Reflection from Friar Nicholas

SAINT ATHANASIUS, BISHOP, DOCTOR    Acts 13:44-52; Ps 98:1-4; Jn 14:7-14  To have Seen Me is to have Seen My Father Among the three Person of the Blessed Trinity, the Son is regarded as the visible Worker, because he is the One we behold or is visible to us. But the Son represents the Father, for everything he does is according to the will of the Father. The Son obediently carries out the will of the Father. The Son is therefore, the fullness of the Father’s expression. Again, this is a mystery we can never fathom in this mortal existence and in the next, because the beholding of this mystery of the Trinity would be our eternal joy and gladness. The contemplation of the mystery starts here on earth as we come to know Jesus Christ. As we have often stated, our spiritual journey as Christians is a journey into the mystery of Jesus Christ. The same journey is into the mystery of the Father guided by the Holy Spirit, for the Son reveals the Father. The Son of Man s...

SAINT JOSEPH THE WORKER    Acts 13:26-33; Ps 2:6-11; Mt 13:54-58  The Imitation of the Divine Worker We usually miss the fact that work is a divine activity. Our celebration of Saint Joseph the Worker is an invitation by the Church to give our minds and hearts to this all-important consideration. Often, we consider work to be a result of the original sin of Adam and Eve. We are mistaken in thinking that way, for the mandate to work precedes the fall of man and woman. In fact, the Genesis account of creation presents the creation of the world as a divine work accomplished in six mystical days. God rested on the seventh day, which he made a sabbath day for rest. Thus, God worked in his own divine way to bring the world and all it holds into existence. After creating man and woman, he instructed them to take charge of the entire material creation and the Garden he had planted for their well-being. They were supposed to cultivate the land and govern the whole creat...

FEAST OF OUR LADY, MOTHER OF AFRICA    Acts 1:12-14; Lk 1:46-55; Lk 1:26-38  The Source of Peace and Harmony The Church in Africa sets aside this last day of April to celebrate the feast of Our Lady, the Mother of Africa. As we celebrate the feast, we reflect on the situation of Africa as a continent. Remembering various parts of Africa that are still engrossed in war, poverty, hunger, diseases, and civil unrest. All these maladies are due to human sins and greed. A large population of people in many nations of Africa suffer and die daily because the few who control their wealth and power do not know how to use them to make the lives of their people better. We suffer many personal and social evils because we have failed to receive the Gospel of Jesus Christ wholeheartedly. Many who enter the Church or profess Christianity do so for their own personal gains and not to truly serve God and do his will. As we noted in our previous reflection, the source of sin and evil ...

SAINT CATHERINE OF SIENA, VIRGIN, DOCTOR    1 Jn 1:5-2:2; Ps 103:1-4,8-9,13-14,17-18; Mt 11:25-30  The Knowledge of the Father The Son of God took our human nature to make known to us the goodness of the Father, which is hidden from us. The goodness of God the Father seems hidden to us because of our sins. Sin has turned our minds and hearts away from God and fixated them on the earth and the passing things of this world. As Saint John informed us in his first letter, familiarity or friendship with the world is enmity with God. Cf. 1 Jn 3:15. The goodness of God is always visible everywhere to those with spiritual eyes; it is only invisible to carnal eyes. Thus, the coming of the Son of God in human nature is to reveal the goodness of the Father to all in a more concrete way. The central revelation of the Son of Man is the revelation of God as our heavenly Father. By purifying us of sin through his death and giving us a new birth by his resurrection, he has given us ...

SAINT LOUIS MARIE GRINION DE MONTFORT, PRIEST    Acts 11:19-26; Ps 87; Jn 10:22-30 The Joy of Redemption The Jewish converts to faith in Jesus Christ, the Risen Lord, initially did not comprehend the depth of the mysteries of the Lord. In fact, none of us fully comprehends these mysteries, which await the beatific vision for their full comprehension. Not understanding that the Good News of the Lord’s resurrection is meant for the whole world, they restricted their preaching to the Jews. Even the apostles were not clear on this aspect. They had some Gentile converts in their preaching ministry in Jerusalem, but probably thought that they were exceptions made by God for what he meant for the Jews. They may have misinterpreted the Lord’s intentional restriction of his preaching to a Jewish audience during his earthly ministry. But that was in fulfilment of the scriptures foretelling the rejection and killing of the Son of Man by the Jews. Their betrayal was meant to liberat...

MONDAY, FOURTH WEEK OF EASTERTIDE    Acts 11:1-18; Ps 42:2-3,43:3-4; Jn 10:11-18 I Am the Good Shepherd The Son of Man, in his discourse on the Good Shepherd, presents himself as the Shepherd of mankind and not just of the Jewish race. Hence, he called himself the gate of the sheepfold. He gives life to all men and enlightens every man that comes to existence, as Saint John informs us in the prologue to the Gospel. He is the gate of the sheepfold, for he is the model of our human nature. He is acclaimed as the perfect image of the Father. As the model, no one can understand human nature without passing through the Son of Man, for in him our nature is perfect. The perfection of human nature, which is found in him, and the pure illumination of our nature in him, make him the Shepherd of all. So, all men are contained in his fold by the default of their nature. Whoever is found to be outside of the fold puts himself outside by his disobedience of the Shepherd’s voice. ...