“Coming Around Again” by Carly Simon (1986)

Lord My Chef Sunday Music by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, 10 May 2026

Jesus wrapped up this Sunday his teachings about relationships with the commandment to love one another. Five times he repeated the word “love” in our short gospel this Sunday to highlight its centrality in every relationship.

Without love, no relationship will ever mature and grow.

More than a feeling, love is a decision, a choice we make, day in, day out. As such, it cannot be defined but simply described.

And being a Mothers’ Day this Sunday, we find Christ’s description of keeping his commandment to love is exactly the kind of love every mom exemplifies to us captured by the 1986 song Coming Around Again by one of our favorites, Ms. Carly Simon.

Baby sneezes
Mommy pleases
Daddy breezes in
So good on paper
So romantic
But so bewildering

I know nothing stays the same
But if you're willing to play the game
It's coming around again
So don't mind if I fall apart
There's more room in a broken heart (broken heart)

You pay the grocer
You fix the toaster
You kiss the host goodbye
Then you break a window
Burn the soufflé
Scream a lullaby

I know nothing stays the same
But if you're willing to play the game
It's coming around again
So don't mind if I fall apart
There's more room in a broken heart

And I believe in love
But what else can I do
I'm so in love with you

Written by Ms. Simon in 1986 as soundtrack for the dramatic comedy film “Heartburn” starring Meryl Streep and Jack Nicholson, the song captures the very essence of its writer Nora Ephron’s fictionalized account of her tumultuous marriage and divorce with her first husband Carl Bernstein, the famous reporter who unearthed the Watergate scandal with fellow Washington Post journalist Bob Woodward. It is a very touching movie with great performances by Streep and Nicholson perfect for this Mothers’ Day too.

Mothers are the best examples of the love Jesus is speaking of in the gospel today that Simon portrayed in her song Coming Around Again.

It is the love that mothers affirm over and over again despite the pains and hurts inflicted by their husband and children; it is the faithful love of every mom even if others are unfaithful; most of all, it is the love that remembers and never forgets, always forgiving, kind and understanding expecting nothing in return.

Yes, it sounds like in a movie like “Heartburn” but it is still so true as we have experienced with our own mother!

That is why I like that part when Simon declared:

I know nothing stays the same
But if you're willing to play the game
It's coming around again
So don't mind if I fall apart
There's more room in a broken heart (broken heart)

The love Jesus is commanding us is the very same love mothers exemplify: they are so aware “nothing stays the same” with unfaithful husband, ungrateful children yet, they keep on loving because it is “coming around again”. Most of all, because they “believe in love”.

And I believe in love
But what else can I do
I'm so in love with you

Without love, humanity will go extinct.

Because of love, as proven by mothers, we have learned that every tragedy, every suffering and problem we go through leads to happy ending primarily because we discover something in ourselves and in someone beyond far more important than any situation or plight we may be into.

In that song and movie, you will find how love is the source of constant deep joy when we are suffering especially in silence. It is here we find the coming around in fullness of love in Jesus: his promised revelation of himself to those who keep on loving despite and in spite of everything. (See also our homily this Sunday, https://lordmychef.com/2026/05/09/easter-is-making-jesus-present-in-our-love/)

Here now is Ms. Carly Simon with Coming Around Again that was included in her 1987 album of the same title. Don’t forget to hug your mom today, to thank her and greet her with a happy mother’s day!

From YouTube.com.

Easter is making Jesus present in our love

Lord My Chef Sunday Recipe by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Sixth Sunday of Easter, Cycle A, 10 May 2026
Acts 8:5-8, 14-17 ><}}}*> 1 Peter 3:15-18 ><}}}*> John 14:15-21

*Photo by author, Bucharest, Romania, November 2025.*

Jesus wraps up this Sunday his Last Supper discourse into its very meaning of love as basis of our relationships in him who is both our “gate” as the Good shepherd (April 26) and our “home” (May 3). It was at his Last Supper when Jesus gave his new commandment of love that is why Holy Thursday is also known as Maundy Thursday from the Latin mandatum for “command.”

Jesus said to his disciples: “If you love me, you will keep my commandments… In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me, because I live and you will live. On that day you will realize that I am in my Father and you are in me and I in you. Whoever has my commandments and observes them is the one who loves me. And whoever loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him, and reveal myself to him” (John14:15, 19-21)

See how Jesus mentioned the word “love” five times in our short gospel this Sunday.

