Daily Scripture

Scripture:

Isaiah 48:17-19
Matthew 11:16-19

Reflection:

Now that we are in the second week of Advent, the Lord’s message is getting a little more direct. We are still enjoying all the beautiful imagery that has been shared with us by Isaiah, the great prophet whose imagination has captured our minds and hearts in these early days of Advent.  But now Isaiah rightly shares with us another side of his prophetic message, a side that reveals no small amount of frustration with all those in his audience (and all of us today, too!) who simply don’t pay attention to what he is saying.  Imagine this fiery prophet, crying out to the crowds, who simply walk by as if they have better things to do – not unlike the mobs of shoppers in the stores and on the web today.  We hear but do not understand.  We are busy in our business and don’t have time to take seriously the word of God reveals to us through his prophet.

Hear these words then, dear reader:

I, the LORD, your God, teach you what is for your good,
and lead you on the way you should go.  If you would hearken to my commandments, your prosperity would be like a river,
and your vindication like the waves of the sea; your descendants would be like the sand, and those born of your stock like its grains…

All we have to do is listen to the Lord and learn from all that He is teaching us!  All we have to do is listen and learn, and we shall prosper like a flowing river!

The message is no less forceful in today’s Gospel from Matthew:

We played the flute for you, but you did not dance,
we sang a dirge but you did not mourn.’  For John came
neither eating nor drinking, and they said, ‘He is possessed
by a demon.’ The Son of Man came eating and drinking and they said, ‘Look, he is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.

The frustration can even be heard in the voice of Jesus himself.  The Gospel is given to us, the wisdom of God is handed to us on a platter, and we are too busy looking for the latest bargain, the latest discount, so that we can store up things that will never last!  And then we wonder why there is so little peace on earth and turmoil in our own land. The key is to listen carefully to the Lord, hear his words, and take them seriously.  It’s not too late!

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

Memorial of Saint John of the Cross, Priest and Doctor of the Church

Scripture:

Isaiah 41:13-20
Matthew 11:11-15

Reflection:

For this day in the second week of Advent, the Church has asked us to remember a Spanish reformer, St. John of the Cross.

An introduction to St. John of the Cross is available at the University of Notre Dame Alumni Association website.

Saint John of the Cross was a Doctor of the Church. From Notre Dame’s website, an excerpt from his long poem “Spiritual Canticle” stands out.  It interfaces with some of the messages in today’s biblical readings:

Quench my troubles,
For no one else can soothe them;
And let my eyes behold You,
For You are their light,
And I will keep them for You alone.

In today’s readings, Isaiah laid out a robust list of promises by God to quench our troubles. “Fear not, I will help you,” the list began.

The repeated response to the Psalms is, “The Lord is gracious and merciful; slow to anger, and of great kindness.” And in the first psalm of the day, “the Lord is good to all and compassionate toward all his works.”

Sometimes, finding one crucial thing to reflect upon from all the readings on a given day is challenging. Today was no exception. There is a bucket of theology to consider, from Elijah to John the Baptist to St. John of the Cross. However, the divine helpfulness emphasized among these readings and John of the Cross poetry might move us to imitate God’s behavior around “quenching people’s troubles.” For this alone, there are plenty of verbal phrases to take action on: soothe, deal with fears, help, be gracious, be merciful, be slow to anger, be kind, be good to all, and be compassionate toward everyone and everything.

What might we do in our next encounter with someone to quench some troubles?

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. 

Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe

Scripture:

Zechariah 2:14-17 or Revelation 11:19a; 12:1-6a, 10ab
Luke 1:26-38 or Luke 1:39-47

Reflection:

“Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you.”  But she was greatly troubled at what was said and pondered what sort of greeting this might be.  Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 

                                      (Mary’s dialogue with the Angel) 

Mary said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord.  May it be done to me according to your word.”  Then the angel departed from her.

