Daily Scripture

The feast of St. Martha 

Scripture:

Jeremiah 26:1-9
John 11:19-27 or Luke 10:38-42

Reflection:

Frequently in scripture we give Peter or Paul, or even James and John a lot of credit in their apostolic zeal.   Yet in my reading it is Jeremiah who continually stands out as a man of conviction, driven to be true to God’s word even if it means being unpopular, disrespected, and even hated.

Recall early in the first chapter of the book of Jeremiah God speaks directly to Jeremiah saying, “I have dedicated you to be a prophet to the nations.  I appointed you.”    The Lord continues in verse 9, I place my words in your mouth!”  And it is clear that Jeremiah’s purpose in life is to be the voice of the Lord, to speak on behalf of God.   This is an awesome responsibility and one which will lead to some very unpopular speeches by the prophet.  His words will be challenging, even threatening. And the prophet will be treated with hostility, brutality, to the point he will be hunted down.  And Jeremiah will continue to speak these powerful orations even if it means his life.

Surprisingly, in John’s gospel it is a woman who is the prophetic voice.  It is Martha, not Peter in John’s Gospel that acknowledges the messiahship of Jesus.  And similar to Jeremiah, her acknowledgment and praise of Jesus isn’t done in the context of the most wonderful day in her life.   It is done on one of the saddest days when Lazarus, whom she loves so deeply, has died.

Both of these readings  the prophetic voice finds ways to give praise to God in amidst gloom and even doom.  And neither of them are merely Band-Aids which say, “Well lets be optimistic and look on the brighter side.”   They both enter deeply into the suffering and hopelessness and reinterpret who God is and what God can do in these situations.

Today, on the feast of St. Martha, I think we can draw courage from this woman who personally knew the redemption of Christ.  Jesus challenges her to put her hope, not in some future event, but in him in the present moment.    I think this is important.  For frequently I find people who believe God did mighty and creative things in the past and can believe God will have mighty acts in the future, but really struggle to see God in the today.  And if God does act today, they tend to see God in those things that they deem to be “worthy”:  a blooming flower, a smiling child.  Martha’s challenge to us is to see and trust in the here and now, even when we are having a bad day.  Even in the midst of sadness and sorrow, can we discover a redeeming messiah?  Jeremiah re-affirms this message, asking us to find some way to give praise to God even in hours of darkness.   So perhaps we are left with two questions:  Where do you see God today?  And how in your own way do you give praise to this Divine one?

 

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

Scripture:

Jeremiah 18:1-6
Matthew 13:47-53

Reflection:

Pottery has always fascinated me.  The ability of the potter to take a lump of clay and fashion it into something of beauty is amazing!  God has created us out of nothing and fashioned us into someone of grace and grandeur, created in love, surrounded by love and called to love. How awesome is that!?  In the throwaway society that surrounds us, God’s gift of creation, all of nature and humankind often gets neglected.  Human beings are looked at as objects; nature is abused, neglected and taken for granted!

God our Creator never takes us for granted!  How often do we take each other for granted?!  How often do we turn our back on those who don’t share our values or expectations?  How often do we ignore the blight of our planet Earth and say, “tomorrow I will buy that recycling bin?”  God our heavenly potter has molded us and shaped us into something good and loving!  We are called in turn to be potters who mold and shape others following God’s example.

Today is my parents’ 77^th wedding anniversary!  They took seriously the call to be potters.  They molded and fashioned 8 children created out of their love for each other and blessed by God’s loving hand.  I am sure they worried at times what that ‘lump of clay’ was ever going to become!  But it never stopped them from loving and molding us into the image that God created us to be.

Happy Anniversary, Mother and Dad; and Thank you for being such creative, loving and inspiring potters of God’s love.  We are blessed because of your faith in God the Divine Potter!

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

Feast of Saint James

Scripture:

2 Corinthians 4:7-15
Matthew 20:20-28

Reflection:

I grew up in the city, and long before recycling and composting were popular, my Dad had a “humus pile” in our back yard. Every time we cut the grass, the clippings went on top of the pile. When we raked leaves they, too, would cover that mound. So did potato peelings, coffee grounds and egg shells. And we would keep turning the dirt with the refuse. Dad had made a sifting screen out of chicken wire and boards; every so often we would sift the humus pile — producing the richest, blackest soil you can imagine! Nature teaches us that fertility comes from rubbish, life comes from death.

