Easter is entering Jesus, our Gate

Lord My Chef Sunday Recipe by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Fourth Sunday of Easter, Cycle A, 26 April 2026
Acts 2:14, 36-41 ><}}}*> 1 Peter 2:20-25 ><}}}*> John 10:1-10

*Photo by author, 09 February 2026, Museo Valenzuela.*

In the next three Sundays beginning today, our gospel readings will bring us back to Jesus Christ’s teachings before his passion and death because all his pronouncements then are clearest when seen in the light of his resurrection.

As we have mentioned last Sunday, it does not really matter that many or everyone would see the Risen Lord in order to believe him. Like what Jesus had told Thomas the other Sunday, blessed are those who believe without having seen him while last week we have realized in the story of the two disciples returning to Emmaus that the mystery and beauty of Easter is found in the “breaking of bread” when our eyes are opened to recognize Christ who immediately vanishes. This breaking of bread is not just the Holy Eucharist but includes our many experiences when we too experience brokenness in life like the Jews addressed by Peter after the Pentecost.

Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice, and proclaimed: “Let the whole house of Israel know for certain that God has made both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.” Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and they asked Peter and the other apostles, “What are we to do, my brothers?” (Acts 2:14, 36-37)

*“The Road to Emmaus” painting by Ronald Raab, CSC, from ronaldraab.com.*

What a beautiful expression by Luke, “they were cut to the heart” that means they were stirred, they were moved deep inside to a great reality, to a truth that led to their conversion.

It is in our own brokenness when our eyes are opened, our hearts are cut that we find Jesus and become converted.

Despite the scathing words of Peter on their sins on having Jesus crucified, the people did not feel “guilty” in the negative sense of being hopelessly mired in sin. The same thing is true with us: there are moments in life we realize deeply, truly feeling the hurt of having offended God in our many sins that actually lead us to conversion and be transformed into a better person as a disciple of Christ. True contrition does not stop in the realization and admission of our sins; true contrition always leads to conversion. Though we are broken, we are not scattered. In fact, it is in our being broken that we become one, we become whole in Jesus Christ.

Guilt buries, conversion liberates because we find Jesus as the true gate to life who leads us to freedom. In Jesus as our gate in life, we enter a new phase of being free and faithful and loving.

So Jesus said again, “Amen, amen, I say to you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate. Whoever enters through me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. A thief comes only to steal and slaughter and destroy; I come so that they might have life and have it more abundantly” (John 10:7-10).

*Photo by Dra. Mylene A. Santos, MD, at Katmon Nature Sanctuary & Beach Resort in Infanta, Quezon, 03 April 2024.*

Every fourth Sunday of Easter is known as the Good Shepherd Sunday. Only John has this section of Jesus teaching actually to the Pharisees of himself as the Good Shepherd following the controversy in his healing of the man born blind on a Sabbath day.

But before Jesus spoke of his being the Good Shepherd, he first identified himself as the “gate” where the shepherd and the sheep pass through, the direct opposite of the Pharisees and priests of their time who have taken upon themselves as the final standard and arbiter of what is good and holy, of actually usurping the role of God but so stern, so strict. And impersonal.

Hence, the distinction by Jesus in this passage between “thieves and robbers” like his enemies and himself as “the gate” and “the shepherd”.

Whenever I bless homes, I always begin at the door. From the many house blessings I have made, I am not really impressed with the modern, “minimalist” doors with sleek metal handles. What fascinates me most are simple doors with bold colors like lively red or blue. For me, a door is something that exudes with security and protection, not necessarily massive, evoking power.

*Photo by author, Angels’ Hills Retreat Center, Tagaytaty City, April 2025.*

That’s Jesus Christ for me as the gate. My security and protection.

However, still with house blessings, I have always wondered why we Filipinos even abroad are so fond of two things so peculiar just to us: first is having a regular kitchen often for display and a dirty kitchen for daily use and second, side doors to pass through because the main door is kept locked, used only for visitors.

I think they both reveal something about our spirituality wherein we recognize Jesus our gate, our door, our shepherd yet, we still desire to have other doors and gates, perhaps even shepherds like buddhas and amulets we hung in our homes.

This we find when we examine our inner selves, the cacophony of negative voices that fill us, even entertain us like jealousy, envy, anger, resentment, bitterness, greed, and lust. There are times despite our having faith in Christ, we are filled with more negative than positive like curse than blessing, revenge than reconciliation, war than peace, and worse of all, death than life.

*Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, 20 March 2026.*

Where are they coming from?

Very often, we take them for granted, allowing them to percolate inside us until they boil and burst that we hurt others, most of all, our selves in the process.

“I come so that they might have life and have it more abundantly.”

Jesus our door, our gate, our Good Shepherd invites us anew this Sunday to remain in him, to stay with him. Jesus calls us to break free from these other doors and gates that trap us within so that we may be free and faithful. Most of all, be more loving in the real sense.

Jesus invites us to examine our lives today, before having him and after having him. Like what Peter tells us in the second reading, we are reminded of the new freedom we have in Christ: “By his wounds you have been healed. For you had gone astray like sheep, but you have now returned to the shepherd and guardian of your souls” (1Pt.2:24-25).

During the Last Supper, Judas (not the Iscariot) asked Jesus why he would appear only to them and not to everyone and he replied with mysterious words, speaking about love and keeping his commandments so that he and the Father would dwell on his disciples (Jn.14:23-24). Actually, in speaking that way, Jesus was showing his disciples who include us today that his revelation is not about public display of power but of personal relationship in him based on love. In the whole discourse of Jesus during their last supper from the perspective of John, what is most essential is the love of Jesus and the love of his disciples. And this we shall explore in the next two Sundays before Jesus ascends into heaven.

Again, there is no need to see Jesus physically; the more we love, the more we believe, the more we see him in our hearts. Most especially when we pass only in him as our gate, our door to life and fullness. Amen. A blessed week ahead to everyone.

Leaving, disbelieving

Lord My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Third Sunday of Easter, Cycle A, 19 April 2026
Acts 2:14, 22-23   ><}}}*> 1Peter 1:17-21   ><}}}*>   Luke 24:13-35

*Photo by author, view from Jerusalem Temple, May 2019.*

We heard last Sunday Jesus Christ’s coming to his disciples on the evening of Easter and a second time eight days later when Thomas was present, reminding us how Easter is a story of coming and believing, of believing and coming.

