Daily Scripture

Scripture:

Genesis 44:18-21, 23b-29; 45:1-5
Matthew 10:7-15

 

Reflection:

After Our Lord performed the final miracle of the series that we have read in the last two chapters, the Pharisees say, ‘by the prince of demons he casts out demons.’ Jesus continues his ministry, and moved with compassion for the crowds whom he describes as torn apart and harassed like a flock of sheep without a shepherd, he addresses his disciples, empowers the twelve and sends them on a mission to the People of Israel.

They do what Jesus did. If Jesus is rejected can they expect better? We will hear that as a disciple identifies with Jesus doing his works, so we can expect to share also in Jesus sufferings.

Jesus is willing to suffer because of his compassion to alleviate the pain of the people.  As a shepherd he will lead them to good pasture and flowing streams, binding up the injured and carrying the little ones; a strait highway he will layout before them, and they will know security in a shepherd they can trust, one who calls them by name. All of these ‘shepherd’ things we can translate into the actions that we do as disciples caring for family, fellow workers, friends and enemies; they are our flock of the People of God.

We cannot escape the Cross, it is rooted in our earth and its shadow falls over all of us. But the one we follow has mounted the Cross and instead of shadow there is a light that overcomes darkness. As we are privileged to do the works of Jesus, and unable to skip sharing in the Cross as we share the shepherding work of Jesus, we trust that this Cross we will encounter is changed by Jesus forever by his victory of love.

We read for only a few days what is perhaps the most beautiful story in the Old Testament. It is difficult to read the story of Joseph without tears filling our eyes. It is so human, a heart breaking story, a story of the mystery of not loving. Although it would seem God is absent, that is not so, the sins of Joseph’s brothers become a story of love. It is a story of forgiveness. Evil has been done and the one hurt sees God’s presence. Joseph confronts evil and does what seems impossible, he forgives. The ones who hurt seem unable to believe they can be forgiven. In Genesis all that God does is good, but there is the painful revelation that we can choose not to love. Joseph shows us that choosing love is possible and the better choice. His forgiveness overcomes so much pain and sorrow in the hearts of his brothers. In the end we are left crying with Joseph because his great act of love is unaccepted. His brothers are unable to believe that he can forgive them.

We are called as disciples to embrace the Cross as we do our work, our ministries.  Looking at the Cross we see Our Lord who throws light over the shadow. Like Joseph’s brothers we may expect less than what God’s love gives us, especially forgiveness that touches the heart of our world. As our care for others finds us touching the Cross may we be forgiving to those who hurt us as we serve them, and lead them to the Shepherd who cares tenderly and forgives eternally, and who wants to invite them to come follow in his footsteps also.

 

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

Scripture:

Genesis 41:55-57; 42:5-7a, 17-24a
Matthew 10:1-7

 

Reflection:

The story of Joseph and his brothers is one of the best known of the Old Testament.  Most of us are familiar with the boy who brags to his brothers and their treatment of him.  And we know how from that horrendous beginning, great things happen to Joseph.  As with so much of scripture, there is much of value to mine here.   One lesson we learn from today’s reading from Genesis is found in the last lines, “but turning away from them, he wept.”  Why do you think he wept?  In fact, Joseph was quite a weeper.  This was only one of several times we find Joseph in tears.  He cries again when he sees his younger brother, and when he sees his father, and when his brothers repent.  Weeping is a very human response from a heart filled with emotion. Perhaps, in this instance, he was saddened by seeing his brothers and thinking of the life he missed, or perhaps he cried from joy at seeing his family, or perhaps he cried because he had been bitter about what his brothers did to him and when he saw them, he realized his bitterness might not be warranted.  I rather hope this was the reason for his tears because it makes him even more human.  And yet God loves him.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus commissions the twelve Apostles.  Throughout the New Testament, we learn of the humanity of these men who Matthew names and who Jesus loves and trusts with continuing his mission.  They are from varied backgrounds. They doubt, question, argue, and betray.  They are human.  And Jesus loves them. So here’s the thing, if Joseph in his humanity was so loved by God and the Apostles in their humanity were so loved by Jesus, we can believe that we too are loved by God.  When we have reacted to a situation with a human but perhaps not so wise choice, when we do things we later regret, we can know that indeed, we are loved. We can know that God embraces us in our humanity, in our weaknesses, in the bad times as well as the good.  May you be filled with this love that God showers on us and may you proclaim that love wherever you go this day.

 

Mary Lou Butler is a long-time friend and partner in ministry to the Passionists in California.

