Daily Scripture

Scripture:

Leviticus 19:1-2, 17-18
1 Corinthians 3:16-23
Matthew 5:38-48

Reflection:

In our Gospel reading (Matthew 5:38-48), we hear Jesus continue making a contrast between what the people have heard about what they are to do in following God’s law, and what Jesus is saying to them now. Arguably, what we hear in this reading are the most challenging words we find in all the Gospels: “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, offer no resistance to one who is evil. When someone strikes you on your right cheek, turn the other one to him as well…. You have heard that it was said, “You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your heavenly Father.”

How on earth are we supposed to do that? What about abuse? What about terrorism? What about oppression and injustice? These are all good questions, and it seems like Jesus is just asking for too much from us. In the seemingly impossible task of following Jesus’ commands, we may have to take a leap of faith and what gets us across to the other side is the Cross of Christ.

In our second reading from 1 Corinthians (3:16-23), St. Paul writes: “Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you considers himself wise in this age, let him become a fool so as to become wise.” In a way, Jesus is the ultimate fool. He let Himself be captured, and arrested, unjustly condemned and unjustly executed. He did continue to love His enemies. He did turn the other cheek. Is that not utter foolishness? But we Christians believe that His foolishness saved us!

And yet many of us still struggle to trust in Jesus’ ways instead of the ways of the world. I find it hard to believe that when Jesus says “offer no resistance,” He means that people should stay in abusive relationships, or that people should stop working for justice and peace. But I wonder if He is saying to us that we cannot overcome evil with the methods of evil. We cannot stop violence with more violence. That has been tried many times.

Could it be that Jesus is telling us to take a leap of faith, risk looking foolish in the eyes of the world, and try things His way?

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

Scripture:

1 Peter 5:1-4
Matthew 16:13-19

Reflection:

Today is the feast of the Chair of Saint Peter.

Jesus himself handpicked his twelve apostles. Of those, Peter was chosen to lead them. The other Apostles did not challenge his authority as the head of the church on earth.

Not only did they not challenge his authority, they respected it. This is reflected in the gospel of John (20:4-5) when, although John was younger, and faster, he waited for Peter out of respect for this position as chief Apostle.

Other examples of this respect of Peters authority by the other apostles comes after Christ resurrection and include when Peter presides over the election of Matthias to replace Judas (Acts 1:26) and when he leads the Council of Jerusalem (Acts 15).

St. Paul “goes to see Peter” out of respect for his position (Galatians 1:18).

Of the 12 apostles in scripture Peter is mentioned 195 times, John is second with, in comparison, a mere 29 times.

In Matthew chapter 10, where Matthew lists the twelve Apostles, He says, “the names of the 12 are these, FIRST Peter.”

The most important reason Peter is the authority that we look to as the first Pope, is written in the Gospel today, Matthew 16:13-19

“He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”
Simon Peter said in reply, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
Jesus said to him in reply, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah.
For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father.
And so I say to you, you are Peter,
and upon this rock I will build my Church”

Christ named him, the Apostles followed him, the early church was built respecting him. There have been 266 direct in line from him. Christ has built His church on Peter and although we humans have tried to wreck it, “the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.”

Kate Mims is the Retreat Center Director at Holy Name Passionist Retreat Center in Houston, Texas.

Scripture:

James 2:1-9
Mark 8:27-33

Reflection:

In today’s Gospel Peter got it right…almost!  When Jesus asked his disciples who they thought he was, it was Peter who responded, “You are the Christ.”  No doubt Peter felt pretty good about his response and well he should.  Apparently, some of the others were a bit hesitant to apply that title to Jesus.  But not Peter.  He stepped up and voiced his belief for all to hear.

Then Jesus does something a bit strange.  As soon as Peter applied the title “Christ” to him, Jesus begins to teach that he must suffer, be rejected, be killed and rise after three days.  Clearly, these kinds of experiences didn’t fit with being the “Christ” in Peter’s mind.  He pulled Jesus aside and scolded him for talking of such things.  Jesus reacts almost violently.  “Get behind me Satan!  You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do!”

Let’s face it, most of us tend to think as “human beings” do!  Just recall St. Paul’s comment in First Corinthians that the sufferings of Jesus are “a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles…” (I Cor 1:23) Few of us factor “suffering” into our understanding of a rich and satisfying life, especially if that life is our own or that of someone we love.  Today’s Gospel seems to be inviting us to take a different look at the way we think about our lives.  If suffering is essential to the life of Jesus, it is just possible that suffering is essential to our lives as well.  If suffering is essential to our lives and not just the result of mindless circumstance or accident, perhaps we should look to the suffering in our lives to teach us important truths about our world, ourselves and, of course, God.

