Priesthood is face of Christ

Lord My Chef Daily Recipe by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Wednesday in the Second Week of Advent, 10 December 2025
Presbyteral Anniversary Homily of former parishioner and students
Isaiah 40:25-31     <*{{{{><  +  ><}}}}*>     Matthew 11:28-30

Advent is seeking the face of God – and so is the priesthood. The joy of our priesthood to a large extent is our continuous seeking for the face of God. It is part of human nature that we always seek and associate a face behind every name and voice.

When we were called to the priesthood, we first heard a “voice” that led us into the high school seminary. That’s why priesthood is a vocation, a call from the Latin verb “voco, vocare, vocavi”.

But, we pursued further our vocation into the major seminary, some had to leave for a while while others were sent out in order to see the face behind this voice, this call because the most essential in priesthood is the Caller Jesus Christ, not really his call.

In our search for Jesus and his face, it is hoped that eventually we as priests become the face of Jesus to everyone, speaking to them those same gentle words to “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest” (Mt.11:28).

Thank you very much for inviting me again to speak to the three of you – Fr. RA, Fr. LA, and Fr. Howard. (Can we call you as Fr. HA so that your name finally rhyme with the two as in “Hahahaha”?)

*Sixth Presbyteral Anniversary of Fr. Ra, Fr. LA, and Fr. Howard, 10 December 2025, ICS Chapel.*

Congratulations on your sixth presbyteral anniversary. They say the first five years of priesthood is the “honeymoon stage”; so now, you enter the reality stage when many times you will be disillusioned in the ministry, especially with your brother priests who are supposed to be the face of Christ – but not!

That is why the readings for today on your sixth presbyteral anniversary are so appropriate as they offer the Advent message of comfort and encouragement, and a promise of salvation – the message every priest needs to hear these days when our leaders in government and yes, even in the church seem to be so weak and without direction, far from Jesus our Eternal Priest.

The Lord invites us through the Prophet Isaiah to look up and pray – to see the stars in the heavens, the bright constellations that form objects and animals like “faces” on the dark skies of the night.

*Photo by author from the Dominus Flevit Church overlooking Jerusalem, May 2017.*

“To whom can you liken me as an equal? says the Lord” (Is.40:25).

Do we still pray and reflect on the mystery of God’s power and care? Or are the priorities of the day a constant distraction?

We shall never see the face of Christ in ourselves nor in the people we serve no matter how dedicated we are if we do not pray. It is our prayer life, especially those intense moments of silence before the Blessed Sacrament that will show us the face of Christ. According to Abp. Fulton Sheen, the more we pray before the Blessed Sacrament, the more we look like Jesus. Before Pope Benedict XVI died, he wrote that all these sex scandals that have rocked the Church in the past decades are largely due to fewer priests making time for Christ in the Blessed Sacrament.

Before our ministry came, there was Jesus first calling us to be with him, to be one in him in prayers. Palagi nating unahin si Jesus higit sa lahat. Our efforts find meaning only in Christ as Isaiah tells us, “Though young men faint and grow weary, and youths stagger and fall, they that hope in the Lord will renew their strength, they will soar with eagles’ wings; they will run and not grow weary, walk and not grow faint” (Is.40:30-31).

It is funny that when you invited me last month Fr. RA and Fr. Howard, I asked you if it is the anniversary of our GC? Yes, these three crazy men keep a GC, just the three of them and to make it more like a group, they included me into their folly.

*First Mass of Fr. RA in our Parish in Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria, Bulacan six years ago.*

That is the landscape of our Church today when we live our faith in a mass-mediated culture where we find images especially faces so prominent more than ever as in Facebook. There lies hidden the hidden schemes of the devil to mislead us priests in exposing more our faces than being the face of Christ.

A friend in media recently asked me if those priests in that grand procession are really priests as she wondered why they wear those elaborate vestments they look like Poon and imahen.

I felt what she was driving at – rampa pa more! Isn’t she right?

Except for the Nazareno in Quiapo and Sto. Nino in Cebu, most of our Church processions have all turned into pageantries with all the pomp and gaiety of a show, a palabas.

Puro palabas na tayo, wala nang paloob which is the deeper meaning of the “face”: not as something outside o panglabas but more of the inside. Face is image and likeness, that thing that identifies us. Our identification or ID is Jesus Christ. That is the reason the new Ratio in seminary formation had renamed the theology department as “configuration” stage.

