Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul, 12 August 2025 Tuesday in the Nineteenth Week of Ordinary Time, Year I Deuteronomy 31:1-8 <*((((>< + ><))))*> Matthew 18:1-5, 10, 12-14
Photo by author, the Grotto in Baguio City, February 2019.
How I love your words today, Lord Jesus Christ; we all remain little children after all; though like the Twelve we often debate on "who is the greatest", in the end, we remain that little child you called and placed in their midst.
Yes, Jesus, we remain like children - weak and fearful especially in old age when we prefer to remain in our "comfort zones" yet, like Moses in Jordan, time catches on us when we have to go - whether for good or not - with our many transitions in life.
Then Moses summoned Joshua and in the presence of all Israel said to him, “Be brave and steadfast… It is the Lord who marches before you; he will be with you and will never fail or forsake you. So do not fear or be dismayed” (Deuteronomy 31:7, 8).
Lord Jesus, as I age and get old and weak, the more I doubt, the more I am afraid than ever; indeed, we all remain like little children before you; fill me with more courage to step forward in you when my sight grows dim, my muscles ache and joints weaken in life's journey; teach me to trust more the younger generation as they take charge from us in this life; let me be more silent and deeply aware of your presence in life's many transitions that continue to happen as we advance in age; deepen our faith and hope in you, Lord for you march ahead of us, never forsaking us, nor failed us. Amen.
Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Our Lady of Fatima University Valenzuela City (lordmychef@gmail.com)
Photo by author, Tam-Awan Village in Baguio City, February 2019.
Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul, 11 July 2025 Friday, Memorial of St. Benedict, Abbot, Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time Genesis 46:1-7, 28-30 <*{{{>< + ><}}}*> Matthew 10:16-23
For those still moving places, changing careers, pursuing new love, hobbies and interests; for those in their senior years embarking on new journeys in life, for those who have finally decided to leave their "comfort zones" to dare live life authentically, let us learn from Jacob, aka, Israel:
Israel set out with all that was his. When he arrived at Beer-sheba, he offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac. There God, speaking to Israel in a vision by night, called, “Jacob! Jacob!” He answered, “Here I am.” Then he said: “I am God, the God of your father. Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for there I will make you a great nation. Not only will I go down with you; I will also bring you back here, after Joseph has closed your eyes.” (Genesis 46:1-4)
Photo by author, Egypt, May 2019.
Thank you, dear God our loving Father in calling us and sending us still to missions despite our age and unworthiness; just be patient with us. Accompany us in this new journey we take in life; be our companion.
Thank you, dear God our loving Father in believing in us, in trusting us after all these years of hiding and running away from you; keep us faithful to your call and direction.
Thank you, dear God most of all for Jesus, in sending him to us who commissioned us to be like "sheep in the midst of wolves"; enlighten our minds and our hearts with your Holy Spirit so we may be "shrewd as serpents and simple as doves" (Matthew 10:16) in this world that values youth and technology, forgetting persons to be loved and cared and cherished like you.
Like St. Benedict who in his old age continued to follow you in new directions in his life and ministry, give us the courage to do the same for your greater glory. Amen.
St. Benedict, Pray for us.
Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Our Lady of Fatima University Valenzuela City
VATICAN CITY, VATICAN – MAY 08: Faithful in St. Peter’s Square participate in the first blessing of Pope Leo XIV immediately after the white smoke on May 08, 2025 in Vatican City, Vatican. White smoke was seen over the Vatican early this evening as the Conclave of Cardinals took just two days to elect Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, who will be known as Pope Leo (Leone) XIV, as the 267th Supreme Pontiff after the death of Pope Francis on Easter Monday. (Photo by Ivan Romano/Getty Images)
Lord My Chef Daily Recipe, Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Sacred Heart Novena Day 9, 26 June 2025
Detalye ng painting ng Sacred Heart of Jesus sa Visitation Monastery, Marclaz, France mula sa godongphoto / Shutterstock.
