Reflection from Friar Nicholas

SAINT JOHN MARY VIANNEY, PRIEST Jer 30:1-2,12-15,18-22; Ps 102:16-21,29,22-23; Mt 15:1-2,10-14 Pulling up of False Plants Who can ever imagine the beauty and wonder of dwelling in God’s presence? But this is the gift the Lord our God has granted to us without our asking, for he created us to enjoy this banquet eternally with him. Once deceived by the ancient serpent, the human race became accustomed to walking without the light of God; we have grown accustomed to stumbling in the dark, without concern for light. In fact, we now harbour a fear of the divine light and the light of reason. The latter is derived from the former as the presence of God within our nature. How can any of us find our way back without the grace of God? The way of righteousness and integrity is so unknown to us that we consider it a path leading to nowhere, while in fact it is the path leading us to fullness of life and splendour of truth. The path leading to divine presence is within each of us, if only we...

MONDAY, EIGHTEENTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME Jer 28:1-17; Ps 119:29,43,79-80,95,102; Mt 14:22-36 True and False Prophets Our understanding of God is often flawed. But that is usual, for we progressively move from darkness to light. Until the full light of the Gospel of God dawns in us, we easily misconceive God and his divine work within and about us. So, it is not out of place that we have incomplete knowledge of God. What is unacceptable is to think that we have comprehended God and insist that we are right and nothing else. This is the reason we depend on the Church for our moral integrity and to ascertain the truth of what we have conceived. The Church, as our mother, guides us in a deeper understanding of divine revelation and a better understanding of whatever we have received from God as revelation. Whatever we understand from the scriptures must be subjected to the greater light of the Church to remove error and emphasize the truth. Hence, God’s revelation of his word drives ...

SUNDAY, EIGHTEENTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME Isa 55:1-3; Ps 145:8-9,15-18; Rom 8:35,37-39; Mt 14:13-21 Our Invitation to the Banquet of God God, in his infinite love and compassion, never ceases to invite us to the banquet of life, for which he created us. The whole creation bears the trace of the divine invitation to man. The purpose of creation is to lead us gradually to God’s presence in the beatific vision. Sin disfigured creation and made it unable to attract and lead us to God. The disfigurement is more in us than in the creation. Sin corrupted the unrestricted desire within us to for God by directing it to creatures. The fact that creatures can never satisfy our deepest desire leaves us hollow, hungry, and thirsty for eternity. This is exactly what hell is like. Hell arises from our failure to attend the divine banquet prepared for us for all eternity. The work of the devil, the ancient serpent or dragon, who lost his place in heaven due to his pride and disobedience, is to co...

SAINT ALPHONSUS MARY DE’ LIGUORI, BISHOP, DOCTOR   Jer 26:11-16,24; Ps 69:15-16,30-31,33-34; Mt 14:1-12 Conformity with the Divine Will Our relationship with God is both communal and personal. He relates to us as a community of people he has called to be his own possession. He manifests his word and his will to us, the acceptance of which establishes us as his people. The divine manifestation or revelation of God, as we have previously noted, is an opening or door through which we enter the presence of God or share his life. Because the encounter is personal, the communal relationship is based on the personal. Since God is a trinity of three divine persons, our relationship with God is on a person-to-person basis. The word of God is addressed to our understanding, his love to our hearts, and He summons our wills and enables them thereby to obey the divine will in worship and adoration. Thus, the quality of the communal relationship and worship of God depends on the quali...

  SAINT IGNATIUS LOYOLA, PRIEST  Jer 26:1-9; Ps 69:5,8-10,14; Mt 13:54-58 Making Meaning of God’s Interventions The path to the spiritual realm lies within, not without. We must learn to walk the inner path to move freely in the spirit and understand spiritual things in the physical world. We walk blindly, as it were, when we rely only on the evidence of the senses. What makes us Christians is our ability to walk in faith and not by the senses alone. The spiritual life gained through faith and interior meditation, and contemplation of mysteries of our faith, is the fruition of our baptismal consecration to God in Jesus Christ. Hence, we have emphasised prayer as the respiration of a Christian. This foundational prayer is our hearts’ yearning for God, as a deer yearns for a stream of running water, or a drowning man for air. The intensity of our yearning for God indicates our spiritual health. When our yearning is only for visible or material goods, it is an indicator tha...

THURSDAY, SEVENTEENTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME Jer 18:1-6; Ps 146:2-6; Mt 13:47-53 The Separation of the Good from the Bad It was Saint Augustine who said that the same divine blows that purify the saints reduce the unjust to dust and ashes. By this, he let us understand that there are no separate measures for the saints and the sinners as pertains to our mortal life here on earth. God does not distinguish between the faithful and sinners when he sends his sun, rain, cold, and heat. Our Lord taught the same lesson. “For He makes His sun rise on those who are evil and on those who are good, and makes the rain fall on the righteous and the unrighteous.” Mt 5:45. This means that God sends his material blessings to everyone irrespective of our standing with him. Even his graces are given to everyone in Jesus Christ our Lord. The difference lies in our manner of reception of these gifts he gives without favouritism. Some people turn their backs on the gifts and continue to complain about...