Claire Smith

Scripture:

Hosea 14:2-10
Mark 12: 28-34

You shall love your neighbor as yourself. -Mark 12:31

Reflection:

We are at the end of the third week of Lent and the challenges keep coming. I like the Lenten season. It reminds me of how much I still need to work on in my relationships with God and others. I always tell my students, “The hardest thing you will ever be is a Christian.” Lent is when this is most clear. Lent challenges us to spend 40 days fasting, praying and giving alms.

The Gospel for today challenges us to focus our efforts on loving God with all that we have and all that we are and included in that is love for our neighbor. For Christ, the love of God and love of neighbor are inseparable. We cannot love God alone and ignore our neighbor. In the world we live in today, this is a challenging message. We receive messages from society that tell us that if someone is not like us then we should not accept them. There are messages out there too that say all are accepted. It has become something like a yelling match. Who can yell the loudest or have the most messages. For myself, I have gone back to the old saying, actions speak louder than words. That just might be the message from today’s Gospel.

If we love someone we show them kindness, generosity and compassion. If we love God and take time for prayer, fasting and almsgiving then these graces may come a bit easier. If we are open to experiences, and the graces that come through those experiences, then that can bring us closer to loving God through our neighbor.

May this Lent be filled with many graces in loving your neighbor. Random acts of kindness are always a good place to begin.

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

Scripture:

Jeremiah 7:23-28
Luke 11:14-23

Reflection:

Here we are in the 3^rd Week of Lent!  Wow!  How’s your Lent going?!

I don’t know about you, but I can hardly believe that we are at the mid-point of Lent!  It seem like we just celebrated Ash Wednesday!

We are all familiar with these words of Jesus as found in today’s Gospel.

‘Whoever is not with me is against me,
And whoever does not gather with me scatters.’

For me the season of Lent calls me to press the pause button and take some time to reflect on the ways I have scattered away from Jesus.  I want to be that person who gathers with Jesus!

The season of Lent calls us to reflect on our scattered ways. In our parish we are invited to take part in Vespers/Stations of the Cross, Adoration and also spend personal time at the foot of the Cross. Our Lenten theme, TRUST THE PROMISE calls us to reflect on the following questions:

1. When do you find it difficult to trust God?
2. What are you holding onto that is preventing you from fully trusting God?

When I initially looked at these questions I thought, ‘Well, of course I trust God?  God is all powerful, all loving, why wouldn’t I trust God?  Then I looked at question #2, hmmm!  Even though I say I want to be that person who stays connected to God and never strays, the reality is I am a sinful person in need of God’s loving forgiveness just like everyone else!

My Lenten prayer, ‘create in me a clean heart, O God’ is one that challenges me to see, hear and love with the eyes, ears and heart of Jesus.  A few days ago I was blessed to have a ‘Jesus’ encounter, an answer in a sense to my Lenten prayer.

I met ‘Danny’, homeless for the past three years, celebrating 100 days of drug-free existence, slept outside under a tree the day before, was beaten and hospitalized a few weeks before that.  We shared a bowl of soup and I listened as he professed his belief in a loving and merciful God who walks the walk with him in recovery.  It was a humbling experience that has stayed with me!  Danny has had a hard way to go, but, in spite of that, he is able to trust God.

I probably will never see Danny again, but my Lenten journey has been blessed by our short encounter.  The things I am holding onto that cause me to scatter and make my heart less loving are slowly and somewhat painfully disappearing as my prayer, ‘create in me a clean heart, O God,’ leads me to TRUST THE PROMISE!

Jesus suffered and died for us so that we might enjoy the promise of eternal life.  How great is God’s love for us!  May our Lenten journey be a time of renewal and change that reflects this promise and love.  HAPPY LENT!

Theresa Secord is a Pastoral Associate at St. Agnes Parish, Louisville, Kentucky.

Scripture:

Daniel 3:25, 34-43
Matthew 18:21-35

Reflection:

We stand humbly before nature. For those of us who have endured a particularly long winter and long for the warming sun that springs new life, we live in hope. Neighbors and strangers have witnessed furious fires and raging rivers and crippling cyclones. Complicated science and even more complicated weather predictions only affirm how small we can feel when confronted with nature’s forces.

Like Azariah in today’s first reading, when overwhelmed and seemingly helpless we place ourselves into the merciful hands of God. As Azariah confesses he has no rams to sacrifice or first fruits to offer, he offers only himself.

Lent gives us the opportunity to put aside our illusions of power. We strip away the façade of control. We are invited to stand humbly before God.

I more often paid greater attention to Jesus’ impressive miracles than I do now. Now, I see the way I am invited to travel is the way of Jesus’ passion: “Into your hands I commend my spirit.” It will never be what I have or what I can achieve through my own abilities. It will be how I love. It will be how I trust. It will be how I welcome others who have no rams to sacrifice or first fruits to offer…who have no homes or even homelands, no families, no status. It will be how I show mercy to others just as I have been shown mercy by the One who is love.

