Living Hope Amidst Suffering

Lord My Chef Daily Recipe by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Red Wednesday, 26 November 2025
Daniel 5:1-6, 13-14, 16-17, 23-28   <*{{{>< + ><}}}*>   Luke 21:12-19

*Photo from Fatima Tribune, 27 November 2024.*

It’s the Wednesday after Christ the King when our churches and other religious buildings are lit in red to mark Red Wednesday, the annual campaign for persecuted Christians worldwide.

Started in 2016 by the Aid for Church in Need (ACN), it has been an annual Church celebration with other Christian groups and sects participating to heighten awareness of the continuing persecution of Christians in various parts of the world – exactly what Jesus had predicted to his disciples more than 2000 years ago.

Jesus said to the crowd: “They will seize and persecute you, they will hand you over to the synagogues and to prisons, and they will have you led before kings and governors because of my name. It will lead to your giving testimony… By your perseverance you will secure your lives” (Luke 21:12-13, 19).

For us in the Philippines that is majority a Christian nation, Red Wednesday is an opportune time to reflect about our “giving testimony” to Jesus Christ: how “bloody red” is our being a Christian?

Unlike in other countries in Africa or our neighbors in Asia where Christians are persecuted and harassed, we in the Philippines do not go through such sufferings and challenges. Think of any kind of opposition to the Christian faith we have encountered even in the last 100 years. None. The most serious threats ever made against our faith seem to be mere “peer pressures” of being teased as “conservative” in going to Mass and Confession frequently, or upholding the virtue of virginity. Perhaps, the most serious dilemma most of us Christians have ever had in our faith is whether or not we shall pray or at least make the Sign of the Cross when dining in a restaurant or fast food chain. In Europe and the States, chapels and churches are vandalized and burned but here in the country, those who have committed sacrileges in the past three years were “crucified” in social media with one being sued in court.

We do not wish that we also undergo similar religious persecutions like the other Christians abroad whom we pray for today on this Red Wednesday and send with our financial support as concrete actions of our solidarity with them.

In line with this year’s theme of “Living Hope Amidst Suffering” in conjunction with the Jubilee Year celebration “Pilgrims of Hope”, Red Wednesday invites us to simply witness the gospel of Jesus by standing on what is true and good especially these days our country is so deep into the ghost project scandals on flood control.

Giving testimony to Jesus Christ is letting our zeal for him burn anew within us by not bending into the ways of the world that promote a “culture of death” like abortion and contraceptives, or to the many forms of wokism that overextend personal rights contrary to God’s original plan and design like divorce, same sex marriage, and gender manipulation.

*Photo by Ms. Kei Abad, Kawaguchiko Lake (Fujisan), 23 November 2025.*

Witnessing Christ is being honest and just in a country of such impunity where graft and corruption is a family endeavor, a norm in public service.

Giving testimony to Christ in this time of social media where trending and viral are the new standards is to remain simple and modest even if it is looked down upon, being fair and just even if everyone chooses to disregard them while being concrete in our acts of mercy and charity for the weak and marginalized.

Red Wednesday is reigniting our hope in God which is an expression of our firm faith in him. Religious persecutions happen and abound anywhere God is negated and denied or when a particular group of people insist on their own perception of God.

We Christians are pilgrims of hope because we do believe in the one True and Only God in Heaven who was revealed to us by his own Son Jesus Christ made present up to this day until the end of time by the Holy Spirit. Hope is primarily having faith in God.

In this sense it is true that anyonbe who does not nknow God, even though he may entertain all kinds of hopes, is ultimately without hope, without the great hope that sustains the whole of life (cf. Eph. 2:12). Man’s great, true hope which holds firm in spite of all disappointments can only be God – God who has loved us and who continues to love us “to the end,” until all “is accomplished” (cf. Jn.13:1 and 19:30). (Pope Benedict XVI, Spe Salvi #27)

Hope is not optimism nor positive thinking, believing things will get better. On the contrary, true hope is actually accepting that things and situations could get worst as Jesus mentioned in his predictions of the coming upheavals and persecutions. Hope is putting all our trust in God that no matter what happens in the end when things get worst like death, there is Jesus Christ loving us, comforting us, and saving us.

That’s the kind of faith and hope Daniel expressed in our first reading despite the threats of sure death when he spoke of the God of Israel as the only true God, not the many idols and false gods of the Babylonians. Most of all, because of his fervent hope in God who would raise him up in the end, Daniel delivered his interpretation of the king’s dream of how his days were numbered as the Medians and Persians were soon to conquer them that eventually happened.

Many times in life, all we can have is hope in God especially when pains and sufferings become unbearable, when these get worst without any signs of getting any better.

That is why Red Wednesday’s theme this year is so appropriate, “living hope amidst suffering”.

Hope makes life more worthy and lofty because our sights are not only fixed on this world but even beyond as Jesus assured us in today’s gospel, “By your perseverance you will secure your lives” (Lk.21:19).

And there lies the beauty of hope – it is the most surprising of all virtues as the French poet, essayist and writer Charles Peguy wrote in 1911 in his long masterpiece called “The Portal of the Mystery of Hope.” In this poem, Peguy presents God as the speaker himself, reflecting about the virtue of hope in relation with the other two theological virtues of faith and love. It is so lovely because it is so true especially when I encountered it during my trying months of second year in theology in the seminary.

