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Scripture:

Jeremiah 28:1-17
Matthew 14:13-21

Reflection:

Jeremiah’s confrontation with the prophet Hananiah in Jeremiah, Chapter 28, is often cited as a guide to the discernment of spirits, as a way of resolving the conflict of two or more opposing points of view in Church leadership, or at least in the uncertainty of authentic Church teaching.  Naturally, we want to point out that this historical event takes places between the first attacks of Nebuchadnezzar on the city of Jerusalem and the final collapse of the city in 587 BC.  These historical events precede by centuries the coming of Christ and the foundations of the Church.  It would be more accurate to say that these two prophets (Jeremiah and Hananiah) represent the convergence of different convictions about the work of God according to the sacred covenant established with Israel (after all, it is the cataclysmic destruction of Jerusalem that closes this period of prophetic activity).

Hananiah is a popular figure, whose followers are bolstered by his predictions that Judah will resist and are soon to win out against their aggressors because God is with them.  Jeremiah, on the other hand, is the realist, and it is to Jeremiah that God has revealed the long-term destiny of the Chosen People.  They are to come under the Babylonian rule (signified by the self-imposed yoke Jeremiah wore), and not in a few short years, but after 70 years, God will return the People to their land from their exile.

What are we to make of this "prophets’ duel?"  "Cheap grace" is a term we hear now and then.  It refers to the good fortune that some people experience at no great personal cost.  Hananiah was a spokesperson for the naïve view that God would rescue the Chosen people simply because they were God’s people.  Jeremiah, who could see the history of infidelity among the people, but especially among their leaders, proclaimed the eventual collapse of their religious society and the subsequent period of purification needed to restore a new generation of faithful believers.

This reading challenges us to see the inevitable breakdown of the social-religious fabric whenever a people are unwilling to strive for the goodness and piety of a holy people.  To maintain a struggle against the modern forms of idolatry and injustice is to bend our backs to the yoke of penance and disciplined living, only to discover in God’s time, that the burdensome yoke has become "light" and "easy" (Mt 11:30).

 

Fr. Arthur Carrillo is the local leader of the Passionist Community in Houston, Texas. 

 

 

Memorial of St. Martha

 

Scripture:

Jeremiah 18:1-6
John 11:19-27 or Luke 10:38-42

 

Reflection:

Was Jesus a feminist? Well, if by feminist you mean one who promotes the equality of or advocates and practices equal treatment of women as human persons and willingly contravenes established social norms in doing so, then the answer would have to be a resounding "Yes!"

Of course I know that Jesus and his contemporaries in first century Palestine would never have used such a term, but scriptural evidence abounds that Jesus’ attitude toward women was certainly in contradistinction to his society’s norms. Last week’s memorial for Mary Magdalene as well as today’s memorial for Martha demonstrate this.

During the time of Jesus women were definitely considered inferior to men. Jewish Rabbis were taught not to engage women in teaching or even to speak to them unless absolutely necessary. Nowhere, outside of the pages of New Testament, do women in this highly patriarchal society seem to have any roles outside of child bearing, housekeeper or temptress. That is why the Gospel passages presented today are so unnerving.

In these as well as other passages Jesus makes women the center of the stories – and not only that – Jesus makes the women figures of wisdom, witnesses to that Kingdom God incarnated in Jesus himself.    

In Luke’s gospel we have the portrait of Mary and Martha, prime examples of the importance of hospitality to the Middle Eastern culture in which Jesus lived. Mary, as the iconic wisdom figure, sits at the feet of Jesus to receive his teaching (in itself quite unheard of not being related by blood to Jesus) while poor Martha, whom I have dubbed, the patroness of the Type A personality, scurries about serving and cleaning and cleaning and serving. But while she worked, Martha, like so many other women I know, listened intently to the Master’s teaching. How do I know? John’s portrait of Martha also presented in today’s other gospel selection.  

Lazarus dies. Mary, his sister, is overwhelmed with grief. However it is Martha that goes out and meets Jesus. (Remember in observant Jewish homes women in mourning rarely if ever left home.) The dialogue that John records is a rich one.