Huling araw ng ating pagsisiyam sa Dakilang Kapistahan ng Kamahal-Mahalang Puso ni Jesus. Pinangakuan kahapon ng Diyos si Abram na magiging ama ng lahat ng bansa, na magiging kasing dami ng mga bituin sa langit kung gabi ang kanyang mga anak subalit matanda na siya ay wala pa rin silang anak ni Sarai.
Nag-magandang loob si Sarai at sinabi kay Abram na tabihan ang alipin niyang si Agar upang magkaanak sa kanya. Hindi nga nagtagal ay nagdalantao si Agar mula kay Abram at dito nagbago ihip ng hangin. Nagmalaki at hinamak ni Agar ang kanyang amo na si Sarai kaya’t nagalit siya at nagsumbong kay Abram.
Tulad ng sino mang mister, walang nagawa si Abram sa pagkagalit ni Sarai kaya sinoli niya sa kanya ang alipin niyang si Sarai. Gumanti at pinahirapan ni Sarai ang kanyang aliping si Agar na noon ay nagdadalang-tao ng anak ni Abram hanggang sa maglayas.
Pinagmalupitan ni Sarai si Agar, kaya ito ay tumakas. Sinalubong siya ng anghel ni Yahweh sa tabi ng isang bukal na nasa ilang. Tinanong siya, “Agar, alipin ni Sarai, saan ka nanggaling at saan ka pupunta?” “Tumakas po ako sa aking panginoon,” sagot niya. “Magbalik ka at pailalim sa kanyang kapangyarihan,” wika ng anghel. At idinugtong pa: “Ang mga anak mo ay pararamihin, At sa karamiha’y di kayang bilangin” (Genesis 16:6b-10).
Larawan kuha ng may-akda, Pundaquit, San Antonio, Zambales, 15 Mayo 2025.
Maraming pagkakataon sa buhay katulad tayo ni Sarai: sa pagmamagandang loob natin, madalas napapasama pa tayo. Inaabuso ng ilan kabutihang loob natin. Kasi rin naman, madalas tayo pabigla-bigla sa pagdedesiyon lalo na kung pinanginigbabawan tayo ng kapangyarihan na sa una tingin natin ginagamit natin sa kabutihan ngunit di alintana masamang epekto sa ilan.
Sa gitna ng lahat ng ito, naroon pa rin kabutihan ng Diyos. Mabuti na lang na hindi natin siya katulad dahil ang gawi natin kapag sumablay plano natin ay magsisihan.
Patas ang Diyos sa lahat. Kasi mapagmahal siya. Sa halip na sisihin tayo na dahil tayo naman palagi may kagagawan ng problema natin, humahanap siya palagi ng solusyon. Nakita ng Diyos na nakawawa si Agar bagama’t inabuso niya kagandahang loob ni Sarai. Wala siyang kapangyarihan, napakahina bilang alipin. At pagkatapos ay nagdadalantao. Kaya sa kanyang lungkot at hirap ay naglayas at nakita kanyang sariling nag-iisa, nawawala at takot na takot doon sa ilang. Parang tayo.
Ngunit hinanap pa rin siya – at tayo – ng Diyos upang pagpalain.
Tingnan kabutihan ng Diyos: hinahanap tayo at pinagpapala maski hindi tayo mabuti sa harap niya. Bagkus, higit pa nga niyang hinahanap at tila pinahahalagahan ang mga nawawala o naliligaw.
Ang ganda ng tanong ng anghel kay Agar na siya ring tanong sa atin ngayon, “Saan ka nanggaling at saan ka pupunta?”
Pagkaraan ng siyam na araw nating nobenaryo sa Sacred Heart, tingnan natin sarili nating paglalakbay sa pananampalataya, ating pinanggalingan at pinagdaanan sa buhay. Naroon ba Diyos sa oras ng ating paghihirap at pagsubok?
Tayo ba ay papalapit o papalayo sa Diyos sa ating buhay ngayon?
