Recherche

image-i-nations trésor

Good Shepherd

34th Sunday of Year A – Feast of Christ the universal King – 2020

20 novembre 2020
Nicole Gregoire
Aucun commentaire
Catégories: Anglophones et anglophiles
Mots-clés: Care, Concern, Ez.34:11-12, Ez.34:15-17, Good Shepherd, rescue, search, sheep, strengthen, work

In many areas of Quebec Province, countless orange cones raise their heads – they seem to be everywhere.
We are used to their presence, used also to seeing near them a familiar road sign which reads:

The 1st reading of today’s Feast of Christ the universal King brings to mind another sign that could read:

You are surprised? Yet, the text of the reading suggests this rather forcefully (Ez.34:11-12,15-17):

“This is what the Lord says: 

 I will search for my sheep and look after them.
I will look after my sheep.
I will rescue them… I will gather them.
I will bring them in their own land.
I will pasture them.
I myself will tend my sheep and have them lie down.
I will search for the lost.
I will bring back the strays.
I will bind up the injured.
I will strengthen the weak.
I will shepherd the flock with justice.”

This is the picture of God who is indeed… very active, full of concern, caring in so many ways.
He goes literally out of his way to make sure that we are safe.
He takes all necessary means so that our needs are provided in every way.

Quite the opposite of how men have sometimes described God: quietly resting in his heavenly mansion waiting for the praises and sacrifices of human beings!
GOD AT WORK – no doubt about it!
And in the lives of each one of us in a very personal way. 

 

Note: Another reflection on a different theme in French can be found at: https://image-i-nations.com/34e-dimanche-de-lannee-a-fete-du-christ-roi-2020/

 

Source: Images : jalmanthan.wordpress.com   Christian Cohort

21st Sunday of the Year, A

24 août 2017
Nicole Gregoire
Aucun commentaire
Catégories: Anglophones et anglophiles
Mots-clés: answers, awareness, Good Shepherd, Jesus, Mt.16:13-20, questions, realize, Redeemer, relationship, Saviour, Son of God

Questions, questions!
Our world is full of them, our lives are full of them – we can’t escape them!
Our minds search and struggle to find the answers – the correct answers, of course.

“What is this?”
“Where did you go?”
“Whom did you meet?”
“How did you manage?”
“Why did you do this?”

Some questions may be important, very important in themselves.
Others may become so because of the person addressing them to us.

And what if it is… God himself who questions us?
This is what happens in the gospel of this Sunday (21st Sunday of Year A – Mt.16:13-20) where Jesus (God-wit-us) asks his apostles:

“You, who do you say I am?”

This question is over 2000 years old and yet… very actual because we know that – in a mysterious way – it concerns us as well!
As you read these words your mind may be already at work.
If you ask yourself who Jesus is for you, the answer coming may be one of those memorized long ago:

  • He is the Son of God, the second Person of the Holy Trinity.
  • He is our Saviour, our Redeemer.
  • He is the Good Shepherd.
  • He is…

And if I stopped you there and asked as Jesus did: “Who is he for you?”
 
This Sunday provides us with a good opportunity to become aware of this – aware of who he is for us, in our lives, from moment to moment.
Aware of what he wants to be and what kind of very personal relationship he wants with each one of us.
Yes, this is a unique occasion to REAL-ize this!

Source: Image: Free Bible Images

4th Sunday of Easter, C

14 avril 2016
Nicole Gregoire
Aucun commentaire
Catégories: Anglophones et anglophiles
Mots-clés: Care, close communion, comfort, Concern, Good Shepherd, Jn.10:27-30

Jesus-Good-Shepherd-wide-i vividscreen.incoMany of us like to have some pictures in our missal or our Bible; this makes it easy for us to find a special text or a reference we often come back to. The pictures may have been there for months, even years and… we do not pay much attention to them any longer. We may not notice anymore what the picture represents, at least many of the details do not retain our attention. They are printed papers…

The same could be said of the statues in a chapel or a church – we are so used to seeing them there that they do not catch our eyes any more. We know they are there, but… while some of us will stand before one of them, many of us pass by. These are plaster representations, or works of art like sculptures or carvings.

But what about another type of representation? What about a ‘word-picture’ – a live description by someone who introduces himself? This is what today’s gospel (Jn.10:27-30) gives us, a picture in words, a vivid description, an introduction to oneself and… it is given by Jesus himself! In a few words, in short sentences, Jesus gives us a summary of who he is and what he wants to be for us.

“I know my sheep…       I give them eternal life;       They will never be lost.      No one will ever steal them from me.”

It is all there, in what I call the 4 Cs: Care, Concern, Comfort, Close Communion – there for each one of us, there for today and every day, there… if only we accept to be… his sheep.

Source: Image: vividscreen.info