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.
40 Shades of Lent by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Tuesday in the First Week of Lent, 24 February 2026 Isaiah 55:10-11 + + + Matthew 6:7-15
Photo by author, somewhere in the SCTEx, November 2018.
Today I borrow the words of your servant, Lord Jesus Christ, the late Fr. John Main, OSB who wrote that "The meaning of life is the mystery of Love. Just as the roots of trees hold firm in the soil, so it is the roots of love that hold the ground of our being together."
Keep me rooted in you, God our Father; keep me rooted in your love in Jesus Christ your Son; water and nourish me with your words of life so I may grow tall, spread my branches, bloom and bear fruit to share your love and kindness and mercy with others; keep me rooted in you, Lord, strong and firm to weather the harshest storms and summer in life, still full of sap, still full of life.
Lord Jesus, you have given me with so much and I have given so little; teach me to give more of myself to you so I can give more of you and of your love to others. Amen.
Lord My Chef Wedding Recipe by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Homily, Wedding of Ellah and John Victor Santuario de San Jose Parish, Greenhills, Mandaluyong 27 December 2025
A former student in our girls’ high school invited me to officiate her wedding last December 27, 2025; we were supposed to meet December 20 before my Simbang Gabi in our university chapel for my formal invitation when her father died suddenly that same afternoon while on a trip down south with his fellow big-bikers.
Ellah was so devastated with the news, wanting to reset her wedding. She has been working overseas for the past three years and had saved enough for her wedding day. Her only request from her parents who have separated when she was in elementary was for them to be together when she gets married. And they willingly obliged for their unica hija. And then tragedy struck exactly a week before her wedding day that happened to be the feast day of St. John Evangelist, the beloved disciple of the Lord. Sharing with you my homily on that bittersweet day of wedding of a beloved student and funeral of her father.
Congratulations, Ellah and JV on this most joyous day of your lives.
I know, it must be so difficult for you, Ellah but I am so glad that you still pushed through with your wedding today as planned. Your dad would not be happy if you had this postponed.
Showbiz ka rin talaga, Ellah!Parang cine – a wedding and a funeral.
But, let it be clear with you both, Ellah and JV that God willed it for you get married today on the feast of Jesus Christ’s beloved disciple St. John the Apostle and Evangelist. God wanted you to be married this day – not next year nor next month, nor last year. This is the day that the Lord has made for you to seal your love at His altar in this beautiful church because God has great plans for you, Ellah and JV.
Our gospel is so beautiful – the story of Easter when Jesus Christ rose from the dead.
On the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene ran and went to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and told them, “They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we don’t know where they put him.” So Peter and the the other disciple went out and came to the tomb (John 20:1,2-3).
“The Three Marys” (1910), painting by American Henry Osawa Tanner from biblicalarchaeology.org.
Here we find a most beautiful image of human relationships, of how a woman needs a man, and a man’s readiness to be at her side, to comfort and accompany the woman.
Just like you today, Ellah and JV.
Of course, Mary Magdalene and Simon Peter were both disciples of Jesus. They have no romantic relationships. But, the mere fact that Mary thought of reporting the missing body of Jesus to Peter being the leader of the Apostles speaks a lot to us these days when gender equality is overextended.
A woman needs a man for leadership that is why he is the man of the house. This we find in the rite of putting on veil on the newly-weds: only the head of the woman is covered because in every family, in every couple there is only one head, one leader – the man. Wherever there are two heads, it means there is a monster. There can be no order in any relationship when everyone is the leader or the head. This is most especially true in every couple.
However, let it be clear too that these mutual need of woman for man and man for woman is always governed by love which is more than a feeling but a decision, a meeting of one’s mind and heart. If your read the letters of St. John like what we have in our first reading today, you will realize three important lessons by the beloved disciple about LOVE:
Ellah and JV, remain rooted in God for “God is love.” If there is one thing you have found so clear in your lives since college, Ellah and JV, God has always been there with you. His abiding love never forsake you both, especially in your most trying times. Keep serving Him in your parish, in your lives, in your married life. Handle life with prayer.
Second, St. John tells us that love is not merely said in words but proven in deeds and works.
