Daily Scripture

Scripture:

Revelation 5:1-10
Luke 19:41-44

Reflection:

Picture yourself in today’s gospel. You are walking with Jesus toward Jerusalem, but Jesus suddenly stops. Gazing down upon the city, Jesus begins to weep. Jesus’ sorrow breaks your heart because, standing near, you can see that his tears are born from love. As he looks down upon Jerusalem, you hear Jesus say, “If this day you only knew what makes for peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes.” Jesus grieves all the violence and bloodshed, all the suffering and affliction, all the hatred and exclusion, all the injustice and indifference. He grieves all the unnecessary pain that human beings endlessly inflict on one another. And he especially grieves all the missed opportunities to love.

But can’t we also picture Jesus looking down over cities and countries across the world today and weeping? Cannot we imagine him looking into our homes, our communities, and societies, and saying, “If this day you only knew what makes for peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes”? We know the path to peace is not found in accumulating weapons, building walls, and threatening wars. We know peace will be ceaselessly out of reach when we lash out in anger, insist on having our way, harden our hearts, seek a little revenge, and make a habit of not forgiving. But still, against our better judgment, we persist in these hopeless ways until “what makes for peace” is hidden from our eyes.

Today’s first reading from Revelation reminds us that the way to peace is not found in the attitudes, habits, and practices that are so destructively familiar to our world, but in the Lamb that was slain, the crucified and risen one who gathers together “those from every tribe and tongue, people and nation,” making all of us one. As we approach the season of Advent, we await the one whose life of mercy, justice, compassion, patient love and forgiveness reveals the true path to peace. Following him is the only way to stop breaking the heart of the God who loves us and calls us all to life.

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.

Scripture:

Revelation 1:1-4; 2:1-5
Luke 18:35-43

Reflection:

Signs and Symbols of Hope

During the Church’s early days, the faithful rarely talked of what we now refer to as the “miracles” of Jesus’s mission. The healings, raising from the dead, and transformation of water into wine were all viewed differently. Just as the man whose sight was restored in today’s Gospel.

I am not sure exactly when in the history of the Church we started to refer to all these acts as miracles, but scripture itself talks of them as signs and symbols. Indeed, the early disciples, followers, and the New Testament authors spoke about them in these terms. So what is the difference between the word miracle and symbol/sign? Well, quite a lot. Today, we seem to want everything associated with God and his actions to be amplified, supernatural in nature, and impossible on our own. While these things may still be true, our desire to want to be “shocked,” “surprised,” and “exalted” by the act has, perhaps, caused us to elevate all of these supernatural acts to “miracle” status. I am going to return to this point again in a moment.

In a way, we seem to be missing the point of the “miracles” when the early Church did not. We tend to celebrate the miracles for themselves but rather not their importance and relevance. The act of healing or change was an act of supernatural powers, for sure; however, the reason was to prove the authority of God over all things man-made, which included our inability to heal ourselves during the time of Christ. The early Church and writers of the New Testament understood this fully, which is why they focused on the issue of signs and symbols of God’s authority and power rather than just the act itself. It proved God was above us, and most of all, Jesus Christ, in the second person of the Trinity, spoke with the authority of God. End of story. Listening to this authority is borne out in the other readings for today.

R. Those who are victorious I will feed from the tree of life. (Rev 2:17)

He is like a tree
planted near running water,
That yields its fruit in due season,
and whose leaves never fade.
Whatever he does, prospers.

So today, perhaps if we move back for a moment and consider the “miracles” as symbols and signs of God’s authority and power, we can start to see more clearly. When we are driving from one town to another, we expect the signs that direct us there are accurate. If we drive East we don’t expect to move in a westerly direction. Signs and symbols tell us this, if we are heading the right way. For physical movement, we accept this, so why won’t we accept the authority of God without a miracle performed in front of our eyes? The answer is we want more.

Perhaps our reason for this is not being willing to accept God’s gift of hope to us. However, if we believe in hope, we already accept God’s authority and power. Not only this, but we are confident this power and his graces are coming our way in whatever form that may occur.

So, this week, let us accept the signs and symbols which God leaves for us in our lives, even if they are not all the miracles we are seeking. In doing so, that confidence and expectation of hope will return to us in considerable measure. Have a blessed week.

Michael Cunningham, OFS, is the Director and CEO of Mater Dolorosa Passionist Retreat Center in Sierra Madre, California.

