A rockin’ playlist for Holy Week

Lord My Chef Sunday Music by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, 29 March 2026

*Photo by author, St. Ildephonse Parish, Tanay, Rizal, January 2021.*

If you have a lot of cash to spend for a unique Holy Week just outside Metro Manila, I suggest you visit St. Ildephonse Parish in Tanay, Rizal and look for the Seventh Station of the Cross when Jesus fell for the second time on his way to the Calvary.

You won’t miss it as you enter the main door immediately to your left. Done by local artisans in 1785, these huge woodcarvings depict one of the most unique Stations of the Cross in the world where soldiers and characters including Jesus Christ have Malay features of brown complexion, large and round eyes, and “squared” body features. Everything was given a local taste to make the Station so Filipino like the soldier leading them blowing a carabao horn for a tambuli while another carried a bolo instead of a sword.

But, the most astonishing of all is a man so prominently portrayed at the middle wearing sunglasses, looking far outside. Yes, the dude wore shades!

Historians we consulted told us smoked glasses have been available in the Philippines during that time courtesy of Chinese traders. According to the catechists and volunteers we talked to while at the parish, they were told by their elders that man with sunglasses is the high priest Caiaphas who led the Sanhedrin trial of Jesus who declared him guilty of blasphemy in claiming himself to be the Christ, the Son of God.

But, why wear shades? Was it because he refused to see and accept the truth that Jesus indeed is the Christ, the Son of God just like us today who wear all kinds of colored glasses presenting our own image God too far from who he really is. Or, as my kinakapatid Dindo Alberto (+) who was my roadtrip companion at that time said it shows that rock and roll had long been in existence since the time of Jesus Christ, the real Superstar.

I believe Kuya Dindo that is why I prepared two rock and rollin’ music this Holy Week for you to listen and reflect while driving on your way to a visita iglesia to pray and be with family and friends.

I have always loved The Smiths since college especially when NU107 came out at the other end of the FM band in the late 80’s. Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now remains one of my personal anthems since it first came out in 1984.

When I was assigned as chaplain here at the Our Lady of Fatima University in Valenzuela in 2021, I was surprised to hear some of our college students singing and posting on their socmed There Is A Light that Never Goes Out – kids so young almost like my own pamangkins! And that’s one thing I like most with the Gen Zs and Millennials who also love and embrace our music and artists because they are simply the best. Period.

A week after Ash Wednesday last February 24, I used There Is A Light That Never Goes Out by The Smiths in my monthly spiritual talk to our employees at the University and the Fatima University Medical Center as a fitting music and guide in our 40-day journey of Lent which is more of an inner journey into our hearts to find Jesus Christ, the Light who never goes out amid life’s many darkness. Moreover, Jesus is the Light who never goes out as he restores our sight from the blindness we go through like in the healing of the man born blind that was the gospel last March 15, fourth Sunday in Lent. See how its lyrics also apply either to Jesus speaking to us or to anyone seeking Jesus.

Take me out tonight
Where there's music and there's people
And they're young and alive
Driving in your car
I never, never want to go home
Because I haven't got one
Anymore

Take me out tonight
Because I want to see people
And I want to see life
Driving in your car
Oh please, don't drop me home
Because it's not my home, it's their home
And I'm welcome no more

Of course, composer Johnny Marr and lyricist-vocalist Morissey may have other meanings behind this song considered as their finest but still, it speaks about finding hope that leads us to believe in ourselves, in others and in God. In this mass-mediated world that declares to see is to believe, Jesus tells us the other way around, believe that you may see!

When we believe, then we truly “see” and that is when we love, love, and still love until it hurts even unto death because that is when we find meaning in life and everything. And everyone.

And if a double-decker bus
Crashes into us
To die by your side
Is such a heavenly way to die
And if a ten tonne truck
Kills the both of us
To die by your side
Well, the pleasure, 
the privilege is mine

Jesus Christ did just that that is why we have Good Friday; he rose from the dead at Easter and since then, has remained the Light who never goes out, lighting our paths in this time of many darkness in life.

*Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, 20 March 2026.*

Sometimes, sunglasses help us see clearly as they filter distracting lights and contrasts that blur our vision with the naked eyes. And so, here is our second rock n’ roll song for Holy Week, Bruno Mars and Lady Gaga’s Die With A Smile which we used also in our employees’ Lenten recollection at the University and Hospital last February 24.

Aside from the striking contrast of The Smiths’ There Is A Light That Never Goes Out that represented the punk, alternative, dark side in me, Die With A Smile represented the 1970’s funky groove I grew up with. And that is why I love and follow Bruno Mars: aside from having a Filipino blood in his Pinay mother, his experiments with music strongly rooted in the 1970’s make us from the older generation feel so welcomed and relate so well with him and his message of faithful love until the end of time.

Along with its lyrics that speak from the heart, the melody and great combination of the voices and talents of Bruno and Lady Gaga make Die With A Smile so lovingly touching, even mesmerizing that make you think of the only one you truly love most that you want to spend the rest of your life with until the end of the world – to die with a smile.

Ooh
I, I just woke up from a dream
Where you and I had to say goodbye
And I don't know what it all means
But since I survived, I realized

Wherever you go, that's where I'll follow
Nobody's promised tomorrow
So I'ma love you every night like it's the last night
Like it's the last night

If the world was ending, I'd wanna be next to you
If the party was over and our time on Earth was through
I'd wanna hold you just for a while and die with a smile
If the world was ending, I'd wanna be next to you

Holy Week remind us of our only one true and first love of all – God. We call this the Holy Week in Filipino as mga Mahal na Araw from the word mahal that means mahalaga or important and essential. That is why another word for love in Filipino is pagmamahal, literally to give importance. Not just pag-ibig which is more about liking as ibig means.

In these days of rising costs of fuels and commodities, anything expensive is described too as mahal in Filipino because they are so important and essential. Like the ones we love. Holy Week is mga Mahal na Araw, the holiest days when Jesus Christ expressed his deepest love – pagmamahal – for each of one of us by dying on the Cross because everyone is loved so immensely by God.

Again, Jesus was the first to have “died with a smile” because he offered his very self completely and freely, willingly for us because he loves us. And he had promised that he shall come again at the end of time. Are we willing to wait for him by loving truly those persons he had entrusted to us in this life?

Until our next music, have a blessed Holy Week and most blessed Easter everyone!

Lent is seeing the Light amid darkness

40 Shades of Lent by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Fourth Sunday in Lent (Laetare Sunday), Cycle A, 15 March 2026
1 Samuel 16:1b, 6-7, 10-13a  +  Ephesians 5:8-14  +  John 9:1-41

We continue our Lenten journey with John still as our guide this fourth Sunday known as “Laetare Sunday” for “Rejoice Sunday” because we are fast approaching the end of the Lenten journey to celebrate Easter – but not that too easily.

More than that the path is still long, what makes the journey difficult is our own “blindness” that we fail to see and recognize Jesus as the light who had come to illumine us. His healing of the man born blind shows Jesus precisely in the exercise of the mission given him by the Father that John made clear in his gospel prologue about the coming of God’s Word, the Christ, as the light that enlightens everyone which the darkness refuses to accept (Jn.1:5, 9-10).

In a similar manner when Jesus told the Samaritan woman last Sunday that he is the living water who quenches our deepest thirsts in life, he clearly declared in this healing of the man born blind that he is “the light of the world … who had come so that those who do not see might see” (Jn.9:5, 39). But, unlike in the story of the Samaritan woman, Jesus appears only at the start and the end of the scene of our gospel this Sunday. And the most amazing part is how the man born blind eventually turned out to be the one who led those in the crowd including us today in realizing why Jesus indeed is the light of the world.

*Photo by author, 25 February 2026, National Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima, Valenzuela City.*

This beautiful story of the healing of the man born blind is like a huge painting or a tapestry best seen by slowly going through certain sections and details little by little until we see the whole picture.

As he passed by he saw a man born blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “Neither he nor his parents sinned; it is so that the works of God might be made visible through him” (John 9:1-3).

