Claire Smith

Scripture:

Acts 4:32-35
1 John 5:1-6
John 20:19-31

Reflection:

The presence of peace in our lives and the reality of our communion with each other as brothers and sisters are two actualities that take on far reaching significance when one is meditating on the resurrection of Jesus.

Here today in our Easter Season as we contemplate the mystery of the resurrection, it seems to me that they are both strong indicators and signs of the presence of the risen Christ.

Firstly let us look at the word ‘peace’. It is a constant proclamation of Jesus in the resurrection accounts and in the language of Jesus this word denotes wholeness or completeness.

One reflection we might make is to see those moments of deep peace in our own lives and indicators of a deeper presence within and with us – that of Jesus himself who is the bearer of such peace. When we find ourselves ‘at peace’ – a peace that is wider and deeper than mere absence of wars or interpersonal strife – this can be a moment, a lens through which we might glimpse the presence of Jesus in the Spirit. Peace seems to be the hallmark of the life that God wants for us and which Jesus came to reveal. A life marked by a calmness of being and by an absence of fear, a life filled with moral value and divine presence.  Peace and even every peaceful moment in our lives thus becomes a grace, a gift of God to us, and one highly indicative of the nearness and presence of Jesus with us.

Secondly let us consider the importance of ‘relationship to and with the community’ of believers.  Thomas serves as our ‘guide’, perhaps not intentionally so, but nevertheless his story is powerfully indicative for us and our faith response.  Thomas stands before us as a disciple who attempted to reason his way through to faith and what is more, he tries to do it by himself. He is absent from the community when they experience the presence of Jesus and he does not believe their witness till he himself stands amongst them. In the company of his brothers and sisters he no longer needs the ’proof’ he has so clearly demanded when relying on only his intellect. Once in the community he experiences with them the presence of Jesus and his questions about proof fade away – he never seeks to touch or see as he had previously demanded. His experience teaches us that we nourish each other by our common faith and that the witness of each of us is important. Together as a community we can inspire and protect the faith we all bear especially those times of doubt and uncertainly.

In such ways we each become a new source, a new ‘sign’ of Jesus’ presence. Our witness may not be recorded in the gospel account, but it surely proclaims the good news.

So let us treasure the gift of peace when it reigns in our hearts – it reflects the nearness of Jesus to us and can inspire and strengthen us to have great courage and forgive much. Let us also treasure the community that surrounds us, it is a source of strength for our faith and a medium through which we encounter Jesus.

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:

Acts 4:13-21
Mark 16:9-15

Reflection:

“This is the day the LORD has made; let us be glad and rejoice in it.” ~Psalm 118 24

I hate going to the dentist. That’s not a reflection on any dentist, that’s me. I’ve gotten better over the years, but to this day I reluctantly make the appointment, dread the encounter as the day approaches and finally go. I get my teeth taken care of, usually just a cleaning and check–up, earn a reprieve for another six months, and I am grateful for the dentist and his staff who pamper me and do what I can’t do for myself.

This year we celebrate the life and legacy of the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. by recalling his life among us, and its tragic ending 50 years ago this week.  I could never do justice to his story by trying to retell it here, and I don’t think it is necessary—we all know the story. As much as Dr. King talked of the Promised Land, I believe he was totally in the present moment urging his fellow demonstrators on, proclaiming non-violence today despite the violence and lack of justice surrounding him and his followers at that moment.

You’d think that my dentist experience, and with the great examples of men like Dr. King, Mahatma Gandhi and Jesus, I would have learned by now; I haven’t, though. I still slip into worry about the future.  I still wonder if life is really a gift. I still worry about tomorrow.

Maybe if I truly pray the above psalm verse I will do better. Maybe I can learn to truly believe in Easter, the Resurrection and life, not only life ever after, but also life today. I think I’ll try that, hoping to live a life of thanks and praise to the God of life, the God who gives me this day.

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

Scripture:

Acts 3:11-26
Luke 24:35-48

Reflection:

The Emmaus story is the quintessential resurrection story.    It is the discovery of Christ, and coming to faith story which originates in a calm and subtle manner and gradually illumines even the blindness of areas.   It is an awareness which begins changing the heart even before the mind can process what is happening.     It’s the story which wakes a person up to say, “Wow Jesus has been walking with me this whole time and I didn’t even realize it!”  Curiously, the human mind is the last to be able to see it.

