Daily Scripture

Scripture:

Job 9:1-12, 14-16
Luke 9:57-62

Reflection:

Commitment is a big thing these days!  Either we find those who say yes and never waver or others who say yes and when the going gets tough, they pull back.  Jesus tells us that the life of a disciple requires all or nothing!  That’s hard for most of us.  Even when we try our best, oftentimes it doesn’t seem to be enough!  We have so many ‘other’ things that call for our attention, it’s hard to stay close to our commitment as faithful followers of Jesus!

We are called to do many things in this life and by far the call to be a follower of Jesus Christ is the most demanding and yet most rewarding!  For one thing it is not something we do alone!  Jesus calls, walks with us, listens to us, picks us up when we fall and most of all loves us.  It is this love that supports us when the demands seem larger than the rewards.

The disciples of Jesus were a rag tag bunch, much like those of us today.  They didn’t really know what they signed on for and neither do we most days.  What they came to realize and believe in was the amazing power and goodness of the one who calls us.  Today we pause to remember and celebrate the lives of Saint Lawrence Ruiz and his Companions, 17^th century Japanese and European disciples who were martyred for the faith.  In their lifetime they sowed the seeds of faith for the future of the church in Europe and Asia.

Over the years, my life as a disciple of Jesus has taught me many things.  The opportunity to walk with people of all ages, to learn from them, to grow in faith together, to laugh, cry, pray and celebrate God’s love has truly been gift.  My life has never been the same since my ‘yes’ so many years ago.  I would not be the person I am today without the many opportunities I have experienced.

It is with a spirit of gratitude that I continue to say YES, my Lord!  Let us continue to invite others to say yes, to look ahead and not back as we journey onward to the Kingdom!

Saint Lawrence and Companions, pray for us.!

Theresa Secord is a Pastoral Associate at St. Agnes Parish, Louisville, Kentucky.

Feast of St. Vincent de Paul

 Scripture:

Job 3:1-3, 11-17, 20-23
Luke 9:51-56

Reflection:

St. Vincent de Paul was an ultimate minister to the poor.  He spent time with galley slaves on sailing ships.  He started hospitals and homes for the elderly and orphans.  He did all this while knowing it was not who he was by nature.  He had to make a choice for the poor.  He made a choice to respond with love amidst the signs of his times.

The signs of our times demand choices too.  Here are a few examples of people responding like St. Vincent de Paul.

Here in Kentucky we recently buried Sister Paula Merrill, SCN.  Sister Paula was murdered in a rural Mississippi county serving and living among the poor.  At her funeral, Sister Adeline said “Sister Paula’s own heart ached for all she saw but could not mend.”  Sister Paula quietly worked with her companion, Sister Margaret Held, among the poor because she chose to do so.

The same day Sister Paula was buried in Nazareth, Kentucky, two groups of mourners gathered to bury 14-year-old Troyvonte Hurt and Deionte Stokes, 21, here in Louisville. Both were victims of senseless gun and gang-related violence.  In the background, working with youth to prevent future violence because of these deaths, was a man named Christopher 2x.  Chris is a good man.  He works in Louisville to make peace and is often in harm’s way.  He wasn’t given this position, he chose to do so.

 Mother Teresa was just proclaimed Saint Teresa.  In 1982 and 1988 she visited the town of Jenkins, Kentucky where her order has a convent where the nuns work with the poor in the area.  At an outdoor Mass in the area, she once said “Let us love one another as Christ loves us.  The greatest gift of love we can give one another is to grow in God’s love.”  Mother Teresa and these nuns weren’t made to work here, they chose to do so.

We all have choices to make.  St. Vincent de Paul, Sister Paula, Christopher 2x and the Missionaries of Charity in Jenkins, Kentucky have made their choices.  Maybe on St. Vincent de Paul’s special day it’s a good time to think about our own choices.  Am I making my life choices for the right reason?  Maybe this sentence from the diary of Dorothy Day sums up the common ground for our choices.  “Truly love is the reason for it all.”

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

Scripture:

Job 3:6-22
Luke 9:46-50

Reflection:

The story of Job is an enduring mystery to us all. It is a story of testing a man’s relationship with God. The one who seems to have a good life, a life full of blessing is suddenly stricken and reduced to nothing. All to test Job’s faith and whether Satan is right in proposing that Job’s faith is dependent on his many blessings.

Years ago I was living and working among the urban poor in the Philippines. This was during the height when pilgrims from around the world were making their way to Medjugorje in what is now Bosnia and Herzegovina. People came to what all said was a holy place where six young children reported having visions of Mary, the Mother of Jesus. Most came in an act of faith. Some came to experience some of the miracles reported by others, like the spinning sun or healings. One of those often shared miracles were stories of jewelry turning to gold.

