40 Shades of Lent by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Thursday after Ash Wednesday, 19 February 2026 Deuteronomy30:15-20 +++ Luke 9:22-25
Can my life, or life itself be separated from you, my God?
Then he said to all, "If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it" (Luke 9:23-24).
As I immerse myself to your words today, Jesus, I remember so many occasions when I was younger always trying to save my life, simply clinging to my life, or asserting my life, that's when I lost in every count: it seems to me now that when we are young - and strong - we choose ourselves more, insist on ourselves, even shouting deep within "It's my life"...!
Sad truth is, we lost always as we felt most empty, no direction, no meaning in life. When life is too cushy, without any problems and challenges, that is when life is deep in serious trouble. It is not even life at all but felt like death!
But, Lord, I remember too that since I took that dive, when I thought less of my self, when I started following you, of losing my life for your sake, that was when I found meaning and fullness in life, when I truly save my life; it was a bumpy road, Lord - you know it very well how many times I stopped along the way to choose my own path, even dared leaving you but you were always there waiting for me, walking with me even in the opposite direction just to bring me back to you to gain my life in you.
Glory and praise to you, Lord Jesus! Your words are not just a rhetoric, nor a poetic overstatement of a guru or a teacher but actualizing words of the Son of God, our Savior and Messiah; you have given me with so much and I have given you so little; teach me to give more of myself to you so that I can give myself to others by giving more of you in loving service.
Let me choose you always, Jesus, for life itself cannot be separated from you who is life yourself. Amen.
Quiet Storm by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, 15 January 2026
Photo by Ar. Philip Santiago, Basilica of the Annunciation, Israel, October 2025.
Two priests and a former nun personally known to me died in our diocese last Sunday. It was also the birthdate of the late Bishop Cirilo Almario, Jr. whom I had remembered in my two early morning Masses on that Sunday, January 11, 2026.
In those two Masses too I mentioned in my homily the retreat I facilitated first week of January with my friends about “ageing gracefully” – my own realizations since joining their ranks as senior citizens last March.
Let me elaborate those two points I have shared with them and in my homily last Sunday.
From forbes.com.
First, let us embrace our being old. Stop saying “when we get old”, pagtanda natin because we are already old. Period. Matanda na tayo.
We cannot reverse our ageing process and it is useless to have all these cosmetic manipulations like dyeing our hair black or stretching our sagging skin and removing those wrinkles.
Embrace old age. It is beautiful and wonderful because it is so good. Our Filipino word for “old” says it all – matanda – which ironically so many women hate to hear as they stress that kalabaw lang ang tumatanda. That is not true.
Our word matanda is from the root word tanda which means “sign” that is why an old person is rightly called matanda because he/she is a sign of God’s goodness, a sign of God’s mercy and love, a sign of God’s beauty and majesty.
Moreover, a matanda is a sign of wisdom and grace that is why when we were young boys, we wanted to be old by putting our dad’s eyeglasses or taste his cigarettes and beer while girls put on their mom’s make up and high heeled shoes. How funny that when we are already old, we resist to accept the fact that we strive to look young again, sometimes ending up as nagmumurang kamatis.
Photo by Mr. Jim Marpa, 2019.
Technically speaking, “old” is actually harsh. Old is something about a past phase that has ran its course like being outdated. Luma in Filipino that connotes stale, passe, lacking relevance and sadly, useless. Just for display purposes. As a person, that is the one we refer to as walang pinagkatandaan. Or huklubang matanda.
To be more specific, the better English term referring to ageing gracefully is ancient that exudes with a sense of timeliness, of being perpetually relevant like the ancient ruins in Rome, Athens, and Jerusalem. Actually, some biblical experts have wanted to rename the “Old Testament” as “Ancient Testament” following this line of thinking.
Photo by author, Ephesus, Turkiye, November 2025.
Things and even persons can rightly be referred to as ancient because of their beauty still intact that inspires us and makes us wonder about life itself. They are not just old sites nor old persons that remind us of the past long gone but ancient because still lovely, “still full of sap and green” as the psalmist extolled the seniors of his time.
Persons who age gracefully like ancient sites stir our inner selves with deeper beauty and realities of life that eyes cannot see. That is perhaps the reason these days many senior men and women are so “in” and considered as attractive.
It is the same wisdom realized by St. Augustine when he wrote about God, “Late have I loved you, O Beauty ever ancient, ever new, late have I loved you. You were within me, but I was outside, and it was there that I searched for you.”
Being ancient -whether as a person or a thing – is something of the inside we must turn to not outside like our skin and physical body. From that inside realization and acceptance of being senior or elderly we experience the grace of ageing because we experience God still present in us, in fact loving us more as he makes as a sign or tanda of his loving presence.
