Daily Scripture

Scripture:

Colossians 3:1-11
Luke 6:20-27

Reflection:

The powerful and wealthy media mogul Ted Turner, speaking before the American Humanist Society, made this memorable pronouncement: "Christians are bozos and Christianity is a religion for losers."

Maybe that’s why we sometimes feel like Ziggy, the bald, roly-poly comic strip character who prayed to God: "I just want you to know that the meek are still getting clobbered down here!"

Judging by the values of our culture, Ted Turner may not be far off the mark.  Wealth, success, power and prestige are obvious signs of God’s blessings.  In biblical times the same held true, as did the signs of God’s curses like poverty, disease and weakness.

But in today’s gospel, Jesus shocks us.  He turns our values upside down.  His words fall like bombshells exploding around the crowd, us included.  What we call blessings are in fact curses.  And what we call curses, Jesus calls blessings!  Blessed are the poor and hungry and woe to the rich.

Luke’s beatitudes differ somewhat from Matthew’s.  In Matthew, Jesus delivers his Sermon on the Mount.  He uses the third person "Blessed are they…" And the beatitudes speak to the spiritual: "Blessed are the poor in spirit."  Not so with Luke.  His sermon is on the plain.  Jesus speaks to us at level ground, face-to-face, eyeball to eyeball.  He speaks bluntly about material and economic conditions: "Blessed are the poor…"

As for the rich, Jesus says: "But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation."  The word "have" in the Greek is "apechete," meaning "to have in full."  It was commonly used on business receipts to mean "paid in full."  No payment or service was expected to follow the close of the transaction.  In other words, what the rich wanted and received on earth is all they will ever get.  This indeed is a chilling curse.

So what are we to do with this unsettling Good News?  Megan McKenna, in her book, "Blessings and Woes," says it challenges us to conversion.  It’s "about seeing as God sees, not through rose-colored glasses but in the light of God’s kingdom that emerges in the world as a vibrant force to be reckoned with in the person of Jesus…"

These are kingdom values designed to shatter earthly values.  They call us, as Paul does in his letter to the Colossians, to "think of what is above, not of what is on earth."

This may not feel like Good News.  The world will ridicule us as bozos and losers.  Nevertheless, Jesus is looking at you and me eyeball to eyeball and challenging us with his words: I’m about to bless you.  Get ready for one of my bombshells.

 

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

Scripture:

Colossians 2:6-15
Luke 6:12-19

Reflection:

My dad died in August at the age of 85. Dad converted to Catholicism when he was 19, intellectually convinced that it was the true faith founded by Christ. Yet through most of adulthood, his faith life consisted of following the rules. For instance, he told me we go to Mass because the Church commands it, and if we don’t go, we will go to hell. Although he derived no joy or comfort from the celebration, that was reason enough for him.

I think he prayed, but I was never sure (as opposed to my mother, whose rosary and prayer books were constant features.) Rather than using words, he expressed his faith (and his love) in actions, and lived an extraordinary life of service to the community and his profession.

It was only after retirement that Dad started to explore the deeper realms of his faith. He read the entire Bible twice and devoured books on scripture, faith, morality, and Catholic doctrine. Unfortunately, he became harshly judgmental of those who questioned the hierarchy or various Church teachings. Indeed, it became difficult to have a conversation about faith with him, since his primary objective was to convince others that he was right and they needed to change their ways.

In the past 18 months, Dad‘s faith changed again as repeated hospitalizations required facing the inevitability of his death. In his active desire to grow closer to God, ideology took a back seat. He gradually became more understanding of other positions and faiths, and accepting of people wherever they were. He let go of anger and bitterness, and professed repeatedly that he held nothing against anyone who had hurt him. His main goal was simply to love and be loved.  When death finally came, Dad was peaceful and hope-filled. He was ready to go, and we sang and prayed him into the arms of God.

I wish my dad could have arrived at the faith of his deathbed earlier in his life, and it prompts me to deep self-examination. I try to live my life as a transparent instrument of God’s healing and loving power, but what if I were on my deathbed today (which honestly could happen)? In what ways would I wish I had grown closer to God, opened my heart, let go of anger, forgiven wrongs, and simply loved others? How have I become (as St. Paul writes) captivated by empty, seductive philosophies based in human thinking rather than living in imitation of our God, who the psalmist tells us is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, rich in kindness, and ever faithful?

I want to live with the kind of peace and total trust Dad found at the end.  Yet I don’t want to wait until I am staring death in the face to make the necessary choices that further the process, that transform my heart, deepen my faith, and bring me ever closer to God and my ultimate home. This is, of course, no easy task, and life constantly throws obstacles in the path. Yet I believe the full communion of saints, which now includes my dad, urges us on, and through the grace of God poured out in our hearts, it is possible.

 

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.amyflorian.com/.

Scripture:

Colossians 1:24-2:3
Luke 6:6-11

Reflection:

When Smoke Gets in Our Eyes

Luke continues the controversy about the Sabbath today. First we heard of the discussion provoked by the disciples plucking, rubbing the grain in their hands and then eating it. Something they should not be doing according to the Scribes and Pharisees. Today, on the Sabbath, Our Lord heals the man with the withered hand. The Scribes and Pharisees,  ‘watched closely’. Jesus knowing their thoughts speaks before they say anything. "They were beside themselves with anger," and they discussed what they might do to Jesus.

We see Jesus standing his ground, the Pharisees and Scribes smoldering with anger. Awkwardly standing by is our healed man. We hope that he is so happy that he does not feel he is the object of an argument, or being ‘used’ in the situation, or even guilty for being lumped in with Jesus as a Sabbath breaker.

In the Uffizi Gallery in Florence the statue of David is a focal point. One can see David at the same time that you see ‘The Prisoners’, unfinished statues of Michaelangelo in which partially carved bodies appear to be emerging from stone. It could be imagined that they are forever encased in that stone, their potential never to be realized, truly prisoners. There is perfection against imperfection; something that raises our dignity against something of total diminishment.

When a fire is smoldering there is more smoke than flame. Perhaps it is the dense smoke of their smoldering that gets in the eyes of the Pharisees and Scribes and blinds them to the beauty they have just witnessed? Although they ‘watched closely’ they are not moved to wonder at the work of Jesus hands. Has their religious belief made them choose the ugliness of the withered hand to the one that is now perfect?

We remember St. Peter Claver today. He called himself "the slave of the Negroes forever’. For forty years he met the ships that brought African slaves to Cartagena, Columbia, to work in the mines, ten thousand a year. He moved among then to give healing and human comfort. He taught them about Jesus, baptized many and tried to help them however he could. He saw their human dignity and did not turn away from them.

Smoldering may blind us to what is beautiful and good. ‘Watching closely’ is not the same as seeing with the eyes of Christ. And we all wait and long for the touch of the one who can set us free, will heal us, and make us beautiful in the image of the one who holds us precious in his sight.

 

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

Scripture:

Colossians 1:21-23
Luke 6:1-5

Reflection:

The Word of Life

If I am honest with myself, I have to admit that I do not understand, I cannot grasp the full meaning of eternal life.  I know through baptismal adoption my destiny is to return to our Creator God. Yet, St. Paul, today, exhorts us not to shift "from the hope of the Gospel that you heard." Maybe I have to understand "shift" more clearly, so I can more deliberately be involved in my destiny wrapped up in God’s Will for me to fulfill God’s Plan and return to the Creator.

Faith, trust, hope, letting go of control, selfless service, forgiveness and true Sabbath peace are all based upon the promise of eternal life of the Gospel. And I can never forget that all of this was acquired through the choice of a 33 year old man, Son of God, to give up his life in a horrible death. These sacred, but "this-side-of-eternity" realities are contained in the "fulcrum" of the balance between reliance on the law, the external locus of control (peer pressure), prohibition of eating from someone’s corn field on the Sabbath, and the internal locus of God’s gift of freedom, bestowed by the Lord of the Sabbath. And this freedom necessarily embraces the human condition of suffering, calling us constantly beyond ourselves in the service of others. Is this not what we are all about? We are going to constantly feel the tension of the "shift" from self centeredness to being for others.

William Jennings Bryan said it succinctly, "Destiny is not a matter of chance, it is a matter of choice; it is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved." 

