World Day for Consecrated Life Archdiocese of Ottawa, Monday, February 7, 2011 – 5th in Ordinary Time - Holy Cross Parish, Ottawa, ON [Textes : Genèse 1, 1-19; Psaume 103 (104); Marc 6, 53-56]
« … et Dieu vit que cela était bon. »Last week on the feast of the Presentation of the Lord, the meeting I was attending in Rome ended around 6:30PM. As I walked towards St. Peter’s Square, I saw this immense throng of men and women pouring out of the Vatican Basilica at the close of the Solemn Vespers the Holy Father had celebrated with them to mark the 15th World Day of Consecrated Life (WDCL).
The WDCL is an invention—like so many others of Pope John Paul II, soon to be beatified—to underline the meaning of consecration, that important way that men and women have discovered as being the fullest embodiment of their desire to live fully their baptismal commitment.
Though I had not participated in the event, I could not help becoming aware of the joy and energy these thousands of religious women and men radiated as they had just renewed their commitment to Christ and his Church. They shone forth the love of humanity that they try to incarnate in their lives of work and their prayer for the world in which we live.
I had in mind you, the consecrated individuals and communities of the Archdiocese of Ottawa with whom I would celebrate today. I knew that the feast of the Presentation would be past and that the first readings beginning this week would be from the opening chapters of Genesis. The goodness of God’s handiwork that we celebrate in creation is the theme of these first chapters of Genesis: how appropriate, then, is this scriptural text regarding creation, side-by-side with the gospel text from St. Mark of Jesus’ teaching and healing ministry for our gathering today!
Le récit de la Genèse véhicule le sens de la majesté et de la souveraineté de Dieu. L’univers n’est ni éternel, ni infini, ni immobile. En le créant, Dieu lui donne une histoire.
Or ce message est révolutionnaire pour l’Antiquité. Le récit est centré sur Dieu créateur, Parole et Esprit. Et les versets suivants nous révèlent que le sommet de la création est l’être humain, homme et femme.
Quel lien faire entre ce récit et le motif de notre rassemblement? Je crois qu’il est juste de rendre grâce pour ce que Dieu fait dans nos vies. Appelés à la vie humaine et chrétienne, nous avons aussi reçu l’appel à suivre le Christ de plus près. Il est toujours temps de revenir à l’origine, à l’aujourd’hui de notre vocation.
Dieu est dans l’éternité; pour lui, la création, c’est aujourd’hui. Dieu ne cesse pas de créer. Le Seigneur me veut, en ce moment même, en un point de son œuvre, pour y vivre quelque chose que je suis seul à assumer dans son plan.
Il nous arrive de côtoyer des personnes qui ne savent pas qu’elles sont créées par Dieu. Oui, le Fils est venu effacer notre péché. Mais avant tout, Dieu nous a créés par amour. De ce grand tout de la création, je suis, moi-même, bon, et utile, et beau. Le péché n’a pas détruit cette bonté foncière de tous les êtres tels qu’ils sont sortis des mains de Dieu. On ne peut jamais assez le proclamer.
We sometimes meet people who do not know that they are created by God. Yes, the Son came to take away our sins. But above all, God created us out of love.
In this immense creation, I am good, and useful, and beautiful. Sin has not destroyed the fundamental goodness of the whole creation made by God’s hands. We must never cease to proclaim this.
“Bless the Lord, o my soul!” Blessing comes naturally to those who keep company with Christ. And consecrated persons, in the name of the whole Church, celebrate the Divine Office; they frequently receive the sacraments; they keep their link to God alive.
As Paul VI said, each human being is called to be the conscience that understands and admires the universe, the voice praising the creator, the skilled person whose role is to beautify it and organize it for man and all men.
God constantly sustains all beings. If he removed his Spirit from them for one instant, they would cease to exist. The Spirit is at work so that we may recover our likeness to God – in whose image we were made – so that we may become saints.
God creates today. He calls me today. He wants me to be faithful today. He wants me to give a new response to this call – even if my own sacred history began many decades ago.
The universe is the biggest work of art, and its creator is still at work. Before my own eyes, even at this moment, so many things come directly from the loving hand of God. Am I attentive to see God’s work? I am invited to see with new eyes, each day, persons with whom I live or work. To look with the eyes of God, compassionate, loving, eyes that call forth newness.
“All who touched [the fringe of his cloak] were healed.” Christ made it possible that merely by touching him, people were healed. He wanted to show that his own body gives life. The responsibility of being the presence of Christ in the world is entrusted to all the baptized, but even more so to those who have consecrated their lives to God.
To help, to nurse, or to heal are “God’s gifts”, but they are gifts that pass through the hands, the intelligence and hearts of men and women.
« Tous ceux qui touchaient la frange du manteau de Jésus étaient sauvés. » Le Christ permet que des personnes soient guéries en le touchant seulement. Il veut montrer que son corps même donne la vie.
Aux baptisés, mais a fortiori aux personnes consacrées, est confiée la responsabilité d’être présence du Christ dans le monde. Aider, soigner, guérir reste un « don de Dieu », mais qui passe par les mains, l’intelligence et le cœur des femmes et des hommes.
Plus on s’approche du Christ, plus on s’habitue à voir avec ses yeux. Cet apprentissage est parfois long et ardu. Mais la personne qui y parvient est porteuse d’espérance. Son attitude donne courage dans l’adversité. Elle répand des semences de guérison. Le regard du Christ est perspicace.
Chez qui se met à sa suite, son regard et son cœur savent déceler l’action créatrice de Dieu dans les personnes et les événements. Son oreille et son cœur sont attentifs à l’action de l’Esprit dans l’univers, chez ses proches. Tout son être est offert au Christ afin de rendre grâce à Dieu, pour faire eucharistie.
Certains ordres religieux invitaient leurs membres à adorer la Trinité présente dans la personne que je croise. Demandons au Seigneur la grâce de traiter chaque personne que je rencontre et chaque chose que je touche comme s’il s’agissait de l’image directe de la bonté et de l’amour de Dieu.
The closer one comes to Christ, the more one becomes accustomed to seeing with his eyes. This may take time and effort. But the person who acquires this ability embodies hope. His or her attitude gives courage in adversity. He or he sows seeds of healing.
Christ sees clearly, and those who follow Christ acquire a manner of seeing that is able to discern the creative action of God in people and events. Their ears and hearts are attentive to the action of the Spirit in the universe, in those close to them. Their whole being is offered to Christ to give thanks, to become the Eucharist they celebrate.
In times past, monastic orders would invite their members to adore the Trinity dwelling in each person they met.
Let us ask the Lord today for the grace to treat each person we meet, and everything we touch as being the direct image of the goodness and the love of God.
Today, let us go back to the origin of our vocation, to the moment when we heard the call and answered it. And let us ask for one another, the gift of new sight, God’s sight: “And God saw that it was good.”
Aujourd’hui, retournons à l’origine de notre vocation, au moment où nous avons entendu et répondu à l’appel. Et implorons, les uns pour les autres, la grâce d’un regard neuf, celui de Dieu : « … et Dieu vit que cela était bon. »
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