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Scripture:

1 Kings 3:5, 7-12
Romans 8:28-30
Matthew 13:44-52

Reflection:

When I was ten years old and my sister was thirteen, our mother passed away.  Ovarian Cancer.  It was a very difficult time for us and for our father.

As time went on, our father remarried.  He married one of our mother’s sisters, our Aunt Mary!  She helped us through our adolescence and was a strong support for much of our adult years. She died recently at age ninety-three.  From this second marriage came our kid brother.  And he and his wife would bless us with two delightful children.  Our family went from death to life, from sorrow to joy.

Many years later I would read the words of St. Paul to the Romans as found in our second reading: “We know that all things work for good for those who love God…”  Our family loved God and all things worked for good for us.

Even before St. Paul wrote those words, our Blessed Mother experienced their truth.  The Thirteenth Station of the Cross shows Mary with the dead body of her son Jesus upon her lap.  What intense pain and sorrow she must have gone through.  What flow of tears streamed from her eyes.  But Mary trusted.  Mary waited.  And Easter came.  The Resurrection!

Whether we are going through physical pain, emotional distress or relational heartache, we are challenged to place ourselves into God’s hands.  From Calvary to Easter, from death to life, from sadness to joy – that is the pattern in a life of faith.  Trust in God is a pearl of great price and is found in those who belong to the kingdom of heaven.

Fr. Alan Phillip, C.P. is a member of the Passionist Community at Mater Dolorosa Retreat Center, Sierra Madre, California.   http://www.alanphillipcp.com/

Feast of Saint Martha

Scripture:

Exodus 24: 3-8
John 11: 19-27

Reflection:

In Exodus we read that Moses is binding the people to God more deeply through both their own verbal promise to keep the Covenant and the offering and sprinkling of blood upon them. The sprinkling of blood upon the altar was a common practice in the time of the Hebrews when a sacrifice was made. Covenants were also common when agreements were made between two people or groups of people. Using blood made the covenant that much more binding than the verbal agreement. Through these actions Moses is letting the people know that the Covenant between them and God is a serious one, not to be taken lightly. The people now have a greater commitment. Today, in our own faith, we have the Sacraments of Initiation that allows us to make commitments to God. The Sacrament of Confirmation made us full members of the People of God and opened the doors to the other Sacraments and graces. Today might be a good time to remember and reflect on those times in our lives when we received the Sacraments of Initiation and what we felt deep within us at the time.

In the Gospel of John, Jesus and Martha have a conversation where Martha makes several faith statements about her belief “in the resurrection on the last day”. The last statement she makes is that she believes “you are the Christ, the Son of God, the one who is coming into the world.” In the Gospels, when Jesus is healing someone it is through that person’s faith or the faith of others that the person is healed. Martha, a woman who is portrayed as to busy to pray in the Gospel of Luke, is the one who has faith that Jesus is going to heal her brother or raise him from the dead in the Gospel of John. Jesus responds to her with one of the “I Am” statements:

“I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live,
and anyone who lives and believes in me will never die.”

This conversation between Martha and Jesus might be a Covenant dialog. Martha makes her statements of faith and Jesus replies with the promise of eternal life. Martha’s faith and the faith of the Apostles was not perfect. They kept trying to understand the message. And that is what we do when we say the Nicene Creed at Mass on Sunday. We are making our statement of faith as best as we can. Taking time to hear God’s response, engaging God in our own covenant dialog could possibly be an opportunity to deepen our relationship with God and grow deeper in our faith.

Linda Schork is a theology teacher at Saint Xavier High School in Louisville, Kentucky

Scripture:

Exodus 20:1-17
Matthew 13:18-23

Reflection:

Blessed are they who have kept the word with a generous heart and yield a harvest through perseverance.  Luke 8:15

In reflecting on this passage, I am remembering the words of a wise spiritual director who once said:

‘Remember the Gospel you preach is also the Gospel you are called to live by.”

At each liturgy we hear the Word of God proclaimed followed by a homily reflection ending with the directive to go and live the Word of God.  How simple a directive and yet how complicated!  Our lives are filled with stories of generosity and perseverance.  Our parishes and communities band together to ensure that the corporal and spiritual works of mercy are made visible on behalf of the needy and suffering.

In the past year our parish has had the opportunity to resettle two refugee families, a family of eight from the Congo and a family of six from Syria. The parish community continues to respond generously to the needs of our new families.  We hope to resettle another family in the coming year.

Over the past months, we have also had the privilege to participate in special days of prayer focused specifically on two parish families and a staff member who were experiencing serious health problems.  The spirit and reverence in which the faithful came together in prayer for others showed us we were indeed on holy ground.

We are called to be persevering gospel bearers in spite of adverse situations and complications from those rule keepers who focus on the black/white interpretation of the laws rather than the heart/human reality that surrounds us.  We continue to march in solidarity for the oppressed and to write and call our government leaders, challenging them to govern wisely focused on the common good of all peoples.