I’ve noticed at the local watering hole people are less inhibited to talk about Jesus, and in that informal setting they start asking questions.  The questions authentically stem from what doesn’t make sense for them.  Why the Cross?  Could there not have been another way?   If Jesus was divine, could he not have chosen or even paved his own way that would have been easier or more conventional?  Couldn’t he have at least zapped the minds of the Pharisees and Sadducees to get them to understand who he was as Messiah?   Ultimately I hear people asking for help trying to make sense out of something that doesn’t make sense in their world.   And if it is that way for today’s questioning people, how much more must it have been confusing and disturbing to the immediate disciples.

Yesterday the church invited us to spend time with the beginning of the Emmaus story; today the story concludes.  And the line which intrigues me in today’s Gospel is, “Everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the prophets and psalms had to be fulfilled.”  It reads like a post resurrection interview as Jesus explains himself to the disciples.    He was to fulfill everything that was written about him in the law, the prophets and the psalms.    He saw his life as a fulfillment of Scripture.  Isn’t this an incredible insight into the mind of the historical Jesus?

I can’t imagine Jesus neither would have had the notion that one day the image of himself being crucified would have such a profound impact on people, nor that there would be thousands of buildings erected for prayer and worship with a crucifix being the centerpiece.  But he did have a rich Jewish tradition whereby people read, pondered and dialogued about the sacred scriptures.  Thus for him to move from dialogue to fulfillment must have rocked some people’s worldview.  Recall the beginning of his public ministry in Luke’s Gospel he reads from the scroll of the prophet Isaiah and boldly states, “Today this scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing”.   Luke portrays Jesus as knowing he is fulfilling what was written about him by numerous sources many years before.  He who is the Word made flesh was to build on the integrity of the written Word of God.

Lastly, Luke adds, after doing so, he opened their minds to the understanding of the scriptures.    I give thanks today for the people who have opened my mind to the understanding of the scriptures.

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

Scripture:

Acts 2:14, 22-33
Matthew 28:8-15

Reflection:

The joy of the apostles and the community of disciple men and women followed on the realization that Jesus was raised out of the tomb, and that he intended to re-engage with them in the imminent moment.

In fact, today’s Gospel narrative relays this information in the dialogue that Jesus has with Mary of Magdala and the other Mary, who came to visit the tomb, but were told by the angel to go tell the disciples of his Resurrection, and of his going before them to Galilee (Mt 28:5-10).

It was the reason for the ecstatic happiness of the disciples who returned from Emmaus to report that they had recognized Jesus in the breaking of the bread (Lk 24:33-35).

The importance of this enthusiastic acceptance of the Resurrection of Jesus is that it fueled the Evangelization that was to become the principal work of the Church from that day forward. This clear connection between the Resurrection of Jesus and the work of Evangelization is seen in the way that the 28^th chapter of Matthew’s Gospel, from which is taken today’s Gospel reading, contains both a declaration of the Resurrection of Jesus, and a commissioning of the disciples to take the Good News of salvation to “all nations.” (Mt 28:19).

This gives the passage from the first reading, “God raised this Jesus; of this we are all witnesses” (Acts 2:32), a special significance. The self-identity of the first Christian community is not in calling themselves “Christians,” a name by which they were to become known after the establishing of the community in Antioch, they referred to themselves as “witnesses.”

Paul, in his speech to at Cornelius’ home in Caesarea (Acts 10:34-43) builds a bridge between these elements of Christian witness. Especially relevant are verses 39-43: We are witnesses of all that he did both in the country of the Jews and (in) Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree. This man God raised (on) the third day and granted that he be visible, not to all the people, but to us, the witnesses chosen by God in advance, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. He commissioned us to preach to the people and testify that he is the one appointed by God as judge of the living and the dead. To him all the prophets bear witness, that everyone who believes in him will receive forgiveness of sins through his name.

This Christian identity of being “witnesses” is the fruit of the Resurrection of Jesus. The first disciples immediately saw the meaning of the Resurrection in the commission that Jesus gave them to become witnesses of the Good News to all the world. Today, as we celebrate the Octave of Easter, let us also renew our conviction that Jesus has called us to be His witnesses in the world, that the mission of Jesus may also be lived in and through our witness to the ongoing presence of Christ in the world. We are both his witnesses, and the living members of his body today.

Fr. Arthur Carrillo, C.P.  is the director of the Missions for Holy Cross Province.  He lives in Chicago, Illinois. 

 

Easter Sunday – The Resurrection of the Lord

Scripture:

Acts 10:34, 37-43
Ps 118:1-2, 16-17, 22-23
Colossians 3:1-4 (or 1 Corinthians 5:6-8)
John 20:1-9 (or Mark 16:1-7 or Luke 24:13-35)

Reflection:

Through a Glass Darkly

Some weeks ago the United States experienced a rare total eclipse of the sun.  We were warned not to try to view the eclipse directly but only through heavily filtered lenses to avoid damaging our eyes by the blinding light of the sun.  I thought of this as today we celebrate the very heart of our Christian faith, the resurrection of Jesus Crucified, a conviction of faith that is ground zero for us as Christians.  Yet in the New Testament there is no direct description of the actual moment of Jesus’ triumph over the power of death—nor could there be.  That “instant” of transformation was an act of God beyond the arena of time and space.  As Paul the Apostle put it long ago, we glimpse life with God “through a glass directly.”

