Category: motherhood/mothers

Easter is making Jesus present in our love

Lord My Chef Sunday Recipe by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Sixth Sunday of Easter, Cycle A, 10 May 2026
Acts 8:5-8, 14-17 ><}}}*> 1 Peter 3:15-18 ><}}}*> John 14:15-21
Photo by author, Bucharest, Romania, November 2025.

Jesus wraps up this Sunday his Last Supper discourse into its very meaning of love as basis of our relationships in him who is both our “gate” as the Good shepherd (April 26) and our “home” (May 3). It was at his Last Supper when Jesus gave his new commandment of love that is why Holy Thursday is also known as Maundy Thursday from the Latin mandatum for “command.”

Jesus said to his disciples: “If you love me, you will keep my commandments… In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me, because I live and you will live. On that day you will realize that I am in my Father and you are in me and I in you. Whoever has my commandments and observes them is the one who loves me. And whoever loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him, and reveal myself to him” (John14:15, 19-21)

See how Jesus mentioned the word “love” five times in our short gospel this Sunday.

Love is the basis of every relationship; without love, any relationship will not last, will not grow, will not mature and deepen into what it is meant to be.

This is most true in our relationship as disciples of Christ wherein love is more than a feeling but a decision, a choice we make daily in favor of Jesus through the persons around us like your spouse and children, our parents, and fellow disciples. And mothers!

Photo by author, June 2024.

Happy Mothers’ Day to every mom especially those in their sick bed, those widowed, and those who gone ahead of us to eternity.

Mothers are the best examples of the love Jesus is speaking of in the gospel today.

It is the love we affirm despite the pains and hurts of misunderstanding from people we love; it is the love calling us to remain faithful even if others are not; it is the love that remembers and never forgets; it is the love that forgives, that cares and understands without asking anything in return.

It is a love that unfolds, like a process going through stages that calls us to be patient as St. Paul described it in one of his letters. That is why Jesus promised to send the Holy Spirit later to his disciples to understand better his lessons and mission for them.

See how in the first reading we have a glimpse of the kind of love of Jesus calling us – the conversion of the people of Samaria: first was Philip coming to them like preparing the ground for the gospel in them and when they seem to be ready, Peter and John arrived to pray over them to receive the fullness of the Holy Spirit. More than to show us how the Holy Spirit works, the story is all about the love that bound the early Church together especially when the persecution begun.

I prefer the word “unfolding” in describing love wherein slowly there is the sort of “unveiling” of the cover of the face because love is more than a concept and thought or experience: love is a person as John wrote in his first letter, Deus caritas est, God is love (1Jn.4:8).

It is the title of the first encyclical by Pope Benedict XVI who wrote that true love involves transformation wherein the lover seeks to become like his beloved, moving from selfish desires known as eros into the self-sacrificial and other-centered love called agape, the Greek word used by John in writing his account of the Last Supper.

Photo by author, March 2018.

The love that Jesus is calling us is that love of his on the Cross we make present in the Eucharist, that even though we repeat it over and over daily, we never get fed up because something is happening in us, there is something changing, making us better, more matured, more loving that we keep coming back to the Holy Mass to listen to his words and receive him Body and Blood under the signs of the bread and wine.

Every true love is always a person. This is the reason why those who love persevere and forge into every obstacle, fight for their love, bear all pains because we find our fulfillment in being with our beloved, whether physically or spiritually. The mode does not really matter because true love touches our very personhood always.

Here lies the beauty of Albert Camus’ 1947 novel The Plague that had a sort of rediscovery during the 2020 COVID pandemic where he wrote that “A loveless world is a dead world, and always there comes an hour when one is weary of prisons, of one’s work, and of devotion to duty, and all one craves for is a loved face, the warmth and wonder of a loving heart.”

Our Lady of Fatima University-GawadKalinga in Bagac, Bataan.

Without love, humanity will go extinct.

Because of love, every tragedy, every suffering and problem we go through leads to happy ending primarily because we discover something in ourselves and in someone beyond far more important than any situation or plight we may be into.

And that is the joy of the love of Jesus Christ when God is revealed in us in his love when we love like him. It is Jesus Christ whom we “sanctify as Lord in our hearts” (1Pt.3:15) is the one we imitate and follow, the one we see and, most of all, the only one we must share when we love, when we serve.

I know, these are easier said than done.

Specially when we who love are not loved by those we love. Or taken for granted, even forgotten.

Again, let us return to that love of mothers that is most closest to the love of Jesus Christ, a love so willing to give up one’s self in spite and despite of everything.

