Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Friday in the Third Week of Easter, 09 May 2025 Acts 9:1-20 ><]]]]'> + ><]]]]'> + ><]]]]'> John 6:52-59
Photo by author, statue of St. Paul the Apostle, St. Paul Retreat Center, La Trinidad, Benguet, 06 January 2025.
Lord Jesus Christ, you are alive and always around us, present in each one of us that whatever we do to each one we also do unto you as you called on Paul before his conversion, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?" (Acts 9:4)
Enlighten our minds and our hearts, Lord Jesus for we are many times more than a Saul than a Paul; let us admit the times we "persecute" you in others like Saul when we speak ill of them especially in social media; though we may not be exactly like Saul with a sword and army of men, many times we "breathe with murderous threats" against others who are not like us in color and creed and outlook in life; with your grace of light Jesus, remove our blindness to the many forms of persecutions we undertake against one another especially in your name that until now we are so divided, "quarreling among ourselves" like those Jews in Capernaum.
Give us the courage, Jesus, to confront and change our behavior and attitudes that "persecute" others; help us to go back to you in our hearts to be converted and transformed in your Resurrected Body as better disciples despite the wounds we may have that are due to persecutions too have suffered; let the cycle of persecution stop in us so we may start a series of transformation in ourselves, in our homes, and in our community. Amen.
Photo by author, St. Paul Retreat Center, La Trinidad, Benguet, 06 January 2025.
Lord My Chef Daily Recipe by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Thursday in the Third Week of Easter, 08 May 2025 Acts 8:26-40 ><]]]]'> + ><]]]]'> + ><]]]]'> John 6:44-51
God our loving Father, our Cardinals have started their election process for the successor of Peter, the Vicar of Christ your Son here on Earth; send them your Holy Spirit to enlighten their minds and their hearts to seek and follow your will in Christ Jesus.
Help them choose a good shepherd who is also a good teacher like your Son Jesus Christ imitated so well by the deacon Philip with the help of the Holy Spirit.
Now there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of the Candace, that is, the queen of Ethiopians, in charge of her entire treasury, who had come to Jerusalem to worship, and was returning home. Seated in his chariot, he was reading the prophet Isaiah. Philip ran up and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and said, “Do you understand what you are reading?” He replied, “How can I, unless someone instructs me?” So he invited Philip to get in and sit with him (Acts 8:27-28, 30-31).
Your Servant, himself a former Pope too St. Paul VI wrote us in December 1975 "Modern man listens more willingly to witnesses than teachers, and if he does listen to teachers, it is because they are witnesses" (Evangelii Nuntiandi, #41); send us true and good, teachers who are witnesses of the Gospel; give us more teachers like Philip who taught clearly of the essential truth in this life which is about Jesus the Christ.
Next week we shall choose our new leaders to govern us; take away our blindness as teachers ourselves that we may elect into office who are also good teachers who stand for what is true and just, not corrupt and liars; send us more teachers who will awaken in us your Divine Presence to bring out in everyone each one's own giftedness as a person.
At the same time, we pray for our professional teachers from the public school who will work at the polling places next week; give them strength not only in body but also in mind, heart, and soul to keep our elections clean and honest, not to be swayed by corrupt candidates who poison the society and keep people away from Christ and one another.
Let us not forget, Lord Jesus that as we share in your prophetic mission, we are all teachers like you; keep our hearts and minds open to the promptings of the Holy Spirit to go wherever we are needed most for your greater glory. Amen.
Lord My Chef Breakfast Recipe by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Wednesday in the Third Week of Easter, 07 May 2025 Acts 8:1-8 ><))))*> + ><))))*> + ><))))*> John 6:35-40
Painting by Frenchman James Jacques Tissot (1836-1902), “Jesus Eats Breakfast with Disciples” from http://www.jofullheart.com.
Dearest Jesus, teach us today to be truly a "devout" person: a "devout" disciple, a "devout" Christian a "devout" believer in you like those "Devout men (who) buried Stephen and made a loud lament over him" (Acts 8:2).
How interesting, O Lord that only St. Luke used the word "devout" in the whole Bible to describe some persons in four instances: in describing Simeon as a "devout" Jew who praised God upon seeing the child Jesus at his presentation at the temple; the "devout" Jews from all over the world who came to worship in Jerusalem on Pentecost day; the "devout" men who buried Stephen in the first reading today; and lastly, Ananias as a "devout" man who sought Saul after his conversion to bring him to the early Church.
You know so well, dear Jesus how we as a nation is said to be "devout" Christians but lagging behind in every aspect of development: where is our being devout in electing into office corrupt candidates? where is our being devout in fulfilling our duties and responsibilities when bridges fall and bollards fail that kill people especially children? where is our being devout in being reckless on the streets and dirt roads, demeaning total strangers and local inhabitants?
