Daily Scripture

 

Scripture:

Acts 6: 8-15
John 6: 22-29

Reflection:

In today’s Gospel, John tells us that on the day after Jesus had fed the 5000 a crowd of people sought him out.  They had to travel across the Sea of Galilee to find him.  When they found Jesus they had one question for him, “What can we do to accomplish the works of God?”

Perhaps they wanted to be able to do the amazing things that Jesus did.  Perhaps they were asking Jesus if he had any tasks for them to do.  Jesus answer seems quite simple, “This is the work of God, that you believe in the one he sent.”  Jesus asks them, and us, to believe in him.  Simple enough, I suppose.

Before we get to sure of ourselves, we should look at the first reading for today.  Clearly, Stephen believed in Jesus, the one God sent.  He was more than willing to stand up and witness to his belief in Jesus.  It gets him into a lot of hot water.  First the Pharisees try to debate with him.  When they lose the debate, they find some men to claim that they heard him blaspheme God.  When brought to trial, they then hire false witnesses against him.  It’s clear that few believe the false testimony, nonetheless, his fate is sealed…and he will become the first martyr for his belief in Jesus.

This reading from Acts reminds us that belief in Jesus has consequences.  Truly, belief in Jesus changes the way we look at our world and forms our responses to it.  Trust in God, compassion for and forgiveness of the sins of our brothers and sisters, hope in the face of human tragedy and love even for those who injure us are all expressions of believing in the one God sent.

During this joyful season of Easter, we pray for the gift of believing in Jesus and the courage to publicly witness our belief.

 

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

 

Scripture:

Acts 3:13-15, 17-19
1 John 2:1-5a
Luke 24:35-48

Reflection:

My children, I am writing this to you so that you may not commit sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous one. He is expiation for our sins, and not for our sins only but for those of the whole world.
I John 2:1 -2

Divine Mercy Sunday was introduced into our Church calendar by St. John Paul II, when he was Pope. This Sunday, the scriptures continue the theme of Divine Mercy.

Earlier this week, I read an article about a wrongly convicted man who spent over 30 years on death row because of false testimony given by a 13 year old boy. A vicious murder took place in his neighborhood. The police took statements of some onlookers and a 13 year boy told them he saw what happened. He lied. He identified an 18 year old man who was not even present at the crime. The District Attorney provided the witness with all the “facts” that he gave at the trial. Even then, the inconsistencies were many.

The Innocence Project finally got involved, and the witness confessed his false testimony. The witness said that he had the courage to come forward after his pastor asked him if he had lied on the stand. The wrongly convicted prisoner said that he had long come to terms with this injustice, in fact, early in his sentence. He said he realized he needed to forgive his accuser or he would become a bitter man.

The one having the most trouble is the one who gave false witness. He is having trouble believing that he has been forgiven. He said in a statement that he does not know how this man has the courage to forgive him when he cannot forgive himself.

Mercy is a grace. Sometimes, it is easier to forgive someone who has hurt us badly than to forgive yourself. I remember talking to a young woman who could not accept the fact that God could forgive her. She left, unconvinced.

In order to forgive oneself, we need to recognize our own sinfulness, our own need for God’s mercy. If we do not begin there, we become judgmental, condemning others for minor offenses while we live with our deep, dark secret, our sin.

When Jesus forgave those who had betrayed or condemned him, He was releasing them from the burden of their sinfulness. They first had to accept the gift of Jesus’ forgiveness before they could go and forgive others. For me, these Easter Scripture readings are all about God’s Mercy. They are about facing my own sinfulness with faith in God’s Love and Forgiveness. God first loved us, while we were still sinners!

This is how the Gospel ends up for today: “Thus it is written that the Christ would suffer
and rise from the dead on the third day and that repentance, for the forgiveness of sins, would be preached in his name to all the nations.” Isn’t this beautiful?

Alleluia! Jesus is risen from the dead! May our forgiveness lead to forgiveness of others!

 

Fr. Clemente Barrón, C.P. is a member of Immaculate Conception Community in Chicago, Illinois. 

