Claire Smith

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.                             

Thanksgiving Day (USA)

Scripture:

Daniel 6:12-28
Luke 21:20-28

Reflection:

For us living in the United States, Thanksgiving Day allows us look around and be amazed. More than the food or the festive table, we are amazed at family and friends gathered together once again, in person or in spirit. We feel welcomed and at home. We feel blessed and safe.

Yet we know there are many who do not feel welcomed or at home, blessed or safe. So I am thankful for those Passionists who extend compassionate hospitality, spiritual counsel, words of hope, and prayers for those among us in need.

I’ve been searching for a way to bring my own Thanksgiving into sharper focus. Here perhaps is a way, using the Gospel of Matthew (26:31-46), to bring to the Table of Thanksgiving within our hearts those for whom we give thanks.

I was hungry, and you gave me food. For my special teachers, like Sister Cecilia, who fed me when I was hungry for knowledge. For all who work in food pantries or deliver Meals on Wheels so that others can eat.

I was thirsty, and you gave me drink. For my mother and father who had a thirst for justice and taught me how to look for truth. For all those who selflessly give themselves in service to others in developing countries that they might learn how to read, build a well, or grow food.

I was a stranger, and you welcomed me. For my friends, like Mike, Diane, and Bob who hugged me when I felt like I had been shunned and did not belong. For all who minister to those living under bridges or in parks, and for all who welcome the stranger and refugee, especially at this time of world-wide crisis.

I was naked, and you clothed me. For my family now that allows me to be vulnerable and not be ashamed when I weep. For those who are AA sponsors and mentors who stand by us as we fall and get back up.

I was sick, and you took care of me. For those who have cared for me, like Tom and Ron, who once had to rush me to the doctor. For nurses and doctors, especially those like the Little Sisters of the Poor who minister to those in their last days.

I was in prison, and you visited me. For my formal and informal confessors, like Fr. Doug, who did not fear visiting me in my dark cell of shame and sin. For those who give hope to the prisoner through their work for a more just legal system.

Have a blessed Thanksgiving.

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:

Daniel 2:31-45
Luke 21:5-11

Reflection:

And he said, “See that you are not led astray. For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he!’ and, ‘The time is at hand!’ Do not go after them.” Luke 21:8

Jesus tells us not to be led astray.  The word in the original Greek New Testament is planáō used some 46 times and means to (properly, cause to) roam (from safety, truth, or virtue).   In our secular society we do a lot of straying from Biblical truths.  In our arrogance we think we should redefine ancient truths like marriage and willful taking away life before it has a God given chance to be born.   It was well said by Shakespeare that “A fool thinks himself to be wise, but a wise man knows himself to be a fool.”  “Do not go after them.”

Pride is a confusing word today because it can take on a meaningful truth.  We are proud of our children, praising God for giving us such a wonderful gift.  We might well take great pleasure when God grants us the ability to do something beautiful.  But that greatest sin at the root of our straying is that arrogant attitude that nothing is true if I don’t agree with it.

Jesus was not exaggerating when He says “many” will pit our puny minds against God’s reveled word.  This was the primal sin of Adam. He thought with the help of the evil one that God did not want him to eat of the forbidden fruit because God didn’t want him to become a god doing his own will.  “For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” Genesis 3:5   Well, they ended up naked and ashamed leaving to their children an inheritance of evil and misery!

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

Scripture:

Daniel 1:1-6, 8-20
Luke 21:1-4

Reflection:

In our Scripture readings for today, we find some aspects of what it means to be a disciple. In our first reading from Daniel, we are introduced to Daniel and his companions, Hananiah, Azariah, and Mishael. They are young men who have been brought to Babylon after the Babylonians conquered Israel to be of service to the Babylonian king.

Daniel and his companions show themselves to be exceptional young men. Here they are, in exile from their native land, and they still “bloom where they are planted.” (We pray that the refugees from war-torn lands will also be able to bloom where they land). They refuse the food given to them, most likely because it is unclean according to the Mosaic Law, but they flourish on vegetables. So they remain true to who they are, and in a phrase I learned in Alabama, and whose they are. God did not abandon them when they were taken from Israel.

Daniel and his companions show us that no matter where we are, God is with us, and that we can still grow in love and service, even though we may be far from what is familiar and comfortable.

