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Scripture:

Ezekiel 24:15-24
Matthew 19:16-22

Reflection:

Jesus said to him, “If you wish to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

The encounter of Jesus with the rich young man has possibly inspired and motivated countless Christians across the centuries. It is indeed a powerful story and one that can speak deeply to all men and women who wish to live their lives as a more radical imitation of Jesus.

For the challenge of Jesus here is profound. Nothing less than a complete change of life and life style.

The young man is challenged to move from a lifelong devotion and steady adherence to the law to a seemingly reckless act of dispossession and to undertake the life of a follower of Jesus – the one who has nowhere to lay his head. In essence he is asked to substitute riches for poverty and to substitute  the security of land and wealth for a nomadic life of unknown destinations.

Perhaps most radically, the young man is challenged to substitute self possession and self reliance for a life lived in relationship to Jesus and given over to others.

Perhaps one can appreciate the depth of what Jesus asks and offers when one takes his commanding challenge and isolates the five verbs that fuel this challenge. “Go, sell, give, come and follow“. Perhaps it is here that we see how all embracing and deep is the challenge that Jesus offers the young man (and indeed us!).

Go – act, be committed. Sell – dispose of all that blocks your happiness and deepest desires. Give – be outgoing; be generous and prepared to make sacrifices. Come – enter into relationship with the one who can show you life. Follow – take up the mission of Jesus in our world and live it in all you do and say.

These five commands – these five verbs – can be a guide for us in life. Whether we seek a more radical following of Jesus in religious life or priesthood, or a life of committed love in marriage and parenthood or whether it is a dedicated single life serving others,  these same verbs apply.

For any meaningful and committed life – the necessity to be committed, to be ready to put aside things or attitudes that block you, to  be generous, to be able to enter deeply into relationship and to follow Jesus’ example and continue his mission – are all essential attitudes and capacities.

“Go, sell, give, come, and follow.” If we allow these words to echo and re-echo in our lives then we will be much more equipped to live out all that Jesus asks and offers to us.

Fr. Denis Travers, C.P., is the Provincial Superior of Holy Spirit Province, Australia. 

Scripture:

Proverbs 9:1-6
Ephesians 5:15-20
John 6:51-58

Reflection:

“The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”
John 6:52

The readings for today’s Mass invite us to eat and drink nourishments that give us wisdom and life (the first reading and the Gospel proclamation) and to avoid drinking to excess (the second reading). These readings make it easy for us to reflect upon the gift and grace that the Sacrament of the Eucharist is for us. The Eucharist is the nourishment that gives us wisdom and understanding, communion with God and with one another and that reminds us that Jesus, Son of God and Son of Mary, will never abandon us. The Eucharist is one of God’s greatest signs of love for us. Without the Mass, without Eucharist, we do not have life within us nor do we have eternal life. Jesus’ message was quite clear.

And this gift is given to us within the Community of the Church. It is not a personal gift, even though each one of us benefit personally from this beautiful gift. It is a gift given to us in community. We receive this Sacrament only when we are members of the Catholic Church.

While the Sacrament of the Eucharist challenges us to a faith that goes beyond the appearances of bread and wine, the Sacrament also challenges us to believe that a sinful People can also be the holy People of God. It is this last challenge to our faith in the Eucharist that often becomes the stumbling block for many. So many of us stop coming to the Eucharist when we are angry at the Church. And most often we get angry at the Church when we are trying to justify a lifestyle that is outside the norms that the Church as established as being in full communion with God and with our brothers and sisters. We want to be both sinful and saved at the same time. We want God to discount our sinful behavior: our addictions, our sexual misconduct, our dishonesty, our blindness to social justice, our commitment to war and violence as the resolution of our problems, our prejudices and racism, our commitment to life, from the womb to the tomb. We want to pick and choose. We want to be vocal about how wrong abortion is, but choose to be silent about how wrong it is for people to live in poverty, condemn people to a life without education and health care or deny the dignity of human life because they are not citizens of a country. Eucharist forces us to choose the right path in life.

Sometimes we stop coming to Mass because we are angry at the Church and Church people. We think we will punish the Church by not coming to Church, not receiving the sacraments. We end up by punishing ourselves, by depriving ourselves of the very graces that we need to overcome the faults and failings of our Church.

As Jesus said in today’s Gospel, the Eucharist is necessary for us to gain eternal life. Without Eucharist, we continue the path of destruction. The Eucharist challenges us to be good people and good disciples of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ and brothers and sisters to one another. What a gift Jesus has given us!

