Scammers & Samaritans: living in the net

Quiet Storm by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, 15 July 2025

Bless me, for I have sinned: this Father is a “dinosaur” so afraid of modern technology, so hesitant even in upgrading my cellphone and laptop. And most of all, always suspicious of messages in social media.

Generally, I am more inclined to mistrust everything in the net. But, something happened this Monday that I feel like changing this attitude.

I have celebrated Mass of the Holy Spirit in our Cabanatuan City campus before noon when I found multiple “message requests” from some people asking if I know their former boss at NEDA, Mr. Joseph T. Lalog, a first cousin we fondly called Kuya Jojo.

My initial reaction was budol. Scam.

But when I read that he was in the ER of a hospital in EDSA, I prayed and finally hit the number sent to me by a certain Byron to inquire about Kuya Jojo. After a brief introduction, I was told Kuya Jojo had just died after being rushed that morning to the Victor R. Potenciano Medical Center (VRPMC) in EDSA, Mandaluyong City.

Kuya Jojo was allegedly found by a janitress lying on the floor in one of the restrooms of Shangrila Mall morning of July 14, 2025. He was rushed by the mall’s emergency response team to the ER of VRPMC where doctors tried to revive him but later declared as dead around noon that Monday.

The people at the ER checked Kuya Jojo’s contacts in his cellphone and like my initial reaction, his former staff and colleagues at work thought it was also budol until after they have personally called the hospital with some of them going there to verify the report.

That was when Byron and his colleagues at NEDA who were under Kuya Jojo tried reaching out to us by checking his Facebook contact lists of “Lalog” and “Tobias”. And similarly, we all suspected it could be a scam because Kuya Jojo had always been healthy without any vice at all. He was a varsity of the track and field team at De La Salle University where he finished AB Political Science.

What convinced me to set aside my doubts and press that number provided by Byron was his message that my Kuya Jojo would always speak to him about my being a priest. He asked in one of his texts, “kayo po ba si Father Nick pinsan ni Sir Jojo?” With that, I finally felt deep inside this must be true. Not a scam. Or budol.

Mahirap palang maging netizen, mabuhay sa internet.

You know that daily or maybe every second of struggles just to verify and check whether those messages and information in the social media are true or not.

Baka niloloko ka lang? O, ako lang ang OC, takot at duda sa social media?

Ang hirap lalo na sa gitna ng maraming kuwento ng pangloloko at mga budol ng kung sino sino sa social media at internet na kahit kaming mga pari niloloko o ginagamit sa pangbubudol!

At ang pinakamahirap sa lahat – kapag binabanggit na pangalan ng mga taong malapit sa iyo katulad ng pinsan kong buo na si Kuya Jojo. Ang hirap at nakakatakot paniwalaan mga texts na namatay o kung napano na…

That entire stretch of travel from Cabanatuan City to EDSA, I felt being warped between reality and virtual reality, between the net and the real world. What if this is not true? Paano ako?

Aside from those things running in my mind, I was also thinking of my elder relatives. How am I going to break the news? How reliable were those people if they were really the colleagues and staff of my cousin even after I spoke to one of them on phone?

As I thought of my cousin lying on the floor of the CR of the mall, suddenly I remembered last Sunday’s gospel of the good Samaritan. It was like a modern version. My cousin almost dead or already dead on the marble floor of the restroom when a janitress had the courage and mercy to call their emergency response team.

Most of all, of the most kindred souls of Kuya Jojo’s friends and colleagues who never gave up on reaching out to us. They are all the modern good Samaritans who “treated him with mercy” (Lk.10:37).

I arrived 4:30 PM in the hospital where the ER doctor in charge briefed me of Kuya Jojo’s death. Soon Byron arrived and told the doctor my cousin’s medical condition while the funeral service sent by my uncle in Los Baños finally arrived at around 8:00 PM.

At the morgue, I gave the final blessings for Kuya Jojo before being transported to Los Baños where his wake will be held at the Heaven’s Gate Memorial Park in Bgy. Anos. After thanking and blessing Byron and the hospital staff, I booked my ride home as I had earlier sent home our university driver to rest for another trip to our Pampanga campus the following morning.

*Photo by cottonbro studio on Pexels.com*

In less than ten minutes I was on board my Grab ride to Valenzuela City, still wondering what had happened that Monday. As I scrolled on my Facebook and Instagram with its bright light filling my ride, I felt a sense of relief that Jesus is very much present in the internet, in social media. St. Paul wrote it so well more than 2000 years ago that “where sin increased, grace overflowed all the more” (Rom. 5:20).

No matter how bad we see the world including the internet these days with its many sins and evil, God assured me that night that there are still far more good people, good Samaritans than evil ones. We simply have to make the right choice always by choosing Jesus who remains “the way, the truth, and the life” (Jn. 14:6). God bless everyone!

*Thank you to the staff and colleagues of the late Joseph T. Lalog at the NEDA. We do not have yet the details of his wake and interment as his sisters are arriving only this Thursday. On behalf of our clan, thank you and may God bless you more!

Exaggerating the truth, exaggerating self, part 2

Quiet Storm by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, 23 July 2024

*Photo from sunstar.com.ph of that viral incident between a Cebu personality addressed as a “Sir” by a waiter in a mall last Sunday.*

It is a classic case of “brouhaha” in the real sense, especially if we consider our Tagalog word buruha or bruha: a waiter was told to stand for more than an hour to be “lectured” on gender sensitivity by a Cebu personality belonging to the LGBTQ community after being addressed as a “Sir”.

Well, at least, the issue had been settled amicably with an apology by the celebrity after a deluge of negative reactions from netizens. Likewise, we can now sigh with some relief that there are no plans among the LGBTQ community to imitate their sistah from the Queen City of Cebu, proof that there are more sane and kind LGBTQ who have better things to do than make a big fuss about themselves or the rainbow. Imagine if every LGBTQ will lecture everyone of us just on how to address them in Metro Manila alone, life would be disrupted and paralyzed, worst than what we went through during the lockdowns during COVID-19!

