Normandt' meditations

[Normandt]

156. Faith in Jesus

Have we discovered God’s Love in our hearts? Isn’t it the best way to help our neighbour to let God simply pass through our heart, to ignite it? Jesus will guide us and show us what we are called to become:
“Here comes with power the Lord God, who rules by his strong arm; here is his reward with him, his recompense before him. Like a shepherd he feeds his flock; in his arms he gathers the lambs, carrying them in his bosom, and leading the ewes with care.” Isaiah, chapter 40, verses 10 to 11

How comforting! The Lord illuminates his servants. The people who enter the service of the Lord are the people who have accepted him in their hearts and in their lives.

With two blind men, Jesus makes them discover that faith in him is the solution to their discomfort:
“‘Let it be done for you according to your faith.’ And their eyes were opened.” Matthew, chapter 9, verses 29 to 30

Book: The heart's mission
Normand Thomas

 

[Normandt]

157. Behold Mary


Mary and all the saints help us to stay on the road of faith through their experience. Jesus offers us to behold Mary as our Mother. Let’s recognize her as Mother of God:

“Standing by the cross of Jesus was his mother and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary of Magdala. When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple there whom he loved, he said to his mother, ‘Woman, behold, your son.’ Then he said to the disciple, ‘Behold, your mother.’ And from that hour the disciple took her into his home.” John, chapter 19, verses 25 to 27

Jesus’s message is also for us, “Woman, behold, your son”. As Jesus introduces Mary to John, we are also Mary’s children. John wasn’t forced by Jesus to welcome Mary home.

Let’s read the Catechism of the Catholic Church which is a simple and practical prayer. Let’s just read the important points about Mary, what the Church believes and teaches about the Mother of Jesus in numbers 963 to 975. Let’s meditate especially number 971, why we pray with Mary, why she helps us in the mission:

“‘All generations will call me blessed’(Lk 1:48): ‘The Church’s devotion to the Blessed Virgin is intrinsic to Christian worship.’ (MC 56). The Church rightly honours” the Blessed Virgin with special devotion.

From the most ancient times the Blessed Virgin has been honoured with the title of ‘Mother of God,’ to whose protection the faithful fly in all their dangers and needs... (...).

This very special devotion ... differs essentially from the adoration which is given to the incarnate Word and equally to the Father and the Holy Spirit, and greatly fosters this adoration. LG 66); The liturgical feasts dedicated to the Mother of God (see SC 103) and Marian prayer, such as the rosary, an ‘epitome of the whole Gospel’, express this devotion to the Virgin Mary.” (cf MC 42.) Catechism of the Catholic Church - IntraText

The worship given to Mary is different from that reserved to the Trinity. But it’s essential. We worship the Trinity, but we pray with Mary. Mary adores and prays the Trinity with us. She is for us an example of faith and life with Jesus.


Book: The heart's mission

Normand Thomas

 

[Normandt]

158. Mary accepted God

The Marian worship is at the service of the Trinity and for the people. The recognition of Mary’s grace in our world and especially her relationship to Jesus should lead us to cry out with joy, to accept God as she did and then to do the will of the Trinity.

Hail Mary, full of grace,
the Lord is with you (Message of the Angel Gabriel),
blessed are you among women
and blessed is the fruit of your womb Jesus. (Her cousin Elizabeth)
Holy Mary, mother of God,
pray for us sinners,
now and at the hour of our death (It is our request to Mary that she helps us and pray to Jesus with us, so that we persevere in faith following her Son and that we may enter the promised eternal life, in the Heart of God).
Amen.
We worship Jesus in Mary’s belly.

Let’s notice that all christians are asked by someone to pray for them. It’s mutual help and it’s a service of charity to pray for all. That’s what we’re asking of Mary too. Mary, pray with us. Mary prays for us. She prays that we turn to Jesus.

