Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul, 02 September 2025 Tuesday in the Twenty-Second Week of Ordinary Time, Year I 1 Thessalonians 5:1-6, 9-11 <*((((>< + ><))))*> Luke 4:31-37
Photo by author, sunrise at the Lake of Galilee, Israel, May 2017.
Let your light shine on me, Jesus, keep me "alert and sober so that I may continue to encourage one another and build one another up" (1 Thessalonians 5:6, 11); let your light shine in me, Jesus, fill me with your authority and power to disclose truth and expose evil as people nowadays are so used to sin as very ordinary, tolerable and acceptable; let your light shine in me, Jesus, fill me with your Spirit to always proclaim in words and in deeds your gospel of salvation from self-centeredness, materialism, and relativism that have all tried deleting God and prayer in life; despite my sinfulness and weaknesses, help me bring you Jesus to those burdened and lost, sick and confused after being so misled by the world's many lies and broken promises. Amen.
Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Our Lady of Fatima University Valenzuela City (lordmychef@gmail.com)
Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul, 29 August 2025 Friday, Passion of St. John the Baptist, Martyr Jeremiah 1:17-19 <*{{{{>< + ><}}}}*> Mark 6:17-29
Photo from Fatima Tribune during the Red Wednesday Mass at the Chapel of the Angel of Peace, Our Lady of Fatima University, Valenzuela City, 27 November 2024.
Lord Jesus Christ, today I pray in the most special way to free us from lies and falsehoods, fake news and other news in social media masquerading as lifestyle especially of the filthy rich; we have turned away from you, Jesus, "the Way and the Truth and the Life"; give us the courage you gave St. John the Baptist your forerunner to speak to stand to die for what is true.
The word of the Lord came to me thus: Gird your loins; stand up and tell them all that I command you. Be not crushed on their account, as though I would have you crushed before them… They will fight against you, but not prevail over you, for I am with you to deliver you, says the Lord (Jeremiah 1:17, 19).
Like John the Baptist and Jeremiah and all the others who have stood their ground for the Truth, let us find our strength in you, Jesus in fighting for what is true: I pray for those involved in the ghost projects in our country to finally speak and tell the truth so that this system of sin and evil may finally be stopped or at least mitigated in our forsaken country of so many liars, of children acting like Salomes flaunting their wealth, of adults especially couples and mistresses living in lies like Herodias harboring grudge on the honest and truthful men, and leaders specially in politics who are so much like Herod so happy to listen and attend Mass but never had the courage to defend and stand for what is true.
Have mercy on us, Lord Jesus, for continuing to crucify you, and for beheading others who announce your coming like John the Baptist. Amen.
St. John the Baptist, Pray for us!
Photo from Fatima Tribune during the Red Wednesday Mass at the Chapel of the Angel of Peace, Our Lady of Fatima University, Valenzuela City, 27 November 2024.
Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Our Lady of Fatima University Valenzuela City (lordmychef@gmail.com)
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Wednesday in the Twenty-eighth Week of Ordinary Time Year II, 16 October 2024 Galatians 5:18-25 ><))))*> + ><))))*> + ><))))*> Luke 11:42-46
Photo by author, Fatima Ave., Valenzuela City, 25 July 2024.
Lead and guide us, O Most Holy Spirit; set us free from "the works of the flesh: immorality, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, hatreds, rivalry, jealousy, outbursts of fury, acts of selfishness, dissensions, factions" (Galatians 5:19-20); cleanse our nation now facing the realities of the truth of what we have long suspected of filth and evil that have shrouded the past administration's drug war; so many lives were lost and destroyed not only by the deaths but all the lies that were glorified; be the courage and strength, O Holy Spirit, of those finally given the chance to stand for what is true so that never again such reign of darkness and terror be repeated.
Woe to us and everyone who continue to overlook the good of others!
Let your Spirit, dear Jesus, bear fruit in us with "love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control" (Galatians 5:22-23); fills us with your Spirit today, Jesus, so we may be more loving, thinking always of the good of others above all. Amen.
Photo by author, Fatima Ave., Valenzuela City, 25 July 2024.
The Lord Is My Chef Easter Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Wednesday, Memorial of St. Joseph the Worker, 01 May 2024 Colossians 3:14-15, 17, 23-24 >>> + <<< Matthew 13:54-58
“Childhood of Christ” painting by Gerard von Honthorst, franciscanmedia.org.
Praise and glory to You, God our Father in entrusting Your Son Jesus Christ to the most noble and holiest of men, St. Joseph who came from the lineage of King David.
Though he never spoke a word in the Gospel, St. Joseph's obedience in doing everything as You had commanded him (Mt. 1:24) proved his being a model disciple too of Jesus like his wife, the Blessed Virgin Mary.