Martha said: "Lord if you had been here my brother would not have died. But even now I know God will give you whatever you ask for…" Martha’s faith and trust in Jesus and his relationship to the God of Israel must have been immense. "Your brother will rise," Jesus told her. Martha’s response encapsulates that faith and trust: "I know he will rise in the resurrection on the last day." Again using Martha as the wisdom figure asks her if she believes that He is the resurrection and the life. And Martha, a mere woman, makes the same statement Peter makes in Matthew’s gospel: "Yes, Lord, I have come to believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, the one who is coming into the world."

Jesus’ interaction with women in the scriptures is a reminder to all of us how to treat our fellow human beings. In God’s kingdom all humans are treated with love, compassion and respect. Not because of their gender, social status or economic worth, but rather because it is inherently who we are as God’s creation. May St. Martha, servant, wisdom figure, and woman, pray that we like her may make our lives a witness to this Christ and this Kingdom value!

 

Patrick Quinn ([email protected]) is the director of Planned Giving at the Passionist Development Office in Chicago.

 

 

Scripture:

Ecclesiastes 1:2; 2:21-23
Colossians 3:1-5, 9-11
Luke 12:13-21

Reflection:

Shaping the Human Heart

What kind of heart do you have? How is your heart functioning?

The heart is the vital organ of life. A healthy heart makes for a healthy and vigorous person. But that is not the whole of it. Ancient Jews and early Christian communities considered the heart imaginatively. For example, the heart is like rich soil. When the soil is watered, the seeds grow and life flourishes. When the heart is hard, it cannot receive the seed. It becomes sclerotic. A hard-hearted person sucks the breathe of life away. Every heart needs moisture — either ample rainwater or copious human tears — in order to blossom and bear life.

The heart can also be vain. A self-focused, self-centered, self-absorbed, and self-referential heart just overwhelms family and friends. No one wants to hang around someone who is small-hearted.

The heart can be fickle, possessive, and greedy. Desire can settle for the ephemeral, the superficial, and the silly. Some hearts are set on possessing super-abundance and having more, and more, and more. How much is enough? When is the heart sated and satisfied?

Having and doing miss the mark. What matters to God is being — being big-hearted, generous, just, kind, compassionate, loving. Christians are those lavered in the lovely water bath of baptism. Dying and rising, life is hidden in Christ. Christ is all in all. He sets the standard for human hearts. Life is hidden in Christ. His example of self-emptying love directs every faithful heart.

When the journey ends, how do you want others to remember you? How do you want them to speak about your heart? Large- or hard-hearted, generous or cheap, compassionate or harsh, kind or cruel, just or unjust, merciful or mean?

 

Father John J. O’Brien is a Passionist priest, preacher, writer and teacher. He can be addressed at [email protected].

Scripture:

Jeremiah 26:11-16, 24
Matthew 14:1-12

Reflection:
In today’s gospel, the oath of a king with a shallow sense of honor, a seductive dance and the hateful heart of a queen combine to present us with the story of a terrible tragic death–the beheading of John the Baptist.

This greatest of prophets suffered the same fate as so many of the Old Testament prophets before him: rejection and martyrdom.  The "voice crying in the desert" did not hesitate to accuse the guilty and he did not hesitate to speak the truth.

So we have a story of great brokenness.  We see what insecurity arises in a person who cuts himself off from criticism and from the call to repentance.  Herod cut himself off from John and from Christ as well.

There are many parallels between John the Baptist and Christ. Both John and Christ died at the hands of men who were powerful and who apparently deeply loved their power.  Both Herod and Pilate recognized truth and goodness in John and in Jesus: they both were intrigued and perplexed by these holy men and yet they both gave way to public pressure to murder them. 

Each of us has a calling to which we must listen.  No one will ever repeat the journey of John the Baptist, and yet each of us is called to his very same mission: to affirm the presence of Christ and to speak the truth.  By our words and actions, others will realize that we live in the joy of knowing that we do not have to depend on our own limited resources, but can draw strength from the vastness of Christ’s saving grace.

Blessings for your journey! 