In our Gospel reading from Luke, Jesus observes a poor widow putting a few cents into the Temple treasury, and remarks, “I tell you truly, this poor widow put in more than all the rest; for those others have all made offerings from their surplus wealth, but she, from her poverty, has offered her whole livelihood.” What the widow teaches us is that we are called to give, not out of what’s extra, but of ourselves. And even though we may look at ourselves as poor, in terms of what we can offer, we are still called to give. God can use our “poverty” to connect with those who are feeling poor themselves.

As disciples, we are called to serve, wherever we are, in whatever circumstances we may find ourselves. We do so, knowing that God is with us always, giving us what we need to do His will for us.

 

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

Solemnity of Christ the King

Scripture:

Daniel 7:13 -14
Revelations 1:5-8
John 18:33b-37

Reflection:

In my office hangs a numbered print of  ” Walk of Faith” by Thomas Kinkade.  It depicts  Jesus walking with St. Peter along a pathway through a forest bright with colors and the mix of  light and darkness  characteristic of Thomas Kinkade.  I find it to be an inspirational painting inviting reflection on our journey through life with the Lord Jesus.  The image of Jesus reflects some of the more appealing images of Jesus in the Gospels.  Jesus as Good Shepherd, Jesus as healer, the compassionate Jesus who forgives, Jesus the teacher sitting on the mound or in a boat or sitting in the temple  – these all come to mind when I look at this painting.  These images inspire, strengthen, encourage, and bring a kind of peace to those who spend time with them in mind and heart.

What a contrast to our scripture readings and Solemnity today !  Today we have the image of the Royal Jesus.  In Daniel, Jesus is depicted as the Son of Man coming on the clouds to assume His everlasting dominion over the entire Universe.  In Revelations, Jesus is the timeless ruler over all of the kings of the earth – He is the Alpha and the Omega !  St. John gives us a stop and look again image of Jesus.  He is a prisoner before His captor but He is a prisoner who is in total control of the moment and the conversation.  In testifying to the truth, Jesus assumes the royal position of proclaiming the truth of an unseen kingdom unknown to His captor.  The kingdom is far superior to these earthly kingdoms  and is everlasting.  Here,  Jesus is all powerful, glorious and reigning in splendor.

I have a dilemma in attempting to place these two images of Jesus side by side.  The oddity is compounded by dimensions of our American culture.  Most of us do not think in terms of kings or queens or royal families.  Even when a writer uses the terms in reference to one or another political dynasty in America, we pretty much brush aside the implications of “royalty”.  Royal concepts are alien to our thought patterns.  Perhaps this is why we much more readily relate to the images of Jesus occasioned by the painting “Walk of Faith”.  A kingly Jesus was much more understandable to us in the 1950’s when Sacred Scripture was pretty much left to the Priests of the Church while the laity was steeped in our devotional life.  That was a wonderful time for me and my spiritual life but times have changed.  Now we are encouraged to read and study the Scriptures as never before.  Because we do, we are invited to wrestle with the images and the Person of the Lord Jesus in every dimension of our relationship with Him.  Our Solemnity  provides us with some food for thought for such a reflection.

Our idea of royal responsibilities needs to be stretched a bit.  If we are thinking of a king who acts on the conviction that He is responsible for the welfare and well being of every one of His subjects, we may be able to think of the Lord Jesus as king.  If we think of royalty as one who tempers accountability with mercy and compassion, perhaps Jesus can be royal for us.  If we are expecting a kingly presence that champions truth and helps everyone to seek and to find the truth of life, then perhaps Jesus can be that presence for us.  If we imagine a king who has a profound sense of being here for the service of His People, who is attentive to their every need, who provides strength in the weaker moments of life, healing in the wounded moments of life, forgiveness in the fallen moments of life and affirming motivation in the journey of life, then perhaps Jesus can be our King.  All of those mind filling  “Walk of Faith” dimensions of Jesus may actually come together to create a royal image of Jesus who we celebrate in Handel’s Messiah at Christmas as “King of Kings”.

For each of us, Jesus remains as the center of our life.  As we walk with Him, circle around Him and look intently at Him from every vantage point, seeing Him  and understanding Him in differing ways as the circumstances of our lives shift and change, perhaps we come to the moment in our “Walk of Faith” when all those dimensions converge into the image of the Lord Jesus,  King of our hearts and King of the Universe.

