Daily Scripture

Scripture:
Acts 9:1-20
John 6:52-59

Reflection:
Fine, I’ll admit it. I have always been a skeptic of so-called "miracles." Marian apparitions: I’m skeptical. Unexplained recoveries from illnesses: I’m skeptical. Destiny/fate: I’m skeptical. Yeah, go ahead and say it, "You are a scrooge!"

The logic of my skepticism has always rested in a belief that our God does not need extravagant miracles. In other words, I have always been content in knowing that our God must remain somewhat invisible to us.

Why? The answer is rather simple. If the existence of God was made absolutely certain to us, then where would our freedom go? Where would our faith go? Would we not become slaves to God?

Now, despite the fact that I am such a doubter of miracles, the miracles embedded in today’s readings cannot help but stir my heart in an incredible way. I simply cannot brush them aside. Sure, many of us have read about Saul’s conversion hundreds of times, and sure, many of us have become quite familiar with the notion that Jesus’ flesh is "true food" and his blood "true drink." But have we really experienced the miracles present in each of these readings? Allow me to reflect a little bit.

In regards to Saul’s conversion, the miracle appears to be quite obvious

– there is a flash of light, someone being thrown to the ground, and a mysterious voice. Sounds like a rather extravagant miracle, does it not?

But was that really the miracle that led to Saul’s conversion? Is it not possible that the actual conversion took place deep inside Saul’s heart?

Is it not possible that the blinding light Saul experienced was the light of Jesus shining forth through another person – a person in love with Jesus? Is it not possible that Saul was thrown to the ground in awe when he witnessed an act of service done in the name of Jesus? And is it not possible that the voice Saul and the others heard was Jesus speaking through the loving words of someone else? After all, isn’t this how we are called to experience Jesus after his physical departure from this world? Why would it have been any different during Saul’s time?

In regards to the miracle present in today’s gospel, I am also very much in awe. Jesus, in his foreshadowing of the Eucharist, illustrates exactly how we can and always will be able to intimately unite with our

Creator- through real food and real drink. Indeed, the idea that we can consume our loving God through simple bread and wine is a miracle in itself. Is it an extravagant, attention-seeking miracle? Not at all. In fact, it is a miracle which demands our deepest reflection and contemplation. "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" This is the question we must all ask when we process up the aisle at Mass to receive our Lord. The answer will knock you off your horse.

 

Tony Cortese is the Youth and Young Adult Minister for Newman Catholic Community at Sacramento State University, Sacramento, California.

 

Scripture:

Acts 8:1b-8
John 6:35-40

Reflection:

We hear the first of seven "I AM" sayings in today’s Gospel.  It reminds us of the Burning Bush story.  When Moses asked God his name, God replied: "Thus you shall say to the Israelites, I AM has sent me to you."  The Israelites hungered for freedom from Egyptian slavery.  But Moses didn’t want to go.  He wanted stay home and tend his sheep.

Today’s first reading in Acts describes two starkly different events.  In the first, the community is lamenting the death of Stephen, the first martyr.  Men and women are being dragged from their homes and imprisoned for their faith.  The church is suffering persecution.   The scene then shifts to those who are proclaiming the word of God, healing the paralyzed and crippled amid cries of joy.

I know what I’d rather do.  I would rather tend to my job and family than deal with stubborn, ungrateful people.  I would rather preach the good news than face mourning families or persecution.  Wouldn’t we all rather stay in our cul-de-sac of safety and familiarity than to face the discomfort of struggle?

But Scripture reminds us over and over again that it’s not a matter of our choice.  It’s a matter of God’s choice.  It’s not a matter of our comfort.  It’s a matter of the needs of others.  The same "I AM" who called Moses is the same "I AM" who declares himself to be the Bread of Life to a hungry people – hungry for comfort when loved ones die, hungry for companionship when they’re frightened and lonely in a hospital room, hungry for the Word of God that gives them meaning in life, hungry for the spiritual nourishment that only the Bread of Life can satisfy.

"I AM’ calls us to go, not where we want to go, but wherever people are hungry.

