Daily Scripture

 

Scripture:

Isaiah 26:7-9, 12, 16-19
Matthew 11:28-30

 

 

 

Reflection:

Rest In Him

Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest.

This short reading has always brought me comfort. Through this Scripture I find solace in the fact that I can come to Jesus and lay upon His feet.  Rest is a concept that is lost on our culture today. We are always trying to be the next big thing, get a head of our coworkers or maximize our time. Slowing down and taking time shows weakness and vulnerability, which are unattractive traits nowadays. Yet, our faith is meant to be countercultural. Jesus reminds us that we are to take time to rest in Him. This rest helps us to gain strength to carry the crosses that we have been given.

Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves. For my yoke is easy and my burden light.

A yoke is usually a wooden beam that is set on two cattle in order to help them move the same way while plowing. Now when Jesus says "Take my yoke upon you," I think about the work that will take; a new path, new weight, new method. Yet, when we take the yoke of Jesus upon us, we are guided and taught His way. The way of joy, love, truth and hope. Uniting ourselves to Jesus on the yoke helps us to find out way. We wash away the old hurt and pain and put on love. When we come to rest in Jesus through prayer, we are reminded of that relationship that we have with Him and with those who unite themselves to Him. We are given a community of support that is also attached that same yoke. No burden is too heavy when it is given in love and carried in love. When we unite our lives to Jesus, he helps us to carry our burdens.

 

Kim Valdez is a Pastoral Associate at Holy Name Passionist Retreat Center in Houston, Texas

Scripture:

Isaiah 10:5-7, 13b-16
Matthew 11:25-27

Reflection:

"The Lord will not abandon his people." Psalm 94:14 (Responsorial Psalm)

Over the last couple of weeks, I have had the chance to visit some people that I haven’t seen in a long time. Age has seems to have done something to them. They seem to be much more concern about the current state of affairs in our world. These are people of faith and yet they seemed to have lost hope in the Providence of God.

For some reason people today imagine the present more evil than the past. For example, my friend lived during the Great Depression, during which affected millions of people and caused untold suffering and misery. He also lived during the Second World War, when millions and millions of people died violent and painful deaths in faraway lands. There were brutal dictators who systematically put to death millions of people because of their race and ethnicity. Memory will sometimes reduce the pain of human suffering that we have experienced.

No one is saying that these times are better or ideal. The realities of war, natural disasters and dictatorships continue to rain down suffering and pain upon innocent people. Maybe it is the constant reporting of disasters that provoke great anxiety and stress among us. Or it could also be sensational reporting that puts blame upon scapegoats in order to offer simple solutions to complex realities. For some, it seems that God has abandoned the world and has allowed evil to triumph.

It seems to me that every generation looks upon its present time and declares it the worst ever. In the fifties, it was the dictators within the Soviet Union and China, the military juntas in Latin America and the communist take-over in the United States. In the sixties, it was the disintegration of the establishment by the hippie revolution, the hedonism of the emerging generation, incurable epidemics and the addictions to drugs. We could go on and on. Each decade had "prophets" of doom who declared that the world would soon come to an end because of our worsening human condition.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus assures us that God has not abandoned us, even when we are surrounded by affliction and disasters that we cannot humanly understand, even by the wise and the learned. Jesus praises his Father for being in charge. He reveals to us that those who trust God as children trust their parents are ones who are truly blessed. They do not take on God’s role, thinking that they are the ones who have to figure out how God is going to prevent all of these terrible things from happening. God saves us one person at a time and one community at a time. And God gives us the resources we need to overcome any kind of suffering that we encounter. It is called Grace. It begins with Faith. It is made manifest by Love. So, we do not despair, but embrace Hope.

Trust is such a beautiful thing! This is what makes Jesus’ prayer in today’s Gospel such a timely one. Today, let us give praise to God for all the good things we have received and the courage to deal with the injustices that surround us. We are God’s children, after all.

 

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

Memorial of St. Bonaventure

Scripture:

Isaiah 7:1-9
Matthew 11:20-24

Reflection:

What if you knew for certain that there was a worldwide event about to take place and you told everyone you knew and no one listened to you? Perhaps in some small measure you would then understand Jesus’ voicing his frustration in today’s gospel.

Jesus preached the Kingdom of God and He preached its imminent arrival. He knew it was going to happen and He wanted all God’s faithful to be ready. He was, as we say in modern parlance, "a change agent." Jesus not only proclaimed the event, He was the event! He in himself embodied the Kingdom. As God he knew, like the Jewish Prophets before him, that the coming of the Kingdom signaled a different way of being…of living one’s daily life, of interacting with one’s fellows. And he showed this not only by the way he lived His life but by the way he touched others lives as well. Echoing the words of the Prophet Isaiah, Jesus had no doubts of God’s in-breaking into the world. He was "firm in faith and stood firm!"

