Daily Scripture

Scripture:

1 Kings 11:29-32; 12:19
Mark 7:31-37

Reflection:

A Special Feast Day – The Solemn Commemoration of the Passion

Today, the Friday before Ash Wednesday, the Passionist community celebrates a feast that is not on the Church’s universal calendar. While it is a feast day unique to the Passionists I invite you to celebrate it and share its history and spirit.

The readings for this Feast Day are the Fourth Song of the Suffering Servant, (Isaias 53:1-12), ‘Who could tell what we have heard….By his sufferings shall my servant justify many, taking their faults on himself’. The second reading (Hebrews 2:9-18), tells us, ‘Since all the children share the same blood and flesh, Jesus too shared equally in it, so that by his death he could take away all the power of the devil, who had power over death…’. John’s gospel (19:17-30), the crucifixion of Jesus, Mary standing near him, and Jesus’ death.

The celebration of this feast right before the beginning of Lent should raise a question.

Why celebrate now what Lent will lead us to, the Triduum of our Lord’s death and resurrection? Besides Good Friday there is the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross which is very similar? On a Friday before Lent, it may seem out of place to gather at table for a festive meal. Why celebrate this feast today? An answer I have heard put forth shows the spirit of their feast that may help us on our Lenten journey.

The early Passionists lived in Italy and ministered in an area called the Maremma. If you Google the Maremma you find no end of invitations to an area of Italy not so well known – many vineyards (of course), first class hotels and a beautiful geography. But after the fall of the Roman Empire this are became the wild west of Italy, the refuge of bandits, and because of it being largely a swamp, a breeding ground for mosquitos and Malaria. Malaria at that time was thought to come from the fetid air of the swamps. Among these swamps the poor eked out a living. This was the region where the family of Maria Goretti lived. In the 1930’s the swamps were drained and the area reformed. It was in the end of the 1700’s that the first Passionist missionaries worked in the Maremma, walking to the villages to give Lenten missions, preaching Christ Crucified and fulfilling our 4th vow, to promote devotion of the Passion of Christ. They invited these neglected people to know mystery of God’s love revealed in the Passion.

This work was difficult and frustrating for them. Things did not change among the poor. As the missionaries returned to places that became familiar, they didn’t have success stories. Some did not look forward to a demanding and unrewarding job. So, it was as a reminder and anticipation of the victory and hope of the Passion that the early Passionists would celebrate before setting out on their work. It was to encourage them.

For us…Lent is a treasure. Unfortunately, treasures are often guarded by dragons. We may not feel like such an adventure. A visit to the swamp? Not inviting either. But Ash Wednesday shows us the support of the community, all those with marks on their forehead. And routine, been there done that. The liturgy is our teacher, she goes in circles, deepening and surprising. We dance and dine. I’m sure the Maremma people danced – good Italians. We dine. May our festive dining linger into our fasting dining.

Fr. William Murphy, CP is a member of Immaculate Conception Community in Jamaica, New York.

Scripture:

1 Kings 11:4-13
Mark 7:24-30

Reflection:

Persistence Our Request

What we ask in prayer, with faith, we will receive, but sometimes it takes patience and a deeper faith. Persistence is the key. Jesus wants to open in us a yet deeper faith, which opens us up to receive the gift that he has for us.

The woman in Mark’s gospel was a Greek, a Syrophoenician by birth, a gentile. Jesus was sent to the children of Israel first, to feed them with his grace. But her faith was so strong, He could not resist her request. She begged him to drive the demon out of her daughter and would not stop in her request.

Jesus never refuses to answer our prayers. He sometimes wants to open in us a deeper faith and so he waits. So often we pray one or two times and give up on Jesus. We need to ask ourselves, is this true faith? Is this the type of faith that Jesus is asking of me? The kind of faith that is untrusting, shallow, weak, or unbelieving.  She replied and said to him, “Lord, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s scraps.” When the woman went home, she found the child lying in bed and the demon gone.

What we ask in prayer with the kind of faith the Phoenician woman displayed, Jesus will never refuse to answer. Don’t lose faith and hope in your prayers. Reach deep and Jesus will give you what you ask for.

Deacon Peter Smith serves at Our Mother of Sorrows Parish, in Tucson, Arizona. He is a retired Theology teacher from Holy Family Cristo Rey Catholic High School in Birmingham, Alabama, a retired soldier of the United States Air Force, a grad student at Xavier University of Ohio, and a member of the Passionist Family.