But kidding aside, what makes that incident disturbingly sad is how it had shown again the sad plight of the poor in our country. Bawal maging mahirap, maging dukha sa Pilipinas. So sad. Even in the church it is very true. We do not have to look far to see how this is so true among us. Kawawa palagi ang mga maliliit.

How do we treat our house helpers and drivers, delivery personnel, janitors and janitresses, even professionals doing not so glamorous tasks like nurses. And security guards, of course. (Kudos to our alma mater, the Faculty of Arts and Letters of UST who had their security personnel joined the march of their recent graduates!)

The very sight of a waiter standing in front of a customer immediately caught my attention while scrolling my Facebook, asking myself, “what happened?” Gut feelings told me something was very wrong and surely, the guy must have been so disadvantaged.

For addressing that celebrity customer as “sir”, the waiter had to endure the humiliation of standing before him like in a trial. Even if it was just between the two of them. Even if he did not scream or yell at the waiter. What’s the big deal? Iyon lang?

His ego, his femininity more valuable than the very person of the waiter? It is the new pandemic among us spreading these last 20 years. The malady of entitlement, of never making the mortal sin to address some people as Doctor or Attorney or even Father. We have lost touched with our humanity, our being a human being, a person, a tao first of all.

Good thing there was a good soul around that mall who came to the waiter’s rescue.

What we have here is a classic case of “exaggeration of truth, exaggeration of self” – a phrase I have found years ago in one of the many writings of Pope Benedict XVI. It was my parting shot to our graduates of Senior High School last July 05, 2024 during our Baccalaureate Mass.

Many times in this age of so many platforms of communications, we tend to exaggerate the truths, of clamoring for so many things like inclusiveness everywhere when in the process, they have actually become so exclusive! Many times, people exaggerate the truth presenting themselves as disadvantaged and victimized when in fact it is far from reality. Many people are advancing so many things these days when in fact they are actually promoting themselves. Many are exaggerating the truths when they are actually exaggerating themselves (https://lordmychef.com/2024/07/10/exaggerating-truth-exaggerating-self/)

The tragedy of our time characterized by affluence and upward mobility so splattered across social media daily, is how so many among us who have lost touch with our humanity. Everything has become a show – a palabas we say in Filipino. We forget that inside – the loob – as more essential.

And what is inside each one of us?

Our dignity as image and likeness of God or pagkatao that is best seen and expressed in our being small, being little like the children, the very core of Jesus Christ’s teaching.

Look outside even in the countryside now invaded by those giant tarpaulins – why have we become like those tarpaulins, thinking and feeling we are larger than others?

Truth in Greek is aletheia that literally means an opening, of not being concealed like the blooming of a flower.

Simply be yourself. And don’t forget everyone as they are.

God bless everyone!

*Photo by Dra. Mai B. Dela Pena, MD at Deir Al-Mukhraqa Carmelite Monastery in Isarel, 2014.*

Learning, following, sending… again. And again.

Homily, Baccalaureate Mass, College Students
Our Lady of Fatima University-Antipolo City, 10 July 2024

Our gospel today speaks so well of your graduation when “Jesus summoned his Twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits to drive them out and to cure every disease and even illness. The names of the Twelve Apostles are these…” (Matthew 10:1).

See how Matthew distinguished the Twelve: first, as disciples then as Apostles, a beautiful reminder to us all that first we learn and then we are sent out like you upon graduation.

“Disciple” is from the Latin word discipulos or follower which came from the verb discere, to learn. A follower or tagasunod in Filipino is a learner, someone who learns from a teacher. From it came also the word discipline; that is why, a disciplined person – one who is masunurin – is one who follows and obeys always not only persons but also the truths and new learnings he/she may have learned.

On the other hand, the word “apostle” is from the Greek apostolos which is to be sent forth. In the gospel, the Apostles are the Twelve members of Christ’s inner circle, those closest with Jesus. Though the gospel would always have that distinction between a disciple and an apostle, they are essentially inseparable because before one is sent forth, he/she has to be learned first. Therefore, every baptized person is both a disciple and an apostle, a learner of the Lord’s ways and teachings who is sent out to proclaim the Gospel to others in words and in deeds.

Every Christian is a disciple and an apostle with a special relationship with Jesus Christ.

That is most specially true with you, my dear Fatimanians, students and graduates of Our Lady of Fatima University here in Antipolo City.

*“The Exhortation to the Apostles” painting by James Tissot (ca.1886-1894) from commons.wikimedia.org.*

Being a disciple and an apostle is a continuous process of learning, following and sending.

Don’t ever think that graduation is the end of your studies. The more you get into your professional life, the more you must pursue learning to follow new trends in your fields of specialization as you are sent not only across the Philippines but even abroad, across the globe like most of our alumni.

Being a disciple and an apostle, learning and following and being sent, are more of the inside than of the outside. Remember that first lesson of the pencil: what is inside is most important, not the outside which today is given more importance and prominence especially in social media.

Puro palabas. All about the outside and externalities that are superficial like having the most likes, becoming viral and trending. It is all show which is what the word palabas means. Showbiz na show biz tayo pero walang laman.

When you look at the mirror like what the BINI would sing, “salamin, salamin…”, what do you see? Are you a reflection of a man or a woman of depth and meaning or one who is empty?

Learning is not about stacking information and data inside the brain like a computer; learning involves the education of the heart, of becoming “man as man himself” as we say here at OLFU. “To rise to the top” is not to rule over others but becoming “the glory of God in man fully alive”, reflecting our mottos Veritas et Misericordia.

As you leave the portals of our beloved alma mater, ask yourself: am I more loving and understanding with all the knowledge and learning I have gained after years of studies here at OLFU?

