Stunned

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

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.

The problem with us…

Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul, 18 August 2025
Monday, Twentieth Week in Ordinary Time, Year I
Judges 2:11-19     <*((((><  +  ><))))*>     Matthew 19:16-22

*Photo by Mr. Vigie Ongleo, Virginia, USA, August 2021.*

Your words today,
O God our Father
are so disheartening
not only because after 
a week of joyful stories of
Moses and Joshua and the
Israelites finally nearing the
Promised Land,
we begin work and classes
this Monday with the distaff
side of Israel's history,
of their low point of being
repeatedly attacked and 
defeated by their enemies.

But more sad
and disheartening is the fact
that low point in their history
was also their low point in their
faith in you -
it was all due to their repeated
falling into sin of idolatry,
of worshipping false gods
instead of you alone.

Whenever the Lord raised up judges for them, he would be with the judge and save them from the power of their enemies as long as the judge lived; it was thus the Lord took pity on their distressful cries of affliction under their oppressors. But when the judge died, they would relapse and do worse than their ancestors, following other gods in service and worship, relinquishing none of their evil practices or stubborn conduct (Judges 2:18-19).

And that is the painful
truth of the story,
of the fact still true
among us today:
the problem,
the trouble
are all with us.

Yes, Lord,
many times we are like
your people during that
time of the judges:
you keep on saving us
from troubles of our own making
but once we are able to rebound
in life, we go back to our old ways
of sins and self-centeredness,
forgetting you and your love;
we do not have the false gods
of old like Baal 
but we keep on turning
away from you, Lord,
worshipping
fame and wealth,
power and control,
comfort and safety;
though through all these 
you keep on coming to save us,
giving us all the chances
to be better in Jesus Christ your Son,
we are like the young man
in the gospel who can't let go
of our many possessions,
choosing to leave sad
than follow Jesus empty
but filled with love and 
and meaning in life.
Help us fix this
trouble in us, Lord.
Amen.

Jesus wants YOU.

Lord My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul, 03 August 2025
Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle C
Ecclesiastes 1:2; 2:21-23 ><}}}*> Colossians 3:1-5, 9-11 ><}}}*> Luke 12:13-21

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

Our gospel this Sunday is very interesting as it is similar with what we have heard last July 20, the sixteenth Sunday when Jesus visited the home of Martha who asked him, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me by myself to do the serving? Tell her to help me” (Lk.10:40).

Compare that with our gospel today:

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?” Then he said to the crowd, “Take care to guard against all greed, for though one may be rich, one’s life does not consist of possessions” (Luke 12:13-15).

*Photo by author, PDDM Chapel, Araneta Ave., QC, August 2024.*

“Tell my sister…tell my brother.”

How funny we waste energy complaining to Jesus about others when he is not interested at all because he is actually most interested with us! In Martha’s home and in this scene, the Lord shows us that he came here for each of us personally, as if telling us to stop all those pointing to others because each one of us will definitely be dealt with individually, personally by him in the end. But, are we ready like that rich man in the parable?

That is why Luke tells us this amusing anecdote in the journey of Jesus to Jerusalem to remind us anew that in the spirit of Christ’s teaching last week on prayer, he is most concerned with our relationship with God our Father – not with our petty quarrels on money and inheritance or politics. We have to stop that “holier-than-thou” attitude, of being sanctimonious pointing at others without looking deep into ourselves, “Why do you notice the splinter in your brother’s eye, but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own eye?” (Mt.7:1,3).

This Sunday, we hear one of Jesus Christ’s many warnings against relying on wealth, possession and even status for our well-being and security. He invites us to look deep into ourselves than look at others.

“Take care to guard against all greed, for though one may be rich, one’s life does not consist of possessions.”

A very tough warning from Jesus that sends chills down our spine. It is always easier to point at others than look into ourselves in responding to him, on what is to be “rich in the sight of God” we are all struggling with, though, admittedly many of us truly aspire to be.

There are so many anxieties and other feelings within each of us that push us against the words of Jesus not only here. And Jesus knows very well how we turn to many things other than God for our security and well-being like the rich man in the parable he told the crowd.

We call that “security blanket” which we use to cover ourselves that often temporarily relieves us of our fears and anxieties but ultimately gives us away in the end like that rich man in the parable. He thought he would be safe and secured by building a bigger barn for his “bountiful harvest” that year that would sustain all his needs. But, that night he was taken by the Lord and died, leaving everything behind him.