Scripture:

Genesis 32:23-33
Matthew 9:32-38

 

Reflection:

It was a beautiful late summer day and I couldn’t wait to get my hands dirty. Little did I know, how dirty they would get. Arriving at Angelic Organics after a two-hour drive from the city, we parked and found our way to the farmhouse and reported for our day of volunteering at the Community Assisted Agriculture (CSA) where I had been a member for the past couple of years.

After a quick introduction and tour through the rustic living quarters where the interns on the farm lived, they quickly put us to work picking tomatoes. There were about a dozen volunteers and we all were given a row to pick up tomatoes from the ground (the tomatoes had already actually been picked) and put them on a conveyor belt that went the length of the field. It took the fruit to the truck at the end of the rows where other volunteers took them off the belt and put them gently into bushel baskets. The sun shone brightly, and the sweat began to pour. Up and down, up and down, we did this for about two hours.

The farmers knew how to handle us city folk, for after that we got to sit, rinse and pack the different lettuces that had been picked by another group of volunteers. After a brief respite for lunch it was back to the fields where we struggled with pulling weeds that didn’t want to leave their well-entrenched turfs. We finally ended the day by packing boxes for members that were loaded into a large refrigerated truck for delivery the next morning. Returning home that night, my body ached and it ached not only for that night but for the next week as well but I felt good.

Give me the courage and strength Lord to do the job I am called for in Your Kingdom, whether it is as shepherd, farmer, teacher, or mother… Like Jacob in today’s first scripture selection, who willingly “contended with divine and human beings” (GN 32:29) or your son Jesus in today’s Gospel selection, who “went around to all the towns and villages, teaching…proclaiming the Gospel…curing every disease and illness. (MT 9:35)

 

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

Scripture:

Genesis 28:10-22a
Matthew 9:18-26

 

Reflection:

In today’s gospel reading we get two for one. Matthew wraps one miracle story within another miracle story. The official receives his daughter back from death, and the bleeding woman (considered impure and therefore she had to stay on the outside) is healed and restored to her family. Jesus acts quickly, gently and compassionately on behalf of these two suffering adults. I would expect nothing less. The heart of Jesus, overflowing with compassion, moves him to action. These brief nine verses that contain the stories are wonderful, exciting and inspiring. But I find myself asking: Why doesn’t Jesus respond to my petitions just as quickly?

At times I feel like Jacob sleeping on a rock, a rather uncomfortable pillow. If only God would answer my questions or respond to my petitions, I would have peace of mind and heart. Yet many questions remain unanswered and petitions seemingly lost in space. Why? People are quick to give an answer. You don’t have enough faith; you don’t ask in the correct way; you are not persistent; your prayer is too selfish; if God responded it might have negative effects on other people; etc.

We believe that God hears our prayers. “The Lord will hear when I call unto God.” Jesus told his apostles: “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask for whatever you want and it will be done for you.” That is the basis of our Prayers of the Faithful at Mass. We place our cares in the hands of God, hands strong and large enough to hold any of our concerns. We surrender our need to figure out how and when God will respond as we speak our prayer to the Lord. Now it is time to give thanks to God who loves to listen to us. In gratitude we can sleep peacefully at night.

 

Father Don Webber, C.P., resides in Chicago.

Scripture:

Ezekiel 2:2-5
2 Corinthians 12:7-10
Mark 6:1-6a

 

Reflection:

When people assemble for a sporting event they yell, shout, and scream. They are not afraid to be vocal and let it all out.  We all know that enthusiastic fans can’t actually win the game on their own, but most teams know the fans will give the home team an advantage.  Does this have anything to do with the readings today?  I think it does.  Because we are talking about an energy here which flows through us as people and which we don’t control. Yet there are things we can do to encourage this energy and there are things we can do to stifle it.

Ezekiel mentions that the Spirit entered him as he was listening to the LORD.  This spirit set him on his feet.  He was empowered.  Why did the spirit choose him?  What did Ezekiel do that made the energy flow through him?   Note—Ezekiel doesn’t control the details of the spirit.    The Gospel slants toward the converse of the Ezekiel story.  Jesus is the man whom the Spirit is supposed to enter so he can do the divine things of God.  However, even though he is divine, he can’t seem to do anything in the midst of his home town because of their lack of faith.   Recall the last two Sundays with the calming of the storm and the raising of Jairus’ daughter, respectively.  Mark displays Jesus as having a tremendous amount of power and authority.  And this Sunday, Jesus is in his hometown, and people are minimalizing his divinity. He seems powerless to do the remarkable things he has done at other places.   Does this challenge your understanding of Jesus?

