Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Thursday, Thirty-Second Week in Ordinary Time, Year II, 12 November 2026 Philemon
Photo by author, Kalinto Resort, Botolan, Zambales, 11 November 2026.
Refresh my heart in you, Lord Jesus Christ like St. Paul in today’s first reading:
Refresh my heart, reset my heart in you, Jesus, not in tasks and work to finish, assignments and missions to fulfill; refresh my heart in you, Jesus, not in doctrines and principles to memorize and cite to explain and expound; refresh my heart in your person Jesus Christ for your are my Lord and my God.
Many times I pray for needs for people for situations for clarity for answers but never for you solely to experience you, to be one in you, to be with you.
Refresh my heart in you Jesus, so I may glimpse your presence among the people around me especially the many Onesimus of today: the prisoners and slaves of our prejudices and biases; give me the eyes, Lord, to recognize you and courage to serve and follow you. Amen.
Photo by author, Kalinto Resort, Botolan, Zambales, 11 November 2026.
Lord My Chef Sunday Music by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, 25 October 2026
Photo by author, Bram Castle, Romania, Novvember 2025.
Many people say love is blind but this Sunday’s gospel shows us how love can actually enable us to see better and clearer one another as brothers and sisters who must be loved and respected and cared for (https://lordmychef.com/2026/10/24/love-and-you-shall-see-2/).
And while preparing for our early morning Masses today, we just felt like humming the very lovely piano introduction to Melissa Manchester’s Through the Eyes of Love that was the theme of the 1978 movie Ice Castles starring Robby Benson and Lyn Holly-Johnson. One of their co-stars in that movie was Tom Skerritt who just died last Wednesday who played father to Johnson, an acctual former American figure skater.
In that romance movie, Benson and Johnson were high school sweethearts: he a hockey player while she, a figure skater. When she moved to another high school that offered her better options for her talent in figure skating, she met another man, dumping Benson in the process. They reunited after Johnson had a bad fall while practicing that left her partially blind; Benson took care of her, convincing her to practice anew to join a competition with him as her guide. Eventually she won in the competition with no one knowing her blindness until she tripped on the roses thrown at her by the fans after winning.
It is one of those unforgettable romantic movies we all fell in love with while in second year high school, especially its lovely theme sang by Manchester. Though it never became a hit, the song has endured all these years as one of the favorite songs in wedding receptions, often as the first dance of the couple. And why not with these realizations of someone who had experienced true love despite everything.
Please, don't let this feeling end It's everything I am Everything I want to be I can see what's mine now Finding out what's true since I found you Looking through the eyes of love
Now, I can take the time I can see my life As it comes up shining now Reaching out to touch you I can feel so much since I found you Looking through the eyes of love
When Jesus said in today’s gospel that the greatest and first commandment is to love God with all of our heart, and mind, and soul or total self and that the second is to love others as you love yourself, he also revealed to us one of the most profound truths we fail to recognize and even reject so often.
Our love for God and for others unfold first in us, in our love for our self. We cannot love God unless we love and accept who we are – whatever is good and bad in us. Many times, some of us hate ourselves that we change even our gender, manipulate our appearances, fantasize on so many what ifs and wishful thinkings.
The key to loving God totally is to first love our very self; Jesus became human like us to show us that is good to be human. It is only when we have come to embrace and accept wholly our gift of self can we give ourselves to God totally and to others. What I am to myself becomes what I am to others and vice versa. And together we all go to God as he comes to us—in love. Exactly how Johnson who had gone blind in the movie realized.
And now I do believe That even in a storm We'll find some light Knowing you're beside me I'm all right
Please, don't let this feeling end It might not come again And I want to remember How it feels to touch you How I feel so much since I found you Looking through the eyes of love
Just like us in many instances, it is often in those trying moments we realize how much we are loved by God, never leaving us despite our many sins and failures. Imagine in this song Through the Eyes of Love Jesus is our beloved guiding us through our many blindness in life, enabling us to see persons and events in our lives more clearly that we succeed and most of all, become fruitful and fulfilled. Have a blessed week ahead filled with love!
Lord My Chef Sunday Recipe for Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Twenty-Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle A, 18 October 2026 Isaiah 45:1, 4-6 ><}}}}*> 1 Thessalonians 1:1-5 ><}}}}*> Matthew 22:15-21
Ever since, I have never been fascinated with court scenes except with those television series like LA Law, the Lincoln Lawyer and Law & Order that was actually more of police stories. Hence, I have never followed up the Impeachment trial of the Vice President except read reports or watch reels of what transpired in each day because I simply don’t have the patience. Imagine the comedies happening daily courtesy of the defense team.
However, while praying over our gospel this Sunday, it looked like a sort of trial scene in court for me where Jesus seems to be on trial by his enemies. Beginning this Sunday until next, Christ’s enemies would take turns in entrapping Jesus with questions hoping to find grounds for his arrest.
The Pharisees went off and plotted how they might entrap Jesus in speech. They sent their disciples to him, with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that you are a truthful man and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. And you are not concerned with anyone’s opinion, for you do not regard a person’s status. Tell us, then, what is your opinion: Is it lawful to pay the census tax to Caesar or not?” Knowing their malice, Jesus said, “Why are you testing me, you hypocrites? Show me the coin that pays the census tax.” Then they handed him the Roman coin. He said to them, “Whose image is this and whose inscription?” They replied, “Caesar’s .” At that he said to them, “Then repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God” (Matthew 22:15-21).
“Ecce Homo” by Swiss-Italian painter Antonio Ciseri (ca.1860-1880), from wikimediacommons.org
The scene is actually a prelude to Jesus Christ’s trial before Pontius Pilate after his enemies eventually made up charges against him.
Reflecting on the trial of Jesus by Pontius Pilate, St. John Paul II wrote that until now we put God on trial, accusing him of so many crimes and negligence in the world. And the most ironic part of it is that the more we accuse God of “crimes”, the more we incriminate ourselves actually into the very crimes we accuse him. Every trial, every testing of God is a self-indictment of our very selves.
Self-incrimination is the act of making a statement, providing testimony, or sharing information that exposes one’s self to criminal liability or possible criminal prosecution. Self-indictment is a slight variation of self-incrimination or to describe an action, statement, or work that acts as a severe, self-generated criticism or condemnation of oneself (from wikipedia).
See how the bitter enemies, Pharisees and Herodians joined forces against Jesus: the Pharisees were against the Roman occupiers while the Herodians were pro-Romans. They are a perfect example of “the enemy of my enemy is my friend.” Though they hated each other, they hated Jesus even more, foolishly deciding to set aside their differences momentarily to settle a score against Jesus.
But Jesus smelled their rancid odor right away, asking them of their motive, calling them hypocrites!
But their hypocrisy lies not only in their joining forces against Jesus but most of all in knowing how Jesus is so fair and just, “teaching the way of God in accordance with the truth”, then, why did they not finally accept him as the Christ and followed him? After all their praises, they have the gall to test him?
It was a hypocrisy to the highest degree actually. That is why we always have to beware of people who lavish us with praises with their lips smooth as butter but sharp as dagger.
The Pharisees and all enemies of Jesus have seen how he loved the poor and the sick, the marginalized, the women especially the widows, the children, the sinners and even them despite their being self-righteous. Jesus never drove them away nor rejected their invitations to dinner. Yet, they still refused to believe in Jesus and they wanted to test him.
It is the same tactic we have against one another, against Jesus. We go into secret alliances with our “enemies” against a common enemy without realizing it is in itself a self-indictment of our own sinfulness. It is one reason why I have strongly opposed priests and church organizations aligning with some groups like the so-called progressives, leftists or left-leaning who are mostly wokes: many times we may share a common stand against certain issues like capital punishment but what about their hard-core stance on divorce, contraceptives and abortion, gender-redefinition and same-sex marriage?
How much do we really believe in God? Then why do we have to “sleep with the enemies” like the rich and powerful politicians for donations and favors?
Flemish painter Peter Paul Ruben’s “The Tribute Money” (ca. 1612) from commonswikimedia.org.
Inasmuch as we view this as a sort of a court trial scene with the Pharisees and Herodians on the offensive, Jesus is not on the defensive mode here because he has nothing to defend in the first place. In fact, his enemies have conceded earlier on the good character of Jesus which we have just mentioned earlier.
Reminiscent of the tempting by the devil in the wilderness and later his trials with the Sanhedrin then with Pilate, here we find Jesus always with the “upper hand”, never swayed for he is sure and certain of himself. Plaudits and flatteries can never deviate Jesus from the truth that he is the Christ, the Son of God. And this is what he is telling us here: believe in yourself. Stand with your conviction in Christ always. Do not be bothered or affected by what others say.
