Reflection from Friar Nicholas

THURSDAY, SECOND WEEK OF EASTER    Acts 5:27-33; Ps 34:2,9,17-120; Jn 3:31-36 Everything Entrusted to The Son Although Nicodemus found it very hard to believe what the Lord taught him about earthly things, as the Lord mentioned, he still led him to heavenly mysteries. The reason is that we cannot do without these mysteries, which are the foundations of earthly things and events. The lack of knowledge of these heavenly mysteries would make us strangers in the house or kingdom of God. Even in this world, ignorance of the mysteries of Jesus Christ would make us slaves of principles of evil and dark forces. The Scriptures recognise them as principalities, thrones, and dominations of this world; they are ruling forces in the air, water, and under the earth. These claim the rulership of the earth and tend to lord it over human persons on earth. But the coming of the Son of Man is to take back the earth and bring it under divine dominion. The earth is now part of the kingdom of...

  WEDNESDAY, SECOND WEEK OF EASTER    Acts 5:17-26; Ps 34:2-9; Jn 3:16-21 The Revelation of God’s Love The Son of Man revealed to Nicodemus the love the Father bestowed on the world, on all peoples, by sending his Only Begotten Son to come in human form. The coming of the Son of God in our nature has reconnected heaven and earth, or brought the kingdom of God to us, as Jesus explained in the passage of yesterday. We enter the kingdom of God through the knowledge of God’s will for us. The revelation of God’s will by the Son of Man opens the door of communion with God. This door was closed before the Incarnation of the Son of God. Jesus stated this yesterday when he said that no one has knowledge of God the Father, for no one has been to heaven, except the Son of Man who is in heaven. The Son of Man is in heaven even while he remained with us on earth because of the union of his human nature and the Eternal Word in the same Person of the Trinity. So, while on earth, h...

TUESDAY, SECOND WEEK OF EASTER    Acts 4:32-37; Ps 93:1-2,5; Jn 3:7-15 Only the Son of Man Came from Heaven Nicodemus could not understand the words of Jesus Christ, for they were of mysteries beyond the mind of a natural man. Hence, we have stated in our reflection yesterday that the need for a heavenly or spiritual birth was that we may perceive, comprehend, and love spiritual things and reality founded on the Risen Lord. The Son of Man had previously mentioned these things to Nicodemus to awaken his desire for heavenly life and things. His ministry in the flesh was for the purpose of waking up this desire for heavenly life and reality in his disciples. His passion and death made life available to them and to all who believe in him. Thus, he clarified to Nicodemus that this heavenly life is had through water and the Spirit. We would not receive the Holy Spirit, the principle of spiritual life, if the water had not been made efficacious to wash away our sins; the w...

MONDAY, SECOND WEEK OF EASTER    Acts 4:23-31; Ps 2:1-9; Jn 3:1-8 Our Spiritual Birth in Christ To understand the immeasurable gift God has granted to humanity through the resurrection of the Son of Man, we must be spiritually aware and spiritually minded. The work of making us spiritual belongs to God alone, for as we have said in relation to the Risen Lord, no one can give what he has not. The fact that the Risen Lord gave the Holy Spirit to the fearful disciples gathered in the locked room shows that he is God. Knowing that it would be impossible for a mere human mind to conceive the spiritual gifts of heaven, most importantly, the spiritual life, the Risen Lord bestowed on them the gift of the Holy Spirit to initiate a spiritual life within them. As we read from the Gospel of John yesterday: “After saying this, he breathed on them and said: ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. For those whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven; for those whose sins you retain, they are retaine...

DIVINE MERCY SUNDAY    Acts 2:42-47; Ps 118:2-4,13-15,22-24; 1 Pet 1:3-9; Jn 20:19-31 The Gift of Peace and Joy in Jesus Christ The second Sunday of Easter is traditionally regarded as Low Sunday or Divine Mercy Sunday. On this second Sunday, the wonder of the Lord’s resurrection and its divine effects are gradually sinking deep into the disciples. We are gradually meditating on the fact of Jesus Christ's resurrection from the dead. The different appearances to some disciples were reported and discussed with amazement and untold joy. What is the meaning of the Lord’s resurrection from the dead? What are the implications for the disciples? What nature would his ministry on earth take from then? These questions must have been in the minds of the disciples as he appears and disappears at will. It was gradually dawning on them that his presence with them would no longer take a physical form, for he only appears to them for a purpose and disappears again, leaving them instruc...

EASTER SATURDAY    Acts 4:13-21; Ps 118:1,14-21; Mk 16:9-15   The Mission to Proclaim the Good News The disciples found it difficult to believe the story of the resurrection from those who first encountered the Risen Lord because the news was unbelievable. They were not paying attention to the scriptures, just as we do not in our daily lives. They were just following the daily happenings or events. They all experienced his passion and death as a shock to the hope of deliverance. Thus, the news of the resurrection of the Lord was totally a new thing from the ordinary or known events ever. If one accepts the news as true, it changes everything: our understanding and perception of life, our daily lives, our religion and religious activities, our understanding of events, and our purposes in life. The effects would be too heavy to bear, and their consequences would be too revolutionary. This is why it was unbelievable. The news of the resurrection of the Son of Man ...