Wednesday 31 March, Wednesday of Holy Week +++ Let the rooster crow!

Psalm102│ Jeremiah 11.18-20 │Revelation 14.18-15.4│Luke 22.54-71

Psaumes 102|Jérémie 11.18-20|Apocalypse 14.18-15.4 |Luc 22.54-71

 

Let the rooster crow!

 

Don't you love the disciple Peter??! He is courageous, spontaneous, full of faith, quick to speak and act.... Together with his brother Andreas, Simon Peter is one of the first disciples called by Jesus. While fishing, he immediately leaves his nets to follow Jesus. He realises who Jesus is and calls him the Messiah. Jesus says he is the rock on which He shall build his church. With Jesus in sight, he walks on water. A model disciple?! 

After Jesus is arrested, he decides not to leave his master alone. He follows him even into the courtyard of Caiaphas, where he witnesses his master being beaten and insulted. Three times he is recognised as one of Jesus' disciples, but he vehemently ignores that he knows the man. What about his pledge of complete loyalty to Jesus a few hours ago? After all, Peter proves to be very human. Weakness and fear send him into a panic. He loses all composure and screams in frustration denying his Lord. 

And then the rooster crows. 

Rooster crowing

By Steev Selby from Wollongong, Australia - Cockadoodle Doo!!!, CC BY-SA 2.0, 

https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3769129

A wake up call. Snapping Peter back into reality. Making Peter realise he wasn't nearly as bold and courageous as he had proclaimed. A most painful moment. For both, Peter and Jesus. Luke then tells us that Jesus looked Peter in the eyes. Can you believe that? Think about it. Whilst being falsely accused and beaten for Peter (and our) sake, Jesus is still looking out for his friend Peter who has just denied him three times. His heart must still be bleeding..... This is Peter's Lord. And yours and mine! Mind blowing!! Heart-breaking. Peter breaks down indeed and weeps uncontrollably. 

And we - when we look Jesus into the eyes? 

We know that Peter's repentance is followed by complete forgiveness and full restoration. He receives a fresh start and lots of strength and power from above. Jesus' love and forgiveness know no boundaries.

We probably don't hear a rooster's crow on a regular basis. But we do recognise ourselves in Peter, don't we? How often are we not completely driven away by our thoughts, emotions or actions? Don't we also all too often make mistakes, especially in our weak moments, hurting our Lord? We too need to hear a regular 'crow' inviting us to pause for a bit and turn inwards, to make us aware of our thoughts and emotions at the time and to ask ourselves whether we can look Jesus into the eyes at that very moment. Repentance will not only be followed by physical, mental and spiritual healing, it will also bring joy to our loving Lord! 

Why not come up with a sound, a sight or a feeling which would serve as a rooster's crow in your life?! Don't break down under the weight of your own cares and frets. When you hear, see or feel your 'rooster' stop for a moment, turn inwards, breathe deeply, let calm return, accept your weaknesses, look onto Jesus, repent, and like Peter, be refreshed by the strengthening and curative powers of our Lord who loves us not despite our flaws but with all our flaws. 

O let me hear Thee speaking

In accents clear and still

Above the storms of passion

The murmurs of self-will.

 

Janine Vrolijk

Tuesday 30 March, Tuesday of Holy Week +++ The house of the Lord

 

Psalm27│Lamentations 3.1-18│Galatians 6.11-18│Luke22.24-53

Psaumes 27|Lamentations 3.1-18|Galates 6.11-18|Luc 22.24-53

 

The house of the Lord

 

David in this psalm expresses a profound confidence, a confidence entirely grounded in God. He understands that it is his trust in, his love for, reliance on, praise of, and gratitude to God, which enable him to transcend his fears and anxieties. David’s focus is on God, more than all else he desires proximity to God. Almost as a by-product, this focus on God allows him to surmount life’s problems, to see them from a different and higher perspective.

'King David between Wisdom and Prophecy', 10th Century, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris, France

Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=807728

Lord, thank you that in Jesus you came to us and made your dwelling with us. In these difficult days help us to make our dwelling with you, that we may ‘dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of our life’.