 

 

Scripture:

Acts 6:1-7
John 6:16-21

Reflection:

I well recall a time when as a teenager on holidays with my family we undertook a short sea voyage from the mainland of our west Australian coast to the smaller recreational island and National Park named Rottnest Island.

The island is quite famous for the presence of the small marsupial creature called the Quokka – a miniature kangaroo-like creature so small that the first Dutch explorers (of that part of the Australian coastline) having never seen a fully grown kangaroo either, mistook the little creatures for rats! Thus they named the island (in Dutch) “Rottnest” Island (literally Rats Nest Island). But have no fear we were not going to the island to see rats, but a truly remarkable little marsupial (and  member of the kangaroo family) – a species that had been preserved by nature to flourished on this same island due to the lack of any foreign predator like cats or other hunting animals.

However before I digress too far, it was the voyage back from the day’s excursion on the Island that probably proved to be the most exciting part of the day – at least to us boys.

The sea land between the mainland and the island is narrow and as such strong winds can whip up the ocean into tremendous waves with quite some force. The ferry taking us was one of the smaller ones and so it was rocked from side to side and stern to bow! Of course to the four boys in the family this was nothing but fun and a real delight since it seemed like a roller coaster ride. I am sure the ride back for my parents, who no doubt feared the loss of all the family to a drowning at sea, was in fact quite a fearful time!

I recall this moment in my life because I wonder if the phrase “the sea was stirred up because a strong wind was blowing” might provide us with an alternate hypothesis for the origin of the ‘fear’ the disciples experience in today’s gospel. Because strangely enough, the way our text reads for us, it is not the stormy seas themselves that provoke the fears; rather it is the fact that they see Jesus is coming to them across the sea. Despite the wind and waves it is the manifestation of such authority or power by Jesus that seems to generate the fear!

Of course we can speak of the symbolic meaning of the story too and see the boat as an image of the little church setting out to be faithful to Jesus and yet still finding itself caught in huge difficulties and fearful situations much like a storm. But the dilemma still remains – why become fearful only when their Lord and Saviour approaches?

So on either level we have this mysterious presence of fear.

Fear of course can be the dark enemy of faith. By contrast that other factor we call ‘doubt’ can be disturbing, but in fact often resides near and accompanies faith all through one’s life. If all were certain then there’d be little need for faith and so doubt has its place in our spiritual lives and we should not become overly anxious about it.

So not doubt, but fear can be the problem. Fear can paralyse us and turn us away from trust. It can prevent us from thinking clearly let alone acting strongly in the face of injustice or danger. What’s more if we do act, but act from fear, and then it can cause us to make awful decisions.

And fear can strike when we least expect it. Fear of danger – like my family’s stormy sea ride – is natural enough and a response to surprising or unexpected events.  But other fears arise from all sorts of dimensions – from ignorance, superstitions or even belief systems or from moments where we face naked aggression or unknown situations. While many or all of these fears can paralyse us there are moments where they can  also serve to warn us and even save us from dangers.

But there is another kind of fear too – the fear of intimacy, closeness and surrender of self to another. This kind of fear seems to work against to our very best interests and often our deepest desires.  This kind of fear can work against us in our relationships and prevent us working to enter into the very intimacy we deeply seek in life.

Such fear can also be at work in our spiritual life too.  Such fear, unexamined and unnamed – and thus untamed – and in opposition to the Spirit’s gentle prompting,  can  keep us at a distance from God’s loving hand or consign Jesus to the role of ‘friend at a distance’ rather than allowing him to be the true soul friend that he wishes to be to each of us.

So perhaps today, rather than seeking a solution to the origins of the fear in our gospel text, we might instead simply note the words of Jesus “It is I. Do not be afraid.

If we make these words a mantra for our own spirit and try to live close to them then we can trust that Jesus will always be near, even coming to us in the stormy times of life, and that we need not fear inviting him ‘in’. For in essence his Spirit lives within us already preparing the way and Jesus himself only seeks to know love and serve us. Let us not be afraid of entering into an intimate sharing with him each and every day of our lives.

If he is present to us, with us, for us and in us, then we have little to fear.

 

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.

 

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.