Daily Scripture

Memorial of St. Athanasius, Bishop, and Doctor of the Church

Scripture:

Acts 11:19-26
John 10:22-30

Reflection:

St. Athanasius, bishop of Alexandria in North Africa, has been recognized by the Catholic Church for his holy life and his profound theology, and is now revered as a “Doctor of the Church.” But in his lifetime, he was regarded as a troublemaker by the Roman emperors and even some of his fellow bishops. He was persecuted and threatened; and banished from his people in Alexandria five times. He spent seventeen of forty-six years of his episcopate in exile.

Although St. Athanasius lived in the fourth century, he experienced intimidation and displacement much like the earliest disciples, whose ministries are described in the Acts of the Apostles. And like Barnabas in today’s reading from Acts, “he encouraged the believers to stay true to the Lord in firmness of heart” (Acts 10:23) despite all their obstacles.

In the fourth century of Athanasius, the obstacle was a heresy called Arianism, which taught that Jesus was not fully divine. There was bitter division in the Church on this issue. St. Athanasius taught that Jesus the Son of God, the Eternal Word through whom God made the world, entered the world in human form. This is the Incarnation, meaning to “take on flesh.”

St. Athanasius risked his life and his reputation to continue to preach the truth of Jesus’ Incarnation because he believed it so deeply. He challenges us to love our world because Jesus the Eternal Word entered our world in human form and shared our reality, loving it ALL. Our love for this world shows in our reverence for life on our planet: species of animals and plants that have evolved over millennia; as well as the diverse cultures, which are the result of human genius to survive and thrive in varied places around the world.

And so, we pray for courage to respond:

—when ecosystems are being destroyed and Indigenous people removed from their lands,   

—when people struggle to hold on to their cultural ways of life after they are displaced by climate change, war, or persecution,

—when we fail to see the face of Jesus in someone of a different ethnicity, nationality, or religion.

We ask for the graces of loving determination, clarity of thought, and reverence for life that we celebrate today in the life of St. Athanasius of Alexandria, Doctor of the Church. In the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen.

Patty Gillis is a retired Pastoral Minister. She served on the Board of Directors at St. Paul of the Cross Passionist Retreat and Conference Center in Detroit. She is currently a member of the Laudato Si Vision Fulfillment Team and the Passionist Solidarity Network.

Scripture:

Acts 2:14a, 36-41
1 Peter 2:20b-25
John 10:1-10

Reflection:

When I was a little girl, I remember my parents always being very careful to make sure our backyard gate was always locked. No one could get in, and I, being a little three-year-old girl, could not get out. I wasn’t supposed to talk to anyone through the gate, no matter what they said. The gate was security and safety, giving my parents a sense of knowing that no harm could come to me from outside that gate. 

And what was outside the gate? I remember my parents warning me about bad people who could take me and hurt me. When we went shopping, I always had to hold my Mom or Dad’s hand, I couldn’t talk to strangers, I definitely could NOT take candy from a stranger. At the age of three, I had a very specific understanding of what danger could be. 

In today’s gospel reading, Jesus is the gate. Only good people will use the gate – they would have no need to jump the gate or make a hole through the fence. He is the keeper of the gate – the gate opens, he calls them by name and leads them as a group through the gate. The beauty of this is that the sheep can recognize their shepherd’s voice. They don’t recognize anyone else’s voice.

Jesus came to give new life in abundance. We are totally his, and as we continue to recognize his voice, may we follow him on to our heavenly home.

Patty Masson is the Director of Adult Formation and Evangelization for St. Ignatius of Loyola Catholic Church in Spring, Texas.

Memorial of Saint Catherine of Siena, Virgin & Doctor of the Church

Scripture:

Acts 9:31-42
John 6:60-69

Reflection:

Start being brave about everything. Drive out darkness and spread light. Don’t look at your weaknesses. Realize instead that in Christ crucified you can do everything. – Saint Catherine of Siena

Today the Church celebrates the feast day of one of the four women who are Doctors of the Church, Catherine of Siena. Her influence on Pope Gregory XI to return to Rome from Avignon, France was Divine intervention only because she listened to God with deep love and was open to the Holy Spirit.

The above quote from Saint Catherine of Siena goes so well with the readings for today. It is also relevant for our present situation in our country and world. It challenges us to be the one who “drives out darkness and spread light”. It challenges us to be the ones who bring light to those around us. A smile, a small act of kindness or a gentle word. As humans we tend to look at our shortcomings when God has given us many gifts and talents. When we focus on these, we become so much stronger.

