Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Thursday, Second Week in Ordinary Time, Year II, 22 January 2026 1 Samuel 18:6-9; 19:1-7 <*{{{{>< + ><}}}}*> Mark 3:7-12
Your words today, O Lord, are very disturbing, even baffling but very revealing: in the first reading we heard the beginning of Saul's jealousy of David while in the gospel of how "unclean spirits" recognized Jesus as the Son of God.
Lord, give us the courage to confront every jealousy that seeps into us, from the most simple ones to more greater ones that really get us destabilized like that of Saul when he heard people praised David for killing ten thousand compared to his thousands; jealousy can be a terrible thing because it is difficult to see others better than us; most of all, most difficult of all is to see people turning away their attention from us for others.
Saul was very angry and resentful of the song… And from that day on, Saul was jealous of David (1 Samuel 18:8, 9).
Teach us Jesus to accept fully our strengths and weaknesses, to not measure our success as persons by what we can do or what others say; teach us to imitate St. John the Baptist who declared "Christ must increase, but I must decrease" (John 3:30).
Teach us, Lord Jesus to be honest and sincere like you, so contented in yourself: you silenced the unclean spirits from making you known; how intriguing that so often, it is our dark, sinful side where we truly find the hard truths of life; if we could just be like you, we would never be taken over by jealousy because the moment we experience jealousy, then we realize the truth of somebody better than us in some aspects; jealousy is an unclean spirit within us that speak of the truth not to set us free but to enslave us by driving us into the opposite direction of self- aggrandizement.
Teach us, Jesus, that all that matters is for us to give glory to God and that the work of your Kingdom is always done, by us and by others. Amen.
Photo by author, Don Bosco Chapel on the Hill, Nasugbu, Batangas, January 2023.
Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Wednesday, Memorial of St. Agnes, Virgin & Martyr, 21 January 2026 1 Samuel 17:32-33, 37, 40-51 <*((((>< + ><))))*> Mark 3:1-6
Today, I thank you dear God our Father for the gift of our hands, our hands that touch and hold others dear to us, hands that keep joyful things closest to us, hands that openly receive so much from you and from others, hands that cover our face and protect our selves from harm, hands that move freely to do so many things and enable us enjoy freedom; forgive us Father when these same hands you have blessed to feed us and keep us warm are the same hands we hurt others, the same hands we close to refuse friendship and goodwill of others; the same hands that make us unfree in taking what is not ours and committing so many sins.
Bless our hands, Jesus, like what you did to that man with withered hand; let us stretch our hand, Jesus to touch and help others in need; open our hands, Jesus to receive and to share you; like David slaying Goliath, use our hands, Lord, small and feeble they may be to do your will and proclaim your power and greatness; may our hands be your hands, Jesus, regardless of our youth like St. Agnes whom we remember today, the little hands that hold on to you in deep faith, the little hands that spread your gospel of love and justice. Amen.
Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Tuesday, Second Week in Ordinary Time, Year II, 20 January 2026 1 Samuel 16:1-13 <*[[[[>< + ><]]]]*> Mark 2:23-28
Lord Jesus Christ, our Lord of Sabbath, our very rest, teach us to go back to you and rest in you; for the second straight day, Pharisees attacked you though your disciples: yesterday they challenged you about fasting, today about the sabbath.
As Jesus was passing through a field of grain on the sabbath, his disciples began to make a path while picking the heads of grain. At this the Pharisees said to him, “Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on a sabbath?” Then he said to them, “The sabbath was made for man not man for the sabbath. That is why the Son of Man is the Lord even of sabbath” (Mark 2:23-24, 27-28).
How lovely is the imagery of Sabbath: the day when God rested from creating everything; it is the only day standing alone on its own because it is God's alone; hence, a sabbath is always a return to you, O God, a return to paradise where you alone are the Lord; but, alas, we have also infected this blessed day with our sin and evil, taking it also as our own.
Make us realize, dear Jesus, that like fasting, we need to enter into Sabbath by first recognizing you as our Lord and God, not the day nor the tradition nor the laws; teach us to see more inwards like God in choosing David as next king of' Israel. Amen.
Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Monday, Second Week in Ordinary Time, Year II, 19 January 2026 1 Samuel 15:16-23 <*((((>< + ><))))*> Mark 2:18-22
It is still too early, Lord Jesus Christ but every moment is always a "happy hour" in you as you speak of new wine into fresh wineskins:
Likewise, no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the skins are wuined. Rather, new wine in poured into fresh wineskins” (Mark 2:22).
Teach me, Jesus to have a "new mind in Christ" (1 Cor. 2:16), to truly fast my mind and my heart by emptying myself of so many things like beliefs and suppositions that prevent me from welcoming you into myself; turn me into a fresh wineskin, Lord by discarding my old self that has become my comfort zone of complacency and mediocrity; teach me obedience, Jesus that I may truly appreciate and realize the true meaning of our many traditions like fasting and prayer that lead to glorifying you and union in you; forgive me on many occasions of acting and believing like King Saul of justifying disobedience, insisting on my own understanding and seeing of things.
Many times, indeed, we "burst" because we never have you in us, Jesus, for we are so filled with our old selves. Amen.
Lord My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Feast of the Sto. Niño, Cycle A, 18 January 2026 Isaiah 9:1-6 ><]]]]'> Ephesians 1:3-6, 15-18 ><]]]]'> Matthew 18:1-5, 10
On this Second Sunday in Ordinary Time, we extend for a day our Christmas celebration with the Feast of Sto. Niño (Child Jesus), a special feast granted to us by Rome in honor of the crucial role in our evangelization by that image gifted by Magellan to Queen Juana of Cebu over 500 years ago.
As Nick Joaquin claimed in many of his writings, it was the Sto. Niño who actually conquered our country to become the only Christian nation in this part of the world which shows indeed as Christ had declared in today’s gospel that whoever humbles himself like a child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
At that time the disciples approached Jesus and said, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” He called a child over, placed it in their midst and said, “Amen, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever receives one child such as this in my name receives me” (Matthew 18:1-5).
“Jesus and the Little Child” painting by James Tissot between 1886-1894 now at Broolyn Museum; from wikimedia.org.
One of the things I cherish in my hospital ministry since 2021 is visiting new born babies: now I know why there are called a “bundle of joy” and always a sight to behold for me whenever I see them yawning and stretching then curling their little hands and arms when I sprinkle them with Holy Water.
Babies and children have something so uniquely in them that elicit joy in everyone even the most hardened criminals. They are so lovely because they speak to us of the beauty of life, of the joy of living, of the bright future still coming for us all. That is why experts are worried anywhere there is a falling or zero birth rate because that paints a bleak future of all kinds of problems and disaster to any nation or society so evident these days among developed countries that lack younger generation to care for their elderly and workforce to run their economy.
The sight of every child and baby is always a celebration of life, most specially in the arrival of Jesus Christ, the eternal Word in time and space over 2000 years ago. This Sunday, Jesus is inviting us to remember that scene at the first Christmas when he was born, to see him in every child like that one he had called in the midst of his apostles with flesh, bones, and blood pitched among us.
Photo by Mr. Darwin Arcilla, Chapel of the Angel of Peace, RISE Tower, OLFU-Valenzuela, Christmas 2025.
Here is the Son of God so intimate with our own lives including all its mess especially sickness and death itself.
Here is the Child Jesus we fondly call Sto. Niño who came to be born among us because he loves us so much.
Here are the children of the world, the greatest among us because they assure us of continuity in the future.
Looking at the Child Jesus and the child he had called in the midst of the apostles, we are challenged today to feel and realize what is to be with a baby or a child as another person with breath, body and a purpose yet to unfold throughout his/her life. Being like a child is the greatest of all because that is when we are fully human, entrusting everything to God. Que sera, sera!
It is said that in ancient Egypt, people cried aloud whenever a baby was born because of the sufferings every newborn is due to undergo in life. So true! In fact, my earliest lesson about life came through an illustration in a Reader’s Digest magazine of a newly delivered baby crying while being held by a doctor in the OR. I asked my mother why the baby was crying and she told me that when a child is born and cries, then it is alive; if a baby does not cry at birth, it could be dead that is why the doctor has to spank to make him/her cry. That lesson had remained until now with me as a priest – that life is difficult and growing up is always painful.
And how ironic as in the gospel today that Jesus directs us to becoming like children to fully grasp these realities. It is not only Jesus but also the little children who enlighten our unclear minds with such great light that “shone in darkness” (first reading) because of their simplicity. We adults tend to complicate things by overthinking while children remind us of all the beautiful possibilities in life despite the mess and chaos we are into.
Photo by author, 2022.
It is this simplicity of children that also disarm us of our false securities and pretensions when they playfully smile and laugh at us as they simply live in the present moment enjoying our company. In their fragility and vulnerability is their strength making us so concerned with them that we can’t stand leaving a baby or a child alone especially when he/she is crying, when in need.