The faith that I love best, says God, is hope...
Faith itself does not surprise me...

Love, says God, that does not surprise me...

But Hope, says God, that is what surprises me.
I, myself, find it surprising
that my children see what happens and believe things will improve.
That is the most surprising, the most marvelous gift.
And it surprises me, myself, that my gift has such incredible strength
since it first flowed in creation as it always will.
Faith sees what is.
Hope sees what will be.
Love loves what is.
Hope loves what has not yet been
and what will be in the future and in eternity.

For those suffering, those in pain especially because of faith in Jesus Christ: keep believing, keep hoping and be ready to be surprised by God. Reignite that zeal in Christ and his gospel. Amen. A blessed Red Wednesday to you.

Visions and images

Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Tuesday, Memorial of St. Catherine of Alexandria, Virgin and Martyr
Daniel 2:31-45 <*((((>< + ><))))*> Luke 21:5-11

*Photo by author, Cathedral of St. Catherine of Alexandria, Dumaguete City, 07 November 2024.*

Thank you,
dearest God our Father
in reminding us today of
visions and images:
vision in the dream of
Nebuchadnezzar of the rise
and fall of kingdoms and empires
vis-a-vis 
your absolute power above all
in this world;
and of the image of the temple
as your presence made permanent
in Jesus Christ your Son.

While some people were speaking about how the temple was adorned with costly stones and votive offerings, Jesus said, “All that you see here – the days will come when there will not be left a stone upon another stone that will not be thrown down” (Luke 21:5-6).

You sent us your Son, Jesus Christ
as the ultimate sign of your presence,
better than any temple nor building;
clear our minds of the temporal nature
of things, to be more focused on Jesus
as the sign interconnecting us with you
and one another; most of all,
may his warnings spoken in Jerusalem
resound in us today of the destruction
not only of temple but also of a 
breakdown in our relationships
with you and with one another;
may Jesus be our sole temple
and foundation in life.

Teach us to be like
St. Catherine of Alexandria
who spent her life in prayer
and studies to know you more,
love you more and serve you more
even in offering her very self 
as a virgin and apologist
of your truth; like her,
may we be consistent
in professing our faith in you
so that even in the face of
strong opposition, we too
may win over those who doubt you
as Lord and God.
Amen.

*Photo by author, monastery of St. Catherine of Alexandria at Mt. Sinai, Egypt, May 2019.*

Christ the King, the face of suffering

Lord My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul, 23 November 2025
Solemnity of Christ the King, Cycle C
2 Samuel 5:1-3 ><}}}}*> Colossians 1:12-20 ><}}}}*> Luke 23:35-43

I was teasing our campus ministry head for communication last Tuesday after he had presented to me this announcement for our Christ the King celebration today. “Para namang malnourished si Jesus diyan,” I told Darwin as he scratched his head laughing during our meeting.

But, that evening after praying our gospel, I changed my mind the following Wednesday and told Darwin to go ahead with his original artwork because I have realized that the face of Christ the King is also the face of us suffering.

Are you not surprised that on this final Sunday of the liturgical year, we are not presented with an image of a victorious Jesus like that Cristo Rey found in every Catholic home but the gospel scene of Jesus suffering in excruciating pain there on the Cross on Good Friday?

Above him there was an inscription that read, “This is the King of the Jews.” Now one of the criminals hanging there reviled Jesus, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us.” The other, however, rebuking him, said in reply, “Have you no fear of God, for you are subject to the same condemnation? And indeed, we have been condemned justly, for the sentence we received corresponds to our crimes, but this man has done nothing criminal.” Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” He replied to him, “Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise” (Luke 23:38-43).

*Photo by author, Chapel of St. Francis Xavier, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Quezon City, 2024.*

On this Solemnity of Christ the King, St. Luke invites us for the last time we hear his gospel this year to look at the face and into the eyes of Jesus crucified.

What do you see and feel in him?

Ever wondered what the rulers and soldiers saw on the face of Jesus crucified that they sneered and jeered him from below? They were so filled with pride in finally putting into shame and silence Jesus who had always spoken the truth and exposed their lies and hypocrisies.

What do we see when people are put on the spot and shamed like Jesus crucified or like the woman caught committing adultery Jesus forgave and saved from being stoned by the angry crowd? So sad that in this age of social media, public trials and condemnation have become a hobby for many without even checking the accusations are true or not.

Let us move closer to Jesus on the Cross like those two thieves hanging at each of his side: what do you see and feel about him?

Why did the other thief join those below in deriding and insulting Jesus crucified? Now one of the criminals hanging there reviled Jesus, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us” (Lk.23:39).

Have you ever found yourself in the ER or waiting for your turn at the doctor’s clinic with other patients also in pain and suffering? How do you see the other patients and sick people like you? Is there in your mind any tinge of suspicion why or how they got sick? The best and the worst in us come out in such times when we are so down beside another suffering brother or sister.

Or, do we choose the path of humility and sincerity of Dimas, the good thief? What did he see in Jesus there on the Cross? The other, however, rebuking him, said in reply, “Have you no fear of God, for you are subject to the same condemnation? And indeed, we have been condemned justly, for the sentence we received corresponds to our crimes, but this man has done nothing criminal” (Lk.23:40-41).