In the first reading from Acts of the Apostles, Saint Peter is traveling around and comes across a paralyzed man and through Saint Peter’s healing other people of the region “turned to the Lord”. As he continued his travels he comes to Joppa and hears, through two messengers, that “a disciple named Tabitha” has fallen ill and has died. Seeing the grief of the friends and family he is moved to pray for her and raised her up. It stuck me how both accounts sound like the healing accounts of Jesus in the Gospels. Not surprising that Saint Peter, being the head of the Church, would be the mirror image of Christ showing affirmation of his authority given to him by Christ. Saint Peter is using his authority to spread the light of Christ by alleviating suffering.

As Christians, disciples of Christ, we too are called to use our God given talents to help ease pain and suffer and be joy, peace, and light to others. In the Gospel, Jesus tells the disciples that the words that he has spoken to them are “Spirit and life”. The words of the Gospel and readings from other books of scripture are meant to feed our souls, stoking the Light that lives in us. Saint Catherine’s quote at the beginning of this reflection says it best, “Drive out darkness and spread light.” To do this, we need to take time for prayer and reflection and then put that energy into action. The Saints would most likely say to do the ordinary things of life extraordinarily.

May the Light that was given to you at your Baptism continue to burn as light for others.

Linda Schork is a theology teacher at Saint Xavier High School in Louisville, Kentucky.

Scripture:

Acts 9:1-20
John 6:52-59

Reflection:

The scriptures of Easter season are filled with the Good News of the Risen Jesus! The responsorial psalm calls us to:

            “Go out to all the world and tell the Good News!”

What is this Good News?!  How do we as believers in the Risen Jesus go out and spread this good news to believers and non-believers alike?  What is the Good News in your life that you want to share because of the hope and promise of the Resurrection?!

Yesterday we celebrated with our first grandchild, Everly, as she received her First Holy Communion!  In his homily, Fr. Joe, a visiting pastor, shared memories of his First Communion received over 70 years ago.  He reminded the children and all of us that having received Jesus means that we carry Jesus in our hearts in a special way.  He challenged us to share this Good News as we participate in a life of service to our sisters and brothers!

We live in turbulent times, no doubt about this!  Here in the city of Louisville, we are reeling from a terrible shooting tragedy on Easter Monday that left five people dead along with nine people injured, one of those remains in critical condition.  It has been a time of church and civic leaders to come together with grieving family, friends and the community at large to pray for an end to this senseless violence. 

Where is the Good News being proclaimed in the midst of this heartbreak and sorrow?!  Good News continues to happen through the outpouring of service and love among the community and the commitment on the part of lawmakers to work more earnestly for justice.

Good News can be found in the conversion story of Saul as we read the familiar account found in Acts.  Saul repented and Paul became a believer in the new life we celebrated at Easter.  Paul dedicated his life to preaching the risen Jesus thus bringing many new converts into the fold.

Good News can be seen and heard as those eighty first communicants, their parents, families and friends share the blessings and nourishment they experienced in celebrating in Eucharist at the Table of the Lord. Jesus gives us hope and promise in these words from the Gospel of John:

            “Whoever eats my Flesh and drinks my Blood,
            Remains in me and I in them, says the Lord.”

May we continue to be Resurrection people, sharing the Good News and hope it brings to all.  Alleluia!  Alleluia! Alleluia!

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

Scripture:

Acts 8:26-40
John 6:44-51

Reflection:

We have not seen the Father, but Jesus has… We believe in Him because of faith. And we who believe will have eternal life because of our faith. But it isn’t just because of the readings we share or the parables we hear – it is in every flower we see blooming, the amazement we feel when we see a bird fly into our trees that we may have never seen before; the wonder and awe of a life filled with his blessings! The blessings of children and grandchildren – watching people fall in love – a rushing brook or a beautiful sunny sky, even a dark cloudy sky with amazing blasts of lightning and booming thunder; these things support our faith because they are solely from God. 

We are encouraged every day to appreciate God’s gifts, to feel his warmth and love in our lives, to live and share his compassion and mercy with others. Are we aware? Are we thankful? Are we Christ to others? Finally, do we appreciate the greatest gift – the Eucharist – in our lives? Jesus gives of himself to us – as he multiplies the loaves and fish, he performs a beautiful miracle of feeding the multitudes, something he does for us every time we receive Eucharist. 

