image-i-nations trésor

Palm Sunday, Year A – 2023

They watched, they observed, they noticed…
They listened, they wondered, they were puzzled…

“Who is this?…”

The passers by, the bystanders, the curious,
The leaders, too, of course,
They could not but ask themselves, ask one another:

“Who is this?…”

The crowd answered –
they had seen, they had heard, they had witnessed…

He is the one eating with sinners and tax collectors,
He is the one asking water from a Samaritan woman,
He is the one who fed a crowd of people with five loaves and two fishes,
He is the one who calmed a mighty storm on the lake of Tiberias,
He is the one who made his friends catch an amazing lot of fish,
He is the one who had his feet washed by a woman during a meal at Simon’s, the Pharisee,
He is the one who gave sight to a man born blind,
He is the one who made a man walk who had been a cripple for thirty-eight years,
He is the one who raised the daughter of Jairus, and the son of the widow of Naim,      
He is the one who claimed that, in God’s kingdom, the first will be last and the last will be first,
He is the one who told people, if they did not become like children, they would not enter God’s kingdom,
He is the one who affirmed that God is his Father,
He is the one who said we should call God ‘our Father’,
He is the one who taught that, unless we forgive one another, God will not forgive us.

He is the one… God in our midst… God one of us…

So unlike what people had waited for…
So far from what many imagined…
So different from our expectations…

SO MUCH LIKE GOD – God himself, indeed.

References of the gospel scenes:
Matthew 9:11   John 4:7   John 6:1-14   Matthew 4:39   Luke 5:4-11   Luke 7:36-50   John 9:1-38   John 5:1-17  Matthew 9:25-26   Luke 7:11-17   Matthew 20:16   Matthew 18:3   John 10:36   Matthew 6:9   Matthew 6:14-15  
 

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

 

Source: Image: The Poetry of R.E. Slater

 

25th Sunday of Year A

EXPECTATIONS – we all have them and plenty of them, do we not ?
And they fill our lives with more than a touch of hope and anticipation!

Expectations of…
– recovery after sickness,
– success in a coming exam
– a promotion at work,
– the partner we dream of to start a new life!

When we are in need, some expectation may arise of receiving help from a relative, a friend, or a neighbour.
Just recall for a moment the last time you went to someone with a request for his or her assistance.
You may have been hoping for help, or… fearing that help would not be forthcoming.
But did you expect that you would be given much more than what you asked for?

Among us, people, this is not usually the case.
But, with God, it is!
In fact, this is a characteristic of God : He gives more than we would ask for.
He is a generous God who delights in showering on us his gifts and blessings.

This is what today’s gospel text (25th Sunday of Year A – Mt.20 :1-16) is meant to remind us of.
In the parable that Jesus tells the people around him, he gives us a wonderful and true picture of what his Father – and our Father – is :

  • a bounteous God,
  • a God who enjoys giving lavishly,
  • a God who does not know how to measure what he wants to bless us with.

I wonder how many people treasure this image of God…
Perhaps many of us think that we have to ask, and beg, and repeat our requests for help, never too sure that we will be heard.

This Sunday may be the ideal moment to correct our image of God !

Source: Image: Youtube