Celebrating Itinerant Preaching
Celebrating Charism Today
Carrying the Charism as Laity
How We Caught the Charism
Daily Scripture, June 8, 2024
Memorial of The Immaculate Heart of Mary
Scripture:
Reflection:
Following upon yesterday’s feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, we today honor the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Mother of Jesus. What a privilege to have these two feasts in the month of June when many men and women pledge their love and their hearts to one another in the Sacrament of Matrimony. Truly these two feasts encourage all of us to share in the love of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary.
The Gospel selection from St. Luke recalls the story of the young Jesus staying behind in Jerusalem after the feast of Passover. As they journeyed home Mary and Joseph realized that Jesus was not in the caravan with them; after a search among their relatives and acquaintances, they returned to Jerusalem and found the young Jesus in the Temple, interacting with the teachers and astounding them with his insights and questions. One can almost sense the deep emotion in Mary’s question to Jesus: “Son, why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been looking for you with great anxiety.” Jesus’ response, “…why are you worrying…” didn’t sufficiently clear up the picture for Mary and Joseph, but Jesus went home to Nazareth, was obedient to them…while Mary “kept all these things in her heart.” Definitely!
Mary’s heart is a mother’s heart. Full of love and understanding, even in the midst of the many joys and challenges and suffering of parenthood…a mystical love. A love and understanding – and courage, no doubt! – that enabled her to walk with Jesus throughout his life, to support Him even to standing at the foot of his Cross and be with him as he died on Calvary. What a loving heart!! A great example for women and men of all ages!
The mystical love in Mary’s Immaculate Heart reaches across time and space to you and I in the opportunities and challenges of the 21st Century. Whatever our vocation, wherever we live, Mary helps us truly love…our spouses and children, our neighbors, those we serve in ministry, the “least and lost” of our world – all of creation. With Mary and St. Paul, may we treasure the Life of Jesus shared with us, along with the many men and women who have helped that faith grow; may we run the race and be true evangelists in our daily lives!
Fr. John Schork, C.P. serves as the Province Vocation Director and also as Local Superior of the Passionist Community of Holy Name in Houston, Texas.
Daily Scripture, June 7, 2024
Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus
Scripture:
Hosea 11:1, 3-4, 8c-9
Ephesians 3:8-12, 14-19
John 19:31-37
Reflection:
“…My heart is overwhelmed,
my pity is stirred.
I will not give vent to my blazing anger,
I will not destroy Ephraim again…” (Hos 11:8-9)
I saw a good movie the other day, “Ezra.” I cried through most of it. It’s all about a little boy, identified as having a prevalent disability today, who is imperfectly loved by three people: his mother, his father and his grandfather. I related best to the grandfather.
On another note, I get up each morning to the singing, chirping, or squawking of the birds. The adjective, I use all depends on how I’m feeling that day. You see, a few years ago I started making bread during the Covid lockdowns and despite the bread’s total imperfections, the birds never fail to eat whatever I have to offer them. I love the birds, but sometimes, I just wish they would be quiet and look for food elsewhere.
Speaking of animals, walking in my neighborhood, I come across many dog walkers doing their chores. Most of the walkers will not make eye contact with me. I suspect they are too busy or just don’t have time for a random stranger. The dogs on the other hand, almost always make eye contact with me. It’s usually brief, but the simple moment’s contact, seems to say: “You’re ok!”
In today’s scripture selection from the prophet Hosea, I once again hear of God’s undying love for me, Israel and all of creation, despite our often ignoring Him. I believe God, wants our attention: our eye contact; our smelling of the flowers; our acknowledgement of the beautiful people around us. God, thank you for Your creation. Help me today, to acknowledge Your love in my life and to share that with every person, every pet and every plant you put in my life today.
Dan O’Donnell is a Passionist Partner and a longtime friend of the Passionists. He lives in Chicago.