Be the face of Jesus to the people you serve, Fr. RA, Fr. LA and Fr. Howard.

*First priest of St. John Evangelist Parish in Bagbaguin; actually second after Bp. Bart Santos who was ordained when Bagbaguin was still under La Purisima.*

Be the face of Christ too to us priests because these days, many priests follow and show other faces than Christ’s. As I used to tell you, kapag ang pari mabuti sa kapwa pari, tiyak na mabuting tao siya; pero kapag ang pari kahit anong bait (hindi buti, ha) sa mga tao pero masama sa kapwa pari, hindi yan mabuting tao.

St. John the Evangelist, the Patron Saint of Fr. RA in Bagbaguin wrote in one of his letters that “No one has ever seen God. Yet, if we love one another, God remains in us, and his love is brought to perfection in us” (1Jn.4:12).

So beautiful! It is when we truly love, especially like Jesus our Eternal Priest, that we become the face of Christ, when we see the face of Christ. Amen. And cheers to six years in priesthood!

Immaculate Conception, Intimacy of God

Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Monday, Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, 08 December 2025
Genesis 3:9-15, 20 ><}}}}*> Ephesians 1:3-6, 11-12 ><}}}}*> Luke 1:26-38

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

We praise and thank God today on this Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of Mary that formally kicked off the process of the fulfillment of his promised salvation in Jesus born by the Virgin Mother.

According to our official Church teaching called dogma, Mary was conceived by her mother St. Anne without any stain of original sin through the merits of Jesus Christ our Savior. Mary has to be pure and clean because she would bear the Son of God who is perfect and spotless.

God chose Mary to be the Mother of Jesus not because of her having any special traits but purely out of God’s goodness “who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavens” (Eph.1:3).

Hence, this feast reminds us too to imitate the Blessed Virgin in saying “yes” to God’s invitation to cooperate in his wonderful plans of bringing Jesus into this world so darkened by sin that has left us broken and fragmented from each other. Rejoice, therefore, because everyday, God sends us his angel to greet us with “Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you” (Lk.1:26), inviting us into an intimacy with him like Mary.

*Photo by author, left side of the facade of the Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth, Holy Land, May 2019.*

Intimacy is more than being close with another; it is an expression of love that is willing to sacrifice, to suffer and get hurt for the sake of the beloved.

God was the first to express his intimacy with us not just by expressing his immense love for us in words by the prophets in the Old Testament but by sending us his Son Jesus Christ who became human like us in everything except sin. Actually, God does not need to become human like us to save us but he chose to be one of us because he loves us so much. As an expression of his intimacy and solidarity with us, Jesus suffered and died on the Cross while going through every pain and hurt we go through in life like grief and sadness in losing a friend, betrayal by a friend, abandonment by friends, no to mention being terrified, going hungry and thirsty. Jesus became like us so that we may become like God – intimately loving him through others.

Actually, God does not need us but he chose to love us, to be with us, to be intimate with us because he loves us so much. God remains God even without us. When we do not pray, when we do not go to Mass on Sundays, when we are bad and not good, God is still God. It is us humans who are lessened when we turn away from from God.

That’s the intimacy of God with us.

How about us, are we willing to be intimate with God in Jesus Christ?

Sadly, many people “create” and “force” intimacy which is a grace, a gift of God freely given to everyone. Like friendship, we cannot force intimacy into someone not meant to be. And like friendship too, intimacy begins in Christ, blooms in Christ.

Photo by author, chapel beneath the Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth; see those pilgrims praying behind iron grills at the back of the sanctuary which is the site where the Angel announced to Mary the birth of Jesus Christ.

Underneath the Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth is a chapel near the very site where the angel is believed to have appeared to Mary to announce the coming of the Savior. At the back of the sanctuary of this chapel is that holy site of the Annunciation enclosed by iron grills with an altar table at the center with the declaration in Latin, Verbum Caro Hic Factum Est (The Word became flesh here).

Mary’s intimacy with God began long before the Annunciation to her by the Angel cultivated in her prayer life. Every time I pray this scene of the Annunciation, I always imagine Mary deeply absorbed in prayer. Most likely, she must be praying about her coming wedding to Joseph. Luke and Matthew were both consistent about their status as being “betrothed to each other” when God announced through the Angel the birth of the Christ.

*Photo by author, close up of the* Annunciation site beneath the Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth; written on the altar table that says in Latin, “The Word became flesh here.”

