The Passionists of Holy Cross Province

The Love that Compels

Daily Scripture

Upcoming Daily Scriptures

Daily Scripture, March 21, 2023

Scripture:

Ezekiel 47:1-9.12
John 5:1-16

Reflection:

Lent: A Time for Healing

Can you imagine waiting 38 years to be healed. In today’s gospel story an invalid, by the pool at the Sheep Gate, is waiting for the water to be stirred up so he could be healed.  The invalid had no one to assist him into the pool.  Jesus, knowing the man’s desire to be healed asked him: “Do ‘you want to be well?” After all of these years the man could have lost hope of ever being healed. Jesus issues three commands: “Rise, take up your mat, and walk.”  The man was healed. (Sacred Space: John 5:1-16, www.sacred space, a ministry of the Irish Jesuits.)

How long have you or other members of your family have been waiting to be healed or liberated from something.  Do we want to  be well?  Are we willing to do the things that we need to do to become well?  If you are concerned about your own health and well-being, bring your anxiety and concerns to the Lord. 

The first reading depicts an endless life-giving stream flowing out from the temple. This magnificent river flowing out from the temple  was life-giving and healing. The passage from Ezekiel is linked to today’s gospel story of the healing of the invalid who had been waiting for the waters to move.  In the Old Testament water symbolizes God’s blessing and drought signifies a curse. (Sacred Space: Ezekiel 47:1-9, www.sacred space, a ministry of the Irish Jesuits.)

Are we open to God’s blessings in our life?  Are we open to healing and changing our lives or have we given up.  Lent is not just a time for giving up something but about reflection, self-examination, healing and spiritual growth.  We are at the half-way  mark in Lent.  What healing, spiritual growth and progress have I made with God’s help.  Lord, help me to continue to heal and grow this day and every day.

Carl Middleton is a theologian/ethicist and a member of the Passionist Family.

Daily Scripture, March 20, 2023

Solemnity of St. Joseph, Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Scripture:

2 Samuel 7: 4-5a, 12-14a, 16
Romans 4: 13, 16-18, 22
Matthew 1: 16, 18-21, 24a

Reflection:

There are a great many remarkable “fathers” in the Scriptures, all who have played an important role in our Salvation.  Recall Abraham, our Father in Faith, the Patriarch Joseph, the great liberator, Moses, David, Israel’s first King, Solomon the Wisest of all the Kings, as well as the many prophets who have nourished our awareness of God’s presence in our world and in our lives…to name just a few!

Today we remember and celebrate the father who is arguably the most important father to ever live, St. Joseph, the foster-father of Jesus.  The Scriptures don’t tell us a lot about him but do present us with important gifts he had.

First of all, he was described as a “just” man.  In the Scriptures a man was described as “just” because he embodied all the virtues held so dear by the faith community:  integrity, competence, compassion, gentleness, honesty, patience, piety, and an openness to God’s invitations to take risks.

A notable part of his character was his responsiveness to his dreams.  It was in his dream that he was encouraged to welcome Mary into his household even though she was already pregnant.  It was because of his dream that he fled with Mary and her newborn son into Egypt to flee the wrath of Herod. It was in his dream that he was told to return to Israel.

We hear again of Joseph when he and Mary brought Jesus to the Temple in Jerusalem when Jesus was twelve years old to dedicate him to God.  When they lost track of him for three days on the way home, we can only imagine his fear and foreboding.  What great relief he must have felt when he and Mary found his lost son teaching in the Temple.  He, then, returns home to Nazareth to raise Jesus and we don’t hear much more about him.  He seems to have been a skilled carpenter, a quiet man who loved his wife and son with all his heart.  What a great example for a father!

What a great model for all of us.  No doubt he had a profound influence on the man Jesus became.  Fathers are always a great influence on their children, for good or for ill.  And so, St. Joseph is the patron of the Universal Church.  His love of Christ, his devotion to Mary, and his unreserved faithfulness to God’s call are all powerful examples of the path to holiness.  We remember St. Joseph today with gratitude and deep admiration. 

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

Daily Scripture, March 19, 2023

Scripture:

1 Samuel 16:1b, 6-7, 10-13a
Ephesians 5:8-14
John 9:1-41

Reflection:

My parents had a dear friend who, late in life, began losing her eyesight. She was a tall, elegant woman with beautiful white hair. But what remains with me most is the elegance with which she accepted her loss of sight. I am not suggesting she gave into it. Bernice embraced the new reality by learning Braille, testing out the public transit system, and practicing using a white cane before she lost entirely her ability to see. In losing her ability to see, she taught be to see.

