Daily Scripture

First Sunday of Advent

Scripture:

Jeremiah 33:14-16
Psalm 25:4-5, 8-9, 10, 14
1 Thessalonians 3:12-4:2
Luke 21:25-28, 34-36

 

 

Reflection:

What a way to start our season of Advent!  These readings begin with the promise of God made to the "house of Israel and Judah", that Jerusalem and Judah will be "safe" and "secure".  However, in the gospel passage, Jesus speaks to his disciples of a cosmic catastrophe, felling people from fright alone.

How are they linked?  Does God abandon the promises made to a people whose historical memory lives from these promises, this covenant?  Does Jesus intend to predict an ultimate catastrophic end to the human experience?

Jesus cannot proclaim anything less than the redemption/salvation that is his Mission.  He cannot speak of the mortality of human existence ("what is coming upon the world") without adding, "stand erect and raise your heads because your redemption is at hand."

This is truly the pattern of a Christian existence.  If not even the most global and earth-shaking events can keep us from our Redeemer, then we need to live our lives with that conviction, expressed in the often quoted and powerful words of St. Paul: "nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Rm 8:39)."

These readings come to us against the backdrop of world events, global events not unlike those mentioned in the readings.  Israel seeks to keep its cities and civilians safe from the incursion of missiles, and Palestinians daily live with embargoes, restricted access to their homes and lands, and threats of war.

Across the middle east and in the heart of Africa, refugees and refugee camps mark the places where war has become a way of life for more than a generation of a people’s memories. 

Into this world a child has been born, whose name is "Emmanuel", "God with us."  Where has He gone?  What difference did His coming make?  It is up to His ongoing presence in the world today to answer that question.  That "ongoing presence" is in the soul of each baptized person, each one of us who declares that "Jesus is Lord" must provide the answer.  During this advent, let us try a little harder to put into practice what is expressed in the second reading: "Brothers and sisters: May the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all…"

 

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

Scripture:

Isaiah 29:17-24
Matthew 9:27-31

Reflection:

It was time again to prepare for the Christmas pageant. Stephanie and Karen, two of the youngest members of the faculty were assigned the task with little direction and no previous experience. They decided to have Santa and Mrs. Claus working up North with their elves preparing for the trip south this coming Christmas Eve. They needed a Santa. Just then, I walked into their LD (Learning Disabilities) lab, coming to pick up my students. Ah, Mr. OD (that’s what the kids called me), "Would you play Santa this year?" I told them I was busy this Christmas Season and besides, my 160 pound frame, hardly fit the image. They said we were all busy and they had a pillow and some stuffing for my other excuse. Reluctantly I agreed. Then, they gave me the script, little of which I remember today, the exception being that I’d be on stage with Mrs. Claus who would be played by Andre (we were an all boys school).

Practicing our lines together over the next couple of weeks, I got to know Andre. That was just the beginning. I really got to know Andre, when I later heard at school that he was in a local hospital recovering from gun shot wounds inflicted by a rival gang member. I decided to visit him after school one day. This was back in the 70’s and I didn’t know, that hospitals wouldn’t let just anyone in to visit a minor, especially a minor recovering from a gun shot wound. Eventually, they let me in past the police guard and I got to spend sometime with Mrs. Claus. Andre was eventually released to his grandparents’ care where I again had the privilege of visiting him in their home.

My final visit with Andre was a couple of years later, when I visited him in St. Charles Illinois Youth Detention Center. I don’t remember what he was there for, but I do remember him taking me around showing me his room. He had that room all to himself-he had never had his own room. He took me out to the recreation room and introduced me to the adult supervisors (guards) and he and I played a game of ping-pong together. He excitedly told me about the classes he was taking and how he was learning to swim. I never saw Andre so happy-not in school, not in the hospital and not at his grandparents’ home.

My life would never be the same. Truly, like in the gospel reading today, Andre touched me and my eyes were opened. I would never again be afraid of any "gang member". How could I be? Beneath that hard exterior there would always be a Mrs. Claus.

 

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

Scripture:

Isaiah 25:6-10a
Matthew 15:29-37

Reflection:

Living in this modern age with our refrigerators, hothouses ready to deliver fresh vegetables year-round, grocery stores filled with all manner of delights, it is hard to remember that winter used to be a time of need. Nowadays it seems the winter season is filled with bustling from one feast to another. Christmas parties follow quickly upon the heels of Thanksgiving, followed by the New Year’s celebrations. In this context the first reading from Isaiah almost seems like too much: "A feast of rich food and choice wines, juicy, rich food and pure, choice wines." Hold on! I’m trying to watch my weight!

And yet, there is that line tucked in between the feasts. "[H]e will destroy the veil that veils all peoples, the web that is woven over all nations."

