Good grief

Lord My Chef Daily Recipe by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Tuesday, Memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows, 15 September 2026
Hebrews 5:7-9     <*{{{{><  +  ><}}}}*>     John 19:25-27

*Photo by the late Mr. Noli Yamsuan, Manila Cathedral, 15 July 2012.*

A day after the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, we celebrate the Memorial of our Lady of Sorrows or Mater Dolorosa, the grieving Mother Mary at the foot of the Cross of Jesus Christ.

For a better appreciation of the scene, I recalled the one particular detail provided by Matthew, Mark, and Luke at how the area was enveloped in darkness from noon to three in the afternoon situating it in John’s most unique element of the Crucifixion:

Standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple there whom he loved, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold your son.” Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother.” And from that hour the disciple took her into his home (John 19:25-27).

*Photo of painting from stswithuns.org.uk.*

As I prayed over this scene, the expression “good grief” came to my mind.

Good grief is an expression so similar with the second Beatitude of Christ taught at his sermon on the mount, “Blessed are those who mourn (grieve), for they will be comforted” (Mt.5:4).

What is blessed with mourning or good with grief when you have lost a loved one or in pain and suffering? Or, when things are not going well with one’s self and life?

As we reel from the recent monsoon rains or habagat, grieving cleanses out eyes and whole body system like the rains that wash away all dirt and trash in the surroundings. Though grief and storms inconvenience, even immobilize us for some time, overall crying and rains enable us to reassess our priorities and directions in life like the painful lessons the floods have taught us, if we have indeed learned.

There at the Cross, John noticed and presented us this most moving scene before the death of Jesus to show us the new reorientation also in our lives as disciples led by the first and model disciple of all, Mary with the beloved disciple. Clearly here we find a new direction in their lives and eventually in the life of the Church Jesus had founded.

Grief is good and blessed because it leads us to God, to self, and to others as both Mother Mary and the beloved disciple exemplified in their lives.

Grief is the default browser of faith, enabling us to hold on to God when everything and everyone slip from our grasps, when we realize God looming over us despite the darkness that envelops us like during the Crucifixion. Imagine the tremendous faith the Blessed Virgin Mary and the beloved disciple both have during that most crucial moment when they were the only ones who have remained with Jesus while all the other disciples have gone hiding in fear.

In the many artistic depictions of the Crucifixion, we can find that like Mary and the beloved disciple, we are are most human when in the face of grief because that is when we accept and affirm our weakness as a person – whether we are the one grieving or comforting someone grieving. Grief is good because that is when God calls us most to be his very presence in the darkest hours of sufferings and pain.

*Lady of Sorrows from a triptych by the Master of the Stauffenberg Altarpiece, Alsace c. 1455; photo from fraangelicoinstitute.com.*

In my 28 years as a priest, I have comforted and grieved with so many people, family and friends, even strangers. And it seems that of all the things I have said and done as a priest and an individual, it was those moments of grieving with those who have lost a loved one or going through difficulties are what people most remembered of me because I have realized too with the deaths of my dad and mom, grieving is the pathway to home – to ourselves, to our beloved and to God. John tells us how since that day on the beloved disciple took Mary into “his home.”

Our Filipino word for home literally came from crying and grieving – tahanan which is from “tahan na” or stop crying. We stop crying or tahan in our own home, tahanan because that is where we feel loved and cared, safe and accepted no matter what.

During funerals, I tell people to simply grieve and please, do not ask anybody to stop crying or tahan. When we allow those in pain to cry and grieve, eventually in the process they stop when they finally find a reason to moving on and start living.

*“Mater Dolorosa” also known as “Blue Madonna” (1616) by Carlo Dolci. Photo from Wikimedia Commons.*

It is here where we find too the goodness in the good grief of the Blessed Virgin Mary, our Lady of Sorrows: she was deeply in pain minus the theatrics of some during funerals. It was purely good grief for Mary because at that most crucial moment, she must be lovingly praying.

That is the beautiful reminder to us of this memorial of Mater Dolorosa: the more we must handle life with prayer in order to believe more and love more when everything is dark and even dead. At the Crucifixion, we find the words of the author of the Letter to the Hebrews so fulfilled and true not only in Jesus but also with those who stood with him like his Mother Mary and beloved disciple:

In the days when he was in the flesh, he offered prayers and supplications with loud cries and tears to the one who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered; and when he was made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him (Hebrews 5:7-9).

Amid all the hardships and difficulties many of us are facing these days of rains and floods, of corruption among our officials and leaders as if we are again standing at the foot of the Cross of Jesus Christ, it is a most opportune time of “good grief” for us to stand for what is true and good, fair and just, honorable and honest. Like our Lady of Sorrows the Blessed Virgin Mary, let us draw out faith and strength and courage from Jesus Christ who had won over death and sin on the Cross. Amen.

What goes up must first go down

Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Monday, Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, 14 September 2026
Numbers 21:4-9 ><}}}}*> Philippians2:6-11 ><}}}}*> John 3:13-17

*Photo by author, Basilica of Our Lady of Manaoag, Pangasinan, 09 January 2026.*

Today’s celebration of the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross started in the fourth century with the miraculous discovery of the True Cross by Helena, mother of the Emperor Constantine, on 14 September 326, while she was on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Being the queen Mother, she ordered through her son the emperor the building of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre that was dedicated nine years later with a portion of the True Cross placed inside it on September 13, 335. The following day, the Cross was brought outside of the church to be venerated by the clergy and the faithful.

In the year 627, during the reign of the Emperor Heraclius I of Constantinople, the Persians conquered the city of Jerusalem and removed a major part of the Cross from its sanctuary. The emperor then launched a campaign to recover the True Cross which he regarded as the new Ark of the Covenant for the new People of God.

