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Scripture:

Hosea 2:16, 17b-18, 21-22
Matthew 9:18-26

Reflection:

Perhaps you’ve noticed that the Gospels are written quite sequentially.  Jesus deals with one task at a time, works through it, brings closure, and then moves on to the next event.   But for most of us, real life isn’t like this.   For most of us we are perpetually interrupted with needs, and problems of others to the point it is difficult to get anything completed.   In our lifetimes these interruptions have become so normative that we’ve actually created the word, "Multi-tasking" suggesting that all of us are expected to be able to attain this.   I like the gospel today quite simply because it is one of such few places that Jesus is interrupted.   Yes, that is right, Jesus displays his multi-tasking skills.   

Most of us are probably familiar with this gospel story and have heard it many, many times.  Jesus is on his way to an official’s house to heal his daughter. As he is walking along there is a woman with a hemorrhaging who touches the tassel of his cloak and experiences healing.  The Church today gives us Matthew’s  version of the story.  It has been shortened and has fewer details than the more frequently read version in Mark’s Gospel. 

Another significant difference between these two stories is that Mark names this official Jarus, a leader of the synagogue.   Mark will have Jairus come to Jesus because his daughter is ill.  It isn’t until after the woman is healed that someone will come and announce that his little girl has died.  By this time Jesus has already committed to going to the house.    

Matthew shortens this story. Matthew leaves the man nameless. He is known as an official or a ruler in another translation.   Matthew places less emphasis on the woman with a hemorrhaging. But most significantly, Matthew begins the story with this official coming to Jesus because his daughter has died.  This is far different than Mark’s Gospel were Jarus and Jesus begin the journey because the girl is sick, and find out about her death after the healing of the woman with a hemorrhaging.  Why is this significant?  Because this official now comes to Jesus not to heal his little girl but specifically to ask Jesus to bring her back to life after she has died.   Here is a man who is asking Jesus to be resurrection.  He comes to Jesus with the truth that his daughter has died.    Come and resurrect her!!!   Here is a man who believes in resurrection.    See, this man is already speaking of death and resurrection!  Whether or not he is Jewish or not, he believes in death and resurrection.    Now Jesus’ reason for going to this man’s house is completely different than it would be in Mark’s gospel.    He is going to raise the dead.    He is being asked to do what his mission is about.  I also think that he is filled with tremendous compassion.  

I need to speculate for a moment.  Perhaps you’ve noticed that when people are empowered to do something and given a task they know they can accomplish, especially when it involves tremendous training, preparation, repetition, and anticipation, people seem to rise to a new level.  They are filled with confidence, and a sense of purpose and mission.  If you have seen this in your children you will notice they carry themselves differently.  When people who are in their 50’s and 60’s speak about this to me, it is as though their entire life is culminating into one event or one specific moment.  The look in their eyes is filled with light, meaning and purpose, and it is so empowering!   It’s empowering for me to witness a person rise to a new challenge, knowing they have the skills, talents, and gifts to accomplish this challenge.   Sometimes people whose lives are all coming together for them just start to glow.  So I must ask the question, do you think it was any different for Jesus?   

A man, who perhaps is not even Jewish, comes up, kneels down in front of Jesus, and requests him to raise his daughter from the dead.  To understand the significance of this you must put aside your knowledge of the death and resurrection of Jesus.  This story happens before Jesus’s death and resurrection.  If Jesus knows internally that he is the resurrection and the life, and this man is asking Jesus to be who Jesus most authentically is, (resurrection) then Jesus must have been tickled and thrilled!   As they are walking toward the house, would there have been a difference in Jesus’ eyes?  Would he have carried himself differently?    My answer to this question is absolutely yes.  Why do I say this?  Because I see it in human people so frequently.  And Jesus was a human person.

