Welcoming 2026 with Mary

Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Thursday, Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, 01 January 2026
Numbers 6:22-27 ><}}}}*> Galatians 4:4-7 ><}}}}*> Luke 2:16-21

*“The Adoration of the Shepherds”, a painting of the Nativity scene by Italian artist Giorgione before his death at a very young age of 30 in 1510.*

Still a blessed Merry Christmas to everyone! Please continue greeting one another with a Merry Christmas until January 11, 2026, the Feast of the Lord’s Baptism that closes the Christmas Season.

Keep greeting Merry Christmas even on this new year’s day because what we celebrate today is the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God – not the New Year! Remember we had our new year last first Sunday of Advent, evening of November 29 and the 30th.

Stop announcing our New Year’s Mass. Our Mass today is Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God which is the Eighth Day within the Octave of Christmas.

It is the oldest feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary that celebrates the mystery of her being the Mother of Jesus Christ who is true God and true Man following the Council of Ephesus in 431 AD. Since Jesus remained fully God and fully human in his conception by the Blessed Virgin Mary, it is right and proper too as the Council affirmed to call Mary the “Mother of God” (Theotokos). Since the birth of Christ is also our point reference in reckoning time that we have the terms “BC” (Before Christ) and “AD” (Anno Domini or Year of the Lord), this celebration teaches a lot on how to welcome this 2026 like Mary.

*Photo by author, mosaic of Mary with Jesus, Hagia Sophia, Istanbul, Turkiye, 01 November 2025.*

First lesson the Blessed Virgin Mary teaches us this new year in Christ is what we have mentioned last Christmas – if there is anything that merits haste, it is those of things of God. How sad that these days we are so preoccupied with what is trending and viral or we race for what is “in” in fashion and everything. In an age of instants, we rush everything that we miss out life itself, God and one another, especially our very selves.

The shepherds went in haste to Bethlehem and found Mary and Joseph, and the infant lying in the manger. When they saw this, they made known the message that had been told them about this child (Luke 2:16-17).

Mary went in haste too for the Lord. Recall her response to the Angel at the Annunciation, “Be it done unto me according to your word.” Her response was immediate. She did not dare the Angel like Zechariah. After the Annunciation, Mary went in haste to visit her cousin Elizabeth pregnant with John the Baptist.

It is true that “haste makes waste” because doing things too quickly leads to mistakes that result in greater losses in time, effort, and materials. The great St. Francis Sales cautioned us that haste is the biggest enemy of growth in spirituality.

However, during the Christmas season, we find that haste is not that totally bad at all.

As shown to us both by Mary and the shepherds, there is something so good with making haste to find Christ, to share Christ, to be with Christ.

We have a prayer formula now rarely used in public prayers wherein the leader says “O God come to my assistance” with the people responding, “O Lord make haste to help me” while making the sign of the Cross like in the praying of the Rosary. It is a beautiful prayer that tells us how God would always hasten to come to us even before we have called Him!

How sad that we rush to everything and everyone except to Jesus our Lord and God! More sad is the fact so many people have been in making haste to these days for the more mundane things without even spending some quality time in the church to pray.

This 2026, let us go in haste in the Lord for He has so many things in store for us as the shepherds and Elizabeth realized.

*From forwarded cartoon at Facebook, December 2020.*

Second important lesson the Blessed Mother is teaching us in welcoming Jesus Christ this new year is the value of silence which is a prerequisite in cultivating a prayer life, in making haste to God.

Though I grew up from the very barrio that manufactures most of the pyrotechnics sold in my hometown of Bocaue in Bulacan dubbed as the fireworks capital of the Philippines, I never liked these popular products every new year. Aside from being so dirty, these are so dangerous as I have seen many of our neighbors who have lost their arms, hands or fingers in manufacturing and playing with fireworks. Worst of all are the many lives of people lost following explosions of some factories in our barrio.