Imagine the excitement and joy of two faithful Jews getting married soon when suddenly the Angel appeared to them on separate occasions and diverse situations to announce God’s plan of sending his own Son Jesus Christ for the salvation of the world?

It must have been most painful to both Mary and Joseph but as being truly faithful and loving of God, they both agreed to the Divine plan! And that is the great sign of their immense love for God – eventually for each other. Moreover, in saying yes to God, both Mary and Joseph showed the kind of intimacy they have with the Divine.

Let us focus on the intimacy of Mary with God on this Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception found in our gospel account of the Annunciation.

*Photo by Rev. Fr. Gerry Pascual of Iba, Zambales at Santuario di Greccio, Rieti, Italy in 2019.*

Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you ahve found favor with God. Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus (Luke 1:30-31).

Notice that in many scenes and prayers about the Blessed Virgin Mary, we find the prominence of her “womb” like here in the Annunciation and when Elizabeth praised her during her Visitation as “blessed is the fruit of your womb” (Lk.1:42).

In Hebrew, the word for womb is “racham, rachamin” which is their word too for “mercy” because for them, God’s mercy comes from his innermost being. Hence, whenever the Jews speak of mercy of God, they point their fingers downward into the womb or uterus and moves it upward to the heart to indicate the flow of mercy of God from his innermost being expressed in love which is he’s very being and core.

This is the reason the Church Fathers translated mercy into “misericordia” from the Latin verb to move or to stir – “misereor” – and word for heart “cor” that literally means “to move or to stir one’s heart”. It is more than a feeling like compassion; mercy is deeper as it encompasses one’s being leading to intimacy that is a communion or oneness with others which is also intimacy.

*Photo by author, Church of the Visitation, Ein-Karem, Israel, May 2017.*

Where there is love, there is always intimacy with the lover willing to bear all pains and hurts for the beloved. And vice versa. Like Jesus. Then Mary who was willing to sacrifice her wedding and marriage to Joseph by being the Mother of the Son of God.

But why? Because we have experienced too that true joy comes only when there is giving of self, when there is willingness to let go and suffer. At the Last Supper, Jesus described joy as like a mother in the pangs of childbirth when she goes through a lot of pains and worries and fears almost like dying but once the baby is delivered, joy happens because she had brought forth a new life into the world.

True joy is having the firm belief that no matter what happens even in the worst scenarios, God would never leave nor forsake us. Joy happens when we find new life, new directions because there is another person willing to remain with us, assuring us we are never alone. That again is intimacy when you feel not alone especially in the most trying times.

Without intimacy with God and another person, there can be no true joy because no one would dare to take risks in this life like mothers. This is what modern women are missing when they see childbearing more as a chore or a burden or a suffering they can always avoid than self-giving borne out of love which happens in the context of an intimacy. No wonder too that sex has been so trivialized, reduced to an activity and act instead of as a gift of self because there is no more responsibility and intimacy. We cannot have lasting and meaningful relationships without intimacy.

On this Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, we are reminded of God’s mercy and intimacy with us, of his loving relationship with us that continues in Christ Jesus with Mary.

Let us nurture this beautiful relationship with God that flows and bears fruit in our relationships with one another.

Like Mary, may we finally say yes to God into an intimate relationship with him through our selflessness. Like Mary, we are blessed and full of grace. The joy awaiting far outweighs the pains and sufferings we shall go through in our gift of self in our relationships. Have no fear for Jesus had suffered first before us so that we can love and be intimate like him. Amen. Have a blessed week.

Advent is being lost, then found

Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Tuesday in the Second Week of Advent, 09 December 2025
Isaiah 40:1-11 ><))))*> + ><))))*> + ><))))*> Matthew 18:12-14

Today you ask me
Lord Jesus something so
ordinary yet so profound:
"What is your opinion?
If a man has a hundred sheep 
and one of them goes astray,
will he not leave the ninety-nine
in the hills and go in search of
the stray?" (Matthew 18:12)

So many times 
dear Jesus I feel like you,
the Good Shepherd:
I feel uneasy the moment
one of my sheep or anything
or anyone is missing,
is lost,
is nowhere to be found;
there is that sense of
emptiness,
of incompleteness,
of lacking when someone
or something is missing
and like you,
I would leave everything
just to find that one missing!

