Saan ka galing, saan ka pupunta?

Lord My Chef Daily Recipe, Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Sacred Heart Novena Day 9, 26 June 2025

*Detalye ng painting ng Sacred Heart of Jesus sa Visitation Monastery, Marclaz, France mula sa godongphoto / Shutterstock.*

Huling araw ng ating pagsisiyam sa Dakilang Kapistahan ng Kamahal-Mahalang Puso ni Jesus. Pinangakuan kahapon ng Diyos si Abram na magiging ama ng lahat ng bansa, na magiging kasing dami ng mga bituin sa langit kung gabi ang kanyang mga anak subalit matanda na siya ay wala pa rin silang anak ni Sarai.

Nag-magandang loob si Sarai at sinabi kay Abram na tabihan ang alipin niyang si Agar upang magkaanak sa kanya. Hindi nga nagtagal ay nagdalantao si Agar mula kay Abram at dito nagbago ihip ng hangin. Nagmalaki at hinamak ni Agar ang kanyang amo na si Sarai kaya’t nagalit siya at nagsumbong kay Abram.

Tulad ng sino mang mister, walang nagawa si Abram sa pagkagalit ni Sarai kaya sinoli niya sa kanya ang alipin niyang si Sarai. Gumanti at pinahirapan ni Sarai ang kanyang aliping si Agar na noon ay nagdadalang-tao ng anak ni Abram hanggang sa maglayas.

Pinagmalupitan ni Sarai si Agar, kaya ito ay tumakas. Sinalubong siya ng anghel ni Yahweh sa tabi ng isang bukal na nasa ilang. Tinanong siya, “Agar, alipin ni Sarai, saan ka nanggaling at saan ka pupunta?” “Tumakas po ako sa aking panginoon,” sagot niya. “Magbalik ka at pailalim sa kanyang kapangyarihan,” wika ng anghel. At idinugtong pa: “Ang mga anak mo ay pararamihin, At sa karamiha’y di kayang bilangin” (Genesis 16:6b-10).

*Larawan kuha ng may-akda, Pundaquit, San Antonio, Zambales, 15 Mayo 2025.*

Maraming pagkakataon sa buhay katulad tayo ni Sarai: sa pagmamagandang loob natin, madalas napapasama pa tayo. Inaabuso ng ilan kabutihang loob natin. Kasi rin naman, madalas tayo pabigla-bigla sa pagdedesiyon lalo na kung pinanginigbabawan tayo ng kapangyarihan na sa una tingin natin ginagamit natin sa kabutihan ngunit di alintana masamang epekto sa ilan.

Sa gitna ng lahat ng ito, naroon pa rin kabutihan ng Diyos. Mabuti na lang na hindi natin siya katulad dahil ang gawi natin kapag sumablay plano natin ay magsisihan.

Patas ang Diyos sa lahat. Kasi mapagmahal siya. Sa halip na sisihin tayo na dahil tayo naman palagi may kagagawan ng problema natin, humahanap siya palagi ng solusyon. Nakita ng Diyos na nakawawa si Agar bagama’t inabuso niya kagandahang loob ni Sarai. Wala siyang kapangyarihan, napakahina bilang alipin. At pagkatapos ay nagdadalantao. Kaya sa kanyang lungkot at hirap ay naglayas at nakita kanyang sariling nag-iisa, nawawala at takot na takot doon sa ilang. Parang tayo.

Ngunit hinanap pa rin siya – at tayo – ng Diyos upang pagpalain.

Tingnan kabutihan ng Diyos: hinahanap tayo at pinagpapala maski hindi tayo mabuti sa harap niya. Bagkus, higit pa nga niyang hinahanap at tila pinahahalagahan ang mga nawawala o naliligaw.

Ang ganda ng tanong ng anghel kay Agar na siya ring tanong sa atin ngayon, “Saan ka nanggaling at saan ka pupunta?”

Pagkaraan ng siyam na araw nating nobenaryo sa Sacred Heart, tingnan natin sarili nating paglalakbay sa pananampalataya, ating pinanggalingan at pinagdaanan sa buhay. Naroon ba Diyos sa oras ng ating paghihirap at pagsubok?

Tayo ba ay papalapit o papalayo sa Diyos sa ating buhay ngayon?

Pagmasdan pagkilala ng Diyos sa paghihirap ni Agar. Batid ng Diyos kanyang mga sugat. Sa sariling buhay natin marami ding pagkakataon nagpahayag ng habag at awa ang Diyos sa ating mga hirap na pinagdaraanan.

Ang pinaka-magandang bahagi nito ay ang pagbabalik ni Agar kay Sarai. Ang kanyang pagtitiwala sa Diyos na nangakong mula sa kanyang magiging anak kay Abram ay magmumula ang isa ring malaking lahi. Pati pangalan ng kanyang magiging anak ay Diyos ang nagbigay, Ishmael na ibig sabihin ay “nakikinig ang Diyos.”

Ngayong bisperas ng Dakilang Kapistahan ng Kamahal-Mahalang Puso ni Jesus, walang duda nakikinig ang Diyos sa ating mga poanawagan at dalangin, tangis at panaghoy sa maraming sakit at hirap. Subalit, tayo ba ay nakikinig naman sa kanya?

Mismong si Jesus nagsabi hindi lahat ng tumatawag sa kanya ng “Panginoon, Panginoon” ay maliligtas dahil kung taliwas naman ang ating buhay sa ating pananampalataya. Kaya ngayong araw, balikan natin ating pinanggalingan upang maging maliwanag kung tayo nga ay malinaw pa rin sa patutunguhan, ang Diyos.

