Daily Scripture

Scripture:

Jeremiah 11:18-20
John 7:40-53

Reflection:

Jeremiah, Nicodemus, you and I share a common path to discipleship.

First, we have a powerful encounter with God. It is personal, often intense, sometimes gradual, but always life-changing.

Second, the values by which we’ve been living, in light of this encounter, are re-examined.

Perhaps we reassess time spent away from a spouse, children, or friends in favor of our personal entertainment or demands at work. How much we drink, eat or exercise might get a serious assessment.

Perhaps our household budget gets a second look in light of the needs of the poor.

Or we might rethink the values of workplace associates, friends with whom we lunch or play. This could lead to shifting in our seats hearing gossip, denigrating remarks, or personal, behind-the-back insults.

Thirdly, in prayerful reflection, we decide to honor our encounter with God and…change. This is risky. We might have to speak an unacceptable idea, withdraw from a group, or a long-term friendship. It always means being vulnerable. It also means chancing ridicule, alienation and retribution.

This final stage is what Jeremiah is describing in today’s reading and what Nicodemus experienced. The final stage is also what Jesus experienced in the Garden of Gethsemane and on Calvary.

The path to discipleship is similar for everyone who is true to God. The circumstances of each life may be dramatically different; the decisions we make are, in essence, the same.

Regardless of our fear, anxiety, or worry, we are assured that God will be present with us on the path and give us what we need for the journey. This brings a sense of deep inner peace and joy the world can never provide.

Jim Wayne is a board member of the Passionist Solidarity Network (PSN), and author of The Unfinished Man. He lives in Louisville, Kentucky.

Scripture:

Ezekiel 47:1-9, 12
John 5:1-16

Reflection:

Amongst the many questions that Jesus asked in his public ministry, today’s enquiry – “Do you want to be well?” would seem to reach into our very being. For surely everyone would value the gift of wellbeing both at the exterior level of our physical bodies and at the interior level of our thoughts, memories and deeper reflections.

Thus it is surprising to read that the sick man answered Jesus, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; while I am on my way, someone else gets down there before me.”

If we were to use our religious imagination one might read this answer as evidence of the man’s unwillingness to be honest with himself. In fact it seems that the answer betrays his real disposition. He is lying alongside a pool that offers a chance at ritual and real cleansing, but he does not seem all that inclined to alter his state of being. In one sense one might imagine that he is secretly happy or at least content, to be ill.

Staying ill doesn’t challenge him all that much. Yes, he is giving lip service to the fact that he should be striving for wellbeing, but he is in no hurry to be the first to the pool when it is stirred. In addition, when asked by Jesus directly if he wishes to be well he avoids the question altogether. What’s more he gives a moaning answer about being ‘beaten’ regularly on the way to the pool as if to justify his present status.

Perhaps interiorly he is simply a defeated man and his spirit is crushed. After some 38 years it might be that this man feels more comfortable staying ill rather than daring to think he might be able to be well again.

So in curing the man we see Jesus address two levels. The man’s inner disposition is matched by his external stance – both manifest a sense of powerlessness. Thus Jesus’ challenge begins at the external level – ‘get up’ and ‘pick up’ (his mat) and ‘walk away’. But we see that this challenge has an effect internally too – the man is empowered to walk away not just from the pool, but also from lethargy, from self-imposed helplessness and from a comfort-zone that while restrictive is also familiar and non-threatening.

Jesus challenges him to re-enter life itself. Thus he carries away the symbol of his limitation – his mat!

Jesus reinforces this message at their subsequent meeting, saying to the man “Look, you are well; do not sin any more…” perhaps this is a second challenge to not slip back into old, familiar and comfortable habits!

In our spiritual lives we often have moments where the word of God shifts us and moves us beyond thoughts, attitudes and practices that hold us back from living fully. In Lent we pray especially that we might experiences such conversion of heart, mind and will.

But we all have ‘default settings’ too! That is, much like computers we can go back to pre-set positions – views, attitudes and acts that are so familiar that they sneak up upon us and re-engage us, even after we have been set free by God’s grace. That’s where we need to listen to the second message of Jesus ‘you are well’ – and we need to trust this message again and again.

So as Lent progresses let us hear the words of Jesus encouraging us and beckoning us forward once more. Let us trust the One who only desires to set us free and who works to ensure that such freedom endures.

Fr. Denis Travers, C.P., is a member of Holy Spirit Province, Australia. 

