Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul, 02 October 2025 Thursday, Memorial of the Guardian Angels Exodus 23:20-23 <*[[[[>< + ><]]]]*> Matthew 18:1-5, 10
Photo by author, Baguio Cathedral, January 2019.
Thank you, most loving God our Father for all your love and care for us in giving us guardian angels.
“See, I am sending an angel before you, to guard you on the way and bring you to the place I have prepared. Be attentive to him and heed his voice… If you heed his voice and carry out all I tell you, I will be an enemy to your enemies and a foe to your foes” (Exodus 23:20-21, 22).
“And whoever receives one child such as this in my name receives me. See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that their angels in heaven always look upon the face of my heavenly Father” (Matthew 18:5, 10).
Your words today, O Lord speak of care, of caring for us which is to protect someone and to provide things they need, especially someone who is young or sick or vulnerable like children - and that is exactly who we are!
Forgive us, Jesus for those times when we act great and powerful, not needing you disregarding your angels when we insist on doing things in our own ways.
We pray also, Jesus that we be your guardian angels to others especially the weak and suffering that we may protect them as we also keep them warm and safe always. Amen.
Angel of God my guardian dear to whom God's love commits me here, ever this day (or night), be at my side, to light and guard, to rule and guide. Amen.
Quiet Storm by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, 22 October 2024
Video by author using iPhone, 18 October 2024 near Floridablanca Exit, SCTEX bound to Subic.
Please, do not report me to the SCTEX Mobile Patrol. Promise… I won’t do this again, taking a video of sunset while driving. Blame “The Cure” playing on my playlist Friday I’m In Love…
That was last Friday as I drove – alone, as usual of course, going to a much-needed rest and mental health break at Subic. It was actually long-delayed vacation from repeated invitations over ten years from my kinakapatid Leah and Eric.
We planned it last September during a dinner in Makati after I had promised to visit my Ninang Lyn, Leah and Eric’s mom who was also grieving for her eldest we called Koyang Dindo who died in January; she felt too my grief in losing my mom later in May. I promised to visit her after my hospitalization in August when Leah and Eric learned it that they both offered for us to have dinner instead to “lend” me their mom.
How can I say no when Ninang Lyn told me to join Leah and Eric in their Subic homes after saying, “ako na mommy mo ngayon”?
At Makati Shangrila Hotel, September 2024.
At Binictican home of Eric and Gic, 18-10-2024
Appetizing appetizers…
then salad, sirloin, prime rib and rice in steak’s drippings…
…and more wine.Cheers!
And whoa! What a Friday it was, truly a TGIF as I broke all rules not only in driving but also in eating and drinking! It was a wonderful evening of stories with great food and wine. Most of all, of love from true friends over 50 years!
Ninang Lyn’s husband, the late Atty. Fernando Ma. Alberto was a friend of my late dad. Unlike my siblings and friends, I only had just one pair of Ninong and Ninang in my baptism. Both have blessed me for being truly my “godparents”.
When my father passed away in 2000, it was Ninong Ding who helped me made a major decision in 2005, of whether I should stay or move to Canada to serve there instead. He told me to greatly consider the many experiences I have had in media and life that can greatly help more people here than abroad. True enough after six months in a parish in Toronto, I realized his wisdom, the great need of our countrymen mostly poor needing the love and care of pastors than the rich, ageing Catholics of Canada.
With Dindo aka Nando Alberto during our roadtrip in Rizal in January 2021, listening only to Steely Dan the whole day!
When Dindo’s condition worsened late last year, I got to see my Ninang more often along with her other children so united in those critical moments: Leah, Doc Mayette, Eric, Ricky and Toby with Joy sometimes joining us on Facebook live from California.
After Dindo died early this year, my mom died too in May. The Albertos were there coming all the way to Bulacan. And have remained until now.
What I like most with them is how they have never asked how I am doing because they knew so well what I am going through. Maybe that’s the gift and grace of over 50 years of friendship. They simply make themselves present, tenderly inviting me to go out and chillax. They so remind me of this passage from a Canadian author and poet who wrote in one of her books:
I overheard a conversation the other day. He said, "But if you don't let people know you are lost, how can they help you?" She said, "Because the help I need is found in the eyes of someone who sees I am lost. Who stops to notice I have been gone, or my pace has slowed or my smile is forced. If they can see those things, then they will know that I need caring, not help." - Nausicaa Twila
Lately, so many friends including their siblings were texting me, inviting me out for lunch or coffee, simply making me feel of their care as I go through this grieving phase. So glad to have them. And so blessed in giving me a glimpse of Jesus Christ’s loving presence in them, teaching me firsthand about love and care.
Here is another video clip I did last Friday but this time I stopped by the roadside at SCTEX near Floridablanca exit on the way to Subic. See you again this Friday for the second part of our Subic adventure.
Video by author using iPhone, 18 October 2024 with natural sound from my car stereo playing The Cure “In Between Days.”
