Reflection from Friar Nicholas

SOLEMNITY OF MARY, MOTHER OF GOD     Num 6:22-27; Ps 67:2-3,5,6,8; Gal 4:4-7; Lk 2:16-21 Son of God is born of a Woman As we come to the Octave of our celebration of Christmas and the first day of the new year 2025, the Church celebrates the Solemnity of Mary, the Mother of God. The celebration is fittingly put on the Octave of Christmas celebration, for it is the greatest title given to a human person. The Blessed Virgin Mary is truly the Mother of God because we believe in the Incarnation of the Eternal Word. The Church's understanding of the mystery of the Incarnation makes her take a second look at the Woman in whose arms lies the Child Jesus Christ. The first group of people who heard of this mysterious event were poor shepherds. An angel came to them to inform them of the unique event of God appearing in human flesh that a Saviour is born for us, for every human person. The choir of angels appeared to sing praise to God and rejoiced with them and with every ma...

THE 7TH DAY WITHIN THE OCTAVE OF CHRISTMAS     1 Jn 2:18-21; Ps 96:1-2,11-13; Jn 1:1-18 The Word Teaches True Religion Today’s opening prayer of the Church is insightful and gives a direction for our reflection. She notes that the Incarnation of the Son of God is the Father’s revelation of true religion to man. The insight follows from the reasoning that the true religion acceptable to the Father must follow God’s will. Since nobody knows the Father, less the Son, it would only follow that the fullness of the revelation of the Son that occurred at his Incarnation is the beginning of true religion on earth. Religion is rooted in God’s desire to relate with man, whom he made in the divine image, and desires to fashion into his likeness. The cognate of the divine desire in man is his desire to know God and relate with him, his Creator and benefactor. Our desire to be like God corresponds to God's intention to fashion man in divine likeness. Thus, religion is this holy ...

THE 6TH DAY OF OCTAVE OF CHRISTMAS     1 Jn 2:12-17; Ps 96:7-10; Lk 2:36-40 Recognising the Incarnate Word for Self The Church, in the opening prayer, prays for the new revelation of God in the flesh to commence its purpose of setting us free from the bondage of sin and servitude to evil. The fact of the Incarnation means that human nature is redeemed in principle, by God joining it to the Eternal Word in a hypostatic union. The Lamb, the Word in human flesh, is already sacrificed to God, waiting for the consummation of the sacrifice on Calvary. Thus, He already started the work of redemption in principle, each of us must now appropriate the result of the redemption. The purpose of his appearance in human flesh is that he may enter our minds as God, who created us in love. He comes to receive us back into his company; this requires he enters the temple within each of us. We must recognise what he has already done for the love of us and respond in a similar gesture b...

THE HOLY FAMILY    1 Sam 1:20-22,24-28; Ps 128:1-5; 1 John 3:1-2,21-24; Lk 2:41-52 The Word of God in the Family The Church celebrates the feast of the Holy Family of Nazareth on the Sunday between Christmas and the solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, which we celebrate on the first of January. Hence, the Holy Family celebration must fall within the Octave of Christmas. In this celebration, the Church invites us to draw back a bit to have a full view of the Nativity scene. To our focus on the child Jesus, is therefore added Mary, the mother of the child Jesus, and Joseph, his foster father or guardian. So, we add to the mystery of the Incarnation of the Word his appearance in the milieu of the family. The fuller gaze helps us to accentuate the importance of family life for the revelation of God. The implication is that the family is a theophany or a place of God’s self-communication. The celebration of the Holy Family calls our attention to this mystery. The original ...

THE HOLY INNOCENTS, MARTYRS  1 Jn 1:5-2:2; Ps 124:2-5,7-8; Mt 2:13-18 Our Passive Suffering and Redemption The celebration of the Holy Innocents comes up on the fourth day within the Octave of Christmas celebration. The Church fittingly celebrates these innocent children who testified to the truth of the Incarnation by their lives when they could hardly speak. By their passive offering of their lives to assuage the fury of Herod, they landmarked the historical interval of the event and mystery of the Incarnation of the Word. With the celebration of their life and death, the Church puts forth for our meditation and contemplation the secret works of God in the suffering part of humanity, especially those whose sufferings are not of their own making. They share in the scapegoat redemptive suffering of Jesus Christ. God does not remove the sufferings of this large number of people from that of Jesus Christ; though they do not actively confess faith in his Incarnation, life, death...

