Daily Scripture

 

Scripture:

Acts 5:34-42
John 6:1-15

Reflection:

The official religious leaders ordered the apostles to stop speaking in the name of Jesus. The apostles departed the Sanhedrin, the ancient Jewish court and the supreme religious body in the land of Israel.

“They did not stop teaching and proclaiming” the message of Jesus. So much for obedience!

Obedience is essential for any ordered society, civil or religious, a group of ten or a group of ten thousand. We cannot live without it. Theft, disregard for human rights and anarchy would ensue. We have been taught that obedience is a virtue and disobedience is a vice; Adam and Eve are put forth as examples of disobedient people; we know the consequences of their disobedience. Nevertheless, as kids, maybe even as adults, we like to be disobedient simply to be different, to assert our independence. This type of disobedience is not the disobedience of the apostles.

History shows us that disobedience can, at times, be a virtue and much different from a immature disobedience. Jesus was accused of disobedience by performing miracles on the Sabbath. Consider the refusal of the early Christian martyrs to worship the emperor or pagan gods; the decision to help fugitive slaves escape by the Underground Railroad; the risk people took to let Jews hide or escape from the Nazis. We are familiar with Gandhi’s campaign of disobedience in colonial India, and the lunch counter sit-ins and Freedom Rides of the 1960s in the United States.  Martin Luther King espoused the notion of changing unjust laws and government policies through active but non-violent disobedience. The United States was founded on disobedient acts like the Boston Tea Party, the Continental Army and the Declaration of Independence. There are the examples of the people of Tunisia, Egypt and Syria, among some of the nations seeking freedom from unjust laws.

The apostles disobeyed the law and the religious leaders. They were on fire with the spirit of Jesus. They could not keep quiet even when threatened with physical punishment. Today, we can admire the apostles not only for their courage to take up leadership roles in the early Church, not only for their bold preaching, but also because they courageously discerned when it was time to be disobedient. They are examples of ordinary people willing to risk the consequences of being banished from their religious community, being ridiculed, jailed, punished and even put to death.

We are called to protest injustice and evil with means other than force. Protest can be through dialogue, boycotts or disobedience. Yes, we want to be good citizens of the state and faithful Church members, but there are situations that call for an act of mature disobedience as the apostles discerned when faced by the threats of the Sanhedrin officials.

 

Fr. Don Webber, C.P., is Provincial Superior of Holy Cross Province and resides in Chicago.

 

 

 

Scripture:

Acts 5:27-33
John 3:31-36

Reflection:

The Gospel of John makes it clear there is a difference between the knowledge that Jesus possesses and that which John the Baptizer has.  John’s knowledge is grounded on the earth.  Jesus’ knowledge has its source in the Divine.  Jesus witnesses to the Truth of God and God witnesses to Jesus.  Jesus message that God is Truth, is the very heart of John’s Gospel.  Unless one accepts Jesus as being from God, one will never be able to grasp who Jesus is.

This section on the Gospel of John reminds me of the saying:  “We live half by faith and half by axioms!” Here are a few axioms that help me get through the day sometimes.

St. Pope John Paul II use to say that believers have two wings “Faith and Reason.”

Einstein said:  “Religion without science is lame.  Science without religion is blind!”  The theologian Johannes Metz said: “Contemplation without politics is sentimentality.  Politics without contemplation is tyranny.”

A few years ago, Edward Clark published a book entitled: “Five Great Catholic Ideas!”  These are the five ideas Clark postulates as the “greatest.” 1. God respects our freedom.  2. Sacred Scripture needs to be interpreted with the whole Church.  3.  The reign of God begins here on earth.  4.  We are saved by our community.  and 5. Great ideas develop over time.

Harriett Tubman, the abolitionist, who risked her life to win freedom for her people  tells us of the following episode.  Once while working in the fields, a team of mules collapsed.  The foreman, instructed his men to put two of the field hands in harness and let them continue the plowing of the field.  The men were unable to make the plow move. The foreman proceeded to scourge the men.  Harriet Tubman stepped forward that the men were not animals.  The foreman instructed his men to put the harness on her and to use the whip.   She collapsed.  The foreman instructed his men to throw her in a ditch and let her die.  Those working the field rescued her body and cared for her in her comma for several days.  All the time they whispered to her. “Tell what you see.”  “Tell us what they say.”  Eventually she regained consciousness and her health.  When asked about what she saw and what they said she replied.  “She saw several sets of hand reaching out to her.  And they were saying:  “We are more we are spirit.”

