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Memorial of St. Bonaventure, bishop and doctor of the Church

Scripture:

Isaiah 26:7-9, 12, 16-19
Matthew 11:28-30

Reflection:

In the 11^th chapter of his gospel Matthew gathers the teaching of Jesus as to his mission (in response to messengers from John), as to John’s place among the prophets, a warning to the towns that did not accept his teaching, a revelation of his intimate relationship with his Father, and finally the invitation to come to him that is today’s scripture for us.

This is certainly a well known passage. "Come to me all you who labor" The Greek can also mean "are weary" or "are exhausted". What are people weary of? The burdens they carry. Jesus, as he does elsewhere, is alluding to the burdens of keeping the law. (Mt 24:3) The many rules and regulations that an observant Jew needed to obey.  The good news that Jesus is offering is that coming to him, giving him one’s heart, is to forever lay down the burden of the law and find rest.

How do I read this for myself? Certainly the burdens of the law can be a metaphor for the difficulties, hardships and pains of life. But then the metaphor breaks down. Jesus removed the burden of the law, but he has not promised to remove the difficulties, hardships and pains of life. Rather he intimates that they will always be there: "Take up your cross daily and follow me". (Lk 9, 23)  So what we are left with is that somehow Jesus will

help us through difficulties, hardships and pains of life so that they do not exhaust or weary us. I wish I could say that from my own experience, but I personally have been blessed throughout my life. Maybe my test is still to come.

However, I will personally vouch for Jesus’ description of "a yoke that is easy". The Greek word can also mean "well fitted". As a carpenter by occupation Jesus probably made yokes for oxen. He knew how they had to carefully measured and crafted for each individual oxen. So Jesus is implying that whatever God sends us is made to fit our needs and abilities exactly. I have felt that as a Christian. Jesus has shared with us his Spirit. I have found inspiration in the scriptures, forgiveness in the sacrament of Reconciliation, and nourishment in the Eucharist. I made my vows as a Passionist fifty-five years ago. This is a yoke that has made me happy and fulfilled.     

 

Fr. Michael Hoolahan, C.P. is on the staff of Mater Dolorosa Passionist Retreat Center, Sierra Madre, California.

Scripture:
Isaiah 7:1-9
Matthew 11:20-24

Reflection:
What if you knew for certain that there was an event about to take place and you told everyone you knew and no one listened to you? Perhaps in some small measure you would then understand Jesus’ voicing his frustration in today’s gospel.

Jesus preached the Kingdom of God and He preached its imminent arrival. He knew it was going to happen and He wanted all God’s faithful to be ready. He was, as we say in modern parlance, "a change agent." Jesus not only proclaimed the event, He was the event! He in himself embodied the Kingdom. As God he knew, like the Jewish Prophets before him, that the coming of the Kingdom signaled a different way of being…of living one’s daily life, of interacting with one’s fellows. And he showed this not only by the way he lived His life but by the way he touched others lives as well. Echoing the words of the Prophet Isaiah, Jesus had no doubts of God’s in-breaking into the world. He was "firm in faith and stood firm!"

So you might be able to imagine Jesus’ utter amazement when the cities in which His greatest miracles were done did not take seriously his message. These cities were blessed with a "preview" of God’s action in the world, but they refused to change. Whether out of fear or ignorance or even willful pride, these sophisticated cities of Chorazin, Bethsaida or Capernaum just couldn’t be bothered.

And what of us? Do we really take seriously Jesus message of the Kingdom? Do we live the change the Gospel proclaims? Are we truly "firm in faith?"  

 

Patrick Quinn is the Director of Planned Giving for the Province Development Office in Chicago.

 

Scripture:

Isaiah 1:10-17
Matthew 10:34-11:1

Reflection:

Once Swami Vivekanandha asked his disciples a question. When is it that you are in the daylight, and when is that you are in the night? One of the disciple said, "when the sun rises it is day and when the sun sets it is night?" Another disciple said, "When I can distinguish between a rope and a snake from a distance then it is day, if I fail then I am in the night." After being dissatisfied with their answers, he said to his disciples, "When you see from afar a man or a woman as your brother and sister, then you are in the light; when you fail to see in a man or a woman as your brother and sister then you are in darkness."

