Claire Smith

Scripture:

Leviticus 19:1-2, 17-18
1 Corinthians 3:16-3
Matthew 5:38-48

Reflection:

So be perfect!

Perfect is defined one way to be absolute; complete (used for emphasis). Today we hear Jesus telling his disciples, “So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.” In today’s world many hear this and immediately give it up thinking it’s not possible to be perfect. Others go in circles trying to be perfect according to the world’s standards and fall into scrupulosity. They find themselves more concerned with the fear of not doing something exactly right and their focus becomes self-inclusive. Then they aren’t able to live in the current moment freely as intended. They are wrapped in their mind allowing fear to keep them occupied. For some they just might be terrified of doing something wrong, so they stay away from everything and everyone. This way of life is not what God intended for us. Our call to be perfect reaches deep within each of us uniquely.

Today, Jesus is calling you and I to live counter-culturally, to live in such a way that all that we do is in and for the honor of God Our Father. Jesus tells as how to do this and how to become who we were called to be. To live fully and most importantly freely as His Beloved Son or Daughter.

There is a song by Ed Sheeran called “Perfect” that starts off “I found a love, for me” and as the song progresses, he is watching her at a distance internally while still being there in the moment with her. His eyes fixed on her with love. There isn’t anything that can diminish this love. At one point he says, “When you said you looked a mess I whispered underneath my breath – But you heard it Darling, you look perfect tonight”. He simply just loves her. Period. I believe that is the key to being perfect to be loved as we are in all of our “worldly” imperfections and allow ourselves to be love so we can give the love we received to others as Jesus says.

So as we journey along in this gift of life when we “slip” or “get it wrong” sure we can stop and apologize but then instead of staying in that moment in that vicious cycle we move forward, reach out for Christ’s hand and return our gaze to His and not on ourselves knowing that even when we find ourselves in a mess we can be assured of God’s love and mercy.

Lori Kananen, LMC, is a lay Pastoral Associate at Holy Name Passionist Retreat Center in Houston, Texas.

Scripture:

Genesis 8:6-13, 20-22
Mark 8:22-26

Reflection:

I still find myself navigating a post-pandemic world. Still taking in the shock of what was so deeply lost. But also so aware, maybe for the first time, of how tactile Our Lord was to anyone that asked. Jesus used His Voice, but he also used His Hands. Touching, holding, healing, continually moving place to place to open the doors within each heart. During a time when the world was changed, is still changing, many of us were asked to go deeper inward. Are we still carrying those feelings of loss?  Am I?  Or have new ways risen from within? 

There are two ending places I have known, where I now see as a new beginning. 

“Go in peace, lo love and to serve the Lord”
“And to amend my life. Amen.”

We know these words as Catholics.  Many times, said so completely heartfelt in the moments after receiving the Body of Christ the final words from the priest, and His Absolution in Confession. 

But what happens in how we meet the world again when we walk out the door? Or when we leave the door of confession after laying down the sorrow we carry? Struggling to follow the ways we so hoped as we move back into the world. 

As I read this unique and short Gospel, new words arrived in my heart this time.
I am learning the small parts of a greater story hold so much more than we can imagine. 

Jesus takes the blind man out of the village and tells him to return to his home after laying his hands on his eyes twice and gifting sight. Then saying, “Do not even go into the village”

How many times have I left confession truly feeling the grace of what was shared. Yet the hardest part can be to carry it forward. I had never seen this until today.  We are asked over and over by so many around us to be a part of the world that in some ways no longer makes sense.

Once we let you in Dear Lord.  Once we welcome You fully.  Once we say “yes”!
How then can we remain quiet, patient, trusting and still?
Eyes opened to all You have gifted.

For some, this may take a lifetime of returning.  For other’s a single day.
But sometimes the gifts are heard when they are not easily seen. 
Jesus is already fully open to the wideness of God’s Love. But we, like the disciples, need to find the courage to see. 

“Then He sent one who was healed to his home. Saying, “do not even go into the village.”
This passage I believe had Jesus preparing His chosen apostles to prepare for all to come.  

I imagine Him now saying to me.  I am giving you the Gift above all gifts.  
My Love and tender Mercy for each human being on earth. 

How can we learn to fully gift from our hearts knowing I have Jesus Christ truly within me.  
After Communion.  
After Confession. 

New ways rising always, new beginnings.

M. J. Walsh, laity, with deepest thanksgiving for all the Passionist community. With a prayer for vocation.

Scripture:

Genesis 6:5-8; 7:1-5, 10
Mark 8:14-21

Reflection:

Recently I heard a recording from a Fr. Richard Rohr presentation called the “Beginners Mind”. It reminded me of how a child reacts to the world. When we arrive in a room with small children, the child looks for the adult with a smile, the one who is open and friendly—the simple detective work of one hunting and searching for love.

