Claire Smith

Scripture:

Isaiah 40:25-31
Matthew 11:28-30

Reflection:

The Night Sky of Advent

This is the week of the Geminid meteorite shower, the most spectacular of the year. If the sky is clear on Sunday night two meteorites a minute may be seen streaking across the sky. Psalm 8 prays, ‘When I behold your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars you set in place – What is man that you should be mindful of him…you have made him little less than the angels’.

Isaias is moved by stars too, ’Lift up your eyes and see who has created these [stars]: He leads out their army and numbers them. By his great might and the power of his strength not one of them is missing!’

Isaias and Israel looked up at the stars from their places of exile; Juan Diego, whose feast we celebrate today, appreciated the creation that surrounded the Aztec peoples; and we share the awesome wonder for the Creator of the starry night. But we also share with them the shadows of Advent. We wait in darkness, we journey at night, walking not by light but in faith. 

The God who calls the stars by name, has chosen a people who knows God’s love as the faithful and tender love of a mother. We have hope as we look into the shadows of Advent. But the Aztec people, who suffered the destruction of their world, the disease and defeat brought by their conquerors, did not know the love story of Israel, nor did the of the missionaries capture their hearts. They knew God through creation. But in the day of Juan Diego the night sky of December was not hope and peace. If they saw the meteorites of Gemini they were fiery omens of destruction.

Our night journey this year is surrounded by unrest, shared convictions and values are questioned. We walk in Covid-Time. The shadows of Advent are the places in our lives and our shared world that await the light of our coming redeemer.

Can a shooting star be a sign of hope? If Juan Diego can gather a tilma full of roses in winter and never tire of telling everyone about the beautiful, gentle dark skinned woman who smiled as she called him ‘her little Juan’….If the wind made by the wings of a butterfly can affect a star, can we hold the suffering of our present moment before the Creator of the stars and pray today’s Scriptures in darkness?

The Lord does not grow weary. He gives strength to the fainting, for the weak he makes vigor abound. Though young men faint and grow weary, and youths stagger an fall, they that hope in the Lord will renew their strength, they will soar as with eagles wings; they will run and not grow weary, walk and to grow faint.

Come to me, all you who are weary and find life burdensome.

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

Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Scripture:

Genesis 3:9-15, 20
Ephesians 1:3-6, 11-12
Luke 1:26-38

Reflection:

Today we celebrate Mary’s immaculate conception. Mary was chosen by God to bear the Son of God, while free from the stain of original sin, from the moment of her own conception. Mary was uniquely qualified to carry Jesus in her womb. Because of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, we are all able to carry Jesus in our hearts. Let Mary’s obedience inspire us to give God our assent to bring Christ to the world. Bearing Christ to the world is not only the responsibility of Mary, but also every Christian’s responsibility too. We have an obligation to bear Christ into our lives and witness his life and resurrection and God’s saving plan to everyone we meet.

As Saint Paul wrote, “in him we were also chosen,” destined in accordance with God’s will (Ephesians 1:11). As Christians, we have accepted Jesus into our hearts and our lives, and we also receive Him in the Eucharist. We are all called and empowered to bring Christ into our world. May Mary’s example give us the confidence and courage to accept this call.

As a son, I think about how my mother felt when she bore me into this world. Did she herald my coming? Was she pleased by the life I lived? My mother went home to God, a few weeks ago, Amen. Her death has led me to contemplate on the many memories I have of her showing her love for God, for others and for me, and appreciating all that she had done for me in her life here on earth.  A mother’s love is unfailing and forever. Mary, knowing that she was to bear the Son of God, must have been overwhelmed with grace, disbelief, and honor. Not knowing what all of this meant, she still said yes, and put her life into the hands of God with faith.

What a blessing to be conceived without original sin. What a blessing to be chosen by God to bear his Son. What a blessing to be the vessel of Our Lord and Savior. What a blessing to have a soul that is full of the grace of God. Mary did not go about saying, look at me. Mary obeyed God, did everything for his glory, and the good of all mankind.  