I’m left still a little puzzled though by the interjected story of the woman with a hemorrhaging.  Matthew edits the story by removing the question and dialogue of, "Who touched me" which Mark was so emphatic about.  We frequently interpret the story out of the desperation of the woman.  However, given what was said above, if Jesus is carrying himself differently, if Jesus is acutely glowing, then she touches Jesus not out of her desperation but out of his goodness.  The first one is about her.  The second one is about him.  Putting this in terms of ourselves, do we touch Jesus out of our sinfulness or out of his goodness?

I invite you to think about that today, but more importantly, spend some time pondering how you invite Jesus to be resurrection in the midst of your death.  I think Jesus gets pretty thrilled about that invitation!

 

Fr. David Colhour, C.P. is on the staff at Christ the King Passionist Retreat Center, Citrus Heights, California.

Scripture:

Isaiah 66:10-14c
Galatians 6:14-18
Luke 10:1-12, 17-20

Reflection:

Discipleship Today

Last Sunday’s Gospel sets the tone for today’s liturgy:  Jesus wants His followers – you and I – to do what we can to spread the message of God’s Love.  Today’s Gospel selection from St. Luke recounts Jesus sending out the early disciples by two’s, with little else than one another and the message of "peace".  Super-simplicity…Wow!

There’s a sense of urgency in Jesus’ words:  the harvest is great, but workers are few.  He wanted people to experience God’s special love for each of them, and He likewise realized that many people would hesitate to take Him at His word – and so He called upon his disciples to "pound the pavements" of times past and present and use their gifts to help make this Good News known.

Each of us in our Baptism becomes a member of God’s family the Church, and thus helps further shape the mission outreach Jesus proclaims in today’s Gospel.  We may not be dynamic street preachers, or great writers, or in other ways powerful or rich – but we each are called to witness Gospel values and live Jesus-centered lives.  We each have a vocation that embraces either married life, single life, priestly/religious life.  Our vocational life-witness includes an informed, enthusiastic, simple, respectful approach to daily events and our fellow human beings…based on the values proclaimed in the life of Jesus…celebrating God’s presence and love for each of us.

Today we’re encouraged to be open to "surprises", like the early 72 disciples:  they went out simply, and came back rejoicing at what happened!  Jesus reminded them…and us…it’s not what you do, it’s who you are.  We’re likewise encouraged to be grateful for our faith – and on this 4^th of July weekend, grateful for our gifts and responsibilities as U.S. citizens. 

May God help each of us to joyfully and faithfully continue living out our vocations, witnessing to God’s Life and Love in our needy world.  Yes, the harvest is great; our world needs God’s gift of peace and healing…and Jesus’ Love will transform us all!

 

Fr. John Schork, C.P. is the local leader of the Passionist community in Louisville, Kentucky.

 

 

Feast of Saint Thomas, Apostle 

Scripture:

Ephesians 2:19-22
John 20:24-29

Reflection:

"You are no longer strangers and sojourners…" the opening lines of St. Paul’s letter to the Ephesians,  the proper reading for today’s feast of St. Thomas the Apostle. Yes, I can get in touch with being "stranger and sojourner." When I am up against an evil that I cannot change but can resist, like racism, or solutions addressed with deadly force (abortion, war), I know what it means to be the stranger. When I make every attempt to contribute to the change of another’s life for the good, and do not look for results or acknowledgements, I know what it means to be a sojourner. Thomas gets the rap for being the "doubter," and that is a good thing..someone with whom we can identify. A spiritual blog I read says, "Out of chaos often comes the greatest creativity. We know this is the very nature of the universe. And the only thing that can endure deep doubt or anxiety is deep faith. ..those who can tolerate ambiguity and hold darkness are those who rise to great faith. Faith gets purified every time you go through the cycle of doubt and failure." So what does Jesus want Thomas to do, in order to believe from within, in the face of certain doubt? "Put your finger here…" Who knows where the Spirit  wants to lead us during our mission journey on this planet. The Spirit led Thomas to India.  Who knows where taking our doubts to Jesus will lead us. Don’t be afraid of touching the wounds through which He invites us into His mission of global reconciliation. It is all part of our Passionist charism.

 

Fr. Alex Steinmiller, C.P. is president of Holy Family Cristo Rey High School, Birmingham, Alabama.