O Jesus na mayroong
maamo at mapagkumbabang Puso,
Gawin Mong ang puso nami'y
matulad sa Puso Mo!
Amen.

Good Friday is thirsting for God

Good Friday Reflection by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, 18 April 2025

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

Twenty-seven years ago today, I was ordained as priest with my six other classmates at the Malolos Cathedral by Archbishop Rolando J. Tria-Tirona. I was 33 years old at that time (and less than 200 pounds in weight).

One thing prevailed in me on the eve of that most beautiful event in my life: Jesus Christ died on the Cross when he was 33 years old. Is my ordination my crucifixion too? Maybe. But due to the euphoria that followed after my ordination, I forgot all about it until I approached the age of 40 and my honeymoon stage in the priesthood waned with all the trials and difficulties – and crises – that followed.

It was at that time every year my birthdays and anniversaries came, I prayed only one thing from God – that I would have a more worry free year, that the following year would be a banner one for me. “Sana naman Lord ngayon ako naman ang panalo, ako naman ang bida, ayoko na sa ilalim ng gulong ng palad. Sana ako naman ang nasa itaas.”

God never heard my prayers. They never came. Actually, the opposite happened as I went through more trials, more difficulties, more pains and hurts that many nights in my prayers I felt like Jesus Christ crying on the Cross on that Good Friday, “I thirst” (John 19:28).

Many times in life, our prayers to God are cries like that of Jesus on the Cross, “I thirst.”

Those are the times we thirst for love and kindness, for care and understanding, sometimes the most simplest recognition as a person or a brother/sister or a friend from our family and friends.

This is the second time Jesus felt thirsty in the fourth gospel. The first time was when he asked the Samaritan woman for water at Jacob’s well where in fact, it was Christ who gave her the “living water” – himself – in the wonderful conversation that followed.

See that in the fourth gospel, water is one of the significant signs used by the evangelist to portray Jesus Christ like in his first miracle at the wedding at Cana when he turned water into wine. In his conversation with Nicodemus one night, Jesus spoke of the power of water in cleansing us into a new person in Baptism.

The thirst of Jesus Christ on that Good Friday on the Cross is also our thirst for love, for kindness, for faith, for life and for one another. And here is the mystery and paradox: that thirst can only quenched by Christ if we too remain in him, with him on the Cross. That is why after he head died, blood and water flowed from his side pierced with a lance by a soldier. All throughout his life, especially while on the Cross, Jesus never ceased from being good, from doing good, from loving us all, giving us even at his death life and love.

After 27 years as a priest now on my senior year, I have realized this as the only thing I desire most in life – Christ, the only water who can quench all my thirst as a person, as a priest. Life is love which is following Jesus on the Cross. To thirst for love is to desire more the Cross which is to love more the one Crucified, Jesus Christ.

The joy and meaning, the peace and fulfillment we long for in life, we thirst for always are found in the Cross, not in material things nor in fame and glory as the soldiers had mistaken on the Good Friday. Unfortunately, many of us are exactly like those Roman soldiers who give money and material things to those crying “I thirst” to us.

The Cross of Jesus Christ has always been described as a paradox. And that is really what the Cross is – a paradox and mystery of life at the same time.

When you are on the cross, like this sweltering summer, what is one thing you desire or cry for? Water, is it not?

It is during that time when we are on the Cross of intense pains and sufferings when we truly feel how valuable every drop of water is. It is when we are up against the wall when we realize the most important, the most essential in life like love found in persons who all enable us to feel God’s reality in his loving presence.

This Friday is called Good. The only Friday that is Good in the whole year because that is when we remember, when we make present again in our very lives our being one with Jesus at the Cross like the beloved disciple and his mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary when in our intense thirst, there we experienced the refreshing and life-giving living water Jesus Christ himself. This Good Friday as we reflect on the suffering and death of Jesus on the Cross, what is that one thing you also desire from God?

*Photo by author, National Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima, Valenzuela City, Good Friday 2025.*

We all thirst.

When we thirst, thank God because that means we desire him who is love himself. When we truly thirst like Jesus, that is when we too are on the Cross with him; then, you are at the right place at the right time because it is only on the cross can our thirst be truly quenched in Jesus. Let us follow him always in the Cross for that is what to be loving in the first place which is to be with the One who died on the Cross this Good Friday. Amen.

From our “ark” of life into God’s “house of mercy”

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Wednesday, Sixth Week in Ordinary Time, Year I, 19 February 2025
Genesis 8:6-13, 20-22 <*0000>< + ><0000*> Mark 8:22-26

I really wonder,
dear God, 
how it felt to be inside
Noah's Ark for 40 days?
The feeling of restlessness,
of anxiety and uncertainty
of the future,
so unsure of what was to come
while at the same time
filled with hope
praying for the best.

How was the boat too?
How did it look like?
What was the smell inside,
the feeling inside that big ark,
the sounds from all the animals
and everything within and
outside?

We have been there many times,
Father, in that big ark called life;
we have passed through many floods,
have waited many times for the waters
to recede,
for the sun to shine,
for life to return to normal.

Through it all,
you never left us, Lord;
send us Noah 
who would stand with
us inside the ark for
40 days and 40 nights,
stay afloat,
stay alive
wherever direction you bring us.

Help us, dear Father
to be patient even if we can't
see right away the distant shore
like that blind man healed
by Jesus at Bethsaida;
lead us, Father
in this ark of life
away from the idolatry of
modern world,
away from the trappings
of easy and comfortable life,
away from sin and evil
to be closer to your mercy,
to your "beth hesda" -
to your house of mercy.
Amen.

