In the "New Covenant" made by our Creator God with humanity (Jeremiah 31:31-34) every person can know God from within - because the Holy Spirit is revealing our Creator to all who are willing to know the Lord and trust in Him. We can still help each other along the way; so may you be pleased to find here a variety of helps to the life of faith in God through Jesus Christ. G.S.
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How to live
in communion with God the Father in the Holy Spirit through Jesus Christ the
Lord
By Fr. Gilles A.
Surprenant, Poustinik, Associate of MHA, Archdiocese of Montréal QC
The
Big Picture – Present, Past, and Future – Human history in light of the
existence of God
When looking
back at our human history through the lens of anthropology and palaeontology we
see human beings emerging through a long process of evolution and development
going back as much as a few million years with spikes in development much more
recently. Scientists trace the daily usage of fire to 300,000 years ago, the
appearance of Homo sapiens to 200,000 years ago, and the cognitive revolution –
the appearance of complex language – to 70,000 years ago. Scientists are constantly
adjusting these estimates; yet we see that our development emerged out of the
mists of time into the light of a higher level of existence such as we now know
and enjoy. When looking back at our human history through the lens of divine
revelation, the Word of God as contained in the divinely inspired Sacred
Scriptures, both the Jewish sacred writings or Old Testament and the Christian
sacred writings or New Testament, we see human beings emerging from a similar
darkness.
God created
human beings to enjoy an intimate relationship of friendship with Him. The
beginning of the Book of Genesis describes an image of man walking with God in
the Garden of Eden. This primordial relationship appears as our original
innocence. God created us with free will. It stands to reason that sooner or
later this free will would come up against a test which would require us to
make a free decision whether to continue putting our trust in God or instead to
set out on a new direction by deciding to trust first of all in ourselves. This
is the meaning and significance of the serpent’s temptation of Eve at the
beginning of Genesis.
She is lured to
do something contrary to what she knew from Adam God had originally told him.
The serpent insinuated that God was not worthy of trust but was a stingy old
bugger. It was a mistake to wait for God to give them all good things and they
had better grab all that they could while they had the chance. The lie was that
by exercising their free will to do evil they would enjoy complete freedom and
come to be like gods.
This choice by
Eve and then by Adam to do differently than what God had instructed them to do is
the original sin. When they broke their trust in God, separation and darkness alienated
them from God, from each other, and from nature or the environment. We will
continue to endure these tragic consequences until the end of time. This
original breakdown in ourselves and our relationships is the cause of all the
trouble in the world.
We have
violated God’s trust in us by withdrawing our trust from him, we have violated
each other by putting our own self ahead of the good of the other, and we
continue to exploit the Earth in destructive ways without any respect or appreciation
for the riches or complexity of nature or the well being of other living
creatures. The ensuing mess is so great that we don’t have the power to
extricate ourselves from such widespread trouble but stand in need of the
saving action of the only One who is greater than we are, God our Creator.
In time the
first humans and their descendants lost all memory of God and of what it was
like to be close to Him. Human beings descended into a deep darkness of spirit
and God needed to seek them out all over again, not by shows of power, but
through appeals to our free will. God inspired the Jewish Sacred Scriptures in
order to teach us about these origins of ours and reveal Himself to us again. From
the time of Noah these people saw God as a single divine being whom they knew
as “the Most High”, “the Creator”, “the Lord”.
God offered
friendship to Abraham, Moses, the prophets, and other select individuals. Jesus
of Nazareth, who came to be known as the Christ and Lord, revealed that God is
one divine being yet a trinity of divine persons; the only true and
self-sustaining life-giving being that lives from all eternity long before the
universe began.
It is Jesus who
with the Father pours into human beings who believe in Him and put their trust
in Him the Holy Spirit as a source of living waters. There is much imagery regarding
the Holy Spirit in the Gospels and other New Testament writings. We were filled
with the Holy Spirit at Baptism and again at Confirmation and we need to go on
being filled with the Holy Spirit again and again until the final consummation
of all things when the Lord returns in glory. Here is a prayer common in the
Eastern Christian Liturgy you may find helpful.
"Heavenly
King, Consoler, the Spirit of Truth, present in all places and filling all
things, the Treasury of blessings and the Giver of life: come and dwell in us,
cleanse us of all stain and save our souls, O Good One!"
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How do we get, reboot, or develop our relationship
with the Father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit?
