Claire Smith

Scripture:

Isaiah 9:1-6
Philippians 4:6-9
Matthew 5:1-12a

Reflection:

Today we are praying for peace and justice.  So very often we do so thinking of other areas of the world.  We are fervent in our prayers for resolution of conflict in the Middle East, or the Ukraine, or North Korea.  We seldom think of ourselves as in need of these specific prayers in the United States.  Yet here we are with a day dedicated to just such a spiritual exercise.  The “why” of this day is easy.  January 22, 2016 is the forty third anniversary of the Roe vs Wade decision of the Supreme Court which in effect declared the child within the womb as a “non human being” and therefore not entitled to life, liberty or the pursuit of happiness.  They did not say what the child within the womb is, only what it is not and therefore not entitled to legal protection.  A country which bases its principles of society on such conclusions is just as much in need of a multitude of prayers as a place like Syria, Iraq, or the Holy Land.

Our Scriptures today help us to know how intensely we should pray.  Isaiah addresses a future time when those shrouded in darkness are ushered into a great light.  Their inability to see, to understand the truth, to discover the overwhelming presence of God’s life and love in the world will be remedied.  The prophet is talking about the promise of a savior.  We who have faith in the Lord Jesus understand Isaiah to be speaking of Jesus who is born to us as Wonder-Counselor, God-Hero, Father-Forever and Prince of Peace.  It is He who will bring peace forever and justice for all.  The beatitudes of St. Matthew’s gospel invite us into the heart of Christian living.  These are the virtues which characterize those who profess belief in the Lord Jesus .  Generosity of  heart  and detachment in favor of the heavenly kingdom, meekness and mildness in favor of civility in relationships, strength in tragedy as we mourn and move forward in life, a burning hunger and thirst for righteousness calling us to be bold in professing by our words and actions the principles of faith that direct our minds and hearts, a forgiving heart toward those who offend and harm, open hearts which seek and recognize God’s life and love all around in the world, hearts which seek to establish the lasting and abiding peace that comes from God, and finally perseverance in professing belief in the essentials of  what it means to have life in Christ.

Such virtues of the beatitudes invite us to a deeper appreciation of all of our relationships.  In so doing, we are pushed toward a far wiser and ever greater reverence and respect for all of life.  Every life matters.  In a special way, the innocence of the unborn human person demands our reverence and respect.  We are called to propel that very same reverence and respect to every human person from conception to natural death without reference to race, economic status, ethnic origin or even faults  or serious failures.

That’s a pretty tall order.  We are able to see why it is we, as a country, are in need of intense prayers for our country and ourselves.  We have a ways to go but we have the encouragement we need from St. Paul in our second reading today.  He tells us to have no anxieties but persevere in making our petitions known to God.  Although there may be some darkness to deal with, we should focus on the good, the excellent, the honorable, the pure, and whatever is worthy of praise.  Each of us and our country has much to focus on in such a way.  Today, we are called to further the march toward fullness of light to guide our way in respecting life in the womb.  Only then will the fullness of God’s peace reign in our hearts, our lives, and our society.

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

Scripture:

1 Samuel 17: 32-33, 37, 40-51
Mark 3: 1-6

Reflection:

Today’s scripture readings remind us that performing good deeds, doing the right thing, can be misinterpreted and even twisted into something that many will condemn.

First we hear of David, a young inexperienced “warrior” who seems almost naïve about his ability to take on the experienced, grizzled, powerful Philistine warrior, Goliath.  Goliath was a giant of a man who had killed many soldiers over the years.  His very presence struck fear into the hearts of all of King Saul’s soldiers.  No one was willing to face Goliath.  And then young David stepped up.  King Saul was heartened by David’s willingness to take Goliath on but was less than confident that this young companion of his son was up to the task.  He tells David to be realistic and back down.  David asserts his confidence…not in his own skills, but rather in God’s faithfulness in protecting him.  And so, with King Saul’s blessing, David goes out to meet the invincible, ferocious Goliath.  The outcome was startling with David’s easy vanquishing of the formidable Goliath.  King Saul is at first delighted but soon is overtaken with fear that David is plotting to take over the kingship.  David has no such intention but his relationship with King Saul soon deteriorates due to the King’s paranoia.  But one thing sustains David, both in his confrontation with Goliath and his struggle with King Saul’s fears, his complete trust in God’s faithfulness to him.

