Claire Smith

No longer will your Teacher hide himself, but with your own eyes you shall see your Teacher, Isaiah 30:20

Scripture:

Isaiah 30:19-21, 23-26
Matthew 9:35-10:1, 5a, 6-8

Reflection:

As you go, make this proclamation: ‘The Kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ Matthew 10:7

What great news there is in our readings today! Isaiah speaks of the goodness of God that is to come. He paints a beautiful picture of the abundant blessings that will be ours. And not only will there be material blessings, but God Himself will no longer be hidden from our eyes. All of our past hurts will be healed, and, even more important to those of us in California, there will be rain for our crops! And Jesus says that time is here! That time is now!

And yet, if we look around, we see something different. We seem to be farther away from the Kingdom of God than ever before. How can the Kingdom of God be “at hand,” when what we see about us is war and strife, pain and suffering, hatred and fear? We find ourselves surrounded by the deepest human suffering while heated discussions over whether a coffee cup’s design truly expresses the spirit of the season are big news.

The responsorial psalm tells us that, “blessed are all who wait for the Lord.” So maybe we just need to sit quietly and await that bright day when God will lift us up and bind our wounds. Perhaps, but I think Jesus is proposing another way to ‘wait for the Lord.’ Jesus instructs His followers to go out and seek those who are in pain and to give freely.

Maybe the way to truly see the Kingdom is to step forward and meet those who are suffering and give them aid. Curing the sick could be taking the time to speak with someone who is sick at heart with grief. Raising the dead could be giving hope to one who has lost it. No great miracle is needed.

There is a saying that goes, “Fake it till you make it.” Maybe if I go around, greeting people as if the Kingdom of God IS at hand, carrying the Kingdom of God in my heart, helping those around me, it really will be at hand.

Maybe the way to turn a holiday cup into a Christmas cup is to fill it and give it to someone who is thirsty.

Talib Huff works and volunteers at Christ the King Retreat Center in Citrus Heights. You can contact him at [email protected].

Scripture:

Isaiah 29:17-24
Matthew 9:27-31

 

Reflection:

Living with eyes open

The richness of the Advent season continues to unfold for us, and today’s Gospel selection presents Jesus dealing with the blindness of two men who cried to Him for help with their blindness.  Jesus asked about their faith in Him and his power to heal them, and with their statement of faith — they were cured!

As human beings if we had to be deprived of one of our faculties, most of us would probably be least willing to give up our sight.  To miss out on seeing people, the beauties of nature, movies, television – even this computer page – is indeed threatening.  We can close our eyes for some moments and try to imagine what totally blind people experience, but our experience is very limited:  we simply open our eyes and see again.  Even trying to see without our misplaced eyeglasses or contact lenses is frustrating for us.

The Scriptures frequently present personal sinfulness in terms of blindness, and redemption in terms of renewed sight.  At the moment of our baptism our eyes were opened to see the Lord Jesus in faith.  For many of us that Baptism experience was likely years ago, today’s celebration in the Advent Season asks us now:  What about our sight?  Are our eyes open?  Do we see our redemption at hand in the person of Jesus?

God is present to us everywhere, in the air we breathe, in nature – and especially in people.  God’s joy radiates in the smile of an infant, His acceptance in the affection of a young child, His vitality in the energy of an adolescent, His power in the strength of an athlete, His beauty in the loveliness of a human being, His concern in the devotion of a parent, His wisdom in the prudence and insight of the elderly.  As we look more deeply at life and faith this Advent season…oh the spiritual experiences, what “sights”!

This Advent calls us not to close our eyes to God’s presence, or to live imprisoned by darkness and gloom.  As did the two blind men, we’re invited to profess our faith in Jesus, to acknowledge His presence and power, and to serve Jesus with eyes wide open as we boldly follow Him as 21^st century disciples.  Today’s responsorial psalm adds to the picture:  “The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear?…wait for the Lord with courage; be stouthearted and wait for the Lord.”  This is truly Good News for our severely troubled world!

“Come, Lord Jesus.  Help us to see with the eyes of faith!”

Fr. John Schork, C.P. is a member of the Passionist community in Chicago, Illinois. 

