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6th Sunday of Year C – 2022

11 février 2022
Nicole Gregoire
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Catégories: Anglophones et anglophiles
Mots-clés: happiness, hatred from others, hunger, Jeremiah 17:5-8, pleasures, possessions, poverty, prestige, sadness

Poverty, hunger, sadness, hatred from others – who would dare say that these will bring happiness?
Someone has dared to say so – Jesus did when speaking to the crowds eager to listen to him (Luke 6:17,20-26).

I wonder how they reacted, all those listening to him on that day…
As they walked back home, they must have been puzzled, wondering about such an unusual message.

I ask myself: ‘Nowadays, how many people are listening to these words, listening and being ready to accept the message given – such a challenging message!’…

Possessions and prestige, this is what people are looking for, not poverty and hunger.
Enjoying life and all the pleasures it can offer, this is what appeals to people, not suffering and sadness.

Of course, there is the promise – the promise of the kingdom of God, of future satisfaction and joy, a reward waiting in heaven.
But precisely, this is all to come… in the future.
This perspective has not much interest for people living in what has been qualified as a time of instant gratification!
Enjoying life now, not in what seems to many as a doubtful future.

We, each one of us, are faced with a choice, a challenge: accepting Jesus’ message and following him, or…
Or, following our own path, searching, and searching, never really finding what we are longing for…

In the 1st reading, the prophet Jeremiah says (Jeremiah 17:5-8):

“Blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose hope is the Lord”.

Trust and hope: relying on someone who cannot disappoint our search – this is the option offered to us.
Instead of a constant search leading to… a dead end.

 

Note: Another reflection on a different theme is available in French at: https://image-i-nations.com/6e-dimanche-de-lannee-c-2022/

 

Source: Image: historyandthenews.wordpress

5th Sunday of Easter, Year A – 2020

8 mai 2020
Nicole Gregoire
Aucun commentaire
Catégories: Anglophones et anglophiles
Mots-clés: being troubled, God's presence, hand, hopelessness, Jn.14:1-12, Jn.6:66, Lc.22:44;, Lc.22:54-62, Mt.26:36, Mt.26:56, pandemic, rainbow, sadness

In this period of pandemic, the prevailing mood of most people is not that of exuberant joy,
and this is an understatement.
Sadness, loneliness, and for some even hopelessness, characterize their days.
Downcast, dejected, discouraged, would describe many people.
 
In the first line of this Sunday’s gospel (Jn.14:1-12) Jesus says:
“Do not let your hearts be troubled. 
You believe in God; believe also in me.”
 
It seems so simple, too simple…
In life – and especially life nowadays – there are many reasons to be troubled.
Sickness, worry about a mortal virus, about money, about the situation of loved ones we cannot visit…
And worry about… death, of course.

We have been repeating to ourselves:
‘It will be fine. Together we will overcome’.
And to reassure ourselves we have displayed pictures of rainbows to assert our hope.
But, somehow, it does not always work…
The discouragement returns and sometimes tears run down the cheeks of this or that person.

Jesus says that we should NOT be troubled…
And he speaks from experience –

  • deserted by his followers (Jn.6:66)
  • abandoned by his close friends (Mt.26:56)
  • betrayed by one (Mt.26:15) and denied by another (Lc.22:54-62)
  • feeling distress and anguish (Lc.22:44; Mt.26:36)

Long ago, the author of the epistle to the Hebrews wrote to the first Christians:
“We do not have a High Priest who cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities,
but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.”
 
The temptation to say: ‘It’s too much. I can’t bear this any more.’
Yet… like an outstretched hand, help is there…
The help of his presence, his strength, his comfort, his relief…

You need not look for the hand, but HE is there!