*Photo by author, Cathedral of St. Catherine of Alexandria, Dumaguete City, November 2024.*

Embracing life’s paradox

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Monday, Week II in Ordinary Time, Year I, 20 January 2025
Hebrews 5:1-10 <*((((>< + ><))))*> Mark 2:18-22

*Photo by author, sunrise at St. Paul Spirituality Center, Pico, La Trinidad, Benguet, 06 January 2025.*

Praise and glory to you,
God our loving Father!
Thank you for this wonderful
Monday as we pray for one 
another, especially to those
still baffled with life's many
mysteries, its many
paradoxes beginning to
appear anew as we dive
into Ordinary Time.

Teach us to take into heart
Jesus Christ's teaching today:

“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 2:22).

Help us change our attitudes in life,
Jesus: make us realize that like
your life, our life is always a
mixture of joy and sufferings;
most of all,
make us experience
in your coming into our human reality
as our Eternal High Priest,
you have brought newness and
significance in storage and taste
of wine that symbolizes life itself,
as you put a new vigor of spirit
in celebrating life.

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

“Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered; and when he was made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him…” (Hebrews 5:8-9).

How lovely and
wonderful to realize
how your true humanity,
dear Jesus, actually makes you
more than less an effective Priest
to truly "bridge" us
with the Father and one another;
like you Jesus,
we pray the Father to take away
our pains but in your example
on the Cross,
we learn how God
is actually found in pain!

Change our attitudes
to be like you, Jesus
 who came to join
us in our many sufferings
to show us that in our dealing
with our own pain and the pain of others,
that is when we grow
in strength and maturity,
in love and compassion
that eventually lead us
to deeper and true joy
in you our Lord.

Help us embrace 
this paradox of life, Jesus,
that a life devoid of the challenge
of pain is an incomplete life;
and when we are puzzled
by the many sufferings in us
and around us, let us gaze into
your Cross to reflect,
"Why did God not spare
you his own Son?"
Amen.

*Photo by author, St. Paul Spirituality Center, Pico, La Trinidad, Benguet, 04 January 2025.*

The teacher is the lesson

Quiet Storm by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, 24 October 2024

*Photo by *Maria Tan, ABS-CBN News*, 27 July 2024.*

Classes are still suspended due to severe tropical storm Kristine. While scrolling through Facebook, I chanced upon a funny post supposed to be the cry of many employees. And teachers as well:

"We are trained to work
under pressure but,
please, not in low pressure."

As we come to close October dedicated worldwide as “Teachers’ Month”, my thoughts are into this most noble profession of teaching during these two days of the storm, of how blessed I am to have been taught by selfless teachers and mentors now also a teacher myself being assigned 26 years ago in a school, now as a chaplain in the university.

I never dreamt of becoming a teacher for I am not the studious type – always the certified crammer, forever classified as “under-achiever” from elementary to graduate school. The only subjects I really loved were literature, social studies, and history.

But what a tremendous blessing from God my being assigned in a school and now a university, of meeting and working with teachers who have taught me so many valuable lessons in life and my ministry. Many of them have become some of my truest friends. Most of all, the academe opened my eyes to the wonderful ministry of teaching, of forming young people, of finding Jesus, bringing Jesus in the classroom.

*Photo from wikipediacommons.org of Christ’s washing of feet of Apostles at Monreale Cathedral in Palermo, Italy*.

Every time I give talks and recollections/retreats to teachers, I first remind them of the fact that when Jesus Christ came to the world more than 2000 years ago, He chose to be a teacher.

Jesus was never born to the class of priests and scholars of the scriptures nor any other professions like the physicians and accountants of His time except for a while, He worked with His foster-father St. Joseph as a carpenter. This alone is every teacher’s primary source of pride and honor in being called by Jesus to teach like Him.

So when he had washed their feet and put his garments back on and reclined at the table again, he said to them, “Do you realize what I have done for you? You call me ‘teacher’ and ‘master,’ and rightly so, for indeed I am. If I, therefore, the master and teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash one another’s feet. I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do” (John 13:12-15).

Unlike the teachers of His time, Jesus as a teacher was not for “hire” who got paid for His teachings. Jesus taught not for money but in fulfillment of His mission. He taught more than lessons in life but gave His very life to others.

And that is where the nobility of the teaching profession lies.

The best teachers are the ones who teach life by giving and sharing their very lives like Jesus Christ, our Good and Model Teacher. Teaching is both a mission and a vocation, a call. That is why there can never be a “pay” or “compensation” enough for teachers because they share life. What they teach cannot be quantified nor measured like in number of sales or length of roads built. Like Jesus, teachers give everything, never apiece. When a teacher repeats or elaborates a lesson, he/she cannot charge it as overtime or get an extra pay for their extra efforts in guiding students.

*Jesus teaching his disciples, a painting by James Tissot from commons.wikimedia.org.*

The true reward of every teacher is to find one’s students so fruitful in life! The more fruitful and successful they are, the more rewarding for us teachers. Now I know the feeling of parents having a son growing into a fine gentleman or a daughter blooming into a fine lady and woman.

For me, I feel so proud when I learn my students reaching great heights in life and in their careers like reading their works published here and abroad, even speaking other languages as professors and lecturers, diplomats, OFW’s and responsible parents raising great children with hobbies so varied making me wish I could be young again to join them. Our greatest joy as teachers is when our students are most joyful. They do not have to be rich and famous. Basta joyful with a loving wife or husband, lovely kids, fruitful life.

During the fourth century in Carthage, a Deacon and catechist named Deogratias asked St. Augustine for some tips on teaching catechumens or people being prepared for Baptism.

