Claire Smith

Scripture:

Acts 1:1-11
Ephesians 1:17-23
Luke 24:46-53

Reflection:

The scene for today’s Gospel is the town of Bethany where Jesus gives his final words to the disciples—a reminder of the saving power of His death and resurrection and the promise of the gift of the Holy Spirit. He blesses them one last time and is gone from their sight. Luke tells us that the disciples returned to Jerusalem with great joy and preached daily in the temple. What a change from Good Friday when most of the disciples hid in fear and shame!

How does the Ascension fit into the stories of Easter and Pentecost? This is the completion of the miracle which began with the incarnation and birth of Jesus. God came to earth as man and now God and man returns to heaven. For all eternity, this fully divine, fully human person is part of the Trinity. The Ascension is not about escaping Earth but uniting heaven and Earth in a new reality where our humanity is fulfilled in God.

The Ascension is also a call to action. After Jesus is gone, two men appear and ask the disciples why they are standing there looking at the sky. The time for standing is finished. The time for the mission has come. The disciples must now carry on the ministry that Jesus began on earth. We, too, on this feast of the Ascension, are called to mission: to get busy uniting heaven and earth! If that call seems overwhelming, remember that, like the disciples, we will find our strength in the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Mike Owens is the coordinator of the Passionist Alumni Association and a member of the Migration Commission of Holy Cross Province. He lives in Louisville, Kentucky. 

Feast of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Scripture:

Zephaniah 3:14-18a, or Romans 12:9-16
Luke 1:39-56

Reflection:

Happy Feast of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary!

In today’s passage from the Gospel of Luke (Luke 1:39-56), Mary, after hearing the news from the angel that she would give birth to the Messiah, traveled “in haste” from Nazareth to the house of her cousin Elizabeth and her husband, Zechariah, which was in a village in the hill country of Judea. When Mary arrived, she found her elderly cousin also pregnant.  Elizabeth’s greeting to Mary, “filled with the Holy Spirit, cried out in a loud voice, “Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.”

In 1987, I was a senior in high school and on retreat with my classmates in the hills above Malibu Beach, California. Wow, what a tough area for a teen to have to go on retreat!  Truly, it was a great weekend, though.  We discussed God and how he related to us as young men in the world, and as we played games and ate good food, and really had nothing to worry about.

Until it was time to prepare to receive the Holy Eucharist.

We were told to go to confession before mass. All the while standing in line I was thinking, “Let’s see… I can’t tell him that or that, oooh, and certainly not that!” I was so embarrassed of the things I’d done. I just couldn’t tell anyone… but especially not a priest! I was so ashamed of so very much, the least of which was that this was the first time I’d be going to receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation through all of high-school.

Well, I finally went in.  I was honest and embarrassed, but the priest didn’t seem surprised or put off by anything I said.  He gave me my penance, which consisted of one Our Father and 3 Hail Marys, and then to think about what I’d done.  I diligently prayed those prayers, thought about what I’d done, and then I thought something else:

“Confession is silly. 
I don’t need a middleman.
I’m just going to tell God directly.
That’ll be good enough.”

I’ll bet I’m not alone in that thought…  And I’ll bet I’m not alone in admitting that, at the time, I didn’t realize how so very silly that statement really was.

Fast-forward about 25 years, and I had not been to confession since that retreat.  But I’d grown incredibly weary of trying to ignore God’s call to the Sacrament of Reconciliation. And I was so broken I didn’t think anyone could put me back together again. But, friends, let me tell you something – I mustered up all my courage and went.

I was in the confessional for what seemed like a half-hour, and when it was done I went to perform my penance.  This time it was also one Our Father, and three Hail Marys, but I was directed to go and sit with the Blessed Sacrament, quietly, and ponder the words to those prayers as I offered them.  I’d prayed them so many times, though! What new things could there be for me to think about? 

Well, at that moment, I became the silly one…

Here are the three parts of the Lord’s Prayer that stung me most.