She was an impoverished Jewish teenage girl who loved God and was betrothed to a young Jewish carpenter.  In the space of a few minutes of conversation with an angel she moved from being “greatly troubled” to accepting the will of God.  Also, in the space of those same few minutes, and her almost immediate acceptance of God’s will, she changed the future of humanity for all eternity.  What did she understand?  What did she not understand?  What did she ponder about this mystery in the ensuing days, weeks, months and years? 

Mary is quoted only five more times in the New Testament after the dialogue with the angel: twice during her visit with her pregnant cousin Elizabeth; once when the young Jesus was found in the temple; and twice at the wedding feast at Cana.  Yet we venerate her, not only for her response to the angel, but for her resilient participation in her Son’s ministry from His birth in Bethlehem, then throughout His entire life, including His passion, death and resurrection.  Isn’t hers a life to be modeled? 

The marvel of this wondrous virgin Mother of God is not only what we understand from scripture, but from what she has shared with us in the 43 reported apparitions that have occurred over the centuries.  Included in those is one to a peasant named Juan Diego on December 9, 1531.  Was Juan Diego’s surprise and disbelief of that first apparition similar to her own “greatly troubling” encounter with the angel?  Yet young Juan Diego, like Mary, said yes to the message that she gave him.  When Juan Diego, attending to his mortally ill uncle, missed the planned 4^th apparition with Mary by diverting his route three days later on December 12th, she intercepted him on his detour.  After explaining his reasoning for the deviation, Mary gently chided him “Am I not here, I who am your mother?”  Juan Diego’s uncle was healed, the Basilica that she had asked for was built, and is now the most visited Catholic shrine in the world, “Our Lady of Guadalupe” has been named the Patroness of the America’s and of the unborn, and Juan Diego was canonized on July 31, 2002, at the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City by Pope John Paul II.

Dearest mother Mary, Our Lady of Guadalupe, inspire me to say “yes” to God’s holy will as you and so many others have done over the centuries.

Bill Berger has had a life-long relationship with the Passionist Family.  Bill and his wife, Linda, are currently leaders of the Community of Passionist Partners (CPP’s) in Houston, Texas.

Scripture:

Isaiah 35:1-10
Luke 5:17-26

Reflection:

The season of Advent always provides us with a great opportunity to come to a better understanding of the prophet Isaiah.  Who was this person?  What was the passion that drove him so deeply to write?  And most importantly, what is he trying to say about God?

Isaiah is gathered with a community of people who are in a hopeless situation. They are trapped, feeling helpless without a tangible way of escaping their desperation.  Having resigned themselves to believe there is no way out, Isaiah begins speaking about the reality of their exile, yet he’s filled with conviction that God is about to do something about their situation.  Why? Because God is the God who saves. 

Isaiah frequently contrasts images that usually don’t fit together: lions and lambs, blind eyes seeing again, dry deserts overflowing with flowing streams. Not surprisingly we get some of that in today’s first reading.  Isaiah recognizes that only God does the impossible.   Most of us believe that God can do the impossible. We frequently would call that a miracle.  Yet, in reading Isaiah this year I get the sense that Isaiah is trying to say that God is much more than one who occasionally breaks through the laws of the universe for some greater good or personal request. Isaiah is saying that the very ground we all stand on is shifting sand.  If there’s one thing these last three years have taught us is that life doesn’t stay constant, it’s always shifting and changing.  There are always forces at work beyond us.  Our lives are filled with blessings, challenges, and the confrontation of evil.  Undoubtedly, living with the unpredictability of life is challenging.  Faith for us provides some kind of vision beyond whatever difficult situation we find ourselves.  And it’s out of this energy that Isaiah speaks. 

As we move through the images of this text trying to rectify in our minds how some of these items begin being put together, we realize this is not a human plan.  This is part of God’s plan.  And God doesn’t create chaos for amusement or entertainment. The sands beneath our feet continue to shift requiring us to keep moving. 

Most intriguing to me is the line that says, “a highway will be there, called the holy way.”  As an adventurous hiker I know what it’s like to be lost off the path for quite some time.  And I know there’s a certain relief which comes when I stumble across a road. The challenge is that the road doesn’t mean that I have reached my destination.  It means I found a road and I’m still a long way from the car.  Isaiah says a highway will be there called the holy.  Are we willing to walk down the road?

