Year B - Seventh Sunday of Easter

Seventh Sunday of Easter - Year B

Apostles Acts 1, 15-17, 20-26

Psalm 102

1 John 4, 11-16

John 17, 11-19

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Details

-These glasses represent the Holy Trinity.

The lens on the left, it is the Father that we don't see but who is the Light.

The lens on the right, it is the Son, Jesus, who reveals the Father to us. When we look upon Jesus, we see the Father. He show us the Father with his hand.

He who links the Father to the Son, it is the Holy Spirit (The bar in the centre upon which is written Spirit)

-On the left arm, we see (and not so easily) "FIDES". It is the faith which reveals our God to us, in three people. In other words, by faith and the Revelation, it is possible to find God with ones intelligence, but impossible to arrive at the conclusion that God is three people.

Questions

(Here, one must decide upon which to work, because there are too many)

-In the Gospal of John, chapter 14, Jesus says "Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father". Can I say "Whoever sees me, sees Christ"? Following this verse, it shows me that if reside in Love, we can see God in me. How am I positioned concerning those perons who I like the least ? Who are they ? Why do they disgust me? What would Jesus do in my place ? How would he welcome them ? Have I completely rejected someone? Why ?

- Have I ever been met by someone, who truly loved, to the point of giving their time, their money, their skills, without expecting anything in return ? Have I myself experienced this ? Have I been conscious that this internal voice pushing me to react came from further than me (from God without doubt) ?

Year B - Sixth Sunday of Easter

Sixth Sunday of Easter - Year B

Apostles Acts 10, 25-26, 34-35, 44-48, 8, 15-17

Psalm 97

1 John 4, 7-10

John 15, 9-17

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Details

This verse is taken from a story that I like very much. A centurion who does not know God (his name is Cornelius) has an apparition and God asks him to go to Joppa, and look in a particular house, for a certain Peter. He does not know him, he does not know why but he sends men to get him. The same day, Peter has a vision of a great sheet, falling from the sky, filled with animals. God asks him to eat these animals. Peter refuses because, he says, "They are impure". This vision works and at that moment the men sent by Cornelius arrive. Peter follows them, then once he arrives, he begins to speak to Jesus. Right in the middle of his discourse, the holy spirit takes hold of all those who listen (it is the cartoon of the week). We see Peter on the right, the first to be surprised.

Cornelius is represented on the left. When the Holy Spirit falls on him, he becomes inhabited by the spirit. He has the form of a dove, symbol of the Holy Spirit. He seems happy, he is in the light,  he is ready to fly with his own wings.

The three rays show that God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit is at work (everywhere where there is the holy spirit, there is the father and the son) and the twelve stars show that the mission of the twelve is to transmit the word of God so that the Holy Spirit can do the rest.

Questions

-And I, am I conscious of the power of the word of God? When this good news is proclaimed and experienced in my life, the Holy Spirit can act through me.

-Am I available like Cornelius? Do I shake myself in my prayer like Peter to the point of changing my way of seeing things? When ?

Year B - Fifth Sunday of Easter

Fifth Sunday of Easter - Year B

Apostles Acts 9, 26-31

Psalm 21

1 John 3, 18-24

John 15, 1-8

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Details

-The Vine, it's me. There are places I bear fruit in my life and places where I'm pretty barren.

-Jesus has just pruned my life, that is to say, he comes to visit places where I do not bear fruit. Sometimes it's a clean cut in my life where there are so many parasites that the earth is useless. What are those areas where I lose myself?

-The Vine asks Jesus not to look at the dark or sterile areas of his life to see what works well. "Look right!" means "Look at what is going well in my life!" "Look where I am efficient in my faith" However, this Jesus already sees.

Questions

-As an attentive master, he wants my whole life to bear fruit. He desires that the light be put everywhere. Perhaps it is in darker areas of my life that Jesus wants to visit? Perhaps, in the future, I will carry more fruit in my branches which are currently barren, than in the other branches? 

-What are my current scenes of battle? What is not yet evangelised in my life? Where is the place where a little voice told me that part of my life is not great and can not be consistent with what Jesus asks of me? Do I think that place can be a place where life, flowers and fruits will spring if Jesus comes to visit? 

Today, there is even another cartoon illustrating the first reading which is in an article below.

Bonus !

Year B - Fifth Sunday of Easter

Fifth Sunday of Easter

Apostles Acts 9, 26-31

Psalm 21

1 John 3, 18-24

John 15, 1-8

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Details

-All is grey in the landscape

-This Rabbit puts himself in the trash, he believes that he is the king of worthlessness (His heart is a big zero, that is what he thinks)

-He does not see two things:

1. That his heart takes him very high

2. That the sun rises (he turns his back) 

Questions

-To believe oneself to be worthless does not necessarily mean "to be humble".

-To believe oneself to be worthless, that is to compare oneself to others, to judge, is to enclose oneself in a lie.

-To believe oneself to be worthless, it is to not listen to God, because God creates only good people. If I believe myself to be worthless, it means that my own thoughts of myself are held in greater importance than the thoughts which God has of me. Between God and I, who is most right? He or I?