Education literally means “to lead out”… from darkness into light, from slavery into freedom, from ignorance into wisdom. St. Thomas Aquinas wrote that the more we gain knowledge, the more we become intelligent, the more we must become holy. A truly intelligent person is one who does what is good and avoids evil and sinful. But, why are we as a nation of so many graduates still kulelat in many aspects in life?

*From The Valenzuela Times, 02 July 2024.*

You must have seen that photo of our nursing student carrying on his back his girlfriend while crossing the flooded McArthur Highway in Valenzuela City last week.

At first I was so happy seeing that chivalry is still alive in this modern age; later that night, I felt disappointed and so sad when I saw the negative reactions. Most netizens clicked the LOL emoticons with others commenting the girl was OA, saying, sana nagholding hands na lang sila. At least some were honest enough to admit their jealousy, commenting sanaol!

Why the negative reaction these days when somebody does something good like sacrificing? Why do people seem to approve when we see videos and reels of wrongdoings and stupidities? Have we become a nation of delulu?

Even the words we use are being altered. I cannot understand why a girl is now spelled as gurl? Somebody asked me who is my bias among the lovely members of BINI; why say bias when you mean favorite?

Call me old and conservative but the trend these days seem to be rejoicing in what is negative and wrong and frowning at whatever is good and beautiful. Clearly it is not generation gap but more of a symptom of a sick society and generation, exactly like what Hosea mentioned in the first reading, of how people have turned away from God worshipping idols. Who and what are these modern idols we worship and follow these days? Do we still call on God our Father and to His Son Jesus Christ our Savior?

*Photo by author, Our Lady of Fatima University, Valenzuela City, 2023.*

If there is anything most important we must have learned in our university, it is the value of prayer, of opening to God like those three children at Fatima in 1917. See how the Blessed Mother, our Patroness, came to see and teach St. Francisco and his sister St. Jacinta Marto with their elder cousin Sr. Lucia for six consecutive months every 13th day to pray, do penance and celebrate the Mass.

It is my hope that you continue to pray the Rosary, you continue to celebrate Masses on Sundays after your graduation to always learn and follow Jesus who actually sends you to serve those most in need as nurses, medical technologists, pharmacists, accountants, and criminologists. Be the loving hands, the healing hands of Jesus Christ!

Remember what I have been telling you since I came here in Our Lady of Fatima University: even now that you are professionals, continue to study hard, work harder, and pray hardest. God bless you, dear graduates of 2024!

*From the cbcpnews.net, 13 May 2022, at the Parish of the National Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima, Valenzuela City.*

Exaggerating truth, exaggerating self

Homily, Baccalaureate Mass, Senior High School
Our Lady of Fatima University, Valenzuela City, 05 July 2024

*Photo by olia danilevich on Pexels.com*

Congratulations, our dear graduates this academic year 2023-2024! As you mark the completion of your studies, may I ask you again why did you go to school? Why study at all?

As usual, we get those varied answers of going to school like to have a bright future by securing a better paying job or, as others would readily admit it, in order to get rich and a host of other reasons that are far from the truth because one does not need to earn a diploma to get a job or even get rich. Look around you.

Remember, my dear graduates, we go to school in order to become a better person, a better man, a better woman. That is what we mean with that slogan “Rise to the top!” here at Our Lady of Fatima University; that we may become “man as man”, truly human guided by our mottos, Veritas et Misericordia.

Problem in this age of too much social media is how people have become more lost than ever in themselves. So many have become so alienated with their true selves as they get confused with reality and with virtual reality. Puro tayo palabas, wala nang paloob as everything has become a show including our lives.

Look inside your hearts and find Jesus Christ for only in Him can we find fulfillment in life like Matthew in our gospel today:

As Jesus passed by, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the customs post. He said to him, “Follow me.” And he got up and followed him (Matthew 9:9).

After this Mass, check Google. Search Caravaggio’s painting, the call of St. Matthew. Caravaggio was the same artist who painted “The Incredulity of Thomas” when the Apostle met the Risen Lord Jesus Christ eight days after Easter.

One thing you will notice in Caravaggio’s paintings are the interplay of light and darkness that seem to converse with the onlookers. In the call of St. Matthew, Caravaggio painted the scene so typical of his own time with Matthew and other men inside his office wearing clothes of the Middle Ages while Jesus passing by at the other end of the painting dressed in exactly the way during His time. Jesus was portrayed in a side view, calling Matthew who was seated and surprised, asking Jesus if he was the one being called. You could read the face of Matthew asking Jesus, “who, me?” while Jesus was gently looking at him with firmness, saying, “yes, you Matthew. Follow me”.

First thing we learn from this painting is how Jesus continues to come to our own time and situation, right where we are seated like with Matthew. As Jesus pointed His finger to Matthew while calling him, Matthew pointed too his finger into his heart to ask Jesus if he was the one He was referring to. It is a lovely scene telling us how Jesus invites us daily to welcome Him in our hearts, telling us to take a look inside our heart to find Him. Tumingin tayo palagi paloob sa ating sarili, hindi palabas o sa labas gaya ng social media na dinaraan lahat sa likes at kung anu anong mga emoticons. Paramihan ng followers basta trending at viral maski pangit. Pagkatapos, wala na. Hungkag pa rin tayo. Walang laman. Empty.

Now, look at this photo uploaded last night by The Valenzuela Times after that flash flood yesterday afternoon in front of our medical center along McArthur Highway. You must have seen it too.

How did you react? Did you laugh at the man carrying on his back his girlfriend while crossing the flooded street?

How sad that many netizens laughed at it with many having pressed the LOL emoticons with some calling the “gurl” as OA, saying “naglakad na lang sana sila magka-holding hands, hindi pinahirapan yung guy”. At least, some were honest to admit their envy, saying, “sanaol”!