Book: The heart's mission
Normand Thomas

 

[Normandt]

159. God’s will

Jesus introduces himself into our world to live his mission:
“I came down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of the one who sent me.” John, chapter 6, verse 38

Jesus came to our world with the mission to make known to us the Father and the Holy Spirit. He came to do exactly what God proposed to humans in the Old Testament; to console, to heal, to recover, to save, to Love. He kept nothing for himself and offered his life for us. Jesus serves us:
“This is the will of the one who sent me, that I should not lose anything of what he gave me, but that I should raise it (on) the last day.” John, chapter 6, verse 39

The Father’s will is that all those who adhere to the message of Jesus Christ, become disciples of God and never be separated from the Trinity.

The mission is those who are meditating to let Jesus pass in their hearts and to consider what Jesus is transforming in them. They let themselves be taught by him to make sure they will be true disciples on the road of faith. The experience of faith is discovered in the heart.

To believe in Jesus, to know him and to resurrect with him, is the surest way. Jesus wants us to receive his teachings. He leads us to salvation and he wants to entrust in us, initiate us, then reveal his mission.

Book: Watch with faith
Normand Thomas

 

[Normandt]

160. Peace of heart

“Love and truth will meet; justice and peace will kiss. Truth will spring from the earth; justice will look down from heaven.” Psalm 85, verses 11 to 12

The Love of God who leans toward us seeks his truth in us. God’s justice brings peace to our lives. Justice is all that God offers us. May we share what we receive from God: Joy, peace, hope, mercy...

We read that Love is received in the Truth and the Justice of God leads to peace. Now, how can we get peace in our hearts if we are quick to get into conflict and slow to listen to God? How to get peace, when some groups in the world provoke war and want to control the world?

The bottom line is very simple. Everything is simple with the Trinity. When we turn away from Love, from Truth, from God’s righteousness, we do not have peace, we do not live justice, love and truth. The lack of peace causes war and makes the path to peace more difficult.

Peace is a sign, a foretaste of holiness. Peace is a sign that we are a family, a people approaching God. Let’s observe the peace, the truth, the justice and the love of a person, a family, a people, a nation and we will discover the quality of their openness to God. The lack of these dimensions is diminishing the ability to receive the Love of God.

Book: Watch with faith
Normand Thomas

 

[Normandt]

161. To see clearer

Let’s pray to the Lord every day:
“Be vigilant at all times and pray that you have the strength to escape the tribulations that are imminent and to stand before the Son of Man.” Luke, chapter 21, verse 36
Let’s stay awake and continually receive Jesus’s message for us.

We will be able to escape some obstacles that come around on the road, because the light of God transmitted by prayer allows us to see clearly. Prayer enables us to discern what are the different objects and the people who take us away from God from those who gather us to him. Prayer illuminates what is happening in our lives and in the lives of those surrounding us. To see clearer let’s stand in the Light of the Lord.

Jesus prepares us for the mission of evangelizing:
“Gird your loins and light your lamps and be like servants who await their master’s return from a wedding, ready to open immediately when he comes and knocks.” Luke, chapter 12, verses 35 to 36

Let’s stay awake and vigilant, to grasp every movement of the Holy Spirit in us. Mary, herself, had to be in a state of deep prayer to be fulfilled and to welcome what the Holy Spirit wanted to achieve miraculously in her. Her mission is to host. The evangelization that Mary realizes is to offer Jesus, God with us, the Son of God, to the world.

Since we hold fast to prayer, we hold fast to the Word, we hold fast to the Eucharist, we hold fast to the Trinity, we want to share God’s Love to the people. God is with us. The Holy Spirit wants to realize his miracle of peace in us and fraternity between us.

We have a special mission, a unique mission in a precise plan, immutable, unchangeable, God’s perfect plan. We don’t see all that Jesus realizes in our life, by our life, but he works with us, he continues to be God for the world.

Book: Watch with faith
Normand Thomas

 

[Normandt]

162. Let’s be merciful

Jesus divinely proposes to us:
“Be merciful, just as (also) your Father is merciful.” Luke, chapter 6, verse 36

And how can we be merciful and like the Father, when we see that we have difficulty to be patient with ourselves, to be at peace? Once more the answer is the Holy Spirit.