A very talented teacher himself, St. Augustine wrote at length the methods and many other tips of teaching to Deogratias that these were compiled into a book now a Christian classic called “De Catechizandis de Rudibus” (On Instructing Beginners in Faith).

St. Augustine gave practical tips like first identifying the kind of audience or students so that the catechist and teacher may adjust his/her approach in teaching. He then told Deogratias to always narrate stories from the Bible, especially the creation, the lives of the great men and women in the Old Testament, and most of all, the many gospel scenes of Jesus Christ’s own teachings and parables.

At the end of the very long book of instructions, St. Augustine reminded Deogratias that the “catechist/teacher is always the lesson himself/herself.”

So true and beautiful!

The teacher is the lesson himself/herself because no book nor experiment nor equation will suffice to open the mind and heart of any student when the very person of the teacher is closed or worst, incongruent with wisdom and knowledge, virtues and life.

A true teacher is a witness of Jesus Christ, of how the Lord had transformed him/her into a better person now teaching others to grow and mature in life. A teacher is one who walks the talks, exactly what St. Pope Paul VI wrote in 1975, “Modern man listens more willingly to witnesses than to teachers, and if he does listen to teachers, it is because they are witnesses” (Evangelii Nuntiandi #41).

A true teacher as a lesson himself/herself is one who does not complicate but simplifies life, one who knows when to stop and be contented with what we have.

A true teacher is one who opens the minds and hearts of students to have that drive and passion to learn and find not just answer to questions but also to explore possibilities of finding meaning in life amid the many mysteries and unsolved problems that surround us.

A true teacher is one who does not compete with his/her students but journeys with them as companion, someone who breaks “bread” – life – with them.

A true teacher is one who sets students free from their many fears in life, showing them courage to tackle problems and situations, one who is not afraid to cry when sad and hurt, but always ready to smile and laugh with life’s simple joys and pleasures or kababawan.

A true teacher is one who shows students the realities of life such as failures and mistakes not as obstacles but launching pads for new lessons in life.

The teacher as the lesson himself/herself is one who brings out the giftedness of every student as a beautiful lesson in themselves too for others to learn.

The teacher as a lesson himself/herself need not be perfect, does not need to know an answer to all questions nor everything but someone who celebrates life, values life as a gift from God meant to be shared with others.

Think of your favorite teacher or unforgettable teacher. Most likely, she or he is the one who shares life with you. Thank a teacher today in sharing us, giving us his/her life especially during storms, when we are under low pressure areas. God bless all the teachers!

Jesus “looking with love”

The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B, 13 October 2024
Wisdom 7:7-11 ><}}}}*> Hebrews 4:12-13 ><}}}}*> Mark 10:17-30

Lately in my prayers I have felt so drawn on the “face” of Jesus, trying to imagine and feel how He looked at the various people He met in the gospel accounts. Most of all, of how Jesus looks at us too (https://lordmychef.com/2024/10/09/to-his-face/).

Consider our gospel this Sunday that shows us how Jesus has that “look of love” to everyone. No matter how bad and sinful we may be, He is full of love and mercy, compassion and joy in seeing us. The problem is often the way we look at Him like that man who approached Him as well as the disciples conversing with Him who were all so much like us.

As Jesus was setting out on a journey, a man ran up, knelt down before him, and asked him, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus answered him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. You know the commandments…” He replied and said to him, “Teacher, all of these I have observed from my youth.” Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said to him, “You are lacking in one thing. Go, sell what you have, and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.” At that statement his face fell, and he went away sad, for he had many possessions.

Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” The disciples were amazed at his words. So Jesus again said to them in reply, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God!” It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of the needle than for one who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” They were exceedingly astonished and said among themselves, “Then who can be saved?” Jesus looked at them and said, “For human beings it is impossible, but not for God. All things possible for God” (Mark 10:17-27).

*Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, 20 March 2024.*

Jesus, looking at him, loved him...
his face fell, went away sad,
for he had many possessions.

We readily identify with this man because all of us have the same question deep in our hearts to Jesus, wondering there must be more to keeping the commandments, of being good, of a better way to get into eternal life that is not necessarily a shortcut.

In fact, we have to rejoice, dear friends if we ask the same question because it is a grace that can only come from God, so unlike the Pharisees who asked Jesus last Sunday on the legality of divorce because they wanted to “test” Him. See how Jesus like last week brought us all back to the Sacred Scriptures, the very word of God expressing His will in human terms. The question was a sincere longing for God like the Psalmist, “Your testimonies are my delight; they are my counsellors”; “I observe your precepts and testimonies; all my ways are before you” (Ps. 119:24, 168).

Jesus looked at the man with love because He saw a great opening for more grace in him that is why He told him to sell everything he had, give it to the poor and follow Him. At that moment, like most of us, his face fell and went away sad because he had many possessions.

Are we not this man too who can’t look at Jesus with the same love because we probably love somebody or something else than Him found among those in the margins of our lives?

Jesus looked around...
the disciples were amazed.

If Jesus did not care at all and has no love for those around Him, He would have not looked around after that man had left. Here is the lovely thing with Jesus: His look is always filled with love for us His disciples, a look so penetrating, so luminous because He is divine.

What is amazing is not only that it is difficult for us to enter the kingdom of God due to our many attachments, sinfulness and weaknesses, but, despite all these, Jesus still speaks to us, conversing with us because He simply loves us so much! Jesus never looks on qualifications but instead qualifies His call so we can follow Him. Most of all, look at Him too!

