The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Tuesday in the Second Week of Easter, 26 April 2022
Acts 4:32-37 ><}}}}*> + <*{{{{>< John 3:7-15
Photo by author, Puerto del Dol, Bolinao, Pangasinan, 19 April 2022.
Praise and glory to you,
my Lord and my God, Jesus Christ!
Your Resurrection remains a mystery
that is so beyond descriptions
and reasons because it is of
another dimension, of another world;
yet, I am so convinced of its truth
and reality because I have experienced
you so many times in simple occasions
in life that deep inside, I burst with
joy and conviction like Thomas
and the disciple you love.
Grant me the grace, dear Jesus,
to level up in my understanding and
looking at things in myself and around
me; help me to level up, to be "born from
above" as you have told Nicodemus:
Jesus answered and said to him, “You are the teacher of Israel and you do not understand this? Amen, amen, I say to you, we speak of what we know and we testify to what we have seen, but you people do not accept our testimony. If I tell you about earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you about heavenly things?”
John 3:10-12
By your Resurrection,
you have paved the way for us
to enter into new levels of
living, of seeing things like
"the community of believers
who were of one heart and mind,
and no one claiming any of his
possessions as his own as they
had everything in common";
most of all, "there was no needy
person among them" as they
cared for one another (Acts 4:32-34).
Continue to transform me,
dear Jesus, deepen my faith
in you by further going down
in humility and simplicity to
be uplifted in you on your Cross.
Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Monday, Feast of St. Mark, Evangelist, 25 April 2022
1 Peter 5:5-14 ><]]]]'> + <'[[[[>< Mark 16:15-20
Photo by author, Puerto del Sol, Bolinao, Pangasinan, 20 April 2022.
What a wonderful grace,
O God our Father on this
Easter Season that we celebrate
the feast of St. Mark, the first
evangelist who reminds us all
of writing our own gospel
account too!
And for us to write our own
gospel account, St. Mark reminds us
beautifully of something so essential
with Easter: speaking the new languages
of love and humility in Jesus Christ
our Risen Lord not only in words
but most especially in deeds.
Jesus appeared to the Eleven and said to them: “Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature. These signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will drive out demons, they will speak new languages….”
Mark 16:15, 17
While it is truly a gift
to speak different languages,
but what is most wonderful
in proclaiming your gospel
Lord Jesus is to witness to other
people your love and kindness,
your mercy and compassion,
your gentleness and humility
that is always the same in every
language spoken by everyone.
Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Friday within the Octave of Easter, 22 April 2022
Acts 4:1-12 ><}}}}*> + <*{{{{>< John 21:1-14
Photo by author, sunrise at Puerto del Sol Beach, Bolinao, Pangasinan, 20 April 2022.
When it was already dawn, Jesus was standing on the shore; but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus. Jesus said to them, “children, have you caught anything to eat?” They answered him, “No.” So he said to them, “Cast the net over the right side of the boat and you will find something.” So they cast it, and were not able to pull it in because of the number of fish.
John 21:4-6
Dearest Lord Jesus Christ,
everyday you come to our life,
as early as the dawn, already standing
at the shore of our daily grinds without
us ever recognizing you;
we are so focused with our work
and studies and goals for the day
that we forget to see and notice you;
keep in us our sense of awe,
of being surprised daily,
especially early in the morning
to realize your coming,
your presence, and your staying
with us.
Deepen our love for you,
make us desire you always
to heighten our sense of awe
in simple things in order to find
you; let us be surprised like your
beloved disciple to always find you
dear Lord Jesus in the great catch of fish
as Peter explained to everyone
the miraculous cure of the beggar at the
Beautiful Gate of the Temple.
In times we are awed,
in times we wonder how things
are happening and turning out
for us, for better or for worse,
may we find you Jesus and
your message for us. Amen.
Photo by author, sunrise at Puerto del Sol Beach, Bolinao, Pangasinan, 20 April 2022.
The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Thursday within the Octave of Easter, 21 April 2022
Acts 3:11-26 ><)))*> + <*(((>< Luke 24:35-48
Photo by author, Easter 2018.
Praise and glory to you,
Lord Jesus Christ, for the
most wonderful gift of memory:
more powerful than any memory
card or computer chip, you have
made our memories so powerful
not only in keeping the past alive
within us but most of all, enabling
us to make these memories present
again in every here and now - the gift
of "re + membering".
Thank you dear Jesus for this most
wonderful gift of all that even if
our memories fail due to age and
sickness, we always re + member
those dearest people to us from
the past: we make them a member
of today, that is, re-member!
The disciples of Jesus recounted what had taken place along the way, and how they had come to recognize him in the breaking of the bread. While they were still speaking about this, he stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be with you.”