So you might be able to imagine Jesus’ utter amazement when the cities in which His greatest miracles were done did not take seriously his message. These cities were blessed with a "preview" of God’s action in the world, but they refused to change. Whether out of fear or ignorance or even willful pride, these sophisticated cities of Chorazin, Bethsaida or Capernaum just couldn’t be bothered.

Like his Lord, Saint Bonaventure was also an agent of change. He led the Franciscan Order through changing times as they adapted message of St. Francis for growing medieval towns and cities. Like our Lord, that simple message of change was often ignored or reviled. But Saint Bonaventure stood his ground "firm in faith."

And what of us? Do we really take seriously Jesus message of the Kingdom? Do we live the change the Gospel proclaims? Are we truly "firm in faith?"  

 

 

 

Scripture:

Hosea 10:1-3, 7-8, 12
Matthew 10:1-7

 

 

Reflection:                 

Called by Name We Too Are Sent Forth

Yesterday’s gospel told us that Jesus’ heart was moved with pity as he looked upon the crowds. They ‘were lying prostrate from exhaustion’, like sheep without a shepherd. Another translation clearly expresses that the people are not worn out from walking. It says, ‘they were harassed and torn apart’. Now calling his twelve disciples, Jesus gives them authority and sends them out like shepherds to lost sheep.

At the time of Jesus the twelve tribes no longer were a political factor, more a matter of ones ancestry. The twelve apostles who are named today will be a new ‘twelve tribes’ of Israel. They will be a foundation upon which the community of the followers of Jesus will be built. We see in The Acts of the Apostles the urgency to replace Judas. Twelve apostles are needed! But after the foundation is fixed the gradual death of each of the twelve needs no replacement. The foundation once established is in place.

In Luke’s gospel when Jesus began his ministry we see him fulfilling the words of the Prophet Isaiah. There is something similar here for Matthew. Proclaiming the coming of the Kingdom speaks of a restored Israel. To the ‘harassed and torn apart’ the apostles  will announce Good News, ‘the reign of God is at hand’, and with the authority given them by Jesus, they will show the power of the Kingdom.

The Kingdom of God is established but until its coming in the fullness of God’s plan we, like Jesus, behold the exhausted, harassed and torn apart. We take our place among them too. And we are also privileged laborers in the harvest, continuing the work of the apostles giving as a gift the power of the Kingdom, given to us by Jesus. Being both the exhausted and the bearers of the gifts of the Kingdom, we turn to the Lord in whom our needs are made sweet with hope and the gifts we bear support us with joy, confidence, strength and gratitude.

These may have been the feelings of the twelve as they left Jesus to find the lost sheep of the house of Israel? They would learn later that being torn apart, harassed and exhausted would conform them to the one who suffered and died revealing God’s love. In that sharing they would have another gift to be shared with the sheep of the Good Shepherd.

If today you hear his voice know that you who were named at Baptism are called you by name, and the Lord sends you forth to care for his sheep.

 

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

Scripture:

Hosea 8:4-7, 11-13
Matthew 9:32-38

Reflection:

Reflections on today’s gospel from Matthew frequently remind us of the need for vocations to the priesthood and religious life.  However, in this Gospel we also hear Jesus showing us, as he often does, that discipleship, which we are all called to, is always made up of two components.  Jesus rids the mute man of demons, thus healing his soul, but he also heals his affliction.  Matthew tells us of Jesus compassion and how deeply he cares for the people.

This message is heard throughout the New Testament.  Jesus teaches us how to pray to His Father.  He shows us the value of going away for time to be just with God.  By his very life, he exemplifies obedience and devotion to God. But Jesus also repeatedly tells us to care for our neighbor, to change the systems that create poverty, to look for ways to love one another.  It is best summed up in the great commandment:  Love the Lord, your God, with your whole heart and your whole soul, and love your neighbor as yourself. 

Beginning with this Gospel , we will hear Jesus calling over an over again for us to become his disciples – to do as He has done:  to care for His lambs, to feed his sheep, So whether the call we hear from God is to the priesthood, to religious life, or to service as laity, if we listen, what we hear is a call to care for the physical needs as well as the spiritual needs of all the people of God. 

In light of the New Evangelization, we, as a Church, open the doors of our places of worship and of our hearts welcoming all and reaching out to those who need to be introduced to or renewed in the faith,  But we also must feed the hungry, clothe the naked, care for the homeless.  This is what Jesus has told us to do.  This is the true role of a Christian. 

 

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

Scripture:

Zechariah 9:9-10
Romans 8:9,11-13
Matthew 11:25-30

Reflection:

I can’t imagine the awful experience of being the victim of identity theft. Criminals find resourceful ways to steal our Social Security number and other personal information and then use that data to take on our identity. It is a crime increasing in American and around the world. Often it goes unnoticed until it is too late. A person receives the credit card bill and notices with alarm charges he or she never made. It can be frustrating not only because privacy has been invaded, but also because it takes many phone calls and lots of paper work to get my identity back.