Children detect hostility, unfriendliness, and those who are unauthentic in a way that is beyond words. Their agenda is simple; there is no agenda. There is no duality in their thinking, just looking for the one who is most friendly, open, and willing to love. Come play with me is mostly present in their eyes. 

How much of this can we learn again in our relationship with God? How many have fallen prey to following the tradition rather than the love? Our Catholic tradition without love is meaningless. Particularly if we start to “preach” tradition in a way that divides us from others rather than unites us in the community of God; the Body of Christ. The Church is universal.

We sometimes need a reminder the word Catholic means universal. For us, this is universal love, and there is nowhere we can feel and hear that word more soundly than in love expressed by a child. A child cannot fend for themselves; they survive only with love. So do I. Without love, I am nothing, just someone looking for a cave to dwell in with a warm fire and a loving friend.

The loving friend we seek is the same one the child in the room opens their heart towards. The love expressed by the adult in the room is filled with the grace of God. And one willing to communicate it freely, willingly with the smile which requires no repayment. Just gift. Pure gift.

Let us return to the “Beginners Mind”, let us unlearn the prejudices and offer ourselves openly to listen to others, even offer love to those we dislike, without scowls or pretense. The child in us all brings us back to the Beginners Mind, when we did not judge, but loved.

And sat silently on the floor waiting for God to come and play with us. Forever.

The disciples need this reminder in today’s Gospel. To trust in God.

Michael Cunningham, OFS, is the Director and CEO of Mater Dolorosa Passionist Retreat Center in Sierra Madre, California.

Scripture:

Genesis 4:1-15, 25
Mark 8:11-13

Reflection:

Today, we pick up the story in Mark’s Gospel following Jesus’ feeding of the four thousand (8:1-9). These four verses connect to a bigger story of Jesus’ struggle with the Pharisees. Beginning in chapter five, Jesus performs one wonder after another culminating in the second feeding miracle, and the Pharisees demand a sign. A similar story appears in the book of Numbers (14:11), where God questions why the people continue to spurn him and refuse to believe in him despite all the signs performed on their behalf.  

The text tells us that Jesus sighs, “from the depth of his spirit (v.12a),” and my heart bleeds for him. Can you relate to this experience when nothing you do seems to satisfy in the way you had hoped? You pour everything you have, everything you are, and it is not enough. Among the many moments in Scripture where Jesus’ humanity is apparent, this ranks high on that scale. How lonely he must have felt, did he wonder if his message—the reason he came among us—would ever be understood and embraced? He is already experiencing his passion. Almost immediately, the wisdom of his divinity can be observed as he gets into the boat and goes to the other shore (v.13). He walks away. There will be no more signs for “this generation.” 

Unlike the Pharisees in this text, there were many who did believe in his signs. A Syrophoenician woman, a Greek, begged him to heal her daughter (7:24-30). She believed without question and displayed persistent faith. Yet, the Pharisees (and Scribes) show no honorable intention towards Jesus. They feel threatened by his power and presence, wishing to get rid of him. Soon we will discover that their jealousy knows no bounds.  

Our first reading from the book of Genesis foreshadows the effects of jealousy on humanity. This is the reason why Cain kills his brother Abel (1:8). Abel was honoring God with his virtuous sacrifices, and this displeased his brother. Here we see that even in sin God offers mercy, and he places a mark on Cain to protect him from harm (v. 15b). That same mercy is offered to us at every turn. 

Today’s message, I believe, is to persevere in love regardless of the outcomes and to know when it is necessary to walk away. In the letter to the Hebrews (4:15), we are reminded that Jesus suffered during his earthly life; therefore, he understands us completely. What a consoling thought. In those times when we do stray, we take solace in the mercy that awaits us when we turn back to God—every time.  

Jean Bowler is a retreatant at Mater Dolorosa Passionist Retreat Center in Sierra Madre, California, and a member of the Office of Mission Effectiveness Board of Holy Cross Province.

Scripture:

Genesis 3:1-8
Mark 7:31-37

Reflection:

When I was in grade school, it was a big deal to get one’s hands on a Playboy magazine. The gloss and glitz! The provocative photos and enticing article titles! Groups of us would gather round, hoping to taste the forbidden fruit of adult sexuality so our eyes would be opened to the wondrous carnal knowledge unjustly denied us by our parents. Yes, the cunning serpent was alive and well!