Fully embrace this day the freedom-for-service God has given you to transform this world, one person at a time.

 

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

Feast of the Nativity of Mary

Scripture:

8 Wisdom 9:13-18b
Philemon 9-10, 12-17
Luke 14:25-33

Reflection:

In Sunday’s Gospel reading (Luke 14:25-33), we continue to hear challenging words from Jesus about discipleship. He says words that startle us: "If anyone comes to me without hating his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. … anyone of you who does not renounce all his possessions cannot be my disciple." I don’t believe that Jesus is advocating hating our families, or that we should engage in self-destructive behaviors. But I do believe that He is being honest with His disciples and with us in telling us that if we choose to be His disciples, we have to put Him first above everything and everyone.

Now, it may sound like Jesus is telling us that if we don’t put Him first we won’t be allowed to be His disciples. But I wonder if it is more that if we don’t put Him first we won’t be able to be His disciples. In other words, we can’t be fully Jesus’ disciples until we are willing to go all the way with Him. Otherwise it will simply not work. Why do I say this? Look at the apostles. It is true that they renounced much in order to follow Jesus. They gave up their livelihood. Some of them gave up their families. But even with that, they still had to let go of things, or, to put it more accurately, they had to let go of certain attitudes and perceptions. They still had to let go of their pride. They still had to let go of worrying about who was the greatest among them. They had to let go of returning violence with more violence. Peter, for example, did not let go of some of these attitudes until after Jesus’ death and Resurrection.

Perhaps we could understand Jesus’ words in this way: "If you want to be my disciple, you will have to give me everything. I have to come first, even before your loved ones; even before your most prized possessions. You may not be ready to do that to the fullest extent now, but this will be the cost of discipleship. If you’re willing to go that far, you will find yourself able to do great things for others in Me. My love for you will never go away, no matter what you choose, but know this is what it means to commit to being my disciple."

In a way, as we choose to be Jesus’ disciples, we commit to becoming the kind of people God created us to be. I have taken vows as a Passionist, and I am ordained as a priest. But if you would ask me if I know everything there is to know about being a Passionist priest, I would have to say no, I don’t. I would daresay that would be true for all married couples and single people as well. In our second reading (Philemon 9-10, 12-17), Philemon is challenged to be more of a disciple by how he treats his runaway slave, Onesimus. St. Paul writes to Philemon: "Perhaps this is why he was away from you for a while, that you might have him back forever, no longer as a slave but more than a slave, a brother, beloved especially to me, but even more so to you, as a man and in the Lord. So if you regard me as a partner, welcome him as you would me." In our commitment to God in Jesus Christ, we say "Yes" to God forming us into more and more perfect disciples.

As always, we remember that we cannot do this on our own. In our first reading from Wisdom (9:13-18b), the author gives praise to God as he acknowledges the impossibility of really knowing God: "Or who ever knew your counsel, except you had given wisdom and sent your holy spirit from on high? And thus were the paths of those on earth made straight." We can travel on the path to discipleship by the grace of God and the power of the Holy Spirit. May we choose to be and become Jesus’ disciples, and may God’s kingdom come!

 

Fr. Phil Paxton, C.P. is on the staff of St. Paul of the Cross Passionist Retreat and Conference Center, Detroit, Michigan. 

Scripture:

Colossians 1:1-8
Luke 4:38-44

Reflection:

Why Believe?

Today’s Gospel selection vividly recounts Jesus’ healing ministry:  the cure of the severe fever of Simon’s mother-in-law, multitudes of sick with various diseases – even people with demons!  Crowds of people followed Him, and even tried to block his path as He desired to move on to other towns and proclaim the good news of the Kingdom of God. 

We must constantly remind ourselves that Jesus is the center of our faith because of Who He is, not simply because of his miraculous powers or his persuasive words.  The demons driven out by Jesus had more insight into Jesus than many people of times past and present:  they declared to Jesus, "You are the Son of God." 

Jesus cured Simon Peter’s mother-in-law of a severe fever, but there were undoubtedly many other sick people whom He did not cure.  Jesus laid hands on those with various diseases and healed them, but there were many more sick people throughout the world at that time with whom Jesus never came in contact.  Jesus worked his miracles out of a sense of compassion, but he was even more concerned with drawing people to himself in faith.  The response of faith is much more important than a cure or a healing; our eternal future, not just our here-and-now lifetime, depends on our response of faith.

