Living Hope Amidst Suffering

Lord My Chef Daily Recipe by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Red Wednesday, 26 November 2025
Daniel 5:1-6, 13-14, 16-17, 23-28   <*{{{>< + ><}}}*>   Luke 21:12-19

*Photo from Fatima Tribune, 27 November 2024.*

It’s the Wednesday after Christ the King when our churches and other religious buildings are lit in red to mark Red Wednesday, the annual campaign for persecuted Christians worldwide.

Started in 2016 by the Aid for Church in Need (ACN), it has been an annual Church celebration with other Christian groups and sects participating to heighten awareness of the continuing persecution of Christians in various parts of the world – exactly what Jesus had predicted to his disciples more than 2000 years ago.

Jesus said to the crowd: “They will seize and persecute you, they will hand you over to the synagogues and to prisons, and they will have you led before kings and governors because of my name. It will lead to your giving testimony… By your perseverance you will secure your lives” (Luke 21:12-13, 19).

For us in the Philippines that is majority a Christian nation, Red Wednesday is an opportune time to reflect about our “giving testimony” to Jesus Christ: how “bloody red” is our being a Christian?

Unlike in other countries in Africa or our neighbors in Asia where Christians are persecuted and harassed, we in the Philippines do not go through such sufferings and challenges. Think of any kind of opposition to the Christian faith we have encountered even in the last 100 years. None. The most serious threats ever made against our faith seem to be mere “peer pressures” of being teased as “conservative” in going to Mass and Confession frequently, or upholding the virtue of virginity. Perhaps, the most serious dilemma most of us Christians have ever had in our faith is whether or not we shall pray or at least make the Sign of the Cross when dining in a restaurant or fast food chain. In Europe and the States, chapels and churches are vandalized and burned but here in the country, those who have committed sacrileges in the past three years were “crucified” in social media with one being sued in court.

We do not wish that we also undergo similar religious persecutions like the other Christians abroad whom we pray for today on this Red Wednesday and send with our financial support as concrete actions of our solidarity with them.

In line with this year’s theme of “Living Hope Amidst Suffering” in conjunction with the Jubilee Year celebration “Pilgrims of Hope”, Red Wednesday invites us to simply witness the gospel of Jesus by standing on what is true and good especially these days our country is so deep into the ghost project scandals on flood control.

Giving testimony to Jesus Christ is letting our zeal for him burn anew within us by not bending into the ways of the world that promote a “culture of death” like abortion and contraceptives, or to the many forms of wokism that overextend personal rights contrary to God’s original plan and design like divorce, same sex marriage, and gender manipulation.

*Photo by Ms. Kei Abad, Kawaguchiko Lake (Fujisan), 23 November 2025.*

Witnessing Christ is being honest and just in a country of such impunity where graft and corruption is a family endeavor, a norm in public service.

Giving testimony to Christ in this time of social media where trending and viral are the new standards is to remain simple and modest even if it is looked down upon, being fair and just even if everyone chooses to disregard them while being concrete in our acts of mercy and charity for the weak and marginalized.

Red Wednesday is reigniting our hope in God which is an expression of our firm faith in him. Religious persecutions happen and abound anywhere God is negated and denied or when a particular group of people insist on their own perception of God.

We Christians are pilgrims of hope because we do believe in the one True and Only God in Heaven who was revealed to us by his own Son Jesus Christ made present up to this day until the end of time by the Holy Spirit. Hope is primarily having faith in God.

In this sense it is true that anyonbe who does not nknow God, even though he may entertain all kinds of hopes, is ultimately without hope, without the great hope that sustains the whole of life (cf. Eph. 2:12). Man’s great, true hope which holds firm in spite of all disappointments can only be God – God who has loved us and who continues to love us “to the end,” until all “is accomplished” (cf. Jn.13:1 and 19:30). (Pope Benedict XVI, Spe Salvi #27)

Hope is not optimism nor positive thinking, believing things will get better. On the contrary, true hope is actually accepting that things and situations could get worst as Jesus mentioned in his predictions of the coming upheavals and persecutions. Hope is putting all our trust in God that no matter what happens in the end when things get worst like death, there is Jesus Christ loving us, comforting us, and saving us.

