Lord My Chef Sunday Music by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, 10 May 2026
Photo by author, 07 February 2026.
Jesus wrapped up this Sunday his teachings about relationships with the commandment to love one another. Five times he repeated the word “love” in our short gospel this Sunday to highlight its centrality in every relationship.
Without love, no relationship will ever mature and grow.
More than a feeling, love is a decision, a choice we make, day in, day out. As such, it cannot be defined but simply described.
And being a Mothers’ Day this Sunday, we find Christ’s description of keeping his commandment to love is exactly the kind of love every mom exemplifies to us captured by the 1986 song Coming Around Again by one of our favorites, Ms. Carly Simon.
Baby sneezes Mommy pleases Daddy breezes in So good on paper So romantic But so bewildering
I know nothing stays the same But if you're willing to play the game It's coming around again So don't mind if I fall apart There's more room in a broken heart (broken heart)
You pay the grocer You fix the toaster You kiss the host goodbye Then you break a window Burn the soufflé Scream a lullaby
I know nothing stays the same But if you're willing to play the game It's coming around again So don't mind if I fall apart There's more room in a broken heart
And I believe in love But what else can I do I'm so in love with you
Photo by author, August 2024.
Written by Ms. Simon in 1986 as soundtrack for the dramatic comedy film “Heartburn” starring Meryl Streep and Jack Nicholson, the song captures the very essence of its writer Nora Ephron’s fictionalized account of her tumultuous marriage and divorce with her first husband Carl Bernstein, the famous reporter who unearthed the Watergate scandal with fellow Washington Post journalist Bob Woodward. It is a very touching movie with great performances by Streep and Nicholson perfect for this Mothers’ Day too.
Mothers are the best examples of the love Jesus is speaking of in the gospel today that Simon portrayed in her song Coming Around Again.
It is the love that mothers affirm over and over again despite the pains and hurts inflicted by their husband and children; it is the faithful love of every mom even if others are unfaithful; most of all, it is the love that remembers and never forgets, always forgiving, kind and understanding expecting nothing in return.
Yes, it sounds like in a movie like “Heartburn” but it is still so true as we have experienced with our own mother!
That is why I like that part when Simon declared:
I know nothing stays the same But if you're willing to play the game It's coming around again So don't mind if I fall apart There's more room in a broken heart (broken heart)
The love Jesus is commanding us is the very same love mothers exemplify: they are so aware “nothing stays the same” with unfaithful husband, ungrateful children yet, they keep on loving because it is “coming around again”. Most of all, because they “believe in love”.
And I believe in love But what else can I do I'm so in love with you
Without love, humanity will go extinct.
Because of love, as proven by mothers, we have learned that every tragedy, every suffering and problem we go through leads to happy ending primarily because we discover something in ourselves and in someone beyond far more important than any situation or plight we may be into.
In that song and movie, you will find how love is the source of constant deep joy when we are suffering especially in silence. It is here we find the coming around in fullness of love in Jesus: his promised revelation of himself to those who keep on loving despite and in spite of everything. (See also our homily this Sunday, https://lordmychef.com/2026/05/09/easter-is-making-jesus-present-in-our-love/)
Here now is Ms. Carly Simon with Coming Around Again that was included in her 1987 album of the same title. Don’t forget to hug your mom today, to thank her and greet her with a happy mother’s day!
Lord My Chef Sunday Recipe by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Sixth Sunday of Easter, Cycle A, 10 May 2026 Acts 8:5-8, 14-17 ><}}}*> 1 Peter 3:15-18 ><}}}*> John 14:15-21
Photo by author, Bucharest, Romania, November 2025.
Jesus wraps up this Sunday his Last Supper discourse into its very meaning of love as basis of our relationships in him who is both our “gate” as the Good shepherd (April 26) and our “home” (May 3). It was at his Last Supper when Jesus gave his new commandment of love that is why Holy Thursday is also known as Maundy Thursday from the Latin mandatum for “command.”
Jesus said to his disciples: “If you love me, you will keep my commandments… In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me, because I live and you will live. On that day you will realize that I am in my Father and you are in me and I in you. Whoever has my commandments and observes them is the one who loves me. And whoever loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him, and reveal myself to him” (John14:15, 19-21)
See how Jesus mentioned the word “love” five times in our short gospel this Sunday.
Love is the basis of every relationship; without love, any relationship will not last, will not grow, will not mature and deepen into what it is meant to be.
This is most true in our relationship as disciples of Christ wherein love is more than a feeling but a decision, a choice we make daily in favor of Jesus through the persons around us like your spouse and children, our parents, and fellow disciples. And mothers!
Photo by author, June 2024.
Happy Mothers’ Day to every mom especially those in their sick bed, those widowed, and those who gone ahead of us to eternity.
Mothers are the best examples of the love Jesus is speaking of in the gospel today.
It is the love we affirm despite the pains and hurts of misunderstanding from people we love; it is the love calling us to remain faithful even if others are not; it is the love that remembers and never forgets; it is the love that forgives, that cares and understands without asking anything in return.
