Living Hope Amidst Suffering

Lord My Chef Daily Recipe by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Red Wednesday, 26 November 2025
Daniel 5:1-6, 13-14, 16-17, 23-28   <*{{{>< + ><}}}*>   Luke 21:12-19

*Photo from Fatima Tribune, 27 November 2024.*

It’s the Wednesday after Christ the King when our churches and other religious buildings are lit in red to mark Red Wednesday, the annual campaign for persecuted Christians worldwide.

Started in 2016 by the Aid for Church in Need (ACN), it has been an annual Church celebration with other Christian groups and sects participating to heighten awareness of the continuing persecution of Christians in various parts of the world – exactly what Jesus had predicted to his disciples more than 2000 years ago.

Jesus said to the crowd: “They will seize and persecute you, they will hand you over to the synagogues and to prisons, and they will have you led before kings and governors because of my name. It will lead to your giving testimony… By your perseverance you will secure your lives” (Luke 21:12-13, 19).

For us in the Philippines that is majority a Christian nation, Red Wednesday is an opportune time to reflect about our “giving testimony” to Jesus Christ: how “bloody red” is our being a Christian?

Unlike in other countries in Africa or our neighbors in Asia where Christians are persecuted and harassed, we in the Philippines do not go through such sufferings and challenges. Think of any kind of opposition to the Christian faith we have encountered even in the last 100 years. None. The most serious threats ever made against our faith seem to be mere “peer pressures” of being teased as “conservative” in going to Mass and Confession frequently, or upholding the virtue of virginity. Perhaps, the most serious dilemma most of us Christians have ever had in our faith is whether or not we shall pray or at least make the Sign of the Cross when dining in a restaurant or fast food chain. In Europe and the States, chapels and churches are vandalized and burned but here in the country, those who have committed sacrileges in the past three years were “crucified” in social media with one being sued in court.

We do not wish that we also undergo similar religious persecutions like the other Christians abroad whom we pray for today on this Red Wednesday and send with our financial support as concrete actions of our solidarity with them.

In line with this year’s theme of “Living Hope Amidst Suffering” in conjunction with the Jubilee Year celebration “Pilgrims of Hope”, Red Wednesday invites us to simply witness the gospel of Jesus by standing on what is true and good especially these days our country is so deep into the ghost project scandals on flood control.

Giving testimony to Jesus Christ is letting our zeal for him burn anew within us by not bending into the ways of the world that promote a “culture of death” like abortion and contraceptives, or to the many forms of wokism that overextend personal rights contrary to God’s original plan and design like divorce, same sex marriage, and gender manipulation.

*Photo by Ms. Kei Abad, Kawaguchiko Lake (Fujisan), 23 November 2025.*

Witnessing Christ is being honest and just in a country of such impunity where graft and corruption is a family endeavor, a norm in public service.

Giving testimony to Christ in this time of social media where trending and viral are the new standards is to remain simple and modest even if it is looked down upon, being fair and just even if everyone chooses to disregard them while being concrete in our acts of mercy and charity for the weak and marginalized.

Red Wednesday is reigniting our hope in God which is an expression of our firm faith in him. Religious persecutions happen and abound anywhere God is negated and denied or when a particular group of people insist on their own perception of God.

We Christians are pilgrims of hope because we do believe in the one True and Only God in Heaven who was revealed to us by his own Son Jesus Christ made present up to this day until the end of time by the Holy Spirit. Hope is primarily having faith in God.

In this sense it is true that anyonbe who does not nknow God, even though he may entertain all kinds of hopes, is ultimately without hope, without the great hope that sustains the whole of life (cf. Eph. 2:12). Man’s great, true hope which holds firm in spite of all disappointments can only be God – God who has loved us and who continues to love us “to the end,” until all “is accomplished” (cf. Jn.13:1 and 19:30). (Pope Benedict XVI, Spe Salvi #27)

Hope is not optimism nor positive thinking, believing things will get better. On the contrary, true hope is actually accepting that things and situations could get worst as Jesus mentioned in his predictions of the coming upheavals and persecutions. Hope is putting all our trust in God that no matter what happens in the end when things get worst like death, there is Jesus Christ loving us, comforting us, and saving us.