Mary was selfless and holy, and it always starts with our parents. Her mother and father were considered saints also. They made sure the human part was well taken care of, so God could take care of the divine part. Jesus was human and at the same time divine. Saint Ann and Saint Joachim loved Mary first and prepared a perfect vessel for the delivery of a perfect son, in Jesus Christ.

We must too, go out in faith bearing witness to the life of Christ by our words, actions, and deeds, everywhere we go. We must proclaim God as the Father, Christ as the Son, and the love of the Holy Spirit as one. We must show everyone we meet what the foot of the cross looks like.

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:

Isaiah 35:1-10
Luke 5:17-26

Reflection:

Back in the early ‘60’s in a time before the Internet, when life seemed simpler and you actually had to use books to do research, we Passionist high school seminarians gathered in the auditorium/gym to sing-a-long with the Kingston Trio, or at least, our version of them with the likes of one of my classmates, Terry Double and two other seminarians whose faces I can see, but whose names completely escape me. Along with many other folk songs we’d sing the Merry Minuet written by Sheldon Harnick:

They’re rioting in Africa, they’re starving in Spain.
There’s hurricanes in Florida, and Texas needs rain.
The whole world is festering with unhappy souls.
The French hate the Germans, the Germans hate the Poles.
Italians hate Yugoslavs, South Africans hate the Dutch.
And I don’t like anybody very much!

You might think that reading from today’s scripture selection where Isaiah tells us of all the great things we have to look forward to would be more appropriate for seminarians;

The desert and the parched land will exult;
the steppe will rejoice and bloom.
They will bloom with abundant flowers,
and rejoice with joyful song. (IS 35:1-2)

At least, Isaiah sounds more hopeful than Harnick’s lyrics above.

I guess it wasn’t much different for St. Ambrose whose feast we celebrate today. Ambrose found himself in a world wrangling with issues of Faith and dogma. The story goes in Wikipedia that St. Ambrose was good at bringing people together, building bridges as Jesus did for the paralytic in today’s gospel selection:

But that you may know
that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”–
he said to the one who was paralyzed,
“I say to you, rise, pick up your stretcher, and go home.” 
He stood up immediately before them,
picked up what he had been lying on,
and went home, glorifying God. (LK 5:24-25)

I do find hope when I come together with others whether face to face or online that we will seek to find and share what we have in common rather than where we disagree. Hopefully we will follow in the footsteps of Jesus and St. Ambrose, building the world of Isaiah and not that of “The Merry Minuet”.

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

Scripture:

Isaiah 40:1-5, 9-11
2 Peter 3:8-14
Mark 1:1-8

Reflection:

Are you weary of the Covid-19 pandemic, yearning for the relief a vaccine promises? I am.

When this scourge ends, I can’t wait to hug friends and relatives again, dine together without fear of contagion, travel for vacations and recycle my growing stash of masks.

A similar longing for a better way to live is front and center in the opening lines of today’s Gospel. The common people of Palestine, at the time of John the Baptist, were weary of imperial propaganda and oppression emanating from Rome. They wanted it to end and looked to young, charismatic leaders to restore a life they once had…free of cruel foreigners who worshiped emperors and elite Jewish leaders who compromised themselves in order to avoid Rome’s wrath while burdening the poor with trivial rule upon rule.

In these first lines of Mark’s succinct Gospel, the author uses the propaganda tag of the Roman empire…”gospel”… to shock the reader to attention. Everyone knew the word gospel announced military victories and new rulers. This Gospel is of Jesus Christ the Son of God…not the divine man Caesar.

As we read Mark throughout this new liturgical year, we notice every word, phase and anecdote is charged with meaning. It is the shortest of the four Gospels, but is unique in its descriptions of the role of Jesus and His message to upend the status quo and inaugurate the Reign of God on the earth.