A group of Filipino women with whom I worked asked me what I thought about the various sightings of Mary at Medjugorje and the stories of miraculous events. “If it strengthens your faith and your commitment to serving the poor,” then it must be from God, I responded diplomatically. “But,” I continued, “you can deepen your faith and commitment to service without going to Medjogorje.” Then I asked, “Would you go to Medjugorje if you knew all your gold jewelry would be turned to tin?” They were truly aghast. They said God would not do that. Interesting.

In today’s reading, Job is stripped of everything, and in the end he simply proclaims, “Naked I came forth from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I go back again. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord!” The story of Job is not about what he has or does not have. It is not about whether there are apparitions or miraculous events.  It is about our enduring faith, even when things seem to unravel. Many of us have similar experiences to Job—loss of a child, loss of a job or a home, loss of friends, loss of mobility or eyesight. Whatever it may be, we know from Job that God’s love for us can never be taken away, nor our faith or our love for others.

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.

Feast of St. Vincent Strambi, CP

Scripture:

Ecclesiastes 11:9-12:8
Luke 9:43b-45

Reflection:

Provocateur of the Cross

Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love.  John 15:9

I have for a long time thought this is one of the most amazing sentences in New Testament.   The stupendous love between the Father and Jesus is likened to the affection of the Lord’s love for us!   The author of Eph 3:17f  prays that “you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”

Today we celebrate the feast of Saint Vincent Strambi, C,P.   He was an early follower of St Paul of the Cross.  For Paul of the Cross the sufferings and death of Christ is the definitive expression of His love.  “But note that the Passion of Jesus Christ is entirely a work of the infinite love of God” (Paul)   Both of these saints lived their lives in contemplation and preaching springing from that nuclear fusion of God’s love for us on the Cross!   They lived in the explosive love of the Crucified!  “Abide in My love.”

Devotion to the Passion puts a stethoscope on the heart of God.   It is a dangerous devotion because it exposes us to the extreme radiation of God’s care for us.   St Vincent by his preaching was a provocateur of God’s fondness for the world!  Job asked thousands of years ago: “What is man, that you make so much of him, and that you set your heart on him,” Job 7:17   In today’s world there are all too many who think that God is too big to care about us.  The Cross shows us rather the opposite truth.  We might be too big to be beneficiaries of His affection, but never too small.  Our lack of humility is our greatest obstacle to the gifts of the Lord.  We will only experience God’s revelation if we get on our knees and beg for His mercy.  The wonderful mystery of the Cross is only revealed “to little children”!

Recently I was privileged to celebrate my daily Mass in St Vincent’s room where he lived in Rome.  On the  altar was a large relic of Vincent.  It was a great privilege to celebrate this wonderful representation of the death and resurrection of the Paschal event standing by this great Passionist.

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

Scripture: 

Ecclesiastes 1:2-11
Luke  9:7-9

Reflection:

In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus first asks His disciples what the people think of Him; who were they saying he was. The disciples give their answers, and then Jesus asks them, “But who do you say that I am?” And Peter, who so ften gets it wrong, gets it right. He says to Jesus, “The Messiah of God.” And after Jesus warns them not to tell this to anyone, He then says, “The Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed and on the third day be raised.”

In acknowledging Peter’s confession of Him as the Messiah, Jesus then tells them how He will be the Messiah: neither by military conquest nor by getting rid of corrupt leaders, but by sacrifice, even to the point of death, followed by resurrection.

For me, the Gospel readings for the last few days have highlighted the difference between the wisdom of the world and the wisdom of the Gospel, and we see this once again in today’s reading. That, I think, is one of the reasons Jesus doesn’t want the apostles to tell anyone that he was the Messiah. The people were expecting a different kind of Messiah, and even the apostles had trouble understanding what was going to occur, so perhaps Jesus didn’t want to get the people’s hopes up for something that wasn’t going to happen.

Understanding Jesus’ death on the Cross as an act of redemption helps us understand that God does not promise to remove all our difficulties, but instead, God promises us that He will get us through to the other side. Jesus did not only predict His Passion and Death, but also His Resurrection!

Can we live in hope, and thereby tell the world who we say Jesus is?

Fr. Phil Paxton, C.P., is the local superior at St. Paul of the Cross Passionist Community in Detroit, Michigan.

