Claire Smith

Scripture:

Acts 4:32-35
1 John 5:1-6
John 20:19-31

Reflection:

The Gospel of John begins with these words from the prologue: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (Jn 1:1).  This verse is important for our understanding of today’s gospel.

Three days had passed since the crucifixion of Jesus.  The disciples had abandoned him for fear of their lives.  Now on this first day of the week, Sunday, they are in the house with doors locked and bolted.  They are still afraid of the Jerusalem leaders who put Jesus to death.

Then it happened.  Jesus came and stood in their midst with words of comfort and forgiveness: “Peace be with you.”  Three times he repeats these words to these disciples whose fear and shame turned to joy at seeing the Risen Lord.  All were present in the house, except one – Thomas, called the Twin.  He was off alone, isolated, his heart shattered, his hopes crushed at the death of Jesus. 

I can commiserate with Thomas.  When my father died, and then several years later, when my mother died, I insisted on being left alone.  I wanted no one near me.  Just leave me alone in my grief.  Eventually, however, I returned to family and community.  Through them, I came to accept the deaths of my loved ones, and to embrace their presence in the joy they were in my life.

So too, the disciples went to Thomas and declared: “We have seen the Lord.”  But, so engulfed in grief and doubt was Thomas that he rejected their message.  “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe” (Jn. 19:25). 

Then, it happened – again.  A week later, Jesus came and stood among then.  But this time, Thomas had rejoined his disciples.  This time, Thomas saw the Risen Christ.  Jesus did not scold Thomas, did not reprimand him for his doubts.  Rather, he invited Thomas to touch his wounds if that is what he needed to believe.

The point of this episode is clear.  We are Thomas’s twin.  And like our brother, we will never see Christ if we choose to live in isolation.  Only in community can we see, can experience the Risen Christ.  Only in community, as we stand in solidarity and compassion with one another, comforting one another, touching the wounds of Christ – our wounds – in our brokenness, in our imperfection, can we experience Christ.  Only then, in community, can we joyfully proclaim to others, “We have seen the Lord!”

And then, it will happen again.  Like our twin brother, we too, will pronounce the greatest confession ever: “My Lord, and my God.”  My Lord and my Theos.  No one, until Thomas, had made such a bold declaration, that Jesus is God. Theos—“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God — begins the Gospel of John, and Theos—“My Lord and my God — concludes his gospel.   So, too, those words are the twin bookends in our lives; when we are baptized in Christ and in death when we hope to see the Risen Christ.  And throughout our lives in between, we are called to live in community to minister to one another, touch and to heal one another’s wounds.  And when we do this, we will surely see the Risen Christ, and proclaim to all: “We have seen the Lord.”

Deacon Manuel Valencia is on the staff at Mater Dolorosa Passionist Retreat Center, Sierra Madre, California.

Scripture:

Acts 4:1-12
John 21:1-14

Reflection:

                            Is Fishing the Only Alternative to Resurrection Fatigue?

Could it be that Peter and his companions are suffering form Resurrection fatigue? We know about fatigue don’t we? Enough, we need to break out. We want things under our control. Living as if problems do not exist gives some energy, and we go on. Mary Magdalene had to let go of what she wanted to hold onto. The disciples from Emmaus had hoped, but then were back to having hope, plus a new understanding of the Scriptures and an encounter that set their hearts on fire. Jesus followers went through such intensity, fear and confusion that they must have been exhausted. Could this new redeemed life been so demanding?

It began for Jesus followers when they heard him preach at the lake. Some of the men and women in those crowds put out into the deep, leaving their lakeside lives to go where Jesus went. It was exhilarating at times. Who would ever forget the procession into Jerusalem with Jesus, the praise, the song the hope? But there were tough times too, getting chased out of a Samaritan town, not understanding Jesus, the arrest and crucifixion, and the confusion that followed. How they thought the women had all lost their minds! Jesus put it back together, ‘Peace’. He kept saying, ‘Peace’.

In a few days we have come a long way. It is overwhelming. It is fatiguing.

I read a story of a young woman, a champion basketball player on her high school team at the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. SuAnn Crow was a role model, a gifted young woman whose life in many ways nourished the spirit of her people.