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

The Presentation of Mary

Scripture:

Galatians 4:4-7
Luke 1:26-38

Reflection:

The Presentation of Mary in the Temple was a favorite devotion of St. Paul of the Cross.  It represented a special way for him to think of Mary, as he pursued his own task of trying to do what he understood God was asking of him: to dedicate his own life to God, as she did, by starting new religious communities of men and women in the church who were to dedicate their lives to God, as she did.  For there is no question but that Mary was totally committed to what she perceived God asking her to do.

St. Paul the Apostle captures this in his letter to the Galatians, suggested as a reading in today’s Eucharist, where he recounts the sending forth into our midst of His own Son, to free us for our destiny of achieving our special status as adopted children of God.   And St. Paul notes that “this Son (was) born of a woman”, that is, Jesus was born of Mary, who thereby participated in the great redemptive act of freeing us from the burdens of the law.  Without her this would not have come to pass, at least as we have come to know it.

And St. Luke, in the day’s gospel, spells out this role of Mary in God’s work by detailing its very beginnings, when the angel Gabriel announced to Mary her calling and her destiny in being the mother of this Son of God, enabling Him to go about His task of freeing us all from the evils of sin and the burdens associated with it.

In reflecting on this glorious role of Mary, the church, over the centuries, grew in appreciation of Mary’s participation in God’s work, realizing that this was the center-piece of her life, and that it had its beginnings for her at an early period, before she was even married.  Of course, as we understand from St. Luke’s account of its inception in her life, it represented a challenge for this young woman, since she was not yet married, and so the angel Gabriel’s announcement that she was to be a mother, needed some clarification on how all of this was to come about.  And as the angel provided this, Mary came to see the dimensions of the task being laid out before her, and she acquiesced: “Let it be done to me as you say.”

From this we gather this young woman was equal to the task at hand, not on the sudden, but as a result of being someone who was close to God and His way of doing things, throughout her young life, indeed, from its very beginning, convincing us that her orientation toward God was a lifelong tendency, from her very infancy, as today’s feastday suggests: her presentation in the temple early on.  Though we have no biblical evidence of this, we really don’t need it, given the trajectory of her life, from beginning to end.  So a tradition built up about her early dedication to God, impacting the life of the church, and the life of St. Paul of the Cross, whose desire to dedicate his own life to God’s plan for him was inspired by this devotion to Mary’s presentation, by her parents, to God.

Paul’s own sense of a developing vocation in his life took the shape of new congregations of men and women dedicated to the same task facing Mary, that of our redemption, in view of which he named the first monasteries (retreats, as he styled them) for both men and women Passionists: the Presentation.  And this is what we recall and honor today: the total dedication to God’s work, from the very beginning, symbolized by the presentation Passionist men and women make of themselves.

This is an instance of the role that tradition, along with scripture, plays in the life of the church.  It too has deep roots in history, and it captures the overflow of significant events in the life of God’s people.

It has a secular counterpart in the lore surrounding some of the larger-than-life celebrities dotting the history of any given era.  For instance, in the world of professional baseball, there are instances of remarkable exploits leaving behind them, on the sea of life, a wake, as evidence of something significant having occurred.  As in the case of the relatively unknown Chicago White Sox shortstop, Luke Appling, who was of some significance during his playing years, but whose exploits for “greatness” lie outside the usual criteria.  For he had a remarkable ability to hit foul balls—an interminable series of foul balls—gradually causing unrest among the fans, but especially exhausting the opposing pitcher on the mound, to the point where at times he had to be relieved and replaced—the very outcome Luke aimed at.  His technique for winning ballgames settled into the lore of baseball, as a way of wearing down an excellent pitcher.  Foul balls may not be celebrated in the annals of baseball but the technique is now part of baseball “tradition”, rooted in history.  For who would otherwise remember Luke Appling, if not for his ability in hitting endless foul balls?  For it won games.  And even in our Christian faith, who would remember certain remarkable feats in our history, were it not for our traditions?

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

 

Scripture:

2 Maccabees 7:1, 20-31
Luke 19:11-28

Reflection:

At first reading today’s gospel might appear to invite us to reflect on the world of commerce and finances. The reality of one’s labour, the concept of reward for a job well done, the suggestion of investment and return and more so risk and reward,  are all alluded to in this parable of Jesus. Indeed even the concept of a banking system and interest are mentioned. All these topics are regularly part of our everyday news broadcasts and all too familiar to us in the modern world wedded as it is to its financial system.

