Claire Smith

Scripture:

Acts 22:30; 23:6-11
John 17:20-26

Reflection:

No doubt the Chief Priests and the whole Sanhedrin were excited to have a chance to get Paul condemned by Roman authority but surely they must have also been a bit nervous.  After all, the top Roman military commander of their area was personally bringing Paul before them to hear their complaint.  And, the Pharisees and Sadducees had no great love for Roman authority.  But, now was their chance to get Paul condemned and hopefully executed.  So they were ready.

Paul, too, was ready.  He knew that while they were united in their desire to get him condemned, their unity was a fragile thing because there were many other issues about which they vigorously disagreed.  So, as soon as he stood before their condemning eyes, he launched his plan.  “My brothers, I am a Pharisee, the son of Pharisees; I am on trial for hope in the resurrection of the dead.”  Resurrection of the dead was a belief firmly held by the Pharisees but hotly denied by the Sadducees.  So the in-fighting began.

The argument became so heated that the military commander grew fearful for Paul’s life so had his troops rescue Paul from the room and bring him to safety, leaving the mayhem in the Sanhedrin going full blast.

Every time I read this account of Paul’s quick thinking, it reminds me of the many internal disagreements we experience in the Church.  We have our factions and our arguments about sometimes important but often enough not essential issues.  We condemn those who don’t agree with us and sometimes treat them with disrespect and even contempt.  We wrap ourselves in our convictions and are confident that those who don’t share our every belief are unworthy.

Paul was a man of deep conviction and strong beliefs.  Yet, he could acknowledge that he had been wrong in his beliefs about Jesus and he could embrace those he had once condemned.  At first he was convinced that the followers of Jesus were heretics and should be condemned, even to death.  After his encounter with Christ on the road to Damascus, he realized that Christ was the fulfillment of God’s revelation.  And that was just the beginning of the changes in his life.  He continued to grow in his understanding, changing his views on the law, moving beyond the Jewish community to the Gentiles, and recognizing in the sufferings and death of Christ the path to true life for all believers.  Paul is a remarkable example of someone with strong faith who could still really listen to the voice of God coming to him through the people in his life.

We are challenged everyday to give an account of our faith.  Unlike the Pharisees and Sadducees, we must not get caught up in internal squabbles and self-righteous condemnations of others, but give visible witness to God’s love for all peoples.   May God give us a loving heart.

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

Scripture:

Acts 20:28-38
John 17:11b-19

Reflection:

Saving Truth

“Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth. JN 17:17   Today’s Gospel tells us that we are made holy by the truth of God’s word.   Our culture today is in many ways very good but in many ways very bad!  In one very bad way there is almost a total disregard of truth.

For many the only truth is my truth.  I accept only what’s true for myself and not for others nor God’s truth!  Pope Benedict XVI wisely pointed out: “We are moving toward a dictatorship of relativism which does not recognize anything as definite and has as its highest value as one’s own ego and one’s own desires.” 

“An abomination to Him is haughty eyes and lying tongue,Pro 6:16  We live in a heavy air of mendacity which is loathsome to God and humans!  Often our society smothers the truth with a pillow hoping it will die. “Lying lips are detestable to the Lord, But those who deal faithfully are His delight.” Pro 12:22

 We thank Our Savior Christ for His truth filled word!  The word for truth in the inspired Greek New Testament is alethea which means not to escape notice.  When Jesus was on trail before Pilate He said: “For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.”   “Pilate *said to Him, “What is truth?” JOHN 18:37

Thomas Merton many years ago in 1960s, when our culture was taking a dramatic change, made a very wise observation.  “There is no greater disaster in the spiritual life than to be immersed in unreality!” Truth is reality! 

 We are losing thousands of Catholics because their faith is being suffocated “And others are the ones on whom seed was sown among the thorns; these are the ones who have heard the word, but the worries of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. Mk 4:18   

Today there is a massive use of drugs to escape reality.   Peace comes with truth.  “I am the way, and the truth, and the life” Jn 14:6 “you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” JN 8:32

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

Scripture:

Acts 20:17-27
John 17:1-11a

Reflection:

In our Gospel reading, we hear the continuation of Jesus’ discourse with His disciples at the Last Supper. Here, Jesus offers a prayer to the Father, recognizing that the moment has come for God’s plan to come to fruition: “I glorified you on earth by accomplishing the work that you gave me to do. Now glorify me, Father, with you, with the glory I had with you before the world began.” Jesus then prays for the disciples, and at the end of our reading, we hear Jesus say: “And now I will no longer be in the world, but they are in the world, while I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one just as we are.”

