Daily Scripture

Scripture:

Revelation 11:4-12
Luke 20:27-40

Reflection:

In our Gospel reading for today, the Sadducees, who don’t believe in the Resurrection, take their turn in trying to stump Jesus. They offer him a hypothetical situation in which a woman winds up marrying seven brothers because she has been widowed seven times without bearing children. They ask Jesus, “Now at the resurrection whose wife will that woman be?” They think they’ve got Him. But Jesus responds that in the afterlife, things will not be as they are here on earth: “They can no longer die, for they are like angels; and they are the children of God because they are the ones who will rise.” And then Jesus offers another proof for belief in resurrection: “That the dead will rise even Moses made known in the passage about the bush when he called ‘Lord’ the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.; and he is not God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive.”

Our belief in the Resurrection reminds us that our God is always oriented towards life and wants us to be oriented the same way. As Jesus says, all are alive to God. All are precious to God. All are beloved by God, even those who reject God.

The challenge for us is to look at the choices we make, about what we say, about what we do, about how we relate to others and to all of creation and determine whether they support life or death. May all our choices lead us to support life, as God supports us.

Fr. Phil Paxton, C.P., is the local superior of the Passionist Community in Birmingham, Alabama. 

Memorial of the Presentation of Mary

Scripture:

Revelation 5: 1-10
Luke 19: 41-44

Revelation:

Although the Presentation of Mary cannot be proven historically, the feast does have an important theological purpose.  The presentation of Mary in the temple  continues the impact of the Immaculate Conception and the birth of Mary.  What does this mean?  This feast has an important truth to it. Mary was dedicated to God from the very beginning of her earthly existence.  The first reading focuses on the Jerusalem temple.  Mary is a greater temple than that made by hands.  We too, are temples of God and called to share in God’s saving work. 

In the First Reading from the Book of Revelation the New Jerusalem is described where true worship of God takes place.  The heavenly temple can never be destroyed.  In the Gospel reading Jesus weeps as he looks over the Jerusalem temple knowing that it would be destroyed in 40 to 45 yearss. 
This temple is where  he was dedicated to God and where he worshipped.

(reflectionsbybob.weebly.com/nov-21-2024—memorial-of-the-presentation-of-mary-readings-from-thu-of-33rd-week-in-ord-time.html) (Memorial of the Presentation of Mary, Tuesday, November 21, 2024, Reflections by Bob Kondraft.)

Our reading emphasizes the  experience the presence of God in the Jerusalem temple and God’s word in the scroll.

When have we experienced the presence of God?  What were we doing when we experienced God’s presence?  What sort of feelings do we get  when weI experience God’s presence?  Do we have a special place where we experience God.  What can we do to assist others to experience the presence of God. (Ibid,) 

Dear God,  we ask you to experience  you in the place where we very seldom realize and turn to, that is within my very self.  You are there within us 24-7, 365 days, every day of my life. Give us the grace to practice this presence of you within us each day.    

Carl Middleton is a theologian/ethicist and a member of the Passionist Family.

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.