 

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

 

Scripture:

Acts 6:8-15
John 6:22-29

Reflection:

How to celebrate the Fifty Days of Easter is a challenge. It seems impossible to celebrate in isolation from daily life. The disciples, filled with new life and energy, bring the joy of the Resurrection into their daily lives, using the opportunities of the moment to share their good news. Also, the Scriptures of the Easter Lectionary are the treasures that make our celebration rich.

All this week we read the 6^th Chapter of John’s Gospel, the discourse on the bread from heaven that began with the multiplication of loaves and fishes. John’s outline follows the Jewish feasts: the Sabbath, Passover, Tabernacles and Dedication. Just having celebrated the Passover of Our Lord from death to life, and his completion of the work of the Father, we hear in John many connections to the Passover celebration, which becomes the background for this section of the Gospel.

We are reminded of God’s deliverance: the blood of the lamb place upon the door posts, the unleavened bread food for the journey. The traditions of the Israelites, the shepherds and nomadic groups along with the settled farm groups, blending together the rich symbols of God’s rescue and care during the time of the Exodus. John tells us when the bread was multiplied for the group they sat on the green grass, the place where a Good Shepherd pastures his flock. And the question of the apostles to Jesus, ‘where will we get food for this crowd?’, is the question of Moses to God as the grumbling of the people comes to him. John blends for us the traditions of Israel and now the emerging celebration of the community that follows Jesus.

We hear the question, "What must we do to be devoting ourselves to the works of God?" Jesus is doing the work of God. His work is to make the Father known. The law is not the way. To do the work of God then, we must now join ourselves to the work of the Son. While John alludes to the Passover he is bringing us also to the Eucharist. The crowd has had their fill of the perishable bread, but the Son of Man (a title associated with Jesus’ suffering) will give a food that endures to eternal life. Believing in the one whom God has sent will produce eternal life. [The Gospel of John, Francis J. Moloney, OSB, Sacra Pagina Series]

I went to Honduras several years ago and in my first few days celebrated the Feast of the Sacred Heart in a very poor area. The procession that consisted mostly of women and children ended in the little chapel where we celebrated Benediction and read from John 6.  A teenager sitting next to me asked in a hushed voice, ‘what is Manna’? In John we meet the crowds, those who are asking, who are hungry, but who do not know the food that will satisfy them. Jesus wants to give them the bread of life. I struggled to answer the question about the Manna because of language. We all hunger, many search. Let us come to the Word these Easter days to be with Jesus, our nourishment. One with Jesus we can do the work of the Father to bring all to intimacy with Him, to satisfy the hunger of those seeking the Bread of Life.

 

Fr. William Murphy, CP is pastor of St. Joseph’s Monastery parish in Baltimore, Maryland.

  

Scripture:

Acts 2:14, 22-33
1 Peter 1:17-21
Luke 24:13-35

Reflection:

I’m in the final editing stages of my newest book, The Sacred Walk. The theme is that our journey is not a solitary one, but a walk charged with the divine. We see this truth illustrated in the Gospel as Jesus walks alongside the dejected disciples. Their assumptions about the Messiah were dashed by his death. They were in despair and hopeless. After conversing with Jesus, they turned and went in a new direction. Suddenly their disappointed turned to reappointment.

Easter is a fifty-day-long season of journeys and opportunities. It is easy to become overwhelmed by what goes wrong and the trials we all encounter. In the midst of our real life episodes, the Scriptures remind us that we do not walk alone. Our companion is the Risen Lord. Jesus comes to bring us new turnings. We can experience resurgence and rejuvenation in every area of our life. Resurrection comes to us when lethargy and passivity turn into passion and creativity. Spiritual sameness can suddenly pulsate with new vigor. Negative thoughts and attitudes can be revolutionized. The disciples’ "eyes were opened" to a new hope. They suddenly changed direction and headed back to the place of mission, Jerusalem. I pray we will all have the insight to know how sacred our walk truly is so our hearts may burn more passionately.