Scripture:

1 Kings 10:1-10
Mark 7:14-23

Reflection:

But what comes out of the man, that is what defiles him.
From within the man, from his heart,
come evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder,
adultery, greed, malice, deceit,
licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, arrogance, folly.
All these evils come from within and they defile. -Mark 7:20-23

Several years ago, at a meeting of the Passionists in Detroit, we listened to a couple of Yale professors tell us about our own Thomas Berry’s, “Dream of the Earth”. This presentation gave rise to many different thoughts and feelings. I personally was already familiar with Thomas’ ideas and inspired by the presentation. A classmate from the high school seminary we attended, was quite concerned, and raised the question: “…but how are we going to feed the world’s population?” I had never concerned myself with this question before Bill raised it and frankly, I thought it was a ridiculous question and far beyond our responsibility or even capability to answer. Food, for as long as I’ve lived, was always just there. I don’t remember my response to Bill that day, but I hope and pray it contained none of the evils Mark mentions in today’s scripture selection quoted above.

Since that meeting and Bill’s question, I have spent much of my time trying to understand the role of food in my life, in the life of my immediate community and ultimately in the life of all God’s world. I’ve taken to grinding my own wheat which I get from a nearby family farm that nurtures not only relationships to me, their customer, but also to the earth from which the gifts they receive, and share come. I met them at the local Farmers’ Market several years ago, and I’ve gotten to know and respect them for their ethical way of handling food from our Mother Earth. They handwrite a “Thank you for your order!” on the receipts of orders that are shipped to me, and they patiently put up with my fumbling and ignorance when I call or meet them at the market.

This relationship has brought me to this time when I share my homemade whole-wheat bread not only with the birds but also with friends who come on Saturday evenings to break bread and eat some soup around my hearth. Yes, our conversations sometimes get heated, but for the most part, we all share lovingly and compassionately our lives’ journeys and our thoughts on what it’s all about.

God, guide me in your way of love and service. Thank You for the people who challenge my narrow views. Keep me from spewing anything but love and compassion. Thank You for the many gifts of the earth You have given me. Help me lovingly share them each day, one day at a time.

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

Scripture:

1 Kings 8:22-23, 27-30
Mark 7:1-13

Reflection:

Too many of us cling to handed down values and beliefs that, upon reflection through the lens of the Gospel, are contrary to the will of God.

We accept that capitalism is the best economic system when, left unchecked, it leads to scandalous gaps in wealth. A fraction of a percentage of people controls enormous amounts money while billions cling to life day-to-day due to insufficient income and over 30,000 children starve to death daily.

We accept our nation spending our taxes on more weapons than all the money spent on guns, bombs, tanks, rockets, fighter jets, bombers, armed ships, armies, navies, and missiles of all other nations combined.

We accept some of us living in luxury homes with people-less bedrooms while others live under expressways, in tents, in ditches, and in rat-infested alleys.

We accept premier mental and physical health care for some while others are denied minimum care or go bankrupt trying to pay medical bills.

We accept our rapidly warming planet being destroyed by floods, storms, desertification, and toxins while we continue to spew carbon into the atmosphere with our cars, homes, manufacturing, farming, and extravagant lifestyles. 

We accept refugees and immigrants escaping violence, drugs, and poverty being denied entrance to the wealthiest nation in human history out of fear that “our American way of life” might be threatened.

We accept racially and financially segregated neighborhoods, schools, and churches despite the reality that poor folks and people of color living apart have higher rates of illness, homelessness, crime, and abbreviated lives.

The readings today are penetrating. In the First Book of Kings, Solomon pleads with God: “May your eyes watch night and day over this temple, the place where you have decreed you shall be honored; may you heed the prayer which, I, your servant, offer in this place.”

We Christians know our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit. We too plead with God to watch night and day over our temples, the places where God has decreed to be honored.

If we believe each of us is the Holy Spirit’s temple, treating one another as sacred means critiquing so much we accept as the norm.

Perhaps this is what Pope Francis is encouraging in the synodal method to address the crises of our day. Each of us, as temples of the Spirit, have unique life experiences and perspectives. Instead of a top-down problem-solving method, he wants us to come together in our parishes, communities, states, and nations to focus on one another, to truly love and listen to one another, and to understand how the Spirit is moving us to build a compassionate, just, non-violent world where all of life can flourish.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus is asking the established authorities of his time to critique old assumptions about ritual and traditions. “You nullify the word of God in favor of your tradition that you have handed on.” Their rigid rituals even lead to neglecting their own needy parents.

“This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines human precepts.”

Listening to the stirrings of the Spirit living in each of us and sharing our most precious longings and griefs leads us to be partners with Christ in healing our troubled world, even if it means challenging our most prized values and norms.

