Daily Scripture

Feast of Saints Joachim and Anne,
parents of  the Blessed Virgin Mary 

Scripture:

Jeremiah 2:1-3, 7-8, 12-13
Matthew 13:10-17

Reflection:

Sitting in the faculty lounge during my first year of teaching, I was surrounded by the cumulative wisdom of seasoned teachers, many of whom taught me.  The conversation that particular day was quite disturbing.  The foibles of adolescents in high school were paraded out for all to lament.  Their inattentiveness, tardiness, stubbornness, laziness, and overall snarky nature exacerbated these teachers.  "Well," I ventured to say, "if they’re to be perfect, then they really don’t need us, do they?  Isn’t this why we’re all here?"  That cleared the room.

Just as Jeremiah was sent as a prophet to the people of Israel, God sends parents, teachers and preachers to help us find our way during those times in our lives when we get lost.  Jeremiah was a reluctant prophet, and referred to as the "Weeping Prophet" for all the suffering he endured in calling the people of Israel back to their Covenant with God.  What parent or teacher, what confessor or counselor is not also rightly called a weeping prophet?

We are stubborn learners.  We resist new ideas or ways of doing things that force us out of our comfort zones and familiar ways.  We wander like roaming sheep without thought that we are lost…we just don’t know where we are, as my grandfather liked to clarify when we were actually lost.  Learning, healing and reconciling begins, to borrow the First Step in AA, with admitting that one cannot control one’s addiction or compulsion.  We have to admit we are lost.

Each of us can identify those in our lives who were a prophet to us.  Maybe they were in the classroom.  Maybe at home.  On the playing field.  In a doctor’s office.  They were sent by God to help us find our centers, our hearts, our meaning and hope.  They were our personal prophets who were not afraid to stand up to speak what needed to be said, whether we liked it or not.

Today’s memorial feast honors Sts. Joachim and Anne, the parents of Mary.  History actually does not record their names and there is no mention of them at all in the Gospels.  But no matter their names, we know Mary had parents who helped guide her to a moment of truth when she said to the Angel Gabriel, "Let it be done to me according to your Word."  She was open to learning from a rather strange visitor the meaning of the Word of God in her life. 

The Gospel today begs us to have ears that hear, eyes that see, and hearts that understand.  That means we need to surround ourselves with those who will be prophets for us, who will help us learn what God desires for us.

Robert Hotz is a consultant with American City Bureau, Inc. and is the Director of The Passion of Christ: The Love That Compels Campaign for Holy Cross Province. 

 

Scripture:

Acts 28:16-20, 30-31
John 21:20-25

 

 

 

Reflection:

"What concern is it of yours?  You follow me."  In this concluding verse of the Gospel of John, Peter is looking around to see the disciple John and wonders what is in store for him.  Jesus tells Peter, just do what you need to do and don’t worry about anyone else.

I can imagine Jesus having a little heart to heart talk with Peter.  He’s saying something like, "You know, Peter, the world is a big place full of diverse people.  It is going to take all of you with your unique personalities and talents to share the good news of salvation in so many places and among so many people.  You each have a role to play, so don’t try to play each other’s roles and miss out on the role you’re to play."

 The selection from Acts of the Apostles for today, also the closing verses of that book, recalls the odd lot fallen to St. Paul who is under house arrest in Rome.  Surely he could not have foreseen such a circumstance in which he finds himself witnessing to the Gospel.  We don’t hear him asking where Peter is or what John is up to.  He adapts his ministry to the circumstances of his life, and trusts that others are doing likewise.  We find our ministry wherever we are.

 "You follow me," Jesus says to me.  Don’t be worried about others and how they are called to follow Jesus and live the Gospel.  How freeing it is to know that I don’t have to do what they do, and they shouldn’t have to do what I do.  We can cover more ground that way.  The many facets of the Gospel are lived out in surprising ways by uniquely gifted women and men.  Jesuit and poet Gerard Manley Hopkins captures aptly the diversity of our discipleship.  I invite you to prayerfully recite these lines: [He] Acts in God’s eye what in God’s eye he is – – / Christ. For Christ plays in ten thousand places, / Lovely in limbs, and lovely in eyes not his / To the Father through the features of men’s faces.

 

Robert Hotz is a consultant with American City Bureau, Inc. and is the Director of The Passion of Christ: The Love That Compels Campaign for Holy Cross Province.

Feast of Saint James, Apostle

Scripture:

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

Reflection:

"…the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many."

How do we live our lives?  Do we constantly strive to have more money? Will that make us truly happy?  Do we have to have the biggest and the best and newest on the market, be it a house, car or some other material object?  Or the recognition of authority? Are these the things that define our happiness, make us great? I know a few people who are like this.  Does having all this stuff make them great, or better than me?

Or, do we strive to live our lives as Jesus did?  Humble, unassuming, serving others out of love and not anticipating the rewards He would receive in return.  To me, this is the power of God at work in our own lives. It is the example He set for us as parents, and even grandparents:  willingly sacrificing our own needs and wants to fulfill the needs of our (grand)children.