That’s the kind of faith and hope Daniel expressed in our first reading despite the threats of sure death when he spoke of the God of Israel as the only true God, not the many idols and false gods of the Babylonians. Most of all, because of his fervent hope in God who would raise him up in the end, Daniel delivered his interpretation of the king’s dream of how his days were numbered as the Medians and Persians were soon to conquer them that eventually happened.

Many times in life, all we can have is hope in God especially when pains and sufferings become unbearable, when these get worst without any signs of getting any better.

That is why Red Wednesday’s theme this year is so appropriate, “living hope amidst suffering”.

Hope makes life more worthy and lofty because our sights are not only fixed on this world but even beyond as Jesus assured us in today’s gospel, “By your perseverance you will secure your lives” (Lk.21:19).

And there lies the beauty of hope – it is the most surprising of all virtues as the French poet, essayist and writer Charles Peguy wrote in 1911 in his long masterpiece called “The Portal of the Mystery of Hope.” In this poem, Peguy presents God as the speaker himself, reflecting about the virtue of hope in relation with the other two theological virtues of faith and love. It is so lovely because it is so true especially when I encountered it during my trying months of second year in theology in the seminary.

The faith that I love best, says God, is hope...
Faith itself does not surprise me...

Love, says God, that does not surprise me...

But Hope, says God, that is what surprises me.
I, myself, find it surprising
that my children see what happens and believe things will improve.
That is the most surprising, the most marvelous gift.
And it surprises me, myself, that my gift has such incredible strength
since it first flowed in creation as it always will.
Faith sees what is.
Hope sees what will be.
Love loves what is.
Hope loves what has not yet been
and what will be in the future and in eternity.

For those suffering, those in pain especially because of faith in Jesus Christ: keep believing, keep hoping and be ready to be surprised by God. Reignite that zeal in Christ and his gospel. Amen. A blessed Red Wednesday to you.

Visions and images

Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Tuesday, Memorial of St. Catherine of Alexandria, Virgin and Martyr
Daniel 2:31-45 <*((((>< + ><))))*> Luke 21:5-11

*Photo by author, Cathedral of St. Catherine of Alexandria, Dumaguete City, 07 November 2024.*

Thank you,
dearest God our Father
in reminding us today of
visions and images:
vision in the dream of
Nebuchadnezzar of the rise
and fall of kingdoms and empires
vis-a-vis 
your absolute power above all
in this world;
and of the image of the temple
as your presence made permanent
in Jesus Christ your Son.

While some people were speaking about how the temple was adorned with costly stones and votive offerings, Jesus said, “All that you see here – the days will come when there will not be left a stone upon another stone that will not be thrown down” (Luke 21:5-6).

You sent us your Son, Jesus Christ
as the ultimate sign of your presence,
better than any temple nor building;
clear our minds of the temporal nature
of things, to be more focused on Jesus
as the sign interconnecting us with you
and one another; most of all,
may his warnings spoken in Jerusalem
resound in us today of the destruction
not only of temple but also of a 
breakdown in our relationships
with you and with one another;
may Jesus be our sole temple
and foundation in life.

Teach us to be like
St. Catherine of Alexandria
who spent her life in prayer
and studies to know you more,
love you more and serve you more
even in offering her very self 
as a virgin and apologist
of your truth; like her,
may we be consistent
in professing our faith in you
so that even in the face of
strong opposition, we too
may win over those who doubt you
as Lord and God.
Amen.

