Daily Scripture

Memorial of Saint Andrew Kim Taegŏn, priest and martyr and Saint Paul Chŏng Hasang, martyr, and their companions, martyrs

Scripture:

1 Timothy 6:2C-12
Luke 8:1-3

Reflection:

Most of us are quite familiar with the stories of the growth of faith in the U.S. and in Europe and South America.  But stories of the introduction of our faith in Asia, though less familiar, are equally compelling.  And today we celebrate the early days of Christianity in the country of Korea on this feast of St. Andrew Taegon and Companions.  St. Andrew is a “new” saint for he was canonized by Pope Paul II.  Though St. Andrew and his Companions are new to the liturgical calendar, they are powerful witnesses to living the Gospel in real life.

St. Andrew wasn’t the first Korean Christian by a long shot.  By the time he was born in 1821, Christianity had been growing in Korea for about fifty years.  It is believed that Christianity had been brought into Korea by some Christian Japanese soldiers in the latter part of the 18th century.   The Christian Japanese soldiers baptized the first Korean Christians and the Christian community began to grow quickly.  By the time the first foreign priest arrived in Korea in 1836, there was already a substantial Christian community flourishing there.  The Korean Catholic Church is the only known Catholic Christian community that first developed completely from the witness and work of lay Christians.

The rulers in Korea were not at all pleased to have this foreign religion thriving in their country.  At first, they just discouraged it but soon enough outlawed this practice and began to actively persecute anyone who took it up.  As Christians were arrested, tortured and put to death the Church quickly moved underground

St. Andrew’s parents, members of the Korean nobility, were an important part of that early community and secretly remained faithful to their life with Christ.  Andrew was baptized at fifteen and soon expressed his desire to become a priest.  He traveled to Macau to attend the seminary and was ordained in 1845.  He was the first Korean to become a priest and returned home shortly after his ordination to help organize the Church and bring the sacraments to the faithful.  He ministered in Korea only a year before he was arrested and put to death.

There were intense persecutions of Christians in Korea in 1839, 1846, 1866 and 1867 and 103 Christians were martyred for their faith.  We celebrate these heroic martyrs on this day.

May their faith and courage inspire us to live our lives faithful to the Gospel and have the strength to be a fearless witness for Christ in our everyday lives.

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

Scripture:

1 Timothy 2:1-8
Luke 7:1-10a

Reflection:

Commentators of this passage recommend that we think of it as though it was spoken by Jesus while he was on the cross.  These words are Jesus’ words of saying “Good Bye” to his disciples.  These words are momentous.  There are like Churchill’s famous words to the British Parliament.  It is his “blood, sweat and tears” talk.  It is Garibaldi’s to his troops “All I can offer you is hunger, death, and Freedom for Italy.”

To say “Goodbye” is always difficult.  There are small “goodbyes” such as sending a child off for the first day of school.  There are the “Good Byes” when the child goes away to college.  It can be for parents like a death in the family. Every time you pass by an empty bedroom door the anguish of separation is deep.  Sometimes the only consolation one might have is to think of Mary who after thirty years she also had to let Him go.  Another Good-Bye. Hopefully, parents and child had opportunities to talk together before the leaving.

Maybe the only thing a father can say to his son or daughter is “Good Bye and grow up.”  But behind these terse words are years of sharing love, laughter, and joy.  Both know the depth of each’s love for the other.  It is memorable.

Jesus’ awareness of the Father’s love for Him and Jesus’ love for the disciples is very obvious.  And the test of the disciples love for Jesus’ is proven by their love for the Community. Jesus tells them that their love for each other is the only way they can participate in the joy that is shared by Jesus and the Father.  Jesus asks the Father not to take the disciple out of the world but remain with them and guard them and consecrate them in the Truth. The infallible sign of God in our midst is the joy and peace that comes from Jesus.  Just as Jesus perseveres in His love.  We too must persevere in love since we have been consecrated in His love. We have been consecrated for service to the world.

 

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

Scripture:

Exodus 32:7-11, 13-14
1 Timothy 1:12-17
Luke 15:1-10

Reflection:

Today’s liturgical readings provide us with a theme that is constant throughout Holy Scripture. And that is that our God is a merciful God! Our Holy Father Pope Francis has such an appreciation for this that he dedicated an entire year to it, the jubilee year of mercy of 2015 and 2016. He called this Jubilee year a time when the witness of believers might grow stronger and more effective,” he went on to say, “It is a time to bear the weakness and struggle of our brothers and sisters.” When he began the year of Mercy, Pope Francis issued a letter entitled “Misericordia Vultus”, The Face of Mercy and it can be summed up in 10 words, “Blessed are the Merciful for they will be shown Mercy.” (The 5^th Beatitude) And in the 6^th Chapter of Luke Our Lord issues a daunting challenge to us all, “Be Merciful as your heavenly Father is Merciful.”

When we look to today’s readings we realize just how daunting a task it is to be Merciful as our Heavenly Father is Merciful. From Exodus we find that God is perturbed, in fact He practically disowns the Israelites as He describes them to Moses as ‘Your people’. “Go down at once to your people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt. But His Mercy always outweighs His punishment as He proves that He will listen, as Moses bargains with Him as he pleads, “Why, O Lord should your wrath blaze up against your own people?” “So the Lord relented in the punishment he had threatened to inflict on his people.” Notice now they are ‘his’ people again!

Then we go on to read of God’s great joy and mercy in finding the ‘one’ lost sheep, the ‘one’ lost coin, the ‘one’ lost sinner, the ‘one’ lost son. All are returned to great rejoicing. Alleluia!