On this first day of May when we celebrate his memorial as St. Joseph the Worker, our beloved Patron shows us how family life is so sacred as part of Your Divine plan, O gracious Father in heaven.
St. Joseph worked as a carpenter, a provider to the Holy Family who must have also experienced every dad's problem of never making enough for Mary and Jesus; most likely, the Holy Family he headed did not live a perfect idyllic life, living through scandals and gossips as our gospel today showed when the people of Nazareth rejected the adult Jesus Christ, taking offense at him by asking, "Is he not the carpenter's son?" (Mt. 13:55, 57).
Photo by author, site of St. Joseph’s carpentry shop beneath St. Joseph’s Church in Nazareth, Israel, May 2017.
Dear God, grant us the same grace You gave St. Joseph who lived through scandal and gossip in a righteous way, just like what St. Paul had told us in the first reading, "And over all these put on love, that is, the bond of perfection"; help us to be like St. Joseph who "let the peace of Christ controlled his heart" (Col.3:14-15) in everything to show us that holiness in life is not a poster card but one lived in the ambiguity and complexity of this world rooted in Jesus our Lord. Amen.
St. Joseph, Protector of the Child Jesus and Mary, Pray for us!
Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, 20 March 2024.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Wednesday, Memorial of St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, Virgin & Martyr, 09 August 2023
Numbers 13:1-2, 25-14:1, 26-29, 34-35 <*{{{{>< + ><}}}}*> Matthew 15:21-28
Photo by author, sunrise at Camp John Hay, Baguio City, 12 July 2023.
How timely are your words
these past three days,
God our loving Father;
like your people in the wilderness
after their Exodus from Egypt,
we continue to grumble and
complain against you and your
plans for us through the people
you have sent to lead us
like our parents, siblings,
even friends and superiors
in work or in community.
Worst than our stubbornness
in defying your instructions through
the modern Moses you send us,
we have even created our
own monsters and ghosts
within us,
exacerbating the fears
we have in trusting you,
believing you,
and following you!
So they spread discouraging reports among the children of Israel about the land they had scouted, saying, “The land that we explored is a country that consumes its inhabitants. And all the people we saw there are huge, veritable giants (the Anakim were a race of giants); we felt like mere grasshoppers, and so we must have seemed to them.”
Numbers 13:32-33
Forgive us Father
for our outrageous foolishness
that have infected so many others,
paralyzing us to move
on in life,
to dare and dream
great things in life
that could proclaim
your majesty and mercy,
your life and love;
forgive us Father
for choosing mediocrity
than striving for the best
for us,
for others,
and for you;
forgive us Father
for not daring to venture
into the unknown
where Jesus Christ
goes, the Tyre and Sidon
of our lives that we fail
to meet him.
Grant us, O Lord,
the courage,
tenacity and faith
of the Canaanite woman
who begged Jesus
to exorcise her daughter;
most of all,
grant us the clarity
of mind and perseverance
of St. Teresa Benedicta
to seek and follow you,
and stand for you
even before the real monsters
of our time
like the gas chambers of
indifference and
the prison camps
of power and pleasures
that all negate the Cross
of Jesus Christ..
Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Wednesday in the Seventh Week of Easter, 24 May 2023
Acts 20:28-38 ><]]]'> + ><]]]'> + ><]]]'> John 17:11-19
Photo by author, sunset at Tagaytay Vista Hotel, 07 February 2023.
Lord Jesus Christ,
help us to pray and say
our goodbyes
just like you
and St. Paul
in today's readings.
How lovely to keep in mind
that the word "goodbye"
is from "God-be-with-you"!
Leaving and separation,
whether temporary or permanent
like death is the most painful part
of living and loving;
like you on that last supper
and St. Paul as he departed from Ephesus,
may we also pray for our loved ones
to be left behind; let us be realistic too
in our goodbyes so that they we leave
behind are not just warned of the
coming dangers but most of all,
be equipped in you.
“I know that after my departure savage wolves will come among you, and they will not spare the flock. And from your own group, men will come forward perverting the truth to draw the disciples away after them.”
Acts of the Apostles 20:29-30
Whenever we leave home,
whenever we leave a gathering,
may we leave the people with the
beautiful experience of your loving
presence in our giving than receiving,
in standing by your truth, rejecting
lies and dishonesty,
in relying more on you than in ourselves.
When we leave,
may they remember you more
than us.
Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Monday, Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, 15 August 2022
Revelation 11:19, 12:1-6, 10 ><)))*> 1 Corinthians 15:20-27 ><)))*> Luke 1:39-56
Photo by Mr. Jay Javier, Acacias at UP-Diliman, April 2022.
