Daily Scripture

Scripture:

Isaiah 42:1-7
John 12:1-11

Reflection:

The gospel story feels like Act II of a riveting play. The formerly dead Lazarus is very much alive, dining with Jesus and his family. His sister Mary lovingly anoints Jesus’ feet. Even Judas is present, complaining about the cost of the oil. He missed its deeper meaning.

For three years, Jesus connected with everyone, rich and poor alike. He challenged powerful, hypocritical religious leaders and found real joy hanging with humble fishermen.

The crucifixion was a brutal reality, so his choosing expensive oils for burial had to surprise a few people. On those same lines, Joseph of Arimathea, a devoted follower, later offered his own costly tomb. In our time, especially now that inexpensive cremation has become so common, the gift of a family burial plot would still be huge.

My family has a few hundred square yards of lawn in a southwestern Pennsylvania cemetery. About 80 years ago, a non-family member was given a single plot. The tombstone reads, “To Henry Smith, Daniel McQuain’s Best Friend.” Henry must have been quite a guy.

I find comfort in Mass readings, like today’s, that reflect our earthly reality. Utopia doesn’t exist; wealth and poverty are constant companions. Good and evil, cruelty and kindness are always near. But we can clearly see that choosing Jesus’ way offers strength and joy through life’s struggles. Though our time on earth is finite, we know how to build strength for confronting suffering well on earth and legitimately hope for a smile on our faces when we get to knock at heaven’s gate.

Jack Dermody is President of Share Our Gifts, Inc., a Passionist alumni organization dedicated to assist those who live in poverty; he is also editor of CrossRoads, the Passionist Alumni Association’s newsletter.

Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion

Scripture:

Luke 19:28-40
Isaiah 50:4-7
Philippians 2:6-11
Luke 22:14-23:56 or 23:1-49

Reflection:

On this Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion, the Gospel of Saint Luke proclaimed. Several elements unique to Luke demonstrate his distinctive style of presenting Jesus as Messiah—God’s anointed. Jesus is the one who has come to bring glad tidings, proclaim liberty to captives, sight to the blind, and freedom for the oppressed (4:16-21) frames the narrative throughout the Gospel.

Jesus’ role as teacher and prophet is highlighted by adding a farewell discourse to the Passover meal—instructing his apostles on what to expect when he is no longer with them. One might say that this Gospel sheds the apostles in a kinder light. For example, following Peter’s declaration never to abandon him, Jesus responds with, “You will deny three times that you know me” (Lk 22:34), not an outright declaration of denial of Jesus (Mk 14:30).

He doesn’t need his disciples to keep him company or pray with him on the Mount of Olives, he suggests they pray for themselves, addressing them only once as they slept. Although Luke is keen to portray Jesus’ very real anxiety as he “sweats drops as if blood” (v.44) in coming to accept his impending betrayal and suffering. Absent from the other synoptics Luke has Jesus make eye contact with Peter following Peter’s denial of him. There seems to be no sense of condemnation in the exchange.

Jesus forgives his executioners from the cross even as they mock him, but to the criminal who responded in faith, he promised a place in paradise. Absent from the cross is any frantic cry of desolation like “My God, why have you forsaken me” (Mk 15:35-37; Matt27:46-49). Jesus’ last words are “Into your hands, I commend my spirit” (Ps 30:6). While this Psalm portrays equally the rejection of the righteous one by enemies, it offers a quiet confidence in God’s saving power ending with, “have courage and let your hearts take strength, all you who hope in the Lord” (Ps 30:25).

The first reading from the prophet Isaiah and the second reading from Philippians blend beautifully with Luke’s Passion narrative. Commonly known as the third servant song, Isaiah details the Lord’s commissioning in preparing the prophet to “speak to the weary a word that will rouse them” (50:4). This was Jesus’ prophetic message—his training—his mission. However, Jesus was no ordinary prophet, he was the Son of God. The early Christians struggled to find words to express this incredible distinction. Reflecting the desire to create a fitting language, the text in Philippians is believed to be an old hymn sung at liturgies in praise of Jesus Christ.

