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The Alphabet of Lent – Letter E

E pour ENEMIES 

There are things which are not easy to do…
There are others that we find really hard to realize…
But there are still others that we find absolutely impossible to accomplish!…

The words of Jesus cannot be misinterpreted (Matthew 5:43-45).
They reach us, every one of us, personally:

“You have heard that it was said,
‘Love your neighbour and hate your enemy.’ 
But I tell you, love your enemies,
and pray for those who persecute you.”

It seems to us that this is really… impossible.
Those who persecute us – to treat them the very opposite than the way they behave towards us!

Our whole being rebels against this, we do not even want to think about it.
Who can act in this way?

But Jesus adds:
“That you may be children of your Father in heaven.
 He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good,
and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous”.

This is the motivation that can help us: becoming the children of our Father in heaven…
He knows as well as we do – better than we do – that, left to ourselves, we cannot be like him.

If he asks this from us, we can, in our turn, ask him to enable us to do it!
Enable us to do it by giving us his own Spirit who will make us like him: compassionate and forgiving.

 

Note: In a video (in French), Diane Conte helps us to continue this reflection: https://youtu.be/JJQ6-D5w548?si=HQ0aN0xgDlsNIsy3

 

Source: Image: The Noontimes

 

4th Sunday of Advent, Year A – 2022-2023

“God needs help!”
If you saw this caption in a magazine about spiritual reflections, or biblical matters, you may smile and…
turn the page, saying this is not serious.
Yet, it is truly deep theology, authentic understanding of who God is indeed.

The gospel texts of Luke and Matthew bear witness to this very clearly.

When, in his wisdom, God decided to reach us in becoming one of us, he needed the help of a woman of our race.
He chose a young Jewish woman, Mary of Nazareth, and asked her to become the mother of his Son (Luke 1:26-38).

When God needed someone to stand visibly for his own Spirit giving life to the child in the womb of that young woman, 
he asked Joseph to take on this responsibility (Matthew 1:18-24).

Some people would say that being all-powerful, God should not need help.
But who are we to say what God should be doing?
His choices are beyond our understanding.

Beyond our understanding, yes, but they express God’s desire to share with us what he wants to do for us, human beings.
He wants our help to achieve what is best for us!

Is this not absolutely wonderful?
We sometimes elaborate subtle theories about God, we use abstract concepts to speak about him.
And we forget this: God has chosen us to collaborate with him for what is best for us!

As we are busy preparing for Christmas – the celebration, the gifts, the guestlist…
it may be good to remember that God may need us to make Christmas a happy occasion for some people who would not manage on their own to make it so…
 

Note: Another text is available on a different theme, in French at: https://image-i-nations.com/4e-dimanche-de-lavent-annee-a-2022-2023/

 

Source: Images: Pinterest    Born of Wonder

 

Feast of the Ascension, Year C – 2022

Today’s feast is somehow mysterious…
In the 1st reading, we are told that, risen from the dead, Jesus has been appearing to his apostles a number of times (Acts 1:1-11).
A few verses later, we see him disappearing from their sight.

Appearing, disappearing – these two words bring to mind the two realities of presence and absence.
But, more still, they remind us of the two ways of understanding: through seeing and through perceiving.

Personally, I see this feast of the Ascension as an invitation to a new way of recognizing God among us.
It is no longer a presence that our eyes can see but a presence perceived by our hearts.

Our ‘vision’ of God no longer depends on our eyesight but on… our faith!
We no longer rely on what the eyes of our body can ascertain but on what God’s Spirit reveals to us in the depths of ourselves.

This reflection started with referring to this feast as ‘mysterious’.
All too often, people interpret a mystery as something we cannot understand.
This is a short-sighted explanation.
A mystery is rather something so great and so wonderful that we have never finished discovering it!

Exactly as God’s presence with us is!

God’s promise is clear: “Know that I am with you always, yes, to the end of time” (Matthew 28:20).
No if… but… perhaps…
Purely and simply Jesus’ promise, God’s promise!

Note: And another reflection, on a different theme, is available in French at: https://image-i-nations.com/fete-de-lascension-annee-c-2022/

 

Source: Image: Scripture Images

 

28th Sunday of Year B – 2021

Daydreaming can bring someone to wish for all kinds of things –
The things that Royalty and wealthy people can have already:
power and privileges, gold, silver, and precious stones.
And sometimes, health and beauty are added to this rich mixture!
 
