Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul, 14 November 2025 Friday in the Thirty-Second Week of Ordinary Time, Year I Wisdom 13:1-9 ><]]]]'> + ><]]]]'> + ><]]]]'> Luke 17:26-37
Photo by author, Bucharest, Romania, 08 Noovember 2025.
How true are your words today, God our loving Father, when we admire the beauty and power of the natural world like the sun, moon, stars, fire, wind including our very selves - and yet fail to find you, O Lord, in the process.
All men were by nature foolish who were in ignorance of God, and who from the good things seen did not succeed in knowing him who is, and from studying the works did not discern the artisan… For from the greatness and the beauty of created things tyeir original author, by analoogy, is seen. But yet, for these the blame is less; for they indeed have gone astray perhaps, though they seek God and wish to find him. For they search busily among his works, but are distracted by what they see, because the things seen are fair (Wisdom 13:1, 5-7).
Heal me, O Lord, of my spiritual nearsightedness, when I choose to be myopic in looking at things and self that I fail to see beyond to find you; awaken my awareness of your presence in silence and emptiness; let me go beyond the marvels of nature and take them into my heart to find you, to hear you, to experience you; heal my spiritual myopia, of looking not beyond what is in front of me so as not to be "As it was in the days of Noah... they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage up to the day Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all" (Luke 17:26, 27); dear Jesus, send me your Holy Spirit to open my eyes to where God our Father is present in my life today. Amen.
Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Our Lady of Fatima University Valenzuela City
Photo by author, Bucharest, Romania, 08 Noovember 2025.
Lord My Chef Daily Recipe by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Sacred Heart Novena Day 3, 20 June 2025
Detalye ng painting ng Sacred Heart of Jesus sa Visitation Monastery, Marclaz, France mula sa godongphoto / Shutterstock.
Kamangha-mangang pakinggan mga obserbasyon ng Panginoong Jesus sa maraming bagay sa ating buhay na nagpapatunay na taong-tao nga siya katulad natin. Nakatapak siya sa lupa at dama lahat ng ating karanasan at pinagdaraanan katulad nitong pahayag niya sa ebanghelyo sa araw na ito na muling tumugma sa ating pagnonobena sa Sacred Heart.
Sinabi ni Jesus, “Huwag kayong mag-impok ng mga kayamanan dito sa lupa; dito’y may naninirang tanga at kalawang at may nakakapasok na magnanakaw. Sa halip, impukin ninyo ay mga kayamanan sa langit; doo’y walang naninirang tanga at kalawang, at walang nakakapasok na magnanakaw. Sapagkat kung saan naroon ang inyong kayamanan, naroon din naman ang inyong puso” (Mateo 6:19-21).
Higit pa sa isang obserbasyon, inaanyayahan at hinahamon din tayo ngayon ni Jesus na suriing mabuti upang matapat nating maamin sa sarili kung saan nga ba nakatuon ang puso natin. Ano o sino nga ba ang ating tanging yaman o tunay na kayamanan sa buhay?
Hindi pa rin mabura sa aking isipan isang katotohanang tumambad sa akin nitong nakaraang Christmas party sa opisina kung saan noong parlor game na “bring me” ay tinanong ng emcee kung “ano ang una mong hinahanap pagkagising sa umaga?”
Sagot ko ay salamin upang mabasa ko ang oras subalit laking gulat ko na ang tumpak na sagot daw ay cellphone!
Nagsurvey ako sa elevator hanggang sa Misa noong hapon na iyon sa chapel maging noong Simbang Gabi sa parokya at ang sagot ng bayan – cellphone pa rin!
Naisip-isip ko, wala bang naghahanap ng tsinelas o kape o ng asawa o ng anak man lang pagkagising kungdi cellphone?
Paano na ang Diyos, may naghahanap pa ba sa kanya tuwing umaga? Siguro kapag mayroon na lang krisis o matinding pagsubok ang tao sa kanyang buhay. Ngunit kung sagana at maayos ang pamumuhay, mga materyal na bagay ating inaatupag marahil, lalo na ang cellphone at social media.
Pagmasdan kung paanong halos sambahin ng mga tao ngayon ang cellphone na pirming dala-dala hanggang sa loob ng simbahan o palikuran. Sa mga sasakyan at tahanan at kung saan-saan, nakakagulat makita lalo mga bata nakasubsob ang ulo sa cellphone. Ang malungkot, isa sa mga unang inaalam ng karamihan ngayon ay kung anong cellphone ang gamit mo dahil dito na sinusukat ang pagkatao lalo na kapag gamit mo ay iPhone 16 Pro-Max! May nagtatanong pa nga kung “fully paid” daw ba iyong Pro-Max?
