Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Friday in the First Week of Advent, 05 December 2025 Isaiah 29:17-24 ><))))*> + ><))))*> + ><))))*> Matthew 9:27-31
I love your words today, Lord Jesus Christ: "Do you believe that I can do this?" (Matthew 9:28)
How amazing is this story, so Advent because the season calls us to believe, to wait, even to see you Jesus even we cannot see anything at all!
How can two blind men follow you except by merely listening, even listen intently when we who can see cannot see you, refuse to follow you, refuse to believe you?
Like those two blind men, we tell you today that "Yes, Lord, we believe you can make us see again." Please do so. Make it quick. For we are so blinded by the world's playful lights including its darkness so romanticized that many drift away from you. Amen.
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
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
Quiet Storm by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, 10 June 2025 Homily on the advanced birthday celebration and book launching last June 4 of Dr. Vic Santos Jr., President of Fatima University Medical Center in Valenzuela and Antipolo
Photo by author, Manila House, BGC, Taguig, 04 June 2025.
We heard today in the first reading St. Luke’s account of St. Paul’s departure from Miletus to Rome for his trial and eventual martyrdom. We are told how the priests and leaders of the Ephesus community cried as St. Paul bid goodbye. It was a major turning point in the Apostle’s life.
We too are gathered tonight at a major turning point in the life of Dr. Vic as he officially becomes an elder among us, a senior sixty cent. There are no crying as we so filled with joy celebrating his gift of life. Like the Ephesians who were so glad in being a part of the life and mission of St. Paul, we praise and thank God for Dr. Vic’s gift of self especially to us, his family and friends and colleagues.
I’d like to focus your attention to St. Paul’s speech where he discussed how he had used his hands in his ministry, “You know very well that these very hands have served my needs and my companions. In every way I have shown you that by hard work of that sort we must help the weak, and keep in mind the words of the Lord Jesus who himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive'” (Acts 20:34-35).
What a beautiful imagery of the hardworking hands of St. Paul who was a tent maker by profession who earned money for his own needs so as not to be a burden to the community.
With his caring and loving hands, people accepted Jesus Christ and Christianity.
With his gentle and kind hands the people saw and experienced the love of God, felt more convinced than ever of God’s presence among them.
With his strong hands as an Apostle of Jesus, the people felt the discipline of God.
Photo by author, Manila House, BGC, Taguig, 04 June 2025.
It is the same thing why we are here tonight. So many sights were restored by the gentle hands of Dr. Vic that helped us to better or even see again.
Dr. Vic’s hands toiled not only in the clinic and OR but also in the tennis court and golf course as well as the kitchen that reminded us of God’s loving presence among us, of the Divine grip that everything will be fine so we can enjoy life. The hands of Dr. Vic as an ophthalmologist, as a husband and a dad, a brother and a friend and a colleague tell us we are in good hands. Like the hands of St. Paul, his hands allowed us to be touched by God’s love and mercy, kindness and forgiveness.
But there is something else about the hands of Dr. Vic I would like you to reflect upon. Like St. Paul, Dr. Vic’s hands not only restored sight but most of all allowed us to have vision, of seeing beyond physical or material things.
St. Paul’s hands were so gifted that more than half of the New Testament writings were from him; in fact, he was the first to write about Jesus Christ, way ahead of the gospel writers. By his writings, we are able to have a glimpse about God in Jesus Christ and eternal life.
Photo by Dra. Mary Anne Santos, Manila House, BGC, Taguig, 04 June 2025.
With his gifted hands in writing not just prescriptions but also elegant prose and essays, Dr. Vic opened our eyes to see the deeper realities and truth behind our many common experiences in life. His hands seem to have eyes too that he can weave a beautiful tapestry of the joy of living side by side with its many pains and hurts, even losses and griefs, failures and disappointments. Dr. Vic’s hands are so precise not only in surgery but especially in writing, giving us hope to never give up, to always forge on, and be open to many possibilities in life.
Like St. Paul, Dr. Vic can boldly proclaim of the timeless truth of Christ’s teaching that “it is better to give than receive” because he had experienced God’s abundant blessings through his very hands that were always opened, ready to work and take on new tasks, willing to hold others hands to lead and guide them to healing and new life.
