Daily Scripture

Scripture:

2 Timothy 1:1-8 or Titus 1:1-5
Mark 3:20-21

Reflection:

One must wonder what’s going on in our world. The tensions among peoples and nations, even among ourselves in our cities and Church rattle our sensibilities. Did we somehow think we were advancing as a people and as humans?

It seems as if a bandage has been pulled off an open wound or the lid lifted from a simmering cauldron. Perhaps the moral proscriptions intended to guide human interactions were only thinly applied to our personal morality. Whatever the issue—turning away immigrants fleeing poverty, clerical sexual abuse and the abuse of authority, racial and economic and educational disparity in our cities, rural communities feeling left out and ignored, rise of authoritarian leaders—it seems all our dirty laundry is out there for all to see.

In his “Rules for the Discernment of Spirits,” St. Ignatius Loyola provides this insight about how the Evil Spirit works: “When the enemy of human nature turns his wiles and persuasions upon an upright person, he intends and desires them to be received and kept in secrecy.” But when that secret is shared and comes to the light of our loving God, the Evil Spirit loses the advantage.

As uncomfortable and disheartening as these times may be, perhaps this is the appointed time to shed light on our human sin. Perhaps we have hidden away in secret places in our hearts the fears, brokenness, hurts, and disappointments of our lives. When these see the light of day, though, when exposed to the mercy and love of Christ, we can begin to be healed. Healing and reconciliation cannot begin as long as we hide our sin or pretend there are no social injustices. Yes, it’s embarrassing and it’s humbling, but it is necessary.

I admit I don’t like a lot of what I am seeing at work in the world or in my own heart at times. But seeing it and naming it for the evil it is takes the advantage away from the Evil Spirit. This time may be God’s invitation to seek forgiveness and reconciliation, to become the human beings and the human community God created us to be and we know we can be.

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 22:3-16 or 9:1-22
Mark 16:15-18

Reflection:

Many years ago, it was barely sunrise, and I was driving from our Louisville monastery to Bardstown, Kentucky — about 45 miles. The young man on the side of the road was clean-cut, vigilant, right-thumb-out-hitchhiking. “How far ya goin’?” and William began a robust conversation about journeys and pilgrimages. “Have you been saved by Jesus Christ, Jack?” he eventually questioned, and while I didn’t want to identify myself as Catholic priest, I did want to continue engaging with his topic of conversion.

Every time the Feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul rolls around, I think of that fine young man — not because his core evangelical theological convictions might have been different from mine. Rather, I think it’s because I can identify with the smugness of Saul, and that hitchhiker underscored my sin. You see, full of certitude on St. Stephen’s Day, Saul held the murderers’ cloaks. So sure of himself, I think he confused fidelity with arrogance. So sure of himself, he was willing to die for his beliefs; unfortunately, he was also willing to kill for them. Doubt isn’t the opposite of faith, it’s an essential part. The trouble with certitude is that it can be not only transitory and delusional, it’s impertinent and dangerous.

And then one day the rug was pulled from under, his faith fell apart; he had to face his misguided zeal. Some call it conversion, some call it a breakdown. Doesn’t matter. Paul re-directs his life. That’s why I admire Paul — it’s his conversion from insolence to meekness.

In his apostolic exhortation, Gaudete et Exultate, Pope Francis writes of humility and accepting daily humiliations as the path to holiness. (“If you are unable to suffer and offer up a few humiliations, you are not humble, and you are not on the path to holiness.” ¶ 118)  So thanks to William and the many travelers and ramblers who gently keep teaching me.

Fr. Jack Conley, C.P. is a member of the Passionist formation community at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago.

Scripture:

Hebrews 7:25-8:6
Mark 3:7-12

Reflection:

Today we celebrate the feast of St Francis de Sales who died in 1622 at age of 55.  Many years ago I made a special effort to visit his tomb in the Presentation Sisters’ convent on Lake Annecy.   His remains rest near St Jane de Chantel.  St Jane with Francis was the Foundress of the Presentation Sisters

During his years as bishop, Francis acquired a reputation as a spellbinding preacher and something of an ascetic. His motto was, “He who preaches with love, preaches effectively.”  One of his main efforts was to teach ordinary folks how to pray in their busy lives.  His life and teachings influenced St Paul of the Cross. I love among his many quotable sayings: “Half an hour’s meditation each day is essential, except when you are busy. Then a full hour is needed.”

Today’s Gospel relates how “A large number of people followed Jesus from Galilee and from Judea.

Hearing what he was doing, a large number of people came to him also from Jerusalem, from Idumea, from beyond the Jordan, and from the neighborhood of Tyre and Sidon.  He told his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd, so that they would not crush him. He had cured many and, as a result, those who had diseases were pressing upon him to touch him.”

