Daily Scripture

Scripture:

Ezekiel 28:1-10
Matthew 19:23-30

Reflection:

“For God all things are possible.” Matthew 19:26

There are times when I open the Scriptures and read the readings of the day, I become quite agitated. The Mass reading for today is one of those times. They are quite challenging. The first reading talks about arrogance. It describes people who are well off thinking that their wealth and good fortune comes from having superior wisdom and intelligence. Soon, they think themselves superior than God!

In the Gospel, Jesus tells us of the great challenge the rich have in getting into the Kingdom of heaven. To make his point, he gives an example. It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than to enter into the Kingdom of heaven.

Needless to say, this teaching astonished the disciples. One of the great signs of God’s favor for them was the accumulation of wealth. They became concerned and went to Jesus with their anxieties. Besides, they saw themselves as the exceptions. They had left everything to follow Jesus. They had given up family, lands and wealth to become his disciples. They became concern that they would not be rewarded for their sacrifice. It just didn’t sound fair to them.

There are times when Jesus’ response is not so helpful at the moment. We usually want answers to our questions, and not proverbs. When Jesus told them: “For God all things are possible,” the disciples did not seem satisfied with that response. Peter goes on to tell him just how much they had given up in order to follow him, as if he didn’t know.

Jesus’ response should drive us to prayer. We will not understand it in a court of law, or in a universe where everyone is suppose to be treated with compensation. Our feeling is that if I do something good, then our earthly reward will be something good. But with Jesus, that’s not the way it works. Jesus asks us to look at life in a new way. Jesus wants us to recognize a new understanding of what constitutes family, blessings and God’s favor. It is not immediate gratification and it is not even what we deem is good. It is what God sees which God pronounces good. What we think is good is not always so good.

Being reminded that we are not god, that arrogance does not last and that our sense of reward needs to be rethought is not what we want to hear. But it seems to me that we cannot fully appreciate what God has done for us if we do not recognize our inability to see the role God has in our lives, in the life of the whole of creation and in the cosmos. Once we begin believing that only God is God, will we begin living as God’s loving children and realize our connectedness with the whole of creation.

Isn’t God great!

Fr. Clemente Barrón, C.P. is a member of Mater Dolorosa Community in Sierra Madre, California.

The Feast of the Assumption of Mary

Scripture:

Revelation 11:19a; 12:1-6a, 10ab
1 Corinthians 15:20-27
Luke 1:39-56

Reflection:

Today we celebrate a great feast in the Church, the feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary into Heaven.  In the celebration of this miraculous event, there are two special themes that can help all of us as we try to live out our faith in more meaningful ways.  First of all, this feast is a reminder that our God is a faithful and steadfast God.  God will not let us down.  No matter how dismal and disappointing events around us may be, God will be there for us and not forget to guide us in every moment.  How can we be so sure of this?  It was God who called Mary to participate in the great event of salvation, to be the “tabernacle”, the bearer of divine life, when she bore within her own womb the long-awaited Savior of he world.  And this was all accomplished when Mary uttered those simple words, “Be it done to me according to thy word.”  In this simple utterance, Mary was declaring that, though she could not possibly comprehend the mystery that would be unfolding within her, the whole aim of her life would be an unending, uninterrupted litany of saying yes to the Lord.  In every moment Mary would be placing her trust in God.  And, at the same time, God would be present for Mary, guiding her, comforting her, showing her the way.  And, as our feast celebrates today, in the end, after the mission of her beloved Son was accomplished, Mary would be assumed into Heaven.  Mary was faithful to the end.  And her God was faithful to her, raising her up to new and divine life.  One great message for us all today.  Our God is a faithful God.

