Father Gilles' English Homilies: 2022

The Lord calls us to surrender our will to his... his will is better. - December 18th, 2022 - 4th Sunday of Advent - The L.S.M. of C.A.M. at St. Willibrord Church, Verdun

4th Sunday of Advent

VOCATION: Jesus calls us - He calls us to follow Him, to be filled with the Holy Spirit, and to become a missionary disciple....

Homily MP3 version - PDF version

What are the offerings that we bring to God? What is the meaning of "HOSANNAH!" We acclaim God for his greatness and praise Him, while at the same time calling upon Him to rescue us in our distress.... "HOSANNAH!" MP3 version

“May the Lord come in; He is the King of glory. Alleluia!”

Sisters! Brothers! Again, good evening. St. Joseph is our Father’s gift to us today, this 4^th Sunday of Advent. The testimony we receive in the Gospel is that St. Joseph was a righteous man. He was a good man, a holy man; who loved God and always wanted to do God’s will. It is not always easy to know what is God’s will or to do it, as we observe happened to St. Joseph; when he found out that Mary had become pregnant before they had begun to live together.

The Law required adulterers to be stoned to death. Any woman who became pregnant by a man not her husband or before marriage was an adulterer. As Joseph searched his religious tradition in order to know what God’s will was for him in this situation, the best he could see or understand was that he should withdraw from his engagement to marry Mary. However, Joseph did not think that Mary deserved to die; so, he decided to withdraw secretly from marrying her.

“May the Lord come in; He is the King of glory. Alleluia!”

Everyone knows that after a few months, it usually becomes obvious that a woman is pregnant. This automatically made a pregnant woman an adulteress if the man who joined with her was not her husband. What can often be unfair in these situations is that there is no external sign on the man who commits adultery. Jesus draws our attention to this disparity, even today, between the treatment of men’s sins and the treatment of women’s sins.

There is another disparity which causes us even more trouble: the disparity between our human will and the will of God. Even when we try to discern or interpret the will of God, what we want to do remains, basically, our will. The will of God remains, in itself, hidden within the Most Holy Trinity. We know that the will of God is manifest in nature, in the order, beauty, and purpose of Creation, but even then, in order to know with certainty what is the will of God; we need to ask God to confirm our discernment. St. Joseph thought the will of God was obvious in Mary’s pregnancy, but as it turned out, her pregnancy was the work of the Holy Spirit in Mary, and the will of God was for Joseph to go ahead and marry her anyway in spite of the Law.

“May the Lord come in; He is the King of glory. Alleluia!”

This need for discernment and for confirmation from God continues to be the way it is for us. We need to learn how to ask God to show us his will and to confirm our understanding of what is his will. If we don’t take this additional step; then, we are likely to misinterpret what is the will of God like Joseph did. We cannot expect God to give us signs in every circumstance like the dream He gave to Joseph. The normal way to ask God to show us his will and to confirm our interpretation of his will is through prayer and praying with Scripture.

“May the Lord come in; He is the King of glory. Alleluia!”

God is greater than the Law. If we make no effort to know the will of God, when we pray the Lord’s Prayer; we are likely to distort the words and their meaning. Without even realizing it, we can end up praying like this: “MY kingdom come, MY will be done, in Heaven as I want it to be on Earth.” It is good to pray carefully and intentionally the Lord’s Prayer: “Thy kingdom come; thy will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven.” However, just saying the words over and over again isn’t enough. We need to take the extra step each day of looking for confirmation of our understanding of what the will of God is for us in the real circumstances of our lives.

“May the Lord come in; He is the King of glory. Alleluia!”

Christians have come to understand that the “highway” to always doing the will of God is to make it a common practice every day to surrender our will, to set aside what we want in order to make room for what others want – our spouse, our parents, our siblings; yes, and even our children and our enemies. The more we set aside what we want, the more likely we are to make room for the will of God. This Christian discipline is called mortification, or dying to oneself, or putting to death our own weak, narrow, limited, and selfish human will.

This sounds gruesome, but the Most Holy Trinity actually fill us with peace and joy when we walk in the ways of the Lord; when we deliberately seek to know and to do the will of God.