Two of the ways the New Testament testifies to the reality of the resurrection are reflected in the choice of readings for Easter.  One is the testimony of those who encountered the Risen Christ as alive.  The same Jesus they knew and loved, whose body was broken and his life taken away through a cruel and painful death, was now experienced as fully alive—not resuscitated as if somehow brought back to his former life but transformed into a new and vibrant mode of life.  We hear such a testimony in the words of Peter while preaching to Cornelius, the Roman Centurion and his household in the Acts of the Apostles.: “This man God raised on the third day and granted that he be visible, not to all the people, but to us, the witnesses chosen by God in advance.”   An even more compelling example of such witness is Luke’s account of the disciples on the way to Emmaus.  Two followers of Jesus, broken hearted and despairing because the Master they loved had been crucified, leave Jerusalem and take a sad journey to their village of Emmaus.  We all know the story—as they walk they are joined by a mysterious visitor who turns their despair into ardent hope—the Risen Jesus himself.  They recognize him when he joins them in a meal, as he had so many times during his life with them.  “Were not our hearts burning within us while he spoke to us on the way and opened the Scriptures to us?”  This appearance story is so characteristic of the New Testament accounts: the Jesus they encounter is truly the Jesus they knew and loved (he breaks bread with them; he still carries the wounds of his crucifixion; he cooks a breakfast of grilled fish and bread for them…).  Yet at the same time, the Risen Jesus radiates a new and transformed life (they don’t at first recognize him; he appears suddenly, unrestrained by time and place).

The other lens through which the New Testament views the brilliant light of resurrection is through a series of accounts where people who loved and knew Jesus discover that the tomb in which his crucified body had been buried is now empty. In John’s exquisite account, Mary Magdalen first discovers the empty tomb and then alerts Simon Peter and the “beloved disciple”—they run to the tomb (the beloved disciple outruns Peter!) and find that Mary’s testimony was true.  The tomb is empty and the burial cloths are neatly rolled up.   Mark’s Gospel also concludes with the discovery of the empty tomb.  Here the faithful and courageous women who had stood by the cross of Jesus (while the male disciples had all fled), come to the tomb after the Sabbath to anoint Jesus’ body.  But the tomb is empty, and a heavenly messenger proclaims the Easter message: “Do not be afraid!  You seek Jesus of Nazareth, the crucified.  He has been raised; he is not here.”

Most of us are afraid of death and the unknowns we may face in the future.  But the very heart of our Christian faith celebrated today assures us that death is not the last word—for ourselves, for our loved ones, and or indeed for our world.  For us as a Passionist family, to proclaim this message is at the very heart of our charism for the Church.

Fr. Donald Senior, C.P. is 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 Perspectives on Scripture, a weekly column written by Donald Senior for The Chicago Catholic, the archdiocesan paper of Chicago.]

The Easter Vigil in the Holy Night

Scripture:

Genesis 1:1-2:2
Genesis 22:1-18
Exodus 14:15-15:1
Isaiah 54:5-14
Isaiah 55:1-11
Baruch 3:9-15, 32-4:4
Ezekiel 36:16-17a, 18-28
Romans 6:3-11
Mark 16:1-7

Reflection:

Brace yourselves – it’s the “Mother of All Vigils.”

(I promise this reflection won’t be as long as the Vigil…. I hope)

This is the high point of the Christian year – the “Crown Jewel” of all the Liturgies the Church has to offer.  It’s the fullest celebration of the Paschal Mystery.  The Source and Summit of our life as God’s people.  “Gloria” is sung again, and “Alleluia” rings out with reckless abandon for the first time since before Ash Wednesday.  It’s the crucifixion and death we thank Jesus for, the Resurrection we praise God for, the feast by which we are lead into eternal life!

In a nutshell, all the readings of the Vigil (there are 7 Old Testament, 1 Epistle, and a Gospel reading) tell the story of salvation and God’s relationship to us.  There are themes of light, water, and the way God uses common relationships to reveal himself to us.  This is all about how God comes to meet us – how God has saved us, and pursued us through all ages and generations, just waiting to bring us to new life, both in this world and when our earthly journey is over.  Believing that, how can we not be joyful?