Let today’s story of the merciful king be a not-so-subtle reminder of the persons we are called to be.

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.

Feast of the Annunciation of the Lord

Scripture:

Isaiah 7:10-14; 8:10
Hebrews 10:4-10
Luke 1:26-38

Reflection:

Many spiritual writers have offered inspiring commentaries on our Blessed Mother’s “yes” to God’s invitation (through Gabriel the Archangel) in today’s Gospel — to be the Mother of the Savior.  Today’s readings offer an insight into just what that “yes” means.

Although the Danish philosopher, Soren Kierkegaard, never uses the phrase “leap of faith” in his published writings, it is the expression with which he is most associated. It was his contention that we Christians tend to over-intellectualize faith, and he insists that conversion is not primarily through giving some heady assent to creeds or doctrines about Jesus — even though it includes that. Rather, it’s something like the trust required of a person learning to swim. The novice swimmer can read books about various strokes, even be given instruction by a professional trainer, yet this person cannot learn to swim without diving into the water.

Being a good Christian Catholic doesn’t mean we “pay, pray, and obey.”  And it certainly doesn’t mean we leave our brains at the door; that’s irresponsible. No, I believe we daily choose to wrestle with God and our faith, much like Jacob wrestles with the angel in Genesis 32. As Mary questions God, “How can this be? I don’t know man,” so we move forward. We join Jacob and Mary and countless others in that choice. It’s a responsible decision to educate ourselves in faith (Bible Study, Adult Faith Formation, parish missions and retreats) keep moving forward.

Saint Louise de Marillac once wrote, “Our peace comes, not from security, but from trust.”  Happy trust, happy leap of faith, Happy Feast of the Annunciation of the Lord!

Fr. Jack Conley, C.P. is a member of the Passionist formation community at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago.

Scripture:

Exodus 17:3-7
Romans 5:1-2, 5-8
John 4:5-42

Reflection:

If you knew the gift of God.   -John 4:10

What a beautiful reminder for our Lenten reflection! GK Chesterton once reflected what we need most in the world today is a sense of being startled.

We need to be shocked that the God of the whole immense universe wants to invite us into the intimacy with Him.

Jesus wept over Jerusalem! “And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, “Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes.” Lk 19:41. We are told twice in the Gospels that Jesus wept. Once at the death of His dear friend Lazarus. The word in the original Greek New Testament is dakryō which means a tear. When He cried over Jerusalem the word used is more forceful. In the Greek it is klaiō which means audible sobbing.

A tear is one of the most moving things in life. “Jesus wept” John 11:35. What a tear! If only we could save that tear and wear it close to our heart! No need to be harsh with the Samaritan woman for not knowing the awesome gift of Jesus speaking to her. Does Jesus have a tear for my hard heart that often has not time of day for the gift of Himself!

The awesome love of God for us is the greatest gift from Him that we have. Does God have a tear for me? Or is Jesus weeping audibly for my insensitive heart?

We have something even greater than a relic of a tear of Jesus. We have Himself in the Eucharist. We have his body being given to us in real time, tears and all! How beautiful to see so many people going to Mass during Lent!

May the tears of Jesus deeply remind us of our greatest gift from God.

If you knew the gift of God.

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

Scripture:

Micah 7:14-15, 18-20
Luke 15:1-3, 11-32

Reflection:

Today’s Gospel reading is Jesus’ parable of the Lost, or Prodigal Son. I remember the first time I preached on this parable. It was during Lent in 1993, when I took time off from studies and got some ministry experience at St. Paul of the Cross Passionist Retreat Center in Detroit, where I am now. The insight I received then still stays with me.

For me, the parable is about freedom. The younger son in the parable thinks that money can get him the freedom he wants, so he asks his father for the share of the inheritance coming to him, and leaves home, seemingly free to do what he wants. But he wastes the money, and when it runs out, he is reduced to feeding pigs! He realizes that at least he could be fed if he goes back home as a servant of his father. But his father, out of joy at seeing his son alive, throws a party.

The older son sees the party going on, and gets angry. He was the good one. He never disobeyed his father’s wishes, and he tells his father, that a party was never thrown for him! He is not free at all, because he thought he had to earn his father’s love. The father tries to tell him that he was always loved. The parable doesn’t tell us whether the older son is convinced or not.

The only one in the parable who is free is the father. He doesn’t hold on to his money, and he doesn’t hold any resentments. He loves both his sons. That is how God is with us! And if we are to be truly free, that is how we are to be with each other! We are called to be free to love as God loves us – free of greed, free of resentment. Knowing we have been freed from slavery to sin in Jesus Christ, we are free to be extravagant in our love towards God and the rest of the world.

