Claire Smith

Memorial of St. Thomas Aquinas

Scripture:

Hebrews 9:15, 24-28
Mark 3:22-30

Reflection:

We celebrate Saint Thomas Aquinas OP this day.  He was an Italian Dominican friar, Catholic priest, and Doctor of the Church.  He was an immensely influential philosopher, theologian, and jurist in the tradition of scholasticism.  His writings are well known to all in the theological world of study and learning.  In looking beyond the scholastic contributions of Thomas Aquinas, I found a series of quotes attributed to him.  I look at these simple words as good pastoral advice for those of us called to ministry in the church today.  There were many quotes, but for the purpose of this reflection, I offer you the following:

‘Sorrow can be alleviated by good sleep, a bath and a glass of wine.’

Ah! ’how wonderful it is after a long day to enjoy happy hour relaxing in a bubbling Jacuzzi or bubble bath and end the evening with the simple prayer that St. John XXIII ended each day with, ‘It’s your Church, God, I’m going to bed.’

To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary.  To one without faith, no explanation is possible.’

Jesus tells us to bring the good news to all people. At the same time he reminds us that there will be those who are unable to hear the gospel message because of their hard-heartedness, disbelief, stubbornness or whatever!  Let us remember there will never be 100% participation at bible study, faith formation events, Sunday worship or the myriads of programs and events offered.  Rejoice in the 50% and do not let our hearts be troubled!

‘The things that we love tell us what we are.’

Fr Michal Judge, Franciscan priest, chaplain for the New York Fire Department, died at 9/11 as he ministered to those in need. His daily prayer:

Good morning, Lord.  Take me where you want me to be today.  Let me meet who you want me to meet.  Tell me what you want me to say.  And keep me out of your way.  Amen.  In love, may this be our daily prayer.

‘There is nothing on this earth more to be prized than true friendship.’

True friendship rests in the celebration of the big (S) Sacraments and how we live out our lives of faith through the many small (s)sacraments.  True friendship calls us to continually look for the face of Christ in our family, friends, parish, community, nation as well as in the faces of those who are poor, lonely, sick, displaced, homeless and in need in any way.

Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life!  He is our best friend!  May we enjoy true friendship in him and through him.

Saint Thomas Aquinas, pray for us!  Amen.

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

Scripture:

2 Timothy 1:1-8 or Titus 1:1-5
Mark 3:20-21

Reflection:

One must wonder what’s going on in our world. The tensions among peoples and nations, even among ourselves in our cities and Church rattle our sensibilities. Did we somehow think we were advancing as a people and as humans?

It seems as if a bandage has been pulled off an open wound or the lid lifted from a simmering cauldron. Perhaps the moral proscriptions intended to guide human interactions were only thinly applied to our personal morality. Whatever the issue—turning away immigrants fleeing poverty, clerical sexual abuse and the abuse of authority, racial and economic and educational disparity in our cities, rural communities feeling left out and ignored, rise of authoritarian leaders—it seems all our dirty laundry is out there for all to see.

In his “Rules for the Discernment of Spirits,” St. Ignatius Loyola provides this insight about how the Evil Spirit works: “When the enemy of human nature turns his wiles and persuasions upon an upright person, he intends and desires them to be received and kept in secrecy.” But when that secret is shared and comes to the light of our loving God, the Evil Spirit loses the advantage.

As uncomfortable and disheartening as these times may be, perhaps this is the appointed time to shed light on our human sin. Perhaps we have hidden away in secret places in our hearts the fears, brokenness, hurts, and disappointments of our lives. When these see the light of day, though, when exposed to the mercy and love of Christ, we can begin to be healed. Healing and reconciliation cannot begin as long as we hide our sin or pretend there are no social injustices. Yes, it’s embarrassing and it’s humbling, but it is necessary.

I admit I don’t like a lot of what I am seeing at work in the world or in my own heart at times. But seeing it and naming it for the evil it is takes the advantage away from the Evil Spirit. This time may be God’s invitation to seek forgiveness and reconciliation, to become the human beings and the human community God created us to be and we know we can 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.

Scripture:

Acts 22:3-16 or 9:1-22
Mark 16:15-18

Reflection:

Many years ago, it was barely sunrise, and I was driving from our Louisville monastery to Bardstown, Kentucky — about 45 miles. The young man on the side of the road was clean-cut, vigilant, right-thumb-out-hitchhiking. “How far ya goin’?” and William began a robust conversation about journeys and pilgrimages. “Have you been saved by Jesus Christ, Jack?” he eventually questioned, and while I didn’t want to identify myself as Catholic priest, I did want to continue engaging with his topic of conversion.

Every time the Feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul rolls around, I think of that fine young man — not because his core evangelical theological convictions might have been different from mine. Rather, I think it’s because I can identify with the smugness of Saul, and that hitchhiker underscored my sin. You see, full of certitude on St. Stephen’s Day, Saul held the murderers’ cloaks. So sure of himself, I think he confused fidelity with arrogance. So sure of himself, he was willing to die for his beliefs; unfortunately, he was also willing to kill for them. Doubt isn’t the opposite of faith, it’s an essential part. The trouble with certitude is that it can be not only transitory and delusional, it’s impertinent and dangerous.

And then one day the rug was pulled from under, his faith fell apart; he had to face his misguided zeal. Some call it conversion, some call it a breakdown. Doesn’t matter. Paul re-directs his life. That’s why I admire Paul — it’s his conversion from insolence to meekness.

