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32nd Sunday of Year B – 2024

8 novembre 2024
Nicole Gregoire
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Catégories: Anglophones et anglophiles
Mots-clés: 1 Kings 17:10-16, certainty, death, doubt, fear, God's faithfulness, poor widow, prophet, trust

Today’s 1st reading presents us a scene that is very human and… very inspiring too (1 Kings 17:10-16).
Elijah, the prophet – a man of God, in the mind of pious Jews – arrives at a poor widow’s home.
We see him asking immediately for a drink and, before the woman goes, he adds also a request for food.

The woman’s reply is very touching:
“As surely as the Lord your God lives, I don’t have any bread –
only a handful of flour in a jar and a little olive oil in a jug.
I am gathering a few sticks to take home and make a meal for myself and my son,
that we may eat it – and die.”

Absolute poverty, total penury – the text describes the woman’s complete destitution.
She is ready to die a terrible death which will take her son as well.

The prophet’s reply comes as a promise, wonderful but enigmatic…
the how and when of his words remain unknown…

“Don’t be afraid. Go home and do as you have said.
But first make a small loaf of bread for me from what you have and bring it to me,
and then make something for yourself and your son.
For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says:
‘The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry
until the day the Lord sends rain on the land.’”

The widow hears these words of comfort as the request for food from Elijah remains unchanged.
What is asked of this poor woman is to rest assured that God will provide.
God will take care of her and her son when she has no longer anything to help herself.

To be certain, to be completely sure of something, when there is really no sign that it will happen.
To be convinced, to have no doubt whatever, to entertain no fear, that a promise will be realized.
This is to venture into the unknown, into darkness, into… some would whisper ‘foolishness’…

Some people – like this widow – are ready to credit God’s faithfulness to his word to this extent!
There are people ready to walk surrounded by mist, blinded by puzzlement, yet they make one step after another…
They CANNOT… NOT rely on God, whatever the situation, no matter the troubling circumstances…

Such a trust is an amazing experience – it can test our human resources to the utmost.
But it gives God the occasion of revealing himself as the God he is: ever present, unfailingly reliable!…

 

Note: Another reflection is available on a different theme in French at: https://image-i-nations.com/32e-dimanche-de-lannee-b-2024/

 

Source: Image: https://goodnewsshared.wordpress.com/tag/1-kings-177-16/

22nd Sunday of Year A – 2023

1 septembre 2023
Nicole Gregoire
Aucun commentaire
Catégories: Anglophones et anglophiles
Mots-clés: "real' world, believers, blessings, choice, friends, God's invitation, Matthieu 21:12-13, prophet, relationships

 

Our lives are woven with all kinds of relationships:
family, relatives, friends, neighbours, colleagues.
There are also the specialists we are referred to, or the technicians who fix things for us.

Our relationship with each one of them can be very different.
Some neighbours may become friends, but we may not develop a friendship with certain colleagues.
Some relatives may remain quite distant, while the specialist who treated us has become a close friend.

At a certain moment in time, a choice has been made.
A decision has been taken to accept this, or that person, in our life in a closer way.

Have you ever thought that the same is true about… God!
As you read this, it may happen that you stop and think…
Slowly, you realize that it is true…
You had never thought about it in this way, but you see it now: God invites himself into our lives.

Some people may not want to see God ‘interfering’ in their existence!
It is a little what we see in today’s 1st reading where the prophet Jeremiah is not eager for God to come too close! (Jeremiah 20:7-9).

“You deceived me, Lord, and I was deceived; you overpowered me and prevailed…
I say, “I will not mention his word or speak anymore in his name.”

Jeremiah laments the choice God has made of him to be a prophet.
The message he must pass on to the people in the name of God brings him insults and abuse.
But he cannot resist fulfilling his mission.

Looking at our own lives, we may somehow feel disappointed as well.
We may have thought that accepting God in our lives would bring us blessings of all kinds.
But we are sometimes faced with being laughed at, or rejected, for being believers.
We may be seen as naïve, or out of touch with the ‘real’ world.
We may lose friends because of our being followers of Christ.

