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Good Friday, Year A – 2023

7 avril 2023
Nicole Gregoire
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Catégories: Anglophones et anglophiles
Mots-clés: abandon, betrayals, condemnation, denials, human beings, John 18:1-19, new beginning, not giving up, not taking NO as an answer, rejection

Some people are known as not taking ‘NO’ as an answer!
By definition, they keep on trying, trying to make you agree to something even if you have refused.

This could be said of… God!
Our betrayals, our denials, our refusals to trust him – all these will never make him give up on us!
This is, somehow, a summary of what the celebration of Good Friday is about (John 18:1 – 19:42).

We see Jesus – God among us – betrayed by one of his apostles.
He is denied three times by another of them.
Apart from one, the others keep prudently away while he is being tortured.
The religious leaders of his people are his accusers and will not rest till he hangs on the cross.
The Roman governor responsible for rendering justice simply washes his hands.
A fellow convict sneers at him.
Some bystanders mock him and challenge him to free himself.

Rejection, abandon, condemnation – God has known it all… from us, human beings.
Yet… yet, he remains present when we experience all these –
present to sustain us, comfort us, assure us that…

That after what seems to be the end, there is a new beginning.
He knows it from experience!
And he offers to us this new beginning!…
 

Note: Another text is available on a different theme, in French at: https://image-i-nations.com/vencredi-saint-annee-a-2023/

 

Source: Image: piercedhearts.org

 

30th Sunday of Year C – 2022

21 octobre 2022
Nicole Gregoire
Aucun commentaire
Catégories: Anglophones et anglophiles
Mots-clés: condemnation, discrimination, God's ways, judging world people, Luke 18:9-14, seeing ourselves, upside down

Reading the gospel text of this Sunday (Luke 18:9-14) some could exclaim:
“This is the world upside down!”

Somehow, it is!

The last verse says:
“All those who exalt themselves will be humbled,
and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
 
It seems obvious from these words that we need to learn something very important.

We must learn to appraise situations and judge people – including ourselves – in God’s way.
Better still, we should leave the judging to him!

Of course, we must gauge the situations we find ourselves in, so as to act accordingly.
It is also necessary to ascertain the attitudes of people around us, so as to react appropriately.
But discrimination and condemnation like those we see in the Pharisee of Jesus’ parable,
these are unacceptable to God.

We need to adjust our vision –

    • the manner in which we perceive the world,
    • the way we regard people,
    • the way we consider ourselves,

must become God’s ways.

This may be the work of a lifetime… but now is the moment to start!

And the new vision that results may fill us with wonder!

 

Note: Another reflection is available on a different theme in French at: https://image-i-nations.com/30e-dimanche-de-lannee-c-2022/

 

Source: Images: pixabay.com  nextbigideaclub..com

15th Sunday of Year C – 2019

12 juillet 2019
Nicole Gregoire
Aucun commentaire
Catégories: Anglophones et anglophiles
Mots-clés: 1st century, 21st century, adaptation, attitude, commitment, Concern, condemnation, involvement, Lc.10:25-37, one of us

Some of Jesus’ parables are well-known, nearly too well-known, yet not known well enough…
We may be tempted to think that his message is equally familiar but…
Intellectual knowledge is one thing, daily living is another – we are aware of this!

This Sunday’s parable of The Good Samaritan (Lk.10:25-37) is one of those in danger of a… simple and hasty adaptation!
The levite and the priest are no longer among us, but we may easily picture that among the members of…
this Catholic grouping, that pious association, those participants in a prayerful gathering…
well, surely there are some who would personify the attitude of… non-involvement of those two people of old.

Simple and hasty adaptation and… condemnation.
Yet, in mentally attributing blame to others, we may be missing the point altogether…
What if there were hidden within us – each one of us –
a modern-day levite and a contemporary of the priest in the time of Jesus?

Perhaps, we must admit that there are moments when soft voices within us suggest:

  • This is none of your business.
  • You have a more urgent commitment just now.
  • Someone is waiting for you, you can’t upset him.
  • Let someone else, more qualified, take care of this situation.
  • Surely you have more important things to see to.
  • After all, he’s not, she’s not, of us, really…

The words have a familiar and contemporary accent, and yet, they echo faithfully the Aramaic unspoken thoughts of the two people of Jesus’ parable.
Yes, they are sometimes part of a statement we may not dare to utter but which inspire our attitude to the one in need.

Strange how the 21st century may resemble so much… the 1st!

Note: Another reflection is available on a similar theme in French at: https://image-i-nations.com/15e-dimanche-de-lannee-c-2019/

 

Source: Image: Pinterest

5th Sunday of Lent, C

10 mars 2016
Nicole Gregoire
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Catégories: Anglophones et anglophiles
Mots-clés: condemnation, Isaiah 43:16-21, John 8:1-11, Ph.3:8-14, Pharisees, Psalm 126, salvation, the past, woman caught in adultery

The past… OUR past…
We can live in the past, with nostalgia…
We can cling to the past traditions and customs…
We can try to bury the past in forgetfulness…
We can try not to face the past because of it being too shameful or painful…

The 1st and the 2nd readings of this 5th Sunday of Lent (year C) speak about the past.
Through his prophet, Isaiah (Is.43:16-21), God tells us: “No need to recall the past, no need to think about what was done before. See I am doing a new deed.”

youtube 5th LentAnd Paul, writing to the Philippians (Ph.3:8-14), says about himself: “I forget the past and I strain ahead for what is yet to come.”

Why should we not cling to the past, or try avoiding it, or take refuge in it? Simply because God wants something new for us. And not only does he want it, but he makes it for us.

The gospel shows him doing exactly that (Jn.8:1-11). There, we meet a woman dragged before Jesus because of a past deed – shameful, sinful, yes. The Pharisees have brought her to the Master and their eyes accuse her as much as their words.freebibleimages.org

Jesus, for his part, does not even look at her. Not to shame her, he looks down to the ground and… writes in the sand! Then, it is to her accusers that he speaks. Soon, they have disappeared because they know well that from being the accusers they have become, silently, the accused…

Addressing the woman, Jesus does not say that what she did was not wrong but he helps her to go beyond the bad action. He helps her to forget the past and to look to the future. “Woman, has no one condemned you? Neither do I condemn you; go away and don’t sin any more.”Jesus forgets and forgives her past. This is how God is. God looks at our past to forgive it, if only we are sorry for what we have done. And he directs our eyes and our hearts to the future, to what he is preparing for us.

Today’s Psalm (Ps.126:1-2,3-6) says it beautifully: “When the Lord delivered (us), it seemed like a dream.”

Source: Images: youtube;      freebibleimages.org