Daily Scripture

Scripture:

Isaiah 61:1-2a, 10-11
1 Thessalonians 5:16-24
John 1:6-8, 19-28

Reflection

With Christmas only eight days away, it is not surprising that each of today’s readings turns our attention to the birth that brought unconquerable hope to the world. In the gospel we hear the stirring proclamation of John the Baptist: ”I am the voice of one crying out in the desert, ‘make straight the way of the Lord.’”  Those words instruct us to direct our lives to the “one who is coming after me,” one “whose sandal strap I am not worthy to untie.” Indeed, the gospel says that the whole purpose of John’s ministry was “to testify to the light,” Christ, God’s anointed one, who is about to be born among us.

The second reading from 1 Thessalonians could be viewed as a succinct and very practical guide for how to prepare for the coming of Christ.  We are to “Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing. In all circumstances give thanks” and, perhaps most importantly, “Refrain from every kind of evil.” If we do these things, we will be fully ready to receive the great gift of abundant life and unbreakable love with which God wants to bless us at Christmas.

Finally, the first reading from Isaiah, the powerful Messianic prophecy, tells us exactly what Jesus’ mission in the world will be. He comes not to bring glory to himself and not to exalt himself over others; rather, in Jesus, God enters our world “to bring glad tidings to the poor, to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and release to the prisoners….” He comes to bring a harvest of justice and peace, particularly for those who are most often denied them. If this is so, in the remaining eight days until Christmas, perhaps the best way we can ready ourselves for the coming of Christ is to do now for others the very things he comes to do for us.

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

Scripture:

Sirach 48:1-4, 9-11
Matthew 17:9a, 10-13

Reflection:

From glory to the cross, from high mountain top to the valley, from acceptance to rejection, how often that is the path we must travel. Peter, James, and John had just experienced the transfiguration of Jesus, had seen him conversing with Moses and Elijah and had heard the Father’s voice saying, “This is my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.” Mountain tops are not places to stay.

I remember some years ago, Fr. Jerome Stowell and I hiked to the summit of Mt. Whitney and gazed out over the peaks of the Sierra Nevada mountain range. Eyes feasted on the grandeur and wildness spread out before us. Our hearts beat faster and a sense of exaltation thrilled us. But then too soon came the moment to tear our eyes away from the glorious view and begin the descent.

Peter, James and John are descending from a high mountain top with Jesus. They are in conversation about the vision they had experienced. Matthew chooses to recount but one question, “Why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?” Jesus takes the occasion to explain that John the Baptist fulfilled Elijah’s role and was killed. He then prophesized that he would face the same fate, “The Son of Man will also suffer at their hands.” Here we have the mystery of life: that joy and success are often followed by pain and failure. This is our human condition and it is the law of Christian discipleship. No servant is greater than his master.  A few days ago I celebrated my 85^th birthday. There is much to be thankful for, not the least the wisdom to understand that peace comes when I “listen to him”.

 

Fr. Michael Hoolahan, C.P. is on the staff of Mater Dolorosa Passionist Retreat Center, Sierra Madre, California.

Scripture:

Isaiah 41:13-20
Matthew 11:11-15

Reflection:

One of the things I most enjoy during these Advent days is listening to the readings taken from the prophet Isaiah.  Sometimes the message of Isaiah is gentle and loving, for example, “Comfort, give comfort to my people, says the Lord”; at other times, as we see in today’s readings, Isaiah can be bold and challenging as he says, “Fear not, O worm Jacob, O maggot Israel; I will help you, says the Lord; your redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.”  And sometimes, Isaiah poetically paints a picture of a world where justice and peace will reign supreme and God’s promises to his people will be fulfilled.  The lion and the lamb will rest side by side!  In our reading from Isaiah today we hear such promises, all introduced by firm, yet faithful, words, “I will.”  Notice God’s strong promise to his people:

I, the Lord, will answer them; I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them.
I will open up rivers on the bare heights, and fountains in the broad valleys;
I will turn the desert into a marshland, and the dry ground into springs of water.
I will plant in the desert the cedar, acacia, myrtle, and olive;
I will set in the wasteland the cypress, together with the plane tree and the pine…

