Our song, our music – our self

Lord My Chef Simbang Gabi Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Monday, Simbang Gabi-VII, 22 December 2025
1 Samuel 1:24-28     <*((((><  +  ><))))*>     Luke 1:46-56

*Photo by author, Church of Visitation, Ein-Karem, Israel, 2017.*

One of the most beautiful and touching sites in the Holy Land I have always loved is the Church of the Visitation at Ein-Karem outside Jerusalem where Mary visited her cousin Elizabeth.

It sits atop of a hill and there’s no other way to get there except by foot due to the narrow road but, it is worth all the effort for anyone going up there with the beautiful scenes all the way with cool breeze soothing your face and lovely flowers delighting your eyes and senses. It somehow gives every pilgrim a taste of the great love and joy of Mary pregnant with out Lord Jesus Christ visiting her cousin Elizabeth on the sixth month of her pregnancy with John the Baptist.

*Photo by Ar. Philip Santiago, Church of Visitation, the Holy Land, October 2025.*

Perhaps we could say the Visitation was the first Christmas party in history as Luke tells us today how Mary rejoiced in God singing the Magnificat after Elizabeth praised her:

“My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord, my spirit rejoices in God my savior. For he has looked upon his lowly servant. From this day, all generations will call me blessed: the Almighty has done great things for me, and holy is his Name. He has mercy on those who fear him in every generation. He has shown the strength of his arm, and has scattered the proud in their conceit. He has cast down the mighty from their thrones and has lifted up the lowly. He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty. He has come to the help of servant Israel, for he has remembered his promise of mercy, the promise he made to our fathers, to Abraham and to his children forever” (Luke 1:46-55).

Aside from this beautiful bronze statues of Mary and Elizabeth at the patio of the Church of the Visitation are the translations of the Magnificat in different languages, including in our very own Filipino which is one of the most popular songs we often sing in our Masses.

But, do we really realize the meaning of this song of Mary?

Actually, the Magnificat was composed by Luke that he placed on the lips of Mama Mary. It is part of his artistry, of putting songs on the lips of some of his Christmas characters like Zechariah after John’s circumcision (the Benedictus) and later on Simeon (Nunc Dimittis) at the Presentation of Jesus in the temple.

Why? Because singing, like dancing, is the highest expression of our feelings to the one we love. Mothers sing lullabies to their infants, suitors compose and sing songs to their beloved, and we Filipinos sing and dance in whatever mood we are wherever we may be! There is always music in us from the simple gesture of washing the dishes, ironing of clothes to driving and taking a shower. When we sing and dance, we not only show what’s inside us but most of all who we are!

In singing the Magnificat which St. Luke patterned after a similar song by Hannah at the birth of her son the Prophet Samuel who’s story we heard in the first reading, Mother Mary expressed her joy and gratitude in the nearness of God among us not only with the coming birth of her Son Jesus Christ but also through her!

The late Fr. Raymond Brown, one of the great biblical scholars of our time noted in his classic “Birth of the Messiah” that Mary as the first Christian is teaching us in her Magnificat the essential task of every disciple of the Lord which is, after hearing the word of God and accepting it, we must share it with others, not by simply repeating it but by interpreting it so that people can see it truly as the good news.

Here we wish to mention something we have read recently about singing and dancing that the best singer or best dancer is one who can listen or hear – and fill the silent gaps in every piece of music. That’s amazing because singing and dancing are not about having super beautiful voice or precise steps. Singing and dancing are more of attitude, of claiming and owning a piece of music as yours. That’s why it is called an interpretation or as young people these days refer to as “cover”.

As we have mentioned earlier, one of the most popular Mass songs in the country is Mary’s Magnificat called Ang Puso Ko’y Nagpupuri but does it reflect our spirituality as a Christian nation?

Have you noticed how this 2025 that we heard so little of Mr. Jose Mari Chan his Christmas in Our Hearts?

I feel sorry for Mr. Chan when suddenly this 2025 he is more heard and seen in the McDonald’s commercial shouting “George!” to a fellow senior citizen. We as a nation momentarily forgot about Mr. Chan’s classic line “whenever I see girls and boys selling lanterns” because we as a nation is so disgusted with the ghost project scams of flood controls. We could not even emphatize with the family of the former Undesecretary of DPWH who had died of an apparent suicide because of the “breadth and depth and height” of their corruption running into trillions of pesos. They have cheated on us big time and we really wonder why the big “congtractors” and senators are not yet in jail?

But God has been so good to us this Christmas that we can all sing with conviction the Magnificat for indeed, “the Almighty has done great things for us” like putting into jail in a far away land the former president who called God as stupid not once nor twice but multiple times on television. That is aside from ordering the bloodiest anti-drug campaign he shamelessly likened to Hitler’s Holocaust of Jews in World War II.

The Lord invites us to make this 2025 as the last Christmas we allow corrupt and inept people get elected, that we finally put an end to political dynasty, and stop the stupidity and callousness of people in government who set a budget of 500pesos for people to enjoy noche buena.

This Christmas let us sing like Mary, as faithful disciple of Christ, sharing Jesus, always Jesus and only Jesus in singing the Magnificat in our daily witnessing to the Gospel, making Jesus come in our life of loving service to everyone especially those in need. Let us actively cooperate with Jesus like Mary his Mother to make these lines a living reality in our midst – “he has mercy on those who fear him in every generation, showing the strength of his arm by scattering the proud in their conceit, casting down the mighty from their thrones, lifting up the lowly, filling the hungry with good things, sending the rich away empty, coming to the help of Israel, for he has remembered his promise of mercy”.

More than a song and hymn, the Magnificat reveals us as the signs of the Christ, the Emmanuel, God-is-with-us! Amen. A blessed week ahead of everyone!

Advent is God encouraging us

Lord My Chef Simbang Gabi Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Fourth Sunday in Advent-A, Simbang Gabi-5&6, 21 December 2025
Isaiah 7:10-14 ><}}}}*> Romans 1:1-7 ><}}}}*> Matthew 1:18-24

*Photo by author, moon over Istanbul, Turkiye, 02 November 2025.*

We shared last month in our blog a Filipino movie called Gaano Kadalas ang Minsan? as jumping board of our reflection of the readings of the day (https://lordmychef.com/2025/11/18/gaano-kadalas-ang-minsan/).

Allow me on this final Sunday of Advent and fifth day of our Simbang Gabi to begin my reflection with a another Filipino movie released in 1983, Nagalit ang Buwan sa Haba ng Gabi starring Dindo Fernando with Laurice Guillen who played the role as his wife in the Flor de Luna TV series in the 80’s.

Don’t worry… I know something about this movie because I have seen it being the operator of the Betamax player when my mother watched it. And if I remember it right, Laurice had “lent” her husband Dindo to another woman as his mistress; it was an extra-marital affair “with consent”. Basta. When things were already getting offhand as Dindo had a near-fatal heart attack due to over-fatigue in his work and life, Laurice reminded him to finally decide to stop his affair because “kahit buwan magagalit sa haba ng gabi.” (That’s how poetic our movies and music!)

That catchy movie title came as I prayed today’s first reading and gospel that mentioned Isaiah’s prophecy of the coming of the Messiah to be called Emmanuel – emanu ‘Elohim – which means in Hebrew God-is-with-us.

The Lord spoke to Ahaz, saying: Ask for a sign from the Lord, your God; let it be deep as the netherworld, or high as the sky!” But Ahaz answered, “I will not ask! I will not tempt the Lord!” Then Isaiah said: “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” (Isaiah 7:10-14).

Ahaz was one of the notoriously evil Kings of Judah who revived the barbarous custom of human sacrifice as he followed other idolatrous practices of their neighboring pagans especially the Assyrians.