 

Floris Faber

Monday 29 March, Monday of Holy Week +++ He does not abandon us

Psalm41│Lamentations 1.1-12a│Colossians1.18-23│Luke 22.1-23

Psaumes 41|Lamentations 1.1-12a|Colossiens 1.18-23|Luc 22.1-23

 

The theme of this Psalm is when we care for the weak and the poor God notices. The law of sowing and reaping comes into play in such a way that when we care for people, we find ourselves cared for by the Almighty. We would receive His protection, blessings and sustenance. If you notice these are some of the promises that are stated in the Mosaic covenant. God told the people of Israel, that if they obeyed His law and follow His Word, He will bless them with land, long life, healing and getting dominion over their enemies. David was simply recounting this in the Psalm. What it says in verse four is remarkably interesting. Earlier David talks about a man that was going to be blessed by the Lord because he had been obedient but now, he called out to the graciousness of God because he had not been obedient. He was crying out for forgiveness and grace for breaking the law. 

In verse nine we see one of David’s visitors was his best friend. We do not know who the best friend was, but we do know he was unkind. There is nothing more distressing that being betrayed by a close friend or a loved one. Jesus quoted this verse when he was talking about Judas. What is interesting is that Jesus left out some of the words. In John 13:18 Jesus said, ‘He who shares my bread has lifted up his heel against me.’ He left out the part about ‘my close friend in whom I trust in’. Jesus never entrusted himself to any man because of their hearts. He knew what was in their hearts. However, Jesus still felt the sting of someone who betrayed Him. 

There was also a good visitor. It was the Lord God. David asked the Lord to be gracious to him, to raise him up, to take care of him so his enemies does not delight in his downfall. ‘For you have upheld me because of my integrity.’ The use of the word ‘integrity’ is fascinating as earlier David said he had sinned. When we declare our sins before the Lord, do we normally talk about our integrity?  Integrity was not referring to sinlessness, David was talking about the integrity that moved him to confess his sin. It is a kind of integrity that God loves and appreciates. We are all far from perfect and regularly make mistakes. God knows this. He cares about the attitude that comes out of that sin, where we come to Him, confess it and ask Him for forgiveness. 

God loves the heart of those who come to Him in brokenness. When we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness and because David felt that support and sustenance from the Lord, he felt moved to write the very last verse. ‘Blessed be the Lord, God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting.’

Rebecca Susan Mathen

***************************************************************************************

Le Psaume rempli de bénédictions à travers les chants de louanges écrit par David, nous permet de nous souvenir des bienfaits de l’Eternel. Alors je dirais chante, chantons ensemble et chantez sans cesse !

Malgré le malheur, l’Eternel nous rend heureux. Malgré les ennemis, l’Eternel nous délivre. Malgré la douleur, l’Eternel nous soulage. Malgré le péché, l’Eternel nous pardonne. Malgré les complots contre nous, l’Eternel est avec nous et nous fait triompher. 

Un rappel et une répétition quotidienne que nous offre le Psaume et pousse à ce que l’on soit reconnaissant car dans toutes choses, l’Eternel est Là, présent et avec nous. Il ne nous abandonne pas mais nous encourage dans tous les moments de nos vies. Malgré la grande difficulté et d’ailleurs celle que nous vivons actuellement, n’oublie pas qu’il est là. Prenons le temps et croyons fermement aux jours meilleurs car l’Eternel nous a relevés, nous relève encore et toujours. Amen 

 

The Psalm filled with blessings through the songs of praise written by David allows us to remember the blessings of the Lord. Then I would say sing, let us sing together and sing without ceasing!

In spite of evil, the Lord makes us happy. In spite of enemies, the Lord delivers us. In spite of sorrow, the Lord gives us relief. In spite of sin, the Lord forgives us. In spite of plots against us, the Lord is with us and makes us triumph. 

A daily reminder and repetition that the Psalm offers us and makes us grateful, because in all things the Lord is there, present and with us. He does not abandon us but encourages us in every moment of our lives. In spite of the great difficulty and the one we are experiencing now, do not forget that he is There. Let us take time and believe firmly in the better days because the Eternal One has raised us up, raises us up forever and ever. Amen

Joséphine Kwaku

Mother Theresa Lives

By Paul Hamilton - CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=40006716

Sunday 28 March, Palm Sunday (Liturgy of the Passion)

 

Psalm31.9-16│Isaiah 50.4-9a│Philippians 2.5-11│Mark14.1-15.47

Psaumes 31.9-16|Ésaïe 50:4-9|Philippiens 2.5-11|Marc 14.1-15.47

 

When I was a child, Palm Sunday was all about Hosannas, cries of joy, a donkey, and a crowd, and of course using the palm cross to sword fight with my friends after Sunday School.