 

Fr. Ken O’Malley, C.P., is the local superior at Holy Name Passionist Community in Houston, Texas.

 

Scripture:

Acts 5:17-26
John 3:16-21

Reflection:

More Than a Word:  Love!

The opening verse of today’s Gospel has been boldly proclaimed by highway billboards and bleacher-folks of all types.  “God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son…”  Though repeated often and in often creative ways, the message still “packs a punch”:  God…does…love…us!!  No if’s, and’s, or but’s about God’s Love.

In one sense, “love” is a word used so frequently that it has lost some of its force, its value:  people love their children, their pets, a good meal, and Monday night football.  Rooted in the reality of God, “Love” is a precious word that is to be used carefully and with meaning, never carelessly or casually.  True love is backed up with commitment and action – as is found in the person of God:  God’s love for us is real, not shallow, and it’s backed up with personal “testimony” in the life of Jesus himself.

Jesus’ love has been our focus the last days of Lent, the Triduum itself, and now the glorious 50 days of the Easter Season.  Descriptive words for God’s love come to us these days in our praying the Scriptures and events in Jesus’ life:  glorious, redemptive, enduring, suffering, generous, precious, sacrificial, joyful – to name a few.  These descriptive words for God’s love are most welcome as we experience our share in Jesus’ Cross in our recent U.S. natural disasters in the Midwest and Southern states, in the ongoing conflicts in so many parts of the world – and in the commitment of married love by couples both simple and royal.  “God so loved the world…that whoever believes…might have eternal life.”

On fire with God’s love in their lives, the early Apostles gladly suffered imprisonment and ridicule – and for many, even martyrdom – for  spreading the Good News of Jesus.  The same divine Love is true for us and through us as members of the Passionist family, living centuries later and in other parts of the world.

Today, we ponder God’s redemptive Love in Jesus – and we seek to best live that Love.  May we be blessed as Easter People…living “billboards” and “bleacher-folks” alike.

 

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

 

Scripture:

Acts 4:32-37
John 3:7b-15

Reflection:

Our readings today remind me of someone very important in the life of all Passionists, namely our “holy Founder”, St. Paul of the Cross.  In the last hours of his life he prayed for several very important things.  First, he prayed that all of the brethren in the community would love one another like real brothers.  Then he prayed that we would be faithful to the charism and way of life indicated by our “holy rule.”  And finally he prayed that we would never be powerful in the Church.  Paul prayed that we would live our vowed life as Passionists just as the early Church was inspired to do and is recounted for us in today’s first reading from the Acts of the Apostles.

In the 4^th Chapter of Acts we see that, “The community of believers was of one heart and mind, and no one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they had everything in common… There was no needy person among them, for those who owned property or houses would sell them, bring the proceeds of the sale, and put them at the feet of the Apostles, and they were distributed to each according to their need.”

Wouldn’t it have been exciting to live in such a selfless and inspired time of the early Church?  And yet, today, the very same selflessness exists in so many ways in our Church and it is good to remember how true this is.  While we regret the paucity of vocations to priesthood and religious life worldwide there are thousands of men and women who valiantly continue to live out their vows and promises, living lives of selfless service, ministry filled with acts of kindness and charity, and a joy that is so representative of this Easter season.  And who can forget those countless people who are the very backbone of our parish communities, lay men and women who are there serving the poor, caring for the sick and elderly, visiting the imprisoned, and keeping the faith alive and vibrant day after day?

While we may at times be discouraged by events unfolding globally at the present time isn’t it refreshing and encouraging to remember how even today, as in those early days of the Church, we belong to a community of believers who are of one heart and one mind, who quietly live out lives of charity and walk humbly in the footsteps of the Master?

 

Fr. Pat Brennan, C.P. is the director of Saint Paul of the Cross Passionist Retreat and Conference Center, Detroit, Michigan.

