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Scripture:

1 Timothy 2:1-8
Luke 7:1-10

Reflection:

It belongs to the Church, whose missionary character is rooted in the apostolic tradition of Christianity, to spread the Good News of Jesus Christ among nonbelievers, so that we "may become one body, one spirit in Christ," as the formula for Eucharistic Prayer III states.  But, what if nonbelievers, those we seek to convert to Christianity and more specifically to Catholicism, give us a stronger and more solid witness of faith, as occurs with the Roman centurion in today’s gospel.  In fact, Luke’s Gospel, which is addressed to a Gentile-Christian community, shows us a Jesus who easily relates to Gentiles and so he is amazed at the centurion’s public declaration of faith.  Moreover, he humbly remains open to learn from the faith of this man who loves the chosen people of Israel, albeit he belongs to the hated people of the occupying Roman force. We therefore see Jesus turning and declaring to his followers: "I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith." Such a witness of faith effects a mission in reverse, as contemporary missiology would suggest, for a "nonbeliever" teaches "believers" something new and invigorating about faith in Jesus Christ.  This thought deserves to be further developed from a biblical perspective.

It is in Matthew’s Gospel, which is addressed to a Jewish-Christian community, that we repeatedly hear Jesus refer to his disciples as people "of little faith" (6:30; 8:26; 14:31; 16:8; 17:20), because they were a "doubting" people (28:17).  Like Luke, Matthew also recounts the centurion’s faith story, but he further adds that "many will come from the east and the west, and will recline with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob at the banquet in the kingdom of heaven" (Mt 8:5-13).  One thing is clear in all the gospels, that is, Jesus expected his followers, as he still expects from us today, to demonstrate an unwavering faith at all times and in all circumstances.  For, aside from today’s story, the gospels give us more examples of such a faith from people who did not belong to the chosen people, such as the Syrophoenician woman who asked Jesus to "drive a demon out of her daughter" (Mk 7:24-30), the Greeks who wanted to see Jesus through Philip during a festival (Jn 12:20-33), or the Samaritan woman who believed Jesus was the Christ and so became his emissary to her people (Jn 4:4-42).  Do we, like Jesus, learn from "nonbelievers" or people of other faiths?  Or do we pretend to know everything and to have an extraordinary faith? 

Jesus expects us to firmly believe, as the centurion did, that salvation is for everyone and that it is found in the will of God and the "knowledge of the truth," namely that "there is one God, [just as] there is also one mediator between God and [humankind], the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as ransom for all," as today’s reading from 1 Timothy states.  Hence, Jesus expects us to fully trust in him as we pronounce the centurion’s words in each Eucharistic celebration, for we say: "Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed." If we are people of unwavering faith, we should then trust that time and space cannot limit the redeeming, healing power and grace of Jesus Christ.  For, where two or more of us gather to lift up "holy hands, without anger or argument," and offer "supplications, prayers, petitions, and thanksgivings" to God for everyone, Jesus Christ is in our midst interceding for us before God. We should therefore ask ourselves if Jesus finds in us the same type of faith he found in the centurion.  Otherwise, let’s ask him to increase and strengthen our faith in him through his Holy Spirit at each Mass.

 

Fr. Alfredo Ocampo, C.P. gives retreats and parish missions.  He is stationed at Holy Name Passionist Community in Houston, Texas.

Our Lady of Sorrows 

Scripture:

Exodus 32:7-11, 13-14
1 Timothy 1:12-17
Luke 15:1-32

Reflection:

When Sunday readings are before us we have an abundance of spiritual nourishment. In Exodus we grapple with God’s judgment and mercy. The people have committed the grave sin of idolatry by worshipping the golden calf. God’s judgment is swift as he announces to Moses that his blazing anger will consume them. Moses implores God to remember his promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and God relents. But the people will now be wandering in the desert for forty years until a new generation is born. Our advocate is not Moses, but Jesus. How much more hope we should have for ourselves, our family, and our Church. At every Mass Jesus is offering himself to his Father and making intercession for us. We have every reason to hope.

In his letter to Timothy Paul is giving thanks for his conversion from a persecutor of the Church to one who proclaims the gospel. With great fervor he proclaims: "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners," and he adds: "Of these I am the foremost."  We all need the mercy of Christ.

In the gospel Luke tells the story of the shepherd who searches and finds the lost sheep. A joyful celebration occurs on his return home. Likewise the housewife who finds her lost coin throws a party for her friends and neighbors. What was lost and found is the sinner who repents. These stories encourage us to respond to God’s invitation to approach the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Do we have ears to hear the "rejoicing among the angels of God".

