Doing the work of God

Lord My Chef Sunday Recipe by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Twenty-Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle A, 20 September 2026
Isaiah 55:6-9 ><}}}}*> Philippians 1:20-24, 27 ><}}}}*> Matthew 20:1-16

*Photo by a friend at Seabrook, Washington, 06 September 2026*

From fraternal correction to forgiving those who sin, Jesus continued teaching his disciples on their way to Jerusalem about some important aspects of living together as a community of disciples, his Church he had founded on Peter the Rock while in Caesarea Philippi five Sundays ago.

Today we hear Jesus teaching us about “work” – another issue in our time that has become so complicated as more employees and workers assert to the point of overextending their rights and privileges without any consideration to others.

We have a Tagalog word for that, pananaghili.

It may sound so beautiful but it is so negative in meaning. Pananaghili is an ill-feeling of envy and jealousy toward another person’s better lot like success, possession, or pleasures like when we complain of others more compensated in doing less or nothing when we did all the work. Exactly like the parable of Jesus this Sunday:

Jesus told his disciples this parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out at dawn to hire laborers for his vineyard. After agreeing with them for the usual daily wage, he sent them into his vineyard. Going out about nine o’clock, he saw others standing idle in the marketplace, and he said to them, ‘You too go into my vineyard, and I will give what is just.’ So they went off. And he went out again around noon, and around three o’clock, and did likewise. Going out about five o’clock, the landowner found others standing around and said to them… ‘You too go into my vineyard.’ When it was evening the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Summon the laborers and give them their pay, beginning with the last and ending with the first… So when the first came, they thought that they would receive more, but each of them also got the usual wage. And on receiving it they grumbled agains the landowner… ” (Matthew 20:1-6, 7-8, 10).

*Photo by Mr. Raffy Tima, Batanes, September 2018.*

Let us return to that Tagalog word pananaghili which often starts at home when we feel being “cheated” by a sibling, when a brother or a sister getting more favors because we feel our parents play favorites. Well, sometimes our pananaghili may be valid with a lot of basis, and sometimes nothing at all except a feeling of entitlement on our part.

But, here is the point that work is lined up with fraternal correction and forgiving: our attitude toward work always result in our kind of relationships with one another and ultimately with God.

Jesus reminds us anew to level up ourselves in looking at all these things especially work. Notice that at the start of his parable, Jesus clarified that work is something to be seen in the realm of the kingdom of heaven, always in relation with God.

Actually, work is always a call and gift from God that is why we must always be grateful by being responsible in our work. This is best expressed by another Tagalog word, hanap-buhay for work not just trabajo. Hanap-buhay literally means to “search life” or life’s meaning. Work is not just trabajo from the Spanish trabajar tinged with that curse in the Old Testament after the fall of Adam and Eve when God said “by the sweat of your face shall you get bread to eat” (Gen.3:19).

*Photo by author, RISE Tower, Our Lady of Fatima University, Valenzuela City, August 2025.*

In the New Testament, right here in this parable, Jesus shows us that work is a sharing, a participating in the work of God. The whole earth is God’s vineyard we are cultivating, we are harnessing. Here we find the interrelationships of man and creation, of environment we all have to care for. In our work, it is God whom we please and seek. We do not work simply to eat and survive; we work to reflect God in whom we are all created in his own image and likeness which is love.

That is why Isaiah invites us in the first reading to seek the Lord, to call upon God while he is near even in our work, in our ministry, in our duties and responsibilities wherever we may be. And when, where do we feel closest to God?

I find it very striking that most often, there is only a hairline difference when we are closest and farthest from God that happens in the realm of sin. What a paradox that we feel God closest when we are most contrite of our sins, and God farthest when we are deep in sin.

Sometimes sin is not that bad at all: when our conscience is bothered with an evil we have done, we become aware of God’s presence, whether near or far. The mere fact we are bothered by our conscience, that is God so near us. Like what the workers hired first felt – they could not outrightly complain to the landowner directly that they just grumbled. Sounds like us, is it not?

