Claire Smith

Memorial of the Holy Guardian Angels

Scripture:

Job 38:1, 12-21; 40:3-5
Matthew 18:1-5, 10

Reflection:

The concept of a ‘guardian angel’ is one that has a long history both in the Hebrew and Christian scriptures and is a belief and devotion that has ebbed and waned over the centuries. Perhaps the simplest and most foundational thought one might hold on this feast day is taken from Pope Francis talk in 2014 when he suggested in his homily for the Feast of Holy Guardian Angels, that one could consider a guardian angel to be one’s “traveling companion” in life. Indeed, the Pope suggested “No one journeys alone, and no one should think that they are alone.”

In this light we might reflect today on the fact that God is always offering assistance, guidance and direction in our lives and that it is God’s will that we should not just seek God, but that we should successfully find our way home to our Father in heaven.  In this endeavour Jesus is both our model and saviour who has shown us the way.

Yet we cannot help but notice that angels also feature in the life of Jesus too. Angles announce the birth of Jesus, they clarify and announce his resurrection from the dead and they both announce and convey instructions to the disciples at the time of his ascension to the Father. In addition, we see angles accompanying and comforting Jesus after his temptations and trial in the desert and again they are present to offer comfort in his sorrow and agony in the garden prior to his arrest, suffering and death on Calvary.

Thus, angels seem to be a ‘link’ or ‘connection point’ whenever there is a heavenly truth to be revealed to us.  

They are significant in that they highlight that God is always close to us and serve to point us always in the direction of the truth so that we might be helped in knowing and seeing God’s activity amongst us.

While angels feature throughout the scriptures only three archangels are mentioned by name in the scriptures – Michael, the warrior leader of the heavenly hosts, Gabriel, the heavenly messenger and Raphael, God’s healer, or helper. The three essential qualities or activities they witness to may be a key reflection for us today. God will strengthen us, God will always communicate and share with us and God will forever offer healing to us.

We are never alone in our spiritual journey.

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

Memorial of Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus

Scripture:

Job 19:21-27
Luke 10:1-12

Reflection:

Today the church celebrates a saint who captured the heart of the modern church.  A young French woman who traveled from her hometown of Lisieux, in northern France, only once in her life—a trip to Rome to see the Pope and get permission to enter the Carmelite cloister when still younger than the required canonical age (she was turned down!); a cloistered sister for all of her brief adult life (she entered the convent at 15 and died at the age of 24); someone who dreamed of being a missionary to foreign lands but who never left the walls of her convent.  Despite all this—or perhaps because of it—her generous and expansive spirit, captured in her own writings and her articulation of what she called her “little way” to holiness, struck deep chords in Catholics around the world.  There has been a tendency to view Thérèse somewhat sentimentally; touched up photos and art portrays her as too pretty; in fact, she had a compelling face, full of character and a lot of grit. 

Pope Pius XI called her the “greatest saint of the modern church.”  She was put on the fast track to canonization, declared a saint in 1925 only a few years after her death in 1897.  Pius XI made her the patron of missionaries and John Paul II declared her to be a doctor of the church. Thérèse would be amazed at this to be sure.  She considered herself no match for the great and learned saints.  She identified with the children in the gospel whom Jesus embraced. As she noted in her diary:

Sometimes, when I read spiritual treatises in which perfection is shown with a thousand obstacles, surrounded by a crowd of illusions, my poor little mind quickly tires. I close the learned book which is breaking my head and drying up my heart, and I take up Holy Scripture. Then all seems luminous to me; a single word uncovers for my soul infinite horizons; perfection seems simple; I see that it is enough to recognize one’s nothingness and to abandon oneself, like a child, into God’s arms. Leaving to great souls, to great minds, the beautiful books I cannot understand, I rejoice to be little because only children, and those who are like them, will be admitted to the heavenly banquet.

The Scripture readings for today’s liturgy are not specifically paired with this feast but the Response Psalm echoes Thérèse’s spirit of complete trust in God’s love for her:

Hear, O LORD, the sound of my call;
have pity on me, and answer me.
Of you my heart speaks; you my glance seeks.
Your presence, O LORD, I seek.
Hide not your face from me;
do not in anger repel your servant.
You are my helper: cast me not off.
I believe that I shall see the bounty of the LORD
in the land of the living.
Wait for the LORD with courage;
be stouthearted, and wait for the LORD.

And, fittingly, the gospel passage is from Luke’s account of Jesus’ sending out the seventy-two disciples on mission, encouraging them, “The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest.” (Luke 10:1-2).   Thérèse constantly prayed for missionaries and corresponded with some of them.  Her body may have been confined to a small parcel of land but her spirit was world-wide, the spirit of the Gospel.

Her spirit is still alive in the church.  In his encyclical on the environment, Laudato ‘Si, Pope Francis refers to the spirituality of Thérèse as a guide for us in the face of enormous moral challenges such as care for the environment.