Why those negative reactions? Bakit pinagtawanan? (https://lordmychef.com/2024/07/03/crossings-the-cross/)

That is the sad reality in our time when people laugh at others doing something good like sacrificing or simply being honest. Have we forgotten all about God and others just like the message of the Prophet Amos 3000 year ago of how people turned into sin and evil, trampling on others especially the poor which continues to happen today?

Hear this, you who trample upon the needy and destroy the poor of the land! “When will the new moon be over,” you ask, “that we may sell our grain, and the sabbath, that we may display the wheat? We will diminish the containers for measuring, add to the weights, and fix our scales for cheating! We will buy the lowly man for silver, and the poor man for a pair of sandals; even the refuse of the wheat we will sell!” (Amos 8:4-6).

*From cbcpnews.net, 13 May 2022, at the Parish of the National Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima, Valenzuela City.*

My dear Fatimanians, as you get closer to achieving your dreams, as you move on to the next phase of your studies and formation here in our University, remember always the lessons and life of our Patroness, the Blessed Virgin Mary as well as the three children to whom she appeared in Fatima, Portugal more than 100 years ago.

Mary remained faithful to her Son Jesus Christ, accompanying Him up to the Cross. The three visionaries of Fatima did the same, praying and sacrificing a lot to get the Blessed Mother’s message of conversion across. In their young age, they did not mind what others said about them from May 13 to October 13, 1917, remaining faithful to Jesus with Mary by being good and obedient children.

It is always easy to look good and kind in social media. It is always so easy to speak of so many lofty plans and ideals, of how we want to change the world but we forget to look inside our hearts, into our true selves. Like the Pharisees in the gospel today, they saw themselves as the best and the holiest whom Jesus should keep company with, not the sinners like the tax collectors that included Matthew.

Many times in this age of so many platforms of communications, we tend to exaggerate the truths, of clamoring for so many things like inclusiveness everywhere when in the process, they have actually become so exclusive! Many times, people exaggerate the truth presenting themselves as disadvantaged and victimized when in fact it is far from reality. Many people are advancing so many things these days when in fact they are actually promoting themselves. Many are exaggerating the truths when they are actually exaggerating themselves.

Heed the words of Jesus to the Pharisees, “Those who are well do not need a physician, but the sick do. Go and learn the meaning of the words, I desire mercy, not sacrifice” (Mt. 9:13).

It is not enough to know and get what we want but what does God desire for me? You will never go wrong in life when you follow God than men or women who could just be exaggerating themselves. Handle your life with prayer, my dear Fatimanians. As I have told you since I came here in OLFU, always remember to “study hard, work harder, and pray hardest.” God bless you all!

Crossings & the Cross

Quiet Storm by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, 03 July 2024

*Photo from The Valenzuela Times, 02 July 2024.*

Honestly… how did you react to this photo published yesterday afternoon after that flash flood at McArthur Highway in Valenzuela City? Do you find it funny? Did you hit the LOL emoticon? Why?

Am I that old and conservative, or prudish, or, is it merely a simple case of generation gap that I felt sad and surprised at how almost everyone in social media last night laughed at this photo? At least, some were sincere enough to admit being jealous as they exclaimed “sanaol” but, why all the laughter?

It is better expressed in our Filipino language – pinagtawanan (laughed at) which is a world apart from nakatutuwa (joyful sight).

What is so funny if a man would carry his girlfriend on his back for her not to get wet or soaked in the flood?

So gentlemanly in fact, hindi ba? Should we not be glad that there are still knights in shining armor these days?

Others simply described it as OA or “overacting”. Maybe…

The photo is a modern gospel, a good news in this age when chivalry is said to be dead. It is so much similar with last Sunday’s gospel that said “Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side” (Mk. 5:21), after they went through a turbulent squall crossing the Lake of Galilee the other week. What a beautiful story last Sunday of Jesus crossing again and again not only the treacherous lake but so often crossed the streets and valleys and mountains to reach out to those sick and lost and even dead to bring them all to the side of grace and life (https://lordmychef.com/2024/06/29/jesus-crossed-seas-streets-to-lead-us-to-the-side-of-life-again-again/).

I love that word “cross” from which came crossing; the former if spelled with a capital C refers to the Cross of Jesus Christ that also means our daily sufferings and difficulties in life we have to accept and embrace while the former refers to the street intersection where pedestrians cross.

Every day Jesus comes to help us cross the streets of this life filled with many pains and sufferings, trials and hardships. Jesus help us cross these busy and stressful streets of daily life for us to get to the side of life and fullness through those willing to suffer and sacrifice like this student in the photo.

How sad that when someone is willing to sacrifice for a loved one, when someone is willing to help others cross the street, whether it is flooded or not that people nowadays laugh at them, calling them OA.

We are not judging anyone.

Maybe we just have to reassess ourselves daily especially in our overexposure to social media and its gadgets that have alienated us from realities of life and from being human, being a person who is a subject to be loved and cherished than object to be possessed and laughed at.

How sad that with too much media, we no longer have that feel and experience of realities.

Go to any wedding or whatever kind of ceremony and parade to see how people are foolishly glued to their camera screens recording the events without experiencing the moment at all!

That gentleman carrying his girlfriend on his back is a good news for us today that Christ is still with us in this modern age. Unfortunately, it seems that like what happened 2000 years ago, there are still some who still want Him crucified for being good and kind, even OA, with others. Have a blessed day. We’d like to hear from you too… thank you!

Easter is signs & Scripture together. Always.

The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Easter Sunday of the Lord's Resurrection, 31 March 2024
Acts 10:34, 37-43 ><}}}}*> Colossians 3:1-4 ><}}}}*> John 20:1-9

A blessed happy Easter to everyone! The Lord is risen. Let us rejoice amid all the darkness and sufferings still hovering over our lives at this time as Easter gives meaning to these all, enabling us to experience God closest with us in Jesus Christ.

