Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Tuesday in the Fourteenth Week of Ordinary Time, Year II Hosea 8:4-7, 11-13 ><))))*> + ><))))*> + ><))))*> Matthew 9:32-38
Daily scene of commuters in Metro Manila; photo by Veejay Villafranca/Bloomberg via Getty Images, 2024.
Your words today, O Lord are very inspiring and challenging, inviting me to get involved with those in the margins, with those suffering, for those "troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd" (Matthew 9:36).
Give me the wisdom and charity to be involved with the voiceless in your holy name, Jesus, for the sake of your Kingdom and not for any self-interests like those in Israel in the first reading who "appointed kings without God's approval, making idols out of their gold and silver, making altars that became occasions for their sins" (Hosea 8:4, 11).
Grant me courage, Jesus to get involved with your poor little ones who sometimes would even reject our efforts but most especially when others brand us as rebels, as diabolic.
But the Pharisees said, “He drives out demons by the prince of demons” (Matthew 9:34).
Teach me, Jesus, the proper way to respond to your invitation to get involved with the poor and suffering, that I may grow in love and compassion for those in need. Amen.
Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Monday, Solemnity of Sts. Peter & Paul, Apostles, 29 June 2026 Acts 12:1-11 ><)))*> 2 Timothy 4:6-8, 17-18 ><)))*> Matthew 16:13-19
Statues of Sts. Peter & Paul, st. Peter’s Basilica, Rome; photos from opusdei.org
Lord Jesus Christ, you have given us a great lesson and greater examples in calling your Apostles: they are all of different personalities and background, with so many of them exactly at opposite with each other yet, you gave them the grace to overcome these to focus only on you and follow you; today we celebrate the two pillars of your Church, St. Peter and St. Paul - two contrasting personalities but both worked tirelessly to spread your gospel and largely because of them we have your Holy Roman Catholic Church.
Teach us to be like Sts. Peter and Paul to trust you always, to seek you always, and to completely abandon ourselves to you so that we can dare to witness your loving presence and mercy to everyone; most of all, grant us the grace, dear Jesus, of courage to go through the many darkness and uncertainties in life like Sts. Peter and Paul.
Keep us rooted in prayer like them so that we may know you more clearly, to see you among our brothers and sisters especially in those living in the margins like the poor and needy; keep us rooted in you in prayers so that we may love you unreservedly by being fair and just with everyone, caring and being kind with all regardless of color and status; and lastly, may we grow deeper in our love for you in prayer so that we may follow you closely wherever you lead us even if it most uncomfortable, inconvenient, and dangerous. Amen.
St. Peter and St. Paul, Pillars of the Church, pray for us!
The lithography of Sts. Peter and Paul in Missale Romanum by unknown artist with initials F.M.S (19. cent.) printed by Typis Friderici Pustet. (Renáta Sedmáková | us.fotolia.com)
Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Wednesday in the Twelfth Week of Ordinary Time, Solemnity of the Birth of John the Baptist, 24 June 2026 Isaiah 49:1-6 ><}}}}*> Acts 13:22-26 ><}}}}*> Luke 1:57-66, 80
View of a decorated Christmas tree and tower of the Franciscan Monastery of St Saviour locally also known as San Salvador monastery in the Christian Quarter Old city East Jerusalem
Six months from now we celebrate Christmas because today is the birthday of the Lord’s cousin and precursor, St. John the Baptist; but, before we rejoice at the fast approaching Christmas, let us reflect first on the joy of John’s parents, relatives and local folks following his birth.
When the time arrive for Elizabeth to have her child she gave birth to a son. Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown his great mercy toward her, and they rejoiced with her (Luke 1:57-58)
It was indeed a great celebration for everyone in the hill country of Judah when John was born: his parents were both old and his mother Elizabeth was already barren when she conceived John.
Both parents were from the priestly family, very prominent with a great lineage. Most likely, they were the envy of their relatives and neighbors in practically having every good thing in life except a child to inherit and propagate their good name and wealth; when John was born, God gave them more than a child – here was the precursor of the Messiah, the promised Elijah who returned to prepare the way of the Lord Jesus Christ!
Photo by author, May 2019, Church of St. John the Baptist, Ein Karem, Israel.
It was a joy that did not come easily, with much pains and sufferings and self-doubts along the way that took a long time of waiting too.
This birth of John teaches us that behind every joy is always a great deal of sufferings, doubts, and darkness in life.
Imagine the inner turmoil within Zechariah when the angel appeared to him announcing the birth of John while incensing the Holy of Holies on the most important Jewish feast: he doubted the angel’s good news not because he had lost faith in God but simply got “tired” with God.
Zechariah was having a sort of tampo as we call it in Filipino because God did not seem to listen to his prayers for a son.
