The ever-relevant sign of Fatima

Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul, 13 October 2025
Monday, 108th Anniversary of Last Apparition at Fatima, Portugal
Romans 1:1-7   ><]]]]'> + ><]]]]'> + ><]]]]'>   Luke 11:29-32

We celebrate today the 108th anniversary of the final apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Fatima, Portugal that made it the most relevant proof in modern times of the existence of God and of his immense love for mankind through his Son Jesus Christ.

It was on this date, October 13, 1917 when the “Miracle of the Sun” happened at Fatima as the Virgin Mary appeared for the last time to Lucia Santos and her two younger cousins now Saints Francisco and his sister Jacinta Marto along with an estimated crowd of 70,000 made up of believers and unbelievers as well as skeptics and hecklers. They all witnessed the phenomenon that many verified with sworn accounts of how the Sun “danced” in the sky and then careened to Earth while emitting radiant colors that lasted for about ten minutes.

It was the sixth and last apparition of the Blessed Mother to the three children that began on May 13, 1917 and since then, devotion to Our Lady of Fatima grew which also boosted the praying of the Holy Rosary after the Blessed Virgin Mary introduced herself as the Lady of the Rosary. It was on that last apparition when the Blessed Mother told the children how World War I would soon end with a warning that “People must amend their lives and ask pardon for their sins. They must not offend our Lord any more, for He is already too much offended!”

Though the Fatima feast is officially set on May 13, many churches and devotees around the world still celebrate the October 13 apparition not only because of the dancing sun miracle but most of all of the ever-timely and relevant calls of the Blessed Mother for penance and conversion that echo the teachings of her Son Jesus Christ in today’s gospel:

While still more people gathered in the crowd, Jesus said to them, “This generation is an evil generation; it seeks a sign, but no sign will be given it, except the sign of Jonah… At the judgment the men of Nineveh will arise with this generation and condemn it, because at the preaching of Jonah they repented, and there is something greater than Jonah here” (Luke 11:29, 32).

*Procession of the National Pilgrim Image of Fatima at her National Shrine in Valenzuela, 13 May 2025. Photo credit to the owner.*

With the recent calamities and corruption scandals that have been rocking our nation these past four months, the Fatima apparition of October 13, 1917 remains significant especially for us in the Philippines today for three reasons.

First, we have to see the last apparition of October 13, 1917 not as the final one but the start or beginning of the unfolding of more revelations and realizations for us. In fact, Sr. Lucia continued to received private visions while in the convent as a nun in 1925 through the 1930’s. During her last interview in 1957 while already a cloistered Carmelite nun, Sr. Lucia revealed how during that last apparition to them (her two cousins have died in 1919 and 1920 during the flu pandemic), the Blessed Virgin Mary looked very sad and never smiled to indicate the gravity and seriousness of her messages to them.

The Blessed Mother must be looking more sad than ever with us Filipinos since July this year with the wholesale corruption by DPWH officials in connivance with some former and current lawmakers that have caused so many people to suffer with perennial flood. Most especially because those involved in the worst corruption we have so far are Catholics and Christians! Imagine the pain of the Blessed Mother who is surely crying, saying, “mahiya naman kayo!”

One problem with the common perception of many people even up to now with the last apparition of Fatima is to equate it with the end of the world, of worldwide catastrophe that have instilled more of fear and even controversies that included doubts of the Vatican allegedly not fully revealing the Third Secret despite assurances from the visionary herself, Sr. Lucia who said before her death in 2005 that all Fatima Secrets have been fully revealed.

If we take the Fatima apparitions as a whole, we find in it more of messages of hope and joy for us in the Philippines and the world. The Blessed Mother appeared in Fatima not to scare us but to inspire us to turn away from sins, to be converted and be holy so that the world may truly find peace in Jesus her Son.

The last things do not necessarily mean destruction like when we say in Filipino it is the end or “wakas”, it usually means “wasak” or destruction; normally, when there is wakas and wasak, there is “bago” or new being built or established to replace the old one.

