Daily Scripture

Scripture:

Jeremiah 38:4-6, 8-10
Hebrews 12:1-4
Luke 12:49-53

Reflection:

In our readings for this 20^th Sunday, during what I love to call these “dog days of August”, we hear a message that is surely bound to catch our attention!

In our first reading from the Prophet Jeremiah, we witness a terrifying moment in the life of the great prophet, Jeremiah.  Remembering that he was the “reluctant” prophet at the time of his calling, perhaps the events we read about today give us some insight into why Jeremiah was not exactly eager to step up and follow the Lord’s invitation to challenge King Zedekiah and the princes of his kingdom!  Because of these greedy and fearful men Jeremiah is thrown into a deep and barren cistern, left to die.  Were it not for the intervention of a trusted court official this may well have been the end of our beloved prophet!  For us, we see how those who try to be good and faithful to what God calls them to, can, nevertheless, be mistreated by those who follow the ways of evil.  That is to say, just because you are trying to be virtuous and holy doesn’t mean anyone else is going to be very impressed, that’s for sure!

But the words that caught my attention most are from Paul, the Apostle, who writes in his letter to the Hebrews:  “Brothers and sisters, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us rid ourselves of every burden and sin that clings to us and persevere in running the race that lies before us while keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, the leader and perfecter of faith.”  I find these words of Paul to be very intriguing because they are so true.  On the one hand in this very day and age we ourselves see the darkness and evil that surrounds us, yet we choose to run the race; we choose to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus himself.  At the same time, all of us who try to do what is right and who have the example of great witnesses ever before us, we are still only too aware of those who hate, those who cheat and lie and deceive. And how do we respond to the evil around us?  We keep choosing day by day, sometimes hour by hour, to run the good race and keep Jesus always before us as our true model and example.  And as we run the race and follow the Lord, we continually “rid ourselves of every burden and sin” that can hold us back.

These days of inspiring Olympic athletes who are amazing for their fortitude, perseverance, and dedication, as well as the baffling and even discouraging events of our current Presidential campaign, let’s not lose heart.  There are evil ones around us, to be sure.  They may even get more news time than all the virtuous souls who love others and serve others heroically.  But we dare not give up or lose heart.  Instead, as Paul urges us to do, we hold our heads high; we rejoice in the good that we do see even if we cross the finish line in fourth place and miss the gold, the silver, and the bronze.  And most of all, we keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, the Lord, the only true “leader” and “perfecter.”

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

Scripture:

Ezekiel 18:1-10, 13b, 30-32
Matthew 19:13-15

Reflection:

I love these Gospel verses! Nestled between Jesus’ discussion on divorce, where he shares God’s design for marriage, and the parable of the rich young man. Some biblical commentaries suggest that Jesus is highlighting two things: the most vulnerable in society; and an invitation to us as adults to re-capture the essence of what it means to be a child to whom the Kingdom of heaven belongs. To strive to be “such as these” is our daily call and challenge.

In his letter to the Corinthians Paul writes, “…when I became a man, I put aside childish things” (1 Cor 13:11b) which seem at odds with Jesus’ words, yet, I believe both messages have relevance here. As we grow up we must hold on to our joy, trust, and optimism (humility) but put aside our childish pettiness (ego)….so simple J.

I was born into a large Irish family being the first of 8 children. My parents have 25 grandchildren and are expecting their 10^th great-grandchild next month. In my family children are always showered with love and affection—what a true gift my parents, Joe and Ailish, have modeled for us. As I reflected on the visual of Jesus “laying hands on them”, I see the human element of touch is what brings children—and all of us—to Jesus.

In the reading, we are told that “Children were brought to Jesus” no mention specifically of parents—so perhaps we as community bring the children. We together are the body of Christ called to reach out and share the human touch of Christ.  This was not a one-time event; this is our ongoing responsibility—bringing “our” children to Jesus, “….and do not prevent them.”

We would do well to consider if there are times when we might unknowingly put obstacles in their way. If they encounter unconditional love they are more likely to accept themselves as loved when they grow into adulthood. Sadly, the opposite is true, if not modelled for us we struggle to come to understand we are loved by God—unconditionally. It will be easier for our children to come to know a loving and merciful God—the one Ezekiel speaks about in the first reading—when I exhibit those traits.

This past year, children have been in the news in all manner of vulnerable situations. I am often moved to tears when I see the suffering brought to rest on those young shoulders and feel so helpless to do anything. I am struck by the enormity of life as it should NOT be for them. In light of their hardships I wonder how they will ever come to understand they are loved totally and completely by God.