There is another special message on this feast day, however, one that I love to share with others when leading the rosary, specifically the glorious mysteries, when we meditate on the fourth and the fifth mysteries.  In the fourth mystery, of course, we remember the feast we celebrate today, the Assumption.  In the fifth mystery, though, we go even further as we declare that Mary, the faithful one, was crowned queen of Heaven and earth.  Now, I would really like to believe that this happened.  I would love to think of this moment as it has often been portrayed by great Italian and Flemish artists, and even before these great ones, similar images found painted in monasteries and on various manuscripts. Without fail, they portray Mary seated on a golden throne, surrounded by choirs of angels, dressed in beautiful garments.  Truly a queen!  But I have no doubt that this is not the moment when Mary became our queen, queen of angels and saints, queen of Heaven and earth.  Rather, the first throne of Mary was hardly one of gold.  Isn’t it true that Mary became our queen when she was sitting in the dirt and mud at the foot of the Cross, holding in her arms the broken, lifeless body of her beloved son, Jesus?  We see Mary dressed in rough blood-stained garments, barefooted with callouses on her feet and gentle hands marked with the blood that flowed from the Cross.  Isn’t this the moment when Heaven and earth stood still, even as Mary cried out her fiat, her eternal yes to the will of God, and Mary truly became our queen, the one who was assumed into Heaven because of her unending fidelity and trust in God?  And so for us today!  We are invited to remember these moments in the life of Mary and imitate them in our own way, day by day, always remembering that our God is faithful, if only we say yes again and again, and put our trust in Him.

Fr. Pat Brennan, C.P. is the director of Saint Paul of the Cross Passionist Retreat and Conference Center, Detroit, Michigan.

Scripture:

Jeremiah 38:4-6, 8-10
Hebrews 12:1-4
Luke 12:49-53

Reflection:

Living in these divided times, I found myself struggling with the words of Jesus in our Gospel reading for Sunday (Luke 12:49-53): “Do you think that I have come to establish peace on the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division.”

Personally, I feel called to help bring people together, not push them apart. Is Jesus really asking me and all of us to promote the divisions that exist between peoples? In light of what we read in the Gospels; I would say the answer is no.

What I do believe Jesus is saying is that His message is not to be diluted for the sake of “not rocking the boat,” or “not stirring things up.” He encountered opposition from almost the very beginning of His public ministry. Much like the prophet Jeremiah (See our first reading: Jeremiah 38:4-6, 8-10), there were people, mostly people in power, who didn’t like what He had to say, and eventually these people plotted to kill Him, just as their ancestors looked to do with Jeremiah. Jesus did not come to establish comfortability or complacency or “peace” with what is.

For many early Christians, their decision to follow Jesus not only put their lives in danger, but put them in conflict with members of their own families, as Jesus says when He talks about fathers against sons and mothers against daughters, etc.

To follow Jesus is to take a stand, which can lead to conflict and the cross. But when we look at how Jesus dealt with and related to the Samaritan woman at the well, or the Syro-Phoenician woman begging for help for her daughter, or the synagogue official, or the Roman centurion with the servant who was ill, we can see that Jesus was not looking for us to be so divided that we lose sight of the humanity or the sacredness, in God’s eyes, of the “other.” That is what I fear our divisions have brought us to: questioning even the humanity of the “other.” It is this kind of mentality that has led to slavery and injustice and human trafficking and attempts at genocide. We are not called to promote this kind of division, no matter how righteous we think we are.

Instead, as it says in our second reading from Hebrews (12:1-4): “let us rid ourselves of every burden and sin that clings to us [Doesn’t prejudice and violence seem to cling to us?] and persevere in running the race that lies before us while keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, the leader and perfecter of faith. For the sake of the joy that lay before him he endured the cross, despising its shame, and has taken his seat at the right of the throne of God.” I suppose that the “joy that lay before him” refers to the Resurrection. But I also wonder if that joy has to do with our salvation. He endured the cross for the sake of the joy of saving us all, not just some.

Jesus says, “I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already blazing!” May we be set on fire for love of the world, even love for those we consider “other.”

