Daily Scripture

Scripture:

Isaiah 55:10-11
Matthew 6:7-15

Reflection:

Here we are at the very beginning of our Lenten Season.  It’s the very first week, just seven days into this forty-day journey.  As we began this Season on Ash Wednesday, we were encouraged to use this time to fast, pray and give alms; all in an effort to refresh, renew and deepen our relationship with God so we would be ready to celebrate the great feast of Easter.

So, it makes great sense for the Readings for today’s Eucharist are on prayer.  In our first Reading from Isaiah­­ we are reminded that God’s word is always effective in our lives.  Who needs to be reminded about that?  Most of us do.  We can tend to become pretty nonchalant with our daily prayer, or even let it go.  After all, our lives are so full of demands that we have to let go of something.  Also, many of us have had the experience of praying for something with all our hearts but not achieving what we want.  But Isaiah is trying to remind us that our prayer is never ineffective.  It is the path for God to enrich our lives, perhaps even in ways we don’t understand.  Without God’s Word we are impoverished indeed.

In the Gospel we are presented with the beautiful prayer, the Our Father.  This prayer was given to us by Jesus Himself and many of us pray these beautiful words daily, if not even more often.  Jesus begins by telling us to start with “Our Father.”  That beginning can renew in us an awareness of our intimate relationship with God.  Language experts tell us that a more accurate translation of Jesus Word, “Abba,” is “Dad” or “Daddy.”  It’s Jesus’ way of   inviting us to realize how cherished we are by our Father in heaven.  How privileged a place we have in God’s love.  Jesus then speaks about the Father’s holiness and our desire for God to reign over our lives.

While first looking at who God is, Jesus then turns to our needs for daily nourishment and consistent forgiveness.  Jesus wants us to know that God isn’t just interested in our praise of Him but is deeply involved in our everyday needs.  God is with us at every level of our human experience.

Finally, Jesus reminds us that God’s forgiveness isn’t just for us, but it is to become the way we relate to everyone in our lives. 

As we enter fully into this Holy Season, may our prayer be enriched through our daily practice.  For it truly reveals to us the constant and overwhelming love we are to share with one another.

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

Scripture:

Leviticus 19:1-2, 11-18
Matthew 25:31-46

Reflection:

You shall love your neighbor as yourself.  -Leviticus 19:18 

The Lord’s call to holiness for His people is consistent. Just as He told the Israelites through Moses, Jesus tells the disciples from His own lips that our responsibility to a neighbor is to love not only in word but also in deed as we love ourselves. Jesus goes further revealing that the concrete expressions of love for our neighbor will be the standard by which He will judge our love for Him and, ultimately, our salvation.  

If reading these words convicts our hearts, it is natural to move quickly to commitments to DO more. However, the doing is meant to flow from the loving. Thus, the first step is to LOVE more. Christ has identified Himself with the desperate and broken-hearted. To see Him in our neighbor’s need, we must first recognize that He is in our need. Can we acknowledge our own wretchedness and love the Lord present there? Until we can love Him in the darkest places within ourselves, we will struggle to see Him in the suffering of others.  

In this season of Lent, we have a beautiful opportunity to see Christ present to our need when we seek Him the Sacrament of Reconciliation. He has told us that the one who has been forgiven much loves much (Luke 7:47). As we receive His loving forgiveness, we will be equipped to go forth and love our neighbor. 

Megan Silas, is a Lay Passionist at Holy Name Passionist Retreat Center in Houston, Texas.

First Sunday of Lent

Scripture:

Genesis 9:8-15
1 Peter 3:18-2
Mark: 1:12-15

Reflection:

“Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life.  Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth” (Genesis 9:15-16)

When I was growing up it was difficult for me to decide what to give up for Lent such as candy or going to the movies.  As an adult, I look for opportunities to grow spiritually rather than give something up.  Slowing down for daily prayer allows us to bring our many concerns and questions to God. How long will we be cooped up?  How long will I have to work from home? How will I pay the bills being furloughed from my job?  Will my mother be healed from her cancer? Will I make it through the pandemic?  Why is God letting this happen to me?

In today’s first reading from the book of Genesis, God makes a covenant with Noah and his descendants and when a rainbow appears in the clouds we will remember God’s covenant with us.  For a rainbow to occur it requires both sun and rain.  God doesn’t promise us there will be no more storms with thunder and lightning.  God promises to always love us and be with us and there is life after the storm.  This Lent let us slow down and reflect upon our experiences of God’s covenant in our own life.  Let us slow down to marvel at the wonder of our rainbows.

Carl Middleton is a theologian/ethicist and a member of the Passionist Family.

Scripture:

Isaiah 58:9b-14
Luke 5:27-32

Reflection:

The Lenten message is simple, but easily missed and almost always quickly forgotten: Following the ways of the Lord brings happiness and life. If we do what is right and good—if we especially seek justice for the poor and afflicted—we will be healed and renewed. If we stop dancing with evil, freedom will be ours.

In the first reading from Isaiah, the prophet tells Israel that if it wants light to shatter the darkness and joy to scatter sadness, they must confront the evil surrounding them by replacing injustice with justice. “If you remove from your midst oppression, false accusation and malicious speech; If you bestow your bread on the hungry and satisfy the afflicted,” Isaiah promises, “Then light shall rise for you in the darkness, and the gloom shall become for you like midday.” That’s all they have to do to be brought back to life. But Isaiah’s words are meant for us as well. If we deal with injustice wherever we find it; if we renounce lying and malicious speech; if we share what we have with the needy and reach out to the suffering and broken ones we see every day, then light and life will come to us.