This we shall see at how Jesus addressed his enemies with their entrapment by asking for a Roman coin. It was the strongest case of his enemies’ self-incrimination, of hypocrisy: they really have no plans of knowing whether it was lawful to pay the census tax to Caesar or not because in giving Jesus the Roman coin, they have betrayed themselves as in fact paying the tax to Rome after all, even the Pharisees who were anti-Rome.
Most of all, they were not supposed to bring into the temple area idolatrous objects, images of other gods, exactly what a Roman coin was with the image and inscription of the Roman emperor who believed in himself as a god. It was the height of their stupidity to bring out that Roman coin, their clear self-indictment. Though they professed faith in God as Jews, they still followed the false gods of Rome like its emperor.
“Ecce Homo” painting by Spanish painter Juan de Juanes (ca.1570), from commons.wikimedia.org
Every day, this happens among us, always complaining, always ranting to God, even sometimes testing him like the Pharisees and the Herodians; but, if we search our hearts, if check on what we have, who we follow, we too are guilty like the enemies of Jesus having aligned with the new gods of today like cellphone and other gadgets, wealth and fame.
How unfortunate many these days live in social media where what is most accepted even glorified and followed is whatever that is shallow and superficial, rude and obscene, stupid and idiotic.
Jesus tells us this Sunday to look beyond what we see on things to find God who is the source of our very life, of every blessings we enjoy. Let us hold on to that assurance by St. Paul in the second reading that we were chosen by God in Christ Jesus to receive all his abundant blessings in life. Hold on to Jesus. Look beyond and find the face of Jesus in everything and everyone like the Persian emperor Cyrus in the first reading used by God as instrument in setting free the Jewish exiles in Babylon. Amen. Have a blessed week ahead!
Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Thursday, Nineteenth Week in Ordinary Time, Year II, 13 August 2026 Memorial of Sts. Pontian (Pope) & Hippolytus (Priest), Martyrs Ezekiel 12:1-12 <*((((>< + ><))))*> Matthew 18:21-19:1
Photo from forbes.com.
Set my eyes on you, Lord God, that I may see you present always in and around my life, whether at work or at home, in school or in office, in the park, or wherever; set my eyes on you, Lord God, that I may see you always and be reminded that all this has been made possible by you because you love me; set my eyes on you, Lord God that I may realize you are holding me, that everything that happens in the world, among us are in the palm of your hand.
The word of the Lord came to me:: Son of man, you live in the midst of a rebellious house; they have eyes to see but do not see, and ears to hear but do not hear, for they are a rebellious house (Ezekiel 12:1-2).
Indeed, Lord God, we have not only become callous and numb but sadly blind too to you and your very presence in us and among us; we only have sights without vision; we refuse to look at the truth and realities of life and prefer to look through prisms of our own making; we have been so conceited like that servant pardoned for his debts in today's parable but unforgiving to his fellow debtor. give me the courage to confront myself like Saints Pontian and Hippolytus who both contradicted each other but in the end shed off their own pride to totally embrace and see your real truth in your Jesus Christ. Amen.
Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Wednesday in the Sixteenth Week of Ordinary Time, Year II Feast of St. Mary Magdalene, 22 July 2026 2 Corinthians 5:14-17 <*{{{{>< + ><}}}}*> John 20:1-2, 11-18
“Christ’s Appearance to Mary Magdalene”, painting in 1835 by Russian painter Alexander Andreyevich Ivanov now hanging at the Russian Museum in St. Petersburg; from en.wikipedia.org.
"I have seen the Lord!" (John 20:18)
What a joy must have been for St. Mary Magdalene to proclaim to the Apostles your rising, your appearance to her, Lord Jesus.
Most joyous of all, Lord is how you have called her by name, "Mary!"
On the first day of the week, Mary of Magdalene came to the tomb early in the morning, while it was still dark, and saw the stone removed from the tomb. Mary stayed outside the tomb weeping. And as she wept, she bent over into the tomb and saw two angels in white sitting there, one at the head and one at the feet where the Body of Jesus had been. And they said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken by Lord, and I don’t know where they laid him.” When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus there, but did not know it was Jesus (John 20:1, 11-14).
Many times Lord Jesus I feel like St. Mary Magdalene on that very early morning of Easter: feeling lost or distant from you who seem to be missing or taken away from me; but so often, like St. Mary Magdalene, we fail to recognize you with our eyes because we picture you so differently to who you really are.