Therefore, the last apparition at Fatima in 1917 is also the signal of new beginnings, new undertaking, new opportunities, new hope in Jesus Christ who is the ultimate sign of God’s loving presence among us amid the trials and difficulties like these calamities and corruption in the country. It is not being simplistic but we just have to trust Jesus and his Mother Mary that we be sorry for our sins, stop doing what is sinful and evil, be converted and lead holy lives. Repentance leads to true wisdom because it is only in doing what is right when things would be right in order.

At the last apparition in Fatima 108 years ago, it is very interesting how two elements prevailed on that day: rains and the sun. And these are our second and third points of reflection on the sign of Fatima.

According to official accounts, rains have soaked wet the people and the whole of Cova da Iria in Fatima, Portugal for two days, October 12-13, 1917 before the Blessed Mother’s final apparition. How wonderful is the plentiful sign of rains, of water that signify the call for inner cleansing and purification of our hearts and person.

And when the sun “danced” later, the people were astonished how they and their clothes where dried along with the whole surroundings as if it had not rained the previous day and night after witnessing the spectacular display of colors and light!

May we see more of the light of Jesus in our lives so we may be cleansed and ready to work for another day of conversion and holiness just like St. Paul in the first reading today who reminds us to be witnesses of Christ:

… but established as Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness through resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord. Through him we have received the grace of apostleship, to bring about the obedience of faith, for the sake of his name, among all the Bentiles, among whom are you also, who are called to belong to Jesus Christ (Romans 1:4-6).

As witnesses of Christ and pilgrims of hope, we are invited today more than ever in the light of the Blessed Mother’s last apparition at Fatima in 1917 to usher in new hopes for us to become better persons who build stronger families and more vibrant church communities.

At Fatima 108 years ago today, we are invited by the Blessed Mother to be focused more in revealing God’s will as experienced and prayed in the the Sacred Scriptures than taking sides in politics and going down to the worldly debates on abortion and divorce as well as gender issues beyond male and female.

How true indeed are the words of Jesus that “this generation is an evil generation seeking so many signs” to stretch its concepts of justice and equality, of rights and freedom without recognizing the need for humility and acceptance, responsibility and maturity as exemplified by the three children at Fatima. Let us make today the beginning of our conversion and transformation in Christ Jesus with the help of the Blessed Mother. Amen. Our Lady of Fatima, Pray for us. Fr. Nicanor F. lalog II, Our Lady of Fatima University, Valenzuela City (lordmychef@gmail.com)

*From cbcpnews.net, 13 May 2022, at the Parish of the National Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima, Valenzuela City.*

Praying for more understanding

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Tuesday, Sixth Week in Ordinary Time, Year I, 18 February 2025
Genesis 6:5-8; 7:1-5, 10 <*000>< + ><000*> Mark 8:14-21

*Photo by author, Nagsasa Cove, San Antonio, Zambales, October 2024.*

When he became aware of this he said to them, “Why do you conclude that it is because you have no bread? Do you not understand or comprehend? Are your hearts hardened? Do you have eyes and not see, ears and not hear? Do you still not understand?” (Mark 8:17-18, 20)

Yes,
dear Jesus,
I still do not understand;
enlighten my mind and my heart,
Jesus,
to see your light,
to find your face
among the people I meet
so I could understand more;
I still do not understand
so many things
and people, Lord Jesus,
because I have become numb
and oblivious to your presence;
worst,
I have become so complacent
with those around me
without realizing
their needs
nor situation
as I focus more on
what I have
and what I do not have.

Cleanse my heart 
and my mind,
Jesus,
like what the Father did
to earth at the time of Noah;
wash away my many
presumptions
and prejudices
against others
so I may understand more,
stop concluding right away
until I have seen more
in order to love more
like you.
Amen.