So, as the Gospel begins, the author alerts us to a radical story about to unfold. The writer wants the readers to be as attentive as when the propaganda machine of Rome announces another conquest or another Caesar. It is a news bulletin delivered by a man noticeably outside the establishment, wearing camel hair and a leather belt, living in the wilderness on honey and locust.

John is on serious mission: to get people ready for an amazing transformation of everything familiar. It’s as if he is saying, “Your old, selfish, self-destructive, fearful ways must cease. This man, this ‘anointed leader,’ who I am introducing, will astound you and the world. So change now, and ritualize your change with a baptism of water by me, so you can be open to receive his mind-boggling message. This message is going to be so strong, it will radically change everything. But be warned. This good news at first might scare you. And it may well cost you your life.”

Indeed, it is a subversive message, aimed directly at Caesar and those abusing power in the Jewish social order. As one theologian has stated, these opening lines are “a declaration of war upon the political culture of the empire.”

For us living in the first quarter of the Twenty-first Century, can we permit ourselves to be re-awakened to the power of Jesus coming into our world? As Pope Francis encourages repeatedly, Christians must examine our lives in light of our loyalties. Do I worship idols? Is any project, achievement, possession, financial portfolio, amusement, drug or alcohol, sport or hobby or organization a false god to whom I devote excessive time and attention, neglecting what God asks of me?

Advent can be the time for the self-examination Pope Francis advises. Setting a quiet reflection period each day before Christmas can help us excise our idols and rededicate ourselves to living totally as God wants. This will usher in a joy and energy that withers our weariness…even in the middle of a pandemic. But be warned, it may also cost you your life.

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

Scripture:

Isaiah 30:19-21, 23-26
Matthew 9:35-10:1, 5a, 6-8

Reflection:

Throughout Advent the church gives us readings to reflect on from the prophet Isaiah. Many of these texts were spoken to a group of people who had lost their land, their culture, and who believed that God was punishing them for their unfaithfulness. The temple, the place of God’s holy dwelling, had been taken away from them, and destroyed by the Babylonians. As you ponder this reading today, did you hear the pealing of the bells of hope in the midst of trying times?   Even though they are in foreign land, God looks after them.

The voice of the Lord, spoken through the prophet is a voice which offers hope to people in the times of hopelessness.  How does the voice of hope speak to us today when we are absorbed not only by the exterior darkness of the lack of sunlight, but also the darkness of the uncertainty of our tomorrows?  What gives us courage to move forward when the ground under our feet seems to shift every few weeks?  Is there hope when we are tired of hearing about surges and statistics?  Maybe it isn’t a coincidence that the proclamations of imminent distribution of a vaccine have begun ringing now that Advent is here. It is the dangling of a carrot before humanity to give us some kind of hope to reach out towards something beyond us. 

Hope is a very powerful energy in the human spirit. For when forces pull us down hope sits just beyond our reach and asks us to reach forward, move forward, step forward. Recall the Gospel story where Jesus is walking on the water toward the disciples in the boat and Jesus calls to Peter to get out of the boat and walk to him on the water.  As Peter gets out of the boat his eyes are fixed on that before him.  He is looking outwards beyond the next few steps.  He doesn’t begin sinking until he takes his eyes off Jesus and begins looking down. Hope is that same force. It’s the looking out beyond ourselves to something that is right, true and attainable. Yet we must strive to keep taking another step and reaching to grasp something just beyond our reach. Isaiah speaks words of hope to keep those in captivity from sinking into the darkness.  And it is not Isaiah’s words.  He is speaking from the compassion of God who sees the abyss of darkness in the people who generations before were called the chosen ones. The Old Testament has numerous places where God brings hope to people out of divine compassion. 

