The Lord is near to all who call on him! Lord, make me know your ways! - January 21st, 2024 - 3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time - Transfiguration of Our Lord Parish

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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3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

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

Sunday Gospel & Homily MP3 - 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

“The Lord is near to all who call on him!”

Good morning, sisters and brothers in the Lord. The Word of the Lord speaks to us this morning about his ways of dealing with the world. Through the Book of the Prophet Jonah, the Lord tells us of his love for all peoples. He would even send a Jewish prophet to foreigners who were living badly and were in need of conversion. God our Creator gives us the gift of life, and He has designed us to have fullness of life by living in peace and love with our neighbours.

When we choose not to live in peace and love with our neighbours, we become less human, living a life that is not holy, a perversion. But what happens then? God sent Jonah to warn the people of Nineveh that if they did not repent, they would be overthrown. This Word of God still applies today: there are many cities or lands that behave badly like Nineveh did centuries before Jesus. Russia invading Ukraine, and Hamas attacking and killing civilians in Israel are only two examples always in the news, but there are many, many others doing evil things.

“Lord, make me know your ways!”

Evil events and tragedies are usually caused by injustices. When Gorbachev was making renewal in the U.S.S.R. in the 1980’s, he talked with world leaders about the future. They all agreed on the unification of Germany, and the Berlin wall came down. They assured Gorbachev NATO would not move any closer to Russia, but until today, world leaders did the opposite. Led by the U.S.A., they got nations close to Russia to join NATO. Very few of us would approve of Russia’s war against Ukraine; it is brutal, tragic, and an evil thing. It was also wrong for the West to push the military alliance of NATO to the very borders of Russia.

Similar evil and injustices have happened between Israel and Palestine. For centuries, there was no Israel, and Jewish people no longer had a homeland. They lived as strangers in all the countries where they built their lives. Since the invasions by Muslim armies in the 7^th century, what is now Israel was known as Palestine, and it was mostly an Arab land. There were Jews and Christians living there, but they were minorities, and some of them got along well together.

“The Lord is near to all who call on him!”

When the Nazis exterminated some six million Jews and millions of others in the Holocaust, the Shoah, no western nation would help surviving Jews or accept to take them in. The newly formed United Nations helped establish the State of Israel in 1948. That was a good thing and it needed to happen. We can understand how the Jewish people want to protect their homeland, but these times are not like when their ancestors came from Egypt and God drove out the seven nations in that land and gave it to his Chosen People as their home. All these situations in the world show us how difficult it is for us human beings to know the ways of the Lord. What God did a long time ago is not necessarily what He is doing now.

Do you know that many Jews who survived the Holocaust lost their faith in God. They could not understand how God could allow their people to be exterminated like that. In many ways, we have the same problem with God and his ways. What our reading from Jonah did not say is that after the people repented, God relented from the disaster He had predicted. Jonah then was angry with God. It may have been because Jonah saw their bad behaviour and wanted them to be punished. Jonah didn’t much like God’s mercy and forgiveness to the people of Nineveh.

“Lord, make me know your ways!”

This morning, the Lord is scrutinizing us, our thoughts, our feelings, and our consciences. What are my attitudes toward God? Do I know his ways? Am I even willing to learn what are the ways of the Lord? Unless we learn the ways of the Lord, we can have no peace.

When Simon, Andrew, James, and John left their occupations and their lives to follow Jesus and begin a new life as his disciples; it was because they were at peace. They knew the ways of the Lord, and they recognized the ways of the Lord in Jesus, in his words, and in his actions.

“The Lord is near to all who call on him!”

The Lord’s ways are not our ways. The Lord’s ways are directed towards life that extends into eternity, but our ways are very limited to this mortal life alone. We tend to care only about this life on Earth, and we tend to put off thinking about what happens next. Though we believe in eternal life in Heaven with God, we are not eager to leave this life. Saint Paul’s words are wise. God wants us to live our life fully, but to avoid getting attached to this life; remembering to keep our eyes on our eternal destiny. What begins here is going to continue after we die. Just dying solves nothing. Who we are when we die is who we are when we get to the other side. We need to face our challenges, turn away from all that is wrong, and put loving care into action to everyone in our lives, even strangers, and even enemies. These are the ways of the Lord.

