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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"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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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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"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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