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

Scripture:

Ezekiel 18:1-10, 13b, 30-32
Matthew 19:13-15

Reflection:

Recently, my husband and I traveled to Ireland to attend a family wedding. While there we were joined by our son and his family. It was the first trip for our grandson who is two years old. And he seemed to take to the idea of farming and cows and tractors with glee. As I reflected on the readings for today, I was struck by those memories of how he walked purposefully over the field with a goal to see the cows. Something inside me resonated deeply as I watched him walk with his dad and grandfather and uncle over the fields of his heritage as if he felt at home.  Paying attention to the movements of God in our life seems important. The first reading from the prophet Ezekiel simply suggests that. We are not responsible for the sins of our fathers, rather we walk purposefully towards our heritage. We are invited to be virtuous in life. Our Gospel offers a similar idea, let the children come to Jesus, it is he desires to have a relationship with them, with you and me.

In Sunday’s readings, the Gospel of Luke suggests, “Do not be afraid any longer, little flock, for your Father, is pleased to give you the kingdom. (Luke 12:32)”

To me, the readings of today offer us an invitation to pause and reflect on how we can integrate Sacred Scripture into our lives.

Often, we are so busy that we hardly take time to pause and truly reflect on the readings; myself included. Can we imagine how we might approach life if we understood that we are not to be afraid and that our Father is pleased to share the kingdom? Is that what Jesus meant all those years ago as he went about proclaiming the Kingdom in Galilee and Jerusalem?

When I reflect on the scene with our grandson, I am reminded of the abundance of God’s presence in our lives. A God who moves in and through to get our attention.

What do you see the readings offering you today? What thought comes to you?

While I have no idea how our grandson understood this experience, safe to say, I trust him to the providence of the kingdom.

Dear Jesus, may we always trust in your love and guidance. May you be before us and beside us (Psalm 139:5).

So, when we look to the right or left, in confidence, we will hear the voice of God saying, “this is the way, walk this way. (Isaiah 30:21)” Amen.

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.

Scripture:

Ezekiel 16:1-15, 60, 63 or 16:59-63
Matthew 19:3-12

Reflection:

The Word of God for us today is meditation on the sacredness of a covenant, especially as regards marriage. It is a plea to encourage, affirm, pardon and be faithful to every marriage relationship in your life. Whether you are single, married, or, vowed in religious life, I believe that it is our responsibility to pay attention to and pray for the married couples in our life.

This is our sacred task and responsibility to verbally acknowledge the importance of what two people must do to maintain their faithful love.

We are actually working in cooperation with God, the source of all genuine love and grace, when we affirm, encourage and reinforce every marital commitment with whom we come in contact. Is it not God who declares today in the Word that “I will re-establish my covenant with you, that you may know that I am the Lord that you may remember and be covered with confusion, and that you may be utterly silenced for shame when I pardon you for all you had done, says the Lord God…” (Ezek. 16:63)

I am suggesting something that is counter to the American culture where love is the most misunderstood and misinterpreted word in a loveless age.

In the words of Catherine de Hueck Doherty, foundress of Madonna House Apostolate, in Combermere, Canada, “If we want to restore the world to Christ, we must first clarify what marriage really is to a world that has forgotten the very meaning of the word love, let alone that sanctity of marital love.

I suggest that we act upon our meditation today and every day, with the deliberate and intentional act of acknowledging the importance of each sacred relationship in whose presence we encounter. Maybe you will get their attention as to who and what is most important, and you will make their day!  At least you got their attention!

Make this a pleasing act to God, as God is able to heal, enlighten and transform each relationship with whom we come in contact.

Fr. Alex Steinmiller, C.P., is a member of the Passionist Community in Detroit, Michigan.

Scripture:

Ezekiel 12:1-12
Matthew 18:21-19:1

Reflection:

We can best understand today’s gospel by knowing that Matthew organized his gospel into five discourses, or teachings.

They are:

1. The Sermon on the Mount (teachings on the kingdom)
2. The Mission (sending out the disciples)
3. The Parables
4. The Care of the Church
5. The Olivet discourse on the last days

Today’s gospel is part of the fourth discourse, Care of the Church – how are we to care for one another, how are we to live in harmony as community?  Two stories examine those issues and the challenge of forgiveness: Peter’s question, and the king and two servants.

Why would Peter suggest forgiving the other specifically seven times.  It may have been that Peter was familiar with rabbinic teaching of the time, and taught by Rabbi Jose bar Hanina, which held that one must forgive the other three times, but not the fourth time.  In answering his own question – how many times must one forgive another? – was Peter attempting to exceed rabbinic teaching?

