Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II' Monday in the Fifth Week of Easter, 19 May 2025 Acts 14:5-18 ><]]]]'> + ><]]]]'> + ><]]]]'> John 14:21-26
Photo by author, Cabo da Roca Villas, Pundaquit, San Antonio, Zambales, 15 May 2025.
Your words today, O Lord are very amusing: in the first reading we have the people at Lystra insisted on making Paul and Bernabas as "gods" after they have healed a crippled man from birth while in the gospel we felt you personally speaking to us too along with your disciples at the Last Supper of how in our love for you and with each other that we become divine like you.
Judas, not the Iscariot, said to him, “Master, then what happened that you will reveal yourself to us and not to the world?” Jesus answered and said to him, “Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him” (John 14:22-24).
How lovely, dear Jesus are your words: you never left us, you continue to speak to us in the Holy Spirit you sent to enlighten our minds and our hearts so we may continue to love you in one another; more than a feeling as most people believe these days, love is a response to a loving, meaningful relationship in you; love is our deeper connection with you and with each other; without love, we are mere humans, not persons, without relationships, most of all, without meaning and direction in life.
Let us love, love, and love more, Jesus so we may find and recognize you in ourselves and in others, especially the weakest and poorest among us. Amen.
Photo by author, Cabo da Roca Villas, Pundaquit, San Antonio, Zambales, 15 May 2025.
Lord My Chef Sunday Recipe by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Fourth Sunday in Easter, Cycle C, 11 May 2025 Acts 13:14, 43-52 ><}}}}*> Revelation 7:9, 14-17 ><}}}}*> John 10:27-30
The new Pope, Leo XIV, appears on the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica, 09 May 2025; photo from vaticannews.va
What a lovely fourth Sunday in Easter also known as “Good Shepherd Sunday” when we are blessed with a new Pope – Leo XIV – who will shepherd us into this modern time. Truly, Jesus Christ our Good Shepherd knows us so well that he did not make us wait long in having a new Pope in this troubled time.
Jesus said: “My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish” (John 10:27-28).
“I know them.” How lovely are these words of Jesus to us, his “sheep” especially for those going through a lot of trials and difficulties, for those feeling lost and empty, for those about to give up on life.
Let us dwell on his words “I know them”.
For the Jews and in the Bible, knowing is more of the heart than of the mind. Knowing a person is not just knowing one’s name but most of all of being in a personal relationship, an affinity with the person.
In declaring “I know them”, Jesus affirms how he personally regards each one as somebody dear to him, somebody close to him. We are all a somebody, a someone to Jesus whom he personally loves and cares for.
This we have seen among the people we have met in Lent like the apostles Peter, James and John during the transfiguration, the prodigal son, the woman caught in adultery. Or during the Holy Week like Judas who betrayed the Lord, Peter who denied Jesus thrice, Dimas the thief, the centurion who believed in him after his death on the Cross, John and the Blessed Mother at the foot of the Cross. They were all in their most difficult situations in life yet Jesus knew them so well that he assured them of his loving presence, lifting them up to move on with life.
Recall also the people we met this Easter Season like Mary Magdalene and companions early in the morning later followed by Peter and the beloved disciple who all found the tomb empty, the disciples at the upper room with locked doors that evening of Easter, the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, Thomas Didymus, the disciples led by Peter at breakfast with Jesus at the shore of Lake Tiberias. In their most joyous moments in life amid the darkness and emptiness, the doubts and unbelief or blindness following Easter, they were accompanied and joined by the Risen Lord to ensure and assure them that indeed he is alive and will always be with them.
In the same manner, think also of those moments in your own life of darkness and emptiness, whether negatively or positively, for better or for worse… who remained standing by your side?
Jesus. Only Jesus. And always Jesus. Because he knows us so well.
Jesus is truly the Good Shepherd who knows us so well even in these modern times where there are more vehicles and traffic, more disruptions to life yet he continues to shepherd us like the many shepherds still in many countries in Europe and the Middle East.
