Daily Scripture

Scripture:

Exodus 14:5-18
Matthew  12: 38-42

Reflection:

"Fear not, stand your ground!"

Those are God’s words.  Encouraging and comforting words.  Nothing like having God on our side!  But, in moments of fear we focus only on what we are facing.  Our view of a situation often narrows and focuses exclusively on the problem.  And the problem itself often excludes any solution.  The Lord of the Israelites through Moses tries to broaden the outlook of the people.  They are reminded they were not set free from Pharaoh and the Egyptians, fed miraculously in the desert, given water to drink and lead to the shore of the Dead Sea, and now are going to be abandoned and killed.  Their Lord and God is not about to abandon them.  There is a solution.

While many of us will gladly agree that the Israelites are suffering from fear leading to loss of memory and trust in their Lord and God, we may also recall such moments in our lives.  The challenges all of us experience from time to time also find us fighting fear and loss of memory and trust.

Death is something all of us will ultimately face.  But…not now!  To put my life in God’s hands and yet deny God any partnership in my death is to lose an important part of the whole picture.  A balance is called for.  I try each day to thank God for the gift of the new day.  And right after that to say "yes" if this is the day I will die.  But I don’t want to lose the whole picture that is given to me.  I am not abandoned!  Finally, I am invited to step across the threshold of eternity and enter eternal life with the joyful reunion with my parents, extended family members, and friends. 

Once in a while I find myself thinking of how I am going to die.   Pain may be a part, even a big part, of my exit from this life.  But I feel that death isn’t something I want to ignore or hide from, no matter what the circumstances.  I don’t want to live with blinders on and end up blotting out Jesus’ words, "I am with you always," along with the invitation, "Do you want to talk about it?"

We all are encouraged to ask ourselves from time to time: "Am I afraid to face up to fears and doubts that arise in the course of daily life?"  "Do I forget to thank my close friends, beginning with Jesus, with whom I can share these fears and doubts and not lose the whole picture?  "Fear not, stand your ground."

 

Fr. Peter Berendt, C.P. is on the staff of Holy Name Passionist Retreat Center, Houston, Texas.

Scripture:

Exodus 11:10-12:14
Matthew 12: 1-8

Reflection:

In this chapter of Matthew’s gospel we see the growing opposition to Jesus by the Scribes and Pharisees, the official teachers of the Law of Moses. These leaders confront Jesus, and as he pushes back, they will finally come to a decision about Jesus, and that is rejection. It is not only rejection in the sense that they would have nothing to do with him, but rather the conclusion  that nothing less his death would silence him. Often we see the same pattern working out in oppressive countries of the world as those who speak out against injustice disappear. 

In the verses we have today Jesus defends his disciples from the charge of violating the Sabbath. He enunciates the principle that human need is the highest law. Hungry disciples have the right to eat. How easy it is for us to ignore this first principle. Last night on the evening news was a story about drought in eastern Africa. Cattle have died and crops withered. Over a million men, women, and children are seeking food in refugee camps. United Nations aid agencies appear overwhelmed. The most vulnerable babies and children are dying. This morning our local paper (Pasadena Star News) ran a story about the local food pantry. It is turning potential clients away and for those who are already approved to receive food, rations are being cut. The shelves are bare! The only food in abundance is canned spinach.  The article went on to say that government support is being cut back in the budget crisis.

So can we ignore all this and go on with our own comfortable lives?  What is our response?

 

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

Feast of Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha

Scripture:

Exodus 3:13-20
Matthew 11:28-30

Reflection:

Today we are invited to remember a very special woman, Kateri Tekakwitha.  Kateri was the daughter of a Christian Algonquin and a non-Christian Mohawk and the first Native American to be named "blessed" by the Church.  Interestingly, even without being canonized, Kateri is declared by the Church to be the patroness of ecology and the environment.  Because she converted to Christianity she was not welcomed by her own tribe and was shunned, forcing her to flea far away to another land in order to survive.  She is often pictured with a cross in one hand and a small turtle and evergreen in the other.  Hopefully, even with this minuscule memorial of a feast, we will remember the critical need to love the earth and care for God’s creation as did Kateri.