In the Greek inspired Text striking words of closeness to Jesus by the Jews and Gentiles are used!  Words like thlibō which means crushed or “squash” or “hem in”.  That’s close!  Another word is epipiptō; which means fall upon, gripped, pressed around!  I am sure most of these folks were common ordinary people who probably were not the intelligentsia of the day but were given the wisdom of the Gospel which is “to come to Me all you who are weary and overburdened and I will refresh you”.  Mt 11:28

This kind of healing closeness to Christ is caused by faith filled prayer!   A prayer that is a close relationship with Christ.  Pope Francis said it so well: “Our relationship with Christ, that is the primary thing: all else is secondary.”

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

Scripture:

Hebrews 6:10-20
Mark 2:23-28

Reflection:

I love this reading from Hebrews, “We earnestly desire each of you to demonstrate the same eagerness for the fulfillment of hope until the end, so that you may not become sluggish, but imitators of those who, through faith and patience, are inheriting the promises.” (Hebrews 6:10)

Isn’t this the joy of sharing in our lives with others around you! Last week was the 4-year anniversary of the death of my deacon husband, Mike. In the last 4 years I have come to realize, that for those I love, the most important thing that I can pray for, wish for, hope for is that they have the same ‘eagerness for the fulfillment of hope until the end.” that my husband had.

I love reading about the saints, one of my current favorites is Blessed Isidore De Loor (of Saint Joseph). He was a Passionist blessed from the late 1800’s.  Isidore was known as the ‘good brother…the brother of the will of God” (Passiochisti.org). I have been connected with him since I randomly ran into a statue of him at an antique store outside of San Antonio, Texas. A surprise to say the least! Blessed Isidore has been teaching me about this, “eagerness for the fulfillment of hope until the end” that Saint Paul is talking about in this letter to the Hebrews. Blessed Isidore was in terrible pain at the end of his life and found that suffering to be an opportunity to become more conformed to Jesus Crucified. This is not someone who was sluggish in his faith.

As we go about our day, let us remember this challenge, to be eager, not sluggish and through faith and patience, have an eagerness for hope in Christ!!

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

 

Scripture:

1 Corinthians 1:26-31
Matthew 13:44-46

Reflection:

In our Passionist Parish church of St. Agnes, in Louisville KY, we have a beautiful edifice about 90 years old, that has kept up its appearance over its nine decades of existence.  It features a mosaic in its cupola over and behind the main altar, showing a teenage girl with several grazing sheep, as if she were their shepherdess.

It is an appropriate artistic piece since “Agnes” in its English spelling deviates by only one letter from the Latin “Agnus”, the latin word for “lamb, sheep”, and so the linkage between the teenage Agnes and sheep is clear enough to need no explanation. There is no suggestion here that she was a shepherdess.  But there was something about the girl and that particular animal, the lamb, to suggest why they are linked together.  For Agnes was apparently an attractive girl, and several young men had their eyes on her as an ideal wife.  But when they approached her with that offer, she steadfastly rejected their offers, for she wanted to devote her life totally to God.

Rebuffed in this fashion, her suitors approached the emperor, Diocletian, to intercede with her on their behalf, so he was anxious to persuade her to marry one of these suitors, which would then stand him in good stead with one of these wealthy suitors, but she was adamant in her refusal, and Diocletian, not used to being refused when he made requests, proceeded to have her executed.  And so she became an early martyr of the church, and so revered in the early history of the church that she gained the honor of having her name inscribed in the most sacred part of the mass (the canon for the first formulary).

It was the combination of her youth, her appeal and her tenacity in the face of torture that endeared her to Catholics over the centuries (she died in the early part of the 4^th century), and that recommends her to our own veneration of her even today.  She not only exhibits an extraordinarily strong faith in the way that she died, but she also illustrates how God can work within each of us, to make of us examples of living the faith, not just as a display of our own strength of character, but, even more, of how God comes to our assistance in times of need.  Especially in this present time, when we stand in need of examples of strength of character and of virtue, we can recall Agnes and her commitment to the faith under duress and persecution.

Fr. Sebastian MacDonald, C.P. is a member of the Passionist Community in Louisville, Kentucky.

Scripture:

Hebrews 2:14-18
Mark 1:29-39

Reflection:

In this periscope Jesus has just begun his Galilean Ministry.   What is important about this is that the Galileans people were very open to new ideas.  Fifty-percent of the people were Jewish and the other fifty percent were Gentiles. This made the Romans nervous because this openness to new ideas could issue into a revolt.  Emperor Herod was an extremely threatened personality.  This is seen in the assassination of his wife, his mother-in-law, and three sons! John the Baptists was another one of Harrods’ victims.

Very briefly Mark says that Jesus called his disciples.  It might be worthwhile to mention that Jesus found his disciples working on their fishing nets.  When Jesus meets them he invites, or calls them to be his disciples. They dropped everything their nets, their boats, their father and his laborers.  If there is a lesson to be learned here, it is: that when Jesus called his disciples, it did not follow after a lengthy conversation, He chooses people who are responsible.  Also when Jesus calls, it’s a summons.  It is like jury duty, It cannot be refused.

What has happened here is that Jesus has left Nazareth, not to return.  From this point on Jesus’ psychological home is in Capernaum.

