Daily Scripture

Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord

Scripture:

Daniel 7:9-10, 13-14
2 Peter 1:16-19
Luke 9:28b-36

Reflection:

This Feast was celebrated in the East starting in the forth centuries but not commonly in the West until the tenth century. One wonders why such a significant event in the life of Jesus was not celebrated in the universal Church until 1456 when Pope Callixtus III established August 6 as the date of its celebration.

The Transfiguration is recorded in Matthew, Mark and Luke, but not in John’s gospel. The first three gospel writers place the event in a similar context. We are in the middle of the Gospel accounts and following Jesus is taking on an accelerated pace. The context is important. Ten verses before, and eight days prior, Jesus asks the disciples, "Who do people say the Son of Man is?" Then he asks them, "Who do you say I am?" Peter responds, "You are the Messiah, the Christ." Peter was correct but, unfortunately, his notion of the Messiah was a universe away from how Jesus understood himself. For the first time Jesus tells his disciples that the Messiah would suffer greatly, be rejected by the religious leaders, be killed and on the third day rise again. The disciples could not accept or imagine a suffering Messiah. Their Messiah was to be triumphant, successful, powerful and protected from suffering and death. Therefore, the disciples would share in the Messiah’s glories and privileges. As they were trying to get their heads around the idea of a suffering Messiah, Jesus further confused them by saying that they would have to be ready to walk the same road.

The Transfiguration happened a week after Jesus talked about a suffering Messiah. Can you imagine how confused, disillusioned and depressed the disciples felt…and maybe even angry? We know they didn’t get over these feelings completely until after the Resurrection, Ascension and Pentecost. Perhaps the Transfiguration helped. Jesus is suddenly transformed, dazzlingly bright. Moses and Elijah appear in conversation with Jesus. A cloud comes down upon them (more than a change in weather conditions) and a voice speaks, "This is my Beloved Son; listen to him." Here is the supreme endorsement of Jesus as the Messiah. Yes, listen to him, even when he says what you don’t like to hear or don’t understand. God confirms his Son as the suffering Messiah.

We prefer success, applause, power and to be spared suffering. The way of Jesus embraces failure, rejection, weakness and suffering. Like Peter, James and John, we also need our moments with Jesus, hearing a voice speaking to us, "You are my beloved son/daughter no matter your experience of suffering or rejection or failure." We pray to hear in our hearts those words of support and to be encouraged to continue as faithful disciples of the suffering Messiah.

 

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

Feast of St. John Mary Vianney

Scripture:

Jeremiah 31:1-7
Matthew 15:21-28

Reflection:

With Age-Old Love I Have Loved You

In today’s Gospel, Jesus encounters a Canaanite woman who wanted help for her afflicted daughter.  Historically, the Canaanites were viewed as wicked and sinful by the Israelites — feelings dating back to the time of Israel’s entrance into the Promised Land.  This woman had enough faith to come and ask Jesus for help — and even Jesus’ disciples urged Him to get rid of the woman!  Jesus’ first words to the woman seemed to be a shocking put-down, yet they merely represented the feelings of then-contemporary Jews towards the Canaanites.  Jesus’ own response was one of love, as seen in the fact that He granted her request and cured her daughter.

The story isn’t specifically about Canaanites, for the woman stands for anyone who is disliked, hated, or despised.  Jesus constantly preached that love is not exclusively for those who are dear to us; He proclaimed that we must love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us…following His example of all-inclusive love.  We are to live lives of love, as does Jesus…a love that forgives, encourages, welcomes and gives life.

Today the example of the 19^th century saint, St. John Mary Vianney, is held up for us 21^st century disciples.  He was especially known for his gracious and generous ministry of the Sacrament of Reconciliation at his parish in Ars, France — regularly spending hours sharing God’s love through the Sacrament with thousands of penitents who traveled great distances for those few graced moments with him.  His loving ministry flowed from an intense spiritual life based on prayer and mortification.  St. John Mary Vianney truly witnessed the "age-old love of the Lord…the mercy" recalled by the Prophet Jeremiah in today’s 1^st reading.  In 2009, Pope Benedict XVI named him patron of all priests worldwide.

