Christ the King, the face of suffering

Lord My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul, 23 November 2025
Solemnity of Christ the King, Cycle C
2 Samuel 5:1-3 ><}}}}*> Colossians 1:12-20 ><}}}}*> Luke 23:35-43

I was teasing our campus ministry head for communication last Tuesday after he had presented to me this announcement for our Christ the King celebration today. “Para namang malnourished si Jesus diyan,” I told Darwin as he scratched his head laughing during our meeting.

But, that evening after praying our gospel, I changed my mind the following Wednesday and told Darwin to go ahead with his original artwork because I have realized that the face of Christ the King is also the face of us suffering.

Are you not surprised that on this final Sunday of the liturgical year, we are not presented with an image of a victorious Jesus like that Cristo Rey found in every Catholic home but the gospel scene of Jesus suffering in excruciating pain there on the Cross on Good Friday?

Above him there was an inscription that read, “This is the King of the Jews.” Now one of the criminals hanging there reviled Jesus, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us.” The other, however, rebuking him, said in reply, “Have you no fear of God, for you are subject to the same condemnation? And indeed, we have been condemned justly, for the sentence we received corresponds to our crimes, but this man has done nothing criminal.” Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” He replied to him, “Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise” (Luke 23:38-43).

*Photo by author, Chapel of St. Francis Xavier, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Quezon City, 2024.*

On this Solemnity of Christ the King, St. Luke invites us for the last time we hear his gospel this year to look at the face and into the eyes of Jesus crucified.

What do you see and feel in him?

Ever wondered what the rulers and soldiers saw on the face of Jesus crucified that they sneered and jeered him from below? They were so filled with pride in finally putting into shame and silence Jesus who had always spoken the truth and exposed their lies and hypocrisies.

What do we see when people are put on the spot and shamed like Jesus crucified or like the woman caught committing adultery Jesus forgave and saved from being stoned by the angry crowd? So sad that in this age of social media, public trials and condemnation have become a hobby for many without even checking the accusations are true or not.

Let us move closer to Jesus on the Cross like those two thieves hanging at each of his side: what do you see and feel about him?

Why did the other thief join those below in deriding and insulting Jesus crucified? Now one of the criminals hanging there reviled Jesus, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us” (Lk.23:39).

Have you ever found yourself in the ER or waiting for your turn at the doctor’s clinic with other patients also in pain and suffering? How do you see the other patients and sick people like you? Is there in your mind any tinge of suspicion why or how they got sick? The best and the worst in us come out in such times when we are so down beside another suffering brother or sister.

Or, do we choose the path of humility and sincerity of Dimas, the good thief? What did he see in Jesus there on the Cross? The other, however, rebuking him, said in reply, “Have you no fear of God, for you are subject to the same condemnation? And indeed, we have been condemned justly, for the sentence we received corresponds to our crimes, but this man has done nothing criminal” (Lk.23:40-41).

Most likely, Dimas must have heard a lot about the teachings and healings by Jesus but he felt something so unique and liberating, so personal during those dark moments of excruciating pains when he finally recognized Christ his Savior, the only true King that is why he asked to be remembered in his kingdom!

Finally, somebody greater than him there beside him, saying nothing to judge nor condemn him nor irritate him like his fellow criminal at the other side. In recognizing Jesus, Dimas also found himself as truly human, weak and finite who can only be whole and complete – saved and redeemed – in Christ who chose to be there on the Cross with him exactly as St. Paul had written in our second reading.

He is before all thing, and in him all things hold together. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he himself might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness was pleased to dwell, and through him reconcile all things for him, making peace by the blood of his cross through him, whether those on earth or those in heaven (Colossians 1:17, 18-20).

*Photo by author, St. Scholastica Spirituality Center, Baguio City, August 2023.*

Here we find the beauty of the Cross, of how God so perfect without any need to suffer and experience pain yet chose to go through it to express his solidarity and love for us humans.