In my opinion,
as you ask me now, Lord Jesus,
I feel you coming,
I feel you searching me
the moment I am lost, 
or simply feeling distant 
and unsure of the path 
and direction to take in life,
or sometimes feeling scattered;
Advent is God not waiting for us
to go back but you coming to
find us!

“And if he finds it, amen, I say to you, he rejoices more over it than over the ninety-nine that did not stray. In the same way, it is not the will of your heavenly Father that one of these little ones be lost” (Matthew 18:13-14).

Advent is you,
Lord Jesus coming
and looking for us;
on this Tuesday in the
Second Week of Advent,
I pray dear Jesus for those
who feel a part of them is
lost or missing;
help us find our way back
home to you;
let us not stray further
away but finally
follow you back
in our selfish
and closed self.
Amen.

Advent is believing even without seeing

Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Friday in the First Week of Advent, 05 December 2025
Isaiah 29:17-24 ><))))*> + ><))))*> + ><))))*> Matthew 9:27-31

I love your words today,
Lord Jesus Christ:
"Do you believe 
that I can do this?"
(Matthew 9:28)

How amazing is this story,
so Advent because the season
calls us to believe,
to wait,
even to see you Jesus
even we cannot see
anything at all!

How can two blind men
follow you except by
merely listening,
even listen intently
when we who can see
cannot see you,
refuse to follow you,
refuse to believe you?

Like those two blind men,
we tell you today that
"Yes, Lord, we believe
you can make us see again."
Please do so.
Make it quick.
For we are so blinded 
by the world's playful lights
including its darkness
so romanticized
that many drift 
away from you.
Amen.

Advent is God working in me

Lord My Chef Daily Recipe by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Thursday in the First Week of Advent, 04 December 2025
Isaiah 26:1-6     <*((((><  +  ><))))*>     Matthew 7:21, 24-27

*Photo by author, Malolos Cathedral, December 2019.*

On that day
they will sing this song
in the land of Judah:
"A strong city have we;
he sets up walls and ramparts
to protect us. Open up the gates
to let in a nation that is just,
one that keeps faith"
(Isaiah 26:1-2).

Like most cities,
O Lord our God,
I lay in ruins:
physically, emotionally,
mentally, and spiritually;
feeling lost, almost collapsing,
trembling in so many fears
and concerns;
but my faith in you
assures me of being
"a strong city" with "walls
and ramparts" that protect me;
I may not see them now
but "open the gates" of my heart
to trust in you,
in your continuing work in me
so mysterious that leads to
victory eventually.

Give me patience
and perseverance;
enliven my hope in you,
Jesus Christ who comes to me
daily, dwelling in me to be
my "everlasting rock".

Jesus said to his disciples: “Everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. The rains fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and buffeted the house. But it did not collapse; it had been set solidly on rock” (Matthew 7:24-25).

Keep me faithful
in you, Lord Jesus
as I rejoice in your works,
in your comfort,
in your presence
and coming.
Amen.

Noche buena at Pasko

Lawiswis ng Salita ni P. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Ika-02 ng Disyembre 2025

*Larawan kuha ng may-akda sa San Fernando, Pampanga, Nobyembre 2021.*

Napansin ko lang
kakaiba itong kapaskuhang
darating: tahimik si Jose Mari Chan
at inagawan ng eksena ng mga
mandarambong sa pamahalaan
at kongreso na hanggang ngayon
nagtuturuan,
nagtatakipan
habang pinagpipilitan
ng isang ginang
kakasya raw ang limang-daang piso
upang makapag-diwang
ng noche buena sa
bisperas ng Pasko
ang pamilyang Pilipino.

Kaya sumagi sa aking alaala 
pamaskong awiting aking kinalakhan:

Kay sigla ng gabi, ang lahat ay kay saya
Nagluto ang ate ng manok na tinola
Sa bahay ng kuya ay mayroong litsonan pa
Ang bawat tahanan, may handang iba't-iba

Tayo na, giliw, magsalo na tayo
Mayroon na tayong tinapay at keso
'Di ba Noche Buena sa gabing ito?
At bukas ay araw ng Pasko

Mga ginigiliw, 
atin nang mapagtatanto
sa awiting ito diwa ng Pasko:
ating pagsasalu-salo ng mga kaloob
na biyaya at pagpapala
na sinasagisag ng noche buena
ng pagkakatawang-tao ni 
Jesu-Kristo noong Pasko;
ngunit, paano nga
kung sa halip na 
tulungan lalo mga maliliit
tugon ng pamahalaan
ay bigyan ng presyo
natatanging pagsasalo-salo
ng Pilipino tuwing Pasko?