We can easily identify with that rich man in the parable who portrays what each of us harbors in the depth of our hearts of never having enough. Palaging kulang, palaging bitin at kapos ano man mayroon tayo. We are always afraid that what we have may not be enough that we want to increase, to have more of whatever we think gives us security and well-being in the face of life’s many exigencies and unpredictability.

But, when is enough really enough? In this age of affluence, we have totally forgotten about the value of contentment, of relying more to God than to ourselves. It is not really a question of what we have but of our attitude in what we have, no matter how much or how less that may be.

Of course, we need to be prudent and wise in responsibly planning for our future but Jesus tells us in this parable that what really matters in life is our relationship with God expressed in the Our Father last week. What we need to store in our “barn” is not material things but more of spiritual values like love, kindness, compassion, fidelity, mercy and compassion.

Jesus is inviting us today to examine and clean out of our “barn” to make room for God who alone matters in the end. Let God be the only possession we have who possesses us in the end – not our cellphones and gadgets nor our popularity nor negatives feelings like bitterness we have kept so long in our hearts.

Qoheleth in the first reading is neither promoting cynicism nor any negative thoughts about life but simply warned us of the great “sorrow and grief” of too much focus on things of the world that vanish like vapor. The reason we work so hard, fulfilling many tasks and obligations is not merely to earn a living and have nice homes, wonderful vacations here and abroad, education of children and better retirement; we work because we want to have fullness of life. That is why I prefer the Pilipino word for “work” – hanap buhay that literally means “to search life” because we work to find the meaning of life. But, what happens if we become enslaved by our jobs and professions while our possessions eventually possess us that in the process, we lost our very selves and those dearest to us in our relationships?

Fullness of life can only be found in God through Jesus who gave us himself totally on the Cross we receive every Mass in the Eucharist. That is why beginning this Sunday and in the next three weeks, we find Luke presenting to us various teachings of Jesus on the way to Jerusalem with a stress on the need to always consider the End, that is, God himself who alone gives us fullness of life. St. Paul speaks of this in the second reading that amid our many concerns in life, let us be focused into things of heaven that are eternal, not of earth that are passing.

Last Friday I read a beautiful story of a man taking care of his critically sick mother that he fell asleep by her side. When he woke up, she was gone forever. He checked their CCTV and saw how in her final moments, the mother saw her son not properly covered that she used all her remaining strength to pull the blanket over him. Then she closed her eyes and died peacefully. It was her final act of love: she tucked her son in bed the day he was born, she tucked him the day she died.

We reflected last Sunday that prayer changes us not the situations. This Sunday, let us pray to Jesus to help us clean and clear our “barn” of worldly things to make more room for God in ourselves to become better persons. And – beginning today – for us to stop pointing at others, asking Jesus to check on them; instead. let us focus on our personal transformation into Christ as better disciples and witnesses. Amen. Have a blessed week ahead! Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Our Lady of Fatima University, Valenzuela City (lordmychef@gmail.com).

Easter is Jesus personally knowing each of us

Lord My Chef Sunday Recipe by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Fourth Sunday in Easter, Cycle C, 11 May 2025
Acts 13:14, 43-52 ><}}}}*> Revelation 7:9, 14-17 ><}}}}*> John 10:27-30

*The new Pope, Leo XIV, appears on the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica, 09 May 2025; photo from vaticannews.va*

What a lovely fourth Sunday in Easter also known as “Good Shepherd Sunday” when we are blessed with a new Pope – Leo XIV – who will shepherd us into this modern time. Truly, Jesus Christ our Good Shepherd knows us so well that he did not make us wait long in having a new Pope in this troubled time.

Jesus said: “My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish” (John 10:27-28).

“I know them.” How lovely are these words of Jesus to us, his “sheep” especially for those going through a lot of trials and difficulties, for those feeling lost and empty, for those about to give up on life.

Let us dwell on his words “I know them”.

For the Jews and in the Bible, knowing is more of the heart than of the mind. Knowing a person is not just knowing one’s name but most of all of being in a personal relationship, an affinity with the person.

In declaring “I know them”, Jesus affirms how he personally regards each one as somebody dear to him, somebody close to him. We are all a somebody, a someone to Jesus whom he personally loves and cares for.

