Daily Scripture

Scripture:

2 Kings 5:14-17
2 Timothy 2:8-13
Luke 17:11-19

Reflection:

Our Gospel reading for Sunday (Luke 17:11-19) relates an encounter between Jesus and ten lepers. They beg Jesus to help them, and Jesus does. But only one of them comes back to thank Jesus, and Jesus takes note of this: “Ten were cleansed, were they not? Where are the other nine? Has none but this foreigner returned to give thanks to God?” The one who came back was a Samaritan, not a Jew.

I know the main lesson from this Gospel is to be grateful, but I found myself going back to the point that at least one of the lepers was a Samaritan. Samaritans and Jews had nothing to do with each other, but apparently, when all these lepers were suffering not only physically, but also the emotional toil of being outcast, the differences didn’t seem to matter much.

Thinking about this led me to reflect on an episode of American history I knew nothing about until I took a course on American history between the wars in college. The episode was the Veterans’ Bonus March on Washington in the early 1930’s. The country was in the throes of the Great Depression. Veterans of WWI were promised a bonus that was going to be paid in 1945. But considering the situation, they marched on Washington, hoping to get the bonus then. They set up shacks and lobbied Congress to get the bonus. Meanwhile, President Hoover and the Army felt they needed to remove the marchers, and two of the veterans were killed. It was not a great day in American history. But one of the remarkable things that happened was that white and black veterans, who were not allowed to serve together, were together in Washington. Their common plight seemed to overcome the barriers between them.

This past Monday, we celebrated a “Green Mass” at Holy Family. Parishioners from Holy Family, St. Mary’s, and St. Joseph, attended, as well as many visitors. The Mass was bilingual, and I was struck by the diversity of the people there, brought together by our faith and our care for “our common home.”

I wonder if any of this kind of thinking crossed the lepers’ minds. Did seeing those in their group, who were different, suffer as they did, change their minds about them? Were the Jews in the group able to recognize the humanity of the Samaritan? And vice versa? Would they look with horror again when they saw a leper now? Or would they think twice before they assumed the person deserved it?

I’m beginning to think that this is a crucial time to be a Passionist. Meditating on the Cross of Christ can lead us, if we’re willing, to have compassion for others. Can we hold on to our hatreds and prejudices if we see that others, as different as they may be, are carrying crosses, just like us?

Being grateful reminds us that we do not do the good that we do on our own. If we know how much we rely on God, can we really condemn each other? God has lifted us up over and over again. In gratitude and with compassion, may we lift each other up.

Fr. Phil Paxton, C.P., is a member of the Passionist Community in Birmingham, Alabama. 

Scripture:

Joel 4:12-21
Luke 11:27-28

Reflection:

Each day this week, our Liturgy has opened with this prayer: “Father, your love for us surpasses all our hopes and desires!” I really did not pay attention to what I was praying until I was working on this meditation. I just sat and thought about that.

From the words of Jesus we hear today, I offer a brief meditation on hearing the Word of God and observing it. In other words, doing something, today, with that Word which comes from God. And making this our deliberate intention.

First, it is a matter of accepting a belief that takes us beyond our control (another way of describing pure faith). It is the belief that Jesus Christ has taken flesh in us through our Baptism. “Give me your body. Let me join myself to you to continue my human presence, my human ministry on earth in partnership with you.”

I have to work daily in some conscious way (a habit) to remind myself that Jesus Himself is speaking to me through this Word that I am pondering. I have to believe in his human presence in order to recognize and experience Him in my interactions with others. I have to realize that beyond coincidence, luck, or accidents, there is a reason in God’s providence for what is happening to me, through me, or in spite of me!

That is the “good news.” Because God took flesh in Jesus and became a human being in our midst, we can still encounter Him and deal with Him humanly each day.

Secondly, I have to make a positive intention to deal humanly with Jesus ourselves. We have to spend time with Him the way we do with our friends, think about his words as we think about the word of anyone who is important to us. (We do pay attention to them, don’t we?) And, do concrete, physical things to show Him our love. That is, treat Jesus like a human being.

Yes, Jesus Christ has actually taken flesh in each one of us today. Take time each day in reflective prayer to see how the smallest, seemingly insignificant occurrence comes to us, compliments of Christ in our life.

Father, your love for us surpasses all our hopes and desires!

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

Scripture:

Joel 1:13-15; 2:1-2
Luke 11:15-26

Reflection:

“But if it is by the finger of God that I drive out demons, then the King of God has come upon you.”

What was the Good News that Jesus proclaimed during his lifetime?  Simply this: The Kingdom of God.  In Jesus, the Kingdom of God has begun among us.  In Luke chapter 4, Jesus announces that he is the fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah: “The spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.  He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners, and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” (Lk 4:18-19).  Jesus performs these miracles to signal that the Kingdom of God has broken into this world.

