Claire Smith

Scripture:

Jeremiah 7:1-11
Matthew 13:24-30

Reflection:

“How lovely is your dwelling place, Lord, mighty God.”  Psalm 84

Summertime invites us to scale back, to take time for rest and relaxation, to go away from the busyness of our daily lives.  When we really take seriously the challenge to leave everything behind and focus on the care of body, mind and spirit, we experience first- hand what the psalmist is saying in psalm 84,

“How lovely is your dwelling place, Lord, mighty God.”

This summer for me has been busy focusing on renewing body, mind and spirit!  I traveled back home to Michigan in May for a family wedding. It was a time for catching up with family, walking the Lake Michigan shoreline and enjoying sunsets as well.  In June, my KY family of eight adults, 3 babies and 3 dogs spent a week at the Outer Banks, NC.  It was a week filled with ghost crabbing, Elizabethan gardens, wild mustangs on the Corolla beach, ocean surfing and lighthouses and sunsets.  There was lots of time to play with babies, eat Duck donuts for breakfast and enjoy some really good seafood!

The month of June closed out with our parish Vacation Bible School for Adults.    The theme, Splashin’ Through Summer with Scripture included prayer, scripture reflection, song and hospitality. This first-time event drew adults from neighboring parishes as well as our own.  it was a fun time and nourished our spirits at the same time.

The month of July has been filled with beach and boating, campfires and our parish carnival.  I also traveled back to the Holy Hill for our annual reunion with theology classmates.  This month will close out with a visit of our old friends who will travel here from Ontario for their annual visit.  We are looking forward to picking up where we left off last summer amidst stories and memories, lots of laughter and a few tears!

“How lovely is your dwelling place, Lord, mighty God”

The best gift of this summer for me has been the ability to recognize and bask in the presence of God in family, friends, events and activities.  May we always be attentive to this unconditional love of God. Summer Blessings!

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

Memorial of Saints Joachim and Anne, Parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Scripture:

Jeremiah 2:1-3, 7-8, 12-13
Matthew 13:10-17

Reflection:

To make time pass while traveling I have been choosing to listen to some favorite podcasts. One of my favorites is the TED Radio Hour by NPR. The one I listened to yesterday was all about the five senses. The story told by neuroscientist David Linden especially caught my ear (pun intended!).

He gradually went blind beginning in his early teens. By age 25 he was completely blind. But in his story, he says that what he thought was a proverbial death sentence was actually a great blessing. “In going blind I gained my vision,” he said. He believes that he can now envision what his vision often obscured. He went on to graduate from Harvard and earned advanced degrees in neuroscience.

Today’s readings are all about the senses. So often we choose to see what we want to see and ignore what we don’t. It is our human bias. Our constructs—the way we see the world—keep us safe, so we think. While I would never say that I hope to go blind so that I can “see,” I can point to two moments in my life where my eyes were opened in new ways.

The first was went I went to live in the Philippines for two years, living among the urban poor of Manila. The second was when my brother was shot and killed on the streets of Washington DC. Not a day passes when I do not draw on what I learned from these experiences. In each instance, I learned to see myself in a different light and was forced to choose more intentionally how I was going to live my life.

Let us ponder these words of Jesus in today’s Gospel and recall moments when your eyes were opened just a bit more:

“But blessed are your eyes, because they see,
and your ears, because they hear.
Amen, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people
longed to see what you see but did not see it,
and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.”

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:

Micah 7:14-15, 18-20
Matthew 12:46-50

Reflection:

And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said,
“Here are my mother and my brothers.
For whoever does the will of my heavenly Father
is my brother, and sister, and mother.” Matthew 12:49

How close Jesus wants to be with us! He deeply wants to be brother, sister, or even a mother to us. There is a beautiful little word in the Greek New Testament which is used 111 times called ideos. It means pertaining to oneself, one’s own; used universally, of what is one’s own as opposed to belonging to another. Discipleship means belonging to Christ as His very own.

Jesus speaks of His followers with great love: “when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own (ideos) who were in the world, he loved them to the end. “Jn 13:1. Do we honor Christ with our lips, but our heart far from Him?

