image-i-nations trésor

23rd Sunday of Year A – 2023

 

The reflection on the Sunday celebration is usually focused on one of the readings.

However, this Sunday, the Responsorial Psalm (Psalm 95:1-2,6-9) has been chosen.
The text calls to us in these words:

“Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts.”
 
This text could be interpreted as some kind of advice, a recommendation, or an exhortation.

But there is a ‘IF’… if you hear…
It implies that you may, or you may not, perceive that God is speaking to you…

But there is a different translation available and what it says is somehow different:
 
“If only you would listen to God today,
do not harden your hearts…”

It expresses something of a regret, it has the tone of a lamentation.
As if the writer realizes that, somehow, his people are not listening to God.

The author of the Psalm may imagine the blessings that those who listen to God would receive.
He possibly regrets that those who fail to listen will miss much…
He may be aware of what happens to those who are attuned to God’s voice –
how they come to know God, and they may then draw closer to him.

In both instances, the writer insists, adding:
“Do not harden your hearts…”

This may be a recurring temptation: not to pay attention, not to listen to God speaking to us.
We may be drawn by many other voices…
seduced by different invitations…
tempted to follow other calls…

We do as if…
As if God did not really speak.
As if his message was not truly addressed to us personally.
As if his words did not concern our own situation.

Hardening our hearts can be a slow, a subtle process,
but it can lead us very far from what we would like to become…

If only we would listen…
 

Note: Another text is available on a different theme, in French, at: https://image-i-nations.com/23e-dimanche-de-lannee-a-2023/ 

 

Source: Image: Stray Thoughts (Barbara Harper)

 

23rd Sunday of Year C – 2019

 

“I don’t know what to do…”
“I wonder if I should go there or not…”
“Perhaps I should tell him… or maybe not…”

How often do we not speak these words, or reflect in this way!
Whoever wants to follow the right course of action will do this.
A person eager to act properly will ask him/herself these questions.

 

Of course, Christians should do so as it is a matter of following God’s will.
And God’s will is what is best for us, there is no doubt about it.

In today’s 1st reading (Wis.9:13-18) the Bible text uses perhaps less familiar words speaking of ‘God’s counsel’.
 
“Who can learn the counsel of God?
Or who can discern what the Lord wills?”

It refers exactly to the same thing:
what, in the past, devout Christians called: ‘God’s Holy Will’ – with capital letters!

The author of the Book of Wisdom is clear about it:
on our own, we cannot find what God wants from us.
But help is offered to us, that of God’s own Spirit, nothing less!
 
“Who has learned your counsel,
unless you have given wisdom
and sent your holy spirit from on high?”

Asking God himself what he wants from us: it is that simple.
And he will tell us, indeed HE WILL.
Not whispering to our ear, of course not.

But his message is given to us through:
– happenings in our lives,
– encounters with people,
– a magazine found in a waiting room,
– a book given to us,
– a song heard on the radio,
– a text found on the web…

Finding God’s will… a search always answered – it has been promised to us:
“Search and you will find.”   (Mt.7:7)

Note: Another reflection is available on a different theme in French at: https://image-i-nations.com/23e-dimanche-de-lannee-c-2019/

 

Source: Images: Crosswalk.com   Bibleinfo.com

 

 

3rd Sunday of Year C

There are many things we do out of habit – it is our custom to perform this or that action.
We are so used to behaving in a certain way that we do those things somehow without thinking much about it.

But there are other situations when it is not the case, we hesitate, we reflect before taking a course of action.
We ponder, we look at this and that other aspect of a gesture, a response, a decision.
If asked about it, we may reply that we need to understand what is involved.
We need to make sense of something.

This need to understand lies deep within us.
We search for meaning, we try to discover the sense of what something is about,
what WE are about, in fact.

This came to me as I read the 1st reading of this Sunday (Ne.8:2-6,8-10).
There we hear of the Jews gathered to listen to God’s message to them in the Law.
We are told:

“Ezra read from the Law of God, translating and giving the sense,
so that the people understood what was read.”
 
Receiving the understanding of the word of God – this is what we are meant to do. 
Not only listening, not solely hearing, not purely accepting as a matter of fact.
But understanding, deepening, making our own God’s message.

Nothing less will satisfy our need for making sense –
making sense of life, of our human existence, of… God himself!
God: what he is, what he wants to be for each one of us…

Note: Another reflection is available on a different theme in French at: https://image-i-nations.com/3e-dimanche-de-lannee-c-2/

Source: Image: Pixabay

15th Sunday of Year B

Bible translations vary one from the other – some use rather strong language while others may opt for expressions with softer overtones.
I always find it interesting to read the same text in different translations; it can be quite enlightening.

