Our Sabbath faith

Lord My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul, 12 October 2025
Twenty-Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle C
2 Kings 5:14-17 ><}}}}*> 2 Timothy 2:8-13 ><}}}}*> Luke 17:11-19

*Photo by author, view of Israel from Mt. Nebo, Jordan, May 2019.*

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on anyone who had been on a Holy Land pilgrimage: of those vast expanse of desert in Israel where dusty roads have been replaced by modern concrete or asphalted roads.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Or, salvation in short.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

*Our Lady of Fatima University-Valenzuela, June 2025.*

Cross my heart?

Lord My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul, 14 September 2025
Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross
Numbers 21:4-9 ><]]]]'> Philippians 2:6-11 ><]]]]'> John 3:13-17
*This is a reissue of our 2023 reflection. Salamuch.

*Photo by Mr. Gelo Carpio, 27 January 2020, Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria, Bulacan.*

The cross is one of the most widely used but also abused and misunderstood sign in almost every generation. In fact, we are so accustomed with the cross of Jesus Christ found everywhere like in homes and offices, churches and classrooms, hospitals, restaurants and vehicles. Almost everybody carries it in our persons as an object of veneration, as a badge, or as a jewel.

On the cross we find Jesus shown in glory, peacefully sleeping in death, sometimes with his body broken by suffering. Hence, many times we use the word “cross” like in “cross my heart” to indicate our sincerity and truthfulness. But, are we truly aware of its meaning and significance in our faith, of its centrality as the symbol of God’s love for us expressed by the self-sacrificing death of Jesus Christ his Son?

*Photo by author, St. Scholastica Convent, Baguio City, 23 August 2023.*

This Sunday we take a break from our cycle of readings to celebrate this Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross which falls on September 14. Due to its centrality in our faith, it is still celebrated even if the date falls on a Sunday like today.

This feast started in the fourth century with the miraculous discovery of the True Cross by Helena, mother of the Emperor Constantine, on 14 September 326, while she was on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. She then ordered through her son the emperor the building of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre that was dedicated nine years later with a portion of the True Cross placed inside it in September 13, 335. The following day, the Cross was brought outside of the church to be venerated by the clergy and the faithful.

In the year 627, during the reign of the Emperor Heraclius I of Constantinople, the Persians conquered the city of Jerusalem and removed a major part of the Cross from its sanctuary. The emperor then launched a campaign to recover the True Cross which he regarded as the new Ark of the Covenant for the new People of God. Before embarking into war, Emperor Heraclius went to church wearing black as a sign of penance, then prostrated himself before the altar and begged God for courage. His prayer was granted as he won the war and recovered the Cross from the Persians. He brought the Cross back to Jerusalem in 641 amid great celebrations by carrying it on his shoulders. Upon reaching the gate leading to Calvary, the emperor could not go forward! Heraclius and his retinue were astonished and could not understand what had happened until the Patriarch Zachary of Jerusalem told him, “Take care, O Emperor! In truth, the imperial clothing you are wearing does not sufficiently resemble the poor and humiliated condition of Jesus carrying His cross.”

Upon hearing those words, the emperor removed his shoes and bejewelled robes, put on a poor man’s clothing and was eventually able to proceed to Calvary and replaced the Cross inside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre where a number of miracles happened during the occasion: a dead man returned to life, four paralytics were cured, ten lepers were healed, 15 blind men were given their sight, with several possessed people exorcised and many sick people totally healed!

*Photo by author, Mirador Jesuit Villa & Retreat House, Baguio City, 24 August 2023.*

Very notable in this story were the words of the Patriarch of Jerusalem. It was only after the emperor had taken off his royal clothings and put on those of the poor was he able to carry the Cross.

It is the same thing that is asked of us today: it is so easy to display the cross inside our homes and cars, or wear it as a jewelry or even as a tattoo on our skin. But, that amounts to nothing unless we have the cross inside our hearts, our very being. More than the many signs of the cross and imaginary drawing of its lines we draw on our chest is the need for us to empty ourselves of our pride and sins so that we can be filled with Jesus Christ.

Brothers and sisters: Christ Jesus, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God something to be grasped. Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness; and found human in appearance, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross (Philippians 2:6-8).

Called kenosis in Greek, self-emptying is the way of the Cross of Christ. It is choosing love and mercy than self-centeredness and self-righteousness; sacrifice than satisfaction; fairness and justice than greed and possession; bearing all the pains and perseverance than complaining and whining about difficulties and trials in life like the Israelites in the wilderness (first reading); and, thinking more of others than of one’s self.

The recent COVID-19 pandemic had taught something very amusing about the positivity of being negative, when negative was actually positive – healthy and COVID free! Remember how during those days when we would always wish we would yield negative results in our swab tests for COVID?

When we look at the sign of the cross (+), it is a positive sign, a plus sign. Though the cross calls us to let go, to be detached and dispossessed, it is actually an invitation to have more of God, of life and fulfillment! In this time of affluence when everything is easily available for as long as you have the means and the resources, the sign of the Cross reminds us that life is more of letting go and of giving than of having like God who “so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that he who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life” (Jn.3:16). St. Francis of Assisi said it perfectly why the Cross is an exaltation, a triumph:

For it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned.
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

Amen. Enjoy Sunday and have a blessed week ahead!

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

Uniqueness of the Cross

Lord My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul, 14 September 2025
Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross
Numbers 21:4-9 ><}}}}*> Philippians 2:6-11 ><}}}}*> John 3:13-17
*This is an updated version of our reflection last year; pray for our Marriage Encounter this weekend.

*Via Crucis at Fatima University Medical Center, Valenzuela City, 2025.*

This Sunday we have a unique celebration, the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross that falls on the 14th day of September. It is so important that even if it falls on a Sunday, the more it must be celebrated as it is most central in the teachings of Jesus Christ.

It is so unique because despite its being made up of two ordinary pieces of wood, the Cross is most unique with its deeply extraordinary in meaning as sign of God’s immense love for us humans through Jesus Christ’s Passion and Death.

From being the sign of the most inhuman punishment in history, the Cross is now the very sign of how God “so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that he who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life” (Jn.3:16). It encapsulates the whole mystery of Jesus Christ, of how this all-powerful God beyond the ordinary became weak like us in everything except sin so that we too may be like Him, divine and more than ordinary. In His suffering and death on the Cross, Jesus made the lowly wood so ordinary to be so exalted to become His sign of love and mercy, power and majesty.

Hence, in the Cross is the power of God’s love to transform us to better persons.

In the Cross is God’s power to lead us closer to Him with its vertical beam and to others with its horizontal beam.

