Daily Scripture

Feast of Saints Martha, Mary and Lazarus

Scripture:

Exodus 40: 16-21, 34-38
John 11: 19-27

Reflection:

In the first reading, from the Book of Exodus, Moses is completing the instructions given to him before this passage. He carefully follows the directions and builds the “Dwelling” where the ark will be placed with the Commandments inside of the ark. In Hebrew, tabernacle is mishkan meaning, residence or dwelling place. (Look it up on the Web and you will see how elaborate this dwelling was. I used “dwelling from the book of Exodus” for my search and clicked on images.)  The “Dwelling” is a new creation. A new place for God to be with the People of Israel. It replaces Mount Sinai. Once completed then the cloud descends upon it. Again, there is a change. The pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire at night now becomes one at the end of Exodus. The cloud fills the Dwelling with the “glory of the Lord” making it a holy place. When the cloud filled the Dwelling, Moses was not able to go into the Dwelling, unlike Mount Sinai where Moses could go but the people could not. The cloud image also carries over into the Gospels accounts of Jesus’ Transfiguration, “Then a cloud came, casting a shadow over them. . .” Mark 9:7. God then tells the others the Jesus is his Son and they need to listen to him.

In the Gospel of John, Jesus and Martha have a conversation where Martha makes several faith statements about her belief “in the resurrection on the last day”. The last statement she makes is that she believes “you are the Christ, the Son of God, the one who is coming into the world.” In the Gospels, when Jesus is healing someone, it is through that person’s faith or the faith of others that the person is healed. Martha, a woman who is portrayed as to busy to pray in the Gospel of Luke, is the one who has faith that Jesus is going to heal her brother or raise him from the dead in the Gospel of John. Jesus responds to her with one of the “I Am” statements:

I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live, and anyone who lives and believes in me will never die.

Jesus is the “dwelling” where all who believe can enter. No one who believes is kept out as in the Old Testament accounts of the “Dwelling” or the Temple built by Solomon. No veils or curtains. Martha, Mary, and Lazarus had great faith to believe that Jesus is the Son of God through their individual responses. Martha with her statement of faith. Mary with her awareness of the presence of Christ that she felt moved to sit at his feet and listen to his words. We don’t know about Lazarus but certainly he and Jesus were close friends that Jesus was moved by his death. These three Saints, who were in the presence of Christ, certainly give us hope in the Resurrection with their words and actions that are recorded in the Gospels.

How is Christ speaking to me today through the Scriptures?

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

Scripture:

Exodus 34:29-35
Matthew 13:44-46

Reflection:

The journey through the desert to the promised land for Moses and the Israelites was not easy!  There were long days filled with uncertainty. They had suffered enough in captivity and just wanted life to be easier. Moses was a good and faithful servant and God rewarded his dedication by never abandoning him or his people.  During this time, Moses was blessed to have many encounters with the Lord.  These special times gave him and the Israelite community the hope and promise they needed to stay on the journey.

I think that we all can experience similar life-changing experiences in our relationship with the Lord if we are open to allowing God to work in our lives.  There are so many ‘God moments’ in our daily life that we often do not even recognize. There are the many little kindnesses of strangers whether in the parking lot, grocery store, busy traffic or so many other places our feet trod in a day.  I just returned from ten days of visiting family and friends in Michigan and Chicago.  The days flew by filled with Lake Charlevoix beach time, lighthouse tours on Lake Michigan, hobo pies and smores around the campfire, laughter and stories shared with others.  Our time in Chicago brought more opportunities to gather with family and old friends as well as meet new ones. We were blessed to share daily Eucharist and time together with the Passionist community!  We biked, hiked to many wonderful sites in the BIG city, spent a lot of time at the shores of the BIG lake and took in the architectural tour of the city as well.  Time well spent, Deo Gratias!

As I share with you these spirit-led thoughts I feel a sense of gratitude for all the many blessings, the many ‘God encounters’ in my life and realize what a gift it is to be in relationship with the God of Moses who by his faith and radiant God-like presence was able to convey God’s message to others.

May our lives and the lives of those we encounter continue to radiate the presence and love of God in our lives!  Happy Summer journey!

