Claire Smith

Scripture:

Acts 11:19-26
John 10:22-30

Reflection:

How long are you going to keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly. John 10:24

Who of us has not struggled with acceptance and rejection, with being welcomed with open arms or being received with hostility? Sometimes the signs of welcome or rejection are subtle, but other times, they are clear. In today’s Gospel, Jesus is dealing with a hostile crowd who is clearly out to make him feel rejected. There is nothing he can say or do that will make them change their minds.

There was great rejoicing in my home parish of St. Agnes in Edna, Texas when I was ordained. Since my family was well known, not only within the parish, but throughout the region because of their faithful service to the Church, I felt blessed to be so well received by the people who knew my family for such a long time. There were no credibility issues there for me.

The first ten years of ministry were spent in Houston, Texas, Sierra Madre, California and then San Antonio, Texas. I discovered that there was a need to be accepted as authentic and credible in every new community where I was assigned. In all of my assignments, the people were patience and welcoming, with a few exceptions.

These were learning years for me. I began to sense when people who had long made up their minds about the faith, the Church and its teachings or which direction the Church was going, were either going to be open to what I was saying or would smile knowingly and then walk away.

Over the years, we have come across story after story of people who began their beautiful, successful lives by being rejected and demeaned by others. What this Gospel account does for me and for many of us, is to accept our personal value in God’s personal love for us. God’s personal love for us is all inclusive. It is not completive. It is not discriminatory. It is not conditional. Our human value comes from God’s unconditional love for me and for us within the whole of creation.

Jesus, in this Gospel, knew this. He knew that those who opposed him would never believe. Yet, he was willing to die for them also.

Let us not lose heart because people will not believe us, will not believe the Gospel message, will not believe the incredible love that God has for us. This kind of faith is what kept the early church going, as described in the first reading for today’s Mass. This kind of faith is what keeps Pope Francis going day after day.

This is why, even to this day; we are called “Christians!”

 

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

Scripture:

Acts 11:1-18
John 10:1-10

Reflection:

There is an old saying “Home is where the heart is”- meaning of course that one’s home is not so much a house or even a physical location, but rather that ‘place’ where one is surrounded by those who love you and whom you love, or indeed the place where you feel you belong. Thus ‘security’, ‘welcome’, ‘hospitality’ and perhaps most of all ‘belonging’ are words that can also be associated with one’s sense of ‘being at home’.

To find one’s home is most often to identify the relationship or set of relationships that gives one a sense of belonging, identity and most of all of being loved – and loved unconditionally – at a personal level.

This seems to be the key to understanding today’s gospel text. In an age where relationships can be defined in a myriad of ways, and/or with many relationships being more virtual than tangible, we seek to find the meaning and unity of our lives in a faith relationship with Jesus Christ – known to us today in his resurrection.

 It is not always easy to speak of our relationship to Jesus in that we now only see him through the lens of the resurrection. As such we ‘know’ his presence but cannot describe it in ways that are measurable, tangible or indeed physical. We speak in the language of mystery, but it is a ‘language’ supported by the experience of generations and by our own deeper senses that allow us to know in non-scientific ways.

Martin Buber, the 20^th century philosopher, spoke of the human person in terms of dialogue, encounter and relationship. These three elements seem to be the foundation of being human, in that we only know ourselves through the encounter with others, through dialogue with the other and in relationship to another.

It is the same with our knowing of Jesus Christ. That is we may use these three dimensions to speak of our knowing him through encounter, dialogue and eventual deep relationship.

And in today’s gospel the Johannine community explore this encounter, dialogue and relationship with Jesus through the metaphor of a simple, but easily visualised rural image of the day – that of the shepherd, the sheepfold (or small gated area with its gate-keeper) and the sheep themselves.

The Johannine community share their faith experience through this image to speak not only of his relationship with each person, but more deeply of how we to might find our home in him.

Jesus is the one who welcomes us into relationship and who facilitates this by guiding or ‘shepherding us’ in this direction. He is the one who ensures our safety, who calls us by name, who invites us to follow him and is the one in whose presence we feel no temptation to run away.

This relationship with Jesus is in such contrast to others we can experience where we may be forced into certain actions, or which feel like an invasion of our space or dignity. Jesus in relationship to us will never kill hope or steal away our freedom.

The true sign or fruit of our relationship with Jesus – our true home- is that we will feel ourselves coming more and more into life – and life to the full.

