Daily Scripture

Scripture:

Isaiah 60:1-6
Ephesians 3:2-3a, 5-6
Matthew 2:1-12

Reflection:

Somewhere, in a rectory somewhere, a priest has begun to prepare his Sunday homily for the Solemnity of the Epiphany by looking up the etymology of the word, "Epiphany".  It is a good way to begin some speeches, talks, lessons, and homilies.  Just what does this word mean in its root meaning?  He discovers that the meaning is from the Greek preposition "epi" and the Greek verb "phainein".  "Epi" means "to", "against", "outward direction"; and "phainein" means to "reveal", "manifest", "show".

Our First Reading reinforces this meaning of Epiphany: Jesus is revealed to the world in His divinity and majesty, "upon you [Jerusalem] the Lord Shines, and over you appears his glory" (Isaiah).

Paul’s letter to the Ephesians gives us the post-Resurrection faith of the Church that the revelation of Jesus is universal, not just to the people of the Covenant.  Paul states it clearly, than in contrast with older revelation, "it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit: that the Gentiles are coheirs, members of the same body, and copartners in the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel."

This is the symbolism of universality is that most often associated with this celebration: the "magi" coming from far in the east, coming to acknowledge and reverence the child whose star has guided them over the route to Jerusalem and Bethlehem.  Not Jewish, not Semitic, not even "religious" in our traditional deist meaning perhaps, but scientists, star-gazers, astrologers, numerologists, natural philosophers, and spiritualists.

Jesus calls everyone to himself; he reveals himself to all people.  He receives and welcomes all people.

What was symbolized by the Magi’s gift-bearing to Bethlehem, is made explicit in the preaching of St. Paul to the Gentiles.

Can you and I keep this meaning of the Epiphany of Jesus alive in our hearts?  Can we, who have been baptized into Christ, radiate the mission of Christ to the world around us?  Can we see in Hanukkah and Kwanzaa the drama of Isaiah and the preaching of Ephesians?  Can we sense in the charitable works of Ramadan the yearning for purification and direction that are the Mission of Jesus?

Epiphany is a call to Christians to open wide their hearts and their minds to the universal mission of Jesus, the Savior.

 

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

 

 

Scripture:

1 John 2:18-21
John 1:1-18

 

 

 

Reflection:

"In the Beginning………….."

It’s the last day of this year and the eve of a new one.  For many of us, this means it’s a time of reflection….. a time to look back and a time to look forward……

Our Gospel today is about…………Beginnings

Throughout the holiday season, some of us tend to overindulge in various ways.  The most commonplace excess – and the least recognizable – is overindulgence in the idea that, starting at midnight tonight, EVERYTHING WILL CHANGE ! 

We make a list of all the things we’re going to do, stop doing, or do differently.  We have high hopes for the "New Year."

God is good at beginnings.  At the moment of creation God shared life by allowing His goodness to spread outside of Himself.

 "In the beginning was the Word……………"

 Jesus Christ, the Word of God, has empowered us to become children of God and to share in His life one day at a time.

God gives us the gift of life, and what we do with that life is our gift back to God.

Our wanting to make changes (for the New Year) is well and good and necessary if life is to be fully enjoyed.  Change is best undertaken "one day at a time."

Prayer for Today:  Lord, help me to remember that today is another golden opportunity for a new beginning………….

 

Deacon Brian Clements is on the staff at Mater Dolorosa Passionist Retreat Center in Sierra Madre, California.

Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God

 

Scripture:

Numbers 6:22-27
Galatians 4:4-7
Luke 2:16-21

 

Reflection:

As we begin this first day of 2011, we celebrate Mary, Virgin Mother of God,the woman who gave birth to Jesus, the Son of God, Word made flesh,conceived in her womb by the Holy Spirit!  An awesome blessing to God’s long awaited people and to each of us today!

As we all contemplate the abundance of God’s blessings this day… and each and every day of our lives, let us take time to reflect on 
the blessings the Church gives us in today’s readings.

From the Book of Numbers, the Lord tells Moses how to speak to Aaron and his sons, telling them how to evoke God’s name so that God will bless them, their children… throughout the ages to come and down to us… and to your children and children’s children.

Today’s Psalm response echoes the first reading. Reflect for a moment: Where do you seek God’s face to gaze upon you, your family, your community…and seek God to bless…in his mercy today?

Paul, in our second reading to the Galatians, calls us to again ponder this great mystery…this great gift…that God so loved us…sent his son, born of a woman…so that WE might receive adoption as God’s son-daughters. We are no longer slaves but heirs to all our Father’s love and gifts. Throughout this reading, we see who we, you and I, really are.  No wonder we say Thank you God!

Today’s Gospel is so familiar, we could take it for granted!  We see the scene in our churches, on Christmas cards, in our homes…
It is the familiar story of the shepherds who hear the story from the angels…go in haste to Bethlehem and find Mary and Joseph 
with the infant lying in the manger.  When they say this, they make known the message that had been told about this child. And all who heard were amazed at what had been told to them by the shepherds.