Consider the amazing grace for us to remain in Jesus, albeit hiding that question in our hearts so afraid to ask because we know His answer would be so unexpected like in this scene and yet, here is Jesus looking around, looking at us with love sincerely telling us it is not easy at all. Remember the bread of life discourse of how Jesus talked straight because He was sincere and truthful to us that it is difficult to follow Him to the Cross which is what discipleship is all about. Just keep following Jesus, keep looking at Him no matter what!

*Photo by Mr. Jay Javier, Quiapo Traslacion 2020.*

Jesus again said to them...
they were exceedingly astonished.

Wow…! See the style of Mark who was not contented in writing how astonished the disciples were by describing them as “exceedingly astonished”. See his attention to details, so wonderful and beautiful because what is exceedingly astonishing is Jesus Christ’s love for us, not just His words!

Here, Jesus was already telling the disciples what would happen on Good Friday, of how Jesus would do everything for us all – that is, in doing the impossible that is only possible with God because He loves us so much.

Like what St. Paul had extensively reiterated to the Galatians in the weekday readings last week, Jesus did everything for us to be saved. Salvation is a gift, a pure grace from God. It is never our work; stop playing God, or a Messiah! There is nothing we can really do to be saved except to be like a child as Jesus had reiterated these past two Sundays.

To be like a child is to completely trust Jesus every step of the way especially on His way to Jerusalem. Now we see the importance of having that child-like attitude to belong in the kingdom of God as Jesus identified what await His disciples in following Him: “houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and eternal life in the age to come” (Mark 10:30).

Don’t be sad now. Mark had a purpose in writing the persecutions that await every disciple of Jesus because these shall purify us, give more depth and meaning to our lives and existence.

Mark knew so well how everyone is like the author of the Book of Wisdom who lived in a time similar with ours with all the affluence around us that deep inside us we still feel and know for sure that life is more than comfort and pleasures. He knew too the story of King Solomon like us so blessed with that consciousness that more than the material wealth and fame the world offers us, what matters most in life is wisdom to discern what is right and good.

These are difficult indeed for us, like getting married threatened by divorce then and now; but, again Jesus proposes an ideal, inviting us to remain in Him in prayers. After all, Jesus is the word of God who became flesh is “living and effective” among us found in the Sacred Scriptures (second reading) to guide us closer to Him.

Let us not worry because Jesus had done everything for us to be saved. Stay in the Lord, and let our face shine with His love! Keep looking at Jesus who looks at us full of love today and always. Have a blessed week ahead!

Walking life’s hills with Jesus

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Thursday, Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, 15 August 2024
Revelation 11:19;12:1-6, 10 ><}}}}*> 1 Corinthians 15:20-27 ><}}}}*> Luke 1:39-56

Glory and praise,
God Almighty Father
in sending us Jesus our Savior
who gave us His Mother
the Blessed Virgin Mary,
the very first fruit as St. Paul said 
of Christ's wondrous work 
of salvation due her oneness in Him.

Mary set out and traveled to the hill country in haste to a town of Judah, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth (Luke 1:39-40).

Right after the Annunciation
to Mary, her path to her Assumption
began when she "set out and 
travelled to the hill country in haste"
to share Christ in her with Elizabeth;
what a beautiful imagery of the same
path to the Calvary, another hill
outside Jerusalem to be with Christ
her Son.

Bless us with the same grace 
You gave Mary your Mother, Lord Jesus,
to follow your path to every hill in this life,
to be one with those especially who are
in pain and suffering; let us trust in You
fully in faith, hope and love that the 
sufferings we may endure in setting out
to travel to the hills of this life is 
the very path of our assumption 
in You; let us realize that despite the
many comforts and ease of technology
today, it is not what life really is, that
we all have to go through your 
Passion, Death, and Resurrection.
Like Mary, may we believe
your words, Jesus, 
will be fulfilled.
Amen.

*“The Assumption of the Virgin” by Italian Renaissance painter Titian completed in 1518 for the main altar of Frari church in Venice. Photo from en.wikipedia.org.*

Elijah & Jesus with “Lolo and the Kid”

Quiet Storm by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, 13 August 2024

This is a rejoinder to my Sunday homily I posted here Saturday morning (https://lordmychef.com/2024/08/10/when-we-cry-this-is-enough-god-gives-us-more-than-enough-to-go-on/).

I had published my Sunday homily that Saturday morning when I decided to unwind by watching any movie on Netflix which I do only on weekends. So glad it was the first movie I saw, very related with the story of Prophet Elijah and Jesus Christ’s “Bread of Life Discourse” that Sunday.

First think I liked with Lolo and the Kid is its fast-paced story that revolved around the two characters played by veteran Joel Torre and GMA7’s famed Firefly star Euwenn Mikael Aleta.

Second thing so interesting with me is how Lolo and Kid have no proper names at all (I just learned Lolo’s name was Mario after reading the various write ups) maybe because they stand for all of us who are caught in this great race for money and material things but deep inside longing for the more essential and truly lasting in life like love. And people who love us too, who care for us, and would stand by us.

We are Lolo and Kid who many times have traded our principles for momentary satisfaction but despite our seemingly strong facades of pragmatism and “resourcefulness” or madiskarte as Lolo taught Kid in the movie, deep inside us is still our conscience where God dwells, telling us to pursue good and shun evil. Joel Torre perfectly portrayed this beautiful side in each one of us (with his Ilonggo accent) of keeping a conscience despite our sinfulness, like a soft shell we delicately keep whole and intact inside lest we lose everything in life.

Recall our first reading last Sunday about Elijah fleeing to the mountain from an army pursuing to kill him. Elijah felt a total failure like Lolo and us many times in life when after all our goodwill and love, we are dumped by the very people we care for.