The word “humus” in Latin means earth or ground. The English word, humility, comes from this origin. The fruitfulness of the earth depends on the decomposition of organic matter. Today’s readings remind us that the only abundance or prosperity that is real must come from the lowly garbage! James and John send their mother (how pathetic!) to secure a top position in Jesus’ cabinet, and Jesus reminds them of the need to embrace the lowly, the humble… to drink the cup that he has drunk. To be one with Jesus means not sitting in glory and honor, but powerlessness and vulnerability. This is the fragile, earthen vessel of which St. Paul speaks.

In this time of conventions and selecting candidates, I have caught myself condemning politicians for their arrogance and smugness. Today I need to look at my own egotism, my own desire for power-prestige-privilege, asking that I might drink Jesus’ cup of humility, and be grounded.

 

Fr. Jack Conley, C.P., is a member of the Passionist formation community at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago.

Scripture:

Genesis 18:20-32
Colossians 2:12-14
Luke 11:1-12

 

Reflection:

Teach Us How to Pray

Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray just as John taught his disciples.” Lk 11:1 The apostles made a wonderful request of Jesus.  Is there any more important thing to know in our lives than to encounter God in prayer?

There are many words for prayer in scripture but the one used in today’s Gospel seems to go right to the heart of our communication with God.  The word is desire (pros-yoo-khay’) in the original  Greek New Testament.   The etymology of prayer is desire yoo-xay’.  Prayer is a mutual yearning between humans and God.  Prayer is more than just a desire by one alone but only happens when the yearning is both from God and from our self.  Prayer is in the middle tense which reflexes back to the subject.   God is the great initiator of prayer. He desires us.  He reveals Himself as alive and caring about us.   This happens, first of all, when He opens our eyes and hearts to the wonder of His caring presence!  God always must first kindly desire us, and only then, can we fondly long for God.

So Jesus tells us: “When you pray, say: ‘Father!”  What warmth and affection are in that word for Jesus!  Every prayer of Jesus begins with Father!  A 197 times in Gospels is the word Father on the lips of Jesus.  In Luke’s Gospel the first words of the young Jesus are: “Why were you searching for me?” he asked. “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?” Lk 2:49   The last recorded prayer of Christ in Luke is:  Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last.” Lk 23:46

St Paul of the Cross was walking outside our retreat in Rome when two of our students saw him saying his rosary.   Two hours later when the two came back they saw the saint still saying his rosary.  One of the students said: “Father Paul how many rosaries have you said?”   Looking at his rosary he said: “I am still on my first Our Father!”  The saints could spend two hours in rapt awe at “father”!  In prayer the Holy Spirit guides us.  “God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!”  Gal 4:6   Prayer is indeed a mutual longing with God.

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

Scripture:

Jeremiah 7:1-11
Matthew 13:24-30

Reflection:

When I looked at our first reading for today from Jeremiah, I was startled wasn’t all that familiar with the passage. God was intent on making a point! Jeremiah is sent to the gate to the Temple, and told to remind the people that God’s presence there is not dependent on the existence of a building, but on how the people live out their faith: “Put not your trust in the deceitful words: ‘This is the temple of the Lord! …‘ Only if … each of you deals justly with his neighbor; if you no longer oppress the resident alien, the orphan, and the widow; if you no longer shed innocent blood in this place, or follow strange gods to your own harm, will I remain with you in this place … But here you are, putting your trust in deceitful words to your own loss! Are you to steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury …, and yet come to stand before me in this house which bears my name, and say: ‘We are safe; we can commit these abominations again’?” God is calling us to humility, and in the light of recent events, humility before God is what we need.

The challenge continues in our Gospel reading from Matthew, where Jesus tells the parable of the weeds among the wheat. As challenging as this parable is to not become like weeds, I think it also offers us hope. Unlike weeds and wheat, we are not fixed in the way we are. By the grace of God in Jesus Christ, we can be changed! We can let Jesus in to heal us of whatever gets in the way of following Him. We can be freed from the worship of false gods such as greed and selfishness and bigotry and complacency! We can be freed from fear of the resident alien! We can be healed from indifference toward the widows and orphans and the shedding of innocent blood!

