Claire Smith

Scripture:

Ezekiel 2:2-5
2 Corinthians 12:7-10
Mark 6:1-6a

Reflection:

I am often in awe at the tricks a magician can play on my eyes and my other senses! I see very well what is in front of my eyes – something that was there a moment ago has now ‘disappeared’. My child-like self is telling me it must be magic simple and true, but my ‘conditioned’ mind won’t let me stay in that place! All my intellect and the knowledge I have gained over the course of life is busy telling me that this cannot be, that this is a trick and that, for example, in no way can a rabbit disappear into a hat!

And yes, this is how it must be. For little moments, especially in the company of children, we can let our imagination run free and return once more to a child-like trust and innocence. But life is hard and we must use all our capacities to navigate the often difficult road we traverse in the course of our journey to God.

But let us be warned also. We must also be open and use all our senses and capacities if we are to live well and truly be all that we can be. There are moments of life when the heart must be the arbitrator, when dreams must guide us and hope must fuel our endeavours.

Such was the approach Jesus often took. He communicated and announced the Reign of God not by doctrines or new law, but through story and parable, simple analogy and sharp imagery. In so many cases his listeners’ hearts soared with joy as he opened for them a new way into God’s company and reassured them of God’s loving friendship – a gift to them and not something to be earned by rituals or by adherence to laws that only increased their burdens.

But too many of the powerful and those who exercised authority over the people’s lives preferred to trust not their intuition and spontaneous responses, but rather to judge his words against old, established (and safe) understandings that often served their interest rather then revealed God’s word as amplified by the many Prophets throughout their history.

Thus Jesus lived his life between belief and trust and unbelief and persecution. It seems such a dynamic began very early for him. Today’s gospel scene relates this clearly – he returns to his own people announcing a life-giving message, but despite their initial joy and amazement at his message they prefer to stay on a safer path. They choose not to believe the message because they think they know all about the messenger and more so, about his humble status. For it is true, Jesus did not go to any rabbinical school nor did he follow any one teacher. He did not ‘fit’ their expectations of a rabbi and thus they reject him and his message.

They listen as if through a filter of ‘familiarity’ and they place Jesus in a hierarchy of their own making. They falsely reason that the message they are hearing – wonderful as it is – cannot be true because the messenger does not have sufficient ‘status’ in their eyes.

I heard once that as an experiment, the famous violinist Yehudi Menuhin played for 45 minutes on the street in front of the theatre in which he was to perform. But because people expected that a street performer could not be anything but an amateur,  they walked on by and missed the chance to listen to one of the world’s best musicians for free!  The music was enchanting but their perspective prevented them truly hearing – despite the inner joy the music was stirring within them!

It can be a warning for us too. The message of Jesus is similarly enchanting, but we must listen not just with our minds, nor must we filter his words through our personal perspectives, rather we must listen with our hearts if we are to hear his message to us and let his word find a home in our very being.

Fr. Denis Travers, C.P., is a member of Holy Spirit Province, Australia.  He currently serves on the General Council and is stationed in Rome.

Scripture:

Amos 9:11-15
Matthew 9:9-13

Reflection:

As a Passionist novice, I fasted on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday each week. That schedule would change with any feast day that might arise, but for the most part, it stayed consistent. Up to that point in my life, I never really thought about food, other than when it was time to eat, I ate. My twin brother, Dave claims there was a point in his life when he realized that he would never go hungry. The thought that I might go hungry one day, never occurred to me.

In 1980 I attended the first “Taste of Chicago” walking up and down the whole length of the venue I eventually realized that nothing appealed to me. At the North end of “The Taste” was a tent sponsored by a religious group that contrasted strongly with everything I had just experienced. They preached vegetarianism, although I didn’t know that when I approached. I ventured in and found a book that suggested that my diet affects the rest of the world, particularly the developing world. That started me thinking about food and diet.

In today’s scripture selections, I find much talk about food:

From the book of Amos

“I will bring about the restoration of my people Israel;
they shall rebuild and inhabit their ruined cities,
Plant vineyards and drink the wine,
set out gardens and eat the fruits.
I will plant them upon their own ground;
never again shall they be plucked
From the land I have given them,
say I, the LORD, your God.” (AM 9:14-15)

From the Gospel of Matthew

“Why do we and the Pharisees fast much,
but your disciples do not fast?” (MT 9:14)

What is all this concern about food, especially in relation to religion? Help me God, understand how you want me to relate to food, especially if it is true that the way I relate to it, affects other people.

