Advent is bringing Christ to others

Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Friday, Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Principal Patroness of the Philippines
12 December 2025
Zechariah 2:14-17 <*{{{{>< + ><}}}}*> Luke 1:39-47
Photo by Elena Hernu00e1ndez on Pexels.com
What a joy for us, 
to have you,
O Most Blessed Virgin Mary
as our Mother too
courtesy of your Son
our Lord Jesus Christ;
you first welcomed
and received him
was also the first to share him
with others like her cousin
Elizabeth pregnant with his
precursor John the Baptist;
as the Mother of God,
you never had the season
of Advent itself for you were
an Advent in yourself
carrying the Christ,
sharing the Christ!
And your advent never stopped.

Sing and rejoice, O daughter Zion! See, I am coming to dwell among you, says the Lord. silence, all mankind, in the presence of the Lord! For he stirs forth from his holy dwelling (Zechariah 2:14, 17).

How quick were you
O Blessed Mother
to appear
in the New World
at that great period of discoveries,
appearing in Guadalupe, Mexico
to San Juan Diego proclaiming,
sharing Jesus Christ in their midst;
you must be so lovely
and most kind indeed
that they welcomed Jesus
through you you right away
in Guadalupe!
Help us to imitate you,
O Blessed Virgin of Guadalupe
of being an advent of Christ
in this modern age so detached
from God,
so impersonal,
so relativistic and materialistic;
teach us to be like you,
O Blessed Virgin of Guadalupe,
always humble and simple,
one with us,
looking like us,
walking with us in our own time
and milieu,
carrying Jesus,
sharing Jesus,
showing Jesus.
Amen.
Photo by Pedro Sismeiro on Pexels.com

Hollowed, then hallowed

Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Friday, Memorial of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, 21 November 2025
1 Maccabees 4:36-37, 52-59 <*{{{{>< + ><}}}}*> Luke 19:45-48
Photo by author, Mary’s home in Ephesus, 03 November 2025.
God our loving Father,
today I praise and thank you again
for the recent chance to travel
and experience your majesty
and beauty abroad
and among other peoples
of different culture;
most of all,
I am grateful to have been
to the home of the Blessed
Virgin Mary in Ephesus;
until now,
I am savoring,
"masticating" the blessed
experience.

Jesus entered the temple area and proceeded to drive out those who were selling things, saying to them, “It is written, My house shall be a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves” (Luke 19:45-46).

As I recall 
that brief moment of stay
inside the Ephesus home of Mary,
I felt my whole being emptied - hollowed -
and as I knelt and prayed
without any distractions,
no worries about pictures nor of time,
slowly I felt being filled within
by you, O God: from hollowedness
to holiness or hallowed;
that is why Jesus drove away
the merchants out of temple:
every temple,
every place of worship
including our very selves
is a home and dwelling place of God;
the chief priests, scribes
and leader of the people
felt under attack by Jesus
because they were empty of God,
filled of the world and its things;
the people were spellbound
on the other hand because
they have realized that
truly, we are the indwelling
of God; therefore, let us cleanse
ourselves always within
not only of sin but also of
so many things that distract
us away from God
to dwell in us
like social media.
O Blessed Virgin Mary,
from the very start you have
been reserved by God from any stain
of sin to be the Mother of the Christ
but it was also fulfilled because
of human cooperation: of your parents
dedicating you to God and most of all,
of your fiat to God.
Pray for us, Mama Mary
that we may cultivate a prayer life
that shall make us a home
to God; let us express our
fiat to him daily by presenting
ourselves to him like you.
Amen.
Photo by author, back of Mary’s home in Ephesus, 03 November 2025.

God’s kingdom is a presence, not a spectacle

Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul, 13 November 2025
Thursday in the Thirty-Second Week of Ordinary Time, Year I
Wisdom 7:22-8:1 <*((((>< + >><))))*> Luke 17:20-25
Photo by author, Bucharest, Romania, 05 November 2025.
Fill me with your Wisdom,
Lord that I may find
and experience you
within me; fill me with
Wisdom, Lord, that I may be
"not baneful, loving the good,
keen, unhampered"
(Wisdom 7:22) in realizing
and living your very presence
within me; fill me with Wisdom,
Lord, so I may not seek you
in spectacle but feel you more
in your presence.

Asked by the Pharisees when the Kingdom of God would come, Jesus said in reply, “The coming of the Kingdom of God cannot be observed, and no one will announce, ‘Look, here it is,’ or, ‘There it is.’ For behold, the Kingdom of God is among you” (Luke 17:20-21).