When the king of Syria was threatening and later attacked Jerusalem, God told Ahaz through Isaiah to trust in Him alone for He shall save the Jewish people, explicitly warning him against entering into any alliances with Judah’s pagan neighbors. But Ahaz disregarded all these as he secretly entered into military alliances with his pagan neighbors in the belief they could defend Judah against the threat of Syria.

To prove His fidelity and truthfulness in His promise of protecting Judah, God asked Ahaz to ask for any sign from Him; the king declined, pretending he did not want to test God when in fact He knew already of his secret alliances with Judah’s pagan neighboring countries. That was when Isaiah declared in exasperation, “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.” That’s how I likened Isaiah to Laurice Guillen, complaining to the stubborn King Ahaz, as if warning him “baka magalit ang buwan sa haba ng gabi.”

View of a decorated Christmas tree and tower of the Franciscan Monastery of St Saviour locally also known as San Salvador monastery in the Christian Quarter Old city East Jerusalem

How sad when we are like King Ahaz with God who always encourages us to come to Him, to be intimate with Him, to trust Him, even encouraging us to ask Him for signs just to prove that He loves us so much.

What a shame when we pretend like Ahaz of not testing God as if we are faithful to Him when in fact we have already made up our mind or had made a decision on something as we totally disregard God’s suggestions and instructions! Worst of all, we are so convinced in ourselves that God does not know at all of what is really in our hearts!

Let us be honest: oftentimes, we reject God’s offer of signs and His encouragements not because we love and respect Him but simply we doubt Him. Like Ahaz, we believe more in ourselves or in the prevailing way of thinking of most people we find in social media or what ever science tells us especially these days of modern technologies.

And what happens next? We fail. It is while amid our guilt feelings and sorrow that we realize later how through our family and friends and the church that God was right after all. If only we have been more sincere, more open and had the courage to change our mind and decisions…

But, despite all these, the good news is that God remains with us, still loving us, forgiving us, and most of all giving us another chance to make better. Like with King Ahaz despite his rejection of God and His plans, we too are given with the sign of Jesus Christ who had come and continues to come to encourage us to keep on following Him despite our weaknesses and failures.

*Francisco Goya’s painting, “Dream of St. Joseph” (El Sueno de San Jose) done in 1772; from en.wikimedia.org.*

Here we find the great sign of Joseph, the righteous man who completely trusted God.

Like Mary, Joseph was encouraged by God to change his mind and decision, to trust Him completely to fulfill the prophecy of Jesus, the greatest of all signs.

Such was his intention when, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home. For it is through the Holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her”… All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel, which means “God is with us.” When Joseph awoke, he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took his wife into his home (Matthew 1:20, 22-24).

*Photo by Ar. Philip Santiago, Church of St. Joseph, Nazareth, Israel, October 2025.*

Each one of us is like Joseph, a sign of God’s presence, of God-with-us especially when life is dark and difficult, when others are confused with all the cacophonous sounds of the world centered on ego and materialism.

Every prophecy of God is fulfilled through a combination of active cooperation of man with the Divine plan which is what St. Paul is reminding us in the second reading. We are all “called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God” (Rom. 1:1) who is Jesus Christ.

We are all weak like St. Paul or King Ahaz or even Joseph who did not know the whole story before of Mary’s pregnancy; by being open to God’s encouragement, to the many signs He sends us, what we must consider is not our weaknesses nor insignificance in the world but the power and reality of Jesus “established as Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness through the resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom.1:4).

*Photo by author, “St. Joseph Protector of the Child Jesus”, 2024.*

Advent and Christmas happen when despite all odds especially with what other people are saying or conventional wisdom tells us, we still follow that little voice of encouragement of God from the innermost part of our hearts.

Like Joseph, it was not superstition that he obeyed God’s instructions through an Angel in his dream when he awoke. It was his deep and matured faith in God that made him decide to change his mind, to take that deep plunge of faith in God. In taking Mary as his wife, Joseph expressed his great love for God so that in taking Mary, Christ came into the world.

This final Sunday in Advent as we approach Christmas Day, we are encouraged to trust God completely by making Jesus truly present first in us and then with others. God is merciful and forgiving, always encouraging us to come back to Him, to obey Him, to be like Him. But remember too, long dark nights end that we might get caught off guard of Christ’s coming. Baka magalit din sa atin ang buwan sa haba ng gabi. Amen. Have a blessed and meaningful Christmas!

Our living family tree

Lord My Chef Simbang Gabi Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Wednesday, Simbang Gabi-II, 17 December 2025
Genesis 49:2, 8-10     <*[[[[><  +  ><]]]]*>     Matthew 1:1-17

Next to the Belen and the Parol, the Christmas Tree stands out as the third leading sign of Christmas especially in our country. Though it was first introduced by the German Lutherans in the 16th century, we Catholics have adopted it too with the Vatican having a giant Christmas Tree every year lighted at St. Peter’s Square in Rome.

The Christmas Tree invites us to remember Jesus who was born in Bethlehem is the true Tree of Life, as it “depicted the tree of paradise and the Christmas light or candle which symbolized Christ, the Light of the world” (Book of Blessings, page 443). Remember also that since ancient time especially among the Anglo-Saxons, trees symbolize our relationships as family and kin that is why we have “family trees” that trace our roots.

And that is what a genealogy is all about.

Matthew along with John opened his gospel account with the origin of Jesus; both felt the need to present right away to their specific audience where the Christ came from. John traced it to eternity as the Word (Logos) while Matthew whose followers were mostly Jewish converts to Christianity presented Jesus as the fulfillment of God’s promise in the Old Testament through their two main personalities, Abraham and David.

The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Abraham became the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers. Judah became the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar (Matthew 1:1-3).

Every year we hear this gospel proclaimed on December 17 which is also the start of the second and final phase of Advent when all our readings and prayers direct our attention to the first Christmas that happened more than 2000 years ago.

For Matthew, it all started with God’s promises to Abraham, the father of all nations and to David, the greatest King of Israel whose royal lineage made the Christ a King, in fact the King of Kings. What is most interesting in Matthew’s genealogy is the fact that with each of those names that sound so funny for many of us today was a true person just like us – so human and so imperfect, even sinful except the Blessed Virgin Mary. Matthew did not sanitize nor photoshop the personalities in the Lord’s genealogy because that is the Good News: it is good to be human that is why the Son of God became one of us in everything as a human being except sin.

This year, I wish to reflect on just one person, Judah.

Jacob called his sons and said to them: “Assemble and listen, sons of Jacob, listen to Israel, your father. You, Judah, shall your brothers praise – your hand on the neck of your enemies; the sons of your father shall bow down to you. Judah, like a lion’s whelp, you have grown up on prey, my son… The scepter shall never depart from Judah, or the maqce from between his legs, while tribute is brought to him, and he receives the people’s homage” (Genesis 49:2, 8-9, 10).

This is the second Christmas me and my siblings are celebrating without both our parents. Our mother died May 2024. Though it was so heavy and difficult for us, everything moved so fast that year. So unlike this 2025.

We never get used to deaths in the family; the pain becomes most painful as we move through the years especially during Christmas as if our Belen would never be complete without a St. Joseph and a Mama Mary. Of course, Christmas and life itself is all about Jesus Christ but it is a different reality and story celebrating this most joyful season without parents. Especially for a priest like me. (No drama intended.)

That is why I felt so drawn in my prayers to Judah in Matthew’s genealogy as one of the great, great, great grandfather of Jesus Christ.

In the first reading, we have Jacob nearing death while they were all in Egypt courtesy of his eleventh son Joseph who rose to power after being sold there by his brothers. Though my mother never gave such speeches when she was nearing death, all her life she used to tell us similar things when we were growing up, of how after she and dad would be gone that I must look after my two sisters and only brother, that we would not quarrel and be loving one another always. I think such habilin as we say in Filipino is common among us Pinoys along with the usual passing on or entrusting of family and properties to the eldet, either the kuya or ate.

