Lawiswis ng Salita ni P. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Ika-2 ng Hulyo 2026
Painting ni James Tissot, “The Palsied ManLet Down through the Roof” mula sa brooklynmuseum.org.
Marami na akong napakinggang kuwento kahawig nitong nasa ebanghelyo isang paralitikong nakaratay sa kanyang higaan buhat-buhat ng apat na kaibigan; nakamamangha sinabi at ginawa ni Jesus sa paralitiko lakasan kanyang loob at pinatatawad na kanyang mga kasalanan.
Pagmasdan paanong nadama at natanto ni Jesus bigat na dala-dala ng paralitikong nakaratay sa kanyang higaan buhat naman ng mga kaibigan.
Tayo ang paralitikong pinatawad at pinagaling; nakaratay sa banig, paralisado, hindi makagalaw, nakabilanggo sa maraming takot at pangamba bunsod ng mga nakaraang pagkakasala at pagkakamali; hindi makausad hindi makahakbang pasulong sa buhay, nananatili sa kahapon at madilim na nakaraan kaya hindi mabanaagan liwanag sa kapaligiran sariling kagagawan kanyang pagkaparalisa na sadyang napakabigat kaya kapatawaran sa kanyang kasalanan iginawad at binitiwan ni Jesus.
Kay gandang pagmasdan eksena at larawan kung paanong binakbak ng kanyang mga kaibigan bubong ng bahay upang paralitiko ay maihugos sa tapat ng kinaroonan ni Jesus: isang paghahayag ng katotohanan sa ating mga naparalisa sa hindi mapatawad na kasalanan, hindi malampasang kabiguan at kamalian o kasawian sa nakaraan kinakailangang magpakababa tanggapin kamalian at kasalanan upang maranasan kapatawaran at kapanatilihan ni Jesus na ating Tagapagligtas. (Tingnan Mt.9:1-8; Mk.2:1-12; at Lk.5:17-26)
Illustration from parentandchildbiblereading.com.
Sa kabilang dako naman,
akin din napakinggan
maraming kuwento at hinaing
ng mga katulad nitong
apat na kaibigan
na bumubuhat sa higaan
ng paralitiko:
Katulad nilang apat,
tayo man ay mayroong binubuhat
na paralitiko,
isang pasanin
alagain
at intindihin
kung inyong mamarapatin
at ipagpapaumanhin
ngunit iyon ang masaklap na
katotohanang dapat nating tanggapin
at lunukin;
Diyos ay nagagalak
tiyak nagpapasalamat
sa mga kaibigan
kapatid at kaanak
buhat-buhat paralitikong
nakaratay sa banig
manhid
at walang pakialam
sa pasanin ng mga
nagmamahal sa kanya;
nagagalit,
naiinis,
hindi lang minsan
nakaisip na sumuko
at lisanin,
bitiwan buhat na paralitiko
ngunit pinili pa rin
tiisin
at manatili
sa pasanin
dahil na rin sa busilak
ng kanilang loobin.
“The Paralytic of Capernaum Lowered from the Roof”, a 5th/6th century Mosaic at Sant’ Apollinare Nuovo, Ravenna, Italy; from christian.art.
Kung ikaw ang binubuhat na paralitiko, gumising sa katotohanan ikaw ay minamahal at pinahahalagahan huwag na hintayin pamilya at kaibigan ikaw ay tuluyang iwanan!
Kung ikaw ang nagbubuhat sa paralitiko, pagsumakitan mo na kanyang kalagayan mahirap gisingin nagtutulug-tulugan; iyong pagmamalasakit at pagmamahal hindi man kilalanin at suklian sa buhay na ito, hahantong pa rin ito sa iyong kapakanan at kabutihan dahil si Jesus palaging kapiling at kasama natin pinagagaan ating mga pasanin.
“Lumapit kayo sa akin, kayong lahat na napapagal at nabibigatan sa inyong pasanin, at kayo’y pagpapahingahin ko. Pasanin ninyo aking pamatok, at mag-aral kayo sa akin; ako’y maamo at mababang-loob, at makasusumpong kayo ng kapahingahan para sa inyong kaluluwa. Sapagkat maginhawang dalhin ang aking pamatok, at magaan ang pasaning ibibigay ko sa inyo.” (Mt.11:28-30)
Larawan kuha ng may-akda, St. Michael Retreat House, Antipolo City, 16 Hunyo 2026.
Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Friday in the Twelfth Week of Ordinary Time, Year II, 26 June 2026 2 Kings 25:1-12 ><]]]]'> + ><]]]]'> + ><]]]]'> Matthew 8:1-4
Photo by author, St. Anthony De Padua Chapel, D’Alta Tagaytay, Tagaytay City, 02 June 2026.
Glory and praise to you, merciful God and Father for this wonderful last Friday of June 2026 as you present us with two images of human sufferings: in the first reading is the final siege of Jerusalem with the capture of its king Zedekiah who rebelled against his Babylonian masters and conquerors and the leper who approached Jesus Christ to do homage, begging for his healing.
Many times, we are like Zedekiah who willingly submit ourselves to the forces of evil and eventually end up miserably in their hands: "Then king was therefore arrested and brought to Riblah to the king of Babylon, who pronounced sentence on him. He had Zedekiah's sons slain before his eyes. Then he blinded Zedekiah, bound him with fetters, and had him brought to Babylon" (2 Kings 25:6-7).
You never punish us your people, Lord; all our misfortunes and miseries are brought about by our or others sinfulness; hence, keep us faithful to you, to return to you while still early before we could not get out and be stuck in a difficult situation like Zedekiah.
Teach us to be humble like that leper who approached Jesus after coming down from a mountain: "Lord, if you wish, you can make me clean." Jesus stretched out his hand, touched him, and said, "I do will it. Be made clean." His leprosy was cleansed immediately (Matthew 8:2-4).
To whom shall we go, Lord Jesus but to you alone; let us suffer in you, with you on the cross for you not only have the words of life but because you too have gone through our sufferings and felt its pains that you will nothing for us but healing and cleansing, absolution and freedom.
In a special way, dear Jesus, we pray for those undergoing medical procedures this weekend, healing for those seriously ill and easing of pains for those in severe diseases and sickness. Amen.
Photo by author, St. Michael Retreat House, Antipolo City, 16 June 2026.
40 Shades of Lent by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Fourth Sunday in Lent (Laetare Sunday), Cycle A, 15 March 2026 1 Samuel 16:1b, 6-7, 10-13a + Ephesians 5:8-14 + John 9:1-41
Artwork from thecripplegate.com.
We continue our Lenten journey with John still as our guide this fourth Sunday known as “Laetare Sunday” for “Rejoice Sunday” because we are fast approaching the end of the Lenten journey to celebrate Easter – but not that too easily.
More than that the path is still long, what makes the journey difficult is our own “blindness” that we fail to see and recognize Jesus as the light who had come to illumine us. His healing of the man born blind shows Jesus precisely in the exercise of the mission given him by the Father that John made clear in his gospel prologue about the coming of God’s Word, the Christ, as the light that enlightens everyone which the darkness refuses to accept (Jn.1:5, 9-10).
In a similar manner when Jesus told the Samaritan woman last Sunday that he is the living water who quenches our deepest thirsts in life, he clearly declared in this healing of the man born blind that he is “the light of the world … who had come so that those who do not see might see” (Jn.9:5, 39). But, unlike in the story of the Samaritan woman, Jesus appears only at the start and the end of the scene of our gospel this Sunday. And the most amazing part is how the man born blind eventually turned out to be the one who led those in the crowd including us today in realizing why Jesus indeed is the light of the world.
Photo by author, 25 February 2026, National Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima, Valenzuela City.
This beautiful story of the healing of the man born blind is like a huge painting or a tapestry best seen by slowly going through certain sections and details little by little until we see the whole picture.
As he passed by he saw a man born blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “Neither he nor his parents sinned; it is so that the works of God might be made visible through him” (John 9:1-3).
Actually, the man born blind wasn’t the only one blind in the story: everyone else is blind led by the Apostles themselves who are like us today always looking for someone to blame, a scapegoat for all the miseries in life. Everyday we repeat in various forms their question “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”
Its worst part is how we continue to insist like them with the Pharisees and those in the crowds in molding Jesus into the person or God we want him to be, either so stern at one end or too lax at the other extreme to accommodate our own ideas who God is.
The late American Trappist monk Thomas Merton wrote that God is not an “object” like a thing our minds can comprehend or grasp, saying that such attitude in seeing God leads to a false, idolatrous understanding of God. According to Merton, God is a pure “Who” and “Thou” we experience in silent prayers, a reality we experience and meet in ourselves and with others.