However we are invited to look beneath the imagery and symbols of this parable and to seek out the life lesson that Jesus offers us therein. In this sense the parable is not a story about the merits of capital and investment, but rather an illustration of being faithful to one’s task, of being fruitful and of resisting the paralysing influence of fear!

When we listen to a parable it is often the third character of the story who is the one to observe closely – he or she is often the one whose actions reveal the important lesson for us.  In this sense, it is the third servant’s actions (or in this case the lack of them) which teach us that whilst life is hard and often surrounds us with powerful and even fearful forces, we must nevertheless work to assist the growth of the Reign of God in our world.

Indeed, Jesus tells this very parable precisely because there were those following him “who thought that the Kingdom of God would appear immediately”.  Jesus wished to dispel this myth.

Ultimately of course, the growth of the ‘kingdom’ (God’s Reign)  is God’s work; but we are invited by our very baptism to participate in this project.

Thus as disciples of Jesus, we cannot simply ‘bury’ our personal talents – hide them away or fail to utilise them – and allow fear or indifference to paralyse us into inactivity. Rather the Reign of God can advance in our world through effort on our part even if at times, the world around us is often preoccupied with power and wealth.

Perhaps too there is another dimension to this story that we might notice. We are each called to contribute according to our talents and ability. We all have a part to play in building up God’s Reign and what one can do – even if seemingly a modest contribution – another cannot do despite their many perceived gifts! It is not so much  matter of comparing our talents to others, but of seeing the ‘kingdom’ advance on a broad front by virtue of every disciple contributing their talents and gifts. Further, this parable illustrates that if all do not contribute, then more and more is left to the willing few. In this parable the servant with the one coin fails to act – even in a conservative way with the result that his small role is then given to the one servant who had a larger task. For those gifted and multi-talented disciples amongst us, it may indeed be a privilege to serve others and to take on large, responsible roles, but if such generous people are also taking on the work that others can do, it can lead to the most generous amongst us being overburdened!

So today let us resolve not to be frozen into inactivity by any force or fear, and to contribute our talents and gifts to the growth of God’s Reign in our world.

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:

Wisdom 18:14-16; 19:6-9
Luke 18:1-8

Reflection:

When I set out to read today’s gospel I noticed it starts out with Jesus telling the disciples a parable about the “necessity” for them to pray.  I don’t know that I had seen that word before.  Maybe I had previously spent my time focusing on the story of the dishonest judge and the badgering widow.  But, what an opening statement.

Our Lord telling us it is necessary for us to pray.  A “You need to do this” statement.   I think we all kind of get the need to pray, or do we?   So often I would get to prayers when I could.  And when I did I was often just “saying my prayers”, asking for some things, thanking Him for good things, dutifully saying Our Fathers and Hail Marys. When everything else was done.

I received two pieces of advice about praying that have really changed my prayer life.  A priest told me to pray to Jesus like you are sitting across from a friend that you really love, and you know really loves you.  Share your joys, your challenges, your struggles, tell Him where you are in life, and don’t hold back.  Be honest. Take off your masks.  Invite Him into your life.  He wants to be there.

And secondly, make prayer a priority. A commitment. Every day.  Alone. In solitude.  No excuses.  For me that has meant stopping in a church to be in front of the tabernacle.  Wherever I am.  In quiet. Alone to pray.  Each day.  Or if I can’t, going off to a quiet room and closing the door.  But for sure taking time each day.  What a difference.  Both have changed my relationship with The Lord, and my life.

Jesus taught us much about prayer, and so often witnessed to the need to pray. How often Our Lord went “off to the mountain”, “woke early and went off to a deserted place” or “prayed in private”.  The disciples witnessed this for three years.  It’s clear they got the message.  When you read the Acts of the Apostles you can see how often they “devoted themselves to prayer”, “prayed every day”, and prayed over every decision.  I think we know where they learned this.

The goal of prayer is to draw us closer to The Lord, to be with Him.  I love what Blessed Mother Theresa said, “We encounter the Lord in prayer, the Eucharist, and serving the poor”.  Jesus knew this, He taught this.  The apostles learned and followed this as well.  But do we heed His call to pray?  Intentionally and thoughtfully?  I know when I do I feel so much closer to Our Lord and so much more open to His Love.

 

Steve Walsh is a retreatant at Mater Dolorosa Retreat Center in Sierra Madre ,and a good friend of the Passionist Community.