Christmas Stable, stability of mankind

Lord My Chef Christmas Eve Recipe, 24 December 2025

*Photo by Ar. Philip Santiago, a mural of angels announcing the birth of Jesus Christ to shepherds in the field, Angels’ Field Chapel in Bethlehem, October 2025.*

A blessed Merry Christmas, friends ad relatives, especially our followers. In our Monday’s Simbang Gabi when Mary sang her Magnificat during her Visitation of Elizabeth, we reflected how songs not only express our innermost thoughts and feelings but reveal our very person, too.

Allow me this Christmas to share with you a song I have recently heard to reflect on the meaning of Jesus Christ’s birth. The song is called “My Lord Has Come” written in 2010 by Will Todd, a renowned contemporary British composer and pianist who blends melodic classical compositions with jazz elements. Check YouTube to feel its moving music but for now, experience the sense of wonder in its inspiring lyrics.

Shepherds, called by angels,
called by love and angels:
No place for them but a stable.
My Lord has come.

Sages, searching for stars,
searching for love in heaven;
No place for them but a stable.
My Lord has come.

His love will hold me,
his love will cherish me,
love will cradle me.
Lead me, lead me to see him,
sages and shepherds and angels;
No place for me but a stable.
My Lord has come.

*Photo by Ar. Philip Santiago, a mural of shepherds as first visitors to the newborn King of kings, Angels’ Field Chapel in Bethlehem, October 2025.*

I learned and heard this song last week while researching for materials this Christmas. And the word “stable” struck me.

See its varied meanings. First, “stable” means firm and sturdy, unshakeable like a stable table, stable ground, and stable truth or opinion. But during this period, we know a “stable” also refers to the Nativity scene or creche which we Filipinos call as a Belen that is actually a translation of the Lord’s birthplace of Bethlehem.

In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that the whole world should be enrolled. This was the first enrollment, when Quirinius was governor of Syria. So all went to be enrolled, each to his own town. And Joseph too went up from Galilee from the town of Nazareth to Judea, to the city of David that is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David, to be enrolled with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. While they were there, the time came for her to have her child, and she gave birth to her firstborn son. She wrapped him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn (Luke 2:1-7).

How lovely that God manifested to us in the most humble way, being born on a manger, at a stable for animals!

And see now why Christmas is the greatest exchange gift of all time when God became human like us born in a stable so that we too may become divine like Him.

But, it is no easy exchange gift we often do in our Christmas parties when we just have to buy gifts that fall within the range of prices we have agreed upon. Jesus Christ the Son of God came not for any price that can be bought and paid by humans for He came with His whole life and being.

Picture the Christmas stable, of how the eternal entered the temporal, the infinite and perfect became flesh and bones and blood among us, so intimate with life and all the mess and chaos of living including death itself. He was born because He loves each one of us immensely.

And listen now to Will Todd telling us, “The Lord has come in a stable… anyone searching for Him – whether angels or shepherds or sages like the Magis, there’s no place except the stable.

Even for me and for us searching for stability in life, meaning in life, direction in life that can be found only in the stable where the Lord has come. How lovely!

In the silence of the darkest night of the year, amid the loud claims of everyone being the greatest and most powerful, the best and brightest, unknown to them the only true great and mighty one is in the stable.

In the gospel we heard too how the shepherds went in haste to visit the newborn Messiah in the stable, rejoicing afterwards at the great sight and good news they have found.

But, how about us today? How sad nobody cares at all to go to the Holy Mass which is actually the modern Christmas stable of Bethlehem which means “house of bread”. Jesus is the Bread of life as He preached later in life in the Gospel of John. On the eve of His death at the Last Supper, Jesus gave Himself as the Bread broken and shared for all lifetime to lead us to eternity.

How sad that we search for life’s meaning and sense in the most unstable of all instances like science and technology, new thoughts and ideas that overextend our rights without any regard for responsibilities and true freedom. If there is anything that merits haste these days, it is the things of God like the Mass and prayers and Sacred Scriptures. Not social media and all those viral and trending reels of our follies and stupidities we love to follow.

*Photo by author, Christmas 2021 at Basic Education Department Chapel, OLFU-Valenzuela City.*

See also the animals in the Christmas stable especially the ox and donkey who all symbolize our blindness to God who humbly came to us in the stable. Isaiah and the other prophets in the Old Testament lamented how animals particularly the ox and donkey “know” so well where to go when hungry and thirsty which is the stable while we humans wander far because we are so blinded by many things.

Christmas tells us humans to stop looking so far as Will Todd insists in his great composition My Lord Has Come inspired by our readings last night and today: it is only in Bethlehem that we find the true stable reality of life where the Son of God was born so that we now reckon time according to His birth with BC and AD because humans and civilizations do not last. “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Hebews 13:8).

