Tag: ministry

Our incurable wound, grievous bruise

Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Tuesday in the Eighteenth Week of Ordinary Time, Year II
Memorial of St. John Mary Vianney, Priest, 04 August 2026
Jeremiah 30:1-2, 12-15, 18-22     <*{{{{>< + ><}}}}*>     Matthew 15:1-2, 10-14
Photo by a friend in Washington. 28 July 2026.
Your words today, 
O Lord sound harsh
but I do not mind at all
because you speak as an
honest friend who truly loves
and cares for me;
you speak the truth always
that hurts us because every 
mess we are into this life is
a result of our own making,
of our pride and sinfulness
like Israel and Judah 
conquered and banished 
from their own country
by the Assyrians and the Babylonians:

Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Incurable is your wound, grievous your bruise; There is none to plead your cause, no remedy for your running sore, no healing for you. All your lovers have forgotten you, they do not seek you. I struck you as an enemy would strike, punished your cruelly; Why cry out over your wound? Your pain is without relief. Because of your guilt, your numerous sins, I have done this to you (Jeremiah 30:12-15).

Today we also celebrate the feast
of our Patron Saint,
John mary Vianney,
your most holy priest
who bore so much pains
and sufferings not because
of his sins but by the sins of many
around him; we your priests,
O God, have sinned a lot
against you, O God,
through your people,
the flock you have entrusted 
to us: we have hurt them so bad
their wounds are incurable,
their bruise so grievous with some
leaving the Church; 
forgive us, Lord for being too
far from the heart of your Son
Jesus, the Good Shepherd;
cleanse our hearts and make us
realize priesthood is victimhood
like Jesus; let us bear the wounds
inflicted to us by the sheep rather 
than us wounding them.
Deep within your harsh 
words today, Lord,
we feel your deep desire
to heal us,
to free us,
and to renew us;
cleanse our hearts,
Lord, your priests,
purify us to bear all pains
for your people,
to be truly prophetic
so that your people may
realize you are in their midst
and eventually be like you
in Christ Jesus.
Amen.
Photo by author, 2012.

Praying not to “collapse”

Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Friday in the Fourteenth Week of Ordinary Time, Year II, 10 July 2026
Hosea 14:2-10     ><))))*> + ><))))*> + ><))))*>     Matthew 10:16-23
Photo by author, Jerusalem, May 2017.
Another week is closing,
let me not collapse in sin,
O Lord.

Thus says the Lord: Return, O Israel, to the Lord, your God; you have collapsed through your guilt (Hosea 14:2).

Forgive me,
Lord,
for the times I have
been like Israel,
your beloved Ephraim
yet so far from you,
trusting myself,
trusting other gods
and idols,
so drowned in sin.

"Have mercy on me,
O God.
in your goodness;
in the greatness of your
compassion wipe out
my sin.
Thoroughly wash me
from my guilt
and of my sin
cleanse me"
(Psalm 51:3-4).
Keep me strongly
anchored in you, Jesus
as you send me like sheep
in the midst of wolves
doing your work,
speaking and fighting
for what is true and just
and good; in times of
persecution, let me not
collapse when handed over,
come and speedily rescue me.
Amen.
Photo by author, Ephesus, Turkiye, November 2025.

Getting involved

Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Tuesday in the Fourteenth Week of Ordinary Time, Year II
Hosea 8:4-7, 11-13     ><))))*> + ><))))*> + ><))))*>     Matthew 9:32-38
Daily scene of commuters in Metro Manila; photo by Veejay Villafranca/Bloomberg via Getty Images, 2024.
Your words today,
O Lord are very inspiring
and challenging,
inviting me to get involved with
those in the margins,
with those suffering,
for those "troubled and abandoned,
like sheep without a shepherd"
(Matthew 9:36).
Give me the wisdom
and charity to be involved
with the voiceless in your
holy name, Jesus,
for the sake of your Kingdom
and not for any self-interests
like those in Israel in 
the first reading who "appointed
kings without God's approval,
making idols out of their gold
and silver, making altars
that became occasions for their sins"
(Hosea 8:4, 11).
Grant me courage,
Jesus to get involved with your
poor little ones who sometimes
would even reject our efforts
but most especially when others
brand us as rebels,
as diabolic.

