Claire Smith

Scripture:

2 Corinthians 9:6-10
John 12:24-26

Reflection:

When I was a teen, it was akin to a mortal sin for a Catholic to attend a Protestant worship service, much less marry a person of another faith. That is no longer true. Instead, when we died to our superior and exclusivist attitudes toward Protestants, we discovered that God had been sowing and reaping in them all along and they had much to teach us.

Similarly, I was in 5^th grade when a Spanish-speaking Cuban family moved into the 100% white Catholic town where I grew up. Fascinated by their language and culture, I befriended the funny, smart girl in my class. But the family moved away after enduring 5 months of getting their car egged, reading threatening notes on their door, having people refuse to offer them the Sign of Peace at Mass, and being ignored by store clerks.  All of this was done, of course, by the town’s good, upright Catholics clinging to their lives of exclusivity and superiority rather than following Jesus by welcoming the stranger, dying to their own power, and realizing that the family could enrich the town. Jesus was willing to sit at table with everyone who came.  Are we?

As more people of other cultures find a home within our country, do we complain that they are ruining our “American way of life” or do we look for all the ways they contribute to our society as it continues to be shaped, sown, grown, and brought to harvest? How can we become “cheerful givers” who lend generously to the poor and marginalized, who nurture seedlings in every race and culture so they can realize their potential, and who bring new life to every person we encounter?

These are tough questions. It’s always hard to die to self. When a person literally dies, they learn to let go of so many things that defined life for them. As all is stripped away, they are left with only those things that are truly important, and the experience transforms them if they let it. Even as they die, they are born again in new ways. 

Jesus calls us to do that before we physically die. He wants us to do the demanding work of stripping away everything except that which is truly important.  He wants to crack the hard seed coat that separates us from the “other” so we can look at persons of every race, religion, and culture and see ourselves in them. He wants us to reach out in welcoming, open-armed, generous, overflowing love. He wants us to sow and reap in abundance, celebrate and learn from our “otherness”, reject notions of scarcity that keep us from sharing for fear there won’t be enough for ourselves, and teach lessons in word and deed that ensure unity (not uniformity), respect, and shared life.  If we can do that, and only if we do that, the kingdom of God will flourish on this earth and righteousness will endure forever.

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:

Ezekiel 2:8-3:4
Matthew 18:1-5, 10, 12-14

Reflection:

Little Ones Should Not Be Lost

Last week was Pope Francis’ pilgrimage of sorrow and apology among the indigenous peoples of Canada. Each of us are healed and share in the healing of one another during life’s pilgrimage. It is part of our conversation when we dine at the table of the Eucharist: Lord, have mercy; Our Father forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us; Lamb of God, have mercy; Lord, I am not worthy. We can add the penitential seasons, the beautiful Eucharistic Prayers and Prefaces of Reconciliation, and Scripture readings.

Our Gospel tells us to become like little children and never harm one of the little ones. Pope Francis asking forgiveness on behalf of the church focused on the Residential Schools, where children were taken from their families and forced to live in boarding schools in order to ‘take the Indian out of the children’. The children were taught a new language and deprived of their culture. Now we know that destroyed families as well as a way of life with its culture and spirituality and was an insult to the wisdom of the elders, the grandparents, the keepers and sharers of the treasures of culture. Lives were disrupted, a culture damaged, and a bad harvest was sown in the plowed proud bodies of a people who bear those scars. On the plane returning home the Pope used the word ‘genocide’. Good he did not use that word during his visit. At a burial we need not remind one another that our loved one is dead. Francis was pulling weeds, attending to living wheat so it can grow to produce an abundant crop.

Why is this gospel so linked to the Pope’s visit? Could it be the gift giving?  Francis always, with a timid smile, offered little red boxes which I think held rosaries to all who approached to offer him their ‘special’ gifts. There is something so humble in giving and receiving a gift. There is a language of childhood in gift-giving. We want to make someone happy. The gospel is reflected too in the beautiful, humble church of the Sacred Heart of the First Peoples in Edmonton with the large poles of a teepee, framed the image of the crucifix. God has pitched his tent among us, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us” were words above the altar. The Incarnation that began in Mary’s womb and was a baby in Bethlehem. Also, the rituals that were presented and shared with delight and dignity, call forth our gentle reverence to children. Even if they were beyond our understanding, we could appreciate the child within, caught up in sharing something sacred, ritual makers sharing with us invisible things that they can see.

But finally, our gospel speaks of the Good Shepherd who goes off searching for a sheep separated from the flock. The Pope took us with him to people far away, but not too far; different, but not too different. People who suffer and have suffered, but whose lives in this present moment offer something enlivening to us. Francis says, go and find the sheep, be among them. Many of us have had our stuffed lambs when we were children, older we might still count sheep on occasion. What speaks of the child in the visit of Pope Francis, the Shepherd, may be his hope and trust that as children have a remarkable ability to forgive, the ‘child’ so damaged in times past but still living among these good people can forgive. May new seeds, reconciliation seeds, grow now along with the wheat freed from many weeds, to be a rich, beautiful, nourishing harvest.