Jesus  has just cured a demoniac, followed by the call of his disciples, and after this Peter’s Mother-in-law.  These three events may all be called “miracles.”  In Matthew’s Gospel the call of Matthew the tax collector is one of Jesus greatest miracles.  If this is Matthew’s thought, I would think the other disciples have the same sentiment.  I am sure all of us consider our “call” a miracle.

The miracles of Jesus are a sign that the Reign of God is in place.  Jesus has power over evil.  This is the only place in the Gospels that Jesus is referred to as “Holy One of God.”  This is what our summons our call reminds us, that one of our duties is to eliminate “evil” wherever we are called.

Fr. Ken O’Malley, C.P., is the local superior at Holy Name Passionist Community in Houston, Texas.

Scripture:

Hebrews 1:1-6
Mark 1:14-20

Reflection:

Jesus stands on the shore and invites Simon, Andrew, James and John to let Him take their hearts into a world beyond.  A world that will include more than they have ever known, experienced or had been taught as people of faith.  A way of being that lays the ground work for the path to an eternal reality so unfathomable we can’t begin to imagine without His sight.

In their threading the net holes that caused lost fish, lost income and a communal source of food, Jesus’ call speaks to stakes that are so much higher. The Truth to which we are called.   To be heirs, sons and daughters of God.   That will take another lens, another Way, grown through the intimacy of a deep accompaniment with Jesus and His sacramental gifts of self.

It is the First Monday of ordinary time.  Each of us returning to work or our roles in our day to day living.  Trees and ornaments and choirs of angels once again a sweet memory of hope.  Just another day.  You say.

It seemed just another day along the shore and yet it was the beginning of a following that now spans the stretch of two thousand plus years.  A road paved in miracles and martyrdom for those who left the taste of sea salt on their rugged arms and beards to open their lives, body, minds and spirits, to the Truth of a relationship that would bring them and humankind so much more.

On this ordinary day, with the same immediacy He spoke to the first apostles, Jesus stands on the shoreline of our hearts and souls and  calls us to lay down our limited views of who we are.   He calls us to journey with Him with an intimacy that will lead us, teach us and transform us into all we are called to become in His name   A call so deep when we enter into the body and life of His sacramental church where we will meet His Presence, waiting always, for this moment.  Now.

As we work and mend the nets of our livelihoods, I pray for our responsiveness to His call, opening our heart to Jesus, as all else, in this moment, falls away from sight.

M. Walsh is a retreatant and friend of the Passionist Community.

Scripture:

Isaiah 42:1-4, 6-7
Acts 10:34-38
Luke 3:15-16, 21-22

Reflection:

Several years ago, while on a retreat at Mater Dolorosa, Fr. Mike Higgins gave a presentation on the baptism of Jesus. His reflections in that presentation changed my frame for Jesus’ baptism. Frankly, I naively thought that Jesus chose to be baptized as an example of what we should do, and I didn’t ponder much beyond that concept. Certainly, I believe by virtue of our own baptism, just as in the case of Jesus’ baptism we hear the voice of God our Father calling us his beloved. We are all his beloved son or daughter. (v. 22)

In the scene in our Gospel from Luke we read that after all the people had been baptized…and Jesus also… as if it was an afterthought, a point to be added and not the main event sufficiently remarkable enough to open heaven. In the text we have the Trinitarian scene, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, as the people wonder if John might be the Christ. John quickly points out that he was not.

Fr. Mike invited us to imagine the scene where Jesus entered the Jordan and was baptized. John was performing a baptism of repentance, the forgiveness of sin. Imagine the pouring of water literally washed away the sin of the people. Jesus entered that same water and immersed himself completely in our sin. He enters fully and intentionally into our chaos. Might his very act of emerging from the Jordan; being fused in our humanity—our sin, be what opened the heavens and called forth the Spirit.

We hear the phrase often; Jesus took on our sin—ultimately, he carried it to the cross. Forgiven. Gone for all eternity.  And God the Father blesses him and us—God our Father sees our humanity as beloved.

Now, imagine for a moment if we were to freeze the scene as Jesus emerged fully bonded with our human sin; we may even begin to identify our sin. Are we tempted to think that this is unacceptable? Does it make us too uncomfortable? Thoughts like, “he absolutely cannot take on my sin—my unforgiveable sin; I am not worthy,” begin to take shape. Further, he must not die for that sin of my brother or neighbor because that sin is simply unforgiveable.

This may feel a bit fanciful.  Yet, isn’t that what we are tempted to do in our humanity as we live out our lives? Somewhere deep within, do I deny that Jesus took on all sin and obliterated it forever? With echoes affirming this concept in both the first and second readings; Isaiah’s suffering servant tells of peace, healing and justice; The Acts of the Apostles remind us that God shows no partiality and neither should we.

While I completely understand that some wounds, some places of unforgiveness, need to be worked out over a lifetime. Is it possible that when we hold unforgiveness in our hearts, either towards ourselves or others, we hold back the gift of the cross of Christ? Freely given to us and for us.

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.