Claire Smith

Scripture:

Acts 22:30; 23:6-11
John 17:20-26

Reflection:

One of the wonders of the quilt-making craft is how scores, possibly hundreds, of quite differently hued and shaped pieces of cloth can be brought together into a bed-sized quilt, so that, seen covering a bed, it becomes a thing of artistic beauty.  At first sight, it would have seemed impossible to work with such diverse pieces of materials, and bring forth symmetry and harmony: harmony out of diversity—indeed, harmony by way of diversity.

When Jesus completed His mission on earth, suffering death on the cross as a disgraced criminal, then rising majestically from the dead, and returning in glory to His Father in heaven, He was leaving behind Him, despite three intense years of formation and instruction, a motley group of followers none of whom demonstrated any significant signs of leadership or organizational and inspirational skills.  They resembled so many different pieces of cloth as they went their way preaching the gospel, across the borders of disparate countries, without the benefit of cell phones or any other mode of communication with one another, likely never reassembling together again, in the remaining years of their lives.  And yet, they offered a cohesive pattern of religious faith in the person of the Lord Jesus, comparable to the way a quilt acquires the status of an artistic masterpiece, from so many distinct pieces of cloth.  How do we account for this?

Today’s gospel contains the secret of this wonder: it is embedded in Jesus’ final prayer for His twelve closest followers: a prayer for harmony and unity.  This was a prayer of petition for a very unlikely outcome, that harmony and unity would prevail among the twelve, and with Jesus Himself, despite His absence from them as He returns to His Heavenly Father.   His prayer for their harmony and unity amid so many factors militating against any success in preaching the Good News, such as their disarray, incompetence and ignorance, seems as unlikely to succeed as the multiple squares of multi-colored pieces of cloth coming together into a charming bedspread of beauty.  But Jesus had confidence in the success awaiting His apostles, so He confidently departed their company to face His imminent arrest and crucifixion.

Now, granted the efficacy of Jesus’ prayer that harmony and peace would prevail among them, we note a very different tactic resorted to years later, by the versatile and clever Paul, the Apostle, while the other apostles, during these years following Jesus’ Ascension into heaven, spread out across the eastern part of the Mediterranean basin, exhibiting the harmony of purpose and achievement, prayed for by Jesus at the Last Supper.  But Paul, for his part, was doing something equally marvelous, in his own way.  Today’s reading presents a coy and clever Paul, arraigned before the Roman authorities for the disrupture of the public order he had caused, at least within the Jewish community, by preaching the saving mystery of the dead and risen Jesus.  On this occasion, the clever apostle, anticipating the disharmony and disagreement among segments of the Jews assembled against him if he introduced the topic of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead, instigating a furious argument among them, which worked to his own advantage, since he knew the Roman authorities would have to turn their attention away from him in order to restore law and order among the combative factions of Pharisees and Sadducees, arguing over this very topic.  This is exactly what happened.  Paul made clever use of disharmony among his opponents to secure his escape from them so he could carry on his preaching ministry with his customary success.

And so today’s scripture shows both harmony and disharmony working in equally effective ways among the apostles, in their efforts at advancing the message of Jesus.  And the same factors play out in our contemporary church as we recall today the martyrdom of contemporary (1937) Christians such as SS. Christopher Magallanes and his companions for their support of a Mexican Christian protest movement against an anti-Catholic government, or as we celebrate this Saturday (May 23^rd), when Pope Francis’ beatifies Archbishop Oscar Romero, assassinated in El Salvador (1980) for his opposition to governmental  persecution of the church because of its support of the poor and disenfranchised—a step Pope St. John Paul II earlier on hesitated to take, fearing it to be more a contentious political issue than a religious one.

Both harmony and disharmony, each in its own way, work themselves out, each in their own way, can promote and advance the gospel message about Jesus Christ.  So, different ways of presenting the gospel can prove as effective as different patterns of quilt material coming together into a bedspread pleasing to the eye.

 

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

 

Scripture:

Acts 20: 28-38
John 17: 11b-19

Reflection:

During this week between the feast of the Ascension of Jesus into Heaven and the coming feast of Pentecost, our Liturgical Scripture readings invite us to reflect on two people who are preparing themselves for the end of their ministries and lives.

In the Gospel reading we listen as Jesus prays for his disciples, the ones who are with him at the time and the ones who are with him throughout time.  He asks the Father to hold them close and to keep them united with one another, with Jesus and with the Father.  He thanks his Father for giving him the disciples to him and is grateful that he has been able to keep them safe.  Jesus has taught them of their relationship to the Father and more importantly, of the Father’s great love for them.  Jesus then continues to witness to that great love by giving up his life on the Cross for them and for us.  It is a beautiful prayer of union.

It is also a prayer that God will keep them safe.  Jesus notes that the world will hate his disciples just as they have hated him.  So, he asks the Father to keep them safe and faithful so that they can be clear witnesses to God’s love.

We have only a part of the prayer of Jesus in today’s liturgy but it is a beautiful prayer for us made by Jesus on the night before he gave himself completely for us.

In our first reading we hear Paul bidding goodbye to the leaders of the Church in Ephesus.  Paul has to call them to come to him because he is under house arrest in the neighboring town of Miletus.  Paul will be sent to Rome for judgment and he realizes that he will never see these people he has grown to love ever again.  He tells these leaders to be faithful to the good news they have received and to give themselves generously in service to the people under their care.  He reminds them of the selflessness his service has been and encourages them to be equally selfless.  The author of Acts then describes how sad everyone was as they escorted Paul to the ship.

There’s a certain melancholy flavor to the readings today as we remember these farewells.  Clearly, both Jesus and Paul are saddened to be leaving their friends and ministries.  Yet, both also speak of how fulfilled and grateful they are for the lives they’ve been able to live.  Both have given their whole lives in love and service to those God has given them.  And, they urge their disciples and us to do the same.

 

Fr. Michael Higgins, C.P. is the director of Mater Dolorosa Passionist Retreat Center, Sierra Madre, California.

 

Scripture:

Acts 20:17-27
John 17:1-11a

Reflection:

“I revealed your name to those whom you gave me out of the world. They belonged to you, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word.” John 17:6

A theme for today’s Mass is belonging. We long to belong. Yet, life does not always makes it easy for us to know where we belong and to whom we belong. Today’s Scriptures invites us to reflect upon these questions.

At this point in time in the Gospels, Jesus is getting ready to leave his disciples. He has to leave them twice. Once, as he prepared to take up his cross and suffer death by crucifixion, outside the walls of Jerusalem, as a common criminal. The second time, as he prepared to Ascend into Heaven, to take his rightful place at the right hand of God, his loving Father. Before he leaves his disciples, the people who loved him most in this world, he leaves us a testimony of Word and Sacrament, which we celebrate to this day. He left us the Eucharist and the Sacrament of Orders before he died. He left us the Sacraments of Penance and Confirmation, after he rose from the dead. Finally, he sent us his Spirit as he commissioned us as missionaries. We are to go out and baptize in his Name, preach in his Name and establish the Church in his Name. Jesus clearly knew that he belonged both to God, his Father, and to us, the people he died for, with love in his heart.

At the same time, the disciples had trouble understanding to whom they belonged, especially as they experienced Jesus die and Ascend into heaven. What does it mean to belong to Jesus, the Christ? What does it mean to belong as a disciple of Jesus? What does it mean to go out into the whole world and baptize and preach in Jesus’ name? These, indeed, are foundational questions of belonging.

One reason why these important questions are so difficult to answer is because our own life is a story of belonging, of coming to grips with questions as: where do we belong and to whom do we belong. Way before we became aware of our thoughts and feelings, we experienced belonging and rejection. We were learning the difference between belonging unconditionally or belonging only because of conditional love, a love that depended upon pleasure and mood of another or of others. Both life scenarios need the Grace of God to make us whole and holy. This is what Jesus was telling us in his farewell speeches. This was the experience of the disciples, from Peter to John to Paul.

Jesus tells us in the Gospel, as he prays to his God, his Father, “They (the disciples) belong to you.” Once we accept that we belong to the God who loves us unconditionally, then we can move forward in life. This is the ultimate act of Faith we are called to make. We, then, can leave behind our human origins and become a new people, a holy nation, a people set apart, a royal priesthood, to paraphrase St. Peter in one of his letters to us. St. Paul took another path to belonging Jesus. He found a way to belong and become a disciple, proclaiming the name of Jesus, baptizing in Jesus’ name. We can leave our old way of belonging and commit to belonging only to God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit.

What a beautiful thought this is: that we belong to God who loves us unconditionally! We are, indeed, children of God, brothers and sisters to one another, anointed by the Holy Spirit. May we always belong to God!

 

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

 

 

Scripture:

Acts 19:1-8
John 16:29-33

Reflection:

In one episode of the gospel story of Jesus, but unrelated to today’s readings, a father upon seeing Jesus heal his son, cries out “I do believe; help my unbelief.”