Theresa Secord recently retired as a Pastoral Associate at St. Agnes Parish, Louisville, Kentucky.

Scripture:

Exodus 33:7-11; 34:5b-9, 28
Matthew 36-43

Reflection:

Oh, if only life was this easy to understand and correct. How many of us have worked in that heavenly garden of a place? You are blessed beyond measure, you receive so many gifts of the Spirit, and you are hoping and praying that what God wants you to share with others is what you are contributing. You understand the sacrifice of what you do – time away from your family, hours that you dedicate to service that usually pile up all too quickly. You look forward to going to work every day, and you can’t believe the day’s hours have passed because you have found so much joy in your daily efforts.

But, then there are the weeds. Those folks who see nothing wrong with taking advantage of the system, taking a few free hours here, a few free trinkets there. And we are not usually given the opportunity of seeing those wrongdoers removed from the garden. Not always are our warnings heeded of what we know or see, and so the joy of the garden is snuffed out, slowly giving way to the evil that begins to linger in it. 

It is so incredibly easy to become downhearted, depressed, or sad when you have lived through an experience like this. You believe that you are doing things the right way, going through the proper channels, but there will always be the weeds of the garden that want to snuff you out. But we have to stand firm in our belief in a loving and merciful God. The parable in today’s gospel is the reality of good and bad. I have been guilty of allowing others to “steal my joy” in their badness, and it has thrown me into the throngs of depression and sadness rather than the goodness I should be searching and working toward. It has affected my ministry in the past and numbed me to my faith. 

Our own hearts must be open to God’s protection for us from evil. He loves us so very much, and we know that there will always be someone who wants to control what others can contribute or experience in ministry. Open your hearts to the Gospel and be the flower – don’t be the weed!

Patty Masson supports the Passionists from Spring, Texas.

Scripture:

Exodus 32:15-24, 30-34
Matthew 13:31-35

Reflection:

If you are old enough to remember the comedian Flip Wilson from the 1960s and 1970s, you’ll recall his comedic signature: “The devil made me do it.” He got a lot of mileage out of that line. Why? Because, as is true with all good comedy, there is an element of truth in it. We don’t often know why we do stupid things. It must be the devil.

Today’s reading from Exodus finds Moses coming down from Mount Sinai with the tablets inscribed with ten commandments, commandments that signify the people’s covenant relationship with God. What does he find? A golden calf, an idol, this image upon which the people have placed their hope.

His own brother Aaron says to Moses, “You know well enough how prone the people are to evil,” as if that were an excuse. He could have said just as easily, “The devil made me do it.”

Without a doubt, the Israelites were tired of wandering the desert after leaving Egypt. They were frustrated, maybe even angry, so they create the proverbial “golden calf” to assuage that frustration. It is so tempting to off-load that pent-up anger to someone or something else, creating an idol upon which to place hopes for a better life, rather than to take personal responsibility for their lives.

All around us today we see evidence of the frustration people feel. It was there before the pandemic, but Covid-19 exacerbated people’s sense of being lost and alienated, which has fueled our anger. We are short-tempered. We lash out at others. We demonize others who are not like us. We, too, look for an idol in whom to place our hope – maybe a person, maybe a political party, or maybe a drug of choice.

It is telling that when called out for poor behavior, a person often says, “I’m really not a bad person. I’m not a bigot. That was not really who I am.” In other words, “The devil made me do it.” A far better thing to do might be to stand at the foot of the Cross, gaze upward, and say, “Lord, help me. I’m scared and alone and frustrated. Show me your love and mercy.”

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.

Scripture:

2 Kings 4:42-44
Ephesians 4:1-6
John 6:1-15

Reflection:

There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish;
but what good are these for so many?  ~John 6:9

In today’s readings, I’m struck by the fact that this miracle of abundance, this wondrous multiplication of the loaves and feeding of the five thousand (not including women and children!), begins with a boy who has five loaves and two fish.  A child. 

