Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Friday, Memorial of St. Alphonsus de Liguori, Bishop & Doctor of the Church, 01 August 2025 Leviticus 23:1, 4-11, 15-16, 27, 34-37 <*(((>< + ><)))*> Matthew 13:54-58
Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, 2018.
Thank you, dear Father for the past seven months as we welcome August on our final five months of the year; forgive us that we keep watch of the changing of seasons without seeing or even remembering you present; you have set the changing seasons through rains and sunshine, snows and darkness in some places, falling of leaves and spring everywhere as reminders of your loving presence among us as you had instructed Moses of the different festivals to remember you in the Book of Leviticus.
Photo by Fr. Gerry Pascual, the Swiss Alps, August 2019.
More sad dear Father is when your Son Jesus Christ came to live among us so we can truly experience you, the more we have turned away from you; until now that incident in Nazareth continues in many places in the world most esepcially right in our hearts.
Jesus came to his native place and taught the people in their synagogue. They were astonished and said, “Where did this man get such wisdom and mighty deeds? Is he not the carpenter’s son? Is not his mother named Mary and his brothers James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas? Are not his sisters all with us? Where did this man get all this?” And they took offense at him (Matthew 13:54-57).
Lord Jesus Christ, forgive me when sometimes I make it difficult, even challenging to believe in you; please be patient with me. Help me in my unbelief especially when you are so near so real so true to celebrate you always. Amen.
Photo from Fatima Tribune, Red Wednesday, Angel of Peace Chapel, RISE Tower, OLFU-Valenzuela City, 27 November 2024.
Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Wednesday, Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time, Year I, 30 July 2025 Exodus 34:29-35 <*((((>< + ><))))*> Matthew 13:44-46
Photo by author, sunrise in Laurel, Batangas, February 2025.
God our Father, it has been quite a long time since these rains started and how I miss seeing the sun rising in the morning like your face appearing before me; how I love arising early in the morning to experience the sunrise that I imagine as closest to the experience of Moses conversing with you, Lord, face to face like two friends; in the sunrise I find and experience the paradox of you, of your presence in absence, when you seem "veiled" to me and everyone.
When he finished speaking with them, he put a veil over his face. Whenever Moses Moses entered the presence of the Lord to converse with him, he removed the veil until he came out again. On coming out, he would tell the children of Israel all that had been commanded. Then the children of Israel would see that the skin of Moses’ face was radiant; so he would again put the veil over his face until he went in to converse with the Lord (Exodus 34:33-35).
"Nobody sees your face, O Lord, and lives again" because to see your face is our final fulfillment in life; to see your face like Moses and still live is to live "veiled" in your mystery that eyes cannot see but the heart and soul can feel and recognize; you come to us, Lord, "veiled" in many instances like the sunrise when I cannot see your face fully and directly like the sun but the more I look at you, the more I experience you in me, the more I become aware of my own face created in your image and likeness; show me your face, God, not as an image but as a reality inside me so that like Moses, your kindness and love may shine in me always, living authentically, living fully in your loving presence, veiled in the mystery and beauty of your kingdom buried like a treasure in the field or like a pearl of great price I would never trade for anything except you in Jesus. Amen.
Photo by author, sunrise over the Pacific from Katmon Nature Sanctuary & Resort, Infanta, Quezon, March 2023.
Lord My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul, 20 July 2025 Sunday in the Sixteenth Week of Ordinary Time, Cycle C Genesis 18:1-10 ><}}}*> Colossians 1:24-28 ><}}}*> Luke 10:38-42
Photo by author, Tagaytay City, February 2023.
After telling us what we must do to inherit eternal life through his parable of the Good Samaritan last Sunday, Jesus continued his journey to Jerusalem with his disciples with a stop over today in the home of the sisters Martha and Mary.
The visit became an occasion for Jesus – the Good Samaritan – to expound on the more important things we his disciples must “do” as exemplified in the contrasting attitudes of the two sisters.
“Jesus in the House of Martha and Mary”, painting by Johannes Vermeer (1654) from en.wikipedia.org.