Finally we have the beloved story of the Father and his two sons. While I understand why Jesus made the Father the central figure, I think the story would have been truer to life if a Mother was the protagonist. The Father shows the heart and emotions of a mother. I think this was the feeling of the great painter Rembrandt. If you carefully look at his painting of the scene where the returning prodigal  knells and embraces his Father who in turn places his hands on the sobbing shoulders of his son, one of those hands is feminine and the other masculine. It is a masterful image of a God who embraces his wayward children. We should never the scandalized at God’s mercy as was the elder brother.  

 

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

Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross

Scripture:

Numbers 21:4b-9
Philippians 2:6-11
John 3:13-17

Reflection:

Dear friends, today as I prepare to share some few thoughts with you about the feast of the Exultation of the Holy Cross, my mind is also filled with other images, painful and terrifying images, in fact.  This week we remembered the twelfth anniversary of the horrid attack of the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, the attack on the Pentagon and the courageous passengers who tried to retake Flight 93 that crashed in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. The entire World was stunned that such massive evil could unfold at the hands of violent men.  Even in the midst of our shock and disbelief there were signs of courage, hope, and new life.  I am sure you will remember how many huge pieces of metal from the Twin Towers, several of which remained standing in the form of a cross at the heart of the location, were taken from this site of evil and destruction and fashioned into a memorial of love and remembrance.  This cross of death will be found at the epicenter of a new memorial to healing and new life.  All the world will remember and feel what needs to be felt whenever it gazes upon that metallic cross now so lovingly fashioned in remembrance of those who died.

The Cross of Christ is certainly the model for such remembrance, not only in our present time, but for all of history.  The instrument that brought death to the Lord we carry in our hearts as a sign of triumph, exultation, and victory.  There is a song that we Passionists frequently sing at various feasts proper to our special love and devotion for the suffering and Passion of Christ.  The song is entitled, Now We Remain.  It is a wonderful hymn as well as a mediation so fitting for the feast of the Exultation of the Holy Cross that we celebrate today.  The words are lovely.  "We hold the death of the Lord deep in our hearts, living now we remain with Jesus the Christ."  With these words we declare that we will not forget, that we shall always remember what it is that our Crucified Lord did for us in that desolate place called Calvary.  In some profound way that surpasses human understanding what happened there and what so horribly took place at the Twin Towers is forever fused as one in the saving memory of the Passion of Jesus.

What an important thought for us whenever the anniversary of 9/11 draws near and we prepare for the wonderful feast of the Exultation of the Holy Cross.  Just as the death of the Lord won salvation for each and every one of us, so also do we pray, indeed believe deep in our hearts, that the darkness and devastation of terrible events will in some way not yet imagined, bring about the bright light and new life that emanates from peace, healing, and reconciliation.

 

Fr. Pat Brennan, CP is the director of St. Paul of the Cross Passionist Retreat and Conference Center in Detroit, Michigan.

Scripture:

1 Timothy 1:1-2, 12-14
Luke 6:39-42

Reflection:

In our Passionist Parish in Tumbala, Chiapas, one of the challenges we have had for years is that of attracting people to the Sacrament of Reconciliation.  Some misunderstandings have happened in the past.  About 50 years ago, zealous missionaries told people that the poor need not go to confession. Their logic was that since the poor are God´s Elect no sin could be perpetrated by them. Fortunately, this, perhaps, only made sense to the missionaries and not so much to the people.

After a year of ministering here and as I get familiar with the culture(s) and cosmology(ies) of our parishioners, I have found in them a profound respect toward this sacrament. When people seek this sacrament, most begin with confessing their sins against their mothers or fathers. This left me perplexed, with more questions than answers. At first I thought that this was good-old Catholic guilt.

As a result of several conversations with catechists and other lay leaders, on the subject, I was told that, for them, our first sin is against the givers of life, mom and dad, and therefore God. By re-confessing their sins against their fathers and mothers they attempt to clear out that which blocks them from Grace. In other words, they are trying to not only clear out the splinters but also the wooden beams that do not allow them to participate fully in the Reigning of God.

Let us pray that between the wooden beams and splinters in our eyes, we too find some eye-drops for our hearts that may remove the vises that continue to disrupt the freedom and dignity to which we have been called by the Giver of Life.

 

Fr. Hugo Esparza-Pérez, C.P. is a Passionist of Holy Cross Province now working in Mexico with the Province of Cristo Rey.