In a few moments, it will be time to place at the altar our offering to God. It is ourselves that we offer: all that we carry within us, our hopes and our fears, our desires and our regrets, our sins and our repentance, and even our own will. Let us open wide our spirit to God; so that the Lord may do in us all that He desires to do: to lead, to forgive, to heal, and to give life.

“May the Lord come in; He is the King of glory. Alleluia!”

“Our Lady of Ville Marie, pray for us. St. Joseph, pray for us. St. Brother André, pray for us. St. Kateri, pray for us. All you holy women and men, pray for us. O my Jesus, I trust in You! Thank You; You who are God, the Father, + the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.”

In silence now, the Holy Spirit continues to fill us with the Radiance of the Most Holy Trinity.

https://frgilleshomilies.blogspot.com https://homeliesabbegilles.blogspot.com

© 2006-2022 All rights reserved Fr. Gilles Surprenant, Associate of Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montreal QC © 2006-2022 Tous droits réservés Abbé Gilles Surprenant, Prêtre Associé de Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montréal QC

Rejoice! Jesus comes to manifest his power as God in our poverty and weakness. - December 11th, 2022 - 3rd Sunday in Advent - The L.S.M. of C.A.M. at St. Willibrord Church, Verdun

3rd Sunday in Advent

VOCATION: Jesus calls us - He calls us to follow Him, to be filled with the Holy Spirit, and to become a missionary disciple....

Homily MP3 version - PDF version

“Rejoice in the Lord always; again, I say, rejoice. Indeed, the Lord is near. Say to the faint of heart: Be strong and do not fear. Behold, our God will come, and he will save us. Alleluia!”

Sisters! Brothers! Again, good evening. Have you ever thrown one spaghetti strand to the ceiling or wall in your kitchen to see whether it was done? They say that if it sticks; then, it’s ready. I may have tried that in my youth, but I didn’t like it; rather, I learned to bite into it and in this way, I developed a conviction about the precise moment when the pasta is “al dente”, which means, literally, “to the tooth”; that is, cooked but still firm, not soggy. There is no better conviction than that which comes through our own personal experience. This is the great lesson of life that we all come to learn as we journey through our youth towards adulthood.

For many centuries now, Christians – especially in the Western and Eastern traditions – rejoice on this day, the 3^rd Sunday in Advent, realizing that “the Lord is near”. Are we able to rejoice, simply on hearing someone say to us: “Rejoice!”? Anyone can, with effort, put on a happy face, but that is not the same as joy. In a similar way, nothing and no one can make us happy. Happiness is a wild thing that unpredictably drops in, unannounced, perhaps when certain conditions are right. Joy, on the other hand, is a gift from God, a heavenly attitude.

“Rejoice in the Lord always; again, I say, rejoice. Indeed, the Lord is near. Say to the faint of heart: Be strong and do not fear. Behold, our God will come, and he will save us. Alleluia!”

Have you noticed recently any of God’s wondrous miracles? Don’t be too quick to say no. “Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy.” These things happened too often to count during the 3 short years Jesus walked this Earth. Then, before his Ascension into Heaven, Jesus commissioned his disciples to “go out and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and to observe all that I have taught you.” Jesus assured them, and us, that He would manifest his power and glory through us and confirm the truth of our words with his deeds of power.

“Rejoice in the Lord always; again, I say, rejoice. Indeed, the Lord is near. Say to the faint of heart: Be strong and do not fear. Behold, our God will come, and he will save us. Alleluia!”

If we haven’t seen manifestations of Jesus’ power to transform hard hearts, to reconcile enemies, to heal the sick, to give sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, and speech to the mute, or to make the lame walk; it is perhaps because we have not dared to ask, we have not risked making fools of ourselves by offering to pray with others, to gently lay hands on them in prayer.

Another possibility is that we have prayed in faith for others, but our eyes have been blind and our ears closed to notice the Lord acting with power in the lives of those for whom we have prayed. We pray, then walk away; we stop paying attention. Well, maybe it’s time to wake up!