Many times our sight fails that is why most often, you call us by name; unfortunately in this age of social media and so many other distractions in life, we fail to hear nor even listen to your voice because we are afraid of silence as we are so afraid of the truth - that you love us so much that is why you have forgiven our sins.
Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni,” which means Teacher. Jesus said to her, “Stop holding on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am going to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” Mary of Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord,” and then reported what he told her (John 20:16-18).
“Noli me tangere” (touch me not) fresco in the Lower Basilica of St. Francis Assisi Church in Italy painted by Giotto de Bondone in the 13th century from commons.wikimedia.org.
Everyday you come to us, Jesus, calling us by name like Mary Magdalene - someone you personally know, with all of our sins and most kept secrets in our hearts, in our past.
If we could just be patient like St. Mary Magdalene in picking the pieces of our lives, of converting daily, of transcending the scars of sins of our past, then we shall hear and joyously listen to your voice spoken in a whisper, so sweet, so reassuring of your real presence, most of all filled with tenderness because you love us immensely, Jesus.
If we could just listen to your voice, Jesus, then like St. Mary Magdalene, we can proclaim too with joyful enthusiasm to other disciples "I have seen the Lord!" spreading you love and good news of salvation. Amen.
From Facebook, April 2021: “There is an urgency to announce the Joy, the joy of the Risen Lord!”
Lord My Chef SundayRecipe for Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle A, 19 July 2026 Wisdom 12:13, 16-19 ><))))*> Romans 8:26-27 ><))))*> Matthew 13:24-43
Photo by author, Lake of Galilee, the Holy Land, May 2017.
Before reflecting on the second set of parables by Jesus this Sunday, let us take a brief stop at the very short second reading from St. Paul’s Letter to the Romans; it is so lovely and we cannot resist reflecting on the word “groaning” by the great Apostle.
Last Sunday, St. Paul said “We know all creation is groaning in labor pains even until now… we also groan within ourselves as we await for adoption, the redemption of our bodies” (Rom. 8:22,23). And then this Sunday, he spoke again of “groaning”:
Brothers and sister: The Spirit comes to the aid of our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes with inexpressible groanings. And the one who searches hearts knows what is the intention of the Spirit, because he intercedes for the holy ones according to God’s will (Romans 8:26-27).
To groan or to sigh according to Mr. Webster is a deep, prolonged sound made involuntarily in response to pain, grief or frustration. We have a very picturesque translation of those words in Filipino which is magbuntung-hininga that many of our old folks frowned upon because it is a sign of surrendering, of giving up.
Photo by author, St. Michael Retreat House, Antipolo City, 16 June 2026.
Is it bad? Not at all. Even Jesus sighed at the disbelief among the Jews with him (Mk.8:12). To groan, to sigh is to be fully human and even Christian if we go by the line of thought of St. Paul last week and this Sunday.
Groaning for him is the most profound spiritual response to brokenness. That is why I love our Filipino word magbuntung-hininga that evokes an image of digging deep inside – halukayin – for breath to breathe and forge on in life. It is like gulping a handful of air to breathe before taking a plunge or meeting head on a difficult situation in life. It is actually a kind of spirituality, an expression of holiness of surrendering everything to God, of letting go and letting God.
St. Paul spoke of three kinds of groaning: the first two we heard last Sunday, creation groaning and believers groaning as we have cited earlier. Creation groaning means the world is subject to decay while Christians groan inwardly, bearing all pains and hardships in clear hopes of redemption in Christ.
This Sunday, St. Paul spoke anew of “inexpressible groaning”, of sighing because it is too deep for words that the Holy Spirit within us is doing all the expressions of our deepest feelings. It is the one fact of life we often forget when in deep trials and tribulations: that the Holy Spirit is already within us in all our weaknesses. Actually, we do not have to come before God with perfect words, clear thoughts or settled hearts when praying because he knows everything we are going through. Simply be still for God is with us.
And this my friends is the very meaning of Jesus Christ’s second set of parables this Sunday, the weeds among the wheat.
Jesus proposed another parable to the crowds, saying: “The kingdom of heaven may be likened to a man who sowed good seed in his field. While everyone was asleep his enemy came and sowed weeds all through the wheat, and then went off. When the crop grew and bore fruit, the weeds appeared as well… His slaves said to him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’ He replied, “No, if you pull up the weeds you might uproot the wheat along with them. Let them grow together until harvest; then at harvest time I will say to the harvesters, “First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles for burning; but gather the wheat into my barn” (Matthew 13:24-26, 28-30).
