Life is a mystery

Lord My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Solemnity of the Holy Trinity-A, 31 May 2026
Exodus34:4-6, 8-9  ><}}}*>  2Corinthians13:11-13  ><}}}*>  John 3:16-18

*Photo by author, Dolmabahce Palace, Istanbul, Turkiye, November 2026.*

“Life is a mystery.” It is the favorite expression of my Jesuit retreat master during our 30-day retreat in Cebu 1995, the late Fr. Arthur Shea. He would always tell me “life is a mystery” while touching his long, white beard whenever he could not answer my many questions about life and God.

After that retreat and 28 years later as a priest, it had become my favorite expression too not only when I could not find answers to my own questions but when people come to consult and ask me on almost everything.

And thank God for life’s many mysteries, especially his very own mystery of being one God in Three Persons as we celebrate this Sunday the Solemnity of the Holy Trinity.

The word mystery is from the Greek mysterion, something hidden but now revealed by God.

While it is true that a mystery is beyond human reason because it is divine, it may still be explained and understood though not fully. That is why it is described as non-logical or beyond reason but not illogical which lacks reason.

Most of all, a mystery is not a problem to be solved because it simply cannot be solved at all. In fact, we need to keep mysteries like secrets because mysteries give meaning and depth to our very existence, to our lives. In this age of social media when everyone thinks that everything needs to be shown to the point of being overexposed, life has become so artificial and hence, for many, empty of meaning. Unknown to many of us, the most wonderful things in life are those hidden and not seen by everyone like the mystery of God within us!

God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life (John 3:16).

Our gospel this Sunday is very amusing like a mystery in itself; it is the shortest one we have in the entire year yet the most popular verse in the whole bible. But, how can it explain or enlighten us of God’s oneness in three persons?

As we have expressed at the very start, a mystery is not meant to be solved and explained but experienced. Our gospel is not even trying to prove to us about the existence of God because in our very being, it is already a given there is God. God does not prove himself but always shows himself.

Recall that it was taken from the conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus, a Pharisee who felt drawn to the Lord but was so ashamed to be seen by his fellow Jews that he came to visit him at night. We are all like Nicodemus “feeling” God so true deep within us but often afraid to accept it or even show it for fears of being called as old-fashioned and conservative or someone less scientific, less reasonable and less modern.

In that gospel scene, Jesus was inviting Nicodemus to enter into a relationship with him to fully experience God’s mystery because at that time, they tried explaining God like a concept to be learned and even memorized through their many laws and instructions. Unlike the Pharisees, Jesus simply taught Nicodemus that basic truth of God who “so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.“

Nicodemus eventually became a disciple of Jesus along with another Pharisee named Joseph of Arimathea who gave Christ’s burial site on Good Friday.

A mystery is a mystery because it is shared. It is nothing if it is merely in itself.

We are intrigued with stories and reports because they create relationships in us and with us. That is why God in himself as a mystery is a community of persons. Person implies relationship, taken from the Latin word persona which is the mask worn by stage actors/actresses to indicate their roles in a play or drama; hence, the term dramatis personae or list of actors in a play and their roles.

To a certain sense, there are three persons or personae, that is, “roles” in our God as we profess in our Creed: the Father as Creator of everything, the Son as the Savior, and the Holy Spirit as the Sanctifier. With God, his persona is eternal while ours like in drama or play, it is temporary.

The more we enter into relationships, the more we relate with other persons, the more we discover the many mysteries of this life and of God while realizing too in the process that we can only relate with persons and not with things nor even plants and animals. This is the gist of the similarly brief second reading from St. Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, telling us to be close with one another as the Father’s children in Christ through the Holy Spirit. In sending us Jesus Christ his Son, God took the initiative to be closest to us as our breath in the Holy Spirit.

Every time we think of God, when we marvel at him and his creations, the more we find ourselves so different, even too distant from him while at the same time we also feel and experience in the most unique manner how closest we are to him.

Imagine this another great mystery of God that despite our sinfulness and worthlessness, he still so loved us and always caring for us. Like Moses in the first reading, we have experienced many times in life when God seemed to have actually walked beside us, even carried us during our lowest moments that in an instance we realized quickly the many “whys” he deals with us in life. We learn that God is so true and so close with us yet, remains the “All-Other” and the “Unknowable” whose mystery we cannot totally penetrate.

*Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, 20 March 2026.*

As we move on in life, we realize it is not about covering distances but going deeper within ourselves, of being transformed into better selves and persons like God, loving and merciful. Eventually we realize too that each one of us is in fact an indwelling of the Holy Trinity, an image and likeness of God himself. This we can easily learn through our most basic and simple prayer of all, the Sign of the Cross that many of us take for granted.

Every time we make the sign of the Cross properly, that is when we let God embrace us and wrap us with his mysteries.

In the sign of the Cross, God comes closest to us in our very selves, relating to us in our head being the Father who is over and above us always, the creator of everything; as the Son who became human like us born by the Virgin Mary passing through her womb, experiencing everything we went through except sin; and as the Holy Spirit on our shoulders giving us balance in this life. Next Sunday, we shall deepen this mystery of God in three Persons in ourselves with the solemnity of Christ’s Body and Blood we receive in the Holy Eucharist. Amen. Have a blessed week filled with God’s wonderful mysteries!

Our daily Pentecost

Lord My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Pentecost Sunday-A, 24 May 2026
Acts 2:1-11  ><}}}}*>  1 Corinthians 12:3-7, 12-13  ><}}}}*>  John 20:19-23

One of the reels I love watching in Instagram is Yuji Belleza, a young Japanese who speaks different languages, going around Europe talking to all kinds of people by speaking their native tongues.

What I like most with him is his openness to learn many things not just words and languages from those he interviews in his popular Instagram reels. It is precisely what Luke is telling us this Solemnity of the Pentecost: more than language facility, the most important in the spread and growth of the Church then and now is “openness” of Christ’s disciples.

When the time for Pentecost was fulfilled, they were all in one place together. And suddenly there came from the sky a noise like a strong driving wind, and it filled the entire house in which they were. Then there appeared to them tongues of fire, which parted and came to rest on each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in different tongues, as te Spirit enabled them to proclaim. Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven staying in Jerusalem. At this sound, they gathered in a large crowd, but they were confused because each one heard them speaking in his own language. They were astounded, and in amazement they asked, “Are not all these people who are speaking Galileans?” (Acts 2:1-7)

From the Greek word pente for 50, Pentecost is a Jewish feast celebrated fifty days after the ratification of their covenant with God by Moses in Sinai; eventually, it became a feast of their first harvests upon entering the Promised Land that it was like a new beginning in life for them.