“Our Father…”                                    This means that everyone is my sister or brother.
                                                            Even that beggar on the freeway off-ramp and
                                                            the thief that stole my identity.
“Thy will be done…”                           This means I must let go of my agenda and embrace
                                                            what God wants.  But I want what I want!
“Forgive us our trespasses,”               Uh-oh. So, I’m telling God that I expect to be
as we forgive those                             forgiven, but *only* to the extent to which I’m willing
who trespass against us.”                   to forgive that person that hit me? The person who
                                                            lied? Or stole from me? Betrayed me… destroyed me
                                                            to my core?
Pretty big thoughts. 

But it was in my reflecting on the Ave Maria – the Hail Mary – the simple prayer to our Mother of Sorrows, the Mater Dolorosa, that hit me most deeply.

“Hail, Mary, full of grace.
The Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among women,
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb – Jesus.
Holy Mary,
Mother of God,
pray for us,
sinners,
now,
and at the hour of our death. Amen.”

Which part of that prayer, first uttered by St. Elizabeth, stands out most to you?  For me, it was these two lines: “The Lord is with thee.  Pray for us, sinners.”

We, sinners, who need all the help we can get, have it — if only we would ask. 

That day, this prayer we read about on the beautiful Feast of the Visitation of the Virgin Mary reminded me that I’m not alone, even if I feel like I am, even if I want to be.  If only I would just tear down my walls and open my heart, I’d have the space for  God, my Father, Jesus, my Brother, the Holy Spirit, my very breath.

Well, after I pondered all this, and more, I experienced the most amazing thing… Friends, there is nothing I’ve felt more powerfully than when I’ve received Jesus during communion after receiving the Sacrament of Reconciliation. The intimate and powerful meeting with God is amplified so deeply when we acknowledge our failings and our brokenness, and then get to actually hear someone tell us, “Your sins are forgiven.”

The peace and lightness are palpable, and staggering.

Now I hit the confessional pretty regularly… and boy do I need it.  And the Ave Maria is one of my favorite prayers.  But perhaps when I next pray the beautiful Hail Mary I’ll be reminded that she’s waiting to visit me, to help me, to ask God to be with me when I’m most in need. 

Like right now. 
And tomorrow. 
And at the hour of my death. Amen.

Peace and love to you, today and forever.

Paul Puccinelli is Director of Liturgy & Music at St. Rita Parish in Sierra Madre, California, and a member of the retreat team at Mater Dolorosa Retreat Center.

Scripture:

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

Reflection:

Farewells are rarely joyful.  At best, they are bitter-sweet.  Bitter because departure pains the heart.  Sweet because only through the departure, a kind of letting go, actually, is it possible that something new will emerge.  How many countless parents have felt the bitter-sweet experience of leaving their child behind in a kindergarten classroom, or waving goodbye to them as they depart for college?  In the loss, there is promise.

I think the disciples felt this way and more acutely so.  As they heard Jesus deliver his farewell to them, grief filled their hearts.  In their pain, they could not understand what Jesus meant by his words “A little while, and you will no longer see, and again a little while, and you will see me.”  In their confusion they asked: “What does he mean by all this?”

Jesus explained in the best way he knew, through the imagery of a woman in labor.

“When a woman is in labor, she has pain, because her hour has come, but when her child is born, she no longer remembers the anguish because of the joy of having brought a human being into the world” (Jn 16:21).

But, Jesus didn’t stop there.  He added a promise.

“So, you have pain now; but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you” (Jn 16:22).

Did the disciples hear what Jesus was trying to tell them?  Do we?  In using the “woman in labor imagery,” Jesus was tapping into a rich prophetic tradition of hope and promise.  Women’s labor pains were frequently used by the prophets as a metaphor for painful times signaling the coming of end-time salvation through a messiah.  The Judaism in Jesus’ times had even coined a term, “the birth pains of the messiah,” to describe the tribulation they expected would precede the end-times and the coming of the messiah.

Jesus, in other words, was telling his disciples to cling to his promise.  With the crucifixion of Jesus, they would grieve with the pains of a woman in labor.  But on the third day, the disciples would see Jesus on the other side of the cross, at this resurrection.  And as he promised, their grief became joy, an eschatological joy.  Through the Holy Spirit, Jesus would lead his disciples into a new and intimate relationship with God.