This is the purpose of Christ’s parable this Sunday: to bother our selves to examine our nearness and distance from God that is most clear in the area of our work where we are most challenged to be responsible and faithful. See how the landowner representing God confronted one of those workers grumbling against him:

‘My friend, I am not cheating you. Did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage? Take what is yours and go. What if I wish to give this last one then same as you? Or am I not free to do as I wish my own money?’ (Matthew 20:13-15)

Remember what we reflected last Sunday: when we sin we not only transgress against another person but firstly with God that it is useless to compare our sins with others that we simply have to forgive because we all sin against God.

In our work whether at home or in the office or wherever, we complain a lot of God being unfair, that we deserve more when in fact God is most just. We forget that truth and reality that God has been most generous with us always. Problems happen the moment we start thinking of being superior than others, of being entitled, assuming a lot of things in our own favor.

Although we cannot deny the fact of many unfair practices happening especially in our country, it all leads to each one’s fidelity to God: if we are truly the disciples of Christ called Christians, whether as an employer or employee, justice must prevail all the time among us. That is why the Church through Pope Leo XIII issued in 1891 Rerum Novarum for the protection of the rights of workers especially women following the excesses of the Industrial Revolution. Historians agree Rerum Novarum is one of the most important document ever produced in the past century with most impact that gave the world the principles of just and living wage, eight hour shifts, private ownership among others.

This Sunday, all our readings affirm God’s words through the Prophet Isaiah that “my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways”, calling us to rise above our very selves in the service of one another for the glory of God.

Retired Chief Justice Artemio Panganiban expressed this perfectly last week when he reminded the senators to not just see the impeachment proceedings in the eyes of laws but most of all to serve justice to the people. His words apply not only to the senators but to everyone especially those with direct impact to the lives of the majority of people so loaded with too much sufferings from the horrendous traffic to poor basic services. Like St. Paul, retired Chief Justice Panganiban seemed to be telling everyone to “conduct yourselves in a way worthy of the gospel of Christ” especially those in government. Amen. Have a blessed week ahead.

Praying to be comfortable with self

Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Thursday, Twenty-Fourth Week in Ordinary Time, Year II
1 Corinthians 15:1-11 ><))))*> + ><))))*> + ><))))*> Luke 7:36-50

*Photo from Getty Images of painting by Frenchman James Tissot of sinful woman anointing and kissing the feet of Jesus in the house of Simon (Lk.7:36-50).*

After praying over today's
scriptures, I realized, 
Lord Jesus
one gift I think I must ask
from you especially now
I am already old:
the grace of self-composure,
of being at home with my self,
of being comfortable 
with my true self.

A certain Pharisee invited Jesus to dine with him, and he entered the Pharisee’s house and reclined at table. Now, there was a sinful woman in the city who learned that he was at table in the house of the Pharisee. Bringing an alabaster flask of ointment, she stood behind him at his feet weeping, and began to bathe his feet with her tears. The she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and anointed them with the ointment. When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, that she is a sinner” (Luke 7:36-39).

Lord Jesus,
"mahihiya po ako -
sa aking sarili,
sa inyo
at sa iba pang naroon
kung nasaksihan ko po ito
ng personal."

It was not an embarrassing
moment actually
but why all the reactions of
Simon and his guests
who were his fellow Pharisees?

Because the woman
was so truthful,
sincere
and honest;
she did not mind at all
the spectacle,
the respected people around
when she did a public contrition
of her sins to Christ;
it is not really
about us imitating her
but imitating you,
Jesus who was never
bothered by that sinful woman
in coming to you,
washing your feet with her tears,
wiping them dry with her hair,
and anointing with oiled perfume.

You were so free,
Jesus,
from what others may say
being approached and touched by
a sinner as Simon had thought;
you were so free,
Jesus,
to focus solely with the woman
and appreciate her kindness;
you were so free,
Jesus,
to forgive her for all her sins
after admitting
her own sinfulness,
so unlike the others
present there,
judging the woman,
casting doubts on you, Jesus
especially after you have
forgiven her sins.