But that’s not the case in our first reading because Judah was not the eldest of Jacob’s children with her first wife Leah. Judah was their fourth son with three elder brothers – Reuben, Simeon and Levi with a sister named Dinah. Judah also had six half-brothers from their father’s concubines or later wives: Dan, Napthali, Gad, Asher, Joseph, and Benjamin.

*Rembrandt’s 1660 painting of “Judah and Tamar” via en.wikimedia.org*

Why was Judah the one anointed by Jacob to lead his family and not the elder sons as it is the norm among Jewish and even Filipino families?

This is where the story gets most interesting: Judah’s Kuya Reuben fell from grace because he had sex with their father’s concubine Bilha whose sons were Dan and Napthali while his Diko Simeon and Sangko Levi were disqualified from leading the family after their bloody revenge for the rape of their sister Dinah.

However, that does not mean Judah was clean and honorable at all!

Matthew told us in his genealogy of Jesus that Judah’s sons Perez and Zerah (twins) were born through Tamar who was actually the wife of Judah’s eldest son Er who died without having any son. As per Jewish tradition, Judah’s second son Onan married Tamar but refused to have a son with her that he “spilled his seed” to the ground – that is, he masturbated! It angered God that he took Onan (that is why masturbation is sinful and also known as “onanism” from Onan).

After losing his two sons because of Tamar, Judah refused to give his third and youngest son Shelah to marry her. So, Tamar devised the plan of pretending a prostitute, luring Judah into bed and have her pregnant with the twins Perez and Zerah. Read Genesis 38 for the full story!

Of Jacob’s sons, Joseph was the most eligible to lead and continue Jacob’s family lineage and not Judah had no credentials at all to speak of as a great man leading his brothers, eventually becoming the father of the Jewish nation from whose name came the word “Judaism”.

*“Patriarch Judah”, a Russian Orthodox painting in 1654 from en.wikipedia.org.*

Remember too that Judah was totally silent and timid unlike Reuben when his elder brothers planned of killing Joseph because of jealousy; it was him, however, who thought of selling Joseph into slavery to Egypt to make some money.

Judah’s only saving grace came after more than twenty years when Joseph was already a powerful man in Egypt demanded to have Jacob’s youngest son Benjamin as his slave in exchange for them to purchase foodstuff during the famine (Gen. 42). Judah pleaded for Benjamin’s life that Joseph finally revealed himself as their lost brother after he could no longer contain his tears and joy in being reunited with his brothers anew.

Despite all these shady past of Judah, God chose him to continue the family lineage of his father Jacob from whom the Messiah, Jesus came.

Like Judah, we are not the perfect son or daughter, brother or sister in the family.

Like Judah, we are not most qualified for being the favored one or anointed one in the family or in the organization. There is always somebody better than us.

But God’s works in mysterious ways, in ways so different from our own ways. As the saying goes, God does not call the qualified but qualifies his calls. Likewise, God writes straight in crooked lines.

The Simbang Gabi invites us not only to look forward to the birth of the Messiah; in these nine days of prayers and reflections, we also look back to our past to face and embrace, admit and own those shades of darkness in our lives.

Matthew’s genealogy reminds us today that this family tree of faith in Jesus extends down the generations and includes us today. Feel and experience, most of all, celebrate that joy of belonging to God’s living family tree where every branch, every member is loved and cared for. God believes in us that he entrusted to us his Son Jesus Christ. That’s Christmas – God becoming human, infant and weak like us, entrusting himself to our care and love and protection.

This Simbang Gabi, let us remember our family members and other persons who made us feel belonging in this living family tree of Jesus. Let us also pray for those lost family members and friends that Jesus wants us to draw near to his living family tree with our friendship and warmth, forgiveness and acceptance. As you light your Christmas tree tonight, do not forget to share the light and warmth of Jesus Christ, our Tree of Life. Amen. Have a blessed Wednesday!

Be the light of Christ

Lord My Chef Simbang Gabi Recipe by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Simbang Gabi-1, 16 December 2025
Isaiah 56:1-3, 6-8     <*((((><  +  ><))))*>     John 5:33-36

2025 is a very difficult year for us Filipinos. It is mixture of many bad news with some good news coming out from them like the deeply entrenched problem of corruption in government. Actually, we knew it already long before but the recent uncovering and revelations from the ghost project scam not only confirmed our suspicions but disturbed us so much of its extent and astronomical proportions.

Napaka-sama at napaka-walang-hiya nilang lahat na natiis maghirap tayong lahat habang sila ay nagpasasa sa kayamanang nakaw. A friend told me one morning she felt not like going to work anymore, kasi siya daw magpapagod sa pagtatrabaho habang yung nasa gobyerno magnanakaw lang tapos mas mayaman pa?!

True. And that is what I am worried at this time: when many of us start losing the zest and drive to work harder for a better tomorrow in our pitiable country. Almost everybody feels like moving out of our country to work somewhere else to find more meaning in their lives.

This Simbang Gabi, let us offer prayers for each of one to never lose that spark, of being a light leading others to Christ our true Light especially those who have lost light or about to give up and simply resigned to the widespread darkness enveloping our nation at this time.

Jesus told the crowd, “He (John) was a burning and shining lamp, and for a while you were content to rejoice in his light. But I have testimony greater than John’s. The works that the Father gave me to accomplish, these works that I perform testify on my behalf that the Father has sent me” (John 5:35-36).

Next to the Nativity scene or Belen, Christmas in our country is often symbolized by the parol or lantern. From our churches to our homes, to malls and highways, the parol delights and reminds us of Jesus Christ, our true Light and only Star to follow in life.

More than to symbolize the Star of Bethlehem that guided the Magis to the newborn Christ, the parol literally used to guide early Filipinos on their way to the church for their Simbang Gabi during the Spanish period.

The parol is not the light itself itself but simply the carrier of that light which comes from a lamp inside. That is what Jesus is telling us today: John was like a parol who illumined the path of many people of his time to prepare them to meet him, the Christ, the Light himself.

The problem with us Filipinos is our ningas cogon mentality which had Jesus hinting too when he spoke of the light of John: like the cogon grass, we are easily ignited and drawn to various efforts but immediately die down without pursuing and sustaining the more essential things like reforming our lives by finding and following Jesus Christ our true Light.

Notice that Jesus was born at this time considered when the darkest nights happen. Science explains it according to the tilting position of earth but spiritually, Christmas reminds us of God’s immense love and care for each of us that he sent us his Son Jesus as our Savior in our darkest moments in life.

Finding and following Jesus Christ our Light is a long and tiring journey often in the darkness of our sins and failures, weaknesses and hurts, doubts and fears. The more we use light and follow the Light of Christ, the more we see and realize our unworthiness and sinfulness that often lead us to stop following Jesus. But that is the way in having the light of Christ – the more we see things clearer, the more we become better because we learn more of the things we must work on and change in ourselves as God told Isaiah in the first reading today.

Thus says the Lord: Observe what is right, do what is just; for my salvation is about to come, my justice, about to be revealed. Happy is the man who does this, the son of man who holds to it; who keeps the sabbath free from profanation, and his nhand from evildoing (Isaiah 56:1-2).

Two weeks ago, an English lay preacher and blogger I follow published anew one of her old reflections about their porch light.

Their two daughters have gone to party in the city with some friends. She and her husband thought their daughters would either stay overnight in the city or take the late bus trip that night. With that in mind, her husband thought it best to leave their light on at their porch but she felt otherwise and turned the light off just before bedtime. It surprised her husband – and herself too that the following morning during prayer she wrote:

Jesus reminded me that we (His followers) are the light of the world.