One of the hardest things many of us go through like priests and nuns, the eldest in the family and the newly widowed or anyone looked up to as someone without a problem: very often people forget us or take us for granted including those supposed to be closest to us, thinking we are fine or doing great without any hint of the sufferings we are going through.

But, it is a source of constant deep joy while suffering in silence, God’s grace is always overflowing because Jesus is within each one of us who believes in him and tries hard to keep his commandments.

We just have to do our part, to keep on believing in Jesus, loving Jesus, and most of all, keeping his commandments because Jesus is the “explanation to anyone who asks us for a reason for our hope” (1Pt.3:15).

We are about to close the Easter Season in two weeks: next Sunday will be the Solemnity of the Lord’s Ascension and after that the Pentecost Sunday. This Last Supper scene perfectly captures the very kind of love Jesus is asking us – a love so personal like his, a love that unfolds and grows deeper as we love more despite the pains and sufferings, and a love that often looks absurd to others and even to us because it is not physical. And beyond logic.

Jesus invites us to continue to be his loving presence in this selfish world, where everyone demands of deserving so many perks in life. Let us do away with that expression “dasurv ko” this or that. Let us pray for more love to conquer all. Don’t forget to hug or remember your mom this Mothers’ Day. Have a blessed Sunday and keep cool and hydrated too! Amen.

Photo by author, 07 February 2026.

Womanly heart, manly courage

Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul, 19 November 2025
Wednesday in the Thirty-Third Week of Ordinary Time, Year I
2 Maccabees 7:1, 20-31     ><))))*> + ><))))*> + ><))))*>     Luke 19:11-28
Lady of Sorrows from a triptych by the Master of the Stauffenberg Altarpiece, Alsace c. 1455; photo from fraangelicoinstitute.com.
What a lovely phrase,
dear Jesus for today
for us all 
especially mothers
and all women:
"womanly heart,
manly courage."
At this time when
a wayward daughter
and sister viciously attacks
her own brother in total
disregard of our family values
and tradition, not to mention
the need for decency and respect
as well as a little sanity too,
here comes out in the open
the nobility of many women and
mothers as well as men still intact;
in this time like during the
Maccabean Revolt when many
sold their souls to evil for the price
of comfort and ease, there are
still more like that mother who dare
to go against the tide of insanity
and folly, indecency and disrespect,
most of all, of idolatrous worship
through religious leaders of the many 
sects and cults who use God's name
in vain and shameful profit too.
Keep us strong inside,
Jesus, to be not afraid in
venturing into finding ways of
serving you most than being idle
in keeping your gifts and talents;
teach us anew the virtue of
obedience, of docility
to authority
whether at home and family or
in the society in general
and in other civil institutions.
Lastly,
we pray dear Jesus
for all mothers crying in silence
these days for the many pains
they bear inside their hearts
especially those who have lost a child,
those betrayed by their own husband
or children,
those separated from their families
due to work and employment,
those nursing a sick loved one,
those forgotten even by families
and societies; grant them 
a "womanly heart" filled with faith
in God and a "manly courage"
trusting in you alone.
Amen.
Now more than ever, we are proven right: the past administration is the most decadent in our history with its utter lack of respect for life and for women; that its war on drugs was totally a lie. May they “who have contrived every kind of affliction not escape the hands of God” (2 Maccabees 7:31).

Like a father, like a mother

Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul, 27 August 2025
Wednesday, Memorial of St. Monica, Married Woman
1 Thessalonians 2:9-13     <*[[[[>< + ><]]]]*>     Matthew 23:27-32
Image of St. Monica from grunge.com
Praise and glory to you,
Lord Jesus Christ
for another set of 
beautiful words from
your great Apostle Paul
of being like a "father",
a parent to the Thessalonians
like St. Monica whose feast we
celebrate today in her diligence
and patience to her son
St. Augustine whose feast comes
tomorrow.

As you know, we treated each one of you as a father treats his children, exhorting and encouraging you and insisting that you walk in a manner worthy of the God who calls you into his kingdom and glory (1Thessalonians 2:11-12).