“Rejoice in the Lord always; again, I say, rejoice. Indeed, the Lord is near. Say to the faint of heart: Be strong and do not fear. Behold, our God will come, and he will save us. Alleluia!”

“But Father, you’re a priest; we’re only lay people. We don’t have Holy Orders!” Ah, yes, but Jesus ordained only the 12 Apostles. All the other disciples were lay people. Jesus sent all of them, as he sends all of us, all of you, to go out and make disciples by telling people about Jesus, offering to pray with them, and calling on the Lord to show them that He is real.

People say: “I don’t need Confession. I confess my sins to God directly.” Wonderful! Do this often, but you also need to be reconciled. We are all connected in Christ. Every sin I do affects everyone. Every act of love, courage, service, or generosity that I fail to do darkens the sky over us all. Jesus is our Head. Jesus alone can restore our unity and peace, our solidarity in love, and our joy in the Father’s love. Jesus has chosen to offer this reconciliation through the ministry of his priests. When I offend the whole Body of Christ and God; only God’s chosen envoy can bring me back through reconciliation into the communion of the Most Holy Trinity.

“Rejoice in the Lord always; again, I say, rejoice. Indeed, the Lord is near. Say to the faint of heart: Be strong and do not fear. Behold, our God will come, and he will save us. Alleluia!”

Jesus came for sinners. He wants to shine the Light of his truth to dispel the darkness deep within us. His Light is gentle, a divine Fire which burns away all that is sinful, bitter, impure, untrue, false, to make room for the love, peace, goodness, truth, and beauty which are in the Most Holy Trinity. One of the fruits God gives in a good Confession is heavenly JOY!

In a few moments, it will be time to place at the altar our offering to God. It is ourselves that we offer: all that we carry within us, our hopes and our fears, our desires and our regrets, and even our sins and our repentance. Let us open wide our spirit to God; so that He may do in us all that He desires to do: to forgive, to heal, and to give life.

“Rejoice in the Lord always; again, I say, rejoice. Indeed, the Lord is near. Say to the faint of heart: Be strong and do not fear. Behold, our God will come, and he will save us. Alleluia!”

“Mary Queen of Peace, pray for us. St. Joseph, pray for us. St. Brother André, pray for us. St. Kateri, pray for us. All you holy women and men, pray for us. O my Jesus, I trust in You! Thank You; You who are God, the Father, + the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.”

In silence now, the Holy Spirit continues to fill us with the blazing Light of God.

https://frgilleshomilies.blogspot.com https://homeliesabbegilles.blogspot.com

Jesus wants us to confess our sins to Him through his priest so that we may be reconciled. - December 4th, 2022 - 2nd Sunday in Advent - MQP Church in JLW Parish

2nd Sunday in Advent

VOCATION: Jesus calls us - He calls us to follow Him, to be filled with the Holy Spirit, and to become a missionary disciple....

Homily MP3 version - PDF version

“Alleluia. Alleluia. Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths:
all flesh shall see the salvation of God. Alleluia!”

Hello, Sisters! Brothers! Have you ever kicked a soft drink dispensing machine? Maybe you haven’t, but you probably have felt frustration with something mechanical, or more likely, with another human being. It is so very human to experience frustration and even anger when things go badly or don’t work properly or when what we expect to happen just isn’t happening.

Fr. Francis is available right now to receive you if you would like to meet Jesus in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. When we make a good confession, Jesus sets us free from our sins, our regrets, and from anything holding us prisoner and preventing us from being fully alive.

“Alleluia. Alleluia. Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths:
all flesh shall see the salvation of God. Alleluia!”

Well, it’s hard to admit the truth to myself, and it’s even harder to admit the truth to others, but it is not uncommon for us Christians to feel frustrated with God. We pray and we pray for some intention and we wait and we wait for the answer to come, and for various reasons, we feel as though God is not answering us. At least, the answer we want just isn’t happening.

Fr. Francis is available right now to receive you if you would like to meet Jesus in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. When we go before the priest to make a confession, it is Jesus Himself, in Person, who listens to us, suggests to the priest what to say to us, gives us his mercy and forgiveness, asks us to make a penance or gesture of thanks, and sends us on our way with his blessing. Jesus needs us to be his witnesses in our world as his missionary disciples. When we put our weakness in his hands, we allow Jesus to manifest his power through us.