Jesus proclaims in John’s Gospel: “I am the good shepherd. I know my own (ta ema). “He calls his own (ideos)sheep by name and leads them out.” Jn 10. Being a follower of Christ calls for an intensive relationship with Him! To miss this family closeness is to miss what is most beautiful in our faith! This is why the Church has always deeply respected the contemplative life. We all must have a contemplative side. Our religion is not something but Someone!

This close family relationship with Jesus uses many other examples. He calls Himself a bridegroom, a friend, a partner, living Bread to be eaten, and related by His precious Blood! The most frequent relational word Jesus uses is Father. Luke in chapter 15:30 the father is criticized for welcoming back home the prodigal child with the words “this son of yours”

There is a tendency to reduce Christianity to a mere moral system without a deep relationship with our Lord. As important as moral response is, it is not at the very heart of the Father’s intensions. “I know my own (ideos) and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep.” Jn 10:15. The Biblical “know” strongly emphasizes a deeply loving bond. “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.” Eph 2:13

One of the saddest sentences of New Testament is: “He came to his own, (ideos) and his own people did not receive him.”Jn 1. We are called to a profound loving relationship with Christ!

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

Scripture:

Micah 6:1-4, 6-8
Matthew 12:38-42

Reflection:

In today’s Gospel reading, some scribes and Pharisees ask for a sign from Jesus. And Jesus replies “An evil and unfaithful generation asks for a sign, but no sign will be given it except the sign of Jonah the prophet.” Jesus then draws an analogy between Jonah being in the belly of a whale for three days and nights, and He being in the earth for the same time before His resurrection.

Sometimes in our lives we ask God for a sign. We yearn for some indication that God is listening, that God cares. Or we’re searching for guidance about which direction we should go. Is it “evil and unfaithful” to ask for a sign? I don’t believe so, but there are some things we need to remember when we do ask for a sign.

Jesus’ response to the scribes and Pharisees has occurred after many times in which Jesus has indeed done some wonderful things in the lives of people, and the Pharisees and scribes have dismissed them as the work of Satan. They refuse to recognize the signs that have already been given. When we ask for a sign, we need to be open to how God may answer our request. The sign or how it may be given may not be what we expect or go according to our plans.

Also, we need to remember the signs that Jesus has already given us about love and hope: most notably the Cross and the empty tomb. If we remember those signs, we will be reassured of God’s love for us.

We need to be open to being a sign that God might send someone else, to reassure him or her of His faithfulness.

If we follow the words of the prophet Micah in our first reading, we will be receptive to the signs that God gives us and answer the call to be a sign for others: “Only do the right and to love goodness, and to walk humbly with your God.”

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

Scripture:

Jeremiah 23:1-6
Ephesians 2:13-18
Mark 6:30-34

Reflection:

Jesus shows us the importance of prayer, today and throughout the gospels. He encourages us to go away and pray, to retreat. Although that is His plan, the needs of those around him influence his prayer this day. He doesn’t force his planned itinerary, but is “moved with pity”.

How often in our lives are our plans interrupted and we erupt? How many times does the missing price sticker cause us to groan in expected frustration. How many times does traffic waylay us, or others slow our plans?

Jesus looks up, looks out, and sees those around him. They move Him.

I think that is the challenge to each of us today, regardless of the detours we are to look up, look around and be moved.

My mom always used to say, “there is always someone worse off than you”! We need only pull our heads out of our phones and look about, and we too may be ‘moved with pity.’

It is in the praying, the filling our hearts with the Lord, that we can and will have His love to pour out onto others. So YES, go to a deserted area, take a boat, go and pray. But don’t be surprised by all the ways – the lives that Christ puts into your way.  Then, we too, can make the needs of those around us, move us and become a portion of our prayer this day.

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

St. Lawrence of Brindisi

Scripture:

Micah 2:1-5
Matthew 12:14-21

Reflection:

Today we find examples given us about working with what is at hand, in our effort to do what God wants us to do.  It counters the periodic temptation to believe that God requires us do what is totally outside our competency or our experience.

For example, we are provided a reflection from the ministry of the prophet Micah.  While Micah is privileged to enjoy membership among that illustrious group of Jews who were designated as prophets, he is certainly not one of the “great” prophets listed in the bible.  He would be considered a “minor” prophet, who nonetheless is worth considering for the way he dealt with an issue close to him.  It was not something alien to his background and experience, for it concerned the issue of land or property in the Jewish community of which he was a part.  As in our day, so in his, land/property was accounted an asset, often of great value, and, like anything of value, was liable to be abused.  That’s what Micah noticed going on about him: he sees people who “covet fields and seize them; houses, and take them”.  And so, inspired and motivated by God, he announces a charge or indictment against this kind of activity.  Micah dealt with “what was at hand”.  It was not a task foreign to him about which he knew nothing.

And in our gospel account today, we note that Jesus is not passive before plots against Him, of which He became aware: plots to take His life.  There would come a time when He knew that His time for suffering such a death had come, but it was not now.  He had other plans to carry out before these threats would overtake Him, so He escaped them at this time.

So what we see playing out before us today is the issue of familiarity with situations encountering us.  We need not fear being caught by surprise, totally unprepared for an issue facing us.  We also see this working out in the life of the saint we recall today: Lawrence of Brindisi, a Capuchin priest who, because of his brilliance, especially as a linguist (he was fluent in five languages), was given the opportunity to engage in a variety of responsible activities.  And he excelled at them, such as addressing the contentious disagreements between the Catholics and Protestants of his day, mobilizing Christian military forces against the Moslem invaders, leading his own Capuchin community as its Superior General, enlisting the King of Spain in the Christian army fighting the Moslems, etc.  He didn’t go out searching for these tasks.  But he accepted the responsibility of engaging them, as they came along in the course of living his life and knowing his own talents.  None of the above situations were foreign to him.

So our individual talents and gifts are often the indicators of what is expected of us.  God has outfitted each of us with certain gifts and abilities, and these in turn are indicators of what will be our life tasks and responsibilities.  So we pray to God that He will make us aware of our endowments, which in turn will usually lead us into a way of life that proves to be both enriching and challenging, as happened in the lives of the prophet Micah, of Jesus Himself and of our saints of the day, Lawrence of Brindisi.

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

Scripture:

Isaiah 38: 1-6, 21-22, 7-8
Matthew 12: 1-8

Reflection:

“I desire mercy, not sacrifice.”  I suspect all of us have heard that phrase many times before.  Surely, at least every time we’ve read this Gospel passage.  But, we’ve also been hearing it from our Holy Father, Pope Francis.  He’s been reminding us that Divine Mercy is at the heart of the Gospel.  He tells us that we must always begin with mercy if we are ever going to understand who God is and what God wants from us.

This Gospel story about the disciples of Jesus breaking the Sabbath Law by picking and eating the heads of grain while going through a field is an interesting one.  Jesus is challenged by the Pharisees since his disciples are so publicly breaking the Sabbath Law.  They see the disciples, and probably Jesus himself , as guilty of breaking the law.  Jesus responds by reminding the Pharisees of other occasions from their history when ordinary people have broken the Law by eating food reserved for the priests of the Temple.  He also reminds the Pharisees that Priests break the Sabbath Law whenever when they serve in the Temple on the Sabbath.  Jesus points out that all these people were innocent.  They were not guilty but forgiven because of extenuating circumstances.  No, they were innocent.

Jesus then concludes, “If you knew what this meant, I desire mercy, not sacrifice,
you would not have condemned these innocent men.  For the Son of Man is Lord of the sabbath.”

This Gospel account raises some interesting questions for us.  What is the source of our judgments of others?  Where do we begin?  Do we most often start with the law and draw our conclusions from there?  Or, do we always initiate our judgments in mercy?  Jesus reminds us that only if we start in mercy will we ever be able to recognize the innocent.

Lord, teach us how to begin in mercy so we may never condemn the innocent.

Fr. Michael Higgins, C.P. is the director of Mater Dolorosa Passionist Retreat Center, Sierra Madre, California.