Our only stability in life is found in the Christmas stable especially when the nights are dark and long. Amen. A blessed and stable Merry Christmas to you!

Anamnesis

Quiet Storm by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, 21 August 2025

*Photo by author, St. Joseph Chapel, St. Paul Center for Renewal, Alfonso, Cavite, 20 August 2025.*

As we ended our annual clergy retreat today when we remembered in the Mass a saint, Pope Pius X and a hero, Benigno “Ninoy” S. Aquino Jr. , I wish to reflect on the word “remember”, a very lovely word worth remembering always.

From the prefix “RE” that connotes repetition as in again and the root “MEMBER” that means a part, to remember literally is to make someone or something a part again. What and who we remember are those gone and away from us, a history in the past. More than mere recalling of a person, event or thing, remembering is making those absent present.

Though the philosopher Martin Heidegger rightly claimed that we humans are “beings of forgetfulness,” God actually programmed us for remembering: from infancy to childhood, our parents drilled into us to remember our name and address, the names of people around us, of things, and everything as we grew. That is why the expression “kalimutan mo na yun” is the most useless piece of advice anyone can give. It is impossible to forget, whether it is so good or so bad. What we need is to harness the power of remembering, to continue learning from the past whether good or bad because whatever is remembered for all its worth is always the best teacher anyone can have.

Remembering is a power because it is a grace, a gift from God himself. When we remember, we not only time travel to the past but make it present in order to perfect us. The past cannot be changed anymore as insisted by Japanese writer Toshikazu Kawaguchi in his series of novels Before the Coffee Gets Cold.

Remembering changes the person, not the past. It is in remembering the bitter lessons of the past we learn most in life because that is when we experience healing and fulfillment. Hence, remembering is at the very core of George Santayana’s warning that whoever does not learn from history is condemned to repeat it. Remembering enables us to move on in life by finding our ways and ultimately our very selves anew especially when lost and confused.

Of God’s many gifts to us, remembering is the most unique because it is never lost at all. People who refuse to remember are the most difficult to deal with like politicians, crooks and low-lifers. And the more corrupt and evil people are, the more they are forgetful, remembering or knowing nothing at all!

God meant us to keep this gift of remembering to be always reasonable and just, or simply good and sane because it keeps us in touch with reality, making us grow and mature in his love. Actually, it is remembering that continues to operate among us despite our faltering memory or even with those afflicted with Alzheimer’s and dementia because remembering is more than keeping information and details like names of people but most of all of God’s interventions through persons and events in our lives individually and collectively that significantly made us experience joy and gladness so crucial for our growth and maturity, eventually in the achievement of our goals.

On the bulletin board of our sacristy at the National Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima in Valenzuela City is a laminated piece of bond paper with the Greek word “anamnesis” written in Greek.

It was personally printed and posted on Holy Thursday 2010 by the former rector and parish priest of the Fatima Shrine Msgr. Bart Santos now the Bishop of Iba, Zambales. I remember that so well because that was the first time I was assigned as an attached priest at the Fatima Shrine in June 2010 to June 2011 under Bishop Bart.

According to Bishop Bart who used to teach Sacred Scriptures in the seminary, he wanted to instill in all their servers of the Mass the value and meaning of the Eucharist as an anamnesis or remembering. I was so glad upon my return in February 2021 at the Fatima Shrine again as an attached priest while working full-time as chaplain at the Our Lady of Fatima University and the Fatima University Medical Center that the sign of Bishop Bart was still there – until now! I just hope the people here realize and still remember that word anamnesis as Bishop Bart had explained to them during the Holy Thursday Mass ten years ago.

When everything seems dark in life with family and friends betraying us, when people we have helped turn against us, denying having known us, try remembering Jesus went through all these first at his Last Supper.

When you feel lost for directions in life, when you are into a burnout, when nothing seems to be working in your favor that you can’t find sparks of inspiration and zeal anymore, remember that first day when you embarked on this journey in life. Remember the people, the places and the things that bring you gladness and joy in pursuing your passion or fulfilling your mission. Most of all, remember when God called you to whatever mission he sent you.

Remembering is a form of stepping back to stop, to create a space and let God work in us as we have reflected last Monday (https://lordmychef.com/2025/08/18/steps-to-god/). This is what we need most in our selves and in our country as a people: the virtue of remembering, of making present the movements of God in our history. Ninoy Aquino did the supreme sacrifice of coming home in August 21, 1983 because he remembered the country he most loved; he remembered his call and mission to serve; he remembered the ideals and mission fought for by our heroes like Jose Rizal and Andres Bonifacio.

