Recherche

image-i-nations trésor

wisdom

Feast of Pentecost, Year A – 2023

26 mai 2023
Nicole Gregoire
2 Comments
Catégories: Anglophones et anglophiles
Mots-clés: Abba, Acts 2:1-3, dove, Genesis 1:2, Jean 3:8, Matthew 3:16, Romans 8:15, Spirit of God, tongues of fire, wind, wisdom

People think about God… and they talk about God…
Some ask the question whether God exists…
Others wonder about him… Who is he really?…

Professors explain his attributes with expertise,
Scripture scholars search ancient documents to know more about him, as they should…
Theologians teach about his nature and his relation to human beings, of course…
Wise people continue to reflect about what they hear…

It may be appropriate to remind ourselves that…
GOD is NOT
                      a thought
                     a theme
                     a thesis…

He is not the product of our imagination, he is beyond all we can think of.
He is a PERSON really and truly.

Such a reflection is relevant on this feast of Pentecost.
It is significant because it is precisely in ‘signs’ or ‘symbols’ that we can speak of God’s Spirit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

   Different Bible texts evoke his presence:

  • “hovering over the surface of the waters” (Genesis 1:2).
  • “descending like a dove and alighting on Jesus” after his baptism in the Jordan (Matthew 3:16).
  • Like “the wind (that) blows where it wishes… So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit”, in the words of Jesus to Nicodemus (John 3:8).
  • “When the day of Pentecost came… they saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that came to rest on each of them” (Acts 2:1,3).

Sings, symbols, evocation… leading to the perception of God’s Spirit who alone can reveal himself to us.

A lifetime attuned to this Spirit,
moving under his guidance,
transformed by his presence…

The Spirit enlightening our own spirit,
gently blowing within us his wisdom,
teaching us to speak ‘Abba’ with the unique accent of his children… (Romans 8:15)

This is what this celebration is about.
      

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

 

Source: Images: pexels.com (Cesar Coni)   3-Minute Bible Studies    pexels.com (Indonesia Nature)    Living in the Spirit

 

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

28th Sunday of Year B – 2021

9 octobre 2021
Nicole Gregoire
Aucun commentaire
Catégories: Anglophones et anglophiles
Mots-clés: discernment, God's Spirit, intelligence, judgement, King Solomon, riches, wisdom, Wisdom 7:7-11

Daydreaming can bring someone to wish for all kinds of things –
The things that Royalty and wealthy people can have already:
power and privileges, gold, silver, and precious stones.
And sometimes, health and beauty are added to this rich mixture!
 
In today’s 1st reading (Wisdom 7:7-11), we meet the great King Solomon who enjoyed these and yet…
Yet, he said that, in his eyes, all these counted for nothing compared to… WISDOM.
An amazing statement…
I wonder how many people would endorse these words today?

In true wisdom, we can find learning, knowledge, sound judgement, insight, discernment.
To these qualities, the ancient Greeks, known for their wisdom, added prudence and self-control.

It is the attitude of someone who sees what is GOOD, judges what is RIGHT, follows what is JUST.
A wise person behaves in the way appropriate to someone created in the image of God – no less!

Of course, this is beyond what we can manage on our own – this is why Solomon says:
“I prayed… I called on God, and the spirit of wisdom came to me.”
 
We should not expect God’s ‘visitation’ to come in some unusual form or extraordinary apparition.
God’s Spirit of Wisdom can reach us in:

a conversation,
the chapter of a book,
a talk on the radio,
a television presentation,
a silent reflection,
and so many other shapes and occasions… 

Like the many small pieces of a jigsaw puzzle it then makes up our daily experience –
the experience of someone who has learnt to listen, to hear, and… to follow God’s inspiration from day to day…

Note: Another reflection is available on a different theme in French at: https://image-i-nations.com/28e-dimanche-de-lannee-b-2021/

And a blog, in French, offers also a reflection on the theme of wisdom at: https://image-i-nations.com/sage-bien-sage/

 

Source: Images: commons.wikimedia.org    Dreamstime.com  

3rd Sunday of Lent, Year B – 2021

5 mars 2021
Nicole Gregoire
Aucun commentaire
Catégories: Anglophones et anglophiles
Mots-clés: 1 Cor.1:22:25, décisions, foolishness, interactions, plans, réactions, strength, weakness, wisdom

The Scripture texts offered to our reflection for Sundays and Feast days come in different… ‘attires’.
Some interesting, some encouraging, some quite challenging.

The 2nd reading of this Sunday gives us a short text of the first letter of Paul to the Corinthians (1 Cor.1:22:25).
According to me, the message we find there belongs to the last category – it is indeed quite challenging

It is focused on four words:
WISDOM, FOOLISHNESS, WEAKNESS, STRENGTH.
 
“The foolishness of God is wiser than men,
and the weakness of God is stronger than men.”
 
