Advent is allowing God to overshadow us like Mary

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!

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).

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!

God’s kingdom is a presence, not a spectacle

Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul, 13 November 2025
Thursday in the Thirty-Second Week of Ordinary Time, Year I
Wisdom 7:22-8:1     <*((((><  +  >><))))*>     Luke 17:20-25

*Photo by author, Bucharest, Romania, 05 November 2025.*

Fill me with your Wisdom,
Lord that I may find
and experience you
within me; fill me with 
Wisdom, Lord, that I may be
"not baneful, loving the good,
keen, unhampered" 
(Wisdom 7:22) in realizing
and living your very presence
within me; fill me with Wisdom,
Lord, so I may not seek you
in spectacle but feel you more
in your presence.

Asked by the Pharisees when the Kingdom of God would come, Jesus said in reply, “The coming of the Kingdom of God cannot be observed, and no one will announce, ‘Look, here it is,’ or, ‘There it is.’ For behold, the Kingdom of God is among you” (Luke 17:20-21).

Guide me, Jesus
with your Holy Spirit
to be open and sensitive
with God's hidden ways of working
in our lives,
in our communities,
in our history;
let me continue to seek
God in all things
especially in my life where
the hidden presence of 
God's Kingdom is most felt
but often unnoticed
because it happens
in silence
even emptiness
"For Wisdom is mobile
beyond all motion,
and she penetrates
and pervades all things
by reason of her purity"
(Wisdom 7:24).

Help me realize
and treasure the reality
of God's kingdom 
not a spectacle 
like a dazzling show
the world so loved 
that is momentary and empty;
let me realize that 
God's kingdom is presence,
a movement of grace
after grace
after grace.
Amen.

*Photo by author, sunset at Istanbul, Turkiye, 02 November 2025*

Slaves of righteousness

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.

Why be perfect like God?

Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Tuesday in the Eleventh Week of Ordinary Time, Year I, 17 June 2025
2 Corinthians 8:1-9 ><]]]'> + ><]]]'> + ><]]]'> Matthew 5:43-48

*Photo by author, Archdiocesan Shrine of Nuestra Señora De Guia, Ermita, Manila, 28 November 2024.*

Your words struck me hard
again today, Lord Jesus:
can we really be perfect
just as our heavenly Father
is perfect?
(Matthew 5:48)

Jesus said to his disciples: “You have heard that it was said, You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your heavenly Father, for he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust” (Matthew 5:43-45).

When I recall your mercies,
Jesus as you spared me 
from the bad things I deserved
due to my many and repeated sins,
the more I must be loving 
and perfect like the Father;
when I think, O Lord, 
of your many graces poured 
upon me, of the many good things 
that are mostly I never asked 
and certainly I never deserved,
it is but natural that I must be loving
and perfect like the Father;
when I examine my life
and experience how you have filled
and blessed me, Jesus,
with all your mercy and grace
despite and in spite of who I am,
the more I am convinced 
of my need to be perfect
like the Father.

Dearest Jesus,
we are all undeserving of your
love and grace,
mercy and blessings
but you simply showered us with
these all because you love us;
let our love for you be genuine
with our concern for others
like you who became poor
for us so that we may become rich
for God through others
(2 Corinthians 8:9).
Start in me,
Lord Jesus,
a revolution of love
in tenderness
and kindness
in a world that has
become so harsh
and inhospitable.
Amen.

*Photo by author, sunflower farm, Benguet Province, 12 July 2024.*

Friends are gifts from God

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Friday, Seventh Week in Ordinary Time, Year I, 28 February 2025
Sirach 6:5-17 ><}}}}*> + ><}}}}*> + ><}}}}*> Mark10:1-12

*Photo by author, Sakura Farm, Atok, Benguet, 27 December 2024.*

Thank you very much
dear Father for February
and most especially
for the gift of friends
you gave us.

Your servant Ben-Sirach
was so right after all,
"Let your acquaintances be many,
but one in a thousand your confidant.
When you gain a friend, 
first test him,
and be not too ready to trust him"
(Sirach 6:6-7).

Heal us in Jesus,
Father,
of the many hurts
and pains some friends
have caused us:
those who have left us in time
of distress;
those who have become an enemy;
the boon companion who left us
in time of our sorrow;
those who have turned against us
and avoided us when we were down;
and those who took advantages
of our goodwill
(cf. Sirach 6:8-12).

For our friends who came
for reasons and seasons
and now gone,
bless them, Jesus;
and for those friends
who have remained
because of love,
bless them more!

Friends come from you,
Jesus, one of the greatest gifts
one can receive for it is a unity of souls
that give nobility and sincerity to love,
a kind of love only you Lord
had designed;
therefore, 
let us work on our friendships
but never change our friends
into someone they are not
gifted to be;
it is only then a friend
becomes a treasure
we cherish and nourish,
never to be given away
like in divorce and
adultery that Mark tells us
today in the gospel
(Mark 10:1-12).
Amen.

Christmas: first be a receiver to be a giver

The Lord Is My Chef Christmas Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Our Christmas Homily, 25 December 2024
Isaiah 52:7-10 ><}}}}*> Hebrews 1:1-6 ><}}}}*> John 1:1-18

*From LDS_Believer on X, 23 December 2016.*

A blessed merry Christmas to you and your loved ones! On this most joyous season of the year that is also the most commercialized, let us reflect about gift-giving.

During Christmas, I hear a lot of people complaining of finding it difficult in giving gifts, in finding the most suitable gift to give to their family and friends. It is the other way around for me as I find it more difficult in receiving gifts than giving.

Don’t get me wrong. I have no claims to whatsoever except that I have always preferred to be a giver than a receiver. In fact, it is my favorite “love language”. Maybe it is part of my upbringing being the eldest in the family. My father taught me the value of hard work to be independent, never to rely on others unless necessary while my mother instilled in me the importance of sacrifice and contentment as she would say, “magtiis kung ano lang mayroon at hindi lahat ng kaya ay bibilhin.”

Friends know me so well of not opening gifts immediately that so often, food given to me end up expired. That is why I always ask people if their gift is food that needs to be consumed immediately like cakes, chocolates and ice cream!

Recently I gifted a religious priest with vestments for his silver anniversary of ordination three weeks ago. Just before the Simbang Gabi started as I shopped for my Christmas vestment, I messaged him for his chasuble size (the vestment we put on top of our alb). It turned out he goes too to the same shop and told me how he had always loved one of those Roman albs made there, a surplice alb with black lining. Since he had celebrated his silver anniversary as priest, I bought one of the alb too with the chasuble delivered to him via courier that day. That afternoon, Father almost shouted in joy in his messages, thanking me for the gifts of a chasuble and a Roman alb, asking, “akala ko yung alb lang bakit may chasuble pa, Father?” I simply told him “because you are a good priest; just pray for me and don’t mention it in your posts.”

During the Simbang Gabi last week while checking on my Facebook, I saw his posts wearing my gifts in his Misa de Gallo. It looked so good on him, the nice off-white chasuble with a V-shaped design on the chest with a classic cross underneath it the surplice alb with black lining he liked. He looked so holy. And I felt so good at myself having made a brother priest so happy.

At that moment, I felt the deep sense of joy of Christmas whatever it meant, as if Jesus were touching me, speaking to me in His most genteel voice an important lesson about gifts.

Through that priest, Jesus answered my prayer at the start of the Simbang Gabi, “how can I truly share you, Lord, this Christmas?”

Through that priest, I felt Jesus speaking into my heart that for me to be able to truly share Him this Christmas, I must first receive Him. We can only be a true giver when we are a sincere and humble receiver first.

I must confess that aside from my upbringing, it is largely pride that is the reason I prefer giving than receiving. As a giver, there is that sense of pride, of having the upper-hand with power and control especially when some gifts I have received are not of my size or I already have like books. It is easier to give especially when we have so much of things without really feeling deep inside the love and freedom why we give. Very often we give to show we don’t need others because we have.

Being a receiver requires humility in the first place, that we are incomplete and dependent on others. When we are able to receive, our giving becomes meaningful because when we receive gifts, we first receive the giver, the gift of every person we must always warmly receive with joy. As I relished my joy in seeing that priest appreciating my gifts – and me – I felt God patting my shoulder, as if telling me, that is how He feels when we receive and appreciate His Christmas gift, the child Jesus on the manger, asking us to receive Him, to love Him, to take care of Him.

He came to what was his own, but his own people did not accept him (John 1:11).

This Christmas, let us first realize that we are first of all receivers of God’s gift in Jesus Christ. Let us receive Him so we can share and give Him as we pray:

A most blessed happy birthday to You,
Lord Jesus Christ! 
You are our most precious, 
the most important gift
we have received from the Father.

Forgive me
when I refuse to receive and accept You
 among the people who love and care for me, 
for the people you send me to love and care too.

Forgive me
 when I refuse to receive and accept You 
among those who have hurt and offended me 
that until now I have not truly forgiven, 
having grudges against them.

Forgive me
 when I refuse to receive and accept You
 in my own giftedness, always doubting my goodness, 
my talents that I cannot be bold enough 
in sharing You because I might fail, 
I might err, I might not measure up to others' standards.

Grant me the grace this Christmas, 
Lord Jesus, to be small and fragile like You 
as an infant, so vulnerable, trustingly accepting 
even the unfavorable situations where I am 
so that I can share and give You truly 
to those who are willing to welcome You like me. 
Amen.

*The Adoration of the Shepherds”, a painting of the Nativity scene by Italian artist Giorgione before his death at a very young age of 30 in 1510. From wikipediacommons.org.*

Jesus, the “love language” of God

The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Twenty-seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B, 06 October 2024
Genesis 2:18-24 ><}}}}*> Hebrews 2:9-11 ><}}}}*> Mark 10:2-16

*With our student sacristans in our San Fernando Campus in Pampanga during the Mass of the Holy Spirit last year.*

One of the joys of my ministry as chaplain in a university and a hospital is the daily interaction I have with young people who keep me young like them, always updated with the many trends happening among them especially in the languages they speak. In them I continue to find the many faces of Jesus Christ who continues to pass by even in this modern world so swiftly changing due to social media.

Two terms I have recently learned from them are “love language” and “situationship”. Let’s just talk about “love language” this Sunday that is more appropriate with our gospel and reserve that other word “situationship” when the setting is more apt. Lately I have noticed the term “love language” mentioned quite often in social media posts and reels. I never bothered to know it until somebody asked me what is my “love language” that threw me off balance with many wild things rushing into my mind, thinking what is it!

It turned out that “love language” is a term coined in 1992 by Baptist pastor Gary Chapman in his book of the same title where he identified five love languages we give and (prefer) to receive: words of affirmation, acts of service, receiving gifts, quality time, and physical touch. It was an amazing moment of learning from me when I realized that everyone – including us priests – has a favorite love language in expressing our love to everyone. And in our gospel today, we find that even God who is love Himself has a love language in the very person of His Son Jesus Christ!

The Pharisees approached Jesus and asked, “Is it lawful for a husband to divorce his wife?” They were testing him. He said to them in reply, “What did Moses command you?” They replied, “Moses permitted a husband to write a bill of divorce and dismiss her.” But Jesus told them, “Because of the hardness of your hearts he wrote you this commandment. But from the beginning of creation, God made them male and female. For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. So they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, no human being must separate” (Mark 10:2-9).

*Photo by author, 2024; I have loved mosses that thrive even with little sunlight, reminding us of God’s grace especially when we are in darkness and tribulations.*

Jesus and the Twelve continued their journey to Jerusalem with His teachings not only getting more exciting but actually more difficult and hard as He addressed the thorny issue of divorce which continues to divide us in this modern age.

Interestingly enough, this scene happened while Jesus and the Twelve were in Judea, the province governed by King Herod who had John the Baptist arrested and later beheaded upon the instigation of his wife Herodias. John spoke against Herod’s taking of Herodias as wife because she used to be the wife of his own brother Philip then governing another province. One can just imagine the grave danger the Pharisees have exposed Jesus in discussing divorce right in the turf of an evil ruler living with an adulteress!

As usual, Jesus did not fall into the test by the Pharisees because He had no intentions of joining our endless debates about divorce as He knew very well that it is something so complicated that has continued to ruin human relationships as a result of the “hardness of our hearts”. Recall too similar instances when Jesus was asked for an opinion in politics like the paying of taxes to Caesar and the settlement of disputes among brothers regarding their inheritance. See how Jesus would always make it clear that His mission is not to settle our disputes in economics and politics nor personal relationships but to always reveal to us the will of God.

Instead of giving a simple answer of “yes” or “no” on the lawfulness of a divorce or the paying of taxes to the Romans, Jesus would always bring us to God our Father, the very core of our being and relationships. It is only in being rooted again in God when we realize personally, existentially why we have to strive in choosing what is true, good and beautiful no matter how difficult it may be.

This Sunday, Jesus is not offering compromises to us weak human beings about divorce but rather proposes the ideal of marriage by going back to its very source and beginning, God Himself who is love.

That is why our first reading was taken from Genesis to remind us and make us realize that everything, most especially man and woman – is created by God. Everything in this world was from God, especially our desire for union and communion which we also find expressed even by trees and plants as well as animals.

However, what makes us distinct from the rest of creation as we see in other parts of Genesis is God breathing on us His breath of life that gives us the consciousness of our oneness, of that transcendent otherness called humanity that makes us realize our deeper reality in the “I-Thou” relationship. Plants and animals do not have that consciousness.

*Photo by author, St. Scholastica Retreat Center, Tagaytay City, August 2024.*

The creation of a woman as suitable partner of man is not a result of an after-thought of God as if He never knew man would never be fulfilled without a woman. The creation of woman being taken from one of the ribs of man cast into a deep sleep by God reminds us of each person being a gift to everyone. No pet nor plant can bring that kind of ecstasy and joy of finding somebody like us, of bringing unity in every one who is incomplete in one’s self.

See how Jesus repeated the Genesis account “that is why” or “for this reason” a man leaves his father and mother and be joined with his wife to become one.

This tendency of ours towards one another, a consciousness of then other person, is a gift and a grace indicating our origin who is God who always relates with us. Every time we destroy this unity, whenever we upset this complementarity among us in God, that is when disorder happens, generating competitions among us that lead to our endless conflicts that only leave us with more pains and sorrows. Hence, back in the house again towards the end of our gospel scene this Sunday, Jesus reiterated the example of the child after His disciples drove them away.

*Photo by author, statue of the Child Jesus hugging St. Joseph, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, March 2024.*

How lovely and ironic that despite the weaknesses and incompleteness of children, we find in them all five love languages too. What a joy to play and converse with children, especially carry babies despite their lack of language skills we find each one a love language in himself/herself – exactly like Jesus Christ, the love language of God who gave us everything to experience oneness in love.

God knows everything that He created us in His own image and likeness. Nothing, not even sin could ever destroy His grand design for us since creation so that right after the Fall, God right away promised salvation fulfilled in Jesus Christ whom He had sent to remind us anew of His wonderful plan for us.

I have a similar image like this in my room, my most favorite statue of St. Joseph as protector of the Child Jesus and Mary. But most of all, we find Jesus being the love language of God even in his childhood with His all-encompassing love that reached its highest point at the Crucifixion.

God knows everything, especially our weaknesses in keeping our relationships. Jesus is not judging us and knows very well the pains many are enduring as a result of separation and divorce. The Letter to the Hebrews we heard in the second reading tells us how Jesus in suffering death has become like us in order to share with us the grace we need to keep our human relationships strong.

Every Sunday, I visit our patients in the hospital to give them Holy Communion, hear their confessions and often, anoint most of them with Oil for the sick.

Whenever I meet couples especially those already old and with debilitating sickness, I praise God for the tremendous grace he gives them. In them I always find God so truly present among us, especially in every husband and wife lovingly serving each other in sickness and in health. Let us pray for all couples that they may cooperate with God’s grace in keeping their marriage alive. Amen. Have a blessed week ahead!

Grace & joy, together. Always.

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Thursday in the Twenty-fourth Week of Ordinary Time, Year II, 19 September 2024
1 Corinthians 15:1-11 ><))))*> + <*((((>< Luke 7:36-50

*Photo by author, St. Scholastica Spirtuality Center, Tagaytay City, 21 August 2024.*

Praise and glory
to you, God our loving Father!
Thank you for your unending
gifts of grace for us
despite our many sins
and our being undeserving.

Truly like St. Paul,
we too feel so small, 
"the least" for our so many sins
yet you never denied us with
that immense grace of 
mercy and forgiveness,
redemption and new life in
Christ Jesus our Lord
that we so often forget.

Let us affirm 
and be grateful
by cultivating this great grace
you have given us in Jesus
be who we are in your sight,
never making your grace "ineffective"
like the Pharisees in today's gospel 
who could not stand 
the sight of Jesus 
interacting with a sinful woman,
of Jesus speaking to a sinner,
of Jesus forgiving so great a sin.

May we keep in our
heart and mind your tremendous
gift of grace to be near you,
to be like you,
to be filled with you
by living out your grace
in grateful witnessing 
of loving and joyful service 
to others.

Help us remember 
that like in the Annunciation
to Mary, rejoicing and grace
are always together:
from the Greek words 
charis for grace and
chara for rejoicing,
rejoicing and joy
are clearest signs of
grace anywhere 
like that woman
who washed 
and anointed
the Lord's feet.
Amen.

And the greatest is love…

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Wednesday in the Twenty-fourth Week of Ordinary Time, Year II, 18 September 2024
1 Corinthians 12:31-13:13 <*{{{{>< + ><}}}}*> Luke 7:31-35

What a lovely Wednesday
today, O God our merciful Father!
Thank you for this wonderful moment,
thank you for your presence,
thank you for the gift of life.
Thank you for the love.

St. Paul tells us today
that love is the greatest
of all your gifts,
O God
because no amount of
goodness and giftedness
will ever be worthy
without love.
And what is love?

Love is.
That is,
being present always.
Never absent.

Love happens in the present moment,
never in the past nor the future.

That is why
love is patient,
love is kind,
love is not jealous,
love is not pompous,
love is not inflated,
love is not rude,
love is not self-interested,
love is not quick-tempered,
love does not brood over injury,
love does not rejoice over wrongdoing,
love rejoices with the truth,
love bears all things,
love believes all things,
love hopes all things,
love endures all things
(1 Corinthians 13:4-7)
because precisely,
love is always in present tense.

Jesus said to the crowds: “Then to what shall I compare the people of this generation? What are they like? They are the children who sit in the marketplace and call to one another, ‘We played the flute for you, but you did not dance. We sang a dirge, but you did not weep'” (Luke 7:31-32).

Forgive us, dear Jesus
for being loveless,
always missing
every moment to love,
missing every chance
to be kind to others,
for desiring and having
always the best intentions
but never having 
even the the smallest
kind deeds for anyone;
let us live in every present moment,
that thin line between 
here and now
called present
which is the other word
for gift.

Let us live, 
O Lord,
in love,
finding and cherishing
the gift of every presence
right here,
right now.
By being 
a gift too 
to others
in You.
Amen.

Holiness of work

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Wednesday, Memorial of St. Augustine, Bishop & Doctor of the Church, 28 August 2024
2 Thessalonians 3:6-10, 16-18 <*{{{{>< + ><}}}}*> Matthew 23:27-32

*Commuters hang from the back of a jeepney as it travels along a road in Manila, the Philippines, on Sunday, April 9, 2017. Photographer: Veejay Villafranca/Bloomberg via Getty Images*.

Glory and praise to you,
God our loving Father
for the gift of this great Saint,
Augustine, son of St. Monica,
Bishop and Teacher of the Church;
in him, O God,
you showed us every saint
has a sinful past 
and that no sinner 
can be denied of a saintly future.

It was St. Augustine who taught us
among his so many teachings that
"grace builds on nature"
which he must have learned from
his own experiences,
from his conversion to Christianity
to becoming a priest then a bishop
that did not happen like a magic trick
by God but with hard work wrapped in
intense prayers by him and St. Monica;
what a tremendous blessing that 
as we honor him today, 
our first is from a letter by his inspiration,
St. Paul:

For you know how one must imitate us. For we did not act in a disorderly way among you, nor did we eat food received free from anyone. On the contrary, in toil and drudgery, night and day we worked, so as not to burden any of you. Not that we do not have the right. Rather, we wanted to present ourselves as a model for you, so that you might imitate us. In fact, when we were with you, we instructed you that if anyone was unwilling to work, neither should that one eat (2 Thessalonians 3:7-10).

Remind us, O God
in Jesus Christ like St. Augustine,
what is essential is the inside
not the outside;
let us not be like the Pharisees
and scribes, hypocrites,
looking like "whitewashed tombs
that appear beautiful on then outside
but inside are full of dead men's bones
and every kind of filth"
(Matthew 23:27).

Grant us the zeal and
enthusiasm like St. Augustine
to strive in becoming a better person,
most of all a better Christian
by working hard in cultivating
the prayer life,
love for the Sacred Scriptures
so that Jesus may dwell always
in our hearts.
Amen.