Maybe that explains why more than half of the wars going on today in various parts of the world are sadly because of religion!
How ironic that in this mass-mediated world where people practically live in social media, the more we see and expose everything, the more we have become blind, forgetting that the deepest truths and realities in life are hidden from our eyes that only our hearts can see. Hence, like the Pharisees and scribes of Jesus’ time, we still demand signs from God about his reality. In the first reading, we find God reminding Samuel and us to go beyond material things and outside appearances “because man sees the appearance but the Lord looks into the heart” (1 Sm.16:7).
Worst of all blindness is our being blind to those closest to us like family. Notice that John specifically mentioned how the parents of the man born blind refused to attest to their own son’s miraculous healing by Jesus for fear of reprisals from the temple authorities. Like them, we are blinded by power, wealth and prestige. Likewise, we are divided by affiliations and labels with public and moral issues nowadays decided not in its merits of truth and veracity but in its sheer number of followers. Talents and genius take the backstage to whatever viral and trending seen as the best, as the “in” thing. As a result, the more we are plunged into darkness despite the 24/7 “lights” of the world.
Photo by author, January 2025.
Interspersed in the amusing exchanges and conversations among the crowd with the man born blind after his healing by Jesus, we see now why Christ is the light of the world: because he brings hope amid darkness in life.
When Jesus heard they had thrown him out, he found him and said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” He answered and said, “Who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?” Jesus said to him, “You have seen him and the one speaking to you is he.” He said, “I do believe, Lord,” and he worshipped him (John 9:35-38).
It was in the ensuing drama in the conversations that followed after his healing that John assembled the beautiful pattern of the light of Christ shining through the man born blind as he joyfully and enthusiastically spoke of Jesus. It must have been dark for the healed blind man of being questioned and even laughed at by the Pharisees and crowd, and worst, not supported by his own parents; yet, despite all these, he held on as he affirmed his faith in Jesus as a prophet who had healed him because finally he had found a glimmer of hope and meaning in life. Recall now what St. Paul says in the second reading of our own moments in darkness, of how Jesus our light had enlightened us.
Many times in life our knowledge and experience of God do not happen instantly but slowly, little by little. And like that blind man who was healed, there are even times we could be already in front of Jesus without realizing it was already him because he comes in disguises – often in darkness of failures and sufferings, in our blindness in sin.
Photo by author, La Union, 09 January 2026.
It is in those moments of darkness and blindness we see and realize the light of Christ because that is when we experience hope and meaning in life.
The joy of this fourth Sunday is found in Jesus Christ like shafts of light filling us with hope within amid the darkness and failures, sufferings and pain we go through in life. Jesus is the light of the world because light is brightest in darkness like the stars at night.
When we hope, we believe, then we love despite the suffering we are going through because deep in our hearts we know something good is happening, that darkness is not the final say in life but light when everything becomes clear. In the healing of the man born blind, Jesus offers us hope for something good and better. Without hope, we stop loving because we have darkness within, finding no sense at all in living that we destroy, even kill. With Christ, even a glimmer of light can pierce the wall of darkness to lead us to life and meaning. Amen. Have a blessed week ahead sharing the light of Christ with others, especially those blinded within.
Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Wednesday, Memorial of Our Lady of Lourdes & World Day of Sick, 11 February 2026 Isaiah 66:10-14 ><}}}}*> + ><}}}}*> + ><}}}}*> John 2:1-11
Photo by Architect Philip Santiago, Lourdes, France, October 2025.
Praise and glory to you O God, our loving and merciful Father who has given us a wonderful and most kind Mother in Mary the Blessed Virgin through Jesus Christ your Son.
From the beginning since Jesus Christ began his ministry to our present time, the Blessed Virgin Mary has always been with Jesus showing us your great signs of presence, of generosity, and of life first anticipated at the wedding feast at Cana.
On the third day there was a wedding in Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus and his disciples were also invited to the wedding. When the wine ran short, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” Jesus said to her, “Woman, how does your concern affect me? My hour has not yet come.” His mother said to the servers, “Do whatever he tells you.” Jesus told them, “Fill the jars with water” (John 2:1-5, 7).
Photo by Architect Philip Santiago, Lourdes, France, October 2025.
How wonderful to recall and meditate on this first miracle of Jesus of turning water into wine at the wedding feast at Cana through the intercession of his Mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Through Mary, your abundant blessings, O God, have continued to overflow upon us even after she is now with you and Jesus as Queen of heaven and earth.