There are also people who have stolen the identity of God. These ‘criminals’ want a God who is a warrior god seeking destruction upon the enemy, a vindictive god who gets even, an anger god whose fury cannot be halted, a god who remembers our sins and eagerly punishes us for those failures, or a god who just doesn’t care about what is happening on this planet Earth. The readings today counter this identity theft.

For the Prophet Zechariah, our God is a God of peace. Therefore, the people should rejoice and shout for joy. God is a saving God, just, meek and humble. What God desires is to banish battle tanks and warring helicopters, armed drones and sniper rifles, rocket launchers and AK-47s. More importantly our God wants to banish retaliation, rage, and revenge that destroy civilization.

For Jesus, God is the one who invites us to find rest in the midst of turmoil, peace in the midst of disquiet, and firm ground in the midst of confusion. "Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest." The Son of God, far above us in his divine nature, comes to us to share our burdens. For Jesus that meant death on a Cross. We neither have a God who abandons us nor a God out to punish us. This is the identity of God that Jesus offers us. "No one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him." God reclaims his identity through the compassionate and gracious acts of Jesus, by the love and faithfulness of Jesus that took him to his death on the cross, and through acts of forgiveness. We know how God acts in Jesus Christ. Let’s protect that identify by acting on it.

 

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

Scripture:

Amos 8:4-6, 9-12
Matthew 9:9-13

Reflection:

"The Lord speaks of peace to his people" (Refrain, Responsorial Psalm)

Today, the Fourth of July, we celebrate Independence Day in the United States. Almost every country has a similar national holiday. It seems that governments become overbearing and suddenly a desire to live a better life, a life free from oppression and tyranny, swells within the hearts and minds of peoples. They clamor for freedom and liberty and justice for all.

The United States has special readings for today’s Mass. The first reading is from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah, 57:15 – 19. It is a reading of hope and promise for a people who have betrayed God by their infidelity to the sacred covenant established between God and the People of Israel. It is a reading of forgiveness and tenderness: "I will heal them and lead them; I will give them full comfort," God says through the words of the Prophet in this reading.

The Responsorial Psalm repeats a mantra that comes from the heart: "The Lord speaks of peace to his people." For true peace comes from God. It is a peace that enables kindness and truth to meet and justice and peace to kiss. What inspirations those images give us!

Then Paul says in his letter to the Philippians (Phil. 4:6 – 9), "the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus."

Finally, the Gospel, Jesus is preparing his disciples for the time when He will not be with them. In this gospel (John 14:23 -29), Jesus says, "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. Not as the world gives do I give it to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid." These are words of encouragement so that we, his disciples, can hold on to these truths despite moments of difficulties and troubles.

On this day, we are thankful to God for giving us this country which needs to witness to a more perfect way, a way of peace and justice, of respect for life and the sharing of our resources, a country where no man, woman or child needs to go to bed hungry, or be frightened because of hatreds and prejudices that people have in their hearts, a country that can respect the other, just because they have inalienable rights. These rights do not come from a Constitution, but from God’s personal love for each and every one of us!

May this holiday open our hearts and minds to everyone who comes here, just because they are children of God and brothers and sisters to our Lord Jesus Christ!

 

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

Scripture:

Hosea 2:16, 17b-18, 21-22
Matthew 9:18-26

Reflection:

Did you ever notice how we don’t all see events in our lives the same way? My family loves to reminisce at gatherings. What occurs to me when we do, is that despite the fact we grew up in the same household, had the same parents, and shared many of the same events we all seem to recall them differently, so much so, I sometimes think we must have grown up in different households.

Today’s Gospel selection tells of how Jesus saw things differently from those around him and was able to bring new life to his world:

"When Jesus arrived at the official’s house and saw the flute players and the crowd who were making a commotion, he said, "Go away! The girl is not dead but sleeping."^* And they ridiculed him.  When the crowd was put out, he came and took her by the hand, and the little girl arose. (Mt 9: 23-25)

I pray that I may have the eyes of Faith and see life as Jesus did and as Rogers and Hammerstein suggest in the song A Hundred Million Miracles from  The Flower Drum Song 1958.

"…A swallow in Tasmania
Is sitting on her eggs

And suddenly
Those eggs have wings

And eyes and beaks and legs


A hundred million miracles


A little girl in Chungking
Just thirty inches tall

Decides that she
Will try to walk

And nearly doesn’t fall


A hundred million miracles

Miracle of making music 
When an idle poet

Puts words on a page

Writes on a page

With his brush

A musical friend

Writes the notes to blend

Suggested
 By an idle thrush



Then a young soprano
 Reads what they wrote

Learns every note

Every word 
Puts all they wrote

In her lovely throat

And suddenly

A song is heard 
Very pretty.

 

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