Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul, 06 October 2025 Monday in the Twenty-Seventh Week in Ordinary Time, Year I Jonah 1:1-2:1-2, 11 <*((((>< + ><))))*> Luke 10:25-37
Lord Jesus Christ: with so many things going on in our country these days, I also ask like that scholar of the law, "who is my neighbor?" when we are so divided not really with politics and beliefs but with your truth; nobody is trustworthy among our leaders, even with those in media with many of them influencing us whom to believe and not; give us the courage and strength of that Samaritan traveller to dare cross the street, to get down from our vantage points to do something for those below, those in the margins, the poor often exploited by the corrupt and powerful; teach us, Jesus, "to go and do likewise" (Luke 10:37).
Then they said to one another, “Come, let us cast lots to find out on whose account we have met with misfortune” (Jonah 1:7).
Before we can "go and do likewise" like the good Samaritan, we have to be like Jonah and his companions in the ship first: to admit our own role, our own misgivings and failures why our country had turned into this mess; we have turned away from you, Lord Jesus; we have been so focused with our many pursuits that we have forgotten those around us like those crying in hunger and pain; we have always been on the go, riding high on our horses refusing to see those below us needing our compassion and presence.
Show us, Jesus, where do we have "to go and do likewise." Amen.
Lord My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul, 14 September 2025 Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross Numbers 21:4-9 ><}}}}*> Philippians 2:6-11 ><}}}}*> John 3:13-17 *This is an updated version of our reflection last year; pray for our Marriage Encounter this weekend.
Via Crucis at Fatima University Medical Center, Valenzuela City, 2025.
This Sunday we have a unique celebration, the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross that falls on the 14th day of September. It is so important that even if it falls on a Sunday, the more it must be celebrated as it is most central in the teachings of Jesus Christ.
It is so unique because despite its being made up of two ordinary pieces of wood, the Cross is most unique with its deeply extraordinary in meaning as sign of God’s immense love for us humans through Jesus Christ’s Passion and Death.
From being the sign of the most inhuman punishment in history, the Cross is now the very sign of how God “so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that he who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life” (Jn.3:16). It encapsulates the whole mystery of Jesus Christ, of how this all-powerful God beyond the ordinary became weak like us in everything except sin so that we too may be like Him, divine and more than ordinary. In His suffering and death on the Cross, Jesus made the lowly wood so ordinary to be so exalted to become His sign of love and mercy, power and majesty.
Photo by author, Jerusalem, May 2017.
Hence, in the Cross is the power of God’s love to transform us to better persons.
In the Cross is God’s power to lead us closer to Him with its vertical beam and to others with its horizontal beam.
In the Cross is the power of good if we choose to embrace it with Christ Jesus as our Lord and Master.
The Cross is most unique of all signs in the world because underneath its ordinariness, that is where we see God’s glory and majesty. It was underneath the Cross of darkness and gloom on Good Friday that humanity began to see light and hope in life’s many absurdities. Most of all, it was underneath that Cross of suffering and death of Jesus Christ that we feel and experience the assurance of the Resurrection.
How?
Through our own pains and sufferings that are most uniquely ours too!
With their patience worn out by the journey, the people complained against God and Moses, “Why have you brought us up from Egypt to die in this desert, where there is no food or water? We are disgusted with this wretched food!” In punishment the Lord sent among the people saraph serpents, which bit the people so that many of them died (Numbers 21:4-6).
Photo by author, Dominican Hills, Baguio City, January 2018.
You must have heard that old story of a man who came to Jesus to return the cross given for him to carry; he asked Jesus to have it replaced with a lighter one. Jesus then led the man to a huge room with all kinds of crosses for him to choose which he prefers as the best one for him so that he would stop complaining.
After closely examining the specs of so many crosses, the man finally decided to pick one he deemed as perfect for him after considering its weight and other dimensions, only to find out from Jesus Himself that it was the same cross he had actually returned for exchange!
Many times in life we are like those people in the first reading, never ending in their complaints to God, even challenging Him, accusing Him of forsaking us, of being unfair when life becomes difficult and unbearable. There are times we feel being on the distaff side of life always like a flat tire, never on top. We cry foul to God especially with all our hurts and pains inflicted by others, asking Him where was He when most needed?
Photo by author in Jordan near the Israeli border where Moses put up the bronze serpent as instructed by God to heal those bitten by the snakes after they have complained of their conditions in the wilderness, May 2019.