In the Cross is the power of good if we choose to embrace it with Christ Jesus as our Lord and Master.

The Cross is most unique of all signs in the world because underneath its ordinariness, that is where we see God’s glory and majesty. It was underneath the Cross of darkness and gloom on Good Friday that humanity began to see light and hope in life’s many absurdities. Most of all, it was underneath that Cross of suffering and death of Jesus Christ that we feel and experience the assurance of the Resurrection.

How?

Through our own pains and sufferings that are most uniquely ours too!

With their patience worn out by the journey, the people complained against God and Moses, “Why have you brought us up from Egypt to die in this desert, where there is no food or water? We are disgusted with this wretched food!” In punishment the Lord sent among the people saraph serpents, which bit the people so that many of them died (Numbers 21:4-6).

*Photo by author, Dominican Hills, Baguio City, January 2018.*

You must have heard that old story of a man who came to Jesus to return the cross given for him to carry; he asked Jesus to have it replaced with a lighter one. Jesus then led the man to a huge room with all kinds of crosses for him to choose which he prefers as the best one for him so that he would stop complaining.

After closely examining the specs of so many crosses, the man finally decided to pick one he deemed as perfect for him after considering its weight and other dimensions, only to find out from Jesus Himself that it was the same cross he had actually returned for exchange!

Many times in life we are like those people in the first reading, never ending in their complaints to God, even challenging Him, accusing Him of forsaking us, of being unfair when life becomes difficult and unbearable. There are times we feel being on the distaff side of life always like a flat tire, never on top. We cry foul to God especially with all our hurts and pains inflicted by others, asking Him where was He when most needed?

Photo by author in Jordan near the Israeli border where Moses put up the bronze serpent as instructed by God to heal those bitten by the snakes after they have complained of their conditions in the wilderness, May 2019.

While it is true life is indeed difficult, the cross reminds us of the fact that the pains and hurts we have are uniquely ours too, something we have to accept and most of all, own.

There are pains that are so deep and won’t go away that have in fact affected us dismally in our lives already. Instead of self-blaming and self-pity, we just have to ask for God’s grace to accept and own them like Jesus Christ. We just have to “bring it home” – that imagery of the Cross planted on the Calvary – into our very selves, in our being as something so true and real. And uniquely ours.

Stop thinking of others’ pains and hurts. We are not all the same. If ever we have similar experiences, the hues and shades even gravity and circumstances are not same because each pain and hurt, like the cross, is uniquely ours. Like every person, every cross is unique because it is also a gift, a mystery, and life. We have to “befriend” our pains and hurts, our own cross instead of resist it. It is in “befriending” our pains and hurts, our cross in life that we grow and mature, becoming more free to love and to be joyful because that is when the cross triumphs over its disgrace and shame in us and with others. That is when our pains and hurts, when our crosses begin to reveal to us the many beautiful truths of Easter awaiting us.

The Cross of Christ triumphed because Jesus carried it wholeheartedly, allowing those two pieces of wood to reveal not only to Him who knew everything beforehand its meaning but most of all to everyone of us the deeper truths the Cross signifies as St. Paul eloquently expressed in our second reading.

*The Cross of Christ atop the church of our Lady of Lourdes in France. Photo by my former student Ar. Philip Santiago during his pilgrimage, September 2018.*

One thing I realized after my mother died May last year is the fact that while there are so many pains and sufferings in this world, my own pain and suffering in losing her are most difficult to bear; hence, something I must carry because it is uniquely mine.

But, one thing so unique I noticed is that the more I see my cross following my mother’s death, the more I saw also the cross of others. The Cross of Jesus triumphed truly in me when I embraced and owned my cross, when I befriended my pains and hurts that eventually led me to recognize and see, to feel more and experience too the crosses of others.

When we become conscious of each one’s unique cross, slowly we are able to reveal to them the meaning of their personal crosses too because we become more sympathetic, more open, more silent to listen more, love more, care more and be more present with those in their own unique cross. No wonder, I find conversing more engaging with others who also grieve because we can see each other’s unique crosses!

Jesus calls us to imitate Him that by embracing and owning our cross, we too may lead others to finding the meaning of their own cross and thus experience Easter soon. Let us pray:

Give us the grace,
dear God
to always embrace the Cross
like your Son Jesus Christ
where we can all be empty
of ourselves to be filled
with your Holy Spirit
and make your love
visible in us.
Amen.

A blessed week to everyone!

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

We are God’s masterpiece

Lord My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul, 07 September 2025
Twenty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle C
Wisdom 9:13-18 ><}}}}*> Philemon 9-10, 12-17 ><}}}}*> Luke 14:25-33

“Napasarap ang kuwentuhan” is how we would describe the scene last Sunday continuing to today’s gospel as Jesus pushed through in his journey to Jerusalem.

Recall Jesus dined at the home of a leading Pharisee last Sunday where “people observed him carefully” while “he noticed them” choosing seats of honor at the party that he told them a short parable on humility. One of the guests liked it that Jesus narrated another parable about coming to a banquet where everybody is invited. Many were impressed with his second parable that Luke now tells us great crowds followed Jesus after that dinner on a sabbath.

Great crowds were traveling with Jesus, and he turned and addressed them, “If anyone comes to me without hating his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciples. Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. Which of you wishing to construct a tower does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if there is enough for its completion? Otherwise, after laying the foundation and finding himself unable to finish the work the onlookers should laugh at him and say, ‘This one began to build but did not have the resources to finish'” (Luke 14:25-30).

*Photo by Mr. Jay Javier in Quiapo, 09 January 2020.*

Keep in mind that Jesus “resolutely determined to journey to Jerusalem” (Lk.9:51) to fulfill his mission of offering himself on the cross. This is the second time since he embarked on that journey that he had told those wishing to become his disciples must forget themselves, take up their cross and follow him.

During that time, the cross was the Roman empire’s worst punishment – most humiliating and excruciatingly painful leading to a slow death. Imagine how the audience of Jesus must have felt hearing his words about taking up one’s cross, whether in its literal or figurative meaning. Jesus completely changed that on Good Friday when he totally and freely offered himself to die on the cross because of his immense love for us and the Father. From being a sign of cruelty and shame, the Cross became the sign of love and honor as Jesus the Son of God became one of us in passion and death so that we may be like him in his glorious resurrection.

And that is what Jesus wants for us, to be holy like him that is why he invites us to do the same, “take up your cross and follow me” which we may call as the “Christ project” wherein destruction leads to new creation, death to life, and self-giving to true love.