Perhaps his example is one we could take to heart as we read today’s gospel story.

For John presents Jesus as both acknowledging the faith of the disciples and yet warning them of the troubles to come, times when their faith will fail them and they will desert him.

I wonder though whether in fact it is faith that fails us in crisis times or indeed if it is courage that fails us. By this I mean that faith is a deeply resolute part of our lives, it may be challenged but is rarely completely extinguished. Rather it is often courage that fails us when we encounter opposition, strife and even persecution. When confronted with a moment in which the ‘fight or flight’ tendency takes over, it is often flight that people choose. This is not to say they no longer believe in God, nor that their faith is extinguished, but they flee to safety rather than standing tall and strong and living as a witness to deeper values in the moment.

But let us not forget that over these past few years we have also seen wonderful examples of Christian men and women standing for their faith and suffering for it too. Faced with all kinds of evils, in too many troubled lands, Christians have faced opposition even to the point of martyrdom for the sake of their faith and for no other reason than they believe. We sadly see this on our nightly news services, and it echoes a theme reflected again and again from the Vatican itself that Christians are amongst the most persecuted peoples in the world today.

Perhaps this is the sense of Jesus concluding words in today’s gospel – “In the world you will have trouble, but take courage, I have conquered the world.”

Of course our trials and tests come to us disguised as daily events, small and large, and each and every one has the potential to scatter us, to send us to our own ‘home’ (that place of safety where we are not confronted by the challenge before us). Faced with daily moments like these, let us pray that we will place our lives continuously in the hands of Jesus and stand with him in those moments of trial.

Let us believe he has conquered the world and that he will always be for us.

 

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.

 

Feast of Saint Gemma Galgani

Scripture:

Acts 18:23-28
John 16:23b-28

Reflection:

Whenever Jesus uses the phrase “very truly” he is presenting us with a new teaching. In this case Jesus is assuring us that he will not be speaking to us in “parables” but directly in plain truth.  The truth he shares is that the Holy Spirit will be with us and will teach us plainly.  The Father loves us because we believe that Jesus came from the Father and will return again to the Father.

Jesus assures us because we believe we will have a new understanding in the power of prayers.  To act on this understanding is to find the “fullness of joy.” The loyalty of Jesus’ disciples insures God’s loving interest in their prayers.

The disciples share fully in Jesus’s relationship with God.  The disciples can pray like Jesus and have full confidence God will hear their prayers. Just as the Trinity is a relationship of love, so too is the life of the disciples. Their community is shaped by love, intimacy, and mutuality.  This is the core of Jesus’ teaching. Just as Jesus and the Father are friends, the disciples and the Father are friends united in love. Thus the disciples will be aware of the Holy Spirit and have a direct line of  communication with the Father.

One who understood this teaching of Jesus to his disciples is St. Gemma Galgani.

Today is the Feastday of St. Gemma Galgani (1878-1903).  She was born in Lucca, Italy.  By the time she was nineteen years of age, both of parents had died, and she was left without a supportive family.  In 1898 she was struck with a life threatening illness. In a vision, St. Gabriel Possenti , C.P. told her she would be cured, and that she would be a Passionist.  In 1899 she received the stigmata on her hands, feet and side.  Although she sought entrance into the Passionists Nuns she  was refused. However, when she died she was allowed to be buried in the habit of the Passionist nuns in Lucca.

Gemma holds a fascination for people today.  In 2003, the University of Chicago published a book entitled “The Voices of Gemma Galgani:  The life and afterlife of a modern saint.  In advertising this book when it was published the publisher said: “Gemma was a model for modern women.”  She is the first person in the twentieth

century to be beatified (130), and canonized (1940).

 

Fr. Ken O’Malley, C.P., is the local superior at Holy Name Passionist Community in Houston, Texas.

 

Scripture:

Acts 18:9-18
John 16:20-23

Reflection:

To better appreciate our reading from Acts you should realize that Corinth was the capital of the Roman province of Achaia. The glory days of Athens are long past. Corinth sat on a long narrow strip of land that connects northern modern Greece to southern Greece. If you were travelling east to west by ship from Italy to Asia Minor you could save many days of sailing around Greece by going to Corinth, unloading your cargo, and transferring it across the narrow peninsula to another ship.  Corinth was a cosmopolitan commercial hub of the Roman Empire.

