Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Monday, Second Week in Ordinary Time, Year II, 19 January 2026
1 Samuel 15:16-23     <*((((><  +  ><))))*>     Mark 2:18-22

It is still too early,
Lord Jesus Christ
but every moment is 
always a "happy hour" 
in you as you speak of
new wine into fresh wineskins:

Likewise, no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the skins are wuined. Rather, new wine in poured into fresh wineskins” (Mark 2:22).

Teach me, Jesus
to have a "new mind in Christ"
(1 Cor. 2:16),
to truly fast my mind
and my heart
by emptying myself
of so many things like
beliefs and suppositions
that prevent me from
welcoming you into myself;
turn me into a fresh wineskin,
Lord by discarding
my old self
that has become my comfort zone
of complacency
and mediocrity;
teach me obedience,
Jesus that I may truly
appreciate and realize the true
meaning of our many traditions
like fasting and prayer
that lead to glorifying you
and union in you;
forgive me on many occasions
of acting and believing
like King Saul
of justifying disobedience,
insisting on my own
understanding
and seeing of things.

Many times,
indeed,
we "burst" because
 we never have you
in us, Jesus,
for we are so filled
 with our old selves.
Amen.