Daily Scripture

Scripture:

Revelation 4:1-11
Luke 19:11-28

Reflection:

Engage in trade with these until I return….

I chose you from the world, to go forth and bear fruit that will last…

Yet another parable – two really – Jesus intertwines two into one – the king who seeks his kingdom, but the people don’t embrace him and entrusting the coins/talents to his servants to ‘trade’ in his absence.

Who is our king? And what do we do with the gifts/talents he entrusts to us?  It’s not enough for us to simply receive and preserve, or even hoard our gifts – we must share them – be willing to take risks and speak truth wherever we find ourselves.  The kingdom that we have been entrusted with –the kingdom of God, which Jesus reminded us begins now – is meant for all – Jews and Gentiles alike.  Are we ‘engaged in the trade’ – do we allow the Word of God to penetrate our hearts and open our eyes to the opportunities that surround us to share the Good News?  It is not meant to be hoarded or guarded, it’s meant to be planted in our hearts and the hearts of those we encounter, it’s meant to be ‘paid forward’ and produce a hundred fold.

How are we sharing our gifts and passing on the treasure of God’s love, mercy and forgiveness?  Are we willing to take it beyond the walls of our own hearts or do we ‘safeguard’ it comfortably in our subconscious where we quickly forget what we have received and ignore the mandate to embrace the trust God puts in us to multiply our gifts and build the Kingdom.

What do you do with your talents?  Pay them forward or cling to them in fear?  The choice – the response is yours!

Faith Offman is the Associate Director of Ministry at St. Paul of the Cross Passionist Retreat and Conference Center in Detroit, Michigan.

Scripture:

Revelation 3:1-6, 14-22
Luke 19:1-10

Reflection:

Sometimes our actions indicate one thing on the surface, but in fact betray a much deeper desire and longing – one we think is masked and well hidden. But while we think that our true motives are hidden, others can in fact see only too well what our true intent is.

The interaction between Zaccheus and Jesus seems to exemplify this dynamic quite well in today’s gospel reading.

By his public action (climbing a tree) Zaccheus seems to indicate he merely wants to satisfy his curiosity and ‘see’ Jesus; he is intrigued and wonders what this man is like. Perhaps in public Zaccheus can pretend that it is mere curiosity that drives him to climb the tree and that he exercises this amount of energy and enthusiasm solely because he is short in stature. At least this is a public face he can show – it does not reveal too much of his inner world and he can easily account for his actions by virtue of  his lack of height.

But clearly there is more at work in Zaccheus.

This becomes obvious when Jesus seeks him out and makes the extraordinary request to stay at his house! Symbolically Jesus asks to come ‘inside’ to enter into the home and thus personal life of Zaccheus.

The response of Zaccheus reveals much to us (and perhaps to himself too) in that it goes far beyond what someone merely seeking to ‘see’ what this man Jesus is like might reply.

That is, just at Jesus makes an extraordinary request to Zaccheus, so too Zaccheus makes an extraordinary response. He allows an inner, deeper spirit to exercise influence over him and he speaks from his heart. In a sense we hear a dialogue of heart speaking to heart. Jesus sees through Zaccheus’ actions to his deeper need, Zaccheus responds to such warmth and recognition by allowing his deeper aspirations – for belonging, for truth and honest and for renewal – to surface and he too speak from his heart to welcome Jesus.

Perhaps this is the essence of the gospel text that we might observe today and seek to make our own.

In this gospel as so often in life, Jesus speaks to us of his desire to ‘be’ with us, to make his home within us. This in turn can free us to allow our deeper desires for him to surface and we can dare to welcome him more deeply into our own lives. But the presence of Jesus sot us is not merely a passive one, no his grace at work within us can motive and empower us to try to recreate our lives once more for him.

Perhaps too Zaccheus can be a symbol of so many people in our world today who are aware of Jesus and indeed fascinated by him but their interest goes no deeper. They ‘know of’ him, but their interest stays at the intellectual level.

Let us not be mere observers.  The deeper and more important symbolism of the character of Zaccheus is to take up the challenge that his actions reveal to us. Let us  be the ones who welcome Jesus into our inner world, our home and allow him to dwell there.