*Photo by author, monastery of St. Catherine of Alexandria at Mt. Sinai, Egypt, May 2019.*

When less is more

Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Monday, Memorial of St. Andrew Dung-Lac & Companion Martyrs, 24 November 2025
Daniel 1:1-6, 8-20 ><))))*> + ><))))*> + ><))))*> Luke 21:1-4

*Photo by Mr. Chester Ocampo, UST-SHS, 04 November 2019.*

Lord Jesus Christ,
give me a new perspective
today on this final stretch
of November
and of our liturgical calendar;
let me see this too familiar scene
with you at the temple with
new eyes:

When Jesus looked up he saw some wealthy people putting their offerings into the treasury and he noticed a poor widow putting in two small coins. He said, “I tell you truly, this poor widow put in more than all the rest; for those others have all made offerings from their surplus wealth, but she, from her poverty, has offered her whole livelihood” (Luke 21:1-4).

Every day,
dear Jesus I witness
a similar scene
but never bothered myself
to search for you,
to find you there,
also sitting,
looking,
observing
how we put our
offerings not only to
the treasury but to each day;
teach me to suspend every
judgment so I may see truly
the poor and the rich among us;
open my eyes and let me
move away from everything familiar
to converse and share moments
with that woman,
perhaps share a meal with her
and ask her,
"why give 
all those 
two small coins?"

I feel you, Lord
speaking also to me:
teach me to be content
and grateful with whatever
I have like that poor widow;
teach me to believe more,
to trust more in you;
most of all,
teach me to have less
for myself,
less of myself
in order to have more
of you.
Amen.

Christ the King, the face of suffering

Lord My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul, 23 November 2025
Solemnity of Christ the King, Cycle C
2 Samuel 5:1-3 ><}}}}*> Colossians 1:12-20 ><}}}}*> Luke 23:35-43

I was teasing our campus ministry head for communication last Tuesday after he had presented to me this announcement for our Christ the King celebration today. “Para namang malnourished si Jesus diyan,” I told Darwin as he scratched his head laughing during our meeting.

But, that evening after praying our gospel, I changed my mind the following Wednesday and told Darwin to go ahead with his original artwork because I have realized that the face of Christ the King is also the face of us suffering.

Are you not surprised that on this final Sunday of the liturgical year, we are not presented with an image of a victorious Jesus like that Cristo Rey found in every Catholic home but the gospel scene of Jesus suffering in excruciating pain there on the Cross on Good Friday?

Above him there was an inscription that read, “This is the King of the Jews.” Now one of the criminals hanging there reviled Jesus, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us.” The other, however, rebuking him, said in reply, “Have you no fear of God, for you are subject to the same condemnation? And indeed, we have been condemned justly, for the sentence we received corresponds to our crimes, but this man has done nothing criminal.” Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” He replied to him, “Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise” (Luke 23:38-43).

*Photo by author, Chapel of St. Francis Xavier, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Quezon City, 2024.*

On this Solemnity of Christ the King, St. Luke invites us for the last time we hear his gospel this year to look at the face and into the eyes of Jesus crucified.

What do you see and feel in him?

Ever wondered what the rulers and soldiers saw on the face of Jesus crucified that they sneered and jeered him from below? They were so filled with pride in finally putting into shame and silence Jesus who had always spoken the truth and exposed their lies and hypocrisies.

What do we see when people are put on the spot and shamed like Jesus crucified or like the woman caught committing adultery Jesus forgave and saved from being stoned by the angry crowd? So sad that in this age of social media, public trials and condemnation have become a hobby for many without even checking the accusations are true or not.

Let us move closer to Jesus on the Cross like those two thieves hanging at each of his side: what do you see and feel about him?

Why did the other thief join those below in deriding and insulting Jesus crucified? Now one of the criminals hanging there reviled Jesus, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us” (Lk.23:39).

Have you ever found yourself in the ER or waiting for your turn at the doctor’s clinic with other patients also in pain and suffering? How do you see the other patients and sick people like you? Is there in your mind any tinge of suspicion why or how they got sick? The best and the worst in us come out in such times when we are so down beside another suffering brother or sister.