In today’s gospel story from Luke, the Lenten message comes to us as an invitation. Jesus sees Levi, a tax collector, and with two words, “Follow me,” extends to him the unsettling invitation to leave everything behind for the sake of an uncharted future. Jesus calls Levi to strike out on a new path, a different way of being, and Levi unhesitatingly does. In a burst of pure freedom, Levi redefines himself from tax collector to disciple. The gospel suggests that if Levi is to find hope and new life, freedom and peace, he must reimagine not just his life, but even his identity. He must think of himself as an initiate on a new adventure, a disciple on a path to a different but richly promising way of life.

If Lent is all about being healed and renewed, forgiven and redeemed, today’s readings suggest this begins by reimagining who we are and what we should be about day after day.

Paul J. Wadell is Professor Emeritus of Theology and Religious Studies at St. Norbert College in De Pere, Wisconsin, and a member of the Passionist Family of Holy Cross Province.

Scripture:

Isaiah 58:1-9a
Matthew 9:14-15

Reflection:

Our Lenten season began with the prophet Joel’s exhortation to “rend your hearts, not your garments.” The challenge to “fast” stares us once again in the face and confronts us.

The children of Israel are indeed performing the outward acts of devotions and prayers to God. However, to the examining eye, their hearts are indeed far from God. The fasts end in quarreling and sunken faces. The outward actions are not drawing them closer to God and to each other. Why? Because they lack pure heart and pure intention.

When I go out to assist at mass, inevitably, people are interested in my vocation story. They ask, “Why did you become a Passionist? Why did you become a priest?” There is also an iteration of “Oh you must be very passion-ate. I say, “I hope so and I hope that passion bleeds through.”

I can say I joined the Passionists because I saw passion-ate Passionists. The Passionist family, the laity and the vowed, were dedicated to their ministries. They preached Christ Crucified and were made themselves present to the People of God, loving them. The Passion of Jesus bled in their hearts and continues.

In a special way this Lenten season, God is calling us to be passionate. Lord, help us to be passionate Passionists! May these pillars of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving come from our heart and bleed through to the ministries and the people we serve.

Fr. Phillip Donlan, CP, is the Associate Director of Ministry at Christ the King Passionist Retreat Center, Citrus Heights, California.

Scripture:

Deuteronomy 30:15-20
Luke 9:22-25

Reflection:

In our Gospel reading for today, after Jesus predicts His own Passion and death and resurrection, He tells His disciples what it means to be a disciple: “If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. What profit is there for one to gain the whole world yet lose or forfeit himself?”

When Jesus speaks about losing and saving one’s life, it seems that He is talking about the rewards of eternal life. But I think He is also speaking about our life here on earth.

We can be leery of giving of ourselves too much. We’ve seen people in co-dependent relationships; their sense of themselves dependent only on what others think. So they do what they do to win the approval of others. But that’s not the basis of “denying” oneself. For me, to deny ourselves is to deny that we are the center of things. Instead, we put God first, and we put Jesus’ command to love, first and foremost in our lives. And, as contrary to what seems obvious, when we put God and His command to love first, we don’t lose ourselves, we find ourselves!

When we give of ourselves in this way, it is from the sense of ourselves that we are children of God, loved by God to a degree beyond our understanding. When we give ourselves over to greed and selfishness, that is when we really lose ourselves; when we have sold our soul, so to speak.

In our first reading from Deuteronomy, Moses presents a choice to the Israelites: “I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. Choose life, then, that you and your descendants may live, by loving the Lord, your God, heeding his voice, and holding fast to him.

May we trust in God and choose life!

Fr. Phil Paxton, C.P., is the local superior of the Passionist Community in Birmingham, Alabama. 

Ash Wednesday

Scripture:

Joel 2:12-18
2 Corinthians 5:20-6:2
Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18

Reflection:

Between the jubilant melodies of Fat Tuesday and the delightful chocolate bunnies of Easter Sunday lies the season of Lent.

In today’s unapologetically secular world, ever rife with materialism, some traces of Lent still show up in common conversation, like the act of “giving something up” and remembering Jesus’ sacrifice on Good Friday.

For active Christians, the true treasures unfold when they engage wholeheartedly in the Church’s plea for reconciliation with God during the Lenten season. This period unfolds like a rich tapestry, starting with ashes and culminating in the profound observances of Holy Week. Within this structured journey lies a path to reconnect with the divine—a journey marked by prayer, fasting, abstinence, almsgiving, and acts of sacrifice.

To seek reconnection and reconciliation, we are called to deepen our prayers, such as drawing strength from today’s sacred words of scripture: “Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation.” Engaging in prayers and practices like the Stations of the Cross and the sacrament of Confession during Lent can lead us a little closer to the purity of heart we seek.

Reconnection and reconciliation also involve sincere fasting and abstaining, practices essential not only for spiritual nourishment but also for physical well-being. Embracing an act of sacrifice, whether it be abstaining from over-indulgence or offering up something for the benefit of somebody suffering, is a profound commitment to self-renewal.

Moreover, what better way to manifest reconciliation than through almsgiving—by generously giving our time, talents, and resources to those who need them? This act not only brings joy to the recipient but also nurtures the giver’s soul. Let this season of Lent serve as a training ground for a continued life of generosity and good deeds throughout the year, leading us toward the purity of heart we yearn for.

Jack Dermody is the editor of the CrossRoads bulletin for the Passionist Alumni Association and a member of the Migration Commission for Holy Cross Province. He lives in Glendale, Arizona.