And that makes this passage most touching and refreshing because though times may have changed, Jesus has remained personally committed with each one of us. He keeps on looking for us, searching us, following us. Loving us most of all. But, are we present in Jesus?
Notice the four verbs in this short gospel we have today: ascribed to Jesus are the verbs “know” and “give” while to us the sheep, “hear” and “follow” where problems always happen. Do we “follow” what we “hear”? “To hear” is to recognize the authority and importance of the speaker’s words; it is to enter into a communion with him, to put oneself in his guidance, to “follow” him as his disciple.
Jesus speaks to us daily but nobody cares because right after waking up, most of us today look for our cellphone than pray! We are more interested with the “likes” and “followers” we have garnered from our previous posts. We are more enthralled with the seductive voices and images of social media that feed on our ego and senses, giving us false feelings of security and acceptance. We would rather be consumers than disciples who are called to sacrifice like the shepherd.
Photo of a sheep’s fleece by Dra. Mylene A. Santos, MD, 2022.
Though life has become more affluent these days, it has ironically become more empty and lost without direction because we just keep on having and possessing, consuming and ingesting everything the world offers that leave us guilty and empty because we cannot experience any sense of fulfillment and meaning.
How ironic that amid this pandemic of “obesity”, we fill ourselves mostly with trash and poison, literally and figuratively speaking that we feel so lost more than ever with so much time wasted and sadly, life and relationships thrown away. Everything has become more of the mind than of the heart with persons being commodified as things, everything seen in monetary terms, so utilitarian in nature.
Only Jesus “knows” us so well that is why only he “gives eternal life” as Peter exclaimed in this Saturday gospel in the third week of Easter, “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and we are convinced that you are the Holy One of God” (Jn.6:68-69).
Unlike anybody, Jesus is the Son of God sent to gather us, to save us and to bring us closer to the Father so that no one among us shall perish. That is the plan of God fulfilled by Christ which we must continue like the apostles as we have heard in the first reading when Paul and Barnabas preached the Gospel of Jesus to the gentiles.
This Sunday, Jesus our Good Shepherd assures us, wherever we may be – in darkness and emptiness, or under the dark clouds of a thunderstorm, under a thatched roof of misery – that he knows us so well. He loves us.
Feel the warmth of Christ’s loving heart this Sunday by being present with your loved ones, the people you know so well like Jesus. Let us pray:
Lord Jesus, you are our Good Shepherd and we are your sheep; only you know us so well, only you can give us eternal life, only you can keep us safe not to be snatched by anyone like the corrupt and shallow candidates running for office again this election; give us the wisdom, courage and faith to follow you and stand by you like those elders in white garments seen by John in his vision of heaven in the second reading; let us vote wisely, let us not waste that power you shared with us. Amen.
Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Friday in the Third Week of Easter, 09 May 2025 Acts 9:1-20 ><]]]]'> + ><]]]]'> + ><]]]]'> John 6:52-59
Photo by author, statue of St. Paul the Apostle, St. Paul Retreat Center, La Trinidad, Benguet, 06 January 2025.
Lord Jesus Christ, you are alive and always around us, present in each one of us that whatever we do to each one we also do unto you as you called on Paul before his conversion, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?" (Acts 9:4)
Enlighten our minds and our hearts, Lord Jesus for we are many times more than a Saul than a Paul; let us admit the times we "persecute" you in others like Saul when we speak ill of them especially in social media; though we may not be exactly like Saul with a sword and army of men, many times we "breathe with murderous threats" against others who are not like us in color and creed and outlook in life; with your grace of light Jesus, remove our blindness to the many forms of persecutions we undertake against one another especially in your name that until now we are so divided, "quarreling among ourselves" like those Jews in Capernaum.
Give us the courage, Jesus, to confront and change our behavior and attitudes that "persecute" others; help us to go back to you in our hearts to be converted and transformed in your Resurrected Body as better disciples despite the wounds we may have that are due to persecutions too have suffered; let the cycle of persecution stop in us so we may start a series of transformation in ourselves, in our homes, and in our community. Amen.
Photo by author, St. Paul Retreat Center, La Trinidad, Benguet, 06 January 2025.