In these divided times, I am drawn to that last verse: “so that they may be one just as we are.” It is not the last time in this prayer that Jesus prays for unity. I understand the prayer to be asking that the disciples be in communion with each other, as the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit are in communion with each other, beyond our understanding, in the Holy Trinity.

Again, in these divided times, I see the prayer also pertaining to us, that we find our way to communion with each other, with all people, and with all of creation. I don’t think unity requires absolute uniformity. As a church, we do need to be unified in our mission to spread the Good News of Jesus Christ, and to share God’s love in Jesus, in the power of the Holy Spirit. But we do it in cultural expressions and in a language that is understandable to the people we serve. We may not be free of conflicts or disagreements about how the message is shared, but we cannot give in to hatred and demonization of the “other,’ for we are called to serve them as well as those who are like us.

May the Holy Spirit guide us in resolving conflicts, and may we come together as one.

Fr. Phil Paxton, C.P., is the local superior of the Passionist Community in Birmingham, Alabama. 

Scripture:

Acts 19:1-8
John 16:29-33

Reflection:

Lord, Sometimes I feel so fatigued by our increasingly divisive world of war, dissension, senseless cruelty, dismissively abrasive language and blocked minds.  A bewildering world where a teen can run up behind an old man, slap his ear hard enough to rupture his eardrum and call it a “prank.”  Everything sometimes seems so chaotic and haphazardly confusing as our parish is gray-haired and our young people are abandoning the Church. 

In dark moments of despair, I think of You at the Last Supper.  Jesus knew how little time was left to prepare His disciples as well as how much they were lacking.  You set Your night of pain in motion by telling Judas to “Do what you must do”, and he slipped away into the night to betray you.  

Still sitting at the Passover table was the man You had chosen as the next head of Your Church.  In Peter’s moment of darkness, he would deny even knowing you, not once but three times.  You knew the twelve men You had chosen and loved the most would desert as You died alone on the cross, and that was surely an incredibly painful and terrifying part of your Passion and Death.  

Help me strive to follow You, and refuse to desert You, even in times of fear, pain, and loneliness.  I know I am never alone, just as You knew the Father is with You in all that exists.     

Ray Alonzo is the father of three children, grandfather of two, and husband to Jan for over 45 years. He is a USN Vietnam Veteran, and a 1969 graduate of Mother of Good Counsel Passionist Prep Seminary. Ray currently serves on the Passionist Alumni Council.

The Ascension of the Lord

Scripture:

Acts 1:1-11
Ephesians 1:17-23
Matthew 28:16-20

Reflection:

When I was in Catholic elementary school, I was fascinated by paintings of the Ascension showing the apostles standing there looking up at the sky as Jesus ascended into heaven. Two angels appeared and said, “Men of Galilee why are you standing there looking at the sky.”   Our teachers usually told us we needed to get busy showing love to others through kind deeds and treating each other with respect. In the first reading from the Acts of the Apostles, Jesus promises that he will always be with us. Do you and I really believe and live this truth on a daily basis?

In the second reading, “Jesus remains accessible to us now in the life-giving Holy Spirit, assuring us that one day we, too, if we live out our faith in Him through the mission of loving service, he calls us to we will experience the rewards of heaven.”  (Fr. Antony Kadavil, Reflections for the Feast of the Ascension of our Lord, Vatican News, 30 May 2019, 11:28)

In the gospel, just before the Ascension, Jesus entrusted to the disciples the mission of preaching the Good News and evangelizing the entire world by bearing witness to him through their lives. Jesus promised us the Holy Spirit to energize us to spread the Good News throughout the world. (Fr. Antony Kadavil, Reflections for the Feast of the Ascension of our Lord, Vatican News, 30 May 2019, 11:28)

There is the story of Leonardo Da Vinci and the Unfinished Painting. The story goes that Leonardo had started work on a large canvas in his studio for a while he really worked hard on it measuring, studying colors, and applying the colors. Suddenly he stopped working on the canvas. He turned to one of his gifted students and asked him to complete the painting. The student protested saying he wasn’t a good enough artist to finish the painting. But da Vinci silenced him. “Will not what I have done inspire you to do your best?”  