"For God is greater than our heart and knows all things." Have you ever noticed that one of the benefits of the Sacrament of Reconciliation is to be told by someone else that we are pardoned? God is greater than our heart. The priest who listens to me, listens to me more sympathetically than myself, with less judgements than myself. When I confess (if it still happens to me ...), do I look at myself (as the rabbit turns towards himself), or do I hold my gaze towards the rising sun which is Christ ? 

Year B - Fourth Sunday of Easter

Fourth Sunday of Easter - Year B

Apostles Acts 4, 8-12

Psalm 117

1 John 3, 1-2

John 10, 11-18

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Details

-The commercial rabbit tries to sell a cardboard motorbike by showing a real one. His arguments are fabulous. ;

- "Full tank for free" (for a cardboard motorbike, logical...)
- New tyres (same)
- Cut price (1499 €, a little expensive for cardboard, but there is a key with it), Very portable (you can carry it with on hand, really...)

-The other rabbit seems skeptical, he is tempted though... Will he give in?

Questions

-The word of the drawing is not to say that we should not trust men. It tells us that trust in God is never wrong (but it does not stop us from trusting others too).

-Some would like to arrange their own religion, nice and comfortable, with whatever they want to take and whatever they want to leave... Jesus did not choose the throne, the castle, the limousine and the princess. It is clothed in the garment of weakness that he came. Sometimes we claim to do special tricks to attract young people. Be careful not to "mis-sell the merchandise" if we do not prepare them for the reality of this demanding life. Being inventive is a very good thing, but getting to the point where that young person truly clings to Christ and truly remains faithful when everything is dry, is another. Do I prepare others for this?

Year B - Third Sunday of Easter

Third Sunday of Easter - Year B

Apostles Acts 3, 3-15, 17-19

Psalm 4

1 John 2, 1-5

Luke 24, 35-48

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Details

-The Blue rabbit testifies to what he saw (and even feels it on his head ...) the resurrection has projected the tombstone, and he was in the corner.

-Strong from his experience, he's surrounded by bandages, but super happy from his experience.

-However, the grey rabbit wonders if it's bacon or ... rabbit 

Questions

-We can testify to the resurrection of Christ when it has had an impact in our lives (as we can speak with enthusiasm of a movie when we saw it, or of a food recipe when he have tasted it )

-Have I had a resurrection experience in my life over something that was hopeless?

-Do I ask God to put his life in me, for that which I think is now ruined?

-Am I always grateful, or is it all in the past?

-Am I conscious of that fact that if I testify, this could give others the opportunity to find hope? to perhaps find a solution to their impasse?

Year B - Second Sunday of Easter

Second Sunday of Easter - Year B

Apostles Acts 4, 32-35

Psalm 117

1 John 5, 1-6

John 20, 19-31

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Details

-The disciples are closed in. They are verifying that all exits are well guarded. They are on the alert.

-There are several possible locks : On the left, two beams, like a cross, that one can unlock quite quickly. The one in the middle is a final lock. If we look well, the latch cannot be pushed to the left or to the right due to the walls. The door will never open. Then there is the door on the right which is blocked by a bunch of stuff that we can find inside the house ; a mattress, a broom, a fridge, a table (and a bucket of water for the joke)

-And then, Jesus stands in their midst. He is there but nobody sees him. The important thing is not to know how he came to be there but to know that he is there.  He said himself "I am with you until the end of the world". He has not stopped keeping this promise.

-And finally, there is Thomas who stays outside. In the Gospel, we know that he was not there when Jesus appeared for the first time before his disciples.  What is important, is who is inside the house, inside you. It is there that we can meet Jesus.

Questions 

-Fear locks me inside with a phobia for outside, even though my powers are inside me.

E-E Schmitt wrote : "Everything that man has built begins, most often, in fear of the other man. The power of Christianity, it is to denounce this fear and to dare to affirm that human relationships can develop into love".

In what way is this true for me ? Am I aware ?

Year B - Easter Sunday

Easter Sunday - Year B

Apostles Act 10, 34, 37-43

Psalm 117

Colossians 3, 1-4

1 Corinthians 5, 6-8

John 20, 1-9

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Details

-The two disciples arrive at the tomb. John arrives first, and waits outside. Peter enters.

-Peter is perplexed, John enters afterwards, he BELIEVES when he sees... NOTHING.

-In this drawing, Peter scans the shroud, with his glasses, trying to find a rational explanation to the thing. He is looking for something. Maybe he does not know what he is looking for ?
-John seems to have understood. Understood the words of Christ which resonate in him currently "And on the third day he will rise again"
-John looks in two places ; the wall and the exit. Towards what should I look ?

Questions

-In which of these two people do I see myself right now ?-Sometimes, we look for God in wanting him to present himself to us in our way.
-But no, Jesus surprises ! The proof, he has even made his bed before leaving... And this we hadn't seen ? (Yes ? you had noticed ?)