Claire Smith

Scripture:

Acts 13:14, 43-52
Revelation 7:0, 14b-17
John 10: 27-30

Reflection:

The Good Shepherd

There is nothing like the sound of a friend’s voice, of someone we know and trust. A familiar voice assures us of a familiar presence, someone who is within reach and who can share in our joy or console us in our sorrow. Writing about the mystery of our Lord’s descent into hell and his victory over death, Pope Benedict once drew a comparison to the common experience of being afraid of the dark: “If a child had to venture out alone through the woods on a dark night, he would be afraid even if he were to be shown a hundred times that there was nothing to fear. He is not afraid of anything specific, to which he could put a name, but in the dark, he feels insecure, an orphan, he feels the sinister character of inner existence. Only a human voice could console him; only the hand of a person he loves could banish the anguish, like a bad dream.”

How appropriate that we hear this Gospel passage on Mother’s Day. Jesus compares himself to a shepherd, guiding and protecting us. He promises the sheep of his flock that he will forever hold them securely in his hand. How fortunate we are who have had mothers who have guided us, protected us, loved us, and held us, who have treated us with the tender loving care of the Good Shepherd. Christ’s own passage through death frees us from the fear that we will be abandoned in death.

In this Easter season we rejoice in the certainty that Christ’s voice reaches the dead, calling them to life. “The hour is coming and is now here when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live” (Jn 5:25, cf. 5:28). On this Good Shepherd Sunday, we take heart and are encouraged by our Lord’s words. When we feel lonely or far from God, we can turn to him in confidence, for he will never abandon us. Lord Jesus, you have risen from the dead and conquered sin. Give us the grace to remain always united to you, in life and in death. My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow.

Deacon Peter Smith serves at St. Mary’s/Holy Family Parish in Alabama, a religion teacher at Holy Family Cristo Rey Catholic High School in Birmingham, and a member of our Passionist Family.

Scripture:

Acts 9:31-42
John 6:60-69

Reflection:

Jesus then said to the Twelve, “Do you also want to leave?”
Simon Peter answered him, “Master, to whom shall we go?
You have the words of eternal life.
We have come to believe
and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God.” (John 6:67-68)

Daily, I like to walk 10,000 + steps and on Sundays, I hop on a bus down to Michigan Avenue and there walk up and down the street as well as in and out of the stores. I usually am able to avoid any salespeople and keep up a good pace. This past Sunday, Samuel, standing outside his store in the mall, hooked me in by holding out what looked to be a brown straw and offering it to me. As soon as I took the bait, Samuel, took out another one, bit off one end, and drank the contents, at the same time suggesting I do that as well. So began an interesting fifteen or twenty minutes of listening to Samuel’s spiel and just narrowly escaping with my wallet in tack.

My world, as I suspect yours is as well, is inundated daily by emails, texts, and phone calls, telling me what I should do, who I should support in the coming elections, who I should condemn and where I should spend my money. This Information Age can and often does challenge my patience and leave me wondering, who is right.

Jesus, I respond with Simon Peter today and ask: “Master, to whom should I go…” I feel like Samuel (not the salesman I mention above who has all the answers, but the one in scripture, who keeps hearing your call). Help me hear your word today, Jesus, and to follow you.

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

Scripture:

Acts, 9:1-20
John 6:52-59

Reflection:

We don’t call it idolatry, but it can be.

In our minds, often in the deep recesses, we each carry concepts of what we long for our lives. These are our plans, our hopes, our ideals, everything that gives us direction and meaning. They shape our daily commitments, our lives’ work and worth.

They include school and career plans, designs for a life partner and a family, hopes for financial security and possessions to ease life’s pains and chaos, respect of our families, friends and communities, enough power over life’s variables to call our own shots and keep threats at bay.

These concepts are endorsed by our cultures, our societies, blessing our efforts with acceptance and applause for achieving certain goals.

Then, out of nowhere, the unexpected happens. A spouse is unfaithful, a child overdoses, the diagnosis is cancer, the rejection letter comes from the ideal university, a toddler is diagnosed with autism, the company sends a pink slip, the mentor dies of a heart attack, a loved one is murdered or permanently disabled by a drunk driver.

The trauma, unplanned and disruptive, derails any loyalty contract we have with our dreams, our ideal life, our carefully mapped out path to happiness. Our idol is knocked off its pedestal.