We carry the light of Christ.

Jesus left a light on when He went back to His Father God in Heaven – He left us.

Jesus hasn’t switched that light off yet.

I will leave a light on.

We shine as lights in the darkness of this world and point the way home to God through faith in Jesus the Son.

One day though the reality is that my earthly light will be switched off. I won’t be here anymore to shine the light for others.

I need to shine whilst I can.

Whilst I still have the time.

I hope I can leave a legacy of light behind me.

You may be the only light in your family, your friends, your colleagues, your neighbourhood, your community – the place where the Lord has put you.

Your light is really important so be encouraged and “let your light shine before men so that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.” Matthew 5:16

I really think there is someone who needs to hear this today.

Don’t give up but let your light shine – It will lead someone home to God.

Leave a light on and it will lead that person home – they may be in a dark place at moment, have wandered far from truth, be in a very very dark place but the Lord is saying:

“I will leave a light on” – that light is you.

Don’t let the light go out – it will lead them home.

I will leave a light on…

On this first day of our Christmas Novena, let us not forget the essence of our Simbang Gabi which is to find and follow Jesus Christ, the Light of the world. More than leaving our light on to lead others to Jesus, we also need to see ourselves and our history in the light of Christ.

Examine the light others may be sharing us that do not lead us to Christ but to their selfish motives. Be critical in reading and listening to various posts that may be feeding us with fake news that actually confuse us with truth and realities. It is only in the light of Christ when things that are dull and drab become clear, enabling us to take the right and proper decisions that can truly move us toward change and development as an individual, as a Christian and as a nation. Let us be a light leading others to the True Light Jesus Christ for he alone can lead us back home to God, to our true selves, and to our loving relationships. Amen. have a blessed and enlightening Tuesday.

Advent is patient transformation to joy

Lord My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Third Sunday in Advent-A (Gaudete Sunday), 14 December 2025
Isaiah 35:1-6, 10 ><}}}}*> James 5:7-10 ><}}}}*> Matthew 11:2-11

Our churches are bursting in hues of pink this Third Sunday of Advent rejoicing not only in the fast approaching Christmas but most especially in the Lord’s Second Coming already happening in our midst.

Like John the Baptist in today’s gospel who was imprisoned at the time, we could feel in our own waiting for Jesus his saving presence in the many good things happening within us and around us.

When John the Baptist heard in prison of the works of the Christ, he sent his disciples to Jesus with the question, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?” Jesus said to them in reply, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind regain their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have the good news proclaimed to them” (Matthew 11:2-5).

Remember our reflection last Sunday of John’s preaching in the desert of Jordan signifying our own desert where amid the dryness and emptiness Jesus comes to us, Jesus is most present with us and in us. That is because more than an imagery of nothingness and death, the desert signifies too our intimacy with God. Many times in life, God brings us or allows us to get lost in our own desert to experience his intimacy with us, his immense love for us because when we are sufficient and strong, we rarely feel him nor even desire him. But, when we are like in a desert with nothing, that is when we long for God, and most especially feel him present.

That is why every prophet in the Bible including our Lord Jesus Christ frequented the desert and wilderness to show their intimacy and communion with God. The desert is thus transformed into a greenery filled with life like what Isaiah prophesied in the first reading today:

The desert and the parched land will exult; the steppe will rejoice and bloom. They will bloom with abundant flowers, and rejoice with joyful song. The glory of Lebanon will be given them, the splendor of Carmel and Sharon; they will see the glory of the Lord, the splendor of our God… Then will the eyes of the blind be opened, the ears of the deaf be cleared; then will the lame leap like a stag, then the tongue of the dumb will sing (Isaiah 35:1-2, 5-6).

See now the transformations found in our readings: in the last two Sundays we heard Isaiah speaking of the dried and barren desert but today he spoke of its transformation into a lush and verdant stretch of land; in the gospel we find John still in the desert, firm and unchanging in his preaching though his situation had changed a lot.

Last Sunday John was freely proclaiming the coming of the Christ in the desert as he sternly warned the Pharisees and Sadducees of their judgment; this Sunday, John was still in the desert but imprisoned awaiting death when he reproached King Herod in taking his brother Philip’s wife Herodias. But despite that clear danger daily hanging on his head, John was not disturbed at all as he patiently awaited the coming of the Messiah that he sent emissaries to Jesus to ask if he is already the Christ.

Here we find something so human in John the Baptist, so much like us when we sort of doubt ourselves not because we lack faith but simply we just want to be sure of what we are hearing, what we have seen, of what God is really doing.

Let it be clear: like John, most often we doubt ourselves not really God when things happen not according to our plans or expectations. Inasmuch as life is a mystery, God is more mysterious! Most of the time, we cannot understand his ways because he moves so differently, even unpredictably from what we know and expect.

Perhaps, John had a different scenario in his mind about the arrival of the Messiah like in the Old Testament tradition of judgment day, of action-packed events punishing evil people. Recall how called the Pharisees and Sadducees “You brood of vipers…Even now the ax lies at the root of the trees. Therefore every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire (Mt.3:10).

But something totally different was happening at that time as he heard while in prison – many people and their lives were being transformed. John realized something deeper than expected was going on in Judea and Galilee. And when his emissaries relayed to him the reply of Jesus, John realized that indeed the Christ he was proclaiming had arrived in Jesus. As a prophet well-versed with the scriptures, John found Jesus as the fulfillment of the prophecy by Isaiah when the blind can see, the lame can walk, dead are raised and the good news proclaimed to the poor.

It must have been a Nunc Dimittis experience of Simeon for John that soon enough, he died a martyr ahead of his Lord and Master Jesus Christ. John indeed prepared the way of the Lord in his birth and in his death, showing us the importance of patience in awaiting Christ and in experiencing the joy in his coming.

Be patient, brothers and sisters, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient with it until it receives the early an the late rains. You too must be patient. Make your hearts firm, because the coming of the Lord is at hand (James 5:7-8).

Before the COVID pandemic, my brother and I used to rest at Camp John Hay in Baguio where he would buy in one of the shops there a line of local and organic perfumes. His favorite scent was called “Patience” but one time when we went there, it had ran out of stock that he said wryly, “maski ba naman pabango na patience, wala na rin?”

So true! Patience seems to have been almost extinct in this age of instants. Nobody wants to be patient anymore especially if one can have almost everything instantly. Even during the time of the early church, people have been impatient in life that St. James wrote them on the importance of patience in our journey of faith, in awaiting the Lord’s return.

From the Latin word patior that means to suffer, patience is a kind of suffering, of bearing the pain of waiting especially over a long period of time that we doubt if it is still worth the waiting at all. But we fail to “see” or realize as St. James pointed out like the farmer that waiting is never passive nor empty; there is always something wonderful happening that we do not see like the germination, growth and blooming of crops and plants. The more patient we are, the more suffering in waiting, the greater always the joy that comes when our waiting is finally fulfilled!

Advent teaches us this third Sunday that we need to be patient for waiting itself is a holy ground where we experience God’s coming and intimacy. Though patience tests our limits, it transforms us too!

Think of the stalactites and stalagmites in caves formed millions of years by drops of water. Or the great natural wonders of earth that took thousands of years of formation, transformation. Most of all, our very selves. Who we are and what we are today are long years of patient efforts to be healthy or successful or simply be alive. And that’s a great reason to rejoice.

Patience is so difficult to practice like in our daily experiences of horrendous traffic everywhere but with patience, we arrive at our destination. Patience transforms us into better persons and disciples of Jesus, enabling us to rejoice no matter what is the situation we are into. It is in the midst of sufferings and waiting, of patience and impatience that Jesus calls us to experience his silent and steady presence resting upon us like the rains every farmer is so familiar with. Our joy is doubled, becoming a rejoicing when we practice patience in our endeavors, in life itself.