Or, do we choose the path of humility and sincerity of Dimas, the good thief? What did he see in Jesus there on the Cross? The other, however, rebuking him, said in reply, “Have you no fear of God, for you are subject to the same condemnation? And indeed, we have been condemned justly, for the sentence we received corresponds to our crimes, but this man has done nothing criminal” (Lk.23:40-41).

Most likely, Dimas must have heard a lot about the teachings and healings by Jesus but he felt something so unique and liberating, so personal during those dark moments of excruciating pains when he finally recognized Christ his Savior, the only true King that is why he asked to be remembered in his kingdom!

Finally, somebody greater than him there beside him, saying nothing to judge nor condemn him nor irritate him like his fellow criminal at the other side. In recognizing Jesus, Dimas also found himself as truly human, weak and finite who can only be whole and complete – saved and redeemed – in Christ who chose to be there on the Cross with him exactly as St. Paul had written in our second reading.

He is before all thing, and in him all things hold together. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he himself might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness was pleased to dwell, and through him reconcile all things for him, making peace by the blood of his cross through him, whether those on earth or those in heaven (Colossians 1:17, 18-20).

*Photo by author, St. Scholastica Spirituality Center, Baguio City, August 2023.*

Here we find the beauty of the Cross, of how God so perfect without any need to suffer and experience pain yet chose to go through it to express his solidarity and love for us humans.

It is on the cross when we are most able to identify and be one in Jesus Christ. That is why it is also on the Cross that we enter heaven with Jesus amid suffering and death. Jesus said today you shall be with me in Paradise – not later when we die or after three days at Easter. How lovely that Jesus never promised heaven when he was strong and freely moving around but when he was there on the cross, nailed and dying.

Jesus Christ is the King of the Universe not because of his powers and might but primarily of his being one of us in sufferings and death. It was the very feeling the tribes of Israel were telling David when they came to him in Hebron to reaffirm their allegiance to him as their king, “Here we are, your bone and your flesh” (2 Sm. 5:1).

The people we admire most are not always the best nor most powerful nor talented because often we envy them. On the other hand, we are more drawn with those down and burdened because we see in them our own brokenness, too, that it is part of life and of being human. That is why we easily empathize with those grieving or sad than with those happy or rejoicing.

Our humanity reaches its highest point and beauty when broken and weak as we realize our mortality and similarity with others in suffering needing for a Savior. We are most inhuman whenever we enjoy inflicting or causing pains on others or when rejoicing in their agonies. To proclaim Christ is the King of the Universe is to always see him in our sufferings and among those suffering too like us. Amen. A blessed week ahead of you!

Hollowed, then hallowed

Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Friday, Memorial of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, 21 November 2025
1 Maccabees 4:36-37, 52-59 <*{{{{>< + ><}}}}*> Luke 19:45-48

*Photo by author, Mary’s home in Ephesus, 03 November 2025.*

God our loving Father,
today I praise and thank you again
for the recent chance to travel
and experience your majesty
and beauty abroad
and among other peoples
of different culture;
most of all,
I am grateful to have been
to the home of the Blessed
Virgin Mary in Ephesus;
until now, 
I am savoring,
"masticating" the blessed
experience.

Jesus entered the temple area and proceeded to drive out those who were selling things, saying to them, “It is written, My house shall be a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves” (Luke 19:45-46).

As I recall 
that brief moment of stay
inside the Ephesus home of Mary,
I felt my whole being emptied - hollowed -
and as I knelt and prayed
without any distractions,
no worries about pictures nor of time,
slowly I felt being filled within
by you, O God: from hollowedness
to holiness or hallowed;
that is why Jesus drove away
the merchants out of temple:
every temple,
every place of worship
including our very selves
is a home and dwelling place of God;
the chief priests, scribes
and leader of the people
felt under attack by Jesus
because they were empty of God,
filled of the world and its things;
the people were spellbound
on the other hand because
they have realized that
truly, we are the indwelling
of God; therefore, let us cleanse
ourselves always within
not only of sin but also of
so many things that distract
us away from God 
to dwell in us
like social media.