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 8:1b-8
John 6:35-40

Reflection:

We take up the Gospel today from where it left off yesterday—Jesus responds to the request of the crowd to “give us this bread always” and I know my heart echoes the same request. Yet, I can still feel that I hunger and thirst, in fact I may go so far as to say rather than my thirst being slaked I often sense an increased desire for more.  Karl Rahner—the Jesuit Theologian—suggests at its essence this longing for more is, “the primal cry for God.”

I wonder if this is something we all struggle to interpret? Do we misread our hunger for God with material or emotional hungers? “You will be happy when you own this product or lose weight or have important personal connections”—or whatever—fill in the rest because the list can be endless. There is always more and better. We often stop short of discovering our deepest hungers; in today’s culture it is easy to be distracted and assume a quick-fix answer. Struggling to understand the difference between what I want and need is the process of a lifetime. Once we step back to observe our patterns of behavior—or should I say—step inside of ourselves, we slowly come to awareness that our desire is deeper than surface wants and desires and we need to work to uncover them. Perhaps this is what Jesus is referring to in his comment: “I’ve told you although you have seen me, you still do not believe.”  We may on one hand assume we believe while on the other hand remain blind to those habits and patterns which can actually take us away from God and mask our true thirst.

Fear not! Jesus is very clear in the text that our lack of belief will not separate us from him. How magnificently he assures us that rather than rejecting us he came for our redemption. And I believe this is where we are both challenged and consoled. Challenged in the sense that as Jesus came down from heaven to do the will of the Father so now we must do likewise, this calls for a constant dying to self; and we are consoled by Jesus’s words that God’s will is that “he not loose anyone who has been given him.”  This is the Good News—the win/win compassionate mercy of God is extended to anyone desiring to come to Jesus. And so I have come to believe in the paradoxical elements of Jesus statement, when I receive the bread of life, I am both satisfied and yet have a deeper thirst for more of God.

So may we pray that nourished by the bread of life, God would give us the grace to recognize that deep longing as our authentic self, struggling to be born and not our desire for more possessions of any kind—emotional or physical. Like the first reading offers, may we listen to Christ proclaimed with one accord as we see the fruits of our labors rise up to bless our days and our world. Amen

 

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.

Scripture:

Acts 6:8-15
John 6:22-29

Reflection:

Stop for a moment and ask yourself: what are the blessings God has given me?  I’ve asked that question of various groups at Mater Dolorosa Retreat Center.  Their most common responses: spouse, children, good health, and faith.  None has ever said God blessed them when they were ill or unemployed or in the midst of grief.

Many, unknowingly, believe that if we follow God’s will, then good material things will follow.  But when bad things happen, perhaps God is displeased with us, or we’re being punished for something we’ve done.  When I submit that God blesses us always, not only in good times, but even in bad, I hear murmurs of surprise.  And why not?  The gospel of prosperity permeates our nation’s spiritual culture.  We hear on TV and the radio: “Pray for that money or that house, and expect a miracle!”

It’s nothing new.  It was even alive 2,000 years ago when the crowd was drawn to Jesus with his healing miracles and his feeding of the crowd with loaves and fishes.  The crowd failed to recognize these miracles as signs pointing to who Jesus is, the Son of God.  “You seek me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate the loaves, and were filled,” Jesus says to them.  “Don’t work for food which perishes, but for food which remains to eternal life.”

And yet, the meeting of our physical needs never seems to lose its appeal.  If we follow Jesus, as the crowd did, then we can rightly expect a miracle – like more loaves and fishes, a bigger house, a prestigious job or pay raise.  It’s easy to follow Christ for these things.  But who needs his spiritual food?  What difference does that make in our lives?

Jesus tells us, as he told the crowd.  We need this spiritual food because it gives us true nourishment.  This is the food that rightly orders our lives and souls so that we might draw closer to God and follow Jesus in good times and in bad.  This is true blessing, the true prosperity of eternal life.

 

Deacon Manuel Valencia is on the staff at Mater Dolorosa Passionist Retreat Center, Sierra Madre, California.

Scripture:

Acts 5:27-32, 40b-41
Revelation 5:11-14
John 21:1-19

Reflection:

It is election season, and I am disgusted by the state of the political discourse. Fear seems to be the driving factor on so many levels – fear of anyone who is different, fear of refugees, fear of Muslims, fear of terrorists, fear of someone taking away what is “rightfully mine”, and on it goes. Another kind of fear is playing out as well: the fear of being bullied.

