Claire Smith

Scripture:

2 Timothy 4:10-17b
Luke 10:1-9

Reflection:

The kingdom of God is at hand…

Jesus sets his sights on Jerusalem; his earthly journey is coming to an end.  He sends out the seventy in pairs to go ahead of him to every town and place he intends to visit.  Don’t bring any baggage with you, shake from your feet any anger, resistance or judgment that you may encounter.  Stay focused on me, bringing my peace to all you meet.  Don’t entertain the opinions, perceptions or expectations of skepticism, judgment, fear.  Embody my love, be my presence, meet them where they are at and invite them to love.  Stay long enough to develop a relationship with yourselves and with my Father.

Is that not what we are all called to as baptized Christians, as disciples, to go out together, stay focused on Jesus and develop relationships of love.  Shake off any perceptions, any judgments, any opinions we may have formed and make a place for love, for openness to the other, for encountering the other and the Lord.

It seems that when we are able to do that, miracles happen – the sick can be healed, truth can be heard, and we can begin to build the kingdom of God that Jesus reminded us begins now not after our life on earth!

Faith Offman is the Associate Director of Ministry at St. Paul of the Cross Passionist Retreat and Conference Center in Detroit, Michigan.

Scripture:

Romans 2:1-11
Luke 11:42-46

Reflection:

Luke’s gospel is the Gospel of Peace, Prayer, Power and Possession.  Luke asserts that possessions or wealth are not evil in themselves, but are a responsibility.  He uses parables and stories to illustrate this conviction.  This is the Gospel of the Lost Sheep, the Lost Drama, and the Dishonest Stewart, etc. In this periscope Luke starts and ends with the phrase there was a certain man…”  In verse 14.  Jesus posits that the Pharisees were “Lovers of Money.”  He carefully selects the character of the Dishonest Stewart.  Technically, a “Steward” is a “keeper of the pig sty.”  There is no position lower than this for a Jew!  As we have been told in the “Parable of the Prodigal Son.”

In the early Christian Community critics questioned Jesus’ divinity when Jesus used “questionable characters” as models for discipleship.  In other words, these characters weren’t strong enough to dig, or humble enough to beg. Their tenure is marked by incompetency and flagrant dishonesty.  So they marshalled their skills by cooking the absentees’ landowners’ books to benefit themselves. Luke allows us to listen to the “internal dialogue” the Steward has with himself.

The Dishonest Stewart does not have any “self-pity”, he faces the facts and takes action to insure his future is comfortable. God’s Son, Jesus, was sent into the world to establish the reality of things.  His disciples was to “leave the lie and embrace the truth.”  Jesus is saying “be decisive in your discipleship. No one knows the day or the hour when the absentee landowner will show up!”  St. Ambrose tells us “it is the bosom of the poor, the houses of widows, and the mouths of the children that are the barns that will last forever.”

I know a couple who had a conversation that said that they had more money than they needed.  So they decided to keep a portion of their fortune to take care of themselves.  The rest of their holdings were divided among their four children.  The thinking was why wait to give their children the inheritance after they have died.  Why not give this money to help their children who could use it now rather than after their deaths. And as the story goes: “They lived happily ever after.”

Fr. Ken O’Malley, C.P., is a member of the Passionist Community at Sacred Heart Monastery in Louisville, Kentucky.

Scripture:

2 Kings 5:14-17
2 Timothy 2:8-13
Luke 17:11-19

Reflection:

Our Gospel reading for Sunday (Luke 17:11-19) relates an encounter between Jesus and ten lepers. They beg Jesus to help them, and Jesus does. But only one of them comes back to thank Jesus, and Jesus takes note of this: “Ten were cleansed, were they not? Where are the other nine? Has none but this foreigner returned to give thanks to God?” The one who came back was a Samaritan, not a Jew.

I know the main lesson from this Gospel is to be grateful, but I found myself going back to the point that at least one of the lepers was a Samaritan. Samaritans and Jews had nothing to do with each other, but apparently, when all these lepers were suffering not only physically, but also the emotional toil of being outcast, the differences didn’t seem to matter much.

Thinking about this led me to reflect on an episode of American history I knew nothing about until I took a course on American history between the wars in college. The episode was the Veterans’ Bonus March on Washington in the early 1930’s. The country was in the throes of the Great Depression. Veterans of WWI were promised a bonus that was going to be paid in 1945. But considering the situation, they marched on Washington, hoping to get the bonus then. They set up shacks and lobbied Congress to get the bonus. Meanwhile, President Hoover and the Army felt they needed to remove the marchers, and two of the veterans were killed. It was not a great day in American history. But one of the remarkable things that happened was that white and black veterans, who were not allowed to serve together, were together in Washington. Their common plight seemed to overcome the barriers between them.

This past Monday, we celebrated a “Green Mass” at Holy Family. Parishioners from Holy Family, St. Mary’s, and St. Joseph, attended, as well as many visitors. The Mass was bilingual, and I was struck by the diversity of the people there, brought together by our faith and our care for “our common home.”

I wonder if any of this kind of thinking crossed the lepers’ minds. Did seeing those in their group, who were different, suffer as they did, change their minds about them? Were the Jews in the group able to recognize the humanity of the Samaritan? And vice versa? Would they look with horror again when they saw a leper now? Or would they think twice before they assumed the person deserved it?

I’m beginning to think that this is a crucial time to be a Passionist. Meditating on the Cross of Christ can lead us, if we’re willing, to have compassion for others. Can we hold on to our hatreds and prejudices if we see that others, as different as they may be, are carrying crosses, just like us?

Being grateful reminds us that we do not do the good that we do on our own. If we know how much we rely on God, can we really condemn each other? God has lifted us up over and over again. In gratitude and with compassion, may we lift each other up.