Jesus spread the good news by what he said and what he did especially in suffering his crucifixion, death, and resurrection. Jesus left us to finish the picture. Do we love Jesus enough to finish the picture. (http://frtonyshomilies.com/  )

Carl Middleton is a theologian/ethicist and a member of the Passionist Family.

Scripture:

Acts 18: 23-28
John 16: 23b-28

Reflection:

In our first reading this morning we meet an interesting married couple, Priscilla and Aquila.  In today’s reading they clearly had a well-established reputation for being experts on the early Christian beliefs about Jesus.  An already famous preacher named Apollos comes to town and does an amazing job of preaching the Gospel.  However, it seems he is only aware of the baptism of John the Baptist and not that of the baptism Jesus gave the community.  So, it is members of that Community, Priscilla and Aquila, who take him aside and teach him about the baptism that Jesus taught.  Apollos seems to welcome their teachings and then continues on his apostolic way.

This early Christian couple appear in several places in the Acts of the Apostles as well as in Romans, First Corinthians and Second Timothy.  They apparently were tentmakers who fled from Rome to Corinth when Claudius Caesar forced all the Christians out of Rome.  In Corinth they hooked up with Paul the Apostle, another tentmaker(!), who refers to them as his “co-workers in the ministry of Christ Jesus” (Romans 16:3).  Every time they are mentioned in the New Testament they are spoken of as important and influential leaders in the Christian Community and authentic witnesses to the Gospel.

Priscilla and Aquila remind us that it wasn’t just the “big time” Apostles like Peter, Paul, Apollos and the other Apostles and Evangelists mentioned in the New Testament who were important to the building up of the Christian Community.  From the very earliest days of the Community, Priscilla and Aquila along with so many other ordinary people, often not mentioned by name, were the bedrock of the proclamation and spread of the Gospel.

The same is true in the Church today.  There are those who are well known as preachers of the Gospel, for example, Our Holy Father, Cardinals, Bishops, Priests, Deacons and other public faith leaders.  But the truth is that it is the people in the pews, men and women, married and single, young and old, who have a living relationship with Christ and are faithful to Him, who are the most authentic and effective witnesses to Christ living amongst us.  It is their love for God, their families and the many other people in their lives that witness to God’s loving presence among us.

In truth, each of us is called to live in faith.  And, as we are able to grow in our ability to love those around us, Christ is made present.  Today we pray that we can cherish our own personal call to proclaim the Good News that God embraces us and our world through His Son, Jesus Christ.

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

Scripture:

Acts 18:9-18
John 16:20-23

Reflection:

As I read the gospel of John today, I think of my own life experiences. When we suffer grief, maybe the loss of a loved one or some other devastating change in our life, we may be in the depths of pain, but the rest of the world goes on, unknowing of what we have experienced. As women who give birth to a child, that pain and anguish can be horrible – in the moment. And then, as your newborn baby is placed in your arms moments later, you almost immediately forget the pain you had just experienced, because it is replaced with a joy that you never fathomed. 

Now, think of the day we may see Jesus face to face. This joy of Jesus’ presence is immeasurable compared to any other joy we may experience in our lifetime. All of our suffering, all of our heartache – will all be replaced with the joy of His presence. We will no longer be alone; we will no longer doubt or question what the Father has in store for us. All of those things we consider the mysteries of our faith will no longer exist for us. When all of that happens, we will know unending joy.

As we wait to see our Jesus face to face, let’s continue to work on our trust in God. Ensure that your relationship with him is solid and steadfast. Always remember his words, I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you.

Patty Masson is the Director of Adult Formation and Evangelization for St. Ignatius of Loyola Catholic Church in Spring, Texas.