“Lord, make me know your ways!”

“Mary Mother of God, St. Joseph, help us walk in the steps of Jesus. 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 helps us to unite our offering of ourselves to that of Jesus….

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© 2006-2024 All rights reserved Fr. Gilles Surprenant, Associate Priest of Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montreal QC
© 2006-2024 Tous droits réservés Abbé Gilles Surprenant, Prêtre Associé de Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montréal QC

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The Father calls each of us to follow Jesus and to become more loving like Him! - January 13-14th, 2024 - 2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time - Transfiguration of Our Lord Parish

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2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

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

Saturday Gospel & Homily MP3 - PDF version

Sunday Gospel & Homily MP3 - 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

“The Lord is near to all who call on him!”

The young boy Samuel heard in the night a voice calling his name. He did not know that it was the Lord calling him. He learned this from the Lord’s priest Eli, who served in the Temple of the Lord. Eli was not a good man and displeased the Lord. Notably, he failed to discipline his two sons. They abused the Lord’s Temple and had no respect for God or for others. Still, Eli did a good thing in guiding young Samuel to learn to listen to the voice of the Lord.

Have you ever heard the voice of the Lord? I haven’t; at least, not with my ears. What’s really important here is not whether or not we hear the voice of the Lord with our ears, but whether we are even interested in listening for the Lord’s voice within our spirit. We all have voices inside of us: our own conscience, voices we remember, like those of our parents; the voice of our spouse, of friends and relatives, or even voices we dread, like that of our boss. Most important among all the voices echoing inside of us is the gentle, quiet voice of God.

“Here I am, Lord; I come to do your will!”

Dear brothers and sisters in Jesus, I should get down on my knees and ask your forgiveness for the neglect of all the pastors and priests you have ever known; forgiveness for all the ways in which we have failed to coach you in learning to listen, to discern and recognize, and to obey the voice of the Lord… deep down within your spirit. The Holy Spirit is close to every human being, whether we realize it or not. This is in part because God is our Creator, and it is the will of the Father alone which brought us into being and which sustains us in being. Without the stable and loving will of the Father that we should exist, we would simply disappear without a trace, without even a puff of smoke. We would simply vanish.

“The Lord is near to all who call on him!”

The fact that we exist is evidence that God exists, and that He also wants us to exist. In the Bible’s perspective, our very breath is not our own, but it is God’s breath which He breathes into us. Further evidence of the great and unconditional love with which God loves us is the free will with which we have all been endowed. Our free will is a very great gift indeed.

However, we don’t always like the fact that we have free will. We would much prefer God to wipe out in a single stroke every hint of evil, violence, pain, poverty, and suffering in the world. Isn’t that right? Hello? We don’t realize that if God did as we wish and wiped out all evil doers, illness, violence, natural disasters, pain, and suffering, we would no longer be free. We would simply be a bunch of robots, programmed machines, like ChatGPT, with no free will. Family, love, friendship, and caring for others, especially those in need; none of that could exist if there were no free will, no possibility of freely deciding to make acts of love and caring. Would you really want to live in a world like that? I would most definitely not want to live in that world.

“Here I am, Lord; I come to do your will!”

Sadly, there is another reason for me to get on my knees and ask for your forgiveness on my behalf and on behalf of all the clergy you have ever known. It’s not just because we have failed to coach you in learning to know God personally and to relate to God personally every day. In addition to this, we have given you the impression that all you need to do to enter into Heaven when you die is to be a good person; to avoid committing crimes, and to do some good deeds. This is all good, but it is only part of what God expects of us. Our Creator cares a great deal about his Creation, and especially about all his human children.