O Blessed Virgin Mary,
from the very start you have
been reserved by God from any stain
of sin to be the Mother of the Christ
but it was also fulfilled because 
of human cooperation: of your parents
dedicating you to God and most of all,
of your fiat to God.
Pray for us, Mama Mary
that we may cultivate a prayer life
that shall make us a home
to God; let us express our
fiat to him daily by presenting
ourselves to him like you.
Amen.

*Photo by author, back of Mary’s home in Ephesus, 03 November 2025.*

Coming together to God

Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul, 20 November 2025
Thursday in the Thirty-Third Week of Ordinary Time, Year I
1 Maccabees 2:15-29 ><]]]]'> + ><]]]]'> + ><]]]]'> Luke 19:41-44

*Photo by author, ruins of the ancient city of Ephesus in Turkiye, 03 November 2025.*

God the Lord has spoken and summoned the earth… “Gather my faithful ones before me, those who have made a covenant with me by sacrifice” … “Offer to God praise as your sacrifice and fulfill your vows to the Most High; Then call upon me in time of distress; I will rescue you and you shall glorify me” (Psalm 50:1, 5, 14-15).

Yes, God our loving Father,
I could hear your call
and here I am before you,
coming to you
to praise
and worship you
not only with gifts
but with my total self
to serve you;
thank you in calling me
among your "faithful ones"
despite my sins and weaknesses.

Give me the courage
and strength, O God,
 of Mattathias
and his brothers
and followers
to not only stand for what
is true and good in your eyes
but even for a time,
to flee to the mountains
to retreat into my self
to find you by leaving everything
in order to live according
to your will and plans;
let me not be stubborn
like your old city of Jerusalem
who rejected your Son Jesus Christ
that he wept over her coming
destruction.

Let me come today
with your other faithful ones
to glorify your name,
O God our Father
in Christ Jesus.
Amen.

Womanly heart, manly courage

Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul, 19 November 2025
Wednesday in the Thirty-Third Week of Ordinary Time, Year I
2 Maccabees 7:1, 20-31 ><))))*> + ><))))*> + ><))))*> Luke 19:11-28

*Lady of Sorrows from a triptych by the Master of the Stauffenberg Altarpiece, Alsace c. 1455; photo from fraangelicoinstitute.com.*

What a lovely phrase,
dear Jesus for today
for us all 
especially mothers
and all women:
"womanly heart,
manly courage."

At this time when
a wayward daughter
and sister viciously attacks
her own brother in total
disregard of our family values
and tradition, not to mention
the need for decency and respect
as well as a little sanity too,
here comes out in the open
the nobility of many women and
mothers as well as men still intact;
in this time like during the
Maccabean Revolt when many
sold their souls to evil for the price
of comfort and ease, there are
still more like that mother who dare
to go against the tide of insanity
and folly, indecency and disrespect,
most of all, of idolatrous worship
through religious leaders of the many 
sects and cults who use God's name
in vain and shameful profit too.

Keep us strong inside,
Jesus, to be not afraid in
venturing into finding ways of
serving you most than being idle
in keeping your gifts and talents;
teach us anew the virtue of
obedience, of docility
to authority
whether at home and family or
in the society in general
and in other civil institutions.

Lastly,
we pray dear Jesus
for all mothers crying in silence
these days for the many pains
they bear inside their hearts
especially those who have lost a child,
those betrayed by their own husband
or children,
those separated from their families
due to work and employment,
those nursing a sick loved one,
those forgotten even by families
and societies; grant them 
a "womanly heart" filled with faith
in God and a "manly courage"
trusting in you alone.
Amen.

