Claire Smith

Scripture:

Exodus 20:1-17
1 Corinthians 1:22-25
John 2:13-25

Reflection:

The message of the Cross is the very foundation of our faith commitment as Christians.  Members of the Passionist Congregation hold the message of the Cross in a special way in their hearts.   Today’s second reading from Paul’s letter to the Corinthians speaks to their calling as Passionists and the dedication of their lives to the proclamation of Christ Crucified.   And for all of us who are believers, this reading should be a reminder of what it means to be a believer, to be a Christian, and how we are all called to proclaim Christ Crucified.  Most of the time, we Christians do see Christ crucified as the power and wisdom of God.  Generally, we do take up our crosses and follow Christ and usually, we  answer the call to stand with the crucified of today.

But not always.  The Jews looked for signs and when they saw the healings, the curing of the lepers, the raising of Lazarus, they lauded Christ, praising and glorifying him and wanting to follow him.   But when he wasn’t the superman they wanted, then they turned on him. And today, we sometimes echo their sentiments. How often do we say “We believe” when everything is going fairly smoothly, but when there is a crisis in our lives, or a disaster in the world, we expect God to fix it.  Sometimes when it isn’t fixed the way we want it to be, our lament becomes, “If there is a God, why does he let this or that happen?”

In the early church, the Gentiles looked for a logical explanation; a way to understand it.  It all just seemed so absurd.  Today, we sometimes hear it said, “It’s pretty hard to believe in a God who would let his own Son die.”   Paul says to the Corinthians and to us:   “Of course, it seems absurd if you don’t believe.”

But for anyone who has experienced the power of the Cross, it shines with the deepest and most profound wisdom. Demanding miracles from the Lord and questioning God’s will, we express our unwillingness to see the truth in God’s judgment and in the wisdom of God’s decisions, says Paul. We want things to be on our terms, to happen according to our wishes.  Paul points to the Cross of Christ, his death and resurrection, to show that God’s ways are not our ways.

Half way through Lent is a good time to ask, do we truly believe in the meaning of Christ’s sacrifice?  His Crucifixion?  How do I live as a follower of Christ?  What sacrifice am I willing to make?

 

Mary Lou Butler is a long-time friend and partner in ministry to the Passionists in California.

 

Scripture:

Micah 7:14-15, 18-20
Luke 15:1-3, 11-32

Reflection:

Did you ever leave home and not realize it? I did. Actually I had just returned home from the Novitiate. I left in the middle of the year questioning whether I had a vocation. Wanting to continue my involvement in my Church that had provided a secure and comfortable home for the first 18 years of my life, I joined the choir at my local parish.

I’ll never forget the first practice I attended. Well actually, I’ll never forget afterwards. After practice a number of people were talking about going out for pizza at a local shop and asked if I wanted to come along. I accepted and joined a group at Riggio’s Pizza, just down the street from the church. When it came time to order, I still wasn’t sure what I wanted and was searching the menu frantically so I’d be ready when the waitress came to me. This was really a new world to me, dining away from home with friends and actually choosing what I wanted to eat. Well it turned out my fellow choir members weren’t ordering food—they were ordering drinks. Now I was really confused. I had never even had a drink before let alone ordered one. The person next to me ordered a Manhattan. Hum? The only drinks I was familiar with were shots and beers. That’s what my father drank. I thought he drank too much and didn’t particularly like the smell of either, so without hesitating and not even wanting one, I ordered a Manhattan. I didn’t want to be different.

That began a trek that would take me away from home, my family, my church and myself. Ah, I didn’t physically leave these, but I sure did spiritually. Twenty years later, like the prodigal son in today’s reading, I came running back home, frightened and wondering if I’d ever be able to rejoin my family.

It’s now 32 years later, and I’m happy to report that because of the loving acceptance and even rejoicing of my family and church I’ve “returned to the fold”. Father in heaven, give me the vision and the courage to change when I find that like the prodigal son in today’s Gospel reading, I’ve lost my way.

 

Dan O’Donnell is a Passionist Partner and a longtime friend of the Passionists.  He lives in Chicago. 

Scripture:

Genesis 37:3-4, 12-13, 17b-28a
Matthew 21: 33-43, 45-46

 

Reflection:

Christians are familiar with what Paul said in his letter to the Romans: “And we know that in all things God works for the good…” (Rom. 8:28). It is a comforting saying that can help us appreciate the readings today.