Most likely, Dimas must have heard a lot about the teachings and healings by Jesus but he felt something so unique and liberating, so personal during those dark moments of excruciating pains when he finally recognized Christ his Savior, the only true King that is why he asked to be remembered in his kingdom!

Finally, somebody greater than him there beside him, saying nothing to judge nor condemn him nor irritate him like his fellow criminal at the other side. In recognizing Jesus, Dimas also found himself as truly human, weak and finite who can only be whole and complete – saved and redeemed – in Christ who chose to be there on the Cross with him exactly as St. Paul had written in our second reading.

He is before all thing, and in him all things hold together. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he himself might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness was pleased to dwell, and through him reconcile all things for him, making peace by the blood of his cross through him, whether those on earth or those in heaven (Colossians 1:17, 18-20).

*Photo by author, St. Scholastica Spirituality Center, Baguio City, August 2023.*

Here we find the beauty of the Cross, of how God so perfect without any need to suffer and experience pain yet chose to go through it to express his solidarity and love for us humans.

It is on the cross when we are most able to identify and be one in Jesus Christ. That is why it is also on the Cross that we enter heaven with Jesus amid suffering and death. Jesus said today you shall be with me in Paradise – not later when we die or after three days at Easter. How lovely that Jesus never promised heaven when he was strong and freely moving around but when he was there on the cross, nailed and dying.

Jesus Christ is the King of the Universe not because of his powers and might but primarily of his being one of us in sufferings and death. It was the very feeling the tribes of Israel were telling David when they came to him in Hebron to reaffirm their allegiance to him as their king, “Here we are, your bone and your flesh” (2 Sm. 5:1).

The people we admire most are not always the best nor most powerful nor talented because often we envy them. On the other hand, we are more drawn with those down and burdened because we see in them our own brokenness, too, that it is part of life and of being human. That is why we easily empathize with those grieving or sad than with those happy or rejoicing.

Our humanity reaches its highest point and beauty when broken and weak as we realize our mortality and similarity with others in suffering needing for a Savior. We are most inhuman whenever we enjoy inflicting or causing pains on others or when rejoicing in their agonies. To proclaim Christ is the King of the Universe is to always see him in our sufferings and among those suffering too like us. Amen. A blessed week ahead of you!

Womanly heart, manly courage

Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul, 19 November 2025
Wednesday in the Thirty-Third Week of Ordinary Time, Year I
2 Maccabees 7:1, 20-31 ><))))*> + ><))))*> + ><))))*> Luke 19:11-28

*Lady of Sorrows from a triptych by the Master of the Stauffenberg Altarpiece, Alsace c. 1455; photo from fraangelicoinstitute.com.*

What a lovely phrase,
dear Jesus for today
for us all 
especially mothers
and all women:
"womanly heart,
manly courage."

At this time when
a wayward daughter
and sister viciously attacks
her own brother in total
disregard of our family values
and tradition, not to mention
the need for decency and respect
as well as a little sanity too,
here comes out in the open
the nobility of many women and
mothers as well as men still intact;
in this time like during the
Maccabean Revolt when many
sold their souls to evil for the price
of comfort and ease, there are
still more like that mother who dare
to go against the tide of insanity
and folly, indecency and disrespect,
most of all, of idolatrous worship
through religious leaders of the many 
sects and cults who use God's name
in vain and shameful profit too.

Keep us strong inside,
Jesus, to be not afraid in
venturing into finding ways of
serving you most than being idle
in keeping your gifts and talents;
teach us anew the virtue of
obedience, of docility
to authority
whether at home and family or
in the society in general
and in other civil institutions.

Lastly,
we pray dear Jesus
for all mothers crying in silence
these days for the many pains
they bear inside their hearts
especially those who have lost a child,
those betrayed by their own husband
or children,
those separated from their families
due to work and employment,
those nursing a sick loved one,
those forgotten even by families
and societies; grant them 
a "womanly heart" filled with faith
in God and a "manly courage"
trusting in you alone.
Amen.

Now more than ever, we are proven right: the past administration is the most decadent in our history with its utter lack of respect for life and for women; that its war on drugs was totally a lie. May they “who have contrived every kind of affliction not escape the hands of God” (2 Maccabees 7:31).

Gaano kadalas ang minsan?

Lawiswis ng Salita ni P. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Ika-18 ng Nobyembre 2025

Hindi ko po napanood ang pelikulang iyan noong 1982 pero usap-usapan dahil daw sa sobrang ganda lalo ng aming mga mommy at tita na libang na libang sa Betamax. First year college ako noon at sa sobrang sikat ng pelikulang iyan, isang drayber ang nagpinta sa jeepney niyang nasasakyan ko patungong Recto ng signage na “gaano kadulas ang minsan?”

Pero iba po ang kuwento ko sa inyo. Hindi pelikula o pakuwela kungdi sa Bibliya.

Naalala ko ang pelikulang iyan dahil sa Unang Pagbasa sa Misa ngayong araw ng Martes mula sa ikalawang aklat ng Macabeo kung saan ang isang nobenta anyos na Hudyo, si Eleazar ay hinimok ng kanyang mga kaibigan na kunwari ay kumain ng baboy upang hindi siya patayin ng mga paganong mananakop.

