Claire Smith

Scripture:

Nehemiah 2:1-8
Luke 9:57-62

Reflection:

At age twelve, when Jesus’ parents found him in the temple, he told them “Did you not know I must be about my Father’s business?” (Luke 2:49)  Right from the very start, Jesus was committed.  He was focused.  Doing his Father’s will was what Jesus was all about.  Nothing could deter him, not even death.

So, in today’s gospel, when Jesus goes out looking for followers, he is looking for that same strong dedication.  He knows the power of commitment.

Whether it is to a person or to a cause, once we decide to commit, amazing things happen.  Our whole being gets involved.  The doors of our imagination and creativity open up.  Our inner resources are taped.  We discover a quality of energy unknown to the wishy-washy.  Commitment rallies our courage, stiffens our backbone, and toughens us for all challenges.  Commitment opens our senses and our intuition, and hastens our learning.

Commitment clarifies who we are.  We forge our identity by naming our values.  Our commitment then excites others and brings them aboard.  Together we become a band of stickers and fighters.  Our attention is centered.

It has been wisely noted that little people have wishes, while great people have a purpose.  What greater purpose can there be than serving God and God’s people?  Jesus asks us to pursue that purpose with all our hearts, all our souls, all our minds, and all our bodies, with our chins facing the wind, our eyes never looking back.

Part of the inner peace Jesus promises us does not depend upon success, but comes from having a meaningful purpose and knowing we gave it our best.  That’s what he did.  “Come,” he says, “choose to follow me and share in my joy.”

 

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

Scripture:

Revelation 12:7-12
John 1:47-51

Reflection:

“War broke out in heaven; Michael and his angels battled against the dragon.”  On this feast of Saints Michael, Gabriel and Raphael, we are greeted with these first words in our reading from the book of Revelations; “War broke out in heaven.”

We are given a picture of division in the ranks of the angels.  Division is so much a part of the signs of our times.  Every day we are bombarded by division; political parties, social issues, religious atrocities from every side, racial issues, economic separation and dysfunctional families.  We are a long way from the prayer of Jesus that we may all be one.  We are not one.  We are a divided world, except of course when we experience a common disaster.

I saw this many times in my disaster relief work for the Red Cross and AT&T.  Hurricanes and tornadoes create an immediate temporary bond in which we suspend divisions amidst our common experience of suffering. People are remarkably aware of the need to support our fellow human beings.  Then, with the passage of a few days, we take up our places again behind the artificial walls we create.

As a Passionist I am called to remind people that our hearts are one in union around the Cross.  The Cross of Jesus unites us in a common bond.  We are one.  The angels fought a war.  In the words of the song, “What is war good for?  Absolutely nothing”.  Our vocation calls us to “hold high the Cross” and stand up for the unity we all share as children of God.  I certainly am not an angel like Michael, Gabriel and Raphael, but I can peacefully fight for unity in our divided world.

 

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

Scripture:

Zechariah 8:1-8
Luke 9:46-50

Reflection:

This week our Catholic world and entire nation was captivated by the visit of Pope Francis.  I was moved to tears as I watched the Holy Father arrive in our nation’s capital. I am proud to be Catholic and immensely honored to be a part of this historical and spiritual event in our country.  That morning before coming to work, I continued to watch the unfolding of the events surrounding his visit.  President Obama spoke eloquently and sincerely as he welcomed Pope Francis and the Holy Father returned that welcome with words of praise and thanks for the hospitality shown.

In reflecting on the Gospel passage from Luke 9:46-50 where Jesus reminds us once again to be conscious of those who do not enjoy the life that we do in these words:

“Whoever receives this child in my name received me,
And whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.
For the one who is least among all of you
Is the one who is the greatest.”

The message Pope Francis gives over and over again is also the message Jesus gave to his disciples and gives to us today.  We are blessed to have a religious leader who emulates the Gospel and challenges us to do the same.  The disciples seemed to be all caught up in external trappings of power and control, who is going to be first, who is the one Jesus likes the best, etc.  Children were given little status or attention in the time of Jesus.  When Jesus challenges us to welcome the little children among us, he is calling us to look beyond positions of power and control, beyond our drive to be rich and famous, and our preoccupation with being number one and thinking that ‘it’s all about me.’

May we all take seriously the message of Jesus that Pope Francis delivered this past week.  May we recommit ourselves to looking beyond our needs and focus on the less fortunate, the hungry, the poor, the homeless, the immigrant and refugees at our doors.  May we tear down the barriers of race, color, creed and gender and concentrate on the least in our very midst.

May the events of this week lead us to be people of faith and action!.  God Bless America and God Bless our Church!

 

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

Scripture:

Numbers 11:25-19
James 5:1-6
Mark 9:38-43, 45, 47-48

Reflection:

Better FOR, not better THAN

Today’s readings pull us into that wonderful mystery, that cauldron of transformation, linking discipleship and surprise.

I suppose we’ve all had the experience when we thought we knew how a friend or colleague would react, only to be taken aback by their response. These last several Sundays, the disciples learn how following Jesus is fraught with challenges, surprise, and hard lessons.

