Daily Scripture

The Conversion of Saint Paul the Apostle

Scripture:

Acts 22:3-16 or 9:1-22
Mark 16″15-18

Reflection:

A few years ago, while ministering as Student Director in our formation house in Bhopal, India, I received a call from a young man called Yesuraj. He informed me that a few years ago he stayed in our Half-way home for ex-prisoners, men who just been released from prison in Bangalore, South India that we Passionists had established. One summer, during my own seminary formation years in Bangalore, I was asked to assist in that rehab center. Yesuraj, a teenager back then, was released from prison and entered the program.

Now he was calling me after many years. I asked him where he was and what he was doing for his living. He surprised me by saying that he was on a retreat preaching team at a Charismatic Retreat Center in Bangalore run by the Vincentian Fathers! I wondered what made this teenager change his life from whatever he did to land him in prison and then in our rehab center, to be a messenger of Good News, bringing many people to God! He could have easily returned to his former ways of living like many other ex-prisoners did if he had wanted to do so.

Today we are not celebrating the feast of St. Paul, but his conversion. We remember the conversion and the subsequent holy life of many saints on their feast day, like St. Augustine. But the Church wants us to remember the day Saul became Paul for a very specific reason -the movement and growth of the Church took a different turn after his Conversion.

Paul, known as Saul of Tarsus, was a Roman citizen though Jewish at birth. As a Jew he was sent to study under Gamaliel, one of the greatest scholars of his time. He learned the law and become a fanatic observer of law. He was present at Stephen’s stoning and also approved of it. After his conversion on the road to Damascus, the same charismatic and zealous leader who dragged people out of their houses and persecuted them, becomes a fearless preacher of the Word, established communities and churches, makes leaders out of ordinary people. He would write his thoughts in the most legible way and also intellectualize the Christian faith.

“Go out to the whole world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature.” Paul would redirect his missionary activity towards the gentiles because of the obstinacy of the Jews. It was with single-minded determination that the ‘Apostle to the Gentiles’ preached Christ as the one universal Savior. This Savior he served passionately and selflessly. He let nothing stop him doing it, be it hard work, exhaustion, suffering, poverty or danger of death.

It is a scary thought for many of us that God can call us in our brokenness to be His messengers. ‘Who me?’ is our response. Familiar territory always seems very comforting. Yet when we look at the story of Yesuraj or Paul or many other ordinary people like us, we are encouraged to say, ‘Yes Lord, I can!’

 

Fr. Bruno D’Souza, CP, is on the staff at Mater Dolorosa Passionist Retreat Center, Sierra Madre, California.

Scripture:

Nehemiah 8:2-4a, 5-6, 8-10
1 Corinthians 12:12-30
Luke 1:1-4, 4:14-21

 

Reflection:

The Favorable Year of the Lord

In today’s Gospel Jesus comes back to His home town of Nazareth to “to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.” The word in the original Greek for favorable is dektos which comes from word to welcome.  Jesus announces that with His presence comes a season of incomparable kindness from God! With the return of Jesus to His home town He offers the warm welcome of His Father to the people with whom He grew up.

Nazareth was a small village of 3 or 4 hundred people.  For about thirty years He lived here He must have known personally just about everyone.   When He was a child, He played with them.  As a young man He probably took hikes with them.  Jesus was a great walker! He walked all over Galilee.  He walked a number of times from Galilee to Jerusalem which is about 90 miles!  As a carpenter they hired Jesus to fix things. A percentage of the village must have been cousins.  We know there was no special word for cousins except brothers and sisters. “Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us?”  Mark 6:3 Jesus was among relatives and friends.   For them it was cousin Jesus and aunt Mary!

It should have been a nice safe reception for the beginning of Jesus’s ministry.  You would think the old timers would sit around the old spring and say: We knew this nice young man with great parents would be wonderful!   Just the opposite was true.   Not only did they reject Jesus as messenger of the Father, but even the finest human being that God made after His Son, Mary his mother!  “And they took offense at him.”

How can you live as close to Jesus and still don’t know Him!  Even Jesus “wondered at their unbelief” Mark 6:6   “Truly I say to you, no prophet is welcome in his hometown.”  Can this not happen to all of us?  Maybe after all the years I have lived near Christ, my relationship with Him might be cold and excluding.  Do I love and care for Him more than anything else in the world?   This is the year of mercy, “the favorable (dekos) year of the Lord”.   Do I warmly welcome Him into my heart who welcomes me?

 

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

Scripture:

2 Samuel 1:1-4, 11-12, 19, 23-27
Mark 3:20-21

Reflection:

During that last retreat season at St. Paul’s in Detroit, I had a talk about the sufferings of Jesus, some of which we don’t usually think about. Part of may talk was about how Jesus was often misunderstood, even by the ones closest to Him, and I used the passage from Mark which is our Gospel reading for today as an example of how He was misunderstood even by His family.