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Friday in the Twenty-first Week of Ordinary Time, Year I, 01 September 2023
1 Thessalonians 4:1-8 <'[[[[>< + ><]]]]'> Matthew 25:1-13
Photo by author, Anvaya Cove, Morong, Bataan, June 2023.
Thank you very much,
God our loving Father
for this brand new month
of September;
everybody is so happy
because it is the start
of the "-ber" months
leading to your Son's
birthday in December;
please, dear God,
forgive us for this
kind of thinking,
of being focused with
outside things,
of everything "palabas"
with nothing inside, "paloob"
nothing substantial.
As we begin the month
of September which the
Holy Father has declared as
World Day of Prayer for the
Care of Creation,
may we heed the calls
of St. Paul to "conduct ourselves
to please you, God, and do so
even more" (1 Thess. 4:1)!
Yes, dear God,
you did not call us
to impurity but to holiness
(1 Thess. 4:7);
help us realize that holiness
is not being sinless but being
filled with your Spirit,
of finding you in every person
and in your creation so that
we care for them all!
Holiness is being caring,
holiness is being loving,
holiness is being wise,
always choosing You,
always choosing
what is good.
Amen.
Quiet Storm by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
The Seven Last Words, 05 April 2023
Photo by author, Chapel of the Holy Family, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, Quezon City, 2014.
After this, aware that everything was now finished, in order that the scripture might be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I thirst.” There was a vessel filled with common wine. So they put a sponge soaked in win on a sprig of hyssop and put it up to his mouth.
John 19:28-29
This is one of the remarkable scenes in the fourth gospel, our Lord Jesus Christ feeling thirsty, the second time as recorded by John. The first was in the town of Sychar in Samaria when Jesus sat by Jacob’s well at noon and asked a Samaritan woman who came to draw water, “Give me a drink” (Jn. 4:7). A beautiful conversation followed between Jesus who was thirsty and the Samaritan woman, thirsting for God, for love and mercy.
Unlike being hungry for food which we can always bear because its feeling is localized in the stomach that we can easily forego by catching some sleep, thirst is different. When we are thirsty, we feel our whole body sapped dry even to our fingertips that we feel so weak, even affecting our mental faculties. That is why, thirst means more than physical but something deeper that concerns our very soul and being.
Here we find Jesus truly human, thirsting not just for water like us but most of all, for love and attention.
See also that for John, water is one of the most significant signs of Jesus Christ. His first “sign” as John would call his miracles was at the wedding feast at Cana when Jesus turned water into wine. After that wedding, Nicodemus came to Jesus at night where he first mentioned the need to be born in water and spirit (Jn. 3:5). It was after that night when Jesus went to Sychar and asked water from the Samaritan woman with whome he identified himself as “the living water (Jn. 4:10)”.
Here again is Jesus thirsty, but not just asking for water.
How foolish are we in responding to him like the Roman soldiers who gave him an ordinary wine. Worst, there are times we give him tepid, or perhaps turbid water that tastes so awful like that ordinary wine offered by the Romans at Golgotha.
Here is our living water, Jesus Christ who promised that “whoever drinks the water I shall give will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (Jn. 4:14) thirsting for us, for our love and attention because he alone can quench our thirsts in life.
Jesus is the wife and mother who thirsts for the love and affection of her unfaithful husband and wayward son or daughter who think only of themselves.
Jesus is the husband and father who thirsts for simple calls and expressions of concern from his family those back home while toiling abroad or in the high seas as an OFW or thirsting for understanding and care from those around him when he forgets so many things due to Alzheimer’s or paralyzed by a stroke or handicap.
Jesus is the young man or woman who thirsts for time and presence of a sibling or parents who could not find meaning and directions in life despite the money, clothes and gadgets the world offers.
Jesus is the person nearest to you thirsting for warmth and company, or simply a smile or a friendly gaze that assures him or her that “you are welcomed”.
Let us not be like those Roman soldiers or that Samaritan woman looking for material water to give Jesus present in every person we meet. Many times, the best water is found inside our hearts, deep in our souls where Jesus dwells with his abounding love and mercy, kindness and forgiveness. Let us thirst more for Jesus for he alone can quench our thirsts!
Let us pray:
Dearest Lord Jesus,
forgive me
when I quench my thirst
with things the world offers
that often leave me
more thirsty,
more dry,
more empty;
let me have more of YOU
to share more of YOU
our living water
who quenches our
deepest thirsts
for life's meaning
and fulfillment.
Amen.
40 Shades of Lent by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Homily, Wednesday in Lent Week IV, 17 March 2021
Isaiah 49:8-15 + ++ John 5:17-30
Photo by Mr. Jim Marpa, 2019.
Today we resumed the community Masses on a limited basis at the Our Lady of Fatima University (OLFU) and Fatima University Medical Center (FUMC) in Valenzuela where I am now serving as their chaplain.
Our aim is very simple: to share Jesus with everyone in our Fatima community including their families and friends.
Sharing Jesus means being tender and caring with one another like God our Father in heaven who gave us the loveliest description of these attributes in the first reading today by being like a mother.
Thus says the Lord: “Can a mother forget her infant, be without tenderness for the child of her womb? Even should she forget, I will never forget you.”
isaiah 49:15
If there is one thing missing in our country
in this one year old pandemic and lockdown,
it must be tenderness.
In the gospel of St. Luke, we find Zechariah singing praises to God at the birth of his son John the Baptist:
“In the tender compassion of our God the dawn from on high shall break upon us, to shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace.”
Luke 1:78-79
St. Luke used the Greek word “splaghna” to designate tenderness as “tender mercy of God”.
Mercy, or “misericordia” which is also our University motto is from the Latin “misereor” that means to stir, to move. More than a feeling, mercy is compassion in action wherein one is moved or stirred in the heart to go down, reach out and be one with the suffering like Jesus Christ. And that is when we are filled with tenderness of God. Then we become caring.
Tenderness of God as tender compassion is misericordia that is “tagos sa buto” as in “sagad-sagad” that even if we feel tired and hungry, or afraid and anxious, we still go out to help, to uplift, to keep company and inspire those in pain and suffering, those about to give up in life, those who are lost because of sickness, poverty, and other difficulties.
This we find and do in Jesus, through Jesus, with Jesus who said in our gospel today, “My Father is at work until now, so I am at work” (Jn.5:17).
Remember that scene of the feeding of five thousand in the wilderness when Jesus and the Twelve crossed the lake to the other side to rest but a vast crowd followed them and even got ahead of them to the site. When Jesus saw them, he was moved with pity because they were like “sheep without shepherd” that despite his being hungry and tired, he taught them many things, healed their sick, exorcised the possessed and later, fed and satisfied them all from just five loaves of bread and three pieces of fish.
Tenderness is when we are moved to help those in need while we ourselves are also suffering. Hence, it is not surprising at all to find that the most tender and caring people are also the ones who suffer most. Like moms and these days, the medical front liners who continue to serve us amid the risks they face!
Being tender and caring
are essentially the works of God
made known to us in Jesus Christ.
It has been a year since we had the longest lockdown in the world. It is fitting that as we recall those days even if dark clouds still loom above us these days that we remember the people who have cared for us and made life bearable: all those working in the hospitals supporting our doctors and nurses; the market vendors who ensured we have food on the table; the staff members of the botica we usually visited to get our medicines; the panadero who prepared our daily bread; our teachers who braved the digital world so we may continue with our schooling and learning process, and many more.
It is a tremendous grace from God to be able to be tender with someone because that means we care like Jesus Christ.
Photo from GMA-7 News of Mang Dodong.
Today, God reminds us that amid this great darkness still looming above us in this time of the pandemic, He cares for us very much and wants us to care for one another too, especially for those going through many trials and difficulties in life.
Let us give Jesus our hands and our hearts to be vessels of his divine Tender Loving Care. Amen.
40 Shades of Lent by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Wednesday, Fourth Week in Lent, 17 March 2021 (St. Patrick's Day)
Isaiah 49:8-15 <*{{{>< + ><}}}*> John 5:17-30
Photo by author, December 2020.
"Can a mother forget her infant,
be without tenderness for the child of her womb?
Even should she forget,
I will never forget you."
(Isaiah 49:15)
If there is one thing we terribly miss these days a year since the start of this pandemic is tenderness, your kind of Tender Loving Care (TLC) only you, God our Father, can give like a mother to her child.
How sad that in this time of difficulties when there are so many sufferings and darkness around us, there are also much arrogance and apathy afflicting many of us.
More sad is how everybody is solely focused in finding a cure to control spread of COVID-19, often in drastic measures that only worsen the plight of the weak and marginalized, many have forgotten the need for more care for everyone, not only for those sick but also for our front liners who have lost so many of their family and friends in this time of the corona.
In this continuing darkness of our lives despite the sparkle from vaccines that are still unavailable to many of us, we know you continue to work to save us in Jesus Christ your Son who assured us, “My Father is at work until now, so I am at work” (Jn.5:17).
Let us do your work, Lord, especially today as we celebrate the feast of St. Patrick. Use our hands and our hearts to tenderly serve others especially those deep in darkness with sins and sufferings.
Teach us not only to be compassionate willing to suffer with others but most of all, fill us with the Father’s tenderness to care like you so that we are moved to reach out, going down to the level of those crying, of those so tired and about to give up in life.
Soften our hearts that have been hardened with negativities and cynicisms of time.
Stir our hearts, O Lord, that like you even in our hunger and pain, we may realize there are others more hungry and more in pain than us, hoping for some comfort and care, healing and encouragement, or simply company and inspiration and reason to live.
Let our hands and our hearts, our whole selves be an extension of your tender mercy and care so that “the dawn from on high shall break upon us, to shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death, and to guide our feet into the path of peace” (Lk.1:78-79). Amen.
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