Pagmasdan pagkilala ng Diyos sa paghihirap ni Agar. Batid ng Diyos kanyang mga sugat. Sa sariling buhay natin marami ding pagkakataon nagpahayag ng habag at awa ang Diyos sa ating mga hirap na pinagdaraanan.
Ang pinaka-magandang bahagi nito ay ang pagbabalik ni Agar kay Sarai. Ang kanyang pagtitiwala sa Diyos na nangakong mula sa kanyang magiging anak kay Abram ay magmumula ang isa ring malaking lahi. Pati pangalan ng kanyang magiging anak ay Diyos ang nagbigay, Ishmael na ibig sabihin ay “nakikinig ang Diyos.”
Larawan mula sa Pinterest.com.
Ngayong bisperas ng Dakilang Kapistahan ng Kamahal-Mahalang Puso ni Jesus, walang duda nakikinig ang Diyos sa ating mga poanawagan at dalangin, tangis at panaghoy sa maraming sakit at hirap. Subalit, tayo ba ay nakikinig naman sa kanya?
Mismong si Jesus nagsabi hindi lahat ng tumatawag sa kanya ng “Panginoon, Panginoon” ay maliligtas dahil kung taliwas naman ang ating buhay sa ating pananampalataya. Kaya ngayong araw, balikan natin ating pinanggalingan upang maging maliwanag kung tayo nga ay malinaw pa rin sa patutunguhan, ang Diyos.
O Jesus na mayroong maamo at mapagkumbabang Puso, Gawin Mong ang puso nami'y matulad sa Puso Mo! Amen.
Quiet Storm by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, 24 March 2025
Some people have been asking me how does it feel to be sigisty years old? I really don’t have any complete answer yet except the feeling of sudden shift in my perspectives in life.
Whether it is what experts call as the gestalt shift, I do not know. However, since I have failed in a psychological exam to the major seminary in 1982 that forced me to forget all about the priesthood momentarily (nine years), I have always thought of myself as “crazy” with weird thoughts and ideas, weird perceptions coming from weird images and illusions I see on many things
These manifest in my photography subjects that are often wala lang, as in trip trip lang talaga. Like in my recent annual retreat at the Sacred Heart Novitiate in Novaliches where I have been coming since 2016. Suddenly this year, my focus were so bent on the most ordinary features of this venerable institution that is about 75 years old.
During my stay there last week, the stairs, the windows, and the arches that are even older than me be4came so lovely and interesting. I felt so drawn to them that I had a lot of shots taken upon my arrival.
The Sacred Heart Novitiate is my “happy place” because it is my Bethel where I “dreamt” like Jacob of the stairway to heaven (Gen. 28:10-22). It is also my Peniel or Penuel (Gen. 32:23-32) where like Jacob I also wrestled with God or an angel in deep prayers every year.
In my previous article, I have explained that maybe my focus on the stairs was due to my excitement in awaiting the Netflix documentary on Led Zeppelin whose most famous song is called Stairway to Heaven.
Today, I share with you some photos I have taken with my weird perceptions of the Sacred Heart Novitiate’s windows that suddenly evoked a lot of ideas in me as a sigisty year old man so loved by God.
Being a new senior sixty cent only last Saturday, I felt the joy of being able to look at a very long past of both beautiful and sad even painful memories that have made me who I am today.
Despite the hurts and scars from the many battles in life, I am still glad and thankful for the gift of six decades.
Being a sigisty year old man is like looking out the window, marveling at how fast times have flown that many times, some scenes in my life are like some spots outside that look so near that are actually so far and distant.
I felt my getting old started the time I kept saying “40 years ago ba iyon” when commenting on an event or a song or a movie. Parang kailan lang pero matagal na pala!
Like in life itself, you can choose your focus when looking outside the window: you may include the window itself in the vista like a frame or totally disregard its existence and simply look at the world outside or the past itself. You may also focus on the sceneries you prefer, more of the lovely ones and less of the unsightly.