I wish I could say the serpent has since been banished from our world. Instead, its tactics have been widely adopted. Have you noticed how everything from restaurants to politicians and even church services vie for our attention? It’s all about the gloss and glitz, provocative or emotion-laden images, promises of truth, success, insider knowledge, and superiority, and preferably accompanied by a catchy tune or memorable phrase that sticks.

These tactics certainly do attract attention, generate donations and patronage, and gain followers. The problem is they often don’t lead us to God or to real truth. Jesus doesn’t entertain us, demand our attention, or present in attractive images. He never promised us an easy life free of pain and filled with material wealth or worldly success. Jesus works among the suffering wherever they are found, and he works quietly, out of the limelight, off to the side. He invites, waits, invites again, teaches, reaches out, offers healing, and brings what the world can never give.

This healing and unconditional love are offered freely, too, without cost. We don’t have to do anything to “earn” it. We only need to ask with sincere desire and get our own ego and desires out of the way. God can then penetrate our senses and well-honed defenses to open our eyes and ears from within, changing and molding us to the core of our beings. There’s nothing glitzy or glamorous about it. In fact, I find that taking concentrated time for God, asking and allowing God to change me, is one of the most challenging aspects of my life. Yet over time, as God works, it is profound and life-altering.

What attracts your attention? Where are you spending time, energy, and money in ways that do not lead you to God (and perhaps even lead you away)? What do you most wish for God to heal within you? Let’s focus on those things and let go of the serpent’s tempting pathways filled with empty promises that eventually lead nowhere. Let’s instead examine our activities and temptations, and more consciously open ourselves to the truth that will set us free.

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:

Genesis 2:18-25
Mark 7:24-30

Reflection:

More Than a Woman’s Intuition

We meet two women in our readings today. We know the first not by name yet, but more in the marrow in our bones. The Syro-Phoenician woman we know just enough to admire.

An unknown commentary on Genesis that says after God created woman, God said to her, “Let’s not awaken Adam yet. Let’s you and I go for a walk in the garden”. The reflection ends when the woman seeing her reflection in some water, asks God, “What is that”? God replies “it is a reflection that will disappear when you leave, so now is the time to wake Adam from his sleep. “You will see in his love for you who you truly are, and Adam will come to know who he is in your love for him”. Powerful to think about what our love can do for another, our part in the ongoing creation of one another.

The commentary does not tell us what God said to the woman. It is left then to our imagination. For sure it was part of the creation process, this moment when the woman is most in the image of God. No woman would ever be more God-like, God in the feminine, and is making her in this divine image. She is made, filled with this image of God!  All of her daughters will share that, at least bits and pieces, but perhaps none can share what she shared so fully at that moment of her creation.

In the territory of the gentiles, Jesus looks for privacy. His reputation preceded him. “Right away upon hearing about him”, (as one translation puts it), a desperate woman falls at Jesus’ feet requesting a cure. Her daughter has a demon. She begs. Some say she is a woman of means; her daughter has a bed! Where is her husband? He may be working and she just chances to be where Jesus is. Does her freedom to invade Jesus’ privacy comes from her privilege or her personality or what else? Faith is not mentioned, but love is clear. The more so if she is a woman used to getting her own way and unused to being told “no.” What a humiliation.

Jesus knew the book of Genesis pondering the loving act of God bringing us to be. Jesus, one with the Father, knows the fullness of love given to the woman at the moment of her creation. Could Jesus have seen this gift of love passed on by the woman to her daughters in the Syro-Phoenician woman making a beeline for his feet? He knew she was a woman of love. Jesus could see and feel her words before they came to her lips.

Did Jesus know many gentiles? Perhaps not? His culture kept them at a distance, there was prejudice and disdain. Did the Syro-Phoenician woman play a part in the ongoing creation of the heart of Jesus, helping him to know and love those who did not know the Father? Jesus who brought food to the children of Israel will soon break bread for the gentiles on a hillside near the lake. Wouldn’t it have been something if the woman was in the crowd? Maybe her husband and daughter accompanying her? Jesus knew what God at creation saw in the first woman, that divine image created to love. And Jesus saw that beautiful image hidden behind prejudice, human limitations, and heart hardness. She helped Jesus show all of us how we are to love.

She reminds us that while not given the opportunity of the first woman, no daughter of that woman lacks the gift of the privilege of her unique sharing of God in whose image she is created. None of us heard the conversation between God and the first woman. But I bet every woman has an insight into what was shared that no man can know.

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

Scripture:

Genesis 1:20-2:4a
Mark 7:1-13

Reflection:

And so it happened.
God looked at everything he had made, and he found it very good.
Evening came, and morning followed–the sixth day. -Genesis 1:31

“I think LeRoy is trying to tell Dan something,” said Sister Margaret. I pondered Sister’s idea and thought to myself: “Well, I’ve heard everything I wish to hear from LeRoy—I don’t want to hear any more.”

