Claire Smith

Memorial of Saint Alphonsus Ligouri, Bishop and Doctor of the Church

Scripture:

Jeremiah 26:11-16, 24
Matthew 14:1-12

Reflection:

Today is the feast of Saint Alphonsus Liguori, the 18^th century Founder of the Redemptorists and a great moral theologian.  He is honored as a “doctor” of the church, a title given to the most influential theologians in the church’s history.

The readings today are not selected specifically for this feast but are part of the sequence of readings we happen to encounter in the midst of this summer.  The first readings for many days now have been from the prophets: Amos, Isaiah, Micah, and now Jeremiah; the gospel readings are taken in sequence from the Gospel of Matthew.   Although the convergence is not by design, in fact, both these selections point to a very persistent and challenging motif of the Scriptures—the dangerous role of genuine prophets.

In the reading from Jeremiah, we learn in his own words that people want to kill him for speaking the truth to powerful leaders of Israel: “This man deserves death; he has prophesied against this city, as you have heard with your own ears.”  The threat does not silence Jeremiah.  He is fortified by the realization that what he says to his people is a message from God, even if the cost of delivering it is the loss of his own life.

Jeremiah is spared this time but not so John the Baptist, who also has the role of prophet many centuries later.  John spoke out against the excesses of Herod Antipas’ court, particularly his incestuous marriage with Herodias. In one of the most vivid stories in the gospels, Herod, a corrupt ruler, is infatuated by the dance of Salome, the daughter of Herodias.  The sotted king, overly lavish and vain in his promise to give her whatever she desires, falls into the malicious trap of Herodias who prompts her daughter to ask for the head of John the Baptist on a platter. And thus, the great desert prophet who announced the appearance of Jesus himself gives his life for telling the truth.

In Matthew’s Gospel, the fate of John anticipates the fate of Jesus himself.  Jesus, too, will lose his life for declaring the truth.  Powerful ruling elites and the Roman procurator will conspire to take the life of the Son of God.

We live in a time when telling the truth seems to be under assault in so many corners of our society.  Speaking the truth, especially “speaking truth to power,” as the saying goes, can be dangerous now as it was then.  Most of us will not have a dramatic, public role as a prophet, such as Jeremiah, John the Baptist, and Jesus himself.  But there are times when we, too, must risk speaking the truth—and living the truth—when it may be costly.  Sometimes we must exercise “tough love” when someone we care for is making a serious mistake in their lives.  Sometimes we have to speak up when innocent people are being maligned.  Sometimes we have to shut down, rather than pass on, false and hurtful gossip.  These, too, are prophetic moments that require the courage and integrity of a prophet.

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:

Jeremiah 18:1-6
Matthew 13:47-53

Reflection:

“Like clay in the hand of a potter, so are you in my hand…”

When we think of a potter, we imagine an artist, someone who is taking clay and crafting something beautiful.

In a sense a parent is a potter, trying to raise a child to be good, honest and truthful.  In a sense a teacher is a potter, trying to not only form young minds but also to mold their hearts.  Often friends serve as potters, helping one another shape up and be better.

As a potter, what kind of tools can a parent, teacher or friend use?  Some use fear, threatening punishment.  Some use inspiration, e.g. holding up a saintly grandparent as a good example.  Some use knowledge, teaching values.  Some share experiences, offering insights.  Some use words of encouragement, building up another’s confidence.

One of the best tools a parent, teacher or friend can use, if they want to be a potter, is to lead a child or friend to a deeper spirit of gratitude.  There is transforming power in gratitude.  That is why our central act of worship is the Holy Mass.  At Mass we come to remember, and give thanks.  And it is this gratitude that transforms us.

It is a good practice to write down three things you are grateful for at the end of a day.  Then tomorrow write down three more things, than the next day write down three more things, and on.  Guess what will happen?

“Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life.  It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity.  It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend.  Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow.”  – Melody Beattie

That sure sounds like transformation to me.  God is the potter and we are the clay.  God used parents, teachers, friends, and others to assist him in shaping us into living a consistent attitude of gratitude.  Then, in turn, we become instruments in leading others in giving thanks.  And God’s kingdom becomes more visible – by our smiles.

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 Saint Martha

Scripture: 

1 John 4:7–16
Luke 10:38–42

Reflection:

“God is love, and whoever remains in love remains in God and God in him.”  –1 John 4:16

Growing up in California I would spend some of my time in our, very large Mission fig tree, that was in our backyard. It was very old and its branches were large enough to allow me to recline on them. I had one particular branch that was my favorite. I would climb up and lay back on the branch and watch the sunlight dance between the leaves. It was there that I would ask God many questions in my heart. The one most often asked was, “What is love?” Through my life I have continued to search for the answer and have found it in many ways. Through all of the adventures and experiences of my life I have found that it has many forms and these all come back to its center which is God. Sometimes it is very easy to show love and other times it is difficult. For me, the difficult times is where I really learned about the blessings and graces that come from love.