And rightly so for us Christians too. The Church started to spread from Jerusalem on that Pentecost Sunday to become the largest in the world today. More than a feast we remember today fifty days after Easter, Pentecost is an event we recognize and affirm to be happening daily in our lives as disciples of Jesus Christ.

Like the popular Japanese linguist Yuji on Instagram, we too experience “being at home” abroad when we find countrymen, people who speak our native tongue. Thank God for the millions of Filipinos spread around the world that you can surely meet anywhere, anytime you go abroad.

*Photo by author, Istanbul, Turkiye, 31 October 2025.*

Last year we went to Turkiye and found a Catholic church run by Franciscans near our hotel in Istanbul. We went early to introduce ourselves to the pastor, hoping we could concelebrate the Mass with him. The Irish pastor gladly welcomed us, telling us that the choir and lectors in charge that Sunday were Filipinos. Sure enough after the Mass, they all followed us to the sacristy to make mano and of course, picture picture!

You know that feeling of being “home” – safe and secured, peaceful and joyful upon finding someone who speaks your own language in a foreign land with different culture and language. And weather!

Many times God comes to us in a similar way – speaking and feeling exactly like us but, unfortunately, we disregard his words and instructions because we have our own agenda and plans until finally we realize in the end after losing everything how we should have listened and obeyed him.

On the other hand, there is also that feeling of being home even abroad when you are able to communicate and understand foreigners using only sign languages while uttering some words like you are in a charades game. Despite our many differences, there are those feelings of safety and peace, of forging on in our journey because understanding is always possible by simply being open. We can even communicate with deaf mutes for as long as we are open and creative. And patient too.

Many times, God communicates with us in the same manner – through signs but problem is we do not have the interest to engage with him because we have other plans in life so that when things go wrong, there is always that sigh of missed opportunities in disregarding God.

Pentecost asks us how open are we to God and others as disciples of Christ?

From last Sunday’s upward shift for us to rise in our relationships with God and one another, Pentecost shows us its downward movement to open ourselves to the leading of Holy Spirit to become one in our relationships despite our many differences.

Matthew told us last Sunday that when Jesus ascended into heaven, some of his disciples were still doubting him. Today, Luke tells us how all those doubts were finally cleared at the descent of the Holy Spirit who emboldened the disciples with wisdom and knowledge, courage and perseverance to proclaim Christ’s gospel to all nations despite the persecutions and other difficulties that followed.

*Painting by El Greco, “Pentecostes” (1597) from commons.wikimedia.org.*

Pentecost continues in our present time when we shatter those walls and locked doors of pride, selfishness and conceit, opening ourselves to the daily coming of the Holy Spirit. Luke used a simple word in his story that can help us have that attitude of openness to the Holy Spirit.

The word is devout – in Filipino it is “deboto” connoting a person so closed with his religious beliefs like “Catolico cerrado.”

But, devout as used by Luke means a person with a “good heart, ready to believe, and then act openly and with courage” (Timothy Clayton, Exploring Advent with Luke; page 125).

Only Luke used the word devout in the Sacred Scriptures when in his gospel he described Simeon as “righteous and devout” (Lk.2:25) who sang the Nunc Dimittis during the presentation of Jesus at the temple. He then used it thrice in the Acts as we have heard today of the “devout Jews” staying in Jerusalem on that Pentecost day when the Holy Spirit came (2:5); then “the devout men who buried” the first martyr Stephen (8:2), and finally calling Ananias a “devout observer of the law” whom God instructed to pray over and heal Saul of his blindness after meeting Jesus on the road to Damascus (22:12).

More than being faithful to God and the Catholic faith, a devout person is one who is always open to the promptings of the Holy Spirit like Simeon and Anna awaiting the coming of the Messiah at the temple. Moreover, a devout person is one who makes happen the plans of God like Ananias who at first hesitated with Jesus in taking in Saul.

Our Filipino Missal used an interesting translation of Luke’s devout as palasamba sa Diyos that literally means one who worships God often. Or, someone who prays always.

Openness happens in prayers because that is when we become rooted in God, when we allow him to form us like the clay in the potter’s hand. More than the recitation and expression of ourselves in words, prayer is entering a relationship with God whom we call “Abba” as St. Paul explained in the second reading. That explains too why the Holy Spirit came on that Pentecost while the disciples with Mary were at prayer.

When we have prayer life, we grow in our sensitivity of God in others that we learn to become respectful, fair and just, and kind. Thus, we promote peace and goodwill with others too.

This Pentecost Sunday, let us allow the Holy Spirit to work in us by focusing more on Jesus than in ourselves in our many devotions and practices filled with pomp and pageantry that only divide us disciples of Christ

Let us open ourselves to Jesus by being devout in the truest sense wherein we are more open with persons especially the poor and disadvantaged than with things and numbers in measuring development as a nation like the GDP/GNP and infrastructures.

Yes, Jesus is now seated at the right hand of the Father in heaven but he remains with us here in this life, in this world in the Holy Spirit, day in, day out through us making Pentecost a reality daily. Amen. Have a blessed week ahead.

Ascending in the power of Christ

Lord My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord, Cycle A, 17 May 2026
Acts 1:1-11 ><}}}}*> Ephesians 1:17-23 ><}}}}*> Matthew 28:16-20

*Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, 18 March 2026.*

The past week is probably the most ugliest we ever have as a nation in recent years when power-hungry lawmakers seized power in the senate just to keep their cabals away from the legitimate powers of the legislature and international court.

Sorry for mentioning that this Sunday.

However, I hope you also find consolation in our celebration today of the Solemnity of the Ascension of Jesus who invites us to examine the true meaning of “power” that was mentioned four times in the three readings we have heard:

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8).

and what is the surpassing greatness of his power for us who believe, in accord with the exercise of his great might, which he worked in Christ, raising him from the dead and seating him at his right hand in the heavens, far above every principality, authority, power, and dominion, and every name that is named not only in this age but also in the one to come (Ephesians 1:19-21).

Then Jesus approached and said to them, “All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behod, I am with always, until the end of the age” (Matthew 28:18-20).

How timely that we reflect this Sunday the “power” claimed by Jesus Christ as given to him and now shared with us his disciples after returning to heaven.