Refresh our hearts, Jesus…

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Thursday in the Thirty-Second Week of Ordinary Time, Year II, 14 November 2024
Philemon 7-20 <*[[[[>< + + + ><]]]]*> Luke 17:20-25

*Photo by Ms. Ria De Vera at Banff, Canada, August 2024.*

Refresh my heart today,
Jesus; refresh my heart 
that has become hard like a stone
because of the many pains 
and hurts;
refresh my heart, Lord,
that has become numb to the
cries and pleas of others in pain;
refresh my heart, Jesus,
that has turned away from you
because of many disappointments;
please refresh my heart,
dear Lord because I am so tired
of being by myself.

Like Philemon,
I feel life has been so unfair,
with me asking like Jeremiah 
in the Old Testament,
"why should doing good
be repaid with evil?";
and yes, like St. Paul,
many times I find the gospel
so difficult to balance with the
ways and realities of the world
that like the computer, 
I need to be "refreshed"
in you, Jesus to be truly responsive
and faithful to you.

Refresh me in you alone,
Jesus, for you are the only one
who is our life and meaning;
you are the kingdom of God within
I refuse to reign over me due to sin;
refresh me in you, Jesus,
by being faithful to you in my prayer life,
of making time,
of keeping our time together
instead of looking for your many
physical signs when all along,
you have always been in me
if I just stop and be silent
to let you refresh me;
refresh me, Jesus
so I may also refresh others in you.
Amen.

*Photo by Dra. Mylene A. Santos, MD, an orange-bellied flowerpecker (Dicaeum trigonostigma), December 2023.*

Walking with Jesus

The Lord Is My Chef Holy Thursday Recipe, 28 March 2024
Exodus 12:1-8, 11-14 > + < 1 Corinthians 11:23-26 > + < John 13:1-15

*Photo from wikipediacommons.org of Christ’s washing of feet of Apostles at Monreale Cathedral in Palermo, Italy*.

Tonight we start the Easter Triduum – the three holy days of the Passion, Death, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ with the Mass of the Lord’s Supper and Washing of the Feet.

In our Mass tonight, there will be no dismissal after Holy Communion that is immediately followed by a short procession inside the church of the Blessed Sacrament to its repository that will be the focus of “Visita Iglesia” (not Stations of the Cross) when people “visit” at least seven churches to pray to the Divine Presence of Jesus. Tomorrow in most parishes is the “via Crucis” or Way of the Cross then in the afternoon after the Veneration of the Holy Cross is the Procession of the Burial of the Lord.

See how on these most holy days of the year, much of our activities involve a lot of walking – and rightly so because Jesus Christ was always walking even to His Crucifixion and after Resurrection.

Hence, on the night He was betrayed after Supper, He washed the feet of His disciples including us today because He had also known how difficult and tiring it is to always walk in this life.

“…fully aware that the Father had put everything into his power and that he had come from God and was returning to God, he rose from supper and took off his outer garments. He took a towel and tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and dry them with the towel around his waist.”
John 13:3-5

More than reenacting the washing of the feet, tonight we are reminded by Jesus of the journey ahead to his Crucifixion when – with apologies to Robert Frost – we still have to walk “miles to go before we sleep” by choosing the road less travelled “that made the difference.”

And here lies the problem of our time: with the advancement of technology, our modes of transportation like communication have greatly affected our relationships with others, for better and for worse. From being peripatetic persons, we have become more accustomed to riding, of getting fast and effortless to our destination that we no longer walk that much unlike before that has affected even our relationships with one another. How can we continue the work of Jesus when we no longer walk that much?

*Photo by Mr. Raffy Tima of GMA-7 News, 2020.*

Observe how it has become so difficult to ask for directions these days because nobody is walking anymore. Most of us are ensconced in our own vehicles that have become our own little world and tiny universe every time we travel even if it were just a “walking distance”. Aside from breaking apart from the rest of humanity, we have also become very impersonal in the sense that we now rely more with Google maps and other travel apps than with the ordinary “man on the street.” Worst, we rarely touch the ground with our bare feet that if ever we would walk, it has been relegated to mere physical fitness often done alone with earphones as companions. We have not only grown apart from others but have also lost touch with earth because we no longer walk that much like Jesus and His disciples.

