The Lord Is My Chef Easter Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Wednesday in the Second Week of Easter, 10 April 2024 Acts 5:17-26 ><}}}}*> + ><}}}}*> + ><}}}}*> John 3:16-21
Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, 20 March 2024.
When the captain of the temple guard and the chief priests heard this report, they were at a loss about them, as to what this would come to.
Acts 5:24
Your words, O Lord, from the first reading are very amusing: after discovering the jail securely locked with guards stationed outside but the apostles nowhere, they were the ones who felt at a "loss"; they who have imprisoned the Apostles were the ones LOST when they were supposed to control the situation.
How ironic so often in life when we feel to have been more in control of everything even people, when we feel we lord over everyone, that is when we feel more empty, and more at a loss.
And this is the verdict, that the light came into the world, but people preferred darkness to light, because their works were evil.
John 3:19
Photo by author, Jesuit Cemetery at the Sacred Heart Novitiate.
Forgive us, Lord Jesus in choosing darkness of sin, darkness of pride, darkness of bitterness and of unforgiving that is why many times we are at a loss in life especially when we profess to believe in You, when we claim to be Your disciples; let us go toward Your light of truth and justice, Your light of loving service, Your light of mercy and forgiveness so that in our very selves, people may truly experience "God so loved the world." Amen.
Lawiswis ng Salita ni P. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Ika-09 ng Abril 2024
Caravaggio’s painting “The Incredulity of St. Thomas” (1602) from en.wikipedia.org.
Sa tuwing maririnig ko ang kuwento kay Santo Tomas Apostol ni Kristo, ako'y nanlulumo dahil batid ko hindi ayon turing natin sa kanya na "Doubting Thomas" gayong tanging tag-uri sa kanya ng Ebanghelista ay "Didymus" o "Kambal"; nag-alinlangan nga si Tomas sa balitang napakita si Jesus na muling nabuhay sa kanyang mga kasama nguni't kailanma'y di nabawasan kanyang paniniwala at pagtitiwala.
Malaking pagkakaiba ng hindi maniwala sa hindi makapaniwala na isang pag-aalinlangan bunsod ng kakaibang pakiramdam tulad ng pagkamangha o ng tuwang walang pagsidlan sa isang karanasang napaka-inam ngunit hindi maintindihan balot ng hiwaga at pagpapala gaya nang mabalitaan ni Tomas paanong nakapasok sa nakapinid na mga pintuan Panginoong Jesus na muling nabuhay.
Katulad ng kanyang mga kasamahan nonng kinagabihan ng Linggo ding iyon, wala ding pagsidlan tuwa at kagalakan ni Santo Tomas nang sa kanya inilarawan ipinakitang mga kamay ni Jesus taglay pa rin mga sugat natamo sa pagpapako sa Krus nagpapatunay na Siya nga ang Panginoong nagpakasakit at namatay noon, nabuhay muli ngayon!
Hindi ba
ganyan din tayo
sa gitna ng ating mga
pag-aalinlangan
bagama't damang dama
natin ang katotohanan
ng mga pagpapala at biyaya
hindi tayo makapaniwala
sa kadiliman ating natagpuan
liwanag ni Kristo habang sa
kawalan naroon Kanyang
kaganapan at kapunuan?
Sandigang ating pinananaligan
dasal na nausal ni Tomas na
banal pagkakita kay Jesus
na muling nabuhay,
"Panginoon ko
at Diyos ko!"
Huwag tayong matakot kung tayo ay mag-alinlangan at kung minsa'y hindi makapaniwala sa mga gawa ng Diyos na sadyang kahanga-hanga; sa mundong ito na ang pinanghahawakang kasabihan ay "to see is to believe", ang kabaligtaran nito ang siyang katotohanang ating mapapanaligan, "believe that you may see" dahil sa dilim at kawalan parati dumarating ang Panginoong Jesus natin!
The Lord Is My Chef Easter Recipe by Fr. NIcanor F. Lalog II Monday, Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord, 08 April 2024 Isaiah 7:10-14, 8:10 ><}}}}*> Hebrews 10:4-10 ><}}}}*> Luke 1:26-38
Photo by author, Our Lady of the Poor, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, 20 March 2024.
You ended it, O blessed Mother with "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word" and it all set us to an ever new beginning happening daily with your Son Jesus Christ's coming!
God and man too far apart from each other before because of the Fall are now so close and near with each other when you, O blessed Virgin, said yes to His Holy Will so that the promise of old is fulfilled.
