God surely comes

Lord My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul, Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
First Sunday of Advent-A, 30 November 2025
Isaiah 2:1-5 ><}}}}*> Romans 13:11-14 ><}}}}*> Matthew 24:37-44

*Photo by author, the Hagia Sophia, Istanbul, Turkiye, 01 November 2025.*

I rarely travel abroad and though I am joyful and grateful for those rare occasions especially through the kindness of some friends, I feel so sad seeing how other countries are doing so well, so good – so unlike us in the Philippines.

After my recent trip to Turkiye and Romania, the more I am convinced I would never experience a better Philippines at least in my lifetime for sure.

*Photo by author, Bucharest, Romania, 07 November 2025.*

Look at Hong Kong: while firemen were still fighting the blaze in a high-rise housing complex last Wednesday that caused over 120 deaths with scores wounded and missing, authorities have already arrested in less than 24 hours at least three suspects linked with the deadly fires while here in the Philippines, all the key players in the multi-billion peso ghost project scam remain free with some already hiding abroad.

And just as we are about to end November for the merry month of December, the secretary of Trade and Industry came out in the news insanely insisting that anyone with 500 pesos can have a noche buena of ham, spaghetti and fruit salad?! What else can we say but a heavy sigh with OMG…

Sorry for the lamentations. In times like these you really can’t avoid wonder sometimes where is God? Has he forgotten us in the Philippines? So very sad.

*Photo by author, Camp John Hay, Baguio City, 01 December 2018.*

Oh, by the way, a blessed “Happy New Year” to everyone! We begin this first Sunday of Advent as the new year in our Church calendar.

From the Latin adventus that means “coming” that used to designate the arrival of the Roman emperor in the provinces and colonies of the ancient Roman empire, we have adopted it in the Church as a season of preparing for the coming of the true King of kings, Jesus Christ. Notice how we closed last Sunday our Church calendar with Christ the King and now opens it with preparations for the coming of Christ, the King of kings.

Advent has two aspects: from this Sunday until December 16, all readings and prayers are directed to the Second Coming of Christ or parousia at the end of time; from December 17-24, all prayers and readings shift our attention to look back and reflect at the first coming of Christ in Bethlehem more than 2000 years ago. That is the meaning of the four candles in our Advent wreath.

*Photo by author, Basic Education Department Chapel, Our Lady of Fatima University, Valenzuela City, 2021.*

Between these Second and First comings of Jesus that Advent prepares us, we celebrate every day Christ’s Third Coming according to St. Bernard of Clairvaux which is the meaning of the very words of the Lord to his disciples then and now as narrated this Sunday by Matthew in the gospel:

Jesus said to this disciples: “As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. In those days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day that Noah entered the ark. They did not know until the flood came and carried them all away. So will it be also at the coming of the Son of Man” (Matthew 24:37-39).

Despite all the negative news we have in the country and from around the world, despite all the darkness and problems we have in our lives, we are still blessed today because Jesus has come, will come again, and always comes. Welcome!

Let us get that feeling therefore on this first Sunday of Advent of having “arrived” to another year of journey in our spiritual life with Matthew as guide every Sunday Mass, praying for God’s grace for us to prepare not only for the Second Coming of Christ at the end of time but most especially for his daily coming to us which could also mean our death.

Jesus comes every day and therefore, every day is judgment day.

But it does not mean catastrophe because Christ’s coming at the end of time is about our attitude in living as he pointed out to his disciples during the days of Noah. Jesus comes in the most ordinary circumstances without us even knowing at all that it could be the end just like when the floods came after Noah’s family have entered and locked the ark.

It is not being morbid nor pessimistic in life. We know for sure death’s certainty except its precise moment. Death is not something to be afraid of but something we have to prepare for as it leads us to eternal life in God. It is scary for those not living life fully in God. To meet Jesus Christ is to live fully and authentically, to find life’s meaning in him not in things. How sad that many people these days live superficially without any qualms at all about God and spirituality and morality. More sad is the fact that many practically live their lives in social media without even knowing it at all! Observe what we post, the language we speak, our line of thoughts that are all influenced by media. Reflect on the great amounts of screen time we make daily and weekly that eat up our very existence!

