Claire Smith

Scripture:

Philippians 2:1-4
Luke 14:12-14

Reflection:

12 He said to the man who had invited him, 13 “Invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind.”

The more and more I read, prayed, and meditated on today’s Gospel, the more I’ve become convinced that there may not be a scripture better suited for a day like Halloween.  Sure, the case could be made for the raising of Lazarus from the dead (John 11:1-45) – a former corpse walking out of the tomb – but that’s not what I’m talking about.

Historically, Halloween, contrary to the rumors calling it a pagan religious event, is actually a Christian celebration that’s nearly 1,300 years old.  “Halloween” is a name that is simply a contraction of “All Hallows Eve” – the vigil of All Hallows Day – which we celebrate now as All Saints Day.  The word “Hallow,” as a noun, is an old English word for saint. As a verb, it means to make something holy or to honor it as holy.  All Saints Day, November 1, is a Holy Day of Obligation (so be sure to get to mass!), and both the feast and the vigil have been celebrated since Pope Gregory III instituted them in the early eighth century.

On the eve of the Feast of All Saints, people will come to our doors in hoards, dressed as all kinds of things.  We’ll see ghosts and sports-stars, goblins and politicians, witches and princesses, bumble bees and dinosaurs, giraffes and super-heroes.  Perhaps we’ll see some dressed as holy women or men.  They knock, hoping for acceptance and some graciousness and sustenance.  And for what we give them, well, we really get nothing in return.

The Gospel today has Jesus instructing that we should invite everyone to the table.  Not just the wealthy or “perfect,” but the poor and outcast, the undesirables.  Like us opening the door for people on All Hallows Eve, it doesn’t make a difference who they are, what they’ve done, what they’re wearing, or where they come from.  It just doesn’t matter… we welcome them anyway, giving what we can, expecting nothing in return.

To me, this Gospel is all about welcoming the sinner.  I’m a sinner, and wow do I long to be invited.  With tomorrow being All Saints Day, I’m being hit in the head with the question, “Weren’t the Saints actually sinners first?”

Who do we welcome to the table?  Who welcomes us?

Who doesn’t?

All are welcome at the table of the Lord … even those with whom we may not want to dine.  Even you and I… saint or sinner – we’re offered the best God has to offer.

Shouldn’t we do the same?

Dear God, thank you for the invitation to dine at your table. Please grant us the grace to carry that invitation to those on the fringes, to open the door especially that person most in need of our love and acceptance.

Amen.

Paul Puccinelli is Director of Liturgy & Music at St. Rita Parish in Sierra Madre, California, and a member of the retreat team at Mater Dolorosa Passionist Retreat Center.

Scripture:

Wisdom 11:22-12:2
2 Thessalonians 1:11-2:2
Luke 19:1-10

Reflection:

Today we have a conversion story.  Zacchaeus, a tax collector and a wealthy man, is identified by the crowd as a sinner.  But he ends up proclaiming, “Half of my possessions I shall give to the poor, and if I have extorted anything from anyone I shall repay it four times over.”  That’s a major conversion from selfishness to generosity.

What made him change?  Jesus didn’t work any miracle for Zacchaeus, didn’t heal any illness or alleviate any hunger. All Jesus did was spend time with Zacchaeus, and that was enough to turn him around.

In his book, The Five Love Languages, author Gary Chapman identifies the giving of “quality time” to another as one of the five languages of love.  That is just what Jesus did.  He gave Zacchaeus genuine attention, affirmation and a non-judgmental attitude.  He listened to him and enjoyed his company.  He didn’t give Zacchaeus food for his body.  In fact Zacchaeus fed Jesus.  Instead Jesus gave him nourishment for his spirit by a genuine loving attitude.

It was Benjamin Disraeli who said, “The greatest good you can do for another is not just share your riches, but to reveal to him his own.”  If we take the time and make the effort to be truly present to another, we can watch a gold mine of goodness come pouring forth.

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

Scripture:

Philippians 1:18b-26
Luke 14:1, 7-11

Reflection:

For to me life is Christ . . .