When I became a priest, I kept telling people including my barrio folks that welcoming the new year with fireworks is pagan practice, not Christian. And the most Christian way of welcoming new year like Mother Mary is always in silence, silent prayer like before the Blessed Sacrament.

*Photo by Ar. Philip Santiago, Chapel at the Angels’ Field in Bethlehem, October 2025.*

All who heard it were amazed by what had been told them by the shepherds. And Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart (Luke 2:18-19).

It is very interesting that Luke had told us how people were amazed at what the shepherds spoke about that night on the birth of Jesus Christ they have found on a manger with his Mother Mary and her husband Joseph. Keep in mind that the shepherds were among the least trusted people of that time but their story went “viral” and “trending” so to speak. Amid all these talks was Mary, the Mother of Jesus, silently meditating everything in her heart!

Tonight or today, try to spend some silent moments of prayer before the Blessed Sacrament to thank God for all the blessings of 2025 as well as to listen to Christ’s instructions and plans for us this 2026. Jesus has always something to tell us but we always go in haste somewhere else or to somebody else. Jesus is right there in our hearts, the faintest voice you always dismiss and take for granted.

Let us cultivate a prayer life like Mary who always kept in her heart the words and experiences she had with Jesus. Let us not be like the shepherds who were there only at Christmas, never came back to Jesus specially when he was preaching in Galilee and when crucified on Good Friday wherein his constant companion in silence was Mary his Mother.

*Photo by Ar. Philip Santiago, Basilica of the Annunciation, Nazareth, October 2025.*

Third important lesson the Blessed Mother Mary is teaching us this first day of 2026 is to have faith in God in Jesus Christ His Son our Savior. Therefore, please stop all those superstitious beliefs of pampasuwerte like feng shui and fortune telling that are pagan practices.

When eight days were completed for his circumcision, he was named Jesus, the name given him by the angel before he was conceived in the womb (Luke 2:21).

Mary was very much like us when Mary gave birth to Jesus on that first Christmas: she too was totally unaware of what was in store for her, of what would happen to her Son. She was totally unaware of what would happen in the future. The only thing she was certain was the name to be given to her child, “Jesus” which means “God is my Savior”.

All blessings come only from God, not from any other spirits. We drive all the malas and bad spirits and negative vibes of the past year not with noises and blasts of trumpets or fireworks but with silence that is rooted in deep faith in Christ Jesus.

Such was the attitude of Mary on that first Christmas until her glorious Assumption into heaven: she never knew Jesus would be betrayed by one of his trusted friends and apostles; she was never told by the angel how after Jesus would feed and heal so many people He would later be arrested and crucified like a criminal except that she believed in Him until the end, remaining with Christ at the foot of the Cross.

All Mary had was a deep faith in Jesus as told her by the angel as the name to be given to her child is also the child of the Most High. Like Mary, let us keep our faith in Christ alone, not to round fruits nor stones nor other stuffs peddled to us to bring luck this new year.

Let us imitate Mary, the Mother of God, so human like us except in sin who was always in haste with things of God, silently meditating his words and workings, and most of all, trusting wholly in her Son Jesus. Amen. May your new year be filled with Christ’s peace and grace!

Jesus, our Temple

Lord My Chef Daily Recipe by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Monday, First Week of Advent, 01 December 2025
Isaiah 4:2-6     ><]]]]'> + ><]]]]'> + ><]]]]'>     Matthew 8:5-11

*Photo by author, Malolos Cathedral, December 2018.*

Blessed are you,
O God our Father
for this first day of December,
the first working day in this
blessed Season of Advent
as we prepare for your Son
Jesus Christ's Second Coming;
cleanse our hearts, O Lord
so that you may dwell in us,
come to us as as we 
dwell in you, 
come to you,
"our shelter and protection; 
shade from parching heat of day,
refuge and cover from storm
and rain" (Isaiah 4:6).

How lovely are your words today,
O Lord, as you fulfill in Jesus Christ
our gathering in you as your people,
this time not just in a building
like the old temple of Jerusalem
nor our modern churches;
teach us to be more humble
like that centurion in recognizing
your supreme authority for
you are Authority yourself;
despite his not being a Jew,
the centurion had the faith
and humility in Jesus Christ's
healing of his servant without
touching nor seeing him.