Despite our failings and mistakes, the Holy Spirit can go through us to touch the hearts of people. Despite the little in good we think we can achieve, let’s live in peace, and we will obtain more results. With a free and happy heart, may we allow the Spirit of God to pass through our life.

Let’s let him transform our heart as well as the hearts of the people we meet. Goodness will increase, since we will let the Holy Spirit fulfill us.

Let’s reduce the noise to find peace in hearts. May our life and our heart continue to find their source of peace in God’s Heart.

Book: Watch with faith
Normand Thomas

 

[Normandt]

163. To Pardon


Jesus reminds us to forgive:

“Go first and be reconciled with your brother, and then come and offer your gift.” Matthew, chapter 5, verse 24


Reconciliation is realized in different ways. The most effective is to give everything to Jesus, absolutely everything at every opportunity. What we experience as negative, what stifles, what destroys us and keeps us enslaved to evil, we do not need. When we give them to Jesus, he gives us peace. He helps us improve.

Let’s allow the Lord to cleanse what seems to be drying in our hearts, for lack of forgiveness. Forgiveness is an act of healing within us and for others. It may seem hard to forgive sometimes, especially when we have been deeply hurt, but it’s actually and effective act of healing.


Let’s entrust everything in God’s hands. Let’s receive his peace. Our heart will expand, it will drink the Living Water in Christ’s Heart. It’s a holy sharing between us and God.


Book: Watch with faith

Normand Thomas

 

[Normandt]

164. Peace and forgiveness

Paul’s mission is a way of walking and growing in holiness:
“Let the peace of Christ control your hearts, the peace into which you were also called in one body. And be thankful.” Colossians, chapter 3, verse 15

The liberation of our faults allows the reign of Christ to be effective in our heart. To live in peace after forgiveness and to rejoice in thanksgiving, confirms us in our vocation to remain unified in Christ. We will find little by little our unique person, whom God has created.

Book: Watch with faith
Normand Thomas

 

[Normandt]

165. Forgiving liberates

Forgiveness leads to peace:
“Bearing with one another and forgiving one another, if one has a grievance against another; as the Lord has forgiven you, so must you also do.” Colossians, chapter 3, verse 13

To reconcile with the neighbour is the condition to live a life of peace and joy. Let’s continue to forgive and build lasting relationships with others, freely and smoothly on our way. Suffering itself will diminish. Even though forgiving is sometimes difficult, it’s liberating.

Let’s praise God continually. Whenever we have good dispositions of the heart with God and with the neighbour, each time it’s the Holy Spirit who lives in our heart and he motivates our actions and our sharing. He transforms the walls into fields of wheat, into generous vines. May the Holy Spirit stimulate us with his graces:
“Hallelujah! Praise God in his holy sanctuary; give praise in the mighty dome of heaven. Give praise for his mighty deeds, praise him for his great majesty!” Psalm 150, verses 1 to 2

Book: Watch with faith
Normand Thomas

 

[Normandt]

166. How many times!

How many times do we have to forgive, asks Peter? Here is Jesus’s answer:
“Seventy-seven times.” Matthew, chapter 18, verse 22

Jesus answers as only God can answer. Forgive all the time. Do not stop forgiving. This is another way of liberating the world and especially of converting us to God’s Heart.

It’s not always easy to understand, especially if we’re experiencing a painful injustice. But to forgive remains the best heart remedy for us, and for the people of our time. To forgive in our heart is a mission. Teaching others to forgive is evangelization. And when we confess, we free people from our mistakes.

Book: Watch with faith
Normand Thomas

 

[Normandt]

167. The Doctor

Jesus declares:
“Those who are well do not need a physician, but the sick do. Go and learn the meaning of the words, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ I did not come to call the righteous but sinners.” Matthew, chapter 9, verses 12 to 13

Ah well, it’s surprising! Jesus calls “sinners” to him. He Lo-o-o-o-ves sinners! Not because he encourages us to sin, but because he knows that our request for forgiveness will heal us and grant us peace of heart. His Love will be able to go through our life.

Jesus comes not for the ones who are well, but for the sick, for those who need the Doctor. To acknowledge that we are sinners, to recognize that we need Jesus, to recognize that we need the Doctor is already a step ahead.