Scripture:

Colossians 3:12-17
Luke 6:27-38

Reflection:

There have been a lot of town hall meetings on the proposed health care reform.  Many of them have turned rancorous, abusive, and rude, with people shouting so loudly that no one can hear the other person speak.  Even more frightening, people are showing up at gatherings with guns strapped to their bodies.  They issue death threats and hold signs saying the tree of liberty needs to be watered with the blood of tyrants (the same slogan emblazoned on Timothy McVeigh’s T-shirt the day he blew up the Federal Building in Oklahoma City).  They dare equate Obama with Hitler, an unforgivable minimization of the horror of the Holocaust.  Perhaps most discouraging of all, many of these "protestors" claim to be standing on their Christian faith.

Unfortunately, these scenes increasingly seem to reflect the nature of discourse throughout the country and even in the Church.  Civil debate is disappearing, replaced by self-righteousness, misinformation fed by sound bites, and scare tactics intended to detract from the real issues.  Jesus, if he were still in his grave, would certainly roll over in it.  This is not the behavior to which we are called.  "Love your enemies…Do good…Bless those who curse you…stop judging… stop condemning…forgive…do to others what you would have them do to you." 

Why are these teachings not being proclaimed from the rooftops and in the town hall meetings?  What can I do in my daily life to better live out their message?

First, I need to respond in love.  People are honestly frightened, even if only because they are misinformed.  I resolve to hear their fear and empathize with that.  I resolve not to judge or condemn them, even as I respectfully disagree and work for the truth to come out.

I resolve to listen well, without multi-tasking (you know – reading emails with half my brain while talking to someone on the phone with the other half). 

I resolve to inform myself on the real facts and then peacefully make my voice heard, writing letters to newspapers and members of Congress, and engaging in discussions on the real issues. 

I resolve to stand against injustice, deception, and fear-mongering.  I resolve to stand with the poor, the uninsured and under-insured, the disenfranchised and marginalized, and all those who are being lost in the midst of this raucous "debate".

I resolve to pray, asking blessings for those with whom I agree and those with whom I disagree.  I especially pray for wisdom and guidance for the leaders who are shaping and voting on this important policy, that the end result may indeed bring greater justice, better equality, and the benefits of decent health care to all who need it.

 

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

Scripture:

Colossians 3:1-11
Luke 6:20-27

Reflection:

The powerful and wealthy media mogul Ted Turner, speaking before the American Humanist Society, made this memorable pronouncement: "Christians are bozos and Christianity is a religion for losers."

Maybe that’s why we sometimes feel like Ziggy, the bald, roly-poly comic strip character who prayed to God: "I just want you to know that the meek are still getting clobbered down here!"

Judging by the values of our culture, Ted Turner may not be far off the mark.  Wealth, success, power and prestige are obvious signs of God’s blessings.  In biblical times the same held true, as did the signs of God’s curses like poverty, disease and weakness.

But in today’s gospel, Jesus shocks us.  He turns our values upside down.  His words fall like bombshells exploding around the crowd, us included.  What we call blessings are in fact curses.  And what we call curses, Jesus calls blessings!  Blessed are the poor and hungry and woe to the rich.

Luke’s beatitudes differ somewhat from Matthew’s.  In Matthew, Jesus delivers his Sermon on the Mount.  He uses the third person "Blessed are they…" And the beatitudes speak to the spiritual: "Blessed are the poor in spirit."  Not so with Luke.  His sermon is on the plain.  Jesus speaks to us at level ground, face-to-face, eyeball to eyeball.  He speaks bluntly about material and economic conditions: "Blessed are the poor…"

As for the rich, Jesus says: "But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation."  The word "have" in the Greek is "apechete," meaning "to have in full."  It was commonly used on business receipts to mean "paid in full."  No payment or service was expected to follow the close of the transaction.  In other words, what the rich wanted and received on earth is all they will ever get.  This indeed is a chilling curse.

So what are we to do with this unsettling Good News?  Megan McKenna, in her book, "Blessings and Woes," says it challenges us to conversion.  It’s "about seeing as God sees, not through rose-colored glasses but in the light of God’s kingdom that emerges in the world as a vibrant force to be reckoned with in the person of Jesus…"

These are kingdom values designed to shatter earthly values.  They call us, as Paul does in his letter to the Colossians, to "think of what is above, not of what is on earth."

This may not feel like Good News.  The world will ridicule us as bozos and losers.  Nevertheless, Jesus is looking at you and me eyeball to eyeball and challenging us with his words: I’m about to bless you.  Get ready for one of my bombshells.

 

Deacon Manuel Valencia is on the staff at Mater Dolorosa Passionist Retreat Center, Sierra Madre, California.