It is a love that unfolds, like a process going through stages that calls us to be patient as St. Paul described it in one of his letters. That is why Jesus promised to send the Holy Spirit later to his disciples to understand better his lessons and mission for them.
See how in the first reading we have a glimpse of the kind of love of Jesus calling us – the conversion of the people of Samaria: first was Philip coming to them like preparing the ground for the gospel in them and when they seem to be ready, Peter and John arrived to pray over them to receive the fullness of the Holy Spirit. More than to show us how the Holy Spirit works, the story is all about the love that bound the early Church together especially when the persecution begun.
I prefer the word “unfolding” in describing love wherein slowly there is the sort of “unveiling” of the cover of the face because love is more than a concept and thought or experience: love is a person as John wrote in his first letter, Deus caritas est, God is love (1Jn.4:8).
It is the title of the first encyclical by Pope Benedict XVI who wrote that true love involves transformation wherein the lover seeks to become like his beloved, moving from selfish desires known as eros into the self-sacrificial and other-centered love called agape, the Greek word used by John in writing his account of the Last Supper.
Photo by author, March 2018.
The love that Jesus is calling us is that love of his on the Cross we make present in the Eucharist, that even though we repeat it over and over daily, we never get fed up because something is happening in us, there is something changing, making us better, more matured, more loving that we keep coming back to the Holy Mass to listen to his words and receive him Body and Blood under the signs of the bread and wine.
Every true love is always a person. This is the reason why those who love persevere and forge into every obstacle, fight for their love, bear all pains because we find our fulfillment in being with our beloved, whether physically or spiritually. The mode does not really matter because true love touches our very personhood always.
Here lies the beauty of Albert Camus’ 1947 novel The Plague that had a sort of rediscovery during the 2020 COVID pandemic where he wrote that “A loveless world is a dead world, and always there comes an hour when one is weary of prisons, of one’s work, and of devotion to duty, and all one craves for is a loved face, the warmth and wonder of a loving heart.”
Our Lady of Fatima University-GawadKalinga in Bagac, Bataan.
Without love, humanity will go extinct.
Because of love, every tragedy, every suffering and problem we go through leads to happy ending primarily because we discover something in ourselves and in someone beyond far more important than any situation or plight we may be into.
And that is the joy of the love of Jesus Christ when God is revealed in us in his love when we love like him. It is Jesus Christ whom we “sanctify as Lord in our hearts” (1Pt.3:15) is the one we imitate and follow, the one we see and, most of all, the only one we must share when we love, when we serve.
I know, these are easier said than done.
Specially when we who love are not loved by those we love. Or taken for granted, even forgotten.
Again, let us return to that love of mothers that is most closest to the love of Jesus Christ, a love so willing to give up one’s self in spite and despite of everything.
One of the hardest things many of us go through like priests and nuns, the eldest in the family and the newly widowed or anyone looked up to as someone without a problem: very often people forget us or take us for granted including those supposed to be closest to us, thinking we are fine or doing great without any hint of the sufferings we are going through.
But, it is a source of constant deep joy while suffering in silence, God’s grace is always overflowing because Jesus is within each one of us who believes in him and tries hard to keep his commandments.
We just have to do our part, to keep on believing in Jesus, loving Jesus, and most of all, keeping his commandments because Jesus is the “explanation to anyone who asks us for a reason for our hope” (1Pt.3:15).
We are about to close the Easter Season in two weeks: next Sunday will be the Solemnity of the Lord’s Ascension and after that the Pentecost Sunday. This Last Supper scene perfectly captures the very kind of love Jesus is asking us – a love so personal like his, a love that unfolds and grows deeper as we love more despite the pains and sufferings, and a love that often looks absurd to others and even to us because it is not physical. And beyond logic.
Jesus invites us to continue to be his loving presence in this selfish world, where everyone demands of deserving so many perks in life. Let us do away with that expression “dasurv ko” this or that. Let us pray for more love to conquer all. Don’t forget to hug or remember your mom this Mothers’ Day. Have a blessed Sunday and keep cool and hydrated too! Amen.
Lord My Chef Daily Recipe by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Friday in the Fifth Week of Easter, 08 May 2026 Acts 15:22-31 <*((((>< + ><))))*> John 15:12-17
Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, March 2024.
Thank for reminding me today, Jesus, that we are friends: "I no longer call you slaves, because a slave does not know what his master is doing. I have called you friends, because I have told you everything I have heard from the Father" (John 15:15).
Forgive me, Jesus, in being so caught up in the hustle and bustle of daily life, of the ministry, doing so many things for you that I forget you have called us friends, not slaves.
How lovely it is, Lord, to be called as your friend, that we are called and chosen to be friends in order to love like how you have loved us; teach me to have that attitude of your Apostles at the early stage of your Church who decided "not to place any burden beyond" (Acts 15:28) your command to love one another; many times, we forget that we are friends loving one another like you because unconsciously we have made you into an earthly master so demanding for results from us that in turn made us a slave driver to everyone.
Let us never forget that truth that we are friends, Lord Jesus in you, that we too must be a friend to everyone. Amen.
Lord My Chef Daily Recipe by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Thursday in the Fifth Week of Easter, 07 May 2026 Acts 15:7-21 ><)))*> + ><)))*> + ><)))*> John 15:9-11
Photo by author, Anvaya Cove, Bataan, May 2023.
Let me abide in you, Jesus, our true vine; let me abide in you, so that my joy may be complete in you, Jesus.
More than mere happiness when our lips express our good feelings, joy comes from the heart, deep down there where we feel wholeness, security, contentment, and assurance of being one in you, Jesus, our way, our truth, our life.
Joy is fulfillment in you, Jesus, in standing by your truth, bearing all pains of being misunderstood, of fighting for what is right and just, most of all, of simply loving beyond measure by seeing you on the face of those different from us like during the Council of Jerusalem in the first reading.
Today, we debate a lot, Jesus, without even facing each other, throwing insults, invectives and threats in social media; true discussions result in joy, unity and magnanimity, not anger and animosity; grant us the grace to seek you, Jesus, in our discussions of everything that are often centered on our own selfish interests; make us open to others and to you, Jesus, so that our joy may be complete in you by adhering to your gospel of life and love. Amen.
Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Tuesday in the Fifth Week of Easter, 05 May 2026 Acts 14:19-28 ><]]]]'> + ><]]]]'> + ><]]]]'> John 14:27-31
Photo by author, Cabo da Roca Villas, Pundaquit, San Antonio, Zambales, 15 May 2025.
What really is your kind of peace, Lord Jesus?
Jesus said to his disciples: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give it to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid” (John 14:27).
I have told you last Sunday, Lord, what troubles me: the fear of being alone, of being left out; even if the world gives me money, and people with all kinds of relationships, I am troubled because everything and everyone passes; only you remain, Lord.
St. Teresa said it so well: Let nothing disturb you, Let nothing frighten you, All things are passing away; God never changes. Patience obtains all things Whoever has God lacks nothing; God alone suffices.
Photo by Dean Mon Macatangga, Our Lady of Fatima University-Valenzuela City, 16 May 2024.
Your peace, Lord Jesus, is not found outside us but within us – right in our hearts where we allow you to dwell, to reign in us amid all our trials and sufferings so we continue to forge on in this life.
Grant us, dear Jesus, the courage and wisdom you have given Paul and Barnabas who, despite the physical harm and emotional distresses they went through, they never wavered in their mission of proclaiming your Gospel because they have you in their hearts.
That is your peace, Jesus: not an absence of trials and sufferings, of storms and darkness and other troubles but your very presence in our hearts where you reign supreme, filling us with your humility, justice, and love. Amen.
Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Monday in the Fifth Week of Easter, 04 May 2026 Acts 14:5-18 ><))))*> + ><))))*> + ><))))*> John 14:21-26
Photo by author, National Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima, Valenzuela City, 25 February 2026.
We begin today our novena to our Lady of Fatima whose feast falls on May 13, 109 years since the Blessed Virgin Mary first appeared to the three children at Cova da Iria in Fatima, Portugal. Two of the three visionaries are now saints, the siblings Francisco and Jacinta Marto while their cousin, the Venerable Sr. Lucia dos Santos who died in 2005 at the age of 97 is on the way to sainthood too.
The Fatima is one of the most significant Marian apparitions in modern time that continues to affect the world and our country particularly with its ever-relevant messages of prayer and conversion of the people.
Photo from Pinterest.com.
And yet, until now, many are still skeptical of the Fatima apparitions especially the miraculous “dancing sun” of October 13, 1917 despite the great number of witnesses who attested to its veracity. Most of all, for many of us Catholics, it seems the Blessed Mother’s call for conversion in her Son Jesus Christ remains unheeded. Or even disregarded.
Because, as the former Catholic Anais Nin wrote in one of her journals, “we do not see things as they are, we see things as we are.”
This we see not only so true with the Fatima apparitions but even since the time of our Lord Jesus Christ when his very own people rejected him, even crucified him.
We wonder like the Apostle St. Jude why did Jesus not appear to His enemies and to more people after Easter at that time so that they would finally believe that He is the Christ?
Judas, not the Iscariot, said to him, “Master, then what happened that you will reveal yourself to us and not to the world?” Jesus answered and said to him, “Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him” (John 14:22-23).
Artwork from thecripplegate.com.
Of the many healings performed by Jesus, the most amazing ones are those concerning the blind like Bartimaeus at the roadside and the man born blind He had healed on a sabbath on the way to Jerusalem.
Blindness in the bible especially in the healings of Jesus are not just physical in nature but more of spiritual in meaning. The American writer Helen Keller who was herself blind wrote, “The worst thing that could happen to anyone with sight is not to have a vision.”