We are sowers of the Good News!  Despite the thorns of anxiety and greed, the rootless and rocky ground and the weed strewn garden path, the rich soil of God’s love for all of us indeed bears fruit and yields even more than a hundred or sixty or thirty fold!

Theresa Secord is a Pastoral Associate at St. Agnes Parish, Louisville, Kentucky.

Scripture:

Exodus 19:1-2, 9-11
Matthew 13:10-17

Reflection:

They look but do not see and hear but do not listen or understand. 

Seems like I’ve heard these words from Matthew’s gospel before!  I know I heard them from my mother.  “Open your eyes Terry, it’s right in front of you!  If it was a snake it would bite you!”  “Listen when I talk to you; I told you to do this three times today!”

I’ve also heard those words from teachers, authority figures of all types, even my beloved wife!  Now I hear the words from Jesus!  “Don’t just look Terry, SEE!  Don’t just hear Terry, LISTEN!”  Jesus goes on to clarify toward the end of the passage from Matthew.

“Understand with your hearts and be converted.”  I think to understand with my heart I have to be vulnerable.  I have to be open to conversion at the deepest level in my heart.  I have to change.  As I age, I have to open my heart to a deeper reality.  This new reality requires a change of heart.

No longer can I just look and hear on the surface of life.  I need to go deeper.  Going deeper demands seeing and listening with my heart.  What is my heart asking of me in this present moment?  Am I being asked to forgive or be forgiven, to be vulnerable to God within me, to be truly open to the human hearts I come in contact with every day, to be aware of the presence of God in creation around me?

Today’s reflection tells me to go deeper.  See more, listen more, and open my heart to God within and around me.  Run toward my heart and find God’s love!

Terry McDevitt, Ph.D. is a member of our Passionist Family in Louisville, Kentucky.

Feast of Saints Joachim and Anne,
Parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Scripture:

Exodus 16:1-5, 9-15
Matthew 13:1-9

Reflection:

Compared to the highly efficient and GPS-guided farming methods today, the sower scattering seeds willy-nilly might seem wasteful, at best, and perhaps a bit stupid. A little more care in preparing the field or first taking out the thorn bushes might improve the chances for a plentiful harvest. At least that’s one way to look at today’s gospel from St. Matthew.

But the parable is not so much about a plentiful harvest, though we hear it was a bumper crop. The key line that jumps out to me is this: “Such large crowds gathered around him…” Some of those who came looking for Jesus were perhaps only curious, some skeptical, some hurting, and some longing for what they could not name. Then the gospel continues, “And he spoke to them at length in parables…”

He spoke to them all. For whatever reason they had come, Jesus shared the good news. He shared it generously and without judgment. He was living the parable himself by sowing God’s word and trusting that some of those words would fall on hearts ready to receive it, where it would take root and produce a great harvest. Certainly some of those listening would not or could not understand the good news, like seed landing on rocky ground.

Today’s gospel seems much more about generosity than efficiency. Jesus shares freely his love. Perhaps it is for us to prepare our minds and hearts to receive God’s word. Maybe we need to remove the stones and thorns in our lives, the prejudice and anger and judgmental attitudes so God’s word can take root and produce a great harvest in our lives.

Robert Hotz is a consultant with American City Bureau, Inc. and was the Director of The Passion of Christ: The Love That Compels Campaign for Holy Cross Province.

Scripture:

2 Corinthians 4:7-15
Matthew 20:20-28

 

Reflection:

 “Can You Drink the Cup?”

Preachers often allude to the wisdom of Dietrich Bonhoeffer (The Cost of Discipleship) and Henri Nouwen (Can You Drink the Cup?). These writers were giants in spirituality not only because of their keen insight, but because of their humility, transparency, even vulnerability. Their appeal is universal because the narrative is so personal.

Maybe that’s why we like Thomas the Doubter, Nathaniel the Cynic, Peter the Impetuous, or James and John… who so miserably fail at grasping Jesus’ message of proclaiming the Kingdom. Matthew softens the effect of the story as Mark expresses it. The latter has the request for status and prestige coming from the two disciples; Matthew has the request coming from their mother!  But how we can identify with their humanity!

Reading the lives of saints or Church history encourages me. I know that the Church requires two miracles — events which defy the laws of nature, as I understand it — for canonization; but to know that Mother (Saint) Teresa of Calcutta battled doubt and depression much of her life, yet remained faithful… well, in my mind, that’s a cause for sainthood by itself!

Commenting on Jesus’ question to his disciples (Can you drink this cup?), Nouwen states,

Spiritual greatness has nothing to do with being greater than others. It has everything to do with being as great as each of us can be. True sanctity is precisely drinking our own cup and trusting that by thus fully claiming our own, irreplaceable journey, we can become a source of hope for many. Vincent Van Gogh, miserable and brokenhearted as he was, believed without question in his vocation to paint, and he went as far as he could with what little he had. This is true for Francis of Assisi, Dorothy Day of New York, and Oscar Romero of San Salvador. Small people, but great in drinking their cups to the full.