How true were your words to the Prophet Isaiah that you shall send Israel a mother who shall comfort us, a mother in whom you shall spread prosperity and blessings (Isaiah 66:10-14).
How lovely that more than 1800 years after Cana, another miracle happened anew using the same element of water through Mary in Lourdes, France; how amazing in both Cana and Lourdes, Jesus asserted water as the primordial element of life and symbol of humanity; most amazing Lord Jesus that since that miracle at Cana, your life continues to overflow upon us through Mary your Mother and our Mother too in Lourdes, France.
Photo by Architect Philip Santiago, Lourdes, France, October 2025.
Like the servers at Cana, Mary told the young St. Bernadette at Lourdes to dig on earth so water may burst forth as spring, like life coming out of the womb of the earth; until now, that spring has been the source of many healings and other miracles among generations of peoples from all walks of life and nations; these waters of Lourdes remain as symbols of fruitfulness and of healing, of maternity in Mary who cares most to us and the sick in Jesus our Savior.
Give us the grace, dear Jesus the gifts of purity and cleanliness in our hearts so that we may become like Mary at Cana and Lourdes, a vessel of your healing and compassion especially for the sick of the world.
Grant us, dear Jesus, the gift of listening and docility like the servers in Cana and St. Bernadette in Lourdes to always "do whatever you tell us." Amen.
Photo by Architect Philip Santiago, Lourdes, France, October 2025.
Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul, 17 November 2025 Monday in the Thirty-Third Week of Ordinary Time, Year I Memorial of St. Elizabeth of Hungary, Religious 1 Maccabees 1:10-15, 41-43, 54-57, 62-63 <*(((>< + ><)))*> Luke 16:35-43
Jesus asked him, "What do you want me to do for you?" He replied, "Lord, please let me see." Jesus told him, "Have sight; your faith has saved you" (Luke 18:40-42).
What a touching story for this Monday as we quickly approach the end of our liturgical calendar, when Jesus likewise in the gospel is on his final journey before his Passion to Jerusalem.
"What do you want me to do for you?"
Honestly, Lord Jesus, I do not know what I really want in life; as I get older, it seems the more I get confused and afraid of many things as I start to feel my body ageing, getting weaker, forgetting a lot of things, feeling desperate at times like that blind man at the roadside.
And so, I cry out to you too like him with "Jesus, Son of David, have pity on me!" This time I know what I want from you: like him, let me have sight; clear my mind and my heart and my soul of all doubts and fears, hesitations and mistrust that I too may leave the "roadside" to follow you closer on the road to Jerusalem like St. Elizabeth of Hungary, praying more, believing more, giving up more, and giving more of myself to you through others. Amen.
Today we also pray in a special way to all those having problems with their in-laws, those grieving the lost of a child, and widows: O St. Elizabeth of Hungary, you went all through these pains and sufferings, please pray for the many wives and mothers and widows going thrugh these. Amen.
Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Our Lady of Fatima University Valenzuela City
Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul, 27 October 2025 Monday in the Thirtieth Week of Ordinary Time, Year I Romans 8:12-17 <*{{{{>< + ><}}}}*> Luke 13:10-17
Jesus was teaching in a synagogue on the sabbath. And a woman was there who for eighteen years had been crippled by a spirit; she was bent over, completely incapable of standing erect. When Jesus saw her, he called to her and said, “Woman, you are set free of your infirmity.” He laid his hands on her, and she at once stood up straight and glorified God (Luke 13:10-13).
What a lovely story for this Monday, Jesus, when many of us got the blues so to speak: many of us are like that woman at the synagogue "bent over", "bowed down" and for the longest time have seen only the dirty, hard ground below; the reasons are varied, Lord: many of us are bowed down due to sins and evil, pains and hurts and trauma some from people we trusted and loved, mistakes and missed opportunities, and so many others that have enslaved and crippled us for so long like that woman you have healed; you know so well how much we have wanted to break free from these long years of bowed down posture so that we may rise and straighten up our lives to look up to you in the sky, to feel the warmth of the sun, savor the beauty of creation.
On this Monday, let us take to heart the words of St. Paul that we are not debtors to the flesh... that we received a spirit of adoption to cry "Abba, Father!" (Romans 8:12,15).
For those living "bowed down" in pain and shame, arouse them, Jesus with the warmth of the Holy Spirit, to rejoice in our new life in you. Amen.