Jesus had just healed a man who was mute but who now could speak.  Yet some accused Jesus of casting out demons “by the power of Beelzebul, the prince of demons” (Lk 15).

Jesus responded that it is by God’s power that he drives out demons to reveal that “the Kingdom of God has come upon you” (Lk 4:20).  Even so, they cannot, or will, not see this new thing that God is doing among people.  Their willful blindness prevents them from perceiving the transforming powers of God in Jesus.

Jesus was sent to proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom of God, the news that God is vanquishing evil and establishing his active rule over his creation.  The Kingdom of Satan is being replaced by the Kingdom of God.  The full establishment of God’s reign lies in the future, but it is already being inaugurated through Jesus.

Jesus is Messiah of word and action.  With his ascension, he now sends us, his disciples, to announce the Good News of the Kingdom through healing, forgiveness, compassion, and in love for one another.  God is doing a new thing in us.  Can we see it?  Can we perceive it?

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

Scripture:

Malachi 3:13-20b
Luke 11:5-13

Reflection:

I grew up believing that the purpose of prayer was to change God’s mind. If I wanted something, I had to be so convinced about why it made sense for God to give it to me and so persistent in asking that I would wear God down or make God realize my argument was irrefutable. If I could do that, I would get it. In other words, God was a kind of Santa Claus – holding the bag of toys and giving them out to those deemed worthy, denying them to others, and able to be persuaded by someone who made a good case for themselves.

As I’ve matured as a person and in my faith, I find that even though the Santa view remains amazingly prominent in Catholicism, I no longer believe it. I do not believe we pray in order to change God’s mind about anything. God always wants what is good for me and never withholds offering it freely. Instead, I pray to change me. I pray in order to allow God to work in me and transform me. I pray to be freed from unhealthy desires, to recognize God’s will and workings in my life, and to be soft and receptive enough to accept what God is trying so hard to give.

Jesus does teach persistence in prayer and says that those who ask will receive. But notice what he says they will get. He says that even more than a father would give his son good things, so much more will God give the Holy Spirit to those who ask. He does not say God will give wealth, physical healing, a sports team win, or whatever the petitioner requests. That’s a very different premise.

So I’ve realized that God will never give me everything I want. (Darn it!) Instead, God will give me everything I need. God will give me patience, strength, peace, wisdom, knowledge, sensitivity, perseverance, faith, and more. God will give me the Holy Spirit. When I open myself to pray and allow God to work, God molds me into a better person. In fact, I often end up surrendering whatever I was so certain I wanted, because God knows what is best anyway, and I can trust that.

Remember, Jesus certainly didn’t have everything that someone in his day would want. But he had the Spirit of God alive within him, and every time he prayed, he deepened in relationship to the Abba God who loved him and sustained him. That is what allowed him to be effective, healing, strong, and prophetic. That is what gave him what he needed to endure suffering, betrayal and death.

That is what prayer is all about. It is not a laundry list of “give-me” requests. It is a deepening in relationship so that I can become ever more like Christ. When I ask for that, I will most surely receive.

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:

Jonah 4:1-11
Luke 11:1-4

Reflection:

Jonah, Prophet and History Teacher

The Old Testament daily readings this year (an uneven year, 2019) show God’s love enfolding the chosen people as it unfolds in their history. Next year, (an even year, 2020) the prophets are prominent and we will hear the challenge of justice and faithfulness asked of Israel as they live their covenant with God.

We approach the end of Israel’s Biblical history. We have been reading of the return of Israel from Babylon and the rebuilding of the temple. Cyrus the king of the Persia conquers the Babylonians. To protect his kingdom he will cultivate good relationships with the small countries around him creating a first line of defense. Israel sees God’s hand at work in this, they are free and this is a great moment in their history. But….

But all that glitters is not gold. Not all the Jews in Babylon wanted to return. Those who did were not welcomed, they had to guard the ruins of Jerusalem where they lived for fear of attacks. Their lands were in the hands of new people, foreigners had moved in to fill the vacuum of the exile. Rebuilding a temple and a city would not be quick nor an easy job. The people were discouraged and almost defeated. In the end and with hard work and suffering the temple was rededicated.

In the history of Israel, the return from Babylon marks a new direction for the Jewish community. It will become strict, more rituals and laws appear, it separates itself from outsiders, as in the prohibition of marriage outside the faith. It is the beginning of the period of history that will include the life of Jesus.

The book of Jonah is a rebellious writing from this period. It attacks an approach that closes Israel to the nations. Jonah would say that Israel is the light of the nations, or echo Zechariah whom we read last week, “days will come when ten men of every nationality shall take hold, yes, take hold of every Jew by the edge of his garment and say, ‘Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.’” Jonah is saying, don’t hide, don’t be defensive. Let us go where God boldly sends us.

The prophet Jonah asks Israel to see where they are going. The reverence of the pagans outshines Jonah. They are startled that he does not do what his God asks. In the end Jonah cannot fathom the gift of merciful love that Israel has continually encountered.

Our most familiar prayer is Luke’s gospel today, Our Father. God is our origin, our history. Today we can stand with Old Testament Israel and be challenged by what we may overlook: may the kingdom come as we empty our hands of lesser things to welcome it; give us the bread that our hands may share it; you forgive us, may we forgive; may we know your care and loudly write it into each of our histories.

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

Scripture:

Jonah 3:1-10
Luke 10:38-41

Reflection:

Put your heart into it:

The exceptional presence of the Prophet Jonah moves the wayward people of Nineveh to repentance and penitence- “by their actions they turn from their evil way.” The only thing that they needed to concentrate on was their love for God and love for each other. They chose to put their hearts into it. God in his love for them accepted their repentance and penitence and relented on the punishment he had planned for them.

It is the presence of Jesus that transforms each of our own lives, too, and in different ways. In the Gospel, Mary chose a life of perfect contemplation, the act of looking at something/someone thoughtfully for a long time. Her only thought was her love for Jesus. Mary put her heart into it. Yet Martha, “worried about many things,” needed to realize that all her busyness and activity could also be unified by the one thing necessary—love for Jesus. There is need of only one thing.

Life is good, so you should put your heart into everything you do. Sometimes we tell ourselves that life is not good right now, but it will get better. We may spend our whole lives waiting to live. We risk not fully accepting the reality of our present lives. Meanwhile we don’t put our hearts sufficiently into today, and so we miss graces we should be receiving. Let us live each moment to the fullest. Let us put our hearts into it.

To live today well, we also should remember that God only asks for one thing at a time, never two. We must put our hearts into it, simply and calmly, and not try to solve more than one problem at a time. If something, no matter how ordinary, needs to be done and is part of our lives, it’s worth doing for its own sake, and worth putting our hearts into.

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.

Scripture:

Jonah 1:1-2:2, 11
Luke 10:25-37

Reflection:

Today’s scriptures ask us: “Who is our neighbor?”, a particularly relevant question I believe for me a 21st century American, whose life is pretty good—many would say privileged. Almost daily, I hear or read of neighbors who face challenges like, another hurricane, or flood, people fleeing unjust treatment by others… I meet people and cultures very much different from my small world where is all I have to do is turn up the heat or air conditioning if I am uncomfortable and maybe pay a little more on my utility bill.

I can and often do, behave like the priest or Levite who really doesn’t have time to deal with this particular person’s bad luck.  I go to the other side of the road by quickly moving on to what I’m reading or more often not opening that new request from Catholic Relief Services. I know where I’m going, and I don’t have time for this distraction of someone in need. I most often figure, there’s really nothing I can do about this persons’ or peoples’ ills. Just sending a few dollars really won’t make any difference anyway, will it? Sometimes, more and more often I stop and think, if I were in that person’s predicament, how would I like them to respond to me. I even once in a while choose to become more informed or even to send a few dollars of aid.

Thank you, God, for the many gifts you’ve given me and help me to be a Good Samaritan today, by listening and responding like I would like others to listen to me if I were in their situation. Help me be a gentleman and be generous wherever I am able.

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

Scripture:

Hebrews 1:2-3; 2:2-4
2 Timothy 1:6-8, 13-14
Luke 17:5-10

Reflection:

Today we learned that a glacier as big as Los Angles has broken from the Northern ice cap. For the last month, much of our area of the United States has suffered drought and record heat. Massive wildfires over the last year have destroyed homes, businesses, and lives in parts of the West. Massive storms and record heat let us know something is not normal.

Add to the environmental emergency the slaughter of innocent people in entertainment centers, department stores, schools, houses of worship, and in neighborhoods. Add lives destroyed by opioids and other drugs, homelessness, and overcrowded prisons.

Aware of all this daily news, are you left feeling like the Prophet Habakkuk?

“How long, O Lord? I cry for help, but you do not listen! I cry out to you, ‘Violence!’ but you do not intervene. Why do you let me see ruin; why must I look at misery? Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife and clamorous discord.”

Feeling angry, sad, afraid about the conditions in our world sets the foundation for prayer. Taking these reactions to God, laying them at his feet is an act of faith…the faith that Paul tells Timothy is our norm.

Faith, as nurtured in regular, silent prayer, stills our souls. It is not a stillness that keeps us passive and uninvolved. Rather it is a stillness that recognizes, accepts, that we are to do “what we were obliged to do.” The Spirit guides each of us to heal our broken world in the uniqueness and limits of our own lives. The task is different for everyone. And the task is beyond human efforts. We must rely on God’s love and grace to carry us.

God, working through us, over time, transforms all things into goodness, love and life. This is the faith like the mustard seed. In God we are stronger and capable of much more than we can every imagine.

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