HOMELIES

The father, in the parable of this Fourth Sunday of Lent, exults with joy at the return of his lost son (15:24). This is the same attitude displayed by the shepherd who goes in search of a single lost sheep, leaving the other 99 (15:6) and by the woman who found the coin in her house (15:9).

Our history is strewn with pitfalls that rob us of our happiness. Happiness is a light that attracts the gaze of every being. It is the meaning of our struggles for survival. Let us commit ourselves today to the desert with Christ to overcome temptation, the assurance of our Easter.

Today's Gospel opens our reflection on a right conscience. These short sentences read this Sunday invite us to act with discernment and judgment in order to produce good fruits capable of pleasing God and society. All this is only possible when our hearts conceal the treasure that should enlighten our actions. To this end, I propose these three steps.

If last Sunday we were in the baths of 4 beatitudes followed by 4 lamentations, today Christ shows us the way to follow to really reach these beatitudes. It is about this passage from the animal man to the spiritual man. An obligatory scheme to savor the effects of the Kingdom from now until everything is fulfilled at the end of time.

The celebration of the Chair of Saint Peter in the Church is a call confirming the foundation stone of the Church's faith which is based on Jesus Christ, Son of God; it also reminds us of the place occupied by Saint Peter the Apostle (with his successors) among the apostles.

Around Jesus we are gathered to listen to him and experience the fulfillment of his signs. Let us make our hearts pure to welcome his Word, purify our hands to receive his body and prepare our tongue to sing his holiness.

In this Jubilee Year meditated on from the perspective of hope, Pope Francis invites us this Sunday to reflect on the following theme: "I hope in your Word" Ps 119:74. In the Gospel proposed on this third Sunday, we are placed before two texts from Luke which open us to the understanding of the scriptures doubly: from reference to extension (Luke 1:1-4) and from extension to accomplishment (Luke 4:14-21).

Today we celebrate a great day of our faith. It is the Epiphany. Jesus Christ, who was born in total discretion, lets himself be discovered by the universe with the visit of the Magi. God did not wait to reveal to humanity the crucial hour of his history. I invite you to discuss with me, on this feast of the Epiphany, the question of time and place.

On this second Sunday of Year C, we are invited to Cana to participate in the Lord's meal during which he takes care to transform the bread into his body and the wine into his blood. With the help of the Virgin Mary, let us enter this Eucharist with a purified heart.

Every time we gather in the Church under the impulse of the Holy Spirit, we manifest with gratitude the faith received in the Church since the day of our Baptism. In the footsteps of our Lord on this solemnity, we celebrate the mystery of his death and resurrection with the help of his Spirit.

On this last day of the year 2024, I come to share with you the joy of our assurance in God who does not abandon us, the strength of perseverance in the face of life's adversities and the happiness of living in thanksgiving.

After listening to these three readings, let us open our hearts to the wonders of the Lord. He who is the God of promises, he fulfills in due time what he has promised and our life takes another turn. These are the three points of our meditation that I develop on this fourth Sunday of Advent.