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Scripture:

Revelation 22:1-7
Luke 21:34-36

Reflection:

"Be vigilant at all times and pray that you may have the strength to stand before the Son of Man."

The admonition to "stay vigilant" from today’s gospel reading and the additional emphasis these days on "reading the signs of the times" seem to be connected.  It is not easy to stay vigilant and read the signs of the times around me.  I know I tend to often find myself thinking of days gone past or days that lie ahead.  Living in the present moment is more than challenging; it is often nearly impossible!

I know I should be "mindful" and aware of the present moment; for it is in the present moment where I can share compassion with myself and others.  It is in the present moment where I am truly a Passionist, aware of and sharing in the suffering of my fellow human beings.  God’s love for me freely flowing from the Cross is right now, not yesterday or tomorrow!

The present moment is an experience of "connectedness".  I am connected to God’s love, to others, and to the earth around me.  As Jesus said, we all must strive to be vigilant.  In being vigilant in the present moment, we can be aware of who we are, who God is, and the connection we have with God in all creation.

As we pray Psalm 95 today, let us recall with joy, "He is our God, and we are the people he shepherds, the flock he guides."

 

Terry McDevitt, Ph.D. is a member of our Passionist Family who volunteers at the Passionist Assisted Living Community in Louisville, Kentucky.

Scripture:
Revelation 20:1-4, 11-21:2
Luke 21:29-33

Reflection:
Yesterday we celebrated in song and prayer and gave thanks for all the many blessings we enjoy because of God’s bountiful love for us. The Book of Revelation also gives us something to rejoice about in showing us beautiful picture of the new Jerusalem:

          "Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth.
          The former heaven and the former earth had passed away,     
                    And the sea was no more.
          I also saw the holy city, a new Jerusalem,
                    Coming down out of heaven from God,
                    Prepared as a bride adorned for her husband."  Rev. 21:2

I am reminded of the happiness shared by friends recently as they celebrated a wedding on Saturday and welcomed a new baby on Sunday.  A new daughter-in-law and a first grandchild all in one weekend. Wow!  I am thinking the joy we all felt for them is only a small part of the joy we will experience in the new Jerusalem.  In our humanness it’s almost more than we can fathom.

The psalm response, ‘Here God lives among his people."  Rev. 21:3b gives us reason to feel blessed and at the same time poses a challenge.  As God’s faithful people, as people who look forward to the beauty and blessings that await us in the ‘new Jerusalem’, we are called to see the face of God in all of humanity.  Pretty tough stuff for us proud, independent, somewhat spoiled human beings!  We are pretty good at ‘talking the talk’ but it gets more difficult when we are faced with ‘walking the walk’!

We are going to be judged according to our deeds.  We know this, don’t we?  The problem is ‘knowing’ and ‘doing’ are two different paths.  If we are ever going to see and enjoy the new Jerusalem we have to be people who put our faith into action!  Let us choose to look for God among all people and in all things.  A wise spiritual director told me once, ‘I don’t only look to see God in the good things, but in the not so good as well"!

We are a blessed people no doubt about it.  May we take time to reflect on all the goodness around us and make time in the new year upon us to share the good we have with those less fortunate. 

 

Theresa Secord is a Pastoral Associate at St. Agnes Parish, Louisville, Kentucky.

 

 

Thanksgiving Day (USA) 

Scripture:

Revelation 18:1-2, 21-23; 19:1-3, 9a
Luke 21:20-28

 

 

 

Reflection:

Thanksgiving Day – and the Attitude of Gratitude

Arcadia is a 1993 play by Tom Stoppard concerning the relationship between past and present, order and disorder, certainty and uncertainty. Character Valentine Coverly, a graduate student in mathematics, thunders with joy:

It makes me so happy. To be at the beginning again,
and knowing almost nothing…

A door like this has cracked open
five or six times since we got up on our hind legs.

It’s the best possible time to be alive,
when almost everything you thought you knew
is wrong.

Maybe it is because we have a new Congress or governor, or a new pope… and here in Chicago we have a new archbishop!… but once again things seems upside down, or inside out. For many Christians today, while we may not find everything we thought we knew to be wrong, we are at least reassessing many suppositions about what we thought to be the norm. Yesterday, when Pope Francis celebrated the Rite of Canonization for six new saints, it is noteworthy that he restored the post-Conciliar rite of canonization that was abrogated several years ago when Pope Benedict "unreformed" the rite of Pope Paul VI, and re-introduced that of Pope Pius XII. What is more noteworthy, however, is in hearing the biographies, for each of the six had a special connection with the poor and the suffering.

On this Thanksgiving Day, could this be the reason Jesus again praises a Samaritan? Is Jesus accentuating the gratitude of this "foreigner" to teach us that the beginning of gratitude is an attitude, or disposition? To be a disciple, one must have the inclination toward learning, a willingness to be molded like clay, being informed and formed and transformed by Jesus.

For most of us this means our image of God must change – from triumphalism and power to vulnerability and self-emptying (kenosis). And if we are made to the image and likeness of God, if we are to "be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect" (Matthew 5), then we, too, must reassess.