There lies the good news of the Sto. Niño and of being like a child: he calls us to stay because Jesus too like children remain with us. There is no turning back for Jesus and for every child here today.
Jesus is here along with every child that is why we too are here gathered today to receive them and to ensure every life is safely protected and lovingly cared. It is in our staying, in our remaining we become child-like as we realize the tremendous blessings God has bestowed on us as his children (second reading) called to grow and mature in Christ by making him felt and known in this world that has slowly become so unwelcoming of babies and of God.
Notice how with the growth of what St. John Paul II called as “culture of death” promoting artificial contraceptives and abortion to control population growth, there is the corresponding turning away of people from God and eventually from one another. In this age of “Do-It-Yourself” Christianity, deciding on the number of kids to raise depend more on the couple’s financial capabilities than faith in God’s grace and power so that couples and people in general have unconsciously considered babies more as things to have than persons to love.
We end our reflection on this Feast of Sto. Niño with this Christmas song we have always taken for granted, “Joy to the World”. Written in 1719 by the English minister Isaac Watts, “Joy to the World” expresses the very joy not only of Christ’s coming but also of the birth of every child who reminds us of God among us in Jesus and of the need for us adults to be one with God always.
Photo by author, Sto. Niño Exhibit at the Malolos Cathedral, January 2022.
Joy to the world,
the Lord is come
Let Earth receive her King
Let very heart prepare him room
And heaven and nature sing
And heaven and nature sing
And heaven and nature sing.
Joy to the world,
the Savior reigns
Let men their songs employ
While fields and floods,
rocks, hills and plains
Repeat the sounding joy
Repeat the sounding joy
Repeat the sounding joy
He rules the world
with truth and grace
And makes the nations prove
The glories of his righteousness
And wonders of his love
And wonders of his love
And wonders of his love
For heaven and nature to sing anew of this joy, we have to be like the children welcoming Jesus in our hearts without any ifs and buts.
For us to repeat the sounding joy in life, we have to be like children in trustingly following Jesus in his Cross; notice how the gospels are silent about children calling for the crucifixion of Jesus. Only the adults demanded his death!
Finally, for us to experience the wonders of God’s love, we have to become like children who let truth and grace be the rules in life, not lies and powers. That is the greatness of being like a child – of trusting more in God than in man and his sciences and technologies, ideologies and philosophies that all fall short in bringing true joy and fulfillment in life. Amen. A blessed week ahead of everyone!
Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Friday, First Week in Ordinary Time, Year II, 16 January 2026 1 Samuel 8:4-7, 10-22 <*((((>< + ><))))*> Mark 2:1-12
“The Paralytic of Capernaum Lowered from the Roof”, a 5th/6th century Mosaic at Sant’ Apollinare Nuovo, Ravenna, Italy; from christian.art.
Today we thank you, dear God our Father for those people you have sent to to carry us through our darkest and trying moments in life to find you, to be near you, to rise again like those men in the gospel today.
They came bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men. Unable to get near Jesus because of the crowd, they opened up the roof above him. After they had broken through, they let down the mat on which the paralytic was lying. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to him, “Child, your sins are forgiven” (Mark 2:3-5).
Thank you, Father in sending people who never gave up on us, who still believed in us, who hoped and had faith for us when we have totally given up in life that is why Jesus Christ's first words to the paralytic were "your sins are forgiven."
May we who have been brought closer to you, Jesus by those kind of people be persistent too in bringing others who are lost closest to you.
Likewise, forgive us Father for those many occasions we have become so insistent with our desires and plans that we have become unreasonable in our devotion and "panata", hurting others in the process without realizing it is actually a turning away from you like the people who insisted in being given with a king to rule over them. Amen.
Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Thursday, First Week in Ordinary Time, Year II, 15 January 2026 1 Samuel 4:1-11 <*((((>< + ><))))*> Mark 1:40-43
Photo by author, Basilica of Our Lady of Manaoag, 09 January 2026.
Your words since Monday at the start of Ordinary Time are so amazing and lovely, O God our Father; I love, O Lord, the contrasts presented between the first reading and the gospel just like today that is so unique with the striking differences in approaching you, dear God.
The Philistines fought and Israel was defeated; every man fled to his own tent. It was a disastrous defeat, in which Israel lost thirty thousand foot soldiers. The ark of God was captured, and Eli’s two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, were among the dead (1 Samuel 4:10-11).