Guide me, Jesus
with your Holy Spirit
to be open and sensitive
with God's hidden ways of working
in our lives,
in our communities,
in our history;
let me continue to seek
God in all things
especially in my life where
the hidden presence of
God's Kingdom is most felt
but often unnoticed
because it happens
in silence
even emptiness
"For Wisdom is mobile
beyond all motion,
and she penetrates
and pervades all things
by reason of her purity"
(Wisdom 7:24).

Help me realize
and treasure the reality
of God's kingdom
not a spectacle
like a dazzling show
the world so loved
that is momentary and empty;
let me realize that
God's kingdom is presence,
a movement of grace
after grace
after grace.
Amen.
Photo by author, sunset at Istanbul, Turkiye, 02 November 2025

Sitting with Jesus

Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul, 16 October 2025
Thursday, Memorial of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, Virgin
Romans 3:21-30 <*((((>< + ><))))*> Luke 11:47-54
Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, May 2018.
If there is one thing
I could wish from you,
Lord Jesus,
at this very moment after
hearing your words to sit beside you,
just be with you to feel you -
are you angry with us?
Or mad, at least disappointed?

I feel afraid and worried,
Lord.

The Lord said: “Woe to you, scholars of the law! You have taken away the key of knowledge. You yourselves did not enter and you stopped those trying to enter.” When Jesus left, the scribes and Pharisees began to act with hostility toward him and to interrogate him about many things, for they were plotting to catch him at something he might say (Luke 11:52-53).

You are not only
filled with courage and wisdom
but very bold to express them;
how I wish, Lord,
I could have that grace
to truly speak my heart out,
to express what the Father
had sent me to proclaim,
to disturb the complacent
and corrupt, the indifferent
and self-righteous among us;
or, at least, grant me Lord the
diplomacy and formality
of St. Paul who was very much
like you in proclaiming the truth
boldly and courageously.

Let me sit more often
in your silence
and feelings,
Jesus;
let your salvation
be manifested in me
without any tinge of boasting
except only in your most holy name.
Amen.

Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Our Lady of Fatima University
Valenzuela City
(lordmychef@gmail.com)
Photo by author, Nagsasa Cove, San Antonio, Zambales, 19 October 2024.

Our Sabbath faith

Lord My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul, 12 October 2025
Twenty-Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle C
2 Kings 5:14-17 ><}}}}*> 2 Timothy 2:8-13 ><}}}}*> Luke 17:11-19
Photo by author, view of Israel from Mt. Nebo, Jordan, May 2019.

Our gospel setting this Sunday strikes a deep lasting impression on anyone who had been on a Holy Land pilgrimage: of those vast expanse of desert in Israel where dusty roads have been replaced by modern concrete or asphalted roads.

Perhaps the feelings remain the same today and during the time of Jesus when he and the Twelve were near the border between Samaria and Galilee, several figures who turned out to be ten lepers appeared at a distance, waving their hands to the Lord. It must have been a surprising sight, then and now, of being found in the desert. Imagine the desperation in their voices of those ten lepers, “Jesus, Master! Have pity on us!” (Lk.17:13).

Jesus right away told them to go show themselves to the priests, and as they went, they were healed. But only one—a Samaritan—returned to thank Jesus who wondered aloud: “Ten were cleansed, were they not? Where are the the other nine? Has none but this foreigner returned to give thanks to God?” Then he said to him, “Stand up and go; your faith has saved you” (Lk.17:17-19).

“The Healing of Ten Lepers” painting by James Tissot en.wikipedia.org

Last Sunday we reflected that faith is primarily a relationship with God; hence, its powers or efficacy will work only when aligned with God and his Holy Will. We will never know how strong we have grown in faith until we get into tests and trials. That is why, the need for us to imitate the Twelve in praying to Jesus, “Increase our faith” (Lk.17:5).

We grow best in faith when we worship God with our fellow believers in the celebration of the Holy Mass especially on Sundays which is our Sabbath. More than a day of rest, Sabbath is a day of restoration to God, with others and most of all, with one’s self. It is a return to Eden, a dress rehearsal of our entry into heaven to dwell in God’s presence eternally.

This is where lies the beauty and significance of this healing of ten lepers – they were not only restored to health but restored in God, to their families, and to their community and fellow believers.

Photo by author, Jerusalem, May 2017.