For every day, for those who listen, the words of Jesus echo and re-echo “I must stay at your house today.”

Fr. Denis Travers, C.P., is the Provincial Superior of Holy Spirit Province, Australia. 

Scripture:

Revelation 1:1-4; 2:1-5
Luke 18:35-43

Reflection:

Jesus asked him, “What do you want me to do for you?” He replied, “Lord, please let me see.” Luke 18:41

I think that I was in fifth grade when the school principle asked me to take a note to my parents, with the request that they come talk to her. That had never happened to me before, so I was very anxious about doing this. I even considered “losing it somewhere” on my way home.

It turned out that the school wanted to tell my parents that I needed an eye exam, because I was having trouble reading the blackboard. I had no idea that I needed glasses. Getting glasses that early in life was both challenging and life-changing. The first time I came to school with eye glasses, I was teased. I considered not wearing them. But, when I was in the classroom looking at the blackboard or reading a book, it was amazing how much better I could see. I have been wearing glasses ever since.

This beautiful Gospel account is about someone who knows he cannot see and wants to see. Living in a world without the faculty of sight is living in a world of darkness. There are people born blind, and probably know the world outside by only “seeing” it with their other senses: touch, smell or sound. I cannot image what kind of world they live in.

Others lose their sight by accident or disease or some other cause. They know what it means to see and be blind.

When we know that we are blind, whatever the cause, we long to see. We are just like the man in today’s gospel.

While there may be many levels of insight that we can gleam from this Gospel through prayer and meditation, the one that strikes me most today is my experience of not being aware that I cannot see clearly, while thinking that I can. We can be the “seeing” blind and not even be aware of it. We can live our lives seeing everything, but blind to the realities that make life meaningful, beautiful and worth living. We have not yet learned to cry out with full conviction, “Lord, please let me see.” We have not learned to cry out in faith!

When we hear Jesus say to us, “Have sight; your faith has saved you,” we will then be able to see and do what this blind man did: Follow Jesus. And for the Evangelist Luke, following Jesus means taking up our cross daily to follow him.

When we follow Jesus, we will see what Jesus sees: the tears of the suffering, the stranger or the refugee or the beggar shouting in the streets, the outcast women rejected by society, the leper, and so much more. It allows us to see injustice and become voice for the voiceless and friend of the downtrodden. It allows us to love unconditionally!

The sight that Jesus offers us changes everything!

Fr. Clemente Barrón, C.P. is a member of Mater Dolorosa Community in Sierra Madre, California. 

Scripture:

Daniel 12:1-3
Hebrews 10:11-14, 18
Mark 13:24-32

Reflection:

Our gospel today provides an explicit and quite illuminating answer to these very human questions: “What are we waiting for?” “Are we on the lookout for anything?” “Expecting anything?” Many people today are waiting for nothing, expecting nothing, and on the lookout for nothing. They live their days, one after another as if nothing ultimately matters and life will go on forever.

Today’s gospel shows us how false and foolish such thinking is. As we move to the end of the liturgical year, Jesus’ words remind us that we are also moving toward the end of the world. This world, which we assure ourselves will go on forever, will come to a definitive end with a finale that will be impossible to miss. Jesus says, “The sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from the sky, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.”

And yet, the world ends not in darkness and nothingness, not in absurdity and despair, but with the coming-into-fullness of the reign of God. Just when it seems that all light has forever gone out of the world, that impenetrable darkness will be shattered by “‘the Son of Man coming in the clouds’ with great power and glory.” He “will send out the angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the end of the earth to the end of the sky,” Jesus tells us. Truly, something grand and glorious awaits us, something breathtakingly dazzling and awesome, for at that moment all of creation will radiate the love, justice, and goodness of God.

And so, we need to ask those questions again: “What are we waiting for?” “Are we on the lookout for anything?” “Expecting anything?” As the late Passionist scripture scholar Fr. Carroll Stuhlmueller wrote, considering today’s gospel, “There is no excuse for our not being people of overwhelming hope.”

