Saturday, July 31, 2004

Let nature touch you and discover deeply who you are: "All you creatures, bless the Lord!"

My purpose in these posts is to bring a variety of Christian and other writers in a desire to share significant writings that in my estimation contribute to the common good and directly or indirectly give glory to God and extend the Lord's work of salvation to all of humanity. G.S.

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My classmate, friend, and gracious host, Fr. Brian MacDougall had a Baptism yesterday, and I accompanied him to the family home for the little reception afterwards. I am always in awe of the artistry with which maritimer pastors cultivate relationships with the people they serve - it really is as though they become a member of each family into which they enter or with whom they journey along the multifaceted paths of life. I marvel at how different we are, and at how the Lord is pleased to communicate Himself to people through rather than despite those differences. 

Still, it's summer for him too, and I have noticed signs of his tiredness; so I was glad to give him reason to leave early, for my plan for the late afternoon was to jump into the sea water nearby. The family recommended a pebble beach closer than the provincial park, which I hope to visit the next few days, and we went there. It gave onto the Northumberland Strait and is actually about midway along the western coast of the island. Brian has to watch his exposure to the sun and was content to sit on a towel and spend time with the Lord, with the help of his Breviary. For my part, I put on some lotion, went down to the water's edge, did some warm ups and stretches, and waded out. To my amazement, the first few steps I went down a few feet, but then found myself back up on a sandbar - it was like walking on water - with inches of water as the waves of the surf left ripple lines parallel to the shore every few inches in the sand below. 

About 100 meters out, I found depth of water I could swim in, and soon found myself over my head. Allowing the surf to carry me, I was transported back in time as it were to all the other moments as this, on vacation, where I swam out into the waters of a lake - such as at Nova Nada Hermitage years ago in North Kemptville, Nova Scotia, or as on the beaches of Eastern Point in East Gloucester, Massachusetts, where I went for an annual directed and silent retreat in 1982 and from 1985 to 1989 - and even now as I write these lines I sense myself caught up into the hymn of the creatures: "Seas and rivers, bless the Lord, you fishes and creatures moving in the waters, bless the Lord!" 

Though we forget it, living as we do in a world where we have so much power to control our environment and living conditons through the myriad buttons we have to press - such as these very keys connected to the hardware and wires that are bringing these words to you - we are each of us living creatures, sturdy yet fragile, just as dependent on our Creator for our next breath as all the creatures around us. The warm, refreshing sea water washed all worry and concern from my limbs, and cleared my mind so well it seemed to find itself in communion with my heart and spirit. We were one, one with the One from whom we come, to whom we are returning, and who holds us in being moment by moment by the sheer stability of his will. 

Though I was in the water for only 20 minutes or so - did I swim longer than 15? - perhaps I was there 30 or more.... I lost track of all time.... the peace that came over me enfolds me still. What a blessing it is anytime we allow ourselves to live a more natural moment, a more natural hour, a more natural day, a more natural life. 
"In those moments, You seem so obviously present, our Father and Creator. We seem so naturally to find ourselves walking along in the company of Jesus, your Son; yet in a manner that is so innocent and unselfconscious - it is only later, such as now, that in looking back in order to relate the blessed moment to another - that we become aware that You are here, and our heart and soul, body and mind, raise up to You grateful expressions of praise and gratitude! Blessed are You, Lord God of all Creation, in the orderly multitude of your creatures, and blessed are You in your blessed trinity of Persons! Glory be to You, forever and ever. Amen!"
Sublime moments, yet apparently so trivial, like today. I went shopping for some pasta sauce and local fish, finding scallops and shrimp. We had gone out for supper last evening to the North Port Pier Restaurant, after we came back from the beach and showered. We could observe the huge herons standing in the water, fishing, motionless, ready to strike with lightning speed. We had a wonderful time, and slept well. 

This morning, we kept separate routines: I prayed while Brian worked on his homilies for a wedding on Saturday and for Sunday Masses. I then went for a long walk back to the pier, met a fisherman and RCMP officers, came back for a shower and breakfast, and then went shopping. It was so relaxing, such a natural thing to do, to pan cook the scallops and shrimp, add them to the simmering sauce, cook the pasta, and sit down to a late lunch. Trivial, yet sublime moments of life. 