First, here is an analogy. Our sun is always shining but on Earth we do
not see or feel the sun when it is night, when there are clouds, or when we are
under cover. While the sun is only a shining celestial object; the Holy Spirit
is a divine person and member of the Holy Trinity. We are loved by God, a
divine being, three divine Persons in perfect communion of life and love always
acting in perfect harmony. Our challenge is to allow ourselves to be drawn into
this perfect harmony of life and love in the Holy Trinity. Our constant
temptation is to take charge, to want to be in control; yet it is always God
who takes the initiative to draw us closer. We need to humbly learn to be
attentive and receptive, to be contemplative as well as active.
A practical question might be ‘Where do I go from here?” Once again we
can proceed by analogy. When we take a car to the garage with a problem or
ourselves to the hospital with a health complaint it is the normal procedure
for a diagnostic process to be initiated with the purpose of bringing to light
any and all conditions that may be inhibiting the car from functioning properly
and, in our case, from fullness of health.
Even atheistic or agnostic scientists, as they push ever further and deeper
the limits of science; are theorizing there must be an intelligent and powerful
source of all the digital code embedded in and sustaining all life as well as matter
and energy in the universe. To translate this into religious terms, without the
presence and benevolent divine will at work in us we would not exist. Where we
struggle is in our conscious experience and the orientation of our free will. We
need a diagnosis of any obstacles preventing us from living in union with the
Holy Trinity and a prognosis on what to do to synchronize with God for
abundance of life and love in Jesus.
Diagnosis of our condition and prognosis for our
life in God
7 So again Jesus
said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. 8 All
who came before me are thieves and bandits; but the sheep did not listen to
them. 9 I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and
will come in and go out and find pasture. 10 The thief comes
only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it
abundantly. NRSV John
10:7-10
Car mechanics and doctors both look for the most obvious and serious
signs of trouble. Let’s do the same.
1. Jesus taught the importance of the Ten Commandments
as minimal requirements for life and love.
17 “Do not think
that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish
but to fulfill. 18 For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth
pass away, not one letter,[c] not one stroke of a letter, will pass from
the law until all is accomplished. 19 Therefore, whoever breaks[d] one of the
least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, will be called
least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does them and teaches them will be
called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I tell you,
unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will
never enter the kingdom of heaven. NRSV
Matthew 5:17-20
The Ten Commandments focus on
crimes and wrongdoing to be avoided as minimal requirements to live a human
life. The first challenge is to accept them as given by God and put faith and
trust in God that we are called to be human beings, honest, open, kind, and
just to one another – with our parents – and with God.
First
practical spiritual exercise:
What are my attitudes, behaviours, and practices towards authority figures and towards
God in particular? What do I need to
change? When will I repent of these things before the Lord? When will I go to
confession as Jesus would have me do?
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2.
Jesus raised
the Ten Commandments to a higher level, or if you prefer, He raised the
bar and taught that the Father makes us capable of much more and so expects us
and calls us to a much higher and more demanding level of consciousness and of
morality. Jesus affirmed what the people already understood as a summary of the
commandments and completed it by adding love of neighbour to love of God.
34 When the
Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, 35 and
one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. 36 “Teacher,
which commandment in the law is the greatest?” 37 He said to
him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your
soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the greatest and
first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: ‘You shall love
your neighbour as yourself.’ 40 On these two commandments hang
all the law and the prophets.” NRSV
Matthew 22:34-40
Key elements of life in the
commandments concern (1) our debt of gratitude, obedience, and love for God;
(2) our debt of respect for our parents, regardless of their quality as human
beings or as parents, for giving us life; (3) our treatment of others; (4) our
treatment of our own life and (5) our treatment of nature. Any disrespectful
treatment of our parents in particular incurs cursed consequences making it
impossible for us to live well or long in the land. All the commandments favour
life and disobedience brings death.
Second
practical spiritual exercise: We
owe obedience and loyalty to God, respect
to our parents living or dead, justice and courtesy to others, care for our own
life and self, and care for nature. How am I treating them all in practice? What
do I need to change? When will I repent of these things before the Lord? When
will I go to confession as Jesus would have me do?
3.
Jesus gave a
new commandment of obedience that restrains the principal urge of our human
condition at the heart of the original sin: the inclination to follow no
authority but our own.
15 “If you love me,
you will keep[f] my
commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give
you another Advocate,[g] to be with you forever. 17 This
is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees
him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in[h] you.
Son of God though He is, Jesus lived his human life on Earth in perfect
obedience to the Father’s will and He calls all those who would follow Him to
do the same. Jesus is the perfect revelation of the Father and his will; so in
obeying Christ we obey the Father, and in following the promptings and guidance
of the Holy Spirit we in truth also follow and obey Jesus.
Third
practical spiritual exercise: How
do I conduct myself towards Jesus? Do I put my faith and trust in Him as Son of
God and Lord of the Earth? Do I take to heart Jesus’ example and teaching? What
do I need to change? When will I repent of these things before the Lord? When
will I go to confession?
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4.
Jesus added
another commandment that restrains another principal urge of our human
condition infected as it is with the original sin – the urge to seek revenge
and to hate.
43 “You have heard
that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy.’ 44 But
I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so
that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on
the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the
unrighteous. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward
do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47 And
if you greet only your brothers and sisters,[o] what more are you doing than others? Do not
even the Gentiles do the same? 48 Be perfect, therefore, as
your heavenly Father is perfect. NRSV
Mt 5:43-48
Much of what we see on planet Earth today in the West, the Middle East,
the Far East, and Oceania – in daily life as well as in art and popular culture
such as in film and video games – is all about power, domination, hate and
revenge through the violent imposition of one’s will upon others. Jesus makes
it clear that such behaviour belongs to the kingdom of the prince of this
world, Satan, and to his culture of death. Jesus has inaugurated the Kingdom of
God and a culture of life. This is a crucial test of our willingness to put our
faith and trust in God and in his Son Jesus as the Christ, the Lord of our life
and of the Universe. Christian martyrs are women, men, youth and children
determined to follow Jesus and trust in God alone even to surrendering their
life. They know that God will judge humanity and share his glory with them
before all the nations on that day.
Fourth
practical spiritual exercise: To
what extent do I put my faith and trust in Jesus as my Lord and Saviour? Do I try
to conduct myself as Jesus did, even towards those who act as enemies? What steps
do I need to take? When will I engage in a deeper life of conversion before the
Lord? When will I go to confession to let Jesus strengthen me?
5.
Later Jesus taught
a more perfect way for those who want to follow Him more closely as his
disciple and live as He himself lived on Earth. The disciple lives in obedience
to the Father, to Jesus, and the Holy Spirit.
9 “As the Father
has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 If
you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my
Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11 I
have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be
complete. 12 My command is this: Love
each other as I have loved you. 13 Greater
love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command. NRSV John 15:9-14
The world suffers under the
domination of the prince of darkness; such that human affairs either ignore God
and moral principles or employ a perversion of religion to practice domination
over others. Jesus by his example and teaching introduced the life giving
principle called by St Pope John Paul II the “law of the gift”, i.e., making of
our life a give of love for others.
Fifth
practical spiritual exercise: As
I look back upon my life, have I been primarily preoccupied with seeking my own
good or have I also been occupied with serving the good of others? What do I
need to change? When will I repent of these things before the Lord? When will I
go to confession?
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6. Jesus taught a simple way to allow receive the
abundant life God wants to give in what are called the “Beatitudes”.
5 When Jesus[a] saw the crowds,
he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. 2 Then
he began to speak, and taught them, saying:3 “Blessed are the
poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4 “Blessed
are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. 5 “Blessed are
the meek, for they will inherit the earth. 6 “Blessed are those
who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. 7 “Blessed
are the merciful, for they will receive mercy. 8 “Blessed are
the pure in heart, for they will see God. 9 “Blessed are the
peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. 10 “Blessed
are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom
of heaven. 11 “Blessed are you when people revile you and
persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely[b] on my account. 12 Rejoice
and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they
persecuted the prophets who were before you. Mt 5:1-12
If we want to enter into fullness of life, as Jesus demonstrated in his
own life, we must respond to his call to:
(1) put all our
trust in God rather than in the things of this present life on Earth;
(2) accept to
suffer loss and endure pain rather than seek refuge in ephemeral comforts;
(3) live in
confident expectation of God’s care rather with anxious grasping after good
things;
(4) act out of
our appetite for what is right, true, and good rather than cravings of the
flesh;
(5) allow our
heart to be moved by the troubles of others and to care for them rather than
just our own;
(6) keep our
heart undivided and untroubled by perversions of sexuality or other good
things;
(7) build and
maintain peace among people and serve the resolution of conflicts among them;
(8) endure
misunderstanding, ill treatment, and persecution as the throes of people in
darkness.
We live in a society and culture
that is adulterous and obsessed with sex. Any and all uses we make of sex, or
our own body, mind, and spirit, or of other people that is not in accord with
God’s design of the human being as an embodied spirit brings harm to the living
and opens the door to many shadows of death. Any disordered love of self
estranges us from God; while selfless love of neighbour brings us into
communion with God the Holy Trinity, which is a communion of divine Persons.
