Claire Smith

Easter Sunday of the Resurrection of the Lord

Scripture:

Acts 10:34a, 37-43
Colossians 3:1-4
John 20:1-9

Reflection:

Hope is in the air!  Easter has arrived and once more we Christians celebrate Jesus’ resurrection.  Jesus defeats death and we live in the resurrected Christ!

Seems simple enough.  All I have to do is believe.  Maybe it’s not so simple.  Maybe this Easter story of the Resurrection can be described in the words from a 1960s catechism, as more of a “bewilderment shot through with joy, when life was proclaimed where death was expected.”

Maybe this same joyous bewilderment appears in the eyes of a person we show kindness to when kindness is not expected.  Perhaps this joyous bewilderment rises within us when we realize the love we had for a dead close family member or friend proclaims the Christian truth that death does not have to be the end.  “Joyous bewilderment” is a good term for what I feel when I reflect on the Resurrection and the signs of our times.

Joyous bewilderment in the presence of refugee children crushed by needless war.
Joyous bewilderment in the eyes of those suffering chronic illness.
Joyous bewilderment in the presence of homeless folks around our cities.
Joyous bewilderment in the eyes of those stricken by natural disasters.
Joyous bewilderment in the presence of those with no clean drinking water.
Joyous bewilderment in the eyes of those who live in bitterness.

The Resurrection of Jesus is at once the contradiction and the cornerstone of my belief.  Today I rest in the assurance of joyous bewilderment with all who suffer at the foot of the Cross.  He has died, we die.  He is risen, we are risen.  The Paschal Mystery indeed is at once a bewildering mystery and a comforting joy in my heart.  Happy Easter and blessings to all!

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

Holy Saturday

Scripture:

Genesis 1:1-2:2
Genesis 22:1-18
Exodus 14:15-15:1
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:

Today is one of the strangest days in the Church calendar. It is Holy Saturday. It’s so quiet. There are no Masses today.  The churches are stripped of decorations and the tabernacle is empty.  I have vivid memories of statues shrouded in black or purple. There can be no funerals or weddings.  Today is an uneasy time.

Perhaps we can imagine how the disciples felt.  The events of the past two days – sharing together the Passover meal in the upper room, Jesus’ arrest in Gethsemane, the farce of a trial and sentence of death, the cruel via dolorosa and crucifixion on Golgotha – have left the disciples bewildered and confused. What does all this mean?  What are we to do? Where do we go?  They find themselves in this strange in-between time.

As we celebrate the Triduum, these three Holy Days, we know that at sundown today the Easter fire will be lit and we’ll sing again the great Alleluia. Unlike the disciples, we know what’s on the other side of Good Friday.  But that does not mean we are not faced with those very same questions.

Today is a perfect time to ask ourselves some fundamental questions.  While we know that Jesus rises again, we don’t know perfectly yet what difference that makes in our lives.  We need to keep asking, “What are we to do?” and “Where are we to go?”  We should be uneasy today.  We should wonder what changes our Lenten journey compels us to consider. Are we any more ready to see Jesus when he appears to us in the world and the people that surround us?  Are we any more ready to love and forgive? Are we any more ready to invite Him into our homes, around our tables, and into our hearts?

Robert Hotz is a consultant with American City Bureau, Inc. and is the Director of The Passion of Christ: The Love That Compels Campaign for Holy Cross Province.

Good Friday

Scripture:

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

Reflection:

TO BE ATTENTIVE: Our Infirmities that He Bore

I have a photograph of Joseph Cardinal Bernardin in my office; it challenges me to look through a lens of healing and reconciliation when I am grumpy or critical, or when I climb up on my self-righteous high horse. I was a pastor in the Windy City when this Chicago archbishop — a holy and inspiring man — was in his final days. Falsely accused of pedophilia by a former seminarian, publicly derided by a fellow-prelate for co-founding the Catholic Common Ground Initiative (to help confront the difficult issues in the Church which create polarization and then to lift these issues up for dialogue), and, finally, courageously battling pancreatic cancer, Cardinal Bernardin modeled for us a Christ-like embrace of the Cross.  Whenever I read today’s suffering servant passage from the prophet, Isaiah, I am stirred by memories of this extraordinary churchman.

Truly he “atoned” for our sins… i.e., he bound us back together or “at-oned” us when we might have broken apart. And I will never forget that final vesper service in the cathedral; Bernardin had asked the clergy of the archdiocese to pray with him. In that homily he said, “My brother priests, if you don’t remember anything else from our ministry together, all I ask is that you remember one thing: I have fallen in love with you, and now I am willing to give my life for you.” Today so many people are so full of woundedness and hatred they are willing to kill; some are so full of love and the Kingdom of God, however, that they are willing to die… to self, to live for others.

