Reflection from Friar Nicholas

SOLEMNITY OF ALL SAINTS Apoc 7:2-4,0-14; Ps 24:1-6; 1 Jn 3:1-3; Mt 5:1-12 The Joy and Happiness of the Blessed The Church celebrates the solemn feast of all the saints on the first day of November every year. It is an opportunity for the Church to celebrate all her children who have made their way to the heavenly hall to dwell with God forever. The idea of a multitude does not easily lend itself to our understanding of enjoyment and happiness, for in our mortal, physical life, multitude usually means a lack of space or room and other inconveniences we suffer in such gatherings. Our material life and understanding of things hinder our true grasp of the inconceivable multitude of the blessed standing before God. But familiarity with spiritual things reveals that the idea of number here poses no problem or hindrance because each saint has been perfected in the love of God. So each is a holy spirit relating directly to God and possessing him as if he is the only one made to enjoy God...

SATURDAY, THIRTIETH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME Phil 1:18-26; Ps 41:2-3,5; Lk 14:1,7-11 Our Mortal Life and Death in Christ Our fallen nature and nurture make it difficult to think of death or the end of our mortal life without trepidation or fear. Our long sojourn in the prison camp of the powers of darkness has distorted our understanding of life and death. We now fear what we should not fear and tremble before what we should never fear. All of this results from our long association with the father of lies and illusions. We have received new spiritual and eternal life by acceptance of Jesus Christ. But we are still unfamiliar with what we have received from the Father of love as an eternal inheritance in Jesus Christ. We rarely enter our spiritual selves to get familiar with the gift of life and the giver. We still enjoy the company of the dead in the land of the dead, and the silence of the spirit holds a foreboding fear for us. The Scripture and the Spirit keep inviting us to taste...

FRIDAY, THIRTIETH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME Phil 1:1-11; Ps 111:1-6; Lk 14:1-6 The Good Work of God on Us The Scripture says that God created us to display his good works in us. Hence, it pleases God to bless us always. Paul revealed that these blessings were established before the foundation of the earth, and that they include all the spiritual blessings in heaven. The revelation of these heavenly blessings continues in Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit, if we keep opening ourselves to receive him. The totality of these heavenly blessings is found in Jesus Christ, for the Father willed everything to be full in him. He is the fullness of everything. So, in him we find our own fullness and fulfilment. Turning away from Christ ends our desire for these blessings. The attacks of the forces of darkness are aimed at this goal; namely, to turn us away from Jesus Christ. Thus, every means we employ to battle these forces must make us present and open to receive the Father’s will from Jes...

THURSDAY, THIRTIETH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME Eph 6:10-20; Ps 144:1-2,9-10; Lk 13:31-35 The Spiritual Armour for Daily Battle Our spiritual warfare is deeper and more subtle than many of us realise. Because confusion abounds in our understanding of spiritual reality, the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, and what salvation entails, a thousand and one false spiritualities also exist. As long as we remain in the dark about the Gospel of our Lord, we remain prone to the most subtle spiritual attacks. The major and most destructive weapon of Satan is deception. Our Lord called him the father of lies, for that is where his greatest power lies. With the power of delusion, he rules the whole world and leads myriads of souls and angels into hellish fire. The core revelation of Jesus Christ about himself for our salvation is the statement in Jn 14:6: “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” In this revelation, Jesus sets himself up as the only weap...

SAINTS SIMON AND JUDE, APOSTLES Eph 2:19-22; Ps 19:2-5; Lk 6:12-19 Their Word goes forth through All the Earth We celebrate the holy Apostles, Saints Simon and Jude. Each apostle has an interesting background. Simon hailed from Canaan and is often called ‘the Zealot’ because of his political interest and involvement. He belonged to the Zealot party and opposed and fought against Roman rule. Tradition considers him the bridegroom at the wedding in Cana, where the Lord worked his first miracle of turning water into wine. The Lord transformed the zeal of the bridegroom of Canaan for the earthly kingdom of Judah and Israel into zeal for the heavenly kingdom. Saint Jude, on the other hand, was the relative of our Lord. He was usually called his brother, being the son of Mary the wife of Cleophas. He is also the brother of James the Less. So, James and Jude were children of Mary, the relative of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the mother of Jesus. Scripture gave a brief record of him, for he ...

TUESDAY, THIRTIETH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME Eph 5:25-33; Ps 128:1-5; Lk 13:18-21 The Spiritual Leavening of Our Bodies Through the life, passion, death, and resurrection of the Son of Man, we have been given a new life through the enduring Word of God. The life we have received is spiritual, for the Word of God is spirit and life. Our faith in Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Word of God, has given us a new spirit. This new life is a spirit, which exists as an orientation within our body. We know this spirit's presence by the new awareness and orientation toward the Father we feel within, at the centre of our being. The spiritual awareness and orientation give birth to the babyish cry, ‘Abba, Father!’, we utter in union with the Holy Spirit. So, in this deep and overwhelming interior operation of prayer, we become aware of the Holy Spirit and a new life through the orientation and hunger for the Being we call ‘Father.’ As spiritual babies, we must keep this interior awareness and mak...