Paul J. Wadell is Professor Emeritus of Theology & Religious Studies at St. Norbert College in De Pere, Wisconsin, and a member of the Passionist Family of Holy Cross Province.

Scripture:

3 John 5-8
Luke 18:1-8

Reflection:

In today’s gospel, Jesus offers a compelling example of faithful perseverance. It’s the brief but unforgettable parable of the pesky widow who won’t take no for an answer. For what Jesus hints must have been a considerable time, she has relentlessly beseeched the judge to resolve her case by giving her what she was due. The widow was looking for justice, but the infamous judge, whom Jesus said “neither feared God nor respected any human being,” didn’t want to be bothered. Eventually, however, her persistence wore him down. Knowing that she will never give up, the judge finally rendered a decision.

Sometimes we are tempted to give up because we wonder if what we do really matters. Day after day, week after week, year after year, we strive to be faithful to our commitments, to follow the way of Christ, and to live truly good and holy lives. But does it make any difference? We do our best to love the people God brings into our lives, we try to be just and thoughtful, generous and kind, but after a while can doubt whether the good we do will ever nudge the world to a better place. At that point, it is easy to grow disillusioned, replacing faithful perseverance with cynicism, hope with complacency, and love with a gradual turning in on ourselves.

This parable is the only one in the gospels that ends with a question, and a provocative one it is: “But when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” Through the story of this indefatigable widow, Jesus suggests that true “faith on earth” is exhibited not through spectacularly heroic deeds, but through the faithful perseverance by which we each day fulfill the commitments and responsibilities of our lives. What will Jesus find in us? We need to remember that the world is held together, and sustained in hope, not by the dazzling deeds of the powerful, but by the faithful perseverance of ordinary people like us.

Paul J. Wadell is Professor Emeritus of Theology & Religious Studies at St. Norbert College in De Pere, Wisconsin, and a member of the Passionist Family.

Scripture:

2 John 4-9
Luke 17:26-37

Reflection:

I’ll bet we have all seen pictures of hooded and robed people walking with signs that warn, “Repent, the end is near!”  Or, how about, “The world is going to end soon”?  Well, while their timing may be off, they are not entirely wrong, as a matter of fact.  And our reading for today, taken from the Gospel of Luke, reminds us of something that we almost never pay attention to that, one day, the world as we know and experience it will one day cease to exist.  There is an end time awaiting us all in one way or another, and the question is, are we ready for it?  Are we prepared to face this second coming of Jesus, whether that be in the world itself or even in our own lives?

In the 17^th chapter of Luke’s Gospel, Jesus is sitting with his disciples and talking with them about what is called “the end times,” i.e. the end of the world and the second coming of Jesus as the victorious and risen Lord.  It will be a time not only of vindication and the revelation of the glory of the Lord, but it will also be a time of judgment and accounting.  Jesus shares this truth with his disciples, there is no question about it.  He will come again and there will be a reckoning of how we, his disciples, have served the Lord and lived out his Gospel mandate.  In addition, we do not know the day nor the hour when this will take place.  But there is little doubt to be sure, it will happen!  And what matters is that we are ready for the moment and are not found wanting.

Now, there are other stories similar to the one we find in Luke.  For example, Matthew, chapter 25, uses the image of a bridegroom returning home and the warning that we must be ready for his return and not be caught foolishly without enough oil for our lamps to greet him.  These are reminders that we are all called to be prepared to meet the Lord and to give an account of ourselves and how we have lived out the teaching of Jesus.  How do we do this?  Clearly, we are called to pay attention to the Lord and not to the foolish distractions of the world.  But there is a gift in all of this, and that gift is that, if we choose day by day, to live as Jesus has taught us, to love our neighbor, to love everyone in fact, and to love God above all else, then we will be prepared for whatever is to come and need not live in doubt, worry, or fear.  I think this is what the dearly loved Gospel song means when we sing the words, “Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine, O what a foretaste of glory divine!”  There is that great assurance that all will be well and that there is nothing to fear.  This is truly good news for us today, isn’t it?  We are all called to live in the joy of the Lord and not in fear of what is to come.