Love is the basis of every relationship; without love, any relationship will not last, will not grow, will not mature and deepen into what it is meant to be.

This is most true in our relationship as disciples of Christ wherein love is more than a feeling but a decision, a choice we make daily in favor of Jesus through the persons around us like your spouse and children, our parents, and fellow disciples. And mothers!

Happy Mothers’ Day to every mom especially those in their sick bed, those widowed, and those who gone ahead of us to eternity.

Mothers are the best examples of the love Jesus is speaking of in the gospel today.

It is the love we affirm despite the pains and hurts of misunderstanding from people we love; it is the love calling us to remain faithful even if others are not; it is the love that remembers and never forgets; it is the love that forgives, that cares and understands without asking anything in return.

It is a love that unfolds, like a process going through stages that calls us to be patient as St. Paul described it in one of his letters. That is why Jesus promised to send the Holy Spirit later to his disciples to understand better his lessons and mission for them.

See how in the first reading we have a glimpse of the kind of love of Jesus calling us – the conversion of the people of Samaria: first was Philip coming to them like preparing the ground for the gospel in them and when they seem to be ready, Peter and John arrived to pray over them to receive the fullness of the Holy Spirit. More than to show us how the Holy Spirit works, the story is all about the love that bound the early Church together especially when the persecution begun.

I prefer the word “unfolding” in describing love wherein slowly there is the sort of “unveiling” of the cover of the face because love is more than a concept and thought or experience: love is a person as John wrote in his first letter, Deus caritas est, God is love (1Jn.4:8).

It is the title of the first encyclical by Pope Benedict XVI who wrote that true love involves transformation wherein the lover seeks to become like his beloved, moving from selfish desires known as eros into the self-sacrificial and other-centered love called agape, the Greek word used by John in writing his account of the Last Supper.

The love that Jesus is calling us is that love of his on the Cross we make present in the Eucharist, that even though we repeat it over and over daily, we never get fed up because something is happening in us, there is something changing, making us better, more matured, more loving that we keep coming back to the Holy Mass to listen to his words and receive him Body and Blood under the signs of the bread and wine.

Every true love is always a person. This is the reason why those who love persevere and forge into every obstacle, fight for their love, bear all pains because we find our fulfillment in being with our beloved, whether physically or spiritually. The mode does not really matter because true love touches our very personhood always.

Here lies the beauty of Albert Camus’ 1947 novel The Plague that had a sort of rediscovery during the 2020 COVID pandemic where he wrote that “A loveless world is a dead world, and always there comes an hour when one is weary of prisons, of one’s work, and of devotion to duty, and all one craves for is a loved face, the warmth and wonder of a loving heart.”

*Our Lady of Fatima University-GawadKalinga in Bagac, Bataan.*

Without love, humanity will go extinct.

Because of love, every tragedy, every suffering and problem we go through leads to happy ending primarily because we discover something in ourselves and in someone beyond far more important than any situation or plight we may be into.

And that is the joy of the love of Jesus Christ when God is revealed in us in his love when we love like him. It is Jesus Christ whom we “sanctify as Lord in our hearts” (1Pt.3:15) is the one we imitate and follow, the one we see and, most of all, the only one we must share when we love, when we serve.

I know, these are easier said than done.

Specially when we who love are not loved by those we love. Or taken for granted, even forgotten.

Again, let us return to that love of mothers that is most closest to the love of Jesus Christ, a love so willing to give up one’s self in spite and despite of everything.

One of the hardest things many of us go through like priests and nuns, the eldest in the family and the newly widowed or anyone looked up to as someone without a problem: very often people forget us or take us for granted including those supposed to be closest to us, thinking we are fine or doing great without any hint of the sufferings we are going through.

But, it is a source of constant deep joy while suffering in silence, God’s grace is always overflowing because Jesus is within each one of us who believes in him and tries hard to keep his commandments.

We just have to do our part, to keep on believing in Jesus, loving Jesus, and most of all, keeping his commandments because Jesus is the “explanation to anyone who asks us for a reason for our hope” (1Pt.3:15).

We are about to close the Easter Season in two weeks: next Sunday will be the Solemnity of the Lord’s Ascension and after that the Pentecost Sunday. This Last Supper scene perfectly captures the very kind of love Jesus is asking us – a love so personal like his, a love that unfolds and grows deeper as we love more despite the pains and sufferings, and a love that often looks absurd to others and even to us because it is not physical. And beyond logic.

