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Scripture:

Sirach 35:1-12
Mark 10:28-31

Reflection:

With Ash Wednesday just a day away, it seems Sirach provides some valuable guidance for planning our Lenten journey.

What should this Lenten journey look like in contrast to our daily journey with Jesus?  All year long we pray, worship, help those in need and generally try to live how the gospel call us to live.

So, what will Lent be like for us this season?  Sirach encourages us to work to alleviate injustice, to give to those in need, to observe the commandments, to name just a few.  Furthermore, we are to do all of these things and more with a cheerful countenance!  Simple, right!?

Our parish Lenten theme for this year is: COME ENCOUNTER CHRIST!

In addition to prayer, fasting and almsgiving, we are inviting people to take time to Walk the Way of the Cross and to enter physically, emotionally and spiritually into how this experience affected everyone who made this journey with Jesus, including Jesus himself.  There will be reflection questions available at each station for individuals or small groups to spend time reflecting on how our lives are often changed in our encounters with Christ.  For those who wish to attend there will be more formal stations offered each week during Lent also.

Jesus reminds us in the gospel today, that anyone who sacrifices on behalf of the gospel will be greatly blessed!  We are all called to be proclaimers of the good news.  May our Lenten journey be a time of encountering Christ not only in our prayer and fasting, but also as we rally against injustice, feed the hungry, house the immigrant and refugee, petition our government and church leaders to work for equality for all and most especially, LIVE as Gospel people!

Happy Lent!  Keep Smiling!

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

Feast of Saint Gabriel Possenti, C.P.

Scripture:

Sirach 17:20-24
Mark 10:17-27

Reflection:

“Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said to him, you are lacking in one thing. Go, sell what you have, and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me. At that statement, the young man’s face fell and he went away sad, for he had many possessions.”

Lately I have been using my cell phone navigator to get around. It’s okay, with the exception that it constantly seems to be recalculating my route. Sometimes I just want to put my hands around its skinny little cyber neck and throw it to the bottom of the nearest river! Recalculating can be a challenging experience. Yet in today’s Gospel, Jesus is asking a young man to recalculate his life for the sake of the kingdom.

Saint Gabriel, a member of our Passionist family, whose feast we celebrate today, also was asked to recalculate the direction of his own life. As a young man, he gave up a very promising and profitable future to follow Jesus as a Passionist. Then, while studying to be a Passionist, he caught tuberculosis. He joined his own sufferings with the sufferings of Jesus and his mother Mary. Even before he died at 24, he was known for his sanctity, his smile, and his unfailing love of Jesus Crucified. Gabriel had to recalculate his life path and he handled it well!

Some of us live lives with frequent recalculations. Some of these recalculations are voluntary and some seem forced upon us. People die, get sick, lose relationships, experience poverty, and make both wise and unwise choices. People sometimes make commitments they can’t keep and commitments they shouldn’t have made in the first place. Some people like Gabriel, choose wisely and follow their hearts in the direction they feel called.  Recalculations are a part of life, both welcome and unwelcome.

As I reflect on the life of Saint Gabriel, I think about my own recalculations. They are very human, steeped in emotions, full of change and sometimes even mystery. St. Gabriel was able to recalculate by keeping the end in mind. As he made his choices he kept his focus on Jesus Crucified and his mother Mary. As we celebrate this feast, a comfort to every member of our Passionist family, let us pray with joy the prayer of Passionist students and youth.

“Thanks for your help and example, St. Gabriel. With Mary at our side, with Christ Crucified as a shining light to guide us, we will walk the road of love for God and come at last to our heavenly home.  Amen.”  (Taken from “Prayers – Passionist Seminarian”)

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

Scripture:

Isaiah 49:14-15
1 Corinthians 4:1-5
Matthew 6:24-34

Reflection:

The entire first reading from the Prophet Isaiah is worth repeating for they are some of the most tender words found in scripture.

Zion said, “The LORD has forsaken me;
my LORD has forgotten me.”
Can a mother forget her infant,
be without tenderness for the child of her womb?
Even should she forget,
I will never forget you.

