“Man in the Mirror” (1988) by Michael Jackson

Lord My Chef Sunday Music by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, 11 October 2026

*Photo by author, The Manila House, BGC, June 2025.*

There’s an old saying that goes “If you want to change the world, change yourself first and the world changes.”

So true. It is so easy to join the numerous advocacies today that range from care for environment and providing clean, drinking water for the poor, housing programs and feeding programs and almost anything you can think of but these are nothing if we do not first change our very self.

This is the message of Jesus in today’s parable of the royal wedding feast where a guest came not in proper attire that he was thrown out from the banquet hall by the king (https://lordmychef.com/2026/10/10/crisis-decision-life-salvation/).

It is a call for us to make that important decision to always choose Jesus Chris and be clothed in his charity and service, justice and mercy, kindness and respect for life that all begins in us, in our heart and soul.

That is why we find Michael Jackson’s Man in the Mirror so appropriately related with this Sunday’s gospel. Though a part of his 1987 Bad album, it was only released as a single the following year that peaked at number 1 in the Billboard Hot 100, reaching the charts anew both in the US and the UK after Jackson’s death in 2009.

We were growing up in the 70’s when MJ first mesmerized us as that youngest among his brothers making up the Jackson 5; as we matured into teens and adulthood, MJ was always there as the soundtrack of our lives reaching his highest heights in hit albums Thriller and Bad.

Without any intention of downplaying his talents and genius, for me, MJ’s true artistry finally came out after his death; it was after 2009 as we have seen in the many features and recent movies about him that MJ was more than a superstar and cultural icon. He is an artist par excellence. I realized this most whenever I would listen to his music that has become a classic in the truest sense. And there are three songs I have come to love so much only after his death: Man in the Mirror, They Don’t Care About Us (1995), and Black or White (1991).

*Photo by author, Our Lady of Ephesus Chapel, Bella Rosa Gardens, Silang, Cavite, 07 October 2026.*

We loved listening to his songs when he was still alive because they were groovy, great to the senses, danceable and really hot. But after his death, I just felt surprised he sang these three songs. Unlike his other songs mostly about love and relationships, Michael ventured into social issues that touched souls and consciousness. From being a hit-maker, MJ had transformed into someone who hits our inmost being, awakening our consciousness of deeper truths and realities like equality of everyone regardless of color or race or creed.

Exactly like Man in the Mirror that was actually composed by Glen Ballard and Siedah Garrett who were asked by the late Quincy Jones to write another hit for MJ. But Garret had other things in her mind when she thought about the concept of a man looking in the mirror – into one’s self first to change the world. Jones loved the lyrics and music by Ballard and Garrett while MJ embraced it as his anthem – of the need for self-reflection to change the world. He even asked the two composers to expand and modify the lyrics that included gospel vocals by the Andrae Crouch Choir.

Moreover, its music video is the most unique of MJ’s other productions that always featured him: he never appeared in Man in the Mirror that is actually a montage of suffering people in sepia and black and white as well as the personalities behind the great events – for better or for worse – in history as well as other social realities that invite us to look into ourselves what have we done for the advancement of peace, justice, and equality among peoples.

The opening music is so haunting with keyboards sounding like chimes or winds blowing in the cold that right away stirs your soul, making you wonder in retrospect, did MJ sing this and why did we not realize right away its deeper meaning? Here is a Michael who had matured as a person. And an artist. Even activist. A music that moves you not only to sing and dance but reflect and meditate. Just like the parable of Jesus this Sunday.

I'm gonna make a change
For once in my life
It's gonna feel real good
Gonna make a difference, gonna make it right

As I turn up the collar on my favorite winter coat
This wind is blowin' my mind
I see the kids in the street with not enough to eat
Who am I to be blind, pretending not to see their needs?

A summer's disregard, a broken bottle top
And a one man's soul
They follow each other on the wind, ya know
'Cause they got nowhere to go
That's why I want you to know

I'm starting with the man in the mirror
I'm asking him to change his ways
And no message could have been any clearer
If you wanna make the world a better place
Take a look at yourself and then make a change

Na-na-na, na-na-na, na-na-na-na
Uh-huh

I've been a victim of a selfish kinda love
It's time that I realize
There are some with no home, not a nickel to loan
Could it be really me pretending that they're not alone?

A willow deeply scarred, somebody's broken heart
And a washed-out dream (a washed-out dream)
They follow the pattern of the wind, ya see
'Cause they got no place to be
That's why I'm starting with me

I'm starting with the man in the mirror (who?)
I'm asking him to change his ways (who?)
And no message could have been any clearer
If you wanna make the world a better place
Take a look at yourself and then make a change

I'm starting with the man in the mirror (who?)
I'm asking him to change his ways (who?)
And no message could have been any clearer
If you wanna make the world a better place
Take a look at yourself and then make that change

I'm starting with the man in the mirror (oh, yeah)
I'm asking him to change his ways (oh, you better change)
No message could have been any clearer
If you wanna make the world a better place
Take a look at yourself and then make the change

You gotta get it right while you got the time
'Cause when you close your heart (you can't)
Then you close your (your) mind (that man, that man)

With the man in the mirror, oh, yeah (that man, that man)
I'm asking him to change his ways (that man, that man, that man)
Oh, you better change (you know, that man)
And no message could have been any clearer
If you wanna make the world a better place
Take a look at yourself and then make that change

Na-na-na, na-na-na, na-na-na-na
(Ooh) gonna feel real good, yeah (oh, yeah)
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah (na-na-na), yeah, yeah (na-na-na, na-na-na-na)
Oh-oh, oh, no

