Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Thursday, First Week in Ordinary Time, Year II, 15 January 2026
1 Samuel 4:1-11 <*((((>< + ><))))*> Mark 1:40-43
Your words since Monday
at the start of Ordinary Time
are so amazing and lovely,
O God our Father;
I love, O Lord,
the contrasts presented
between the first reading
and the gospel just like today
that is so unique
with the striking differences
in approaching you,
dear God.
The Philistines fought and Israel was defeated; every man fled to his own tent. It was a disastrous defeat, in which Israel lost thirty thousand foot soldiers. The ark of God was captured, and Eli’s two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, were among the dead (1 Samuel 4:10-11).
A leper came to him (Jesus) and kneeling down begged him and said, “If you wish, you can make me clean.” Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand, touched the leper, and said to him, “I do will it. Be made clean.” The leprosy left him immediately, and he was made clean (Mark 1:40-42).
Until now,
many of us are still like
those Israelites who brought
the Ark of the Covenant
to the battlefront as if it were an
"anting-anting" in fighting the Philistines
who overwhelmingly defeated them;
the recent Traslacion
that many still continue to defend
is something we ought to rectify
or recalibrate by deepening our
faith to put order and solemnity
in a supposed to be religious
activity; show us the way
in witnessing to others the proper
approach to you, Lord,
is like that leper full of trust
and surrender to your will,
not in insisting our personal
desires and "panata"
that in the process we forget
to imitate your Son Jesus in
being loving and charitable.
Amen.
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