We live in an imperfect world, of weeds growing among the wheat. There will always be diseases and sickness, failures and death along with scammers and criminals, liars and idiots, suckers and ungrateful and traitors among us. Add to these all the other woes we have in life like that ongoing war in the Middle East that have kicked up gas prices so high like drones and missiles. Hayyyy…!
And we ask, where is God?
How could God allow all these things to happen like when a poor, hardworking motorcycle taxi rider in Caloocan City trying to make ends meet died after being stabbed with an ice pick then robbed by his passenger still at large?
We wonder as a nation how long do we have to bear all the stupidities and idiosyncrasies of those corrupt, evil people in government even in the church when the majority of us have to suffer at the consequences of their excesses and abuses?
The author of the Book of Wisdom reflected on these realities thousands of years ago and had asked the same questions we ask today. He invites us to prayerfully reflect God’s goodness and kindness:
But though you are master of might, you judge with clemency, and with much lenience you govern us; for power, whenever you will, attends you. And you taught your people, by these deeds, that those who are just must be kind; and you gave your children good ground for hope that you would permit repentance for their sins (Wisdom 12:18-19).
Photo by author, Carmel of the Holy Family Monastery, Guiguinto, Bulacan, 21 January 2026.
Despite the weeds – the evil men and women who seem to always prevail – the author of Wisdom in his reflections reminds us to be like God, “the just must be kind.”
It is a very tall order, even difficult but we have to give it a chance because we have seen and proven that many times our human response to the evils and injustices happening end up becoming more brutal like the wars happening right now. Many times, human solutions actually create bigger problems.
That is why all three readings this Sunday tell us to be patient, to dive deeper in prayer where the Holy Spirit enlightens us clearly.
Photo from inquirer.net, Pandacan Church fire, 11 July 2020.
We have seen and experienced in recent years that indeed, “where sin increased, grace abounded all the more” (Rom. 5:20) like with those two good men in the NBI testifying at the impeachment of the Vice-President or of that most decent lawyer from Cebu, Atty. Amando Virgil Ligutan smashing all the lies and grandstanding of her lawyers. Every day we experience grace after grace of deliverance from all dangers through people including strangers who have helped us kindly.
That is why we have to go back to this Sunday’s second reading where St. Paul reminds us that even when we cannot say what is happening within us, the Holy Spirit is praying in us and for us. There are more things happening in us that we have to be thankful with than be sorry or complain about.
Let go of all those negative feelings and thoughts; life is already difficult, don’t make it harder. Instead, may we come to Jesus and learn from him to be patient like God who “gave us good ground for hope that you would permit repentance for their sins” (Wis.12:19).
Let us cultivate our hearts – the field where the seeds are sown that despite the weeds they shall still bear fruit with good works and peace for everyone.
Our classes in the University have begun recently; every time I celebrate Mass with our students, I always remind them these things which I hope may help you too: study hard, work harder, pray hardest.May you have a Holy Spirit-filled week ahead. Amen.
Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Friday in the Eleventh Week of Ordinary Time, Year II, 19 June 2026 2 Kings 11:1-4, 9-18, 20 <*((((>< + ><))))*> Matthew 6:19-23
Photo by author, St. Michael Retreat House, Antipolo City, 16 June 2026.
Thank you dear Lord for the last week, thank you for this beautiful Friday as you give us this sacred moment to examine two vital organs of our body: our heart, our eyes the both lead us to treasures we eye, treasures we keep.
"For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be" (Matthew 6:21).
Guide me, Jesus as I look inward into my heart to see what occupies it most of the time, what I value and desire much daily in life, the things and even persons perhaps I hold onto, protect and depend on for meaning and security, the things and people I value most, I treasure more than you.
"The lamp of the body is the eye. If your eye is sound, your whole body will be filled with light; but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be in darkness. And if the light in you is darkness, how great will the darkness be" (Matthew 6:22-23).
How lovely are your words, Jesus, because what we look at, what we focus on with our eyes do not merely inform us of what we see but mostly shape our inner self, filling our hearts and thus forming our sense of who we are; what we look at, what we choose to see either lead us to light or darkness like Athaliah in the first reading who was consumed with wealth and power.
Teach me, Jesus, to focus my eyes on those things and persons who can make me see you more clearly, love you more dearly, and follow you more closely. Amen.