That’s the kind of faith and hope Daniel expressed in our first reading despite the threats of sure death when he spoke of the God of Israel as the only true God, not the many idols and false gods of the Babylonians. Most of all, because of his fervent hope in God who would raise him up in the end, Daniel delivered his interpretation of the king’s dream of how his days were numbered as the Medians and Persians were soon to conquer them that eventually happened.

Many times in life, all we can have is hope in God especially when pains and sufferings become unbearable, when these get worst without any signs of getting any better.

That is why Red Wednesday’s theme this year is so appropriate, “living hope amidst suffering”.

Hope makes life more worthy and lofty because our sights are not only fixed on this world but even beyond as Jesus assured us in today’s gospel, “By your perseverance you will secure your lives” (Lk.21:19).

And there lies the beauty of hope – it is the most surprising of all virtues as the French poet, essayist and writer Charles Peguy wrote in 1911 in his long masterpiece called “The Portal of the Mystery of Hope.” In this poem, Peguy presents God as the speaker himself, reflecting about the virtue of hope in relation with the other two theological virtues of faith and love. It is so lovely because it is so true especially when I encountered it during my trying months of second year in theology in the seminary.

The faith that I love best, says God, is hope...
Faith itself does not surprise me...

Love, says God, that does not surprise me...

But Hope, says God, that is what surprises me.
I, myself, find it surprising
that my children see what happens and believe things will improve.
That is the most surprising, the most marvelous gift.
And it surprises me, myself, that my gift has such incredible strength
since it first flowed in creation as it always will.
Faith sees what is.
Hope sees what will be.
Love loves what is.
Hope loves what has not yet been
and what will be in the future and in eternity.

For those suffering, those in pain especially because of faith in Jesus Christ: keep believing, keep hoping and be ready to be surprised by God. Reignite that zeal in Christ and his gospel. Amen. A blessed Red Wednesday to you.

Praying to encourage others

Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Wednesday, Memorial of St. Barnabas, Apostle, 11 June 2025
Acts 11:21-26, 13:1-3 <*{{{{>< + ><}}}}*> Matthew 10:7-13

Rains have started to pour,
a good news to many
and a bad news too to many more
caught in jams, floods, and
the worst of situations
in life, especially at night.
We pray, dear Jesus
you send us more "Barnabas"
whom you sent to Antioch
where your followers were first called
Christians.

… and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. When he arrived and saw the grace of God, he rejoiced and encouraged them all to remain faithful to the Lord in firmness of heart, for he was a good man, filled with the Holy Spirit and faith… Then he went to Tarsus to look for Saul, and when he had found him he brought him to Antioch (Acts 11:22-24, 25-26).

On this memorial of your Apostle
Barnabas whose name
means "son of encouragement",
teach us to be like him
filled with the Holy Spirit
and faith in God,
searching for those in the worst
situations in life like Saul at that
time who was so ashamed
to join the disciples because of
his sinful past;
like Barnabas,
may we encourage others
to hope and look forward
to better days in Christ,
to trust in your mercy and
forgiveness,
to take every moment a chance
to be converted;
in this world that had shrunk
into a global village,
how sad that more and more
are getting discouraged
than encouraged
when we look more into the dark
dismal side of life than to its
brighter and even colorful and joyful
realities found in you, Lord,
the kingdom of God in our midst.
Amen.

*Photos by Ms. Ria De Vera in Delia, Alberta, Canada, 03 June 2025.

Easter is opening our “locked doors”

Lord My Chef Sunday Recipe, Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Second Sunday in Easter Octave, 27 April 2025
Acts of Apostles 5:12-16 ><}}}}*> Revelation 1:9-11,12-13,17-19 ><}}}}*> John 20:19-13

*Photo by author, Angels’ Hills Retreat & Formation Center, Tagaytay, 19 April 2025.*

Locked doors. Exactly what I have dreaded most these days not because of claustrophobia but more of amnesia as I often forget my keys that I get locked out of my room.

Many of you probably know that kind of feeling of being locked out of our rooms or even house: we are so stressed that we go through self-blame and self-pity of being so forgetful to intense annoyance when we have to destroy our locks and knobs to replace them with new ones.