 There are so many people across the socio-economic spectrum feeling they are forgotten. The frustration is real and bubbling over. We see it in the news and in the protests. It is at the root of the opioid epidemic. We see it in regrettable language and graffiti aimed to hurt others. The factory worker now unemployed. The  immigrant family learning a new culture. The volunteer defending life against abortion and the death penalty. The student buried under the weight of debt. Families threatened by separation. Children feeling as outcasts in their own families.

There is a whole community of those feeling forgotten standing at the foot of the Cross. And what does the Lord say to them – say to us? “I will never forget you.”

I often think that the Lord might well have added one more line to this passage: “I will never forget you…and you should not forget them either.”  How will those feeling forgotten and forsaken ever know the love and mercy of Christ if not through us? It is our hands, our eyes, our kind words that will assure others that they are not forgotten by God. Let us take a look around us today and in a simple gesture say to someone, “I have not forgotten you.”

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:

Sirach 17:1-15
Mark 10:13-16

Reflection:

“…and Jesus became indignant”

Some years ago a TV commercial for AT&T depicted a young Mother in the kitchen hurriedly preparing breakfast for her little ones. One of the children pleads, “Can we go to the beach today?” and Mom’s quick reply is, “No, sweetheart, I have a meeting with an important client today.” Spontaneously, the child responds, “When do I get to be a client?” Of course the next clip is from the beach, where Mom is conducting her business from her AT&T cell phone!

In today’s Gospel the disciples decide that Jesus’ time and energy is too precious to be spent with little children. And Luke then tells us that Jesus became indignant. It’s not the only time we hear of Jesus’ exasperation.

Remember the episode when Jesus overturns tables in the temple? We are told it wasn’t merely tables and doves and coins that he was upending, but the entire religious system of his day… In the first chapter of Isaiah, God tells us that burnt offerings and animal sacrifice disgust God!  Instead, we are told to “…make justice your aim: redress the wronged, hear the orphan’s plea, defend the widow.”

Jesus also gets indignant when the table crowd seeks to condemn the woman who anoints Jesus with aromatic oil shortly before his death. There is a pattern here; Jesus is always protecting the dignity of the human person… especially the least, the last, and the lost. Children included.

Today, with countless threats to immigrants, refugees, government safety nets for the poor, and the environment, …we, too must be indignant, we, too, must “read the signs of the times” (Matthew 16:3).  Last week, San Diego Bishop Robert McElroy spoke,

“Always find your foundation for reflection and action in the fullness of empirical reality…This is an especially important anchor for us, in an age in which truth itself is under attack. Now we come to a time when alternate facts compete with real facts, and whole industries have arisen to shape public opinion in destructively isolated and dishonest patterns. The dictum “see clearly the situation” has seldom been more difficult in our society in the United States.”

And Jesus became indignant.

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

Scripture:

Sirach 6:5-17
Mark 10:1-12

 

Reflection:

Behold the Lamb of God

Every Mass we attend we hear the words: “Behold the Lamb of God”.   Gaze at Jesus who shows us the wounds in His Risen Body, his hands, feet and side!  “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son!” John 3:16   On July 19, 586 BC the city of Jerusalem was destroyed by the Babylonian army.  Jerusalem’s King Zedekiah who was brought before Nebuchadnezzar and was forced to see his young children slaughtered before his eyes so there would be no claimants to the throne.  Then he was blinded so the last thing he saw on earth was the horrible murder of his children.

Can we begin to understand how the Father of Jesus felt to see His Son mocked, struck and spit upon in His passion?   How could any parent stand such a sight.   “Behold the Lamb of God”   At Mass we should be transfixed at the spell bounding love of the crucified.  If only we could see the Lamb of God the way the Father in Heaven saw His Son on the Cross!   To behold the Lamb of God means we encounter the Bread which “ is My Body, the one being given for you” Lk 22:19   “The Eucharist is indelibly marked by the event of the Lord’s passion and death, of which it is not only a reminder but the sacramental re-presentation. It is the sacrifice of the Cross perpetuated down the ages”.  Sacrosanctum Concilium, 47