Look at Joseph. The long list of evils that rained upon Joseph is unwarranted. The brothers’ pride and jealousy led them to get rid of their younger brother. They meant it for evil, but God was able to work good out of their evil intentions. Joseph was sold as a slave and ended up in Pharaoh’s court as a specialist in interpreting dreams. That led to Joseph being made second in command in Egypt. Jacob’s family came to Egypt in search of food during an alarming famine. When Joseph’s brothers came to Egypt to look for food, little did they realize that their own brother Joseph would save them from starvation.

When the landowner sent his own son to the tenants, the people killed the son. Jesus asked the chief priests and the elders of the people what they would do with those tenants. “Put those wretched men to a wretched death,” they replied. Jesus ignored their sense of revenge and said that the land would be given to others. The Kingdom of God would expand beyond the Jewish people.

Paul’s belief that “in all things God works for the good” can be comforting but also very difficult to believe. At times those words can be irritating, even infuriating. Someone under attack by cancer, living with unending depression, struggling with abuse, surviving day to day, standing at the grave side of a loved one, can wonder if any “good” can be found. We often wonder about the “good” in places where evil seems to govern even in the midst of good people and good initiatives. The list can be long and each of us can think of situations in which we wonder

Yet, the Bible records the words in Romans not merely as a theory but as a fact. It is a fact, whether we like it or understand it or experience it or not, that all things, including those things we consider “bad”, work for the good of those who love the Lord. The reason the Bible can make such a pronouncement is that it recognizes that the Lord God is faithful and good.

Jesus himself, as he died from his fatal wounds, shouted ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’ Yet, in the end “Jesus called out with a loud voice, ‘Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.’ When he had said this, he breathed his last.” Bewilderment and trust. Mixed emotions as Jesus hung on the cross.

Doubt and faith, fear and confidence, despair and hope, these are the emotions of Lent. Our journey during these forty days is a passage between tensions. Our goal is to be at peace with these tensions, believing that God is, at the end of the day, a Good God.

Fr. Don Webber, C.P., is Provincial Superior of Holy Cross Province and resides in Chicago.

 

Scripture:

Isaiah 1:10, 16-20
Matthew 23:1-12

Reflection:

“Come now, let us set things right, says the LORD: Though your sins be like scarlet, they may become white as snow; though they be crimson red, they may become white as wool.” Isaiah 1: 18

Forgiveness is something that many people struggle with. Before we can “set things right”, we need to seek forgiveness when we’ve wronged someone and we need to offer forgiveness when we’ve been wronged.

My grandfather was verbally abusive to my mom when she was growing up and would lock her in the cellar. She believed he was unhappy with her because he needed a son to help on the farm and she was his third daughter. Her parents even blamed her for her oldest sister’s death. But growing up, all I saw was that my mom loved and honored her parents. When he was old Grandpa was put in a rest home, and everyone quit going to visit him except my mom.

She went to visit him every day. She took him his favorite bacon and egg sandwich because he loved them and it made him happy. Mom showed Grandpa that she loved him by her actions. He was in that smelly old rest home for at least four years and kept asking my mom why can’t I just die? Finally one day he said to my mom, “Josephine – I know now why I had to be here so long. I need to tell you that I’m sorry for the way I treated you when you were growing up.” He died shortly after he told her that.

Even though she could have hated her dad, or told everyone how mean he had been to her, she chose instead to forgive him and to love him til the end. I believe he encountered Christ through his daughter who refused to give up on him. I also believe they are enjoying heaven together today because Mom’s love and forgiveness helped him get right with God.
Let us forgive each other as God has forgiven us!

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 wrote her first book: God Speaks to Ordinary People – Like You and Me. Visit Janice’s website at http://www.janicecarleton.com/ or email her at [email protected].

Scripture:

Daniel 9:4b-10
Luke 6:36-38

Reflection:

When I was a youngster, going to a Catholic School in East Los Angeles, there were some scriptural passages that had found a nesting place in my memory, and which often prompted my behavior. It was not only the Franciscan Sisters, who taught us at Resurrection School, who had us learn scriptural verses; but the Victory Noll Sisters, who were our “released time” catechists during the several years that I attended Eastman Street public school, also made sure that we learned some scripture with our catechism.