In his homily for the canonization liturgy on the Feast of Christ the King, Pope Francis said, "Closeness and tenderness are the rule of life for us also.  The starting point of salvation is not the confession of the sovereignty of Christ, but rather the imitation of Jesus’ works of mercy through which he brought about his kingdom." Ahh… to be at the beginning again!

 

Fr. Jack Conley, C.P. is the director of the Office of Mission Effectiveness.  He is a member of the Passionist formation community at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago.

Scripture:

Revelation 15:1-4
Luke 21:12-19

Reflection:

Holidays have the tendency to lose their connectedness to their origins.  I suppose it is inevitable.  None of us were there at the first Christmas. Easter, or Thanksgiving to really understand the profound moment it was.  Even the very word "holiday" is rarely connected to its origin, "holy day."

We desire to mark very special experiences with a moment of pause and reflection.  Anniversaries recognize the faithful endurance of highs and lows in a relationship.  Civic holidays mark moments of national achievement, like our Independence Day on July 4.  And our religious holy days remind us that the journey we travel now is possible only through the light and grace of God.

The journey gives meaning to the holiday.  And that journey, as we hear in today’s gospel from Luke, is not always easy. Were it easy, there would be no need to celebrate the holiday. Disappointments and failures, hardships, hurt and sadness – even betrayal, as Jesus says – are woven into the story of our lives.  Tomorrow we celebrate Thanksgiving in the United States, which traditionally marks the bringing in of the harvest after months of punishing toil on the raw, tough and at times unforgiving land.  The harvest was not only a celebration of a successful growing season but the promise of making it through a long, cold winter ahead.  It only became a national holiday when President Lincoln called the nation to a moment of prayer and thanksgiving in 1863 in the middle of the long, grueling experience of the Civil War.

Jesus does not promise a road easily travelled.  He promises that he will be our companion along the way.  He’s not going to take away the hardships or hurt or sadness, but he will accompany us through these to new life.  He can guide us and encourage us, urging us not to give up.  And in the end, like the Pilgrims 400 years ago or a young married couple celebrating a first anniversary, we can sit together in awe and say to one another, "I don’t know how we did it, but here we are.  Thanks be to God!"

 

Robert Hotz is a consultant with American City Bureau, Inc. and is the Director of The Passion of Christ: The Love That Compels Campaign for Holy Cross Province.

Feast of St. Catherine of Alexandria

Scripture:

Revelations 14:14-19
Luke 21:5-11

Reflection:

St. Catherine of Alexandria was a learned woman, a convert to Christianity at the age of eighteen. She preached the Gospel throughout Alexandria in Egypt.   She was imprisoned by the Emperor Maximus.  Before her martyrdom, she converted the empress and the head of the Armed Forces to Christianity.  She is the patroness of philosophers, preachers and young unmarried women. 

In Luke’s Gospel Jesus is addressed as "teacher."  A term used eleven times in Luke, and always by an outsider not a disciple.  This is the last time this term will be used in Luke.  The question has to do with the End Time.  Clearly the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple has taken place.  Josephus tells us in the year 70 A.D. the devastation was beyond imagination:  the inhabitants were so desperate they turned to cannibalism, over a million people perished, and 97,000 were carried into captivity.  The Temple was destroyed by the Roman soldiers by fire.  This structure, composed of green and white marble, was considered one of the wonders of the world, took forty years to build, and was still incomplete.  The end of the Temple was the end of sacrifice, Israel’s supreme act of worship!  Surely, the end time had to be at hand?

Jesus doesn’t direct his response to the question of the end time.  Rather he speaks about not being misled, don’t follow false prophets, and don’t be afraid.  Be assured that God will bring good out evil. Right will triumph in the end, and the task for the disciple is to show patience and endurance. (v.19 – By endurance you will gain your lives.")

These words are a welcome reminder as we come to the end of our liturgical year.  As we deal with the struggles our country and the world are challenged with financially, socially, and politically.  This feast day and the scripture readings remind us that "end" implies responsibility and a new beginning.  The reading from Revelations reminds us that it is our good deeds that will be harvested by God. 

 

Fr. Ken O’Malley, C.P., is the local superior at Holy Name Passionist Community in Houston, Texas.

 

Scripture:
Revelations 14:1-3, 4b-5
Luke 21:1-4

Reflection:
He said, "I tell you truly, this poor widow put in more than all the rest; for those others have all made offerings from their surplus wealth, but she, from her poverty, has offered her whole livelihood."  Luke 21

At the heart of Christianity is the idea of giving.  Saint Paul whose memory we hold dear this year rarely quoted Jesus.  But once he chose to quote Jesus: "remembering the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, "It is more blessed to give than to receive." (Acts 20:35)

The poor widow gave all on which she had to live.  This impressed Jesus.   The natureof the Father is to give Himself totally to the Son and the Son to the Holy Spirit.  When God loves us He gives to us.  "God so loved the world that He gave his only Son." (John 3:16)

We will not experience the "unspeakable gift" (2Cor 9:15) of Jesus if we do not love others by giving.  Meditating on the poor widow in today’s Gospel will be an enormous help in understanding the great mystery of God’s love for us.