 

 Fr. Cedric Pisegna, C.P. is a missionary preacher, author of 14 books and creator of television and radio programs airing in many cities. You can learn more about his ministry at: http://www.frcedric.org/

Scripture:
Acts 6:1-7
John 6:16-21

Reflection:
The  Lord’s  prediction that his followers would accomplish greater things than he did came true with the coming of the Holy Spirit in conversions of 3,000 and growing to 5,000 with the cure of the crippled man.

The continued growth of the Jerusalem Community soon created new problems for the Apostles.  Jerusalem had long been the site of two distinct Jewish groups.  The native, who spoke   Aramaic, and the Greek-speaking Jews from the diaspora.  Christian converts came from both groups.  The majority, a better organized group of Aramaic speakers, took good care of widows and other needy members, but were not reaching out to the Greek-speaking widows and providing them with food.  Complaints reached the Apostles.

As a result 7 leaders from the Greek-speaking Christian Community were deputed to take care of the problem. 

It became clear that leadership and service needed to be broadly distributed.  Stephen and Philip proved to be eloquent preachers and gifted with the grace of healing.  This may be the original instance of the need for and the function of collaborative ministry in the Church.

It became a patter across the world.  Paul recruits Timothy, he has Aquila and Prisca. Chloe in Corinth. Epaphras and Onesimus in Colossae have been slaves, but they were also lay ministers for Christ.  At the conclusion of his Letter to the Romans, Paul mentions 25 coworkers!

So it definitely was not something new and strange that the Fathers in the Vatican II Council issued many statements on the calling of the laity to be about the work of Christ in our time!

No special imposition of hands is required.   Lay people’s right and duty to be apostles derives from their union with Christ their head by Baptism and Confirmation.  (Cf. Apostolicam Actuositatem, 3)

In the two millennia the Church has functioned, the world has gone through many stages.  The Church was there to meet many a crisis.  We live in the most advanced and complex civilization that ever demanded attention.  The Council insisted the baptized Christian has many duties toward the secular world and these are Christian duties, moral duties.  God and the Church are concerned about human welfare, human freedom.  This area belongs more to the laity than to priests and bishops.  The laity are needed to do more than make sure all its widows are provided with food.  Christian Politicians, Christian leaders in business and human affairs are needed.

Lay missionaries, living their vocation in service to the Church, have given their lives for justice and are true martyrs.  Such heroism is not demanded of all. 

The need for lay help was clear in Jerusalem in the year 35.  The needs of God’s Church in the 21st century are much more evident.

It was only after the Polish laity rallied to the presence of Pope John Paul II by the millions, did the power of Communism shatter and crumble, even in Russia.  The Pope could lead but without the following laity nothing good would have happened. 

Christ is still with his Church and he is certainly with his laity. 

 

Fr. Fred Sucher, C.P. is retired and lives in the Passionist community in Louisville, Kentucky.  For many years he taught philosophy to Passionist seminarians.  

Scripture:

Acts 7:51-8:1a
John 6:30-35

Reflection:

In today’s readings, Stephen is stoned to death although he is innocent of any wrongdoing.  In his final breaths, he commends his spirit into God’s hands and asks God to forgive those who are killing him.  The psalm refrain reinforces Stephen’s words – "Into your hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit"- and the verses claim God as rock and fortress. In the Gospel, Jesus declares that he is the bread of life and all who believe in him will neither hunger nor thirst.  As we read these words we know that Jesus, too, will soon commend his spirit into God’s hands and forgive those who have betrayed, abandoned, and killed him. 

These readings present for us the ideal toward which we are to strive – total surrender into God and unmerited forgiveness.  Today, I struggle to live up to that ideal and I don’t think I am there yet.

My niece’s 9-month-old baby died last week, a victim of "shaken baby syndrome" so violent that it fractured her skull.  Little Chelsea never regained consciousness, slowly slipping away as her brain swelled, until she died.  The daycare babysitter, a family friend, was arrested and charged. This bubbly, smart and active baby girl was betrayed by the woman into whose care she was entrusted.  Though innocent, she endured torture and death. 