Glory and praise to you,
Father, for this great solemnity
of Mary being assumed body and
soul into heaven to remind us
of our glorious future too
which she now enjoys ahead of
us all because of her fidelity and
total submission to your will
in every stage of her life;
teach us like Mary to believe (Lk.1:45)
and live your Word who became flesh
for us in Jesus Christ.
May this faith in you prompt
us to go in sharing Jesus
with his love and mercy,
kindness and compassion
to those doubting you, O God,
because of too much pains
and sufferings, poverty and sickness;
in this age when people believe more
in the lies peddled by social media
and advertisements, may our lives
mirror like Mary your truth and
greatness, dear Father with our
loving service to the needy;
in this time of so many tribulations
like this pandemic with the ever growing
materialism of people that has given rise
and spawned so many social evils in the
name of wealth, power and fame,
lead us to the desert of prayers and
purification (Rev. 12:6) so we may receive
and respond properly to the graces and
blessings you pour upon us lavishly,
primarily Jesus whom we receive
Body and Blood in the Eucharist,
thus making us like Mary herself,
the bearer of Jesus!
Loving Father,
so many people are suffering
these days, many are about
to give up, many are so lost
that their only hope is heaven,
sometimes wishing death
as a way out, not as a way
through the Cross of Christ
who is our way, truth and life;
show us the way,
lead us like Mary
by believing your words
and putting them into practice
so that even now,
in the midst of sufferings and
darkness, we may enable
the people to experience and
see our true destiny in eternity
while here.
Right now.
Amen.
“The Assumption of the Virgin” by Italian Renaissance painter Titian completed in 1518 for the main altar of Frari church in Venice. Photo from en.wikipedia.org.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Monday, Memorial of St. Alphonsus Ligouri, Bishop & Doctor of the Church, 01 August 2022
Jeremiah 28:1-17 ><))))*> + ><))))*> + ><))))*> Matthew 14:13-21
Photo by Mr. Jay Javier, Acacias in UP-Diliman, QC, April 2022.
Praise and glory to you,
O God our loving Father
for this gift of the month of
August, of another 31 days
for us to be better and stronger,
firmer in faith, vibrant in hope
and unceasing in charity and love.
On this first day of August when
we celebrate the memorial of
St. Alphonsus Ligouri, patron
of moral theologians, we pray
for the grace of accepting and
embracing, owning the truth,
avoiding lies and falsehoods always.
I have heard and experienced the
veracity of the expression "truth hurts" -
so true and so painful indeed!
Let me not be like Hananiah who
prophesied in the name of the Lord
falsely in today's first reading,
sugarcoating the true situation of
the Israelites held bondage in Babylonia
for its wickedness; instead of telling them
the painful truth of their exile, Hananiah
lied and spoke of "good news", of deliverance
from Nebuchadnezzar and a return of
the stolen vessels of the Lord's temple.
Give me the courage to tell the painful
truth, to stand by it always even if it is
unpopular like your prophet Jeremiah
who spoke of your truth during the
Babylonian Captivity: of the need to
reform their lives and ways, to atone for
their sins and go back to you, O God;
let me keep in mind, dear Jesus, that
a good news is only good when it is
difficult, uncomfortable, and disturbing
like the feeding of the vast crowd in the
wilderness; a good news is not good at all
when there is no Cross.
Remove me, O Lord,
from the way of falsehood
and favor me with your law;
take not the word of truth
from my mouth, for in your
ordinances is my hope (Ps.119:
29, 43). Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Monday in the Twelfth Week of Ordinary Time, 20 June 2022
2 Kings 17:5-8, 13-15, 18 ><)))*> + ><)))*> + ><)))*> Matthew 7:1-5
Help up with your right hand,
O Lord, and answer us.
(Responsorial Psalm today.)
Help us, dear Father,
to see more our many sins
than the tiny sins of others;
Help us, dear Father,
to control our lips in
being so quick to judge
and speak so much of others;
Help us, dear Father,
to change our ways and
leave our sins.
So many times in life
when bad things happen to
us, we look on others to
blame, including you,
O Lord, without looking
first into our very selves
at how we have indulged
in evil and sins that started
so small that we have dismissed
as simple and nothing at all.
Forgive us, Father,
in always blaming others
without ever looking into
our hearts and ways
that have been so disordered
and strayed from your paths
of love and justice, mercy
and kindness, humility and
sincerity. Amen.
Quiet Storm by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Holy Wednesday, 13 April 2022
Isaiah 50:4-9 + Matthew 26:14-25
Photo by author, St. John the Baptist Parish, Calumpit, Bulacan, 31 March 2022.