In Luke’s passion narrative, Jesus’ actions are the primary focus. The reader’s attention is not as distracted by betrayals, denials, or political-religious manipulations. While Luke doesn’t deny the presence of those elements, Jesus’ actions are elevated in such a way that the rest fades into the background. Luke’s Jesus died as he lived. He accomplished what he came to fulfill.

May we enter into Holy Week filled with gratitude for the unspeakable gift of Jesus our Savior, finding hope and strength for our times. May peace reign in our hearts. Amen.

Jean Bowler is a member of the Ministry Team at Mater Dolorosa Passionist Retreat Center in Sierra Madre, California.

Scripture:

Ezekiel 37:21-28
John 11:45-56

Reflection:

Today’s readings, woven together on this final day before Holy Week, portray a compelling portrait of our salvation history as a people of God. 

In the first reading from the Book of Ezekiel, God gathers his people (us) together as one “to bring them back to their land” (Heaven).  He proclaims that he will “make them one nation upon the land”.  “There shall be one prince (Jesus) for them all.  “Never again shall they be divided into two kingdoms” (good and evil).  He will “cleanse them so that they may be his people, and he may be their God”.  God appoints his servant David as the temporal prince and shepherd of his people.  However, 1,000 years later, Jesus will supersede David as the eternal Prince of Peace.  God goes on to proclaim that his people will live on this land forever.  That will include not only current generations but also their children and their children’s children forever…. Therefore, ultimately all nations and all peoples of the earth, even those yet to be born for the rest of time.  God says that he will multiply them and put his sanctuary among them forever.  He will make an everlasting covenant with his people through his son.  His sanctuary shall be set among us forever.

In John’s Gospel reading the anticipation of the imminent arrest, torture and death of this Prince of Peace and Shepherd of God’s people is real.  Some of the Jews had gone to the Pharisees to tell them what Jesus had done.  This presents a dilemma for the Jewish hierarchy.  “This man is performing many signs.  If we leave him alone, all will believe in him and the Romans will come and take both our land and our nation.  However, from the first reading we know that no one can take the land from God’s chosen people.  God’s sanctuary has been set up among us forever. 

Caiaphas, the high priest, becomes instrumental in salvation history.  He chastises his own people: “You know nothing, nor do you consider that it is better for you that one man should die instead of the people, so that the whole nation may not perish.”  The gospel proclaims that Caiaphas himself “prophesied that Jesus was going to die for the nation, and not only for the nation, but also to gather into one the dispersed children of God.”  Isn’t that precisely what God had promised in the first reading.  Caiaphas could not have known how impactful his own words were.  “So, from that day on they planned to kill him.”  The wheels had been set in motion.   Jesus was going to come to Jerusalem for his final feast to offer himself up on a cross to fulfill what his father had proclaimed 1,000 years previously.  Still there were skeptics among the people: “They looked for Jesus and said to one another as they were in the temple area, “What do you think? That he will not come to the feast?”.   How could he not come to the feast?  It was, after all, his own feast that had been set in motion from the beginning of time. He was going to give up his life for the salvation of his people.

One week from today we will again be mourning and simultaneously celebrating the death of this Prince of Peace, the eternal Shepherd of God’s people.  He has come to fulfill the promise that his father had given to the Israelites 1,000 years before his birth.  In his final moments on the cross, Jesus expresses his own sentiment: “It is finished”.  By his own passion and death he has fulfilled that promise that his father had made to all of us so many centuries ago.  Thank you, Jesus.

Have a blessed Holy Week.  May the Passion of Jesus Christ be always in our hearts.

Bill Berger has had a lifelong relationship with the Passionist Family.  Bill and his wife, Linda, are currently leaders of the Community of Passionist Partners (CPPs) in Houston, Texas.

Scripture:

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

Reflection:

“The Jews picked up rocks to stone Jesus. Jesus answered them, ‘I have shown you many good works from my Father. For which of these are you trying to stone me?’”

