Reflection from Friar Nicholas

Thursday, Second week of Lent Reflection from Frair Nicholas, OP Theme: Blessings on those who trust in God A necessary inner disposition of the Son of Man we must imbibe in order to make our following of him fruitful is that of trust in the Father. Though the Son of Man was abandoned and ill treated by his own, but his sorrow was ameliorated by his trust in his Father. A defining character of a heart that believes in God is trust in God. The prophet Jeremiah compared a heart that trusts in God to one that trusts in man or in creatures in the first reading. “A blessing on the man who puts his trust in the Lord, with the Lord for his hope. He is like a tree by the waterside that thrusts its roots to the stream: when the heat comes it feels no alarm, its foliage stays green.” This imagery is apt and describes how blessings flow from God to a humble and trusting soul. Humility which we have set as a foundation for a fruitful Lenten observance, coming from our recognition of our origin in

Wednesday, Second week of Lent Reflection from Friar Nicholas Okeke, OP Theme: The Son of Man will be handed over The holiness of life we learn from the Son of Man, which involves primarily dedication to the will of the Father, also has to do with bearing the injuries from those who are evidently out of tune with the will of God. Some who intend to inflict harm on the Son of Man are conscious of their evil will and disinterested in God. The injuries from these are painful but bearable to the one seeking God, in the sense that he understands that they constitute the forces of evil ranged against him; and their intention to disrupt his progress is well known to him. Among the opposition to the Son of Man are some who are in the community of God’s people, who are manifestly professing faith in God, but who desire to inflict harm on him. The injury these cause to a God-seeking soul is most painful because they do their harm with deep conviction that they are doing a holy work of God. The p

Tuesday, Second week of Lent Reflection from Friar Nicholas, OP Theme: Jesus Christ the only Teacher The Father consecrated his only Begotten Son to be our salvation in a covenant relationship. We have amply explained why all our dealings with God is within a covenant framework. God is holy and dedicated to his will expressed in his word communicated to man. The incarnation of the Son of God is the culmination of God's communication of his will to man. Thus, the Father demanded we listen to his beloved Son. The humanity of our Lord is dedicated to the will of the Father as constituting the salvation of man. By that fact, he is our teacher on both aspects. He is our teacher as to what pertain the mystery of the Father from whom we receive our new birth as adopted sons of God. In relation to our salvation, he is also our teacher, teaching us to know and do the will of the Father. In the latter, he is the way leading to our salvation in God; in the former, he is the Truth revealing th

Monday, Second week of Lent Reflection from Friar Nicholas, OP Theme: Integrity belongs to the Lord T he Lord is consecrated to his word. He does nothing which is not in total conformity with his word. This flows from the simplicity and infinite perfection of God. Thus, for Israel to suffer ill or evil in covenant relationship with God implies that they are unjust in their dealings with God. This is the logic that the prophet Daniel brought to bear on their situation in Babylon while on exile. Because God is ever true to his Name and his word, he could not have failed to protect Israel from their foreign invaders without Israel failing to keep their part of the covenant. “O Lord, God great and to be feared, you keep the covenant and have kindness for those who love you and keep your commandments: we have sinned, we have done wrong, we have acted wickedly, we have betrayed your commandments and your ordinances and turned away from them.” This departure from the word of God brought troub

Second Sunday of Lent Reflection from Friar Nicholas Okeke,OP Theme: Listening to the Son The human salvation history objectively started with God’s call of Abraham. With hindsight we understand that God knew the character of the person of Abraham and made him the origin of human salvation history. Abraham’s story is that of faithful following of God and obedience to his word. Abraham had faith in God and committed his whole life to following him. Faith in God always involves a sacrifice of self, for God himself is a sacrifice unto himself. This is a truth we will never stop repeating because of its centrality in our relationship with God. Abraham’s faith helped him to understand the meaning of God’s holiness and he responded adequately to God’s call, with total commitment. The first reading illustrates what faith in God entails. God demanded from Abraham the sacrifice of his only son Isaac. Though this was God’s test of Abraham’s faith, but a faithful commitment to God requires the ty

Saturday, first Week of Lent Reflection from Friar Nicholas Okeke, OP Theme: A People Consecrated to God The path of repentance from sin and disobedience is the path of reconsecration to God. God’s dealings with his people are always within the context of the covenant. This is because God is holy and consecrated to his word. God and his word are the same, so to have his word is to have God. It is sufficient to have God’s word in our hearts very often and reverence and worship it as God. As stated very often, whatever the word of God says is already accomplished by the fact that it is the will of God. The physical manifestation of it requires our faith because its physical manifestation is for us and not for God. Thus, our reconsecration to God is a journey of faith. It is already a reality willed by God and brought about by his word. But the more our faith grows in God, the better we will realise its physical manifestation in us. The declaration of God about Israel already established