Book: Watch with faith
Normand Thomas

 

[Normandt]

168. Mission school

May we recognize that Jesus is Lord and saves us from evil and sin.

Jesus sends his disciples to learn at the mission school. He sends us there too. He tells us, “Go and learn the meaning of the words, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ I did not come to call the righteous but sinners.”

It’s reassuring. We are all called to him. Here and now, he asks us to be merciful. It’s difficult for us to become “righteous”, but it’s to become righteous that we are called to be. We are sinners and yet we are asked to offer to others what God offers us.

God’s justice is what he transmits to us through Love; joy, peace, mercy, hope, etc. Let’s offer them too. In this way, we will always be searching, standing, walking.

The school of life and faith in Jesus is just beginning. Let’s remain in the mission and stay awake to seek the Doctor. Here we’re on the road to follow Jesus and we want to enter salvation, freely.

Book: Watch with faith
Normand Thomas

 

[Normandt]

169. The church is growing

The Holy Spirit passes in hearts and between people. The Church is moving when its members become fervent. The Church is growing and the Holy Spirit is helping to multiply its members. John writes in his first letter:
“Children, let us love not in word or speech but in deed and truth.” 1 John, chapter 3, verse 18

What seems most difficult in the mission is to mention what is needed at the appropriate time or for the appropriate activity, meeting. It is about being in the best disposition of ourselves and knowing the one we’re talking about, in truth. Are we really talking about God?

Even though sometimes the deeds and words are not always in accord with the Gospels, since we are not perfect, let’s continue to improve our relationship with people. And if we succeed, may we remember that we have done only what we could.

Book: The Fruit that lasts
Normand Thomas

 

[Normandt]

170. Balance

“Behold, this too is vanity. Here is a man who has laboured with wisdom and knowledge and skill, and to another, who has not laboured over it, he must leave his property. This also is vanity and a great misfortune.
For what profit comes to a man from all the toil and anxiety of heart with which he has laboured under the sun?” Ecclesiastes, chapter 2, verses 1 and 21 to 22

We are invited to invest ourselves with balance. Some people try to achieve everything and they are so engaged in all kinds of activities that they don’t realize that they are harming their health … even sometimes the health of others.
What are our priorities?

Can we offer more of our services to the Church, for the world?

Do we carry out activities that will bring us closer to a relationship with Jesus and help others to know him?
Or are we just looking to put on a show, to look good, occupied?

It’s always easier to participate in the life of the Church than to leave the work to one or two people. It’s also necessary that those who work in the Church leave some space for others.

Book: The Fruit that lasts
Normand Thomas

 

[Normandt]

171. Talents

Let’s invest in something that resembles us, brings us together and reflects our talents, supported by the teaching of the Church. It may seem simple, but it’s good to think about it properly to fit and meet our talents.

Each person has his own charisms. It’s also recommended to ask the Holy Spirit what would be best for us to achieve.

There are always people in the Church who hold on despite the adversity of everything that keeps the world away from churches. They hold on and that keeps the Church fruitful. They receive courage and tenacity from Our Lord. Glory be to Jesus!

Paul tells us:
“Think of what is above, not of what is on earth.” Colossians, chapter 3, verse 2

May all that we do for the people be inspired by the realities from above. The realities of the earth are good and pleasant, like picking strawberries, but the realities of heaven are superior to them, like the fruit of charity toward people.

Book: The Fruit that lasts
Normand Thomas

 

[Normandt]

172. Seeds

Jesus invites us to think:
“Friend, who appointed me as your judge and arbitrator?” Luke, chapter 12, verse 14

Jesus is not a judge as we may think. He doesn’t judge us as we often do. He lets us judge of what we achieve. He lets us decide if we want to share the goods of the kingdom of God that we carry within us. He even questions us. He wonders why we perceive him as a judge, in the sense of a referee.

Let’s ask Jesus to help recognize in us what we can share of our spiritual life, so that his Heart overflows on people and between hearts.

As the fields and the valleys are full of fruits and vegetables that feed us, all our actions and words are full of divine and beneficial seeds for those around us.

