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The Alphabet of Lent – Letter O

6 mars 2024
Nicole Gregoire
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Catégories: Anglophones et anglophiles
Mots-clés: Children, door, knock, Matthew 7:7-12, needs, open, parents, prayer

O for OPEN

There are things which are known to us – we have read and heard about those topics.
The information has been given to us, these recommendations have been repeated, but…
But… it seems that we still need to be reminded of what has been said.

This is true precisely about the teaching of Jesus on … prayer.
He assures us:

“Ask and it will be given to you;
 seek and you will find;
knock and the door will be opened to you”. (Mathhew 7:7-12)

The affirmation is repeated three times in a different way.
The commandment is somehow ‘hammered down’ with three examples of daily life.
Could it be that Jesus knows all too well our hesitation to bring our needs to God?…

As an example, he mentions our own attitude, we, parents, towards our children.

“If you, then, though you are evil,
know how to give good gifts to your children,
how much more will your Father in heaven
give good gifts to those who ask him!”

We hesitate, we postpone, we have doubts…
Even these words of Jesus are not sufficient to convince us – what else are we waiting for?…
“The door WIL BE OPENED…” if we knock…
 

Source: Image: pexels.com (Kader D. Kahraman)

5th Sunday of Easter, Year C – 2019  

17 mai 2019
Nicole Gregoire
Aucun commentaire
Catégories: Anglophones et anglophiles
Mots-clés: Acts 14:21-27, awareness, closed, discovery, inventory, Memories, open, stock taking

Nowadays, technology has changed things, of course.
But at the end of the year, in the not-so-distant past, we used to see such advertisement in the doors of shops.
Business was temporarily stopped to make a list of the remaining commodities and see what needed to be bought for the coming year.
New stocks were ordered, or not renewed, according to the outcome of this important activity: an inventory.
And, for this operation, the shop was CLOSED.

Strangely enough, this memory came back to me with the text of the 1st reading of this Sunday (Acts 14:21-27).
Speaking of Paul and Barnabas, the last verse tells us:

“They assembled the church and gave an account of all that God had done with them.”
 
To me this is an invitation to… make an inventory of a special kind with the clear sign: OPEN!
Open our awareness,
open the treasure of our memories,
open our daily experience, to uncover what is hidden there!

Have you ever made such an inventory – of all that God has done with you?
All that God has done in you, for you, through you…
I think that you may be quite surprised with the outcome.
It may be an experience providing you with some astonishing discovery.
And it may give you much encouragement…

All too often, we take for granted much of what God does for us and, yes, with us.
This Sunday may be a good occasion to have a look again at our daily life and activities and…
see from a different perspective what may lie behind the obvious.
A rewarding exercise of… ‘stock taking’!

Note: Another reflection is available on a different theme in French at: https://image-i-nations.com/5e-dimanche-de-paques-annee-c-2019/

Source: Images: Owler   Pexels