Daily Scripture

Scripture:

Numbers 20:1-13
Matthew 16:13-23

Reflection:

Then Peter took Jesus aside and began to rebuke him,
‘God forbid, Lord!  No such thing shall ever happen to you.’
He turned and said to Peter,
‘Get behind me, Satan!  You are an obstacle to me.
You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.’
-Matthew 16:22-23

Today I am off to a community meeting where we will hear from a speaker about our human rights. As one of the organizers of this event, I will try to create an environment where true dialogue can take place, where each person, whether online or in person, is respected and has an opportunity to voice their opinions. Together, we hope to draw up a plan of action that reflects a way that is healthy for all of God’s creation: for Mother Earth, for all women and men, and for life we are not yet aware of. My job will be to set up the room and manage the technology. I will report on that experience, sharing it on YouTube, and hope that Jesus will say: “Well done, good and faithful servant.” 

When I was younger, I dreamed of doing great deeds. Someday I would make lots of money and then with that money, I would solve the problems of homelessness, hunger, making sure every man, woman, child, Black, Brown, Yellow, Red and White would be recognized for the beautiful gifts they are. Today, at the end of each day, I am just happy if I didn’t get in the way of God’s action in the world, and that Jesus wouldn’t say to me as he did to Peter: “Get behind me, Satan!”

God, help me proclaim Your Good News today. Deliver me from self and help me follow You on the road of transformative suffering.

Dan O’Donnell is a Passionist Partner and a longtime friend of the Passionists.  He lives in Chicago, Illinois.

Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord

Scripture:

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

Reflection:

The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Japan recently distributed a photo taken by an American military photographer in 1945, days after the bombing of Nagasaki. It shows a child awaiting his turn at the crematorium with his dead baby brother on his back. “The sadness of this child is only expressed in his bitten lips oozing blood,” the bishops wrote.

On the back of the picture is written a simple quote by Pope Francis: “. . . the fruit of war.”

Those who study the mind tell us that reason, logic, and facts seldom move us to action. Why? Because these are non-feeling left brain functions. The right brain, where affect, poetry, passion, and art percolate, is also the place where we are motivated to act.

Jesus knew this, even though the science backing him up was unknown two thousand years ago. That is why he told human stories, which is the greatest way to help us identify with another’s joys and sorrows. His stories, the parables, motivate us to act, to build the Reign of God.

Eighty years ago today the history of humanity was forever altered. An American president decided to drop the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, instantly killing an estimated 140,000 fellow human beings. More premature deaths came from cancer and chronic diseases in the months and years that followed. A second atomic blast on Nagasaki on August 9, 1945, killed another 74,000 of our brothers and sisters, including the baby brother in the bishops’ photo.

These are statistics. But, as Setsuko Thurlow, a survival of Hiroshima, said in his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech in December, 2017, “Each person had a name. Each person was loved by someone.”

To rattle our right brains about these horrible acts, the noted author John Hersey penned the classic Hiroshima, which eloquently tells stories of the cruel deaths of people with names and people who were loved. The best-selling 1946 book should be required reading for every person of faith so what was done will never happen again.

Tragically these two bombings are tiny examples of what world leaders are preparing. The New York Times earlier this year detailed how, with little citizen oversight or resistance, the United States is rebuilding and expanding its nuclear arsenal, making the planet more dangerous than ever. These leaders’ god is the bomb. They adhere to the long-held illusion that the bomb will “save” us. As people of faith we recognize this as idolatry.

The Catholic Church in Vatican II condemned the use of nuclear weapons. But Pope Francis went much further. He declared it a grave sin to even possess a nuclear weapon.

This important feast day, The Transfiguration, is a memorial to all we are called to be. We are the Body of Christ. On this feast, Christ was transfigured into the magnificent glory promised us. The events 80 years ago are the work of our worst impulses which, left unchallenged, risk the destruction of all human life. This is the opposite of the Transfiguration.

As Jesus’ followers, we want to unleash God’s love on the earth, not nuclear fire and fallout. The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) is committed to what Pope Francis called all of us to do. We can reverse course, with the Holy Spirit’s guidance. More information at www.icanw.org.

Today let us pray for peace, keeping in mind the stories like the ones John Hershey told and the touching photo of the grieving big brother of Nagasaki. Let these liberate the Spirit in us to act.

Jim Wayne is a member of the Passionists parish of St Agnes in Louisville, Kentucky. He served in the Kentucky House of Representatives for 28 years, is the author of the award-winning novel, The Unfinished Man, and chairs the Sister Thea Bowman Society for Racial Solidarity at St Agnes. He also serves on the Passionist Earth and Spirit Center Board in Louisville.