There are times,
Lord,
despite the presence
of other people,
I am so absorbed with my self
that most often I am suspicious
of what others are thinking of me
that I cannot truly listen
and understand their words
because I am so insecure with myself;
truly, the more I talk of others,
the more I talk of myself!

Teach me, Jesus
to be comfortable with my self,
to be at home with my true self,
to be at home with my self
so that I may truly express myself
to you, Lord;
teach me to be like St. Paul
who had no any insecurity
at all in claiming himself
to be "the least of the Apostles"
being the persecutor of the early
Christians;
teach me to be comfortable
with my true self
so that I may focus more
on your abounding grace
bestowed on me despite
everything
so that like you
I may focus more
on those needing your loving
presence and grace.
Amen.

*Photo by author, patio of St. Agnes Church in Jerusalem, May 2017.*

Love never fails.

Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Wednesday, Twenty-Fourth Week in Ordinary Time, 16 September 2026
Memorial of Sts. Cornelius, Pope, and Cyprian, Bishop, Martyrs
1 Corinthians 12:31-13:13 <*((((>< + ><))))*> Luke 7:31-35

*Photo by a friend in Seabrook, Washington, 06 September 2026.*

Love never fails.
In other translations,
love never ends.

How lovely,
Lord Jesus;
and so challenging
because many times
I think of at least an end
to "loving" like when Peter
asked you last Sunday
"how many times must I forgive
my brother who sins to me...
is it seven times?"

When you said it is
"seventy times seven" -
that is clearly what love
that never fails.

As I pray to you,
I realized every age,
every generation in 
history always thinks
itself as the worst,
almost hopeless
like during this time in 
our lives not only in the world
but in our own country:
everything is chaos and disordered,
injustice and corruption are
the norms followed ironically
in this predominantly Christian
nation where money not
only talks but even shouts.

But, here we are still
Jesus: alive and kicking, 
fighting and surviving,
eagerly awaiting our 
new dawn of salvation
in you, Jesus;
grant me patience
and perseverance to keep
loving especially when it seems
to be no longer feasible
and even not doable;
like Sts. Cornelius and Cyprian
during their time,
it was not persecution per se
that was the problem
but divisions among early
Christians especially in the 
refusal of some in forgiving
and readmitting apostates to
to the faith; dear Jesus, 
teach us to be flexible,
more loving than legalistic
like your former Pope St. Cornelius
and his friend St. Cyprian the bishop
who both insisted those who denied
their faith while facing persecution 
may be forgiven and be readmitted;
it was clearly choosing to be more
loving than to be legalistic.

Teach me,
Jesus, to learn to read
the signs of the times
and most specially your 
divine will in dealing with the 
many complicated issues we 
now face in our being Christians.
May in everything 
we let love prevail for wherever there
is love, you are always there, Lord
because that is when we have
communion and oneness in 
you.
Amen.

To err is human, to forgive, divine.

Lord My Chef Sunday Recipe for Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle A, 13 September 2026
Sirach 27:30-28:7 ><}}}}*> Romans 14:7-9 ><}}}}*> Matthew 18:21-35

You must have heard that quote so often, “To err is human, to forgive is divine” from the English writer Alexander Pope’s 1711 poem An Essay on Criticism where he originally wrote “To err is human, to forgive, divine.”

For many it has become a cliche because it is so difficult to forgive. Especially if it has to be done repeatedly. It is among the hardest teachings of Jesus Christ along with the love of enemies, of doing good to those who hate us, and lending without expecting anything back.

In a sense, forgiving is the twin teaching of fraternal correction which Jesus taught us last Sunday; the more difficult it becomes when the wrong done is against us that we feel much like Peter in asking Jesus how many times must we forgive:

Peter approached Jesus and asked him, “Lord, if my brother sins against me, how often must I forgive him? As many as seven times?” Jesus answered, “I say to you, not even seven times but seventy-seven times (Matthew 18:21-22).

NEW YORK – SEPTEMBER 11, 2001: (SEPTEMBER 11 RETROSPECTIVE) Smoke pours from the twin towers of the World Trade Center after they were hit by two hijacked airliners in a terrorist attack September 11, 2001 in New York City. (Photo by Robert Giroux/Getty Images)

Like fraternal correction, forgiving is a major concern in this modern time when the means and forms of evil have become sophisticated like terrorism and online scams that unfortunately happen not only on the world stage but right into our personal lives and relationships too.

