Daily Scripture

Scripture:

1 John 2:29-3:6
John 1:29-34

Reflection:

‘On whomever you see the Spirit come down and remain, he is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’ John 1:33

The first time I heard about baptism in the Holy Spirit was when we moved to Chico, California in 1977. I met some people at our new parish who seemed to have a more vibrant faith than I did, and I thought I was a pretty good Catholic! They talked about Jesus like they knew Him. . . I wasn’t even comfortable saying His Name out loud. As I got to know them better, I learned that they had all been baptized in the Holy Spirit, meaning that they simply invited the Holy Spirit they had received at Baptism and Confirmation to work in their lives.

Well, I wanted what they had, so one night I asked the Lord to baptize me in His Holy Spirit too. I invited Him to take over my life as I surrendered to Him. I wanted to get to know Jesus as a person and grow in my faith. No bells or whistles went off, but when I look back, I know that a new chapter in my journey of faith began that night.

The Mass came alive for me after that. The words of the prayers during Mass are incredible! I think it’s the best prayer we can pray. Another thing that happened was that Scripture came alive for me – it wasn’t just an old book of old stories anymore, but through it God was speaking directly to my heart and I couldn’t get enough. I began to notice that the Spirit was nudging me to do and say things, correcting me and bringing certain scriptures to mind when I needed them. After yielding to the Spirit, my faith went from a religion to a relationship with a living, loving Lord.

Scripture tells us the many ways the Holy Spirit can help us, but we often don’t take advantage of it, because we don’t know how. If you’ve never invited the Holy Spirit to be more active in your life, I invite you to do just that as we begin this New Year. Simply tell the Lord you want Him to take over and that you want to surrender to the Holy Spirit. And then get ready for an adventure! Take time to listen, notice and receive all that God wants to do for you and in you. Come Holy Spirit!

Janice Carleton and her husband Jim live in Bainbridge Island, Washington,  and partner with Passionist Fr. Cedric Pisegna in Fr. Cedric Ministries. She is the mother of 4 grown children and grandmother of 6. Janice also leads women’s retreats and recently published her second book: God IS with Us. Visit Janice’s website at http://www.janicecarleton.com/ or email her at [email protected].

Scripture:

1 John 2:22-28
John 1:19-28

Reflection:

The year is just beginning for us. Until the 31^st of December we might be forgiven for dwelling nostalgically on the ending of the previous year. “How time flies.” “Where did the year go?” “What a year it has been.” On television, we have seen many programs made up of video clips of the year-gone-by.

Yesterday and today, we are quite naturally looking ahead, looking at the promises, prospects and challenges of the year to come.

If at year’s end we were understandably lamenting our failures and our disappointments (continuing warfare, swelling of the refugee camps and the deaths of so many innocent people, the urban violence we experience, the social barriers we continue to justify, if not accept, as the status quo), we start the new year with renewed expectations, renewed hopes and the optimism of people who sense that something new brings with it new opportunities.

Today’s two readings from the Johannine author in today’s lectionary lay down a common foundation for putting our faith into practice this new year. The first reading tells us:

Let what you heard from the beginning remain in you.
If what you heard from the beginning remains in you,
then you will remain in the Son and in the Father.
And this is the promise that he made us: eternal life.

…what did we hear from the beginning? The gospel of John begins with the words: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

The gospel of John tells us that the supreme and eternal work of sanctification and salvation of our world is from the beginning of time. As creatures of a creator and redeemer God, we are born with a heritage already established, to continue the work of redemption that was begun in us by our baptism. If we are nostalgically reluctant to see a year-end, how much more positive should be our turning to the year ahead with the conviction that we can bring God’s redeeming life into even our most distressing conditions?

When John the Baptist appeared on the banks of the Jordan river and called the people to conversion, he knew that God was working to begin something new for his generation. He could not define it, he knew he did not fully understand it, but he knew that God was creating a future through…

the one who is coming after me,
whose sandal strap I am not worthy to untie

We know who that person is, and we have pledged to follow in his footsteps. As we begin the first days of the new year, let us remember that our God has begun a work in each one of us that can transform us a persons, as a Church community, and as a community of concerned and caring citizens of the world.

Fr. Arthur Carrillo, C.P.  is the director of the Missions for Holy Cross Province.  He lives in Chicago, Illinois. 

Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God

Scripture:

Numbers 6:22-27
Galatians 4:4-7
Luke 2:16-21

Reflection:

A new year begins—what will it bring for us?  None of us can know for sure…  We may have a lot of things on our mind as this year starts to unfold: some may face the anxiety of coping with a serious disease, or the anticipated joy of a family wedding, or concerns about employment with rumors of a plant closing, or, in the spirit of this season, expecting a child to be born in the months ahead. But we also know from experience that some things will face us we cannot predict—some will be joyful events, but other things that may try our spirits.

The Church invites us to begin the year contemplating one of the most beautiful realities of our Christian faith—the astounding conviction that the eternal, transcendent God, the all-powerful Word, took flesh in the womb of a young Jewish woman, Mary of Nazareth.  As the Gospel selection from Luke tells us, this is what the shepherds, among the first witnesses of the birth of Jesus, discover when they go to Bethlehem and find the mother and her child.