Mas gusto ko ang salin sa Ingles nang sabihin ni Eleazar sa kanyang mga kababayan na patayin na lang siya ngayon din kesa magkunwari pa. Aniya ano ang mabuting halimbawa ang maiiwan niya sa mga kabataan kung sa kanyang katandaan ay magtataksil siya sa Diyos sa pagkain ng ipinagbabawal.

“At our age it would be unbecoming to make such a pretense… should I thus pretend for the sake of a brief moment of life, they would be led astray by me, while I would bring shame and dishonor on my old age” (2 Maccabees 6:24, 25).

Ito yung nagustuhan kong sinabi ni Eleazar, should I thus pretend for the sake of a brief moment of life?”

Iyon yung matindi sa sinabi niya, pretend for the sake of a brief moment of life.

Magkukunwari o magsisinungaling ba ako maski minsan sandali sa buhay ko?

Hindi ba kadalasan iyan ang palusot natin mula pa noong panahon nina Eba at Adan marahil? Minsan lang naman titikim… minsan lang naman gagawin… minsan lang naman nagkamali o nagkasala.

Totoo naman minsan-minsan ay sablay ating mga desisyon at nasasabi. Hindi rin maiwasan minsan minsan ang pagkakasala at pagkakamali. Pero, iyon nga ang punto ni Eleazar marahil upang ating pagnilayan, gaano kadalas ang minsan?

Yung minsan-minsan na iyan ang nakakatakot dahil madalas ang minsan katumbas ay wala ng wakas. Minsan ka lang magkamali o magkasala o magkunwari, maaring ikawasak o gumuho at maglaho lahat ng ating mga plano at pangarap na ilang taong pinagpagalan at pinagpagurang mabuti. Kadalasan, marami sa ating mga sablay sa buhay ay dahil lang sa binale-walang minsan.

Mapapatawad tayo ng Diyos sa ating mga kasalanan pati ng ating mga kapwa tao subalit, yung minsang pagkakamali o pagkakasala ay hindi na maibabalik ang dating kaayusan. Madalas yang minsang pagkakamali o pagkakasala ay mayroong tinatawag kong “irreversible consequences”.

*Larawan ni Vincenzo Malagoli sa Pexels.com*

Kapag ikaw ay nakapatay o maski nga lang masangkot sa krimen ng murder, siguradong maiiba ang takbo ng iyong buhay. Tiyak iyon, kahit na ika’y matapagtago at hindi makulong dahil habang buhay kang uusigin ng iyong konsiyensiya. Iyang minsan lang na pagkakamali dala ng init ng ulo o kalasingan ay hindi na mababago ng gaano mang kataimtim na pagsisisi dahil hindi na maibabalik ang buhay na nawala.

Ikalawang halimbawa na palagi kong sinasabi sa mga kabataan noon pa man na mayroong irreversible consequences ay ang mabuntis ng wala sa panahon. Patatawarin kayo ng Diyos maging ng inyong mga magulang ngunit kapwa ang babae at lalake maiiba na takbo ng buhay pagkatapos ng minsang pangyayari. Mapanagutan man o hindi.

LAOAG CITY, PHILIPPINES – MAY 08: A dog walks past campaign posters supporting presidential candidate Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. in a residential neighborhood on May 08, 2022 in Laoag City, Philippines. The son and namesake of ousted dictator Ferdinand Marcos Sr., who was accused and charged of amassing billions of dollars of ill-gotten wealth as well as committing tens of thousands of human rights abuses during his autocratic rule, has mounted a hugely popular campaign to return his family name to power. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. enjoys a wide lead in opinion polls against his main rival, Vice President Leni Robredo, owing to a massive disinformation campaign that has effectively rebranded the Marcos dictatorship as a “golden age.” Marcos is running alongside Davao city Mayor Sara Duterte, the daughter of outgoing President Rodrigo Duterte who is the subject of an international investigation for alleged human rights violations during his bloody war on drugs. (Photo by Lauren DeCicca/Getty Images)

Ikatlong halimbawa naisip ko ngayon lang ay ang maling pagboto sa bawat halalan.

Isang lingkod ng simbahan ang nagtanong sa akin na pagtitiisan na lang daw ba natin ang kasalukuyang pangulo gayong sinabi na ng kapatid nitong siya ay adik?

Bagamat batid kong siya ay DDS, pinagsikapan ko pa ring pagpaliwanagan. Sabi ko sa kanya, sila lang ang magtitiis, hindi kami kasi sila lang ang bumoto sa tambalang BBM at Sara noon.

Hindi sila nakinig sa sinasabi at paliwanag nating iba ang kandidato sa pagkapangulo at bise nito.

Ganyan kako ang demokrasya, parang pag-aasawa: hindi ka nakinig sa paliwanag ng iba, tapos nagkamali ka sa iyong pinili – aba, pagtiiisan mo. Minsan ka lang nga gumawa ng desisyon ngunit hindi mo sinuring mabuti ni pinagdasalan, pagdusahan mo. Ganun talaga. Kaya hindi uubra ang pagpapababa sa kasalukuyang pangulo na katulad ng sinasabi ng ilan na magdiborsiyo ang mag-asawa dahil minsan lang nagkamali.

