40 Shades of Lent by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Tuesday, Second Week in Lent, 03 March 2026 Isaiah 1:10, 16-20 + + + Matthew 23:1-12
Photo by author, Ephesus, Turkiye, November 2025.
Praise and glory to you, O Lord, God our Father! You are most gracious and kind despite our sins you still call us to come to you.
Come now, let us set things right, says the Lord: Though your sins be like scarlet, they may become white as snow; though they be crimson red, they may become white as wool (Isaiah 1:18).
You are indeed a loving God, dear Father, inviting us your sinful children to "come now", inviting us to a conversation, always believing change is possible even if most often we are not willing to come to you; give us the humility and firm resolve to accept finally your invitation to come and set things right so that we may become a people of justice; let us come to you, Lord to be reconciled, to wash myself clean, to start anew in you again.
O dear Jesus, you have been inviting me for so long to come to you, to return to you but I still refuse to believe, refusing to accept and welcome you because I feel I am doomed and hopeless; open my heart to you, Jesus, make me "willing and obedient" to set things right. Amen.
Photo by Ms. Kei Abad, Kawaguchiko Lake (Fujisan), 23 November 2025.
Quiet Storm by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, 25 February 2026
Today we celebrate the 40th anniversary of the EDSA People Power Revolution. For four days and four nights, from February 22-25, 1986, what was supposed to be impossible became a reality – a miracle for many of us when we finally deposed Marcos after 20 years of dictatorship through a peaceful, bloodless coup and transition of power into democracy.
Four decades since then, EDSA 1986 continues to reveal so many valuable lessons that perhaps many of us have forgotten, even disregarded as we were overtaken by its euphoria that eventually waned these last ten years especially in the 2016 election of the most decadent president of the republic only to be capped by the 2022 elections that brought back into Malacanang the deposed dictator’s son and namesake.
One key lesson many of us have forgotten and still disregard these days is the very nature of EDSA People Power Revolution of 1986: it was spiritual in nature, it was God intervening in our history in modern time. Since then, the late Cardinal Sin who was truly a prophet among us in those dark years of the dictatorship has been insisting on this truth: it was the work of God. And it shall continue to be the work of God who continues to call us to join in this journey of EDSA ’86. That is why I find its 40th anniversary slogan so perfect, “Tayo ang EDSA” – we the people of God He calls to be transformed first.
Photo by author, National Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima, Valenzuela City, 25 February 2026.
I must confess that it is only now on its 40th year that I realized deeply the spiritual nature of EDSA ’86. February 25 always happens within the season of Lent, the 40 day journey in preparation for Easter.
More than that journey in time of 40 days, Lent is actually an internal journey within ourselves, into our hearts to be purified from its sins and evil inclinations to be one with God again. Today’s psalm said it so well, “A clean heart create for me, O God, and steadfast spirit renew within me” (Ps. 51:12).
The number “40” in the Bible is very significant, a perfect number closely linked with God and his works like the great flood of Noah that washed and cleansed earth for 40 days and 40 nights; the Israelites wandering in the desert for 40 years before entering the Promised Land; and every prophet fasting and praying for 40 days in the wilderness including our Lord Jesus Christ as we have heard in last Sunday’s gospel.
And that is EDSA@40 – an invitation to return to its very roots, God in Jesus Christ who delivered us led by his own Mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary.
EDSA’86 is our daily Lenten journey of purification and cleansing as individuals and as a nation before we can enter into our “Promised Land” of a prosperous Philippines where justice and the rule of law prevail, where people have more equal opportunities in various aspects of life without the need to work abroad as servants while leaving their loved ones behind. Of course, heaven is the ultimate Promised Land but it is what the Vatican II had always hoped that we could help build a more just and humane society, especially in our country that is overwhelmingly Christian and Catholic in this world.
We ushered in the season of Lent last February 18 with Ash Wednesday and this early in our lenten journey just before our EDSA celebration is God reminding us of his loving presence among us, of his gift in EDSA: the pre-trial confirmation of charges against Duterte’s crimes against humanity started two days ago, exactly within the crucial dates of EDSA People Power. Another dictator, another time. Same benevolence of God to us his people.
Yes, a Marcos had gone back as President and even if I did not vote for him, we are impressed with his character and statesmanship especially with his recent trip to Naga City to meet with his presidential opponent, Mayor Leni Robredo. See how at the many occasions BBM never went down to the level of his detractors even by his sister, in the ways he had handled the many crises that have come his way. He was the one who dared to shake hard the legislative and executive branches about the rampant and shameless flood control scam.
These may be too small to recognize in the face of our gargantuan problems as a nation but these are nuggets of gold worth recognizing, reminding us of God working among us, in people we doubt and even take for granted.
Photo by Mr. Lorenzo Atienza, detail of the left panel of the new stained glass of the National Shrine of Fatima in Valenzuela City depicting the role of the National Pilgrim Image of Fatima in the EDSA People Power Revolution of 1986.
EDSA ’86 is still ongoing, unfolding. Forty years of wandering in the wilderness of political and national ups and downs have clearly been signs from God to remember Him, to return to Him but we have ignored.
I dare say that EDSA waned because we have forgotten God. And every time we forget God, it follows that we also forget others. That is why Duterte rose to power with his supporters relishing his jokes and speeches that smack human dignity especially of women. Even God he had cursed and the Pope, the Vicar of Christ. And the tragedy was how his supporters rejoiced in his insults and harsh words against God and people.
Sad to say too, many of us in the Church were intoxicated with the euphoria of EDSA ’86. Many priests and bishops have since then been identified closely even as enablers of the rich and powerful people of the country primarily the politicians who mostly exploited our people. How we sorely missed Cardinal Sin these last ten years who never turned his back from every attack in the dignity and value of human life and of the family.
EDSA@40 is a call to return to the journey in the wilderness, a call to sacrifice anew, to pray and get closer to God who is the true Spirit of EDSA. And here lies also the most beautiful aspect of EDSA ’86: the presence of the Blessed Virgin Mary as our guide and companion in the wilderness.
Unlike the Israelites who were led by the Ark of the Covenant that contained the two tablets of stones where God inscribed the Ten Commandments, in EDSA 1986 we have the “new Ark of the Covenant” as we pray in the Litany of the Rosary – Mary the Blessed Virgin.
Mary is the “Ark of the Covenant” because she carried in her womb our Savior Jesus Christ. More than the stone tablets of the Ten Commandments in the Old Testament, Mary is the new Ark of the Covenant because she brought forth into the world the Son of God Jesus Christ.
That was exactly what Mary did at EDSA’86 and continues up to now!
Photo by Mr. Lorenzo Atienza, 25 February 2025.
Consider again the work of the hand of God in our history, in EDSA 1986: In 1967, St. Pope Paul VI blessed 50 statues of Our lady of Fatima for distribution around the world. For strange reasons, the one destined for the Philippines ended up in a parish in New Jersey that was kept in one of its rooms until 1984 when it was finally given to Cardinal Sin who brought it into the country to be crowned as the National Pilgrim Image of Fatima (NPI) during the launching of the National Marian Year on December 8, 1984. From then on, the image was brought to various cities in the country for the Marian Year and eventually for the spread of devotion to Our Lady of Fatima.
When Cardinal Sin called on the people to fill EDSA in the evening of February 22, 1986 to protect Enrile and Ramos from the loyalist forces of Marcos out to neutralize them, the very same image was brought to Camp Crame and the rest was history.
What a beautiful image of the Filipino people so loved by God led by the Mother of His Son, the new Ark of the Covenant in those four days of People Power Revolution. Tanks and guns were silenced, soldiers’ hearts melted in love and compassion for the people armed only with flowers and Rosary beads.
A lot of things have happened these past 40 years since EDSA People Power Revolution. For those feeling low, disheartened, disillusioned… come to the National Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima and experience up close and personal the very image we have in EDSA ’86 who led us to victory. She is always here, always in our hearts, leading us closer to Jesus Christ her Son and our Lord especially when this journey in the wilderness of our nation’s history becomes so tiring and exhausting.
More miracles can still happen when we believe and live the Spirit of EDSA ’86 who is God himself in Jesus Christ. With His Mother and our Mother too! Viva La Virgen de Fatima! Long live EDSA People Power Revolution!
40 Shades of Lent by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Wednesday in the First Week of Lent, 25 February 2026 Jonah 3:1-10 + + + Luke 11:29-32
From cbcpnews.net, 13 May 2022, at the Parish of the National Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima, Valenzuela City; this is National Pilgrim Image of Fatima that was raised by the late Gen. Fidel Ramos at EDSA 1986 People Power Revolution.
Praise and glory to you, O God, our loving Father for the gift of EDSA 1986: what a wonderful reminder to us of your loving presence among us, of your work, and of your call to us all to be one, to journey closer to you in Jesus Christ in peace with Mary His Mother; how wonderful to remember that EDSA 1986 happened in the season of Lent reminding us of the 40 years of the Israelites in the wilderness; so are we now still journeying in the wilderness of independence, of democracy; many times we have stumbled and fall, but we shall rise to continue this journey of purification as a nation, as a people you have called and chosen.
On this 40th anniversary of People Power Revolution that happened in EDSA, I pray only for one thing like the psalmist this day:
“A clean heart create for me, O God, and put a steadfast spirit renew within me. Cast me not out from your presence, and your Holy Spirit take not from me” (Psalm 51:12-13).
EDSA 1986 photo by Mr. Linglong Ortiz.
Create a clean heart in me, O God; let me return to you, O God: EDSA was primarily a call to return to you but many of us were blinded by its many joys of changes like freedom and democracy we have abused these past 40 years; have mercy on us, Lord, let us return to you, create a clean heart in us that we may finally admit our own faults in tarnishing, blurring the glow of EDSA 1986 through these past four decades.
Indeed, many of us in EDSA 1986 have left the journey to follow the path of the devil in the wilderness, pursuing fame and wealth and of course, power; create a clean heart in us, Lord Jesus, so we may return to you like Jonah the reluctant prophet, to simply be your one sign of a prophet continuing the journey towards you.
O God, you have given us with so much in EDSA 1986 but we have given so little; like those four days of February 1986, let us forget ourselves always to give more of our selves and most of all, more of you in Jesus with Mary our Mother. Amen.
Photo by Mr. Lorenzo Atienza, 25 February 2025 procession of first anniversary of the Canonical Coronation of the National Pilgrim Image of Fatime kept at the National Shrine of Fatima in Valenzuela City.
40 Shades of Lent by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Ash Wednesday, 18 February 2026 Joel 2:12-18 +++ 2 Corinthians 5:20-6:2 +++ Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18
Lent is often portrayed as a journey of 40 days towards Easter starting today, Ash Wednesday. But deeper than a journey in time, it is a journey into the Father that starts in our hearts, deep within each one of us.
It is the season when we are invited to take time to look inside our hearts to see our true selves as sinful in order to meet God dwelling right inside us. The Prophet Joel in the first reading sets this tone of inner journey of conversion perfectly when he voiced out God’s call, speaking to us personally especially in this modern age:
“Even now, says the Lord, return to me with your whole heart, with fasting, and weeping, and mourning; rend your hearts, not your garments, and return to the Lord, your God” (Joel 2:12-13).
Photo by author, Buendia Ave., Makati City, 09 February 2026.
Very often, we are concerned about our external appearance, of how we look to other people but God sees what is in our hearts, of what is really inside us. And the path inside us is to cleanse ourselves thoroughly of the dirt and smudges of sin; hence, the imposition of ashes on our forehead.
Ash has long been a cleansing agent. Long before these modern kitchen stoves and gadgets of today, we used firewood for cooking that blackened the bottom of cooking wares. There were no Scotch Brite nor dishwasher at that time so we would mix ashes and cleanser soap then with steel wool and eskoba, we scrubbed them on the dirty kaldero and kawali until they were sparklingly beautiful again.
It is the very imagery of that cleaning of darkened pots with ash and soap the priest conveys to us when he says “Repent and believe in the gospel” while putting those ashes on our foreheads.
To repent is more than being sorry and admitting our sins but also a firm resolve to change our sinful ways, to be converted by following Jesus Christ in his Cross, by being more loving like him. In his first Lenten Message, Pope Leo XIV reminds us that “Every path to conversion begins by allowing the word of God to touch our hearts and welcoming it with a docile spirit.” He proposes three specific ways in doing this: listening, fasting and together.
Listening. The Holy Father reminds us so beautifully that “The willingness to listen is the first way we demonstrate our desire to enter into a relationship with someone.”
So true! But, so sad, too is the fact whom do we listen more these days? We live in a mass-mediated culture with so many young people practically living in the social media, taking and believing everything they read and see on their screen as the “gospel” truth that have only misled so many of us into various forms of miseries like emptiness, alienation from self and others, and even deaths.
Pope Leo explains that “Our God is one who seeks to involve us. Even today he shares with us who is in his heart. Because of this, listening to the word in the liturgy teaches us to listen to the truth of reality… In order to foster this inner openness to listening, we must allow God to listen as he does.” This is precisely the call of Jesus to us in the gospel when he repeatedly spoke of “God seeing you in secret” – God is always listening to us but do we listen to him?
In order to truly listen to God, first we must learn his language which is silence. See how the word “silent” is a palindrome of “listen” which is the reason why we have two ears so that we may listen more than speak. Remember also the shape of our ears – when placed together they form a heart because listening is not letting the words pass through the other ear nor keep in one’s head to understand but meant to bring down into our hearts so we can be more loving and kind, leading to oneness and bonding with the other persons.
Here we can adopt the suggestions of the CBCP that we fast this Lent on social media: no more cellphones before sleep and after waking up; limit social media and streaming time; observe device-free meals and gatherings; replace screen time with prayer and making time to be with others personally.
Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, March 2025.
Fasting. According to Pope Leo, “fasting is a concrete way to prepare ourselves to receive the word of God.” He explains that “because it involves the body, fasting makes it easier to recognize what we ‘hunger’ for and what we deem necessary for our sustenance. Moreover, it helps us identify and order our ‘appetites,’ keeping our hunger and thirst for justice alive and freeing us from complacency.”
Again, let us use our Filipino language in understanding fasting and abstinence as well. Fasting is linked with abstaining from food. For us Filipinos, the most common practice of fasting and abstinence is avoiding meat like no meat on Fridays; meat in Filipino is laman. Therefore, when we say “no meat” it literally means walang laman which means empty in Filipino. It is when we are empty of ourselves that we become filled with God and his word, eventually of others especially the sick and suffering.
In a very interesting way, Pope Leo XIV invites us beginning this Lent to fast with our “tongue”: “Let us begin by disarming our language, avoiding harsh words and rash judgment, refraining from slander and speaking ill of those who are not present and cannot defend themselves. Instead, let us strive to measure our words and cultivate kindness and respect in our families, among our friends, at work, in social media, in political debates, in the media and in Christian communities. In this way, words of hatred will give way to words of hope and peace.”
Together. Finally, the Holy Father sums up that listening and fasting must both lead to the common good, the unity of peoples because “conversion refers not only to one’s conscience, but also to the quality of our relationships and dialogue. It means allowing ourselves to be challenged by reality and recognizing what truly guides our desires” not only as a community but especially in our “thirst for justice and reconciliation”.
Again, our Filipino word for listening says it all: pakikinig leads to pagniniig or intimacy which is oneness, communion, and bonding. True conversion leads to communion that begins with reconciliation as St. Paul called on us today in the second reading, “We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. Behold, now is a very acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation (1Cor. 5:20,6:2).”
As we receive the ash on our foreheads today, let us have moments of silence to listen to God’s voice we have stifled in our hearts, let us fast from talking and scrolling, and together we help each other to truly journey inside our true selves to meet God this Lent. To meet God is to die into one’s self, one’s sins, one’s selfishness as well dying literally speaking which the old formula of imposition of ash solemnly declares, “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”
Let’s face it: it is the reality of death that we have often tried to deny and escape in life that have kept our hearts consumed with all these distractions in modern life that have led us into sins and meaninglessness. Let us start anew today in Christ Jesus to find ourselves and God within our hearts. Amen. A blessed Ash Wednesday to you!
Lord My Chef Simbang Gabi Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Saturday, Simbang Gabi-V, 20 December 2025 Isaiah 7:10-14 <*((((>< + ><))))*> Luke 1:26-38
Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth, Israel; photo by Ar. Philip Santiago, October 2025.
On this fifth day of our Simbang Gabi we hear the second Christmas story by Luke, telling us how six months after announcing to Zechariah the coming of their son John, the angel Gabriel went to Nazareth to announce the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ to the Blessed Virgin Mary who was betrothed to St. Joseph. Unlike Zechariah who doubted the angel’s message, Mary was more open with her response by asking how it would all take place.
And the angel said to her in reply, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God” (Luke 1:35).
We reflected the other day how Matthew ended his story of the genealogy of Jesus Christ with Mary to show her as the new beginning of everything in the world. Through Mary’s giving birth to Jesus, we now share with Him one common origin in faith who is God as our Father so that despite our many sins and failures, we are given with a fresh start, new opportunities in life daily. Luke bolsters this today with his account of the annunciation of the birth of Jesus to Mary.
Photo by Ar. Philip Santiago, Annunciation Basilica in Nazareth, October 2025.
As a Jew, Mary must be totally aware of the words of the angel about herself being “overshadowed by the Most High” like in the Old Testament stories of God’s presence in the cloud during their journey in the wilderness after their exodus from Egypt. Even Moses could not enter the tent when “the cloud covered it and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle” (Ex.40:34-38).
To be filled and overshadowed by the presence of God is to be to be possessed by God and eventually to be transformed by God.
Remember how in the movie “The Ten Commandments” when the face of Moses was transformed after meeting God. In the New Testament, the three synoptic gospels record a similar incident of God’s presence in a cloud hovering with Jesus during His transfiguration at Mount Tabor witnessed by Peter, James and John. The two great prophets of Israel were there, Elijah and Moses conversing with Jesus when a cloud overshadowed them with a voice declaring “this is my beloved Son, listen to Him.” Matthew, Mark and Luke tell us how the apostles were all terrified at the sight of the Transfiguration.
And we can also surmise how terrifying it must be to experience God’s presence, to be filled with God. But that is how grace works!
Photo by Ar. Philip Santiago, Annunciation Basilica in Nazareth, October 2025.
At the start of our Simbang Gabi we have reflected how under the light of Christ we are able to see our sinfulness and weaknesses that sometimes we feel so sorry for ourselves but that is actually when grace works in us – the moment we change our sinful ways, then we grow!
When we see our limitations as humans yet still forge on in life to achieve greater things, to become better persons, that is God working in us. That is why Luke tells us today how the angel greeted Mary during the annunciation using the Greek words “kaire” which is to rejoice and “charis” or “karis” for grace: “Hail (or rejoice), full of grace! The Lord is with you” (Lk.1:28).
This is actually unusual because Jews greet each other with “shalom” for peace; why did Luke use kaire? Because wherever and whenever there is grace, surely there is rejoicing like in our Third Sunday of Advent called Gaudete Sunday: we rejoice because the Lord who is pure grace is near!
The late American spiritual writer and monk Thomas Merton rightly said, “We live in a time of no room, which is the time of the end. The time when everyone is obsessed with lack of time, lack of space, with saving time, conquering space… The primordial blessing, ‘increase and multiply’ has suddenly become a hemorrhage of terror… In the time of the end there is no longer room for the desire to go on living. Why? Because they are part of a proliferation of life that is not fully alive, it is programmed for death” (Raids on the Unspeakable, pp. 70-72).
Photo by Ar. Philip Santiago, Annunciation Basilica in Nazareth, October 2025.
Advent is the time to get real, to stop pretending. Advent is the time for us to finally admit our own limitations, to create a space in our hearts and in our lives to let God fill us, to let God possess us.
Can we, like Mary allow God’s power “hover over us” to renew our lives in welcoming Jesus Christ? This was the problem of Isaiah with King Ahaz in the first reading who pretended to refusing God giving signs of his presence when actually he had already entered into alliances with other pagan kings in the region as the Babylonians were closing in them; that is why Isaiah uttered the prophecy to insist that God is our protector: “Listen, O house of David! Is it not enough for you to weary men, must you also weary my God? Therefore the Lord himself will give you this sign: the virgin shall be with child, and bear a son, and shall name him Emmanuel” (Is.7:13-14).
Let me end this reflection by inviting you dear friends to pray for Fr. Flavie Villanueva, an SVD priest so active in caring for the poor especially the orphans left by victims of tokhang. He was recently awarded the Ramon Magsaysay Award considered as Asia’s equivalent of Nobel Peace Prize for his works for the poor.
Yes, he had a very dark past, being a former drug dependent but God used that chapter in his life to make him turn around and become a missionary priest. Fr. Flavie had never hidden nor sanitized his dark past because it was during those years when he also found the light and grace of God’s love and mercy for him. Perhaps, he is most effective in his works among the poor and the addicts precisely because he used to be one of them! He is now under attack for his works by the dark elements of the past administration, the most decadent in our history.
From Facebook via Political Insight Today, 18 December 2025.
Fr. Flavie is no Virgin Mary but like her, he opened his heart to God who eventually overshadowed him with His powers to do all these great things for the poor who now feel Christ’s presence.
Recall now the many instances in our lives where we have learned our most important lessons in life and most surely, these were also the moments we have faced many hardships and sufferings but, instead of being down, these have inspired us and transformed us into better persons.
Let us imitate Mary in saying yes to God – “Behold I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word!” Let us open our hearts to God so the Holy Spirit may hover on us to fill us with Jesus Christ we can share with others broken like us. Amen. A blessed weekend everyone!
Lord My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Second Sunday in Advent-A, 07 December 2025 Isaiah 11:1-10 ><}}}}*> Romans 15:4-9 ><}}}}*> Matthew 3:1-12
Photo by author, The Deesis Mosaic in the Hagia Sophia, Istanbul, Turkiye, 01 November 2025.
A few weeks before the Holy Father visited Turkiye recently, we were also in Istanbul and had the great chance of visiting the magnificent Hagia Sophia. And we wonder why Pope Leo XIV skipped the more historical and popular Hagia Sophia to visit instead the Blue Mosque just across.
The Hagia Sophia or “Holy Wisdom” was the largest church in the Eastern Roman Empire when Istanbul was called Constantinople until the Ottoman Turks conquered the city and converted the church into a mosque. More than a hundred years ago when Turkiye became a republic, the government made Hagia Sophia a museum until recently when it was reverted into a mosque again.
My initial feeling when I got inside Hagia Sophia was deep sadness. “Malaking panghihinayang” as in “sayang na sayang” in Filipino because it used to be ours but due to the Great Schism of 1054 when the Eastern Roman Church broke away from Rome, it fell into the hands of the Moslems who made it into a mosque, altering or hiding the many great works of art there that date back to the Byzantine era 1200 to 1400 years ago.
Photo by author, The Deesis Mosaic in the Hagia Sophia, Istanbul, Turkiye, 01 November 2025.
One of its many treasures you might be familiar found in history books and magazines is the “Deesis Mosaic” of Jesus flanked to his left by his Mother Mary and John the Baptist to his right.
From the Greek word “deesis” that means supplication or intercession, the mosaic features Mary and John beseeching Jesus to forgive mankind at his Second Coming. Though the three images have been badly deteriorated due to the elements passing through the window beside it, its beauty remains intact, especially the evocative faces of Mary, Jesus and John.
Seeing it personally, one could feel the pagsusumamo of John the Baptist and Mother Mary expressed in the softness of their face in earnestly asking Jesus to forgive mankind on the day of judgment. And it seems to be working so well as you could feel too the tender compassion of Jesus Christ’s look as he raised his right hand in a blessing position while holding with his other hand a thick book that is perhaps a Bible.
Detail of John the Baptist from the Deesis Mosaic in his abbreviated Greek name Ionnes Prodromos; photo by author, Istanbul, 01 November 2025.
The Deesis Mosaic is very Advent in character because it is about God’s mercy and forgiveness in Christ Jesus at his Second Coming at the end of time.
Here we find how early on in the ancient Church they have been preoccupied in this first aspect of Advent, the Second Coming of Christ at the end of time and of Advent’s essence – our conversion from sins. At the forefront of that call is the Lord’s Precursor, John the Baptist, that is why every second and third Sundays of Advent we hear in the gospel his ministry at Jordan.
John the Baptist appeared, preaching in the desert of Judea and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” It was of him that the prophet Isaiah had spoken when he said: A voice crying out in the desert, Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths. … At that time Jerusalem, all Judea, and the whole region aroun d the Jordan were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the Jordan River as they acknowledged their sins (Matthew 3:1-3, 5-6).
John the Baptist remains relevant in preparing for the Lord’s coming, whether at the end of time or in preparation for our Christmas celebration. Like him, we are all called to be an Advent person, vigilantly preparing ourselves for Christ’s coming at the end of time that happens in every here and now, right in our own desert in this modern time.
Yes, we are like John the Baptist living in our own desert, a world we describe as a global village wired and connected by the internet yet so apart from each other. Instead of bringing us closer with one another, all these modern inventions have actually grown us more detached from one another like when eating in a fast food. It is so alienating especially for us seniors to be placing our orders on those tall electronic boards programmed for us to order more food and drinks not healthy at all.
Or, take those TNVS or Transport Network Vehicle Services like Grab. We no longer travel in the real sense as we just move to destinations with that desert feeling when inside a Grab car with the driver too far from us passengers in front, following instructions from apps while we at the back sit silently scrolling our phones or pounding a laptop. See also how driving has become going in the wilderness with the horrendous traffic where humans turn into monsters in road rage while machines and CCTVs monitor who’s violating traffic rules and who gets through the RFID.
Photo by author, Basic Education Department Chapel, Our Lady of Fatima University, Valenzuela City, December 2023.
This Second Sunday in Advent, John the Baptist invites us to be aware of the desert we are living into where we have become less personal, less human as we move away from God that we have lost our sense of sin, acting more on impulses without much thinking its effects and consequences.
We think more of ourselves than of God and others, overextending our rights insisting on our ways that actually destroy lives through abortions and gender manipulations. We no longer speak of what is true and good by simply following trends and what is convenient. No more feelings, no more compassion. No more others. No more God nor heaven and eternity.
“St. John the Baptist Preaching in the Wilderness” by German painter Anton Raphael Mengs (1728-1779) from commons.wikimedia.org.
We do not have to dress on camel’s hair nor eat locusts and wild honey like John but simply make a space within us for God and for others.
We would be gravely wrong to think John was only speaking to the people of his time especially to the Pharisees and Sadducees; Matthew wrote his gospel account at that time to nourish the faith of early Christians facing persecutions and many challenges in life like in our own time when it is so tempting to follow the evil ways of the world.
John continues to warn us today of the sure return of the Christ when everyone shall face judgment which is not something to be feared like a sword of Damocles hanging above our heads ready to strike us anytime. It is a call and a demand for concrete actions of conversion, of leaving our sinful ways to follow Christ’s path of holiness.
“Even now the ax lies at the root of the trees. Therefore every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. I am baptizing you with water, for repentance, but the one who is coming after me is mightier than I. I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire” (Matthew 3:10-11).
Advent assures us of Christ’s Second Coming when he shall purify and renew us to fulfill Isaiah’s prophecy in the first reading when “the wolf shall be a guest of the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid… the calf and young lion shall browse together, with a little child to guide them… the cow and bear shall be neighbors, together their young shall rest, the lion shall eat hay like the ox… the baby shall play by the cobra’s den, and the child lay his hand on the adder’s lair”(Isaiah 11:6-8).
“Peaceable Kingdom”, a painting based on Is.11:1-10 by American Edward Hicks, a Quaker pastor (1780-1849) from wikimedia.org.
As we have reflected last Sunday, every coming of Jesus is a day of judgment but not a catastrophe. It becomes a disaster for those unprepared, living in sin. But for those like John the Baptist, striving to live the gospel amid the desert of this world, Christ’s coming is salvation and peace for Jesus is full of love and compassion and tenderness for his people.
Life is so difficult these days especially when we see our great disparities with the corrupt who simply steal our money and those we call “lumalaban ng patas sa buhay”. Imagine how in our country the world is like a desert, so hostile with the weak and the poor who have to wrestle with 500 pesos – if ever they have – to stretch it for a noche buena on Christmas Eve.
St. Paul reminds us in the second reading that in times like these, we look up to God and his Sacred Words, to keep hoping, trusting and believing in Christ’s coming already happening especially in the Sunday Eucharist. Let us gather together as one community, encouraging each other in Christ like John in Jordan while awaiting the Lord’s coming, rejoicing like the psalmist today who sang, “Justice shall flourish in his time, and fullness of peace forever” (Ps. 72:7). Amen. A blessed Second Week in Advent everyone!
Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul, 13 October 2025 Monday, 108th Anniversary of Last Apparition at Fatima, Portugal Romans 1:1-7 ><]]]]'> + ><]]]]'> + ><]]]]'> Luke 11:29-32
We celebrate today the 108th anniversary of the final apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Fatima, Portugal that made it the most relevant proof in modern times of the existence of God and of his immense love for mankind through his Son Jesus Christ.
It was on this date, October 13, 1917 when the “Miracle of the Sun” happened at Fatima as the Virgin Mary appeared for the last time to Lucia Santos and her two younger cousins now Saints Francisco and his sister Jacinta Marto along with an estimated crowd of 70,000 made up of believers and unbelievers as well as skeptics and hecklers. They all witnessed the phenomenon that many verified with sworn accounts of how the Sun “danced” in the sky and then careened to Earth while emitting radiant colors that lasted for about ten minutes.
It was the sixth and last apparition of the Blessed Mother to the three children that began on May 13, 1917 and since then, devotion to Our Lady of Fatima grew which also boosted the praying of the Holy Rosary after the Blessed Virgin Mary introduced herself as the Lady of the Rosary. It was on that last apparition when the Blessed Mother told the children how World War I would soon end with a warning that “People must amend their lives and ask pardon for their sins. They must not offend our Lord any more, for He is already too much offended!”
Though the Fatima feast is officially set on May 13, many churches and devotees around the world still celebrate the October 13 apparition not only because of the dancing sun miracle but most of all of the ever-timely and relevant calls of the Blessed Mother for penance and conversion that echo the teachings of her Son Jesus Christ in today’s gospel:
While still more people gathered in the crowd, Jesus said to them, “This generation is an evil generation; it seeks a sign, but no sign will be given it, except the sign of Jonah… At the judgment the men of Nineveh will arise with this generation and condemn it, because at the preaching of Jonah they repented, and there is something greater than Jonah here” (Luke 11:29, 32).
Procession of the National Pilgrim Image of Fatima at her National Shrine in Valenzuela, 13 May 2025. Photo credit to the owner.
With the recent calamities and corruption scandals that have been rocking our nation these past four months, the Fatima apparition of October 13, 1917 remains significant especially for us in the Philippines today for three reasons.
First, we have to see the last apparition of October 13, 1917 not as the final one but the start or beginning of the unfolding of more revelations and realizations for us. In fact, Sr. Lucia continued to received private visions while in the convent as a nun in 1925 through the 1930’s. During her last interview in 1957 while already a cloistered Carmelite nun, Sr. Lucia revealed how during that last apparition to them (her two cousins have died in 1919 and 1920 during the flu pandemic), the Blessed Virgin Mary looked very sad and never smiled to indicate the gravity and seriousness of her messages to them.
The Blessed Mother must be looking more sad than ever with us Filipinos since July this year with the wholesale corruption by DPWH officials in connivance with some former and current lawmakers that have caused so many people to suffer with perennial flood. Most especially because those involved in the worst corruption we have so far are Catholics and Christians! Imagine the pain of the Blessed Mother who is surely crying, saying, “mahiya naman kayo!”
One problem with the common perception of many people even up to now with the last apparition of Fatima is to equate it with the end of the world, of worldwide catastrophe that have instilled more of fear and even controversies that included doubts of the Vatican allegedly not fully revealing the Third Secret despite assurances from the visionary herself, Sr. Lucia who said before her death in 2005 that all Fatima Secrets have been fully revealed.
If we take the Fatima apparitions as a whole, we find in it more of messages of hope and joy for us in the Philippines and the world. The Blessed Mother appeared in Fatima not to scare us but to inspire us to turn away from sins, to be converted and be holy so that the world may truly find peace in Jesus her Son.
The last things do not necessarily mean destruction like when we say in Filipino it is the end or “wakas”, it usually means “wasak” or destruction; normally, when there is wakas and wasak, there is “bago” or new being built or established to replace the old one.
Therefore, the last apparition at Fatima in 1917 is also the signal of new beginnings, new undertaking, new opportunities, new hope in Jesus Christ who is the ultimate sign of God’s loving presence among us amid the trials and difficulties like these calamities and corruption in the country. It is not being simplistic but we just have to trust Jesus and his Mother Mary that we be sorry for our sins, stop doing what is sinful and evil, be converted and lead holy lives. Repentance leads to true wisdom because it is only in doing what is right when things would be right in order.
Photo by author, July 2023.
At the last apparition in Fatima 108 years ago, it is very interesting how two elements prevailed on that day: rains and the sun. And these are our second and third points of reflection on the sign of Fatima.
According to official accounts, rains have soaked wet the people and the whole of Cova da Iria in Fatima, Portugal for two days, October 12-13, 1917 before the Blessed Mother’s final apparition. How wonderful is the plentiful sign of rains, of water that signify the call for inner cleansing and purification of our hearts and person.
And when the sun “danced” later, the people were astonished how they and their clothes where dried along with the whole surroundings as if it had not rained the previous day and night after witnessing the spectacular display of colors and light!
May we see more of the light of Jesus in our lives so we may be cleansed and ready to work for another day of conversion and holiness just like St. Paul in the first reading today who reminds us to be witnesses of Christ:
… but established as Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness through resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord. Through him we have received the grace of apostleship, to bring about the obedience of faith, for the sake of his name, among all the Bentiles, among whom are you also, who are called to belong to Jesus Christ (Romans 1:4-6).
As witnesses of Christ and pilgrims of hope, we are invited today more than ever in the light of the Blessed Mother’s last apparition at Fatima in 1917 to usher in new hopes for us to become better persons who build stronger families and more vibrant church communities.
At Fatima 108 years ago today, we are invited by the Blessed Mother to be focused more in revealing God’s will as experienced and prayed in the the Sacred Scriptures than taking sides in politics and going down to the worldly debates on abortion and divorce as well as gender issues beyond male and female.
How true indeed are the words of Jesus that “this generation is an evil generation seeking so many signs” to stretch its concepts of justice and equality, of rights and freedom without recognizing the need for humility and acceptance, responsibility and maturity as exemplified by the three children at Fatima. Let us make today the beginning of our conversion and transformation in Christ Jesus with the help of the Blessed Mother. Amen. Our Lady of Fatima, Pray for us.Fr. Nicanor F. lalog II, Our Lady of Fatima University, Valenzuela City (lordmychef@gmail.com)
From cbcpnews.net, 13 May 2022, at the Parish of the National Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima, Valenzuela City.
Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul, 07 October 2025 Tuesday, Memorial of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary Jonah 3:1-10 <*{{{{>< + ><}}}}*> Luke 1:26-38
Photo from canningliturgicalarts.com.
On this day of the Memorial of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary, our bishops have rightly set this as the National Day of Prayer and Public Repentance in the light of the grotesque corruption and its investigations along with the natural calamities that have hit our country recently.
For hundreds of years, the Rosary has always been used to intercede for peace and conversion not only in Church but also world history. In fact, this feast has its origin in the victory of Christian forces against the Ottoman Turks in the Battle of Lepanto Bay in 1571 that decisively stopped the Moslems from occupying Europe. The first Dominican Pope, St. Pius V attributed that victory to the recitation of the Holy Rosary that further led to its popularity and devotion that greatly spread when subsequent other victories in various parts of the world like the La Naval in the Philippines were attributed to our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary.
From Facebook post by Dr. Tony Leachon, “KLEPTOPIROSIS: When Corruption Becomes a Public Health Crisis”, 08 August 2025.
At this time when our country is again at the crossroads of great dangers and threats to its democratic institutions, it is very timely that we celebrate this feast with deep devotion and firm resolve to be converted.
Although we have a proper reading on this celebration, we have preferred to use the first reading of the day from the Book of Jonah when God sent the reluctant prophet to Nineveh to call on its people to be converted lest God destroys the city. Notice the immense love of God in this beautiful story of conversion: God never gave up on Jonah, calling him to go to Nineveh to proclaim his message.
Jonah began his journey through the city, and had gone but a single day’s work announcing, “Forty days ore and Nineveh shall be destroyed,” when the people of Nineveh believed God; they proclaimed a fast and all of them, great and small, put on sackcloth. When the news reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, laid aside his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in the ashes. When God saw by their actions how they turned from their evil way, he repented of the evil that he had threatened to do to them; he did not carry it out (Jonah 3:4-6, 10).
Photo by Aaron Favila, Associated Press, Barasoain Church, Malolos City, 22 July 2025.
Remember, God never gives up on us. That is why he keeps sending us the Blessed Virgin Mary Mother to appear on various occasions especially these past 120 years to keep on reminding us of his call for our conversion essential to having peace.
See how in all of these apparitions of Mama Mary, there has always been the praying of the Holy Rosary. At her final apparition on October 13, 1917 at Fatima, she revealed herself as the Lady of the Rosary, proving once more the great power and lessons of this devotional prayer that has proven over and over again that indeed, “More things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of” (Lord Alfred Tennyson). How?
Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, 20 March 2025.
At the center of our Christian faith and spirituality is the invitation of God for us to “lose” ourselves to him, to trust him more than ourselves.
Jonah had to lose himself literally from the ship to be swallowed by the whale and spitted out after three days. And of course, the people of Nineveh from the king down to the poorest of the poor among them have to “lose” themselves by admitting their sinfulness and being sorry for them to be converted that resulted in God foregoing his plans to destroy their city. They actually won and did not lose in the process despite their sitting on ashes and wearing sackcloth.
In the gospel, we saw how Mary had to “lose” herself so that Jesus Christ may finally come by being born through her into the world when after the angel had explained to her the plan of God, she humbly said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.” Then the angel departed her(Lk.1:38).
Mary “lost” herself to God and eventually became an instrument for our victory in the salvation through her Son Jesus Christ who also “lost” by dying on the Cross only to emerged gloriously victorious after three days when he rose from the dead to win over death and sin for us.
In life, it is when we “lose” that we actually “win”, something we often fail to realize, especially the corrupt government officials and lawmakers. The only peaceful path to resolving all this mess we are into and preventing further escalations of the anger of the people is for those in powers to finally “lose” themselves in humility, to repent and be converted. Snap elections will never restore the confidence of people with them unless those tainted with corruption take the high road of stepping down as a first sign of their decency and statesmanship.
Residents of Hagonoy Bulacan walk their way to flooded portions of premise surrondings St. Anne Parish as they protested following exposes of flood control anomalies. Bulacan has been under scrutiny for receiving multi million worth of flood control projects but still suffers severe flooding. (Photo by Michael Varcas)
Let us pray for their conversion; let us pray for the judges and justices of all courts be fair and just in evaluating the evidence against these people blinded by money and power. Let us pray for them to realize that for a moment, they may “lose” face and money but eventually win salvation and peace. Only God knows what awaits them, if they repent and be converted or remain proud and sinful.
Let us pray for the conversion of Sec. Recto and government economists of the need for the State to “lose” in order to “win” especially the people by cutting our so many taxes. It is about time for the government technocrats to reduce our taxes that have mostly gone to corruption without serving truly the people who have contributed these with their blood and sweat. We are the most taxed country in this part of the world while our neighbors have shown how reducing taxes actually leads to more spending by the people that partly keeps a more vibrant economy.
Let us pray also for ourselves, for one another to realize the need for us to lose ourselves for higher values than material things that are eventually lost. We as a nation, like the Prophet Baruch our bishops have cited must admit our own sins to be “flushed with shame” (Bar.1:15) that all these mess we are into is due to our sins, to our turning away from God as we focused more in pursuing power, wealth and fame that now come so easily via social media.
Photo by Pete Reyes, Sr. Porfiria “Pingping” Ocariza (+) and Sr. Teresita Burias praying the Rosary to protect mutineers during the EDSA People Power Revolt in February 1986.
When we “lose” in God, for God, it is always a “win” in everything. Of course, it is always a difficult path to take that calls for daily conversion in Christ with Mary.
The praying of the six Our Fathers, 53 Hail Mary’s and six Glory Be’s are invitations to the Rosary’s rhythm of daily conversion by meditating the joyful, luminous, sorrowful, and glorious mysteries of the life of Jesus Christ with his Blessed Mother. That is not what not Jesus referred to as “meaningless repetition” of prayers (Mt.6:7); the Rosary is also a prayer method that helps us enter into union in Christ with Mary as guide.
The Rosary, though clearly Marian in character, is at heart a Christocentric prayer. In the sobriety of its elements, it has all the depth of the Gospel message in its entirety, of which it can be said to be a compendium. It is an echo of the prayer of Mary, her perennial Magnificat for the work of the redemptive Incarnation which began in her virginal womb. With the Rosary, the Christian people sits at the school of Mary and is led to contemplate the beauty on the face of Christ and to experience the depths of his love. Through the Rosary the faithful receive abundant grace, as though from the very hands of the Mother of the Redeemer (St. John Paul II, Rosarium Virginis Mariae, #1).
True, a lot often we may seem to “lose” many battles when we try to stand for what is true and good but in the end, we actually “win” the war against evil, the greatest victory Christ had gifted us, our salvation. That is why in Marian prayers like the Rosary as well as in hymns in her honor we ask her prayer for us sinners to be saved from hell and be brought to her Son Jesus Christ in eternity. That’s the final victory we all hope for in praying and living out the Holy Rosary with Mary. But first, lose ourselves to Jesus like Mary, even Jonah. Happy feast of our Lady of the Holy Rosary!Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Our Lady of Fatima University, Valenzuela City (our email, lordmychef@gmail.com)
Artwork by Mr. Darwin Lance Arcilla, Campus Ministry, OLFU-Valenzuela City.
Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul, 22 September 2025 Monday in the Twenty-Fifth Week of Ordinary Time, Year I Ezra 1:1-6 <*((((>< + ><))))*> Luke 8:16-18
Photo by author, 08 August 2025.
We praise and thank you, God our loving Father for the peaceful rally yesterday though marred by some hooligans; we hope and pray that you will touch the hearts and souls of our leaders and government officials to imitate King Cyrus of Persia that they choose what is good for the people, that they choose your divine will, that they choose to be remembered well despite our many differences.
In the first year of Cyrus, King of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah, the Lord inspired King Cyrus of Persia to issue this proclamation throughout his kingdom, both by words of mouth and in writing: “Thus says Cyrus, King of Persia: ‘All the kingdoms of the earth the Lord, the God of heaven, has given to me, and he has charged me to build him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Therefore, whoever among you belongs to any part of his people, let him go up, and may his God be with him! Let everyone who has survived, in whatever place he may may have dwelt, be assisted by the people of that place with silver, gold, goods, and cattle, together with free-will offerings for the house of God in Jerusalem” (Ezra 1:1-4).
King Cyrus could have kept your people enslaved in Babylon, Lord, after he had conquered the Babylonians but King Cyrus chose to set them free to return to Jerusalem; moreover, he returned their gold to bring back to your temple in Jerusalem; we still believe, dear Lord in the goodness of people: touch them especially those involved in the flood control scams in our country; give us more men and women willing to stand for the truth so that the guilty ones are punished and the funds are returned to be put into good use for your people. Amen.
Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Our Lady of Fatima University Valenzuela City (lordmychef@gmail.com)
Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul, 15 September 2025 Monday, Memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows Hebrews 5:7-9 <*{{{{>< + ><}}}}*> Luke 2:33-35
Image from churchofjesuschrist.org.
A blessed Monday indeed, Lord Jesus Christ as we celebrate your Blessed Mother as Our Lady of Sorrows.
The alternative gospel for today's celebration is so striking with the account of Luke of your Presentation at the Temple:
The child’s father and mother were amazed at was said about him; and Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, “Behold, this child is destined for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be contradicted” (Luke 2:33-34).
Why were your parents, Joseph, especially Mary your Mother were amazed at the words of the Prophet Simeon?
I really wonder how they looked like, Jesus: to be amazed is more than being surprised with the enormity of reality before one; to be amazed is to be awed, to be seized by that reverential fear Joseph and Mary felt when your coming was announced to them; to be amazed is more of the heart than of the mind, a feeling that overwhelms one's whole being with something so profound, so wonderful, most of all, so real.
Yes, Jesus: being amazed is beyond incredible, simply breathtaking because of your very presence, of your reality. Amaze me, Lord Jesus. Keep amazing me, Jesus so that like your parents Joseph and especially Mary the more I shall know you, love you, and follow you even to the Cross.
“and you yourself a sword will pierce so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed” (Luke 2:35).
O dearest Jesus, being sorrowful is also of the heart like being amazed and both are related: the more we are amazed with the reality of your love for us, the more we are sorrowful not only with your passion and death but most of all of our sinfulness because to sin is a refusal to love, a refusal to recognize the truth and reality of your immense love for us, Jesus; when people no longer feel sorrow with all the sins and senseless killings happening today, when people glorify sin and evil, when the young feel proud more with wealth and fame than the human person, when people are so consumed with things of the world than be amazed with the wonder of human life, the warmth of each person, and the joy of being loved and being loving... that is when we are no longer amazed with you, Jesus, our way, our truth and our life.
Immerse us in your words, Jesus like Mary your Mother; like her, let us act on your words to keep us amazed with your love and mercy, Lord Jesus so we may be sorrowful with our sins and most of all, be resolved in returning to you, remaining in you like Mary your Mother and our Mother too. Amen.
Lady of Sorrows from a triptych by the Master of the Stauffenberg Altarpiece, Alsace c. 1455; photo from fraangelicoinstitute.com.
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