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

Scripture:

Wisdom 18:6-9
Hebrews 11:1-2, 8-19 or 11:1-2, 8-12
Luke 12:32-48 or 12:35-40

Reflection:

…for he was looking forward to the city with foundations,
whose architect and maker is God. -Hebrews 11:10

I always wanted to be an architect. The closest I came to realize that dream was the first college course I ever took, an Interior Design course at the Art Institute of Chicago. In that course, we learned all about the placement and construction of good and lasting furniture. Looking back that sounds a bit esoteric in my world today, where I’m taught that if I’m not happy with my physical world, all I have to do is throw out my present belongings and replace them with whatever is the latest fad of the day. 

Looking further into my world, I see a dichotomy, I suppose not too different from Abraham’s world that Paul talks about in our second scripture selection for today. Much of my world has all the marvels of great minds using the tremendous gifts from the earth, buildings that reach to the sky, and so on and so forth. In this same world however, I daily witness homeless people, people suffering from addiction, from mental and physical illnesses who don’t seem to be healed or taken care of, despite the fact that we throw more resources at these problems and have some of the most modern technology our world has ever known. What’s wrong? I wonder if we could use some new architects, some who might believe in what Luke writes about in today’s gospel selection:

Sell your belongings and give alms. Provide money bags for yourselves that do not wear out, an inexhaustible treasure in heaven that no thief can reach nor moth destroy. For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be.  -Luke 12:33-34

God, you are a demanding god if I am to take Luke seriously. You don’t want half measures. You want my full commitment to your creation—not my creation—you are the architect. God, help me follow your son, Jesus, trusting that with you in charge, the world will blossom and reflect your loving, peaceful and joyful life for all your creatures.

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

The Feast of the Transfiguration

Scripture:

Daniel 7:9-10, 13-14
2 Peter 1:16-19
Luke 9:28b-36

Reflection:

At exactly 8:15 in the morning, Japanese time, on August 6, 1945, everything changed forever.

At that moment the bombardier on American B-29 plane unloaded a weapon more destructive than any in the previous 200,000 years of human existence.

With the unleashing of the first A-bomb, more than 100,000 Japanese lives were instantly obliterated.

But more than the tragic deaths, the event at Hiroshima altered forever how we humans understand what we can do to each other and to our fragile planet. We, the only rational beings on this orb floating in lonely space, now know we forever hold the ability to destroy all life…microorganisms, sea creatures, trees, butterflies, domestic and wild animals and every man, woman and child.

Never before had people known the immense power they hold to produce evil.

Now, despite 77 years to reflect on our potency and curb it, we have still failed to stop the proliferation of nuclear weapons. Six popes have pleaded for nuclear disarmament, yet it remains an idealistic fantasy in the minds of political leaders. The strongest calls for laying down these weapons have come from Pope Francis, who asks all nations to abandon the insanity of deterrence by nuclear buildup.

What our Catholic leaders have preached is more than the destruction of these idols of death. The more radical message they offer is that, as much evil unleashed in a nuclear weapon, there is an even greater capacity of humans for good.

The Providential communiqué on this feast could not be clearer: the evil of Hiroshima is the extreme opposite of the event the universal Church celebrates on August 6 every year. At the Transfiguration, God the Father let the lead apostles glimpse the authority, power and transformation in the life of Jesus. But the peek at the glory of Jesus was but a foretaste of what His disciples themselves would be.  We, Jesus’ followers, are capable of doing good deeds beyond what even Jesus Himself did. We are charged with transforming our world from fear, hatred, divisions, destruction of one another and the earth into a world as God wants: peaceful, flourishing, fully alive in love.

Our work is serious and may cause suffering, setbacks, disappointment and even death. But, in doing our part in our spot on the earth we are assured of being united with the efforts of billions of good people around the globe, filled with grace, moving toward a unity with each other and God for good.

What is your job today in this universal effort?

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

Scripture:

Nahum 2:1, 3; 3:1-3, 6-7
Matthew 16:24-28

Reflection:

What does it mean to take up one’s cross?   Does it mean carrying something through life which feels like it has been forced upon you?  Does it mean that all of us have hardships and we shouldn’t complain about them?  And if we don’t feel like we have a heavy cross in life, does it mean that we should seek one out?  While we may be very familiar with this Gospel text from Matthew, reading it a little deeper reveals the invitation to embrace the paradox of losing our life in order to find it.  Moreover, trying to find our place in a world that has over 7 ¾ billion people can seem like a daunting task.  Yet this is a rite of passage all of us struggle with.   