Oh Jesus, we are doomed by our own hypocrisies when our being devout is self-serving when we merely open our eyes for things seen outside like the many devotions and practices we have filled with pomp and pageantry because we look more into ourselves than into seeing Christ in other persons must love and respect and care; what a tragedy that the persecutions still going on against Christians are perpetrated by supposed to be your devout disciples, devout Christians who do not care at all in their daily dealings that could result in deaths and injuries of so many people including children like in the recent series of road accidents, not to mention vulgarities and obscenities spewed in the countless road rages.
Teach us Lord that a true devout believer in you is one who always seeks you among the least among our brethren, one who seeks your Body in somebody to be loved and upheld as a brother and a sister so that our being devout to your Body and Blood in the Eucharist becomes a reality in our dealing with one another. Amen.
Lord My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Tuesday in the Third Week of Easter, 06 May 2025 Acts 7:51-8:1 ><))))*> + ><))))*> + ><))))*> John 6:30-35
Painting by Frenchman James Jacques Tissot (1836-1902), “Jesus Appears to His Disciples At the Shore of Tiberias” from http://www.dominicanajournal.org.
Dearest Lord Jesus Christ: What's happening in the world? What's happening in our lives? Do we know where we are going? We are so lost: road rage everywhere even in the dirt road; innocent lives have been lost - two children in fact - were killed in accidents that have been easily prevented; and a lot more of our many waywardness everywhere! We are like the elders of Israel addressed by St. Stephen in Jerusalem: "You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always oppose the Holy Spirit; you are just like your ancestors" (Acts 7:51).
Let us come to you, Jesus; Let us return to you, Jesus; Let us stop seeking signs that you are the Christ whom we must follow and receive; to come to you Jesus is to bond ourselves to you and to your gospel values of life and truth, of justice and love that means we do not cheat in our jobs and responsibilities where others rely on us; to come to you Jesus is immersing ourselves in your words, in your teachings to assimilate your Way into our ways wherein we follow our conscience not our whims or words of media especially of politicians who rob most the poor and helpless among us; to come to you Jesus is accept our Cross and sufferings like St. Stephen to be able to see a glimpse of heaven. Amen.
Lord My Chef Sunday Recipe by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Third Sunday in Easter, Cycle C, 04 May 2025 Acts 5:27-32, 40-41 ><}}}}*> Revelation 5:11-14 ><}}}}*> John 21:1-14
Breakfast came from two words, break + fast when monks in the early days of Christianity used to “break” their “fast” the night before and that is why it is rightly considered as the most important meal of each day.
But the author of the fourth gospel found something deeper in the word “breakfast” that he mentioned it twice in our gospel today. It is another detail only him had noticed like in last Sunday’s “locked doors”. Everyday, Jesus invites us to “breakfast” with him to experience the joy of Easter.
Jesus said to them, “Come, have breakfast.” And none of the disciples dared to ask him, “Who are you?” because they realized it was the Lord. Jesus came over and took the bread and gave it to them, and in like manner the fish. This was now the third time Jesus was revealed to his disciples after being raised from the dead. When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?’ He said to him, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my lambs” (John 21:12-15).
Painting by Frenchman James Jacques Tissot (1836-1902), “Jesus Eats Breakfast with Disciples” from http://www.jofullheart.com.
Many times we take breakfast for granted and most often, like me later in life do we realize its importance with the onset of many sickness and diseases. Remember that saying, “eat like king at breakfast, like an ordinary man at lunch and like a pauper or beggar at supper”? That’s very true because breakfast is supposed to give us the boost needed to make headway through the brand new day.
What a beautiful gesture by Jesus when he appeared the third time to his disciples early morning just in time for breakfast. Every day Jesus invites us to breakfast with him, to be filled with him spiritually through prayers and meditations, most especially the Holy Eucharist. That is why it is always best to pray and celebrate Mass first thing in the morning when Jesus fills our soul with his Spirit and then our body with his gifts of food at breakfast. Christ invites us to breakfast everyday before he “breaks” to us some important matters on our selves and relationships with him and with others.
Photo by author, Atok, Benguet, 27 December 2024.
It is the same idea behind “breakfast meetings” or even “luncheon meetings” where the hosts feed us with good food and drinks before baring to us their plans that need our participation. Remember that after the second appearance of Jesus to his disciples, nothing was clear yet to them except that he had risen. The disciples must still be feeling guilty with their actions and attitudes after the arrest and death of Jesus. They must be “nagkakahiyaan” – there was a strong presence of shame within each one on how they have abandoned Jesus after his arrest except the beloved disciple who stood at the Cross until the burial.
How lovely is the Lord’s gesture in appearing this time early in the morning to invite them to a breakfast including us today! Like every host, Jesus wants us to be relaxed and at home, comfortable and at ease with him, assuring us of his love and friendship despite our sins and shortcomings in the past. This is particularly evident with Peter and maybe Thomas who doubted the Lord’s resurrection last week and now back with the others fishing.