Today might be a time to be attentive… not only to the love of the suffering Jesus on Calvary, but to all those who suffer and atone for our sins.

Yet it was our infirmities that he bore,
our sufferings that he endured,
while we thought of him as stricken,
as one smitten by God and afflicted.
But 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.  (Isaiah 53)

Fr. Jack Conley, C.P. is the director of the Office of Mission Effectiveness.  He is a member of the Passionist formation community at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago.

Holy Thursday

Scripture:

Exodus 12:1-8, 11-14
1 Corinthians 11:23-26
John 13:1-15

Reflection:

Do this in remembrance of Me (1 Cor 11:24)

Memory is a beautiful gift of God.  Without it our love ones drift away from us as if they have died.   No one doubts that with the loss of memory brings severe damage to us.  So it is with Jesus’s concern for us that we never forget Him Who never forgets us!   At the moment of the institution of the Holy Eucharist when Scripture tells us that one of the apostles is betraying Him, He asks us to remain with Him in our thoughts and hearts by memory.

We are grateful when people remember us because they are putting us into their inmost thoughts and heart.   The Eucharist is a living remembrance of Christ at the ultimate act of love that the world has ever seen!  “The Eucharist Sacrifice, the memorial of the death and resurrection of the Lord, in which the sacrifice of the cross is perpetuated over the centuries, is the summit and source of all Christian worship and life:” Code of Church Law Consequently the gaze of the Church is constantly turned to her Lord, present in the Sacrament of the Altar, in which she discovers the full manifestation of his boundless love”. Lumen Gentium,

Holy Thursday is that time when we remember Jesus remembering us.   We in the explosive moment of the Lord’s death and resurrection place deeply in our hearts and minds the indescribable love He shows us on the cross.  It is the ultimate moment of revelation that we keep in our mind and heart.   It is the decisive hour for us to experience how we are in the beautiful memory of Christ on the Cross!  “Jesus remember me when you enter into your kingdom!”   Can we ever imagine a more beautiful place to be than in the mind and heart of Jesus at the supreme moment of His fondness for us?   Such is the Eucharist!  To be forgetful of it is to miss the treasure of our lives!

 

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

Scripture:

Isaiah 50:4-9a
Matthew 26:14-25

Reflection:

Wednesday of Holy Week has been called Spy Wednesday because in our Gospel reading from Matthew, it says that after Judas had arranged to betray Jesus for thirty pieces of silver, he “looked for an opportunity to hand him over.”

As Christians, we are not looking for ways to betray Jesus, but it might be helpful to look at what we do look for that takes us away from following Jesus. Do we look for things about which to criticize people? Do we look to make snap judgments on others? Do we go right to our stereotypes and prejudices about certain groups of people when we watch the news on TV?

Some people look to wealth and power to give them a sense of security. Others fall into the disease of addiction when they look for ways to numb the pain in their lives. So many people look to avoid the cross!

But if we are looking for real peace and security, we will look for a deeper relationship with Jesus. It is in surrender to God’s love in Jesus Christ that we can find peace and the strength to carry our own crosses. It is in following God’s will that we find the serenity that the world is unable to give.

As we move into the holiest days of our church calendar, the Triduum, may we open our eyes and our ears and our hearts to see and hear Jesus’ love for us.

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

Scripture:

Isaiah 42:1-7
John 12:1-11

Reflection:

In the Irish county of Roscommon, just outside Athlone, on a small farm, with a farm house featuring two women and a man, sisters and brother to one another, all single and living together in that farmhouse all their lives: Elizabeth, Kathleen and Peter, I had a series of encounters with a family that compares  favorably with the narrative in today’s liturgical readings.

I visited them several times over the years (relatives of mine), and never did so without thinking of them in terms of the protagonists in today’s gospel: Martha, Mary and Lazarus.  The similarities were striking.  They were all single, the six of them.  At news of my coming arrival, the two women of my acquaintance hustled about setting a luncheon on the table, including Irish Whiskey, while Peter, their brother, was habitually seated outside on a wicker-lined chair, leaning up against the house, catching the noonday sun.  But he did his share of work on the farm, primarily raising livestock (sheep and pigs).  But just as Lazarus seemed to be the central attraction of the homestead in today’s gospel because of having been raised from the dead by Jesus, so Peter and his health was a central concern of his two sisters, who invariably asked me for a special prayer for Peter, as I was departing, whispering that Peter didn’t have long to live, though I visited there over a number of subsequent years and the same scenario always played out, until both Kathleen and Elizabeth died, while Peter lived on.  Whether Martha and Mary both preceded Lazarus in death, we don’t know, but the parallelism at work here suggests this might have been the case, given Jesus’ remarkable intervention in the life of Lazarus.  At any rate, hospitality looms large in both cases.

