Daily Scripture

Scripture:

Acts 1:1-11
Ephesians 1:17-23 or 4:1-13 or 4:1-7, 11-13
Mark 16:15-20

Reflection:

We experience many transitions throughout our lives. These transitions occur often and sometimes unexpected. We seldom know what lies ahead. During these transitions in our faith journey, we are called to step up, take hold of the reigns and move forward into whatever new venture God has in store for us.

We see the apostles in transition from the role of student to teacher throughout The Acts of the Apostles. The apostles were sent forth to different countries, with the ability to communicate with those from those regions so that everyone could hear the Good News. The evangelization of the Gospel continued even after Christ ascended into heaven. This transition was necessary so that the message of the Kingdom would continue to be spread and carried on for generations.

The Gospel reading today speaks of the beginning of the transition of the disciples going from not knowing to fully knowing and believing. This transition prepared them for the ministry of evangelization they were given. We too are asked often to transition into new roles in this ministry of evangelization. We are called within our  families, jobs and ministry to reveal to the nations His saving power (Ps 98).

Transitions are not without challenges. We see Paul in the first reading entering Corinth, attempting to have discussions in the synagogue, trying to convince people that Jesus is the Christ. While he encounters resistance at first, he perseveres and is successful.  Just as Paul did, we are will encounter obstacles and nay-sayers. Yet, when we allow God to become part of the conversation, we open our hearts to receive the grace and gift of understanding to listen to what He wants us to hear and say what He wants us to say. This allows us to accept His will for us.We must ask for the grace to have our eyes and ears opened to His voice and presence in our everyday lives. Encountering Christ with an open mind and heart assists us in our ministry of evangeization in spreading the Good News to everyone we encounter.

Yesterday, the Passionist Congregation celebrate the Feast of St. Gemma Galgani. Gemma was a faithful servant of God, and like some of us, she was called to a way of life she had not expected. While there was much pain and suffering in her life, she encountered trials, obstacles and challenges with the fire of love and obedience to God. We should follow the example of this young Passionist saint, accepting transitions in our lives with faith and courage that God has placed these transitions in our lives because of His great love for us. St. Gemma Galgani, pray for us.  

 

Kim Valdez is the Pastoral Associate at Holy Name Retreat Center in Houston, Texas.

Scripture:

Acts 17:15, 22-18:1
John 16:12-15

Reflection:

Meeting God’s People Where They Are

Last week I attended the Presbyteral Convocation for the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston, and one of the things I learned was that the New Millennials, young adults, especially Hispanic-Latinos of 18 to 35 years old, are the largest and fastest growing group in the archdiocese. I was also reminded that New Millennials tend to be more peer-bounded, self-serving, and spiritual individuals than inter-generational, communal and religious people.  This new generational reality obviously calls for a new evangelization with a pastoral approach that meets them where they are and persuasively helps them make the connection between spirituality and religion.  Such evangelizing, pastoral needs, however, are not unique to our generation of New Millennials, for the cultural, religious, political and social realities of people of every age have indeed called for a comprehensive preaching of the gospel that speaks to their life-giving longings and experiences of God.

In today’s first reading, we see Paul using the aforementioned pastoral approach in his evangelization of the Athenians, who "in every respect . . . are very religious" and debaters of new philosophical ideas. The Athenians already had the basic intuition of human and divine existence, for Paul reminds them that some of their Greek poets had said that "‘we are the offspring of God’" in whom "‘we live and move and have our being’."  Notice that, as Paul acknowledges their religious piety, he respectfully tries to correct their misguided imagination and artistic crafting of divinity, especially of the "Unknown God" of creation who cannot be contained in and by any creature.  Paul thus tells the Athenians that they "unknowingly worship" what he and Christians of all ages have truly believed and proclaimed in the Risen Christ, who is "the Lord of heaven and earth," because everything comes to be in and through him.   

Even Jesus meets us where we are and pardons our ignorance, for he knows that we cannot bear all the truth on our own, except in "the Spirit of Truth," who comes to all his faithful ones to guide them to "all truth" by affirming them in his loving communion with the Father.  Therefore, today’s readings invite us to reflect on and evaluate our pastoral care of those to whom we minister.  I hope, and for this I pray, that you and I will meet them where they are, so that we can reach out to them in and through the Spirit of Truth.

 

Fr. Alfredo Ocampo, C.P. preaches and is a member of the Passionist Community in Houston, Texas.

Scripture:

Acts 16:22-34
John 16:5-11

Reflection:

When we read the Acts of the Apostles and see the sufferings that the early missionaries like Paul and his companion Silas had to undergo to preach the gospel, we wonder about our own commitment to preach the gospel. I preach the gospel basically to the saved so that they will more generously live the gospel message in their lives. At times I face boredom and indifference, but never outright hostility. I have never been beaten or thrown into prison. Rather most of the time people thank me for inspiring them and lifting their spirits. They want to hear the good news proclaimed and made meaningful in their lives. My "sufferings" to proclaim the gospel are spending the hours preparing the homily or retreat talk.  Maybe it means getting up at 5:30 a.m. to get to an early Sunday Mass at a parish several miles away, something many people do five days a week to get to their jobs.