The message of the cross is here too –pain and suffering exist—for now; and it exists even as we strive to help bring about the kingdom. Lord, we hope and trust in your merciful love, lay your hands on us all, give us a new heart and a new spirit, transform our mourning into joyful dancing. Amen.

Jean Bowler is a retreatant at Mater Dolorosa Passionist Retreat Center in Sierra Madre, and a member of the Office of Mission Effectiveness Board of Holy Cross Province.

Scripture:

Ezekiel 16:1-15, 60 or 16:59-63
Matthew 19:3-12

Reflection:

At wedding liturgies, I often include the following true story: “Dame Sybil Thorndike and Sir Lew Casson gave 2 person plays throughout England in the first half of the 20th century.  They had a long and happy marriage.  Sir Lew died first.  Dame Sybil was being interviewed afterwards by one of the popular newsweeklies there.  after many questions, the final one was: “Dame Sybil, did you ever think of divorce?”  She took about a half-minute, then answered,: “Divorce never, murder often!” People in the congregation usually enjoy a hearty laugh!

In today’s gospel, some pharisees and Jesus are dead serious as they converse about the reality of marriage and the painful reality of divorce.  After their question, Jesus gives the great reality of marriage: “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.”  Jesus acknowledges that some couples are not able to keep this commitment: “because of the hardness of your hearts Moses allowed you to divorce….”   By God’s grace, some are called to marriage, some to priesthood and religious life and some to being dedicated single people, all for the sake of the Kingdom of heaven.  These are all due to God’s initiative.  Our response, out of love, is to answer in the form of a covenant.  These covenants mirror the covenant God made with the chosen people (first reading from Ezekiel).  With grace, deep communication and hard work, these covenants are possible and can thrive.  Let us pray especially for all of our married friends, that their covenant of love may be deepened and strengthened!

Scripture:

Ezekiel 12:1-12
Matthew 18:2 –19:1

Reflection:

What does forgiveness look like?  Peter thought he knew.  Wishing to appear especially forgiving, asked Jesus if he should forgive up to seven times. Rabbinic teaching at the time taught that forgiving someone more than three times was unnecessary, citing Amos 1:3-13 where God forgave Israel’s enemies three times, then punished them. By offering forgiveness more than double that, Peter perhaps expected the Lord’s praise.  He must have been stunned when Jesus responded he must forgive 77 times, that is without limit.

In the parable, the king forgave the servant for a debt that would have taken him more than two hundred thousand years to earn; impossible to repay in a hundred lifetimes.  But when a fellow servant who owed that servant a much smaller debt begged for time to repay, that same servant offered no forgiveness.  Instead, he had him thrown in prison until the debt was paid.  No wonder the enraged king had that ungrateful servant tossed into prison and tortured until his own staggering debt was paid.  The parable concludes on a stark note of warning.

What does God’s forgiveness look like?  It looks like what happened to a friend, Bill, who had been away from the sacraments for more than 50 years.  Friends eventually persuaded him to return to the Church.  But Bill was nervous about making a good confession.  He purchased a large legal pad and began listing in page after page the many sins.

He took those pages into the confessional with him.  But he had forgotten that the confessional box is dark, except for a small light below the kneeler, which made it difficult to read his notes.  After telling the priest it had been more than 50 years since his last confession, Bill began.  Or so he tried.  He had to stoop down awkwardly to read a few sins, then get up to confess them to the priest.  He repeatedly stooped down, got up, stooped down and got up to confess.

Finally, the priest said “stop! That’s enough!”  Bill became terrified, believing he had made a wretched confession.  Then came the words from the priest, “welcome home!”  Bill wept tears of gratitude.

God’s forgiveness always far outstrips our own.  And yet, we are to forgive others because God has forgiven us immensely more—77 times more.

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

Scripture:

2 Corinthians 9:6-10
John 12:24-26

Reflection:

Jesus says, “Whoever loves their life will lose it.” I don’t think he thus intends that we should refuse to love the gifts of this marvelously created world, the people we are privileged to have in our circle, or the grand adventure contained in our brief span on this earth. We are here to savor and fully live the life we have been given, appreciating and using the gifts and graces God so abundantly pours out for us.

Perhaps Jesus’ saying reflects more on our human tendency to grasp and control this life, essentially “loving” it in the wrong way. We want to be the masters of our own destinies. We assert that we can do anything we set our minds to, and that if we just believe strongly enough and work hard, we will be healthy, wealthy, wise, and die with our full mental capacities intact, surrounded by our large, grateful, and loving family. We want to be in charge of what we love and have life unfold as we choose.