This we have seen among the people we have met in Lent like the apostles Peter, James and John during the transfiguration, the prodigal son, the woman caught in adultery. Or during the Holy Week like Judas who betrayed the Lord, Peter who denied Jesus thrice, Dimas the thief, the centurion who believed in him after his death on the Cross, John and the Blessed Mother at the foot of the Cross. They were all in their most difficult situations in life yet Jesus knew them so well that he assured them of his loving presence, lifting them up to move on with life.

Recall also the people we met this Easter Season like Mary Magdalene and companions early in the morning later followed by Peter and the beloved disciple who all found the tomb empty, the disciples at the upper room with locked doors that evening of Easter, the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, Thomas Didymus, the disciples led by Peter at breakfast with Jesus at the shore of Lake Tiberias. In their most joyous moments in life amid the darkness and emptiness, the doubts and unbelief or blindness following Easter, they were accompanied and joined by the Risen Lord to ensure and assure them that indeed he is alive and will always be with them.

In the same manner, think also of those moments in your own life of darkness and emptiness, whether negatively or positively, for better or for worse… who remained standing by your side?

Jesus. Only Jesus. And always Jesus. Because he knows us so well.

Jesus is truly the Good Shepherd who knows us so well even in these modern times where there are more vehicles and traffic, more disruptions to life yet he continues to shepherd us like the many shepherds still in many countries in Europe and the Middle East.

And that makes this passage most touching and refreshing because though times may have changed, Jesus has remained personally committed with each one of us. He keeps on looking for us, searching us, following us. Loving us most of all. But, are we present in Jesus?

Notice the four verbs in this short gospel we have today: ascribed to Jesus are the verbs “know” and “give” while to us the sheep, “hear” and “follow” where problems always happen. Do we “follow” what we “hear”? “To hear” is to recognize the authority and importance of the speaker’s words; it is to enter into a communion with him, to put oneself in his guidance, to “follow” him as his disciple.

Jesus speaks to us daily but nobody cares because right after waking up, most of us today look for our cellphone than pray! We are more interested with the “likes” and “followers” we have garnered from our previous posts. We are more enthralled with the seductive voices and images of social media that feed on our ego and senses, giving us false feelings of security and acceptance. We would rather be consumers than disciples who are called to sacrifice like the shepherd.

*Photo of a sheep’s fleece by Dra. Mylene A. Santos, MD, 2022.*

Though life has become more affluent these days, it has ironically become more empty and lost without direction because we just keep on having and possessing, consuming and ingesting everything the world offers that leave us guilty and empty because we cannot experience any sense of fulfillment and meaning.

How ironic that amid this pandemic of “obesity”, we fill ourselves mostly with trash and poison, literally and figuratively speaking that we feel so lost more than ever with so much time wasted and sadly, life and relationships thrown away. Everything has become more of the mind than of the heart with persons being commodified as things, everything seen in monetary terms, so utilitarian in nature.

Only Jesus “knows” us so well that is why only he “gives eternal life” as Peter exclaimed in this Saturday gospel in the third week of Easter, “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and we are convinced that you are the Holy One of God” (Jn.6:68-69).

Unlike anybody, Jesus is the Son of God sent to gather us, to save us and to bring us closer to the Father so that no one among us shall perish. That is the plan of God fulfilled by Christ which we must continue like the apostles as we have heard in the first reading when Paul and Barnabas preached the Gospel of Jesus to the gentiles.

This Sunday, Jesus our Good Shepherd assures us, wherever we may be – in darkness and emptiness, or under the dark clouds of a thunderstorm, under a thatched roof of misery – that he knows us so well. He loves us.

Feel the warmth of Christ’s loving heart this Sunday by being present with your loved ones, the people you know so well like Jesus. Let us pray:

Lord Jesus,
you are our Good Shepherd
and we are your sheep;
only you know us so well,
only you can give us eternal life,
only you can keep us safe 
not to be snatched by anyone
like the corrupt and shallow candidates
running for office again this election;
give us the wisdom, courage and faith
to follow you and stand by you
like those elders in white garments
seen by John in his vision of heaven
in the second reading;
let us vote wisely,
let us not waste that power
you shared with us.
Amen.

*Photo by Dra. Mylene A. Santos, MD, 2022.*

Of sight & stature, vision & submission

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Wednesday in the Thirty-Third Week of Ordinary Time, Year II, 20 November 2024
Revelation 4:1-11 <*((((>< + ><))))*> Luke 19:11-28

*Photo by author, sunrise in Dumaguete City, 11 November 2024.*

How lovely are your words
these past days, dear Lord,
of Bartimaeus gaining his sight
and Zacchaeus being raised in his
stature before you in his conversion.