At hindi biro ang halaga ng mga cellphone ngayon kaya nga para tayong mga baliw hindi lang sa pagbili nito kungdi sa labis na pagpapahalaga. Pagmasdan kapag nawawala ang cellphone nino man – hindi mapakali at parang kiti-kiti sa pagkapkap ng buong katawan at pag-aapuhap sa kapaligiran para matagpuan nawawalang cellphone. Kay saklap na katotohanan subalit halos lahat tayo ay guilty, your honor.
Larawan kuha ng may-akda, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, 2015.
Sa ikatlong araw din na ito ng ating nobenaryo sa Kamahal-Mahalang Puso ni Jesus, tayo man ay kanyang inaanyayahan na maging malinaw at matalas ating mga mata upang makita natin higit na mahahalaga sa buhay.
“Ang mata ang pinakailaw ng katawan. Kaya’t kung malinaw ang iyong mata, maliliwanagan ang buo mong katawan. Ngunit kung malabo ang iyong mata, madirimlan ang buo mong katawan. Kaya’t kung ang liwanag na nasa iyo ay kadiliman pala, napakadilim niyan!” (Mateo 6:22-23)
Kapag malabo ating mga mata, kapag mga bagay na materyal lang pinapansin at binibigyang halaga at ayaw nang tumanaw sa malalalim na katotohanan sa buhay, iba ang kahihiligan ng ating puso.
Mananatili tayong salat at dukha sa tunay na kayamanan sa Diyos na tanging sa kanya lamang matatagpuan sa pamamagitan ng ating mga ugnayan sa ating mga kapwa lalo na sa ating pamilya at mga kamag-anak pati na mga kaibigan. Sa ating pakikipag-ugnayan, doon lumalalim at yumayaman ating katauhan sa iba’t ibang karanasan ating napagdaraanan lalo na ng mga pagsubok at dagok sa buhay tulad ng hindi mahalin, tanggihan o talikuran at pagtaksilan, masaktan at mabigo, magkasakit at maghikahos sa buhay, maging mamatayan.
Iyan ang itinuturo ni San Pablo sa unang pagbasa: para sa kanya, ang ipinagmamalaki niyang higit ay ang kanyang mga kahinaan at kabiguan dahil doon nahahayag kapangyarihan at kadakilaan ni Jesus. Taliwas at salungat sa gawi ng mundo lalo ngayon na puro payabangan, pahusayan, pasikatan mga tao lalo na sa social media.
Subalit batid din natin naman ang masaklap na katotohanan na sa kabila ng maraming karangyaan at kayamanan, kapangyarihan at katanyagan, lalo namang naliligaw at nawawala mga tao sa ngayon. Kulang at kulang pa rin ating kagalakan at kaganapan o fulfillment sa buhay.
Wika nga ni San Agustin, “Ginawa mo kami para sa Iyo, O Panginoon, at hindi mapapanatag aming puso hanggat hindi napapahingalay sa Iyo” (You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you”).
Ngayong ikatlong araw ng ating pagsisiyam sa Kamahal-Mahalang Puso ni Jesus, buong kababaang loob tayo dumulog sa kanya at ilahad ating mga pusong dukha at salat sa tuwa at kagalakan, ang ating mga puso na taksil at puno ng kasalanan. Higit sa lahat, atin ding mga puso na sugatan sa maraming sakit at hapis na pinagdaanan. Hayaan nating linisin, hilumin at panibaguhin ni Jesus ating mga puso upang siya na ang lumuklok at manahan dito yaman rin lamang na Siya ang ating tanging yaman. Managing tayo:
O Jesus na mayroong maamo at mapagkumbabang Puso, Gawin Mong ang puso nami'y matulad sa Puso Mo! Amen.
Quiet Storm by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, 10 June 2025 Homily on the advanced birthday celebration and book launching last June 4 of Dr. Vic Santos Jr., President of Fatima University Medical Center in Valenzuela and Antipolo
Photo by author, Manila House, BGC, Taguig, 04 June 2025.
We heard today in the first reading St. Luke’s account of St. Paul’s departure from Miletus to Rome for his trial and eventual martyrdom. We are told how the priests and leaders of the Ephesus community cried as St. Paul bid goodbye. It was a major turning point in the Apostle’s life.