If we don’t freely decide to learn how to also care a great deal about God’s Creation, and especially about all of his human children; then how can we possible stand to live in God’s company for all of eternity in Heaven? At times, aren’t we already allergic to people who, we may think, are too holy, too devout or too good. Such people give us to feel a bit uncomfortable. Unless we change, it won’t get any better in Heaven; in fact, it will only get worse. We won’t want to be in Heaven.

“The Lord is near to all who call on him!”

A few minutes ago, we heard St. Paul declare that in order to be in sync with God, we need to hold our bodies and the bodies of others in great respect; even reverence. That means there is no room for sexual hanky panky; no room at all. More important than this, though, is that God is calling each and every baptized person to do as John, Andrew, and Simon did. We are all to follow Jesus and become his missionary disciples. We may feel weak, imperfect, and fragile, yes, and that is what we offer, but the Lord brings to bear his power, holiness, and divine mercy; so in this partnership, God can do wonders and in fact does wonders through us. Jesus wants to fill us with the life and love of the Holy Spirit and send us out into the world to bring his good news to all those poor people who are starving and thirsting for the good news that God loves them unconditionally.

In our day, we have no excuse. Anyone can own a Bible as well as a copy of the Catechism. Anyone with a computer or smart phone with internet can read the Bible, the Catechism, and even listen to the Liturgy of the Hours and read along. The Lord, in the Word He addresses to us today, is testing us, scrutinizing our spirits, to bring to light our willingness to let Him work in us and bring about his holy will in us, for our own good and for the good of others. We have everything at our fingertips.

“Here I am, Lord; I come to do your will!”

“Mary Mother of God, St. Joseph, help us walk in the steps of Jesus. 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 helps us to unite our offering of ourselves to that of Jesus….

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

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Jesus Christ, our King, offers to set us free from all that imprisons us and prevents us from loving Him and others! - November 26th, 2023 - Christ the King "A" - The LSM at St. Willibrord

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CHRIST THE KING

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 -

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

Should you have any questions about the Word of God, or the Solemnity of Christ the King, or about anything in this homily, please feel free to contact me at: fathergilles@gmail.com

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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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The Lord is near to all who call on him! - September 24th, 2023 - 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time "A" - The LSM at St. Willibrord

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25th Sunday in Ordinary Time

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

Gospel & 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

“The Lord is near to all who call on him!”

“Seek the Lord while he may be found, call upon him while he is near.” God spoke this word to his people Israel around 2,500 years ago through a prophet who went by the name of Isaiah. Scholars today give us to understand that there were actually 3 prophets over 300 years who were called Isaiah: chapters 1 to 39; 40 to 55; and 56 to 66. Because God inspired these words as applicable to us human beings, they are just as true and meaningful for us today.

God calls us to seek him “while he may be found (and) call upon him while he is near”. This points to a time when he may not be found, because he will not be near. How could God not be found or not be near? In 1917, Catherine Kolyschkine de Hueck was attending an early morning hidden Mass in St. Petersburg when Communist soldiers came in and shot the priest through the heart as he elevated the Host, the Body of Christ. He was the last priest. All the others were sent to concentration camps or killed. No more Mass. No more confession and absolution. No more sacraments at all. God in Jesus suddenly seemed far away and difficult to find. This happened many times in many places. It is happening now. It could happen here.

“The Lord is near to all who call on him!”

“Let the wicked person forsake their way, and the unrighteous person their thoughts; let that person return to the Lord that he may have mercy on them, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.” What do these words have to do with you and me? Who are the wicked and the unrighteous? People are wicked who love their sins and don’t want to stop sinning or to change their wicked ways. An unrighteous person is self-sufficient, has no interest in God, and has no use for the will of God. This person is proud and doesn’t care. This person won’t listen to anyone: children won’t listen to their parents, parents won’t listen to their children, spouses won’t listen to their spouse, people ignore the poor, the sick, homeless itinerants, those who suffer in any way; the young won’t respect the old, and the old won’t care about the young.