 

'Crucifix'

HoPhoto by Grant Whitty on Unsplash (https://unsplash.com/photos/OZxaBI0jYwo)

How could I have missed this? I have become a reproach to all my enemies and even to my neighbours, an object of dread to my acquaintances; when they see me in the street they flee from me.  Ps 31.11

They certainly weren’t fleeing him that first Palm Sunday, but the bright sunshine of the triumphal entry was the beginning of something that was much more in the shadow of death.

As this week goes on, our eyes and our thoughts turn towards a cross on a hill outside the city which he entered in triumph.

Our lives are often a mixture of sunshine and shade; one or other seeming stronger at different times; and perhaps no more so than in the last twelve months.  God calls us in and through our troubles on a pilgrimage of hope as we walk with him.

As our troubles form a part of our journey to the glory of God’s presence, so the cross of Christ stands before us as part of the triumph of Palm Sunday.

As the writer to the Hebrews writes:  “let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews 12.1-2.

Let us this week look to Jesus, as we walk with him to Good Friday and the joy of Easter.

 

John Wilkinson

Saturday 27 March +++ Rejected

 

Psalm23│Jeremiah 25.1-14│Hebrews 13.17-25│John 12.36b-50

Psaumes 23|Jérémie 25.1-14|Hébreux 13.17-25|Jean 12.36b-50

 Rejected

The gospel-writer draws breath today before he - and we - begin the week of Jesus’s sacrificial death. John is about to embark on his account of Christ’s rejection and execution, but, with Jesus temporarily removed from the scene (“Jesus departed and hid from them”, 12.36), he first asks why it was that the people did not respond more positively to Jesus’s message and the accompanying miraculous signs that he has been recounting.

 

Light of the world, Monastery of Saint Nicholas, Dobrunska Rijeka

By Constantinus - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=94582098

He offers two explanations. The first (12.38-41) is that it was foretold in Old Testament scripture that the people would not believe. He quotes Isaiah 53.1 and Isaiah 6.10. In the passion narrative, it becomes almost a rhetorical tick to assert that Jesus is the fulfilment of what was foretold (John 13.18; 15.25; 17.12; 19.24; 19.28; 19.36-37), but in this instance the reference to Isaiah’s vision is also an assertion about the nature of Jesus: that he is the eternal son of God. The second explanation is that some who believed Jesus kept quiet about it for fear of being excluded from the synagogues.

 

John then inserts a summary of Jesus’s teaching, including the important assertion: “Whoever believes in me believes not in me but in him who sent me.” Jesus is not some rival independent deity. To be for or against Jesus is to be for or against God. There is no contest and no contradiction. So, the stage is set for the week ahead.

 

A thought to hold on to: the story of Jesus is not simply a story of rejection, of how “his own people did not accept him” (John 1.11). By the time John is writing, the numbers of those who have accepted Jesus has multiplied, so that the gospel is also a story of how “to all who received him…he gave power to become children of God” (John 1.12).

 

A prayer for the persecuted: To those who this day suffer persecution and oppression, give courage, O Lord Christ, and hope beyond themselves, and faith in God. Shorten their trial, bring them deliverance, and amid fear, suffering and grief may love and justice prevail.

 

Tim King

Friday 26 March +++ The perfect city +++ High and exalted

 

Psalm22│Jeremiah 24│Hebrews 13.1-16│John 12.20-36a

Psaumes 22|Jérémie 24|Hébreux 13.1-16|Jean 12.20-36a

The perfect city

What should a perfect city look like?

Perhaps our first thought is of the architecture, of grand boulevards, elegant buildings. This may be the image evoked earlier in Hebrews 12 where the city of God is described as “the heavenly Jerusalem”. Somewhere grand where everyone is splendidly dressed and celebrating.
But in the last chapter we are cautioned against identifying the kingdom of heaven too closely with any city – or community – we know here and now.