 

Deacon Brian Clements is on the staff of Mater Dolorosa Passionist Retreat Center in Sierra Madre, California

 

Scripture:

Jeremiah 15:10, 16-21
Matthew 13:44-46

Reflection:

Today’s first reading from the Prophet Jeremiah deserves to be read aloud.  The deep agony, remorse and then hope that are so vividly proclaimed in this reading certainly resound with emotion that needs to be heard as well as read.  When we hear the words "Woe to me, mother that you gave me birth…" Jeremiah’s agony and despair is so intense, that you can almost visualize his tears.  Jeremiah pleads often for Jerusalem, but here he seems to be asking God for relief for himself,  "…have I not served you for their good….why is my pain continuous….?"  Jeremiah has done what God has asked of him and has been persecuted for it.  You hear the frustration in his complaint and you hear his despair. 

How often do we too ask, "Why me, God?"  

And yet, as we hear what the Lord tells Jeremiah, we hear that there is hope – there is salvation.  Remorse is what the Lord is calling him to; redemption is what he is promised.  What a great message this reading is for us.  Even in the worse despair, even when we feel there is just no way out of a dilemma, if we listen, we can hear the Lord telling us that there is hope, there is an answer.  But, of course, the answer for us, as it was for Jeremiah, is not necessarily what we have in mind.   In fact, the answer may lead us, as it does Jeremiah, to more suffering in God’s name.  But what the Lord tells Jeremiah and us, "…in my presence you will stand."  And that, of course, is the ultimate goal.

The Gospel also conveys a similar message.  In the two parables, Jesus talks about the Kingdom of Heaven and he talks about treasure.  These parables challenge us to identify what we see as our treasures.  If God is our greatest, most precious treasure, perhaps the answer to our prayers may not be a sudden cure, immediate relief, or winning the lottery, but rather the answer may be in finding and standing before our God.   

 

Mary Lou Butler ([email protected])is a former staff member and is now a member of the Mater Dolorosa Passionist Retreat Center Board, Sierra Madre, California. 

Scripture:

Jeremiah 14:17-22
Matthew 13:36-43

Reflection:

"The weeds are the children of the evil one."

I was looking forward to my assignment this month.  I’ve had my Bible waiting on my desk, next to my Catechism and some other prayer books.  I thought I would be very practical and empirical by dissecting the Gospel as I used to in school.  Maybe by picking apart the language and reading every footnote, I could uncover the true meaning-beyond any shadow of a doubt.  Then I read Matthew’s passage, and all that went promptly out the window. 

In today’s gospel, Jesus speaks to us as he often does, in parables.  Christ describes the world as a "field" and the children of His Kingdom as the "good seed."  But among this good seed grows weeds.  The weeds are sown by the Devil and will be "collected and burned up with the fire" upon the end of time.  It sets up, in no uncertain terms, a competition of sorts between good and evil, between "us" and "them." 

I have seen this passage misused in the name of Christ with the message of hate and intolerance.  When some group of people has decided who exactly these "weeds" are, they can use these words to point their fingers and promise eternal punishment.  But this gospel is not about casting judgment on anyone.  The harvesters are the angels sent by the Son of Man, so it won’t be you and I who will be deciding the fate of our neighbor.   

What struck me as I mulled this reading over in mind is that the choices we make each day-how we live, how we treat people, how we parent-these choices can have enormous consequences.  Are we "righteous" or are we "evildoers"?  Have we chosen Heaven or have we chosen Hell?  We don’t wear a sign on our heads.  We haven’t been predetermined.  We are choosing each day how to live our lives and therefore choosing how we spend eternity. 

I will admit, eternity has not been high on my list of things to worry about lately.   As I type this, I am simultaneously thinking about my schedule for tomorrow, which school my kids should attend, what to make for dinner, what color to paint my bathroom and how to lose 10 pounds very quickly.  The details of our everyday lives have become all-consuming.

What we must remember is that there is so much more.  There is an eternity for our souls to live long after these bodies (that we obsess over) are dead and gone.  While the righteous will "shine like the sun," the evil will be thrown into a "fiery furnace."   It is a horrifying prospect, and yet each day we may struggle to make the right choices that bring us closer to Christ. 

God’s plan for us was never suffering and death.  But our Father loves us so deeply that He granted us something that must be very painful for Him to watch everyday-free will.  And with that gift, let’s face it, we have sometimes chosen poorly.  But we can make different choices.  Let’s take time to pull the weeds from our own garden. 