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

Scripture:

Ezekiel 2:8-3:4
Matthew 18:1-5, 10, 12-14

Reflection:

Ezekiel was a priest of the Temple in Jerusalem when he was called by God to warn the people of immanent destruction. If the people did not return to fidelity to God, the people would be exiled and their country destroyed. The people relied on their own wisdom, implemented political alliances for self-preservation and accepted idolatrous practices. Eventually Babylon did capture Jerusalem, and Ezekiel was exiled with the leaders. Now in exile the prophet became a voice of hope, encouraging the people to turn to the Lord and offering them images of hope that one day they would return to Jerusalem, and the glory of God would return to the Temple (the vision of the dry bones returning to life).

In the reading for today, Ezekiel is commanded to eat the scroll, covered with writings, front and back, of lamentations, wailings and woes. When he ate it, the scroll was as sweet as honey. Like Ezekiel, each one of us carries a scroll with writings: our disappointments, our discouragements and our despairs. They create a fear within us that our life will never get better, or we are tempted to flee from them by ignoring or denying them. God shows Ezekiel that we must accept the negative side of life as part of our humanity. It is only in accepting our lamentations and woes that God can act in our life. “Ezekiel” means “God strengthens,” and when Ezekiel ate the scroll in obedience to God’s command, the prophet was admitting his own sins and failures as well as those of his fellow citizens. He was turning to God like the child in the gospel reading today, totally dependent upon the parents for help. What was bitter became sweet as honey.

God continues to perform miracles in our lives if we turn to God with childlike faith and trust. God brings light into our darkness, forgiveness for our sins, strength where we are weak. Let us be humble like a child and enter into the Kingdom of God, relying on the strength that only God can give us.

Fr. Don Webber, C.P. is the director of the Office of Mission Effectiveness. He resides in Chicago, Illinois.

Scripture:

Jeremiah 31:31-34
Matthew 16:13-23

Reflection:

Listening and reflecting again today on Matthew’s gospel, we ponder how Peter boldly and filled with faith proclaims Jesus as Messiah, and after Jesus affirms Peters’ response, Jesus generously gives Peter more inside information which Peter just finds too difficult to hear. We’ve probably heard this gospel numerous times. 

It amazes me to see how fast Peter can go from such a proclamation, “You are the Messiah” to a Peter who takes Jesus aside and begins to rebuke him. Why? Part of it is that Peter feels threatened. This revelation which Jesus speaks to Peter simply doesn’t fit into Peter’s plans. And Peter has just proclaimed this man to be the Messiah! What is it like when the messiah doesn’t fit into your plans? What is it like for you when you feel like you are being led down a path which you certainly don’t want to go?

I suspect that many of us who read these daily reflections have had similar experiences in our faith journey. We have had those experiences where we come to know Jesus in a profound and intimate way. Soon after this experience, however, there is a request or even a challenge which is put before us. Somewhere in our mind we question, “Certainly Jesus you didn’t mean for this to happen? Or you couldn’t possibly be asking me….?” 

Ultimately, I call this purification. It’s the stripping away of the expectations of who we want Jesus to be so we may be attentive to whom Jesus actually is. It frequently can be a painful reality. But in all of scripture, God never conforms to our personal desires. The divine always emphatically insists, “I am God”, sometimes with a silent implication back to the human who is wrestling with the relationship, “and you are who?” A perfect example of this is the conclusion of the Job story, and we see it again here with Peter. It is difficult to go through this purification. The gift in all of this is that as we do, we understand the divine much better! 

Paradoxically, today’s gospel reflection needs to end with the beginning of today’s gospel. It is only after going through this process of purification that we can most authentically answer Jesus’ question, “Who do you say that I am?” 

On this journey of faith, Jesus you are the one who keeps purifying us, challenging us to re-examine the questions of who you are to us. In doing so we continue to discover our selves and our lives anew in your divine light.

 Fr. David Colhour, C.P., is the Provincial Superior of Holy Cross Province. He resides in Chicago, Illinois.