Mark tells us that when Jesus came home, a large crowd gathered, making it impossible for Jesus and His disciples to eat. Somehow, His family hears about it and decides “to seize him, for they said, ‘He is out of his mind.’” So, Jesus’ family reaction to the news of great crowds coming to see Him is take Him home because He is obviously crazy.

Being misunderstood by even the ones closest to us is something most of us, I think, have experienced at one time or another. This Gospel passage challenges us to continue to strive to understand each other, out of love. Note the times in the Gospels when Jesus asks what He can do for this person or that when it seems obvious to us what should be done. Even though He may know what the person wants, Jesus gives them an opportunity to be heard.

Often it seems that in our society we have difficulty taking the time to understand each other, especially those who come from a different background or experience. But if we are to truly come together, we have to try to understand each other, as inefficient a process as that may be. We may even find how much we have in common! May understanding bring forth acceptance, and may acceptance bring forth love, and may love help bring forth the kingdom!

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

Scripture:

Isaiah 9:1-6
Philippians 4:6-9
Matthew 5:1-12a

Reflection:

Today we are praying for peace and justice.  So very often we do so thinking of other areas of the world.  We are fervent in our prayers for resolution of conflict in the Middle East, or the Ukraine, or North Korea.  We seldom think of ourselves as in need of these specific prayers in the United States.  Yet here we are with a day dedicated to just such a spiritual exercise.  The “why” of this day is easy.  January 22, 2016 is the forty third anniversary of the Roe vs Wade decision of the Supreme Court which in effect declared the child within the womb as a “non human being” and therefore not entitled to life, liberty or the pursuit of happiness.  They did not say what the child within the womb is, only what it is not and therefore not entitled to legal protection.  A country which bases its principles of society on such conclusions is just as much in need of a multitude of prayers as a place like Syria, Iraq, or the Holy Land.

Our Scriptures today help us to know how intensely we should pray.  Isaiah addresses a future time when those shrouded in darkness are ushered into a great light.  Their inability to see, to understand the truth, to discover the overwhelming presence of God’s life and love in the world will be remedied.  The prophet is talking about the promise of a savior.  We who have faith in the Lord Jesus understand Isaiah to be speaking of Jesus who is born to us as Wonder-Counselor, God-Hero, Father-Forever and Prince of Peace.  It is He who will bring peace forever and justice for all.  The beatitudes of St. Matthew’s gospel invite us into the heart of Christian living.  These are the virtues which characterize those who profess belief in the Lord Jesus .  Generosity of  heart  and detachment in favor of the heavenly kingdom, meekness and mildness in favor of civility in relationships, strength in tragedy as we mourn and move forward in life, a burning hunger and thirst for righteousness calling us to be bold in professing by our words and actions the principles of faith that direct our minds and hearts, a forgiving heart toward those who offend and harm, open hearts which seek and recognize God’s life and love all around in the world, hearts which seek to establish the lasting and abiding peace that comes from God, and finally perseverance in professing belief in the essentials of  what it means to have life in Christ.

Such virtues of the beatitudes invite us to a deeper appreciation of all of our relationships.  In so doing, we are pushed toward a far wiser and ever greater reverence and respect for all of life.  Every life matters.  In a special way, the innocence of the unborn human person demands our reverence and respect.  We are called to propel that very same reverence and respect to every human person from conception to natural death without reference to race, economic status, ethnic origin or even faults  or serious failures.

That’s a pretty tall order.  We are able to see why it is we, as a country, are in need of intense prayers for our country and ourselves.  We have a ways to go but we have the encouragement we need from St. Paul in our second reading today.  He tells us to have no anxieties but persevere in making our petitions known to God.  Although there may be some darkness to deal with, we should focus on the good, the excellent, the honorable, the pure, and whatever is worthy of praise.  Each of us and our country has much to focus on in such a way.  Today, we are called to further the march toward fullness of light to guide our way in respecting life in the womb.  Only then will the fullness of God’s peace reign in our hearts, our lives, and our society.

 

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. Agnes

Scripture:

1 Samuel 18:6-9; 19:1-7
Mark 3:7-12

Reflection:

The recent power ball win of over one billion dollars, by three different parties, is an example of astounding good luck falling into the lap of three families, for no apparent good reasons that the rest of us can determine.    Of course, they were the envy of millions of other competitors for this prize.  As the prize grew in size, the odds constantly increased against any given individual ever succeeding in winning it.   When the grand finale occurred, the realization of what had just happened started moving toward a reflective stage.  And this will likely last a long time.

