Claire Smith

Scripture:

1 Corinthians 12:12-14, 27-31a
Luke 7:11-17

Reflection:

When the Lord saw her, he was moved with pity…

Let’s think about this scene, Jesus, travelling in a large crowd with his disciples, likely engaged in conversation and laughter, busy about themselves.  They happen upon a funeral procession a widow who was burying her only son.  We are told that when Jesus sees her he is ‘moved with pity’.  Seeing her takes him out of himself and his carefree surroundings, his heart is touched, deeply.  He knows this is devastation for the widow, she now has no one to care for her, in Jesus day, she now would be considered a ‘nobody’ she would be abandoned to fend for herself, invisible to the community.

He reaches out and touches the dead man – again, touching the dead makes you unclean – another reason to be abandoned by the community.  But Jesus follows his heart, his gestures show another way – a way of compassion, a new way of being community and caring for one another.  Being a community who supports one another and offers new life.

When our heart is moved with pity, are we willing to follow our heart as Jesus did , or do we stop short and ‘follow the crowd’, or put too much stock in what others may think or do?  In a world that seems to be unsure of neighbor and community the ‘heart of Jesus’ can provide a new lens, a new opportunity, a path to new life.  Can we allow our ‘hearts to be moved with pity’ and respond from that openness?

Faith Offman is the Associate Director of Ministry at St. Paul of the Cross Passionist Retreat and Conference Center in Detroit, Michigan.

Scripture:

1 Corinthians 11:17-26, 33
Luke 7:1-10

Reflection

We receive the body of Christ in order to be the body of Christ.

This metaphor for the church originated with the apostle Paul in his first letter to the Corinthians. To speak of the church as a body suggests unity, togetherness, and harmony. We imagine a vibrant community where everyone shares their talents and resources generously and joyfully, encouraging and supporting one another as together they further Christ’s work in the world.

But that was not happening in Corinth at all. Ironically, Paul’s most original theology of the church developed in response to a grievous problem. The Corinthian church could not be Christ’s body for anyone because they were a fractured and divided community, one marked more by conflict, animosity, and discord than harmony and peace. Today’s first reading is the earliest account in the New Testament of how the first Christians worshiped. As the passage illustrates, they gathered in one another’s homes where they would share a meal together. Bread would be blessed, broken, and distributed, and a cup of wine would be shared. In this way, the unity, charity, and peace they had together in Christ was meant to lead to unity, charity, and peace among themselves.

Paul is angry with this fledgling Christian community (“What can I say to you? Shall I praise you?”) because the factions among them, rather than being healed when they celebrated the Lord’s supper, only grew more prominent; indeed, their “meetings are doing more harm than good.” When they gather, those who have more, thinking only of themselves, share nothing with those who have little; thus, the poor, left out and overlooked, are shamed. Moreover, some are getting drunk at a meal that ought to be marked by reverence and thanksgiving, not thoughtless self-indulgence.

In stark contrast to this unsettling portrait of the early church is today’s passage from the Gospel of Luke. The centurion addresses Jesus with the words we reprise at every Eucharist: “Lord,…I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof.” Like the church at Corinth, if we are to be Christ’s body in the world, we must first receive Christ’s body with the humility, sincerity, and truthfulness that Jesus encountered in this memorable Roman soldier, the very one he holds up for us as an exemplary model of faith.

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

Scripture:

Isaiah 50:5-9a
James 2:14-18
Mark 8:27-35

Reflection:

In Sunday’s Gospel reading (Mark 8:27-35), Jesus demonstrates more than once that God’s ways are not our ways. When Jesus asks the Apostles who they say He is, Peter confesses the faith: “You are the Christ.” Then Jesus tells them how he is going to fulfill His role as the Christ: He predicts His Passion, death, and Resurrection. I always suppose that Peter doesn’t understand about the rising part, and doesn’t want to hear about the suffering and death part, and that is why he rebukes Jesus for speaking the way He is. And so, forcefully, Jesus has to rebuke Peter: “Get behind me Satan (Didn’t the devil try to tempt Jesus away from His Passion when they were in the desert?). You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.” And then, Jesus says something that demonstrates how much God’s thinking is different from ours: “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and that of the gospel will save it.”

I think it is very human not to want to deny oneself of anything. And we know the extent to which people are tempted to do anything to avoid the crosses in their lives. At this time, however, I find myself looking at that last verse about saving one’s life and losing it. It seems to me that Jesus is talking to His disciples about facing persecution. But He is also speaking to the challenge of discipleship to give one’s life to following Him. I have found it true that when I am willing to give myself over to God; to follow God’s will, that I don’t lose myself, or my life, I find it, and I hope to enjoy the promise of eternal life.

But there is another aspect of Jesus’ words I want to explore. If we look at “save one’s life” in terms of preserving something, we may ask ourselves, “Is there something I’m trying to preserve at the cost of forsaking the Gospel?” For instance, am I trying to hold on to what is comfortable even when it means that I ignore the prompting of the Holy Spirit? There seem to be a lot of people who want to go back to the past. At the extreme of this are the white supremacists who want to go back to a time when their dominance wasn’t questioned but accepted as the right order of things. For many others, though, there is a serious self-examination going on about “white privilege.” I have not been privileged in the sense of being born into wealth, but there are things I can take for granted that a person of color cannot.

As a white heterosexual male in the U.S., I can feel I’ve heard enough about “#Me Too,” or “Black Lives Matter” or “LGBTQ Rights.” As a priest in the Church, I could wish that the whole abuse scandal would just go away. But the scandal won’t go away, and as uncomfortable as it can be sometimes, I need to keep listening to women and people of color and others who are different from me, to understand how the status quo that serves me well can actually be unjust to someone else. In terms of our Gospel reading, am I willing to lose my comfort and my “privilege” and enjoying whatever status I may have as a priest in the Church for the sake of the Gospel; for the sake of loving others as Jesus loves them; for the sake of justice and peace? And in doing so, can I believe that my life is actually being saved, even after “losing” all those worldly things?

Our faith may call us to honor and keep some traditions, but I don’t think it calls us to live in the past. Change is necessary, and even when it’s necessary, it can be painful. This is a cross we have to take up. But if we remain faithful, if we, in the words from our reading from James (2:14-18), “demonstrate” our faith by our “works,” and, in the words from our reading from Isaiah (50:5-9a), trust that the “Lord GOD is” our “help,” God will bring us through the changes that we need, both as individuals and as a community of faith.

May we seek to think and act and love as God does.

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

Memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows

Scripture:

1 Corinthians 10:14-22
John 19:25-27

Reflection:

Behold your Mother! In life we never quite know what tomorrow holds, whether our next days will be bright and sunny, painful and challenging or full of sorrow is a mystery. But one thing that we as Catholic Christians can count on is that there will always be hope. There is always hope because we have a Mother and a Savior who love us in a way that we will never quite understand. He loves us so much that He gives us His Mother and she loves us so much so as to point us back to Him, this is a true love triangle!

Today we celebrate the feast of the Sorrowful Virgin Mary, by apostolic letter, Pope Paul the VI constituted and proclaimed the Sorrowful Virgin Mary as the principal patroness of the Passionist Congregation. The celebration of this feast of our Lady of Sorrows offers us all the opportunity to deepen our participation with her in the mystery of Christ’s passion. From the very instrument of His crucifixion, the cross, Our Lord offered His mother to all of humanity as He proclaimed, “Behold your Mother” and His Mother in turn points all of humanity back to her son offering reconciliation with him.

In the hymn, Stabat Mater which we sing on this day we hear the line, “at the cross her station keeping, stood the mournful Mother weeping, close to Jesus to the last” and it reminds us of the ultimate sorrow of a mother who witnesses the pain and suffering of her only son who is fully human and fully divine. In His divinity He is the Alpha and the Omega and in His humanity He feels the nails, the wounds, and the pain that cut to His very being. She is close to Jesus to the last and as such He offers her to us, to heal our wounds, to bring us hope and to love us. So, Behold your Mother!

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

Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross

Scripture:

Numbers 21:4b-9
Philippians 2:6-11
John 3:13-17

Reflection:

Today’s feast is truly meant to be a day for rejoicing in the salvation and healing that was won for us all by the Cross of Jesus, our redeemer.  It is a day to remember those well spoken words:  “We adore you O Christ and we bless you because by your Holy Cross you have saved the world.”

We adore Christ, we thank Christ, we rejoice with Christ in our salvation.  Today is a great day for rejoicing.

But it strikes me that there is another side to the feast we celebrate today as well.  This side of the feast is evoked for me by the words we hear in our first reading from the Book of Numbers where we read:

“With their patience worn out by the journey, the people complained against God and Moses, “Why have you brought us up from Egypt to die in this desert, where there is no food or water? We are disgusted with this wretched food!”

The people were so worn out by the long, long journey that they could seemingly no longer remember how blessed they were to have been freed from horrible slavery and servitude.  Their hearts were filled with a kind of amnesia, a forgetfulness if you will, because their present experience was so painful and difficult.  So they complained again God, they complained against Moses.  And I think I can understand why they felt the need to do so.

Don’t we all at times, when the dark clouds cover our heads, forget those other times when the sun was so bright we had to shield our eyes?  I know I do!  There are frustrating moments in my life from day to day when I am guilty of this unique brand of “amnesia”, this forgetfulness of the abundant and lavish kindness of God.  I forget the countless times I have been blessed by God who never holds back.

So dear friends, on this feast of rejoicing and gratitude let’s not be too hard on those poor worn out, impatient, desert-weary people who hated the food, the heat, and the discouraging journey.  They cried out loudly!  And I have no doubt that God smiled in an understanding way (as He so often does with me) and continued to show them the way.