We cannot limit ourselves by accepting Jesus only if he pleases our needs or our sense of values.  Jesus reveals himself to us as much more than our human "view":  He is the Christ, the Word Made Flesh — and Son of God!  We’re invited to believe in and generously follow Him without condition.  Like St. Paul in the first reading, we give thanks to God for the gift of faith in Jesus, and the love that freely flows from that faith.

With and in Jesus, we embrace our needy world with the good news of the Kingdom of God.  May hope and healing abound!

 

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

Scripture:

Colossians 1:15-20
Luke 5:33-39

Reflection:

Fasting & Feasting:  Towards A Change of Heart

The "good old" Scribes and Pharisees:  today’s Gospel continues the saga of their confronting Jesus with their legalistic formalism…and so little heart!  "Your disciples don’t fast and pray…yours eat and drink."  For them it was more important to follow minute regulations than it was to help a neighbor in distress.  Law itself had basically replaced the Lawgiver!

Jesus met this issue head on and wanted to show that love is the essence of religion and that regulations are valid only if God’s purposes are served.  He asked more of his disciples:  to follow his example, and love God with one’s whole being and to love one’s neighbor as He did — a much more demanding life response than a fasting from food!  A new cloak…a new batch of wine…

As contemporary disciples, we are all asked to think outside the box.  We’ve moved beyond our Baltimore Catechism days; the Second Vatican Council has opened the "windows" of the Church.  The Spirit is alive in our midst:  the Church is a community of believers!  Our liturgical prayer invites and requires our full and active participation!  Our Baptism calls everyone to a life-long discipleship / involvement in the Church, in line with their particular vocation!  It’s more than what you do (or don’t) eat or drink.

No doubt we seek to grow day by day; we need God to open our hearts in both our fasting and feasting – to help us change and grow.  As members of the Passionist family, we ponder our lives and that of our world.  What are our values in life?  What value do we place in today’s quest for power, or money, or material goods, or popularity?  How do we "love"?

May God open wide our eyes and our hearts, to see the treasure of our faith, the blessings and hard realities of daily life, and the Life and Goodness that is ours in Him.  Together, we give thanks to God, and bless His name!  God’s kindness and faithfulness reaches out to us all!

 

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

Memorial of Saint Gregory the Great 

Scripture:

1 Thessalonians 5:1-6, 9-11
Luke 4:31-37

Reflection:

"For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits and out they come!" Luke 4:36 

I ask myself, "Can it be possible for me to accept, daily, the authority and power of God, through Jesus Christ his Son?" I am assured by St. Paul that I am not in darkness, despite that the time and seasons appear that way. " Dr. Martin L. King, Jr. spoke of this authority in his acceptance of the Nobel Peace prize, December 10, 1964. "I refuse to accept despair as the final response to the ambiguities of history. I refuse to accept the idea that the "is-ness" of man’s (sic) present nature makes him morally incapable of reaching up for the eternal "ought-ness" that forever confronts him. I refuse to accept the idea that man is mere flotsam and jetsam in the river of life, unable to influence the unfolding events which surround him.  I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright day break of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality…I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. That is why right temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant."

These sentiments capture the authority of Jesus Christ in the face of evil embodied in the spirit of a person depicted in today’s Gospel. This happened on several occasions after Jesus experienced a grace-filled moment from God, there would be confrontation with a person possessed with evil, e.g., after his inaugural mission statement in the synagogue, and, immediately coming down from the mountain where the Transfiguration had transpired.

Can it be possible for me to accept daily the authority and power of God through Jesus Christ? We have saints like Gregory the Great to personify how God works through those who stay awake and alert. Ordained at 38, appointed abbot of the Benedictines at 46, becoming Pope at 50. So I accept each day that the authority of the Lord Jesus is in me. St. Paul tells us that we can expect resistance and pain, as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman. The Christian life is a daily adventure assuming that I remain alert and sober in the reality in which I am placed, knowing that I am destined, not for wrath but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.

 

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