Sealed with the Holy Spirit

Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Friday, Twenty-Eighth Week in Ordinary Time, Year II, 16 October 2026
Ephesians 1:11-14 ><))))*> + ><))))*> + ><))))*> Luke 12:1-7

*Photo by author, Bella Rosa Gardens, Silang, Cavite, 07 October 2026.*

What's happening in the world,
Lord where everyone seems to thrive 
in chaos?
Trash talks like cussings,
making fun of other people's
disabilities, smart shaming and
body shaming are so glorified and
imitated especially in social media;
many have no more sense of shame at all,
stretching their rights without any regard
for their responsibilities nor rights of others
that we are like in that gospel scene today:

At that time, so many people were crowding together that they were trampling one another underfoot. Jesus began to speak, first to his disciples, “Beware of the leaven – that is, hypocrisy – of the Pharisees (Luke 12:1).

Are we not like those
people crowding together,
already trampling just to hear you
speak, Jesus?

Give us the wisdom,
awaken us from our glorification of
everything that is crass and low,
giving only emphasis on the body
forgetting about the soul,
its dignity and value
along with virtues:
"I tell you,
 my friends,
do not be afraid of those
who kill the body
but after that can do no more"
(Luke 12:4).

Let us see St. Paul's
alternative vision for the world
in which God's plan is to restore
all things in you, Christ;
let us see more the love and 
mercy you have lavished upon us
when you suffered and died 
on the Cross to save us,
rising from the dead on the third day
to reconcile us to the Father 
and with everyone;
how consoling that we are
not our own,
that despite the chaos 
and darkness all over us these days,
"In Christ we were also chosen,
destined in accord with purpose of
the one who accomplishes all things
according to the intention of his will...
were sealed with the Holy Spirit"
(Ephesians 1:11, 13).

How lovely are
these words, Lord!
May we be like St. Paul
in proclaiming to this sick and dark world
that there is an alternative, 
better vision of the world 
from the Father
in Christ Jesus.
Give us the courage to work on this,
to cooperate with your grace in
showing the world 
life is so beautiful!
Amen.

In the beginning…

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Monday, Memorial of St. Scholastica, Virgin, 10 February 2025
Genesis 1:1-19 ><))))*> + ><))))*> + ><))))*> Mark 6:53-56

*Photo by author, sunset in Atok, Benguet, 27 December 2024*.

Blessed are you,
God our loving Father
in giving us a taste of
the beginning everyday
especially on this first day
of work and of school
as your words in the first reading
remind of our daily
beginning in you!

In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless wasteland, and darkness covered the abyss, while a mighty wind swept over the waters. Then God said, “Let there be…” Thus evening came, and morning followed… (Genesis 1:1-3, 7).

In the beginning
there was nothing but
chaos just like in our lives
until you brought light,
order and life, God;
it is always light and order
that come first to set the
stage for life like in those first
two days; what is most lovely,
Father is when the third day came
and there began balance and
symmetry in your creation 
like sea and earth, 
day and night,
sun and moon
that relationships happened
and everything started to be good.

In the gospel today
as in our lives,
every day is a new beginning
with its many chaos:
sickness and diseases,
emptiness,
self-alienation,
rejection in all forms,
failures and disappointments
as well frustrations
that all remind us of how
everything was in the beginning;
but, with Jesus Christ's coming
and healing
we saw the light
and experienced healing
and order.

Everything becomes good
when seen in your light
and design, Lord Jesus;
when our relationships are
kept and maintained
especially at home like with
our siblings,
parents and family
as exemplified by the twins
St. Scholastica
and St. Benedict.

Make everything new again
and most of all good,
dear Jesus in our lives
like in the Genesis
as shown by St. Scholastica
who was able to do more
because she loved most.
Amen.

*Painting “Altar of St. Scholastica” by Johann Baptist Wenzel Bergl (1765), ncregister.com*

In the eye of the storm

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Tuesday in the Thirteenth Week in Ordinary Time, Year I, 04 July 2023
Genesis 19:15-29 <*(((>< <*(((>< + ><)))*> ><)))*> Matthew 8:23-27

Your words today, O God
our Father, are all about
chaos and destruction,
storms and calamities
in the sea and the land;
just like so many of us these days
who are in the "eye of the storm",
in the midst of great trials
and sufferings in life
due to their own making
or somebody else's sins and
wrongdoing, or simply
being in the wrong place
at the wrong time.

The whole world is yours,
O Lord; you have the whole world
in your hands and you know
everything that is happening.

Grant us the trust and confidence
in you of Jesus your Son 
and the deep faith of Abraham
as you kept your promise to save
his nephew Lot and family
from the catastrophe that fell on
Sodom and Gomorrah.

As Jesus got into a boat, is disciples followed him. Suddenly a violent storm came up on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by waves but he was asleep.
Matthew 8:23-24

When he (Lot) hesitated, the men, by the Lord’s mercy, seized his hand and the hands of his wife and his two daughter and led them to safety outside the city.
Genesis 19:16

Keep us strong, O God,
in the face of trials and tribulations of life;
calamities inevitably happen,
it is how we face and deal with these
that truly matter;
cleanse us of our impurities,
of our stubbornness,
of our sins,
never to needlessly look back 
like Lot's wife but instead move
forward in life learning your important
lessons of being morally upright and holy.
Amen.