Let’s gather the fruits of paradise and fill our baskets with hope, faith, charity and also prudence, temperance, strength and justice; the strength and righteousness that are from the Love of God, and offer them to all, so that they too may discover the beauty and wonder of the divine fields of God.

Book: The Fruit that lasts
Normand Thomas

 

[Normandt]

173. Mutual aid

If there are people who can help in one area or another, mechanics, caretaking, fraternal listening, helping one of the members in one of his needs, according to their talents, the help will be appreciated and they will receive a hundredfold from the Lord.

It would be easier to have about twenty people who offer their services than just a few who do everything. That doesn’t prevent that the generosity is at hand when there is an important work to accomplish in the churches. Often people give themselves without counting in big events. Many people offer their services discreetly, without anyone being aware. All these people are generous.

To leave our task, when there’s no one to assume it and to take over, for example, is to take risks, it’s mortgaging the immediate future of the responsibilities and the activities of evangelization in the church.

Let’s think of other people who could share our tasks, while we still have the capacity to do them. In this way, if something happens to us, a loss of health, an accident or a new job, a new opportunity for example, we know that the mission will continue. In addition, it allows others to walk in faith as they offer their services.

Book: The Fruit that lasts
Normand Thomas

 

[Normandt]

174. Walking

In the book of Isaiah we read:
“The Lord called me from birth, from my mother’s womb he gave me my name.” Isaiah, chapter 49, verse 1

God calls all people, without exception, to a unique vocation and mission. Yet not all people respond to the invitation. Many people don’t know it or ignore it or worse yet, refuse to believe it and slow themselves down. Yet it’s when we’re on the move that we discover the potential of faith that we receive from God.

We are called to a vocation and a mission from our conception. However, we have the freedom to answer yes or no:
“I will make you a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.” Isaiah, chapter 49, verse 6

Jesus is the Light of the nations and we need his Light to enlighten our faith and to understand the mission. Let’s ask him his Light constantly to live well the mission in which he wishes to send us.

Let’s walk with the Light of Christ, walk with Christ, walk for Christ, live in Christ and in his Light every day, so that the mission has meaning and fits in God’s will. Not my will, but your will, Jesus. It is you, Jesus, who makes us capable of such a beautiful, exciting and wonderful mission.

Book: The Fruit that lasts
Normand Thomas

 

[Normandt]

175. The danger

It must have been so difficult for the people who know Jesus to recognize him in his new mission. Jesus changed according to their eyes. From one day to the next, Jesus is on a mission and he must be very different before them. He says and he does what others can’t do.

They perceive here and there fragments of what Jesus realizes and it’s difficult to place the few pieces of the puzzle in a frame, especially when there are many missing pieces. In addition, they may receive conflicting messages of what they hear about Jesus.

Even today, the ambient message about Jesus, in general, in the world, is sometimes discordant. But it’s sometimes easy to trust the fears, rather than what Jesus tells us and realizes.

The people from his home, watching him go, came to seize him because they said:
“He is out of his mind.” Mark, chapter 3, verse 21

They want to protect their idea of Jesus. They can’t imagine for a moment that Jesus entered another stage of his life.

It’s a bit like that when a person causes problems in an environment. If people don’t check the foundation of a person’s mission, fear may be taking hold of some people and it may further harm the mission, instead of helping to build a more just, better world, merciful and true.

If we begin, in the immediate future, a mission in the name of Jesus, there is a good chance that our surroundings will find us different. It’s also possible that some people won’t recognize who we are, since we’re experiencing a transformation by following Jesus. It is a sign that we’re moving forward and a testimony of our faith to them.

Let’s give them some time to join us and understand, in faith. Let’s pray that they will also discover Jesus in their hearts. Let’s give them time to adjust to this novelty.

It’s then necessary to meet with other people who have faith in Jesus, to truly enter the mission that allows us to live and achieve goodness.
Let’s listen, discern, then encourage and help those who evangelize honestly in the name of Christ, with Christ.

Book: The Fruit that lasts
Normand Thomas