Note: Another reflection is available on a different theme in French at: https://image-i-nations.com/5e-dimanche-de-paques-annee-a-2020/

 

Source: Images: thechurchofchristoflatterdays.org Dreamstime.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

28th Sunday of Year B

13 octobre 2018
Nicole Gregoire
Aucun commentaire
Catégories: Anglophones et anglophiles
Mots-clés: Lk.9:59-61, Mk.10:17-22, regret, riches, sadness, wealth

We are used to hearing about and speaking of the TWELVE apostles of Jesus.
But was it not possible that the group could have counted… thirteen apostles, or even fifteen?

There is a text in Luke’s gospel (Lk.9:59-61) where we see Jesus calling some people who are not ready to follow him.
And today’s gospel text (28th Sunday of Year B – Mk.10:17-22) shows us another scene where, again, Jesus invites a young man to follow him but… this call is not answered.

The young man wanted a better life, a life closer to God and more faithful to him.
But his existence was already filled with too many things, with too many of the rewards that wealth can provide.
He was not ready to part with all his riches…
We are told: “He went away sad.”

The sadness of holding on to what should be given up…
The regret of not being able to let go…
The heaviness of heart that is clinging to what should be abandoned…
The sorrow of being attached to what causes slavery…
The misery of being possessed by one’s possessions…

A bitter taste: that of delusion, thinking that one is what one has…
A person has become what he/she owns when so much more is offered…

May we overcome such a temptation and be spared such a fate.

Note: another reflection is available on a different theme in French at: https://image-i-nations.com/28e-dimanche-de-lannee-b/

Source : Image : lds.org

7th Sunday of Easter, Year B

11 mai 2018
Nicole Gregoire
Aucun commentaire
Catégories: Anglophones et anglophiles
Mots-clés: discouragement, intervention of Fod, Lord's blessings, not to forget, Ps.103, recall, Remember, sadness, Thanksgiving

At long last, springtime has come and, with it, nature is taking on its colourful attire in the form of all kinds of flowers.
Flowers of different kinds and shapes, of diverse colours and fragrances, for our enjoyment.

One of them has a name which always strikes me because… it has a message.
It is called: Forget-Me-Not !
Scientists surely have a more sophisticated name for it in Latin, but I prefer its popular title and… request: FORGET-ME-NOT!

The picture of it came to me as I read the Psalm of this Sunday (7th Sunday of Easter, Year B – Ps.103).
Verse 2 says: “Forget not all his (the Lord’s) blessings.”
It is not a prophet or any of Israel’s wise people who say this to the Psalmist but he speaks to himself!
He says: “My soul…” – in other words, he calls on his deepest self, not to forget.

Not to forget,
to remember,
to recall,
to be aware of all that the Lord has done for him.

But this supposes that… a person has first noticed the Lord’s action in his life.
He/she has been attentive and sensitive to the intervention of God on his behalf.
Then, later on, he/ she will be able to bring back to memory the gifts received and the blessings enjoyed.

I know of a woman who, at the beginning of each year, takes a colourful flower container which she especially likes.
No, she does not place flowers into it but, every day, she puts at least one small piece of paper on which she has listed something good and positive that has happened during the day.
It can be a small gesture of appreciation from someone, a chance meeting with someone else, the smile of a child, a good deed from a neighbour –
just about anything that has touched her in a positive way –
she writes it down and she places the small piece of paper in the jar.

Then, on those days when she feels sad or discouraged, when everything seems to go wrong, or when she simply lacks the energy to go on doing her best, she takes out one of the small pieces of paper from the flower container…
‘It works like magic’, she says!
The positive aspect of the memory – and the thanksgiving she has attached to it – bring back a feeling of joy, of renewed strength.

On this Sunday, I ask: ‘Why not do the same for the Lord’s blessings?’
They may come ‘clothed’, as it were, under the appearance of all the good things that happen to us and…
we may have failed to notice so many of them.

A colouful flower container… and the resolution NOT TO FORGET are all that is needed!…

Note: Another reflection is available in French in a different theme at: https://image-i-nations.com/7e-dimanche-de-paques-annee-b/

Source: Images: pixabay.com  PxHere