“Alleluia. Alleluia. Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths:
all flesh shall see the salvation of God. Alleluia!”

During Advent, the Word of God spoken to us is so beautiful and encouraging. Through the prophet Isaiah – almost 800 years before Jesus – the Lord spoke of the coming of the Messiah, the promised Anointed One who would bring perfect peace to humanity and to nature itself. We all know only too well that both humanity and nature are still in terrible trouble today. There are wars in many places on Earth and our natural environment is in deep trouble. We could well ask: “Lord, why aren’t You doing something about all of these troubles?”

This is how the Lord Jesus answers us, as He does every day: “My Father and I are doing everything we can with the Holy Spirit. The Father sent Me, and I came. There was no room for me in Bethlehem and I accepted to be born in a stable among the animals. My Mother Mary and Joseph accepted to endure these things with complete trust in the Father. Join with us.”

“Alleluia. Alleluia. Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths:
all flesh shall see the salvation of God. Alleluia!”

We just heard the voice of John the Baptist denouncing the religious leaders of his day: “But when he saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, John said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit worthy of repentance.”” The others coming to John for baptism in the Jordan River were sincere in their intention to make a change in their lives, but the religious leaders considered themselves to be perfect and above reproach. They blamed everyone else for the troubles of their world.

We are preparing to enter into the joy of Christmas which explodes within us when we see God coming to live among us as a Baby. This Baby will grow up into the Son of Man who will accept to take on Himself the blame for all the sins and troubles of the world. Jesus doesn’t ask us to carry the weight of the whole world on our shoulders, because He is already doing that, but He does ask us to admit our own part, to stop blaming others, and to confess our own sins.

“Alleluia. Alleluia. Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths:
all flesh shall see the salvation of God. Alleluia!”

We all carry a darkness deep in our soul… our refusal to admit the truth about ourselves, not wanting to humble ourselves before God, thinking we don’t need to go to confession. Jesus wants to shine the Light of his truth to dispel the darkness deep within us. His Light is gentle, but it is a divine Fire which burns away all that is sinful, bitter, impure, untrue, false, to make room for the love, peace, goodness, truth, and beauty which are in the Most Holy Trinity. Fr. Francis is still available to help you meet Jesus in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

In a few moments, it will be time to place at the altar our offering to God. It is ourselves that we offer: all that we carry within us, our hopes and our fears, our desires and our regrets, and even our sins and our repentance. Let us open wide our spirit to God; so that He may do in us all that He desires to do: to forgive, to heal, and to give life.

“Alleluia. Alleluia. Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths:
all flesh shall see the salvation of God. Alleluia!”

In silence now, the Holy Spirit continues to fill us with the blazing Light of God.

https://frgilleshomilies.blogspot.com https://homeliesabbegilles.blogspot.com

Memorial Service for Bernie Lavigne & Lois Floyd Lavigne - Our God loves to be part of our assemblies. We trust Bernie & Lois are with Him. - October 22nd, 2022 - Assembly in Danny & Sheila's home

We pray in anticipation of the Resurrection

VOCATION: Jesus calls each and every one of us - He calls you to follow Him, to be filled with the Holy Spirit, and become a missionary disciple....

The Word of God, Fr. Gilles' Homily, Prayers, and sharing by Danny, Kaytlin, & Grace MP3 version

Memories shared by Kaytlin, Grace, and Danny PDF file

(Grace Lavigne)

Celebration of life

Dear Grandma and Grandpa,

I cry because you have passed away, but I smile because we lived a great life together. Today is

a very special day because all I can think of is you.

A few weeks ago on your anniversary, we took out your old projector and we watched pictures

of you. It made me feel good to see all of your memories.

Grandma, you were so smart, kind and creative. You made me a baby blanket, which is still my favorite blanket. I would love spending time with you while you would knit.

Grandpa, we used to walk to the park together and go on the swings. Once you surprised us with a cool Lego set and every time after it would be on the same shelf. I loved when you lived with us and we would come home from school, you would ask us how our day was and would tell you all about it.