Ageing gracefully is a modern virtue we need to cultivate in this age of instants that glorify youthfulness equated with usefulness. That is why when Pope Benedict XVI resigned from the Papacy in 2013, the more I have come to love and admire him. In his resignation, he taught us the importance of embracing and lovingly accepting our old age when we can no longer adequately perform our many tasks in office even in life itself. It was not a failure nor a surrender in the negative sense but more of a deep courage and trust in God that we accept our being weak and ready to come to him soon.
Photo by author, Pundaquit, San Antonio, Zambales, May 2025.
This brings me to my second realization since turning sigisty years old last year: corollary to embracing old age is accepting death. That is why, as seniors, let us stop saying and thinking of our coming death because we are already dying. Huwag na nating isipin yung “kapag namatay ako” dahil namamatay na nga tayo.
Being senior is doing away with those bucket lists, of thinking about things to do, places to visit before we die. We are already dying and hence, whatever you can do, do it now. There could be no more tomorrow. All we have is the present moment. Anything could happen to us, for better and for worse.
Ageing gracefully is coming to terms with life which leads us to coming to terms with death. Yes, this is easier said than done, but slowly, I am learning and loving it!
Photo by author, Bucharest, Romania, November 2025.
One of the reasons that made me decide to become a priest in the early 1990’s was the conviction that I have felt so deeply God’s love for me as a person in the many experiences I have gone through in life. I felt at that time that by becoming a priest, I could convince more people about the truth and existence of this loving God we have.
I still hold on to that but a year after turning sigisty, becoming sigisty-one in March 22, another fascinating realization I have had is how wonderful this life is. Now that I am old, the more I can boldly claim with conviction that it is good to be alive. Masarap pa rin ang mabuhay! Maganda ang buhay maski mahirap!
Accepting and embracing our ageing, our getting weak, our failing memory are all kinds of dying. And in that midst that we actually live fullest and meaningfully. I don’t know if I can write any further because I ain’t dead yet but… just in case, it was worth the trip. Amen. May you have a fruitful and fulfilling weekend ahead.
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!
Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul, 20 October 2025 Monday in the Twenty-Ninth Week of Ordinary Time, Year I Romans 4:20-25 <*((((>< + ><))))*> Luke 12:13-21
Photo by author, Jerusalem, May 2017.
Someone in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, tell my brother to share the inheritance with me.” He replied to him, “Friend, who appointed me as your judge and arbitrator?” (Luke 12:13-14)
Lord Jesus, I felt I am that "someone in the crowd" asking you to tell my brother to share the inheritance with me and honestly, I felt so stunned with your answer.
I was shocked and surprised, could not speak a word to explain to you my side of the story but wholly, I felt so liberated. I felt so free, finally. Because your reply was so reassuring, with you even calling me a "friend".
How foolish for us to be so engaged with material pursuits in life that never truly give us fulfillment except success which is so relative; so true are your words, Jesus: "one's life does not consist of possessions."
Lord Jesus, teach me to let go of my many possessions that actually possess me and make me unfree; instead of possessions, let me have relationships - with you in others; like Abraham, give me the grace to know you so that in knowing you, I may value the truest treasure that remains forever and ever. Amen.
Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul, 26 September 2025 Friday, Memorial of Sts. Cosmas & Damian, Martyrs Haggai 2:1-9 ><]]]]'> + ><]]]]'> + ><]]]]'> Luke 9:18-22
Photo by author, the wailing wall of Jerusalem, May 2017.
God our loving Father, we praise and thank you for the magnificent places of worship we have for you, churches so beautiful, so wide to accommodate us especially on Sundays to praise and worship you; but, dear God, forgive us when we forget so often that its glory is not in us nor because of us but from your divine presence, in the presence of Jesus Christ not only in the Tabernacle but among the people as you have told us through Haggai your prophet.
For thus says the Lord of hosts: One moment yet, a little while, and I will shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land. I will shake all the nations, and the treasures of all the nations will come in, and I will fill this house with with glory, says the Lord of hosts (Haggai 2:6-7).
That prophecy has been fulfilled in Jesus Christ your Son, our Savior who now asks us daily with his same question to the Twelve: "Who do the crowds say that I am?"
Grant us the courage and strength you gave Peter as well as the early Christians to acknowledge Jesus as the Christ - something so subversive at that time, so dangerous as it disregarded the earthly rulers especially the Roman emperor; so much have changed, Lord in our time when the church has become so elaborately decorated like our faith but deep inside is hollow that no wonder we can't even profess your being Lord just before every meal especially in public places; grant us the same courage you gave the brothers Cosmas and Damian who treated the sick for free in your name, who dared the powers and stood firm in their faith in you. Amen.