And isn’t that the question for the man in the gospel?  Most of us are quite familiar with this story of the paralyzed man who was brought on a mat by his friends before Jesus in a crowded room and lowered through the roof.   But I’m sitting here asking what was it like for him?  Did he have any desire to see Jesus or was that the desire of his friends who brought him?  What is going through his mind when Jesus says to him rise and walk? How long had it been since he had used his leg muscles?  Did he even believe he could stand? Everybody staring at him.  What happens if he makes a fool of himself, and he falls?  He probably didn’t trust himself; how could he ever trust a person he’s never met challenging him to do something he thought was impossible?  Yet somehow in that moment he goes beyond merely walking out of the crowded illumined room.  He bravely he picks up his stretcher and carries it. He’s no longer a prisoner to the stretcher, he now holds the stretcher’s destiny in his arms. 

Isaiah reminds us that stability and predictability are the illusion.  And the encouragement we receive is a particular freedom given to us that the highway or holy way may bring deeper trust in God’s faithfulness and generosity to us.  And understanding this is something which need to grow within us this Advent season.

Fr. David Colhour, C.P., is the Provincial Superior of Holy Cross Province. He resides in Chicago, Illinois.

Scripture:

Isaiah 40:1-5, 9-11
2 Peter 3:8-14
Mark 1:1-8

Reflection:

Isaiah tells us to prepare the way of the Lord in the desert and in the wasteland. He didn’t say to do it through a calming wood or beside a gently running stream. Isaiah knew that we don’t prepare pathways for God when we don’t feel like we “need” God. We’re doing just fine on our own, thank you.  

In fact, sometimes it is only great suffering that forces our hand and prompts us to create that path. It’s when we feel unworthy of divine attention, when we are hurt and in despair, when we are in the desert crying out “How long, O Lord?”, that’s when pathways get built either to or away from God. That’s when we need to understand that God comes on God’s timetable rather than our own, but we can hasten that coming by preparing the way to our hearts, making straight the paths.

God is never going to force the way in. Yet God is always inviting, always ready to come. It is we who are not ready, who block the path with obstacles or curve it around to our liking rather than building a straight line directly into our hearts. It is we who can’t let go or trust completely, who want to direct how and where God acts. It is we who close our ears to the voice of the prophets in our midst because we don’t want to hear that message. It is we who won’t admit our sins and failings, or turn away from judgments and jealousies, white lies, harsh words, harmful anger, impatience, and hardness of heart. Can we commit to going into our personal and societal deserts and wastelands and building a new and straight path for God?

That is, after all, the work of Advent to which we are called. And it is even more necessary in our world today – a world of power-grasping violence, abuse, self-righteousness, and denial of another’s dignity and rights. Please join me as together we pave our God’s path. Find a way, no matter where you are and no matter your level of resources. Repent and allow God into your heart. Then walk that path out of your heart, hand-in-hand with God. Gather the lost in your arms, spread the love that is the only thing that can save us, and bring the light of Christ to the world. Forgive. Offer aid. Defend. Advocate. Act. Just think of the difference we could make if all Catholics, all Christians, did the same.

Now is the time. Let’s take seriously our baptism with the Holy Spirit’s fire, and help Christ be born again this season for all people. God longs to work in us to give birth to a better world, individually and communally, and God just needs a path. Can we build it?

Amy Florian is a teacher and consultant working in Chicago.  For many years she has partnered with the Passionists.  Visit Amy’s website: http://www.corgenius.com/.