In this time of great
trial and crisis in our country
when we are literally deep
in floods of evil and sin, 
a deluge of apocalyptic proportion
that have submerged all three
branches of government -
the executive, 
legislative 
and judiciary 
that have severely dampened
and loosened the morals
of our society,
teach us Jesus
to be like the mother of 
St. Augustine,
the ever patient and
prayerful St. Monica 
to exhort and encourage
everyone to still walk in a manner
worthy of God who calls us
to be fair and just,
tenacious with our faith
and hope in you and your gospel
 minus the trappings of the
Pharisees and scribes of your time
who were like "whitewashed tombs
who appear beautiful on the outside,
but inside are full of dead men's bones
and every kind of filth"
(Matthew 23:27);
may the prayers of St. Monica
with her tears cleanse us
of everything wrong in our selves.
Amen.

Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Our Lady of Fatima University
Valenzuela City
(lordmychef@gmail.com)
St. Augustine with his mother St. Monica.

Resuming Ordinary Time by devoting ourselves to prayer with Mary

Lord My Chef Daily Recipe by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Monday, Feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church, 09 June 2025
Acts 1:12-14     <*{{{{>< <*{{{{><  +  ><}}}}*> ><}}}}*>     John 19:25-27
Painting by El Greco, “Pentecostes” (1597) from commons.wikimedia.org.
Praise and glory to you,
Lord Jesus in inspiring the Church
in its most recent celebration of
the Feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary,
Mother of the Church every Monday
after Pentecost when we resume
Ordinary Time; it is so right and fitting
that after your return to heaven,
you send us to the world to continue
your work of salvation by being rooted
in you in prayer,
not just by ourselves
but with Mary your Mother,
your first disciple,
the first doer of your word,
the first to receive you, 
Jesus the Christ.

Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet…Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James son of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James. All these devoted themselves with one accord to prayer, together with some women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers (Acts 1:12, 13-14).

Icon of Mary “Mater Ecclesiae” (Mother of the Church) in St. Peter’s Square from opusdei.org.
Since the very start of the Church,
you have always been with her,
truly her Mother being the
Body of Christ your Son;
all your life,
you have devoted yourself
into prayer as a communion
in Jesus Christ which is essentially
what discipleship is - prayer!

As we resume the Ordinary Time,
teach us Mother Mary to remain in
union with Jesus in prayer:

let us be one with Jesus your Son
to make our joy complete 
not only in listening and receiving
his word but most especially
in doing his words;

let us be one with Jesus your Son
for us to persevere in our sorrows
by finding him always in every suffering
by embracing his Cross;

let us be one with Jesus your Son
so that glory and victory may not
inflate our ego, 
realizing everything
is for God's greater glory;

let us be one with Jesus your Son
for us to remain in his light of the
Holy Spirit in this time 
we are engulfed in darkness of sin 
and materialism,
pride and power,
vanity and self-centeredness.
Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, Quezon City, 20 March 2025.
O most Blessed Virgin Mary,
Mother of the Church,
Mother of Christ
and our Mother too,
be our companion in this
long journey in Ordinary Time,
knowing Jesus,
loving Jesus,
following Jesus,
always leading and pointing
others to Jesus
to be like Jesus.
Amen.

Advent is fulfillment

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Simbang Gabi-8 Homily, 23 December 2024
Malachi 3:1-4, 23-24     <'[[[[><  +  ><]]]]'>     Luke 1:57-66
Photo by author, Church of St. John the Baptist, the Holy Land, May 2019.

We are now in our penultimate day of our Simbang Gabi. I love that word “penultimate” so often found in the sports page that means second to the last of the series.

From the Latin prefix pen- meaning “almost” + ultimatum for “last”, penultimate literally means “almost last” which gives a sense of fulfillment and of completion – exactly how we feel this eighth day of Simbang Gabi that is almost over with everything already fulfilled in our readings and prayers for Christmas.

When the time arrived 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. When they came on the eighth day to circumcise the child, they were going to call him Zechariah after his father, but his mother said in reply, “No. He will be called John.” But they answered her, “There is no one among your relatives who has this name.” So they made signs, asking his father… He asked for a tablet and wrote, “John is his name.” Immediately, his mouth was opened, his tongue freed, and he spoke blessing God. All who heard these things took them to heart, saying, “What, then, will this child be?” For surely the hand of the Lord was with him (Luke 1:57-62, 63-64, 66).

Painting of “Saint Luke Drawing the Virgin” by Flemish painter Roger van der Weyden (1400-1464); photo from en.wikipedia.org.  

See again the artistry and advocacy of Luke as an evangelist and a journalist. We can imagine the scene, experience the joy and excitement of the event in the tight-knit community with all the wonderful elements of a drama in real life.