I'm gonna make a change
It's gonna feel real good, shamone (change)
Just lift yourself, you know
You've got to start with yourself (yeah)

I gotta make that change today
(Man in the mirror) you've got to
You got to start with yourself, brother
(Yeah) you know

I've got to be that man, that man
(Man in the mirror) you've got to
You got to move, shamone, shamone
You got to stand up (yeah), stand up (make that change), stand up
Stand up and lift yourself now (man in the mirror)

Go make that change, shamone (man in the mirror)
You know it, you know it, you know it, you know (change)
Make that change

The song is more than five minutes and if you went through the lyrics, it is truly like a gospel, a good news that disturb and move us to be dressed in Jesus Christ’s simplicity and humility to truly make a change in the world. The music speaks loudly and clearly the silence of that man not dressed in wedding attire in the parable. May it do the same to us!

From YouTube.com.

Crisis & decision = life & salvation

Lord My Chef Sunday Recipe for Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Twenty-Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle A, 11 October 2026
Isaiah 25:6-10 ><}}}}*> Philippians 4:12-14, 19-20 ><}}}}*> Matthew 22:1-14

We are a nation always in all kinds of crises: financial crisis, water crisis, energy crisis, transportation crisis, moral crisis. We are practically a nation of crises because we never face every crisis that confronts us!

Crisis is from the Greek word krisis, a time for decision; every crisis calls for a decision to resolve the situation. And that’s the problem with us Filipinos: we either refuse to make a firm decision or waste an opportunity to decide properly that would have solved the many crises we continue to endure to this day like reelecting incompetent and corrupt public officials.

The Gospel accounts these past three weeks may be considered as “parables in times of crisis” because each calls us to decide and choose God: the parable of the two sons reminds us of harmony in what we believe, in what we think, what we say, and what we do; the parable of the wicked tenants tells us we are the Lord’s vineyard, everything is God’s including our very lives meant to be fruitful in Christ.

Today we hear the last installment of parables narrated by Jesus to the elders and chief priests of Jerusalem at the temple area, the parable of the wedding feast that clearly shows anew how God invites everyone to come to Him, to make that decision of choosing Him. There are many similarities in the three series of parables but this Sunday, Jesus injects a “mini-parable” towards the end during the wedding feast of his son:

“But when the king came in to meet the guests he saw a man there not dressed in a wedding garment. He said to him, ‘My friend, how is it that you came in here without a wedding garment?’ But he was reduced to silence. The king said to his attendants, ‘Bind his hands and feet, and cast him into the darkness outside, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.’ Many are invited, but few are chosen” (Mt.22:11-14).

I grew up in a generation when dressing properly and decently were deeply inculcated both at home and the school. It has always been considered in our time as a sign of maturity when we come properly attired in every occasion. Those days are now gone along with the expression “Sunday’s best”.

For some, it may seem to be so trivial but if we truly regard the Eucharist as the highest form of worship, of encountering God through the sacraments and one another, how come we could not even prepare our external appearances? Why can’t we give that proper importance to meeting the Lord and one another in the supposed to be holy occasion of the Mass?

What a tragedy that some priests lead the pack in this aspect of coming not properly, even shabbily dressed during the Mass, saying it is too hot to wear those vestments. Everyone is bragging that fallacy there is more beneath the clothing we wear of who we really are; that is not totally true because how we look outside is indicative of what ‘s inside us, of who we are, of what we value, and what we believe in.

*Photo by author, Bella Rosa Gardens, Silang, Cavite, 07 October 2026.*

How we dress – not the clothes we wear – speaks of ourselves as the Lord’s parable this Sunday teaches because external appearances are indications of the internal realities.

If we push that further, if we seem to find it so difficult in dressing properly for the Mass, how much more difficult we could find it turning away from sins, in dressing our souls properly?

Jesus said in his parable the man was “reduced to silence” when confronted by the king; he could not speak a word because deep inside him he knew something was wrong, something was missing, that he should not be there at all! Maybe he is a Filipino who must have thought baka makalusot as we always reason out in life. Unfortunately, as we all learn later, there are no shortcuts in life: we either hit the mark or miss it.

Our Sunday Eucharist is a fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy calling on all peoples to come to the mountain of the Lord where He shall provide us with “rich food and choice wines, juicy, rich food and pure choice wines. On this mountain he will destroy the veil that veils all peoples, the web that is woven over all nations; he will destroy death forever. The Lord God will wipe away the tears from every face” (Is.25:6-8). Every Sunday Mass is an invitation to celebrate with the Lord this great feast of salvation, a foretaste of the coming heaven!

But, are we properly dressed for the occasion?

*Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, 20 March 2026.*

Related with being properly dressed is another similar English expression, of “wearing different hats” which means we must learn to adjust and adapt to the many circumstances in our lives where we take on multiple jobs and roles and responsibilities.

We find this present in our Filipino expressions of ilagay sa lugar ang pagkilos or matutong maki-bagay like when we have to professional especially with superiors in the office but remain friends when outside unwinding in a cafe or when parents act strictly as disciplinarians because they are the father or mother but sometimes as a friend or an Ate or Kuya to their children.

This is what St. Ignatius of Loyola expressed in his teaching of “positive indifference” where we choose to become poor than rich, sick than healthy that is not to be taken literally but of being open in imitating Jesus Christ’s simplicity. It is the attitude of contentment in life choosing Jesus above all like St. Paul in today’s second reading:

Brothers and sisters: I know how to live in humble circumstances. I know also how to live with abundance. In every circumstance and in all things I have learned the secret of being well fed and going hungry, of living in abundance and of being in need. I can do all things in him who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:12-13).