Today we are again invited to drink the cup of life that Jesus offers us.

Fr. Jack Conley, C.P. is a member of the Passionist formation community at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago.

Scripture:

Wisdom 12:13, 16-19
Romans 8:26-27
Matthew 13:24-43

Reflection:

Today in our Gospel reading we have three parables from Jesus, and an explanation of one of them. The one for which we have an explanation is usually referred to as the “Parable of the Weeds among the Wheat.” When the disciples ask Jesus to explain the parable to them, He tells them that the good seeds are the “children of the kingdom” while the weeds are the “children of the evil one.” The harvest is “the end of the age,” with the people dealt with accordingly. As was mentioned last week, this parable also shows the mercy of God. God is willing to wait, and not rush to condemnation, and so we are not necessarily doomed to remain weeds. Thanks be to God!

As I was reflecting on this parable and the other two that are part of our Gospel reading, I began to see a connection between the three. In one of the other parables, Jesus uses the image of a woman taking yeast and mixing it with three measures of wheat flour until the “whole batch” is “leavened.” If we seek, in the words of the one parable to be the wheat, to be “children of the kingdom,” then we must also be willing to let God come into our hearts and do the work He wants to do in us. To put it another way, we are not only to grow as wheat, but to be used as flour.

In the parable, the woman works the yeast into the flour so that it is able to be made into bread. Just so, God does the work in us so that we can be made into disciples and people are fed. I have no idea how many grains of wheat it takes to make a measure of flour, but I’m guessing it takes quite a bit, and so it may take many of us coming together to answer the needs of the people and build up the kingdom. And perhaps the “leaven” that God uses to enable us to be bread for others can be understood as the Holy Spirit spoken about by St. Paul in our second reading from Romans.

May we not rush to judgment but instead, let God’s mercy into our hearts. May we let God work in us so that  people, who are hungry in so many ways, may find the love of God in Jesus Christ in us.

Fr. Phil Paxton, C.P., is the local superior at St. Paul of the Cross Passionist Community in Detroit, Michigan. 

Feast of Saint Mary Magdalene

Scripture:

2 Corinthians 5:14-17
John 20:1-2, 11–18

Reflection:

Today, we may have called her a “member of the inner circle.”  Back then, it would have been at the very least awkward and probably more like unheard of.   The young traveling rabbi had caught her attention, then changed her entire understanding of life and of God and finally called her to be his disciple.  She followed Him wherever He went.  She listened whenever He spoke and taught.  She allowed His teaching to become second nature within her heart and mind so that her life choices now reflected His mind and heart.  Then she began to spread the word about Him among others.  All of her hopes and dreams based upon a divine promise thousands of years old were now focused in Him.

Then it happened.  Everything was trampled underfoot into the ground by false accusations, political intrigue, and a weak governor who condemned him to death on a cross.  Jesus was dead.  For Mary, grief had not yet given way to doubts and fears.  She was simply overcome with sadness remembering Jesus as He was.  Even when she and her companions found the empty tomb, she remained at the tomb paralyzed by grief and yearning to have Jesus back as she remembered Him.  That sad, wishful thinking would never come to pass.

Instead something amazing took place.  Mary encounters the Risen Lord but believes Him to be the gardener.  At this moment, Mary is still looking for Jesus as He was, even if it will only be His dead body.  When Jesus calls her by name, she recognizes the mind and heart she recognized so well along the way.  Jesus must help her understand that the Jesus she knew only weeks before is no more.  Jesus is now the Risen Lord of heaven and earth.  The old order has passed away and new life has come into being through redemption born from a cross.  All is re-created; all is new; all is now one in the Risen Lord.  It is this moment in Mary Magdalene’s life that helped St. Paul to say, “So whoever is in Christ is a new creation:  the old things have passed away; behold new things have come.”  (2 Corinthians 5:  17).

Mary’s great gift and virtue in this great moment which changed everything is her willingness to let go of the past.  Jesus insists that her memories of the way Jesus was would get in the way of her understanding who He is now as the Risen Lord.  Only when she let go of the past was she able to accept her own re-creation from a follower to a powerful witness to the truth of the Risen Lord.  Only then does she accept her saintly role of becoming a disciple who announces the continuing presence of the Risen Lord and His gift of new life won through the power of His sacrifice on the cross.  Mary Magdalene is the first witness to this foundational reality of our faith.  As such, she continues to preach to us daily about the mind and heart of the Risen Lord, about His constant care and concern for His people, about His abiding presence to us in so very many ways, about His great gift of redemption and our sharing in His victory over sin and darkness.  She helps us to understand our freedom to live as children of the Father who always live in the light who is Christ.

As such, Mary Magdalene remains for us a beacon of faith, helping us to always and in every way to recognize the Risen Lord in our lives.

Fr. Richard Burke, CP, is a member of St. Paul of the Cross Province.  He lives at St. Ann’s Monastery in Scranton, Pennsylvania.