Here we find the wisdom and gentle mastery of Jesus as a teacher in using a “building project” as an example of discipleship, a world apart from the shameless, scandalous ghost projects of DPWH with some contractors through manipulations by lawmakers stole billions of pesos from the poor people without doing any flood control facilities at all.

*Photo by author, Church of St. Anne in Jerusalem, May 2017.*

The Christ project is the most noble “building project” of all where everyone becomes God’s masterpiece: “Which of you wishing to construct a tower does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if there is enough for its completion? Otherwise, after laying the foundation and finding himself unable to finish the work the onlookers should laugh at him and say, ‘This one began to build but did not have the resources to finish'” (Lk.14:28-30).

What is Jesus longing to “construct” in your life?

We have all been disciples of Christ since baptism but many times in life, we have taken for granted his call to follow him and journey in him, with him, and through him. See that in his two parables today, Jesus did not say that we have to be “like them” in preparing to build a tower or go to war; instead at the ending, Jesus said, “In the same way, anyone who does not renounce all his possessions cannot be my disciple” (Lk.14:33).

We are all disciples of Christ. It is an inescapable reality in life, an honor and a responsibility because whether we like it or not, our discipleship in Christ plays a major role in our life direction. Or lack of direction. If you are feeling lost, most likely you have veered away from Christ in life’s journey. When life is in a mess, Christ is missing.

The author of the Book of Wisdom tells us how God in his infinite wisdom slowly unfolds to us his grand plans for us as his disciples, his beloved children. See that our most meaningful and fulfilling moments in life were those we were closest to God – not really when we were drowning in wealth and fame and material things. See the simplicity and sincerity of the common folks betrayed by this system of corruption – they can look straight the camera lens without hiding not like the fake, empty fronts of the the well dressed senators, contractors and DPWH officials in the hearings.

*Photo by author, Our Lady of Fatima University, Valenzuela City, September 2023.*

All our lives we must become a disciple of Christ that is why we must constantly reflect on his demands not only to examine how far we have gone by looking in the past but most especially to renew our commitment to him so we can move forward, nearer to the Father and to one another in loving service. This is what St. Paul was asking Philemon in accepting anew his escaped slave Onesimus.

Jesus invites us this Sunday to stop and reflect about his plans, his project for us to be God’s masterpiece. Discipleship is a call to self-emptying, to daily crucifixion of forgetting one’s self, of always choosing Jesus, choosing what is true and good and just. Of course it is easier said than done but that is the way it is. Better to make the choice freely than wait later when it would be imposed on us by the circumstances.

This is the meaning of our Care for Creation celebration this Sunday when we are called to see the unity of everyone and everything in “Christ Jesus… the image of the invisible God… in him were created all things in heaven and earth, the visible and invisible… For in him all the fullness was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile all things for him, making peace by the Blood of his cross through him, whether those on earth or those in heaven” (Col.1:15, 16, 19-20).

Caring for creation and environment is discipleship in action as Pope Francis called on us in his 2015 encyclical Laudato Si of the need to have an inner change, an “ecological conversion” wherein we do our individual part of sacrifice and care for God’s creation. It is always easy to join the many green movements and environmental crusades but if deep in our hearts remain our own comfort and convenience, nothing would ever change in the world around us as we continue with our insatiable consumption of so much goods. What we need is a “shift” in our perspectives in life, to see it wholly as interconnected.

We require a new and universal solidarity. As the bishops of Southern Africa have stated: “Everyone’s talents and involvement are needed to redress the damage caused by human abuse of God’s creation”. All of us can cooperate as instruments of God for the care of creation, each according to his or her own culture, experience, involvements and talents. (Laudato si’, #14)

Caring for creation is discipleship when we choose to follow Jesus in implementing his grand design and project for a better world where peace truly reigns in all creation. Amen. A blessed week ahead of everyone. Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Our Lady of Fatima University, Valenzuela City (lordmychef@gmail.com)

*Photo by Mr. Raffy Tima of GMA7 News in Batanes, September 2018.*

Strive in discipline

Lord My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul, 24 August 2025
Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle C
Isaiah 66:18-21 ><}}}*> Hebrews 12:5-7, 11-13 ><}}}*> Luke 13:22-30

*Phot by author of pilgrims trying to enter through the narrow door of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, the Holy Land.*

Anyone who had gone on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land must have heard the story of the fabled “narrow door” at the entrance of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, of how it was reduced into that small door a very long time ago to prevent pilgrims from bringing their horses and camels inside the church that made a lot mess and stench.

*Photo by author, narrow doors from the inside of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, the Holy Land, May 2019.*

That little door of the Church of the Nativity later became symbolic of the humble gesture of bowing low first to enter and see the Savior’s birthplace, eventually heaven as Jesus had been teaching us these past Sundays.

We are now in the final installment of the teachings by Jesus about the coming End, of what must we do to gain eternal life. He is now halfway through his long journey to Jerusalem since he started eight Sundays ago.

Along the way, he had met every kind of people, proclaiming to them the same message – that the kingdom of God is at hand where everyone is welcomed like what Isaiah prophesied in the first reading.

Jesus passed through towns and villages, teaching as he went and making his way to Jerusalem. Someone asked him, “Lord, will only a few people be saved?” He answered them, “Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I tell you, will attempt to enter but will not be strong enough. After the master of the house had arisen and locked the door, then will you stand outside knocking and saying…” (Luke 13:22-25).

*Photo by author, Angels’ Hills Retreat Center, Tagaytay City, April 2025.*

In his teachings these past three Sundays, Jesus had been warning us against too much focus on things of the world that perish like material wealth, telling us to be more concerned of things of heaven that lead to eternal life. He had been clear that it would not be easy at all with the demands of being his disciples.

It was in this context that someone in the crowd asked Jesus today on his way to Jerusalem if only a few people would be saved. The question sounds very amusing not only because Jesus had always been clear that heaven does not come cheap as we must learn to renounce our self, take up his cross and follow him. That someone in the crowd who asked that question is actually us! And we know so well why until now we keep asking that same question: because we lack the discipline within to truly follow Christ. We always want what is easy and convenient, preferring shortcuts, avoiding sacrifices, as much as possible, no pains and sufferings. Hence, despite our knowing what it takes to gain eternal life, we still keep on doing the opposite.

It is the same with our physical well-being wherein we know so well what is healthy but we still keep doing, eating and drinking what is unhealthy. The sad truth of this lack of discipline in our body and soul is how we start shaping ourselves only when we are already sick and close to dying! That is when we feel sorry and start telling God like those in the parable that “we ate and drank in your company.”

