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Easter Sunday, Year A – 2023

8 avril 2023
Nicole Gregoire
Aucun commentaire
Catégories: Anglophones et anglophiles
Mots-clés: emptiness, future, hope, Luke 24:45, openness, présence, purpose

A situation of… emptiness…
This is what this celebration underlines.
The apostles are left with hearts empty – empty of hope, with no purpose, no future… it seems.
And there is… the empty tomb – Jesus had been buried there, but he has disappeared.

A situation of openness!…
This is what this celebration reveals.
The tomb will remain empty, but the hearts of the apostles are no longer so.
Because Jesus present with them…

“opened their minds so they could understand the meaning of the Scriptures…” (Luke 24:45).

And this understanding brought…
       a new meaning of all that has been,
       the purpose of a new life,
and the hope of all that is to come!

It was so for them,
and it can be so for us – a presence through all that happens, and… for ever!
 

 

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

 

 

Source: Image: www.churchofjesuschrist.org

 

1st Sunday of Lent, Year A – 2023

24 février 2023
Nicole Gregoire
Aucun commentaire
Catégories: Anglophones et anglophiles
Mots-clés: challenges, freedom, If, Matthew 4:1-11, options, purpose, Satan, temptations, the Devil

A very small word (in the English language), it can determine much of life… IF…

 IF… suggests some conditions,
          opens up possibilities,
          outlines options,
          implies choices,
          calls on a person’s freedom…

It is the very word that we find repeated three times in today’s gospel text (Matthew 4:1-11).
Satan, sometimes referred to as ‘the Devil’, uses this expression in addressing Jesus.
He frames in this way the temptations with which he challenges Jesus.

Twice, Satan says:
       “If you are the Son of God…”

Having failed to obtain what he wants, Satan changes the format of his attack and says:
      “If you will bow down and worship me.”

The strategy of the Devil is threefold, it is all at once:

  • a challenge to Jesus very identity,
  • a test of his total commitment to the only God,
  • a promise of reward for giving in to the temptation.

Our daily life presents us with many ‘IF situations’…
They have the same purpose:
challenging our identity and testing our commitment to God,
with a promise, of course, to satisfy our longing, and our craving, for some desired ‘good’.

Often times, we are faced with these words or similar ones:
         ‘If you think about it, you will agree that…
         ‘If you see what others do, you will accept also…
         ‘If you remember what happened, you cannot refuse…
         ‘If you love me, you will do this…

Each one of us can make his/her own list of IF statements of confrontation, or provocation.
Every one entails a decision that will make clear who we are, and to whom we have committed ourselves.

This period of Lent is precisely a moment of becoming aware of
who we are,
and who God is for us.

The very challenge that Jesus faced.
He cannot fail to help us respond to it as he did.

      

Note: Another text is available on a different theme, in French at: https://image-i-nations.com/1er-dimanche-du-careme-annee-a-2023/

 

Source: Image: Aleteia

16th Sunday of Year B – 2021

15 juillet 2021
Nicole Gregoire
Aucun commentaire
Catégories: Anglophones et anglophiles
Mots-clés: direction, eat, Mark 6:30-34, meaning, purpose, reason to die, reason to live, rest

It has been said that more than food, drink, or rest, what a human being needs is meaning.
What is most necessary, in life, is a sense of direction, a purpose for living.
The statistics about suicide given in the media support this affirmation.

This thought came to me as I read the gospel text of this Sunday (Mark 6:30-34).
In the scene presented to us, we see Jesus concerned about his apostles.
As they return from their teaching tour, Jesus is aware that they need to rest for a while.
To rest and to eat, because people are coming to listen to Jesus in such great numbers that his apostles have no time even to eat.

With them, Jesus crosses the lake to a lonely place, but the crowd has guessed their intention and meets them there.
Seeing these people in search of him, Jesus perceives their need:
the need to hear from him the words that give meaning to their existence.
They have discovered that his message gives a sense of direction to their daily life.

They, who are “like sheep without a shepherd” have found in Jesus the Shepherd who can guide them to what they want to be and to become.

If we think seriously about it, what all of us need, is it not a reason to live and… a reason to die?…

 

Note: Another reflection is available on a different theme in French at: https://image-i-nations.com/16e-dimanche-de-lannee-b-2021/

 

Source: Image: thechurchnews.com

22nd Sunday of Year C – 2019

30 août 2019
Nicole Gregoire
Aucun commentaire
Catégories: Anglophones et anglophiles
Mots-clés: Ben Sirach, Ecclesiasticus 3:17-18, Ecclesiasticus 3:20, Ecclesiasticus 3:28-29, events, on the run, purpose, reflecting, taking time, wise

People speak of the tyranny of ‘should’, the slavery of ‘must’, the compulsion of ‘ought to’ –
all the things I should be doing, the people I must see, the commitments I ought to honour!

All these lead us to get busy, and always busier, being constantly on the run, out of breath
and, at the end of the day, find ourselves empty and dispirited.

In today’s 1st reading (Ecclesiasticus 3:17-18,20,28-29) the wise man Ben Sirach offers us another lifestyle.
He gives us the picture or someone he qualifies as ‘intelligent’ and ‘wise’ as he says

“The mind of the intelligent man will ponder a parable,
and an attentive ear is the wise man’s desire.”

Pondering, being attentive, in other words: 
pausing, taking time, reflecting on serious matters and important issues.
Looking at life and events and finding the true purpose of our human existence…

Those looking for a slogan for a poster would start writing:

STOP RUNNING – START THINKING !

The perfect ad to stop people in their tracks and, perchance, direct them to the path of the wise!

Note: Another reflection is available on a different theme in French at: https://image-i-nations.com/22e-dimanche-de-lannee-c-2019/

Source: Image: oosteo.com