Scripture:

Ecclesiastes 1:2-11
Luke 9:7-9

Reflection:

A philosopher named Heraclitus in ancient Greece once stood beside a river and arrived at the thoughtful conclusion that, “You cannot step into the same river twice.”  His insight said that change was central to the universe.  Everything was changing just as the waters of the river changed constantly as fresh waters seep into the flow.  When I studied philosophy, my first reaction: this insight plus twenty-five cents would get you a cup of coffee (coffee was a lot cheaper when I studied philosophy).  Then again, perhaps this was a pretty perceptive principle recognized by observing nature.  In today’s reading from Ecclesiastes, Qoheleth observes the realities of nature and comes to an entirely opposite conclusion.  No matter where you look, no matter what you do, no matter what natural forces are at work, everything is always the same.  It is human vanity to think otherwise or pretend we are able to figure it all out.  Everything moves in a circle and arrives at the same place.

We also have Herod in the gospel today.  He is curious about Jesus and the happenings which have reached his ears but is basically content with questions rather than answers.  Maybe his curiosity will be satisfied and maybe not – either is acceptable.

How might we reflect on these two very different readings?  We might consider the possibility that they are inviting us to reflect more deeply upon our lives and their meaning while understanding and accepting that we will continue to live in the mystery of our covenant with God.  Qoheleth is speaking for an exiled Jewish community who have lived for a very long time in silence with God.  In exile, the divine voice grew softer and then non-existent.  They could not hear or see God in their ritual lives anymore so they looked to nature only to see realities moving in circles, never to lead anywhere in promise or in hope.  They could not find God there, they could not hear God speak and so they wondered where God had gone. All seemed meaningless.  To think otherwise was human vanity.

On the other hand, the gospel is teaming with meaning.  Everything and everyone is tinged with the electricity of possibilities.  The Gospel era is one of promises being fulfilled on a daily basis.  Jesus is making the entire collection of Hebrew Scriptures come alive with hope, expectation, love and possibilities of a more intimate life with the Father.  The atmosphere is heavy with Divine Presence.  Herod recognizes it but cannot make heads or tails out of the message.  He is curious but not willing to see and listen with the eyes and ears of one who reflects upon the meaning of his own life.  In waiting to see, Herod misses the boat.  Jesus is inviting all to embark on the pilgrimage to the Kingdom and Herod remains a bystander.

In our self-reflections, we might want to avoid the pitfalls of both Qoheleth and Herod.  By the grace of our baptism, our lives have forever been joined with the Lord Jesus in the journey towards the Kingdom.  We walk by faith rather than by sight.  Along the way, we are asked to listen to the divine voice as God directs our pathways in lives of love, compassion, caring, justice, humility and generosity.  Qoheleth was looking to figure God out.  He was looking to remake God into Qoheleth’s design for how things should be.  He found himself incapable of living in the mystery of God’s presence to humanity.  Consequently, he found himself going in circles.  We might admit that the temptation to join in Qoheleth’s thought patterns sometimes touches us when we struggle to see and hear God in the circumstances of our lives.  At the same time, we might find ourselves tempted to sit on the side lines like Herod rather than engage ourselves in the mystery of our life with the Divine Presence.  It takes energy to live with the dynamic mystery of God-with-us.  Qoheleth’s was sapped by the harshness of exile life while Herod held his energy in reserve with a wait-and-see attitude.  The true disciple is invited to remain energetically engaged in the mystery of God’s union with us.

In this moment of our lives, are we engaged?  Do we see the dynamism of life – that we are moving forward towards the Kingdom as energized disciples of the Lord Jesus?  Do we see that it is this union and this movement forward that gives true meaning to our lives and the circumstances we encounter even in those moments when we might be a little deaf or a little blind?

Perhaps we might take another look at the principle enunciated by Heraclitus.  Placing it in our faith context, we might appreciate the maxim that change – in this case movement toward a deeper union with the Lord – is of the essence of who we are.

Fr. Richard Burke, CP, is a member of St. Paul of the Cross Province.  He lives at St. Ann’s Monastery in Scranton, Pennsylvania.

Feast of St. Matthew, Apostle

Scripture:

Ephesians 4:1-7, 11-13
Matthew 9:9-13

Reflection:

St. Matthew recommends himself to us today because he represents what so many of us have had to do in the course of our lives: rework our relationship to the demands of our religious faith.  Few of us have an unblemished track record of fidelity to the faith into which we were incorporated by our baptism. Those of us who are concerned about this do well to reflect on the saint whose memory we recall today.

For we value the memory of the apostle St. Matthew. He had the privilege of being one of the first disciples called by Jesus Christ, not long after Peter, Andrew, James and John.  He might have been one of the better educated among this group, to the extent that his job as tax collector likely placed certain requirements on him that would not have been called for by the background of the other apostles, such as Peter and Andrew, for example.  And this seems somewhat substantiated by the way he organized his recollections, in later years, about Jesus in such a way that it made its way into that venerable collection of memories and recollections called gospels.  For we now refer to the gospel of Matthew, along with that of Mark, Luke and John.