Scripture:

Isaiah 26:1-6
Matthew 7:21, 24-27

Reflection:

Everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and buffeted the house. But it did not collapse; it had been set solidly on rock. Matthew 7:24

Sometimes when we are in a storm, it can be hard to sense God’s love even when our lives are built on the secure foundation of faith in Him. I’d like to share a poem I wrote one night when I was in our hot tub wishing I could see the stars.

Cloudy Night Sky

See the clouds racing by
piling up across the sky.
Bears and rabbits, turtles too
Ever changing, ever new.

So white against the dark black night
But hiding all my stars from sight.
The stars are there, I know it’s true
They’re simply now obscured from view.

And so it goes with God’s love too
Sometimes He feels so far from you.
But just like stars hidden from our view
He’s always watching over you.

Remember then on cloudy nights
the stars continue burning bright.
And we in turn reflect God’s light
When we walk by faith and not by sight.

Thank you Lord that we can build our lives on Your truth and not be tossed about by the storms that come our way. Thank you for being our firm foundation.

Janice Carleton and her husband Jim live in Portland, OR and partner with Passionist Fr. Cedric Pisegna in Fr. Cedric Ministries. She is the mother of 4 grown children and grandmother of 6. Janice also leads women’s retreats and recently published her second book: God IS with Us. Visit Janice’s website at http://www.janicecarleton.com/ or email her at [email protected].

Scripture:

Isaiah 25:6-10a
Matthew 15:29-37

Reflection:

The first week of Advent has arrived. This year, it was preceded by our national Thanksgiving holiday and Black Friday. The First Sunday of Advent was immediately followed by Cyber Monday and Giving Tuesday. Today, Wednesday, the voice of the prophet Isaiah may have some trouble rising above the tumultuous sounds of shoppers in the marketplace, but Isaiah reminds us of why this is a holy season, worth celebrating for what it brings.

The Lord God will wipe away
the tears from all faces;
The reproach of his people he will remove
from the whole earth; for the Lord has spoken.

We know well that throughout this Advent season street violence will continue; families will struggle with hunger, cold, and chronic illness; loneliness will be felt with a special pang in communities of the elderly.

Christmas carolers, “Secret Santas”, “Toys for Tots” and many more like activities are admirable efforts to confront a national hunger for individual dignity and social justice. But they are not enough, they never have been.

The reproach of his people he will remove from the whole earth…

 Our “saving grace” is the child born to put the prophecy of Isaiah into flesh and blood, here and now. All of us who have been baptized into the life of that once-newborn child share that same mission, to restore dignity and hope through a community of faith and a fellowship of love to this space in the universe that I occupy, that I share with my brothers and sisters.

Fr. Arthur Carrillo, C.P., is the director of the Missions for Holy Cross Province.  He lives in Chicago, Illinois. 

Feast of St. Andrew the Apostle

Scripture:

Romans 10:9-18
Matthew 4:18-22

Reflection:

Our feet are amazing.  They enable us to stand and not fall over. With our feet we dance, play football or kick the can.  Some people stand in the footlights, get a foothold or are just footloose.

There are footmen, foot soldiers and footnotes. Sometimes we put our best foot forward, put our foot in your mouth, foot the bill or live in the foothills.

Yes, our feet are amazing. The most amazing thing about feet, be they small or big, dainty or calloused, is that they can be…the feet of Christ.

It was Teresa of Avila who said that.  She said, “Christ has no body but yours…  Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good.  Yours are the hands, with which he blesses all the world.

In our first reading today Paul quotes from Isaiah, “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good tidings.”(Isaiah 52:7)  We read these words on today’s feast of St. Andrew, the Apostle.

Yes, it was the apostles who first heard the call of Jesus to “Come after me.”   They answered with their whole being, including their feet, and walked with him.  Later they would walk miles upon miles announcing the good news.

As we linger in the glow of Thanksgiving, let us look with gratitude at our beautiful feet.   May we continue to walk with the Lord and, with the apostles, announce the good news with our words and deeds.