As Passionists, taking our inspiration from the life and preaching of St. Paul of the Cross, we strive to prayerfully keep the cross before us.  The result is a deep familiarity with the Gospels and the ability to see the many facets of the passion narratives portrayed in the dynamics and activities of the circles of our lives. When we do this then we are capable of taking the next step, which includes helping people connect with the redemptive power of the cross rather than a burdensome cross.  This step frequently means a dying and rising as we live out the Paschal Mystery. It is a tangible way we live out this teaching given to us in today’s Gospel.

As the COVID pandemic has affected everyone, I’ve been keenly aware of the struggle of younger people trying to find their place in the world.  Some have completed college and are searching for their first career.   Others have worked for several years and are disillusioned by the path their life is taking and are searching for something with more meaning and purpose.  It may take decades for a person to find that place where they feel they truly discovered their real purpose in life.  In church language it is growing in a deeper understanding of the vocation to which we have been called.  For our vocation is a gift which we are invited to cultivate, live and embrace.  Our specific vocations are unique to each of us.  And when we find them, a sense of understanding and peace may come over us as we realize this is the reason I am here;  this is my purpose for being in the world. 

We will never find this if we haven’t first denied our own self interests attempting to live from a place other than our own self-centeredness.  Then we can ask ourselves some deeper questions of faith. Does the Cross of Christ have a power in my life to humble my attitude, allowing me to prayerfully embrace the greater paradoxes of faith?

Fr. David Colhour, C.P. is the local superior of St. Vincent Strambi Community in Chicago, Illinois.

Scripture:

Jeremiah 31:31-34
Matthew 16:13-23

Reflection:

People of Faith, Building the Church

“Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”  Jesus’ question to his disciples in Caesarea Philippi continues to challenge us in our 21^st Century world.  His follow-up question is even more direct: “…who do you say that I am?”  Hopefully we can join St. Peter in faithfully responding “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

Jesus used this exchange with his disciples to help as a “rock-foundation” for Church, his Body on our earth.  “Building up the Church” would include Jesus’ rejection, suffering and death…and even his disciples’ lack of support in Jesus’ toughest hours.  Peter spoke from his heart when he cried out “God forbid, Lord…no such thing shall ever happen to you!”  Yet Jesus would lovingly embrace his suffering and death on the cross, then rise from the dead.  Later the outpouring of the Holy Spirit would give dynamic life to that small group of followers –motivating many people, helping us today be the Church.

Today we celebrate the life of a faithful 19^th Century “builder” of the Church, St. John Vianney.  A simple man of humble background, he zealously spread God’s love and helped build up the Church as a pastor.  He is especially known for his generous ministry of the Sacrament of Reconciliation at his parish in Ars, France — regularly spending long hours celebrating the Sacrament with thousands of penitents from near and far.  His ministry flowed from an intense spiritual life based on prayer and penance.  As a priest/pastor Saint John Vianney so witnessed the merciful love of the Jesus that in 2009 Pope Benedict XVI named him patron of priests.

Jesus and St. John Vianney challenge us as we help build up the Church in our day:  Do we…have a zealous faith…forgive those who hurt us…really listen to one another…generously serve our needy sisters and brothers…benefit by personally sharing in the Sacrament of Reconciliation?  Much food for thought…

As today we honor the “patron of priests”, let’s pray for priests — active, retired, deceased — and prayerfully encourage those discerning a priestly or religious vocation:  that they may have deep faith and zealous, Christ-like love to help build up the Church.  Together with Sts. Peter, John Vianney, and our Passionist Holy Founder St. Paul of the Cross, may we lovingly proclaim Jesus as the Son of the living God, our Lord and Savior!

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:

Jeremiah 31:1-7
Matthew 15:21-28

Reflection:

One of the constants in the life and mission of Jesus was that of ‘crossing over’ – that is, going out to another place, reaching out to another person, or adopting a different point of view. We often see Jesus ‘crossing over’ not only geographically, but socially and theologically too. Here again in today’s readings, we see Jesus giving us yet another example of this dynamic feature of his ministry. We see him going over to the ‘other side’ and embracing a woman who is a Canaanite, a stranger or representative of ‘the others’ – and yet we see Jesus shift in his perspective and opinion to embrace the need of the woman (for a cure for her daughter).

This image might immediately call for our attention and offer us both an entry point for some personal review, and a possible future application for our own ministry as we too seek to accompany the Lord.

How are we also called to ‘cross over’ to the other side – to adopt new perspectives to open our thoughts and responses to embrace new perspectives and to be with those whom we may not first see as needing our care?

Further, what is also emphasised today is the reality that without the guidance of Jesus we too can be tempted to ‘send’ problems away rather than seeking the truth of a situation.

Jesus is our security, our centre, our support; and without his presence in our lives and work we will not succeed.

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