Another possibility may be that Peter selected the number seven for its Jewish symbolic meaning.  Seven is the perfect number.  It symbolizes completeness and wholesomeness, the eternal.

Whatever the reason, Peter, hopeless braggadocio that he is, wants to impress Jesus.  And, as usual, Jesus is strikingly unimpressed with Peter.

“Not seven times,” Jesus responded, “but seventy-seven times.”  Through this Jesus episode, the evangelist Matthew is exhorting his Jewish-Christian community to forgive one another without limit.

To underscore this teaching, Jesus presents a parable, which compares God’s forgiveness to ours.  The story is about a king and his slaves.  The king, with great generosity, forgave the one slave the entirety of the immense debt he owes him.  That same slave, however, refuses to forgive a relatively minor debt that a fellow slave owed him.   Instead, he had him thrown in prison until he paid back the debt.  When the king heard of the slave’s refusal to forgive a debt as his own was forgiven, he had him thrown into prison

What then is Matthew’s community – and we today – are to understand from this discourse on the Care of the Church?  Just this:  living in community is often, perhaps all too frequently, can be difficult, calling for great patience, and the need to forgive.  Certainly, we see this today in a highly contentious and toxic climate of within the Church.

We, the Church today, are called to care for one another to build up the Body of Christ.  We must forgive, not seven times but seventy-seven times, that is, without limit.

It is because of God’s limitless forgiveness to us, undeserving people, that we in turn cannot claim the right to withhold forgiveness from our fellow disciples.

Like the king who first forgave his slave, the initiative is with God.  It is because God has first forgiven us, that we are expected, and through God’s grace, enabled, to forgive one another.  We, as community of the forgiven, must be a forgiving community.

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

Scripture:

2 Corinthians 9:6-10
John 12:24-26

Reflection:

When I was a teen, it was akin to a mortal sin for a Catholic to attend a Protestant worship service, much less marry a person of another faith. That is no longer true. Instead, when we died to our superior and exclusivist attitudes toward Protestants, we discovered that God had been sowing and reaping in them all along and they had much to teach us.

Similarly, I was in 5^th grade when a Spanish-speaking Cuban family moved into the 100% white Catholic town where I grew up. Fascinated by their language and culture, I befriended the funny, smart girl in my class. But the family moved away after enduring 5 months of getting their car egged, reading threatening notes on their door, having people refuse to offer them the Sign of Peace at Mass, and being ignored by store clerks.  All of this was done, of course, by the town’s good, upright Catholics clinging to their lives of exclusivity and superiority rather than following Jesus by welcoming the stranger, dying to their own power, and realizing that the family could enrich the town. Jesus was willing to sit at table with everyone who came.  Are we?

As more people of other cultures find a home within our country, do we complain that they are ruining our “American way of life” or do we look for all the ways they contribute to our society as it continues to be shaped, sown, grown, and brought to harvest? How can we become “cheerful givers” who lend generously to the poor and marginalized, who nurture seedlings in every race and culture so they can realize their potential, and who bring new life to every person we encounter?

These are tough questions. It’s always hard to die to self. When a person literally dies, they learn to let go of so many things that defined life for them. As all is stripped away, they are left with only those things that are truly important, and the experience transforms them if they let it. Even as they die, they are born again in new ways. 

Jesus calls us to do that before we physically die. He wants us to do the demanding work of stripping away everything except that which is truly important.  He wants to crack the hard seed coat that separates us from the “other” so we can look at persons of every race, religion, and culture and see ourselves in them. He wants us to reach out in welcoming, open-armed, generous, overflowing love. He wants us to sow and reap in abundance, celebrate and learn from our “otherness”, reject notions of scarcity that keep us from sharing for fear there won’t be enough for ourselves, and teach lessons in word and deed that ensure unity (not uniformity), respect, and shared life.  If we can do that, and only if we do that, the kingdom of God will flourish on this earth and righteousness will endure forever.

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/.