'The Trinity Adored by All Saints', Spanish painter, c. 1400

From The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Fletcher Fund, 1939, www.metmuseum.org

“We are looking for the city that is to come”

What will that city look like? Perhaps it will have the grand architecture and the celebration – but surely it will also be the place filled with “brotherly” love, where there is no stranger and where we have remembered the prisoner and the oppressed.

How can we be citizens of the city that is to come?

Philip Milton

 

Isaiah 6.1-3

Ésaïe 6:1-3

Every time I read or hear them, I’m thrilled by these words, and I’m not surprised that the awesome sight of the Lord on His throne, high and exalted, affected Isaiah so deeply. But in all honesty, I can’t create any mental picture.  I believe it happened, but it is far beyond my capacity to grasp or imagine what this experience of God in His glory was like. What I can relate to however, is the angel’s words: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of His glory.”

Taking part in the annual Natagora garden bird count, I marvel at the iridescent purple and emerald flashes when the magpies catch the sun, at how well camouflaged bright bluetits can be in a leafless tangle of branches, and delight in the antics and colours of the variety of birds visiting the garden. All unique, all created, all loved and watched over by our great and gracious God, who knows and cares when any sparrow falls. Here I see God’s glory, displayed throughout creation, from the majesty of sunrise and sunset stretching across the heavens, to the intricate pattern of a spider’s web or the way a snail moves. Truly the earth is full of His glory.

What speaks to you of God’s glory, and where have you seen it today?

Zélie Peppiette

Thursday 25 March, Principal Feast of the Annunciation of Our Lord to the Blessed Virgin Mary

 

Principal Feast of the Annunciation of Our Lord to the Blessed Virgin Mary

Psalm40.5-11│Isaiah 7.10-14│Hebrews 10.4-10│Luke 1.26-38

Psaumes 40.5-11|Ésaïe 7:10-14|Hébreux 10.4-10|Luc 1.26-38

 

The opening words of today's reading — “In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazaret” — transport me back to school nativity plays. It shares a space in my memories with mince pies and Christmas crackers. Jovial and comfortable.

 

'The Annunciation' by Leonardo da Vinci, 1452-1519, Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence

Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=45633727

Nazareth is more familiar to me now than it was when I was still in short trousers. I have since led many pilgrims through its labyrinthine souk to the Basilica of the Annunciation, towering like a lighthouse above the sea of roofs that rise in a wave up the hillside behind it. The sheer scale of it, the mosaics, the details in brass and glass: it is an awe-inspiring church. Often, we would pause awhile outside and read a poem by Denise Levertov, which begins:

 

We know the scene: the room, variously furnished, 

almost always a lectern, a book; always the tall lily.

Arrived on solemn grandeur of great wings,

the angelic ambassador, standing or hovering,

whom she acknowledges, a guest.

 

Her words paint a rather orderly and measured scene, familiar from a thousand Christmas cards, a scene Levertov wants to disrupt. She goes on:

 

But we are told of meek obedience. No one mentions courage.

The engendering Spirit

did not enter her without consent.

 

Levertov reminds us that it is too tempting to domesticate the Annunciation. The Basilica itself covers the cave where Gabriel is said to have spoken to Mary, covering the raw hewn-out rock with a decorative wrapping. Even my memory tries to corral the story into a cosy corner.  

 

In a backwater village, a no-where kind of a place, eternity is entrusted to a girl of no note nor prospects. God chose the unlikeliest candidate, in the unlikeliest place, for the unlikeliest of task. “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord", she says. That must have taken some courage.

 

Hector Patmore

 Collect for today

We beseech you, O Lord,

pour your grace into our hearts,

that as we have known the incarnation of your Son Jesus Christ

  by the message of an angel,

so by his cross and passion

we may be brought to the glory of his resurrection;

through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen

Editor’s note: For the whole poem, beautifully illustrated, see -

http://abidinginhope.blogspot.com/2014/12/poem-denise-levertovs-annunciation.html.

