Daily Scripture

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.  

Scripture:

Exodus 16:1-5, 9-15
Matthew 13:1-9

Reflection:

"Here in the desert the whole assembly of the children of Israel grumbled." Exodus 16:2

There is a lot of grumbling in the Scriptures and God was not at all pleased with it.  "And the people complained in the hearing of the LORD about their misfortunes, and when the LORD heard it, his anger was kindled"  Num 11:1   If one studied the things that upset God the most  in the Bible, complaining would have to be near the top of the list.  One of the main words for grumbling in Hebrew is lun.   The etymology of the word seems to mean to growl.  Complaining and murmuring in our life speaks of two major spiritual problems.  It is a discontent with God’s wise power and a questioning of His loving care for us.

In the first place when we grumble we question the wisdom of God’s plans for us. "Would that we had died at the LORD’s hand in the land of Egypt, as we sat by our fleshpots and ate our fill of bread! But you had to lead us into this desert."  All through the Exodus the Jewish people wanted to go back to Egypt’s fleshpots!  When God leads us forward to the Promised Land we must change.  All growth demands a change in us, and usually change is painful.   Discontent stunts our spiritual growth. It is a profound failure to understand God’s Providence for us.   It is a form of resisting God’s wisdom prepared from the foundation of the world.

Secondly, when we grumble we doubt God’s care for us.  "But you had to lead us into this desert to make the whole community die of famine!"  We attribute to God the most terrible motives!     We are like a small child refusing to take our medicine from a loving mother because it tastes bad.  In Mark’s Gospel when they are in the midst of a terrible storm at sea they cry out: "it does not matter to you that we are perishing!" 4:38 is there anything more hurtful we can say to God who gave His Beloved Son on the cross to us?

To murmur in dissatisfaction at God’s guidance of our lives is a terrible insult to God’s incredible love for us in Jesus.  I love St Augustine’s quote when as an ailing old man he was asked how he was doing.  He answered.  I can’t walk, I can’t stand, and I can’t even sit without pain. "Yet even so, since it is the Lord’s good pleasure, what should I say but that I am well."

 

Fr. Bob Weiss, C.P. preaches Parish Missions and is a member of the Passionist Community in Louisville, Kentucky.

Scripture:

Exodus 14:21-15:1
Matthew 12:46-50

Reflection:

In today’s Gospel reading from Matthew, Jesus is speaking to the crowds when someone tells Him, "Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, asking to speak with you." And Jesus replies, "Who is my mother? Who are my brothers? And then Jesus points to His disciples and says, "Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my heavenly Father is my brother, and sister, and mother."

When I reflect on this passage, I often wonder, what did Mary think of Jesus’ response? Scripture scholars are quick to point out that Jesus’ reply was not meant to be an insult to His mother or His family. Rather, Jesus seeks to expand our notion of who belongs to our family.

It’s important to have strong family ties. We want to have good relationships with our blood relatives, and it is difficult for us when that doesn’t happen for various reasons. At the same time, we are called to go beyond blood relations when it comes to sharing the love of God in Jesus Christ. We’re called to go beyond the boundaries of family or ethnic/cultural group or even nation when it comes to love. Jesus loves us without consideration of our origins or circumstances! He loves us without condition. But He challenges us that if we want to enter into a deep relationship with Him then we need to be willing to do God’s will in our lives. If we want to consider ourselves His sisters and brothers, then we need to do what He did, and surrender to His Father’s will.

May we seek God’s will in everything we say or do, in every way that we relate to others, and be part of Jesus’ family!

 

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