Claire Smith

Scripture:

Luke 19:28-40
Isaiah 50:4-7
Philippians 2:6-11
Luke 22:14-23:56

Reflection:

Each year we are invited to cross a very special threshold that takes us from the holy season of Lent to a week of special holy time that we traditionally call Holy Week.  This is passing from prayer, fasting, and almsgiving to an entire week of deep immersion into the mystery of the Passion and death of our Lord, Jesus Christ, the unblemished Lamb of God who offers his life for the salvation of all.

Holy Week begins with the special Sunday we celebrate today, once called Palm Sunday, but more appropriately known as Passion Sunday.  With the solemn reading of the Passion narrative, we encounter Jesus in those last profound days and events of his earthly life.

First, we bless the palms and imagine the throngs of people who stand waving their palm branches and shouting hosanna, hosanna to the one who comes in the name of the Lord!  We can only imagine the excitement and joy, a thrilling moment that will barely last as long as it takes to ride the donkey through the city gates!  And who is the object of these hosannas?  Are they cries to the one who gives sight to the blind, and cures the lame, and brings life to those who have died?  Do the crowds shout jubilantly for the one who can turn water into wine and multiply loaves of bread and fish into more than enough to feed even thousands?  Yet, when the hosannas have died down and the Lord’s own anointed stands before Pilate accused of all kinds of wrongdoing, where are all those jubilant voices?  Will they cry out in support and love for the one who will be condemned to death by crucifixion?  And where will they be when Jesus carries his cross to certain death on Calvary?  So much for the adulation of crowds who love being in the winner’s circle, associated with only the best!

Instead, dear friends, our entrance into Holy Week is an entrance into the suffering and death of Jesus himself.  And it is during this holy week of special days that we are invited to come to know Jesus in his sacred Passion.  St. Paul tells us that Jesus emptied himself in obedience to the Father and that, because of this, every knee must bend at the very mention of his holy name.  But if we walk during this week with Jesus we will hear how he is cursed and ridiculed, blasphemed and defiled.  Are we willing to stand with him, to carry our crosses as he carried his own?  This is a very special time, indeed.  How wonderful it would be if you and your spouse, or with your children or grandchildren, could take a little extra time to read the Passion story and to talk together about what it means.  Wouldn’t it be wonderful if you could think about Holy Thursday and how Jesus gave us the great gift of himself in the Holy Eucharist, along with the profound example of how we are all called to wash each other’s feet, to care for the poor and the crucified around us?  This is truly a Holy Week, a sacred time when one and all are invited to more intimately know Jesus Christ and him Crucified.

Fr. Pat Brennan, C.P. is the director of Saint Paul of the Cross Passionist Retreat and Conference Center, Detroit, Michigan.

Scripture:

Ezekiel 37:21-28
John 11:45-56

Reflection:

Have you ever walked into a room and felt the tension held within that space? I get the same feeling every time we get to this Gospel. We do not hear from Jesus directly, but we do hear the conversation going on in secret. Since he had raised Lazarus from the dead, more people came to believe. This was causing great concern to the chief priests and the Pharisees and they convened the Sanhedrin. Sanhedrin, translated means, sitting together or an assembly comprised of either twenty-three or seventy-one rabbis appointed to sit as tribunal in every city in ancient Israel. Jesus was on trial for his life as a result of his final sign which paradoxically brought Lazarus back to life. He could not walk about openly (v. 54). The irony here in this text is the set up of the high priest, Caiaphas, and his manipulation of the situation to suggest that “one man should die instead of the people” (v.50). There was a legitimate fear of the Romans when large crowds gather in Jerusalem, the Roman Rule or Pax Romana (peace at all cost), had been historically painful for the Jews. Interestingly, no one disputes Jesus signs, they fear them.

We can be guilty of over-simplifying the societal climate in this situation having the benefit of being 2,000 years removed. Yes, we can see that power corrupts and that Jesus was the sacrificial lamb. That he ultimately did die for the many. In the verses before this text, we read that, “he was greatly disturbed” (v.33). The emptiness starts within my heart when I think of what Jesus faced in these moments. I find it hard to read this text without defaulting to anger at the religious leaders—so much for “Love my enemies-do good to those who hurt me!” I like to focus on Jesus during this time of hiding. What was going through his mind? Did he fear the authorities? He was fully human.

Later in this Gospel, Jesus tells Pilate that he would have no power unless it were given to from above. (19:11) St. Paul of the Cross taught that everyone involved in Jesus’ crucifixion were simply characters. God, the Father, was in charge and Jesus put his faith and trust in Him. This echoes the words of today’s Psalm, “The Lord will guard us, as a shepherd guards his flock.” How many of us wish we were there when they crucified our Lord? Actually, we are there/here because Jesus is still the crucified who walks among us.

While we absolutely have the right to ponder and pray with the historical passion. Our faith teaches that somewhere hidden he still waits in fear for the future. We breathe life into the text every time we understand that there are people in our everyday lives just like Jesus. It’s not out of sight somewhere else or 2,000 years ago. Does anyone come to mind for you?

May the Passion of Jesus Christ be Always in Our Hearts, amen.

Jean Bowler is a retreatant at Mater Dolorosa Passionist Retreat Center in Sierra Madre, California, and a member of the Office of Mission Effectiveness Board of Holy Cross Province.