Photo by author, St. Michael Retreat House, Antipolo City, 16 June 2026.
Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Monday in the Fifth Week of Easter, 04 May 2026 Acts 14:5-18 ><))))*> + ><))))*> + ><))))*> John 14:21-26
Photo by author, National Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima, Valenzuela City, 25 February 2026.
We begin today our novena to our Lady of Fatima whose feast falls on May 13, 109 years since the Blessed Virgin Mary first appeared to the three children at Cova da Iria in Fatima, Portugal. Two of the three visionaries are now saints, the siblings Francisco and Jacinta Marto while their cousin, the Venerable Sr. Lucia dos Santos who died in 2005 at the age of 97 is on the way to sainthood too.
The Fatima is one of the most significant Marian apparitions in modern time that continues to affect the world and our country particularly with its ever-relevant messages of prayer and conversion of the people.
Photo from Pinterest.com.
And yet, until now, many are still skeptical of the Fatima apparitions especially the miraculous “dancing sun” of October 13, 1917 despite the great number of witnesses who attested to its veracity. Most of all, for many of us Catholics, it seems the Blessed Mother’s call for conversion in her Son Jesus Christ remains unheeded. Or even disregarded.
Because, as the former Catholic Anais Nin wrote in one of her journals, “we do not see things as they are, we see things as we are.”
This we see not only so true with the Fatima apparitions but even since the time of our Lord Jesus Christ when his very own people rejected him, even crucified him.
We wonder like the Apostle St. Jude why did Jesus not appear to His enemies and to more people after Easter at that time so that they would finally believe that He is the Christ?
Judas, not the Iscariot, said to him, “Master, then what happened that you will reveal yourself to us and not to the world?” Jesus answered and said to him, “Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him” (John 14:22-23).
Artwork from thecripplegate.com.
Of the many healings performed by Jesus, the most amazing ones are those concerning the blind like Bartimaeus at the roadside and the man born blind He had healed on a sabbath on the way to Jerusalem.
Blindness in the bible especially in the healings of Jesus are not just physical in nature but more of spiritual in meaning. The American writer Helen Keller who was herself blind wrote, “The worst thing that could happen to anyone with sight is not to have a vision.”
True. Having vision is being able to look beyond not only into the future but most of all to see deeper realities that only the heart can see.
That is why Jesus did not have to appear to His enemies after Easter or even to more people then and today: His coming and appearing mean nothing unless we have His eyes of faith, His very love for us and for others especially the weak, the old, those not like us at all.
The more we love God, the more we see Him in ourselves and in others. When we love, when we care, when we share, when we truly pray, that is when the Father and Jesus dwell in us, enabling us to see Christ in others. Without that faith and love in Jesus and of Jesus, we will never see Him even if He suddenly appears today before us!
Truly, “we do not see things as they are, we see things as we are.”
If we are empty of Christ, we will never see Him who is “the way and the truth and the life” (Jn.14:6). And that is when we remain in darkness of sin and evil and ignorance. Even stupidity.
Just like now. How unfortunate that in spite our living in an age of images, of everything seen and shown and revealed, the more we still doubt the truth and worst, choose to believe and hold on what is false, what is fake!
Despite the glaring clarity of evils of corruption, lies, and so many other sins, some of us simply justify or have alibis and excuses when things do not match up with truth and reality. It is not that many cannot see the truth these days; what is most tragic is how so many refuse and choose not to see the truth and realities because they are self-centered, believing only in themselves, see themselves as the ideal and standard of everything. Or their gods.
Like the people at Lystra we heard in the first reading. After Paul had healed a crippled man, the people offered him and Barnabas with sacrifices, thinking they were Zeus and Hermes who have gone down to their city. Despite their tearing of their garments to show they were humans and their words proclaiming Jesus as the Christ, the people were not restrained from worshipping them (Acts 14:14-18).
National Pilgrim Image of Fatima, National Shrine of Fatima, Valenzuela City, 25 February 2025.
As we begin our Novena to our Lady of Fatima, the Blessed Virgin Mary invites us not only to open our eyes but most especially our hearts to Jesus, to finally feel Him in us, calling us to conversion so that He may reign in us, that we may be more loving, more kind, more just especially in this time of crisis.
Like the three children of Fatima, St. Francisco, St. Jacinta, and Venerable Sr. Lucia.
Or that Roman centurion at the foot of Christ’s Cross who declared after His death, “Truly, this was the Son of God” (Mt.27:54).
