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Feast of Mary, Mother of God, Year C – 1st January 2025

1 janvier 2025
Nicole Gregoire
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Catégories: Anglophones et anglophiles
Mots-clés: célébration, glorify God, in a hurry, Luke 2:16-21, message, New Year, reason for the season, treasure

Being in a hurry, we all know what this means – rushing here, rushing there, our lives are filled with this.
Somehow, we so often find ourselves in a hurry.
Things to do, items to buy, people to meet, tasks to carry out, promises to fulfil – the list could go on and on.
Silently we wish for a few moments to breathe, a short period at least to relax.

In today’s gospel text, we meet a group of people who are also in a hurry.
They have been given a message – a very unusual, quite extraordinary message – by some angels.
They are shepherds who had been quietly watching over their flock at nighttime.
They are now in a hurry to find out about what the angelic messengers have been speaking about: the birth of a new-born child.

We are told: 
“So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger” (Luke 2:16-21).

In the pre-Christmas season, many of us have been quite busy, in fact, we may been rushing here and there – there was so much to do to prepare for the feast.
Christmas is really a special feast and we wanted to make of it a real celebration.
But… the celebration of what exactly?

I recall having seen, a few years ago, a poster of the Nativity scene with the caption:
“Let us not forget the REASON for the SEASON.”
This text usually comes back to my mind when the time comes to prepare for Christmas.

The shepherds were hastening to find the true REASON for our celebration.
They found him and…

“When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child…
They returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen.”

As for Mary whose motherhood we celebrate today, we are told that:
“She treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.”

Glorifying and praising God… Keeping in our hearts as a treasure what we have seen and heard…
Is it not the best way to start a new year?

 

Note: Another reflection is available on a different theme in French at: https://image-i-nations.com/fete-de-marie-mere-de-dieu-annee-c-1er-janvier-2025/

Source: Images: https://www.scripture-images.com/bible-verse/kjv/luke-2-16-kjv.php
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Palestine-06399_-_Nativity_(34893132736).jpg

 

18th Sunday of Year C – 2022

29 juillet 2022
Nicole Gregoire
Aucun commentaire
Catégories: Anglophones et anglophiles
Mots-clés: Ecclesiastes 1:2, Ecclesiastes 2:21-23, fortune, happiness, Luke 12:13-21, modern parable, riches, treasure, wisdom

Belongings, possessions, riches – all items referring to one’s property.
They describe things of value acquired by someone.
Houses, cars, jewels, come immediately to mind, but many more ordinary or unusual items could also be mentioned!

The author of today’s 1st reading (Ecclesiastes 1:2; 2:21-23) had his own detailed list of all that he had managed to obtain for himself.
(The list is in the words at the beginning of chapter 2 not read in the celebration itself but can be found in the Bible).
Yet, this rich man admitted that all his riches did not make him happy.

This Bible text suggested another one published as a modern parable which I share with you.

A very rich and clever man had gathered a large  fortune. He had managed to get all the things he wanted. After some time, he realized he had everything, except happiness.
One day, he heard about a wise man living by himself in the desert. Of him, people said he was the happiest man in the world and that it was enough to wear his shirt to be fully happy.

The rich man went to him; he bowed low offering him a bag filled with gold and asking to buy his shirt.
“I cannot sell it to you”, said the wise man.
“Why not”, said the rich man.
“Because I have none.”
“If you don’t have even a shirt, how can you be happy?”
To this, the wise man replied, “Only one thing makes a human being happy: a treasure. Woe to him/her who is without a treasure.”
The man with the large fortune exclaimed: “Treasures, I have so many, yet I am not happy,”
Then, the words of wisdom slowly came out: “You have money in plenty and possessions of all kinds, but you have no treasure. This is why you are so sad.”

The exclamation reaches to each one: “Who to him/her who is without a treasure.”

But… not just any treasure can bring happiness…
It is the one Jesus mentions in today’s gospel (Luke 12:13-21):
“Making himself (herself) rich in the sight of God.»
 
Something to be learned, day after day, by each and everyone who longs to be… HAPPY…

 

Note: Another reflection is available on a similar theme but presented differently in French at: https://image-i-nations.com/18e-dimanche-de-lannee-c-2022/

 

Source: Text of the modern parable of the rich man: Translation and adaptation of Lettie Morse, Living with Christ, 20 June 1982      Images: Pinterest  Adobe Stock

17th Sunday of Year A

27 juillet 2017
Nicole Gregoire
Aucun commentaire
Catégories: Anglophones et anglophiles
Mots-clés: buying, choices, décisions, delay, field, giving up, gospel, happy, Mt.13:44-46, options, pearl, possessions, postpone, radical, roots, selling, treasure, venture

The gospel message is quite… radical!
This statement may appear somehow shocking to some people but it is very true.
The term ‘radical’ comes from a foreign word meaning ‘roots’ and the gospel message does exactly that:
It goes to the root of reality, and it wants to reach us at the very root of our being,

The few verses of Matthew’s gospel assigned for today’s celebration (17th Sunday of Year A – Mt.13:44-46) exemplify this.
The text is short, to the point, and its message is more than a little demanding!

The examples given are very clear and challenging:
A man discovers a treasure in a field, he sells everything he owns to buy the field.
Another finds a pearl of great price and he, too, gives up all he possesses to get this precious jewel.

The two narratives are so clear but the attitude they express is, yes, radical:
Selling everything, giving up all one has – a risky venture:
What if the treasure is a fake?
What if the pearl is not genuine?
But the man trusts the preciousness of his find and has no hesitation in parting with whatever was a ‘treasure’ to him up to then.

He does not hesitate, he does not postpone, he does not delay.
More still the gospel text says: “He goes off happy…” to sell and to buy.

No need of lengthy explanation as to what this means for a Christian.
Our daily choices, the many options offered to us, the decisions called for day in day out, ask for the same radical commitment.
This is the authentic living of Christ’s message.

Source: Images: pampanos.wordpress.com   JesusWalk