O dear Jesus,
you are the New Temple,
you are our Temple,
our dwelling no longer made
by hands: grant us the grace
of genuine faith and humility
in you especially during the Mass
right before we receive you in
the Holy Eucharist saying the
very same words of that centurion
you praised, "Lord, I am not worthy
that You should come under my roof,
but only say the word and my soul
shall be healed" (Matthew 8:8).
Amen.

What if St. Paul & Jesus come to our Church today?

Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul, 25 August 2025
Monday, Twenty-first Week in Ordinary Time, Year I
1 Thessalonians 1:1-5, 8-10     <*((((>< + ><))))*>     Matthew 23:13-22

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

Today I wonder,
God our Father,
what if Paul your Apostle
or Jesus Christ your Son
were to visit our church today,
what would they find out?
Would Paul be proud of us
like the Thessalonians of
his time?

We give thanks to God always for all of you, remembering you in our prayers, unceasingly calling to mind your work of faith and labor of love and endurance of hope of our Lord Jesus Christ, before our God and Father, knowing, brothers and sisters loved by God, how you were chosen… In every place your faith in God has gone forth, so that we have no need to say anything (1Thessalonians 1:2-4, 8).

Oh how I envy the Thessalonians
that Paul along with
Silvanus and Timothy
were so proud of their "faith
and labor of love
and endurance in hope";
most of all,
of their "conviction"
that he had no need
 to say anything,
as in, "walang masabi".
So beautiful!
How I wish Paul could say
the same things today to our
parish, to our community of
believers with their vibrant
faith, hope and love.

What  I dread, O Father
is when Jesus comes
and begins speaking 
the same way to us
his priests and bishops:

Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You lock the Kingdom of heaven before men. You do not enter yourselves, nor do you allow entrance to those trying to enter (Matthew 23:13).

Shame on us, Lord Jesus,
your priests and bishops!
If you were here today,
you would surely say the same
things to us: many of us
your priests do not pray at all
that many have forgotten to 
pray properly and celebrate 
liturgy meaningfully;
many would rather go on
vacation and recreation than
celebrate Mass and sacraments
for your people;
yes, Lord Jesus,
"woe to us" your servants
for many of us have no plans
of going to heaven at all with the
kind of Eucharist we celebrate
that people have lost faith
in you and your church.
Forgive us, Jesus,
your priests for being
blind fools,
following the limelight
of the world than your path
of the Cross;
lead us back to you, Jesus,
so that your flock may be
enlivened again in their
faith, hope and love
like the Thessalonians
of your great Apostle Paul.
Amen.

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

Faith working through love

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Tuesday, Memorial of St. Teresa of Avila, Virgin & Doctor of the Church, 15 October 2024
Galatians 5:1-6 ><]]]]'> + ><]]]]'> + ><]]]]'> Luke 11:37-41

*Photo by author, somewhere in Pampanga, August 2024.*

What a wonderful Saint 
You have gifted us today,
dear Jesus in St. Teresa of Avila;
what a wonderful saint
we need so much these days 
to guide us in your Church,
one who has "faith working 
through love" (Galatians 5:6).

In this time when people
laugh at our traditions of old,
when liberalism is so adored,
modern thoughts highly praised
and so embraced that many of us
are so concerned in "cleansing the outside
of the cup and dish while inside us are
filled with plunder and evil" and pride,
so highly speaking of freedom, inclusivity
and sensitivity that in the process
we forget You, Jesus;
like St. Teresa of Avila,
lead us back to our faith
working through love that seeks
You in deep prayer by detaching
ourselves from the trappings of
this modern world like social media's
very alluring style of story-telling
that's empty inside because
of all outside as "palabas" -
one big show,
a circus.