Lord My Chef Daily Recipe by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Thursday in the Third Week of Easter, 08 May 2025 Acts 8:26-40 ><]]]]'> + ><]]]]'> + ><]]]]'> John 6:44-51
God our loving Father, our Cardinals have started their election process for the successor of Peter, the Vicar of Christ your Son here on Earth; send them your Holy Spirit to enlighten their minds and their hearts to seek and follow your will in Christ Jesus.
Help them choose a good shepherd who is also a good teacher like your Son Jesus Christ imitated so well by the deacon Philip with the help of the Holy Spirit.
Now there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of the Candace, that is, the queen of Ethiopians, in charge of her entire treasury, who had come to Jerusalem to worship, and was returning home. Seated in his chariot, he was reading the prophet Isaiah. Philip ran up and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and said, “Do you understand what you are reading?” He replied, “How can I, unless someone instructs me?” So he invited Philip to get in and sit with him (Acts 8:27-28, 30-31).
Your Servant, himself a former Pope too St. Paul VI wrote us in December 1975 "Modern man listens more willingly to witnesses than teachers, and if he does listen to teachers, it is because they are witnesses" (Evangelii Nuntiandi, #41); send us true and good, teachers who are witnesses of the Gospel; give us more teachers like Philip who taught clearly of the essential truth in this life which is about Jesus the Christ.
Next week we shall choose our new leaders to govern us; take away our blindness as teachers ourselves that we may elect into office who are also good teachers who stand for what is true and just, not corrupt and liars; send us more teachers who will awaken in us your Divine Presence to bring out in everyone each one's own giftedness as a person.
At the same time, we pray for our professional teachers from the public school who will work at the polling places next week; give them strength not only in body but also in mind, heart, and soul to keep our elections clean and honest, not to be swayed by corrupt candidates who poison the society and keep people away from Christ and one another.
Let us not forget, Lord Jesus that as we share in your prophetic mission, we are all teachers like you; keep our hearts and minds open to the promptings of the Holy Spirit to go wherever we are needed most for your greater glory. Amen.
Lord My Chef Breakfast Recipe by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Wednesday in the Third Week of Easter, 07 May 2025 Acts 8:1-8 ><))))*> + ><))))*> + ><))))*> John 6:35-40
Painting by Frenchman James Jacques Tissot (1836-1902), “Jesus Eats Breakfast with Disciples” from http://www.jofullheart.com.
Dearest Jesus, teach us today to be truly a "devout" person: a "devout" disciple, a "devout" Christian a "devout" believer in you like those "Devout men (who) buried Stephen and made a loud lament over him" (Acts 8:2).
How interesting, O Lord that only St. Luke used the word "devout" in the whole Bible to describe some persons in four instances: in describing Simeon as a "devout" Jew who praised God upon seeing the child Jesus at his presentation at the temple; the "devout" Jews from all over the world who came to worship in Jerusalem on Pentecost day; the "devout" men who buried Stephen in the first reading today; and lastly, Ananias as a "devout" man who sought Saul after his conversion to bring him to the early Church.
You know so well, dear Jesus how we as a nation is said to be "devout" Christians but lagging behind in every aspect of development: where is our being devout in electing into office corrupt candidates? where is our being devout in fulfilling our duties and responsibilities when bridges fall and bollards fail that kill people especially children? where is our being devout in being reckless on the streets and dirt roads, demeaning total strangers and local inhabitants?
Oh Jesus, we are doomed by our own hypocrisies when our being devout is self-serving when we merely open our eyes for things seen outside like the many devotions and practices we have filled with pomp and pageantry because we look more into ourselves than into seeing Christ in other persons must love and respect and care; what a tragedy that the persecutions still going on against Christians are perpetrated by supposed to be your devout disciples, devout Christians who do not care at all in their daily dealings that could result in deaths and injuries of so many people including children like in the recent series of road accidents, not to mention vulgarities and obscenities spewed in the countless road rages.
Teach us Lord that a true devout believer in you is one who always seeks you among the least among our brethren, one who seeks your Body in somebody to be loved and upheld as a brother and a sister so that our being devout to your Body and Blood in the Eucharist becomes a reality in our dealing with one another. Amen.