As one who presides over the Eucharistic assembly, I notice this energy all the time. I also notice the lack of divine energy.  In fact, several years ago, during a priest’s retreat a few of us were sitting around after dinner socializing.  One of the priests on retreat spoke about a liturgy which was just so difficult.  He actually stopped in the middle of the Eucharistic Prayer and said, “Come on folks, I can’t do this by myself”.  I was shocked he would be so bold but I completely understood where he was coming from.   Then, just a couple of weeks ago I had the opposite experience.  The assembly was so spirit filled, so participatory, they so wanted to be there, they made themselves present and attentive.   It was truly a great prayerful liturgy.  It was so powerful I found myself treasuring it all week.

These are somewhat the two extremes.  Most liturgies are somewhere in between them.   There certainly is an energetic dynamic which happens when people get together. We see that in sporting events.  Yet Eucharist is different.  When we gather to listen to God’s word and to celebrate the Eucharist we don’t claim any allegiance for a particular team like we would at a sporting event. It is actually Christ who claims an allegiance for us.  And we are not there to cheer on the stars of the team, we are there because Jesus has asked us to gather together so we may share and celebrate our faith. When we are actively doing this, we are like Ezekiel, we listen to God’s Word and the Spirit enters us.  If we end up minimalizing Jesus in the Eucharistic assembly, then just like today’s gospel, how can Jesus do miraculous things?

Sandwiched between these readings is Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, (2 Cor 12).  This is Paul at his most vulnerable, telling us about a great paradox.  He talks about this thorn in his flesh.  While we don’t know for certain what that thorn was, we do hear how Paul wants God to take this from him. He even begs the Lord.  Most of us can identify with this.   When was the last time you told God to fix the thing you don’t like about yourself?   Frequently we presume that since we don’t like these parts, God must not like them either.  Yet God’s answer to Paul is clever and wise.  God tells Paul to trust his weakness, and to even lean on his weakness.  Rather than hiding or running away from the thing you dislike within yourself, how can you do the paradoxical thing and embrace it?  Can you let God redeem it?  People in recovery programs do this all the time and continue to show me the grace behind the paradox.

So we sit today with the these sacred texts:  Ezekiel, a man which the spirit enters and he gets sent forth with a mission, Jesus who is amazed at their lack of faith,  and Paul who paradoxically learns to accept what he doesn’t like in himself.  And all of them challenge me to simply stand before God and be in awe. It is much like Mary does in the Lucan infancy narratives.  She held all the things that were revealed to her and pondered them in her heart.   When we do this, our faith grows.

 

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

Scripture:

Genesis 27:1-5,15-29
Matthew 9:14-17

 

Reflection:

God’s Plan:  Life, Freedom, Love!

There’s a special “twist” today in both readings.  In the Genesis reading, Jacob takes advantage of his father’s blindness to deceive his father Isaac and get the special blessing promised Esau; and in today’s Gospel Jesus challenges the disciples of John the Baptist who were a bit jealous of Jesus’ disciples.

In their deceptive practices, Jacob & Rebekah lied to Isaac, yet God took that evil act and used it for His own good purposes, for it was God’s will that the Messiah would be born from the descendants of Jacob.  Truly…“God writes straight with crooked lines”.

In the Gospel “twist”, Jesus’ disciples broke the pattern established by the Pharisees and the disciples of John the Baptist:  they did not fast, but rather “feasted” with Jesus as people do in joy-filled wedding parties — or on the 4^th of July in the U.S.A.!  Jesus came to fulfill the Law, to set people free from their selfishness and sinfulness by his lived message of unconditional Love.  Truly…God has a Plan, a Divine Plan of Life, Freedom, and Love!

This July 4^th our nation celebrates Independence Day, an important national holiday.  We have the usual festivities of parades, speeches, lots of fireworks, family gatherings and food.  And yet this year the festivities are tempered by the continued presence of violence and war in our world (even close to home), the growing environmental challenges the world faces (and Pope Francis has addressed), smoldering racism, global economic woes, etc.!  We recall our blessings, and we’re invited to see that God does have a plan for our world to address our world situation — perhaps a bit different than we expect.  God-given wisdom & patience & deep faith will help form a nation that is truly free, truly life-affirming on all levels, truly generous in sharing its riches, truly aware of its position as a major player on the global scene.

Today in Jesus God gives a special “twist” to our lives:  in His loving Plan, Jesus comes to set us free from our sinfulness and selfishness, to share God’s Love and Life with our needy world.  May we Christians, especially we Americans this July 4^th, be living “fireworks celebrations” of the goodness and love of God.

 

Fr. John Schork, C.P. is the local leader of the Passionist community in Louisville, Kentucky. 