We pray to You, Jesus,
through St. Teresa of Avila
for the grace of a contemplative spirit
in a world so active that frees us
from the slavery of one's own passions
and fantasies so that we can be
more free to become a loving person
who sees You in others we must serve.
Amen.

*Photo by author, 21 August 2024, St. Scholastica Spirituality Center, Tagaytay City.*

Jesus openly speaking

The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B, 15 September 2024
Isaiah 50:5-9 <*{{{{>< James 2:14-18 ><}}}}*> Mark 8:27-35

There is something very striking with the similarities and differences in our gospel last Sunday and today that greatly reveal to us the person of Jesus Christ whom we all imitate and follow as His disciples.

In Decapolis last Sunday, Jesus separated a deaf man – “took him off by himself away from the crowd” – to heal him by putting his fingers into the man’s ears, then spitted and touched his tongue as he groaned “Ephphatha” – be opened – and the man was healed as “he spoke plainly”.

Further up north of Decapolis which is the chief pagan city of Caesarea Philippi, the Apostle Peter took Jesus away from the crowd after the Lord spoke openly of His coming Passion, Death, and Resurrection.

But unlike the deaf mute healed when separated from the rest, Jesus rebuked Peter as He returned to the crowd as He continued to speak openly of His coming Passion, Death, and Resurrection.

He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and rise after three days. He spoke this openly. Then Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. At this he turned around and, looking at his disciples, rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do” (Mark 8:31-33).

*Photo by author at Petra in Jordan, May 2019.*

I love the contrast of these two events Mark tells us so succinctly without missing details that speak so well of God’s ways and man’s ways, of what is to think and act like Jesus and how the devil tricks us into its devious and insidious ploys.

See also how last Sunday the healed deaf-mute “spoke plainly” in Christ while today we are invited by Mark to “openly speak” like Jesus of life’s sufferings and death.

When God separates us from the rest of the people and our usual routines like what happened at Decapolis last Sunday, it is because He wants us to experience Him more closely, for us to be healed, and for us to touch base with Him anew who is the very root of our being. Like that nameless deaf man, we need to separate once in a while from the world for us to be healed of our many deafness so that we may listen more intently to God’s voice and words right in our hearts, in the scriptures, and in the cries of the poor and suffering among us.

Actually, Jesus was continuing in Caesarea Philippi His method last Sunday of “separating” when He first asked the Twelve “Who do people say that I am?” that prompted them to tell Him the many misconceptions about His identity. In a similar way with the deaf at Decapolis, Jesus took off the Twelve in Caesarea Philippi when He asked them the more specific question “But who do you say that I am?” and Peter rightly answered Him, “You are the Christ.”

Matthew has a similar story probably with some additions from other sources that we find Jesus praising Peter for his answer, entrusting to him the church, and promising him with the key to heaven. The rebuke of Peter would happen later in their journey.

Mark had none of that considering his gospel was Matthew’s basis. We find in Mark’s brief account of Peter’s confession at Caesarea Philippi Perhaps how often just as when we feel so close with God like Peter, it is the same moment when the devil comes to trick us to break away from God and follow our own ways, not His.

*Photo by author near ancient city of Caesarea Philippi, May 2017.*

The event at Caesarea Philippi gives us clearest sign to identify Jesus as the Christ, that is when Jesus speaks openly of His coming Passion, Death, and Resurrection.

He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and rise after three days. He spoke this openly (Mark 8:31-32).

Jesus never hides us from the realities of life as He speaks “openly” of His Pasch. From Caesarea Philippi, Jesus and the Twelve would head back south towards Jerusalem making a stop over on Mount Tabor for the Transfiguration where Christ’s glory was revealed to Peter, James and John.

It was during His Transfiguration that that Father and the Son made clear that Christ’s glory cannot be separated from the Cross. It was after Caesarea Philippi when Jesus announced thrice to the Twelve His coming Passion, Death, and Resurrection.

Notice too that qualifier “must” – that He “must suffer greatly”.

Just one word but so powerful, showing us the consistency of Jesus in speaking about His Pasch, the Cross, and later its relationship with discipleship, of the need for us to forget ourselves, take up our cross and follow Him.