Jesus is very much aware of breakfast as a great mood-setter. On that day at the shore of Tiberias until today, Jesus starts each day with us with all his warmth and love, telling us it is a new day with new opportunities because tomorrow is gone so let us start anew. Sadly, many of us forget Jesus present with us every morning when we wake up. Like the disciples, we rarely recognize him as we first look for our cellphone upon waking up, counting the likes and reactions to our previous posts. Others refuse to rise and face the day while others feel grouchy raising hell every morning.
Open your eyes like the beloved disciple. When we see and think of Jesus first thing in the morning, then we see the abundant blessings around us like that great catch of fish by the disciples despite the empty night or day before. Every time we wake up despite the presence of our many problems still unsolved or unresolved, it is already a game won over that we are still alive! Rejoice in the gift of life. That is Easter happening daily. Give in to Jesus Christ’s invitation to breakfast by first communing in him in prayer and praise.
Painting by Frenchman James Jacques Tissot (1836-1902), “Jesus Appears to His Disciples At the Shore of Tiberias” from http://www.dominicanajournal.org.
Now we go deeper into the meaning of “breakfast” which is from the prefix break + fast, the breaking of the fast the night before. What are the other fastings we need to break everyday like the disciples?
There is a beautiful commercial of local medicines that says “huwag mahihiyang magtanong” (don’t be shy to ask). Today Jesus is telling us not to be ashamed to get near him, to speak to him, to be with him. It is a new day. Break all your “fasting” of getting close to him because you are too shy of your sins and failures. It is a new day. Recall those countless times in the past when you have disappointed Jesus and your loved ones a lot but he gave you a chance to rise again. Notice how the beloved disciple recognized Jesus when he recalled too their first meeting with the same situation, a fruitless night before followed by bountiful catch after Jesus instructed them to cast their nets into the deep!
How many times had Jesus given us with all the chances in life to be better, to start anew despite our sins and failures? Many times we cannot recognize Jesus despite his nearness with us like the disciples that morning at Tiberias because we box him as somebody like us who keeps tabs of our wrongdoings, that he might not like us anymore. Unlike us, Jesus is full of mercy with a very poor memory of our past sins and wrongdoings.
Notice that after breakfast, Jesus called Peter by his original name “Simon, son of John”. This is remarkable because not only with Peter, Jesus sees each one of us in our true self as a beloved child of God, so loved, so precious. Like Peter, he invites us everyday to breakaway from our sins and biases against him for he truly loves us, always ready to forgive us and most of all, never changes his mind and heart in his plans for us.
It is only after we have expressed our love to him like Peter that Jesus invites us to more than a breakfast which is to come follow him!
Before we can follow Jesus, we must first love him by breaking away from sins and vices and everything evil. And that starts with having Jesus every morning for breakfast. That is what Luke is telling us in the first reading from the Acts of the Apostles, of how the disciples chose to follow Jesus than obey the Sanhedrin who wanted them to stop preaching about Jesus. Saying yes to Jesus Christ’s invitation to breakfast and to break away from sins and evil is the solid “Amen” of the elders saw by John in his vision of heaven in the second reading. Like them, let us pray:
Dearest Jesus, thank you for the invitation every morning, first thing of each day to be with you not only to breakfast but to break my series of sins and vices; let me love you more so I may follow you closely everyday. Amen.
Lord My Chef Sunday Recipe, Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Second Sunday in Easter Octave, 27 April 2025 Acts of Apostles 5:12-16 ><}}}}*> Revelation 1:9-11,12-13,17-19 ><}}}}*> John 20:19-13
Photo by author, Angels’ Hills Retreat & Formation Center, Tagaytay, 19 April 2025.
Locked doors. Exactly what I have dreaded most these days not because of claustrophobia but more of amnesia as I often forget my keys that I get locked out of my room.
Many of you probably know that kind of feeling of being locked out of our rooms or even house: we are so stressed that we go through self-blame and self-pity of being so forgetful to intense annoyance when we have to destroy our locks and knobs to replace them with new ones.
But, surely there must be a great difference of being locked inside a room that is more stressful and even fearful leading to claustrophobia. Imagine how the disciples of Jesus felt on that evening of Easter when they have to hide inside the Upper Room and locked the doors for fears of being arrested too following reports of the empty tomb.
On the evening of that first day of the week, when the doors were locked, where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be with you.” – John 20:19
Painting by James Tissot (1836-1902) of Jesus Christ’s appearance to his disciples on Easter evening.
Only John tells us this detail of the evening of Easter of how the disciples hid inside locked doors, that despite that, Jesus Christ still came through. Aside from the darkness and empty tomb that characterized Easter which all evangelists narrated, John seems to be telling us something important about those locked doors.
Do you have any locked doors in your life that is why you can’t experience the joy of Easter?
