Reflection from Friar Nicholas

SAINT PHILIP NERI, PRIEST     1 Pet 1:10-16; Ps 98; Mk 10:28-31 Leaving Everything to Follow Christ After the Paschal festivities, we resume the Ordinary Time of the liturgical year. This time has its own importance. Back to our daily activities, with no celebration taking up our interest and time, we have the opportunity to work the mysteries of our salvation we have celebrated through Eastertide into the fabric of our lives, through bringing the light of faith lit in our minds and hearts during the celebrations to bear on our daily works and rests. A deeper understanding of the meaning of the life, passion, death, and resurrection of our Lord gives us a new perspective on the works we do, our rest, and our lives. Indeed, we no longer belong to ourselves, but are now God's through Jesus Christ our Lord. The work we do is no longer for self-satisfaction, but to please the Lord, who has redeemed us with his precious blood. The Holy Spirit he sends into our hearts is ...

MARY, MOTHER OF THE CHURCH    Acts 1:12-14; Ps 87; Jn 19:25-34 Behold Your Mother The Church fittingly celebrates the memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of the Church, following the Solemnity of Pentecost. For we marked Pentecost as the formal birthday of the Church. The commencement of the public activities of the Holy Spirit through and within the disciples marked the public manifestation of the body of Christ to the world. The celebration of this memorial is the Church’s way of recognising that we owe the spiritual or mystical life to the unique privilege and efforts of the Blessed Virgin Mary. No one understands the privilege of the mother of Jesus Christ and her place in our spiritual life without understanding the mystery of sin and human salvation. We always go back to the beginning, where God promised us salvation after the fall of Adam and Eve. The enmity God promised to create between the woman of our salvation and the ancient serpent, which i...

THE PENTECOST SUNDAY    Acts 2:1-11; Ps 104:1,24,29-31,34; 1 Cor 12:3-7,12-13; Jn 20:19-23 The Holy Spirit and his variety of Gifts We celebrate Pentecost Sunday. On this day, we mark the descent of the Holy Spirit actively on the disciples of our Lord. The coming of the Holy Spirit is the formal birth of the Church as a gathering of the people of God possessing the same Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the third Person of the Blessed Trinity; our possession of him means that God is with us. Just as God was with us in the days of the Son of Man in the flesh, God is now with us in the Person of the Holy Spirit. The specific mission of the Holy Spirit is the application of the saving works of Jesus Christ to the salvation of the human person. What the Son of Man has objectively achieved in his life, death, and resurrection, the Holy Spirit is now to apply to individual persons. This is the specific work of the Holy Spirit among the persons of the Blessed Trinity. He brings to ac...

SATURDAY, SEVENTH WEEK OF EASTERTIDE    Acts 28:16-20,30-31; Ps 11:4-5,7; Jn 21:20-25 The Spirit of Knowledge and Counsel On the last day of our Novena to the Holy Spirit, we consider the gifts of knowledge and Counsel, the last two of the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit. The gift of knowledge is the Spirit’s aid to our knowledge of earthly things. It is surely about knowledge of earthly things, but it goes deeper than our mere scientific knowledge of creatures to ground them in our faith in God. It helps us to know things in their interconnectedness and the way they serve the will of the Creator, God. It offers us knowledge of the divine plan in things and in earthly affairs, all working together for the realisation of man’s salvation and the glory of God. We may have a profound scientific knowledge of creatures, human history, and their activities. Without the spiritual gift of knowledge, we will not see how our scientific knowledge serves the will of God and his divine...

FRIDAY, SEVENTH WEEK OF EASTERTIDE    Acts 25:13-21; Ps 103:1-2,11-12,19-20; Jn 17:20-26 The Spirit of Fear of the Lord The Holy Spirit also gives us the fear of the Lord as a gift. As Saint Paul wrote, we have not received a spirit of fear or timidity, but the Spirit that helps us cry ‘Abba, Father.’ Cf. Rom 8:15. The new birth we received from the Holy Spirit through our Lord Jesus Christ is the life of the Son of God, within us. So, our new spirit is able to call God Father, because it is begotten of God the Father and the means of our adoption as children of God. Through this new spirit, tutored and guided by the Holy Spirit, we develop a filial and reverential fear of God. Hence, the gift of the fear of the Lord is another spiritual support received from the Holy Spirit, aiding our transformation into Jesus Christ. We must never understand the fear here in the common usage of the word to mean being afraid or terrorised by another. The fear of the Lord flows out...

THURSDAY, SEVENTH WEEK OF EASTERTIDE    Acts 22:30,23:6-11; Ps 16:1-2,5,7-11; Jn 17:20-26 The Spirit of Understanding We arrive at truth through understanding, and truths offer us knowledge. The gift of understanding by the Holy Spirit is a spiritual support to our intellect, enabling us to grasp the mysteries of God and receive divine illumination on the things and events of life. The spiritual gift of understanding is key to our easy and successful journey into the mysteries of Jesus Christ. Our journey to the mountain of God is not a physical journey, like Elijah’s journey to Mount Sinai, but a spiritual journey into the mysteries of Jesus Christ. The gift of spiritual understanding enables us to penetrate the mysteries of God, human affairs, and situations. This gift, in a special way, renews the image of God in us, for it quickens the working of our rational faculty to see beyond the physical, to the foundations of things in God’s will. We must maintain purity ...