Scripture:

Acts 4:32-35
1 John 5:1-6
John 20:19-31

Reflection:

This Sunday has various significances. In the earliest faith communities, on this Second Sunday of Easter, the newly baptized no longer wore their white garments received when they died to the old self and “put on Christ.”  They were now in the Body, for the Body, working with the Body to restore the earthly life to its originally intended harmony of the Creator / Father God.

This Second Sunday of Easter has come to be known as Divine Mercy. With our Savior returning, appearing time and time again with the wounds of betrayal and a horrible death, He restores forgiveness, mercy and peace (which the world, alone, cannot accomplish). And so we, The Body of God involved in the Resurrection of the life of the world. And, thirdly, there is this whole story of Thomas’ growing into belief.  As one author puts it, “Thomas had to see Jesus in His presence before He would believe in his absence.” So Jesus had to appear again to convince Thomas. After his appearance to him, Jesus promptly disappeared again. He was more absent than present. Once they would recognize Him off he would go.

So the Easter story is more about his disappearances than of his appearances. It was as if he wanted to indicate to them: “All right, I am alive. Do not have any doubt about that, not even you, Thomas. But I will be absent. I will absent all the rest of your time. It will all be up to you!” Up to us? Yes. Taking up our responsibility to enter into the process, the mission, which he came to introduce to the world. So how does he teach them to react to His absence? His first gesture was without words. He blew over them. “forgive, change all those shadows of the past.” (I could talk about some of those evil shadows from the past that continue to haunt the state of Alabama but there is neither space nor time). And at His final “disappearance,” which was the most dramatic – His Ascension.

He told them from above, “Go out into the whole world and bring them all together: one Father, one Mother, and one brother one sister, One Spirit, one family, the life of all!”   “It is all up to you.” That is why he blew over them, giving them His Spirit before He left, leaving us in His absence, as long as we will be here in this world.

 

Fr. Alex Steinmiller, C.P. is president of Holy Family Cristo Rey Catholic High School, Birmingham, Alabama.

 

Scripture:

Acts 4:13-21
Mark 16:9-15

Reflection:

“After this, he appeared in another form to two of them…”

Faith came no easier for first century Christians than it does for us today. No matter how many times the Eleven were told by disciples that they had seen the Risen Lord, they refused to accept their testimony. Jesus finally appears to the Eleven and strongly rebukes them for their “unbelief” and “hardness of heart.”

In this longer addition to the his gospel (Mk 16:9-20,) Mark reports that Jesus appeared first to Mary Magdalene. But then, the evangelist adds a curious observation: “After this, he appeared in another form to two of them…” What does Mark mean by “another form?” We need to recall that even those who saw the Risen Jesus did not recognize him at first. Somehow, the risen body of Jesus is such that he is not recognized until he makes himself known.

To Mary Magdalene, in her profound grief and loneliness as she searches for the body of Jesus in the garden, she recognizes the Risen Jesus at the moment he calls her by name.

To the two disciples, running away from Jerusalem and into the despair of Emmaus, it is at the moment when the stranger breaks bread with them that they recognize the Risen Jesus.

To the Eleven, including Thomas, in their woundedness, no longer whole and complete, no longer “The Twelve,” it is at the moment when Jesus shows them his wounds that they recognize him.

To Peter, who after the crucifixion returned to his old ways as a fisherman, followed the instruction of a stranger on shore on where to cast his nets, and at the moment he caught a miraculous number of fish, he recognized the Risen Jesus.

We are able to recognize the Risen Jesus, it seems clear by now, most often in the midst of our deepest need, where we are most broken.

But not always. Sometimes we are challenged to believe in the Risen Jesus even when we are unable to recognize him at all. In the older, shorter version of Mark’s gospel — that is, the version that does not include today’s reading, 16:9-20 — the women fled from the tomb in terror, even though they were told by the young man dressed in white, that the tomb was empty; Jesus had risen. This ending is abrupt, sudden, open-ended. Mark is reminding us there will be times when we will be called to believe in sheer and radical faith, even without the consolation of a resurrection appearance.

