Reflection from Friar Nicholas

SUNDAY, FOURTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME   Zeph 2:3,3:12-13 Ps 146:6-10; 1 Cor 1:26-31; Mt 5:1-12 How Happy are the Poor in Spirit The Word of God is God from the beginning, for he bears the same nature as the Father. He originates from the Father as the true and perfect expression of Him. The Father gives us the Word that he may dwell with us and make us to be like God. To be like God implies that we contain the Word of God and derive our inspiration and motivation from it. That we may contain the Word of God, who contains all things and through whom all things exist, we must be empty of what belongs to us. We must be humble and devoid of self. Humility is the virtue that arises deep within, from the foundation of our spirit in recognition of our nothingness before God. It is the requirement for spiritual life or the foundation for our spirit, for no one is born of God who has no need of God. Thus, our Lord informed the scribes and Pharisees that those who have need of the ...

SAINT JOHN BOSCO, PRIEST   2 Sam 12:1-7,10-17; Ps 51:12-17; Mk 4:35-41 The Perishing of Fruits of Sinful Seed God is the unoriginated Origin of all things. In the Catechism of the Church, we read that God is the supreme Spirit, who alone exists of himself and is infinite in all perfections. As the ground of existence, nothing comes into existence without God giving it existence, and nothing perdues without a grounding in the divine will. In the previous reflections, we have distinguished between the divine will as unqualified and the permitted will of God as qualified. The latter is a provision made peripherally by the divine will to accommodate the free will of rational creatures. Within this provision, God makes accommodation for the occurrence of sin, which he does not will, but permits, to showcase the freewill of his rational creatures, constitutive of their goodness and beauty. The provision also addresses the issue of sin and resolves the tensions and conflicts th...

FRIDAY, THIRD WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME   2 Sam 11:1-4,5-10,13-17; Ps 51:3-7,10-11; Mk 4:26-34 The Word as the Seed of Kingdom of Heaven The Word of God is the truth, and God made human nature rational to receive the truth. We have considered the rationality of our nature as the sense in which we resemble God. If God created us in his own image, the implication is that we can receive and process intelligible things. Everything God made is intelligible, for they all come from his word that is truth. God pronounced all that he made good in confirmation of the truthfulness of their being. They all come from the Word and are therefore intelligible and good. They exist for the purpose God made them. In the universe composed of these intelligible and good things, we live and receive our education in truth and orderliness from these creatures. Hence, the seeds of our knowledge of truth come from the universe or the source of things in the universe, the Word of God. Paying close att...

THURSDAY, THIRD WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME   2 Sam 7:18-19,24-29; Ps 132:1-5,11-14; Mk 4:21-25 The King is to the Throne as the Lamp to the Stand A kingship by inheritance makes no sense unless the wisdom required of the king is also inherited. However, this is not the case most of the time. Many woes and sufferings that have befallen people and the human race are mostly due to rulers who attained their positions through inheritance rather than possessing the required qualifications. This is also an aspect of the result of original sin and consequent evil that disordered human nature. To rule a people, one must possess the necessary virtues, most importantly, wisdom, by which we order everything and all things to their proper ends. One who has no knowledge of the end of people and the purpose of human society cannot rule the people.  The consequence of such a setup would be a disordering of the people. The nature of evil is that it exists in things created as disorder. T...

SAINT THOMAS AQUINAS, PRIEST, DOCTOR   Wis 7:7-10,15-16; Ps 119:9-14; Mt 23:18-12 The Incarnate Wisdom, Our Teacher Our Lord himself taught us how to become his brothers, sisters, and mother. But said nothing about becoming his Father because the Father is the origin of all things and life. None can replace or take the place of the Father, from whom all perfect gifts flow to us. To consolidate this understanding, he expressly states it in the passage today. “You must not allow yourselves to be called Rabbi, since you have only one master, and you are all brothers. You must call no one on earth your father, since you have only one Father, and he is in heaven.” The role and name of the heavenly Father must never be trifled with, for all must hold it most holy and refer to it with due reverence. The Father is most holy because the Son is begotten by Him from eternity, and through the only Begotten Son, we receive life and every grace for salvation. The Son is the perfect ex...