Before embarking into war, Emperor Heraclius went to church wearing black as a sign of penance, then prostrated himself before the altar and begged God for courage. His prayer was granted as he won the war and recovered the Cross from the Persians. He brought the Cross back to Jerusalem in 641 amid great celebrations by carrying it on his shoulders. Upon reaching the gate leading to Calvary, the emperor could not go forward! Heraclius and his retinue were astonished and could not understand what had happened until the Patriarch Zachary of Jerusalem told him, “Take care, O Emperor! In truth, the imperial clothing you are wearing does not sufficiently resemble the poor and humiliated condition of Jesus carrying His cross.”

Upon hearing those words, the emperor removed his shoes and bejewelled robes, put on a poor man’s clothing and was eventually able to proceed to Calvary and replaced the Cross inside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre where a number of miracles happened during the occasion: a dead man returned to life, four paralytics were cured, ten lepers were healed, 15 blind men were given their sight, with several possessed people exorcised and many sick people totally healed!

*Photo by author, inside the upper chapel of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre where the site of Crucifixion is believed to be located, May 2017.*

Very notable in this story were the words of the Patriarch of Jerusalem to Emperor Heraclius: it was only after he had taken off his royal clothings and put on those of the poor was he able to carry the Cross into Jerusalem.

It is the same thing that is asked of us today: it is so easy to display the cross inside our homes and cars, or wear it as a jewelry or even as a tattoo on our skin and mean nothing at all unless we have the cross inside our hearts, our very being. More than the many signs of the cross and imaginary drawing of its lines we draw on our chest is the need for us to empty ourselves of our pride and sins so that we can be filled by Jesus Christ.

*Photo by author, Chapel of St. Francis Xavier, Sacred Heart Novitiate, QC, March 2024.*

Brothers and sisters: Christ Jesus, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God something to be grasped. Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness; and found human in appearance, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross (Philippians 2:6-8).

Called kenosis in Greek, self-emptying is the way of the Cross of Christ. It is choosing love and mercy than self-centeredness and self-righteousness; sacrifice than satisfaction; fairness and justice than greed and possession; bearing all the pains and perseverance than complaining and whining about difficulties and trials in life like the Israelites in the wilderness (first reading); and, thinking more of others than of one’s self.

The recent COVID-19 pandemic had taught something very beautiful and amazing about the positivity of being negative, when negative was actually positive – healthy and COVID free! Remember how during those days when we would always wish we would yield negative results in our swab tests for COVID?

When we look at the sign of the cross (+), it is a positive sign, a plus sign. Though the cross calls us to let go, to be detached and dispossessed, it is actually an invitation to have more of God, of life and fulfillment!

For us to rise, to go up, we must first go down that is contrary to the ways of this time of affluence when everything is practically easily available even fame and wealth. Today’s feast reminds us that like the Cross of Christ, life is more of letting go and of giving than of having like God who “so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that he who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life” (Jn.3:16). St. Francis of Assisi said it perfectly why the Cross is an exaltation, a triumph:

For it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

Amen. Have blessed week ahead!

*Photo by author, St. Paul Spiritual & Renewal Center, Alfonso, Cavite, 19 August 2026.*

Small. And blessed.

Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Tuesday, Twenty-Third Week in Ordinary Time, Year II
Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, 08 September 2026
Micah 5:1-4 ><]]]]*> + ><]]]]*> + ><]]]]*> Matthew 1:18-23

“The Birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary”, a 1305 painting by Renaissance artist Giotto in the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua, Italy. The two babies depicted are both the Virgin Mary: below is Mary upon birth wrapped in swaddling cloth and washed by attendants and then above being handed to St. Anne her mother. Photo from en.wikipedia.org.

Feasts of saints are often based on the date of their death when they enter eternal life; sometimes it may also be the date when their remains were transferred for proper burial.

There are only three birthdays we celebrate in our liturgy, two are of the highest order as a Solemnity, our Lord Jesus Christ on December 25 and his precursor St. John the Baptist on June 24; the third is that of the Blessed Virgin Mary which is a rank lower as a Feast, falling on this date, eighth of September which is nine months after her Immaculate Conception.

In this age of social media when every platform has its unique way of alerting everyone of someone’s birthday so that nobody can no longer hide to celebrate silently one’s birthday, the Blessed Mother’s nativity offers us a beautiful opportunity to reflect on the significance of a birthday always seen in relation with Jesus Christ’s birth and coming. St. John Paul II perfectly expressed this in his 1995 Encyclical Evangelium Vitae (The Gospel of Life), declaring that “Every birthday is a small Christmas because with the birth of every person comes Jesus Christ” (sorry I can’t recall the citation).

What makes that so true with every birthday beginning with the Blessed Virgin Mary is God’s great mystery of becoming small, of being “insignificant” in the birth of his Son Jesus Christ which we find even in his birthplace prophesied by Micah:

“You, Bethlehem-Ephrathah too small to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel; whose origin is from of old, from ancient times” (Micah 5:1).

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

And if we go further, this true greatness of Jesus Christ in being small is found also in his Mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary who came from the obscure town of Nazareth, the only place in the New Testament never mentioned in the Old Testament.

Recall how Nathanael or Bartholomew the Apostle belittled the Lord’s hometown after being told by Philip that they have found the Messiah from Nazareth, saying, “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” (Jn.1:46) because Nazareth was totally unknown during that time.

And so was Mary!

That is why it is so disappointing and sad when many Catholics unfortunately led by some priests have the misimpression of portraying Mary as a “beauty queen” with flawless skin and Western features when she is clearly Middle Eastern woman. Worst of all is the pomp and pageantries we have in the recent fads of processions and coronations in many dioceses and parishes.