Saint Therese of Lisieux invites us to practice the little way of love, not to miss out on a kind word, a smile or any small gesture which sows peace and friendship. An integral ecology is also made up of simple daily gestures which break with the logic of violence, exploitation, and selfishness. In the end, a world of exacerbated consumption is at the same time a world which mistreats life in all its forms. Love, overflowing with small gestures of mutual care, is also civic and political, and it makes itself felt in every action that seeks to build a better world. Love for society and commitment to the common good are outstanding expressions of a charity which affects not only relationships between individuals but also “macro-relationships, social, economic and political ones”. That is why the Church set before the world the ideal of a “civilization of love”. (Laudato ‘Si, par. #230-231).

Thérèse, the cloistered missionary of Lisieux, would be proud!

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.

Scripture:

Job 9:1-12, 14-16
Luke 9:57-62

Reflection:

Quarks and leptons are subatomic particles, the smallest units of matter that we know of.  I sometimes compare myself to a quark, a part of an atom that is a part of a grain of sand in the vast Sahara Desert.  

Scientists tell us there are billions and billions of galaxies in our universe that is billions and billions of years old.  We are each so very, very small in comparison, like a quark.

Job didn’t know about quarks or the size of the universe.  But in the presence of the Infinite Creator, he certainly felt very, very small. Why would God have any concern about him, a creature so insignificant? “If I appealed to him and he answered my call, I could not believe that he would hearken to my words.”

And here we have a paradox.  We as human persons are at the same time so small – and yet so great.  Psalm eight tells us, “You have made the human person little less than the angels and have crowned him with glory and honor” (Psalm 8:5).  Job didn’t know that.  He just knew that the Creator had power far more than he had.

Besides, as baptized followers of Christ, we are made members of the Body of Christ.  It doesn’t get any better than that, a little quark made great by the grace of God.  Job didn’t know that either.

What job knew was how small he was and, eventually, how blessed be was.  He possessed both humility and gratitude.

Realizing our quarky littleness leads us to humility.  And realizing that we share in the life of God leads to gratitude.  We have a lot in common with our little friend Job.

Fr. Alan Phillip, C.P. is a member of the Passionist Community at Mater Dolorosa Retreat Center, Sierra Madre, California.

http://www.alanphillipcp.com/

Feast of Saints Michael, Gabriel and Raphael, archangels

Scripture:

Daniel 7:9-10, 13-14 or Revelation 12:7-12
John 1:47 – 51

Reflection:

Thousands upon thousands were ministering to him, and myriads upon myriads attended him. –Daniel 7:10

Depictions of angels can be found in most specialty shops, catalogs and art stores in the forms of small, medium and large statues, pictures, on prayer cards, garden art and numerous other objects. They can be found in stain glass windows and statuary of the great cathedrals of Europe and around the world. We grow up knowing the guardian angel prayer and hope we haven’t frightened ours off by the time we have “grown up”. In the Catholic faith there are the nine choir of angels beginning with the lowest to highest ranking; Angels, Archangels, Virtues, Powers, Principalities, Dominions, Thrones, Cherubim and Seraphim. In the Church we celebrate the archangels, Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael who are mentioned in both the Old and New Testaments. Michael’s name means, “Who is like God?” We have a prayer calling on St. Michael for protection. This archangel is best known for his battle with evil, as in the Book of Revelation. Gabriel is known as the messenger angel who announced to Mary that she was going to bear God’s Son. Gabriel’s name means, “God is My Strength” and is known as the Archangel of Wisdom, Revelation, Prophecy, and Visions. Raphael’s name means, “Healing Power of God”. We find this Archangel in the book of Tobit. He was sent in an answer to Tobit’s prayers and the prayers of his daughter. In this book of the Old Testament, Raphael is companion, guide, and heals Tobit of his blindness.

In today’s Gospel reading from John, Nathanael has come to see if what Philip said of Jesus is true. He discovers that Jesus knows exactly who he is and so he proclaims that Jesus is the “Son of God”. Jesus’ response is a reflection of Jacob’s ladder with, “you will see the heaven open and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man”. He also seems to be foretelling what will transpire at his Resurrection.

Angels are spiritual beings who assist God with those tasks on earth and in heaven. In the readings today we read that, “Thousands upon thousands were ministering to him, and myriads upon myriads attended him.”(Dn 7:9 – 10) What a sight that must be! All of those spiritual beings tending to God and doing what God commands. As I picture it in my mind’s eye it seems as if Heaven is a very busy place. During the Triduum I have pondered what the angels were doing as Christ went through his Passion, death and Resurrection. I can imagine Michael standing ready with an army of angels, waiting for God’s command. Gabriel watching with great sadness and Raphael wanting to heal broken hearts. And then great joy with Christ’s Resurrection and Ascension. And most likely they too understood the plan that God had in mind and tended to Christ on the day of Resurrection and the Ascension.