TUESDAY, THIRD WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME   2 Sam 6:12-15,17-19; Ps 24:7-10; Mk 3:31-35 The Power to bring forth Jesus Christ As we explained yesterday from the letters of Saint Paul to the two saints who were converted and raised by his apostolic grace, favour, and works, namely, Timothy and Titus, the Gospel or the Word of God has the power to transform us into Jesus Christ. This is possible because the Word is Spirit and Life. The Word as the Life is the source of all lives and author of all natures. As the bearer of the divine will of the Father from the beginning, the Word gives existence to all things and life to every living creature in their different natures. Thus, by his Incarnation, the Father has given us everything we can ever imagine and power unimaginable. Subsequently, we heard the Son of Man say at the opening of his public ministry that the kingdom of heaven is now close at hand. As Life, his coming has brought an end to the tyranny of death and the reign of...

SAINTS TIMOTHY AND TITUS, BISHOPS   Titus 1:1-5 or 2 Tim 1:1-8; Ps 96:1-3,7-8,10; Mk 3:22-30 The Power of the Word of God We celebrate the memorial of Saints Timothy and Titus, who were companions of Saint Paul at some point in his preaching mission. In each of the letters Saint Paul addressed to them, we clearly note the statement of Paul’s dedication to the Gospel, which is the Word of God for the salvation of all men. To Timothy, he writes: “From Paul, appointed by God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus in his design to promise life in Christ Jesus; to Timothy, dear child of mine, wishing you grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and from Christ Jesus our Lord.” Paul emphasised the importance of his call and dedication to the revealed plan of God for the fulfilment of His promise of eternal life in Jesus Christ. He came to the knowledge of his appointment through his encounter with the Word of God. The deep knowledge of his call and vocation was the means through w...

SUNDAY, THIRD WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME   Isa 8:23-9:3 Ps 27:1,4,13-14; 1 Cor 1:10-13,17; Mt 4:12-23 Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is Close The Church celebrates the Word of God this Sunday as the source of our salvation. It calls for great rejoicing for the Church to realise in Jesus Christ the Incarnation of the Eternal Word of God. Again, we remind ourselves of the mystery involved in the Incarnation of the Word. The mystery lies in the fact that our human mind can never fully comprehend the depth and breadth of the significance of the Incarnation. The content of the mystery can only make a gradual and slow entrance into our minds and hearts if we start now to dispose ourselves for its reception. The content of the mystery will constitute our beatific vision. Hence, Saint John, the Evangelist and Theologian, writes that we do not know now what we shall be when we come to him, though God has made us children now by sending his Son to us. But what we are certain of is th...

SAINT FRANCIS DE SALES, BISHOP, DOCTOR    2 Sam 1:1-4,11-12,17,19; Ps 80:2-3,5-7; Mk 3:20-21 Love Perfects Obedience As all things created obey the divine will, so ought we to obey the will of God. In creating everything, God gave each its own essence, which defines its nature. By their respective natures, they obey God by remaining in existence and operating through the nature they received from him. By living according to their respective natures, they remain good in praise of God, their creator. The beauty and goodness of creatures come from their steadfastness in obeying the divine mandate written in their nature. As we noted earlier in the week, human nature was created by God in a unique way, for he made us in his own image. Our rationality is the image of God in us. So, unlike other material creatures, He made us to know things and to know him. The ability to know creatures is inherent in our nature, but the ability to know God is not; however, the capacity i...

