Daily Scripture

Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary 

Scripture:

Micah 5:1-4a or Romans 8:28-30
Matthew 1:1-16, 18-23, or 1:18-23

Reflection:

I write this at a retreat center in Lake Charles, LA. I am here creating my new talks for the fall season of missions. On my bedroom wall hangs a portrait of the annunciation. A radiant angel stands before Mary. Her posture is one of humble submission. It is the moment of surrender. She says "yes" to God’s plan for her and humanity.

I believe surrender is the fundamental act of the Christian life. More than praying a prayer, it is a posture from which we can live our life. Surrender is an abandonment of our person and will to God who always wants the best for us. Living a surrendered life is far from being passive or resigned. It was because of Mother Teresa’s daily surrender that she ministered to the poorest of the poor. Maximillian Kolbe’s surrender impelled him to give his life in the place of a married man in a concentration camp’s starvation bunker. It is through surrender that people who are bound come into recovery. People who live surrendered lives are among the most proactive, passionate people alive.

There were two memorable moments of surrender in my life. One was lying prostrate in the sanctuary at Immaculate Conception Church as the litany of the saints was being sung. That occasion was my ordination to the priesthood in 1991. The other was proclaiming my vows to the passion, poverty, chastity, and obedience to God on this day 25 years ago. Peak moments of surrender help shape our lives and define the way we live each day. 

God is so worthy of all that we are. As we heard in the readings, God chooses the lowly. He predestines us for glory in love. God works through our family tree to bring about good. God is gracious, kind, and merciful. God never forces our surrender but captivates us and allures us to freely give ourselves fully in the context of a love relationship.

Today we celebrate the birth of the one who’s "yes" would change the destiny of humanity. Our daily "yes" will affect people too.

 

Fr. Cedric Pisegna, C.P. is a missionary preacher, author of 14 books and creator of the TV program Live with Passion! airing in many cities. You can learn more about his ministry at: http://www.frcedric.org/

Scripture:

1 Corinthians 6:1-11
Luke 6:12-19

Reflection:

The Son of God became the son of Mary in order to bring the human race back to the love and friendship of God.  The gospels give us glimpses of his divinity and his humanity.  He reveals his glory to Peter, James and John in the Transfiguration where his glory bursts forth.  We see him as a weary, thirsty human traveler exhausted under the hot sun asking the Samaritan woman to give him a drink of water. 

In today’s reading we see another aspect of his humanness, as a human being he turns to the Eternal Father in prayer.  He has become aware of the immensity of his mission and perhaps aware of the short time allotted him.  He cannot accomplish the greatest work of God’s love alone, he needs helpers close to him, helpers he can train,  instruct even sanctify.  Whom will he choose?

Will they be learned scribes, students of Gamaliel, such as one Paul of Tarsus?   Learned men of good-will such as Nicodemus.  Or will he find devoted followers among the common, mostly illiterate people, the despised: fishermen, a tax collector, a Zealot.   What gifts, what powers can he give them?

He takes his questions, his needs, his plans, to the Father who sent him, he spends a whole night in prayer.

In the morning he calls to himself, Peter and Andrew, James and John, Philip, who had wondered about the Baptist and were told that this Jesus was the Mysterious Lamb of God.  And now they along with Bartholemew, Thomas, James of Alphaeus Judas, son of the Iscariot, were given a mission. 

They were to proclaim the advent of the Kingdom of God, in this Jesus of Nazareth.  They were empowered to anoint and cure all ills, they could command evil spirits to depart.  They gloried in their work!

Their full education would come with the Last Supper, the dread Good Friday and Sun Burst of the Resurrection.  Jesus would leave them, but send the fullness of the Spirit – they were now messengers to all nations, the foundations stones of the Church.  On them would rely future apostles, Luke, Appolos, Ignatius of Antioch, Athanasius, Chryhsostom, Augustine,  Gregory, Miznenty, Romero, as well as the religious and lay woman slain because of fidelity to their apostolic mission. For in our day the cloak of the apostle is given to the laity as well.  Vatican II had the official successors of the 12 declare, "Lay people’s right and duty to be apostles derives from their union with Christ their Head.  They are in the Mystical Body of Christ by baptism.  It is by the Lord Himself that they are assigned to the apostolate."

