Daily Scripture

Scripture:

Acts 16:1-10
John 15:18-21

Reflection:

When they came to Mysia, they tried to go on into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them so they crossed through Mysia. Acts 16:7

If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. John 15:18

Did you ever just have one of those days? You know the ones – where everything is going great. The sun is shining, traffic is particularly light, you hit all the green lights, the laundry is all done, your inbox is cleared, you actually have a few minutes, if not an hour or two, to breathe. You may find your heart crying out with joy, just the sheer exuberance of being alive.

And then there are those other days. Where you awake with the awareness of tasks undone, issues unresolved, that phone call you’ve been dreading making that you cannot put off any longer.

Both of these experiences are part of our earthly life. There are those times that we seemed blessed and the gratitude spills from our lips. Likewise, there are those time when we feel beset on all sides, and our cry is more of, “why me?”

Jesus reminds us that even the Son of God was persecuted. Should we expect any less? There will be times when our decisions are questioned, when we feel ourselves on the defensive, when we just wish for a little peace and quiet. What are we to do when we feel persecuted?

The Acts of Apostles and the lives of the saints are filled with stories of triumphs and setbacks. It sometimes feels like it’s constantly, ‘three steps forward, two steps back.’ But our first reading today can give us an insight into how to proceed when we feel life gets in our way. Is so simple we might miss it: “So they crossed through.”

We must remember that we are a pilgrim people. We are on the way. We have with us the Spirit of God and Jesus has gone before us. Elsewhere in the Acts is says, ”So they left the presence of the Sanhedrin, rejoicing that they had been found worthy to suffer dishonor for the sake of the name.”

While I am a far way from rejoicing in my persecutions (even when they are are simple as hitting all the red lights when I’m running late), I pray today that I remember the example of Jesus and continue to trust in The Lord.

Talib Huff works and volunteers at Christ the King Retreat Center in Citrus Heights. You may reach him at [email protected].

Scripture:

Acts 15:22-31
John 15:12-17

Reflection:

Both Scripture readings for today speak about relationships. In our Gospel reading, Jesus gives a commandment to His disciples: “love one another as I love you.” And then He tells them what kind of love that is: “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you.” I think it is important to note that Jesus’ love for us does not depend on whether we obey His commandments. There is no way we can earn God’s love! But Jesus does tell us is that if we want to develop our relationship with Him, we will follow His commandment to love.

The more we love others as Jesus loves us, the deeper our relationship with Him will be. Are we willing to have that kind of relationship with Jesus? To answer “Yes” carries certain implications. It carries implications about how we are to pray. Jesus also says, “It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and appointed you to bear fruit that will remain, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give you.” When we have a close relationship to Jesus, we will find ourselves praying not for things we want, but for what we need to “bear fruit.”

To have a deeper relationship with Christ carries implications about how we relate to each other. In our first reading from Acts, the leaders of the Church in Jerusalem send two messengers along with Paul and Barnabas to Antioch with a decision about whether Christians had to first be circumcised according to the covenant with Abraham. In the letter they sent, the leaders wrote: “It is the decision of the holy Spirit and of us not to place on you any burden beyond these necessities…” A good criterion indicating our love for others may be whether we are trying to place burdens on them that are not necessary. Too often we see people burdened by poverty and discrimination and oppression.

Jesus’ commandment to love cannot be taken lightly. But the more we strive to follow His commandment, the deeper and richer our relationships will be with God, each other, and all of creation.

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

Scripture:

Acts 1:15-17, 20-26
John 15:9-17

Reflection:

For the past two months, we have born the challenge of renewing our sense of what Jesus’ call to remain in His Love means from the vantage of church closures and quarantine. Seeking ways to live a sacramental life within the confines of our homes with both the gift of on-line Masses but also in the other ways we have found to meet the Risen Christ from our own upper rooms.

Remain in my Love. As a Catholic, the experience of His Love, Mercy and Grace is so deeply, tangibly sacramental. How do we hold this space in a time that has ruptured the only ways we have ever known? As part of this faith community, I can’t help but ponder what we have lost and what has been gained. We may be sorting through this for a while.

In the earliest moments of church closures and quarantine, I remember wondering if I would fully understand what would be lost in not being able to receive the Eucharist. In those early days, I most acutely felt the loss of our Lord as I stood outside the locked doors of a church, with the altar and tabernacle no longer in view. In my heart, I knew it was not just an empty building but one filled with His Presence. Moving closer to Holy Week, I felt an invitation to respond to Jesus’ call to remain with Him, in the only way I knew how. To stand, and sit, outside those doors and pray. Each day. I was participating in on-line Mass yet it was here that I felt His Presence most deeply. No longer able to receive Him tangibly on the hand or tongue.