We, the people of God, have grieved through Good Friday, have awaited expectantly through the depths of Holy Saturday, and rejoiced on Resurrection Sunday.  For us, a farewell is on the horizon; the departure, the Ascension of Christ to the Father.  The Church calls us to prepare for it.

We live in the end times.  But in the meantime, there is no time for passivity.  The fiery Holy Spirit, on Pentecost Sunday, will see to that.  We have work to do.  A world to repair.  The hungry to feed.  The homeless to shelter.  The naked to clothe.  The grieving to comfort.  The lonely to touch.  We live in broken, turbulent times, amid “the birth pains of the Messiah.”  Even as we rejoice in Christ’s resurrection, we wait in expectation for the Second Coming of the Lord.  We, who live in bitter-sweet end-times, cling to the promise.

Deacon Manuel Valencia is on the staff at Mater Dolorosa Passionist Retreat Center, Sierra Madre, California.

Scripture:

Acts 1:1-11
Ephesians 1:17-23
Luke 24:46-53

Reflection: 

They did him homage and then returned to Jerusalem with great joy.  -Luke 24:53

Today is unique when it comes to the readings for the liturgy. There are three choices depending on which diocese you are in. You could be celebrating Thursday of the Sixth week of Easter and celebrating the Feast of the Ascension this coming Sunday. Your parish might be celebrating the Memorial of Saint Paul VI, Pope. Or you could be celebrating Ascension Thursday. Whichever you are celebrating, I hope that this reflection provides a spiritual nugget or two to ponder upon today.

The Ascension of Christ marks the end of his time on earth with the Apostles and his triumph over Satan. Christ takes his place in heaven where he will soon send the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles. The last line of the Gospel of Luke, which is quoted above, has the Apostles celebrating and praising God. They now understand what Christ has been trying to teach them and know that the Easter joy is not over.

The Gospel of Luke begins and ends in the Temple. This was a sacred place for the Jewish people during Christ’s presence on earth. It housed the Holy of Holies, the place where the Ark of the Covenant was and was a place that only the High priest could enter. This was the place where they could be closest to God. This was the place where heaven and earth met, the axis mundi. This was the perfect place for the Apostles too celebrate what they had just experienced.

Christ’s Ascension mirrors his Transfiguration, except that he shows his glory to all of the Apostles at his Ascension. Seeing the Ascension of Christ revealed all things to them and they were exuberant with joy. Witnessing God’s son ascend into heaven must have given them great hope in all that he taught them. We, too, need to embrace the hope we have in the Resurrection and Ascension of Christ. The messages have been clear this past week, as sections of John 15 proclaimed to us: “Do not be afraid”; “I am sending the Advocate”; “You are the vine and my father is the vine grower”.

Saint Paul VI was elected to the papacy after the death of Saint John XXIII and continued  the tradition of the Apostles in leading the Church. He saw the Second Vatican Council through to its closing in 1965. He took on the task of leading the Church into a more modern world. During his fifteen-year papacy, he had a historic meeting with the Greek Patriarch. He established World Peace Day and wrote many important encyclicals. Humanae Vitae has had an impact not only on all Catholics and also provides the world with a guide for the treatment of human life.

Populorum Progressio addressed economic justice and development for all people. Saint Paul VI authored three encyclicals on Mary, declaring Mary as “Mother of the Church”. He became the first pope in modern history to travel widely, using his visit to the United States to address the United Nations, where he promoted peace, dialogue, and social justice. He modernized the liturgy and established the Synod of Bishops as a permanent advisory body to the papacy. He allowed himself to be led by the spirit of the Second Vatican Council, putting into motion all that was contained in the documents.

How do we reflect the hope of the Ascension or the passion of Saint Paul VI in our lives?

Linda Schork is a theology teacher at Saint Xavier High School in Louisville, Kentucky.

Scripture:

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

Reflection:

I will ask the Father and he will give you another Advocate to be with you always.

