Claire Smith

Scripture:

Revelation 15:1-4
Luke 21:12-19

Reflection:

As we move closer to the very end of our Church liturgical year, we make our way through the Book of Revelation. The imagery of John’s visions has he has put them down are almost impossible to imagine. But through all these incredible and at times fearful visions, there runs a thread of hope and trust in God.

We see this in our first reading for today. After John sees seven angels with the seven last plagues, he sees “something like a sea of glass mingled with fire. On the sea of glass were standing those who had won the victory over the beast and its image and the number that signified its name. They were holding God’s harps, and they sang the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb.”

What this vision tells me is that it is possible to win victory “over the beast,” whatever the “beast” may be for us, whether its addiction or resentment or fear or despair. It is possible to win victory in Jesus Christ! We cannot do it on our own. This is what Jesus tells us in our Gospel reading from Luke, as He warns His disciples about the coming persecutions: “they will hand you over to the synagogues and to prisons, and they will have you led before kings and governors because of my name. It will lead to your giving testimony. Remember, you are not to prepare your defense beforehand, for I myself shall give you a wisdom that all your adversaries will be powerless to resist or refute.” However we may confront the things that bedevil us, we have the wisdom that comes from putting our complete trust in the love of God for us in Jesus Christ. All the things I mentioned above, and much more, need not crush us or defeat us! God’s love for us is everlasting! And so Jesus can say to us, without any hesitation, “By your perseverance you will secure your lives.”

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

Feast of the Presentation of Mary

Scripture:

Zechariah 2:14-1
Matthew 12:46-50

Reflection:

The Aussies and Americans are quite similar, in a number of ways, but not in all ways.  For instance, the Aussies are fond of the British, whom they call The Pommies, in a way involving both admiration and ridicule.  Americans usually tend to express only our admiration of the English.  And the Aussies have a hard time understanding what we Americans celebrate and admire, since we tend to tout our successes and victories, while they tend to extol their failures and defeats.  They argue that it takes no backbone or strength of character to bask in success, but it does call for strength to pride oneself on one’s defeats and losses, which they are known to do.

Today we celebrate the Presentation of Mary in the temple by her parents, Joachim and Anne.  There is little historical testimony to support this devotional memory, and yet it has retained a modest place on the church’s calendar over the years.  The Passionists themselves have cherished this practice as quite compatible with the kind of piety that would have characterized the household into which Mary was born.  It’s a devotion in keeping with the spirit of our Australian friends who don’t need a victory in order to celebrate an achievement worthy of admiration.

So our Founder, Paul of the Cross, named his very first monastery The Presentation of Mary in the Temple.  He may well have done this on the basis of his ardent hope that this first foundation of the small Passionist community would grow and augment and increase in its membership.  This hope is in conformity with the biblical readings suggested for today since they speak of this very thing: growth and expansion.

As we listen to the prophet Zechariah today we hear an expansion theme in his words about “many nations” binding themselves to the Lord, and about the Lord inheriting Judah as his portion of the holy land: a growth and enlargement motif.  And this is in harmony with the incident in the life of Jesus when, on the occasion of His addressing a large crowd, someone called His attention to the presence of His mother and brothers standing nearby, wishing to speak with Him.  And He too picks up on the expansion theme by observing that whoever does the will of His heavenly Father is His brother, sister and mother.

So it’s all a matter of vision and foresight.  The Presentation  of Mary in the Temple was an idea appealing to Paul of the Cross because it spoke to the expansionist potential Paul saw in his first foundation of The Presentation on Monte Argentaro.  It was in keeping with the wonder surrounding Mary herself who became a mother in a totally new and different way.  Only an early dedication of her by her parents to God’s plan for her could set the stage suitably for the wonderful things about to happen, thanks to her.

Maybe the Aussies are better situated than we are to appreciate unforeseen dimensions of the potential in our life situations.

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

Feast of Christ the King

Scripture:

2 Samuel 5:1-3
Colossians 1:12-20
Luke 23:35-43

Reflection:

“Today, you will be with me in Paradise.”

That sounds good, doesn’t it? Today. WE like things that happen today. We’re NOW people. Today is good. …but for Paradise? That sounds like it should be long way off…a looong way off. (and I hope none of you are thinking…”if I ever get there”) You will. Jesus promised. And he’s good for his promises. He gave his life to make his promise good.