Narito naman makabagong awiting pamasko
naghahayag na walang tatalo sa Pasko sa Pilipinas:

May tatalo pa ba sa Pasko ng 'Pinas?
Ang kaligayahan nati'y walang kupas
'Di alintana kung walang pera
Basta't tayo'y magkakasama
Ibang-iba talaga ang Pasko sa 'Pinas

May simpleng regalo na si Ninong at si Ninang
Para sa inaanak na nag-aabang
Ang buong pamilya ay magkakasama sa paggawa ng Christmas tree
Ayan na ang barkada, ikaw ay niyayaya para magsimbang gabi

Muli mga ginigiliw
sa saliw ng awiting ito
madarama natin diwa at 
tuwa ng Pasko:
wala naman sa handang
noche buena ito kungdi sa
samahan at pagbubuklod
ng pamilya at magkakaibigan
katulad ng pagkakatawang-tao
ni Jesu-Kristo na pumarito 
upang tubusin tayo
sa ating mga kasalanan
at mapunan ating kakulangan
ng kanyang kaganapan
sa pagmamahalan.

Subalit kay hirap
maramdaman pagmamahal
ni malasakit nino man
tulad ng mga nasa kapangyarihan
animo mga maligno at impakto
ng mga ghost project
kaya Biyernes Santo hindi Pasko
pakiramdam ngayon
ng maraming Pilipino: 
wala ang mga ginigiliw
na ate at kuya may handang iba't-iba
dahil sila ay mga nagsipag-OFW na
habang ang mga buwitre at buwaya
sa Kongreso nagpapasasa 
sa kaban ng bayan mula sa dugo at 
pawis ng mga mamamayan na
pinagtitiis sa limang-daang pisong
noche buena na kahuluga'y
"mabuting gabi" nang pahalagahan
ng Diyos ang tao
sa pagsusugo niya ng Kristo
na patuloy sumisilang
sa puso ng bawat nilalang
tuwing nagmamahalan
at nagbabahaginan 
na pinapaging-ganap 
sa hapag ng pakikinabang 
ng Banal na Misa 
hanggang sa mesa
ng bawat pamilya.

Ngunit papaano na kung
pera hindi kakasya
sa noche buena?
Iyan ang masaklap at nakasusuklam 
ng limang-daang pisong noche buena: 
hindi ang halaga ng pera 
kungdi kawalan ng pagpapahalaga
nitong nasa pamahalaan 
sa dangal ng bawat isa
lalo ng mga maliliit at aba
na sa halip tulungan maka-ahon
o maibsan kanilang hirap at gutom 
sila pa nga ay ibinaon 
sa presyo na pang galunggong
hindi hamon!

Kaya nakakamiss
sa gitna ng nakakainis
na mga balita si Jose Mari Chan 
sa kanyang awiting pamasko 
na maalala nating palagi
Sanggol na sumilang sa Bethlehem
sa tuwing masilayan mukha 
ng bawat kapwa nang walang pasubali
hindi sa halaga ng salapi!

Whenever I see girls and boys
Selling lanterns on the streets
I remember the Child
In the manger, as he sleeps
Wherever there are people
Giving gifts, exchanging cards
I believe that Christmas
Is truly in their hearts

Let's light our Christmas trees
For a bright tomorrow
Where nations are at peace
And all are one in God

Let's sing Merry Christmas
And a happy holiday
This season may we never forget
The love we have for Jesus
Let Him be the one to guide us
As another new year starts
And may the spirit of Christmas
Be always in our hearts

Ngayong Pasko
marami ang wala maski
limang daang piso at marahil
itutulog na lang ang noche buena;
tayo nawa maging dahilan ng
"mabuting gabi" nila upang tunay nilang maranasan
pagsilang ng Kristo sa kumakalam
nilang tiyan at sikmura.

