In the "New Covenant" made by our Creator God with humanity, as reported in Jeremiah 31:31-34, every human being can know God from within - because the Holy Spirit is revealing our Creator to all who are willing to know the Lord and trust in Him. We can still help each other along the way; so please feel free to share with others these homilies and your own personal faith in God through Jesus Christ. G.S.
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4th 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....
A few afterthoughts from the homily....
The Word of the Lord speaks to us today a lot about humility... a virtue, attitude, perspective on life which we find everywhere in the Bible, both Old and New Testaments. Have you ever thought much about humility? What does humility have to do with anything in your real life? What difference does it make, or can it make, in your family, home life, at school or at work, with your friends, out in society at large? Why does God insist so much on it?
This is simply because God's attitude from the beginning towards us human beings, and why He created us male and female to begin with, is that the Most Holy Trinity are forever offering us to enter into friendship with them. God is inviting us to enter into and to participate in the intimate life of the Most Holy Trinity, and to do so by way of friendship.
Friendship is a relationship based in complete freedom and it is always a gift which can never be demanded, bought or sold, or expected. To enter into friendship with anyone, we need to be honest with ourselves as well as with them. This is what humility is all about, accepting the truth about ourselves rather than living in an illusion of what we would like to be or how we would like others to see us.
Jesus goes so far as to actually offer us to enter into partnership with Him - this is the meaning of the "gentle yoke" He offers us - He offers to be our "first reference" in our Marriage, family life, business enterprises, work or school, in all that we do. Imagine how different our life could be if we accept Jesus' offer and do nothing, make no decisions, without Him, without consulting Him in prayer first!
A humble person can of course improve themselves and grow; they simply refuse to entertain any illusions about their actual conditions and circumstances at any given moment. As we do admit our own truth to ourselves, we become aware of our shortcomings, our faults and failures, and our sins. Sins are the ways in which we shut God out or shut others out of our mind, heart, or soul. We sin whenever we enter into illusions of life rather than the reality of life, or when we try to grab for ourselves that which can only be given as gift. We sin when we refuse to accept the love of others, humans and God, or when we demand that they love us on our terms rather than in the freedom which is theirs.
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In the "New Covenant" made by our Creator God with humanity, as reported in Jeremiah 31:31-34, every human being can know God from within - because the Holy Spirit is revealing our Creator to all who are willing to know the Lord and trust in Him. We can still help each other along the way; so please feel free to share with others these homilies and your own personal faith in God through Jesus Christ. G.S.
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© 2006-2023 All rights reserved Fr. Gilles Surprenant, Associate Priest of Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montreal QC
© 2006-2023 Tous droits réservés Abbé Gilles Surprenant, Prêtre Associé de Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montréal QC
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