We have all experienced being pushed to the limits as our patience is exhausted when a beloved is the one sinning against us that is both unacceptable and most unkind of all especially if the sin is committed repeatedly, prompting us to ask God like Peter how many times must we forgive our brother or sister. The figure “seven times” given by Peter is not the literal number but refers to the very many times we have forgiven somebody to wear out our patience.

What Peter was asking was a freedom from calculation of repeatedly forgiving one who repeatedly sins because that kind of forgiveness does not come naturally to any of us humans. Repeatedly forgiving someone who repeatedly sins is most difficult because it abuses our very person, our being Christian.

And there lies the bigger problem and difficulty about repeatedly forgiving someone who repeatedly sins who most often is dearest to us like your husband or wife, our parents or one of your children or a sibling.

The truth is, inasmuch as we ask like Peter so often how many times we must forgive our loved ones, the crux of the problem in forgiving is actually deep inside our hearts we still love them that we just forgive and forgive them. That is the mystery, the most baffling of all: why do we keep on forgiving somebody who keeps on sinning. Recall St. Paul’s words last Sunday “to owe no one except the debt of love” so that the more we love, we realize we can love like Jesus after all because forgiving is actually the work of God in us, with us, and through us in Christ.

Jesus answered, “I say to you, not seven times but seventy-seven times. That is why the kingdom of heaven may be likened to a king who decided to settle accounts with his servants. When he began the accounting, a debtor was brought before him who owed him a huge amount… Moved with compassion the master of that servant let him go and forgave him the loan. When that servant had left, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a much smaller amount… Instead, he had him in prison until he paid back the debt. His master summoned him and said to him, “You wicked servant! I forgave you your entire debt because you begged me to. Should you not have had pity on your fellow servant, as I had pity on you? Then in anger his master handed him over to the torturers until he should pay back the whole debt. So will my heavenly Father do to you, unless each of you forgives his brother from his heart” (Matthew 18:22-24, 27-28, 30, 32-35).

*St. John Paul II meeting and forgiving his assassin Mehmet Agca in prison two years after the failed assassination attempt to his life at St. Peter’s Square, 13 May 1981.*

Jesus explains in his parable that forgiving is actually a work of God, divine in nature as Alexander Pope tells us in his famous line “to err is human, to forgive, divine.”

We forgive because we are forgiven beloved. Jesus grounds this teaching not in willpower but in being like God the master in his parable, “Should you not have had pity on your fellow servant, as I had pity on you?”

Jesus knows us so well as humans, sinful and weak who could not generate forgiveness and mercy out of nothing; it is very clear in his parable that we simply have to let flow towards others something of the forgiveness and mercy we have already received from the Father through him. Ben Sirach stressed this in our first reading, reminding us that our own capacity to receive forgiveness from God is bound up with our willingness to forgive those who have sinned against us.

Worthy of keeping in mind too that Jesus tells at the onset of his parable that forgiving is about the kingdom of heaven, not of this world wherein our debt to God is beyond measure like that servant. While we may argue that we are better than those criminals in jails or those corrupt officials now either sick to stand trial or have fled, it is pointless to compare and “measure” our sins because every sin is not only against another person but to God himself – the Perfect One who is love himself.

When we forgive, that is when we level up our existence, when we live in Christ as St. Paul says in the second reading because our lives belong to God and to one another, not as the world tells us to control our lives and be masters of the universe. It is when we forgive that we are truly a church, a body of believers Jesus founded on Peter in Caesarea Philippi because that is when we live and die in Christ, becoming his vessels of mercy and forgiveness.

Most of all, it is in forgiving that we become truly free as a human, when we break free from the past hurts and grievances that pin us down, preventing us from moving forward in life. When we refuse to forgive those who have wronged us, we actually yield to their power and control. Hence, in all practicality, it is always best to forgive.