*Larawan kuha ng may-akda sa Dau, Mabalacat, Pampanga, Nobyembre 2022.*

Advent is being rooted in God in Jesus

Lord My Chef Daily Recipe by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Tuesday in the First Week of Advent, 02 December 2025
Isaiah 11:1-10     <*((((><  +  ><))))*>     Luke 10:21-24

Advent is going back
to our roots -
to you O God our Father
like Jesus Christ your Son
who is "the shoot 
from the stump of Jesse"
you have promised through
the Prophet Isaiah:

On that day, a shoot shall sprout from the stump of Jess, and from his roots a bud a shall blossom… On that day, the root of Jesse, set up as a signal for the nations, the Gentiles shall seek out, for his dwelling shall be glorious (Isaiah 11:1, 10).

On this first week of Advent,
Isaiah reminds us of the 
beauty of Christ's advent
that brings about peace
when "the wolf shall be a guest 
of the lamb,
the leopard shall lie down
with the kid... 
the calf and young lion 
shall browse together,
with a little child to guide them...
the cow and bear shall be neighbors,
together their young shall rest,
the lion shall eat hay like the ox...
the baby shall play by the 
cobra's den, and the child 
lay his hand on the adder's lair"
(Isaiah 11:6-8).

Peace reigns and comes
in every advent of Christ
when we fix our sights on him
while looking deep down
inside our hearts,
emptying ourselves of pride
to find our roots in God,
to find our blessedness
as your indwelling;
let us rediscover you, 
Jesus, "the shoot from 
the stump of Jesse", 
the one completely
consecrated to God who 
journeys with us in this life
helping us find our roots God
by becoming like children,
innocent and humble, 
seeing the deeper
truth and worth of every person
and things not colored
by biases
and prejudices.
Amen.

Jesus, our Temple

Lord My Chef Daily Recipe by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Monday, First Week of Advent, 01 December 2025
Isaiah 4:2-6     ><]]]]'> + ><]]]]'> + ><]]]]'>     Matthew 8:5-11

*Photo by author, Malolos Cathedral, December 2018.*

Blessed are you,
O God our Father
for this first day of December,
the first working day in this
blessed Season of Advent
as we prepare for your Son
Jesus Christ's Second Coming;
cleanse our hearts, O Lord
so that you may dwell in us,
come to us as as we 
dwell in you, 
come to you,
"our shelter and protection; 
shade from parching heat of day,
refuge and cover from storm
and rain" (Isaiah 4:6).

How lovely are your words today,
O Lord, as you fulfill in Jesus Christ
our gathering in you as your people,
this time not just in a building
like the old temple of Jerusalem
nor our modern churches;
teach us to be more humble
like that centurion in recognizing
your supreme authority for
you are Authority yourself;
despite his not being a Jew,
the centurion had the faith
and humility in Jesus Christ's
healing of his servant without
touching nor seeing him.

O dear Jesus,
you are the New Temple,
you are our Temple,
our dwelling no longer made
by hands: grant us the grace
of genuine faith and humility
in you especially during the Mass
right before we receive you in
the Holy Eucharist saying the
very same words of that centurion
you praised, "Lord, I am not worthy
that You should come under my roof,
but only say the word and my soul
shall be healed" (Matthew 8:8).
Amen.

God surely comes

Lord My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul, Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
First Sunday of Advent-A, 30 November 2025
Isaiah 2:1-5 ><}}}}*> Romans 13:11-14 ><}}}}*> Matthew 24:37-44

*Photo by author, the Hagia Sophia, Istanbul, Turkiye, 01 November 2025.*

I rarely travel abroad and though I am joyful and grateful for those rare occasions especially through the kindness of some friends, I feel so sad seeing how other countries are doing so well, so good – so unlike us in the Philippines.

After my recent trip to Turkiye and Romania, the more I am convinced I would never experience a better Philippines at least in my lifetime for sure.

*Photo by author, Bucharest, Romania, 07 November 2025.*

Look at Hong Kong: while firemen were still fighting the blaze in a high-rise housing complex last Wednesday that caused over 120 deaths with scores wounded and missing, authorities have already arrested in less than 24 hours at least three suspects linked with the deadly fires while here in the Philippines, all the key players in the multi-billion peso ghost project scam remain free with some already hiding abroad.

And just as we are about to end November for the merry month of December, the secretary of Trade and Industry came out in the news insanely insisting that anyone with 500 pesos can have a noche buena of ham, spaghetti and fruit salad?! What else can we say but a heavy sigh with OMG…

Sorry for the lamentations. In times like these you really can’t avoid wonder sometimes where is God? Has he forgotten us in the Philippines? So very sad.