It is in remembering we remain anchored to our call and mission in life, both individually and communally. Without remembering, we cannot progress because we lack reference points of what we have covered, of where we are. That is why even the angels at Easter had to remind Mary Magdalene and companions, “He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you while he was still with you in Galilee…” (Lk.24:6). Most of all, let us remember always the words of Jesus at his Ascension so we may keep on pursuing our mission in him, “And remember that I am with you always until the end of time” (Matt. 28:20). May God bless you always!

Steps to God

Quiet Storm by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, 18 August 2025

*Photo by author, pilgrims awaiting their turn inside the Ascension site of Jesus outside Jerusalem, May 2019.*

It has been a month since I have taken a break from my daily walking following that fall in our garage when I hurt my left knee that still aches to this day. But as I rested my onehod (twohod if both knees), I have realized in prayers that there are just two important steps we have to take for a fuller life instead of those 10,000 steps daily.

The first is to always step back one or two steps backwards and stop to make a space for God and for others in our life. Though life is a constant moving forward, it is essential that once in a while we step back and stop to see everything in ourselves and around us. Let God direct you because life is more of adjusting to the many shiftings and transitions that happen every day (https://lordmychef.com/2025/08/11/god-in-our-many-transitions/). Stepping back is being flexible in life.

Since turning 18, we have all been taking charge of our lives, each of us demanding a driver’s license, but, as we approach the age of 60, our interest in driving wane that we prefer more to be a passenger than being on the steering wheel. I have semi-retired from driving last year as I leave my car behind six days a week to take ride-hailing and ride-sharing services. Aside from reasons of convenience, taking a Grab car makes me more productive and most of all, relaxed in getting to my destinations and back home.

When life is so confusing, so dark and you feel so lost, step back and stop. Many times in life what really happens is that we unconsciously eject God from our lives as we go on with our responsibilities and projects even apostolates and ministry thinking we are doing the work of God. The moment things go wrong, when failures and problems happen, we then question God where he is or why did he allow bad things to happen with us. Truth is, God never left us, has always been with us but we never recognized him because we were so busy. Hence, the need to step back and stop to meet him. Finally.

Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, the headland of Pisgah which faces Jericho, and the Lord showed him all the land… The Lord then said to him, “This is the land which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob that I would give to your descendants, I have let you feast your eyes upon it, but you shall not cross over.” So there, in the land of Moab, Moses, the servant of the Lord, died as the Lord had said (Deuteronomy 34:1, 4).

See how Moses was portrayed in the first readings last week, slowly stepping back from the daily scene among the Israelites in the wilderness as he passed leadership to Joshua his successor. It is perhaps the earliest account in the Bible of the virtue of “ageing gracefully” in the Lord by Moses.

It is a virtue so needed these days in modern time that Pope Benedict XVI taught us in 2013 when he resigned, taking that bold step backward to stop from his active duties to spend the rest of his life in prayers. That move proved beyond doubts the true humility and holiness of Pope Benedict XVI who peacefully died right at the transition of the year on December 31, 2022.

Not only successions proceed smoothly when we learn to step back and stop as seen in Moses and Pope Benedict. Stepping back to stop and allow God to do his work among us strengthen and make better our human relationships often strained by those into sin and evil. See these as the steps proposed by Jesus in his instructions when one commits sin:

Jesus said to his disciples: “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone… If he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, so that every fact may be established on the testimony of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell the Church. If he refuses to listen even to the Church, then treat him as you would a Gentile or a tax collector” (Matthew 18:15,16-17).

Relationships are shattered when we “overstep” on family and friends into sinful situations where stepping backward is the more prudent choice to take. Stepping backward allows us to learn more the situation and avoid making rash judgments against anyone that often starts, then gets aggravated in social media. Stepping back is not just being circumspect at all but simply trying to be more fair and accurate where social media is filled with inaccurate and totally false reports or fake news.

*Photo by Dra. Mylene A. Santos, MD, 2023.*

The second important step that literally brings us closer to God and others is taking that first bold step into water. Yes. Stepping on water is the other special step we need to learn and make for a fuller life in God.

Recall whenever you go swimming at the pool or the beach. There is always that someone in the family or among friends or even our very self so timid or wary of the cold water who would ask that stupid question, is the water cold?

Of course – you will never know how cold the water in the pool or the sea until you take that plunge! It may sound simple but, many times we are afraid to take the first step forward into any body of water or even the shower due to the chills that quickly follow. But we also know very well from experience the great feelings that come after every plunge into water!

The spiritual value of making this crucial step forward into water is found in the first reading last Thursday at the crossing of the Jordan River by the Israelites into the Promised Land under Joshua. Leading them were the priests carrying the ark of the covenant who took the first steps on the banks of Jordan River that caused it to part and enabled the people to cross into the other side, reminiscent of the crossing of the Red Sea during their exodus from Egypt with Moses (https://lordmychef.com/2025/08/14/praying-to-step-forward-in-christ/).