Scripture:

Isaiah 65:17-21
John 4:43-54

Reflection:

The late Fr. Carroll Stuhlmueller, C.P., one of our great Passionists and a professor Old Testament at Catholic Theological Union, wrote his doctoral dissertation in Rome on the biblical text from Isaiah that forms our first reading for today’s liturgy.  He entitled his work, that was later published as a book, Creative Redemption in Deutero-Isaiah.  (The term “Deutero-Isaiah” refers to the fact that the later chapters of Isaiah may have been written by a disciple of the original prophet.)

Fr. Carroll used this beautiful passage from the prophet to show that God’s creative activity was not confined to the very beginnings of our world’s history but was, in fact, an ongoing action of God.  This is clear from the striking words of the reading we hear today: “Thus says the Lord: Lo, I am about to create new heavens and new earth.”   There is an exuberant tone here: ”The things of the past shall not be remembered or come to mind. Instead, there shall always be rejoicing and happiness in what I create.”

The passage goes on to speak of the transformation that this new creative divine impulse will effect: “No longer shall the sound of weeping be heard there, nor the sound of crying; No longer shall there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not round out his full lifetime.  He dies a mere youth who reaches but a hundred years…They shall live in the houses they build, and eat the fruit of the vineyards they plant.”

Every day we see images on the news of people weeping over loss through violence or acts of nature.  We are brokenhearted to see images of children starving or orphaned by war.  We hear reports of people who lost their homes or have their lands and their livelihoods taken away.  Despite the differences in time and circumstance between our world and that of the ancient prophet, we share in human suffering.

Lent and readings like this prophecy from Isaiah remind us that God desires life for us, despite the scourge of sin and violence that threaten us.  The gospel passage today is the account from John’s Gospel of Jesus’ healing of the son of a royal official.  “Your son will live,” Jesus tells the distraught father.

Paul the apostle spoke of his fellow Christians as a “new creation”–through baptism and the power of God’s grace able to overcome the threats of evil and meaninglessness.  We, as humans, are not able to solve or explain away the mystery of suffering or calculate the human inclination for evil.  But our faith affirms for us that God is also at work in our world and will ultimately lead us home to be embraced by the source of all life. That fundamental dynamic of moving from death to life, from an unfinished and imperfect world to a new creation, is at the heart of our Lenten experience.

Fr. Donald Senior, C.P. is President Emeritus and Professor of New Testament at Catholic Theological Union.  He lives at the Passionist residence in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago.

Scripture:

2 Chronicles 36:14-16, 19-23
Ephesians 2:4-10
John 3:14-21

Reflection:

As we continue through this season of Lent which calls us to repentance, all of our Scripture readings for this Sunday remind us of the unconditional love and overwhelming mercy of God. In our first reading from 2 Chronicles (36:14-16, 19-23), the author writes about God sending prophets to the people: “Early and often did the Lord, the God of their fathers, send his messengers to them, for he had compassion on his people and his dwelling place.” But then the author describes how the people rejected God’s messengers, and so came God’s punishment with the conquest by Babylon and the exile. But when the Persians conquer the Babylonians, the people of Israel are allowed to return from exile and build a new temple.

In our second reading from Ephesians (2:4-10), St. Paul writes, “God, who is rich in mercy, because of the great love he had for us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, brought us to life with Christ … raised us up with him, and seated us with him in the heavens in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not from you; it is the gift of God; it is not from works, so no one may boast.”

And in our Gospel reading (John 3:14-21), Jesus says to Nicodemus: “Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.” And then Jesus goes on to say some very familiar words: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish, but might have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.”

So, in these readings we see the forgiveness and the mercy and the love of God. And it is all gift! It is not dependent on what we do, thanks be to God! It is solely dependent on God’s choice to lavish grace and love upon us, “even when we were dead in our transgressions.” Can we believe God loves us that much? God doesn’t just desire eternal life for us, God desires us to have abundant life here and now (John 10:10). When Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, those who looked upon the serpent would not die from the poison of saraph serpents. When we look at God’s love on the Cross of Christ, we need not succumb to the poisons of despair or hate or fear or apathy!

This “immeasurable” love of God in Jesus Christ begs for a response. And our response to God’s love is to love as Jesus does. If the Son of God did not come into the world to condemn the world, are we arrogant enough to presume that God put us in the world to do it? No, as it says in our second reading, we are “created in Christ Jesus for the good works God has prepared in advance, that we should live in them.” In our Gospel reading, Jesus says, “And this is the verdict, that the light came into the world, but people preferred darkness to light … But whoever lives the truth comes to the light, so that his works may be clearly seen as done in God.” We are to live in light, not darkness. We are to add to the light, not the darkness.

And just as Moses lifted up the serpent, and Jesus was lifted up on the Cross to heal us and give us life, we are to lift others up, not crucifying them, but loving them!

If we believe how much God loves us, we are to choose light over darkness; love over hate and fear; and life over death. How can people believe in Jesus, if we do otherwise with each other? May we live in the good works God created us to do.

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

Scripture:

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

Reflection:

Today, we hear from Hosea, one of the 8th-century B.C. prophets. Generally, we hear from him during Advent. Scripture scholars call his writing style deeply emotional and ancient. Later on, the prophet Jeremiah will use some of his style. Hosea is writing in the Northern Kingdom while it is under siege by the Babylonian army. In his writing, he uses the analogy of a bad marriage. It is hard to picture his context in our modern-day. What Hosea is talking about centers on the faithlessness of Israel. They have combined their worship of YHWH with Canaanite gods and this does not reflect on the community very well. His insistence that the people should not put their faith and trust in Baal but open their eyes to see the constant love and abundance of God in the rain which nurtures the crops and the dawn which brings the sun. This text brings us a very typical Lenten message to “change our ways.” In essence, Hosea is inviting the Hebrew people to look to God’s mercy, to take the risk and humbly believe in God’s forgiveness.  

Hosea speaks of God’s mercy so beautifully. Using phrases like, “he will bind our wounds” (v.1). Etty Hilesum, a young Jewish woman who died in Auschwitz, wrote a final sentence in her diary, “We must be balm for all wounds” (Hilesum, An Interrupted Life and Letters from Westerbork). Her words have such profound meaning, even today. On the anniversary of his election as Pope, I think of Pope Francis’ visit recently to a church in Iraq where ISIS massacred over 20 people on a Sunday morning while they were there for Mass. I believe he was binding the wounds of the people in the name of God. How consoling for the Catholic Church in Iraq that he brought—against all odds—hope. Much closer to home, our healthcare workers bind up wounds and take care of the final wishes of those who will never get to go home. A friend shared that at one time she was connected by Zoom with a priest in a neighboring parish who was giving the Last Rites to 6 dying patients. How blessed were they who had a beautiful and caring soul who respected and understood what that Sacrament meant to those patients – God’s providence. While you or I may not be called to help in such dramatic ways, are you being called to bind wounds? 

One of our granddaughters, Alice, when she was just learning to communicate would say, “space” meaning that she did not care to be crowded. The season of Lent offers us this space for self-examination. Am I simply going about the “checking the boxes” or am I open to hearing God’s voice this day? Am I willing to listen? Am I open to change?

As I pondered the Gospel I was struck by the absolute emptiness of the Pharisee’s prayer and the depth of the tax collector’s prayer. Yet, how very scandalous for Jesus’ audience to hear. A Pharisee who upheld the Deuteronomic Laws -in right relationship—and an impure tax collector. Not found in any other Gospel, most of the commentaries suggest that Jesus was not criticizing the Pharisee but pointing out the subtleties. Like Hosea preached, God does not want our sacrifice but our heart. Perhaps if we offer that mercy to the people in our lives, our hearts will grow, and we will bind up wounds as well.

Blessings on your Lenten 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.

Scripture:

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

Reflection:

Accept whatever answer you receive from God!

Make it your intention to concentrate on The Word you are reading. The prophet Hosea calls Israel to a prayerful, and real conversion – a change of heart and behavior.

When you are reading the Word or meditating upon it, God is present, just like the scribe was present to Jesus’ teaching.

I believe that healthy spiritual “habits” grow out of convictions that God does listen to us and responds. We just do not understand all the time! In that case it is a matter of trust.

Jesus noticed that the Jewish scribe understood what He was teaching, and He made the comment that “you are not far from the Kingdom of God.”

First, I believe that through our baptism, we are “in” the body of Christ – “embodied,” we say. We are close to His heartbeat, His thinking, His feeling. With that “closeness” do I accept that I am not far from the Kingdom of God, and that will manifest itself in its own time and manner?

Accept whatever answer you receive from God!

It is a matter of faith and trust in the Word.

Second, salvation is the actual lifting of the burden of evil, hatred and greed from all of God’s creation, through our willingness to repent and change, and to hold to the desire to understand God and to do what I believe is best in any given circumstance.

As a Passionist missionary among the marginal and the searching I assume that God’s salvific action is going on within me and around me. It is just a matter of striving to understand, like the scribe.

Third, know that your acting upon God’s answer is your contribution to the revealing of salvation on earth today.

Let your prayer and meditation inform you of how God is working with you in your own conversion, and your inspiring others.

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

Scripture:

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

Reflection:

We have a great many traffic laws in this country, regulating everything from the speed we can go to which car goes first at an intersection. Each law on its own seems to be dictating behavior. If you look at the body of traffic laws, though, you get a different picture. At their core, they are rules of engagement for a civil society, requiring respect for the rights of others, ensuring communal safety, and working together to accomplish greater freedom of movement for all.

At times, individual laws can be ethically broken. It’s called epikeia. If you’re rushing to the hospital in an emergency you can ethically speed and, if it can be done safely, run a red light. Likewise, Jesus occasionally breaks a law – i.e. the law against healing on the Sabbath – to serve God’s core purpose. Clearly, Jesus doesn’t want mindless adherence as if that’s enough, or as if obedience is a free ticket to heaven. No, God asks more than that. The laws give a framework; it is up to us to fulfill that framework. Like Jesus, we must live the vision of God’s reign, obey the spirit behind the law, and fulfill the aspects of God’s will held within each command.

Let’s keep that in mind as we proceed through Lent, a time when many people abide by laws and rules. It isn’t enough for me to go through the motions of being Catholic – getting ashes, attending Sunday Mass, giving up chocolate, praying more often – without deeply considering what Lent is all about and pondering what God is calling me to in this holy season. Instead of asking what I am doing for Lent, I need to ask how what I’m doing is fulfilling the broader purpose of God and my growth as a disciple.

Then the questions get tougher. What am I not doing for Lent? Which commands or teachings am I most reluctant to obey and why? What parts of myself are hiding behind my adherence to “the rules”? Am I following God’s commandments mindlessly, or have I allowed God’s commandments to enter into me in life-giving ways?

Because we come to God as a community, my actions and attitudes also have a communal effect. If my faith life consists of merely following rules, why would anyone else be attracted to join me? It is the depth, passion, and joy of my relationship with God (which is bolstered by obeying God’s commands) that is capable of inviting others to the same. Perhaps this Lent, we can concentrate more on fulfilling the purpose of God’s laws as Jesus taught. If we do, we’ll be ready and receptive to the new life of Easter, while witnessing to others by our lives.

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/.

Scripture:

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

Reflection:

“Get out of Town”

“Get out of town”, is a phrase we used in the old days when we heard something that we couldn’t believe. That is literally what the people of Nazareth told Jesus, when He told them that He was a prophet, that He speaks the word of God. Jesus’ hometown folk accepted Him as a Teacher, but Jesus wanted to serve His hometown by being a Prophet. However, Jesus said, “no prophet gains acceptance in his native place.” Like the people of Nazareth, many of us also refuse to accept Jesus on His terms. Are you telling Jesus to, “Get out of town”?

We all want to have more money so things will be easier. We want to drive a fancy car so we can have the prestige that goes along with it. We want a big luxurious home so we can rest comfortably. We want good health so we can enjoy all these things. We want relationships that are not shaky. We want to live life on our terms. The straight and easy road. No problems. No worries. We say, take those crosses and let someone else carry or bear them. These are my ways. Jesus cannot possibly want me to go through something that makes my life hard and painful.

But Jesus’ ways are not our ways. His are always good, always saving. For us to be blessed with happiness, success, and healing, we must carry our own cross. We must carry the burden of repenting, forgiving, sacrificing, evangelizing, serving, being persecuted and other forms of love before we have his blessings. Jesus wants us to carry our crosses, not shed them. Jesus wants to give us blessings in the shadow of our crosses. Accept Him on His terms. These are the terms of Jesus.

Soon, on the first day of the Easter season, all Catholics of the world will be given the opportunity and the challenge to renew their baptismal promises. The heart of these promises is to accept Jesus on His terms. Jesus’ terms are focused on the cross. Are we willing to accept His terms or are we going to tell Jesus to, “Get out of town”?

Deacon Peter Smith serves at St. Mary’s/Holy Family Parish in Alabama, a religion teacher at Holy Family Cristo Rey Catholic High School in Birmingham, and a member of our extended Passionist Family.