Friday, first Week of Lent Reflection from Friar Nicholas Okeke, OP Repentance as Rebirth in the Image of God The passage from Ezekiel makes it easy for us to understand the nature of sin, and its effect in our life. The understanding also sheds light on the importance of God’s word for the well being of the human person. The word of God is well suited for the good of the human person. It is the life of our spirit. Thus, the scripture says that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. We are made of body, soul, and spirit. The material bread or food nourishes the body which is supported in life by the soul. But the human soul also needs the word of God to maintain its spiritual component. Thus, it is a necessity that we feed daily on the word of God as we feed on material food. Just as putting the wrong composition of food into our body causes us to fall sick, feeding our soul with the wrong combination of spiritual contents or not feedi

Feast of Chair of St. Peter  Reflection from Friar Nicholas Okeke, OP Theme: The Solid Rock of Faith in the Word of God We celebrate today the Chair of St. Peter as the principle of profession of faith in the divine Person of Jesus Christ. Aristotle, an ancient philosopher, posited that the first in every genus is a principle of that genus. Based on this Aristotelian principle, we understand the importance of St. Peter and the authority of the Chair or office of St. Peter in the Church. Faith in the divine origin of Jesus Christ existed in the disciples. But St. Peter was the first to formally and openly declare this faith in context of the community formed around Jesus Christ. Our Lord himself chose the context and time for the choice of the disciple to play the most significant role in the life of his Church. As in all things, he did not make the choice by himself but deferred to his heavenly Father. He also ensured that the selection was open and satisfactory to every member of the

Wednesday, first Week of Lent/ 2024 Reflection from Friar Nicholas Okeke, OP Theme: Minds renewed by the Word God sent his word to the Ninevites. It achieved the divine purpose in their lives. Just as the passage from Isaiah we read yesterday, the word of God is like the rain that falls on the earth. The condition of the soul that receives the word determines the effect of the word. The Ninevites allowed the word of God they heard to change their disposition for good. “And the people of Nineveh believed in God; they proclaimed a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least. The news reached the king of Nineveh, who rose from his throne, took off his robe, put on sackcloth and sat down in ashes.” Their cooperation with the word of God sent to them won the people of Ninevites God’s compassion and mercy. He forgave their sins and spared them from the disaster that could have befallen them due to their sinful lifestyle. The Church proposed this condition of mind to all her chi

  Tuesday, first Week of Lent/2024 Reflection from Friar Nicholas Okeke, OP Theme: The Nature and Purpose of Prayer Prayer is the very core operation of faith in God. The origin of prayer is the very centre of our spiritual birth, the union between the human spirit and the Holy Spirit. The instance of our birth in spirit is the moment of our justification when the Holy Spirit unites with our spirit to cry Abba Father. Thus, true prayer originates from the very depth of our spiritual being. One who is not born from heaven has not this operation within him, for it has no human origin. A carnally minded person can mimic the art of prayer, but it ends only in mimicry and has no reality, because the foundation of prayer is spiritual, and its first cause is God and not human. God through his word and Spirit initiates whatever is true prayer in each us. The human spirit only receives the operation of prayer through the Holy Spirit and cooperates with him. So, prayer, as a received divine oper

Monday, first Week of Lent/2024 Reflection from Friar Nicholas Okeke, OP Theme: Be holy as I AM Holy The community of the sons of Israel was called to display the holiness of God or to reveal the glory of God. This is the vocation the whole community received as a people. This was the purpose of their existence. “Speak to the whole community of the sons of Israel and say to them: ‘Be holy, for I, the Lord your God, am holy.” The means to attend or achieve this vocation was not hidden from them. It was by obeying the voice of God and keeping this Commandments. The keeping of the Commandments of God makes a person a bona fide member of the community; and the neglect of them excludes a person from the community of God’s people. By listening to the word of God, meditating and putting it into practice, the community comes to share the mind of God, and reflects his glory by their way of living. Though the Commandments of the Lord are perfect, and truly reflect the goodness and the glory of G

First Sunday of Lent/2024 Reflection by Friar Nicholas Okeke,OP Theme:Growing in the understanding of the riches of God The first reading tells of God’s renewal of his covenant with his creatures. After the flood which destroyed men and animals on the face of the earth, from which Noah and his family was spared through his obedience to the word of God instructing him to construct an ark before the flood, God established a covenant with Noah and other creatures not to destroy the world again by flood. The rainbow was set up as a reminder of this covenant. God entered into this covenant with men and creatures out of his infinite mercy. He does not desire the death or destruction of his creatures, but that they be saved from corruption. St. Peter in his Letter reasoned that the coming of Jesus Christ and his sacrificial death was as a result of God’s faithfulness to his covenant. God, not desiring the destruction of his creatures, fashioned a new way, out of his infinite love, to save men