Claire Smith

Scripture:

Genesis 21:5, 8-20a
Matthew 8:28-34

Reflection:

As I read today’s gospel, I can’t help but think about the vision of these demonically possessed men begging to be exorcised into a herd of swine. This happened in what I imagine, was a fairly non-Jewish area, hence the abundance of pigs. Did Jesus feel this was a perfect punishment, to have these evil spirits sent into an animal that the Jewish people felt was so vile and filthy as a pig? Sounds like a perfectly disgusting place that would be fitting for an evil spirit!

So, the evil spirits are sent into the herd of pigs, and they stampede and die. I think it’s safe for us to understand that among Jesus’ disciples, and the evil spirits, and those who resided in the area, that they all realized one thing – that Jesus Christ is the way, the truth and the life. He could cure the leper, and give sight to the blind, and cleanse the evil spirit. 

What do you need release from today? What do you need purged from your life that is causing you misery or pain? I personally have been battling health issues, past hurts, ulcers, dry eyes, and a multitude of other things that I can only blame on my age and my lack of faith – why can’t we just release those things that continue to weigh us down? I try so hard to exorcise my own demons, rather than allowing Jesus to take the load – those thoughts and memories that torture me daily. And no matter how hard I try, I have a very difficult time moving away and finding lasting peace. There are days I wish Jesus was here, in the flesh – so many times I throw my hands up in despair and say, “Enough – I’m done.” But I have to find the trust and strength in Him to keep moving on, to believe that in all of this suffering I will again find a purpose, and find that everlasting peace that will calm my soul and renew my spirit. 

Patty Masson supports the Passionists from Spring, Texas.

Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul

Scripture:

Acts of the Apostles 12: 1-11
2 Timothy 4: 6-8, 17-18
Matthew 16: 13 -19

Reflection:

Today we celebrate two great men of the Church, Saints Peter and Paul. Two ordinary men, one a fisherman and the other a Pharisee and a tentmaker. Two ordinary men who recognized that God had called them to be something greater than they thought themselves to be. Two ordinary men who had courage to speak the truth that was spoken to them through Christ. They endured many hardships and trials for their words and actions and yet they kept on believing in the truth that dwelt in their hearts.

How could ordinary men come to do extraordinary things?

“The angel said to Peter, “Put on your belt and your sandals. “ He did so. Then he said to him, “Put on your cloak and follow me.” “ Acts 12:8

Even in prison Saint Peter did not give up hope in Jesus Christ. He listened and followed the angel out of the prison. The angel had to awaken him from his sleep. If Saint Peter was asleep he certainly was not afraid of the trial that was to take place the next day. The passion that he felt in his heart, about who he had spent three years following and all that he had seen Jesus Christ do for others, must have been a source of his hope and courage. He was open to the possibility that Jesus was the Messiah and confirmed it when Jesus asked him “Who do you say that I am?” Mt 16: 15-16.

“I have competed well; I have finished the race; I have kept the faith.” 2Tim 4:7

Saint Paul was also in prison and did not fear death. He knew that he had completed what Christ had called him to do for the proclamation of the Kingdom. An ordinary man who was passionate about his faith to the point of persecuting the first Christians. Then Jesus caught his attention with a flash of light and a bit of a humbling fall to the ground. A “snap out of it” moment. He would carry the message of Christ to the Gentiles beyond Jerusalem to the end of the world; that time the Roman world. Again, his passion came from the truth that dwelt in his heart and he was not afraid to recognize it and act upon it.

Each of us are called to become something greater than what we think we are. This can only occur through faith, prayer, hope and trust in Christ. What is Christ calling you to today?

Linda Schork is a theology teacher at Saint Xavier High School in Louisville, Kentucky.

Scripture:

Wisdom 1:13-15; 2:23-24
2 Corinthians 8:7, 9, 13-15
Mark 5:21-43

Reflection:

When we hear of Jesus’ healings, we must realize that he doesn’t ask people to follow him and believe in him because he needs to inflate his ego, but he encourages them to follow him for their own salvation! He wants them to know the one true God, and he wants them to enjoy the gifts that will come to them through that relationship with their heavenly Father.

He knows what we need when we need it. He knew exactly who touched his cloak because he knows his faithful ones. It was not just the touching of a cloak that he felt, but the sensing of her faith and her trusting belief in his healing.

We can’t be afraid of life or live in the fear of what was or what may be, or the uncertainty of changing our lives to live more closely to God. He tells us, “Be not afraid”!! Today’s gospel reading reflects examples of faith – a promise of salvation through the one true God.