But I think the Gospel is what interests me most.  The women in tonight’s Gospel, Mary, Mary Magdaline, and Salome, go to anoint the body of Jesus.  Carrying their spices, they walk in sorrow and despair, heartbroken because of the death of their friend.  Their teacher, the one they’d followed, the man who’d understood them unlike anyone they’d ever known, had been arrested, crucified, and buried.

But when they get there, they find an open tomb.  Inside, there’s a young man dressed in white.  “He is not here – he has been raised!” he says to them.  After realizing what happened, they run back and start spreading the Good News.  These women went to the tomb, seeking the dead, but found life – and then took off running, sent to share that new life with all!

I’m someone who deeply likes to laugh.  I enjoy happy, silly movies that aren’t at all based in reality.  I prefer to ignore our human realities of hurt, pain, illness, betrayal, death… all the things that entomb us.  I seek the living, not the dead.

But I’ve realized that in doing that, I’m not living the life to which God has called me.

And I’ll admit that there are times in my journey, lots of them, that I expect only to find the dead.  Each time I see a homeless person on the freeway off-ramp, do I see a tomb of their desolation?  When I pass by a nursing home, do I see a last stop of someone’s train to death?  When I see someone in a wheelchair or someone with a developmental disability, do I conclude that they’re trapped, less than me, only a marginal person?

Or… do I see the possibility of God living there, waiting for me?  Even more, do I recognize Christ in the faces of those people?  Perhaps they are in a tomb, waiting for a resurrection of their own.  And maybe, just maybe, God is asking me to reach out to them and spread the gift of the resurrected life he’s given so generously to me.

Where do we look for Christ?  What are we seeking?  I believe we should seek the dead.  And if we do, we can find new life in the midst of our sorrow.  Without the cross, there can be no resurrection.  And there are so many in need, so many hurting, so many trapped in a tomb, sometimes a tomb of their own making… I know I feel that way myself, and I’ll bet I’m not the only one.

But we’re also charged to do as the young man – the angel – instructed, “But go, tell his disciples.” (Mark 16:7)  Go and tell.  We are commissioned, as part of our resurrected life, to be more effective goers and tellers.  We mustn’t hide our light.  We must keep our salt salty.

So go to the tomb.  Seek the dead around you.  In someone’s darkest night, be the holy fire that brings them Light.  And then run, bring God to your part of the world… a world that desperately needs you.

Remember… “Christ has no hands on earth but yours.”   From a Prayer of St. Theresa of Avila

Dear God, giver of the most incredible gift of love, thank you.
Dear Christ, beacon, let us be your light.  Let us be your hands.
Let us be your resurrected body to the world.   Amen.

Paul Puccinelli is Director of Liturgy & Music at St. Rita Parish in Sierra Madre, CA, and a member of the Retreat-Team at Mater Dolorosa Retreat Center.

Good Friday of the Lord’s Passion

Scripture:

Isaiah 52:13-53:12
Hebrews 4:14-16; 5:7-9
John 18:1-19:42

Reflection:

Moses Mendelssohn, the great-grandfather of the famous German composer, Felix Mendelssohn, was not a handsome man.  In fact, he was inflicted with a grotesque humpback.

One day he was visiting a merchant in Hamburg when he noticed the man’s beautiful daughter.  Moses fell hopelessly in love with her.  But she was repulsed by his misshapen appearance.

When it was time for him to leave, he gathered up all his courage to try to speak with her.  But this beautiful girl wouldn’t even look at him.  And this caused him much pain.  After several attempts at conversation, Moses shyly asked, “Do you believe marriages are made in heaven?”

“Yes,” she replied, still looking at the floor.  “And do you?”

“Yes, I do,” he replied.  “You see, in heaven, at the birth of each boy, the Lord announces which girl he will marry.  When I was born, my future bride was pointed out to me.  Then the Lord added, ‘But your wife will be humpbacked.’

Right then and there I called out, ‘Oh, Lord, a humpbacked woman would be a tragedy.  Please, Lord, give me the hump and let her be beautiful.’”

This beautiful girl looked up into his eyes.  Then she reached out and touched his hand.  Later she became his devoted wife.

This story reminded me of the words of the prophet Isaiah:

 “It was our infirmities that he bore,
      our sufferings that he endured.
      …he was pierced for our offenses, crushed for our sins.
     Upon him was the chastisement that makes us whole,
     By his stripes we were healed” (Cf. Isaiah 53).

Indeed, Jesus took upon himself the infirmities of us all.  We who were once humpbacked with selfishness and sin have been made beautiful by the sufferings and death of Christ.

     We adore you, Oh Christ, and we bless you,
          because by your holy cross you have beautified our world.

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