Reflection from Friar Nicholas

WEDNESDAY OF HOLY WEEK     Isa 50:4-9; Ps 69:8-10,21-22,31,33-34; Mt 26:14-25 The Fate of the Son of Man Are persons destined to particular ends without any input or choice? Many people believe this to be the case. But to believe such is to hold or believe something different from what the word of God reveals about the human person. The book of Genesis started with the creation of man and woman. As we have noted previously, the story of the fall is intended to demonstrate the free will of man and woman, as the fall validates the claim that God created them in His own image. The whole revelation, as contained in the Scriptures, is based on this truth: that we are free to do or not to do; to obey and worship God or not. The salvation story we are celebrating is a vocation to each of us to accept the redemption from the effects of the Fall that God has worked for us through His Son. So, we are free to accept or reject the free gift of salvation in Jesus Christ. As...

TUESDAY OF HOLY WEEK     Isa 49:1-6; Ps 70:1-6,15,17; Jn 13:21-33,36-38 Sorrows of The Servant of God It is overwhelming for any human person to step in and play the role of God. Mere human nature cannot carry the weight of God’s providential care over his creatures unaided. It is made even more difficult in our present condition when we have to deal with people of unclean hearts and lips. The sinful condition of the people makes the vocation and mission of the Servant of Yahweh a very difficult one; it gives the sacrifice of the Servant an unsavoury taste and flavour. In these bitter tastes and flavours lies the sacrifice by which the Servant brings about redemption for the people. Acting through the humble and obedient submission of the Servant to his divine will, God uses his sufferings to lift the people who are submerged in the darkness of sin and evil to salvation and freedom. The Servant vicariously suffers darkness and evil for the redemption of those overwh...

MONDAY OF HOLY WEEK     Isa 42:1-7; Ps 27:1-3,13-14; Jn 12:1-11 The Covenant for the People We have begun the Holy Week with the celebration of Passion Sunday. Within the week, Saint John will gradually lead us through the drama of the last days of the Son of Man in Jerusalem, culminating in his crucifixion on the day before the Sabbath, that is, on Good Friday. The prophecy of Isaiah the prophet supplies the scriptural background to the drama and story of the Messiah. As we noted previously, what we heard on Passion Sunday is detailed and drawn out for us throughout the week, so that we may deeply appreciate God's plan of our salvation and its exact execution. The psalmist offers us the mindset of the Son of Man as he approaches the time of his glorification in the completion of his total sacrifice of self to God. “The Lord is my light and my help; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; before whom shall I shrink?” This confession of total confid...

PALM SUNDAY    Mt 21:1-11; Isa 50: 4-7; Ps 22:8-9,17-20,23-24; Phil 2:6-11; Mt 26:14-27:66 The Lesson of Our Teacher and Master Today is Palm or Passion Sunday. The celebration ushers us into Holy Week for the celebration of the Paschal mysteries of our Lord. The readings prepare our minds with a summary of the events of the coming days. The naming of the Sunday is from the major event of the day, which is the triumphant entry of Jesus Christ into Jerusalem. The first part of the celebration depicts this. The blessing of the palms at a suitable place outside the church and subsequent procession into the church are to recall these events from the Gospels. The major lesson from this initial celebration is the emphasis placed on the Lordship of the Son of Man. What we see clearly through the Gospel reading proclaimed outside the church in preparation for the procession is Jesus’ foreknowledge of all things and his command or control of every event. He knew the hour had...

SATURDAY, FIFTH WEEK OF LENT    Ezek 37:21-28; Jer 31:10-13; Jn 11:45-56 Gathered Together by The Son of Man God called Abraham and promised him many blessings if he would obey and follow God. As we noted previously, the physical blessings of descendants, nations, and the land of Canaan were sacramental signs of the spiritual blessings God prepared for Abraham and his spiritual descendants. When God fulfilled the promised physical blessings, he made use of these blessings to direct our attention to the real spiritual blessings that would be realised last. By the scattering of the children of Israel among the nations of the world, God achieved two things: First, he showed the children of Abraham by physical descent that they were mistaken in putting too much emphasis on the physical in place of the spiritual. Second, he sent them to their rightful places among the unbelievers, in preparation for the gathering of the spiritual children or descendants of Abraham from a...

FRIDAY, FIFTH WEEK OF LENT    Jer 20:10-13; Ps 18:2-7; Jn 10:31-42 The Son of Man Eluded Their Grasp The omnipotence of God is such that he is always near to us and carries us, supporting us with his powerful providence. Sometimes the real presence of God is difficult to grasp, perceive, or comprehend. He seems so removed from our troubles and anxieties that we feel like giving up in our faith. None is a total foreigner to these moments of radical isolation from others and from God, our source of existence and being. In such moments when we search for meaning in life, we must hang on with faith in God, bearing in mind that God’s presence and love will be renewed at dawn. By dawn, we mean whenever God chooses to bring back his light to our darkness and re-establish his communion with us. The psalmist describes his own dark moment in the psalm. “The waves of death rose about me; the torrents of destruction assailed me; the snare of the grave entangled me; the traps of deat...