Claire Smith

Scripture:

James 1:12-18
Mark 8:14-21

Reflection:

Why do you conclude that it is because you have not bread?  Do you not yet understand or comprehend?

 Oh, when my kids were teenagers – how many times did I hear… we have nothing to eat in this house….all we have is bread….we still don’t have anything to eat… I’d go to the kitchen, open the cupboards and the fridge and lo and behold both were full!  My repeated answer  – no, we are not McDonalds drive-thru – there may be no ‘fast food’ but we have plenty of food in the house – every ingredient you can imagine, everything needed to prepare something that tastes wonderful and is healthy to boot!  What would you like?

Those teenage disciples, at it again, oh, we forgot our bread, now we are going to starve…I can only imagine Jesus (opening the cupboards and fridge) come on really! You were just with me when we fed five thousand on five loaves and when I broke seven loaves for four thousand – what are you whining about?  Don’t you get it?

Are you still looking for signs, for fast food?  Are you not willing to open your eyes, your hearts and imagine for a minute what my kingdom is all about?  (imagine what all these ingredients could make) – a nourishing meal, an engaging encounter, a depth of relationship.

What ingredients are we given to create a meal?  How are we being asked to utilize our gifts to build the kingdom?  How are we being invited to deepen our understanding and awareness of God in our little corner of the world?

Faith Offman is the Associate Director of Ministry at St. Paul of the Cross Passionist Retreat and Conference Center in Detroit, Michigan.

Scripture:

James 1:1-11
Mark 8:11-13

Reflection:

No human being is a stranger to suffering because suffering comes to all of us. The question, then, is not whether we will suffer, but how will we respond to it? This is one way to understand the otherwise baffling (and seemingly problematic) claim that James makes in today’s first reading. The apostle tells us to “count it pure joy” whenever we are faced with trials and troubles, setbacks and adversity. Is this good pastoral advice? Is it even rational?

Christianity does not claim that suffering is good, but it does teach that we can make our suffering productive of good. Christianity does not encourage us to seek suffering, but it does affirm that we can grow through our suffering. Suffering is productive of good when we seize it as an opportunity to reassess our values and priorities, our goals and ambitions. In this respect, suffering can re-center us by reminding us of what is most important in life. Similarly, we grow through our suffering when we use a fundamentally negative experience to lead to positive results. This happens when suffering makes us more attuned to the struggles and hardships of others; when it makes us less judgmental and more compassionate.

James tells us to rejoice in our sufferings—in the tears and sorrows that come our way—not because there is anything intrinsically good about those experiences, but because through them our faith can be cleansed and deepened. Perhaps the most important lesson we can learn from suffering about the nature of genuine faith is that faith is the steadfast and resilient conviction that no matter what might be happening in our lives, God is faithful and trustworthy. Moreover, suffering shatters the fatal illusion that we can make it through life on our own, by reminding us of something that we find so hard to accept: our absolute and enduring dependence on God. As the apostle James’ prediction about the rich man assures us, none of us can make ourselves safe or secure. Despite what our society preaches, we should not place our faith in money or possessions, in power or status, but in God. If suffering has taught us that, we can count ourselves blessed.

Paul J. Wadell is Professor Emeritus of Theology & Religious Studies at St. Norbert College in De Pere, Wisconsin, and a member of the extended Passionist family.

Scripture:

Jeremiah 17:5-8
1 Corinthians 15:12, 16-20
Luke 6:17, 20-26

 Reflection

How do we find life? How do we keep from dying inside? And can we really be people of hope? These are questions that unfold deep inside us, questions we wrestle with throughout our lives, and questions that sometimes wake us up in the middle of the night. Each of our readings today provides us with an answer.

The first reading from the prophet Jeremiah presents us with a decision upon which pivots the outcome of our lives. If we cut ourselves off from God, choosing instead to trust in ourselves, other people, or the fleeting things of the world, we will be “like a barren bush in the desert” that “stands in a lava waste, a salt and empty earth.” It is an image of absolute desolation and sterility, reminding us that to turn away from God is to cut ourselves off from the only true source of life. By contrast, if we trust in God and strive to follow the ways of God, no matter what happens to us we will be like a tree that bears fruit when everything else around it is withering away.

In today’s second reading, Paul goes straight to the heart of our Christian faith: the resurrection of Jesus testifies that in God we find a love that will never abandon us, a love that truly is stronger than death. Death is real, and so are evil, suffering, and loss, but nothing can prevail over God’s love. This is why we can always live in hope and why despair, however tempting, never makes sense.