Lord My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul, 12 October 2025 Twenty-Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle C 2 Kings 5:14-17 ><}}}}*> 2 Timothy 2:8-13 ><}}}}*> Luke 17:11-19
Photo by author, view of Israel from Mt. Nebo, Jordan, May 2019.
Our gospel setting this Sunday strikes a deep lasting impression on anyone who had been on a Holy Land pilgrimage: of those vast expanse of desert in Israel where dusty roads have been replaced by modern concrete or asphalted roads.
Perhaps the feelings remain the same today and during the time of Jesus when he and the Twelve were near the border between Samaria and Galilee, several figures who turned out to be ten lepers appeared at a distance, waving their hands to the Lord. It must have been a surprising sight, then and now, of being found in the desert. Imagine the desperation in their voices of those ten lepers, “Jesus, Master! Have pity on us!” (Lk.17:13).
Jesus right away told them to go show themselves to the priests, and as they went, they were healed. But only one—a Samaritan—returned to thank Jesus who wondered aloud: “Ten were cleansed, were they not? Where are the the other nine? Has none but this foreigner returned to give thanks to God?” Then he said to him, “Stand up and go; your faith has saved you” (Lk.17:17-19).
“The Healing of Ten Lepers” painting by James Tissot en.wikipedia.org
Last Sunday we reflected that faith is primarily a relationship with God; hence, its powers or efficacy will work only when aligned with God and his Holy Will. We will never know how strong we have grown in faith until we get into tests and trials. That is why, the need for us to imitate the Twelve in praying to Jesus, “Increase our faith” (Lk.17:5).
We grow best in faith when we worship God with our fellow believers in the celebration of the Holy Mass especially on Sundays which is our Sabbath. More than a day of rest, Sabbath is a day of restoration to God, with others and most of all, with one’s self. It is a return to Eden, a dress rehearsal of our entry into heaven to dwell in God’s presence eternally.
This is where lies the beauty and significance of this healing of ten lepers – they were not only restored to health but restored in God, to their families, and to their community and fellow believers.
Photo by author, Jerusalem, May 2017.
Those ten lepers have never known any rest at all since getting afflicted with the disease for they were cut off from homes, worship, and community. That is why they could not get near Jesus as they have to keep their distance from everyone according to their laws in order to prevent infecting others and spreading the disease. Likewise, it was the very reason that anyone healed of leprosy or any serious sickness must first present themselves to the priests who have the sole authority to declare one has been healed and therefore may be allowed to reintegrate with their family and community or society in general. Being declared as healed of sickness like leprosy at that time meant the restoration of one’s rights to worship in the temple or synagogue especially on Sabbath.
When Jesus healed them, he restored more than just their bodies and physical health. In sending them to the priests, Jesus invited them into the wholeness of what the Sabbath really is like peace, inclusion, and dignity.
Or, salvation in short.
Sad to say, only one realized this when he returned to thank Jesus. The healed Samaritan leper knew and felt a deeper healing had taken place within him that he responded with heartfelt gratitude to God in Jesus. There was a deepening of his faith in Jesus when he decided to return to thank the Lord that also expressed his desire to enter into a relationship with Jesus.
Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, 20 March 2025.
Whenever we thank people for their kindness no matter how little that may be, it is more than acknowledging the other person but most of all, of expressing our links with them as well as our desire to be one with them, especially with God who showers us with good things daily. That is why the Mass is also called Eucharist – from the Greek eucharistia meaning “thanksgiving”. After his skin was cleansed of leprosy in the first reading, Naaman the Syrian Army General declared before the Prophet Elisha that he would worship the Lord alone as he returned to his home with two mule-loads of Israeli soil.
Sorry to say but whenever we refuse to celebrate the Mass on Sundays, it means that we are one of those nine ungrateful lepers healed by Jesus! Don’t you feel being called like the Samaritan to return and give thanks to Jesus for the many blessings you have received this Sunday?
See how in this age of faith in a mass-mediated culture that we have become so impersonal, trusting more our gadgets and all those apps like Siri and Waze as if we have already lost faith in the human person. And God.
Photo by Mr. Nicko Timbol, Chapel of the Angel of Peace, OLFU-RISE, Valenzuela City, 03 October 2025.
We spend practically our entire days in front of all kinds of screens than with the face of a human person. Again, this sadly extends to the way we worship with many still stuck in the pandemic mode of online Masses not realizing the important and irreplaceable aspect of personal encounter of Jesus in the actual Mass with other believers.
God remains God even if we do not go to Mass every Sunday. It is us who are losing greatly whenever we skip Sunday Masses, our Sabbath. God specifically made his third commandment to “Remember to keep holy the sabbath day” because Sabbath reminds us that life itself is holy in the first place, a sharing in the life of God. What a tremendous blessing still that even if we forget God or disregard God every Sunday, Paul reminds us today of the beautiful truth and reality that “If we have died with Jesus we shall also live with him; if we persevere we shall also reign with him. But if we deny him he will deny us. If we are unfaithful he remains faithful, for he cannot deny himself” (2Tim.2:11-13).
Can you imagine that? If we are unfaithful to Jesus, he remains faithful?
Every Sunday, Jesus tells us to “Stand up and go; your faith has saved you” despite, in spite of our many sins and absences from the Sunday Masses in the past because he wants us to experience the deeper wholeness that comes with faith and gratitude as experienced by that Samaritan leper he had healed. As we continue to journey with Jesus toward Jerusalem facing many trials and sufferings along the way, he calls us to come to him in the Sunday Mass to deepen our faith by resting in his presence.
Is there a space in your life at this stage that you feel like one of those lepers, longing for healing and restoration? In the silence of this Sabbath day in our Sunday Mass, speak to Jesus especially after receiving him Body and Blood in the Holy Communion. Amen. Have a blessed week ahead! Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Our Lady of Fatima University, Valenzuela City (lordmychef@gmail.com).
Our Lady of Fatima University-Valenzuela, June 2025.
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 Jesus Christ, teach me to imitate you in bringing the good news by inspiring others to follow you.
Jesus journeyed from one town and village to another, preaching and proclaiming the good news of the Kingdom of God. Accompanying him were the Twelve and some women who had been cured of evil spirits and infirmities, Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, Joanna, the wife of Herod’s steward Chuza, Susanna, and many others who nprovided for them out of their resources (Luke 8:1-3).
So, why do I follow you, Jesus? What inspires me in your bringing the good news of God's Kingdom? Here are some, Lord:
I follow you, Jesus because in you I feel loved and welcomed despite who I am like the Twelve Apostles who were of most diverse backgrounds and personalities yet, were united in you; I follow you, Jesus because in you there is warmth and lightness, of forgiveness and healing like those women who followed you after being freed from evil possessions and healed of many sickness; I follow you, Jesus because you inspire me to leave everything behind as I find everything in you like those women who provided for you from their resources.
Teach me Jesus to proclaim to bring to share your gospel of God's Kingdom to others by finding life in you. Amen
Our Lady of Fatima University, Valenzuela City, June 2025.
Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Our Lady of Fatima University Valenzuela City (lordmychef@gmail.com)
Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul, 03 September 2025 Wednesday, Memorial of St. Gregory the Great, Pope & Doctor of Church Colossians 1:1-8 <*((((>< + ><))))*> Luke 4:38-44
A surge in number of patients with leptospirosis after the series of flooding in Metro Manila, August 2025.
Lord Jesus, I am angry like most people in my country; so angry with the rampant corruption long been going on; so angry why we have allowed it to continue and worsened that people are getting sick, classes and work disrupted by the floods because no flood control project was ever delivered despite being paid for by the government; as I prayed, I feel nothing had changed since your time until now still with so many people seeking healing and comfort from you.
At sunset, all who had people sick with various diseases brought them to him. He laid his hands on each of them and cured them. At daybreak, Jesus left and went to a deserted place. The crowds went looking for him, and when they came to him, they tried to prevent him from leaving them (Luke 4:40, 42).
Yes, dear Jesus, the corruption and injustices happening today are so sickening but do not let these deviate my focus in you whom I must follow always; use my hands as extension of your healing hands, of your comforting touch to the sick and needy, that I may restore them to you, in you; you never remained in one place, Jesus as you kept moving to bring hope and healing to so many others forgotten by their family and the society; enlighten my mind and my heart, Jesus with your Holy Spirit to imitate you in going to a deserted place to remain one in the Father and most especially to find you among the suffering that the corrupt disregard. Amen.
Photo from “KLEPTOPIROSIS: When Corruption Becomes a Public Health Crisis” by Dr. Tony Leachon on Facebook, 08 August 2025.
lordmychef.com 