Thanks be to God for sending us all an Advocate, the Holy Spirit!  I don’t know about you, but as I reflect on my life, past and present, I marvel at how much the Holy Spirit has been a guiding force in the good times as well as those times that challenged me.

SHE was there:

            -as I prepared for ministry through pastoral theology, CPE, spiritual direction internship, catechetical leadership training, and hundreds of hours of practicum.

            -as I pulled up roots in Michigan and moved to Kentucky

            -as I ministered in countless parishes over 40 years and experienced the blessings and challenges of serving God’s people.

            -as I struggled with saying goodbye to loved ones, family, mentors and friends when it was time for them to return to the One who created them.

            -as I mourned the changes that must come in life in order to grow and become who we are to be.

SHE continues to walk with me today:

            -as I give thanks for all the beautiful people, events, blessings and challenges that make it possible to keep growing in faith and live life to the fullest

            -as I revel in the HOPE for our Church in the likes of spirit-filled leaders as Pope Francis and Pope Leo XIV.

            -as I continue to minister and grow as a servant of God surrounded by committed and loving family, friends, mentors, pastoral leaders, lay, professed and ordained.

            -as I continue to be challenged and blessed at the same time in helping to alleviate all the suffering and discord that surrounds us daily.

We thank our loving God for this wonderful gift of an Advocate, Holy Spirit, Sophia into our lives.  Make friends with her, accept her as she challenges, supports, brings comfort, wisdom and love to our being.  She be my best friend, may she also be yours! 

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

Scripture:

Acts 16:22-34
John 16:5-11

Reflection:

“I will send to you the Spirit of truth, says the Lord; he will guide you to all truth.” John 16:13 (Gospel Acclamation)

In a dramatic scene in the movie, A Few Good Men, Colonel Jessup says in a response to a question posed by the lawyer for the prosecution, Lieutenant Daniel Kaffe, “You want the truth?” Kaffee snaps back, “You can’t handle the truth!”

The Gospels we read at Mass for this week focus our attention on the coming of the Advocate, who is the Holy Spirit who Jesus will send after his Ascension into heaven. This last discourse of Jesus is taking place in the upper room, right after the Passover meal. It will be the last opportunity he has to talk privately to his followers. They had no idea what was about to happen next. They were all thinking that after the Passover, they would follow Jesus on his journeys, doing what they had been doing for the last three years. Little did they realize that they were about to enter into a very dark moment in their lives. It was time for Jesus to tell them the truth about their future.

That evening, Jesus would be captured as a common criminal, taken to be tried by both his religious leaders and the Roman Procurator, tortured by the soldiers, condemned to carry his cross of execution and then crucified. Jesus knew that his disciples were not going to grasp the truth of these events until much later, until after the Resurrection.

Jesus needed to reassure them with words that they would remember later, because he would send them his Advocate, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth, who would guide them to all truth. He needed to reassure them that they would be able to handle the Truth! The Holy Spirit would see to that.

As in Jesus’ time, the Truth today is being questioned by so many people, people who we look to for Truth. In Jesus’ case, a few hours later, he will be standing before Pilate and say, “Everyone who belongs to the Truth listens to my voice.” Pilate responds like Col. Jessup, “What is truth?”

If we want to know the truth, we need to listen to the voice of Jesus! What does Jesus say? What does he say about who we are to believe? What does Jesus say about what we are to do? What does Jesus say about the dignity of life? What does Jesus say about who we are to love and embrace? What does Jesus say about Love and Life?

This is why we find comfort in the Gospel Acclamation: “I will send to you the Spirit of truth, says the Lord; he will guide you to all truth.” John 16:13

Fr. Clemente Barrón, C.P. is a member of Mater Dolorosa Community in Sierra Madre, California. 

Scripture:

Acts 16:11-15
John 15:26-16:4a

Reflection:

It was just over one month ago that Pope Francis died. We probably all anticipated it and maybe were even surprised when he came home from the hospital and participated, as best he could, in the Easter Triduum, the most holy of days, before peacefully embracing his own journey to eternal life.

Since then, the cardinal electors chose Robert Francis Prevost, OSA, as our new shepherd, and in that selection, there is a tangible sense of something new yet something old.  Obviously, a missionary who is deeply rooted in the struggles of the people of Peru, he is also a Vatican administrator. Obviously, a citizen of the United States of America, he is also a Peruvian citizen. He was a religious priest sent on mission but then called back to guide the Augustinian community in the Midwest as provincial (that includes Chicago’s St. Rita High School) and then on to lead the international community of Augustinians. From there, back to Peru as a humble bishop before returning to Rome as a critical support to Pope Francis’ vision of an inclusive Church but never forgetting the people he served as a missionary and their spiritual leader.

Here is a man…yes, a human being…like St. Paul in today’s reading from the Acts of the Apostles, who himself was on a journey. Just as Paul finds hospitality in the home of Lydia, who opens her heart to the Spirit because of Paul’s visit, I know from my own experience of receiving hospitality from welcoming people of the squatter community in Quezon City, Philippines where I lived for two years, that an encounter like this is more transformative for St. Paul and Fr. Bob (Pope Leo XIV) and me than it was for Lydia or any of the others we encountered. God was working on us just as much through us.

Our faith anchors itself in our conviction that Jesus, the Son of God, is one with us. He shares in our human journeys, our fears, our struggles. A missionary like Fr. Bob Prevost entered into the lived reality of Peruvians, as did Jesus for those in Cana, Capernaum, Galilee, and Jerusalem. I want to believe that wherever I find myself, I too can “be there” for those the Lord brings into my life. This means being kind, accepting, and forgiving. Let’s leave behind our tendency to judge, dismiss, and condemn.

Robert Hotz is a consultant with American City Bureau, Inc. and was the Director of The Passion of Christ: The Love That Compels Campaign for Holy Cross Province.

Scripture:

Acts 15:1-2, 22-29
Revelation 21:10-14, 22-23
john 14:23-29

Reflection:

As I read our first reading for this Sunday (Acts 15:1-2, 22-29), I found myself returning to some things that have been on my mind for some time: How do we see the “other?” Are we called to be more inclusive or exclusive? Must we always be in battle? The reading covers a time when some Christians were saying to others, “Unless you are circumcised according to the Mosaic practice, you cannot be saved.’ For Paul and Barnabas, who had been proclaiming the Good News of Jesus Christ to Jew and Gentile alike, this went against their understanding of the Gospel. And so, the apostles and other leaders in Jerusalem called a meeting to decide what the community would do. The full debate is not covered in our reading, but we do have the result. And the result was that the leaders discerned that the Gentiles did not have to be circumcised in order to be part of the church. In other words, the Gentiles didn’t have to become something they were not in order to join the Christian community.

When we read this, I think our natural reaction is to see the wisdom and compassion of the decision. And yet, I think the Church at times continues to struggle with the questions of identity and unity and diversity. Do we have unity only when everyone is the same, and so we are to try to make everyone the same? Or is there room for differences according to cultural understanding and expression? For example, when I visited India, most Catholic churches had no seats, not to mention kneelers. The congregation sat on the floor. Were they less Catholic because of this? I think many who are reading this would say, “Obviously not!” But still, there seems to be a strong temptation to judge people who are not like us.

Is there an answer to how we are to treat others, including those who are different from us? In our Gospel reading (John 14:23-29), Jesus says to the apostles at the Last Supper: “Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him…I have told you this while I am with you. The Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and remind you of all that I told you.” For me, Jesus is telling me to heed and follow His words, many of which speak about love and not giving in to fear. Jesus’ words tell me to follow the promptings of the Holy Spirit, not the prejudices I may hold in my heart or the stereotypes I may hold in my mind.

There may be limits to diversity that can be sustained in any group or institution, but there can be no limits on love. There are no limits on God’s love for us! That is what we need to remember when we wrestle with the issues of inclusion and exclusion, or when we’re tempted to condemn.

May the love of God in Jesus Christ keep us and open us to the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

Fr. Phil Paxton, C.P., is the local superior of the Passionist Community in Birmingham, Alabama.