It happens with us when we have turned indifferent in our faith even with God when he seems not to care at all to our prayers and requests that we keep on failing the board exam or gets denied repeatedly in our job or visa applications. We still pray with our lips not with our heart just for the sake of praying without really believing in its efficacy, if God listens to us at all.
Or like Elizabeth who went into a self-imposed silence, withdrawing from public view during her pregnancy with John because she felt herself so unworthy of God’s blessing.
Today, the birth of John the Baptist teaches us that every disciple as a precursor of Christ is an image of God’s Suffering Servant prophesied by Isaiah:
Though I thought I had toiled in vain, and for nothing, uselessly, spent my strength, yet my reward is with the lord, my recompense is with my God (Isaiah 49:4).
Photo by author of the site believed to be the birthplace of St. John the Baptist at the side of the Church of St. John the Baptist in Ein Karem, Israel, May 2019.
There are actually three songs of the Suffering Servant in the Book of Isaiah that prefigure Jesus Christ who suffered and died and rose again on the third day. However, it is widely believed and interpreted that in the second song of the Suffering Servant we heard today, the Servant referred to is John the Baptist.
Although John recognized Jesus as the promised Christ during his baptism at Jordan, he was the first to suffer and die a martyr when thrown into prison for speaking the truth against Herod’s taking of his brother’s wife Herodias. There we find that image of God’s Suffering Servant in John’s mission and ministry, reminding us of the great difficulties and dangers in preparing the way of the Lord.
We are all a John the Baptist and a Zechariah and Elizabeth rolled into one like the Suffering Servant for we are all a forerunner of Jesus Christ.
Photo by author, St. Michael Retreat House, Antipolo City, 16 June 2026.
Many times we too have felt like them in doubting our efforts in witnessing Christ and his gospel, when these seemed to have gone in vain especially today when the world is trying hard to delete God from every aspect of life.
Witnessing the gospel of Christ, speaking and fighting for what is true and good, for what is just and fair, even in simply being human and decent can already be strenuous, exhausting and often discouraging.
There are times we feel ineffective, even at the losing end only to realize later how our little efforts have actually contributed in making God’s kingdom to truly come with our life of mission and witnessing Christ because like the Suffering Servant, we have felt deep within us the certainty of God working in us, most especially of him being the Almighty One.
We have proven many times God prevails, how good always triumphs for it is when we are weak that we are strongest in Christ as St. Paul declared in one of his writings.
The next time you feel so down in life, in your mission whether in your personal life or family, in your work or in your apostolate and ministry, have a heart: like Zechariah and Elizabeth keep focused on the Lord for Christ surely comes. Rejoice in all your efforts, though little even insignificant for you and for others, they are God working in us.
Keep in mind too the meaning of the names of our main personalities today: Elizabeth in Hebrew is “God promised” while Zechariah is “God remembered” while John means “God is gracious”. Indeed, God is gracious all the time because he always remembers his promise to us. Amen.May God bless you abundantly today like Zechariah and Elizabeth!
Painting of Zechariah giving name to his son John by Italian painter Riccardo Cessi (1892) from commons.wikimedia.org.
Lord My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle A, 14 June 2023 Exodus 19:2-6 ><}}}}*> Romans 5:6-11 ><}}}}*> Matthew 9:36-10:8
A very good friend in the States texted me the other night, requesting for prayers as she was about to go through an MRI; the following day, she texted me anew asking for more prayers because it seemed her cancer had recurred, this time attacking her liver.
I felt her fears and worries. And pain.
She told me how she wanted to call her parents that evening but had to wait until this weekend so that her younger brother would be home to be present especially by her mom’s side when she breaks to them that her cancer had metastasized. Despite her condition, she was thinking of her parents in their “empty nest”, thinking how they might react in receiving the bad news.
Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novlaiches, QC, March 2026.
This crucial factor is what is most missing in the agony of Ms. Rovelyn Baterbonia when her son Rene died Monday after drowning in the treacherous beach of Aurora during their varsity training.
We all felt her pain not only of losing a son but most of all the agony of being alone, perhaps even left out in the dark so far from her dead son with no one from the university nor basketball team immediately informing her of the circumstances of the accident.
It was so heartwrenching – nakakadurog ng puso – watching her grieved upon arrival at the airport, lamenting at how somebody texted her that Monday if they can call her: “Hindi naman siya tumawag. Ako na lang nag-tawag… tapos, nang tumawag na ako sabi niya, mam naaksidente po si Rene. Nalunod po…”. After that, she said she heard nothing from the people supposed to be with Rene. “Wala maski pictures sila send sa akin”, she complained.
This is the most crucial part of every misery and tragedy: is there someone present with those grieving, with those suffering?
At the sight of the crowds, Jesus’ heart was moved with pity for them because they were troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send our laborers for his harvest” (Matthew 9:36-38).
Our Lady of Fatima University, February 2025.
We are the Lord’s “harvest” and his “laborers” too. Jesus reminds us today that the answer to all our problems and pains in the world is never found in material things, in money and gadgets, nor well-crafted statements and other publicities. We are the harvest and the harvesters too!
What we need are more people who care, who journey, who are present with majority of the population so lost like sheep without a shepherd. And that is where I felt the pain most when Ms. Baterbonia repeatedly said that “kahit mahirap kami, hindi ko papayagan anak ko mag-training ng ganun.”
She said it all – the harsh reality in our country, the most Christian nation in this part of Asia, where the poor remain neglected, forgotten, and taken for granted especially by those in the Church.
See how the poor have shied away from the church primarily due to so many collections in every Mass every Sunday while in the parish office, almost everything comes with a fee. They could not even get a free smile from some staff members often masusungit.
If Matthew were with us today, he would surely repeat with intensity his report that day of how “At the sight of the crowds, Jesus’ heart was moved with pity for them because they were troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd” because that is how our Church is today – sheep without a shepherd.
And where are the shepherds? Check their social media accounts and you find them most frequently in malls and hotels, traveling abroad via business class, unwinding on a yacht, communing with nature riding big bikes or their expensive mountain bikes. Go to any buffet and ribbon-cutting ceremonies of the newest Jollibee store or even gas station and you find more than two priests and a bishop present while the poor could not even have a decent funeral rite nor blessing for the burial of their dead because the priest is out, could not come to the slum area.
But of course, there are still more blessed and dedicated priests and bishops like Bishop Pabillo of Palawan who brave the seas and mountains just to celebrate the Mass and other Sacraments to the great number of their harvests in far-flung areas.
For Jesus, it is always the person who matters that is why his proposal has always been to send us another person, another companion, a fellow to accompany us in our brokenness and darkness. There is his move of gathering us, calling us, and sending us forth to a mission.
Jesus never taught us to ask for more money nor food nor gadgets to solve the problems of the world. Recall his temptation in the desert when he rejected the devil’s challenge to change stones into bread because man does not live by bread alone but with every word from God.
For the world, everything is a problem to be solved, including mysteries of God and of the human person. As we have reflected the past two Sundays, mysteries are not problems to be solved but non-logical realities we must embrace or even allow ourselves to be wrapped to discover the richness and meaning of this life like God and persons.
When people are down and lost in life, feeling troubled and abandoned, where do we focus more, to their woes and problems or their very persons?
Try thinking of the people you consider as “heaven sent” and helped you in your darkest moments. Are they not the ones who brought out our giftedness as a person, as a beloved child of God with Christ’s gospel?
A few months after his election as Pope in 2005, Benedict XVI heard of a bishop in Austria dying of cancer. He reportedly wrote that bishop, assuring him of his prayers as a brother priest, reminding him that “Jesus saved the world by suffering and dying on the cross, not with activities.” I remembered that news so well because what is mostly happening in our parishes and dioceses are activities. We have become program oriented than people oriented.
Worst is when some of us priests and bishops see the “abundant harvest” as business ventures of all sorts including churches and fiestas as tourist attractions. When economics become our major consideration in the church, how can “we also boast of God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation” as St. Paul reflected in the second reading?
Let us return to our “desert of Sinai” spoken of in the first reading, a reminder of our turning point in life and history when God called and sent us to be a “kingdom of priests, a holy nation” – his abundant harvest at the same time his laborers too. We are the new apostles called and sent by Jesus to others like us who are weak and tired, confused and lost, hurting and crying but also blessed and joyful! As God’s abundant harvest, each one of us is a gift to be cherished and valued always; but, at the same time, a brother and a sister entrusted to each one for God’s greater glory, not ours. Amen. Have a blessed week ahead.
Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Thursday after Pentecost, 28 May 2026 Feast of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Eternal High Priest Genesis 22:9-18 <*{{{{>< + ><}}}}*> Matthew 26:36-42
Photo by author, Dominus Flevit Church overlooking Old Jerusalem, May 2017.
Lord Jesus Christ, our Eternal Priest who calls and sends us daily to spread your Good News of salvation to everyone with our giving of self like You, bless us your priests in these troubled times: everywhere we find and hear selfishness and conceit, lies and dishonesty, infidelity and injustice; we say the world has gone mad and evil with all these darkness enveloping us...
And where are we, Your priests in the midst of all these?
Jesus went with the disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to his disciples, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.”
And he came to the disciples and found them sleeping; and he said to Peter, “So, could you not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Again, for the second time, he went away and prayed, “My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, thy will be done.” (Matthew 26:36, 40-42)
Photo by author, Garden of Gethsemane, the Holy Land, May 2017.