Jesus invites us to continue to be his loving presence in this selfish world, where everyone demands of deserving so many perks in life. Let us do away with that expression “dasurv ko” this or that. Let us pray for more love to conquer all. Don’t forget to hug or remember your mom this Mothers’ Day. Have a blessed Sunday and keep cool and hydrated too! Amen.

Easter is friendship in Jesus

Lord My Chef Daily Recipe by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Friday in the Fifth Week of Easter, 08 May 2026
Acts 15:22-31     <*((((><  +  ><))))*>     John 15:12-17

*Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, March 2024.*

Thank for reminding
me today, Jesus,
that we are friends:
"I no longer call you slaves,
because a slave does not know
what his master is doing.
I have called you friends,
because I have told you everything
I have heard from the Father"
(John 15:15).

Forgive me, Jesus,
in being so caught up
in the hustle and bustle 
of daily life,
of the ministry,
doing so many things for you
that I forget you have called
us friends,
not slaves.

How lovely
it is, Lord, to be
called as your friend,
that we are called and chosen
to be friends in order to love
like how you have loved us;
teach me to have that attitude
of your Apostles at the early
stage of your Church
who decided 
"not to place any burden
beyond" (Acts 15:28)
your command to love
one another;
many times, 
we forget that we are friends
loving one another like you
because unconsciously
we have made you into an earthly master
so demanding for results from us
that in turn made us a slave driver
to everyone.

Let us never forget
that truth that we are friends,
Lord Jesus in you, 
that we too must be a friend
to everyone.
Amen.

Easter is the joy of Jesus

Lord My Chef Daily Recipe by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Thursday in the Fifth Week of Easter, 07 May 2026
Acts 15:7-21     ><)))*> + ><)))*> + ><)))*>     John 15:9-11

*Photo by author, Anvaya Cove, Bataan, May 2023.*

Let me abide in you,
Jesus,
our true vine;
let me abide in you,
so that my joy
may be complete 
in you,
Jesus.

More than mere
happiness when our lips
express our good feelings,
joy comes from the heart,
deep down there where 
we feel wholeness,
security,
contentment,
and assurance of
being one in you,
Jesus,
our way,
our truth,
our life.

Joy is fulfillment
in you, Jesus,
in standing by your truth,
bearing all pains of
being misunderstood,
of fighting for what is
right and just,
most of all,
of simply loving
beyond measure
by seeing you on the
face of those different
from us like during
the Council of Jerusalem
in the first reading.

Today, 
we debate a lot,
Jesus, without even
facing each other,
throwing insults,
invectives and
threats in social media;
true discussions result
in joy, unity and
magnanimity, 
not anger
and animosity;
grant us the grace
to seek you, Jesus,
in our discussions of
everything that are often
centered on our own 
selfish interests;
make us open to others
and to you, Jesus,
so that our joy 
may be complete
in you by adhering 
to your gospel of life 
and love.
Amen.

Of bed & altar

Quiet Storm by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, 06 May 2026

Sampung buwan na 'kong hindi natutulog
Kasi naman, ang ingay ng aming kapitbahay
'Pag gabi, disco house at videoke
Kaya't sorry na lang kung wala sa aking sarili
Mahal kita, pero miss na miss na miss ko na

Ang aking kama at ang malupit kong unan
Ba't 'di ka na lang sumama? Hihiga tayo at kakanta

I have always loved the Eraserheads whose songs are like vintage wines that get better with age like Kamasupra from their thrid studio album considered as the best Pinoy rock album, “Cutterpillow” released in 1995.

See the genius and artistry of Ely Buendia in composing Kamasupra, a witty play of words and ideas, of the bed we call kama in Filipino and that bible of erotica Kama Sutra from ancient India.

More than a furniture, the bed is also an altar of the highest order in every home where we perform our final acts as humans at the end of each day – of retiring and of dreaming while entrusting ourselves, consciously or unconsciously to God. In the same manner, it is on our bed where we also desecrate our very selves and those dearest to us.

Photo from LightRocket via Getty Images
Erotic sculptures of the Khajuraho group of monuments, part of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites in India.

Please. There’s nothing bastos with both Kamasupra and Kama Sutra; both speak of the joys and sanctity of our relationships, of our being with our loved ones in bed that leads us to eternity as every old and dying person would tell you.

