Reflection from Friar Nicholas

FIFTH SUNDAY OF LENT Isa 43:16-21; Ps 126; Phil 3:8-14; Jn 8:1-11 The Supreme Advantage of knowing Jesus Christ We ended last week’s reflections on the theme of Devotion to Paschal Mysteries on the note of a deeper understanding of the human-divine origin of the paschal mysteries. We consider the love-foundation of the paschal mysteries. God created the world out of love and redeemed it with the same love. The mystery of God’s love for man is our theme this week. God’s love for his creatures, especially his love for us men, prompts him to devise new ways and methods of coming to our aid in our misery caused by our blindness and ignorance of his love. He recalled the old wonders he worked for the salvation of his people through the prophet Isaiah. “Thus says the Lord, who made a way through the sea, a path in the great waters; who put chariots and horse in the field and a powerful army which lay there never to rise again, snuffed out, put out like a wick.” These incredible works o...

SATURDAY, FOURTH WEEK OF LENT Jer 11:18-20; Ps 7:2-3,9-12; Jn 7:40-52 Christ in Us, the Hope of Glory The paschal mysteries, which we have explained as the mystery of Jesus Christ, are indeed profound. They draw from the very depth of God’s will, which is an unfathomable abyss of goodness for us. Because God is our creator, his intention for making us sits deep within each person he created as the source of our being. Because he made us for himself, there is a deep yearning for God within us, which no creature can ever satisfy. On the other hand, erected within the consciousness of sinful man, is a tendency to self. The tendency is a negative or corrupted desire for God that turns to seek self in place of God. It is a device of the evil one, who erected this false god in the consciousness of man by casting doubt on the word of God, thereby closing the entrance of the word of God into the human soul. The conflict between these two centres of desire in us characterises the paschal ...

FRIDAY, FOURTH WEEK OF LENT Wis 2:1,12-22; Ps 34:16,18,19-21,23; Jn 7:1-2,10,25-30 The Meaning of Paschal Mysteries The sin-induced conflict between the immutable will of God and the human wills and desires is the root of the paschal mysteries. In other words, they come about from the conflict between the light of God and the darkness of sin and evil, between the Truth of God and human ignorance and demonic lies. The paschal mysteries are of Christ's events, but they resonate in the life of every human person. Thus, it connects back to the very fall of man and woman in the Garden of Eden. It is born of the seed of discord sown in the human heart by the evil one, which is propagated daily by our choices. So, the paschal mysteries are within us who turn to God in faith. The Book of Wisdom puts the source of the paschal mysteries as the misconceptions rife in human sinful hearts in opposition to God’s truth. “The godless say to themselves, with their misguided reasoning: ‘Our li...

THURSDAY, FOURTH WEEK OF LENT Exod 32:7-14; Ps 106:19-23; Jn 5:31-47 The Father’s Witness to the Son We have reflected on the fact that the Son reveals the Father through his life, death, and resurrection. The core of these revelations is the content of the paschal mysteries. By the paschal mysteries through which he sacrificed or consecrated himself to the Father to accomplish his will, he showed forth the holiness of God and revealed the essence of his sacred name: ‘I Am who I Am.’ Through the same paschal mysteries, he forgave our sins and achieved the eternal redemption of all who would call on God’s holy name for salvation. The paschal mysteries have profound significance for us who seek to know God and receive salvation from sin and evil. Its importance is such that the scriptures lose their meaning when we remove these mysteries of our Lord. The words of our Lord in the gospel affirm this. “You study the scriptures, believing that in them you have eternal life; now these same sc...

WEDNESDAY, FOURTH WEEK OF LENT Isa 49:8-15; Ps 145:8-9,13-14,17-18; Jn 5:17-30 The Son’s Paschal Mysteries reveal the Father God the Father is the source of every good gift, which the Son mediates. The Son, who is the Eternal Word, reveals the will of the Father. As the word of God, he comes to us through the ages, illuminating and guiding us according to the plan of the Father for our salvation. But his salvific and redemptive work took a definitive and concrete form at his incarnation. His coming in human nature is the day of salvation prophesied by the prophet Isaiah as we read. “At the favourable time, I will answer you, on the day of salvation I will help you. (I have formed you and have appointed you as covenant of the people.) I will restore the land and assign you the estates that lie waste.” At the incarnation of the Son, the Father has caused the water of salvation to flow from the heavenly sanctuary for our sanctification and redemption. It is the time of favour when g...