What I miss the most is every Father’s Day we would get your favorite meal, which is lobster and you taught me to crack open the shell. Grandma didn't like lobster, so we would make her chicken Alfredo which made me happy because I would eat it too.

Grandma and Grandpa, I know that you are safe and happy together now. I know you are not in pain and you are running free in heaven. I think about when you were young and healthy and I believe that is how you are spending your days together. I love you both with all my heart.

I have a little video for you guys –

love you so much –

love, Grace

(Kaytlin Lavigne)

Grandma and Grandpa were the most amazing and incredible people in the world. They would make me laugh and smile all the time.

Grandpa would tell me thousands of stories about him when he was younger. I remember when I came home one day from school when grandpa was living with us, he told me the story about how he met grandma in a bar. He told me how he would take the train from New Brunswick to Quebec on Christmas eve and sing Christmas carols with people on the train.

One time we went to visit grandma in the hospital and we brought a bunch of nail polishes and we let her choose her favourite colour and she pointed out this really pretty purple and I painted her nails for her.

When they lived in the house in Pierrefonds, we would always go on the deck swing. It was our favourite thing. Grandpa would go on with us and make us go really high until we hit the back of the deck railing. While we were doing that grandma would make us kraft dinner or butter and salt pasta.

They had a bird house and we would watch the birds go in and out grabbing the seeds. There was a park down the road we used to go to and there was this one time when we were pretty young but old enough to remember.

We saw a guy with his dog and the dog was so cute, his name was PK. We turned around for literally one second and grandma started swearing. PK peed on grandma's shoe. We all started to kill ourselves laughing. That was probably one of my favourite memories. Now to this day we all sing PK peed on grandma's shoe.

Grandpa and Grandma spent so much time with us. They would help mama and Dada with the house. Grandma would help with the gardening and grandpa would help with the building. Grandpa loved Tim Hortons, every time we slept over, we would drive to go get Tim’s. Every Christmas we would get him a gift card and he would always order a coffee and an egg sandwich.

Grandma loves chicken alfredo pasta and whenever we asked for mama to make it, she always does and it reminds us of grandma. It makes me feel better to know that they are together now. I love them with all my heart and I know Grandpa and Grandma are still looking over dada, mama, me Liam and grace. We will always be a family!

(Danny Lavigne)

Hi guys thank you for being here with us it means everything in world to me. All of us here today have different beliefs and our own thoughts but one thing we all have in common is life and death. I’ve learned that every day after their passing is hard, but remembering all of the good times we all spent with them makes it a little easier.

As a child, you look at your parents as your teachers, the ones you look to for comfort and support love and guidance. I looked to my parents for everything and they were there for whatever I needed, all their attention, time and love because they knew that's what counted the most.

Time, the one thing you can't get enough of but they showed me that if you fill that time up with love it will last forever. As a little boy it felt like time stood still, because it was filled with road trips, sports bike rides and summers at Thorndale pool. It didn't matter what we did, we were together. It was the three of us and that's all I needed.

As an only child some People would say oh you must have been spoiled. and I was, not in the sense of material things but with love and attention because I didn't get whatever I wanted, they taught me at a very young age that if I wanted something that I would have to work for it, so dad helped me build a trailer for my bike to pull the mower and mom helped me get contracts from her friends in the neighborhood. Because of their love and support I worked hard and was the richest self made 9-year-old around.

Lois and Bernie were the kindest, most loving parents I could have ever asked for. The both of them Hard working and driven to never give up on a better life and to be better people. I understood why they worked so hard; it meant I was loved and everything they did as husband and wife and as parents they did for our family.

I was lucky to have two people in this world who would love me that much, no matter what. Lois never shied away from being there for others who needed support in one way or another, or to call them out as needed with her favorite saying “what the flip". As her son, I feel like I grew up with the most incredible role model who taught me to be kind, be myself and to always try to be a better person. With Kaytlin, Liam, Grace whom she loved more than anything else in this world. Lois would come to the house and right away grab a baby and smother them with kisses and squeezes, playing with them and making them laugh. Our kids made her love life that much more.