So why is it that we have so much trouble being merciful as our heavenly Father is merciful? When someone offends us it quite often takes weeks, months, even years to forgive them. Why can’t we be merciful as our heavenly Father is merciful? Why can’t we leave the 99 sheep to recover our relationship with the one that has offended us? Why can’t we be like the Father in the parable of the Prodigal son as he runs out to his son that has been found! We should strive to do as our Holy Father has asked us to do, “it is time to bear the weakness and struggle of our brothers and sisters.” It is time to show Mercy. It is time to relieve our neighbors of their great misery. The Latin word for Mercy is Misericordia, Miseri for misery and Cordia for heart.

So, there is Mercy when Misery finds a Heart! So let us have an enlarged heart that matches the Misery in our neighbors heart, let us be merciful in order that we may shown Mercy, let us find the lost coin, the lost sheep, the lost sinner in order that there will be rejoicing in Heaven and let us see the Face of Mercy in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!

Deacon James Anderson is the Administrator at Holy Name Passionist Retreat Center in Houston, Texas.

Scripture:

Colossians 2:6-15
Luke 6:12-19

Reflection:

I’ve been trying to improve my posture at the behest of my physical therapist. When I concentrate, I do fine, but the next thing I know I’m slouched over as my muscles return to their familiar position.  St. Paul warned that the familiar is oddly comforting and incredibly easy to fall back into, even if it is destructive. He especially charged us not to be seduced by human philosophies that our discipleship has already stripped from us, and instead to do the hard and conscious work of remaining alive in Christ.

I think of this when I hear news of the recent horrific shootings and attacks against Hispanics, Muslims, immigrants, and asylum-seekers. Part of that is familiar. Growing up in rural Iowa, our town was 100% Catholic and 100% white. Instead of being taught that all people are children of the same God and part of my own family, I was taught that outsiders, Protestants, people with colored skin, or those not “like me” were dangerous and should be shunned.

Now that I reside in the Chicago area, I live, work, and regularly encounter those of other races, religions, and cultures, and I know my upbringing was wrong. I consciously choose to be open, accepting, curious, generous, and kind, and I am amazed at the common humanity that binds us all together. Yet I catch myself. I have to constantly examine my unintended reactions when, for instance:

• The person on the phone has a non-European foreign accent
• I drive into a neighborhood populated by another race or culture
• I see a woman wearing a burqa
• A young black man wearing a hoodie and low-slung jeans walks toward me on the street

Your list is likely different than mine, but all of these situations trigger emotions inside of me that I work and pray I can understand and eliminate. It is all too easy to succumb to the emotions, to go back to what once was familiar. But that is not the way of Christ. Jesus reached out to all, and especially to the immigrant, marginalized, poor, and hurting people of his day. God needs my voice to keep fighting the seductive human philosophies of power, superiority, and cruelty that would denigrate, cause suffering to, or kill these precious children of God. This is not what Jesus would do. In fact, it is against everything Jesus taught, stood for, and died for. May God help me to stand straight and tall in the Gospel, and live in a way that is true to our Christian calling.

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:

Colossians 1:24-2:3
Luke 6:6-11

Reflection:

Paul the Mystic Tackles a Practical Question

Each week a pop-up on my computer suggests five top picks among weekend events taking place in the city. This week a video sampling of one of the music groups shows people searching and discovering beautifully decorated musical instruments hidden in a lush, jungle landscape, where they are making lovely music. The Museum of Fashion offers an exhibit of styles from Paris. There is a commemoration of 9/11 with a ritual for peace and healing.

There is a lot to nourish the spirit in the city. Searching and the joy of finding; peace and healing; presenting ourselves to others and the significance of our bodily presence.

Grammar school just opened and I joined a class walking to the public chapel of the monastery where there was exposition of the Blessed Sacrament. The classes will visit for a short time to pray in silence, sitting in the quiet. The focus of everyone was on the host held in the monstrance. In the line of vision behind the host is the large wooden crucifix which hangs on the wall.

The day will end in the parish with an evening Mass. Those who come will brave the sideswipe of hurricane Dorian with some rain and a messy drive. The Friday evening Mass gathers those offering prayer for the needs of the sick, as well as peace for loved ones who have died and comfort for those who mourn their passing. Those who come are not easily deterred by the weather because of the importance of their mission.

Paul’s letter to the Colossians went to people Paul had never met, but people like each of us, products of ‘Deep Time’. This is the name of the exhibit at the Smithsonian in Washington about our body through time, and the vast tree of created beings, the result of 3.7 billion years of evolution. The exhibit does not talk about our spiritual being. Yet even being made from dust, the psalmist proclaims in Psalm 8, “O Lord, our Lord, how glorious is your name over all the earth! When I behold your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars which you set in place – what is man that you should be mindful of him?”

The Colossians have welcomed the Good News preached to them. They also have a question. How did Jesus fit into their lives, how does Jesus fit into this world through which they walk each day. Paul the mystic says tells them, “Christ is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of all creatures. In him everything was created; all were created through him and for him. It pleased God to make absolute fullness reside in him…to reconcile everything in his person, everything, I say, on earth and in the heavens, making peace through the blood of his cross.”

We have our questions, we search, we peer at the horizon. Christ in us is our hope of glory. We share this wonderful mystery it is not lessened even in suffering. How marvelous our moment in Deep Time, using talents or performing, contemplating or offering our prayers, even suffering, we are bringing Christ to completion in one another.

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