Although I’m not wealthy by American standards, there has never been a point in my life when I did not know where to find my next meal. Growing up there was always enough food in the house. After moving out however, I didn’t always make the best financial choices. There came a time when I found myself living alone, with nothing more than two eggs, a frozen pie crust, and half a box of cereal in my larder. With a week to go until my next paycheck, I pondered my choices. Swallowing my pride, I called my parents and asked if I could come across town and join them for dinner. My mother was delighted! The circumstances that brought me to their house (and asking for a care package to take home) were never discussed. The evening was filled with laughter and sharing. The veil that I had drawn between myself and my parents in an effort to "grow up and make it on my own" was pulled away.

As shown in the Gospel reading, God wants to feed us, in whatever way we are hungry. Jesus cares for all of those who need healing. Then, out of pity for the crowd, he feeds them although the physical resources available are meager.

In this season of feasting, no matter what our circumstances, may we find the veil that covers us destroyed. May we reflect the risen presence of Christ to those we sit with at table. And may we have the courage and blessing to accept God’s grace that is offered to us in abundance.

 

Talib Huff is a volunteer at Christ the King Retreat Center in Citrus Heights.

Scripture:
Revelation 22:1-7
Luke 21:34-36   

Reflection:
Today is the last day of the liturgical year.  Tomorrow we celebrate the first Sunday of Advent, the season to prepare for the entry of God’s own Son into our human life.  Tomorrow we celebrate the beginning of a new church year.

Liturgically for some days now we have been looking at the end of time, for the readings have been giving us many varied apocalyptic signs of that end.  And in the gospels Jesus has been speaking, sometimes ambiguously, of the second coming of the Lord and how we should meet that second coming.

Today, on the last day, the church chooses to present us first with a beautiful symbolic picture of the new heaven and the new earth in the new time to come.  From the very throne of God and the Lamb we see a sparkling stream running straight down the center of the street.  Each side of the street is lined with trees bearing fruit and food to sustain us and medicinal leaves to cure, heal, and protect us.  Trees of Life and a River of Life-giving Waters – beautiful, sparkling, and beckoning.

Then in the gospel Luke presents Jesus telling us to be ready to enter and to dwell in this new heaven and new earth.  Jesus encourages us to prepare for our own "end time," so that we may gladly take hold of the new time that will begin with our death.  He cautions us against missing that new moment through inattention, sleepiness, and stupor brought on by high living, drinking and carousing – or through over-worry and anxiety about the daily cares of making a living, anxieties that tend to choke the heart and stifle the real purpose of life.

I ponder how I may best follow Jesus’s warning, "Beware that your hearts do not become drowsy."   What comes to me is the practice and the counsel of St. Francis de Sales: To give birth to Jesus in my heart each morning in my prayer – to make my heart the stable into which Jesus is born, the manger in which this new-born Child is laid.  Letting him be born anew in me each day, I can then tend to him in my heart.  Throughout the day I can care for him, love him, and ask him to grow and become strong.  I can ask him to prod me to extend his love and care to everyone I meet this day and to all who meet me.  And at night I can beg him to show me how he grew in my heart that day, expanding my own heart.  Likewise, I can ask him where and how I ignored him, or where I tried to shut him up when he asked me to do something, shrinking my own heart in doing so.  In the course of such days, then, will he not begin to make my heart his own? 

"Jesus gentle and humble of heart, make my heart like unto thine."  Murmuring that prayer to him, may I be ready to meet him in the new time when he comes for me.

 

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.

Feast of Saint Andrew, Apostle

Scripture:

Romans 10:9-18
Matthew 4:18-22

Reflection:

In 1972 I was assigned to be an associate pastor at a very large parish in Chicago.  I was young and it was a challenging assignment.  Right from the start I was very busy celebrating Masses, doing weddings, funerals, baptisms, preaching, visiting the sick, counseling, etc.  It was a lot of work and I thought I was doing it all pretty well.

But after about six months, something happened, something I wasn’t expecting.  I found myself falling in love with the people.  And after a while, my ministry to them was no longer a job but a relationship.  I was no longer doing holy things for people.  I was being present to them.  I was sharing life with them.  I was a companion with them on their journey with the Lord.

That has continued down through the years.  And I hope it shows to the people whom I serve today. I hope it shows that it is a joy for me to know them. It is a joy for me to be with them.  It is a privilege for me to preach and to minister to them.

Today we honor the apostle St. Andrew.  I’m sure he too loved the people he was sent out to serve.  In reality it is God’s love that flows through us priests.  Our vocation is to be instruments of God’s love for his people.  Then they in turn can be instruments of that love for those in their families, their schools, their places of work, indeed to all those to whom God sends them.

Jesus says, "Come follow me." (Discipleship). Then he says, "Go, teach others how to follow me." (Apostleship).  Jesus is the center and focus of all ministry.  His love makes us one.