The people struck their tents to cross the Jordan, with the priests carrying the ark of the covenant ahead of them. No sooner had these priestly bearers of the ark waded into the waters at the edge of the Jordan…than the waters flowing from upstream halted, backing up in a solid mass for every great distance indeed… while those flowing downstream toward the Salt Sea of the Arabah disappeared entirely. Thus the people crossed over opposite Jericho (Joshua 3:14-15, 16).

Water is life but it also evokes death at the same time. Too much water can drown and kill us that is why we are afraid to take the first step forward into the river or the sea. We fear, we doubt even mistrust God, others and our self in taking the first step forward into water without realizing how that step could be the only thing left for us to move on in life. Stepping into water and allowing our feet to get wet in order to cross a stream or a river is one of the boldest moves we can make in life because that could be the very moment when God is actually making a way for us when our usual routes are impassable.

That is why I tried linking that first reading with the story of the saint of that day, St. Maximilian Kolbe (August 14) who “stepped forward” to their prison guards to take the place of a married man to be executed as a punishment following the escape of a prisoner at Auschwitz. Like the priests of Joshua, St. Maximilian carried the ark of the covenant – Jesus Christ – inside the gas chambers that ignited the flames of courage and faith in God to other prisoners at that time.

These days, we need more men and women of faith, hope and love in God willing to step forward into waters that can be dark and murky, even lethal with unknown substances like the modern miseries of human trafficking, substance abuse, sex slavery, extreme poverty and other systematic inhuman conditions that now afflict mankind. Taking that bold step into water carrying Christ across the river is enabling the others to pass through from death to life, from grief to joy, and from hopelessness to love.

Pray for us your priests in the Diocese of Malolos as we go on retreat today until Thursday that we may truly step backwards and stop these days to let God take charge of our lives and ministry anew. Most of all, that we may have the grace of fervor and courage to carry and follow Jesus in crossing the many rivers and streams of life when the usual routes are impassable due to sickness and other miseries. Amen. Have a fulfilling week ahead.

Scammers & Samaritans: living in the net

Quiet Storm by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, 15 July 2025

Bless me, for I have sinned: this Father is a “dinosaur” so afraid of modern technology, so hesitant even in upgrading my cellphone and laptop. And most of all, always suspicious of messages in social media.

Generally, I am more inclined to mistrust everything in the net. But, something happened this Monday that I feel like changing this attitude.

I have celebrated Mass of the Holy Spirit in our Cabanatuan City campus before noon when I found multiple “message requests” from some people asking if I know their former boss at NEDA, Mr. Joseph T. Lalog, a first cousin we fondly called Kuya Jojo.

My initial reaction was budol. Scam.

But when I read that he was in the ER of a hospital in EDSA, I prayed and finally hit the number sent to me by a certain Byron to inquire about Kuya Jojo. After a brief introduction, I was told Kuya Jojo had just died after being rushed that morning to the Victor R. Potenciano Medical Center (VRPMC) in EDSA, Mandaluyong City.

Kuya Jojo was allegedly found by a janitress lying on the floor in one of the restrooms of Shangrila Mall morning of July 14, 2025. He was rushed by the mall’s emergency response team to the ER of VRPMC where doctors tried to revive him but later declared as dead around noon that Monday.

The people at the ER checked Kuya Jojo’s contacts in his cellphone and like my initial reaction, his former staff and colleagues at work thought it was also budol until after they have personally called the hospital with some of them going there to verify the report.

That was when Byron and his colleagues at NEDA who were under Kuya Jojo tried reaching out to us by checking his Facebook contact lists of “Lalog” and “Tobias”. And similarly, we all suspected it could be a scam because Kuya Jojo had always been healthy without any vice at all. He was a varsity of the track and field team at De La Salle University where he finished AB Political Science.

What convinced me to set aside my doubts and press that number provided by Byron was his message that my Kuya Jojo would always speak to him about my being a priest. He asked in one of his texts, “kayo po ba si Father Nick pinsan ni Sir Jojo?” With that, I finally felt deep inside this must be true. Not a scam. Or budol.

Mahirap palang maging netizen, mabuhay sa internet.

You know that daily or maybe every second of struggles just to verify and check whether those messages and information in the social media are true or not.

Baka niloloko ka lang? O, ako lang ang OC, takot at duda sa social media?

Ang hirap lalo na sa gitna ng maraming kuwento ng pangloloko at mga budol ng kung sino sino sa social media at internet na kahit kaming mga pari niloloko o ginagamit sa pangbubudol!