After pondering this familiar story, let’s go forward in Luke 11: 27-28. Jesus tells us today. Like these shepherds who are blessed, who are his disciples: "Blessed are they who hear the word of God and act on it"!

We might ask ourselves as we ponder these readings:  What did I hear? How and where do I act on it"

May this new year be filled with God’s abundant blessings and peace for you, your loved ones and all our brothers and sisters in Jesus, the Christ.  And all who read and ponder these readings today, let us all pray for one another

Sr. Marcella Fabing, CSJ, is a former staff member of Christ the King Passionist Retreat Center, Citrus Heights, California.

Scripture:

1 John 2:12-17
Luke 2:36-40

Reflection:

The last sentence in today’s gospel invites us to use our imagination.  What was it like to watch Jesus grow?  Did he play in a sandbox?  Did he play catch with other children?  Did he draw?  Did he tell jokes or riddles?  I know he didn’t have a toy truck or toy train.  Maybe Joseph made him little carts and wagons, or statues of sheep and goats to play with

Did Mary tell him bedtime stories?  I wonder if she sang to him.  And what did they do for school in those days? 

Our gospel says Jesus was filled with wisdom.  He must have studied the Scriptures.  He must have prayed with Mary and Joseph.  They must have discussed the law and the prophets.

I presume Joseph taught him carpentry.  I wonder if Mary taught him how to cook?

And when he was a teenager, what were his hopes and dreams?  Did he ever fall in love?  Where did he learn how to preach?

In chapter 17 of John’s Gospel we have Jesus’ prayer to his Father at the Last Supper.  Imagine what his prayer was like when he was ten years old, or twenty?  He must have been a master listener in prayer, for his adult years were so focused on doing his Father’s will.

It is good to let our imaginations wander and wonder.  Yes, Jesus ate and drank, laughed and played, worked and slept, studied and prayed…  He experienced all the ordinary human activities that we experience.  That means that, when we come before our God to ask, to beg, to thank and to praise, we don’t have to explain ourselves.  We can feel confident that our God knows what we are talking about.  He has been here before us.  He knows what it is like to be one of us.  Jesus was like us in all things but sin.

If God knows human life so thoroughly, perhaps we should spend less time talking and more time listening when we pray.

                                                                                                                  

Fr. Alan Phillip, C.P. is a member of the Passionist Community at Mater Dolorosa Retreat Center, Sierra Madre, California.  http://www.alanphillipcp.com/

 

Scripture:

1 John 2:3-11
Luke 2:22-35

Reflection:

"This is the way we may know that we are in union with him: whoever claims to abide in him ought to walk just as he walked." – 1 John 2:3-11

 

If you ask a Passionist: "How can we walk as Jesus walked? He or she will more than likely unequivocally respond: "through the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Christ!" It is hard saying for most of us to hear, yet one that right now thousands of men and women respond to every single day of their lives. I write not just about our vowed women and men who have dedicated their lives to proclaim this saving message and way of Christ to the entire world. I write also about the varied and various men and women, scattered all over the earth, who awake every morning, embrace their cross and walk in union with Christ, who upholds them and sustains them when they think they can go no further. Most do not wear the sign of the Passion on their clothing like our religious, but they do bear the sign of Christ’s Passion on their hearts!

Just as Jesus is revealed to Simeon in Luke’s Gospel today as a sign to be contradicted, so too is the way Christ walked itself a sign of contradiction. It is not always a pleasant walk. Realistically there are times when the walk is painful and confusing. There may even be times when we veer off the path and need that "revealing light" to lead us back to where we belong.

What we celebrate this Christmas season is that we do not walk the path alone. The light is always present if we have the eyes to see it. The light is Emmanuel, which means, "God is with us." The miracle of Christmas focuses on the fact that God became one of us, to share in our life’s journey…all of our life, not just the pleasant parts of the journey, but the unpleasant as well.

The wonderful gift that the Passionist Community has shared with me repeatedly is that it is only in embracing my life, including my cross, that I can fully realize God’s life for me and love for me in total. It is not always an easy gift for me to accept, and it may need to be a gift accepted repeatedly in various times and various situations; yet it is wonderful gift that gives life ultimate meaning and hope.

Moreover, it is this Christmas gift from the Passionist Community for which I am truly grateful.

 

Patrick Quinn ([email protected]) is the director of Planned Giving at the Passionist Development Office in Chicago.

 

 

 

 

Scripture:

1 John 1:1-4
John 20:1a, 2-8

Reflection:

Yes Virginia, there is a . . . risen Lord?  I have to admit that I checked and rechecked to make sure I had the correct readings for today.  Didn’t we just welcome the Christ child into the world?  Are you really asking me to think about Jesus’ suffering and death so soon after celebrating his birth?  Christ as a baby is promise and possibility and hope.  How can we not feel joy when we think of a newborn babe.  And now, so soon after Christmas carols and twinkling lights, we come to the grave.