Elijah went a day’s journey into the desert, until he came to a broom tree and sat beneath it. He prayed for death, saying: “This is enough, O Lord! Take my life, for I am no better than my fathers” (1 Kings 19:4).

In one of the scenes of Lolo and the Kid, we find Lolo crying, cursing everyone and murmuring just like in last Sunday’s gospel. As he tried to end his life with a knife, Lolo suddenly heard the cry of an infant from the heap of garbage around him. What a beautiful portrayal of that infant left in the trash like Jesus Christ born on a manger becoming the savior of Lolo, a definitive message of mercy and love from God after his apparent cry of “This is enough, Lord!”

How many times have we found ourselves in the same situation, often in less momentous ones than Elijah or any prophet and saint, crying out to God in the heavens “this is enough”?

But, what is also most true behind every cry of “this is enough” that we make, we continue to believe and to hope in God that there is still a way out of our plight. And very often like in the story of Elijah last Sunday and in that scene in Lolo and the Kid, God comes at the nick of time like that infant crying in the garbage heap, a reminder of life and beauty found within us despite all the dirt we may have around us.

Here we find the Kid, perfectly played by Euwenn like in Firefly, as the saving grace, the Christ-figure in the movie bringing salvation to Lolo. Kid was “the bread of life from heaven” who “fed” Lolo with life with its meaning and direction. And joy found in Kid, the image of Christ Jesus.

Now, joy according to Jesus at the Last Supper is like a woman at the pangs of childbirth (Jn.16:21-22); it is deeper than happiness. True joy is borne out of self-sacrifice, a fruit of self-denial, of loving somebody more than one’s self. This we find at the end of this moving film.

Now all grown up, Kid finally met again Lolo in the hospital a day after his college graduation. Kid brought Lolo while seated on a wheelchair to visit Taba (another character without a name), their suki in fencing. From there, they went to their usual stop, a videoke bar to eat and drink, singing repeatedly Kenny Roger’s Through the Years.

Then, Lolo died, singing the only tune he knew that summed their beautiful relationship.

After Lolo’s body was taken out of the videoke bar, Kid opened Lolo’s bag that had a tin can of biscuit filled with old photographs taken with their stolen Polaroid camera. The photos did not merely remind Kid of their happy times together but most especially when they were already apart!

Unknown to Kid, Lolo hid to take photos when he moved to his adoptive parents, from his first ever birthday party to his college graduation! Through the years, Lolo, like God, was always there, present in all of Kid’s milestones in life because he is truly loved.

I have never liked that song Through the Years even when it was a hit during our high school days in 1981 but since Saturday, I have been humming it silently, hearing it inside me as an LSS until now. We hear the song playing throughout the end of the movie with scenes of how Lolo secretly took Kid’s photos filled with love and joy amid the strong current of pain within he had to endure to be far and away yet so near to his beloved apo.

If the Kid is the Christ figure in this film, Lolo is the God-the-Father figure, the One who seems so far from us as if He does not care at all. In Lolo and the Kid, there is that message of God never leaving us wherever we may be, whether we are in the squalor of poverty and sin or in the purity and cleanliness of affluence and grace maybe. God like Lolo to Kid is always with us but never interferes, silently doing many things to ensure that despite our many faults and failures in life, we end up in Him and His love.

We go back to Elijah’s cry of “This is enough, Lord!”, our very same cry like Lolo in the movie.

It is a cry that is also a prayer coming from our innermost being when we feel so saddled with no one to unload our woes except to God – who after all is the very reason why we cry! Watch for Lolo’s soliloquy on this reality we often do.

*Photo by author, James Alberione Center, QC, 08 August 2024.*

It is a cry of faith so akin with love because to believe and to love go hand in hand. It is during that moment when we feel like giving up to God, crying “this is enough” when in reality we surrender everything to God because we have been caught up by Him that we cannot resist His attraction.

It is that moment when we feel so “fed up with life” but deep inside, we hear God telling us like Lolo with the cries of an infant or like Elijah with an angel instructing him, “Get up and eat, else the journey will be too long for you!” (1 Kings 19:7).

Yes, our life journey is still long but we have a companion in Jesus, our bread of life from heaven, nourishing us, strengthening us, teaching us that essential beauty of love found only in sharing one’s life for the other. As we have said in last Sunday’s homily, it is when we cry “it is enough, Lord” when God gives us more than enough to sustain us sometimes in the form of a good movie like this one. May we have more “bread” like Lolo and the Kid that feeds our soul and gladdens our heart.

*BTW, we are not paid to endorse this movie; simply sharing with you its good news.

Desiring God

The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B, 28 July 2024
2 Kings 4:42-44 ><}}}}*> Ephesians 4:1-6 ><}}}}*> John 6:1-15

Residents wade through knee to waist-deep flood along P. Florentino Street in Quezon City on July 24, 2024. Photo by *Maria Tan, ABS-CBN News*

There is a new kind of storm sweeping us these days, more disastrous and silently wreaking havoc among us especially in our relationships with one another. It is a kind of storm borne out materialism that had given rise to other thoughts that have left us more lost and empty in life.

*Photo from sunstar.com.ph, 22 July 2024.*

More powerful than typhoon Carina was that storm in Cebu when a celebrity had a waiter stand in front of him simply for addressing him a “sir”, not as “mam” as he claimed to be a “beautiful” transwoman. The storm swept the whole social media on Monday with negative reactions and memes even from LGBTQ members. Many women rose to speak against this insistence by some in introducing wokism in the country for the sake of inclusivity which is nothing else but an exaggeration of one’s self and of the truncated truth they know.