Advent is the season of vigilance, of being awake. Jesus reminds us today never to doubt his coming for he surely comes. If we are negligent, we end in disaster and catastrophe like in his example:

“Two men will be out in the field; one will be taken, and one will be left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken, and one will be left. Therefore, stay awake! For you do not know on which day your Lord will come” (Matthew 24:40-42).

The prophet Isaiah tells us in the first reading how the coming of the Messiah is so sure that it does not depend in the vagaries of history because our God is the God of history himself. He fulfills his promises according to his plans, not according to man’s designs and manipulations. Despite the many wars and natural calamities the world has experienced in history, Jesus had come and keeps on coming. How foolish governments spend billions of dollars and countless hours studying how to find life in outer space while working on how to annihilate each other, destroy life at its weakest moments of infancy and old age while forgetting the hungry and dying among us. If we could just open our minds and our hearts to Christ’s daily coming then we fulfill Isaiah’s prophecy, “They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks” (Is.2:4).

This can only happen when we recognize every here and now, every present moment as Christ’s coming that is already taking place in our midst as St. Paul reminds us in the second reading, “For our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed; the night is advanced, the day is at hand. Let us then throw off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light” (Rom. 13:11-12).

Aside from preparing for our salvation that happens in Christ’s coming, Advent is also the season when we are called to share the light of Jesus to those in darkness. This early, so many malls, offices and homes have already put up with their colorful Christmas decorations like lanterns and Christmas trees. May we not forget to share most of all the light of Jesus Christ that brings joy and peace from our firm faith, fervent hope and unceasing charity and love especially when times are dark and rough for that is when the Lord truly comes. Amen. A blessed Advent season to everyone!

Blessed desolation

Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul, 10 October 2025
Friday in the Twenty-Seventh Week of Ordinary Time, Year I
Joel 1:13-15; 2:1-2     <*((((><  +  ><))))*>     Luke 11:15-26

*Photo by Mr. Raffy Tima of GMANews in Batanes, 05 October 2018.*

Your words today
are so powerful, Jesus:
the Prophet Joel called it
"the Day of the Lord"...

Let all who dwell in the land tremble, for the day of the Lord is coming; yes, it is near, a day of darkness and of gloom, a day of clouds and somberness! Like dawn spreading over the mountains, a people numerous and mighty! Their like dawn has not been from of old, nor will it be after them, even to the years of distant generations (Joel 2:1-2).

What a moment
of blessed desolation,
Lord: tangible darkness
everywhere that comes from
within, that feeling of being 
afraid because you are calling me
to return to you, O Lord;
it is a blessed desolation
because despite the darkness
and emptiness, you are here
within me, Lord when  
your darkness is light,
your emptiness is fullness;
it is blessed desolation for
in the stillness and silence
of losing everything,
you are present, Lord,
within me
in every crisis,
in every turmoil
extending your hand
to make me experience
your power - "the finger of God"
that make realize all good things 
come only from you 
and nothing bad could ever
come from you as some in the crowd
accused Jesus.

Let your day, 
O Lord, come!
It is not enough that
we do not sin
but we must always
be filled with your Spirit,
always in your state of grace
so that there is no space for
evil to return and occupy us;
let us not be complacent
with your presence
and friendship, Jesus:
renew us daily in you
so we revere you daily,
ever ready 
to follow you.
Amen.

Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Our Lady of Fatima University
Valenzuela City
(lordmychef@gmail.com)

*Photo by Mr. Raffy Tima of GMANews, 27 October 2018.*

Easter is always new

Lord My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Fifth Sunday in Easter, Cycle C, 18 May 2025
Acts 14:21-27 ><}}}}*> Revelation 21:1-5 ><}}}}*> John 13:31-33, 34-35

*Photo by author, Cabo da Roca Villas, Pundaquit, San Antonio, Zambales, 15 May 2025.*

Easter is a reality, an event and experience always new and fresh. And relevant. I refuse to describe it as “ever new” because it is not changing nor evolving; it is “new” as it is “unfolding” like God or a loved one’s person revealed daily.