In Saint Paul’s letter to the Philippians, Saint Paul seems to be wrestling with remaining on earth and continuing the work that Christ commissioned him to do; spread the Gospel to the Gentiles or moving on to eternal life. It’s the wrestling that is most interesting. His reasoning for staying and going and then finally realizing that it is God’s will that he continue.

We wrestle with decisions every day. When making a decision we look at the pros and the cons and decide what is in our best interest. We think of our family, career opportunities, living situation and other factors. Saint Paul was doing this as well and he included Christ in the process. Christ, being the center of this process is Saint Paul’s way of giving his life over to Christ and the will of God. This is a process called discernment, where we take time to look at all the factors and then take it to prayer and ask for the grace to be open to where God is taking us. A way of letting go of what we want and looking to what God wants. Saint Paul was open to whatever God asked of him. He was ready to continue working for God on earth and at the same time ready to let go of his earthly life and embrace eternal life.

Saint Paul’s wrestling calls each of us to take time to reflect on how we invite Christ into our lives. Do I invite Christ into all aspects of my life? Do I take time in prayer to listen with my heart to where Christ is leading me?

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

Feast of Saints Simon and Jude

Scripture:

Ephesians 2:19-22
Luke 6:12-16

Reflection:

In his letter to the Ephesians, Paul describes us as “fellow citizens with the holy ones and members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the capstone.”  As fellow citizens, we join the apostles whose call we read about in the Gospel of Luke today.  We also join with Saints Simon and Jude, whose feast day we celebrate today as well.

As members of God’s household, we are called through baptism, to take care of God’s people, our brothers and sisters. During this month of October (and all months), the church calls us to reflect in a special way on Life in all its forms.  Oftentimes, when we hear the term, respect life, we immediately think of or are led to think only of the unborn and those millions of lives lost through abortion.  Yes, abortion is wrong, but many times we get stuck there and forget there are many other life issues calling for our attention as well! The corporal and spiritual works of mercy remind us of the needs of the poor, the immigrant and refugee, the sick, disabled, homeless, lonely, disenfranchised and forgotten. Let us seek ways to help not only the unborn, but all of those created in the image and likeness of God.

During the past year, our parish of Saint Agnes, has come together to accept the challenge as fellow citizens of the household of God to share their time, talent and treasure with those who have so little.  The Refugee Resettlement Ministers welcomed a family of 8 from the Congo recently.  This family has lived in a refugee camp for many years.  The Outreach Ministry is busy this Fall inviting those organizations to submit requests for aid.  Monies to help these people will come from parish contributions set aside in a special fund for the needy.  The school children held a walk-a-thon to raise monies for the St. Vincent de Paul organization.

With the example of Saints Simon and Jude and all those holy women and men past and present, may we celebrate and care for all members of God’s household!

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

Scripture:

Ephesians 6:10-20
Luke 13:31-35

Reflection:

Today’s scripture readings are all about “preparation.”   Paul’s letter to the Ephesians urges us to “Put on the armor of God so that you may be able to stand firm against the tactics of the devil” and “Put on the armor of God that you may be able to resist on the evil day.”  In Psalm 144 the writer urges us on with the words “Blessed be the Lord, my rock, who trains my hands for battle, my fingers for war.”  In the Gospel, Jesus sets his face resolutely toward Jerusalem, where he will accomplish his purpose.  Preparation is the key to victory.

People have told me about preparation all my life.  From the Boy Scouts to sports coaches, formation directors, career counselors, financial planners and now “life coaches” I have been reminded about the importance of preparing for the future.  I have been encouraged to “think ahead” and plan for the moment to come.  Yet now I am beginning to hear different voices about how I should live in the present moment.

The mindfulness folks seem to be saying that if I don’t fully engage in the present moment, I am missing the essence of my life.  “God is in the present moment within you.”  If you live in the past or the future, you may miss the true presence of God in your life and opportunities for growth in the Spirit.  If I am caught up preparing for the future battle, I may miss the grace of the present moment.  So what about preparation and putting on my armor to get ready for battle?

Maybe “awareness” is a way to handle this “time puzzle”.  Keeping my awareness of grace in the present while knowing this present moment grace may be my “armor for the future” could be my answer.  Certainly gives me something to reflect on during this beautiful, fall Kentucky afternoon.  The signs of God are everywhere around me right now.  They indeed are my armor, my strength and my grace.  They are the angels who will carry me into God’s arms in the future.