Jesus entered a village where a woman whose name was Martha welcomed him. She had a sister named Mary who sat beside the Lord at his feet listening to him speak. Martha, burdened with much serving, came to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me by myself to do the serving? Tell her to help me.” The Lord said to her in reply, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things. There is need of only one thing. Mary had chosen the better part and it will not be taken from her” (Luke 10:38-42).
This is the third consecutive Sunday Jesus gives us the top things we his disciples must always “do”: two Sundays ago he instructed us to represent him well by greeting everyone with peace while proclaiming that the kingdom of God is at hand (14th Sunday); last week, Jesus asked us to consider everyone especially those in need as a “neighbor” with whom we must show mercy at all times.
Today’s teaching of Jesus is of capital importance in this series on discipleship before the Lord caps it next Sunday with the very foundation of discipleship which is prayer.
An icon of Jesus visiting his friends, the siblings Sts. Lazarus, Mary and Martha. Photo from crossroadsinitiative.com.
"Martha, burdened with much serving, came to him and said..."
Only Luke has this unique story in the home of Martha and Mary.
Far from the simplistic views of a distinction between “contemplative” and “active” approaches in discipleship, Luke invites us not only to enter the home of Martha and Mary but most of all our Lord and Master Jesus Christ to experience and realize the deeper realities of being his disciple.
There is more at issue here than a conflict of duties of listening to the Word like Mary and doing the work like Martha. Jesus is not telling us to be like Mary listening more to the word – and forget all about the work to be done and accomplished? Not at all.
Jesus reproached Martha for being anxious and upset about many things in life that she had forgotten the more essential which is to listen to Christ himself.
Luke’s gospel teems with instances where we find Jesus warning his disciples against being overwhelmed with cares of the world like in the parable of the sower where he mentioned those seeds that fell among thorns were choked by the anxieties and pleasures of the world that they failed to be fruitful (Lk.8:14). In chapter 12 we find Jesus twice repeating in asking his disciples “not to worry” on how to answer their persecutors for the Holy Spirit will teach them (Lk.12:11-12) and immediately after that, “not to worry” again about what to eat or wear for life is more than food and body is more than clothing (Lk.12:22-23). There are many other instances in all gospel accounts we find Jesus denouncing too much focus on things of the world that are passing and worst, detract us his disciples in confessing faith in him as the Christ who had come and will come again at the end of time.
“Jesus in the House of Martha and Mary”, painting by Erasmus Quellinus II and Jan Fyt (1650) from en.wikipedia.org. See the folly of Martha’s worries and distractions with the enormous amount of food being prepared.
Jesus clarifies in the example of Mary that the first priority of every disciple is to listen to the Word who is himself. More than the division of time allotted for “contemplation” and “action” by every disciple, Jesus reminds us that the more we listen to him, the more we do his work; and the more we do his work, the more we desire to return to him and listen again and again to him.
Contemplation and action always go together. We cannot overdo the other and neglect the other. The moment we make a distinction between the two, problems arise like what we find in the church.
When priests and bishops concentrate only in contemplation, oblivious to the social conditions of the people, their proclamation of the Gospel is diluted as they fail to represent well Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the living God. When they are so immersed into social action and advocacies, business endeavors including entertainment in the Mass without contemplation, Christ is detached from the whole picture that people could no longer see nor feel the spiritual nature of the Church with everything becoming a show, empty of any sense of the divine and sacred. In both instances of abuses, either of contemplation or action in the Church, it is her credibility that is eroded as the Body of Christ with a growing number of the faithful disillusioned with priests and bishops more identified with the rich and powerful.
"There is need of only one thing."
Abraham in today’s first reading showed us the most beautiful example of discipleship. Like Martha, Abraham was also gracious in receiving his visitors at Mamre believed to be the Blessed Trinity in the form of angels; but, unlike Martha who was so concerned with her chores that she had forgotten Jesus, Abraham was intently focused on his visitors as “he waited on them under the tree while they ate” (Gen.18:8).
Like Mary listening at the feet of Jesus, Abraham was fully present in God while in Mamre. That is discipleship – to have that full presence in the Lord which is the “only one thing needed” of us which is to receive God’s gift of himself to us, of his Word who became flesh Jesus Christ who enables us to do his works by first recognizing him in ourselves and in one another as our neighbor.
This is the reason why even inside prison, St. Paul felt Jesus Christ’s coming and presence that he rejoiced in his sufferings as part of his ministry in proclaiming Christ as the hope for glory (Col.1:24, 27).
Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, 20 March 2025.
Last week I read in one of the blogs I follow by an American nun, of how she attended many years ago to a delivery man who died of a heart attack in the ER of a Philadelphia hospital. Part of her ministry was to gather the things found in the chest pocket of the man’s shirt so she could inform the relatives of his death: there was a well-used prayer book, a thin wallet with a few dollars inside, a lottery ticket and a picture of his grandchildren. It was so touching how she narrated these simple things found in the man’s chest pocket as those closest to his heart (https://lavishmercy.com/2025/07/12/the-amoroso-man/).
That hit me so hard because even in this age of smartphones, I still carry a little notebook and pen in my chest pocket where I write my schedules as well as occasional notes on everything I notice and read. Deep inside me after reading that blog, I wondered where is Jesus Christ in all those notes and activities in my pocket notebook closest to my heart.
Dearest Lord Jesus, make me fully present before you always, even in my activities and distractions for it is only in you I am fulfilled. Amen.
Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Our Lady of Fatima University Valenzuela City
Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul, 17 July 2025 Thursday, Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time, Year I Exodus 3:13-20 <*(((>< + ><)))*> Matthew 11:28-30
Photo by author, Cabo da Roca, Pundaquit, San Antonio, Zambales, 14 May 2025.
Today, I tried going back to your presence, Lord; I tried feeling your sacred ground again; there was no burning bush to see but I felt my heart burning inside as I dwelled on your name:
God replied, “I am who am.” Then he added, “This is what you shall tell the children of Israel: I Am sent me to you.” God spoke further to Moses, “This is my name forever; this is my title for all generations” (Exodus 3:14-15).
Unlike our name, your name "I AM", Lord is most unique - right away when I say your name, I feel you! Your name is more than a name for it is YOU yourself - so deep, so true, so powerful that you envelop me in your person; when I think of your name "I AM", I am already dissolved and overwhelmed! Moreover, your "I AM" is exactly what I feel, and realize, and experience in Christ calling us:
“Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).
Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, 2023.
Today I come to you, Jesus with all my burdens and worries, pains and hurts, sickness and sufferings; you are I AM, Lord - heed our cries like in Egypt: the crime and corruption so rampant, the selfishness and pride of everyone, the sin and evil that stink, a kind of darkness lurking everywhere; yes, there are modern Pharaohs lording over us today but most of all too, it is us who lord over our lives most of the time; bring us back to the burning bush so we may take off our sandals because the whole earth is yours which we have usurped and destroyed; let us feel you again, "I AM" all around, all encompassing; let us enter you, Lord, to experience your abundance of love and mercy, warmth and light, life and new hope; let us rest in you, Lord like in Eden when you alone is God. Not us. Amen.
Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Our Lady of Fatima University Valenzuela City
Photo by author, Hidden Spring Resort, Calauan, Laguna, February 2025.
Lord My Chef Sunday Recipe, 06 July 2025 Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle C Isaiah 66:10-14 ><}}}*> Galatians 6:14-18 ><}}}*> Luke 10:1-12
Photo by author, Atok, Benguet, 27 December 2024.
Finally, we hit the fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time with Luke as our guide after a month of Solemnities.
We are at the turning point in the gospel of Luke – chapter 9 and first half of chapter 10 – where Jesus was identified by Peter as the Messiah (9:20) while Jesus for the first time made known his coming pasch (9:22). From this point on, Luke tells us of how Jesus “resolutely determined to journey to Jerusalem” (9:51) to fulfill his mission as they took a detour from a Samaritan town that had refused them passage (9:53). After this scene comes our gospel this Sunday.
At that time the Lord appointed seventy-two others whom he sent ahead of him in pairs to every town and place he intended to visit. He said to them, “The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master of harvest to send out laborers for his harvest. Go on your way; behold, I am sending you like lambs among wolves. Carry no money bag, no sack, no sandals; greet no one along the way. Into whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace to this household’… Stay in the same house and eat and drink what is offered to you, for the laborer deserves his payment. Do not move about from one house to another. Whatever town you and enter and they welcome you, eat what is set before you, cure the sick in it and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God is at hand for you.'” (Luke 10:1-5, 7-9)
First thing we notice about discipleship according to Jesus is that it is never easy, “behold, I am sending you like lambs among wolves.” Disciples need to be “resolutely determined” in the mission like Jesus, focused only on Jesus.
Early in his teachings during the Sermon on the Plain, Jesus enunciated in his Beatitudes the contradictions of his life and teachings to the ways of the world his followers have to imitate. Hence, his list of “do’s” and “don’ts” of discipleship in today’s gospel.
Do’s: greet peace every household they entered; stay in same house; eat and drink whatever is offered; cure the sick; and proclaim “the kingdom of God is at hand.”
Don’ts: no money, no sack, no sandals, no greetings along the way, and do not move about from one house to another.
Notice there are five do’s and five don’ts. And there are only two “do’s” that require speaking: to greet every household with peace and then the other is to proclaim to everyone the kingdom of God is at hand (10:5, 9) which is the sum of discipleship in Christ.
Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, 20 March 2025.
“Into whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace to this household'”…
The only valuable we as disciples of Christ must have is peace that we have to offer generously to everyone.
Peace is the work of the Holy Spirit, a sign of the coming of the Kingdom of God as the angels proclaimed on Christmas, “on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests” (Lk. 2:14). Most of all, peace is the fruit of Easter that the Risen Lord offered his disciples upon seeing them on that evening, “Peace be with you” (Jn.20:19).
Vatican II defined peace “is not merely the absence of war… but the fruit of love which goes beyond what justice can provide” (Gaudium et Spes 78). Peace is something we all have to work and strive for, entailing wounds and sacrifices for us to achieve it by cooperating with the grace of Jesus Christ in overcoming sin and evil. It is a process that never stops, calling for perseverance and daily conversion on our part.
Peace comes when we disciples are open for Christ, for others, and for change and transformation. That is why Jesus insisted us his disciples not to bring anything material that may influence our dealings with others, especially with those who are poor.
The great irony of our time is that the more we have grown affluent with wealth and material things, the more we have become empty in meaning and directions in life. So many are disturbed, longing for peace but could not have it because we the disciples are also lost in the things and the ways of the world.
Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, 20 March 2025.
“…cure the sick in it and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God is at hand for you.'”
In the Luminous Mysteries of the Holy Rosary introduced by St. John Paul in 2002 is its third mystery, the proclamation of the Kingdom of God.
It is truly a mystery of light because Jesus is the Kingdom of God! To proclaim the coming of the Kingdom of God is to proclaim the coming of Jesus Christ in our midst. When John the Baptist’s disciples asked Jesus if he was the One they were waiting for or had to wait for another, Jesus said in reply, “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind regain their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have the good news proclaimed to them” (Lk.7:22).
Where there is healing, there is new life, there is proclamation of the good news, there is Jesus Christ! Proclaiming the Kingdom of God is representing Jesus in our lives, in our mission.
From vaticannews.va
In the previous chapter and scenes before our gospel this Sunday, Jesus asked his disciples what people said about him, the very same gospel we have last Sunday during the Solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul.
Recall how Jesus was mistaken for John the Baptist, Elijah and Jeremiah or one of the prophets.
That’s the problem we still have today: many followers of Jesus do not represent him well that people are lost at who he really is! And it first happens right in the Sunday Eucharist as noted by a Facebook group called Catholic Fortress in its series this past week.
Many reacted positively for the series that was really good and timely for us priests and ministers at the altar who have unconsciously abused the Mass, unknowingly deviating from Christ himself who could no longer be found and experienced by the people. Truly the Mass is about Jesus; but, when it becomes like a showbiz with so many ek-ek and palabas by the priest, the servers and ministers and the choir, then it leads us away from Jesus who is paloob or inside our hearts.
In 400 AD, St. Augustine wrote the first manual for catechism called De Catechizandis De Rudibus (On Instructing Beginners) detailing, step by step the many things to consider and lessons to teach people being prepared for Baptism. From a simple request by his deacon named Deogratias, St. Augustine came up with an entire book on how to catechize with a final lesson that is the heart of his book when he wrote, “Remember, the catechist is the lesson himself.”
The same thing is very true with us priests and altar ministers and every disciple of Jesus Christ! Do we have Jesus Christ or not especially in the celebration of the Holy Mass where we proclaim the Kingdom of God is at hand and share peace with everyone?
How can there be peace of Christ among us when priests fail to love first of all Jesus in prayers as reflected in his love for the people by preparing for the Mass so that the sick and the burdened may experience Jesus – not an actor or actress of a telenovela no matter how popular it may be?
Where is the Kingdom of God when people have to bear the tantrums and antics and hangups of their priest as they already have so much burdens in life? Or, when people have a hard time tightening their belts and the priest keeps on asking for collections without any reports?
Where is the Kingdom of God when priests play favorites among the parishioners and servers, when some support Pride Movement and corrupt officials?
How can there be peace when all we have in the Mass is clapping of hands that we never have time to listen to God speaking to us in silence?
Photo by author, St. Joseph’s Chapel of the Order of Friars, Tagaytay City, 17 January 2025.
This Sunday, Jesus invites us to examine our faith journey in him if we are still following him or somebody else.
Let us pray for that grace to represent Jesus well always in our lives as priests and laity alike that we truly become the Body of Christ, his presence on earth.
It is the relationships that we have with God that matters in discipleship which Isaiah likened to that of a mother and child in the first reading. This finds it fulfillment when like St. Paul in the second reading, it is Christ’s Cross that we carry in ourselves – not bags nor money nor self and fame. Amen. Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Our Lady of Fatima University, Valenzuela City.
Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul, 03 July 2025 Thursday, Feast of St. Thomas the Apostles Ephesians 2:19-22 <*{{{{>< + ><}}}}*> John 20:24-29
Caravaggio’s painting “The Incredulity of St. Thomas” (1602) from en.wikipedia.org.
Lord Jesus, teach me to be like you - so understanding, so caring, so loving to those who are doubting you like Thomas your Apostle; poor Thomas - he has been called "Doubting" when the evangelists simply referred to him as "Didymus" or twin; however, it is so lovely too to know that doubt and certainty are like twins because when we doubt, the more we seek and find the truth which Thomas did.
When I think of my own faith journey in you, Lord, many times I was worst than St. Thomas for I was not only doubting you but also hesitant in following you because of fears and mistrust, lack of confidence in my self, and simply self-centered. Could it be, Lord, that in each one of us is Thomas our twin - doubting, hesitating, indecisive, in following you?
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 and said, “Peace be with you.” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands, and bring your hand and put it into my side, and do not be unbelieving, but believe.” Thomas answered and said to him, “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:26-28).
How nice of you, Lord Jesus to be so warm with Thomas on that night when you appeared again; instead of engaging Thomas into a debate or discussion, you called him, invited him to touch your wounds, to feel your scars; what an incredible courage, Lord Jesus to let us see and feel closely your wounds, to stare and look at your sufferings, to remember and imagine your lowest point in life if only to show us that it is the only way to glory; many times, we are afraid to admit even to ourselves and to others our wounds and hurts, preferring to keep them even hide them to keep our illusions of greatness.
May we find the graces of joy and warmth, love and kindness that fill our many wounds in life as a result of our following you, Lord Jesus for it is in our woundedness and hurts that we become "members of the household of God who are built together to be the dwelling place of God in the Spirit" (Ephesians 2:19, 22). Amen.
Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Our Lady of Fatima University Valenzuela City
Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul, 02 July 2025 Wednesday in the Thirteenth Week of Ordinary Time, Year I Genesis 21:5, 8-20 <*[[[[>< + ><]]]]*> Matthew 8:28-34
Photo by author, Pater Noster Church, the Holy Land, May 2019.
Praise and glory to you, loving Father for always remaining faithful with us, for always staying with us especially in those times of expulsions, when we are driven out, when we are shoved off by situations and occasions, especially by people.
Sarah noticed the son whom Hagar the Egyptian had bore to Abraham playing with her son Isaac; so she demanded of Abraham: “Drive out that slave and her son! No son of the slave is going to share the inheritance with my son Isaac!” Abraham was greatly distressed, especially on account of his son Ishmael. But God said to Abraham: “Do not be distressed about the boy or your slave woman… God heard the boy’s cry, and God’s messenger called to Hagar from heaven: “What is the matter, Hagar? Don’t be afraid; God has heard the boy’s cry in this plight of his” (Genesis 21:9-12, 17).
How lovely of you, God our Father to be still there, remaining, staying with Abraham so distressed with Sarah's order to drive out his son Ishmael and his mother Hagar; many times, we too are caught in such a bind and dilemma when people close and dear to us demand us to expel some people dear to us; stay on our side so we can make the right decision; most of all, remain with us, hear us and follow us, Father when we are expelled, driven out from our comforts into life's wilderness like Hagar and Ishmael.
Most of all, be with us Jesus when people drive us out of their lives, of our friendships and relationships when like you, after driving out the demons from those possessed was the one expelled from the town. There are times, Jesus, when after doing what is right, what is just, what is proper, it happens that we are the ones driven out. Remain with us, stay with us. Amen.
Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Our Lady of Fatima University Valenzuela City
Photo by Dra. Mylene A. Santos, MD, Katmon Nature Sanctuary & Beach Resort, Infanta, Quezon, 2020.
Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul, 01 July 2025 Tuesday in the Thirteenth Week of Ordinary Time Genesis 19:15-29 ><)))*> + ><)))*> + ><)))*> Matthew 8:23-27
Praise and glory to you, God our loving Father for this brand new month of July, for the blessed first half of 2025! You have been most kind to us this year with so much grace poured on us despite our being undeserving while at the same time, so merciful to have spared us from many troubles we truly deserved for our sins.
That is why, Father, I hate seeing those prayers and wishes of many saying at the start of each month to please be more kind to us; you have always been kind and generous more than enough to us especially in giving us your Son Jesus who have enabled us to cross many seas and lands in this journey of life; many times, there are storms in life that we get so afraid like in the gospel today....
Many times we feel so caught in the middle of a "violent storm on the sea" of life where we are "swamped by waves", so terrified, so lost, feeling alone when deep in our hearts Jesus is with us, probably "sleeping".
Then in the nick of time, he comes, rebuking the winds and the sea when great calm follows just like what the angels did to Lot and his wife when you destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah in the frist reading.
Photo by author, Cabo da Roca, Pundaquit, San Antonio, Zambales, 14 May 2025.
Lord Jesus, give me that gift of a sense of "dead calm" in you; to be at peace and still in you while in the midst of a great storm when I feel like being flattened by waves; let me seek your peace and kindness amidst the the cries and shouts when I feel like sinking, of perishing.
This brand new month of July, I know you will fill me again with your blessings; let it be enough for me to forge on in this remaining six months of the year, to continue crossing life's many seas to bring you, to share you, and simply be with you. Amen.
Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Our Lady of Fatima University Valenzuela City
Lord My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Solemnity of the Most Holy Body & Blood of Christ, Cycle C, 22 June 2025 Genesis 14:18-20 ><}}}}*> 1 Corinthians 11:23-26 ><}}}}*> Luke 9:11b-17
From the highest truth of our faith last Sunday which is the Blessed Trinity in one God, we now celebrate in the resumption of Sundays in Ordinary Time the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ.
This feast highlights our faith in God who truly exists and had come to us in Christ Jesus, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity. In Christ through the Sacrament of the Eucharist he established at the Last Supper, we are given the “taste” of heaven literally speaking under the signs of bread and wine that become his Body and Blood we share. This was his command on that Holy Thursday evening to always remember him as St. Paul tells us in the second reading, the oldest account of the institution of Eucharist:
Brothers and sisters: I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the night he was handed over, took bread, and after he had given thanks, broke it and said, “This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also the cup, after supper (1 Corinthians 11:23-25).
Two words I wish to share with you on this Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ.
First is the word “remembering” or to remember. A very common word we use often but perhaps never aware of its deeper meaning from its root word “member” which means a part. Literally, to remember means “to make part again”. When we remember a person, an event in life, a thing from the past or long gone or not with us, we make them a part of the present moment.