Whatever characteristics of being weeds we may have, may Jesus enter our hearts and our lives and change us into wheat.

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

Feast of Saint Mary Magdalene

Scripture:

Song of Songs 3:1-4b
John 20:1-2, 11-18

Reflection:

Do you remember the 1950’s game show “To Tell the Truth” ?  After a series of questions and answers addressed to the three contestants all claiming to be the same person, the panelists had to make a choice as to which contestant is actually the person in question.  At the end, the TV host would say, “Would the real Jane Doe or John Smith please stand up.”  The truth would then be revealed.

On the feast of Saint Mary Magdalene, we might want to begin our reflection with the request , “Would the real Mary Magdalene please stand up !”  I think back on all of the various stories I heard of Mary while I was growing up.  She was a great sinner.  She was a repentant prostitute.  She was possessed by seven devils.  She was a follower of Jesus in His ministry.  She was a disciple.  She was totally loyal, even to the Cross and burial of the Lord.  She was the first to receive the revelation of the resurrection.  All of these and more were said of Mary Magdalene.  Will the real Mary please stand up ?

We actually know very little of Mary from the scriptures.  She is often confused with Mary, the sister of Martha and Lazarus or with the woman who washed the feet of Jesus with her tears and dried them with her hair.  Medieval Popes began the tradition that Mary was a great sinner who repented but the scriptures do not substantiate this interpretation of her.  The scriptures for her feast day help to clarify just who Mary was.  The beautiful selection from the Song of Songs speaks of the strong universal search by  the human heart motivated by a deep longing to find “the one whom I love” .  The search goes on until the beloved is found and the bond of mutual love is created .  We are able to see this very same search in the gospel references to Mary.  She comes to know the Lord and His preaching and discovers her love of God becomes focused in the life giving words of Jesus.  She accompanies Him in his preaching tours to listen, to deepen her love for Him and the Father, to influence others in a positive way, and to help care for Him along the way.  Having found her beloved, Mary remains the faithful disciple through His arrest, torture, crucifixion, death and burial.  She stands with Him under His cross.  She helps to prepare His body for burial.  She mourns with the Blessed Mother the death of “one whom she loved”.

Today’s gospel brings us to the next moment in her life – the moment when her beloved is restored to her.  It is the Easter account of John’s gospel.  Mary is the FIRST to receive the revelation “He is Risen.”  She is overjoyed and rushes to embrace His feet.  Jesus stops her not because she was “a sinful woman”  with a past, but because she had followed Jesus in life and now Jesus was preparing her to follow Him in faith.  At that moment, Mary’s faith becomes firm and she becomes the Apostle to the Apostles, the first to hear the Good News and the FIRST sent by the Lord to announce the Good News to the other apostles.

Today’s scriptures invite us to understand Mary Magdalene as a woman of great love, intense desire to stand by the Lord, and a disciple of unwavering loyalty, dedication and faith..

I believe the real Mary Magdalene just stood up!!!

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

Scripture:

Jeremiah 2:1-3, 7-8, 12-13
Matthew 13:10-17

Reflection:

God is not a happy Camper, as we hear today in the scriptures.  He finds so much that displeases Him in the Hebrew people.  It is incredible that He confines Himself to verbal expressions of displeasure with this people when so many other options for dealing with them are available to Him.

But perhaps we can see a conformity between God’s mode of action with the Jews and the fairly recent modes of behavior that parents have adopted in dealing with their misbehaving children.  For just a generation or two ago, parents were not slow to use the rod or some version of it to administer corrections to their wayward children.  Often it was the father of the family who became the enforcer of the law of the household, and the use of the paddle or belt or bare hand was the standard way of his correcting misbehavior.  But, no more.  Apparently, in the last analysis, it was no more effective in correcting a wayward child’s behavior than other forms of correction, such as confinement to the child’s room for a period of time, or denial of fun time with neighborhood kids or some distasteful house chore like washing the dishes.  Or deprival of electronic equipment.