My prayer today is that you open your hearts to the grace of God. Place your trust in him alone. I pray for you all and ask that you keep me in yours! God bless you!

Patty Masson supports the Passionists from Spring, Texas.

Scripture:

Genesis 17:1, 9-10, 15-22
Matthew 8:1-4

Reflection:

When Jesus came down from the mountain, great crowds followed him.
and then a leper approached, did him homage, and said,
“Lord, if you wish, you can make me clean.”
He stretched out his hand, touched him, and said,
“I will do it. Be made clean.”
His leprosy was cleansed immediately.
-Matthew 8:1-3
 

Today’s reading from Matthew begins with Jesus coming “down from the mountain.” He has just completed his “Sermon on the Mount” with so many of our most cherished teachings: the beatitudes, the Lord’s prayer, the golden rule, as well as teachings on anger, almsgiving, false prophets, judging, money, shining our light–most of which turned traditional social and economic paradigms upside down. Love our enemies? Store up treasures in heaven?

So as we begin today’s gospel reading, “great crowds” are following Jesus “down the mountain” after hearing an astounding call to love as God loves us.  Yet, as we all know, it is one thing to hear a teaching, particularly one that stretches what we think is our reality.  It is quite another thing to take it in, to let it shape us, to be willing to let go of what we thought were the parameters of who we are and who are neighbor is.  And then to act.

So Jesus teaches us how to do that too.  Enter the leper.  Jerome Neyrey, SJ, a professor of New Testament at Notre Dame, explains that lepers were considered physically unclean and would have been on the margins of Israelite society. He goes on to say “it is safe to say that Israel was both intensely concerned with purity and with the appropriate lines and boundaries.” So it is particularly significant that Jesus transgresses these boundaries and touches the leper. This is no healing from afar, like the Syro-phoenician woman’s daughter or the centurion’s servant.  This is intimate, physical touch.  And rather than Jesus becoming unclean, in an extraordinary reversal, the leper becomes clean.

Mind blowing really.  Unthinkable.  Rather than contamination being transmitted, love and healing flow in intimate physical touch between Jesus and the leper.  Divine love flowing through human flesh, not accidentally, but as an action of will: “I will do it.”

For me, this is the model to which Jesus invites us all. First, we are called to listen deeply to his words, taking in as best as we can these teachings that still turn our social and economic paradigms upside down today.  Spend time on the mountain with Jesus. 

Then, we are invited to follow Jesus “down the mountain,” into a world which too often tells us who is clean and who is unclean.  My prayer today is for the grace to see the other, particularly those on the margins, as Jesus sees the leper–and to choose to participate in the divine love Jesus offers us all.  I think of Pope Francis’ invitation to work for a “culture of encounter.”  He describes it as “not just seeing, but looking; not just hearing, but listening; not just passing people by, but stopping with them, allowing yourself to be moved with compassion, and then to draw near, to touch…”

Lissa Romell is the Administrator at St. Vincent Strambi Community in Chicago, Illinois.

Feast of John the Baptist

Scripture:

Isaiah 49:1-6
Acts 13:22-26
Luke 1:57-66

Reflection:

John heralded his coming by proclaiming a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel. -Acts 13:24

Paul sums up the work of John the Baptist with the word repentance.  The word in the Greek original inspired word is metanoia.  It means one has to think of God in a much bigger and exciting way.  We must change dramatically our thoughts about the wonder of His love.  What God is going to do for us has not even entered into the mind and heart of man in His wildest dreams!  Biblical “repentance” means not so much that we look to our wayward sins, but to God’s startling love for us!  We are challenged with God’s amazing ways to call us into the wonderful love life of the Trinity.  

Jesus says the most astonishing things about this sharing of intimacy with God!  “Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love. John 15:9  I think this is one of the most astounding words spoken by Jesus!  So strong is Jesus’ love for us it is like the Father’s love for His “Only Begotten”.  How could Jesus say it more strongly than that?  When John the Baptist said: “Behold the Lamb of God” that was the most wonderful sight in the world! Pope Benedict XVI beautifully says: “EVERYTHING DEPENDS ON THE INTIMATE FRIENDSHIP WITH JESUS!”

