Reflection from Friar Nicholas

SAINTS PAUL MIKI AND HIS COMPANIONS, MARTYRS    Ecclesiasticus 47:2-13; Ps 18:31,47,50-51; Mk 6:14-29 The Offering of Our Lives to God The knowledge or awareness that we are nothing before God makes us humble and fosters the sacrifice of our lives to God, our creator. This prerequisite knowledge we need to come to God is gained only when God sends his word to enlighten us. As we have already noted, we cannot know ourselves without the light of God’s word. Hence, the coming of the Eternal Word to us was never an afterthought but a necessity that is associated with our being rational creatures; that is, our bearing the image of God. But that he assumed our human nature and came as man was as a result of our sinful state, whereby we live enslaved to the senses. As slaves of the senses, we could not see nor understand our deplorable spiritual state. Hence, the Word assumed our nature and came as man to reveal our sinful condition to us in relation to God’s love and merc...

SAINT AGATHA, VIRGIN, MARTYR    1 Kings 2:1-4,10-12; 1 Chron 29:10-12; Mk 6:7-13 Material and Spiritual Poverty for the Word We come to the fullness of our humanity when we keep the word of God. Since God made us for himself, the words he addresses to us would be considered to be similar to the manual of operation of our nature. We suffer the maloperation of our nature in ignorance of the revealed word of God. For this reason, we consider the holy Scripture an indispensable companion for our daily Christian life. Although it may seem that many live successful lives without reference to God or his words as written in the scriptures. We must understand that we are tripartite in our composition; we can organise our material or bodily appearance so well that none can know the inner restlessness we suffer without God. But as composed of body, mind, and spirit, we can never truly enjoy the fullness of life and peace without the intervention of God within us. As we noted e...

WEDDNESDAY, FOURTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME   2 Sam 24:2,8-17; Ps 32:1-2,5-7; Mk 6:1-6 Despised in His Homeland Humility is such a powerful virtue that it can contain and hide God within human nature. This capacity of humility to house and conceal God prompts our consideration of God to be its sole cause in us. This follows because no one can build a house for God by their own effort without God working in them and cooperating with them. This is shown in the fact that man’s seeking of self after the original sin blinded him to God’s abiding presence in the created universe. So, humility cannot be a product of self or our effort without God. A clearer analogy for the idea is the case of a potential difference between an active and a passive material. It is usually the active material that induces the passivity in the passive material. Hence, the infinite perfection of God induces our awareness of our nothingness. God, by enabling us to see and know his infinite perfections t...

TUESDAY, FOURTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME   2 Sam 18:9-10,14,24-25,30-19:3; Ps 86:1-6; Mk 5:21-43 The Nature of Humility and Meekness The world usually considers the virtues of humility and meekness as weakness. But nothing is farther from the truth; the world is deceived in this consideration of humility and meekness as weakness. The ignorance of the worldly-minded on the strength of these virtues lies in the fact that the world follows its evil prince to set its store on self and self-acquisition. Thus, looking through the dark and sinful lens of self, the proud worldlings are not able to see the divine company that humility attracts and keeps. As we have noted, humility or poverty of spirit is a virtue that results from the self-emptying act of a soul, which makes it able to attract and contain God, the Almighty. When God sheds his light and grace on our souls, it helps us see how sick and miserable we are without his help. The enlightenment of grace from the word of God ...

FEAST OF THE PRESENTATION OF THE LORD   Mal 3:1-4 or Heb 2:14-18; Ps 24:7-10; Lk 2:22-40 The Lord Enters His Holy Temple The celebration of the feast of our Lord’s Presentation has a twofold meaning for us. The first meaning, which is obvious, is the fact that the baby Jesus Christ was presented in the Temple of Jerusalem. The presentation is in accordance with the stipulations of the Law of Moses, as we read in the Gospel. “When the day came for them to be purified as laid down by the Law of Moses, the parents of Jesus took him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord, -observing what stands written in the Law of the Lord: Every first-born male must be consecrated to the Lord—and also to offer in sacrifice, in accordance with what is said in the Law of the Lord, a pair of turtledove or two young pigeons.” The Law stipulated the presentation in remembrance of the deliverance the Lord wrought for the people of Israel in the land of Egypt, by which they were delivered fr...

SUNDAY, FOURTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME   Zeph 2:3,3:12-13 Ps 146:6-10; 1 Cor 1:26-31; Mt 5:1-12 How Happy are the Poor in Spirit The Word of God is God from the beginning, for he bears the same nature as the Father. He originates from the Father as the true and perfect expression of Him. The Father gives us the Word that he may dwell with us and make us to be like God. To be like God implies that we contain the Word of God and derive our inspiration and motivation from it. That we may contain the Word of God, who contains all things and through whom all things exist, we must be empty of what belongs to us. We must be humble and devoid of self. Humility is the virtue that arises deep within, from the foundation of our spirit in recognition of our nothingness before God. It is the requirement for spiritual life or the foundation for our spirit, for no one is born of God who has no need of God. Thus, our Lord informed the scribes and Pharisees that those who have need of the ...