On the other hand, I have strongly felt too as I turned sigisty years old how my remaining days on earth are numbered. Looking back to the past seems an endless horizon while looking into the future is very definite. You can see already the end of the line, so to speak s you get that feeling my days are numbered. That is the moment when the eternal spring within tells you that at the end of that tunnel or wall is eternity. But, before that, you know the end is near.
The word “window” came from the Old Norse vindauga, from vind or “wind” that was pronounced as the English “wind” and auga for eye that phonetically sounded as “ow” that literally meant “wind-eye” that became the Old English word wind-ow or “window” as we know and use it today.
Hence, window became the term for an opening in any building like home that allows air and light to pass through. Most of all, it is an opening for people inside to see the world outside while giving those outside a glimpse of what’s inside.
How lovely is that interplay happening in every window that opens a person’s vista outside and inside. It is how one looks on windows that makes the great difference that eventually forms our perspectives in life.
About three decades ago, Bill Gates launched his company Microsoft’s operating system called Windows that greatly revolutionized our lives with computers becoming easily accessible for everyone. Unlike its funny looking predecessor called dost, Windows was aptly called as one had to simply click a box like literally opening a window to explore its many programs.
Windows – the real ones like in buildings – still present us with such great possibilities when we look outside or into them.
But of course, that still greatly depends on that one great window God had gifted us – our eyes that have both sight and vision.
Jesus told his disciples, “The lamp of the body is the eye. If your eye is sound, your whole body will be filled with light; but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be in darkness. And if the light in you is darkness, how great will the darkness be” (Matthew 6:22-23).
How unfortunate that many times, we prefer to limit the use of our eyes to just sights that limit our perspectives on what are simply obvious and visible.
Only a few called as visionaries dare to use their eyes to have vision, that is, to see and look beyond what’s visible and before us, whether from the window or into the window.
If we can have our eyes synced together with both sight and vision, then we shall see much more in this life that we become grateful with our past while at the same time filled with joyful expectations of the fast approaching beyond of this world as we age. Amen.
*All photos taken by the author using the iPhone 16 Pro Max at the Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, March 17-22, 2025.
Lawiswis ng Salita ni P. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Ika-22 ng Marso 2025
Larawan ng una kong birthday, sigisty years ago; nakaalalay sa akin si mommy (SLN) habang masayang nagsindi ng kandila ang kanyang Ditse, ang Tita Connie na nasa Amerika at buhay pa kasama ng kanyang mga anak na sina Alexis na ka-birthday ko katabi ng mommy at si RAF katabi ko; si Kuya Edgar pinakamatangkad at matanda sa mga pinsan ay nasa Amerika din. Di ko matiyak sinu-sino mga kasama sa party na mga pinsan ko lahat.
Sigisty years old na ako. Sa isang taon sigisty one Sa susunod sigisty two tapos sigisty three sigisty four sigisty five sigisty six sigisty seven sigisty eight at ewan, kung aabutin ko pa mag(ing) sigisty-nine.
Salamuch sa lahat ng mga nakasama at nakasabay sa paglalakbay sa buhay nitong anim na dekada, sa mga naniwala at ayaw pa ring maniwala; ang lahat ay pagpapala ng Mabuting Bathala na sa atin ay lumikha itinakda tayong maging ganap sa piling Niyang Banal.
Maraming dapat ipagpasalamat sa aking mga biyayang natanggap bagaman kulang na kulang at tiyak kakapusin aking mabubuting gawain kaya sana ako ay inyong patawarin lalo ng Panginoong butihin; wala akong panghihinayang sa aking mga nakaraan na kung aking babalikan ay hindi ko na babaguhin bagkus lahat ay uulitin pa rin!
Hindi man pansin ako ay mahiyain, alinlangan sa aking husay at galing, napipigilan palagi lumarga at magsapalaran sa maraming hamon ng buhay kaya't nitong mga nagdaan akin nang pinag-iisipan magpahingalay tigilan nang pakikibaka manahimik na lang, umiwas sa ingay at gulo ng buhay.