Leading the scene is Elizabeth, the priest’s wife barren for years and beyond hope now gives birth to a son, creating excitement and gossip among the many Marites. Then Zechariah the priest who was silenced for nine months due to his doubts with the good news announced to him by the angel finally spoke praising God, filled with gratitude and wonder. And of course, the uzis (usiseros), the neighbors who shared in the joy and for a good reason and intentions wanted the baby named after his father.

That’s when Luke showed his skillful mastery of weaving together a wonderful piece of tapestry clearly designed by God that surprised everyone, including us today. “When they came on the eighth day to circumcise the child, they were going to call him Zechariah after his father, but his mother said in reply, “No. He will be called John.” But they answered her, “There is no one among your relatives who has this name.” So they made signs, asking his father… He asked for a tablet and wrote, “John is his name.” Immediately, his mouth was opened, his tongue freed, and he spoke blessing God.“

Again, notice another minute detail mentioned by Luke when he called Elizabeth “his mother”.

Photo by author, Church of St. John the Baptist, the Holy Land, May 2019.

Of the four evangelists, Luke is the one who gave a lot of emphasis on the role of women in the society, especially the ancient Jewish one that was strongly patriarchal.

In the Visitation story yesterday, it was only Luke who had written a scene in the whole Bible with two women together conversing and in very positive mood. Women were so rarely put together in one scene especially in the Old Testament, a sort of what we may call as “gender bias” because women were always at odds with each other, even quarreling. Except for the Book of Ruth where we find two women not only in a single scene but a whole book and yet very pronounced there how it was Naomi the mother-in-law always portrayed in control or leading, always speaking while Ruth was silent, giving an impression of being so lovely yet very soft even submissive to elders and men.

Luke wrote the Visitation scene to clarify all these gender bias of their world then that persists even to our own time. Luke made a loud and clear statement in putting together Elizabeth and Mary in this one scene, an old, barren woman and a virgin, unmarried maiden both so blessed by God with infants in their wombs. Not only men are called by God to a special mission but most especially women who give birth. Elizabeth and Mary represent all the women of the world to remind everyone for all time that they are created in the image and likeness of God, with same dignity as men who must be respected at all times as indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Notice how throughout the scene from the annunciation to Zechariah and the Visitation, the wife of Zechariah was referred to by her name Elizabeth but, when controversy arose about the name to give her son, Luke emphatically wrote “his mother” to show that she has every right over her son, reaching its climax when Zechariah affirmed the mother as he wrote “John is his name.”

Think of those moments in your life when there are reversal of roles and suddenly God threw you – catapulted you – to a major role in life you only entertained in your wishful thinking and daydreaming because you have given them up, you have surrendered it due to a very long time of being disappointed like Elizabeth or Zechariah?

Think of those times when you realized, when you felt being at the center of attention for a good reason because you are good, you are so blessed, you did the right thing? How do you feel of the grace of God?

Think of those times when you did something so good that prompted others to “prepare the way of the Lord” like John the Baptist, when people around you were wondering what else you would achieve because clearly, God is with you?

On this penultimate day to Christmas, take time to speak God from your heart as you prepare for the fulfillment of His promise to you. I tell you, claim it now whatever you are asking God for Christmas. Remember what the angel told Mary at the annunciation, “nothing will be impossible for God.” Dare to open yourself to God, create a space within you for Him alone and let Him lead you like Zechariah whose name means “God remembers”, Elizabeth which means “God has promised” and John, “God is gracious.”

On this penultimate day to Christmas, we are assured God is gracious because God remembers His promise always. Amen. Have a blessed week ahead.

Photo by author, birthplace of St. John the Baptist underneath the Church of St. John the Baptist, the Holy Land, May 2019.

Nanay Sta. Monica

Quiet Storm by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, 27 August 2024
Photo of St. Monica from the cover of the book “St. Monica Club: How to Wait, Hope and Pray For Your Fallen-away Loved Ones by Maggie Green, Sophia Institute Press, 2019.

Today we celebrate the Memorial of St. Monica, mother of St. Augustine. She has always been associated with her son Augustine who is considered as one of the great saints of the Church with so much impact in our theology and almost every Catholic teaching. It was through the prayers and many sacrifices by St. Monica that St. Augustine was converted to Christianity who eventually became a priest then later as Bishop and Doctor of the Church. That is why during the Vatican II reforms of the liturgy, her memorial celebration was moved from May 4 to August 27, a day before St. Augustine’s memorial too.

Next to the Blessed Virgin Mary, St. Monica is perhaps the best example of motherhood beyond compare. Patron saint not only of wives and mothers, St. Monica is also the Patroness of those seeking patience and victims of abuse.