Let me end this reflection with a quotation I memorized as a child on the wall of our former family dentist’s office in Meycauayan, Bulacan that said:

Time is fast for people who rush;
time is slow for people who wait;
time is not for people who love.

The most loving persons are also the most patient ones. Always. And first among them is Jesus Christ who patiently awaits us to return to him so we can experience his joy. Amen. Have a joyful week ahead!

Immaculate Conception, Intimacy of God

Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Monday, Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, 08 December 2025
Genesis 3:9-15, 20 ><}}}}*> Ephesians 1:3-6, 11-12 ><}}}}*> Luke 1:26-38

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

We praise and thank God today on this Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of Mary that formally kicked off the process of the fulfillment of his promised salvation in Jesus born by the Virgin Mother.

According to our official Church teaching called dogma, Mary was conceived by her mother St. Anne without any stain of original sin through the merits of Jesus Christ our Savior. Mary has to be pure and clean because she would bear the Son of God who is perfect and spotless.

God chose Mary to be the Mother of Jesus not because of her having any special traits but purely out of God’s goodness “who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavens” (Eph.1:3).

Hence, this feast reminds us too to imitate the Blessed Virgin in saying “yes” to God’s invitation to cooperate in his wonderful plans of bringing Jesus into this world so darkened by sin that has left us broken and fragmented from each other. Rejoice, therefore, because everyday, God sends us his angel to greet us with “Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you” (Lk.1:26), inviting us into an intimacy with him like Mary.

*Photo by author, left side of the facade of the Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth, Holy Land, May 2019.*

Intimacy is more than being close with another; it is an expression of love that is willing to sacrifice, to suffer and get hurt for the sake of the beloved.

God was the first to express his intimacy with us not just by expressing his immense love for us in words by the prophets in the Old Testament but by sending us his Son Jesus Christ who became human like us in everything except sin. Actually, God does not need to become human like us to save us but he chose to be one of us because he loves us so much. As an expression of his intimacy and solidarity with us, Jesus suffered and died on the Cross while going through every pain and hurt we go through in life like grief and sadness in losing a friend, betrayal by a friend, abandonment by friends, no to mention being terrified, going hungry and thirsty. Jesus became like us so that we may become like God – intimately loving him through others.

Actually, God does not need us but he chose to love us, to be with us, to be intimate with us because he loves us so much. God remains God even without us. When we do not pray, when we do not go to Mass on Sundays, when we are bad and not good, God is still God. It is us humans who are lessened when we turn away from from God.

That’s the intimacy of God with us.

How about us, are we willing to be intimate with God in Jesus Christ?

Sadly, many people “create” and “force” intimacy which is a grace, a gift of God freely given to everyone. Like friendship, we cannot force intimacy into someone not meant to be. And like friendship too, intimacy begins in Christ, blooms in Christ.

Photo by author, chapel beneath the Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth; see those pilgrims praying behind iron grills at the back of the sanctuary which is the site where the Angel announced to Mary the birth of Jesus Christ.

Underneath the Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth is a chapel near the very site where the angel is believed to have appeared to Mary to announce the coming of the Savior. At the back of the sanctuary of this chapel is that holy site of the Annunciation enclosed by iron grills with an altar table at the center with the declaration in Latin, Verbum Caro Hic Factum Est (The Word became flesh here).

Mary’s intimacy with God began long before the Annunciation to her by the Angel cultivated in her prayer life. Every time I pray this scene of the Annunciation, I always imagine Mary deeply absorbed in prayer. Most likely, she must be praying about her coming wedding to Joseph. Luke and Matthew were both consistent about their status as being “betrothed to each other” when God announced through the Angel the birth of the Christ.

*Photo by author, close up of the* Annunciation site beneath the Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth; written on the altar table that says in Latin, “The Word became flesh here.”

Imagine the excitement and joy of two faithful Jews getting married soon when suddenly the Angel appeared to them on separate occasions and diverse situations to announce God’s plan of sending his own Son Jesus Christ for the salvation of the world?

It must have been most painful to both Mary and Joseph but as being truly faithful and loving of God, they both agreed to the Divine plan! And that is the great sign of their immense love for God – eventually for each other. Moreover, in saying yes to God, both Mary and Joseph showed the kind of intimacy they have with the Divine.

Let us focus on the intimacy of Mary with God on this Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception found in our gospel account of the Annunciation.

*Photo by Rev. Fr. Gerry Pascual of Iba, Zambales at Santuario di Greccio, Rieti, Italy in 2019.*

Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you ahve found favor with God. Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus (Luke 1:30-31).

Notice that in many scenes and prayers about the Blessed Virgin Mary, we find the prominence of her “womb” like here in the Annunciation and when Elizabeth praised her during her Visitation as “blessed is the fruit of your womb” (Lk.1:42).

In Hebrew, the word for womb is “racham, rachamin” which is their word too for “mercy” because for them, God’s mercy comes from his innermost being. Hence, whenever the Jews speak of mercy of God, they point their fingers downward into the womb or uterus and moves it upward to the heart to indicate the flow of mercy of God from his innermost being expressed in love which is he’s very being and core.

This is the reason the Church Fathers translated mercy into “misericordia” from the Latin verb to move or to stir – “misereor” – and word for heart “cor” that literally means “to move or to stir one’s heart”. It is more than a feeling like compassion; mercy is deeper as it encompasses one’s being leading to intimacy that is a communion or oneness with others which is also intimacy.

*Photo by author, Church of the Visitation, Ein-Karem, Israel, May 2017.*

Where there is love, there is always intimacy with the lover willing to bear all pains and hurts for the beloved. And vice versa. Like Jesus. Then Mary who was willing to sacrifice her wedding and marriage to Joseph by being the Mother of the Son of God.

But why? Because we have experienced too that true joy comes only when there is giving of self, when there is willingness to let go and suffer. At the Last Supper, Jesus described joy as like a mother in the pangs of childbirth when she goes through a lot of pains and worries and fears almost like dying but once the baby is delivered, joy happens because she had brought forth a new life into the world.

True joy is having the firm belief that no matter what happens even in the worst scenarios, God would never leave nor forsake us. Joy happens when we find new life, new directions because there is another person willing to remain with us, assuring us we are never alone. That again is intimacy when you feel not alone especially in the most trying times.

Without intimacy with God and another person, there can be no true joy because no one would dare to take risks in this life like mothers. This is what modern women are missing when they see childbearing more as a chore or a burden or a suffering they can always avoid than self-giving borne out of love which happens in the context of an intimacy. No wonder too that sex has been so trivialized, reduced to an activity and act instead of as a gift of self because there is no more responsibility and intimacy. We cannot have lasting and meaningful relationships without intimacy.

On this Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, we are reminded of God’s mercy and intimacy with us, of his loving relationship with us that continues in Christ Jesus with Mary.

Let us nurture this beautiful relationship with God that flows and bears fruit in our relationships with one another.

Like Mary, may we finally say yes to God into an intimate relationship with him through our selflessness. Like Mary, we are blessed and full of grace. The joy awaiting far outweighs the pains and sufferings we shall go through in our gift of self in our relationships. Have no fear for Jesus had suffered first before us so that we can love and be intimate like him. Amen. Have a blessed week.

Advent is conversion in the desert

Lord My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Second Sunday in Advent-A, 07 December 2025
Isaiah 11:1-10 ><}}}}*> Romans 15:4-9 ><}}}}*> Matthew 3:1-12

*Photo by author, The Deesis Mosaic in the Hagia Sophia, Istanbul, Turkiye, 01 November 2025.*

A few weeks before the Holy Father visited Turkiye recently, we were also in Istanbul and had the great chance of visiting the magnificent Hagia Sophia. And we wonder why Pope Leo XIV skipped the more historical and popular Hagia Sophia to visit instead the Blue Mosque just across.

