Daily Scripture

Scripture:

Acts 16:11-15
John 15:26-16:4a

Reflection:

I have attended many gatherings of Protestant Christians wherein someone is invited to "give a witness" or to "testify".  These people then speak, often with great passion, about an encounter with God or a way in which God touched their lives. Sometimes these witness talks contain questionable theology or dubious interpretations.  Yet the overall effect is that the community is constantly being reminded of God’s presence and power in the world.

Where is the equivalent of this in the Catholic Church? 

We hear scripture readings (provided we listen to them attentively) and they certainly testify to God.  We hear homilies that hopefully help break open the Word and challenge us to see how it applies in our daily lives.  But I can’t remember the last time I heard a Catholic person stand up in a gathering and witness to their faith if they weren’t the paid speaker for the event.

Quite to the contrary, Catholics I know are intensely reluctant to testify to their faith.  We avoid the topic outside of the church building, and if someone else starts talking about faith, we quietly move away from that group.

I do not absolve myself.  I constantly speak of my faith in public in the context of the missions, retreats, training sessions, and workshops I offer all over the country. Yet in a group of people where I am unsure of the religious affiliation or leanings, I am much more reluctant to open my mouth.  At professional conferences that are not explicitly faith-based, I am guarded about my beliefs and religious affiliation.

Are we silent disciples missing something important?  Where is the line between inappropriate or theologically shaky testimony, and honestly witnessing to the power of God and faith in our lives?  How often have I too easily surrendered to the desire not to "offend" anyone or the fear of being labeled as a religious fanatic? How many people have remained untouched by God because I refused to allow God to work through me to reach them?  If I don’t open my mouth, how can God’s healing and loving word be spoken in a world so desperately in need?

Jesus warned us that not everyone would listen, and even fewer would agree.  He did not say this was an excuse to keep our mouths shut.  Are we listening?  Are we speaking?

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 15:1-6
John 15:1-8

Reflection:

Welcome back to the Vineyard!  As we continue our Easter journey, today the church continues the readings from Acts of the Apostles and St. John the Evangelist leads us back into the Vineyard.   
 
In the first reading, Paul and Barnabas decide they need to go back to Jerusalem for dialogue and conversation around one question. Luke, the writer of Acts of the Apostles, says the controversial issue is the practice of circumcision.  Probably the action of circumcision wasn’t nearly as big as the issues behind the actions.  Namely, does one have to become Jewish first, before becoming Christian?  And if this is the case, then is Christianity merely an elite branch of Judaism?  The church needed to come together to discuss its fundamental identity.  Who are we with respect to our essential roots in our Jewish tradition?  This gathering together of course was the first gathering of the church which we now call the Council of Jerusalem.  We would later come to name these gatherings as Ecumenical Councils.  The most recent of course is the second Vatican Council which took place from 1962 to 1965. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecumenical_council lists the councils and gives pertinent information regarding each Council.)  These gatherings of the church are for the most part good and healthy for its existence.  The church seems to be best when she is in dialogue.  So when the Pope calls an Ecumenical Council, he is inviting the church to do something which not only as part of our tradition, it’s also an invitation to listen to ourselves as a global entity and to enter more profoundly into a global and faith dialogue.
 
When we get to the gospel, we must remember that John’s Gospel is highly symbolic. John will frequently use the image of vineyards and wine with the understanding that these are the eschatological times.  All of us are invited to work in the Lord’s vineyard.  And that vineyard is not a heavy burden.  The vineyard is the place that prepares us as we work for some greater good.  The vineyard is the place that you work towards a future where there will be wine and celebration.  Ideally, the vineyard is a place of happiness ad peace.  It’s not a coincidence that the fourth evangelist has Jesus public ministry beginning at a wedding banquet.  The wedding banquet is the culmination of everything that came from the Vineyard, and Jesus sees himself as the bridegroom.  So the invitation to be literally grafted to the vine is an invitation of oneness with the Lord.  Similarly in doing so we also give the Lord permission to prune away any of the branches which are not fruitful.  This can be quite threatening, especially when we hold onto non-truths, broken promises, or sentimental keepsakes.

 If we choose not to be grafted to this vine I think we end up in a place of tremendous isolation and loneliness.  Scripturally, another profound example of this contrast is found with the two men who are crucified on each side of Jesus.  One accepted the love and mercy Jesus extended to him, and the other one did not. What a terrible, isolated, and lonely place that must have been.

 Reflection question for the day:  As you look at the place of your employment, can you see and name areas of the Lord’s vineyard which you have been invited to work and participate?

 

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

 

Scripture:

Acts 14:19-28
John 14:27-31a

 

 

 

Reflection:

Peace…aaahhh!

Classic words of Jesus to his early disciples the night before he died: "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.  Not as the world gives do I give it to you…"  Now, Jesus’ message to us this 5^th week of Easter, 2010.

Peace is a beautiful reality, impossible to define and yet experienced by all of us at various times and in various ways.  Peace can be thought of in a negative way, such as an absence of war between peoples, or a lack of turmoil within a family, or freedom from anxiety in one’s heart.  But true peace is something positive…a sense of tranquility and harmony and life that comes from unity.  Nations are truly at peace when they cooperate with each other; a family is at peace when they live together in harmony; a person is at peace when resting confidently in the loving arms of Jesus.  Peace is truly something positive — and precious!

This positive, precious peace is the farewell gift of Jesus to his disciples – and us.  Jesus gave us more than descriptive / "nice" words about peace:  He also gave us the means to find peace, and that "means" is His very Body and Blood in the Eucharist.  The Eucharist is the sign of unity in the Church, the means by which we become one in Christ.  By uniting us in Himself, Jesus unites us with one another – leading to a harmony and positive spirit that builds up the Body of Christ…and helps heal our troubled, fearful hearts…peace.  No doubt, Paul and Barnabas based their exciting and fruitful missionary journeys on the peace and strength they experienced in celebrating the Eucharist.

The reality of peace and the Eucharist works both ways:  if we are true to the Eucharist, if we respond to the grace offered us in Holy Communion, we will find true peace in our hearts, and we’ll live in peace with one another.  And, our needy, broken world will breathe a sigh of contentment, relief and encouragement:  Aaahhh!  No troubles, no fears…just rejoicing — in faith.

With the psalmist we proclaim:  May all creation bless God’s holy name forever!

 

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

 

Scripture:

Acts 14,21-27
Psalm 145:8-9, 10-11, 12-13
Revelation 21:1-5a
John 13:31-33a, 34-35

 

Reflection:

Today’s readings, which you will have an opportunity to explore with the homilist at Sunday Mass, have a very strong and single message, which flows among them and out to us.  It is this: The body of the Risen Christ is incarnate in the body of the Church, and it is this message that Christ asks the Church to give witness to in its missionary/evangelizing efforts.

When Christ died on Good Friday, the Apostles and the faithful disciples of Jesus were at a loss, the only Jesus they had known and loved had become a victim of an execution; he was killed and buried.  Imagine their joy at the Easter proclamation of His Resurrection.  So much began to become clear to them; words that Jesus had spoken they now could make their own message; actions that Jesus had demonstrated to them, they had the courage to repeat in the name of Jesus; and the challenges he had given them when their realization seemed not very likely, become the challenges they will face and overcome in spreading the life of the Church across the face of their world.

The missionary journey of Paul and Barnabas is commended to the Grace of God by their disciples, and at the end of their great missionary circuit, they come home to Antioch to praise God for the success they have realized.  It is the greater a success because their journey has been to preach to the Gentiles. The die is cast, Christ shall be received into the Gentile communities without their first converting them to Judaism.  The universality of the call to conversion is affirmed by the thousands of Gentiles who come to be baptized into the Risen Life of Jesus.

This is the affirmation that is echoed in the reading from the Book of Revelation: "God’s dwelling is with the human race", which is the New Jerusalem.  No longer is God’s revelation of his plan for salvation an expression of Jewish faith, now all that has preceded gives way to a new heaven and a new earth in which to fashion a new people, who themselves shall be the dwelling place of God.

The words of Jesus at his last supper with the apostles, "This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another…." are verified in the name by which the followers of Jesus the Nazarean come to be known in Antioch, "Christians". 

May we also be so much of Christ that our lives will be an Easter witness to the life now lived in and among us by the Risen Lord.  May we convey the love of Christ to one another.  May we acknowledge and revere the life of Christ which is lived in His Body today, the Church.

 

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

Scripture:

Colossians 3: 14-15
Matthew 13: 54-58

Reflection:

"Is he not the carpenter’s son?" … and they took offense at him (Jesus). (Matt: 13:55, 57)

 

Today we celebrate St. Joseph the Worker, Joseph the carpenter, Joseph the hard-working, honest provider for his family: Jesus and Mary. 

As I reflected on St. Joseph the Worker and the conditions of families and workers then and now today, what came to mind was a class I once took on John XX111’s Encyclical, Peace on Earth. So, I went to the Introduction and Part One of this great document and suggest that we all go back to this great work, ponder and pray over "…how the community of all peoples should act towards each other,… (and how) the establishment of such a world community of peoples is being urgently demanded today by the requirements of universal common good…."

"… Any human society if it to be well-ordered and productive, must lay down as a foundation this principle, namely that every human being is a person, that is, his/her nature is endowed with intelligence and free will. By virtue of this, he/she has rights and duties of his/her own, flowing directly and simultaneously from his/her very nature which is universal, inviolable and inalienable.

If we look upon the dignity of the human person in the light of divinely revealed truth, we cannot help  but esteem it far more highly; for men/women are redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ; they are by grace the children and friends of God and heirs of eternal glory.

Beginning our discussion of the rights of man/woman, we see that every one has a right to life, to bodily integrity, and to the means which are necessary and suitable for the proper development of life; these are primarily food, clothing, shelter, rest, medical care,

and finally the necessary social services.  Therefore a human being also has the right to security in cases of sickness, inability to work, widowhood, old age, unemployment, or in any other case which he/she is deprived of the means of subsistence through no fault of his own…."

I suggest we all find time to read again, ponder and pray over this entire encyclical written in 1963, shortly before Pope John’s death. It was significant then and is possibly more so today. 

Peace!

 

Marcella Fabing, CSJ, Christ the King Retreat Center, Citrus Heights, CA.

 

Scripture:

Acts 12:24-13:5a
John 12:44-50

Reflection:

This week is one of those times when the wisdom of the sequence of our readings offer us a superb message.  From Sunday through Tuesday, we have heard the 10th Chapter of John’s gospel, telling us that Jesus is the good Shepherd.  Today, we jump ahead to Chapter 12 where we learn just how Jesus acts as shepherd.  Today, Jesus tells He is the light that will dispel the darkness.

What comes to your mind when you think of darkness?  When I was a very small child, I was accidentally locked in my grandparent’s garage.  While my family was searching high and low for me, I was sitting in the dark garage, rocking in my little rocker, too scared to even answer as my name was frantically called out. 

It is difficult in our world today to truly experience darkness, but if you have been camping in a desolate place, perhaps you have felt the momentary confusion and fear of being in an unfamiliar place with no light to guide you.  Then perhaps a candle was lit or a flashlight was turned on or a garage door was opened!   This is the picture Jesus is drawing for us of his role.  He is that light.  When our world seems darkest, hopeless and we can’t seem to find the right path, turning to Jesus will bring light; Jesus will care for us and show us the way –  just as the shepherd cares for his sheep.
Jesus also tell us in this Gospel that he came to save the world- to be light for all!  

The first reading, from Acts, tells how Jesus’ light, the Word of God, goes out to all.  Jesus calls us to take the light that He has given us and share it with those who can’t see it, who don’t know there is a light.  We are told that Saul and Barnabas are sent off to proclaim the word of God.  So too we are called to proclaim the word of God by living that Word.  And we live the Word by loving God and loving and caring for one another.

 

Mary Lou Butler ([email protected]) is the interim administrator at Christ the King Passionist Retreat Center, Citrus Heights, California. 

 

Scripture:

Acts 13:13-25
John 13:16-20

 

 

 

Reflection:

"Don’t Shoot the Messenger!" 

We have all heard the saying "Don’t shoot the messenger" whenever some news has been delivered that we don’t want to hear. I wondered if St. Catherine of Siena had those same thoughts at times, in Italian of course!

Her biographer states that Catherine was a precocious child and became an even more unusual individual as she grew into an adult. In a society where women were often treated as one step lower than the prized livestock, Catherine defied convention. Born in 1347 at Siena, Italy as the youngest of 25 children, she never received any formal educational training. And yet her deep spiritual insights made her sought after by priests, princes and Popes. Taking the habit of the Dominican Third Order, she freed herself from her father’s desire to marry her off in order to bring wealth and status into the family. Her mystical experiences of God’s overwhelming love were so powerful and the message she spoke about them so relevant to the violent society she lived in that she soon gathered companions around herself. Again, defying convention, most of her most ardent companions were men!

Perhaps the greatest achievement of her short life was persuading Pope Gregory XI to leave Avignon, France and return to Rome. When the Great Schism occurred and the Church had not one, but three claimants to the Chair of St. Peter, Catherine persuaded the warring factions to choose Urban VI as Gregory’s true and only successor. Can you imagine this humble, uneducated woman standing before the powers that be pleading with them for the unity of the Church…? Sharing with them what Jesus communicated to her in her mystical prayer? What a dynamic force this woman of God must have been!

Both Paul in the reading from Acts and Jesus in the Gospel today tell us that the strength and validity of the messenger lies in the fact of who he or she re-presents. Paul makes clear that the message and mission of Jesus came from the God of Israel whom his people worship. Jesus makes clear in John’s gospel that whoever receives him receives the God of Israel who identified himself to Moses as "I AM."    

What type of messenger of the Gospel am I? And how do I hear the messengers that God sends to me in my life? If the messages are words of personal challenge or messages that defy convention, do I just dismiss them, ignore them, or worse ridicule them? Or do I really listen to them through the filter of God’s word?

Given all this, should we not pray today: "Don’t shoot the messenger – embrace her!"

 

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

 

Scripture:

Acts 11:19-26
John 10:22-30

Reflection:

I was talking to a friend about today’s gospel.  This is a person who knows far more than me about theology, Biblical translations and  philosophical nuances.  He was making lots of arguments and pointing out linguistic discrepancies from the original text.  I’ll be honest, at one point I almost used a line from this reading, "speak plainly"!  It was, as Oprah would say, an "aha" moment for me.  We don’t need a PhD in religious studies to find meaning in God’s word.   As members of Christ’s flock, the words have meaning because they come from Jesus.  If this sounds a little circular in the logic, let me explain.

Would it surprise you if I said that Charlie Brown came to mind when I was pondering this week’s reading?  The Jews gather around Jesus and implore him, "If you are the Christ, tell us plainly."  But hasn’t he been doing that all along?  He even says, "I did tell you, but you do not believe."  Of course, Jesus spoke in parables and sometimes cryptic, figurative language in his preaching.  But his message is clear.  In fact, prior to this passage in John, Jesus cures a man who was born blind.  Does such a miraculous deed-especially for those who witnessed it first hand-seem confusing? 

This is where Charlie Brown comes in.  Remember what Charlie’s Brown’s teacher sounded like when she spoke?  Can you hear it in your head-kind of like "wonk, wonk, wonk."  You knew she was talking, but the words were just not coming in clearly.  I think that’s what the doubters and the dissenters and skeptics must be hearing from Jesus.  Jesus makes a blind man see, yet the message is somehow "wonky."   In fact, for those folks, I don’t know if it would have mattered if Jesus told them exactly what they wanted to hear about his divinity and relationship to the Father in the most obvious and comprehensible words.  They just don’t hear Jesus. 

But for those who call themselves Christians, we have heard Jesus’ voice and like a beacon we are drawn to it.  "My sheep hear my voice.  I know them and they follow me.  . . . No one will snatch them out of my hand."  Generally I would be insulted if someone called me a sheep, but here it is the highest compliment  Even sheep don’t follow their shepherd blindly.  They wander off, they get lost, they get tempted away by distractions.  They are vulnerable to all sorts of evil.  But they always know their shepherd.  They can hear his voice in a sea of noise and chaos leading them back to the flock.  He rounds them up and brings them back to the fold. 

When we are lost, when we have fears and doubts, we are still a part of Christ’s flock.  We hear Jesus’ voice.  We may drift off and get turned around like sheep sometimes do.  The wolves may come, they may be waiting for one of us to be weak and alone.  But no real harm could ever come to us because with Jesus as our shepherd, we are promised eternal life.  He will never let us go.  Nothing can snatch us away. 

 

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