Claire Smith

Scripture:

Genesis 28:10-22a
Matthew 9:18-26

Reflection:

As a child, did an adult entrusted with your care violate that trust in harmful ways? As an adult, have you ever trusted someone and then been betrayed? I suspect most people could answer “Yes” to one or both questions. I know I’ve had my trust shattered several times in my life. People, no matter how good they seem or even how well-intentioned, aren’t always trustworthy, and such betrayals can cause us to doubt whether there’s anyone we can trust. That skepticism often carries over into lack of trust in God.

The scriptures recognize the dilemma. Jacob has a visionary dream in which God promises to protect him, bring him back to his land, and multiply his descendants, assuring Jacob that he will do all that he says. Jacob is understandably ecstatic about this dream, and he dedicates the spot where it happened. And yet, Jacob states that IF this happens and IF that happens and IF another thing happens, then (and presumably only then) the Lord shall be his God. That doesn’t sound like he trusted God much!

Contrast that with the Gospel story of the official who asked Jesus to lay his hands on his dead daughter so she could live. Think about how outrageous that request sounded to bystanders! But his trust in Jesus was so high that he risked looking like a fool, even when the crowds at his house ridiculed them as they arrived. The official persisted, and Jesus amazed them all by raising the girl. Can you imagine the joy the official felt?

On the journey to the official’s house, a hemorrhaging woman believed that she could merely touch Jesus’ cloak to be healed. Remember that in her day, a menstruating or bleeding woman was unclean. She was banned from public gatherings, and touching a man was utterly taboo. She risked being arrested, beaten, or worse. Her trust and courage were rewarded, and she could hold her head high for the first time in 12 years. What an affirmation!

I am slowly learning greater trust. I’ve come to see that people will let me down, but God never will. Oh, I may not get what I ask for, but I will receive strength, wisdom, courage, and all I need to handle whatever life throws at me. I have a rock on which I stand, an unfailing source of life and love that is available to me always. Sometimes it seems I have a long way to go. Other times, my trust in God helps me step more confidently into life, willing to take risks, knowing I will be caught when I fall and loved always.

Where do you land on the trust spectrum? Do you demand that God prove things to you first before you risk trusting? Are you willing to place your trust in God come what may, even if it seems foolish? Or are you somewhere in between? Despite how tempted we all are to imitate Jacob and go for certainty, perhaps we can pray and work to risk the kind of trust held by the official and the woman. That seems like a pretty solid bet, don’t you think?

Amy Florian is a teacher and consultant working in Chicago.  For many years she has partnered with the Passionists.  Visit Amy’s website: http://www.corgenius.com/.

Scripture:

Zechariah 9:9-10
Romans 8:9, 11-13
Matthew 11:25-30

Reflection:

Jesus’ prayer sums up the gospel of Matthew and connects Jesus’ Beatitudes and the final teaching of his hidden presence revealed at the final judgement. The Beatitudes reveal the Father’s love given to the ‘little ones’, and as the end of Our Lord’s ministry nears the little ones who follow Jesus will know and reveal Jesus hidden presence.

As Passionists we seek Our Lord’s love made known in the Paschal Mystery and we share this mystery in our ministries. The prayer of Jesus that Matthew gives us thanks the Father the giver of hope in the revelation of love in Jesus, and for the call to love and serve him in the crucified, that is to take up our Cross and walk with Our Lord.

To you.…the poor in spirit and the single-hearted, the sorrowing, the hungering for holiness, and those persecuted for holiness sake, the peacemakers and the merciful, and to all who are persecuted and slandered because of me, Blessed, happy are you.

And to you who when…. I was hungry you gave food, thirsty and I was given drink, away from home and you welcomed me, naked and I was clothed, ill or in prison and you visited me…. When? When you did it for the least of my brothers and sisters you did it for me.