Throughout my lifetime it is in the entering of a church and sitting in front of the tabernacle where I have gone to pray the prayers that mattered most. Confident in the comfort of His very real Presence. How strange to live in a time when we are asked to move away. Doors locked in many dioceses as if an empty building.

I am drawn to the Mystery of a belief in the Presence of Christ so strong that someone would run into a burning building or in the midst of war to save the consecrated hosts in a tabernacle. Each story reflecting what we believe. That this is true and beyond important to us. This is our Lord. I remember the relief in the Notre Dame fire in Paris. So much of the world speaking of the cathedral as a great space of art, a city icon. The pastor speaking out to reclaim this space for what it is. This is a parish, a sacramental church and in a chaplain’s action of going inside the burning church to secure the consecrated hosts, this is Our Lord, present always in the Eucharist. Even as the world shifts drastically around us candles continue to flicker inside churches next to each tabernacle throughout the world proclaiming the Presence of our Triumphant Lord.

There have been some beautiful stories during the quarantine of outwardly making His Presence known. A bishop standing at the top of a mountain range in the wind holding a monstrance with the Blessed Sacrament to bless the people in the valleys below. The priest who stood on the back of a pickup truck driven through his parish neighborhood holding the monstrance on Easter Sunday as people gathered on driveways. The priest who placed the Blessed Sacrament in the window of the church so people could come and pray.

With all the uncertainty and challenges that lie ahead, may we never lose sight of the tangible, physical, real Presence of Christ, that visibly proclaims –

God is with us!

M.J. Walsh is a member of the Passionist Family with a heart of deep gratitude for the Passionist community and prayers for vocations.

Scripture:

Acts 15:1-6
John 15:1-8

Reflection:

We are in the middle of the fifth week of Easter and our readings reflect that fact to us as we are still being treated to the Book of Acts with stories of the new church growing. Now we’ve officially moved into the missionary journeys of Paul and Barnabas and we will not hear much about Peter and the church in Jerusalem. Surprise, surprise, there is dissension in the early church. They disagree about how to admit new members, do they go through the Mosaic laws or not? What an upheaval. Yet, they are hopeful for the next step, they will travel back to Jerusalem and see what the brethren think about this question. Typically, that is all we need to figure out—what is the next step we must take.

Sometimes in life, the answers are simply not that clear, I might suggest that in this case, they are rather complex. Yet, Paul and Barnabas seem hopeful to get a resolution as they decide to travel to Jerusalem.

The Gospel of John is also common to this time of year. It is not considered to be legalistic like the Synoptics. The only commandment Jesus gives to his disciples is to “love your neighbor as yourself” (John 15:12). The word “remain” occurs 12 times and the word “love” appears 10 times in chapter 15. Remain can be translated to mean: “to stay, dwell, be left; hold out.” Biblical commentaries suggest the word used is a simple Greek verb: menein, which means to remain or abide.

I love to grow vines in my garden. If you look at the plant, there is one beginning –root—and the branches grow from there. Jesus’ words used in the Gospel suggest unity. Which echoes our first reading. The early Christian communities desired unity with their leaders. This was a serious concern for some. So, we could say that they went back to the root. Vines are best when the deadwood is pruned. Surprisingly, Jesus offers that his Father, “takes away every branch that does not bear fruit—in him” (v.2). Even Jesus considered himself worthy of the necessity of pruning. Pruning is necessary for a healthy spiritual life, as well as the physical plant, we need periodic pruning.

Recently, I have been reading about the gift of human connection, one author suggests that we are each born literally tethered to another human being—our mothers. We were born in relationship and that is our deepest desire through life. Jesus reminds us that we are to stay connected both to him and also the community. Our world of Covid-19 presents us with challenges to remain connected both with our church community and our family. No doubt for some, this is suffering. Certainly, for me, I am unable to hold our youngest grandchild who is now 5 months. I’ve not held him since sometime in February.

Today is also the feast of Our Lady of Fatima. We offer our families to her, those whom we cannot hold or hug today. May she keep them in her loving embrace until the time when we can hold our loved ones again. 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:

Acts 14:19-28
John 14:27-31a

Reflection:

It has been over 50 days since we began to abide by the law to “stay at home” in order to save lives. Months ago this would have sounded bizarre to make this statement. But that is the international reality with which we are faced.