Huwag tayong palilinlang sa minsan. May kasabihan sa Ingles na the devil is in the details: nasa mumunting bagay o detalye ang demonyo na mismong uri ng ating minsan na madalas ituring lang naman.

Pag-aralang mabuti mga bagay-bagay lahat na may kinalaman sa pagpapasya na makaka-apekto sa takbo ng buhay natin. Hindi maaring sabihin minsan lang dahil kung madalas ang minsan-minsan, bisyo na iyan!

Pagnilayan po natin yung minsan… gaano kadalas yung ating minsan na sa atin ay nagpahamak? Salamuch kaibigan. God bless!

Something’s got to give

Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul, 18 November 2025
Tuesday in the Thirty-Third Week of Ordinary Time, Year I
Memorial of the Dedication of the Basilicas of Sts. Peter & Paul, Apostles
2 Maccabees 16:18-31 ><))))*> + ><))))*> + ><))))*> Luke 19:1-10

*Photo by author, sycamore tree in Jericho, Israel, May 2019.*

What a most blessed day today,
Lord Jesus Christ for you
to teach us today of that
most essential teaching of yours -
of forgetting one's self
to the point of giving up one's
life and reputation to gain you
and eternal life:

Eleazar in the Old Testament,
Zacchaeus in the gospel
plus today's memorial of the
dedication of the basilicas in honor
of the two pillars of your church,
the Apostles
St. Peter and St. Paul.

They all gave up themselves
for you by standing for what is 
true and good and just:
despite his old age of 90,
Eleazar chose to face torture
and death than defile himself
by pretending before the people
of eating pork as ordered their
pagan occupiers; Zacchaeus, 
on the other hand, disregarded
what others would say about him
despite his being "small in stature"
as a sinner that he climbed a sycamore
tree to see Jesus.

Eleazar, one of the foremost scribes, a man of advanced age and noble appearance, was being forced to open his mouth to eat pork… He told them to send him at once to the abode of the dead, explaining, “At our age it would be unbecoming to make such a pretense… should I thus pretend for the sake of a brief moment of life, they would be led astray by me, while I would bring shame and dishonor on my old age” (2 Maccabees 6:18, 24, 25).

At that time Jesus came to Jericho and intended to pass through the town. Now a man there named Zacchaeus, who was a chief tax collector and also a wealthy man, was seeking to see who Jesus was…so he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree in order to see Jesus, who was about to pass that way. When he reached the place, Jesus looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down quickly for today I must stay at your house… When they all saw this, they began to grumlbe, saying, “He has gone to stay at the house of a sinner.” But Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, “Behold, half of my possessions, Lord, I shall give to the poor, and if I have extorted anything from anyone I shall repay it four times over” (Luke 19:1-2, 4-5, 7-8).

As we celebrate today
the memorial of the dedication
of the Basilicas of your Apostles
St. Peter and St. Paul,
teach us to have their courage
for standing for what is true:
like Eleazar, let us never think
even of committing sin "for a brief
moment" and mislead others
into evil; like Zacchaeus, teach us
to forget about what others may
say about us but what you would 
tell us.

Let us realize, Lord,
that in this life,
something's gotta give -
possessions and things,
pride and ego,
sin and addictions -
to be truly free
and fulfilled in you.
Amen.

*Photo by author, Bucharest, Romania, 08 Noovember 2025.*

Blessedness of mourning

Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul, 01 November 2025
Saturday, Solemnity of All Saints
Revelation 7:2-4, 9-24 ><]]]'> 1 John 3:1-3 ><]]]'> Matthew 5:1-12

Thousands of people arrive to pray at the graves of their relatives at a cemetery during the annual observance of All Saint’s Day in Manila on November 1, 2019. Millions of Filipinos flocked to cemeteries to visit and pray at the graves of their loved ones to mark the holiday. Photo by *Ted Aljibe, AFP.*

Many are amused even some of us Filipinos why all roads lead to cemeteries during this time of the year to celebrate the Solemnity of All Saints when remembering our departed loved ones actually falls on the following day, November 2.

There’s nothing wrong with this tradition except that people forget celebrating Mass on All Saints’ Day which is the essence of the feast ranked as a Solemnity, the highest in our liturgy. Offer a Mass first for your departed loved ones on November 1 before going to the cemetery!

More than the close connections of All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day in its theology and tradition, our celebration of these two feasts collectively referred to as Undas is the classic tension of our experiences of heaven on earth, of the here and not yet, of the mixture of joy and sadness within us when we remember our dead best expressed in our grief and mourning.

When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain, and after he had sat down, his disciples came to him. He began to teach them, saying: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they who mourn, for they will be comforted” (Matthew 5:1-4).

In a world that thrives and promotes so much fun and merry-making, our second beatitude is difficult to understand or even grasp in this time of faith in a mass-mediated culture.

What is “blessed” with grieving and mourning or crying when you have lost a loved one, like a parent or a child or a friend?

Pope Benedict XVI explained in his book “Jesus of Nazareth” there are two kinds of mourning that the gospels offer us exemplified by the two most extreme of the Apostles, Judas Iscariot who betrayed Jesus and, Simon Peter who denied the Lord thrice (pp.86-89).

