Claire Smith

The Nativity of Saint John the Baptist

Scripture:

Isaiah 49:1-6
Acts 13:22-26
Luke 1:57-6

Reflection:

“John is his Name” Feast of John the Baptist The name John comes from two Hebrew words.  Hanna means free gift, or unmerited generosity and the name for God, Yahweh.   John was a gift to us from God’s kindness.   My mother when distracted use to call me my brother’s name.  I knew I was in no immediate danger.  But when she called me by my full Christian name Robert John I knew she was dangerously focused on me.  John the Baptist is a wonderful gift God gives us.   But so is each one of us.   Our middle name should be John, God’s gift.

We are all very gifted.  I am sure we will never appreciate how blessed we are.  Two aspects are very important to consider.   Our gifts are not the same.  Our gifts are not just for ourselves.  There is an occupational hazard to underestimate gifts in ourselves or others.  We indeed appreciate the special talents that people have, but their gifts in no way diminish those different blessings in others.

There is a story of four passengers on an airplane.  There was a famous surgeon, a brilliant professor, an aged priest, and a college student.   The plane had engine trouble and was going to crash.  Unfortunately there was only 3 parachutes for four people so an animated discussion began as to who gets the parachutes.   The famous surgeon said since he saved so many lives he ought to have one and took one and jumped out of the plunging plane.  The brilliant professor said it would be a tragedy if the world was deprived of his intelligence and take a pack jumped out of the plane.   The aged priest said he believed in the next life and was old.  He told the young man to take the last parachute as his whole life before him.   The young man replied that there were still two parachutes left.  How can that be? The priest said.  Well, answered the college student, the most brilliant man the world grabbed my backpack and jumped!

The lesson is simple.  We need of gifts of others if we hope to live successful lives!  No matter how insignificant your gift might seem, it is important to appreciate it and not too arrogant to seek the gifts of others.

By the same token we must understand our own gifts, not just to be admired, but to be a gift to others!  Is your middle name John?

 

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

Scripture:

Genesis 13:2, 5-18
Matthew 7:6, 12-14

 

Reflection:

In our Gospel reading for today, Jesus continues His Sermon on the Mount. He says the Golden Rule: “Do to others what you would have them do to you.” He speaks to them about how difficult it can be to follow the proper path “that leads to life,” by using the image of the “narrow gate” and the “constricted” road. Before this, however, He interprets Proverbs 23:9: “Do not give what is holy to dogs, or throw your pearls before swine, lest they trample them underfoot, and turn and tear you to pieces.”

One could say, that tragically, these words came true in Charleston, SC, last week. People at Emmanuel AME Church welcomed a young man to their Bible study, and an hour later, nine people were killed. The country once again has been forced to look at violence and the issue of race relations.

The tragedy has touched the hearts of many people. Whatever the motivation, it was another senseless act of violence. What has moved many people, however, has been the words spoken to the man accused of the crime by the families of those lost in the violence. While the families spoke haltingly and movingly about their grief, they also lived out their faith by speaking words of forgiveness!

We could say, “Why waste your words of forgiveness on such an animal as the one who perpetrated this crime? Did you not hear what Jesus said about casting pearls before swine?”  It may be true that their words have no effect on the young man. But I hope they can have some effect on the rest of us! In a society where faith is increasingly seen as irrelevant and forgiveness as mere idiocy, these loved ones of the victims have cast “pearls” before us. Can we recognize them for what they are? Can we reach out to each other and seek to build up the kingdom? May we not let these “pearls” slip through our fingers and continue on as we have done before! May we follow the example of our sisters and brothers at Emmanuel and show the world that it is better to go through the “narrow gate!”

 

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

Scripture:

2 Corinthians 11:18, 21-30
Matthew 6:19-23

 

Reflection:

“For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be.” Matthew 6:21

The Word of God for today’s Mass invites us to take a long look at our true self. St. Paul invites us to do this when he “boasts” about what it means to be a follower of Jesus. And Jesus invites us to do this by asking us to take a deeper look into how we live, when he asks us the question: what do we value? He concludes by saying that our values will tell us where our heart is.