It seemed a natural thing to do for me to follow up on my offer and celebrate the 4:30 Mass for Brian at the St. Bernadette chapel some 15 km away and preach extemporaneously. It was a pleasant, living connection with the 85 or so folk there; as was the light dinner with an elderly couple who have been offering hospitality to the priests for decades. 
"Lord, bless them! So, here we are, coming to the end of another day, aware that I am glad to be alive. Thank you, Father."
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My purpose in these posts is to help spread the contributions of a variety of Christian and other writers in a desire to share significant writings that in my estimation contribute to the common good and directly or indirectly give glory to God and extend the Lord's work of salvation to all of humanity. G.S.

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© 2004-2021 All rights reserved Fr. Gilles Surprenant, Associate Priest of Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montreal  QC
© 2004-2021 Tous droits réservés Abbé Gilles Surprenant, Prêtre Associé de Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montréal QC
 

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Friday, July 30, 2004

Seeing both joy and pain in myself, I can be patient with others: in the sublime and trivial moments of the day as we all find both joy and pain.

My purpose in these posts is to bring a variety of Christian and other writers in a desire to share significant writings that in my estimation contribute to the common good and directly or indirectly give glory to God and extend the Lord's work of salvation to all of humanity. G.S.

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Summertime is really cool, even when it's hot! It seems so natural to take more time than usual to just be glad to be alive. I find my mind boiling with thoughts and my heart overflowing with emotions, and these days, one big thread through it all is gratitude. Gratitude for the priests I have been privileged to live and work with these past ten years. I'm glad that in more recent years I have more deliberately taken the time to enjoy their company and share more openly my thoughts and feelings in this ongoing adventure of life, Christian faith, and priesthood. 

Just last week we enjoyed a meal and fellowship and our gratitude for the awesome presence of the Lord in our midst. We have both rediscovered the joy of spending more time in the Divine Presence each day, and I have been realizing how much I have missed doing that. In my previous assignment, I lived under the same roof with the Lord, and found it easier to just go downstairs to the chapel. On coming to Becket, I initially tried praying in the church, but found it more difficult - cold in winter, noisy with the equipment below, awkward with the furniture arrangement - I guess I'm a bit weak in accepting sacrifice and inconvenience. 

In any event, our new arrangement just makes it a lot easier and somehow a more natural part of the day. The realization that is at the moment capturing my imagination - as you saw in the title of this posting today - is that we all seem to have some difficulty dancing with the confluence of the sublime and the trivial in our daily lives. The currents of joy and pain, delight and anguish, flow through our days as currents of warm and cold water do in the summer waters of lake or river as we swim along to refresh ourselves. 

Think of yourselves who are married - how well do you dance with the juxtaposition of sublime moments of communion with your spouse and the changing of diapers, getting up in the middle of the night in response to a child's call, finding yourself in the middle of outbreaks of sibling rivalry, the dynamics of your workplace, and the endless stream of other apparently trivial happenings of life? I have known people who are the most graceful of dancers, slipping in and out of the sublime and the trivial, as though they had become one - the trivial befriending the sublime, and the sublime penetrating the trivial. 

For me, it's seeing the Spirit of the Lord touch and change hearts one moment, and the next moment opening mail, or shuffling paper, participating in a meeting, doing errands, or trying to grapple with the reluctant spirits of folks who - for various reasons - don't want to "play the game" of parish life: "I don't need to go to church!" or "We don't need to go to those meetings!" or "Why do we have to do this program, why can't you just give us what we want? (sacraments, or whatever it is)" 

I remember Jesus addressing the Pharisees and saying - about the fact that they were critical of both Himself and John the Baptist - that they were like children shouting to one another across the square, "We played a song for you and you wouldn't dance, we played a dirge for you and you wouldn't weep." What can you do when people just don't want to play? How are we to understand the sharp contrast between those who avidly respond to the slightest word or suggestion from us as though they are being touched by the Lord himself, and those who seem to feel they have a direct line with God and consider us simply as obstacles crimping their style or getting in the way? 

Actually, we can understand these differences in others, because we have experienced them in ourselves; so the real question that is asking itself within me is, "How can I dance better between the sublime response of those who seem more awake to the breath of the Spirit of God, Lord and Giver of Life, and the apparently trivial reaction of those who seem more enclosed in the concerns of their own flesh, family, or individual lives?" If I am getting in the way of God's grace and will, then I look to Him for help and guidance in getting out of his way. 