Photo by author, Chapel of the Angel of Peace, Our Lady of Fatima University, Valenzuela City, March 2025
Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Our Lady of Fatima University Valenzuela City (lordmychef@gmail.com)
Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul, 25 September 2025 Thursday in Twenty-Fifth Week of Ordinary Time, Year I Haggai 1:1-8 <*((((>< + ><))))*> Luke 9:7-9
God our loving Father, give us humility and courage to admit our sins and faults for all the mess we are into today as a nation: the wholesale corruption and looting of government money that resulted in more floods, substandard facilities, inefficient services and shameless servants; painful but true, these are all because of our misplaced priorities in life.
Now thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider your ways! You have sown much, but have brought in little; you have eaten, but have not been satisfied; you have drunk, but have not been exhilarated; have clothed yourselves, but not been warmed; and whoever earned wages earned them for a bag with holes in it (Haggai 1:5-6).
Like the people at the time of your Prophet Haggai, we have been preoccupied with our selves, of gaining so much money and material things forgetting you, O God, and things of the above like decency, morality, and spirituality; for the right price, many among us have brought into power not just corrupt but inept officials to run our government; many among us have glorified thievery, of amassing wealth even in sinful ways that everything is now measured in terms of money and gold; many among us have forgotten you, Lord, to live in your ways and precepts following more of the world that led us to destruction and emptiness; let us prioritize you again, Lord so that we too may see how you see things and persons unlike Herod in the gospel; let us prioritize you, Lord so that we may start planting and building things you want in life that delight you and perfect us in the process. Amen.
Photo by author, Dangwa Flower Center, Manila, September 2018.
Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul, 23 September 2025 Tuesday, Memorial of St. Padre Pio de Pietrelcina Ezra 6:7-8, 12, 14-20 <*{{{{>< + ><}}}}*> Luke 8:19-21
Photo by author, Angels’ Hills Retreat House, Tagaytay City, 19 April 2025
How amusing are the settings of your words today, God our loving Father! In the first reading is the story of the rebuilding of your home, your temple in Jerusalem, of your people's homecoming in you while in the gospel is the striking story of our Lord Jesus Christ's Mother standing outside the house where he was preaching.
They completed this house on the third day of the month of Adar, in the sixth year of the reign of King Darius. The children of Israel – priests, Levites, and the other returned exiles – celebrated the dedication of this house of God with joy (Ezra 6:15-16).
The mother of Jesus and his brothers came to him but were unable to join him because of the crowd. He was told, “Your mother and your brothers are standing outside and they wish to see you.” He said to them in reply, “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and act on it” (Luke 8:19-21).
How lovely, dear Jesus that in Hebrew the first letter in the word "God" resembles a house, or a door because you, O Lord, is our home, our house; like our home, it is more than walls and beams but of relationships, of love and kindness that make each one of us your indwelling. Bless our homes, bless our families with your presence always, Lord.
Through the intercession of St. Padre Pio, help us heed his words: "Always be united in the Faith and try to be a family according to the heart of God." Amen.
St. Padre Pio, Pray for us!
Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Our Lady of Fatima University Valenzuela City (lordmychef@gmail.com)
Lord Jesus Christ, teach me to imitate you in bringing the good news by inspiring others to follow you.
Jesus journeyed from one town and village to another, preaching and proclaiming the good news of the Kingdom of God. Accompanying him were the Twelve and some women who had been cured of evil spirits and infirmities, Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, Joanna, the wife of Herod’s steward Chuza, Susanna, and many others who nprovided for them out of their resources (Luke 8:1-3).
So, why do I follow you, Jesus? What inspires me in your bringing the good news of God's Kingdom? Here are some, Lord:
I follow you, Jesus because in you I feel loved and welcomed despite who I am like the Twelve Apostles who were of most diverse backgrounds and personalities yet, were united in you; I follow you, Jesus because in you there is warmth and lightness, of forgiveness and healing like those women who followed you after being freed from evil possessions and healed of many sickness; I follow you, Jesus because you inspire me to leave everything behind as I find everything in you like those women who provided for you from their resources.
Teach me Jesus to proclaim to bring to share your gospel of God's Kingdom to others by finding life in you. Amen
Our Lady of Fatima University, Valenzuela City, June 2025.
Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Our Lady of Fatima University Valenzuela City (lordmychef@gmail.com)
Quiet Storm by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, 11 September 2025
Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, 2023.