The Eucharist is the highest form of remembering because literally speaking, we make Jesus a member of our present moment. When we re-remember Jesus in the Eucharist, he truly comes to us in Body and Blood! Truly present with us, in us after receiving him in the Holy Communion. Whenever we remember a loved one or a friend long gone or not with us at the moment, all we have is a memory. They become a member of the present but only in the mind unlike Jesus truly present with us, in us, and before us in his words, in his Body and Blood and in one another celebrating the Eucharist.
Photo by author, Old Jerusalem seen from Church of Dominus Flevit, May 2017.
It is not magic but a work of faith, a gift through and through from God in Jesus Christ. By his dying on the Cross and Resurrection at Easter, Jesus superseded and transcended time and space, sharing with us that sacred reality.
St. John Paul II beautifully called that “cosmic reality” when he described in his encyclical Ecclesia De Eucharistia how he felt transported in time and space when the temporal becomes divine because of God’s true presence anywhere he celebrated the Eucharist. We too experience the same cosmic reality in every Mass we celebrate when we are properly disposed, especially the priest and the servers.
That is why I always demand the highest order from priests and servers in celebrating most solemnly as possible the Holy Mass. I can stand kids playing inside the church but what gets to my nerves are servers talking or moving unnecessarily during the Mass and worst of all, when lectors proclaim the word of God incoherently and wrongly. Lest we forget also the choir members feeling so magaling forgetting they are in the Mass not in a concert that they make it a show, forgetting all about God and the people.
What a tragedy when we priests and liturgical ministers are the ones who forget to re-member Jesus in the Eucharist with our too much attention to ourselves. Exactly like the Twelve in our gospel!
As the day was drawing to a close, the Twelve approached him and said, “Dismiss the crowd so that they can go to the surrounding villages and farms and find lodging and provisions; for we are in a deserted place here.” He said to them, “Give them some food yourselves.” They replied, “Five loaves and two fish are all we have, unless we ourselves go and buy food for all these people” (Luke 9:12-13).
Imagine that scene of how the Twelve have totally “forgotten” the more than five thousand people gathered there with them. They were just thinking of themselves because they were in a “deserted place”. What a disrespect!
Respect is lost and disregarded when there is no remembering of others, when we forget others. Respect is from two Latin words re (again) and specere (to look/see) from which the words spectacle and spectacular came from. Re + specere or “respect” means to look again in order to see!
The Twelve were just concerned with themselves, not only forgetting but without respect at all with the people they have failed or refused to recognize as humans too who get tired and hungry like them. As we have cited in earlier, this continues right in our eucharistic celebrations when priests and ministers celebrate unprepared, unmindful of the sanctity of the Mass.
Remembering is not merely “thinking” of others in our mind and memory.
Remembering is making others present in our very selves!
Remembering is making every-body a some-body by giving our very selves to them to be the Body of Christ. Unless we are able to truly share our very selves in person, in body and blood too, then every Mass will remain merely a rite or a ritual. Worst, an activity we just have to fulfill.
The Eucharist is the summit of our Christian life because of this aspect of remembering Jesus Christ that leads us into a true communion of sharing of persons and experiences, in our joys and sorrows, in our hopes and belief. When this happens, then every remembering becomes a thanksgiving too.
And that is our second word I wish to instill in you today – thanksgiving which is the meaning of the Greek word eucharistia.
When there is a real experience of each others’ presence in love and mercy, kindness and care, justice and fairness, gratitude flows naturally resulting in peace and harmony. It is the whole meaning of our first reading when the priest of God named Melchizidek who was also the king of Salem which means “peace” blessed Abram after winning in a battle.
This short scene is a story of remembering God’s goodness to Abram who thanked Melchizidek by giving him a tenth of everything he had won in the battle. In the Holy Mass, what do we really share from our very selves? Not just treasures but even our very time to give totally to Christ without texting.
Now we see the series and cycle of remembering and thanksgiving in sharing of gifts of self which the Body and Blood of Christ signify to us.
This coming Friday we shall celebrate the third consecutive Solemnity in the resumption of Ordinary Time with that of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, a reminder to us all to make Jesus present always in ourselves with others especially at this time the world has been deleting from its every aspect God.
Lord Jesus Christ, transform me like the bread and wine into your Body and Blood to be offered and shared with others especially those in most need. Amen.