“This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever, and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”

Patty Masson is the Director of Adult Formation and Evangelization at St. Ignatius of Loyola Catholic Church in Spring, Texas.

Scripture:

Acts 8:1b-8
John 6:35-40

Reflection:

It’s a profound truth that bread only becomes true bread when it is consumed. In a sense, the visible bread ceases in the very act of fulfilling its purpose of satisfying hunger. Bread cannot fulfill its purpose by sitting on a grocery shelf or on the kitchen counter fresh out of the oven. We don’t simply stare at freshly baked bread or only take in its aroma. It is meant to be eaten, and in that act, bread truly becomes bread.

In today’s Gospel from John, Jesus says “”I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst.” Biblical references to Jesus as the Bread of Life are clearly eucharistic: “Then Jesus took the bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is my body, which will be given for you; do this in memory of me.’ And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which will be shed for you.’”

“Do this in memory of me.…” Do what? Is he only talking about the breaking of bread? No. It is intended to be so much more than a reenactment of the Last Supper. Jesus, like bread, becomes our savior in his death and resurrection. His life is fulfilled as he hands himself over to the Father.

Jesus calls us to do likewise. It is when we share our lives in service to others that we become truly who we are…sons and daughters of God. The mystery of faith is we must give ourselves away to find our true selves. In a sense, we become who God created us to be when we die to ourselves and nourish others. We are the Bread of Life in today’s world. When we say AMEN when receiving the Eucharist, we are saying “Yes, let it be so.” Let us be a source of life for others by sharing our lives as Jesus does.

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.

Feast of Saint Mark, evangelist

Scripture:

1 Peter 5:5b-14
Mark 16:15-20

Reflection:

On the feast of St. Mark the Evangelist, our gospel reading promises that those who believe will “speak new languages” (Mk 16:17). Indeed, St. Mark, himself, is speaking a new language. He is proclaiming a story that is ever new, the Good News of Jesus Christ.  St. Mark is speaking a new, life-giving language to the people of his time–and to us in our own time.

Jesus’ Good News to humankind is God’s overwhelming love for us, a love made manifest in him.  The love which is Christ Jesus “desires mercy, not sacrifice” (Mt 9:13). This love has come into our world to “bring good news to the afflicted, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to captives, and release to prisoners” (Is 61:1).

One might wonder, where do we hear the new languages, promised to those who believe, proclaiming the Good News of Jesus Christ today?

Fr. Bryan Massingale is speaking a new language when he writes “There is nothing necessary or fated about racial hierarchies or white racial privilege. These are the result of human agency; it does not have to be so. What humans break, divide, and separate, we can—with God’s help—also heal, unite, and restore” (Racial Justice and the Catholic Church, p. 180).

Pope Francis is speaking a new language when he preaches in a homily on the Italian island of Lampedusa, a major point of entry for refugees to Europe, and where thousands have perished along the way, “Since I first heard of this tragedy it has constantly come back to me like a painful thorn in my heart….God is asking each of us [as he asked Cain], ‘Where is the blood of your brother which cries out to me?’” The Pope asks us, “Has anyone grieved for the death of these brothers and sisters?…For the young mothers carrying their babies?…. We are a society that has forgotten how to weep, how to experience compassion—suffering with others….
     “Let us ask the Lord for the Grace to weep” (A Stranger and You Welcomed Me, pp. 3-6).

Fr. Don Senior, CP is speaking a new language when he writes “Anyone informed about the state of our environment and its impact on human life realizes the intrinsic connection of ecology with other fundamental issues facing humanity….The loss of clean water, adequate food and shelter, and meaningful employment—largely linked to growing environmental problems—has increased the suffering of the poor” (What does the Bible Say About Inclusion? pp. 96-97).

St. Paul of the Cross, mystic and founder of the Passionists, implores “O my God! Teach me how to express myself. Would that I were all aflame with love! More than that…that I could…extol the marvellous mercies that Uncreated Love has bestowed on us!” (Flowers of the Passion, p. 85).  

May we all share his prayer! O God, teach us all how to express ourselves!  Teach us all to speak new languages, aflame with love.

Lissa Romell is the Administrator at St. Vincent Strambi Community in Chicago, Illinois.