Two weeks ago during my retreat, I walked around the vast grounds and mini-forests of the Sacred Heart Novitiate in Novaliches when I realized that priesthood is peripatetic in nature because it is a ministry that walks to reach out, search for the missing sheep as per instruction of the Lord. Jesus even added that in fulfilling our mission, we must carry nothing when we walk except a staff and sandals.

*Walking with our parishioners in the Via Crucis, 01 March 2024.*

Moreover, priesthood is a ministry of being companions as shepherds in the journey of the people. That is why Jesus is our Good Shepherd because He is the One who truly journeys with us in this life. He is the One who continues to walk with us in our many ups and downs, in the many dusty trails and harsh realities of life that no gadget or wealth or media platform could bring comfort and security to any weary traveler.

It is only in walking when we could truly journey with others in life to converse with them and listen to their doubts and frustrations like the two disciples walking back to Emmaus three days after Good Friday. It is only in walking can we truly meet the sick, the orphaned and the widowed, the blind and the lame, the sinners and the misfits the world had left behind or pushed onto the margins of the society, far from our superhighways.

Most of all, when we walk we touch ground, we feel the earth called “humus” in Latin, the origin of the words human and humility. Could it be that we have become less humble today partly because of our refusal to walk more often?

Forgive us your priests when we have refused to walk with you especially when you are troubled and lost. Forgive us your priests as we have ceased to be like Jesus who walked most of the time because we have been so obsessed riding and travelling most of the time in our cars and SUV’s as well as mountain bikes and big bikes that have insulated us from your cries and anguish. We have not only lost the art of walking but have totally forgotten about walking the extra mile to pray and commune with our Lord and Master Jesus Christ found among the poor and the sick, the marginalized peoples forgotten in our upwardly, mobile society.

*Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches 20 March 2024.*

We always hear the expression “life is a journey.” Our first reading tonight attested to this reality when God reminded the chosen people preparing for exodus from Egypt “to eat and dress like those who are in flight”(Ex.12:11).

The original concept of the restaurant is not just a place where people stop to eat during a long journey. Restaurants were truly “rest stops” where travelers could rest their feet by soaking them in warm water so that they could travel again to reach their destination.

The Holy Eucharist is a “sacred restaurant” where we eat and drink the Body and Blood of Christ who nourishes us in our life journey. Most of all, in the Eucharist and Sacrament of Reconciliation, Jesus continues to wash our feet to cleanse us from our sins and burdens to make this journey of life lighter and easier. When we receive Him in the Holy Communion, we make Him our “companion” in life filled with darkness and pains, uncertainties and lack of direction. The word companion literally means “someone you break bread with” – a beautiful picture of the Eucharist described to us by St. Paul in the second reading.

In washing the feet of His disciples, Jesus Christ showed us in His humble gesture that He is indeed our Savior who went down so low even unto death on the Cross to express His immense love and mercy for each of us. Everything that transpired on the night He was betrayed prefigured the events of Good Friday which we make present every time we celebrate the Eucharist that is summed up in loving service for one another.

Do we still walk? And if we walk, who is our companion, the one we break bread with? Likewise, do we walk our talk of our faith?

May we never leave behind Jesus among our family and friends as we walk through this life. A blessed Holy Thursday to everyone. Amen.

Lent is life and healing

40 Shades of Lent by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Tuesday in the Fourth Week of Lent, 12 March 2024
Ezekiel 47:1-9, 12     ><))))*> + ><))))*> + ><))))*>     John 5:1-16

As we prepare for Easter
in this season of Lent,
you also remind us, 
dear Jesus of our Baptism,
of our being cleansed
to new life in you;
it is in Baptism we have come
into new life in you, Jesus,
becoming children of the Father,
sharing in God's life.