But, surely there must be a great difference of being locked inside a room that is more stressful and even fearful leading to claustrophobia. Imagine how the disciples of Jesus felt on that evening of Easter when they have to hide inside the Upper Room and locked the doors for fears of being arrested too following reports of the empty tomb.

On the evening of that first day of the week, when the doors were locked, where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be with you.” – John 20:19

*Painting by James Tissot (1836-1902) of Jesus Christ’s appearance to his disciples on Easter evening.*

Only John tells us this detail of the evening of Easter of how the disciples hid inside locked doors, that despite that, Jesus Christ still came through. Aside from the darkness and empty tomb that characterized Easter which all evangelists narrated, John seems to be telling us something important about those locked doors.

Do you have any locked doors in your life that is why you can’t experience the joy of Easter?

One thing for sure: John included that little detail of the locked doors of the Upper Room where the disciples hid to show us that no obstacle, no locked doors can prevent Jesus from “coming” to us. Jesus had triumphed over sin and death. He is Risen! Nothing can stop Christ from breaking barriers among us and within us to bring his peace and joy of Easter.

*Photo by Nadejda Bostanova on Pexels.com*

However, the problem could be with us as we refuse to recognize Jesus coming to us.

Our refusal to forgive those who have hurt us, especially if they have tried reaching out to us, even apologizing can be a locked door within us. It could be the other way around when who have hurt others have locked inside ourselves in our refusal to ask forgiveness and be reconciled with a loved one.

There may be other locked doors in our life like our fears of failure and disappointment, of lost and separation from our loved ones due to various reasons like betrayal or death. Think of the other kinds of locked doors in our life that have kept us in the darkness of grief and sadness, bitterness and hatred or anger, even hopelessness.

See how in our gospel there are so many elements linked together in experiencing our Risen Lord – the need to believe like Thomas who was not inside the locked doors when Jesus first appeared. The nice thing with Thomas despite his doubts, he came to the room with locked doors to await Christ’s coming and he was not disappointed!

Like Thomas the Apostle, we have to believe Jesus in order to see him. We have to welcome Jesus inside our locked doors. Most of all, we have to come our from our locked doors to be one with others freed by Jesus.

*“The Incredultiy of Thomas”, painting by Caravaggio from artsandculture.googe.com.*

Every day amid all our daily darkness and emptiness, Jesus breaks our locked doors, coming into our lives like that Easter evening, bringing peace and forgiveness and most of all, joy of finding him, of seeing him, of experiencing him.

The world tells us to see is to believe but Jesus tells us to believe first so that we may see because it is only when we believe that we truly love and when we love, that is when the miracles of Easter begin to happen. Everyday.

Locked doors isolate us and isolation is separation which is the absence of love. This eventually leads to hopelessness which is the exact opposite of love. When we lose hope, we destroy everything, including life. People without hope are the most angry, the most isolated people who would kill and destroy everything because there is nothing to look for nor expect. They are locked inside their own prisons of selfishness.

Jesus rose from the dead to break all barriers to life especially sin and evil that imprison us so that we may believe again, love and hope to live Easter daily.

Easter does not remove the darkness nor emptiness within us but definitely breaks locked doors in us so we can go free to follow the light of Christ, to spread that light with others imprisoned in their locked doors of unbelief.

In the first reading, we find the Apostles after Pentecost continuing the work of Jesus by preaching and healing the sick while in the second reading we heard John thrown into exile to Patmos and yet, still chose to proclaim the gospel and wrote his visions while in prison.

We all know from the Acts of the Apostles that it was not all good news for the early Church that soon faced persecution. But by remaining open to Jesus Christ’s daily coming in themselves and through others like their persecutor named Saul who became Paul, Christianity flourished.

Today in our modern age, St. John Paul II designated in May 2000 this octave or eighth Sunday in Easter as the Divine Mercy Sunday as an invitation to Christians to face with confidence in the Divine Mercy the difficulties and trials that we still have to experience in the years to come.

There will always be darkness and emptiness in life. Including locked rooms. But, Easter is Christ’s triumph over all these. Rejoice in breaking free today. Many times in life, all we need in life is a simple spark of believing in Jesus risen, with us inviting us to come and follow him in his light and life. Amen.