In today’s 1st reading (Wisdom 7:7-11), we meet the great King Solomon who enjoyed these and yet…
Yet, he said that, in his eyes, all these counted for nothing compared to… WISDOM.
An amazing statement…
I wonder how many people would endorse these words today?

In true wisdom, we can find learning, knowledge, sound judgement, insight, discernment.
To these qualities, the ancient Greeks, known for their wisdom, added prudence and self-control.

It is the attitude of someone who sees what is GOOD, judges what is RIGHT, follows what is JUST.
A wise person behaves in the way appropriate to someone created in the image of God – no less!

Of course, this is beyond what we can manage on our own – this is why Solomon says:
“I prayed… I called on God, and the spirit of wisdom came to me.”
 
We should not expect God’s ‘visitation’ to come in some unusual form or extraordinary apparition.
God’s Spirit of Wisdom can reach us in:

a conversation,
the chapter of a book,
a talk on the radio,
a television presentation,
a silent reflection,
and so many other shapes and occasions… 

Like the many small pieces of a jigsaw puzzle it then makes up our daily experience –
the experience of someone who has learnt to listen, to hear, and… to follow God’s inspiration from day to day…

Note: Another reflection is available on a different theme in French at: https://image-i-nations.com/28e-dimanche-de-lannee-b-2021/

And a blog, in French, offers also a reflection on the theme of wisdom at: https://image-i-nations.com/sage-bien-sage/

 

Source: Images: commons.wikimedia.org    Dreamstime.com  

Feast of Pentecost, Year B – 2021

There are things and situations which somehow leave us… uncertain.
We look at the different angles of a reality and we are perplexed…
We wonder whether we are right in our appraisal of a given situation.

Our identity could be one of them, who we really are.
Of course, we know who we are as human beings –
our personality, our qualities, our past experiences, our strengths and weaknesses,
our desires and hopes, our successes and failures, etc.

But what about our identity as… Christians?
Are we truly aware of what this means?
Are we conscious of what it entails, all the richness of this condition?
We recognize ourselves as followers of Christ, yes, members of the Church, yes.
And?…

Todays’ celebration, the feast of the Holy Trinity, tells us of the identity of… God.
But it also the reminds us of a wonderful aspect of our own identity as Christians.

Writing to the first Christians of Rome, the apostle Paul tells them (2nd reading: Rom.8:14-17):

“The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.”
 
Not only does our spirit tells us but God’s Spirit himself confirms this truth.
This text removes any doubt which we may have about who we are –
nothing less than God’s own children.

We have been “adopted” says Paul et he adds that we are:

“heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ.”
 
It is truly wonderful, it is absolutely astonishing!
Why do we not dare to believe in this God
and in the divinely transformed people that he has made us to be?!
 
Note: Another reflection on a different theme is available in French at: https://image-i-nations.com/fete-de-la-sainte-trinite-annee-b-2021/

 

Source: Image: pinterest.com

Feast of All Saints, Year A – 2020

We celebrate today the feast of all the saints – those well known and those perhaps not as familiar to us.
As we remember this particular saint, and that other, and others still,
we may stop thinking of them and start looking at our own lives.

And as we do, we may think that… we are not as holy as they are.
Not as patient, as humble, as prayerful, as faithful to God.
Not as generous, not as…
and our list gets longer mentioning all the qualities that we believe make a saint.

We may become dispirited and discouraged,
all the while forgetting the most important: what WE ARE.
The text of the 2nd reading says it clearly:

“Children of God! … that is what we are!
 
We have been created in God’s image – an image that cannot be erased or obliterated.
But… it can be damaged, the face of God in us can be… defaced,
yes, when we refuse to behave as his children.
But this is NOT the end of the story, God is always ready to restore his image in us.

There are people especially skillful in picture or image restoration.
A famous painting or a family picture may have been damaged but can be restored.

I personally believe that God’s Spirit present in us is a specialist in… image restoration!
The text of the 2nd reading goes on with these words:
 
What we will be has not yet been made known.
But we know that… we shall be like him.”   (1 Jn.3:1-3)

We are, in fact, saints-in-the-making, nothing less!
 