After the Transfiguration, for example, Peter offers to erect tents on Mt. Tabor; instead, Jesus warns them of suffering. Or remember a couple of weeks ago, when Peter approaches Jesus, questioning how often he must forgive when offended? Convinced of his own magnanimity, our first Pope struts around waiting for commendations! Instead, Jesus replies not seven, but seventy times seven… almost as if Jesus is saying, …Peter, you will have to change that stingy attitude; get out of your quid pro quo, tit-for-tat economic system. The Kingdom is so much bigger! And last Sunday, while the disciples are arguing who’s number one, Jesus places a child in the midst of them; we must remember that in Jesus’ culture and time, a child is a non-entity, with no esteem… to be seen and not heard.

Over and over again, Jesus reminds his followers that they are certainly not better than their country-folk. Following Jesus and listening to his teachings, they came to see their own need for conversion. Their questions (and mine) about who would be first, who belongs, who will be saved, all indicate our self-centered attitudes.

They were not “better than,” but being spun around, turned upside down and sent out to be with their human brothers and sisters. They were sent, not to impress, but to turn their attitudes around, as well about their being loved and blest.

The apostles’ encounters with Jesus, and our sacramental meetings with Jesus are all the same.

We are always being formed to be “better for” and not better than. The prophets, the apostles, are in the same need as those to whom the prophets and apostles were and are, sent.

Jesus came onto the earth to meet us eye to eye, hand to hand. He meets us in every sacrament in this way, meeting us in our fragility, so that we will not be paralyzed by this fragility and weakness,but inspired and incarnated to embrace the broken around us. How lucky we are to have Pope Francis thundering that “universal call to holiness” of which Vatican II spoke! Would that all the people of the Lord were prophets!

 

 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.

Scripture:

Zechariah 2:5-9, 14-15a
Luke 9:43b-45

Reflection:

All this week, Pope Francis has been making his way among us in the United States. From the White House and Congress to Cathedrals and public Masses, we know he is here among us. I see his presence among us as a reflection of what the Prophet Zechariah writes in today’s first reading: “See, I am coming to dwell among you, says the LORD. Many nations shall join themselves to the Lord on that day, and they shall be his people and he will dwell among you.”

Pope Francis draws throngs wherever he goes. We are drawn to him. He is communicating the Gospel in new ways, making real Christ’s words of mercy in his care for those alone, poor, and shunned. He also makes many of us rethink what it means to live out our faith in our everyday lives.

When Jesus went among the people, he did not go to make people feel uncomfortable or judged. When people encountered Jesus, he reflected back to them, as if a mirror, the truth of their lives. With all their hopes and dreams, their sin and blindness, the people came to recognize themselves as they were. But more important, they came to recognize who they could be. This transformation is not easy. We may even resist it. Yet we need to see the truth of who God created us to be, even in the messiness of our lives and relationships, in order to see beyond the messiness to become all that God calls us to be.

By his simplicity of life, by his acts of mercy and forgiveness, by his challenge to bishops and priests to be real shepherds, and by his embrace of immigrants from war zones, Francis holds up a mirror to us to help us see how we can better live our lives. The Gospel each day challenges us to live the joy of Jesus out there in the world that is so broken and in need of God’s love and mercy. We become the presence of God in the world. Through us – and with the help of Pope Francis – God indeed dwells among his people.

 

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.

Scripture:

Haggai 1:1-8
Luke 9:7-9

Reflection:

 

Build Me a House!

“Consider your ways!”  The prophet Haggai urges the people of his day to get their life in proper order.  Worship of God is what is most important in life.  Build a temple!  His message is simple but basic.  God is all important in our practical lives.  I am afraid that for so many of us God comes only after a long list of other things that seem more important to us.

I have been blessed to be able to live in Rome these last weeks.  I have been struck how many temples or churches have been built by those who needed sacred space to worship God.  For instance, our Passionist church of St John and Paul was built in the year 398 AD!  Imagine for the last 1600 years and more people have been worshiping God here every day.  Every day for all these years people celebrate and remember His love for us in the great sacrifice of the cross!  What a beautiful thing this is.

How terribly sad to see so many people never to put a foot into these sacred temples to praise Him who gives us everything beautiful we have in our life.   To praise and worship our Creator and Lover is our most important responsibility we have not only for ourselves but for our families.  At Bethany Jesus reminds a very busy and upset Martha that only one thing is necessary, and Mary, sitting at the feet of the Lord and listening to His word, has chosen the very best!

How well Haggai reminds us: “Thus says the LORD of hosts: Consider your ways!
Go up into the hill country; bring timber, and build the house
That I may take pleasure in it and receive my glory, says the LORD.”

 

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

Scripture:

Ezra 9:5-9
Luke 9:1-6

Reflection:

Our readings today give us a great summary of discipleship and what it means to be church. In our first reading Ezra is overcome with the guilt of his people, and acknowledges that guilt before God, describing what happened to the people in exile after the Babylonians conquered Israel and destroyed the Temple that Solomon had built.

But Ezra also acknowledges that even though the people were in exile as a consequence of their sins, God had not abandoned them! And so, after the Persians conquered the Babylonians, they allowed the Israelites to go home. As Ezra says, “Thus he has given us new life to raise again the house of God and restore its ruins. God has shown mercy and given new life to the people to rebuild the Temple.