The first reading from 1 John is a beautiful reflection on love. God loved us enough to send his Son to forgive our sins and all he asks of us in return is to love him and to love one another. How difficult that is at this time in our world. This is one of those times when loving our neighbor as our self can be a challenge. Spending less time reading Facebook posts has helped me not be caught up in the politics of the COVID-19 Virus, Schools reopening, Masks verses no Masks, Riots and all the unrest that remind me of the 1960s and early 1970s. Instead, taking time to reflect as I tend my garden has been the equivalent of laying in my childhood fig tree to gain perspective on life. Once again, this has been a time when I am learning about the blessings and graces that come from love.

In the Gospel reading Martha and Mary are examples of the two types of Christian love. Love shown in the service to others and the love shown to God. This Gospel reading is really about balance. Martha is all upset because she has become so focused on her part that she has forgotten about the other part of serving others. Taking time to be with them and in this case taking time to be with God. Taking time for God to gain perspective on life is an important activity to put into our lives at this time. To find that balance of being Martha and Mary can bring balance back into our lives. With what seems like everything being topsy-turvy, it is balance that we desire. Look for your fig tree today and reflect upon the sunlight dancing through the leaves.

May you and your families stay safe and healthy during these days. Let us continue to pray for our families, friends, country and world.

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

Scripture:

Jeremiah 13:1-11
Matthew 13:31-35

Reflection:

The smallest things can produce the biggest outcomes – today’s gospel shares the parables of the mustard seed and the yeast. Both small, seemingly insignificant items, but items that produce a huge result – the mustard seed will sprout into “a large bush, and the birds of the sky will come and dwell in its branches” (as well as producing even more mustard seed) and the yeast will produce a result quite out of proportion to its size. When yeast is mixed with “three measures of wheat flour”, it produces enough bread to possibly feed one hundred people.

For us, here and now, the kingdom is a place we long for. Our world is different, illness and anger abide for so many reasons and in so many ways, and the peace and joy that were so easy to obtain are a little more difficult to find – unless you know where to look. But, we know that there is joy in the morning! We are breathing, we are alive, and we know that all of our little attempts of easing someone else’s pain, or doing what we can to make this world better, are the little mustard seeds of faith that keep us going.

We await the transformation that Jesus works in us every day. Be that little mustard seed, or  that teaspoon of yeast, to others. Be compassionate, stay formed in the word of God, and for the love of God, be kind to one another. It only takes a little bit of compassion, patience, love, tolerance, joy (insert your favorite word here) to make the difference in someone’s life. May God continue to bless and protect you all.

Patty Masson is a motivational speaker who resides in Spring, Texas.

Scripture:

1 Kings 3:5, 7-12
Romans 8:28-30
Matthew 13:44-52

Reflection:

Who doesn’t admire King Solomon whom we hear about in today’s first reading? We all know his cunning wisdom about the disputed child and ferreting out the true mother. But we don’t always remember his humble beginning as a leader—because it begins with him being humble:

“O Lord, my God, you have made me, your servant, king to succeed my father David; but I am a mere youth, not knowing at all how to act…. Give your servant, therefore, an understanding heart to judge your people and to distinguish right from wrong.” Solomon at that moment knows himself, what he is and what he is yet to be.

When growing up together with my eight brothers and sisters, we on occasion got into trouble. My father would impose a most impossible punishment. He handed us the Bible opened to 1 Corinthians 13:1-13 and told us to memorize the passage on love by the time he took his shower. And we did!

Much later in life, I realized that if I read this most famous of all New Testament passages as if these words referenced me, it would be a simple yet powerful examination of conscience.

The treatise begins by rooting all good deeds and talents in love:

“If I speak in human and angelic tongues but do not have love, I am a resounding gong or a clashing cymbal. And if I have the gift of prophecy and comprehend all mysteries and all knowledge; if I have all faith so as to move mountains but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away everything I own, and if I hand my body over so that I may boast but do not have love, I gain nothing.”

Then this little experiment gets interesting. Try this, wherever you see or read the word “love,” say “I.” Here, let’s try it:

I am patient, I am kind. I am not jealous, I am not pompous, I am not inflated, I am not rude, I do not seek my own interests or am quick-tempered, I do not brood over injury or rejoice over wrongdoing, but I rejoice with the truth. I bear all things, believe all things, hope all things, endure all things.

Now for the sake of conversation, put in the name of Jesus or some other names instead of “I.” Maybe a spouse, a friend, a parent, a teacher, even a political or church leader. What do we learn? It is humbling. This treatise on love is a call to be more loving in very concrete ways. But as Solomon learned, so can I. So can we.

Robert Hotz is a consultant with American City Bureau, Inc. and was the Director of The Passion of Christ: The Love That Compels Campaign for Holy Cross Province.