*Photo by author, St. Paul Spiritual & Renewal Center, Bgy. Tanyawak, Alfonso, Cavite, 19 August 2026.*

How sad we have missed the Blessed Virgin Mary as the model disciple of Jesus was the first to embody his teaching of being small like little children with her simplicity and humility so very well expressed in her 20th century apparitions in Fatima, Portugal and Banneux, Belgium.

Enough with the extravagant sometimes imeldific celebrations of Marian feasts and events that have become egregious display of wealth and power.

Being simple and small like Mary, both as a child and as an adult, enable us to see again the value of life and of every person.

Aside from the lack of any account on the birth of Mary, we heard proclaimed today the birth of Jesus to teach us that truth expressed by St. John Paul II that in every person Jesus actually comes. The more simple and true we are like Mary and Joseph, the more Jesus is seen and experienced in us!

That is why when we greet somebody a “happy birthday”, what we really mean telling him/her is “I love you, I thank you for making me who I am today.” Through one’s simplicity and littleness in Christ, we are transformed into better persons because we are able to have glimpse of God’s love and kindness.

The true joy of celebrating a birthday is not found in the externalities of gifts and parties and guests with all the fun that come along but in the silent, prayerful reflection of our life’s beginning and direction into eternal life. See how there are still people who only celebrate Mass on two occasions each year – on their birthday and on Christmas, a clear recognition of our origin and direction in Christ in life.

*Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, March 2023.*

In the birth of Jesus Christ, we are reminded by every birthday that life is precious because it is so fragile – any infant and every person can be easily hurt and harmed, be sick and eventually die.

Like Mary and Joseph, the little Child born in Bethlehem asks us, even begs us to take care of him found in everyone among us.

Let us be more loving and kind, understanding and caring, even merciful and forgiving with one another especially in this time of calamities.

Such is the wisdom of God in making life small and fragile so that we may care and value it because there lies also its greatness. The best birthday greeting we can express to the Blessed Mother Mary today is to start being small and simple like her to share Jesus with everyone. Not with those many cakes we buy and “offer” – tayo rin naman kakain! Amen.

Asking the right question

Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Saturday, Nineteenth Week in Ordinary Time, Year II
Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, 15 August 2026
Revelation 11:19; 12:1-6, 10 ><}}}*> 1 Corinthians 15:20-27 ><}}}*> Luke 1:39-56

One significant lesson I learned in journalism and in life is that we are known by the questions we ask, not by our answers that are often wrong. When we ask the right question – especially if it is not misleading to our own assumptions – the problem or issue at hand is already half solved.

It doesn’t really matter if we don’t get answers right away; many times the answers to our questions come or “unfold” as we move on in life. Some answers come to us later in life or after the death of a loved one. Or, maybe they would be answered in the afterlife.

Just keep asking. As one newspaper says, be an inquirer.

But, why start our reflection on asking question on this Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary?

*Photo by Ar. Philip Santiago, Church of the Visitation, Israel, 2024.*

I was struck by how Elizabeth greeted Mary in her visitation with a question:

“And how does this happen to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” (Luke 1:43)

Actually, before Elizabeth asked that question at the Visitation, Mary was the first to ask the difficult question after the Annunciation to her by Archangel Gabriel, “How can this be, since I have no relations with a man?” (Lk.1:34).

In saying “yes” to God’s invitation at the Annunciation all the way to following Jesus to the Calvary and awaiting the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, Mary is the model disciple of the Lord, the “doer of the Word” in whom we see all that we can become through the power of God despite our human doubts and weaknesses. And many questions.

When Jesus was born, Mary must have so many questions but rather “kept all these things , reflecting on them in her heart” (Lk.2:19). Then when Jesus was thirteen years and got lost in Jerusalem after their pilgrimage, Mary asked anew a difficult question to him, “Son, why have you done this to us? Yur father and I have been looking for you with great anxiety” (Lk.2:48).

*“The Finding of the Saviour in the Temple” painting by William Holman Hunt (1860), from en.wikipedia.org.*

Mary asked the difficult questions always. And most likely, she had kept so many other questions in her heart especially when Jesus suffered, died and was buried. She was never afraid to ask questions to God because she believed, constantly seeking the truth who is her Son Jesus Christ.

On this solemnity of Mary’s assumption when we are reminded of the supreme truth of our own resurrection and assumption into heaven at the end of time when Christ comes again, we are likewise encouraged to keep asking the important questions we are often afraid to ask and confront in life like, would I make it to heaven? Or, the perennial question we ask if there is really God or if there is really heaven and hell and purgatory?

See how the most essential questions in life that we ask albeit with fear or hesitations pertain to things of the soul, of eternity, of spirituality. These are questions that spring from our inner deeper self that indicate our origin who is God that even the greatest scientists throughout history admitted and respected like Albert Einstein.

Very often, the answers to these questions unfold in our hearts, in our lives, in the present moment. That is why Mary responded to Elizabeth’s question and praise with a song praising God for all his wondrous works she had experienced and realized in her life:

*Photo by a friend in Washington. 28 July 2026.*

And Mary said: “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my Savior… He has mercy on those who fear him in every generation. He has shown the strength of his arm, and has scattered the proud in their conceit. He has cast down the mighty from their thrones and has lifted up the lowly. He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty. He has come to the help of his servant Israel for he has remembered his promise of mercy, the promise he made tonour fathers, to Abraham and his children forever” (Luke 1:46-47, 50-55).

The Magnificat is the summary of the Christ Mary carried in her womb and heart throughout her life that she is referred to as the Ark of the New Covenant as seen by John in heaven in the first reading.

The Magnificat as a song of the Blessed Mother was borne out of long reflections and hard questionings about self and the world in the light of God’s works. Mary like Paul in the second reading experienced God’s saving power in Jesus because both were so open to the working of the Holy Spirit, searching deep within by constantly examining, asking the right questions.

That is why silence is important in every prayer period when we learn to completely trust God especially when our questions are very unsettling, even disturbing.

As a priest for 28 years and hospital chaplain these past five years, I have noticed older people along with those sick and dying spending a lot of their time asking about eternity. That’s why many of them go to confession so often. It must be difficult and amazing at the same time. Sometimes when I look into their eyes, there seems to be an intensity that they could pierce through dark clouds and thick curtains that maybe, just maybe, enable them to catch a glimpse of eternity that result in a remarkable peace within them that we too can feel.

It is when we ask the difficult, essential questions that we are able to arrive at the real truth about life and our very self that ultimately lead us to God and to heaven in Jesus Christ.

*“The Assumption of the Virgin” painting by Italian Titian (1516-1518) from en.wikipedia.org.*

The assumption of Mary is part of Christ’s gospel. And the good news is that it is a truth and reality we can arrive at here and now, not later when we die for God loves us so much as Paul tells us in the second reading.

In being the first and model disciple of Jesus, Mary is also the first to reap the fruits of Christ’s resurrection by being assumed into heaven body and soul, free of any pains and sorrows in her “death”.

We too rejoice with Mary in celebrating this Solemnity of her Assumption into heaven, hoping and trusting that eventually all our pains and sufferings shall pass away when we die, when Jesus comes again at the end of time to assume us body and soul into heaven in perfect union with God our Father in him, with him, and through him.

Before ending this reflection, we find it most opportune to remind everyone to stop the practice of keeping a little ash of their beloved’s cremated remains in their pendants or in their homes. This is contrary to our teaching on the resurrection of the dead, of the dogma of the Assumption of Mary. It is because of this assurance that we too like Mary shall be assumed into heaven body and soul that the remains of the dead shall be preserved intact in utmost respect and care according to the norms of the Church. Not the crazy beliefs propagated by movies and crematories primarily for profits. Most of all, exorcists have been reminding us too of the negative effects to the dead and to the living by keeping their ashes no matter how little they may be. God bless everyone!

*Photo by author, St. Michael Retreat House, Antipolo City, 16 June 2026.*

Transfiguration is seeing the face of Jesus

Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Thursday in the Eighteenth Week of Ordinary Time, Year II
Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord, 06 August 2026
2 Peter 1:16-19     <*{{{{><  +  ><}}}}*>     Matthew 17:1-9

*Mosaic inside the Basilica of the Transfiguration on Mt. Tabor, Israel; photo from commons.wikimedia.org*.

The face is a reflection of what is in the heart and soul of every person. No amount of cosmetics and beauty procedures can ever bring out that glow and radiance of anyone’s face beaming with joy and fulfillment, peace and contentment coming from the heart.

This direct correlation of the face and the heart is called countenance – an indication of someone’s depth – or shallowness – of inner transformation due to deep spirituality, of communion with God. This is most evident on those we find whose face looks younger than one’s age that we often describe as malalim or deep, or magaling magdala ng problema. Another favorite Filipino expression of a person’s countenance is when we find somebody as madaling makagaanan ng loob – a person we meet for the first time yet we feel so light and easy with, we feel at home with him or her. In the same manner, we sense or notice something negative and unpleasant like rotting inside a person despite having good features like flawless skin or aquiline nose and beautiful eyes, we still find him or her so chaka or ugly.

Countenance is what young people call as “uma-aura” when they pose for FB or IG from “aura” or spirit within evoked and projected by one’s face that cannot be manipulated nor faked.

Jesus took Peter, James, and his brother, John, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them; his face shone like the sun and his clothes became white as light (Matthew 17:1-2).

*Painting of the Transfiguration by Italian artist Duccio di Buoninsegna between 1308 and 1311 from commons.wikimedia.org.*

What a beautiful expression by Matthew, “his (Jesus’) face shone like the sun” at his transfiguration primarily because deep inside him is his complete and perfect union in the Father. Jesus always insisted on this reality within him, of his perfect communion in the Father from which also flows his total obedience that reached its highest point at his Passion and Death on the Cross, his own Pasch or exodus.

Try recalling unexpected moments in your life when God’s presence was so clear to you like a light shining from within; it could be those moments you have overcome a major obstacle in life or simply when you felt so loved while in some forms of darkness in life. Like the three apostles, during those moments we felt so overwhelmed by God’s glory and majesty that we felt like remaining in that state of comfort and certainty and consolation. Most often, these occurred during or after some trying times or occasions.

There on Mount Tabor in his transfiguration, we are shown that Christ’s glory cannot be separated from the Cross. His majesty and triumph shall come from his pasch. And so are we his disciples. That is why the voice heard by the apostles said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased; listen to him”. From now on after his transfiguration, Jesus would be speaking thrice of his coming Passion, Death and Resurrection as he heads toward Jerusalem. All his lessons after Mount Tabor are about our participation in his paschal mysteries.

Do we listen at all? How’s our facial expression when we dwell on his conditions of discipleship? Is there a spark within us, a light shining through? Or, do we experience a “blackout”?

*Photo from custodia.org of Basilica of the Transfiguration on Mt. Tabor, Israel.*

Every second Sunday in Lent, we hear the same gospel of Christ’s transfiguration in preparation for Easter; this August 6 is the 18th week in Ordinary Time and we celebrate the Feast of Transfiguration to help us sustain in following Jesus in the last 16 weeks of the year.

