Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Friday, Nineteenth Week in Ordinary Time, Year II Memorial of St. Maximilian Kolbe, Priest & Martyr, 14 August 2026
O God our loving Father, help us to always remember - our origins and beginnings, our past especially the people who had cared and nurtured us, our parents and siblings, relatives and friends, those who gave us the breaks and sparks to begin our great journeys in life, the people who stood by when we were down and nobody believed us: dear God, remind us always of the basic fact, of the principle and foundation of our being: that we came from you and shall return to you.
Forgive us, Lord God, in forgetting you always, in forgetting others, in forgetting we are nothing without you; touch us, nudge us if needed whenever we forget you and our lowly beginnings; let us not be amazed by our feats and abilities.
But you were captivated by your own beauty, you used your renown to make yourself a harlot, and you lavished your harlotry on every passer-by, whose own you became. Yet I will remember the covenant I made with you when you were a girl, and I will set up an everlasting covenant with you, that you may remember and be covered with confusion, and that you may be utterly silenced for shame when I pardon you for all you have done, says the Lord God (Ezekiel 16:15, 60-63).
Photo of Auschwitz from internet.
As we celebrate today the Memorial of your most faithful servant St. Maximilian Kolbe who offered himself not just once for a fellow prisoner in Auschwitz for he had dedicated himself to you entirely before World War II began, may we remember the lessons that led to the Holocaust; like St. Maximilian Kolbe may we continue to remember your covenant in Jesus Christ by making a stand against injustice and immorality, in defending life especially at its weakest points, and most of all, in remembering the equal dignity of every person created in your image and likeness; like what Jesus told the Pharisees, let us go back to Paradise, let us return to you, O God, as our Lord and Master alone, not ourselves, nor our pride and convenience, nor anyone nor their flimsy, modern thoughts and ideas; like St. Maximilian Kolbe, may we have the courage to always stand forward for what is true and good and holy. Amen.
Lord My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Solemnity of the Most Holy Body & Blood of Christ-A, 07 May 2026 Deuteronomy 8:2-3, 3:14-16 ><}}}*> 1Corinthians 10:16-17 ><}}}*> John6:51-58
Photo from wikimedia.org of the nave with the classic altar of the Sta. Cruz Church in Manila.
Of the many churches I have been to, the Sta. Cruz Church in Manila remains my favorite. Since childhood, I have always loved its beautiful apse of Byzantine glass mosaic of a sacrificial lamb symbolizing Jesus Christ whose blood flows like a river to the tabernacle amid a setting of mango, banana and fire trees.
Photo from Pinterest.com.
The mosaic gives that feeling of the divine presence that may be a contributing factor too in keeping the solemnity of the many successive Masses celebrated there daily.
After leaving the high school seminary in 1982 while in college at UST, I still went to Sta. Cruz church by taking the Love Bus to Escolta after which I would walk across the street to my dad’s barber for a haircut then lunch at Panciteria Ramon Lee. It remained my refuge whenever I found myself deep into sins and troubles, with problems and difficulties, feeling lost and empty especially later in life while working.
It had played a significant role in my vocation story and that is why I remembered it while reflecting this Sunday’s gospel on the Solemnity of the body and Blood of Christ.
More than a gift offered to us individually in the Eucharist, Jesus intends his Body and Blood “for the life of the world” like that sacrificial lamb depicted at the apse of the Sta. Cruz church.
Jesus said to the Jewish crowds: “I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world” (John 6:51).
Photo by author, Chapel of St. Anthony De Padua, Alta D’Tagaytay Hotel, 02 June 2026.
On this Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ, we are invited to reflect on the meaning of the Holy Eucharist in our lives where the mystery of God in Three Persons, the Blessed Trinity we celebrated last week is revealed and becomes most real.
Faith in God is faith in the Incarnation of Jesus Christ present to us in the Eucharist under the signs of bread and wine. But, what does it mean really for us especially in the light of today’s gospel where Jesus said “and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.” How can our individual life contribute in giving the life of the world, Jesus Christ himself?
In his encyclical letter Ecclesia de Eucharistia issued in 2003, St. John Paul II beautifully expressed that if Jesus can transform the bread and wine into his Body and Blood in every Eucharistic celebration, then he can transform us into better persons too.
So true! That is why the bestest time to pray is right after receiving Holy Communion because that is when Jesus Christ, Body and Blood, is present in our own body – speak to him in your most natural way. If you want, complain to him. Magsumbong ka rin sa kanya. Pour your heart out to Jesus who is Body and Blood inside you.
However, make sure too that you listen intently to him. When we listen to Jesus, we then enter into a relationship with him as we make him part of our lives as we too become part of his very life. That is when we are filled with his life which we in turn share with others and thus, give life to the world.
In the first reading we heard Moses calling us to “remember” not only those forty years in the wilderness by the Israelites but our own journey in the many desert of this life.
The word “remember” is from the root word “member” which means “part” plus the prefix “re” meaning again; to re + member a person and an incident is to make them a part of the present moment again which is the very commandment of Jesus at the Last Supper, “do this is remembrance of me.”
Now look: every week we go through our many exodus like in the first reading. We remember them especially at the start of every week because life is a daily exodus, of coming out from sickness into health, of darkness into light, of slavery into freedom, of sin into grace, of death into life. Yes, our many desert experiences in life were painful but they were all moments of grace too because that is when we realized that we do not live by bread alone, by material things alone – that we need God.
Hence, the first step for us experience this life of Christ as life for the world is to go back to the church, go back to the Holy Mass. These online Masses must be stopped. COVID pandemic is long gone.
The Mass presupposes actual presence because Christ is truly present with us in every celebration. We must learn anew to desire Jesus more in the Eucharist especially on Sundays.
In the Mass, we re-member Jesus in our lives after a week of busy activities and work; as we make Jesus a part of our lives anew, we see also ourselves needing much needed rest and comfort too in Jesus! Inasmuch as we re-member Jesus into our lives, it is actually us being re-membered into Christ who is also our food and drink to nourish us in this daily exodus in life.
Notice how in verse 14 Moses reiterated his call to the people to “remember” but this time what he told them including us today is “do not forget the Lord”: every Mass as our exodus is a way of casting off the temptation to live one’s life without God.