As we were collecting money for the Holy Childhood, we knew that somewhere in Scripture was the maxim: “God loves a cheerful giver.” (2 Cor 9:7)

In those days of Latin Mass texts, we couldn’t help but remember on a gloomy, rainy day when we couldn’t go out for recess, “Haec dies quam fecit Dominus, exultemur et laetemur in ea.” “This is the day which the Lord has made, let us be glad and rejoice in it.” (Ps 118:24)

This 6th chapter of St. Luke’s Gospel, today’s context for the Gospel, is where we find one of the two synoptic accounts called “The Beatitudes”. It is a very practical chapter, rooted in conflict, encouragement, socio-economic reality, and a future vision.

Today’s verses in the Gospel remind me of those family practices around the sharing of a cake, or the pie, at the table. One child cuts the cake/pie, but is the last one to serve his/her plate. Everyone gets to pick what might be the marginally bigger piece.

Give and gifts will be given to you;
a good measure, packed together, shaken down, and overflowing,
will be poured into your lap.
For the measure with which you measure
will in return be measured out to you.”

What a good Gospel standard for a Lenten project! All of us give and receive throughout the day. A morning greeting, a piece of toast, a ride to work, a cup of coffee, chatting at the water cooler, the right-of-way in the traffic lane, a smile at the convenience store, a loving “welcome home”, passing the plates at supper, washing the plates after supper, whose TV controller?, night snacks, “good night”.

Will I give in good measure, overflowing abundance? Will I receive in humble gratitude, knowing that all things come from the loving hand of God?

Will my Lenten journey be a real preparation for the greatest gift of God’s love, which is the sacrifice of God’s Son, Jesus, on a cross, so that we might all rise with Jesus in the Easter Alleluia.

Haec dies quam fecit Dominus, exultemur et laetemur in ea.

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

Second Sunday of Lent

Scripture:
Genesis 22:1-2, 9a, 10-13, 15-18
Romans 8:31b-34
Mark 9:2-10

Reflection:
The Scriptures for this Second Sunday of Lent are exceptionally beautiful. In the first reading we hear the foundational story of Abraham’s readiness to sacrifice his only beloved son Isaac to prove his obedience to God’s commands. The killing of his son is stopped at the last moment and this test of Abraham’s faith became an important marker for Israel that saw Abraham as the exemplary father of God’s chosen people and for Christians who saw in the sacrifice of Isaac a harbinger of the sacrifice of Jesus, God’s only and beloved Son.

The second reading is from one of Paul’s most ardent passages in chapter 8 of the Letter to the Romans. “If God is for us, who can be against us?” This leads into one of the most lyrical and hope-filled statements of Paul at the end of chapter 8: “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor present things, nor future things, nor power, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

But it is the gospel selection—Mark’s account of the Transfiguration of Jesus—that most defines the tone of this Lenten Sunday. In this unique scene, Mark presents us with a luminous vision of Jesus—seen now by his trusted disciples Peter, James and John as he truly is. The dazzling white light that shines from Jesus on the mountaintop reveals the transcendent, divine character of the Son of God. The scene becomes a vivid biblical icon—the high mountain and the cloud that surrounds it recall God’s thunderous appearance on Mt. Sinai; the figures of Moses, the great leader and lawgiver, and Elijah, the first and greatest of prophets, bring all of the Old Testament and God’s care for Israel into view, and the voice from heaven—God’s voice—identifies Jesus as “my beloved Son.” No wonder Peter and his companions are confused and overwhelmed.

But the point of this scene comes with God’s command concerning his beloved Son: “listen to him.” The transfiguration story occurs in Mark’s Gospel as Jesus begins his fateful journey to Jerusalem and the cross. All during this journey, Jesus, the one who gives his life in ransom for the many, instructs his disciples that they, too, must follow him and be willing to forego being absorbed in their own needs and concerns and reach out in loving service to others. This is the point of our Lenten journey, too. However one chooses to express it, the heart of the Christian message is one of generous love and compassion. This is the gospel message that Pope Francis has been reminding us of in his words and actions. As a church we are not to be turned in on ourselves but to reach out in a mission of loving service to the world.

The gospel for this Sunday reminds us that this fundamental gospel value is given to us by one who speaks with divine authority and one whose own life and death embody compassionate love.

Fr. Donald Senior, C.P. is President Emeritus and Professor of New Testament at Catholic Theological Union. He lives at the Passionist residence in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago.