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 of Lent
VOCATION: Jesus calls us - He calls you to follow Him, to be filled with the Holy Spirit, and 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
“Try to find out what is pleasing to the
Lord.
Take no part in the unfruitful works of
darkness, but instead expose them!”
“Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the presence of his brothers; and the spirit of the Lord came mightily upon David from that day forward.” David is the one God chose to precede Jesus who would come after him. Jesus came to pour out this same Spirit, the very Spirit of the Living God, upon every human person who wants to receive him. What we need is to desire to receive the Spirit of God, but we must also put no obstacle to block Him.
“The Pharisees did not believe that he had been blind from birth and that now he could see.” These people who closed their hearts to Jesus were not men after God’s own heart like David was; they cultivated in themselves a contrary spirit. What then is the quality of my heart? Am I cultivating in myself a contrary spirit? Or do I desire to receive the Spirit of God so that He might renew in me a spirit after God’s own heart?
“Try to
find out what is pleasing to the Lord.
Take no
part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them!”
These days, we are full of challenges. Our pastor, Francis McKee, had to leave us for an indeterminate period of time. We are left full of questions. In our lives and in our families as well – at work as well as in school – we face plenty of challenges and trials. Is God punishing us? “Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him.” That is the truth we must live out in our lives. Evil never comes from God but from the enemy; however, God permits evil so that the trial may purify our heart; so that our struggle against evil may remove the obstacles to God’s love and his Spirit and make us stronger; so that God might manifest his power to save.
“Try to
find out what is pleasing to the Lord.
Take no
part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them!”
What evil am I doing in secret? God warns that “everything shameful exposed by the light becomes visible”. We must take care not to cultivate within us a contrary spirit, not to resist God’s call to conversion. We are free to desire the grace the Spirit of God wants to pour into us and bring us to repent, turn away from all evil, and turn our face, our mind, our heart to Jesus.
What is the good word to be said? What is the right
thing to do? What is the good deed to put into action? With which person must I
seek to be reconciled? Who is it that is doing me harm; so that I may pray for
them? Who is the enemy that Jesus commands me to love; so that I might be a
daughter, a son of God, and resemble Him?
“Try to
find out what is pleasing to the Lord.
Take no
part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them!”
When Jesus gave his disciples authority and power to forgive, it was to inaugurate the kingdom of God, God who is merciful and never refuses to forgive the one who repents and asks for forgiveness. If we inherit from Jesus the Sacrament of Reconciliation, of Penance, called Confession, it’s to restore our own ability and willingness to forgive, to free from their chains those we retain by our anger, vengeance, or bitterness. Break the chains! Open the prisons! Free the captives!
As long as we still have priests, let us not waste the opportunity to confess our sins before the priest, to meet Jesus Himself through the priest. Let us allow God the Father to restore our capacity and willingness to forgive, to free the captives, to restore their sight to the blind!
“Try to
find out what is pleasing to the Lord.
Take no
part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them!”
One day, perhaps there will be no more priests… if the men Jesus is calling do not put aside their fear in order to put their trust in the Lord and answer his call. Every priest is a sinner like all of us, and every day he needs our prayers, our love, our forgiveness. Today is the day of salvation. Today is the day to forgive.
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 reluctance to be holy, our distaste for being perfect; 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, to make us holy and perfect, and to give life.
“Try to
find out what is pleasing to the Lord.
Take no
part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them!”
“Mary Mother of God, pray for us. St. Joseph, 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 restore our sight to see the Light of God.
https://frgilleshomilies.blogspot.com https://homeliesabbegilles.blogspot.com
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.
© 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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