SuAnn and her teammates had a game in a small town off the reservation. As soon as they appeared on the court to warm up racist shouts and jeers surrounded them and didn’t let up. The young people were humiliated and scared. They did a lap around the court then took the seats on the bench about to begin the game. SuAnn stopped at the center of the court by herself and put a towel around her shoulders, as if it were an Indian shawl. While she was being taunted and heckled she began to perform a traditional Lakota dance. She spun, dipped, stepped gracefully, her shawl extended like the wings of a bird. As she moved she sang a traditional song in the strange, otherworldly tone of her people. While the crowd screamed at her, she stood at the center circle before them. She sang and she danced. Her actions touched the crowed. Watching her quietly dance in a world of her own, the crowd grew still. When it was finished, her dance had broken their hearts. (Set their hearts on fire?)

Resurrection has been described as God making a way where there is no way. A teenage girl responded by opening the treasure chest where her deepest gifts were stored and placed them before an undeserving crowd. Resurrection fatigue can set in because God’s love challenges us. Don’t we hear or say often, ‘No clinging, Mary!’ or ‘We had hoped.’ We are not immune from feeling empty or afraid or overwhelmed. Let us live the fifty days of Easter celebration, open our treasure chest, and perhaps in the midst of an undeserving crowd quietly do our dance and sing our song.

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

Scripture:

Acts 3:11-26
Luke 24:35-48

Reflection:

Peace be with you!

The vaccines for the Covid-19 virus have given us peace and hope that there is a way to live through this pandemic. We must just have faith and believe. No one knows for sure how this pandemic is going to turn out but there is a glimmer of peace and hope with the vaccines that are out now. There are some who do not believe in the vaccines at all. Some who refuse to believe no matter what they see or here. There is no reason to live if there is no hope. There is no reason to do right if there is no hope. Our work is in vain if there is no hope. The vaccine is our only hope, just like Jesus is our only hope to salvation and glory, to overcome this deadly virus. You just have to believe, trust, and have faith.

It is Jesus’ unique prerogative to invade “startled,” “terrified,” and “troubled” hearts and to bring them his eternal peace. The disciples in the Gospel are perplexed: “the author of life” was put to death, and his body has now gone missing, reported to be mysteriously risen from the dead. Jesus stood in their midst, revealing his “flesh and bones,” his “hands and his feet,” even asking for something to eat. This is no ghost, for it has been prophesied from of old, since the days of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, since Moses, Samuel, and all who follow suit. Our ancestors yearned to see this day. Blessed are we who are “witnesses of these things,” who have been given “minds to understand the Scriptures” and mouths to “preach in his name to all the nations.”

These are the words that our savior gives us, today in the readings, for those who believe and have faith in Him. Peace be with you. Peace to the one who has faith, hope, trust and believe in what he has done for all mankind. Faith that he is the Son of God. Faith that he has defeated death. Faith that all our sins are forgiven if we just believe. Faith that the Holy Spirit will be here to guide us until he comes again. Faith that all we must do is repent, be baptized and believe in His every word. Peace be with you!

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 extended Passionist Family.

Scripture:

Acts 3:1-10
Luke 24:13-35

Reflection:

“And it happened that, while he was with them at table,
he took bread, said the blessing, broke it and gave it to them.
With that their eyes were opened, and they recognized him,
but he vanished from their sight. Then they said to each other,
“Were not our hearts burning within us while he spoke to us on the way and opened the Scriptures to us?”
-Luke 24:30-32

My father worked six days a week, leaving the house at 5:00 am and usually not returning until 5:00 pm or so, albeit, not working all that time. He daily stopped at the local pub for a shot and a pint or two before facing the tribe awaiting him at home. Sunday was different. He still got up early only not for work, but for Sunday Mass.  My twin brother, Dave and younger brother Tim and I would tag along with him to 6:30 am Mass. After a week of oatmeal and cream of wheat breakfasts, dad would make bacon and eggs on returning home from Mass for a special Sunday treat. To this day, my favorite meal of the week is Sunday after Mass. Now, it doesn’t happen until around noon, when my brother Dave and I continue the tradition with Sunday Brunch. My brother Tim and dad have passed on. Dave and my routine now, is to gather and begin recounting the different sermons we heard at Mass often leading to a good hour or more of enthusiastic conversation.

This past Sunday, after a year of no whole family gatherings because of COVID-19, about half the family members who normally would join us, gathered for Easter Brunch. The four surviving brothers and their spouses, all who have been vaccinated, along with a sprinkling of the nieces (no nephews or any of their children) celebrated together at Lambs Farm in nearby Libertyville, Illinois “where people grow”. We sat at the table for an hour and half and since that wasn’t enough time sharing, then headed over to one brother’s home, where we sat outside in the beautiful 70 degree weather and continued the sharing into the evening. We reminisced of our lives together up to this point as well as filled each other in on the latest happenings in our lives.