In this highly consumerist society, many of us sadly live in crises because of so much desires and wants for material things. We see everywhere the glaring realities of some living in super abundance of wealth while majority are in dire poverty.

Peace does not come from abundance of material goods anymore than a lack of such goods can deprive one of peace. The key is living with one’s circumstances especially when they cannot be changed and are beyond one’s control. That is learning to wear one’s hat and dressing properly in every situation.

Let us close this reflection by going back to the word crisis. According to my Chinese friends, crisis is represented by two characters in Chinese, indicating danger and opportunity. Like its Greek counterpart, crisis in Chinese calls for a decision too because of the dangers present; it is only in making that decision when one can experience the many opportunities life offers. Are you ready to make that decision of choosing Jesus, of putting on His clothes of love and kindness, mercy and forgiveness as He invites you in His banquet in this Sunday’s Mass?Amen. A blessed week ahead to everyone!

The space between us

Quiet Storm by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, 06 October 2026

While preparing my homily yesterday for the second day of the novena in honor of the 109th apparition of the Blessed Virgin in Fatima, Portugal, I came across this interesting piece of information in my Facebook feeds about the two American space probes, Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 having “left” our solar system and now the farthest man-made objects from planet Earth.

According to NASA, Voyager 1 had covered about 25.6 billion kilometers as of August 2026 since its launch September 5, 1977 – that’s 49 years and two months ago!

Its travel speed is expected to slow down due to some intergalactic forces which would take time for me to understand and explain; nonetheless, NASA engineers say it would continue sending data from deep space to planet Earth until 2036.

Meanwhile, also found this report yesterday that scientists have detected for the first time a radio signal from an “exoplanet” – a planet outside our Solar System; however, it is not from an intelligent life or some alien but from “a colossal magnetic field”.

These are very interesting bits of information from space science that show us how far we have advanced technologically. You could just imagine where our latest technologies would bring us! Fact is, all these techs and gadgets we now enjoy were science fiction to us when we were growing up like phones capable of sending videos anywhere, anytime.

What I like most in these developments is that great wonder of how vast is this universe indeed – so unimaginable. The more they prove to us the existence of an all-knowing, all-powerful God. Here we find science actually corroborating the truth that the Bible has been telling us of who made the heavens above us.

And the good news is, in this vast universe, our God is not only omniscient and omnipotent but most of all, all-loving God who chose to love and care for us earthlings in this tiny planet called Earth.

In an apparent conspiracy by the universe in my favor as I prepared my homily yesterday for the Fatima novena, my laptop suddenly alerted me after lunch of a new article on space travel but this time from a spiritual writer I follow at WordPress.com called The Devotional Guy by Rainer Bantau!

As I read Rainer’s thoughts on the relationships of faith and science fiction, what caught my attention was this part of his blog, of how would you explain Christianity to an alien?

What happens when someone encounters Christianity who has absolutely no Christian context?

Imagine trying to explain the Gospel to someone who looks at you and says:

“Wait. You believe the Creator of the universe became one of His creatures?”

Suddenly, Christianity sounds pretty astonishing again. We’ve heard the story so many times that we forget how completely outrageous and beautiful it actually is.

When humanity rebels against the God who created it, God doesn’t walk away. Instead, He enters our world.

Love takes on flesh as grace meets us in our mess. Just as death appears to win, Jesus walks out of the grave.

That’s not small. It’s cosmic. (https://thedevotionalguy.blog/2026/10/05/going-to-space/).

*Photo by a friend at Seabrook, Washington, 06 September 2026.*

Let us read anew these words by The Devotional Guy: “When humanity rebels against the God who created it, God doesn’t walk away. Instead, He enters our world. Love takes on flesh as grace meets us in our mess. Just as death appears to win, Jesus walks out of the grave. That’s not small. It’s cosmic.”

So lovely! But, sadly too, considering the great amounts of money and time and talents humans have spent sending people and objects into space to detect life forms outside our planet, we still ask the same question of the scribe to Jesus, “who is my neighbor?”

There was a scholar of the law who stood up to test Jesus and said, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus said to him, “What is written in the law? How do you read it?” He said in reply, “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your being, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” He replied to him, “You have answered correctly; do this and you will live.” But because he wished to justify himself, he said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” Jesus replied, “A man fell victim to robbers as he went down from Jerusalem to Jericho” (Luke 10:25-30).

How sad that while we are awed by the vastness of the universe that envelop us whether at night or at daytime, here we are separated by an equally great space often with those supposed to be closest to us like family and friends and colleagues at home or anywhere.

As a chaplain giving recollections and talks to our students, I have seen many young people today are over thinkers but not critical thinkers.

I remind them that critical thinking is about comprehension and analysis of data and information gathered.

Over thinking is different. It is a vice when we worry a lot – over think – because we lack trust with others and with ourselves. And ultimately with God!

The scholar of the law was overthinking when he asked “who is my neighbor?” because for them at that time, their neighbors were just their fellow Jews. Until now we think the same way, putting people into categories like ice cream with the old rich and famous as “all-time favorites”, the popular as “flavor of the month” and the ordinary folks as “dirty ice cream” cheaply sold in carts.

Over thinking happens when we forget to feel more the other person, when we feel different from them instead of being same kin from which the word kind came from. A kind person is one who treats you as one of his kin, and kind.