*Photo by author, Camp John Hay, Baguio City, 01 December 2018.*

Oh, by the way, a blessed “Happy New Year” to everyone! We begin this first Sunday of Advent as the new year in our Church calendar.

From the Latin adventus that means “coming” that used to designate the arrival of the Roman emperor in the provinces and colonies of the ancient Roman empire, we have adopted it in the Church as a season of preparing for the coming of the true King of kings, Jesus Christ. Notice how we closed last Sunday our Church calendar with Christ the King and now opens it with preparations for the coming of Christ, the King of kings.

Advent has two aspects: from this Sunday until December 16, all readings and prayers are directed to the Second Coming of Christ or parousia at the end of time; from December 17-24, all prayers and readings shift our attention to look back and reflect at the first coming of Christ in Bethlehem more than 2000 years ago. That is the meaning of the four candles in our Advent wreath.

*Photo by author, Basic Education Department Chapel, Our Lady of Fatima University, Valenzuela City, 2021.*

Between these Second and First comings of Jesus that Advent prepares us, we celebrate every day Christ’s Third Coming according to St. Bernard of Clairvaux which is the meaning of the very words of the Lord to his disciples then and now as narrated this Sunday by Matthew in the gospel:

Jesus said to this disciples: “As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. In those days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day that Noah entered the ark. They did not know until the flood came and carried them all away. So will it be also at the coming of the Son of Man” (Matthew 24:37-39).

Despite all the negative news we have in the country and from around the world, despite all the darkness and problems we have in our lives, we are still blessed today because Jesus has come, will come again, and always comes. Welcome!

Let us get that feeling therefore on this first Sunday of Advent of having “arrived” to another year of journey in our spiritual life with Matthew as guide every Sunday Mass, praying for God’s grace for us to prepare not only for the Second Coming of Christ at the end of time but most especially for his daily coming to us which could also mean our death.

Jesus comes every day and therefore, every day is judgment day.

But it does not mean catastrophe because Christ’s coming at the end of time is about our attitude in living as he pointed out to his disciples during the days of Noah. Jesus comes in the most ordinary circumstances without us even knowing at all that it could be the end just like when the floods came after Noah’s family have entered and locked the ark.

It is not being morbid nor pessimistic in life. We know for sure death’s certainty except its precise moment. Death is not something to be afraid of but something we have to prepare for as it leads us to eternal life in God. It is scary for those not living life fully in God. To meet Jesus Christ is to live fully and authentically, to find life’s meaning in him not in things. How sad that many people these days live superficially without any qualms at all about God and spirituality and morality. More sad is the fact that many practically live their lives in social media without even knowing it at all! Observe what we post, the language we speak, our line of thoughts that are all influenced by media. Reflect on the great amounts of screen time we make daily and weekly that eat up our very existence!

Advent is the season of vigilance, of being awake. Jesus reminds us today never to doubt his coming for he surely comes. If we are negligent, we end in disaster and catastrophe like in his example:

“Two men will be out in the field; one will be taken, and one will be left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken, and one will be left. Therefore, stay awake! For you do not know on which day your Lord will come” (Matthew 24:40-42).

The prophet Isaiah tells us in the first reading how the coming of the Messiah is so sure that it does not depend in the vagaries of history because our God is the God of history himself. He fulfills his promises according to his plans, not according to man’s designs and manipulations. Despite the many wars and natural calamities the world has experienced in history, Jesus had come and keeps on coming. How foolish governments spend billions of dollars and countless hours studying how to find life in outer space while working on how to annihilate each other, destroy life at its weakest moments of infancy and old age while forgetting the hungry and dying among us. If we could just open our minds and our hearts to Christ’s daily coming then we fulfill Isaiah’s prophecy, “They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks” (Is.2:4).

This can only happen when we recognize every here and now, every present moment as Christ’s coming that is already taking place in our midst as St. Paul reminds us in the second reading, “For our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed; the night is advanced, the day is at hand. Let us then throw off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light” (Rom. 13:11-12).

Aside from preparing for our salvation that happens in Christ’s coming, Advent is also the season when we are called to share the light of Jesus to those in darkness. This early, so many malls, offices and homes have already put up with their colorful Christmas decorations like lanterns and Christmas trees. May we not forget to share most of all the light of Jesus Christ that brings joy and peace from our firm faith, fervent hope and unceasing charity and love especially when times are dark and rough for that is when the Lord truly comes. Amen. A blessed Advent season to everyone!

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.