In this season of Lent
amid the dry and sweltering 
summer we now have,
remind us of our true identity
as children of God through Baptism,
that without Jesus our living water,
we die, we lose life, we lose meaning;
keep us one in you,
one with you, Jesus,
our abundant life giving river
like what the Prophet Ezekiel saw
in a vision:

Wherever the river flows, every sort ofn living creatures that can multiply shall live, and there shall be abundant fish, for wherever this water comes the sea shall be made fresh. Along both banks of the river, the fruit trees of every kind shall grow; their leaves shall not fade, nor their fruit fail.
Ezekiel 47:9-12

Most of all, Lord Jesus,
thank you for coming to us,
for approaching us like what 
happened at the pool of Bethesda
to cleanse and heal us 
of our so many infirmities
especially in this highly competitive
world that has become so impersonal;
cleanse and heal, dear Jesus,
our inner hurts due to our own sins
or sins by others, knowingly or unknowingly;
in your mercy, 
wash and cleanse us,
of our many 
fears and anxieties,
anger and bitterness,
frustrations and failures
to start anew in you
this Season of Lent.
Amen.

Lent is the zeal of Jesus

40 Shades of Lent by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Sunday Recipe for the Soul, Lent III-B, 03 March 2024
Exodus 20:1-17 ><}}}*> 1 Corinthians 1:22-25 ><}}}*> John 2:13-25

It has been 19 days since we started this 40-day journey of Lent as an internal pilgrimage to God our first love. Since the first Sunday of Lent, Mark guided us to Jesus as we joined him in the desert of our poverty and sinfulness to the heights of his transfiguration through the many trials and sufferings we have gone through in life.

Beginning this third Sunday in Lent until the fifth Sunday, all our gospel readings are taken from John as we come closer with God who dwells right in our hearts, his temple within us. Keep in mind that our Lenten itinerary is actually symbolic and theological in nature than an actual road map to follow; hence, our shift to the fourth gospel that is so rich in its narration of the events leading to the Holy Week.

Since the Passover of the Jews was near, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. He found in the temple area those who sold oxen, sheep, and doves, as well the moneychangers seated there. He made a whip out of cords and drove them all out of the temple area, with the sheep and oxen, and spilled the coins of the moneychangers and overturned their tables, and to those who sold doves he said, “Take these out of here, and stop making my Father’s house a marketplace.” His disciples recalled the words of the Scripture, Zeal for your house will consume me.
John 2:13-17

In the Bible, the Temple is the sign of God’s presence. That is how central is the Temple of Jerusalem for the Jews even until now. And John deepens this sign of the Temple for us with his most unique narration of its cleansing by Jesus in preparation for its new meaning found in Christ when he died on the Cross.

Only John noted how the disciples recalled after Easter this episode of Jesus cleansing the Temple, linking it with that line from the Passion Psalm, “His disciples recalled the words of the Scripture, ‘Zeal for your house will consume me'”. Matthew, Mark, and Luke in their accounts identically quoted Jesus citing Isaiah 56:7 when he said, “My house shall be called a house of prayer but you have made it into a den of thieves” (Mt. 21:13; Mk. 11:17; Lk.19:46).

Here, John is reminding us – like when the Apostles remembered after Easter – that Jesus is the “just man”, the promised Messiah who not only prayed but embodied this psalm that led him to his Passion and Death on Good Friday.

Save me, God, for the waters have reached my neck. For your sake I bear insult, shame covers my face. Because zeal for your house consumes me, I am scorned by those who scorn you.
Psalm 69:2, 8, 10

That “zeal” of Jesus for the Temple and everything it stood for that consumed him was the zeal of his self-giving love on the Cross that we find in the following conversation he had with the Jews.

At this the Jews answered and said to him, “What sign can you show us for doing this?” Jesus answered and said to them, “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews said, “This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and you will raise it up in three days?” But he was speaking about the temple of his body. Therefore, when he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they came to believe the Scripture and the word Jesus had spoken.
John 2:18-22

So beautiful! Everything now becomes so clear that Jesus is the new Temple; his cleansing of the temple in Jerusalem was a declaration of his “vision-mission” right at the start of his ministry in John’s gospel (experts say John’s narration of events in Christ’s life was more of theology than chronology).