“Pick Up the Pieces” by Average White Band (1974)

Lord My Chef Sunday Music by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, 20 April 2025

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

Blessed happy Easter everyone!

We have long been planning to have this instrumental piece in our featured music every Sunday but it was only now we have realized this is most perfect during Easter when Jesus Christ in his Resurrection is telling us to “pick up the pieces” of life amid its many darkness and emptiness.

That is the grace and surprise of Easter: in Christ’s dying and rising to life, death has become a blessing to us all as we have come to share in his glorious resurrection too.

Despite that feeling of emptiness within and in our homes, of the irrevocable reality they are gone forever never to join us in our meals and bonding like Christmas, of never hearing their voices again nor be able to hug and embrace them can be shattering, the angel’s reminder to Mary Magdalene and companion women at the empty tomb echoes in our hearts too: “Why do you seek the living one among the dead? He is not here, but he has been raised. Remember what he said to you while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners and be crucified, and rise on the third day.” And they remembered his words (Luke 24:5-8). https://lordmychef.com/2025/04/20/easter-is-god-surprising-us/

Released in 1974 in the UK by a group of Scotsmen musicians who called themselves as Average White Band or AWB, “Pick Up the Pieces” did not perform well in the charts until it was released later in October that same year in the US where it stayed on the top singles in February 1975. According to the late Molly Duncan who was the band’s saxophonist, he had disagreed in releasing the song that had no lyrics only other than the shout “pick up the pieces.”

Moreover, the title spoke so well of their situation at that time when they were hardly noticed in the music scene, not making any money at all until it was released in the US where radio stations took notice of its funky beat’s good vibes. The single eventually became AWB’s turning point that is why the more we find it so appropriately Easter in nature.

We have been aware of the music itself in the 1970’s but it was only in 2010 when we found out its artists –AWB – after Daryl Hall guested AWB bassist-guitarist and co-founder Alan Gorrie in his internet show Live From Daryl’s House. It was a superb performance as usual by Daryl Hall and his musicians but of course, we always prefer the original. Here is AWB with their classic “Pick Up the Pieces” which we believe Jesus would also approve as part of his Easter soundtrack. Amen.

From YouTube.com.

There is always hope

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Monday, Eighth Week in Ordinary Time, Year I, 03 March 2025
Sirach 17:20-24 <*((((>< + ><))))*> Mark 10:17-27

To the penitent God provides a way back, he encourages those who are losing hope and has chosen for them the lot of truth. Return to him and give up sin, pray to the Lord and make your offenses few (Sirach 17:20).

In that long poem by
your faithful French writer
Charles Peguy (1873-1914),
you claimed O God that
hope is your favorite virtue
because it surprises you.

How lovely,
dear Father to imagine
you our God,
all-powerful
all-knowing
is still surprised,
something we have lost
in this time
when everything
is predictable,
nothing ever hidden.

Many times
I see myself that young man
in the Gospel
running to you in Jesus,
excitedly asking what must
I do to inherit eternal life?
But, when you answered
and asked me to give up
my possessions,
I balk,
I turn away sadly
because I just can't
give up all I have.

But, then
comes your greatest
surprise of all when we
reject you,
when we turn away from you:
you still look at us filled with
love!
There is always hope in you, 
Lord if we can just go back
to you in Jesus;
there is always hope 
in this world,
in this life
because you never run out
of surprises for us
because "all things are
possible for God" 
(Mark 10:27).
Amen.

Advent is going beyond, like a voice in the wilderness

The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Second Sunday in Advent, Cycle C, 08 December 2024
Baruch 5:1-9 ><}}}}*> Philippians 1:4-6, 8-11 ><}}}}*> Luke 3:1-6

*Photo courtesy of Mr. Jilson Tio, Archdiocesan Shrine of Nuestra Señora De Guia, Ermita, Manila, 28 November 2024.*

Two weeks ago I officiated the golden wedding anniversary of a friend’s parents where I said the best wedding homily is actually the couple themselves still much in love, filled with joy after 50 years as husband and wife.