Scripture:

Isaiah 30:19-21, 23-26
Matthew 9:35-10:1, 5a, 6-8

Reflection:

Announcing the Three Comings of Jesus

There is a little girl whom I’ve known since before she was born. She was a latecomer to her family, her brothers all teenagers. I’ve followed her from Baptism through an occasional hello to the family on Sunday or her mom and her at a daily mass. Over the years she has become the main person to whom I regift from my stash of chocolates. Small bits with an occasional reminder to share. She is now a first grader. This Advent she got a bonus. I gave her a tree with little windows that you open, one for each day of Advent and behind each window is a chocolate! I wonder if her mother passed on the instruction, ‘one window a day’? Or if her daughter will simply chop down the tree with a chocolate binge before the week is over? Will this somewhat exercise in torture and delight, speak something of anticipation and patient waiting to a six-year-old?

Advent brings us to the unfathomable mystery of the Incarnation. Lukes’ ‘fullness of time’. Madeline L’Engle describes it beautifully: this is “the irrational season when love bloomed bright and wild. Had Mary been filled with reason, there would have been no room for the child.”

Not only do we celebrate Jesus’ birth among us, we look to a final coming of Our Lord.

What we know will pass but we have the vision of our gathering at the banquet table of eternal life. These were the words of Isaias the first Wednesday of Advent,

On this mountain the Lord of hosts will provide for all peoples
a feast of rich food and choice wines, juicy, rich food and pure, choice wines.
On this mountain he will destroy the veil that veils all peoples, the web that is
woven over all nations; he will destroy death forever. (Isaias 25: 6-7)

Or as C.S.Lewis describes it when the children in the Chronicles of Narnia are told they have left the Shadowlands (died): “School is over: the holidays have begun”.

And there is the ‘third’ coming of Christ, Christ among us now. It is like playing hide and seek. God hiding, our searching, or our hiding and God seeking. It is a game where those who play are meant to be found. Then the laughter begins. Advent reminds us that finding Jesus among us may have us looking into darkness still. We may not see him clearly, it may be surprisingly hard to accept what we find, and obstacles appear unsurmountable at times. An Advent prayer from mass sums up the three ways that we find Jesus coming to us: May we who have shared the sacrifice of Jesus, the gift of the Last Supper, receive strength in this present moment and may it help us along our journey to eternal life.

In our gospel the apostles announce, “The reign of God is at hand”. Jesus has come to us, he is with us, we look to our being together in God’s presence for eternity, this is what they proclaim. It may seem to be a jumble or mix, and it is. But each part of this mystery helps us to better see the others. How coincidental it is that a Willie Wonka movie will be out during the holidays. He is Willie Wonka who has the magical chocolate factory! I imagine a trip with my little friend. After waiting, enjoying but sadly running out of her Advent chocolates, perhaps in this move we will find something of the hopes and joys of Advent fulfilled, a vision of the banquet table of heaven?

Fr. William Murphy, CP is a member of Immaculate Conception Community in Jamaica, New York.

Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Scripture:

Genesis 3:9-15, 20
Ephesians 1:3-6, 11-12
Luke 1:26-38  

Reflection:

Open Our Hearts and Bear Christ to the World

It is God’s grace that allows us to do anything. We have a choice to use or not use the grace of God to bear Christ to the world. Mary was graced to be born immaculate and without sin. Mary was not forced to bear the Son of God. Mary was asked and she gracefully accepted. God does not force us to do anything. We always have the freedom to choose. Adam and Eve chose to sin, and this is where death entered into the world. Mary chose to bear the Son of God, and this is where life entered the world.

The Blessed Virgin Mary was conceived immaculately, and so is unstained by original sin. In the second reading today, Saint Paul reminds the Ephesians that God chose us to be adopted as God’s children, holy and loved. We all received a call in our baptism. That call is remarkably similar to the Blessed Virgin Mary’s, whose calling we recall in today’s Gospel. Like Mary, we are called to bear Christ to the world. We are called to be the voice of Christ in what we say and the hands of Christ in what we do. We are called to put this into practice every day, allowing ourselves to be the vehicle for Christ’s ongoing uplift of the world. Let us respond as Mary did: “May it be done to me according to your word.” Mary opened her heart to hear God’s word from the lips of the angel. Let us open our hearts as well as we hear God’s word.

Deacon Peter Smith is a member of the Passionist Family. He resides in Arizona.