Lord My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Tuesday in the Third Week of Easter, 06 May 2025 Acts 7:51-8:1 ><))))*> + ><))))*> + ><))))*> John 6:30-35
Painting by Frenchman James Jacques Tissot (1836-1902), “Jesus Appears to His Disciples At the Shore of Tiberias” from http://www.dominicanajournal.org.
Dearest Lord Jesus Christ: What's happening in the world? What's happening in our lives? Do we know where we are going? We are so lost: road rage everywhere even in the dirt road; innocent lives have been lost - two children in fact - were killed in accidents that have been easily prevented; and a lot more of our many waywardness everywhere! We are like the elders of Israel addressed by St. Stephen in Jerusalem: "You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always oppose the Holy Spirit; you are just like your ancestors" (Acts 7:51).
Let us come to you, Jesus; Let us return to you, Jesus; Let us stop seeking signs that you are the Christ whom we must follow and receive; to come to you Jesus is to bond ourselves to you and to your gospel values of life and truth, of justice and love that means we do not cheat in our jobs and responsibilities where others rely on us; to come to you Jesus is immersing ourselves in your words, in your teachings to assimilate your Way into our ways wherein we follow our conscience not our whims or words of media especially of politicians who rob most the poor and helpless among us; to come to you Jesus is accept our Cross and sufferings like St. Stephen to be able to see a glimpse of heaven. Amen.
Lord My Chef Sunday Recipe by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Third Sunday in Easter, Cycle C, 04 May 2025 Acts 5:27-32, 40-41 ><}}}}*> Revelation 5:11-14 ><}}}}*> John 21:1-14
Breakfast came from two words, break + fast when monks in the early days of Christianity used to “break” their “fast” the night before and that is why it is rightly considered as the most important meal of each day.
But the author of the fourth gospel found something deeper in the word “breakfast” that he mentioned it twice in our gospel today. It is another detail only him had noticed like in last Sunday’s “locked doors”. Everyday, Jesus invites us to “breakfast” with him to experience the joy of Easter.
Jesus said to them, “Come, have breakfast.” And none of the disciples dared to ask him, “Who are you?” because they realized it was the Lord. Jesus came over and took the bread and gave it to them, and in like manner the fish. This was now the third time Jesus was revealed to his disciples after being raised from the dead. When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?’ He said to him, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my lambs” (John 21:12-15).
Painting by Frenchman James Jacques Tissot (1836-1902), “Jesus Eats Breakfast with Disciples” from http://www.jofullheart.com.
Many times we take breakfast for granted and most often, like me later in life do we realize its importance with the onset of many sickness and diseases. Remember that saying, “eat like king at breakfast, like an ordinary man at lunch and like a pauper or beggar at supper”? That’s very true because breakfast is supposed to give us the boost needed to make headway through the brand new day.
What a beautiful gesture by Jesus when he appeared the third time to his disciples early morning just in time for breakfast. Every day Jesus invites us to breakfast with him, to be filled with him spiritually through prayers and meditations, most especially the Holy Eucharist. That is why it is always best to pray and celebrate Mass first thing in the morning when Jesus fills our soul with his Spirit and then our body with his gifts of food at breakfast. Christ invites us to breakfast everyday before he “breaks” to us some important matters on our selves and relationships with him and with others.
Photo by author, Atok, Benguet, 27 December 2024.
It is the same idea behind “breakfast meetings” or even “luncheon meetings” where the hosts feed us with good food and drinks before baring to us their plans that need our participation. Remember that after the second appearance of Jesus to his disciples, nothing was clear yet to them except that he had risen. The disciples must still be feeling guilty with their actions and attitudes after the arrest and death of Jesus. They must be “nagkakahiyaan” – there was a strong presence of shame within each one on how they have abandoned Jesus after his arrest except the beloved disciple who stood at the Cross until the burial.