Jesus had no intentions of dodging the question of that someone – and us in many occasions when we realize how difficult it is to follow his path of simplicity and humility, of love and kindness, of mercy and forgiveness. See how he neither gave a number nor a percentage of those who would be saved in the End. Jesus simply told the people including us today to do everything to make it into the Kingdom of God that is like a “narrow gate” and a “locked door”.

Following Jesus is more than being in his company but more of being like him. On this final Sunday of his teaching on the End, of entering the Kingdom of God in eternity, Jesus reminds us to shape up, body and soul so that we can squeeze ourselves into heaven’s “narrow gate” and “locked door”. Here we find again the second reading giving us more light into the meaning of the gospel this Sunday.

Brothers and sisters, you have also forgotten the exhortation addressed to you as children: “My son, do not disdain the discipline of the Lord or lose heart when reproved by him; for whom the Lord loves, he disciplines; he scourges every son he acknowledges.” Endure your trials as discipline… At the time, all discipline seems a cause not for joy but for pain, yet later it brings the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who are trained by it. So strengthen your drooping hands and your weak knees. Make straight the paths for your feet, that what is lame may not be dislocated but healed (Hebrews 12:5-7, 11-13).

Discipline is a word so misunderstood these days that too often, it is frowned upon, even feared by many. In this age of so much “freedom” without any regard to “responsibility”, discipline has become its main casualty.

From the Latin verb discere which is “to learn” and “to follow”, its noun form disciplina means teaching or learning from which came the word discipulus for disciple, a follower or a pupil. Therefore, a person of discipline is one who follows or obeys teachings. Contrary to the wrong idea of many today that discipline limits freedom which they see as the ability to do whatever one wishes, the more disciplined a person is, the more free the person actually becomes!

When we discipline ourselves in every aspect of our lives like in food and drink intake, in using our time wisely, in budgeting our money and resources among other things, the more we become free to many other things in life. Remove discipline and do whatever you like in your life, eventually you become “unfree” because definitely you will miss your responsibilities and obligations like studies in school and duties at home and the office.

The same is true in our spiritual life: without discipline like prayer life, disorder and sin happen. It is discipline that literally and figuratively shapes us into persons able to squeeze through the narrow gate and locked door of freedom and salvation!

*Photo by author, St. Catherine Monastery, Mt. Sinai, Egypt, May 2019.*

In following the reflection of the author of Hebrews, we find that discipline is not just a human effort but the work of God too. As St. Augustine wrote, “grace builds on nature” – the more we discipline ourselves, the more blessed we become because God’s grace and gifts in us are perfected. See how discipline is like a built-in “app” God installed in each of us to ensure that we have all the means to reach heaven in Jesus Christ.

Looking back to the past four weeks, we find Jesus as the perfect example of a disciplined person, of leading a disciplined life focused on the mission from the Father. Since he started this long journey, Luke noted in chapter nine how Jesus was “resolutely determined” to go to Jerusalem, teaching us along the way to be like him focused on things of heaven than of earth, always vigilant of the coming End. Since the resumption of Sundays in Ordinary Time last July 06, Luke showed Jesus frequenting the synagogue on sabbath to worship and to preach. Most of all, Jesus prayed a lot which prompted his disciples to ask him to teach them how to pray too. Our celebrating the Sunday Mass in the church is a discipline of highest order because every Eucharistic celebration is a dress rehearsal of our entrance into heaven. Always come until we all gather together in eternity. Amen. Have a blessed and disciplined week ahead everyone. Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Our Lady of Fatima University, Valenzuela City (lordmychef@gmail.com).

Faith of Jesus, faith we imitate

Lord My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle C, 17 August 2025
Jeremiah 38:4-6, 8-10 ><}}}*> Hebrews 12:1-4 ><}}}*> Luke 12:49-53

Photo by author, *Archdiocesan Shrine of Nuestra Señora De Guia, Ermita, Manila, 28 November 2024.*

We Christians believe in and trust in Jesus but seldom think of him as a man of faith because very often our concept of faith is always in terms of creeds and beliefs.

As we have reflected last Sunday in the second reading from the Letter to the Hebrews, faith is more than of the mind; faith is more of the heart, of the relationship one has with God or with whomever one believes in. Hence, “Faith is the realization of what is hoped for and evidence of things not seen” (Heb.11:1).

This Sunday we start anew our reflections from the second reading, the letter to the Hebrews that supports today’s gospel where Jesus is asking us to have more faith in him because following him can lead to distressing situations and painful, or even tragic choices. In identifying Jesus as “the leader and perfecter of faith”, Hebrews insisted on the human side of Jesus we rarely consider – that he was sustained by faith, who trusted God in vindicating him as he died on the Cross.

Brothers and sisters: Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us rid ourselves of every burden and sin that clings to us and persevere in running the race that lies before us while keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, the leader and perfecter of faith… Consider how he endured such opposition from sinners, in order that you may not grow weary and lose heart. In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood (Hebrews 12:1-2, 3-4).

*Photo by author, Malagos Garden Resort, Davao City, August 2018.*

Every time I face difficulties and trials in life, I always think of my mom and dad, my “cloud of witnesses” of faith like those mentioned in Hebrews who have attained faith’s goal in the Old Testament.

Usually, I would ask my departed parents for prayers, asking them for guidance on how to deal with difficult situations I am facing. It is therapeutic for me because after that, my memory would waft into those days and nights I used to listen to mom and dad tell their many struggles and hardships they both endured early in life like dropping out from school in order to find work early and eventually why they married late.

“Mahirap ang buhay noon, anak” they would always tell me, followed by a litany of not having enough money for food, clothes and shoes and various forms of leisure and comforts we take for granted these days. After that short trip in memory lane with my parents, I feel better, inspired and energized knowing that I have poor souls praying for me.

Think of those people like family, friends, and mentors who have been part of this “cloud of witnesses” in your life. Include your favorite saints too. And of course, Jesus Christ our Lord and God who, as perfecter of faith shocks us with his teachings this Sunday:

Jesus said to his disciples: “I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it already blazing! There is a baptism with which I must be baptized, and how great is my anguish until it is accomplished! Do you think that I have come to establish peace on the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division (Luke 12:49-51).

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

Unlike in the fourth gospel, it is very rare in Matthew, Mark and Luke to hear Jesus speaking of himself in the first person like today when he said “I have come… I wish… I must.” These are “involved expressions” where Jesus not only reveals to us the nature of his mission but especially his determination to fulfill it as Luke had earlier noted this at the start of this long journey to Jerusalem, “When the days for his being taken up were fulfilled, he resolutely determined to journey to Jerusalem” (Lk.9:51).

Feel in these expressions the ardent desire of Jesus, the burning fire within him to transform us and the world in his coming Passion, Death and Resurrection which is the baptism he must undergo.

