Daily Scripture

Scripture:

Acts 3:1-10
Luke 24:13-35

Reflection:

“And it happened that, while he was with them at table,
he took bread, said the blessing, broke it and gave it to them.
With that their eyes were opened, and they recognized him,
but he vanished from their sight. Then they said to each other,
“Were not our hearts burning within us while he spoke to us on the way and opened the Scriptures to us?”
-Luke 24:30-32

My father worked six days a week, leaving the house at 5:00 am and usually not returning until 5:00 pm or so, albeit, not working all that time. He daily stopped at the local pub for a shot and a pint or two before facing the tribe awaiting him at home. Sunday was different. He still got up early only not for work, but for Sunday Mass.  My twin brother, Dave and younger brother Tim and I would tag along with him to 6:30 am Mass. After a week of oatmeal and cream of wheat breakfasts, dad would make bacon and eggs on returning home from Mass for a special Sunday treat. To this day, my favorite meal of the week is Sunday after Mass. Now, it doesn’t happen until around noon, when my brother Dave and I continue the tradition with Sunday Brunch. My brother Tim and dad have passed on. Dave and my routine now, is to gather and begin recounting the different sermons we heard at Mass often leading to a good hour or more of enthusiastic conversation.

This past Sunday, after a year of no whole family gatherings because of COVID-19, about half the family members who normally would join us, gathered for Easter Brunch. The four surviving brothers and their spouses, all who have been vaccinated, along with a sprinkling of the nieces (no nephews or any of their children) celebrated together at Lambs Farm in nearby Libertyville, Illinois “where people grow”. We sat at the table for an hour and half and since that wasn’t enough time sharing, then headed over to one brother’s home, where we sat outside in the beautiful 70 degree weather and continued the sharing into the evening. We reminisced of our lives together up to this point as well as filled each other in on the latest happenings in our lives.

God, thank you for your gifts of sacraments and family both blood and faith families which nourish me and make me think with the apostles: “Were not our hearts burning within us while he spoke to us on the way and opened the Scriptures to us?”

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

Scripture:

Acts 2:36-41
John 20:11-18

Reflection:

The pain, loss, fears, confusion and darkness of the last year have shaken us out of our comfortable means of self-mastery. It has given us a chance to once again realize our absolute dependence on God.

Pope Francis has paraphrased Peter’s words to the crowd in today’s reading from Acts: “Repent! Repent! Change your life! You who received God’s promise and you who distance yourselves from God’s law, because of many of your own things, your idols and many things…convert yourselves. Return to faithfulness (Acts 2:38).”

In reflecting on today’s readings, the pope says, “There are always illusions that attract our attention, and often we follow after these illusions.” He goes on, “Many times, when we feel secure (in these illusions), we begin to make plans and we slowly drift away from the Lord. We do not remain faithful. My security is no longer that which the Lord gives me. It is an idol…self-assurance opens the door to idols.”

Mary Magdalene, in the reading from the Gospel of John, is a model of a faithful woman, totally dependent on the Lord. She had not forgotten what the Lord had done for her, she did not abandon the Lord or rest in the illusion of her own self-security. In her faithfulness the Lord rewarded her with his appearance and with the role of being the first to announce the resurrection to the disciples.

As our illusions collapse during the pandemic, as our world seems upside down with illness, death, violence, political discord, poverty, environmental destruction, will we see this moment as the awakening to our absolute dependence on a loving God and the abandonment of our self-assuring idols?

Or will we use this frightening time to re-construct the old idols…in the guise of seeking to elevate our own status, increase our power over others, seek more possessions and money…that gave us the illusion of self-sufficiency and self-assurance and led us away from absolute dependency on the Lord?

Pope Francis concludes, “Today let us ask the Lord for the grace of faithfulness: to thank Him when He gives us security, but never to think that these are ‘my’ securities and always to look beyond our securities; the grace to be faithful even before the tomb and the collapse of so many illusions.”