Paul did not mince his words and this text calls on those he was writing to – and on all of us – to do some… soul-searching!
It asks of us to do some… re-vision, yes, to have a second look, at ourselves:

  • our thoughts and ideas
  • our values and preferences
  • our choices and decisions
  • our options and refusals
  • our plans and projects
  • our actions, reactions and… interactions…

A checklist to help us find out if we are guided by God’s wisdom or… our own foolishness.
Quite a project for Lent… in fact, it may serve us for a life-time!

Note: Another reflection on a different theme is available in French at: https://image-i-nations.com/3e-dimanche-du-careme-annee-b-2021/

 

Source: Image: Heartlight

7th Sunday of Year A – 2020

21 février 2020
Nicole Gregoire
Aucun commentaire
Catégories: Anglophones et anglophiles
Mots-clés: 1 Cor.3:16-23, fake news, foolishness, gossip, paranoiac, pseudo-values, reputation, succeed, wisdom

Most people like to be seen… at their best!
In general, people want to have a reputation that can bring them praise.
We like to be known for our good qualities, our generous actions, our inspiring attitude in any given situation.
We wish people to appreciate who we are and what we do.

I expect that the Corinthians to whom the apostle Paul was writing (2nd reading: 1 Cor.3:16-23)
were quite the same as we are.
The words that Paul addressed them may have come rather as a shock, an unpleasant one at that!

“Do not deceive yourselves.
If any of you think you are wise by the standards of this age, 
you should become “fools” so that you may become wise. 
For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight.
As it is written: ‘The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile’.”

In other words: our human wisdom is short-sighted, narrow-minded, incomplete,
in fact: not really wise at all.
I doubt whether any of us will accept this easily…
Whenever we make a good resolution, it would be surprising to find it worded as:
“From now on, I’ll be a fool.”

But Paul makes it clear that we should become fool in order to become wise.
We can ask ourselves: What is the foolishness we need to abandon?

It comes in many guises:

– the ‘fake news’ so popular nowadays;
– the malicious gossip;
– the hopeless plans;
– the foolhardy ventures;
– the futile pursuit of pseudo-values;
– the misguided attempts to succeed without effort;
– the empty boasting of one’s qualities;
– the erroneous belief that one is always right;
– the paranoiac attitude claiming that people are always against us;
   and you can add to the list…

God’s wisdom granted to us by God’s own Spirit is one of genuine trust and hope.
It makes us go through life at peace with God, with others and with ourselves.

It is worth becoming a fool to gain it, is it not?! 

 

Note: Another reflection is available on a different theme in French at: https://image-i-nations.com/7e-dimanche-de-lannee-a-2020/

 

Source: Image: Calvary Chapel of Emmet

 

5th Sunday of Year A – 2020

7 février 2020
Nicole Gregoire
Aucun commentaire
Catégories: Anglophones et anglophiles
Mots-clés: 1 Cor.2:1-5, Gamaliel, God's Spirit, language, message, philosophy, power, wisdom, words

Language – of whatever nation or tribe – is made of words: short words, long words, simple words, difficult words.
They are uttered, spoken, whispered, proclaimed, sung or shouted – we cannot escape them.
They take on different shades of meaning according to the way they are used –
in joy or anger, in hope or desperation, inviting or rejecting, encouraging or despising.

Yes, words have a tremendous power, for good or… bad.
They can be uplifting or dispiriting.
But what a power they have when they are… God’s own words!
When they convey God’s message being inspired by God’s Spirit.

This is the meaning of the apostle Paul in the 2nd reading of this Sunday (5th Sunday, Year A).
He assures the Corinthians to whom he is writing that
the message he sends them is not something deriving from human insight,
but it comes from the Spirit of God himself (1 Cor.2:1-5).

He is not relying on the Jewish wisdom his master Gamaliel had passed on to him,
nor on the arguments of the Greek philosophy he is familiar with.
He says it clearly:

“Far from relying on any power of my own…
in my speeches and the sermons I gave
there (was) only a demonstration of the power of the Spirit.”
 
In our own attempts to speak about God,
we could do no better than rely on this same power!
 

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

 

Source: Image: www.areasonforhope.net

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

14th Sunday of Year B

6 juillet 2018
Nicole Gregoire
Aucun commentaire
Catégories: Anglophones et anglophiles
Mots-clés: 1 Cor.1:25, 2 Cor.12:7-10, death, He.11.27, hope, invisible, Jn.1:14, Jn.11:25, Lc.9:58, Life, paradoxes, power, Rom.4:18, surprises, weakness, wisdom

 An author of spiritual books (Gerard W. Hughes) has published one under the title: The God of surprises.
His reflections are pertinent and helpful.