As Jesus concludes his earthly existence with his Ascension, let us go back to his ministry to reflect the different aspects of his power that we must imitate as his disciples.

First we find in Jesus is the power of prayer. He was always in prayer that even his disciples were so impressed and asked him to “teach them how to pray”. More than the words to say in praying, Jesus taught us the very attitude in praying: it is not forcing ourselves to God but submitting ourselves to God we call Father by recognizing one another as brothers and sisters.

Prayer for Jesus is power because it is primarily a relationship with God expressed in our relationship with each other. His ascension need not be taken literally as if Jesus was like a rocket launched into space; his ascension is more like a “leveling up” in his relationships with us and the the Father. For us to ascend like Jesus Christ through prayer means for us to be “lighter” by letting go of our selves, of our pride.

Prayer is power because it leads us to self-emptying (kenosis) that we become more loving and respectful of others, not manipulative; truthful and honest, not liars; and, more just and respectful of laws.

The more we pray, the more we see God and others as brothers and sisters that we work for peace and unity, not divisions and chaos because ultimately, prayer is power as it makes us find life not death as Jesus exemplified on the Cross.

*Photo by author, Manaoag, Pangasinan, 09 January 2026.*

Simultaneous with the power of prayer, we find in Christ the power of love and respect for persons.

It is one of his radical teachings, an integral part of his gospel of salvation of loving one another as he had loved us, of giving up one’s life for a friend, of finding God on the face of every one. Even among enemies!

It is power because when we love and respect every person, that is when we establish the kingdom of heaven here on earth. Love and respect for persons as power is prayer in action through our loving service for others.

Clearly, it is one power we lack so much in the country especially in government when officials are deep into corruption. Its most tragic part is at how people mostly the poor have allowed corruption to persist because they themselves could not love and respect their very selves, refusing to see beyond the material world. For them, man lives to eat. Then die. They would not even raise up their heads to look high above the clouds to dream and dare in life, to believe and hope in God.

Because sadly, many refuse to recognize the very power of Christ which is the Cross.

Because of the Cross, there is Easter. And then Ascension.

Without the Cross, nothing.

That is why for many life has become more of a mess, empty without meaning because they believe power is strength and force, of control and manipulation. Most of all, of subjugation.

Christ showed us in his Cross that life is always larger than what we see or even perceive as it is. Life is so wide and vast, so high and so deep we can never hold nor contain. Or even understand and explain.

Life is meant to be lived not solved at all. We hear it often said, “let go, let God.” Notice in this saying how the single letter “d” leads to the transition, transformation. That small letter “d” stands for our little daily deaths.

It is here we find the power of the Cross: when we surrender and submit, the world opens, we see more options, we see more life; when we suffer and cry, when we get hurt and bruised, we learn to stop and wait until healing comes and then we are renewed.

Most of all, when we experience those little deaths in taking our cross, in dying on the Cross of Jesus, that is when we find our greater self, when we experience Christ in us who had conquered sin and death because he is life himself. That is when we find true power because that is when we rise and ascend in Christ.

Events happening lately in our country and in the world, and most especially in our very lives do not look so nice and good. Even dismal. But, Jesus reminds us this Sunday of his true powers that enable to rise, to ascend in him. Most of all, he promised to be with us always. As we come nearer to the closing of Easter Season, let us ask anew ourselves and him how we can live out this new level of relationship in him, with him and through him. Let us wait in prayers to discover too his powerful answer. Amen.

*Photo by author, Mt. Arayat from Angeles City, Pampanga, October 2024.*

“Coming Around Again” by Carly Simon (1986)

Lord My Chef Sunday Music by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, 10 May 2026

Jesus wrapped up this Sunday his teachings about relationships with the commandment to love one another. Five times he repeated the word “love” in our short gospel this Sunday to highlight its centrality in every relationship.

Without love, no relationship will ever mature and grow.

More than a feeling, love is a decision, a choice we make, day in, day out. As such, it cannot be defined but simply described.

And being a Mothers’ Day this Sunday, we find Christ’s description of keeping his commandment to love is exactly the kind of love every mom exemplifies to us captured by the 1986 song Coming Around Again by one of our favorites, Ms. Carly Simon.

Baby sneezes
Mommy pleases
Daddy breezes in
So good on paper
So romantic
But so bewildering

I know nothing stays the same
But if you're willing to play the game
It's coming around again
So don't mind if I fall apart
There's more room in a broken heart (broken heart)

You pay the grocer
You fix the toaster
You kiss the host goodbye
Then you break a window
Burn the soufflé
Scream a lullaby

I know nothing stays the same
But if you're willing to play the game
It's coming around again
So don't mind if I fall apart
There's more room in a broken heart

And I believe in love
But what else can I do
I'm so in love with you

Written by Ms. Simon in 1986 as soundtrack for the dramatic comedy film “Heartburn” starring Meryl Streep and Jack Nicholson, the song captures the very essence of its writer Nora Ephron’s fictionalized account of her tumultuous marriage and divorce with her first husband Carl Bernstein, the famous reporter who unearthed the Watergate scandal with fellow Washington Post journalist Bob Woodward. It is a very touching movie with great performances by Streep and Nicholson perfect for this Mothers’ Day too.

Mothers are the best examples of the love Jesus is speaking of in the gospel today that Simon portrayed in her song Coming Around Again.

It is the love that mothers affirm over and over again despite the pains and hurts inflicted by their husband and children; it is the faithful love of every mom even if others are unfaithful; most of all, it is the love that remembers and never forgets, always forgiving, kind and understanding expecting nothing in return.

Yes, it sounds like in a movie like “Heartburn” but it is still so true as we have experienced with our own mother!

That is why I like that part when Simon declared:

I know nothing stays the same
But if you're willing to play the game
It's coming around again
So don't mind if I fall apart
There's more room in a broken heart (broken heart)

The love Jesus is commanding us is the very same love mothers exemplify: they are so aware “nothing stays the same” with unfaithful husband, ungrateful children yet, they keep on loving because it is “coming around again”. Most of all, because they “believe in love”.

And I believe in love
But what else can I do
I'm so in love with you

Without love, humanity will go extinct.

Because of love, as proven by mothers, we have learned that every tragedy, every suffering and problem we go through leads to happy ending primarily because we discover something in ourselves and in someone beyond far more important than any situation or plight we may be into.