In the Gospel for today we have one of the many stories about Jesus’ healing someone, in this case a man with a withered hand.  Just as in the case with David, we see this story play out on more than one level.  What drives the story is the love and compassion Jesus has for the man with the withered hand.  Jesus wants to heal him and restore him to full health.  But it is the Sabbath and that certainly complicates things!   Jesus knows that there will be those who will be offended if he cures the man on the Sabbath.  He also knows that his enemies will twist his good deed and make of it a violation of the Sabbath.   Nonetheless, Jesus reaches out and heals the man’s withered hand.  The man healed rejoices but the enemies of Jesus continue to plot to have Jesus put to death.

Strangely enough, even though our lives are much less dramatic than the lives of David and Jesus; and, we would never dream of even comparing our lives to these two remarkable religious leaders, we, too, can be intimidated by what others might think or say about our efforts to show compassion and love.  Let’s make our prayer for today be that God will give us the courage and wisdom to live our Christian life with the same generous integrity that we see in our readings today.

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

Scripture:

1 Samuel 16:1-13
Mark 2:23-28

Reflection:

How long will you grieve for Saul whom I have rejected as King of Israel? 1 Samuel 16:1

I was in sixth grade when I discovered that I needed eye glasses. Those were the days when frames were fragile and lenses were breakable. Eye glasses were expensive. My parents were so poor that every costly purchase they made had to be paid in installments.

About nine months after I got my eye glasses, I lost them. We looked high and low for them, and my parents told me that they could not afford another pair of glasses. I was devastated and for a week I prayed, I cried, I blamed my brothers and sisters for hiding them from me, I begged my parents to get me another pair of glasses. Nothing worked. It occurred to me that God was not about to come down and give me another pair of glasses. I needed to take responsibility for misplacing them and I needed review my actions and try to find them myself. Once I stood back, reflected upon my days prior to losing them, eliminate the places where I could have left them, I finally found them in a place that I had put them, so hidden and protected, because I didn’t want them to break. I learned a valuable lesson that day. I needed to go beyond complaining, blaming and grieving, and take responsibility for my actions.

The prophet Samuel, of today’s first reading, had to learn a similar lesson. He didn’t want to admit that Saul, the king he had anointed, needed to be replaced. We have a tendency to cry over spilled milk and not get on with our lives. Finally, God has to tell him, “How long will you grieve for Saul, whom I have rejected as king of Israel? Fill your horn with oil and be on your way.”

No matter how many times God has repaid us with a better life, a better future, a better choice, we still want to cling to our past, with those things that do not please God. As it says in this first reading: “Not as man sees does God see.” It is so difficult to let go and let God!

These readings invite me to acknowledge a fundamental truth of life and faith: God’s Will is more loving, merciful, generous, grace-filled than my own will. When it comes to our life and our future, we are powerless. To acknowledge our powerlessness before God is the first step toward receiving the graces we need to overcome whatever mess we have placed ourselves into with our pride, our bad decisions and our grieving.

May the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ enlighten the eyes of our hearts, that we may know wat is the hope that belongs to our call. Ephesians 1:17 (Alleluia verse).

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

Scripture:

1 Samuel 15:16-23
Mark 2:18-22

Reflection:

Obedience is better than sacrifice
While respecting his traditions and history, Jesus definitely seemed to have a preference for the new over the old. His stories and teaching reveal this again and again.

But what Jesus came to bring into our world was not merely a new teaching or a just new image of God.  He himself is a witness to a new moment in our evolution and his actions enfleshed a new experience God’s love. His truth is a dual revelation – a new truth about God yes, but also a new truth about us!

Jesus, through his own relationship with the Father, witnessed to new possibilities for all of us to live one’s life fully within God’s loving embrace.

This was good news. It was something new for his world (and for all time). Such a new truth could not be contained within old frameworks, old attitudes or old actions and rituals. Thus in today’s gospel he speaks of new wine and new patches of cloth not being wasted by trying to place them within old parameters. No! New wine requires a new wine skin and unshrunken cloth needs to be sown only onto a new coat.