Luke 24:35-36
Before Easter happened,
during supper on the night you
were betrayed, you commanded
your disciples to always remember,
to "do this in memory of me":
at Emmaus, the two disciples did
remember and recognized you,
Lord Jesus and from then on, we have
always re-memebered your commandment
and you yourself who becomes present
most especially in the Holy Eucharist and
when we live its essence of love.
Refresh always our memories,
Jesus, so we may keep re-membering you,
making you a member anew in every
present moment in our witnessing to
your very person and your most loving act
of self-giving. Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Wednesday within the Octave of Easter, 20 April 2022
Acts 3:1-10 ><]]]]'> + <'[[[[>< Luke 24:13-35
Photo by Dr. Mylene A. Santos, MD in Lourdes, France, March 2022.
I have been walking all my life
but it was only recently, O Lord Jesus,
have I really started walking consciously,
along with others trying to keep healthy
by making 10,000 steps daily.
How funny that most of the times,
we have taken walking for granted,
without really minding at all where we
have been to and where we are heading
for; we just walk, walk, and keep on walking
in this life even at the opposite directions...
That very day, the first day of the week, two of Jesus’ disciples were going to a village seven miles from Jerusalem called Emmaus, and they were conversing about all the things that had occurred. And it happened that while they were conversing and debating, Jesus himself drew near and walked with them, but their eyes were prevented from recognizing him.
Luke 24:13-16
Thank you, dearest Jesus
in walking with us even in the
opposite directions we take,
when grief and failures and
disappointments drive us back
to our old ways, old destinations;
thank you in walking with us to
the many Emmaus we go to only to
bring us back to your Jerusalem.
Open our eyes, Lord Jesus,
to recognize you and know you
so that we may follow you more
closely in walking and following your
path of peace and joy, of self-giving
and love; make us conscious of your
presence in every walk we take to
seek and follow your new directions
for us in serving others and doing your work.
As we walk closer with you, Jesus,
let us imitate Peter in sharing
you with those who are lost and
paralyzed in this life; in your most
holy name and power, let us empower
our fellow journeyers in life to rise and
walk in you, with you. Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Tuesday within the Octave the Easter, 19 April 2022
Acts 2:36-41 ><}}}}*> + <*{{{{>< John 20:11-18
This photo by Mr. Red Santiago of his son Caden praying in my former parish shortly before the pandemic in March 2020 always “cuts me to the heart”, an image of child-like faith in God.
Praise and glory to you,
Lord Jesus Christ for you are
truly alive that whenever your
Resurrection is proclaimed in
words and in deeds, we are still
"cut to the heart", so moved to
act on on your good news!
On the day of the Pentecost, Peter said to the Jewish people, “Let the whole house of Israel know for certain that God has made him 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 2:36-37
What a beautiful expression,
"cut to the heart":
You know what cuts me
to the heart, Lord?
It is when I am so aware of my
sinfulness, of having betrayed
you or denied you, Jesus, I
feel so anxious and worried
you might leave me; like Mary
Magdalene in the gospel today,
I feel so cut to the heart, almost
weeping when I could not find you,
when I feel I have lost you because
in this new life in you, the most
painful cut to the heart is to lose you.
And they said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken my Lord, and I don’t know where they laid him.” When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus there, but did not know it was Jesus.
John 20:13-14
So many times, dear Lord
and Teacher, I fear of losing you,
of not finding you especially
when life has become dark due
to my sins and failures, trials
and sufferings, sickness and
confusions; but, you are always there,
Jesus, always calling me by name,
still loving me, still forgiving, still
present. Teach me to be more
persevering, to be more open in
recognizing you especially when
life is dark and gloomy. Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Monday within the Octave of Easter, 18 April 2022
Acts 2:14, 22-33 ><)))*> + <*(((>< Matthew 28:8-15
From Facebook, April 2021: “There is an urgency to announce the Joy, the joy of the Risen Lord!”
Twenty-four years ago today,
dearest Lord Jesus Christ,
you gave me, along with my six
other classmates the most wonderful
gift of ordination to the priesthood;
thank you very much from the bottom
of my heart! I could not ask for anything
else and if ever, indeed, I shall live my
life again and you call me, most likely
I would still say yes to you - "fearful yet
overjoyed" like Mary Magdalene
on that Easter morning.
Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went away quickly from the tomb, fearful yet overjoyed, and ran to announce this to his disciples. And behold, Jesus met them on their way and greeted them. They approached, embraced his feet, and did him homage. Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.”