I know. I have met so many of them being a chaplain in a hospital for five years now. Whether in our home or in the hospital, the bed is always the final step board of every soul going to eternity.

*Photo by Katru012bne Skrebele on Pexels.com*

Whenever I would bless the master’s bedroom in a new home, I say a prayer of blessing on the couple’s bed and before sprinkling it with Holy Water, I ask them to first bless it so that they would feel its sanctity as an altar where they give themselves to each other completely.

Hence, only them the husband and wife can sleep in that bed and nobody else, not even the children.

I do the same ritual of blessings in the other rooms of the children, praying that they would find rest of body and soul in their bed with a strict reminder that no visitors can stay inside their bedroom because it is sacred. Period.

This is most true for the bed of every priest. Notice how in most parish rectories and convents of nuns you find the sign “Private” to indicate no visitors allowed in their private quarters.

The priest’s bedroom and bed are literally his “inner sanctum” where only he and Jesus can be together at all times. Usually in silence too.

That is why I tell young priests to first have an altar in their bedroom where they could pray first thing in the morning and just before hitting the sack. Next to our breviary, the bed is the priest’s most beloved and blessed partner in life.

Most of all, the priest’s bed should always be “celibate” too like himself – that is, single-size only. No need to have big beds nor expensive ones because a priest’s bed is a reflection of his vows in the ministry – celibacy, poverty, and obedience.

*Photo by author, personal altar in my bedroom.*

Some of my most memorable images and experiences as a priest happened when I accompanied two elderly priests of our diocese in their deathbeds.

First was Msgr. Macario Manahan who died on 16 March 2014, the Second Sunday in Lent that year. I was by his side when he died that Sunday afternoon as he lived near my previous parish assignment. The second priest was Msgr. Vicente Manlapig who was confined in our hospital where I serve as chaplain. He died a few hours after my last visit to him on a Sunday morning, 26 February 2023, the Second Sunday in Lent.

Yes. They both died in Lent that is why since 2023, I have kept on telling people that life is a daily Lent, a preparation for Easter.

*Bed of St. John Marie Vianney, Patron of all priests; from devotiontoourlady.com*

It was at their deathbeds when I strongly realized that our bed is also our altar especially when we get sick and old, where we shall celebrate the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, where we meet and receive Jesus Christ in the Holy Viaticum when too weak to celebrate the Eucharist.

It is on the bed of a dying priest I have felt deeply and truthfully the vocation in the priesthood – of how we were called by Jesus to become his priest that in the end he shall be calling us again as his priest to join him eternally.

And there in our bed comes the painful truth of how when we were young and strong we were called to do everything for Jesus and his Church, often lording it over the flock, so powerful as if like a god until all of a sudden without any warning, we just find ourselves already old or sick and weak, bedridden.

That’s when we hear anew Christ our Eternal Priest calling us, this time not to do anything at all but simply hang there on the cross with him like the two thieves at the Calvary.

That is when in our deathbeds we priests call on Christ anew like Dimas, the good thief, admitting all sins and faults while confessing our faith in Jesus.

The priest’s bed is where the priest cultivates his intimacy with Jesus too – his very celibacy and purity, his poverty and simplicity, as well as his docility and obedience not only to his bishop but ultimately to God.

Because it is also on that bed where the priest wages all kinds of battle in his life and ministry until the end, where the devil begins and ends all temptations to displace Christ from the side of the priest.

The Death of St. Martin of Tours, detail from an altar frontal from the Church of Saint Martin in Chia, 1150-1200 (tempera on panel) by Johannes Pintor, Ribagorça Workshop (fl.1150-1200); Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain ; (add.info.: Saint Martin on his deathbed, covered with a blanket in the colours and stripes of Aragon, rebukes the devil;).

It is said that when St. Martin of Tours, our patron saint in Bocaue, Bulacan, was dying in Candes (France) surrounded by his disciples, the devil appeared at his bed side, trying to claim his soul. Having lived a life of intense spiritual warfare, most likely some of it in his own bed, St. Martin rebuked the devil with his firm faith in Jesus Christ. The devil vanished and St. Martin died on November 11, 397 AD.