Salamuch po, Dr Vic in sharing with us your blessed hands that taught us to find God we rarely see due to our many blindness in life.
Your hands did not only heal our sight but gave us a vision of God present in us and among us always. We pray like Jesus in the gospel tonight that the Father may consecrate you with his sacred hands in order to bless you with more fulfillment and fruitfulness on your 60th birthday. With Dra. Mary Anne and your sons – Angelo, Francis, and Vince – may God fill your hands with his blessings, holiness and healing. Amen.
Photo by author, Manila House, BGC, Taguig, 04 June 2025.
The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B, 20 October 2024 Isaiah 53:10-11 ><}}}}*> Hebrews 4:14-16 ><}}}}*> Mark 10:35-45
The Jewish Cemetery of Mount of Olives facing the Eastern Gate of Jerusalem where the Messiah is believed would pass through when He comes, exactly where Jesus entered on Palm Sunday over 2000 years ago (photo by author taken in May 2019).
Jesus Christ’s three predictions of His coming Passion, Death, and Resurrection punctuate Mark’s narration of the Lord’s journey to Jerusalem. They were already fast approaching Jerusalem when Jesus revealed His third prediction of His Pasch to His followers.
According to Mark, the Twelve and the crowd were “amazed and were afraid” after hearing for the third time Christ’s coming Passion, Death, and Resurrection.
Photo by author, Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem, April 2017.
And this was the prevailing mood among the followers of the Lord as they approached Jerusalem; beginning today and next Sunday, Mark reminds us of the need to have a clear sight and understanding of Jesus and His mission so that we may not be blinded by fame and glory in following Him like the brothers James and John:
James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to Jesus and said to him, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.” He replied, “What do you wish me to do for you?” They answered him, “Grant that in your glory we may sit one at your right and the other at your left.” Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking… but to sit at my right or at my left is not mine to give but is for those for whom it has been prepared” (Mark 10:35-38, 40).
Jesus said to them, "You do not know what you are asking."
Photo by author, Betania Tagaytay, 2018.
Whoa…! We might all exclaim with some indignation like the other ten Apostles upon hearing this request by James and John, two of the most intimate friends of Jesus with Simon Peter.
Were they trying to ease their worries and fears that they made the request without thinking it so well, a case of mema, me masabi lang? Or, do they really understand nothing at all of the Lord’s teachings especially last Sunday of the need to let go of our possessions to enter eternal life?
Whatever may be the reason, we could just imagine the treachery of the two who left the group behind, trying not to be noticed by the ten, and approached Jesus who was walking ahead. They have both belittled Jesus who reads the minds and the hearts of everyone. And most sad is the fact that many times, we too act like James and John.
Oh yes! We know so well of the sufferings and trials, of the “cup we have to drink and baptism we have to undergo” Jesus told the brothers. Very much like the two, we also know Christ always triumphs! Jesus never fails!
And that’s the crux of the matter here not only with James and John but with us: we bet on Jesus like in gambling casinos for we know Jesus wins all the time, hoping for some rewards following His glory.
James and John like us today believed so much in Jesus that despite His coming Passion and Death, they knew as we do that He would rise again and be King. Long before the Passion of Jesus had begun, still far from entering Jerusalem, James and John were already betting on the success and glory of Christ because they wanted a guarantee of a reward. It was a sort reminding Jesus they have always been with Him since the beginning like Peter last Sunday who bragged about having left everything to follow Him.
Are we not like them? It is the same attitude found among many of us not only in politics and government but even at home, in school and offices, or the church! Be the first to register to make it known how well qualified we are for commendations and rewards simply because of being in the company of every journey or advocacy or struggle.
It is the tragedy that happens even in our faith journey as Christians when we are blinded by so many worldly things about Jesus whom we see merely as a miracle-worker or worst, an ATM who never runs out of cash. We believe in Jesus as the Son of God, all-powerful and merciful who can do everything, especially the impossible as He had assured us last Sunday but many times, we do not know what we are asking like James and John.