If you are old enough, you may remember the 1956 release of the great epic film The Ten Commandments.  Its producer, Cecil Blount DeMille, had an amazing penchant for the spectacular and surely, every viewer of this colorful movie, left the theater with lifelong, vivid images of Moses confronting Pharaoh and leading the once captive Jews to freedom through the parting of the Red Sea.  In the book of Exodus, we have a wonderful summary of that same story of Moses beginning with his abandonment among the reeds at the river bank until his flight from the hands of Pharoah into the land of Midian.  This is not nearly as colorful as DeMille’s great epic but we know that this marked the beginning of something wonderful for the people of Israel and their journey toward the Promised Land.

So, we have a Moses, the great liberator of his people and a shunned and all but forsaken Kateri who lived in great obscurity as an outcast.  What common thread unites these two heroes of our faith?  Certainly each one was asked to place their entire lives, and the destiny of others along with them, into the hands of God.  We are invited, dear friends, to see in the greatness of Moses and the simplicity of a Kateri, what it means to believe in a God who is faithful and who will not let his loved ones down.  Here in the middle of summer what a good reminder for us!  We too are dearly loved by God and whether our life is filled with great challenges and heroic moments or we find ourselves alone in a small apartment dwelling wondering if we have anything to offer, our trust in the Lord, our confidence in a God of love is surely as beautiful and wondrous an offering as was the perseverance of an obedient Moses or the loving trust of a simple virgin maiden named Kateri.

 

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

 

Scripture:

Exodus 3:1-6, 9-12
Matthew 11:25-27

Reflection:

Okay Jesus, you really have me confused. Just a few paragraphs back in the Gospel of Matthew you were criticizing the people of your time for acting like unresponsive children and now you are telling us that God has revealed special "things" to the childlike. What is going on, Jesus? Just how childlike am I supposed to be? (An answer to this question would be helpful, as I may get myself into some awkward social situations if I misinterpret Jesus’ words.)

The answer to this question begins to be uncovered in today’s first reading, taken from the book of Exodus. In this reading, we catch a glimpse of how the God revealed to Moses was a God who very much sympathized with the childlike. "The cry of the children of Israel has reached me," Moses writes. Was God literally referring to children under a certain age, or was God seeing in the Israelites as a whole a childlike quality? Most certainly, God was referring to the latter.

But what was this quality that God saw in the people of Israel?

IT’S ALL ABOUT VULNERABILITY!

Let’s face it: we humans hate being vulnerable, don’t we? Not only is it uncomfortable to be vulnerable, but it is often frowned upon in our society. When we begin to show signs of vulnerability, a common description of our behavior is that we are acting like…you guessed it: children. "Stop acting like a child!" "Grow up!" "Get over it!" "Suck it up!" "Stop crying; be a man!" How often in our lives – particularly when we were growing up – did we hear statements like these? Growing up as a male in today’s society, I certainly felt a good deal of this pressure from my peers. According to my peers, I was supposed to be that stereotypically confident, strong and unemotional man. Becoming "childlike" would have been idiotic. Yet, this is exactly what Jesus was calling me to be (little did I know this until quite recently in life).

There is so much beauty in the vulnerability of a child. A child is completely dependent on his or her parents for food, shelter and safety. Without parents a child could not survive in the world. Most importantly, though, a child doesn’t let pride get in the way of this vulnerability. How often does a small child become embarrassed because of their reliance on their parents? Never. But this is exactly what we do in our relationship with our heavenly Parent.

I know it sounds oxymoronic, but I’m pretty sure that Jesus is calling us to become secure with being vulnerable. We must recognize that we are nothing without our Creator, but yet we are everything because of our Creator. We must recognize that showing emotion is okay. We must recognize that relying on others is ok. We must recognize that not having the answer to a question is not shameful. And lastly, we must recognize that God cannot help but be in love with our vulnerability; it’s too beautiful.

