Daily Scripture

Scripture:

Ezekiel 34:1-11
Matthew 20:1-16

Reflection:

"The Lord is my shepherd, there is nothing I shall want." Psalm 23:1

I have been struggling to write this reflection… the reason being: I do want something… even though the scripture says "there is nothing I shall want." I want to live closer to our daughter, Sr. Cecilia Rose. She was just home for a visit after professing her first vows as a Sister of Life in New York. She hadn’t been home for over two years and it was so great having her with us again!

Julie is one of my most favorite people in the world. She is joyful, thoughtful, full of life, and she is our only daughter! She inspires me to be a better person, she teaches me about prayer and sacrifice and obedience. She lights up the room with her smile and she makes me proud to be Catholic.

And yet, as I ponder my deep longings to have more time with her, I realize that I am being selfish. God has called her to be a witness in the world and to minister to many, many people as a sister. She is too busy doing God’s work to hang out with me (even if I lived in New York!) She just gave herself totally to the Lord and she belongs to Him now, and part of her sacrifice and ours is that she only gets to come home once a year.

As I give her back to God (again), and realize that I too want His will more than mine, I find great comfort. I am thankful for her vocation and can draw close to Him whenever I am missing her. I can offer up my sadness for someone who needs my prayers, and I can rejoice that we will have forever in heaven to be together. I can also focus on what I do have: a lively faith and a beautiful family – my best friend and husband Jim, three amazing sons, two wonderful daughters-in-law, and six delightful grandchildren.

If we keep our eyes on Jesus and let Him shepherd us, there is truly nothing we will want.

 

Janice Carleton and her husband Jim live in Portland, OR and partner with Passionist Fr. Cedric Pisegna in Fr. Cedric Ministries. Janice also leads women’s retreats. She is the mother of 4 grown children and grandmother of 6. Visit Janice’s website at http://www.jcarleton.com/ or email her at [email protected]

 

Scripture:

2 Thessalonians 2:1-3a, 14-17
Matthew 23:23-26

Reflection:

Jesus speaks often of the sin of hypocrisy.  It certainly seems that this was one of the sins that dismayed Jesus the most. In today’s Gospel, he is rebuking the scribes and Pharisees for making a big deal of paying their tithes, but neglecting the more important part of the law: justice, mercy and fidelity.

Jesus calls the religious leaders of his day blind Pharisees and hypocrites.  A hypocrite is defined as a person who pretends to have virtues, moral or religious beliefs and principles, that he or she does not actually possess, especially a person whose actions belie their stated beliefs. The Pharisees and the scribes of the time were very exacting in their interpretation of the law.  And they were very careful to obey the minutest detail of that law – thus the expression, "the letter of the law."  Jesus is scolding them for doing this instead of paying attention to the more important matters of religion.  They didn’t have the spirit of the law.   In their misguided zeal they had lost sight of God and of his purpose for the law.   If they had followed the spirit of the law, they would have understood that God didn’t want them to tithe for the sake of tithing but to care for the needy and the weak.  Instead the Pharisees used their exactness in tithing and insisting on the minute regulations to think of themselves in a selfish and prideful way and to hold those who did not or who were not able to follow these standards in contempt.

Giving to the Church or to the people of God, whether through tithing or a general spirit of stewardship should always be an expression of thanksgiving and a willingness to do God’s will.  The scribes, however, went to extreme lengths to tithe on insignificant things (such as tiny plants) with great mathematical accuracy but neglected the more important part of God’s commandments.

In today’s world, there is still the temptation to be hypocritical in the practice of our Faith.  God does not want us to strike our breasts, make a show of spending time in prayer or use our devotions to ignore the work he has called us to.  God wants us to be filled with a sense of thanksgiving as we give of ourselves in prayer and in the sharing of our time, talent and treasure.  Most of all, God wants us to hear the words of His Son and be persons of "justice, mercy and fidelity." 

 

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

Scripture:

Ezekiel 36:23-28
Matthew 22:1-14

Reflection:

In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus tells a parable about a feast that a king gave for his son’s wedding. People are invited, but they refuse to come. When the king sends out other servants, some do violence to the servants that are sent. In frustration, the king tells his servants to go everywhere and bring whomever they can find. And so now, the hall is finally filled. But when the king comes in, he notices that there is a person who is not dressed for the occasion, and after some questioning, the person is thrown out into the darkness. Jesus ends His parable saying, "Many are invited, but few are chosen."