During this time especially August when everything seems to slow down with life getting a bit difficult, the Transfiguration of Jesus calls us to never lose sight of the Cross of Good Friday as our path to glorious transfiguration in Christ. It is a process we have to patiently and persevere to go through in life.

The apostles learned and embraced all these lessons in a process slowly with the guidance of the Holy Spirit after Pentecost. That is why Jesus told them to come down from Tabor to continue their journey to Jerusalem to fulfill his mission. Through them we have believed despite our not having seen Jesus that is how he would appear as “Lord” on the mountain that we the faithful are climbing to participate in the ultimate manifestation of his return at the end of time.

To journey with Christ, listening and obeying his voice is something of the inside, of the heart. Not of the outside like places. The light of Christ does not remain still, continuously drawing us forward unto him, right into our hearts.

Life is a daily ascent to Mount Tabor, often when nights are long and dark, when the temptation to follow the artificial lights of the world and modernisms offering shortcuts to fulfillment and meaning are so tempting.

*Photo from iStockphoto.com of Mount Tabor in Israel where Jesus is believed to have transfigured.*

St. Peter warns us in the first reading that “we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ… we possess the prophetic message that is altogether reliable. You will do well to be attentive to it, as a lamp shining in a dark place, until day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts” (2Pt.1:16, 19).

The path to glory is the path of the Cross of Jesus, right in our hearts when we are willing to forgive and understand, when we are more loving and kind, when we are empty of pride and filled with Jesus always. May the light of Christ shine on us, on our face. Let us pray:

Show me your face,
Jesus by dwelling right here
in my heart,
filling me with your
love and kindness,
justice and truth, 
mercy and forgiveness;
show me your face,
Jesus by showing me 
Moses too that I may love
your laws and commandments
that often I see as burdensome
not realizing they actually lead
to true freedom to love and be
faithful to you, Lord;
sow me your face, 
Jesus by showing me too
Elijah, your powerful prophet 
taken to heaven body and soul
by a chariot because he believed
in your words Lord;
show me your face, 
Jesus that my face may
shine with your light 
while I transfigure in you.
Amen.

We are John the Baptist, a Suffering Servant of God too.

Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Wednesday in the Twelfth Week of Ordinary Time,
Solemnity of the Birth of John the Baptist, 24 June 2026
Isaiah 49:1-6 ><}}}}*> Acts 13:22-26 ><}}}}*> Luke 1:57-66, 80

*View of a decorated Christmas tree and tower of the Franciscan Monastery of St Saviour locally also known as San Salvador monastery in the Christian Quarter Old city East Jerusalem*

Six months from now we celebrate Christmas because today is the birthday of the Lord’s cousin and precursor, St. John the Baptist; but, before we rejoice at the fast approaching Christmas, let us reflect first on the joy of John’s parents, relatives and local folks following his birth.

When the time arrive for Elizabeth to have her child she gave birth to a son. Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown his great mercy toward her, and they rejoiced with her (Luke 1:57-58)

It was indeed a great celebration for everyone in the hill country of Judah when John was born: his parents were both old and his mother Elizabeth was already barren when she conceived John.

Both parents were from the priestly family, very prominent with a great lineage. Most likely, they were the envy of their relatives and neighbors in practically having every good thing in life except a child to inherit and propagate their good name and wealth; when John was born, God gave them more than a child – here was the precursor of the Messiah, the promised Elijah who returned to prepare the way of the Lord Jesus Christ!

*Photo by author, May 2019, Church of St. John the Baptist, Ein Karem, Israel.*

It was a joy that did not come easily, with much pains and sufferings and self-doubts along the way that took a long time of waiting too.

This birth of John teaches us that behind every joy is always a great deal of sufferings, doubts, and darkness in life.

Imagine the inner turmoil within Zechariah when the angel appeared to him announcing the birth of John while incensing the Holy of Holies on the most important Jewish feast: he doubted the angel’s good news not because he had lost faith in God but simply got “tired” with God.

Zechariah was having a sort of tampo as we call it in Filipino because God did not seem to listen to his prayers for a son.

It happens with us when we have turned indifferent in our faith even with God when he seems not to care at all to our prayers and requests that we keep on failing the board exam or gets denied repeatedly in our job or visa applications. We still pray with our lips not with our heart just for the sake of praying without really believing in its efficacy, if God listens to us at all.

Or like Elizabeth who went into a self-imposed silence, withdrawing from public view during her pregnancy with John because she felt herself so unworthy of God’s blessing.

Today, the birth of John the Baptist teaches us that every disciple as a precursor of Christ is an image of God’s Suffering Servant prophesied by Isaiah:

Though I thought I had toiled in vain, and for nothing, uselessly, spent my strength, yet my reward is with the lord, my recompense is with my God (Isaiah 49:4).

*Photo by author of the site believed to be the birthplace of St. John the Baptist at the side of the Church of St. John the Baptist in Ein Karem, Israel, May 2019.*

There are actually three songs of the Suffering Servant in the Book of Isaiah that prefigure Jesus Christ who suffered and died and rose again on the third day. However, it is widely believed and interpreted that in the second song of the Suffering Servant we heard today, the Servant referred to is John the Baptist.

Although John recognized Jesus as the promised Christ during his baptism at Jordan, he was the first to suffer and die a martyr when thrown into prison for speaking the truth against Herod’s taking of his brother’s wife Herodias. There we find that image of God’s Suffering Servant in John’s mission and ministry, reminding us of the great difficulties and dangers in preparing the way of the Lord.

We are all a John the Baptist and a Zechariah and Elizabeth rolled into one like the Suffering Servant for we are all a forerunner of Jesus Christ.