At ang pinakamahirap sa lahat – kapag binabanggit na pangalan ng mga taong malapit sa iyo katulad ng pinsan kong buo na si Kuya Jojo. Ang hirap at nakakatakot paniwalaan mga texts na namatay o kung napano na…

That entire stretch of travel from Cabanatuan City to EDSA, I felt being warped between reality and virtual reality, between the net and the real world. What if this is not true? Paano ako?

Aside from those things running in my mind, I was also thinking of my elder relatives. How am I going to break the news? How reliable were those people if they were really the colleagues and staff of my cousin even after I spoke to one of them on phone?

As I thought of my cousin lying on the floor of the CR of the mall, suddenly I remembered last Sunday’s gospel of the good Samaritan. It was like a modern version. My cousin almost dead or already dead on the marble floor of the restroom when a janitress had the courage and mercy to call their emergency response team.

Most of all, of the most kindred souls of Kuya Jojo’s friends and colleagues who never gave up on reaching out to us. They are all the modern good Samaritans who “treated him with mercy” (Lk.10:37).

I arrived 4:30 PM in the hospital where the ER doctor in charge briefed me of Kuya Jojo’s death. Soon Byron arrived and told the doctor my cousin’s medical condition while the funeral service sent by my uncle in Los Baños finally arrived at around 8:00 PM.

At the morgue, I gave the final blessings for Kuya Jojo before being transported to Los Baños where his wake will be held at the Heaven’s Gate Memorial Park in Bgy. Anos. After thanking and blessing Byron and the hospital staff, I booked my ride home as I had earlier sent home our university driver to rest for another trip to our Pampanga campus the following morning.

*Photo by cottonbro studio on Pexels.com*

In less than ten minutes I was on board my Grab ride to Valenzuela City, still wondering what had happened that Monday. As I scrolled on my Facebook and Instagram with its bright light filling my ride, I felt a sense of relief that Jesus is very much present in the internet, in social media. St. Paul wrote it so well more than 2000 years ago that “where sin increased, grace overflowed all the more” (Rom. 5:20).

No matter how bad we see the world including the internet these days with its many sins and evil, God assured me that night that there are still far more good people, good Samaritans than evil ones. We simply have to make the right choice always by choosing Jesus who remains “the way, the truth, and the life” (Jn. 14:6). God bless everyone!

*Thank you to the staff and colleagues of the late Joseph T. Lalog at the NEDA. We do not have yet the details of his wake and interment as his sisters are arriving only this Thursday. On behalf of our clan, thank you and may God bless you more!

Mothers’ nine lives

Quiet Storm by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, 07 July 2025

For the first time in 25 years since daddy’s passing, I did not deliver any homily during his death anniversary Mass in our home last June 17, 2025. My sisters readily agreed when I told them after the gospel proclamation “hindi na ako mag-homily at baka maiyak lang tayo.”

It was the second time we celebrated daddy’s death anniversary after mommy’s passing last May 7, 2024 but, it was only at that time when I truly felt the deeper realities of both parents being gone, of being “ulilang lubos”.

Perhaps that’s because we have been preoccupied for over two decades with mommy’s grief when dad passed away right on her 61st birthday before dawn of June 17, 2000. We were at a loss how to pacify her with such a surreal date for the two most loving couple we have known first hand. During my dad’s wake, we have to warn everybody not to mention anything about mom’s birthday.

From then on, mommy practically stopped celebrating her birthday even when she turned 70, 75, and 80 as we threw small gatherings at home for her siblings and friends but she would always remind us all not to forget it was also daddy’s death anniversary.

That is why I have always dreaded the days approaching June 17 because I felt sad for her. I thought after her death last year, it would be different because we would no longer see mommy sad on her birthday mourning dad’s death. I told myself, “hindi na malulungkot si mommy… hindi na rin kami malulungkot.”

But I was wrong.

Hindi na nga malungkot ang mommy ko ngayon pero ako naman ang malungkot – malungkot na malungkot. Noon ngang araw ng Linggo bago mag-June 17, naalala ko ang mommy at daddy bigla kaya naluha ako sa bahagi ng Ama Namin noong aming Misa sa Dambana. Wala na sila dito. Iyon una ko nadama, ulila na nga kami at saka pa lamang naisip ko magkasama na sila sa buhay na walang hanggan.

Indeed, the pains of losing our loved ones never decrease through time but actually increase. Those pains will remain until we are reunited with them in death and eternity.

There are pains in life meant to remain, that cannot be removed like a hole or a scar in our hearts not to burden nor hurt us but to uplift us actually. These wounds keep us in persevering in love to keep our relationships alive with those left behind after the deaths of our loved ones like parents or children. These wounds enable our hearts to sing of faith, hope and love in God all merciful who would one day unite us all together as one family after our days on this earth. These pains make us see the very thin line separating us from eternity, telling us that life goes on among us even after death. They open our eyes to see beyond, to have visions of the future.