Terry McDevitt, Ph.D. is a member of the Passionist Family in Louisville, Kentucky.

Scripture:

Ephesians 4:32-5:8
Luke 13:10-17

Reflection:

LAYING ON OF HANDS

And He was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath.

And there was a woman who for eighteen years had had a sickness caused by a spirit; and she was bent double, and could not straighten up at all.   When Jesus saw her, He called her over and said to her, “Woman, you are freed from your sickness.”  And He laid His hands on her; and immediately she was made erect again and began glorifying God. Lk 13:10

My greatest experience of the laying on of hands was 51 years ago at my ordination.   The bishop was elderly and my fear was he might make a mistake and I would end up after 10 years of study not being ordained.  But when I felt the firm press of the bishop’s hands on my head it was and still is one of the happiest moments of my life!  It was then that the power of Christ to bring about the Eucharist and forgiveness of sins was given to a mere mortal!

LAYING ON OF HANDS

The laying on of hands is a beautiful and frequent phase in Scripture expressing power of Christ being communicated to humans.  We see in today’s gospel the poor little crooked woman freed from her disability by the laying on of the hands.  In His home town “He laid His hands on a few sick people and healed them.” ^{Mk 6:5} He did the same with the children.

Beautiful things happened when people either touch and were touched by Jesus.  Crowds all but suffocated Him trying to touch Him.   “He had healed many, with the result that all those who had afflictions pressed around Him in order to touch Him.” Mk 3:9-10   The gospel talks about how they fell upon Him so much He used a boat to go off shore to preach to them so He would not get crushed to death!  The women encountering the Risen Christ threw their arms around His feet so He could not get away from them.  Wonderful things happen to us when with faith we touch Christ. “By prayer the soul is borne up to heaven and in a marvelous way embraces the Lord.” St John Chrysostom   Perhaps it can be summed up in the words of the woman who spent all her money on doctors in vain.  “If I just touch His garments, I will get well.” Mk 5:28

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

Scripture:

Sirach 35:12-14, 16-18
2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18
Luke 18:9-14

Reflection:

When I was at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago studying theology, I took my Early Church History course from a Ukrainian Catholic priest, whose name I believe was Andrei Chirovsky (I can’t swear on the spelling). The course involved looking at how the early church settled various questions of doctrine and belief. And so Fr. Chirovsky gave us a definition of heresy that still makes a lot of sense to me. Heresy was not defined so much as falsehood, but as emphasizing one aspect of the truth to the exclusion of another. For instance, take the doctrine of Jesus Christ as the Incarnation of the Son of God. We believe Jesus to be both human and divine. A heresy would be to emphasize the divinity of Jesus to the exclusion of His humanity, and vice versa.

I was thinking about this as I reflected on the parable we hear in Sunday’s Gospel reading from Luke (18:9-14), and why Jesus told it: “Jesus addressed this parable to those who were convinced of their own righteousness and despised everyone else.” The parable is about a Pharisee and a tax collector who happen to be at the temple area at the same time. The Pharisee thanks God that he isn’t like everyone else, especially the tax collector he sees there. He also boasts about how faithful he is in fasting and tithing. Meanwhile the tax collector humbly beats his breast and asks for God’s mercy. What might have been shocking for His audience to hear, Jesus says that the tax collector, not the Pharisee, was the one who went home “justified.” The Pharisee could see the truth of God’s love for himself, but to the exclusion of seeing the truth of God’s love for the tax collector, even though the tax collector sinned. Or to put it another way, the Pharisee could see the truth of the tax collector’s sin while ignoring the truth of his own.

As we move to Election Day in the U.S., I think Jesus’ words may give us pause and a caution not to fall into the “heresy” of the Pharisee in the parable. Once again, I am reminded of Martin Luther Kings’ take on agape, which he gave in a speech before the Fellowship of the Concerned on November 16, 1961:

Agape is understanding, creative redemptive good will to all men. It is an overflowing love which seeks nothing in return. Theologians would say that it is the love of God operating in the human heart. So that one rises to love on this level, he loves men not because he likes them, not because their ways appeal to him, but he loves every man because God loves them. And he rises to the point of loving the person who does an evil deed while hating the deed that the person does. I think this is what Jesus meant when he said “love your enemies.” I’m very happy that he didn’t say like your enemies, because it is pretty difficult to like some people. … But Jesus says love them, and love is greater than like. Love is understanding, redemptive creative, good will for all.