Just as he did for the thief crucified at his side, Jesus, our King, forgives and bids us come into his kingdom. Into the eternal life he won for us. For most of us, the cross is where we least expect a king to be. Yet this is where we find Jesus. The cross is where we ourselves least want to be. Yet this is how God’s kingdom is established and where our discipleship begins: allowing ourselves to be crucified on the cross of self-giving. Haven’t we heard so many times: “Take up your cross and come follow me.”

Some people in Jesus’ day were looking for a king like David, who would reassert Israel’s independence, rid the land of the Romans, and make wise decisions for the people. Even though David did all this with twelve scrappy tribes, Jesus, with his twelve ordinary fishermen, had a completely different vision of kingdom.

Jesus urged the leaders among his followers to be the servant of all, and he modeled this for them repeatedly, as he took up his itinerant mission with people at the lowest rungs of society.

• He demonstrated his kingship not by saving himself, but by healing and saving others.
• He exercised his might through forgiveness and compassion.
• He demonstrated his kingship not by power and wealth, but by loving reassurance that Paradise awaits faithful disciples.

This solemnity remembers a King  whose Kingdom has come. We are living in his kingdom now.  This means that each day we are called to live in a self-giving way because only through goodness expressed in reaching out to others is God’s reign at hand. Living in the reign of God means living the daily dying the cross demands. Just as the cross was the means to Jesus’ exultation, so is the cross our way into Paradise.

But wait…remember that loooong way off we hope eternal life is.? I’m yours, take me Lord, but not today????

It’s the “Today, you will be with me in Paradise” that is our promised kingdom. When we notice the lost and lonely, when we offer compassion and forgiveness to those who hurt us, when we are tender, and loving, the Kingdom of God is being created right in our midst.

As followers of Christ the King, we find ourselves challenged to form communities in which the only royal figure is Jesus, the only kingdom is God’s, and the power of forgiveness reigns supreme.

In so doing, the Kingdom of God is at hand.  Ours.

Eileen Richards is a retreatant at Mater Dolorosa Passionist Retreat Center in Sierra Madre, California.

Scripture:

Revelation 11:4-12
Luke 20:27-40

Reflection:

That the dead will rise even Moses made known in the passage about the bush, when he called ‘Lord’ the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob; and he is not God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive.” Luke 20:39

Toward the end of the Sixties, Peggy Lee recorded the hit song, “Is that all there is?” Those of us who experience this moment in time in the United States, were immediately taken by the message of the song: a house burning down, a circus that did not thrill us, a love that did not last, and a chorus that kept on asking, Is that all there is?

There may be times when we are challenged by the same question, Is that all there is? We hoped for something better and it didn’t happen. We wanted a brighter future, and we didn’t get it. We longed for a life without pain or suffering, but found a life that included hurts and disappointment. Is that all there is?, we ask.

Jesus is confronted with this question in today’s Gospel reading. The Sadducees, one of those groups of religious leaders during Jesus’ lifetime,  that joined forces with other respected leaders, to oppose Jesus and his message. One of the core beliefs of the Sadducees was that this life was all there was, and therefore, they believed only in the here and now and not in the afterlife. For them, there was no resurrection, no life after death. They were so convinced of their belief, they disrespected and belittled everyone else who did not think like them.

So, they set their eyes on Jesus. They wanted to make him look ridiculous. They wanted to show people, especially the people who followed Jesus, just how clever they were and how stupid Jesus was for believing in the resurrection and teaching his followers about Eternal Life. So, they devised a ridiculous example taken from the Hebrew Scriptures to make Jesus look foolish. They turned out to be too clever by half!

Using a very simple but profound example, Jesus showed them and all of us that our God is a God of life and not a God of the dead, a God of all the living. There is much more to life than just this life, than the here and now, than the hurts and disappoints that come our way in our daily lives. God is stronger than death. Hope overcomes despair. Love conquers hate. Faith is greater cynicism.

So, who do we want to follow? The people who think we are fools because we believe in a God of Life, a God of Truth, a God of Justice, a God of Mercy, a God of Love, or the people who believe in Eternal Life. Which road do we want to walk?

Fr. Clemente Barrón, C.P. is a member of Christ the King Community in Citrus Heights, California. 