God does not impose himself on us, but he proposes a life of relationship with him.
The choice to accept, or to reject, God’s invitation, God’s presence in our life, is ours.

Much depends on our decision…
A more meaningful life, and a more promising afterlife…

God’s offer is a permanent one… and the choice always remains ours…

 

Note: Another text is available on a different theme, in French, at: https://image-i-nations.com/22e-dimanche-de-lannee-a-2023/

 

Source: Images: unsplash.com (Helena Lopes)        pexels.com (Andrea Piacquadio)      https://www.encounter247.com       Wikipedia

27th Sunday of Year C – 2019

5 octobre 2019
Nicole Gregoire
Aucun commentaire
Catégories: Anglophones et anglophiles
Mots-clés: desperation, God's answer, Ha.1:2-3; 2:2-4, injustice, prophet, questions, violence

Questions are very much part of our lives.
From day to day, we ask questions from one another.
We may be looking for information, or we may be asking for direction,
but questions are definitely a means of interaction that we often use among ourselves.

But questions are also part of the interaction of human beings with God
and it has been so for a very long time indeed.

The 1st reading of this 27th Sunday is a good example of this (Ha.1:2-3; 2:2-4).
Some may say a rather… shocking example!
The prophet Habakkuk is not asking God for information, direction, or even inspiration.
The many questions he addresses God express his desperation.

“How long, Lord, must I call for help, but you do not listen?
Or cry out to you, “Violence!” but you do not save?
 Why do you make me look at injustice?
Why do you tolerate wrongdoing?”

HOW LONG? WHY? Questions that many people nowadays would be tempted to address God as well.
Violence, injustice, wrongdoing, all these are still part of our world.
They are still part of the life experience of many –
the many who find themselves in a situation of crisis, feeling desperate and helpless.

“Then the Lord replied:
For the revelation awaits an appointed time;
    it speaks of the end and will not prove false.
Though it linger, wait for it;
    it will certainly come and will not delay.

God has answered Habakkuk and his answer is still valid today.
We need to wait with the conviction that he hears and he will answer… in his own time.
Though it may linger, we need to wait for his reply…

Note: Another reflection is available on a different theme in French at: https://image-i-nations.com/27e-dimanche-de-lannee-c-2019/

 

Source: Images: Pinterest   aboitebaptistchurch.org

 

 

Ash Wednesday, Year C – 2019

6 mars 2019
Nicole Gregoire
Aucun commentaire
Catégories: Anglophones et anglophiles
Mots-clés: blessing, change, compassionate, gracious, Joel 2:12-18, Lent, prophet, who knows?, wide open

“Who knows?”  
We often hear this expression in different contexts.
It is sometimes used when inquiring about a possible event.
One may wonder about the outcome of a given project and asks someone about it.
The answer comes: ‘Who knows?’ 
 
A person may inquire about the intention of a colleague regarding a possible decision.
The same answer is given: ‘Who knows?’ 
 
These words imply that there are a number of possible outcomes.
The expression supposes that different conclusions may be reached, or choices made.
In other words: the situation is, as we say, ‘wide open’ – some change may happen in the course of time.

It is interesting to see these words used by the prophet Joel speaking about… GOD!
In the 1st reading (Joel 2:12-18), we hear him say:
”Who knows? He may turn and relent and leave behind a blessing…”

As if God could change his mind!
We have been taught that it is not so, and yet…

Perhaps we need to switch things around, look at another angle of the situation –
the situation of… our relationship with God…

If WE change, if we return to him as he asks us to do…
‘Who knows?’ we may come to see him as he really is:
“gracious and compassionate,
slow to anger and abounding in love…”
 
Perhaps this is what Lent is all about: OUR changing so we may see God as he is…
as he wants to be for us: always ready to “leave behind a blessing…”

Note: Another reflection is available on a different theme in French at: https://image-i-nations.com/mercredi-des-cendres-annee-c-2019/

 

Source: Image: Pilgrim at the Crossroads – WordPress.com