This was Jesus’ response to their charge of blasphemy against him, that he is making himself God. Christ pointed to his works as the basis for faith in him as the Son. “Even if you do not believe me,” Jesus told his opponents, “believe the works…”

Furthermore, Jesus continued, it is God who has consecrated him as God’s son. His mention of consecration revealed the relationship between Jesus and the Feast of Dedication, which the people were celebrating.

The “rededication” was an eight-day festival commemorating Jewish independence under Judas Maccabaeus from Roman rule and the consecration of the temple in Jerusalem in 164 B.C.

As the incarnate word, echoing the prologue in John’s gospel, whose body is the “temple,” Jesus is the one consecrated by the Father.

Nevertheless, instead of pressing the claim that “I and the Father are one,” Jesus pointed to his works.

Actions speak louder than words, Jesus was telling them. Jesus urged his opponents to believe his works, which bear witness to who he is. But they remained blind in their stubbornness.

In the case of Jesus, however, his actions as well as his words should have revealed his true character to them. Why? Because the actions of Jesus clearly aligned with his words.

Together, they should build trust and demonstrate reliability in Jesus.

Even so, Jesus emphasized his works. Works are always more powerful than words.

Words may convince the mind but works move the will to action.

Jesus continues to do the work of the Father today in us, Christ’s mystical body, as we serve one another as we build up the Body of Christ.

We see the work of Christ revealed to us most powerfully in the Eucharist. There, in the breaking of the bread, Christ gives us the grace to make our works match what we profess to believe.

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

Scripture:

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

Reflection:

If I lived in Jesus’ time and heard him say some of the things that John reports, I would have joined the questioning and skeptical voices. After all, he was just a young man from Galilee who claimed that he existed before Abraham and that he knew God in a way even the elders and religious authorities didn’t. Besides, if what he said was true, it would change everything, even requiring those in power to bow before and serve others rather than the reverse.

In our present day, though, when we read Jesus’ claims, we think nothing of it, having gotten so comfortable in our Christianity that we barely pay attention to such statements. Yet, I wonder if we too blithely shrug our shoulders, too easily dismissing his statements and the accompanying challenges. I fear that God’s voice is crying out all around us, and we harden our hearts to the message. How seriously do we believe that Jesus is the Son of God who has existed since before time? And what does it mean if we do? Has our Christianity become more of a set of cultural beliefs and familiar rituals instead of giving ourselves over to a supernatural, ever-living God whom we follow and worship above all else?

I know I sometimes catch myself shying away from God’s word because I know it requires changing my life. Giving up chocolate like I did as a kid doesn’t hold a candle to what Jesus asks of me now. What about giving up my own privilege and security – physical, financial, and social – in service to others? What about standing up for those without a voice rather than throwing stones from the comfort of my cushy recliner? What about taking the risk of speaking out against the injustices happening today?

These are the questions of Lent, especially as we approach the Passion. Jesus is crying out in our lives. God weeps that we stray so far from the divine covenant. When we hear God’s voice trying to break through in our hearts, in our lives, in our world today, I fall on my shaking knees and pray that we don’t harden our hearts. Let’s take Jesus seriously, reflect ever more deeply on his mission and mandate to us, and follow his teachings even if they lead to the cross.

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.corgenius.com/.

Scripture:

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

Reflection:

Coming to Believe

We meet the three young men who will not worship the golden statue that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up. Bound tightly by the strongest men in the army they are thrown into a white hot furnace. But the God of Israel sends his angel to deliver those who will not serve or worship any other god.

Despite the red face of the King and the raised eyebrows of those at court, there is no emotion. Simply, young men will be faithful to their God; they are in for all.

John’s gospel shows us people coming to believe in Jesus. There are the great Lenten gospels of those who profess their belief in Jesus as the Son of God – the woman at the well, the man healed at the pool of Siloam, Martha and Mary at the raising of their brother Lazarus. We meet others searching, like Nicodemus, and Jesus’ apostles and disciples who listen and follow Jesus teaching.