Brothers and sisters: It is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats take away sins. For this reason, when Christ came into the world, he said… “behold, I come to do your will, O God.” By this “will,” we have been consecrated through the offering of the Body of Jesus Christ once for all.
Hebrews 10:4, 7, 10
Chapel of Della Strada, Sacred heart Novitiate.
Pray for us, our Mother Mary that like you we may be open always to God's will, intently listening to His voice and most of all obeying His word so that like you, we may bring Jesus Christ to this world, be enfleshed in us to become His presence. Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Easter Recipe by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Second Sunday in Easter, Divine Mercy Sunday, 07 April 2024 Acts 4:32-35 ><))))*> 1 John 5:1-6 ><))))*> John 20:19-31
Photo by author, Mirador Jesuit Retreat House, Baguio City, 2018.
We celebrate today the Octave – eighth day – of Easter which coincides with the Feast of Divine Mercy. Both Christmas and Easter observe an octave signifying eternity because when you count from Easter Sunday to this Sunday, there are actually eight, not seven days. That is why there is no such thing as weekend for us Christians because the week never ends but continues on and on every Sunday.
And that is also the mystery, beauty and reality of Jesus Christ’s Resurrection that according to Pope Benedict XVI, “a life that opens up a new dimension of human existence” (Jesus of Nazareth, Part Two, p. 244).
Photo by author, view the refectory, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, 18 March 2024.
From now on, nothing can hold us nor keep us locked in sadness and grief, suffering and misery as well as sin and death because in rising from the dead, Jesus had opened up for us new possibilities in the future not only in eternal life but right here on earth.
Like the apostles on that same evening of Easter, we also find it so difficult to grasp and understand, even believe and explain right away though we could feel and experience deep down within us that Jesus is risen.
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.” When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”
John 20:19-22
Photo by author, dusk at Sacred Heart Novitiate, 20 March 2024.
Since Sunday we have the prevalence of darkness and emptiness in our Easter stories, reminding us how often that it is in the darkness of our lives when we find light, when in the midst of emptiness when there is fullness.
This Sunday we find the presence of Jesus but still in an unusual manner. There was still darkness for it was night but more than that was the darkness within each disciple who locked themselves inside the Upper Room for fears from Jewish officials who might arrest and put them to death like Jesus.
Many times in life we feel locked in, imprisoned in some situations, feeling resigned as there is no way out from our troubles and miseries but through faith in Jesus, out of nowhere and without any explanation at all, we find ourselves extricated from our inescapable situations.
When my youngest sister was diagnosed with cancer the other year, she told me how she prayed on the eve of her surgery asking God to simply give her the grace to accept whatever the results of her tests would be. But after her surgery, it turned out her cancer was at its earliest stage that required no treatment at all except constant medical checkups! Last February on her major checkup again, doctors found no traces of cancer in her while her surgery had healed so well.
Hope is not positive thinking that things could get better; in fact, to hope is even to expect things to get worst like when the disciples were hiding in fear, expecting to be arrested too. Or my sister resigning to God her fate, just asking for the grace to accept she had cancer.
But it was in that darkness when Christ came and brought light to His disciples and my sister and our family. Strangely enough, it was after seeing the wounds of Jesus when they rejoiced because that proved that the Lord had risen. It was in my sister’s cancer we found ourselves together more in love and care for each other.
In life, our wounds will remain with us but most important of all for Easter to lead us into new existence in Christ, we must first remain in Him and with one another amid our wounds and darkness around us. And for us to remain or stay in Jesus with each other, we must first come.
Now a week later his disciples were again inside and Thomas was with them. Jesus came, although the doors were locked, and stood in their midst… Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands”… Thomas answered and said to him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Have you come to believe because you have seen me?”
John 20:26, 27, 28-29
Caravaggio’s painting “The Incredulity of St. Thomas” (1602) from en.wikipedia.org.
My dear friends, while praying over the gospel this week, this line by the Lord kept on echoing within me. And every time it would echo, the Lord shortened the sentence like these:
“Have you come to believe because you have seen me?”
“Have you come to believe because…?”
“Have you come to believe…?”
“Have you come…?”
Before we can stay and remain in the Lord, we must first come. Like Thomas.