*Our motorized procession of the Blessed Sacrament in our previous Parish at the start of the COVID-19 lockdown in March 2020. Photo by Ms. Anne Ramos.*

It saddens me when some priests and people in the Church shy away from talking openly about life’s many sufferings. We recognize their good intentions of not forgetting the beautiful and brighter side of being a Christian but to look at the Cross negatively and all its other implications is totally unChristian.

We cannot disregard the pains and darkness that come in being a disciple of Jesus; the Cross is the life of a disciple because it is the center of Christ’s person and teachings as expressed in yesterday’s Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross. All these “health and wealth” style of many preachers even in the Church are red flags of the devil’s ploy, of Peter separating Jesus from the Cross.

We act like Peter rebuking Jesus in Caesarea Philippi whenever we try to soften or hide, even cover the corruption and abuses going on in the society and families, the Church and our communities. That is clearly thinking in man’s ways not in God’s ways.

We cannot arrive at the truth and beauty of life disregarding the falsehoods and negativities around us. That was the problem with the people in mistaking Jesus as one of the prophets who were seen more as miracle workers who instantly healed them of their sickness.

*Photo by author in my previous parish, 2017.*

And here lies the danger too to us that we will never be able to have a good answer to Christ’s question “But who do you say I am?” if we avoid the many passion and death of this life in Jesus.

To openly speak like Jesus and embrace the sufferings and death we must endure is our first expression of faith with works we heard in the second reading from James.

To openly speak like Jesus and embrace the sufferings and death we must endure is the fulfillment of the first reading’s Song of the Suffering Servant who is Jesus Himself.

When we openly speak and embrace life’s daily sufferings and deaths like Jesus is to trust completely in God like Him. Let us speak openly of the Cross, of love and mercy, of God like Jesus Christ! Let us pray:

Lord Jesus Christ,
let me continue to follow 
you closely by separating
from the rest often 
to hear you more,
to love you more,
to trust you more;
let me know you more clearly
so that I may love you more dearly
and follow you more closely
speaking plainly,
speaking openly
without sugarcoating your call,
your Cross.
Amen.

True faith in God

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Thursday in the First Week of Ordinary Time, 11 January 2024
1 Samuel 4:1-11 <*[[[[>< + ><]]]]*> Mark 1:40-45

*Photo from Inquirer.net, 09 January 2024.*

God our loving Father,
your words today 
from the first reading
as so similar with our 
annual experiences at
Traslacion of Quiapo's
Black Nazarene image;
every year, we all ask in 
awe and wonder
as well as with skepticism
even cynicism by some
if this is faith or fanaticism
because after January 9,
our nation remains the same -
defeated in corruption,
defeated in inequality,
defeated in poverty,
so defeated in fact that
many are still suffering 
from all kinds of impoverishments
that like the Israelites
at Ebenezer, we ask:

“Why has the Lord permitted us to be defeated today by the Philistines? Let us fetch the ark of the Lord from Shiloh that it may gointo battle among us and save us from the grasp of our enemies.”
1 Samuel 4:3

We have the Black Nazarene,
we have the Sto. Niño,
we have the La Naval,
we have everything like your
Ark of the Covenant, dear God
and yet like the Israelites,
we are still defeated:
we elect into office
to govern us men and women
without integrity nor abilities,
much less concern for our well-being;
we ourselves disobey simple
traffic rules,
could not give the due respect
to our parents at home!

Forgive us, dear God,
in relying so much on what eyes
can see, what hands can do,
what mouths can shout or speak
as we forget to move our hearts,
to deepen our faith like that leper,
wholeheartedly believing in Jesus Christ
that he was cleansed and healed;
but, unlike him,
let us obey the prescriptions
of the law, of those above us
to avoid sensationalisms
that may spark faith in many
but fail in deepening that same faith
when we turn more on ourselves
than to you, O God, in Christ Jesus
found in everyone whom
we eventually forget
as we become self-centered.
Amen.

