Year B - Fourth Sunday of Advent

Fourth Sunday of Advent - Year B

2 Samuel 7, 1...16

Psalm 88

Romans 16, 25 - 27

Luke 1, 26 - 38

To go further

Details

- A marine blue rabbit looks through a slot in the church door. He has a partial revelation.

- Another is inside but walks against the walls very preciously. He has not yet had the total revelation either because he does not seem to know how to love and how to open up to others.

- And he who invites the other rabbit to enter, he is the one sufficiently at ease « inside » and « outside». His feet and heart are inside, his head and ears outside. He invites the one outside to enter, coming towards him. The "mystery in 3D"  is that which is sought , discovered and lived . As long as one is not anchored in ones life , it is only in 2D ...

Question

- The Revelation is accomplished in Jesus. In the Church, we speak of "mystery". The mystery is not a secret thing that we will never understand and therefore must not even try to think on it. Au contraire, the mystery is something that we will never finish to understand but can discover always more. Take the example of the universe. We discover things always more fabulous, science allows us to go further, to explore the mystery under different facets. It is the same for the mystery of man; we have never finished to go to the deepest depths of understanding. We could say "in any case, it is a mystery, we will never discover the totality, so useless to look". Or, we could say "it is extraordinary, look further still, there is always something to discover". Therein lies the mystery of God. We will never cease to discover but we can go deeper and deeper still. And I, have I given up ? Do I also say (as I have already heard) "That is the way it is, it is a mystery, don't think on it". Should reason actually resign ?

Year B - Third Sunday of Advent

Third Sunday of Advent - Year B

Isaiah 61, 1 - 11

Cantics Luke 1

1 Thessalonians 5, 1- - 24

John 1, 6 - 28

To go further

Details

- It seems to me that the image speaks for itself. What we can note is that the rabbit on the right (the wet one) has seven little clouds which pour upon him. These are gifts of the spirit (I remind you of them : wisdom, intelligence, advice, force, science, pity, fear of God).

- It is possible to dry these gifts when one is no longer turned towards the giver. God had said "you shall love the Lord with all of your heart, with all of your soul, with all your spirit and all of your force, and you will love your neighbour as you love yourself." What about the love of your neighbour when we water him with concepts and ideas which extinguish life in him?

- The rabbit on the left is "well-squared", his lines are hard, highlighted, his ears and feet are angular. His eyes are closed because he is not capable of looking at that which is good in the other one. 

- His heart is protected by his barrel, behind his certitudes. He dare not look at his heart, and dare not show it either.

Questions

- Don't make me say what I don't want to say. I do not say that morale, catechism, canonical rights and dogma are there to make us sweat (and still less to extinguish the spirit !). They are there at the service of the growth of human beings. They are therefore indispensable. On the other hand, be careful in the way in which we use them. If it is to break someone, is this a service for their growth.

And I, do I consider myself as an aid? As an obstacle ? In what way ?

Never lose sight of the fact that we always need the right balance.  

Year B - Second Sunday of Advent

Second Sunday of Advent - Year B

Isaiah 40, 1 - 11

Psalm 84

2 Peter 3, 8 - 14

Mark 1, 1 - 6

To go further

Details

- The rabbit is rather pressed and wishes to speed things along. But what things? The word of the bible says "It is for you that He is patient". He is patient to give you all the time to convert. The ball is in our court, in my court. But there we are, I have time for many things, but do I "take" time to convert? Nobody "has" the time, but  to "have" some, one must "take" it, and put it to one side for this task.

- With his nostrils, he breathes (fulmination no doubt) to accelerate  the melting of the ice. He sees solutions to go quicker ; solutions for God "you must do this or that", and solutions which come from himself (heat the ice). So, he passes by the wayside concerning his conversion, which  must happen inside himself. If he knew that it was he who God waited for, he who is concerned by his conversion... maybe he would see things differently? But here, he is so pressed that he uses, at the same time, his nostrils to melt the ice and his mouth to speak... How much do I resemble him?

Questions

- We forget the proverb "He who goes steady goes further". Do I wish to go further ? If so, am I going steady and how ? Enemy number 1 in the world today is the race against time. We do everything to move around more rapidly, we complain if we miss a subway connection, when there is another arriving in 40 seconds, we order online to have products delivered to us in the shortest timescales, even if it is more expensive. What is human in this? What is not human? What of it do I endorse? And the conversion, the fact to put things into question, to change? That will happen after everything else, if we have the time...

Year B - First Sunday of Advent

First Sunday of Advent - Year B

Isaiah 63, 16...64, 7

Psalm 79

1 Corinthians 1, 3-9

Mark 13, 33-37

To go further

Details

- Two computers. One is in standby mode, the other one is off.

- On the right, the hand of God. It only just touches the mouse and a rabbit erupts, ready (maybe we have noticed that the computer that switches on is the one whose screen is facing God?)

- The rabbit is emerging from the frame. The frame represents what's usual, expected, normal. By coming out of the frame, he's ready for the novelty of God.

- He's "on guard", ready to listen (his ears are extended) and to follow God.

Questions

- The difference between a computer which is off and a computer which is in standby mode resides in the time it takes to start. The one which is off needs time to heat up, to initialise, to execute programmes. The one which is in standby mode is "ready". He only needs a little something to wake up.

- The drawing doesn't mean that God manipulates us as we manipulate a computer with a mouse. It means that you must be in standby mode to be able to welcome God's delicacies which will touch our life everyday and to be able to recognise them. Anyone Christian who goes to church on a Sunday and then puts his faith away in a cupboard for the rest of the week, is he not like a computer which is off?

- Do I want to get ready for Christ's coming on Christmas or will I carry on with my life without questioning it and get to Christmas Eve and say "Is it Christmas already?".

- How will I try to stay in standby mode, particularly during these four weeks?