Today may we set aside quiet time to reflect on the illusions in our own lives that give us a sense of security. Does self-assurance draw me away from the Lord? As the pope says, faithfulness in the Lord is a grace. Ask for it today.

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

Scripture:

Acts 10:34, 37-43
Colossians 3:1-4
John 20:1-9

Reflection:

Good News:  Easter Life & Joy!

The “scene”:  early morning darkness; the stone rolled away from the tomb; the burial cloths rolled up; Jesus’ body “missing” …  The Good News is taking shape, it’s real — and the rest is history!!

Today, Easter 2021, is a day of Life and Joy — the day in which God gives new and so needed meaning to all life in Jesus’ Resurrection.  The tragedy of Jesus’ suffering of abuse, crucifixion, and death is transformed into the gift of His risen Life.  With Mary of Magdala, Peter and John, we witness this unfolding new, risen Life of Jesus … still trying to comprehend its profound meaning.

As shared in today’s 2^nd Scripture reading from the Acts of Apostles, Peter helps us as he proclaims the “good news” of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection.  One can imagine the conviction in his message to those gathered to hear him:  Jesus went about doing good, suffered much, was crucified, died, was raised by God from the dead — and then revealed Himself to his early followers who were to carry the message to others.  Yes!!

New Life through the Resurrection of Jesus is God’s gift to us as 21^st Century followers of Jesus.  Our world of COVID-19, fear, injustice, and violence needs that new Life.  The Resurrection of Jesus gives renewed hope, meaning and purpose to our lives – for Jesus embraced His Paschal Mystery for our benefit today, in 2021!  The challenges and troubles of life today are transformed by Jesus’ risen Life into needed moments of grace and goodness.  Yes!!

The life and encouragement of our Easter “Alleluia’s” now flow from our hearts and lips.  We are 21^st Century heralds of the risen Jesus, sharing Jesus’ message of hope and healing, life and goodness. 

May the Easter Proclamation radiate from our very beings; we are living “alleluia’s”, from head to toe (though at times our “song” might be a bit off key…)!  In the words of today’s Responsorial Psalm 118, we are to sing out: “This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad!” 

Good News indeed…the Word to remember is “Easter”!  Amen!  Alleluia!

Fr. John Schork, C.P. is the Vocation Director for Holy Cross Province. He lives at St. Vincent Strambi Community in Chicago, Illinois. 

Good Friday of the Lord’s Passion

Scripture:

Isaiah 52:13—53:12
Hebrews 4:14-16; 5:7-9
Philippians 2:8-9
John 18:1-19:42          

Reflection:

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has similarly been tested in every way, yet without sin. So let us confidently approach the throne of grace to receive mercy and to find grace for timely help. -Hebrews 4:15-16

One Good Friday when I was young, while participating in the Stations of the Cross, I was given the grace to see that Jesus really understands and helps me in my weakness, my sadness, and my fears. For he went through it all Himself: betrayal by his friends, various temptations, discouragement, and misunderstanding from the leaders of his community. From then on, my prayer was different. St. Paul of the Cross, the founder of the Passionist order, expressed it this way: “When you are experiencing an agony of suffering in your spirit, cry out as Jesus did on the cross, ‘Father, into your hands I commend my spirit’……Your agony will end and you will die a mystical death to rise in Christ Jesus to a life of perfect love.”

Years later, on another Good Friday, I saw a picture of Jesus, hands extended on the Cross, with His arms encircling planet Earth and all the people. Jesus’ compassion and care extends to everyone as it does for me! And this includes the entire Creation, for He was there at the Beginning with the Father and the Spirit! St. Paul of the Cross expressed this in the congregational rule (#3): “We are aware that the Passion of Christ continues in this world until He comes in glory; therefore, we share in the joys and sorrows of our contemporaries as we journey through life toward our Father. We wish to share in the distress of all, especially those who are poor and neglected; we seek to offer them comfort and to relieve the burden of their sorrow.” 

Jesus’ compassion knows no bounds; and we are challenged today to open our arms as wide as His, and extend our love, attention, and care to the whole created world.

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.

Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper

Scripture:

Exodus 12:1-8, 11-14
1 Corinthians 11:23-26
John 13:1-15

Reflection:

Today the church begins the solemn triduum, the three days that celebrate the very heart of our Christian faith—the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  Holy Thursday, of course, remembers with gratitude the Last Supper of Jesus with his apostles on the eve of his death. 

The second reading for today from Paul’s Letter to the Corinthians recalls that very moment as a sacred tradition handed on to him. He, in turn, brings it to the Christian community in Corinth.  The circumstances prompting Paul to recall this tradition are unusual.  Apparently when the Corinthian Christians gathered for a celebratory meal on the occasion of the Lord’s Supper or Eucharist, the wealthy members of the community brought sumptuous food and wine, while the poorer members had little or nothing to eat. 

Paul is shocked at this and challenges his beloved, but cantankerous, community at Corinth.  The Lord’s Supper was meant to be a sacrament of unity, but some in the community used the occasion to accentuate differences and to embarrass the poor.  It is this circumstance that prompts Paul to evoke the tradition of the first Eucharist—a sacred meal in which Jesus revealed to his disciples the ultimate meaning of his impending death—like bread broken, his body would be broken for them; like wine poured out, his blood would be shed for them.  This act of love should be the spirit and meaning of every celebration of the Eucharist.

It is a bit of paradox that on Holy Thursday when we celebrate the Lord’s Supper, the gospel reading is not an account of that Passover meal Jesus celebrated with his disciples, but the dramatic moment in John’s Gospel where Jesus washes the feet of his disciples. This action takes place on the eve of Passover and as the disciples gather for its celebration.  But in John’s Gospel, Jesus’ words over the bread and wine are evoked earlier in his Gospel, during the Bread of Life discourse in chapter 6. 

Here in this gospel passage, in John’s often creative way, instead of an account of the words of institution we have a dramatic gesture that reveals what the Eucharist is meant to signify.  Jesus, their Lord and Master, takes the role of a servant and washes the feet of his disciples—a startling act of humility and self-effacing service—for Jesus, an act of love. 

Placed here in John’s Gospel as Jesus begins his farewell to his disciples with his death approaching, the foot washing symbolizes the heart of what it means to be a follower of Jesus—willing to put aside our hesitations and generously serve others out of love.

I have not served as a parish priest but only occasionally helped out on weekends and during Holy Week.  A few times I had the occasion to wash the feet of the people designated to take part in the Holy Thursday ceremony (probably the cleanest feet in the church!).  On many other occasions I have participated in the foot washing and waited with my shoe and sock off for the moment when the celebrant would wash my feet.  Either way, the moment is both slightly embarrassing and deeply moving—its profound symbolism is hard to miss. 

Jesus’ words in John’s Gospel reach us across the centuries: “If I…the master and teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash one another’s feet.  I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do.”

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:

Isaiah 50:4-9a
Matthew 26:14-25

Reflection:

“I know who you are – the Holy One of God!” /v.24b -Mark 1:21-28    

Happy Wednesday of Holy Week!

In the Gospel today, Jesus tells his disciples, “Amen, I say to you, one of you will betray me.”  They reply, one by one, “Surely it is not I, Lord?”

I’m so tempted to make a joke — to claim that Jesus said, “Yes, it’s definitely one of you… and don’t call me Shirley.”

Tempted… Judas was tempted and fell victim to the desire for the 30 pieces of silver he was paid to betray Jesus.  We all face temptation daily.  See how I was tempted to share a bad joke a few sentences ago, and couldn’t resist?  So much for having gone to confession last night…

Poor Judas – forever known as The Betrayer… Judas planned a betrayal, and did so without any of the other apostles knowing.  But we just can’t judge Judas —  Pope Benedict XVI said, “Even though he went to hang himself (Matthew 27:5), it is not up to us to judge his gesture, substituting ourselves for the infinitely merciful and just God.”  Matthew’s Gospel goes on to say how Judas repented afterward, even going to the chief priests and elders to bring back the thirty pieces of silver, saying, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.” (Matthew 27:3-4) 

Jesus, though, knew what was in his heart, and even though he could have had his “Father send more than twelve legions of angels” to fight on his behalf, (Matthew 26:53), instead he responded with the same love he had always shown to Judas — and he allowed Judas the freedom to choose.  And he does the same for us.  Jesus asks for us to come home to him, no matter what, but always respects our human free-will.