Sixth
practical spiritual exercise:
What are my attitudes, practices, and habits touching on sexuality? What
do I need to change? When will I repent of these things before the Lord? When
will I go to confession as Jesus would have me do?
How do we go from repairs and maintenance to loving
the Father through Jesus in the Holy Spirit?
7.
The very
last instruction and command that Jesus
gave to his apostles and disciples was to
go out and continue the mission He had begun. First they were to remain in
Jerusalem and prayerfully await power from on high, the Holy Spirit, who would
fill them with God’s own Spirit, as Jesus was filled with the Holy Spirit and
united to his Father, and enable them to conduct themselves as Jesus had done.
3 After his
suffering he presented himself alive to them by many convincing proofs,
appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God. 4 While
staying with them, he ordered them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait there
for the promise of the Father. “This,” he said, “is what you have heard from
me; 5 for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized
with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” But you will receive power when
the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem,
in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” NRSV Acts 1:3-5, 8
16 Now the eleven
disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. 17 When
they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. 18 And
Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been
given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
20 and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded
you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” NRSV Matthew 28:16-20
14 Later he
appeared to the eleven themselves as they were sitting at the table; and he
upbraided them for their lack of faith and stubbornness, because they had not
believed those who saw him after he had risen15 And he said to
them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the good news to the whole creation. 16 The
one who believes and is baptized will be saved; but the one who does not
believe will be condemned. 17 And these signs will accompany
those who believe: by using my name they will cast out demons; they will speak
in new tongues; 18 they will pick up snakes in their hands and
if they drink any deadly thing, it will not hurt them; they will lay their
hands on the sick, and they will recover.”
NRSV Mark 16:14-18
Jesus lived a hidden life until the age of 30 when He began his public
ministry. All during that time Jesus lived in communion with the Father and
followed the guidance of the Holy Spirit. He took the time to grow in grace and
wisdom as a human being even though He felt the call to make his Father known
from the tender age of 12 when He remained in the temple discussing with the
doctors of the Jewish Law. There is no other example for us to follow than that
of Jesus. We too must grow in grace and wisdom and learn to discern and to
follow the guidance and promptings of the Holy Spirit. Jesus prayed several
times a day, as devout Jews do, but was in constant communion with the Father
in the Holy Spirit. He went to Synagogue every Sabbath and went to the temple
in Jerusalem for the solemn religious festivals. As Catholic Christians we can
live as Jesus did.
Roman Catholic Christian practices and devotions
1.
Personal
prayer – Whether as children or later in life, in accord with our personal
history, we learn to pray individually and personally to God. Memorized
prayers, such as the “Lord’s Prayer” given to us by Jesus, help us to enter
easily into the presence of God, to rest in his love, and to pay attention. As
we open our minds, hearts, souls, and lives to God we enter into the “school of
Jesus” and the “school of Nazareth” in which we become part of the Holy Family
and, with Mary and Joseph as teachers and guides, we grow to learn the “ways of
the Lord”, to allow God to take the initiative, and to respond with trust and
generosity.
2.
Public
worship – Recent popes have reminded us that our Sunday participation in the
Holy Eucharist puts us at the “source and summit” of our faith and of the life
of the Church, the living body of all the people who are baptized into Christ.
Here in the Sunday Eucharistic Assembly we give glory to God by being there
with all the others gathered in his Name, by listening to his life-giving Word,
and by feeding on Jesus, our Bread of Life. The Holy Spirit prompts us through
the prayers to offer to the Father with Jesus our lives and efforts to live as
He did. From there we are ever sent to “Go in peace glorifying the Lord by our
lives”.
3.
Works of mercy – The only
true measure of our love for God is the love with which we love our neighbour.
In 1 John 4:16-21 we learn that we cannot love the God we cannot see if we do
not love the brother we can see. Jesus went about doing good not in order to
eliminate poverty or illness or suffering, but to love all whom He met in the
present moment. Jesus healed to demonstrate God’s love but as a first priority
Jesus forgave sins and delivered those held captive by sin and evil spirits to
restore their freedom.
4.
Devotion to
the Word of God – A prominent effect of the grace of God, or the influence of God’s
love, or the guidance of the Holy Spirit within us is to attract us to listen
to the Word of God, to read the Word of God, to open the Bible on a daily basis
as part of our prayerful time visiting with the Holy Trinity. It will be pure
joy to do so when we are carried by grace, like the person in the “Footprints”
poem, while at other times God lets us stand on our own feel and mobilize our
own will to take the time to open the Bible.