Now more than ever, we are proven right: the past administration is the most decadent in our history with its utter lack of respect for life and for women; that its war on drugs was totally a lie. May they “who have contrived every kind of affliction not escape the hands of God” (2 Maccabees 7:31).

Gaano kadalas ang minsan?

Lawiswis ng Salita ni P. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Ika-18 ng Nobyembre 2025

Hindi ko po napanood ang pelikulang iyan noong 1982 pero usap-usapan dahil daw sa sobrang ganda lalo ng aming mga mommy at tita na libang na libang sa Betamax. First year college ako noon at sa sobrang sikat ng pelikulang iyan, isang drayber ang nagpinta sa jeepney niyang nasasakyan ko patungong Recto ng signage na “gaano kadulas ang minsan?”

Pero iba po ang kuwento ko sa inyo. Hindi pelikula o pakuwela kungdi sa Bibliya.

Naalala ko ang pelikulang iyan dahil sa Unang Pagbasa sa Misa ngayong araw ng Martes mula sa ikalawang aklat ng Macabeo kung saan ang isang nobenta anyos na Hudyo, si Eleazar ay hinimok ng kanyang mga kaibigan na kunwari ay kumain ng baboy upang hindi siya patayin ng mga paganong mananakop.

Mas gusto ko ang salin sa Ingles nang sabihin ni Eleazar sa kanyang mga kababayan na patayin na lang siya ngayon din kesa magkunwari pa. Aniya ano ang mabuting halimbawa ang maiiwan niya sa mga kabataan kung sa kanyang katandaan ay magtataksil siya sa Diyos sa pagkain ng ipinagbabawal.

“At our age it would be unbecoming to make such a pretense… should I thus pretend for the sake of a brief moment of life, they would be led astray by me, while I would bring shame and dishonor on my old age” (2 Maccabees 6:24, 25).

Ito yung nagustuhan kong sinabi ni Eleazar, should I thus pretend for the sake of a brief moment of life?”

Iyon yung matindi sa sinabi niya, pretend for the sake of a brief moment of life.

Magkukunwari o magsisinungaling ba ako maski minsan sandali sa buhay ko?

Hindi ba kadalasan iyan ang palusot natin mula pa noong panahon nina Eba at Adan marahil? Minsan lang naman titikim… minsan lang naman gagawin… minsan lang naman nagkamali o nagkasala.

Totoo naman minsan-minsan ay sablay ating mga desisyon at nasasabi. Hindi rin maiwasan minsan minsan ang pagkakasala at pagkakamali. Pero, iyon nga ang punto ni Eleazar marahil upang ating pagnilayan, gaano kadalas ang minsan?

Yung minsan-minsan na iyan ang nakakatakot dahil madalas ang minsan katumbas ay wala ng wakas. Minsan ka lang magkamali o magkasala o magkunwari, maaring ikawasak o gumuho at maglaho lahat ng ating mga plano at pangarap na ilang taong pinagpagalan at pinagpagurang mabuti. Kadalasan, marami sa ating mga sablay sa buhay ay dahil lang sa binale-walang minsan.

Mapapatawad tayo ng Diyos sa ating mga kasalanan pati ng ating mga kapwa tao subalit, yung minsang pagkakamali o pagkakasala ay hindi na maibabalik ang dating kaayusan. Madalas yang minsang pagkakamali o pagkakasala ay mayroong tinatawag kong “irreversible consequences”.

*Larawan ni Vincenzo Malagoli sa Pexels.com*

Kapag ikaw ay nakapatay o maski nga lang masangkot sa krimen ng murder, siguradong maiiba ang takbo ng iyong buhay. Tiyak iyon, kahit na ika’y matapagtago at hindi makulong dahil habang buhay kang uusigin ng iyong konsiyensiya. Iyang minsan lang na pagkakamali dala ng init ng ulo o kalasingan ay hindi na mababago ng gaano mang kataimtim na pagsisisi dahil hindi na maibabalik ang buhay na nawala.

