Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul, 16 September 2025 Tuesday, Memorial of Sts. Cornelius, Pope & Cyprian, Bishop, Martyrs 1 Timothy 3:1-13 <*((((>< +. ><))))*> Luke 7:11-17
Beloved, this saying is trustworthy: whoever aspires to the office of bishop desires a noble task (1 Timothy 3:1).
How timely
are your words today,
Lord Jesus:
definitely it is about your
servants in the church;
but, it applies very much
with all other leaders
in the government
and civil society
who have pledged
to serve the poor
and needy.
Give us a prophetic bishop
who is most in touch with
our humanity,
not merely concerned
with one's self
and ego.
We pray, dear Jesus for bishops and government leaders who are decisive with what is true and good and what is just most of all; give us bishops who act decisively as a father, a teacher, and disciplinarian not those concerned with their status and ego.
Jesus journeyed to a city called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd accompanied him. As he drew near to the gate of the city, a man who had died was being carried our, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. A large crowd from the city was with her (Luke 7:11-12).
How amazing, dear Jesus, that despite the "large crowd" you were still able to spot the grieving widow at the funeral of her only son because you are so in touch with our humanity unlike with some bishops and most leaders in government; grant us prophetic leaders who are in touch and amazed with the dignity and honor of persons as image and likeness of God that like you, Lord, they could feel and be one in the sorrow of those in pain and sufferings.
In this point in our nation's history, we need so badly, dearest Lord Jesus, a prophetic bishop, even just one who could rally the other bishops and priests with the many faithful to effect change, to speak of the truth so people would be shaken and realize like the crowd in Nain who exclaimed after you have raised the dead boy to life, "A great prophet has arisen in our midst." Amen.
Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Our Lady of Fatima University Valenzuela City (lordmychef@gmail.com)
Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul, 15 September 2025 Monday, Memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows Hebrews 5:7-9 <*{{{{>< + ><}}}}*> Luke 2:33-35
Image from churchofjesuschrist.org.
A blessed Monday indeed, Lord Jesus Christ as we celebrate your Blessed Mother as Our Lady of Sorrows.
The alternative gospel for today's celebration is so striking with the account of Luke of your Presentation at the Temple:
The child’s father and mother were amazed at was said about him; and Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, “Behold, this child is destined for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be contradicted” (Luke 2:33-34).
Why were your parents, Joseph, especially Mary your Mother were amazed at the words of the Prophet Simeon?
I really wonder how they looked like, Jesus: to be amazed is more than being surprised with the enormity of reality before one; to be amazed is to be awed, to be seized by that reverential fear Joseph and Mary felt when your coming was announced to them; to be amazed is more of the heart than of the mind, a feeling that overwhelms one's whole being with something so profound, so wonderful, most of all, so real.
Yes, Jesus: being amazed is beyond incredible, simply breathtaking because of your very presence, of your reality. Amaze me, Lord Jesus. Keep amazing me, Jesus so that like your parents Joseph and especially Mary the more I shall know you, love you, and follow you even to the Cross.
“and you yourself a sword will pierce so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed” (Luke 2:35).
O dearest Jesus, being sorrowful is also of the heart like being amazed and both are related: the more we are amazed with the reality of your love for us, the more we are sorrowful not only with your passion and death but most of all of our sinfulness because to sin is a refusal to love, a refusal to recognize the truth and reality of your immense love for us, Jesus; when people no longer feel sorrow with all the sins and senseless killings happening today, when people glorify sin and evil, when the young feel proud more with wealth and fame than the human person, when people are so consumed with things of the world than be amazed with the wonder of human life, the warmth of each person, and the joy of being loved and being loving... that is when we are no longer amazed with you, Jesus, our way, our truth and our life.
Immerse us in your words, Jesus like Mary your Mother; like her, let us act on your words to keep us amazed with your love and mercy, Lord Jesus so we may be sorrowful with our sins and most of all, be resolved in returning to you, remaining in you like Mary your Mother and our Mother too. Amen.
Lady of Sorrows from a triptych by the Master of the Stauffenberg Altarpiece, Alsace c. 1455; photo from fraangelicoinstitute.com.
Lord My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul, 14 September 2025 Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross Numbers 21:4-9 ><]]]]'> Philippians 2:6-11 ><]]]]'> John 3:13-17 *This is a reissue of our 2023 reflection. Salamuch.
Photo by Mr. Gelo Carpio, 27 January 2020, Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria, Bulacan.
The cross is one of the most widely used but also abused and misunderstood sign in almost every generation. In fact, we are so accustomed with the cross of Jesus Christ found everywhere like in homes and offices, churches and classrooms, hospitals, restaurants and vehicles. Almost everybody carries it in our persons as an object of veneration, as a badge, or as a jewel.
On the cross we find Jesus shown in glory, peacefully sleeping in death, sometimes with his body broken by suffering. Hence, many times we use the word “cross” like in “cross my heart” to indicate our sincerity and truthfulness. But, are we truly aware of its meaning and significance in our faith, of its centrality as the symbol of God’s love for us expressed by the self-sacrificing death of Jesus Christ his Son?
Photo by author, St. Scholastica Convent, Baguio City, 23 August 2023.
This Sunday we take a break from our cycle of readings to celebrate this Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross which falls on September 14. Due to its centrality in our faith, it is still celebrated even if the date falls on a Sunday like today.
This feast started in the fourth century with the miraculous discovery of the True Cross by Helena, mother of the Emperor Constantine, on 14 September 326, while she was on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. She then ordered through her son the emperor the building of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre that was dedicated nine years later with a portion of the True Cross placed inside it in September 13, 335. The following day, the Cross was brought outside of the church to be venerated by the clergy and the faithful.
In the year 627, during the reign of the Emperor Heraclius I of Constantinople, the Persians conquered the city of Jerusalem and removed a major part of the Cross from its sanctuary. The emperor then launched a campaign to recover the True Cross which he regarded as the new Ark of the Covenant for the new People of God. Before embarking into war, Emperor Heraclius went to church wearing black as a sign of penance, then prostrated himself before the altar and begged God for courage. His prayer was granted as he won the war and recovered the Cross from the Persians. He brought the Cross back to Jerusalem in 641 amid great celebrations by carrying it on his shoulders. Upon reaching the gate leading to Calvary, the emperor could not go forward! Heraclius and his retinue were astonished and could not understand what had happened until the Patriarch Zachary of Jerusalem told him, “Take care, O Emperor! In truth, the imperial clothing you are wearing does not sufficiently resemble the poor and humiliated condition of Jesus carrying His cross.”
Upon hearing those words, the emperor removed his shoes and bejewelled robes, put on a poor man’s clothing and was eventually able to proceed to Calvary and replaced the Cross inside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre where a number of miracles happened during the occasion: a dead man returned to life, four paralytics were cured, ten lepers were healed, 15 blind men were given their sight, with several possessed people exorcised and many sick people totally healed!
Photo by author, Mirador Jesuit Villa & Retreat House, Baguio City, 24 August 2023.
Very notable in this story were the words of the Patriarch of Jerusalem. It was only after the emperor had taken off his royal clothings and put on those of the poor was he able to carry the Cross.
It is the same thing that is asked of us today: it is so easy to display the cross inside our homes and cars, or wear it as a jewelry or even as a tattoo on our skin. But, that amounts to nothing unless we have the cross inside our hearts, our very being. More than the many signs of the cross and imaginary drawing of its lines we draw on our chest is the need for us to empty ourselves of our pride and sins so that we can be filled with Jesus Christ.
Brothers and sisters: Christ Jesus, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God something to be grasped. Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness; and found human in appearance, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross (Philippians 2:6-8).
Called kenosis in Greek, self-emptying is the way of the Cross of Christ. It is choosing love and mercy than self-centeredness and self-righteousness; sacrifice than satisfaction; fairness and justice than greed and possession; bearing all the pains and perseverance than complaining and whining about difficulties and trials in life like the Israelites in the wilderness (first reading); and, thinking more of others than of one’s self.
Photo by author, 02 September 2023.
The recent COVID-19 pandemic had taught something very amusing about the positivity of being negative, when negative was actually positive – healthy and COVID free! Remember how during those days when we would always wish we would yield negative results in our swab tests for COVID?
When we look at the sign of the cross (+), it is a positive sign, a plus sign. Though the cross calls us to let go, to be detached and dispossessed, it is actually an invitation to have more of God, of life and fulfillment! In this time of affluence when everything is easily available for as long as you have the means and the resources, the sign of the Cross reminds us that life is more of letting go and of giving than of having like God who “so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that he who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life” (Jn.3:16). St. Francis of Assisi said it perfectly why the Cross is an exaltation, a triumph:
For it is in giving that we receive, it is in pardoning that we are pardoned. and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
Amen. Enjoy Sunday and have a blessed week ahead!
Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Our Lady of Fatima University Valenzuela City (lordmychef@gmail.com)
Lord My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul, 14 September 2025 Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross Numbers 21:4-9 ><}}}}*> Philippians 2:6-11 ><}}}}*> John 3:13-17 *This is an updated version of our reflection last year; pray for our Marriage Encounter this weekend.
Via Crucis at Fatima University Medical Center, Valenzuela City, 2025.
This Sunday we have a unique celebration, the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross that falls on the 14th day of September. It is so important that even if it falls on a Sunday, the more it must be celebrated as it is most central in the teachings of Jesus Christ.
It is so unique because despite its being made up of two ordinary pieces of wood, the Cross is most unique with its deeply extraordinary in meaning as sign of God’s immense love for us humans through Jesus Christ’s Passion and Death.
From being the sign of the most inhuman punishment in history, the Cross is now the very sign of how God “so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that he who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life” (Jn.3:16). It encapsulates the whole mystery of Jesus Christ, of how this all-powerful God beyond the ordinary became weak like us in everything except sin so that we too may be like Him, divine and more than ordinary. In His suffering and death on the Cross, Jesus made the lowly wood so ordinary to be so exalted to become His sign of love and mercy, power and majesty.
Photo by author, Jerusalem, May 2017.
Hence, in the Cross is the power of God’s love to transform us to better persons.
In the Cross is God’s power to lead us closer to Him with its vertical beam and to others with its horizontal beam.
In the Cross is the power of good if we choose to embrace it with Christ Jesus as our Lord and Master.
The Cross is most unique of all signs in the world because underneath its ordinariness, that is where we see God’s glory and majesty. It was underneath the Cross of darkness and gloom on Good Friday that humanity began to see light and hope in life’s many absurdities. Most of all, it was underneath that Cross of suffering and death of Jesus Christ that we feel and experience the assurance of the Resurrection.
How?
Through our own pains and sufferings that are most uniquely ours too!
With their patience worn out by the journey, the people complained against God and Moses, “Why have you brought us up from Egypt to die in this desert, where there is no food or water? We are disgusted with this wretched food!” In punishment the Lord sent among the people saraph serpents, which bit the people so that many of them died (Numbers 21:4-6).
Photo by author, Dominican Hills, Baguio City, January 2018.
You must have heard that old story of a man who came to Jesus to return the cross given for him to carry; he asked Jesus to have it replaced with a lighter one. Jesus then led the man to a huge room with all kinds of crosses for him to choose which he prefers as the best one for him so that he would stop complaining.
After closely examining the specs of so many crosses, the man finally decided to pick one he deemed as perfect for him after considering its weight and other dimensions, only to find out from Jesus Himself that it was the same cross he had actually returned for exchange!
Many times in life we are like those people in the first reading, never ending in their complaints to God, even challenging Him, accusing Him of forsaking us, of being unfair when life becomes difficult and unbearable. There are times we feel being on the distaff side of life always like a flat tire, never on top. We cry foul to God especially with all our hurts and pains inflicted by others, asking Him where was He when most needed?
Photo by author in Jordan near the Israeli border where Moses put up the bronze serpent as instructed by God to heal those bitten by the snakes after they have complained of their conditions in the wilderness, May 2019.
While it is true life is indeed difficult, the cross reminds us of the fact that the pains and hurts we have are uniquely ours too, something we have to accept and most of all, own.
There are pains that are so deep and won’t go away that have in fact affected us dismally in our lives already. Instead of self-blaming and self-pity, we just have to ask for God’s grace to accept and own them like Jesus Christ. We just have to “bring it home” – that imagery of the Cross planted on the Calvary – into our very selves, in our being as something so true and real. And uniquely ours.
Stop thinking of others’ pains and hurts. We are not all the same. If ever we have similar experiences, the hues and shades even gravity and circumstances are not same because each pain and hurt, like the cross, is uniquely ours. Like every person, every cross is unique because it is also a gift, a mystery, and life. We have to “befriend” our pains and hurts, our own cross instead of resist it. It is in “befriending” our pains and hurts, our cross in life that we grow and mature, becoming more free to love and to be joyful because that is when the cross triumphs over its disgrace and shame in us and with others. That is when our pains and hurts, when our crosses begin to reveal to us the many beautiful truths of Easter awaiting us.
The Cross of Christ triumphed because Jesus carried it wholeheartedly, allowing those two pieces of wood to reveal not only to Him who knew everything beforehand its meaning but most of all to everyone of us the deeper truths the Cross signifies as St. Paul eloquently expressed in our second reading.
The Cross of Christ atop the church of our Lady of Lourdes in France. Photo by my former student Ar. Philip Santiago during his pilgrimage, September 2018.
One thing I realized after my mother died May last year is the fact that while there are so many pains and sufferings in this world, my own pain and suffering in losing her are most difficult to bear; hence, something I must carry because it is uniquely mine.
But, one thing so unique I noticed is that the more I see my cross following my mother’s death, the more I saw also the cross of others. The Cross of Jesus triumphed truly in me when I embraced and owned my cross, when I befriended my pains and hurts that eventually led me to recognize and see, to feel more and experience too the crosses of others.
When we become conscious of each one’s unique cross, slowly we are able to reveal to them the meaning of their personal crosses too because we become more sympathetic, more open, more silent to listen more, love more, care more and be more present with those in their own unique cross. No wonder, I find conversing more engaging with others who also grieve because we can see each other’s unique crosses!
Jesus calls us to imitate Him that by embracing and owning our cross, we too may lead others to finding the meaning of their own cross and thus experience Easter soon. Let us pray:
Give us the grace, dear God to always embrace the Cross like your Son Jesus Christ where we can all be empty of ourselves to be filled with your Holy Spirit and make your love visible in us. Amen.
A blessed week to everyone!
Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Our Lady of Fatima University Valenzuela City (lordmychef@gmail.com)
Quiet Storm by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, 11 September 2025
Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, 2023.
Of course, there is no need for us to impress Jesus Christ for he loves us so immensely beyond measure. However, I have realized this week in my prayers that the Lord is most impressed with us when we are in our weakest.
It has been recurring in my prayers several times with the latest in this Wednesday’s gospel, “Raising his eyes toward his disciples Jesus said: ‘Blessed are you who are poor, for the Kingdom of God is yours’” (Luke 6:20).
I just love that scene of Jesus looking up to his disciples, looking up to us because normally we humans are the ones who look up to God his Father where he is seated to his right in heaven. When we pray, we sometimes raise our hands reaching up to God.
There is something so beautiful and wonderful when the Sacred Scriptures tell us of Jesus looking up to us. What an honor and a privilege! Because that happens when we are weakest, most flawed, and dirty with sin.
Imagine being there at that scene of the sermon on the plain and Jesus had to raise his eyes toward his disciples: he must have been at a lower position than them. This scene will have its fullness in the washing of the disciples’ feet after their Last Supper on Holy Thursday.
We who could no longer bow that low to clean and wash our feet as well as trim our toenails know this so well. Imagine all the dirt and flaws Jesus must have seen in the disciples’ feet that evening. Not a word was heard from Jesus. He teased no one nor complained of the dirt and unsightly things he must have seen too. Jesus simply bore everything because he loved them so much.
Photo from Our Lady of Fatima University website, June 2025.
Jesus continues to look up to us every time we receive him in our hands during the Holy Communion. That is why I always tell the people especially our students to be very solemn during that occasion when the Son of God most powerful, all-knowing in his simplest form and sign as a thin wafer, enters us body and blood. It is the most perfect time to pray to Jesus, to tell him everything and most of all, to listen to him because that is when he is right inside our body, when he is down inside us, we above him.
Jesus does not need our triumphs and “goodness” because they all came from him actually. What he does not have is what we have a lot- the negative things like sins, hurts and bitterness, anger and resentment festering deep inside us for a long time. Those are the thing Jesus want from us, the very things he is most “impressed” with us that we are able to live with those burdens for so long. But, he is most impressed with us in the truest sense when we are able to surrender these to him because that’s when we are blessed and filled in him.
Raising his eyes toward his disciples Jesus said: “Blessed are you who are poor, for the Kingdom of God is yours. Blessed are you who are now hungry, for you will be satisfied. Blessed are you who are now weeping, for you will laugh. Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude and insult you, and denounce your name as evil on account of the Son of Man” (Luke 6:20-22).
Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, 2023.
In this age of affluence brought about by technological advances, being poor and hungry, being maligned and weeping are things to be avoided at all costs. With people so fascinated with money and wealth, fame and power, being poor and hungry for God, weeping and being maligned for what is true and good and just are not impressive at all, even foolish.
But, look at the effect of those shameless social media posts by “nepo babies” of their crass lifestyle sustained by ill-gotten wealth at the expense of the poor – they have all been bashed relentlessly in the country leading to more evidence of corruption among government officials and law-makers while in Indonesia and Nepal, these same practices have sparked social unrest and upheavals recently!
For so long, many have wished to be rich and wealthy, to have all the money to buy good food and drinks, build mansions filled with expensive cars and adorn themselves with signature clothes and jewelries in the belief they can impress others. Maybe with their fellows with the same benighted souls but more often, they only bred jealousies and envies that led to vicious circles of corruption and crimes in the name of having more money.
In truth, no one is impressed with material things because people who feel good only with possessions are actually the most pitiable ones for they could not see their own value as a person. To be able to see one’s value as a person despite one’s sins and weaknesses is the beginning of being truly human.
Recall the Lord’s parable of the Pharisee and the publican praying at the temple: the publican who stayed at the back beating his chest so contrite for his sins went home blessed according to Jesus than the Pharisee who boasted of his own righteousness. “Magpakatotoo ka!” screamed a soda commercial not too long ago but still echoes so true these days.
Jesus is not impressed with what we have done nor achieved but with what we have become – that amid all the beatings and pains of life with all of our shortcomings and sins, we forge on with life, persevering in faith, filled with hope that Christ is our salvation. What impresses Jesus Christ most in us is what we lack because that is when he can be closest to us, one in us. See yourself the way Jesus sees you – as a person, loved and cared for. Regardless of what. Let me end this with a prayer wrapped in a song which I have always loved because it sounds like Jesus speaking to me, so impressed with me despite of everything.
Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul, 11 September 2025 Thursday, Twenty-third Week in Ordinary Time, Year I Colossians 3:12-17 <*((((>< + ><))))*> Luke 6:27-38
Photo by Ms. Jo Villafuerte in Atok, Benguet, September 2019.
Your words today Lord Jesus are very soothing, so personal, so YOU!
Brothers and sisters: Put on, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving one another… And over all these put on love, that is, the bond of perfection (Colossians 3:12-13, 14).
A disciple should be like the one he follows and much of this words by St. Paul describe you, Lord Jesus Christ - and how I miserably fail! Forgive me for not being compassionate and kind, humble and gentle, patient and forgiving like you, Jesus; help me to put on more love so that I may look like you, my Lord and Master. Amen.
Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Our Lady of Fatima University Valenzuela City (lordmychef@gmail.com)
Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul, 10 September 2025 Wednesday, Twenty-third Week in Ordinary Time, Year I Colossians 3:1-11 <*((((>< + ><))))*> Luke 6:20-26
Photo by Dra. Mylene A. Santos, MD, September 2022.
How lovely are your words today, Lord Jesus Christ that pertain about heights.
In the first reading, St. Paul invites us to seek what is above, think what is above while in the gospel you O Lord looked up to us your disciples.
“Brothers and sisters: If then you were raised with Christ, seek what is above, where Christ is seated at the right-hand of God. Think of what is above, not of what is on earth” (Colossians 3:1-2).
Raising his eyes toward his disciples Jesus said: “Blessed are you who are poor, for the Kingdom of God is yours” (Luke 6:20).
Your beatitudes lifted us up, dear Lord changed radically the way we must see life and its meaning so that we may aspire to follow St. Paul's teachings; before pointing our sights up to heaven in you, Jesus, you first looked up to us despite our miseries and sins. If we could just imagine this great honor, then perhaps we would no longer doubt nor question your beatitudes; help us, Lord Jesus to remember this great honor you have given us of lifting us up to you in our poverty and hunger, grief and exclusion, insults and denunciations; help us Lord to set our sights up to you so we may live your beatitudes by finding and seeing you among those below us and with us. Amen.
Photo by Dra. Mylene A. Santos, MD, September 2022.
Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul, 09 September 2025 Tuesday, Memorial of St. Peter Claver, Priest Colossians 2:6-15 ><))))*> + ><))))*> + ><))))*> Luke 6:12-19
Photo by Ms. Marissa L. Flores in Switzerland, September 2024.
Lord Jesus, thank you for calling me today; like your Apostles, I felt you called me by name too! So lovely, so reassuring, but also challenging to me: what if I can't keep with your pace because I get tired, or simply feel so afraid of being hurt, of being laughed at, of being misunderstood, of being rejected?
Brothers and sisters: As you received Christ Jesus the Lord, walk in him, rooted in him and built upon him and established in the faith as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving (Colossians 2:6-7).
To walk in you, Jesus is to forget myself, to be always on the main road not at the sides where it is safe and comfortable; to walk in you, Jesus is to forget myself and think of those others on the streets who could not walk in you for so many reasons with some of them already down and dying on the road; to walk in you, Jesus is to carry my Cross and that is to love until it hurts like you.
Photo by Mr. Jay Javier, Quiapo, 09 January 2020.
It is in walking in you, Jesus that I can be rooted in you; help me to remain near and close to you not only for me to imitate you and be rooted in you but most especially for you to remind me when I am not in sync with you; keep me rooted in you so that I can be built upon you by sharing your power (Lk.6:19) of loving service to the poor and forgotten, your light for those confused and lost, restoring those dead to sin in your mercy and forgiveness. Amen.
Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Our Lady of Fatima University Valenzuela City (lordmychef@gmail.com)
Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul, 08 September 2025 Monday, Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Romans 8:28-30 <*{{{{>< + ><}}}}*> Matthew 1:18-23
Photo from vaticannews.va
Hail, O blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God our Mother too! Praised be God our Father for your infinite love for us in preparing the birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary to be the Mother of your Son our Savior Jesus Christ. In Mary, we find hope and inspiration in your plans, O God for us in this world marred by sin and evil.
Brothers and sisters: We know that all things work for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose. For those he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, so that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined he also called; and those he called he also justified; and those he justified he also glorified (Romans 8:28-30).
In her birth, we are reminded of our new beginnings in you, Lord Jesus: let us cooperate with you always, Jesus so that "all things may work for good for those who love God"; let us be the new beginning of faith and trust in you, Jesus like Mary who entrusted her total self to your providence in explaining everything to Joseph about your coming as our Savior; most of all, like Mary our Mother, let us be the new beginning of your loving presence among us, Jesus, our Emmanuel, the God among us. Amen.
Photo by author, Church of St. Anne in Jerusalem, May 2017.
Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Our Lady of Fatima University Valenzuela City (lordmychef@gmail.com)
Lord My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul, 07 September 2025 Twenty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle C Wisdom 9:13-18 ><}}}}*> Philemon 9-10, 12-17 ><}}}}*> Luke 14:25-33
“Napasarap ang kuwentuhan” is how we would describe the scene last Sunday continuing to today’s gospel as Jesus pushed through in his journey to Jerusalem.
Recall Jesus dined at the home of a leading Pharisee last Sunday where “people observed him carefully” while “he noticed them” choosing seats of honor at the party that he told them a short parable on humility. One of the guests liked it that Jesus narrated another parable about coming to a banquet where everybody is invited. Many were impressed with his second parable that Luke now tells us great crowds followed Jesus after that dinner on a sabbath.
Great crowds were traveling with Jesus, and he turned and addressed them, “If anyone comes to me without hating his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciples. Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. Which of you wishing to construct a tower does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if there is enough for its completion? Otherwise, after laying the foundation and finding himself unable to finish the work the onlookers should laugh at him and say, ‘This one began to build but did not have the resources to finish'” (Luke 14:25-30).
Photo by Mr. Jay Javier in Quiapo, 09 January 2020.
Keep in mind that Jesus “resolutely determined to journey to Jerusalem” (Lk.9:51) to fulfill his mission of offering himself on the cross. This is the second time since he embarked on that journey that he had told those wishing to become his disciples must forget themselves, take up their cross and follow him.
During that time, the cross was the Roman empire’s worst punishment – most humiliating and excruciatingly painful leading to a slow death. Imagine how the audience of Jesus must have felt hearing his words about taking up one’s cross, whether in its literal or figurative meaning. Jesus completely changed that on Good Friday when he totally and freely offered himself to die on the cross because of his immense love for us and the Father. From being a sign of cruelty and shame, the Cross became the sign of love and honor as Jesus the Son of God became one of us in passion and death so that we may be like him in his glorious resurrection.
And that is what Jesus wants for us, to be holy like him that is why he invites us to do the same, “take up your cross and follow me” which we may call as the “Christ project” wherein destruction leads to new creation, death to life, and self-giving to true love.
Here we find the wisdom and gentle mastery of Jesus as a teacher in using a “building project” as an example of discipleship, a world apart from the shameless, scandalous ghost projects of DPWH with some contractors through manipulations by lawmakers stole billions of pesos from the poor people without doing any flood control facilities at all.
Photo by author, Church of St. Anne in Jerusalem, May 2017.
The Christ project is the most noble “building project” of all where everyone becomes God’s masterpiece: “Which of you wishing to construct a tower does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if there is enough for its completion? Otherwise, after laying the foundation and finding himself unable to finish the work the onlookers should laugh at him and say, ‘This one began to build but did not have the resources to finish'” (Lk.14:28-30).
What is Jesus longing to “construct” in your life?
We have all been disciples of Christ since baptism but many times in life, we have taken for granted his call to follow him and journey in him, with him, and through him. See that in his two parables today, Jesus did not say that we have to be “like them” in preparing to build a tower or go to war; instead at the ending, Jesus said, “In the same way, anyone who does not renounce all his possessions cannot be my disciple” (Lk.14:33).
We are all disciples of Christ. It is an inescapable reality in life, an honor and a responsibility because whether we like it or not, our discipleship in Christ plays a major role in our life direction. Or lack of direction. If you are feeling lost, most likely you have veered away from Christ in life’s journey. When life is in a mess, Christ is missing.
The author of the Book of Wisdom tells us how God in his infinite wisdom slowly unfolds to us his grand plans for us as his disciples, his beloved children. See that our most meaningful and fulfilling moments in life were those we were closest to God – not really when we were drowning in wealth and fame and material things. See the simplicity and sincerity of the common folks betrayed by this system of corruption – they can look straight the camera lens without hiding not like the fake, empty fronts of the the well dressed senators, contractors and DPWH officials in the hearings.
Photo by author, Our Lady of Fatima University, Valenzuela City, September 2023.
All our lives we must become a disciple of Christ that is why we must constantly reflect on his demands not only to examine how far we have gone by looking in the past but most especially to renew our commitment to him so we can move forward, nearer to the Father and to one another in loving service. This is what St. Paul was asking Philemon in accepting anew his escaped slave Onesimus.
Jesus invites us this Sunday to stop and reflect about his plans, his project for us to be God’s masterpiece. Discipleship is a call to self-emptying, to daily crucifixion of forgetting one’s self, of always choosing Jesus, choosing what is true and good and just. Of course it is easier said than done but that is the way it is. Better to make the choice freely than wait later when it would be imposed on us by the circumstances.
This is the meaning of our Care for Creation celebration this Sunday when we are called to see the unity of everyone and everything in “Christ Jesus… the image of the invisible God… in him were created all things in heaven and earth, the visible and invisible… For in him all the fullness was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile all things for him, making peace by the Blood of his cross through him, whether those on earth or those in heaven” (Col.1:15, 16, 19-20).
Caring for creation and environment is discipleship in action as Pope Francis called on us in his 2015 encyclical Laudato Si of the need to have an inner change, an “ecological conversion” wherein we do our individual part of sacrifice and care for God’s creation. It is always easy to join the many green movements and environmental crusades but if deep in our hearts remain our own comfort and convenience, nothing would ever change in the world around us as we continue with our insatiable consumption of so much goods. What we need is a “shift” in our perspectives in life, to see it wholly as interconnected.
We require a new and universal solidarity. As the bishops of Southern Africa have stated: “Everyone’s talents and involvement are needed to redress the damage caused by human abuse of God’s creation”. All of us can cooperate as instruments of God for the care of creation, each according to his or her own culture, experience, involvements and talents. (Laudato si’, #14)
Caring for creation is discipleship when we choose to follow Jesus in implementing his grand design and project for a better world where peace truly reigns in all creation. Amen. A blessed week ahead of everyone. Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Our Lady of Fatima University, Valenzuela City (lordmychef@gmail.com)
Photo by Mr. Raffy Tima of GMA7 News in Batanes, September 2018.
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