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The Alphabet of Lent – Letter C

19 février 2024
Nicole Gregoire
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Catégories: Anglophones et anglophiles
Mots-clés: anxious, calm, daily life, fears, peace, plans, regrets, serenity, storms

C for Calm

Daily life often brings much to upset our plans and shake us.
All that we had foreseen to do and all that suddenly comes up – this is all too much.
And apart from all the activities of the moment, there are those that we must foresee.

We feel upset, threatened, overwhelmed.
We are often tired, bitter, anxious.
We experience the feeling of being caught… in a storm.
We need so much… CALM.  

It is then that the gospel text of Mark comes to our rescue: 
 
“They took him along, just as he was, in the boat…
 A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped.   
Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion.
The disciples woke him and said to him,
“Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?”
 He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!”  
Then the wind died down and it was completely calm” (Mark 4:36-39).

Exactly what we need at certain periods in our lives.
And the one who calm the storm on the Sea of Galilea can do the same with all our own storms –
the storms of our fears, our regrets, our weaknesses, our guilt no matter how heavy.

The calm that he offers brings peace and serenity… a great calm, indeed!
 

Note: In the following video (in French), Teresa Peñafiel helps us to continue this reflection: https://youtu.be/54Z7yFrLzyE?si=yQOOtZ1L6jIZnKfA

 

Source: Image: Scripture Images

 

3rd Sunday of the Year, A

19 janvier 2017
Nicole Gregoire
Aucun commentaire
Catégories: Anglophones et anglophiles
Mots-clés: believe, dark cloud, darkness, doubts, fears, illumination, Is.8:23-9:3, light, lights, prayer, worries

‘Turn on the light,’ – it is an expression that we hear very often. All the more so in this mid-January period when the clouds seem to be ever present and darkness more obvious in the mornings and evenings. The solution is close at hand: we switch on the electric lamps which bring the desired illumination.

But, somehow, we sometimes feel that this kind of illumination is not sufficient. Our eyes may benefit from the additional light, but it seems that something else is missing… light for our minds for our hearts. The very kind that the prophet Isaiah speaks of in the 1st reading of this 3rd Sunday of the Year, A (Is.8:23 – 9:3). He says:

“The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light;
on those who live in a land of deep shadow a light has shone.”

And with this light, come joy and a sense of liberation also provided by God for his people.

Reading these lines, some may think: “That happened long ago…” And it is true. But has God stopped doing this? I like to believe that he has not and that light, joy and a sense of liberation, are also there, ‘at hand’ so to speak, for us as well. Shadows and darkness need not envelop our days like a dark cloud.

And yet… at times, we feel they do… this dark cloud may take the form of our doubts, our worries and our fears. This is where a ‘great light’ is needed to dispel our inner darkness.

So, perhaps our often-repeated words can become a genuine prayer: ‘Turn on the light… please, Lord, YOUR light!’

Source: Images: Pixabay;   1wallpaper.net