Scripture:

2 Chronicles 24:17-25
Matthew 6:24-34

Reflection:

“Do not worry about tomorrow; tomorrow will take care of itself. Sufficient for a day is its own evil.” -Matthew 6:34

Most of us live anxious lives. We seem to thrive on anxiety. We worry about the past, the things we have said to others and how we treated others. We worry about the present. We worry if we are doing the right thing, or if we are offending someone we love, or whether we are coming across too strong or too weak, too upfront or too timid, or any countless number of things that we have to deal with each day of our life. Most of all, we tend to worry about tomorrow. Tomorrow has so many possibilities, so many promises, and so many expectations. We worry because we are afraid that we will make the wrong choices or we will be humiliated before our friends and neighbors. In the United States, some studies show that anxiety is the number one stressor in our lives!

When Jesus is telling us not to worry about our life, or what we are to eat or drink or what we are to wear, he realizes that we are going to have a tremendous difficulty following his advice. But he also gives us the cause for our anxiety and the path to live a life free of all these worries that we so easily take on day after day. We can live a life of faith that relies on God and God’s Providence or we can pretend that we are in charge of life and all of its overwhelming demands that come our way.

Because God has gifted us with the freedom to make choices, we sometimes jump to the conclusion that this is an absolute gift. We sometimes do not recognize that this gift of making choices is to be used within the context of our own lives and human limitations. When God made us responsible for our own lives, God made us responsible for our own decisions and actions, for the choices to grow in the grace of God. God did not put us in charge of the Universe and of other human beings. When we over-reach our sense of power and control, we soon find ourselves in situations that cause us anxiety and worry. So, from the very beginning, we have a choice. We can choose God and God’s Providence or we can choose our pretense that we are in charge of God, the World and everything that happens in the World.

Today’s Gospel also helps us recognize that the greatest remedy to anxiety is faith in God and God’s Providence. This does not mean that we are to abandon the gift of the freedom to choose what is right and to do what is good. This freedom to choose is what will lead us to Everlasting Life, with the Grace of God. So, what does God require of us? The prophet Micah (6:8) sums up in this way: “You have been told what is good, and what the LORD requires of you: Only to do right and to love goodness, and to walk humbly with your God.”

When all things are said and done, there is no reason for us to be anxious about tomorrow!

Fr. Clemente Barron, C.P., is the local superior of Mater Dolorosa Community in Sierra Madre, California.

Scripture:

2 Kings 2:1, 6-14
Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18

Reflection:

At one time during the First World War a young British Army surgeon was accompanying his senior officer-surgeon around the wards of the wounded soldiers. They had completed the wards housing the British soldiers and were now making a round of the wounded German prisoners. They came to a man with a badly damaged hand, and the senior surgeon upon a quick examination remarked for the notes “We can probably save the hand itself, but the fingers will have to be removed”. And then he walked on to the next bed. But the prisoner understood some English and his eyes met those of the young doctor as he pleaded “Please, I am a watch maker”.

Watchmaking as a profession has probably disappeared from our world, but in 1915 it was still a viable occupation and one that required surgeon-like precision and the obvious use of one’s fingers.

The young doctor was moved by pity and hurried after the senior surgeon to plead for the chance to save both the hand and the fingers. His appeal was not appreciated in a situation of limited resources of supplies and time – and after all this man was an enemy – but by persisting he won permission to try to save all of the hand. After much effort he did so.

Perhaps not surprisingly,  after the war the young doctor studied for priesthood and was ordained and ended his ecclesial life as a Bishop in the Anglican Church.

It often takes great courage to act against social expectations or one’s peer group or indeed the law itself.

One does not readily set aside any of the above, let alone all three at one time. Yet today we read of Jesus standing up to the letter of the law, the criticism of the Pharisees and the long standing traditions that surrounded the Sabbath.

But it is the statement of Jesus “… I desire mercy, not sacrifice…” that seems to give us the sound interpretive principle for understanding the motivations and perspective of Jesus. The disciples are innocent of any wrong doing – they are merely picking corn because they are hungry, yet there are those willing to ignore compassion and to condemn them for a minor infringement of the law.

The young doctor in the story above had understood this – he chose not to see an enemy, but a fellow traveller on life’s journey. He chose not to see a problem too difficult to deal with, but rather to see a need and a future life either ruined of saved by his actions. The young doctor understood the words of Jesus  “What I desire is mercy”… (not a slavish adherence to the letter of the law, or to peer expectations or social conventions).

Let us make this principle of Jesus the one by which we judge, interpret and respond to situations of need and challenge. At times it will take some courage to do so, but we can act knowing that we follow the teaching and example of the Lord himself.