Daily Scripture, June 6, 2024
Scripture:
Reflection:
Pope Francis, in his landmark encyclical Laudato Si, is strong in his condemnation of the exploitation of the billions of people living in poverty of mind and body around the globe.
He calls out the comfortable of the world who may be tempted to ignore the sufferings of those living on the edges: the disabled, the elderly, the workers in sweatshops and other dangerous worksites, the garbage dump pickers in major cities, the victims of war abroad and gun violence in homes and on the streets, the physically and mentally ailing, the lonely, the frightened, and the hopeless.
The prosperity of many in North America can make it easy to tune out the hardships of our brothers and sisters living perhaps just a short distance from our affluent, safe neighborhoods.
Recently, while in a very poor area of Louisville to visit a young man who struggles with mental illness and the recent death by drug overdose of his mother, I was struck by what I witnessed. With determination on their faces, people seemed to keep on struggling to get through today as best they could. I saw bent-over, unshaven men in tattered clothes who begged for alms on a street corner, a bent-over woman shuffling along pulling groceries in a wire cart, one young woman dancing in the streets, either high on drugs or hallucinating, many sat on porch steps of unpainted homes in silent expectation.
Multiply the poverty I witness a billion times over, and we begin to get a glimpse at the chasm between the haves and have-nots that the Pope is talking about.
On the same day of my visit to this neighborhood, at the other end of my city, thousands and thousands of the well-to-do gathered on an exclusive golf course to witness young men hit a white ball over and across manicured lawns, surrounded by homes large enough to house several families from the poor side of the city.
These fans savored the fresh air, fine food and drink, and the thrill of seeing skilled athletes ply their sharpened trade for lucrative winnings. Nothing wrong with having fun in comfortable surroundings.
But as disciples of Christ, we are called to study the ways our society works and does not work for everyone, especially those living on the edges of life.
The Pope encourages us to foster an economy that provides safe, well-paid jobs, housing and healthcare for all, good schools, healthy, accessible food, public safety, and access to just legal systems. He also pleads for protecting the environment during this catastrophic climate crisis that hurts the poor more than any other group.
We are fortunate to live in representative democracies where we have a voice in public policy decisions. Challenging public officials to consider the needs of the most vulnerable, to work for inclusive communities, to address climate change, to protect the elderly, sick, children, refugees, and imprisoned.
In today’s Gospel Jesus is speaking to a scribe about the twin commandments. He knew scribes, part of the elite establishment of Jesus’ day, violated the sections of Jewish sacred texts that define love of neighbor as non-exploitation. Scripture lists the specifics from Leviticus 19: 9-17:
- Leave your field for the sojourner to glean
- Do not steal, deal falsely, or profane God.
- Do not oppress the neighbor, exploit employees, or discriminate against the disabled.
- Do no injustice or show partiality in judgement, or slander, or witness against the neighbor.
These, Scripture scholar Ched Myers asserts, are precisely the commands violated regularly by the dominant Jewish social groups of Jesus’ day, especially the scribes like the one asking Jesus the question in Mark’s Gospel.
So when Jesus tells the man what two commandments are the greatest, the man knows, as a scribe, he is committed to and part of a system that oppresses. Will he repudiate his position, as Jesus is suggesting?
Perhaps that is why Jesus concludes the man is not far from the Kingdom of God. A total conversion would mean an about face for the scribe, something that may be very difficult to do without serious criticism from his peers, family, and friends..
An examination of our own lives may reveal, in order to truly be a disciple, we make major changes in how we live, where we live, who we vote for, who we affiliate with, who we listen to, who we fight for, who we comfort.
Deep, silent prayer can open us to the voice of the Spirit working within us. Perhaps today you will set time aside to just that. To decide how and when to totally surrender to the God we love and to love our neighbor as the Savior demands.
Jim Wayne is a board member of the Passionist Solidarity Network (PSN), and author of The Unfinished Man. He lives in Louisville, Kentucky.