Scripture:

Numbers 12:1-13
Matthew 14:22-36

Reflection:

Moses had a very special place in God’s eyes.  It is said that he could speak face to face with the Divine.  A privilege that no other had until the New Testament.  And for many traditions including Islam, Moses is still given a prominent and respectful position even after thousands of years.  So, we hear in this first reading that Miriam begins speaking against Moses. It seems she felt she wasn’t getting what she thought should be a fair voice with God.  Her critical nature gets the best of her, and she begins criticizing God’s unique friend not honoring the relationship Moses and God held.   Simply put, you don’t want to criticize God.  That is a mistake that is made too frequently in today’s world. 

When things don’t go the way we want them to, when suddenly it feels like the forces of the universe are opposing us, do we actually listen and discern?  I find a serious lack of pausing and discerning.  I find too many people getting out their hammers and sledgehammers to pound their point home. Thought-provoking to me, Mirriam tried that, and for a time, she was ostracized from the community. 

The Gospel is that popular story of the disciples in the boat, heading across the sea in the middle of the night.  Catching sight of Jesus coming to them, they are frightened.  Their first interpretation is that it is a ghost.  Do you find it strange that no one in the boat is quick to recognize Jesus?  After Jesus announces himself, Peter, of course, decides to get out of the boat and walk toward Jesus.  Some scholars question the historicity of this scene in that Jesus didn’t go around doing supernatural things merely to show that he transcends the physical world.  Yet when this scene is interpreted in light of the early Christian community, it is a perfect image.  It is Peter trying to lead a church that is being tossed around by all kinds of waves and torrents and as Peter tries to keep his eyes fixed on Jesus, they all discover that they haven’t been left behind and that Jesus isn’t that far away.  Stretching out his hand, he is there.

I join today with thousands of people in roles of leadership who on a daily basis deal with the heart of these two readings. How many of us are frequently dealing with voices that choose to see negativism and complaints?  I learned a long time ago those who spend their days looking down into a dark abyss will find themselves in a very dark place.  Jesus’ answer to Peter was to get out of the boat and look at me.  Jesus’ ascension left the disciples not looking down, but looking up.

Fr. David Colhour, CP, is the Provincial Superior of Holy Cross Province. He resides in Chicago, Illinois.

Memorial of St. John Vianney

Scripture:

Numbers 11:4-15
Matthew 14:13-21

Reflection:

Serving The People of God…Opportunities and Challenges

In today’s Gospel, St. Matthew recounts Jesus’ actions after He heard of the death of John the Baptist: “…he withdrew in a boat to a deserted place by himself.”  John the Baptist gave his life for Jesus and His proclamation of the Kingdom of God, and the Baptist’s death must have grieved Jesus deeply.  And yet, crowds followed Jesus, and His heart was moved with pity for them; and He cured their sick.  He even worked a miracle for the large crowd:  feeding the crowd of over 5,000 men plus the women and children, starting with just five loaves of bread and two fish!  What love, what an example of service!

The reading from the Book of Numbers tells of Moses’ response to the grumbling of the people of Israel as they wandered the desert; in their hunger they complained about the miraculous food God provided in the manna from heaven.  They longed for the meat and vegetables they had in Egypt, and they cried aloud to Moses and to the Lord.  Moses was deeply challenged by this situation and himself cried to God for some sort of relief.  Oh, the challenges!

An example of faithful ministering of God’s Life and Love is given us in the life of today’s saint, the 19^th century St. John Vianney.  He was a simple man with a humble background, an unsophisticated theology – and a zeal for spreading God’s forgiveness and love!  He is especially known for his gracious, generous, and insightful ministry of the Sacrament of Reconciliation at his parish in Ars, France — daily spending many 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 Vianney truly witnessed the age-old love of the Lord witnessed in the lives of both Moses and John the Baptist.  In 2009, Pope Benedict XVI named John Vianney patron of parish priests worldwide.

Jesus and St. John Vianney pose some questions for our faith journey:  How zealous are we for our faith?  Do we offer forgiveness and encouragement to those who may threaten us?  Do we really listen to those who come our way?  Do we zealously and tirelessly give of ourselves in service to our sisters and brothers, especially those with more serious needs?  As Jesus’ disciples, we have many great examples of zealous, charitable love of God and neighbor.

As we today honor the “patron of priests”, let’s pray this day especially for priests and all those serving us in our parishes— those active, retired, deceased. -May God bless us all in our vocation as 21^st Century disciples of Jesus Crucified; may we be blessed with a great and generous love!

