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Feast of Ss. Simon and Jude, Apostles

Scripture:

Ephesians 2:19-22
Luke 6:12-16

Reflection:

Today we celebrate the feast day of Ss. Simon and Jude.  There is not much known about these two men who were counted among the twelve apostles of Jesus.  As apostles they were charged with the task of preserving the most important elements of Jesus’ teaching and preaching and handing it onto future generations. 

In today’s readings, we prayed Psalm 19:5a,’ Their message goes out through all the earth.’ This was the role that Simon and Jude played and it is our role today.  As followers of Jesus Christ we are all commissioned as members of the baptized faithful to share the message of Jesus through words and actions.

Pope Francis tells us in Evangelii Gaudium, "Each and every baptized person is called to speak of their faith and invite others to share it.  In this way we become ‘missionary disciples’ just as the first followers of Christ were."

How do WE, as ‘missionary disciples’ share our faith and spread the message of Christ?  Maybe we do so as a catechist in the parish religious education program, or one who coaches the soccer team or leads a small faith group.  Maybe you work with the St Vincent de Paul group and meet with folks who are down and out and in need of a helping hand.  As parents you model the love Jesus has for his followers as you go about the daily routine of loving and caring for your children.

For me, RCIA is a place where I experience ‘fertile ground’ that nurtures me in living out the call to be a ‘missionary disciple’. It is in the sharing of the answers to the simple question, ‘Where have you seen God this week or how have you been the face of Jesus for another?’  It is evident that the Spirit of God is present in the faith stories shared by catechumens, candidates, sponsors and team. It is a humbling experience to share ‘holy ground’ each week with these ‘missionary disciples’.   It gives me energy and hope to continue to spread the message through all the earth.

My prayer for all of you is that you find a place, a person or persons, an event or process that nurtures your call to ‘missionary discipleship’ so that together we can all proclaim the message of Jesus Christ to all the earth.  The Spirit of God that led Jesus to appoint the twelve apostles is the same spirit that will lead and sustain us.    

 

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

 

Scripture:

Ephesians 3:14-21
Luke 12:49-53

Reflection:

The words Jesus says in today’s Gospel reading from Luke are rather jarring. We may be able to understand Him when he tells His disciples that He has come to "set the earth on fire." But when the Prince of Peace says, "Do you think I have come to establish peace on the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division;" it’s pretty disturbing. It’s almost as if we were made to choose between the reconciling, peaceful, gentle Jesus, or the Jesus seemingly represented here.

When it comes to Jesus, we often do have to make a choice, but not the one described above. When we choose to follow Jesus, there is no escaping the fact that discipleship, in many ways, is a radical choice. To turn the other cheek; To forgive seventy-seven times; To love our enemies; To love one another as He has loved us; To deny ourselves and carry our cross. Are not these radical demands? And often, they will put us in conflict with the ways of the world. And so there can be division. I am sure that in the time of the early church, people who chose Christ did indeed come into conflict with members of their own families. It was not an easy choice.

When you come right down to it, it shouldn’t be an easy choice for us, either. To choose Christ has all kinds of implications for how we should live and work, and relate to the world. But even though Jesus uses this strong language, I don’t believe He is advocating violence and destruction. Divisions can be reconciled and healed. Such is the "breadth and length and height and depth" of Christ’s love for us and for all.

May we seek true peace which comes out of justice, and put ourselves at the disposal of the One "who is able to accomplish far more than all we ask or imagine."

 

Fr. Phil Paxton, C.P. is on staff at St. Paul of the Cross Retreat and Conference Center, Detroit, Michigan. 

 

Scripture:
Exodus 22:20-26
1 Thessalonians 1:5c-10
Matthew 22:34-40

Reflection:
When asked by a scholar of the law which commandment is the greatest, Jesus wisely responds with the two commandments upon which the whole of the law and prophets depend.

"You shall love the Lord, your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself."

To love God is to love our neighbor.  To serve God is to serve our neighbor.  Christians understand that our relationships with those around us are the real embodiment of the Word of God that dwells within us.  The Word of God becomes flesh, becomes real in the many different ways we welcome the stranger, heal the sick, feed the hungry, and show compassion to those who suffer.

It sounds easier than it is.  For some reason, human beings seem to work very hard to exclude rather than include. We fight wars about religion.  We discriminate based on skin color.  We close our borders to those fleeing poverty and violence.  Even the Catholic bishops at the recently concluded Extraordinary Synod wrestled with how to welcome and include others who are not in ideal marriages or relationships.