Scripture:

Malachi 3:19-20a
2 Thessalonians 3:7-12
Luke 21:5-19

Reflection:

As we near the end of the Church calendar, our Scripture readings deal more and more with the end times. In our Gospel reading for Sunday (Luke 21:5-19), Jesus uses the opportunity of people speaking about the Temple to speak about the end times. When people are admiring how the Temple was adorned, Jesus predicts that it will be destroyed. And so the people ask what are the signs that this will happen. The first thing that He says, is that there will be people claiming to be Him and that “the time has come.” But Jesus warns, “Do not follow them!”

And then Jesus speaks about wars and insurrections, but tells the people not to be terrified, for “it will not immediately be the end.” And then Jesus speaks about not only wars but natural disasters as well. And then Jesus speaks about the persecutions they will face. But He assures them that when it is time for them to give testimony that He will provide a defense for them “that all your adversaries will be powerless to resist or refute.” Later on, He promises them that “You will be hated by all because of my name, but not a hair on your head will be destroyed. By your perseverance, you will secure your lives.”

Earlier, Jesus tells them that some of them will be put to death, so it doesn’t seem that Jesus is promising them some sort of physical invincibility. Rather, it seems that Jesus is telling them that no matter what happens, they will not lose the promise of eternal life. Similarly, in our first reading from Malachi (3:19-20a), God says through the prophet: “Lo, the day is coming, blazing like an oven, when all the proud and all evildoers will be stubble…But for you who hear my name, there will arise the sun of justice with its healing rays.”

I think all this tells us not to lose hope, even in the midst of so many trials and tribulations. We are reminded that God still loves us and is with us, and that in Jesus Christ, we can persevere. We can persevere in following Jesus. We can persevere in love and service.

As I was reflecting on these readings, I was drawn to that last verse of our reading from Malachi: “there will arise the sun of justice with its healing rays.” I don’t always associate justice with healing, but in places like South Africa, there was a connection made between justice and reconciliation. To work for justice often involves confrontation, and courage with a willingness to speak up. Working for justice doesn’t seem to be healing at all, but picking at the wounds that are there. But when we ignore justice in the hopes of avoiding pain, the wounds just fester. But to the degree that we can achieve real justice for everyone, the truth can be brought out into the open, and real healing can occur, as well as real peace.

It seems to me that we are called to work for justice and for the healing it can bring, out of the love God has for us and the world in Jesus Christ. And I wonder if that kind of love and service is the testimony Jesus has given us, against which our “adversaries will be powerless to resist or refute.”

May we be open to the healing the Son of justice brings to us, and may a desire to bring healing and reconciliation inform how we work for justice and peace.

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

Scripture:

2 John 4-9
Luke 17:26-37

Reflection:

The Season of the Moon

The autumn equinox arrived in late September.  It marked the time when night slowly begins to grow longer, and daylight shorter.  It is called the season of the moon.  Spiritually, this time symbolizes a period of struggle between darkness and light, death, and life.  The year is coming to a close, to an end.  This time can be unsettling if we are not ready, not prepared.

Today’s gospel reflects the season of the moon, a coming end time.  Jesus tells his disciples: “As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be in the days of the Son of Man.”  They were eating and drinking, marrying, and giving in marriage up to the day Noah and his family entered the ark.  It rained for 40 days and 40 nights.  The flood waters destroyed everything on earth.

Jesus recalls the story of Lot.  In Lot’s time, they also were eating, drinking, buying, and selling.  But on the day Lot and his family left Sodom, fire and brimstone rained down on the town and destroyed everyone and everything.  The demands and distractions of daily life left them unprepared for the “end time.”

This seemingly dark gospel, coming at a dark time of the year, should call us to reflection.  The Church reminds us that the end of the liturgical season draws near.  In less than three weeks, we will enter the new season of Advent.  It is time to get ready, to prepare for this “end time.”

With this gospel, Christ also encourages us to reflect – as in Noah’s and Lot’s times, the end times are always upon us.  Christ urges us to be always ready, always prepared to meet Jesus in those we encounter in our daily lives, in the infant wrapped in swaddling clothes in the darkness of Bethlehem, and, in the “end time,” face-to-face worshiping God in the Kingdom.

This is the season of the moon, a season to reflect, a season in the still of night urging us to be ready for the coming of Christ.

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

Scripture:

Philemon 7-20
Luke 17:20-25

Reflection:

Have you played Wordle, that daily game of figuring out 5-letter words? I like Sudoku, but I’ve become addicted to Wordle. I MUST play it every day or I’m not content. Though I’m loathe to admit it, sometimes when I wake up at 3 AM, I’ll realize the new Wordle came online at midnight and I’ll pull out my phone to do it before I go back to sleep. Ouch!

In the scriptures, we are directed to set captives free. May we never minimize our serious responsibility to work for the freedom and autonomy of our sisters and brothers in our own country and around the world! It is a primary dictate of the Gospel to work for justice and peace. Given all that is happening today, there is more than enough crying out to be done, and as disciples we must commit ourselves to actively being involved.

At the same time, we need to continually look at ourselves, because there are also more subtle ways of being held bound. Some are little addictions, with the equivalent importance of Wordle. Others are bigger issues, involving misplaced trust or security in things that don’t last, following “false prophets” who proclaim beliefs that are not in line with Jesus’ life and teaching, feeling entitled or self-righteous while turning a blind eye to those in need, or persisting in unhealthy relationships with people, food, or substances. All claim more of my time, energy, and commitment than God wants and/or they keep me from being who God calls me to be in this world.

Everything matters. If I can’t free myself from smaller addictions that keep me from God, I won’t have the wisdom, insight, or strength to resist the bigger ones. For instance, can I be as persistent about making time for prayer as I am about making time for Wordle? I need to sit in God’s presence, to let God love and heal me, to listen to God’s voice and allow God to change my heart. I need to allow God to direct my life. Maybe I can follow a rule where I cannot do Wordle UNTIL I’ve taken dedicated time for prayer that day. Oooo, that sounds hard! But I’m going to try.

What is your “Wordle”? Let’s all work to devote ourselves more fully to following the God who sets captives free, gives sight to the blind, who suffers with us and promises resurrection.

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/.

Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica

Scripture:

Ezekiel 47:1-2, 8-9, 12
1 Corinthians 3:9c-11, 16-17
John 2:13-22

Reflection:

Why Do We Go to Church?

We may question, “why do we go to church”? Today we celebrate the dedication of the St. John Lateran, the first of the great churches built after Constantine ended Christian persecution in the 4th century. Our readings off us an answer to our question.

Ezekiel 43:1-2,4-7. To us, sons and daughters of Adam and Eve, is given a vision of the temple filled with God’s glory. Saying that in the temple is a throne for God and that the soles of God’s feet are planted there, is a way of saying God dwells among us.

All creation is God’s dwelling place, but it seems God’s presence sometimes shouts to us. Come to me. Moses had such an experience in the desert before the burning bush. It seems though, great visions are a bit too rich for our daily fare. But we do need ‘our’ place. A place we go to for peace, a place to speak with God, a place we approach with reverence because for some reason it is sacred to us. The kind of place where I feel I am loved, I can be with the loved one. A church is that! It is an inn of hospitality welcoming all. There we find a banquet table piled high with God’s graces, sagging under their weight. A seat is reserved for each of us at this table of abundance.

1 Corinthians 3:9-13,16—17. Our bodies are the temple where God dwells within us, we are holy. Our homes and offices, buildings of brick and mortar, no matter how large or humble, are transformed by our personality. They bear the marks of our children, our trophies, this favorite color, the smell of that recipe, my favorite chair. So our church buildings, similar in many features, are each unique by their moments in history and also by the ‘living temples’ that they welcome, and that bring them to new life.

Ezekiel speaks of the flowing water running out of the temple to bring God’s life and fertility. Paul speaks of the waters of Baptism that fill us with the Holy Spirit. Priests, prophets, kings and queens we become ‘other Christs’. When the perfumed oil of Chrism is placed upon our heads we are commissioned, even the tiniest of us, to go into the world to love as Christ, seeing Christ in others and in ourselves. In the garden of the church, we tend our hearts so that they may grow to the size of the heart of Christ.

John 4:19-24. At a deserted village well Jesus meets and asks a Samaritan woman for a drink of water. This woman is one who has not found her place. In the days ahead I suspect it will be this well. But right now she comes every day for the drudgery of carrying needed water for her house. Soon it will be her special place because here she falls in love. It would seem hard to refuse the request for a drink when you are standing at a well with a bucket full of water. More than asking Jesus is giving. ‘Whoever drinks the water I give will have a fountain leaping up to give eternal life’. ‘Give me this water, sir, so I shall not grow thirsty’. On the Cross Christ again is thirsty for us. From his side will flow life-giving water upon all who gather beneath the cross, those filled with the Spirit that Jesus breathes upon us in his final breath.