One thing for sure: John included that little detail of the locked doors of the Upper Room where the disciples hid to show us that no obstacle, no locked doors can prevent Jesus from “coming” to us. Jesus had triumphed over sin and death. He is Risen! Nothing can stop Christ from breaking barriers among us and within us to bring his peace and joy of Easter.
However, the problem could be with us as we refuse to recognize Jesus coming to us.
Our refusal to forgive those who have hurt us, especially if they have tried reaching out to us, even apologizing can be a locked door within us. It could be the other way around when who have hurt others have locked inside ourselves in our refusal to ask forgiveness and be reconciled with a loved one.
There may be other locked doors in our life like our fears of failure and disappointment, of lost and separation from our loved ones due to various reasons like betrayal or death. Think of the other kinds of locked doors in our life that have kept us in the darkness of grief and sadness, bitterness and hatred or anger, even hopelessness.
See how in our gospel there are so many elements linked together in experiencing our Risen Lord – the need to believe like Thomas who was not inside the locked doors when Jesus first appeared. The nice thing with Thomas despite his doubts, he came to the room with locked doors to await Christ’s coming and he was not disappointed!
Like Thomas the Apostle, we have to believe Jesus in order to see him. We have to welcome Jesus inside our locked doors. Most of all, we have to come our from our locked doors to be one with others freed by Jesus.
“The Incredultiy of Thomas”, painting by Caravaggio from artsandculture.googe.com.
Every day amid all our daily darkness and emptiness, Jesus breaks our locked doors, coming into our lives like that Easter evening, bringing peace and forgiveness and most of all, joy of finding him, of seeing him, of experiencing him.
The world tells us to see is to believe but Jesus tells us to believe first so that we may see because it is only when we believe that we truly love and when we love, that is when the miracles of Easter begin to happen. Everyday.
Locked doors isolate us and isolation is separation which is the absence of love. This eventually leads to hopelessness which is the exact opposite of love. When we lose hope, we destroy everything, including life. People without hope are the most angry, the most isolated people who would kill and destroy everything because there is nothing to look for nor expect. They are locked inside their own prisons of selfishness.
Jesus rose from the dead to break all barriers to life especially sin and evil that imprison us so that we may believe again, love and hope to live Easter daily.
Easter does not remove the darkness nor emptiness within us but definitely breaks locked doors in us so we can go free to follow the light of Christ, to spread that light with others imprisoned in their locked doors of unbelief.
In the first reading, we find the Apostles after Pentecost continuing the work of Jesus by preaching and healing the sick while in the second reading we heard John thrown into exile to Patmos and yet, still chose to proclaim the gospel and wrote his visions while in prison.
We all know from the Acts of the Apostles that it was not all good news for the early Church that soon faced persecution. But by remaining open to Jesus Christ’s daily coming in themselves and through others like their persecutor named Saul who became Paul, Christianity flourished.
Today in our modern age, St. John Paul II designated in May 2000 this octave or eighth Sunday in Easter as the Divine Mercy Sunday as an invitation to Christians to face with confidence in the Divine Mercy the difficulties and trials that we still have to experience in the years to come.
There will always be darkness and emptiness in life. Including locked rooms. But, Easter is Christ’s triumph over all these. Rejoice in breaking free today. Many times in life, all we need in life is a simple spark of believing in Jesus risen, with us inviting us to come and follow him in his light and life. Amen.
Photo by author, Angels’ Hills Retreat & Formation Center, Tagaytay, 19 April 2025.
Lord My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Easter Sunday of the Lord's Resurrection, 20 April 2025
Sunrise and flowers at Angels’ Hills, Tagaytay City, Holy Saturday, 19 April 2025.
A blessed happy Easter to everyone! The joy of Easter is God surprising us of Christ’s Resurrection as our resurrection too even in the midst of emptiness and darkness of this life here on earth.
Surprisingly, it is only now that it occurred to me after 27 years as priest how our Holy Week readings began and ended with the women disciples of Jesus honoring his death. Actually, the readings of Holy Week and Easter do not change except for the three cycles of Easter Vigil and the two Masses of Easter.
On Holy Monday we heard the gospel about Mary of Bethany recognizing the coming sacrifice of Jesus by pouring “a liter of costly perfumed oil made from genuine aromatic nard” on the feet of the Lord and then dried them with her hair that “the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil” (Jn. 12:3). Last night and this morning we heard from Luke and John how Mary of Magdala with other women went to the tomb “early in the morning, while it was still dark” to anoint Christ’s body with oil but found him nowhere!
Here is our God of surprises at work; but, unlike those funny and annoying surprises from the pranks we see on TikTok and social media, God’s surprises are real, so true, and so touching because they are life-changing which began in that Easter morning!
Illustration of the empty tomb of Jesus.
Mary Magdalene at Easter.