I remember a friend who has since died who ministered with me and would later marry and raise a family. He was gifted with compassion. He put people first. His work with a non-profit who ministered to the homeless seemed a good fit. He became an administrator and would work for two companies. Unfortunately, he was not an administrator. He gravitated naturally to practically caring for the poor. He was fired from both jobs. Not surprisingly the straw that broke the camel’s back in one job was washing the feet of a man who the aides were neglecting. He became unemployed shortly before retirement, and then due to his age found himself unemployable. He was ‘persecuted’ for his holiness, and a peacemaker when his wife declared war on those who fired him! He did not neglect Jesus ill or abandoned. My friend saw Jesus ill and abandoned and cared for him, he revealed the disguised Jesus in his good works.

I worked in Atlanta, GA many years ago now, and knew a parishioner gifted with a rich prayer life. She told me of her bus ride across Georgia to be be with her dying brother. in a small rural town, she was put off the bus to accommodate a white man. Her brother died before she arrived. This woman was poor in spirit. She felt privileged having the gift of Jesus. She gave to drink those thirsty for the strength to forgive. I was away from home, and she welcomed me into her world of seeing Christ even in such an action that caused irreparable pain, and she made Christ visible.

Have you seen ‘little ones’, those who follow Jesus who reveals the Father’s love as Matthew tells us, and in their love make Christ visible to us? Where have you encountered brothers and sisters who took up their cross to follow Jesus from Beatitudes to the revealing of his presence in their love as well as in the persons whom they loved? These are two stories I still ponder. What are yours?  

Fr. William Murphy, CP is a member of Immaculate Conception Community in Jamaica, New York.

Scripture:

Genesis 23:1-4, 19; 24:1-8, 62-67
Matthew 9:9-13

Reflection:

Those who are well do not need a physician, but the sick do.
Go and learn the meaning of the words,
I desire mercy, not sacrifice.
I did not come to call the righteous but sinners. -Matthew 9:12-13

Jesus tells me through Matthew today that my job is to learn. This can be challenging for an old Irishman like me, but it is a task that I think and feel I might need to do. The important word in the previous sentence is “do”.

I do not believe for one second that learning is a passive event. If I don’t go away from a meeting or for that matter any encounter that God gives me today, doing, living, differently, I didn’t learn. Lifelong learning is a popular phrase for this understanding today. For me, meeting a friend at the local coffee shop seems to be our new classroom. At the coffee shop, we share our take on an issue that might be the reason we decided to get together or maybe the issue is something that just happened to us on our way, and we are trying to figure out what to do.

It’s all kind of like another classroom I’ve attended for most of my life, a good liturgy. For me a good liturgy as a Roman Catholic is The Mass. The way or ritual I learned at The Mass is to greet each other lovingly, make mention of any past mistakes or unresolved issues, promising to do better with help, listening to each other, seeing if there are others with similar experiences that can help in our discernment on how we hope to proceed today, saying thanks recognizing that we are not alone, but part of a life together, but also part of a much grander universe that we can possibly fully know, but nevertheless like a stone thrown in the river, affect not only us, but all of life. Finally, we do this all the while sharing coffee and if we are lucky, some delicious bread.

God, help me learn from you as Matthew reminds me to do in today’s scripture selection. Help me learn today what is the difference between justice and mercy in my life, and do mercy, recognizing that while I strive for justice, I often miss the mark, but we can do much better.

Dan O’Donnell is a Passionist Partner and a longtime friend of the Passionists.  He lives in Chicago. 

Scripture:

Genesis 22:1b-19
Matthew 9:1-8

Reflection:

“I’ll forgive, but I’ll never forget.” How many times do we hear this from people who are hurt, insulted, traumatized, victimized, or violently injured by another?

In today’s Gospel, something happened that had never occurred before: a man forgave all the wrong doings of a paralytic. The righteous scribes immediately gasped at the overstep by Jesus. “Who do you think you are, acting like God,” we might hear them shout in protest.

This story’s lesson is not so much that Jesus, the man-God, can forgive sins. The most important lesson is the last line: “When the crowds saw this they were struck with awe and glorified God who had given such authority to human beings.” The last word is plural, not singular. This presupposes the faith community, for whom the gospel of Matthew was written, forgave the sins of one another.