We too are gathered tonight at a major turning point in the life of Dr. Vic as he officially becomes an elder among us, a senior sixty cent. There are no crying as we so filled with joy celebrating his gift of life. Like the Ephesians who were so glad in being a part of the life and mission of St. Paul, we praise and thank God for Dr. Vic’s gift of self especially to us, his family and friends and colleagues.
I’d like to focus your attention to St. Paul’s speech where he discussed how he had used his hands in his ministry, “You know very well that these very hands have served my needs and my companions. In every way I have shown you that by hard work of that sort we must help the weak, and keep in mind the words of the Lord Jesus who himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive'” (Acts 20:34-35).
What a beautiful imagery of the hardworking hands of St. Paul who was a tent maker by profession who earned money for his own needs so as not to be a burden to the community.
With his caring and loving hands, people accepted Jesus Christ and Christianity.
With his gentle and kind hands the people saw and experienced the love of God, felt more convinced than ever of God’s presence among them.
With his strong hands as an Apostle of Jesus, the people felt the discipline of God.
Photo by author, Manila House, BGC, Taguig, 04 June 2025.
It is the same thing why we are here tonight. So many sights were restored by the gentle hands of Dr. Vic that helped us to better or even see again.
Dr. Vic’s hands toiled not only in the clinic and OR but also in the tennis court and golf course as well as the kitchen that reminded us of God’s loving presence among us, of the Divine grip that everything will be fine so we can enjoy life. The hands of Dr. Vic as an ophthalmologist, as a husband and a dad, a brother and a friend and a colleague tell us we are in good hands. Like the hands of St. Paul, his hands allowed us to be touched by God’s love and mercy, kindness and forgiveness.
But there is something else about the hands of Dr. Vic I would like you to reflect upon. Like St. Paul, Dr. Vic’s hands not only restored sight but most of all allowed us to have vision, of seeing beyond physical or material things.
St. Paul’s hands were so gifted that more than half of the New Testament writings were from him; in fact, he was the first to write about Jesus Christ, way ahead of the gospel writers. By his writings, we are able to have a glimpse about God in Jesus Christ and eternal life.
Photo by Dra. Mary Anne Santos, Manila House, BGC, Taguig, 04 June 2025.
With his gifted hands in writing not just prescriptions but also elegant prose and essays, Dr. Vic opened our eyes to see the deeper realities and truth behind our many common experiences in life. His hands seem to have eyes too that he can weave a beautiful tapestry of the joy of living side by side with its many pains and hurts, even losses and griefs, failures and disappointments. Dr. Vic’s hands are so precise not only in surgery but especially in writing, giving us hope to never give up, to always forge on, and be open to many possibilities in life.
Like St. Paul, Dr. Vic can boldly proclaim of the timeless truth of Christ’s teaching that “it is better to give than receive” because he had experienced God’s abundant blessings through his very hands that were always opened, ready to work and take on new tasks, willing to hold others hands to lead and guide them to healing and new life.
Salamuch po, Dr Vic in sharing with us your blessed hands that taught us to find God we rarely see due to our many blindness in life.
Your hands did not only heal our sight but gave us a vision of God present in us and among us always. We pray like Jesus in the gospel tonight that the Father may consecrate you with his sacred hands in order to bless you with more fulfillment and fruitfulness on your 60th birthday. With Dra. Mary Anne and your sons – Angelo, Francis, and Vince – may God fill your hands with his blessings, holiness and healing. Amen.
Photo by author, Manila House, BGC, Taguig, 04 June 2025.
Quiet Storm by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, 20 March 2025
Photo by author, Canyon Woods Resort Club, Laurel, Batangas, 15 March 2025.
“And, when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.” – Paulo Coelho, “The Alchemist”
It is exactly what I am experiencing these days since we had our university management team-building seminar in Batangas last weekend when my realizations there were reinforced in my ongoing annual personal retreat here in Novaliches that started Monday evening.
It is a moment of consolation when suddenly, the whole universe conspires not only to get whatever you want but simply to affirm you being on the right track, giving you the proverbial pat on the shoulder that everything is going fine, everything falling into its right places.
Photo by author with flash, Canyon Woods Resort Club, Laurel, Batangas, 15 March 2025.
Pardon me for writing for the third time about perspectives and point-of-view (POV) as I could not contain the joy of the fruits of my prayers.