Mary Magdalene and another woman on the way to the tomb of Jesus early Sunday morning.
Jesus appearing to Mary Magdalene on Easter morning.
During my recent annual retreat, my spiritual director asked me to pray and write the blessings I have received in the past twelve months. After five days of praying, I listed only six but they were mostly ordinary things I have taken for granted in life except the fourth one – my mother’s death last May 7.
I was surprised when that came to my prayers because it was painful and difficult time for me. So many things have changed in my life since mommy left us and there lies the paradox and mystery of life and death. It was in her dying when I felt anew so close to God.
First, God surprised me with the tremendous outpouring of love and support from so many people during her wake. Second, despite the grief and depression that followed a few months later, I still felt so blessed and closest to God with the unique intensity of the relationships we keep and instilled by our mom which we have taken for granted all these years. And third, I have experienced and realized how death is profoundly good in so many ways because it was after mommy’s death when I found the answers to my many questions about life. With her death, the more I appreciated the grace of my father’s sudden death 25 years ago right on her birthday.
That is the grace and surprise of Easter: in Christ’s dying and rising to life, death has become a blessing to us all as we have come to share in his glorious resurrection too.
Despite that feeling of emptiness within and in our homes, of the irrevocable reality they are gone forever never to join us in our meals and bonding like Christmas, of never hearing their voices again nor be able to hug and embrace them can be shattering, the angel’s reminder to Mary Magdalene and companion women at the empty tomb echoes in our hearts too: “Why do you seek the living one among the dead? He is not here, but he has been raised. Remember what he said to you while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners and be crucified, and rise on the third day.” And they remembered his words (Luke 24:5-8).
Photo by author, Mirador Jesuit Retreat House, Baguio City, 2017.
Every deceased loved one is a testament of Easter, of Christ’s resurrection because they all assure us they are alive and living, never to die again like Jesus. That feeling of somehow seeing them again is a tension borne out of the reality of Easter as supranatural and non-logical. Hence, the call for us like Mary Magdalene to always remember!
Remember!
Not only the painful Good Friday but most of all the words of Christ, the experiences with Christ, the love and hope of Christ there in our hearts. Every time we remember the words and memories of our deceased loved ones, they too point us to the realities of Christ’s resurrection. Jesus and our loved ones will always be one of us, among us.
The word remembering literally means to make a person and an event a “member” of the present moment again, that is, “RE” + “MEMBER”.
That is the greatest surprise of Easter – in the Resurrection of Jesus, there has now come a bond among us all, both living and deceased that cannot be broken, that continues today and hereafter.
That is what Peter was telling his fellow Jews on Pentecost Sunday, asking everyone to remember the words and life of Jesus Christ for that is where we find the surprising moments of life we never realized because we took them for granted.
That is why Paul tells us in the second reading to “seek what is above” – the spiritual things and not the material things because that is where we truly belong. That is where we experience again in the most unique and surprising way the presence of Jesus and of our deceased loved ones.
Great surprises happen on the unseen realms of realities giving meaning to what we see and perceive and feel. In that moment we are surprised that we are suddenly enlightened of why deaths and loss happen because there is something better, more real about to unfold. That moment is a hairline between the temporal and eternal when we get a rare glimpse and taste of the Lord risen, of heaven itself.
Photo by author, Mary of the Poor, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, 17 March 2025.
When my mother died last May, I must confess how I had to swallow many of the homilies I have shared in the past because they are so far from the realities of losing a loved one. That is when we realize too the great surprising truth of how death makes us more whole than before. We feel transformed when what we know and what we feel become one and integrated. It is like the feeling of “a basta!” in Tagalog.
Our task and mission is to be like Mary Magdalene, to proclaim the Lord is risen, to awaken everyone of the many surprising moments of God with us in Jesus which we have taken for granted.
Not every death is the same but all deaths are one in Jesus Christ – a grace, a blessing, a reminder of Easter, of our own resurrection. Now, right here.
With mommy’s death last year, now I have realized too why Jesus appeared first to women on Easter and that is because they, especially mothers have the most intimate link with us here on earth. The umblical cord is never cut off because mothers are the first to believe in their children, the first to believe in God that is why they are our first catechists too. Women and mothers especially are the most intimate persons that they have visions that go beyond sights, enabling them to be surprised most often. Has God ever surprised you in unexpected ways like Easter? Or death and loss? Amen.
From Facebook, 04 April 2021: “There is an urgency to announce the Joy, the joy of the Risen Lord.”
Good Friday Reflection by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, 18 April 2025
Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, 17 March 2025.
Twenty-seven years ago today, I was ordained as priest with my six other classmates at the Malolos Cathedral by Archbishop Rolando J. Tria-Tirona. I was 33 years old at that time (and less than 200 pounds in weight).
One thing prevailed in me on the eve of that most beautiful event in my life: Jesus Christ died on the Cross when he was 33 years old. Is my ordination my crucifixion too? Maybe. But due to the euphoria that followed after my ordination, I forgot all about it until I approached the age of 40 and my honeymoon stage in the priesthood waned with all the trials and difficulties – and crises – that followed.
It was at that time every year my birthdays and anniversaries came, I prayed only one thing from God – that I would have a more worry free year, that the following year would be a banner one for me. “Sana naman Lord ngayon ako naman ang panalo, ako naman ang bida, ayoko na sa ilalim ng gulong ng palad. Sana ako naman ang nasa itaas.”
God never heard my prayers. They never came. Actually, the opposite happened as I went through more trials, more difficulties, more pains and hurts that many nights in my prayers I felt like Jesus Christ crying on the Cross on that Good Friday, “I thirst” (John 19:28).
Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, 17 March 2025.
Many times in life, our prayers to God are cries like that of Jesus on the Cross, “I thirst.”
Those are the times we thirst for love and kindness, for care and understanding, sometimes the most simplest recognition as a person or a brother/sister or a friend from our family and friends.
This is the second time Jesus felt thirsty in the fourth gospel. The first time was when he asked the Samaritan woman for water at Jacob’s well where in fact, it was Christ who gave her the “living water” – himself – in the wonderful conversation that followed.
See that in the fourth gospel, water is one of the significant signs used by the evangelist to portray Jesus Christ like in his first miracle at the wedding at Cana when he turned water into wine. In his conversation with Nicodemus one night, Jesus spoke of the power of water in cleansing us into a new person in Baptism.
The thirst of Jesus Christ on that Good Friday on the Cross is also our thirst for love, for kindness, for faith, for life and for one another. And here is the mystery and paradox: that thirst can only quenched by Christ if we too remain in him, with him on the Cross. That is why after he head died, blood and water flowed from his side pierced with a lance by a soldier. All throughout his life, especially while on the Cross, Jesus never ceased from being good, from doing good, from loving us all, giving us even at his death life and love.
After 27 years as a priest now on my senior year, I have realized this as the only thing I desire most in life – Christ, the only water who can quench all my thirst as a person, as a priest. Life is love which is following Jesus on the Cross. To thirst for love is to desire more the Cross which is to love more the one Crucified, Jesus Christ.
The joy and meaning, the peace and fulfillment we long for in life, we thirst for always are found in the Cross, not in material things nor in fame and glory as the soldiers had mistaken on the Good Friday. Unfortunately, many of us are exactly like those Roman soldiers who give money and material things to those crying “I thirst” to us.
Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, 17 March 2025.
The Cross of Jesus Christ has always been described as a paradox. And that is really what the Cross is – a paradox and mystery of life at the same time.
When you are on the cross, like this sweltering summer, what is one thing you desire or cry for? Water, is it not?
It is during that time when we are on the Cross of intense pains and sufferings when we truly feel how valuable every drop of water is. It is when we are up against the wall when we realize the most important, the most essential in life like love found in persons who all enable us to feel God’s reality in his loving presence.
This Friday is called Good. The only Friday that is Good in the whole year because that is when we remember, when we make present again in our very lives our being one with Jesus at the Cross like the beloved disciple and his mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary when in our intense thirst, there we experienced the refreshing and life-giving living water Jesus Christ himself. This Good Friday as we reflect on the suffering and death of Jesus on the Cross, what is that one thing you also desire from God?
Photo by author, National Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima, Valenzuela City, Good Friday 2025.
We all thirst.
When we thirst, thank God because that means we desire him who is love himself. When we truly thirst like Jesus, that is when we too are on the Cross with him; then, you are at the right place at the right time because it is only on the cross can our thirst be truly quenched in Jesus. Let us follow him always in the Cross for that is what to be loving in the first place which is to be with the One who died on the Cross this Good Friday. Amen.
Quiet Storm by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, 17 April 2025
Photo by author, Sacred heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, 17 March 2025.
I have always loved Thursday since my first job in 1986 at GMA-7 News and Public Affairs. It was the day-off given to me by our office because I have to write news for our radio stations DZBB-AM and DWLS-FM even on Saturdays and cover news for television on Sundays.
After resigning from my job to enter the seminary in 1991 and got ordained as priest in 1998, I still chose Thursday as my day off from the ministry.
The reason for this is from a news I have found from the wires of United Press International during my GMA days that reported the findings by researchers in a US university that people are more kind on Thursday. According to the report which I used in our two radio stations, people are normally grouchy on Monday because of hangover from the weekend. They only start working on Tuesday, getting so tired on Wednesday, the two most toxic days in the week. Friday is TGIF when employees shelve their work in preparation for the weekend.
It is only on Thursday when people are most human and kind as they wanted to get everything done before TGIF. Hence, it is also the best day in the week to ask for a raise or to ask for favors from anyone. It is also on Thursdays when traffic is lighter because people are more relaxed, not so stressed out than the other days of weekday.
Photo from wikipediacommons.org of Christ’s washing of feet of Apostles at Monreale Cathedral in Palermo, Italy.
Perhaps it is no coincidence at all, in fact truly a part of the mystery of Jesus Christ’s Incarnation, i.e., his becoming human like us in everything except sin that he gave us his new commandment during their last supper also on a Thursday.
“I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another. This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:34-35).
This is the reason Holy Thursday is called Maundy Thursday from the Latin word mandatum or commandment when Jesus gave us his commandment of love.
Love is the only thing we all have to do in life. This love is expressed in our love for God through one another. That is why Jesus clarified that during his ministry: love of God is always expressed in our love for one another. Love as a commandment is like a face with two cheeks always together. Isang mukha, dalawang pisngi.
Every time we sin, it is not only a breaking of a law of God or human but most of all a refusal to love, a refusal to obey Christ’s commandment to love. Our Tagalog word for sin says it all: kasalanan from the root word sala which is “to miss” or “to fail”. Every sin – a kasalanan – is a failure, a missing (sala) of our one task which is to love. Every time we sin, we become less of a loving person.
It is indeed a very tall order from the Lord, to love like the way he loves us.
So when he had washed their feet and put his garments back on and reclined at table again, he said to them, “Do you realize what I have done for you? You call me ‘teacher’ and ‘master’, and rightly so, for indeed I am. If I, therefore, the master ands teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash one another’s feet. I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you shouild also do” (John 13:12-15).
From gettyimages.com.
However, Jesus is not the stiff nor strict at all in demanding that we totally be like him right away in our love for one another. All he asks us is to try, to persevere in his love. He knows very well that our love is imperfect, that only him can love us perfectly.
Many times we complain (rightly so!) as we get hurt emotionally, physically and even spiritually from people we look up to like priests and teachers and to those supposed to love us most like parents and siblings and friends.
It is part of the mystery of life and of love specifically that the ones we love most are the ones we hurt most too and vice versa. That pain is from that love that ironically fails always. And that is because we are not God. Our love is always imperfect. We need to have some room within us for others’ sins and failures.
Photo by author, last supper scene of our youth’s senakulo, 15 April 2025.
We are all imperfect that is why our love is also imperfect. There are times we think the love we share or give is the very best but to our beloved, it could be misconstrued as not love at all like parents being too strict with their children. There are times when we think our beloved would love our gifts as expression of our love but unknown to us they were expecting something else.
Only God can love us perfectly. That is the love of Jesus Christ for us on the Cross so vividly portrayed in his last supper on Holy Thursday evening when he washed the feet of his disciples.
Jesus washed the disciples’ feet because he knew they would get dirty again. And that would need constant washing by those he would leave behind, including us. To wash another’s feet is the highest or deepest form and expression of love because it is an imitation of Jesus Christ.
Imagine how Jesus bowed down to each of the Twelve that Holy Thursday evening. Every day, Jesus does that to us too!
Normally, we look up to God in the heavens to pray, to beg his mercy, to ask for his favors, to praise and thank him. Jesus reversed this at his last supper: with him washing our feet, Jesus is the one looking up to us mere mortals and sinners?!
That is the love of Christ for us he proved the following Good Friday when he plunged himself to the lowest point of life, of dying on the Cross because of his immense love for each of us that led to his Resurrection at Easter.
Photo by author, Holy Thursday 2020.
At the start of the Mass of the Lord’s Supper this afternoon before sundown, the rubrics instructs that “the tabernacle should be entirely empty, but a sufficient amount of bread should be consecrated in this Mass for the Communion of the Clergy and the people on this and the following day.”
This is a beautiful reminder too for us as we come for the celebration of Jesus Christ’s supper and sacrifice, we too must empty ourselves of our pride, to accept our own imperfections in order to have some room for others also imperfect just like us. Let us empty ourselves of our sins for us to be filled with Christ’s love and mercy, kindness and forgiveness.
This Maundy Thursday, let us reflect on how deep is our love for Christ and for one another. Look at your feet and admit how difficult it is to even wash our own feet. Whose feet do not get dirty in this life’s journey? Everyone does. Let’s admit that and start helping each other in washing our feet. That is love. We do not stop loving because that is all we have to do in life and afterlife. Amen.
40 Shades of Lent by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Palm Sunday of the Lord's Passion, Cycle C, 13 April 2025 Isaiah 50:4-7 ++ Philippians 2:6-11 ++ Luke 22:14-23:56
Photo by author, Palm Sunday in our previous parish, 2019.
If we were given one wish with a guarantee that it would be fulfilled, what would that wish be?
Of course, each of us would have different wishes depending on what really matters for us like healing or good health for someone who is sick, wealth for one who is poor, even youth for someone already old. No matter what our wish, it is always a desire for a better future, a chance to change any dissatisfaction we have in our present condition.