In that song and movie, you will find how love is the source of constant deep joy when we are suffering especially in silence. It is here we find the coming around in fullness of love in Jesus: his promised revelation of himself to those who keep on loving despite and in spite of everything. (See also our homily this Sunday, https://lordmychef.com/2026/05/09/easter-is-making-jesus-present-in-our-love/)

Here now is Ms. Carly Simon with Coming Around Again that was included in her 1987 album of the same title. Don’t forget to hug your mom today, to thank her and greet her with a happy mother’s day!

From YouTube.com.

Easter is making Jesus present in our love

Lord My Chef Sunday Recipe by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Sixth Sunday of Easter, Cycle A, 10 May 2026
Acts 8:5-8, 14-17 ><}}}*> 1 Peter 3:15-18 ><}}}*> John 14:15-21

*Photo by author, Bucharest, Romania, November 2025.*

Jesus wraps up this Sunday his Last Supper discourse into its very meaning of love as basis of our relationships in him who is both our “gate” as the Good shepherd (April 26) and our “home” (May 3). It was at his Last Supper when Jesus gave his new commandment of love that is why Holy Thursday is also known as Maundy Thursday from the Latin mandatum for “command.”

Jesus said to his disciples: “If you love me, you will keep my commandments… In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me, because I live and you will live. On that day you will realize that I am in my Father and you are in me and I in you. Whoever has my commandments and observes them is the one who loves me. And whoever loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him, and reveal myself to him” (John14:15, 19-21)

See how Jesus mentioned the word “love” five times in our short gospel this Sunday.

Love is the basis of every relationship; without love, any relationship will not last, will not grow, will not mature and deepen into what it is meant to be.

This is most true in our relationship as disciples of Christ wherein love is more than a feeling but a decision, a choice we make daily in favor of Jesus through the persons around us like your spouse and children, our parents, and fellow disciples. And mothers!

Happy Mothers’ Day to every mom especially those in their sick bed, those widowed, and those who gone ahead of us to eternity.

Mothers are the best examples of the love Jesus is speaking of in the gospel today.

It is the love we affirm despite the pains and hurts of misunderstanding from people we love; it is the love calling us to remain faithful even if others are not; it is the love that remembers and never forgets; it is the love that forgives, that cares and understands without asking anything in return.

It is a love that unfolds, like a process going through stages that calls us to be patient as St. Paul described it in one of his letters. That is why Jesus promised to send the Holy Spirit later to his disciples to understand better his lessons and mission for them.

See how in the first reading we have a glimpse of the kind of love of Jesus calling us – the conversion of the people of Samaria: first was Philip coming to them like preparing the ground for the gospel in them and when they seem to be ready, Peter and John arrived to pray over them to receive the fullness of the Holy Spirit. More than to show us how the Holy Spirit works, the story is all about the love that bound the early Church together especially when the persecution begun.

I prefer the word “unfolding” in describing love wherein slowly there is the sort of “unveiling” of the cover of the face because love is more than a concept and thought or experience: love is a person as John wrote in his first letter, Deus caritas est, God is love (1Jn.4:8).

It is the title of the first encyclical by Pope Benedict XVI who wrote that true love involves transformation wherein the lover seeks to become like his beloved, moving from selfish desires known as eros into the self-sacrificial and other-centered love called agape, the Greek word used by John in writing his account of the Last Supper.

The love that Jesus is calling us is that love of his on the Cross we make present in the Eucharist, that even though we repeat it over and over daily, we never get fed up because something is happening in us, there is something changing, making us better, more matured, more loving that we keep coming back to the Holy Mass to listen to his words and receive him Body and Blood under the signs of the bread and wine.

Every true love is always a person. This is the reason why those who love persevere and forge into every obstacle, fight for their love, bear all pains because we find our fulfillment in being with our beloved, whether physically or spiritually. The mode does not really matter because true love touches our very personhood always.

Here lies the beauty of Albert Camus’ 1947 novel The Plague that had a sort of rediscovery during the 2020 COVID pandemic where he wrote that “A loveless world is a dead world, and always there comes an hour when one is weary of prisons, of one’s work, and of devotion to duty, and all one craves for is a loved face, the warmth and wonder of a loving heart.”

*Our Lady of Fatima University-GawadKalinga in Bagac, Bataan.*

Without love, humanity will go extinct.

Because of love, every tragedy, every suffering and problem we go through leads to happy ending primarily because we discover something in ourselves and in someone beyond far more important than any situation or plight we may be into.

And that is the joy of the love of Jesus Christ when God is revealed in us in his love when we love like him. It is Jesus Christ whom we “sanctify as Lord in our hearts” (1Pt.3:15) is the one we imitate and follow, the one we see and, most of all, the only one we must share when we love, when we serve.

I know, these are easier said than done.

Specially when we who love are not loved by those we love. Or taken for granted, even forgotten.

Again, let us return to that love of mothers that is most closest to the love of Jesus Christ, a love so willing to give up one’s self in spite and despite of everything.

One of the hardest things many of us go through like priests and nuns, the eldest in the family and the newly widowed or anyone looked up to as someone without a problem: very often people forget us or take us for granted including those supposed to be closest to us, thinking we are fine or doing great without any hint of the sufferings we are going through.

But, it is a source of constant deep joy while suffering in silence, God’s grace is always overflowing because Jesus is within each one of us who believes in him and tries hard to keep his commandments.

We just have to do our part, to keep on believing in Jesus, loving Jesus, and most of all, keeping his commandments because Jesus is the “explanation to anyone who asks us for a reason for our hope” (1Pt.3:15).

We are about to close the Easter Season in two weeks: next Sunday will be the Solemnity of the Lord’s Ascension and after that the Pentecost Sunday. This Last Supper scene perfectly captures the very kind of love Jesus is asking us – a love so personal like his, a love that unfolds and grows deeper as we love more despite the pains and sufferings, and a love that often looks absurd to others and even to us because it is not physical. And beyond logic.

Jesus invites us to continue to be his loving presence in this selfish world, where everyone demands of deserving so many perks in life. Let us do away with that expression “dasurv ko” this or that. Let us pray for more love to conquer all. Don’t forget to hug or remember your mom this Mothers’ Day. Have a blessed Sunday and keep cool and hydrated too! Amen.