How lovely is the Lord’s gesture in appearing this time early in the morning to invite them to a breakfast including us today! Like every host, Jesus wants us to be relaxed and at home, comfortable and at ease with him, assuring us of his love and friendship despite our sins and shortcomings in the past. This is particularly evident with Peter and maybe Thomas who doubted the Lord’s resurrection last week and now back with the others fishing.
Jesus is very much aware of breakfast as a great mood-setter. On that day at the shore of Tiberias until today, Jesus starts each day with us with all his warmth and love, telling us it is a new day with new opportunities because tomorrow is gone so let us start anew. Sadly, many of us forget Jesus present with us every morning when we wake up. Like the disciples, we rarely recognize him as we first look for our cellphone upon waking up, counting the likes and reactions to our previous posts. Others refuse to rise and face the day while others feel grouchy raising hell every morning.
Open your eyes like the beloved disciple. When we see and think of Jesus first thing in the morning, then we see the abundant blessings around us like that great catch of fish by the disciples despite the empty night or day before. Every time we wake up despite the presence of our many problems still unsolved or unresolved, it is already a game won over that we are still alive! Rejoice in the gift of life. That is Easter happening daily. Give in to Jesus Christ’s invitation to breakfast by first communing in him in prayer and praise.
Painting by Frenchman James Jacques Tissot (1836-1902), “Jesus Appears to His Disciples At the Shore of Tiberias” from http://www.dominicanajournal.org.
Now we go deeper into the meaning of “breakfast” which is from the prefix break + fast, the breaking of the fast the night before. What are the other fastings we need to break everyday like the disciples?
There is a beautiful commercial of local medicines that says “huwag mahihiyang magtanong” (don’t be shy to ask). Today Jesus is telling us not to be ashamed to get near him, to speak to him, to be with him. It is a new day. Break all your “fasting” of getting close to him because you are too shy of your sins and failures. It is a new day. Recall those countless times in the past when you have disappointed Jesus and your loved ones a lot but he gave you a chance to rise again. Notice how the beloved disciple recognized Jesus when he recalled too their first meeting with the same situation, a fruitless night before followed by bountiful catch after Jesus instructed them to cast their nets into the deep!
How many times had Jesus given us with all the chances in life to be better, to start anew despite our sins and failures? Many times we cannot recognize Jesus despite his nearness with us like the disciples that morning at Tiberias because we box him as somebody like us who keeps tabs of our wrongdoings, that he might not like us anymore. Unlike us, Jesus is full of mercy with a very poor memory of our past sins and wrongdoings.
Notice that after breakfast, Jesus called Peter by his original name “Simon, son of John”. This is remarkable because not only with Peter, Jesus sees each one of us in our true self as a beloved child of God, so loved, so precious. Like Peter, he invites us everyday to breakaway from our sins and biases against him for he truly loves us, always ready to forgive us and most of all, never changes his mind and heart in his plans for us.
It is only after we have expressed our love to him like Peter that Jesus invites us to more than a breakfast which is to come follow him!
Before we can follow Jesus, we must first love him by breaking away from sins and vices and everything evil. And that starts with having Jesus every morning for breakfast. That is what Luke is telling us in the first reading from the Acts of the Apostles, of how the disciples chose to follow Jesus than obey the Sanhedrin who wanted them to stop preaching about Jesus. Saying yes to Jesus Christ’s invitation to breakfast and to break away from sins and evil is the solid “Amen” of the elders saw by John in his vision of heaven in the second reading. Like them, let us pray:
Dearest Jesus, thank you for the invitation every morning, first thing of each day to be with you not only to breakfast but to break my series of sins and vices; let me love you more so I may follow you closely everyday. Amen.
Quiet Storm by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, 22 April 2025
Easter is God surprising us with every death of a loved one as a testament of the Resurrection of his Son and our Lord Jesus Christ. What a big surprise this afternoon right after Easter, we all heard the news of the death of the Holy Father, Pope Francis.
Of course, there was the sadness and surprise of the news but deep within us as the news sank deeper is the joy of his being with God in eternity.
The first Pope from South America, Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Buenos Aires, Argentina broke many traditions in the papacy first when he picked a name never been used by his predecessors, choosing instead a non-priest saint known for simplicity and humility, St. Francis of Assisi.