Fr. Phil Paxton, C.P., is the local superior at St. Paul of the Cross Passionist Community in Detroit, Michigan. 

Scripture:

Genesis 37:3-4, 12-13a, 17b-28a
Matthew 21:33-43, 45-46

Reflection:

Joseph and his long tunic. One of the many classic scripture stories heard in childhood and revisited throughout our lifetimes.

I am always brought to my knees by Josephs ability to forgive and follow Gods will.

His brothers betray him in ways none of us should ever know. He is sold. He is sold out of jealousy.  Years later, when faced with his brothers in need, he is able to not only forgive them but also to love them.

“I am your brother Joseph whom you once sold into Egypt.  But now do not be distressed, and do not reproach yourself for having sold me here…. God sent me on ahead of you to ensure for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives in an extraordinary deliverance. So, it was not really you, but God, who had me come here.” (Gen 45:4-7)

In the day to day of our lives, it is often difficult to see God in our troubled times. Joseph, sold as a slave, worked hard for most of his life. Innocently, he spent time in the pharaoh’s dungeon. He didn’t have a life of ease or abundance until the pharaoh realized his gift at reading dreams.

Through all of that misery, and pain he was able to see the path of God leading him. This is a big lesson for us all. God brings good out of even the darkest moments in our lives.

Let us look this day, not at the pain we have but the hope that is ours in Christ Jesus.

Kate Mims is the Retreat Center Director at Holy Name Passionist Retreat Center in Houston, Texas.

 

Scripture:

Jeremiah 17:5-10
Luke 16:19-31

Reflection:

Three distinct themes were introduced to us as we entered Lent on Ash Wednesday: Prayer, Fasting, and Alms Giving. In these early days of Lent we have been looking more closely at these aspects. For example last week we had both Matthew’s instruction on how to pray and Jesus’ teaching of the Lord’s prayer. And today’s gospel places before us many of the same issues we face when we give alms.

Almsgiving is a long-standing practice within the Judeo-Christian tradition. “Whoever is kind to the needy honors God” (Proverbs 14:31) Alms are money or goods given to those in need as an act of charity. The word alms comes from a Greek word meaning “pity or mercy.” In its original sense, when you give alms, you are dispensing mercy. Almsgiving is a form of prayer because it is “giving to God” — and not mere philanthropy. It is a form of fasting because it demands sacrificial giving. Almsgiving has the ability to change us. It frequently starts with seeing a need within another person. When we recognize we have the ability to help that person in need we experience compassion. Ideally, we respond to the person in need with compassion; the same compassion Jesus gave to all people. Indeed we have the ability to dispense the compassion of Christ!

We are told this parable is specifically addressed to the Pharisees. The Pharisees are not bad people. Just like us, they have a zeal and desire to please God. Just like us, they need to have their vision readjusted. Jesus challenges these Pharisees to begin seeing those who are overseen, the forgotten, the lost, the hungry, the invisible ones. Isn’t this same lesson we all need?

For most of us, the Lazaruses of life, come at very undesirable times. We’re usually quite busy about many things and to respond to someone else’s need is a major inconvenience. It’s a lot easier to overlook Lazarus. Sometimes, to quote Jesus’ parable of the good Samaritan, we may actually cross over to the other side of the road to avoid the ones we don’t want to see.

In every town and every community this Lazarus story is relived. Occasionally the events of the story will shift, jarring us and causing us to ask, how could this have happened? For example, last week here in Louisville amidst the sub zero temperatures, a man froze to death on the front steps of a shelter. Then people began asking, how could this have happened? It took several days for the newspapers to shift from calling him a homeless man to actually giving him a name. As long as he is named “homeless” he can remain invisible. But to use his name suddenly lifts his status and beckons people to pay more attention. The last line of the story written in Louisville’s Courier-Journal states, “He was invisible to most of us because he was homeless.” Lazarus was invisible to Jesus’ target audience.

The same newspaper last Thanksgiving recalls an event that happened forty five years earlier. The story seemed incomprehensible. The day before our entire community celebrated Thanksgiving with an abundance of food, a nine-year-old boy, Bobby Ellis, died of malnutrition. He was found in bed surrounded by his five staving sisters. How is it a child can die of starvation in this city the day before we all celebrate Thanksgiving? Bobby’s death woke people up to rally around a need most were blind to. The movement that followed led to the creation of Dare to Care food bank which last year provided 15 million meals. This NPO reaches out to especially vulnerable populations. In this area one in five children face hunger every night.
And while some may turn their head away from this reality, Jesus simply tells a story about a person who appeared invisible to the one who claimed he can see.

Fr. David Colhour, C.P. is the pastor of St. Agnes Parish in Louisville, Kentucky.