When the ten heard this, they became indignant at James and John. Jesus summoned them and said to them, “You know that those who are recognized as rulers over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones make their authority over them felt. But it shall not be with so among you. Rather, whoever wishes to be great among you will be your servant; whoever wishes to be first among you you will be slave of all. For the Son of God did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:41-45).
Photo by author, wailing wall of Jerusalem, May 2019.
Jesus clarifies today with us that His glory has nothing in common whatsoever with those things we gain here on earth by claiming our rights or resorting to undue favors, by competing with others to get the better of them or even push them away or step on them to crush them for us to be on top.
We cannot be Christ’s disciples if we are preoccupied with rewards. We serve Jesus because we love that we want to be with Him in eternal life. And in loving Him, we serve lovingly others without expecting anything in return simply because we love.
See how in calling together the Twelve, Jesus reminded them and us today of His central teaching of becoming like a child, confidently entrusting everything into the Father’s hands, exactly like Him, the Suffering Servant of God referred to by the Prophet Isaiah in the first reading who “gave his life as a ransom for many” (Mk.10:45).
Photo by author, 2021.
Jesus reminds us this Sunday that love alone – like His self-sacrificing love on the Cross – is the basis of our relationships with each other, unlike the world where relations are based on power and domination.
Noteworthy too is the reminder of the author of the Letter to the Hebrews today about Jesus our High Priest who entered the sanctuary of heaven through the Cross so that we may be saved and receive mercy from the Father.
What else do we want Jesus to do for us when He had done everything for our salvation? Let us pray for a clearer vision of Jesus, to always see and find Him in our lives so that we desire only Him and share only Him. And follow Him like the blind Bartimaeus next Sunday. Amen. Have a blessed week ahead!
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Thursday in the Eighth Week of Ordinary Time, Year II, 30 May 2024 1 Peter 2:2-5, 9-12 <*((((>< + ><))))*> Mark 10:46-52
Illustration from linkedin.com.
Teach us, Jesus, to be like Bartimaeus; let us admit our blindness to what true and good and beautiful that is YOU; teach us to be like Bartimaeus to cry out to You, Jesus, to wait for You always, to believe in You as the Only One who can heal us of our blindness; most of all, teach us, Lord, to leave the side of the streets, to come to You, Jesus to the middle of the road to follow You on the way to the Cross!
He threw his cloak, sprang up, and came to Jesus.
Mark 10:50
Forgive us, dear Jesus for being so afraid, to confront head on the many ongoing debates and attacks against Your teachings we hold so dearly like the value of every person, the inviolability of human life, the sanctity of marriage; forgive us, Jesus when we hide in being "open" choosing to be silent just to accommodate the few noisy people advocating for too much rights without any responsibilities, speaking about equality without any regard at all for God and religion, spirituality and theology.
Let us be like Bartimaeus shouting louder than ever amid calls of some to be silent, to not insist Your teachings on others when it is indeed the only one true and just; let us be like Bartimaeus by affirming who we are - "a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of his own, so that we may announce Your praises who called us out of darkness into his wonderful light" (1 Peter 2:9).
Have pity on us, Jesus, we want to see You and follow You. Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Monday in the Thirty-third Week of Ordinary Time, Year I, 20 November 2023
1 Maccabees 1:10-15, 41-43, 54-57, 62-63 <*(((>< + ><)))*> Luke 18:35-43
Photo by Dra. Mylene A. Santos, MD, at Tagalag, Valenzuela City, 18 November 2023.
God our loving Father
I feel so much like your psalmist today,
asking you to "Give me life,
O Lord, and I will do your commands."
I have been praying for this for
sometime with the abuses
and abominations among us priests,
of how like in the first readings
many of us have turned away from you,
worshipping money and self,
usurping your sacred altar as ours
with all of our grandstanding and inanities,
of how we have become
beholden to the rich and powerful
always present in all their functions
at the expense of the poor,
always seeking the ways of the world
as influencers than ministers
and pastors shamelessly splashed
all over social media.