When we come to celebrate the Mass, especially when we are well disposed and prepared, we realize that we are always poor before God who alone can satisfy all our longings and needs.
To forget this is the sure path to catastrophe as many of us would attest.
With God, life; without God, no life.
This we find so clear with the Corinthians during the time of St. Paul that is why he addressed them in the interrogative tone:
Brothers and sisters: The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? Because the loaf of bread is one, we, though many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf (1 Corinthians 10:16-17).
The Corinthians at that time were already well aware of how the Eucharist make the Church whose head is Jesus Christ. Hence, the need for a communion or “participation” which is the word used in our translation. St. Paul was reminding them of what they knew in faith, that is, a Holy Communion in Christ which they must put into practice. This communion among the Corinthians would be put into risk when quarrels and divisions plagued their community later that prompted St. Paul to write them a second letter.
As part of the Mass, the Communion is when we receive the Body and Blood of Christ; but, in a deeper sense, Communion is unity in charity. It is Jesus Christ becoming human like us in everything except sin so that we can become holy and divine like him. This mysterious exchange of ourselves with Jesus, in Jesus, and through Jesus happens in the Eucharist where we are nourished and filled with the life of Christ whenever we receive the Holy Communion. May we share this life we have gained in Christ with others by witnessing his Gospel to give life to this sick and dying world – like that sacrificial lamb at the apse of my favorite church in Sta. Cruz. Amen.Have a blessed week ahead.
Lord My Chef Simbang Gabi Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Tuesday, Simbang Gabi-VIII, 23 December 2025 Malachi 3:1-4, 23-24 <*[[[[>< + ><]]]]*> Luke 1:57-66
Photo by author, birthplace of John the Baptist under the Church of St. John the Baptist at Ein-Karem, the Holy Land, May 2019.
As we near the completion of our Christmas novena, we hear today the birth and naming of John the Baptist that is still filled with drama just like in the announcement of his birth to his father Zechariah.
Recall how Zechariah not only doubted the good news but even challenged God at “how” his barren wife Elizabeth could still bear a child. All these come into fore when that promise is fulfilled in the birth of the old couple’s child. Such is the artistry of Luke in keeping our attention, hoping we could learn and realize how we can at this modern age still be a part of the Christmas story like Zechariah and Elizabeth.
When the time arrived for Elizabeth to have her child she gave birth to a son. Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown his great mercy toward her, and they rejoiced with her. When they came on the eighth day to circumcise the child, they were going to call him Zechariah after his father, but his mother said in reply, “No. He will be called John,” But they answered her, “There is no one among your relatives who has this name.” So they made signs, asking his father what he wished him to be called. He asked for a tablet and wrote, “John is his name,” and all were amazed. Immediately his mouth was opened, his tongue freed, and he spoke blessing God (Luke 1:57-64).
Everybody expected that this first-born’s naming would continue the family line by giving him his father’s name, Zechariah.
Photo by Ar. Philip Santiago, altar at the very site of John’s birthplace also below the Church of St. John. the Baptist in Ein-Karem, October 2025.
Imagine the sight narrated to us by Luke of everybody so happy, trying to take a piece of action while Zechariah, father of the new-born child, old, deaf, and mute was so silent like a nobody in a corner. In the Jewish society, it is the father who gives name to the children, especially to the son; but, due to Zechariah’s condition, nobody bothered to ask him so that their neighbors who were all epal as we call in Filipino, assumed that role.
However, keep in mind that up until that time it was only Elizabeth who clearly believed in what was God doing to them, having instructed that their son would be called “John”. Feel her firm stand when she insisted on everyone, “No. He will be called John.” Be with Elizabeth as her neighbors and relatives react with disbelief, “There is no one among your relatives who has this name.”
Like Elizabeth, has there been a time for you where God has invited you to do the unexpected or out of the ordinary? How was God with you through it?
Photo by author, birthplace of John the Baptist, Church of St. John the Baptist at Ein-Karem, the Holy Land, May 2019.
When I was growing up, I have heard from my father and then from some of my superiors and colleagues in media and now in the Church of how people are more inclined to believe foolish people than geniuses and more sane people.
Look at the kind of lawmakers and officials who get elected in our countryn from the barangay to the national levels – they are only famous or well-known ether because they are actors/actresses or members of political dynasties who are totally benighted beings bereft of any love for country and fellowmen. Tuwing matatapos ang halalan, nanghihinayang na lang tayo palagi sa mga hindi naboboto na gaya nina Heidi Mendoza at Chel Diokno na sa wakas nakapasok dahil sa party-list.
When I was still a seminarian until I became a priest, I have proven on many occasions as well as in many experimentations I conducted that indeed, when you speak the truth, be honest and sincere with people, they will doubt and even hate you; but, tell them lies and fake news, bolahin mo sila, they readily believe you, even will defend and support you!
And there lies the challenge to us today: are we willing to assert no matter how unpopular what is true and good like Elizabeth and Zechariah? Can we insist on the plan of God that is even contrary to the ways of the world like these the parents of the Lord’s precursor?
Painting by Italian Riccardo Cessi in 1892 of Zechariah giving name to his son John;from commons.wikimedia.org.
It was a crucial moment when Zechariah boldly made a stand about his faith in God, obeying the angel’s instruction to name his son “John” or Jehohanan in Hebrew that means “God is gracious” or “graciousness of God”.
How lovely is that scene Luke presents us today when amid all the noise, Zechariah made the bold move of writing on a tablet “John is his name” to confirm the name given by his wife Elizabeth that also reaffirmed the instruction to him by the Angel at his annunciation.
With a single stroke of hand, everyone felt God present among them as “fear came upon the neighbors for surely the hand of the Lord was with him” that they realized something very special with the child.
So amazing too as experienced by the people was when Zechariah asserted God’s plan by naming his son “John”, he was finally able to speak and hear again!
Photo by author, Church of St. John the Baptist, Ein-Karem, the Holy Land, May 2019.
Whenever we assert the plan of God in our lives, in our community, in our family and country, new possibilities open as we break free from all obstacles and hindrances that prevent us from growing and maturing, from being joyful and fulfilled.