And as we think about God’s promise spoken through Isaiah in these days of Advent how can we not help but think about God’s same faithfulness when he promised he would send to us a Savior who would save us all from sin and darkness and invite us into a kingdom of love, peace, and goodness!  Isn’t this what all of our hearts long for these days?  When I find myself feeling overwhelmed by so much of the political, social, and even global madness, I am able to rededicate my hands and heart to work for and believe in God’s promise because God is faithful.  This is one of the most important Advent themes for me these days, and that is that God is faithful.  He has been faithful in the past and he will continue even in our own day.  We follow that childlike word spoken with such innocence in the enchanting story of The Polar Express and boldly found above the New York Macy’s store:  BELIEVE!  Long ago St. Augustine said it well:

“Faith is to believe what you do not see; the reward of this faith is to see what you believe.”

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

Scripture:

Isaiah 35:1-10
Luke 5:17-26

Reflection:

During this Advent season, the Book of the Prophet Isaiah plays a prominent role.  Isaiah, much like John the Baptist, symbolizes Advent and the coming of Emmanuel, of Messiah.  In today’s reading of Isaiah 35, the prophet calls us to prepare for the coming of a loving God who will transform our wilderness into a world that sings with joyful hope and anticipation.

Isaiah’s prophecy was first a song of deliverance for the people of Israel.  The Babylonians had laid seige to Jerusalem in 586 BCE.  They chained the leaders, the affluent, the professional class of the Hebrews and dragged them off into captivity in Babylon.  Those left behind were the weak and poor.  Captive Israel began to lose hope of ever returning home.

But Isaiah urged his people to continue hoping.  He shared with them his vision where all nature will soon sing the glory of God, as the Lord comes to restore his people and lead them across a wilderness into the joy of his salvation.  Indeed, their journey will echo the exodus of their ancestors who walked 40 years through the wilderness before reaching their promised land.  The future for the Babylonian captives is imagined as a new exodus, of God’s people coming home.

During this Advent season, Isaiah calls us to reflect not only on the coming of Messiah, but also on our coming home.  God in Christ came to us more than 2,000 years ago.  We prepare to celebrate his first coming.  But during Advent, we also are called to prepare for the return of Messiah, when we in this wilderness will be made whole and joyful, when the whole cosmos will sing in joyful expectation.

In the meantime, like those in lonely Babylonian exile, we will sing Advent’s anthem of hope — “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel that mourns in lonely exile here, until the Son of God appear.”  We wait in joyful anticipation with them, singing “Rejoice, rejoice!  Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.”

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

Scripture:

Isaiah 40:1-5, 9-11
2 Peter 3:8-14
Mark 1:1-8

Reflection:

I have always loved to hear people’s stories. I travel a lot for business, which means I meet people from all over the world and all walks of life. I meet cab drivers whose families are halfway across the globe, highly successful business people, event planners, hotel staff from the front desk to the housekeepers, people from small towns and from massive cities, and more. I find that no matter who it is, everyone has a story about their lives, their paths, and what shaped them into who they are. And just like John the Baptist with his camel hair garments and his diet of locusts, sometimes the most powerful stories come from those you would least expect.

I recently rode with a cab driver who, despite his impressive presence had the gentlest eyes and most genuine smile. When I asked him about his story, he told me that the most formative experience of his life happened almost 20 years ago. He picked up three men in his cab, and as they drove down a nearly deserted street, the men attacked him, robbed him, and shot him. The bullet tore a hole in his femoral artery, and they left him for dead. But someone heard the shot and called for an ambulance.

He remembers lying in the emergency room, listening to frantic doctors yelling that they were losing him. He tried to talk, but he couldn’t make anything come out of his mouth. He felt like he was about to explode. Suddenly, he saw the ceiling open up before him, and it was such a bright light that he could barely look at it. In the midst of the light, he saw a pair of open hands reaching down toward him. At that moment, the atmosphere in the room changed. The doctors said, “OK, his vital signs are stabilizing. Keep at it; I think we’ve got him back.” He says he doesn’t understand why or how, but for some reason, God reached down and healed him that day.

The point here is not whether you believe his story. The point is that HE believes it with his whole heart. In fact, he was wiping tears from his eyes as he told me, and apologized that it still chokes  him up to tell it after all these years. Then he went on to tell me how it changed his life.

