Reflection from Friar Nicholas

SAINT BARNABAS, APOSTLE  Acts 11:21-26,13:1-3; Ps 98:1-6; Mt 5:20-26 Acquisition of Heavenly Virtues The essence of the Sermon on the Mount is to lay a solid foundation for Christian spirituality. Because it ought to be a spirituality based on the Son of Man, Jesus Christ, as the Saviour of humankind, the Mosaic Law does not satisfy the requirements. So, obedience to the Law and the Prophets is not sufficient, though it is necessary. Salvation flows from the redemptive work of the Son of Man and not from individual works of each of us. There must be an essential connection, on the three levels of body, soul, spirit, of each person to Christ, for the salvation or grace to flow in full capacity. On this basis, we have understood and explained the necessity of receiving a new birth different from our natural birth by human parents. The old Law makes reference to Moses and his deliverance of the people of Israel from physical and psychological bondage in Egypt. The Gospel of grac...

WEDNESDAY, TENTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME  1 Kings 18:20-39; Ps 16:1-2,4-5,8,11; Mt 5:17-19 The Demand of God’s Justice We often miss the point of the need to habituate our minds to the word of God. We fail to understand that ignorance of the word of God and his loving presence will not spare us from the manipulations of demons and evil people. That is, if our lamps are not lit and placed on the lampstand or on a tub, forces of darkness will invade our space and force their way in. If we light our lamps and hide them under the tub or basket, then we are only useful to ourselves as individuals and not to our neighbours. When these are enveloped in darkness, they will profess their darkness in such a way that the darkness will overwhelm and extinguish our single light. God wants us to be lit and burning brightly, and also to shine forth our light to everyone around us. Hence, he called his disciples a city built on the mountain top. Maintaining the brightness of our light requires...

TUESDAY, TENTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME  1 Kings 17:7-16; Ps 4:2-5,7-8; Mt 5:13-16 Salted by Communion with God Without a constant communion with God, it is impossible to please God always or to be like him. As we have previously noted, God sends His word, which is our daily bread, to establish this daily communion with us and gradually transform us into His likeness. The belief that we become what we eat is true, not only with regard to physical food, but also for spiritual food. Our spiritual food consists of what we fill our minds and set our hearts on daily. The Eternal Word of God became flesh and dwelt among us for this purpose, that the bread of angels may become the bread of men on earth. But it is one thing to serve someone a delicious food, and another thing for the person to have a relish or hunger for the food. By sending His Son in human flesh, God has set a heavenly, delicious, and enriching food and drink before us. Cf. Isa 25:6. We have to work on ourselves to de...

MONDAY, TENTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME  1 Kings 17:1-6; Ps 121; Mt 5:1-12 The Blessed Life for All It is the will of God, our Creator and Saviour, for us to have fullness of life and wellbeing. Before the original fall, the knowledge of what would cause our nature and individual life to flourish was part of nature’s endowment. Human reason, with the original grace that God granted to our first parents, gave them enough light to know and do the will of God. Human well-being consists in nothing other than knowing and doing the will of God. But deceived by the tempter to choose what was not consistent with divine will for them, they lost the light of grace and wandered in the darkness of sin and evil. The path leading to life of blessedness was lost to them due to the darkness that enslaved the human will, which caused the loss of God’s guiding light or grace. In other words, the human race knew death by the choice of our first parent against the clear forewarning of God. Blinded b...

SOLEMNITY OF THE MOST HOLY BODY AND BLOOD OF CHRIST  Deut 8:2-3,14-16; Ps 147:12-15,19-20; 1 Cor 10:16-17; Jn 6:51-58 The Sacrament of Holy Communion Communion is about sharing things in common. Above all, it is about sharing life in common, whereby each person brings his life and shares it with members of the communion. The most sacred thing in our possession is life. It does not belong to any of us, but is entrusted to our care and stewardship. By keeping and nourishing it, we participate in the life of the Giver of life, who is Life essentially. Hence, our creation ipso facto is an invitation and the beginning of communion with God, our Creator. On this basis again, we share in the mystery of God; not only humans, but every creature shares in the mystery of God’s existence and is a testimony of the same existence. The wonder of our participation in God’s existence is expressed by Psalm 139:13-14. “For thou didst form my inward parts, thou didst knit me together in my mothe...

SATURDAY, NINTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME     2 Tim 4:1-8; Ps 71:8-9,14-17; Mk 12:38-44 Putting in All We have Got The Psalmist sings of God's justice. What is the nature of God’s justice? His justice is that of love or charity. The justice of God is the justice of divine love, for He gives all his creatures everything they need to realise his will according to his love for each. His divine will can only be understood in love, for God is love. God’s love and goodness are the basis of the outpouring of His goodness for the flourishing of his creatures. This self-outpouring of God attained its apex in the gift of His Only Begotten Son, who is the true nature of God and the total expression of God the Father. He came to us as the Son of Man to save us from our sins and evil that enslave us, and to invite us to the Trinitarian communion. Hence, there is no way we can tell properly of this justice with the Psalmist without giving ourselves in totality to Him. Only such ...