant to bring us together but have actually torn and set us farther apart; hence, even your wonderful gift of nature supposed to provide us with our needs in life is raped and molested without any respect for life at all by the greedy investors backed by rapacious politicians.
Open our eyes, open our hearts and strengthen our souls to fight these evils, Lord Jesus that we may see in the simple parables of ordinary and usual like our local folks and the nature around us as signs of your grace and love for us demanding us to care for them too because they are all yours not mine to have nor abuse; we pray for politicians and investors alike to see more life and persons not just money and profits in their endeavors. Amen.
Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Wednesday in the Sixteenth Week of Ordinary Time, Year II Feast of St. Mary Magdalene, 22 July 2026 2 Corinthians 5:14-17 <*{{{{>< + ><}}}}*> John 20:1-2, 11-18
“Christ’s Appearance to Mary Magdalene”, painting in 1835 by Russian painter Alexander Andreyevich Ivanov now hanging at the Russian Museum in St. Petersburg; from en.wikipedia.org.
"I have seen the Lord!" (John 20:18)
What a joy must have been for St. Mary Magdalene to proclaim to the Apostles your rising, your appearance to her, Lord Jesus.
Most joyous of all, Lord is how you have called her by name, "Mary!"
On the first day of the week, Mary of Magdalene came to the tomb early in the morning, while it was still dark, and saw the stone removed from the tomb. Mary stayed outside the tomb weeping. And as she wept, she bent over into the tomb and saw two angels in white sitting there, one at the head and one at the feet where the Body of Jesus had been. And they said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken by Lord, and I don’t know where they laid him.” When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus there, but did not know it was Jesus (John 20:1, 11-14).
Many times Lord Jesus I feel like St. Mary Magdalene on that very early morning of Easter: feeling lost or distant from you who seem to be missing or taken away from me; but so often, like St. Mary Magdalene, we fail to recognize you with our eyes because we picture you so differently to who you really are.
Many times our sight fails that is why most often, you call us by name; unfortunately in this age of social media and so many other distractions in life, we fail to hear nor even listen to your voice because we are afraid of silence as we are so afraid of the truth - that you love us so much that is why you have forgiven our sins.
Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni,” which means Teacher. Jesus said to her, “Stop holding on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am going to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” Mary of Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord,” and then reported what he told her (John 20:16-18).
“Noli me tangere” (touch me not) fresco in the Lower Basilica of St. Francis Assisi Church in Italy painted by Giotto de Bondone in the 13th century from commons.wikimedia.org.
Everyday you come to us, Jesus, calling us by name like Mary Magdalene - someone you personally know, with all of our sins and most kept secrets in our hearts, in our past.
If we could just be patient like St. Mary Magdalene in picking the pieces of our lives, of converting daily, of transcending the scars of sins of our past, then we shall hear and joyously listen to your voice spoken in a whisper, so sweet, so reassuring of your real presence, most of all filled with tenderness because you love us immensely, Jesus.
If we could just listen to your voice, Jesus, then like St. Mary Magdalene, we can proclaim too with joyful enthusiasm to other disciples "I have seen the Lord!" spreading you love and good news of salvation. Amen.
From Facebook, April 2021: “There is an urgency to announce the Joy, the joy of the Risen Lord!”
Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Tuesday in Sixteenth Week of Ordinary Time, Year II, 21 July 2026 Micah 7:14-15, 18-20 <*((((>< + ><))))*> Matthew 12:46-50
Photo by Dra. Mylene A. Santos, MD, April 2023.
"Shepherd us your people with your staff, the flock of your inheritance, that dwells apart in a woodland, in the midst of Carmel. Let them feed in Bashan and Gilead, as in the days of old" (Micah 7:14).
Bring us back into your fold, merciful God and Father, for you delight in exercising forgiveness and mercy; we have gone too far from you as we have refused to love, regarding each one as different instead of as kins; we have been more concerned with physical presence without giving much attention to the deeper ties of our relationships in Jesus your Son; like Mary his Mother, let us listen to his words and obey them always, give them fulfillment in our lives of witnessing. Amen.
Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Monday in Sixteenth Week of Ordinary Time, Year II, 20 July 2026 Micah 6:1-4, 6-8 ><))))*> + ><))))*> + ><))))*> Matthew 12:38-42
Another Monday, Lord: thank you for another journey, thank you for another chance to walk with you.
It is your journey, actually; therefore, teach us to walk humbly with you by doing what is right and just, what is good and holy like what your Prophet Micah told the people of Israel.
You have been told, O man, what is good, and what the Lord requires of you: Only to do what is right and to love goodness, and to walk humbly with your God (Micah 6:8).
Forgive us, dear Father, after all our journey in life, we have gone to be so proud like the scribes and Pharisees, demanding signs from your Son Jesus that he is the Christ; after all the walking in life when you have saved us, when you have picked us up after so many falls, when you have sought us to return to the right directions when lost, when so many times you waited for us when we lag and left behind, we still question your loving presence among us, in us.
Lead me, Lord, to your direction for you are the Way the Truth and the Life. Amen.
Photo by author, St. Michael Retreat House, Antipolo City, 16 June 2026.
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