These beautiful words of Christ contain the profound mystery of the Mass. The Eucharist is the Body of Christ in the state of being given right now in real time for us!   The Risen Christ exists in an eternal now.  He is no longer restricted by the limitations of time.  The Eucharist contains all the moments of the life of Christ.  They are not repeated but are preserved in a living eternal now in His Resurrection! When we are invited at Mass to behold the Lamb of God we are reminded of the words of Pope St John Paul II “I would like to rekindle this Eucharistic “amazement

The Mass contains the most fascinating act of love that a human heart ever had for the Father!  “For the most holy Eucharist contains the Church’s entire spiritual wealth: Christ himself, our Passover and living bread.”  “ Consequently the gaze of the Church is constantly turned to her Lord, present in the Sacrament of the Altar, in which she discovers the full manifestation of his boundless love.”   Ecclesia de Eucharistia, St John Paul #1

 

Fr. Bob Weiss, C.P. preaches Parish Missions and is a member of the Passionist Community in Louisville, Kentucky.

Feast of the Chair of Peter

Scripture:

1 Peter 5:1-4
Matthew 16:13-19

Reflection:

When studying Canon Law, one of the guiding principles in examining a set of circumstances or an experience in the life of a person consisted in the presumption that the exterior matches the interior.  In other words, what a person says or does or what a person does not say or do reflects the movements of the mind and heart.  What one holds in the heart finds its way into the manner that he or she deals with others in life.   I find this principle to be a solid foundation to stand upon in dealing with life experiences.

Our Feast Day today and our readings invite us to ponder the Chair of Peter precisely from this foundation.  “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.”  So proclaims Peter in his response to Jesus.  For sure, this was a response from the heart.  Peter’s heart had been enveloped by the Heavenly Father who revealed to Peter the truth about Jesus.  This was a profound moment in Peter’s faith development.  After this moment, he could not go back.  He could not pick and choose possible understandings concerning Jesus’ identity.  From this moment forward, Peter knew with a solid, heartfelt conviction that Jesus was the Messiah.  He would spend the rest of his life discovering what this confession of faith meant for the manner in which he lived his life.  There would be ups and downs, sins and contrition, forgiveness and consolation, support and commissioning for the sake of the Gospel.

Everything would stand upon this foundational confession of faith as Peter learned to live life with others in a manner that matched his internal conviction that Jesus is the Son of the living God.

Our Gospel tells us what God did for Peter in his faith life.  Our Feast and our first reading reveal to us what Peter did for us and for the Church.  In his letter, Peter gives us a glimpse of how he has lived out this confession of faith.  He speaks as a witness to the sufferings, death and Resurrection of Jesus.  He has made the mind and heart of Jesus his own.  Peter allowed Jesus to conform his mind and heart to that of the Messiah.  As a result, Peter, as chief shepherd, is able to encourage his fellow presbyters and all who would come after him to watch over God’s People with the love and tenderness of Christ himself.  In this moment, Peter is passing on to succeeding generations the essence of faith life.  We would make a mistake to believe this apostolic tradition which Peter passes on to us is simply a listing of doctrinal statements.  To be sure, doctrinal statements of our faith are important and part of the apostolic tradition symbolized in the Feast of the Chair of Peter.  However, Peter was interested in passing on far more than statements.  In his letter, Peter clearly intends to pass on a way of living our faith.  We are invited to hold the sufferings, death and resurrection of Jesus in our hearts as Peter did.  We are invited to make that internal faith reality the foundation for the manner in which we deal with one another in everyday life so that what we say and do in our relationships with one another match our heartfelt conviction that Jesus “…is the Christ, the Son of the Living God” and we are His witnesses today.

Today’s feast highlights Peter as the first shepherd of God’s People following the Ascension and Pentecost.  Peter understood that the keys of the Kingdom he received were given to open up life in the Risen Lord to everyone.  He realized that the greatest witness to faith in the Messiah is a life lived according to the mind and heart of Jesus within our faith community.  This is the witness to the world celebrated in the Feast of the Chair of Peter.

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

Scripture:

Sirach 2:1-11
Mark 9:30-37

Reflection:

The mirror was an early invention of ours, with evidence of its presence among us going back over centuries past.  It likely owes its invention to a previous fascination we had with our own face as we bent over a pool of still water and marveled at the image reflected there.   Our inventiveness managed to recreate this image, so that we can note the blemishes on our features and do our best to remove or diminish them.  But this advantage can easily be offset by an obsession with how we look and appear to others.  We can easily become self-absorbed.  The scriptures today present a contrasting alternative to such preoccupation with oneself.