At his Crucifixion, Jesus Christ had replaced the Temple worship with “worship in Spirit and truth” (Jn.4:23) as he had told the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well (Third Sunday Lent-A). The synoptic gospels attest to this same view of John in their accounts that upon Christ’s death, “the veil of the sanctuary was torn from top to bottom” (Mt.27:51; Mk.15:38; Lk.23:45) that signaled the end of temple worship in Jesus Christ as the new Temple of God.

Therefore, this “zeal” of Jesus for the Temple symbolizing the Father is the same zeal every disciple must have for God, for others and his Church. It is the very same zeal laid out by God to Moses at Sinai in the Ten Commandments calling on everyone to be fair and just with each other regardless of age, color, sex, and belief. The first three commandments call us for a zeal in loving God above all expressed in the same zeal we must have in the remaining commandments for our neighbors.

*Photo by author, temple of Jerusalem, 2017.*

After the success of the movie The Ten Commandments in 1956, reporters asked its director Cecil B. DeMilled which of the Ten Commandments of God we often violate or disobey? DeMille said it is the first commandment because every time we commit a sin, that is when we have other gods besides our one, true God.

Very true!

This is the grace of this third Sunday in Lent as we continue this internal pilgrimage to God: that we also cleanse our hearts by examining our zeal for God and for others. The other word for “zeal” is “enthusiasm” which literally means in Greek as “to be filled with God” (from en theos). To be filled with God, to be with his zeal means to be empty of ourselves first by becoming like Jesus Christ. But, how can we proclaim Christ crucified as St. Paul asserted in the second reading when we are more concerned with money and trade, fame and prestige, especially in the Church? How can we proclaim Christ crucified when we avoid his Cross, always seeking shortcuts and instants in everything? How can we be more loving like Christ crucified when we do not have the zeal for others?

Let us pray.

Lord Jesus, 
"overturn" our many excuses 
and alibis of being so concerned
 with things of the world
 pretending we do them in the name
 of God and of our family and loved ones;  
"overturn" our many justifications
 for not going to Mass,
 for not receiving the Sacraments,
 for not making time
 with our family and loved ones;
set us free, Jesus,
from our many addictions
 that have cut off our ties
 and relationships with You
 and real persons 
like our family and friends.
Fill us, Jesus, with your zeal
 for the Father through the Church 
and everyone we meet. 
 Amen.

Cleanse us, O Lord!

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Thursday, Feast of the Dedication of St. John Lateran, 09 November 2023
Ezekiel 47:1-2, 8-9, 12 ><)))*> 1 Corinthians 3:9-11, 16-17 ><)))*> John 2:13-22

*Photo by Arch. Philip Santiago, St. John Lateran in Rome, 2022.*

Praise and glory to you,
God our loving Father
in choosing to dwell in us
your people
as your temple;
how sad we have always 
desecrated ourselves and 
houses of worship with sin and evil
yet you never stopped 
building us up over and over
in Jesus Christ
as your dwelling place.

Brothers and sisters: You are God’s building. Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?
1 Corithians 3:9, 16

Please, come again, Lord Jesus;
come more often to us your people
especially to us your priests,
to cleanse us of all filth of pride and conceit
when we eject you from the Eucharist 
by making it our own celebration, 
making a mockery of your sacrifice 
we have turned into a carnival, 
a spectacle for entertainment 
in the name of money and fame; 
forgive us, Jesus, 
in misleading the people,
 using God like in the temple of Jerusalem;
shame on us when we preach
more of ourselves and interests
than your words that free the people
from bondage to sin and disease;
cleanse us, O Lord, so that life 
may spring forth again from our parishes 
where people experience your love and mercy
that "Wherever the river flows,
every sort of living creature that can
multiply shall live, and there shall be
abundant fish, for wherever this water
comes the sea shall be made fresh"
(Ezekiel 47:9).