In any event, these days, I am so grateful for his inspiration, which has brought me back everyday into his True Presence in the Blessed Sacrament, where I can just be with Him and pour out all that is whirling around within me - both the trivial and the sublime. After all, Jesus is the Lord of the dance, and the Gospels are eminent testimony to just how gracefully He danced with both the trivial and the sublime while He was in the flesh before its wondrous transformation and glorification in the resurrection. Thankfully, He has no intention of keeping the dance to Himself, but quite eagerly instructs all who come to Him, becoming their help and their delight. 

It has been almost 7 weeks since I set up this blog site and posted five days in a row. Since then, I was busy with tying up loose ends in anticipation of a month vacation to be immediately followed by an almost 4 month sabbatical. Over those final weeks, as various files and activities came to mind that required a clean handoff, I sent to whoever would want to carry on whatever I had done or whatever information had been gathered. In the end, there was a flurry of activity that caused me to delay packing and leaving; so that instead of taking 2 days to drive to PEI, I did it all in one day: leaving at 7:30 am on Tuesday and arriving at Tignish, the "far west" of the island at 9:00 pm (10:00 AT). 

Speaking of the trivial and the sublime, last week I had either a local blood clot or burst capillary on the front of my left leg below the knee, which the young doctor at the Lakeshore ER said was nothing to be concerned about; as it was not on the "highway" either to or from the heart. So now I'm on therapeutic baby-dose aspirin. Then Wednesday night, my friend Fr. Brian MacDougall had a gall bladder attack during the night. I had concelebrated a healing Mass which happens in the Cathedral parish of St. Dunstan's in Charlottetown and we had gone out for a snack and Guinness afterwards. We both had a scare within a week, remembering our own fragile human flesh, while we see the Lord showering his people with healing grace! Of course, we realize with deep gratitude and devoted love for the Lord that the vessel that dispenses life-giving fluid can never avoid betting wet itself. Blessed be our God and loving Father, who so tenderly cares for each and every one of his children!

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My purpose in these posts is to help spread the contributions of a variety of Christian and other writers in a desire to share significant writings that in my estimation contribute to the common good and directly or indirectly give glory to God and extend the Lord's work of salvation to all of humanity. G.S.

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© 2004-2021 All rights reserved Fr. Gilles Surprenant, Associate Priest of Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montreal  QC
© 2004-2021 Tous droits réservés Abbé Gilles Surprenant, Prêtre Associé de Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montréal QC
 

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Sunday, June 13, 2004

The Cross: when I freely accept to suffer for you, your burden is lightened and new possibilities open up.

My purpose in these posts is to bring a variety of Christian and other writers in a desire to share significant writings that in my estimation contribute to the common good and directly or indirectly give glory to God and extend the Lord's work of salvation to all of humanity. G.S.

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Today is what we have called for over a millenium in the Roman Catholic Church the solemnity of Corpus Christi, or of the Body and Blood of Christ. Before Jesus ascended into heaven, He decided not to leave us orphans, and did three important things. He left us a means of remaining in touch with Him as still present on the earth - the Holy Eucharist - which at the same time is spiritual food transforming us with "transfusions of divine life". The second thing He did was, in giving us Himself as eternal food in his Eucharistic Body and Blood, to make his Apostles into Priests and Bishops; so that they might continue to do what He had just done and to do it in his memory. The third great thing which Jesus did was to join the Father in sending down upon us the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete, who enables us to live and act in communion with Jesus as He lived and acted when He walked among us. 

Countless personal experiences and observations of others have convinced me of Jesus' True and Real Presence in the consecrated bread and wine, which have become and will continue to be (as long as the elements remain visibly bread and wine) the Body and Blood of Christ. It was a delight to parade around the church grounds with a monstrance putting the large Host on display, witnesses before the world of the "True Bread which has come down from heaven." 

What attention to detail and energetic planning, followed by intensive preparation, collaboration, and nervous anticipation we invested in upcoming liturgies (church celebrations) and projects when I was in the seminary participating in preparation for priesthood. The intensity was similar when I was involved for some thirteen years in a week-long summer camp for adults - it was called "Manna Camp" - that provided a week of Christian fellowship, conferences, outdoor activity, recreation, silent contemplation, and sheer fun. 