Indignation seizes me because of the wicked who forsake your law. Though the snares of the wicked are twined about me your law I have not forgotten. Redeem me from the oppression of men, that I may keep your precepts. I beheld the apostates with loathing, because they kept not your promise.
Psalm 119:53, 61, 134, 158
I have no claims to holiness
nor cleanliness except I strive
to follow your Son Jesus;
and many times, amid my
indignation at the abuses and
abominations done to our sacred
duties even by those supposed to
lead us, I never fail to see myself
as the blind man at Jericho,
possibly blinded by my sins
and imperfections;
like him, dear Jesus,
I pray and beg you,
"Lord, please let me see"
(Luke 18:41).
Lord, please let me see
not only the things that make
me indignant;
let me also see you most
importantly:
your gentle mercy
amid your strong conviction
against sin and evil,
your wisdom in confronting
errors and misinterpretations,
your peace and serenity
in the middle of storms
and adversaries.
Let me go against the tide,
and be my guide.
Amen.
Photo by Dra. Mylene A. Santos, MD, at Tagalag, Valenzuela City, 18 November 2023.
40 Shades of Lent by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Fourth Sunday in Lent-A, 19 March 2023
1 Samuel 16:1, 6-7, 10-13 + Ephesians 5:8-14 + John 9:1, 6-9, 13-17,34-38
Photo by author, sunrise at Katmon Nature Sanctuary & Beach Resort, Bgy. Binulusan, Infanta, Quezon (04 March 2023)
We continue to journey with Jesus and his disciples towards Jerusalem for the fulfillment of his mission and like last Sunday, we take on a short stop-over today with him in the healing of a man born blind. It is another long story in these last three weeks of Lent that we hear from the gospel by St. John, filled with so many layers of meaning about our sense of sight or seeing which we often take for granted. Many of us are misled by the world’s insistence that to see is to believe when so often, we still fail to really see persons, things, and situations.
Experience has taught us that it is not enough for us to have eyes to be able to see, that after all, what Jesus has been teaching us is most true – believe and you shall see which is what our story of his healing of a man born blind is all about.
As Jesus passed by he saw a man blind from birth. He spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva, and smeared the clay on his eyes, and said to him, “Go wash in the Pool of Siloam” – which means Sent. So he went and washed, came back able to see. His neighbors and those who had seen him earlier as a beggar said, “Isn’t this the one who used to sit and beg?” Some said, “It is,” but others said, “No, he just looks like him.” He said “I am.” They brought the one once blind to the Pharisee.
John 9: 1, 6-9, 13
Photo from freebibleimages.org
Like last Sunday, let us just focus at the beginning of this long, beautiful story with many details still relevant to our own time like the apostles asking Jesus who’s to be blamed for the man being born blind, himself or his parents? Jesus clearly tells us how we must stop our blaming game and start believing and trusting God who makes himself visible even in unfortunate circumstances.
In the story of Jesus with the Samaritan woman, St. John revealed to us how God would come to our lives at “noontime” when we are hot or in the heat of our worldly pursuits including sins; in this healing of the man born blind, we are shown how God through Jesus comes to us right in our most sorry plight in life, when we are in darkness. See how so disadvantaged is that man born blind who not only had no sight but practically a nobody as he had nothing in life, begging for food and money in order to live.
And that is when Jesus Christ comes to us, when we are nothing and practically down in the dumps.
Photo from freebibleimages.org
And here the story gets better. In the original Greek text, we find that “he was blind from his genesis” which has double meaning of both birth and creation. In using the term genesis, St. John is telling us that Jesus is not someone who had come to bring back the world to its original set up before the Fall of our first parents by destroying earth.
Jesus came not to destroy earth and us to start anew but to restore us to our original status of blessedness by being like us so we could be like him. Here in this instance, Jesus created a new beginning for the man when he touched the man’s eyes with mud and having him wash in the waters of Siloam which mean the “Sent One”. We are reminded how Adam the first man was formed from the dust of the earth as Ash Wednesday would always tell us at the start of Lent.
In Genesis, after forming man from dust, God breathed on Adam and he became alive.