Wednesday 24 March +++ De l’esclavage à la liberté en Jésus-Christ

 

Psalm55│Jeremiah 22.20-23.8 │Galatians 4.1-5│John12.1-11

Psaumes 55│ Jérémie 22.20-23.8│Galates 4.1-5│Jean12.1-11

 

De l’esclavage à la liberté en Jésus-Christ

 

Dans ce passage Paul présente une analogie : il compare l’enfant qui passe le cap de la majorité au non croyant qui obtient le statut de fils lorsqu’il est sauvé. Cette illustration était compréhensible pour les lecteurs de Paul. 

 

'Allegory of Law and Grace' by Lucas Cranach the Elder, 1472-1553, Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg

By Lucas Cranach the Elder - anagoria, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=26582478

Derrière cette analogie nous discernons la venue de Jésus-Christ, sa vie, sa mort et sa résurrection que nous allons bientôt fêter. De la mort de Jésus-Christ pour toute l’humanité découlent la paix, la liberté, la justice, ... Il est mort pour racheter ce qui était sous la loi, sous le joug, non seulement les Juifs mais aussi les autres nations, car Christ veut délivrer chaque humain de l’esclavage. 

 

La présence de Jésus au milieu de son peuple offre la possibilité d’une nouvelle relation entre Dieu et son peuple. 

 

Il est mort sur la croix. Dieu le Père a permis tout cela pour montrer à son peuple que tout ce que Jésus avait surmonté, que tous les miracles qu’il avait faits, ne venaient pas de sa force mais de la force divine. 

 

Jésus est ressuscité et il est retourné auprès de son Père, mais il ne nous a pas abandonnés, il est toujours au milieu de son peuple car il nous a envoyé l’Esprit saint. 

Nous avons le privilège de le connaître et de croire en lui. Puissions-nous lui rester attachés ! 

 

Il est l’ami fidèle. Il est toujours avec son peuple, dans les bons comme dans les mauvais moments. On ne peut pas passer sous silence ce que le monde est en train de traverser aujourd’hui à cause de la crise sanitaire. N’ayez pas peur !  Il peut venir à tout moment nous secourir. Soyons attentifs, ayons la foi en Christ et faisons connaître son amour en paroles et en actions.

 

Marie-Léonille Batiga

Tuesday 23 March +++ Pilgrims on the trail

 

Psalm35│Jeremiah 22.1–5, 13–19│Hebrews 11.32–12.2│John 11.45–57

Psaumes 35|Jérémie 22.1-5,13-19|Hébreux 11.32-12.2|Jean 11.45-57

 

Pilgrims on the trail

 

Once while hiking in the mountains I came across some sweaters draped over a tree  right by the side of the path.  Perhaps the owners had overheated and needed to discard some of their clothing lest they be slowed down.

'The Pilgrim of the World at the End of His Journey' by Thomas Cole, 1801-1848, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC

http://www.muian.com/muian05/05cole101.jpg, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=183034

That little episode illuminates one of the verses in our text today from the Letter to the Hebrews:  12.1 ‘Therefore, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us.’ Those words were written to encourage followers of the Way of Jesus who were struggling in the face of trials and persecutions, some of which the writer lists here in gory detail. (‘They were stoned to death; they were sawn in two’ – Yikes!).

Of course, the challenges which we confront day by day are far less spectacular.  But our struggles to live faithfully make the same underlying demand upon us. We are called to ‘run with perseverance’, and that can require from us all the spiritual strength we can muster, giving all that we have to the effort.

And sometimes all that we have is actually too much.  Like the hiker on the trail, we can be carrying burdens that are weighing us down: anxieties that sap our courage, ambitions that are unrealistic; defensiveness that closes us off from other people; and so on

How then shall we be enabled to persevere? Our text urges us to look to Jesus, 12.2 ‘…the pioneer and perfecter of our faith…’.  ‘Pioneer’ could also be translated as ‘the  forerunner’.  Jesus, the forerunner of all of us pilgrims on the trail, shows us the way into the grace of God.

 

Rod Sykes

Monday 22 March +++ How is your faith today?

Psalm73│Jeremiah 21.1–10│Hebrews 11.17–31│John 11.28–44

Psaumes 73|Jérémie 21.1-10|Hébreux 11.17-31|Jean 11.28-44

 

How is your faith today?