*Photo by author, Church of St. Anne, Jerusalem, Israel, May 2017.*

This first kind of mourning as shown by Judas Iscariot is when one has lost hope, succumbing to the miseries of losing a beloved and becomes mistrustful of love that leads to self-destruction. It is the worst kind of mourning that eats away and destroys man within just like Judas Iscariot who hanged himself (see Matt. 27:3-5).

The second kind of mourning according to Pope Benedict XVI that Jesus must be referring to as “blessed” in his Beatitudes which leads to salvation is when the mourning is caused by an encounter with the truth that leads to conversion like what happened to Simon Peter when he was struck by the gaze of Jesus that he burst into healing tears and cleansed his soul to enable him to begin anew in his life in the Lord (see Lk.22:60-61,62).

This will have its lovely conclusion eight days after Easter before Jesus ascended into heaven when he asked Simon Peter thrice, “Do you love me?” (Jn.21:15ff.) to remind him of that episode that eventually pushed him to follow Christ unreservedly “by taking care of his sheep”. Guided by these thoughts of Pope Benedict XVI, let us see reflect the blessedness of weeping…

*Photo by Juan Pablo Serrano on Pexels.com*

Blessed are those who weep because that means they have love in their hearts. Deaths and bad news that befall our loved ones sadden us, even jolt us with deep pain that move us to console them, to suffer with them, and to be one with them by reconnecting with them and their loved ones like when we go to a funeral or a wake.

This did not happen with Judas Iscariot. The little love he had in his heart when he realized his sin was completely wiped out when he chose to surrender totally to evil, finding no more hope for forgiveness and reconciliation with Jesus.

*Photo by Mr. Jay Javier, September 2024.*

Never lose hope in Jesus. Seek that love in your heart. Seek Jesus in that tiny voice telling you to always come home to him. Do not be shy nor ashamed of your loss and failure. Keep that fire of love in Jesus burning.

Do not let grief overcome and consume you, wiping out the embers of love left in your heart with the loss of a loved one. Life goes on in Jesus and in that same love we have in our hearts that surprisingly even grows deeper as we move on after the death of a loved one.

In the recent ghost projects scam by government and elected officials, we too felt the pain of loss too in the billions of pesos stolen from us. We are deeply affected because we love the Philippines; let us keep that love for the country burning within us by taking concrete steps against corruption while preventing opportunists from plunging us into chaos.

Blessed are those who weep because more than the love they have in their hearts, they have been loved first of all. We weep and grieve the death of a beloved family member or relative or friend because of the love they have given us, of the kindness they have shown us, and the care they have lavished upon us.

*Photo by Oscar Millu00e1n on Pexels.com*

Simon Peter did not merely have love in his heart; he was so loved by Christ!

Luke dramatically described to us how Peter’s eyes met the merciful and loving eyes of Jesus while he was denying the Lord. It must have struck him so hard that immediately he felt contrition for his sin, feeling strongly the need to reform himself and reconnect with the Lord. He could not let the imperfect love he has in his heart to just go to waste that is why when he wept bitterly on that Holy Thursday evening, it was not the end but the beginning of another chapter in his beautiful story of love for Jesus. It was precisely what he meant when he told Jesus at Tiberias, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you” (Jn.21:17) – that despite his weaknesses and failures, he loves Jesus, he tries so hard to love Jesus in his little ways.

There’s a saying that “If you have love in your heart, you have been blessed by God; if you have been loved, you have been touched by God.” We are blessed in mourning our departed loved ones because through them, we felt being touched by God. That is why we have to move on after every death – so we may love more those left around us for them to feel God’s loving touch too!

Residents of Hagonoy Bulacan walk their way to flooded portions of premise surrondings St. Anne Parish as they protest this was following exposes of flood control anomalies. The Bulacan has been under scrutiny for receiving multi million worth of flood control projects but still suffers severe flooding. (Photo by Michael Varcas)

Blessed are those who mourn because that is when we actually stand for what is true and good, for what is just and right.

When we weep, it does not mean we have lost; in fact, even in the face of apparent loss like Jesus on the Cross, mourning is the most firm expression of our belief in what is right and just, and what is true and good.

According to Pope Benedict, this blessed mourning that leads to salvation is found at the death of Jesus Christ where his Mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary stood by the foot of his Cross with the beloved disciple and other women (Ibid.,p. 87). At the Cross, Mary showed us that mourning is blessed because it is the strongest expression of our solidarity with Christ, of our going against evil and sin.

In this world when conformity to whatever “everyone is doing” is the rule of the game like corruption, dishonesty, infidelity, and lies, mourning and weeping with the victims of oppression and persecution and corruption too can be our strongest signs of protest and resistance against the prevailing evils of our time. When we weep and mourn for victims of violence and evil, that is when we become God’s instruments of his comfort to his people, when we strengthen them in their pains and sufferings.

To comfort means “to strengthen” – from the Latin cum fortis, “with strength”. When we mourn and stand by those weeping and suffering, we are blessed because that is when we resolve to live and love more like Christ on the Cross.

*Photo by Dra. Mai B. Dela Peña, Mt. Carmel, Israel, 2015.*

What are your griefs today?

