Reflection from Friar Nicholas

TUESDAY, Third Week of Eastertide Reflection from Friar Nicholas Okeke,OP Acts 7:51-8:1; Ps 31:3-4,6,8,17,21; Jn 6:30-35 Theme: Heavenly Bread for the Adopted Children of God To the question the people asked about doing the work that is pleasing to God, Jesus answered them: “This is working for God: you must believe in the one he has sent.” This answer the Lord gave them is central to understanding Stephen’s wholesome sacrifice of self. Based on faith in Jesus Christ, whom the Father sent to be our Saviour, Stephen is pleasing to God the Father. The scripture already testified to his faith when it described him as a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit. To a man of faith in Jesus Christ, the heaven is always open. On this ground, we have posited that the faith community is heavenly. We see the veil covering our mortal eyes thrown open to Stephen. We saw the reality of heaven through his eyes. “But Stephen, filled with the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, ...

MONDAY, Third Week of Eastertide Reflection from Friar Nicholas Okeke, OP Acts 6:8-15; Ps 119:23-24,26-27,29-30; Jn 6:22-29 Growing in the Spirit of Adoption Stephen was one of the deacons ordained by the apostles to help in the daily distribution of food. The ordination of the seven deacons was decided by the apostles and according to the will of God. We say this based on our understanding of the Holy Spirit-led life of the new community. The Holy Spirit resides in each of the disciples of the Lord and collectively in the heavenly community founded by the Risen Lord. Thus, the collective decision of the apostles to ordain the seven deacons elected by the community is considered the will of God. The Lord instituted the diaconate Order through the apostles for the good of the Church. So, it is a valid ministry in the community of the faithful. The ordination of Stephen was a divine vocation to put his many spiritual gifts to use in the service of the community. He made an offer of...

SUNDAY, Third Week of Eastertide Reflection from Friar Nicholas Okeke, OP Acts 3:13-15,17-19; Ps 4:2,4,7,9; 1 Jn 2:1-5; Lk 24:35-4 Theme: He opened their Minds to understand the Scriptures The Church gives us the great speech of St. Peter on the morning of the Pentecost in the first reading. The reading is featuring for the third time since Easter Sunday. This frequency is an indication of the importance of the speech. Peter delivered the speech with so much confidence, intending to turn the same people who delivered Jesus Christ to death into believers in his resurrection and his divinity. But that is what all of us were: betrayers turned disciples. By what means is this miracle accomplished? It is only by the power of the Holy Spirit, the Advocate, the coming of whom was made possible by the death and resurrection of the Lord. Peter delivered the powerful Pentecost speech by the miracle of his presence. This miracle is what St. Peter presents as the evidence of the Good News and ...

  SATURDAY, Second Week of Eastertide Reflection from Friar Nicholas Okeke, OP Acts 6:1-7; Ps 33:1-2,4-5,18-19; Jn 6:16-21 Theme: The Priority of Prayer and Proclamation The active proclamation of the word of God caused the community of believers to increase daily. The hostility of the Jewish religious authorities and their frequent attack on the new Christian community abated with the wise counsel of Gamaliel, as we read yesterday. The peace allowed the apostles to preach freely and make new converts to the faith. “They preached every day both in the Temple and in private houses, and their proclamation of the Good News of Jesus Christ was never interrupted.” The increase in the number of disciples put a strain on their common resources. There is no gainsaying that the many conversions to the community were motivated by different things. With the increase in number, more attention, and concern for the distribution of resources, the human element started creeping into the comm...

  FRIDAY, Second Week of Eastertide Reflection from friar Nicholas Okeke, OP Acts 4:34-42; Ps 27:1,4,13-14; Jn 6:1-15 Theme: The everlasting Enterprise of God The appearance of the Maiden and her Son in human flesh initiated the salvation of man promised at the fall of man and woman. They started a divine project or enterprise among men for human salvation. The project of saving man was completed in its principle or foundation when Jesus rose from the dead. All who believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ are saved and incorporated into the divine project of salvation of man. Faith in the Risen Lord makes us a dwelling place of the Holy Spirit within and among us, directing and overseeing the divine project. Since it is purely a divine project, with the believers acting as instruments, we have stressed the importance of listening to the Holy Spirit as the foreman supervising the project to ensure divine specification. Because the apostles and disciples of the Risen Lord we...

St. Stanislaus, Bishop, Martyr   Reflection from friar Nicholas Okeke Acts 5:27-33; Ps 34:2,9,17-20; Jn 3:31-36 Obedience to God before obedience to Men The apostles understood one central truth when they received the Holy Spirit; that is, their life thenceforth is to do the will of God revealed to them through the teachings of Jesus Christ and guided by the Holy Spirit. On this basis, we have understood the Christian life to be the heavenly life lived on earth. The ritual of baptism pointed to this fact: a Christian is a new creature in Jesus Christ, for our old self died with Christ for the new self to rise in Christ and with him. Our new or heavenly life is that of the Risen Lord, for we live it through the Holy Spirit given to each of us at baptism. The reality of the life of heaven shines out the more we say yes to the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. He is present to us today as it was in the time of the apostles. The apostles understood their lives as lived under obedie...

WEDNESDAY, Second Week of Eastertide Reflection from Friar Nicholas Okeke,OP Acts 5:17-26; Ps 34:2-9; Jn 3:16-21 Proclamation of the new Heavenly Life A reluctance to give up our material goods for Christian spiritual goods, as we noted yesterday, comes from a shallow or lack of understanding of the values of the spiritual goods. The misconception or ignorance of the Christian spiritual goods also causes a lack of enthusiasm to proclaim the Good News. The contributions the early Church gathered around the apostles made of their physical properties showed their conviction in the Gospel they received from the apostles about the kingdom of heaven ushered in by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Their willingness to support those proclaiming the Gospel was part of their effort to live the Gospel message. A deep understanding of the Gospel results from good reception and communion with the Holy Spirit. One who drinks deeply of the Spirit of God attains a deep conviction of th...