Ikalawang halimbawa na palagi kong sinasabi sa mga kabataan noon pa man na mayroong irreversible consequences ay ang mabuntis ng wala sa panahon. Patatawarin kayo ng Diyos maging ng inyong mga magulang ngunit kapwa ang babae at lalake maiiba na takbo ng buhay pagkatapos ng minsang pangyayari. Mapanagutan man o hindi.

LAOAG CITY, PHILIPPINES – MAY 08: A dog walks past campaign posters supporting presidential candidate Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. in a residential neighborhood on May 08, 2022 in Laoag City, Philippines. The son and namesake of ousted dictator Ferdinand Marcos Sr., who was accused and charged of amassing billions of dollars of ill-gotten wealth as well as committing tens of thousands of human rights abuses during his autocratic rule, has mounted a hugely popular campaign to return his family name to power. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. enjoys a wide lead in opinion polls against his main rival, Vice President Leni Robredo, owing to a massive disinformation campaign that has effectively rebranded the Marcos dictatorship as a “golden age.” Marcos is running alongside Davao city Mayor Sara Duterte, the daughter of outgoing President Rodrigo Duterte who is the subject of an international investigation for alleged human rights violations during his bloody war on drugs. (Photo by Lauren DeCicca/Getty Images)

Ikatlong halimbawa naisip ko ngayon lang ay ang maling pagboto sa bawat halalan.

Isang lingkod ng simbahan ang nagtanong sa akin na pagtitiisan na lang daw ba natin ang kasalukuyang pangulo gayong sinabi na ng kapatid nitong siya ay adik?

Bagamat batid kong siya ay DDS, pinagsikapan ko pa ring pagpaliwanagan. Sabi ko sa kanya, sila lang ang magtitiis, hindi kami kasi sila lang ang bumoto sa tambalang BBM at Sara noon.

Hindi sila nakinig sa sinasabi at paliwanag nating iba ang kandidato sa pagkapangulo at bise nito.

Ganyan kako ang demokrasya, parang pag-aasawa: hindi ka nakinig sa paliwanag ng iba, tapos nagkamali ka sa iyong pinili – aba, pagtiiisan mo. Minsan ka lang nga gumawa ng desisyon ngunit hindi mo sinuring mabuti ni pinagdasalan, pagdusahan mo. Ganun talaga. Kaya hindi uubra ang pagpapababa sa kasalukuyang pangulo na katulad ng sinasabi ng ilan na magdiborsiyo ang mag-asawa dahil minsan lang nagkamali.

Huwag tayong palilinlang sa minsan. May kasabihan sa Ingles na the devil is in the details: nasa mumunting bagay o detalye ang demonyo na mismong uri ng ating minsan na madalas ituring lang naman.

Pag-aralang mabuti mga bagay-bagay lahat na may kinalaman sa pagpapasya na makaka-apekto sa takbo ng buhay natin. Hindi maaring sabihin minsan lang dahil kung madalas ang minsan-minsan, bisyo na iyan!

Pagnilayan po natin yung minsan… gaano kadalas yung ating minsan na sa atin ay nagpahamak? Salamuch kaibigan. God bless!

Something’s got to give

Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul, 18 November 2025
Tuesday in the Thirty-Third Week of Ordinary Time, Year I
Memorial of the Dedication of the Basilicas of Sts. Peter & Paul, Apostles
2 Maccabees 16:18-31 ><))))*> + ><))))*> + ><))))*> Luke 19:1-10

*Photo by author, sycamore tree in Jericho, Israel, May 2019.*

What a most blessed day today,
Lord Jesus Christ for you
to teach us today of that
most essential teaching of yours -
of forgetting one's self
to the point of giving up one's
life and reputation to gain you
and eternal life:

Eleazar in the Old Testament,
Zacchaeus in the gospel
plus today's memorial of the
dedication of the basilicas in honor
of the two pillars of your church,
the Apostles
St. Peter and St. Paul.