Fr. Phil Paxton, C.P., is a member of the Passionist Community in Birmingham, Alabama. 

Scripture:

Joel 4:12-21
Luke 11:27-28

Reflection:

Each day this week, our Liturgy has opened with this prayer: “Father, your love for us surpasses all our hopes and desires!” I really did not pay attention to what I was praying until I was working on this meditation. I just sat and thought about that.

From the words of Jesus we hear today, I offer a brief meditation on hearing the Word of God and observing it. In other words, doing something, today, with that Word which comes from God. And making this our deliberate intention.

First, it is a matter of accepting a belief that takes us beyond our control (another way of describing pure faith). It is the belief that Jesus Christ has taken flesh in us through our Baptism. “Give me your body. Let me join myself to you to continue my human presence, my human ministry on earth in partnership with you.”

I have to work daily in some conscious way (a habit) to remind myself that Jesus Himself is speaking to me through this Word that I am pondering. I have to believe in his human presence in order to recognize and experience Him in my interactions with others. I have to realize that beyond coincidence, luck, or accidents, there is a reason in God’s providence for what is happening to me, through me, or in spite of me!

That is the “good news.” Because God took flesh in Jesus and became a human being in our midst, we can still encounter Him and deal with Him humanly each day.

Secondly, I have to make a positive intention to deal humanly with Jesus ourselves. We have to spend time with Him the way we do with our friends, think about his words as we think about the word of anyone who is important to us. (We do pay attention to them, don’t we?) And, do concrete, physical things to show Him our love. That is, treat Jesus like a human being.

Yes, Jesus Christ has actually taken flesh in each one of us today. Take time each day in reflective prayer to see how the smallest, seemingly insignificant occurrence comes to us, compliments of Christ in our life.

Father, your love for us surpasses all our hopes and desires!

Fr. Alex Steinmiller, C.P., is a member of the Passionist Community in Detroit, Michigan.

Scripture:

Joel 1:13-15; 2:1-2
Luke 11:15-26

Reflection:

“But if it is by the finger of God that I drive out demons, then the King of God has come upon you.”

What was the Good News that Jesus proclaimed during his lifetime?  Simply this: The Kingdom of God.  In Jesus, the Kingdom of God has begun among us.  In Luke chapter 4, Jesus announces that he is the fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah: “The spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.  He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners, and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” (Lk 4:18-19).  Jesus performs these miracles to signal that the Kingdom of God has broken into this world.

Jesus had just healed a man who was mute but who now could speak.  Yet some accused Jesus of casting out demons “by the power of Beelzebul, the prince of demons” (Lk 15).

Jesus responded that it is by God’s power that he drives out demons to reveal that “the Kingdom of God has come upon you” (Lk 4:20).  Even so, they cannot, or will, not see this new thing that God is doing among people.  Their willful blindness prevents them from perceiving the transforming powers of God in Jesus.

Jesus was sent to proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom of God, the news that God is vanquishing evil and establishing his active rule over his creation.  The Kingdom of Satan is being replaced by the Kingdom of God.  The full establishment of God’s reign lies in the future, but it is already being inaugurated through Jesus.

Jesus is Messiah of word and action.  With his ascension, he now sends us, his disciples, to announce the Good News of the Kingdom through healing, forgiveness, compassion, and in love for one another.  God is doing a new thing in us.  Can we see it?  Can we perceive it?

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

Scripture:

Malachi 3:13-20b
Luke 11:5-13

Reflection:

I grew up believing that the purpose of prayer was to change God’s mind. If I wanted something, I had to be so convinced about why it made sense for God to give it to me and so persistent in asking that I would wear God down or make God realize my argument was irrefutable. If I could do that, I would get it. In other words, God was a kind of Santa Claus – holding the bag of toys and giving them out to those deemed worthy, denying them to others, and able to be persuaded by someone who made a good case for themselves.

As I’ve matured as a person and in my faith, I find that even though the Santa view remains amazingly prominent in Catholicism, I no longer believe it. I do not believe we pray in order to change God’s mind about anything. God always wants what is good for me and never withholds offering it freely. Instead, I pray to change me. I pray in order to allow God to work in me and transform me. I pray to be freed from unhealthy desires, to recognize God’s will and workings in my life, and to be soft and receptive enough to accept what God is trying so hard to give.

Jesus does teach persistence in prayer and says that those who ask will receive. But notice what he says they will get. He says that even more than a father would give his son good things, so much more will God give the Holy Spirit to those who ask. He does not say God will give wealth, physical healing, a sports team win, or whatever the petitioner requests. That’s a very different premise.

So I’ve realized that God will never give me everything I want. (Darn it!) Instead, God will give me everything I need. God will give me patience, strength, peace, wisdom, knowledge, sensitivity, perseverance, faith, and more. God will give me the Holy Spirit. When I open myself to pray and allow God to work, God molds me into a better person. In fact, I often end up surrendering whatever I was so certain I wanted, because God knows what is best anyway, and I can trust that.

Remember, Jesus certainly didn’t have everything that someone in his day would want. But he had the Spirit of God alive within him, and every time he prayed, he deepened in relationship to the Abba God who loved him and sustained him. That is what allowed him to be effective, healing, strong, and prophetic. That is what gave him what he needed to endure suffering, betrayal and death.

That is what prayer is all about. It is not a laundry list of “give-me” requests. It is a deepening in relationship so that I can become ever more like Christ. When I ask for that, I will most surely receive.

Amy Florian is a teacher and consultant working in Chicago.  For many years she has partnered with the Passionists.  Visit Amy’s website: http://www.corgenius.com/.