And his gospel is noteworthy because it has the stamp of Jewishness about it, perhaps more so than the other three, because Matthew was likely quite intent on establishing his credentials as a loyal son of Abraham, given his occupation as tax-collector and thereby a collaborator, in some form or fashion, with the Roman occupiers of the land.  That would not have endeared him to his fellow-Jews, and probably tainted his reputation as he collected Jewish tax money on behalf of the Roman occupiers.  So he may have welcomed the invitation Jesus held out to him to join the ranks of this already well-known Jewish spokesperson. Matthew may have seen this invitation as a way of reintegrating himself with his Jewish background.

He is an instance of what our reading from the letter to the Ephesians addresses today: the theme of unity amid diversity.  For St. Paul, incarcerated in prison, writes on the theme of unity, urging the church in Ephesus “to preserve the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace”, and later on in that same letter Paul vindicates the already growing diversification in the church of Ephesus (apostles, prophets, evangelists, etc.), not as detrimental to the unity of the Christian faith they profess, but as contributing to it.  As a result, Matthew too may have felt vindicated by this variety in the church.

So it must have been a relief for him to leave his customs post at the invitation of this young popular leader, even to the extent of throwing a party for Jesus and His disciples, along with some of the crowd that had been the friends and associates of Matthew: tax collectors and sinners.  Jesus accepted his invitation and seemed quite comfortable with the table fellowship that developed.

So Matthew left his mark on the early beginnings of the church.  His gospel reflects the relationship of our early Christian church with the Jewish religious faith.  It is an important source for noting details of this relationship, and much credit for this goes to Matthew, who, in the process of purging any misgivings about his own Jewish background, serves to illustrate the example of an early relationship between Judaism and Christianity.

Fr. Sebastian MacDonald, C.P. is a member of the Passionist formation community at Catholic Theological Union, Chicago. 

Memorial of Saint Andrew Kim Taegŏn, priest and martyr and Saint Paul Chŏng Hasang, martyr, and their companions, martyrs

Scripture:

Proverbs 8: 1-7, 10-13
Luke 8: 19-21

Reflection:

Many of us are familiar with and inspired by the stories of heroic men and women who have lived remarkable lives of faith.  Their witness to Christ and to God’s presence in the world model for us various ways to be faithful disciples of Jesus.  The saints we celebrate today are just such wonderful people.  They are St. Andrew Kim Taegon, St. Paul Chong Hasang and their companions.  They were all martyred during the major persecutions of the Christian community in 19th century Korea.  St. Andrew is singled out from the group because he was the first Korean Catholic Priest and St. Paul Chong Ha Sang was an important lay leader and catechist during that time.  It would seem that the “companions” were ordinary, everyday Catholics rounded up by the government in its attempt to stamp out the Christian faith.  All were put to death in a most violent and public way.

By the time these Catholics were martyred, Christianity had been growing in Korea for more than seventy-five years.  It is believed that Christianity had been brought into Korea by some Christian Japanese soldiers in the latter part of the 18th century.   The Christian Japanese soldiers baptized the first Korean Christians and the Christian community began to grow quickly.  By the time the first foreign priest arrived in Korea in 1836 there was already a substantial Christian community flourishing there.  The Korean Catholic Church is the only known Catholic Christian community that first developed completely from the witness and work of lay Christians.

The rulers in Korea were not at all pleased to have this foreign religion thriving in their country.  At first they just discouraged it but soon enough outlawed this practice and began to actively persecute anyone who took it up.  As Christians were arrested, tortured and put to death the Church quickly moved underground

St. Andrew’s parents, members of the Korean nobility, were an important part of that early community and secretly remained faithful to their life with Christ.  Andrew, born in 1821, was baptized at fifteen and soon expressed his desire to become a priest.  He traveled to Macau to attend the seminary and was ordained in 1845.  He was the first Korean to become a priest and returned home shortly after his ordination to help organize the Church and bring the sacraments to the faithful.  He ministered in Korea only a year before he was arrested and put to death.

There were intense persecutions of Christians in Korea in 1839, 1846, 1866 and 1867 and 103 Christians were martyred for their faith.  We celebrate these heroic martyrs on this day.

May their faith and courage inspire us to live our lives faithful to the Gospel and have the strength to be fearless witness for Christ in our everyday lives.

 

Fr. Michael Higgins, C.P. is the director of Mater Dolorosa Passionist Retreat Center, Sierra Madre, California.