However, many times whether in our wishful thinking or future-looking and planning, it is highly probable that what we long for is already present to us.
As we begin the Holy Week with the celebration of Palm Sunday in the Lord’s Passion, we are reminded by the liturgy with its long readings how so often in life, we just need to see with different eyes, hear with different ears, expect with different hearts to find fulfillment, peace and joy.
The sad truth is that many times, we really do not know what we want and most of all, we also do not know what we are doing because we are so far from Jesus Christ.
Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do.”(Luke 23:34)
Photo by author, Chapel of the Holy Family, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, 2016.
Consistent with his theme of the mercy and forgiveness of God to us as shown the other Sunday in the parable of the prodigal son, Luke presents to us again this most wondrous and touching trait of God in Christ even while crucified.
Again, only Luke has this detail of Jesus praying for forgiveness for his enemies while being reviled and mocked by them on the cross. It is one of the many examples of Luke’s artistry in presenting to us God’s mercy and forgiveness in Christ in a sort of play of words, “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do” as we confront our selves with the question, “what do we really know?”
What do we really know at all that we continue to crucify Jesus today, nailing him on the cross with our many sins as we pretend and assume to know so many things in life?
To know in the Jewish mind is to have a relationship, an activity more of the heart than of the mind. To know is to love, to care. Therefore, when Jesus prayed to the Father to forgive them for they know not what they do is to forgive them because they refuse to love which is what sin is all about. And that is what we still do not know until now – to love, to care for one another that we keep on crucifying Jesus Christ.
Photo by author, Chapel of the Holy Family, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, 2016.
Until now we pretend to know the truth by waging wars in various parts of the world with more than half of them ironically due to our different religious beliefs! Debates continue on who must live and who must die as lawmakers pretend to know the truth with their proposals for abortions and artificial contraceptives as well as capital punishment.
Until now we pretend to know the truth as some sectors push for divorce and same sex marriage that destroy the family. Out in the streets are the daily road rage happening with everyone pretending to know the truth on who has the right of way even at the cost of life and dignity of a person.
Until now we pretend to know the truth in all those fake news and speeches defending immoralities and crimes committed against many poor people never given a fair chance to defend themselves from accusations as drug users and pushers. What a shame when some people claim to know the truth asserting freedom of expression by making fun of women and sex as well as those terminally sick or taking advantage of those with disabilities just to win votes in the coming elections.
See how almost everyone would claim to know the truth but what we actually show is our ignorance and lack of any knowledge at all of the realities around us as our problems become more complex that lead to more deaths, more disillusions, more anxieties and more emptiness in life.
Until now as we pretend to know the truth when in fact we know nothing at all that we continue to crucify Jesus Christ who – thankfully continues to pray to the Father to forgive us for we do not know what we are doing.
Photo by author, Chapel of the Holy Family, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, 2016.
See how in his passion narrative Luke invites us to enter every scene, to find our roles, of whether we are on the side of Jesus or not because neither the Jewish leaders nor the Roman officials even the Apostles understood anything at all. Jesus was crucified because they did not know what they were doing.
Notice how Luke shuffled different scenes, contrasting the ignorance of characters with the certain knowledge of Jesus: Peter denied him thrice while he blanked all lying efforts of the Sanhedrin; Pilate sent Jesus to Herod to find the truth but both were too coward to acquit him that though enemies for a long time, they eventually became friends because of Jesus(!); and while crucified there on the cross, the people who reviled Jesus are contrasted with the centurion who realized him as the Christ at his death.
See? Who knows anything at all? And the most wonderful part of the passion narrative of Luke, he tells us about that beautiful conversations of the three men crucified on that day. One insulted Jesus while the other, the good thief, had a conversion by calling out, “Jesus remember me in paradise” and thereby stole heaven for himself!
Here we find what we were saying at the start: we keep on projecting ourselves to a better future but right here with us is Jesus Christ not knowing he is our fulfillment.
We do not know like the Jewish leaders, the Roman officials and soldiers as well as the Apostles who kept on pinning their hopes in the worldly kingdom, totally unmindful of the kingdom of God that had come in Jesus Christ’s coming.
This Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion invites us to slow down in our lives.
Photo by author, Palm Sunday in our previous parish, 2019.
In this Holy Week, let us empty ourselves of our pride, of everything we know about life, of ourselves and of others for us to listen really to God’s voice within us. The kingdom of God is Jesus Christ. It is not a territorial domain protected by armies and navies or tariffs and laws; we become a part of God’s kingdom in Jesus Christ when we learn to commend our spirit like him to the Father amid our crosses in life.
Please, the Holy Week is meant for God, for us to meditate and pray his great love for us in Jesus Christ who suffered and died for us on the Cross. Let us return to him so we may know him, love him and follow him. Amen.
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