It is on the cross when we are most able to identify and be one in Jesus Christ. That is why it is also on the Cross that we enter heaven with Jesus amid suffering and death. Jesus said today you shall be with me in Paradise – not later when we die or after three days at Easter. How lovely that Jesus never promised heaven when he was strong and freely moving around but when he was there on the cross, nailed and dying.

Jesus Christ is the King of the Universe not because of his powers and might but primarily of his being one of us in sufferings and death. It was the very feeling the tribes of Israel were telling David when they came to him in Hebron to reaffirm their allegiance to him as their king, “Here we are, your bone and your flesh” (2 Sm. 5:1).

The people we admire most are not always the best nor most powerful nor talented because often we envy them. On the other hand, we are more drawn with those down and burdened because we see in them our own brokenness, too, that it is part of life and of being human. That is why we easily empathize with those grieving or sad than with those happy or rejoicing.

Our humanity reaches its highest point and beauty when broken and weak as we realize our mortality and similarity with others in suffering needing for a Savior. We are most inhuman whenever we enjoy inflicting or causing pains on others or when rejoicing in their agonies. To proclaim Christ is the King of the Universe is to always see him in our sufferings and among those suffering too like us. Amen. A blessed week ahead of you!

Uniqueness of the Cross

Lord My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul, 14 September 2025
Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross
Numbers 21:4-9 ><}}}}*> Philippians 2:6-11 ><}}}}*> John 3:13-17
*This is an updated version of our reflection last year; pray for our Marriage Encounter this weekend.

*Via Crucis at Fatima University Medical Center, Valenzuela City, 2025.*

This Sunday we have a unique celebration, the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross that falls on the 14th day of September. It is so important that even if it falls on a Sunday, the more it must be celebrated as it is most central in the teachings of Jesus Christ.

It is so unique because despite its being made up of two ordinary pieces of wood, the Cross is most unique with its deeply extraordinary in meaning as sign of God’s immense love for us humans through Jesus Christ’s Passion and Death.

From being the sign of the most inhuman punishment in history, the Cross is now the very sign of how God “so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that he who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life” (Jn.3:16). It encapsulates the whole mystery of Jesus Christ, of how this all-powerful God beyond the ordinary became weak like us in everything except sin so that we too may be like Him, divine and more than ordinary. In His suffering and death on the Cross, Jesus made the lowly wood so ordinary to be so exalted to become His sign of love and mercy, power and majesty.

Hence, in the Cross is the power of God’s love to transform us to better persons.

In the Cross is God’s power to lead us closer to Him with its vertical beam and to others with its horizontal beam.

In the Cross is the power of good if we choose to embrace it with Christ Jesus as our Lord and Master.

The Cross is most unique of all signs in the world because underneath its ordinariness, that is where we see God’s glory and majesty. It was underneath the Cross of darkness and gloom on Good Friday that humanity began to see light and hope in life’s many absurdities. Most of all, it was underneath that Cross of suffering and death of Jesus Christ that we feel and experience the assurance of the Resurrection.

How?

Through our own pains and sufferings that are most uniquely ours too!

With their patience worn out by the journey, the people complained against God and Moses, “Why have you brought us up from Egypt to die in this desert, where there is no food or water? We are disgusted with this wretched food!” In punishment the Lord sent among the people saraph serpents, which bit the people so that many of them died (Numbers 21:4-6).

*Photo by author, Dominican Hills, Baguio City, January 2018.*

You must have heard that old story of a man who came to Jesus to return the cross given for him to carry; he asked Jesus to have it replaced with a lighter one. Jesus then led the man to a huge room with all kinds of crosses for him to choose which he prefers as the best one for him so that he would stop complaining.

After closely examining the specs of so many crosses, the man finally decided to pick one he deemed as perfect for him after considering its weight and other dimensions, only to find out from Jesus Himself that it was the same cross he had actually returned for exchange!

Many times in life we are like those people in the first reading, never ending in their complaints to God, even challenging Him, accusing Him of forsaking us, of being unfair when life becomes difficult and unbearable. There are times we feel being on the distaff side of life always like a flat tire, never on top. We cry foul to God especially with all our hurts and pains inflicted by others, asking Him where was He when most needed?