Come, Lord Jesus,
bind us again like cords,
whip us if necessary,
awaken our pastors and bishops
who have forgotten your call
to shepherd your people,
choosing to graze in the green
pastures of the rich and powerful
enclosed in their buildings and
ivory towers bereft of
your spirit and life;
awaken your people too
in the spirit of synodality
to stand for what is true and sacred,
to demand from religious leaders
to give only you, Jesus,
always you, Jesus.
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”.*

Advent takes our shame away

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
First Friday in the First Week of Advent, 02 December 2022
Isaiah 29:17-24 ><]]]]'> + ><]]]]'> + ><]]]]'> Matthew 9:27-31

Your words today,
O God our Father,
are so comforting,
so delightful!

Thus says the Lord God: but a very little while, and Lebanon shall be changed into an orchard, and the orchard be regarded as forest! On that day the deaf shall hear the words of a book; and out of gloom and darkness, the eyes of the blind shall see. The lowly will ever find joy in the Lord, and the poor rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.
Isaiah 29:17-19

In your Son's coming,
Jesus Christ,
all our shame were wiped away
including our sins;
this Advent, help us to rise
again from our falls
and failures, Lord Jesus;
remember us as we 
remember our sinfulness,
as we acknowledge our
blindness.

We want to see again,
Lord Jesus, with heads
up high,
no longer ashamed of
our sins and infidelities
to you; wash and cleanse
us, Jesus this Advent season
as we reform our lives
and our ways
to reflect your coming,
your presence,
your love and 
your dignity in us.
Amen.

Create a clean heart in us your priests, O God

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Thursday, Feast of St. John Marie Vianney, Priest, 04 August 2022
Jeremiah 31:1-7 ><}}}*> + ><}}}*> + ><}}}*> Matthew 16:13-23

*Photo by Mr. Jay Javier, Acacias at UP, Diliman, QC, April 2022.*

Glory and praise to you,
dear Jesus for the gift of
priesthood!
Thank you for the grace of
St. John Marie Vianney our 
patron who taught us that
"The priesthood is the love
of the heart of Jesus". 
That is why on this day of the
priests, we pray like the psalmist:

A clean heart create for me, O God, 
and a steadfast spirit renew within me.  
Cast me not out from your presence, 
and your Holy Spirit take not from me.  
Give me back the joy of your salvation, 
and a willing spirit sustain in me.  
I will teach transgressors your ways, 
and sinners shall return to you.  
For you are not pleased with sacrifices; 
should I offer a burnt offering, 
you would not accept it.  
My sacrifice, O God, is a contrite spirit; 
a heart contrite and humbled, 
O God, you will not spurn.
(Psalm 51:12-13, 14-15, 18-19)

Indeed, dear Jesus, 
it is the heart of us your
priests that must be cleansed 
and purified for it is where
your new covenant is written
as Jeremiah prophesied 
in the first reading today:  
"I will place my law within them,
and write it upon their hearts; 
I will be their God, 
and they shall be my people.
No longer will they have need to
teach their friends and relatives
how to know the Lord" 
(Jeremiah 31:33-34).

In your many teachings, Jesus,
especially in the Beatitudes,
you have always declared the heart 
as the wholeness of every person 
that must be purified to be open 
and free to see God because 
our intellect is never enough;
like Peter when he confessed "you
are the Christ" at Caesarea Philippi,
let our hearts be silent to listen to
the voice of the Father revealing 
you in our hearts (Matthew 16:16-17).

Most of all, purify and cleanse
the hearts of us your priests, 
dear Jesus so that we may have 
a loving heart that is obedient to you 
in serving your people; a heart that
is one with you, O Lord, on the 
Cross for it is only in humbling 
ourselves, in going down like you 
can we truly be loving to have a heart 
like your Most Sacred Heart.
Amen.

St. John Marie Vianney,
Pray for us priests!