Bukod sa 20-percent discount
ng pagiging senior sixty-cent
pinakamasarap sa pagiging sigisty
ang napakaraming ala-alang masarap
balikan maski na marami ring
masasakit at mapapait na di malilimutan
na sadyang sakbibi nating palagi
dapat pa ring ipagpasalamat
sa maraming aral sa atin nagmulat
masarap pa rin ang mabuhay
kaya't sabik ko nang hinihintay
walang hanggang kinabukasan
maaring malasap
ano man ating edad
kung mamumuhay nang ganap.
2004 sa Parokya ng Santisima Trinidad, Malolos City.
40 Shades of Lent by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Ash Wednesday, 05 March 2025 Joel 2:12-18 ><}}}*> 2 Corinthians 5:20-6:2 ><}}}*> Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18
Life is a daily Lent, a journey towards Easter.
We go through a pasch everyday like Jesus Christ’s Passion, Death and Resurrection when we “pass over” from sin into grace, from darkness into light, from death into life.
Life is a daily Lent because everyday, we go through an “exodus” from another day to the next new day, from sunset to sunrise. However, Lent as a journey is about direction, not destination. This we find clearly at the start of our 40-day journey of Lent with Ash Wednesday.
“Even now, says the Lord, return to me with your whole heart, with fasting, and weeping, and mourning; Rend your hearts, not your garments, and return to the Lord, your God” (Joel 2:12-13).
It is strange that while Jesus Christ asked us in the gospel to “Take care not to perform righteous deeds in order that people may see them; otherwise, you will have no recompense from your heavenly Father” (Mt.6:1), what we are doing this Ash Wednesday is exactly the opposite!
Alam na this… that if you meet anyone with ashes on his/her forehead, definitely he/she is a Catholic who had gone to Mass or at least had observed Ash Wednesday.
There are some who would surely be teased by friends as being too serious as they practice abstinence by avoiding meat today and on Fridays this Lent. Most likely too, many would be giving alms today in the collections for the poor in the parishes all because for the reason it is Ash Wednesday.
These three pillars of Lent – prayer, fasting and alms-giving are not only meant for this Season that lasts only for 40 days but something we are hoped to practice the whole year through until we are slowly transformed into the likeness of Jesus Christ.
The purpose of Jesus in asking us in the gospel to do these all in secret is to avoid falling into the trap of the people of His time who flaunted to everyone their prayer, fasting and alms-giving, forgetting God in the process because focus had been on them. And yes, it continues among us that we have religiosity without spirituality, devotion without evangelization.
Moreover, to practice these in secret is actually to enter into our very selves, into our hearts where God dwells, where we meet Him personally.
Our Lenten journey becomes a direction when we take it into our hearts, when we open and rend our hearts to let Jesus come and dwell within by letting Him empty us of our pride to be filled with His humility, justice and love.
Lent then becomes a direction leading us not only to daily Easter but ultimately to our eternal salvation not just in heaven or any “place” but to be one with the Person of God Himself and the persons along the way we shall meet with whom we are called by Christ to be one with in Him.
Therefore, Lent as a direction is an inner transformation as companions in Christ.
In this age of WAZE and GPS, we can easily seek directions to a particular destination. Problem with being focused more on destination is we miss the fun and adventure of every journey. When we reach our destination, what do we do?
We cross out from our list of travel goals every destination that we make and start looking for new places to visit until we have been to every place on earth that we plan to visit the Moon and Mars next! Eventually we get tired with travels and after covering so many distances and destination, we still feel lacking and incomplete. There is no more destination to go to that we confront ourselves with the existential question, is this really what I need most in life? Is this all?
To see life more as a direction means to find its meaning in God that we keep on maturing, we keep on sustaining our journey in Him and with Him. It does not matter wherever He leads me or where I go or stay because what matters most is I am in and with God.
