Daily Scripture

Scripture:

Acts 18:23-28
John 16:23b-28

Reflection:

Several years ago, I was invited to give a series of presentations on Scripture in the Diocese of Arusha in Tanzania.  During my stay, one of the Spiritan Missionaries took me to visit some of the remote mission stations on the outskirts of the diocese.  The heavy winter rains turned the unpaved roads in the region to a sea of mud, so travel to these areas was restricted to the dry season.  By necessity, the opportunity for the Spirit missionaries to visit some of these regions was sometimes only after many weeks of absence.  We visited one small village where the missionary wanted to see how a young man (named Paul, by the way) was doing who had only recently expressed interest in Christianity.  To his amazement, he learned that this very new convert was away preaching the gospel in the surrounding villages.  Since the man had had very little instruction, the priest wondered what exactly this Paul was preaching!

I thought of that story when reflecting on the first reading from the Acts of the Apostles assigned for today.  We are introduced to Apollos, also a recent convert and an eloquent preacher from Alexandria.  He was full of zeal, but his knowledge of Christianity was very limited—he had not even heard of Christian baptism!  Fortunately, Pricilla and Aquila, the couple who worked with Paul in Corinth and became valuable fellow missionaries with him, were able to “take him aside” and instruct Apollos “more accurately” in the Way of God.  With their gracious assistance, Apollos would go on to become a powerful missionary in his own right.

Today the Church remembers Justin, who was martyred in the 2^nd century and left a strong impact on Christian memory.  Justin was born in Samaria, the Jewish region situated between Judea to the south and Galilee to the north.  The Gospels remember Samaria where Jesus encountered the Samaritan woman at the well, and the Acts of the Apostles notes that in the early years of the church Christian missionaries from Jerusalem proclaimed the gospel there.

Justin became a Christian after several years of trying to find meaning in Greco-Roman philosophy, but never with full satisfaction.  By chance, Justin encountered an elderly Christian whose wisdom and fervor convinced him that the truth he was earnestly seeking could be found in the Scriptures and in the person of Jesus Christ.  Later he would see that the quest for truth on the part of these ancient philosophers was also worthwhile if incomplete.  Justin became an ardent teacher of the Christian faith, stressing its truthfulness and beauty.  He and some of his pupils met martyrdom in Rome around 162 A.D.

The experience of Apollos and Justin remind us how much we all count on each other to help us be genuine Christians.  Today we might all think back to how the example and encouragement of good people and faithful believers have influenced us and helped us find the truth that counts.

Fr. Donald Senior, C.P. is President Emeritus and Professor of New Testament at Catholic Theological Union.  He lives at the Passionist residence in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago.

 

Feast of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Scripture:

Zephaniah 3:14-18a or Romans 12:9-16
Luke 1:39-56

Reflection:

This Feast Day marks the moment when, after the Annunciation, Mary left Nazareth and went over the mountains south of Jerusalem to Hebron to be with her cousin Elizabeth, who was pregnant with blessed John (the Baptist).  The Gospel describes Elizabeth as being “filled with the Holy Spirit,” as she “cried out in a loud voice, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.”  Even her unborn child “leaped in her womb” at the arrival of the Blessed Mother, who was carrying Jesus inside.

And then Elizabeth says something, which resonates deeply in my heart:

“And how does this happen to me,
that the mother of my Lord should come to me?”  ~Luke 1:43

Elizabeth’s declaration of who Mary is, and who the baby is in her womb, is prophetic!  But it’s her humility that strikes most profoundly.  How is it possible that I could be worthy enough to have Mary and Jesus come and stay with me?  I’m a sinner – a professional mistake-maker… Surely there are people who deserve this blessing more than I do.

I’m reminded of a parallel with this and Zacchaeus.  Remember Zacchaeus?  He was a tax collector who, as Jesus was passing by, climbed up a tree so he could catch sight of him.  Jesus stopped, turned to him, and said, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.”  (Luke 19:5)  At that time, tax collectors were considered some of the worst and most dishonest  sinners there were.  Fully knowing this, Jesus still asked for entry into his home, into his life, into his heart.  And he was healed… he was transformed.

Another passage which jumps into my head is in Mathew 8, when Jesus intends to go to a centurion’s home to heal someone there.  The centurion’s response in verse 8 is one that we prayerfully repeat at every single mass before we approach to receive the Eucharist:  ““O Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed.”  And again, Jesus transformed, Jesus healed.