In his coming to us, Jesus brought God most real and closest to us humans more than ever, enabling us to experience in him a newness in life, so refreshing and relevant always. That is why we heard the word “new” five times in our readings today, four in the Book of Revelation and once in the Gospel.

*Photo by author, Cabo da Roca Villas, Pundaquit, San Antonio, Zambales, 14 May 2025.*

Then I, John, saw a new heaven and new earth. I also saw the holy city, a new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. The one who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new” (Revelation 21:1, 2, 5).

When Judas had left them, Jesus said, “I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another. This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:31, 34-35).

New heaven, new earth, new Jerusalem, new commandment.
With Jesus making all things new.

“New” as a word connotes something fresh and recent, presupposing two conditions: either as something non-existent before that is introduced and made only now or, something already existing before but found and discovered only recently.

As such, anything “new” is actually a supernatural reality, a gift from God waiting to be discovered by anyone with faith, hope and love. It is in God through Jesus Christ’s Resurrection that we actually experience the true meaning of what is “new”.

First, as something not existing before like John’s vision of “new heaven, new earth, new Jerusalem” in the Book of Revelation. John had been clear at the onset of his writing of his final book which is to report to us the things that will happen in the future. And we all hope that indeed, someday there will be a new heaven, a new earth, and a new Jerusalem in the future. How it would look like, we really don’t know but deep in our hearts we hope for that especially in this time of too much crying, pain and death everywhere.

Of course, it sounds too good to be true but for us disciples of Christ, it is something we have to work for and not just pray for. What a joy to hear the new Pope, Leo XIV mentioning in his first public address asking for the release of all hostages in Gaza as well as for peace in Ukraine. We really hope our new Pope will continue with his more direct and firm assertions of Jesus and his teachings than be like the previous Pope who tried accommodating non-Christian religions and beliefs because peace comes only in Christ.

Though John’s vision of new heaven, new earth, and new Jerusalem refers to the end of time where “there shall be no more death or mourning, wailing or pain” (Rev. 21:4), it is something we can experience now if we let Jesus reign in us so he may wipe away the tears in our eyes caused by our continued hardness of the hearts.

A new heaven, a new earth, a new Jerusalem can only happen when we allow Jesus Christ to reign in our hearts more than ever so that the former heaven, former earth and sea pass away. That is why the Prophet Isaiah called the Christ as the Emmanuel, God-is-with-us, precisely the vision saw by John in Revelation, “Behold, God’s dwelling is with the human race. He will dwell with them and they will be his people and God himself will always be with them as their God” (Rev. 21:3).

As we have seen two Sundays ago, no locked doors can prevent Jesus from breaking through to get to us, for us to experience his loving presence. Most of all like last Sunday, we must learn to entrust ourselves confidently to Jesus our Good Shepherd because only he knows us his sheep so well. That confidence in him in making all things new happens when we love like him.

*Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, 17 March 2025.*

"I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another. This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another" (John 13:34-35).

What is new in Jesus Christ’s commandment of loving? Answer: it is a love rooted in God the Father to whom Jesus is totally one with, totally entrusting himself even up to dying on the Cross.

It is a love that has long existed before since the very beginning but only discovered and found recently in Jesus Christ, the Son of God who became human like us in everything except sin. It is new because it ever refreshes anyone who loves like Christ. Most of all, it is new because it is most relevant at all times.

Any love not rooted in God will surely pass and fail. Though other religions and movements preach love, only Jesus tells us to love like him who is rooted in the Father who is love himself. See that Christ’s command to love like him is not only new but also radical at the same time as it brings us to the very root of love, God: “God is love… In this is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us (first)” (1 Jn.4: 8,10). According to Pope Benedict XVI, “God is love” is the most unique declaration on God not found in other religions except Christianity.

It is a love already existing before and discovered only by the Apostles in their experience of Jesus Christ. That is why in the first reading Paul and Barnabas told the disciples in Antioch to persevere in faith, saying, “It is necessary for us to undergo many hardships to enter the kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22). How sad it is a truth we have all known and proven all along but we continue to disregard even avoid, taking shortcuts in everything that often end in failures.

It is said that the more constricted the pupa (chrysalis) of a larva or caterpillar, the better are its chances of transforming into a more colorful butterfly.

