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Easter Sunday, Year C – 2019

20 avril 2019
Nicole Gregoire
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Catégories: Anglophones et anglophiles
Mots-clés: believe, creed, dogma, Jn.20:1-9, Lk.24:11, Lk.24:25, psychology, science, understand

We have to admit it:
the world is full of things that puzzle us,
daily life is rife with events that baffle us,
situations abound when we cannot make sense of what is happening.
Science and psychology give some clues but they are unhelpful in so many cases…

We study, and we search, and we analyze, but…
our minds fail to understand many aspects of our human existence.
and our hearts remain dissatisfied, so very often…
 
And today, celebrating the Feast of the Resurrection of Christ, where are we at?…
The last verse of the gospel text (Jn.20:1-9) tells us:
 
« Till this moment, the disciples had failed to understand the teaching of scripture
that he must rise from the dead. »
 
Amazing, is it not?
They had been living with him for three years, or so.
They had walked with him from day to day.
They had listened to hours of his teaching.
They had witnessed countless ‘signs’ of who he was – God’s special messenger.
Yet, “they had failed to understand…”
 
As they run to what they have been told is an empty tomb, Peter and John do not understand.  
They are convinced the women have lost their minds as they think Jesus’ body has been removed. (Lk.24:11)
The disciples of Emmaus will be told they are “foolish men, slow to believe…” (Lk.24:25)
 
Believing – not seeing, not understanding, not being able to explain, or justify,
But BELIEVING, plainly and simply.

Not only admitting some articles of a creed that one recites with devotion…
Not solely repeating the explanations one has received long ago about ‘the truths of our religion’…
Not being satisfied with accepting the contents of dogmas passed on to us…

But BELIEVING in deed and in truth.
Trusting Someone to the utmost, unconditionally.
Relying on that Someone even in the midst of the most trying situations.
Surrendering to that Someone all that I am and hope to become…

Some may think: ‘It is stupid, absurd, it is pointless any way.
Only people who are naive and gullible can believe.’

Yet, all things considered, perhaps it is foolish… NOT to believe!…

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

  

Source: Image: Wikipedia

2nd Sunday of Advent, Year B

7 décembre 2017
Nicole Gregoire
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Catégories: Anglophones et anglophiles
Mots-clés: God's ways, human experience, mountains, philosophy, psychology, theology, understanding, valleys, waiting

Some theologians have said that philosophy is the handmaid of theology.
In other words, some philosophical reflection can lead to a deeper understanding of some aspects of the faith.

I personally think that the same can be said of psychology.
Again, I am inclined to believe that a better knowledge of our human ways of thinking, of acting and reacting,
can help us to understand God’s ways!
Of course, there is an amazing difference – a divine one!
Yet, since God made himself a human being, there must be some similarities.

I say this especially as we live – yes, LIVE – this period of Advent.
Everyone repeats that it is a season of waiting, awaiting the coming of someone, Someone with a capital S.
If we look at our human experience of WAITING, we may understand better what this season is about.

  • A wife waiting for the return of a husband gone for a long period on a research trip;
  • parents awaiting the return of a child who had been away roaming the world;
  • a mother-to-be waiting for 9 long months for the birth of her first-born;
  • a student waiting for the exam results that will mean the open door to further studies.

All of them know well what it means to wait – this desire, this longing for the event to take place.
The anxious thought that… perhaps there will be a delay, a change of plan, an accident, a failure…
The anticipation of what will take place when it does finally happen.
There is already a taste of the joy to come – the joy of being together again.

Has this human experience anything to say to our waiting for God?
A word of caution here: it is not a question of putting Baby Jesus back in the Crib – NO!
Oh, we may do this as a teaching aid to help young children understand what Christmas is about.
We do it and it is appropriate for this situation and for that reason.
But many adults protest – and rightly so – that this is not the deep meaning of Christmas NOW.

Simply said: Christmas in our time is NOT putting Baby Jesus back in the Crib –
it is allowing God to take his place at the heart of our human experience – nothing less.

And this takes some practice… it takes some preparing to accept God as God in all the areas of our daily life –
“the mountains and the valleys, the cliffs and the ridges” of which Isaiah speaks about.
This is why there is and ADVENT Season … and more, to do this!

Source: Image: commons.wikipedia.org

Note: Another reflection on different themes is available in French at: https://image-i-nations.com/2e-dimanche-de-lavent-annee-b/

and a video presentation is also offered at: https://image-i-nations.com/2e-dimanche-de-lavent-ghislaine-parle/