Forgive, us dear Jesus, when we Your priests cannot keep up with You in prayer; oh, we are so busy watching the world going by, watching the corruption in government unfolding, watching the decay in our society but unfortunately, we cannot look squarely into our own mess in the Church - in our parishes and communities, in our ministry that has become more of a work often for performance and clout; worst of all, we have lost that intimacy in You, Jesus.
We no longer pray, Lord Jesus.
We can't stay with You even for an hour every day because we are busy with social media like everyone.
Help us find our way back to You, Lord Jesus: let us imitate Abraham who prefigured your own self-offering in giving his beloved son Isaac to the Father without any question at all; many times, we Your priests reason out with many excuses and alibis while at the other extreme, many of us disregard reasons at all in our mission and ministry.
Keep us in love with You, Jesus our Eternal Priest, especially our bishops supposed to have the fullness of priesthood but cannot lead nor guide us, much less inspire us; give us the grace of Abraham that we can always answer Your call with a firm and unwavering "Here am I." Amen.
“The Offering of Abraham” (c.1896-1902) painting by James Tissot, kept at the Jewish Museum in New York via moa.byu.edu
Lord My Chef Simbang Gabi Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Friday, Simbang Gabi-IV, 19 December 2025 Judges 13:2-7, 24-25 <*((((>< + ><))))*> Luke 1:5-25
View of a decorated Christmas tree and tower of the Franciscan Monastery of St Saviour locally also known as San Salvador monastery in the Christian Quarter Old city East Jerusalem
From Matthew, we now shift to Luke’s account of the story of Christmas which is the most complete and detailed of all gospel accounts. In fact, most artistic renditions of Christmas were inspired by Luke’s gospel.
Very surprising in his Christmas story, Luke started it with the annunciation of the birth of John the Baptist to his father Zechariah who was then serving at the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem, a beautiful reminder to us all these days that Christ comes in our Holy Mass.
And I wonder – what if I imitate Zechariah in the gospel on this Simbang Gabi: come out late in the altar… totally silent, unable to speak?
Meanwhile the people were waiting for Zechariah and were amazed that he stayed so long in the sanctuary. But when he came out, he was unable to speak to them, and they realized that he had seen a vision in the sanctuary. He was gesturing to them but remained mute. Then, when his days of ministry were completed, he went home (Luke 1:21-23).
Photo by author, December 2023.
A priest recently posted on Facebook an appeal to us all priests to truly pray and reflect to have a good homily this Simbang Gabi and Christmas Season because the people deserve more than jokes, hugot lines and gimicks during these ten days of celebrating the Mass.
And we totally agree with him!
Let us accept the fact that majority of Catholics in the world – not only in the Philippines – celebrate Mass only on Christmas. At least in our country, there is the Simbang Gabi when many Catholics try to complete its nine-days of Masses plus the Christmas Day itself and, that’s it for them – ten consecutive days in December and absent every Sunday from January to November with a few who would return to Mass on Palm Sunday, fiestas and birthdays. Especially these days, most people have no qualms at all of skipping Sunday Masses while there are still some who wrongly believe the online Mass suffices.
The challenge and call for us priests this season is indeed very true when we are able to pray and prepare well our homilies to catechize the once-a-year-Catholics so that they may experience the love and mercy of God in Jesus Christ who had come and continues to come during our celebrations of the Mass and other sacraments.
Problem is, very often we priests are indeed so much like Zechariah on that day when he doubted the good news of John’s birth announced by an Angel. Not only are many priests notoriously late in their Mass schedule, worst of all as the people complain, either they have nothing or too much to say during their homily!
Photo by Ar. Philip Santiago, Jerusalem, October 2025.
Like the people awaiting Zechariah during that important feast, people are amazed today why some priests could not say anything substantial at all except to continuously ask people to clap their hands and praise God with such cues as “God is good…” and “all the time…” and soon enough what’s next, collection, then after communion special collection!
On the other hand, like the people awaiting Zechariah during that feast, people are also amazed when their priests speak a lot without any sense at all. Worst, many times, the priests are like Jollibee – puro pabida either by converting the altar into a stage for his stand-up jokes and entertainment or turn the sanctuary into a videoke bar because Father is so bilib in his voice.
Sorry, my brother priests. Let’s listen to what people are saying. Let’s listen especially to God when he speaks to us. Or, do we have time to listen to him in prayers?
One truth we priests could not admit or refuse to admit despite its glaring realities is that many of us have become just like politicians – so corrupted that we simply entertain people, keep them ignorant of the more essential things in life and about God because many of us do not pray or are not even interested of going to heaven at all.
Maybe like Zechariah, many priests have been burned out not only of the tasks and living in near isolation but also due to the long wait for answers to our prayers coupled with the many pains and hurts that came along with the ministry that has become more of duties than relationship with the Caller, Jesus Christ.