St. Therese of the Child Jesus whose feast we celebrated recently wrote in her journal more than a hundred years ago, “I have understood that true greatness is found not in the name but in the soul.”

If we look more into our heart, into our soul, we find Jesus, we find our true self, and we find everyone our neighbor to be loved and respected, cared and understood.

Twenty years ago there was a popular TV series called The X-Files of two good looking detectives handling cases of paranormal of paranormal nature like aliens and other out-of-this-world things. Its famous line says “The truth is out there.”

Nope. The truth is not out there. It is right here inside our heart, always longing for the ultimate truth that leads to eternal life, beyond this vast universe.

That truth is a person, our Savior Jesus Christ dwelling in our hearts, leading us back to heaven by first being a neighbor to everyone. After all, greater than the stars we marvel above us, we are a universe in ourselves, a vast network of interrelated galaxies of immense beauty so closely within our reach. Amen.

*Photo by author, St. Michael Retreat House, Antipolo city, 21 July 2026.*

Chosen to be fruitful

Lord My Chef Sunday Recipe for Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Twenty-Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle A, 04 October 2026
Isaiah 5:1-7 ><}}}}*> Philippians 4:6-9 ><}}}}*> Matthew 21:33-43

*Photo by a friend in Washngton State, 01 October 2026.*

A friend recently sent me this photo of the start of autumn that brought back memories of my vacation on two occasions in the States and Canada during that most wonderful season. It even made me wondered lately why God did not give us four seasons like in other countries.

I know. It is kind of crazy and weird, even stupid especially at how a Chinese friend who took his priestly formation at UST twenty years ago used to tell me the Philippines is a paradise where we can work and play all year round unlike them who have to work hard for six months to stock food and wood because the other half of the year is so cold that they have to stay indoors most of the time. Until now he is all praises to our country so blessed abundantly in resources and natural wonders.

And indeed! Our country is a paradise – so blessed, so beautiful, so rich. And yet so poor and miserably mismanaged by us all that we perfectly fit in the first reading and gospel this Sunday:

Let me now sing of my friend, my friend’s song concerning his vineyard. My friend had a vineyard on a fertile hillside; he spaded it, cleared it of stones and planted the choicest vines; within it he built a watchtower, and hewed out a wine press. Then he looked for the crop of grapes, but what it yielded was wild grapes (Isaiah 5:1-2).

*Photo by author, Pundaquit, San Antonio, Zambales, 14 May 2025.*

Our country is exactly that wonderful vineyard planted by the Lord with its vast, fertile lands and long coastlines with lush greeneries of plains and mountains and despite all these, we import much of our food like rice and vegetables and fruits including fish like galunggong, even pig skins for chicharon! Like Isaiah, we ask what happened to our country?

For Isaiah, the vineyard represented Israel as the chosen people of God, so loved and cared but produced bitter fruit with their repeated infidelity and sins against God that went on until the coming of Jesus who used the same imagery into a parable of the kingdom of heaven so applicable to our own time.

Jesus said to the chief priests and the elders of the people: “Hear another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a hedge around it, dug a wine press in it, and built a tower. Then he leased it to tenants and went on a journey. When vintage time drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to obtain his produce. But the tenants seized the servants and one they beat, another they killed, and a third they stoned. Again he sent other servants, more numerous than the first ones, but they treated them in the same way. Finally, he sent his son to them, thinking, ‘They will respect my son.’ But when the tenants saw the son, they said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and acquire his inheritance.’ They seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him (Matthew 21:33-39).

Jesus was still in the temple area where his enemies have gathered to seek ways of putting him under arrest. His parable of the wicked tenants is so similar with Isaiah’s that speaks too at the same time of ourselves and of our time, of how we have become like those wicked tenants taking the “vineyard” as totally ours. Like those tenants, we have claimed and possessed on our own this very life as “mine” and therefore, “owner” with every right to do whatever we want like have abortion, take contraceptives, have casual sex, even decide which gender to choose!

We have “overstretched” our rights without any regard at all to others and to environment. Consciously or unconsciously, we have deleted God from life that we have become relativistic without absolute morals and morality because we have made ourselves the measure and standards of everyone and everything – because, we own the “vineyard”.

*Photo by Dra. Carol Reyes-Santos, MD, in Southern California, October 2023.*

Then we wonder like Isaiah why we harvest bitter, wild grapes of broken relationships and emptiness despite the plethora of technologies and gadgets we now have? Or, like the chief priest and elders so angrily telling Jesus how the wicked tenants must be punished for usurping the vineyard and putting the owner’s son to death when in fact we are them?

Jesus said to them, “Did you never read in the Scriptures: The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; by the Lord has this been done, and it is wonderful in our eyes? Therefore, I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that will produce its fruit” (Matthew 21:40-43).

Here now lies the good news this Sunday: in Isaiah’s parable of the vineyard, God is distinct from the vineyard but in Christ’s parable, we are the vineyard of the Lord because Jesus is one with us being the Son of the owner sent to gather his share of produce.

Jesus promises us today of better produce to be shared and enjoyed not only in eternity but right here in this life for we are the Lord’s vineyard called to be fruitful. As a continuation of last Sunday’s parable of the two sons, Jesus gives us today the chance to make that wise and good decision of finally doing what is right, just and good. Of finally obeying the Father as St. Paul beautifully reminds us in the second reading to be like him, an imitator of Christ becoming someone who could be imitated by others as witnesses of Jesus, striving for “whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious” (Phil. 4:8).