But the Pharisees said, “He drives out demons by the prince of demons” (Matthew 9:34).

Teach me, Jesus,
the proper way to respond to
your invitation to get involved
with the poor and suffering,
that I may grow in love
and compassion
for those in need.
Amen.

Praying with Sts. Peter & Paul

Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Monday, Solemnity of Sts. Peter & Paul, Apostles, 29 June 2026
Acts 12:1-11  ><)))*>  2 Timothy 4:6-8, 17-18  ><)))*>  Matthew 16:13-19
Statues of Sts. Peter & Paul, st. Peter’s Basilica, Rome; photos from opusdei.org
Lord Jesus Christ,
you have given us a great
lesson and greater examples
in calling your Apostles:
they are all of different
personalities and background,
with so many of them exactly
at opposite with each other
yet, you gave them the grace
to overcome these to focus only
on you and follow you;
today we celebrate the two pillars
of your Church, St. Peter
and St. Paul - two contrasting 
personalities but both worked 
tirelessly to spread your gospel
and largely because of them we have
your Holy Roman Catholic Church.
Teach us to be like Sts. Peter and Paul
to trust you always, 
to seek you always,
and to completely abandon ourselves
to you so that we can dare to witness
your loving presence and mercy
to everyone; most of all,
grant us the grace, dear Jesus,
of courage to go through the many
darkness and uncertainties in life
like Sts. Peter and Paul.
Keep us rooted in prayer like them
so that we may know you more clearly,
to see you among our brothers and
sisters especially in those living 
in the margins like the poor and needy;
keep us rooted in you in prayers so that
we may love you unreservedly by being
fair and just with everyone, caring
and being kind with all regardless of 
color and status; and lastly, may we grow
deeper in our love for you in prayer so that
we may follow you closely wherever you lead
us even if it most uncomfortable,
inconvenient, and dangerous.
Amen.
St. Peter and St. Paul,
Pillars of the Church,
pray for us!
The lithography of Sts. Peter and Paul in Missale Romanum by unknown artist with initials F.M.S (19. cent.) printed by Typis Friderici Pustet. (Renáta Sedmáková | us.fotolia.com)

We are the Lord’s “harvest”. And “laborers” too.

Lord My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle A, 14 June 2023
Exodus 19:2-6 ><}}}}*> Romans 5:6-11 ><}}}}*> Matthew 9:36-10:8
Photo by Giuseppe Russo on Pexels.com

A very good friend in the States texted me the other night, requesting for prayers as she was about to go through an MRI; the following day, she texted me anew asking for more prayers because it seemed her cancer had recurred, this time attacking her liver.

I felt her fears and worries. And pain.

She told me how she wanted to call her parents that evening but had to wait until this weekend so that her younger brother would be home to be present especially by her mom’s side when she breaks to them that her cancer had metastasized. Despite her condition, she was thinking of her parents in their “empty nest”, thinking how they might react in receiving the bad news.

Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novlaiches, QC, March 2026.

This crucial factor is what is most missing in the agony of Ms. Rovelyn Baterbonia when her son Rene died Monday after drowning in the treacherous beach of Aurora during their varsity training.

We all felt her pain not only of losing a son but most of all the agony of being alone, perhaps even left out in the dark so far from her dead son with no one from the university nor basketball team immediately informing her of the circumstances of the accident.

It was so heartwrenching – nakakadurog ng puso – watching her grieved upon arrival at the airport, lamenting at how somebody texted her that Monday if they can call her: “Hindi naman siya tumawag. Ako na lang nag-tawag… tapos, nang tumawag na ako sabi niya, mam naaksidente po si Rene. Nalunod po…”. After that, she said she heard nothing from the people supposed to be with Rene. “Wala maski pictures sila send sa akin”, she complained.