Photo from freebibleimages.org
In today’s gospel, Jesus spat on the mud and “smeared the clay on his eyes” to show the process of new creation. Spitting is Jesus infusing himself on the mud or earth that was put on the eyes of the man born blind. He then instructed the man to “Go wash in the Pool of Siloam – which means Sent” (Jn.9:7), a complete reference to him too as the Christ or the Messiah long awaited.
Clearly in this scene we find the sign of water like last Sunday, an image of the Sacrament of Baptism where we are all re-created into new persons in Jesus Christ who is himself the water who cleanses us of our sins and impurities, re-creating us into new persons with unlimited possibilities and chances in life because of our union with God.
The healing of the man born blind was his salvation, his being saved through his union with God in Jesus Christ.
The man born blind represents us all who need cleansing by Jesus Christ. Everyday, Jesus comes to us in our lowest points in life, when we are so sick and weak, when we are losing all hopes and inspiration in life, when we are lost and defeated, when we are deep into sin. Jesus gives us himself as our saving gift.
But it is just the beginning.
See how the man born blind did not have his sight right away with Jesus putting mud on his eyes; it happened after obeying the Lord’s instruction to wash himself in Siloam. We have to cooperate with Jesus Christ like the man born blind.
Recall how Jesus reminded Peter on Holy Thursday of the need for him to wash his feet in order to have “inheritance with me” (Jn.13:8). We have been washed and cleansed by Jesus in our Baptism which is perfected in our celebration of the Holy Eucharist he established on Holy Thursday. The more we immerse ourselves in Jesus in the Eucharist, the more we are cleansed, the more we have faith in him, enabling us to see clearer not just have sights of things before us but its meanings in the light of Christ.
We need to go back to Jesus in the Eucharist to be washed clean, especially our eyes to be able to see clearly.
How funny if you have entirely read this story of how the people could not believe with their eyes what they saw after the man born blind was healed by Jesus. They could not agree among themselves they have to consult their authorities, the Pharisees to verify if he was really the man born blind who was healed; but, when summoned the Pharisees questioned the man, they too refused to believe him, even insulted him. The worst part of the story was when the parents of the man born blind were called to verify if he was really their son who was born blind and now can see. Unfortunately, the parents refused to vouch for him, insisting they ask him personally for he was old enough to speak.
There are times in our lives that we could be left alone standing for Jesus Christ for what is true, what is right, what is just, and what is good because it is only us who could see everything clearly like that man born blind after his healing. That is why, it is not enough to have sights only but also insight to see the meaning of things happening at present, as well as hindsight to see the meaning of the past and foresight to find its meaning in the future. We need faith in God in order to see beyond the surface and superficial, to see the deeper meaning of persons and events like what God told Samuel in anointing Jesse’s youngest son David to be Israel’s new king.
But the Lord said to Samuel: “Do not judge from his appearance or from his lofty stature, because I have rejected him. Not as man sees does God see, because man sees the appearance but the Lord looks into the heart.”
1 Samuel 16:7
To see things and events including persons, of finding Jesus working in the present moment (insight), in the past (hindsight) and the future (foresight) requires a lot of courage too to stand for Christ and his values of truth and justice, mercy and love, life and persons like that man born blind and later healed. Here we find American writer Helen Keller’s words ringing so truly, “The only thing worse than being blind is having sight but no vision.” Visionaries are people who dream with eyes wide opened, those who dare to see beyond because of their deep faith and conviction in their beliefs or whatever they held as true. Very much like our saints too who gave their lives for the sake of Jesus Christ.
Beginning this Sunday, let us heed St. Paul’s call for us to “Live as children of light”(Eph. 5:8) by following the light of Jesus Christ. Let us leave our blindness and darkness as well as shortsightedness by seeing to it we “Take no part in the fruitless works of darkness” (Eph. 5:11). Amen.Enjoy a blessed and insightful week ahead, everyone!
Photo by author, early morning rains at Katmon Nature Sanctuary & Beach Resort, Bgy. Binulusan, Infanta, Quezon (04 March 2023)
The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Third Sunday in Advent-A, Gaudete Sunday, 11 December 2022
Isaiah 35:1-6, 10 ><}}}*> James 5:7-10 ><}}}*> Matthew 11:2-11
Photo by author, 2019.
