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4th Sunday of Easter, Year B – 2024

19 avril 2024
Nicole Gregoire
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Catégories: Anglophones et anglophiles
Mots-clés: believe, give one's life, Isaiah 43:40, John 10:11-18, love, precious, shepherd

Nowadays, some people speak of our ways as those of a ‘throw away culture’.
It seems that people buy a lot of objects, and they soon throw them away.
They acquire many items and discard them readily.
Not much is precious to them, it looks as if nothing is of real value.

Sad to say, this mentality sometimes spreads to the way we relate to people.
We do not value who they are, and what they can contribute to society.
Short-term relationships are prevailing, and enduring commitment are not the norm.

This is what has led me to notice a section of today’s gospel text (John 10:11-18).
It speaks of the hired man who acts as a shepherd.
Seeing a wolf coming to attack the sheep, that man runs away, and Jesus explains the reason for this attitude:
“The man does not care for the sheep”. (Another translation says: “He has no concern for the sheep”).

Jesus repeats and insists, saying:
“I am the good shepherd… I lay down my life for my sheep”.

Someone ready to give his/her life for another, surely that person is precious to him/her.
The life of the other person is of great value.
It means so much that one is ready to sacrifice his/her own existence to save another.

This is how precious we are to God.
This is really amazing, so amazing that we find it difficult to believe…

Long ago, God had given this very message to his prophet Isaiah who was to say in God’s name:
“You are precious in my eyes…
You are honored and I love you” (Isaiah 43:40).

This is GOD speaking to each one of us!
We are precious to him, and he loves us –
a message spoken long ago but always valid, permanent and unconditional.

Why do we hesitate to accept this tremendous reality?

 

Note: Another text is available on a different theme, in French, at: 4è dimanche de Pâques, année B -2024

 

Source: Image: https://quotesgram.com/the-good-shepherd-jesus-quotes/

The Alphabet of Lent – Letter V

15 mars 2024
Nicole Gregoire
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Catégories: Anglophones et anglophiles
Mots-clés: disciples of Christ, hear and follow, John 10:27, John 10:4-6, Psalm 95:7, shepherd, the 'small voice', voice

V for Voice

The voice of a person is something very particular.
The intonation, the pronunciation, the rhythm – everything is characteristic of this individual.
There are voices which are soft, warm, comforting, seducing…
And there are others which are… completely the opposite!

Even in the distance, the voice of someone can be recognized by its tone.
A familiar voice invites us, or makes us turn back, according to the relationship of the person with us.

Jesus has used this reality to describe precisely our relationship with him.
He takes the example of a shepherd and he says:
 
“He (the shepherd) goes on ahead of the sheep,
and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. 
But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him
because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice.” 
Jesus used this figure of speech…” (John 10:4-6).

Jesus continues and makes the text personal:
“My sheep listen to my voice;
I know them, and they follow me” (John 10:27).

This comparison had something familiar to the people listening to Jesus –
some of them were probably shepherds who knew the ways of their flocks.

Even though, nowadays, we may not spontaneously think of ourselves – disciples of Christ –
as sheep, his words reach us and speak to our hearts…
Because this is exactly what he desires: to reach us in the depths of ourselves.

Obviously, his message is not audible as the words of people around us are.
We cannot measure the sound of his words with a precise number of decibels.
It is not the resonance that is important but… the relationship!

This is what God wants: an intimate relationship with us – a relationship that expresses 
his proximity,
his attention to all that touches us,
his desire to answer our needs.

If only we know how to perceive his voice…
discern his message…
and… answer it…

Some people speak of ‘the small voice’ which they perceive in the depths of themselves…
It could be translated as an intimate call, an inspiration, a discreet invitation…

The voice of him who revealed himself as “The Good Shepherd” could manifest itself in this way…

Then, there remains only to follow the advice of the Psalmist:
“Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts” (Psalm 95:7).

 

Source: Image: Public Domain Pictures

Feast of the Epiphany, Year C – 2022

2 janvier 2022
Nicole Gregoire
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Catégories: Anglophones et anglophiles
Mots-clés: caring, goals, Isaiah 40:11, king, Matthew 2:1-12, plan of God, plans, shepherd, watching over

At times, listening to some people talking, we may hear a person say:
“It’s all a question of planning”.
True, much in life depends on the plans we make to achieve our goals.

Strangely enough, this thought came to me as I reflected on the texts of this Feast of the Epiphany.
There are many plans mentioned in today’s gospel reading (Matthew 2:1-12).

We see three Magi, yes, Wise Men, planning for a long journey.
Their plan, in fact, is to find a new-born king – so they believe.
We meet a devious ruler, himself a king, having his own plans about a potential new-born rival.
Their quest having been rewarded, the three Wise Men make a new plan for the return journey.