Matthew 28:8-10
How lovely it is to remember
this date of our ordination
including the years leading to it
and the following ones after;
I was "fearful yet overjoyed" -
so afraid of mistakes and failures
yet so raring to explore and learn
so much in life and ministry;
most of all, I felt "fearful yet
overjoyed" so many times I might
fall into sins and lose you yet
overjoyed because even in my
lowest and darkest moments,
you were there, Lord,
so faithful and loving,
forgiving and merciful,
never imposing nor insisting
but always patient with me.
But there were also many occasions,
Lord Jesus, when I felt more fearful
without any joy at all; forgive me
for doubting you, for turning away
from you, choosing sin, believing
more to what others say, especially
the lies they spread against you and
your truth.
Enkindle anew in me, dear Jesus,
the warmth and joy of your Resurrection
that I may continue to witness your
presence and share this truth with
those around me like Peter in the first
reading by being a living witness
of your Paschal Mystery.
I pray for my other classmates too,
Lord Jesus - Fathers Ed, Joshua,
Romy, Leonard, Arnel as well as
Fathers Bien and Felix in Antipolo
and Bataan respectively, Fathers Jay
in Tarlac and Fr. Jay-El in the Military
Ordinariate: let us be focused more
on you, Jesus our Caller than with
your call, the priesthood; keep us open
to your presence and empty
to be filled with your light of truth
and unity, gentleness and mercy,
presence and perseverance. Amen.
Our class together in our clergy retreat in Tagaytay, 2018.
Our class planning for our seminary homecoming in 2019.
Quiet Storm by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Holy Wednesday, 13 April 2022
Isaiah 50:4-9 + Matthew 26:14-25
Photo by author, St. John the Baptist Parish, Calumpit, Bulacan, 31 March 2022.
It’s Holy Wednesday, also known as Spy Wednesday, the night Judas Iscariot agreed to betray Jesus Christ to the chief priests in exchange of 30 pieces of silver (Mt.26:14-15). Tonight is the night of traitors, of betrayers, of those not true to us!
This is the reason why in most parishes after the Mass tonight, there is the ritual of tenebrae or gradual turning off of lights and extinguishing of candles in the church to show how momentarily darkness and evil prevailed in the world when Judas sold Jesus for 30 pieces of silver.
Photo from saopedroesaopaolo.com.br.
To betray literally means to hand over a loved one to pain and sufferings like when a husband is unfaithful to his wife, when we spill the secrets of our friends, when we answer back our parents or refuse to obey them, when children waste their money on their vices and other non-essential things instead of studying their lessons while their mother or father is toiling day and night abroad as an OFW.
Betrayal is so painful and most unkind because we exchange or “sell” our loved ones like commodities for someone or something less in value; imagine the pain a betrayer inflicts on the someone who gave everything, with all the love and care only to be “traded” for lesser value? It is said that during the time of Jesus, a slave can be bought for 30 pieces of silver; how foolish Judas must have been in exchanging Jesus who loved and cared for him for a slave! And that is what we are too when we betray God and our loved ones – fools to replace someone so precious for anything else!
Betrayal is rebelling against a loving God, a beloved one, turning our back from them who are most true to us. And that is the short of it: betrayal is not being true.
Holiness is being true; holiness and truth always go together.
The word true is from the Anglo-Saxon treowe or tree. For them, truth is like a tree that evokes a sense of firmness, of being rooted in the ground. When our words and actions are not firm, shaky and always changing, flimsy or “pabago-bago” as we say in Filipino, then it must not be true. It must be a lie and not true at all because it is always changing or shifting.
Photo by author, St. Paul Spirituality Center, La Trinidad, Benguet, 2019.
Truth is always firm, does not change and remains true forever. It may be concealed or covered by lies for sometime but sooner or later, truth will always come out. It cannot be deleted. That is why the Greeks referred to truth as aletheia or phusis, the blooming of a flower that cannot be hidden and would always manifest or show. Jesus himself assured us that “nothing that is hidden will not be revealed; nor anything secret that will not be known and come to light” (Lk.8:17).
Closely linked with the word true is trust which also came from treowe: the Anglo-Saxons saw in the tree not only firmness but also rootedness or connectedness. The firmer the tree, the deeper are its roots. And that is what a true person is – always trustworthy, someone who can be trusted, someone who values relationships or ties and links. Traitors betray their loved ones because they do not value their relationships; a true person is always trustworthy because he values his relationships. A true and trustworthy person is one who would always listen to God and others, not insisting on his own plans and agenda like the Suffering Servant of God.
The Lord God has given me a well-trained tongue, that I might know how to speak to the weary a word that will rouse them. Morning after morning he opens my ear that I may hear, and I have not rebelled, have not turned back. I gave my back to those who beat me, my cheeks to those who plucked my beard; my face I did not shield from buffets and spitting.
Isaiah 50:4-6
Photo from Pinterest.