“May forever pa rin,” despite all the celebrity break ups we feast on social media and the many separations happening among some couples these days. How I wish that more young people are invited to wedding anniversaries so they would aspire for lasting relationships too.

*Photo by author at the Archdiocesan Shrine of Nuestra Señora De Guia, Ermita, Manila, 28 November 2024.*

Of course, it is never easy – that is why there is the Sacrament of Marriage where couples pray to God and promise Him to cooperate in His grace so that until death, they would remain together in faith, hope and love that would eventually bring them to eternity.

It is the reality not only of marriage but of life itself. God calls us to a particular vocation or state in life like marriage, priesthood and religious life, or single-blessedness in order to lead us to Him in eternity.

And that is the two-fold meaning of Advent too! We are preparing not only for the first coming of Jesus at Christmas but most of all to His Second Coming at the end of time (parousia). This is the second Sunday in Advent so beautifully presented by Luke.

In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Iturea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias was tetrarch of Abilene, during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the desert (Luke 3:1-2).

*Photo by author, Second Sunday Advent 2022, BED Chapel, Our Lady of Fatima University, Valenzuela City.*

First we notice is Luke’s solemn account of how the Son of God Who is eternal entered through our own time that is temporal. If Luke were to write his gospel today, maybe he would simply change the names above into BBM and Sara Duterte, with Pope Francis and Cardinal Advincula representing the Church then spice it with some showbiz tidbits or whatever is trending in social media.

But, here also is the artistry of Luke when he segued to John the Baptist to direct our thoughts to the Second Coming of Christ without losing sight of the present moment, of the here and now.

John went throughout the whole region of the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, as it is written in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah: A voice of one crying out in the desert: “Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths. Every valley shall be filled and every mountain and hill shall be made low. The winding roads shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth, and all flesh shall see the salvation of God” (Luke 3:3-6).

*“St. John the Baptist Preaching in the Wilderness” by German painter Anton Raphael Mengs (1728-1779) from commons.wikimedia.org.*

Though John is the main character in today’s gospel and next Sunday, Luke is actually focused on Jesus Christ who had come, would come again, and continues to come to us today. All four evangelists were clear about John as secondary only to Jesus as His precursor.

However, only Luke of the four evangelists cited the Prophet Isaiah extensively regarding John’s unique mission with Christ to stress this future aspect of Advent, skipping only that part “the glory of the Lord shall be revealed” by closing it at “all flesh shall see the salvation of God” in Isaiah 40:3-5.

Luke is teaching us that Advent is looking beyond Christ’s birth but also to His Easter and most of all, to His Second Coming now happening.

For Luke, to be like John in the wilderness is for us to be bold and daring in opening ourselves to God in Jesus Christ amid the turmoils of our time like wars and pandemic, calamities and upheavals. No matter how much pains and disappointments we have had this year that made us doubt God’s love and presence for us in Christ, let us dare anew like John in the wilderness to believe and live out His coming and presence.

In citing Isaiah 40:3-5, Luke is reminding us that we shall all see and experience God’s salvation in Jesus Christ today while awaiting His Parousia. Notice the similarity of Isaiah’s prophecy with that of Baruch’s in the first reading when “every lofty mountain be made low, and that age-old depths and gorges be filled to level ground, that Israel may advance to secure in the glory of God” (Bar. 5:7). Both prophets spoke of the future expectation expressed by John already unfolding in Christ who had come.

*Photo by author, Fatima Avenua, Valoenzuela City, December 2023.*

A friend texted me last week complaining if Christmas would happen at all in their family after a serious rift with their youngest brother. “Dinaraan-daanan lang po ako Father ng kapatid kong bata, para akong patay na.”

Being the eldest in the family, my friend asked his younger brother to shape up and fix his life (ayusin ang buhay) after taking a third partner. He had dumped his first wife after the birth of their son who turned out to be a special child; then, took a second partner and had a daughter whose godmother, his kumare is now his third partner. My friend had taken upon himself to rear his special nephew and niece while his brother does not care at all.