As I look back on my day, I remember those times, as well as my initial shock on entering into parish ministry, when I discovered that it simply wasn't possible to invest such prodigious quantities of time and energy in liturgies that came back every week, and even every day. Over the years, parish ministry became an at times difficult but always rewarding and ongoing formation. As I learned to receive the collaboration of lay people, I picked up the skill of discerning what liturgies required more intensity of planning and preparation; while all the others were nonetheless fruitful and beautiful in the simple and spontaneous orchestration of all the participants. The "Liturgy" - "Leitourgia" - truly is the "work of the people" of God with Jesus as our Head, a priestly people. 

I discovered with delight that it is really true - Jesus, risen from the dead, really is the Messiah and the Lord - Jesus Christ actually is the living Head of a body composed of all the baptized, among whom I am a member. Most Sundays, I take delight in being one of these countless moving parts in this vast living Body of Christ. At times, I can rest and allow the body to carry me along. At other times, it is my turn to carry the body with words, actions, or simply my caring and interested presence. 

This afternoon, the Baptism Team and I baptized five new members of our Church - all infants - and it was a marvelous celebration. Many participated: a married couple with their young children who are part of our team, a choir of young adults who sang beautifully, a young altar server, the parents and godparents, and the entire assembly, and me, and of course, the Lord. Through all the activity of the liturgy, He touched many hearts and minds. This is one of the marvels of the priesthood. 

We collaborate together, and we strive to do our own parts with excellence, but often enough there are little or even big glitches. Still, the result always seems to be far more than the sum of all the parts we have contributed. True excellence happens because God is present and is welcomed by people who gather together in faith, and the Holy Spirit of the Living God mysteriously raises us all to a level of excellence that is not of this world. The excellence that is in God himself finds us, enters into us, and binds us all together for some timeless moments.... We become part of a supernatural happening, which ironically seems to unfold in such a natural way that is seems so proper and normal. 

Sooner or later, for many of the people participating, there comes a moment when within them there occurs a convergence of sights, sounds, words, memories, meaning, that connects them to the infinite and timeless truth, goodness, and beauty that are in God - they are transported out of themselves into something, or someone, bigger - they become the joy and delight swirling around them. Often, this moment of grace or communion happens when a person least expects it, or even comes on the heels of a conflict, pain, or misunderstanding, or emerges from the bowels of a great, deep, and intense struggle. 

Something like that happened today. It was an opportunity I could have so easily missed, because I was rushed by activity on all sides, I was hungry and tired, and I could so rightly have said, "Why don't you come back in a day or two?" I'm so grateful that the same One who orchestrates the faith celebrations in our Church filled me with a grace of sensitivity and compassion for this person, and I recognized the signs of struggle, pain, and helplessness. We agreed to meet after the next celebration. 

Have you ever experienced a crisis - either at work, or school, or home, or in a relationship, or in the midst of a project - and you suddenly find yourself with few or even no options. You are trapped, and have nowhere to go. You look inside, you look around you, and you realize with horror that you are standing on the very brink of a precipice, which falls to unknown, unseen, unsuspected depths. One little push, and you might lose your footing and fall into the nothingness before you! I agree with the Muslim expression (excuse the spelling) "Allah achkbah!" which means "God is great!" God is truly great, because I have seen so many times with my own eyes and heard with my own ears that without fail God is always ready to transform a precipice of disaster into a threshold of opportunity. 

Whenever I have encountered people in such drastic crises, it is not immediately apparent that they are on the brink of disaster. Moreover, I very often find myself in such an encounter when every fibre of my being is crying out to escape and go somewhere quiet, because I have been engaged in feverish activity, or have been on my feet for a good part of the day, or I have just been through several intense conversations already, or else feel hungry and faint, and the list goes on. As strange as this may seem, the moment that I accept to suffer whatever it is about the situation that I personally find difficult, the encounter begins to take a different turn in the direction of life. It is the way of the Cross of Christ. 