For all one’s efforts to proclaim the gospel there is the payoff of changed lives. God uses those who proclaim the gospel by the words or deeds as instruments of the Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit, the Advocate, the Helper, the Paraclete that Jesus sends that accomplishes the transformation in those who listen. The jailer in today’s story immediately proved his conversion by his deeds. No sooner had he turned to Christ than he washed to wounds of the prisoners back and set a meal before them.

May we remain committed to proclaim the gospel in any way we can. May we realize that the Holy Spirit working through us can touch the hearts of those around us.   

 

 Fr. Michael Hoolahan, C.P. is on the staff of Mater Dolorosa Passionist Retreat Center, Sierra Madre, California.

Feast of St. Matthias

Scripture:

Acts 1:15-17, 20-26
John 15:9-17

Reflection:

For this feast of St. Matthias there is an element in the sacred scriptures that we will surely find to be very fulfilling.  We can only imagine how utterly incomplete and broken "the Twelve" must have felt after having one of their own betray not only the Lord but his brother apostles as well.  What better way to heal that rift, that open wound, than by selecting another to take the place of the apostate Judas.  And so the great Peter (himself no stranger to what it meant to be a denier of the Lord!) calls out to his brethren quoting the Psalms:  Let his encampment become desolate, and may no one dwell in it. May another take his office.  And so it was that Matthias was elected and played a key role in making "the Twelve" once again a complete and restored body of apostles who would guide and shape the early Church.  From the very first days we see that the Church is a living body in constant need of growth, change, and healing.

How does this process of healing and renewal take place for us today as it did in the apostolic times of the early community?  Our reading taken from the Gospel of John makes it so very clear.  It is only love that can make us whole; it is only love that will show us how to be the people and Church we are meant to be.  This wonderful section of John’s Gospel, so often read at marriages and other special community events, goes to the very heart of the Lord’s demands of us this very day.  We must be a people who take seriously the most imperative words ever spoken by Jesus himself:  This is my commandment: love one another as I love you… This I command you: love one another.  There is nothing optional about this message!  It is an absolute command coming from the mouth of the Lord.

The amazing thing is, dear friends, if we follow this command of the Lord we will be more alive, more joyful, more fulfilled than at any other time of our lives.  Just several days ago I returned from assisting a large group of "malades", very ill men and women who, as pilgrims, travel to Lourdes for an experience of spiritual healing and prayer.  Some were very young with illnesses that would soon claim their earthly lives; others were in the midst of a current battle with breast cancer or other diseases that would certainly demand constant care and attention that will alter their lives for ever.  It was amazing to see their courage and perseverance as they suffered; it was also equally amazing to see the unconditional love of Knights and Dames of Malta and other caregivers who would see to their every need and concern.  Love one another as I love you!  Love one another!  The words of the Lord were so very alive there in Lourdes in the midst of this amazing group of pilgrims, all of us, malades and caregivers alike, in need of healing from the Lord, just like "the Twelve" apostles in the early Church!  So what difference does all of this make?  The Lord gives us not only a command to love but a path that, if followed well, will lead us to a future of healing, peace, and joy.  This commandment is no burden.  This commandment is pure gift.

 

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

Scripture:

Acts 16:1-10
John 15:18-21

Reflection:

Today’s readings speak to me of the spiritual balancing act that Christians face.

 

In John’s Gospel, Jesus reminds the disciples that the message they are bringing is not one that will be understood, and will certainly not be accepted, by many. We "do not belong to the world," Jesus says, but rather to God.

And yet, as is so painstakingly detailed in Acts, we live very much in the world. We, too, spend our lives journeying from place to place looking for like-minded "spirits" while having the occasional door slammed in our face. Some have endured far worse. We get turned away from our intended destination only to be pulled toward places we didn’t even know we were headed. We screw up. It’s a messy place, our human world. We may not be of this world, but we are certainly stuck in it.

So how do we balance it all?

Paul tells us that despite–or because of–our humanity, the Church grew. Somewhere in the wilderness a voice cried out, "Come and help us." And letting go of all the planned stops on his ancient roadmap and pointing his all-too-human feet simply in the direction of a voice in a vision, Paul listened to the Holy Spirit and found his way to the right place: to a place where someone else, and then another someone else, and yet another someone else was hungering for the experience illuminated by Christ, of being in the world yet being one with God.

Maybe today we can take heart in all the ways the Holy Spirit and our own flawed but wonderful communities of faith, family and friends keep us headed in the right spiritual direction, remembering to thank God that when we are that voice crying out in the wilderness, there is someone there to hear us.

 

Nancy Nickel is the former director of communications for the Passionist Development Office in Chicago, Illinois.  

Scripture:

1 Acts 10:25-26, 34-35, 44-48
1 John 4:7-10
John 15:9-17

Reflection:

When I was five years old, my Grandma, Margarita, had to chase me around the house in order to wash my hands before every meal or brush my teeth before bed. This was not an easy task for an older woman who had to take care of two other children, my younger and older sister. She tried everything from loving words to all sorts of intimidations. Nothing, however, would work with me.