Jesus, who is sent by the Father and is one with the Father, will do the will of his Father. Unlike Isaac, the son of Abraham, whom God prevented from being sacrificed. Jesus, the Son of the Father, embraces suffering and death on the Cross. The Father’s love for us is shared by the one who does the Father’s will. Like the young men who enter the furnace even if God should choose not to save them, Jesus does the will of the Father, drinking from the chalice of suffering, trustingly laying down his life that all might be saved in this act of love.

The nails of the cross do not yield, Elijah does not come, but the bonds of death do not hold Jesus bound.

John’s gospel is the story of coming to life in Jesus. Those we meet in the Gospel who did not believe, those who do not believe now, all are invited to the mystery of God’s love at work among us. From the Cross, John’s Gospel says that the last breath of Jesus breathed over his Spirit upon those gathered beneath the Cross. That is all of us.

Pope Francis offered a prayer during the days of Easter celebration. He shows us the Risen Lord, his mother Mary, kneeling before the Father, present too is the Holy Spirit. Jesus shows his wounds to the Father and says, ‘Father, remember how much we love them’.

John’s Gospel is a love story. One of sacrificial love for all of us. It draws us to God’s love for us.

Fr. William Murphy, CP, is a member of Immaculate Conception Community in Jamaica, New York.

Scripture:

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

Reflection:

In our first reading from Numbers, the Israelites, out of frustration and exhaustion and impatience, complain against God and Moses, and God punishes them by sending saraph serpents who bite the people, and many of them die. The people repent, and ask Moses to intercede for them. And in response, God tells Moses to fashion a bronze serpent, mount it on a pole, “and if anyone who has been bitten looks at it, he will recover.”

In our Gospel reading from John, Jesus is again trying to tell the people who He is. Finally, Jesus says to them, “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will realize that I AM, and that I do nothing on my own, but I say only what the Father taught me.”

When we reflect on Jesus on the Cross, can we believe that the love and sacrifice demonstrated there really come from God? Can we believe God really loves us that much? I ask the question because if we really do believe in God’s love for us, then we can look at Jesus on the Cross, and, like the Israelites in the desert bitten by the serpent, we, too, can “recover.”

We can recover from despair and anxiety. We can recover from anger and bitterness. We can recover from prejudice and hatred and fear. We can recover from weariness and apathy and complacency.

Jesus is I AM for us. Jesus is God’s love revealed to us. May we look upon Him and see His love and sacrifice and be healed.

Fr. Phil Paxton, C.P., is the local superior of the Passionist Community in Birmingham, Alabama. 

Scripture:

Daniel 13:1-9, 15-17, 19-30, 33-62 or 13:41c-62
John 8:12-20

Reflection:

The disciples approached Jesus and said,
‘Who is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven?’
He called a child over, placed it in their midst, and said,
‘Amen, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children,
you will not enter the Kingdom of heaven.
Whoever humbles himself like this child
is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven.
And whoever receives one child such as this in my name receives me.’  -Matthew 18:1-5

This morning entering the local restaurant where I was meeting a friend for our regular Friday morning breakfast, I passed a booth with a mother and two young children, three and five years old, or something like that. The youngest, a little girl, caught my eye, so I waved and smiled. Immediately, her older brother joined in on the meeting and I waved at him too—a delightful encounter. I winked at mom and then on to securing a booth and waiting for my friend.

Such an encounter often reminds me of my first-year English class where we read and discussed George Eliot’s “Silas Marner, The Weaver of Raveloe”. George Eliot was the penname of Mary Anne Evans for women wouldn’t be considered serious novelists in 1861 when it was published. Briefly, the plot is a marginalized weaver in the early 1800’s finds a child at his front door, takes the child in and raises the little girl all the while trying to find her parents. The child grows up, the parents are eventually discovered, but the young lady stays with the poor weaver. The poor weaver in the process gets involved in the community, gives up his infatuation with money, and reenters the life from which he earlier fled because of false accusations made against him. All this because of a child, a needy child, a needy abandoned child.

Jesus, help me heed your above admonition to your disciples in today’s gospel selection to receive the needy, child or adult, into my life and trust in your promise that truly I am receiving you.

Dan O’Donnell is a Passionist Partner and a longtime friend of the Passionists.  He lives in Chicago, Illinois.