“The Lord is near to all who call on him!”

In addition, they are wicked and unrighteous who don’t want to know the truth. Knowing the truth has to do with our thoughts. We are all full of thoughts: our own thoughts, thoughts from other people: thoughts from books, social media, and plays; from scientists, grade and high school teachers, college and university professors, from poets and novelists; thoughts that are true, and thoughts that are false. Because the wicked and unrighteous don’t want to know the truth, they often don’t want to have anything to do with God either or his Church. How do we make sense out of all the thoughts arising from within us and around us? Those who believe in God and love Him know these words to be true: “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

“The Lord is near to all who call on him!”

When people at any age suffer confusion about their gender or human sexuality, it is often because they don’t want to know the truth or are listening to the wrong people. It is dangerous to follow our feelings, because they are often unreliable. Rather than follow our heart, we must guide our heart from our mind nourished with the truth and from our soul that listens to God.

We are constantly being bombarded by an endless stream of thoughts; it’s enough to make some people go mad. Over the centuries, our Church has made sense out of the ever-growing flood of thoughts expressed by people through the work of highly literate men and women in monasteries and in the offices of bishops, the shepherds of the Church. None of us can afford to have so many competent people at our service, but we can rely on the Church’s Magisterium, the teaching authority of the Church. A good source to make part of one’s daily reading and study is the “Catechism of the Catholic Church” which comes in different affordable formats.

“The Lord is near to all who call on him!”

All the saints knew that the best way to listen to God is by reading the Bible every day. Before people could have their own Bible, they went to daily Mass and listened attentively to the Word of God. In the early Church it was in Latin which was the language of the people. When in time the language of the people changed and they no longer understood Latin, they listened attentively to the sermons, the preaching. Before the invention of the printing press, radio, television, computers, the internet, and smart phones, people were able to be so attentive that they were able to memorize many Bible passages just from hearing them at daily Mass.

Today, we have no excuse. Anyone can own a Bible as well as a copy of the Catechism. Anyone with a computer or smart phone with internet can listen to the Liturgy of the Hours and read along at the same time. The hours of Morning Prayer, Midday Prayer, Office of Readings, Evening Prayer, and Night Prayer all contain Psalms and readings from the Bible and saints.

So, if you're not already doing so, I invite you, I encourage you to open your Bible every day. To find the Liturgy of the Hours on the Internet, you can go to Divine Office dot org, but there are others as well.

“The Lord is near to all who call on him!”

We need a steady diet of the Word of God, and the Holy Spirit brings order to the thoughts that assail us. We saw in the Gospel how the people who had worked all day were filled with thoughts like "That's unfair!", and they were not able to make room for other thoughts - the kindness and generosity of the landlord - he started by paying those who had worked only an hour; so that they would not be embarrassed in realizing that they were paid as much as all the others. So, as we prepare the offering of ourselves, to place our offering on the Altar with the bread and wine, let us make room for the Holy Spirit to elevate our thoughts and fill us with the thoughts of the Lord.

“Mary Mother of God, St. Joseph, walk with us in the steps of Jesus. 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 helps us to unite our offering of ourselves to that of Jesus….

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

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Lord, give your servant an understanding mind to discern between good and evil! - July 30th, 2023 - 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time "A" - MQP Church in JLW Parish

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17th Sunday in Ordinary Time

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

“Lord, give your servant an understanding mind to discern between good and evil!”

God loves to listen to all of our prayers. However, it is not good for us to only pray for our own good. This is why the young King Solomon’s prayer was so pleasing to the Lord: “Give your servant an understanding mind to govern your people, able to discern between good and evil; for who can govern this, your great people?”

“Lord, give your servant an understanding mind to discern between good and evil!”