But there is something most deep and true about forgiving which clearly manifests our own mortality and rootedness in God who is our origin and end, “Remember your last days, set enmity aside; remember death and decay, and cease from sin!” (Sir. 28:6)

This Sunday, we are reminded to check and be aware of any resentments and anger we may still be carrying as we refuse to forgive lest we end like that unforgiving servant. Take this time to forgive for life is really too short to waste in keeping those grudges. Amen. Have a blessed week ahead!

Love your enemies

Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Thursday, Twenty-third Week in Ordinary Time, Year II, 10 September 2026
1 Corinthians 8:1-7, 11-13 ><]]]]’> + ><]]]]’> + ><]]]]’> Luke 6:27-38

*Photo by author, San Juan, La Union, 08 January 2026.*

It is again that most difficult part 
of your gospel, 
Lord Jesus,
our least favorite
of your teachings -
“love your enemies.”

Forgive us, Lord
because the mere thought of
"enemies" turn us off right away;
it is wrong but human as we are,
there is always that 
feeling of revulsion,
of getting even with those
who have hurt us
or wronged us;
but, we realize too
how in the long run
it is pure foolishness
of keeping that grudge against
our enemies because
as St. Paul tells us also today,
"knowledge inflates with pride,
but love builds up."

Your teaching
for us to love
our enemies 
is not really
about our strength
and willpower,
Jesus but in our likeness
with God,
"Be merciful, 
just as also your 
Father is merciful."

Help us, 
Jesus, 
to pray more
intensely,
to surrender more wholly
to you so that we can
let flow towards others
the mercy you have
showered us.
Amen.

*Photo by author, Anvvaya Cove, Morong, Bataan, 21 July 2026.*

Embracing our vulnerability

Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Tuesday, Twenty-third Week in Ordinary Time, Year II
Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, 08 September 2026
Romans 8:28-30 ><}}}}*> + ><}}}}*> + ><}}}}*> Matthew 1:18-23

*Photo by author, St. Paul Spiritual & Renewal Center, Bgy. Tanyawak, Alfonso, Cavite, 19 August 2026.*

It is the Feast of the Nativity
of the Blessed Virgin Mary but
your words, O Lord Jesus,
spoke more about St. Joseph
your foster father.

Now this is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about. When his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found with child through the Holy Spirit. Joseph her husband, since he was a righteous man, yet unwilling to expose her to shame, decided to divorce her quietly. Such was his intention when, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream…. (Matthew 1:18-20).

Thank you, 
dear Jesus for being
like us,
for coming like us
in all of our human
vulnerabilities:
birth is always a grace
from the Father
lest we forget;
in your coming to us,
Jesus, you have showed
how Mary and Joseph
faced not only their toughest
tests but most of all
their vulnerabilities
they gladly embraced 
that you finally came 
among us!

Mary humbly submitted
to being your Mother,
entrusting everything to God
who sent an angel to explain
everything to Joseph so
Christmas would happen;
how amazing that Mary's
pregnancy was revealed
to Joseph while he was asleep,
when he was most vulnerable,
without full control;
Mary on the other hand
submitted her full control
to God when your birth was 
announced -
what a beautiful lesson for us
to remember on her birthday
on the need for us to embrace
our vulnerabilities
because as St. Paul assured us,
"We know that all things work 
for good for those who love God, 
who are called according 
to his purpose" 
(Romans 8:28).

O blessed Mother Mary,
pray for us to be more
trusting in your Son Jesus,
submitting ourselves wholly
to his will by embracing
our vulnerabilities,
becoming fully human
and blessed to share
Christ like you and Joseph.
Amen.

Small. And blessed.

Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Tuesday, Twenty-Third Week in Ordinary Time, Year II
Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, 08 September 2026
Micah 5:1-4 ><]]]]*> + ><]]]]*> + ><]]]]*> Matthew 1:18-23

“The Birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary”, a 1305 painting by Renaissance artist Giotto in the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua, Italy. The two babies depicted are both the Virgin Mary: below is Mary upon birth wrapped in swaddling cloth and washed by attendants and then above being handed to St. Anne her mother. Photo from en.wikipedia.org.