Another thing is the fact that when I took these photos randomly, there was no plan at all in writing about the subject of perspective. Never thought how these photos would turn out to be pieces of a jigsaw puzzle on perspective and POV.
We have reflected the other day how our perspectives of things and people as well as events contribute to the understanding or breakdown in communication as they reveal our inner thoughts and dispositions. It is not only important at how we narrate a story from whatever POV but most of all, at how open are we in refining our perspectives so that we achieve unity.
(More photos from our team-building in Batangas.)
Lights at the lobby of Canyon Woods taken from below.
Sunset from my room…
sunrise from same room.
Delighful scene of window and moon at night.
During our Holy Hour Tuesday night to cap our first day of prayers, I realized something very close to our subject of perspective while praying over the following gospel passage regarding the Mystery of God:
Jesus told his disciples, “The lamp of the body is the eye. If your eye is sound, your whole body will be filled with light; but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be in darkness. And if the light in you is darkness, how great will the darkness be” (Matthew 6:22-23).
Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, 17 March 2025.
When we have the right perspective in life, we get a clear vision of life too.
That is why in our previous blog we have said we need to refine our perspective like an artist who has to spend and invest time not only in his/her studies but most especially in his/her dealing and interactions with people to come up with an obra maestra.
Living, after all, is an art, of our participation in the grace of God to bring out the best in each of us. St. Paul was very clear about this perspective regarding leadership and community life that both aim to show the giftedness of every member.
Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, 17 March 2025.
Our perspectives are put to the test in moments of darkness like when we are in trials and tribulations, difficulties and crises. It is during darkness in life when people are distinguished from merely having sight or with a vision. According to the American writer Helen Keller, the worst thing that can happen in life is for anyone with sight not to have any vision at all.
Of course, we all know Helen was blind who wrote some of the loveliest poetry of her time.
Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, 17 March 2025.
Many people just have sight that can be easily blurred that eventually affect their perspective. It is more than looking from the inside or from the outside (POV) but of how we see or look at everything and everyone from within us.
Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, 17 March 2025.
A person of vision always sees beyond and therefore achieves more, always more fulfilled and fruitful than those who merely sees things, people and events as they are.
Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, 17 March 2025.
People with the right perspective will always have vision in seeing everything despite many obstacles in life. They remain focused on what they “see” that others could not see at all. With a right perspective and proper vision, that person still sees when “darkness is his only light and hopelessness is his only hope” (T. S. Eliot in Four Quartets).
Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, 17 March 2025.
My spiritual director since 2016, Jesuit Father Danny Gozar asked me during outside prayer periods that I “deliberately appreciate” God’s creation like feeling the gentle breeze, walking barefooted to be caressed by the green grass soaked in morning dew, feel the burning heat of the sun and if it rains – which it did briefly – try to get wet to feel the raindrops.
Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, 17 March 2025.
What struck me most were the many sounds of nature here in Sacred Heart Novitiate due to its mini-forest.
Crows caw the whole day along with the crickets while the ugly gecko fills the whole place with its cries of tu…ko! tu…ko!
Their sounds were so musical to my ears, sounds I have last heard decades ago while growing up in the province but almost totally gone in the city.
What is amusing is how with merely the sounds they make, we can form images of how these creatures look like!
The same thing with God himself.
When we are formed in Jesus Christ’s perspectives in life, everything around us becomes a reminder of God’s presence, of himself with us. We cannot see him but with his gift of vision, we see him. And follow him.
That is why, with proper perspective comes vision. Then, mission!
Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, 17 March 2025.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Wednesday in the Thirty-Third Week of Ordinary Time, Year II, 20 November 2024 Revelation 4:1-11 <*((((>< + ><))))*> Luke 19:11-28
Photo by author, sunrise in Dumaguete City, 11 November 2024.
How lovely are your words these past days, dear Lord, of Bartimaeus gaining his sight and Zacchaeus being raised in his stature before you in his conversion.
We are Bartimaeus and Zacchaeus!
Grant us, Jesus vision more than sight to see beyond material things so that we may aspire always to rise above our many shortness in life.
Open our hearts and our minds like John to experience a vision of God, of heaven amid all the darkness and sufferings in this life.
I, John, had a vision of an open door to heaven, and I heard the trumpetlike voice that had spoken to me before, saying, “Come up here and I will show you what must happen afterwards” (Revelation 4:1).