He said he saw in that moment a higher power that is pure love, and realized we are all a part of it. Although people have free will and they use it to make terrible choices and bring so much evil into the world, he refuses to judge anyone. He figures they just haven’t experienced the overwhelming, personal, unconditional love of God, and don’t yet know that we are all part of that same God, called to be kind, healing, and helpful to each other. He says God cries over the ways we treat each other, and wants us to change so we can spread light, forgiveness, and love instead of hatred, suspicion, and evil. He long ago forgave the men who attacked and shot him (they were never caught), and he prays for them daily. He prays for our world, and tries every day to do whatever he can to spread the love that he believes will save us.

What an Advent message! I will likely never meet this man again. I don’t even know his name. But from the mouth of a “lowly” cab driver just doing his job came the wisdom of the ages. He was John the Baptist in my world that day.

As a result, I resolve even more strongly this Advent to make straight the way of the Lord. In big and small ways, I will try to be a prophetic voice of reason and care crying out in a wilderness that is filled with division, hate, mass shootings, inequitable laws, and injustice.

You and I have been given what we need to serve. No one is too “lowly”. Please join me as together we pave our God’s path. Find a way, no matter the circumstances of your life, no matter where you are and no matter your level of resources. Gather the lost in your arms, spread the love that is the only thing that can save us, and bring light to the world. Forgive. Hug. Offer aid. Defend. Advocate. Act. Just think of the difference we could make if all Catholics, all Christians, did the same.

We dare not wait. Now is the time. Let’s take seriously our baptism with the Holy Spirit and with fire, and help Christ be born again this day for all people.

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:

Isaiah 30:19-21, 23-26
Matthew 9:35-10:1, 5a, 6-8

Reflection:

My Little Juan

Our readings from the first week of Advent, especially Isaiah, could be addressed to the people of Juan Diego’s Mexico. In simple agricultural language we meet the God who is gracious when we cry out, who will give water and bread, rain and seed. This God, full of tenderness, says to a crushed and lost people, “This is the way; walk in it”.

Advent gives us an orientation, a ‘how’ to come to Our Lord, a way to welcome the birth of our Savior.

Only 49 years after Columbus’ first voyage to the New World and ten years after Cortez defeats the Aztec people of Mexico, an unexpected, world changing meeting takes place. On the hill of Tepeyac, which was a place of devotion to the Aztec goddess, Tonantzin, a humble man named Juan Diego meets Mary the Mother of God. It is hard to imagine what has happened to the people of Juan Diego’s world. In a generation their traditional world has been dismantled. Their gods have abandoned them and are being abolished by a new religion. Those who preach this new God of love are part of a savage world that is now enslaving them. In the words of Isaiah they are a people who cry out, have no teacher, they weep and are wounded. They are lost.

When Mary appears to Juan Diego she says to him, “Juan, my little one”. Would Mary have remembered teaching her little one, Jesus, about the the faith of Israel and the Father? Would she have treated Juan as she did her son, but tell him now about Jesus and his love that would lead the Mexican people to the Father’s love for them? And more than any words Juan experienced a mother’s love that made him feel special the Mary who chose him, knew his embarrassments and needs, and was quick to care for them as a mother would her child. Can’t we feel a mother’s tenderness as Mary  arranges the flowers in his tilma to present them bishop. Juan him the same assurance of any boy going out the door after mom straightens his shirt, pushes back his hair and knowingly gives the boost of courage with her smile that says, ‘you are all set’.

The beautiful story of Juan and Mary gives a new orientation for the people of Mexico. Now they know a loving mother, La Morenita, the little woman with the dark complexion, who really cares for them and leads them to Jesus,

Madeline L’Engle describes Advent as the season that blooms bright and wild, had Mary been filled with reason there would have been no room for the child. Advent  orients us through darkness to the light of Jesus. It is a time of hope and comfort for all of us who feel pain and loneliness. Our remembrance of Juan Diego, and all of us like him who search and long, and the appearance of the Virgin of Guadalupe and her gift  us of a mother’s love, bring to our Advent journey something beyond reason. We are watched over and cared for by a mother’s love. Our Mother loves us as she did her son  through all the stages of his life, and she loves us with a love uniquely hers, learned and shared from her Son, who is our Savior.

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

Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Scripture:

Genesis 3:9-15, 20
Ephesians 1:3-6, 11-12
Luke 1:26-38

Refleciton:

While today’s feast celebrates the fact that Mary was chosen from the moment of her very conception, the liturgy focuses us more on the response that Mary makes as a young woman. As we see her response to God’s call was wholeheartedly and freely given.

