Claire Smith

Scripture:

Exodus 32:7-11, 13-14
1 Timothy 1:12-17
Luke 15:1-10

Reflection:

Today’s liturgical readings provide us with a theme that is constant throughout Holy Scripture. And that is that our God is a merciful God! Our Holy Father Pope Francis has such an appreciation for this that he dedicated an entire year to it, the jubilee year of mercy of 2015 and 2016. He called this Jubilee year a time when the witness of believers might grow stronger and more effective,” he went on to say, “It is a time to bear the weakness and struggle of our brothers and sisters.” When he began the year of Mercy, Pope Francis issued a letter entitled “Misericordia Vultus”, The Face of Mercy and it can be summed up in 10 words, “Blessed are the Merciful for they will be shown Mercy.” (The 5^th Beatitude) And in the 6^th Chapter of Luke Our Lord issues a daunting challenge to us all, “Be Merciful as your heavenly Father is Merciful.”

When we look to today’s readings we realize just how daunting a task it is to be Merciful as our Heavenly Father is Merciful. From Exodus we find that God is perturbed, in fact He practically disowns the Israelites as He describes them to Moses as ‘Your people’. “Go down at once to your people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt. But His Mercy always outweighs His punishment as He proves that He will listen, as Moses bargains with Him as he pleads, “Why, O Lord should your wrath blaze up against your own people?” “So the Lord relented in the punishment he had threatened to inflict on his people.” Notice now they are ‘his’ people again!

Then we go on to read of God’s great joy and mercy in finding the ‘one’ lost sheep, the ‘one’ lost coin, the ‘one’ lost sinner, the ‘one’ lost son. All are returned to great rejoicing. Alleluia!

So why is it that we have so much trouble being merciful as our heavenly Father is merciful? When someone offends us it quite often takes weeks, months, even years to forgive them. Why can’t we be merciful as our heavenly Father is merciful? Why can’t we leave the 99 sheep to recover our relationship with the one that has offended us? Why can’t we be like the Father in the parable of the Prodigal son as he runs out to his son that has been found! We should strive to do as our Holy Father has asked us to do, “it is time to bear the weakness and struggle of our brothers and sisters.” It is time to show Mercy. It is time to relieve our neighbors of their great misery. The Latin word for Mercy is Misericordia, Miseri for misery and Cordia for heart.

So, there is Mercy when Misery finds a Heart! So let us have an enlarged heart that matches the Misery in our neighbors heart, let us be merciful in order that we may shown Mercy, let us find the lost coin, the lost sheep, the lost sinner in order that there will be rejoicing in Heaven and let us see the Face of Mercy in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!

Deacon James Anderson is the Administrator at Holy Name Passionist Retreat Center in Houston, Texas.

Scripture:

Colossians 2:6-15
Luke 6:12-19

Reflection:

I’ve been trying to improve my posture at the behest of my physical therapist. When I concentrate, I do fine, but the next thing I know I’m slouched over as my muscles return to their familiar position.  St. Paul warned that the familiar is oddly comforting and incredibly easy to fall back into, even if it is destructive. He especially charged us not to be seduced by human philosophies that our discipleship has already stripped from us, and instead to do the hard and conscious work of remaining alive in Christ.

I think of this when I hear news of the recent horrific shootings and attacks against Hispanics, Muslims, immigrants, and asylum-seekers. Part of that is familiar. Growing up in rural Iowa, our town was 100% Catholic and 100% white. Instead of being taught that all people are children of the same God and part of my own family, I was taught that outsiders, Protestants, people with colored skin, or those not “like me” were dangerous and should be shunned.

Now that I reside in the Chicago area, I live, work, and regularly encounter those of other races, religions, and cultures, and I know my upbringing was wrong. I consciously choose to be open, accepting, curious, generous, and kind, and I am amazed at the common humanity that binds us all together. Yet I catch myself. I have to constantly examine my unintended reactions when, for instance:

• The person on the phone has a non-European foreign accent
• I drive into a neighborhood populated by another race or culture
• I see a woman wearing a burqa
• A young black man wearing a hoodie and low-slung jeans walks toward me on the street

Your list is likely different than mine, but all of these situations trigger emotions inside of me that I work and pray I can understand and eliminate. It is all too easy to succumb to the emotions, to go back to what once was familiar. But that is not the way of Christ. Jesus reached out to all, and especially to the immigrant, marginalized, poor, and hurting people of his day. God needs my voice to keep fighting the seductive human philosophies of power, superiority, and cruelty that would denigrate, cause suffering to, or kill these precious children of God. This is not what Jesus would do. In fact, it is against everything Jesus taught, stood for, and died for. May God help me to stand straight and tall in the Gospel, and live in a way that is true to our Christian calling.

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/.

Scripture:

Colossians 1:24-2:3
Luke 6:6-11

Reflection:

Paul the Mystic Tackles a Practical Question

Each week a pop-up on my computer suggests five top picks among weekend events taking place in the city. This week a video sampling of one of the music groups shows people searching and discovering beautifully decorated musical instruments hidden in a lush, jungle landscape, where they are making lovely music. The Museum of Fashion offers an exhibit of styles from Paris. There is a commemoration of 9/11 with a ritual for peace and healing.