Scripture:

Amos 7:10-17
Matthew 9:1-8

Reflection:

I don’t usually turn on the TV in the morning, but today I wanted to check the weather.

A cable station came up first. The man being interviewed was young and handsome and quite earnest. He was talking about his strength of faith. He didn’t seem artificially certain about it, but very genuine and full of life.

The camera pulled back and what was revealed in the longer shot was that he had no arms or legs; just one tiny foot beneath his trunk.  I don’t know if he had been born to a mother who had taken thalidomide or not.

He talked about how deeply he carried Christ in his heart. He talked about how he had come to be at peace with himself. What particularly struck me was when he said (to the best of my memory), "What I learned was that I was a broken man not because I had no arms or legs, but because I was broken within. Once I realized that I could be whole inside, I no longer felt incomplete."

Today in the Gospel, Jesus performs a miracle. Making the lame man walk is, of course, miraculous, but before that, he heals the paralytic’s sins.  This, Jesus reminds the scribes, is the far harder thing to do, perhaps in part because the one who is lost must be open and accepting of the grace that is being offered.  Our bodies can be restored and that is a wondrous gift, but it is our hearts’ readiness to receive the spirit of Christ that is truly transformative.

Clearly this young man opened his heart to receive a grace that has made the nearly unbearable, bearable.  His embrace of his cross has opened a door into a new life: a life where he is whole, where he is loved, and where, in his words, he is "not a broken man but a child of God." 

 

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

 

Scripture:

Amos 5:14-15, 21-24
Matthew 8:28-34

 

 

 

Reflection:

In the Broadway Play, My Fair Lady, we have these words from Eliza Doolittle to Freddie,

                 "Sing me no song! Read me no rhyme!
                  Don’t waste my time, Show me!
                  Don’t talk of June, Don’t talk of fall!
                  Don’t talk at all! Show me!"

The young lady wanted more than mere words about love. She wanted some demonstration that made these words believable.  

In today’s reading from the prophet Amos, God tells his people he wants more than mere words and external sacrifices.  They are empty of meaning, indeed a lie, unless they are followed by actions of justice and goodness.  God wants authentic worship or no worship at all.

These words challenge us to reflect on how well we live out what we do at Sunday Mass.  At Mass we offer ourselves with Christ to the Father.  We say "Amen," receiving Christ into our hearts and recommitting ourselves to be his followers.  Then we are sent forth into the world

That means that, during the week, we are to seek good and not evil.  That means we are to express compassion, show hospitality and forgive. That means we are to work for justice, show patience, wash the feet of others and serve.  That means we are to hug the earth and all those who live on it.  

In short, during the week, we are to think like Christ, speak like Christ, act like Christ, and love like Christ.  Our focus is on doing the Father’s will, and into the Father’s hands we continually commend our spirit.

To live out the Mass means to let Christ enter our hearts and take over our lives.  With his justice surging in us and his goodness flowing through us, our words and sacrifice on Sunday will be very authentic and very pleasing to the Father. 

 

Fr. Alan Phillip, C.P. is a member of the Passionist Community at Mater Dolorosa Retreat Center, Sierra Madre, California.  http://www.alanphillipcp.com/

 

Scripture:

Amos 2:6-10, 13-16
Matthew 8:18-22

Reflection:

Today’s Gospel offers us a challenge.   Sandwiched between stories of Jesus’ miracles, the Gospel calls us to total commitment.   It is almost as though Jesus is telling us:   Look what I do! Does this not tell you who I am?  Do you not know that you must make me and my message the biggest priority in your life?  "Follow me, and let the dead bury their dead."

For many of us, it is at this point that Christianity gets to be a bit more than we may have bargained for.  We are caught up in a world of daily chores, worries and problems that take a toll on us.  We are busy people.  Our conversation with God  might go something like this.  Well, I want to follow you, but first I have to make one more sale at the business, or arrange my daughter’s wedding, or plan the Soccer team outing, or go to this concert or…..  But Jesus says, "Follow me, and let the dead bury their dead."