The fire he mentioned here is the fire of the Holy Spirit he sent on Pentecost that filled his disciples with zeal to spread the gospel and the nascent Church as well. Luke knew so well in how those tongues of fire that hovered over the disciples’ heads on Pentecost was also the same fire Jesus referred here that dissolves our old selves to convert us into his disciples filled with zeal and enthusiasm in witnessing the gospel in the world that has gone cold and dark with sin and evil.

As fire purifies metals like gold, fire leads to divisions so to speak. It is a positive division that builds and perfects, not destroys. It is the kind of fire Jesus meant here as he continued his teachings on the way to Jerusalem to prepare us for the End with a capital “E”. It is a fire that sets apart truth from falsehoods and lies and most of all, of good from evil and sin so necessary in making it to eternal life. To fully appreciate this shocking lesson of Jesus today, we need to go back to the second reading where the author of Hebrews called us to “rid ourselves of every burden and sin that clings to us and persevere in running the race that lies before us while keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, the leader and perfecter of faith” (Heb.12:1-2).

What are those burdens and sin that cling to us or we carry that make it difficult to imitate Jesus, to have faith in Jesus?

*Photo from Fatima Tribune, Red Wednesday, Chapel of the Angel of Peace, Our Lady of Fatima University, 27 November 2024.*

Very often, we are the ones who make our problems and sufferings worse with the excess baggage we keep on carrying like bitterness and resentments, self-doubts and self-rejection, and many other negative feelings that we allow to fester within us. Sometimes, we are like that man who asked Jesus to tell his brother to give his share of inheritance when we refuse to look more into our own sins, preferring to look more into other’s faults and failures. Or, maybe like Martha we are so busy and preoccupied with many other things that we not only forget God but even our very selves in the process.

Focus on Jesus alone, let him perfect our faith by purifying us with his fire of love.

Be on guard, however, that the more we follow Jesus on his path of the Cross, the more we experience “complexities” in life like Jeremiah in the first reading. He found enemies among his own people who tried to put him into death because he spoke the truth. Discipleship in Christ is being a prophet – a sign of contradiction especially in today’s world where sin and profanity are extolled while rights are exaggerated and truth and morals are relativized. There are strong temptations for us to withdraw to one’s corner, refusing to choose a side or take a stand especially when loved ones or those dear to us get involved.

This Sunday, Jesus invites us to focus on him alone, to have faith in him, to be like him. He perfects our faith in him, enabling us to choose and stand for what is true and good, fair and just. Let us pray to Jesus for more fire and warmth in our faith in him, remembering those words of the author of Hebrews that “In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood.” Amen. Have a blessed week ahead everyone!

Begin with the End in sight

Lord My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle C, 10 August 2025
Wisdom 18:6-9 ><}}}}*> Hebrews 11:1-2, 8-19 ><}}}}*> Luke 12:32-48

*Our new College of Medicine Building with the lovely flowers of Banaba trees welcoming the new academic year this Monday, 11 August 2025.*

One of the remarkable trends in management these past two decades is the emphasis on values-based approaches like The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by the late Dr. Stephen Covey. Second in his list is the title of our reflection this Sunday, “Begin with the end in sight.”

Actually we mentioned that in our reflection last Sunday but we stressed the word “end” begins with a capital “E” to refer to things of God and eternal life as in the End of all in death. This is the theme of the Lord’s teaching today he presented in three parables with the last two calling us to be faithful stewards awaiting their Master’s return in the End while the first one expressing the summary of his lessons, “For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be” (Lk.12:34). But unlike most Sundays, we reflect today on the second reading from the Letter to the Hebrews that shows us Abraham’s faith journey as an expression of Christ’s teachings on setting our sights with the End.

Faith is the realization of what is hoped for and evidence of things not seen. Because of it the ancients were well attested. By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance; he went out, not knowing where he was to go (Hebrews 11:1-2, 8).

*Photo by author, RISE Tower, Our Lady Fatima University, Valenzuela City, 06 August 2025.*

We all believe in something, whether it is something good or something bad. However, what or who we believe in makes the difference because what or who we believe in determines how we live.

That is why Dr. Covey’s declaration is most true, especially when we talk of our End that is actually a Who – God. It is our faith in God who drives us in this life especially when it is dark and difficult, even painful so that we may achieve our End to be with him in eternity. The author of Hebrews found Abraham’s faith journey so remarkable as it enlightens too our own faith journey in God through Jesus Christ our High Priest as a context.

First, the author of Hebrews defined faith as “the realization of what is hoped for and evidence of things not seen.” Faith is more than trusting God in Jesus Christ. For the author of Hebrews, faith is more of knowing and understanding of what lies ahead though it cannot be seen. Faith here is more of having vision than sight, of seeing beyond things, so convinced of its existence even not seen like Noah who built an ark on God’s command even if there were no dark clouds nor rains visible at all. Faith for the author of Hebrews is like our Filipino expression “a…basta!” of having the conviction God created the universe even though no one saw the act of creation. It is something real that “only the heart can see” because it is also borne out of a deep relationship with God and with those we love. See now the three instances cited by the author of Hebrews in Abraham’s faith journey that are similar with our own experiences.

“By faith he sojourned in the promised land as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents… for he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and maker is God” (Heb.11:9-10). Abraham was a “pilgrim” – a wayfarer – not only from his place of birth into the promised land but also on the journey from the present into the future and eternity. See how Abraham looked into the End at the start of his journey in God and with God walking on the path of what is to come.

All he had was faith in God. Surely there were times of darkness and distress along the way which the author of the Book of Wisdom in our first reading accurately described as “night of the passover” that reminds us of darkness hovering the path of God. Jesus reiterated this “night of passover” literally and figuratively speaking. Have faith in Christ whenever our journey gets tough and rough, when there are detours or when we actually get lost. God will find us to reach his city he made for us.

“By faith he received power to generate, even though he was past the normal age – and Sarah herself was sterile – for he thought that the one who made the promise was trustworthy” (Heb.11:1). We all know the story of Abraham and Sarah having their own son in old age, of the many twists and turns in their lives before Isaac was finally born and thus fulfilled God’s promise that Abraham became the father of all nations. In Matthew’s genealogy of Jesus Christ, Abraham is mentioned first as a testament of his faith in God that led to the birth of the Messiah.

Many times we ask why God takes so long in fulfilling his promises to us. We wonder if God really called us to a certain vocation or profession or wanted this and that for us especially when in our prayers we are convinced of God’s will. Why does God keep us waiting?

