Daily Scripture

Scripture:

Acts 5:12-16
Revelation 1:9-11a, 12-13, 17-19
John 20:19-31

Reflection:

I hate to say it, but I think old age is finally catching up with me. I live in Chicago, one of the most Catholic cities in the world, and what do I see? I see babies being shot and killed. I see church buildings that once were filled and buzzing with activity, now empty and shuttered. Public and church leaders alike insist we don’t have the money, we can’t afford the personnel. I see a public school system that spends more than ever before and yet fails to get the majority of their students through to graduation. Then I hear Pope Francis in his inauguration say the mission of the church: "means respecting each of God’s creatures and respecting the environment in which we live. It means protecting people, showing loving concern for each and every person, especially children, the elderly, those in need, who are often the last we think about."

Truly, I feel like Thomas in today’s readings who says, I don’t believe and until I see Catholic politicians more concerned about making sure sick people are taken care of or school children get the care and attention they need than balancing their made up budgets, I will continue being the doubting Thomas.

 

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

Scripture:

Acts 4:13-21
Mark 16:9-15

Reflection:

"I believe; help my unbelief." Those are words, in Mark’s Gospel, of a father seeking a healing from Jesus for his sick child. Familiar words that we pray at times. Our faith is strong but not perfect. There are moments we don’t understand what God is doing in our life; we feel neglected; we are in pain; we are angry. "I believe; help my unbelief."

Talib Huff, in yesterday’s reflection, invited us to find Jesus not only in remarkable events but also in the familiar activities of our life, like eating a meal together. The readings today carry forward that theme that the risen Christ is present always and everywhere; he is not thwarted by locked doors, walls, fears or doubts.

The readings today describe the inconsistent sides of faith. We hear Jesus rebuke the apostles for their weak faith and stubborn hearts. They have heard two independent and reliable reports about the resurrection of Jesus, yet they didn’t believe. In the first reading, we listen to the story of Peter and John preaching in public. The religious leaders demanded that they stop. However, the two apostles firmly and boldly stand against the threats of the Jewish leaders. The apostles don’t back down but continue to proclaim the story of the resurrection. In one situation the apostles’ faith has been severely weakened; in another their faith is as strong as rock.

"I believe; help my unbelief." Both the good times and bad times of our faith journey are indispensable parts of the journey. Intellectual and emotional turmoil can plague any of us at a given moment in our lives. No one is characterized by a "red-hot" faith around the clock. We feel neglected; we don’t understand why the Lord doesn’t rush to our aid. We refuse to talk to him (i.e., we don’t pray). We think we can punish God by not going to Mass on Sunday. We may even say thoughtless things about God, figuratively shaking our fist in his face.

The locked door and the strong walls of the room in which the fearful and depressed apostles huddled after the death of Jesus did not keep Jesus out of their lives. He appears and says, "Peace be with you." When we close the door and shut ourselves up in self-pity or anger or despair, we have not truly isolated ourselves from the risen Christ. That is the very moment, if we are willing to patiently listen, we hear a quiet whisper, "Peace be with you."

 

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

Scripture:
Acts 3:1-10
Luke 24:13-35

Reflection:
"It is finished."  Mary, the wife of Clopas, trembled as she heard those dying words as Jesus bowed his head and surrendered his spirit.  Clopas gave way to tears as his wife repeated "It is finished." on Good Friday night.

Sunday brought strange stories of Jesus appearing to women folk.  Peter and John told of an empty tomb.  Hatred of Jesus pursuing Him even in his grave?  For Clopas the only message was "It is finished."  The hopes he had in Jesus were dead and buried.  It was time to move on.

So with Mary, his wife, he begins his journey to Emmeus.  Thoughts and feelings were shared with each sorrowful step.  Then a soft-spoken stranger was with them and reaching into the Scriptures to make sense of what seemed a meaningless, hopeless tragedy.  "Was it not necessary that the Messiah suffer and so enter His glory?"  A warming dawn in hearts growing cold!

Emmeus came into view.  This wise stranger must share bread with them.  And with the breaking of the bread, eyes, minds, hearts were opened.

 Oh yes, sin and sorrow are finished.  Clopas and Mary now become witnesses of the new beginning.  They are witnesses to the triumphal inauguration of the Kingdom of God.  Christ is risen.   In Clopas and Mary, in the charged and changed followers in Jerusalem "all things are new."   The never-ending of salvation and grace now prevails!   And as Clopas and Mary shared that good news, so must we do in our day!     

 

Fr. Fred Sucher, C.P. is retired and lives in the Sacred Heart Passionist Community in Louisville, Kentucky.  For many years he taught philosophy to Passionist seminarians.                                                      

 

Scripture:

Acts of the Apostles 3:11-26
Psalm 8
Luke 24:35-48

 

 

Reflection:

The Easter Octave:  "Peace Be With You"

In almost all of his resurrection appearances, Jesus greets his disciples by words of "peace". He seems eager to dispel any fear in their hearts…and when you think about it, without faith we humans have every reason to fear.  Sickness, economic uncertainty, loneliness, violence, hunger, etc.:  all are too common in today’s world, just as it was in the time of Jesus.