My niece and her husband are heart-broken and enraged.  They, too, were betrayed.  Their precious child was ripped from their lives unfairly and unjustly by someone they thought was a friend. They have the crib, high chair, clothes, car seat, and all the trappings that go with having a baby, but now they have no child to use them.  The void is unspeakably huge.  We who loved Chelsea are nailed to the cross, with no indication that the resurrection could possibly follow.  Can we so easily commend her life into God’s hands and forgive the woman who killed her?

It is far easier to preach the charism of the cross and proclaim the Gospel than it is to live them when your heart is breaking. I want to scream "No!" from heaven to hell. I painfully realize anew that human beings are wonderful but sometimes terribly flawed creatures, that life on this earth is worth living but ultimately transient, and that while our desire to hold and heal each other is boundless, our ability to actually do so is limited.  Human hands cannot hold the immensity of this pain, heal these wounds, nor give the capacity to rise above the anger and betrayal to forgiveness. Only divine hands, those tender and infinite hands of God, can do that.

So when I have screamed and sobbed and poured out my anguish, when I am emptied and hollowed out, what is left to me? Nothing of this world remains, my own power and control is vanquished, and there is nothing to which I can cling, except God. And this foundation holds me fast. I cannot run to a place where God’s love doesn’t reach. The bread of life comes down from heaven for us who hunger and thirst for justice, for healing, and for peace. Our tears are but one current in the river of tears flowing from the aching heart of God, pierced again by the most horrific of human actions.  Jesus is nailed to the cross with us, walking us into the darkest of tombs while holding out the promise that eventually we will emerge. It is only into these divine hands that I can commend Chelsea’s spirit and my own.

I am not there yet. I still fight and rage and bounce back and forth. I pray for the grace, for myself and for all of us, to surrender our spirits into the steadfast, everlasting hands of the God who suffers with us, who knows our pain, and who has promised healing and peace.  I pray that although we seek the justice that is due, we may not be held bound by hate, anger, and vengeance.  I pray that we may free our hearts by forgiving, and move on to live a life enriched and made full by Chelsea’s memory.

Over and over again I pray: Into your hands, O Lord, I commend Chelsea.  Into your hands, O Lord, I commend the woman who killed her.  Into your hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit.

 

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:

Acts 5:27-33
John 3:31-36

Reflection:

Its day twelve of our Easter Season. Is anyone still celebrating?

For many of us, festivities ceased that Sunday night and have long since been pushed to the back of the mind. So many other things have taken precedence over remembering Triduum and our Easter celebration. I once heard that it is easier to practice repentance during Lent than it is to practice the joys of Easter (to remain an "Easter People") and there’s such a strong truth to that statement. As humans we tend to forget easily. Come Easter Monday, the world draws our attention back to the problems of our everyday lives, and suddenly everything that mattered to us on Sunday doesn’t seem to be there on Monday.

The church takes today’s opportunity to remind us to keep alive the message of Easter in every aspect of our lives. The Apostles certainly did this. Going back a few verses (5:14-25), it’s easy to see that they have been busy. They’ve been curing the sick and bringing "multitudes" to Christ. It’s hard to imagine that these are the very men who just a few weeks ago were fleeing at Jesus’ arrest, were absent at his Passion and Crucifixion, and were cowering when Jesus appeared to them bearing the markings of his death. By the first reading, the Apostles have been brought before the Sanhedrin who are furious because these men are converting hearts with their testimonies. The Apostles can’t seem to remain silent for their own safety. Why? They have opened their eyes and seen the fulfillment of Jesus’s time with them through his Passion and Resurrection. They have seen a God that loves them. They have been witnesses to resurrection in their lives and they have let that love work and transform their own lives.