*Photo by author, my mom’s kitty bank, 10.5 inches to the tip of ears.*

While these things were running through me during our family dinner that night, my brother presented to me mommy’s “kitty bank” which is older than I am, 61 years old. It is one of her most cherished possessions she truly took great care as far as I can remember.

I have been thinking about it recently if it were still around though I never had any interest with it when growing up as a child except that I enjoyed counting the rare coins inside mostly dating back to the American occupation with the usual designs of the US flag and an eagle.

That evening on dad’s 25th death anniversary that could have been mom’s 86th birthday if she were still alive today, I felt a very strong attraction with that “kitty bank” whose face seemed to be speaking to me.

*Photo by author, my mom’s kitty bank, circa 1964.*

As I held it closer to see its many fissures and tapes following the wear and tear of over 60 years, I saw mommy again, of how she loved us and life so much, especially cats, dogs and fish, and most of all, plants- being a certified tita herself. Our house may be small but mommy lovingly took care of her pets and plants, always talking with them even after having a stroke.

Like the cat with its nine lives, death is never the end but the prelude to new life or, more lives hereafter.

And that is the nobility and giftedness of every mother – even after they are gone, they continue to bring forth and nurture life. God bless everyone… and the cats.

*Photo by author, my mom’s kitty bank in my room.*

Our imperfect love

Quiet Storm by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, 26 May 2025

*Photo by author, Northern Blossoms Farm, Atok, Benguet, 26 December 2024.*

Human love is imperfect; only God can love us perfectly.

Many times we get disappointed with our loved ones for not loving us enough or not loving us at all when in fact, they do love us! They come in different forms like strict parents or teachers, an OFW who has to leave his/her loved ones behind for better earnings so the children can go to good schools or an eager-beaver colleague who sometimes gets to our nerves for the things he/she does for us not to irritate us but to help us actually. And yes, parents who give away their children in the belief they can have a better future if they grow up not with them.

We all want to love perfectly or be loved perfectly but that is not possible because we humans are not perfect. We err, miscalculate situations and misjudge persons. Many times, we do not understand nor comprehend situations for we cannot know everything right away nor at all.

The good news is, the more we realize the imperfections of our love, that is when we are perfected, when we become better persons, when we actually become more loving with others by being patient and understanding, kind and forgiving. Our efforts to love though imperfect shall perfect us.

It is in our imperfect love we also learn how to sacrifice and let go because we love. The beloved disciple of Jesus wrote that “No one has ever seen God. Yet, if we love one another, God remains in us, and his love is brought to perfection in us (1 John 4:12). Every time we are bothered, when we feel guilty of not loving much or not being loved, chill. Be patient. And wait for everything to clear up. There must have been a breakdown in communication or too much presumptions on anyone’s part. Be open. Most of all, even if you felt not loved or no one loves, keep loving. For as long as we love, we grow. We mature.

Love, love, love!

It is the most potent force in the universe. We came into being because of love. We live to love. For as long as there is love, we shall not perish.

Stop loving, then we die.

*Photo by author, Sakura Farm, Atok, Benguet, 26 December 2024.*

When we do not love, that is when we perish because we no longer hope and believe in anyone nor anything. That is the end.

St. Paul said it perfectly, “So faith, hope, and love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love” (1 Cor. 13:13). After we have died, only love remains in heaven: we do not need faith nor hope because love is everything we believe and hope. Even those we leave behind will just keep on loving that life will continue until we all come together in eternity. Still loving.

Hence, love cannot be defined. Love is infinite and can only be described. And though it is imperfect in human terms, our expressions of love has no limits. That is why, “tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all” (Lord Alfred Tennyson in 1849). Bow. To love.

*Photo by author, Angels’ Hills Retreat and Spirituality Center, Tagaytay City, 18 April 2025.*

Windows to past & to future

Quiet Storm by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, 24 March 2025

Some people have been asking me how does it feel to be sigisty years old? I really don’t have any complete answer yet except the feeling of sudden shift in my perspectives in life.

Whether it is what experts call as the gestalt shift, I do not know. However, since I have failed in a psychological exam to the major seminary in 1982 that forced me to forget all about the priesthood momentarily (nine years), I have always thought of myself as “crazy” with weird thoughts and ideas, weird perceptions coming from weird images and illusions I see on many things

These manifest in my photography subjects that are often wala lang, as in trip trip lang talaga. Like in my recent annual retreat at the Sacred Heart Novitiate in Novaliches where I have been coming since 2016. Suddenly this year, my focus were so bent on the most ordinary features of this venerable institution that is about 75 years old.