Scripture:

Colossians 2:6-15
Luke 6:12-19

Reflection:

My dad died in August at the age of 85. Dad converted to Catholicism when he was 19, intellectually convinced that it was the true faith founded by Christ. Yet through most of adulthood, his faith life consisted of following the rules. For instance, he told me we go to Mass because the Church commands it, and if we don’t go, we will go to hell. Although he derived no joy or comfort from the celebration, that was reason enough for him.

I think he prayed, but I was never sure (as opposed to my mother, whose rosary and prayer books were constant features.) Rather than using words, he expressed his faith (and his love) in actions, and lived an extraordinary life of service to the community and his profession.

It was only after retirement that Dad started to explore the deeper realms of his faith. He read the entire Bible twice and devoured books on scripture, faith, morality, and Catholic doctrine. Unfortunately, he became harshly judgmental of those who questioned the hierarchy or various Church teachings. Indeed, it became difficult to have a conversation about faith with him, since his primary objective was to convince others that he was right and they needed to change their ways.

In the past 18 months, Dad‘s faith changed again as repeated hospitalizations required facing the inevitability of his death. In his active desire to grow closer to God, ideology took a back seat. He gradually became more understanding of other positions and faiths, and accepting of people wherever they were. He let go of anger and bitterness, and professed repeatedly that he held nothing against anyone who had hurt him. His main goal was simply to love and be loved.  When death finally came, Dad was peaceful and hope-filled. He was ready to go, and we sang and prayed him into the arms of God.

I wish my dad could have arrived at the faith of his deathbed earlier in his life, and it prompts me to deep self-examination. I try to live my life as a transparent instrument of God’s healing and loving power, but what if I were on my deathbed today (which honestly could happen)? In what ways would I wish I had grown closer to God, opened my heart, let go of anger, forgiven wrongs, and simply loved others? How have I become (as St. Paul writes) captivated by empty, seductive philosophies based in human thinking rather than living in imitation of our God, who the psalmist tells us is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, rich in kindness, and ever faithful?

I want to live with the kind of peace and total trust Dad found at the end.  Yet I don’t want to wait until I am staring death in the face to make the necessary choices that further the process, that transform my heart, deepen my faith, and bring me ever closer to God and my ultimate home. This is, of course, no easy task, and life constantly throws obstacles in the path. Yet I believe the full communion of saints, which now includes my dad, urges us on, and through the grace of God poured out in our hearts, it is possible.

 

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/.

Scripture:

Colossians 1:24-2:3
Luke 6:6-11

Reflection:

When Smoke Gets in Our Eyes

Luke continues the controversy about the Sabbath today. First we heard of the discussion provoked by the disciples plucking, rubbing the grain in their hands and then eating it. Something they should not be doing according to the Scribes and Pharisees. Today, on the Sabbath, Our Lord heals the man with the withered hand. The Scribes and Pharisees,  ‘watched closely’. Jesus knowing their thoughts speaks before they say anything. "They were beside themselves with anger," and they discussed what they might do to Jesus.

We see Jesus standing his ground, the Pharisees and Scribes smoldering with anger. Awkwardly standing by is our healed man. We hope that he is so happy that he does not feel he is the object of an argument, or being ‘used’ in the situation, or even guilty for being lumped in with Jesus as a Sabbath breaker.

In the Uffizi Gallery in Florence the statue of David is a focal point. One can see David at the same time that you see ‘The Prisoners’, unfinished statues of Michaelangelo in which partially carved bodies appear to be emerging from stone. It could be imagined that they are forever encased in that stone, their potential never to be realized, truly prisoners. There is perfection against imperfection; something that raises our dignity against something of total diminishment.

When a fire is smoldering there is more smoke than flame. Perhaps it is the dense smoke of their smoldering that gets in the eyes of the Pharisees and Scribes and blinds them to the beauty they have just witnessed? Although they ‘watched closely’ they are not moved to wonder at the work of Jesus hands. Has their religious belief made them choose the ugliness of the withered hand to the one that is now perfect?

We remember St. Peter Claver today. He called himself "the slave of the Negroes forever’. For forty years he met the ships that brought African slaves to Cartagena, Columbia, to work in the mines, ten thousand a year. He moved among then to give healing and human comfort. He taught them about Jesus, baptized many and tried to help them however he could. He saw their human dignity and did not turn away from them.

Smoldering may blind us to what is beautiful and good. ‘Watching closely’ is not the same as seeing with the eyes of Christ. And we all wait and long for the touch of the one who can set us free, will heal us, and make us beautiful in the image of the one who holds us precious in his sight.

 

Fr. William Murphy, CP is the pastor of Immaculate Conception parish in Jamaica, New York.