Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Thursday, Twenty-Fifth Week in Ordinary Time, Year II, 24 September 2026
Ecclesiastes 1:2-11     ><]]]]'> + ><]]]]'> + ><]]]]'>     Luke 9:7-9

Your words today,
O Lord our God,
both in the first reading
from Ecclesiastes and
the gospel remind me of
Bob Dylan's 1963 song
"Blowin' in the Wind" -
that all these problems
we are facing like wars 
and social inequalities
stem from our failure and
refusal to open our eyes
to see the most obvious
things that are just 
blowin' in the wind.

How many roads must a man walk down
Before you call him a man?
How many seas must a white dove sail
Before she sleeps in the sand?
Yes, and how many times must the cannonballs fly
Before they’re forever banned?

The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind
The answer is blowin’ in the wind

Thousands of years
before Bob Dylan came,
there was Qoheleth
telling us, 
"Vanity of vanities...
All things are vanity!"
Like the wind,
"Blowing now toward
the south, then toward
the north, the wind turns
again and again,
resuming its rounds"
(Ecclesiastes 1:2, 6).

We simply had to feel
what everyone is feeling to be
kind, a "kin" to everyone
but we are so vain thinking only
of our very selves that
we can't feel the blowin' of the wind
to see you in everyone.

Yes, and how many years must a mountain exist
Before it is washed to the sea?
Yes, and how many years can some people exist
Before they’re allowed to be free?
Yes, and how many times can a man turn his head
And pretend that he just doesn’t see?

The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind
The answer is blowin’ in the wind

Two thousand years ago
your Son our Savior
Jesus came to reveal
you to us, Father,
suffering, dying and rising
from the dead but still,
many refused to recognize him,
preferring to be like Herod Antipas
who ordered John the Baptist killed
but when he heard about the Christ,
"And he kept trying to see him"
(Luke 9:9) when he eventually met
and spoke with briefly but never "saw"
at all.

And that is vanity,
O Lord:
when we keep on searching,
wanting to see someone,
something so obviously present
among; open our eyes,
our hearts,
let us not be vain
in order to see what is obvious
we are so oblivious
in finding you on the face
of everyone we meet
no matter what his/her color
and belief and background in life.
Open our very selves to find
you Lord on everyone's face,
to hear the cries and pleas
of those suffering and
disadvantaged, the weakest
like the sick and dying,
the youngest and oldest.
Amen.

Yes, and how many times must a man look up
Before he can see the sky?
Yes, and how many ears must one man have
Before he can hear people cry?
Yes, and how many deaths will it take ’til he knows
That too many people have died?

The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind
The answer is blowin’ in the wind