Some years ago I visited the wonderful Basilica Sacré Cœur  in Paris in the evening when a teen age girl with her family came in and knelt behind me.  There is a giant mosaic of Jesus over the altar that is over 5,000 sq feet. It is the largest mosaic in France.  When the family of the girl first came in she cried  out: “look at Jesus”!  Maybe these words sums up the main wonderful point of John the Baptist.“Behold the Lamb of God”

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

Scripture:

Genesis 13:2, 5-18
Matthew 7:15-20

Reflection:

“Beware”.  The word is usually encountered upon entering a Halloween haunted house. In today’s gospel our Lord uses this emphatic warning to alert us to the false prophets all around us who are always the greatest threat to the Church and its teachings 

“You will know them by their fruits”, Mt 7: 16.  The message of false prophets is so successfully propagated because people are like drops of water, they seek the path of least resistance. “That Old Time Religion” was way too confining and too much work!  They want to be free to do as they wish and so they seek out a belief system that has no consequences or demanding effort.  We are living in a post-Christian/Judeo world where Secular Humanism and Prosperity Gospels are some of the more glaring bad fruits the false prophets promote.  The message is simply a narcissistic self-delusion of grandeur where it is smugly assumed that the modern intellect is superior in knowledge than those who came before, as if they were the first that believed this always modern fallacy.  Because of their astonishing understanding of the universe, past spiritual writers and Christian theologians can be rejected and abandoned as intellectual peasants whose time is long been over.   St Paul recognized this parochial thought pattern even in the time of Christ.  He mocks these self-professed intellectual superiors by saying, “Professing to be wise, they become fools”, Romans 1:22.  Their self-possessed beliefs gives rise to a system where there is no God, and the concept of human worth is achieved without religious dogma, structure or requirements.    Human value is recognized by adhering to the Golden Rule: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”.  

Perhaps some can remember a 60’s era t-shirt which highlighted the problem of using human nature as a value judgement criteria:    Emblazoned on the chest of the shirt in a bold, Gothic font, (which best resembled the title card for the movie, “The Bells of St Mary’s”)   was the phrase:   “Do Unto Others,  Then Split!”   

Since the beginning of our species, we have been programmed to place the needs of our tribe above all others, even to the detriment of other tribes.  We are driven to provide for ourselves and our loved ones without regard for others.  Charity, empathy and compassion, (which we used to call Humanity) are concepts that have their root in our faiths and belief in God.   These concepts have no place in a Post Christian/Judeo world.

A true prophet is one who leads by example, word, and action, back to our Father.  “You will know false prophets by their words”.  It is they who promote the idea of a Universe without need of an uncreated creator. They no longer need the protection of sheep’s clothing.  The false prophet’s secular thinking is now more accepted as correct by society than any Christian or Jewish premise.  While they might be college professors, members of the media, government officials or classroom teachers, false prophets can still be identified by their words because they do not lead back to God.  Bad trees can only produce bad fruit.   And whatever their status, they must be identified and confronted, both for their own benefit, and for our world.                                                                                                                                                   

Ray Alonzo is the father of three children, grandfather of two, and husband to Jan for 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.
                                     

Scripture:

Genesis 12:1-9
Matthew 7:1-5

Reflection:

Imagine you are 75 years-old and God tells you to pack up and begin a new life in the wilderness. Instead of cosmic beginning stories, Genesis, chapter 12  focuses on Abram (Abraham) and his family.  Why should God choose this unknown Mesopotamian making him promises?  Rabbinical scholars believe that Abram was the first monotheist, a believer in one God. What were the promises made to Abram:  descendants, land, and blessings. (Working Preacher, Commentary on Genesis 12:1-9 by Katherine M. Schifferdecker) The moral of this story: being faithful to the One True God has its rewards. Today’s psalm confirms: “Blessed the nation whose God is the Lord”. (Psalm 33:1)

In our Gospel Jesus instructs : “Stop judging, that you may not be judged…Remove the beam from your eye and you will be able to see the splinter in your neighbor’s eye.” (Genesis 7: 1 and 5)

Rabbinical teaching laid down six great works which brought credit to a person: study, visiting the sick, hospitality, devotion in prayer, educating children in the Law and thinking the best of other people. Jesus and his audience was well aware of this teaching.  (William Barclay, The Gospel of St. Matthew Revised Edition, Volume I, Daily Bible Study Series, Westminster Press, 1975, pp. 263-265)

Scripture Scholar, William Barclay, states there are three reasons why no person should judge another:

1) We never know the whole facts or the whole person.

2) It is almost impossible for any person to be strictly impartial in his or her
    judgement. 3)  No person is good enough to judge any other person.  (Ibid. pp. 264-265)

The gospel challenge: improve our own faults and failings and leave the faults of others to God.  This week, let us practice kind and loving thoughts toward others.

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