SAINT JOHN, APOSTLE, EVANGELIST 1 Jn 1:1-4; Ps 97:1-2,5-6,11-12; Jn 20:2-8 Eternal Life was made Visible The third day of the Octave of Christmas is the feast of Saint John, the beloved Apostle of the Lamb. The first reading from the first letter of John gives us a testimony of their experience of the mystery of the Incarnation of the Word. The Prologue of his Gospel has already given us insight into the pre-existence of the Word and his divinity, which he shares with the Father and the Holy Spirit. So, he gives us a personal testimony to help our faith in the Incarnation of the Eternal Word. “Something which has existed since the beginning, that we have heard, and we have seen with our own eyes; that we have watched and touched with our hands: the Word, who is life—this is our subject.” Here, he brings us again to focus on the core of the mystery, which is very important for our salvation. We are celebrating the fact that the Word became flesh and lived among us. The Word has et...

  SAINT STEPHEN, THE FIRST MARTYR Acts 6:8-10.7:54-59; Ps 31:3-4,6,8,16-17; Mt 10:17-22 The Son of Man at the right hand of God We mark the second day of the Octave of Christmas by celebrating the feast of Saint Stephen, the first Christian Martyr. In her wisdom, the Church puts this celebration on this day to reinforce the reality of the Incarnation we celebrate during Christmas. The Prologue of Saint John’s Gospel on the divinity of the Word of God would be a suitable introduction to the feast of the Martyr, Stephen. The fact of the Word becoming flesh explains the communion men now have with God, to which the first reading from the Acts of Apostles testifies. The reading testifies that the Holy Spirit filled Stephen and enabled him to penetrate heaven and behold the heavenly court. What he saw in heaven also lends witness to the mystery of Incarnation: the Son of Man standing at the right hand of divine Majesty. Jesus Christ, born our brother, is now testifying for his bro...

CHRISTMAS DAY Isa 52:7-10; Ps 98:1-6; Heb 1:1-6; Jn 1:1-18 In the Beginning was the Word We begin the celebration of Christmas, the birth of the Eternal Word in human flesh. We celebrate the greatest event in the created order, for humanity and the whole created order have never witnessed anything like this and will never witness such again. The uniqueness of this event is the reason the prophet described the feet of the harbingers of the news of the event as beautiful. “How beautiful on the mountains, are the feet of one who brings good news, who heralds peace, brings happiness, proclaims salvation, and tells Zion, ‘Your God is king!’” Their feet are beautiful because of the greatness of the event they witnessed. Their joy is unbounded because they have seen what the human mind cannot comprehend, namely, the face of God. “Listen! Your watchmen raise their voices, they shout for joy together, for they see the Lord face to face, as he returns to Zion.” How is it possible for mere ...

24 DECEMBER 2 Sam 7:1-5,8-12,14,16; Ps 89:2-5,27,2; Lk 1:67-79 Salvation Power in the House David As we await the Christmas dawn, the Church puts these readings before us to meditate on the tradition of kingship that God initiated through his choice of David. When the people of Israel came back from their slavery in Egypt, and God settled them in the land he promised their fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, God guided them through the judges he appointed for them. The judges were intermediaries appointed by God through whom he revealed his divine will to his people. But the people of Israel, noticing that the surrounding nations have kings ruling over them, demanded for a king instead of the judges. God acceded to their request and gave them Saul to rule over them. Because the will of God is sacrosanct for his people, the chosen king stands or falls based on his obedience to the divine will. Saul's failure and rejection were due to his disobedience to God’s expressed will. G...

23 DECEMBER Mal 3:1-4,23-24; Ps 25:4-5,8-9,10,14; Lk 1:57-66 The coming of John the Baptist The Church brings our attention again to John the Baptist, the forerunner of Jesus Christ the Lord. This second look at the one who goes before the Lord is to help us assess the dignity of the heavenly Visitor we expect in two days. The prophet Malachi prophesied of the messenger who was to come to prepare a way for the Lord himself. “The Lord God says this: Look, I am going to send my messenger to prepare a way before me. And the Lord you are seeking will suddenly enter his Temple; and the angel of the covenant whom you are longing for, yes, he is coming, says the Lord of Hosts.” The messenger’s role is to prepare a way for God to come to us. God is sending him to prevent us from missing the opportunity of our visitation, for the consequences of missing the opportunity is a loss that would be irreparable or irreversible. The messenger is to help us prepare adequately and be able to meet t...