This is the most crucial part of every misery and tragedy: is there someone present with those grieving, with those suffering?

At the sight of the crowds, Jesus’ heart was moved with pity for them because they were troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send our laborers for his harvest” (Matthew 9:36-38).

Our Lady of Fatima University, February 2025.

We are the Lord’s “harvest” and his “laborers” too. Jesus reminds us today that the answer to all our problems and pains in the world is never found in material things, in money and gadgets, nor well-crafted statements and other publicities. We are the harvest and the harvesters too!

What we need are more people who care, who journey, who are present with majority of the population so lost like sheep without a shepherd. And that is where I felt the pain most when Ms. Baterbonia repeatedly said that “kahit mahirap kami, hindi ko papayagan anak ko mag-training ng ganun.”

Photo by Oscar Millu00e1n on Pexels.com

She said it all – the harsh reality in our country, the most Christian nation in this part of Asia, where the poor remain neglected, forgotten, and taken for granted especially by those in the Church.

See how the poor have shied away from the church primarily due to so many collections in every Mass every Sunday while in the parish office, almost everything comes with a fee. They could not even get a free smile from some staff members often masusungit.

If Matthew were with us today, he would surely repeat with intensity his report that day of how “At the sight of the crowds, Jesus’ heart was moved with pity for them because they were troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd” because that is how our Church is today – sheep without a shepherd.

And where are the shepherds? Check their social media accounts and you find them most frequently in malls and hotels, traveling abroad via business class, unwinding on a yacht, communing with nature riding big bikes or their expensive mountain bikes. Go to any buffet and ribbon-cutting ceremonies of the newest Jollibee store or even gas station and you find more than two priests and a bishop present while the poor could not even have a decent funeral rite nor blessing for the burial of their dead because the priest is out, could not come to the slum area.

But of course, there are still more blessed and dedicated priests and bishops like Bishop Pabillo of Palawan who brave the seas and mountains just to celebrate the Mass and other Sacraments to the great number of their harvests in far-flung areas.

For Jesus, it is always the person who matters that is why his proposal has always been to send us another person, another companion, a fellow to accompany us in our brokenness and darkness. There is his move of gathering us, calling us, and sending us forth to a mission.

Jesus never taught us to ask for more money nor food nor gadgets to solve the problems of the world. Recall his temptation in the desert when he rejected the devil’s challenge to change stones into bread because man does not live by bread alone but with every word from God.

For the world, everything is a problem to be solved, including mysteries of God and of the human person. As we have reflected the past two Sundays, mysteries are not problems to be solved but non-logical realities we must embrace or even allow ourselves to be wrapped to discover the richness and meaning of this life like God and persons.

When people are down and lost in life, feeling troubled and abandoned, where do we focus more, to their woes and problems or their very persons?

Try thinking of the people you consider as “heaven sent” and helped you in your darkest moments. Are they not the ones who brought out our giftedness as a person, as a beloved child of God with Christ’s gospel?

A few months after his election as Pope in 2005, Benedict XVI heard of a bishop in Austria dying of cancer. He reportedly wrote that bishop, assuring him of his prayers as a brother priest, reminding him that “Jesus saved the world by suffering and dying on the cross, not with activities.” I remembered that news so well because what is mostly happening in our parishes and dioceses are activities. We have become program oriented than people oriented.

Worst is when some of us priests and bishops see the “abundant harvest” as business ventures of all sorts including churches and fiestas as tourist attractions. When economics become our major consideration in the church, how can “we also boast of God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation” as St. Paul reflected in the second reading?