Dan O’Donnell is a Passionist Partner and a longtime friend of the Passionists.  He lives in Chicago. 

Scripture:

Amos 7:10-17
Matthew 9:1-8

Reflection:

 “When the crowds saw this they were struck with awe and glorified God who had given such authority to human beings.” Mathew 9:8

Forgiveness of sins is kind of a big thing in the teachings of Jesus. In today’s reading we see another example of this. Jesus tells a paralytic to have courage (alternate translation: be of good cheer) because his sins are forgiven. The scribes were scandalized that Jesus would say such a thing. In first century Israel physical deformity was seen as evidence of sin. Jesus turns this idea on it’s head by declaring the man forgiven while he is still paralyzed. This is the essence of the gospel message: you don’t need to be healthy enough, wealthy enough, well known enough, or anything enough to be forgiven, i.e. to heal your relationship with God and the members of your community. Forgiveness flows from God as a free gift of grace.

While this same story is in Mark’s gospel, here in Matthew the crowds see the deeper message. The authority to forgive offense has been given to all humans. We are responsible for forgiving offense against us. Later in the gospel of Matthew we see Peter starting to get this when he asks Jesus, “Okay, but how many times must I forgive my brother?” Jesus’ answer of seventy-seven times points to unlimited forgiveness.

My prayer today is that I accept and practice the authority given to me by God to forgive and reconcile with those around me.

Talib Huff works and volunteers at Christ the King Retreat Center in Citrus Heights, California. He may be reached at [email protected] .

Scripture:

Amos 5:14-15,21-24
Matthew 8:28-34

Reflection:

Celebrating Life, Freedom, Love!

Today’s Scripture selections present a powerful picture of God’s love challenging the power of sinfulness in the lives of all people.  The prophet Amos speaks of the value of seeking good and hating evil, of embracing justice for all…letting one’s faith come alive so that our prayer and worship flow from an integrated life.  The Gospel selection from Matthew recounts Jesus dealing with two men (both non-Jews) who were savagely possessed by demons; He addressed the demons and drove them away, promoting the inherent dignity of the two men…even as the watching townspeople were so frightened by Jesus’ power and love that they begged Him to leave the area!  God’s love at work, to the benefit of all.

God’s love is at work in us as we celebrate this July 4^th Independence Day, an important national holiday.  Sure, the usual festivities of parades, speeches, lots of fireworks, family gatherings and food.  And yet this year the demonic power of evil afflicts our time as well; our festivities are tempered by the continued presence of violence in our world (even close to home), the growing environmental challenges the world faces, smoldering racism, global economic woes, etc.  Today we recall and celebrate our blessings, and we’re invited to see that God does have a plan to address the challenges of our world situation — perhaps a bit differently than we may expect.  Jesus offers us His wisdom & patience & selfless love that challenges and drives away the power of evil, helping form a people that is truly free, truly life-affirming on all levels, truly generous in sharing its resources, truly aware of its position as a major player on the world scene.

Today, in Jesus, God gives a special “twist” to our lives:  in His loving Plan, Jesus comes to set us free from our “demons” of sinfulness and selfishness, together celebrating and sharing God’s Love and Life with our needy sisters and brothers from around the world.  Today, may we all move beyond the violence and selfishness, the fear and the mistrust, to celebrate our freedom and blessings as sons and daughters in God’s family.  As the opening Collect prayer for today’ Mass states:

“God of love, Father of us all,
in wisdom and goodness you guide creation to fulfillment in Christ your Son.
Open our hearts to the truth of his gospel,
that your peace may rule in our hearts and your justice guide our lives.
Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ your Son, who lives with you and the Spirit,
one God forever and ever.  Amen!

Fr. John Schork, C.P. is a member of the Passionist community in Chicago, Illinois. 

Scripture:

Amos 2:6-10, 13-16
Matthew 8:18-22

Reflection:

The prophet Amos is a reminder to us that God can and does choose the lowly and the unheralded to speak to the people that gather under his name but whose lives are indifferent or antagonistic to their covenant relationship with God.

Amos might be the one prophet of the Old Testament whose call from God took him the farthest from his humble beginnings as a sheep breeder in Judah. Not only did Amos move on from his flocks of sheep, but he also left behind the Southern Kingdom of Judah to bring the Word of God to the people of the Northern Kingdom of Israel.