In the first reading today, God was dissatisfied with the worship and prayers of the people because their life was far away from bringing justice to the poor and needy. The poor were treated unjustly because the rich distanced themselves from them. God demands that worship has to be consistent with the practice of justice on behalf of the downtrodden, the helpless, the orphans and the widows. God hears our prayers especially  when we dedicate our life to the poor and the needy.

In the gospel today, the call to discipleship requires sacrifices which invole absolute dedication to Jesus even over familial ties. As St. Benedict says, "Prefer nothing whatever to Christ". Then, Jesus promises the rewards of discipleship and his complete identification with his disciples. "He who welcomes you, welcomes me…"  "Whatever you have done to the least of my brothers and sisters you have done to me."  Let us pray that we may be faithful to God’s call and bring justice through our love for our brothers and sisters beyond our boundaries.

 

Fr. A. Justin Nelson, C.P. is member of the Indian Passionist Vicariate and is currently serving as associate pastor at St. Agnes Parish in Louisville, Kentucky.

Scripture:

Isaiah 6:1-8
Matthew 10:24-33

Reflection:

"Nothing is concealed that will not be revealed, nor secret that will not be known."

Hmmm…really?  If that is the case, I’d better start watching pretty carefully what I say in secret.  Despite my resolutions to the contrary, it is too easy behind closed doors to make comments about others that I would never say to them in person.

I grew up that way.  Mine is a large and loving family, yet we have an unfortunate habit of talking about other people behind their backs.  More than once, I was the last person to know that several siblings were angry with me over something, because they spent months talking about it together without telling me.  Even today, the amount of "secret" talk (sometimes bordering on gossip) in the family circle can be substantial.

But what happens when secrets are revealed?  Inevitably, people are hurt on both sides, and sometimes the consequences are devastating.  People in my family have certainly been hurt.  In the public sphere, respected figures are forced to resign when "offline" comments are captured by an errant microphone, and we regularly hear stories of people feeling betrayed when another’s true feelings, motivations, or actions can no longer be hidden.

On another level, too, every time I hear those around me speak negatively about another person in their absence, it makes me wonder who I can trust.  Are people really being honest with me, or are they saying things to make me feel good while offering their true opinion to others out of my hearing?  If they talk about others that way behind their backs, what are they saying about me behind mine?  Am I being ridiculed in ways I don’t even realize?

Then I catch myself saying negative things about another person to someone else, and I have to ask myself the same questions.  How accountable am I and with how much integrity do I speak?  How often do I destroy just a bit of someone’s soul, a bit of their reputation, behind their back?  What purpose do I serve when I complain without going to the person and discussing it face to face?  If someone would feel hurt or offended by my comments, why am I saying them?  How often do I build up the Reign of God with my private remarks, and how often do I tear it down? 

As Jesus reminds us, each person is counted.  Each word is heard.  Each attitude is recorded.  Those people about whom I speak are more precious than a thousand sparrows.  When I denigrate people behind their backs, there is no good excuse.  I can only stand before God and say "Woe is me!  I am a person of unclean lips." 

It is a hard habit to break, but I am working on it. With today’s readings echoing in my ears, I pray the angel’s burning charcoal may purge my mouth, heart, and mind, that one day soon I will not be embarrassed or ashamed to have anyone hear in person what I said about them in private.

 

Amy Florian is a teacher and consultant working in Chicago.  For many years she has partnered with the Passionists.  Visit Amy’s  website: http://www.amyflorian.com/.

 

Passionist Feast of
Mary, Our Mother of Holy Hope

Scripture:

Hosea 14:2-10
Matthew 10:16-23

Reflection:

The feast of Mary, Our Mother of Holy Hope, is celebrated in the Passionist Congregation, but not the general calendar. Celebrating such feasts is a way of nourishing Passionist spirituality throughout the year by recalling aspects of the central mystery of Our Lord’s Passion

There is a choice in the first reading: Sirach 24:1,3-4,8-12,19-21. Wisdom proclaims her glory before her people. For her we will hunger and thirst; obeying we will not be put to shame and serving her we will never fail. Or, in Acts 1:12-14, we see Mary with the apostles and disciples in constant prayer after Our Lord’s Ascension. The Response for today is the Magnificat of Mary, "My soul proclaims the goodness of the Lord", and our refrain, "Hail, O Mary, our hope". The Gospel is the wedding feast of Cana, John 2:1-11.

How might the feast of Our Mother of Holy Hope speak to us as lovers of the Passion? Another Marian feast is Our Mother of Sorrows, Mary beneath the cross. Here we may feel the invitation to stand with her, to comfort her, and enter with her into the mystery Jesus’ love upon the Cross. But in today’s feast we share with others the fruit of the Cross, the Tree of Life. The Preface for the feast, "Mary, Mother and Sign of Hope", shows Mary, having stood by the Cross, as the unfading star of hope and consolation before the dawn of everlasting day. We would stand with her again, each of us stars of hope in the nights of darkness.

We speak of the Passion of Christ as the love story of God told new. But not everyone approaches the Cross confidently. Many people see the Cross of Jesus and become afraid. They cannot go from the Cross as beacons of hope. Maybe their path is first to find comfort in the good that comes from the victory of the Cross, the hope and strength that brings consolation into our lives. Then they may draw near to the Cross of Christ without fear?

This feast is one that nourishes our compassionate sharing with those who suffer, our visits at the hospital bedside when words run out, our prayers for those frustrated who seek fulfillment, the failure, the abandoned. In the Gospel of the wedding of Cana, Mary tells the waiters to do what Jesus directs, although Jesus seems to dismiss her request  saying, woman, my hour has not come. Every mother knows that her work has not ended the day her child comes to life in the world. Indeed! Mary’s work as Mother continues as does that of every mother, she continues to share in the work of Redemption, guiding her son as only a mother can. Your hour has indeed come; off to work. Her hope is our hope.

Passionist Bishop and martyr Blessed Eugene Bossilkov, CP was arrested in Sophia, Bulgaria, in 1952. Alone and in prison he was put to death by a firing squad late one night. He served a persecuted Church and suffered greatly. He writes in a beautiful letter that things are bad, but he is a son of the Province of Our Lady of Holy Hope (Holland) and so he keeps going. May hope keep us going, may it be the star’s light to brighten the lives of others.

 

Fr. Bill Murphy, C.P. is a member of St. Paul of the Cross Province and is pastor of St. Joseph’s Monastery parish in Baltimore, Maryland.

Scripture:

Hosea 11:1-4, 8c-9
Matthew 10:7-15

Reflection:

St. Paul of the Cross realized the necessity of benefactors in order to fulfill our mission. He spoke of our benefactors in the highest regard and showed great reverence for our greatest benefactors: parents of religious. As a priest I realize that I need partners, friends, and co-ministers to help me in my work of proclaiming the Gospel. Some contribute financially, some pray for me, and others help me in various ways to get the message out to as many as possible.

Recently at a mission I was preaching, an 8^th grade girl approached my book table and wanted to buy God’s Not Boring! When I tried to give her the book she insisted that she wanted to pay. I relented because I know that when you give to God, it always returns to you many times over. I didn’t want to prevent her from developing good habits of giving and receiving.

Jesus also realized the necessity of benefactors. In his missionary instructions, along with what to proclaim and even what to wear, he invites his disciples to find people of peace who will help them with their important ministry. I marvel at how God works through the people in my life who assist me in proclaiming the Gospel. As a community, we have countless people from every walk of life who assist us in our mission. I thank God for our many benefactors who contribute out of their resources and talents. We pray for these people, celebrate them, and ask God to continue to give us "divine connections" in the future.