Let us return to our “desert of Sinai” spoken of in the first reading, a reminder of our turning point in life and history when God called and sent us to be a “kingdom of priests, a holy nation” – his abundant harvest at the same time his laborers too. We are the new apostles called and sent by Jesus to others like us who are weak and tired, confused and lost, hurting and crying but also blessed and joyful! As God’s abundant harvest, each one of us is a gift to be cherished and valued always; but, at the same time, a brother and a sister entrusted to each one for God’s greater glory, not ours. Amen. Have a blessed week ahead.

Christ comes in the Mass

Lord My Chef Simbang Gabi Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Friday, Simbang Gabi-IV, 19 December 2025
Judges 13:2-7, 24-25     <*((((><  +  ><))))*>     Luke 1:5-25
View of a decorated Christmas tree and tower of the Franciscan Monastery of St Saviour locally also known as San Salvador monastery in the Christian Quarter Old city East Jerusalem

From Matthew, we now shift to Luke’s account of the story of Christmas which is the most complete and detailed of all gospel accounts. In fact, most artistic renditions of Christmas were inspired by Luke’s gospel.

Very surprising in his Christmas story, Luke started it with the annunciation of the birth of John the Baptist to his father Zechariah who was then serving at the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem, a beautiful reminder to us all these days that Christ comes in our Holy Mass.

And I wonder – what if I imitate Zechariah in the gospel on this Simbang Gabi: come out late in the altar… totally silent, unable to speak?

Meanwhile the people were waiting for Zechariah and were amazed that he stayed so long in the sanctuary. But when he came out, he was unable to speak to them, and they realized that he had seen a vision in the sanctuary. He was gesturing to them but remained mute. Then, when his days of ministry were completed, he went home (Luke 1:21-23).

Photo by author, December 2023.

A priest recently posted on Facebook an appeal to us all priests to truly pray and reflect to have a good homily this Simbang Gabi and Christmas Season because the people deserve more than jokes, hugot lines and gimicks during these ten days of celebrating the Mass.

And we totally agree with him!

Let us accept the fact that majority of Catholics in the world – not only in the Philippines – celebrate Mass only on Christmas. At least in our country, there is the Simbang Gabi when many Catholics try to complete its nine-days of Masses plus the Christmas Day itself and, that’s it for them – ten consecutive days in December and absent every Sunday from January to November with a few who would return to Mass on Palm Sunday, fiestas and birthdays. Especially these days, most people have no qualms at all of skipping Sunday Masses while there are still some who wrongly believe the online Mass suffices.

The challenge and call for us priests this season is indeed very true when we are able to pray and prepare well our homilies to catechize the once-a-year-Catholics so that they may experience the love and mercy of God in Jesus Christ who had come and continues to come during our celebrations of the Mass and other sacraments.

Problem is, very often we priests are indeed so much like Zechariah on that day when he doubted the good news of John’s birth announced by an Angel. Not only are many priests notoriously late in their Mass schedule, worst of all as the people complain, either they have nothing or too much to say during their homily!

Photo by Ar. Philip Santiago, Jerusalem, October 2025.

Like the people awaiting Zechariah during that important feast, people are amazed today why some priests could not say anything substantial at all except to continuously ask people to clap their hands and praise God with such cues as “God is good…” and “all the time…” and soon enough what’s next, collection, then after communion special collection!

On the other hand, like the people awaiting Zechariah during that feast, people are also amazed when their priests speak a lot without any sense at all. Worst, many times, the priests are like Jollibee – puro pabida either by converting the altar into a stage for his stand-up jokes and entertainment or turn the sanctuary into a videoke bar because Father is so bilib in his voice.

Sorry, my brother priests. Let’s listen to what people are saying. Let’s listen especially to God when he speaks to us. Or, do we have time to listen to him in prayers?

One truth we priests could not admit or refuse to admit despite its glaring realities is that many of us have become just like politicians – so corrupted that we simply entertain people, keep them ignorant of the more essential things in life and about God because many of us do not pray or are not even interested of going to heaven at all.