Let Christ’s assurance of deliverance, of salvation burst forth from your heart, from the depths of your soul that amid all these sufferings, we have already won in Jesus. It is in those darkness and emptiness where Jesus is found as the first disciples realized that first Easter morning.

On the first day of the week, Mary of Magdala came to the tomb early in the morning, while it was still dark, and saw the stone removed from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved… When Simon Peter arrived after him, he went into the tomb and saw the burial cloths there… Then the other disciple also went in, the one who had arrived at the tomb first, and he saw and believed. For they did not yet understand the Scripture that he had to rise from the dead.
John 20:1-2, 6, 8-9

*Jesus Christ resurrection. Christian Easter concept. Empty tomb of Jesus with light. Born to Die, Born to Rise. “He is not here he is risen”. Photo from iStock/GettyImages.*

We can never experience the joy of Easter if we skip going through or deny the agonies and pains of Good Friday. See how in the glory of Christ’s Resurrection is found the empty tomb set in the darkness of dawn, evoking in us the realities of life.

The problem in our time is when people see life only as Easter without Good Friday like those who want to get rich by gambling without working hard or students who want to pass exams without studying. At the other extreme are those who see life only as all Good Friday without Easter, becoming indifferent to joy and life itself.

Absence of sufferings can happen only in heaven after we have died. In rising from the dead, Jesus enables us today to taste heaven, to have a glimpse of eternal bliss which Easter makes a reality within us. That is why all the 50 days of Easter beginning today until Pentecost Sunday are actually counted as one big day because we can never grasp the fullness of Christ’s Resurrection in just one day or one month. As we have reflected last Sunday, life is like the Palm Sunday in the Lord’s Passion, a daily movement from the Lord’s Passion, Death, and Resurrection.

Actually, every celebration we have in the Church, from Christmas to feasts of Mary and the saints are images of Easter, of Jesus Christ’s Resurrection, of His triumph and glory. This we find in that last line of our gospel account today:

Then the other disciple also went in, the one who had arrived at the tomb first, and he saw and believed. For they did not yet understand the Scripture that he had to rise from the dead.
John 20:8-9

*Crucifixion and Resurrection. He is Risen. Empty tomb of Jesus with crosses in the background and cinematic lighting. From IStock/GettyImages.*

Many times our life is an empty tomb with nothing inside except signs of Jesus. John used the word sign to refer to the Lord’s miracles, words and actions that point to Him as the Christ, the awaited Messiah. Hence, his gospel is also known as “the book of signs” with seven miracles and teachings by Jesus that signify Him as the Son of God.

Here at the last two chapters of his gospel we find John’s wisdom in using both explicitly and implicitly the word and concept of sign to point at Jesus as the Christ. The empty tomb itself is the sign pointing to Jesus who had risen; since He was not there, He must be somewhere alive! How do we prove it? Again with another signs, the burial cloths neatly folded inside the empty tomb that showed the body of Jesus was not stolen.

*From wikipedia.commons*, healing of a leper,

John have used this formula repeatedly in his gospel, slowly building up to prepare his readers for the great signs of Easter like the changing of water into wine at Cana, the many cures, the feeding of more than 5000 in the wilderness, the thrusting of lance into the Lord’s side while on the Cross from which flowed blood and water. All of these he consistently claimed as signs that he as “the other disciple” had seen or witnessed.

Whenever we prayerfully read and reflect John’s gospel, we too see and hear Jesus is the Christ in the signs he presents us until finally, we find Jesus present in the many experiences of our lives! John wants us to understand the interaction between signs and Scripture which Luke explained beautifully in the story of the road to Emmaus which is the gospel proclaimed on the evening of Easter Sunday.

For John and the evangelists which Vatican II stressed in Dei Verbum, the Scripture allows us to understand the signs that also lead to understanding the Scripture. If the Apostles have not learned from the Scriptures that Jesus must rise from the dead, the empty tomb would have remained a puzzle to them. Likewise, it was the sign of the empty tomb that led them to understanding fully the Scripture. And that has always been the case in our lives until now that is why it is so essential we cultivate a prayer life which is a relationship with God in Jesus not just a recitation of prayers or celebration of the Mass.

Easter invites us to enter into a relationship with God in Jesus, through Jesus and with Jesus through the many signs He joined us through our trials and tribulations in life so we can be one with Him in His Resurrection.

Detail of the Anastasis (Resurrection) fresco in the Church of the Holy Saviour in Chora, in Istanbul, Turkey. It depicts Jesus’ descent into limbo to liberate Adam and Eve and all the righteous who have been waiting for him there. Photo and caption from Salt and Light Catholic Media Foundation (slmedia.org).

How sad in this age when many people have stopped joining church celebrations and communal prayers when they choose to go on vacation during Christmas and Easter, totally unmindful of Jesus Christ’s outpouring of love for us.

How sad when many of us practically live in the media, so concerned with the palabas (the outside peripherals) than the inside, the more essential even in our spiritual celebrations.

How sad when people preferred to video the procession of the Blessed Sacrament on Holy Thursday than to kneel and pray in recognition of Christ’s real presence.

How sad for those who skip Masses on Sundays but would devoutly join the Good Friday processions that have become more of fashion show and picnic when people are busy talking, texting, taking videos or pictures, eating and drinking than praying and meditating the various scenes of the Lord’s Passion and Death.

How sad for those who have made their carrozas a pompous spectacle and display of family wealth than catechism and devotion. One would seriously wonder where is the dolor of Viernes Dolores or the grief and sadness for the Lord’s passion, death and burial depicted by the Holy Week processions. Not to mention the kabaduyan and ka-ek-ekan by priests at the repositories of Holy Thursday that after Visita Iglesia you hardly hear people talking how they were edified at the solemnity of the church they visited; people now talk more after Visita Iglesia of how they were awed by the decors and effects of repositories, not of Christ’s real presence.

