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certainty

11th Sunday of Year B – 2021

11 juin 2021
Nicole Gregoire
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Catégories: Anglophones et anglophiles
Mots-clés: 2 Cor.5:6-10, certainty, confidence, courage, faith, hope, trust

As we read different texts from Scripture, we are sometimes amazed at how bold some statements are.
Obviously, the writers are people of faith and they express their belief with strength and conviction.

To me, the first line of today’s 2nd reading (2 Cor.5:6-10) is a perfect example of this.
In his second letter to the first Christians of Corinth, the apostle Paul tells them:

“We are always confident…”
 
As I look at my own life, I ask myself whether I could say this in all truth…
Confidence, trust, relying on someone with the certainty that the person will not let me down nor fail me:
this can be quite risky, if not naïve, unrealistic, and immature.

It could be all of these things if the someone were not… God himself.
But it is to him that we confide our life and our very being.

Paul stresses “always confident…” 

In small things as well as in important matters.
In ordinary situations and in unusual circumstances.
On good and bad days, in joy and in sorrow, in success and in failure –
ALWAYS, at all times.

To be absolutely certain that God is and will be there.
He will give me strength, courage, hope, for whatever situation I find myself in.
He will provide all that I am in need of, whatever that may be, today, tomorrow and… all the ‘tomorrows’ to come!
 

Note: Another reflection on a different theme is available in French at: https://image-i-nations.com/11e-dimanche-de-lannee-b-2021/

 

Source: Image: Woman’s Day

19th Sunday of Year B

10 août 2018
Nicole Gregoire
Aucun commentaire
Catégories: Anglophones et anglophiles
Mots-clés: believing, certainty, daydreaming, dreaming, eternal life, John 6:41-51, real, sleep, trusting Jesus

There is… dreaming and dreaming!
When we are asleep, our unconscious has its own ways to bring to our slumber pictures and scenes that come unbidden.
But many of us also practise the art of… daydreaming and it is quite interesting what can come out of it!

A fertile imagination can place before us wonderful situations that we could only dream of.
While indulging into fancying successful activities, rewarding expeditions, and fascinating adventures of all kinds, most of us remain aware that it is purely that: fancying, imagining…

But, what if our wildest dreams turned out to become realities?
What if these things we hardly dare to picture were suddenly becoming REAL?

These thoughts came to me as I read the gospel of this Sunday (19th Sunday of Year B – John 6:41-51).
In that text, we hear Jesus speak astonishing words.

He says: “Everybody who believes has eternal life.”

Notice the verb is NOT in the future tense but the present.
Jesus is not promising something that will happen only later, only when certain conditions will have been met.
We want go on living, we dream of remaining alive, enjoying life… without end.

And, amazingly, Jesus assures us that this happy situation is… already ours!
What he proclaims is not something that belongs to daydreaming or fancying.
It is not wishful thinking, it is REAL, here and now.

Reading this, many will shrug their shoulders saying: ‘How can we be sure of this?’
Of course, it is a reality that we cannot see or touch.
We cannot assert its truth with our human ways of ‘proving’ things.

The only way we can be… ‘sure’ of it is by trusting the one who said so – there is no other way!
But it is a ‘sure’ way indeed.

Note: Another reflection is available in French on a different theme at: https://image-i-nations.com/19e-dimanche-de-lannee-b/

Source : Image : Gostica.com