A closing prayer to one of the psalms in evening prayer says it all very well.  Let us pray:

You watch over heaven and earth, Lord Jesus.  Your death brought light to the dead; your resurrection gave joy to the saints; your ascension made the angels rejoice.  Your power exceeds all power.  Lead us to life eternal and watch over us with your love…Amen.

Fr. Pat Brennan, C.P. is the director of Saint Paul of the Cross Passionist Retreat and Conference Center, Detroit, Michigan.

Scripture:

Philemon 7-20
Luke 17:20-25

Reflection:

Consider reflecting on a quote from today’s Gospel: “The coming of God cannot be observed, and no one will announce, ‘Look, here it is,’ or, ‘There it is.’ For behold, the kingdom of God is among you.”

Add statements from modern religious people about this very moment, like “I am helping to build God’s kingdom,” or “I am a co-creator with God.”

Yes, we are living in a kingdom that began eons ago and is an ongoing process of living in the now. In other words, yes, “the kingdom of God is among you,” as Jesus said.

If we open all our senses and perceive as deeply as possible the kingdom around us, we get to sense God’s call for us to think and act like infinite and divine entities, like emissaries from the kingdom of kingdoms. In an overly materialistic and selfish world around us, how might we best operate in God’s kingdom right here, right now?

Jack Dermody is the editor of the CrossRoads bulletin for the Passionist Alumni Association and a member of the Migration Commission for Holy Cross Province. He lives in Glendale, Arizona. 

Scripture:

Titus 3:1-7
Luke 17:11-19

Reflection:

We continue today with the gospel of St. Luke in the section referred to as Jesus’ “Journey to Jerusalem.” This is an important narrative, featuring several stories found only in Luke, today’s gospel is one example.  The Cleansing of the Ten Lepers is a familiar tale, and reading these verses, I find that my tendency to elevate and praise the one who returned glorifying God and to think of the other nine as ungrateful has often been my default reaction.

Taking a closer look at the text, “And one of them, realizing he had been healed, returned . . . (V.15), might suggest that the others had yet to realize their healing. How can we be sure that they may not have come back? We do know that the one who returned was a Samaritan—a foreigner. A motif of Luke’s gospel is that faith and salvation are not limited to the Jewish people but are universal and available to all.

Regardless of the circumstances, we are presented with a story that honors the virtue of gratitude. Realizing that he is healed, the Samaritan moves directly to glorify the healing God—in Jesus. Actions that bring about his salvation, as Jesus states, “. . . your faith has saved you.” V.19b.

Over the years, I have wondered how anyone could not return to say thank you for being healed of such a horrendous disease. I can fool myself into thinking that in the same circumstances, I would come back glorifying God in a loud voice! Amen, and so would you—right! We would shout it from the rooftops to imagine the liberation, the freedom to be back with our loved ones and walk the roads confidently, no longer having to yell “unclean” ever again! Fortunately, I won’t be put to that test.

Thanks to medicine, healing from leprosy is no longer necessary as in ancient times. Yet, seen or unseen, we all have some type of leprosy that needs God’s healing touch. Certainly, modern-day leprosy can take many forms. Those things in life that take us in the wrong direction and away from where we truly desire to go are very defeating. Being quick to judge can be one of mine—one among many.  That seems to be our human condition, yet one we can continue to work on in our day-to-day living as we become more aware.  

In St. Paul’s letter to Titus from our first reading, he suggests a pastoral approach to dealing with our various leprosies. Titus is to remind his community to “be open to every good enterprise” remembering “to be peaceable, considerate, exercising all graciousness towards everyone.” (Vs.1-2) However, Paul is careful to point out that “we ourselves were once that foolish. . . deluded, slaves to various desires and pleasures.” (v.3)

For Paul, the difference is God’s merciful and generous love in Jesus, our savior, who freely offers unmerited grace and the opportunity to inherit eternal life—regardless of our leprosies.

Therefore, let us be patient with ourselves and each other as we journey in faith, reflecting on how God has blessed us. Let gratitude be our aim in this season of Thanksgiving and every season. 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.