The same is true with us humans. Life that is so easy and laid back when everything is provided for without any sweat at all always leads to emptiness and nothingness. Very often, the most fulfilled people – not necessarily successful which is very relative – are those who have gone through a lot of sufferings and hardships in life. They are mostly the men and women of passion for learning, willing to sacrifice a lot even their very selves for the sake of a truth and a love they are so convinced. Actually, what they have found and discovered have always been there hidden for ages even millions of years but due to their intense love, they found something so new that eventually revolutionized our lives and the world for better or for worse.

This Sunday, Jesus offers us to make our lives new and better, definitely more beautiful but not necessarily pain free. Are we willing to love like him to discover something new today or this week?

"Lord Jesus Christ, let us love like you 
so we may be transformed to someone new 
and eventually change the world 
to something new and better in you. 
Amen."

Lent is new beginning

40 Shades of Lent by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Monday, Fourth Week in Lent, 31 March 2025
Isaiah 65:17-21     + + +     John 4:43-54

*Photo by author, sunrise at Taal Lake from Laurel, Batangas, 16 March 2025.*

Thus says the Lord: Lo, I am about to create new heavens and a new earth; the things of the past shall not be remembered or come to mind. Instead, there shall always be rejoicing and happiness in what I create; For I create Jerusalem to be a joy and its people to be a delight (Isaiah 65:17-18).

Oh what a great joy
to listen to you, God 
our loving Father
this Monday promising us
of you creating new heavens
and new earth!

There is that great excitement always
in everything that is new -
a new home
a new job
a new relationship
a new destination
a new phone or car;
but Father, that is how we
look at everything new -
always outside of us;
this Lent,
turn us to look inside
our hearts,
into our very selves
as the new beginning;
let us be excited and joyful for
a new self
a new heart
a new attitude!
like that official from Capernaum
who begged Jesus to heal his son,
let us realize new heavens
and new earth begin
with a new me.
Amen.

*Photo by author, Atok, Benguet, 27 December 2024.*

Advent: Reawakening our hopes amid a defiant history

The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
First Sunday of Advent, Cycle C, 01 December 2024
Jeremiah 33:14-16 ><}}}}*> 1 Thessalonians 3:12-4:2 ><}}}}*> Luke 21:25-28, 34-36

Blessed happy New Year, everyone! We officially start the new year in the Church on this first Sunday of Advent; that is why the Mass we have every January 1 is the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, not New Year as many believe.

This is the reason I insist on everyone to stop greeting “Happy New Year” after December 25 because Christmas is until Epiphany Sunday. And this is the problem with us every Christmas season – we have forgotten its very essence Jesus Christ, replacing Him with all the trimmings of this consumerist and materialistic world we live in.

*Photo by author, Advent 2021 at BED Chapel, Our Lady of Fatima University, Valenzuela City.*

The first Sunday of Advent is our new year, our new beginning in our journey in life in God through His Son Jesus Christ who had come, would come again, and continues to come daily in our lives. Beginning today until December 16, Advent invites us to focus on Christ’s Second Coming or Parousia at the end of time which nobody knows when except the Father in heaven; from December 17 to 24 and Christmas, we look back to the stories around Christ’s First Coming more than 2000 years ago. Between these two comings of Jesus is His coming in our daily living, in the here and now which St. Bernard of Clairvaux called Christ’s “Third Coming.”

There lies the tension in those three comings of Jesus Christ that have really taken so long that we get impatient or begin to doubt God especially with how world history has unfolded until now with wars as well as natural calamities. Just recently some parts of our country were devastated by a series of powerful typhoons while some parts of the world like Spain had its share of catastrophic flooding that claimed so many lives. Making things worst is how politics has rocked our country this week, trying to undermine our democracy as well as our sense of decency as a nation that had decayed during the past administration.

*Photo by author, Dau, Mabalacat, Pampanga, November 2022.*

Many are feeling disgusted everywhere in the world with how history is unfolding, wondering if life is going to get any better at all. Some have imitated Pilate in the gospel last Sunday, putting God on trial again, asking Jesus what He had done for all these upheavals and problems going on in history.