Scripture:

Jeremiah 3:14-17
Matthew 13:18-23

Reflection:

Understanding the Word

“When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is the one on whom seed was sown beside the road. ^“ MT 13:18

The word understand is sun-istimi  in the original Greek text.  It means to put together primarily by hearing, “to accept something by hearing”   It is used some 26 times in NT   If we don’t accept the word it will be snatched away by the evil one.   We must understand what an awesome gift the word of God is!  We run the terrible risk of it being snatched away us if we are slow to cherish it.  When Jeremiah experienced the word of God he ate it!  “Your words were found and I ate them, And Your words became for me a joy and the delight of my heart;^’”    He literally placed the word in his being!  That is what you call sun-istimi !

“After Jesus called the crowd to Him, He said to them, “Hear and understand.”  See how anxious Jesus is that His word is digested. Notice He just doesn’t say hear, but also understand!   One way we can understand His word is by carefully listening.  I think for most of us listening is one of the hardest things in life for us to do!   How often we feel that others really don’t understand us.  Solomon prayed  ““ So give Your servant an understanding heart” 1 K 3:9  Actually, the word in Hebrew is a listening (šāmaʿ) heart.  Our understanding of God’s word has to have a lot of heart in it!

Understanding the Word is an intimate experience of God.  If we make our interest in Scripture only an academic endeavor it will soon become lifeless.   Listening with the heart is a love affair with God!

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

Scripture:

Jeremiah 2:1-3, 7-8 12-13
Matthew 13:10-17

Reflection:

In our Gospel reading from Matthew, Jesus answers the disciples’ question: “Why do you speak to them in parables?” His reply, quoting Isaiah, seems rathe harsh: “Gross is the heart of this people, they will hardly hear with their ears, they have closed their eyes, lest they see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their hearts and be converted, and I heal them.”

What’s challenging about this is that besides the Gospel reading for tomorrow, in which Jesus explains the Parable of the Sower, there are few instances where the parables are explained. So, we, too, are spoken to in parables. Does this mean that we have been judged as hard-hearted, obstinately blind and deaf to what is going on?

I think it’s important to remember that not only do we have the parables, we also have other words that Jesus spoke, and perhaps even more importantly, we have the things that Jesus did. We have the gift of the Holy Spirit, and all the ways that God blesses us and speaks to us today.

And perhaps it can be said that even though we can be at times exasperatingly dense when it comes to understanding the Gospel message, especially with regards to forgiveness and mercy, God doesn’t completely shut the door on us. The parables may be God’s way of leaving the door open for us. If we are willing to open our eyes and our ears, and learn from the parables, we can continue to grow in understanding: “To anyone who has, more will be given and he will grow rich…”

May we not be like the people of whom Jeremiah speaks in our first reading, who turned their backs on God. May we not persist in closing our eyes and ears, as we heard in Jesus’ quote from Isaiah. Instead, may we let God into our hearts and be healed.

Fr. Phil Paxton, C.P., is the local superior of the Passionist Community in Birmingham, Alabama.

Feast of Saint Mary Magdalene

Scripture:

Song of Songs 3:1-4b or 2 Corinthians 5:14-17
John 20:1-2, 11-18

Reflection:

When I think about the liturgical readings for the day, I imagine being 17 again, a junior at our Warrenton Seminary.   We’ve just returned from an afternoon of P.E. and outdoor rec, showers, clean clothes, then a hurried walk down the glistening halls to the sacristy where we slip cassocks over our heads and glide into the darkened chapel. The only light comes from the sun’s last rays beaming through the gold, West facing windows high above our heads. A quick genuflection towards the tabernacle, then we take our kneeling seats surrounding the wooden altar.

Fr. Randal Joyce, CP, would have provided spiritual reading for that long-ago afternoon, but today I have the gospel of John, 20th chapter, which tells us of Mary Magdalen and her journey to the tomb on that first Easter Sunday.  While we greet the story like an old friend, other thoughts intrude like bubbles breaking a serene surface…

She goes to Christ’s tomb after His Passion, death and burial, only to find it is empty.   As Mary stands in the cemetery garden, broken hearted and crying, she is addressed by a man whom she mistakes as the gardener.  When she realizes it is Christ, she stutteringly calls to Him, “Teacher.”  He replies with one simple word; “Mary.”

Even through the centuries the tenderness of that single response resonates within us and gives us to understand Christ’s deep love for her, s love reinforced with the knowledge that she is the first disciple He appears to after His resurrection.   We know that Peter felt threatened by her relationship with Christ. Later church leaders likewise felt so threatened by her knowledge and understanding of Christ that Pope Gregory in 591 sought to present her not as a cherished follower, but as a prostitute seeking Our Lord’s forgiveness, a false assessment still alive in our Church today.

How often have I been less than kind towards someone I felt jealous of?  How often have I let anger touch my heart when someone else has been unkind to me? Have I sought to take credit for someone else’s work or been angered when they might have taken credit for my labor?     Teach me, Lord, to know your Love.  To banish this anger and jealousy which is nothing but a lack of true understanding of Your Love.

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.