Maybe like Zechariah, many priests have been burned out not only of the tasks and living in near isolation but also due to the long wait for answers to our prayers coupled with the many pains and hurts that came along with the ministry that has become more of duties than relationship with the Caller, Jesus Christ.

Photo by Lara Jameson on Pexels.com

In telling us this story of the annunciation to Zechariah, Luke had touched on something very timely and sensitive among us priests including the faithful in this age of social media: we have been so detached from God and the divine, many times so impersonal with one another, and, worst of all, so attached with material and worldly things.

As a result, many people have stopped looking up to some priests as models and inspiration for upright living because we have become so much like them in almost every aspect from clothing to speaking and even thinking!

“Pari pala yun!” is what some people often remark these days when they find priests making tambay dis oras ng gabi in almost every cafe or worst, in places we should not even go like casinos and bars, whether with GRO’s or macho dancers.

A growing concern among us these days is the complaint of lay faithful who feel lost and could not guidance like find definitive answers from their pastors about moral issues so blurred by the modern technologies and Western thoughts like wokism. Imagine a Catholic school allowing gay pride festivities? Or relativistic priests to issues of abortion and contraceptives, sex change and gender manipulations, even cases of pornography and other modern addictions. A growing number of laypeople openly express their disappointment at how lately priests have become so lenient with sins that they are already confused on what to confess!

Photo by author, March 2024.

Zechariah and us priests today face the same problem before God: we talk too much and pray so little that perhaps, we need to be silenced too in order to pray more, to listen more to God, his words, his plans and his people as envisioned by synodality now in oblivion.

Imagine all his life as a priest, Zechariah had been praying for a son but when it was finally answered by God, he refused to believe it. Suddenly, he was so lost at what he was supposed to be an expert like spirituality and prayer, most of all, of God’s goodness.

What happened to Zechariah?

And that is what our gospel is asking us priests today, what happened Father?

In the first reading we have heard of the wife of Manoah who felt “a man of God” approached and told her of the good news of the birth of a son (Samson); how lovely if people could feel the same way like in the old days of their priests as “man of God”!

It is very sad when laypeople complain their priests have become so “ordinary” without any sense of holiness or at least of the holy, from simplest wearing of clerical shirt and proper Mass vestments to good grooming and tidiness.

Maybe because we priests have been so concerned so much with palabas than of paloob, when like the social influencers, many among us are so carried away by media chasing content than substance, especially theology.

Photo by author, Jerusalem, May 2017.

One of the most painful cuts in the ministry today that hurts so bad is when priests striving to be holy, speaking and doing what is right and proper would then be called as pharisaical. This is very evident in the celebration of the Mass as some priests would belittle even insult those who follow rubrics as well put on proper vestments.

Luke invites us today, both ordained priests and laypeople who share in the priestly office of Jesus in their baptism, that we look into ourselves, into our hearts amid our worship of God like Zechariah in the very presence of God in the Holy of holies: are we present in the Lord?

Do others feel Christ’s coming in our presence especially in the word and later in our life of witnessing and loving service to them?

Let us strive to have meaningful celebrations of the Mass and other communal worship not only this Advent and Christmas because people await from us ministers of the altar like Zechariah of old the good news of the coming of Christ in every Mass we celebrate with them. Help us your priests, our dear lay faithful by giving us the chance to pray more and serve more instead of inviting us in your activities and other affairs we are not needed. Amen. Have a blessed Friday!

When Jesus is “stressed”

Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul, 23 October 2025
Thursday in Twenty-Ninth Week of Ordinary Time, Year I
Romans 16:19-23     <'[[[[><  +  ><]]]]'>     Luke 12:49-53
Photo by Dra. Mai B. Dela Peña, Japan, 2016.
I may be struggling with
stress daily like most
people these days,
Lord Jesus,
but today's gospel made me
realize how you too experienced
"stress" like us because, 
after all , you are 
truly human
like us.