There is a lot to nourish the spirit in the city. Searching and the joy of finding; peace and healing; presenting ourselves to others and the significance of our bodily presence.

Grammar school just opened and I joined a class walking to the public chapel of the monastery where there was exposition of the Blessed Sacrament. The classes will visit for a short time to pray in silence, sitting in the quiet. The focus of everyone was on the host held in the monstrance. In the line of vision behind the host is the large wooden crucifix which hangs on the wall.

The day will end in the parish with an evening Mass. Those who come will brave the sideswipe of hurricane Dorian with some rain and a messy drive. The Friday evening Mass gathers those offering prayer for the needs of the sick, as well as peace for loved ones who have died and comfort for those who mourn their passing. Those who come are not easily deterred by the weather because of the importance of their mission.

Paul’s letter to the Colossians went to people Paul had never met, but people like each of us, products of ‘Deep Time’. This is the name of the exhibit at the Smithsonian in Washington about our body through time, and the vast tree of created beings, the result of 3.7 billion years of evolution. The exhibit does not talk about our spiritual being. Yet even being made from dust, the psalmist proclaims in Psalm 8, “O Lord, our Lord, how glorious is your name over all the earth! When I behold your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars which you set in place – what is man that you should be mindful of him?”

The Colossians have welcomed the Good News preached to them. They also have a question. How did Jesus fit into their lives, how does Jesus fit into this world through which they walk each day. Paul the mystic says tells them, “Christ is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of all creatures. In him everything was created; all were created through him and for him. It pleased God to make absolute fullness reside in him…to reconcile everything in his person, everything, I say, on earth and in the heavens, making peace through the blood of his cross.”

We have our questions, we search, we peer at the horizon. Christ in us is our hope of glory. We share this wonderful mystery it is not lessened even in suffering. How marvelous our moment in Deep Time, using talents or performing, contemplating or offering our prayers, even suffering, we are bringing Christ to completion in one another.

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

Scripture:

Wisdom 9:13-18b
Philemon 9-10, 12-17
Luke 14:25-33

Reflection:

School is in session and Jesus is the teacher

Jesus is teaching us in today’s readings on what it takes to become his disciple and he also teaches that you cannot be his disciple if you do certain things. As a teacher I know that you cannot be a good student unless you are ready to learn. Teachers can teach all they want but if the ground is not fertile the seeds of wisdom will not flourish. Throughout Jesus life, school was in session and He was the teacher. All He wanted was some good students. He performed miracles, He taught parables, He led by example and He spoke with authority.

What does it take to be a disciple of Jesus? A couple of weeks ago, we learned it takes discipline, a word derived from the same Latin root, disciplina, which means teaching or instruction. A new school year has just begun for many of us. What an appropriate time to act as a student, eager to learn what it takes to follow the Lord. Are you willing to be the pupil? School is in session today and Jesus is the teacher.

Today’s lessons are not easy. Wisdom acknowledges that God’s ways cannot be understood through human thought. There’s that leap of faith every good student must have to follow Jesus and be his disciple. Jesus, explaining what it takes to follow him, repeatedly frames the requirements as “whoever does not…cannot be my disciple.” These are the don’ts of being a good disciple. As we listen today, let us find hope in our mission as Christ’s twenty-first-century disciples. School is in session today and Jesus is the teacher.

Jesus called Simon Peter after filling his net on an otherwise fruitless evening of fishing. Having witnessed this miracle, Peter and his partners immediately left their families and jobs to follow Jesus. Jesus is now teaching by miracles. Then his teaching method switches and he teaches through the example of others. Jesus encourages would-be disciples to follow the examples of a tower builder and an army leader, each of whom deliberates at length before reaching a practical conclusion. We may be bowled over by a miracle, but it is more likely we will follow based on practical considerations. Jesus asks us to consider the practical question: is it more important to accumulate possessions or to follow the One who opened the way to eternal life? School is in session today and Jesus is the teacher.

Interestingly, each statement Jesus makes about discipleship he phrases negatively, ending with “…cannot be my disciple.” Jesus is aware that the demands of discipleship are not likely to be accepted. Jesus is challenging us to do what seems impossible, spurning one’s family, one’s possessions, one’s comfort, even one’s own life. The great teacher is now teaching through what it means to not be his disciple.

A few Sundays ago, we heard Jesus say that he would divide family members against each other (Luke 12:52-53). Now he tells the crowd that his disciples must hate their families (14:26). Is Jesus really anti-family? No, He is not anti-family, this is an old Semitic Idiom, which means He is more important. Perhaps He just wants to redefine “family.” Look at Onesimus in the second reading. Seen as a slave, he was excluded from Philemon’s family. But Paul is encouraging and positive, speaking of the conversion of someone who was once a slave, but is now a brother and partner. So Paul urges Philemon to welcome Onesimus as a partner and brother as well. Families are wonderful, but the Christian family can be so much more. Perhaps it’s not the members of one’s family Jesus is criticizing, but our narrow concept of “family.” School is in session today and Jesus is the teacher.

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.