Of course, there is no need for us to impress Jesus Christ for he loves us so immensely beyond measure. However, I have realized this week in my prayers that the Lord is most impressed with us when we are in our weakest.
It has been recurring in my prayers several times with the latest in this Wednesday’s gospel, “Raising his eyes toward his disciples Jesus said: ‘Blessed are you who are poor, for the Kingdom of God is yours’” (Luke 6:20).
I just love that scene of Jesus looking up to his disciples, looking up to us because normally we humans are the ones who look up to God his Father where he is seated to his right in heaven. When we pray, we sometimes raise our hands reaching up to God.
There is something so beautiful and wonderful when the Sacred Scriptures tell us of Jesus looking up to us. What an honor and a privilege! Because that happens when we are weakest, most flawed, and dirty with sin.
Imagine being there at that scene of the sermon on the plain and Jesus had to raise his eyes toward his disciples: he must have been at a lower position than them. This scene will have its fullness in the washing of the disciples’ feet after their Last Supper on Holy Thursday.
We who could no longer bow that low to clean and wash our feet as well as trim our toenails know this so well. Imagine all the dirt and flaws Jesus must have seen in the disciples’ feet that evening. Not a word was heard from Jesus. He teased no one nor complained of the dirt and unsightly things he must have seen too. Jesus simply bore everything because he loved them so much.
Photo from Our Lady of Fatima University website, June 2025.
Jesus continues to look up to us every time we receive him in our hands during the Holy Communion. That is why I always tell the people especially our students to be very solemn during that occasion when the Son of God most powerful, all-knowing in his simplest form and sign as a thin wafer, enters us body and blood. It is the most perfect time to pray to Jesus, to tell him everything and most of all, to listen to him because that is when he is right inside our body, when he is down inside us, we above him.
Jesus does not need our triumphs and “goodness” because they all came from him actually. What he does not have is what we have a lot- the negative things like sins, hurts and bitterness, anger and resentment festering deep inside us for a long time. Those are the thing Jesus want from us, the very things he is most “impressed” with us that we are able to live with those burdens for so long. But, he is most impressed with us in the truest sense when we are able to surrender these to him because that’s when we are blessed and filled in him.
Raising his eyes toward his disciples Jesus said: “Blessed are you who are poor, for the Kingdom of God is yours. Blessed are you who are now hungry, for you will be satisfied. Blessed are you who are now weeping, for you will laugh. Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude and insult you, and denounce your name as evil on account of the Son of Man” (Luke 6:20-22).
Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, 2023.
In this age of affluence brought about by technological advances, being poor and hungry, being maligned and weeping are things to be avoided at all costs. With people so fascinated with money and wealth, fame and power, being poor and hungry for God, weeping and being maligned for what is true and good and just are not impressive at all, even foolish.
But, look at the effect of those shameless social media posts by “nepo babies” of their crass lifestyle sustained by ill-gotten wealth at the expense of the poor – they have all been bashed relentlessly in the country leading to more evidence of corruption among government officials and law-makers while in Indonesia and Nepal, these same practices have sparked social unrest and upheavals recently!
For so long, many have wished to be rich and wealthy, to have all the money to buy good food and drinks, build mansions filled with expensive cars and adorn themselves with signature clothes and jewelries in the belief they can impress others. Maybe with their fellows with the same benighted souls but more often, they only bred jealousies and envies that led to vicious circles of corruption and crimes in the name of having more money.
In truth, no one is impressed with material things because people who feel good only with possessions are actually the most pitiable ones for they could not see their own value as a person. To be able to see one’s value as a person despite one’s sins and weaknesses is the beginning of being truly human.
Recall the Lord’s parable of the Pharisee and the publican praying at the temple: the publican who stayed at the back beating his chest so contrite for his sins went home blessed according to Jesus than the Pharisee who boasted of his own righteousness. “Magpakatotoo ka!” screamed a soda commercial not too long ago but still echoes so true these days.
Jesus is not impressed with what we have done nor achieved but with what we have become – that amid all the beatings and pains of life with all of our shortcomings and sins, we forge on with life, persevering in faith, filled with hope that Christ is our salvation. What impresses Jesus Christ most in us is what we lack because that is when he can be closest to us, one in us. See yourself the way Jesus sees you – as a person, loved and cared for. Regardless of what. Let me end this with a prayer wrapped in a song which I have always loved because it sounds like Jesus speaking to me, so impressed with me despite of everything.
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/).
Photo by Mr. Jim Marpa, 2019.
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.
Photo by Mr. Jim Marpa, 2019.
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.
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