Whenever we assert the plan of God in our lives, in our community, in our family and country, that is when Christmas happens because Jesus Christ comes when we become like John.
Whenever we obey and assert the plan of God in our lives, in our community, in our family and country, that is when we take that leap of faith, believe again and experience God again.
In the first reading, the Prophet Malachi spoke of how the Messiah’s precursor or messenger would be “like the refiner’s fire, or like the fuller’s lye” (3:2). Though he was referring to John, see it would be Zechariah his father who was first to be refined and purified by God by making him deaf and mute until John’s birth.
The imposed silence on Zechariah made him realize how he had been held prisoner by his disappointments and frustrations over a long period of time when God did not hear his prayers for a child. Imagine their shame being childless despite their being good persons and as husband and wife. At that time, childlessness was seen as a punishment from God, a curse. It must have been a strong blow too to Zechariah’s ego as a priest consulted by everyone for advise and prayers yet could not sire his wife with a child!
Photo by Ar. Philip Santiago, site of John’s birthplace below the Church of St. John the Baptist, Ein-Karem, October 2025.
All those negative feelings of humiliation and dejection could have caused Zechariah’s trust and faith in God to wane that even his priestly duties have become perfunctory that he never saw the tremendous grace and blessing of incensing the Holy of Holies of the temple.
Many times we have been like Zechariah, numb and even indifferent to the movements and works of God in our lives following our many failures in life. Though we may be praying with many devotions doing so many religious activities, we have actually become “spiritual dwarfs” who never grew and matured in faith. Our prayers and devotions have become mere “habits hard to break” that are empty and meaningless.
Today God is calling us to do a Zechariah, to take that bold step of asserting and insisting God’s plan like when Elizabeth and later Zechariah boldly declared in writing “John is his name”. How lovely to know too that Zechariah in Hebrew means “God remembers” while Elizabeth means “God has promised.” God remembers and keeps his promise always because he is gracious all the time. Amen. Have a blessed Christmas ahead!
Ar. Philip Santiago reverently kissing the very site of John’s birthplace in Ein-Karem, October 2025.
Quiet Storm by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, 21 August 2025
Photo by author, St. Joseph Chapel, St. Paul Center for Renewal, Alfonso, Cavite, 20 August 2025.
As we ended our annual clergy retreat today when we remembered in the Mass a saint, Pope Pius X and a hero, Benigno “Ninoy” S. Aquino Jr. , I wish to reflect on the word “remember”, a very lovely word worth remembering always.
From the prefix “RE” that connotes repetition as in again and the root “MEMBER” that means a part, to remember literally is to make someone or something a part again. What and who we remember are those gone and away from us, a history in the past. More than mere recalling of a person, event or thing, remembering is making those absent present.
Though the philosopher Martin Heidegger rightly claimed that we humans are “beings of forgetfulness,” God actually programmed us for remembering: from infancy to childhood, our parents drilled into us to remember our name and address, the names of people around us, of things, and everything as we grew. That is why the expression “kalimutan mo na yun” is the most useless piece of advice anyone can give. It is impossible to forget, whether it is so good or so bad. What we need is to harness the power of remembering, to continue learning from the past whether good or bad because whatever is remembered for all its worth is always the best teacher anyone can have.
Remembering is a power because it is a grace, a gift from God himself. When we remember, we not only time travel to the past but make it present in order to perfect us. The past cannot be changed anymore as insisted by Japanese writer Toshikazu Kawaguchi in his series of novels Before the Coffee Gets Cold.
Remembering changes the person, not the past. It is in remembering the bitter lessons of the past we learn most in life because that is when we experience healing and fulfillment. Hence, remembering is at the very core of George Santayana’s warning that whoever does not learn from history is condemned to repeat it. Remembering enables us to move on in life by finding our ways and ultimately our very selves anew especially when lost and confused.
Of God’s many gifts to us, remembering is the most unique because it is never lost at all. People who refuse to remember are the most difficult to deal with like politicians, crooks and low-lifers. And the more corrupt and evil people are, the more they are forgetful, remembering or knowing nothing at all!
God meant us to keep this gift of remembering to be always reasonable and just, or simply good and sane because it keeps us in touch with reality, making us grow and mature in his love. Actually, it is remembering that continues to operate among us despite our faltering memory or even with those afflicted with Alzheimer’s and dementia because remembering is more than keeping information and details like names of people but most of all of God’s interventions through persons and events in our lives individually and collectively that significantly made us experience joy and gladness so crucial for our growth and maturity, eventually in the achievement of our goals.
Photo by author.
On the bulletin board of our sacristy at the National Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima in Valenzuela City is a laminated piece of bond paper with the Greek word “anamnesis” written in Greek.
It was personally printed and posted on Holy Thursday 2010 by the former rector and parish priest of the Fatima Shrine Msgr. Bart Santos now the Bishop of Iba, Zambales. I remember that so well because that was the first time I was assigned as an attached priest at the Fatima Shrine in June 2010 to June 2011 under Bishop Bart.
According to Bishop Bart who used to teach Sacred Scriptures in the seminary, he wanted to instill in all their servers of the Mass the value and meaning of the Eucharist as an anamnesis or remembering. I was so glad upon my return in February 2021 at the Fatima Shrine again as an attached priest while working full-time as chaplain at the Our Lady of Fatima University and the Fatima University Medical Center that the sign of Bishop Bart was still there – until now! I just hope the people here realize and still remember that word anamnesis as Bishop Bart had explained to them during the Holy Thursday Mass ten years ago.
Photo by author.
When everything seems dark in life with family and friends betraying us, when people we have helped turn against us, denying having known us, try remembering Jesus went through all these first at his Last Supper.
When you feel lost for directions in life, when you are into a burnout, when nothing seems to be working in your favor that you can’t find sparks of inspiration and zeal anymore, remember that first day when you embarked on this journey in life. Remember the people, the places and the things that bring you gladness and joy in pursuing your passion or fulfilling your mission. Most of all, remember when God called you to whatever mission he sent you.