I know no one who lived this better than my maternal grandmother.  She and my Great-Grandmother lived together after both were widowed.  Gram was 64 when her daughter (my mother) passed away.  So instead of relaxing in her "golden years" and enjoying the benefits of a life of hard work, she chose to raise another generation of children, her grandchildren.  Gram sacrificed so much in her later life for us.  Although my sister was older and on her own, Gram made sure my brother and I always had what we needed, on nothing but Social Security as income.  Five of us living in a one bedroom apartment was not easy, but Gram made it easy.  So maybe she couldn’t do or have what she needed, but I always had a bed to sleep in, a clean uniform for school, bus fare to get there, and dinner waiting when I got home from work.  She somehow managed to buy me a car when I started college so I could get to and from school.  She even scraped the money together to pay my brother’s tuition for his senior year in high school so that he could stay and graduate with his classmates.  Her ultimate sacrifice came at age 70 when Great-Gram fell and broke her hip and could no longer be alone during the day.  Gram quit her job to stay home and care for Great-Gram, while still raising her grandchildren.

This is the example set for me as a child, and I try to do the same now for my children.  Material objects do not define who we are as people.  What matters is how we live our lives in the example Jesus gave us: serving others out of love and not expecting anything in return but the satisfaction of doing His work.

 

Claire Smith is on staff at the Holy Cross Province Development Office in Chicago, Illinois.

 

Scripture:

Micah 7:14-15, 18-20
Matthew 12:46-50

 

 

 

Reflection:

Mercy 

In today’s liturgy the Church introduces us to the prophet Micah who lived about 2,750 years ago.  His name in Hebrew means "Who is like God?"  True to his name he asks: "Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance? He does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in mercy." (Micah 7:18)  

We must all live on the edge of God’s mercy.  We must not be afraid to jump into the abyss of His kindness.  There is a great democracy among all of us. We all exist on the margins of God’s mercy.  In the movie Schindler’s List, Oskar, the protagonist, at the end of the movie instead of feeling good about saving 1,200 lives was filled with guilt for not doing more.  "I could have saved more."  Even the great saints did not wear their medals in God’s service like famous soldiers as Patton, but rather saw themselves as "vessels of His mercy." (Romans 9:23)  Our ultimate claim to glory is that God has shown me mercy to which I had no claim! Paul said it well: "For he says to Moses, "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion."  So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy." (Romans 9:15)  God’s mercy is our ultimate reality!  This is true not just because we have sinned and need forgiveness, but our very existence is an effect of His mercy.

"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change." (James 1:17) To remain in God’s mercy it is terribly important that we share this generosity with one another.  "With the merciful you show yourself merciful." (Psalm 18:25) If, as Micah says, "he delights in mercy", we must imitate Our Lord Jesus who said: "And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?" (Matthew 18:33)  These words alone can frame our whole spiritual life.  We are humbly grateful for God’s kindness to us and let us make sure we have the same mercy to each other if we hope to hang on to God’s generosity! "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy." (Matthew 5:7)

 

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

Scripture:

Jeremiah 23:1-6
Ephesians 2:13-18
Mark 6:30-34

Reflection:

"His heart was moved with pity for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd."
Mark 6:34

Many of our Catholic churches are like this today because priests are burned out and some are watering down the teaching of the church. We need to pray for them! They have so much to do, they can be tempted to neglect their own prayer time. The danger there is you can’t give what you don’t have. St. Bernard of Clairveaux said, "Before you can be a channel, you’ve got to be a reservoir." I’ve been to many Catholic churches, and I hear over and over how the parish priest doesn’t give good homilies, or isn’t very pastoral. If that’s the case in your parish, I encourage you to set aside time every day to pray for him.

Not only are some priests burned out, but some are letting their teaching reflect the values of our culture instead of our church. When Jim and I were helping with engaged couples at our parish in California, many were already living together. We encouraged them to move apart or at least quit sleeping together until their wedding. Then we found out that our pastor was telling them it was okay to live together before marriage. I was very upset and went to see him. During our visit, the scripture from the first reading today came to mind "Woe to the shepherds who mislead and scatter the flock of my pasture says the Lord." (Jer 23:1) I told him as much. I reminded him that teachers and shepherds will be held responsible for the sins of those they lead astray. (Just as an interesting note: more marriages fail when couples live together before marriage.)

And so, I repeat, please pray for our priests! Pray that God will provide for their needs and keep them close to His heart; pray that they will be faithful to their prayer time so that God can empower them to minister more effectively; and pray that more young men will respond to the call to priesthood. Thank you Lord for the many holy priests in our church, please bless them as well as the luke-warm, the tired and lonely priests, through our prayers. In Jesus Name we pray. Amen.

 

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:

Micah 2:1-5
Matthew 12:14-21

Reflection:

Probably all very large cities in the world have their "slum" areas.  I lived in India for three years and I saw the poor areas of Deli, Mumbai, Calcutta, etc.  It was explained to me that most of the people living in these areas are not just people who have been forever poor.  Most of them at one time lived in one of the small villages.  They may have owned a small piece of land where they grew some rice and raised some animals.  Maybe the rains did not fall or some medical need hit them hard as a family.  They were forced to go to one of the local money lenders and borrow what they needed.  Unable to pay back their loan they lost what little they had and were forced to come to one of the large urban slum areas in hopes of finding a way to earn a little money and just try to survive.  So often they are people humbled by life but still great persons of dignity and honor.