Mom was a good gardener, that's one of the things she took pride in. Her garden was always looking great and well manicured. So, when she came to the house and saw a weed growing in the path or flowers, she would pick it! Lois's blankets. She would spend hours night, after night, making one for everyone she knew, it showed how much she cared for them.

Sheila you were the daughter she never got to have. They both loved you as you were their own and were so proud of the strong woman that you are. I remember when you and my mom first met, Sheila was giving me a lift to school every day and during those first few weeks getting home I would shop talk with dad, but mom more importantly wanted to know about the girl in the car.

I explained how nice Sheila was and how every day was a good day working with her on projects in class. So, one of those first few days, way before we were even dating, Lois wanted to meet; so, she had Sheila out of the car, with a big smile holding her by the arms in true fashion, the hugs and touching of your face and hair turning saying to me! “oh my god she's so beautiful" not embarrassing at all! Mom looking at me then looking at you, and back to me with a smile as if to say don't fudge this up I love her!

Lois was a strong woman who was never scared of hard work, her determination and strength she took with her everywhere especially in sickness, whether it was brain surgery, strokes or car accidents she took one step at a time and worked her way back to health or as close as humanly possible. I will miss her smile, her laugh, her incredibly loud whistle you can hear a mile away when she wanted me home from the park. My Dad the love of her life was there with her throughout every good and bad day.

Dad From Bathurst New Brunswick. The most beautiful country town, but due to the pulp and paper factory it smelled like rotten eggs and cabbage, I missed it the second we pulled out in our old car down Lavigne Street every single time we had to leave to come back home. I loved seeing my Dad; when we were there in the summer, he was an outdoorsman, he knew exactly what to do, where to find it, how to make it, how to fix it or how to catch it. He was my MacGyver.

He was also a great carpenter, building furniture for anyone and everyone, from complicated rocking chairs to folding tables, he even built the tabernacle at church to store the Eucharist, nothing was too hard for him to create. He would read books and magazines to educate himself on techniques and then build something new like he's done it 100 times before and of course with attention to detail. But his favorite creation was what he called the Newfie tambourine. It took quite a few beers to build that masterpiece. I'm sure a few of you have seen him in action or have tried to play it. Once he started it was hard to get him off and the party was going.

One thing I know is that my dad had a good life with a wife who love him and a family who adored him, a son who looked up to him and was always proud to call him my Dad. So, in their vows they said till death do us part. In death they did part, but not for long as I believe they couldn't live without one another. I know all of us will miss them. So, after all Bernie and Lois made good time, the life they created together with that little bit of time, they created a whole lot of love that will never be forgotten. Thank you again for being her today to honor them. They loved all of you and their memory will live on in all of us.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Prayers at the Graveside - Final prayers and Commendation - MP3 File

Poem by Bede Jarrett - "We Give Them Back to You O Lord"

-------------------------------

The fire burning within us is the Holy Spirit purifying our hearts. - October 16th, 2022 - 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time - MQP Church in JLW Parish

29th Sunday in Ordinary Time

VOCATION: Jesus calls us - He calls us to follow Him, to be filled with the Holy Spirit, and to become a missionary disciple....

Homily MP3 version - PDF version

“To You I call; for You will surely heed me, O God; turn your ear to me; hear my words. Guard me as the apple of your eye; in the shadow of your wings protect me!”

My sisters! My brothers! What a shock to hear the Word of God tell of this battle between the Amalekites and the people of Israel. In fact, it was a little like the invasion in our own day of Ukraine by Russia. A peaceful people and their innocent families are invaded by an aggressor nation. Israel had barely gotten out of Egypt when the Amalekites ambushed them from behind.

How horrible! Generally, God does not participate in our quarrels or battles, but God acts when people or nations oppose his plan to save humanity. God chose his people Israel so that one day his only-begotten Son might come and take flesh and dwell among us. Amalek was fighting against God. Our Saviour needed to find a home among all of humanity. God chose Israel because of the young maiden Myriam – Mary of Nazareth – whom God chose to bear his Son. Every Christmas we celebrate the birth of Jesus who could find no room in the houses of men, but who had to be content with a manger in a stable in the hollow of a poor cave.