To the Risen Lord, however, it doesn’t matter how strong, how tentative, how shaky our faith may be. He has a commission for us. Just as Mark’s gospel began with the message that it would proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ to us, so now here at the gospel’s conclusion comes the Risen Lord’s charge to us. We are to proclaim the Good News of the Paschal Mystery to others. And how will others recognize the Risen Jesus? By our wounds, the wounds of the Body of Christ.

 

Deacon Manuel Valencia is on the staff at Mater Dolorosa Passionist Retreat Center, Sierra Madre, California.

 

Scripture:

Acts 2:36-41
John 20:11-18

Reflection:

The older I get, the more I go looking into the tomb like Mary Magdalene in today’s Gospel selection, wondering what has happened to the good old days. I reminisce about being a young man ready and eager to face the world. I romanticized then, that I would make a fortune, become independently wealthy, retire from the world of work and enter politics where I would straighten out this crazy world. I would set everything right

Supposing you live in the same world I do, you know I didn’t succeed. “I” couldn’t do it. I do believe the world is a bit of a better place because I’ve lived. That’s not so much because I changed others, but because I have changed. For one thing, I’ve learned that if the world is going to change, it is because we will come together and as Mahatma Gandhi says, be the change we want to see in the world. I see that happening all over my world today.

I see it in Pax Christi USA. I see it in my fellow Passionists, paragons of compassion. I see it in the struggling of my friends to live simple honest lives in common, retelling time and again, the story of Jesus, a story of not only hope, but one also of realized resurrection. “This is the day the Lord has made, let us be glad and rejoice in it.” (PS 118:24) I need only open my eyes and hear the Lord’s voice.

I hear the Lord’s voice in the ear-piercing play of the children frolicking when I pass by the local school yard, when I share lunch with my fellow seniors at the local Golden Diners and of course, when I take the time to notice the earth’s bursting forth in bewitching smells and colors, and oh, the sound of the robin who has at long last returned to my neighborhood. Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia!

 

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

Easter Sunday of the Resurrection of the Lord

Scripture:

Acts 10:34a, 37-43
Colossians 3:1-4
or 1 Corinthians 5:6b-8
John 20:1-9 or Mark 16:1-7

Reflection:

“You know what has happened all over Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached.”

“For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.”

“So she ran… They both ran…”

And so, we have come to the conclusion of another great season of Lent, Holy Week, and Triduum. The journey we have been on for over forty days is concluded and tomorrow we all return to our “normal” lives. Today is the great festival of Easter in which we take so much joy.

I have a memory that always arises around Easter. I was in the fourth grade at Immaculate Conception School in Monrovia, California. Monsignor Dee (of whom I was terribly afraid) came to speak to our class regarding Church history and feast days. He put the question to us, “Which is the greatest holy day of the liturgical year?” And I, sure of my answer and wanting to impress, waved my hand wildly in the air. When called upon I quickly spoke out my answer with great confidence: “Christmas!”

Monsignor Dee glared at me with an imperious eye and declared, “No! Easter is the greatest holy day! For that was when we were all saved! You only say Christmas because you like the gifts and presents you receive!” “But,” I countered with all the wisdom of my 10 years, “Without Christmas, Easter could not have happened!” Needless to say, Monsignor Dee was not impressed. The grades on my report card for both Religious studies and Behavior reflected that incident that semester.

Although as an adult I have come around to Monsignor Dee’s way of thinking, it still seems to me that what comes before Easter Sunday is what makes it the greatest event in our Church year. For to hold the joy of Resurrection Sunday without remembering all that led to it is to deny the reality of Christ’s teaching. The gospel for today does not tell a story of quiet reflection, of sitting in the joyful afterglow of a wonderful event. No! The gospel is filled with running here and there, going in and out of an empty tomb, of not understanding what has been done for us. For it says clearly the disciples believed but do not yet understand. It is only by sharing in the death of the Son, as Paul instructs us in the epistle, or contemplating all of Jesus’ life as, Peter does in the first reading, that we can come to understand what has been accomplished by Christ.

So in my joyful reflection today, I pray that the Father send me understanding of the great gift of His Son. I pray that as I take a break from all my running around to be with family and friends, I remember all that has brought me here. And I give thanks for the greatest holy day in our liturgical year.

 

Talib Huff works and volunteers at Christ the King Retreat Center in Citrus Heights, California. You may write to him at [email protected].