Scripture:

Revelation 5:1-10
Luke 19:41-44

Reflection:

Picture yourself in today’s gospel. You are walking with Jesus toward Jerusalem but Jesus suddenly stops. Gazing down upon the city, Jesus begins to weep. Jesus’ sorrow breaks your heart because, standing near, you can see that his tears are born from love. As he looks down upon Jerusalem, you hear Jesus say, “If this day you only knew what makes for peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes.” Jesus grieves all the violence and bloodshed, all the suffering and affliction, all the hatred and exclusion, all the injustice and indifference. He grieves all the unnecessary pain that human beings inflict on one another. And he especially grieves all the missed opportunities to love.

But can’t we also picture Jesus looking down over the cities and countries where we live today and weeping? Cannot we imagine him looking into our homes, our communities, our societies, and our world, and saying, “If this day you only knew what makes for peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes”? We know the path to peace is not found in accumulating weapons, building walls, and threatening wars. We know we will be strangers to peace when we lash out in anger, insist on having our way, harden our hearts, and shut the people we are given to love out of our lives. But still, against our better judgment, we persist in those hopeless ways until “what makes for peace…is hidden from our eyes.”

In the first reading from Revelation we are reminded that the way to peace is not found in the attitudes, habits, and practices that are so destructively familiar to our world, but in the Lamb that was slain, the crucified and risen one who gathers together “those from every tribe and tongue, people and nation,” making all of us one. As we come near the threshold of Advent we await the one whose life of mercy, justice, compassion, and patient love reveals the true path to peace. Following him is the only way to stop breaking the heart of the God who loves us and calls us to life.

Paul 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:

Revelation 4:1-11
Luke 19:11-28

Reflection:

Jesus shares a parable of a nobleman who will be absent for a time.  He gives the first laborer ten coins to care for while he is gone. To a second laborer he gives five coins.  To a third laborer he gives one coin.  He instructed them to “engage in trade until I return.”  When he returns the one who received ten coins earned ten additional coins.  The second one who received five coins earned five additional coins. The third one who received one coin kept the coin buried in a handkerchief.  This latter angered the noble man very much.  He tells the third man the least he could have done was put the coin in a bank and let it get interest.

Underneath this parable there is a story.  Achelous the son of Herod was in charge.  He was very unpopular with the people.  He was going to Rome, with the hope that he would be given a title of “King.” The people decided to send a delegation ahead of him and ask the Roman authorities to not give him the title.  This outraged Achelous so much that on his return he had the delegates put to death.

The holder of the one coin in a way earned the anger of the nobleman.  He was told to enter the coin into trade.  Instead he buried it.  One of the details that further enraged Achelous was he buried it in a handkerchief.  The least he could have done was to secure the safe keeping of the coin by burying it in a more substantial wooden or metal box.  The penalty for disregarding his instructions was to be killed and bundled up along with the delegates who went to Rome where he was refused the title of King.

Lessons we can draw from this passage are first, The Reign of God is near; we need to be prepared because we know neither the time nor the day when the owner will return.  Second, graces are gifts that are given to be developed and shared, not to be hidden.   Third, sometimes our call requires for us to take risks and maybe even pain and suffering. The story is told that Renoir the great French Impressionist lived to be ninety years old.  He was so crippled with arthritis that he had to have the brushes tied to his hands to pant.  His thought on this was “Pain is passing, but beauty is lasting!”

Notice there is not dialogue in this parable.  There was a book that has the longest “best seller” record in the field of business management (1981-1989). This book entitled Getting to Yes, by William Paton and Roger Ury.  One of the examples in this book of “negotiating skills” is about military leaders who disagreed on how to win a war. What helped them first to focus on the issues; second is to never get personal.  Peter Drucker, the father of modern management, put it this way:  Be firm, be fair, and be friendly.

Fr. Ken O’Malley, C.P., is the formation director and local superior at Holy Name Passionist Community in Houston, Texas.

Scripture:

Revelation 1:1-4; 2:1-5
Luke 18:35-43

Reflection:

Our readings for this Monday are rather puzzling at first glance, yet appropriate for us as we draw more closely to the end of the liturgical year with the celebration of the feast of Christ the King.  In the selected passages from the Book of Revelation the faithful are at first praised and congratulated for their perseverance in the faith.  The author of Revelations declares to the people, “I know your works, your labor, and your endurance, and that you cannot tolerate the wicked; you have tested those who call themselves Apostles but are not, and discovered that they are impostors.  Moreover, you have endurance and have suffered for my name, and you have not grown weary.”  One would think that such a declaration was spoken by the Lord with a sense of admiration and a fair touch of pride, as well.  But then the writer continues, “Yet I hold this against you: you have lost the love you had at first.  Realize how far you have fallen.  Repent, and do the works you did at first.  Otherwise, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.”  One might wonder after hearing these words, “Well, is the Lord pleased or not?”  “Did we act faithfully or didn’t we?”  Kind of a mixed message if you ask me.