To follow Jesus is to live in the whole truth: Not only does God love us, God loves all. May God’s love strengthen us, as it did St. Paul, which we hear in our second reading from 2 Timothy (4:6-8, 16-18), and like St. Paul, may the proclamation of the truth of God’s love for the world in Jesus Christ be “completed” through us!

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

Feast of Saint John Paul II

Scripture:

Ephesians 4:7–16
Luke 13:1-9

Reflection:

Do you remember August 1978?  Our Catholic Church said goodbye to a beloved Pope Paul VI who had directed us through the Second Vatican Council and had begun to implement the Council’s directions for the Church in the modern world.  We then welcomed a vivacious Pope John Paul I only to be sent reeling by his untimely death thirty-three days later.  I recall anxiously waiting to hear who would be our next Shepherd.  The wait seemed to last forever.  On the eighth ballot, the College of Cardinals elected Karol Wojtyla, Cardinal Archbishop of Krakow who would become Saint John Paul II.  Today we celebrate his feast day on the anniversary of his inauguration as Pope John Paul II.

Our sacred scriptures today invite us to reflect upon our foundational calling to be unified with Christ and one another, contributing our gifts to the building up of the Body of Christ to full stature.  At times, this may sound rather esoteric and theoretical.  What exactly does it mean to grow into full stature of Christ?

St. Paul reminds us that each one of us has been blessed with graces according to the measure of Christ’s gift.  Is he talking of a generic grace?  I think not.  St. Paul is reflecting on the wondrous mystery of each unique person being blessed with gifts which are marked with the vitality, creativity, and hallmarks of each unique personality.  In Paul’s hope, each is invited to continuously grow into the fullness of the man or woman that God created us to be.  We are to purposely discover the gifts lying within ourselves, accept them, foster them and finally make them available to all of God’s people for the purpose of building up the Body, the Church.  With each of us making our individual contributions, the Church continuously grows toward unity in faith and full stature in Christ.  Paul is saying to the Ephesians and to us that we are no longer “infants” in the faith.  We have progressed beyond that and are moving toward adulthood in the faith.  We are asked to recognize this and begin living as adults so as to avoid being pulled and tossed around by every wind or false understanding of the faith.

Saint Luke reinforces Paul’s thought by remembering the lesson of Jesus to those who thought sinners were punished more gravely than others.  Jesus makes it very clear that each of us must acknowledge our sinfulness and repent of it.  We are not to be looking to the lives of others and drawing conclusions from what is on the surface of life.  Look to ourselves only.  See within the need for conversion in our own lives and accept the graces offered.  It is only from this humble stance in life that we are able to work with Christ’s gifts to continuously grow into the man or woman that God intends for us to be.

Our scripture passages today are a great source of consolation and strength.  We are urged forward in the sure understanding that through Christ, the Father intends for each of us to be all that we can be. This is not a theoretical or esoteric invitation.  Rather, it is a down to earth, everyday calling that deals with the very stuff of each life. With great humility, we are called to accept our part in helping Christ reach full stature in our world.  As we celebrate St. John Paul II today, I cannot think of too many others who lived that calling so forcefully, publically and humbly.  His very election called forth a greater understanding of the universality of Christ’s Body the Church.  His international travels over decades reinforced that understanding.  His vitality even in surviving an assassination attempt and in his senior years revealed his own acceptance of his call to keep growing, keep contributing, continuously do his best to enhance Christ’s presence, come to full stature in our modern world.  Throughout his life and now, St. John Paul II calls us to put all of our energy into bringing full stature to our own lives, to His Body, the Church, and to our world.

Fr. Richard Burke, CP, is a member of St. Paul of the Cross Province.  He lives at St. Ann’s Monastery in Scranton, Pennsylvania.