God does not need us to inform Him of our needs; for He already knows them, even before we do. Nor does our prayer have as its objective to convince God to give us his blessings; for He already desires to give us all good things. The purpose of our prayer is to bring our heart, our thought, our body, and our soul into sync with the Sacred Heart of Jesus, with his thought, his Body, and his Soul; which perfectly reflect the will and the love of God our Father. Our prayer, as we persevere in prayer, our patient waiting on the Lord and our hopeful anticipation of his reply; all of these make us exercise the holy desires which the Holy Spirit places in us. The passage of time increases the intensity of our holy desires. This gives us time to empty our hands in order to be ready to receive more, and our patient waiting allows the empty space within us to grow sufficiently large to have room to take in the gifts God wants to give us.

“Lord, how I love your law!”

Life, with its pleasures and pains, with all of its changes and the passage of time, and with our losses and grieving, our gains, our blessings, our thanksgiving, and our praises to the Lord, all of these enable us to grow in our love for God and for our neighbour. If we are to be ready for heaven in God’s eternity, we need while there is time to attach ourselves more and more to God and his holy will; while detaching ourselves from the concerns and goods of this world. Rare is the person that is a saint right from their infancy. Our life passes through stages, and at each stage, God is there to immerse us in his grace, and in the life and love of the Most Holy Trinity; in the unity of their will and in their communion of love.

“We know that all things work together for good for those who love God!”

The parables which Jesus tells invite us to examine the intentions of our heart. “The one who found a treasure in a field” and “the merchant who found a pearl of great value”, both realized the value of their discovery and decided “to sell all that they had” in order to acquire that treasure or that pearl. Have we discovered yet the great value of the kingdom of heaven? To live in the kingdom of heaven actually means to live in a real and personal relationship with God the Father, through Jesus his Son, in the power of love of the Holy Spirit. Living in an intimate relationship of love with God doesn’t happen by itself, but it requires our decision and our participation from day to day. Praying is opening ourself up to God dwelling within us.

“We know that all things work together for good for those who love God!”

The parable of the “net that was thrown into the sea and caught fish of every kind” warns us that at the end of our life, and “at the end of the age, the Angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous and throw them into the furnace of fire”. Let’s not wait. It is up to us right now to separate ourselves from the evil in order to be ready for the Lord. It is not up to us to judge those who appear to us to be evil; on the contrary, we must pray for them. However, we must take care not to let ourselves be influenced or confused by their words, their attitudes, their gestures, their practices, or their behaviours.

“In the furnace of fire, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Have you understood?”

Today, there is great confusion over the gender ideology: am I a man or a woman? Does this depend on how I feel inside, or am I man or woman according to the design of God our Creator? In the 1960’s it was all about the so-called sexual revolution. The father of sexual permissiveness and experimentation was a certain Alfred Kinsey. His research included the sexual abuse of infants and the sexual practices of sexual criminals who were in prison. He was fraudulent in publishing his findings in 1948 and 1953 as the behaviours of ordinary citizens. His successor, John Money, invented gender theory. He experimented on two young twin boys who later committed suicide. I invite you to watch the YouTube video “What is a woman?”

“Lord, give your servant an understanding mind to discern between good and evil!”

We need to wake up and get informed. The one who doesn’t have both feet on the ground, and a spirit deeply rooted in God and his Word, can easily be confused by the voracious wolves who are now experimenting on our children in schools and universities. We must pray for the evil, but we must be vigilant to not let ourselves be confused by them. “Lord, give discernment to us and our children; form us and help us form our children. By your Word, make us into missionary disciples equipped with “what is new and what is old.”

“Lord, give your servant an understanding mind to discern between good and evil!”

“Mary Mother of God, St. Joseph, walk with us in the steps of Jesus. 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 helps us to unite our offering of ourselves to that of Jesus….

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

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Lord, you are good and forgiving; listen to my cry of supplication! - July 23rd, 2023 - 16th Sunday in Ordinary Time "A" - MQP Church in JLW Parish & The LSM at St. Willibrord

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16th Sunday in Ordinary Time

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