Most times when I have read this parable, I have found myself feeling sorry for the one who was not dressed properly. Why should he get kicked out for not wearing the proper attire? Then I remember that Jesus’ parables are often not about what they appear to be about. This is not a parable on fashion, or even on what people should wear to Mass. It’s about our response to the invitation.

We have been invited to the banquet! We have been invited to the feast prepared for us in heaven! In our case,  Jesus offered Himself in sacrifice so that we might be invited! If we take the invitation seriously, then our lives are not to continue as before; our lives need to change, just as that wedding guest in the parable was to change into the proper garments for a banquet.

I think we can sometimes forget how remarkable it is to get an invitation. We are sinners, and yet we have grace and love showered upon us all the time by God! God gives us chance after chance to come closer to Him, and follow His will. God continues to work in our lives, even when we cannot feel His presence. Thanks be to God!

We’ve been invited. May we take the risk, and have God change our lives. May we take the risk, and share the invitation; and may we all one day be at the banquet prepared for us!

 

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

Memorial of Saint Pius X, Pope 

Scripture:

Ezekiel  28. 1-10
Matthew 19.23-30

Reflection:

Around 1440 the author John Lydgate observed that "comparisons are odious".   The phrase caught on, and has continued down to our time.  All of us tend to make comparisons and so apparently engage in odious activity.  The present presidential campaign certainly features its share of this.  It may dismay us  that such odious behavior is still with us.

However, if we attend to the biblical readings for today’s Eucharist, it’s hard to overlook the role of comparisons evident here.  God’s own spokesperson, the prophet Ezekiel, presents a thumping onslaught against the cowering Prince of Tyre.  Ezekiel cuts him down to size, for comparing himself to the Lord God, and thinking himself "to have the mind of a god".    A further deflation occurs on the lips of the prophet when he compares the hapless prince, despite all his wealth and exalted status, with "foreigners, the most barbarous of nations", who nonetheless managed to overcome and do him in.  These comparisons lead to the prophetic judgment: "…you are a man, not a god, handed over to those who will slay you".

Then Jesus, in the day’s gospel, continues Ezekiel’s kind of judgments by employing further odious comparisons, this time between the rich and the smelly, mean-spirited camel, suggesting "it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for one who is rich to enter the kingdom of God".   Taking his chances from this surprising remark of Jesus, Peter compares what he and his fellow apostles have done ("We have given up everything  and followed you.") by an apparent reference to the exploits of the camel and asks: "What will there be for us?"   This implied comparison may sound a bit like odious self-interest, but it serves Jesus’ purposes in proposing a glorious future for the twelve in the days to come.

Indeed, comparisons, even odious ones, support God’s intentions well.  Nothing better manifests the grandeur and magnificence of God than comparing Himself to us.   Often this may result in odious judgments, but in His favor, not ours.  Nonetheless, such comparisons bring out the difference between God and ourselves better than anything else.  There may be some in the human community who find such comparisons odious, but most of us relish the differences they reveal, and lead us toward God rather than away from Him.  While for some it may mean that those first among us now may be last at the end, for most of us, currently in last place, it means that, at the end, we can anticipate finding ourselves up front where we will "receive a hundred times more, and will inherit eternal life".

Pope St. Pius X, whose memorial we keep today, was deeply involved in similar comparisons during his pontificate, that resulted, on the one hand, in his disapproving judgment about some theologians associated with the Modernist heresy, in comparison with traditional theology, and, on the other hand, in his encouraging judgment about more frequent reception of the Eucharist, on the part of the laity, and for  earlier access to the Eucharist by younger children, in comparison to the then current practice of infrequent communion by adults, and only later access to it by young people.

 

Fr. Sebastian MacDonald, C.P. is a member of the Passionist formation community at Catholic Theological Union, Chicago. 

Scripture:

Ezekiel 24:15-23
Matthew 19:16-22

Reflection:

Please bear with me as I start my reflection with a story that may seem very far afield from today’s readings.

 

Years ago I was in acting school and, with my fellow students, we would do scenes from plays in class. Our teacher was probably not nearly as old as I imagined.  She had a Russian accent and that, combined with her seeming age and longevity as an acting coach to the famous and near famous, made her every word seem like a pearl of wisdom.