Remember the scene of the scourging at the pillar in the film The Passion of the Christ (2004)? Biblical experts say that gory scene was very true as it was the most painful aspect of the Lord’s passion next to the crucifixion; every time the knuckles would hit the body of Jesus, a piece of his flesh is torn off. Pilate ordered Jesus to be flogged in the belief that people might pity him when seen so tortured and bruised, perhaps agree to let him go freely.
But it did not happen as the people shouted more for his crucifixion.
And that is what happens when we betray our loved ones, including Jesus: the more we become indecisive in life like Pilate, the more we also betray them because we could not stand for what is true. That is also when we hurt them more and ourselves in the process too.
So often, traitors are not aware of their betrayals, believing in their wrongful and misplaced convictions, forgetting the people who love them most. Many times, we absolutize the truth, forgetting that only God is absolute. Most of all, that truth is a Person, Jesus Christ who said “I am the way, the truth and the life” (Jn.16:6). Being true, being holy is always directed to a person, not just a conviction.
So be careful by being true always with one’s self, with others and with God.
What makes you forget the truth and be untrue to others?
Lord Jesus Christ,
teach me to be true and holy
not only to you but most especially
to the people you give me,
those who love me truly and dearly;
make me like a tree,
firm and reliable,
dependable and trustworthy,
most of all, deeply rooted in you
through then people I love and care and serve.
Amen.
Photo by Mr. Raffy Tima of GMA7-News, January 2022.
40 Shades of Lent by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Friday in the Fifth Week of Lent, 08 April 2022
Jeremiah 20:10-13 <*[[[[>< + ><]]]]*> John 10:31-42
Photo by author, Lent 2020 in the midst of COVID-19 lockdown.
As we approach
the closing of Lent
this weekend with the
start of the Holy Week,
we pray, dear God our Father,
for the grace to continue to
seek and follow your Son
Jesus Christ:
They they tried again to arrest him; but he escaped from their power. He went back across the Jordan to the place where John first baptized, and there he remained. Many came to him and said, “John performed no sign, but everything John said about this man was true.” And many there began to believe in him.
John 10:39-42
Indeed, life is a daily Lent,
a constant coming of your Son
Jesus Christ accompanying us to
pass over every day from darkness
into light, from sickness into health,
and from sin into grace; Lent is
both a preparation and a fulfillment
of Easter if we believe as John
had testified in Jordan a long time ago
that Jesus is the Christ,
the one on whom the Spirit
dwells (cf. Jn.1:32-34).
Until now, O God,
many among us still doubt
you, refusing to accept Jesus
as the Christ like his enemies in
Jerusalem; no miracle will suffice
for them to be believe unless
they remove their blindness and
shed off their layers of pretensions
of knowing you even in the
scriptures; like those who have
followed Jesus at Jordan after
being stoned in Jerusalem, may we
truly believe in him by deepening
our faith in him especially in moments
of trials and tribulations like Jeremiah.
Most especially, dear God,
we pray for those who continue
to refuse to believe in you,
those who malign your good
and holy name in words and
in deeds by persecuting those
testifying to Jesus as the Christ.
Help us to witness the truth
of Jesus Christ, to tell others
of your unconditional love as
testified in the many good works
through Christ. Amen.
40 Shades of Lent by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Thursday in the Fifth Week of Lent, 07 April 2022
Genesis 17:3-9 <*{{{{>< + ><}}}}*> John 8:51-59
Photo by author, sunrise at the Lake of Galilee, Israel, 2017.
God our Father,
on this blessed Thursday
as we come nearer to the closing
of Lent, we rejoice in that beautiful
truth about you proclaimed in our
responsorial psalm today, "The Lord
remembers his covenant forever."
How lovely it is to recall that story
of how you called Abraham, not only
in making a promise with him
to be the father of all nations but
in entering a covenant with him to
be our God forever with us your
people; in doing so, you changed his
name from Abram to Abraham
to show us that every relationship
is built in calling with names not with
shaking of hands nor with other signs
and gestures we are used to.
So many times we forget how
all our relationships are based and
rooted in you our Father because
without you, all our ties as family
and friends will never last, will never
have meaning for we are all fragile
and weak, very erratic and so
moody unlike you, always faithful
and true.
Remove the blindness that prevents us
from finding you in every person we meet
like the Pharisees debating with Jesus
at the temple area, refusing to believe him
that "before Abraham came to be, I AM"
(Jn.8:58); enable us to grow and mature
amidst the many tensions and frictions
we experience in our relationships with
you and others for it is in pains and
sufferings our love and fidelity are
purified and harnessed, just like when
"Jesus hid and went out of the temple
area" (Jn.8:59) when his enemies tried
to stone him as they could not accept
him and his words. Amen.