Recent news of how a group of ordinary people on board a flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv prevented the crash of their plane is a remarkable story of taking care of the Lord’s vineyard, of how it always bear good fruits. The so-called heroes of FlyDubai were all very ordinary like us; what enabled them to be heroes was their being true and faithful in their responsibilities like the mother who went to attend to her daughter in the toilet and became the first to notice trouble in the cockpit; the Indian captain who for many years of flying had always thought of the lives depending on him who struggled to rise and opened his cockpit door to be helped by men who knew nothing about flying and martial arts except the need to save lives by stabilizing the plane and subduing the terrorist co-pilot.

It was a story like the parables today and last Sunday of how people chose to uphold what is good, what is right, what is just. They are heroes not because of any special skills nor talents but were simply faithful in life, most likely always present for their families and friends, clients and patients. And to God ultimately.

Isaiah and Jesus invites us this Sunday to look into ourselves, at how we have tended and cared for our lives, for others in this vineyard of the Lord. Think of those many occasions we have wasted God’s blessings like our talents not put into use or never harnessed, health taken for granted and loved ones we have ignored and refused to love. Let us grab this opportunity of taking care of the Lord’s vineyard he had entrusted to us to be fruitful. It is us who benefit most in these fruits meant to make us better here and hereafter. Amen. Have a blessed week ahead!

*Photo by Ms. Kei Abad in Japann, October 2025.*

Time In A Bottle

Lord My Chef Sunday Recipe for Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Twenty-Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A, 27 September 2026
Ezsekiel 18:25-28 ><}}}}*> Philippians 2:1-11 ><}}}}*> Matthew 21:28-32

*Photo by Joshua Woroniecki on Pexels.com*

Yes, our Sunday reflection title is from that same 1972 Jim Croce classic, Time In A Bottle. It just popped out in my mind while praying for our Sunday homily – like last Tuesday when we remembered REM’s Everybody Hurts (https://lordmychef.com/2026/09/21/everybody-hurts/), Thursday Bob Dylan’s Blowing In The Wind (https://lordmychef.com/2026/09/23/blowing-in-the-wind-3/) and Friday with the Byrds’ Turn! Turn! Turn! (https://lordmychef.com/2026/09/24/turn-turn-turn-to-know-gods-time/).

It was a week of prayers aided by music I grew up with as it happens most of the time which I believe is part of my being old while unconsciously feeling fearful of the inevitable, death.

But, it isn’t morbid at all. I regard it as simply being realistic.

Like our liturgical calendar that is about to end in nine weeks on November 22 with the Solemnity of Christ the King followed the next Sunday after that on November 29 with the Season of Advent or the four Sunday preparation for Christmas!

Hence, all gospel accounts beginning this Sunday will focus on the coming end of time and the need for us to change our ways to make it to heaven, our final destination in this life.

Jesus said to the chief priests and elders of the people: “What is your opinion? A man had two sons. He came to the first and said, ‘Son, go out and work in the vineyard today.’ He said in reply, ‘I will not,’ but afterwards he changed his mind and went. The man came to the other son and gave the same order. He said in reply, ‘Yes, sir,’ but did not go. Which of the two did the father’s will.” They answered, “The first” (Mt.21:28-31).

*Photo by author, Jerusalem as seen from the altar of Dominus Flevit Church, May 2017.*

Jesus and his disciples have finally reached Jerusalem and this scene today is the day after Palm Sunday when he angrily drove away the traders and money changers in the Temple area that have prompted his enemies led by the elders and priests to come and questioned his authority.

Before giving his answer, Jesus asked them the origin of John’s authority to baptize, God or the people? They declined to answer because they have refused to recognize John’s baptism and that is why Jesus gave them a chance to change their minds and their hearts with this parable of the two sons. It was like Jesus telling them and everyone else including us today to obey follow God.

See now its link with last Sunday’s parable of the workers in the vineyard: Jesus continues to call us to come and work in his vineyard no matter how late; our work in his vineyard never stops and we need to keep doing what is good even if sometimes we fail and falter. Remember too that Matthew presents Jesus as always insisting the need to harmonize and blend what we believe with what we say and most of all, with what we do because “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven” (Mt.7:21).

*Photo by author, Anvaya Cove, Bataan, 21 July 2026.*

What counts most for Jesus in this parable is not just what or who is in our hearts but what flows from our hearts. Do we walk our talk? There has to be a unity in our faith wherein what we believe is what we say and what we do and live by.

Like the younger son in the parable, we are invited today to be humble and accept our mistakes to do what is right, what is good, what is moral than become like the elder son who said yes to their father but did not obey at all. Many times despite our absolute belief in God, we still think more of ourselves, insisting our own ways and agenda even to our loved ones, unmindful of the disunity we cause in our relationships aside from the pains and hurts we inflict on them whenever our words of love and peace do not match our actions.

There is a saying that goes “A single act of kindness is better than the best intention.” So true! – because our actions prove the veracity and sincerity of our every intention. That’s what God did for us by not merely promising a Savior but fulfilled it in sending us Jesus Christ who died obediently on the Cross which St. Paul eloquently explained today in our second reading we also hear during Christmas and Easter Seasons.

*Photo by author, Anvaya Cove, Bataan, 20 July 2026.*

We are so blessed this Sunday not only because God fulfills his promises of love and forgiveness but he always gives us endless chances to change our ways, to continuously work things out for the best.