Fr. John Schork, CP, serves as the Province Vocation Director and also as Local Superior of the Passionist Community of Holy Name in Houston, Texas.

Scripture:

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

Reflection:

What do we labour for? What is our deeper motivation, and what gives us the capacity to persist and achieve all that we have set out to do and be in life?

Perhaps these more profound questions underlie the texts we have today.

The late Pope Francis once reminded people that ‘the devil usually enters our life through our pockets’, indicating that temptations to wealth and all that goes with possession of money might offer an easy access point to greater compromises and failings in our lives.

That seems to speak to the original setting that inspires Jesus to proclaim the parable we hear today. Two brothers are arguing about inheritance. Sadly, a reality that can affect any partnership or family system. However, is the reality of this argument being pursued in public, and overriding all other considerations – including privacy, decency, love for a sibling, self-restraint, personal pride, and resilience, as well as the capacity to negotiate – all these values and gifts are being overshadowed by the desire for wealth?

In light of this public spectacle, Jesus proclaims a parable with its shock value. Accumulation of wealth (and excess), if this is one’s life project, is very short-sighted and, while it might ‘fill’ our barns, measured against eternal values, it is in reality an ‘empty’ and wasted endeavour.

Becoming rich in the sight of God is a far better and deeper goal to pursue. The refrain from our responsorial psalm points us in the true direction. We are reminded to listen for the voice of the Lord and follow the inner wisdom that God implants in our very being. We are encouraged not to harden our hearts and to seek Christ and his way above all else.

Fr. Denis Travers, C.P., is the Provincial Superior of Holy Spirit Province, Australia.

Scripture:

Leviticus 25:1, 8-17
Matthew 14:1-12

Reflection:

“God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all the work God had done in creation.” ~ Genesis 2:3

From the beginning, rest has been built into the intense work of creation. Later known as the Sabbath, the seventh day of the week was a time to pause from regular work and daily activities to focus on connecting with God and others. 

In today’s reading from Leviticus, God asks Moses to establish a jubilee year every 49 years.  In the tradition of the Sabbath, it is to be a year of rest and restoration for the people and the land. In respect for God’s gift of Creation, no sowing, harvesting, or pruning is to be done, so the land can regenerate.  And the jubilee year has an added dimension: it is to be a year of liberation, promoting the dignity of all persons. All land is to be returned to its original owners or their heirs. Since the land belongs to God, the Israelites were merely tenants or stewards of it; so, the land could never be sold forever. All indentured servants (slaves) are to be freed. And all debts are forgiven.

Ever since 1300, when Pope Boniface VII convoked a holy year, the church has celebrated jubilee years every 25 or 50 years. And in December 2024, Pope Francis announced 2025 to be a jubilee year as well. How we need the wisdom and the spirit of jubilee now!

• We are rapidly losing the irreplaceable gifts of Creation to pollution, deforestation, and desertification.
• Wars are waged, and people’s lives are destroyed over territorial boundary (land) disputes, especially in Europe and the Middle East.
• People are being trafficked as modern-day slaves.

The basis of the jubilee year is our total reliance on God, our Hope. In announcing the 2025 Jubilee year, Pope Francis prays that our renewed hope in God will give us the confident trust required for our work in promoting the dignity of all persons and the respect for God’s creation:

“The coming Jubilee will thus be a Holy Year marked by the hope that does not fade, our hope in God. May it help us to recover the confident trust that we require, in the Church and in society, in our interpersonal relationships, in international relations, and in our task of promoting the dignity of all persons and respect for God’s gift of creation.”

Patty Gillis is a retired Pastoral Minister. She serves on the Board of Directors at St. Paul of the Cross Passionist Retreat and Conference Center in Detroit, Michigan. Patty is currently a member of the Laudato Si’ Team and the Passionist Solidarity Network.

Scripture:

Leviticus 23:1, 4-11, 15-16, 27, 34b-37
Matthew 13:54-58

Reflection:

Today was a significant day for the Nazarenes. Jesus, one of their own, has been preaching and performing miracles around Galilee, and now he will be teaching in their synagogue. What would he say? Would he perform any miracles? How quickly the mood changed from excitement to skepticism and even anger as they listened to his message. “Where did this man get such wisdom and mighty deeds?”

The people of Nazareth struggled to reconcile Jesus’ humble origins with his wisdom and extraordinary abilities. There was nothing unusual about his family. Joseph, Mary and Jesus had lived in the village for many years. Neighbors would have known if Jesus had studied with a rabbi. They could not understand or accept how he taught in the synagogue with such knowledge and authority.