You are beyond descriptions, God our Father like what John saw in his vision; teach us to submit ourselves to You in prayer and silence than manipulate who You really are so beyond understanding!
“He replied, ‘I tell you, to everyone who has, more will be given, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. Now as for those enemies of mine who did not want me as their king, bring them here and slay them before me.'” After Jesus had said this, he proceeded on his journey up to Jerusalem (Luke 19:26-28).
Like Zacchaeus yesterday, he realized that to rise in one's stature is actually to go down, to be humble to allow Jesus raise us up in His loving mercy; take away our worldly thoughts about "Jerusalem" and learn to lose ourselves in You, Jesus, to truly see the glory awaiting us in You. Amen.
Photo by author, Bohol Sea from Salum Dive Resort, Dauin, Negros Or., 10 November 2024.
The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B, 27 October 2024 Jeremiah 31:7-9 ><}}}}*> Hebrews 5:1-6 ><}}}}*> Mark 10:46-52
Photo by author, Nagsasa Cove, San Antonio, Zambales, 19 October 2024.
“Seeing” is a word with so many meanings for us. More than its literal sense of having eyesight, “seeing” is used as a metaphor like referring to understanding when we say “I see your point” or poetically as in to see with one’s heart.
Filipino mothers have a very funny, unique expressing about seeing when telling us children to look for something that if we could not find it, every Nanay fumes with a warning saying, “kapag hindi mo nakita iyan, makikita mo sa akin!”
Whatever that means, it shows “seeing” reveals to us a lot about ourselves and others, of life and most especially of God.
Illustration from linkedin.com.
As Jesus was leaving Jericho with his disciples and a sizable crowd, Bartimaeus, a blind man, the son of Timaeus, sat by the roadside begging. On hearing that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, “Jesus, son of David, have pity on me”… he kept calling out all the more, “Son of David, have pity on me.” Jesus stopped and said, “Call him”… Jesus said to him in reply, “What do you want me to do for you?” The blind man replied to him, “Master, I want to see.” Jesus told him, “Go your way; your faith has saved you.” Immediately he received his sight and followed him on the way (Mark 10:46-48, 49, 51-52).
See Mark’s gift in storytelling in this second crucial teaching by Jesus on discipleship sandwiched between His third prediction of His Pasch and entrance to Jerusalem.
See the contrast between James and John “wanting” fame and power by seating beside Jesus in glory and Bartimaeus “wanting” to see Jesus: the brothers were rejected after being told “you do not know what you are asking” whereas the beggar’s plea was granted after asking him “what do you want me to do for you?”
Clearly, this is about what we see in Jesus, of how ironic like James and John that we who have eyesight and closer to Jesus do not have the vision of a blind beggar like Bartimaeus asking to see more of Jesus, more of faith, more of life!
The scene has many layers so beautifully assembled together by Mark for us to see beyond our sight in order to have a clearer vision of discipleship and ultimately of God in eternal life.
On hearing that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, "Jesus, son of David, have pity on me." And many rebuked him, telling him to be silent. But the more he kept calling out all the more, "Son of David, have pity on me."
Photo by author, Jericho City, the Holy Land, May 2019.
Though blind, Bartimaeus “saw” Jesus, calling Him “Son of David” which is the messianic title of the coming Savior so awaited by the Jewish people. It is a title so unique among them, referred with David in the Old Testament being their greatest king and deliverer. Jeremiah tells us in the first reading today of how “the Lord has delivered his people… gathering the blind and the lame” (Jer. 31:7,8) now fulfilled in Jesus Christ.
How amazing that Bartimaeus without eyesight staying at the sides of the road of Jericho being able to “see” Jesus as his Savior, asking most especially the vision to see eternity like that man who approached Jesus two Sundays ago. The big difference is that Bartimaeus was convinced of his faith in Jesus based on what have heard about Him.
Very crucial here are the cries of Bartimaeus to Jesus as “Son of David”. See how the crowds around him tried to silence him but the more he shouted aloud to Jesus. That is more than persistence in prayer but a conviction in the very person of Jesus as Savior, as Messiah, as God, truly a Brother and a Friend.
Bartimaeus reminds us to go back to Caesarea Philippi where Jesus asked the Twelve and us everyday, “who do you that I am?” Our answer to that question is essential because it is on that conviction and faith in Jesus where our prayers and prayer life itself are essentially hinged on. Now, compare what James and John saw in Jesus last Sunday with their request and with what the blind Bartimaeus saw in asking for his sight.