Every Eucharist is a celebration of God’s patience and mercy for us sinners who must be converted again and again and again to make it to His kingdom in heaven. We must always be on guard not to fall into the mistake of the laborers last week who were so focused on their work than on the goodness of the landowner as if they deserved something extra than others which the Prophet Ezekiel echoed in the first reading:

“Hear now, house of Israel: Is it my way that is unfair, or rather, are not your ways unfair? When someone virtuous turns away from virtue to commit iniquity, and dies, it is because of the iniquity he committed that he must die. But if he turns from the wickedness he has committed, and does what is right and just, he shall preserve his life” (Ezekiel 18:25-27).

God is not a store nor a credit card who gives “rebates” for whatever good points we “earn” for past purchases for he will judge us with our actions and not intentions. We simply have to strive in doing what is good like that second child in the parable.

Let me end this reflection with this funny story about the talking centipede.

A young man decided life would be more fun if he had a most unique pet. So he went to the pet store and told the owner about it. After some discussions, he finally bought a talking centipede, which came in a little white box to use for his house.

The guy took the box back home, found a good spot to place it with the centipede inside and decided he would start off by taking his new pet to church with him.

So he asked the centipede in the box, “Would you like to go to church with me today? We will have a good time.”

But there was no answer from his new pet.

This bothered him a bit, but he waited a few minutes and then asked again, “How about going to church with me and receive blessings?”

But again, there was no answer from his most unique pet. So he waited a few minutes more, thinking about the situation. The guy decided to invite the centipede one last time by putting his face up against the centipede’s house and shouted, “Hey, in there! Would you like to go to church with me and learn about God?”

Then suddenly, a little voice came out of the box, “I heard you the first time! I’m putting my shoes on.”

Smile everyone, God loves you so much! He knows that like the centipede, you have so many shoes to wear, so many shoestrings to tie but God is not in a hurry….just keep on putting on those shoes and keep walking on His path! Amen. Have a blessed end of September.

Intimacy, idolatry

Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Monday in the Seventeenth Week of Ordinary Time, Year II, 27 July 2026
Jeremiah 13:1-11 ><))))*> + ><))))*> + ><))))*> Matthew 13:31-35

*Photo by author, Mt. St. Paul Spirituality Center, La Trinidad, Benguet, June 2017.*

How lovely and so practical,
O God,
is your portrayal to us today
of your intimacy with us
like a "linen loincloth":
the most simple and
ordinary part of our clothing
we take for granted
yet so important and crucial
because it is so close,
so intimate to our skin,
to our private parts;
an intimacy we take
for granted because
it is something hidden,
too personal.

But,
do we really care at all?

For, as close as the loincloth clings to a man’s loins, so had I made the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah cling to me, says the Lord; to be my people, my renown, my praise, my beauty. But they did not listen (Jeremiah 13:11).

Like that linen loincloth
you asked Jeremiah to hide
and retrieve later from a river,
ending up as "rotted, good for nothing",
we have betrayed you Lord, 
we have abandoned you
to follow our many idols
and false gods by keeping
you in name,
in rituals and rites
yet compromising your
laws and teachings
with the ways of the world;
we pretend to be close
and intimate with you,
Lord while choosing to be
fence-sitters in situations
demanding we make a stand
for you,
for what is true,
for what is good.

True intimacy with you,
O God is found 
in the most private
moments when we
choose you,
when we abide in you,
when we uphold your teachings
and live in your ways
of justice and love,
kindness and mercy
especially with those
closest to us;
may we realize, 
O Lord,
that to whom we are
most intimate
and closest in 
following and imitating
is found our Lord and God.
Or sadly,
our mammon too
for where our treasure is,
there our heart is.
Amen.

*Photo by author, St. Michael Retreat House, Antipolo City, 16 June 2026.*

Understanding the parables, getting close to Jesus

Lord My Chef Sunday Recipe for Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle A, 26 July 2026
1 Kings 3:5, 7-12 ><}}}*> Romans 8:28-30 ><}}}*> Matthew 13:44-52

*Photo by author, Anvaya Cove, Morong, Bataan, 20 July 2026.*

We now come to the final installment of the last three parables by Jesus that began two Sundays ago that speak of the mystery of the kingdom of heaven, its unfolding and demands from us his disciples.

There are a total of seven parables in Matthew 13 known as discourse in parables which started with the parable of the sower until last Sunday where Jesus repeatedly told his listeners that included us today that “whoever has ears ought to hear”; now at its final installment, Jesus asks us after explaining everything, “Do you understand all these things?”

“Do you understand all these things?” They answered “Yes.” And he replied, “Then every scribe who has been instructed in the kingdom of heaven is like the head of a household who brings from the storeroom both the new and the old” (Matthew 13:51-52).

From the French word parabolein for “along the road/path”, parables are stories taken from daily life that offer us deep, profound lessons and realities especially about God and his loving presence among us, of the coming of his kingdom in Jesus Christ. Unfortunately, most of us dismiss them because they are so plain and simple. Or ordinary, not realizing that the deepest truths in life actually come from the simplest aspects of daily living. That is why Jesus kept reminding everyone to always listen, not just hear.

Listening is more intentional, deliberate and conscious, leading to understanding which is an internalization of the lessons and message said. Our Filipino translation shows this so well: to listen is makinig while to hear is madinig or marinig.

Makinig demands attention while dinig is passive, indicating more of the surface level of sounds and words, not really minding the meaning and context. That is why, listening is more reliable, more certain than hearing that has no intention of understanding at all what is meant by being said.