Today’s readings for the Fourth Sunday of Lent are all about seeing and not seeing. Those who are blind now see. Those who should be able to see are blind to what is right in front of them. Looking for what is not yet apparent and seeing past appearances and into the heart.

In the first reading from the Book of Samuel the Lord says, “Not as man sees does God see, because man sees the appearance but the Lord looks into the heart.” Samuel is sent to anoint a new king from among Jesse’s sons. But Samuel does not see whom he needs to see and asks Jesse if he has any other sons. It was the youngest, David, who was tending the sheep, who was being called to lead the People of Israel.

Lent is a time to see what we need to see. To see Christ in every person and not to only see a skin tone. To see Christ within us and not to only see our sins and failings. To see Christ in the other and not to only see a stranger from a strange land, speaking a strange language, or practicing a strange religion. To see what we usually do not see.

Bernice taught me that seeing is much more than having the sense of sight. I am praying this Lent for the gift to see with the eyes of Christ who sees into the hearts of others.


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

Daily Scripture, March 18, 2023

Scripture:

Hosea 6:1-6
Luke 18:9-14

Reflection:

I taught a session at a church recently, and the issue of Lenten practices came up. It seemed that most people grew up with the idea of “giving things up” for the season. In their stories, I detected a bit of Publican-vs-Pharisee attitude – judging who was more virtuous, favored, or righteous based on the penitential practices they chose to endure. Unfortunately, it was not the first time I’ve encountered such attitudes, and I suspect it won’t be the last.

In fact, when I was raised in a small almost-100%-Catholic town in rural Iowa, everyone judged everyone that way. People believed they were righteous based on their actions – how many times they went to Mass in a week, how much money they donated to the parish, whether their kids attended the Catholic school (combined with whose kids were perfectly behaved and never in trouble), whether they wore modest clothing, and the list went on. The more items one could tick off, the more holy and upright that person was considered to be. At times, it seemed almost like a competition for God’s favor, judged according to human standards.

Yet, the scriptures tell us an entirely different story. In Hosea, God laments about the lack of genuine piety, saying to the chosen people: “It is love that I desire, not sacrifice, and knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.” The psalmist follows this up with: “For you are not pleased with sacrifices; should I offer a burnt offering, you would not accept it. My sacrifice, O God, is a contrite spirit; a heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn.”

That presents a different perspective on Lent, doesn’t it? The purpose of Lent is not to change our eating behaviors or increase our worthy activities (especially if those changes only last until Easter). The purpose of Lent is to humble our hearts, to love, to offer mercy, and to become more like Christ. Any external behavior we choose must be directed toward that interior goal, or it is not only in vain but worthless. It is not what God seeks.

This means that I need to join the elect (those journeying toward celebrating their baptism, confirmation, and communion at the Easter Vigil), who on the 3rd, 4th, and 5th Sundays of Lent engage in The Scrutinies. They take a hard and exacting look at themselves, their motivations, and their actions, to discern ways in which they are allowing obstacles to exist between themselves and God. Then, with the prayer and support of the community, they are challenged to remove those obstacles, purify their hearts, and come to the waters of Easter with changed and softened hearts, open to receive God’s Spirit in its fullness.

What better goal could any of us have? Whether you began Lent deciding to give up the usual thing or you carefully chose to do something to make a difference, don’t stop there. Use the scriptures and liturgies, the inherent awareness of suffering and mortality, and the grace of this sacred season to go deeper. I don’t want to let myself get off easy with superficial piety or a too-quick skim over the surface of my fears, attempts at control, weaknesses, pride, and sin. I pray for the strength to ask hard questions, the insight to see where I fall short, and the wisdom to know what to do about it. I want to grow closer to God. I want to be vulnerable and pliable before the One who is the source of my life. I want to be an ever more transparent instrument of God’s healing and loving power.

I pray that through the rest of this Lenten season we may join together as a community in prayer more intensely and attentively than usual. May we, as examples and companions to the elect, unflinchingly and honestly uncover our faults and failings, and work hard to allow God to transform our hearts of stone. Perhaps then we can all come to the waters of Easter, and rejoice as we meaningfully renew our covenantal relationship with God and go out into the world more humbled, loving, contrite, and Christ-like. And perhaps (dare we hope?) our sincere example may inspire others to do the same, so that as a Body of Christ we can bring the reign of God to our needy, broken, and hurting world.