Remembering is a form of stepping back to stop, to create a space and let God work in us as we have reflected last Monday (https://lordmychef.com/2025/08/18/steps-to-god/). This is what we need most in our selves and in our country as a people: the virtue of remembering, of making present the movements of God in our history. Ninoy Aquino did the supreme sacrifice of coming home in August 21, 1983 because he remembered the country he most loved; he remembered his call and mission to serve; he remembered the ideals and mission fought for by our heroes like Jose Rizal and Andres Bonifacio.
It is in remembering we remain anchored to our call and mission in life, both individually and communally. Without remembering, we cannot progress because we lack reference points of what we have covered, of where we are. That is why even the angels at Easter had to remind Mary Magdalene and companions, “He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you while he was still with you in Galilee…” (Lk.24:6). Most of all, let us remember always the words of Jesus at his Ascension so we may keep on pursuing our mission in him, “And remember that I am with you always until the end of time” (Matt. 28:20). May God bless you always!
Lord My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Solemnity of the Most Holy Body & Blood of Christ, Cycle C, 22 June 2025 Genesis 14:18-20 ><}}}}*> 1 Corinthians 11:23-26 ><}}}}*> Luke 9:11b-17
From the highest truth of our faith last Sunday which is the Blessed Trinity in one God, we now celebrate in the resumption of Sundays in Ordinary Time the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ.
This feast highlights our faith in God who truly exists and had come to us in Christ Jesus, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity. In Christ through the Sacrament of the Eucharist he established at the Last Supper, we are given the “taste” of heaven literally speaking under the signs of bread and wine that become his Body and Blood we share. This was his command on that Holy Thursday evening to always remember him as St. Paul tells us in the second reading, the oldest account of the institution of Eucharist:
Brothers and sisters: I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the night he was handed over, took bread, and after he had given thanks, broke it and said, “This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also the cup, after supper (1 Corinthians 11:23-25).
Two words I wish to share with you on this Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ.
First is the word “remembering” or to remember. A very common word we use often but perhaps never aware of its deeper meaning from its root word “member” which means a part. Literally, to remember means “to make part again”. When we remember a person, an event in life, a thing from the past or long gone or not with us, we make them a part of the present moment.
The Eucharist is the highest form of remembering because literally speaking, we make Jesus a member of our present moment. When we re-remember Jesus in the Eucharist, he truly comes to us in Body and Blood! Truly present with us, in us after receiving him in the Holy Communion. Whenever we remember a loved one or a friend long gone or not with us at the moment, all we have is a memory. They become a member of the present but only in the mind unlike Jesus truly present with us, in us, and before us in his words, in his Body and Blood and in one another celebrating the Eucharist.
Photo by author, Old Jerusalem seen from Church of Dominus Flevit, May 2017.
It is not magic but a work of faith, a gift through and through from God in Jesus Christ. By his dying on the Cross and Resurrection at Easter, Jesus superseded and transcended time and space, sharing with us that sacred reality.
St. John Paul II beautifully called that “cosmic reality” when he described in his encyclical Ecclesia De Eucharistia how he felt transported in time and space when the temporal becomes divine because of God’s true presence anywhere he celebrated the Eucharist. We too experience the same cosmic reality in every Mass we celebrate when we are properly disposed, especially the priest and the servers.
That is why I always demand the highest order from priests and servers in celebrating most solemnly as possible the Holy Mass. I can stand kids playing inside the church but what gets to my nerves are servers talking or moving unnecessarily during the Mass and worst of all, when lectors proclaim the word of God incoherently and wrongly. Lest we forget also the choir members feeling so magaling forgetting they are in the Mass not in a concert that they make it a show, forgetting all about God and the people.
What a tragedy when we priests and liturgical ministers are the ones who forget to re-member Jesus in the Eucharist with our too much attention to ourselves. Exactly like the Twelve in our gospel!
As the day was drawing to a close, the Twelve approached him and said, “Dismiss the crowd so that they can go to the surrounding villages and farms and find lodging and provisions; for we are in a deserted place here.” He said to them, “Give them some food yourselves.” They replied, “Five loaves and two fish are all we have, unless we ourselves go and buy food for all these people” (Luke 9:12-13).
Imagine that scene of how the Twelve have totally “forgotten” the more than five thousand people gathered there with them. They were just thinking of themselves because they were in a “deserted place”. What a disrespect!
Respect is lost and disregarded when there is no remembering of others, when we forget others. Respect is from two Latin words re (again) and specere (to look/see) from which the words spectacle and spectacular came from. Re + specere or “respect” means to look again in order to see!
The Twelve were just concerned with themselves, not only forgetting but without respect at all with the people they have failed or refused to recognize as humans too who get tired and hungry like them. As we have cited in earlier, this continues right in our eucharistic celebrations when priests and ministers celebrate unprepared, unmindful of the sanctity of the Mass.
Remembering is not merely “thinking” of others in our mind and memory.
Remembering is making others present in our very selves!
Remembering is making every-body a some-body by giving our very selves to them to be the Body of Christ. Unless we are able to truly share our very selves in person, in body and blood too, then every Mass will remain merely a rite or a ritual. Worst, an activity we just have to fulfill.
The Eucharist is the summit of our Christian life because of this aspect of remembering Jesus Christ that leads us into a true communion of sharing of persons and experiences, in our joys and sorrows, in our hopes and belief. When this happens, then every remembering becomes a thanksgiving too.
And that is our second word I wish to instill in you today – thanksgiving which is the meaning of the Greek word eucharistia.
When there is a real experience of each others’ presence in love and mercy, kindness and care, justice and fairness, gratitude flows naturally resulting in peace and harmony. It is the whole meaning of our first reading when the priest of God named Melchizidek who was also the king of Salem which means “peace” blessed Abram after winning in a battle.
This short scene is a story of remembering God’s goodness to Abram who thanked Melchizidek by giving him a tenth of everything he had won in the battle. In the Holy Mass, what do we really share from our very selves? Not just treasures but even our very time to give totally to Christ without texting.
Now we see the series and cycle of remembering and thanksgiving in sharing of gifts of self which the Body and Blood of Christ signify to us.