Such disruption, such discontinuity, can lead some to retreat, to seek comfort in what will never give comfort…drugs, alcohol, gambling, addiction to sex, dominating others, craving more status or possessions, all to fill the hole left by the disappointment, the “failure” experienced when life as we plan it is shattered.

In today’s reading from Acts we learn of a focused, goal-oriented man whose life’s work was assured to be the work of God. He won praise and status among his peers for stamping out this new group of followers of Jesus.

Then, out of the blue, he was literally knocked off his high horse.

Dazed and confused, he retreated to sort out the meaning of the trauma.

In time, by the slow workings of the Spirit, this fanatic of Jewish righteousness grew in his awareness of his new identity to become the man God wanted his to become.

He surrendered, giving his entire self to a whole new set of loyalties. The rest is history…Christianity crossed the barrier of being a Jewish sect to extend its reach to all Gentiles, to become radically all inclusive.

The extraordinary experience of Paul of Tarsus was not unique to him. Sooner or later each of us will experience our own tumbles from our high horses. These moments are Providential. Rather than retreat into depression or a superficial distraction, they are occasions to awaken to a deeper, richer relationship with Christ. We learn, as Paul learned, that God’s love and grace is all we need when we surrender to the new reality God gives us.

And, as John explains in today’s Gospel, our fullness of life is found in our connection to the Body and Blood of Christ. This nourishment gives us life when all is bleak, dark and deadening.

The setback, the giving up what we made too important, our idol, becomes a gift to strengthen our dependence on God, to help us see the path God intends for us, to provide what we need to live solely to do God’s will, God’s plan and God’s goals for us. This transformation is painful. It really hurts. And it demands total self-giving, total humility.

We learn the meaning of our new reality when we pray in silence, which is the language of God.

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

Scripture:

Acts 8:26-40
John 6:44-51

Reflection:

Philip ran up and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and said, “Do you understand what you are reading?”  –Acts 8:30

Jesus said to the crowds: “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draw him, and I will raise him on the last day. It is written in the prophets: They shall all be taught by God. 
Everyone who listens to my Father and learns from him comes to me.  -John 6:44-45

The readings from today have a great deal to teach us about belonging. Who’s in and who’s out. In the first reading Philip is impelled by the spirit to travel down the road. Little did he know he was being sent on a mission. Have you ever just gotten the urge to get up and go somewhere? And then once you got there found something tremendous and wonderful? Once, when my wife and I were visiting in Italy we pulled over for lunch. We were on our way to somewhere else and wanted to quickly get back on the road, but, while we were eating, we looked up on the hill next to us. There seem to be a monastery or church of some kind. We decided to investigate before traveling further. It turned out to be a Passionist monastery! We tried the front doors, but they were locked tight. As we turned to leave and continue our journey we heard a voice from high above us, “Che cosa sta cercando?” (What are you looking for?) We told him in the best Italian we could muster that we were tourists, just looking to see if the church was open. “Un momento!” he called. This led to a most joyful evening of being given a private tour of the church, gently lit by glass chandeliers and star light. What a delightful treat we would’ve missed if we had not listened to the inner prompting to set aside our plans and go where we were led.

And the gospel Jesus tells us that no one can come to him unless the father draws them. It’s interesting that if you go back to the Greek this includes not only people but everything. In addition, the word, “draw,” can also be translated as being led or impelled. So another translation could be “everything is impelled by God to be joined with Jesus.” Some days it seems the best I can do is get out of my own way and let God direct me. Actually, if truth be told, that would be best every day.

In addition to being an independent teacher (now online!), Talib Huff is on the retreat team at Christ the King Retreat Center In Citrus Heights. You can contact him at [email protected].

Scripture:

Acts 8:1-18
John 6:35-40

Reflection:

Glory from Suffering, Joy from Sorrow, Life from Death

Today’s first reading from the Acts of the Apostles recounts the tragic persecution of the early Church, the death and burial of St. Stephen — along with the imprisonment of many men and women at the bidding of Saul of Tarsus who was trying to destroy the early Church.  A tragic picture of life then…and a mirror image of life in part of our world today.  Tragic – and yet, some believers continued to go about preaching the word; thus in the name of Jesus, healing of spirit and body took place for those in need; and “…there was great joy in that city.” 

At the very heart of it all:  the person of Jesus who in John 6:35-40 proclaims “…I am the Bead of life…I came down from heaven…to do the will of the One who sent me…everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have eternal life, and I shall raise him on the last day.”  Jesus freely and lovingly gives Himself … glory from suffering, joy from sorrow, life from death.  The Result?  Eternal life for Stephen and the early Church, Life for our ancestors in the faith, Life for you and I and our needy 21^st Century global community.