No matter how many times we celebrate the Christmas season, the utter daring of the Incarnation strikes us again: The Word made flesh and dwelt among us.  But, not in some otherworldly way—no, in the very human, always touching way, of a young woman bearing a child and giving birth—with all of the earthy beauty and fragility that involves.

The early church in reflecting on Mary’s giving birth to Jesus, the Christ, the Son of God, gave to her the paradoxical title: theotokos, a Greek title that literally means, “God-bearer”— “Mother of God.”  Those two realities, under normal circumstances, should not stand together but they do in Christian faith: “mother” and “God,” by definition, God cannot have a parent.  In Matthew’s account of the conception of Jesus—also read during the Christmas season—we hear that one of the names given to Jesus was “Emmanuel”, God-with-us.  This is another way the gospels affirm this fundamental Christian conviction.

So why think about this at the beginning of a New Year?  No matter what this year will bring for us, we can take deep courage and hope from the fact that God will never abandon us.  God is truly “with us.”  We will not walk this year alone.  That is the exuberant spirit we find in the other readings for this first day of the new year.  The beautiful blessing given to the High Priest Aaron from the Book of Numbers: “The LORD let his face shine upon you, and be gracious to you! The LORD look upon you kindly and give you peace!”

This same spirit is echoed in the responsorial taken from Psalm 67: “May the Lord bless us in his mercy.”  And in the second reading from Paul’s letter to the Galatians, he reminds his Christians that we are not slaves, but children of God, and therefore we are heirs to God: “As proof that you are children of God, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!”

The deepest wellsprings of our Christian faith give us the courage and hope to accept with serenity the prospect of another year in our lives.

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.

The Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph

Scripture:

Sirach 3:2-6, 12-14 or Genesis 15: 1-6; 21:1-3
Colossians 3:12-21 or Hebrews 11:8, 11-12, 17-19
Luke 2:22-40

Reflection:

Merry Christmas!

Remember Christmas? That was 7 whole days ago! Since then, many of my neighbors have taken down the festive lights in front of their houses. I see trees, once standing in rooms, bedecked with ornaments and angels, now sitting on the curb and waiting for their final ride. And the stores have switched their displays from the red and green items to pink hearts, filled with chocolates.

But through all this, Christ is there.

I guess a lot of water has gone under the bridge since those final strains of “Joy to the World” were sung with gusto at the end of my last Liturgy on Monday. But still, it makes me sad.

But, in all time, Christ is there.

Which is silly! I don’t know why I’m still so amazed and shocked and saddened at how our culture so quickly pushes aside the past. This is nothing new – not for Christmas, or for Halloween, or for our history, or the destructive epic hurricanes or fires or horrific and murderous events and the lives they’ve left buried in the rubble they leave behind. This is nothing out of the ordinary… it happens every single time.

But, even through all this, Christ is there… if only we could recognize him in our midst.

“What did you get for Christmas this year?”

I hear this question a lot right now. The question I like to ask in return is, “Who is it that gave you this wonderful gift?” More often than not, the answer is “My Grandma,” or Mom, or Papa, or sister, or Uncle, or best friend, or… All of these people, our family (including the non-blood kind!), are part of God our Father’s endless Christmas gifts to us, and we are part of His gift to them.

And yes, in each gift, Christ is there.

Today’s Gospel explains how Mary & Joseph brought Jesus to the temple in order to “fulfill all the prescriptions of the law of the Lord.” And if I were a betting man, I’d wager that the Holy Family passed through the multitudes of people in that temple without any of them recognizing them as Mary and Joseph, or Jesus as the Christ – Emmanuel, God With Us.

Except for two people.

First was Simeon, to whom God had promised would not see death until he first saw the Christ, exclaims “Lord, now your servant may go in peace, for my eyes have seen your salvation.” And then there was Anna, a widow, who gave thanks to God for the child, the redeemer of Jerusalem.

Through all we experience, are we like the multitudes in the temple, going about our daily lives and ignoring the gift of God in every moment? Or are we like Simeon and Anna, open to the Holy Spirit screaming in our ear, “HEY – HERE I AM!”?

So what’s the true gift this Christmas? Who really is the “Holy Family” in today’s day and age?

“Our Father, who art in Heaven…”

Every one of us, we all are God’s children. God is Father to all of us, and we are all one family to each other. One crazy, silly, funny, upsetting, dysfunctional, loving, peaceful, amazing, Holy Family.

Ultimately, I suppose we do have to clean house after huge events like these. Even still, the members of this, our family, like it or not, become part of our history, woven into the fabric of our being.

So let’s do it together, my sisters and my brothers. Let’s clean up our lives of things we don’t need. Let’s pack up the tinsel with a lackluster shine. The ornaments with their plastic joy. The colored, twinkling, false light. Let’s toss the wrapping paper that once hid the material prize, but not the true gift of Christmas.