In telling us this story of the annunciation to Zechariah, Luke had touched on something very timely and sensitive among us priests including the faithful in this age of social media: we have been so detached from God and the divine, many times so impersonal with one another, and, worst of all, so attached with material and worldly things.
As a result, many people have stopped looking up to some priests as models and inspiration for upright living because we have become so much like them in almost every aspect from clothing to speaking and even thinking!
“Pari pala yun!” is what some people often remark these days when they find priests making tambay dis oras ng gabi in almost every cafe or worst, in places we should not even go like casinos and bars, whether with GRO’s or macho dancers.
A growing concern among us these days is the complaint of lay faithful who feel lost and could not guidance like find definitive answers from their pastors about moral issues so blurred by the modern technologies and Western thoughts like wokism. Imagine a Catholic school allowing gay pride festivities? Or relativistic priests to issues of abortion and contraceptives, sex change and gender manipulations, even cases of pornography and other modern addictions. A growing number of laypeople openly express their disappointment at how lately priests have become so lenient with sins that they are already confused on what to confess!
Photo by author, March 2024.
Zechariah and us priests today face the same problem before God: we talk too much and pray so little that perhaps, we need to be silenced too in order to pray more, to listen more to God, his words, his plans and his people as envisioned by synodality now in oblivion.
Imagine all his life as a priest, Zechariah had been praying for a son but when it was finally answered by God, he refused to believe it. Suddenly, he was so lost at what he was supposed to be an expert like spirituality and prayer, most of all, of God’s goodness.
What happened to Zechariah?
And that is what our gospel is asking us priests today, what happened Father?
In the first reading we have heard of the wife of Manoah who felt “a man of God” approached and told her of the good news of the birth of a son (Samson); how lovely if people could feel the same way like in the old days of their priests as “man of God”!
It is very sad when laypeople complain their priests have become so “ordinary” without any sense of holiness or at least of the holy, from simplest wearing of clerical shirt and proper Mass vestments to good grooming and tidiness.
Maybe because we priests have been so concerned so much with palabas than of paloob, when like the social influencers, many among us are so carried away by media chasing content than substance, especially theology.
Photo by author, Jerusalem, May 2017.
One of the most painful cuts in the ministry today that hurts so bad is when priests striving to be holy, speaking and doing what is right and proper would then be called as pharisaical. This is very evident in the celebration of the Mass as some priests would belittle even insult those who follow rubrics as well put on proper vestments.
Luke invites us today, both ordained priests and laypeople who share in the priestly office of Jesus in their baptism, that we look into ourselves, into our hearts amid our worship of God like Zechariah in the very presence of God in the Holy of holies: are we present in the Lord?
Do others feel Christ’s coming in our presence especially in the word and later in our life of witnessing and loving service to them?
Let us strive to have meaningful celebrations of the Mass and other communal worship not only this Advent and Christmas because people await from us ministers of the altar like Zechariah of old the good news of the coming of Christ in every Mass we celebrate with them. Help us your priests, our dear lay faithful by giving us the chance to pray more and serve more instead of inviting us in your activities and other affairs we are not needed. Amen. Have a blessed Friday!
Lord My Chef Daily Recipe by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Wednesday in the Second Week of Advent, 10 December 2025
Presbyteral Anniversary Homily of former parishioner and students
Isaiah 40:25-31 <*{{{{>< + ><}}}}*> Matthew 11:28-30
Advent is seeking the face of God – and so is the priesthood. The joy of our priesthood to a large extent is our continuous seeking for the face of God. It is part of human nature that we always seek and associate a face behind every name and voice.
When we were called to the priesthood, we first heard a “voice” that led us into the high school seminary. That’s why priesthood is a vocation, a call from the Latin verb “voco, vocare, vocavi”.
But, we pursued further our vocation into the major seminary, some had to leave for a while while others were sent out in order to see the face behind this voice, this call because the most essential in priesthood is the Caller Jesus Christ, not really his call.
In our search for Jesus and his face, it is hoped that eventually we as priests become the face of Jesus to everyone, speaking to them those same gentle words to “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest” (Mt.11:28).
Thank you very much for inviting me again to speak to the three of you – Fr. RA, Fr. LA, and Fr. Howard. (Can we call you as Fr. HA so that your name finally rhyme with the two as in “Hahahaha”?)
Sixth Presbyteral Anniversary of Fr. Ra, Fr. LA, and Fr. Howard, 10 December 2025, ICS Chapel.
Congratulations on your sixth presbyteral anniversary. They say the first five years of priesthood is the “honeymoon stage”; so now, you enter the reality stage when many times you will be disillusioned in the ministry, especially with your brother priests who are supposed to be the face of Christ – but not!