Those ten lepers have never known any rest at all since getting afflicted with the disease for they were cut off from homes, worship, and community. That is why they could not get near Jesus as they have to keep their distance from everyone according to their laws in order to prevent infecting others and spreading the disease. Likewise, it was the very reason that anyone healed of leprosy or any serious sickness must first present themselves to the priests who have the sole authority to declare one has been healed and therefore may be allowed to reintegrate with their family and community or society in general. Being declared as healed of sickness like leprosy at that time meant the restoration of one’s rights to worship in the temple or synagogue especially on Sabbath.

When Jesus healed them, he restored more than just their bodies and physical health. In sending them to the priests, Jesus invited them into the wholeness of what the Sabbath really is like peace, inclusion, and dignity. 

Or, salvation in short.

Sad to say, only one realized this when he returned to thank Jesus. The healed Samaritan leper knew and felt a deeper healing had taken place within him that he responded with heartfelt gratitude to God in Jesus. There was a deepening of his faith in Jesus when he decided to return to thank the Lord that also expressed his desire to enter into a relationship with Jesus.

Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, 20 March 2025.

Whenever we thank people for their kindness no matter how little that may be, it is more than acknowledging the other person but most of all, of expressing our links with them as well as our desire to be one with them, especially with God who showers us with good things daily. That is why the Mass is also called Eucharist – from the Greek eucharistia meaning “thanksgiving”. After his skin was cleansed of leprosy in the first reading, Naaman the Syrian Army General declared before the Prophet Elisha that he would worship the Lord alone as he returned to his home with two mule-loads of Israeli soil.

Sorry to say but whenever we refuse to celebrate the Mass on Sundays, it means that we are one of those nine ungrateful lepers healed by Jesus! Don’t you feel being called like the Samaritan to return and give thanks to Jesus for the many blessings you have received this Sunday?

See how in this age of faith in a mass-mediated culture that we have become so impersonal, trusting more our gadgets and all those apps like Siri and Waze as if we have already lost faith in the human person. And God.

Photo by Mr. Nicko Timbol, Chapel of the Angel of Peace, OLFU-RISE, Valenzuela City, 03 October 2025.

We spend practically our entire days in front of all kinds of screens than with the face of a human person. Again, this sadly extends to the way we worship with many still stuck in the pandemic mode of online Masses not realizing the important and irreplaceable aspect of personal encounter of Jesus in the actual Mass with other believers.

God remains God even if we do not go to Mass every Sunday. It is us who are losing greatly whenever we skip Sunday Masses, our Sabbath. God specifically made his third commandment to “Remember to keep holy the sabbath day” because Sabbath reminds us that life itself is holy in the first place, a sharing in the life of God. What a tremendous blessing still that even if we forget God or disregard God every Sunday, Paul reminds us today of the beautiful truth and reality that “If we have died with Jesus we shall also live with him; if we persevere we shall also reign with him. But if we deny him he will deny us. If we are unfaithful he remains faithful, for he cannot deny himself” (2Tim.2:11-13).

Can you imagine that? If we are unfaithful to Jesus, he remains faithful?

Every Sunday, Jesus tells us to “Stand up and go; your faith has saved you” despite, in spite of our many sins and absences from the Sunday Masses in the past because he wants us to experience the deeper wholeness that comes with faith and gratitude as experienced by that Samaritan leper he had healed. As we continue to journey with Jesus toward Jerusalem facing many trials and sufferings along the way, he calls us to come to him in the Sunday Mass to deepen our faith by resting in his presence.

Is there a space in your life at this stage that you feel like one of those lepers, longing for healing and restoration? In the silence of this Sabbath day in our Sunday Mass, speak to Jesus especially after receiving him Body and Blood in the Holy Communion. Amen. Have a blessed week ahead! Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Our Lady of Fatima University, Valenzuela City (lordmychef@gmail.com).

Our Lady of Fatima University-Valenzuela, June 2025.

Divine Presence

Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul, 26 September 2025
Friday, Memorial of Sts. Cosmas & Damian, Martyrs
Haggai 2:1-9 ><]]]]'> + ><]]]]'> + ><]]]]'> Luke 9:18-22
Photo by author, the wailing wall of Jerusalem, May 2017.
God our loving Father,
we praise and thank you
for the magnificent places
of worship we have for you,
churches so beautiful,
so wide to accommodate us
especially on Sundays
to praise and worship you;
but, dear God,
forgive us when we forget
so often that its glory
is not in us nor because of us
but from your divine presence,
in the presence of Jesus Christ
not only in the Tabernacle
but among the people
as you have told us through
Haggai your prophet.

