Daily Scripture

Scripture:

Hebrews 7:25-8:6
Mark 3: 7-12

Reflection:

“To do your will, O my God, is my delight…” Psalm 40: 9

Everyone wants to have some delight in their lives. The Psalmist writes that doing God’s will brings peace and delight.  However, figuring out God’s will can be tricky and challenging. Many of the decisions we face are not choosing between good and evil.  Two courses of action can be equally valid on the surface. How does one go about discerning God’s will?  (Maryanne Hannan, Living With Christ, Thursday, January 21, 2021)

1. Set aside time to pray that God will increase one’s desire to do God’s will.
2. Ask for God’s guidance and direction.
3. Listen to God’s voice manifested in an urging, a prompting or recurrent thought.
4. Clear your mind of preconceived notions of what is best for you.
5. Examine one’s motives and intentions.
6. Seek wise council from a friend, a pastor or spiritual advisor.  (Meadow Rue Merrfill 7 Steps to Discerning God’s Will in Difficult Situations, April 24, 2017
7. Trust your instincts.  You might feel like something is not quite right or a nagging uncertainty. Pray that God will give you clarity and peace. (Mary Gallagher, How To Discern God’s Will in Any Situation, Simple Life/Simple Faith, May 11, 2018) 
8. Recall your meaning and purpose of your baptism and your vocation in life. 
9. Choose the course of action that will affirm your baptism, faith, and vocation. 

Through the process of discerning God’s will may we find peace and delight.

Carl Middleton is a theologian/ethicist and a member of the Passionist Family.

Scripture:

Hebrews 7: 1-3, 15-17
Mark 3: 1-6

Reflection:

This Gospel text always saddens me.   I find it sad because it tells the story of people who have become so angry and frightened by their “enemy” that they’ve lost a true sense of their humanity.  

The story goes that as Jesus enters the synagogue, he notices a man with a withered hand.  His first impulse is to heal him.  Unfortunately, there are Pharisees in the Synagogue and they are watching him.  They hope Jesus will do something that they can condemn.  Jesus suspects that if he heals the man, they will condemn him for “working” on the Sabbath.  But Jesus refuses to let their condemning eye keep him from responding with compassion and love. 

So, he challenges them about whether it is allowed to do something good on the Sabbath.  “But they remained silent.  Looking around at them with anger and grieved at their hardness of heart,” Jesus heals the man’s withered hand.  The man healed rejoices but the enemies of Jesus continue to plot to have Jesus put to death.

Strangely enough, even while we rejoice at the courage, compassion and power of Jesus, most of us have to admit that we, too, can be intimidated by what others might think or say about our efforts to show compassion and love.  We seem to be burdened by so many ways to condemn one another.  Often our judgments come out of fear and ignorance.  Anyone who thinks differently than we do, or has a different heritage, or looks different or believes differently is suspect in our judgment.  Especially, if our friends, family or fellow believers share our outlook or beliefs.  Perhaps a good prayer for today be that God will give us the courage and wisdom to live our Christian life with the same generous integrity that we see in Jesus in our Gospel reading today.

Fr. Michael Higgins, C.P. is the director of retreats at Mater Dolorosa Passionist Retreat Center, Sierra Madre, California.

Scripture:

Hebrews 6:10-20
Mark 2:23-28

Reflection:

Then Jesus said to them, “The sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath. That is why the Son of Man is lord even of the sabbath.” Mark 2:28.

One of the more classic lines in novels, movies, TV dramas, and even in real life is the demand, Who’s in charge here?

We have been asking that question more than usual these years. It is usually triggered when something out of the ordinary takes place because someone has stepped into our world and made changes, usually with changes we don’t agree with, little changes and big changes. All of a sudden, we become the judge, the arbitrator, the decider-in-chief of those changes that have taken place. Sometimes we bristle, but other times we may take a long view and begin to see the wisdom of the change.

When Jesus breaks into our history and into our lives, he begins to make changes, changes that begin to upset our normal way of living.

According to the Evangelist Mark, Jesus begins to teach with authority: “All were amazed and asked one another, ‘What is this? A new teaching with authority. He commands even the unclean spirits and they obey him.” Mark 1:27. Then he goes and heals Peter’s mother-in-law and all those who came seeking him at night (Mark 1:29 ff). But his first big test came when a paralyzed man was brought to him at his home when he was teaching. The house was so full of people that the paralyzed man had to be dropped down from the roof. So, Jesus says, “My son, your sins are forgiven.” (Mark 2:5) That was a bridge too far for the Scribes who were present in the crowd. They rebelled. They knew the implications of Jesus saying that he has the power to forgive sins, he was making himself God!

Then in today’s Gospel passage from Mark, Jesus says, “The sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath. That is why the Son of Man is lord even of the sabbath,” when his disciples break the sabbath to feed themselves when they are hungry.

A big question for us these days is, when do we know that God is asking us to go beyond the norms of our lives? In John’s first letter to his community, he says: “Beloved, do not trust every spirit but test the spirits to see whether they belong to God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.” I John 4:1) This is such an important text to us as we try to discern what is from Jesus and God and what is from false prophets.