Many times we too have felt like them in doubting our efforts in witnessing Christ and his gospel, when these seemed to have gone in vain especially today when the world is trying hard to delete God from every aspect of life.

Witnessing the gospel of Christ, speaking and fighting for what is true and good, for what is just and fair, even in simply being human and decent can already be strenuous, exhausting and often discouraging.

There are times we feel ineffective, even at the losing end only to realize later how our little efforts have actually contributed in making God’s kingdom to truly come with our life of mission and witnessing Christ because like the Suffering Servant, we have felt deep within us the certainty of God working in us, most especially of him being the Almighty One.

We have proven many times God prevails, how good always triumphs for it is when we are weak that we are strongest in Christ as St. Paul declared in one of his writings.

The next time you feel so down in life, in your mission whether in your personal life or family, in your work or in your apostolate and ministry, have a heart: like Zechariah and Elizabeth keep focused on the Lord for Christ surely comes. Rejoice in all your efforts, though little even insignificant for you and for others, they are God working in us.

Keep in mind too the meaning of the names of our main personalities today: Elizabeth in Hebrew is “God promised” while Zechariah is “God remembered” while John means “God is gracious”. Indeed, God is gracious all the time because he always remembers his promise to us. Amen. May God bless you abundantly today like Zechariah and Elizabeth!

*Painting of Zechariah giving name to his son John by Italian painter Riccardo Cessi (1892) from commons.wikimedia.org.*

Heaven knows I’m miserable now

Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Friday, Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, 12 June 2026
Deuteronomy 7:6-11 ><}}}*> 1 John 4:7-16 ><}}}*> Matthew 11:25-30

*Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, March 2026.*

You read it right. The title of our reflection on this Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus is the same title of The Smiths’ 1984 classic Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now.

It is one of my all-time favorite songs, my theme song after graduating in 1986, landing on my first and only job as it captured my exact situation of the period:

I was happy in the haze of a drunken hour
But Heaven knows, I'm miserable now
I was looking for a job, and then I found a job
And Heaven knows I'm miserable now

Since then, the song has remained relevant with me especially after learning how the young generation appreciate a lot The Smiths that I have used their other music in my spiritual conferences and recollections as a university chaplain. That’s why during our Sacred Heart Novena in our university chapel, the same song kept playing at the back of my mind especially while meditating on the second reading on this feast of the Sacred Heart.

Beloved, let us love one another, because love is of God; everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God. Whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love. In this is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as expiation for our sins (1 John 4:7-8, 10).

How lovely and simple is our second reading from the letter of the beloved disciple, John who gives us the deepest theological grounding of the Sacred Heart of Jesus: “God is love.”

Pope Benedict XVI used to say Christianity is the only religion is the world with that kind of declaration about God; it is not merely that God loves but that love is God’s very nature!

And what does it mean to us? The older I get, the more I realize and experience that I live because of God’s love: it is the reason I wake up and sleep; why I strive to be my best in everything despite my weaknesses and limitations; why I still love even if I am not loved or misunderstood and even maligned; why I still go in living even if I am sure one day I shall die.

We live because we are loved by God.

Simply loved because he is love himself.

Not because we are good or does something important or fulfills his divine will.

God loves because it is his very essence as Moses reminds us in the first reading, “It was not because you are the largest of all nations that the Lord set his heart on you and chose you, for you are really the smallest of all nations. It was because the Lord loved you” (Dt.7:7-8).

Hence, John insists that in this is love – not that we loved God but that God loved us first. Our love for God and for one another is a response to his very love.

Would there be any difference at all to begin with God’s initiative rather than our own love?

Surely a lot. Even unthinkable to just rely on our own love and initiative because it is never enough for we humans are imperfect.

Human love is imperfect; only God can love us perfectly. That is why love is always initiated by God. We can’t love on our own. No matter how good and holy we may be. Mayroon palaging maisusumbat ating minamahal sa ating pagmamahal. Sa Diyos wala.

That is why I love the song Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now.

We humans are so miserable in loving but because of our loving God who is love himself, we are able to love, to keep on loving despite and in spite of everything because to live is to love. Jesus came so that we can continue to love, to keep loving even if the world tells us it is foolish. Even if people don’t care at all for us and do not love us as Morrissey sang it so well in the chorus of Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now:

In my life, why do I give valuable time
To people who don't care if I live or die?

Very true – fascinatingly – is Morrissey’s third chorus line because he openly brings out the usual thoughts we hide in dealing with people we hate or do not like:

In my life, why do I smile
At people who I'd much rather kick in the eye?

Funny is it not? But very true! And that’s because of God’s love in us, of his grace that despite the many people who hurt us and do not love us, we still choose to be loving and kind, at least smile at them than stoop down to their low levels.

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

The feast of the Sacred Heart is an invitation to look at the heart of God – at what God most desires for us and for our world. It is not a sentimental image but a radical one: a love that goes all the way to the Cross.

God knows how miserable we are these days when things like positions and power, fame and wealth have become more important than persons to be loved and cared for. Despite the many technological advances we have achieved that promised to make life easier, the opposite proved to be more true. Life has been reduced to mere lifestyle, persons have become objects to be possessed by companies and brands, even by schools!

Today’s celebration of the Sacred Heart feast invites us to go back to Jesus who knows fully well our miseries; songs like Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now can identify and express them to offer respite for a while but only Jesus can uplift and change us for he alone truly loves us because he is love himself.

“Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for your selves. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light” (Matthew 11:28-30).

Amid the many miseries we are all going through these days, let us take time today to respond to the love of Jesus Christ in the most honest and true ways that will make others experience his love. Many times, it is the simplest gesture of just being gentle with others in words and in deeds, of not adding to their many burdens in life. Jesus, meek and humble of heart, make our hearts like yours! Amen.