 

We all have faith in our Lord Jesus Christ and in God. And we are blessed to be able to cherish this faith in a loving community. It is in our congregation that we find the needed comfort like Asaph, the psalmist, found comfort and wisdom into God’s sanctuary (Ps 73.17). Asaph was sad. Sad to see that “wicked” people were succeeding in life. Sad that people not faithful to God’s words and wills were enjoying a life of ease while their riches multiply (Ps 73.12).

 

'Raising Lazarus' by Luca Giordano, 1634-1705, Bavarian State Painting Collections, München

By Luca Giordano - https://www.sammlung.pinakothek.de/en/bookmark/artwork/rqxNVe0xvW, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=66328908

But the psalmist tells us that venerating riches and possessions put them on a slippery path and send them sliding to destruction (Ps 73.18). Considering wealth or a better lifestyle ties us to materiality and consumes our energy. That same energy we need to nurture our faith. What would you choose?

 

“Take your choice of life or death!” says the Lord to King Zedekiah through the lips of Jeremiah, for Zedekiah was praising false prophets and leading his people astray (Jr 21.8). To build a lasting friendship with God is to choose life, eternal life, an everlasting reward. And this is a result of our faith.

 

The same faith that guided Moses to share the oppression of God’s people instead of enjoying the fleeting pleasures of the treasures of Egypt (He 11.25.26). Faith involves trusting in God and doing what he wants, regardless of the circumstances or consequences. Moses didn’t let temporary benefits of wealth, popularity, status or achievement holding him from the long-range benefits of God’s Kingdom.

 

Lent, repentance is receiving the confirmation that the promises are happening. 

 

“Didn’t I tell you that you would see God’s glory if you believe?” answer Jesus to Martha before resurrecting Lazarus (Jn 11.40). Faith is powerful. 

 

Today’s scriptures are glorifying our faith to Jesus Christ and to God. It also shows us that humanity is something else than wealth, possessions, and status. Humanity is to be found in Jesus anointed for our salvation, and through our faith placed in Him.

 

Vincent Musschoot

Sunday 21 March, Fifth Sunday of Lent +++ Rend-moi la joie de ton salut.

 

Psalm51.1-13│Jeremiah 31.31-34│Hebrews 5.5-10│John 12.20-33

Psaumes51.1-13│ Jérémie 31.31-34│ Hébreux 5.5-10│Jean12.20-33

 Rend-moi la joie de ton salut. 

"'An angel comforting Jesus before his arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane' 

by Carl Bloch, 1834-1890,Frederiksborg Slotskirke"

http://freechristimages.org and Sidsel Maria Søndergård, Gerd Rathje, Jens Toft, Carl Bloch 1834 -1890, ISBN 978-87-987465-9-1 p. 313, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7866359

Psaume 51 Cris de David contre le péché, il a criée en disant : 

 

Aie pitié de moi, Mon pèche est constamment devant moi, J’ai péché contre toi seul.

 

Je suis né dans l’iniquité, ne me retire pas ton esprit saint, Rend-moi la joie de ton salut. 

 

Hébreux 5 :5-10 Grand cris avec larmes. Ces passages référés probablement à la prière intense de Jésus dans le jardin de Gethsémané quand il regarder ce qui vas arriver.

    

Quand nous avons des attaques du Diable : « peur, angoisse de péché, marcher dans la ténèbres », tout près de la mort souvent nous poussons des cris. » 

 

Voici Sept moyens d'expulser le diable du cœur de l'homme :

 

Il est expulsé avec les larmes de la repentance comme le chien est expulsé de la cuisine avec de l'eau bouillante. 

 

Il s'enfuit aux reproches de la conscience comme l'homme qui quitte sa maison pour éviter une femme agressive.

 

Il mise en fuite Comme un comédien est expulsé d'un hôtel à coup de bâtons, le diable ne résiste pas à la discipline et aux œuvres de pénitence.

 

Il sort Comme la faim qui fait sortir le loup du bois, il ne supporte pas le jeûne et la prière. 

Enfin, il fait comme le serpent sort de son trou par des magies.

 

Le diable s'enfuit à l'invocation du nom de Dieu.

 

Il est mis en fuite par le goutte à goutte de la prédication ou par la fumée qui est la dévotion au souvenir de la Passion. 

 

Charles Kabera