Lent is entering God in and through Jesus Christ. It is going back to Him, staying in Him and with Him in love. This is the reason why we fast, we empty ourselves even our sights and other senses so that we become more sensitive to God’s presence. There are no flowers, no decors, no Alleluia, no Gloria in the church and liturgy. Everything is bare essential so we are not distracted in finding and following God right in our hearts.
Recall the first time you truly fell in love, when truly loved that you literally see and hear even smell your beloved everywhere and in everyone. You always thought it is your beloved whom you saw walking or speaking somewhere but it wasn’t really she! Akala mo lang…
When we truly love, the time and place are not important because all we have are the here and the now together.
Oh how easy to say we love God or somebody! But if we try to probe deeper into ourselves, we find that we have not truly loved God or anyone that much because in many instances, we always prevail over them. We choose our own will than God’s or our beloved’s.
That is when we sin as we turn away from God and our beloved. To sin is not just to break laws and turn away from God and our beloved but ultimately a refusal to love which is actually losing one’s direction in life.
Lent is the wonderful season of finding again our direction in life, our true love, God. Love needs no justifications. And we can only love persons, not things. Hence the need for oneness, for reconciliation as St. Paul asked us in the second reading to be “reconciled with God” (2 Cor.5:20).
Working together, then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain. For he says: In an acceptable time I heard you, and on the day of salvation I helped you. Behold, now is a very acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation (2 Corinthians 6:1-2).
Now is the best time to find our life direction in God in our personal and communal worship and practices this Lent. When you find your direction, you find God, yourself and others. And that is when you find joy and peace which is Easter, the direction of every Lent and life. Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Thursday, Memorial of St. Alphonsus Liguori, Bishop & Doctor of Church, 01 August 2024 Jeremiah 18:1-6 ><))))*> + <*((((>< Matthew 13:47-53
God our Father, I love your words today, of You being like a potter that "Whenever the object of clay which he was making turned out badly in his hand, he tried again, making of the clay another object of whatever sort he pleased. Then the word of the Lord came to me: Can I not do to you, house of Israel, as this potter has done? says the Lord. Indeed, like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hands, house of Israel" (Jeremiah 18:4-6).
Teach me, Lord to be docile and to have faith in You when things turn out badly in my life; let me be like the clay, pliant and flexible, permeable and absorbent easy to be formed; like St. Alphonsus Liguori who was at first a very able lawyer but after losing a case due to a simple neglect, he was depressed that he left his legal profession to become a priest who later became a bishop.
How lovely to remember accomplished people like St. Alphonsus committing costly mistakes in life still given a chance to become even greater in your new calling; remind us, dear Lord, especially in moments of failures, in times things turn out so badly in our lives how all the beautiful potteries we see came from the same process of failures and destruction in order to be formed into something even more beautiful than before. Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Easter Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Monday in the Fourth Week of Easter, 22 April 2024 Acts 11:1-18 ><))))*> + ><))))*> + ><))))*> John 10:1-10
Photo by author in Silang, Cavite, September 2020.
Lord Jesus Christ, as we go back to school and to work this Monday, I pray that we "object" less to one another, that we hold our "objections" to ourselves first until we have found the merits of an endeavor or proposal and most especially, until we have found Your Holy Will.
The Apostles and the brothers who were in Judea heard that the Gentiles too had accepted the word of God. So when Peter went up to Jerusalem the circumcised believers confronted him, saying, “You entered the house of uncircumcised people and ate with them.” Peter began and explained it to them step by step… When they heard this, they stopped objecting and glorified God, saying, “God has then granted life-giving repentance to the Gentiles too.” (Acts 11:1-4, 18)
Teach us, dear Jesus, to widen our perspectives and to always be alert for the movements of the Holy Spirit so that we do not waste time and energies with our endless "objections" that often paralyze missions and operations and worst of all, destroy people.
How lovely is Your claim, "I am the gate for the sheep" (John 10:7) for we all belong to You alone; when we object a lot, we close the gate, we hinder the flow of people to the gate, and most of all, we steal Your sheep!