One day as my partner and I were doing a scene, Dr. Bella turned to the class and said: "People, that moment that you love so much, that one where you are ‘acting up a storm’? Let it go. Let go of your favorite moment and then you will be a better actor."   Darn.

Over the months as I have written these spiritual reflections, I have found myself often seeking out that place in the text where our God of love and compassion is revealed. But the God of today’s first reading is not a warm and fuzzy God, and in truth, despite the enormity of Christ’s love and compassion for us, Jesus is not a warm and fuzzy guy either.

Both readings, one more stern than the other, tell us in no uncertain terms that to be a faithful follower is to be willing to let go of everything before God.  We may not need to, ultimately, but our willingness is all. In the first reading, for example, Ezekiel demonstrates very concretely that we are fickle and dismissive of God at our own peril. In the Gospel, Jesus teaches that we must not only follow the Commandments, but we are also called to let go of the very thing we hold onto the most in order to follow him. Our physical, financial or emotional security blankets?  Let them go.

As I reflect back on that day in acting school, I know that what Dr. Bella was saying was that I was not on stage for myself; no good actor is. I wasn’t there to give the big performance, get the big applause or get the play fired up. I was there to serve the story, my fellow actors and the play’s message.  I had to be willing to drop the safety net and trust. And I think that’s the message of today’s Gospel, too.

 

Nancy Nickel is the former director of communications at the Passionist Development Office in Chicago.

 

 

Scripture:

Ezekiel 18:1-10, 13b, 30-32
Matthew 19:13-15

Reflection:

Our scriptural readings for today’s feast give us much to think about.  The reading that captured my imagination is from the prophet Ezekiel, chapter 18, the first and second verse.  We read: "The word of the Lord came to me:  Son of man, what is the meaning of this proverb that you recite in the land of Israel:  ‘Fathers have eaten green grapes, thus their children’s teeth are on edge’"?  In fact, this is a very familiar proverb and a theme repeated more than once in the Hebrew Scriptures, the Old Testament.  The proverb raises the question as to whether or not people can claim that they are punished because of the sins of their parents.  We remember in the life of Jesus when the disciples saw someone suffering with an infirmity or physical affliction and they naively asked if the reason for such a condition was because of their own sins or because of the sins of their parents.  It was not uncommon for people to believe that misfortune often occurred because of the wrongdoing of others who have preceded them.  Hence, in Ezekiel, we read that the fathers (or ancestors) ate green grapes, not a good thing to do at all, and so the children’s teeth were on edge (a state of great anxiety, fear, and worry) all because of what someone else did!

Interesting way to approach life, isn’t it?  Don’t we do this ourselves – frequently blame current conditions on what others have done?  Yet, very clearly Ezekiel brings this kind of thinking to a halt.  He states: "As I live, says the Lord God I swear that there shall no longer be anyone among you who will repeat this proverb in Israel.  For all lives are mine; the life of the father is like the life of the son, both are mine; only the one who sins shall die."  And then Ezekiel goes on to portray how the person who does what is good will live, while the sinner who chooses to do evil will not live but die.

There was another prophet who addressed this very same parable and that was Jeremiah.  In the 31^st chapter, verses 27 to 30, Jeremiah writes: "As I once watched over them to uproot and pull down, to destroy, to ruin, and to harm, so I will watch over them to build and to plant, says the Lord.  In those days they shall no longer say, ‘The fathers ate unripe grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge,’ but through his own fault only shall anyone die; the teeth of him who eats the unripe grapes shall be set on edge.’" 

So, dear friends, what does this parable in today’s reading say to us?  What does this rather arcane image of eating green grapes and having teeth on edge have to do with us here and now?  Sometimes, as mentioned above, we have a tendency to blame problems and bad situations on the actions of others.  And while there are times when this may be true, too often we tend to forget the role our own responsibility plays in shaping life around us and within us.  We are called by God to take responsibility for living a virtuous life, for shaping and forming a just and loving society.  When there is suffering, disappointment, and failure first we must accept our own responsibility for such things.  And then it is the duty of all of us working together to bring about healing, fulfillment, and victory over evil.

 

Fr. Pat Brennan, CP is the director of Mater Dolorosa Passionist Retreat Center, Sierra Madre, California.