This Sunday we find an opposite movement and direction in the two disciples leaving Jerusalem in disbelief at the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

That very day, the first day of the week, two of Jesus’ disciples were going to a village seven miles from Jerusalem called Emmaus, and they were conversing about all things that had occurred. And it happened that while they were conversing a debating, Jesus himself drew near and walked with them, but their eyes were prevented from recognizing him (Luke 24:13-16).

Easter is also about leaving in disbelief. Not necessarily because of not believin like Thomas last Sunday.

Cleopas and the other disciple were leaving Jerusalem in disbelief which our Filipino language adequately express in “hindi makapaniwala” and “matay ko mang isipin” that both indicate a strong sense of belief with a dash of doubt because the story, the event, or the very person involved is beyond comprehension.

Or, bigger than reality like Jesus Christ and his very mystery of love for us.

Many times, we could not believe how good and loving God can be to us, so personal, so real and true but how can it be he “allows” bad things to happen to us or in the world.

Like the two disciples going home to Emmaus, we walk away from God to distance from him and everything and everyone to find our selves and see the real picture of what is going on when times are rough for us.

Those are the times we silently tell ourselves “this could not be happening” especially when it is so difficult, so unbelievable simply because – we believe. Hence, our usual litany of striving to be good, of serving the poor and needy, of going to Mass every Sunday, of always praying…

Look back in our many experiences in life when we could have died or have lost more or could have been a total wreck. Amazingly, despite our being in the opposite direction in life, consciously or unconsciously, that is when we feel more blessed. That’s when we are able to declare with conviction, “hindi ako pinabayaan ng Diyos, napaka-buti ng Diyos, and binigay niya pa rin ang lahat”. This is what the first reading reminds us of Peter’s speech before the Jews at Pentecost, at how God never left us, sending us Jesus Christ as fulfillment of his promise to Abraham and David.

*Modern painting of the road to Emmaus from the internet.*

Like in the road to Emmaus, Jesus journeys with us in the opposite direction only to bring us back to Jerusalem filled with joy by reminding us how everything that happens in our lives, Jesus had gone through the same sufferings too as foreshadowed and explained in the Sacred Scriptures.

Here we are reminded of the importance of personal prayer which is more than the mere recitation of prayers but having a relationship in God who never leaves nor abandons us.

Most of all, here we are reminded too of how the Sunday Eucharist opens ourselves to Christ’s reality and loving presence among us as experienced by the two disciples after Jesus had broken bread with them. It is called a Holy Communion because in that “breaking of bread”, we share in our common experiences of suffering and death. That we are not alone. Most of all, that we too like others rise to new life in Jesus Christ who suffered, died, and rose to life first for us.

*From* https://www.clarusonline.it/2017/04/29/i-discepoli-di-emmaus-andata-e-ritorno/

It can happen that our eyes too are prevented from recognizing Jesus like Cleopas and companion on the road to Emmaus because of our many fixations in life like that blessings can only be in positive things like good health, security like steady income, a rising career or a profitable business and endeavor.

But, experience has taught us so many times that blessings are not only found in good things but even in bad or negative ones like sickness, failures, losses and death. And when we look back, they were not really that bad at all because it was in our failures and losses, sickness and deaths when we realized and learned most in life.

Notice how Luke succinctly narrated the breaking of bread in the home of Cleopas in Emmaus, it was so swift unlike the building up of drama along the road to Emmaus. It was so simple because that’s how things happen in life too – so quick that the simplest things and gestures, even so bad can suddenly become so loaded with meanings that we realize God’s loving presence in us.

“Supper at Emmaus” by renowned painter Caravaggio. See the emotion depicted by Caravaggio with his trademark of masterful play of light and shadows. At the center is the Risen Lord blessing the bread that caught the two disciples who are seated in disbelief, one outstretching his arms and the others pushing back in his chair. The third character in the painting is the innkeeper unaware of the significance of the gesture of Jesus. It was at this instance that the two disciples recognized Christ as the travelling man with them to Emmaus.

During the COVID pandemic, on the first Sunday of lockdown when there was no public Mass, I started a motorized procession of the Blessed Sacrament in my former parish by mounting our big monstrance on the roof of a parishioner’s truck. I announced the route of our procession during our online Mass that Sunday and people waited.

What an amazing sight of the people’s deep faith in God as they knelt and bowed before the Blessed Sacrament whether on the main highway or the inside streets. Some were crying while everyone was deep in prayer.

There lies the great mystery of Easter: Jesus need not appear to us in person because as he vanishes in the Blessed Sacrament, that is when we recognize him!

In the most simple gestures of the Mass under the most simple signs of bread and wine, Jesus vanishes from our outward view and through this vanishing our interior or inner recognition opens up that we “see” him in the many instances he had touched us especially in our “heart-breaking” experiences in the past, our Emmaus road.

*Photo by Ms. Anne Ramos, 22 March 2020, Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria, Bulacan.*

We know with certainty that “it is the Lord” – Dominus est – present in every breaking of bread because part of the Easter mystery tells us deep within that it is only in his vanishing that he truly becomes recognizable to us. That is why we have to stop all those “theatrics” in our liturgy as noted by many netizens this past Holy Week and Easter. Unknown to many priests and their alalays, the more we have gimmicks in the Mass or even in our sacred spaces, the more we “displace” and remove Christ.

After an hour every Sunday, we leave the Mass and go back to our usual way of life, facing life’s many challenges. Peter reminds us in the second reading to hold on to that “faith and hope in God” who gave us Jesus Christ, “the spotless unblemished lamb.”

Let us not forget this mystery of Easter that, the more Jesus vanishes, the more we recognize him because Jesus is more than enough than anybody or anything else especially when we in our Emmaus experience. Let us pray like Cleopas and companion “Stay with us, Lord” so we may show him in our witnessing especially when we could not find him in others. Amen.

From Facebook, 21 April 2021: *“There is an urgency to announce the Joy, the joy of the Risen Lord.”*

Easter is coming, believing

Lord My Chef Easter Recipe by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Second Sunday of Easter, Divine Mercy Sunday, 12 April 2026
Acts 2:42-47 ><}}}*> 1 Peter 1:3-9 ><}}}*> John 20:19-31

*Photo by author, Don Bosco Batulao, Batangas, 07 April 2026.*

My dear friends, while praying over the gospel this week, this line by the Lord kept on echoing within me. And every time it would echo, the Lord shortened the sentence like these:

“Have you come to believe because you have seen me?”