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

Scripture:

1 Corinthians 8:1b-7, 11-13
Luke 6:27-38

Reflection:

“To you who hear I say, ‘love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you (v.27)

Do you think it is a function of us not really hearing? What if we embraced Jesus’ words, totally? What if we all decided to live out our lives this way? What would our world look like? If we took a bad deed done to us and transformed it into blessing? What if at some point in our history, humanity agreed to live this way? Do you think we would still have days when our enemies would plot to attack us like 9/11? Maybe we’re praying the wrong prayer or in the wrong way?

Are we still operating out of a notion of “an eye for an eye” sense of fairness? So, we retaliate back, and we are attacked again and so we lose sight of where it all began or where we lost our way. This kind of pattern is repeated over and over in hearts, families, and nations. Might Jesus be asking for someone to hear, to listen, and to break the cycle? Can we swallow our pride enough to ask forgiveness even if our sense of fairness is challenged?

…..for the Most High is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked (v.35c). Here, Luke doesn’t say the “good and the bad.” It is always easier to be kind to a good person—that is not really challenging, is it? Although it certainly makes us feel good, it doesn’t take us from where we are and push us beyond our limits or understanding. Our kindness is challenged often in our daily lives by events and people around us. Yet, it is still our invitation to be day by day transformed into Christ—as St. Paul suggests.

Kindness is one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. We are all familiar with the saying, “kindness begins at home”; absolutely it begins at home in my heart, where God resides. If we manage to begin with kindness to ourselves, how might that touch our world, our culture our societies? Often, we are unaware of how unkind we are to ourselves. In fact, it is a challenge! There is no doubt in my mind that evil exists in our world, but it begins in my heart, in the silence, in the shadows, and remains largely unnoticed. And it is always a choice—our choice—my choice—your choice to live kindness every moment. No exceptions.

Did you ever enter a room and feel the tension there? As if an argument had just taken place or some kind of emotional upheaval had transpired. We can often feel that tension. Imagine what our atmosphere would hold if kindness were our posture? Let us be discouraged or divided no more! Let Mercy reign. We can change our own world.

St. Paul suggests just such awareness in our first reading, by asking the “strong” among the group to be mindful of those who may be influenced by our behavior. I am my brother’s gospel, let me bring God’s heart to all.

“Probe me, o god, and know my heart;
Try me, and know my thoughts;
See if my way is crooked,
And lead me in the way of old” Psalm 139:23-24

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:

1 Corinthians 6:1-11
Luke 6:12-19

Reflection:

So often in our lives, we are eager to go into action, roll up our sleeves, and get to work.  There much to be done, and I’m the one to do it.  But when it doesn’t quite work out, when we feel overwhelmed by a tidal way of too much work, we go to others and plead for help from others.   And when they fail to come through, or at least not to our satisfaction, only then we begin praying, “Lord, there is no one here to help me.  What am I going to do?”

But the order that Jesus teaches us in today’s gospel is the reverse.  In an extended reflection titled “Moving from Solitude to Community to Ministry,” theologian Henri Nouwen insightfully finds three movements of the spiritual life that emerge out of today’s gospel, three movements by which we make room for God in our lives.

It begins by spending time with God in solitude.  Only then do we move into community with those with whom we are sharing the mission of the Good News of Jesus Christ.  And finally,  we are prepared to go out together in ministry to heal and proclaim the Good News.  Another way of describing these three movements is Communion with God, Community with those in shared mission, and Commission to minister and serve others.

This is the spiritual life that Jesus lived:

Solitude/Communion with God: “Now it happened in those days that Jesus went onto the mountain to pray, and he spent the whole night in prayer to God.”

Fellowship/Community: “When day came, he summoned his disciples…and called them apostles.”

Ministry/Commission: “He then came down with them…There was a large crowd of people…who had come to hear him and be cured of their diseases.  Everyone in the crowd was trying to touch him because power came out of him that cured them all.”

Jesus models for us the necessity of time with God.  Without solitude it is difficult to live a spiritual life.  Solitude centers us in our own hearts.  It enables us to be rooted in intimacy with the source of all life – God.

Communion with God creates and builds community.  Only when we realize we are created in the image and likeness of God, the Imago Dei, only when we see God’s image in ourselves are we able to see God in the other.  Nouwen tells us that solitude always calls us to community because through solitude we recognize that we are not alone, frantically trying to do it all, but part of the human family, called to live, support, and serve in a communal way.

And this community, grounded in the Imago Dei, always leads to ministry.  The foundation of our being, who we truly are, always comes before the doing.  The outward movement flows from that which is in us.  We are called to mission, not so much by what we do, but by who we are – daughters and sons of God, created in God’s image and likeness.  How else to understand those final words of today’s gospel: “Everyone in the crowd was trying to touch him because power came out of him that cured them all.”  Clearly, power came out of Jesus by virtue of who he was, the Son of God, not so much by what he did.

Nouwen brings Luke’s gospel home to us.  He writes:

“Solitude, community, ministry – these disciplines help us live a fruitful life.  Remain in Jesus; he remains in you.  You will bear many fruits, and you will have great joy, and your joy will be complete.”

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