We have something like this in the gospel reading today, which recounts the stories of two individuals, similarly blessed with their “winnings”, though in presumably lesser amounts.  The gospel regales us with the story, first, of a farmer, or maybe just a bounty hunter, who stumbles on a treasure hidden in a field.  He furtively looks around to ascertain whether this stroke of good luck has been noticed by others, and, then, satisfied that it remains known to him alone, he buries it again so that he can proceed to purchase that field and gain legal possession of it.  And, in the same vein, there is the pearl discovered by a merchant dealing in pearls who stumbles on one of great value and does what he has to do to gain it.

The upshot of these stories highlights what is at stake as we live our lives, and see them ever shortening as we age—perhaps with goals and ambitions for ourselves remaining yet unachieved.  A couple of things to note here entail, first, like the scriptural examples just mentioned, the unlikelihood that we will gain what we want, since the element of stumbling upon our prized goal is rather bleak, comparable to the surprise that is very much part of today’s gospel stories.  And the second concern pressing on us is whether we can assemble whatever it is going to take in order to guarantee that we have the prize in hand.  What can we scrape together to strengthen our hope that we are winners—something, apparently, that the gospel implies is possible for us, unlike the recent power ball prize that hardly seemed to lay within the realm of possibility?

The church tries to soften the anguish of engaging in a losing proposition by discounting or at least diminishing the sinking feeling that we are engaged in an impossible venture, first, by citing St. Paul’s reflection on the unlikelihood  that we are in position to become a winner in our efforts to gain the prize of heaven.  For he seems to depict God at the card table of life, so to speak, holding a set of cards that appears to be a losing hand—really, a terrible one.  For what He has to deal with is ourselves: foolish, weak, lowly, unlikely players in the challenges of life.  And He is trying to win on our behalf.

And win He did, with the unlikely saint we commemorate today: Agnes.  Just thirteen years old, she seemed to have little going for her, with the odds stacked against in terms of the threatening demands that she abandon her faith convictions in view of the terrible forces bearing down on her: torture and death.  It was as unlikely that she could maintain her fidelity to God as winning the lottery, or finding the treasure hidden in the field, or discovering the pearl of great price, for she was facing the powerful, the wise, the strong described by St. Paul.  But she did, with God at the table beside her.  Dealt a bad hand, He proved to be the consummate player in the game of life, by endowing Agnes with an instinct of faith, a kind of spiritual cunning against which the forces marshaled against her were no match.  She proved to be the greatest kind of winner: a saint.

 

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

Scripture:

1 Samuel 17: 32-33, 37, 40-51
Mark 3: 1-6

Reflection:

Today’s scripture readings remind us that performing good deeds, doing the right thing, can be misinterpreted and even twisted into something that many will condemn.

First we hear of David, a young inexperienced “warrior” who seems almost naïve about his ability to take on the experienced, grizzled, powerful Philistine warrior, Goliath.  Goliath was a giant of a man who had killed many soldiers over the years.  His very presence struck fear into the hearts of all of King Saul’s soldiers.  No one was willing to face Goliath.  And then young David stepped up.  King Saul was heartened by David’s willingness to take Goliath on but was less than confident that this young companion of his son was up to the task.  He tells David to be realistic and back down.  David asserts his confidence…not in his own skills, but rather in God’s faithfulness in protecting him.  And so, with King Saul’s blessing, David goes out to meet the invincible, ferocious Goliath.  The outcome was startling with David’s easy vanquishing of the formidable Goliath.  King Saul is at first delighted but soon is overtaken with fear that David is plotting to take over the kingship.  David has no such intention but his relationship with King Saul soon deteriorates due to the King’s paranoia.  But one thing sustains David, both in his confrontation with Goliath and his struggle with King Saul’s fears, his complete trust in God’s faithfulness to him.

In the Gospel for today we have one of the many stories about Jesus’ healing someone, in this case a man with a withered hand.  Just as in the case with David, we see this story play out on more than one level.  What drives the story is the love and compassion Jesus has for the man with the withered hand.  Jesus wants to heal him and restore him to full health.  But it is the Sabbath and that certainly complicates things!   Jesus knows that there will be those who will be offended if he cures the man on the Sabbath.  He also knows that his enemies will twist his good deed and make of it a violation of the Sabbath.   Nonetheless, Jesus reaches out and heals the man’s withered hand.  The man healed rejoices but the enemies of Jesus continue to plot to have Jesus put to death.

Strangely enough, even though our lives are much less dramatic than the lives of David and Jesus; and, we would never dream of even comparing our lives to these two remarkable religious leaders, we, too, can be intimidated by what others might think or say about our efforts to show compassion and love.  Let’s make our prayer for today be that God will give us the courage and wisdom to live our Christian life with the same generous integrity that we see in our readings today.