This instance of hospitality to Jesus assumed special significance in John’s account of the event today, suggesting Jesus, anticipating the ordeal awaiting Him in the next few days, was seeking one last sign of friendship and love before the dark forces of evil overshadowed Him.  The church aligns this reading with today’s account of the prophet’s mission of comfort and companionship on behalf of a people (the Jews) striving to survive in the aftermath of captivity over a long period of time, at the hands of their enemies.  And this has not been their first experience of defeat and captivity at the hands of their enemies.  It has been a perennial theme of the Jewish nation in its efforts at survival against the forces of evil aligned against them, over the centuries.  But it is an ideal framework for an equally frequent promise of God to come to their assistance in the midst of their need.  In a way it is an occasion for the hospitality of God to visit a people forever in need of it.

This sense of God ever at hand to save what is on the verge of being lost is a gem to be treasured in this Holy Week.  Whether it be the hospitality at hand for Jesus, at the welcome of Martha, Mary and Lazarus, or the sense of safety often experienced by the Jewish nation at large before the onslaught of its enemies, it is THE holy week of the year when, as never before, we can experience God at hand in the form of a Redeemer and Savior.  Hopefully, as we move through this week toward its termination with a focus on Christ hanging on the cross, we can experience the same saving influence of God at hand, to comfort and support us amid the challenges threatening us and our well-being.

 

Fr. Sebastian MacDonald, C.P. is a member of the Passionist formation community at Catholic Theological Union, Chicago. 

Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion

Scripture:

Isaiah 50:4-7
Philippians 2:6-11
Luke 22:14—23:56

Reflection:

Today we begin the most “sacred” week of the year, Holy Week.  And it is indeed “holy” for during this week we remember the events of those last few days of Jesus’ life and what happened immediately after his death.

The week begins and ends in glory.  The glory of Jesus being welcomed into Jerusalem in triumph with hosannas and palm branches; the crowds recognizing Jesus as “the one who comes in the name of the Lord.”  The week ends with the glory of Easter, the resurrection, the overcoming of sin and death by Jesus for us all.

In between these glorious moments we witness the power of evil and the absolute love of God.

As we recall these events we remember the jealousy and hatred, lies and deceit of the Scribes and Pharisees.  We witness the brutality and violence of the scourging, crowning with thorns, crucifixion and death imposed by the Romans.  We watch as fear generates so much uncertainty and mistrust leading to the betrayal by Judas and the abandonment of Jesus by his friends.

Yet at the center of all this fear, deceit, violence and brutality stands Jesus, steadfast through it all:

• accepting everything with trust in the Father;
• showing compassion for the weakness of those around him;
• forgiving those caught up in betrayal and brutality.

We remember these events because they happened and through them the world, our lives and those of all humanity was changed.

We remember…not only with our minds but with our hearts.  In remembering we invite Jesus into our hearts to transform them…to make them more like his own.

 

Fr. Michael Higgins, C.P. is the director of Mater Dolorosa Passionist Retreat Center, Sierra Madre, California.

Scripture:

Daniel 3:14-20, 91-92, 95
John 8:31-42

Reflection:

In this passage of John, Jesus is speaking to several groups of listeners.  First he is speaking to the many who have come to believe in Him.  Second He is speaking to the Jews who have come to believe in Him. Third he is speaking to those who did not believe in Him and immediately tried to kill Him.

To these latter, Jesus says that if they embrace the truth it will set them free.  And He is the truth and they will be free.  Their response to Jesus was that they were children of Abraham and they have never been slaves.  They have never surrendered to those who tried to enslave them.  It is convenient for these people to erase from their memory their enslavement from:  Assyrians, Babylonians, Egyptians, Greeks, Persians, Syrians, and most recently the Romans.

Jesus tells them if they accept Him they will be accepting the Truth. He is the truth.  Truth will free them from sin, which is the denial of Jesus as the Son of God.  Truth is the presence of God in Jesus.  Jesus comes from God Jesus is sent by God!  One’s relationship with God depends upon one’s relationship with Jesus.

Several years ago, the George Gallop Religious Research Center in Princeton, New Jersey published a survey asking people if God spoke to them today?  44% of the people said “Yes”, 50% said “No.”  48% of those who said “Yes” were Protestant, 43% were Catholic.  When asked “How” does God speak to you? 60% said through Sacred Scripture, and 30% said “through others!”  As John’s Gospel has Jesus reminding His listeners they are responsible for the accuracy of their hearing and the truth of our understanding.  Jesus is reminding His listeners, as the Ancient Celts said “Life’s journey is a journey into the truth.”  The Celts also remind us when speaking of one who has died that “Now they know the Truth!”

 

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