Paul gives us some practical advice about giving in 2 Cor 9:7.   He tells us to give "not with sadness, nor necessity (an-ang-kay’) for God loves a cheerful giver." (hilarios dotan)

When we give it should not be forced on us by the government or by public pressure to make us look good, but with a joyful heart.   We are happy to give as it makes us like Jesus "who loved us and gave himself up for us."  Besides, by being generous to others, we will be richly rewarded.  ^ Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you." (Mt 6:38)

Indeed, "God loves a cheerful giver."   True joy only comes through a life of giving.   Joy is the sign of the presence of God.   Godlike cheerfulness comes to us when the needs of another become as important to me as my own.

 

Fr. Bob Weiss, C.P. preaches Parish Missions and is a member of the Passionist Community in Louisville, Kentucky.

 

Presentation of Mary in the Temple

Scripture:

Revelations  10:8-11
Matthew 12:46-50

Reflection:

There is no scriptural account of Mary’s presentation in the temple, by her parents, Joachim and Ann.  Apparently baby girls, as well as baby boys, were presented their parents to God-in the temple, if possible-but the available accounts narrate only little boys being so offered to God, but not baby girls.  But it is likely that this occurred.

Certainly in Mary’s case, given the religious devotedness of her parents, as well as the pivotal role Mary was to play in God’s redemption of the world, a religious service such as the presentation back to God of this child who was such a gift seems likely.  With the unfolding of history, the close relationship of church/temple and Mary gained an accepted place in the reflections of Christians.  Did not both temple and Mary house the word of God, with Mary, indeed, being the primary way in which God’s Word dwelt among us.  But the temple too was always regarded as enshrining the word of God, a place where it could be safely kept and guarded.

In the Passionist tradition, for some special reason especially dear to Paul of the Cross, the feast of the Presentation of the infant Mary in the Jerusalem temple was highly regarded and commemorated.   Perhaps this was because, in the vision appearance of Mary to Paul, early on, she was seen to be clothed in a way expressive of what she wanted him to do: start a new group of religiously inspired people devoted in a prayerful way to the memory of Christ suffering and dying, and she carried this out clothed in the black habit of the Passionists as a living expression to center Paul’s time and attention.

And so he named the very first "retreat" (monastery) of his new community, atop Monte Argentario, and overlooking the Mediterranean, the PRESENTATION, and he incorporated this as a feast day in the Passionist prayer calendar.

This association of Mary with sacred buildings, such as retreats or temples, is in keeping with our biblical readings today as we hear of Jesus cleansing the temple in Jerusalem of the rogues desecrating it with their money changing and sale of animals to be sold to the temple priests, who would sacrifice them as a religious recognition of God in their lives.  Jesus became extremely angry and upset that this was occurring in the very place where the Word of God (the bible) was enshrined, venerated, and read.  This was an abuse by careless and unthinking people.  We might see, in this cleansing of the temple, a parallel in Mary’ case, that is, a premonition of her own cleansing, which Catholics have come to describe as her immaculate conception.  That is, a cleansing from sin of the woman in whom God was to abide, as in His temple.

This suggests why we associate Mary and the temple or any religious edifice: each of them houses the word of God, in a protective and nourishing way.  The temple is a place where we encounter the word of God in a striking way, and Mary is the person who brings the Word of God to us in living color.

 

Fr. Sebastian MacDonald, C.P. is a member of the Passionist formation community at Catholic Theological Union, Chicago. 

 

Scripture:

Revelations 5:1-10
Luke 19:41-44

Reflection:

The readings today describe contrasting moments in the life of the people of God and of every disciple of Jesus.  The first reading from the fifth chapter of the Book of Revelations is almost giddy with excitement at the realization that the Lamb (Christ) is worthy to break open the seven seals on the sacred scroll that comes from the throne of God, thereby revealing and initiating the saving actions of God.  In contrast, the Gospel reading from the nineteenth chapter of Luke presents Jesus lamenting the fate of Jerusalem, a destruction sealed by the narrow vision of the religious leaders of his time and their inability to recognize Jesus as fulfilling God’s saving promise to Israel.

An inability to see or imagine God’s presence and movement in our world is not  restricted to the religious leaders of Jesus’ time.  It is an experience that can and often does touch us all.  Its sources are varied:  complacence, cynicism, self-righteousness, fear, disappointment, loss, sin, to name just a few.  None of us are immune from the blindness fostered by such experiences.  Just like the religious leaders of Jesus’ time, we can end up trapped by our unbelieving heart. 

Today’s readings invite us to think about what is going on in our lives of faith.  Are we still struggling with past experiences that have kept us from seeing God’s movement in our lives or accepting God’s invitation to trust more deeply?   The Eucharist reminds us that the power of the Lamb to reveal God’s presence and action remains strong as we remember Christ’s gift of himself for our sake. 

 

Fr. Michael Higgins, C.P. is the director of Mater Dolorosa Passionist Retreat Center, Sierra Madre, California.