Jesus and St. John Mary Vianney pose us some questions:  How do we welcome the stranger?  Offer forgiveness?  Overcome prejudice?  Deal with our enemies?  Really listen to those who come our way?  Do we zealously and tirelessly give of ourselves in service to our sisters and brothers? 

Our responses – and our lives – hopefully celebrate the "age-old love of the Lord"!

Pray this day especially for priests — active, retired, deceased — and for those discerning a priestly or religious vocation:  for a deepening faith, and a greater love.

 

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

Scripture:

Jeremiah 30:1-2, 12-15, 18-22
Matthew 14:22-36 or 15:1-2, 10-14

Reflection:

With what attitude do I approach today? Do I even have the time to think of such a question? Is there a quality of character which I offer to be used by the Lord’s Spirit today? Do I just want to accept whatever comes, with the determination that I will respond? I am often curious as to what conspired when Jesus went up mountains, or wherever, by himself to pray. It was deliberately by himself that he went. With the God of the universe, he went apart from everyone. That, in itself, is plenty to think about, or pray about. Where, and when do I deliberately, take that walk? Like most folks reading this, I don’t have "chapel space," where I can go off by myself to pray. There is a quiet space where I do sit, and most of the time it is to absorb the quiet, with anticipation. It is an assumption that God does want to inspire, guide, challenge or just provide some peace. Jesus comes out of his prayer, in an amazing manner, to reassure his disciples who are facing an horrific storm, and, subsequently,  healing for those consigned to live in that out-of-the-way Gennesaret.  Whether you focus  upon Ps 102, or Jeremiah’s prophecy of hope amidst disaster, by putting yourself in the Lord’s presence, you can expect, through what you say and do today, you will contribute to situations that are ungodly with hurt that is incurable and wounds that are grievous. 

 

Fr. Alex Steinmiller, C.P. is president of Holy Family Cristo Rey High School, Birmingham, Alabama.

Scripture:

Jeremiah 28:1-17
Matthew 14:13-21

Reflection:

Jeremiah’s confrontation with the prophet Hananiah in Jeremiah, Chapter 28, is often cited as a guide to the discernment of spirits, as a way of resolving the conflict of two or more opposing points of view in Church leadership, or at least in the uncertainty of authentic Church teaching.  Naturally, we want to point out that this historical event takes places between the first attacks of Nebuchadnezzar on the city of Jerusalem and the final collapse of the city in 587 BC.  These historical events precede by centuries the coming of Christ and the foundations of the Church.  It would be more accurate to say that these two prophets (Jeremiah and Hananiah) represent the convergence of different convictions about the work of God according to the sacred covenant established with Israel (after all, it is the cataclysmic destruction of Jerusalem that closes this period of prophetic activity).

Hananiah is a popular figure, whose followers are bolstered by his predictions that Judah will resist and are soon to win out against their aggressors because God is with them.  Jeremiah, on the other hand, is the realist, and it is to Jeremiah that God has revealed the long-term destiny of the Chosen People.  They are to come under the Babylonian rule (signified by the self-imposed yoke Jeremiah wore), and not in a few short years, but after 70 years, God will return the People to their land from their exile.

What are we to make of this "prophets’ duel?"  "Cheap grace" is a term we hear now and then.  It refers to the good fortune that some people experience at no great personal cost.  Hananiah was a spokesperson for the naïve view that God would rescue the Chosen people simply because they were God’s people.  Jeremiah, who could see the history of infidelity among the people, but especially among their leaders, proclaimed the eventual collapse of their religious society and the subsequent period of purification needed to restore a new generation of faithful believers.

This reading challenges us to see the inevitable breakdown of the social-religious fabric whenever a people are unwilling to strive for the goodness and piety of a holy people.  To maintain a struggle against the modern forms of idolatry and injustice is to bend our backs to the yoke of penance and disciplined living, only to discover in God’s time, that the burdensome yoke has become "light" and "easy" (Mt 11:30).