 

Fr. Cedric Pisegna, C.P. is a missionary preacher, author of 14 books and creator of the TV program Live with Passion! airing in many cities. You can learn more about his ministry at: http://www.frcedric.org/

Scripture:

Hosea 10:1-3, 7-8, 12
Matthew 10:1-7

Reflection:

The Eternal All-Holy God created humankind in holiness, but the first man chose to be independent of God.  Evil multiplied with murder  wholesale and  retail.

God began to help humankind back by calling special people to lead.  That is why we have Abraham, Moses, Isaiah, Mary, Joseph, John the Baptist.  God would work through humans.  For that reason the Son of God became man.  For that reason Jesus came as truly human.  For that reason Jesus chose the 12 in today’s gospel.

What happened in the past is happening now.  God chooses  other human beings to continue his work.  He chose a Mother Teresa for Calcutta.  He chose a Fr. Rick Frechette for Haiti.  He chooses thousands and thousands to do his work,

Jesus wipes out the sinful independence of Adam, but he seeks other apostles today  to continue his work of salvation.  Vatican II makes that clear: all peoples’ right and duty to be apostles derives from their union with Christ their head. 

"On all Christians rests the obligation to bring all people the whole world over to hear and accept the divine message of salvation.  That is the essential work of Christ’s redemption."  It is shared by Pope Benedict XVI, by the last priest ordained, but just as truly by every adult baptized into Christ – cooks, bakers, teachers, mechanics, computer operators. 

And as apostles, we are concerned not only with churchy activities but in everything we do, to make this a safer, more beautiful world to live in. The mission of the Church is not only to bring people the message and grace of God, but to improve the world in which we live.

The great Apostle Paul did God’s work in his preaching and writing, but by using his skill to weave tough tent cloth he supported himself and his companions. That too was an  apostolic labor!

To be an apostle means to do all for and in Christ.  Some do it today on special missions to disaster areas, others keep their families together in the faith that is Christ’s work. All of this is done by 21st century apostles. 

 

Fr. Fred Sucher, C.P. is retired and lives in the Passionist community in Chicago.  For many years he taught philosophy to Passionist seminarians.  

Feast of St. Maria Goretti 

Scripture:

Hosea 8:4-7, 11-13
Matthew 9:32-38

Reflection:

Hosea is in a different mood today than yesterday. On Monday Hosea was encouraging the people by describing how loving and faithful their God was. It was good news. Today, we hear bad news. The prophet, speaking for God, warns the people they are about to move on. No, they won’t be going south to the country of Egypt, but north to Assyria, whose strong armies would conquer Israel, destroy the land and force the people of Assyria to be slaves. Why?

We are told that the people did not listen to the word of God, the warnings of the prophets or to their own deeper sense of what is right and wrong. Their leaders took the throne by violence, certainly not God’s choice. Worse, they melted down their silver and gold to make false gods. Hosea warned them to get rid of them. "When they sow the wind, they will reap the whirlwind." One evil leads to something much worse. Israel sowed the wind of idolatry and reaped the whirlwind of Assyria.

In the Gospel Jesus must deal with people who also do not listen. In fact the section of today’s Gospel is preceded by several healing stories. We know that the stories of those who cannot see or hear or speak have deeper spiritual meaning. For Jesus, the spiritual reality is more serious than physical blindness or deafness or inability to speak. The Pharisees in the Gospel, like the people during Hosea’s time, are blind because they cannot see or do not want to see God at work; they are deaf because they do not hear or do not want to understand the truth; they are speechless because they cannot speak the words of life, love or hope.

When Jesus mentions that the harvest is rich but the workers are few, he is inviting us to see, hear and speak on his behalf. He cannot do it all. In fact, Jesus will hardly step outside the boundaries of Palestine. He needs many helpers. These helpers are not just the bishops, priests, religious brothers and sisters. That would be a very narrow concept of "laborers." Every baptized person has been called by God to be a harvester, to help people find and experience the truth and the love that God gives us through Jesus Christ. We all have a vocation to serve and build the Kingdom.

 

Fr. Don Webber, C.P., is Provincial Superior of Holy Cross Province and resides in Chicago.