Photo by author in Jordan near the Israeli border where Moses put up the bronze serpent as instructed by God to heal those bitten by the snakes after they have complained of their conditions in the wilderness, May 2019.

While it is true life is indeed difficult, the cross reminds us of the fact that the pains and hurts we have are uniquely ours too, something we have to accept and most of all, own.

There are pains that are so deep and won’t go away that have in fact affected us dismally in our lives already. Instead of self-blaming and self-pity, we just have to ask for God’s grace to accept and own them like Jesus Christ. We just have to “bring it home” – that imagery of the Cross planted on the Calvary – into our very selves, in our being as something so true and real. And uniquely ours.

Stop thinking of others’ pains and hurts. We are not all the same. If ever we have similar experiences, the hues and shades even gravity and circumstances are not same because each pain and hurt, like the cross, is uniquely ours. Like every person, every cross is unique because it is also a gift, a mystery, and life. We have to “befriend” our pains and hurts, our own cross instead of resist it. It is in “befriending” our pains and hurts, our cross in life that we grow and mature, becoming more free to love and to be joyful because that is when the cross triumphs over its disgrace and shame in us and with others. That is when our pains and hurts, when our crosses begin to reveal to us the many beautiful truths of Easter awaiting us.

The Cross of Christ triumphed because Jesus carried it wholeheartedly, allowing those two pieces of wood to reveal not only to Him who knew everything beforehand its meaning but most of all to everyone of us the deeper truths the Cross signifies as St. Paul eloquently expressed in our second reading.

*The Cross of Christ atop the church of our Lady of Lourdes in France. Photo by my former student Ar. Philip Santiago during his pilgrimage, September 2018.*

One thing I realized after my mother died May last year is the fact that while there are so many pains and sufferings in this world, my own pain and suffering in losing her are most difficult to bear; hence, something I must carry because it is uniquely mine.

But, one thing so unique I noticed is that the more I see my cross following my mother’s death, the more I saw also the cross of others. The Cross of Jesus triumphed truly in me when I embraced and owned my cross, when I befriended my pains and hurts that eventually led me to recognize and see, to feel more and experience too the crosses of others.

When we become conscious of each one’s unique cross, slowly we are able to reveal to them the meaning of their personal crosses too because we become more sympathetic, more open, more silent to listen more, love more, care more and be more present with those in their own unique cross. No wonder, I find conversing more engaging with others who also grieve because we can see each other’s unique crosses!

Jesus calls us to imitate Him that by embracing and owning our cross, we too may lead others to finding the meaning of their own cross and thus experience Easter soon. Let us pray:

Give us the grace,
dear God
to always embrace the Cross
like your Son Jesus Christ
where we can all be empty
of ourselves to be filled
with your Holy Spirit
and make your love
visible in us.
Amen.

A blessed week to everyone!

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

Embracing life’s paradox

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Monday, Week II in Ordinary Time, Year I, 20 January 2025
Hebrews 5:1-10 <*((((>< + ><))))*> Mark 2:18-22

*Photo by author, sunrise at St. Paul Spirituality Center, Pico, La Trinidad, Benguet, 06 January 2025.*

Praise and glory to you,
God our loving Father!
Thank you for this wonderful
Monday as we pray for one 
another, especially to those
still baffled with life's many
mysteries, its many
paradoxes beginning to
appear anew as we dive
into Ordinary Time.

Teach us to take into heart
Jesus Christ's teaching today:

“Likewise, no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the skins are ruined. Rather, new wine is poured into fresh wineskins” (Mark 2:22).

Help us change our attitudes in life,
Jesus: make us realize that like
your life, our life is always a
mixture of joy and sufferings;
most of all,
make us experience
in your coming into our human reality
as our Eternal High Priest,
you have brought newness and
significance in storage and taste
of wine that symbolizes life itself,
as you put a new vigor of spirit
in celebrating life.

*Photo by author, sunset in Atok, Benguet, 27 December 2024.*

“Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered; and when he was made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him…” (Hebrews 5:8-9).