What Jesus teaches us about our tendencies is so, so, true! We all have some kind of ‘default’ setting” – a way of acting, speaking, thinking and being that we are comfortable with and take for granted. From time to time a learning experience – a challenge from a partner or colleague or an honest face to face moment where a close friend tells us “home truths” that others fear to say – may help us to move to a new understanding and even a new way of acting. But if we are not careful, vigilant and aware, we soon enough slip back into the old ways of acting, thinking and speaking. This cycle can repeat itself again and again all throughout life.

But what Jesus challenges us to is exactly the opposite of this pattern. Thus to embrace all of the new vision – the good news – that he offers, we need to be renewed. We are invited constantly to open our hearts, to listen, to be converted and to make ourselves ready so that we can receive and respond to all that is new and that we are offered in Jesus.

For Jesus, relationship is to be preferred to ritual, and the celebration of life is to be preferred to a sombre seriousness that reduces everything to obligation and expectation.

Let us practice listening for the word of God addressed to us today (and each day). Let us practice an awareness, a readiness, a listening stance that makes us receptive to the ‘ever new’ message of God that we know is constantly offered and addressed to us. But let us also practice our responses to that same message – let us be ready and willing to move beyond tired old responses and familiar patterns of behaviour so that we can truly embrace the ‘new’ that offers us the chance to also be renewed!

New wine? Then bring out new wineskins! New cloth? Then fasten on to it only pre-shrunken patches.

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:

1 Samuel 8:4-7, 10-22a
Mark 2: 1-12

Reflection:

The world can be a scary place. It is true today as it was four thousand years ago in the time of Samuel the prophet. The Hebrew people had occupied the Promised Land, more or less. They were united in language and in their shared experience of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But they lived in separate clans, on both sides of the Jordan River away from the Mediterranean Sea.  The coast was still controlled by the Canaanites. To the southwest was the powerful kingdom of Egypt and to the north and east the ancient civilization of the Sumerians. For two hundred years the Hebrews maintained their freedom, uniting temporarily under a “judge”, a tribal chief who had the ability to lead in war. This ad hoc arrangement was deemed unsatisfactory by thoughtful men, the elders, who come to Samuel to ask for a king.

What does God think of civil authority and power? Obviously the writer of first Samuel had his concerns. Civil power and authority can be abused and given human nature probably will be. Our text has the Lord almost reluctantly saying: “Grant their request and appoint a king to rule them”.

2016 is an election year for us in the United States. The question of leadership is on the minds of Americans. In prayerful reflection each of us in conscience will participate in primaries and then in the November general election to choose a president for the next four years. Like the Hebrews four thousand years ago, it is important for us and the world that we choose well.

Fr. Michael Hoolahan, C.P. is on the staff of Mater Dolorosa Passionist Retreat Center, Sierra Madre, California.

Scripture:

1 Samuel 1:1-8
Mark 1:14-20

Reflection:

Immediately they left their nets and followed Jesus.

What does it mean to follow Jesus?

Peter and his brother Andrew left their nets behind and followed Jesus.  James and his brother John not only left their nets behind, they left their father, to follow Jesus.  They gave up their security of home and income.  They left behind their old lives to follow Jesus into a risky venture.  In the process, they stumbled and fell into the mud over and over.

Knowing that, are we ready to give up our nets? I, for one, have tried to be practical about this call to discipleship.  I’ve told myself it makes no sense to leave my nets behind.  I can follow Jesus and still carry my nets with me, or more accurately. wrap myself in my nets, like a shawl or security blanket.  But the trouble is that those nets become heavier as I try to follow Jesus.  My feet get tangled in those nets.  Like the first disciples, I stumble and fall, over and over.

But then, repentance– metanoia, change of heart and direction–was never meant to be easy.  What, then, is Jesus asking us to leave behind?  Could it be those nets of insecurity and our need to be in control? Or of self-doubt and inadequacy about how we can even respond to God’s call.  There are so many nets we clutch.  Nets of anger, inability to forgive, to forgive ourselves as well as others.  Could it be any net that separates us from the love of God?

Nevertheless, Jesus calls us over and over again.  And therein may lie the Good News.  Jesus calls us to be his disciples, not because we are perfect, but because we are weak.  We are called not to run away from ourselves, but rather to enter more deeply into who we truly are — sons and daughters of God, created in his image;  that just as Jesus humbled himself to share in our humanity, he calls us to share in his divinity.  That is Good News worth believing, worth sharing.

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