True. Having vision is being able to look beyond not only into the future but most of all to see deeper realities that only the heart can see.
That is why Jesus did not have to appear to His enemies after Easter or even to more people then and today: His coming and appearing mean nothing unless we have His eyes of faith, His very love for us and for others especially the weak, the old, those not like us at all.
The more we love God, the more we see Him in ourselves and in others. When we love, when we care, when we share, when we truly pray, that is when the Father and Jesus dwell in us, enabling us to see Christ in others. Without that faith and love in Jesus and of Jesus, we will never see Him even if He suddenly appears today before us!
Truly, “we do not see things as they are, we see things as we are.”
If we are empty of Christ, we will never see Him who is “the way and the truth and the life” (Jn.14:6). And that is when we remain in darkness of sin and evil and ignorance. Even stupidity.
Just like now. How unfortunate that in spite our living in an age of images, of everything seen and shown and revealed, the more we still doubt the truth and worst, choose to believe and hold on what is false, what is fake!
Despite the glaring clarity of evils of corruption, lies, and so many other sins, some of us simply justify or have alibis and excuses when things do not match up with truth and reality. It is not that many cannot see the truth these days; what is most tragic is how so many refuse and choose not to see the truth and realities because they are self-centered, believing only in themselves, see themselves as the ideal and standard of everything. Or their gods.
Like the people at Lystra we heard in the first reading. After Paul had healed a crippled man, the people offered him and Barnabas with sacrifices, thinking they were Zeus and Hermes who have gone down to their city. Despite their tearing of their garments to show they were humans and their words proclaiming Jesus as the Christ, the people were not restrained from worshipping them (Acts 14:14-18).
National Pilgrim Image of Fatima, National Shrine of Fatima, Valenzuela City, 25 February 2025.
As we begin our Novena to our Lady of Fatima, the Blessed Virgin Mary invites us not only to open our eyes but most especially our hearts to Jesus, to finally feel Him in us, calling us to conversion so that He may reign in us, that we may be more loving, more kind, more just especially in this time of crisis.
Like the three children of Fatima, St. Francisco, St. Jacinta, and Venerable Sr. Lucia.
Or that Roman centurion at the foot of Christ’s Cross who declared after His death, “Truly, this was the Son of God” (Mt.27:54).
The Blessed Virgin of Fatima had seen 109 years ago the future – its errors and evils but she had also seen the grace and blessings unfolding upon us in Jesus Christ.
From the Annunciation until her Assumption, Mary had always lived in the love of her Son Jesus, seeing us always in the love of Christ. That is why she had returned in Fatima in 1917 because she loves us so much as our Mother.
Let us imitate her humility and fidelity in Christ her Son, living in His love so that we too may find Jesus ever present among us despite the many darkness looming around us. Amen.
Lord My Chef Sunday Recipe by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Fourth Sunday of Easter, Cycle A, 26 April 2026 Acts 2:14, 36-41 ><}}}*> 1 Peter 2:20-25 ><}}}*> John 10:1-10
Photo by author, 09 February 2026, Museo Valenzuela.
In the next three Sundays beginning today, our gospel readings will bring us back to Jesus Christ’s teachings before his passion and death because all his pronouncements then are clearest when seen in the light of his resurrection.
As we have mentioned last Sunday, it does not really matter that many or everyone would see the Risen Lord in order to believe him. Like what Jesus had told Thomas the other Sunday, blessed are those who believe without having seen him while last week we have realized in the story of the two disciples returning to Emmaus that the mystery and beauty of Easter is found in the “breaking of bread” when our eyes are opened to recognize Christ who immediately vanishes. This breaking of bread is not just the Holy Eucharist but includes our many experiences when we too experience brokenness in life like the Jews addressed by Peter after the Pentecost.
Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice, and proclaimed: “Let the whole house of Israel know for certain that God has made both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.” Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and they asked Peter and the other apostles, “What are we to do, my brothers?” (Acts 2:14, 36-37)
“The Road to Emmaus” painting by Ronald Raab, CSC, from ronaldraab.com.
What a beautiful expression by Luke, “they were cut to the heart” that means they were stirred, they were moved deep inside to a great reality, to a truth that led to their conversion.
It is in our own brokenness when our eyes are opened, our hearts are cut that we find Jesus and become converted.
Despite the scathing words of Peter on their sins on having Jesus crucified, the people did not feel “guilty” in the negative sense of being hopelessly mired in sin. The same thing is true with us: there are moments in life we realize deeply, truly feeling the hurt of having offended God in our many sins that actually lead us to conversion and be transformed into a better person as a disciple of Christ. True contrition does not stop in the realization and admission of our sins; true contrition always leads to conversion. Though we are broken, we are not scattered. In fact, it is in our being broken that we become one, we become whole in Jesus Christ.
Guilt buries, conversion liberates because we find Jesus as the true gate to life who leads us to freedom. In Jesus as our gate in life, we enter a new phase of being free and faithful and loving.