So the question really becomes, "Who is my neighbor," as the scholar goes on to ask in the version of this story in the Gospel of Luke.  Throughout the Bible, God is the defender of the poor, the outcast, the shunned widow, and the sinner.  It really is not a question of who our neighbor is or who we have to be nice to. Rather the question is how we can be a good neighbor to others in need.  When we welcome the migrant family, ensure parents can feed their children, and provide safe housing for the homeless; when we say a kind word to the cashier at the grocery store, prepare a casserole for a family grieving the death of a loved one, and stop to let another driver turn into busy traffic…these are the real embodiment of the Word of God within us.

We intuitively know when things are out of whack in our world, when we are not in right relationship with God and God’s plan for us.  And I think we also intuitively know what we need to do to bring us back into right relationship with God.  We need only ask ourselves, "How is God calling me to be the good neighbor today?"

 

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.

Scripture:

Ephesians 4:1-6
Luke 12:54-59

Reflection:

"You hypocrites! You know how to discern the appearance of the earth and the sky, but why do you not discern this present time?" Luke 12:56  

The stem word for discern in the Greek New Testament is dokae "watching".  It means  seeing an object which is tested, genuine or valuable.    It’s importance is indicated how often the word is used.  It indicates we must explore mystery of Christ with all of our minds and hearts.

In today’s gospel Jesus strongly criticizes people for not discerning the critical hour of God’s presence.    They can recognize the weather and act on it, but they can not or will not discern the momentous hour of God’s intervention in Christ!   How often God tells us that we have no idea how much He loves us: "you do not know Me." Isaiah 45: 5 

We look at the huge universe and think how could this great God have the time of day for me?   This is an old question that many have asked before us.   Over 2000 years ago the Psalmist asked:  "When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?" Psalm 8   The greatest wonder we will ever discern is God’s love for us.   The New Testament uses strong Greek words like knocked out (explaeso) or ecstasy (eckistami) describing what happens to a person when they discern Christ!   G K Chesterton reminds us: "We are perishing for want of wonder, not for want of wonders." 

Why does Jesus call them "You hypocrites?"    Hypocrisy is associated with acting.   Players would wear masks to express their role on stage.  It has nothing to do with the real feelings of the actor.  Jesus quoting Scripture said: "they honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from me."  Hypocrisy is about the face and not about the heart.    Knowing the earth-shattering truth of God’s care and love for us in Christ should be the deepest concern of our lives, and not some superficial play acting.  Each day of our lives when we awake we should be dumbfounded when we think of how much we mean to God.    We are far more important to Him than He is to us!   We grow in holiness as we begin our spiritual journey of trying to understand of His love for us.   When we begin to be shocked and startled at his interest in us, it is only then we experience discernment of the Lord. 

 

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

 

Scripture:

Ephesians 3:2 – 12
Luke 12:39 – 48

Reflection:

For me, one of many memorable scenes from a movie comes from Alfred Hitchcock’s classic "The Birds".  Folks gathered in a pub are arguing about the nature of the birds which seem to be behaving rather strangely of late.  Suddenly a great flock of birds attack and one of the regular patrons yells out , "It’s the end of the world !!!"   We have been inundated in more recent years with books, movies, faith treatises and articles about the end times.  We have only to remember all of the ink spilled over the multiple predictions about the end of the world as we approached the end of the century. 

As we can see from  today’s gospel, anxiety over the end of the world (or in New Testament language, the Second Coming of Christ) dates right back to the first century and has been a recurring theme ever since.  The remedy for that concern which Jesus provides in today’s gospel  remains the same now  as it was when Luke recorded Jesus’ solution to the wonderings.  Jesus suggests to us that we ought not to take a chance on salvation.  We should avoid gambling on the timing of His Second Coming.  How do we do this ?  How do we make sure we are ready and waiting when the end time arrives ?  Jesus makes it quite clear and it is not terribly complicated.  Focus our attention and our energies on today, i.e. on the life and responsibilities which present themselves to us as we wake up each morning.  Looking ahead to tomorrow, or next month, or five years from now and wondering, ‘Will it be then ?’, can only create  an anxiety which leaves us absent from today’s living and graces.  Such a preoccupation with what might be leads us to neglect and miss what is present to us today in our relationship with God and with one another.  It weighs down the faith life and dampens our appreciation of God’s choice to journey with us through this life each and every day in the person of Jesus Himself.

We are encouraged today to follow the suggestion of Jesus to live each day focused on our life with Him.  Concentrate on making  His teachings, His values, His choices our own here and now – today, in these very real circumstances of life.  We are called today to live with an abiding awareness that living a compassionate, caring and virtuous life today will make us ready for anything at any time.  If we are focused on living  our faith life well each day, then should someone yell out to us , "It’s the end of the world !!!", we will be able to yell back with confidence, "It’s Okay – we’re ready !!!"

