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The Father

5th Sunday of Easter, Year B – 2024

26 avril 2024
Nicole Gregoire
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Catégories: Anglophones et anglophiles
Mots-clés: bearing fruit, John 15:1-8, logic of God, pruning, The Father, vine

Recently, I found a bookmark with a text that kept me pondering.
No author was mentioned, but the words led to a prolonged reflection.
It said: “Keep your eyes on the logic of God”.

I was asking myself: What can be considered ‘the logic of God’?
It is at that moment that I came across the gospel text for today, (John 15:1-8).
There, I read Jesus’ words saying:

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser…
Every branch that does bear fruit, he prunes to make it bear even more”.

We would think – with our human logic – that a branch bearing fruit will be left as it is.
It would be allowed to come to fruition and then the fruit would be collected.
But it seems that… God’s logic is different!

Jesus says something rather puzzling:
“Every branch that does bear fruit, the Father prunes to make it bear even more”.

This speaks of cutting out, of taking away, of letting go, of detachment, …
This is not according to our usual choices…
This does not go along the direction of our preferences…
Normally, we want to add, to increase, not to diminish or to lessen…

But then, we need to focus on the purpose of God’s doing:
“to make it bear even more”.

This is where the increase, the expansion, the growth, the fulfilment will come…
In God’s time, at God’s rhythm, in God’s way…
And our human logic has to get familiar with this…

A familiarization that may take time and adjustment.
But this may be part and parcel of the ‘more’…

And who knows what the ‘more’ may still hold in reserve for us!

 

Note: Another text is available on a different theme, in French, at: https://image-i-nations.com/5e-dimanche-de-paques-annee-b-2024/

 

Source: Image: https://insightsfromtom.com/tag/john-152/

4th Sunday of Lent, Year C – 2022

25 mars 2022
Nicole Gregoire
Aucun commentaire
Catégories: Anglophones et anglophiles
Mots-clés: bitterness, compassion, émotions, feelings, freedom, hunger, Luke 15:1-3, Luke 15:11-32, need, pleasures, regret, The Father, the Spirit

In many ways, feelings and emotions mold our personalities.
They mark our actions and reactions.
They influence much of what we live, for better or for worse.

Today’s gospel is filled with emotions (Luke 15:1-3,11-32):
The eagerness of sinners to hear Jesus.
The frustration of the Pharisees seeing them at the table.
The desire for freedom of the younger son.
The compassion and generosity of the father.
The anger of the jealous brother.

In this whole panorama describing human attitudes, there is one verse that stands out.
It refers to the young man and says:
“He came to himself” (v.17).
 
And this has been quite a long journey indeed!
He has gone through a whole landscape of feelings.

 

His desire for freedom, his enjoyment of life’s pleasures,
his hunger and need, the awareness of what he has lost,
his regret, his planning to return home,
the preparation of his ‘confession’ to his father,
and… finally setting on the road…
with, probably, more than a little bitterness.

This was the l o n g  process of ‘coming to himself’…
And, strangely enough, it had to take place before he could come to his father!

This may be the experience we need to make in this period of Lent:
We have to come to ourselves.
We have to become aware of what lies deep within us –
become aware and acknowledge what makes us act and react as we do.

Then, with all that ‘inhabits’ the depths of our being,
we will be able to set on the way to return to our Father.

This may involve a long pilgrimage but the Spirit can accompany us every step of the way…
If we allow him to do so…

                                                              

And another reflection, on a different theme, is available in French at: https://image-i-nations.com/4e-dimanche-du-careme-annee-c-2022/

 

Source: Images: Free Bible Images   

 

 

 

Feast of the Holy Trinity, year B

25 mai 2018
Nicole Gregoire
Aucun commentaire
Catégories: Anglophones et anglophiles
Mots-clés: God's presence, Jn.10:30, Jn.14:17, Mt.29:16-20, promises, The Father, the Spirit

Promises – they are important, we rely on them,
especially when they are from people who are trustworthy.
And then… there are very special promises: those from… God himself!

In today gospel, on the Feast of the Holy Trinity (Year B – Mt.28:16-20), the last verse gives us precisely this:
a promise from Jesus assuring us:

”I am with you always; yes, to the end of time.”
 
An astonishing statement, all the more so when we remember that he also said:
“The Father and I are one” (Jn.10:30) and
“The Spirit is with you, in you” (Jn.14:17).

So, these three verses summarize, in a way, what today’s feast is about:
the Father, Jesus himself and the Spirit are with us, in us,
yes, “until the end of time.”

Note: Another reflection is available in French on a different theme at: https://image-i-nations.com/fete-de-la-sainte-trinite-annee-b/

Source: Image: Brainy Quotes

6th Sunday of Easter, Year B

4 mai 2018
Nicole Gregoire
Aucun commentaire
Catégories: Anglophones et anglophiles
Mots-clés: discoveries, freedom, friend of God, friends, Jn.15:9-17, requirement, The Father, value

Whether we like it or not, Facebook is one of the most popular social media.
It has taken on the ‘mission’ of ‘connecting’ us, of linking together the inhabitants of Planet Earth.
To achieve this task, it makes use of all kinds of clever ways – one of which is the ’FRIENDS’ feature.

It is interesting to listen to people telling one another how many ‘friends’ they have on Facebook.
Some will boast of having thousands of friendly followers who faithfully check, daily of course, what is happening to them.

Today, I ask myself: How many people have in their personal list the name of… GOD?!
Strange to say, I have never heard anyone make such a claim!

Reading the gospel of this Sunday (6th Sunday of Easter, Year B – Jn.15:9-17)
I find the words of Jesus who says clearly:

”I shall not call you servants any more…
I call you friends
because I have made known to you
everything I have learnt from my Father.”
 
An amazing statement indeed and for more than one reason.
Each one of us can say, in all truth: ‘I am a friend of God’.
This does NOT require any qualification, social status, privileged background, or exceptional experience.
The only requirement is that… we accept his friendship!

By definition becoming the friend of someone is a free decision.
It is no different with friendship with God.
He has created us free beings and will not force us into anything –
surely not into accepting him as a personal friend in our lives.
Coercion would destroy the beauty and value of friendship.

The second aspect of Jesus’ words that I find amazing is that he claims that
he has made known to us all that he, himself, has learned from his Father.

I personally feel that… I have still to make an inventory of all of this…
I am convinced that I am bound to make astonishing discoveries when I seriously get down to it!…
The same may happen to you . . .

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

Source: Image: Alan Kraft

John, the beloved disciple

27 décembre 2017
Nicole Gregoire
Aucun commentaire
Catégories: Anglophones et anglophiles
Mots-clés: crucified, forgave his executioners, Jesus risen, John the Baptist, multiplication of the loaves, serving one another, the bread - his body, The Father, the wine - his blood, washing the feet of the disciples
Yes, he was the special friend of the Master.
He listened to him, learned from him.
He followed him, faithfully till the end.
He tells us about his special relationship
with Jesus of Nazareth.

25th Sunday of Year A

22 septembre 2017
Nicole Gregoire
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Catégories: Anglophones et anglophiles
Mots-clés: Asking, assistance, blessings, expectations, friend, giving, help, hope, image of God, Mt.20 :1-16, neighbour, relative, The Father

EXPECTATIONS – we all have them and plenty of them, do we not ?
And they fill our lives with more than a touch of hope and anticipation!

Expectations of…
– recovery after sickness,
– success in a coming exam
– a promotion at work,
– the partner we dream of to start a new life!

When we are in need, some expectation may arise of receiving help from a relative, a friend, or a neighbour.
Just recall for a moment the last time you went to someone with a request for his or her assistance.
You may have been hoping for help, or… fearing that help would not be forthcoming.
But did you expect that you would be given much more than what you asked for?

Among us, people, this is not usually the case.
But, with God, it is!
In fact, this is a characteristic of God : He gives more than we would ask for.
He is a generous God who delights in showering on us his gifts and blessings.

This is what today’s gospel text (25th Sunday of Year A – Mt.20 :1-16) is meant to remind us of.
In the parable that Jesus tells the people around him, he gives us a wonderful and true picture of what his Father – and our Father – is :

  • a bounteous God,
  • a God who enjoys giving lavishly,
  • a God who does not know how to measure what he wants to bless us with.

I wonder how many people treasure this image of God…
Perhaps many of us think that we have to ask, and beg, and repeat our requests for help, never too sure that we will be heard.

This Sunday may be the ideal moment to correct our image of God !

Source: Image: Youtube

6th Sunday of Easter, Year A

18 mai 2017
Nicole Gregoire
Aucun commentaire
Catégories: Anglophones et anglophiles
Mots-clés: apostles, Gn.1:2, Holy Spirit, Jn. 14:15-21, Presence of God, Spirit of truth, the Advocate, The Father, Wis.1:6

During the years he spent with his apostles, Jesus had spoken very often of THE Father, HIS Father.
I imagine that they had, somehow, got an idea of who he was… God, the God of their ancestors, and Jesus was his special messenger.

But the HOLY SPIRIT…?…
I ask myself what the apostles understood when Jesus mentioned him.

Of course, there is a mention of the spirit hovering over the waters in the creation narrative (Gn.1:2).
The book of Wisdom also speaks of God’s Spirit (Wis.1:6).

But in today’s gospel (6th Sunday of Easter, Year A – Jn. 14:15-21), Jesus describes THE Spirit – the one the Father will send in his name – as a living being that will interact with the apostles.

“I shall ask the Father,
and he will give you another Advocate,
to be with you for ever, the Spirit of truth…
He is with you, he is in you.”

The apostles discovered the deep meaning of this reality – the reality of this special Presence of God – throughout their lives.

The same is to take place in our own lives… from day to day.

Source: Image: www.pinterest.com