Worst, the most crazy and foolish of all is how most Catholics end their devotions at Good Friday without realizing the most important of all celebrations is Easter which is the Mother of all feasts in our Church, the very heart of our faith.

This Easter, let us salvage the remaining gifts and grace God pours upon us in Jesus through this Season by opening our hearts, our minds, our total selves to the Risen Lord we encounter in the Scripture and many signs in our lives. Amen. Have a blessed Easter!

Pagkukuwento – di pagkukuwenta- ang pag-aasawa

Lawiswis Ng Salita ni P. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Ika-12 ng Enero 2024
Homilya sa Kasal ng Inaanak ko sa binyag, Lorenz, kay Charmaine
Simbahan ni San Agustin, Intramuros, Maynila

Sigurado ako na alam na ninyong lahat, lalo na ng mga Gen Z dito, iyong trending sa social media na post ng isang dilag nang malaman niyang 299-pesos ang halaga ng engagement ring na binigay sa kanya ng boyfriend niya ng walong taon na nabili sa Shopee.

Kasing ingay ng mga paputok ng Bagong Taon ang talakayan noon sa social media hanggang sa naging isang katatawanan o meme ang naturang post gaya ng halos lahat ng nagiging viral. Sari-sari ang mga kuro-kuro at pananaw ng mga netizens, mahuhusay ang kanilang paglalahad, seryoso man o pabiro. Mayroong mga kumampi sa babae habang ang ilan naman ay naghusga sa kanya at sa boyfriend niya.

Hindi ko naman nasundan ang post na iyan. Katunayan, inalam ko lamang iyon kamakailan upang pagnilayan para sa homilya ko sa inyong kasal ngayong hapong ito, Lorenz at Charmaine.

At ito lang masasabi ko sa inyo: ang pag-aasawa ay tungkol sa kuwento ng pag-ibig, hindi ng kuwenta sa mga naibigay, materyal man o espiritwal.

Maliwanag sa ating ebanghelyo na ang pag-aasawa ay kuwento ng pag-ibig ng Diyos sa atin. Maniwala kayo Lorenz at Charmaine, Diyos ang nagtakda ng araw na ito ng inyong kasal. Hindi kahapon o bukas, at hindi rin noong isang taon gaya ng una ninyong plano. Iyan ang sinabi sa atin ni San Pablo sa Unang Pagbasa:

“Kung ang Diyos ay panig sa atin, sino ang laban sa atin? Walang makapaghihiwalay sa atin sa pag-ibig ng Diyos – pag-ibig na ipinadama niya sa atin sa pamamagitan ni Cristo Jesus na ating Panginoon.”
Roma 8:31, 39

Higit sa lahat, batid ninyong pareho sa inyong kuwento ng buhay kung paanong ang Diyos ang kumilos upang sa kabila ng magkaiba ninyong mga karanasan, pinagtagpo pa rin kayo ng Diyos, pinapanatili at higit sa lahat, ngayon ay pinagbubuklod sa Sakramento ng Kasal ngayong hapon.

Sa tuwing pinag-uusapan ninyo ang inyong kuwento ng buhay, palaging naroon din ang inyong kuwento ng pag-ibig maging sa iba’t ibang karanasan – matatamis at mapapait minsa’y mapakla at maisim marahil pero sa kabuuan, masarap ang inyong kuwento, hindi ba? Ilang beses ba kayong nag-away… at nagbati pa rin?

Humanga nga ako sa inyo pareho, lalo na sa iyo Lorenz. Ipinagmamalaki ko na inaanak kita kasi ikaw pala ay dakilang mangingibig. Hindi mo alintana ang nakaraan ni Charmaine. Katulad mo ay si San Jose nang lalo mo pang minahal si Charmaine at ang mga mahal niya! Wala sa iyo ang nakaraang kuwento ng buhay ni Charmaine dahil ang pinahalagahan mo ay ang kuwentong hinahabi ninyong pareho ngayon. Bihira na iyan at maliwanag na ito ay kuwento ng pag-ibig ng Diyos sa inyo.

Paghanga at pagkabighani naman aking naramdaman sa iyo, Charmaine. Higit sa iyong kagandahan Charmaine ay ang busilak ng iyong puso at budhi. Wala kang inilihim kay Lorenz. Naging totoo ka sa kanya mula simula. Higit sa lahat, naging bukas ang isip at puso mo sa kabila ng iyong unang karanasan upang pagbigyan ang umibig muli. At hindi ka nabigo.

Kaya nga Lorenz at Charmaine, ipagpatuloy ninyo ang kuwento ng inyong pag-ibig sa isa’t isa na mula sa Diyos.

*Larawan kuha ng may-akda, 2017 sa Israel.*

Kapag mahal mo ang isang tao, lagi mong kinakausap. Marami kang kuwento. At handa kang makinig kahit paulit-ulit ang kuwento kasi mahal mo siya. At kung mahal ninyo ang Diyos, palagi din kayong makikipag-kuwentuhan sa kanya sa pagdarasal at pagsisimba.

Palagi ninyong isama sa buhay ninyo tulad sa araw na ito ang Diyos na pumili sa inyo. Wika ng Panginoong Jesus sa ating ebanghelyo, “Manatili kayo sa aking pag-ibig upang makahati kayo sa kagalakan ko at malubos ang inyong kagalakan” (Jn.15:9, 11).

Hindi pagkukuwenta ang pag-aasawa. Hindi lamang pera at mga gastos ang kinukuwenta. Huwag na huwag ninyong gagawing mag-asawa ang magkuwentahan ng inyong naibigay o tinanggap na ano pa man sapagkat ang pag-aasawa ay hindi paligsahan o kompetisyon ng mga naibigay at naidulot. Hindi ito labanan ng sino ang higit na nagmamahal. Kaya, huwag kayong magkukwentahan, magbibilangan ng pagkukulang o ng pagpupuno sa isa’t-isa.