Lord My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord, Cycle C, 01 June 2025 Acts 1:1-11 ><}}}}*> Hebrews 9:24-28;10:19-23 ><}}}}*> Luke 24:46-53
Photo by author, Atok, Benguet, 26 December 2025.
We all have experienced dreams so real where we met friends and relatives even strangers that we described as “totoong-totoo” that we woke up crying or simply joyful and feeling so light. The clothes even the scent and ambiance were so real that we tried going back to sleep to continue the dream!
This is what we call as the dynamic of “presence in absence” when loved ones long dead or gone or simply far from us we still feel near and close too. It is the same familiar kind of relationship that we have with God whom we feel also as too near yet so far like what Luke described to us in the Ascension of Jesus Christ:
As he blessed them he parted from them and was taken up to heaven. They did him homage and then returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and they were continually in the temple praising God (Luke 24:51-53).
Photo by Mr. Sean Pleta in Melbourne, March 2015.
When Luke said that Jesus “As he blessed them he parted from them and was taken up to heaven”, he was describing to us Christ’s new and higher kind of relationship with all his disciples that include us today.
Jesus did not merely enter a physical reality that the author of the Letter to the Hebrews tells us in the second reading; he actually entered into a new level of relationship with us and everyone. This “leveling up” in our relationships that no longer require physical presence is the dynamic of presence in absence. We don’t have to be physically present because there are deeper ties that bind us with God and with others, both the living and the dead.
Recall how since Easter we have been reflecting on this aspect of new level of relationship with Jesus who told Mary Magdalene at their first meeting to “touch me not” because of the need for a higher level of relating with him no longer bound by time and space. This Jesus showed when on the evening of Easter he entered the locked doors where the disciples were hiding. And Luke tells us that beautiful account of Jesus walking to Emmaus with two disciples who did not recognize him but upon reaching home after the breaking of bread, the two disciples recognized Jesus who immediately disappeared from their side. It was always a case of presence in absence!
Note also that in all appearances of Jesus after Easter to his disciples, there was always joy that continued even after his Ascension when “they returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and they were continually in the temple praising God.” Normally, there is sadness after every separation and goodbye. But not with the disciples of Jesus including us!
How can you explain that even if Jesus does not seem to answer our prayers, we just keep on praying to him? Why do we remain in Jesus despite his apparent absence? That’s because deep in our hearts we are certainly sure he is always with us, that he loves us so much, that eventually, he will answer our prayers though he does answer our prayers always but not in the way we wanted it to be.
That is why we need to make that effort to deepen and cultivate our relationship with Jesus to always see his presence in his absence like what the angel told the disciples in the first reading after his Ascension, “Men of Galilee, why are you standing there looking at the sky? This Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven will return in the same way as you have seen him going into heaven” (Acts 1:11).
Do not look up or anywhere but look inside our hearts where Jesus dwells as he had told us last Sunday if we keep his words and love one another. We need to level up in our relationship with God through prayers and good works.
We need to see more with our heart than with our eyes because the deepest truths and realities in life are seen with the heart and soul. The ancient Persian sage and poet Rumi said it so beautifully, “Goodbyes are only for those who love with their eyes. Because for those who love with heart and soul, there is no such thing as separation.”
Since Easter, we have been reflecting on the profound difference of Christ’s Resurrection with his birth on Christmas filled with external signs and symbols. Easter is characterized by absence like darkness and emptiness where we find the presence of Jesus and his light.
This presence in absence is also the reality we have in those we refer to as “low-maintenance” friendships where we have some people who do not demand anything from us nor we demand much from them. We meet when time allows and chat once in a while yet we remain the bestest friends because of the love and respect we have for each other. Basta, alam na this!
That is also the reality of our relationship with God. Do we experience the same joys in his presence in absence? Are we at home with our relationship with Christ found in darkness and emptiness, present in his apparent absence? Let us pray:
Lord Jesus, let us rise up in our relationships with you with others; let us be more loving and faithful, kind and understanding, fair and just even without seeing you and one another. Amen.
Photo by author, Anvaya Cove and Resort, Morong, Bataan, 25 May 2023.
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