When we truly know Jesus, then we know what we want from Him. Many times in life, when we feel so blinded, when everything seems so dark we could not see where we are, who our friends are, when all we can do is simply cry like Bartimaeus, whispering Jesus, Jesus… that is when we unconsciously see Him right beside us.
Photo by Dra. Mylene A. Santos, MD, Katmon Nature Sanctuary & Beach Resort, Infanta, Quezon, 2020.
As Jesus was leaving Jericho with his disciples and a sizable crowd, Bartimaeus, a blind man, the son of Timaeus, sat by the roadside begging... And many rebuked him, telling him to be silent.
See my dear friends how in this scene those traveling with Jesus looked upon Bartimaeus as an interruption on the journey to Jerusalem. It seemed like a distraction but the truth is, Jesus saw Bartimaeus as the very point itself of His journey!
We have seen this year how Jesus visited even the most unlikely places of pagan territories, of where lepers are even Samaritans to heal and speak to them. Jesus is always passing by in our lives but, are we there to meet Him?
Recall those failures and disasters that punctuated our lives, when we saw them as distractions and interruptions that have delayed and even set aside many of our plans, but, look now how those disasters were actually providential that led us to success.
When we review our lives, we see God truly writing straight with crooked lines with those countless times when He turned our failures into triumphs, sadness into joy, losses into gains. It was during those blinding moments in life when we were actually able to see clearly our selves, our family and friends, and most especially, God in Jesus Christ.
This is what the author of the Letter to the Hebrews is telling us in the second reading, of Jesus the Son of God, our eternal high priest exceedingly better and perfect than any high priest “able to deal patiently with the ignorant and erring, for he himself is beset by weakness” (Heb. 5:2). Jesus is the Son of God who transforms not only water into wine or bread into His Body but most especially us like the blind Bartimaeus into whole persons again. The key is to keep our sights on Him, to see Him more clearly so that we can follow Him closely.
Photo by Dra. Mylene A. Santos, MD, Katmon Nature Sanctuary & Beach Resort, Infanta, Quezon, 2020.
Jesus said to him in reply, "What do you want me to do for you?" The blind man replied to him, "Master, I want to see."
Jesus today is asking us too, “What do you want me to do for you?” What would our request be? What do we want? Jesus wants us to focus our sights to Him alone.
Discipleship is never about us but always Jesus, only Jesus who invites this Sunday to take a sincere look into ourselves like Bartimaeus, without alibis and excuses to root out whatever that keeps us from seeing Him truly like self-centeredness and selfishness or preoccupation with wealth and fame, or pleasures and comfort.
To see Jesus truly like Bartimaeus is to be like a child, to die into one’s self by “throwing aside” whatever we have, “springing up to come to Jesus”. That is when we discover too that the more we see Jesus, the more we realize that Jesus gives us more than what we ask Him because He is actually never far from us especially when we cry out to Him!
To see Jesus truly like Bartimaeus is to leave the sides and walk the main roads with Jesus to Jerusalem, up to His crucifixion. In doing so, we must learn to always stop for others struggling in their blindness to see Jesus too.
Most of all, to see Jesus like Bartimaeus is to keep on asking Him, “Master, I want to see” so that we keep on experiencing a new way of seeing Jesus in life’s many complexities these days that have rendered so many of us blinded by the enticing lures of the world. Amen.And, see yah! Have a new way of seeing life and others this week in Jesus!
Photo by the author, Pundaquit Mountains in San Antonio, Zambales at the back of Nagsasa Cove, 19 October 2024.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Friday in the Thirty-fourth Week of Ordinary Time, Year I, 01 December 2023 Daniel 7:2-14 ><]]]]'> + ><]]]]'> + ><]]]]'> Luke 21:29-33
God our loving Father, open our eyes to see beyond this world, to have vision not just sights; like Daniel your Prophet and Jesus your Son, enable us to see beyond material things that are superficial in nature.
Let us see not the future but see the deeper realities of life and of this world, to identify and recognize the beasts among us and within us that enslave us to sin; let us have the vision of your grand plans for us in heaven as we aspire to build a more humane society here on earth by seeing and sharing in the vision of Jesus Christ of life's fulness found only in you, O God; let us see your vision of timeless values taught and and exemplified to us by Jesus on the Cross.
May we remain focused on Jesus Christ and his Second Coming while in this world that is passing even in the midst of dryness and emptiness of life. Amen.
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