When he was presented to the city and the world (Urbi et Orbi) as the new Pontiff, instead of blessing those present at St. Peter’s Square, Pope Francis announced first his request for prayers from the people before blessing them eventually as every new Pope would do.
Yesterday at his Easter Message to the people, Pope Francis spoke about death and eternal life, of how “the Risen Christ fills us with the certainty that we too are called to share in the life that knows no end, when the clash of arms and the rumble of death will be heard no more.” In life, Pope Francis faced head on the many problems of secularism and materialism in the world, becoming the voice of the poor and the marginalized with mercy of God as one of his major themes in his papacy.
During the COVID pandemic of 2020.
Personally, his most defining moment as a Pope happened during his special Message at the height of the pandemic in 2020 when despite his age and frailty, he walked through the empty St. Peter Square with courage and determination, faith and hope to lead us in prayers and love in crossing the turbulent sea of life amid the storm of COVID virus.
In life, Pope Francis proved to us like his two predecessor St. John Paul II and Benedict XVI the truth and reality of God amid a world that has continued to refuse his very existence and relevance.
In dying, Pope Francis showed us too like his two predecessors that death is in fact a blessing because it is a sharing in the Resurrection of Jesus Christ especially when you die in Easter.
St. John Paul II died on April 02, 2005 in the Easter Octave, the eve of Divine Mercy Sunday while Pope Benedict XVI died on the eve of the new year in December 31, 2022 during the octave of Christmas.
Octave refers to the eight day celebration of the major Solemnities of Easter and Christmas to remind us of its depth and meaning that cannot be grasp in just one day of the actual feast. Moreover, the eighth day or octave is actually signifies eternity: from Sunday to Saturday of every week we have seven days; octave as the eighth day is heaven.
How lovely that on Easter Sunday at the balcony of the Vatican, Pope Francis gave his blessings to the urbi et orbi anew to be his final one – consciously or unconsciously as he stepped onto the threshold of eternal life. It was his final homily too that was most eloquent, blessing us all in the “Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”
Thank you for blessing us, Pope Francis – Lolo Kiko – in life and in death. Amen.
Lord My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Easter Sunday of the Lord's Resurrection, 20 April 2025
Sunrise and flowers at Angels’ Hills, Tagaytay City, Holy Saturday, 19 April 2025.
A blessed happy Easter to everyone! The joy of Easter is God surprising us of Christ’s Resurrection as our resurrection too even in the midst of emptiness and darkness of this life here on earth.
Surprisingly, it is only now that it occurred to me after 27 years as priest how our Holy Week readings began and ended with the women disciples of Jesus honoring his death. Actually, the readings of Holy Week and Easter do not change except for the three cycles of Easter Vigil and the two Masses of Easter.
On Holy Monday we heard the gospel about Mary of Bethany recognizing the coming sacrifice of Jesus by pouring “a liter of costly perfumed oil made from genuine aromatic nard” on the feet of the Lord and then dried them with her hair that “the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil” (Jn. 12:3). Last night and this morning we heard from Luke and John how Mary of Magdala with other women went to the tomb “early in the morning, while it was still dark” to anoint Christ’s body with oil but found him nowhere!
Here is our God of surprises at work; but, unlike those funny and annoying surprises from the pranks we see on TikTok and social media, God’s surprises are real, so true, and so touching because they are life-changing which began in that Easter morning!
Illustration of the empty tomb of Jesus.
Mary Magdalene at Easter.
Mary Magdalene and another woman on the way to the tomb of Jesus early Sunday morning.
Jesus appearing to Mary Magdalene on Easter morning.
During my recent annual retreat, my spiritual director asked me to pray and write the blessings I have received in the past twelve months. After five days of praying, I listed only six but they were mostly ordinary things I have taken for granted in life except the fourth one – my mother’s death last May 7.
I was surprised when that came to my prayers because it was painful and difficult time for me. So many things have changed in my life since mommy left us and there lies the paradox and mystery of life and death. It was in her dying when I felt anew so close to God.