Finally, today’s gospel may take us by surprise because Jesus tells us that we most find life, most keep from dying inside, and most fully are people of hope, when we commit our lives to building the kingdom of God. We do that when we seek justice for the poor, when we feed the hungry, when we comfort those who are weeping, and when we stay faithful to Christ even when the cost of doing so is high. In other words, we are most fully alive and hopeful when we live for something other than ourselves.

Paul J. Wadell is Professor Emeritus of Theology & Religious Studies at St. Norbert College in De Pere, Wisconsin, and a member of the Passionist family.

Scripture:

1 Kings 11:4-13
Mark 7:24-30

Reflection:

Have you ever said to yourself: “Yeah, but if people REALLY knew who I am, they wouldn’t like me so much”? I know I have, and so have many of my friends and people I’ve worked with on retreats. The statement implies that we hide our “true selves” in order to feel accepted and loved by others.

This is wrong on so many levels. First, we are told a multitude of lies in our society about who we are and who we “have to” be. The ultimate truth is that we are God’s beloved daughters/sons/children, in whom God is well pleased. We are loved wildly, passionately, and unendingly. God created us good! We are marvels of creation – imperfect of course, but that’s the point. God loves our imperfections. God loves us EXACTLY as we are, while always calling us on to be better. Imagine what would happen if each of us fully embraced that and lived as if it were indeed true!

Ah, there’s the rub. One of the most difficult tasks of life is consistently living out our personal identity as God’s beloved in this world. How can “who I am” be consistent with what I do and how I interact, and not get lost in society’s messages?

Two contrasting examples: Solomon got so comfortable with his kingship, wealth, and wives that he forgot, and acted contrary to, his primary identity as a faithful servant of Yahweh. However, the Syrophoenician woman who asked Jesus to heal her daughter knew who she was and confidently lived out that identity as a mother and a faith-filled believer. She didn’t let even Jesus turn her aside from what she knew was possible for God in her life. How difficult that must have been! What gave her the strength to claim her identity? That’s what I’m praying for this week.

Somewhere deep inside I know that I am God’s beloved child, that at my core I am radiant with the Spirit of love and life. Can I stay in touch with that part of me and know, truly know, who I am? Can I let God define my identity rather than other people whose images are often so flawed? Can I stay in touch with that core reality and then express it in my actions and relationships? Such challenging questions! Yet so necessary to ask and keep before us.

I pray that I can consistently act from the calm and certain assurance that God knows who I REALLY am and loves me completely. So, no matter what happens in this world, no matter the challenges and obstacles, no matter who offers me their love and who doesn’t, no matter whether I have a place at the head table or I am eating the scraps beneath it, I have my identity in God, who will never leave me alone. May I remain centered in that truth and always seek to act in concert with it.   

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:

1 Kings 10:1-10
Mark 7:14-23

Reflection:

If Solomon Could Have Listened to the Words of Jesus

We may need the ‘wisdom of Solomon’ to turn today’s readings into prayer!

It is said, ‘the brighter the light the greater the shadow’. Solomon is about as bright as one can get. Some glitter falls away as one commentator tells us the visit of the Queen of Sheba may have been a business trip, seeking in Solomon a business partner to cash in on the lucrative trade passing through her ports and on to his territory.

The Queen sings Solomon’s praises: happy the servants who stand before you and hear your wisdom; you are a king who carries out judgment and justice.

But in the shadow of Solomon’s brightness are political killings when he takes the throne; an economic program that levied high taxes and forced labor on the northern kingdom that once supported Saul, but not on the people Judah where David was favored; and in his old age, when we gather the wisdom of our life, Solomon gives some of his heart to other gods. “His heart was not entirely with the Lord, his God, as the heart of his father David had been”.

The Queen of Sheba is ‘breathless’ witnessing all that Solomon is and does. Yet, on Friday we hear the Kingdom has fallen apart. The Northern Kingdom called Israel secedes under Jeroboam. Rehoboam follows Solomon becoming the king of the Southern Kingdom of Judah. Sic transit gloria mundi.

Can we redeem Solomon today? The praise that fills Solomon, blinds his seeing what is inside, hides it from others and leaves it unexamined by himself. From this dark place comes dark things. What if his wisdom leads him to explore the gospel reading?

Nothing that enters us makes us impure… ‘O God, you know me; I am fearfully, wonderfully made. You have made us little less than the angels.’ How brave to turn from our brightness to look into our shadows.

What emerges from within us, what we call impure, maybe an undiscovered good, a shame or buried fear…. ‘My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord. As you know not how the breath of life fashions the human frame in the mother’s womb, so you know not the work of God which he is accomplishing in the universe. All is vanity, it is chasing the wind’.

If Solomon could see he might say of his embarrassing sins… ‘who is this that obscures God’s divine plans with words of ignorance? I have dealt with great things that I do not understand; things too wonderful for me. I had heard of you by word of mouth, but now my eye has seen you, I disown what I have said, and repent in dust and ashes.’