The Hagia Sophia or “Holy Wisdom” was the largest church in the Eastern Roman Empire when Istanbul was called Constantinople until the Ottoman Turks conquered the city and converted the church into a mosque. More than a hundred years ago when Turkiye became a republic, the government made Hagia Sophia a museum until recently when it was reverted into a mosque again.

My initial feeling when I got inside Hagia Sophia was deep sadness. “Malaking panghihinayang” as in “sayang na sayang” in Filipino because it used to be ours but due to the Great Schism of 1054 when the Eastern Roman Church broke away from Rome, it fell into the hands of the Moslems who made it into a mosque, altering or hiding the many great works of art there that date back to the Byzantine era 1200 to 1400 years ago.

One of its many treasures you might be familiar found in history books and magazines is the “Deesis Mosaic” of Jesus flanked to his left by his Mother Mary and John the Baptist to his right.

From the Greek word “deesis” that means supplication or intercession, the mosaic features Mary and John beseeching Jesus to forgive mankind at his Second Coming. Though the three images have been badly deteriorated due to the elements passing through the window beside it, its beauty remains intact, especially the evocative faces of Mary, Jesus and John.

Seeing it personally, one could feel the pagsusumamo of John the Baptist and Mother Mary expressed in the softness of their face in earnestly asking Jesus to forgive mankind on the day of judgment. And it seems to be working so well as you could feel too the tender compassion of Jesus Christ’s look as he raised his right hand in a blessing position while holding with his other hand a thick book that is perhaps a Bible.

*Detail of John the Baptist from the Deesis Mosaic in his abbreviated Greek name Ionnes Prodromos; photo by author, Istanbul, 01 November 2025.*

The Deesis Mosaic is very Advent in character because it is about God’s mercy and forgiveness in Christ Jesus at his Second Coming at the end of time.

Here we find how early on in the ancient Church they have been preoccupied in this first aspect of Advent, the Second Coming of Christ at the end of time and of Advent’s essence – our conversion from sins. At the forefront of that call is the Lord’s Precursor, John the Baptist, that is why every second and third Sundays of Advent we hear in the gospel his ministry at Jordan.

John the Baptist appeared, preaching in the desert of Judea and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” It was of him that the prophet Isaiah had spoken when he said: A voice crying out in the desert, Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths. … At that time Jerusalem, all Judea, and the whole region aroun d the Jordan were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the Jordan River as they acknowledged their sins (Matthew 3:1-3, 5-6).

John the Baptist remains relevant in preparing for the Lord’s coming, whether at the end of time or in preparation for our Christmas celebration. Like him, we are all called to be an Advent person, vigilantly preparing ourselves for Christ’s coming at the end of time that happens in every here and now, right in our own desert in this modern time.

Yes, we are like John the Baptist living in our own desert, a world we describe as a global village wired and connected by the internet yet so apart from each other. Instead of bringing us closer with one another, all these modern inventions have actually grown us more detached from one another like when eating in a fast food. It is so alienating especially for us seniors to be placing our orders on those tall electronic boards programmed for us to order more food and drinks not healthy at all.

Or, take those TNVS or Transport Network Vehicle Services like Grab. We no longer travel in the real sense as we just move to destinations with that desert feeling when inside a Grab car with the driver too far from us passengers in front, following instructions from apps while we at the back sit silently scrolling our phones or pounding a laptop. See also how driving has become going in the wilderness with the horrendous traffic where humans turn into monsters in road rage while machines and CCTVs monitor who’s violating traffic rules and who gets through the RFID.

*Photo by author, Basic Education Department Chapel, Our Lady of Fatima University, Valenzuela City, December 2023.*

This Second Sunday in Advent, John the Baptist invites us to be aware of the desert we are living into where we have become less personal, less human as we move away from God that we have lost our sense of sin, acting more on impulses without much thinking its effects and consequences.

We think more of ourselves than of God and others, overextending our rights insisting on our ways that actually destroy lives through abortions and gender manipulations. We no longer speak of what is true and good by simply following trends and what is convenient. No more feelings, no more compassion. No more others. No more God nor heaven and eternity.

*“St. John the Baptist Preaching in the Wilderness” by German painter Anton Raphael Mengs (1728-1779) from commons.wikimedia.org.*

We do not have to dress on camel’s hair nor eat locusts and wild honey like John but simply make a space within us for God and for others.

We would be gravely wrong to think John was only speaking to the people of his time especially to the Pharisees and Sadducees; Matthew wrote his gospel account at that time to nourish the faith of early Christians facing persecutions and many challenges in life like in our own time when it is so tempting to follow the evil ways of the world.

John continues to warn us today of the sure return of the Christ when everyone shall face judgment which is not something to be feared like a sword of Damocles hanging above our heads ready to strike us anytime. It is a call and a demand for concrete actions of conversion, of leaving our sinful ways to follow Christ’s path of holiness.

“Even now the ax lies at the root of the trees. Therefore every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. I am baptizing you with water, for repentance, but the one who is coming after me is mightier than I. I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire” (Matthew 3:10-11).

Advent assures us of Christ’s Second Coming when he shall purify and renew us to fulfill Isaiah’s prophecy in the first reading when “the wolf shall be a guest of the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid… the calf and young lion shall browse together, with a little child to guide them… the cow and bear shall be neighbors, together their young shall rest, the lion shall eat hay like the ox… the baby shall play by the cobra’s den, and the child lay his hand on the adder’s lair”(Isaiah 11:6-8).

*“Peaceable Kingdom”, a painting based on Is.11:1-10 by American Edward Hicks, a Quaker pastor (1780-1849)* from wikimedia.org.

As we have reflected last Sunday, every coming of Jesus is a day of judgment but not a catastrophe. It becomes a disaster for those unprepared, living in sin. But for those like John the Baptist, striving to live the gospel amid the desert of this world, Christ’s coming is salvation and peace for Jesus is full of love and compassion and tenderness for his people.

Life is so difficult these days especially when we see our great disparities with the corrupt who simply steal our money and those we call “lumalaban ng patas sa buhay”. Imagine how in our country the world is like a desert, so hostile with the weak and the poor who have to wrestle with 500 pesos – if ever they have – to stretch it for a noche buena on Christmas Eve.

St. Paul reminds us in the second reading that in times like these, we look up to God and his Sacred Words, to keep hoping, trusting and believing in Christ’s coming already happening especially in the Sunday Eucharist. Let us gather together as one community, encouraging each other in Christ like John in Jordan while awaiting the Lord’s coming, rejoicing like the psalmist today who sang, “Justice shall flourish in his time, and fullness of peace forever” (Ps. 72:7). Amen. A blessed Second Week in Advent everyone!

Living Hope Amidst Suffering

Lord My Chef Daily Recipe by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Red Wednesday, 26 November 2025
Daniel 5:1-6, 13-14, 16-17, 23-28   <*{{{>< + ><}}}*>   Luke 21:12-19

*Photo from Fatima Tribune, 27 November 2024.*

It’s the Wednesday after Christ the King when our churches and other religious buildings are lit in red to mark Red Wednesday, the annual campaign for persecuted Christians worldwide.

Started in 2016 by the Aid for Church in Need (ACN), it has been an annual Church celebration with other Christian groups and sects participating to heighten awareness of the continuing persecution of Christians in various parts of the world – exactly what Jesus had predicted to his disciples more than 2000 years ago.

Jesus said to the crowd: “They will seize and persecute you, they will hand you over to the synagogues and to prisons, and they will have you led before kings and governors because of my name. It will lead to your giving testimony… By your perseverance you will secure your lives” (Luke 21:12-13, 19).