*Photo by author, “St. Joseph Protector of the Child Jesus”, 20 March 2024.*

Listening leads to knowing and understanding the what, where, when, how and why of events and things of the story or lessons. When there is understanding, relationship happens because more than the facts and details we listen to, we encounter persons. Pope Leo XIV beautifully said this in his first Lenten Message in February that “listening is the first sign of our willingness to enter into a relationship.”

Now we see the intention of Jesus in teaching in parables which is to have a personal relationship with us his listeners and disciples. Moreover, the very act of listening leading to understanding is a process of formation and transformation which is the bigger picture of Jesus teaching in parables – that we may be transformed in him especially when he asked today, “Do you understand all these things?”

Again, its Filipino translation reveals its true meaning and inner dynamics, Nauunawaan ba ninyo ang mga ito? To understand is maunawaan, from the root word una or first in order.

More than knowing, to understand or maunawaan is to realize which is the first of all others because that is the most essential, the most important. “To understand all these things” is not a question of human intelligence that is often short and lacking, and unreliable. “To understand all these things” is a spiritual intelligence, of the humble and lowly, the child-like whom Jesus praised the other week in our weekday gospel (15th week, Wednesday, 15 July 2026, Mt.11:25-27).

Jesus asks us this Sunday “do you understand all these things” to stress that the kingdom of heaven which is actually the person of Christ himself is a treasure beyond price like that treasure found by a man in the field or that precious pearl a trader had found that we are willing to renounce everything to have and possess him!

Understanding the parables of Jesus is finding “God first” before anything or anybody else. In the first reading, we find why King Solomon is the wisest person of all because when asked by God for any gift, he asked for “an understanding heart to judge your people and to distinguish right from wrong” (1Kings 3:9) which delighted God so much. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom indeed!

God is the first One we must always desire, think and search in life. Without God, we only come in vicious circles of addictions and emptiness and meaninglessness. It is no surprise at all that the most corrupt and vicious people are also the ones who disregard God, who live as if there is no eternity. Without God, we are reduced to mere creatures meant to just eat and survive. Nothing else. That is why some people do not mind at all looking stupid (mukhang tanga at tunay na tanga), without any self respect because only matter matters for them like money (mukhang pera) and things like power or popularity.

With God, we find meaning and direction in everything in life as St. Paul tells us in the second reading, “Brothers and sisters: We know that all things work for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose” (Rom. 8:28).

*Photo by author, flower of a Balibago Tree, Anvaya Cove Resort, Bataan, 21 July 2026.*

“All things”… including trials and tribulations for they make us stronger and better persons. When we look back to our past, we see there are more things we have to be thankful to God than be sorry and have regrets. Many times, our past failures and sufferings and tears have become our gateway to our victory and comfort and joy.

Understanding the parables of Jesus and of life in general is actually a movement into getting closer to Christ, of being “every scribe who has been instructed in the kingdom of heaven is like the head of a household who brings from the storeroom both the new and the old” (Mt. 13:52).

Here we find the coming into full circle of Christ’s discourse in parables: from listening to understanding which is a process of communion and oneness with the Master, Jesus whose very Person is the kingdom of heaven.

Looking back to these past three Sundays of listening and understanding the various parables of Jesus, we find a remarkable stage in his teachings that bring us closest to him, leading us for the next route of his itinerary which is actually an inner journey into our hearts where he alone dwells. Amen. A blessed week ahead of listening and understanding Jesus among the people we meet and happenings we experience.

*Happy Feast Day to all Lolos and Lolas for today is the feast of Sts. Joachim and Anne, parents of the the Blessed Virgin Mary, grandparents of Jesus Christ.

Growing slowly & deeply in the Lord

Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Friday in the Sixteenth Week of Ordinary Time, Year II, 24 July 2026
Jeremiah 3:14-17 ><))))*> + ><))))*> + ><))))*> Matthew 13:18-23

*Photo by author, Balibago Tree flower, Anvaya Cove, Morong, Bataan, 21 July 2026.*

Help us return to you,
Lord, your rebellious children;
let us take this opportunity
of grace to be forgiven
to start anew
and to walk no longer in 
hardhearted wickedness
(cf. Jeremiah 3:14, 17).

It is our heart
that is always the problem,
not your word like the seeds
you scatter daily into our hearts,
Jesus; many times,
our heart are a mix of all kinds of
soil - the path, the rocky ground,
that among the thorns, and the 
rich soil; many times we are the
problem when we are hardhearted;
Lord Jesus,
continue to be patient with us,
watering us
cultivating us 
so that eventually your words
may grow and bear fruit in us.

In this age of instants
when even plants are instantly
made to bloom and bear fruits,
may we never forget that being
fruitful is what you desire most
than being productive;
like any good soil,
a seed can only grow into a 
fruitful plant, whether a crop or a tree
when there is openness to
the cultivator;
three things I ask you,
dear Lord as your soil:
patiently cultivate me
to open my heart in welcoming 
you into my life;
soften me as your soil,
Lord, that I may always be open
and welcoming to everyone
you sent to change the world,
and secondly, let me grow deeply
and surely in you Jesus
so that I may be fruitful not just
successful; being fruitful is the
more of what we have become
while successful is more of
what we have done and achieved.
Amen.

*Photo by author, Anvaya Cove, Morong, Bataan, 21 July 2026.*

Two evils we continue

Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Thursday in the Fifteenth Week of Ordinary Time, Year II, 23 July 2026
Jeremiah 2:1-3, 7-8, 12-13 <*((((>< + ><))))*> Matthew 13:10-17

Scars on the foothills of Mt. Guiting-guiting Natural Park in Sibuyan Island, Romblon caused by an alleged mining without permit perpetrated by a company owned by a political dynasty; from Facebook post of Atty. Wilfredo Garrido, 22 July 2026.