These words from the psalms, Isaias, the book of Ecclesiastes and Job might awaken Solomon. Of course, they were not written yet. They expose his shadow and dim the breadth of his wisdom. Maybe he would see Paul’s wisdom, the sacrificial love of Jesus, as summing it all up: ‘without love we are only noisy gongs, clanging symbols.’

Fr. William Murphy, CP is the pastor of Immaculate Conception parish in Jamaica, New York.

Scripture:

1 Kings 8:1-7, 9-13
Mark 6:53-56

Reflection:

They scurried about the surrounding country 
and began to bring in the sick on mats
to wherever they heard he was.
Whatever villages or towns or countryside he entered,
they laid the sick in the marketplaces
and begged him that they might touch only the tassel on his cloak;
and as many as touched it were healed

Mark 6:55-56

Lying in bed one night, I began feeling excruciating pains in my gut. Actually, I first noticed these at breakfast that morning, but ignored them, thinking they would go away, and they did. This night however, the pains returned with a vengeance convincing me that I had better seek some help. I woke up my brother and asked him to take me to the emergency room at the local hospital. By the time we were entering the hospital, I was passing out and the only thing I remember is giving the receptionist my medical insurance ID’s. The next thing I remember is being wheeled into the operating room, luckily being pushed by a fellow parishioner who comforted me, assuring me that all would be okay. She was right, but it took a couple of months before her prophesy came true. In the operating room, the surgeon removed my burst appendix, and it would take the next eleven days in the hospital before I could actually eat again on my own. In those eleven days, I lost twenty or thirty pounds and could barely walk by the time they released me from the hospital. That was forty some years ago.

All this goes to say, I was blessed with many great healers that day and the following weeks, beginning with my brother who helped me get to the hospital, my fellow parishioner who pushed me into the operating room, and many more good friends who visited me in the hospital, prayed with me, blessed me, and walked with me on my healing journey.

Thank you, God, for the healers you send into our lives, especially in this time of COVID-19 and help me be a healer to all those I come into contact with today, especially those who are in critical need and will probably inconvenience me asking for a hand, for some of my time and prayers.

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

Reflection:

Isaiah 6:1-2a, 3-8
1 Corinthians 15:1-11
Luke 5:1-11

Reflection:

In Isaiah’s call to be a prophet, in today’s first scripture selection, we read of his sinfulness, his weakness and feelings of inadequacy.

As we each grow through the years in our connection to God, we are bound to begin reflecting on our place in God’s eyes as Isaiah did. We eventually recognize we too are weak, fragile, selfish and scared. These realities can lead us to sin to protect ourselves and to cover up our inadequacies. We buy too much stuff. We strive too hard for status, power and money, hurting others along the way. We slip into fogs of pleasure in sports, Netflix, gambling, sex, drugs, alcohol and a myriad of “mind candy,” drifting from being our best, most noble selves and away from God.

Becoming conscience of our faults is a grace filled moment. It can be the beginning of our total dependence on God to guide our lives.

 The writer of this section of Isaiah experiences this awakening. Creation is awesome and its creator is even more awesome, surrounded by singing celestial beings who can do nothing but be in awe of God. Turning to earth the writer sees nothing but weakness, sin, inadequacy. Violence, chaos, misery are everywhere…just like today.

But God takes charge, instructing a seraphim to sterilize the lips of the common, sinful man, immediately transforming him into an instrument of healing and transformation of the human race.

Isaiah’s job as a newly minted prophet will be just as difficult at the jobs of Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel. He joins the ranks of the ridiculed outliers, the fringe wackos. Mainstream society will reject this prophet’s message as it has done the messages of all preceding and subsequent prophets, including Jesus himself.

In a world where human skills, achievement and consumption measure “success,” the message of an Isaiah or Jesus has been relegated to the edges of conscientiousness, compromised, modified and diluted to fit society’s norms.

But a deep prayerful reading of today’s scripture selections challenges this domestication of our faith. Isaiah is readied for his part to play in salvation history. Paul admits he is “not fit to be an apostle,” but, only by the grace of God, plays a pivotal role in opening Christianity to the whole world. Jesus shakes up the apostles, especially Peter, and readies them for lives of passion for building the reign of God.

God seems to say, “Okay, yeah, you are human and weak and sinful. But I can handle that. Just surrender all you got to me, and by grace I will transform you in ways you can’t imagine into a magnificent, loving, transforming human being who will do greater works than even awesome prophets like John the Baptist did. You ready to toss that fishing net to the other side of the boat? You ready to surrender yourself totally to me? If so, expect trouble, but also expect a life with more peace and joy than you can ever imagine.”

You ready to be transformed?

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