Perhaps it’s more palpable after so many weeks of trying to adhere to our lenten observances, but we’re also bombarded with temptation the entire rest of the year.  We can find ourselves desiring things that make no sense whatsoever — small things like that chocolate or coffee we gave up, or larger things like a new car or better clothes, a more prestigious job or lofty status.  We even may be pulled down horribly destructive paths such as an addiction of some kind, or betrayal, or hate…

“Surely it is not I, Lord.”

I truly don’t believe any of us plan to hurt others, or ourselves.  But still, in our humanness, we do.  Here’s the thing… we can always come home to God.  Even as Judas arrived, walked up to him, and betrayed him, Jesus still loved him and called him “Friend.”  (Matthew 26:50)

We’re so very blessed to have Jesus’ love us no matter what. I can only hope that I would still be loved and forgiven for all the times I’ve failed.

Where is our temptation?

How have we failed?
Are we ready to come home?

Dear God of compassion and understanding, thank you for always calling us “Friend.”  Help us to not condemn.  Just as you invite us to follow you — willingly, freely, lovingly — help us love one another, just as you have loved us. Amen.

Peace and love to you today, and forever.

Paul Puccinelli is Director of Liturgy & Music at St. Rita Parish in Sierra Madre, California, and a member of the retreat team at Mater Dolorosa Passionist Retreat Center.

Scripture: 

Isaiah 42:1-7
John 12:1-11

Reflection:

 “Here is my servant whom I uphold, my chosen one with whom I am pleased,   upon whom I have put my Spirit; . . .” Isaiah 42:1-2

Holy Week is my favorite time of the liturgical year. I have many childhood memories of this special week that ends with the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. As each year has passed, I have gained a deeper understanding of the readings of this sacred week. This year is not an exception.

The reading from Isaiah is the beginning of the four Servant Songs. This is a description of the one who is going to bring justice and freedom to all nations. Isaiah calls him a “servant” not a king. Not a ruler. Not a master. A servant. One who looks to the needs of others before their own. This leader is also one who is focused on justice and peace. Not your normal every day leader.

The servant theme continues in the reading from the Gospel of John. Jesus has just raised Lazarus from the dead and Martha is again serving and Mary is at the feet of Jesus. They are hosting a dinner for Jesus and this time Martha is serving the meal without complaining about what Mary is doing. She may be pondering the raising of her brother from the dead. This time the focus is on Mary. She is at Jesus’ feet again only she is not listening to what Jesus is saying but anointing his feet. Does she realize who he is? It is Judas who is complaining this time about the waste of the costly nard. He really wants to sell it for his own pocket. Jesus speaks prophetically about the anointing of his own body on the day of his burial as a rebuke to Judas’ chastisement.

In a few days we will read the Gospel of John again and at the Last Supper it will be Jesus who is washing the feet of Peter. In Jesus’ time, the washing of feet was left to the lowest ranking servant in the house. Interesting that Mary, a woman is chastised for doing this for Jesus and then Jesus hears Peter’s refusal of the washing of his own feet. Mary, a woman, who in Jesus’ time had no rights or privileges sitting at a place of a lowly servant. No one complained that she was sitting at Jesus’ feet. It was an act of love and Jesus knew her intention. Did Jesus ponder this action and then take it upon himself to do as she did? To wash Peter’s feet in a loving manner but elevating it, changing it, as he had to many of the other traditions of the time. Raising this simple disgusting action of a servant to mean something deeper for the Apostles. A simple action in the scriptures that has certainly struck me enough to spend some time pondering on it.

What simple action in your every day life has changed over the past year to an action of love?

May you have a blessed Holy Week and Triduum.

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