“Have you come to believe because…?”

“Have you come to believe…?”

“Have you come…?”

Easter is a story of coming and believing amid all the darkness and emptiness in life, of being locked inside like the disciples when Jesus came to visit them “On the evening of that first day of the week, when the doors were locked.”

Before we can stay and remain in the Lord, we must first come. Like Thomas.

Or Jesus who actually comes first because he believes in us his disciples.

Now a week later his disciples were again inside and Thomas was with them. Jesus came, although the doors were locked, and stood in their midst… Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands, and bring your hand and put it into my side, and do not be unbelieving, but believe.” Thomas answered and said to him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Have you come to believe because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed” (John 20:26, 27-29).

*Caravaggio’s painting “The Incredulity of St. Thomas” (1602) from en.wikipedia.org.*

We are now on the eighth day of Easter also known as Divine Mercy Sunday that was instituted by St. John Paul II in May 23, 2000 as a “perennial invitation to the Christian World to face with confidence in divine benevolence the difficulties and trials that humankind will experience in the years to come.”

This we can see in Thomas also known as Didymus who was not present when Jesus first came to his disciples on the evening of Easter. See how Jesus as the one actually coming first because he is also the first to believe in us his disciples despite our many flaws. And absences or tardiness.

Joining his fellow disciples, Thomas came and believed on the eighth day after Easter. What Thomas had asked as proofs to believe in the Lord’s Resurrection were not really doubts to be taken negatively. It was not that Thomas did not believe but in fact, he wanted to believe more.

That is why he came the following Sunday. Because he believed.

Like us, there are times we feel at a loss in our faith in God when difficult and extraordinary things happen to us. We cry in desperation to God, seemingly doubting his presence or if he listens at all to our pleas but we come to pray because we believe. We cry only to someone we believe who can help us in our plight.

Coming and believing happen simultaneously: we come because we believe and we believe that is why we come.

Believing is more than an intellectual assent to a person or something.

Believing is entering into a relationship. There is something deeper that happens when we believe that is why we are moved to come, to draw near especially to a person.

When Jesus told Thomas “do not be unbelieving, but believe”, it was not a reproach but more of an exhortation he tells us too today to be intimate with him, to stay with him, to remain in him.

While the world tells everyone that to see is to believe, Jesus tells us that it is when we believe him, when we believe in him that we shall see. Even more. And clearly!

Believing is not actually concerned with proofs and evidence because whether with God or with another person, despite the many “proofs” we have gathered from all sources, none of them is actually the reason for our faith in God and with others. Or whatever like our vocation and profession.

Believing is the gift of faith nurtured in our relationships with God and with others.

It often starts so simple like when we pray the Apostles Creed and say “I believe in God” – in our believing and relating with God, we love, and love, and love even more even if there are pains and sufferings.

This we nurture by imitating the early Christians who devoted themselves to the teachings of the apostles that have been handed down to the Church, in communal life, and in the “breaking of the bread and prayers” which is the Holy Eucharist, the summit of our life as disciples of Christ (first reading).

That is why Peter in the second reading is all praises to those who believe and love Jesus even without having seen him: we continue to strive and persevere in life’s many trials because deep inside we experience the truth and realities of Christ’s resurrection, of his loving presence among us that leads us to profound joy and rejoicing in life. Most of all, with peace, the supreme gift of the Risen Lord.

Last March during my annual silent retreat as I turned 61 years old, my last reflection was Luke’s account of the Road to Emmaus, the gospel every evening of Easter.

In my meditation, I imagined myself joining the two disciples walking home to Emmaus. I was silent all throughout the journey, listening to their conversations until after the breaking of the bread in their home that opened their eyes to finally recognize Christ who had then vanished so quickly.

It was then when I actively joined the scene, telling the two disciples to return right away to Jerusalem. In my meditation, I felt the two disciples saying it was so dark and dangerous to travel back to Jerusalem. But I insisted, telling them, “maski na, tayo na!”

It was a turning point for me because for the past many years every time I go on my personal retreat and in my prayers, I always expressed to God my many fears in doing his will, refusing to follow him. I have always been like Jonah ever since in my relationship with God.

Last March was different. As I turned 61, I have come to believe more because I have become more daring.

There are still those fears in me about God’s will and plans but this time, I am no longer so concerned about my self but God alone – his will, his plans. And that is only when I felt truly at peace. Indeed, as John concluded his gospel today, Jesus does so many other things in our lives that is impossible to record but these few experiences we have of him are meant for us to believe him more, have life in him. Especially peace. Amen.

Welcoming Jesus in life’s many contrasts

40 Shades of Lent by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Palm Sunday of the Lord's Passion, Cycle A, 29 March 2026
Isaiah 50:4-7  +++  Philippians 2:6-11  +++  Matthew 27:11-54

We begin today the Holy Week with Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion. Its long name is derived from the two celebrations that developed separately in Jerusalem and Rome during the first one thousand years of Christianity, one of the oldest in our liturgy.

As early as the fourth century, Christians in Jerusalem celebrated Palm Sunday at the city gate with a procession led by its bishop followed by people holding palms reenacting Christ’s entry into Jerusalem. Meanwhile in Rome, the Pope ushered the Holy Week with the proclamation of the long gospel account from the Lord’s Supper to his Passion, Death and Burial. Eventually in the 12th century, Jerusalem’s practice of a palm procession with the blessing of palms added by the French in year 800 reached Rome and was celebrated separately. After more than a 1600 years, it was only in Vatican II when the two celebrations from Jerusalem and Rome were merged into one that we now have its official designation as Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion.

It is a beautiful story of how two distinct practices in Jerusalem and Rome, of two contrasting liturgies mirrored our different and unique journeys into the mystery of God in Jesus Christ’s Passion, Death, and Resurrection.

And I love that contrast because our life is filled too with many contrasts that make it so beautiful and meaningful.