So Jesus said again, “Amen, amen, I say to you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate. Whoever enters through me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. A thief comes only to steal and slaughter and destroy; I come so that they might have life and have it more abundantly” (John 10:7-10).
Photo by Dra. Mylene A. Santos, MD, at Katmon Nature Sanctuary & Beach Resort in Infanta, Quezon, 03 April 2024.
Every fourth Sunday of Easter is known as the Good Shepherd Sunday. Only John has this section of Jesus teaching actually to the Pharisees of himself as the Good Shepherd following the controversy in his healing of the man born blind on a Sabbath day.
But before Jesus spoke of his being the Good Shepherd, he first identified himself as the “gate” where the shepherd and the sheep pass through, the direct opposite of the Pharisees and priests of their time who have taken upon themselves as the final standard and arbiter of what is good and holy, of actually usurping the role of God but so stern, so strict. And impersonal.
Hence, the distinction by Jesus in this passage between “thieves and robbers” like his enemies and himself as “the gate” and “the shepherd”.
Whenever I bless homes, I always begin at the door. From the many house blessings I have made, I am not really impressed with the modern, “minimalist” doors with sleek metal handles. What fascinates me most are simple doors with bold colors like lively red or blue. For me, a door is something that exudes with security and protection, not necessarily massive, evoking power.
Photo by author, Angels’ Hills Retreat Center, Tagaytaty City, April 2025.
That’s Jesus Christ for me as the gate. My security and protection.
However, still with house blessings, I have always wondered why we Filipinos even abroad are so fond of two things so peculiar just to us: first is having a regular kitchen often for display and a dirty kitchen for daily use and second, side doors to pass through because the main door is kept locked, used only for visitors.
I think they both reveal something about our spirituality wherein we recognize Jesus our gate, our door, our shepherd yet, we still desire to have other doors and gates, perhaps even shepherds like buddhas and amulets we hung in our homes.
This we find when we examine our inner selves, the cacophony of negative voices that fill us, even entertain us like jealousy, envy, anger, resentment, bitterness, greed, and lust. There are times despite our having faith in Christ, we are filled with more negative than positive like curse than blessing, revenge than reconciliation, war than peace, and worse of all, death than life.
Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, 20 March 2026.
Where are they coming from?
Very often, we take them for granted, allowing them to percolate inside us until they boil and burst that we hurt others, most of all, our selves in the process.
“I come so that they might have life and have it more abundantly.”
Jesus our door, our gate, our Good Shepherd invites us anew this Sunday to remain in him, to stay with him. Jesus calls us to break free from these other doors and gates that trap us within so that we may be free and faithful. Most of all, be more loving in the real sense.
Jesus invites us to examine our lives today, before having him and after having him. Like what Peter tells us in the second reading, we are reminded of the new freedom we have in Christ: “By his wounds you have been healed. For you had gone astray like sheep, but you have now returned to the shepherd and guardian of your souls” (1Pt.2:24-25).
During the Last Supper, Judas (not the Iscariot) asked Jesus why he would appear only to them and not to everyone and he replied with mysterious words, speaking about love and keeping his commandments so that he and the Father would dwell on his disciples (Jn.14:23-24). Actually, in speaking that way, Jesus was showing his disciples who include us today that his revelation is not about public display of power but of personal relationship in him based on love. In the whole discourse of Jesus during their last supper from the perspective of John, what is most essential is the love of Jesus and the love of his disciples. And this we shall explore in the next two Sundays before Jesus ascends into heaven.
Again, there is no need to see Jesus physically; the more we love, the more we believe, the more we see him in our hearts. Most especially when we pass only in him as our gate, our door to life and fullness. Amen.A blessed week ahead to everyone.
Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, 20 March 2026.
Lord My Chef Recipe for Holy Saturday, 04 April 2026
Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, 20 March 2026.
A blessed Holy Saturday to you.
One of the most unforgettable scenes of COVID-19 pandemic when it started in the summer of 2020 was like what we have every Holy Saturday – empty streets with everyone away.
And silent.
What a blessed Holy Saturday we have again today like six years ago as we are in the midst of another worldwide crisis in oil prices due to the US-Israeli war against Iran, inviting us to rediscover the beauty and value of silence.
Because holiness is found in silence, the very language of God.
In the Bible, silence always precedes God’s appearances and revelations:
From the Book of Genesis in the story of creation when there was nothing – therefore, silent – to John’s gospel that said, “In the beginning was the word” to indicate there was only silence until “the word became flesh” (Jn.1:1, 14) in Jesus Christ who was totally silent during his growing up years in Nazareth and later frequently went into deserted places to rest and pray in silence during his ministry.
Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, 20 March 2026.
Here we find in Jesus that holiness is first found in silence and in rest, when we listen more to God to do his will.
On that first Holy Saturday when Jesus was buried in a tomb, the whole creation came to full circle.
See how after completing creation, God rested on the seventh day and made it holy (Gen.2:3) while Jesus was laid to rest on the seventh day too after completing his mission of salvation.