 

Feast of Saint Monica

Scripture:

2 Thessalonians 1:1-5, 11-12
Matthew 23:13-22

Reflection:

Some time ago I was speaking with a young man, a recovering cocaine addict. There was still suffering in his voice, and lots of tenderness in his eyes. When he narrated a telephone conversation he recently had with his mother, the reverence was palpable.

"Why won’t you be coming home for Christmas?" she pleaded.

"Too many projects at the office, Mom," he replied. "I’ve just got too much work to get done."

"Frankie, why aren’t you coming home for Christmas?" she retorted. ("Mothers are always able to discern truth," he told me.)

"Because when I’m there nobody will talk with me. Bob and Jean (his brother and sister) will pick up their kids and move to another room. It’s just too painful to be alone when everybody’s afraid of me."

"And without hesitating a moment," he said to me, "she replied, ‘… why don’t you come sit by me then, Frankie?  I love it when you are close to me.’"

"Father, this is the woman I lied to and cheated and stole from to support my habit. And she just won’t stop loving me."

Although we don’t know much about Saint Monica, we do know from Saint Augustine’s writings that his mother surely possessed the Spirit’s gift of long-suffering! She prayed unceasingly for her eldest child! Today we realize that not everyone’s mother shared that grace or virtue. And the behavioral sciences and Twelve-Step programs also remind us that enabling addictive behavior or supporting (in a codependent way) such an aberrant lifestyle can be the exact opposite of love… "tough love." 

With all the complexities of contemporary life, however, today’s feast encourages us to be authentic. The word "hypocrite" that Jesus imputes to the scribes and Pharisees actually has its origin from the stage and acting. Repeatedly we are challenged to be real and genuine; we are not to be about performing, not about persona.

Maybe that’s why Jesus chooses his twelve; not because they were disciplined and holy, or exceptionally intelligent or charismatic. Rather, they were open to being transformed. They were real, like Monica, and Augustine.

 

Fr. Jack Conley, C.P. ministers as a preacher of parish missions and retreats.  He is a member of the Passionist formation community at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago.

Scripture:

Ezekiel 12:1-12
Matthew 18:21-19:1

Reflection:

"Son of man, you live in the midst of a rebellious house. . ."  These words to the prophet Ezekiel remind me of a sarcastic Spanish movie I recently saw.  The movie is titled "Seven Women, a Homosexual and Carlos" and tells the story of Carlos, a newly wed young professional, who comes from a Catholic family of moral values and beliefs, especially with regard to the Sacrament of Matrimony.  The inexperienced, handsome Carlos struggles to be faithful to his wife as he experiences the constant sexual harassment of an attractive female coworker and the immoral social pressure of his chauvinist manager and friends who think that conjugal fidelity was made only for women, because "each man deserves to have seven women and a homosexual as partners."  Like the prophet Ezekiel and many of the faithful of all times, Carlos succeeds in living as he is and thinks "in the midst of a rebellious house."  Though it is only a movie drama, its sarcasm reflects the decadent mentality of our current society, which has expelled God and the Gospel from public schools, governmental institutions, and many "Christian" families.  Our Catholic Church has also struggled to be the moral exemplar with the current, worldwide sexual abuse scandal.

In today’s gospel, therefore, Jesus equates "the kingdom of heaven" with God’s remarkable, boundless gift of forgiveness and reconciliation.  For, while God is able to forgive everything "from his heart" and more than "seventy-seven times," we sometimes cannot even take a time to forgive others’ and our own mistakes and wrongdoings.  In fact, unlike Jesus, who relinquished his divine prerogatives to forgive us from his heart and reconcile us with his "heavenly Father," we always claim and safeguard our human rights.  God only claims and safeguards the human rights of the "little ones," the poor and powerless, who are unable to pay back what they owe.  No wonder the psalmist encourages us "not to forget the works of the Lord," for it is by God’s grace that we are capable of and expected to forgive our brothers and sisters from our hearts and up to "seventy-seven times," which seems humanly impossible. 

We may live in the midst of rebellious house or be part of it, but we are always encouraged to return to God, to forgive others, and to be a reminding sign of God’s forgiveness to others.  We are simply called to be faithful to the gospel values of mutual respect, forgiveness and reconciliation.  Therefore, today’s readings invite us to reflect on our human relationships, especially those that are difficult to keep in good terms.

 

Fr. Alfredo Ocampo, C.P. gives retreats and parish missions.  He is stationed at Holy Name Passionist Community in Houston, Texas.