An immigrant sheep breeder denounces the foolish excesses and the cruel usurpation of other people’s livelihood. But Amos is not denouncing evil in a moralistic or righteous anger. Amos knows that the path that the people have taken is not the way of the covenant, not the way of recognizing God’s sovereignty over the people. Everything that will come crashing down upon them is of their own doing, because the power they hold is the power of force, not the power of the Saving and Loving God who guided their history as a chosen people.

As Amos prophesied, the Assyrian captivity will follow the fall of the capital of the Northern Kingdom, Samaria. The power that Samaria wielded gave way to a stronger power. That is always the case when leadership rules with brute power, brute authority, or brute cruelty.

However, Amos could see beyond the destruction that befell his people; his Book concludes with the promise of a Davidic restoration of a faithful leadership over the people in which all people’s lives would be able to flourish.

This is a reading that speaks to our hearts and minds today. There is a political hubris that ignores the evident suffering caused by policies that are exactly what Amos decries:

Woe to those who are complacent in Zion,
secure on the mount of Samaria,
Leaders of the first among nations,
to whom their people turn. Amos 6,1.

Fr. Arthur Carrillo, C.P., is the director of the Missions for Holy Cross Province.  He lives in Citrus Heights, California. 

Scripture:

Wisdom 1:13-15; 2:23-24
2 Corinthians 8:7, 9, 13-15
Mark 5:21-43

Reflection:

As he grappled with an aggressive cancer, Cardinal Joseph Bernardin wrote a beautiful reflection on his experience entitled, The Gift of Peace.  So deep was his faith that Cardinal Bernardin, despite being aware his life was ending, spoke of death as a “friend”—something he did not fear but could even embrace.  Our Scriptures would surely endorse such strong trust in God but, at the same time, the Bible also views death not as a “friend” but as the enemy.  Paul the Apostle called death “the last enemy.”  And today’s first reading from the Book of Wisdom baldly asserts “God did not make death”; rather, death enters into the world because humans made a pact with evil and invited it in!  God’s original and abiding intent is that the world and all life within it should thrive.

This biblical perspective that God is associated with abundant life, not death, is strongly proclaimed in the Gospel of Mark from which our gospel selection is taken today.  Throughout Mark’s account, the focus is on Jesus’ power to heal, to defeat the threat of death, and to restore human life.  The key to Mark’s portrayal of Jesus is found at the very beginning of his Gospel when at his baptism in the Jordan, Jesus is infused with the Spirit of God—the ultimate source of all life—and the Father declares Jesus as his “beloved Son.”  Filled with that divine Spirit, Jesus plunges into his mission of healing and overcoming death with life.  Mark portrays the first day of Jesus’ ministry in the village of Capernaum as non-stop healing, with the crowds bringing their sick to Jesus.

The gospel selection for today recounts two more such healings.  A woman afflicted with hemorrhages for twelve years touches Jesus’ cloak as he moves through the crowd and she experiences his healing power surge through her.  The second story is equally compelling.  Jairus, a synagogue official, had approached Jesus, pleading with him to come and heal his gravely ill daughter.  While Jesus and the official are on their way, Jairus receives word that alas his daughter has died.  But Jesus is undeterred.  The mourners who crowd around the house of the dead child ridicule Jesus when he states she is “sleeping” not dead.  But Jesus himself goes into the room where the young girl was, takes her by the hand, and says, “Little girl, I say to you, arise!”  The story ends so beautifully—amid the commotion caused her healing, Jesus reminds her parents to give her something to eat!

Ancient medicine lacked the scientific knowledge and methods we have but they did have some wisdom about sickness and healing.  One of the common words for illness in the first century world was “weakness”—the Greek term astheneia; their generic understanding of the cause of illness was a lack of vital force.  Healing, on the other hand, involved a transfer of vital force or vitality from the healer to the one bereft of vitality.  This notion of healing as a transfer of life from one who has abundant life to one who lacks it fits well with the Gospel’s understanding of Jesus’ mission.  Jesus—filled with God’s own Spirit and, therefore, brimming with vital force, touches those who are ill and they are restored to new life.  This is clearly the case in both the healing stories we hear this Sunday: power surges out from Jesus to the woman who touches him, and Jesus’ healing touch restores life to Jairus’ little daughter.

This alerts us to a fundamental dimension of the Christian mission to the world.  We are called to be healers like Jesus who brings life to those who suffer. Understanding healing as a transfer of vital force can apply to a variety of situations: the skill of a physician or health care worker; the wisdom of a counselor or simply that of an understanding friend willing to listen to someone’s distress; the courage and tenacity of those who work for justice.  All can be healers in the manner of Jesus.