We are Bartimaeus and Zacchaeus!

Grant us, Jesus vision more than sight
to see beyond material things
so that we may aspire always to rise
above our many shortness in life.

Open our hearts and our minds like John
to experience a vision of God,
of heaven amid all the darkness
and sufferings in this life.

I, John, had a vision of an open door to heaven, and I heard the trumpetlike voice that had spoken to me before, saying, “Come up here and I will show you what must happen afterwards” (Revelation 4:1).

You are beyond descriptions,
God our Father like what John saw
in his vision; teach us to submit
ourselves to You in prayer and silence
than manipulate who You really are
so beyond understanding!

“He replied, ‘I tell you, to everyone who has, more will be given, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. Now as for those enemies of mine who did not want me as their king, bring them here and slay them before me.'” After Jesus had said this, he proceeded on his journey up to Jerusalem (Luke 19:26-28).

Like Zacchaeus yesterday,
he realized that to rise in one's stature
is actually to go down,
to be humble 
to allow Jesus raise us up
in His loving mercy;
take away our worldly thoughts
about "Jerusalem" 
and learn to lose ourselves in You, 
Jesus, to truly see 
the glory awaiting us
in You.
Amen.

*Photo by author, Bohol Sea from Salum Dive Resort, Dauin, Negros Or., 10 November 2024.*

“Take nothing”

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Wednesday in the Twenty-fifth Week of Ordinary Time, Year II, 25 September 2024
Proverbs 30:5-9 <*((((>< + ><))))*> Luke 9:1-6

*Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, 20 March 2024.*

Jesus said to them, “Take nothing for the journey, neither walking stick, nor sack, nor food, nor money, and let no one take a second tunic” (Luke 9:3).

Lord Jesus,
bless me to continue
in this journey with You,
in You,
taking nothing
but You;
at first,
I could not believe
it to be true
that many times,
I doubted,
taking so many things with me
in this journey;
but, as we walk farther,
Lord, the more I realized,
that indeed,
I need to take nothing.

The farther we journey,
Jesus, the more I take
and bring,
the more difficult,
the slower I move;
so true that the truly
rich among us is the one
whose who needs least in life;
grant me the grace,
O Lord,
the grace of integrity,
of wholeness
and harmony between my
inner self and
 outward behavior;
like the author of the Proverbs,
"give me neither poverty nor
riches; provide me only with the food
I need; lest being full,
I deny you or being in want,
I steal, and profane the name
of my God"
(30:9).
Amen.

Eating well, living well

The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B, 18 August 2024
Proverbs 9:1-6 ><}}}}*> Ephesians 5:15-20 ><}}}}*> John 6:51-58

*Photo by author, James Alberione Center, QC, 15 August 2024.*

It is our fourth consecutive Sunday listening to the sixth chapter of John’s gospel that opened with the miraculous feeding by Jesus of more than five thousand people in a deserted place; Jesus fled from there, went back in Capernaum where people caught with Him and disciples as He began three Sundays ago His “Bread of Life” discourse now getting deeper while the drama among the crowd is heating up.

From murmuring last Sunday about Jesus who said “I am the bread that came down from heaven” (Jn.6:41), the people today quarreled among themselves after Jesus said “I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world” (Jn. 6:51).

Notice the beautiful contrast of reactions by people to Jesus: from murmuring last Sunday, they sank deep into quarreling while Jesus leveled up to “the living bread from heaven” from merely “the bread from heaven” last week. For us to live well, we have to eat well by having Jesus Himself as our food and drink.

The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him. Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me” (John 6:52-57).

*Photo by Ms. Ria De Vera in Banff, Alberta, Canada, 07 August 2024.*

Eating is the most common human activity anywhere, any time. Human life basically revolves around eating as we have seen since time immemorial how we have progressed following our search for food. We work to feed ourselves and loved ones. Without food, we die. Food is so essential that there is always food to share in our gatherings.

That is why Jesus chose the bread and wine as the signs of His living presence among us in the Holy Eucharist He established during the Last Supper on Holy Thursday. In the Eucharist, Jesus elevated the most ordinary human activity of eating as most sublime and Divine. In the Holy Mass, we share in Christ’s Body and Blood so we too may share our very selves with one another.