FRIDAY, SECOND WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME    1 Sam 24:3-21; Ps 57:2-4,6,11; Mk 3:13-19 The Companions of the Word Once an alliance or friendship is struck with the demonic spirits, it is difficult to destroy. In fact, it is impossible for our fallen nature to deliver itself from the enslavement of evil forces. The cause of the difficulty is the weakness that results from our sinful state. In our sinful state, we lack the light and grace of God to see and understand the truth. Blinded by the bodily passions and lures of earthly pleasures and riches, we follow the evil spirits like slaves. Only God’s word can truly set us free from their bondage when we profess faith in God and repent of our sins. Without the repentance and confession of sins, the grace of God cannot enter to help and deliver us. The necessity of repentance arises from the need to develop hatred for our sinful selves and reject every base and sinful suggestion or instigation from the demonic spirits, by wh...

THURSDAY, SECOND WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME    1 Sam 18:6-9,19:1-7; Ps 56:2-3,9-14; Mk 3:7-12 The Growth of Disobedience According to our Lord in the Gospel of Saint Luke 16:10, “He who is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much; and he who is dishonest in a very little is dishonest also in much.” The same applies to obedience. If we obey the word of God in minor issues, we will obey him in weightier matters. But if we neglect the word of God in minor issues, then we have already begun the path that would lead us to neglect his word in grave issues. We fall little by little daily. By neglecting to pray as we ought, we are already preparing ourselves to commit mortal sins. Due to the slippery nature of our moral path in life, we must renew our resolution to attend to the word of God daily. We must cultivate and attend to the presence of Jesus Christ with us daily, through his Holy Spirit dwelling within us. The injunction to watch and pray is so that our attent...

SAINT AGNES, VIRGIN, MARTYR    1 Sam 17:32-33,37,40-51; Ps 144:1-2,9-10; Mk 3:1-6 Strength in Faithful Obedience We usually say that respect is reciprocal. There is also a sense in which obedience is reciprocal, especially when we obey God in all things and abide by his word. God, in a sense, obeys us. As we read in the first book of Samuel, the Lord God never allowed the words of Samuel to fall to the ground. It is because Samuel obeyed God in all things and consecrated himself to doing the will of God. Hence, God did not let his word fall to the ground because Samuel’s words represented the word of God. That is what we become when we live by the word of God and constantly meditate on God and his holy will. As the saying goes, we become what we eat; we gradually become the word of God when we constantly feed on his word. God, who lives in his word, will, through his word we keep in our hearts and minds, make his dwelling in us. Subsequently, the word of God will tr...

BLESSED CYPRIAN MICHAEL IWENE TANSI, PRIEST    Phil 2:1-11; Isa 12; Mt 13:44-46 Sacrificing All for Obedience Obedience is usually born out of genuine knowledge and trust in someone. We obey because we know or believe that the one we are obeying has good intentions towards us and cares for our well-being. The virtue of obedience is usually nurtured in the family through the natural affinity we have with our parents. They gave birth to us and nurtured us to maturity. We naturally become aware of their love and solicitude for our well-being. This natural trust built into us by their care and provisions makes us obey them easily and with love and trust. The goodness of God provided the natural family ambience to help us easily and naturally transition from obedience to our parents to obedience to God, whom our parents represent. Hence, the parental care and duties are sacred unto the Lord. Hence, the commandment to honour father and mother has an immediate blessing att...

MONDAY, SECOND WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME   1 Sam 15:3,16-23; Ps 50:8-9,17-17,21,23; Mk 2:18-22 Obedience is better than Sacrifice We can never completely comprehend the importance of obedience for the work of salvation that God intends to accomplish in each of us. We can illustrate the importance using the connection between a general and his soldiers. The strength of the army rests on the connection and cohesion between the General and the army. This connection and cohesion are concretely given in the willingness of each soldier to obey the instructions of the General. By this willingness, the general inspires each of his soldiers to carry out his plan and strategy. Each soldier may not know the complete plan of the general, but as long as he trusts the general and willingly carries out his commands, the army will act as an unbreakable unit to achieve victory in any warfare. Obedience, therefore, enables God to dwell in each of his creatures to achieve the purpose for which...