Basta magmahal lang kayo ng magmahal nang hindi humahanap ng kapalit dahil ang pag-aasawa ay ang pagbibigay ng buong sarili sa kabiyak upang mapanatili inyong kabuuan.

Paano ba nalalaman ng mga bata kung magkaaway ang tatay at nanay?

Kapag hindi sila nag-uusap. Kapag ang mag-asawa o mag-irog o maging magkakaibigan ay hindi nag-uusap ni hindi nagkikibuan, ibig sabihin mayroong tampuhan o alitan. Walang pag-ibig, walang ugnayan, walang usapan.

Kaya nga kapag nag-away ang mag-asawa, sino ang dapat maunang bumati o kumibo? Sabi ng iba yung daw lalake kasi lalake ang una palagi. Akala ko ba ay ladies first? Sabi ng ilan, kung sino daw may kasalanan. E, may aamin ba sa mag-asawa kung sino may kasalanan?

Ang tumpak na kasagutan ay kung sino mayroong higit na pagmamahal, siyang maunang kumibo at bumati dahil ang pag-aasawa ay paninindigang piliin na mahalin at mahalin pa rin araw-araw ang kanyang kabiyak sa kabila ng lahat. Kaya palaging maganda ang kuwento ng pag-ibig, hindi nagwawakas, nagpapatuloy hanggang kamatayan.

Aabangan namin at ipapanalangin inyong kuwento ng pag-ibig, Lorenz at Charmaine. Mabuhay kayo!

Befriending the Cross of Christ

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
First Friday, Week XXXI, Year II in Ordinary Time, 06 November 2020
Philippians 3:17-4:1 >><)))*> + <*(((><< Luke 16:1-8

Sometimes I wonder if we are still in a pandemic, God. It seems we have slowly gone back to our old ways or, even worst as we seem to have totally forgotten you. We have become so used with the new situations we prefer to call as “new normal” as if the norms or standards of what is just and moral, right and true change at all.

Have we become an enemy of your Son’s Cross?

Join with others in being imitators of me, brothers and sisters, and observe those who thus conduct themselves according to the model you have in us. For many, as I have often told you and now tell you even in tears, conduct themselves as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction. Their God is their stomach; their glory is in their “shame”. Their minds are occupied with earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we also await a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Philippians 3:17-20

Our loving Father, I am not asking for a return to our situation during the lockdowns of summer with growing number of COVID infections; I am not praying for more crosses to bear as if the ones we now have are not enough. Just help us befriend your Son’s Cross again, to forget ourselves and follow him instead of following more the social media that has become our new god.

How prophetic were the words of St. Paul to the Philippians, Lord! They are all happening especially in social media that has become everyone’s new religion that seemingly binds but actually divides us as a nation, as your children.

Everybody wants to be in social media, doing all the crazy stuff to be popular by being viral and trending with many followers to boast without realizing what St. Paul referred to as “their glory is their ‘shame'” when we are filled with our ego – or selfies -that we forget you in others.

Many are beginning to accept the lies being peddled in social media like abortion and euthanasia, genetic engineering, same sex marriage or unions, and homosexual relationships that end in destruction.

Facebook and Instagram have become the altars of those who have made their “stomach as their God” flaunting their food in social media, insensitive to the plight of many going hungry these days.

Wake us up to the reality in Jesus of how our “minds are occupied with earthly things” these days that even you our God we have made into a commodity whom we can have when we want like any product or the Netflix when celebrating online Masses.

Help us realize like the steward in the parable that life is about the giving of self in love for others like Jesus – of befriending your Cross – not wealth nor fame. Amen.

Photo by Mr. Marc Angelo Nicolas Carpio, January 2020.

The hiddenness of God

Quiet Storm by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, 04 September 2020

Photo by author, sunset at the Lake of Galilee (Tiberias) in Israel, May 2017.

August has always been a “ghost month” for me since elementary school. Long before I have heard these stories and words of caution against many things in the month of August, I have always dreaded this month when days are grindingly slow.

Specially this year 2020 when the whole month of August felt like the season of Lent when everything was dry and empty, even literally speaking in our churches when the five Sundays of August were like five Good Fridays.

But, for the first time in many years during this pandemic, amid the dryness and emptiness of August 2020, I felt and “found” God anew in his most unique and wonderful characteristic — his hiddenness.

Hiddenness is different from being invisible that simply means “not visible”.

Hiddenness is something both simple and complicated but beautiful and wonderful when we find God in his hiddenness.

Hiddenness of God means more than not being seen per se; it is that feeling with certainty that he is present but, just hiding somewhere. In fact, if God were not hidden, we would have not found him at all!

And the more God is hidden, the more we are able to see him and experience him!

Remember when we were kids and could not find the things that our mother had asked us to get from somewhere in the sala or kitchen or her tocador? She would threaten us with the classic line my generation have all heard and memorized, “Pag hindi mo nakita yan, makikita mo sa akin!”

It is one of our funniest memories of childhood! I am sorry for my English-speaking readers but there is no appropriate translation for this because it is very cultural and even spiritual in nature. Literally translated, it says that if you do not find what you are looking for, you would find it with me. Crazy and insane, is it not?!

I told you, hiddenness of God is both simple and complex but whenever we remember those “sweet, maternal threats”, we laugh and shrug off the experience as we were dead serious then searching for whatever thing mom had asked us because deep in us we knew too well, it must be somewhere there. Sabi kasi ni Inay! (Mom said so!)

That is how it is with God too! We know for sure he is around, he is present. But in hiding because that is how loving God is, like moms and some lovers with surprises for us his beloved.