Today our altar bursts in lovely shades of pink in celebration of the third Sunday of Advent also known as Gaudete Sunday from the Latin gaudere that means “to rejoice”. We rejoice this third Sunday because the Lord’s Second Coming is getting nearer each day and so is our awaited celebration of Christmas with the start of Simabang Gabi.
There are still many reasons for us to rejoice but when we reflect deeper in life, our rejoicing in itself is a paradox.
Because rejoicing is more joyful when seen amid darkness and uncertainties, disappointments and failures.
Because joy is more than feeling happy but that certainty within us that no matter what happens in this life, even if things get worst, everything ends according to God’s plans.
Because God loves us so much!
That is why we rejoice this Sunday – and everyday in our lives – that no matter what happens to us, God is with us in Jesus Christ, loving us, saving us.
When John the Baptist heard in prison of the works of the Christ, he sent his disciples to Jesus with this question, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?” Jesus said to them in reply, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind regain their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have the good news proclaimed to them. And blessed is the one who takes no offense at me.”
Matthew 11:2-6
Photo by author, 2021.
How fast things happen and change in life, especially when there is a sudden change or reversal, from good to bad, from top of the world to bottom into the unknown like John the Baptist.
Last week, John was on top of the world as people were coming to him for baptism, listening and believing his preaching; today, we heard him in prison!
Herod Antipas, the son of King Herod when Christ was born, had him imprisoned after John told him that it was wrong for him to take as wife his brother Philip’s former wife, Herodias. Eventually, John was beheaded in prison upon Herod’s order after making a promise to grant whatever request the daughter of Herodias would ask him after entertaining guests in his birthday party; the daughter asked for John’s head on a platter and immediately, Herod dispatched his executioner.
Now at his lowest point in life awaiting certain death, John was “disappointed” with what he had been hearing about the works and preaching of Jesus Christ whom he had baptized at Jordan. Recall how John preached a message of “fire and brimstone” as he expected the Christ would bring punishment and destruction to those doing evil, warning them that the “ax lies at the root of the trees…ready to cut down those not bearing fruits” while his “winnowing fan in his hand is gathering his wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire” (Mt. 3:10, 12).
John was expecting the Christ would immediately make sweeping changes in the world, punishing the evil doers but what he heard and perhaps may have witnessed too was the gentleness of Jesus, always ready to forgive the sinful, heal the sick, and most of all, keeping company with the most sinful people of that time like the tax collectors and the prostitutes!
Many times in life we find ourselves very much in John’s situation – so disappointed with God because what happens in reality are exactly the opposite of what we expected based on what we are taught or what we have read in the Bible! That is why John sought clarification from Jesus himself. We too, when disappointments happen in life along with other pains and sufferings especially after trying our very best to serve God through others, must always have that disposition of humility to seek clarifications from God. As disciples of Jesus Christ, we must be open like John in welcoming the Lord in the way he wishes to reveal himself.
Photo by author, November 2022.
How ironic that John who stood preaching the coming of Christ Jesus, of demanding justice and kindness from the people was imprisoned, himself a victim of injustice! Sometimes in life, it is so easy to preach Jesus Christ and his values not until we find ourselves on the distaff side like getting sick or being unjustly accused of something we did not commit. Like John, when we become the very people suffering those things we preach, our expectations even of God may blind us and fail us to see Christ’s coming, becoming so difficult to see God’s mercy and healing acting in other people’s lives but not in our own lives like John who was imprisoned unjustly for telling the truth.
The Season of Advent, especially this third Sunday we call “Rejoice” or “Gaudete” Sunday invites us to examine our own expectations and knowledge of God that may sometimes blind us to his actions and presence in our world.
The key is to have that humility to just let God be God!
Let God do his work and just chill.
Let us allow ourselves to be surprised by God always! It is from those surprises by God when joys burst in our lives even in the most difficult or simplest situations in life.
Photo by author, 2018.