I cannot remember any other time in my life when people were afraid to give their honest opinion about a politician or their policies because they knew that they would be bullied, not only by that person but by the millions who follow him. All it took was one newscaster to say a candidate was a bad debater, and the Twitter-verse erupted with the most vile, spiteful, demeaning comments about that newscaster. She was shaken to the core by the vicious attacks, and honestly frightened for her family. And she is not alone. It has happened repeatedly, to such an extent that (according to news articles in major publications), many prominent donors and authority figures are keeping silent for fear of similar attacks against them and their families.

I worry what we are teaching our children in this election. We’ve fought so long and hard to combat bullying in our schools. We’ve fought for the dignity of every person, and for everyone’s First Amendment rights to free speech. We instruct young people on the virtues of our political system of governance and the importance of compromise that protects the common good. Yet we vote for and cheer people who contradict those principles at every level. And our children are watching

I do not advocate for a particular candidate or party – neither is or ever will be perfect. But it is time to speak against the tactics of fear, bullying, prejudice, discrimination, and egoism from any candidate, side, or party, and I believe that we Christians have a particular responsibility to do so. Who has the courage to speak out? Who will be the Peters of our day, standing before the Sanhedrin and proclaiming the truth of God’s love, mercy, and salvation? Who will rightly feed the lambs and tend the sheep? Who will help stop the degradation of our political process, uphold respect and dignity, and find a mutually beneficial path forward?

I am searching for ways to make my voice heard. I am definitely speaking up in conversations with others, trying to model the type of behavior I long for from our politicians. I am educating myself even more deeply on the issues at stake and the consequences of each politician’s views so I can discuss intelligently and respectfully and without twisting facts. I voted in our primary election and will vote in the general election in November. I am encouraging pastors and religious educators to speak out against these tactics in formation, RCIA, classes, and from the pulpit. It doesn’t feel like enough but it’s a start, and I will be looking for more opportunities to bring civility, compassion, honest debate, and Christian virtues to the fore.

I’ve heard the proverb that Christians are like snowflakes – individually they are unique and beautiful, but together they can stop traffic. Can we join together and create an environment of respect and integrity? Can we afford not to?

 

Amy Florian is a teacher and consultant working in Chicago.  For many years she has partnered with the Passionists.  Visit Amy’s website: http://www.corgenius.com/

Scripture:

Acts 6:1-7
John 6:16-21

 

Reflection:

Peace, Do Not Be Afraid

The great appearance stories of Easter have passed us now: Mary Magdalene, Emmaus, Thomas, and Jesus’ breakfast with his apostles. As we read John for the remaining 50 days we settle in with a quiet presence of Jesus. Instead of surprises Jesus teaches us, prays for us; he gives us of hope and the promise of the Spirit.

In the first five chapters of John’s gospel people grapple with faith. In contrast to John the Baptist are new disciples. They use such titles as ‘Messiah’ and even ‘Son of God’, but we know their understanding is wrong. There are the ‘Jews’ who reject Jesus, but also a sincere seeker, Nicodemus; the Samaritan woman and her village welcome the gift of Jesus, and a royal official whose son Jesus cures, will believe in him. And there is Mary. Her openness to God’s will enables God’s plan to unfold, but it doesn’t stop at Jesus birth. She continues to advance the plan of God a she calls her son to his hour by her faith in him at Cana.

As we finish our second week of Easter we might name Nicodemus as the spokesperson for these first five chapters of John. But we don’t move to a new level of faith as we read now chapter six. It is again that basic question of faith. We see a heart breaking response as the chapter will conclude: some of his disciples left him. They found what he was saying too hard to take.

As we continue our journey through John he works to help us believe. The writer of the gospel tells us as he ends the gospel that the signs of Jesus that he records are meant to help us to believe.

How might today’s brief gospel that follows the multiplication of loaves advance John’s reflection on faith? Perhaps hearing Jesus say, ‘do not be afraid, it is I,’ is all we need? Another time Jesus tells the disciples that he is going to the Father and they need not be afraid since there will be room for all and no one is to be forgotten. He is the way. Indeed fear is a barrier to love, and trusting love makes it easier to believe.