Every night towards the end of our Compline, we pray Simeon’s Canticle, the Nunc Dimittis (Lk.2:29-32) with an antiphon that goes like this: “Protect us, Lord, as we stay awake; that awake we may keep watch with Christ and asleep rest in his peace.” We then close our prayers with the final words, “May the Lord grant us a restful sleep and a peaceful death. Amen.”

It does not really matter whether one is a priest or not. Most of all if your bed is comfortable or not. What is important is that on that bed we are at peace with ourselves, with others and most of all, with God. So, keep your bed sacred at all times.

“Everytime You Go Away” (1980) by Hall & Oates

Lord My Chef Sunday Music by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, 04 May 2026

*Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, 20 March 2026, Novaliches, QC.*

We’re back with our Sunday music blog with a Hall & Oates original we hope will soothe our searing weather and wipe too our troubles in Jesus’ name. But before we go into their lovely music, let us try to recall first this Sunday’s gospel that brings us back to the Last Supper scene just before the betrayal and arrest of Jesus.

Imagine the silent stillness of the room heavy with emotion, with lamps flickering in the evening light.

Feel the ebb and flow of intimacy and uncertainty in the impending separation of the Lord from his disciples.

Then, amid the gloom, feel the comforting assurance of Jesus telling his disciples that include us today to “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You have faith in God; have faith also in me” (Jn.14:1)

What’s troubling you lately?

Many times, what really troubles us most is the fear of being left out, of being alone.

Money, sickness, and ultimately death trouble us a lot because of our fears of having nobody by our side not only to defend and comfort us but simply be with us. That is why we are troubled when people we love cheat on us, betray us or simply threaten us of walking away from us to be on their own.

Every time a beloved leaves us by choice or by circumstances, whenever we feel “apart” from others and separated, we feel losing a part of very selves because each one is also our part.

This we hear perfectly expressed by Daryl Hall and John Oates in 1980:

And everytime you go away
You take a piece of me with you
And everytime you go away
You take a piece of me with you, you

Everytime You Go Away is from the 1980 “Voices” album of Hall & Oates from which also came their highly popular version of You’ve Lost that Lovin’ Feeling, followed by the smash hits Kiss On My List and You Make My Dreams.

Hall & Oates did not release a single version of Everytime You Go Away that was later covered by Paul Young in 1985 when it became number one for several weeks both in the UK and US Billboard charts. Hall admitted in an interview that Paul’s cover of Everytime You Go Away is his most favorite.

But of course, as a Hall & Oates fan, we prefer their own rendition of Everytime You Go Away that is truly more soulful with the long organ introduction that make it sound so gospel and churchy too. Try listening to Hall’s later versions and be awed with his powerful voice that had aged like an expensive wine. How sad that Hall and Oates have parted ways recently after more three decades of partnership that earned them the title of being music’s dynamic duo.

Since becoming a priest in 1998, we have been mentioning this song, sometimes “singing” it in our homily and spiritual talks because of its gospel values about honesty and sincerity, especially fidelity in our relationships (https://lordmychef.com/2026/05/02/easter-is-jesus-our-home-our-cornerstone/).

Being left out, being alone is the deepest pain one could ever have. And that is why Jesus came, suffered and died for us on the Cross so that in his Resurrection, we would never be apart from him and everyone anymore, here on earth and hereafter. Have a blessed week ahead!

From YouTube.com.

Easter is Jesus, our home, our cornerstone

Lord My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Fifth Sunday of Easter, Cycle A, 03 May 2026
Acts 6:1-7  ><}}}}*>  1Peter 2:4-9  ><}}}}*>  John 14:1-12

*Photo from Our Lady of Fatima University official page at FB.*

We are celebrating our 60th foundation anniversary at the Our Lady of Fatima University (OLFU) and the Fatima University Medical Center (FUMC) next year. As part of our year-long celebrations beginning last February, we are building 60 homes in two Gawad Kalinga sites in Bagac, Bataan and Trece-Martirez, Cavite.

It is the second time we have embarked on the same project when our administrators, faculty and employees as well as students volunteered to build and delivered 50 homes through GK too ten years ago in celebration of our golden anniversary.

Our University President Dra. Caroline Santos-Enriquez explained that it is not enough for us to provide our people with good, quality education we have always strived in the last 60 years when many are without a home because when people have homes of their own, they are filled with hopes and that is when they truly start to dream for a better future.