It’s Holy Wednesday, also known as Spy Wednesday, the night Judas Iscariot agreed to betray Jesus Christ to the chief priests in exchange of 30 pieces of silver (Mt.26:14-15). Tonight is the night of traitors, of betrayers, of those not true to us!
This is the reason why in most parishes after the Mass tonight, there is the ritual of tenebrae or gradual turning off of lights and extinguishing of candles in the church to show how momentarily darkness and evil prevailed in the world when Judas sold Jesus for 30 pieces of silver.
Photo from saopedroesaopaolo.com.br.
To betray literally means to hand over a loved one to pain and sufferings like when a husband is unfaithful to his wife, when we spill the secrets of our friends, when we answer back our parents or refuse to obey them, when children waste their money on their vices and other non-essential things instead of studying their lessons while their mother or father is toiling day and night abroad as an OFW.
Betrayal is so painful and most unkind because we exchange or “sell” our loved ones like commodities for someone or something less in value; imagine the pain a betrayer inflicts on the someone who gave everything, with all the love and care only to be “traded” for lesser value? It is said that during the time of Jesus, a slave can be bought for 30 pieces of silver; how foolish Judas must have been in exchanging Jesus who loved and cared for him for a slave! And that is what we are too when we betray God and our loved ones – fools to replace someone so precious for anything else!
Betrayal is rebelling against a loving God, a beloved one, turning our back from them who are most true to us. And that is the short of it: betrayal is not being true.
Holiness is being true; holiness and truth always go together.
The word true is from the Anglo-Saxon treowe or tree. For them, truth is like a tree that evokes a sense of firmness, of being rooted in the ground. When our words and actions are not firm, shaky and always changing, flimsy or “pabago-bago” as we say in Filipino, then it must not be true. It must be a lie and not true at all because it is always changing or shifting.
Photo by author, St. Paul Spirituality Center, La Trinidad, Benguet, 2019.
Truth is always firm, does not change and remains true forever. It may be concealed or covered by lies for sometime but sooner or later, truth will always come out. It cannot be deleted. That is why the Greeks referred to truth as aletheia or phusis, the blooming of a flower that cannot be hidden and would always manifest or show. Jesus himself assured us that “nothing that is hidden will not be revealed; nor anything secret that will not be known and come to light” (Lk.8:17).
Closely linked with the word true is trust which also came from treowe: the Anglo-Saxons saw in the tree not only firmness but also rootedness or connectedness. The firmer the tree, the deeper are its roots. And that is what a true person is – always trustworthy, someone who can be trusted, someone who values relationships or ties and links. Traitors betray their loved ones because they do not value their relationships; a true person is always trustworthy because he values his relationships. A true and trustworthy person is one who would always listen to God and others, not insisting on his own plans and agenda like the Suffering Servant of God.
The Lord God has given me a well-trained tongue, that I might know how to speak to the weary a word that will rouse them. Morning after morning he opens my ear that I may hear, and I have not rebelled, have not turned back. I gave my back to those who beat me, my cheeks to those who plucked my beard; my face I did not shield from buffets and spitting.
Isaiah 50:4-6
Photo from Pinterest.
Remember the scene of the scourging at the pillar in the film The Passion of the Christ (2004)? Biblical experts say that gory scene was very true as it was the most painful aspect of the Lord’s passion next to the crucifixion; every time the knuckles would hit the body of Jesus, a piece of his flesh is torn off. Pilate ordered Jesus to be flogged in the belief that people might pity him when seen so tortured and bruised, perhaps agree to let him go freely.
But it did not happen as the people shouted more for his crucifixion.
And that is what happens when we betray our loved ones, including Jesus: the more we become indecisive in life like Pilate, the more we also betray them because we could not stand for what is true. That is also when we hurt them more and ourselves in the process too.
So often, traitors are not aware of their betrayals, believing in their wrongful and misplaced convictions, forgetting the people who love them most. Many times, we absolutize the truth, forgetting that only God is absolute. Most of all, that truth is a Person, Jesus Christ who said “I am the way, the truth and the life” (Jn.16:6). Being true, being holy is always directed to a person, not just a conviction.
So be careful by being true always with one’s self, with others and with God.
What makes you forget the truth and be untrue to others?
Lord Jesus Christ,
teach me to be true and holy
not only to you but most especially
to the people you give me,
those who love me truly and dearly;
make me like a tree,
firm and reliable,
dependable and trustworthy,
most of all, deeply rooted in you
through then people I love and care and serve.
Amen.
Photo by Mr. Raffy Tima of GMA7-News, January 2022.
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