Experience had taught us that more than a test of our faith, those waiting moments for God’s answer to our prayers were grace-filled moments of our own transformation into better persons so that we may value more his gifts to us, whether they are persons or things or moments. God is faithful. Remember the words of St. Paul, “God’s gifts and call are permanent and irrevocable” (Rom.11:29).

“By faith Abraham, when put to the test, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was ready to offer his only son…He reasoned that God was able to raise even from the dead, and he received Isaac back as a symbol” (Heb.11:17, 19). This is the most moving and touching in the story of Abraham’s faith: he never doubted nor questioned God at all when he was asked to offer his son Isaac. Imagine how Abraham must have felt after waiting for so long for a son, then suddenly God asked him to offer him back Isaac?

See the unfolding of this scene in Genesis 22 with Abraham totally silent going up the mountain with Isaac who asked what shall they offer to God? Abraham simply assured him God will provide. Everything proceeded in silence until Abraham was to kill Isaac when an angel stopped him and told him how God was so pleased with his fidelity. This scene reminds me of the pain of many parents, especially mothers at the funeral of their son or daughter. It is the most difficult Mass for me to celebrate; normally, it is the children who bury their parents, not the other way around. When parents bury their children, no matter how young or old they may be, it is beyond words. I just try to believe more, to have more faith in God that he would bless and comfort the grieving parents.

Abraham’s faith is a gift from God we too have all received and must deepen. It is easier said than done but we have to accept that nothing in this life is really ours to keep for all is God’s. And if ever God takes something from us, it is because he is giving us something even more than what we already have. That is why Jesus asks us in the gospel this Sunday to give up everything for him for he is our only End.

Jesus said to his disciples: “Do not be afraid any longer, little flock, for your Father is pleased to give you the kingdom. Sell your belongings and give alms. Provide money bags for yourselves that do not wear out, an inexhaustible treasure in heaven that no thief can reach nor moth destroy. For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be” (Luke 12:32-34).

This Sunday, Jesus invites us to examine where our treasure is for that is where our heart is, giving himself to be our treasure for he alone can lead us to our final End. Like Abraham, Jesus asks us to see beyond the present moment, to give up whatever we have, whether good or bad, people or things, even memories. It is very difficult and even painful but with faith in God, it could be our most liberating and grace-filled moment in life when we learn to forgive and be sorry, to be content, and finally start living by loving and be convinced we are loved because these are all we need in the End. Amen. A blessed week to everyone!

Jesus wants YOU.

Lord My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul, 03 August 2025
Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle C
Ecclesiastes 1:2; 2:21-23 ><}}}*> Colossians 3:1-5, 9-11 ><}}}*> Luke 12:13-21

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

Our gospel this Sunday is very interesting as it is similar with what we have heard last July 20, the sixteenth Sunday when Jesus visited the home of Martha who asked him, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me by myself to do the serving? Tell her to help me” (Lk.10:40).

Compare that with our gospel today:

Someone in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, tell my brother to share the inheritance with me.” He replied to him, “Friend, who appointed me as your judge and arbitrator?” Then he said to the crowd, “Take care to guard against all greed, for though one may be rich, one’s life does not consist of possessions” (Luke 12:13-15).

*Photo by author, PDDM Chapel, Araneta Ave., QC, August 2024.*

“Tell my sister…tell my brother.”

How funny we waste energy complaining to Jesus about others when he is not interested at all because he is actually most interested with us! In Martha’s home and in this scene, the Lord shows us that he came here for each of us personally, as if telling us to stop all those pointing to others because each one of us will definitely be dealt with individually, personally by him in the end. But, are we ready like that rich man in the parable?

That is why Luke tells us this amusing anecdote in the journey of Jesus to Jerusalem to remind us anew that in the spirit of Christ’s teaching last week on prayer, he is most concerned with our relationship with God our Father – not with our petty quarrels on money and inheritance or politics. We have to stop that “holier-than-thou” attitude, of being sanctimonious pointing at others without looking deep into ourselves, “Why do you notice the splinter in your brother’s eye, but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own eye?” (Mt.7:1,3).

This Sunday, we hear one of Jesus Christ’s many warnings against relying on wealth, possession and even status for our well-being and security. He invites us to look deep into ourselves than look at others.

“Take care to guard against all greed, for though one may be rich, one’s life does not consist of possessions.”

A very tough warning from Jesus that sends chills down our spine. It is always easier to point at others than look into ourselves in responding to him, on what is to be “rich in the sight of God” we are all struggling with, though, admittedly many of us truly aspire to be.

There are so many anxieties and other feelings within each of us that push us against the words of Jesus not only here. And Jesus knows very well how we turn to many things other than God for our security and well-being like the rich man in the parable he told the crowd.

We call that “security blanket” which we use to cover ourselves that often temporarily relieves us of our fears and anxieties but ultimately gives us away in the end like that rich man in the parable. He thought he would be safe and secured by building a bigger barn for his “bountiful harvest” that year that would sustain all his needs. But, that night he was taken by the Lord and died, leaving everything behind him.

We can easily identify with that rich man in the parable who portrays what each of us harbors in the depth of our hearts of never having enough. Palaging kulang, palaging bitin at kapos ano man mayroon tayo. We are always afraid that what we have may not be enough that we want to increase, to have more of whatever we think gives us security and well-being in the face of life’s many exigencies and unpredictability.

But, when is enough really enough? In this age of affluence, we have totally forgotten about the value of contentment, of relying more to God than to ourselves. It is not really a question of what we have but of our attitude in what we have, no matter how much or how less that may be.

Of course, we need to be prudent and wise in responsibly planning for our future but Jesus tells us in this parable that what really matters in life is our relationship with God expressed in the Our Father last week. What we need to store in our “barn” is not material things but more of spiritual values like love, kindness, compassion, fidelity, mercy and compassion.

Jesus is inviting us today to examine and clean out of our “barn” to make room for God who alone matters in the end. Let God be the only possession we have who possesses us in the end – not our cellphones and gadgets nor our popularity nor negatives feelings like bitterness we have kept so long in our hearts.

Qoheleth in the first reading is neither promoting cynicism nor any negative thoughts about life but simply warned us of the great “sorrow and grief” of too much focus on things of the world that vanish like vapor. The reason we work so hard, fulfilling many tasks and obligations is not merely to earn a living and have nice homes, wonderful vacations here and abroad, education of children and better retirement; we work because we want to have fullness of life. That is why I prefer the Pilipino word for “work” – hanap buhay that literally means “to search life” because we work to find the meaning of life. But, what happens if we become enslaved by our jobs and professions while our possessions eventually possess us that in the process, we lost our very selves and those dearest to us in our relationships?