Fortunately, we have a clear message from Jesus as to know when we are his disciples: “This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” John 13:35 I believe that no one has to tell us what Jesus means when he tells us to love one another. Anything that leads us to love our neighbor as ourselves, to see the other as a brother or a sister, to treat each other justly and fairly tells us that we are following Jesus, who is the Lord of the Sabbath. On the other hand, if we follow a path of hate, violence and deceit, trample other people’s rights, and deny them the dignity of being children of God, then we are following false prophets.

A good way to conclude is by reflecting on our Gospel Acclamation for today: May the eyes of [your] hearts be enlightened, that you may know what is the hope that belongs to our call. Ephesian 1:18

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

Scripture:

1 Samuel 3:3-10, 19
1 Corinthians 6:13-15, 17-20
John 1:35-42

Reflection:

If you ever find yourself saying, “Sorry I missed your call,” today’s first reading is for you. In this well-known story of the call of Samuel, we see that God can call at any moment, even in our sleep, so we have to be alert and vigilant lest we miss the call.

It is easy to miss God’s call because we can be taken up with so many tasks, so many responsibilities, that we lose the ability to hear. It is easy to miss God’s call if we are distracted, out of sorts, or turned in on ourselves. That too can make us hard of hearing. Or sometimes we deliberately become hard of hearing because we don’t want to be bothered. We’re comfortable with our lives as they are, we’re settled, we have our routines and don’t want to be budged by a calling. Or maybe we’re hard of hearing because we’re afraid of what the call might ask of us, where it might take us and how it might change our lives. We choose to sleep through the call no matter when it comes rather than nurture a “listening heart” that makes us keenly attuned to all the many ways God calls us, especially the callings that come every day and are so easy to miss. Those everyday callings can be a summons to be patient with a person who is difficult to love. It can be the call to comfort someone who is struggling or the call to reach out to someone who is lonely. Or it could be the call to forgive someone who hurt or disappointed us.

God calls us all the time. If we are to hear and respond to those calls, we must make Samuel’s words our own: “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.” Perhaps those should be the first words out of our mouths at the beginning of the day, words we repeat throughout the day, and words we include in our prayers at the end of the day. “Speak, Lord, your servant is listening.” We should take those words to heart because it is one thing to say, “Sorry, I missed your call” to a family member or friend; but what if we say that to God not just occasionally, but throughout our lives? If we continually miss God’s call, what have we done with our life?

Paul J. Wadell is Professor Emeritus of Theology & Religious Studies at St. Norbert College in De Pere, Wisconsin, and a member of the extended Passionist family.

Scripture:

Hebrews 4:12-16
Mark 2:13-17

Reflection:

This periscope is a typical vocation story. Jesus comes upon a Tax Collector called Levi. The observers are startled that Jesus would be seen with such a person. The reason  for this is that tax collectors  receive this job  with the approval  of the Roman Oppressors, and by a difficult lottery process. In a way Tax Collectors are trusted neither by the Roman Officials nor by the  Jewish leadership.  This position as a Tax Collector. leads to extortion, and abuse. Males 14-16 and Females 12 -65 are charged, Ground taxes are charged, and wine and oil are charged. Animals are taxed, axials on carts, wagons, are taxed. The list goes on forever.

Tax collectors have a quota in collections.  What happen. s is that if the Roman quota is met, extortion is commonplace. Hence, the reason the Jewish leaders are unhappy when Jesus chooses Tax Collectors as his Guests for the meal.

The Pharisees are disturbed because Tax Collectors are usually associated with other questionable characters such a Pro titutes, Robbe s, etc. When Jesus  invited them to j in his community of disciples the Jewish leaders are even more upset.

In the Gospel of Matthew where Matthew described his c II He says His call is Jesus’ greatest miracle. The other disciples Peter, Andrew James and John could always return to heir fishing boats and nets. But Mathew could not because the position of the Tax Collector are once in a life time job. The gospel tells us Levi got up and left everything. In the early Church Saint Jerome and Saint Augustine had a discussion on Levi’s call. Jerome said the disciples didn’t give up that much. All they gave up was a leaky old boat and some nets. Augustine said Matthew gave a lucrative position as a Tax collector. This cannot be retrieved.

In the bible the call or vocation is not an invitation it is a summons. It is not something we can think over. We have to respond.

Fr. Ken O’Malley, C.P., is a member of the Passionist Community at Sacred Heart Monastery in Louisville, Kentucky.

Scripture:

Hebrews 4:1-5, 11
Mark 2:1-12

Reflection:

Unable to get near Jesus because of the crowd, they opened up the roof above him.  After they had broken through, they let down the mat on which the paralytic was lying.

This parable begs the question what are we called to…what creative means are we called to use to bring healing.  Given today’s hurting world, the polarization, the raw hate, the hurtful ‘reaction’ that surrounds us.  Given the digging in of heels and unwillingness to hear the other.  Given the tensions that consistently envelop us.  How are we called to bring people to Jesus, how creative do we need to be to bring people to the feet of Jesus?