From Youtube.com.

Body & Blood of Christ for the life of the world

Lord My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Solemnity of the Most Holy Body & Blood of Christ-A, 07 May 2026
Deuteronomy 8:2-3, 3:14-16 ><}}}*> 1Corinthians 10:16-17 ><}}}*> John6:51-58

*Photo from wikimedia.org of the nave with the classic altar of the Sta. Cruz Church in Manila.*

Of the many churches I have been to, the Sta. Cruz Church in Manila remains my favorite. Since childhood, I have always loved its beautiful apse of Byzantine glass mosaic of a sacrificial lamb symbolizing Jesus Christ whose blood flows like a river to the tabernacle amid a setting of mango, banana and fire trees.

The mosaic gives that feeling of the divine presence that may be a contributing factor too in keeping the solemnity of the many successive Masses celebrated there daily.

After leaving the high school seminary in 1982 while in college at UST, I still went to Sta. Cruz church by taking the Love Bus to Escolta after which I would walk across the street to my dad’s barber for a haircut then lunch at Panciteria Ramon Lee. It remained my refuge whenever I found myself deep into sins and troubles, with problems and difficulties, feeling lost and empty especially later in life while working.

It had played a significant role in my vocation story and that is why I remembered it while reflecting this Sunday’s gospel on the Solemnity of the body and Blood of Christ.

More than a gift offered to us individually in the Eucharist, Jesus intends his Body and Blood “for the life of the world” like that sacrificial lamb depicted at the apse of the Sta. Cruz church.

Jesus said to the Jewish crowds: “I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world” (John 6:51).

*Photo by author, Chapel of St. Anthony De Padua, Alta D’Tagaytay Hotel, 02 June 2026.*

On this Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ, we are invited to reflect on the meaning of the Holy Eucharist in our lives where the mystery of God in Three Persons, the Blessed Trinity we celebrated last week is revealed and becomes most real.

Faith in God is faith in the Incarnation of Jesus Christ present to us in the Eucharist under the signs of bread and wine. But, what does it mean really for us especially in the light of today’s gospel where Jesus said “and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.” How can our individual life contribute in giving the life of the world, Jesus Christ himself?

In his encyclical letter Ecclesia de Eucharistia issued in 2003, St. John Paul II beautifully expressed that if Jesus can transform the bread and wine into his Body and Blood in every Eucharistic celebration, then he can transform us into better persons too.

So true! That is why the bestest time to pray is right after receiving Holy Communion because that is when Jesus Christ, Body and Blood, is present in our own body – speak to him in your most natural way. If you want, complain to him. Magsumbong ka rin sa kanya. Pour your heart out to Jesus who is Body and Blood inside you.

However, make sure too that you listen intently to him. When we listen to Jesus, we then enter into a relationship with him as we make him part of our lives as we too become part of his very life. That is when we are filled with his life which we in turn share with others and thus, give life to the world.

In the first reading we heard Moses calling us to “remember” not only those forty years in the wilderness by the Israelites but our own journey in the many desert of this life.

The word “remember” is from the root word “member” which means “part” plus the prefix “re” meaning again; to re + member a person and an incident is to make them a part of the present moment again which is the very commandment of Jesus at the Last Supper, “do this is remembrance of me.”

Now look: every week we go through our many exodus like in the first reading. We remember them especially at the start of every week because life is a daily exodus, of coming out from sickness into health, of darkness into light, of slavery into freedom, of sin into grace, of death into life. Yes, our many desert experiences in life were painful but they were all moments of grace too because that is when we realized that we do not live by bread alone, by material things alone – that we need God.

Hence, the first step for us experience this life of Christ as life for the world is to go back to the church, go back to the Holy Mass. These online Masses must be stopped. COVID pandemic is long gone.

The Mass presupposes actual presence because Christ is truly present with us in every celebration. We must learn anew to desire Jesus more in the Eucharist especially on Sundays.

In the Mass, we re-member Jesus in our lives after a week of busy activities and work; as we make Jesus a part of our lives anew, we see also ourselves needing much needed rest and comfort too in Jesus! Inasmuch as we re-member Jesus into our lives, it is actually us being re-membered into Christ who is also our food and drink to nourish us in this daily exodus in life.

Notice how in verse 14 Moses reiterated his call to the people to “remember” but this time what he told them including us today is “do not forget the Lord”: every Mass as our exodus is a way of casting off the temptation to live one’s life without God.

When we come to celebrate the Mass, especially when we are well disposed and prepared, we realize that we are always poor before God who alone can satisfy all our longings and needs.

To forget this is the sure path to catastrophe as many of us would attest.

With God, life; without God, no life.

This we find so clear with the Corinthians during the time of St. Paul that is why he addressed them in the interrogative tone:

Brothers and sisters: The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? Because the loaf of bread is one, we, though many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf (1 Corinthians 10:16-17).

The Corinthians at that time were already well aware of how the Eucharist make the Church whose head is Jesus Christ. Hence, the need for a communion or “participation” which is the word used in our translation. St. Paul was reminding them of what they knew in faith, that is, a Holy Communion in Christ which they must put into practice. This communion among the Corinthians would be put into risk when quarrels and divisions plagued their community later that prompted St. Paul to write them a second letter.

As part of the Mass, the Communion is when we receive the Body and Blood of Christ; but, in a deeper sense, Communion is unity in charity. It is Jesus Christ becoming human like us in everything except sin so that we can become holy and divine like him. This mysterious exchange of ourselves with Jesus, in Jesus, and through Jesus happens in the Eucharist where we are nourished and filled with the life of Christ whenever we receive the Holy Communion. May we share this life we have gained in Christ with others by witnessing his Gospel to give life to this sick and dying world – like that sacrificial lamb at the apse of my favorite church in Sta. Cruz. Amen. Have a blessed week ahead.