I learned about boasting in grade school. By the time I got to seventh grade, there were cliques that followed the social makeup of the city. There were the athletes who boasted about their accomplishments in sports. There were the nice-looking girls who were the popular ones of the school. There were the sons and daughters of the important people of the community, the children of the mayor, the doctors and business community. There were the smart ones, who “aced” every exam and were the “teacher’s pets.”

There was a lot of boasting going around when we were just “hanging out.” No one had to teach us how to boast. We also learned the competitive art of boasting: my accomplishment is better than your accomplishment. It was then that I discovered that life was never going to be simple. If you were going to get ahead in this world, you needed to learn how to boast.

The reason why the following of Jesus is counter cultural is because it is. David Brooks, a well-known columnist, wrote a book entitled, “The Road to Character.” In it, he talks about the men and women who have left their mark on civilization, and how they mastered the tendency to boast and thus discover where their heart was. They learned to value what was truly of value.

Our Scripture readings for today Mass helps us to take a serious look at our inner self. We are invited to learn the difference between boasting and our true self. We can love ourselves only because God first loved us. We love the other, the friend and the enemy, because God loves them as well. No matter how important we are, or how intelligent we are, or how well-off we are, we will someday come to realize that it is God who gives us our worth.

No one ever boasts about their failures, as St. Paul did. We want to make things seem better than they are. We want to “spin” a difficult situation into a better one. We want to lessen our responsibility in making bad decisions. St. Paul invites us to look at our failures in order to see the hand of God in our weakness.

When Jesus says, “For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be,” he is helping us to reflect on how we live our life. Where do we spend our time? Where do we spend our money? Who is important to us? What do we value? As we answer these questions, we will discover where our heart is.

June is known as the month of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Where do you think Jesus’ Heart is? Who did Jesus treasure in his life? Do we boast that we are disciples of Jesus Crucified?

May the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ be always in our hearts!

 

Fr. Clemente Barrón, C.P. is a member of Immaculate Conception Community in Chicago, Illinois. 

 

Scripture:

2 Corinthians 11:1-11
Matthew 6:7-15

 

Reflection:

Perhaps one of the more radical teachings of Jesus is that prayer is not so much a matter of words – indeed the Father knows what we most need before we ever speak. God’s knowledge of us is all embracing and has at heart our wellbeing.

Yet we know too from Christian tradition and experience that God does not impose things on us. Certainly what we most need is constantly offered to us by God, but God respects our freedom and we need to bring our assent to all that is offered in order to embrace the graces God freely gives.

So in the vision of Jesus prayer is much more about relationship than anything else,  and in order to pray one has only to bring oneself humbly and trustingly into the presence of our Father.

The first words addressing God as ‘our Father’ bring us immediately into relationship. We ‘declare’ our very essence and being – that we are of God and belong to God, and in imitation of Jesus we name God as Father to us. Perhaps from time to time we should just stop there – and rest in the echo of this act of naming our relationship; for in this very act of ‘naming’ the relationship becomes real for us in the same moment. And like so many relationships there are times of ‘togetherness’ where no word is needed; we can often just rest in each other’s company and words don’t necessarily add anything to the intimacy of the moment.

But it is also true that there are times when relationships call for words. That is, if we never dare to say and share something of our inner heart and inner world, then we do not allow the relationship to advance and grow. So words, but words from the heart, do have their place.

So too when we pray, and today’s gospel suggests what we might say. Jesus offers a model for prayer – now famously known as the Lord’s Prayer.

But what if this ‘model prayer’ not only suggests to us the words and phrases we might constantly use to express our dependence and relationship as daughters and sons of God the Father, but also suggest to us the fundamental dimensions and directions for all our praying.

If we use words in our prayers, then the Lord’s Prayer alerts us to the way in which we could pray and the things we could pray about.

Firstly the prayer orients us to give praise to God and to express our longing that God’s desire for us to live our lives to the full in loving relationship with our neighbour would ‘reign’ on earth. That is that God’s kingdom might come and might influence our living in ways that come to life amongst us.

We are invited to pray also that we might listen to God’s word to us and act upon it – that God’s will be done.