One day, in the midst of one my usual tantrums, once she caught me to wash my hands, I vehemently asked her, why do I have to wash my hands before every meal! You have to wash your hands because it is good for you, she responded to my complaints in a firm manner. I’m sure she went on telling me about cleanliness and health and the usual explanations that a mischievous five year-old needs to hear. That line, however, captured my attention. There and then I understood. I wash my hands because it is good for me. It’s good for me!

Even to this day, I can recall that incident because those words touched something very deep in me. I understood those words beyond just protecting myself from illness or for social appearances. I understood those words from the perspective of love. Because I love myself, I must do what is good. I understood why I had to be obedient to my Grandmother.  I followed those rules out of love.

Keeping God’s Commandments also comes from the experience of love. No wonder the Evangelist invites us in this Sixth Sunday of Easter to remain in God’s love. Our faithfulness as followers of Christ is not a contract. Obedience is the response that emanates from our encounter with God’s transforming love, who, moreover, has loved us first, as the first letter of John reminds us.

May God’s transforming love continue to make of us ever more faithful followers, especially, as we seek to seek to build solidarity with the poor, the oppressed and those often forgotten by our societies.

 

Hugo R. Esparza-Pérez, C.P. is member of Holy Cross Province currently working in Mexico.

Scripture:

Acts 15:22-31
John 15:12-17

Reflection:

"I chose you."

It was traditional that disciples chose the rabbi under whom they wanted to study.  Paul, the Apostle, boasts of how he studied under the great Rabbi Gamaliel.  But Jesus turns this tradition upside down.  "You did not choose me," he reminds his disciples.  "I chose you."  We would assume that Jesus would then have selected the brightest, most promising of disciples.  But we would be wrong.  These disciples were a seriously flawed, ragtag bunch of braggadocio fishermen, tax collectors, hothead zealots and betrayers. 

Why, then, did Jesus choose them?  What special qualities did they have?  Part of the answer may be found in Deuteronomy 7:7 where Moses reminds the Israelites why God chose them.  "It was not because you are more numerous than all the peoples that the LORD set his heart on you and chose you; for you are really the smallest of all peoples.  It was because the LORD loved you…"

God’s ways are always mysterious.  Consider: God, who is almighty, all-knowing, all-present, all-loving, all-forgiving, all-merciful, is saying to us: You have something I don’t have.  Give that to me.  What is it?  Our weakness.

God loved and chose the Israelites precisely because they were insignificant.  Jesus loved and chose the 12 because they were so stunningly flawed.

God clearly has a special bias for the least, the weakest, the poorest, the broken.  And therein lies the good news for us: "I chose you."  Jesus calls us his friends, not as a reward for being so good, or virtuous, or bright, but out of sheer, extravagant love.  Jesus calls each of us to an important mission.  We are to love and serve one another.  Our qualification for the job?  Our weakness.

 

Deacon Manuel Valencia is on the staff at Mater Dolorosa Passionist Retreat Center, Sierra Madre, California.

Scripture:

Acts 14:19-28
John 14:27-31a

Reflection:

During this fifty-day season of Easter, we must believe that the resurrection of Jesus can make a difference in our daily life. Perhaps there will be consolation in our prayer life, a new surge of energy, or personal change. Today we are given insight into another quality: resilience.

Paul faced great resistance and sufferings as a missionary. We see that his travels didn’t all yield accolades and large collections. He was stoned in Lystra and thought dead. I’ve slept in hard beds, noisy rectories, and had teens laugh at me while I preach, but nothing like Paul. When the disciples gathered around him in prayer, he "got up." With no thought of returning home, he preached in Derbe and then had the audacity to return to the site of the stoning to "strengthen the spirits of the disciples and to exhort them to persevere!"  He continued preaching in other cities and completed his first missionary journey. Soon he was prompted to begin another journey and then another.

Many people I meet feel tired, burdened, and overwhelmed. Everyone is "busy," and it takes a toll on all of us. Paul demonstrates to us that the "peace" Jesus came to bring is a reservoir of power within us helping us face trials and bounce back from seeming defeat. Rather than giving up, Paul got up and faced his destiny. He wouldn’t let his heart be troubled or afraid. He understood that trials were part and parcel of being a disciple and are a necessary condition for entrance into Heaven.

Whenever I suffer set backs, seeming defeat, or difficult circumstances, I look to the stability and tranquility that is mine in Christ. Paul and others who lived so valiantly and persevered encourage me. Whatever you are going through right now, don’t let your hearts be troubled or agitated. Look to the tranquility of Christ within. Jesus is Risen and that makes all the difference. I heard a quote about attitude that I love: "We can’t control the waves, but we can learn how to surf."

 

Fr. Cedric Pisegna, C.P. is a missionary preacher, author of 16 books and creator of television and radio programs airing in many cities. You can learn more about his ministry at: http://www.frcedric.org/