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Scripture:

Genesis 17:3-9
John 8:51-59

Reflection:

The refrain of the responsorial psalm, "The Lord remembers his covenant for ever" announces the theme for this date’s liturgy: God is faithful.  As we make our way through the final days of Lent and head toward the climactic finish of Holy Week, we will be urged by the readings to focus again and again on God’s faithfulness to His promises.  Our Lenten observance seeks to prepare us for the celebration of Easter – the great expression of God’s fidelity to his Son and Servant Jesus.  As God was faithful to promises made to Abraham and all covenanted with Him in the historical sweep of the Old Testament, so will God’s bond of love and support for Jesus not be broken by death.  In Resurrection, God vindicates the work and suffering of Jesus and validates the message of his great and faithful servant.  The faithfulness of God is an important idea and concept for us, for it is the basis of hope.  As we know, we live in a world and a situation desperately needing hope.  Today’s liturgy reminds us that it is not foolish nor naïve to cling to hope in a better day and in the triumph of goodness over evil.  This was the faith that nourished and motivated the great saints and martyrs whose witness and example continues to inspire us today.

 

Fr. Jim Thoman, C.P. is the director of St. Paul of the Cross Passionist Retreat and Conference Center, Detroit, Michigan.

Scripture:

Jeremiah 20:10-13
John 10:31-42

Reflection:

Jesus makes the statement which would have him condemned to die. "I am God’s Son." Are we not reminded constantly that we are God’s image? Well, here it is, Jesus is pointing out to the Jewish leaders, "Is it not written in your law, ‘I said, you are gods?’" "The Father is in me and I am in the Father."

This is a meditation in itself, I am the image of God today, in public. The scandal? The blasphemy? How can the Almighty "fit" in our weak, limited flesh? Is that in itself a "faith question" for me? Do I accept the Loving Presence of God within me? Do I act in the confidence that God is in me, through Jesus’ name? Am I willing to be treated as He is?

But is there something even more significant to what is going on here in the discussion with these leaders? In public, Jesus had just healed a young man born blind on the legally, sacred Sabbath. And then, in public, he describes himself as the Good Shepherd, who lays down His life for his flock.  Is that too much to hear and to bear? The willingness to sacrifice all for the other’s sake? The willingness to put others’ welfare before my own?

In taking up my responsibility, daily, to image God publicly, the words of Jeremiah are right on!

 

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

Scripture:

Daniel 13:1-9, 15-17, 19-30, 33-62
John 8:1-11

Reflection:

Today’s gospel is about a woman caught in adultery.  The people that gathered around her were all set to stone her to death.  They asked Jesus, "What do you have to say about this?"  And with profound wisdom Jesus challenges them, "Let the one among you who has no sin be the first to cast a stone at her."  They all walk away.

"He who cannot forgive others breaks the bridge over which he himself must cross."                                                                                  

                                                                                                — George Herbert

Forgiveness begins with self-knowledge.  We look down at our feet of clay and remember the times when we were sinful, and we stood in need of forgiveness.  Realizing that we are less than perfect prompts us to realize that others are less than perfect too.  In fact, imperfect people are all we have here on earth.  How do imperfect people live together in peace?  By the constant use of those two sentences, "I’m sorry," and "I forgive."  With these two sentences weaving in and out of our relationships, we end up with a beautiful and durable fabric of family and community. 

"Could we read the secret history of our enemies we should find in each one’s life, suffering and sorrow enough to disarm all hostility." 

                                                                                           — William Longfellow

Secondly, forgiveness builds on knowledge of the other.  If we knew the troubles and difficulties of other’s lives, e.g. their abusive upbringing, their physical and emotional problems, their temptations, their addictions, their humiliations, their ignorance, or their broken dreams, we would find much cause to be patient and understanding.  Like an umpire, we can call another’s action wrong, but we cannot judge the human heart.  Only God knows what goes on inside the human conscience and how free is another’s choice. 

So Jesus said to the woman, "Nor do I condemn you.  You may go.  But from now on, avoid this sin."  The gospel doesn’t tell us her reaction, but I suspect she thanked Jesus, hugged him, and skipped off with an indelible joy that only the gift of forgiveness can bring.