They all gave up themselves
for you by standing for what is 
true and good and just:
despite his old age of 90,
Eleazar chose to face torture
and death than defile himself
by pretending before the people
of eating pork as ordered their
pagan occupiers; Zacchaeus, 
on the other hand, disregarded
what others would say about him
despite his being "small in stature"
as a sinner that he climbed a sycamore
tree to see Jesus.

Eleazar, one of the foremost scribes, a man of advanced age and noble appearance, was being forced to open his mouth to eat pork… He told them to send him at once to the abode of the dead, explaining, “At our age it would be unbecoming to make such a pretense… should I thus pretend for the sake of a brief moment of life, they would be led astray by me, while I would bring shame and dishonor on my old age” (2 Maccabees 6:18, 24, 25).

At that time Jesus came to Jericho and intended to pass through the town. Now a man there named Zacchaeus, who was a chief tax collector and also a wealthy man, was seeking to see who Jesus was…so he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree in order to see Jesus, who was about to pass that way. When he reached the place, Jesus looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down quickly for today I must stay at your house… When they all saw this, they began to grumlbe, saying, “He has gone to stay at the house of a sinner.” But Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, “Behold, half of my possessions, Lord, I shall give to the poor, and if I have extorted anything from anyone I shall repay it four times over” (Luke 19:1-2, 4-5, 7-8).

As we celebrate today
the memorial of the dedication
of the Basilicas of your Apostles
St. Peter and St. Paul,
teach us to have their courage
for standing for what is true:
like Eleazar, let us never think
even of committing sin "for a brief
moment" and mislead others
into evil; like Zacchaeus, teach us
to forget about what others may
say about us but what you would 
tell us.

Let us realize, Lord,
that in this life,
something's gotta give -
possessions and things,
pride and ego,
sin and addictions -
to be truly free
and fulfilled in you.
Amen.

*Photo by author, Bucharest, Romania, 08 Noovember 2025.*

When things are not clear with us

Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul, 17 November 2025
Monday in the Thirty-Third Week of Ordinary Time, Year I
Memorial of St. Elizabeth of Hungary, Religious
1 Maccabees 1:10-15, 41-43, 54-57, 62-63   <*(((>< + ><)))*>   Luke 16:35-43

*Photo by Fabrizio Verrecchia on Pexels.com*

Jesus asked him,
"What do you want me
to do for you?"
He replied, 
"Lord, please let me see."
Jesus told him,
"Have sight;
your faith has saved you"
(Luke 18:40-42).

What a touching story
for this Monday
as we quickly approach
the end of our liturgical
calendar,
when Jesus likewise
in the gospel is on his final
journey before his Passion
to Jerusalem.

"What do you want me
to do for you?"

Honestly,
Lord Jesus,
I do not know
 what I really want
in life;
as I get older,
it seems the
more I get confused
and afraid of many things
as I start to feel my body
ageing, getting weaker,
forgetting a lot of things,
feeling desperate at times
like that blind man at the roadside.

And so,
I cry out to you too
like him with
"Jesus, Son of David,
have pity on me!"
This time I know what I want
from you:
like him,
let me have sight;
clear my mind
and my heart
and my soul
of all doubts and fears,
hesitations
and mistrust
that I too may leave
the "roadside"
to follow you closer on
the road to Jerusalem
like St. Elizabeth of Hungary,
praying more,
believing more,
giving up more,
and giving more
of myself to you
through others.
Amen.

Today we also pray
in a special way to all
those having problems
with their in-laws,
those grieving the lost
of a child,
and widows:
O St. Elizabeth of Hungary,
you went all through
these pains and sufferings,
please pray for the many 
wives and mothers 
and widows going thrugh
these. Amen.

Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Our Lady of Fatima University
Valenzuela City