Like them, we are also tempted to ask, where is Jesus Christ? Or, the all-powerful and loving God our Father?

The days are coming, says the Lord, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and Judah. In those days, in that time, I will raise up for David a just shoot; he shall do what is right and just in the land. In those days Judah shall be safe and Jerusalem shall dwell secure, this is what they shall call her: “The Lord our justice” (Jeremiah 33:14-16).

*Photo by author, Pulong Sampalok, DRT, Bulacan, 23 November 2024.*

The Prophet Jeremiah sets the tone of Advent this Sunday, reawakening our hopes in God amid history’s defiance as seen in the many cycles of sufferings and calamities that continue to shake our lives.

Yes, the “days are coming” and indeed had come when God fulfilled His promise in sending us His Son Jesus Christ who redeemed us from our sins and renewed us in Him with fulfillment in life even while here despite the many trials and tribulations we go through.

The “days are coming” as foretold by Jeremiah long ago and most true these days because the promised Messiah Jesus is now with us, acting in subtle and and complex ways beyond our imaginations, always surprising us with how things turn out than what we believe or expected.

Yes, the “days are coming” – right now – as Jeremiah meant that day after Jerusalem had fallen that amid all the chaos around us, God is among us in Jesus Christ who works among visible realities we cannot see, always coming and going among us unnoticed. That time of great salvation is already among us, being accomplished now by Jesus in silence, in secret.

Hence, the need for us to be vigilant through prayers which Luke emphasized in his gospel account.

Jesus said to his disciples: “But when these signs begin to happen, stand erect and raise your heads because your redemption is at hand. Beware that your hearts do not become drowsy from carousing and drunkenness and the anxieties of daily life, and that day catch you by surprise… Be vigilant at all times and pray that you have the strength to escape the tribulations that are imminent and to stand before the Son of Man” (Luke 21:28, 34-35, 36).

*Photo by author, San Fernando, Pampanga, November 2021.*

On this new liturgical year designated as “Cycle C”, all our gospel readings on Sundays will be from Luke (Cycle A has Matthew and Cycle B, Mark; John is used partly in cycle B and for great feasts).

Of the four evangelists, Luke is the one who emphasized the importance of prayer in his gospel account wherein he always portrayed Jesus in prayer; hence, not surprisingly, he tells us today that “praying at all times” is being “vigilant at all times” too.

And this we have been told ever since as prayer has always been central in all our teachings. It is in prayer when we are one with God in Jesus. It is in prayer when our senses are heightened that we become open to God’s subtle movements in us and among us.

Everything begins in prayer, both in our personal prayers and as a community like in the Sunday Mass where Christ’s presence is unveiled, where we experience Him most in us and among us and in the world that we are then filled with hope in God despite the darkness and sufferings going on.

Recently, our University joined the annual Red Wednesday celebration of the Church when we remember our Christian brothers and sisters persecuted in various forms in many parts of the world in this modern time. I was overwhelmed at the sight of the great number of our students who joined us, many standing outside our chapel.

What touched me was after the dismissal, some students remained inside the chapel lit in red with flickering candles at the altar, still praying. That for me is the sign of that “little shoot” God promised Jeremiah who would come to bring justice and peace on earth.

*Photo courtesy of The Tribune, official publication of Our Lady of Fatima University.*

To keep watch in prayer (which we mean as a way of life not just mere recitation of formula prayers) while remaining upright and abounding in love as St. Paul instructed us in the second reading is to be open to Jesus Christ, ready to receive Him without fear amid the tumults in the world when He comes in His final glory.

Yes, the world is still plagued with so many imperfections, even darkness and evil that may dishearten us even make us doubt God in His goodness why these bad things are happening. Advent invites us to reawaken our hope in the salvation that had come, that still comes now, and will surely come in the fullness of the Day of the Lord when Jesus comes again.

Lord Jesus Christ,
fill us with fervent hope
in You amid the many darkness
and sufferings in life;
reawaken our hope amid
our hopelessness and be surprised
with Your loving coming and presence.
Amen.

New beginnings and mysteries

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Friday in the Twenty-Second Week of Ordinary Time, Year II, 06 September 2024
1 Corinthians 4:1-5 <*((((>< + ><))))*> Luke 5:33-39

Thank you,
our loving Father
for another week about to close;
thank you dear God
for this first Friday
in September 2024:
despite the rains and the floods
and the inconveniences
these have brought,
thank you for a new beginning
today.
Let us celebrate this gift
of life you have given us
by putting on a new attitude,
a new disposition,
a new outlook in life
for you have made everything new
in Jesus Christ.

And he also told them a parable. “No one tears a piece from a new cloak to patch an old one. Otherwise, he will tear the new and the piece from it will not match the old cloak. Likewise, no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled, and the skins will be ruined. Rather, new wine must be pured into fresh wineskins” (Luke 5:36-38).

Make us your trustworthy
stewards of your mysteries, Lord;
make us truly your servants
who shall reveal your many
mysteries of life and death,
of joy and sufferings,
of poverty and wealth,
of fruitfulness and fulfillment,
of redemption and forgiveness
be known in our life of witnessing
without any regard for fame
nor popularity except that
we do your work in Jesus faithfully.
Amen.

God, our dew of light

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Thursday in the Fifteenth Week of Ordinary Time, Year II, 18 July 2024
Isaiah 26: 7-9, 12, 16-19 <'[[[[>< + ><]]]]'> Matthew 11:28-30

Your words today,
O God, are so refreshing
that I wish to pray like your
Prophet Isaiah:
"The way of the just is smooth;
the path of the just you make level.
My soul yearns for you in the night,
yes, my spirit within me keeps vigil
for you; 
For your dew
is a dew of light,
and the land of shades
gives birth"
(Isaiah 26:7, 9, 19).

Freshen us, O Lord,
from our dirt and exhaustion
from sin! 

Refresh our thoughts
and our feelings, make them
crystal clear like the dew
in the morning to see your
kindness and mercy!

Gladden our hearts,
uplift our souls
with your presence in
Christ Jesus who calls us
daily to come to Him
and have rest,
because His yoke is easy,
His burden is light
(Matthew 11:28-30).

Let us surrender to You
in Jesus Christ 
for there is no salvation
outside from You except in Him;
so true are the words of Isaiah:
"As a woman about to give birth
writhes and cries out in pains, 
so were we in your presence, O Lord.
We conceived and writhed in pain,
giving birth to wind; salvation 
we have not achieved for the earth,
the inhabitants of the world
cannot bring it forth.
But your dead shall live,
their corpses shall rise;
awake and sing, 
you who lie in the dust"
(Isaiah 11: 17-19).

Teach us to appreciate
and value the little things in life
we take for granted 
like the droplets of dew in the morning
enough to set our face aglow again
of new beginnings; in coming to us,
Jesus taught us the value of being
small, being little,
being silent, being humble
when life begins
and regenerates always.
Let us arise anew in Jesus
from our deep sleep in sin
through His dew of light, 
a glimmer of better days ahead.
Amen.

*Photo by Cosmin Petrisor on Pexels.com*

Ascension is newness in Christ

The Lord Is My Chef Easter Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord, Cycle B, 12 May 2024
Acts 1:1-11 ><}}}}*> Ephesians 4:1-13 ><}}}}*> Mark 16:15-20

*“The Ascension of Christ” (1304-1306) by Giotto, a fresco at the Arena Chapel, Padua, Italy from wikimediacommons.org.*

We laid mommy to rest Saturday morning, the eve of today’s Ascension Sunday which happens to be a Mother’s Day too. I really can’t describe my feelings except having that emptiness in me amid a sense of joy too. Let me explain…

In my 26 years in the priesthood, I have always reflected the Ascension scene from Luke’s gospel in the many funeral Masses I have presided as something unusual to weird, even impossible: “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” (Lk.24:51-53).

How could anybody be with great joy after a funeral that is very much like the Ascension where there is a departure or a leaving of a beloved?

*Photo by author, inside the chapel built over the site of the Ascension of Jesus outside of Jerusalem, May 2017.*

But, after our guests have left at my mom’s funeral yesterday, that was exactly how we felt! Of course we are sad, we are in grief yet joyful with some sense of lightness within us. Like the death of our loved ones, Ascension is more than just the moving of Jesus to somewhere up in the heavens or to any location and place in the universe. Both the Ascension and death are about new state and level of relationships of Jesus and our departed loved ones hopefully entering into final union with God the Father. It is a leveling up not only of their existence with God but also of our own existence with God and one another.

Ascension is newness in our very selves to experience the glory of Jesus Christ now seated at the right hand of the Father in heaven. It is a breaking free from our many presuppositions and fears about life and dying.

When they had gathered together they asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” He answered them, “It is not for you to know the times or seasons that the Father has established by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” When he had said this, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him from their sight.
Acts 1:6-9

*From the the Catholic Diocese of Little Rock, Arkansas, dolr.org.*

We have long been reflecting since Lent into Easter of how Jesus in becoming truly human like us in everything except sin had made us like Him, holy in His resurrection. If we have remained in Christ on His Cross, we have been made new in Him.

That is the lesson of His transfiguration in the second Sunday of Lent. Being new in Jesus, being transfigured in Him is getting out of the trappings of the worldly concerns like Peter offering to build three tents on Mount Tabor. Or worst, even after Easter like the disciples in the first reading today asking Jesus about the restoration of the kingdom of Israel.

Being new in Jesus following His Passion, Death and Resurrection is leveling up in our perceptions and outlook in life wherein we become simpler, taking life’s lessons bravely. We no longer go for “drama” like the disciples asking the restoration of the kingdom of Israel because we have grown in our faith in Christ as we hurdled life’s light and darkness, joy and sadness, triumph and defeat, even death that keeps on hovering above us, enveloping us at times. All these experiences of hardships and difficulties have changed us into better persons in the grace of God in times we did not even realize at all.

*Photo by author at the site believed to be the Ascension site of Jesus outside Jerusalem, May 2017.*

My ministry as a chaplain Fatima University Medical Center have greatly reshaped and affected my views on life and death, sickness and sufferings that enabled me to decide prudently when my younger sister was diagnosed with cancer in 2022 and lately this time with my mom when she had her second stroke that led to her recent death. As a chaplain face to face daily with the dying, I have come to terms with death by coming to terms with life at the same time. No more false hopes of getting any better but simply following the flow of life by having more meaningful moments especially with everyone, especially my late mom and siblings.

That is what St. Paul was saying in the second reading on the meaning of “he ascended” as the “one who also descended into the lower regions of the earth” (Eph.4:9). The more we go down into pains and sufferings, darkness and failures including sin or even death, the more we get closer to Jesus because we also get closer with our true selves and with others. To ascend with Jesus is to leave behind all those toxic topics and concerns, including persons who saddle our backs with extra luggages that prevent us from being light.

Ascension is also living in the present than wasting precious time and energy on past’s mistakes and failures or worrying about the the coming future. See how Jesus commissioned us all His disciples to be His witnesses to the ends of the earth with two angels later reiterating the Lord’s command.

While they were looking intently at the sky as he was going, suddenly two men dressed in white garments stood beside them. They said, “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 1:10-11

“Why are you standing there looking at the sky?” is a beautiful reminder for us to live in the present moment, to be vigilant always in doing what is true and good, just and kind in this world so marred by the darkness of evil and sin. Remember, the Ascension is not about a place nor a location where Jesus went up to but a “leveling up” or a “shift_” in our relationship with Him and with others.

Therefore, it is also something that happens in the present moment. It is more than a distant moment in history but a reality happening daily.

Following His Ascension, Jesus has become more accessible than ever because He remains with us on a deeper, personal level. Recall how He asked Mary Magdalene not to touch Him upon appearing to her on Easter Sunday; that was to remind her and everyone that our relationships with Him is more than the physical level, that He cannot be bounded by time and space anymore as He is really present in us and among us in the most personal and spiritual manner.

Jesus lives in us that we have to keep on doing His work here on earth. The gospel clearly says it all, of the urgency for us to “stop standing, looking up” to start proclaiming the gospel to everyone. See how mothers are always busy doing something at home for us her family. Mothers never get tired cooking and doing everything for us family members because they love us so much that even after death, unknown to us, we imitate them by being so busy loving too.

Blessed Sunday to all mothers, especially those in heaven! Amen.