Most probably, stories about her suffering in silence in being married to an abusive and philandering pagan husband named Patricius were “overextended” to the extent we Filipinos got a very wrong impression of a “martyr” as being a wife who willingly bears without complaints the abuses by her husband.

St. Monica was very far from that kind of “martyr” but was in fact a “martyr” to the truest sense of its meaning from the Greek word martyria that means to witness Jesus Christ. Witnessing for Christ by bearing sufferings does not mean allowing one’s self to be abused freely by anyone; witnessing for Christ is primarily living a life centered on Jesus in prayers that flow into good works and holiness. Martyrdom is overcoming evil with goodness that is why many times, it ends with death – but, it is not as a defeat but as a triumph that leads to conversion of sinners and unbelievers, exactly how Christianity spread before and until now wherever Christians are persecuted.

According to St. Augustine’s own account in his book Confessions, although domestic abuse was prevalent during their time, their ill-tempered father never beat their mother. Her daily prayers especially her frequent going to the Mass with so many acts of charities to the poor irritated their father Patricius and yet led him to respect St. Monica. Eventually, her prayer life that found expressions in her almsgiving and kindness to everyone won the heart of Patricius, calmed his violent tendencies until he finally converted to Christianity before his death.

Before calming and converting her husband, St. Monica first won over her equally difficult to deal with mother-in-law! So, for those having problems with in-laws, St. Monica is the go-to saint for you!

But it is not that easy at all. We need to do the efforts, to cultivate a prayer life and allow God to work in us in order to grow in faith, hope, and love as well as the virtues especially patience. All these aspects of her faith flowed in her remaining so sweet and gentle despite her problematic husband and three children (whom Patricius refused to be baptized as Christians) that she was able to exercise a good influence over abused wives and suffering mothers who were so moved by St. Monica’s example.

Now here is the funny thing that most likely mothers and wives today would surely laugh at – St. Monica’s advise: “If you can master your tongue, not only do you run less risk of being beaten, but perhaps you may even, one day, make your husband better.”

Huwag daw po kuda nang kuda, mga Nanay at mga Misis…

Having spent most of my 26 years as a priest ministering to students and young people (exactly 17 years and counting), I used to tell them how often our mothers’ nagging is actually their love language; they may be saying a lot even without thinking at all but that’s because they love us, they care for us. That is why I find it amazing, so prophetic when Filipino mothers speak the same thing when children come home, hurt and beaten after not listening to their words of caution: “Sinasabi ko na nga ba…!”

Photo from shutterstock.com

Many times, mothers are prophetic; listen to whatever they may be saying because so often, they tell the truth. About us or of then people we go out with.

One thing I miss these days after my mom’s death in May are her words of love and wisdom as well as her nagging with accompanying threats (tatamaan ka sa akin or lalayasan ko kayo). Psychologists say that is wrong for parents to threaten their kids. I don’t really know but from my own experience those were perfectly examples of tough love that made us strong.

Now Mommy or Mamu as we called her since becoming a grandma is gone, no one reminds us or nags us anymore. And the worst part of that is, you have no one to make sumbong. We have lost somebody willing listen to all of our kuda.

That I think makes every mother to suffer a lot because they keep so many of her children’s pains and hurts, including anger and complaints in their hearts: many times they explain but we refuse to listen, accusing her of bias and favoritism. There are times she would say “hayaan mo na lang anak”… she would be talking and talking again of many things.

Every Nanay is a Sta. Monica, suffering in silence because she has always been loving us in silence. Truly, when a mother dies, our links are never cut off from her as if the umbilical cord remains intact. And wireless up to heaven. How funny that we complain often our our mother’s nagging and endless talking but when she becomes silent, we miss her. Now because we are sure she loves us so much.

Sharing with you this most beautiful tribute of four brothers to their Nanay I found last night in the internet now with 4M views. Pray for all mothers today, thank God for their great gift of life.

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/SJHtTEMdeiPdESJh/?mibextid=KsPBc6

Umuwi ka na Mommy…

Lawiswis ng Salita ni P. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Ika-14 ng Agosto 2024
Larawan kuha ng may akda sa kanyang silid, 14 Agosto 2024.
*Salamuch sa Orange and Lemons.