While it is true life is indeed difficult, the cross reminds us of the fact that the pains and hurts we have are uniquely ours too, something we have to accept and most of all, own.
There are pains that are so deep and won’t go away that have in fact affected us dismally in our lives already. Instead of self-blaming and self-pity, we just have to ask for God’s grace to accept and own them like Jesus Christ. We just have to “bring it home” – that imagery of the Cross planted on the Calvary – into our very selves, in our being as something so true and real. And uniquely ours.
Stop thinking of others’ pains and hurts. We are not all the same. If ever we have similar experiences, the hues and shades even gravity and circumstances are not same because each pain and hurt, like the cross, is uniquely ours. Like every person, every cross is unique because it is also a gift, a mystery, and life. We have to “befriend” our pains and hurts, our own cross instead of resist it. It is in “befriending” our pains and hurts, our cross in life that we grow and mature, becoming more free to love and to be joyful because that is when the cross triumphs over its disgrace and shame in us and with others. That is when our pains and hurts, when our crosses begin to reveal to us the many beautiful truths of Easter awaiting us.
The Cross of Christ triumphed because Jesus carried it wholeheartedly, allowing those two pieces of wood to reveal not only to Him who knew everything beforehand its meaning but most of all to everyone of us the deeper truths the Cross signifies as St. Paul eloquently expressed in our second reading.
The Cross of Christ atop the church of our Lady of Lourdes in France. Photo by my former student Ar. Philip Santiago during his pilgrimage, September 2018.
One thing I realized after my mother died May last year is the fact that while there are so many pains and sufferings in this world, my own pain and suffering in losing her are most difficult to bear; hence, something I must carry because it is uniquely mine.
But, one thing so unique I noticed is that the more I see my cross following my mother’s death, the more I saw also the cross of others. The Cross of Jesus triumphed truly in me when I embraced and owned my cross, when I befriended my pains and hurts that eventually led me to recognize and see, to feel more and experience too the crosses of others.
When we become conscious of each one’s unique cross, slowly we are able to reveal to them the meaning of their personal crosses too because we become more sympathetic, more open, more silent to listen more, love more, care more and be more present with those in their own unique cross. No wonder, I find conversing more engaging with others who also grieve because we can see each other’s unique crosses!
Jesus calls us to imitate Him that by embracing and owning our cross, we too may lead others to finding the meaning of their own cross and thus experience Easter soon. Let us pray:
Give us the grace, dear God to always embrace the Cross like your Son Jesus Christ where we can all be empty of ourselves to be filled with your Holy Spirit and make your love visible in us. Amen.
A blessed week to everyone!
Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Our Lady of Fatima University Valenzuela City (lordmychef@gmail.com)
Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul, 11 August 2025 Monday, Memorial of St. Clare, Virgin Deuteronomy 10:12-22 <*((((>< + ><))))*> Matthew 17:22-27
Photo by author, Sonnen Berg Mountain View, Marilog, Davao City, August 2018.
What a beautiful way to start our first day in school and work this week examining our attitudes with our rights and privileges vis-a-vis your example of compassion and solidarity, Lord Jesus.
Moses said to the people: “For the Lord, your God, is the God of gods, the Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who has no favorites, accepts no bribes… So you too must befriend the alien, for you were once aliens yourselves in the land of Egypt” (Deuteronomy 10:12, 17,19).
You play no favorites, indeed, Lord but many times your love and blessings get into our heads that we not only forget others but even you in the process; we forget what we have gone through, we disregard our wounds especially how you saved us that we think more of our rights and privileges than of our responsibilities that come with every good gift from you.
When they came to Capernaum, the collectors of the temple tax approached Peter and said, “Does not your teacher pay the temple tax?” “Yes,” he said. When he came into the house, before he had time to speak, Jesus asked him, “What is your opinion, Simon? From whom do the kings of the earth take tolls or census tax? From their subjects or from foreigners?” When he said, “From foreigners,” Jesus said to him, “Then the subjects are exempt. But that we may not offend them, go to the sea, drop in a hook, and take the first fish that comes up. Open its mouth and you will find a coin worth twice the temple tax. Give that to them for me and for you” (Matthew 17:24-27).
What a shame, Lord Jesus! In this world where everyone insists on each one's rights and privileges, so many are maligned, and much more are misled by some people specially in media with bloated egos; in this world that had shrunk into a global village, many brains have shrunk too with hearts turned into stone without any compassion and sense of true solidarity at all!