How lovely and
wonderful to realize
how your true humanity,
dear Jesus, actually makes you
more than less an effective Priest
to truly "bridge" us
with the Father and one another;
like you Jesus,
we pray the Father to take away
our pains but in your example
on the Cross,
we learn how God
is actually found in pain!

Change our attitudes
to be like you, Jesus
 who came to join
us in our many sufferings
to show us that in our dealing
with our own pain and the pain of others,
that is when we grow
in strength and maturity,
in love and compassion
that eventually lead us
to deeper and true joy
in you our Lord.

Help us embrace 
this paradox of life, Jesus,
that a life devoid of the challenge
of pain is an incomplete life;
and when we are puzzled
by the many sufferings in us
and around us, let us gaze into
your Cross to reflect,
"Why did God not spare
you his own Son?"
Amen.

*Photo by author, St. Paul Spirituality Center, Pico, La Trinidad, Benguet, 04 January 2025.*

Keeping our light shining

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Wednesday in the Thirty-first Week of Ordinary Time, Year II, 06 November 2024
Philippians 2:12-18 ><]]]]'> + ><]]]]'> + ><]]]]'> Luke 14:25-33

*Photo by author, Fatima Ave., Valenzuela City, 25 July 2024.*

Grant me,
dear Jesus
the serenity and composure
of St. Paul:
so peaceful,
so dignified,
so free 
in the face of death.

Do everything without grumbling or questioning, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine like lights in the world, as you hold on to the word of life… But, even if I am poured out as a libation upon the sacrificial service of your faith, I rejoice and share my joy with all of you. In the same way you also should rejoice and share your joy with me (Philippians 2:14-16, 17-18).

Many times O Lord
the burdens are too heavy
and unbearable,
with pains and suffering
so overwhelming
that I really wonder
if I would make any difference at all;
but, you are always here
present
in the "nick of time"
sending people reminding me
of jokes I have long forgotten but
still tickle them;
or simple lessons I could not recall
but they have kept
and guided them through life;
or music I made them listened to
that have lingered in their heads;
or books and poems
 that have opened their horizons.

Teach me, Jesus
to renounce everything I have,
empty me of my pride,
of my self to be filled with you only
so that I may truly shine like
light in this world so at home
and fascinated with neons
 and klieg lights
that mislead them to darkness.
Amen.

Praying for the patience of Job

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Thursday in the Twenty-sixth Week of Ordinary Time, Year II, 03 October 2024
Job 19:21-27 <*((((>< + ><))))*> Luke 10:1-12

*Photo by Mr. Jay Javier, 07 September 2024.*

God our loving Father:

Grant me the "patience of Job".
Like him, everyday I go through many
trials and sufferings:
some are of my own-making,
some can be explained and understood,
but most often,
many of them are a mystery,
beyond explanations,
beyond comprehension.
Yes, Lord:
many times I have so many
questions in life that are left
unanswered but like Job,
I believe You alone knows
everything I am going through,
especially the pains and hurts,
the difficulties and hardships.

But as for me, I know that my Vindicator lives, and that he will at last stand forth upon the dust; Whom I myself shall see: my own eyes, not another’s, shall behold him, And from my flesh I shall see God: my inmost being is consumed with longing (Job 19:25-27).

Lord Jesus Christ:

Thank you for calling me,
for sending me into your
great harvest;
how lovely are your words,
"The harvest is abundant
 but the laborers are few;
so ask the master
to send out laborers
for his harvest" (Matthew 10:2);
so many times,
we think the solution to our
problems are found in things
without knowing nor realizing
what we need are more people
willing to labor with somebody else's
pains and hurts,
people willing to labor
for people so lost in the mysteries
of life saddled with many things
without clear explanations
except to be patient like Job,
trusting that in the end,
our vindication is in You.
Amen.

Hopes amid pains

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Tuesday, Memorial of Therese of the Child Jesus, Virgin & Doctor of Church, 01 October 2024
Job 3:1-3, 11-17, 20-23 <*[[[[>< +. ><]]]]*> Luke 9:51-56

Thank you,
dear God our loving Father
for the month of October!
Most of all,
thank you for sending us 
Jesus Christ your Son
and thus "opened your Kingdom
to those who are humble
and to little ones" like
St. Therese of the Child Jesus
whose memorial we celebrate
today.