 

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

Scripture:

1 Samuel 16:1-13
Mark 2:23-28

Reflection:

How long will you grieve for Saul whom I have rejected as King of Israel? 1 Samuel 16:1

I was in sixth grade when I discovered that I needed eye glasses. Those were the days when frames were fragile and lenses were breakable. Eye glasses were expensive. My parents were so poor that every costly purchase they made had to be paid in installments.

About nine months after I got my eye glasses, I lost them. We looked high and low for them, and my parents told me that they could not afford another pair of glasses. I was devastated and for a week I prayed, I cried, I blamed my brothers and sisters for hiding them from me, I begged my parents to get me another pair of glasses. Nothing worked. It occurred to me that God was not about to come down and give me another pair of glasses. I needed to take responsibility for misplacing them and I needed review my actions and try to find them myself. Once I stood back, reflected upon my days prior to losing them, eliminate the places where I could have left them, I finally found them in a place that I had put them, so hidden and protected, because I didn’t want them to break. I learned a valuable lesson that day. I needed to go beyond complaining, blaming and grieving, and take responsibility for my actions.

The prophet Samuel, of today’s first reading, had to learn a similar lesson. He didn’t want to admit that Saul, the king he had anointed, needed to be replaced. We have a tendency to cry over spilled milk and not get on with our lives. Finally, God has to tell him, “How long will you grieve for Saul, whom I have rejected as king of Israel? Fill your horn with oil and be on your way.”

No matter how many times God has repaid us with a better life, a better future, a better choice, we still want to cling to our past, with those things that do not please God. As it says in this first reading: “Not as man sees does God see.” It is so difficult to let go and let God!

These readings invite me to acknowledge a fundamental truth of life and faith: God’s Will is more loving, merciful, generous, grace-filled than my own will. When it comes to our life and our future, we are powerless. To acknowledge our powerlessness before God is the first step toward receiving the graces we need to overcome whatever mess we have placed ourselves into with our pride, our bad decisions and our grieving.

May the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ enlighten the eyes of our hearts, that we may know wat is the hope that belongs to our call. Ephesians 1:17 (Alleluia verse).

 

Fr. Clemente Barrón, C.P. is a member of Christ the King Community in Citrus Heights, California. 

Scripture:

1 Samuel 15:16-23
Mark 2:18-22

Reflection:

Obedience is better than sacrifice
While respecting his traditions and history, Jesus definitely seemed to have a preference for the new over the old. His stories and teaching reveal this again and again.

But what Jesus came to bring into our world was not merely a new teaching or a just new image of God.  He himself is a witness to a new moment in our evolution and his actions enfleshed a new experience God’s love. His truth is a dual revelation – a new truth about God yes, but also a new truth about us!

Jesus, through his own relationship with the Father, witnessed to new possibilities for all of us to live one’s life fully within God’s loving embrace.

This was good news. It was something new for his world (and for all time). Such a new truth could not be contained within old frameworks, old attitudes or old actions and rituals. Thus in today’s gospel he speaks of new wine and new patches of cloth not being wasted by trying to place them within old parameters. No! New wine requires a new wine skin and unshrunken cloth needs to be sown only onto a new coat.

What Jesus teaches us about our tendencies is so, so, true! We all have some kind of ‘default’ setting” – a way of acting, speaking, thinking and being that we are comfortable with and take for granted. From time to time a learning experience – a challenge from a partner or colleague or an honest face to face moment where a close friend tells us “home truths” that others fear to say – may help us to move to a new understanding and even a new way of acting. But if we are not careful, vigilant and aware, we soon enough slip back into the old ways of acting, thinking and speaking. This cycle can repeat itself again and again all throughout life.

But what Jesus challenges us to is exactly the opposite of this pattern. Thus to embrace all of the new vision – the good news – that he offers, we need to be renewed. We are invited constantly to open our hearts, to listen, to be converted and to make ourselves ready so that we can receive and respond to all that is new and that we are offered in Jesus.

For Jesus, relationship is to be preferred to ritual, and the celebration of life is to be preferred to a sombre seriousness that reduces everything to obligation and expectation.

Let us practice listening for the word of God addressed to us today (and each day). Let us practice an awareness, a readiness, a listening stance that makes us receptive to the ‘ever new’ message of God that we know is constantly offered and addressed to us. But let us also practice our responses to that same message – let us be ready and willing to move beyond tired old responses and familiar patterns of behaviour so that we can truly embrace the ‘new’ that offers us the chance to also be renewed!

New wine? Then bring out new wineskins! New cloth? Then fasten on to it only pre-shrunken patches.

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.