Scripture:

Ephesians 2:19-22
John 20:24-29

 

Reflection:

“In him you also are being built into this temple, to become a dwelling place for God in the Spirit.” Ephesians 2:22

I am reading a wonderfully edifying book called Thirsting for Prayer by Jacques Philippe. He tells us to “seize the times for separating ourselves from everything in order to seek God inside ourselves, in a simple movement toward silence, recollection and inward attention to the presence of him who dwells in us.” He also quotes John of the Cross who said, “You yourself are the place in which he dwells, you are his hiding-place. What joy, what consolation that brings you! Your treasure, the object of your hope, is so close to you that he is within you, or rather you cannot be without him.”

I’ve known for a long time that God said He would never leave us or forsake us (Dt 31:6) and that God lives within us as we see in today’s first reading, but I’m trying to be more mindful of this truth as I go through my day. I glance toward Him more often, stop for a minute and thank Him and praise Him and tell Him that I love Him. It’s really a very simple turning toward God living within me, but it lights up my heart and brings a smile to my face as I ponder this amazing reality. God, Himself, dwelling deep within me.

When you have a house guest, you check on them, spend time with them, and be sure they have everything they need. So too with God. I am checking in more often, and when I have longer periods of time, I sometimes imagine us sitting in my living room or my little prayer room, sharing a cup of tea (for you it could be a glass of wine, or whatever you like to drink!) We chat away about everything – sometimes the grandkids, sometimes His Word; or we don’t talk at all. It’s delightful just being with Him.

The author suggests that over time as we acquire the habit of doing this, “we will see that little by little, even in the heat of action, we remain united to God and can draw from his intimate presence all energy, all wisdom, and all peace. Then we no longer live in a superficial, agitated, disorderly, impulsive way, but truly centered on our heart, in which God is dwelling.” I pray that I can do just that and I encourage you to read the book! May God help each of us live more aware of His presence each day.

 

Janice Carleton and her husband Jim live in Portland, OR and partner with Passionist Fr. Cedric Pisegna in Fr. Cedric Ministries. She is the mother of 4 grown children and grandmother of 6. Janice also leads women’s retreats and recently wrote her first book: God Speaks to Ordinary People – Like You and Me. Visit Janice’s website at http://www.janicecarleton.com/ or email her at [email protected].

Scripture:

Genesis 22:1b-19
Matthew 9:1-8

 

Reflection:

Today’s first reading takes me back in memory to Resurrection School, in East Los Angeles, the year, 1957. We were eighth graders in the spring of that year, soon to graduate and move on to high school. Our Franciscan Sisters who taught most of the grades in the school, occasionally had us produce biblical “tableaux”, brief biblical scenes, scripted and memorized, with costumes and sets, to be acted out for the rest of the school children.

Today’s reading from Genesis was the tableau we were going to perform, and I had been selected to play the part of Abraham. Our Bible History classes had already introduced us to the patriarchs, the judges, and kings of the Jewish scriptures. From my perspective, I was playing the part of an old man (I even had a glued-on beard) who was being tested by God to measure his obedience and his willingness to do what God was asking of him.

I would have to say that the situation was not beyond the experience of a thirteen year old eighth grader. It is one way that the vocational discernment process unfolds. The discernment of God’s will in one’s life always begins with recognition that my life is a sacred trust which God has called into existence from wisdom and a love which will unfold throughout my lifetime. I owe obedience to God not because of a servile relationship, but because of my conviction that God acted with purpose in offering me life, and in order to fulfill my life’s purpose, I will discern and follow God’s plan in giving me the gift of life.

Today’s first reading shows how difficult it may be in the concrete realities of life to be obedient to God’s will. In Genesis 12:1-3, God has already begun his covenant with Abraham, promising to make him the first of a great nation. How can God then ask Abraham to sacrifice his son, Isaac? Or, more broadly speaking, how can God ask something of me that seems to have no reasonable foundation?

God answers that question by casting the episode in the guise of a test, a test of Abraham’s obedience. Because Abraham chose obedience to God, the blessing first given in Genesis 12:1-3 is made more explicit and confirmed.

Each one of us has been, like Abraham, called into being and given a purpose. The fulfillment of that purpose brings us the fulfillment of our lives. Throughout our lives, we will meet moments that call for discernment. “What is God asking of me at this time?” “Why is God asking this of me now?”

The model that Abraham provides is that of a person so convinced that God is guiding his life, that he could be obedient even to what appeared to be the most impossible of commands.

 

Fr. Arthur Carrillo, C.P.  is the director of the Missions for Holy Cross Province.  He lives in Chicago, Illinois.