No matter our situation or history, no matter how much a sinner, no matter how good a mistake-maker we are, Jesus wants to visit us.  Jesus wants to heal us.  Jesus wants to make himself known to us in the most intimate way.  If only we had eyes open enough to recognize him.

How often have we been visited by Mary, or for that matter, God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit?  How often have we overlooked or ignored their appearances in our lives?  I do it all the time.  But God is everywhere, at all times, especially when we least expect it.  As the poet, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, writes: “Earth’s crammed with heaven, and every common bush afire with God.  But only he who sees takes off his shoes; the rest sit round and pluck blackberries.”

God appears to us all the time, in every moment.  Jesus is constantly waiting – standing at the door of our hearts, knocking and begging to be let in, always waiting to save – if only we would make room and let him in. If only we would take the time to open our eyes and look around, we’d find God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, the Virgin Mary, and all the Saints and Angels are waiting to visit us and take up residence in our hearts and souls.  Perhaps in great earthquakes, or perhaps in a tiny whispering sound… no matter how they arrive, we are blessed with the most divine houseguest.

Mary brought Jesus to Elizabeth, and then Mary brought Jesus to the world.  And now they’re knocking… Won’t you open the door and let them in?

Dear God, thank you for the gift of your presence.  Grant us the grace to fling open the doors of our hearts and make a place where you can live.  Jesus, live in me. Amen.

Paul Puccinelli is Director of Liturgy & Music at St. Rita Parish in Sierra Madre, CA, and a member  of the retreat team at Mater Dolorosa Retreat Center.

Scripture:

Acts 18:1-8
John 16:16-20

Reflection:

Some years ago Frank Sinatra, Jr., sang a song with the haunting title, The Trouble with Hello is Goodbye.  It is the lament of all mortals.  All good things come to an end.  Whether it is the end of a beautiful day, the end of a productive career, or the end of a relationship, it is hard to say goodbye.

But that song’s lament can open our eyes to meaning.  In a movie titled The Other Side of the Mountain, there was a parting scene.  Someone was leaving and shared this insight. “How lucky is that person who loves someone so much that it is so hard to say goodbye.”  I have used this quote often at funerals.  Because the bereaved are struggling to say goodbye, it shows that there was a deep love for the deceased.  It shows that their relationship was meaningful and worthwhile. They were lucky.  They were blessed.

In today’s gospel, Jesus starts warning the apostles that he would soon have to say goodbye to them.  At first, they didn’t understand.  But after Good Friday, Easter and finally the Ascension they got the message.  Jesus would no longer walk with them as he had for the last three years.  They would no longer have the consolation of his physical presence anymore.

Fortunately, for them (and for us), Jesus knew how to handle the situation.  First, at the Last Supper, he promised them, “I will not leave the orphans. I will come back to you”(John 14:18).  So, at that supper, he gave them his body and blood, the Holy Eucharist.  He would be with them throughout their lives in this new sacramental presence.  They would also encounter him, “where two or three are gathered in my name.” (Cf. Mathew18:20)  They would also meet up with him in the poor.“Whatsoever you do to the least of my people, you do to me” (Matthew 25:40). And they would experience him through love.  “God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God and God in them” (1 John 4:16).

Jesus wanted to be with his apostles (and us) for all eternity.   So he died on the cross and rose from the dead so that their (and our) relationship with him would last forever.

Yes, the trouble with hello is goodbye.  But as a German proverb states, “Those who live in the Lord never see each other for the last time.”  We are so lucky.  We are so blessed.

Fr. Alan Phillip, C.P. is a member of the Passionist Community at Mater Dolorosa Retreat Center, Sierra Madre, California.   http://www.alanphillipcp.com/

Scripture:

Acts 17:15, 22 – 18:1
John 16: 12 – 15

Reflection:

“For ‘In him we live and move and have our being,’” Acts 17: 28

Today we read Saint Paul’s speech to the Athenians in the Areopagus. The Areopagus was the meeting place of the members of the Council of Athens. So we can assume that when Saint Paul spoke some or most of the leaders of Athens were present as well as other citizens. The name means, rocky hill, and there are steps up to the top of the large rock. A person could then speak to the crowd below that would have gathered. In his speech, Saint Paul is appealing to the philosophy background of the Athenians, who are Stoics and Epicureans. He appeals to their understanding of creation and takes them a step further is saying that there is one God who is the creator and sustainer of the universe or cosmos. He uses a quote from a 6^th-century author, Epimenides of Knossos to support his point, “For ‘In him, we live and move and have our being.’” Some listen to what he has to say, and some chose not to believe when Saint Paul speaks of the resurrection from the dead. If Saint Paul were to give the same speech today from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, there would possibly be the same response. Some would believe, and others would be skeptical.

We have so many gods in our society. Those things that lead us away from God. Things that do not assist us in becoming the person that God created us to be. We can clutter our lives with so many things or activities we think we need to do. Keeping focused on what is true and right is a very difficult task in our modern society. The scriptures today help to keep our focus on God. In the Gospel of John, Jesus calls the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth. Opening our minds and hearts to the Holy Spirit will give us the ability to know what is true and right and will give us the graces to follow that truth. The catch is being open. God leads us in the direction we need to go.  We, for our part, place our trust in that direction as we listen through prayer, reflection, and others.

How is God living, moving, and being in your life?

Linda Schork is a theology teacher at Saint Xavier High School in Louisville, Kentucky

Scripture:

Acts 16:22-34
John 16:5-11

Reflection:

Everyone who has accepted or is discerning a call to serve as a minister in our church today should make it his/her priority to pray and reflect often on the Acts of the Apostles.  The good news that we hear from Acts on a daily basis during this post-Resurrection time serves to remind all of us of the joys and sorrows of ministering with and to the People of God.  The faith lived by the early disciples, the hope they found in the early church and the love for the risen Lord are gifts to us who serve 2000 years later.

When I read Acts and hear of the challenges, frustrations, blessings and conversions that are happening constantly in the lives of early Christians, my faith is buoyed and my spirit is nurtured. The accounts we here of the escapades of the disciples and early Christians serve to humble us and at the same time give us hope.

The experience of Paul and Silas in today’s reading as they encountered persecution and imprisonment followed by conversion of the jailer.  We all have many experiences of different persecutions and imprisonments in our daily encounters as ministers.  Our church seems rife with challenges that keep us on our toes.  On the other hand, the blessings that come with ministry are not unlike those that the early disciples enjoyed.

My early church professor used to remind us often of the longevity and tenacity of the Church of God in these words;

“We think we have problems in the church today, just look at the problems the early church faced over 2000 years ago!  And we’re still here today!!!!!

This Easter season has brought with it many joys especially in the celebration of the sacraments.  It is easy to rejoice with the faithful at Baptism, Eucharist, Anointing of the Sick, Confirmation, Mystagogia with the Neophytes.  Other days when the only too human side of church seems to be knocking down my door, one pauses to question the why and how of ministry and call.

In this regard, I’ll share a ‘God moment’ of recent past.  I love parish ministry with all its highs and lows and my prayer is one of gratitude.  Over the past months I have begun to question the call I received so many years ago.  I wondered if I was being authentic and faithful to that call.  Was there something else I was supposed to be doing?  I was frustrated and feeling a bit useless at times.  I kept praying and hoping for some direction.  Well, that direction came recently during the Sunday homily which had been about listening and receiving the Good News that God regularly dishes out if we remain open to hearing! The pastor ended this particular homily with this statement of faith:

“Jesus continues to call each of us AND Jesus promises to take care of us!!!”

This is good enough for me, how about you?!  Happy Easter Season!

 

Theresa Secord is a Pastoral Associate at St. Agnes Parish, Louisville, Kentucky.

Scripture:

Acts 16:11-15
John 15:26-16:4a

Reflection:

“I have told you this so that you may not fall away.”

The community of the evangelist John lived during turbulent, polarizing times when their faith was severely tested.  John wrote his gospel sometime after 85 AD, likely to a community undergoing a painful rejection and separation, exclusion from its life in the synagogue, from the broader Jewish society to which its members belonged.  This gospel may also have reflected a time of inner-Johannine community conflict, a controversy in which some disciples who had once believed in Jesus as Messiah were now abandoning the community.  In Jn 8:31, Jesus addresses “the Jews who had believed in him.”  Could they be the same followers who in Jesus’ Bread of Life discourse (Jn 6:2) had walked away in large numbers?  Whatever the state of affairs, the Johannine community was suffering through a severe crisis of faith.