With that situation at home, my friend told me he could not feel Christmas at all despite the material things they have. After a few hours, I texted him back and told him no one can take away the joy of Christmas because that is Jesus in our hearts. Keep Jesus alive in your heart, I texted him, asking him to continue to still love his wayward brother, never losing that hope in Christ that someday, peace would be restored among them in the family. I ended my texts reminding him that Jesus was born during the darkest night of the year.

That’s the voice of John in the wilderness – when we dare to open to God amid our many pains and sufferings, proclaiming and living out His love in Jesus who had come, continues to come and would come again at the end of time. That’s preparing the way of the Lord even when it is all dark, taking small steps at a time as we could not see the next distant scene. In times like these, let St. Paul’s desire in the second reading be our Advent prayer, “that your love may increase ever more in knowledge and every kind of perception, to discern what is of value, so that you may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ” (Phil.1:9-10).

*Photo by author, RISE Tower, Valenzuela City, 06 December 2022.*

How lovely during this time of Advent when our days are getting shorter, dark earlier than usual because this is also the time sunsets are most awesome. Somewhere out there where the sun sets with skies redolent like embers of the dying day is the voice in the wilderness proclaiming to us Christ’s coming and presence even in the long dark night of waiting.

What do you long or desire most right now in your heart? Reawaken your hopes in Christ Jesus and be ready to be surprised as He shall straighten your path soon especially with your loved ones. Amen.

Advent: Reawakening our hopes amid a defiant history

The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
First Sunday of Advent, Cycle C, 01 December 2024
Jeremiah 33:14-16 ><}}}}*> 1 Thessalonians 3:12-4:2 ><}}}}*> Luke 21:25-28, 34-36

Blessed happy New Year, everyone! We officially start the new year in the Church on this first Sunday of Advent; that is why the Mass we have every January 1 is the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, not New Year as many believe.

This is the reason I insist on everyone to stop greeting “Happy New Year” after December 25 because Christmas is until Epiphany Sunday. And this is the problem with us every Christmas season – we have forgotten its very essence Jesus Christ, replacing Him with all the trimmings of this consumerist and materialistic world we live in.

*Photo by author, Advent 2021 at BED Chapel, Our Lady of Fatima University, Valenzuela City.*

The first Sunday of Advent is our new year, our new beginning in our journey in life in God through His Son Jesus Christ who had come, would come again, and continues to come daily in our lives. Beginning today until December 16, Advent invites us to focus on Christ’s Second Coming or Parousia at the end of time which nobody knows when except the Father in heaven; from December 17 to 24 and Christmas, we look back to the stories around Christ’s First Coming more than 2000 years ago. Between these two comings of Jesus is His coming in our daily living, in the here and now which St. Bernard of Clairvaux called Christ’s “Third Coming.”

There lies the tension in those three comings of Jesus Christ that have really taken so long that we get impatient or begin to doubt God especially with how world history has unfolded until now with wars as well as natural calamities. Just recently some parts of our country were devastated by a series of powerful typhoons while some parts of the world like Spain had its share of catastrophic flooding that claimed so many lives. Making things worst is how politics has rocked our country this week, trying to undermine our democracy as well as our sense of decency as a nation that had decayed during the past administration.

*Photo by author, Dau, Mabalacat, Pampanga, November 2022.*

Many are feeling disgusted everywhere in the world with how history is unfolding, wondering if life is going to get any better at all. Some have imitated Pilate in the gospel last Sunday, putting God on trial again, asking Jesus what He had done for all these upheavals and problems going on in history.

Like them, we are also tempted to ask, where is Jesus Christ? Or, the all-powerful and loving God our Father?

The days are coming, says the Lord, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and Judah. In those days, in that time, I will raise up for David a just shoot; he shall do what is right and just in the land. In those days Judah shall be safe and Jerusalem shall dwell secure, this is what they shall call her: “The Lord our justice” (Jeremiah 33:14-16).

*Photo by author, Pulong Sampalok, DRT, Bulacan, 23 November 2024.*

The Prophet Jeremiah sets the tone of Advent this Sunday, reawakening our hopes in God amid history’s defiance as seen in the many cycles of sufferings and calamities that continue to shake our lives.