I remember one Sunday when I was home on vacation and my family all went to our parish church for Mass.  I had worked on my homily a fair amount (considering I was on vacation after all) and knowing that my father and mother would be in the pews, too.  Naturally I wanted them to be proud of their son “the priest.”  After Mass I went up to my father and said, “Well, Dad, what did you think of my homily?”  Now you must know something about my father: he is very Irish, the son of immigrant parents, who carried a lot of the “Irish ways” with him to be sure.  After my question about the homily he looked at me and simply answered, “Well, I’ve heard worse!”  “I’ve heard worse?”  Does that mean he liked it or didn’t?  Thankfully, knowing my father, I realized that this was the way he was giving his approval but not letting me carry the illusion that I couldn’t still do better.

Perhaps this is the message for us today.  The faithful have done well in the face of many difficulties and trials.  But, in the end, there remains that great challenge to continually return to the core grace of untainted love for the Lord, that moment when our hearts were most pure and fully alive.  Surely we all long to be able to achieve such a full and loving heart within us.  These days we are all aware of how the times challenge us to remain not simply “believers” but to be even more heroic in living our faith in spite of all the division that surrounds us.  How we desire, like the blind man in the Gospel, to see clearly, to live in God’s grace completely, and to have that untainted love first given so freely by the Lord.

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

Scripture:

Malachi 3:19-20a
2 Thessalonians 3:7-12
Luke 21:5-19

Reflection:

With two weeks to go to the first Sunday in Advent our readings take an apocalyptic turn today. Predictions of end times, looking for signs, and tribulations abound—it is enough to have us closing our bibles and running for the exits. Except there is no escape; our invitation is to sit with these verses to “pan for gold” and find peace in our times.

Jesus begins by predicting that “there will not be left a stone upon a stone” (v. 6), this Temple which was rebuilt (again) and completed in 64 A.D. was considered one of the most beautiful buildings in the entire Roman Empire.  It truly seems inconceivable that this building could fall, yet, it happened and the people asked; is this the end?

Why do we look for signs? How does it help us to live in this day—this moment? God is found only in the present, we risk missing him if our eyes are fixed beyond the now. If we are honest, thoughts of “end times” (suffering) in our lives or the lives of our loved ones only feed our fears.

The first reading from Malachi, an anonymous prophet, who writes following the completion of the first rebuilding of the Temple is concerned with careless religious ritual matters among other things and warns of the coming destruction. In both readings, the text ends with hope and comfort. Malachi: “But for those who fear my name, there will arise, the sun of justice with its healing rays.” (V.20) and from Luke: …but not a hair on your head will be destroyed. By your perseverance you will secure your lives.” (V.19)

What comes through clearly to me is the sense of misplaced security. We simply put too much store in earthly things, whether it is a building, a ship named Titanic, or a human person(s) running for election.  Luke’s whole theology suggests redemption mediated through Christ’s life as he writes to Christians facing persecution for their professed faith in Jesus. They experience danger from all sides. This is still true today for many of our Christian brothers and sisters.

Only Christ can truly save us. We follow where he went, not in fear and trembling but in the Old Testament sense of “fear of the Lord” awesomeness in His presence. We follow him not just to the cross but through the cross to new life. Our story doesn’t end on Calvary but sometimes our fears have us stuck there. We can name our fears and place them at the foot of the Cross for Grace to bless them. Who knows what the future holds but I am placing my trust in the Holy Spirit to renew us all, to give us hope and peace. Let us persevere in faith through those tribulations in our lives and look with confidence to the future whatever the signs predict.

“Rouse yourself to cheerfulness in the Lord. Every trial will pass. Enter into the heart of Jesus in spirit, into that great furnace of love, and trust him.” St. Paul of the Cross

Jean Bowler is a retreatant at Mater Dolorosa Passionist Retreat Center in Sierra Madre, and a member of the Office of Mission Effectiveness Board of Holy Cross Province.