Contrast is when we compare differences between two or more things in order to highlight distinctive features like light and shadows, or pains and joys that make us see life fullest. Contrasts many times are a grace from God when he works in disguise among us, within us, as he writes straight crooked lines in our lives that eventually lead us to him and be fulfilled.

All our readings today present us with many contrasts that enable us to find and welcome Jesus coming to us like that Sunday in Jerusalem in the midst of our pain and sufferings, joys and fears. Three things I wish to reflect this Sunday.

*Photo by author, Hagia Sophia, Turkiye, November 2025.*

First contrast we find is the wisdom of God and the folly of man.

Read the longer version of the gospel from Matthew 26:14-27:66 and you find the many contrasts presented by the evangelist to highlight God’s wisdom in Jesus and man’s folly among the Jewish people led by their priests and elders, Pontius Pilate, and even with the prince of Apostles, Simon Peter!

At his trial before the Sanhedrin at the house of the high priest Caiaphas, Jesus was so comp-composed, silently listening to the many false accusations against him, and then shocked when he admitted amnd declared his being the Christ indeed (Mt.26:57-68)! And while all these were going inside the house of Caiaphas, outside was Peter denying Jesus thrice when asked of his being a disciple (vv.69-75)!

Again we see this glaring contrast of God’s wisdom in Christ and man’s folly in Pilate as Jesus remained silent during trial, answering briefly only when necessary that have put his enemies at the defensive posture (Mt.27:11-14). And how foolish they were in choosing to set free a known criminal in order to crucify the Christ (vv.21-26) which continues to these days in our own country as we keep on electing corrupt and inept people into office.

The most tragic of all is how some people while professing to be Christians are like those mob in Jerusalem still defending a known murderer now facing trial for crimes against humanity who had cursed God several times, made fun of women including those raped and under whose administration happened rampant and shameless corruption and decadence.

How sad that despite our supposed to be many advancements in science and technology that have completely altered our way of living and way of thinking, we have actually become more lost and empty than ever. Like Pilate and the Jewish people of that time with their elders, the more we assert our supposed to be superior knowledge on everything, the more we sink into emptiness and meaninglessness.

Let us not be blinded with our intelligence that have sent men to space and moon and shrunk the globe into a village but have made us grow more apart from each other; open our eyes and our hearts in Jesus Christ who is the truth because he is the only way in life.

Second contrast we find is that true power is in weakness not in strength.

Everybody at the trial and crucifixion of Jesus were at their own kind of “power play” especially the soldiers with the Jewish leaders and their cabal of followers (Mt.27:27-44). Imagine the very act of stripping Jesus or anyone for that matter of clothes – it is the most brazen display of power over someone. Not contented with that, they mocked Jesus while unconsciously recognizing him truly as king with the sign placed above his head, “This is Jesus, the King of the Jews” (v.37). They would confirm this later at the death of Jesus when they declared “Truly, this was the Son of God!” (v.54).

At his trial and sentencing until his crucifixion, Jesus showed that true power lies in weakness and surrender as St. Paul eloquently expressed in the second reading today, “Christ Jesus, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God something to be grasped. Rather he emptied himself” (Phil.2:6-7).

How sad the whole world is now plunged into a great disaster without any clear sight of an end in the war launched by the US and Israel against Iran. Who’s really winning? Despite the sophisticated and powerful weapons of the US and Israel, how come Iran still continues to launch many missile attacks against its neighbors and worst of all, control a supposed to be tiny strait that had sent fuel prices beyond reach of Tomahawk missiles!

Let’s look into our own lives, in those moments we “power tripped” against others: what happened? Have we really won over them or, are we now suffering its dire consequences, even paying the price of our too much pride and display of power and strength? Jesus shows us in his triumphal entry into Jerusalem until his Passion and Death, true power is in weakness and surrender. It is the only path to Easter because it is the path of life and love which we shall see next.

Third contrast we have seen in the passion of the Lord: life symbolized by blood is for love and caring, not for vengeance nor convenience. Not even a solution to a problem.

At the trial of Jesus, when Pilate felt at a loss that he could not set Christ free, he decided to wash his hands to free himself of any responsibility for his death: “I am innocent of this man’s blood. Look it to yourselves.” And the whole people said in reply, “His blood be upon us and upopn our children” (Mt.27:25-26).

It was the height of human arrogance and pride, of folly and insensitivity that sadly happens right in our homes, in our schools and offices, in the society and even in the church maybe.

Instead of using technology and the sciences for the care and preservation of human life symbolized by blood, these have actually objectified persons into things, from contraceptives to abortions, genetic manipulation and gender redefinition. We have become so impersonal that people are seen more in economic andn utilitarian terms especially infants and children as well as the sick and elderly, the most vulnerable ones among us. Worst, criminals and others labeled as misfits are disposed like things either through judicial or extrajudicial killings. So heartless.

See the contrast presented by Matthew in this aspect when at the Last Supper, Jesus “took a cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them saying, ‘Drink from it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant which will be shed on behalf of many for the forgiveness of sins'” (Mt.26:27-28).

Life is precious because it is vulnerable that is why God became human in Jesus Christ like us in everything except sin. Right after his birth, he faced the murderous threats of a king and now an adult, he offered himself freely to die on the Cross because he loved us so much so that we too may finally be able to love again like him as willed by God since the beginning.

Isaiah’s Song of the Suffering Servant in the first reading showed this contrast of Yahweh’s servant fulfilled in Christ Jesus of how he valued life so much, of bearing all pains and hurts because of love.

In his triumphal entry into Jerusalem up to his Passion and Death, Jesus showed us so many contrasts for us to see the bigger picture of life itself, of one another as brother and sister, of God who loves us so much. Take time to examine every contrast in life for God is surely in there, even sometimes in disguise. Amen. Have a blessed Holy Week ahead!

Lent is greeting, announcing Christ

40 Shades of Lent by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Wednesday, Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord, 25 March 2026
Isaiah 7:10-14, 8:10  +++  Hebrews 10:4-10  +++  Luke 1:26-38

*“Cestello Annunciation” by Botticelli painted in 1490; from en.wikipedia.org.*

A friend informed me last Monday of the death of a former classmate in elementary named Nilo; his brother Mar had sent me a message asking me if I could possibly celebrate Mass at his wake: “A long time ago we met in a Mass in our Barrio chapel when you approached us and greeted ‘kumusta, Nilo, classmate!’ And I never forgot that smile on his face after you acknowledged him. Nilo was so happy with your coming to him… we will greatly appreciate if you can celebrate Mass for him in his wake.”

I was so touched with the message and despite my toxic schedule this week, I promised to come today to offer a Mass for Nilo.

That’s why while praying over today’s Solemnity of the Annunciation, I realized how in every greeting we also bring Jesus Christ, of how we make him present in others too.

In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the house of David, and the virgin’s name was Mary. And coming of her, he said, “Hail, full of grace! Then Lord is with you.” (Luke 1:26-28)

*Photo by Ar. Philip Santiago, Annunciation Basilica in Nazareth, October 2025.*

The Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord often falls in Lent, adding more meaning in our inner journey into our hearts to meet Christ in this blessed season.

Notice how in our Sunday and daily readings we find God greeting us, inviting us to come to him to set things right in our lives (Is.1:18). Here is a God so loving, pointing out our sins but never judging us but actually believing in us that we could change and be converted to become better persons.

The past three weeks have been so tiring but fulfilling for me as a university chaplain giving recollection and hearing confession later in our various university campuses. First thing I tell every penitent is how God is so happy with us when we come to the sacrament of reconciliation because he has long been waiting for us. God rejoices because we finally welcome him in our lives!

Though it could be painful and shameful to confess our many sins, it is actually the sign of grace working in us too because the moment we change our sinful ways, then we grow! When we see our sins, our weaknesses and limitations as humans yet still forge on in life to become better persons, to achieve greater things for others, 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 those beautiful gospel stories we have heard the past three Sundays this Lent: the Samaritan woman, the healing of the man born blind, and the raising to life of Lazarus who had been dead for four days. In all these instances, it was Jesus Christ who came on his own to bring grace to everyone that everybody rejoiced.

Lent is the time to get real, to stop pretending. It is the time for us to finally admit our own limitations and weaknesses in order to create a space in our hearts and in our lives to let God fill us, to let God possess us. That is the purpose of the lenten practice of fasting.

Mary became the Mother of Jesus Christ not because of any special qualities in herself but simply because God is so good, so loving. Despite her fears and questions, she welcomed the angel Gabriel by saying “yes” to God’s plan of giving birth to the Messiah and Savior of mankind.

Can we be like Mary who said yes and allowed God’s power to “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 in asking for 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; he had doubted God already. Hence, Isaiah’s 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: God is with us” (Is.7:13-14; 8:10).

*Photo by cottonbro studio on Pexels.com*

How sad that in this modern time when we rely more with our science and technology, we have not only shut out God from our lives but we have even refused to welcome him in his coming to us, asking us to open ourselves anew to him and his powers and plans. We have not only become impersonal but worst, we seem to have chosen death more than life, darkness than light. Just check on the news going on everywhere and we see how heartless we have become.

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).

What a tragedy in our modern time when we are supposed to be more intelligent with so many inventions, more affluent with so many money, more real with everything being shown in social media, the more we are empty and lost. Our communications are all mass mediated, no more person to person that is warm, so filled with life that is vibrant and dynamic giving us so much reasons to believe, to love, to hope in life and the future.

The Solemnity of the Lord reminds us today of God’s coming among us like one of us in everything except sin. In Christ’s coming through the Blessed Virgin Mary, we are reminded how each one of us is a sign of God’s presence and coming. Every time we greet one another, every time we reach out to others in love and kindness, every time we are one with others especially the marginalized and neglected, we do the will of God (second reading) and become an Emmanuel, a God-is-with-us. Amen.

Lent is seeing the Light amid darkness

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

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.

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.

Lent is “leaving our water jar” for Christ

40 Shades of Lent by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Third Sunday in Lent, Cycle A, 08 March 2026
Exodus 17:3-7  +++  Romans 5:1-2, 5-8  +++  John 4:5-42

*Photo by author, an old well somewhere in the desert of Egypt, May 2019.*

We continue our lenten journey from the wilderness of temptations of Jesus to the high mountain of his transfiguration. As we have claimed since Ash Wednesday, life is a daily Lent, an inner journey that takes us into different directions that surprise us like this Sunday when Jesus entered an “enemy territory” and even spoke with a Samaritan woman!

It is a very long story but a lovely one with so many layers filled with inexhaustible meanings for us today.

Jesus came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of land thart Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there. Jesus, tired from his journey, sat down there at the well. It was about noon. A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” His disciples had gone into the town to buy food. the Samaritan woman said to him, “How can you, a Jew, ask me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?” (For Jews use nothing in common with Samaritans.) Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God and who is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him and he would have given you living water” (John 4:5-10).

*Jesus and Samaritan Woman, AI-illustration from stock.adobe.com.*

Imagine Jesus going into “enemy territory”. That’s how much Jesus loves us. He goes directly where we are most empty and dark, even tired and exhausted, lost and alienated, perhaps when we are deep into sin like that Samaritan woman who had to fetch water at noon to avoid the Marites, the gossipers speaking about her sixth husband.

It is very clear that what we have here is more than a geographical setting but a revelation of God’s immense love (and thirst) sending Jesus for us all especially the sinners and those neglected by the society, living in the margins like women and children, the poor and the elderly.

We are that Samaritan woman always hiding from everyone even from ourselves, hoping the decay and wounds within us can be hidden or simply be gone. And that is why like that Samaritan woman, we keep on going back to our “well” of comfort and false securities and affirmations to draw “water” that would quench our deeper longings and desire in the heart like mercy and forgiveness

Jesus knew the Samaritan woman was coming at that time. In engaging her into a conversation, the woman opened up and realized her deeper needs she had always been disregarding or setting aside for a long time, hoping there could be a perfect time to fix everything in her.

With Jesus, every day is a perfect day. He does not beat around the bush. He talks straight but never judgmental, calling a spade a spade. No need to soften the impact as we are wont in doing and saying. That is why our responsorial psalm today says it so well, “If today you hear the voice of the Lord, harden not your hearts.”

Let Jesus come into your heart. Don’t be afraid to speak openly. Complain like the Israelites in the wilderness in the first reading. Was it wrong? Not really. Like us, the Israelites complained to God not because we are mad at him but actually because we believe in him. We know he alone can do something to our situation and problem. He alone can quench our thirst not just for water but inner thirst.