In these troubling times of war and fear, of division and mistrust, of poverty and greed, we need the nourishment that is only provided by the Person of Jesus.  Human life is too often beset with significant challenges and suffering.  As people of faith, we are invited to embrace God’s love for us in the person of Jesus, risen and active on our behalf in the Scriptures and the Sacraments, in the good example of others of times past and present, and in God’s Life shared in the natural world. 

Jesus, risen from the dead, is our Life and our Joy!  We are an Easter People!  “Alleluia!” is our joyful song…even if at times sung a bit off-key.  Let’s share this Good News of God’s glory, joy, and life with our world.

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.  

Feast of Saints Philip and James, Apostles

Scripture:

1 Corinthians 15:1-8
John 14:6-14

Reflection:

By the time of the gospel of John is written, Christians had lived in the light of the Resurrection for a number of generations. Their collective faith and experience of living with the risen Christ directing their mission through the Spirit’s abiding presence, had matured and they were able to offer to succeeding generations, and to us today, clear witness and articulation of their experience of Jesus now risen as the Christ. They had truly imitated what Paul writes about in the first reading “For I handed on to you as of first importance what I also received”

In their wisdom these early Christians share their experience with us and present what they have learned from Jesus. One way they do this is to highlight the many dialogues and monologues that we hear in the gospel of John.

Today is no exception – Jesus is presented in dialogue with Philip, and he makes it quite clear that there is an incontestable bond between he and the Father, “believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me.” What is more, Jesus is speaking for the Father – he is God’s Word to us “the words that I speak to you I do not speak on my own”. And Jesus in his actions is revealing not just kindness and compassion, but the very nature of God “the Father who dwells in me is doing his works”.

What is more Jesus promises that the fruits of this intimate relationship with the Father will also be shared with us, and that we can turn to him at any time in our lives to seek assistance and help which will be given. What a gift.

We are privileged – we have received the gospel, the ‘good news’. But as Paul also reminds us – we also ‘stand’ in this gospel. Can we take both statements to heart? In this Easter Season let us rejoice that we have been gifted with the knowledge of, and insights into the good news of Jesus Christ, but let us also acknowledge that we live our lives in the midst of such good news. We stand with Jesus, or rather he will always stand with us.

This is the foundation for our living and acting in the world – we base our lives on his values, attitudes and we model our lives on his outreach, his forgiveness and his compassion. This is our pathway to discipleship no less than it was for Philip and James whose Feast we celebrate today.

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

Memorial of Saint Athanasius, Bishop, and Doctor of the Church

Scripture:

Acts 6:8-15
John 6:22-29

Reflection:

St. Stephen, the first Christian martyr was killed because of his teachings. He angered members of various synagogues, who then accused him of blasphemy at his trial. In today’s first reading from Acts, we hear that the people with whom Stephen was in dialog “could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he spoke.”

Fast forward three centuries and we find St. Athanasius similarly gifted with wisdom and the Spirit, and also in trouble for his teachings. Although never martyred, he was sent into exile five times; he was also kidnapped. He endured many false accusations and even an assassination attempt.

Athanasius lived in Alexandria, Egypt. He became secretary to the bishop of Alexandria, was ordained, and then named bishop. At this time, many “Christians” came to think that Jesus was just a good man, but certainly not the “Son of God.” One of these people was Arius, and his followers were called Arians. Athanasius was the champion of the struggle against Arianism. By 325, the controversy was dividing the Church and unsettling the Roman Empire. In that year, Athanasius attended the First Ecumenical Council, held at Nicea to examine and judge Arius’ doctrine in light of apostolic tradition. It reaffirmed the Church’s perennial teaching on Christ’s full deity and established the Nicene Creed as a statement of faith. The remainder of Athanasius’ life was a constant struggle to uphold the council’s teaching about Christ.

St. Athanasius was not successful in stopping Arianism during his lifetime. He was also not able to function as a bishop during his many years in exile. Even though he experienced much frustration and maybe even a sense of failure, he never gave up on dialog with threatening Roman emperors, opposing bishops and other members of the church and society. Because of his perseverance, he became a pillar of the Church, and was later declared a Doctor of the Church. During one ten-year period of relative peace, he wrote his Life of St. Anthony which led men and women to set up monasteries for prayer, study, and hospitality throughout the Christian world. And the “Cappadocian Fathers,” Basil, Gregory of Nyssa, and Gregory Nazianzen were all inspired by Athanasius to defend the true faith in Jesus – truly Son of God, and truly One of us.