5.
Contemplating
the light shining on the face of Jesus – In 2002 in his apostolic
letter on the Rosary Pope St. John Paul II described praying with Rosary beads
“contemplating with Mary the light shining on the face of Jesus” through the
Mysteries of the Holy Rosary. Fingering the beads helps focus the body and
reciting the prayers helps to focus and still the mind; while the heart and
soul remain free to be led by the Holy Spirit and influenced by the Blessed
Virgin Mary, Mother of Jesus, through the communion of saints.
6.
Fasting and
doing penance for the sake of repentance – Periodic fasting, especially
when aligned with a feast or liturgical season, brings the hunger and thirst of
the body into sync with the perennial hunger and thirst of the soul for God and
his righteousness and mercy. While we are fasting God strengthens our will to
discipline the often disorderly appetites and impulses that often disturb our
human body and soul. We allow God to reveal to us our need to feed on his
living Word, on his love, goodness, truth, and beauty.
7.
Confessing
sins for the sake of conversion – The very first words of Jesus as reported by the
evangelists were “Repent and believe the good news.” Jesus followed this up by
missing no opportunity to forgive sins even when people were not asking for
forgiveness but for healing or deliverance instead. On of Jesus very last words
while dying on the cross were “Father forgive them, for they know not what they
do.” God has made it abundantly clear that our human condition is a sinful
situation of rebellion against God to prefer our own opinions and preferences.
God adjusted to us by becoming human in Jesus. If we are to enter into the
divine life offered us by the Holy Trinity, it is up to each of us now to
adjust ourselves to God.
8.
Seeking to
serve, rather than to be served – It is normal for babies to be self-centered but
necessary for growth for humans to strive to become more centered on others out
of a desire for their good, like Jesus.
After reading these notes,
if you experience a desire for more, it is likely that you are experiencing the
promptings of the Holy Spirit, who, in communion with the Father and with his
Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is constantly drawing human beings into the life of
the Holy Trinity. As you follow these inner promptings and guidance of the Holy
Spirit, He will highlight elements of your life that oppose God or his will.
The first step is to accept the truth the Holy Spirit reveals, to admit it to
myself, ask forgiveness, and seek his help to go on.
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3 ways to develop a personal relationship with the Holy Spirit May 12, 2016 by Dave VanVickle
Why aren’t more
Christians experiencing the power and grace of the Holy Spirit in their
everyday lives? I think it’s easy to keep the Holy Spirit as an
abstract reality. We can often see him as a far off and mysterious being. Most
of us don’t even understand what it means to have a personal and daily
relationship with the Holy Spirit. That is exactly what we Christians need
today. We need to have a daily and growing relationship with the third person
of the Trinity. Here are three tips to help us experience the power of the
Holy Spirit in our life:
1.
First we need to invite Him into our lives. Each and every
day we need to pray for the power of the Holy Spirit to guide, protect and
empower our daily living. At the beginning of the day and all throughout the
day, let us meet each challenge by asking for the Holy Spirit. We will be surprised
at how this changes things.
2.
Second we need to learn how to recognize how the
Holy Spirit prompts us. We tend to rely completely on ourselves. Our own
power, knowledge, and work become our answers to every problem and issue we
face daily. This is the worst environment to experience the Spirit’s power. Instead
we need to be helpless in the eyes of the Lord. We are helpless beggars
with no power of our own, but in God we have access to the real power God’s
Spirit provides us.
3.
Third, we need to remember to let the Holy Spirit
lead. I think we tend to want to lead and then ask for the power of the Holy
Spirit to back us up. This relationship is out of order. We need to learn to
hold on to the coattails of the movement of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is
working for the sanctification of the world. We need to recognize his movements
and let him lead. Then we can make sure our work fits with the will of God and
we can be assured of His empowerment.
Invite the Holy Spirit into your life today. Learn to let Him lead and
become open to his power and grace. The Holy Spirit will radically change
your life.
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In the "New Covenant" made by our Creator God with humanity (Jeremiah 31:31-34) every person can know God from within - because the Holy Spirit is revealing our Creator to all who are willing to know the Lord and trust in Him. We can still help each other along the way; so may you be pleased to find here a variety of helps to the life of faith in God through Jesus Christ. G.S.
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© 2006-2021 All rights reserved Fr. Gilles Surprenant, Associate Priest of Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montreal QC
© 2006-2021 Tous droits réservés Abbé Gilles Surprenant, Prêtre Associé de Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montréal QC
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