Lead us to follow
trustingly in the little way
of St. Therese
of the Child Jesus
especially in bearing patiently
filled with hope life's
many sufferings like Job.

Job opened his mouth and cursed his day. Job spoke out and said: Why is light given to the toilers, and life to the bitter in spirit? they wait for death and it comes not; they search for it rather than for hidden treasures, Rejoice in it exultingly, and are glad when they reache the grave: Those whose path is hidden from them, and whom God has hemmed in! (Job 3:1-2, 20-23)

Fill us too
with true hope,
dear Jesus like You,
Job and St. Therese,
a hope that trusts in God
even if things are sure
to get worst,
even end in death;
like You, Jesus,
may we resolutely
determine to journey to
Jerusalem even when
we know it could lead
to our passion and death;
help us live in hope
like St. Therese
that despite her sickness,
she did everything filled with
love for the Church missionaries;
may our pains in life
like St. Therese and Job
have both experienced
help us understand
 the pain of others
so that we may bring healing
compassion to their situation;
make us realize that
a world totally free of pain
can actually become a place
of total selfishness
and self-indulgence
because it is through
pains we truly love and hope
and become holy and saint.
Amen.

True Wisdom

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Friday in the Twenty-first Week of Ordinary Time, Year II, 30 August 2024
1 Corinthians 1:17-25 <*((((>< + ><))))*> Matthew 25:1-13

*Photo by author, Chapel of angel of Peace, Our Lady of Fatima University, Valenzuela City.*

For Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are called, Jews and Greeks alike, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength (1 Corinthians 1:22-25).

One of the most enduring
and endearing
words by the great St. Paul,
O Lord this final Friday
of August.

In a milieu
when even the Church
is threatened by interest groups
and ideologies running down to
the many parishes
sowing distractions and divisions,
let us find our unity anew
in the crucified Jesus Christ;
let us be like the five wise virgins
who brought extra oil in waiting
the groom's coming,
accepting the situation of darkness
and bringing along extra oil
of faith, hope, and love
in Christ;
make us humble, O Lord,
that whatever we have achieved
and gained are all
 by your grace, O God;
let us not be complacent like
the five foolish virgins;
let us choose
whatever is difficult like Christ crucified
allowing each of us to change
for the best in God;
let us choose
whatever is painful like Christ crucified
allowing us to empathize more;
let us choose
always Christ crucified
because the Cross is a plus sign,
an addition than a subtraction
in this life
through eternity.
Amen.

Praying & Dying with Jesus

The Lord Is My Chef Good Friday Recipe, 29 March 2024
Isaiah 52:13-53:12  > + <  Hebrews 4:14-16;5:7-9  > + <  John 18:1-19:42

*Photo by author, Chapel of the Holy Family, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, June 201*6.

The evangelists tell us that Jesus died on the Cross on a Friday at about 3PM. And they tell us too that our Lord died praying, exactly what most of the Seven Last Words expressed.

But from the gospel we have heard this afternoon written by the beloved disciple, we discover something very beautiful about the death of Jesus, that He was very calm and peaceful in His prayer unto death.

After this, aware that everything was now finished, in order that the Scripture might be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I thirst.” There was a vessel filled with common wine. So they put a sponge soaked in wine on a sprig of hyssop and put it up to his mouth. When Jesus had taken the wine, he said, “It is finished.” And bowing his head, he handed over the spirit.
John 19:28-30

When we are deep in suffering, in severe pain like Jesus on the cross, what do we usually pray? Most often, we pray that the terrible ordeal we are going through would finally end, would be finished.

And sometimes, due to desperation, we even pray for death, of how we wish God would finally end our life to be free from all the problems we are going to.

One of the things I keep telling to sick people I visit came from Meryl Streep who acted as mother of Winona Ryder in the 1990’s movie “House of Spirits” when she said, “Do not pray for death because death surely comes.” Sometimes in our desperation, we feel death is the solution to our problems and sufferings. But when Jesus died on the Cross, He made death an offering, a gift of self in love.