Praying for a clean heart like the saints

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Wednesday, Solemnity of All Saints, 01 November 2023
Revelation 7:2-4, 9-14 ><}}}}*> 1 John 3:1-3 ><}}}}*> Matthew 5:1-12

*Photo by author, Tagaytay City, 07 February 2023.*

God our loving Father,
on this great feast of All Saints
those now enjoying your
Divine presence in eternity,
we pray for the gift 
of a clean heart
in each of us
so we may see you
too like the Saints.

Blessed are the clean of heart, for they will see God.
Matthew 5:8

Oh yes, dear God,
if there is one thing we need
most these days is a clean heart,
a heart that is able to see
more the deepest truths of life,
of every person,
and of you;
out intellect is not enough
for us to see everything
because so often,
our minds are muddled
and darkened by malice
and selfishness;
our heart is the center
of our being,
cleanse our hearts of its
impurities especially of our ego
so it may harmonize our whole
body systems,
our person
so that what we know,
what we feel
is what YOU know,
what YOU feel too!

In Jesus,
with Jesus,
through Jesus,
take away our stony hearts
and give us natural hearts
that beat in firm faith in Christ,
fervent hope in Christ,
and unceasing charity in Christ!

Like all the Saints UP there
before you in heaven, Father,
make our hearts one in Jesus,
willing to go DOWN 
like him on the 
Cross to be "washed 
and made white
in the blood of the Lamb"
(Revelation 7:14) on whom
our hope is based for 
us to be pure like him
(1 John 5:13).
Amen.

*Photo from en.wikipedia.org, painting by Fra Angelico called “The Forerunners of Christ with Saints and Martyrs”.*

Our divided hearts, divided lives, divided world

The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Twenty-Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle A, 22 October 2023
Isaiah 45:1, 4-6 ><}}}}*> 1 Thessalonians 1:1-5 ><}}}}*> Matthew 22:15-21

We are now getting closer toward the end of our liturgical calendar with our gospel scenes of Jesus still at the temple area in Jerusalem where his enemies were growing more intense in banding together to trap him for his arrest and crucifixion.

Many times, that same die-hard religious conceptions of the Lord’s enemies continue to distort our way of Christian living today. First of these is the apparent division between the realms of the world or Caesar and of God and his kingdom.

The Pharisees went off and plotted how they might entrap Jesus in speech. They sent their disciples to him with the Herodians saying, “Tell us, then, what is your opinion: Is it lawful to pay the census tax to Caesar or not?” Knowing their malice, Jesus said, “Why are you testing me, you hypocrites? Show me the coin that pays the census tax.” Then they handed him the Roman coin. He said to them, “Whose image is this and whose inscription?” They replied, “Caesar’s.” At that he said to them, “Then repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.”
Matthew 22:15-16, 17-21

*Photo by Lauren DeCicca/Getty Images in Laoag City, 08 May 2022.*

It’s election fever again in the country (does it ever end?) when talks on the separation of the Church and the state abound in every corner of campaigns and discussions. What is very funny is despite everyone’s insistence of such separation, candidates keep on going to every church and chapel of all faith to meet their religious leaders and followers who in turn endorse some of them!

Then and now, the division was more clearly in our hearts than in religion and political life. Despite everyone’s endless quoting of the Lord’s declaration to “repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God”, we remain more divided as a people and individuals right in our hearts where the first casualty is Jesus Christ. Then us and our loved ones.

The way of God as Jesus had shown and taught us is not found in opposing civil and religious or spiritual realms of life but in giving ourselves for the good of others in all areas of life, first to God and everything follows. Jesus Christ came to the word to heal our divided hearts, to make us whole again (and be holy) by showing us how we are all one in God, our origin and end. St. Francis of Assisi saw this unity of God’s creation and was so central in his life and teachings that he was able to literally live out the gospel values of both material and spiritual poverty.