The adults in the situation—the disciples who are with Jesus day in and day out, and might have perhaps by this point developed some trust in Jesus’ abilities—are flustered.  One might even imagine panicked.  “Where can we buy enough food?”  “It would take two hundred days’ wages!” “What good are these for so many?”  I think of the many times I have looked to my own resources for solutions, unaware of Jesus ever ready to work miracles.

But Jesus simply receives the boy’s gifts. And in striking similarity to the Last Supper and Eucharist, he “took the loaves, gave thanks [eucharistēsas in Greek], and distributed them.”  And all who were there, every last man, woman, and child received their fill.

Theologian Walter Brueggemann observes that many of us are habituated to a “market ideology [that] wants us to believe that the world is profane—life consists of buying and selling….But Jesus presents an entirely different kind  of economy, one infused with the mystery of abundance and a cruciform kind of generosity.”^[1]  A market ideology draws us into an economy of scarcity undergirded by fear, and competition with our neighbor.  In the mystery of abundance, incredible numbers of people are fed with food left over. And, not only that, we can also imagine that the crowd included folks from all different social and economic groups—at a time when social barriers to table fellowship were strictly upheld. This is a scene of both miraculous abundance and radical inclusiveness.

So I wonder, what are the situations today where we adults may be, like the disciples, blindly limited by our stubborn clinging to our own resources and habitual ways of thinking, oblivious to Jesus in our midst? It may seem like a bit of a jump, but I wonder if Greta Thunberg, the young climate activist, the Parkland teenagers who sparked the #NeverAgain movement, or Malala Yousafzai, the 15 year old shot in the head by the Taliban in Pakistan for daring to speak out against a ban on education for girls, are very different from the boy in John 6:9. These young people offer what they have: a sign reading “Skolstrejk för klimatet” and time every Friday;  the experience of surviving a school massacre and the determination that it not happen to another young person; the courage to speak up for the rights of girls in the face of an oppressive state.

And, even as the adults on the scene seem to be in disarray, Jesus receives their gifts, gives thanks, and offers them to all.  Over time, we have seen the gifts of each of these children miraculously multiplied—even in the face of hate and violence—into movements larger than themselves with a vision toward abundance, healing and radical inclusivity.  A “cruciform kind of generosity”, indeed.  May the Passion of Jesus Christ be always in our hearts.

[To read more stories of young people who are offering their gifts, visit: https://www.washingtonpost.com/kidspost/2020/04/11/12-kids-who-are-changing-their-communities-our-world/.]

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

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^[1]The Liturgy of Abundance, the Myth of Scarcity: Consumerism and Religious Life by Walter Brueggemann [https://sanantonioreport.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/the_liturgy_of_abundance.pdf].

Scripture:

Exodus 24:3-8
Matthew 13:24-30

Reflection:

Precious Blood

“Moses took half of the blood and put it in large bowls;
the other half he splashed on the altar.
Taking the book of the covenant, he read it aloud to the people,
who answered, “All that the LORD has said, we will heed and do.”

Then he took the blood and sprinkled it on the people, saying,
“This is the blood of the covenant
that the LORD has made with you.” EX 24:7

One of the most beautiful images use frequently in the Old Testament is that of blood!  In the days of antiquity, the science of biology was very undeveloped.  One thing they did observe was the close relationship between life and blood!   The Hebrew word for blood (dam) appears some 360 times in OT.  In the NT blood (haima) occurs 97 times.  For the ancients blood especially meant life or its loss meant death.  Even today we know that a loss of too much blood spells death! “Only be sure not to eat the blood, for the blood is the life, and you shall not eat the life with the flesh. Deut 12:23

When Moses sprinkled blood on the altar (what belongs to God) and on the people both God and His people in a wonderful way shared the same life!  When we celebrate the Eucharist “we who once were far off have been brought near in the blood of Christ.” Eph 2:13 . 

Jesus shares these dramatic words with us: “So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves.” John 6:53    This is a life of deep intimacy with Christ.  “He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. John 6:56

Our eight pints of blood circulate through the heart maybe 60 times an hour, absorbing recently inhaled oxygen from the honeycombed fabric of the lungs and proceeding into the thickly muscled heart, which then shoots the enriched fluid onward to nourish the rest of our body.

Jesus mingles his Blood with ours in Communion.  Jesus unites His bl00d with ours which feeds and cleans us.   It delivers fresh oxygen and other nutrients to all 100 trillion cells of the body, flushing out carbon dioxide, ammonia and other metabolic trash.  Our blood is touched by the Blood of Jesus!  This great Sacrament fills us with the fullness of Christ, “is it not a participation (koinonia: sharing) in the blood (life) of Christ?”   -1 Corinthians 10:16

Fr. Bob Weiss, C.P. preaches Parish Missions and is a member of the Passionist Community in Louisville, Kentucky.

Scripture:

Exodus 20:1-17
Matthew 13:18-23

Reflection:

In our weekday readings for Mass, we see a progression through certain books of the Bible for our first reading, and then a progression through much of the Gospels for the Gospel reading. Very often they are not related to each other. But I believe there is some connection between our two readings for today.

In our first reading from Exodus, God delivers the Ten Commandments to the people. I like St. Paul’s summary of the Ten Commandments in his letter to the Romans (13:8-10): “The commandments, ‘You shall not commit adultery; you shall not kill; you shall not steal; you shall not covet,’ and whatever other commandments there may be, are summed up in this saying, namely, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ Love does no evil to the neighbor; hence, love is the fulfillment of the law.”

In our Gospel reading, Jesus explains to His disciples the meaning of the Parable of the Sower and the Seed. As He explains the images of the types of soil on which the seed does not grow, I see those explanations as illustrations of what gets in the way of us following the commandment to love, especially the images of the seed sown on rocky ground and the seed sown among thorns.

When it comes to the seed sown on rocky ground, in countries like the U.S., there may not be outright persecution of Christians, but there is sometimes pressure to go along with the crowd, or even get into a mob mentality and demonize those who are considered “other.” When it comes to seed sown among thorns, worldly anxiety and the lure of riches can lead to stealing and lying and coveting, and even killing.

But when we follow the commandment to love, we grow in our understanding of God’s word, and when we share that love, the word “bears fruit and yields a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold.” May the seed of God’s love in Jesus Christ bear fruit in us.

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

Scripture:

Song of Songs 3:1-4b or 2 Corinthians 5:14-17
John 20:1-2, 11-18

Reflection:

Today’s gospel clearly pictures Our Lord’s frustration with the men and women who had walked daily with Him for almost three years. He is astonished that the apostles understood neither the true meaning of the parable which He had just given that morning, nor the reason he used parables in the first place; Parables He had used since the first early days of His preaching.  Why had they not asked Him about using parables long before this moment?    

Having created us, Christ knew that humans are better able to comprehend and remember instruction presented in story form rather than dry enumeration of fact or direction.  The parable is a form of Aristotle’s method of teaching: drawing the learner to comprehension of the subject being taught rather than simply presenting it. The parable is a gift to unwrap, a mental puzzle of sorts that increases the true understanding of Christ’s message. 

If these, His hand-picked followers, could not grasp His meaning or the way it was presented, how much more must we strive to understand His words?  The Sower of seed may appear nonchalant about broadcasting his precious seed amongst the rocks and thorns.  But the Holy Land is a desert country of rock strewn, dusty, parched fields.  Good land is rare and must be sought out and cared for. Even then the seed may fall on rock, bare baked earth, or among the weeds.  Rock, weeds, thieving birds, poor earth are always a challenge to a good harvest.  So Christ’s truth is that the sower, having been given the gift of good seed, must care for the way it is sown, watered, cared for, until it brings forth a bountiful harvest.  We were each given gifts which must in turn be cared for, increased, then brought to full harvest.  

Just for today, I will sit in the quiet of this summer evening and think of all the gifts I have been given, the talents I have received, and how I am using them.  Then as twilight slowly overcomes the day, I will thank Our Lord for all that He has given me and remember that those gifts are merely entrusted to me. I must account for them at the final Harvest.       

Ray Alonzo is the father of three children, grandfather of two, and husband to Jan for 45 years. He is a USN Vietnam Veteran, and a 1969 graduate of Mother of Good Counsel Passionist Prep Seminary. Ray currently serves on the Passionist Alumni Council.