Yes, the “days are coming” and indeed had come when God fulfilled His promise in sending us His Son Jesus Christ who redeemed us from our sins and renewed us in Him with fulfillment in life even while here despite the many trials and tribulations we go through.

The “days are coming” as foretold by Jeremiah long ago and most true these days because the promised Messiah Jesus is now with us, acting in subtle and and complex ways beyond our imaginations, always surprising us with how things turn out than what we believe or expected.

Yes, the “days are coming” – right now – as Jeremiah meant that day after Jerusalem had fallen that amid all the chaos around us, God is among us in Jesus Christ who works among visible realities we cannot see, always coming and going among us unnoticed. That time of great salvation is already among us, being accomplished now by Jesus in silence, in secret.

Hence, the need for us to be vigilant through prayers which Luke emphasized in his gospel account.

Jesus said to his disciples: “But when these signs begin to happen, stand erect and raise your heads because your redemption is at hand. Beware that your hearts do not become drowsy from carousing and drunkenness and the anxieties of daily life, and that day catch you by surprise… Be vigilant at all times and pray that you have the strength to escape the tribulations that are imminent and to stand before the Son of Man” (Luke 21:28, 34-35, 36).

*Photo by author, San Fernando, Pampanga, November 2021.*

On this new liturgical year designated as “Cycle C”, all our gospel readings on Sundays will be from Luke (Cycle A has Matthew and Cycle B, Mark; John is used partly in cycle B and for great feasts).

Of the four evangelists, Luke is the one who emphasized the importance of prayer in his gospel account wherein he always portrayed Jesus in prayer; hence, not surprisingly, he tells us today that “praying at all times” is being “vigilant at all times” too.

And this we have been told ever since as prayer has always been central in all our teachings. It is in prayer when we are one with God in Jesus. It is in prayer when our senses are heightened that we become open to God’s subtle movements in us and among us.

Everything begins in prayer, both in our personal prayers and as a community like in the Sunday Mass where Christ’s presence is unveiled, where we experience Him most in us and among us and in the world that we are then filled with hope in God despite the darkness and sufferings going on.

Recently, our University joined the annual Red Wednesday celebration of the Church when we remember our Christian brothers and sisters persecuted in various forms in many parts of the world in this modern time. I was overwhelmed at the sight of the great number of our students who joined us, many standing outside our chapel.

What touched me was after the dismissal, some students remained inside the chapel lit in red with flickering candles at the altar, still praying. That for me is the sign of that “little shoot” God promised Jeremiah who would come to bring justice and peace on earth.

*Photo courtesy of The Tribune, official publication of Our Lady of Fatima University.*

To keep watch in prayer (which we mean as a way of life not just mere recitation of formula prayers) while remaining upright and abounding in love as St. Paul instructed us in the second reading is to be open to Jesus Christ, ready to receive Him without fear amid the tumults in the world when He comes in His final glory.

Yes, the world is still plagued with so many imperfections, even darkness and evil that may dishearten us even make us doubt God in His goodness why these bad things are happening. Advent invites us to reawaken our hope in the salvation that had come, that still comes now, and will surely come in the fullness of the Day of the Lord when Jesus comes again.

Lord Jesus Christ,
fill us with fervent hope
in You amid the many darkness
and sufferings in life;
reawaken our hope amid
our hopelessness and be surprised
with Your loving coming and presence.
Amen.

Hopes amid pains

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Tuesday, Memorial of Therese of the Child Jesus, Virgin & Doctor of Church, 01 October 2024
Job 3:1-3, 11-17, 20-23 <*[[[[>< +. ><]]]]*> Luke 9:51-56

Thank you,
dear God our loving Father
for the month of October!
Most of all,
thank you for sending us 
Jesus Christ your Son
and thus "opened your Kingdom
to those who are humble
and to little ones" like
St. Therese of the Child Jesus
whose memorial we celebrate
today.


Lead us to follow
trustingly in the little way
of St. Therese
of the Child Jesus
especially in bearing patiently
filled with hope life's
many sufferings like Job.