Do not let our many and endless objections claimed as for the greater good but totally empty of You hinder our flock in finding You "so that they might have life and have it more abundantly" (John 10:10). Amen.
Photo by author in Silang, Cavite, September 2020.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Tuesday in the Twenty-third Week of Ordinary Time, Year I, 12 September 2023
Colossians 2:6-15 <*((((>< + ><))))*> Luke 6:12-19
Photo by Mr. Jim Marpa, 2019.
Father,
our loving God,
I am getting old;
there is indeed a gap
not only in our age
but also in many other things.
Yet, it is so amazing
that even in this modern age
of great technological
advances me and my
generation could not keep up
much less even learn nor
understand, I am so grateful
to you loving Father
that people still these days
thirst for you,
yearn for you,
search for you.
In my dealings with
people these days,
both young and old alike,
they still prefer meaning
in life than just mere
material pursuits;
more people still find
themselves in moral dilemmas,
a sign they still have moral fiber,
a conscience bothered
by evil and sin.
Help us, dear Father,
to walk in Jesus Christ,
be rooted in him and be
built upon him so as not
to be captivated with empty,
seductive philosophy afflicting
even some churchmen
according to the tradition of men
and elemental powers of the world
not according to Christ
(Colossians 2:6-8).
May we remain
true to your teachings
and to your very person,
Lord Jesus
so as not to mislead
others to modern fads and
trends because we have
tried and tested,
you never go out of style;
you are always "in" because
you dwell in each of us,
truly "hip" because you are
forever true.
Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Thursday, 105th Year of Final Apparition at Fatima, Portugal, 13 October 2022
Ephesians 1:1-10 ><}}}}*> + ><}}}}*> + ><}}}}*> Luke 11:27-28
Photos from pinterest.com.
Today we commemorate the 105th year of the final apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Fatima, Portugal where over 70,000 people witnessed the “Miracle of the Sun”.
It was raining the whole previous night until noon of October 13, 1917 when people made up of believers and unbelievers alike with skeptics and hecklers at the sides came to Cova Da Iria to await the Virgin Mary’s reported apparition to three young children, Lucia Santos and her two younger cousins Francisco and Jacinta Marto. The Blessed Virgin began appearing to the three children at the site on the 13th of May of that year and had promised to appear for the sixth and final time on that October 13, promising a great miracle to everyone. By noon, she finally appeared to the three children and after conversing with them, the sun “danced” or zigzagged the sky emitting radiant colors before careening down to Earth.
Page from Ilustração Portuguesa, 29 October 1917, showing the people looking at the Sun during the Fátima apparitions attributed to the Virgin Mary. From en.wikipedia.org.
Many people cried in fear, begging for mercy as the spectacular occurrence seemed like the end of the world that nothing of such kind was ever experienced nor recorded in history.
The dancing of the sun lasted for about ten minutes before it stood still, shining brightly with warmth that dried the people and nature soaked in rain the night before until that noon.
From then on, devotion to Our Lady of Fatima grew and spread worldwide until the Church recognized the apparition as authentic so that even its official feast was set on May 13, devotees have kept October 13 very special.
The eldest of the three children, Lucia became a Carmelite nun and provided so many useful information to later investigations and studies of the Fatima apparitions. She died on the 13th of February 2005, a few months ahead of the great St. John Paul II who had a very special devotion to Our Lady of Fatima after surviving an assassination attempt on the 13th of May 1981. Sr. Lucia’s younger cousins, as promised by the Lady to them in one of her apparitions, died earlier and have been canonized as saints recently.
Photo by author, April 2022.
Dance as expression of union
Lately I have been observing with great interest and appreciation how our young generation had been “borrowing” the music we grew up with from the 70’s to the 80’s into new level of dance steps via TikTok that are so coool and grooovy!
From the Bee Gees’ Staying Alive to EWF’s September and Groove Tonight to Patricia Rushen’s Forget Me Nots and Puff Daddy’s spin of Sting’s Every Breath You Take, generation gaps are being bridged, even closed with these endearing dance reels in social media.
