Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul, 18 November 2025 Tuesday in the Thirty-Third Week of Ordinary Time, Year I Memorial of the Dedication of the Basilicas of Sts. Peter & Paul, Apostles 2 Maccabees 16:18-31 ><))))*> + ><))))*> + ><))))*> Luke 19:1-10
Photo by author, sycamore tree in Jericho, Israel, May 2019.
What a most blessed day today, Lord Jesus Christ for you to teach us today of that most essential teaching of yours - of forgetting one's self to the point of giving up one's life and reputation to gain you and eternal life:
Eleazar in the Old Testament, Zacchaeus in the gospel plus today's memorial of the dedication of the basilicas in honor of the two pillars of your church, the Apostles St. Peter and St. Paul.
They all gave up themselves for you by standing for what is true and good and just: despite his old age of 90, Eleazar chose to face torture and death than defile himself by pretending before the people of eating pork as ordered their pagan occupiers; Zacchaeus, on the other hand, disregarded what others would say about him despite his being "small in stature" as a sinner that he climbed a sycamore tree to see Jesus.
Eleazar, one of the foremost scribes, a man of advanced age and noble appearance, was being forced to open his mouth to eat pork… He told them to send him at once to the abode of the dead, explaining, “At our age it would be unbecoming to make such a pretense… should I thus pretend for the sake of a brief moment of life, they would be led astray by me, while I would bring shame and dishonor on my old age” (2 Maccabees 6:18, 24, 25).
At that time Jesus came to Jericho and intended to pass through the town. Now a man there named Zacchaeus, who was a chief tax collector and also a wealthy man, was seeking to see who Jesus was…so he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree in order to see Jesus, who was about to pass that way. When he reached the place, Jesus looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down quickly for today I must stay at your house… When they all saw this, they began to grumlbe, saying, “He has gone to stay at the house of a sinner.” But Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, “Behold, half of my possessions, Lord, I shall give to the poor, and if I have extorted anything from anyone I shall repay it four times over” (Luke 19:1-2, 4-5, 7-8).
As we celebrate today the memorial of the dedication of the Basilicas of your Apostles St. Peter and St. Paul, teach us to have their courage for standing for what is true: like Eleazar, let us never think even of committing sin "for a brief moment" and mislead others into evil; like Zacchaeus, teach us to forget about what others may say about us but what you would tell us.
Let us realize, Lord, that in this life, something's gotta give - possessions and things, pride and ego, sin and addictions - to be truly free and fulfilled in you. Amen.
Photo by author, Bucharest, Romania, 08 Noovember 2025.
Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul, 24 October 2025 Friday in Twenty-Ninth Week of Ordinary Time, Year I Romans 7:18-25 <*((((>< + ><))))*> Luke 12:54-59
Lord Jesus Christ, today I join St. Paul in his cry, “Miserable one that I am!" for deep in my heart I am your slave O Lord, of righteousness, of what is good but what I do and follow is sin like your warning in the gospel, "the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak".
So, then, I discover the principle that when I want to do right, evil is at hand. For I take delight in the law of God, in my inner self, but I see in my members another principle at war with the law of my mind, taking me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members (Romans 7:21-23).
Not only every day
but so many times each day
I experience this inner clash
within me, sometimes good prevails
and there are times sin prevails.
How I wish I could sit
with St. Paul to discuss this
as I imagine his own agony
in fighting sin and evil desires
within; how reassuring
and inspiring to learn
how everyone goes through
this internal warfare.
Like St. Paul,
may I have the courage
to recognize and embrace,
accept and own this internal
strife between good and evil;
reconcile me, dear Jesus
in you who dwells within me;
let me recognize and
read your signs of presence,
of salvation,
of integration
within me and through
my community so that
in the end,
like St. Paul I may
declare, "It is no longer
I who live, but Christ
who lives in me"
(Galatians 2:20).
Amen.
Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul, 22 October 2025 Wednesday, Memorial of St. John Paul II, Pope Romans 6:12-18 <*{{{{>< + ><}}}}*> Luke 12:39-48
God our loving Father, thank you for the unique grace of having lived during the pontificate of St. John Paul II: what a tremendous blessing from you to grace us with St. John Paul II as our Pope who had overcome so many difficulties and struggles in life personally by being orphaned at a very young age from his mother then from his father and later from his only beloved brother, not to mention his coming from Poland, a country exploited by foreign powers and subjected to communism for the longest time.
In his entire life, Lord, you have always shown your loving presence in him and destined him to be your sign in this most difficult period in history when men and women gravely challenged you with so many evil and sins, including by some priests you have called to serve.
St. John Paul II showed us in his life consistent with his teachings and writings the need for us to be your slave of righteousness, a slave of love and goodness, a slave of Christ:
Do you not know that if you present yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of one you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God that, although you were once slaves of sin, you have become obedient from the heart to the pattern of teaching to which you were entrusted. Freed from sin, you have becomes slaves of righteousness (Romans 6:16-18).
Let us grow in obedience to you, Jesus like your great Pope, St. John Paul II who lived and served us with great examples of his life waging war against the many evils of our time, standing for what is true and good, your voice in this wilderness, telling us to "be not afraid" to love and serve the weakest among us while awaiting your return like in your parable today. Amen.
Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul, 29 September 2025 Monday, Memorial of Saints Michael, Gabriel & Raphael, Archangels Revelation 12:7-12 <*{{{{>< + ><}}}}*> John 1:47-51
Photo by author, Carmel of the Holy Family Monastery, Guiguinto, Bulacan 25 September 2025.
Thank you dearest God our loving Father for your gift of Archangels helping us fight our many spiritual battles in life; the wholesale corruption and looting in government in connivance with some contractors has unmasked the realities of the demons led by Satan working hard here in on earth right in our country; more than the billions of pesos they have looted from government, they have put so many lives in danger and misery.
Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: “Now have salvation and power come, and the kingdom of our God and the Authority of his Anointed… They conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; love for life did not deter them from death. Therefore, rejoice, you heavens, and you who dwell in them. But woe to you, earth and sea, for the Devil has come down to you in great fury, for he knows he has but a sort time” (Revelation 12:10, 11-12).
But the greatest spiritual battle against evil and sin, Lord happens not in government offices nor halls of Congress nor of the streets; they happen right here in our hearts.
All the evil happening now started in our selfish hearts, in our malicious minds, in our uncontrolled appetites for comfort and luxuries.
Help us fight the demons within us, Lord Jesus; pray for us, St. Michael that we may have the strength and courage to stand firm in what is true and just; pray for us St. Gabriel that we may speak the gospel and life of God in this world so misled by the words and images of evil masquerading as good and beautiful; pray for us St. Raphael that we may heal from our many afflictions in body, mind, heart and soul. Amen.
Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Our Lady of Fatima University Valenzuela City (lordmychef@gmail.com)
Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul, 24 September 2025 Wednesday, Twenty-Fifth Week in Ordinary Time, Year I Ezra 9:5-9 <*((((>< + ><))))*> Luke 9:1-6
Residents of Hagonoy Bulacan walk their way to flooded portions of premise surrondings St. Anne Parish as they protest this was following exposes of flood control anomalies. Bulacan province has been under scrutiny for receiving multi million worth of flood control projects but still suffers severe flooding. (Photo by Michael Varcas)
God our loving Father, today I feel like Ezra, praying filled with shame sadness and hopes at how we can rebuild, repair and create in you something good for our country.
“My God, I am too ashamed and confounded to raise my face to you, O my God, for our wicked deeds are heaped up above our heads and our guilt reaches up to heaven… And now, but a short time ago, mercy came to us from the Lord our God, who left us a remnant and gave us a stake in his holy place; thus our God has brightened our eyes and given us relief in our servitude… in our servitude our God has not abandoned us; Thus he has given us new life to raise again the house of our God and restore its ruins, and has granted us a fence in Judah and Jerusalem” (Ezra 9:6, 8, 9).
Like Israel of Ezra's time, your know so well, God our Father how our country the Philippines had always been guilty of putting into power corrupt and evil men and women without any respect for you and your people especially the poor and suffering; as a nation, we have always been fragmented not only among each other but within ourselves, doing things contrary to your precepts that corruption in government had sunk deeper into wholesale looting of government money and resources at the expense of the poor and suffering.
Scene at a wedding inside the flooded Barasoain Church in Malolos City, 22 July 2025; photo by Aaron Favila of Associated Press.
We are all angry. Very angry, God our Father for the shameless people tasked to provide us with infrastructures and services that are either non-existent or substandard because they have looted the funds!
But, help us, Lord, how we shall go from here in rebuilding our nation, our government, our institutions including the Church where some parishes as well as priests are beneficiaries of the stolen money; how can we repair not only the buildings but the lives of those destroyed and humiliated and how can we create a more just and humane society in Christ Jesus so that this systematic corruption is finally put into end. Amen.
Photo by author, 08 August 2025.
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.
Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul, 27 August 2025 Wednesday, Memorial of St. Monica, Married Woman 1 Thessalonians 2:9-13 <*[[[[>< + ><]]]]*> Matthew 23:27-32
Image of St. Monica from grunge.com
Praise and glory to you, Lord Jesus Christ for another set of beautiful words from your great Apostle Paul of being like a "father", a parent to the Thessalonians like St. Monica whose feast we celebrate today in her diligence and patience to her son St. Augustine whose feast comes tomorrow.
As you know, we treated each one of you as a father treats his children, exhorting and encouraging you and insisting that you walk in a manner worthy of the God who calls you into his kingdom and glory (1Thessalonians 2:11-12).
In this time of great trial and crisis in our country when we are literally deep in floods of evil and sin, a deluge of apocalyptic proportion that have submerged all three branches of government - the executive, legislative and judiciary that have severely dampened and loosened the morals of our society, teach us Jesus to be like the mother of St. Augustine, the ever patient and prayerful St. Monica to exhort and encourage everyone to still walk in a manner worthy of God who calls us to be fair and just, tenacious with our faith and hope in you and your gospel minus the trappings of the Pharisees and scribes of your time who were like "whitewashed tombs who appear beautiful on the outside, but inside are full of dead men's bones and every kind of filth" (Matthew 23:27); may the prayers of St. Monica with her tears cleanse us of everything wrong in our selves. Amen.
Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Our Lady of Fatima University Valenzuela City (lordmychef@gmail.com)
Lord My Chef Daily Recipe, Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Solemnity of Sacred Heart, 27 June 2025
Detalye ng painting ng Sacred Heart of Jesus sa Visitation Monastery, Marclaz, France mula sa godongphoto / Shutterstock.
Nag-senior citizen ako noong Marso at masasabi ko na sa tanang buhay ko, itong 2025 ang pinaka-mainit at maalinsangang taon sa lahat. Mula pa man noong dati, gabi lang ako gumagamit ng aircon ngunit mula nitong Abril, maghapon na ako kung mag-aircon sa silid. Kung minsan nga ay pati electric fan binubuksan ko kapag gabi sa labis na init ng panahon nitong nagdaang tag-araw.
Hindi lamang minsan ko narinig ang maraming nagsabing parang “impierno” ang summer 2025 dahil para sa atin, sukdulan ang apoy sa impierno kaya napaka-init.
Subalit ayon kay Dante Alighierri, isang batikang makata ng Italya noong unang panahon na sumulat ng Divine Comedy, ang kailaliman daw ng impierno ay hindi naman pagka-init-init dahil sa apoy kungdi pagkalamig-lamig parang yelo!
Ayon sa kanyang tula na nobela, ang pinaka-masaklap aniya sa lahat ng kasalanan at kasamaan magagawa ng tao ay ang manlamig ang puso. Magkaroon ng “cold heart” sa Ingles hanggang sa mawalan na ng puso ang mga tao gaya ng sinasaad sa isa pang English expression na “heartless world.”
Larawan mula sa forbes.com 2018, fashion week sa New York.
Ang mga katagang ito na cold heart at heartless world ay mas mainam na huwag nang isalin sa ating sariling wika sapagkat mas mananamnam at mailalarawan natin ang kahulugan sa wikang Ingles kesa sabihing malamig na puso o daigdig na walang puso. Kapag sinabing cold heart o malamig na puso, ito ay patay na puso, walang buhay parang bangkay. O bato. Kapag ang mga tao ay naging ganito, mismo ang daidig ay wala na ring puso, walang pagmamahal, walang awa, walang malasakit, walang pakialam.
Gayon ang kahulugan ng puso para sa sangkatauhan – hindi lamang ito sumasagisag sa pag-ibig at pagmamahal kungdi sa buhay. Sa malasakit, sa kabutihan, maging sa kaalaman gaya ng sinasaad ng English expression na “to know by heart” na ibig sabihin ay makabisado, matandaan.
At paano natin tinatandaan ang mga bagay-bagay? Ito ay ating inire-record na mula sa dalawang kataga ng wikang Latin, re (uliting muli) at cord na mula sa cor o puso. Alalaong-baga, ang tandaan, ang memoryahin at kabisaduhin ay isapusong muli sapagkat dito sa ating puso natatago ang lahat-lahat ng ating alaala at kaalaman maging pakiramdam gaya ng kutob na nagsasaad ng pakiramdam at kaalaman na di maipaliwanag ngunit totoo.
Higit sa lahat, dito sa ating puso nananahan ang Diyos sa atin gaya ng sinasaad ng dokumento ng Vatican II sa makabagong mundo (Gaudium Spes). Kaya ngayong Dakilang Kapistahan ng Kamahal-Mahalang Puso ni Jesus, pinapaala sa atin ng pagdiriwang ito ang hiwaga ng katotohanan ng pag-ibig ng Diyos sa lahat ng tao sa lahat ng panahon.
Hindi tayo nabibigo sa ating pag-asa, sapagkat ang pag-ibig ng Diyos ay ibinuhos sa ating mga puso sa pamamagitan ng Espiritu Santo na ipinagkaloob sa atin. Sapagkat noong tayo’y mahihina pa, namatay si Cristo sa takdang panahon para sa mga makasalanan. Mahirap mangyaring ialay ninuman ang kanyang buhayn alang-alang sa isang mabuting tao. Ngunit ipinadama sa atin ng Diyos ang kanyang pag-ibig sa atin nang mamatay si Cristo para sa atin noong tayo ay makasalanan pa (Roma 5:5-8).
Gayon na lamang ang pagmamahal ng Diyos sa atin – hindi masukat gaya ng pahayag ni Jesus kay Nicodemo dahil ito ibinubuhos hindi inuunti-unti, hindi tinitingi. Binubuhos. Palaging marami ang pag-ibig na kanyang binibigay sa atin sapagkat napakalaki ng kanyang puso ni Jesus.
Lahat tayo kasya sa kanyang napakalaking Puso kaya tayo man ay inaanyayahan ni Jesus na lumusong at maglublob sa kanyang puso kung saan ang kanyang pag-ibig ay naghahanap sa nawawala at naliligaw; pag-ibig na umuunawa at umiintindi sa naguguluhan at nalilito; pag-ibig na palaging bukas at tumatanggap sa sino mang ibig manahan, tumahan kung umiiyak sa lungkot at hapis.
Ito ang Puso ni Jesus na sinasaad ng larawan ng isang Mabuting Pastol gaya ng propesiya ni Ezekiel sa Unang Pagbasa at mismong kinukuwento ni Jesus sa kanyang talinghaga sa ebanghelyo ngayon.
Makakapasok lamang tayo sa Kamahal-Mahalang Puso ni Jesus kapag atin munang pinasok ating sariling puso kung saan mismo siya nananahan sa atin. Palagi nating sinasabi ang puso ang sentro ng ating katauhan at iyan ay totoo kasi nga doon din nananahan si Jesus.
Subalit dahil sa ating mga kasalanan, sa marami nating hilig at kagustuhan at sinusundang ibang diyus-diyosan, nawawala tayo sa puso ni Jesus dahil ang totoo, nawawala na rin ating puso. Ang pinaka-simpleng paliwanag ng kasalanan na aking ginagamit palagi ay ito: sin is a refusal to love.
Ang kasalanan ay pagtanggi na magmahal. Mula sa salitang ugat na sala na ibig sabihin ay sumala o magmintis o hindi magampanan dapat gampanan, ang kasalanan ay sumala sa iisang atas ni Jesus na magmahal. Sa tuwing hindi tayo nagmamahal, tayo ay nagkakasala. Kapag tayo ay nababad sa kasalanan, nagiging manhid tayo kaya di na tayo makaramdam ng iba at kapwa. ?Dito na manlalamig ang ating puso dahil tayo ay mahihiwalay na sa iba at kapwa, wala na tayong pakialam. Tayo ay napuputol at nag-iisa, hiwalay sa Diyos at kapwa, maging sa ating sariling katauhan kaya madalas ang mga makasalanan ay hindi makapagmahal kasi nga nawawala sa sarili.
At ganyan ang takbo ng daigdig ngayon, kanya-kanya, wala sa sarili tila baga bawat isa kaya lahat na lang dinaraan sa pera-pera. Ang lahat na lamang ay sinusukat, kinukuwenta, tinatantiya katulad ng algorithm sa social media kung saan nakukuha ang marami nating pattern sa buhay gaya ng mga hilig at gusto. Nagiging “commodity” na lamang ang tao ngayon, parang produkto at kasangkapan na ginagamit, binebenta at binibili.
Huwag nating hayaang magpatuloy na lamang ito na ang mundo ay manatiling materyal lamang – malamig at manhid, walang pakiramdam. Ibalik natin ang buhay, ang ating pagkatao na pakikibahagi sa buhay ng Diyos na nanahan dito sa ating puso. Gaya ng talinghaga ni Jesus, ang Diyos ay hindi isang observer na tagamasid o spectator na manonood lamang ng takbo ng ating buhay ng mga tao. Kaya sinugo ng Ama si Jesus sa atin sapagkat mula pa man noon ibig niyang makilahok sa buhay natin dangan lamang ay lagi natin siyang pinupuwera. Lalo ngayon sa makabagong panahon na pilit inaalis na ang Diyos sa buhay ng tao!
Larawan mula sa Pinterest.com.
Sa Sacred Heart ni Jesus, muling nabubuo ang tao sa kanyang sarili at ang sangkatauhan sapagkat ang pag-ibig niya ay pag-ibig na hinahanap ang mga sira at pira-piraso nating sarili upang makumpuni at mabuong muli. Ipinapaalala sa atin ng Kamahal-Mahalang Puso ni Jesus ang pag-ibig ng Diyos ay hindi isang ideya lamang o dalumat na nakalutang sa alapaap kungdi nakatapak sa lupa – isang pag-ibig na aktibo, marubdob at matalik na nakikipag-ugnayan gaya ng ating mga naranasan noong tayo ay gulung-gulo, litong-lito, nawawala at halos wala nang saysay ang buhay. Buhaying muli ating mga puso upang maranasan tunay na kagandahan ng buhay ng tao, hindi ng robot o makina. Ating dasalin palagi:
O Jesus na mayroong maamo at mapagkumbabang Puso, Gawin Mong ang puso nami'y matulad sa Puso Mo! Amen.
Lord My Chef Sunday Music by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, 06 April 2025
This is the second time we have featured Ms. Yvonne Elliman’s I Don’t Know How to Love Him in our Sunday Music at this time of the year when the Sunday gospel is about the woman caught committing adultery.
Every time that story comes up, my mind automatically links it with this song sang by Ms. Elliman in both the Broadway and movie versions of the rock-opera Jesus Christ, Superstar where she played the role as Mary Magdalene who was believed for a long time as the woman caught committing adultery. Modern biblical scholarships have long debunked that belief but that song by Andrew Lloyd Weber and Tim Rice plus Elliman’s amazing interpretation has given us with so many perspectives about the gospel itself.
One thing we realized this year is how we – like the woman caught committing adultery meet Jesus Christ face-to-face to experience his immense love and mercy and forgiveness.
We encounter Jesus when we disarm ourselves of our false securities and pretenses, masks and camouflages that all cover our sins. It is when we come face-to-face with our sinful self when we eventually meet Jesus face-to-face too because that is when we surrender in silence like the woman caught in adultery and the mob to some degree because all the charges against us are true.
See also that it is only the fourth gospel that Jesus is portrayed “bending” low – first here before the woman caught committing adultery and secondly at the washing of the feet of his Apostles at their Last Supper. How lovely is that sight to behold, dear friends! Imagine God bending before us, giving us like the sinful woman and the mob that space for us to confront our true self, to realize and accept the whole realities we are all interconnected in love.
Only the woman remained – like the eleven Apostles at the Last Supper – because she was the only one willing to change, probably sorrowful and contrite for her sins. Contrary to our fears, Jesus has only love and mercy, kindness and forgiveness to anyone contrite and sorrowful of one’s sin that so unlike with the people’s wrath and anger, judgment and condemnation. St. Augustine perfectly described that moment in today’s gospel, Relicti sunt duo; misera et miserecordia (Two were left; misery and mercy).https://lordmychef.com/2025/04/05/lent-is-encountering-jesus/
Now, look at the first two stanzas of I Don’t Know How to Love Him:
I don't know how to love him What to do, how to move him I've been changed, yes really changed In these past few days When I've seen myself I seem like someone else
I don't know how to take this I don't see why he moves me He's a man He's just a man And I've had so many Men before In very many ways He's just one more
See the conversion and transformation of the woman caught in adultery expressed by Ms. Elliman in the song: I’ve been changed, yes really changed/ In these past few days/ When I’ve seen myself/ I seem like someone else. It is one of the great ironies in life: when we are most vulnerable and weakest, that is when we are also most truest to our self, that is when we truly grow and mature in life!
And this was all possible because of the gift of love and mercy of Jesus Christ, of encountering the Lord and Savior Himself in our own brokenness which the song and the singer captured so perfectly, He’s just a man/ And I’ve had so many men before/ In very many ways/ He’s just one more.
How amazing that the lyrics and the rendition blended perfectly, making us realize how Jesus is just like any other man but not just another additional man; Jesus is MORE than any one because He is the only who truly loves us most, offering us forgiveness once we strip ourselves naked before Him of all our sins and pride and pretensions. God’s love in Jesus Christ is beyond imagining. This we have seen in the parable of the prodigal son and now in the story of the woman caught committing adultery. Do not let your past sins prevent you from meeting Jesus face-to-face to finally experience that inner peace and joy you have been missing and searching for so long.
We are now in the final Sunday in Lent, next week is Palm Sunday, the start of the Holy Week. We can never experience the joy of Easter unless we join Christ’s Passion of emptying ourselves of sins and pride to be filled with His humility, justice and love.
Here is the lovely Ms. Elliman with her superb singing of I Don’t Know How to Love Him, hoping this helps you prepare in this final week of Lent.
40 Shades of Lent by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Fifth Sunday in Lent, Cycle C, 06 April 2025 Isaiah 43:16-21 + Philippians 3:8-14 + John 8:1-11
Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate Main Chapel, 17 March 2025.
Our gospel on this last Sunday in Lent is so similar in its beauty and simplicity -and drama – with last week’s parable of the prodigal son. In fact, some believe the style of the woman caught in adultery is very much like Luke but, let’s leave that to the experts.
On this beautiful Sunday, it is John’s turn to invite us to enter into the scene of his story set at the temple area shortly before the arrest of Jesus Christ.
Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. But early in the morning he arrived again in the temple area, and all the people started coming to him, and he sat down and taught them. Then the scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery and made her stand in the middle (John 8:1-3).
Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, 17 March 2025.
Try entering the scene. See the woman who most likely almost naked draped only in a piece of cloth as proof of her committing adultery. The Pharisees and the scribes were ganging up on her to Jesus whom they wanted to test, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. Now in the law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?”
Imagine being there, standing close to Jesus and the woman. How would you feel? Would you be able to look at the woman straight on her face? Nah… seems not good. Perhaps, glance only as you feel also her pain and shame. But, can you look straight at the angry mob? Probably for a while with much fears and trepidation along with a deep anger within you cannot express.
Most likely, it is only at Jesus you can look intently and longer because he is not looking at you. Tensions were rising and Jesus simply bent down, writing something on the ground with his finger while the Pharisees and scribes raised up their attacks against him and the lowly woman standing listlessly, so embarrassed, so ashamed. Even in tears.
Recall those moments when we too were caught in the midst of an undeniable transgression like her or, simply being a witness, someone caught in between of another person without any way out of his/her predicament. It must be so dark. So scary. And shameful.
Then, the unexpected happened: But when they continued asking him, he (Jesus) straightened up and said to them, “Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” Again he bent down and wrote on the ground. and in response, they went away one by one, beginning with the elders. So he was left alone with the woman before him (John 8:7-9).
Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate Main Chapel, 17 March 2025.
Many times, we encounter Jesus in our most vulnerable situation when we let go of our guards so to speak.
It is one of the great ironies in life: when we are most vulnerable and weakest, that is when we are also most truest to our self. And that is when we truly grow and mature in life.
That is when we feel peace and joy and freedom within when we are left alone with Jesus still looking down, writing with his finger on the ground to give us more space literally and figuratively speaking. It is not that Jesus wants to shame us or whatever but simply wants us to be true as he has always been true to us, full of love and mercy. Most of all, with all of Christ’s humility in bending, that is when we finally admit the need for a Savior, the need to be converted in him.
We encounter Jesus when we disarm ourselves of our false securities and pretenses, masks and camouflages that all cover our sins. It is when we come face-to-face with our sinful self when we eventually meet Jesus face-to-face too because that is when we surrender in silence like the woman caught in adultery and the mob to some degree because all the charges against us are true.
See also that it is only the fourth gospel that Jesus is portrayed “bending” low – first here before the woman caught committing adultery and secondly at the washing of the feet of his Apostles at their Last Supper. How lovely is that sight to behold, dear friends! Imagine God bending before us, giving us like the sinful woman and the mob that space for us to confront our true self, to realize and accept the whole realities we are all interconnected in love.
Only the woman remained – like the eleven Apostles at the Last Supper – because she was the only one willing to change, probably sorrowful and contrite for her sins. Contrary to our fears, Jesus has only love and mercy, kindness and forgiveness to anyone contrite and sorrowful of one’s sin that so unlike with the people’s wrath and anger, judgment and condemnation. St. Augustine perfectly described that moment in today’s gospel, Relicti sunt duo; misera et miserecordia (Two were left; misery and mercy).
Then Jesus straightened up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” She replied, “No one, sir.” Then Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go, and from now on do not sin anymore” (John 8:10-11).
Stations of the Cross, Fatima University & Medical Center, Valenzuela City, 28 March 2025.
We are now on the final Sunday of Lent. Next week will be the Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion that ushers in the Holy Week leading to the Sacred Triduum of Holy Thursday Evening, Good Friday and Easter Vigil and on to the Mother of all Feasts, Easter.
As we get closer to the holiest week of the year, our liturgy invites us to intensify our Lenten practices to be “conformed to Christ’s death” as St. Paul urged us in the second reading which opened with these beautiful confession:
“Brothers and sisters: I consider everything as a loss because of the supreme good of knowing Christ Jesus as my Lord. For his sake I have accepted the loss of all things and I consider them so much rubbish, that I may gain Christ” (Philippians 3:8).
The pillars of Lent – prayer, fasting and alms-giving – aim to empty us of our very selves, of our pride and sins that all prevent us from encountering Jesus Christ always coming to us full of love and mercy. On this final stretch of Lent, are we ready to let go of ourselves and to let God?
Today, Jesus assures us of his love and forgiveness for our sins. The first reading tells us of God asking us to forget the events of the past. Just come home to him. And never leave him like the woman caught committing adultery. Amen.Have blessed week ahead.
Stations of the Cross, College of Maritime Engineering, Our Lady of FatIma University, 28 March 2025.
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