 

Fr. Alan Phillip, C.P. is a member of the Passionist Community at Mater Dolorosa Retreat Center, Sierra Madre, California.

Scripture:

Daniel 3:14-20, 91-92, 95
John 8:31-42

Reflection:

Both readings today offer examples of truth-telling: The three young men, their lives threatened with a fiery death in the furnace of King Nebuchadnezzar and Jesus, inviting leaders to accept the truth he has learned from God. Each face leaders with power to destroy them. These leaders do not want God’s ways or truth.  They have their own visions of reality and the power to impose them.

Rather than be co-opted by the values of society of their time, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the Book of Daniel spoke their truth:  "… O king, we will not serve your god or worship the golden statue that you set up." 

 Jesus in John’s Gospel speaks his truth to those Jews who believe in him, "If you remain in my word, you will truly be my disciples and you will know the truth and the truth will set you free."   

Where today are we called to speak the powerful truths … "we have learned from God"? (Jn. 8:40).  To whom? For whom? For what issues?  Are we ready to face the consequences of our words and actions because we believe that God calls us all to love one another rather than hate, to work for justice so as to bring about peace and to share our goods so that no one on this planet goes hungry?

Let us join together in prayer:  God of great love and truth be with us.  Speak through us. Act in us.  Make us instruments of your peace and presence to all we meet today.  May we speak Truth to power today.

 

 Sr. Marcella Fabing, CSJ, is on the staff of Christ the King Passionist Retreat Center, Citrus Heights, California.

Scripture:

Numbers 21:4-9
John 8:21-30

Reflection:

"…Where I am going you cannot come…but you will die in your sin."

Most of us have all heard the expression, "You have nobody to blame but yourself."  You’ve probably used it, I have.  And while that axiom is true in many ways in the natural world, it is also true in the spiritual dimension as well.  When anyone dies in their sins, they have no one to blame but themselves

Jesus told the Pharisees that where he was going they could not come.  The Pharisees incorrectly interpreted his words to mean that Jesus was going to commit suicide, and consequently go to hell where they, as "righteous" people could not follow.  This was a case of incredible irony.  Jesus would lay down his life, not by suicide, but in sacrifice, and he would thereby pass, not to hell, but to the glory of heaven where indeed the "self-righteous Pharisees" could not go because of their sins.

Jesus came to call sinners out of love for them.  He was considerate of the tax collectors, lenient toward the woman taken in adultery, and merciful toward those suffering because of their sins.  Yet Jesus was stern with the Pharisees, and to no one else did he address such words as, "You will die in your sins" (and he repeats this sentiment three times in today’s reading).

We "die in our sin" when we choose to be self-righteous, worldly, unbelieving and to live in darkness. 

Jesus concludes today’s reading; "The one who sent me is with me.  He has not left me alone, because I always do what is pleasing to him.  Because he spoke this way, many came to believe in him."  That’s Good News…….What about us?  Are we willing to "do what is pleasing to him?"

 

Deacon Brian Clements is on the retreat team at Mater Dolorosa Passionist Retreat Center, Sierra Madre, California. 

Scripture:

Jeremiah 11:18-20
John 7:40-53

Reflection:

Today’s Gospel reading and the verses that precede it tell us of two ways that the people of Jesus’ time used to consider whether or not Jesus was the Messiah.   First there were the people who believed in Him because of the miracles that He performed, and then there were others who believed because of the way he spoke at the temple.  They asked one another, "Is He the Messiah?  Is He the prophet?"    And they struggled for proof one way or the other. Even with all that they heard and all that they saw, they remained skeptical, and few seemed to have faith that indeed Jesus was the anticipated Messiah.

Jesus renounces a plea to "go public" as we would put it today.  He does not seem at all concerned about whether or not he has the popular vote.  In fact, even when Jesus does go to the temple for the Feast of the Tabernacles, he does so in secret.  But still all around him, the discussion continues and "the Jews look for Him."