Jesus said to his disciples: “I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already blazing! There is a baptism with which I must be baptized, and how great is my anguish until it is accomplished! Do you think that I have come to establish peace on the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division (Luke 12:49-51).

How good it is to realize
that you, Lord Jesus,
was also stressed -
"I have come to set the earth
on fire...
There is a baptism with which
I must be baptized...";
like you, we could feel
the weight of things to be done,
of mission to be accomplished;
like you, we too could feel
 the great responsibilities
on our shoulders.

Thank you,
Jesus,
thank you
for being one with us
in our stress.
Teach us Lord your
way of handling stress
so we can put these
challenges into good use,
into more evangelical in nature
by first accepting and embracing
 like you our mission and
 responsibilities when you said,
"how I wish it were already blazing"
and "how great is my anguish
until it is accomplished";
many times what we do
is as much as possible avoid
our mission and responsibilities
or, if not, delay acting on them
that eventually stress us further;
give us also the courage like you,
Jesus,
to face and deal with our
many divisions in life
that stress us,
of learning to bridge the many
gaps between the ideal
and the sad realities
we are into
as well as the many
limitations and handicaps
we have.
Photo by Dra. Mai B. Dela Peña, Mt. Carmel, Israel, 2015.
Make us whole,
Lord Jesus
in your love and 
kindness and peace
by claiming our 
blessedness in your
gift of salvation
and sanctification
as we pursue
holiness
according to
St. Paul's advice
in the first reading.
Amen.

Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Our Lady of Fatima University
Valenzuela City
(lordmychef@gmail.com)

Praying to be gentle & tenacious

Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul, 26 August 2025
Tuesday in the Twenty-first Week of Ordinary Time, Year I
1 Thessalonians 2:1-8     <*{{{{><  +  ><}}}}*>     Matthew 23:23-26
Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com
Thang you very much,
dear Jesus for the gift of
St. Paul your Apostle:
yesterday we heard how
he encouraged the church
at Thessalonica,
of how impressed he was 
with their deep conviction
of faith;
today he described his 
approach to starting the
church at Thessalonica:
so candidly speaking
how he did it while still
remaining tender and gentle
to them,
so sure he had taken
the right course of action.

You yourselves know, brothers and sisters, that our reception among you was not without effect. Rather, after we had suffered and been insolently treated, as you know, in Philippi, we drew courage through our God to speak to you the Gospel of God with much struggle. Our exhortation was not from delusion or impure motives, or did it work through deception. But as we were judged worthy by God to be entrusted with the Gospel, that is how we speak, not as trying to please men, but rather God, who judges our hearts (1Thessalonians 2:1-4).

As I pray,
Lord Jesus on these
words of St. Paul,
I cannot stop wondering
our many excuses
and "side trips" today
as your apostles;
how did St. Paul unwind
or recreate in his time
compared to our many
forms of rest and recreation;
so many of us cannot move on
with life and ministry
from whatever experiences
we have had in our previous
assignments unlike St. Paul
who simply kept the lessons
learned from his past experiences
at Philippi; most of all,
I could feel the intense love
of St. Paul to you, Lord Jesus
and his ministry with his 
deep personal relationship
in you in prayers
so unlike us today
with so many excuses
in not praying at all.
What I love most
is St. Paul's 
tenderness and gentleness
to his church
with his tenacious 
hold on you Jesus.

although we were able to impose our weight as Apostles of Christ. Rather, we were gentle among you, as a nursling mother cares for her children. With such affection for you, we were determined to share with you not only the Gospel of God, but our very selves as well, as dearly beloved had you become to us (1Thessalonians 2:7-8).

Dearest Jesus,
may your word 
be always alive and 
active in me
flowing in my tender
and gentle service to your flock
so unlike the Pharisees you
have condemned again in
today's gospel
for being blind guides
of the people.
Amen.

Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Our Lady of Fatima University
Valenzuela City
(lordmychef@gmail.com)
Photo by author, 2018.