Blessed are you in your weeping not only in having love in your heart but most of all, for being loved. Dwell in the love of God in Jesus Christ like the saints who have gone ahead of us, resisting all evils and temptations to sin for the Lord comforts us his people always. Amen. A blessed All Saints’ Day to you! Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Our Lady of Fatima University, Valenzuela City

*This is based on our previous blog in 2022. Salamuch.

When prayer & everything seem beyond us

Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul, 29 October 2025
Wednesday in the Thirtieth Week of Ordinary Time, Year I
Romans 8:26-30     <*[[[[><  +  ><]]]]*>     Luke 13:22-30

*Photo by author, St. Paul Renewal Center, Alfonso, Cavite, August 2019.*

Brothers and sisters: The Spirit comes to the aid of our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes with inexpressible groanings (Romans 8:26).

Just like now,
dear Jesus,
so many things are
in my heart,
in my mind;
there are times
I like to pray on things
I feel too difficult to express
as if too deep for words;
even my writing
could not work except
to feel assuredly of your
loving presence,
of your warm company;
there are people
and situations too
I just hold in my hands
before you because
I can't find words to tell you
about them...
there are times lately 
I not only forget things
and persons but sometimes
can't even figure out what's
going on in my life
that has become like a vast 
expanse of ocean or field
with dark clouds overlapping 
with lights of the setting sun;
O Jesus, you know
what's in my heart:
just let me feel you,
your joy and fullness and life!

“We know all things work for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28).

If there is one thing
I pray now,
let me know you more,
Jesus so I can love you more
and follow you more
closely; you know everything,
Lord Jesus while I know nothing
at all!

Keep searching my heart
so I may find you
among those I take
for granted,
find you in simple persons
and things that do not
interest me,
most especially
find you in 
everyone
in order to find my way
to you!
Amen.

Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Our Lady of Fatima University
Valenzuela City

*Photo by author, Cabo de Roca, Pundaquit, Zambales, 17 May 2025.*

Household of God

Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul, 28 October 2025
Tuesday, Feast of St. Simon & St. Jude, Apostles
Ephesians 2:19-22   ><))))*> + ><))))*> + ><))))*>   Luke 6:12-16

*Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, 20 March 2025.*

Brothers and sisters: You are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the holy ones and members of the household of God built upon the foundation of the Apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the capstone. Through him the whole structure is held together and grows into a temple sacred in the Lord; in him you are also being built together into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit (Ephesians 2:19-22).

How lovely to hear
those words of St. Paul
in these times of great divisions
among us not only in politics
but in almost every topic!
What is most painful,
O Lord Jesus Christ is how
some among us have become
numb and callous of each other,
unmindful of things they say
especially of those suffering 
and in pain; with the little cellphone
each of us holding so addictively
the whole day, we have created our
own self-centered world
totally unmindful of others.

On this Feast of your
two great Apostles,
St. Simon and St. Jude 
who were poles apart 
in their differences
as persons and backgrounds,
may we realize that we are not 
"strangers and sojourners" 
but are" fellow citizens",
and "members of the 
household of God" in you,
Jesus Christ who is at the center
of this household as cornerstone.

Help us, Lord Jesus,
to imitate Sts. Simon and Jude 
who built up your Church, 
your household of God here on earth;
fill our hearts with the zeal 
and ardent love for you 
and your Church like Simon 
called the Zealot:
in this time when Catholics 
in the country are declining
in numbers as well as in professing
their faith, may we have the enthusiasm 
to make you known, Jesus,
in our loving actions of witnessing;
grant us also the strength,
clarity and courage like that of
St. Jude Thaddeus in dealing with
the many contradictions of the world
we live in today as Catholics and 
Christians:  
"But you, beloved, 
build yourselves up on your 
most holy faith; pray in the Holy Spirit;
keep yourselves in the love of God;
wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus
Christ unto eternal life.
And convince some,
who doubt..." (Jude 20-22).

Bless us, dearest Jesus,
through the help St. Simon and
St. Jude, to rediscover
the beauty of our Christian
faith and of our Catholic Church
by working hard to build it up
without tiring through our silent 
and peaceful witnessing
of the Gospel.
Amen.
Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Our Lady of Fatima University
Valenzuela City

Pride of Place

Lord My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul, 26 October 2025
Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle C
Sirach 35:12-14, 16-18 ><}}}}*> 2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18 ><}}}}*> Luke 18:9-14

*Photo by author, Alberione Center, Araneta Ave., QC, 11 September 2025.*

We got our inspiration anew for this Sunday’s reflection from the blog of Sr. Renee Yann, RSM whom we follow at WordPress (https://lavishmercy.com/2025/10/18/pride-of-place-2/). Her blogs are so wonderfully written with reflections so deep, inspiring and uplifting.

In her recent blog, Sr. Renee tells of their parishioner they fondly called “Mamie” who sat on the same seat in their church they called “Pride of Place” for forty years until her death. And for a good reason. Despite her many trials and sufferings in life, Mamie never failed in helping those in need in their community.

*Photo by author, Carmel of the Holy Family Monastery, Guiguinto, Bulacan, 25 September 2025.*

As told by Sr. Renee’s dad, Mamie had always sat in the same pew through the Depression as she struggled to keep her grocery opened; after the death of her husband in an accident, Mamie never missed their Sunday Masses seated at the same spot – in fact, she was at the same pew on a Sunday Mass when her son was killed at Pearl Harbor. It was actually their community who “proudly awarded” the seat as a “pride of place” to Mamie following her life of Christian witnessing.