 

Fr. Arthur Carrillo is the local leader of the Passionist Community in Houston, Texas. 

 

 

Memorial of St. Martha

 

Scripture:

Jeremiah 18:1-6
John 11:19-27 or Luke 10:38-42

 

Reflection:

Was Jesus a feminist? Well, if by feminist you mean one who promotes the equality of or advocates and practices equal treatment of women as human persons and willingly contravenes established social norms in doing so, then the answer would have to be a resounding "Yes!"

Of course I know that Jesus and his contemporaries in first century Palestine would never have used such a term, but scriptural evidence abounds that Jesus’ attitude toward women was certainly in contradistinction to his society’s norms. Last week’s memorial for Mary Magdalene as well as today’s memorial for Martha demonstrate this.

During the time of Jesus women were definitely considered inferior to men. Jewish Rabbis were taught not to engage women in teaching or even to speak to them unless absolutely necessary. Nowhere, outside of the pages of New Testament, do women in this highly patriarchal society seem to have any roles outside of child bearing, housekeeper or temptress. That is why the Gospel passages presented today are so unnerving.

In these as well as other passages Jesus makes women the center of the stories – and not only that – Jesus makes the women figures of wisdom, witnesses to that Kingdom God incarnated in Jesus himself.    

In Luke’s gospel we have the portrait of Mary and Martha, prime examples of the importance of hospitality to the Middle Eastern culture in which Jesus lived. Mary, as the iconic wisdom figure, sits at the feet of Jesus to receive his teaching (in itself quite unheard of not being related by blood to Jesus) while poor Martha, whom I have dubbed, the patroness of the Type A personality, scurries about serving and cleaning and cleaning and serving. But while she worked, Martha, like so many other women I know, listened intently to the Master’s teaching. How do I know? John’s portrait of Martha also presented in today’s other gospel selection.  

Lazarus dies. Mary, his sister, is overwhelmed with grief. However it is Martha that goes out and meets Jesus. (Remember in observant Jewish homes women in mourning rarely if ever left home.) The dialogue that John records is a rich one.

Martha said: "Lord if you had been here my brother would not have died. But even now I know God will give you whatever you ask for…" Martha’s faith and trust in Jesus and his relationship to the God of Israel must have been immense. "Your brother will rise," Jesus told her. Martha’s response encapsulates that faith and trust: "I know he will rise in the resurrection on the last day." Again using Martha as the wisdom figure asks her if she believes that He is the resurrection and the life. And Martha, a mere woman, makes the same statement Peter makes in Matthew’s gospel: "Yes, Lord, I have come to believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, the one who is coming into the world."

Jesus’ interaction with women in the scriptures is a reminder to all of us how to treat our fellow human beings. In God’s kingdom all humans are treated with love, compassion and respect. Not because of their gender, social status or economic worth, but rather because it is inherently who we are as God’s creation. May St. Martha, servant, wisdom figure, and woman, pray that we like her may make our lives a witness to this Christ and this Kingdom value!

 

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

 

 

Scripture:

Ecclesiastes 1:2; 2:21-23
Colossians 3:1-5, 9-11
Luke 12:13-21

Reflection:

Shaping the Human Heart

What kind of heart do you have? How is your heart functioning?

The heart is the vital organ of life. A healthy heart makes for a healthy and vigorous person. But that is not the whole of it. Ancient Jews and early Christian communities considered the heart imaginatively. For example, the heart is like rich soil. When the soil is watered, the seeds grow and life flourishes. When the heart is hard, it cannot receive the seed. It becomes sclerotic. A hard-hearted person sucks the breathe of life away. Every heart needs moisture — either ample rainwater or copious human tears — in order to blossom and bear life.

The heart can also be vain. A self-focused, self-centered, self-absorbed, and self-referential heart just overwhelms family and friends. No one wants to hang around someone who is small-hearted.