Fr. Denis Travers, C.P., is the Provincial Superior of Holy Spirit Province, Australia.

Scripture:

2 Samuel 18:9-10, 14b, 24-25a, 30 – 19:3
Mark 5:21-43

Reflection:

“Do not be afraid; just have faith.”

Today’s Gospel selection features Jesus ministering to the pressing needs of large crowds of people – as well as individuals such as the synagogue official Jairus, his young daughter, and the woman with the persistent hemorrhage.  Each person saw in Jesus the opportunity to be fully alive and healthy, freed from the bonds of sickness and isolation and meaninglessness.  The crowds diligently followed Jesus on both land and sea; the synagogue official fell at Jesus’ feet to request a miracle; the sick woman quietly came up behind Jesus to simply (and anonymously) touch his cloak; the little girl was lovingly helped from her sickbed by Jesus’ own hand.

Each miraculous encounter was based on some level of faith in Jesus.  Jesus’ words to each of these people encouraged them to have deeper faith — and then to go and live that faith.  Fear?  No way!  “Do not be afraid; just have faith.”  “Go in peace…be cured of your affliction.”

Each of us has his or her special needs, and perhaps some fear.  We suffer with our Health, with a lack of Security or Meaning; we feel Alone; we lack true Love.  Our 21^st century world likewise has its special needs:  we yearn for hope, justice, freedom, leadership, a respect for life – to name just a few needs!  Jesus invites us all to come to Him with faith, leaving behind our paralyzing fears as we make our requests.  “Please, come…if I but touch his clothes…”

With supreme gentleness and selflessness Jesus offers us the healing power of His Love, manifested in His every thought, word, and deed – to the ultimate gift of His death on the Cross!  Jesus lovingly speaks to us as he did to the little girl:  “Talitha koum…little girl, I say to you, arise!”  Life and fulfillment are ours, in Jesus!

In these early weeks of the Church’s Ordinary Time, we are reminded of our rich blessings with God’s Life and Love in the person of Jesus!  As 21^st century men and women of faith, may we live and share that Life and Love with our sisters and brothers.

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.  

Scripture:

2 Samuel 12:1-7a, 10-17
Mark 4:35-41

Reflection:

“A clean heart create for me, O God, and a steadfast spirit renew within me.” Psalm 51:1

How many times have we found ourselves in difficult situations? Our desires pull us one way and the Word of God comes to us, reproaches us and then we see with clarity the evil we have done, the wrong choices we have made.

This is what happened to King David, God’s anointed, in today’s first reading. These last few days, we have been reading the life story of King David during Mass. We read how he was chosen by God even though he was the youngest of his family, how he overcame the giant Philistine without the weapons of war and how he was loyal and faithful to King Saul, even when Saul wanted to kill him. God was with him. God protected him. God anointed him King of Israel. Who could have asked for a better life?

Then David did something stupid. He allowed his desires to overcome his good life and his good works. He takes the wife of one of his military officers, makes her pregnant and then has her husband killed. Maybe we haven’t done exactly the same thing, but we have acted in similar ways. We have allowed our vices and desires to overcome our goodness, made bad choices and have had to live with the consequences.

God needed to remind David of what he did. God did this by sending the prophet, Nathan, to confront him, using a parable of good and evil. When David renounced the evil in the parable, then the prophet showed David his own guilt. David’s conscience then got the better of him and immediately began to do penance. One of our traditions says that David wrote the Psalms we pray between the Mass readings. His Psalm prayer for today’s Mass is: Create a clean heart in me, O God!

How do we go about creating a clean heart for ourselves? Like David, we may live in denial for a while. It can be so difficult to admit to our wrongdoing. The first step toward repentance, forgiveness and reconciliation is the acknowledgment of our sin and our responsibility for it. Hardly any of us ever make it that far on our own. Let us not turn a deaf ear to our conscience and let us not harden our hearts toward the grace of God, whose love brings forgiveness and communion. This is precisely the moment we need Jesus in our lives.

When we are tossed about in turmoil and turbulence, like the disciples were in the Gospel reading for today’s Mass, our inability to confront the storms in our lives, compel us to Jesus, afraid and frightened. Jesus will not only rebuke the storm but may rebuke us also for being people of little faith.

Creating a clean heart within us will take the courage to acknowledge our wrongdoing and the courage to turn to the only one who can forgive us, our loving God. Then, we, too, will be filled with great awe!

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