For us in the Philippines that is majority a Christian nation, Red Wednesday is an opportune time to reflect about our “giving testimony” to Jesus Christ: how “bloody red” is our being a Christian?

Unlike in other countries in Africa or our neighbors in Asia where Christians are persecuted and harassed, we in the Philippines do not go through such sufferings and challenges. Think of any kind of opposition to the Christian faith we have encountered even in the last 100 years. None. The most serious threats ever made against our faith seem to be mere “peer pressures” of being teased as “conservative” in going to Mass and Confession frequently, or upholding the virtue of virginity. Perhaps, the most serious dilemma most of us Christians have ever had in our faith is whether or not we shall pray or at least make the Sign of the Cross when dining in a restaurant or fast food chain. In Europe and the States, chapels and churches are vandalized and burned but here in the country, those who have committed sacrileges in the past three years were “crucified” in social media with one being sued in court.

We do not wish that we also undergo similar religious persecutions like the other Christians abroad whom we pray for today on this Red Wednesday and send with our financial support as concrete actions of our solidarity with them.

In line with this year’s theme of “Living Hope Amidst Suffering” in conjunction with the Jubilee Year celebration “Pilgrims of Hope”, Red Wednesday invites us to simply witness the gospel of Jesus by standing on what is true and good especially these days our country is so deep into the ghost project scandals on flood control.

Giving testimony to Jesus Christ is letting our zeal for him burn anew within us by not bending into the ways of the world that promote a “culture of death” like abortion and contraceptives, or to the many forms of wokism that overextend personal rights contrary to God’s original plan and design like divorce, same sex marriage, and gender manipulation.

*Photo by Ms. Kei Abad, Kawaguchiko Lake (Fujisan), 23 November 2025.*

Witnessing Christ is being honest and just in a country of such impunity where graft and corruption is a family endeavor, a norm in public service.

Giving testimony to Christ in this time of social media where trending and viral are the new standards is to remain simple and modest even if it is looked down upon, being fair and just even if everyone chooses to disregard them while being concrete in our acts of mercy and charity for the weak and marginalized.

Red Wednesday is reigniting our hope in God which is an expression of our firm faith in him. Religious persecutions happen and abound anywhere God is negated and denied or when a particular group of people insist on their own perception of God.

We Christians are pilgrims of hope because we do believe in the one True and Only God in Heaven who was revealed to us by his own Son Jesus Christ made present up to this day until the end of time by the Holy Spirit. Hope is primarily having faith in God.

In this sense it is true that anyonbe who does not nknow God, even though he may entertain all kinds of hopes, is ultimately without hope, without the great hope that sustains the whole of life (cf. Eph. 2:12). Man’s great, true hope which holds firm in spite of all disappointments can only be God – God who has loved us and who continues to love us “to the end,” until all “is accomplished” (cf. Jn.13:1 and 19:30). (Pope Benedict XVI, Spe Salvi #27)

Hope is not optimism nor positive thinking, believing things will get better. On the contrary, true hope is actually accepting that things and situations could get worst as Jesus mentioned in his predictions of the coming upheavals and persecutions. Hope is putting all our trust in God that no matter what happens in the end when things get worst like death, there is Jesus Christ loving us, comforting us, and saving us.

That’s the kind of faith and hope Daniel expressed in our first reading despite the threats of sure death when he spoke of the God of Israel as the only true God, not the many idols and false gods of the Babylonians. Most of all, because of his fervent hope in God who would raise him up in the end, Daniel delivered his interpretation of the king’s dream of how his days were numbered as the Medians and Persians were soon to conquer them that eventually happened.

Many times in life, all we can have is hope in God especially when pains and sufferings become unbearable, when these get worst without any signs of getting any better.

That is why Red Wednesday’s theme this year is so appropriate, “living hope amidst suffering”.

Hope makes life more worthy and lofty because our sights are not only fixed on this world but even beyond as Jesus assured us in today’s gospel, “By your perseverance you will secure your lives” (Lk.21:19).

And there lies the beauty of hope – it is the most surprising of all virtues as the French poet, essayist and writer Charles Peguy wrote in 1911 in his long masterpiece called “The Portal of the Mystery of Hope.” In this poem, Peguy presents God as the speaker himself, reflecting about the virtue of hope in relation with the other two theological virtues of faith and love. It is so lovely because it is so true especially when I encountered it during my trying months of second year in theology in the seminary.

The faith that I love best, says God, is hope...
Faith itself does not surprise me...

Love, says God, that does not surprise me...

But Hope, says God, that is what surprises me.
I, myself, find it surprising
that my children see what happens and believe things will improve.
That is the most surprising, the most marvelous gift.
And it surprises me, myself, that my gift has such incredible strength
since it first flowed in creation as it always will.
Faith sees what is.
Hope sees what will be.
Love loves what is.
Hope loves what has not yet been
and what will be in the future and in eternity.

For those suffering, those in pain especially because of faith in Jesus Christ: keep believing, keep hoping and be ready to be surprised by God. Reignite that zeal in Christ and his gospel. Amen. A blessed Red Wednesday to you.

Christ the King, the face of suffering

Lord My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul, 23 November 2025
Solemnity of Christ the King, Cycle C
2 Samuel 5:1-3 ><}}}}*> Colossians 1:12-20 ><}}}}*> Luke 23:35-43

I was teasing our campus ministry head for communication last Tuesday after he had presented to me this announcement for our Christ the King celebration today. “Para namang malnourished si Jesus diyan,” I told Darwin as he scratched his head laughing during our meeting.

But, that evening after praying our gospel, I changed my mind the following Wednesday and told Darwin to go ahead with his original artwork because I have realized that the face of Christ the King is also the face of us suffering.

Are you not surprised that on this final Sunday of the liturgical year, we are not presented with an image of a victorious Jesus like that Cristo Rey found in every Catholic home but the gospel scene of Jesus suffering in excruciating pain there on the Cross on Good Friday?

Above him there was an inscription that read, “This is the King of the Jews.” Now one of the criminals hanging there reviled Jesus, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us.” The other, however, rebuking him, said in reply, “Have you no fear of God, for you are subject to the same condemnation? And indeed, we have been condemned justly, for the sentence we received corresponds to our crimes, but this man has done nothing criminal.” Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” He replied to him, “Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise” (Luke 23:38-43).

*Photo by author, Chapel of St. Francis Xavier, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Quezon City, 2024.*

On this Solemnity of Christ the King, St. Luke invites us for the last time we hear his gospel this year to look at the face and into the eyes of Jesus crucified.

What do you see and feel in him?

Ever wondered what the rulers and soldiers saw on the face of Jesus crucified that they sneered and jeered him from below? They were so filled with pride in finally putting into shame and silence Jesus who had always spoken the truth and exposed their lies and hypocrisies.

What do we see when people are put on the spot and shamed like Jesus crucified or like the woman caught committing adultery Jesus forgave and saved from being stoned by the angry crowd? So sad that in this age of social media, public trials and condemnation have become a hobby for many without even checking the accusations are true or not.

Let us move closer to Jesus on the Cross like those two thieves hanging at each of his side: what do you see and feel about him?

Why did the other thief join those below in deriding and insulting Jesus crucified? Now one of the criminals hanging there reviled Jesus, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us” (Lk.23:39).

Have you ever found yourself in the ER or waiting for your turn at the doctor’s clinic with other patients also in pain and suffering? How do you see the other patients and sick people like you? Is there in your mind any tinge of suspicion why or how they got sick? The best and the worst in us come out in such times when we are so down beside another suffering brother or sister.

Or, do we choose the path of humility and sincerity of Dimas, the good thief? What did he see in Jesus there on the Cross? The other, however, rebuking him, said in reply, “Have you no fear of God, for you are subject to the same condemnation? And indeed, we have been condemned justly, for the sentence we received corresponds to our crimes, but this man has done nothing criminal” (Lk.23:40-41).