Silence and rest always go together.
This we vividly find in our Filipino word for rest which is magpahinga that literally means “to be breathed on”, to be filled with God which is what holiness is all about.
Like in the creation of the first man who was breathed on by God to be alive, Jesus breathed on his disciples locked in the upper room after greeting them with peace twice on the evening of Easter.
Silence is not being quiet, not an emptiness when we shut off all sounds and noise.
Silence is actually a fullness, of trying to listen to all sounds and noise in order to distinguish which to listen to. It is in silence when we hear our true selves, when we understand and feel others and most especially become one in God.
That is why when we rest, we return to Eden, like the garden where Jesus was buried.
Now in the place where he had been crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had yet been buried. So they laid Jesus there because of the Jewish preparation day; for the tomb was close by(John 19:41-42).
Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, 20 March 2026.
What a lovely image of God’s rest and silence in Eden and of Jesus laid to rest at a tomb in a garden because to rest in silence is to stop playing God as we return to him as his image and likeness again.
Today let us cultivate anew the practice of silence, of listening to the various sounds around us and within us and most of all, trying to listen to the most faint, the softest sound that is often the voice of God within us, reassuring us that in the midst of his silence, he never leaves us, that with him we are rising again to new life like Jesus Christ.
Let us be like those women who rested on the sabbath when Jesus was laid to rest. That like them, we may trust God more by being true to ourselves even in the midst of this oil crisis.
Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, 20 March 2026.
The women who had come from Galilee with him followed behind, and when they had seen the tomb and the way in which his body was laid in it, they returned and prepared spices and perfumed oils. Then they rested on the sabbath according to the commandment(Luke 23:55-56).
Imagine the more difficult situation those women were into during that time. But they dared to rest in silence in the Lord. Unlike us today worried only with prices of oil and other goods, without threats at all to our lives.
Silence is the domain of trust; people afraid of silence are afraid to trust.
Perhaps that explains why almost everyone is glued with their cellphones or stuck with earphones and EarPods to have each one’s own world, unmindful of others.
On the other hand, the most trusting people are the silent ones. And always, the most loving ones too.
Let us pray:
Help us to be silent today, O God our Father as we remember your Son Jesus Christ’s Great Silence – Magnum Silentium – when he was “crucified, died and was buried; he descended to the dead and on the third day he rose again.” Breathe on us your Spirit of life and joy, O God as we rest in you, listening to your voice within us so that we may follow always Jesus Christ's path to Easter in the Cross. Amen.
Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, 20 March 2026.
Lord My Chef Sunday Music by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, 29 March 2026
Photo by author, St. Ildephonse Parish, Tanay, Rizal, January 2021.
If you have a lot of cash to spend for a unique Holy Week just outside Metro Manila, I suggest you visit St. Ildephonse Parish in Tanay, Rizal and look for the Seventh Station of the Cross when Jesus fell for the second time on his way to the Calvary.
You won’t miss it as you enter the main door immediately to your left. Done by local artisans in 1785, these huge woodcarvings depict one of the most unique Stations of the Cross in the world where soldiers and characters including Jesus Christ have Malay features of brown complexion, large and round eyes, and “squared” body features. Everything was given a local taste to make the Station so Filipino like the soldier leading them blowing a carabao horn for a tambuli while another carried a bolo instead of a sword.
But, the most astonishing of all is a man so prominently portrayed at the middle wearing sunglasses, looking far outside. Yes, the dude wore shades!
Photo by author, St. Ildephonse Parish, Tanay, Rizal, January 2021.
Historians we consulted told us smoked glasses have been available in the Philippines during that time courtesy of Chinese traders. According to the catechists and volunteers we talked to while at the parish, they were told by their elders that man with sunglasses is the high priest Caiaphas who led the Sanhedrin trial of Jesus who declared him guilty of blasphemy in claiming himself to be the Christ, the Son of God.
But, why wear shades? Was it because he refused to see and accept the truth that Jesus indeed is the Christ, the Son of God just like us today who wear all kinds of colored glasses presenting our own image God too far from who he really is. Or, as my kinakapatid Dindo Alberto (+) who was my roadtrip companion at that time said it shows that rock and roll had long been in existence since the time of Jesus Christ, the real Superstar.
I believe Kuya Dindo that is why I prepared two rock and rollin’ music this Holy Week for you to listen and reflect while driving on your way to a visita iglesia to pray and be with family and friends.
I have always loved The Smiths since college especially when NU107 came out at the other end of the FM band in the late 80’s. Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now remains one of my personal anthems since it first came out in 1984.
When I was assigned as chaplain here at the Our Lady of Fatima University in Valenzuela in 2021, I was surprised to hear some of our college students singing and posting on their socmed There Is A Light that Never Goes Out – kids so young almost like my own pamangkins! And that’s one thing I like most with the Gen Zs and Millennials who also love and embrace our music and artists because they are simply the best. Period.
A week after Ash Wednesday last February 24, I used There Is A Light That Never Goes Out by The Smiths in my monthly spiritual talk to our employees at the University and the Fatima University Medical Center as a fitting music and guide in our 40-day journey of Lent which is more of an inner journey into our hearts to find Jesus Christ, the Light who never goes out amid life’s many darkness. Moreover, Jesus is the Light who never goes out as he restores our sight from the blindness we go through like in the healing of the man born blind that was the gospel last March 15, fourth Sunday in Lent. See how its lyrics also apply either to Jesus speaking to us or to anyone seeking Jesus.
Take me out tonight Where there's music and there's people And they're young and alive Driving in your car I never, never want to go home Because I haven't got one Anymore
Take me out tonight Because I want to see people And I want to see life Driving in your car Oh please, don't drop me home Because it's not my home, it's their home And I'm welcome no more
Of course, composer Johnny Marr and lyricist-vocalist Morissey may have other meanings behind this song considered as their finest but still, it speaks about finding hope that leads us to believe in ourselves, in others and in God. In this mass-mediated world that declares to see is to believe, Jesus tells us the other way around, believe that you may see!
When we believe, then we truly “see” and that is when we love, love, and still love until it hurts even unto death because that is when we find meaning in life and everything. And everyone.
And if a double-decker bus Crashes into us To die by your side Is such a heavenly way to die And if a ten tonne truck Kills the both of us To die by your side Well, the pleasure, the privilege is mine
Jesus Christ did just that that is why we have Good Friday; he rose from the dead at Easter and since then, has remained the Light who never goes out, lighting our paths in this time of many darkness in life.
Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, 20 March 2026.
Sometimes, sunglasses help us see clearly as they filter distracting lights and contrasts that blur our vision with the naked eyes. And so, here is our second rock n’ roll song for Holy Week, Bruno Mars and Lady Gaga’s Die With A Smile which we used also in our employees’ Lenten recollection at the University and Hospital last February 24.
Aside from the striking contrast of The Smiths’ There Is A Light That Never Goes Out that represented the punk, alternative, dark side in me, Die With A Smile represented the 1970’s funky groove I grew up with. And that is why I love and follow Bruno Mars: aside from having a Filipino blood in his Pinay mother, his experiments with music strongly rooted in the 1970’s make us from the older generation feel so welcomed and relate so well with him and his message of faithful love until the end of time.
Along with its lyrics that speak from the heart, the melody and great combination of the voices and talents of Bruno and Lady Gaga make Die With A Smile so lovingly touching, even mesmerizing that make you think of the only one you truly love most that you want to spend the rest of your life with until the end of the world – to die with a smile.
Ooh I, I just woke up from a dream Where you and I had to say goodbye And I don't know what it all means But since I survived, I realized
Wherever you go, that's where I'll follow Nobody's promised tomorrow So I'ma love you every night like it's the last night Like it's the last night
If the world was ending, I'd wanna be next to you If the party was over and our time on Earth was through I'd wanna hold you just for a while and die with a smile If the world was ending, I'd wanna be next to you
Holy Week remind us of our only one true and first love of all – God. We call this the Holy Week in Filipino as mga Mahal na Araw from the word mahal that means mahalaga or important and essential. That is why another word for love in Filipino is pagmamahal, literally to give importance. Not just pag-ibig which is more about liking as ibig means.
In these days of rising costs of fuels and commodities, anything expensive is described too as mahal in Filipino because they are so important and essential. Like the ones we love. Holy Week is mga Mahal na Araw, the holiest days when Jesus Christ expressed his deepest love – pagmamahal – for each of one of us by dying on the Cross because everyone is loved so immensely by God.
Again, Jesus was the first to have “died with a smile” because he offered his very self completely and freely, willingly for us because he loves us. And he had promised that he shall come again at the end of time. Are we willing to wait for him by loving truly those persons he had entrusted to us in this life?
Until our next music, have a blessed Holy Week and most blessed Easter everyone!
40 Shades of Lent by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Fifth Sunday in Lent, Cycle A, 22 March 2026 Ezekiel 37:12-14 +++ Romans 8:8-11 +++ John 11:1-45
“The Raising of Lazarus” by Italian painter and architect Giotto di Bondone (1266-1337), fresco inside the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua, Italy via commons.wikimedia.org.
We now come to the final Sunday of our Lenten journey into Easter with John still as our guide telling us Jesus Christ’s raising to life of his friend Lazarus who had been dead for four days.
The raising of Lazarus is a prelude for the greatest sign of all by Jesus as the Christ – his Resurrection at Easter after his Passion and Death on good Friday. Though very long, it is a lovely story that speaks of Jesus Christ’s deep friendship with us by being most present in our most painful suffering of all which is death of a loved one as well as our many “deaths” in life.
And like in every true friendship, Jesus invites us like the sisters of Lazarus, Martha and Mary, to believe in him.
When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him; but Mary sat at home. Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would have not died. But even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you.” Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise.” Martha said to him, “I know he will rise, in the resurrection on the last day.” Jesus told her, “I am the resurrection and the life, whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” She said to him, “Yes, Lord. I have come to believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one who is coming into the world” (John 11:20-27).
When Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” When Jesus saw her weeping and the Jews who had come with her weeping, he became perturbed and deeply troubled… (John 11:32-33).
Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the dead man’s sister, said to him, “Lord, by now there will be a stench; he has been dead for four days.” Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believe you will see the glory of God?” (John 11:39-40)
“The Raising of Lazarus”, 1311 painting by Duccio de Buoninsegna from commons.wikimedia.org
“Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” We are all like Martha and Mary who believed in Jesus Christ. Both expressed to Jesus their faith in him, of believing in him and his powers.
To believe is the starting point of every relationship. With God and with others.
It usually begins in our mind, in our intellect. We believe because we know and have learned their names and backgrounds, their likes and dislikes, and a host of others things. We can truly be friends with others even by believing only with our intellect that is why we understand their predicament and situations, the way they react. Almost everything, we know and have known that we are still the best of friends. Including with God.
Martha exemplified that kind of believing.
Martha is good. If she is the same “Martha, Martha” mentioned by Luke whom Jesus visited, she was well meaning like most of us.
She believed in Jesus. In God. In the scriptures when she told Jesus she knew Lazarus would rise along with all the dead in the resurrection on the last day.
Jesus never argued because it was good. Same with us.
Our friends do not argue nor break away from us with our kind of believing. After all it is reasonable and sane. But, believing from the mind, from the intellect is not enough. For a more intimate and engaging relationship in friendship, believing has to deepen and take root in our heart.
Believing leads to love.
Whatever kind of love, it starts in believing.
We love because we believe as we have claimed last Sunday.
But, believing and loving do not stop there.
How deeply, how truly we believe indicate how deeply, how truly we love.
Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, 20 March 2026.
Without any intentions of comparing and pitting the two sisters against each other on who is better, John presents to us where believing leads us.
Like Martha, Mary expressed how she believed in Jesus and his powers by telling him “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”But it was not merely coming from her mind, from her head, from what she knew of Jesus but more of how she felt with Jesus.
Notice at the start of this long story (verse 2) how John described Mary as the one who anointed Jesus – six days after this raising of Lazarus – with perfumed oil and dried his feet with her hair as expression of her faith and love for the Lord on his burial. Getting some help from Luke’s account again, we find Mary’s level of believing as deeper and matured when she chose to seat at the Lord’s feet to listen to his teachings when he came to visit them.
Mary came to Jesus with her total self – unashamed to weep in front of the Lord. She spoke no words, showed no clues of her “theology” like Martha’s faith seeking understanding by studying the scriptures.
It was Mary’s heart that spoke to Jesus that he was “perturbed” twice and “deeply troubled” seeing her. Even the Jews with her felt the Lord so moved by her that led us to the final scene of this beautiful story.
Feel the revelations at the cave where Lazarus was buried:
When Jesus asked the stone removed from the cave, Martha stepped in. And it was reasonable of her. We do it so often in various occasions like in funerals and deathbeds.
That was when Jesus reminded her, “Did I not tell you that if you believe you will see the glory of God?”
Everybody fell dead silent.
Jesus then prayed aloud briefly to the Father, shouting for Lazarus to come out – alive, still covered with cloth. End of scene.
What’s next?
You tell me. Tell me how much you believe Jesus, how much you love Jesus. And how much you love like Jesus especially when everything, everyone is dead, dead silent, dead still for many reasons.
Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, 20 March 2026.
How much do we believe in Jesus, the resurrection and life?
Think of our many deaths in life. Not only in losing a beloved but our very own deaths – when we were buried and dead to sin and failures, disappointments and losses like the Israelites thrown into exile that Ezekiel the Prophet described in the first reading. What a beautiful imagery of God raising us to life, opening our graves of sins and failures, weaknesses and darkness, breathing into us his spirit, now better. Or maybe still struggling in life.
Believing in Jesus is believing like Martha and Mary most especially, unashamedly pouring out our pains and griefs to Jesus, baring our battered hearts and souls to him because we have felt, we have experienced his very passion and death in our own life, with those we love and serve.
In these trying times, Jesus invites us to believe more than ever in him by believing also with those severely affected by the hard times like the jeepney drivers and minimum wage earners. Let us try to live in spirit as St. Paul reminds us in the second reading by feeling their struggles, their fears, their sufferings so that they may not cry, “Lord, if you were here our families would have not gone hungry, would have not died” because we his disciples were here for them.
That is believing in Jesus the resurrection and life – being present with those suffering and dying. Solidarity.
Jesus is not asking us to think nor understand their pains and miseries. He is asking us to feel within us their pains and miseries so that like Mary we can bring Jesus to them and raise them to new life. Let us pray:
Lord Jesus Christ, before all these pains and sufferings came to me, you were there first to suffer and die for me on the Cross. Let me love you more by loving others especially those also in pain and suffering. Amen.
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