Today we ask St. Athanasius for his intercession in helping us as individuals and as a Church to stand up and persevere for what we know is foundationally true. When we face varying degrees of non-support, be it disinterest, resistance, or even persecution, St. Athanasius pray for us!

Patty Gillis is a retired Pastoral Minister. She served on the Board of Directors at St. Paul of the Cross Passionist Retreat and Conference Center in Detroit. She is currently a member of the Laudato Sí Vision Fulfillment Team and the Passionist Solidarity Network.

Scripture:

Acts 5:27-32, 40-41
Revelation 5:11-14
John 21:1-19

Reflection:

BREAKFAST ON THE SHORE

One of the true gifts I have been given in my life has been the frequent opportunity (as part of my job at Catholic Theological Union) to guide groups visiting the Holyland.  Whenever I stand on the northwest shore of the Sea of Galilee, the exquisite scene we hear from today’s Gospel reading comes to mind without fail.

Chapter 21 of John’s Gospel comes as unexpected.  The final resurrection appearance of Jesus in Jerusalem to “doubting Thomas” we heard last Sunday seems to be the finale, and John ends with a closing statement: “But these [things] are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through this belief you may have life n his name.” 

But suddenly the screen lights up again and we find ourselves with the apostles by the Sea of Galilee.  Seeming dispirited, Peter decides to go fishing and other disciples (including the Beloved Disciple) join him.  They fish all night but catch nothing.  With the light of dawn, they see someone standing on the shore who asks them, “Lads, have you caught anything to eat?”  ‘No,” they answer. 

And this strange yet familiar presence tells them to let down their net on the right side of the boat. They do so and now everything changes: they catch a net-breaking load of fish (153 large ones…), and suddenly the Beloved Disciple knows who that mysterious figure is. “It is the Lord.” Peter, ever impulsive, puts on his tunic and swims ashore, leaving his companions to haul in the loaded net.

Now the drama of the story intensifies even more.  Jesus, the Risen Christ and the Lord of the Universe, is cooking a meal for his disciples over a charcoal fire! “Come, have breakfast,” he says. He serves them baked bread and grilled fish, fresh from their catch.  No scene in all the New Testament is like this. As had the disciples on the way to Emmaus in Luke’s account, these disciples also recognize Jesus “in the breaking of the bread,” but they are too astounded to say a word.

Finally, Jesus himself breaks the silence and looks to Simon Peter, the disciple who had denied three times that he even knew Jesus while his beloved Master stood trial.  Now there will be a threefold healing of Simon’s failure: “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?  Feed my lambs…feed my sheep.” Stricken, Peter finally exclaims, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.”  A breech of love healed by love.

So much of the Easter message is transmitted in the Gospels by indirection: an empty tomb; burial cloths neatly folded; the abject grief of Mary Magdalene turned into ecstasy; wounds earned by love on display; Thomas’ skepticism turned into ardent faith; disciples huddled in fear given the gift of peace and suffused with God’s own Spirit.

And here by the familiar shore of the Sea of Galilee, fishermen who caught nothing all night pull in nets breaking with an abundant catch when they are responsive to Jesus’ words.  And just as Jesus had dined with them in the home of Mary and Martha, in the fields with the crowds, at a final poignant Passover on the eve of his death—so, now, the Master cooks them a breakfast of bread and fish and serves them. 

And at this wondrous meal, another Easter transformation takes place.  Peter, broken still by remorse at his own failure, is healed by a threefold confession of love.  Healed and reinstated as the shepherd of Jesus’ flock, “feed my lambs, feed my sheep.”

Within each of us there are chronic responses and failures that we wonder if they can ever be changed or healed.  We look around our world today and see the fierce violence, the needless suffering of the innocent, the lack of justice and equity—and we wonder if we can ever make headway as a people and a church. 

The Easter message of the Gospel keeps insisting: life is stronger than death; love is more tenacious than hatred.  We are invited to let our nets down once more for a catch.

Fr. Donald Senior, C.P. is President Emeritus and Professor of New Testament at Catholic Theological Union.  He lives at the Passionist residence in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago.

[This column is adapted with permission from Fr. Senior’s weekly column “Perspectives on Scripture” which appears in The Chicago Catholic.]