Job opened his mouth and cursed his day. Job spoke out and said: Why is light given to the toilers, and life to the bitter in spirit? they wait for death and it comes not; they search for it rather than for hidden treasures, Rejoice in it exultingly, and are glad when they reache the grave: Those whose path is hidden from them, and whom God has hemmed in! (Job 3:1-2, 20-23)

Fill us too
with true hope,
dear Jesus like You,
Job and St. Therese,
a hope that trusts in God
even if things are sure
to get worst,
even end in death;
like You, Jesus,
may we resolutely
determine to journey to
Jerusalem even when
we know it could lead
to our passion and death;
help us live in hope
like St. Therese
that despite her sickness,
she did everything filled with
love for the Church missionaries;
may our pains in life
like St. Therese and Job
have both experienced
help us understand
 the pain of others
so that we may bring healing
compassion to their situation;
make us realize that
a world totally free of pain
can actually become a place
of total selfishness
and self-indulgence
because it is through
pains we truly love and hope
and become holy and saint.
Amen.

Faith is hope

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Wednesday in the Eighteenth Week of Ordinary Time, Year II, 07 August 2024
Jeremiah 31:1-7 <*((((>< + ><))))*> Matthew 15:21-28

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

Yes, a day will come when the watchmen will call out on Mount Ephraim: “Rise up, let us go to Zion, to the Lord, our God.” For thus says the Lord: Shout with joy for Jacob, exult at the head of the nations; proclaim your praise and say: The Lord has delivered his people, the remnant of Israel (Jeremiah 31:6-7).

How refreshing are your words
today, God our loving Father;
so upbeat with hope
for the divided nation of
Judah and Israel to finally
be one just like us today:
so divided recently with all
the mockery and sacrilege
in the Paris Olympics
only to be united
by Carlos Yulo's 
recent harvest of two gold medals;
what a beautiful lesson in faith in You
that is also hope itself;
from being the least supported
and known sport in the country,
Yulo remained faithful
filled with hope in You
while persevering in gymnastics;
like Yulo and Jeremiah's command,
let us shout with joy to You,
proclaiming your redemption
that literally means "Hosanna"
in Hebrew, the very shouts of joy
when Jesus entered Jerusalem
on Palm Sunday.

She said, “Please, Lord, for even the dogs eat the scraps that fall from the table of their masters.” Then Jesus said to her in reply, “O woman, great is uyour faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.” And her daughter was healed from that hour (Matthew 15:27-28).

Like that Canaanite woman
who begged Jesus,
even bantered with Him
about dogs and puppies,
bread and crumbs
for mercy and healing to her
sick daughter,
help us realize that faith is hope;
that hope is more than positive thinking
of how things would get better
but could even get worse
yet still believe in God!

Thank you Jesus
for always coming to "pagan"
territories like Tyre and Sidon;
keep our faith and hope burning
to await You,
to recognize You,
to meet You
coming in the midst of our
many darkness and brokenness.
Amen.

Praying to always “re-member”

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Thursday, All Souls' Day, 02 November 2023
Wisdom 3:1-9 ><]]]]'> Romans 6:3-9 ><]]]]'> John 6:37-40

*Photo by author, Jesuit Cemetery, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, 21 March 2023.*

As we remember today
all our departed loved ones
awaiting entry into your holy presence
O God in heaven, 
we pray too that we may
always remember 
your call for us to be good,
for us to work for justice
and truth,
for us to always remember
there is death,
there is judgment.

We are beings of forgetfulness,
Lord, and what a wonderful gift you
have given us with "re-membereing" -
for making someone long gone
still a part, a "member again" 
of the present
when we who are living 
in the "here" and "now"
remember them in our
prayers and sacrifices,
most of all, in our good deeds
because love, after all,
can reach in the afterlife!

The best way to
remember is to live
in the present moment
in Christ Jesus 
who had assured us
of our salvation, that 
not one of us he would lose
but raise to life on the last
day (John 6:39);
while here on earth, 
may we start purifying ourselves
in your loving service, Lord,
to others, whether they are
in this life or in the afterlife 
inasmuch as our lives 
are connected with 
one another to eternity;
and so, we pray for them,
we hope for them,
because we love them
in YOU, Jesus,
with YOU, Jesus,
and through YOU, Jesus
as we hope it is never too late
nor is it in vain to touch
their hearts wherever
they may be.
Amen.