But what happens when it falls apart, either partially or completely? What happens when I get laid off, or a too-young family member dies, or my home is destroyed, or the business fails, or my child is born with disabilities, or I am confronted with a serious diagnosis? At some point, I will be smacked in the face with the reality that I am not in control at all. Everyone I love and everything I have could quite literally disappear in an instant. In addition, if I try too hard to control the people I love, forcing them into my vision for who they should be instead of discovering their vision and supporting that, they will ultimately turn away and I will lose them anyway. No matter what I do, I am not in control despite my best efforts to be.

And so everything is a gift. Some of what I have can be traced to hard work, determination, and talent. Yet much of what I have, achieve, and earn is more profoundly influenced by the circumstances of my birth and the opportunities I am given as a result. It is simply not true for a large portion of the population that they can do or be anything they want. Through no fault of their own, they lack the resources, opportunities, wealth, or mentoring to get there.

Situated as it is in a Gospel pericope focused on serving others, the context of the phrase describes how to reconcile these realities. According to Jesus, I have no right to grab what I have for myself, “loving” it too much to let go of it. Instead I need to be a cheerful giver, willing to share my time, talent, and treasure for the good of all. I need to keep ever before me that it is not “my” money, “my” success, or even “my” life. I need to be tremendously grateful, but I need to hold it close with my arms wide open, freely and generously sharing my many blessings.

This is an immense challenge. I gain a tremendous feeling of security from knowing I have a home, a bank account, good clothes, a loving husband, and a job. My life is good, and I want to keep it that way. In other words, I love my life, and I cling to that. The fact that I am only one phone call away from finding out that something or someone I love is gone only increases my fear and desire to cling.

So pray I must. I pray that God loosen my tight-fisted grasp, so I gain the grace and generosity of heart to give unconditionally and with abandon. I pray that I learn to place my security in divine love and grace rather than in my possessions and abilities. I pray that I consider the welfare of others with at least as much concern as I consider my own and act accordingly. I pray that I may die to all that is holding me back from discipleship and service.

It’s a tall order, and the words still get stuck in my throat as the fear and desire to cling rises up within. I want to be better, God. I want to let go. Help me get started.

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:

Ezekiel 2:8-3:4
Matthew 18:1-5, 10, 12-14

Reflection:

Edith Stein, Jew and Christian,
Both Embraced by the Passion

We began our reading of the prophets in the weekday lectionary six weeks ago with the early prophets when Assyria dominated Near East and took the Northern Kingdom into exile. The unfaithfulness of Judah in the south would invite further disaster upon Israel. Jeremiah was a major spokesman for the the next exile when Babylon replaced the Kingdom of Assyria. The final prophet we read is Ezekiel, an exile himself in Babylon. A first and smaller exile has already taken place. The King of Judah is a prisoner and a puppet king has replaced him in Jerusalem. From exile Ezekiel repeats the pleas of the earlier prophets to return to the covenant and prophecies an even worse exile. This happens when Nebuchadrezzar II, king of Babylonia, destroys Jerusalem for rebelling and takes into exile its population to Babylon.

Ezekiel however is a fitting prophet for us to end on because of his hope and promise.

He tells us of the horror of God leaving the temple early in his prophecy, but ends with God returning to a new temple. God will give a new heart and a new spirit to Israel, although they resemble dry bones in the parched desert they will come together with life.

Matthew today speaks to his Jewish Christian community who live in the midst of Jews who do not follow Jesus. It is a confusing time, the temple has been destroyed. While not in exile the chosen people are scattered. Matthew tells us not to be concerned with status. If you follow Jesus do not look down on those who do not. Matthew longs for oneness within the Jewish community and invites all to Christ. The Good Shepherd will not lose any of his sheep for it is not the will of the Father that any of these little ones be lost!

Todays’ feast of Edith Stein whose name as a Carmelite religious is Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, would be a hero and an example for Matthew’s gospel community. She was not one of the ‘little ones’, rather a world class philosopher, student and teaching assistant to the famous philosopher Edmund Husserl. Because she was Jewish and a woman she could no longer teach at the universities. She did teach young women and also traveled as a speaker for women’s organizations. Her conversion to Christianity and entering the Carmel in Cologne in 1933 was a great suffering for her mother, which Edith in turn felt in her heart.