It was the early ‘70’s; the Viet Nam War was raging and for the first time in history, the battlefield erupted in our living rooms via the rather new technology of television. This evening, we were gathered in a circle at our local parish hall discussing our “thoughts” on all this. Our thoughts were clear. I was against the war and evidently LeRoy was for it—we’ll never agree. Then someone pipe up with their take to Sister’s idea above: “Yes, I think LeRoy is trying to tell Dan that he cares about Dan.” “What? are you kidding”, I thought to myself.

We were engaged with a new program called “Sensitivity Training” which challenged us to deal with our feelings. Looking back on that today, it all seems rather mundane. Why of course we must deal with and recognize how our feelings affect us. In the 70’s that was a rather new idea brought to us by the likes of the popular psychologists Carl Rogers (1902-1987) and a whole host of earlier philosophers.

After more discussion, LeRoy admitted that he was concerned about what would happen to Dan and his future if he continued to resist the draft (I was of draft age as well as number 36 in the Draft Lottery). All along, I thought we were discussing the ethical issues surrounding the war, and Sister picked up that LeRoy really was more concerned about me than this issue, at least at this moment in time. I didn’t know how to respond. Back, in the ‘70’s men didn’t show any affection or care for other men—it just wasn’t part of our culture or milieu. We were both Irishmen—big tough Irishmen—who although full of feelings aroused by this daily assault witnessed on “The News” didn’t show feelings, we just did what we thought we were expected to do.

LeRoy’s gone now, but I still remember that moment and share it, realizing so many of the “issues” I argue over are more a result of my feelings of concern, either for another person(s) or our dear Mother Earth. My problem is I just express what I think, and don’t take the time to feel or even, God forbid, express my feelings around what is happening in “my” (really our) world.

God, thank you for another day today. Help me see that all you give me, give us, is gift! I don’t deserve it, I am gifted with another day and as I read in today’s scripture selection from Genesis, it is all good.

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

Scripture:

Genesis 1: 1-19
Mark 6:53-56

Reflection:

Recent research on the neurological effects of trauma and its healing reveals something psychotherapists have struggled with for decades. The restoring of wholeness to victims of trauma…whether major traumas suffered by soldiers, slaves or battered family members, or multiple micro-traumas like repeated bullying, ostracizing, discrimination or other forms of devaluation…occurs in relationship with a caring person who connects emotionally with the victim. The affective experience of being understood, valued and loved can begin to heal the neurological and emotional damage done by the trauma.

Further, current research focuses on how the body carries the hurt of trauma, resulting in physical as well as emotional illnesses.

The God-given authentic self, seen in fully alive people, becomes buried when people are damaged by shocking events and people hurting other people.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus comes ashore in the land of Gennesaret, a territory of Gentiles. There he connects with the suffering, the outcasts, the physically and emotionally sick. He cuts across class lines, religious lines, geographic lines and cultural lines to heal his fellow brothers and sisters.

But these healings upset the social order of Jesus’ time. He is drawing crowds to himself, no doubt because he carries with him the profound love and emotional connection he has experienced with his Father. It is a deep, penetrating love. The kind of love one experiences when understood, respected, nurtured and listened to in the core of the soul.

By his out-of-the-norm acts he also delivered a strong message to the Jewish establishment of his time. The keepers of the Jewish norms are the trend setters for their community, the ones who control the lives of the Jews by their interpretation of the Law, the ones who see themselves as chosen by God to interpret God’s will for the people.

Jesus is not obliged to their power games or their hypocrisy. He IS obligated to the will of his Father, which is to destroy the boundaries between people and heal the brokenness of everyone, including Jews and Gentiles.

He invites us to follow him in being radical in our love for everyone in our circle and outside our circle…the filthy rich, dirt poor, straight and non-straight, men, women, gender discerning, powerful, homeless, doubters, seekers, flexible, inflexible, self-assured, timid, angry, kind, bullies and saints. And especially those who suffer the deep internal bruises and bleedings caused by trauma of any kind.

He calls us to imitate him by paying close attention to one another. When someone wants to talk, whether a family member, co-worker, clerk, friend, enemy, outcast or ally, we put down our phones, turn from our computers and TVs, stop our rush to finish our task and look the other in the eyes, quiet ourselves and listen to what is being said. This seems to be a lost art in our noisy, distracting world of technology, but it is absolutely essential if we are to support the healing of one another from whatever hurt each of us carries.

Jesus assures us we will do greater things than he did, by God’s grace. We are healers too. It is up to us to choose to go out into the world and imitate the Great Healer.

Are you ready?

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