Lent is greeting, announcing Christ

40 Shades of Lent by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Wednesday, Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord, 25 March 2026
Isaiah 7:10-14, 8:10  +++  Hebrews 10:4-10  +++  Luke 1:26-38

*“Cestello Annunciation” by Botticelli painted in 1490; from en.wikipedia.org.*

A friend informed me last Monday of the death of a former classmate in elementary named Nilo; his brother Mar had sent me a message asking me if I could possibly celebrate Mass at his wake: “A long time ago we met in a Mass in our Barrio chapel when you approached us and greeted ‘kumusta, Nilo, classmate!’ And I never forgot that smile on his face after you acknowledged him. Nilo was so happy with your coming to him… we will greatly appreciate if you can celebrate Mass for him in his wake.”

I was so touched with the message and despite my toxic schedule this week, I promised to come today to offer a Mass for Nilo.

That’s why while praying over today’s Solemnity of the Annunciation, I realized how in every greeting we also bring Jesus Christ, of how we make him present in others too.

In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the house of David, and the virgin’s name was Mary. And coming of her, he said, “Hail, full of grace! Then Lord is with you.” (Luke 1:26-28)

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

The Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord often falls in Lent, adding more meaning in our inner journey into our hearts to meet Christ in this blessed season.

Notice how in our Sunday and daily readings we find God greeting us, inviting us to come to him to set things right in our lives (Is.1:18). Here is a God so loving, pointing out our sins but never judging us but actually believing in us that we could change and be converted to become better persons.

The past three weeks have been so tiring but fulfilling for me as a university chaplain giving recollection and hearing confession later in our various university campuses. First thing I tell every penitent is how God is so happy with us when we come to the sacrament of reconciliation because he has long been waiting for us. God rejoices because we finally welcome him in our lives!

Though it could be painful and shameful to confess our many sins, it is actually the sign of grace working in us too because the moment we change our sinful ways, then we grow! When we see our sins, our weaknesses and limitations as humans yet still forge on in life to become better persons, to achieve greater things for others, that is God working in us.

That is why Luke tells us today how the angel greeted Mary during the annunciation using the Greek words “kaire” which is to rejoice and “charis” or “karis” for grace: “Hail (or rejoice), full of grace! The Lord is with you” (Lk.1:28).

This is actually unusual because Jews greet each other with “shalom” for peace; why did Luke use kaire?

Because wherever and whenever there is grace, surely there is rejoicing like in those beautiful gospel stories we have heard the past three Sundays this Lent: the Samaritan woman, the healing of the man born blind, and the raising to life of Lazarus who had been dead for four days. In all these instances, it was Jesus Christ who came on his own to bring grace to everyone that everybody rejoiced.

Lent is the time to get real, to stop pretending. It is the time for us to finally admit our own limitations and weaknesses in order to create a space in our hearts and in our lives to let God fill us, to let God possess us. That is the purpose of the lenten practice of fasting.

Mary became the Mother of Jesus Christ not because of any special qualities in herself but simply because God is so good, so loving. Despite her fears and questions, she welcomed the angel Gabriel by saying “yes” to God’s plan of giving birth to the Messiah and Savior of mankind.

Can we be like Mary who said yes and allowed God’s power to “hover over us” to renew our lives in welcoming Jesus Christ?

This was the problem of Isaiah with King Ahaz in the first reading who pretended to refusing God in asking for signs of his presence when actually he had already entered into alliances with other pagan kings in the region as the Babylonians were closing in them; he had doubted God already. Hence, Isaiah’s prophecy to insist that God is our protector: “Listen, O house of David! Is it not enough for you to weary men, must you also weary my God? Therefore the Lord himself will give you this sign: the virgin shall be with child, and bear a son, and shall name him Emmanuel: God is with us” (Is.7:13-14; 8:10).

*Photo by cottonbro studio on Pexels.com*

How sad that in this modern time when we rely more with our science and technology, we have not only shut out God from our lives but we have even refused to welcome him in his coming to us, asking us to open ourselves anew to him and his powers and plans. We have not only become impersonal but worst, we seem to have chosen death more than life, darkness than light. Just check on the news going on everywhere and we see how heartless we have become.

The late American spiritual writer and monk Thomas Merton rightly said, “We live in a time of no room, which is the time of the end. The time when everyone is obsessed with lack of time, lack of space, with saving time, conquering space… The primordial blessing, ‘increase and multiply’ has suddenly become a hemorrhage of terror… In the time of the end there is no longer room for the desire to go on living. Why? Because they are part of a proliferation of life that is not fully alive, it is programmed for death” (Raids on the Unspeakable, pp. 70-72).

What a tragedy in our modern time when we are supposed to be more intelligent with so many inventions, more affluent with so many money, more real with everything being shown in social media, the more we are empty and lost. Our communications are all mass mediated, no more person to person that is warm, so filled with life that is vibrant and dynamic giving us so much reasons to believe, to love, to hope in life and the future.

The Solemnity of the Lord reminds us today of God’s coming among us like one of us in everything except sin. In Christ’s coming through the Blessed Virgin Mary, we are reminded how each one of us is a sign of God’s presence and coming. Every time we greet one another, every time we reach out to others in love and kindness, every time we are one with others especially the marginalized and neglected, we do the will of God (second reading) and become an Emmanuel, a God-is-with-us. Amen.

*Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, 20 March 2026.*

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!