Paul settled here for a year and a half. Paul’s two letters to this community give us give us a flavor of the early church and the challenge in establishing the gospel in a pagan and gentile environment. In this passage we see Paul protected by Roman law and justice as the governor, Gallio, dismisses charges against him brought by the Jews.

Paul finishes his second missionary trip and sets sail for Antioch in Syria. It is for us to admire the energy, courage and persistence of Paul in preaching the gospel.  We need to recall that our baptism gives us the same Spirit that inspired Paul to witness to Christ. Each Mass ends with the command to go out, to go forth and to live Eucharist in our daily lives. Pope Francis exhorts us not to hug our faith to ourselves, but to share it. We are all missionaries.

 

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

Scripture:

Acts 1:1-11
Ephesians 1:17-23
Mark 16:15-20

Reflection:

In a time of the year when we celebrate graduations and milestones, we can all think of a few pearls of wisdom we learned from our parents. Some lessons or words to live by that stuck with us throughout our lives. For me the lessons of hard work, integrity, helping others and treating others with respect, were strong messages from my childhood. I certainly haven’t been perfect at them, but they have been guiding lights throughout my life that I believe are at the core of who I am.

In today’s Gospel, I believe The Lord gives us one of His many pearls of wisdom, “remain in my love”. He even tells us how and why. How? By keeping his commandments with an emphasis on loving one another. And, as if we need a reason beyond His asking us, He provides a reason why, that we might know His joy. This reading seems very tender to me, with The Lord telling us very specifically how much He loves us. It has taken on special meaning for me as we entered into 2015. Early in the year, when spending time in front of the Blessed Sacrament after confession, the words came to me in a very special and personal way…”remain in my love”. Numerous times since, that phrase has manifested itself in my life, at interesting points, not the least of which is that my day to write the reflection lands on the day it is part of the Gospel. It has become a constant prayer for me ever since, “Lord help me to remain in your love”. A few weeks back, while praying through John Paul 2’s consecration to Jesus through Mary, he encourages the reader to listen to Jesus’s soft voice in the depth of their heart that they might know what they need to do to “remain in His love”. I know the answer to that, follow his commandments. But in prayer over the next week, that soft voice in my heart, clear as day, gave me more advice on how to “remain in His love”. “Remain close to my Mother.”

As we prepare for Ascension Sunday, it is good to remember The Lord did not leave us orphans. He did not leave us alone. He has given us himself in the Eucharist. He has sent the Holy Spirit. He has taught us to pray and given us so much instruction in the way He lived His life. And He has given us His blessed Mother, not in a general sense, but as with the apostle John at the foot of the cross, very specifically to each of us, all to help us to be faithful that we might, “Remain in His love”.

 

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

 

Scripture:

Acts 17:15, 22-18:1
John 16:12-15

Reflection:

In Acts, Paul gives us his only fully developed speech to a Gentile audience. Absent from today’s proclamation are verses 16-21 in chapter 17 where we read that Paul is speaking  to Stoic and Epicurean philosophers who have actually requested he come  so that they may learn about this new teaching. Although skeptical, Paul has their interest ……..until he started moving too far beyond their world view—what they were capable of absorbing.

Aware of his audience, prior to this event, Paul, “walking around, looking carefully at (your) shrines”   finds an acceptable place to begin.  Starting with an “altar to an Unknown God” he shares all he understands about this God who is known to him. He even quotes the ancient Stoic poet, Aratus, “for we too are his offspring” as well as a sixth-century B.C. author, Epimenides of Knosses,  “In him we live and move and have our being” the latter verse having become one of the highest theological understandings in the New Testament.

Like Jesus in Gospel encounters, Paul meets the Athenians where they are –he carefully finds a common thread. Yet, far from diluting the message, he fully communicates his understanding of the risen Christ.

In a switch from the first reading, Jesus explains that he has more to share which they cannot understand now. With the benefit of hindsight they come to believe in the power of his presence with them through the Holy Spirit—and they act on this belief.

Sometimes we are challenged to stretch our understanding of the movement of God in our lives, to find that deeper reality and grow in spiritual maturity rather then ask to be told some other time.

Then, taking careful steps to understand our own motives in line with God’s will, we are invited to look for that common thread, to share the Good News to a world not always receptive to hearing the message, and trust the Holy Spirit will bring us all to experience God’s Glory—eternally.

 

Jean Bowler is a retreatant at Mater Dolorosa Passionist Retreat Center in Sierra Madre, and a member of the Office of Mission Effectiveness Board of Holy Cross Province.