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God’s ways

26th Sunday of Year B – 2024

27 septembre 2024
Nicole Gregoire
Aucun commentaire
Catégories: Anglophones et anglophiles
Mots-clés: Categories, classes, God's generosity, God's gifts, God's Spirit, God's ways, grades, Isaiah 55:8, Number 11:25-29, ranks

God’s ways are… so often different from what we expect…
Different and puzzling… we are tempted to question them…
In fact… they question us!

The text of today’s 1st reading does precisely this (Number 11:25-29).
In the scene described, we see the Jewish leader, Moses, and we are told that, on him, God’s Spirit rests.
God then decides to share his Spirit also with 70 elders who start to prophesy.

Then, two more men who, even absent from the group, are also invested with God’s Spirit.
They, too, are given the gift of prophesy.

A young man wonders about this…
So does Joshua who has been Moses’ assistant from his youth.
How can this be?
Elders are usually recognized as wise people, but who are those two men, Eldad and Medad, who remained in the camp…?
How is it that they are also enjoying God’s special gift?

God does not limit his choice to people we think deserve his gifts.
Categories, grades, classes, ranks, parameters – these are all human inventions!
God does not restrict his blessings according to our concepts.
He does not conform himself to our judgements so limited and often prejudiced…

God is a God of abundant, immeasurable generosity who enjoys pouring his blessings on human beings.
And, let’s be honest: none of us deserves them!

Many years after Moses’ death, the prophets will tell the people of Israel about this God – their God.
Through one of them, Isaiah, God will say:

“My thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways” (Isaiah 55:8).

We must constantly remind ourselves of this…

 

Note: Another reflection is available on a different theme in French at: https://image-i-nations.com/26e-dimanche-de-lannee-b-2024/

 

Source: Image: https://www.scripture-images.com/bible-verse/web/numbers-11-26-web.php

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

3rd Sunday of Lent, Year C – 2022

18 mars 2022
Nicole Gregoire
Aucun commentaire
Catégories: Anglophones et anglophiles
Mots-clés: attention, burning bush, Exodus 3:1-15, God's ways, Moses

Do you sometimes wonder at… God’s ways?
What he does can be quite astonishing…
And, at times, the way he deals with us, human beings, can leave us rather puzzled.

The scene presented in the 1st reading of this Sunday is indeed surprising (Ex.3:1-8,10,13-15).
We see a bush burning but not diminishing in size and not being consumed by fire.
Quite unusual a sight, really.

It is the way God has chosen to draw the attention of Moses –
in fact, to draw Moses himself to God’s presence.
God intends to send him to his people to make himself known to them.

I pause and… I wonder…
I look at my life and I ask myself what are the ways that God uses to draw MY attention…
What is my own ‘burning bush’?

And… what can I say about God to people?
What does he want me to reveal to them of who he is and what he wants to be for us?

The burning bush can lead to an interesting personal discovery…
of God, and of myself…
 

And another reflection, on a different theme, is available in French at: https://image-i-nations.com/3e-dimanche-du-careme-annee-c-2022/

 

Source: Image: YouTube

 

 

 

4th Sunday of Year C – 2022

28 janvier 2022
Nicole Gregoire
Aucun commentaire
Catégories: Anglophones et anglophiles
Mots-clés: difficulties, God's ways, Jeremiah 1:17-19, Jeremiah 1:4-5, learning, obstacles, problems, prophet Jeremiah, students

God’s ways are not our ways – we have been told long ago and we know it, perhaps… from experience!
The prophet Jeremiah had certainly learned this from experience!
The 1st reading of today is a good example of this (Jeremiah 1:4-5,17-19).

« Get yourself ready. Stand up!”

With these words, God sends Jeremiah on a mission:
“Pronounce my judgments on my people”.

The prophet may try to object that he is too young, that he does not know how to speak.
God does not listen to any of this and he adds some surprising words:
“Do not be terrified by them, or I will terrify you before them.”

Is this not strange?
We would think that God will encourage his prophet but these words sound rather like a threat…

However, God goes on with words of reassurance.
Referring to his rebellious people, God tells Jeremiah:

“They will fight against you but will not overcome you,
for I am with you and will rescue you”.

This is an obvious display of God’s ways:
God does not remove obstacles but helps his people to overcome them.

This was his method in the time of Jeremiah and…
it is rather clear that he has not changed his method in our own time!
We would prefer that he makes things easier for us, and then… we could manage on our own!
But precisely, God does not expect us to manage on our own! 

Problems, difficulties, failures, losses – all these are part of our daily life.
God who is all-powerful could take them away from our path.
He surely could, but he does not… and we have to believe that he knows what is best for us.

This kind of learning finds us… students all through our lives…
We need to learn that God does not expect us to manage on our own, he wants us to manage with him!

To us also God’s words are addressed:
“I am with you and will rescue you”.
 
Note: Another reflection on a different theme is available in French at: https://image-i-nations.com/4e-dimanche-de-lannee-c-2022/

 

Source: Image: chretiensaujourdhui.com

1st Sunday of Advent, Year C – 2021

26 novembre 2021
Nicole Gregoire
Aucun commentaire
Catégories: Anglophones et anglophiles
Mots-clés: adjust, Advent, future, God's ways, honesty, integrity, Jr.33:14-16, justice, promise

There is no doubt about it: this 1st Sunday of Advent invites us to look to the future.
A promise is essentially doing this and it is a promise that we are given in the 1st reading (Jr.33:14-16).
The text of the prophet Jeremiah gives us God’s words in a clear language:

“The days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will fulfil the gracious promise I made…
In those days, I will make a righteous Branch sprout from David’s line;
he will do what is just and right in the land.”
 
We often speak of God’s grace, yes, our God is a gracious God.
He delights in showering on us his blessings of all kinds.
The promise he makes is that the Gracious One – the Righteous One – will do what is good for us.

Another translation of the text uses the words “honesty and integrity”
And the one who is coming to us in God’s name – God himself – is called:
“The Lord-our-integrity.”
 
We all want to receive good things from God, but how can we be sure that his blessings will be ours?
I would venture to say that the best way is to… ad-just ourselves to God’s ways –
that is to become just ourselves –

just in our ways of thinking
just in our ways of judging situations
just in our choices and decisions
just in the plans we make and the options we choose
just in our relations with people…

In other words: behaving with honesty and integrity.

This could be the first step in this Advent period as we set on the path to welcome anew God’s coming to us.

 

Note: Another text is available on a different theme, in French at: https://image-i-nations.com/1er-dimanche-de-lavent-annee-c-2021/

And in a short video, also in French, Ghislaine Deslières offers us another reflection on this 1st Sunday of Advent at: https://youtu.be/lpkMLsxne3s

 

Source: Image: slideplayer.com

21st Sunday of Year B – 2021

20 août 2021
Nicole Gregoire
Aucun commentaire
Catégories: Anglophones et anglophiles
Mots-clés: (Is.55:8, future, God's ways, hope, Jer.29:11, Jn.6:60-69

Reading the gospel is not an exercise that always provides… comfort.
It certainly does at times, but at other times it can be rather upsetting.

It happens that Jesus questions us, and even confronts us, in a way that can be disturbing.
 This is what we see in today’s gospel text (Jn.6:60-69).
Jesus has been speaking of giving people his body as food.
People grumble about this and they say:

“This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?”

To this, Jesus replies:
“Does this offend you?”
 
Another translation uses a stronger expression saying:
“Does this scandalize you?”
 
Does it happen that God’s words offend us?
Does it happen that God’s ways, scandalize us?

Perhaps this means that… God is God and that…
we need to recognize him as such.
Long ago, he told us through his prophet Isaiah (Is.55:8):

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD.
 

Something we are in constant need to remember and…
something we need to adjust ourselves to… from day to day.

But through the words of another of his messengers, Jeremiah, (Jer.29:11)
God assures us:

“I know the plans I have for you,”
declares the Lord,
“plans to prosper you and not to harm you,
plans to give you hope and a future. »

A hopeful future, this is what is offered to us!
And this plan gives a new perspective on God’s ways which may have… offended us!

 

Note: Another reflection is available on a different theme in French at: https://image-i-nations.com/21e-dimanche-de-lannee-b-2021/

 

Source: Images: pixabay.com

Palm Sunday, Year B

22 mars 2018
Nicole Gregoire
Aucun commentaire
Catégories: Anglophones et anglophiles
Mots-clés: accept not to understand, apostles, events, God's time, God's ways, Jesus acclaimed as king, Jesus disciples, Jn.12:12-16, Mk.7:17, standards

As an introduction to the celebration of Palm Sunday, we are given a choice between two gospel texts:
one from Mark (11:1-10) and the other from John (12:12-16).
In the shorter text from John, one verse caught my attention:

“At the time, his disciples did not understand…
Later… they remembered.”
 
It was not the only time that the apostles were puzzled by what Jesus said and did.
At times, back at home, they would question him and asked for explanations (Mk.7:17).

I often think they were lucky to have Jesus answer their questions!…
Yet, even seeing Jesus with their own eyes and sharing daily life with him, it seems that this did not enable them to understand everything…

On the day when Jesus entered Jerusalem acclaimed by the crowd as king, his close friends could not figure out how and why he agreed to this display of admiration.
In fact, people were welcoming him as king and Messiah – the promised Saviour God was to send them one day.

Now, they believed that this day had come and Jesus was the one they had been waiting for to free them from the domination of strangers.
Of course, they did not understand either!

Looking at life and events, it is all too obvious that there are many situations when we simply do not understand God’s ways.
He does not conform to our standards.
He does not fit into our categories.
He does not act as we would expect God to do.
And that is because… he is GOD.

This answer seems too easy and yet… is there any other that can explain God’s ways?
The apostles understood what had happened only LATER… “after Jesus had been glorified.”
For us, too, often some time must elapse before we come to see the purpose of what has happened in this or that situation…

Accepting not to understand, not to see clearly right there and then.
Accepting God’s… delays, God’s time, God’s rhythm for our lives, for our world…

 

Note: Another reflection is available in French on a different theme at: https://image-i-nations.com/dimanche-rameaux-annee-b/

Source: Image: YouTube

2nd Sunday of Lent, Year B

22 février 2018
Nicole Gregoire
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Catégories: Anglophones et anglophiles
Mots-clés: (Is.55:8, Abraham, events, Gn.22:1-2.9-13.15-18, God's ways, let go - let God, meaning, need to learn, outcome, rely on God, Trust me

In our conversation, some words have a special meaning, they can have an impact of their own.
Usually, such words do not leave a person indifferent.
When someone says: “Trust me!” the expression catches our attention and calls for a decision: to trust, or not, the person before us…

These words came to me as I read the 1st reading of this Sunday (2nd Sunday of Lent, Year B – Gn.22:1-2.9-13.15-18).
This is, in fact, the title I would give to this dramatised account of what is known as: ‘The sacrifice of Abraham’.
The story is indeed quite dramatic and, if we did not know the outcome for having heard or read it so often, we would judge it to be rich in suspense!

“Trust me!” Yes, this is what God did not say, but what he really asked of Abraham:
a deep, unconditional, total trust in him.
God’s request must have appeared to have no meaning, at least no meaning that Abraham could understand.
Had God not promised him an heir?
And now he was to give him up in a very cruel way.

Much later, through the prophet Isaiah, God was to tell us clearly:
“My ways are not your ways” (Is.55:8).
Something we are in constant need to learn anew.

Learning to trust God, to rely on him, to surrender to him,
no matter how deprived of meaning a situation seems to be.
Wanting to understand, trying by all means to make sense of events, is a very human attitude, and legitimate also.
But we must learn to… LET GO and LET GOD as a poster reminds us!…

And the outcome can be… absolutely amazing!

Images: artcommission.me

Note: A reflection on the 2nd reading of this Sunday is available in French at: https://image-i-nations.com/2e-dimanche-careme-annee-b/

2nd Sunday of Advent, Year B

7 décembre 2017
Nicole Gregoire
Aucun commentaire
Catégories: Anglophones et anglophiles
Mots-clés: God's ways, human experience, mountains, philosophy, psychology, theology, understanding, valleys, waiting

Some theologians have said that philosophy is the handmaid of theology.
In other words, some philosophical reflection can lead to a deeper understanding of some aspects of the faith.

I personally think that the same can be said of psychology.
Again, I am inclined to believe that a better knowledge of our human ways of thinking, of acting and reacting,
can help us to understand God’s ways!
Of course, there is an amazing difference – a divine one!
Yet, since God made himself a human being, there must be some similarities.

I say this especially as we live – yes, LIVE – this period of Advent.
Everyone repeats that it is a season of waiting, awaiting the coming of someone, Someone with a capital S.
If we look at our human experience of WAITING, we may understand better what this season is about.

  • A wife waiting for the return of a husband gone for a long period on a research trip;
  • parents awaiting the return of a child who had been away roaming the world;
  • a mother-to-be waiting for 9 long months for the birth of her first-born;
  • a student waiting for the exam results that will mean the open door to further studies.

All of them know well what it means to wait – this desire, this longing for the event to take place.
The anxious thought that… perhaps there will be a delay, a change of plan, an accident, a failure…
The anticipation of what will take place when it does finally happen.
There is already a taste of the joy to come – the joy of being together again.

Has this human experience anything to say to our waiting for God?
A word of caution here: it is not a question of putting Baby Jesus back in the Crib – NO!
Oh, we may do this as a teaching aid to help young children understand what Christmas is about.
We do it and it is appropriate for this situation and for that reason.
But many adults protest – and rightly so – that this is not the deep meaning of Christmas NOW.

Simply said: Christmas in our time is NOT putting Baby Jesus back in the Crib –
it is allowing God to take his place at the heart of our human experience – nothing less.

And this takes some practice… it takes some preparing to accept God as God in all the areas of our daily life –
“the mountains and the valleys, the cliffs and the ridges” of which Isaiah speaks about.
This is why there is and ADVENT Season … and more, to do this!

Source: Image: commons.wikipedia.org

Note: Another reflection on different themes is available in French at: https://image-i-nations.com/2e-dimanche-de-lavent-annee-b/

and a video presentation is also offered at: https://image-i-nations.com/2e-dimanche-de-lavent-ghislaine-parle/

21st Sunday of the Year, C

18 août 2016
Nicole Gregoire
Aucun commentaire
Catégories: Anglophones et anglophiles
Mots-clés: (Is.55:8, (Ps.90:4, discrimination, God's invitation, God's ways, Lk.13:22-30, narrow path, the best

luke-13-blessed-is-he-baruch-haba-bshem-adonai-until-does-god-still-punish-sin-few-saved-narrow-gate-narrow-gate-way-door-21-638I heard someone say : ‘God does not know how to count’. In any case, his way of counting is not ours. The Psalmist had understood this when he wrote: “A thousand years in your sight are like a day” (Ps.90:4) . And through the prophet Isaiah, God had told us already: “My thoughts are not your thought, my ways not your ways” (Is.55:8).

So, today’s gospel text (21st Sunday of the Year, C – Lk.13:22-30) should not surprise us when we read: “There are those now last who will be first, and those now first who will be last”. What does it mean? Different interpretations are offered. Personally, I like to see there an invitation to take on… God’s way of… accounting! He does not keep tabs as we do, he does not appraise situations and judge people according to our criteria.

In today’s text, we see someone coming to ask Jesus: “Will there be only a few saved?” And, typically, Jesus does not answer that question. It seems that God is not interested in… statistics: the number of those saved? The number of those ‘lost’? The number of those… mid-way???

We live in an age where statistics are very important: we gauge performance in nano- seconds! We count and we compare, we judge and we adjudge! We scrutinise and we assess! For his part, Jesus has one guideline, not to call it an… injunction! He tells us: “Try your best…”

In other words: try to take on God’s ways – God’s ways of looking at life and people, God’s ways of ‘discriminating’ – the right kind of discrimination between what is good and… what is best! And then, for us there will be no ‘weeping and grinding of teeth’ in disappointment at being left out of the on-going feast of God’s COUNTLESS blessings!

Source: Image: www.slideshare.net