That is why the readings for today on your sixth presbyteral anniversary are so appropriate as they offer the Advent message of comfort and encouragement, and a promise of salvation – the message every priest needs to hear these days when our leaders in government and yes, even in the church seem to be so weak and without direction, far from Jesus our Eternal Priest.
The Lord invites us through the Prophet Isaiah to look up and pray – to see the stars in the heavens, the bright constellations that form objects and animals like “faces” on the dark skies of the night.
Photo by author from the Dominus Flevit Church overlooking Jerusalem, May 2017.
“To whom can you liken me as an equal? says the Lord” (Is.40:25).
Do we still pray and reflect on the mystery of God’s power and care? Or are the priorities of the day a constant distraction?
We shall never see the face of Christ in ourselves nor in the people we serve no matter how dedicated we are if we do not pray. It is our prayer life, especially those intense moments of silence before the Blessed Sacrament that will show us the face of Christ. According to Abp. Fulton Sheen, the more we pray before the Blessed Sacrament, the more we look like Jesus. Before Pope Benedict XVI died, he wrote that all these sex scandals that have rocked the Church in the past decades are largely due to fewer priests making time for Christ in the Blessed Sacrament.
Before our ministry came, there was Jesus first calling us to be with him, to be one in him in prayers. Palagi nating unahin si Jesus higit sa lahat. Our efforts find meaning only in Christ as Isaiah tells us, “Though young men faint and grow weary, and youths stagger and fall, they that hope in the Lord will renew their strength, they will soar with eagles’ wings; they will run and not grow weary, walk and not grow faint” (Is.40:30-31).
It is funny that when you invited me last month Fr. RA and Fr. Howard, I asked you if it is the anniversary of our GC? Yes, these three crazy men keep a GC, just the three of them and to make it more like a group, they included me into their folly.
First Mass of Fr. RA in our Parish in Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria, Bulacan six years ago.
That is the landscape of our Church today when we live our faith in a mass-mediated culture where we find images especially faces so prominent more than ever as in Facebook. There lies hidden the hidden schemes of the devil to mislead us priests in exposing more our faces than being the face of Christ.
A friend in media recently asked me if those priests in that grand procession are really priests as she wondered why they wear those elaborate vestments they look like Poon and imahen.
I felt what she was driving at – rampa pa more! Isn’t she right?
Except for the Nazareno in Quiapo and Sto. Nino in Cebu, most of our Church processions have all turned into pageantries with all the pomp and gaiety of a show, a palabas.
Puro palabas na tayo, wala nang paloob which is the deeper meaning of the “face”: not as something outside o panglabas but more of the inside. Face is image and likeness, that thing that identifies us. Our identification or ID is Jesus Christ. That is the reason the new Ratio in seminary formation had renamed the theology department as “configuration” stage.
Be the face of Jesus to the people you serve, Fr. RA, Fr. LA and Fr. Howard.
First priest of St. John Evangelist Parish in Bagbaguin; actually second after Bp. Bart Santos who was ordained when Bagbaguin was still under La Purisima.
Be the face of Christ too to us priests because these days, many priests follow and show other faces than Christ’s. As I used to tell you, kapag ang pari mabuti sa kapwa pari, tiyak na mabuting tao siya; pero kapag ang pari kahit anong bait (hindi buti, ha) sa mga tao pero masama sa kapwa pari, hindi yan mabuting tao.
St. John the Evangelist, the Patron Saint of Fr. RA in Bagbaguin wrote in one of his letters 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” (1Jn.4:12).
So beautiful! It is when we truly love, especially like Jesus our Eternal Priest, that we become the face of Christ, when we see the face of Christ. Amen. And cheers to six years in priesthood!
Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul, 23 October 2025 Thursday in Twenty-Ninth Week of Ordinary Time, Year I Romans 16:19-23 <'[[[[>< + ><]]]]'> Luke 12:49-53
Photo by Dra. Mai B. Dela Peña, Japan, 2016.
I may be struggling with stress daily like most people these days, Lord Jesus, but today's gospel made me realize how you too experienced "stress" like us because, after all , you are truly human like us.
Jesus said to his disciples: “I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already blazing! There is a baptism with which I must be baptized, and how great is my anguish until it is accomplished! Do you think that I have come to establish peace on the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division (Luke 12:49-51).
How good it is to realize that you, Lord Jesus, was also stressed - "I have come to set the earth on fire... There is a baptism with which I must be baptized..."; like you, we could feel the weight of things to be done, of mission to be accomplished; like you, we too could feel the great responsibilities on our shoulders.
Thank you, Jesus, thank you for being one with us in our stress.