Umuwi ka na Mommy:
yan lang mithi ko palagi
hindi lang masabi 
nitong aking mga labi
dangan kasi hindi mangyayari;
akala ko noong dati
makakaya ko ang pighati
ng iyong pagpanaw
ngunit aking akala pala ay mali
tunay na damdamin namnamin,
ilahad at aminin sa sarili
huwag ikubli
huwag magkunwari
tiyak madadali sa huli.
Umuwi ka na Mommy:
kailanma'y hindi namin iyan nasabi
dangan nga kasi ikaw palagi
nasa tahanan at tindahan
naghihintay sa amin
at pagsapit ng takipsilim
tulad ng mga alaga mong inahin
isa-isa kaming iyong hahanapin
parang mga sisiw
bubusugin sa halimhim
ng iyong mga pangangaral
at dalangin saka ipaghahain
ng masarap at mainit na pagkain
mahirap limutin.
Umuwi ka na Mommy:
ikaw lang kasi
sa akin ang walang atubili
nakapagsasabi, nakakaramdam 
at nakababatid ng lahat
dangan nga kasi
ikaw ang sa akin nagsilang
sa iyong sinapupunan
hanggang libingan
dama ko ating kaisahan
pilit ko noon hinihiwalayan
kaya ngayon aking ramdam
kay laking kawalan kahit
nag-iisa ka lang.
Larawan kuha ng may akda sa kanyang silid, 14 Agosto 2024.
*Salamuch talaga, Orange and Lemons.
Mula sa YouTube.com

Araw-araw “Araw ng mga Ina”

Lawiswis ng Salita ni P. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Ika-16 ng Hunyo, 2024

Larawan kuha ng may-akda, Our Lady of Fatima University-Sta. Rosa, Laguna, 2023.
Mula pa man noong una
pinuna ko na pagdiriwang 
ng araw ng mga ina
at araw ng mga ama
dahil sa katawa-tawang
pagbati nila:
"Happy Mother's Day" sa lahat ng Ina!
"Happy Father's Day" sa lahat ng Ama!
Kanino pa nga ba
araw ng mga Ina kungdi
sa mga nanay at ang araw
ng mga Ama kungdi sa mga tatay?
Kaya hindi ko mapigilang matawa
sa tila dispalenghagang turing nila
na mother's day sa mga Ina 
at father's day sa mga Ama:
e para kanino pa nga ba mga
araw na iyon?
Nguni't sadyang mapagbiro
itong tadhana 
nang aming ihatid si ina 
sa kanyang himlayan noong 
Sabado, kinabukasa'y
ikatlong Linggo ng Mayo,
Araw ng mga Ina;
hindi na ako natawa
bagkus naiyak nang makita
sa social media napakaraming 
pagbati sa kani-kanilang ina
ng Happy Mother's Day;
noon ko higit nadama
sakit ng pagiging ulila sa ina,
kalungkutan ng pangungulila 
sa nanay na hindi na makikita,
mahahagkan at mayayakap
palaging tanong kung ako'y kumain na?
Larawan kuha ng may-akda sa Benguet, 2023.
Tinakda ang Araw ng mga Ina
tuwing ikatlong Linggo ng Mayo
upang parangalan
kadakilaan nila
ngunit kung tutuusin
araw-araw
 ay Araw ng mga Ina
dahil wala nang hihigit pa
sa pag-ibig nila sa atin
katulad ni Jesus
sarili'y sinaid at binuhos
matiyak ating kaligtasan,
kapayapaan
at katiwasayan;
hindi sasapat
 isang araw ng Linggo
taun-taon
 upang mga ina ay pagpugayan,
parangalan at pasalamatan
dahil sa bawat araw ng kanilang
buhay, sarili kanilang iniaalay;
batid ng mga nanay 
lilipas kanilang buhay
maigsi lamang kanilang panahon
kapos buong maghapon
walang sinasayang na pagkakataon
pipilitin pamilya ay makaahon
sa lahat ng  paghamon.
May kasabihan mga Hudyo 
nilikha daw ng Diyos ang mga ina 
upang makapanatili Siya sa lahat
ng lunan at pagkakataon;
hindi ba gayon nga kung saan
naroon ang nanay, mayroong buhay
at pagmamahal, kaayusan at kagandahan
kaya naman sa Matandang Tipan
matatagpuan paglalarawan 
sa Diyos katulad ng isang ina:
"malilimutan ba ng ina
ang anak na galing sa kanya,
sanngol sa kanyang sinapupunan
kailanma'y di niya pababayaan;
nguni't kahit na malimutan
ng ina ang anak niyang tangan,
hindi kita malilimutan"; iyan ang 
katotohanan ng Diyos at mga ina 
mapanghahawakan
hanggang kamatayan.
Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com