How can we invite ourselves and others to believe in and dare to risk the possibility of peace – inner peace, outer peace, the peace the world cannot give?  The peace we find in God, in Jesus.  What is it that we – individually and collectively – are called to do to set another world view in motion?  How can we re-introduce the worldview that Jesus shared, the Kingdom of God that begins now?  How can we open the roof to let in the healing balm of Jesus presence among us?

Waiting for the other – for someone else to breakthrough and empower dialogue and creative solutions has proven futile.  This parable reminds us that the time is now, we need to step in, we need our voices and our hearts to be heard.  We need to introduce a new path, a new vision, a new accountability.  How creative are we willing to be?  How do we empower each other to re-discover the voice, and presence of God and join together to build something new – bring about a new creation, a new paradigm?  Jesus is present, he has returned to Capernaum – where are we?

Faith Offman is the Associate Director of Ministry at St. Paul of the Cross Passionist Retreat and Conference Center in Detroit, Michigan.

Scripture:

Hebrews 2:5-12
Mark 1:21-28

Reflection:

No sooner is Jesus baptized than he begins his public ministry with two actions: he teaches and he cleanses a man with an unclean spirit.

Mark tells us nothing about what Jesus said.  What is important is the effect of his words.  They have power.  They astonish the congregation in the synagogue because he speaks with authority.  Unlike the scribes and Pharisees whose authority and teaching came from their particular rabbinic school, Jesus taught on his own authority.   And Jesus’ teaching had the power of exposing and expelling evil – even when it dwelt in a holy place like a synagogue.

This passage raises several questions for us.  How do we react to the Word of God?  Do we interpret it on our own authority, that is, with self-serving rationalization?  Do we hear the Word of God, but respond with indifference – as in we know the stories, we’ve heard them before, and they have nothing new to teach us.  No surprise.  No astonishment.  No authority.  As with the man with the unclean spirit, not even a holy location will have the power to cleanse.

But, if we embrace the Word of God, it can have power in us.  If we study the Word of God, if we meditate on Scripture, it can comfort us when we’re discouraged.  It can give us encouragement when we’re ready to give up.  And in our self-satisfaction, it can expose with painful exposure who we really are – imperfect men and women with unclean spirit, the sin that stubbornly clings to us.  Ultimately, it brings us to a greater love of God.

When that happens, get ready to be transformed.  Get ready to be astonished by the Word of God.

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

The Baptism of the Lord

Scripture:

Isaiah 42:1-4, 6-7
Acts 10:34-38
Mark 1:7-11

Reflection:

I’ve often wondered what made Jesus so compelling that people would quit their jobs, walk away from their families, and follow him. The suddenness with which this reportedly happened in scripture is probably not literal. They likely had lengthier conversations with Jesus, talked to their families, and packed some things before leaving. Yet the point is that they were willing to leave everything behind – their security, income, loved ones…everything.

I don’t think I could do that. I love my security – knowing I have a roof over my head and I will not go hungry. I love being with my family, a fact even more evident in this time of COVID isolation. I love my work, knowing I am “feeding” and healing people who need it. I can’t imagine risking losing it all, no matter how charismatic the person might be or how tempting the invitation sounds.

The underlying and most challenging question: So what WOULD I be willing to let go of for God? Ah, that’s where the rubber hits the road.

Sometimes, this is an overarching “life question”. Those with a vocation to the priesthood or religious life do leave everything behind, sometimes including their very name. For those of us whose vocation is in the world of laity, the question is murkier. Certainly, as a mom and wife, roles I believe God called me to, I sacrificed many things (including a ton of sleep!). I’ve left jobs that I felt were not in line with God’s will for me, or in one case, a job that was the fulfillment of God’s will for me at the time, until I felt led in a different direction. 

More often, the question isn’t overarching but instead relates to my daily activities, my purchases, and my priorities. For instance:

• How conscious am I of wasting precious water because Iwant a long, hot shower?
• How willing am I to drive less rather than contribute to pollution?
• Can I go out of my way to be kind, smile, and be appreciative even when I’m in a hurry?
• Can I donate more money and possessions to people who have less than I do, to the point where it’s a true sacrifice rather than only giving from my excess?
• In this time of COVID, can I wear a mask and maintain social distance to protect other people even though it’s a hassle for me?
• How many hours a week could I spend volunteering rather than coveting all my leisure hours as “my time” that I believe I deserve?
• Speaking of time, how many hours a week do I devote solely to my relationship with God, even though there is always, always so very much to do?
• How often do I thank, encourage, and support my loved ones vs. how often I criticize them, take them for granted, or complain about them to others?

Obviously, the list of questions could continue. So let it! What questions do YOU need to ask about your life, activities, possessions, and priorities? What are you willing to give up or change for God? Let’s commit ourselves to doing a better job, for the benefit of the Body of Christ.

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/.