Further we are invited to express our needs, especially for that nourishment that required each day. Not just the nourishment of food and or other necessities of life, but for the nourishment that reaches into our very souls to sustain us – true relationships with those we love and who love us.

We are invited to prayer for forgiveness, that powerful energy that keeps relationships together and heals those that seem irreparably damaged by selfishness or sin. Forgiveness can never be underestimated as a force in human life, it is capable of healing and restoring and is the ‘oil’ of life and relationships. To pray for forgiveness is to recognise we can never rise up above ourselves without first God’s own forgiveness of our selfishness or self-centredness nor can we have sustaining relationships if we do not extend that same forgiveness into the lives of others around it (and in turn receive it from them).

So perhaps the Lord’s Prayer orients us not only to our fundamental relationship, that of being child of God, but it also suggests to us some essential dimensions for our Christian prayer. It’s words prompt us to align ourselves with God’s will for our world, they allow us to ask for all we need to nourish us each day and they not only express our need for forgiveness, but commit us to be agents of reconciliation in all our relationships.

 

Father 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:

2 Corinthians 6:1-10
Matthew 5:38-42

 

Reflection:

Wow!  The Apostle Paul can’t hold himself back. With a flood of words Paul appeals to the Corinthians to be reconciled with him. He pleads that the gift of God’s grace warms their hearts to reconcile with him. Don’t let the moment pass. This is the time! This is the day of salvation! It is a cry from the heart of a man who has given himself totally to ministry for others. His ministry has cost him hardships, beatings, and imprisonment. No matter. He reminds the Corinthian Church that he has endured these labors with patience and kindness, not by his own efforts, but in the Holy Spirit and in the power of God. We too can reflect on the paradox of our own experience. Like Paul our experiences have a dark and a bright side.  There is a time for sadness and a time for joy. We can have nothing in a material sense, but can give love and support to all who are needy. We can have few possessions, but be rich in spirit. Let us go forward then with confidence in God.

 

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

Scripture:

Ezekiel 17:22-24
2 Corinthians 5:6-10
Mark 4:26-34

 

Reflection:

With a rainy start to the day I headed out in my car to a local organic food store to see if they had seed packets.  In this part of the world where meats and fish are plastic wrapped in trays, where grains are boxed and labelled on the shelves of a grocery store I felt a pull this morning upon reading today’s Gospel to touch something of the world Jesus speaks.  There on a revolving stall in alphabetical order I found a small packet of mustard seeds.

For years I have sat in the pews listening to this story. Yes, a tiny seed.  Yes, it grows into big things.  But this morning I chose to actually hold one singular speck of a seed in my hand as a prayer.  A question.  A need.  A hope to understand.

A mustard seed, tiny, insignificant, so easily lost, rolling around my hand with nothing but the steadiness of my palm to hold it in place.   There is nothing about this little black speck that speaks of the life and abundance of all that will spring forth when it is sown in the ground. Taking root.  Growing.  It is mystery.  It is unseen and even unimagined from my own sight.

When I first read Mark 4, the line that surprised me was the last.  “He spoke the word to them as they were able to understand it…but to his own disciples he explained everything in private.”   What are we to make of those times that Jesus seems to extensively reveal something and yet it is left to be discovered. Those moments that leave a reader with the seeds of mystery and questions of something deeply revealed and yet, not spelled out.

Jesus wrote on the ground when the woman was judged to be stoned but we are never told what he said.  On the road back from Emmaus we are told  that “he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.”  And yet we were not told the specifics.  The mystery was only revealed to those who travelled diligently, faithfully, intimately, daily devoting themselves to His mission as it opened and was revealed along the way.

The first disciples stepped off their boats opening their hearts to the words of Jesus sensing something greater.  All along they were asked to open their hearts in deeper and wider ways to sprout a new way of knowing and being rooted in His Life and Word.  And then to move out into the world to share the fruits of all that was revealed.

The Alleluia today proclaims, “The seed is the word of God, Christ is the sower.”

As I hold this small seed may my trust open with a deeper faith in the unseen, to believe in the power and glory of God that will rise when we gift Christ the soil of a receptive and open heart.

 

M. Walsh is a retreatant and friend to Mater Dolorosa Passionist Retreat Center and the Passionist Community.