Such a desire in having one’s own home is deeply rooted in the Bible. Jesus Christ’s third beatitude in his sermon on the mount, “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the land” (Mt.5:5) refers to the longing of the Israelites not only for their own homeland but also for their own homes too.

That is why at his last supper, he mentioned something so similar to that aspiration of his disciples but this time on a deeper level.

Jesus said to his disciples, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You have faith in God; have faith also in me. In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If there were not, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare and prepare a place for you, I will come back again and take you to myself, so that where I am you also may be. Where I am going you know the way” (John 14:1-4).

*Photo by MART PRODUCTION on Pexels.com*

It is very interesting that in the Hebrew language, the name they use to commonly address God is HaShem written as השם for “The Name” because they cannot utter the word YHWH or Yahweh as we pronounce written as יהוה which is so sacred for the Jewish people.

Now take a look at the first letter of HaShem shaped like a house, השם while its third last letter looks like a door or a small “n” in our english alphabet. It is the same shape of the letter Yod they use to write YHWH – יהוה.

According to a spiritual writer I have read, God’s very name connotes a house, a home and a door that imply “relationships”. Remember last Sunday when Jesus introduced himself as the “gate” through whom the shepherd and his sheep pass through?

Jesus now deepens this lesson he taught us last Sunday as he moved to its next scene which is his last supper.

Imagine the silent stillness of the room heavy with emotion.

With lamps flickering in the evening light, we feel the ebb and flow of intimacy and uncertainty just like in our own homes during times of crisis.

And in the midst of it all is Jesus speaking with comforting assurance.

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You have faith in God; have faith also in me.”

What is troubling you at this very moment or lately these past days or weeks?

Many times, what really troubles us most is the fear of being left out, of being alone. That is why money and sickness as well as death trouble us a lot. We are afraid of having nobody by our side not only to defend and comfort us but simply be with us. Here we find the value of having our own home where we feel safe and secured with loved ones.

Being left out, being alone is perhaps the deepest pain one could ever have. That is why we are troubled when people we love and care for threaten us of walking away from us to be on their own. Every time a beloved leaves us by choice or by circumstances, whenever we feel “apart” from others and separated, we feel losing a part of very selves because each one is also our part. Jesus came, suffered and died for us on the Cross so that in his Resurrection, we would never be apart from him and everyone anymore, here on earth and hereafter.

*Photo by author, Manaoag Basilica, Pangasinan, 09 January 2026.*

Jesus assures us today of his presence among us, of being with us and in us – a relationship so personal like having our own home and dwelling place in heaven. But, are we ready and willing to walk his path, to stand by his truth and live his life?

Vis-a-vis the things that trouble us, what is our deepest yearning at the moment? Are we still in the same level with Philip relying more on the physical and material aspects of relationships?

In my previous post after my annual retreat, I have mentioned to you my dear friends of my decision to rest a little from my daily blogs. Not really as a respite from my busy schedules but more of finding Jesus anew. During that retreat in March, I realized the thing that most bothered me lately was being far from God. I have been praying to blog, not for God.

Many times, we serve God in others without really being centered in Him, without any relationship at all with Him in Christ Jesus. And we priests are often guilty of it, of too much ministry without Jesus that lead us to burnout and exhaustion, most especially the lack of love for others. Anything especially relationships without Jesus eventually dies naturally because he indeed life himself.

*Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, 20 March 2026.*

The Apostles realized this early in the Church as we have heard in the first reading that they assigned seven deacons to serve the Greek-speaking converts to Christianity lest they forget Jesus Christ in prayers.

The same is true with us. It can happen that we feel we are doing God’s work, following his will but we are not in him in Christ. That is why Jesus clarified with Thomas: his very person is the way the truth and the life. And that is because he is the “cornerstone” of our very lives as explained by Peter in the second reading.

We are the “living stones” who make up the Church, the mystical body of Christ both visible and invisible. As God’s “chosen people” and “royal priesthood”, we have a deep spiritual bonding in Christ nourished and sustained in our prayers and liturgy. As disciples of Christ, we move visibly adjusting and innovating in our ways like the Apostles by remaining focused on the person of Jesus who is our everything.

Going back to our housing project at OLFU at FUMC, I was amazed at the faith of some of our recipients of the new homes we’re building in Trece-Martirez, Cavite who came to see me after the groundbreaking ceremonies. They told me how for so many years they prayed together as families to have their own homes and now it is slowly becoming a reality; hence, if I could bless – finally – their images of the Virgin Mary, Sacred Heart and Divine Mercy they have kept in their rented homes for many years.