 

Tony Cortese is a campus minister at the Newman Catholic Community, Sacramento State University. 

 

 

Scripture:

Exodus 2:1-15a
Matthew 11:20-24

 

 

 

Reflection:

What if you knew for certain that there was a worldwide event about to take place and you told everyone you knew and no one listened to you? Perhaps in some small measure you would then understand Jesus’ voicing his frustration in today’s gospel.

Jesus preached the Kingdom of God and He preached its imminent arrival. He knew it was going to happen and He wanted all God’s faithful to be ready. He was, as we say in modern parlance, "a change agent." Jesus not only proclaimed the event, He was the event! He in himself embodied the Kingdom. As God he knew, like the Jewish Prophets before him, that the coming of the Kingdom signaled a different way of being…of living one’s daily life, of interacting with one’s fellows. And he showed this not only by the way he lived His life but by the way he touched others lives as well. Echoing the words of the Prophet Isaiah, Jesus had no doubts of God’s in-breaking into the world. He was "firm in faith and stood firm!"

So you might be able to imagine Jesus’ utter amazement when the cities in which His greatest miracles were done did not take seriously his message. These cities were blessed with a "preview" of God’s action in the world, but they refused to change. Whether out of fear or ignorance or even willful pride, these sophisticated cities of Chorazin, Bethsaida or Capernaum just couldn’t be bothered.

And what of us? Do we really take seriously Jesus message of the Kingdom? Do we live the change the Gospel proclaims? Are we truly "firm in faith?"  

  

Patrick Quinn is the former Director of Planned Giving for the Province Development Office in Chicago.

Scripture:

Exodus 1:8-14, 22
Matthew 10:34-11:1

Reflection:

"I have come to bring, not peace, but the sword."

Matthew’s gospel is the only one that includes these disturbing words of Jesus.  Matthew’s community, made up of Jewish Christians, was under intense persecution for their decision to follow Jesus as their Messiah.  Their decision sparked division.  They were ejected from the synagogue, estranged from their families, ridiculed and marginalized because of their decision for Christ.  They were cut off from the institutions of their society.

The sword was an apt symbol for Matthew’s community.  Their decision was like a sword cutting ties.  They faced a challenge.  Either choose Jesus or reject him.  There was no middle ground.  They had to decide.  Interestingly, the word "decision" comes from the Latin: decidere, to cut from.  It’s a word Billy Graham always used to challenge his audiences: "Will you make a decision for Christ?"

In our time, Jesus again has come to bring, not peace, but the sword.  Like Matthew’s community, we, as Catholics, face challenges today.  We believe in absolute truth; our culture ridicules us for not accepting moral relativism.  We affirm the sanctity of all life; our culture calls us fanatics for rejecting abortion and assisted suicide.  We embrace the truth of traditional marriage; our culture mocks us as bigots for refusing to support "same sex marriage."

The Church teaches unpleasant truths.  There is no neutral ground.  It’s the sword.  The challenge to Matthew’s community echoes across the ages to us today.  Will we cut all ties with the errors of the popular culture?  Will we make a decision for Christ?

 

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

 

 

 

Scripture:

Isaiah 55:10-11
Romans 8:18-23
Matthew 13:1-23 or 13:1-9

 

 

Reflection:

There are two aspects of seed-growing highlighted in today’s readings.  One aspect is my responsibility to plant and nurture seeds of faith in the world.  The other is my responsibility to be a fertile field so God can plant and grow in me. I don’t know which is harder.

I do know over which I exert the most control – I can only change myself. I need to be vigilant about the distractions, tribulations, anxieties, and shallowness that can prevent God’s word from taking root. I constantly need to examine my motivations, actions, and desires, weeding out that which is not of God and maintaining a fertile seedbed so God can help me grow into the rich and fruitful person I was created to be.  This requires discernment, input from persons wiser than myself, and constant prayer – all things that I can choose to employ.