Actually, the man born blind wasn’t the only one blind in the story: everyone else is blind led by the Apostles themselves who are like us today always looking for someone to blame, a scapegoat for all the miseries in life. Everyday we repeat in various forms their question “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

Its worst part is how we continue to insist like them with the Pharisees and those in the crowds in molding Jesus into the person or God we want him to be, either so stern at one end or too lax at the other extreme to accommodate our own ideas who God is.

The late American Trappist monk Thomas Merton wrote that God is not an “object” like a thing our minds can comprehend or grasp, saying that such attitude in seeing God leads to a false, idolatrous understanding of God. According to Merton, God is a pure “Who” and “Thou” we experience in silent prayers, a reality we experience and meet in ourselves and with others.

Maybe that explains why more than half of the wars going on today in various parts of the world are sadly because of religion!

How ironic that in this mass-mediated world where people practically live in social media, the more we see and expose everything, the more we have become blind, forgetting that the deepest truths and realities in life are hidden from our eyes that only our hearts can see. Hence, like the Pharisees and scribes of Jesus’ time, we still demand signs from God about his reality. In the first reading, we find God reminding Samuel and us to go beyond material things and outside appearances “because man sees the appearance but the Lord looks into the heart” (1 Sm.16:7).

Worst of all blindness is our being blind to those closest to us like family. Notice that John specifically mentioned how the parents of the man born blind refused to attest to their own son’s miraculous healing by Jesus for fear of reprisals from the temple authorities. Like them, we are blinded by power, wealth and prestige. Likewise, we are divided by affiliations and labels with public and moral issues nowadays decided not in its merits of truth and veracity but in its sheer number of followers. Talents and genius take the backstage to whatever viral and trending seen as the best, as the “in” thing. As a result, the more we are plunged into darkness despite the 24/7 “lights” of the world.

Interspersed in the amusing exchanges and conversations among the crowd with the man born blind after his healing by Jesus, we see now why Christ is the light of the world: because he brings hope amid darkness in life.

When Jesus heard they had thrown him out, he found him and said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” He answered and said, “Who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?” Jesus said to him, “You have seen him and the one speaking to you is he.” He said, “I do believe, Lord,” and he worshipped him (John 9:35-38).

It was in the ensuing drama in the conversations that followed after his healing that John assembled the beautiful pattern of the light of Christ shining through the man born blind as he joyfully and enthusiastically spoke of Jesus. It must have been dark for the healed blind man of being questioned and even laughed at by the Pharisees and crowd, and worst, not supported by his own parents; yet, despite all these, he held on as he affirmed his faith in Jesus as a prophet who had healed him because finally he had found a glimmer of hope and meaning in life. Recall now what St. Paul says in the second reading of our own moments in darkness, of how Jesus our light had enlightened us.

Many times in life our knowledge and experience of God do not happen instantly but slowly, little by little. And like that blind man who was healed, there are even times we could be already in front of Jesus without realizing it was already him because he comes in disguises – often in darkness of failures and sufferings, in our blindness in sin.

*Photo by author, La Union, 09 January 2026.*

It is in those moments of darkness and blindness we see and realize the light of Christ because that is when we experience hope and meaning in life.

The joy of this fourth Sunday is found in Jesus Christ like shafts of light filling us with hope within amid the darkness and failures, sufferings and pain we go through in life. Jesus is the light of the world because light is brightest in darkness like the stars at night.

When we hope, we believe, then we love despite the suffering we are going through because deep in our hearts we know something good is happening, that darkness is not the final say in life but light when everything becomes clear. In the healing of the man born blind, Jesus offers us hope for something good and better. Without hope, we stop loving because we have darkness within, finding no sense at all in living that we destroy, even kill. With Christ, even a glimmer of light can pierce the wall of darkness to lead us to life and meaning. Amen. Have a blessed week ahead sharing the light of Christ with others, especially those blinded within.

Advent is believing even without seeing

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.

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

When hands lead not only to sight but also vision

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.

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.

When we do not know what “we want”

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).

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!

Becoming a Bartimaeus

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

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.

When “indignation” seize us

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.

More than sight, Lent is insight, hindsight and foresight in Christ

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

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.

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.

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)*

Rejoicing amid disappointments

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

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

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.

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.

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.

Have a joyful week ahead!