In his own life, Jesus too suffered all that we suffer, much as we do now, and yet He always remained available and compassionate, and He gave life to people in countless ways. From the very beginning, Jesus sent out his disciples to participate in this very work of his, and fully intended that in every generation we might do as He did and share in his joy at seeing the Holy Spirit fill people with his gifts and with divine life. I share with you, the reader who may one day read these lines, the great joy I had today in seeing the Lord do it yet again for this person who came to me. 

What appeared as a hopeless precipice - I had to acknowledge to myself that on a human level I could see no way out, no solution, either - surprisingly opened up onto new possibilities that I could not have planned more effectively if I had had a week to think about it. When the person picks up or senses in their own mind that I may be short of time, or that they may be a burden, and so on, there is nothing to do but admit the truth; so I did. Once the person understands that I freely accept to suffer whatever inconvenience there may be, then they are freed from the burden, because I am freely and even gladly accepting to carry it. I found myself free to demonstrate how it is possible for me to choose what isn't the easiest path, which in turn allows the person to perceive that what seemed impossible to them might actually be possible - they too can accept to suffer if they first feel loved. That is what happened. 

When we are surrounded by conflict, permeated by pain, filled to the brim or overflowing with anger and resentment, there may actually be no solution by directly attacking the people who seem to be enemies or the circumstances that seem to be insurmountable. A different paradigm may be needed - Jesus' new way of the cross - we can actually accept to suffer, and we can even make this choice gladly, when we can find love within us to drive the engine of such an apparently impossible decision. Of course, it is humanly impossible - or seems so - to deliberately and consistently decide to accept to suffer a person or situation. Many health professionals would diagnose as mentally unbalanced a person who deliberately goes out seeking pain and suffering. 

But the focus here is not on the suffering, but on love. It may not be up to the others to change first, and to remain fixated on this expectation is a deep trap. Often, it may be up to me to change. In this case, I won't be able to do it - I won't be able to accept or go on accepting to suffer people or situations - even for love of them - unless I first experience and know with conviction that I am loved... loved perfectly and unconditionally, and this is God's domain. God wants to love us - especially because we don't deserve it - and this is mercy, a quality of love that is particularly divine, loving those who don't deserve my love. This whole approach, from the point of view of our contemporary culture and technological society, seems counterintuitive, because it is. It doesn't make sense, but that is precisely what makes it so powerful when a person allows themselves to enter into it, or to allow it to enter them. 

The first step may simply be to entertain the pleasant prospect of being loved by God, and possibility of then having the strength and freedom to choose to suffer out of love in order to accept another person without demanding that they first change in order to fit to my desired specifications. Such a solution appeals much more strongly and deeply to the human heart than the alternatives proposed by the inflamed imagination: revenge, unyielding hatred, ever intensifying anger.... 

I must say how delightful it is for me as a priest to be part of making the impossible so quickly and easily become possible, and what shows itself time and again capable of giving people strength and motivation to do the impossible, such as love their enemies, has to do with the sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation. Our sins hold us bound up and trapped in the bundle of our complex emotions, rationalizations, and misgivings. A priest can so easily lead a person before the Lord with a spirit of regret and repentant desire to change. They feel understood and become willing to admit their sin and turn it over to the Lord, and then He sets them free... so simply, so naturally. 

That person suddenly, gently, feels more normal, more themselves than they have felt in a long time, which confirms for them that they have begun to walk on the right path, and often a spontaneous and childlike joy erupts within them as they feel themselves lifted up by God into a realm of higher living, of nobler motives, of what until now may have only been dreamt of possibilities. They are becoming part of God's movement to make the world a better place by letting God make them a better person.

"Lord Jesus, I praise and thank You for the marvelous, simple yet mysterious way You are pleased to act in the lives of people through others. I ask the Father in your Holy Name to continue to pour the Holy Spirit into the lives and spirits of women, men, youth, and children throughout the world; that more and more people will accept to embrace the cross in order to love others as You love us - accepting to suffer others as You accept to suffer us - and so become part of your New Creation, and have the delight of drawing others with us into the divine life You offer to all mankind. Amen!"

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My purpose in these posts is to help spread the contributions of a variety of Christian and other writers in a desire to share significant writings that in my estimation contribute to the common good and directly or indirectly give glory to God and extend the Lord's work of salvation to all of humanity. G.S.