This coming Friday we shall celebrate the third consecutive Solemnity in the resumption of Ordinary Time with that of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, a reminder to us all to make Jesus present always in ourselves with others especially at this time the world has been deleting from its every aspect God.
Lord Jesus Christ, transform me like the bread and wine into your Body and Blood to be offered and shared with others especially those in most need. Amen.
40 Shades of Lent by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Wednesday, Third Week in Lent, 26 March 2025 Deuteronomy 4:1, 5-9 + + + Matthew 5:17-19
Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, 21 March 2025
“However, take care and be earnestly on your guard not to forget the things which your own eyes have seen, nor let them slip from your memory as long as you live, but teach them to your children and to your children’s children” (Deuteronomy 4:9).
God our loving Father, you encompass the whole Earth and universe where nothing is hidden from you nor escapes your notice even the smallest of particles in your whole creation most especially us, your beloved children, that, though we are sinful, you loved us beyond measure, mindful of us always.
But, we are all beings of forgetfulness. easily forgetting even your most recent blessings as well as intimacy and bond with us in Jesus Christ your Son; many times, we get distracted by so many concerns we forget you that we disregard one another in love and kindness; we easily forget your mercy and forgiveness that we return to our wayward life of sin quickly; most of all, we turn away from you as we refuse to love you when we get impatient in life, believing there could be better and other ways to fulfillment.
Direct us, dear God into becoming more loving like you, into desiring the Cross of your Son Jesus Christ for our love in him so that we may never forget to love you always in others for it is in our love for one another especially the weakest where our greatness as a nation is recognized. Amen.
Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, 17 March 2025
Lawiswis ng Salita ni P. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Ika-27 ng Pebrero 2025
Larawan kuha ni G. Lorenzo Atienza, detalye ng dulong kaliwa na bahagi ng stained glass sa National Shrine ng Fatima, Valenzuela City na nagsasaad ng EDSA People Power, 25 Pebrero 2025.
Hinding hindi mabubura ninuman ang makasaysayang People Power Revolution ng Pebrero 1986. Ito ay kung hindi natin malilimutan at higit sa lahat kung ating lilinangin mga aral ng kauna-unahang mapayapang pag-aaklas sa buong mundo.
Katulad ng kalsadang EDSA na sagisag ngayon ng nabubulok nating bayan, malaki pa rin ang pag-asa na maaayos at mapatatatag ang diwa ng People Power 1986.
Kaya sa diwa nito, tama lamang at ipinag-adya na rin siguro ng Diyos na mayroong pasok ang mga tanggapan at paaralan tuwing Pebrero 25 mula noong isang taon sa ilalim ng Administrasyong BBM.
Bagaman ako ay nalungkot na hindi ito ginawang piyesta upisyal ng Pangulo, higit kong naunawaan kahapon ang magandang pagkakataon ibinigay pa nga ni BBM sa atin para sa EDSA 1986.
Nasobrahan tayo ng mga pagdiriwang noong sariwa pa ang EDSA 1986 hanggang sa naging palasak na lamang ito dahil sa pangingibabaw ng mga kasiyahan at mga kaartehan ng mga sumunod na taon. Sa isang banda, ang sarap ng EDSA Anniversary noong nakaupo pa si Tita Cory – yugyugan magdamag doon sa kanto ng EDSA at Ortigas.
At pagkatapos, lawa na.Logtu ng konti, sokpadoodle na sa otra kinabukasan.
Ano nangyari? Wala.
At ganun na lang ang EDSA Anniversaries nang mga sumunod na taon na mismo tayong mga beterano ay napagod na rin sa kawalan ng saysay ng mga programa at higit sa lahat, ng pagtataksil ng maraming pinuno noon na ipinaglaban, ipinagtanggol natin noon na iyon pala ay katulad lang din ng mga pinatalsik noong 1986.
Larawan kuha ni Pete Reyes kina Sr. Porfiria “Pingping” Ocariza (+) at Sr. Teresita Burias nananalangin upang pigilan mga kawal sasalakay sana noon sa mga rebelde sa Kampo Crame noong People Power 1986.
Pebrero 22 ng gabi ay nasa Aristocrat Restaurant kami sa kanto ng Quezon Ave. at EDSA para sa final deliberation ng mga hurado sa kauna-unahang USTetika Literary Contest ng Varsitarian ng UST.
Proyekto ng co-staffer namin at kaibigan na si G. Vim Nadera ang USTetika na mula sa salitang “aesthetic”. Bantog na guro at makata ngayon si Vim. Tuwang-tuwa ako noon na sinama niya ako hindi lamang para kumain at gumimik pagkatapos kungdi makadaupang-palad mga bigating pangalan sa panitikan tulad ng mga makata na sina Cirilo Bautista, Bienvenido Lumbrera, Alfredo Navarro Salanga na tunay ngang heavyweight, ang propesora naming si Ophelia Dimalanta na pangunahing babaeng-makata sa wikang Ingles at marami pang iba.
Nang malapit nang matapos ang pulong, binulungan kami ni Gng. Jesselyn Dela Cruz na umuwi na raw kami kaagad sabi ni Sir Felix Bautista na aming Publications Director sa Varsitarian at tagapagsalita noon ni Cardinal Sin. Malabo ang mga kuwento maliban sa kumalas na raw noon sina Enrile at Ramos kay Marcos. Yun lang. Baka raw magkagulo.
Siyempre, mga kabataang typical, wala kaming balak sumunod sa utos sa amin hanggang sa magulat kami nang aming baybayin ang Timog at Morato naghahanap ng club na sarado halos lahat habang dagsa mga sasakyan sa mga gasolinahan.
Hindi kami nabagabag kasi full tank ang kotse ng tatay ko noon kaya uminom pa rin kami nina Vim kina Dwight sa Sampaloc at saka umuwi. Kinabukasan pagkagising ko, araw ng Linggo, February 23, di ko malaman kung ako ay lasing sa mga balitang pinag-uusapan at napapakinggan sa radyo. Pagkaraan ng tanghalian, sumama kami ng kapatid ko si Meg na nooy second year college din sa UST sa mga kababaryo namin sakay ng isang trak ng bato papuntang EDSA para sumama sa People Power.
Mula sa wikipedia.org.