They were so thankful for the blessing but, unknown to them, I felt more blessed in them as I felt God reassuring me that whatever troubles me in life, Jesus places great trust in us in continuing his mission here on earth. Let us remain in him and hold on to his words, “Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes in me will do the works that I do, and will do greater ones than these, because I am going to the Father.” A blessed week ahead to everyone! Amen.

Losing the battle, winning the war

Quiet Storm by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, 30 April 2026

This front-page photo of the Philippine Daily Inquirer on August 20, 2021 is my favorite shot taken during the COVID pandemic coverage by the local media. It is worth a thousand words indeed.

I remembered this photo last month before the Holy Week when a friend and former colleague in GMA News texted me about the death of her former staff member. Her message read, “please pray for the soul of ____ who had lost the battle with cancer.”

It is perhaps one of the most widely used template in announcing a death, lost a battle. In my 28 years as a priest, it is only now as a senior citizen that I have reflected about that most common text I receive whenever somebody dies after a lingering illness. Or battle.

But, is dying really losing the battle?

Since turning “sigisty-one” years old last March, I have considered it as grace that the more I have now become aware of the reality of my mortality, the more I have become more filled with hope in life too.

Despite death becoming so real this time as I really feel ageing through weakening of muscles, diminishing stamina, failing memory, and most especially of the onset of comorbidities like diabetes, the more I am most convinced that life is beautiful, always good to be alive. Every gising indeed is a blessing!

This is not an attempt to romanticize or make death palatable. I know. This is easier said than done. Memento mori is a reality like the sword of Damocles literally above us daily, not just a fashion fad we put on our t-shirt or some on their skin as a tattoo.

We all shall die. What is scary is the process of dying, not death itself which we shall not feel because we are already dead. Dying is a defeat, a loss when all we have is bitterness and anger, unforgiveness and resentments because that is when we resign and stop living, losing life by default.

Death is a loss as in a battle when we deny its reality, its being a fact and part of life that we have refused to look beyond it that is fuller and eternal.

*Photo by author, Manaoag Basilica, 09 January 2026.*

But, when we have love and forgiveness, contrition and acceptance, death turns into a victory. And life. Especially when we have Jesus Christ.

In Jesus, every death and its other faces of poverty, losses, failures, sufferings and sickness are all a gain, a true wealth, a victory because these lead us to fulfillment not just happiness; fruitfulness not only success in life because death leads us to the hereafter.

Recall Luke’s beautiful account of the road to Emmaus when Jesus joined the two disciples walking at the opposite direction, leaving Jerusalem late afternoon of Easter. They did not recognize Jesus during their journey because their eyes were fixated on what happened on Good Friday; their eyes would only be opened after Jesus broke bread with them in their home in Emmaus. It is when we are broken like bread that we experience the fullness and meaning of life. (See https://lordmychef.com/2026/04/18/leaving-disbelieving/)

I recently went to the wake of former RPN-9 reporter Ed Nanquil who “battled” prostate cancer for sometime until dementia hit him two years ago that abruptly cut off our communications.

Despite my busy schedule that week, I made sure to come to his wake to offer Mass as a final tribute and gratitude to Ed who was very instrumental in my becoming a priest.

We last met in 1993 at the WPD headquarters in UN Avenue, Manila. It was our seminary break and I have come to join my former GMA News cameraman Jun Fronda in his graveyard shift duty when Ed approached me that night at the lobby of the police headquarter.

“Totoo pala ang chismis na nagpapari ka,” Ed calmly told me in his characteristic genteel voice.

I looked at him and laughed, telling him how I have been used to that comment. As we talked about my vocation, I told Ed how I felt God playing a big joke on me: first, when he made me a TV reporter when I do not have the broadcast voice at all, explaining that I applied as a news writer but by God’s grace, I was catapulted to being a reporter. And secondly, how God brought me back to the seminary to become a priest who would be preaching, singing and chanting a lot when my voice has remained small and sintonado!

That was when Ed told me that “many times, the things we hate and do not like in ourselves are exactly what God likes in us.” Whoa! It was the tipping point in my vocation story as I felt Ed was an angel sent by God to assure me He wanted me to become a priest, that I have to stop doubting Him and His call despite my many weaknesses and limitations. And sins.