In the original Greek text, the word used to express Jesus Christ’s final prayer “It is finished” is tetelestai from the root word telos meaning the final end and direction. It is not just an ending but a direction too.

From the very start, Jesus was clear with His mission and how it would be accomplished. He has always been sure of Himself, of who He is. Notice how the beloved disciple repeated many times in his account of the Last Supper how Jesus was “fully aware” of everything that was going to happen to Him that He was actually in control and never left to the whims and powers of His enemies when He went through His Passion and Death.

Last night we heard how Jesus knew everything was coming to end that He washed the feet of His disciples after their supper. Most of all, Jesus was so composed and serene that He even gave bread to His betrayer Judas Iscariot during their meal. In fact in the washing of the feet of His disciples to His agony in the garden, Jesus calmly and courageously faced death that in the end, on the Cross, He had the upper hand that He was able to pray “It is finished” because He was never made under the power of death completely as He would rise again on Easter.

In praying “It is finished,” Jesus consecrated not only Himself but also all humanity to the Father so that we are able to bear and face death squarely like Him. Very notable in this part is how we find only in the fourth gospel how Jesus died by “handing over his spirit to the Father.”

Remember the verb to hand over is the literal meaning of the Greek word used paradidomi or betrayal. But here at the death of Jesus, handing over has no negative connotation but purely positive; Jesus never betrayed or handed anyone over to sufferings. He bore all sufferings and handed these over to the Father. That is true passion in the active sense when we let things happen not because we are helpless and resigned to the situation but we passively take everything in the positive sense because we have that firm faith and deep conviction that being silent, being patient, being persevering will eventually bear fruit for us like the death of Jesus that led to Easter.

Suffering and death thus are not resignation nor mere surrender but submission to the higher power of God to convert darkness into light, sadness into joy, and death into life. There on the Cross Jesus showed that true power is in weakness.

After the consecration of the bread and wine into Christ’s Body and Blood in the Mass, we proclaim “Christ has died; Christ is risen; Christ will come again.” We call it as “the mystery of our faith” because when we say “Christ has died,” we admit that truly, the Son of God went through all kinds of sufferings in life we all go through like betrayal, rejection, loneliness, sickness, hunger, thirst, and yes, even death. And His sufferings continue as we suffer more in this world marred by evil and sins, making us cry, asking when would these end and be finished.

There lies the mystery of our faith on the Cross that led to Easter: when we look at Jesus Christ on His Cross, we see our own pains and agony as God’s pains and agony too. Jesus joined us in our anguish and death so that we could experience all the more His immense love for us. Without Jesus and His Cross, we would never be able to bear or even face the many deaths we go through daily. May we recognize God’s immense love for us again this afternoon when we venerate the Cross and see it as the merging point of human and Divine suffering. Keep praying with Jesus who has the final say with death in Easter. Amen.

*Photo by Ka Ruben, National Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima, Valezuela City, August 2022.*

We enter Paradise in the Cross

Quiet Storm by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
The Seven Last Words, 02 April 2023

*Photo by author, Chapel of the Holy Family, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, Quezon City, 2014.*

Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” He replied to him, “Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”
Luke 23:42

Every time we feel good, whenever we see something so beautiful, whenever we are with those we love, we describe the feelings as “like paradise” or “heaven”. For us, paradise is all bliss. No sickness, no problems, no sufferings, nothing bad, nothing dark, nothing unpleasant. It is all good. In fact, perfect.

And that is why heaven or paradise is! From the ancient Persian word paradiso, it referred to the innermost room in the palace where only the most trusted ministers of the King were allowed to enter along with his immediate family, From that came the idea that paradise must be so beautiful that the Greek translators of the Bible used it to refer to heaven as God’s dwelling. After all, our God is the only One who is perfect and supreme than any king in the world.

Recall that when Adam and Eve sinned, they were banished from Paradise that was henceforth closed until that Good Friday when Jesus promised Paradise – of all people – to a former thief!

