Claire Smith

Memorial of Saint Paul VI, Pope

Scripture:

1 Peter 1:18-25
Mark 10:32-45

Reflection:              

“. . . the word of the Lord remains forever.”

Today we remember Saint Paul VI, one of many Italian born popes, he was elected to the papacy after the death of Saint John XXIII. He saw the Second Vatican Council through to its closing in 1965. He was now tasked with leading the Church into the modern world. In his just over fifteen-year papacy he had a historic meeting with the Greek Patriarch. He established World Peace Day and wrote an encyclical, Humanae Vitae, that has had an impact not only on Catholics around the world but how the world needs to view human life.

The first reading from the first letter of Peter speaks to us of the importance of the death and Resurrection of Christ. The image of the “spotless unblemished Lamb” sacrificed on the altar of the Cross bought for us eternal life with God. Not only is the “Blood of Christ imperishable” but his word as well. We know this to be true because the Gospel message has impacted the followers of Christ for over two thousand years. I have a few scripture passages and a psalm or two that I have memorized or have heard so many times in my life that they are etched into me. I sometimes find myself thinking about those words unconsciously. This would not happen if they were not also part of my deepest self. These words give me hope and support me in my faith journey.

What words from the Scriptures are etched into your deepest self?

The Gospel speaks of the challenge of drinking from the “chalice” that Christ drinks from and being baptized with Christ as well. He was speaking to James and John who were seeking places of power or rank in the “kingdom” of Christ. They did not fully understand what they were truly asking for and most likely did not until the day of Pentecost and their own deaths. Just as we grow into our faith and what it means to truly be a Christian, we do not fully understand our own Baptism and Confirmation unless we immerse ourselves into the words and deeds of following Christ. For me, the most challenging thing about life is to live it as a Christian. And I am grateful that the Church gives the Sacraments to assist me in my faith journey because I cannot do it alone. The gifts and graces that come through the Sacraments challenge me to grow into the person that God created me to be. Remembering that God’s mercy, love, and forgiveness is beyond what I could ever imagine gives us hope that whether we are doing God’s will or not, as Thomas Merton prayed, we still please God. And that is faith.

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

Scripture:

1 Peter 1:10-16
Mark 10:28-31

Reflection:

Last weekend we celebrated the great feast of Pentecost!  Happy Birthday Church!!  In the coming weeks, we will celebrate the special Eucharistic feasts, but for the most part, we have entered into that long liturgical season of Ordinary Time!  I think you will all agree that for most of us, our lives are anything but ordinary!  We stand at the cusp of summertime; school’s out, vacation plans are being set, and springtime is giving way to warmer weather, longer days, and more time to spend relaxing, and enjoying a slower pace of life for the next few months.

My friends and I just spent several days planning a three-week camping trip out west for this coming month of August.  We pored over maps and travel books for many hours as we set up our itinerary for this long-awaited vacation.  We laughed a lot, we got frustrated at times when the places we wanted to go, and the times we had to see things, were sometimes all filled up.  We rejoiced when in some instances we got the last places on the boat excursion or gondola ride.  Several times we had to walk away from the planning, take a walk, enjoy ice cream or the hot tub, in order to refresh ourselves.  The ordinary lives we thought we had been leading up to this point took on a new aura as the excitement of the trip began to take hold of us!  At the end of the week, planning completed, reservations made, deposits sent, we returned to our ordinary lives to await the adventures to come in a few short months!

Our scriptures today give us some ideas or practices on how to make the best of this time of the church year called Ordinary.  Being the ordinary human beings we are, trying to navigate life in the fast lane, we need to pay attention to growing our spiritual life in the midst of vacation planning.  In 1^st Peter, we are called to ‘be holy just as He is holy’!  In the gospel, Jesus reiterates that for those of us who accept the challenge and gift of being a believer in Christ, in enduring the highs and lows that this life brings to it, we will in the end be rewarded.