Since then, I have emphasized the importance of living our faith life through the interactions with others, that is, either really or virtually through our “home churches.” The providence of God has been working God’s Will and ways through this extension in the Easter season of the pandemic. Home churches are referred to in several places in the New Testament, for example, 1 Cor. 16:19; Colossians 4:15, Philemon 1:2. It is with the acceptance of God’s Spirit dwelling in our homes that we share this meditation.

I want to submit that the full mystery of God’s presence is alive within us and within the ambiance of our homes, if we take this dimension of our Christian life seriously, and with discipline and deliberation.

For this meditation to make “sense,” please read Acts 14:19,20. You will never hear this story read at a Sunday Liturgy. It is easily passed over, as regards the significance of this event.

Read it over, again. It is an amazing experience of the energy of the Holy Spirit working in individuals in the face of apparent failure and rejection. And this energy is passed on through a group of people deliberately surrounding Paul. Because of his injuries, he appears to be half dead. With no words spoken from the group encircled around him, Paul gets up, rejoins Barnabas and heads off to Derbe the next day. Can we grasp, accept this power within any group that assumes that the love relationship between the Father and the Son is able to convey this life giving encouragement or strength in any circumstance?

Read the passage again, and ponder what you read. Paul and Barnabas continue through several cities, strengthening the souls of the disciples and encouraging them to continue in the faith, saying, “It is through many persecutions that we must enter the kingdom of God.” (:22) “Persecutions” take on a far different meaning in today’s parlance. In our culture, simply not taking seriously, nor caring or bothering about another’s personal relationship with Christ could be a form of persecution. Persecution could occur where there is no taking seriously the importance of the Word of God in another’s life or in the life of a family or a community. Taking for granted the Paschal Mystery, the sacramental connection with God’s Life, and the life changing events that brought about salvation for the universe and all its inhabitants, make it extremely difficult, but not impossible, to live our life in Christ with a desire to transform the world into the kingdom of God.

Prayer, meditation on these sacred stories, the corporal and spiritual acts of mercy all contribute to what begins at home.

It is important to personally, and, within the home in which you dwell to ask for the peace which only the Lord can give us. A peace within us that no one can take away. A peace if talked about and acted upon will convey to others that peace which assures safety and surety.

In this Easter season risk making known the Risen Christ within those groups with whom you relate. Live the contemporary “acts” of today’s apostles.

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

Scripture:

Acts 14:5-18
John 14:21-26

Reflection:

Many years ago, I had the privilege of serving as Deputy Mayor in charge of communications for then Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan.  He was a popular mayor, who thoroughly loved serving his constituents.  The frequent positive news coverage reflected his popularity.  Therein, however, lay a danger – the danger of his ego swelling. One of my roles, and that of mayor’s staff, was to keep him grounded in the reality that “he ain’t perfect.”  The mayor’s critics just may have a point, and we should listen.

My City Hall experience came to mind as I reflected on the rather comical experience of Paul and Barnabas during their visit in Lystra.  There, they saw a man crippled from birth who had never walked.  In a loud voice, Paul called out “Stand up straight on your feet.”  The man leaped to his feet and began walking, to the astonishment of the gathered crowd.  The pagan temple priest promptly declared Paul and Barnabas to be gods.  Paul was Hermes, “because he was the chief speaker,” and Barnabas Zeus.  The apostles indignantly “tore their garments when they heard this,” shouting they were just humans like them.  “We proclaim the good news that you should turn from these idols to the living God,” they announced.

Paul and Barnabas were not swayed by public adulation.  They did not allow egos to creep in.  They refused “to believe their own press.”  The two were solidly grounded in who they were, whom they served, and the purpose of their mission.  They claimed no glory for themselves.  With the psalmist they could pray: “Not to us, O Lord, but to your name give the glory.”   It is what the good sisters at St. Alphonsus School often reminded us students of – and of what today’s first reading calls us to remember.  In all that we do – in work, play, prayer, or even sitting safely and patiently at home during this pandemic – we are to do for the glory of God.