Even though God may let us suffer the consequences of our actions, He does not abandon us! God shows us mercy time and time again, and continually offers us new life. But this new life is not meant to be lived just for ourselves. In our first reading the Israelites were to rebuild the Temple. In our Gospel reading, Jesus sends out the Twelve to proclaim the Good News and drive out demons and cure diseases. He tells them to take nothing for the journey except themselves, and so rely on God for what they need. In a way, Jesus is sending the Twelve out to do what the Israelites did earlier. He sends them out to help people not rebuild the Temple, but rebuild their lives. If there are some who are not ready to be healed or refuse to have their lives restored, they are to simply move on and shake the dust from their feet as testimony.

God has given us not openly a second chance, but a third and a fifth, and maybe even a hundredth chance, and we are called to be instruments that God uses to give others another chance as well. May we be about building up, not tearing down, and may the Good News be always proclaimed through us!

 

Fr. Phil Paxton, C.P., is on staff at St. Paul of the Cross Retreat and Conference Center, Detroit, Michigan. 

Scripture:

Ezra 6:7-8, 12b, 14–20
Luke 8:19–21

Reflection:

While studying Church Law at Catholic University of America, I had a classmate from Tanzania who was memorable for a great many reasons. An endearing quality embodied a completely at home approach to new discoveries.  He always began with the question: “How can this be ?”  Whenever he was confronted with something new, he began with this question and followed the pathways until he came to some deeper understanding of the concept or issue and settled into a new way of seeing it and a new sense of peace with the idea.  Today’s scriptures invite us to consider the very same reality in our time and in our lives.

How can this be?  In Ezra, we see that the remnant of the Jewish people have received permission to return to their homeland after decades of servitude and exile.  Not only have they returned to ancestral lands, they are invited to revitalize their covenantal life with God by rebuilding the temple in Jerusalem with the pagan government paying for it.  A new order, unfamiliar to this next generation of the Jewish faith, has been born.  They will need to follow divine guidance to discover a deeper understanding of God’s design in this and achieve a new peacefulness with God’s direction for them as a people and as individuals.

How can this be?  We have a very brief but loaded selection from Saint Luke’s gospel for today’s reflection.   It seems straight forward enough.  Jesus is teaching.  His family shows up to see Him.  We have the pronouncement that insists that His family is those who hear the Word of God and act on it.  Those who heard this may well have been completely shocked, asking how this could be.  Why would He dishonor His family like this ?   Minds had to be reeling and tongues had to have started wagging.  With a second look, however, we might discover something new, something intentional on the part of Jesus.  With this simple statement, Jesus has created an entirely new reality, a new world order and a new way of seeing and understanding relationships.  Jesus has redefined the concept of “family”.  No longer is “family” caused by or limited by blood lines.  Family is now defined as a faith bond.  Family is now completely open to include all who hear the Word of God and act upon it.  By no means is Jesus rejecting His mother and family members.  After all, do we know of anyone other than Mary who more openly and readily heard the Word of God in her life and acted upon it?  Not likely.  Mary is at the heart of this new reality, this expanded concept of the family tree.

How can this be?  Jesus’ redefined understanding of family is not simply a nice idea to be kept warm and dusted off from time to time.  It has implications for today’s realities.  We all run into those moments when we are asked to see things in a new light, look for a deeper or new understanding of an idea or a set of circumstances.   We are asked by both Ezra and Luke today to sit with it awhile, pray over it and bring the received Word of God to bear upon it.  And then act on it.  I recently was engaged in a discussion with a group of very fine people who were heavy into the migration of peoples issue we are all so familiar with these days.  Some expressed what politicians have been offering on the subject but honestly, not many found their comments helpful to understanding.  Thirty second clips are offered to incite emotion rather than thoughtfulness on an issue.  Others reflected upon their own ancestors coming to American shores and saw them as somehow different from today until someone pointed out that in those days there was a open welcome mat out for immigrants – no quotas, no conditions, no requirements, and no monetary costs.   If you could get here, you could stay.  We have become far more restrictive and selective today.  I was delighted with how the session ended.  We decided that we ought to look to the Scriptures for insight on how to deal with the neediest among us and the poor.  We decided to look to the teachers of our faith in the encyclicals and instructions of the Holy Fathers since St. Pope John XXIII ( Pacem in Terris) and continuing on  to our own Conference of Catholic Bishops’ statements on immigration.  We have over fifty years of profound teachings on the divinely given human rights regarding the migration of peoples.  As we are asked to deal with the migration of peoples into our own country, we might be asking, “How can this be?”  As we experience through television news  the pain and suffering of the hundreds of thousands fleeing violence and death in the Middle East and the European countries’ efforts to cope with it, we are beset with the question, “How can this be ?”  Perhaps we must go back to the Scriptures and the teachings of our Church, receive God’s Word anew into our hearts and lives, pray over it and then act upon it.  Perhaps we are being invited to see relationships anew – who exactly are my family members and how am I to deal with this expanded family tree?

 

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