 

Fr. Richard Burke, CP, is a member of St. Paul of the Cross Province and also serves on the Provincial Council of Holy Cross Province.  He lives at St. Ann’s Monastery in Scranton, Pennsylvania.

Scripture:

Ephesians 2:12-22
Luke 12:34-38

Reflection:

Pope Francis has changed the face of the unity search on the part of the church.  In place of going outside its boundaries, so to speak, and seeking a closer approximation with the followers of the Reformation period in the church (the Protestants), he is encouraging us to stay within our boundaries, and focus on the outskirts of our own domain, seeking out those inhabiting that area.

This has caught us by surprise.  We had grown used to the idea that a considerable amount of slippage in our church membership has been underway, leading us to grow used to that "development" among our own membership.  Statistics for U.S. church membership suggested that, while Catholics were still the largest religious group in the U.S., the next sizeable number of "religious" people were ex-Catholics, who now either belonged to no church, or else to one of the Protestant mega-churches.

Today’s biblical readings help us re-approach the unity issue, implying we reappraise it against the backdrop provided by Pope Francis, who has displayed interest in these Catholics disenchanted with official church attitudes toward them.  And we may better appreciate where the Pope us "coming from" if we ponder St. Paul’s remarks to his recent converts in Ephesus, as he recalls for them their own recent background as converts to the faith, from their earlier non-believing origins.  For they had been pretty much cut off both from Judaism and from the recent burgeoning Christian church, a situation Paul wants to address because it seems to have been weighing on them, as a liability.  So he appeals to the unity theme, that emerges from Christ’s death on the cross, on which He shed His blood for their sake, overcoming their memory of "not belonging" by insisting that now they have become near.  The wall that had been dividing them from the community of believers was now eliminated by Christ’s death on the cross.  So they, who had been on the margins of things were now on a par with those who enjoy the benefits of access to the Father in heaven.

And St. Luke’s gospel  recalls offers a parable by Jesus much along the same line, about the master returning from a wedding ceremony, and finding his servants ready to wait on him.  We note here the  distance existing between two different social classes: master and servant.  The master presumably stands at the center of things, while the servants are marginal to household arrangements. Nonetheless, on this occasion such social barriers are dispensed with, as the master brings his servants right into mainline household affairs.  He seats the servants at table, and waits on them.  He disregards any wall of separation between those at the center and those at the margins that society had honored.

The bottom line in both Paul’s and Luke’s presentations is unity, disregarding the social conditions of each group, which can make for division and disunity, in favor of a course of action that, in these instances, only comes from those who are in a position to change things.  We note how these changes come about:  not from those at the margins, but from those at the center.  Frequently, of course, such a turn-about happens as a result of trouble-makers and noise-makers, living not at the center but far away from it, whose behavior calls attention to their plight, and possibly alleviates it.  But in today’s scripture readings, the distance those inside and those outside is abolished by those at the center, and the disenfranchised gain acceptance.  Peace and unity is a gift bestowed by the display of good will rather than by an attitude of exclusion and rejection.

 

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

 

Feast of St. Paul of the Cross,
Founder of the Passionists

Scripture:

Jeremiah 1: 4-9
1 Corinthians 1: 17-25
Matthew 9: 35-10: 1

 

 

Reflection:

Today, we Passionists celebrate the feast of our Holy Founder, St. Paul of the Cross.  I know that many of you have a devotion to this great saint so please join with us in thanking God for this wonderful and saintly man.  St. Paul’s life was a remarkable story of God’s great love for the people of his time, especially those who were often forgotten or were on the margins of society.  Surely, in remembering him we are opening ourselves to the goodness of God revealed in the sufferings of Christ.  Let’s remember together a few of the important moments in Paul’s life.

St. Paul of the Cross, Founder of the Passionists, was born in 1694 in a small town called Ovada, in Northern Italy.  He was one of sixteen children, only five of whom survived infancy.  His father, Luke Danei, owned a small clothing and tobacco shop that barely supported his large family.  His mother, Anna Maria, was a faith-filled woman, whose devotion to the Passion of Jesus was the source of her courage and strength as she endured the grief and loss of so many of her children.

From his earliest years Paul, by the example of his Mother, had a deep devotion to the Passion of Jesus and at the age of 19 had a vivid experience of the depth of God’s love.  As a result of this experience Paul became determined to give himself totally to God.  Due to family need, however, he stayed at home, helping to support the family by working in his father’s shop.  At 22 he joined the crusade against the Turks though it took only two months for him to realize that the army was not for him.  Returning home, he once again worked in the family business.