God, thank you for your gifts of sacraments and family both blood and faith families which nourish me and make me think with the apostles: “Were not our hearts burning within us while he spoke to us on the way and opened the Scriptures to us?”

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

Scripture:

Acts 2:36-41
John 20:11-18

Reflection:

The pain, loss, fears, confusion and darkness of the last year have shaken us out of our comfortable means of self-mastery. It has given us a chance to once again realize our absolute dependence on God.

Pope Francis has paraphrased Peter’s words to the crowd in today’s reading from Acts: “Repent! Repent! Change your life! You who received God’s promise and you who distance yourselves from God’s law, because of many of your own things, your idols and many things…convert yourselves. Return to faithfulness (Acts 2:38).”

In reflecting on today’s readings, the pope says, “There are always illusions that attract our attention, and often we follow after these illusions.” He goes on, “Many times, when we feel secure (in these illusions), we begin to make plans and we slowly drift away from the Lord. We do not remain faithful. My security is no longer that which the Lord gives me. It is an idol…self-assurance opens the door to idols.”

Mary Magdalene, in the reading from the Gospel of John, is a model of a faithful woman, totally dependent on the Lord. She had not forgotten what the Lord had done for her, she did not abandon the Lord or rest in the illusion of her own self-security. In her faithfulness the Lord rewarded her with his appearance and with the role of being the first to announce the resurrection to the disciples.

As our illusions collapse during the pandemic, as our world seems upside down with illness, death, violence, political discord, poverty, environmental destruction, will we see this moment as the awakening to our absolute dependence on a loving God and the abandonment of our self-assuring idols?

Or will we use this frightening time to re-construct the old idols…in the guise of seeking to elevate our own status, increase our power over others, seek more possessions and money…that gave us the illusion of self-sufficiency and self-assurance and led us away from absolute dependency on the Lord?

Pope Francis concludes, “Today let us ask the Lord for the grace of faithfulness: to thank Him when He gives us security, but never to think that these are ‘my’ securities and always to look beyond our securities; the grace to be faithful even before the tomb and the collapse of so many illusions.”

Today may we set aside quiet time to reflect on the illusions in our own lives that give us a sense of security. Does self-assurance draw me away from the Lord? As the pope says, faithfulness in the Lord is a grace. Ask for it today.

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 10:34, 37-43
Colossians 3:1-4
John 20:1-9

Reflection:

Good News:  Easter Life & Joy!

The “scene”:  early morning darkness; the stone rolled away from the tomb; the burial cloths rolled up; Jesus’ body “missing” …  The Good News is taking shape, it’s real — and the rest is history!!

Today, Easter 2021, is a day of Life and Joy — the day in which God gives new and so needed meaning to all life in Jesus’ Resurrection.  The tragedy of Jesus’ suffering of abuse, crucifixion, and death is transformed into the gift of His risen Life.  With Mary of Magdala, Peter and John, we witness this unfolding new, risen Life of Jesus … still trying to comprehend its profound meaning.

As shared in today’s 2^nd Scripture reading from the Acts of Apostles, Peter helps us as he proclaims the “good news” of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection.  One can imagine the conviction in his message to those gathered to hear him:  Jesus went about doing good, suffered much, was crucified, died, was raised by God from the dead — and then revealed Himself to his early followers who were to carry the message to others.  Yes!!

New Life through the Resurrection of Jesus is God’s gift to us as 21^st Century followers of Jesus.  Our world of COVID-19, fear, injustice, and violence needs that new Life.  The Resurrection of Jesus gives renewed hope, meaning and purpose to our lives – for Jesus embraced His Paschal Mystery for our benefit today, in 2021!  The challenges and troubles of life today are transformed by Jesus’ risen Life into needed moments of grace and goodness.  Yes!!

The life and encouragement of our Easter “Alleluia’s” now flow from our hearts and lips.  We are 21^st Century heralds of the risen Jesus, sharing Jesus’ message of hope and healing, life and goodness. 

May the Easter Proclamation radiate from our very beings; we are living “alleluia’s”, from head to toe (though at times our “song” might be a bit off key…)!  In the words of today’s Responsorial Psalm 118, we are to sing out: “This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad!” 

Good News indeed…the Word to remember is “Easter”!  Amen!  Alleluia!

Fr. John Schork, C.P. is the Vocation Director for Holy Cross Province. He lives at St. Vincent Strambi Community in Chicago, Illinois. 