There are no divisions between the material world and the spiritual world because everything is created by God, came from God and will ultimately end in God. “Caesar” is everything of the world we so often give more emphasis in life, more attention and more focus. Primary is our own self as we consciously and unconsciously stamp with the image and inscription of “Caesar” as we try to hide and remove God’s image in us.

See how Jesus in many instances did not bother himself with our worldly affairs like being a judge to divide the share of inheritance of feuding brothers (Lk. 12:13-15) or of James and John asking him to have them seated at his sides when his glory comes (Mk. 10:35-45) because those things separate us from God and each other.

One tragedy of Christ’s time that continues today is when we the supposed religious leaders and guides are divided within each of us, so concerned with our own pride and other priorities in life like fame and wealth. Forgive us your priests and bishops whose lifestyle and way of relating to others betray like the Pharisees who and what is first in our lives.

Keep in mind how the Pharisees were not supposed to have anything that bears semblances of idolatry in the temple area like the Roman coin with image and inscription of the Caesar considered as god and emperor by the Romans. We priests and bishops still have that “Roman coin” today in the form of social media especially Facebook that show and prove more than ever how we are a church for the rich and not of the poor no matter what the gospel and documents say. What a scandal of our time to find priests and bishops shamelessly posted on social media always present, readily available especially for funeral Masses of the rich but never or so rare with the poor! These only prove to the people of the existence of the great divide among us Jesus had supposedly healed more than 2000 years when churchmen continue to play these days the very game of the Pharisees, scribes, chief priests and elders of Christ’s time.

When we examine world history, it has actually felt easier for us to divide our lives into the material and spiritual realms by giving what is due and proper to each one. This has been the way of the world especially in the past 300 years at the start of the Industrial Revolution that resulted in so many inventions and scientific breakthroughs that have spawned various thoughts and philosophies.

On the outside or in the realm of Caesar, we seem to be better with more technologies and affluence but as persons, we have remained lost and more hurting inside that drive many into suicides and depression. How ironic when we are supposed to be better, crimes against human persons get worst these days with wars and atrocities still happening. Life may had drastically improved especially in the fields of medicine and communications but the gaps among us peoples have grown wider especially these last 20 years known as the “Fourth Industrial Revolution” characterized by digitization and robotics that include Artificial Intelligence or AI. Like in the parable of the wicked tenants, we have usurped everything from God, even our very lives and the world itself.

Of course, the obligations to Caesar and to God are radically different: to the state we pay taxes, but to God we give our undivided hearts, our total being. This is what Isaiah told us in the first reading that everything in history is directed by God for the good of his people. He is the God of history. Let no one mistake any god for God because “I am the Lord, there is no other” (Is.45:6).

When Jesus asked his enemies to show him the coin that pays the census taxes, he is also asking us this Sunday to bare our hearts before him to let him heal us of the divisions within that are reflected by the many wars and divisions in the world. The deepest divide within us in this time is when we live and act like the Pharisees and Herodians with insincere hearts living a big lie of living in “accordance with the truth” (Mt. 22:16).

Let me end this reflection with those beautiful words by St. Paul in our second reading today:

We give thanks to God always for all of you, remembering you in our prayers, unceasingly calling to mind your work of faith and labor of love and endurance in hope of our Lord Jesus Christ, before our God and Father, knowing, brothers and sisters oved by God, how you were chosen. For our gospel did not come to you in word alone, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with much conviction.
1 Thessalonians 1:2-5

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

So lovely! St. Paul is also talking to us today, assuring us how despite our many sins, of being slaves of Caesar and other gods like the Thessalonians who were pagans before, we too were willed by God to be called as his children in Jesus Christ.

We in the Church are a people despite our many flaws and imperfections especially us your priests were called out of sin and darkness to be God’s own people, beloved children. He has given us life in the Holy Spirit that when we look back in our lives, we are convinced in our hearts it was him who worked in us in the realm of material world. God has always been the “invisible hand” leading us when we felt so down and lost, defeated and almost dead. Here we are, still alive and forging on amid the many difficulties we encounter within and outside us.

When we cooperate with the grace of God and focus more on him than to the many Caesars, when we live in faith in Christ, laboring in his love for others, God becomes more present in our material world, enabling us to endure further life’s challenges in hopes that Jesus Christ will come again. Amen. Have a blessed week ahead.

Faith is relationship with God

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Friday, Memorial of Sts. Marcellinus and Peter, Martyrs, 02 June 2023
Sirach 44:1.9-13 ><]]]]'> + ><]]]]'> + ><]]]]'> Mark 11:11-26

Praise and glory to you,
God our loving Father,
for this first Friday of June;
your words are very interesting
with Ben Sirach calling us to
recall and remember the faithful
men and women who have lived'
and gone ahead of us while Mark
combined two stories in our
gospel scene today.

Now I will praise those godly men, our ancestors, each in his own time. But of others there is no memory, for when they ceased, they ceased. And they are as though they had not lived, they and their children after them. Yet these also were godly men whose virtues have not been forgotten.
Sirach 44:1, 9-10

So true indeed are his words
until now!  There are many great
people we remember their names
for their great faith and but there 
are still far more than them whom we
know remain unnamed having served
God so well among his people;
may we try to remember today 
our simple folks whose faith
have inspired us to be more
faithful and charitable like
Ben-sirach.

On the other hand, 
Mark combines two stories
in the life of our Lord Jesus 
to instill in us the importance 
of faith not just as a belief
nor a system of theology
we must learn but a relationship
we must keep with God through
our brothers and sisters.

Forgive us, Jesus,
for those times our faith
bore no fruit and withered 
so dried like the fruitless fig tree;
forgive us, Jesus,
when we make religion
an economic enterprise 
like what happened to the
temple of Jerusalem during
your time; cleanse us of our 
selfish motives that faith
has become more of a means
for social mobility than for
spiritual growth through
meaningful relationships
with God and with others.

Grant us, Jesus,
the courage and fidelity
of Sts. Marcellinus and Peter
to be firm in our faith in you.
Amen.

Praying for conviction

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Tuesday, Memorial of St. John Bosco, Priest, 31 January 2023
Hebrews 12:1-4 <*(((>< + ><)))*> = <*(((>< + ><)))*> Mark 5:21-43

Dearest Lord Jesus,
Mark continues to tell us of
your many crossovers across 
the Lake of Tiberias,
of your great love for us all
breaking all barriers that prevent
us from getting close to you;
a lot often, the problem is with us,
our lack of conviction that you are
the Christ.

When Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a large crowd gathered around him, and he stayed close to the sea. One of the synagogue officials named Jairus came forward. Seeing him he fell at his feet and pleaded earnestly with him, saying, “My daughter is at the point of death. Please, come lay your hands on her that she may get well and live.” He went off with him, and a large crowd followed him. There was a woman afflicted with hemorrhages for twelve years. She heard about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak. She said, “If I but touch his clothes, I shall be cured.” Immediately her flow of blood dried up. She felt in her body that she was healed of her affliction.
Mark 5:21-25, 27-29

Grant me conviction,
dear Jesus;
help me deepen my faith,
my belief into a conviction
that I am so convinced,
firmly believing in what I believe
like Jairus and the woman who touched you;
let my faith deepen into a conviction
that no matter how difficult is 
my situation in life, even hopeless,
I remain focused in you Jesus 
for you alone is our life and
deliverance; grant me a conviction
that cannot be shaken by great crowds
of people who often make us balk
and chicken out from our faith in you;
most of all, a conviction in you like
that of St. John Bosco who overcame 
all obstacles in life like poverty and
lack of support from others in his
conviction of gathering wayward kids
to give them a bright future.
Indeed, "we are surrounded by so great 
a cloud of witnesses, let us be rid
ourselves of every burden and sin 
that clings to us and persevere in 
running race that lies before us"
while keeping our eyes fixed on you,
Jesus, our perfecter of faith (Heb. 12:1-2).
Amen.