*As I wrote this Saturday morning, there came the news of how the Paris Olympics made a mockery of the Lord’s Supper with a drag show in its opening ceremony. What a shame on France!

Right after the devastation by the habagat, many were shocked to find Sen. Gil Puyat Avenue in Makati changed into “Sen. Gil Tulog” for an advertising stunt. Again, it flooded social media with criticisms that reached the Mayor of Makati who ordered the signages removed with the city official who approved it reprimanded.

Here we find two recent storms indicating how eroded our value system has become. Both are symptoms of our sick society that have allowed these to creep into our social consciousness on the pretext of inclusivity and creativity along with other western idiotic thoughts displayed in the opening of the Paris Olympics. The incidents show how some people have become so conceited without any sense of respect at all to God and to others, whether alive or deceased, as well as lack of sense of history.

*Photo by author, Parish of the National Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima, Valenzuela City, 24 July 2024.*

Sorry for the long introduction. I only wish to invite you my dear friends to stop for a while and honestly ask ourselves this question: what are we pursuing in life these days?

Beginning today until the next four Sundays of August, all our Gospel accounts will be from John’s sixth chapter that opens with the story of the feeding of more than five thousand people. It is the continuation of last Sunday’s gospel scene when Mark narrated how Jesus invited the Twelve to a “deserted place to be by themselves” only to be followed by a vast crowd of people “like sheep without a shepherd.”

Jesus went across the Sea of Galilee. A large crowd followed him, because they saw the signs he was performing on the sick. Jesus went up on the mountain, and there he sat down with his disciples. The Jewish feast of Passover was near (John 6:1-4).

The beloved disciple’s account of the event is so rich with many signs that point us closer to Jesus Christ.

Keep in mind that the miracles of Jesus in the fourth gospel are called “signs” because they were not just extraordinary things done like some form of magic; for John, the miracles of Jesus were signs that point and reveal superior realities of the highest order, of God Himself in Christ. This is difficult to understand unless our pursuits are clearly on God and not something else.

*Photo by author, Fatima Avenue, Valenzuela City, 25 July 2024.*

In his brief introduction of the scene, John tells us that if we really want to find and experience liberation from all the problems besetting us as individuals and as a nation, we must first pursue God, not our self-interests and well-being. See how John declared the great number of people pursued Jesus due to the “the signs he was performing on the sick” that they must have found hope and life in Him amid their many sufferings.

How sad many people today spend and waste time in social media and other material things forgetting the persons around them. In the pursuit for money and fame, persons are made into objects to be possessed; perhaps this is the reason of the growing number of many kamotes and pabebes in our time – the objectification of people, when persons are degraded into mere objects. It is an utter lack of respect for others which only shows too the lack of self-respect among many of us because we have lost our rootedness in God.

Do we still have that desire for God which leads us to higher ideals like virtues and qualities that make us more human and humane?

*Photo By:* FlickrBrett Streutker from catholic365.com.

Pursuing God is not just celebrating the Sunday Mass or praying often but applying these holy activities into our daily lives to experience and find Him working in us and through us in our daily life. As we have reflected last Sunday, the more we get closer to God, the closer we must get with others too!

Many times we are like Philip and Andrew, two of the closest Apostles of Jesus that even if we go to Mass every Sunday or even daily, we never meet Christ at all because we are so absorbed with ourselves and the world. Philip and Andrew saw only saw the huge problem before them, they saw what they lacked – bread – but never found Jesus Christ Himself as the answer to their problem despite their having witnessed His many healings and raising to life of the dead daughter of Jairus.

When Jesus raised his eyes and saw that a large crowd was coming to him, he said to Philip, “Where can we buy enough food for them to eat?” He said this to test him, because he himself knew what he was going to do. Philip answered him, “Two hundred days’ wages worth of food would not be enough for each of them to have a little.” One of his disciples, Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, said to him, “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish; but what good are these for so many (John6:5-9)?”

I love that small detail by John that “Jesus knew what he was going to do”, of how the Lord was merely testing them in asking where to buy bread.

It does not really matter how Jesus multiplied the loaves of bread. What was very clear was the presence of Jesus, the Son of God who can do anything!

It was His person that was most important in this scene set when “The Jewish feast of Passover was near” which would later explain to us the meaning of the Last Supper and Good Friday. It is the very person of Jesus Christ who matters always in life. Recall our most trying moments in life when we have given up hopes but suddenly something happened and everything was reversed that we are still here, very much alive. Until now we are clueless how it all happened except that deep within our hearts, it is only Jesus whom we find as the answer and reason for everything.

In the first reading we heard how Elisha the prophet was given with twenty barley loaves of bread he gave to feed one hundred people that had plenty of leftovers.

Again, we are not told how Elisha multiplied the loaves of bread but one thing was very clear: the barley loaves were given by the man from Baal-shalisha as an offering to God through Elisha. The man clearly desired and pursued God that he baked those bread from “the first fruits, and fresh grain in the ear” of his bountiful harvest (2 Kgs.4:42). It was a thanksgiving offering for God that made wonders not only for him but for everyone. If we could just do the same in desiring God first of all!

Remember what Jesus told the devil during His first temptation in the wilderness, “One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God” (Mt.4:4).

There in the deserted place, miracle happened because everyone desired God first by listening to the teachings of Jesus. When Jesus saw them opening to God’s words, He then fed them with bread and fish. This week, let us pursue God more sincerely by foregoing our usual pursuits for comfort and easy life so that Jesus may multiply whatever we have. Let us pray:

God our loving Father
who is over all and through all
and in all (Ephesians 4:6):
empty us of our pride
that make us pursue worldly
things like wealth, fame, and power;
let us desire You alone
in Jesus Christ so that we may
find You again in our hearts
and on the face of one another 
we meet in this world that has become
so empty, hostile and unkind.
Amen.