The Blessed Virgin of Fatima had seen 109 years ago the future – its errors and evils but she had also seen the grace and blessings unfolding upon us in Jesus Christ.
From the Annunciation until her Assumption, Mary had always lived in the love of her Son Jesus, seeing us always in the love of Christ. That is why she had returned in Fatima in 1917 because she loves us so much as our Mother.
Let us imitate her humility and fidelity in Christ her Son, living in His love so that we too may find Jesus ever present among us despite the many darkness looming around us. Amen.
Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul, 25 September 2025 Thursday in Twenty-Fifth Week of Ordinary Time, Year I Haggai 1:1-8 <*((((>< + ><))))*> Luke 9:7-9
God our loving Father, give us humility and courage to admit our sins and faults for all the mess we are into today as a nation: the wholesale corruption and looting of government money that resulted in more floods, substandard facilities, inefficient services and shameless servants; painful but true, these are all because of our misplaced priorities in life.
Now thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider your ways! You have sown much, but have brought in little; you have eaten, but have not been satisfied; you have drunk, but have not been exhilarated; have clothed yourselves, but not been warmed; and whoever earned wages earned them for a bag with holes in it (Haggai 1:5-6).
Like the people at the time of your Prophet Haggai, we have been preoccupied with our selves, of gaining so much money and material things forgetting you, O God, and things of the above like decency, morality, and spirituality; for the right price, many among us have brought into power not just corrupt but inept officials to run our government; many among us have glorified thievery, of amassing wealth even in sinful ways that everything is now measured in terms of money and gold; many among us have forgotten you, Lord, to live in your ways and precepts following more of the world that led us to destruction and emptiness; let us prioritize you again, Lord so that we too may see how you see things and persons unlike Herod in the gospel; let us prioritize you, Lord so that we may start planting and building things you want in life that delight you and perfect us in the process. Amen.
Photo by author, Dangwa Flower Center, Manila, September 2018.
Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul, 22 July 2025 Tuesday, Feast of St. Mary Magdalene, Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time Song of Songs 3:1-4 ><}}}*> + ><}}}*> + ><}}}*> John 20:1-2, 11-18
“Martha and Mary Magdalene” painting by Caravaggio (1598). The painting shows Martha of Bethany and Mary Magdalene long considered to have been sisters. Martha is in the act of converting Mary from her life of pleasure to the life of virtue in Christ. Martha, her face shadowed, leans forward, passionately arguing with Mary, who twirls an orange blossom between her fingers as she holds a mirror, symbolising the vanity she is about to give up. The power of the image lies in Mary’s face, caught at the moment when conversion begins (from en.wikipedia.org).
Thank you dear Jesus in giving us a chance to revisit your Resurrection with this Feast of St. Mary Magdalene, the Apostle to the Apostles; she whom you love so much by forgiving her sins and later called her by name on that Easter morning reminds us of your lavish mercy and love for each of us; how lovely that in that crucial moment of darkness as she grieved your death with your body missing, she suddenly burst into deep joy filled with life upon seeing you!
Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord,” and what he told her (John 20:18).
“The Appearance of Christ to Mary Magdalene” painting by Alexander Ivanov (1834-1836) at the Russian Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia from commons.wikimedia.org.
"I have seen the Lord."
I have seen you, Jesus when I stop clinging to my sinful past, when I stop doubting your mercy and forgiveness, wondering how I could move the huge and heavy stone of my weaknesses and failures, addictions and vices that make me mistake you into somebody else like the gardener because I am so preoccupied with many things in life.
Teach me, Jesus to stop clinging to you, "touching" you and having you according to my own view and perception not as who you really are so that I may meet you to personally experience you right here inside my heart like St. Mary Magdalene that Easter.
The Bride says: The watchmen came upon me as they made their rounds of the city. Have you seen him whom my heart loves? I have hardly left them when I found him whom my heart loves (Song of Songs 3:1, 3-4).
"I have seen the Lord."
I have seen you, Jesus when I love truly like the Bride in the first reading when I seek you in persons not in wealth and power, in silence not in the noise and cacophony of vanity and fame; let me see you Jesus by being still, patiently waiting and listening for your coming and calling of my name to proclaim You are risen to others who believe in You, also searching You, waiting for You. Amen.
Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Our Lady of Fatima University Valenzuela City
Painting by Giotto of the Risen Lord Jesus Christ appearing to St. Mary Magdalene from commons.wikimedia.org.