 

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:
Revelation 18:1-2, 21-23; 19:1-3, 9a
Luke 21:20-28

Reflection:
Today’s readings are not easy subjects for our reflection.  The interpretation of these readings from Revelation and Luke can require a scholarly knowledge of scripture.  I prefer the simple approach.

In our readings the residents of Babylon and Jerusalem "take it on the chin."  Both cities are left in ruins and walloped in various ways.  In Babylon "No melodies of harpists and musicians, flutists and trumpeters, will ever be heard in you again"; truly the "day the music died."  In Jerusalem "They will fall by the edge of the sword and be taken as captives"; not a good outcome by anyone’s standards.  We see here a Biblical "High Noon".  If you are on the side of good you win!  Otherwise, you are going to have a very bad hair day.

There is a certain comfort one can take in knowing that in the end, good wins.  As Passionists we often find ourselves wrapped up in the daily struggles of building the Kingdom of God.  This work can be exhausting and sometimes even discouraging.  As we engage our world to defeat injustice, encourage those who suffer and heal an endless stream of people impacted by evil, we sometimes lose sight of the end game.  Today’s readings remind us of the final outcome.  The headline of today’s readings is a simple one.  The Kingdom of God wins, evil loses!

So as we reflect on today’s readings, we can choose to concentrate on the carnage or the comfort.  Let’s concentrate on the comfort of knowing that the victory of the Kingdom of God will most certainly be the end result of our work and the grace of God.  Today’s experience of the Passion of Jesus in our world will lead to tomorrow’s invitation; an invitation, as our Responsorial Psalm proclaims, to the "wedding feast of the Lamb!"

 

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

Scripture:

Revelation 15:1-4
Luke 21:12-19

Reflection:

Today’s readings along with the other readings of this week speak of the last days, of suffering and of the cost of being a disciple of Christ.  It is somewhat difficult to hear and take to heart these readings, just as it must have been difficult for the Apostles in Jesus’ time.  In today’s Gospel, Jesus tells the Apostles and us that we will be persecuted and suffer because of our Faith.  The words carry an important message, reminding us that it is the cross that marks us as Christian and that accepting the cross means we accept our Christianity.  The good news is that the Gospel also tell us that even though families might reject and desert us, Jesus will always be there for us, and that if we persevere, we will have everlasting life. 

This last week of the liturgical year is a good time to appreciate the wisdom of the Church in giving us this cyclical liturgical year.  Just as God has given us the seasons that make up our seasons of the year to guide our physical life, the Church gives us the seasons of the liturgical year to guide our spiritual life.  Each season should evoke in us a response in the way we pray.  In Advent, we pray filled with hope, seeking the Light, and during the Christmas season, our prayer celebrates that Light given to us in Christ’s birth.  In Ordinary time, we pray for an understanding and growth in our faith as we listen to the lessons of the Gospel that Christ shared with His Apostles.  In Lent, we pray to atone for our sins and to purify our souls.  And at the Triduum, we pray that we can accept suffering knowing that it brings Resurrection.  Our prayers celebrate the glory of the Resurrection and give thanks for the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and we follow Jesus’ admonition to "preach the Gospel to all nations…"  Back to Ordinary time, where now we hear Jesus’ words calling us to a life of care for our brothers and sisters and we realize that we also pray with our actions.  And our prayer journey continues until again we finish our liturgical year prayerfully hearing Jesus’ admonitions to be prepared and to trust always in our God whose works are great and wonderful!

 

Mary Lou Butler is a long-time friend and partner in ministry to the Passionists in California. 

Scripture:

Revelation 14:14-19
Luke 21:5-11

Reflection:

Our Scripture readings for today speak about the end times. Our reading from Revelation has a vision of two angels reaping a harvest from the earth: one to gather those who are to be saved; the other to gather those who are condemned. In our Gospel reading from Luke, Jesus foretells the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem. He also tells them about signs indicating the end of the world: "Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be powerful earthquakes, famines, and plagues from place to place."

Throughout the centuries, people have looked at the turmoil going on in the world, and have wondered whether the events of their time were THE signs of which Jesus spoke. As we look upon the events of our time, we may be wondering the same thing.

Even though I may worry too much about this or that detail of my life or ministry, I don’t find speculation about whether these are the end times or not, very helpful. In other parts of the Gospel Jesus tells the people that they do not know the time or the hour in which all these things will occur.

If we can accept the love God has for us in Jesus Christ, and if we are willing to follow Jesus, and work for the building up of the kingdom, then, I believe, the events of the world need not cause us to fear, but call us to love. While there is war, we are called to work for peace. While there are famines, we are called to feed the hungry. While there are people devastated by natural disasters, we are called to reach out to them, and to all those who are oppressed by poverty and violence.

May God give us the grace to be faithful disciples, in troubling times or not, until the time when we may be with God forever.

 

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