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

Scripture:

Sirach 15:15-20
1 Corinthians 2:6-10
Matthew 5:17-37

Reflection:

Matthew has just finished giving the Beatitudes to his disciples.  In this passage he goes further and talks about the obstacles that are destructive of discipleship.  The first obstacle he identifies is anger.    Several years ago a survey was taken of the Catholic priests in the United States.  The survey showed that the level of anger was so high among the priests that it was judged to be so disturbing that it should not be published.  About the same time another article was published on the “Anger of Priests.”  The author of the article received so many responses to his article that the author of the article decided to write a response to remind his readers. In his response  he reminded that the opposite of anger was “Gratitude.”

Gratitude is the happiness we have been given.  It is the echo of joy. To be grateful is to share.  There are high moments of aliveness in our lives.  These moments of the heart are a deep all-pervading, overflowing sense of gratitude.  When we reach our innermost heart.   When we are at home with ourselves when we are intimately united with others. We experience gratitude.

Genesis tells us God created us by breathing life into us.  The heart is where we meet God.  But meeting God is prayer.  Prayer is the very heart of religion.   Hearts are restless until we find rest.  We find rest when we find meaning.  We find meaning when we find God.  God is the source of all meaning.  Gratitude strengthens our faith and makes it grow.  We grow in gratitude when we grow in love.

A suffering God loves us.  The gift of the incarnation and crucifixion of the son of God had defined our sense of gratitude.

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

Scripture:

1 Kings 11:4-13
Mark 7:24-30

Reflection:

The readings for today seem very much at odds with each other at first glance, the reading from the first book of Kings takes up the story of Solomon and his many wives who influenced him and “derailed” his love for the Lord. Just yesterday in our reading we were treated to the queen of Sheba celebrating his great wisdom. Today, one wonders exactly what happened in-between? How could someone that wise lose sight of the Lord? Solomon had many wives and it seems that they caused him to forget about the Lord. My Hebrew Scripture professor used to remind us that there is always a Theological truth about the Hebrew people and their relationship with God to be gleaned in Scripture. I might suggest that is still true today in our relationship with our Lord. Keeping close to the Lord keeps one faithful and wise. We must be careful about relationships or circumstances that take us away from God. We can have our consequences in going off track in our relationship with the Lord. What or who may have taken you off-track?

The Gospel offers us an insight into the faith of a Syrophoenician woman—a Pagan, who persists in engaging Jesus to heal her daughter. And while the wives of Solomon have compromised his faith, this woman’s persistent faith has moved Jesus to free her daughter from the possession of a demon. The text suggests that Jesus has no intention of listening to her. We read that he wanted no one to know about his whereabouts. I might suggest that Jesus was out of character in his comments about “its not right to take the food of the children and feed it to the dogs.” He who actively sought people out for healing, didn’t want to be disturbed. Certainly, his response falls within the confines of the first reading—be careful to stay away from Pagans!  It’s just never that simple, is it? Yet, what changed his mind? Was it her persistence in refusing to be put off? Her desperation?

What are we to understand here? Might I suggest that when we stay close to God, as Jesus did, we remain open to having our plans interrupted. Can you relate to this notion? We must be prepared to allow our plans to be interrupted, even Jesus demonstrates this principle. Further, we must be persistent in prayer and stay close to our Lord. It’s that simple—not at odds at all.

Perhaps the Psalm response offers us additional insight, “Remember us, O Lord, as you favor your people.” 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:

1 Kings 8:1-7, 9-13
Mark 6:53-56

Reflection:

Solomon built a magnificent temple, and threw a lavish, vast celebration enthroning the Ark of the Covenant in it. He then declared that this was the dwelling place of God, built by human hands to hold the Almighty.

There’s only one problem. God cannot be contained in a building nor owned by one people. As Bonaventure (and others) said, God is the infinite one whose center is everywhere and whose circumference is nowhere. Revelations says that God’s dwelling place is with the human race – not just one people, religion, or nation, but everyone. Centuries later, Jesus proved it. He healed foreigners and pagan Romans, forgave prostitutes, ate with sinners, and decried the strict laws and temple practices that excluded people or reflected a grip on power by the priests and scribes of his day. He consistently went outside the boundaries to prove that God’s love, care, and indwelling presence is universal and cannot be safely enclosed in our images and boxes.