Jim Wayne is a board member of the Passionist Solidarity Network (PSN), and author of The Unfinished Man. He lives in Louisville, Kentucky.

Scripture:

1 Kings 8:1-7, 9-13
Mark 6:53-56

Reflection:

Excessive pageantry and ritual are before us NFL fans as we now officially begin Superbowl week.  As the entire professional football season culminates toward the Super Bowl game, this week is filled with extravagance and excess in every area. Coverage of it is non-stop.  Pomp and pageantry I think are part of human nature.  We hear the same excitement in the first reading when the Ark of the LORD is brought into the newly constructed temple.  The author names all the significant people who are there including, the elders, the leaders of the tribes of Israel, the priests, the princes of the ancestral houses, and all the people of Israel.   As one reads this you can feel the excitement building.  And this reading concludes with the presence of the Lord filling the temple there in the dark cloud.

The Gospel picks up on this understanding of the presence of the Lord.  In today’s gospel we hear that when Jesus and his disciples get out of the boat in Gennesaret, the crowds recognized him.  Before they scurried off to bring him the sick, they first recognized him.

Why is it so hard to recognize Christ in our midst today?  Why do we so frequently turn our backs on the Holy One, neglecting and ignoring the sacred?  We might make excuses that we are busy people or the issues are political ones, or they are too overwhelming.  Why is it that we sometimes put a price tag on the value of human life?  For many, even the sacraments of the Church, where Christ promised to be present in these sacraments, have become routine.  For others, they are simply not valued.   Have we as a society become blind to the real presence of Christ in our world?

The simple recognition of Christ is a tremendous gift to society.   We see this stated by Mark in today’s Gospel.  Mark tells us that those who after recognizing him, brought the sick to Jesus on mats and they were healed.  Jesus changed the citizens of Gennesaret on that day.  It started with a group who recognized him.  How would that day have unfolded if they didn’t recognize him? When we neglect the ability to recognize Christ, we prioritize our own needs and desires and are more prone to selfishness, apathy and a lack of concern for others.

We can get pretty charged up over an event like a Superbowl to which the media will bring excessive hype, placing it right in front of us.  It is harder and even takes spiritual discipline to see the presence of Christ in the sacraments, in the marginalized, and in those who are suffering.  This has been the beauty for me of the Charism of the Passionists.  Good teachers and mentors have always challenged me to be attentive to the presence of Christ, especially in the midst of human suffering.   I know some days I am better at this than others.  And on the days when I am less blind, it changes the way that I pray.

Fr. David Colhour, CP, is the Provincial Superior of Holy Cross Province. He resides in Chicago, Illinois.

Scripture:

Job 7:1-4,6-7
1 Corinthians 9:16-19,22-23
Mark 1:29-39

Reflection:

No Rest for the Good…

Today’s Gospel has a very unique “mother-n-law” story.  Peter was worried about his mother-in-law, at home, bedridden with a serious fever.  Jesus is told of her condition, and He meets her, takes her by the hand and helps her from her bed – she’s healed!  And…surprisingly… she begins to wait on Jesus and His disciples who were hungry (perhaps road-worn?) young adults.  No rest for her!  Like Jesus, she was generous in “waiting on them”.

The Gospel continues with Jesus again being called upon to heal the crowds that came to the door…people who were physically ill — even possessed by demons.  And He healed them!  No rest for Him!  Rising early the next day, Jesus “needs” to get away and pray, perhaps to further ponder the physical and human suffering He constantly encountered for healing.  Again, “no rest for the good”; Simon looks for Jesus and tells Him that even more people are searching for Him and His healing love.  Jesus responds by saying He needs to move on and preach in the nearby villages…His mission, His purpose.  No rest for the good!

Saint Paul in his 1^st letter to the Corinthians notes that his missionary work comes from his stewardship of God’s love shared with him.  A sense of duty compels him to generously proclaim the Good News of Jesus; “woe to me if I do not preach it!”  …”to save at least some.”  No rest for the good!

Our Question:  As believers, how do we reflect the generous spirit of Jesus?  How do we spread the Good News in our time and place?  By virtue of our Baptism, we each have a vocation / calling (married, single, priestly / religious); our vocation is given further expression in the talents and direction of our lives (e.g. spouse, parent, teacher, manager, professional person, clergy, health care worker, etc.).  How do we witness God’s Love, Life, Joy in our 21^st Century world of violence and fear, of poverty and loneliness, of mistrust and selfishness?  The needs are great; healing is needed; our resources can seem limited; and often…no rest for the good!  Today we hear Jesus say: “let’s go!”