In his wisdom, Sirach steers us away from ourselves.  He shows us, not controlling a situation, but rather being acted upon by circumstances over which we have no influence.  They counter the tendency to be obsessed with our face and appearance before others, and show us amid trials and adversity that diminish such self-concern.  Sirach presents us as victims of misfortune, being tested like gold in a crucible.  His advice, in this turn of events, is to forget ourselves and reach out to the Lord, putting aside the mirror of self-absorption, and attending to our victimization.  This change in our focus of attention can position us to experience the Lord and His helping hand in our life.  It moves our attention off our selves, and fastens on a compassionate and merciful God, Who becomes the centerpiece of the mirror that preoccupied us.

A similar scenario is evident in Mark’s gospel for the day.  Here the Person of Jesus emerges in the mirror into which we stare, and presents Him as Someone Who is not a dominating center of attention.   His image is rather that of a victim of circumstances, exhibiting passivity before the circumstances engulfing Him, which will lead to His apprehension and death.  Jesus then proceeds to expand on the implications of this for His followers: to accept being last rather than being first, to put aside personal ambition to be the greatest, and to assume the guise of a child.  Children usually spend little time before the mirror admiring themselves.

These biblical readings provide timely advice for us today.  They remind us of our proneness at being the center of attention, overlooking what is occurring around us.  They show us how quickly our life situation can change, negating the self-absorption that so often consumes our time and energy, and confronting us with some daunting challenges.  These can reduce our agency and augment our passivity, away from control to that of victimhood.   In looking through the mirror we must see beyond the self portrayed there, and note what lies beyond.  It takes a poetic eye to see other things in life’s mirror, such as Joseph Plunkett suggests in his verses:

I see His blood upon the rose                     I see His face in every flower
And in the stars the glory of His eyes       The thunder and the singing of the birds
His body gleams amid eternal snows       Are but His voice-and carven by His power
His tears fall from the skies.                       Rocks are His written words.

All pathways by His feet are worn,
His strong heart stirs the ever beating sea,
His crown of thorns is twined with every thorn,
His cross is every tree.

Fr. Sebastian MacDonald, C.P. is a member of the Passionist Community in Louisville, Kentucky.

Scripture:

Sirach 1:1-10
Mark 9:14-29

Reflection:

Are you one of those people who find it very easy to identify with the father described in the Gospel?  I surely am.  He’s clearly desperate in trying to find a way to help his young son.  As today’s Gospel begins we find the father arguing with the disciples.  He’s arguing with them because he had brought his son to them for a cure but they were unable to cast out the mute spirit.  I wonder what he was telling those disciples?  Perhaps he was abrading them because they’d failed to heal his son and was trying to persuade them to “try harder.”  Or, maybe he was calling them fakes and phonies because they’d promised so much but had delivered so little.  Whatever the topic of the “arguing,” you can hear his fear and discouragement in his dialogue with Jesus.  Jesus tells him that everything is possible for one who has faith.  The father desperately cries out, “I do believe, help my unbelief!”  He wants to believe with all his heart, but is struggling with all his previously dashed hopes.  But, his prayer for belief is enough for Jesus who then casts out the mute spirit from the boy.

When things settle down, the disciples ask Jesus how he was able to cast out the mute spirit when they had failed so miserably in their attempts.  Jesus responds, “This kind can only come out through prayer.”  Jesus never makes clear whether it was his prayer or the young man’s father’s prayer that accomplished the miracle.

It’s easy for me to identify with the father in this story because there are so many situations in my life that I know would be better if only I had enough faith.  It’s fairly easy to become discouraged, even overwhelmed, by personal failures or dashed hopes.  Yet, Jesus shows such great compassion to this worried father, who didn’t feel he had enough faith.  Jesus, help us believe in you and trust that you will give us what we need in spite of our lack of faith.

Fr. Michael Higgins, C.P. is the director of Mater Dolorosa Passionist Retreat Center, Sierra Madre, California.