Walk your talk of “I love you.” One of the things I ask couples preparing for marriage is, who should be the first to greet, to speak when you have an LQ? Sino dapat maunang kumibo kapag nag-away ang mag-asawa o magkasintahan?
Many say it should be the man but I ask them whatever happened to the principle of ladies first? On the other hand, some say whoever caused the quarrel must be the one to apologize but the problem is, would anyone admit fault? The answer is simple but difficult to practice: whoever has more love to give must be the first to blink, must be the first to make the move. Love in any relationship is not a competition. Just keep on loving and loving. Show and make your love felt in actions. Not just words.
Third, very clear with St. John that love is always self-giving.
The true measure that you have loved is when you are able to love somebody else more than yourself. Love is always the giving of self.
In another part of his letter, St. John beautifully wrote 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).
Remember, Ellah and JV, Jesus is always between the two of you, not in front nor at your back. Whatever you do to each other, you do it first to Jesus. When you work hard JV and become patient with the tantrums of Ellah, you first become loving to Jesus and then to Ellah. The same with you Ellah: when you take care of JV, when you cook his favorite meal, you are first loving Jesus then JV. But, the moment you become mean to each other, when you become unfaithful to each other, Ellah and JV, you become unloving first to Jesus and then to each other.
Wedding is not everything, Ellah and JV. There will be dark days and difficult times ahead of you, just like now as you grieve at the death of your dad, Ellah.
But, remember Ellah and JV your gospel today: Easter happened when it was dark; the tomb was empty because Jesus had risen from the dead. Like in life, whenever it is dark and empty, hold on to each other Ellah and JV, have faith in God for there in your midst is Jesus Christ.
Never lose hope in life; as I used to teach you Ellah in high school, hopelessness is the opposite of love, not hatred. The moment you find no hope in everyone and in everything, then you stop loving and that is when you start destroying everything and everyone. Never lose that hope and you will always find love, Ellah and JV. God bless you more and blessed Merry Christmas!
Lord My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, Cycle A, 11 January 2026
Isaiah 42:1-4, 6-7 ><}}}}*> Acts 10:34-38 ><}}}}*> Matthew 3:13-17
Mosaic of the Lord’s Baptism by John at the Neonian Baptistery, Ravenna, Italy; from wikimedia commons.
Still, our greeting today is a blessed Merry Christmas until the last Mass tonight when we close the Christmas Season with this Feast of the Lord’s Baptism. Tomorrow we shift into the Ordinary Time with the green motif back in our liturgy.
Most often during this time of the year, many of us make “new year’s resolutions” that always end up unfulfilled, discarded, and forgotten because these are merely based on whims or fads or anything less than a matured decision. A decision is the making up of the mind and heart to act firmly on something; hence, it connotes a sense of determination in fulfilling that decision made.
In this Feast of the Lord’s Baptism, Jesus invites us to reflect our decision-making process as we embark on another journey of twelve months in him with Matthew as our guide so we can be more matured in our faith and as a person.
Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him. John tried to prevent him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and yet you are coming to me?” Jesus said to him in reply, “Allow it now, for thus, it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he allowed him (Matthew 3:13-15).
From wikimedia.org.
See the brief and direct reportage by Matthew of the event that immediately followed his story last Sunday of the Lord’s Epiphany to the world represented by the wise men from the East as we meet Jesus today all grown up, so matured as a man in his decisions.
And what do we find so remarkable in his decision-making process we can all emulate? His obedience to the Father!
All throughout his ministry, Jesus always made known to everyone that whatever he said and did were not his but the Father’s will. From his coming here at the first Christmas until his death on the Cross, it was all about Christ’s obedience to the Father. In fact, there was no need for him to be baptized by John for it was a baptism of repentance because Jesus is sinless, being the Son of God. Yet, he decided to be baptized “to fulfill all righteousness” as planned by the Father. In a similar manner, see John’s obedience too to Jesus and the Father when he could had insisted not to do it because Jesus is the Christ.
Photo by author, 2025.
Fulfillment of every aspiration and mission in this life becomes difficult when we insist on what we know or what we prefer rather than what God wills for us.
Obedience is one virtue that is vanishing in this modern age so characterized by everyone wanting to be in control of everything, of one’s life and even of others expressed in those handheld gadgets as well as cars and other vehicles. See how everyone would want to “drive” one’s own life, totally disregarding those in authority especially God.
The word obedience is from two Latin words “ob audire” that literally means “to listen attentively”.
One cannot be obedient without first learning to listen that begins with our willingness to to be silent. Jesus is obedient because he always listens to the Father through frequent and long periods of prayers. Even the Blessed Mother as we reflected last January first exemplified the virtue of obedience when she listened intently and treasured in her heart the words spoken by the shepherds who came to adore the new-born Jesus in Bethlehem.
It would be nice this 2026 that we start cultivating a prayer life by embracing silence to listen attentively to God’s plans for us so that we could make the right decisions in life.
The opposite of “ob audire” in Latin is “absurdus” – exactly what we are when we make the wrong decisions and become absurd.
And sorry, that’s how we can describe this year’s Traslacion – absurd. In fact, every year, it becomes more absurd than ever and something drastic even radical has to be done in the real sense of the word, that is, by going back to its very roots.
When the devotees refused to obey the priests to stop at the San Sebastian Church and insisted on bringing the Poon Nazareno to Quiapo regardless of its many safety and practical implications, it was a clear case of misplaced devotion. It is fanaticism. Selfish and un-Christian. Despite the many defenses and theologizing by many, it is about time Nazareno devotees examine themselves about this devotion, of their panata that admittedly have been so baffling that if our faith in God is such intense, why are we still electing corrupt and evil officials?
Obedience is always a virtue because everything that is good follows when we are obedient, like being more loving at its truest sense. Whenever we decide out of obedience to God and parents and superiors, it is most often because of love.
Photo by Ryan Jacob, Paco, Obando, Bulacan, 2023.
This is the second characteristic of Jesus Christ’s decision-making process that is based on his love for the Father expressed in his love for us.
Again, there was no need for Jesus Christ to be baptized by John in the river Jordan because he is sinless but, he chose to be baptized there as a sign of his solidarity, of his oneness with us sinners and weak people. It was all because of love.
Jesus chose to be baptized even there was no need because he loves us and wants to be one with us. Jesus chose to die on the Cross, as depicted in the Black Nazarene of Quiapo, because he loves us and wants to carry our burdens. Jesus chose to be eaten as bread in the Holy Mass all because he loves us too so that we may have eternal life.
When Jesus went down to Jordan river, out of obedience and most of all out of love for all of us, he became one with us in our pains and hurts and sickness and failures and even sins which St. Peter realized personally that he declared after Pentecost that “God shows no partiality” (Acts 10:34) that we are all loved by God and are called to be obedient to him always by loving one another as he loves us. That is our mission, to love and be like Jesus Christ, the “Suffering Servant” who was “sent to bring forth justice… to open the eyes of the blind, to bring out prisoners from confinement, and from the dungeon, those who live in darkness” (Is.42:1,6-7).
Photo by Mr. Boy Cabrido, January 2024.
In going down into the dirty waters of Jordan River that signifies this earth, this life, Jesus showed us his mission of redeeming us so that we can become like him, God’s beloved child with whom he is well pleased. Every morning when we wake up, this scene at Jordan happens anew. The choice is ours to make by being like Jesus Christ who throughout his earthly life was a total obedience and yes to God because of love.
Last week I went to Baguio to facilitate a retreat with some of my kababata or teenage friends from my hometown of Bocaue. Being the youngest among them at 60 years old, I reflected about our senior years. Two things I shared with them:
First, as senior citizens, let us stop thinking of getting old because we are already old. Stop saying pagtanda ko… matanda na nga tayo. Let us face the reality we are old and find most especially the grace of God of reaching this stage. Being senior is to look with gratitude to our youth and to our past as we look forward to finding and meeting God who continues to call us to him.
Second, I told them to stop saying or thinking about our coming death because we are already dying. Huwag na nating isipin yung “kapag namatay tayo” kasi namamatay na nga tayo. Being senior is doing away with all those bucket lists, of things to do or places to visit before we die. We are already dying; hence, do whatever you can do now!
Perhaps the same propositions are applicable to anyone of any age. What matters is how much we love God and others expressed in our obedience to them like Jesus Christ. Let us keep following Jesus in the next twelve months of this 2026 to be filled with himself. Amen. Have a blessed week ahead.
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