For thus says the Lord of hosts: One moment yet, a little while, and I will shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land. I will shake all the nations, and the treasures of all the nations will come in, and I will fill this house with with glory, says the Lord of hosts (Haggai 2:6-7).

That prophecy 
has been fulfilled in
Jesus Christ your Son,
our Savior
who now asks us daily
with his same question
to the Twelve:
"Who do the crowds
say that I am?"

Grant us the courage
and strength you gave Peter
as well as the early Christians
to acknowledge Jesus
as the Christ -
something so
subversive at that time,
so dangerous
as it disregarded
the earthly rulers
especially the Roman emperor;
so much have changed,
Lord in our time
when the church has become
so elaborately decorated
like our faith
but deep inside
is hollow that no wonder
we can't even profess your
being Lord just before every
meal especially in public places;
grant us the same courage
you gave the brothers
Cosmas and Damian
who treated the sick for free
in your name,
who dared the powers
and stood firm
in their faith in you.
Amen.
Photo by author, Chapel of the Angel of Peace, Our Lady of Fatima University, Valenzuela City, March 2025
Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Our Lady of Fatima University
Valenzuela City
(lordmychef@gmail.com)

New beginnings in Christ

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)

Presence of Jesus

Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul, 04 September 2025
Thursday in the Twenty-Second Week of Ordinary Time, Year I
Colossians 1:9-14 <*((((>< + ><))))*> Luke 5:1-11
Photo by Mr. Raffy Tima of GMA7 News in Batanes, September 2018.
Today's gospel story
of your first meeting with
Simon reminds me
of how your presence
made a difference in my life
when I finally said "yes"
to your call
to give my vocation
to the priesthood
a second chance in 1991
when I resigned from my job
to enter the seminary again;
it was pure joy at first that later
became more intense,
more deep and wonderful
as the going got tough and rough;
it was never easy following you,
Jesus but you have never forsaken me
since then until now though many times
I have balked and even backed out
from you as you kept telling me
those same words you told Simon,
"Do not be afraid" (Luke 5:10).
Fill me, Jesus,
"with the knowledge of God's will
through all spiritual wisdom
and understanding to walk
in a manner worthy of the Lord,
so as to be fully pleasing,
in every good work
bearing fruit nd growing
in the knowledge of God"
(Colossians 1:9-10);
teach me to trust you more
by surrendering, giving up
my total self to you
so that I may continue
casting my net into the deep;
though I have given up a lot,
I still feel I have not given up
that much of myself to you -
take away from me, Jesus
whatever I still hold on deep inside,
help me surrender
myself to you totally so that
I may know you more clearly,
love you more dearly,
follow you most closely daily
for it is in your presence
when I am most fulfilled.
Amen.
From Pexels.com.

Life, death, and resurrection.

Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul, 01 September 2025
Monday, Twenty-Second Week in Ordinary Time, Year I
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 <*((((>< + ><))))*> Luke 4:16-30
Photo by author, Betania Tagaytay City, August 2018.
Hello, September!
Praise and glory to you,
God our loving Father
for this new month:
30 days of life filled with surprises,
30 days to rejoice in you,
30 days to be better,
30 days to be one in you
in Christ your Son our Lord;
help us Jesus to imitate
St. Paul in helping Christians
how your death and resurrection
shape our identity and future.

Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore, console one another with these words (1 Thessalonians 4:17-18).

"we shall always be
with the Lord."
Help me, Jesus
to imitate Paul
in encouraging
one another that
"we shall always be with you, Lord"
especially when material
things and worldly concerns shape
my thoughts about the future;
lately, I have been so concerned
with the moral degradation
that has worsened in the country
that lately have been shaping my
thoughts about the future too;
Lord Jesus,
help me,
forgive me
when things of the world
shape my thoughts of the future
even my identity as your disciple
that in the process
I fail to recognize your coming
your presence in me and
among us like your folks
in Nazareth;
let me feel anew
your Spirit in me,
Jesus,
to let that same Spirit
animate me like Paul
so I could bring
"glad tidings to the poor,
proclaim liberty to captives,
recovery of sight to the blind,
to let the oppressed go free,
and to proclaim a year
acceptable to the Lord"
(Luke 4:18-19).
Let me share 
in your paschal mystery,
Jesus,
to never lose sight of
your Cross
to find your Resurrection
nearby,
not the ways of the world
that many times
worsen our people's plight.
Amen.
Photo by Pete Johnson on Pexels.com