Our gospel is set near Passover. We know that story: it is night, a fearful people begin a journey to they know not where, they come to water, the wind picks up and the water parts and they escape. But now Jesus’ disciples find themselves dealing with water that becomes a fearful obstacle. There is no dry land to put their feet on but Jesus walks to them as if it were dry land. Then they are safe on the shore. There is no calming of the storm in John’s story, but we hear Resurrection words of Jesus: ‘Do not be afraid, it is I’. Are there two Passovers together here? The first Passover when the Jewish people set out from Egypt on their Exodus, and the Passover of Jesus from death to life; the Passover where Jesus meets us in darkness and fear, where he destroys fear and brings us over the waters of death to our true home.

Darkness and swirling waters may surround us even during these Easter days. Jesus says to us, ‘Do not be afraid. I am with you’. Let us abide with the Rise One. Let us look and listen to the one who goes before us and bring us to safety. Be at peace.

Fr. William Murphy, CP is the pastor of Immaculate Conception parish in Jamaica, New York.

Scripture:

Acts 5:27-33
John 3:31-36

Reflection:

The other day in the midst of a rather heated discussion, a friend of mine who just happens to be an African American man, pointed out to me that I live a privileged existence. That took me back and initially I wanted to deny it. I couldn’t though; it’s true no matter how improbable that seems to me. It’s probably that same denial that makes it hard for me to believe that such situations as reported in today’s first scriptural selection  (ACTS 5: 2:7-33) actually happened. Scripture stories often seem so remote and unrelated to my world.

Closer to my world is John Baptist de La Salle whose life we recall today.  He was born just 43 years before St. Paul of the Cross, in 1651. Unlike the apostles brought before the Sanhedrin in today’s reading he was born into privilege. Following the Spirit, he rejected this life in favor of educating the poor of his hometown Reims, France. He did so at considerable cost to his own social standing, incurring the disdain of the social elite of his day by moving into a home with the unpolished teachers of the poor hoping to teach them manners and refinement. This led to his eventually founding the first normal school (school dedicated to training teachers) as well as the first religious institute of lay brothers who were not priests. We know these men in the United States as the Christian Brothers.

Help me God in my unbelief, especially when it centers on people who are not as privileged as I. Give me the courage to give up my position as de la Salle did, and to follow the example the apostles demonstrate in today’s scripture, risking death to witness in word and deed to the marvels of your works in my world today.

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

Scripture:

Acts 4:32-37
John 3:7b-15

Reflection:

The LORD is king, in splendor robed;
robed is the LORD and girt about with strength.

Have you ever noticed that in scripture, when someone is clothed or robed, it is with “majesty” or “dignity?” Jesus taught us to clothe the naked, so how do we “clothe someone with dignity?”

Have you ever noticed after walking into a gathering your mind starts summing up everyone and placing labels on them? “He’s awfully tall, she’s too thin, that one looks nervous, they’re too loud, she’s not participating in the right way, he should know better.” On and on our minds categorize people and put them in boxes: “safe,” “scary,” “good,” “bad,” “left,” “right,” “radical,” “conservative,” “looney,” “my candidate.” What are we doing when this is going in? We are clothing them. We are draping our judgements around their shoulders so that we don’t need to deal with who they really are. The problem is that I believe those judgements to be real and let them drive the way I deal with others when we interact. Judging each other and putting labels on them was not the clothing Jesus commanded us to clothe each other with.

So, to get back to my original question, how should we clothe each other? I would say that it means to hold everyone we meet, in the truest sense of the words, as a beloved child of God, a person of sacred worth and value. If I can move beyond my mind’s chatter to be fully present to someone as they are, a beloved child of God, I am clothing them with dignity. Jesus asks us to do this with not only with our family and friends, but with those who despise us. We are to do this for those whom we may wish to despise. We need to do this with the young, with the old, with the infirm, with the healthy, with the Jew, with the Samaritan, with those who love us, with those who revile us. Sometimes we need to do this in spite of their not believing it themselves. Some of us have been so beaten down, suffered so many trails and disasters, that we no longer believe themselves to be children of God. And yet that is a cornerstone of the teachings of Jesus. This is, for each and every one of us, our birthright.

My prayer for myself today is that I clothe everyone I meet in the robe of majesty they deserve as a child of God.

Talib Huff is a volunteer and presenter at Christ the King Retreat Center in Citrus Heights, California.