Daily Scripture

Scripture:

Exodus 40:16-21, 34-38
Psalm 84: 3, 4, 5,-6a and 8a
Matthew 13: 47-53

Reflection:

The first reading from Exodus tells us that Moses did exactly as the Lord had commanded him.  "The Dwelling was erected."  God, the Lord, wants to come and live among the Israelites.  He wants to make Himself part of them.  He wants to make them part of Him.  He makes them His people, His children, for He Himself, the Lord, is their Father.  And in The Dwelling He meets them and lives among them.

But what does this message say to us today?  Is it not the same: God wants to dwell with us?  God our Father and Mother wants to be part of us.  This passage from Exodus is a premonition and a preparation for when God will fully dwell in us, through the Incarnation: The Word become flesh, Jesus, the Divine Son, fully human in all things, and one with us.

The psalm that follows, I think, helps to lead us to this truth.  While it certainly calls the people of Abraham to love, revere, and dwell in this Dwelling of God, doesn’t it urge us today to become one with Jesus, the Christ; to dwell with and in Him and his Father through their Spirit? 

                    "How lovely is your dwelling place, Lord, mighty God!
                     My soul yearns and pines for the courts of the Lord,
                     My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God."

The Dwelling erected by Moses has become the Divine Indwelling. 

The Divine Indwelling, a theological term, formerly may have seemed very deep and mysterious.  Today we have a better grasp of this mystery of faith.  We grasp it in our hearts, through our pondering the gospels.  How many times has Jesus told us that He and his Father/Mother are one, that They will send us the Spirit Who will make all clear, that They want to come to us and abide in us?  All Three abiding in each other as One and wanting to abide in us, making us one with God and with each other: How great and glorious a mystery – how wonderful for us!  My heart and my flesh indeed cry out for the living God.  It calls us to the Eucharist – where Christ gives Himself to us and we give ourselves to Him.

In the gospel’s parable of the fishing net, Jesus tells us not to be concerned about separating the righteous from the evil.  Leave that to the angels at judgment; you spend your time swimming, delighting, in The Divine Indwelling. 

And his final parable shows just what these readings have done: The head of the household bringing from the storeroom both the new and the old.

 

Br. Peter A. Fitzpatrick, CFX, a Xaverian Brother, is a Passionist Associate at Ryken House, across the creek from the Passionist Monastery, in Louisville, Kentucky.

Scripture:

Exodus 34: 29-35
Matthew 13: 44-46

Reflection:

The Gospel today presents two brief parables; the treasure hidden in the field, and the pearl of great price.  Both are similar to each other, but with interesting differences.  

In the parable of the treasure hidden in the field, Jesus tells his disciples a very simple and brief story which could happen in the life of any person. He says: The Kingdom of Heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field; someone finds it and hides it again, then he goes off with great joy, he sells everything he owns and buys the field".

Jesus did not go to Webster’s Dictionary for a precise definition of the Kingdom of Heaven.  Precision has its place, but here he means to stimulate the imagination. 

The treasure, the Kingdom, is found in the field, and also in life. It is hidden. The man finds the treasure just by chance. He did not expect to find it, because he was not looking for it. What does he do? He does what most of us would do in order to take possession of the treasure. He goes and he sells everything that he has and he buys the field.

In the second parable, "The Kingdom of Heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls; when he finds one of great value, he goes off with great joy and sells everything he owns and buys it".  The merchant’s profession is to look for pearls and he knows their true value.  Here the discovery of the Kingdom is not by chance, but it is the fruit of a long search.

The key condition in both parables is to sell everything and in both instances the finder is filled with great joy!!  The Kingdom is indeed full of joy. And to enter into that joy will require us to always put God first in our lives…to leave behind all of those things that we once thought would bring us joy. To pursue the Kingdom means that we no longer pursue anything else.

I’m not sure what the disciples thought of this, but we do know that Jesus often talked to them about the profound cost of discipleship.  We know today that, as a group, they dropped everything they were doing, deserted their parents, let the fishing business go down the drain, turned over the tables at the accounting firm, and followed him.

 Our faith, our vocation, true wisdom, the desire for Heaven, are things which sometimes are discovered suddenly and unexpectedly, and sometimes after much searching.  The Kingdom of God comes in inches, and we are challenged to learn to celebrate every small glimpse we can find…like finding the Kingdom in every unemployed person that found a job, every alcoholic who got sober and is free to choose a new life, and every poor child who stayed in school and got an education. There is a price to be paid, but also a great joy to be experienced.

 

Deacon Brian Clements is a retired member of the retreat team at Mater Dolorosa Retreat Center in Sierra Madre, California

Scripture:

Exodus 33:7-11; 34:5b-9, 28
Matthew 13:36-43

Reflection:

In chapter 17 of John’s gospel we read, "And this is eternal life, that they know you the one true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent." (John 17:3)  How do we get to know the one true God?  We can read Sacred Scripture.  We can study theology.  But something more is required.

There is a saying that states, "You can’t really know someone until you walk a mile in their shoes."   We have to feel what the other is feeling and experience what the other is experiencing in order to truly know and  understand them.

Can we apply this thought to knowing God?  How can we possibly "walk a mile in God’s shoes?"

Who does God love?  Everybody.  Who is in God’s heart?  Everybody.  How do we "walk a mile in God’s shoes?"  By loving everybody.

To whom does God extend forgiveness?  Everybody.  As our first reading expresses it, "The Lord, the Lord, a merciful and gracious God…"  To whom should we extend forgiveness?  Everybody.  To have a forgiving heart is to "walk a mile in God’s shoes." 

Today’s responsorial psalm 103 sums it up nicely, "The Lord is kind and merciful."  If our hearts embrace everyone, if we choose to forgive everyone, if we are  "kind and merciful" to all we meet, we are well on the way to eternal life, knowing the one true God.

 

Fr. Alan Phillip, C.P. is a member of the Passionist Community at Mater Dolorosa Retreat Center, Sierra Madre, California. http://www.alanphillipcp.com/

Scripture:

Genesis 18:20 – 32
Colossians 2:12 – 14
Luke 11:1-13

Reflection:

One of the first things that religious leaders do is to teach their disciples how to pray.  This is true of John the Baptist, Jesus, St. Paul of the Cross, Ignatius Loyola, Teresa of Avila, etc.  It is what parents do for their children.  One of my nieces wrote to tell me of how much her three year old daughter loves to pray.  She prays before bed at night, at meals (home and in public), and if the Spirit moves her at the check out line in the grocery store.  She includes everyone in her prayers.  These are her parents, grandparents, uncles and aunts, cousins, and even Dora the Explorer!  

In response to the disciples request to learn to pray.   First, Jesus teaches his disciples the Our Father.  In the early church only the baptized were permitted to recite it.  The "Abba" Jesus uses in this prayer signals to us our relationship to God is an intimate one.  God is supreme and it is God’s will we seek.  Second, Jesus emphasizes the importance of persevering in prayer.   This is not to change God’s mind, but it is to discover what it is that God’s mind might be.  The salutariness of prayer is often the change that takes place in us.  Third, Jesus speaks of the effectiveness of prayer.  We are assured that our prayers will be heard.  God is willing to give, we must ask.  God is willing to reveal, we must seek.  God is willing to answer prayers, we must pray. 

This passage reminds us like Jesus we have an extraordinary relationship with God.  To the extent we allow God’s holiness enter into our lives is God glorified.  Jesus reminds us it is not just perseverance in prayer that succeeds, it is friendship with God.  Friendship is mentioned four times in Luke’s brief passage.  The neighbor answered his neighbor’s request not just because the latter persisted in knocking on the door, but because they were foremost friends.   Today’s  readings reminds us,  a generosity of heart is needed for prayers to be answered.  Abraham  (Genesis 18:20-32) pleaded for the elderly and innocent in Sodom and Gomorrah.  It is also the forgiving heart that allows God to enter and answer prayers.

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

Scripture:

Exodus 32:15-24, 30-34
Matthew 13:31-35

Reflection:

Today’s scripture readings provide us with a compelling comparison between building a golden calf and building the Kingdom of God!

We all know the story from Exodus where Moses comes down from the mountain with the Ten Commandments and gets an unwelcome surprise when he finds his people partying around a golden calf.  The people decided to build an idol for themselves; much easier to worship than a living God!

We also all know that we do the same thing in our own lives.  We don’t use gold and make idols to worship but we do craft our own idols in other ways.  We craft replacements for real relationships with unknown social media friends.  We build ways to control what we can’t control in life using "ieverything".  We construct shadows of meaning in our lives with various forms and attempts at generalized spirituality.  We roll all these into the fire and often come out with our own version of a golden calf!

In today’s gospel Jesus shows us another way to build something which will live and last.  Jesus talks about the Kingdom of God.  Jesus compares the Kingdom of God to a teensy-weensy mustard seed and to the impact of leaven in bread making; small items with a big bang effect.  It reminds us of the example from physics regarding the hurricane forming impact of a butterfly flapping its wings in one part of the world and eventually creating a hurricane in another!

The Kingdom of God is built from everyday small thoughts, feelings and actions; a very human experience!  Every time we compassionately connect with another human being, with nature or with any part of our daily existence, we are building the Kingdom of God.  It’s really a simple choice.  Do we prefer to build a golden calf, something we can control; or do we prefer to build the less flashy but more durable Kingdom of God?  The choice is mine; and yours!

 

Terry McDevitt, Ph.D. is a member of our Passionist Family who volunteers at the Passionist Assisted Living Community in Louisville, Kentucky.

Scripture: 

Exodus 24:3-8
Matthew 13:24-30

Reflection:

Frank is a recovering drug addict. Though scarred, he’s one of the few who have made it through the scourge of cocaine coupled with other narcotics. A handsome and most articulate young man, he recently spoke to me of a telephone conversation with his Mother, who lives in another town.

"But why can’t you be home for Christmas?" she questioned disappointedly.

Frank manufactured some excuse about a special job at work, and how a particular report was already overdue.

"Frank," she insisted, "why aren’t you coming home for Christmas?" 

"It’s too painful, Mom," he replied. Then he explained how recently when he’d been home his brother and sister were polite, but soon they and their spouses would take their children, and all would move to another room, frightened by his history.

"Then why didn’t you come sit by me, Frankie?" she petitioned; "I love it when you’re close to me and I can touch you and hold you."

"Father, this is the woman I cheated and stole from and lied to in the past; at that time she loved me with a tough love, and now she just won’t quit loving me. Why does she do that?"

I sometimes wonder what God feels when he hears ancient Israel (or me) say, "All that the Lord has said, we will heed and do," – as in today’s first reading. My anthropomorphic God-image rolls his eyes, or smiles, knowing my weakness. But like Frank’s Mom, I believe that God still loves it when I’m close.

And perhaps that is why Jesus speaks of a God who patiently lets the weeds and wheat grow together, not a God who insists on perfection. Maybe today I can learn more from this loving parent-God about how to care for others, rather than my own puny-imagination-god or limited-kindness god who demands flawlessness.

 

Fr. Jack Conley, C.P. is the director of the Office of Mission Effectiveness.  He is a member of the Passionist formation community at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago.

Scripture:

Exodus 20:1-17
Matthew 13:18-23

Reflection:

Testing from the Lord

When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, "Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?"   He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do.  John 6:5     The Greek New Testament word for testing is pi-rad-zo.   The basic biblical idea of the word means that God will put us into certain situations which will improve our spiritual performance.  God does not test us to find out something He does not already know. He tests us to better our lives.  Jesus challenges us with tasks that greatly exceed our capabilities like feeding a massive crowd.  "Philip answered him, "Eight months’ wages would not buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!" 

God has a long-standing practice of compelling us to look to him for help when it is impossible for us to succeed.   The Lord loves to remind us "when I am weak, then am I strong. 2 Cor 12:9   I become strong when faced with my inability.  I turn to God to bail me out of my problems. "Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?"  We must give our inadequacy to Christ.   Paul rejoiced when he experienced his weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

Some 2700 years ago the Psalmist quoted God as saying: Be still, and know that I am God: Ps 46:10 The Hebrew word "still" is raw-faw which means feeble or relaxed.  It is OK to be feeble, just remember that I am God.  Ronald Reagan kept a note on his desk from his mother:  "You might be too big for God to use, but you are never too small."   The tests and temptations of life should drive us into the ever-helping hands of Christ!

 

Fr. Bob Weiss, C.P. gives parish missions and retreats.  He is a member of the Passionist community in Louisville, Kentucky. 

Scripture:
2 Corinthians 4:7-15
Matthew 20:20-28

Reflection:
"Embodied Spirituality" is a buzz word floating through many contemporary spiritual circles. It arose as a corrective response to the massive and crippling personal problems caused by the rejection of the body. An embodied spirituality highlights the Christian awareness that the human body is a locus of spiritual revelation and divinization. This spirituality is biblically grounded in the mystical experience unfolded by St. Paul in the first reading:

We hold this treasure in earthen vessels,
that the surpassing power may be of God and not from us.
We are afflicted in every way, but not constrained;
perplexed, but not driven to despair;
persecuted, but not abandoned;
struck down, but not destroyed;
always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus,
so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our body. (II Corinthians 4: 7-10)

An embodied spirituality regards the body as the home of the complete human being. Once we overcome the prevailing dualism between matter and spirit, the body can no longer be seen as the enemy. It is a treasured earthen vessel and a physical reality in which we live. The distinguished Jesuit theologian, Teilhard de Chardin, speaks of his conversion experience as the discovery that matter and spirit are two dimensions of one reality. Christian statements about the incarnation never allude to the "entrance" of Spirit into our bodies, but to Spirit "becoming" flesh. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God … And the Word became flesh" (John 1:1, 14).

An embodied spirituality considers the body to be a source of spiritual insight. Physical sensations and impulses can be misleading.  Yet they can also be genuine sources of spiritual insight. St. Paul’s statement that "the life of Jesus" can "be manifested in our body" suggests that the body is a legitimate and reliable source of spiritual insight in its own right. In other words, the meaning of life is not merely something known intellectually by the mind, but is an experience to be felt in the depths of our flesh.

 

Fr. Joe Mitchell, CP is the director of the Passionist Earth & Spirit Center in Louisville, Kentucky.