Despite all this evidence against it, today we too often think that God dwells in the church building, but not in our offices, streets, or homes. We think that strict rules defining who is “in” or “out” reflect the mind of God and determine who qualifies as a recipient of God’s favor. We think Christians own God, and the people of other faith traditions can be despised and cast aside. We think people of different skin color from ours are evil-minded and outside our duty to be compassionate, welcoming, and healing. If we are truly listening to the Gospel message of Jesus, how did we get so blind and close-hearted? God must look at our world and cry.

Unfortunately, as individuals we can’t unilaterally change the systemic mindsets that allow these things to happen. But what we can do is what Jesus did – start locally. Jesus didn’t immediately head off to Jerusalem; he started in his own hometown. As Paul says in Acts of the Apostles, he went about “doing good and healing”. Gradually he was able to make more and more of a difference and expand his reach.

What can you do to actively participate in making the world a better place? Can you take on responsibilities in your parish that allow you to uphold the best of our faith tradition in the face of abuse and misuse of power? Can you volunteer at non-profit organizations that feed the hungry, house immigrants, serve needy children, or help those who increasingly fall through our society’s unraveling safety nets? Can you speak up when you hear classes of people or other faiths being reviled? Can you set aside your own grasp on privilege and power, being willing to use what you have to help those who don’t have it? Can you consciously live as Jesus did – a beacon of peace, acceptance, and hope to everyone he encountered?

Compassion, care, inclusion, and love are at risk in our world today. God is calling each one of us to do what we can to live by the core messages of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, not by trying to “contain” God but by living the moral and ethical demands that Jesus calls us to fulfill.

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:

Isaiah 58:7-10
1 Corinthians 2:1-5
Matthew 5:13-16

Reflection:

Salt and Light; Cross and Justice

Our Scripture readings make a circle, each reading touching the other. They each open something in the other and ultimately invite us to rest in what God’s Word is doing among us.

Paul describes himself as a fearful, weak man as he came to testify to God in Corinth. He will not use the persuasive force of “wise” argumentation. He has received grace from God: his failure. Paul’s goal was to proclaim Christ to the learned men of Athens. He did so with eloquence and self-confidence, (Acts 17:22ff). However, he was not successful in confronting the wisdom of the world with his preaching. Something was missing. World wisdom was not impressed.

The grace given to Paul as he left Athens to go to Corinth was his insight into the mystery of the wisdom of the Cross. Only the mystery of Jesus dying and rising, the Paschal Mystery, could stand up against the wisdom of the world. This is the wisdom of the spiritually mature; the stumbling block and absurdity to many, but the power of God and wisdom of God.

Paul’s grace has something to say the poor of the Beatitudes. Matthew’s gospel gave us the Beatitudes last weekend and now continues by telling us hat we are the salt of the earth, the light of the world. Fr. John Donahue, SJ, says the Beatitudes speak the cause of the prophets: justice. As the first teaching of Matthew’s gospel, connects with the last teaching ( Mt. 25, the sheep and the goats,’blessed are those who respond to the suffering of their neighbors’), Matthew surrounds the gospel with the work of compassion and justice. The Beatitudes can fool us. They may sound like the future, but it not an “otherworldly future”. The arrival of Jesus and his proclamation of the Kingdom create the conditions by which the world can be changed now. The promise that justice will be for the persecuted, that heaven is will be ‘yours’, might better be put, the Kingdom of heaven is on ‘your side’ or ‘for you’.

Finally, before we come back to St. Paul, we hear Isaiah writing amidst the ruins of the Babylonian exile. Israel is scattered some in exile, some have fled to Egypt or other parts. But he seems to be speaking to the remnant left behind. Some are doing better than others, even prospering. The sacrifice continues but it is hollow. The light of faith in the God is Israel is dim, zest is tread underfoot like bad salt. In their despair and especially the forgetting of God’s faithfulness Isaias calls the remnant to fidelity.

To those who have the worldly wisdom to succeed and maneuver in a broken world, he calls them to see success by showing love for God and neighbor by keeping the convent. Bestow your bread on the hungry and satisfy the afflicted; then light shall rise for you in the darkness.

In the mystery of the Cross, where there is exile and brokenness, yet the presence of the Kingdom gives us the strength to be light and salt. We may be aware of our weakness and much trembling but God’s grace gives us the strength of this wisdom to proclaim Jesus compassion and justice where they do not appear to others as wisdom at all.

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