Lord My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle A, 28 June 2026
2 Kings 4:8-11, 14-16 ><}}}}*> Romans 6:3-4, 8-11 ><}}}}*> Matthew 10:37-42

Recent news in our country had gone worst this week, from dismal to very disturbing with that school shooting incident in Tacloban City leaving three dead, two critically wounded and about 20 others injured. It was the third school violence to have happened in the country in just seven days with two stabbing incidents in two different schools in Cavite province earlier.

And this Friday night while we were working on this blog, we saw raw videos uploaded in social media by some witnesses of a shooting incident at the Bocaue Toll Plaza southbound involving a white van and several police officers.

What is happening in our country, to our people especially to our youth, and to our much admired Filipino hospitality known worldwide?

The word hospitality is from the Latin hospes that means to welcome; hence, hospital where the sick are welcomed or hospitality business referring to hotels that welcome guests.

Very close in sound is its opposite word also in Latin – hostis which is to reject and turn away from which came our words hostile, hostility and hostage. It is the opposite of to welcome.

Discipleship is being hospitable, welcoming others in Jesus Christ. It is showing Christ to others and finding Christ in others too.

Jesus said to his disciples: “Whoever receives you, receives me, and whoever receives me, receives the one who sent me… And whoever gives only a cup of cold water to one of these little ones to drink because heis a disciple – amen, I say to you, he will surely not lose his reward” (Matthew 10:40, 42).

Remember two Sundays ago (11th Sunday, June 14) how Jesus was moved with pity upon seeing the crowds following him, describing them like sheep without a shepherd, declaring “The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master of harvest to send out laborers for his harvest” (Mt. 9:37-38). After that, he called his Twelve Apostles and sent them on their first mission with specific instructions on discipleship which continues this Sunday in our gospel.

We have to go back to that background where Jesus laid down one of the foundations of discipleship which is to care for people. Jesus never asked us to pray for more money or food or medicines; he said pray for more laborers, for more people who are person-oriented, people who take every person as a subject to be loved and cherished, not an object to be possessed or controlled.

We need people who welcome people, hospitable people. Not hostile ones.

But, the opposite is happening made worse by social media that fan the hostilities among us with the spread of fake news. Due to its algorithm, we are not only divided but polarized too that we are grouped as alike in thinking and everything that we could no longer see the whole picture of the situation we are into.

Not until tragedies struck. First were the deaths in drowning of two athletes in basketball training held in a treacherous beach resort, then we have the school stabbings and shooting this week.

The more we give more importance and emphasis on material and created goods, the more we disregard God and everything spiritual that eventually leads to our disregard for humans and persons.

Thus, the world has become inhospitable. Lifestyle has replaced life with algorithms manipulating our lives to consume more for more profits, more honor, more votes – more of everything except of love and care, kindness and openness for others.

See the beautiful story of the Prophet Elisha welcomed by a woman of influence in Shunem. At first he was merely invited to dine with the woman and her husband whenever he would pass by until eventually he was given a room where he could stay – complete with bed, table, chair, and lamp (2 Kgs.4:8-11).

The hospitable woman saw Elisha as a “holy man of God” that is why she welcomed him into her home. We are not given her name but she foreshadowed the women in the gospels who supported Jesus and his disciples with their generous hospitality. And that continues to these days with so many other people generously helping priests and lay missionaries.

Generosity as a hospitality in Christ is like a two-way traffic: first is the integrity and holiness of the disciples like priests and bishops. Are we like Elisha the prophet who witness the love of Christ above all?

So sad when we hear complaints by parishioners of priests and bishops living in luxury – frequent trips abroad with some traveling business class, dining at expensive restaurants, driving high-end cars, so deep into gambling or so vain in clothing. Not to mention some having luxurious residences. Most embarrassing is how they flaunt these in social media, relishing their ties and closeness with the rich and powerful, even corrupt government officials.

Times have changed when people so eager to welcome their pastors whenever they came to visit because today, it means handing of envelops for endless donations for various projects. What’s the use of having beautiful churches and facilities with no good relationships among priests and parishioners?

See the attitude of Elisha: his simplicity in knowing that all those hospitality accorded to him is because of his being a man of God; his discretion to the private life of his hosts, maintaining a safe distance, no trace of abusive behavior at all; and his desire to express his gratitude to the generosity of the woman and her husband. Hindi puro kabig at the expense of liturgical practices.

On the other hand, we find also the other side of discipleship as hospitality in Christ with the woman of Shunem: her discretion to be not too “rubbing” or insisting on Elisha that she never overwhelmed the prophet with her admiration, her excessive attention, and other personal concerns that could lead to precarious and scandalous situations. Many times, lay people forget that they are also to be blamed when priests and bishops become abusive when parishioners have become “enablers” of clerical excesses. The truly hospitable parishioners are those who help their priests become holy and faithful in ministry by giving them the space and time to pray and rest.

Discipleship as a hospitality in Christ means having the love of Jesus taking possession of us in our dealing with one another. It is sharing the Christ in me, finding the Christ in you. It is what St. Paul is telling us in the second reading: we are called to the highest moral standards of witnessing the gospel by being “dead to sin and living for God in Christ Jesus” (Rom.6:11). Of course, we are all weak and still sinful but being a Christian is to have the love of Christ before all else which is what forgetting one’s mother and father or son and daughter by taking our cross is all about.

Hospitality in Christ is thinking more of God in Jesus than of one’s self so that others may have the space and chance to find and bring out Christ in them. Amen. Have a blessed, safe week ahead.