Reflection from Friar Nicholas

SUNDAY, TWENTY FIRST WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME Isa 22:19-23; Ps 138:1-3,6,8; Rom 11:33-36; Mt 16:13-20 Our United Desire for the Communion The Church’s opening prayer for today’s Eucharistic celebration is a plea to God to grant us the desire for communion with him, which he has promised us. This is important because the desire for the life of God enables us to obey his commandments; as we noted previously in our reflections, knowledge and obedience to the Commandments of God introduce us to communion with God. Knowledge of the Commandments and our obedience to them conform our lives here on earth to the divine life. The Commandments are God’s self-revelation to us, his creatures. They constitute an invitation and open door for everyone to enter the communion of the Triune God. So, the revelation of the Commandments to Israel placed them on a pedestal higher than all the Gentile nations. Saint Paul lamented this privilege Israel received from God, but wasted, in the readings of two S...

OUR LADY, MOTHER AND QUEEN Ezek 43:1-7; Ps 85:9-14; Mt 23:1-12 The Seat of Divine Communion To understand the revealed name of God, I Am, is to understand the infinite power of God. It is to understand that God’s plan can never be thwarted by any creature, for every creature owes its existence to our God. The divine will is the cause of every existence. So, the revelation of God’s plan means it must come to pass. Where the realisation of the divine plan is delayed, it is delayed by its human component, for the divine component is already in existence and operative from the moment of its revelation to us. When the human component is found willing and ready by abundance of divine grace, the plan of God is speedily realised, for there is nothing else to impede it. Abraham’s willingness and faith in God’s promise formed the pedestal on which the whole of the Old Testament, the Law and the Prophets, were established according to God’s plan of salvation for all men. When his descendant...

SAINT PIUS X, POPE Ezek 37:1-14; Ps 107:2-9; Mt 22:34-40 The Knowledge of Divine Love Our life here on earth is a journey to communion with God. As we pointed out in our reflection yesterday, understanding the goal of life illuminates our origin and true identity. God has made sufficient provision for our wayfaring through life to divine communion. Each of us can be compared to a child whose parents left under the care of a guardian and travelled of necessity. They made every provision for the child's upbringing, but placed all in the care of the guardian, who is to raise the child with all the provisions, so that he would gradually grow and come into his inheritance with them. The understanding of the provisions, the care the parents put in place for his welfare and upbringing, and the wealth he is to inherit in due time give the child an idea of his parents' love and goodwill. But if the child pays no attention to these things, thinks only of himself, complains that his...

SAINT BERNARD, ABBOT, DOCTOR Ezek 36:23-28; Ps 51:12-15,18-19; Mt 22:1-14 Attendance at the Divine Wedding Human life on earth is a struggle we must engage in; it is a journey we must make; it is a battle we must fight; it is also a death we must die. Our life is all these and even more. But what makes our mortal life worth living is the end for which we live it. The true end of human life is linked to its origin. If we understand the purpose of life on earth, then we must have grasped our origin. Similarly, understanding the origin of our lives is to receive illumination into the purpose of our existence. Because of the importance of knowledge of these two, God revealed his word to us. God had to do this because the knowledge of these principles or pillars of our existence, which are supposed to come to us naturally from creation, became recondite or hidden due to the darkness and distortion caused by sin. The word of God, which is meant to illuminate our understanding, was neve...

WEDNESDAY, TWENTIETH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME Ezek 34:1-11; Ps 23; Mt 20:1-16 Shepherds of God’s Flock We falter many times, mainly because we have failed to understand our relationship with God. We belong to God, and everything we have comes from him. If we all belong to God and he cares for everyone as his own, then we must also care for ourselves and for each other. From these relations, we have come to understand our natural need for communion with God and with each other. The wisdom that comes from awareness of God and our relationship with him enlightens our minds to understand that we come from God and are returning to him. The desire for unlimited life is the natural witness to our going back to God. Our ability to know or acquire knowledge of the universe is a testimony that we come from God, for intelligence, which is the operation of rational light within us, points to the presence of the divine image in us. Hence, by creating us, God continues to work in us through knowl...

TUESDAY, TWENTIETH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME Ezek 28:1-10; Deut 32:26-28,30,35-36; Mt 19:23-30 Danger of Self Sufficiency Studies have shown that humans are naturally social beings. No one is made to be an island or to live in isolation. This conclusion is supported by the fact that our needs are many and we can never satisfy them in isolation. So, communities arise naturally as means of satisfying various human needs. If our nature demands we live in communion with one another, even more does it demand that we stay in communion with God. Human experience and studies have also shown that people tend to isolate themselves from others when they acquire material riches, which give them a false or mistaken sense of self-sufficiency. We call it false because material wealth and riches can never take the place of people in our lives. If wealth and riches can not satisfy our need for communion with people, how can they ever take the place of God in our lives? It is delusional and grossly si...