First, God surprised me with the tremendous outpouring of love and support from so many people during her wake. Second, despite the grief and depression that followed a few months later, I still felt so blessed and closest to God with the unique intensity of the relationships we keep and instilled by our mom which we have taken for granted all these years. And third, I have experienced and realized how death is profoundly good in so many ways because it was after mommy’s death when I found the answers to my many questions about life. With her death, the more I appreciated the grace of my father’s sudden death 25 years ago right on her birthday.
That is the grace and surprise of Easter: in Christ’s dying and rising to life, death has become a blessing to us all as we have come to share in his glorious resurrection too.
Despite that feeling of emptiness within and in our homes, of the irrevocable reality they are gone forever never to join us in our meals and bonding like Christmas, of never hearing their voices again nor be able to hug and embrace them can be shattering, the angel’s reminder to Mary Magdalene and companion women at the empty tomb echoes in our hearts too: “Why do you seek the living one among the dead? He is not here, but he has been raised. Remember what he said to you while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners and be crucified, and rise on the third day.” And they remembered his words (Luke 24:5-8).
Photo by author, Mirador Jesuit Retreat House, Baguio City, 2017.
Every deceased loved one is a testament of Easter, of Christ’s resurrection because they all assure us they are alive and living, never to die again like Jesus. That feeling of somehow seeing them again is a tension borne out of the reality of Easter as supranatural and non-logical. Hence, the call for us like Mary Magdalene to always remember!
Remember!
Not only the painful Good Friday but most of all the words of Christ, the experiences with Christ, the love and hope of Christ there in our hearts. Every time we remember the words and memories of our deceased loved ones, they too point us to the realities of Christ’s resurrection. Jesus and our loved ones will always be one of us, among us.
The word remembering literally means to make a person and an event a “member” of the present moment again, that is, “RE” + “MEMBER”.
That is the greatest surprise of Easter – in the Resurrection of Jesus, there has now come a bond among us all, both living and deceased that cannot be broken, that continues today and hereafter.
That is what Peter was telling his fellow Jews on Pentecost Sunday, asking everyone to remember the words and life of Jesus Christ for that is where we find the surprising moments of life we never realized because we took them for granted.
That is why Paul tells us in the second reading to “seek what is above” – the spiritual things and not the material things because that is where we truly belong. That is where we experience again in the most unique and surprising way the presence of Jesus and of our deceased loved ones.
Great surprises happen on the unseen realms of realities giving meaning to what we see and perceive and feel. In that moment we are surprised that we are suddenly enlightened of why deaths and loss happen because there is something better, more real about to unfold. That moment is a hairline between the temporal and eternal when we get a rare glimpse and taste of the Lord risen, of heaven itself.
Photo by author, Mary of the Poor, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, 17 March 2025.
When my mother died last May, I must confess how I had to swallow many of the homilies I have shared in the past because they are so far from the realities of losing a loved one. That is when we realize too the great surprising truth of how death makes us more whole than before. We feel transformed when what we know and what we feel become one and integrated. It is like the feeling of “a basta!” in Tagalog.
Our task and mission is to be like Mary Magdalene, to proclaim the Lord is risen, to awaken everyone of the many surprising moments of God with us in Jesus which we have taken for granted.
Not every death is the same but all deaths are one in Jesus Christ – a grace, a blessing, a reminder of Easter, of our own resurrection. Now, right here.
With mommy’s death last year, now I have realized too why Jesus appeared first to women on Easter and that is because they, especially mothers have the most intimate link with us here on earth. The umblical cord is never cut off because mothers are the first to believe in their children, the first to believe in God that is why they are our first catechists too. Women and mothers especially are the most intimate persons that they have visions that go beyond sights, enabling them to be surprised most often. Has God ever surprised you in unexpected ways like Easter? Or death and loss? Amen.
From Facebook, 04 April 2021: “There is an urgency to announce the Joy, the joy of the Risen Lord.”
Good Friday Reflection by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, 18 April 2025
Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, 17 March 2025.