One of my favorite subjects in photography are mosses – lumot – those green clumps or mats found thriving in damp, shady spots and locations. I am no green thumb but I love mosses and ferns because they are very refreshing to the eyes. They evoke hopes and surprises that despite the little sunlight and care they get, they live and thrive so well, teaching us a lot of valuable lessons about darkness and failures in life.
That is what Isaiah and St. James were reminding us in the first two readings, of the need for us to be patient like the farmers in awaiting the sprouting and blooming of crops and plants in the fields, of strengthening each other because the hard times are sure to end. Most of all, the Lord is faithful, always working silently when we are in the most dead situations in life, preparing great surprises for us.
Let us set aside our expectations, even our goals and agenda in life to let God do his work in us, to surprise us with his more wondrous plans because he knows what is best for us.
There are times in life when we are disappointed even frustrated at how things are not going according to our plans even if God had confirmed it in our prayers and in many instances in life – that feeling of suddenly being abandoned by God?
There are times we complain and feel undeserving of the many failures and pains that come our way because we have been so faithful to God, even prayerful that we cry to him, asking him like John for clarifications of whether he is with us or should we still wait more.
Most often in life, we get blinded even by our noble intentions and goodness, of our image and expectations of God that in the process, we are hurt, leaving us with scars and empty spaces within…
Be patient, my friend. Trust God.
The same empty spaces and holes in life would soon be filled with blessings so unimaginable because, remember, God is “greater than our hearts and knows everything” (1 Jn. 3:20). It is only when we are hurt and bruised and emptied, even dried and dead when life and joy burst forth because that is when God can freely work in us in Christ Jesus. Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Monday in the Thirty-third Week in Ordinary Time, Year II, 14 November 2022
Revelation 1:1-4; 2:1-5 ><]]]]'> + ><]]]]'> + ><]]]]'> Luke 18:35-43
Your words today, O dear Jesus,
to your servant John
in writing the Book of Revelation
speak also directly to me:
“I know your works, your labor, and your endurance, and that you cannot tolerate the wicked… Moreover, you have endurance and have suffered for my name, and you have not grown weary. Yet I hold this against you: you have lost the love you had at first. Realize how far you have fallen. Repent, and the works you did at first.
Revelation 2:2, 3-5
Thank you, dear Jesus, for reminding me
of how I have lost that love for you
when I have stopped loving others too;
help me find my way back to you.
Like the blind Bartimaeus in today's gospel,
I have been blinded too by so many
other things like wealth and power and fame;
help me see again your face in the persons
closest to me, those I encounter each day;
let me see beyond the ordinary
and temporary things so I may be more
loving, looking beyond outer appearances
but more into the worth and dignity of
everyone bearing your identity which is also
LOVE,
Why is it, O Lord, that as we grow old,
when we mature,
when we are supposed to be
more knowledgeable and more intelligent
when we become less loving?
Why is it, O Lord, as we become
more blessed in you in so many things
when we turn away from you,
when we love less
and think more,
desire more,
count more?
Lord Jesus,
like Bartimaeus,
please let me see:
let me see again myself so loved
and forgiven by you;
let me see again one another as
my brother and sister in you,
a companion in this journey of life;
let me see the way back home
to you in the Father
and start loving again!
Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Monday in the Twelfth Week of Ordinary Time, 20 June 2022
2 Kings 17:5-8, 13-15, 18 ><)))*> + ><)))*> + ><)))*> Matthew 7:1-5
Help up with your right hand,
O Lord, and answer us.
(Responsorial Psalm today.)
Help us, dear Father,
to see more our many sins
than the tiny sins of others;
Help us, dear Father,
to control our lips in
being so quick to judge
and speak so much of others;
Help us, dear Father,
to change our ways and
leave our sins.
So many times in life
when bad things happen to
us, we look on others to
blame, including you,
O Lord, without looking
first into our very selves
at how we have indulged
in evil and sins that started
so small that we have dismissed
as simple and nothing at all.
Forgive us, Father,
in always blaming others
without ever looking into
our hearts and ways
that have been so disordered
and strayed from your paths
of love and justice, mercy
and kindness, humility and
sincerity. Amen.
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