Yes, Paradise is for every sinner ready to beg forgiveness, ready to claim Jesus Christ as our Savior!

And that is just one of the surprising things about Paradise or Heaven according to Jesus on that Good Friday.

See that Jesus never promised “Paradise” when He was freely going around Galilee, preaching and healing the people, when He was dining with sinners and tax collectors, when He was very well and strong.

Jesus promised Paradise when he was dying there on the Cross, not when He was strong and free!

See also how He said the words to Dimas, “today you will be with me in Paradise”.

Jesus promised Paradise at that very moment they were on the Cross, hanging and dying. Not later when they died nor on Sunday when He resurrected from the dead.

Jesus promised Paradise at that very moment they were suffering and dying, in extreme, excruciating pains never imagined by anyone, presumably with all the fears, negative thoughts and feelings that went with it.

And that is precisely when we enter Paradise with Jesus, too.

When we are suffering from our sickness and disabilities especially over a long period of time, when we are deep in pains in our heart for all the hurts inflicted by a loved one, when we are old and bed-ridden awaiting the final moment of death, when we are in agony for the loss of a loved one, when deep in trials and disappointments, or whenever we are so weak and dying literally or figuratively speaking.

That is when we slowly enter Paradise.

In a world where the most prescribed medicine is the pain reliever, where everything is invented to minimize even eradicate difficulties and hardships, Jesus is reminding us that we enter Paradise when we are with Him suffering there on the Cross.

That is the value and meaning of the Cross we always evade these days. It is not all suffering but also a foretaste of eternal bliss, of perfect joy and happiness because it is during our darkest moments in life that we get a glimpse of Christ’s eternal light, when we are transformed and made stronger and better as persons soon enough to be worthy to enter the most exclusive circle of all – Paradise – to dwell in the Lord with His angels and Saints.

Let us pray for those going through many sufferings these days, including ourselves.

Lord Jesus Christ,
before all these pains and trials
came to my life, 
You were there FIRST for me on the Cross;
You were there FIRST for me to suffer and die
on the Cross.
 Let me stay with you on Your Cross
so I may enter Paradise with You,
right now,
right here.
Amen.

One of the most beautiful front page photos I have seen in many years. Taken in August 2021 when we were in the midst of a surge in COVID-19 cases, the photo evokes Paradise, “right here, right now” while people were suffering in Jesus, with Jesus and through Jesus. Photo from inquirer.net.

True joy

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Friday in the Sixth Week of Easter, 27 May 2022
Acts 18:9-18     ><}}}}*> + <*{{{{><     John 16:20-23

*Photo by Mr. Jim Marpa at Carigara Market, Leyte, 2018.*

Today, Lord Jesus Christ,
you describe true joy in you,
scary yet so wonderful:

Jesus said to his disciples: “Amen, amen, I say to you, you will weep and mourn, while the world rejoices; you will grieve, but your grief will become joy. When a woman is in labor, she is in anguish because her hour has arrived; but when she has given birth to a child, she no longer remembers the pain because of her joy that a child has been born into the world.”
John 16:20-21

Joy is like a woman in labor,
in anguish because her hour has arrived
but after giving birth to a child, she 
remembers no more the pain because
of her joy of bringing forth a child into
the world!

I wonder, dear Lord, in this time
when childbearing has become a major
issue with some women insisting on
their rights, refusing to bear a child,
that less and less people are also 
experiencing true joy; we have come
to trust ourselves more than God that
many are so afraid of having children,
thinking it would lead to more joy when
ironically it had led to fewer joys in 
their lives!

Joy is completely trusting in you, God,
in your providence and protection like 
St. Paul who was so fruitful - and surely, 
joyful - at his stay in Corinth because of his
complete trust in Jesus; no harm really
ever happened to him!  How sad these days
when those in the pro-choice movement
focus more on the minority having problems in
childbearing than on the majority who make it
through all the pains and joys of giving birth.

Joy is more than happiness; it is a complete
trust and confidence in you, dear Jesus 
that even if things turn to worst, 
you will never abandon us until the end 
for you alone is our joy dwelling within us
in our hearts.  Amen.