Twenty-seven years ago today, I was ordained as priest with my six other classmates at the Malolos Cathedral by Archbishop Rolando J. Tria-Tirona. I was 33 years old at that time (and less than 200 pounds in weight).
One thing prevailed in me on the eve of that most beautiful event in my life: Jesus Christ died on the Cross when he was 33 years old. Is my ordination my crucifixion too? Maybe. But due to the euphoria that followed after my ordination, I forgot all about it until I approached the age of 40 and my honeymoon stage in the priesthood waned with all the trials and difficulties – and crises – that followed.
It was at that time every year my birthdays and anniversaries came, I prayed only one thing from God – that I would have a more worry free year, that the following year would be a banner one for me. “Sana naman Lord ngayon ako naman ang panalo, ako naman ang bida, ayoko na sa ilalim ng gulong ng palad. Sana ako naman ang nasa itaas.”
God never heard my prayers. They never came. Actually, the opposite happened as I went through more trials, more difficulties, more pains and hurts that many nights in my prayers I felt like Jesus Christ crying on the Cross on that Good Friday, “I thirst” (John 19:28).
Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, 17 March 2025.
Many times in life, our prayers to God are cries like that of Jesus on the Cross, “I thirst.”
Those are the times we thirst for love and kindness, for care and understanding, sometimes the most simplest recognition as a person or a brother/sister or a friend from our family and friends.
This is the second time Jesus felt thirsty in the fourth gospel. The first time was when he asked the Samaritan woman for water at Jacob’s well where in fact, it was Christ who gave her the “living water” – himself – in the wonderful conversation that followed.
See that in the fourth gospel, water is one of the significant signs used by the evangelist to portray Jesus Christ like in his first miracle at the wedding at Cana when he turned water into wine. In his conversation with Nicodemus one night, Jesus spoke of the power of water in cleansing us into a new person in Baptism.
The thirst of Jesus Christ on that Good Friday on the Cross is also our thirst for love, for kindness, for faith, for life and for one another. And here is the mystery and paradox: that thirst can only quenched by Christ if we too remain in him, with him on the Cross. That is why after he head died, blood and water flowed from his side pierced with a lance by a soldier. All throughout his life, especially while on the Cross, Jesus never ceased from being good, from doing good, from loving us all, giving us even at his death life and love.
After 27 years as a priest now on my senior year, I have realized this as the only thing I desire most in life – Christ, the only water who can quench all my thirst as a person, as a priest. Life is love which is following Jesus on the Cross. To thirst for love is to desire more the Cross which is to love more the one Crucified, Jesus Christ.
The joy and meaning, the peace and fulfillment we long for in life, we thirst for always are found in the Cross, not in material things nor in fame and glory as the soldiers had mistaken on the Good Friday. Unfortunately, many of us are exactly like those Roman soldiers who give money and material things to those crying “I thirst” to us.
Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, 17 March 2025.
The Cross of Jesus Christ has always been described as a paradox. And that is really what the Cross is – a paradox and mystery of life at the same time.
When you are on the cross, like this sweltering summer, what is one thing you desire or cry for? Water, is it not?
It is during that time when we are on the Cross of intense pains and sufferings when we truly feel how valuable every drop of water is. It is when we are up against the wall when we realize the most important, the most essential in life like love found in persons who all enable us to feel God’s reality in his loving presence.
This Friday is called Good. The only Friday that is Good in the whole year because that is when we remember, when we make present again in our very lives our being one with Jesus at the Cross like the beloved disciple and his mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary when in our intense thirst, there we experienced the refreshing and life-giving living water Jesus Christ himself. This Good Friday as we reflect on the suffering and death of Jesus on the Cross, what is that one thing you also desire from God?
Photo by author, National Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima, Valenzuela City, Good Friday 2025.
We all thirst.
When we thirst, thank God because that means we desire him who is love himself. When we truly thirst like Jesus, that is when we too are on the Cross with him; then, you are at the right place at the right time because it is only on the cross can our thirst be truly quenched in Jesus. Let us follow him always in the Cross for that is what to be loving in the first place which is to be with the One who died on the Cross this Good Friday. Amen.