Fullness of life can only be found in God through Jesus who gave us himself totally on the Cross we receive every Mass in the Eucharist. That is why beginning this Sunday and in the next three weeks, we find Luke presenting to us various teachings of Jesus on the way to Jerusalem with a stress on the need to always consider the End, that is, God himself who alone gives us fullness of life. St. Paul speaks of this in the second reading that amid our many concerns in life, let us be focused into things of heaven that are eternal, not of earth that are passing.

Last Friday I read a beautiful story of a man taking care of his critically sick mother that he fell asleep by her side. When he woke up, she was gone forever. He checked their CCTV and saw how in her final moments, the mother saw her son not properly covered that she used all her remaining strength to pull the blanket over him. Then she closed her eyes and died peacefully. It was her final act of love: she tucked her son in bed the day he was born, she tucked him the day she died.

We reflected last Sunday that prayer changes us not the situations. This Sunday, let us pray to Jesus to help us clean and clear our “barn” of worldly things to make more room for God in ourselves to become better persons. And – beginning today – for us to stop pointing at others, asking Jesus to check on them; instead. let us focus on our personal transformation into Christ as better disciples and witnesses. Amen. Have a blessed week ahead! Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Our Lady of Fatima University, Valenzuela City (lordmychef@gmail.com).

Discipleship is prayer, a relationship

Lord My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul, 27 July 2025
Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle C
Genesis 18:20-32 ><}}}*> Colossians 2:12-14 ><}}}*> Luke 11:1-13

*Photo by author, the “Our Father” Church outside Jerusalem where he is believed to have taught his disciples how to pray.*

From the home of Martha and Mary, Jesus and his disciples proceeded on their journey to Jerusalem when the disciples saw him at prayer.

Of the four evangelists, Luke is the one who presents Jesus most at prayer, always making time to pray. The disciples noticed this importance of prayer for Jesus that they asked him to teach them how to pray.

More than teaching them the “Our Father”, Jesus again took the occasion to give the Twelve another lesson of things “to do” as a disciple we have seen in the past four weeks like greeting peace every home they visit as they proclaim the Kingdom of God is at hand (July 6, 14th Sunday); being a neighbor to everyone especially those in need in order to gain eternal life (July 13, 15th Sunday); and last week of choosing always the “only one thing needed” by every disciple which is to listen to him and his words.

This Sunday, Jesus deepens that by teaching us his disciples to always pray.

*Photo by author, Jerusalem Temple, May 2017.*

“And I tell you, ask and you will receive; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives; one who seeks, finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. What father among you would hand his son a snake when he asks for a fish? Or hand him a scorpion when he asks for an egg? If you then, who are wicked, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?” (Luke 11:9-13)

More than the mere recitation of a prayer like the “Our Father”, Jesus shows us this Sunday that prayer is the essence of discipleship that is also a relationship with God. That is why he began his lesson in prayer by telling the Twelve, “when you pray, say: Father” that clearly indicates a relationship.

During his time, God was regarded as Someone totally powerful, far from humans whose name could not even be mentioned for its holiness or “otherness”. When Jesus taught to call God “Abba” which is the equivalent to our “dad” or “daddy”, people were scandalized for God is above all to be accorded with the highest respect, never taken on a personal level with such terms of endearment like in human relationships.

Jesus clarified in many instances not only here that though our God is all-powerful and all-knowing, he is a person like us who relates with others, who is so loving and merciful to us he considers his beloved children because he is our Father. Here we find Jesus already bringing God closest to us not only as “God-with-us” but also “God-in-us” so close with each of us as our breath in the Holy Spirit! Jesus proved all these teachings on Good Friday when he died on the Cross.

*Photo by author, a bass relief of Jesus Christ’s “agony in the garden” at Gethsemane, May 2019.*

Prayer as a relationship is more than telling God what we need which he already knows even before we pray; prayer is more of listening to God for what he wants from us which is to become one in him in Jesus Christ.

I have realized even before my ordination to the priesthood that Jesus calls us not really for tasks he wants us to do but primarily that we may be one in him in an intimate relationship. That is why since my theological studies, I have stopped praying anything for me because God knows what I need most; I pray more for my family and friends while praying only one thing for me – that in every here and now, I am in him until my death.

This intimacy with God in prayer calls for openness that after teaching them the Our Father, Jesus encouraged the disciples to persevere in prayer with a parable of a friend asking for bread, “I tell you, if he does not get up to give the visitor the loaves because of their friendship, he will get up to give him whatever he needs because of his persistence” (Lk.11:8).

Perseverance in prayer is not a kind of “holy nagging” of God in order to change his mind so that he gives our requests. Perseverance in prayer opens us to God’s gifts and plans we acquiesce to with joy. Many complain of God not granting their prayers when in fact, the problem is many hardly pray at all, wearing God with their words without listening to him who has better plans for us by giving us something better than what we are asking for!

And the best we can have is always him – God himself.

See how Jesus used the transitive verbs “to ask” and “to seek” that both require a direct object when he simply declared “ask and you shall receive, seek and you shall find.” What shall we ask for or seek at all? He did not indicate its direct objects because the answer is only God, as in ask only for God, seek only God.

When we are open to God and into a relationship in him, we are fulfilled, needing nothing at all except him who is everything.

Prayer changes us, not things and situations. There will always be sickness and death, calamities and trials in our lives which prayer cannot prevent from happening. What prayer does is make us stronger in dealing with the storms in our lives, making us better persons and disciples.

No saint had become holy without prayer which is the gateway and foundation of discipleship. This is the whole point of Abraham “bargaining” with God in the first reading: Sodom and Gomorrah were eventually destroyed because no one was left praying and therefore, no one was doing good in the forsaken cities. In their lack of any prayer at all, they have become insensitive of others and of nature that led to their destruction. These are the same dangers our present generation is falling into – a complete disregard of God and others including nature. We have become insensitive of our selves, of others and of the world that we find it so bad, so filled with evil, and so sick. How sad that fewer and fewer people are left praying with so many others not having any qualms at all in missing the Sunday Mass these days.

I have always loved this photo by our friend Ms. JJ Jimeno of GMA-7 News of a man who seemed to have lost his head in deep prayer inside the Prayer Room of the Holy Sacrifice Parish in UP Diliman last June 2019.

Prayer makes us sensitive of God, of our self and of others where we discern what is good and evil, learning what God has in store for us. The more we pray, the more we become sensitive of ourselves and of others and of the world. Yes, we lose ourselves in prayer so that it is Christ who lives in us as St. Paul asserted (Gal.2:20). Contrary to claims by some, prayer is not a flight from reality but actually a dive into the true realities of life as St. Paul tells us in today’s second reading: when we are “raised to life in Christ” (Col. 2:13) in prayers, we are abled to follow Jesus with our own crosses sustained by the gifts of the Holy Spirit in making our society more humane and just.