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

Scripture:

Acts 6:1-7
1 Peter 2:4-9
John 14:1-12

Reflection:

“Home” is a multi-faceted concept. We’ve spent inordinate amounts of time in our homes lately as we shelter in place to protect from the virulent danger outside. Yet the necessity to do so much activity online brings stark realization of the inequities in the homes we live in. In the background of virtual classrooms, webinars, and broadcasts, it is evident that some are spacious, well-lighted, expertly furnished, and free of dust and stains. Others are small and confining, darkly lit, holding patched or well-worn couches, and marked by the dirt and grime of life.

For some, home is comforting and safe. Other homes groan under the weight of family dysfunctions, loneliness, boredom, and depression. And there are those who have no home at all, a phenomenon that grows as people lose jobs, “couch surfing” is impossible, and even begging on the streets yields nothing but an empty pail.

The early disciples acted to rectify inequalities in distribution, prayerfully appointing respected members of the community to make sure everyone got what they needed. They were determined to be Jesus Christ, embodiment of “the Father,” to everyone who came to them. In addition to a suitable earthly dwelling, they worked to provide the kind of “home” that Jesus taught about – one not made by human hands. In the dwelling place of God, each one of us has a room. There we truly belong and are accepted as we are, with no outcasts, no condemnation, and no shame. God demands no credit or background check, no verifiable income, no guarantor on a loan, and no monthly payments.

Just as it was in the early church, this crisis has brought so many inequalities to the fore, much of it made by human hands. So many people suffer because they lack the true physical and spiritual sense of “home”. The Gospel challenges me to think of ways that I can use the resources I have to change that in even a small way. What can I do to help provide food, safety net, healthcare, solace, and sense of belonging to those who have so little? How can I be Christ to others? What can we do as individuals and communities to work toward addressing the suffering?

The issues are overwhelming and growing more so the longer this crisis lasts. I can’t solve it, but I cannot be still. I can make a difference. So can you. Remember, Jesus told us, “Whoever believes in me will do the works that I do, and will do greater than these.” What are we waiting for?

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:

Acts 13:44-52
John 17:7-14

Reflection:

Satisfaction in time of Pandemic

This is not a plea for emails or food, but after two weeks of quarantine in my room, I tested positive, and so am sentenced to another two weeks! I feel very good now and wait not wanting spread the virus.

Looking out the window, I see the school parking lot. At 5 o’clock each day a father and his two young daughters come to play. One girl is maybe third grade with her two-wheel bike, the younger perhaps first grade with training wheels on hers. Dad runs after them, sometimes he judges their races. The older girl really speeds around. I think she lets her little sister win or at least comes in a close second a bit. I’ve seen their mom come. Dad rested a bit and mom did some running. She is fast! She’s not there often and I suspect the exercise time is more a chance for her to get a rest at home. What a lovely picture through the window of children at play, doing what they do best, parents are doing what they do best, loving their children.

In the winter, I opened the church before dawn one morning and as I was walking to the door, I was walking toward a full moon just sitting above the treetops across the street. It was so quiet. Suddenly not far above me two large hawks glided over my head, wings not moving and almost touching one another. Now from my window, I saw a hawk in the distance, very high up. It was moving toward me, stopping and hovering occasionally. Each time it became lower, bigger and closer. Unfortunately, my window is not made for wide screen viewing. The hawk moves a little to the left and is now out of sight.

The Rolling Stones first number one hit was, “I Can’t Get No Satisfaction”. This is the Apostle Philip’s song. At the multiplication of loves in John’s gospel Philip tells Jesus the few loaves and fish cannot satisfy the crowd’s hunger. Today he tells Jesus to show the Father to the apostles and they will be satisfied. He can’t get no satisfaction!

Jesus wants the disciples to believe that he and the Father are one. They can remember the works he did, that will help. Our Lord says that the Father living in him accomplishes his works. Jesus is going to the Father and whatever you ask in my name I will do, and that will give glory to the Father. Ask anything and I will do it.

Like Philip do we see enough in a little bit? Are we satisfied when Jesus tells us something that doesn’t satisfy us because our window isn’t big enough?

Maybe in our asking we will have the help we need to believe and come to the Father through Jesus. Yesterday we heard that Jesus is the way to the Father.

The signs of the times are limiting now, distancing and precautions. Even In living them the love of a family can become visible. Even in a fearful pandemic the bulging beauty of God’s creation can float by on its way to the moon, not at all concerned about the created beauty that worries about many things walking below on two feet. Can we ask the Father in Jesus name to open our windows to see God’s protection, power and presence. Let us ask and trust that we will be satisfied.

Fr. William Murphy, CP is the pastor of Immaculate Conception parish in Jamaica, New York.