Moving into the New Testament the incarnation, the birth of Jesus is about the compassion of God coming among us.  How many times have you heard, “A people who walk in darkness have seen a great light”? Today’s gospel moves this a significant step further.  It isn’t about us calling out to God to show compassion, it is about Jesus empowering people to be the compassion of his Father.  For those who have no imagination how to do this, perhaps they can begin taking a lesson from some of the smallest of children.  Have you noticed children have wisdom beyond the common sense of adults? For example, recently I was listening to a video from Valerie Kaur, who was describing coming home after a dark difficult day.  And she says:

I come home and my son says, “dance time mommy?” We turn on the music and I kinda sway a little. And then the music rises and my son says, “Pick me up mommy.” I pick him up and throw him in the air, and my little girl now 11 months old we twirl and throwing her up in the air, and suddenly I’m smiling and laughing, and suddenly joy is rushing through my body. When we breathe we let joy in. And joy reminds us of everything that is good, and beautiful, and worth fighting for.   How are you protecting your joy every day?

In a time where so many people are saying, “All I want for Christmas is for this year to be over with,” my question is, how are you bringing hope, joy and the compassion of God into all this darkness. I believe it starts by knowing God’s joy and giving it away one person at a time. 

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

Scripture:

Isaiah 29:17-24
Matthew 9:27-31

Reflection:

Vision & Vitality

The richness of the Advent season continues to gradually unfold for us and our needy world.  Today’s Gospel selection presents Jesus dealing with the blindness of two men who cried to Him for help.  Jesus asked about their faith in Him and his power to heal — and with their statement of faith, they were cured!  With that miracle, word of Jesus’ activity spread throughout the land.

Humanly, the lack of sight / vision:  a real burden!  To miss seeing people, the beauties of nature, movies, television – even this computer page – is challenging, if not threatening.  We may close our eyes for some moments and try to imagine the experience of totally blind people, but our experience is limited:  we simply open our eyes and see again!  Even trying to see without necessary eyeglasses or contact lenses is frustrating for us.

The Scriptures frequently present personal sinfulness in terms of blindness, and redemption in terms of renewed sight.  At Baptism, our eyes were opened to “see” the Lord Jesus in faith.  For many of us our Baptism event was years ago; today’s Advent Season celebration asks us:  What about our “sight”?  Are our eyes open?  Do we see Jesus present today, offering love and redemption? 

God is present to us everywhere, in the air we breathe, in nature – and especially in people.  God’s joy radiates in the smile of an infant, God’s acceptance in the affection of a young child, God’s vitality in the energy of an adolescent, God’s power in the strength of an athlete, God’s beauty in the loveliness of a human being, God’s concern in the devotion of a parent or the ministry of a medical professional, God’s wisdom in the experience and insight of the elderly.  Advent invites us to pause to look more deeply at life and faith…what “sights”!

Advent 2020 calls us not live hindered by darkness and gloom – even in these Pandemic times.  With the two blind men, we’re invited to profess our faith in Jesus, to acknowledge His loving presence, to serve Jesus and our sisters and brothers with eyes wide open.  Today’s responsorial psalm reassures us: “The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear?…wait for the Lord with courage; be stouthearted and wait for the Lord.”  Good News for our pandemic-challenged world!

“Come, Lord Jesus.  Help us to see with the eyes of faith!”

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

Scripture:

Isaiah 25:6-10a
Matthew 15:29-37

Reflection:

One of the themes of the Advent Season might well be that of ‘journey.’

Today we literally see Jesus on a journey himself – walking along the shore of the Sea of Galilee, but more so we see people also on ‘journey’ in order to be in the presence of Jesus.

Every moment of our lives can be part of our journey towards Jesus, and this Season might well be described as one to resource us for the journey.

In our Church Calendar, the year ‘ends’ earlier than the Gregorian calendar which is used in wider society; thus, we have now begun a new Liturgical Year – introduced by the Season of Advent. Perhaps in the context of this strange and unpredictable year of 2020, this is a welcome development, for certainly most of us will be happy to see a new start to life. As we move towards Christmas and the celebration of his coming into our world, we will be able to look forward into all that is new and beacons us, and also to look back over the year that has been 2020.