When we pray, we lose ourselves and we are filled with God so that his kingdom comes when his will is done here on earth as it is in heaven. Amen. Have a blessed week ahead, everyone!

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

Full presence in Christ

Lord My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul, 20 July 2025
Sunday in the Sixteenth Week of Ordinary Time, Cycle C
Genesis 18:1-10 ><}}}*> Colossians 1:24-28 ><}}}*> Luke 10:38-42

*Photo by author, Tagaytay City, February 2023.*

After telling us what we must do to inherit eternal life through his parable of the Good Samaritan last Sunday, Jesus continued his journey to Jerusalem with his disciples with a stop over today in the home of the sisters Martha and Mary.

The visit became an occasion for Jesus – the Good Samaritan – to expound on the more important things we his disciples must “do” as exemplified in the contrasting attitudes of the two sisters.

*“Jesus in the House of Martha and Mary”, painting by Johannes Vermeer (1654) from en.wikipedia.org.*

Jesus entered a village where a woman whose name was Martha welcomed him. She had a sister named Mary who sat beside the Lord at his feet listening to him speak. Martha, burdened with much serving, came to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me by myself to do the serving? Tell her to help me.” The Lord said to her in reply, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things. There is need of only one thing. Mary had chosen the better part and it will not be taken from her” (Luke 10:38-42).

This is the third consecutive Sunday Jesus gives us the top things we his disciples must always “do”: two Sundays ago he instructed us to represent him well by greeting everyone with peace while proclaiming that the kingdom of God is at hand (14th Sunday); last week, Jesus asked us to consider everyone especially those in need as a “neighbor” with whom we must show mercy at all times.

Today’s teaching of Jesus is of capital importance in this series on discipleship before the Lord caps it next Sunday with the very foundation of discipleship which is prayer.

*An icon of Jesus visiting his friends, the siblings Sts. Lazarus, Mary and Martha. Photo from crossroadsinitiative.com*.

"Martha, 
burdened with much serving, 
came to him and said..."

Only Luke has this unique story in the home of Martha and Mary.

Far from the simplistic views of a distinction between “contemplative” and “active” approaches in discipleship, Luke invites us not only to enter the home of Martha and Mary but most of all our Lord and Master Jesus Christ to experience and realize the deeper realities of being his disciple.

There is more at issue here than a conflict of duties of listening to the Word like Mary and doing the work like Martha. Jesus is not telling us to be like Mary listening more to the word – and forget all about the work to be done and accomplished? Not at all.

Jesus reproached Martha for being anxious and upset about many things in life that she had forgotten the more essential which is to listen to Christ himself.

Luke’s gospel teems with instances where we find Jesus warning his disciples against being overwhelmed with cares of the world like in the parable of the sower where he mentioned those seeds that fell among thorns were choked by the anxieties and pleasures of the world that they failed to be fruitful (Lk.8:14). In chapter 12 we find Jesus twice repeating in asking his disciples “not to worry” on how to answer their persecutors for the Holy Spirit will teach them (Lk.12:11-12) and immediately after that, “not to worry” again about what to eat or wear for life is more than food and body is more than clothing (Lk.12:22-23). There are many other instances in all gospel accounts we find Jesus denouncing too much focus on things of the world that are passing and worst, detract us his disciples in confessing faith in him as the Christ who had come and will come again at the end of time.

“Jesus in the House of Martha and Mary”, painting by Erasmus Quellinus II and Jan Fyt (1650) from en.wikipedia.org. See the folly of Martha’s worries and distractions with the enormous amount of food being prepared.

Jesus clarifies in the example of Mary that the first priority of every disciple is to listen to the Word who is himself. More than the division of time allotted for “contemplation” and “action” by every disciple, Jesus reminds us that the more we listen to him, the more we do his work; and the more we do his work, the more we desire to return to him and listen again and again to him.

Contemplation and action always go together. We cannot overdo the other and neglect the other. The moment we make a distinction between the two, problems arise like what we find in the church.

When priests and bishops concentrate only in contemplation, oblivious to the social conditions of the people, their proclamation of the Gospel is diluted as they fail to represent well Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the living God. When they are so immersed into social action and advocacies, business endeavors including entertainment in the Mass without contemplation, Christ is detached from the whole picture that people could no longer see nor feel the spiritual nature of the Church with everything becoming a show, empty of any sense of the divine and sacred. In both instances of abuses, either of contemplation or action in the Church, it is her credibility that is eroded as the Body of Christ with a growing number of the faithful disillusioned with priests and bishops more identified with the rich and powerful.

"There is need of only one thing."

Abraham in today’s first reading showed us the most beautiful example of discipleship. Like Martha, Abraham was also gracious in receiving his visitors at Mamre believed to be the Blessed Trinity in the form of angels; but, unlike Martha who was so concerned with her chores that she had forgotten Jesus, Abraham was intently focused on his visitors as “he waited on them under the tree while they ate” (Gen.18:8).

Like Mary listening at the feet of Jesus, Abraham was fully present in God while in Mamre. That is discipleship – to have that full presence in the Lord which is the “only one thing needed” of us which is to receive God’s gift of himself to us, of his Word who became flesh Jesus Christ who enables us to do his works by first recognizing him in ourselves and in one another as our neighbor.

This is the reason why even inside prison, St. Paul felt Jesus Christ’s coming and presence that he rejoiced in his sufferings as part of his ministry in proclaiming Christ as the hope for glory (Col.1:24, 27).

Last week I read in one of the blogs I follow by an American nun, of how she attended many years ago to a delivery man who died of a heart attack in the ER of a Philadelphia hospital. Part of her ministry was to gather the things found in the chest pocket of the man’s shirt so she could inform the relatives of his death: there was a well-used prayer book, a thin wallet with a few dollars inside, a lottery ticket and a picture of his grandchildren. It was so touching how she narrated these simple things found in the man’s chest pocket as those closest to his heart (https://lavishmercy.com/2025/07/12/the-amoroso-man/).

That hit me so hard because even in this age of smartphones, I still carry a little notebook and pen in my chest pocket where I write my schedules as well as occasional notes on everything I notice and read. Deep inside me after reading that blog, I wondered where is Jesus Christ in all those notes and activities in my pocket notebook closest to my heart.

Dearest Lord Jesus,
make me fully present before
you always, even in my activities
and distractions for it is only in you
I am fulfilled. Amen.

Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Our Lady of Fatima University
Valenzuela City