I find it so easy, especially at Mass, to gloss over the concept of sin. The word sin is woven throughout our liturgy, from the opening penitential rite to the Lamb of God plea, repeated three times prior to receiving Communion.

I have to shake my mind a bit to realize what we mean, for instance, by the Lamb of God taking away the “sins of the world.” That’s a powerful statement about an all-powerful God because the sins of our world are immense.

Violence rages in Ukraine, Syria, Sudan, and the streets, homes, schools, and stores in America where human beings, made in the image of God, are being slaughtered by other human beings.

The threat of total destruction of humanity by nuclear weapons is a daily reality, a reality we reflexively dismiss due to it being unthinkable.

Corruption, greed, and apathy have created a canyon between the few rich and masses of poor. Recently we spent millions to try to rescue five billionaire deep-sea tourists while over 500 impoverished refugees drowned off the coast of Greece from indifference.

A live-for-the-moment mentality reigns as we all ceaselessly spew greenhouse gases into our fragile atmosphere causing sea levels to rise, animal and plant species to become extinct, rivers to flood or dry up, hurricanes and tornadoes to kill and destroy whole communities. Our self-destroying way of living is scorching the planet, our common home.

And in every corner of this home people lack housing, healthcare, friendships, and love.

These are the sins of our time.

Can our God, the Lamb of God, really take away these sins?

Yes. Our God, not the gods mentioned in today’s psalm, forgives and wipes out sin in and through the faith community. When we forgive one another, we commit the greatest act of love possible, laying the foundation for unity and tenderness among us.

In your quiet moment of prayer today, when you shut out the noise of this sinful world and are alone and stilled in God, you might ask who you need to forgive.

It might be God.

It might be someone who still sticks in your craw.

It might be you need to forgive yourself.

Jim Wayne is a board member of the Passionist Solidarity Network (PSN), and author of The Unfinished Man. He lives in Louisville, Kentucky.

Scripture:

Genesis 21:5, 8-20a
Matthew 8:28-34

Reflection:

Don’t be afraid; God has heard the boy’s cry in this plight of his.   -Genesis 21:17

Thereupon the whole town came out to meet Jesus,
and when they saw him they begged him to leave their district.   -Matthew 8:34

Today’s readings got me reflecting about loose and twisting threads. We all like our stories tied up with neat endings; the hero wins, the victims are rescued, justice is served, all mysteries are revealed. But today’s readings aren’t so neat.

In the gospel Jesus cures two men plagued by demons by sending the evil spirits into a herd of swine. Then nothing more is said about these two. Did they go on to live productive lives? Did they follow Jesus? And what about the townspeople who beg Jesus to leave the area? Why didn’t they marvel at the miracle and ask Jesus to cure their other ills? We are left with so many unanswered questions.

In the first reading we hear a poignant tale of Hagar and Ishmael. They are sent out into the wilderness and are at the point of death. But the Lord comes to their aid and saves them. From then on “God was with the boy as he grew up.” Another loose end, perhaps? Further reading, however, reveals that Ishmael is back with Jacob when he is 13 years old! The threads of this story become more and more tangled the deeper we explore. It reads like a modern soap opera, with brother set against brother, Mother against stepson. In the end, Ishmael returns to the family for his father’s funeral.

In my own life I can see many threads. Some that can be followed for years, others that seem to lead nowhere. However, I’ve often found that what I thought was a “loose end” was God working in His own time, not mine. Friends and family members that I had thought were lost to me have been woven back into my life. God alone can see the whole skein of our lives.

Today my prayer is that I too listen to God as Hagar did when He speaks and says, “Don’t be afraid.”

Talib Huff is a retired educator and a member of the retreat team at Christ the King Passionist Retreat Center in Citrus Heights, California. You can contact him at [email protected].