During my stay there last week, the stairs, the windows, and the arches that are even older than me be4came so lovely and interesting. I felt so drawn to them that I had a lot of shots taken upon my arrival.

The Sacred Heart Novitiate is my “happy place” because it is my Bethel where I “dreamt” like Jacob of the stairway to heaven (Gen. 28:10-22). It is also my Peniel or Penuel (Gen. 32:23-32) where like Jacob I also wrestled with God or an angel in deep prayers every year.

In my previous article, I have explained that maybe my focus on the stairs was due to my excitement in awaiting the Netflix documentary on Led Zeppelin whose most famous song is called Stairway to Heaven.

Today, I share with you some photos I have taken with my weird perceptions of the Sacred Heart Novitiate’s windows that suddenly evoked a lot of ideas in me as a sigisty year old man so loved by God.

Being a new senior sixty cent only last Saturday, I felt the joy of being able to look at a very long past of both beautiful and sad even painful memories that have made me who I am today.

Despite the hurts and scars from the many battles in life, I am still glad and thankful for the gift of six decades.

Being a sigisty year old man is like looking out the window, marveling at how fast times have flown that many times, some scenes in my life are like some spots outside that look so near that are actually so far and distant.

I felt my getting old started the time I kept saying “40 years ago ba iyon” when commenting on an event or a song or a movie. Parang kailan lang pero matagal na pala!

Like in life itself, you can choose your focus when looking outside the window: you may include the window itself in the vista like a frame or totally disregard its existence and simply look at the world outside or the past itself. You may also focus on the sceneries you prefer, more of the lovely ones and less of the unsightly.

On the other hand, I have strongly felt too as I turned sigisty years old how my remaining days on earth are numbered. Looking back to the past seems an endless horizon while looking into the future is very definite. You can see already the end of the line, so to speak s you get that feeling my days are numbered. That is the moment when the eternal spring within tells you that at the end of that tunnel or wall is eternity. But, before that, you know the end is near.

The word “window” came from the Old Norse vindauga, from vind or “wind” that was pronounced as the English “wind” and auga for eye that phonetically sounded as “ow” that literally meant “wind-eye” that became the Old English word wind-ow or “window” as we know and use it today.

Hence, window became the term for an opening in any building like home that allows air and light to pass through. Most of all, it is an opening for people inside to see the world outside while giving those outside a glimpse of what’s inside.

How lovely is that interplay happening in every window that opens a person’s vista outside and inside. It is how one looks on windows that makes the great difference that eventually forms our perspectives in life.

About three decades ago, Bill Gates launched his company Microsoft’s operating system called Windows that greatly revolutionized our lives with computers becoming easily accessible for everyone. Unlike its funny looking predecessor called dost, Windows was aptly called as one had to simply click a box like literally opening a window to explore its many programs.

Windows – the real ones like in buildings – still present us with such great possibilities when we look outside or into them.

But of course, that still greatly depends on that one great window God had gifted us – our eyes that have both sight and vision.

Jesus told his disciples, “The lamp of the body is the eye. If your eye is sound, your whole body will be filled with light; but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be in darkness. And if the light in you is darkness, how great will the darkness be” (Matthew 6:22-23).

How unfortunate that many times, we prefer to limit the use of our eyes to just sights that limit our perspectives on what are simply obvious and visible.

Only a few called as visionaries dare to use their eyes to have vision, that is, to see and look beyond what’s visible and before us, whether from the window or into the window.

If we can have our eyes synced together with both sight and vision, then we shall see much more in this life that we become grateful with our past while at the same time filled with joyful expectations of the fast approaching beyond of this world as we age. Amen.

*All photos taken by the author using the iPhone 16 Pro Max at the Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, March 17-22, 2025.

Sigisty years old

Lawiswis ng Salita ni P. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Ika-22 ng Marso 2025

Larawan ng una kong birthday, sigisty years ago; nakaalalay sa akin si mommy (SLN) habang masayang nagsindi ng kandila ang kanyang Ditse, ang Tita Connie na nasa Amerika at buhay pa kasama ng kanyang mga anak na sina Alexis na ka-birthday ko katabi ng mommy at si RAF katabi ko; si Kuya Edgar pinakamatangkad at matanda sa mga pinsan ay nasa Amerika din. Di ko matiyak sinu-sino mga kasama sa party na mga pinsan ko lahat.

Sigisty years old na ako.
Sa isang taon sigisty one
Sa susunod sigisty two
tapos sigisty three
sigisty four
sigisty five 
sigisty six
sigisty seven
sigisty eight at
ewan, kung 
aabutin ko pa
mag(ing) sigisty-nine.