Teach us Lord your way of handling stress so we can put these challenges into good use, into more evangelical in nature by first accepting and embracing like you our mission and responsibilities when you said, "how I wish it were already blazing" and "how great is my anguish until it is accomplished"; many times what we do is as much as possible avoid our mission and responsibilities or, if not, delay acting on them that eventually stress us further; give us also the courage like you, Jesus, to face and deal with our many divisions in life that stress us, of learning to bridge the many gaps between the ideal and the sad realities we are into as well as the many limitations and handicaps we have.
Photo by Dra. Mai B. Dela Peña, Mt. Carmel, Israel, 2015.
Make us whole,
Lord Jesus
in your love and
kindness and peace
by claiming our
blessedness in your
gift of salvation
and sanctification
as we pursue
holiness
according to
St. Paul's advice
in the first reading.
Amen.
Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Our Lady of Fatima University
Valenzuela City
(lordmychef@gmail.com)
Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul, 26 August 2025 Tuesday in the Twenty-first Week of Ordinary Time, Year I 1 Thessalonians 2:1-8 <*{{{{>< + ><}}}}*> Matthew 23:23-26
Thang you very much, dear Jesus for the gift of St. Paul your Apostle: yesterday we heard how he encouraged the church at Thessalonica, of how impressed he was with their deep conviction of faith; today he described his approach to starting the church at Thessalonica: so candidly speaking how he did it while still remaining tender and gentle to them, so sure he had taken the right course of action.
You yourselves know, brothers and sisters, that our reception among you was not without effect. Rather, after we had suffered and been insolently treated, as you know, in Philippi, we drew courage through our God to speak to you the Gospel of God with much struggle. Our exhortation was not from delusion or impure motives, or did it work through deception. But as we were judged worthy by God to be entrusted with the Gospel, that is how we speak, not as trying to please men, but rather God, who judges our hearts (1Thessalonians 2:1-4).
As I pray, Lord Jesus on these words of St. Paul, I cannot stop wondering our many excuses and "side trips" today as your apostles; how did St. Paul unwind or recreate in his time compared to our many forms of rest and recreation; so many of us cannot move on with life and ministry from whatever experiences we have had in our previous assignments unlike St. Paul who simply kept the lessons learned from his past experiences at Philippi; most of all, I could feel the intense love of St. Paul to you, Lord Jesus and his ministry with his deep personal relationship in you in prayers so unlike us today with so many excuses in not praying at all.
What I love most is St. Paul's tenderness and gentleness to his church with his tenacious hold on you Jesus.
although we were able to impose our weight as Apostles of Christ. Rather, we were gentle among you, as a nursling mother cares for her children. With such affection for you, we were determined to share with you not only the Gospel of God, but our very selves as well, as dearly beloved had you become to us (1Thessalonians 2:7-8).
Dearest Jesus, may your word be always alive and active in me flowing in my tender and gentle service to your flock so unlike the Pharisees you have condemned again in today's gospel for being blind guides of the people. Amen.
Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Our Lady of Fatima University Valenzuela City (lordmychef@gmail.com)
Salamuch again to your prayers and greetings on our priests’ day last August 4, the Memorial of our patron, St. John Baptiste Marie Vianney. With a Bible in hand in silent prayers that morning, I realized two of Jesus Christ’s important works as a priest we continue today.
First is to make God closer to people. And vice versa.
It is not my original; got it from Pope Benedict XVI’s Jesus of Nazareth series where he repeatedly mentioned Jesus Christ’s main achievement in his coming here on earth was bringing God closest to us humans. Recall how during that time in Israel when people felt God so far from them due to the legalisms of temple worship that sadly continues even in the church today that is worsened by trends in modernism like digitization that miss out the very essence of the personal aspect in our ministry of the priesthood.
Photo by author, Chapel of the Angel of Peace, Our Lady of Fatima University, Valenzuela City.
Jesus came and continues to come to us on a person to person basis. It is the foundation of our interpersonal relationships, especially for us priests. Hence, before we priests can bring God closer to others, we must be the first to be closer to him. The way priests deal with others is a reflection of the kind of relationship priests have, or do not have with Jesus. What kept the Lord so close with the people was a result of his union and intimacy with the Father. Solidarity with the poor and marginalized in the real sense is always a grace from Jesus that first comes in every priest’s intimacy with Christ in prayers.
This is the major challenge to us priests these days in an age of too much technologies that ironically set us more apart than closer with each other. We promised to be celibate to offer our whole selves for the flock but sadly, many of us have become too hyphenated with many other duties that we are more professional than personal. Some could not even affix their personal signatures on letters and documents, preferring the e-signature that is so impersonal with the usual excuse it is easier and faster, totally forgetting about our life of sacrifice in such small thing.