 

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

Scripture:

Wisdom 9:13-18b
Philemon 9-10, 12-17
Luke 14:25-33

Reflection:

Last week I had the opportunity to visit the battlefield of Gettysburg.  Most of the people there, as they looked over the terrain, were attempting to visualize what happened in those three days of that epic battle of our country’s civil war.  I noticed all of the guides had the ability to bring to life the story again through their articulation and skills of storytelling.  They could speak not only about what happened and how it happened, but they colored it with imagery and words so as to bring it so alive with all the senses.  They were describing not only the visual but they articulated what it sounded like and how it smelled.  They crafted in their own unique way an invitation for you to have an experience.  And people paid money for this!

I found myself wondering, do we give people this experience with our proclamation of the scriptures?  Or even, do we add any intensity to the senses of our faith?  Perhaps this is why certain shrines, and pilgrimages to the holy land are popular.  They strive to do this as they attempt to re-create an event or experience.  But in common daily events, or even common readings in scripture, I suspect we don’t colorize them, if words can be colorized, I frequently hear even the Gospel proclaimed in flat grey.  And that is one reason today’s gospel is so challenging.  For me, it is hard to add any beauty or color to the harshness of Jesus’ message today.  It leads itself to sounding more legalistic and quite burdensome.  For the Gospel invites us into discipleship and to look at our role as disciples of Christ.  Three times Jesus will speak about a particular condition and then say that if you fit this condition, "you can not be my disciple."  And the conditions have to do with things that we put high precedence on: family,  possessions,  dreams for our future, and our ability to accept those things which life gives us.  I don’t know a single person who doesn’t struggle with these core themes in life.  And the struggle usually has to do with attaining, controlling, and surrendering.  

Our founder, St. Paul of the Cross was quite insistent in his ability to guide people to surrender into God’s will.  He was keen on recognizing that God’s will was much larger than any human person and yet it was profoundly personal.  He believed a certain amount of human suffering was caused merely because people hadn’t aligned themselves with God’s grace.  I think Paul of the Cross was similar to the guides at the Gettysburg battlefield because he had a unique way of trying to get people to see more than the landscape which lay before them.  Metaphorically, he invited people to smell, hear and see again that many times their own pursuits were simply leading them into their own frustrations.

As was said, the gospel can be pretty harsh today, especially when it speaks about hating your family.  But notice who Jesus is speaking to.  It was a great crowd who was traveling with him.  Will this great crowd travel with him to Jerusalem?  Will this great crowd be there to testify on his behalf?  Will this great crowd gather around him while he hangs from the cross?  Yes, conditions for discipleship can be steep.    But the message for us is reiterated here as we heard it more gently a few weeks ago. Recall how Luke encourages his community to not worry about such little things.  He says in 12:31, "Seek His kingdom, and these things will be added to you."  Jesus is inviting and prophesying as he speaks to this crowd.  It is an invitation to be disciple, and he will conclude in verse 35, "Whoever has ears to hear ought to hear".

What does seeking God’s Kingdom look like?  The First Reading from the book of Wisdom, written hundreds of years before the gospels, suggests that people twist up their life by not seeking the Counsel of God.  Isn’t that true for us today?  If you begin to see this Kingdom, can you allow it to impact your other senses of hearing and smelling?  Because if a guide from a National Military Park can daily awaken an awareness of our American history to people who come and pay for their services, then certainly the spirit of God can awaken our small-mindedness, our complacency, and our stingy hearts.  As today’s psalm reminds us, "In every age oh Lord, you have been our refuge."

 

Fr. David Colhour, C.P. is on the staff at Christ the King Passionist Retreat Center, Citrus Heights, California.

Scripture:

1 Corinthians 5:1-8
Luke 6:6-11

Reflection:

Today is Labor Day in the United States. Different readings can be used for today’s Mass. I will reflect on the readings for ordinary time.

 

In the first reading Paul is reminding the Corinthian Christians about an obvious dynamic: one bad apple can spoil the whole barrelful. Yes, we are to be merciful and forgiving. But if the forgiveness is simply a cover up, pretending all is well, or turning a blind eye and ignoring what is wrong and immoral, then Paul’s criticism of the Corinthians to clear out the old yeast is appropriate.

On the other side of the coin of morality, Jesus infuriates the scribes and Pharisees because he heals a man whose right hand was withered. They accuse Jesus of being immoral since he healed (worked) on the Sabbath. For Jesus the Law was relative to what is good. Sometimes doing good can go against the letter of the law. What is legal is not always moral. In fact, in some situations following the law can be immoral for a Christian. To do the good sometimes transcends the law and may even contradict it.

In 1956, the Post Office made the first Labor Day commemorative-stamp. It was an image for that period of time. It showed the image of a large muscular man carrying a sledgehammer, a pick, a hoe, and an ax over his shoulder. His wife sat nearby showing a small child how to read. The words of the poet Carlyle in the lower left of the stamp announced, "Labor Is Life."