Salamuch sa lahat
ng mga nakasama at
nakasabay sa paglalakbay
sa buhay nitong anim na dekada,
sa mga naniwala 
at ayaw pa ring maniwala;
ang lahat ay pagpapala
ng Mabuting Bathala
na sa atin ay lumikha
itinakda tayong
maging ganap 
sa piling Niyang Banal.

Maraming dapat ipagpasalamat
sa aking mga biyayang natanggap
bagaman kulang na kulang
at tiyak kakapusin
aking mabubuting gawain
kaya sana ako ay inyong patawarin
lalo ng Panginoong butihin;
wala akong panghihinayang
sa aking mga nakaraan 
na kung aking babalikan
ay hindi ko na babaguhin
bagkus lahat ay uulitin pa rin!

Hindi man pansin
ako ay mahiyain,
alinlangan sa aking husay
at galing, napipigilan palagi
lumarga at magsapalaran
sa maraming hamon ng buhay
kaya't nitong mga nagdaan
akin nang pinag-iisipan
magpahingalay
tigilan nang pakikibaka
manahimik na lang,
umiwas sa ingay at gulo ng buhay.

Bukod sa 20-percent discount
ng pagiging senior sixty-cent
pinakamasarap sa pagiging sigisty
ang napakaraming ala-alang masarap
balikan maski na marami ring 
masasakit at mapapait na di malilimutan
na sadyang sakbibi nating palagi
dapat pa ring ipagpasalamat
sa maraming aral sa atin nagmulat
masarap pa rin ang mabuhay
kaya't sabik ko nang hinihintay
walang hanggang kinabukasan
maaring malasap 
ano man ating edad 
kung mamumuhay nang ganap.

2004 sa Parokya ng Santisima Trinidad, Malolos City.
Holy Land, 2017.
Diaconal ordination 1997
28 Pebrero 2025
GMA7 News, 1989.

Lent is the Cross of Christ

40 Shades of Lent by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Thursday after Ash Wednesday, 06 March 2025
Deuteronomy 30:15-20  +  Luke 9:22-25

Why always the Cross,
Lord Jesus Christ?
Many times
I grapple not only
with myself but especially
with others at how to explain,
what to tell them
the need for your Cross
when all in our lives
has always been the cross.
Even the simple act of choosing,
of deciding
is a cross.

And yet,
we still foolishly
choose
death in the process
by avoiding your Cross,
Lord.

Moses said to the people: “Today I have set before you life and prosperity, death and doom” (Deuteronomy 30:15).

In this Season of Lent,
let me appreciate anew
the beauty and majesty,
nobility and divinity 
of your Cross,
Jesus;
always looming in our lives
is your Cross
because that is where
you are always found,
that is where you stay
most of the time
to heal us,
to forgive us,
to save us.
There is always
the Cross in our lives
because it is the direction
to life,
to fulfillment,
to fruitfulness
in you, Jesus
who was the first
to suffer and die
on the Cross
for us
so we can have life.
Let us carry our Cross
to make that crossing
into life in you.
Amen.

Jesus on the street

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Thursday, Sixth Week in Ordinary Time, Year I, 20 February 2025
Genesis 9:1-13 <*{{{{>< + ><}}}}*> Mark 8:27-33

Jesus and his disciples set out for the villages of Caesarea Philippi. Along the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” They said in reply, “John the Baptist, others Elijah, still others one of the prophets.” And he asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter said to him in reply, “You are the Christ.” (Mark 8:27-29)

You are always on the move,
Lord Jesus:
you are always moving,
crossing the lake,
hiking in the mountains
and most often,
walking the streets.

What a lovely imagery
of you, Jesus,
always on the road 
with me following you,
watching you,
observing you,
sometimes stopping
because of being tired
but you are always there
waiting for me.

And now,
what a lovely scene
of you back on the road again
but this time asking those closest
to you - including me! -
with that most personal question
of all: "But who do you say 
that I am?"

Who are you for me, Jesus?

So many, actually.
I may not be as eloquent
like Peter, but no doubt about
who are you for me, Jesus:
my life,
my meaning,
my love,
my hopes,
my fullness.

But,
very often along this
road,
on these streets we walk
and cross,
dear Jesus
when that who are you for me
is shaken,
is tested,
even doubted
like Peter:
how could you allow 
yourself and us your followers
suffer and cry,
and die?

He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and rise after three days. He spoke this openly. Then Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him (Mark 8:31-32).

Let us think always
as God does, Jesus,
not as human beings do
seeking fame and prestige,
comfort and wealth,
self and ego;
let me walk closer with you
Jesus on the streets,
on whatever road
you take
upholding that covenant
of God with Noah to
uphold and respect
human life by
"accounting for human
life" (Genesis 9:5);
more than the colorful
rainbows of the skies,
may we always see in your
outstretched arms on the Cross
the true and new covenant
of God with us sealed in 
your blood.
Amen.