The risen Jesus shows us that we have no reason to fear the future.  In His life, death, and resurrection, He triumphed over sin and death.  In his entire ministry of teaching, preaching and healing, Jesus revealed that he has fulfilled all the promises God made throughout the Old Testament era; such was the point St. Peter wanted to make in the sermon that is our first reading today.  We can thus be confident that both we and our entire world are in the loving hands of God…there’s no reason to fear.

Jesus’ words of "Peace be with you" are not an empty, casual greeting.  They express the great gift of God’s "shalom" which can dissipate all fear from our lives and embolden us to proclaim by word and deed God’s unconditional love for our needy world.  Are we women and men of Jesus’ peace?  Do we radiate that Christ-centered peace in the 1,001 details of modern life? 

As Easter People, alleluia is our song; Jesus’ gift of peace adds a richness that invites the world to sing along.  Let’s teach the world to sing…

 

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

Scripture:

Acts 2:36-41
John 20:11-18

Reflection:

The days of Lent have passed; our Easter celebrations are waning, spring break has come to an end for many young people, and we look forward to the passing of our protracted winter weather.

Today’s first reading, from the Pentecost account of the Apostles’ first preaching foray into the streets of Jerusalem, will be back before us in a few weeks.  But the gospel passage is particularly relevant for us as we spend the Easter Season trying to embrace the meaning of the gospel acclamation, He is risen!

I say, "embrace" very deliberately.  This gospel passage is remarkable for its physicality.  The verbs emphasize that this is no dream, neither is it the "spiritualization" of a belief in the resurrection of Christ.  Mary Magdalen, weeping, bending over to peek into the tomb; two angels, sitting, where the Body of Jesus had been.  They said….She said, They have taken my Lord, I don’t know where they laid him.  She turned, and saw Jesus….Whom are you looking for?…Sir, if you carried him away, tell me where you laid him, and I will take him….Jesus said, Stop holding on to me, I have not yet ascended to the Father….go to my brothers and tell them….Mary went and announced to the disciples, "I have seen the Lord," and then reported what he had told her.

This bit of the Gospel is rightly cited as an example of the preference given to women in the proclamation of the Gospel message.  It is also an example of how powerful the love of Mary was for her "teacher".  In spite of the ignominious death of Jesus only three days earlier, Mary is the one who retraces the steps of the burial party back to the tomb, to "peek into the tomb", and to engage those she finds there in the quest for his body.  Once she recognizes Jesus, she clings to his body. 

The message is clear; on the first day of the week following the crucifixion of Jesus, he is present among them; he seeks them out, he comforts and consoles them.  His presence is so powerful, that it gives courage and conviction to the small core of his followers who will be visited by the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, and it will continue to exist in the body of his followers who become the household, the eklesia of Jesus’ presence in the world.  It is a real presence, a tangible presence, a caring presence. 

As we continue to marvel at the grace given to the Church in the election of Pope Francis, let us remember that the same Holy Spirit of God abides and stirs and inspires us to be the body of the Risen Christ for the world today.

 

Fr. Arthur Carrillo, C.P.  is the director of the Missions for Holy Cross Province.  He lives in Chicago, Illinois. 

Scripture:

Acts 2:14, 22-33
Matthew 28:8-15

Reflection:

On this Monday of Easter Week the church calls upon us to continue to praise and thank our God, to rejoice and shout our alleluias from the housetops, from the streets, through the fields and from the hills and mountains.  We continue our joy, our hope and our love born in us yesterday, when God raised our Lord Jesus Christ from the tomb. Let us rejoice, for he who was dead is now alive, resurrected, and living among us and within us.  Alleluia!

Our readings begin actually with Pentecost Day, from the Acts of the Apostles.  Peter, now filled with the Holy Spirit, stands up with the other Apostles and declares to all the men of Jerusalem that this man Jesus, who had lived among them doing nothing but good works, miracles and signs of healing, even raising the dead; who had come to them  preaching the word of God and the coming of the kingdom of heaven; and whom they in turn had cruelly killed – that this man, Jesus the Nazorean, God had actually raised up from the dead.  He had brought him in the flesh to sit at His right hand in heavenly glory.  Peter declares to all, "God raised this Jesus: of this we are all witnesses.  Exalted at the right hand of God, he poured forth the promise of the Holy Spirit that he received from the Father, as you both see and hear."

Matthew in the gospel returns us to Easter Day.  Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Joseph had been to the tomb in the early morning only to find it empty.  There they had learned from the angel that Jesus had indeed been raised from the dead and that they were to go and tell the disciples.  Along their way Jesus suddenly met them – the risen Jesus in the flesh – and they embraced his feet.  Jesus repeats the message of the angel – "Go tell my brothers to go to Galilee and there they will see me."  

We end with the example of the women – overjoyed, let us with them go and announce the good news.  God so loved us that He sent his only son, and that son’s very human death in complete abandonment to His Father has saved him and us – made us all children of God, sisters and brothers to Jesus Christ – and he now lives within us through his Spirit. 

"Breathe on us, O Breath of God,
Fill us with life anew, 
That we may love what you do love,
And do what you would do."

 

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:

Acts 4:1-12
John 21:1-14

Reflection:

Peter figures prominently in two of our readings today. However, the events are out of order chronologically. In the first reading from the Acts the Apostles, we see Peter after he has fully integrated the Christ event. Here he is "filled with the Holy Spirit," healing and teaching as a member of the body of Christ.

In the Gospel, Peter is still in a period of discernment. A better word might be confusion. This simple Galilean fisherman had left his work and old life behind. He had been with Jesus through difficult times and had seen Him perform signs and wonders. He had followed all the way to Jerusalem and had seen Him taken prisoner, tried, and executed. All of Peter’s preconceived notions of God, the Messiah, and of Jesus riding triumphantly into the Holy City, declaring the new Kingdom of God, and wiping away the Roman rule had vanished. It’s easy to imagine the Peter’s tears in the courtyard of the high priest had been not only for his betrayal of Jesus, but for all that he had lost as well.

Here we find Peter sitting with his companions and friends. Still the impulsive, decisive, Peter, he declares, "I am going fishing!" And off he goes. Now, we must remember that fishing to these men was not a leisure activity. They didn’t go fishing when they wished to sit quietly in a boat and think about things. Fishing was their livelihood. It was hard work. It was the way they earned their daily bread. And at this point in his life, it was probably the only thing that had remained unchanged for Peter.

It seems to me that I often do the same thing when confronted with something new and wonderful by God. There’s a period of confusion, of wondering if what I have seen actually took place. Disbelief and wonder, fear and joy, all dance around in my heart and head. In times like these I will often turn to what I consider "normal."; those activities which comfort me in their ordinariness. Occupying myself with something I know well helps me make space for the new and transformative to work within.

And so it is with Peter and the other disciples. They fish all night and yet catch nothing. And then at dawn, Jesus is there standing on the shore. And what does Jesus do? He cooks them breakfast. Again, an ordinary, everyday task. It is almost as if Jesus himself is saying. "Find Me in the everyday. Find me in the ordinary. Find me within yourself and within those around you." 

May I find Jesus not only in the glory and spectacle, but in the simple and plain.

 

Talib Huff works and volunteers at Christ the King Retreat Center in Citrus Heights, California. You may contact him at [email protected].

Easter Sunday of the
Resurrection of the Lord

Scripture: 
 Acts 10: 34-43
Colossians 3: 1-4
John 20: 1-9

Reflection:
"…the other disciple also went in (to the tomb)…and he saw and believed."

Easter is a wakeup call – to a beautiful day and a wonderful way of life.   I often reflect on the Easter experience.  One thing that I find intriguing is that Jesus’ disciples, who were in hiding…totally disappointed…totally lost…suddenly changed. Not just one of them, but all of them. When they had an experience of the risen Lord, they came out of hiding, and looking back, finally understood what Jesus was all about.

The resurrected Christ was not the same as he was before. He could appear and disappear, he could change his looks so he wouldn’t be recognized, yet he could eat and be touched.  The followers of Jesus recognized him, believed in him and changed. They went from a group of frightened and scattered followers to a group of excited men and women, anxious to share their joy, their insights, and their love. That is the miracle of Easter.

In today’s Gospel, John talks about the "other disciple" who ran to the empty tomb with Peter and upon entering it, "…he saw and believed."  Some scholars believe that this unnamed disciple could be you or me.

Many years ago, I experienced the Risen Lord in a most profound and powerful way.  For me, Good Friday was the end of my long and painful journey into alcoholism.   In the depths of my hopelessness and despair, I cried out for help …and instantly, Jesus heard this cry…the cry of the poor…and I was immediately touched by the Risen Lord.  I became that "other disciple."  My life began to change at that moment and has continued to change even as I write this reflection.  What began as a feeling that my life was "falling apart" evolved into a realization that it was actually "falling into place."  I began the process of becoming the person that God created me to be.  The past thirty years have been an exciting journey, one filled with peace and gratitude and a joyful willingness to pass on to others what was freely given to me.

Today is the day of Easter joy. Yet, even as we celebrate, we are painfully aware that for many people it is still Good Friday.  Every day it seems there is something to remind us of the poverty, injustice, and violence of our world. 

My true faith journey began in a cemetery. Not in a stable. Not at the river Jordan. Not in an upper room. The first resurrection appearances happened in a cemetery garden.  Cemeteries are holy ground. Easter places.  And Easter tells us that Jesus’ tomb is empty and so is his cross. He is not there. He has gone ahead of us. He is among us…HAPPY EASTER !!!

 

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