With all my energy and will, I’m going to try. Will you? Can we?

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/.

Daily Scripture, March 17, 2023

Scripture:

Hosea 14:2-10
Mark 12:28-34

Reflection:

If there is one thing all of us are pretty good at, it’s losing our way. We know that orienting our lives toward God and following Christ on the path of discipleship is the only true way to life, but inevitably—and, sadly, sometimes quite consistently—we try our luck with other paths no matter how many times they leave us sad and empty, disappointed and depleted, and surely less alive than we were before.

Lent is a season that is crafted with wayward souls in mind because the heart of the Lenten message is to turn to God that we might live. And it’s the message that pulsates in today’s first reading from the prophet Hosea. Like ourselves, the Israelites had once again wandered away from God in the endlessly misguided attempt to find security and strength, meaning and fulfillment, in something other than God, whether alliances with other nations like Assyria or their own frantic efforts (“the work of our hands”). Not surprisingly, rather than prospering, they have “collapsed through their guilt.” And yet, rather than giving up on them, God, like an anguished and abandoned lover, pleads for them to return, promising, “I will heal their defection, I will love them freely.” The passage overflows with images of renewal and restoration, of reconciliation and reunion. It really is as if the dead have come back to life.

Today’s gospel offers hope for the wayward as well. It’s the well-known gospel passage in which one of the scribes asks Jesus, “Which is the first of all the commandments?” and Jesus responds that we are to “love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength,” and we are to “love your neighbor as yourself.” We usually think of laws and commandments as repressive and restrictive, not liberating and life-giving, but in these two pithy commandments Jesus shows us the only absolutely trustworthy path to life. 

So that’s it. Letting God love us and loving God in return, letting others love us and loving them in return. If we do those things well, people will be able to say of us, “That person really lived!”

Paul J. Wadell is Professor Emeritus of Theology and Religious Studies at St. Norbert College in De Pere, Wisconsin, and a member of the Passionist Family.

Daily Scripture, March 15, 2023

Scripture:

Deuteronomy 4:1, 5-9
Matthew 5:17-19

Reflection:

…I have come not to abolish but to fulfill…

It seems that Jesus was forever being accused of breaking the law – healing on the Sabbath; why do you not wash your hands as the law proclaims?;  how is it that you and your disciples pick the wheat on the Sabbath?… The law in those days stemmed from the Ten Commandments, the Pentateuch and the whole of Scripture.   The Law was really more about principles than about rules and regulations.  Principles to help guide life in community.  Scribes and Pharisees made it their business to reduce the principles to rules and regulations that they could enforce them.  In fulfilling the Law, Jesus was getting back to the principles of respect and reverence.  Reverence for God and God’s day, respect for parents, neighbors, life and truth.

This reverence and respect is rooted in mercy and love.  The mercy and love we experience from God, modeled in Jesus and called forth in every one of us to share in community.

Lent is an opportunity for us to reconnect with the principles of life – of love – and of mercy.  It is a season inviting us to something deeper – we are called to live the Ten Commandments through the lens of the Beatitudes.  To be deeply present to God and to one another,   Lent is a time to allow God to lift us out of our old ruts, help us refocus and reframe our lenses so that we can be channels of healing, opportunity and possibility.  So that we can accompany and companion those tempted to shrink from their crosses.  So that we can walk with deeper reverence, respect and compassion.  The fulfillment of the law that Jesus promised.


Faith Offman is the Associate Director of Ministry at St. Paul of the Cross Passionist Retreat and Conference Center in Detroit, Michigan.

Daily Scripture, March 14, 2023

Scripture:

Daniel 3:25, 34-43
Matthew 18:21-35

Reflection:

The Hard Grace of Knowing Sin

In Luke’s gospel, after preaching to a crowd on the shore of Lake Galilee, Jesus tells Peter to put out into the deep and cast the nets. Despite fishing that night and catching nothing Peter does what Jesus asks. Seeing the nets filled to the breaking point Peter falls at the knees of Jesus, saying, “Leave me Lord, I am a sinful man’. Peter is credited of sinning when he denied knowing Jesus during his passion. Without judging Peter, whatever lingering guilt he must have felt seems to be addressed by Jesus when in John’s gospel after the resurrection Our Lord invites an affirmation of Peter’s love.