Let’s be grateful for our faith — however vibrant it is.  Following Jesus’ example and serving in His Name, God’s healing and exciting Love and Life can transform all of creation.  May it be said of us, as is said of Jesus:  No rest for the good!

Fr. John Schork, C.P. serves as the Province Vocation Director and also as Local Superior of the Passionist Community of Holy Name in Houston, Texas.  

Scripture:

1 Kings 3:4-13
Mark 6:30-34

Reflection:

Solomon’s prayer, “I serve you in the midst of the people whom you have chosen,” might well be a motif for every one of us. It is our prayer too.

We each serve God amid those to whom we are sent. At first one might think in terms of vocation and the myriad of ministries that accompany our life choices – be they associated with caring, education, leading, supporting, witnessing etc. 

There is however another layer of ‘ministries’ that we all engage in – partnering, parenting, befriending, educating, assisting those in need of special care. Much of this work takes place within relationships and particularly within family systems.

Solomon’s prayer sets a context for the wisdom contained within the secondary call offered by Jesus in today’s gospel.

We see here that for those who labour in the many fields of life, and tirelessly serve others, there is a need to ‘step aside’ from time to time and rest. Such rest can be merely recuperative, that is, rest that allows us to marshal energy again and to face the next day or period of service. There is a deeper kind of rest too, one that we might call regenerative, a rest that allows creativity, enthusiasm and generosity to refresh themselves and to hold sway over us once more. This is a deeper kind of ‘rest’ one that allows the best in a person to surface and breathe once more. It is this kind of rest that creates space for capacities like forgiveness, sacrifice and commitment to reassert themselves in our lives. In such manner we can live more deeply the original call of our vocation.

It’s not that recuperative rest is bad, it is at times fully necessary. However, as Jesus notices, there is a need for deeper rest, a regenerative rest, so that we can reorient ourselves and live as we were created to live.

Of course, the great temptation is that ‘work’ or ‘the needs of others’ dictate that we cannot step aside for the time we most need. Jesus gives us a wonderful example and image today – when we cannot be present, he will continue the mission, and while we rest, he will tend to the very people he has entrusted to us.

Fr. Denis Travers, C.P., is the Provincial Superior of Holy Spirit Province, Australia. 

Feast of the Presentation of the Lord

Scripture:

Malachi 3:1-4
Hebrews 2:14-18
Luke 2:22-40

Reflection:

The Feast of the Presentation, forty days after Christmas, has been the traditional close of the Christmas season. In today’s second reading, we hear that Jesus “became like his brothers and sisters in every way.” The author of the Epistle to the Hebrews is speaking of the Incarnation, meaning literally to be “born in flesh”. And because Jesus “became like his brothers and sisters in every way”, He was born into a particular cultural, political, and economic situation. In recent years, as I have listened to the stories of Jesus’ birth and infancy during the Christmas season, I have been struck by the vulnerability of the Holy Family’s situation.

Mary had experienced labor and delivery in a stable, far from home. Jesus’ first visitors were also of low social status: the shepherds who came in from the fields. Jesus enjoyed a loving family and community, but His circumstances outside his home were precarious. He lived in territory occupied and oppressed by the Romans. In Matthew’s Gospel, we heard of Jesus’ escape from the murderous King Herod, by the Holy Family’s flight southward into Egypt. Today, thousands of Palestinian families are taking the same route to avoid violence and death.

And in today’s Gospel reading, we find Mary, Joseph, and Jesus in the temple in Jerusalem practicing the ancient customs of their culture: Mary’s purification after childbirth, and Jesus’ presentation: the offering of the first-born son. Since they could not afford a sheep, Mary and Joseph gave the offering of the poor: two turtledoves and two young pigeons.

In his 2016 Christmas message, Pope Francis tells us the power and meaning of Jesus’ Incarnation:

The power of this Child, Son of God, and Son of Mary, is not the power of this world, based on might and wealth; it is the power of love. It is the power that created the heavens and the earth, and gives life to all creation: to minerals, plants, and animals. It is the force that attracts man and woman, and makes them one flesh, one single existence. It is the power that gives new birth, forgives sin, reconciles enemies, and transforms evil into good. It is the power of God.
This power of love led Jesus Christ to strip himself of his glory and become man; it led him to give his life on the cross and to rise from the dead. It is the power of service, which inaugurates in our world the Kingdom of God, a kingdom of justice and peace.

Patty Gillis is a retired Pastoral Minister. She served on the Board of Directors at St. Paul of the Cross Passionist Retreat and Conference Center in Detroit. She is currently a member of the Laudato Si Vision Fulfillment Team and the Passionist Solidarity Network.