The heart can be fickle, possessive, and greedy. Desire can settle for the ephemeral, the superficial, and the silly. Some hearts are set on possessing super-abundance and having more, and more, and more. How much is enough? When is the heart sated and satisfied?

Having and doing miss the mark. What matters to God is being — being big-hearted, generous, just, kind, compassionate, loving. Christians are those lavered in the lovely water bath of baptism. Dying and rising, life is hidden in Christ. Christ is all in all. He sets the standard for human hearts. Life is hidden in Christ. His example of self-emptying love directs every faithful heart.

When the journey ends, how do you want others to remember you? How do you want them to speak about your heart? Large- or hard-hearted, generous or cheap, compassionate or harsh, kind or cruel, just or unjust, merciful or mean?

 

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

Scripture:

Jeremiah 26:11-16, 24
Matthew 14:1-12

Reflection:
In today’s gospel, the oath of a king with a shallow sense of honor, a seductive dance and the hateful heart of a queen combine to present us with the story of a terrible tragic death–the beheading of John the Baptist.

This greatest of prophets suffered the same fate as so many of the Old Testament prophets before him: rejection and martyrdom.  The "voice crying in the desert" did not hesitate to accuse the guilty and he did not hesitate to speak the truth.

So we have a story of great brokenness.  We see what insecurity arises in a person who cuts himself off from criticism and from the call to repentance.  Herod cut himself off from John and from Christ as well.

There are many parallels between John the Baptist and Christ. Both John and Christ died at the hands of men who were powerful and who apparently deeply loved their power.  Both Herod and Pilate recognized truth and goodness in John and in Jesus: they both were intrigued and perplexed by these holy men and yet they both gave way to public pressure to murder them. 

Each of us has a calling to which we must listen.  No one will ever repeat the journey of John the Baptist, and yet each of us is called to his very same mission: to affirm the presence of Christ and to speak the truth.  By our words and actions, others will realize that we live in the joy of knowing that we do not have to depend on our own limited resources, but can draw strength from the vastness of Christ’s saving grace.

Blessings for your journey! 

 

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

 

Scripture:

Jeremiah 15:10, 16-21
Matthew 13:44-46

Reflection:

Today’s first reading from the Prophet Jeremiah deserves to be read aloud.  The deep agony, remorse and then hope that are so vividly proclaimed in this reading certainly resound with emotion that needs to be heard as well as read.  When we hear the words "Woe to me, mother that you gave me birth…" Jeremiah’s agony and despair is so intense, that you can almost visualize his tears.  Jeremiah pleads often for Jerusalem, but here he seems to be asking God for relief for himself,  "…have I not served you for their good….why is my pain continuous….?"  Jeremiah has done what God has asked of him and has been persecuted for it.  You hear the frustration in his complaint and you hear his despair. 

How often do we too ask, "Why me, God?"  

And yet, as we hear what the Lord tells Jeremiah, we hear that there is hope – there is salvation.  Remorse is what the Lord is calling him to; redemption is what he is promised.  What a great message this reading is for us.  Even in the worse despair, even when we feel there is just no way out of a dilemma, if we listen, we can hear the Lord telling us that there is hope, there is an answer.  But, of course, the answer for us, as it was for Jeremiah, is not necessarily what we have in mind.   In fact, the answer may lead us, as it does Jeremiah, to more suffering in God’s name.  But what the Lord tells Jeremiah and us, "…in my presence you will stand."  And that, of course, is the ultimate goal.

The Gospel also conveys a similar message.  In the two parables, Jesus talks about the Kingdom of Heaven and he talks about treasure.  These parables challenge us to identify what we see as our treasures.  If God is our greatest, most precious treasure, perhaps the answer to our prayers may not be a sudden cure, immediate relief, or winning the lottery, but rather the answer may be in finding and standing before our God.   

 

Mary Lou Butler ([email protected])is a former staff member and is now a member of the Mater Dolorosa Passionist Retreat Center Board, Sierra Madre, California.