In today’s first reading the prophet Micah paints a similar picture of injustice.  Some conniving Israelites took advantage of their fellow Israelites in time of trouble, taking their land, houses and stripping them of their inheritance.  God tells these evil individuals that he will allow peoples from other nations to come and destroy them and take their lands.  "Our fields are portioned out among our Captors".

Quoting the prophet Isaiah, Matthew tells us in today’s gospel, "Behold, my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved in whom I delight; I shall place my Spirit upon him, and he will proclaim justice to the Gentiles."

With great gentleness but firmness, Jesus will bring justice to victory.  Jesus will re-establish the right relationships between people.  The "Shalom", the peace of God, will be brought back into the order of the universe.

The problems can seem so large and overwhelming in our modern world.  Where do I begin?  We begin by living a just life ourselves.  We must also "do justice", get involved in doing what we can to change unjust structures and attitudes.  We must reach out to those who are being treated unjustly. 

 

Fr. Blaise Czaja, C.P. gives parish missions and retreats.  He is a member of the Passionist Community in Detroit, Michigan.

 

                               

Scripture:
Isaiah 38: 1-6, 21-22, 7-8
Matthew 12: 1-8

Reflection:
In today’s first reading, when Hezekiah, the King of Judah, was told to put his house in order because he was dying, he prayed, "O Lord, remember how faithfully and wholeheartedly I conducted myself in your presence, doing what was pleasing to you!"

Now that’s a remarkable prayer!  I wonder if, when I am faced with my death, I will be able to offer a similar prayer with so much conviction.   I fear my awareness of my many faults and sins would cause me to choke on those words.  It’s true that Hezekiah is remembered as one of the truly great kings of Israel because of his religious reforms and his compassionate administration of justice, but I’m sure he was subject to many of the same failures as most of us.  Yet, when faced with his death, he prayed so confidently.  Does he know something many of us don’t? 

Pair Hezekiah’s confident attitude with the story in today’s Gospel.  The disciples of Jesus were travelling through a field of grain on the Sabbath and, being hungry, they picked the heads of the grain to eat.  At the time of Jesus it was against the law to travel or pick the heads of grain on the Sabbath.  They should have been in their homes keeping the Sabbath holy.  It’s surely no surprise that the Pharisees, guardians of religious practice, loudly criticized such irreligious behavior.  Do the disciples know something that the Pharisees don’t?

Jesus speaks up and defends the behavior of the disciples.  He reminds the Pharisees of some of the things David and his followers did in violation of Sabbath law.  Jesus concludes that the Sabbath is made for man, not man for the Sabbath.

Both the confident prayer of Hezekiah and the teaching of Jesus about the Sabbath remind us that God is always on our side and that religious practice is intended to deepen our experience of God’s love for us, not create fear and insecurity about God’s compassionate care for us.  Hezekiah surely knew his many faults but was convinced that God’s great love for him would focus on his efforts to be faithful to God.    The disciples knew they were not fulfilling Sabbath law but they were confident in Jesus’ teaching that their well-being was more important than merely fulfilling the law.

What about us?  Do we understand that God is more interested in the good things we do than in the bad?  Are we confident in our relationship with God and His great love for us.  Today we pray that God will help us trust in His love for us.

 

Fr. Michael Higgins, C.P. is the director the Development Office for Holy Cross Province  and is stationed at Immaculate Conception Community  in Chicago.

Scripture:

Isaiah 10:5-7, 13b-16
Matthew 11:25-27

Reflection:

As I share this brief reflection on our readings for the day, there are two simple thoughts that come to mind.  In our first reading from Isaiah it is clear how foolish we can be when we think that all the good we do comes from our own hand.  Assyria, an "impious nation", believed that its victories were due to its own shrewdness and wisdom.  How foolish of this great nation to take itself so seriously and how quickly the Lord would humble this nation and people.  We are tempted to do the same aren’t we?  How quick we are to believe that even our small successes are due to ourselves; how easily we forget that the Lord is at work within us in all ways and at all times!  Still, we forget and the Lord has his way of reminding us later on in life.

The beautiful Gospel reading is one only too familiar to priests who have the precious opportunity of anointing the sick with the Sacrament of the Anointing.  In the Gospel of Matthew, today and tomorrow, we read the beautiful meditation that begins with Jesus’ prayer of praise to the Father and then concludes with the soothing invitation, "Come to me all you who labor and are burdened and I will give you rest."  There is no priest who, when he reads these gentle words, does not remember countless moments of anointing a dear soul in need of comfort, encouragement, and consolation.  What a sacred moment it is; what a great privilege to enter into such a moment standing by the bedside of someone in the midst of their suffering and reminding them that they are not alone.

Two very simple points for us on this day: remember that it is all the work of the Lord and we simply serve; and what a joy to serve, especially when we are able to bring the very compassion and kindness of the Lord to someone in need.

 

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