What he had asked as proofs to believe in the Lord’s Resurrection were not really doubts to be taken negatively. John referred to him being known as Didymus for Twin. We were the ones who gave him that nickname Doubting Thomas. Like us, there are times we feel at a loss like Thomas with our faith and with ourselves when extraordinary things happen to us. It was not that he did not believe but in fact, he wanted to believe more. That is why he came the following Sunday.
Though I have always loved Caravaggio’s paintings, I don’t think Thomas ever touched the Lord’s wounds. Thomas must have been overwhelmed with the presence of Jesus that all he could say was “my Lord and my God” which we repeat during consecration of the bread and wine into Christ’s Body and Blood.
Photo by Ka Ruben, Easter Vigil 2024, National Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima, Valenzuela City.
Easter leads us into community life centered in the Eucharist. See how since Sunday when Jesus appeared to Mary Magdalene, He instructed her to tell Simon Peter and others of His Resurrection; after appearing to Cleopas and companion on the road to Emmaus, they hurried back to Jerusalem to proclaim the good news of seeing the risen Lord at the breaking of bread; and while they were together which would be the gospel next Sunday, Jesus appeared to them again as a community.
In His rising to life, Jesus brought us together, fellow wounded healers to heal each other, to remain with each other amid our poverty and sufferings because together in Christ, that is when we open new dimensions in existence, in living as a community. We grow into an I-Thou person from the selfish ego. That is what the first reading is telling us in how “the community of believers was of one heart and mind, and no one claimed that any of his possession was his own, but they had everything in common” (Acts 4:32).
It is the risen Lord who comes and stays among us in darkness and woundedness whenever we come and reach out to others like Thomas in the gospel. Even in our doubts, Jesus comes for us to believe more in Him. That is when great things start to happen, many so unbelievable and too deep for words. Basta.
That is why St. John Paul II rightly made the eighth day in Easter as the feast of Divine Mercy too because it is the love of God poured out to us in Jesus Christ’s suffering and death on the Cross when Blood and Water flowed out from His heart as an ocean of mercy for us. This is the love of God John was reflecting in the second reading that was too deep for words to explain except that it is the power that also “conquers the world” (1 Jn.5:3-4). Like St. Faustina in her Diary number 163, let us also pray:
"Help me, O Lord, that my heart may be merciful" by being more loving, by coming and remaining in Jesus among our brothers and sisters in their many darkness and emptiness and wounds in life. Like You, Lord Jesus, let me come to reach out to those in doubts to be Your very proof of Your having risen from the dead. Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Easter Recipe by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Friday in the Octave of Easter, 05 April 2023 Acts 4:1-12 <*{{{{>< + ><}}}}*> John 21:1-14
Photo by author, Easter Sunday 2020.
You are Easter, Lord Jesus Christ and nobody else, nothing else. Period. Until now, I exclaim in joy like the beloved disciple whenever I realize it is You, Jesus, making wondrous things for me even from afar; it is You, Jesus, whom I find as the sole reason and meaning for every blessing and good thing that comes my way in life; when I look back in life, especially on those days like this scene today when I have tried to forget You, Jesus, that is when You come, when You appear, when You tell me to cast the net anew to catch some fish.
So he said to them, “Cast the net over the right side of the boat and you will find something.” So they cast it, and were not able to pull it in because of the number of fish. So the disciples whom Jesus loved told Peter, “It is the Lord.” When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he tucked in his garment, for he was lightly clad, and jumped into the sea.
John 21:6-7
Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, 18 March 2024.
Forgive me, Jesus, when I act like the elders and priests of Jerusalem, always wondering and doubting on Your powers and grace to heal, to restore life, and to forgive sins; forgive me, Jesus, for the times I have rejected You like the stone rejected by builders who have become the cornerstone. Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Easter Recipe by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Thursday in the Octave of Easter, 04 April 2024 Acts 3:11-26 <*((((>< + ><))))*> Luke 24:35-48
Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, 18 March 2024.
Thank you, Lord Jesus, for always touching me, making me experience You truly alive in prayers and Sacraments but most especially in the people You send to touch me and be touched by me for You.
Then he said to them, “Why are you troubled? And why do questions arise in your hearts? Look at my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me and see, because a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you can see I have.”
Luke 24:38-39
Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, 18 March 2024.
How amazing, O Lord, in Your rising from the dead, You still have those wounds You bore for us there on the Cross but all healed to remind us that all wounds we have can be healed in You!
Most of all, though our hands and words wound so many others, it is also our same wounded hands and hearts You use to heal others wounded.
