Lord My Chef Sunday Music by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, 11 October 2026
There’s an old saying that goes “If you want to change the world, change yourself first and the world changes.”
So true. It is so easy to join the numerous advocacies today that range from care for environment and providing clean, drinking water for the poor, housing programs and feeding programs and almost anything you can think of but these are nothing if we do not first change our very self.
This is the message of Jesus in today’s parable of the royal wedding feast where a guest came not in proper attire that he was thrown out from the banquet hall by the king (https://lordmychef.com/2026/10/10/crisis-decision-life-salvation/).
It is a call for us to make that important decision to always choose Jesus Chris and be clothed in his charity and service, justice and mercy, kindness and respect for life that all begins in us, in our heart and soul.
That is why we find Michael Jackson’s Man in the Mirror so appropriately related with this Sunday’s gospel. Though a part of his 1987 Bad album, it was only released as a single the following year that peaked at number 1 in the Billboard Hot 100, reaching the charts anew both in the US and the UK after Jackson’s death in 2009.
We were growing up in the 70’s when MJ first mesmerized us as that youngest among his brothers making up the Jackson 5; as we matured into teens and adulthood, MJ was always there as the soundtrack of our lives reaching his highest heights in hit albums Thriller and Bad.
Without any intention of downplaying his talents and genius, for me, MJ’s true artistry finally came out after his death; it was after 2009 as we have seen in the many features and recent movies about him that MJ was more than a superstar and cultural icon. He is an artist par excellence. I realized this most whenever I would listen to his music that has become a classic in the truest sense. And there are three songs I have come to love so much only after his death: Man in the Mirror, They Don’t Care About Us (1995), and Black or White (1991).
We loved listening to his songs when he was still alive because they were groovy, great to the senses, danceable and really hot. But after his death, I just felt surprised he sang these three songs. Unlike his other songs mostly about love and relationships, Michael ventured into social issues that touched souls and consciousness. From being a hit-maker, MJ had transformed into someone who hits our inmost being, awakening our consciousness of deeper truths and realities like equality of everyone regardless of color or race or creed.
Exactly like Man in the Mirror that was actually composed by Glen Ballard and Siedah Garrett who were asked by the late Quincy Jones to write another hit for MJ. But Garret had other things in her mind when she thought about the concept of a man looking in the mirror – into one’s self first to change the world. Jones loved the lyrics and music by Ballard and Garrett while MJ embraced it as his anthem – of the need for self-reflection to change the world. He even asked the two composers to expand and modify the lyrics that included gospel vocals by the Andrae Crouch Choir.
Moreover, its music video is the most unique of MJ’s other productions that always featured him: he never appeared in Man in the Mirror that is actually a montage of suffering people in sepia and black and white as well as the personalities behind the great events – for better or for worse – in history as well as other social realities that invite us to look into ourselves what have we done for the advancement of peace, justice, and equality among peoples.
The opening music is so haunting with keyboards sounding like chimes or winds blowing in the cold that right away stirs your soul, making you wonder in retrospect, did MJ sing this and why did we not realize right away its deeper meaning? Here is a Michael who had matured as a person. And an artist. Even activist. A music that moves you not only to sing and dance but reflect and meditate. Just like the parable of Jesus this Sunday.
I'm gonna make a change
For once in my life
It's gonna feel real good
Gonna make a difference, gonna make it right
As I turn up the collar on my favorite winter coat
This wind is blowin' my mind
I see the kids in the street with not enough to eat
Who am I to be blind, pretending not to see their needs?
A summer's disregard, a broken bottle top
And a one man's soul
They follow each other on the wind, ya know
'Cause they got nowhere to go
That's why I want you to know
I'm starting with the man in the mirror
I'm asking him to change his ways
And no message could have been any clearer
If you wanna make the world a better place
Take a look at yourself and then make a change
Na-na-na, na-na-na, na-na-na-na
Uh-huh
I've been a victim of a selfish kinda love
It's time that I realize
There are some with no home, not a nickel to loan
Could it be really me pretending that they're not alone?
A willow deeply scarred, somebody's broken heart
And a washed-out dream (a washed-out dream)
They follow the pattern of the wind, ya see
'Cause they got no place to be
That's why I'm starting with me
I'm starting with the man in the mirror (who?)
I'm asking him to change his ways (who?)
And no message could have been any clearer
If you wanna make the world a better place
Take a look at yourself and then make a change
I'm starting with the man in the mirror (who?)
I'm asking him to change his ways (who?)
And no message could have been any clearer
If you wanna make the world a better place
Take a look at yourself and then make that change
I'm starting with the man in the mirror (oh, yeah)
I'm asking him to change his ways (oh, you better change)
No message could have been any clearer
If you wanna make the world a better place
Take a look at yourself and then make the change
You gotta get it right while you got the time
'Cause when you close your heart (you can't)
Then you close your (your) mind (that man, that man)
With the man in the mirror, oh, yeah (that man, that man)
I'm asking him to change his ways (that man, that man, that man)
Oh, you better change (you know, that man)
And no message could have been any clearer
If you wanna make the world a better place
Take a look at yourself and then make that change
Na-na-na, na-na-na, na-na-na-na
(Ooh) gonna feel real good, yeah (oh, yeah)
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah (na-na-na), yeah, yeah (na-na-na, na-na-na-na)
Oh-oh, oh, no
I'm gonna make a change
It's gonna feel real good, shamone (change)
Just lift yourself, you know
You've got to start with yourself (yeah)
I gotta make that change today
(Man in the mirror) you've got to
You got to start with yourself, brother
(Yeah) you know
I've got to be that man, that man
(Man in the mirror) you've got to
You got to move, shamone, shamone
You got to stand up (yeah), stand up (make that change), stand up
Stand up and lift yourself now (man in the mirror)
Go make that change, shamone (man in the mirror)
You know it, you know it, you know it, you know (change)
Make that change
The song is more than five minutes and if you went through the lyrics, it is truly like a gospel, a good news that disturb and move us to be dressed in Jesus Christ’s simplicity and humility to truly make a change in the world. The music speaks loudly and clearly the silence of that man not dressed in wedding attire in the parable. May it do the same to us!