This Ordinary time calls us to take time to recognize the holiness all around us; in the faces of our children playing at water’s edge, hiking with our friends along Canyon Pass, or celebrating the life and times of a loved one gone before us. May this Ordinary Time call us to celebrate our holiness, and to recognize the holy in those we love, as well as those we find it hard to love.  Have a safe and blessed Summer and together celebrate the Ordinary in extraordinary ways!

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

Scripture:

James 5:13-20
Mark 10:13-16

Reflection:

TRUE REFORM

If someone were to ask you what the greatest need in the Church is today, how would you respond?  Some feel we must have more ordained priests or religious, or we must break down the abuse of power, insisting on greater transparency in governance, or empowering the laity over clericalism. Some feel we must attract youngsters away from social media or cell phones and the Internet and toward Sunday worship. Others are convinced that our energy now must be focused on supporting the Supreme Court ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade — ending the federal constitutional right to abortion in the United States. And some challenge Church to respond to the violence in our cities, Ukraine, Gaza, Sudan.

Without denying the significance of any of these concerns, perhaps a broader need hovers around the topic of adult faith formation. It is impossible for the average Catholic to pass to the next generation a reverence for the dignity of all human life, or the imperative of participation in parish life because of our Baptismal commitment, without continued education in our faith. I find, unfortunately, that most of our people possess a high school understanding of Catholicism at best. You cannot solve complex adult problems with a sixteen-year-old’s formation.

Back in the 1960’s the Second Vatican Council reminded us that REFORM is a constant need in the Church. (“The Church…at once holy and always in need of purification, follows constantly the path of penance and renewal.” Lumen Gentium #8). If the Church is always in need of reform, how is that reform to be described for our time?

Many contemporary theologians, and the Council Fathers themselves, have said that Vatican II was largely the work of French Dominican, Yves Congar. In his book, True and False Reform in the Church, Congar states, “In those unusually fruitful years (post World War II), … there was not a conference, a retreat, or a conversation between priests and seminarians that did not take up in one way or another the same questions that were on the mind of every minister of the Gospel seeking to achieve a real and efficacious pastoral ministry, namely, a real, less artificial preaching; catechetics more apt to prepare Christians for real life; less routine and mechanical liturgy, one which really expresses the living worship of the community; forms of parish life that are less legalistic, more dynamic, truer to the real needs of the people, etc.”  Theologian Rick Gaillardetz said it simply: “Too many homilies and conferences are answering questions that people aren’t asking”!

Ancient Israel lived a faith unlike any other religion in the distant past — they filled their sacred writing with self-criticism. This wasn’t suspect as many feel today, calling such action disloyalty or infidelity; rather, we call this the prophetic Word. Other cultures simply did not have the searing condemnation of injustice from an Amos, or the personal denunciation of corrupt leadership from someone like Isaiah, to help form their identity. As the years unfolded into the Christian era, the pages of our rich history were graced with saints like Bernard, Joan of Arc, Francis of Assisi, and Catherine of Siena…men and women who spoke frankly. As we again prepare for leadership elections, how is the Holy Spirit leading us to REFORM?

Fr. Jack Conley, CP, is the local superior of St. Vincent Strambi Community in Chicago, Illinois.

Scripture:

James 5:9-12
Mark 10:1-12

Reflection:

Remembering Jesus at Mass

Years ago, I was giving a parish mission in Stonewall, TX, and visited the LBJ ranch.  Many colorful stories are told about President Johnson.  The lady in charge of the National Historical Park at that time told me that a favorite gift that the President would give was an electric toothbrush.   When asked why, LBJ would say “so they would remember me first thing the morning and the last thing at night!”.

Every Mass we attend, we hear the words of Jesus: “Do this in remembrance of Me.” LK 22:19 When God remembers a situation, His presence is active in remedying the situation.  “But God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the cattle that were with him in the ark, and God caused a wind to pass over the earth, and the water subsided. ^“Gen 8:1  The word remember in both the Old and New Testament has a long and wonderful meaning.  Remember has two aspects.  The first is merely to call to mind.  The next is action or response to what we recall.  In the Eucharist the remembered incident is “made present in the eternal now of the Risen Christ”!    At the heart of the Eucharist Jesus remembers us and we remember Him.

A memory at its best is something in the deep places of our hearts and minds!  In the first place, when we encounter the Risen Christ in the Eucharist, He remembers us!  His profound love for us in the Paschal mystery is more than a long-ago memory of the past!  When God remembers us, action and reality happen!  God’s remembering at Mass brings us face to face with the overwhelming present love of His scared risen Body “being given for us.”  This is a live event!  It is the most wonderful happening in the whole cosmos.

It is of tremendous importance for us to remember Christ!  We must receive Him in the depths of our minds and hearts!   The opposite of remembering is forgetting.  So many Catholics have forgotten Christ in the Eucharist.  What a horrendous Loss! This is the ultimate poverty in the world!   

One of the most beautiful prayers in the Bible, surprisingly, is that of a condemned felon crucified with Jesus!   “And he was saying, ‘Jesus, remember me when You come in Your kingdom!’”  Wow!  Jesus remembered him with eternal life!  When Jesus remembers us, it is our greatest moment.  What a great prayer to say at the consecration at Mass!

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

Scripture:

James 5:1-6
Mark 9:41-50

Reflection:

In our Gospel reading for today, Jesus uses some startling, even harsh, words warning against sin: “Whoever causes one of these little ones … to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone was put around his neck and he were thrown into the sea. If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off…And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off…And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. Better for you to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into Gehenna…”

As I was reflecting on these words, I thought about those harrowing stories about people being caught in avalanches or something, and having to cut or gnaw off a hand or something in order to get free from whatever was trapping them. Very extreme, right? Maybe Jesus wants us to be as extreme for our spiritual survival as we can be for our physical survival.

Can we be that extreme in avoiding sin, and following Jesus? I don’t think Jesus is asking us to mutilate ourselves, but there are things we may need to cut off, which can sometimes feel as precious to us as a part of our body, such as a resentment we’ve been nurturing for a long time, or a prejudice we simply can’t find the will to let go of. Is there something we need to cut off, or, perhaps more accurately, let Jesus cut off, from our hearts?

How can we be extreme in letting go of what leads us to sin, and taking up what leads us to Jesus? At the end of our Gospel reading, Jesus says, “Everyone will be salted with fire…Keep salt in yourselves and you will have peace with one another.” In the light of Pentecost which we celebrated this past Sunday, perhaps we can see Jesus’ words referring to the Holy Spirit. If we keep salted in the fire of the Holy Spirit, we will have what we need to be extreme in following Jesus, and finding peace.

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

Scripture:

James 4:13-17
Mark 9:38-40

Reflection:

Sometimes, the readings for the day are so descriptive of human foibles that they make the gospels leap off the page, becoming so real to me that I seem to recognize people I actually know.

Today’s readings show the disciples “tattling” to Jesus that there is another man in the district who has the unmitigated temerity to cast out demons without being a follower of Jesus.

Christ replies, in essence, that “the enemy of my enemy is my friend”.  John has barred a certain man from casting out demons, which our Savior makes clear is a wrong way of thinking about being one of His followers.  Discipleship is not an appointed position that grants special authority or social position.  It does not grant one status above others who may be doing good works in Jesus’ name but are perhaps not of our faith or community.

There have been times when I have felt jealousy for being passed over for appointed positions or not being selected for a particular award or recognition. 

Or perhaps I have been skeptical of people who are not Catholic or not Christian, who claim a special relationship with you.  

Lord, forgive me for the humility I have lacked and teach me acceptance of others in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Ray Alonzo is the father of three children, grandfather of two, and husband to Jan for over45 years. He is a USN Vietnam Veteran, and a 1969 graduate of Mother of Good Counsel Passionist Prep Seminary. Ray currently serves on the Passionist Alumni Council.