Most loving Jesus, "open our minds to understand the Scriptures" (Lk.24:45), help us to touch base with our very selves, with our past, with our sins and mistakes we refuse to admit or did not know at all like when Simon Peter reminded the people of Jerusalem so that we remain in touch with You, with others, and with our true selves. Amen.
*Sharing with you one of my favorite prayer-music by Fr. Manoling Francisco, SJ; speaks so well of Fr. Henri Nouwen’s reflection on our being a “wounded healer” as well as the amazing power of human touch.
The Lord Is My Chef Easter Recipe by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Wednesday in the Easter Octave, 03 April 2024 Acts 3:1-10 <*[[[[>< + ><]]]]'> Luke 24:13-35
Photo by author, Della Strada Chapel, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, 19 March 2024.
Continue to open my eyes, my heart, my total self to Your coming, to Your passing Lord Jesus Christ; Your tomb was empty because You chose to walk with me even when I was at the wrong path, in the opposite direction like those two disciples on the way back to Emmaus from Jerusalem because You were nowhere that Easter Sunday; what a beautiful gesture by You, dear Jesus, to walk with them, to converse with them, most of all, to make their hearts burn within!
With that their eyes were opened and they recognized him, but he vanished from their sight. Then they said to each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he spoke to us on the way and opened the Scriptures to us?” So they set out at once and returned to Jerusalem where they found gathered together the eleven and those with them…
Luke 24:31-33
Photo by author, Della Strada Chapel, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, 19 March 2024.
My dear Jesus, many times I felt giving up of going back to Emmaus too, leaving Jerusalem at those times I felt You were gone; but when You helped me retrace my path with Your words and many signs, my heart burned within of love and faith in You that before I knew it, You have brought me back to Your path again with enough love to move on; keep me in Your path to the Cross, Jesus; let me immerse in the Scripture to discover in Your words Your presence, Your calling, Your life in my life and relationships with You, with nature, and with others.
Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, 19 March 2024.
Keep that fire of love burning within me, Jesus so that I may bring Your light and your warmth to those seeking You, those lost in life, and worst, those resigned in their situations like that man crippled from birth at the Beautiful Gate of the temple:
When he saw Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked for alms. But Peter looked intently at him, as did John, and said, “look at us.” He paid attention to them, expecting to receive something from them. Peter said, “I have neither silver nor gold, but what I do have I give you: in the name of Jesus Christ the Nazorean, rise and walk.”
Acts 3:3-6
There are times, Jesus, I look more into negative self, my distaff condition, my wounds even if I am looking at You like that crippled man expecting the trivial things than the essential ones like fulfillment in You; enable me to look for You in my heart, to see You in my self and on the face of others I meet.
Dearest Jesus, keep the fire of Your love burning inside me so I may see You and follow You more closely daily. Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Easter Recipe by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Tuesday in the Easter Octave, 02 April 2024 Acts 2:36-41 <*{{{{>< + ><}}}}*> John 20:11-18
Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, 20 March 2024.
Oh, yes...dear God! In this Season of Easter today's Responsorial Psalm is so true, "The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord" when despite the many darkness pervading over us and the emptiness we find and experience, You give us things to do to rectify our mistakes, to make life better after so many mistakes and sins: to repent in Jesus Christ and surrender ourselves to Him in order to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and they asked Peter and the other Apostles, “What are we to do, my brothers?” Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Acts 2:37-38
Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, 19 March 2024.
Many times we are like Mary Magdalene, O Lord: we cannot see and experience You because we are still looking for You in our old ways, in our comfort zones, in the superficialities of life like the more obvious physical aspects; teach us to "stop holding on to You", Lord, in those old ways and manners by going deeper, taking that deep plunge to trust in You more, be matured, more trusting and faithful to You in the midst of darkness and emptiness.
Open the eyes of our heart and soul to see more of You in the hidden beauties as well as in the ugly and uncomfortable realities of life. Amen.
Painting by Giotto of the Risen Lord Jesus Christ appearing to St. Mary Magdalene from commons.wikimedia.org.
The Lord Is My Chef Easter Recipe by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Monday in the Octave of Easter, 01 April 2024 Acts 2:14, 22-33 <*((((>< + ><))))*> Matthew 28:8-15
Photo by author, Refectory of Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, 20 March 2024.
My dearest Lord Jesus Christ, while everyone's greetings of "Happy Easter" have waned due to Monday's usual grind to the highest degree, I found myself wallowing in Your words today to thoughts of things unfair and feeling cheated; In Tagalog, madaya!