When Jesus said in Capernaum that the bread He is giving is His own flesh with His blood as drink, He was already preparing the people for the Eucharist while at the same time teaching them that eating is not everything. We have to eat well to live well. When tempted by the devil in the wilderness, Jesus right away taught us to remember that man does not live by bread alone but with every word from God. At the start of this discourse last August 04, Jesus challenged the people, “Do not work for the food that perishes but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you” (Jn.6:27).

Many times, we get so used in our many activities that unconsciously, we miss life itself as we punish ourselves with exhaustion and sickness as well as emptiness.

Food is not just something that fills our stomach but must also lead into our heart and soul. Observe any cuisine and you get a taste of the culture and people it represents, even with strong hints of its geographical origin. In the first reading we find how the Book of Proverbs personified Wisdom as God to remind us that though He is transcendent and so above us, God is easily accessed even in the most ordinary instances like eating.

Wisdom has built her house, she has set up her seven columns; she has dressed her meat, mixed her wine, yes, she has spread her table. She has sent out her maidens; she calls from the heights out over the city: “Let whoever is simple turn in here; to him who lacks understanding, I say, Come, eat of my food, drink of the wine I have mixed! Forsake foolishness that you may live; advance in the way of understanding” (Proverbs 9:1-6).

How lovely is that part of God calling us to come like Jesus in the gospel when He said “come to me all who are burdened” or when He ordered to “let the children come to me”. Is it not the same thing we say when we are about to eat, to come and get it?

Sadly these days, we seem to have retrogressed in our manner of eating. Social media rightly labeled it as “food porn” when we are flooded with everything about food and drinks minus its deeper meanings. Food is sadly seen in its material aspect that eating is more on filling the stomach, forgetting the soul because we have totally forgotten God and the people around us. No wonder that despite the growing food production and plethora of food we have these days, many still starve while the rest of us remain lost in life, more sick.

See, my dear friends, the great coincidence on the very Sunday Jesus began his bread of life discourse, it was also the opening of the Paris Olympics with a mockery of the Last Supper that led us into a kind of “quarrel” as organizers and their supporters insisted it wasn’t the Last Supper at all despite the clear indications and proofs.

“How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” Suddenly, we heard anew that same question by the people in Capernaum to Jesus reechoed in the Olympics at the capital city of the Church’s so-called “eldest daughter”, France. Of course, we know this bread of life discourse by Jesus refers to the Holy Eucharist and surely, the many defenders of the Paris Olympics are aware for many of them are Catholics. But, Jesus must have willed this gospel be proclaimed at this time coinciding with the Olympics for us to evaluate anew our faith in Him because at the very core of this bread of life discourse is the mystery of faith.

“How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” In the gospel of Luke, we find a similar question by Mary at the Annunciation that is filled with faith, “How can this be?” (Lk.1:34); but today, like in Capernaum as exemplified by the Paris Olympics, that question is a renewed refusal to believe in the words of Jesus Christ. Worst of all as we noted earlier in our perceptions of food and eating these days, that question shows modern man’s insistence on everything material, totally disregarding our spiritual nature.

Like in Capernaum, many people today who refuse to believe Christ’s words resort to malicious and insidious arguments that it becomes useless to really converse with them as they would rather insist on their grossly material understanding and perception of life these days. Many prefer to quarrel these days than accept life’s many mysteries not merely seen nor tasted by the senses but experienced and realized through faith in God.

Life for them has become merely material which in Greek is bios as in biology. There is another Greek word for life which is zoe that refers to the eternal, divine life of God that Jesus repeatedly used in our gospel today.

Like last Sunday, Jesus did not engage Himself into debating with the crowd in Capernaum by simply repeating the words living and life to emphasize the total acceptance of Him – Body and Blood – in faith: “I am the living bread… my flesh for the life of the world. Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me.” These are the very same words too, life and living that Jesus would mention before His Passion and Death as well as after His Resurrection because eating His flesh and drinking His blood is to share in His life that is also the fullness of life. It is only in Christ Jesus can we find fulfillment in life. Let us pray:

Lord Jesus Christ,
help me watch carefully 
how I live, not as a fool
but as wise as St. Paul taught
us today in his letter to the Ephesians;
let us not be intoxicated 
with life's pleasures and worldly pursuits
but let us be filled with the Holy Spirit.
Amen.