That word-witness-is a double-edged sword for Luke’s community. Some have become like the Sanhedrin who were witnesses of Jesus’s work yet went out of their way to destroy him in physical form as well as within their own hearts. Others are like the Apostles, who have done the opposite. They are weaving the word God into their lives. The Apostles are bold enough to make a grand contrast between themselves and the council: "The God of our ancestors raised Jesus though you killed him…"

In the Gospel, John the Baptist sums the situation up quite well. When one witnesses the glory of God, his good news, one must testify to it. John the Baptist knows Jesus is doing exactly what the Father called him to do. He himself is one of the greatest witnesses; he is mentioned in all four Gospels as one whose entire life is spent calling people’s attention to the Lord’s Good News. But this "living the Good News" thing isn’t meant to be easy. Look at what happened to those that lived this kind of lifestyle-eleven out of twelve of those that stand before the Sanhedrin in today’s story will be murdered. John the Baptist was beheaded. Yet these people rose to the call to spread this news because it had changed, inspired and empowered them.

As an Easter People we are newly aware of our connections to our God and to our community. We’ve all witnessed rebirth in our Churches and homes as we put away the Lenten décor and brought out the glowing white of Easter. God has called us to give testimony to these things in the way we live our lives and interact with others. It’s something we cannot ignore.

Today is a good day to reflect back and meditate on your Easter experience from Sunday up to now. How are you different having come through? How are you different from last Easter? How are you continuing to incorporate the life of the Risen Lord into your own, and testify about it to others?

 

Sandy Smith is a volunteer at Christ the King Passionist Retreat Center in Citrus Heights, California. 

 

Scripture:

Acts 4:23-31
John 3:1-8

Reflection:

This is a wonderful Easter-season set of readings.  Two very basic truths of the Resurrection/Easter event in the Church are put before us for our edification and encouragement.  Connecting these two events is the "breath of the Holy Spirit" which is given and confirmed in these narratives of the challenges faced by the apostles after Pentecost (first reading), and of the instruction Jesus gave to Nicodemus regarding being "born of the Spirit-from above".

On Sunday, the Second Sunday of Easter, we remembered in the Gospel passage that Jesus appeared to the Apostles/disciples on the evening of the Resurrection, and breathed his Holy Spirit on them; it was a foreshadowing of the definitive giving of the Spirit at Pentecost.  The Holy Spirit shall take hold of them and empower them to proclaim the name and work of Jesus beginning in Jerusalem and continuing to the ends of the earth.

In today’s first reading (Acts 4, 23-31), Peter and John have been held prisoners by the "chief priests and elders" because of their healing of the crippled man, in the name of Jesus of Nazareth.  They received severe rebukes, and were told to cease from preaching in the name of Jesus.  "…And now, Lord, take note of their threats,
 and enable your servants to speak your word 
with all boldness, as you stretch forth your hand to heal,
 and signs and wonders are done 
through the name of your holy servant Jesus."  As they prayed, the place where they were gathered shook,
 and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit
 and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.

The Community believed in the power of the Spirit of God to confront and overcome the resistance and the enmity which the name of Jesus would provoke in the public arena.

In the Gospel reading of today (John 3, 1-8), we see in Nicodemus one very public religious official, who must come by night, lest his interest in the person of Jesus undermine his place among the Pharisees.  He is courteous in his praise of Jesus.  However, once Jesus responds to his interest, "unless one is born from above, he cannot see the Kingdom of God", Nicodemus understands "birth" in the natural order, as physical childbirth.  Indeed, the word used by Jesus for this rebirth can mean either "from above" or "again".  Nicodemus takes it as "again"; Jesus clarifies, "unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter the Kingdom of God."

In making this affirmation, Jesus, invites all of us to be born, not "born again", but to be born from and for a spiritual awakening as members of the Kingdom of God.  This birth from above is precisely the gift of the Holy Spirit in the lives of all members of the Body of Christ.

Beginning with the beautiful symbols of the sacrament of baptism (water, immersion, anointing, light), we accept our rebirth from above through the conferral of the Spirit of God.

The same Spirit will continue to inspire (breathe into us) us throughout our sharing in the sacraments of the Church, strengthening us to bear witness to the Gospel of Jesus Christ in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health, at home, at work and in the parish life of our faith community.

This is the fruit of the Resurrection, it is the reason that the Spirit of Christ continues to call each of us to holiness, and the reason that the Church of Jesus Christ continues to witness to the Resurrection of Jesus to the present day.

 

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