image-i-nations trésor

14th Sunday of Year C – 2022

Among believers, if asked whether they know God, some people would answer immediately:
“Of course, I know him!”
Others may pause for a moment before replying: “Well, I know some things about him…”

Knowing someone is quite an experience, and to know someone truly the experience must be on-going, never achieved completely.
The same is true, all the more so, where God is concerned.
In fact, to know him truly, we need him to make himself known to us.

In the gospel of this Sunday (Luke 10:1-12,17-20), Jesus tells us something important about God.
Sending his Apostles to towns and villages to tell people about God, Jesus says that they are to proclaim:

“The kingdom of God is very near to you.”
 
The kingdom of God – God’s presence, God himself is indeed very near to us.
Sad to say, many people think of him as far away, far above…
To many people, God is uninvolved, untouched, unmoved by our human experiences…
When he, himself, has chosen to become one of us in Jesus!

It may be helpful in the coming days, to repeat the words – a little like a mantra:
“God is very near…”

The days ahead may be transformed into something we had not experienced until now…

 

Note: Another reflection is available on a different theme in French at:https://image-i-nations.com/14e-dimanche-de-lannee-c-2022/

 

Source: Image: Our Retirement Days

14th Sunday of Year C – 2019

Many people long to be well-known and popular.
Eager to be famous, they want their reputation to spread far and wide.
They want their names to appear in newspapers or important publications.
They expect their realisations to be broadcast and their names acknowledged in social media.
For them, being forgotten, worse still being ignored, is a disaster and they cannot accept not to be in the limelight.

And yet… yet… is people’s opinion that important?
Being considered famous, even being recognised as a genius, is this the aim of life?

This reflection came to me as the last line of today’s gospel (Lk.10:1-12,17-20) was read.
To his apostles, overjoyed with the miracles they have been able to perform, Jesus says:

“Do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you,
but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”
 
Long before, through the prophet Isaiah, God had said:
See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands”. (Is.49:16)

Does the rest really count for that much?
This is how close we are to God – someone he simply cannot forget!
If only the reverse were true!…

Note: Another reflection is available on a different theme in French at: https://image-i-nations.com/14e-dimanche-de-lannee-c-2019/

Source: Image: thechurchinmalta.org