That night at his wake, as I blessed the remains of Ed, I silently thanked him, and whispered to him he had not lost his battles with cancer and dementia. I have become a priest partly because of him who had taught me along the way how to battle with my many doubts of self and of God.

When we refer to death as a battle we have lost, it means more of the grief of losing a beloved because the truth is the opposite: it is when we die that we win the war in life with the many lives we have touched and won over who would continue to live and touch others too in the process.

For those battling with cancer and other sickness, as well as those hurdling so many obstacles and trials in this life, especially those “lumalaban ng patas”, God is with us always. Our battle had long been won by Jesus Christ. We just have to be present. Do not lose by default. Accept. And “surrender” like St. Paul:

…the time of my departure is at hand. I have competed well; I have finished the race; I have kept the faith. From now on the crown of righteousness awaits me, which the Lord, the just judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me, but to all who have longed for his appearance (2 Timothy 4:6b-8).

May we have the same courage of St. Paul in life. And in death. To live forever and ever. Amen.

*Photo by author, Don Bosco Batulao, Batangas, 08 April 2026*

Easter is being set apart for Jesus

Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Wednesday, Memorial of St. Catherine of Siena, Virgin & Doctor of Church, 29 April 2026
Acts 12:24-13:5 ><}}}}*> + ><}}}}*> + ><}}}}*> John 12:44-50

*Photo by author, Bolinao, Pangasinan, April 2022.*

While they were worshipping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” Then, completing their fasting and prayer, they laid hands on them and sent them off (Acts 13:2-3).

As we move in your Spirit
Lord Jesus Christ,
moving with you
and moving to you,
teach us to be set apart
from the rest like what you did
to Barnabas and Saul;
give us the docility to 
follow your movement away
from others we have been
comfortable with
in order to move where
we may experience discomfort
and be dislocated;
give us the same grace
you gave St. Catherine of Sienna
who saw the whole Church as
her community,
recognizing the need for unity
through reconciliation;
in this time of too much tensions
happening in the Church within
and outside,
give us the courage to be set apart
like St. Catherine to confront
the growing rifts among 
the clergy and the faithful.

Let us realize,
dear Jesus,
that sometimes we need
to be set apart 
to speak your words
that bring light
into the world so darkened
by sins and evil
that many times
I perpetrate.
Amen.

Easter is “moving” in Christ

Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Tuesday in the Fourth Week of Easter, 28 April 2026
Acts 11:19-26     ><]]]]'> + ><]]]]'> + ><]]]]'>     John 10:22-30

*Photo by author, Fatih Square, Istanbul, Turkiye, November 2025.*

Easter is about movements:
of moving in Jesus,
moving with Jesus,
moving to Jesus.

Those who had been scattered by the persecution that arose because of Stephen went as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, preaching the word to no one but Jews. There were some Cypriots and Cyrenians among them, however, who came to Antioch and began to speak to the Greeks as well, proclaiming the Lord Jesus. The hand of the Lord was with them and great number who believed turned to the Lord (Acts 11:19-21).

How lovely,
dear Jesus to hear
that despite the fears
due to the martyrdom
 of Stephen in Jerusalem,
your disciples moved north
to Antioch now part of Turkiye
not to hide but to proclaim
your good news!

Strengthen my faith
in you, Jesus that when
things get tough,
when the Gospel is
challenged and dismissed,
let me move boldly in upholding
your message of truth
of a loving God we call Father
calling us to a life of
holiness and freedom
from sin and evil.

*Photo by author, St. Anthony de Padua Church, Taksim Square, Istanbul, Turkiye, November 2025.*

Let me move
in your Spirit, dear Jesus
like Barnabas
filled with joy
not suspicion,
encouraging others
to remain faithful
 in your teachings;
most of all,
let me move in compassion
and brotherly love
like Barnabas to search
for those shy and ashamed
of their sinful past like
Saul who later came to be known
as Paul;
may our movements be
more of gathering
than scattering
to unite and bring together
other believers
as one body,
one community
witnessing your gospel
that others may know us
your disciples,
Christians
like in Antioch.

In this world
with so many voices
shouting and screaming
 for our attention
to be famous,
to be rich,
to be powerful,
teach us to be silent
to distinguish your
voice and call,
Lord Jesus,
our Good Shepherd
whom we must follow
in poverty,
simplicity,
and humility.
Amen.