Good Friday of the Lord’s Passion

Scripture:

Isaiah 52:13—53:12
Hebrews 4:14-16; 5:7-9
Philippians 2:8-9
John 18:1-19:42          

Reflection:

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has similarly been tested in every way, yet without sin. So let us confidently approach the throne of grace to receive mercy and to find grace for timely help. -Hebrews 4:15-16

One Good Friday when I was young, while participating in the Stations of the Cross, I was given the grace to see that Jesus really understands and helps me in my weakness, my sadness, and my fears. For he went through it all Himself: betrayal by his friends, various temptations, discouragement, and misunderstanding from the leaders of his community. From then on, my prayer was different. St. Paul of the Cross, the founder of the Passionist order, expressed it this way: “When you are experiencing an agony of suffering in your spirit, cry out as Jesus did on the cross, ‘Father, into your hands I commend my spirit’……Your agony will end and you will die a mystical death to rise in Christ Jesus to a life of perfect love.”

Years later, on another Good Friday, I saw a picture of Jesus, hands extended on the Cross, with His arms encircling planet Earth and all the people. Jesus’ compassion and care extends to everyone as it does for me! And this includes the entire Creation, for He was there at the Beginning with the Father and the Spirit! St. Paul of the Cross expressed this in the congregational rule (#3): “We are aware that the Passion of Christ continues in this world until He comes in glory; therefore, we share in the joys and sorrows of our contemporaries as we journey through life toward our Father. We wish to share in the distress of all, especially those who are poor and neglected; we seek to offer them comfort and to relieve the burden of their sorrow.” 

Jesus’ compassion knows no bounds; and we are challenged today to open our arms as wide as His, and extend our love, attention, and care to the whole created world.

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 Si Vision Fulfillment Team and the Passionist Solidarity Network.

Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper

Scripture:

Exodus 12:1-8, 11-14
1 Corinthians 11:23-26
John 13:1-15

Reflection:

Today the church begins the solemn triduum, the three days that celebrate the very heart of our Christian faith—the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  Holy Thursday, of course, remembers with gratitude the Last Supper of Jesus with his apostles on the eve of his death. 

The second reading for today from Paul’s Letter to the Corinthians recalls that very moment as a sacred tradition handed on to him. He, in turn, brings it to the Christian community in Corinth.  The circumstances prompting Paul to recall this tradition are unusual.  Apparently when the Corinthian Christians gathered for a celebratory meal on the occasion of the Lord’s Supper or Eucharist, the wealthy members of the community brought sumptuous food and wine, while the poorer members had little or nothing to eat. 

Paul is shocked at this and challenges his beloved, but cantankerous, community at Corinth.  The Lord’s Supper was meant to be a sacrament of unity, but some in the community used the occasion to accentuate differences and to embarrass the poor.  It is this circumstance that prompts Paul to evoke the tradition of the first Eucharist—a sacred meal in which Jesus revealed to his disciples the ultimate meaning of his impending death—like bread broken, his body would be broken for them; like wine poured out, his blood would be shed for them.  This act of love should be the spirit and meaning of every celebration of the Eucharist.

It is a bit of paradox that on Holy Thursday when we celebrate the Lord’s Supper, the gospel reading is not an account of that Passover meal Jesus celebrated with his disciples, but the dramatic moment in John’s Gospel where Jesus washes the feet of his disciples. This action takes place on the eve of Passover and as the disciples gather for its celebration.  But in John’s Gospel, Jesus’ words over the bread and wine are evoked earlier in his Gospel, during the Bread of Life discourse in chapter 6. 

Here in this gospel passage, in John’s often creative way, instead of an account of the words of institution we have a dramatic gesture that reveals what the Eucharist is meant to signify.  Jesus, their Lord and Master, takes the role of a servant and washes the feet of his disciples—a startling act of humility and self-effacing service—for Jesus, an act of love. 

Placed here in John’s Gospel as Jesus begins his farewell to his disciples with his death approaching, the foot washing symbolizes the heart of what it means to be a follower of Jesus—willing to put aside our hesitations and generously serve others out of love.

I have not served as a parish priest but only occasionally helped out on weekends and during Holy Week.  A few times I had the occasion to wash the feet of the people designated to take part in the Holy Thursday ceremony (probably the cleanest feet in the church!).  On many other occasions I have participated in the foot washing and waited with my shoe and sock off for the moment when the celebrant would wash my feet.  Either way, the moment is both slightly embarrassing and deeply moving—its profound symbolism is hard to miss. 

Jesus’ words in John’s Gospel reach us across the centuries: “If I…the master and teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash one another’s feet.  I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do.”

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.