“To You I call; for You will surely heed me, O God; turn your ear to me; hear my words. Guard me as the apple of your eye; in the shadow of your wings protect me!”

This story of Moses who had trouble keeping his arms raised so that Israel might overcome their attackers shows God teaching his people a lesson. All too often we try to handle our own affairs without having recourse to God. We forget that to have life in its fullness we need to live our life in partnership with God. God created us to live in communion with the Most Holy Trinity. So, when we try to walk alone, we deprive ourselves of God’s love and his power.

“To You I call; for You will surely heed me, O God; turn your ear to me; hear my words. Guard me as the apple of your eye; in the shadow of your wings protect me!”

God invites us today to consider our relationship with the Most Holy Trinity. From one Sunday to the next, at home or outside, what is my attitude towards God? Do the Father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit find a warm welcome in me or rather a contemptuous or disrespectful attitude? Worse still, do I spend all my time ignoring God as if I were telling Him to mind his own business? Do I love my neighbour, or am I at times contemptuous of others?

At the moment of our last breath on this Earth, our soul will leave our body behind, and we will find ourselves face-to-face with God, with Jesus Christ. If at that final moment we realize we are full of regrets, it will be too late to change. Today is “the day of salvation”. Now is the time to get closer to God.

“To You I call; for You will surely heed me, O God; turn your ear to me; hear my words. Guard me as the apple of your eye; in the shadow of your wings protect me!”

As soon as we raise our eyes to Heaven, as soon as we open our hands to God, we are already at prayer. If there is an empty space inside us, and it hurts, it is simply because this empty space was made by God so He could come dwell within us; but He does not come when He is not welcome. God does not want to make us slaves but friends. God already loves us; so, it’s up to us every moment of every day to accept his friendship.

Jesus tells a parable about a nasty judge to teach us to persevere in prayer. Unlike the unjust judge, God is just and good. However, his ways are higher than our ways, and his will is bigger than our will. He always answers our prayers, but He answers in his time and in his way for our greater good. God always acts for our best, but not necessarily as we want Him to do.

“To You I call; for You will surely heed me, O God; turn your ear to me; hear my words. Guard me as the apple of your eye; in the shadow of your wings protect me!”

If there is a fire burning within us, it is a sign of the Presence and action of God within us. The Holy Spirit burns our bad intentions to purify our heart and make room for the love of the Father and the Presence of Jesus. There is another fire, more pleasant, which is a fire of divine desire – a holy desire – which attracts us to God and also towards our neighbour. It is the fire of divine love which seeks to fill us with love and then bring us to love our neighbour and even our enemies; exactly as Jesus loves us.

In a few moments, it will be time to place at the altar our offering to God. It is ourselves that we offer: all that we carry within us, our hopes and our fears, our desires and our regrets, and even our sins and our repentance. Let us open wide our spirit to God; so that He may do in us all that He desires to do: to forgive, to heal, and to give life.

“To You I call; for You will surely heed me, O God; turn your ear to me; hear my words. Guard me as the apple of your eye; in the shadow of your wings protect me!”

In silence now, the Holy Spirit continues to fill us with the Light of God.

https://frgilleshomilies.blogspot.com https://homeliesabbegilles.blogspot.com

Let us live in the freedom of the children of God and not as slaves in our mortal flesh. - June 26th, 2022 - 13th Sunday in Ordinary Time - MQP Church in JLW Parish

13th Sunday in Ordinary Time

VOCATION: Jesus calls us - He calls us to follow Him, to be filled with the Holy Spirit, and to become a missionary disciple....

Homily MP3 version

In silence now, the Holy Spirit continues to help us to know Jesus and our heavenly Father.

https://frgilleshomilies.blogspot.com https://homeliesabbegilles.blogspot.com

Jesus gives us Himself as food for eternal life. - June 19th, 2022 - Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ - MQP Church in JLW Parish

The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ

VOCATION: Jesus Risen from the dead and Son of god gives Himself to us in Holy Communion with his Body and Blood... He reveals the Father to us, and fills us with the Holy Spirit, the Consoler....

Homily MP3 version Homily PDF version