Two gifts to pray for always

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Friday, Memorial of St. Aloysius Gonzaga, Religious, 21 June 2024
2 Kings 11:1-4, 9-18, 20 ><]]]]'> + <'[[[[>< Matthew 6:19-23

On this Friday,
Lord Jesus Christ,
there are two things I pray:
give me a pure heart 
and eyes like a lamp.

Jesus said to his disciples: “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and decay destroy, and thieves break in and steal. But store up treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor decay destroys, nor thieves break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be (Mt. 6:19-21).”

Help me realize, Jesus,
that to "store up treasures 
in heaven" is not just to pile up
a lot of good works in heaven
that will be to our credit in the 
next life for they too can be lost
when we slide down into sin and evil;
rather, like in your beatitudes,
give me a clean or pure heart
that is like yours, that is inclined
to You always; a clean heart, O Lord,
is not of "doing" but of "being" and
"becoming" that truly becomes a 
treasure, something we value most.

How sad in this world so materialistic
that many believe there is 
nothing money cannot buy, 
nothing money cannot solve
even though this belief is proven
false all the time!

Cleanse our hearts of
pride and sins,
fill it with your humility,
justice and love, Lord Jesus!
Dwell in our hearts,
reign over us!

“The lamp of the body is the eye. 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” (Mt.6:22-23).

Give us that light
and vision, Jesus
to see the most essential,
the most valuable in life
that are beyond
wealth, fame, and power;
free us from the darkness
and blindness
of not seeing beyond material things
so we may discern
the real treasures,
what is most valuable
in this life
like You and others,
love and peace
and joy.
Amen.

Blessedness & beauty of poverty

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Monday in the Thirty-fourth Week of Ordinary Time, Year I, 27 November 2023
Daniel 1:1-6, 8-20 ><}}}}*> + ><}}}}*> + ><}}}}*> Luke 21:1-4

*Photo by Dra. Mylene A. Santos, MD in Tagalag, Valenzuela City, 17 November 2023.*

Praise and glory to you, 
our loving Father! 
Thank you 
in bringing us closer to you 
in Jesus everyday 
especially in this final stretch 
of our church calendar 
as we come to prepare for Christmas soon.

But, rather than focusing 
on the outside appearances 
and material inclinations 
of our Christmas feelings,
teach us to empty ourselves
to be filled by you in Jesus Christ!

Let us be poor, O God!
Let us embrace poverty
 and simplicity
 to experience you,
your coming,
 your presence
in Jesus,
our Emmanuel!

Let us treasure poverty
for it is our true wealth
in this life
like that “poor old widow”
who gave everything she had
into the temple collection box;
let us realize that it is in poverty
that we find true wisdom
and strength
like what Daniel and his companions
have taught the chief chamberlain
of King Nebuchadnezzar
(Daniel 1:11-20).

Let us be poor, O God,
like Jesus Christ to find
power and strength in weakness,
glory and honor in humility,
and life in death.
 Amen.

Our “dying” cities

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Thursday, Memorial of St. Clement, Pope & Martyr, 23 November 2023
1 Maccabees 2:15-29 ><)))*> + <*(((>< = ><)))*> + <*(((>< Luke 19:41-44

*Photo by author, Metro Manila seen from Antipolo City, August 2022.*

God our Father,
bless our cities,
bring back life to our
dying cities;
amid the many signs
of progress and affluence,
there are also the many signs
of decay and poverty
that cannot be hidden.
And they all begin in
our hearts that have
turned away from you.

Jesus drew near Jerusalem, he saw the city and wept over it, saying, “If this day you only knew what makes for peace – but now it is hidden from your eyes.
Luke 19:41

So many of us, O Lord,
are so allured by the glitter
and lights of the city
that we forget you,
our only light that can vanish
all darkness within us;
we have been so fascinated with
the material prosperity,
wealth and fame our cities
offer us that we have forgotten
your Cross, dear Jesus,
that enable us to love truly
and bring life to others;
we have turned away from you,
Jesus, our Lord and God,
to worship new gods
that leave us empty,
lost and confused than ever.

Like Mattathias and his sons
along with his many followers
during the Maccabean revolt in Israel,
let us "leave" our cities and its
many temptations and sins,
lies and empty promises
to search our hearts,
to find you again
and follow you
in order to bring you back
to our cities like
your martyr St. Clement.
Amen.