But this summary has left out one more plan of the utmost importance: the plan of God!
While everyone speaks in terms of kingship, God speaks another language.
In the gospel text, we are told:

“You, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
out of you will come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.”

A shepherd, this is the one who has come to us from God – God himself.
This is what God wants to be for us: someone who watches over us, someone who cares.
Long before his birth, the description of this shepherd had been made by the prophet Isaiah (40:11):

“He tends his flock like a shepherd:
he gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart;
he gently leads those that have young.”

Perhaps, at the beginning of this new year, this is something we need to learn:
to be shown the way,
to be led and…
to be carried when needs be!

 

Note: Another reflection is available on a different theme in French at: https://image-i-nations.com/fete-de-lepiphanie-annee-c-2022/

 

Source: Images: allinnet.info    Wikipedia

16th Sunday of Year B

20 juillet 2018
Nicole Gregoire
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Catégories: Anglophones et anglophiles
Mots-clés: awareness, Care, Concern, help, Jr.23:1-6, Mk.6:30-34, need, shepherd

The relationship between a shepherd and his flock is not something one is used to in our society.
A text that would describe this would belong to literature and…
one could venture to say that there is a touch of sentimentality about it!

The Bible offers us such a description and, in the 1st reading of this Sunday (16th Sunday of Year B – Jr.23:1-6)
through the prophet Jeremiah, God speaks movingly about how precious to him his flock is.
For us, people of the 21st century, what is meaningful is perhaps not the description but the evocation that such a text provides.
What comes to mind and what speaks to the heart is the care and concern involved in such a relationship.

Care and concern…

  • New-born and children need that.
  • Teen-agers do too, reluctantly of course!
  • The sick, the handicapped, the weak…
  • Those who experience distress and loneliness….
  • Those struggling with misfortune, failure, despair.

And… when all is said and done, do WE not ALL need a caring friend, or a concerned relative?
Someone who shows understanding and empathy when we need them most.
Someone who will take time and trouble to come to our help when we can no longer cope.

I wonder, yes, I do… how many people are aware that God himself offers us precisely that:
care and concern born of a compassion beyond words.
The very compassion we hear about in today’s gospel (Mk.6:30-34) as we read:

“When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them,
because they were like sheep without a shepherd.”

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

Source: Images: amboa.ph   livelifelike.com

4th Sunday of Easter, Year B

20 avril 2018
Nicole Gregoire
Aucun commentaire
Catégories: Anglophones et anglophiles
Mots-clés: awareness, believe, caring, Concern, daily life, fog, Frederick Forsyth, Jesus Good Shepherd, Jn.10:11-18, lost, needs, Ps.119:176, safety, sheep, shepherd, trust, wandering

The gospel of this Sunday (4th Sunday of Easter, Year B – Jn.10:11-18) is well known with its text on the Good Shepherd.
The words of Jesus are familiar and the picture they suggest to our minds is one similar to the picture here – a man concerned about his sheep and caring for his flock.

The example may not speak to our daily life in modern cities far away from a village in Palestine of old.
However, a book published by a well-known author expresses very well in a modern metaphor what the message of Jesus is about.
I speak of the book The Shepherd of Frederick Forsyth – not intended for spiritual reading but with rich spiritual overtones that can inspire us!

It is the story of a pilot going home for Christmas and, suddenly, his aircraft suffers a complete electrical failure en route. Lost in fog and with little fuel left, he fears the worse. Literally out of the blue and absolutely unexpected. he is met and led (or shepherded) by another pilot who has apparently been sent up to guide him and bring him to land safely.

You will say it is a clever plot from a no less clever author, and you are right.
But, strange to say – and is it really strange? – our own life can provide us with no less wonderful experiences.
We, too, can feel lost in the occasional fog of daily living and our energy may be low, depleted by the struggle to cope day after day…

To me, today’s gospel presents us someone, yes Someone, who is aware and who cares – aware of

  • who we are,
  • what we are faced with,
  • what we need.

Aware, indeed he is, and he cares – he cares enough to provide for our needs
and more abundantly than we could ever dream of!

A fairy tale? No!
A fascinating thriller? Not at all!
The on-going experience of someone (it can be you and me) who dares to believe, to trust,
and to say with the Psalmist:

“I am wandering like a lost sheep;
come and look for your servant..   (Ps.119:176)
 
Note: Another reflection is available in French on a different theme at: https://image-i-nations.com/4e-dimanche-de-paques-annee-b/

Source: Images: catholicteacherresources.com  pinterest.com
Book illustration: Wikipedia