While we priests need to take breaks, it is a different story when the pastor becomes engrossed into sports and recreation to the detriment of the pastoral needs of parishioners. When focus is more on the minister and his needs forgetting the ministry, problems arise. Most likely, the pastor is already in a crisis like when Masses even on Sundays are passed on to other priests for dubious excuses or reasons. Watch out for those red flags among pastors of souls who are too difficult to gather for clergy meetings and sick calls but so quick in rest and recreation, especially in going out-of-town or even abroad. Watch out too when pastors are more knowledgeable in politics and telenovelas than the scriptures and the faith, when the homily is more like a sing-along concert.
The kind of our intimacy with Jesus in prayers determines the kind of our relationships with his flock entrusted to us.
According to studies, most people spend an average of seven hours a day of screen time on their cellphone. So, seven hours a day multiplied by seven days a week equals 49 hours. That means most people, including us priests, lose about two days and one hour every week by just scrolling and interacting on our cellphones! How much time is left for us, especially priests to pray and serve the parish? Some would argue that those people we interact with in our cellphones are also the same people we serve; but, whatever happened to our person-to-person interactions?
See how the gospels teem with many stories of Jesus touching, doing other gestures of personally being with the people of his time especially in healing the sick. What a tragedy that we cannot freely be that personal like Jesus with people especially children following the sex scandals that have rocked the church that was largely due to priests’ lack of a prayer life. Every genuine relationship with people starts with intimacy with God like Jesus who would always go by himself to deserted places to pray.
That is why it is also important for us priests to educate our people to value our prayer time especially at night. We priests do not have a night life. Period. We may go out sometimes with laypeople and brother priests but never all the time. Though Jesus dined with the rich and sinful during his time, it was never social in nature; his simple acts of joining meals or visiting people were always apostolic in nature that led to conversion into faithful followers of his hosts. Do we keep that apostolic character in our frequent lunch or dinner buffets in expensive restaurants that some priests post in social media without any deference to the majority of our people struggling to make ends meet?
The second important work of Christ as a priest during his time on earth we priests today must continue is to inspire and organize people in keeping his work of bringing God to people and vice versa.
How sad to see the Church has become more like a bureaucracy with some dioceses a microcosm of the Republic of the Philippines with priests and bishops acting like politicians. Maybe next to the government, the Church comes close in churning out the most documents and statements nobody reads nor cares at all to implement. Actually, there is a book on social teachings of the Church aptly called “The Church’s Best Kept Secrets”.
How can synodality happen when priests are detached from the people in the first place? This is very evident in the composition of many Parish Pastoral Councils (PPC) who are never replaced at all except only when one finally dies. Some parish workers and volunteers are as old as their parish that some of them brag “bisita pa lang ito naglilingkod na ako!”
Is it really that difficult to inspire and find new workers and volunteers in the parish? Our faith teaches us that the Lord always provides us especially with fellow workers in his vineyard. Problem is when pastors refuse – not really fail – to attract and inspire more new volunteers and workers in the parish because that will require a lot of their time and presence. A parish that does not change its sets of officers and volunteers for years and years is a dead parish. It just exists for its traditions of devotions and fiestas people see every year and are most likely so fed up too.
Photo by author, Sacred heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, March 2025.
This is perhaps the reason why despite our being a Christian nation that we still remain poor because even in parishes not many are given the chance to do the work of Christ. How can we imbue future leaders of both the country and the church with the gospel of Christ if we just allow a small circle, or sadly a clique involved in our parish affairs and activities? One reason Rome fell was the failure of the empire to prepare its next generation of leaders.
Likewise, “recyling” parish leaders and volunteers only continue the vicious circle among us Filipino Christians of being baptized but not evangelized. Notice how our parishes and dioceses have become mini-Republic of the Philippines that are so alive during calamities and holidays for ayudas and gifts but rarely involved in good governance and leadership or management. We priests and state officials are so good in building edifices and complex but that do not make the church nor the government at all. The more priests are personally involved with their parishioners, the more the people realize their importance in being a part and fellow builders of the Body of Christ, of the need for them to be involved in helping their pastors in bringing God to more people and in leading others to God.
Jesus gathered and formed those considered the least during his time to continue his work of bringing God closest to the people and the people closer to God. His Apostles and followers have no experiences in religion at all nor with evangelization. They simply knew how to pray and have faith in Christ above all that we priests and lay people must first do and keep on doing.
Priesthood is doing the work of Jesus Christ; it is not ours but the Lord’s. We are just his hands and limbs, mouth and body in doing his works. The good news is, Jesus our Eternal High Priest loves us so immensely that despite our weaknesses and sinfulness, he continues to call us to come to him, to find rest in him, to learn from him for he is gentle and humble in heart (Mt.11:29). Let us pray and do the work of Christ as priests with our lay people so that each day may be a Pentecost for us in the ministry. Amen.
lordmychef.com 