Great artists have portrayed the moment of Mary’s ‘fiat’ (‘yes’) to God in countless images and interpretations. Scholars note that in these classic paintings, beyond the central images of Mary and Gabriel, there are some additional symbols that help to convey the meaning of the event. To highlight but a few we might note:

• That in many paintings we see light passing through a glass window or shining into a walled garden and this symbolises Mary’s chastity. Again many paintings show Mary being offered or holding a lily – again to symbolise virginity.
• The archangel Gabriel is usually painted as winged and traditionally in white and is often seen descending towards Mary – all signs of God’s Word being conveyed to her.
• Mary is often shown with a book open at the prophecy of Isaiah (7:14), ‘A young woman is with child, and she will bear a son. .’ and often artists depict a dove descending upon Mary – delicately suggesting the moment of conception.

In his own way Luke too is an artist. He ‘paints’ the gospel scene with words rather than colours, but he adds details to help us understand the meaning of this moment. His words are transformed under the inspiration of the Spirit to become the Word of God for us. In turn God’s Word opens the door to faith and faith opens us to embrace mystery.

Luke is painting a portrait more than reporting an encounter. So let us meditate on the scene and look more closely at the way Luke ‘paints’ the portrait of Mary’s response.

First we notice the extraordinary means of God’s communication – an angel. Something rare and usually reserved for those moments when heaven and earth seem to touch. It’s as if God’s word- in the form of the message brought by Gabriel – literally steps from one plane of existence to another; from heaven to us.

But today it may also be helpful for us to reflect on how Mary comes to the point where she can give her wholehearted response.

Let’s look to some of the words Luke chooses to use. “Mary was greatly troubled at what was said and pondered what sort of greeting this might be” She is afraid, (“Do not be afraid Mary” says the angel). Mary asks the question that arises so logically in the face of this mysterious message “How can this be, since I have no relations with a man?”

Each of these statements seem to point us towards the human response of Mary. They illustrate that Luke is carefully presenting Mary as one like us, as a young woman who must struggle to understand and then respond to God’s word. Like us, Mary seeks to know and understand what lies ahead of her even as she prepares to take a leap in faith and give ‘fiat’ her response of ‘yes’ to God.

A significant moment is when Mary is reassured of God’s faithfulness in the experience of her cousin Elizabeth – And behold, Elizabeth, your relative, has also conceived a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month for her who was called barren; for nothing will be impossible for God.”

Perhaps two key lessons lie here for us. Firstly, like Mary we are challenged to listen for God’s Word to us and to respond to it wholeheartedly. This may take time and we may have to work at making this response. The important thing is to make a generous response to God no matter how long our ’fiat’ might be delayed. Secondly, looking to Elizabeth’s trust in God, let us never underestimate the power of our own example of faithfulness – our witness might just be the key to helping someone else respond wholeheartedly to God.

Fr. Denis Travers, C.P., is a member of Holy Spirit Province, Australia. He currently serves on the General Council and is stationed in Rome.

Scripture:

Isaiah 26:1-6
Matthew 7:21, 24-27

Reflection:

Not long ago, I got together with a couple of former co-workers. We reminisced, told stories and shared what I believe is a still deep longing for a better world, particularly for the “special” students we served. These students, ten to fifteen years old were called by various names before the special education identifications we use today, like juvenile delinquents, bad boys, socially maladjusted youth…you get the idea.

Unlike some of the news reporting today, no one told stories of the problems associated with serving challenged youth. Just the opposite. We all shared stories of what I believe were successes like the time we took our them out to the rather swanky South Shore Cultural Center where their behavior made us proud and thankful. We talked about all the winning basketball championships they earned and about the talent they demonstrated in our shops.

Maybe I’m a dreamer—people have accused me of that—but I believe that if we concentrate on telling each other good news we can do what Jesus urges us to do in today’s gospel selection: “…listens to these words of mine and acts on them…” If we do, maybe we will be able to claim the reward Jesus promises, you “…will be like a wise man who built his house on rock.  The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and buffeted the house. But it did not collapse; it had been set solidly on rock.”  (MT 7: 24-25)

Dan O’Donnell is a Passionist Partner and a longtime friend of the Passionists.  He lives in Chicago.