Labor is life!  For the apostle Paul and for Jesus their work brought forth life. As we stand against what is immoral or have the courage to transcend the law for what is good and just, we labor for life. We continue the work of God’s creation today. Happy Labor Day.

 

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

 

Scripture:

1 Corinthians 4:6b-15
Luke 6:1-5

Reflection:

Embracing Jesus, the Lord of the Sabbath

Once again, Jesus meets up with the contrarian Pharisees who noticed some "unlawful" Sabbath activity by Jesus and his disciples:  hungry men picking heads of grain, shelling them in their hands, and eating them.  The Pharisees’ question "why?" was another attempt to humiliate Jesus and weaken any support for Jesus’ message of Good News.

The Pharisees’ legalistic approach to their religious beliefs revealed an extreme view of God and a lack of human compassion; their attitude was "let the hungry starve on the Sabbath; the law is more important than any hunger…"  Jesus pointed out that he and the disciples were doing what was reasonable – and not without precedent as noted in the life of King David; even the final statement of today’s Gospel selection cites Jesus’ crowning statement:  "the Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath."

These days, how do we honor the Sabbath, and the Lord of the Sabbath?  Our 21^st century society offers many encouragements to live each weekend (especially Sunday) as just more days for our everyday routines of busy-ness and work, busy-ness and workl.  God…the Sabbath…no difference!  Jesus challenges our thinking, just as he did the Pharisees of times past:  the "Sabbath" is a sacred, special time for communication with God’; a time of re-creation and rest that opens our lives to the total gift of God’s Life at work in us.  Like those early disciples, we need to walk with Jesus, be nourished by his word and example – and give of ourselves in a profound, sacrificial manner.

Today, we are about a "Labor Day" weekend, as well as moving towards the Church’s 23^rd week in Ordinary Time.  Many will continue to "labor"; some will invest themselves in fellowship and good food, often prepared and enjoyed outdoors in the waning days of summer.  May these few days not be "ordinary", but may we walk with Jesus through the fields of Chicago, Louisville, Los Angeles, Houston, etc. — alive, filled with humility and gratitude for the many blessings that make up our lives as contemporary disciples of Jesus in union with St. Paul of the Cross.  No doubt:  Jesus is Lord!

 

Fr. John Schork, C.P. is the local leader of the Passionist community in Louisville, Kentucky. 

Scripture:
1 Corinthians 4:1-5
Luke 5:33-39

Reflection:
Would you ever consider cutting apart a section of a new jacket and using it as a patch on an old jacket?  This seems slightly ridiculous.  Or again, would you ever consider going to a wedding and not entering into the eating, celebrating, and rejoicing festivities?

In the gospel today we find certain religious leaders coming to ask Jesus why his disciples don’t fast and do penance. Perhaps it is one of those situations that no matter what you do, there will always be
someone to criticize you.   Jesus’ disciples don’t behave like the disciples of John the Baptist or the disciples of the Pharisees.  This certainly implies that there is a code of behavior by which a "disciple" should follow. Jesus’ answer is quite remarkable. For he doesn’t pass judgment on the question directly.  Rather, the examples he uses make his point without explicitly being judgmental.  Who would go to a wedding banquet and fast?  Why would you cut up a new jacket simply to patch your old jacket?  If you’re making wine, why would you go to all that work simply to put it into a wine skin which is old and worn out, knowing that it would rupture before the wine ages?  And lastly speaking of wine, why would you want to drink new wine that hasn’t aged properly?

All of these questions leave you with a light bulb going on that says, "Oh, that makes a lot of sense!"  What Jesus is trying to do is to get people to think about their religious practices.  The Pharisees believe they know the behavior for every practice.  Yet for Jesus many of the Pharisaic practices simply are eaningless.  Jesus allows the question to be asked and then answers it with another question thus heavily implying empty religious practices are meaningless.

 I think today’s Gospel has huge implications for us as Catholics.  For we frequently have a lot of behaviors we rarely think about.  It’s easy to go through the motions because that is what we were taught.  We spend a lot of time with the "shoulds".  We make judgments on others simply based on their religious behaviors.  We also make judgments on ourselves which are quite burdensome and can lead to negative energy.    But Jesus’ strategy is geared toward illuminating those who want to understand.   He never judges the person, nor does he comment on the quality of the question.  Judgment is subject to those who refuse to reflect.   Paul understands this as well as he speaks in the first reading, the letter to the Corinthians.  "The Lord is the one to judge me, so stop passing judgment before the time of his return."  He continues to speak of how the Lord will bring to light what is hidden.   Perhaps today that bringing to light is an invitation to reflect on some of our religious practices and the meaning which they have.  If this is the case, then we are left with these two specific questions.  Are we attentive to what your religious behaviors are? And do we know why you do them?  

 

Fr. David Colhour, C.P. is on the staff of Christ the King Passionist Retreat Center, Citrus Heights, California. 

 

 

Scripture:

1 Corinthians 18-23
Luke 5:1-11

 

 

 

Reflection:

Today’s two readings can be seen as the other side of Jesus’ question: "What does it profit someone to gain the whole world, but suffer the loss of one’s soul?"  That question was a warning to eschew temporal or selfish power when it jeopardizes one’s fidelity to Christ and His Church.

Today’s first reading tells us that the world is not an evil when seen through our fellowship with Jesus Christ, when we act in accord with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  In fact, we share in the power of God that makes all things work together for good (cf., Romans 8:28).  Our baptism must not be divided into partisan expressions of faith in our Savior, Jesus  ("So let no one boast about human beings, for everything belongs to you").

Jesus is our "One Lord", and we belong to him, both as Savior and as Son of God.  Equally, when we act in accord with our baptism and with the Gospel, it is Christ who acts through us in all things.

Luke’s Gospel reading is about the choice that Jesus makes in selecting his first apostles, and the "sign" that he gave them of his power to fulfill what he promises.  These veteran fishermen are chosen by Jesus "follow" him; he sweeps them off their feet with an enormous catch of fish, and then he promises to make them even more productive as fishermen "of the Kingdom."

Where are we in all of this?  Jesus challenges us to become more engaged in the works of the Kingdom, and tells us that the arena of this engagement is the whole world.  The Gospel we live and proclaim is for the whole world to receive, and for us to promote by the denunciation of any area of our human life which ignores the Gospel values of justice and peace.

As we prepare to celebrate the Labor Day weekend, let us apply these readings to the scope of our workplace, our employment, our engagement in civil society.  Let us witness to the universality of God’s dominion over our lives.  Let us reflect our conviction that the Kingdom of God is here and now in our lives.  Let us work to build relationships of justice and charity which will proclaim that Jesus is Lord of our lives.

 

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 Corinthians 3:1-9
Luke 4:38-44

Reflection:

"See you in September, see you when the summer’s gone"… So the old rock song goes! September is somewhat distinctive in the American calendar. It signals the end of summer. There is a change in our national mood and mindset. Vacations are over. Holidays abide in our memories. Work in earnest begins. Schools have reopened. Children leave home, when they can afford it, and take up residence in a college or university. The hot, dog-days of August yield to the last month of major league baseball. Rosters expand to 40 players. Baseball vies with professional and college football. Soon autumn’s riotous colors will lead us into our Octobering. 

September 1 … It’s all just too busy, too overwhelming. Labor Day weekend is upon us. Even the church feels the intensity. Parishes pick up the pace. The catechumenate, less intense during summer months, seriously probes the message of the Gospel. Christian formation ministers seriously pick up the pace across the generations. Pastors, deacons, and lay ecclesial ministers seriously implement plans, programs, and pastoral process. The church seriously gets down to evangelizing, meal serving, and fund raising. 

But who’s in charge? Why the hustle and bustle? Why such postures of blessed assurance and self-importance? Does the dawning of the kingdom of God really depend so totally on us for its fruitfulness and flourishing? 

Saint Paul reminds the church in Corinth that jealously and rival factions betray the ministry and the real meaning of ecclesial life. Apollos and Paul are merely ministers. Some plant, others water. But God causes the growth. Ministry is about service, not power, prestige, or privilege. God is in charge. God shapes the human heart and knits together virtuous deeds and lives. God uses us as co-workers in cultivating God’s field and in constructing God’s building. The end result is an ethics of solidarity, collaboration, cooperation, and mutual regard. The end result is a spirituality of humility, mutual regard, tender mercy, and table-sharing. 

The church should start September by catching its breath. We should resist the temptation to go, go, go. Halt the frenzied activity. Refocus so that the pastoral task and the character of pastoral agents join hands in virtuous living. Refocus so that ministerial teams and volunteers join efforts in authentic and suitable power relationships. Refocus so that an ethics of responsibility and a spirituality of mutual regard reign. 

 

Father John J. O’Brien is a Passionist priest, preacher, writer and teacher. He can be addressed at [email protected].