Fr. Donald Senior, C.P. is the Chancellor, President Emeritus and Professor of New Testament at Catholic Theological Union.  He lives at the Passionist residence in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago.

[This reflection is adapted from the author’s “Perspectives on Scripture” that appears weekly in The Chicago Catholic, the archdiocesan newspaper.]

Scripture:

Lamentations 2:2, 10-14, 18-19
Matthew 8:5-17

Reflection:

When it seems like our prayers aren’t being answered, it is good to go over this check-off list.

1) Do we pray with humility?  “God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble” (James 4:6).

2) Do we forgive all others before we pray?  “First, be reconciled with your brother, and then come an offer your gift” (Matthew 5:24).

3) Do we pray first of all for the coming of God’s kingdom?  “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be yours as well” (Matthew 6:33).

4) Do we pray with love?  “If I speak (pray) with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal” (1 Corinthians 13:8).

5) Have we given thanks for gifts already received?  “Was no one found to return and give thanks to God except this foreigner” (Luke 17:18).

A rabbi was once asked this challenging question.  “How come God was so visible to people in times past, but nowadays no one ever seems to see him?”  The rabbi responded, “Nowadays there is no one who bows low enough.”  

In today’s gospel we see the centurion bowing low enough and praying with humility, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof” (Matthew 8:8).  He realized his littleness and recognized the authority, the greatness of Jesus.  Apparently this depth of humility and faith was rare in those days because the gospel says that Jesus “marveled.”

If we reflect on the splendor of creation and the beauty of human life, we bow down in reverence before the Creator.  If we gaze upon the crucifix, we bow down in wonder before this expression of God’s love.  If we consider the size of the universe and that we are just one in seven billion people on this little planet Earth, we are filled with awe that God would have compassion and pay any attention to little us.

So with confidence in Jesus’ power, love and compassion, we humbly present our petitions to him.  And Jesus “marveles.”

Fr. Alan Phillip, C.P. is a member of the Passionist Community at Mater Dolorosa Retreat Center, Sierra Madre, California.   http://www.alanphillipcp.com/

Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul

Scripture:

Acts of the Apostles 12: 1-11
2 Timothy 4: 6-8, 17-18
Matthew 16: 13 -19

Reflection:

Today we celebrate two great men of the Church, Saints Peter and Paul. Two ordinary men, one a fisherman and the other a Pharisee and a tentmaker. Two ordinary men who recognized that God had called them to be something greater than they thought themselves to be. Two ordinary men who had courage to speak the truth that was spoken to them through Christ. They endured suffering through many hardships and trials for their words and actions and yet they kept on believing in the truth that dwelt in their hearts.

“Peter thus was being kept in prison, but prayer by the Church was fervently being made to God on his behalf.” Acts 12:5

I have just returned from a trip to the Alpine Region of Europe. As part of our travels we stopped in the city of Salzburg, Austria. One of the five churches of the old city is Saints Peter and Paul and it is magnificent! Pope John Paul II had visited there twice. There was also the church of Saint Francis Xavier in Lucerne, Switzerland with its beautiful and at times overwhelming Baroque style. In Como, Italy there was the Cathedral of the Assumption of Mary and its ornate Gothic style. In Munich, Germany there was a Church off of the main square named Saint Peter’s and it was just as ornate and beautiful as the others. In Mainz, Germany we visited Saint Stephen’s where the famous Marc Chagall windows flood the church with a soothing blue light. In Mainz we also visited the Cathedral which is one of the oldest being constructed in 1009 and where the recently deceased, Cardinal Lehmann is buried in the crypt, underneath the altar. All of these magnificent structures show the dedication and art of the times in which they were built. Their beauty give praise to God as well as the people who come to pray and celebrate mass every day and on Sundays. These churches and cathedrals were built to teach the people of their day about the Church and they are not the Church. If there were no great buildings the Church would still exist because the Church is more than brick and mortar, it is the People of God.

All of us who are baptized in the Church are the Church. From the beginning it has always been about the people. The prayers of the Church are powerful, they may not always be answered the way we would like but they are still answered. Peter and Paul both put their faith and trust in the Church as they went about spreading the “Good News” They did not have an easy task with the many abuses they underwent as they preached, taught and baptized those who wanted to become disciples. On this feast we remember our two great saints who established the Church. Let us pray for our Church and world that God may send us the graces we need to proclaim the “Good News” and be the Church in our world today.

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