Planting and nurturing seeds in others is more frustrating because I am not in control. I can teach a semester class, counsel a student or a grieving person, lead a training session, write articles and books, and use the gifts God has given me to spread the reign of God. Yet the end result is unknown, and if I am focused on the "success" of my efforts I will burn out with discouragement.

Instead, I have to let go of controlling the outcome or becoming too attached to the desire to succeed.  The truth is that sometimes I simply till the soil, or take out some rocks, or add a little fertilizer, hoping the process will be continued by others.  Sometimes the seeds were planted long ago, and my task is to prune, water, or nurture. Sometimes all I can do is create the idea that it might be possible to plant in this soil. In every situation, I have to do what I can and then let go and turn it over to God, trusting that the harvest will come in God’s time, not mine.

Bishop Ken Untener wrote a beautiful piece (sometimes wrongly attributed to Oscar Romero) that reinforces this idea. He said:

"We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction of the magnificent enterprise that is God’s work…This is what we are about: We plant seeds that one day will grow.  We water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise.  We lay foundations that will need further development.  We provide yeast that produces effects beyond our capabilities.  We cannot do everything and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that.  This enables us to do something and to do it very well.  It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way, an opportunity for God’s grace to enter and do the rest.  We may never see the end results, but that is the difference between the master builder and the worker.  We are workers, not master builders, ministers, not messiahs.  We are prophets of a future not our own."

Jesus said that prophets and righteous people longed to see what we see and hear what we hear, but they did not. We stand on the shoulders of all those who have gone before us, those who diligently plowed the land and prepared the way for what was to follow even though they were not able to see it themselves. Truly we are part of a bigger picture. I am too small-minded when I want to be in control, when I want to see the results of my efforts, and especially when my desire is to be rewarded for producing the fruit.  I need to let go and be a prophet of a future not my own.  I am not in control and may never see the end result, yet hopefully I can indeed do my tiny part, that God’s harvest may be full. 

 

Amy Florian is a teacher and consultant working in Chicago.  For many years she has partnered with the Passionists.  Visit Amy’s  website: http://www.amyflorian.com/.

 

 

Scripture:

Genesis 41:55-57; 42:5-7a, 17-24a
Matthew 10:1-7

Reflection:

The Gospel of Matthew begins today the second of the five discourses of Jesus. In this particular discourse Jesus talks about conducting missionary work and what is to be expected. First, Jesus calls among his disciples twelve men who will become his apostles. These twelve are given the instruction: "Go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. As you go, make this proclamation: ‘The Kingdom of heaven is at hand.’" Jesus explicitly tells them not to go to the pagans and Samaritans. Is Jesus being stingy with the message about the Kingdom?

An important rule of public speaking is to know your audience. If you want to inform, persuade or entertain your audience, you must know their interests, likes and dislikes. The famous comedian Merton Berle would begin his routine by telling five different types of one-liner jokes. From the reaction he got from the jokes, he would know if the majority of the audience was in the mood for silly humor, political humor, or blue jokes. Berle had an encyclopedic mind for jokes and comedy routines, so he would then present the routine that was effective for the particular audience that night.

Jesus was not being stingy; he was being practical. By speaking only to Jewish audiences, the apostles would have some chance of success. Their audience would have the same language and share the same religious traditions and expectation as the apostles. It would be futile to preach to the non-Jewish groups about the Kingdom of God, the long-awaited Messiah, Moses and the Exodus.

This practical wisdom Jesus displays, as he sends out the apostles, is a virtue we can use. We are not supermen or wonder women. We can’t do all things for all people. Like the apostles, we have our limitations. We need not condemn ourselves because we are not as talented as someone else. God knows our abilities, weakness and fears. That is precisely where God will be working with us. God will use our abilities and limitations to proclaim the Kingdom. Trust God to work in your life as you are, not as you think you should be. God knows the person with whom he is working.

 

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