FOURTH SUNDAY OF ADVENT Micah 5:1-4; Ps 80:2-3,15-16,18-19; Heb 10:5-10; Lk 1:39-45 I have Come to do your Will Today is the fourth Sunday of Advent. The white Advent Candle is lit, showing us that the birth of the Lord is around the corner. The heavenly Bridegroom is almost here, and our hearts are eager to meet him. We must all prepare our hearts to meet such a great and majestic guest. There are two motivations for the Incarnation of the Eternal Word: The first is to fulfil the will of the Father, for it is in obedience to the Father that Son assumed our human flesh to reveal the same divine will to us. Thus, the first love that drives the only Begotten Son of the Father is that of his heavenly Father. In the Trinity, this love is the Person of the Holy Spirit. So, we have heard from the Scripture, from the words of the archangel Gabriel himself, that the Blessed Virgin Mary will conceive him by the power of the Holy Spirit. The readings we have today also stress this first lo...

21 DECEMBER Song 2:8-14; Ps 33:2-3,11-12,20-21; Lk 1:39-45 From Friendship to Espousal The Advent season is a season of love.  In yesterday’s reflection, we considered the divine intention of creating man as geared toward developing an everlasting friendship with him. The development of friendship leads to our cohabitation with God and a mystical union with him. We presented familiarity with the word of God as the necessary condition for the divine friendship to develop in our souls. We cannot overemphasize the need to get acquainted with the word of God. The friendship between two persons cannot thrive in their ignorance of each other. God’s self-communication invites us to be his friends. Since ignorance of the scriptures is ignorance of Jesus Christ, who reveals the will of the Father. So, it is ultimately the ignorance of the Father’s will. The Church presented the unique example of the Blessed Virgin Mary as one whose occupation and preoccupation were the meditation and ...

20 DECEMBER Isa 7:10-14; Ps 24:1-6; Lk 1:26-38 The Dwelling Place and Throne of Divinity As we draw close to our solemn feast of Christmas, the Church leads our thoughts to converge on the greatest of all the mysteries, the Incarnation of the Eternal Word. We do not easily understand the revelation of man as a dwelling place of God, given our sinful or fallen state. Sin has so estranged us from God that it is challenging for our minds to understand this mystery that illuminates our end or the purpose for which God created us. If we cast our minds back to the Book of Genesis and consider the statement of purpose for our creation, we see that God stated his intention clearly. The meaning of the divine intention is becoming clearer in the light of the insight we gain through salvation history. The Trinity could only accomplish the intention to make man in God’s image and likeness, with God dwelling in man. This intention and the mystery contained therein have guided the interaction ...

19 DECEMBER Judges 13:2-7,24-25; Ps 71:3-6,16-17; Lk 1:5-25 Extraordinary Conceptions aided by Grace The two readings we have today are similar in their contents; both are stories of extraordinary conceptions of babies through interventions of God. The story in the Old Testament is from the Book of Judges. It is about the conception of Samson during the time the children of Israel were suffering persecution at the hands of the Philistines. They moaned and cried to God for help. We must note that God allowed them to be in that situation of oppression by the Philistines because of their unfaithfulness to the covenant and commandments of God. Those who enter into a covenant relationship with God come under the enemy's attack when they fail to fulfil their role in the covenant agreement, for God always remembers his covenant. The word of God, which spells out the terms of the covenant, watches over those who keep their covenant with God to protect and rescue them. We fall away fr...

18 DECEMBER Jer 23:5-8; Ps 72:1-2,12-13,18-19; Mt 1:18-24 Mary was found with a Child Today’s first reading is from the book of Jeremiah the prophet. Our attention goes to the prophecy concerning the House of David and his dynasty, which Yahweh promised to establish forever by raising the Son of David, who would live and act with integrity. Because his life and actions would flow from fear of the Lord, he will live forever, and his dynasty will never pass away. “See, the days are coming—it is the Lord who speaks—when I will raise a virtuous Branch for David, who will reign as true king and be wise, practising honesty and integrity in the land.” Since death is a result of sin, his sinless life from God would establish him in immortality. It is in this sense that Yahweh would be the one to raise the faithful Branch. The prophecy is in accord with the promise made to David through Nathan to build him a House and establish his dynasty forever. A lesson for us here is that nothing is ...