Scripture:

Genesis 19: 15-29
Matthew 8:23-27

Reflection:

Called to Courage and Peace

As the United States celebrates its July 4^th Independence Day, the daily Scriptures present stories of faith that led to new and renewed life for many people facing hardships. 

Today’s readings speak of God’s directives to Lot and his family to run away from the forthcoming punishment and destruction of the evil people of Sodom and Gomorrah – and Jesus’ dealings with his fearful disciples during a violent storm as they sailed with Him upon the sea.  The simple message:  God is both loving and just, powerful in dealing with the forces of evil in the world; God knows us well and provides for us even when we are doubtful and afraid.  Yes!

As Americans, we today ponder the gift of our freedom and independence, gained by serious struggles of both mind and body.  Like the disciples in the storm-tossed boat, we realize that it is God who always journeys with us and challenges us to confidently face the ups and downs of life; we are invited to be faithful citizens of our country and of our world.  No small task!

Jesus invites us to follow His example and be people of peace.  Our encounters with the destructive power of evil and human weakness are supported by our faith in God which calls us to a sense of peace, perspective and courage.  Today we have reason to renew our commitment and celebrate … the spiritual side to July 4^th!

Throughout the Scriptures, Jesus assures us of his love and gifts us with His peace – not a simple tranquility or absence of suffering or uncertainty.  Jesus offers His peace that comes from the experience of God with us here and now, in everything and in everyone – God’s unconditional love.  As contemporary disciples we find meaning in the Cross of Jesus, seeking peace and freedom in the hectic pace of life today:  in our uncertainties and our suffering — even in the violence and fear which overshadow life today.  With Jesus’ unconditional love and encouragement, we are free to peacefully embrace the challenges of daily life as blessings.

May our celebration of the United States’ “independence” help us be grateful and courageous Christians who foster lasting personal and global peace!  May Jesus’ love amaze us…more than today’s fireworks and festivities!

Fr. John Schork, C.P. serves as the Province Vocation Director and also as Local Superior of the Passionist Community of Holy Name in Houston, Texas.  

Scripture:

Ephesians 2:19-22
John 20:24-29

Reflection:

Today we read of two forces that hold back not only the first Christians, but which can still be active in our own lives from time to time.

Our attention today can be focused on both fear (with its accompanying desire for safety symbolized for us in the locked doors) and doubt (with its accompanying desire for proof and physical evidence). The disciples model the first attitude of fear, and Thomas personifies the doubt and the desire for proof.

The response of Jesus is revealing. His first encouragement is to offer peace – an elusive reality in the wider world, but one that he encourages and offers to each disciple amid everything around them. It is worth taking a moment to savour this moment. Jesus recognises that faithful discipleship does not insulate one from either fear or doubt, but he also shows a way to move forward towards the trust that grows from experience of his presence.

Seek inner calm, stop, rest in the experience of his presence and look beyond mere reactions and over-thinking. Faith is a relationship, one profoundly centred on being with Jesus and trusting him. A peaceful inner disposition enables one to be still enough and focused enough to touch such presence.

Further, Jesus reveals to them the wounds of the Passion. Showing these wounds is more about revealing love than an offer of proof. Like all relationships, love draws people into intimacy of all kinds, and faith is no different. Jesus reveals the depth of his love, symbolized by the wounds and suffering he endured, and this same love invites relationship. Faith is our relationship with Jesus in action.

There is one other lesson from today’s reading. While faith is an individual gift, our Christian lives are meant to be lived in a community context. Thus, when Thomas is alone, he follows his own instincts and logic and forms an opinion – he does not believe. He echoes the world around us, seeking empirical evidence always and demanding proofs for things that are more mysterious and intuitive. When alone he cannot find faith. However, when he is with the community his doubts cease and he finds faith and trust are the keys to his life (not logic).

To me, this only highlights how important your faith is to all those around you.  We all make up that tapestry that Thomas needed (and so do we) – for when he is amid a believing community, he does not need proofs, he finds all he needs to believe, within.

Fr. Denis Travers, C.P., is a member of Holy Spirit Province, Australia.