Dumating kami ni Meg at mga kasama sa EDSA bandang hapon. Parang sasabog sa tuwa aking dibdib na tila ako ay nanlalamig, naiiyak sa tuwa sa aking nakita: sarado EDSA-Cubao ilalim at puno ng mga tao hanggang sa abot-tanaw!
Ang saya-saya!
Walang bad trip noon! Peace man ang atmosphere. Dala namin ay mga pakwan para sa mga kawal. Doon kami pumuwesto sa gate ng Crame sa Santolan na Boni Serrano ngayon dahil kulang daw ang bantay doon.
Kinagabihan, dumating ang balita na baka raw kami salakayin ng mga tangke mula Malakanyang via Sta. Mesa direcho pa-Santolan. Tinipon kami ng mga law students ng UP at kinausap, binigyan ng numero sa telepono na maari naming tawagan kapag daw nagkadamputan.
Hala! Hinila ko sa tabi ko si Meg. Wag ka kako lalayo sa akin at naisip ko agad Daddy ko sa bahay. Mas takot ako sa kanyang galit kesa sa mga tangke ni Macoy!
Larawan kuha ni G. Boy Cabrido, pagkakamayan ng mga kawal at mga madre at pari sa EDSA noong People Power Revolution ng 1986.
Sa pagkaka-alala ko, walang natakot sa amin. Walang umatras habang pasa pasa kami ng bolpen at papel para nga sa mga numero na tatawagang mga abogado kapag kami nakulong.
Noon ko narinig biglang nagsalita at lumapit sa isang law student kapitbahay namin na suki ng mommy ko sa tindahan, si Mr. Tiongson.
Hindi ko matandaan pangalan niya pero kaibigan siya ng lola ko. Maginoong maginoo. Respetado sa aming barangay. Negosyante na gumagawa ng mga plastic art sa mga jeep na pampasahero noon. Palagi niya ako sinasama at ng mga anak niya sa pagbibisikleta sa mga looban ng Bocaue, Sta. Maria, at Marilao sa Bulacan noon.
Makisig at matipuno si Mr. Tiongson. Six footer siguro. Naka-salamin medyo kalbo ng konti pero balbas sarado. At malaki ang boses. Sabi ng lola ko, dati raw Huk na naging NPA si Mr. Tiongson pero tumiwalag na.
Sa gitna ng dilim ng gabi sa isang kalye sa Santolan, ito ang sinabi ni Mr. Tiongson sa mga taga-UP Law na tumayong mga namumuno sa amin sa kalyeng iyon: “ako na ang lulugar sa unahan. Laban namin ito na hindi na dapat umabot pa sa ganito kung kami ay nanindigan noon.”
Humanga ako sa mama lalo noon. Pero hindi ko naunawaan sinabi niya hanggang kahapon na lamang nang pumasok ako bilang chaplain dito sa Our Lady of Fatima University sa Valenzuela.
Larawan kuha ni G. Lorenzo Atienza, ang Canonically Crowned National Pilgrim Image of Fatima na tinanghal nina Ramos noon sa EDSA 1986 na nasa pangangalaga ngayon ng National Shrine of Fatima sa Valenzuela, 25 Pebrero 2025.
Bago ako magmisa sa aming kapilya kahapon habang nagdarasal, parang kislap ng liwanag na dumatal sa aking kamalayan mga sinabi ni Mr. Tiongson noong 1986 sa Santolan: hindi pa tapos ang laban ng EDSA 1986.
Laban natin ito. Kumupas man ito, bumaligtad at nagtaksil ang ilan, laban nating lahat ito na dapat ipagpatuloy, linangin at palalimin. Higit sa lahat, dalisayin sa panalangin dahil kulang ang EDSA 1986 kung wala sina Jesu-Kristo at kanyang Mahal na Ina, ang Birhen ng Fatima. Mula sa karanasan ni Mr. Tiongson na kapitbahay namin noon, hindi ko papayagan manghinayang ako sa huli na tinalikuran ko ang EDSA 1986 kaya balang araw ay malagay sa peligro mga susunod na saling-lahi.
Kahapon din ang unang guning-taon ng pagkaka-korona sa National Pilgrim Image ng Fatima na siyang imahen na tinanghal nina Ramos noong People Power sa EDSA ng 1986! Narito sa National Shrine of Fatima sa Valenzuela ang naturang imahen mula pa noong ika-17 ng Oktubre 1999, sa loob ng isang munting kapilya na maaring puntahan ng mga deboto at peregrino.
Tama lang mayroong pasok sa upisina at mga paaralan tuwing Pebrero 25 upang higit nating mapagnilayan muli ang diwa ng EDSA 1986, maisalaysay sa mga bata upang ipaunawa sa kanila ang kahalagahan at kahulugan ng tunay na kalayaan na batay sa pagtitiwala sa Diyos.
Hindi mabubura ang EDSA 1986 sa ating kasaysayan kung ipagpapatuloy natin ang kuwento at adhikain nito hanggang sa tayo ay magkaisa muli bilang sambayanan at mga alagad ni Kristo – kasama ni Maria, ang Birhen ng Fatima.
Larawan kuha ni Ka Ruben, bagong stained glass ng National Shrine of Fatima sa Valenzuela, Oktubre 2024; makikita sa dulong bahagi sa kaliwa ilang tagpo sa EDSA 1986.
I have reflected last Sunday that Pentecost is not just an event in the past but a daily coming of the Holy Spirit upon us, enlightening us of so many things in life we used to take for granted. Like the value of every person, especially when there is a death of a loved one.
In fact, death is a Pentecost when the Holy Spirit comes to remind us that we never – and can never – replace our departed loved ones. Every person is irreplaceable, especially family members. The sooner we realize this, the better for us to avoid those guilty feelings later that we should have been more loving and kind, that we should have said “I love you” more often because we never know for how long we can be with our loved ones. One thing is for sure: we do not replace our deceased loved ones but simply re-member them.
Photo by author, Bgy. Kaysuyo, Alfonso, Cavite, 27 April 2024.
The word “remember” is very interesting.
It is from the root word “member” or “part”. When we put the prefix “re” which means “again”, “remember” means to make a part again of the present moment.
Every time we remember a person or an event, we make them part of our present moment. And they are most real, most present when our re-membering happens in the context of a family or a community. Re-membering someone by one’s self surely does happen a lot but very often, it is more of looking back to the past, recalling the days we used to be together. But when we remember somebody as a family or a community, the one we remember is indeed re-membered in our present, becomes real in everyone around celebrating his/her memory. Something concrete happens and the joy is more intense, leading to freedom from past, from pains and hurts of losing a loved one.
That is when death becomes a Pentecost. When the Holy Spirit came down upon the Apostles and the Blessed Virgin Mary in Jerusalem 50 days after Easter, the Third Person of the Blessed Trinity did not come to replace Jesus. The Holy Spirit is a distinct Person of the Trinity in whose power all the followers and believers of Christ have been empowered to make Him present until now in our collective re-membering of Him in the Church and the Sacraments. In the Holy Spirit who comes to us daily, we overcome and transcend every death we go through in life, enabling us to re-member our departed loved ones by being a member of those left behind.
Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, 18 March 2024.
Since mommy’s death, I have gone home thrice already. How I loved to walk inside her room, trying so hard to get those feelings or vibes when she was still alive I miserably miss most as the days moved on.
One thing I have noticed, though, is that strange feeling of our home suddenly so empty as in “kakalog-kalog” as we say in Tagalog. Mommy ko lang nawala sa amin pero parang nawala ang lahat sa bahay?
Now I know better why the mother is the light of the family or “ilaw ng tahanan” because after she had died, her light in our home was turned off that seemed to have made our home so dark, so light and hollowed. However, when we gathered as siblings together with our nieces and nephew and relatives, the warmth of our home returns as if mommy is with us , still with us.
That is when the Holy Spirit comes amid the darkness of every death. A Pentecost when we are reminded of those still with us who must band closer together to make our departed more present in our collective re-membering. No wonder, it was also the final instruction of Jesus to His disciples at their Last Supper when He told them as He gave them the chalice to “Do this in memory of me” or “in remembrance of me”. In Greek, it is called anamnesis which is more than remembering or recalling but making present, making a reality.
Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, 20 March 2024.
And the reality is this – every person is valuable beyond measure.
So fragile too! Because we can easily lose them in a snap.
We realize and feel this most true in death when we experience deeply “someone like me” whom I love, whom I care for is gone because in every death of a beloved, a part of us dies too. Even if he/she is an enemy or somebody we are not in good terms with, we feel a loss within because for better or worst, the deceased made us feel our humanity.
It is said that “one life is too many.” Very true. Today God gives us the gift and power to re-member those not with us by connecting with those still living with us. Make that connection now and soon you too shall see the face we sorely miss together. Have a blessed remaining half-week!
40 Shades of Lent by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Wednesday in the Third Week of Lent, 06 March 2024 Deuteronomy 4:1, 5-9 ><}}}}*> + <*{{{{>< Matthew 5:17-19
Lent is remembering especially because we are beings of forgetfulness; but, teach us Father, that to remember you is not like in remembering an equation or a formula as a task of the mind or intellect; to remember you, O God, in the spirit of Lent is to surrender ourselves to you whom we do not see but present among our brothers and sisters; to remember you, dear God, is to surrender ourselves to your Holy Will that are not mere laws and decrees but the very person of your Son Jesus Christ.
Jesus said to his disciples: “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. Amen, I say to yo, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or the smallest part of a letter will pass from the law, until all things have taken place.”
Matthew 5:17-18
To remember and keep your laws, dear God is to remember and keep you found in our brothers and sisters through your Son Jesus Christ; indeed, the greatness of any nation is measured to a large part in its legal system, in how it is justly implemented and observed:
Moses spoke to the people and said: “Observe them carefully for thus will you give evidence to your wisdom and intelligence to the nations, who will hear of all these statutes and say, ‘This great nation is truly wise and intelligent people.’ For what great nation is there that has gods so close to it as the Lord, our God, is to us whenever we call upon him? Or what great nation has statutes and decrees that are just as this whole law which I am setting before you today?'”
Deuteronomy 4:1, 6-8
Father, in this season of Lent, may we recover and put into practice, not just remember that your laws are fulfilled in Christ when we love; how sad that love of God and love of neighbors is your law we often forget, and find hard to remember because we keep it in our minds than in our hearts where you dwell.
Most of all, to remember means to make one a member of the present moment again: help us remember in making you present always in our love and good works. Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Solemnity of Christ the King, Cycle C, 20 November 2022
2 Samuel 5:1-3 ><000'> Colossians 1:12-20 ><000'> Luke 23:35-43
Painting of Christ’s Crucifixion by Tintoretto in 1565 portraying Jesus so “kingly”; interesting too were the people dressed as Venetians of his time as reminder that the evils that crucified Jesus continue in our own time. Photo from wikiart.org.
We now come to the final Sunday of our liturgical calendar called the Solemnity of Christ the King with a scene from his crucifixion on Good Friday. All these Sundays since June “When the days for Jesus’ being taken up were fulfilled, he resolutely determined to journey to Jerusalem” (Lk.9:51), Luke had been showing us that Christ’s crucifixion and glory are one just like John in his gospel account.
But the most beautiful part of our gospel on this solemn celebration is the fact that inasmuch as Jesus had clearly showed in all eternity his kingship while dying on the Cross, it is also right on the cross of sufferings as we strive to resist temptations of turning away from God that we proclaim Christ’s kingship. Please bear with me, my friends in reflecting Luke’s artistic presentation of Christ’s crucifixion as the expression of his kingship.
Notice how Jesus was “sneered, jeered, and reviled” at the cross, reminding us of the devil’s three temptations in the wilderness after his baptism at Jordan by John. After failing to tempt Jesus at the wilderness, Luke said the devil “departed from him for a time” (Lk.4:13), returning at his crucifixion as the most opportune time to test him.
In the wilderness, the temptations by the devil to Jesus applied very well with us too but, here on the cross, it was totally different. The devil himself was nowhere to be found because he was in the person of the rulers, the soldiers, and the thief! And that is how evil and sin have become so “powerful” in a pernicious manner among us when many times we are the devil in fact.
Here, we are reminded to be aware always of that opportune time when the devil attacks us when we see or face many sufferings in life by reflecting the last three temptations of Jesus on the Cross.
Photo by author, 2017, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC.
The rulers sneered at Jesus and said, “He saved others, let him save himself if he is the chosen one, the Christ of God” (Lk.23:35).
Just like at the wilderness when the devil tempted Jesus with what he can do as the Son of God by changing stone into bread, at the Cross it was the same temptation hurled on him by the rulers of Israel, the priests and the scribes.
How sad that amid the many sufferings in the world today we contemptuously mock others like the poor for not working so hard to liberate themselves from poverty and hunger. There is the tendency among us blessed with better living conditions to look down at others without considering how they never have the same opportunities in life like us in having good education or a caring family or worse, not having the right connections.
The tragic part of this “sneering” by the rulers on Jesus is when we look at others as if they are not humans and persons like us who play gods knowing everything even who should live and who should die like in the systematic approach by state rulers to come up with what St. John Paul II called as “culture of death” in solving poverty and crime with abortions and capital punishments.
Let us examine our attitudes at the way we look at those going through sufferings and pains like sickness, poverty and other social ills we do not go through. Let us stop the mockeries of blaming them for their plight because many times like Jesus Christ, they were betrayed by loved ones like us, by the society, or even by the institutions meant to uplift them.
Photo by author, 2017.
Even the soldiers jeered at him. As they approached to offer him wine they called out, “If you are King of the Jews, save yourself.” Above him there was an inscription that read, “This is the King of the Jews” (Lk.23:36-38).
Sneering and jeering are both contemptuous mocking or insulting of others; they are both employed by those in vantage positions of power and control like the rulers of Israel. Going “higher” than the priests, the Roman soldiers sneered Jesus by rudely mocking him in loud voice. Sneering is a superfluous display of might, of superiority, of power. It is a kind of vanity that is why in the wilderness, the devil tempted Jesus to have all the kingdoms in the world for him to be famous and popular in exchange of worshipping him.
Sneering is something so prevalent these days in our use of the social media where we practically scream and insist on everyone to notice and recognize us, that we have “arrived” in having the latest and most expensive clothes, food, gadgets and everything. There is so much wild attitude among us like the soldiers at the cross when we use social media in too much talks, even of spewing foul languages and invectives as well as lies. Fake news and lies spread so fast and are sadly taken as true to the detriment of its victims because we have been so gullible for gossips and rumors too.
But the worst part of our imitation of the soldiers jeering at Jesus is when many of us are afflicted with this perversion called exhibitionism – from those salacious posts in TikTok to those “food porns” and too much display of everything about ourselves and of our loved ones. When do we get tired of all these selfies that have become so sickening that we do not realize of how we make known to everyone of our emptiness and lack of the more essential things like love and self-respect? Like the soldiers, the more we promote ourselves, the more we affirm the obvious that Jesus indeed is the King we needed most.
Photo by author, 2017.
Now one of the criminal hanging there reviled Jesus, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us” (Lk.23:39).
Reviling is also kind of of mocking others like sneering and jeering; however, to revile is the lowest kind because it is to insult somebody you are with in a same situation. To revile is the lack of recognition of one’s faults and sins that he would rather insult others like this thief traditionally identified as Hestas. In reviling Jesus while also hanging on the cross, Hestas went down deeper his lowest point as a convicted criminal when he had the gall to insult Jesus!
And that is the most unkind evil of all when we become so numb, so dense and stupid to even mock others we are with us in a similar situation. It happens daily when even we are in deep shit, we still see ourselves cleaner and better than others! Just read or watch the news about our politicians.
In the wilderness, the final temptation of the devil to Jesus was to jump from the top of the temple because his angels would not let him fall and even touch ground; here at the cross, Hestas saw himself no different from Jesus, feeling so entitled to be liberated. Many times, this is the problem why evil continues among us: when people from below are promoted to higher positions, they forget their roots that they also forget to fix the problems of inequalities and injustices down below where they came from. The key is to always remember. Like Dimas, the good thief.
Photo by author, 2017.
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” (Lk.23:40-4).
See how Luke inserted here the fourth verb “to rebuke” to break the series of sneering, jeering, and reviling of Jesus. Like Dimas, we have to strive in breaking the cycle and series of evil especially in this time.
To rebuke means to express sharp disapproval. Imagine Dimas contradicting Hestas and even the rulers and soldiers as well by defending Jesus Christ while hanging there on the cross.
How sad when we remain silent, when we just walk away from people sneering, jeering and reviling Jesus in those who suffer in life because we are afraid to make a stand for what is true and good, what is right and just. How ironic that another thief hanging on the cross was the only one who made a stand for Jesus on that Good Friday along with the Mary and the beloved disciple below.
Every time we make a stand for life and dignity of every person, when we stand for what is true, right and just, that is when we imitate the tribes of Israel in the first reading coming to David to pledge their loyalty and allegiance to him as their king.
When we submit ourselves to Jesus Christ as our only King to be obeyed and followed, that is when our celebration today becomes a daily reality.
That is when we also earn heaven right on the Cross of our sufferings like Dimas when we “remember” Jesus.
Normally in the whole Bible, it is God who remembers. People always forget. When we sin, we forget consciously and unconsciously God and all the good things he had done to us. We forget others too.
There on the Cross, see the reversals of roles Luke has presented so beautifully, from the devil replaced by the rulers, the soldiers and the other thief; and now Dimas sort of assuming God’s role who remembered everything and everyone, especially Jesus our Savior. Dimas remembered what St. Paul expressed to the Colossians that Jesus is Lord in whom, with whom and through whom everything was created and renewed because he is the Christ!
From Google.
The word “remember” literally means to make member or part again, that is, “re” + “member”.
When we remember somebody, we make that person present with us again.
In asking Jesus to remember him when he comes into his kingdom, Dimas was assured that right now as he remembered everything including his sins, he already becomes a member, a part of his kingdom.
May we not forget and always remember Jesus and others always to experience Paradise even when we are on the cross. Amen. Have a blessed week ahead!