*Photo by author, view of Jerusalem from the Church of Dominus Flevit, May 2017.*

Praying in time of storm

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Prayers in the storm and after the storm, 24-25 July 2024

We did not sleep well Tuesday night, worried with the serious impact of heavy rains to our brothers and sisters living in shanties and low-lying areas. Electricity was cut off early yesterday as we received reports of widespread flooding in the Parish. Immediately, the Parish Priest with the Parish Pastoral Council gathered dry clothings, jackets, and blankets for the evacuees in a nearby school, sending some breakfast too. This was our prayer on that rainy Wednesday:

God our loving Father,
we thank you for the rains
we have long been waiting for
to fill our dams,
to water our fields and plants,
to cool our climate;
but because of our continued
disregard for your creation
and for one another,
these blessed rains have brought
many problems too
especially floods that
are getting worse every year;
forgive us for we never learn
to respect not only nature
but especially one another;
rich and poor alike failed
to take care of each other
thinking only of one's self.
May these rains wash away
our selfishness,
cleanse our conscience
to think more of others
and enable us to finally
take concrete steps
in changing our lifestyle
as Pope Francis had long
called for in Laudato Si
so that we may finally see
our interconnectedness in this
one home and planet we call
Earth.
Amen.

*Photo by author, the Fatima image we use for procession after Sunday Masses at the Shrine taking cover from the strong rains and winds yesterday.*

Rains heavily poured with a lot of thunders before noon yesterday; more parishioners sent help in kind and food for the 60 evacuees near the Shrine. This we composed for our noontime prayer during that thunderstorms:

God our Father,
thank you for the midday rest
on this stormy Wednesday;
many of us are bearing with
the discomfort of no electricity,
of not being able to move around,
of idly staying at home;
forgive us for the complaints
especially when we forget there are
more who are going through severe
tests and sufferings at this time:
dilapidated and leaky homes with
still more moving to evacuation
centers; many people have nothing
at all in their pockets for these rainy days;
help us reach out to our poor brothers
and sisters especially the children 
who haven’t have breakfast nor have rested
at all since last night!
Father, we pray for the daily wage earners
who could not work today 
due to bad weather; 
we pray also for those living alone
as well as those who could not come home.
Bless every home,
fill us with more love and kindness
to keep warm everyone in this time
of calamity.
We ask this in Jesus Christ’s name
with the Holy Spirit. Amen.

O blessed Mother Mary,
our Lady of Fatima,
Pray for us!

There was still no electricity and rains continued to pour in the afternoon with a handful people celebrating the 6PM Mass at the Shrine. Up in our rectory, our staff and PPC officers were busy preparing packed meals for the families evacuated in a nearby school. This was our prayer that afternoon:

God our loving
and merciful Father,
thank you for bringing us to the
end of this day;
thank you for the gift of life,
for the selfless people who served
in all rescue and relief efforts
for those affected by the heavy
rains that still continue;
thank you and bless those who remained
faithful to their call of duty especially
those in the police and military,
the journalists who risked their lives
to keep us informed of the situations,
our weathermen who tracked Carina
and the habagat;
most of all, we thank you
for the doctors and nurses
who came to hospitals as
extensions of your healing hands in this
time of calamity.
Keep them all safe.
Bring us all home safely tonight
guided by your light of love and care
in Jesus Christ
in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.

Mary our Mother,
Our Lady of Fatima,
Pray for us.

*Photo by author, Blessed Sacrament in the Chapel of Angel of Peace, RISE Tower, Our Lady of Fatima University, Valenzuela City, 26 June 2024.*

Darkness enveloped the whole city of Valenzuela by nightfall as we remained without electricity but the good news of rains finally stopping with the ebbing of the floods were most welcomed news to bring joy to many among us. We continued with our prayers and this is what we shared:

Most loving Father,
many of us will not sleep tonight:
some are working overnight
to ensure tomorrow we’ll have
food and power while others are
keeping watch for everyone’s
safety and wellbeing;
bless them,
give them the strength to do their
tasks and duties,
and keep them safe.
It has been a very long,
cold, and wet day, Father;
help us set aside our worries,
to trust and hope in You
that it is always after the rains
and the storms leaves are greenest;
it is after the floods when rich top soil
are deposited, conducive for farming;
it is during calamities when love
and charity surprise us most.
Amen.

Jesus, King of Mercy,
we trust in You!

Our Lady of Fatima,
Pray for us!

*Photo by author, Fatima Avenue, Valenzuela City after the storm this morning, 25 July 2024 with Our Blessed Virgin’s old statue reminding us of her motherly care.*

Finally, we saw the sun at the start of this new day still with some rains and the heavy tasks of cleaning and clearing the debris left by the floods. Will we ever learn to respect nature which is actually an expression of our respect for each other too?

Our prayer after the storm:

Praise and glory to you,
God our loving Father!
Thank you for this new day,
thank you for the gift of life,
thank you for guiding us
during these stormy days.
Bless our doctors and nurses,
the selfless volunteers and staffmembers
of rescue and emergency units
along with our police and military
personnel as well as the weathermen
who continue to work and serve us
today after the storm.
Help us to do better
in responding to emergencies
next time while we finally learn
to change our lifestyles in caring
for the environment and ultimately,
for one another.
Let us appreciate
each one’s giftedness
in Christ Jesus our Lord
as we celebrate life
in the Holy Spirit
today.
Amen.

Our Lady of Fatima,
Pray for us!
St. James the Great,
Pray for us!