“Everytime You Go Away” (1980) by Hall & Oates

Lord My Chef Sunday Music by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, 04 May 2026

*Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, 20 March 2026, Novaliches, QC.*

We’re back with our Sunday music blog with a Hall & Oates original we hope will soothe our searing weather and wipe too our troubles in Jesus’ name. But before we go into their lovely music, let us try to recall first this Sunday’s gospel that brings us back to the Last Supper scene just before the betrayal and arrest of Jesus.

Imagine the silent stillness of the room heavy with emotion, with lamps flickering in the evening light.

Feel the ebb and flow of intimacy and uncertainty in the impending separation of the Lord from his disciples.

Then, amid the gloom, feel the comforting assurance of Jesus telling his disciples that include us today to “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You have faith in God; have faith also in me” (Jn.14:1)

What’s troubling you lately?

Many times, what really troubles us most is the fear of being left out, of being alone.

Money, sickness, and ultimately death trouble us a lot because of our fears of having nobody by our side not only to defend and comfort us but simply be with us. That is why we are troubled when people we love cheat on us, betray us or simply threaten us of walking away from us to be on their own.

Every time a beloved leaves us by choice or by circumstances, whenever we feel “apart” from others and separated, we feel losing a part of very selves because each one is also our part.

This we hear perfectly expressed by Daryl Hall and John Oates in 1980:

And everytime you go away
You take a piece of me with you
And everytime you go away
You take a piece of me with you, you

Everytime You Go Away is from the 1980 “Voices” album of Hall & Oates from which also came their highly popular version of You’ve Lost that Lovin’ Feeling, followed by the smash hits Kiss On My List and You Make My Dreams.

Hall & Oates did not release a single version of Everytime You Go Away that was later covered by Paul Young in 1985 when it became number one for several weeks both in the UK and US Billboard charts. Hall admitted in an interview that Paul’s cover of Everytime You Go Away is his most favorite.

But of course, as a Hall & Oates fan, we prefer their own rendition of Everytime You Go Away that is truly more soulful with the long organ introduction that make it sound so gospel and churchy too. Try listening to Hall’s later versions and be awed with his powerful voice that had aged like an expensive wine. How sad that Hall and Oates have parted ways recently after more three decades of partnership that earned them the title of being music’s dynamic duo.

Since becoming a priest in 1998, we have been mentioning this song, sometimes “singing” it in our homily and spiritual talks because of its gospel values about honesty and sincerity, especially fidelity in our relationships (https://lordmychef.com/2026/05/02/easter-is-jesus-our-home-our-cornerstone/).

Being left out, being alone is the deepest pain one could ever have. And that is why Jesus came, suffered and died for us on the Cross so that in his Resurrection, we would never be apart from him and everyone anymore, here on earth and hereafter. Have a blessed week ahead!

From YouTube.com.

Easter is Jesus, our home, our cornerstone

Lord My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Fifth Sunday of Easter, Cycle A, 03 May 2026
Acts 6:1-7  ><}}}}*>  1Peter 2:4-9  ><}}}}*>  John 14:1-12

*Photo from Our Lady of Fatima University official page at FB.*

We are celebrating our 60th foundation anniversary at the Our Lady of Fatima University (OLFU) and the Fatima University Medical Center (FUMC) next year. As part of our year-long celebrations beginning last February, we are building 60 homes in two Gawad Kalinga sites in Bagac, Bataan and Trece-Martirez, Cavite.

It is the second time we have embarked on the same project when our administrators, faculty and employees as well as students volunteered to build and delivered 50 homes through GK too ten years ago in celebration of our golden anniversary.

Our University President Dra. Caroline Santos-Enriquez explained that it is not enough for us to provide our people with good, quality education we have always strived in the last 60 years when many are without a home because when people have homes of their own, they are filled with hopes and that is when they truly start to dream for a better future.

Such a desire in having one’s own home is deeply rooted in the Bible. Jesus Christ’s third beatitude in his sermon on the mount, “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the land” (Mt.5:5) refers to the longing of the Israelites not only for their own homeland but also for their own homes too.

That is why at his last supper, he mentioned something so similar to that aspiration of his disciples but this time on a deeper level.

Jesus said to his disciples, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You have faith in God; have faith also in me. In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If there were not, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare and prepare a place for you, I will come back again and take you to myself, so that where I am you also may be. Where I am going you know the way” (John 14:1-4).

*Photo by MART PRODUCTION on Pexels.com*

It is very interesting that in the Hebrew language, the name they use to commonly address God is HaShem written as השם for “The Name” because they cannot utter the word YHWH or Yahweh as we pronounce written as יהוה which is so sacred for the Jewish people.

Now take a look at the first letter of HaShem shaped like a house, השם while its third last letter looks like a door or a small “n” in our english alphabet. It is the same shape of the letter Yod they use to write YHWH – יהוה.

According to a spiritual writer I have read, God’s very name connotes a house, a home and a door that imply “relationships”. Remember last Sunday when Jesus introduced himself as the “gate” through whom the shepherd and his sheep pass through?

Jesus now deepens this lesson he taught us last Sunday as he moved to its next scene which is his last supper.

Imagine the silent stillness of the room heavy with emotion.

With lamps flickering in the evening light, we feel the ebb and flow of intimacy and uncertainty just like in our own homes during times of crisis.

And in the midst of it all is Jesus speaking with comforting assurance.

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You have faith in God; have faith also in me.”

What is troubling you at this very moment or lately these past days or weeks?

Many times, what really troubles us most is the fear of being left out, of being alone. That is why money and sickness as well as death trouble us a lot. We are afraid of having nobody by our side not only to defend and comfort us but simply be with us. Here we find the value of having our own home where we feel safe and secured with loved ones.

Being left out, being alone is perhaps the deepest pain one could ever have. That is why we are troubled when people we love and care for threaten us of walking away from us to be on their own. Every time a beloved leaves us by choice or by circumstances, whenever we feel “apart” from others and separated, we feel losing a part of very selves because each one is also our part. Jesus came, suffered and died for us on the Cross so that in his Resurrection, we would never be apart from him and everyone anymore, here on earth and hereafter.

*Photo by author, Manaoag Basilica, Pangasinan, 09 January 2026.*

Jesus assures us today of his presence among us, of being with us and in us – a relationship so personal like having our own home and dwelling place in heaven. But, are we ready and willing to walk his path, to stand by his truth and live his life?

Vis-a-vis the things that trouble us, what is our deepest yearning at the moment? Are we still in the same level with Philip relying more on the physical and material aspects of relationships?