*Photo by author, Third Week of Lent 2019, Parokya ni San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria, Bulacan.*

The woman left her water jar
and went into the town…
(John 4:28)

This is what the Samaritan woman realized in conversing with Jesus: more than the waters of pretensions and false affirmations of friends, the alibis and rationalizations we make, the noise we cover the truths within us, the well will eventually dry up until finally we have to confront and face our true selves in Christ right there in our hearts.

Why wait when we can do it now, this Lent?

Going back in the first reading, we see our situation: our inner longings that deep inside we cry out to God because we believe only him can hear us and satisfy us.

Have you realized this inverse proportionality with God? We come to God because we have nothing, convinced that only God can give what we need. God comes to us always especially when we foolishly believe we have everything that is actually nothing because he knows so well only him can fulfill us.

God knows this so well. As St. Paul tells us in the second reading, “For Christ, while we are still helpless, died at the appointed time for the ungodly. Indeed, only with difficulty does one die for a just person, though perhpas for a good person one might even find courage to die. But God proves his love for is in that while we were still sinner Christ died for us” (Rom.5:6-8).

This Sunday, we have come to celebrate this Eucharist believing only Jesus can fulfill our deepest longings in life. Let us leave our jars that hide our many pretensions and false securities, our doubts and dilly-dallying in life. Empty yourself in Jesus, let him fill you for he is the Living Water.

The water in the well invites us to confront our true selves – no alibis, no ifs nor buts. Be our true self to realize we are an empty jar. Which kind of water you wish to be filled with, of the world or of Christ? Have a blessed week and let us pray:

Lord Jesus Christ,
you have given me with a jar
filled with fresh,
living water
I have wasted for so long
to be filled with the
world's water of fame
and wealth and power;
You know everything about me,
Jesus: forgive me,
refresh me in your love
and mercy, 
in your words and
loving presence;
fill me with yourself
the only Living Water
that may flow and be
shared with others
so thirsty
and untidy
with sin.
Amen.

“It is good to be here” in Lent, Lord

40 Shades of Lent by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Second Sunday in Lent, Cycle A, 01 March 2026
Genesis 12:1-4 +++ 2 Timothy 1:8-10  +++ Matthew 17:1-9

*Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, March 2023.*

Despite the sweltering heat of summer, I have always loved the season of Lent when everything is subdued in liturgy – no Gloria nor Alleluia with the altar bare without flowers. It is during this season when we listen to a rich selection of readings from the Sacred Scriptures with music so solemn to guide us in our reflections and prayers to be converted and reconciled with God through one another especially those we have hurt or offended us.

That is why Lent is so beautiful because it is a call for transformation and transfiguration in Jesus Christ, when we are renewed as beloved children of God our Father. As we have reflected on Ash Wednesday, Lent is a coming home to God.

After six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them; his face shone like the sun and his clothes became white as light. And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, conversing with him. Then Peter said to Jesus in reply, “Lord, it is good that we are here. If you wish, I will make three tents here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah” (Matthew 17:1-4).

*Church of the Transfiguration, Mount Tabor in Israel; photo from wikimedia.org.*

Every second Sunday in Lent, we listen to the gospel account of Jesus Christ’s transfiguration at Mount Tabor that shows us the inseparability of the Cross and of the Resurrection, the tragedy of Good Friday and the glory of Easter Sunday.

Matthew, Mark and Luke shared the same event with minor variations in their respective account, agreeing on the basic details of the scene that happened on a high mountain six days after Jesus identified himself at Caesarea Philippi as the Christ or Messiah who shall suffer and die but rise again on the third day.

What I like most of the common details mentioned by the three evangelists in their accounts of the transfiguration were the words spoken by Peter to Jesus, “Lord, it is good that we are here.” So lovely.

*Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, March 2024.*

Many times we are like Peter who tell Jesus the same words “Lord, it is good that we are here” without really knowing what we are saying. And surprisingly, we often speak these words to Jesus during those moments when we feel him most incomprehensible – hindi maintindihan just like during that scene at the transfiguration.

We have been saying since Ash Wednesday that “life is Lent” – a daily journey to God’s loving presence within us and among us. Life is a daily ascent, of coming close to God that is never easy.

We all struggle in our prayer life because prayer is stripping ourselves naked before God, confronting our true selves. That’s difficult but transformative, making us grow to become better persons.

So many of us could not even keep up with the Sunday Mass, God’s third commandment, “Remember to keep holy the Sabbath day.”

But, thanks be to God that there are moments of prayers and during the celebration of sacraments when we feel so high in the Lord’s presence we could not understand nor explain yet, feel so good to be there.

There were times when we truly heard Jesus telling us, teaching us how to overcome great temptations and trials in life that after being spared from all the troubles and sins, we felt so good to be there with the Lord.

Or, how can we forget those times we faced the most severe difficulties we have had in life when we have lost a loved one, or we have experienced defeat and failure, painful sufferings like sickness or betrayal when we felt so down, so empty and depleted but also felt the gentle touch of Jesus through the kindness of some strangers or faithful friends, inspiring us to rise and be not afraid to start anew in life, convinced that it is good to be there in the Lord.

Recall those times when it was the face of Jesus we saw on those familiar people or even strangers who shared with us the warmth of being welcomed, of being loved, of being forgiven that made us feel so good to be with the Lord.

Our most difficult moments, our most trying times are when we get better, when we mature and grow, when we are transformed in Jesus Christ. Many times, we hardly understand what is going on except that we believe and hold on to Jesus our Lord despite the many temptations that come our way to follow the ways of the world. But, experience have shown us that doing that is not good at all.

As we have reflected last Sunday, life is a Lent, a wilderness with so many voices competing for our attention. Many times we listen more to the voice of the devil that lure us into taking shortcuts and instant routes than follow the word of God that tells us to wait and persevere.

This Sunday, Matthew intensifies that call to us to listen to God’s call and voice when during the transfiguration a voice was heard saying, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him” (17:5).

After the transfiguration of Jesus, everything he shall be telling us is to forget ourselves, take up our cross and follow him.

St. Paul insists this to Timothy in our second reading today, to “bear our share of hardship for the gospel with the strength that comes from God” (2Tim.1:8). Likewise, the story of the call of Abram in the first reading reminds us of our same call from the same God to leave our comfort zones to a life of blessedness, of holiness.

It is always good to be with the Lord; and wherever he is, there we must always be (Jn.12:26). Jesus is always where there is love and kindness, mercy and justice, poverty and emptiness. Even death and darkness for that is when and where we are transformed and transfigured in Christ. That is why it is good that we are with him always. Let us pray:

Lord Jesus, there are so many things I do not understand in this life, especially when I have to be silent to be with you in prayer, to forget myself and carry my cross and follow you in the path of simplicity, kindness and service; but, one thing though is clear: it is when I am with you, even when I could not see clearly everything, that is when I feel peace and fulfillment within, when I feel so good to be here with you. Let me ramain in you, Jesus. Amen.

*Church of the Transfiguration, Mount Tabor, Holy Land; from custodia.org.*

Lent is listening, trusting God

40 Shades of Lent by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
First Sunday in Lent-A, 22 February 2026
Genesis 2:7-9, 3:1-7   +   Romans 5:12-19   +   Matthew 4:1-11

We now live in a world so noisy with many voices competing for our attention. Everybody is talking including cars and elevators, phones and gadgets and apps with names Siri and Alexa. So often, it is from these competing voices come our temptations in life, too.

In his first Lenten Message, Pope Leo XIV invites us to listen more to the word of God in order to be converted anew to Him. He said it so well that “The willingness to listen is the first way we demonstrate our desire to enter into a relationship with someone.”

Very true! And the question this first Sunday in Lent asks us is, whose voice do I follow? Because the voice we listen most is likely the one we prefer or love most – in fact, it could be the voice of the one we keep a relationship with!

That is the tragic truth of the story of the fall of Adam and Eve in the first reading today – they listened more to the voice of the devil signified by the serpent than to God who warned them not to eat the forbidden fruit.

And that continues to happen every day in our lives! That is why to sin is not merely to turn away from God but actually a refusal to love because sin is rejecting a relationship with God to whom we must listen to. This we see today in Matthew’s version of the temptations of Christ in the desert.

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 by bread alone, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:1-4).

*Detail of “The Temptation of Jesus According to St. Matthew” on the wall of St. Mark’s Cathedral in Venice, Italy. Photo from psephizo.com.*

Right at the start, Jesus made it clear by quoting the Sacred Scriptures, the word of God, that “One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.”

Jesus, the Word who became flesh to live among us tells us clearly today that same truth. God’s word is life when He created everything by just speaking. Any voice that leads to destruction is from the devil, the father of fake news. And the devil’s biggest lie we must always avoid is making and having things easily. See how until now every fake news is always about “instants” like instant food and health, instant solution to everything without realizing its sinful effects as well as side effects that may actually harm us more.

Listening is an art because it teaches us to be patient, to wait and most of all, to persevere which leads us to perfection and excellence. Haste always makes waste. When we listen, we become patient, choosing to wait than take shortcuts or get instants that avoid difficulties and hardships like gambling to be wealthy without working, or cheating to pass exams without learning as well as freedom without responsibilities.

Then the devil took him to the holy city, and made him stand on then 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 is 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).

*Photo by author, Domiican Hills, Baguio City, January 2019.*

More than an art, listening is a virtue because it demands silence which is a fullness wherein we are able to listen and distinguish every voice and sound so that we may choose which to listen to and follow.

The word “listen” is the palindrome of “silent” – we listen best in silence to hear God, others and our very selves.

When we learn to be silent, we also become more trusting because when we trust, we speak less and listen more. The most silent people are the also the most trusting. When we trust, we wait and avoid shortcuts and instants.

The voice of God stirs our inner self, not just our senses because His voice leads us to deeper realities and meanings in life. Remember that Jesus eventually fed more than five thousand people from just five loaves of bread and two pieces of fish when He saw them already prepared inside their hearts and soul; when Jesus felt them more open to God than to the world, then He gave them bread and fish for their stomach.

Notice how the devil’s temptation to Jesus continues among us with those voices calling us to overly assert ourselves, to be influencers and clout chasers or content creators to be praised and followed by everyone when actually is all about wealth and money, and of course, power. It is the voice of control and manipulation. How sad that many of us gobble their lies completely, consuming everything, filling ourselves even with trash.

The voice of God calls us to sacrifice, to bear pains and sufferings not to be overburdened in life but for us to see God especially among those mostly in need like the poor and marginalized. Often, the voice of God is the softest and tiniest in our hearts calling us to simply trust Him by doing the simplest things like smiling to strangers, easing the pain of those lonely and sad, giving bread to the poor and hungry. Listening to the silence of God enables us to trust Him more that we learn to share and forget ourselves. Then, we grow and mature truly as persons.

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 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.” Then the devil left him and, behold, angels came and ministered to him (Matthew 4:8-11).

Again, we go back to Pope Leo XIV’s Lenten Message about listening as “the first way we demonstrate our desire to enter into a relationship with someone.”

Don’t you feel sad at the sight of today’s everyday life where everyone has something in their ears, whether the tiny earpods or the headset/headphone?

What used to be insane like talking by one’s self has now become a status symbol as everyone looks crazy speaking by themselves through modern devices amid a crowd while walking or seated anywhere conversing to somebody at the other end of their lines unmindful, oblivious of the persons around them. May sariling mundo.

Many these days have created their own worlds and universe with them at its center through our new Baal, the cellphone – the very first thing everyone is looking for after waking up and the last thing in everyone’s hand before sleeping. How sad many among us today practically live in social media. What is most tragic is that all these modern means of communications were invented to bring us closer together when in fact, the more we have grown apart from each others! We are not only polarized as people but even separated from God.

The third temptation of the devil to Jesus continues with us today with all those voices telling us to forget God and morality and truth so that we become popular by being viral and trending. It is the biggest scam and fake news of all by the devil – of us being the “master” to rule and have world with all of its luxuries and power. The voice seems harmless, as if asserting our true selves but actually destroys our being and relationships with God, with others and eventually with our very selves.

Lent is an inside journey into our hearts, of finding Jesus anew inside our hearts where He dwells. St. Paul tells us in the second reading how Jesus brought us back to God, to grace and salvation.

Lord Jesus Christ, help us not to harden our hearts today so that we may listen anew to Your voice within us to find our way back to God, to peace and to fulfillment in ourselves and in one another. Amen. Have a blessed week ahead!

*Photo by author, Carmel of the Holy Family Monastery, Guiguinto, Bulacan, 22 January 2026.*

Integrity is living faith in Christ

Lord My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle A, 15 February 2026
Sirach 15:15-20 ><}}}}*> 1 Corinthians 2:6-10 ><}}}}*> Matthew 5:17-37

It is a day after Valentine’s, also the final Sunday before we take a long break from Ordinary Time to start the 40 days of Lent this Ash Wednesday leading us to Easter that lasts until the month of May. It is so lovely and timely that we hear Jesus teaching us this Sunday to examine our hearts always so that we can live our faith in him daily, of remaining blessed in his beatitudes.

We are still at the sermon on the mount with Jesus giving us a series of general teachings illustrated in some concrete examples. However, keep in mind these are not new teachings as Jesus himself clarified he had come not to abolish but to fulfill the laws. In the light of the Beatitudes he taught us the other Sunday, Jesus is now directing us to look deeper into our hearts, to make it whole again in him and stay blessed unlike the scribes and the Pharisees.

Jesus said to his disciples: “I tell you, unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter into the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:20).

This is not the first time we have heard the word “righteousness” in Matthew who used it to describe Joseph in his Christmas story as “a righteous man” (Mt.1:19).

Being righteous for the Jews is being holy which is obeying and living by the laws and commandments of God. Unfortunately, they got centered with the letters of the laws as insisted by their scribes and Pharisees. When Jesus came, they have forgotten God himself as well as the value of the human person and life itself for which the laws were meant to be. Matthew rectified this at the start of his gospel with the story of the annunciation of Christ’s birth to Joseph who obeyed God’s command expressed in his love for Mary whom he took as his wife then pregnant with the Savior he named as “Jesus”.

Righteousness or holiness is not being sinless but being filled with God, living our faith in Christ by witnessing his gospel. From the Greek word holos that means “whole” not broken, holiness in a sense is what we call as integrity.

Holiness, righteousness, and integrity all begin in the heart that we find expressed in the sixth Beatitude taught by Jesus two Sundays ago, “Blessed are the clean of heart, for they will see God” (Mt.5:8).

*Photo by Designecologist on Pexels.com*

A clean heart is a loving heart. We can only see God and the other persons with a loving heart. The human intellect cannot know most especially God as St. Paul tells us in the second reading.

In the same manner, we know the other person not with the intellect but always with the heart as the Little Prince said, “What is essential is invisible to the eye; it is only with the heart that one can truly see” while Marvin Gaye expressed it so beautifully in his 1971 hit “What’s Going On” with the lines “we have to put some lovin’ here today” so we can understand each other.

Indeed, the heart is the very center or core of every person because everything flows from the heart. And this is what Jesus himself underscores in his three admonitions against anger, lust, and falsehoods this Sunday. In all three teachings, we find how love is severely damaged when we quarrel against each other, when we take everyone as things and objects to be used, and when we lack the sincerity in our words.

“You have heard that it was said to your ancestors, You shall not kill; whoever kills will be liable to judgment. But I say to you, whoever is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment, and whoever says to his brother ‘Raqa,’ will be answerable to the Sanhedrin, and whoever says, ‘You fool,’ will be liable to fiery Gehenna”(Mt.5:21-22).

First thing we notice in these three teachings is its construction where Jesus first mentioned what was said by the ancestors in the phrase “You have heard” immediately followed by his own take, “But, I say to you.”

Again, Jesus is not contradicting the laws given by Moses and elaborated by their elders; Jesus was actually expressing its fullness in him found in love that begins in the heart which St. Paul reiterated in his letters that love is the perfection of the laws and commandments of God.

Whenever we quarrel in words or in deeds, we not only break our ties with each other as brothers and sisters but even with God we call “our Father”. Remember, love of God is love of one another. And the sad part of this reality is our being cut off from God even if we don’t admit it. And even if we know we have nothing against anyone, we surely feel the break-up in our selves due to the lack of love and charity, most of all, of peace. That is why Jesus added that when in our worship we realize a brother or sister has anything against us, we must first reconcile with him or her. That is why before the Holy Communion, we give the greeting of peace with one another who represents the person we are at odds with. The responsibility becomes more pronounced if the person is in the same assembly we are in if we really want to have a meaningful and holy communion.

“You have heard that it was said, You shall not commit adultery. But I say to you, everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Mt.5:27-28).

Here we go again with the issues of marital infidelity as well as of divorce: at the very core of this is the equality of every person, of every man and woman as being created in the image and likeness of God with same equal dignity. Jesus reminds us today that there is no difference between man and woman when it comes to marriage because the same duties of fidelity bind each partner. Most of all, Jesus has consistently taught how we must go beyond the Laws when it comes to marriage because every spouse is an image of himself, of his saving grace. Hence, we must reject every temptation and inappropriate words and actions that may destroy unity and love of couples and even in our other relationships as family and friends.

*Photo by author, Makati City, 09 February 2026.*

“Again you have heard that it was said to your ancestors, Do not take a false oath, but make good to the Lord all that you vow. But I say to you, do not swear at all. Let your ‘Yes’ mean ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No’ mean ‘No.” Anything more is from the evil one” (Mt.5:33-34).

This last admonition is perhaps most needed these days when we are bombarded with too much fake news as well as our own words are empty. Shakespeare said it so well in Hamlet, “words, words, words” wherein we think and believe that the more we increase our words, the more it becomes true and meaningful.

Of course, it it totally untrue as Jesus reminded us today to be truthful always. In Genesis, we are told in the story of creation how God shared only this power of words, of language with humans alone. Our ability to speak is a sharing in God’s power that demands responsibilities (Spiderman). Hence in the first reading, Ben Sirach reminds us to be responsible in choosing good than evil like in choosing between “fire and water”, “life and death”. Ben Sirach’s short reminders are very timely in this age of social media where “influencers” choose for us not only the candidates to elect but even the food to eat and clothes to wear. Being free is to decide, to choose knowingly what is good.

This Sunday, Jesus invites us to look into our hearts, to cleanse it of evil and sins so that he may dwell and reign completely in our hearts so we can have integrity and remain blessed and holy in him. Amen. Have a blessed week ahead, everyone!