So today we hear God resorting to a kind of tongue-lashing against the wayward Jews.  He does this by shaming them through comparing their current misbehavior with their former ways of loving and obedient behavior.   This comparison was bent on embarassing them for falling away from their better days.  And it shows them how self-defeating their current conduct is hurting no one but themselves, illustrated by the example of water, a precious commodity formerly more available to them, in abundance, than now in a period of scarce supply.

And God’s use of comparison of the present situation—an unhappy one based on the crowd’s inabillty to understand the parables He is using to explain to them what God is about in their lives—with Jesus’ disciples who, as Jesus acknowledges, understand the “mysteries of the kingdom of God” embedded in these parables.  The clear implication is a variation on what a parent might tell a wayward child complaining of his/her punishment: it’s your own fault.

So we have a vivid reminder today that we are engaged in directing our own course in life, and have no one to blame for the mishaps befalling us, except ourselves.  Among the various kinds of unwelcome consequences we suffer for our misbehavior, this is one of the hardest to bear:  to have to admit it’s our own fault.  It’s not a question of a cruel God inflicting punishment on us, but of a wayward self bringing mishaps upon ourselves.

Hopefully the outcome will be not only an improvement in our conduct, but a much enhanced appreciation of Who God is for us—moving us ever further away from perceiving Him as a punitive Person and ever closer to realizing that He is a loving parent waiting for us to awaken to the realization that the problem is ourselves.

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

 

Scripture:

Micah 6:1-4, 6-8
Matthew 12:38-42

Reflection:

I vividly remember walking along a country track one fine afternoon. I had left the Monastery earlier in the day and was now several hours into my walk, I had been going along with a fair degree of confidence that I’d taken all the right turns and was now indeed on the return portion of my journey. But the scenes before me were not confirming that reality, I was in unfamiliar territory and was beginning to doubt. I started looking for ‘signs’ to reassure me – any mileage indicators, town names etc., but none were forthcoming!

I muse that my experience is not an uncommon one. Indeed possibly my walk serves as a metaphor for one’s spiritual journey in this life. I think they are similar in some ways. Certainly one of the most tempting moments in any faith journey is to seek some kind of certainty or at least some proof that we are on the right track and that our continued trust in the way we are going is warranted.

One might be tempted to think that this might be the sense of the question put to Jesus in today’ gospel reading, “Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.”

However, let’s note that the question is put by those who are sceptical of, if not suspicious of Jesus and who doubt his ‘credentials’. Thus their question is not so much one that seeks to confirm a faith choice already made, but rather is a question that seeks of some kind of ‘proof’ that would allow them to fit Jesus into a mould that they imagine for him.

And in turn Jesus’ reply seems to expose not only their intentions – ‘an evil and unfaithful generation seeks a sign’- but,  in fact goes on to point out that some things cannot be proven in ways we’d like. For some of the more precious things in life,  one has to look with a deeper sense, to seek evidence that is heart-based rather than that which merely satisfies a desire for knowledge and logic.

On my walk above, my ‘sign’ came not from anything written or the miraculous appearance of a district map along the side of the road, but from a fellow walker who passed by. I enquired as to where my road led and was thus assured of the route I had chosen.

Jesus seems to offer a similar ‘sign’ when asked. We must look beyond the obvious – to deeper experiences we have, or to foundational memories or to our community for the kinds of signs that guide one’s faith journey.

In this encounter with the Scribes and Pharisees Jesus recommends the example of Jonah to his listeners, and more importantly for us he foreshadows his own resurrection witness. It is to such a ‘sign’ that we too must look for reassurance and confidence as we journey along the road of life and faith. The resurrection is our ultimate sign and guiding light in life.

Of course, there wasn’t much ‘evidence’ left at the scene of the resurrection!  An empty tomb and clothes lying around might not inspire faith. No, the sign of the resurrection was to be found in the witness and life of the disciples – those who felt the presence of the Lord with them who knew him in the community, in the Eucharist, in their meetings and in journeying together. Their lives had been completely turned around by this experience of the risen Jesus and now they were to become signs for others – by their witness, words, preaching and life example.

We inherit their witness and we too have benefitted by the witness of those who have gone before us, those who have imparted wisdom to us and those who have taught us by their lives of faith.

We can be like them, we too can be ‘signs’ of Jesus alive to all we meet.

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.