God our loving Father,
we pray so hard for our country
the Philippines
that has become so much like
your country of Israel at the time
of the Prophet Jeremiah:
we have not only destroyed 
one another as brothers and sisters with
our rampant corruption in government
but at the same time desecrated 
our paradise in this part of earth
with environmental destruction.

Two evils have my people done: they have forsaken me, the souce of living waters; they have dug themselves cisterns, broken cisterns, that hold no water (Jeremiah 2:13).

*From Iskolar ng Bayan FB post, 22 July 2026.*

What is happening in our country
like in other parts of the world 
is our complete violation of your
first commandment, Father -
of having strange gods,
of worshipping the Baals of
money and power and influence
through technologies that
at the start were meant 
to bring us together 
but have actually torn and
set us farther apart;
hence, even your wonderful gift
of nature supposed to provide us
with our needs in life
is raped and molested
without any respect for life
at all by the greedy investors
backed by rapacious politicians.

Open our eyes,
open our hearts
and strengthen our souls
to fight these evils, Lord Jesus
that we may see in the simple
parables of ordinary and usual 
like our local folks and
the nature around us
as signs of your grace
and love for us
demanding us to care
for them too because 
they are all yours
not mine to have
nor abuse;
we pray for politicians
and investors alike to see
more life and persons
not just money and profits
in their endeavors.
Amen.

“Change the World” (1996) by Eric Clapton

Lord My Chef Sunday Music by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, 19 July 2026

*Photo by author, San Juan, La Union, 09 January 2026.*

Our readings this Sunday are so lovely and refreshing, yet so true and realistic with what’s happening around us. Jesus Christ’s parable of weeds among the wheat proves what we have already known as we aged – “we live in an imperfect world, that there will always be diseases and sickness, failures and death along with scammers and criminals, liars and idiots, suckers and ungrateful and traitors among us” (https://lordmychef.com/2026/07/18/our-inexpressible-groanings/).

And yes, we all want to change the world but God cautions us because many times, the solution we find to life’s and world’s many problems create bigger problems:

But though you are master of might, you judge with clemency, and with much lenience you govern us; for power, whenever you will, attends you. And you taught your people, by these deeds, that those who are just must be kind; and you gave your children good ground for hope that you would permit repentance for their sins (Wisdom 12:18-19).

It is a very tall order, most difficult of all, calling us to become holy and patient like God because any change in the world has to start in our selves. That is why we remember this Sunday Eric Clapton’s version of that 1996 collaboration by Tommy Sims, Gordon Kennedy and Wayne Kirkpatrick “Change the World.”

According to Kennedy, they wrote the lyrics and music to “Change the World” over a span of one year. It was first recorded by country singer Wynonna Judd in February 1996 then by Clapton in October of the same year with the famous R&B artist Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds as producer when the song was chosen as soundtrack music to the movie Phenomenon starring John Travolta. Aside from winning accolades from critics and awards including the 1997 Grammy for Song of the Year, Record of the Year, and Best Male Pop Vocal Performance, “Change the World” is also one of Clapton’s best-selling hit in his entire career.

It is the music and melody of “Change the World” that is most captivating of all – soulful and reverberates deep inside any lover so in love with a woman to which Clapton has always been so famous (or notorious) like his 1971 hit “Layla” but on a different level and genre. “Change the World” is closer to Clapton’s “Tears in Heaven” which he composed after the death of his four year-old son in 1991. Both songs represent for us a new character and dimension in Clapton unfolding as one of music’s foremost forces up to this time.

Clapton’s distinctive guitar-playing virtuoso in “Change the World” echoes so St. Paul’s words in this Sunday’s second reading of how the Holy Spirit within us “intercedes with inexpressible groanings” (Rom. 8:26); according to St. Paul, we do not know how to pray which is so true that is why it is the Spirit who helps us pray to God. It means that God knows so well what’s going on inside us, when we are so loss for words not only in expressing our feelings and desires but most often, we could not even understand why things are going on – like the trials and difficulties we go through, the injustices that happen.

Many times we are tempted to ask where is God amid all these sufferings we go through in life as individuals and as a nation; but, we know deep in our hearts, God is with us, within us and knows so well everything that is happening. And he is in complete control.

That is why we sigh or groan when we could not contain what’s inside us, just like Clapton’s somber yet so relaxingly confident guitar bass lines in “Change the World” he had divinely woven with the lyrics that express wishful longings of him getting better, being the best person for his beloved.

If I could reach the stars
Pull one down for you
Shine it on my heart
So you could see the truth

That this love I have inside
Is everything it seems
But for now I find
It's only in my dreams

And I can change the world
I will be the sunlight in your universe
You would think my love was really something good
Baby, if I could change the world

If I could be king
Even for a day
I'd take you as my queen
I'd have it no other way

And our love would rule
In this kingdom we have made
'Til then I'd be a fool
Wishing for the day

And I can change the world
I would be the sunlight in your universe
You would think my love was really something good
Baby, if I could change the world
Baby, if I could change the world

I could change the world
I would be the sunlight in your universe
You would think my love was really something good
Baby, if I could change the world
Baby, if I could change the world
Baby, if I could change the world

Even the music video evokes the parable of weeds among the wheat, of how Clapton remains undisturbed by the crowd in the terminal while singing, reminding us that changing the world begins in our being changed first into our best person as more loving, more kind, more patient. Have a blessed week ahead!

From YouTube.com.