Reflection from Friar Nicholas

FRIDAY, TWENTY SECOND SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME Col 1:15-20; Ps 100:2-5; Lk 5:33-39 Our Continuity with God By our profession of faith in Jesus Christ, the Eternal Word of God made man, we receive a spiritual life, which will continue to grow as we receive more and more illumination from divine truth. Thus, he tells us: ‘I am the Truth.’ Since truth is also the life of the spirit, the truth we receive from him as we listen to him daily nurtures the spiritual life we have received in faith. The whole spiritual work belongs to God to accomplish in us through the Holy Spirit, who is perpetually present within us. What belongs to us in the whole spiritual life is to yearn for our spiritual food that is Jesus Christ. The act of yearning defines the spirit we receive from God; the spirit aspires to Jesus alone, which is what makes it possible for the Holy Spirit to incorporate us into Jesus Christ. The act of yearning of our spirit constitutes the Christian prayer at its origin. Through ...

WEDNESDAY, TWENTY SECOND SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME Col 1:9-14; Ps 98:2-6; Lk 5:1-11 Inheriting the Light We have traced the cause of the pandemic of sin and darkness to our lack of attention to the word of God. Just as the sun gives light to the earth and thereby sustains every form of life on it, the word of God is the sole source of spiritual light and life for us men. So, to turn away from the word of God is to know spiritual darkness, sin, and death. The Lord our God created both spiritual and physical lights to illuminate his whole creation. The spiritual light is present in the universe, guiding it with wisdom according to the divine plan and purpose. We are able to discern and walk by the spiritual light due to our rational faculty by which we image God. However, the prevalence of darkness and sin in our lives demonstrates our inability to follow the light of wisdom that shines in the universe. The cause of this difficulty is the original sin of our first parents, which woun...

SAINT GREGORY THE GREAT, POPE, DOCTOR Col 1:1-8; Ps 52:10-11; Lk 4:38-44 Recognising the Presence of the Word There is a very important background for our safe travel through time or our temporal existence. God created us and placed us in a universe of material things that he created from nothing, but by his eternal Word. The background that is supposed to inform our interaction with the created universe is the fact that they are created. The existence and operations of everything in the universe point to this fact, for each is ordered to the common good or a purpose beyond it. The elementary knowledge is a sign or indicator of the presence of the Creator within the universe. But our self-preoccupation distorts our perception and interaction with the universe of God. The preoccupation with self and the difficulty of detachment from self are consequences of original sin. Through his subtle temptation, the evil one deceived our first parents to use self to block the free entrance o...

TUESDAY, TWENTY SECOND WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME 1 Thess 5:1-6,9-11; Ps 27:1,4,13-14; Lk 4:31-37 The Revelation of His Presence Many of the Fathers of the Church explain the coming of the Lord in threefold terms: his coming in our nature at his birth as man, his coming in glory at the end of time, and his coming in grace, which is between the two comings. His coming in grace is the same as his coming in mysteries, for our Lord is hidden in his grace, which he offers us to aid us to walk the blessed way to heaven. Hidden in his grace, Christ is always with us, for his grace is available everywhere. We called our universe anointed yesterday because the Spirit of God animates everything in the universe and guides its operations for the fulfilment of God’s will. Similarly, we consider the universe as a graced universe, for the Eternal Word is present everywhere in the universe of things and reveals his truth and light through them. Thus, Saint Augustine explains that the coming of the Lo...