Let’s just be sure we don’t pack up Jesus, too.

Our Father, thank you for the gifts of our entire family… especially those whom we don’t like. Please help us know what it is we have that we can give for Christmas. Help us be Your hands, so we may bring our special gifts to those most in need… especially to those whom we don’t like. 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:

1 John 2:12-17
Luke 2:36-40

Reflection:

In one Peanuts comic strip, Lucy says Christmas is a time for kindness and a time to forgive one another. To this Charlie Brown responds: “Why do that just at Christmas? Why can’t we have the Christmas spirit the rest of the year?” Lucy looks at Charlie and says, “What are you, some kind of religious fanatic?”

 This is already the fifth day of Christmas.  The challenge we face is how to keep the spirit of Christmas alive all year long.  Eventually the Christmas cookies go stale, the Christmas candles burn out, the Christmas songs get boring, and the Christmas trees dry up.  Yet the Christmas message is as fresh today as it was two thousand years ago:  God so loved the world, the human family that he sent his beloved Son, Jesus.   

God still loves the human family.  But now he sends you and me to bring Jesus to this world.  How do we do that?  With words and actions.

We bring Christ to others when we speak words of affection, like those written in our Christmas cards.  We bring Christ to others when we speak positive words, words that build up and don’t tear down.

We bring Christ to others when we speak those beautiful words, “I’m sorry”, and “I forgive”.  We also bring Christ to others when we speak the simple word, “Welcome”, at the door of our house and at the door of the church.

We bring Christ to others when we give food to the poor, and feed them the gift of a smile.     We bring Christ to our family when we feed them with the gift of our time, a listening ear and an understanding heart.

We bring Christ to others when we comfort the bereaved, work for peace, and help those whose hearts are broken.

In the words of Calvin Coolidge, the 30^th U. S. President: “Christmas is not a time or a season but a state of mind. To cherish peace and good will, to be plenteous in mercy, is to have the real spirit of Christmas. If we think on these things, there will be born in us a Savior and over us will shine a star sending its gleam of hope to the world.”

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:

1 John 1:1-4
John 20:1, 2-6

Reflection:

Today we celebrate the feast of John, Apostle and Evangelist.  We also are experiencing the quiet time between Christmas and the Epiphany.  This “quiet time” is something I need in my life.  I need this time every day but it seems particularly important to me between the busyness of the Christmas holiday and the beginning of the New Year with all the resolutions, etc.  This quiet time is underrated in our world of 24/7 news (most of it bad) and constant e-interruptions!

This time is like going on a retreat.  It is a perfect time to remember and experience my relationship with God, everyone and every part of creation around me.  I recall the words from Psalm 85, “Peace is promised to God’s people”.  Being at peace in God’s presence and silence is better than every blood pressure pill I am ordered to swallow every morning.

I can call this time prayer but I prefer to refer to it as a time of simply being open to the movement of God within and around me.  It is a time of intimate peace.  This is especially helpful in this stage of my life when activities have become more circumscribed by health, resources and energy.  I relish these moments as an unearned grace.

These moments also act as fuel for my acts of kindness with others, my efforts for justice in our troubled world, my striving to be a better person to those around me and in relationship with me.  I guess my reflection today is to strive to carve these moments out every day and in our new year.  Maybe this would be a good year to spend time at one of our Passionist retreat centers or just in a chapel at one of our Passionist communities.

In any case, I am promising myself more of this “quiet time”.  Indeed, as John refers to it, the “Word was made flesh and dwells among us” and in these quiet times, “within us”.  Peace be upon you.

Terry McDevitt, Ph.D., is a member of our Passionist Family in Louisville, Kentucky.

Scripture:

Acts 6:8-10; 7:54-59
Matthew 10:17-22

Reflection:

The expectation of a new child is a precious time in the life of any family, but the real adventure starts at the child’s birth. There is an unfolding, an unveiling that takes place over time. Learning to walk, to speak, to reason (way down the line!). A personality emerges and talents develop. It is a journey of a life time.

What captivates me about Christmas is the unfolding journey of the Three Kings or Magi, a journey that symbolically fills in the days from now to Epiphany, January 6th being the traditional feast. In the Eastern Orthodox tradition, Epiphany is more celebrated than Christmas. What intrigues me is their journey of faith, in faith. These three journeymen represent us who find our way to God. They represent our journeys of faith both to and from Bethlehem.

We don’t know really where Melchior, Caspar and Balthazar came from or even if these are their names. We know little about how long they journeyed or how they met along the way. But the Gospel of Matthew relates the story to us and from the early centuries of Christianity, their journey to the manger has consistently been celebrated. But after they make their way to Bethlehem and present their gifts, they leave. Their journey is not over. In a sense, it is just beginning.

It is with the encounter with Christ that our real journey begins. And it begins anew each Christmas Day. We not only journey with the Magi to see Christ, but we—like them—continue our journeys of faith, each day in faith. Let’s commit ourselves to the unfolding journey of Christ in our lives in the days, weeks and year ahead.

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.