It isn’t that the things we do are evil – in fact, many of them are acts of goodness and kindness.  But Jesus says, "Follow me, and let the dead bury their dead."   What does our commitment to Jesus and to Christianity mean in our lives?

Today is also the Feast day of St. Ireneaus.  St. Ireneaus was an early Bishop and Church Father.  Born in the Second Century, he did much to define Christianity and to refute heresies.  St. Ireneaus as Bishop and Missionary,  certainly must have led a busy life, filled with many demands, and yet, he found time to write several books that proved to set foundational beliefs of our Church.  I wonder what he would have said to God about his commitment.  Did he say, I want to follow you, but first I have to….or did he listen well to the message "Follow me, and let the dead bury their dead?"  It seems as though  he  must indeed have set Jesus and Christianity as his top priority.

How deep is our commitment?  Do we really put Jesus first in our lives?  Do we listen to Jesus and "…let the dead bury their dead?"

 

Mary Lou Butler ([email protected]) is the interim administrator at Christ the King Passionist Retreat Center, Citrus Heights, California. 

Scripture:

Lamentations 2:2, 10-14, 18-19
Matthew 8:5-17

Reflection:

"He took away our infirmities and bore our diseases."

In today’s Gospel, Jesus encounters a centurion who asks Jesus to come and heal one of his servants.  This soldier, in command of other soldier’s below him understands what it means to be in a position of authority, but also what it means to be subject to authority.  He humbly tells Jesus that he is not worthy to have Jesus enter his house.  Moved by this soldier’s strong faith, Jesus heals the servant. After this event, many were brought to Jesus to be healed.

How many times have we prayed, even begged, asking Jesus to heal or cure a loved one?  I know I’ve done it too often.  What about the stories we hear of people who have been miraculously cured of an illness?  Is that not Jesus present in our lives? How else does Jesus heal us?  It does not have to be a physical illness.  Even just having a good day where everything seems to fall into place, everything works the way it is supposed to and all is good.  Is that not a form of healing?

The next time something goes right in our lives; maybe it’s a project we’ve been working on, or you just have a really good day and are in a great mood, pause for a moment and say thank you, Jesus, for that little bit of healing.

 

Claire Smith is on staff at the Holy Cross Province Development Office in Chicago, Illinois.

Birth of St. John the Baptist 

Scripture:

Isaiah 49:1-6
Acts 13:22-26
Luke 1:57-66, 80

Reflection:

In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."     At first glance John the Baptist can appear very harsh and severe.  If we look closely at his message we see he really wants us to change of mind about God.  The word for repent in the inspired Greek New Testament is metanoeo which means to think differently about God.  

John the Baptist is passionate about God because God is passionate about us.   From the opening pages of Scripture God’s feelings about us are ardent.   I think most of us have very little notion of just how strongly God feels about us.   John the Baptist even to this day is to move us to care more deeply about God. 

John is to prepare us for God’s ultimate expression of love in Jesus.  It is fashionable today to be casual about religion.    Somehow in our culture to be laid-back about God is considered the sophisticated and acceptable way to act.  In our anxiousness to please others and avoid rejection we are slack and limp in preaching the Gospel by our words and manner.

John the Baptist is a man on fire.   When he was asked who he was he said I am a voice crying out in the desert.  ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; make his paths straight.’ "  The greatest evil in the world is not the oil spill, or poverty, or injustice.   The greatest evil  in the world is not to have Christ.   This is the greatest disaster  and catastrophe that can happen to individuals and society.    For John the Baptist all else was secondary and important  only as a way to prepare for the coming of Christ. 

John the Baptist is antidote  for the poison of apathy towards God.   He is a powerful figure that reminds us that Jesus is the First and the Last of our lives.   The author of the Letter to the Hebrews says that Christ is everything to everyone.

 

Fr. Bob Weiss, C.P. gives parish missions and retreats.  He is a member of the Passionist community in Detroit, Michigan.