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© 2004-2021 All rights reserved Fr. Gilles Surprenant, Associate Priest of Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montreal  QC
© 2004-2021 Tous droits réservés Abbé Gilles Surprenant, Prêtre Associé de Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montréal QC
 

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Our Sacred History - God acts deep in our soul. "Look deeper in children and help them to hear God's voice, to notice and respond to his attraction."

My purpose in these posts is to bring a variety of Christian and other writers in a desire to share significant writings that in my estimation contribute to the common good and directly or indirectly give glory to God and extend the Lord's work of salvation to all of humanity. G.S.

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I'm very much a neophyte in this exercise of web publishing, and am afraid I just wiped out a reflection on this topic. I clicked on the B for bold and got a coded phrase at the top of this box, but the entire text I had composed disappeared, and I couldn't find a way to recover it; so I guess it's gone. 

Briefly, I was reflecting on a mother's remarks today about her first communicant relating that the host had tasted like cardboard. Her mom was dismayed and tried to refocus the child's attention on what's really important, but had a hard time recovering from the comment. 

I believe there is a veil of secrecy, or mystery, that hangs over what happens between God and the soul. I would never have become aware myself of anything happening at the time of my First Confession, Confirmation, and First Holy Communion, had it not been for Fr. Walter Lallemand. When I was in my twenties and on retreat, he invited us to begin writing our own sacred history, explaining that the Bible is the sacred history of God revealing himself over many generations to the people He had chosen as his own, bringing them in time to be able and willing to accept and believe in his divine Son when He came to earth as a man. 

Much in the same way, our life is a sacred history of God's dealings with us, filled with countless moments where God is present, speaks, and acts. Most often we are not aware of what Marie de l'Incarnation called the "touches" of the Holy Spirit, but at times we can become aware of them. That's what happened when I began that sacred history exercise, and remembered for the first time as an adult my experience of Christian Initiation at the age of eight. 

If anyone had asked me at the time what my First Communion had been like, I probably would have talked about the kid in the lineup in the church hall downstairs who puked and how gross it was and almost made me sick too. We had all been fasting since midnight. 

As an adult twenty years later, I gained access for the first time to a memory of feeling a warmth inside me, a presence, which I also felt beside me. Someone was there, and someone was within me. This awareness developed into an exercise I repeated, and the memory became deeper each time, and contributed to the ongoing process of discerning my vocation: God's call to me to follow Jesus with my life, and what to do with my life in following Him. 

I sense a need to overcome the disappointment of apparently wiping out my first attempt at this blog entry because of the significance of this incident today, and a connection with a similar incident on Thursday night after the meeting of parents and godparents to prepare for the Baptism of their infants had just ended. I was standing around in close proximity to the Blessed Sacrament with a family and the team couple, one of four teams, when the baby held by a mother standing in front of me began to smile and coo ecstatically. It was a noticeably unusual behavior for this baby boy, the parents observed, and I don't remember having seen anything quite like it myself. 

Without planning to do so, I found myself talking about how this is precisely the way that God touches a soul, even from such a tender age, and develops that soul's vocation, preparing it to respond to his call for a whole lifetime. In fact, the Scriptures have abundant references to God knowing us personally from our mother's womb, knowing us from the moment of our conception, and even loving us and wanting us before we were conceived. He calls us by name. 

I encouraged the parents to be alert to all the little things that happen to their child, that nothing is insignificant, and to encourage their child to be attentive to the various ways in which God might touch his heart, mind, and soul with his light, power, goodness, beauty, and love. The parents' role is to have faith in the faith of their children, to strengthen their children by relating to them stories about their own faith relationship with God when they were children, and how that developed as they got older. 

I don't know whether this second attempt captures the power and wonder that inspired the first draft, but I do wonder at the mysterious ways in which the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are truly present in the pure soul that welcomes them, how mysterious is their presence, action, and effect on each soul, and how with guidance and prayer the Holy Spirit enables us to become aware of God within us, to learn to recognize how God speaks to our soul, and to respond to his call. 

In addition, I also wonder - as I have for 21 years now - how God uses a priest as a storehouse of things old and new - and draws from us, from me, those words I couldn't have planned to say to these two sets of parents. In both cases, the words brought them light to understand something about how God works in our lives in such a reasonable and sensible way, stirred up their gratitude for God's kindness and generous blessings, and encouraged them to not judge their parental effectiveness simply based on external observances, but put more trust in God's presence and action directly in their children's lives, as well as indirectly through them, their parents, and their conscientious participation in their children's lives and faith. 

"Glory to You, O Lord, for your abundant grace, wisdom, and love, which You lavish upon us. Help us all discern our vocation, respond generously to this call, and live it out with our whole lives in the power of your love; that all may come to know, love, and serve You."

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My purpose in these posts is to help spread the contributions of a variety of Christian and other writers in a desire to share significant writings that in my estimation contribute to the common good and directly or indirectly give glory to God and extend the Lord's work of salvation to all of humanity. G.S.

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© 2004-2021 All rights reserved Fr. Gilles Surprenant, Associate Priest of Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montreal  QC
© 2004-2021 Tous droits réservés Abbé Gilles Surprenant, Prêtre Associé de Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montréal QC
 

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Saturday, June 12, 2004

"Don't be dismayed by opposition, criticism, or ridicule. Pray. Look to the Lord for your strength." A lesson from Ronald Reagan.

My purpose in these posts is to bring a variety of Christian and other writers in a desire to share significant writings that in my estimation contribute to the common good and directly or indirectly give glory to God and extend the Lord's work of salvation to all of humanity. G.S.

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I couldn't help but remember today, as I watched funeral ceremonies for the late President Ronald Reagan, that during his terms of office he endured opposition, criticism, and even ridicule, and bore it with grace and humor. There was little reference made today to the opposition or ridicule, but at the time, the media certainly gave it ample room. He was the cowboy/actor who didn't really belong in the White House. 

It is only now, in retrospect, that people begin to glimpse the legacy left behind by an honest man and a good leader. This is the way they treated Jesus too, and He told us not to expect any better treatment, for the servant is not greater than his master, nor the messenger than the one who sends him. 

As I prepare to pray and go to bed at this late hour, I reflect on the grief I suffered at the hands of people over the years as a priest. At the time, I took it far too much to heart, and gave it too much importance. Very relevant is the wise saying: "Take God alone seriously; then you will find yourself able to take all things light-heartedly." Good counsel. 

"Lord, purify my heart of all that causes me to turn in on myself, and let your Holy Spirit draw my whole being to turn to You, and take only You seriously with all my being. Then, in the light of your love, goodness, truth, and beauty, allow me to take all other passing things with the light-heartedness of a child, your child, a child of God. Amen."

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My purpose in these posts is to help spread the contributions of a variety of Christian and other writers in a desire to share significant writings that in my estimation contribute to the common good and directly or indirectly give glory to God and extend the Lord's work of salvation to all of humanity. G.S.

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© 2004-2021 All rights reserved Fr. Gilles Surprenant, Associate Priest of Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montreal  QC
© 2004-2021 Tous droits réservés Abbé Gilles Surprenant, Prêtre Associé de Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montréal QC
 

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Thursday, June 10, 2004

Jesus opens the hearts of people to his priests: "I am the Alpha and the Omega."


It is so amazing being a priest! Today I received a grieving family at church as they came to celebrate the funeral Mass for their beloved mother of 79, a beloved grandmother. Then this evening, I received six young families who came to prepare themselves for the Baptism of their child on Sunday. 

 Part of the wonder of it all is to see the wide range of human emotions and inner spiritual experiences that for each person have taken years to bring them to this precise moment, and then see how the Holy Spirit picks me up - as it were - and gently drops me into their lives, into the very heart of their mind and soul, and there He pulls out of me as from a vast storehouse of thoughts, teachings, eternal truths, feelins, experiences, images, and so much more, the precise words these people needed to hear! 

 After almost 21 years of priestly life and ministry, I am not surprised to see the Lord "use" me like this, but I still find it amazing and wonderful every time, because it's always new - a new situation, a new family, a new word that needs to be spoken and heard, and a new way for me to be present, attentive, kind, encouraging, and challenging. 

 When I was younger, I was more anxious about not leaving out anything important, but now I know that the Living God is always at work in the lives of each and every human being; and that my part is much like that of the butterfly or bee that flies in and "touches" their lives briefly, and God uses that moment to fertilize them and bring about new life in them! 