In his apostolic exhortation, Gaudete et Exultate, Pope Francis writes of humility and accepting daily humiliations as the path to holiness. (“If you are unable to suffer and offer up a few humiliations, you are not humble, and you are not on the path to holiness.” ¶ 118)  So thanks to William and the many travelers and ramblers who gently keep teaching me.

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

Scripture:

Hebrews 7:25-8:6
Mark 3:7-12

Reflection:

Today we celebrate the feast of St Francis de Sales who died in 1622 at age of 55.  Many years ago I made a special effort to visit his tomb in the Presentation Sisters’ convent on Lake Annecy.   His remains rest near St Jane de Chantel.  St Jane with Francis was the Foundress of the Presentation Sisters

During his years as bishop, Francis acquired a reputation as a spellbinding preacher and something of an ascetic. His motto was, “He who preaches with love, preaches effectively.”  One of his main efforts was to teach ordinary folks how to pray in their busy lives.  His life and teachings influenced St Paul of the Cross. I love among his many quotable sayings: “Half an hour’s meditation each day is essential, except when you are busy. Then a full hour is needed.”

Today’s Gospel relates how “A large number of people followed Jesus from Galilee and from Judea.

Hearing what he was doing, a large number of people came to him also from Jerusalem, from Idumea, from beyond the Jordan, and from the neighborhood of Tyre and Sidon.  He told his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd, so that they would not crush him. He had cured many and, as a result, those who had diseases were pressing upon him to touch him.”

In the Greek inspired Text striking words of closeness to Jesus by the Jews and Gentiles are used!  Words like thlibō which means crushed or “squash” or “hem in”.  That’s close!  Another word is epipiptō; which means fall upon, gripped, pressed around!  I am sure most of these folks were common ordinary people who probably were not the intelligentsia of the day but were given the wisdom of the Gospel which is “to come to Me all you who are weary and overburdened and I will refresh you”.  Mt 11:28

This kind of healing closeness to Christ is caused by faith filled prayer!   A prayer that is a close relationship with Christ.  Pope Francis said it so well: “Our relationship with Christ, that is the primary thing: all else is secondary.”

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

Scripture:

Hebrews 6:10-20
Mark 2:23-28

Reflection:

I love this reading from Hebrews, “We earnestly desire each of you to demonstrate the same eagerness for the fulfillment of hope until the end, so that you may not become sluggish, but imitators of those who, through faith and patience, are inheriting the promises.” (Hebrews 6:10)

Isn’t this the joy of sharing in our lives with others around you! Last week was the 4-year anniversary of the death of my deacon husband, Mike. In the last 4 years I have come to realize, that for those I love, the most important thing that I can pray for, wish for, hope for is that they have the same ‘eagerness for the fulfillment of hope until the end.” that my husband had.

I love reading about the saints, one of my current favorites is Blessed Isidore De Loor (of Saint Joseph). He was a Passionist blessed from the late 1800’s.  Isidore was known as the ‘good brother…the brother of the will of God” (Passiochisti.org). I have been connected with him since I randomly ran into a statue of him at an antique store outside of San Antonio, Texas. A surprise to say the least! Blessed Isidore has been teaching me about this, “eagerness for the fulfillment of hope until the end” that Saint Paul is talking about in this letter to the Hebrews. Blessed Isidore was in terrible pain at the end of his life and found that suffering to be an opportunity to become more conformed to Jesus Crucified. This is not someone who was sluggish in his faith.

As we go about our day, let us remember this challenge, to be eager, not sluggish and through faith and patience, have an eagerness for hope in Christ!!

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

 

Scripture:

1 Corinthians 1:26-31
Matthew 13:44-46

Reflection:

In our Passionist Parish church of St. Agnes, in Louisville KY, we have a beautiful edifice about 90 years old, that has kept up its appearance over its nine decades of existence.  It features a mosaic in its cupola over and behind the main altar, showing a teenage girl with several grazing sheep, as if she were their shepherdess.

It is an appropriate artistic piece since “Agnes” in its English spelling deviates by only one letter from the Latin “Agnus”, the latin word for “lamb, sheep”, and so the linkage between the teenage Agnes and sheep is clear enough to need no explanation. There is no suggestion here that she was a shepherdess.  But there was something about the girl and that particular animal, the lamb, to suggest why they are linked together.  For Agnes was apparently an attractive girl, and several young men had their eyes on her as an ideal wife.  But when they approached her with that offer, she steadfastly rejected their offers, for she wanted to devote her life totally to God.

Rebuffed in this fashion, her suitors approached the emperor, Diocletian, to intercede with her on their behalf, so he was anxious to persuade her to marry one of these suitors, which would then stand him in good stead with one of these wealthy suitors, but she was adamant in her refusal, and Diocletian, not used to being refused when he made requests, proceeded to have her executed.  And so she became an early martyr of the church, and so revered in the early history of the church that she gained the honor of having her name inscribed in the most sacred part of the mass (the canon for the first formulary).

It was the combination of her youth, her appeal and her tenacity in the face of torture that endeared her to Catholics over the centuries (she died in the early part of the 4^th century), and that recommends her to our own veneration of her even today.  She not only exhibits an extraordinarily strong faith in the way that she died, but she also illustrates how God can work within each of us, to make of us examples of living the faith, not just as a display of our own strength of character, but, even more, of how God comes to our assistance in times of need.  Especially in this present time, when we stand in need of examples of strength of character and of virtue, we can recall Agnes and her commitment to the faith under duress and persecution.

Fr. Sebastian MacDonald, C.P. is a member of the Passionist Community in Louisville, Kentucky.