The tone of our prayers, the colours of our celebrations, and the Word of God each week will certainly orient us into a spirit of expectation so that we might prepare our hearts to welcome Our Lord once more into our world.

In our wider society, the Season of Advent can be ‘swallowed’ up by the end of calendar year and our planning for and anticipation of Christmas Day, preparation for travel and perhaps especially this year – a desire to see the end of 2020! So the challenge for us may well be to ‘stay in the moment’ and savour the four weeks we have been given to orient our thinking, our prayers and ultimately our hearts, towards Jesus and the gift of his life in our world.

We come to Jesus as we are – in all degrees of need, but we know that his response to those by the seaside in today’s readings is the same response promised to us at an moment of our lives. His heart holds only pity and concern for us.  

Our response to Jesus coming into our midst might well be summarised in his challenge to the disciples. What can we offer to those in need around us? Even from our own meagre resources we can assist and enable his mission to grow and come to fruition in our world.

Let us be about this task – with the Lord to provide for us we will truly have more resources available to us than we can ever imagine needing.

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

Scripture:

Isaiah 11:1-10
Luke 10:21-24

Reflection:

The first reading in this first Tuesday of Advent is from chapter 11 of the prophet Isaiah.  It is one of the most beautiful passages in the Old Testament.  The prophet describes a future era of peace, the messianic kingdom brought about by God’s anointed one.  For us as Christians we believe that Jesus is the one whom the prophet foretold: “On that day, a shoot shall sprout from the stump of Jesse and from his roots a bud shall blossom.  The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, a spirit of wisdom and of understanding, a spirit of counsel and of strength, a spirit of knowledge and fear of the Lord, and his delight shall be the fear of the Lord.”

Jesse was the father of King David and so the messiah to come will be of the lineage of David but this future figure will be more than David and will usher in a reign of unending peace and justice: “But he shall judge the poor with justice, and decide aright for the land’s afflicted…justice shall be the band around his waist, and faithfulness a belt on his hips.”

One of the most startling features of this prophetic vision is that the era of peace and justice God will bring about extends even to nature itself.  This is one of the best-known parts of this biblical text, worth quoting in full:

Then the wolf shall be a guest of the lamb,
and the leopard shall lie down with the kid;
The calf and the young lion shall browse together,
with a little child to guide them.
The cow and the bear shall be neighbors,
together their young shall rest;
the lion shall eat hay like the ox.
The baby shall play by the cobra’s den,
and the child lay his hand on the adder’s lair.
There shall be no harm or ruin on all my holy mountain;
for the earth shall be filled with knowledge of the LORD,
as water covers the sea.

In his encyclical on the environment, Laudato Si’, Pope Francis has reminded us that we share a “common home” with all of creation and as Christians made in God’s own image, we are to be responsible for the world around us—our fellow human beings, of course, but also all of God’s exquisite creation.

Isaiah’s prophetic vision, written more than 2,500 years ago, remarkably captures that same inclusive spirit.  God’s peace that we long for in this Advent season extends to all of God’s wondrous creation.  In the early 19^th century, the American artist and Quaker preacher, Edward Hicks, painted a scene directly inspired by this passage from Isaiah 11. He called it, “God’s Peaceable Kingdom.”  It depicts a scene of great harmony—in the forefront there is a gathering of wild animals and little children freely mingling (as Isaiah depicts) and in the background the first European pilgrims meet peacefully with Native Americans on the sea shore.

We know that history has proven how difficult reconciliation and peace are to achieve.  The current political and social strife of our own country makes that abundantly clear.  But during the season of Advent the church invites us to dream God’s own dreams of peace and justice, and to plead with God to help us to build, in the words of Pope Francis, a “civilization of love”—a “peaceable kingdom.”

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.