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John 14:23

5th Sunday of Easter, Year A – 2023

5 mai 2023
Nicole Gregoire
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Catégories: Anglophones et anglophiles
Mots-clés: home, John 14:1-12, John 14:23, restlessness, satisfaction, serenity, unease

Someone may have chosen to live in a luxury apartment.
Another person has found the ideal family house.
Yet another has bought a summer residence.
A friendly shack is reserved for sport activities for still another.

All these locations serve as some kind of residence where rooms are available.
Yet often the people who own, or rent, these places do not seem to enjoy fully the time they spend there.
Is it not true that may of us experience some kind of restlessness wherever we may find ourselves?
We had thought we would be fully happy at the cottage, or condo, we have acquired, but…
Somehow it seems that something is missing.

This is possibly the result of… being human!
Full happiness, total satisfaction, seem to elude us.
Most times we experience some kind of unease…
We long for something else, for more…

In today’s gospel, Jesus tells his friends that he is going to prepare a place for them (John 14:1-12).
They are unaware of what he means and they ask themselves where he is going.

Our own reaction may be quite similar whenever we think of what lies ahead…
Ahead at the end of our lives here on earth…
Because there are moments when we think of this… trying to imagine what is awaiting us.

In simple words, we could say that what is waiting for us, what Jesus has prepared for us, is our real HOME.
A place of complete happiness, where pain, anxiety, misfortune, have disappeared.
Satisfaction and serenity will be ours for ever.

Perhaps we could add that a foretaste of this is already offered to us if…
If we make God ‘at home’ with us.

Jesus has said:
“If anyone loves me, he will keep my word,
And my Father will love him,
And we shall come to him
And make our home with him.”     (John 14:23)

It is as simple as this… if…

 

Note: Another text is available on a different theme, in French at: https://image-i-nations.com/5e-dimanche-de-paques-annee-a-2023

 

Source: Images: pexels.com   (Pixabay,   Kelly,  Jack Redgate,   Bianca)

 

7th Sunday of Year A – 2023

17 février 2023
Nicole Gregoire
Aucun commentaire
Catégories: Anglophones et anglophiles
Mots-clés: 1 Corinthians 3:16-23, aware, home, hope, John 14:23, joy, questioning, relationship with God, surprise, temple of God, wonder

Reading the word of God in the Bible, one can experience all kinds of feelings:

joy and consolation,
hope and anticipation,
wonder and questioning,
regret, perhaps… or helplessness?…

But there are times when the feeling is one of surprise – total and unexpected amazement!
The first lines of today’s 2nd reading can awaken such a reaction.
Writing to the Corinthians, Paul somehow admonishes them in these words (1 Corinthians 3:16-23):

“Didn’t you realize that you were God’s temple,
and that the Spirit of God was living among you…
The temple of God is sacred; and you are that temple.”

These words are truly astonishing.
Just pause for a moment and ask yourself:
If, one day, someone came to you and asked you that very question:
‘Do you realize that YOU are God’s temple’, how would you answer?

I think that, faced with this situation, many people would be taken aback,
possibly unable – or unwilling – to answer!
How many of us, Christians, ARE AWARE of this reality?

A temple is seen as a sacred building since it is the location where worship happens.
It is considered to be a place for ritual celebrations.
In other words: it is reserved for activities related to God.

But, on the eve of his death, Jesus told his apostles (John 14:23):

“If anyone loves me, he(she), will keep my word,
my Father will love him(her),
and we shall come to him(her),
and make our home with him(her).”

With the word ‘home’, Jesus meant more than a building, or a simple location.
Obviously, he had in mind something that goes beyond wood or bricks.
Jesus was speaking of a relationship.

This is what we are called to: a relationship of close proximity with God.

Something amazing, yes, but more still:
something absolutely wonderful that needs to be discovered anew – and lived – day after day…

 

Note: Another text is available on a different theme, in French at: https://image-i-nations.com/7e-dimanche-de-lannee-a-2023/

 

Source: Image: Scripture Images

 

31st Sunday of Year B – 2021

29 octobre 2021
Nicole Gregoire
Aucun commentaire
Catégories: Anglophones et anglophiles
Mots-clés: believe, God Father, home, John 14:23, kingdom of God, love, Mark 12:28-34

Today’s gospel text (Mark 12:28-34) ends with a sentence that is most hopeful:

“You are not far from the kingdom of God.”

Who would not want to be told these words?
It is truly reassuring to believe that we are not far from God.
Is it not what we want: to get closer to God, day by day?

But what if it were God who draws closer to us?
This is, in fact, what Jesus says in a text from John’s gospel –
the verse that is given to us as the response (Alleluia) to the 2nd reading:

“If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him,
and we will come to him and make our home with him (John 14:23).

It is a question of… love, yes, the very love that the 1st reading and the gospel are telling us about.

And keeping the word of Jesus, this is the way of loving he expects from us.
 
 
Note: Another reflection is available on a different theme in French at: https://image-i-nations.com/31e-dimanche-de-lannee-b-2021/
 

Source: Image: Honest Talk with God