In today’s gospel, John reminds his community of what Jesus said to his disciples.  Jesus warned that just as he would be rejected and put to death, they too would suffer similar trials.  Jesus quickly adds, however, that he would send the Holy Spirit — the Advocate — to bear witness to his salvific ministry.  His departure will signal for his disciples, not that his work has come to an end, but that it is now to be continued by them.  He will send the Advocate to be their strength, so that they too will bear witness to Jesus during times of trouble.

Jesus offers these words of comfort to the disciples standing before him, to John’s fragile community, and to us.  For most of us, our trials may not resemble the violent extremism of many parts of the world.  Ours may be a more subtle poison, an insidious wearing away at our faith through indifference, moral relativism, societal ridicule — especially those who have walked away from the faith.

But Jesus wants not only to comfort us.  He is exhorting us, inspiring us to hold to our beliefs, to continue witnessing to our faith, especially during troubled times.  The work of Jesus didn’t end 2,000 years ago.  That was only the beginning.  We are called to continue his work today.  The Advocate, the witness, will show us how to witness to the world.  And if we get shaky knees, if we slip and begin to lose our step, Jesus will say to us: “I have told you this so that you may not fall away.”

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

Scripture:

Acts 15:1-2, 22-29
Revelation 21:10-14, 22-23
John 14:23-29

Reflection:

Mutatis mutandis. This Latin phrase captures where we find ourselves in our Easter journey as reflected in this Sunday’s readings. Literally, this phrase means “things having been changed that have to be changed.”

Some things we believe are immutable, that is unchanging and unchangeable, permanent and fixed. Other things we know to be adaptable to time and circumstance. They evolve, they mutate.

In the aftermath of Vatican Council II, the rule about abstaining from meat every Friday was changed to abstaining from meat on Fridays in Lent. At our dinner table, my father, a man of deep faith and who loved to pose inscrutable questions at the dinner table (to the groans of his gathered children), asked: “This week we can eat meat. Last week we could not. Those who did eat meat last week sinned. This week we do not. Will God hold accountable those who were to abstain differently than us?” Groan! But I still remember this lesson: some things—even what seemed like immutable rules in those days—actually do and need to change.

By their very nature institutions—including families, churches, businesses, and cultures—codify certain values and behaviors so that they can be passed on to the next generation. This is what we mean when saying “This is how we do things around here.” The way we do things helps define us or distinguish us from others.

We can see in the first reading from the Acts of the Apostles an intense debate about circumcision. Some saw circumcision as an immutable condition of belonging to this emerging Christian community. Others, including the Apostles, disagreed and rejected that condition.  In the gospel Jesus counseled his followers to keep discerning, promising that the “Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and remind you of all that I told you.” And what was Jesus’ fundamental message? Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. And love your neighbor as yourself.

This is immutable. Most everything else, mutatis mutandis.

Robert Hotz is a consultant with American City Bureau, Inc. and was the Director of The Passion of Christ: The Love That Compels Campaign for Holy Cross Province.

Scripture:

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

Reflection:

Measure of Love

Jesus said to his disciples:
“This is my commandment: love one another as I love you.
No one has greater love than this,
to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” John 15:12

The Scriptures are all about the heart! The heart is talked about over 1000 times in the Bible! “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” Deut 6:5 The Hebrew is explicit. kôl is the word for all. Augustine’s beautiful quote gives us the force of kol. “Christ is not valued at all, unless He is valued above all!”

The total love of God is deeply fused with love for others. “This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. “ Mt 22:39 In John’s Gospel the ante is up much more when Jesus tells us that we must love others much more than ourselves. “This is my commandment: love one another as I love you.” We must love others as Jesus loves them. To our weak human nature this seems impossible as Jesus gave His life for others in a most painful way!

“By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” The measure of our discipleship is the measure of our hearts. Some time ago I had a “myocardial-perfusion-imaging-mpi-test “ a non-invasive imaging test where you can actually see your heart pumping away on a screen in real time. It was a scary but awesome experience for me. The great push of the preaching of Jesus is on the inside of the heart, rather than the outside of appearances.

“So you also outwardly (exōthen GreekNT) appear righteous to others, but within (esōthen Greek) you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. “ Mt 23:28. The inside is the heart. How much heart do I have on the inside (esōthen). Do I have the courage to look at my heart?

Fr. Bob Weiss, C.P. preaches Parish Missions and is a member of the Passionist Community in Louisville, Kentucky.