 

Marlo Serritella is on staff at the Holy Cross Province Development Office in Chicago, Illinois.

 

Scripture:

Jeremiah 13:1-11
Matthew 13:31-35

Reflection:

Sometimes the little things in life do matter! A loincloth, a mustard seed, a particle of yeast…seemingly insignificant items that reveal a most significant message!

The Prophet Jeremiah is one of the Hebrew Bible’s greatest and possibly "strangest figures." Although born to an educated priestly family, Jeremiah’s career as a prophet was fraught with disappointment, despair, deportation to Egypt, and most possibly, at his life’s end, betrayal. Often called by God to perform ridiculous acts in public in order to capture the attention of King and court; his use of poetic language and imagery nonetheless captures God’s enduring love for Judah and continued faithful call to be in covenant relationship with Israel’s God.

In this passage, God tells Jeremiah to use his loincloth (yes, a traditional undergarment) as a sign of God’s current relationship with Judah gone bad. This was an illustration of King Johoiakim’s attempt to play politics with the area’s two superpowers Egypt and Babylonia. Ultimately that policy game would fail. The nation of Judah along with the King’s son and successor would be captured, dragged in chains and die in exile in Babylon. Jeremiah tries to warn the King that just as a loincloth is worn close to the body and protects it, so too does God’s Covenantal love protect God’s people, if it is adhered to. Discarding the loincloth, like discarding the Covenant, only results in failure and despair.

Today in Matthew’s gospel, Jesus uses the example of a mustard seed and a bit of yeast to tell his listeners what the Kingdom of Heaven is like. These seemingly small, insignificant items reveal a much larger truth beyond themselves! As part of Jesus’ Kingdom teaching, what is hidden will ultimately be revealed; what is cast aside will be redeemed; what is dead will be brought to new life.

We live in a world today which is addicted to grandiosity and sensationalism. "The bigger the better" we often think…However the small, everyday events of life go by without notice or attention. Yet Jesus makes it clear that God uses such small, ordinary, seemingly insignificant things to bring us into contact with the reign of God. Jesus reminds us, just as Jeremiah reminded King Johoiakim, that it is our faithfulness, our love of God and our commitment to one another in the Lord that allows God’s redemptive power to transform, insignificantly at first, our personal lives, our communities and our world.

 

Patrick Quinn is the Director of Planned Giving for the Holy Cross Province Development Office.

Scripture:

Isaiah 38: 1-6, 21-22, 7-8
Matthew 12:1-8

Reflection:

God bless my dad. He had a saying, "There are rules and regulations…" I’m not sure he ever finished the phrase.  He didn’t need to.

 

His phrase-lette was, of course, hauled out when someone (me, my sisters, my brother-in-law, hippies, etc.) had already or were in danger of breaking the rules and regulations.  I actually think my dad was entitled to some bragging rights because, well, he was pretty good at following "the rules" himself.

But it wore him down, too, I think, the reliance on rules as a way to keep life somehow in order; as a way to identify who could be judged as right and wrong. At the end of his life I had a moment of profound sadness – and Lord knows I could be very wrong in my own judgment of this – but I wasn’t sure that my father knew how much he was loved by God. I wanted him to know in his bones that he was cherished by God, not because he had kept the rules, but because he had actually lived out of a more compelling law: he tried to be a good father in the face of some very difficult circumstances. He wasn’t always easy, rule-observer that he was, but we knew where he stood and he kept our little family’s ship on course.

It is Jesus’ words today in the Gospel that reverberate within me: I say to you, something greater than the temple is here.  How many times in the Gospels do we hear Jesus urging the Pharisees to see beyond the rules to a greater, deeper law? Don’t observe the Sabbath, Jesus says, by judging harshly or rigidly the human embodiment of God’s love. Be merciful and you will truly honor the one who made you.

For Jesus and those who follow him, that greater, deeper law is rooted in love.  Let’s pray that our Church is never the hardened repository of do’s and don’ts that limit and exclude, but a body whose very life-breath comes from the Holy Spirit and  her loving, merciful people seeking only to do God’s will.

 

Nancy Nickel is director of communications at the Passionist Development Office in Chicago.