Instruct me, dear Jesus, like Peter to drop in a hook to catch the first fish that comes up for surely, many times I have missed finding a "coin" inside its mouth worth than what we are required; many times, I see only myself, my rights and my privileges that I forget to be compassionate and be one with others; teach me to be like you: totally "indifferent" in a positive sense in whatever the world offers choosing only the Father's will for God's glory. Amen.
Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Our Lady of Fatima University Valenzuela City (lordmychef@gmail.com)
Photo by author, Sonnen Berg Mountain View, Marilog, Davao City, August 2018.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Saturday, Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, 14 September 2024 Numbers 21:4-9 ><}}}}*> Philippians 2:6-11 ><}}}}*> John 3:13-17
Photo by author in my previous parish, 2017.
Today we celebrate a most unique Feast, the Exaltation of the Cross.
It is so unique because first of all, the cross is perhaps the most unique thing on earth made up of two pieces of wood that are so ordinary yet so deeply extraordinary in meaning, a sign of God’s immense love for us humans through Jesus Christ’s Passion and Death.
From being the sign of the most inhuman punishment in history, the Cross is now the very sign of how God “so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that he who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life” (Jn.3:16). It encapsulates the whole mystery of Jesus Christ, of how this all-powerful God beyond the ordinary became weak like us in everything except sin so that we too may be like Him, divine and more than ordinary. In His suffering and death on the Cross, Jesus made the lowly wood so ordinary to be so exalted to become His sign of love and mercy, power and majesty.
Photo by author, Jerusalem, May 2017.
Hence, in the Cross is the power of God’s love to transform us to better persons.
In the Cross is God’s power to lead us closer to Him with its vertical beam and to others with its horizontal beam.
In the Cross is the power of good if we choose to embrace it with Christ Jesus as our Lord and Master.
The Cross is most unique of all signs in the world because underneath its ordinariness, that is where we see God’s glory and majesty. It was underneath the Cross of darkness and gloom on Good Friday that humanity began to see light and hope in life’s many absurdities. Most of all, it was underneath that Cross of suffering and death of Jesus Christ that we feel and experience the assurance of the Resurrection.
How?
Through our own pains and sufferings that are most uniquely ours too!
With their patience worn out by the journey, the people complained against God and Moses, “Why have you brought us up from Egypt to die in this desert, where there is no food or water? We are disgusted with this wretched food!” In punishment the Lord sent among the people saraph serpents, which bit the people so that many of them died (Numbers 21:4-6).
Photo by author, Dominican Hills, Baguio City, January 2018.
You must have heard that old story of a man who came to Jesus to return the cross given for him to carry; he asked Jesus to have it replaced with a lighter one. Jesus then led the man to a huge room with all kinds of crosses for him to choose which he prefers as the best one for him so that he would stop complaining.
After closely examining the specs of so many crosses, the man finally decided to pick one he deemed as perfect for him after considering its weight and other dimensions, only to find out from Jesus Himself that it was the same cross he had actually returned for exchange!
Many times in life we are like those people in the first reading, never ending in their complaints to God, even challenging Him, accusing Him of forsaking us, of being unfair when life becomes difficult and unbearable. There are times we feel being on the distaff side of life always like a flat tire, never on top. We cry foul to God especially with all our hurts and pains inflicted by others, asking Him where was He when most needed?
Photo by author in Jordan near the Israeli border where Moses put up the bronze serpent as instructed by God to heal those bitten by the snakes after they have complained of their conditions in the wilderness, May 2019.
While it is true life is indeed difficult, the cross reminds us of the fact that the pains and hurts we have are uniquely ours too, something we have to accept and most of all, own.
There are pains that are so deep and won’t go away that have in fact affected us dismally in our lives already. Instead of self-blaming and self-pity, we just have to ask for God’s grace to accept and own them like Jesus Christ. We just have to “bring it home” – that imagery of the Cross planted on the Calvary – into our very selves, in our being as something so true and real. And uniquely ours.
Stop thinking of others’ pains and hurts. We are not all the same. If ever we have similar experiences, the hues and shades even gravity and circumstances are not same because each pain and hurt, like the cross, is uniquely ours. Like every person, every cross is unique because it is also a gift, a mystery, and life. We have to “befriend” our pains and hurts, our own cross instead of resist it. It is in “befriending” our pains and hurts, our cross in life that we grow and mature, becoming more free to love and to be joyful because that is when the cross triumphs over its disgrace and shame in us and with others. That is when our pains and hurts, when our crosses begin to reveal to us the many beautiful truths of Easter awaiting us.
The Cross of Christ triumphed because Jesus carried it wholeheartedly, allowing those two pieces of wood to reveal not only to Him who knew everything beforehand its meaning but most of all to everyone of us the deeper truths the Cross signifies as St. Paul eloquently expressed in our second reading.
The Cross of Christ atop the church of our Lady of Lourdes in France. Photo by my former student Philip Santiago during his pilgrimage, September 2018.
One thing I realized after my mother died in May is the fact that while there are so many pains and sufferings in this world, my own pain and suffering in losing her are most difficult to bear; hence, something I must carry because it is uniquely mine.
But, one thing so unique I noticed is that the more I see my cross following my mother’s death, the more I saw also the cross of others. The Cross of Jesus triumphed truly in me when I embraced and owned my cross, when I befriended my pains and hurts that eventually led me to recognize and see, to feel more and experience too the crosses of others.
When we become conscious of each one’s unique cross, slowly we are able to reveal to them the meaning of their personal crosses too because we become more sympathetic, more open, more silent to listen more, love more, care more and be more present with those in their own unique cross. No wonder, I find conversing more engaging with others who also grieve because we can see each other’s unique crosses!
Jesus calls us to imitate Him that by embracing and owning our cross, we too may lead others to finding the meaning of their own cross and thus experience Easter soon. Let us pray:
Give us the grace, O God, to always embrace the Cross like your Son Jesus Christ where we can all be empty of ourselves to be filled with your Holy Spirit to make your love visible in us. Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Tuesday in the First Week of Ordinary Time, Year II, 09 January 2024 1 Samuel 1:9-20 <*((((>< + ><))))*> Mark 1:21-28
Photo by Mr. Jay Javier, Quiapo, 09 January 2020.
Praise and glory to you, Lord Jesus Christ, that today we shift into Ordinary Time in our liturgy that coincides with the annual Traslacion of the image of the Black Nazarene in Quiapo, Nuestro Padre Jesus Nazareno as you remind us too in our readings true meaning of authority we often relate with power.
Jesus came to Capernaum with his followers, and on the sabbath he entered the synagogue and taught. The people were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority not as the scribes.
Mark 1:21-22
People were astonished with your authority, Lord Jesus, not only because it is all-powerful but most of all, it is most kind, most compassionate, most humane because in your life, in your very self as Jesus Nazareno, you have shown us that authority is not just having power to make thing happen nor lording over others; like in Quiapo today as in Capernaum, we are astonished with your authority not because of its powers of being efficacious but because of your being so close with us who are weak and suffering; true authority for you, dear Jesus, is to be one with the people - in our miseries and anxieties, in our pains and hurts, as well as in our aspirations and dreams; authority is most real, most powerful and most appreciated when that authority is felt as power for the people to be healed and comforted, raised up and inspired like you have shown in your coming to us, in your carrying the cross, of your bearing our infirmities. Like Hannah in the first reading, we beg those authorities above us to "think kindly" of us people; many times, people in authority lord it over us like Eli initially, suspecting Hannah being drunk, scolding us, reprimanding us, worst, judging us without even knowing our plight, so unlike you who became poor like us, most of all, died for us. Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus, King of the Universe, Cycle A, 26 November 2023
Ezekiel 14:11-12, 15-17 ><}}}*> 1 Corinthians 15:20-26, 28 ><}}}*> Matthew 25:31-46
Detail of Jesus Christ at the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, Turkey; photo from wikipedia.org.
We now come to the final Sunday celebration of the year, the Solemnity of Christ the King. See how we close the liturgical calendar celebrating Christ’s kingship, only to open it anew next Sunday with Advent Season in preparation for Christmas, the birth of the King of kings.
Far from the connotations of power and authority of kings of the world, Christ’s kingship is more pastoral in nature by taking its cue from the image of a shepherd prevalent in the ancient Middle Eastern culture. In fact, Jesus is more perfect than any shepherd being the Good Shepherd himself, the fulfillment of the promise of God we heard in the first reading who would come to personally tend his flock.
As I prayed over our readings of this Solemnity which is one of the youngest feasts we have in the church at less than 100 years old since its introduction in 1925 by Pope Pius XI, my thoughts wandered during that first year of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 when churches were closed and public Masses were prohibited.
Photo by Ms. Ria De Vera, Christ the King celebration in our former parish during pandemic, November 2020.
Right on the first Sunday when lockdown was imposed, we started our weekly “motorized procession” of the Blessed Sacrament around our former parish in Bulacan. I was so moved at the piety of our parishioners who knelt on the streets whenever we passed by.
We continued the practice until the Solemnity of Christ the King on that year of 2020. As usual, the people knelt on the streets when we passed by with the Blessed Sacrament. Even passengers of buses and other vehicles that chanced upon our procession paid homage to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.
Photo by Ms. Anne Ramos, March 2020.
Looking back to those days during my prayer periods this week, I realized that it was on that first year of the pandemic when we had the most meaningful liturgical celebrations in the Church when people felt intensely the need for God, when they clearly had Jesus alone as King and Lord.
Everyone’s faith was put to test as we were all gripped in fears and uncertainties with the deadly effects of COVID virus. Almost every family prayed the Rosary daily or nightly, so many trying to sneak inside churches to attend Mass celebrations. Of course, there were still some who went on their evil ways during those difficult times with the tokhang still implemented while those in power shamelessly grabbed the opportunity to rake in millions of pesos from corruption at the expense of the poor and suffering people.
When we recall that year 2020 of the pandemic, it was at that time we experienced Christ’s Second Coming as everyday was a judgment day, the end of the world — though not entirely fearful because it was also during that time we felt closest to God in Jesus our Lord and King!
Behind all those acts of kindness and goodness of the people are the immense love and mercy of God in Jesus Christ we have experienced in the recovery of infected loved ones or in the simple negative results of our COVID tests.
It was during those days when we experienced and felt Jesus truly present in us and among us that we simply radiated him on many occasions. That first year of the pandemic proved to many of us that being good, being kind, being helpful would never destroy nor diminish our person but had actually strengthened us as individuals and as a community. Recall how the “community pantry” caught the whole country on fire in just a matter of weeks when a young lady started it in their neighborhood at Maguinhawa Street, UP Village in Quezon City.
When families and communities banded together in love and kindness to help the poor and needy, the sick and those who have lost loved ones, the experience did not pulverize them but actually crystallized them as family or friends or neighbors. Walang nadurog sa pagdadamayan bagkus nabuo ang lahat ng nagtulungan!
That is the kingship of Jesus Christ. His power and authority were never meant to destroy us. In fact, when he came to us, he showed us and made us experience that the power and authority of his kingship is found not in force but in love and mercy that sadly many see these days as weaknesses.
Then the righteous will answer him and say, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? When did we see you ill or in prison, and visit you?’ And the king will say to them in reply, ‘Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.’
Matthew 25:37-40
Photo by Ms. Marivic Tribiana, April 2020.
Christ the King today reminds us that true authority and power lead to humility which is more than being lowly but also of seeing the other person as another human in need, vulnerable and weak. Being humble is not only accepting our humanity but recognizing the humanity of those around us who need to be respected, loved and cared too.
Moreover, Christ the King reminds us that whatever authority and power we have is a sharing in God’s power and authority; hence, these must be used to help others, not lord over them. True power and authority lead to compassion, enabling us to feel the sufferings of others that move us to do something for them like Jesus.
This is what St. Paul reminds us in the second reading: the kingship of Jesus Christ – his power and authority – are a sharing in God. Unlike the worldly kings, Christ’s kingship is intimately related to the rule of God and ultimately subjected to the Father that is why it is transformative and performative to borrow one of Pope Benedict XVI’s favorite terms.
Artwork by Fr. Marc Ocariza based on Ms. Tribiana’s photo, April 2020.
The Kingship of Jesus Christ is the power to love, the most potent force in the universe. Yes, there are still evil and sin in the world today but soon, they shall be finally removed in Christ’s return as king. The present moment calls us to see Jesus in everyone we meet so that we act like him in loving service to others.
Notice how Jesus ended today his teachings at the temple area with a parable of the judgment of nations where people are separated according to their deeds. At the end of time, that is what Jesus will ask and judge us: how much have we loved like him? What have we done in this world, in life?
For us to better answer that, let us keep in mind what Jesus had done and still does to us and for us, of how much he loves us as our King and Protector. Recall the countless times he poured us his love for us. The moment we see his kingship in God’s way, then we follow Christ’s power and authority in the name of love and mercy, kindness and gentleness. Amen. Have a blessed week ahead!
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