Claire Smith

Scripture:

Acts 14:21-27
Revelation 21:1-5a
John 13:31-33a, 34-35

Reflection:

“I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another. This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
-John 13:34 – 35

Those of us who love Broadway musicals usually rave over Fiddler on the Roof. One the more memorial scenes takes place when Tevye, the main character, a peasant Russian Jew with daughters to marry off, realizes that the old ways of arranging marriages are not working. The daughters want to marry for love. As he talks over this unheard-of demand from his daughters with his wife, Golde, he asks her, “Do you love me?” Golde’s response resonates with many of us. She does not answer with a simple yes or no. She answers like so many of us would do. She lists the things she does for him every day, day in and day out, normal things, difficult things, even putting up with his faults. At the end, she says, “I suppose so.”

St. Paul, writing to the Romans, says, “Owe nothing to anyone, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.” (Romans 13:8) We all get it. “Love” as taught by Jesus and the Church is at the heart of our Christian life. It is the foundation of our Spiritual life. It is the basis of our ethical and moral life. No one has to interpret what Jesus says, “I give you a new commandment: love one another.” And to even bring more clarity, he continues, “As I love you, love one another.”

Only if it were so easy to love as Jesus loves! Jesus loves us unconditionally. We generally love with conditions and strings attached. Jesus shows us how to love. We generally love selectively. Jesus expresses his love for us by dying on the cross for the forgiveness of sins. We struggle to connect love and forgiveness in real life. Loving others as Jesus loves is hard!

It is easy to look at real life as it unfolds and describe the realities of hate, exclusion, hoarding, unjust treatments of human beings, the passion of the earth, hateful words, lies that cover up crimes, homicides and genocides. Every time we make an examination of conscious, our list grows. Even the ones who say they make Jesus the center of their lives find themselves despising, dividing, lying, cheating (the list could go on), in plain sight. Loving others as Jesus loves us is hard!

Just because it’s difficult doesn’t mean that we are to give up. When Jesus gave us the new commandment to love one another as he loves, he also gave us the resources we need to love one another as he commands. While we love as individuals, we belong to a community. The more we embrace the communities that we are members of, the more connected we are to the whole of humanity, the whole of creation. One Creator means one creation, and God is our common bond. The worshipping community, the Word of God, the Sacraments and all of the other sources of grace that surround us is what makes our commitment to love possible.

We can love the way Jesus loves because God has loved us first! Love is our redemption.

Fr. Clemente Barrón, C.P. is a member of Mater Dolorosa Community in Sierra Madre, California. 

Scripture:

Acts 13:26-33
John 14:1-6

Reflection

In reflecting on today’s gospel, the late Passionist priest and renowned scripture scholar, Carroll Stuhlmueller, wrote: “We are always on the way, seeking and looking beyond where we are, following a hope.” Fr. Stuhlmueller reminds us that to be human is to be on a journey. We are not idle tourists, flitting from one thing to the next, unsure of who we are or where we are headed, but pilgrims “following a hope,” men and women seeking the fullness of life with God. In perhaps the most trustworthy words in the gospel, Jesus says to every one of us: “I am the way and the truth and the life.” There are many possible paths we could pursue, many ways we could wander, but if we follow Christ we will not be deceived, and we will not be disappointed because Jesus is both the end of our journey and the way to that end. By walking with him—learning from him and doing our best to imitate his attitudes and his actions—we shall reach the end for which we hope. In fact, if we live both with and in Christ, we are already experiencing something of the joy that awaits us.

If the gospel shows us the path we must follow to the fullness of life, the passage from Acts tells us that as we make our way we should share with others the hope that inspires and guides our lives. We do that by seizing every opportunity to witness Christ every day. Paul tells those assembled in the synagogue in Antioch in Pisidia that he is “proclaiming this good news to you.” Like Paul, we know the good news that has come to us in Christ, the good news of God’s infinite love, mercy, and compassion. We are not to hoard this gospel of life but pass it on. The best way to do so is to live as Jesus did by seeking justice and peace, and by being sacraments of God’s love, mercy, and compassion to every person we encounter.

