Reflection from Friar Nicholas

WEDNESDAY, FOURTENTH WEEK IN ORDERINARY TIME Hosea 10:1-3,7-8,12; Ps 105:2-7; Mt 10:1-7 The Temptation to Idols God offers us more insight into why we seek to set up idols for ourselves through the prophet Hosea. The temptation to set up idols for ourselves is strong when we feel we have what it takes to control our destiny in life. When we have sufficient resources to meet our needs. When that is the case, we flaunt our wealth and riches and use the power they give us to put ourselves before others and oppress them. With enough wealth and riches to throw about, we look less to God for our needs. We gradually feel that we have no more need for God, or to spend time seeking his face or favour. We desire to worship only the God we can control or manipulate to accomplish our will. Since God cannot be manipulated by us, we end up with a god, an idol. We forget that everything we possess is from God, and we are nothing without him. Many of us seek material wealth because of the securi...

TUESDAY, FOURTENTH WEEK IN ORDERINARY TIME Hosea 8:4-7,11-13; Ps 115:3-10; Mt 9:32-37 The Constitution of Idols God made us to know him, to love him, and to serve him, so that we may be happy in his communion forever and ever. This is the Catechism response to the question: Why did God make you? The response may seem simple, but it has depth that we can never fully comprehend. From the simple response, we understand that God did not create us for ourselves; that means we do not exist or live solely to carry out our own plan in life. We are not supposed to plan our lives without God, our Creator. It is a grievous sin to live our lives without reference to God. What makes such an attitude very sinful is the fact that life itself is a participation in God, who is the supreme Being or Life. Understood correctly, every level of life draws from the existence of the supreme Life we call God. So, if sensible animals do not live without reference to God, how then can a rational soul live ...

MONDAY, FOURTENTH WEEK IN ORDERINARY TIME Hosea 2:16,17-18,21-22; Ps 145:2-9; Mt 9:18-26 Our Rediscovery of God As human beings, we are born with an innate desire for God, which ought to mature with time. In creating the material universe, God fashioned everything he made to be the means of our rising to our ultimate Good, who is God. He created everything good. The goodness of each creature is a share in the ultimate goodness of God. The same way our wills rise to the Supreme Good from desiring and using the limited or proportionate goods of creatures, our intellects also rise from the knowledge of creatures to the knowledge of the Eternal Truth that is God. As we noted yesterday, these two faculties are spiritual in their intent and operations. The evil one used the created good to lure man’s mind and heart away from seeking God. The inordinate desire for creatures causes sin within us. To win the hearts of men back to the end for which they were created, God decided to present...

SUNDAY, FOURTENTH WEEK IN ORDERINARY TIME Zech 9:9-10; Ps 145:1-2,8-11,13-14; Rom 8:9,11-13; Mt 11:25-30 Revelation of Hidden Mysteries The salvation of God, which is fully delivered in the Christian Gospel, is couched in deep mysteries. Why is that the case? This is due to the spiritual nature of human salvation. The human problem of sin is in the spiritual realm; the solution of the problem is therefore spiritual and packaged in such a way to reach the spiritual part of the human person and apply the remedy therein. Sin is a spiritual problem that wrecked the spiritual foundation of the human person. The human intellect (mind) and will are spiritual faculties; as such, they are the seat of our spiritual activities. Our spiritual foundation and structure are established through their operations. Our will, most importantly, must desire and unite with the truth conceived in our intellect to construct a solid and eternal structure where God lives within us. But our intellect has su...

  SATURDAY, THIRTEENTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME Amos 9:11-15; Ps 85:11-14; Mt 9:14-17 The Fasting of the Attendants There is usually a marked difference between a model of a building and the actual building. The difference lies not in the design, for that is somehow the same for both. The difference between the two is typologically conceived. It is the difference between reality and its image. It is the difference between a cause and its effect. The incarnation of the Son of God is the cause of God’s revelation of Himself to Israel in the whole of the Old Testament. The Scripture is sealed without the knowledge of Jesus Christ. Hence, the Law and the Prophets are presented as in service of the Gospel. According to the words of our Lord, the Patriarchs and the Prophets strained to catch a glimpse of what is revealed in the Gospel or one of the days of the Son of Man, but it was not given to them. The coming of the Son of God in human flesh is such that whatever advantage the Isra...

THE FEAST OF SAINT THOMAS, APOSTLE Eph 2:19-22; Ps 117:1-2; Jn 20:24-29 The Alignment of Our Structures on the Apostles Our faith in Jesus Christ is a shared possession. Profession of faith in Jesus Christ brings us into the spiritual commonwealth, in which the apostles were first. They were first to behold the Son of Man and believed his divinity. What they beheld, they did for all of us who are meant to come to faith in the later ages. They are able to do this because they share the same human nature as we do. Because of our common human nature, we were there with them and saw with their eyes, heard with their ears, touched with their hands, the word that is life. That they touched the word of life is a statement of faith from the Apostle John, “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have looked upon and touched with our hands, concerning the word of life—the life was made manifest, and we saw it, and testify to it.” What they proclaim to us in faith, ...