A leper came to him (Jesus) and kneeling down begged him and said, “If you wish, you can make me clean.” Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand, touched the leper, and said to him, “I do will it. Be made clean.” The leprosy left him immediately, and he was made clean (Mark 1:40-42).
Until now, many of us are still like those Israelites who brought the Ark of the Covenant to the battlefront as if it were an "anting-anting" in fighting the Philistines who overwhelmingly defeated them; the recent Traslacion that many still continue to defend is something we ought to rectify or recalibrate by deepening our faith to put order and solemnity in a supposed to be religious activity; show us the way in witnessing to others the proper approach to you, Lord, is like that leper full of trust and surrender to your will, not in insisting our personal desires and "panata" that in the process we forget to imitate your Son Jesus in being loving and charitable. Amen.
Photo by author, Basilica of Our Lady of Manaoag, 09 January 2026.
Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Wednesday, First Week in Ordinary Time, Year II, 14 January 2026 1 Samuel 3:1-10, 19-20 <'[[[[>< + ><]]]]'> Mark 1:29-39
Photo by author, Bgy. Ubihan, Meycauayan City, January 2022.
How lovely are your words today, Lord Jesus Christ, the Word who became flesh and dwelled among us!
Thank you very much in sharing with us the power of your words; in fact, we are the only ones with whom you have gifted with this power; the world and everything in it was created simply by God speaking the words that came to exist.
Teach us, Jesus the value of listening to you, letting you speak first so that like Samuel, you may "not permit any word we speak to be without effect" (1 Samuel 3:19); may we truly share in your prophetic ministry by "enfleshing" the words we speak by walking our talk; likewise, heal us, dear Jesus of our many infirmities and sickness due to sins and evil that make us speak too much that instead of building up others we destroy one another; like those demons you drove out from the sick you have cured in today's gospel, keep our mouths shut, "do not permit us to speak" (Mark 1:34) when not necessary. Amen.
Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Tuesday, First Week in Ordinary Time, Year II, 13 January 2026 1 Samuel 1:9-20 <*{{{{>< + ><}}}}*> Mark 1:21-28
Photo by author, Sabbath Place, Assumption Baguio, January 2019.
“It isn’t that, my lord,” Hannah answered. “I am an unhappy woman. I have neither wine nor liquor; I was only pouring out my troubles to the Lord” (1 Samuel 1:15).
How often people misread what is really inside us, Lord Jesus, especially when we pour out our troubles to you; and yet, you have always been so kind with us, so gracious in listening and most of all in granting our prayers and desires.
Teach us, dear Jesus to open ourselves more to you, to bare our souls to you to be cleansed and refreshed in your healing mercy and abounding love.
Most of all, help us to pour things out to you, Jesus those sins and evil we keep inside, those which we have buried deep inside us that continue to bother and destabilize us including the pains and hurts in the past that have imprisoned us and prevent us from experiencing your liberation and freedom, salvation and fresh start like that man with an unclean spirit in today's gospel. Amen.
Photo by author, Sabbath Place, Assumption Baguio, January 2019.
Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Monday, First Week in Ordinary Time, Year II, 12 January 2026 1 Samuel 1:1-8 <*((((>< + ><))))*> Mark 1:14-20
Photo by author, San Juan, La Union, 09 January 2026.
After John had been arrested, Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the Gospel of God: “This is the time of fulfillment. The Kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the Gospel” (Mark 1:14-15).
Thank you dear Jesus for this brand new week, for this start of Ordinary Time in our liturgical calendar; how wonderful to remind us it is the time of fulfillment, of completion and wholeness in you, O Lord because it is only in you lies our fulfillment.
Teach us to open our hearts and souls to your call, Jesus like the brothers Peter and Andrew, James and John, your first disciples; was it really that quick and easy for them to leave everything behind including the father of James and John just to follow you?
Yes, dear Jesus, like them, we felt incredulous and even fearful with your call, not only last year but even this year; in fact, as we begin our Ordinary Time this Monday, the more I felt your calling continues everyday because without you we shall never be complete.
Like Hannah,
our lives will never be complete
and fulfilled without having you
that may take several forms
like a child for Hannah;
many times Lord we wonder
why we cannot have what we
are specifically praying for
like Hannah who has become
a subject of ridicule by others
for being barren and childless;
but, inasmuch as your call continues
for us, then you hereby assure us too
of your continuing works in our
many deficiencies if we can only
be patient and persevering in you
in awaiting your calls.
Amen.
Photo by author, San Juan, La Union, 09 January 2026.
lordmychef.com 