*Photo by author, pilgrims waiting their turn to enter site of Ascension outside Jerusalem, May 2019.*

Innovation vs. Novelty

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Monday in the Second Week of Ordinary Time, Year II, 15 January 2024
1 Samuel 15:16-23 ><))))*> + ><))))*> + ><))))*> Mark 2:18-22

God our Father,
teach me to be innovative
in witnessing you,
in proclaiming you,
in making you present 
in this fast changing world
but at the same time 
still rooted in you,
obedient to you;
how sad that in our Church 
today with so many efforts 
in the guise of "creativity"
that led only to empty novelties
pretending to be attuned with the time,
many have slowly desecrated
our liturgy, our celebrations
and worst, put into question
the relevance of our 
long held beliefs and teachings 
on faith and morals; 
while we have to embrace 
change happening in the world
and in the Church,
may we not forget it is YOU,
dear Lord, whom we seek,
whom we desire,
whom we aspire 
not the social influencers
nor rock stars nor
any celebrities;
teach us to innovate in our ways
that are still rooted in you
and your precepts 
not with technology nor
with new thoughts;
may we learn to understand
your Son Jesus Christ's words
in today's gospel:

“No one sews a piece of unshrunken cloth on an old cloak. If he does, its fullness pulls away, the new from the old, and the tear gets worse. Likewise, no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the skins are ruined. Rather, new wine is poured into fresh wineskins.”
Mark 2:21-22

Forgive us, dear God,
for all the novelties we have
brought even into our worship
and teachings that have detached
us more from you
and one another;
instead of fostering
openness and inclusivity,
the opposite had happened
because to win more people
is first of all to remain faithful
and obedient to you
which King Saul of Israel
had forgotten:

But Samuel said: ”Does the Lord so delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obedience to the command of the Lord? Obedience is better than sacrifice, and submission than the fat of rams.
1 Samuel 15:23

This New Year,
lead us back to you,
God, through our leaders
in the Church
who are faithful to you
in prayers,
in liturgy,
in teachings;
innovative 
like Jesus Christ
who fulfilled your 
Laws of Old
in the New settings.
Amen.

Ang bagong damit ni Kristo

Lawiswis ng Salita ni P. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Ika-12 ng Abril 2023

Batay sa kuwento
noong pasko ng pagkabuhay
ni Kristo,
patakbong tumungo 
sa kanyang libingan
sina Pedro at Juan,
ang alagad na minamahal;
wala nga doon si Kristo
mga tanging naiwan at natagpuan
ay ang kayong lino na pinambalot
sa kanyang katawan at ang
panyong ibinalot sa ulo
na parehong nakatiklop
at magkahiwalay.

Kung saan nanggaling
mga bagong damit
ni Kristong muling nabuhay
sa atin ay walang isinasaysay
ngunit kung tayo ay magninilay
napakagandang aral sa atin ang binibigay
ng mga naiwang kayong lino:
ngayong Pasko ng Pagkabuhay,
iwanan na natin mga lumang damit 
ng pag-uugali
sa atin ay bumabalot
tulad ng pag-iimbot
at mga makasariling paghahangad;
huwag nang itiklop bagkus
hubarin at iwanan
masasakit na karanasan
upang lubusang malasap
tuwa at galak ni Kristong muling
nabuhay; atin na ring hubarin
mga damit ng pagluluksa sa
masasama at di magandang
nakaraan bagkus isuot
malinis at bagong pagkatao
na hinugasan sa dugo ni Kristo
noong Biyernes Santo.

Hindi natin maisusuot
bago nating katauhan kay Kristo
bilang kanyang mga naligtas
at napatawad
hangga't hindi natin
hinuhubad
dati nating pagkatao
sa kasalanan at
kasamaan;
sa isang liham ni San Pablo
ating mapananaligan
mga aral niya tungkol sa
dapat nating kasuotan:
ang pagiging mahabagin,
maganda ang kalooban,
mapagpakumbaba,
mabait at matiisin.
Higit sa lahat,
maibigin.
Iyan ang bagong damit
natin kay Kristo
at huwag natin
hayaang malukot
at marumihan
ng kasalanan!