The Prophet Jeremiah experienced it so well when he wrote:

You duped me, O Lord, and I let myself be duped; you were too strong for me, and you triumphed. All the day I am an object of laughter, everyone mocks me. Whenever I speak, I must cry out, violence and outrage is my message; the word of the Lord has brought me derision and reproach all the day. I say to myself, I will not mention him, I will speak in his name no more. But then it becomes like fire burning in my heart, imprisoned in my bones; I grow weary holding itin, I cannot endure it.
Jeremiah 20:7-9

No one can understand this without having experienced such intense kind of love of God or of another person that even if we are pained, we just cannot walk away or leave. More so with God, the most intense lover of all!

At the very center of Jeremiah’s torment is the invincible power of attraction of God. This is also the reason human love – whether for another a friend or a spouse, for the Church or any institution – must always be based on the love of Christ who told us to “love one another as I have loved you.” If our love remains in the human level, it can never go deeper or higher making it so sublime, so true, so pure.

That is how God is in his hiddenness who is like a lover who never stops looking for us, calling us, luring us, even seducing us to come to him, search him and once found, we may dwell in his great love; hence, even if we do not “see” him, we keep on following him as we also find him in his hiddenness!

Hiddenness of God, mystery and gift of Easter

This hiddenness of God is both the gift and mystery of Jesus Christ’s Resurrection. It is a gift because in his hiddenness, God has become closest to us more than ever while at the same time, a mystery because it is in his very hiddenness that we truly find and discover God.

Remember the two disciples going home to Emmaus on Easter afternoon who was accompanied by Jesus while traveling? They did not recognize him but as they talked, their “hearts were burning” as he explained the Scriptures. Then joining them at their meal at sundown upon reaching Emmaus, Jesus took the bread, blessed it and broke it — and the disciples’ eyes were opened, recognizing him as the Lord who immediately disappeared! The two then rushed back to Jerusalem to announce to the other disciples that Jesus had indeed risen.

*From* https://www.clarusonline.it/2017/04/29/i-discepoli-di-emmaus-andata-e-ritorno/

That is the beauty of hiddenness, its giftedness and mystery that we find God even our beloved who had died or not physically present with us but deep within, we are certain of their presence as being so true and so real.

Hiddenness is a deeper level of relationship coming from one’s heart and soul not dependent on physical presence. This is the reason why upon appearing to Mary Magdalene on Easter morning, Jesus asked her not to touch him because from then on, knowing and relating with the Lord need not be physical and corporeal as he used to relate with them before his Death and Resurrection.

All these we must have experienced like when after a friend or a relative had died, that is when we felt growing closer with the person than when he/she was still alive and physically present with us. Or, when we were feeling low and down, we experienced sometimes so amazed at how we have felt the presence even the scent of our deceased loved ones comforting us, assuring us that all would be better.

This quarantine period invites us to experience and discover God anew in his hiddenness through prayers and silence so we can reflect on the many lessons this pandemic is teaching us today. In the darkness and emptiness of this pandemic are grace-filled moments with God hidden in our poverty and sadness, sickness and even deaths around us.

Some people have already asked me about what or how would our Simbang Gabi and Christmas celebrations be. They are sad and worried that it must be a very bleak Christmas for everyone with so many out of work.

But, despite this gloom, I tell them that Christmas 2020 would be one – if not the most meaningful Christmas we shall ever have despite forecasts that there would be less of everything, materially speaking.

So often in life, when we have so much material things, that is when we fail to find and experience God.

Recall that in Bethlehem more that 2000 years ago when Jesus Christ was born, God came to us hidden in a stable, on a manger in the darkness of the night.

And do not forget, too, that Christmas is not a date but an event, the very person of Jesus Christ, the all-powerful God who came to us hidden in a child, who upon becoming an adult, was crucified and died. These are sad and down moments for us but for God, it is his hiddenness, his presence. Let us go and find him again for he continues to come to us in hiddenness. Amen.

Seen Zone, Sin Zone

The Lord Is My Chef Recipe, Memorial of Guardian Angels, 02 October 2019

Exodus 23:20-23 >0< >0< >0< Matthew 18:1-5, 10

“See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that their angels in heaven always look upon the face of my heavenly Father.”
Matthew 18:10

Almost all the religions in the world believe in the existence of guardian angels who guide people and protect them from harm.

From the Greek angelos that means “messenger”, angels are exactly that: messengers from God or “divine apps” who work like Messenger!

Last summer break, I have learned something “millennial” and at the same time very theological or spiritual when some of our former teachers in a school where I used to be assigned reprimanded me – even scolded me – for putting them always on “seen zone”. If you are a dinosaur like me, seen zone is when you send somebody a message (PM) and that person sees it but refuses to give any reply, to the extent of ignoring not only your message but most of all, you. I still have contentions against this but, that’s how most of people take a seen zone: a kind of disrespect, that you are not important.

What was so embarrassing with my new learning was the realization of how stupid I have been until recently when I would “seen zone” people with pathetic late response saying, “sorry just saw your message now”. How I wish I could turn back the time…

Anyway, I have learned my lesson so well that since May I have been very careful with “PM’s” as I tried to be more kind and gentle in Messenger.

But, there is something very interesting in this popular app in relation with our celebration today of the memorial of the guardian angels.

So many times, we give our guardian angel or God’s messenger with the “seen zone” like in Messenger. We ignore the angel’s admonition to avoid sin and do what is good. Like in Messenger’s seen zone, we totally ignore and disregard our guardian angel until we get into the “sin zone”.

Ignore what you have read in Messenger, you go into a seen zone that may be temporary and not really that serious at all. But, lo! worse is the “sin zone” when you ignore the Divine messenger because you ignore God who sent us his angels with his messages of love and mercy, peace and salvation!

Today we are reminded that inasmuch as we try to behave properly in social media where we interact virtually in real time, God and his angels do relate with us in real time but not in virtual but actual reality.

If we try hard doing everything not to hurt our friends with seen zone, all the more we must try to avoid the sin zone that have more serious repercussions up to eternal life. Amen.