Scripture:

Genesis 17:3-9
John 8:51-59

Reflection:

Today’s readings are fundamental to our understanding of salvation history in that they make a direct connection between Abraham and Jesus.  Abraham is the first person with whom God established an everlasting covenantal relationship.

In the Genesis reading, God changes Abram’s name to Abraham, a sign of his new covenantal identity and mission, just as Sarai’s name is changed to Sarah.  Abraham means “father of a multitude,” the father of many nations.  He and Sarah would become the ancestors of both the Hebrew people and us.  Through this covenant, God sought to bring all nations to himself.

In the Gospel of John, the people ridicule Jesus’ assertion that he had seen Abraham, when he declared that, “…before Abraham came to be, I AM.”  Jesus was directly demonstrating his relationship to the Father as the incarnate Son of God and his mission.  There was no allegory, or symbolism, but a bold assertion of the identity of Jesus.

This covenant, this promise, between God and humanity began with Abraham and Sarah, and found its fulfillment in Jesus Christ.  It is a promise to which we cling: We will never see death.  In a few short days, we will celebrate this dramatic sweep of salvation history, which culminated in an empty tomb, and the resurrection of I AM.

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

Scripture:

Daniel 3:14-20, 92-92, 95
John 8:31-42

Reflection:

Growing up, I was taught to be terrified of God, as if God was rooting for me to err so He could pounce. Thankfully, in my teens, influential people led me on a different path. They showed me scripture passages describing God as a merciful parent, full of compassion, forgiving, faithful, and inclusive. They especially showed me Jesus, who not only welcomed the poor and sinners but ate with them, defended them, and identified more with them than with religious leaders of his day.

Are both views of God in the Bible? Certainly. But we need to look at the Bible through the lens of Jesus, who tirelessly tried to correct our flawed images. What view of God did Jesus teach? And how did Jesus, the incarnate God, live his life in reflection of his knowledge?

Sometimes I despair because the Gospel message seems lost. Increasing numbers of angry but self-righteous people spewing hate in God’s name. They judge anyone who looks, acts, or worships differently as inferior and undesirable. They call other people animals or label them in ways not justified by facts. To these, Jesus says, “…you are trying to kill me, because my word has no room among you.”Bottom of Form

Admittedly, there are no easy answers to the world’s dilemmas – trade, immigration, war, foreign relations, climate change, economic inequality, racism, and other issues. But today, standing up for the Gospel of Jesus often risks the fate of Jesus – persecution, betrayal, death threats, and perhaps even death itself.

Instead, Jesus calls us to civil discourse without name-calling or sound-bite labels. He teaches compassion for the poor and disenfranchised who, despite popular rhetoric, cannot improve their position by working harder. He demands care for families desperately fleeing violence and persecution. He calls for societal reforms to combat racism, and a budget that reflects moral concerns rather than power and wealth.

Jesus challenges us to ask who our God is, and whether his Word has a home in us. His voice joins martyrs whose sacrifice calls out from beyond the grave to ask what we, in this day and age, are willing to risk in order to live out the vision of God we believe in. I hope and pray that by the way I live my life, by my words and actions, I may be counted among the faithful followers of Jesus Christ and the God of love he proclaimed. I pray that God’s word not only has room in me, but takes root and produces fruit.

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:

Numbers 21:4-9
John 8:21-30

Reflection:

Sometime We Must Turn Away From The Light

John’s gospel takes place in Jerusalem during the feast of Tabernacles. The rituals of this feast use water and light. But there is also a ritual where the priests gather outside the east gate of the Temple area and gaze away from the Temple toward the east. At the moment of sunrise they turn their backs on the sun, face the sanctuary of the Temple and recite a prayer recognizing the God of Israel as the one true God to whom all praise and allegiance are due, “Our fathers when they were in this place turned their backs toward the Temple and their Faces toward the east…as for us, our eyes are turned toward the Lord”.

What a simple, beautiful statement of praise and fidelity.

In Yesterday’s gospel a woman stands before Jesus with her head bowed down. “Should we stone her to death for her sin?”, they ask him. But when her accusers drift away one by one, she is alone and looks at Jesus while he talks to her.

When the poisonous serpents bit the people, killing many, the remedy was to look upon a bronze serpent raised up high for all to see. Those who did this, even if bitten, recovered.

The Pharisees, unlike the temple priests, the woman from the previous gospel or those bitten by the serpents in the desert, do not see. They turn their back to the light of the world, the source of living water and the one sent from the Father.

Soon the Elect will see themselves in a new way as priest, prophet, king or queen and other Christs when they come out of the waters of Baptism. The rest of us will renew our vows of Baptism and once more break the crest of the last hill of our Lenten desert and behold the land flowing with milk and honey.

It is true that the brighter the light the greater the shadow. We see the light but we become blinded to other things, things that are most important. We might consider today’s Pharisees as victims of some sort of light blindness. Let us take our lesson not from them but from the temple priests who turn their backs on the light of the rising sun to look at what cannot be seen in the Sanctuary. Let us look to the Lord who may be concealed, disguised, or not look at all brilliant.

With simple praise and fidelity let us offer prayer that all may see the light of Christ especially when blinded by other values. Let us stand with those in darkest night  to help them wait for the coming light.

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