Answer: We are a holy people, together invited to be with our lover as we eat and drink, celebrating the mystery we are baptized into, our dying and rising with Christ.

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

Scripture:

Titus 2:1-8
Luke 17:7-10

Reflection:

The Attitude of a Servant of God: We are unprofitable servants: we have done what we were obliged to do.

We should serve God because we want to and out of the goodness of our heart, without earthly expectations in return. When we serve in this way, we are true servants, knowing that it is God’s grace that allows us to serve, period. We should be grateful that we can serve God in any kind of way. We could be enticed to serve other gods or earthly things and miss out on what is important or better for us. As a Deacon in the Catholic Church, I took a vow to serve the Lord until I die. My reward will come from God when I enter his kingdom as a child of God, and live serving, praising, and worshiping him forever.

Christ wants to give us more than our earthly sense of entitlement. Even once we have done what we have been commanded, we insist that “we are unprofitable servants” in order to remind ourselves that “the grace of God has appeared”—which is given to us because of his goodness and not because we are useful or beneficial to God. Jesus Christ cleanses us for himself as his own people, training us to reject godless ways.

It seems to us that different moments in our human existence make us either more objective or subjective in serving God, depending on each circumstance. Indeed, time does not always carry the same weight. When we are happy, we want to prevent the hours from ever passing. When we are near a dying person, we want the hours to go slowly so we can be near that person for as long as possible. When we are suffering, it seems that the hours stand still and never end. We should be ready to welcome whatever comes to us in times of joy, love, or intimacy.

Lord, we want to live each moment by filling it with our love and service, living each moment with greatest intensity, just as the saints in heaven live their eternity. Each of their moments is made of love, praise, and service. Their eternity is a beatitude that no tongue can ever describe. We must always live more intensely the time we have left. What counts is not so much how long we live, but how we lived the time, we had. You will not question us about the number of years, but about how we serve you and the weight of the love reaped every day of our existence. Amen

Deacon Peter Smith serves at St. Mary’s/Holy Family Parish in Alabama, a retired Theology teacher from Holy Family Cristo Rey Catholic High School in Birmingham, a retired soldier from the US Air Force, and a member of our Passionist Family.

Scripture:

Titus 1:1-9
Luke 17:1-6

Reflection:

The Lord replied, “If you have faith the size of a mustard seed,
you would say to this mulberry tree,
‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.”  -Luke 17:6

One of my most favorite songs (I would call it a hymn) of all times is the Lettermen’s “I Believe”. Looking back over my life, there have been two main forces, one that told me “You can’t do that” and the other that said “I’ll bet you can do that”. When I have listened to the voice of confidence, we did great things, things the first voice said were impossible.

I”m reminded of the first time I filled out the semester grades for my students. I completed the course books (report cards) and sent them down to the principal for his review. He later called me into his office and told me: “You can not give all your students A’s, you have to give some B’s, and C’s”. Mind you, I was a new teacher. I didn’t have tenure, and the principal could let me go (a nice way of saying fire me) for any reason in the first few years of my career.

I had kept a grade book and each Friday I would administer a test that I developed based upon the week’s lessons. As the students came into classroom. I would give them their test with the directions that once they finished it, give it back to me and then they could use the rest of the period to read, write or talk quietly with their chosen class mates. (I was a high school English teacher, teaching reading, writing, listening and speaking) All they had to do was hand in the test. As each student would hand in their test and I would mark the items they got right and then give it back to the student encouraging them to see if they could find the right answer(s). Newer students to the class would look at me in disbelief and ask: “But I already put down what I thought was correct—where am I suppose to find the right answer?” I suggested they might want to ask one of their fellow classmates or review the handouts or texts we had used to learn the material. They would look at me, and quickly follow my suggestions maybe having to come back more than once, but eventually getting all the answers on their test marked correctly. An so, when the principal challenged me, I showed him my grade book with each students’ scores and how they earned their A’s.

Many today continue to tell me that’s not the way to teach. My experience, told me and the principal, that it is the way. Not only did my students do well, they did so well, the principal eventually had me running the reading and math programs for the entire school where students who did not like to read were joining the “100 Book Club” whose requirements were to have read 100 books, writing articles for their neighborhood newspapers and applying their math skills in the wood, printing and other shops in our school. What is even more astounding, student who were sent to us because they didn’t like school, were coming everyday and having fun.

God, help my disbelief! Give me the faith, that even though I may be wrong, if I work with all those you put into my life, we will arrive at Your Good News.

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