Latest video I have been watching over and over these past two weeks is by a group of young Asians dancing to a James Brown 1973 funk song recorded by Fred Wesley & The J.B.’s. that is so funky and spunky. So fantastic! You may catch the fever and get the funky feel in both Instagram and YouTube in the link below.
The choreography is superbly modern and contemporary with dress and colors so 70’s yet as you watch the video, you do not feel lost or alienated because you feel a sense of belonging, of oneness unlike most modern music videos.
From YouTube.com.
Dance is a non-verbal communication that expresses our relationships and social interactions as a people, as a culture and as a society which we refer to as social intercourse. At the same time, dance is, generally speaking in the animal kingdom which includes us humans, the expression of gender roles in mating process or sexual intercourse. Notice how the many dance moves in the 70’s and 80’s expressed the promiscuity wrongly promoted by the so-called sex revolution.
Of course, sex is good, sex is holy.
But, it is more than an act or a part of the body! What the sex revolution of the 70’s until now missed greatly is the fact that sex is the totality of the person. Sex was created by God to bring humans into unity, into a communion and oneness with him and with others within his plan found in the sacrament of marriage. Not just according to human plans like same sex marriage nor union.
That noble union is the deeper meaning of a dance, of dancing – whether with a partner or by one’s self – it is always communicative of our higher aspirations of communion with God and others!
It is perhaps the reason why the sun “danced” on October 13, 1917 – it was God’s longstanding invitation for us mankind to dance with him, to follow his steps as taught to us by his Son Jesus Christ repeated by the Blessed Virgin Mary at Fatima. Notice how in our second reading, it was also the message of St. Paul to us through the Ephesians.
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavens, as he chose us in him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and without blemish before him. In love he destined us for adoption to himself through Jesus Christ…
Ephesians 1:2-5
Photo from vaticannews.va, 13 May 2017.
Guidance: God + u and i dance in life!
Like during that time of 1917 in Fatima and the whole world, life was very difficult with the First World War still raging in Europe. People could not find meaning as they found the world so chaotic like today with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, wars in various parts of the world, rising costs of living and so many other difficulties and sufferings in life.
But, like St. Paul, the Blessed Mother at Fatima reminded us of an alternative vision of the world found in Jesus Christ, of the need to renew everything in Christ who had “bestowed on us every spiritual blessing” we need in this life. Despite our sinfulness, God still “chose us in Christ to be one in him” here in this life and in eternity, offering us salvation and fulfillment when we turn away from our sins and evil ways to follow Jesus.
If we reflect deeper into the miracle of the sun in Fatima 105 years ago, the great miracle was not really the sun dancing in the sky but how did the three little children so poor without higher form of learning believed in the promise of our Lady of the Rosary, that a great miracle would happen that day?
Clearly, the three children were guided by the Blessed Mother, most especially by the Holy Spirit! It was their faith that was so outstanding that like Mary, they believed the words spoken to them would be fulfilled as our gospel today told us (Lk.11:28) which were the same words spoken by Elizabeth to Mary at the Visitation (Lk.1:45)!
When we allow ourselves to be guided by the Blessed Mother and by the Holy Spirit, miracles happen in our lives: problems and sufferings are overcome, life becomes fruitful and fulfilling in God. And that is the meaning of the word GUIDANCE:
God
U and
I
D
A
N
C
E
in life!
May we pray to imitate the three children’s faith in Fatima – that of Sr. Lucia, St. Francisco and St. Jacinta so we may follow the GUIDANCE of Jesus Christ with his Mother the Blessed Virgin Mary as we dance our ways into the many difficulties of this life like in 1917. May we dance with Jesus and Mary in prayers and faith, hope and love. Amen.Have a blessed Thursday!
Photo from cbcpnews.net, 13 May 2022, at the Parish of the National Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima, Valenzuela City.
lordmychef.com 