Today is a good day to reflect on these Archangels. Read and reflect on your favorite Archangel story and see where God leads you. Maybe a prayer or two to these Archangels might help us out with all of the challenges we are going through these days.

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

Scripture:

Job 9:1-12, 14-16
Luke 9:46-50

Reflection:

We hear in this reading from Book of Job an encounter between Jesus and Satan.  Jesus was confident and proud of his servant Job, his faithfulness and lived faith.  Satan was complaining that the only reason Job was so faithful was that Jesus had given him everything one could ever hope for; healthy children, prosperous crops, ample livestock, all of which made Job a very wealthy and happy man. Satan believed that Job would renounce Jesus if the tide was turned and Job lost everything! Jesus told Satan to go ahead and reign down tragedy on all the things Job possessed and see for himself the outcome. Satan bit the bullet and set about systematically destroying all of Job’s livestock, workers and even his children!  He stopped short of taking Job’s life as Jesus told him not to harm Job.

Job lost all his possessions and his family, but he never lost his faith in the love and generosity of our loving God!  Job could have easily been so wedded to his wealth and possessions that he would turn his back on God and God’s generosity.  Instead, as the faithful servant he was, he was able to proclaim,

“The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away;

Blessed be the name of the LORD!”

Over these many months, we have lived and died with COVID-19, unrest and destruction in our cities, tension all around us as a nation and world.  Our secure lifestyles, employment, health, education, happiness and so many other things that contributed to the ‘good life’ we enjoyed have been compromised!  As people of faith, believing in a generous, loving God, let us ask ourselves, how prone would we be to echo Job’s statement of faith in the wake of this changed and changing lifestyle today?!

In many respects, these past months have brought an awareness of just how blessed we are!  For many of us we enjoy a very privileged life albeit, one we take for granted at times.  Sometimes it seems that we have forgotten our sisters and brothers who have so little!  Last week, our pastor reminded us in his homily, BE GENEROUS! It is so easy to allow our precious ‘things’ to consume us!

It is time to focus less on our wants and more on the needs of others.  We are so preoccupied at times with complaining how inconvenient this pandemic is and longing for everything to get back to ‘normal’!  I am wondering if we can buck up, wear our masks, social distance from others, observe the protocols in place in our churches, schools, cities and neighborhoods with less grumbling and dissent!  YES, it has been a long seven months and YES, we want to gather again in large groups to eat, pray, laugh and cry.  We want to be able to minister to our sick friends and family in person rather than outside their hospital room or home.  We are tired of ZOOM and want to be together in-person, we want to have the freedom to vacation in far off lands or gather with neighbors for a backyard BBQ.

The ‘new normal’ has so many graced moments! The generosity, creativity, tenacity, care and concern for each other by young and old is indeed a blessing!  Educators, pastoral workers, government officials, health care agencies, families are working together to provide relief where needed.  Last week I read an article highlighting the selfless actions of people providing meals, transportation, healthcare, education and social interaction to others in need. 

May we continue to be people of hope and echo the words of the prophet Job,

“The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away;

Blessed be the name of the LORD!”

Theresa Secord recently retired as a Pastoral Associate at St. Agnes Parish, Louisville, Kentucky.

Scripture:

Ezekiel 18:25-28
Philippians 2:1-11
Matthew 21:28-32

Reflection:

I was blessed to work as a Pastoral Associate for a Passionist retreat center in Houston for three years, and I cannot begin to tell you the blessings that came from that position. Let me just clearly state that it was not a job, but a gift. One of our seasons was based on today’s second reading – Phil. 2:1-11. Regard others as more important than yourselves. Do we? Jesus did not just simply take for granted that He was the son of God, but he took the form of a slave, suffered through his Passion, and died on a cross, rising on the third day, as we all know. We also know that he did all of that for us.

One of the common prayers for the Passionists is, “At the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven, on earth, and under the earth, and every tongue confess to the glory of God the Father, that Jesus Christ is Lord.” That prayer is ablaze on my heart, and it is a scripture and prayer that I plan to never forget. Realize that glorious name and the weight of responsibility in it to everyone who speaks it – to everyone who shares it with others – to anyone who lives it.

Today’s gospel reading reminds us that when John went to the people in the way of righteousness, they would not believe him. He says that tax collectors and prostitutes were entering the kingdom ahead of those who thought they were more worthy, that they were more important that the prostitutes and tax collectors. Were they? Of course not! Walk the walk, talk the talk. And so, it goes with the first son saying no, but decides to go – the other says yes, but doesn’t go. I think Matthew wanted people to become aware of their wavering to the call of God, a wavering to their prayers and promises in trusting him and believing him.

So, trust, be obedient, believe and don’t waver, for we know eternity awaits us, and we just can’t be wishy washy when it comes to following Him.

Patty Masson supports the Passionists from Spring, Texas.

Scripture:

Ecclesiastes 3:1-11
Luke 9:18-22

Reflection:

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