After reading it, I was thinking to myself: ‘Were I to write a book of spiritual reflections,
I would give it the title: The God of… paradoxes’.
This is one aspect of God that I find fascinating and sometimes… more than a little disturbing!…

He is a God who has decided to… become a human being – He took on our flesh (Jn.1:14).
He who knows all things had to learn how to speak.
He who is all-powerful had to depend on a woman of our race to answer his needs as a child.
He who created the world and all it contains had nowhere to lay his head (Lc.9:58).

What triggered this reflection of mine is the text of the 2nd reading of this Sunday
(14th Sunday, Year B – 2 Cor.12:7-10) where God tells the apostle Paul:
“My power is made perfect in weakness.”
 
It is Paul who tells us again:
“The foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom,
and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.” (1 Cor.1:25)

This is the God who enabled Paul to say from experience:
“That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses…
For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
 
Paradoxes… but then, is Christian living not a life of paradoxes?

  • Hoping against hope (Rom.4:18).
  • Walking as if one saw the invisible (He.11.27).
  • Finding life in death (Jn.11:25).

The God of PARADOXES… my God… your God?   

Note: Another reflection is available in French on a different theme at: https://image-i-nations.com/14e-dimanche-de-lannee-b/

Source : Images : Goodreads   covervault.com  YouTube

 

Feast of Mary, Mother of God, 1st January, Year B

31 décembre 2017
Nicole Gregoire
Aucun commentaire
Catégories: Anglophones et anglophiles
Mots-clés: discover, event, God's presence, Lk.2:16-21, message, ordinary people, praising God, reaction, recognize, shepherds of the Nativity, way to follow, wisdom

At times, we think that to understand God’s words and ways we need long studies and much wisdom.
Wisdom? Yes, but not necessarily the one coming from intellectual achievement!
The wisdom of ordinary people, of ‘simple folks’, as they are sometimes referred to, is closer to genuine insight.

The gospel text of today’s feast of Mary, Mother of God (Year B, Lk.2:16-21) gives us to meet such simple people: the shepherds.
They have much from which we can learn.
Their attitude shows us to way to follow.

“They hurried away
and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in the manger.
They repeated… what they had been told about him…
They went back glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen.”
 
Ordinary people making the experience of an extraordinary event.
Their reaction is the proper one:

  • Hastening to discover what God has in store for them.
  • Recognizing God’s presence.
  • Identifying his intervention.
  • Understanding the message there for them.
  • Sharing this message with those around them.
  • Glorifying and praising God for what has been given them to see and hear.

What else could be expected from us today?…

Source: Images: ecryptographer.com   thelutheranschools.org

Feast of the Holy Family, Year B

28 décembre 2017
Nicole Gregoire
Aucun commentaire
Catégories: Anglophones et anglophiles
Mots-clés: Child Jesus, creativity, distance, expérience, imagination, intergenerational, Lk.2:22-40, Mary and Joseph, message, misunderstanding, praise God, Simeon and Anna, wisdom

‘Intergenerational’ – this is the ‘in-word’ nowadays!
People use it in all kinds of situations:

  • reports about prevailing trends in society speak about it;
  • architects and builders offer us new ‘intergenerational’ houses;
  • even people of our liturgical team invite us to ‘intergenerational celebrations’.

It is interesting to note that today’s gospel text on the Feast of Holy Family (Year B – Lk.2:22-40) shows us an ‘intergenerational scene’.
We meet first a young couple following the Jewish custom of presenting their first-born to the Temple.
And there, in the Temple, we see an old prophetic figure – that of Simeon – followed by an equally old feminine prophetic presence – that of Anna.

The elderly people praise God for the gift of this Child.
They also have a message for the younger man and woman: Mary and Joseph.
These two will listen to the words of this message and keep them.

Their attitude makes us wonder… how great it would be it the same happened in our world today.
Sad to say, when speaking of different generations, what is often stated is: refusal to listen to one another, misunderstanding, distance…

Perhaps today’s celebration could be seen as an invitation to pause and think…
Think of the experience and wisdom older people have to offer.
Think also of the imagination and creativity the younger people can contribute.
And think how all of these: experience, wisdom, imagination and creativity, could make life so much richer and interesting!

Source: Images: lds.org   joeskillen.com   heartlight.org
 

World Day of Nursing Assistants – 26 November

26 novembre 2017
Nicole Gregoire
Aucun commentaire
Catégories: Anglophones et anglophiles
Mots-clés: aging, Care, patience, predictability, stability, wisdom

Nursing Assistants: Specialists in the Art of Caring

Because they remain in care-giving positions, Career Nursing Assistants provide predictability and stability to care, which in turn enhances the feeling of security for our aging, frail or chronically challenged population.

Career Nursing Assistants also bring wisdom, patience, humor and a general attitude of caring to the daily lives of residents.

 

Source: Text & Image: National Network Nursing Assistants