Today’s 1st reading (15th Sunday of Year B – Amos 7:12-17), tells us of the prophet Amos’ vocation.
One text reads as follows: “The Lord called me away from my flock and told me, ‘Go…’ ”
Another says: “The Lord took me from my flock and told me, ‘Go…’ ”
Still another tells us: “The Lord seized me from my flock and told me, ‘Go…’ ”
 
“The Lord called…
The Lord, took…
The Lord seized…”
 
To be ‘seized’ by God is… quite an experience!
Some of you reading these lines could vouch for that…
It was something unexpected, perhaps, but you do remember the day, even the place, where it happened.
And, from then on, your life has not been the same again…

Such an intervention by God is not a reward.
It has not either the coronation of our efforts.
It is not the sign of some achievement or success on our part.
In fact, it often carries an implicit ‘warning’ that things may not be easy in the future.

The kind of warning Jesus gives his apostles as he sends them to people (today’s gospel: Mk.6:7-13).
Like Amos before them, they too may be rejected together with Go’s message they are bringing.

But being seized by God is a unique experience and goes beyond all that we could imagine or hope for!
It is worth all the hardships and the struggles.

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

Source: Images: Ernest Angley Ministries   youtube.com
 

15th Sunday of the Year, A

The words we use can express different levels of meaning.
Some words go deeper than others, we know it.

To get a glimpse of something or to catch sight of someone, is different from truly looking at the thing or the person.
Looking at a scene, staring at somebody, this too is different.

Seeing itself is also different from perceiving which implies something more…
And we all know that we may be looking… without seeing!…

This reflection came to me as a few words of today’s gospel caught my attention (15th Sunday of Year A – Mt.13:1-23).

A single line suddenly caught my sight.
It is the one which gives Jesus words as he says:

“Happy are your eyes because they see.” (v.16)

 

I stopped reading, there and then I paused…
I paused and… I asked myself whether this ‘beatitude’ is mine!

My questioning led me to ask whether I truly see the sights, the scenes, the situations of my daily life, as God would want me to…

More still, do I perceive there God’s presence?
Do I discern God’s message?

Perhaps much of life is about SEEING… as God sees!…

Source: Images: Dissolve, Masterfile, goodtherapy,org, Masterfile

5th Sunday of the Year, C

healthy_eating_s3_daughter_helps_mom_cook, www.medicinenet.comfather-and-son-fishing-guideYou would smile hearing a father tell his young son: “Danny, I want to catch a big fish; will you help me?” Smile, you would also seeing a young girl with a grin as her mother said: “Today I need your help to cook lunch!” We all know that neither the father nor the mother really need the help of the children and yet they are happy to involve them in the activity they have planned.

These examples came to my mind as I read the 1st reading of this 5th Sunday (Year C). It is the scene of Isaiah, the prophet (Is.6:1-8) who is called to be God’s messenger. Well, at first he is not called but… he offers his services to God who is searching for a messenger. This is quite surprising and not in line with our idea of a god. We picture God as being Almighty, all powerful, and surely not in need of anyone. Moreover, in the vision that Isaiah is given to witness there are many angels who, by definition, are precisely God’s messengers. And yet, God is looking for someone to send with his message.

This is the true image of OUR God: a God who wants to be in need… of us, human beings – and this, from the very beginning when he asked the newly-created Adam to name the animals that he, God, has brought into being. Much later, the apostle Paul will say boldly: “We are fellow workers with God” (1 Cor.3:9).Isaiah vision

A theologian and spiritual writer (Gerard W. Hughes) has written a book entitled: The God of Surprises. Indeed, God is constantly surprising us. And the amazing thing is that God does not ask us to be without defect, or weakness, or sin, to associate us with his work. When we speak the words: “Lord, I am not worthy…” as Peter spoke in today’s gospel (Luke 5:1-11), we mean well as he did! But the truth is that God does NOT ask us to be worthy.

What God wants is our eagerness to work with him. Work with him at making the world a better place for all. Work with him at creating more happiness for people around us. Work with him in spreading the message of his close presence with us. This is the partnership he offers us – and what a partnership it is!

Source: Images: Boy: footage.framepool.com    Girl: www.shutterstock.com
Isaiah: amaickinghezekiah,blogspot.com