 At my first assignment - it was St. David Parish - there was a little girl who joined the altar servers with an older one - they were "sidekicks" and were always together. A few years ago, she dropped in on me and she asked about marriage. She had a boyfriend and she was looking ahead. Well, I met him and helped them both prepare and blessed their marriage. 

 What a pleasant surprise I had tonight when they came to the meeting with the godparents they chose for their little baby, and on Sunday I'll get to baptize their first child! My joy this morning was to be able to glimpse the beauty of the grandmother who had died, and to understand the feelings of loss of her family, and to connect with them, and be a part of their realization that in the very midst of their grief, they were surprised to receive a wonderful gift from she who had just died to go to God. 

 Although she has now left her body behind, they remain in communion with her - this is what we say when we recite the creed on Sunday in the words "I believe in the communion of saints." We don't know the state of her soul at the moment of her death, and she benefits greatly from our love and prayers. In life, their are shadows in us - they are our sins, especially the ones we don't want to see or admit, and faults - we can deny them in life, but in death, our soul leaves the veil of the body behind, and comes naked before God, exposed to the infinite brilliance of his divine light. 

 In that moment, we see the whole truth about ourselves, as well as about God, and it is a daunting moment. Most of us won't be able to fully accept God's love and mercy. We will feel impure, unworthy, unwilling to enter into God's presence. In his infinite mercy, God will allow us some time to suffer through this agony, and in time be purified by it and by his love, and finally be purified and able/willing to come to Him. 

 This purification after death is what the Roman Catholic Church calls purgatory - the time or purgation or purification - and it is a function of God's infinite mercy and justice. It is, as Jesus said, the truth which will set us free. So, once again today, I experienced Jesus as the Alpha and Omega, our origin and destiny, the One who is there for us at the beginning and at the end of life. What an awesome adventure and privilege it is to be a priest and to share in Jesus' own High Priesthood, as He brings God to man and man to God!

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My purpose in these posts is to help spread the contributions of a variety of Christian and other writers in a desire to share significant writings that in my estimation contribute to the common good and directly or indirectly give glory to God and extend the Lord's work of salvation to all of humanity. G.S.

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© 2004-2021 All rights reserved Fr. Gilles Surprenant, Associate Priest of Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montreal  QC
© 2004-2021 Tous droits réservés Abbé Gilles Surprenant, Prêtre Associé de Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montréal QC
 

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Wednesday, June 09, 2004

"Were not our hearts burning within us?" Fr. Gilles' theme


My purpose in these posts is to bring a variety of Christian and other writers in a desire to share significant writings that in my estimation contribute to the common good and directly or indirectly give glory to God and extend the Lord's work of salvation to all of humanity. G.S.

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My name is Fr. Gilles Albert Surprenant, and I'm a priest of the Archdiocese of Montreal. I'd like to dedicate this first entry to a young priest, whom I feel privileged to have as a brother and with whom I enjoy sharing the same home and ministry. We live and serve the Lord at St. Thomas à Becket Parish in Pierrefonds, Québec. 

I have named my blog for the touching scene at the end of Luke's Gospel where Jesus walks along with the two distraught disciples, kindly enquires about their sadness, and gently rebukes their confusion - opening up their minds to all that was told about Him as the Messiah in the Jewish Scriptures. Then they said to one another, after He had vanished from their sight once He had broken the bread for them, "Were not our hearts burning within us when He explained the Scriptures to us?" 

"In the breaking of the bread" was the theme that emerged from prayer for me as I prepared for ordination to the priesthood 21 years ago, and I am drawn to return to it as the banner there for this blog. 

Glory be to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has made known to us through his Son the wondrous divine plans He has for our salvation and that of the whole world! May all who confess Jesus as their Saviour and labor to do all that may please the Father and avoid all that might grieve the Holy Spirit, be of one mind and heart with the disciples of the road to Emmaus and in our turn speak to others the Gospel words that will cause their hearts too to "burn within them."

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My purpose in these posts is to help spread the contributions of a variety of Christian and other writers in a desire to share significant writings that in my estimation contribute to the common good and directly or indirectly give glory to God and extend the Lord's work of salvation to all of humanity. G.S.

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© 2004-2021 All rights reserved Fr. Gilles Surprenant, Associate Priest of Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montreal  QC
© 2004-2021 Tous droits réservés Abbé Gilles Surprenant, Prêtre Associé de Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montréal QC
 

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