Edith’s love for Christ seems to have brought her the gift of a special love of the Passion. Her final book is ‘The Science of the Cross’. Arrested on August the 2nd she died in Auschwitz on August 9th,1942. She died with her blood sister Ruth whom she had refused to leave when offered the opportunity to escape to a safer convent in Switzerland. While a great woman she had become one of the least. But it may be more like Jesus in John’s gospel that she appears in the end. Protecting those traveling with her on the train to the East and going to her death bravely, encouraging her sister, ‘let us go and be one with our people’. As the least she came to resemble Christ. Jew and Christian have become one in her. Ezekiel a prophet whom she must have loved is fulfilled: a temple in which God dwelt is raised up anew in glory; dry bones come to life.

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

Scripture:

Wisdom 18:6-9
Hebrews 11:1-2, 8-19 or 11:1-2, 8-12
Luke 12:32-48 or 12:35-40

Reflection:

I’m afraid despite the fact that one of the most repeated scripture admonitions is to “be not afraid”. I am afraid if I tell you who I really am, you will laugh or worse, you’ll tell me that’s sinful. I am afraid to pick up the pieces when everything in my life seems to have come to an end. I am afraid when I have to comfort a friend who has just suffered a great loss. What can I say? Will I make their loss worse and how can I possibly make it better?

Jesus said to his disciples:

“Do not be afraid any longer, little flock,
for your Father is pleased to give you the kingdom.
Sell your belongings and give alms.
Provide money bags for yourselves that do not wear out,
an inexhaustible treasure in heaven
that no thief can reach nor moth destroy.
For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be.
Luke 12:32-34

Did you really mean that Jesus?  Maybe this is what Chesterton was referring to when he wrote: “The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and left untried” – G. K. Chesterton

God, give me the courage today to try once again.

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

Scripture:

Nahum 2:1, 3; 3:1-3, 6-7
Matthew 16:24-28

Reflection:

Recently I heard a speaker mention that the average lifespan in the village of first century Nazareth was between thirty and thirty five years.  Archeological evidence from bones they have found from Jesus’ home village indicates people suffered from a lack of calcium and protein.  Undoubtedly, advances in science, medicine and health care have pushed life expectancies now into the eighties.  The drive to live longer with appreciative quality has never diminished.    This attitude of preserving our lives so we live longer is addressed by Matthew’s gospel today.  Contrary to the desire to live longer, Matthew places these words in Jesus’ mouth;
For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it,
but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

The disciples must have been perplexed.  It certainly doesn’t fit the conventional mode of thinking.   But then nothing in this 16^th chapter of Matthew’s gospel fits with conventional thinking. Only three verses before,  Peter challenges Jesus as Jesus begins speaking about being put to death and being raised up on the third day.  Peter’s reaction is that he would have none of it.  So today, when Jesus begins using the term “cross”, specifically, each person must “take up their cross, and begin to follow in my footsteps” it must have really rattled the disciples’ perspective.  They must have been beside themselves.  Jesus was inverting what they were expecting and the glory they were anticipating.

On another level, when Matthew writes this, his community is being persecuted for its beliefs in Christ. He is addressing those who are questioning if believing in Christ is really worth the suffering and persecutions they are enduring.    Many are saying that it isn’t worth the persecution and they are leaving.  In some ways Matthew draws a line in the sand saying, you are free to stay or free to go.  Whichever you choose you will still need to answer this fundamental question.  “What is the mission of your life?”  Or perhaps another way of asking it is why did God create you?

This question is still fundamental to each of us today.   How would you answer it?  In our contemporary days of mission statements and vision statements, do you have a personal purpose statement?   I think a good purpose statement could say:  The reason I was brought into existence is to give praise to the one who is divine and to bring glory back to the one who created me.  And a component of that is being a person of service toward others that the Great Creator has made in the divine image.   If that is the purpose of my existence then nowhere in my purpose statement does suffering give me an out.  My purpose doesn’t exclude suffering anymore than it embraces pleasure.  While my feelings and emotions may color the way I approach my purpose, they certainly don’t negate or confirm the path of the journey.  Even more, Matthew will specifically say when suffering happens within the context of fulfilling your purpose, then you are blessed (Mt: 5:11).  This was one of the significant issues Matthew faced in writing his gospel.  How do you address fair weathered believers.  What do you do when you discover the cost of discipleship is more than you first anticipated?  And this same issue faces believers today.

Jesus concludes this teaching with the reward, and that is to “see the Son of Man come in his kingship.”  That statement alone is not personally strong enough to convict me of accomplishing my daily purpose.  Yet I do find the inverse is true.  When my vision is good and I’ve worked at my purpose that day, then before retiring and taking rest, I have clarity as I see God’s Kingdom in my world.  Knowing that it is God’s kingdom and not mine, I can rest in the grace and the peace of Christ.

Fr. David Colhour, C.P. is the pastor of St. Agnes Parish in Louisville, Kentucky.