In the meantime, the chief priests and Pharisees disparage the possibility that Jesus is the Messiah by using the argument that the authorities and Pharisees do not believe that Jesus is The Christ, therefore there is no point in anyone else even considering that Jesus might be the Messiah. 

What is it that leads us to belief in Christ?  Is it the Words of Scripture?  Is it miracles we witness?   We believe that Faith is a gift from God.  We need only be open to the gift.  God will always give himself to us if we are open.  We also know that God is love and that love becomes manifest through humanity.  God is revealed in love and we see God in the love and good works of the Saints, or in the good people that we meet in our daily lives. 

Let’s not forget during these last weeks of Lent, that we, too, are called to be signs of God’s love.  As Christians, it is up to us to be open to the signs of faith and love in our lives and as Christians, it is up to us to find the ways that we can serve as signs of faith and love to others.

 

Mary Lou Butler is a former staff member and is now a member of the Mater Dolorosa Passionist Retreat Center Board, Sierra Madre, California. 

Scripture:

Wisdom 2:1a, 12-22
John 7:1-2, 10, 25-30

Reflection:

"The wicked said among themselves,
Thinking not aright:
‘Let us beset the just one’…"

It’s always been amazing to me how perfectly sensible our own crazy thinking can seem to us! I say this, of course, from personal experience, from those times (which, undoubtedly, will be repeated) when I was so sure that the way I saw the world or another person or their actions was truly accurate.

But the first reading and the Gospel, of course, hit the nail on the head. So much of human folly at the least and human brutality at the worst come from "not thinking aright": from actively believing that our flawed human perception, formed often by fear and anger, is somehow truer than God’s infinite and loving wisdom. We’ve even been willing to kill to prove it so.

One of the hardest things for me about being on what I call the "hamster wheel" of my own thinking is that while I’m on that wheel, all I can do is look with the same vision at the same vista and keep running. It’s usually fear that keeps me "on the wheel"; stubbornness and hurt feelings are right up there, too.

The reality is that "thinking not aright" snuffs out life. It killed Christ and it deadens our hearts today. Logic has its rightful place, of course, but God’s logic transcends our own. In the end, who really wants to be one of the blind mob who "knew not the hidden counsels of God; neither did they count on a recompense of holiness nor discern the innocent souls’ reward."?

Just reading those words makes me feel hopeful and forgiven, makes me feel like it’s better to embrace Mystery than to exalt my own judgment.

And please, tomorrow, when I’ve forgotten that I said this, remind me.

 

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

Scripture:

Jeremiah 31:31-34
Responsorial Psalm 51:3-4, 12-13, 14-15
Hebrews 5:7-9
John 12:20-33

Reflection:

In this Gospel John writes about a group of Gentiles who want "to see Jesus." These Gentiles (or Greeks as they are called in John’s gospel) approach Philip who is from Bethsaida, a Greek speaking city in Israel, possibly because they overhead him speaking in their language. You would think Jesus would welcome them, however as John records, their requests only make Jesus more thoughtful, more reflective. Their request for an audience makes Jesus realize that the days of his public ministry are about to come to an end. In only six days Jesus will undergo his passion and death.

"The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified…unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies…whoever loves his life loses it…whoever serves me must follow me." These are some of the most poignant words in John’s gospel. They are recorded to remind John’s listeners (you and me) that salvation comes not by "attracting" others to the message of the gospel, but through "embracing" the person of Jesus on the cross.

Our holy founder Paul of the Cross knew this very well. He writes to his spiritual daughter Agnes Grazi that unless a grain of wheat dies, bears fruit, is harvested, milled and turned into good flour to feed others, it is useless. It does not fulfill the purpose for which it was created.

The same applies to us. It is only in our embrace of Christ on the cross, dying to all that is self (usually in a hundred and one little ways) and transforming that as a gift to others that we really fulfill God’s plan for us and ultimately experience salvation. It is the only way we will get "to see Jesus."      

Do you really want "to see Jesus?" Take the "I" and cross it out and embrace what you see before you. Then you will see Jesus.

 

Patrick Quinn is the director of Planned Giving at the Passionist Development Office in Chicago.