Most likely, Dimas must have heard a lot about the teachings and healings by Jesus but he felt something so unique and liberating, so personal during those dark moments of excruciating pains when he finally recognized Christ his Savior, the only true King that is why he asked to be remembered in his kingdom!

Finally, somebody greater than him there beside him, saying nothing to judge nor condemn him nor irritate him like his fellow criminal at the other side. In recognizing Jesus, Dimas also found himself as truly human, weak and finite who can only be whole and complete – saved and redeemed – in Christ who chose to be there on the Cross with him exactly as St. Paul had written in our second reading.

He is before all thing, and in him all things hold together. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he himself might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness was pleased to dwell, and through him reconcile all things for him, making peace by the blood of his cross through him, whether those on earth or those in heaven (Colossians 1:17, 18-20).

*Photo by author, St. Scholastica Spirituality Center, Baguio City, August 2023.*

Here we find the beauty of the Cross, of how God so perfect without any need to suffer and experience pain yet chose to go through it to express his solidarity and love for us humans.

It is on the cross when we are most able to identify and be one in Jesus Christ. That is why it is also on the Cross that we enter heaven with Jesus amid suffering and death. Jesus said today you shall be with me in Paradise – not later when we die or after three days at Easter. How lovely that Jesus never promised heaven when he was strong and freely moving around but when he was there on the cross, nailed and dying.

Jesus Christ is the King of the Universe not because of his powers and might but primarily of his being one of us in sufferings and death. It was the very feeling the tribes of Israel were telling David when they came to him in Hebron to reaffirm their allegiance to him as their king, “Here we are, your bone and your flesh” (2 Sm. 5:1).

The people we admire most are not always the best nor most powerful nor talented because often we envy them. On the other hand, we are more drawn with those down and burdened because we see in them our own brokenness, too, that it is part of life and of being human. That is why we easily empathize with those grieving or sad than with those happy or rejoicing.

Our humanity reaches its highest point and beauty when broken and weak as we realize our mortality and similarity with others in suffering needing for a Savior. We are most inhuman whenever we enjoy inflicting or causing pains on others or when rejoicing in their agonies. To proclaim Christ is the King of the Universe is to always see him in our sufferings and among those suffering too like us. Amen. A blessed week ahead of you!

Every ending a beginning

Lord My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul, 16 November 2025
Thirty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle C
Malachi 3:19-20 >><}}}}*> 2 Thessalonians 3:7-12 ><}}}}*> Luke 21:5-19

*Photo by author, Bosphrus Strait, Istanbul, Turkiye, 02 November 2025.*

We are now in the penultimate Sunday of our church calendar that is why our readings remind us of the Lord’s Second Coming at the end of the world.

While some people were speaking about how the temple was adorned with costly stones and votive offerings, Jesus said, “All that you see here – the days will come when there will not be left a stone upon another stone that will not be thrown down.” Then they asked him, “Teacher, when will this happen? And what sign will there be when all these things are about to happen?” He answered, “See that you not be deceived, for many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he,’ and ‘The time has come.’ Do not follow them. When you hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified; for such things must happen first, but it will not immediately be the end” (Luke 21:5-9).

Imagine the scene. See that tinge of humor of Jesus in dousing his disciples with cold water as they marveled at the beauty and magnificence of the Jerusalem Temple only to tell them all shall perish. It reminded me of our recent pilgrimage to the home of the Blessed Mother and St. John the Beloved in Ephesus, Turkiye recently.

Ephesus was a coastal city in Turkiye founded by the Greek colonists hundreds of years before the birth of Christ and was later annexed by the Romans into their empire. It was a very prosperous city with a huge amphitheater that could seat 24,000 people. During the time of early Christianity, Ephesus was already a major city that is why St. Paul founded a Christian community there whom he later sent a letter now part of the New Testament. It was also in that city where the Church held its Council of Ephesus in the fifth century that defined Mary as the Mother of God because Jesus remained true God and true Man in his conception and birth.

*Photo by author, original marble stone floors of Ephesus.*

But, everything is now in ruins after Ephesus was overran by barbarians in year 600 and struck by massive earthquakes through the following years that literally pushed it farther away from the sea. Almost abandoned except for some locals selling good to tourists and pilgrims who come to visit this lovely ancient city designated in 2015 as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Jerusalem suffered the same fate minus the earthquakes that have kept it inhabited for thousands of years when it fell into the hands of the Romans in year 70AD, then to the Moslems and other invaders until 1948 when the state of Israel declared independence from British Mandate.

Countries and cities come and go along with their civilizations due to varied reasons. It is the normal course of life. This is what Jesus was trying to tell his disciples and us today with the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple.

But of course, there was more.

Christ’s coming is not a spectacle like a show that the world is so addicted with; Christ’s coming is a presence felt and experienced day in, day out right in our hearts. It is a movement of grace upon grace within our very selves that often go unnoticed because we are so obsessed with physical things seen and heard. Jesus reminds us to see beyond, to have vision not just sight. To pray more, to feel more of God, of his truth and justice not only in ourselves but also in others by witnessing his gospel more than ever.

Earthquake survivor Jesiel Malinao sits beside the coffins of her two sons on Thursday, Oct. 2, 2025 after a strong earthquake on Tuesday caused a landslide that toppled their hillside homes in Bogo city, Cebu Province, Central Philippines. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

This Sunday is designated by the Church as World Day of the Poor who are the ones who suffer most during calamities and man-made disasters as well as conflicts that abound where the powerful play and manipulate peoples for their own selfish ends.

For the poor, every day seems an end – last meal, last breath, last hope. For the poor, living is more of survival because so many of us have not only forgotten them but have totally disregarded them. They are the ones often used and fooled by the powerful like the corrupt politicians with some masquerading as religious leaders like in the aftermath of the ghost-project scam. See how those involved are now playing victims, diverting attention and misleading many of the poor with their calls for transparency and good-governance. It is to them that the words of Jesus are directed today – “Do not be deceived… Do not follow them!”

Let us heed the calls of Abp. Soc Villegas of Lingayen-Dagupan for us to be guided by “wisdom, vigilance, and virtue” in these times when our nation is deeply in crisis in almost every aspect of life. Here we find in the warnings and reminders of Jesus that the end of time with its destruction is not something we have to resign ourselves with. We have to take a more active role to play in the course of history by making the right choices always.

*Photo by author, Cantacuzino Castle, Romania, 06 November 2025.*

And that is choosing Christ by being truthful, just, and charitable.

These are the calls of the Prophet Malachi and St. Paul in the first and second readings respectively today. For them, every day is the day of the Lord, a day of salvation, a day of thanksgiving. It is not a call for alarm nor cause us to fear but a call for active waiting for the Lord wherein we must remain responsible with our duties as followers of Christ, not falling into doubts and discouragement especially when things are getting rough and tough. These are precisely what the Psalms speak too this Sunday:

Let the sea and what fills it resound, the world and those who dwell in it; let the rivers clap their hands, the mountains shout with them for joy (Psalm 98:7-8).

To let the rivers clap their hands, the mountains shout with them for joy is for us to witness Christ, to give testimony to him and his gospel. Nothing is permanent in this world and life except God. As such, every ending is also a beginning in God. We are not only preparing for the end but also embarking on a new journey in Jesus we must persevere to follow especially in this time of our nation’s history to secure our lives and better future for the next generation.

Our liturgical calendar is about to end next Sunday with the Solemnity of Christ the King; like our Psalm, we embark this Sunday on a new journey in Jesus by witnessing his presence in this world so confused, so noisy, so dark. Amen. Have a blessed week ahead and keep cool! Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Our Lady of Fatima University, Valenzuela City.