But that’s when I realized there is the greatest joy in this gospel.  This grave, of course, is empty.  Jesus is risen.  Death and sin are conquered.  We have been saved!  John explains in his first letter, "the life was made visible."  Jesus had to be born so that he could die.  How easily we forget this when we are eating candy canes and unwrapping presents.  Jesus became flesh and lived and breathed a real human existence.  His suffering was a human suffering.  After his death, those who loved him buried him.  Now here is where the story gets interesting.  When Mary Magdalene comes to the tomb in the third day, she finds the burial clothes are rolled up and the tomb empty.

Today’s gospel is really the completion of the Christmas story.  Jesus had to live so that he could die.  But the Father could have brought Jesus to earth however he chose.  He could have appeared as a full grown man.  He could entered the world through apparition.  But Jesus’ victory over death is miraculous precisely because he was a real person.  When he closed his eyes and handed his life over, even those who witnessed his greatness on earth understood what that meant.  It was over.  Evil had won.  Jesus was dead.  Those who live in faith in fellowship with our Lord know of course, that is not where the story ends. 

I’m sure many of us looked around the Christmas table this year and grieved for those who were not there.  I know I spent more than a few moments this week feeling more than a little bit sorry for myself as I was missing family members who have passed.  Did I really forget the Easter message just because it was Christmas!

Death is vanquished.  It’s isn’t our enemy anymore.  It means that every day-every moment-is a new chance.  We have been rescued from its grip.  Jesus was good and innocent, and he willingly sacrificed himself so that we could be free.  But we know that death now promises a new beginning for those who live in the Lord.  So, what can we possibly have left to fear?  Let’s greet 2011 with the power of that faith. 

 

Marlo Serritella is on staff at the Holy Cross Province Development Office in Chicago.

 

Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph

 Scripture:

Sirach 3:2-7, 12-14
Colossians 3:12-21 or 3:12-17
Matthew 2:13-15, 19-23

Reflection:

"He went and dwelt in a town called Nazareth, so that what had been spoken through the prophet might be fulfilled."

It is December 26.  Christmas Day is over. Presents are opened. Families have gathered from near and far and the good news of the Christ child’s birth is known worldwide. All of our anticipation and hope for a happy, peaceful, holy Christmas as we await the birth of Jesus is set aside until next year.

But, today we celebrate the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph.  The baby who would be our salvation is born into our world and completes a family.  I often look at the different artistic depictions of the Holy Family, mother, father and child, and wonder: did Mary know the hurt and agony that she would endure watching her son being beaten and crucified?

When a child is born either at the start of or an addition to a family, there is so much hope, so much anticipation, so many good wishes for a happy, healthy child; a fresh start.

I remember when my children were born; it seems like yesterday.  I look and see what fine young men they have grown in to and think: was it really that many years ago?  Something happens when people become parents.  Suddenly you are responsible for a whole other life beyond your own.  It is a huge weight of responsibility.  However, with this responsibility is an instant love and a fierce, fierce feeling of having to protect this innocent helpless baby.

I think it is this instant love and protection that Joseph experiences and with the help of the Angel of the Lord, he takes Mary and Jesus in the night to keep them safe, to protect them from harm.  "He went and dwelt in a town called Nazareth, so that what had been spoken through the prophets
might be fulfilled."

A blessed Christmas season to all, and may the New Year bring you good health, happiness and peace.

  

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

 

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Christmas Day

 

Scripture:

Isaiah 9:1-6 
Psalm 96:1-3, -13 
Titus 2:11-14
Luke 2:1-14

  

Reflection:

In 1983 I was in Ireland at the end of the Jubilee Year.  Throughout all of the country you could find in every church a banner.  On this banner was the image of a Celtic cross.  Within the cross, there were eight frames each depicting the Advent/Christmas event.  This started with the four Sundays of Advent followed by Christmas, Feast of Mary the Mother of God, Jesus’ temptations in the desert, and finally the Baptism of Jesus.                              

Just as it took a number of events in the life of Jesus to celebrate appropriately His truth for the Jubilee Year, so too at Christmas.  The church finds it impossible to express in one liturgy the richness of this day.  The Feast of Christmas is so rich the church assigns three masses to this day to capture the theological truth of this celebration.  The Mass at Midnight celebrates the historical birth of Jesus.  The Mass at Dawn celebrates the birth of Jesus as a liberating king, living among us.  The Mass at Day celebrates the new age inaugurated in us the baptized. 

Most children can relate to the Christmas story very readily.  The birth of Jesus, the visit of the shepherds, the manger, the swaddling clothes, and the song of the angels.  What is said beneath all the images is that #1. The incarnation of Christ happened among us in a very human condition.  #2. The Divine is known in the Child (the angels sing, the night is illumined).  #3. Only those of humble heart can know this Wonder.  #4.  It is the poor, the outcasts, the shepherds who see and believe.  #5.  The Child weak and voiceless, with neither legal rights or power will shake the kingdom and destroy evil.  All this will be accomplished through a helpless child who comes to us in the middle of the night. 

  

Fr. Kenneth O’Malley, C.P. is the archivist at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago.