Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II First Friday in August, Eighteenth Week of Ordinary Time, Year II 07 August 2026 Nahum 2:1, 3; 3:1-3, 6-7 <*((((>< + ><))))*> Matthew 16:24-28
Photo by author, Anvaya Resort, Morong, Bataan, 21 July 2026.
Thank you for this first Friday in August, Lord Jesus; your words remind us of our continuing journey in you and with you; many times, we go towards you but sometimes we go on so many detours because we think them as shortcuts, as better, most often but wrongly, much lighter.
Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses hisnlife for my sake will find it (Matthew 16:24-25).
Christian journey is a continual turning of our hearts to you, Lord Jesus; problem is how we easily forget, how foolishly we insist like the people of Nineveh to live in power and wealth, in greed and violence, in selfishness; life and its fullness can only be found in you, Jesus; help us find our way back to you when we are lost, let us leave the sidewalks to join you on the road itself as we journey to the Cross so that along the way experience your life and joy and fulfillment. Amen.
Jesus meek and humble of heart, make my heart like thine!
Photo by author, Anvaya Resort, Morong, Bataan, 21 July 2026.
Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Thursday in the Fifteenth Week of Ordinary Time, Year II, 23 July 2026 Jeremiah 2:1-3, 7-8, 12-13 <*((((>< + ><))))*> Matthew 13:10-17
Scars on the foothills of Mt. Guiting-guiting Natural Park in Sibuyan Island, Romblon caused by an alleged mining without permit perpetrated by a company owned by a political dynasty; from Facebook post of Atty. Wilfredo Garrido, 22 July 2026.
God our loving Father, we pray so hard for our country the Philippines that has become so much like your country of Israel at the time of the Prophet Jeremiah: we have not only destroyed one another as brothers and sisters with our rampant corruption in government but at the same time desecrated our paradise in this part of earth with environmental destruction.
Two evils have my people done: they have forsaken me, the souce of living waters; they have dug themselves cisterns, broken cisterns, that hold no water (Jeremiah 2:13).
From Iskolar ng Bayan FB post, 22 July 2026.
What is happening in our country like in other parts of the world is our complete violation of your first commandment, Father - of having strange gods, of worshipping the Baals of money and power and influence through technologies that at the start were meant to bring us together but have actually torn and set us farther apart; hence, even your wonderful gift of nature supposed to provide us with our needs in life is raped and molested without any respect for life at all by the greedy investors backed by rapacious politicians.
Open our eyes, open our hearts and strengthen our souls to fight these evils, Lord Jesus that we may see in the simple parables of ordinary and usual like our local folks and the nature around us as signs of your grace and love for us demanding us to care for them too because they are all yours not mine to have nor abuse; we pray for politicians and investors alike to see more life and persons not just money and profits in their endeavors. Amen.
Lord My Chef Sunday Music by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, 12 July 2026
Photo by Dra. Eunice A. Vergara, MD, in Victoria, Laguna 19 October 2021.
It’s a gloomy, cold “bed weather” following the exit yesterday of typhoon Inday that had spawned these rains flooding us in various parts of Metro Manila this Sunday. Gone were the days when rains meant farmers going out to their fields during this rainy season to plant and tend their crops. What we now have are commuters stranded everywhere!
How sad that our farmers are dwindling in number with their fields converted into malls and subdivisions, a very clear sign of how we have really missed the very parable of life of God’s superabundance amid our interconnectedness as persons with the environment that Matthew presents us in this Sunday’s gospel (https://lordmychef.com/2026/07/11/our-interconnectedness-in-gods-abundance-the-parable-of-life/).
And that is why we also remember the British duo Curt Smith and Roland Orzabal more known as Tears for Fears with their 1989 hit Sowing the Seeds of Love from their third studio album “The Seeds of Love” as the perfect match to this Sunday’s gospel.
Orzabal reportedly got the inspiration in writing Sowing the Seeds of Love while listening to a radio program about British folk song collector Cecil Sharp who had heard a gardener named Mr. John England singing a traditional English song called “The Seeds of Love” that eventually sparked an English folk song revival. Orzabal mentioned him – “Mister England” – in the ninth stanza “sowing the seeds of love”.
According to Orzabal, Sowing the Seeds of Love is their “most overtly political song” ever recorded. It came out two years after Margaret Thatcher had won in 1987 her third consecutive term in office as Britain’s Prime Minister, referring to her in the third stanza as the “Politician granny with your high ideals, have you no idea how the majority feels?”
Coincidentally in the same third stanza, Orzabal took a dig with his fellow musician Paul Weller with the line “Kick out the style, bring back the jam” as he felt Weller had abandoned his working class political outlook after leaving The Jam in October 1982 to form the The Style Council.
Actually, Sowing the Seeds of Love is “the gospel according to Tears for Fears”, just like their two other songs from that album “The Seeds of Love” – Woman in Chains and Advice for the Young at Heart we hope to feature someday in relation with our Sunday gospel reflections.
Sowing the Seeds of Love is an invitation like the Lord’s Parable of the Sower for us to open ourselves like the fertile ground to receive the “seed” – the Word – proclaimed daily in every Mass celebrated worldwide.
The “seeds of love” Jesus the Sower sowed in the parable are all good – fecund – and most of all, efficacious. Because it is from God, it surely bears fruit always if nurtured and cultivated well. If ever the seeds do not grow and not yield fruits, the problem is with the receiver, with the person who receives or rejects these seeds of love.
How amazing that Tears for Fears follow this line of thought even without mentioning (understandably) the name God in their song, inviting us to “open ourselves” to the seeds of love so that these may germinate and grow, eventually yield a harvest of peace, love and harmony among peoples in the world today.
But opening ourselves to the seeds of love does not merely mean receiving these idly; opening to the seeds of love calls for a lot of self-discipline and hard-work like forgetting one’s self by “Swallowing your pride” and ending “need and politics of greed with love” – exactly like what Jesus taught us these past weeks about discipleship, of forgetting one’s self to carry one’s own cross. Hence, we find too the song Sowing the Seeds of Love not only a gospel but also a parable in itself that mentions a lot of ordinary things we take for granted yet teach us a lot about the meaning of life.
Feel the pain, talk about it If you're a worried man, then shout about it Open hearts, feel about it Open minds, think about it Everyone, read about it Everyone, scream about it Everyone Everyone, yeah, yeah Everyone read about it, read about it Everyone Read it in the books, in the crannies and the nooks, there are books to read for us
Sowing the seeds of love Sowing the seeds of love We're sowing the seeds Sowing the seeds Sowing the seeds of love We're sowing the seeds Sowing the seeds of love Sowing the seeds of love Mr. England sowing the seeds of love
Time to eat all your words Swallow your pride Open your eyes Time to eat all your words Swallow your pride Open your eyes
High time we made a stand Time to eat all your words And shook up the views of the common man Swallow your pride And the love train rides from coast to coast Open your eyes Every minute of every hour I love a sunflower Open your eyes And I believe in love power Open your eyes Love power Love power Open your eyes
Sowing the seeds of love, seeds of love Sowing the seeds Sowing the seeds of love, the seeds of love Sowing the seeds Sowing the seeds Sowing the seeds of love, seeds of love Sowing the seeds of love, sowing the seeds Sowing the seeds
An end to need And the politics of greed With love
Let’s get real this week, start working, sowing the seeds of love to experience Christ’s peace and loving presence among us. Amen. A blessed lovely week ahead of everyone!
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Monday in the Twenty-ninth Week of Ordinary Time, Year II, 21 October 2024 Ephesians 2:1-10 <*((((>< + ><))))*> Luke 12:13-21
Photo by author, the pristine Nagsasa Cove in San Antonio, Zambales, 19 October 2024.
Your words today, O loving God through St. Paul are so refreshing, so lovely to read and hear, very reassuring especially for those of us losing hope in life, those so tired and exhausted, those about to give up; let us sing joyfully to You, O Lord, and serve You gladness!
For we are his handiwork, created in Christ Jesus for the good works God has prepared in advance, that we should live in them (Ephesians 2:10).
Everything that we have become, every good and beautiful thing we do is simply because of You, O God, at work in us, through us; what a great honor, O God You made us so good and beautiful, You brought us here, You sent us for a mission; let us be open in order to give our unconditional "YES" to Jesus Christ in faith daily so that we may do continue your work in keeping this a better and more humane world; let us give our unconditional "YES" to Jesus daily so we may experience your guidance and help in our undertakings to reflect You, dear God, so that it is You who is always found and recognized in everything we do that is true, good, and beautiful; let us not be preoccupied with so much material wealth and fame that fills us with greed unable to satisfy the deepest longings of our hearts found only in You. Amen.
Photo by author, river leading to Nagsasa Cove, San Antonio, Zambales, 19 October 2024.
Lent is the season we fix our eyes to see clearly our selves, God, and others. It is the season where the dictum is “less is more” with no flowers allowed at the altar, only plants and leaves used as decorations. Ideally, images and icons inside the church are covered during these forty days when the Gloria and the Alleluia are also omitted in the liturgy because Lent invites us to look more inside our hearts than outside to find God.
Today’s first reading reminds us the problem with our eyes that lead us to falling into sin like the first woman who was tempted by the serpent into believing that eating the forbidden fruit would open her eyes to know what is good and evil like God. See the interplay of how the fruit was pleasing to the eyes and after they have fallen into the trap of the devil, “the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized that they were naked” (cf. Gen. 3:4-7).
A big part of our temptations to sin happens in how we “see” things, literally and figuratively speaking. In the wilderness during the temptations of Jesus, the devil showed us what he often “sees” that if we follow could lead us into sin. Let us see what Jesus “saw” during those moments of temptations and triumphed over evil.
Detail of mosaic “Temptations of Christ” at St. Mark Basilica, Venice, Italy. Photo from psephizo.com.
At that time Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. He fasted for forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was hungry. The tempter approached and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become loaves of bread.” He said in reply, “It is written: One does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.”
Matthew 4:1-4
First temptation of the devil is for us to see scarcity, to see nothing, to see too little, to see there are not enough that the tendency is for us to hoard and be selfish. But Jesus tells us today even in the barrenness of the wilderness where there was no food nor water, there is always plenty and abundance when we see God.
When we were in elementary school, we were told how food and water would run out in the future with worldwide hunger and thirst happening in apocalyptic proportions. It had never happened. Yes, our natural resources are depleting not because of our normal consumption but largely because of human greed. We see everything so few, not enough for everyone that our tendency is to get more, driving prices up with the poor left to fend for themselves of whatever is left behind.
What we see more is what we do not have, not seeing the beautiful and precious ones we have like family and friends, health and life itself as well as faith in God. There is always the temptation most especially in the midst of difficulties and trials to see everything as ugly and dismal like the first parents after the fall when “they realized they were naked” whereas before, “they felt no shame” because they were good.
Observe how the eyes and the mind are closely intertwined, of how wrong judgments result when our eyes are deceived by what we see or do not see. Look inside your heart when you feel like alone and abandoned or when in the wilderness of sickness and sufferings. See God in everything even in nothingness by reading and praying his words in the Sacred Scriptures and you shall find life and abundance.
Then the devil took him to the holy city, and made him stand on the parapet of the temple, and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down. For it is written: He will command his angels concerning you and with their hands they will support you, lest you dash your foot against a stone.” Jesus answered him, “Again it is written, “You shall not put the Lord, your God, to the test.”
Matthew 4:5-7
Second temptation is when see more of power and entitlement that lead us to becoming like gods.
See the deception of the devil as he brought Jesus to the temple, the house of his Father, making him stand on the parapet to test his obedience and submission to God. It continues to happen to us these days, especially for us priests and bishops, those inside the church like its volunteers and servants, or those who see themselves as devout and pious Catholics who feel entitled here on earth and even in heaven!
No one, not even Jesus Christ claimed any entitlement for being the Son of God. In fact, in his being the Christ, he taught us the importance of submission and obedience always to the will of God our Father.
The first sin was not just pride and disobedience of Adam and Eve. It was a sin rooted in the heart, of feeling so special in paradise, daring to be like God. A feeling of entitlement, of manipulation and control to play like God.
The second temptation of Christ reminds us all supposed to be close to God, his servants to always look and examine our hearts if it is truly God whom we love and follow or just rules and commandments, rites and rituals that we forget the people we are supposed to lovingly serve and care for.
The sad reality in our church is how the devil’s temptation of Jesus is realized among us priests who are being served wrongly, even adored and worshipped by the many people so deceived of the temptation to get close to clergymen or the church. This is the reason why the poor and sufferings are still marginalized because they have remained outside our reach as we all tend to see ourselves being protected by the angels in our positions of power.
Let us all get down from our ivory towers of power, of pride and entitlement especially in the church to begin seeing the poor people on the ground and stop testing God if he would work miracles on them lest we have forgotten we are his arms and limbs.
Then the devil took him up to a very high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in their magnificence, and he said to him, “All these I shall give to you, if you will prostrate yourself and worship me.” At this, Jesus said to him, “Get away, Satan! It is written: The Lord, your God, shall you worship and him alone shall you serve.”
Matthew 4:8-10
Third temptation is clearly idolatry, of self-worship, of vanity. See how Jesus told Satan to get away after this third temptation because this is the most insidious as far as Matthew is concerned (in Luke’s version, this is the second temptation).
This third temptation is also very surreptitious which Al Pacino as the devil described in “The Devil’s Advocate” opposite Keanu Reeves as “my most favorite sin.”
We may not be kneeling before strange gods and idols but as Simon & Garfunkel sang in the “Sound of Silence”, so many of us “bowed and prayed on the neon gods we made” with our obsession with signature and expensive things and gadgets, whether original or fake.
It is also the temptation of being famous with our obsession not only with all the beauty augmentations readily available and the fitness craze of some who practically live inside gyms but also with too much living in social media where some have gone crazy counting the likes and reactions they receive in their posts.
See how Jesus won against Satan in all his temptations including in this final one because his focus was on God alone. Jesus is telling us this Sunday as we embark on our Lenten journey to remain in God above all.
Our eyes can be easily deceived because they cannot see everything at one instance. It takes times for us to recognize what or who we are looking at. There are times we need to use instruments to see everything clearly like telescopes and microscopes.
Most of all, what we see may not even be true at all. That is why we have to close our eyes in order to see better, to experience better and understand better like when we are deeply in pain and sorrow or in ecstasy and bursting with joy.
How sad that when Adam and Eve sinned and their eyes were opened, they hid themselves and sewed figs to cover themselves. Today, people go out into the open, even taking pride and not troubled at all in filming or recording and uploading sinful scenes in their lives. And everyone is so glad to take a look on them without realizing how it could lead them into shame like Adam Eve.
Let us heed St. Paul’s invitation in the second reading to live in Jesus so we may show our new humanity in Christ, we who are so loved and forgiven by God and restored to grace. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus alone to fight temptations for we are no longer slaves to our passions and desires like Adam (Rom. 5:12, 17-19). Amen. Have a blessed first week in Lent!
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