How often have I been guilty of letting my preconceived notions and biases influence my acceptance of others? How often do I fail to recognize the potential of those I think I know well?

“And he did not work many mighty deeds there because of their lack of faith.” The Nazarenes’ skepticism and familiarity with Jesus’ life prevented them from fully experiencing his divine nature and the miracles he performed. For me, the most important lesson from today’s reading is that our faith will grow if we are humble and teachable. We must accept that God’s work can emerge from the most unexpected places or individuals. As we grow in humility, we will open our hearts to God’s guidance and place our faith in his plan for us.  

Mike Owens is the coordinator of the Passionist Formation Alumni Association and a member of the Province Commission on Migration.  He lives in Louisville, Kentucky.

Scripture:

Exodus 40:16-21, 34-38
Matthew 13:47-53

Reflection:

The Kingdom of heaven is like….

Today’s passage is from the great part of Matthew’s Gospel during which Jesus opens his “mouth in parables.”  He explains what his Father’s Kingdom is like, putting it in terms more people could understand.  In fact, it’s part of the same narrative that we’ve been hearing from these last three Sundays of Ordinary Time. 

It kind of reminds me of the little sayings, “Life is like…”  I think many of us can immediately recall what is probably the most famous, made so by the 1994 movie “Forrest Gump.”  Forrest says, “Life is like a box of chocolates – you never know what you’re gonna get.”  I like these two, both of them told to me by an aging jazz musician, living and playing on the streets of Hollywood when I knew her.  She would say, “Paul, life is like a phonograph record.  You’ve just got to get in the groove,” and “Life is like an onion – you have to peel off one layer at a time, and sometimes, you weep.”

Of them all, though, Monday’s Gospel passage was one of Jesus’ favorite of explanations.  The Kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed… the smallest of seeds, and yet it grows into the largest of plants, and the birds of the sky come and dwell in it’s branches.  -Matthew 13:31-32

There is just so much depth here.  At first glance, this may seem to be about God spreading his arms in order to save and give shelter to us, the little sparrows on which he has his eye always.  And have you ever seen a mustard seed?  They are nearly microscopic (well, to my crazy eyes they’re pretty hard to see). 

But add the next verse, and I think you’ll see what hits me like a ton of bricks.  “The Kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman mixed with wheat flour until the whole batch was leavened.”  (Matthew 13:33)

The whole batch.

And in today’s Gospel continues as part of this wonderful section of Matthew’s Gospel, and includes a verse which, I feel, drives the point home. 

It reads,

The kingdom of heaven is like a net thrown into the sea,
which collects fish of every kind. When it is full they haul
it ashore and sit down to put what is good into buckets.  -Matthew 13:47-48

Every kind of fish has a chance.  Even the bad ones get caught in the net with the good.  All the flour is mixed until the whole batch is leavened.  That gives me such hope, both for me and you, but also for our society and world today.  It doesn’t matter if we’re good or bad, broken, repaired, towing baggage of the past… we’re all fertile ground.

So, planting the seeds, gathering the wheat, leavening the bread… Growing the kingdom.  It’s all about making the most of the God who lives in us and bringing that gift to our area of the vineyard. 

Sure, it’s just a small seed… but that’s only the start.  Yeast, yes – but alone it can do nothing. 

It takes more than one thing to build the kingdom.  We need rich soil, water, sunlight, weeding, tending, nurturing, caring.  Little by little, the branches will grow.  From those humble, minuscule beginnings, an enormous life will emerge.  From a tiny seed to the mighty Sequoia.  It’s got to start somewhere, and it needs help to flourish.  And we’re all, each one of us, called to tend and care for the seedlings in our hearts, and the hearts of each person we meet… and especially the hearts of those people we don’t want to care for.  The homeless, the outcast, the sick, the family member who hurt us, the spouse who betrayed us, those who are “different” (whatever that means). 

So, today, how about we all let God plant that seed of his Kingdom in our hearts right now? 
How about we become the fertile ground and the yeast, the gardener and the caretaker?
How about we do that for others, too?

This way, we can watch the Kingdom grow.

Does it matter if we’re perfect?  The scripture says No.  And have no fear, for as it is written in our first reading today, “My angel will go before you.”  (Exodus 32:34)

Dear God of all,
thank you for the gift of the seed.
Grant us the grace to tend the garden of our hearts,
and especially the hearts of all the faces of Christ we meet day to day. Amen.

Paul Puccinelli is Director of Liturgy & Music at St. Rita Parish in Sierra Madre, California, and a member of the retreat team at Mater Dolorosa Passionist Retreat Center.