“Pride of Place” isn’t always something physical like a pew in church. More often it’s a moral or spiritual position that’s granted to us by others after we pay moral dues. These dues include trustworthiness, sacrifice, contribution, and wisdom…“Pride of Place” doesn’t come automatically with power or position. It comes with respect. Unfortunately, not every parent, boss, teacher, pastor, elder, president, or champion deserves it. It must be earned and kept as a trust. (https://lavishmercy.com/2025/10/18/pride-of-place-2/).

The story reminded me of our own “pride of place” in the church, of people always occupying the same pew or spot during the Mass that they are amazed how we priests get to know them simply with their “seating arrangement” like their coming late or being absent!

But, what struck me most with Sr. Renee’s piece is the spiritual meaning of “pride of place” which refers actually not to where we sit but where we stand. That standing is more than physical but spiritual and moral in nature. Where we stand is about our stance or conviction not only on issues but about our faith and relationship with God expressed in our dealings with others exactly what our gospel tells us this Sunday.

“Two people went to the temple area to pray; one was a Pharisee and the other was a tax collector. The Pharisee took up his position and spoke this prayer to himself, ‘O God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of humanity — greedy, dishonest, adulterous —- or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week, and I pay tithes on my whole income.’ But the tax collector stood off at a distance and would not even raise his eyes to heaven but beat his breast and prayed, ‘O God, be merciful to me a sinner.’ I tell you, the latter went home justified, not the former; for whomever exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted” (Luke 18:10-14).

*Painting by French artist James Tissot, “The Pharisee and the Tax Collector” (1886-1894) from commons.wikimedia.org.*

For the second straight Sunday, we hear another teaching of Jesus about faith expressed in prayers in another parable only Luke has.

Last Sunday we reflected that to persist in prayer is not about wearing God down but of allowing our hearts to clarify our desires until we silently surrender to what God knows is best for us which is salvation or “justification”. See how we find that word again – justified – as the key to this parable at its end when Jesus declared that it was the prayer of the publican that was heard for “he went home justified”.

The object of every prayer is God because prayer is a relationship, not just a ritual. To be filled with God is what holiness is, not being sinless. In fact, holiness is finding our sinfulness before God. And that is the essence of our parable this Sunday.

That is why Jesus directs our attention in the “where” when we pray – not just the location when we pray but our “place” in that relationship with God who is our very foundation. When all we see is our self in prayer like in any relationship, it means it is a monologue, a one-way street. Worst, it is an indication of the absence of God, even of others because the pray-er is so preoccupied with his or her very self!

*Photo by the author at the Wall of Jerusalem, May 2017.*

The Pharisee was clearly not in God even if he were in front of the temple. His very self was very far from God and all he had was his bloated ego. He may be a very pious person but not really good at all for he has no space for God and for others. He is a very closed man without any room for others. Remember, Luke said that “Jesus addressed this parable to those who were convinced of their own righteousness and despised everyone else” (Lk.18:9).

The tax collector, on the other hand, may be physically far outside the temple but was the one actually nearest to God with his self-acceptance and admission of sins, of his need for God. He was closest to God because he was more open with God and with others by admitting his true self.

Prayer is more than entering a church or a prayer room, or finding our most suitable spot or space to pray. Prayer is being one with God, one in God. Prayer is losing our very self in God. The question now is, “where are we when we pray?

I have always loved this photo by friend from GMANews, Ms. JJ Jimeno who took this while she was praying inside the UP-Diliman Adoration Chapel in May 2019; she aptly captioned it as “losing one’s head in prayer.” True!

First, we become one with God in prayer when we admit our sinfulness, when we confess our sins to him, and own them without any “ifs” and “buts”. God always comes to those who truly open themselves to him by emptying themselves of their sins and inadequacies.

The tax collector was justified in his prayer more than the Pharisee because in confessing his sins, he admitted his need for God. He knew very well his place, so unlike the Pharisee who felt God owes him so much!

Second, we are in God in prayer when we are humble and have the conviction to leave everything behind and go down with God into the lowest point because one is so confident of the efficacy of prayer like what Ben Sirach tells us in the first reading.

The one who serves God willingly is heard; his petition reaches the heaven. The prayer of the lowly pierces the clouds; it does not rest till it reaches its goal (Sirach 35:16-17).

Most often in life, friendships and relationships are kept when we are willing to take the lower stance, not necessarily admitting fault or guilt in any misunderstanding because being lowly indicates the person’s need for the other person and of one’s love to work on that relationship despite its fragility. I tell couples that when they quarrel, the first who must first make the move to greet the other person is not the guilty one but the one with most love and self to give.

Third, we are in God in prayer when there is an offering daily of one’s self to God. It is not enough to be lowly and sorry for our sins in prayer. It has to be sustained because prayer is a discipline like any sport as St. Paul tells us in the second reading, calling us to persevere and endure until the end for Jesus Christ “who shall award us with the crown of righteousness in heaven.”

We are all sinners forgiven and beloved by God. When we find our right place in God in prayer, then we also find him. And meet him. Amen. Have a blessed week ahead into November! Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Our Lady of Fatima University, Valenzuela City (lordmychef@gmail.com)