In my previous post after my annual retreat, I have mentioned to you my dear friends of my decision to rest a little from my daily blogs. Not really as a respite from my busy schedules but more of finding Jesus anew. During that retreat in March, I realized the thing that most bothered me lately was being far from God. I have been praying to blog, not for God.

Many times, we serve God in others without really being centered in Him, without any relationship at all with Him in Christ Jesus. And we priests are often guilty of it, of too much ministry without Jesus that lead us to burnout and exhaustion, most especially the lack of love for others. Anything especially relationships without Jesus eventually dies naturally because he indeed life himself.

The Apostles realized this early in the Church as we have heard in the first reading that they assigned seven deacons to serve the Greek-speaking converts to Christianity lest they forget Jesus Christ in prayers.

The same is true with us. It can happen that we feel we are doing God’s work, following his will but we are not in him in Christ. That is why Jesus clarified with Thomas: his very person is the way the truth and the life. And that is because he is the “cornerstone” of our very lives as explained by Peter in the second reading.

We are the “living stones” who make up the Church, the mystical body of Christ both visible and invisible. As God’s “chosen people” and “royal priesthood”, we have a deep spiritual bonding in Christ nourished and sustained in our prayers and liturgy. As disciples of Christ, we move visibly adjusting and innovating in our ways like the Apostles by remaining focused on the person of Jesus who is our everything.

Going back to our housing project at OLFU at FUMC, I was amazed at the faith of some of our recipients of the new homes we’re building in Trece-Martirez, Cavite who came to see me after the groundbreaking ceremonies. They told me how for so many years they prayed together as families to have their own homes and now it is slowly becoming a reality; hence, if I could bless – finally – their images of the Virgin Mary, Sacred Heart and Divine Mercy they have kept in their rented homes for many years.

They were so thankful for the blessing but, unknown to them, I felt more blessed in them as I felt God reassuring me that whatever troubles me in life, Jesus places great trust in us in continuing his mission here on earth. Let us remain in him and hold on to his words, “Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes in me will do the works that I do, and will do greater ones than these, because I am going to the Father.” A blessed week ahead to everyone! Amen.

Easter is entering Jesus, our Gate

Lord My Chef Sunday Recipe by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Fourth Sunday of Easter, Cycle A, 26 April 2026
Acts 2:14, 36-41 ><}}}*> 1 Peter 2:20-25 ><}}}*> John 10:1-10

*Photo by author, 09 February 2026, Museo Valenzuela.*

In the next three Sundays beginning today, our gospel readings will bring us back to Jesus Christ’s teachings before his passion and death because all his pronouncements then are clearest when seen in the light of his resurrection.

As we have mentioned last Sunday, it does not really matter that many or everyone would see the Risen Lord in order to believe him. Like what Jesus had told Thomas the other Sunday, blessed are those who believe without having seen him while last week we have realized in the story of the two disciples returning to Emmaus that the mystery and beauty of Easter is found in the “breaking of bread” when our eyes are opened to recognize Christ who immediately vanishes. This breaking of bread is not just the Holy Eucharist but includes our many experiences when we too experience brokenness in life like the Jews addressed by Peter after the Pentecost.

Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice, and proclaimed: “Let the whole house of Israel know for certain that God has made both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.” Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and they asked Peter and the other apostles, “What are we to do, my brothers?” (Acts 2:14, 36-37)

*“The Road to Emmaus” painting by Ronald Raab, CSC, from ronaldraab.com.*

What a beautiful expression by Luke, “they were cut to the heart” that means they were stirred, they were moved deep inside to a great reality, to a truth that led to their conversion.

It is in our own brokenness when our eyes are opened, our hearts are cut that we find Jesus and become converted.

Despite the scathing words of Peter on their sins on having Jesus crucified, the people did not feel “guilty” in the negative sense of being hopelessly mired in sin. The same thing is true with us: there are moments in life we realize deeply, truly feeling the hurt of having offended God in our many sins that actually lead us to conversion and be transformed into a better person as a disciple of Christ. True contrition does not stop in the realization and admission of our sins; true contrition always leads to conversion. Though we are broken, we are not scattered. In fact, it is in our being broken that we become one, we become whole in Jesus Christ.

Guilt buries, conversion liberates because we find Jesus as the true gate to life who leads us to freedom. In Jesus as our gate in life, we enter a new phase of being free and faithful and loving.

So Jesus said again, “Amen, amen, I say to you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate. Whoever enters through me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. A thief comes only to steal and slaughter and destroy; I come so that they might have life and have it more abundantly” (John 10:7-10).

*Photo by Dra. Mylene A. Santos, MD, at Katmon Nature Sanctuary & Beach Resort in Infanta, Quezon, 03 April 2024.*

Every fourth Sunday of Easter is known as the Good Shepherd Sunday. Only John has this section of Jesus teaching actually to the Pharisees of himself as the Good Shepherd following the controversy in his healing of the man born blind on a Sabbath day.

But before Jesus spoke of his being the Good Shepherd, he first identified himself as the “gate” where the shepherd and the sheep pass through, the direct opposite of the Pharisees and priests of their time who have taken upon themselves as the final standard and arbiter of what is good and holy, of actually usurping the role of God but so stern, so strict. And impersonal.

Hence, the distinction by Jesus in this passage between “thieves and robbers” like his enemies and himself as “the gate” and “the shepherd”.

Whenever I bless homes, I always begin at the door. From the many house blessings I have made, I am not really impressed with the modern, “minimalist” doors with sleek metal handles. What fascinates me most are simple doors with bold colors like lively red or blue. For me, a door is something that exudes with security and protection, not necessarily massive, evoking power.

*Photo by author, Angels’ Hills Retreat Center, Tagaytaty City, April 2025.*

That’s Jesus Christ for me as the gate. My security and protection.

However, still with house blessings, I have always wondered why we Filipinos even abroad are so fond of two things so peculiar just to us: first is having a regular kitchen often for display and a dirty kitchen for daily use and second, side doors to pass through because the main door is kept locked, used only for visitors.

I think they both reveal something about our spirituality wherein we recognize Jesus our gate, our door, our shepherd yet, we still desire to have other doors and gates, perhaps even shepherds like buddhas and amulets we hung in our homes.

This we find when we examine our inner selves, the cacophony of negative voices that fill us, even entertain us like jealousy, envy, anger, resentment, bitterness, greed, and lust. There are times despite our having faith in Christ, we are filled with more negative than positive like curse than blessing, revenge than reconciliation, war than peace, and worse of all, death than life.

Where are they coming from?

Very often, we take them for granted, allowing them to percolate inside us until they boil and burst that we hurt others, most of all, our selves in the process.

“I come so that they might have life and have it more abundantly.”

Jesus our door, our gate, our Good Shepherd invites us anew this Sunday to remain in him, to stay with him. Jesus calls us to break free from these other doors and gates that trap us within so that we may be free and faithful. Most of all, be more loving in the real sense.

Jesus invites us to examine our lives today, before having him and after having him. Like what Peter tells us in the second reading, we are reminded of the new freedom we have in Christ: “By his wounds you have been healed. For you had gone astray like sheep, but you have now returned to the shepherd and guardian of your souls” (1Pt.2:24-25).

During the Last Supper, Judas (not the Iscariot) asked Jesus why he would appear only to them and not to everyone and he replied with mysterious words, speaking about love and keeping his commandments so that he and the Father would dwell on his disciples (Jn.14:23-24). Actually, in speaking that way, Jesus was showing his disciples who include us today that his revelation is not about public display of power but of personal relationship in him based on love. In the whole discourse of Jesus during their last supper from the perspective of John, what is most essential is the love of Jesus and the love of his disciples. And this we shall explore in the next two Sundays before Jesus ascends into heaven.

Again, there is no need to see Jesus physically; the more we love, the more we believe, the more we see him in our hearts. Most especially when we pass only in him as our gate, our door to life and fullness. Amen. A blessed week ahead to everyone.

Leaving, disbelieving

Lord My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Third Sunday of Easter, Cycle A, 19 April 2026
Acts 2:14, 22-23   ><}}}*> 1Peter 1:17-21   ><}}}*>   Luke 24:13-35

*Photo by author, view from Jerusalem Temple, May 2019.*

We heard last Sunday Jesus Christ’s coming to his disciples on the evening of Easter and a second time eight days later when Thomas was present, reminding us how Easter is a story of coming and believing, of believing and coming.

This Sunday we find an opposite movement and direction in the two disciples leaving Jerusalem in disbelief at the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

That very day, the first day of the week, two of Jesus’ disciples were going to a village seven miles from Jerusalem called Emmaus, and they were conversing about all things that had occurred. And it happened that while they were conversing a debating, Jesus himself drew near and walked with them, but their eyes were prevented from recognizing him (Luke 24:13-16).

Easter is also about leaving in disbelief. Not necessarily because of not believin like Thomas last Sunday.

Cleopas and the other disciple were leaving Jerusalem in disbelief which our Filipino language adequately express in “hindi makapaniwala” and “matay ko mang isipin” that both indicate a strong sense of belief with a dash of doubt because the story, the event, or the very person involved is beyond comprehension.

Or, bigger than reality like Jesus Christ and his very mystery of love for us.

Many times, we could not believe how good and loving God can be to us, so personal, so real and true but how can it be he “allows” bad things to happen to us or in the world.

Like the two disciples going home to Emmaus, we walk away from God to distance from him and everything and everyone to find our selves and see the real picture of what is going on when times are rough for us.

Those are the times we silently tell ourselves “this could not be happening” especially when it is so difficult, so unbelievable simply because – we believe. Hence, our usual litany of striving to be good, of serving the poor and needy, of going to Mass every Sunday, of always praying…

Look back in our many experiences in life when we could have died or have lost more or could have been a total wreck. Amazingly, despite our being in the opposite direction in life, consciously or unconsciously, that is when we feel more blessed. That’s when we are able to declare with conviction, “hindi ako pinabayaan ng Diyos, napaka-buti ng Diyos, and binigay niya pa rin ang lahat”. This is what the first reading reminds us of Peter’s speech before the Jews at Pentecost, at how God never left us, sending us Jesus Christ as fulfillment of his promise to Abraham and David.

*Modern painting of the road to Emmaus from the internet.*

Like in the road to Emmaus, Jesus journeys with us in the opposite direction only to bring us back to Jerusalem filled with joy by reminding us how everything that happens in our lives, Jesus had gone through the same sufferings too as foreshadowed and explained in the Sacred Scriptures.

Here we are reminded of the importance of personal prayer which is more than the mere recitation of prayers but having a relationship in God who never leaves nor abandons us.

Most of all, here we are reminded too of how the Sunday Eucharist opens ourselves to Christ’s reality and loving presence among us as experienced by the two disciples after Jesus had broken bread with them. It is called a Holy Communion because in that “breaking of bread”, we share in our common experiences of suffering and death. That we are not alone. Most of all, that we too like others rise to new life in Jesus Christ who suffered, died, and rose to life first for us.

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

It can happen that our eyes too are prevented from recognizing Jesus like Cleopas and companion on the road to Emmaus because of our many fixations in life like that blessings can only be in positive things like good health, security like steady income, a rising career or a profitable business and endeavor.

But, experience has taught us so many times that blessings are not only found in good things but even in bad or negative ones like sickness, failures, losses and death. And when we look back, they were not really that bad at all because it was in our failures and losses, sickness and deaths when we realized and learned most in life.

Notice how Luke succinctly narrated the breaking of bread in the home of Cleopas in Emmaus, it was so swift unlike the building up of drama along the road to Emmaus. It was so simple because that’s how things happen in life too – so quick that the simplest things and gestures, even so bad can suddenly become so loaded with meanings that we realize God’s loving presence in us.

“Supper at Emmaus” by renowned painter Caravaggio. See the emotion depicted by Caravaggio with his trademark of masterful play of light and shadows. At the center is the Risen Lord blessing the bread that caught the two disciples who are seated in disbelief, one outstretching his arms and the others pushing back in his chair. The third character in the painting is the innkeeper unaware of the significance of the gesture of Jesus. It was at this instance that the two disciples recognized Christ as the travelling man with them to Emmaus.

During the COVID pandemic, on the first Sunday of lockdown when there was no public Mass, I started a motorized procession of the Blessed Sacrament in my former parish by mounting our big monstrance on the roof of a parishioner’s truck. I announced the route of our procession during our online Mass that Sunday and people waited.

What an amazing sight of the people’s deep faith in God as they knelt and bowed before the Blessed Sacrament whether on the main highway or the inside streets. Some were crying while everyone was deep in prayer.

There lies the great mystery of Easter: Jesus need not appear to us in person because as he vanishes in the Blessed Sacrament, that is when we recognize him!

