Lord My Chef Simbang Gabi Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Saturday, Simbang Gabi-V, 20 December 2025
Isaiah 7:10-14     <*((((><  +  ><))))*>     Luke 1:26-38

On this fifth day of our Simbang Gabi we hear the second Christmas story by Luke, telling us how six months after announcing to Zechariah the coming of their son John, the angel Gabriel went to Nazareth to announce the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ to the Blessed Virgin Mary who was betrothed to St. Joseph.  Unlike Zechariah who doubted the angel’s message, Mary was more open with her response by asking how it would all take place.  

And the angel said to her in reply, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.  Therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God” (Luke 1:35).

We reflected the other day how Matthew ended his story of the genealogy of Jesus Christ with Mary to show her as the new beginning of everything in the world. Through Mary’s giving birth to Jesus, we now share with Him one common origin in faith who is God as our Father so that despite our many sins and failures, we are given with a fresh start, new opportunities in life daily. Luke bolsters this today with his account of the annunciation of the birth of Jesus to Mary. 

As a Jew, Mary must be totally aware of the words of the angel about herself being “overshadowed by the Most High” like in the Old Testament stories of God’s presence in the cloud during their journey in the wilderness after their exodus from Egypt.  Even Moses could not enter the tent when “the cloud covered it and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle” (Ex.40:34-38). 

To be filled and overshadowed by the presence of God is to be to be possessed by God and eventually to be transformed by God. 

Remember how in the movie “The Ten Commandments” when the face of Moses was transformed after meeting God. In the New Testament, the three synoptic gospels record a similar incident of God’s presence in a cloud hovering with Jesus during His transfiguration at Mount Tabor witnessed by Peter, James and John. The two great prophets of Israel were there, Elijah and Moses conversing with Jesus when a cloud overshadowed them with a voice declaring “this is my beloved Son, listen to Him.” Matthew, Mark and Luke tell us how the apostles were all terrified at the sight of the Transfiguration. 

And we can also surmise how terrifying it must be to experience God’s presence, to be filled with God.  But that is how grace works! 

At the start of our Simbang Gabi we have reflected how under the light of Christ we are able to see our sinfulness and weaknesses that sometimes we feel so sorry for ourselves but that is actually when grace works in us – the moment we change our sinful ways, then we grow!

When we see our limitations as humans yet still forge on in life to achieve greater things, to become better persons, that is God working in us. That is why Luke tells us today how the angel greeted Mary during the annunciation using the Greek words “kaire” which is to rejoice and “charis” or “karis” for grace:  “Hail (or rejoice), full of grace!  The Lord is with you” (Lk.1:28). 

This is actually unusual because Jews greet each other with “shalom” for peace; why did Luke use kaire? Because wherever and whenever there is grace, surely there is rejoicing like in our Third Sunday of Advent called Gaudete Sunday: we rejoice because the Lord who is pure grace is near!

The late American spiritual writer and monk Thomas Merton rightly said, “We live in a time of no room, which is the time of the end.  The time when everyone is obsessed with lack of time, lack of space, with saving time, conquering space… The primordial blessing, ‘increase and multiply’ has suddenly become a hemorrhage of terror… In the time of the end there is no longer room for the desire to go on living.  Why?  Because they are part of a proliferation of life that is not fully alive, it is programmed for death” (Raids on the Unspeakable, pp. 70-72).

Advent is the time to get real, to stop pretending. Advent is the time for us to finally admit our own limitations, to create a space in our hearts and in our lives to let God fill us, to let God possess us. 

Can we, like Mary allow God’s power “hover over us” to renew our lives in welcoming Jesus Christ? This was the problem of Isaiah with King Ahaz in the first reading who pretended to refusing God giving signs of his presence when actually he had already entered into alliances with other pagan kings in the region as the Babylonians were closing in them; that is why Isaiah uttered the prophecy to insist that God is our protector: “Listen, O house of David! Is it not enough for you to weary men, must you also weary my God? Therefore the Lord himself will give you this sign: the virgin shall be with child, and bear a son, and shall name him Emmanuel” (Is.7:13-14).

Let me end this reflection by inviting you dear friends to pray for Fr. Flavie Villanueva, an SVD priest so active in caring for the poor especially the orphans left by victims of tokhang. He was recently awarded the Ramon Magsaysay Award considered as Asia’s equivalent of Nobel Peace Prize for his works for the poor.

Yes, he had a very dark past, being a former drug dependent but God used that chapter in his life to make him turn around and become a missionary priest. Fr. Flavie had never hidden nor sanitized his dark past because it was during those years when he also found the light and grace of God’s love and mercy for him. Perhaps, he is most effective in his works among the poor and the addicts precisely because he used to be one of them! He is now under attack for his works by the dark elements of the past administration, the most decadent in our history.

Fr. Flavie is no Virgin Mary but like her, he opened his heart to God who eventually overshadowed him with His powers to do all these great things for the poor who now feel Christ’s presence.

Recall now the many instances in our lives where we have learned our most important lessons in life and most surely, these were also the moments we have faced many hardships and sufferings but, instead of being down, these have inspired us and transformed us into better persons.

Let us imitate Mary in saying yes to God – “Behold I am the handmaid of the Lord.  May it be done to me according to your word!”  Let us open our hearts to God so the Holy Spirit may hover on us to fill us with Jesus Christ we can share with others broken like us. Amen. A blessed weekend everyone!