Acknowledging our sin during Lent we pray to be forgiven and to forgive. We will also pray to know our sin. That seems where we should begin. What a challenging grace to ask for, to know our sins, to be able to say like Peter, ‘I am a sinful man, I am a sinful woman’. That is a very healthy grace. In its pure form we may only be able to take so much of it. Like vanilla when we are baking, it smells so good, a little bit adds wonderful taste, too much will be overpowering and not good.

This grace of knowing sin is given of course when God wants us to have it. For some saints it was their special grace. These penitents talked to God a lot about their sin and the sin of the world in prayer, growing in God’s love through this grace. All of us can profit from this grace when God gives it to us, but it may not always be so strong. We may draw upon this experience remembering and being moved by it later. This seems to be what happens in the sacrament of reconciliation, when we are not overcome by sin but want to celebrate God’s forgiveness preparing for Christmas or Easter or while making special spiritual exercises? Sometimes God’s grace just moves us to be aware of sin and celebrate forgiveness.

Knowing that we are sinners lets us claim as our own the prayer we hear in the book of Daniel today, ‘Do not take away your mercy from us…with contrite hearts let us be received…those who trust you cannot be put to shame…do not let us be put to shame,  but deal with us in your kindness and mercy.

In the parable of Matthew I would like to know if the King had an experience of mercy? I suspect yes. We do not know how our debtor ran up a huge debt nor how he would propose to pay for it in the future. What does one do in such a situation? Get prostrate and beg is the best idea. He sees reality and does the only thing one can do. Adam and Eve take note! Our debtor received mercy.

Something is wrong however. How could he have forgotten his experience mercy? Did he forget his sin? All of those around are upset. They go to the king because they appreciated mercy, they were sinners, and something really went wrong with this man’s behavior. He should know and do better. Amen. Oh oh, no second chance this time!

Putting on our seat belt and crash helmet, let us ask for the grace of knowing our sin.

Then we can humbly welcome the mercy of God’s promise and we grow in love. May our experience of God’s mercy be so good, a remembered grace, that we share it.

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

Daily Scripture, March 13, 2023

Scripture:

2 Kings 5:1-15ab
Luke 4:24-30

Reflection:

Our Gospel story picks up midway through the fourth chapter of St. Luke. The final part of Jesus’ interaction with the people in the synagogue in his hometown of Nazareth. He has just announced that the prophet’s words are fulfilled “in their hearing (v.21).”

The people go from praising his gracious words to saying, who are you to teach us; we know who you are, the son of Joseph. In other words, an ordinary member of the community—nothing special. Similarly in our first reading from the second book of Kings, Naaman the Syrian hears that healing will come by a simple washing seven times in the Jordan. He is deflated and prepared to travel home without doing this ordinary thing. Ordinary is irrelevant in both stories. However, Naaman listens to reason from his servants and is cured. Jesus’ reasoning did not garner the same response. In pointing to the truth that a prophet is not accepted in his native place, his words caused “fury.” Fury is described in the dictionary as “wild or violent anger.” He reminds them of times when prophets healed outside the chosen people. It was not only about them but anyone who heard and believed. Perhaps, they were not ready to listen to his inclusive message of salvation for all.

The irony of this scenario is that Jesus “passes through their midst and went away (v.30).” I have often wondered how this could happen; how could he have escaped their fury? I understand this story foreshadows Jesus’ ultimate fate, and it was not yet his hour, as the gospel of St. John would offer. However, I believe their fury blinded them so much that Jesus could slip away. Did they feel put down and disrespected by Jesus? Might that have caused this eruption? Sometimes the truth is hard to take, and anger is triggered. That is our human condition. The “act and not react” principle is not always easy to follow. Can you relate?

The important thing—I believe—is to accept our transgressions and move on in hope. Otherwise, our anger may blind us from our life’s gifts. It isn’t who we are. We are children of our Father, made in his image and breathing his breath from the beginning of creation. God is in our breath, the most fundamental—ordinary—thing we must do to live.

The spiritual writer Paula D’Arcy says, “God comes disguised by your life.” In similar language from Irish poet Patrick Kavanagh, “God is found…in the bits and pieces..in the pots and pans.” As we observe the ordinary moments in our lives, may we notice the extraordinary miracles arising from each one. Today and every day. Blessings on your journey.

Jean Bowler is a retreatant at Mater Dolorosa Passionist Retreat Center in Sierra Madre, California, and a member of the Office of Mission Effectiveness Board of Holy Cross Province.