When he was 26, the circumstances of the family became a bit better and Paul finally felt free to pursue his own personal dreams. Bidding good-bye to his family, he went to Alessandria, where Bishop Gattinara, Paul’s spiritual director and confessor, clothed Paul in a black tunic on the day of his arrival and then sent him to the parish of St. Charles in Castellazzo for retreat.  In the small sacristy of the parish church Paul made a 40 day retreat.  It was during those 40 days that Paul had the most extraordinary experiences of union with God and wrote the Rule of Life for the congregation he hoped to found.

After his retreat Bishop Gattinara sent him back to his home town where Paul lived in various hermitages for several years.  In 1721 Paul made his way to Rome in hopes that he could get his Rule of Life approved by the Pope.  He was turned away by a Vatican guard so Paul returned home, discouraged but determined.  On his return, his brother, John Baptist, joined with him to try living according to Paul’s Rule of Life.  Paul and John Baptist became well-known catechists and Paul was even invited to give spiritual talks by various groups.

In 1725, the brothers returned to Rome and this time Paul was given verbal permission to gather companions to live according to his Rule of Life.  Cardinal Corrandini asked the brothers to work in a newly established hospital there in Rome.  The president of the hospital was so impressed by Paul and John Baptist that he arranged for them to be ordained to the priesthood.

As more men joined with Paul and John Baptist, they moved the whole community to Monte Argentario, a promontory about 150 kms northwest of Rome, where they established the first Passionist monastery in 1737.

While contemplation and prayer were at the very heart of Paul’s life and the life of his new institute, Paul himself soon became a very famous popular preacher, spiritual guide, writer and mystic.  For Paul the Passion of Christ was the most vivid witness to God’s love for us and he constantly called upon his followers to remember the sufferings of Jesus.

During his lifetime Paul founded thirteen monasteries of Priests and Brothers throughout Italy as well as a monastery of Passionist Nuns.  Today the Passionists live and serve in 59 countries of the world and are enhanced by other religious and lay groups who find inspiration in the Charism of St. Paul of the Cross.

May the Passion of Jesus Christ be always in our hearts.

 

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

 

Scripture:

Isaiah 45:1, 4-6
Thessalonians 1:1-5b
Matthew 22:15-21

Reflection:

"I have called you by name, giving you a title, though you knew me not. I am the Lord and there is no other, there is no God besides me." Isaiah 45:4

Growing up is never easy. For us boys, it was always a contest for recognition and acceptance. You were either well known or you were not. You were nameless until someone important called you by name. Anyway, that’s the way it seemed back then.

Once, the P.E. teacher gathered the 8^th classes together for a baseball game. The two "Jocks" were chosen to choose teammates. The good athletes were the first ones taken, of course. Then, there were a handful of us left to be chosen, the ones who were practically invisible and nameless. I was among that group. Finally, I got a "hey you" and put in right field. And all during the game, I kept praying, "don’t hit it my way, don’t hit it my way."

Ninth inning, one out, and we were winning by one run, two men on, first and second base. Plenty of balls hit to center and left field, and only a couple of grounders to right. Then it happened. A line drive came my way. Instinct took over. I caught it on the run, and threw to first base and caught the runner on his way to second. Double play, inning over, game over and suddenly, everyone knew my name!

God knows us by name. And God calls us by name.

When we become aware that God knows personally and calls us by name, not only do we begin to feel differently, we also begin to act differently. We begin to feel important, valued. We begin to get the sense that we are worthwhile. Having a sense of self-worth, a sense of dignity, we begin to act as if life is truly meaningful, that our lives count.

In the second reading for today’s Mass, Paul the Apostle had to remind the Thessalonians that they had received the Gospel, not only in word but with the power of the Holy Spirit. He reminds them that they were loved by God and were chosen by God to carry out the Gospel in their lives. Life can be overwhelming at times and so we may forget that God loves us, called us into life and called us to live the Gospel as proclaimed by Jesus, God’s Only Son.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus reminds us to never forget that we belong to God. Once we become aware that we belong to God, we will not be confused as to what belongs to Caesar and what belongs to God. What belongs to Caesar or to this "earthly existence" has no ultimate value. Wealth, fame and good standing are ours by God’s grace. Each of these social conditions bring with them responsibility and stewardship. Our wealth is for us to share with those who are in need, our fame enables us to spread Gospel values, and our social standing is an opportunity to give witness to God’s way of life.

We need to look no further than our present pope, Pope Francis. The vast majority of us did not know him before he was elected Pope. Now, we hear how his simplicity of life is a witness to Gospel values. Is he well off? Yes, he is, but see how he lives. Is he a powerful man? Yes he is, but see how he uses that authority. Does he have a prominent social position? Yes, he does, but see how his humility is the message. We always need to discern what belongs to God and what belongs to Caesar.

 

Fr. Clemente Barrón, C.P. is a member of Immaculate Conception Community in Chicago, Illinois.