Reflection from Friar Nicholas

SUNDAY, THIRD WEEK OF EASTERTIDE    Acts 2:14,22-33; Ps 16:1-2,5,7-11; 1 Pet 1:17-21; Lk 24:13-35 Renewing Our Spiritual Youthfulness in Christ Our Easter celebration ought to renew our spiritual youthfulness, for it is when the Church puts these paschal mysteries before us anew. The mysteries themselves are ever new, for they contain eternal truths and goods which they make available to us through the Church’s liturgical celebrations. They are the mysteries of Jesus Christ, who has entered his eternal glory through his resurrection from the dead. By these mysteries that he entrusted to the Church to hold and celebrate for all ages to come, he makes her fruitful and renews her in the Holy Spirit. The mysteries are old in the passage of time and in their symbols, but remain new in their contents, which are ageless. We see the fruitfulness which Christ endows his Church in the number of her children baptised and joined the ranks of the faithful during Easter. The cele...

SATURDAY, SECOND WEEK OF EASTERTIDE    Acts 6:1-7; Ps 33:1-2,4-5,18-18; Jn 6:16-21 The Son of Man Walking on the Waters The union of the human nature with the divine nature in the Son of Man is the ideal that prompted God to create man in the first place. According to the Greek philosopher Aristotle, the first in a genus is the principle in that genus. Adam was the first man made with the image of God, but the Son of Man is the first man perfected in the likeness of God. Since the making of man in the likeness of God is the end or purpose of our creation, the first man in the likeness of God is the principle of all others who would be made into the likeness of God. Saint Paul explained this mystery in 1 Cor 15: 46-48 “The spiritual, however, was not first, but the natural, and then the spiritual. The first man was of the dust of the earth, the second man from heaven. As was the earthly man, so also are those who are of the earth; and as is the heavenly man, so also ...

FRIDAY, SECOND WEEK OF EASTERTIDE    Acts 5:34-42; Ps 27:1,4,13-14; Jn 6:1-15 Our Participation in His Cup The Son of Man is heavenly and earthly constituted and speaks our earthly language as a means of communicating his heavenly truths. What he communicates through the human language are heavenly truths he learnt from the Father for our salvation. Though he shares our weakness by his communion with us in our nature, he faithfully communicates the mind of the Father to us without any error. His faithful obedience to the Father is the basis of his passion and death. He faithfully endured suffering and death to fulfil the word of God that pronounced judgment on Adam and Eve after their disobedience. The faithfulness of the Son of Man proved his unity with the Eternal Word. Thus, united with the Word, his human nature is seen to belong to the Word that is immortal and invincible. The Eternal Word, which is shown to be the heavenly component of the Son of Man, raised h...

THURSDAY, SECOND WEEK OF EASTER    Acts 5:27-33; Ps 34:2,9,17-120; Jn 3:31-36 Everything Entrusted to The Son Although Nicodemus found it very hard to believe what the Lord taught him about earthly things, as the Lord mentioned, he still led him to heavenly mysteries. The reason is that we cannot do without these mysteries, which are the foundations of earthly things and events. The lack of knowledge of these heavenly mysteries would make us strangers in the house or kingdom of God. Even in this world, ignorance of the mysteries of Jesus Christ would make us slaves of principles of evil and dark forces. The Scriptures recognise them as principalities, thrones, and dominations of this world; they are ruling forces in the air, water, and under the earth. These claim the rulership of the earth and tend to lord it over human persons on earth. But the coming of the Son of Man is to take back the earth and bring it under divine dominion. The earth is now part of the kingdom of...

  WEDNESDAY, SECOND WEEK OF EASTER    Acts 5:17-26; Ps 34:2-9; Jn 3:16-21 The Revelation of God’s Love The Son of Man revealed to Nicodemus the love the Father bestowed on the world, on all peoples, by sending his Only Begotten Son to come in human form. The coming of the Son of God in our nature has reconnected heaven and earth, or brought the kingdom of God to us, as Jesus explained in the passage of yesterday. We enter the kingdom of God through the knowledge of God’s will for us. The revelation of God’s will by the Son of Man opens the door of communion with God. This door was closed before the Incarnation of the Son of God. Jesus stated this yesterday when he said that no one has knowledge of God the Father, for no one has been to heaven, except the Son of Man who is in heaven. The Son of Man is in heaven even while he remained with us on earth because of the union of his human nature and the Eternal Word in the same Person of the Trinity. So, while on earth, h...

TUESDAY, SECOND WEEK OF EASTER    Acts 4:32-37; Ps 93:1-2,5; Jn 3:7-15 Only the Son of Man Came from Heaven Nicodemus could not understand the words of Jesus Christ, for they were of mysteries beyond the mind of a natural man. Hence, we have stated in our reflection yesterday that the need for a heavenly or spiritual birth was that we may perceive, comprehend, and love spiritual things and reality founded on the Risen Lord. The Son of Man had previously mentioned these things to Nicodemus to awaken his desire for heavenly life and things. His ministry in the flesh was for the purpose of waking up this desire for heavenly life and reality in his disciples. His passion and death made life available to them and to all who believe in him. Thus, he clarified to Nicodemus that this heavenly life is had through water and the Spirit. We would not receive the Holy Spirit, the principle of spiritual life, if the water had not been made efficacious to wash away our sins; the w...