In the most simple gestures of the Mass under the most simple signs of bread and wine, Jesus vanishes from our outward view and through this vanishing our interior or inner recognition opens up that we “see” him in the many instances he had touched us especially in our “heart-breaking” experiences in the past, our Emmaus road.

*Photo by Ms. Anne Ramos, 22 March 2020, Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria, Bulacan.*

We know with certainty that “it is the Lord” – Dominus est – present in every breaking of bread because part of the Easter mystery tells us deep within that it is only in his vanishing that he truly becomes recognizable to us. That is why we have to stop all those “theatrics” in our liturgy as noted by many netizens this past Holy Week and Easter. Unknown to many priests and their alalays, the more we have gimmicks in the Mass or even in our sacred spaces, the more we “displace” and remove Christ.

After an hour every Sunday, we leave the Mass and go back to our usual way of life, facing life’s many challenges. Peter reminds us in the second reading to hold on to that “faith and hope in God” who gave us Jesus Christ, “the spotless unblemished lamb.”

Let us not forget this mystery of Easter that, the more Jesus vanishes, the more we recognize him because Jesus is more than enough than anybody or anything else especially when we in our Emmaus experience. Let us pray like Cleopas and companion “Stay with us, Lord” so we may show him in our witnessing especially when we could not find him in others. Amen.

From Facebook, 21 April 2021: *“There is an urgency to announce the Joy, the joy of the Risen Lord.”*

Easter is coming, believing

Lord My Chef Easter Recipe by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Second Sunday of Easter, Divine Mercy Sunday, 12 April 2026
Acts 2:42-47 ><}}}*> 1 Peter 1:3-9 ><}}}*> John 20:19-31

*Photo by author, Don Bosco Batulao, Batangas, 07 April 2026.*

My dear friends, while praying over the gospel this week, this line by the Lord kept on echoing within me. And every time it would echo, the Lord shortened the sentence like these:

“Have you come to believe because you have seen me?”

“Have you come to believe because…?”

“Have you come to believe…?”

“Have you come…?”

Easter is a story of coming and believing amid all the darkness and emptiness in life, of being locked inside like the disciples when Jesus came to visit them “On the evening of that first day of the week, when the doors were locked.”

Before we can stay and remain in the Lord, we must first come. Like Thomas.

Or Jesus who actually comes first because he believes in us his disciples.

Now a week later his disciples were again inside and Thomas was with them. Jesus came, although the doors were locked, and stood in their midst… Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands, and bring your hand and put it into my side, and do not be unbelieving, but believe.” Thomas answered and said to him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Have you come to believe because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed” (John 20:26, 27-29).

*Caravaggio’s painting “The Incredulity of St. Thomas” (1602) from en.wikipedia.org.*

We are now on the eighth day of Easter also known as Divine Mercy Sunday that was instituted by St. John Paul II in May 23, 2000 as a “perennial invitation to the Christian World to face with confidence in divine benevolence the difficulties and trials that humankind will experience in the years to come.”

This we can see in Thomas also known as Didymus who was not present when Jesus first came to his disciples on the evening of Easter. See how Jesus as the one actually coming first because he is also the first to believe in us his disciples despite our many flaws. And absences or tardiness.

Joining his fellow disciples, Thomas came and believed on the eighth day after Easter. What Thomas had asked as proofs to believe in the Lord’s Resurrection were not really doubts to be taken negatively. It was not that Thomas did not believe but in fact, he wanted to believe more.

That is why he came the following Sunday. Because he believed.

Like us, there are times we feel at a loss in our faith in God when difficult and extraordinary things happen to us. We cry in desperation to God, seemingly doubting his presence or if he listens at all to our pleas but we come to pray because we believe. We cry only to someone we believe who can help us in our plight.

Coming and believing happen simultaneously: we come because we believe and we believe that is why we come.

Believing is more than an intellectual assent to a person or something.

Believing is entering into a relationship. There is something deeper that happens when we believe that is why we are moved to come, to draw near especially to a person.

When Jesus told Thomas “do not be unbelieving, but believe”, it was not a reproach but more of an exhortation he tells us too today to be intimate with him, to stay with him, to remain in him.

While the world tells everyone that to see is to believe, Jesus tells us that it is when we believe him, when we believe in him that we shall see. Even more. And clearly!

Believing is not actually concerned with proofs and evidence because whether with God or with another person, despite the many “proofs” we have gathered from all sources, none of them is actually the reason for our faith in God and with others. Or whatever like our vocation and profession.

Believing is the gift of faith nurtured in our relationships with God and with others.

It often starts so simple like when we pray the Apostles Creed and say “I believe in God” – in our believing and relating with God, we love, and love, and love even more even if there are pains and sufferings.

This we nurture by imitating the early Christians who devoted themselves to the teachings of the apostles that have been handed down to the Church, in communal life, and in the “breaking of the bread and prayers” which is the Holy Eucharist, the summit of our life as disciples of Christ (first reading).

That is why Peter in the second reading is all praises to those who believe and love Jesus even without having seen him: we continue to strive and persevere in life’s many trials because deep inside we experience the truth and realities of Christ’s resurrection, of his loving presence among us that leads us to profound joy and rejoicing in life. Most of all, with peace, the supreme gift of the Risen Lord.

Last March during my annual silent retreat as I turned 61 years old, my last reflection was Luke’s account of the Road to Emmaus, the gospel every evening of Easter.

In my meditation, I imagined myself joining the two disciples walking home to Emmaus. I was silent all throughout the journey, listening to their conversations until after the breaking of the bread in their home that opened their eyes to finally recognize Christ who had then vanished so quickly.

It was then when I actively joined the scene, telling the two disciples to return right away to Jerusalem. In my meditation, I felt the two disciples saying it was so dark and dangerous to travel back to Jerusalem. But I insisted, telling them, “maski na, tayo na!”

It was a turning point for me because for the past many years every time I go on my personal retreat and in my prayers, I always expressed to God my many fears in doing his will, refusing to follow him. I have always been like Jonah ever since in my relationship with God.

Last March was different. As I turned 61, I have come to believe more because I have become more daring.

There are still those fears in me about God’s will and plans but this time, I am no longer so concerned about my self but God alone – his will, his plans. And that is only when I felt truly at peace. Indeed, as John concluded his gospel today, Jesus does so many other things in our lives that is impossible to record but these few experiences we have of him are meant for us to believe him more, have life in him. Especially peace. Amen.