The chief priests assembled with the elders and took counsel; then they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers, telling them, “You are to say, ‘His disciples came by night and stole him while we were asleep.’ And if this gets to the ears of the governor, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.” The soldiers took the money and did as they were instructed. And this story has circulated among the Jews to the present day.
Matthew 28:12-15
Narra flowers cover paths at the Sacred Heart Novitiate, 20 March 2024.
And this story has circulated among the Jews to the present day. O Jesus, not only this story but this vicious circle of lies and cheating, of being unfair has continued to circulate even among us your followers right in Your Church!
Everywhere there is this glorification of selves, of dishonesty, of excesses that result in inequalities and sadly in desecration of Your liturgy, of Your Body, the Church made up of so many who are misled from You, dear Jesus.
But this is why You rose from the dead, Jesus; this is the reason there is Easter: You turned over, "binaligtad Mo, Panginoon ang maraming pagkakataon at sitwasyon ng kawalan ng patas, kawalan ng kaayusan" - in Your rising, You have given us more reasons to persevere even amid darkness and emptiness like that early morning of Easter because soon enough, You are surely there at the next turn, at a corner, awaiting those faithfully seeking and following You!
In this Monday of Your Easter Octave Jesus, help me pray like the psalmist, "Keep me safe, O God; you are my hope." Amen.
Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, 20 March 2024.
Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, 20 March 2024.
Blessed happy Easter everyone! We take a melancholic love song on this day of celebrating the triumph of love in Jesus Christ’s Resurrection because Easter is a continuing journey with Him, in Him and through Him amid darkness and emptiness in life (https://lordmychef.com/2024/03/30/easter-is-signs-scripture-together-always/).
Like the story of that first Easter morning while still dark when Mary Magdalene and later Simon Peter with the beloved disciple found the tomb of Jesus empty except for His burial cloths neatly folded to indicate the Lord’s rising from the dead, Ronnie Milsap’s 1983 hit Is It Over speaks a lot of the essence of Easter about faith in the love of Jesus Christ.
Milsap’s Is it Over invites his beloved to sincerely search her heart to get over her former relationship so that theirs would flourish and grow; in the same manner, we need to get over our Good Fridays in order to experience the glory of Easter Sundays in life.
Is it over, are you really over him Is it over, or will you take him back again If it’s over you can let his memory in Come on over, we’ll let our love begin.
You say you can’t count the times that he’s hurt you And he’s hurt you for the last time Now you say I’m the one that you’re needing But is the need in your heart or just in your mind.
Is it over, are you really over him Is it over, or will you take him back again If it’s over you can let his memory in Come on over, we’ll let our love begin.
Like Jesus calling us every day in our lives to come over to Him by leaving behind our past hurts, Is it Over tells on the need to move on in life, to embrace the present by learning from the past. Most of all, of the need to confront one’s true self in the heart, not just in the mind in order to move on in life.
Milsap’s music and voice are uniquely refreshing that sound very Easter perhaps due to his personal experiences. Born partially blind and abandoned by his mother after birth, Milsap grew up in poverty with his grandparents in the Smoky Mountains of North Carolina. Despite his handicap and poverty, he was found exceptionally brilliant and talented even while in his early childhood when he was sent to a school for the blind at the age of five where he developed his musical talent at age seven. He was later sent to Governor Moorehead to formally begin studies in classical music. It was there in his early teens when Mislap learned to play several musical instruments and chose to master the piano.
At age 14, Milsap became totally blind after being slapped on his left eye by one of the houseparents but that never affected his pursuits in learning as well as music. He was able to finish college through scholarships and was already in law school as a full scholar when he decided to leave to concentrate in music in 1964.
He met his wife Joyce Reeves in one of their gigs the following year, got married and remained together until her death in 2021 due to cancer. They had a son, Ronald who died in 2019 aged 49 apparently due to a medical condition
Is It Over follows the style of Milsap’s earlier and biggest breakthrough in 1977, It Was almost Like a Song that topped the Billboard charts in many categories. Both songs are very popular among us Filipinos who are certified romantics.
Now aged 81, Milsap remains active in the music scene as a composer, collaborating with some of the biggest names in the industry. His life is a beautiful example of the Easter glory amid many darkness and emptiness. Although officially retired, it isn’t over yet for Mislap as he continues to record and busies himself with a podcast as well as an amateur radio enthusiast.
lordmychef.com 