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

First Sunday of Advent

Scripture:

Jeremiah 33:14-16
1 Thessalonians 3:12-4:2
Luke 21:25-28, 34-36

Reflection:

“In those days, in that time, I will raise up for David a just shoot; he shall do what is right and just in the land.  In those days Judah shall be safe and Jerusalem shall dwell secure; this is what they shall call her: “The Lord our justice.”

Jeremiah’s words carry power.  They herald the good news of a tiny, just shoot.  The tiny, green shoot appears very small and vulnerable amidst the brown, chaos filled soil of those times.  Yet the tiny shoot brings justice.  Justice is the first message we hear in Advent.

Pope Francis, in his encyclical letter Laudato Si’, also speaks with power as he reflects on the signs of our times and the message of justice.

“In the present condition of global society, where injustices abound and growing numbers of people are deprived of basic human rights and considered expendable, the principle of the common good immediately becomes, logically and inevitably, a summons to solidarity and a preferential option for the poorest of our brothers and sisters.”

As we watch the news and pay attention to the “signs of our times”, we clearly know who are the poorest.  Refugees have nothing and seek the shoot of justice.  We must choose justice at it emerges in our current soil of divisiveness.  I must respond and choose justice over intolerance, bigotry and fear.

I have a lot to think and pray about this Advent.  I must both choose and speak justice amidst the troubling signs of our times.

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

Scripture:

Daniel 7:15-27
Luke 21:34-36

Reflection:

Today we are reminded to:

“Be vigilant at all times
And pray that you have the strength
To escape the tribulations that are imminent
And to stand before the Son of Man.”

Sometimes pastoral ministry can seem overwhelming when these imminent tribulations find their place on your front door step and moreover, don’t seem to be in any big hurry to move on!  At these times I give thanks for the strength that comes through prayer and the faith that leads us to be vigilant.  Prayer gives way to hope and vigilance to promise if we can just remain faithful to a God who reminds us to let God be God and trust all will be well!

Tomorrow

We begin the four weeks of Advent,
When we are asked to put on patient waiting,
To stay awake and be alert as we prepare
To welcome the Christ Child in our midst

In the midst of the hectic pace of the past few weeks and the frustrations that come with trying to meet the needs of the people of God, I am so looking forward to the coming season of Advent.  I need to be challenged to wait patiently, to stay awake and to be alert to God’s coming into my life.  I yearn for the peace, the hope and the promise that a small child born into the poverty of a wartorn land over 2000 years ago,  offers to those of us who can be open to the new life and new ways that lead us to be better than we are right now.

Advent will challenge me to move out of my complacency, turn away from stubbornness and impatience and put myself in the hands of the one who promises to make all things good if we but trust.

I look forward to our Advent vespers, Taize, lectio divina, reflecting with our RCIA candidates on the meaning of Advent and participating in the many outreach opportunities we have planned.

I pray that whatever way you choose to celebrate Advent, that it be a time of patient waiting, wakeful moments and awesome new possibilities as we prepare for the coming of God’s Kingdom.  Happy Advent to all!

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

Scripture:

Daniel 7:2-14
Luke 21:29-33

Reflection:

Once again, our readings offer a dramatic contrast, although both passages are provocative. From the Book of Daniel, we continue a rich, apocalyptic literature, saturated with elaborate, even cryptic symbolism. The Gospel, on the other hand, offers a lucid, organic imagery — down-to-earth and practical, everyday wisdom that we learn from the natural order.

So many times in the Gospels Jesus admonishes his disciples to stay awake, to be attentive. He wants us to notice the lessons in nature, too, because something as simple as a blossoming fig tree will teach us. Or remember when he instructs his followers to “read the signs of the times” — “…when the south wind blows, you say, ‘It’s going to be hot,’ and it is. You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky; why do you not know how to interpret the present time?”

Earlier this week we pondered how the obstacle isn’t always some kind of extrinsic evil or influence… it might come from within. In the shadow of the staggering global suffering and grief we now experience, for me, sometimes the biggest temptation is my penchant for quick answers, my craving for certitudes, and I am simply not vigilant. I want it swift and tidy. It is then that a quotation from M. Gandhi consoles and inspires:

When I despair, I remember that all through history
the way of truth and love has always won.
There have been tyrants and murderers
and for a time they seem invincible,
but in the end, they always fall –
think of it, …always.

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.