Note: Another reflection on a different theme in French can be found at: https://image-i-nations.com/fete-de-la-toussaint-annee-a-2020/

 

Source: Images: The New Daily

Feast of Pentecost, Year A – 2020

Nowadays, public surveys are popular.
People want to be informed about popular opinions about this, or that, topic.
An unusual event, especially, will prompt reporters to analyze and publish detailed information about such happening.

The first reading of today’s feast (Acts 2:1-11) is interesting in that respect –
it is a little as if we were given a report about precisely an unusual event.
We are told in much detail about what has been happening.
 
“A sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven;
what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of the apostles;
they began to speak in other tongues.”

“A crowd came together in bewilderment…”
The listeners listening represented no less than 15 nations!

Not surprisingly, the text says:
 “They were utterly amazed.”
Another translation of the text adds that people were marveling at what they saw happening.
And now, fast forward to… our own 21st century…
And… three questions come to my mind:

Are we still bewildered by God’s coming to our world?
Are we amazed at what he does in our own situation?
And… do we still marvel at the wonders he works in our days?

I am personally convinced that

  • God is still present.
  • God still works among us.
  • God still realizes wonderful things for us.

Perhaps it is a question of asking God’s Spirit to give us the perception, the vision of this permanent REALITY.

 

Note: Another reflection is available on a different theme in French at: https://image-i-nations.com/fete-de-la-pentecote-annee-a-2020/

 

 Source: Image: Aleteia

 

6th Sunday of Year A – 2020

I can’t do do this.
I’m not able to do that.
It’s too much for me.
I just can’t…

Children sometimes reply in this way to parents who tell them to do something.
The young people may want to avoid an unpleasant task.
They may try to escape a challenging duty and… they pretend…
Pretend that what is asked of them is beyond their capacity.

Surprisingly – or not – we, supposedly more… mature, may have the same attitude towards… God !
And today, he answers our ‘pretending’ in the words of the wise man, Ben Sira,
(1st reading – Ecclesiastius 15:15-20) telling us :

“If you choose, you can keep the commandments,
and to act faithfully is a matter of your own choice.” 

 
In other words : « If you wish, you can… »
 
We may think that following God’s way is too difficult,
in fact, we may judge it to be beyond what we can achieve.
We feel we do not have the strength to fulfil what God is asking of us.

This may be true, it surely is, if we try on our own.
But, this is the point : we are NOT expected to be faithful to God on our own.
God’s own Spirit has been given to us precisely to neable us to do what we cannot do ourselves.

The apostle Paul was assuring the first Christians :
“The Spirit helps us in our weakness.” (Rom.8:24)

This remains true and valid for us!
Some remind themselves with a tattoo, others write it on their in/out tray!

   

 

 

 

 

 

Note: Another reflection is available on a different theme in French at: https://image-i-nations.com/6e-dimanche-de-lannee-a-2020/

Source: Images: American Threads hogartherapia.com
 

 

5th Sunday of Year A – 2020

Language – of whatever nation or tribe – is made of words: short words, long words, simple words, difficult words.
They are uttered, spoken, whispered, proclaimed, sung or shouted – we cannot escape them.
They take on different shades of meaning according to the way they are used –
in joy or anger, in hope or desperation, inviting or rejecting, encouraging or despising.

Yes, words have a tremendous power, for good or… bad.
They can be uplifting or dispiriting.
But what a power they have when they are… God’s own words!
When they convey God’s message being inspired by God’s Spirit.

This is the meaning of the apostle Paul in the 2nd reading of this Sunday (5th Sunday, Year A).
He assures the Corinthians to whom he is writing that
the message he sends them is not something deriving from human insight,
but it comes from the Spirit of God himself (1 Cor.2:1-5).

He is not relying on the Jewish wisdom his master Gamaliel had passed on to him,
nor on the arguments of the Greek philosophy he is familiar with.
He says it clearly:

“Far from relying on any power of my own…
in my speeches and the sermons I gave
there (was) only a demonstration of the power of the Spirit.”
 
In our own attempts to speak about God,
we could do no better than rely on this same power!
 

Note: Another reflection is available on a different theme in French at: https://image-i-nations.com/5e-dimanche-de-lannee-a-2020/

 

Source: Image: www.areasonforhope.net