Feasts of saints are often based on the date of their death when they enter eternal life; sometimes it may also be the date when their remains were transferred for proper burial.

There are only three birthdays we celebrate in our liturgy, two are of the highest order as a Solemnity, our Lord Jesus Christ on December 25 and his precursor St. John the Baptist on June 24; the third is that of the Blessed Virgin Mary which is a rank lower as a Feast, falling on this date, eighth of September which is nine months after her Immaculate Conception.

In this age of social media when every platform has its unique way of alerting everyone of someone’s birthday so that nobody can no longer hide to celebrate silently one’s birthday, the Blessed Mother’s nativity offers us a beautiful opportunity to reflect on the significance of a birthday always seen in relation with Jesus Christ’s birth and coming. St. John Paul II perfectly expressed this in his 1995 Encyclical Evangelium Vitae (The Gospel of Life), declaring that “Every birthday is a small Christmas because with the birth of every person comes Jesus Christ” (sorry I can’t recall the citation).

What makes that so true with every birthday beginning with the Blessed Virgin Mary is God’s great mystery of becoming small, of being “insignificant” in the birth of his Son Jesus Christ which we find even in his birthplace prophesied by Micah:

“You, Bethlehem-Ephrathah too small to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel; whose origin is from of old, from ancient times” (Micah 5:1).

*Photo by Ar. Philip Santiago, Angels’ Field Chapel in Bethlehem, October 2025.*

And if we go further, this true greatness of Jesus Christ in being small is found also in his Mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary who came from the obscure town of Nazareth, the only place in the New Testament never mentioned in the Old Testament.

Recall how Nathanael or Bartholomew the Apostle belittled the Lord’s hometown after being told by Philip that they have found the Messiah from Nazareth, saying, “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” (Jn.1:46) because Nazareth was totally unknown during that time.

And so was Mary!

That is why it is so disappointing and sad when many Catholics unfortunately led by some priests have the misimpression of portraying Mary as a “beauty queen” with flawless skin and Western features when she is clearly Middle Eastern woman. Worst of all is the pomp and pageantries we have in the recent fads of processions and coronations in many dioceses and parishes.

How sad we have missed the Blessed Virgin Mary as the model disciple of Jesus was the first to embody his teaching of being small like little children with her simplicity and humility so very well expressed in her 20th century apparitions in Fatima, Portugal and Banneux, Belgium.

Enough with the extravagant sometimes imeldific celebrations of Marian feasts and events that have become egregious display of wealth and power.

Being simple and small like Mary, both as a child and as an adult, enable us to see again the value of life and of every person.

Aside from the lack of any account on the birth of Mary, we heard proclaimed today the birth of Jesus to teach us that truth expressed by St. John Paul II that in every person Jesus actually comes. The more simple and true we are like Mary and Joseph, the more Jesus is seen and experienced in us!

That is why when we greet somebody a “happy birthday”, what we really mean telling him/her is “I love you, I thank you for making me who I am today.” Through one’s simplicity and littleness in Christ, we are transformed into better persons because we are able to have glimpse of God’s love and kindness.

The true joy of celebrating a birthday is not found in the externalities of gifts and parties and guests with all the fun that come along but in the silent, prayerful reflection of our life’s beginning and direction into eternal life. See how there are still people who only celebrate Mass on two occasions each year – on their birthday and on Christmas, a clear recognition of our origin and direction in Christ in life.

*Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, March 2023.*

In the birth of Jesus Christ, we are reminded by every birthday that life is precious because it is so fragile – any infant and every person can be easily hurt and harmed, be sick and eventually die.

Like Mary and Joseph, the little Child born in Bethlehem asks us, even begs us to take care of him found in everyone among us.

Let us be more loving and kind, understanding and caring, even merciful and forgiving with one another especially in this time of calamities.

Such is the wisdom of God in making life small and fragile so that we may care and value it because there lies also its greatness. The best birthday greeting we can express to the Blessed Mother Mary today is to start being small and simple like her to share Jesus with everyone. Not with those many cakes we buy and “offer” – tayo rin naman kakain! Amen.

Debt of Love

Lord My Chef Sunday Recipe for Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Twenty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle A, 06 September 2026
Ezekiel 33:7-9 ><}}}}*> Romans 13:8-10 ><}}}}*> Matthew 18:15-20

*From Facebook post by Marvin Germo, 04 September 2026.*

Thanks be to God for Alex Eala – not only an excellent tennis player, a bright and intelligent lady but most of all, most kind and humble of all.

Her recent landing on the front page of New York Times that prides itself with the motto “All the News Fit to Print” in its 175 years of existence cemented Eala’s stardom. That’s real influence no blog stats nor Hollywood walk of fame could match.

Side by side with the major events and newsmakers in the world, the editors of New York Times featured Eala on their front page not entirely because of her prowess and grit in tennis but of her expressions of love, community and unity of Filipinos – a far, far cry from news coming from our forsaken country of calamities and crooks in government. Eala – along with other athletes like EJ Obienna – are the only good news we now have, with her practically a walking gospel like St. Paul in today’s second reading.

Brothers and sisters: Owe nothing to anyone, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law (Romans 13:8).

What kind of love is Paul exhorting the Romans then and us today? For St. Paul, love is the self-sacrificing love that Jesus showed us when he offered himself for us on the cross.

Recall last Sunday St. Paul reminded us “to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice” (Rom. 12:1) like Jesus. In that same chapter, he spoke of not retaliating or seeking vengeance while in the following chapter we now have, he expounded the themes of obedience to authority and a sort of social responsibilities like justice (Rom. 13:1-7).

And while justice demands we pay off our debts and other dues to one another, to the state and public officials, it is a totally different scenario when it comes to love. For St. Paul, love is the imitation of Jesus Christ, a love that can never be measured at all and even be demanded and decreed.

Love is not a possession that anyone can receive nor give in an exactly measured quantity like a pound or a kilogram of love. St. Mother Teresa said the measure of love is when you love without measure. It is either you love or do not love! And when we do not love, then we sin which is a refusal to love.

That sin can only be repaired and corrected by love.

Therefore, to overcome sin, you have to love more!

That is why we hear Jesus teaching us today the importance of fraternal correction based on love not anything else.

Jesus said to his disciples: “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have won over your brother. If he does not listen, take one or two other along with you, so that every fact may be established on the testimony of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell the church. If he refuses to listen to the church, then treat him as you would a Gentile or a tax collector” (Matthew 18:15-17).

*Photo by a friend in Swan Island Dahlia Farm, Canby, Oregon, 29 August 2026.*

Jesus is now heading to Jerusalem to fulfill his mission. Along the way, he taught his disciples important lessons about the Church he had just established upon Peter, the Rock, while at Caesarea Philippi the other Sunday.

For three Sundays beginning today, Jesus will touch on three moral issues we face with seeming complexity in our modern time like fraternal correction, forgiving, and work. These are crucial because they are expressions of mutual love for one another. Most of all, it is in these realms we fall into “sin of omission” particularly with fraternal correction as we tend to detach ourselves from others when they are committing sin. By distancing from them or refusing to make a clear stand against evil, we unconsciously allow sin to persist.

The dark side of the sin of omission lies in that tendency within us to not care at all with those into serious sins when we separate and distance from them, even telling them “bahala ka na sa buhay mo…pinili mo iyan, pagdusahan mo.”

Fraternal correction is the antidote to sins of omission because it is about keeping our relationships intact as family, friends, brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ who becomes truly present in the world among us when we live in harmony because “where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them” (Mt. 18:20).

This is the good news of Eala, whether she wins or loses a match, she speaks of love and kindness. And she has been consistent with it!

Since the Old Testament, God had already insisted on this moral precept as his children that we look after one another like a sentinel – a watchman or a guard – as he told the Prophet Ezekiel in the first reading.

At that time, the enemies of Judah were closely approaching their borders that they designated watchmen as their first line of defense. Failure by these watchmen to warn the people – as it turned out later – could spell disaster for the kingdom.

The same thing is true with us. We are all interrelated with each other. One rotten tomato can spoil the whole batch like allowing corruption in every form to continue as well as electing corrupt officials into office. How sad we have not learned our lessons; maybe not until we have sank deep into flood…

We cannot be indifferent and be mere bystanders amid the evil and sins happening around us perpetrated especially by those closest to us. It is not enough either that we do no wrong on others yet allow those into corruption to continue with their evil doings. Fraternal correction is an expression of our love – for God and for others. We correct those into sin because of love, not because we are better or holier.

St. Paul beautifully declared in 2 Corinthians 5:14, “Caritas Christi urget nos” – the love of Christ urges, impels us – to love more especially in these times of calamities and disunity in the country.

*Photo by a friend, Swan Island Dahlia Farm, Canby, Oregon, 29 August 2026.*

This love of Jesus Christ the Lord himself described as “new commandment” at his last supper (Jn.13:34) is a love rooted in God himself, a love that “levels up” every disciple into the mystical plane of existence.

Recall those moments you have truly loved without strings attached, unselfish and selfless: that is when we realize that love is a debt we can never pay off because love is a gift from God, something that is never exhausted nor depleted. In fact, we realize that we too can love like Jesus Christ!

God does not “order” nor “command” us in the strict sense to love him. He asks for our love because he loves us, because he is love. When we love, we fulfill the commandments of God, we live in peace and harmony with one another like in heaven. That is why it is only love that will remain in heaven where there will be no more fraternal corrections. Most of all, love can never be paid off as a debt because love is all that shall remain to become our very person in Christ. Amen. Have a blessed, loving week!

We are God’s co-workers, his field and his building

Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Wednesday, Twenty-Second Week in Ordinary Time, Year II, 02 September 2026
1 Corinthians 3:1-9 <*((((>< + ><))))*> Luke 4:38-44

*Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, 18 September 2018.*

Your words today,
O Lord,
are so edifying
despite the many turmoil
within and among us:
"For we are God's co-workers;
you are God's field,
God's building"
(1 Corinthians 3:9).

In this season of calamities
and devastations around
us not just due to natural
causes but worsened by our
irresponsibility and corruption
among officials in government,
it is a timely reminder that
we are yours,
totally yours, Lord,
as God's field 
and building;
in times of trials
and difficulties,
the task is for us to
return to you,
find your will and
plans for us
so we may work together
to rebuild our lives and
whatever is left behind
by the floods and other
calamities.

Grant us the courage
and wisdom to admit our 
own faults and shortcomings,
to be open to welcome Christ
like Simon Peter and people of
Nazareth so that their sick may
be prayed over and healed;
help us to not allow Satan
to speak among us and sow
hatred and disunity
in this critical time
when we must rise again
to follow Jesus more closely
than ever to make us fertile
and fruitful as a field,
stable and rooted as 
a building.
Amen.

*Photo by author, Chapel of St. Anthony de Padua, Tagaytay City, 08 June 2026.*

Wise to be a fool for Christ

Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Friday, Twenty-first Week in Ordinary Time, Year II, 28 August 2026
Memorial of St. Augustine, Bishop & Doctor of the Church
1 Corinthians 1:1-9 <*((((>< + ><))))*> Matthew 24:42-51

*Photo by author, view from Antipolo City of the Ortigas Center, August 2022.*

Lord Jesus Christ,
help me to be wise like
St. Augustine whose feast
we celebrate today:
like him through your grace
O Lord, help me overcome
my worldly desires by 
lovingly embracing your Cross;
keep my heart aflame 
and restless with your love, Jesus,
lit with your truth and wisdom
ready to welcome you when you
return any moment.

Jesus said to his disciples: Stay awake! For you do not know on which day your Lord will come (Matthew 24:42).

Make me wise enough,
Jesus to be foolish in following you,
in embracing your Cross;
keep me sensible like
the wise virgins lit with
your love and presence in my heart
sustained with that deep,
personal relationship rooted
in prayer like an oil
keeping the fire burning
in every lamp;
at the same time,
make me a fool like St. Paul,
a fool for you, O Christ,
believing and relying
in the power of your Cross.
Amen.