Paul J. Wadell is Professor Emeritus of Theology & Religious Studies at St. Norbert College in De Pere, Wisconsin, and a member of the extended Passionist family.

Scripture:

Acts 12:24-13:5a
John 12:44-50

Reflection:

“I came into the world as light, so that everyone who believes in me might not remain in darkness.” These powerful words from today’s Gospel give us pause to reflect on light and darkness and good and evil in the world around us. As we pause, let us consider what happens when there is an absence of light. In a true absence of light we have no vision at all, we cannot see where we are going or where we have been, there is much anxiety, trepidation and caution, the mysteries of the dark are very unsettling and fearful to us, and we can say the same for any place where we sense an absence of good.

All that is good in the world comes from our Savior, Jesus Christ and all that is bad or evil comes from the prince of darkness. Each of us has a choice in whom we should follow of whom we should believe. When we follow temptation we lean toward the evil one; when we resist temptation, we lean toward our savior and the one who sent him. Jesus is pleading with us to make noble choices, to follow good and avoid evil, to take the narrow path that leads to salvation while avoiding the path of least resistance that can lead to ruin.

The good path, the high path, the narrow path is the path of a virtuous life it is the path of life and one who finds it finds a treasure.

Of course, this is a very simplistic way of looking at our lives day to day, but if we look at our lives, the choices that we make each day and break them down hour by hour day by day, it does become more simplistic. When we put our trust in Christ and the one who sent him, we become a beacon in a dark world, we become Christ-like in our own humble way and we become the light to lead a friend, a neighbor, even an enemy to the virtuous path. But the same is true when we turn our backs on Christ and venture into the dark, when we become distracted, when we follow the whims of the world when we follow the prince of darkness, and we find ourselves on the dark path. But the beauty of our faith and our role as people of God is the reality that all we have to do is believe and ask our savior to show us the way and that twinkling light, that beacon will find us and bring us to safe harbors.

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

Scripture:

Acts 1:15-17, 20-26
John 15:9-17

Reflection:

There are those moments that amaze in the way they deepen an experience.  Prayers and scripture responded to as if we are hearing them for the first time.   Cracked open, as in a tomb, to have a new light revealed.

This morning such a moment occurred as the words of the doxology of the Eucharistic prayer rose with an outpouring of tears as I was praying with today’s gospel reflecting on Jesus’ words to His disciples.  “Remain in my love.”

The moment in Mass when we all seem to kneel a little straighter.  When young parents turn to gather their scattered children onto the kneelers, sometimes placing their arms around them whispering or watching in silence as the priest raises the chalice and paten with the hosts held high and prays these words,

“Through him, and with him, and in him,
O God, almighty Father,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
all glory and honor is yours
forever and ever.”

This morning those words arrived in my heart as an Easter exaltation extolling the restoration of the relational balance between God and all of His creation.   An exaltation we have the opportunity to celebrate and grow into each day as we learn to make our lives our living offering.  To become a true expression of His outpouring of Mercy and Love itself.

We are the prodigal sons and daughters always trying to find our way home.  Welcomed home, and loved through the outstretched arms of His Son on the cross.  No longer orphaned, not left abandoned, but accompanied through our Eucharistic union, communion with Jesus, every step of the way.

Jesus, the gateway, in our eternal relationship with the Triune God.  A relationship restored through His Passion, death and resurrection.   Jesus, the Shepherd, held in the hands of our shepherds at the consecration, bringing us home continually to the Father.

Christ spent His life and death, showing us, and paving the way to witness life lived in the fullness of the Father’s Love.  And yet how often do I find myself still seeking, searching, questioning the “how” as if I have not been gifted sufficient answers.

May we know that it is through His Love and Mercy.   Love and mercy, His enduring answer, to living out His commandment.    “Love one another as I love you.”

M. Walsh, a retreatant and friend of the Passionist community writing in deep gratitude for the charism and vocations of this community.