Daily Scripture

Scripture:

1 Thessalonians 3:7-13
Matthew 24:42-51

Reflection:

"Watch therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming." 

Take a moment to reflect on the countless ways you prepared for the unexpected today.  We certainly lock our doors at night before going to sleep.  You may also set a house alarm just in case the locks fail and someone makes their way inside.  We spend thousands of dollars on home, car and possibly even life insurance.  We click on our seatbelts before we start the car.  Moms pack their diaper bags with bottles and baby wipes, band-aids and extra clothes.  We always check with the weather forecast before grabbing sweaters, umbrellas or sunscreen.  These days we don’t dare leave the house without our cell phones just in case of emergency.  And especially as of late, we monitor our bank statements and listen to the endless expert advice on how to save for college, protect our investments and shelter our retirement funds.  Pretty impressive. 

Yet I wonder, what have we done to ready our souls?  In today’s Gospel, Matthew tells us that we "must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect."  Like a "thief" in the night, he will come.  And will we be ready?  I am fairly sure that a safe investment portfolio and a state-of-the-art car alarm will not suffice.  Christ didn’t sugar-coat his message here.  He is coming.  We don’t know when.  So we better be ready at all times.  Just like a thief doesn’t give notice or warning, neither does the Son of Man.  And the consequences of being ill-prepared are devastating.  When a bugler comes to an unarmed home, he takes everything of value he can get his hands on.  When Christ comes, the wicked servant who took advantage of Christ’s delay "will be punish[ed] severely."

As Christians, we are challenged to live the ordinary days of our lives all the while knowing that there is a much larger, more extraordinary possibility in every day-Jesus’ return.  And for those who "stay awake" and serve God in their lives, he promises eternal rewards.  For the faithful servant, our Lord "will put him in charge of all his property."  What strikes me is the example of the good servant in Christ’s parable.  What makes this person worthy in life is that while the master is away, he serves the household meals at the appointed time; ‘Blessed is the servant whom his master on his arrival finds doing so."  In other words, he hasn’t slept with one eye open every night.  He hasn’t berated his fellow community members for their failings.  He hasn’t suspended his responsibilities to home and family for constant prayer and penances.  He has simply served dinner "at the proper time."   

Can it possibly be this easy?  Well, yes and no.  I think the message is that we don’t have to preach God’s word from the highest mountain or leave our families for a life of sequestered meditation.  But we do have to live the life God gave us with honesty, integrity and faith.  This might mean caring compassionately for an aged parent, suspending a lucrative career to raise young children or treating our employees with generosity and understanding.  We can find holiness and grace in the regular responsibilities of our everyday lives.  In doing that, we can be ready for anything.

Marlo Serritella ([email protected]) is on staff at the Holy Cross Province Development Office in Chicago.

 

Scripture:
Ruth 2:1-3, 8-11, 4:13-17
Matthew 23:1-12

Reflection: 

"Blessed are you who fear the Lord, who walk in his ways… your children (will be) like olive plants around your table."  (Ps 128: 1, 3b)

We are blessed indeed to have raised 4 children. We tried to teach them to seek the Lord and His will for their lives, and that they would be truly happy when they said "yes" to His plan. We gave them all back to Him when they were teenagers and we knew the time was coming for them to leave home. Now, years later, we are in the process of letting go again.

We have three sons and one daughter. And wouldn’t you know it, it’s our daughter who is discerning a religious vocation with the Sisters of Life in New York. Since we live in Portland, Oregon, it’s hard to see her move so far away from us (although a friend did remind me that it’s much closer than India!)

It’s been quite a roller coaster of emotions and of letting go of our dreams for Julie (Jim walking her down the aisle, she and I leading women’s retreats together, etc.) for a better dream – God’s dream for her. One day when I was on the grieving part of the roller coaster, I asked the Lord to speak to me about His plan for her. As I listened, this is what I sensed Him saying to me:

"My sacred heart is aching for you. Truly I know the pain you are feeling. I will bring so much good from it, I promise. I love Julie. I have called her from her birth. I have kept her for myself. Thank you for helping Me by loving her so well and by passing on the gift and spark of faith. Your love for Me helped her to fall in love with Me. I will take good care of her. I will provide for all of her needs. And I will help you continue to love her and hold her in your heart. She will always be a part of you even though distance separates you. Cling to Me and my promises. You are precious to Me too. Don’t be jealous of Julie’s vocation – she wouldn’t be here without your vocation! Let Me have her now with no reservations. Let her run to Me – let her go with all joy and with all wonder. Give her back to me again."

God didn’t promise that His will is easy, or that it never hurts. But He did promise to be with us always, and that He will turn our mourning into dancing. As we pray for religious vocations, let’s pray too for the families who must let them go.

Janice Carleton and her husband Jim live in Portland, OR and partner with Passionist Fr. Cedric Pisegna in Fr. Cedric Ministries. Janice also leads women’s retreats. She is the mother of 4 grown children and grandmother of 2, soon to be 3. Visit Janice’s website at http://www.jcarleton.com/ or email her at janice@frcedric/org

 

 

Scripture:

Proverbs 9:1-6

Ephesians 5:15-20

John 6:51-58

 

Reflection:

 

There is a popular Bruce Springsteen song that contains the lyric, “Everybody has a hungry heart…Everybody wants to have a home.” The song has a through-line of yearning, and although its focus is romantic love, I think the essence relates very much to the Scripture readings today.

 

All three readings contain reference to nourishment, not the kind in our bellies, which we humans know about all too well, but the deeper, more lasting nourishment that feeds the hunger in our souls.

 

The “bread and wine” of our human lives, that which keeps us living and contented as physical beings—the food we eat, the people we love, the work we do, the material objects that provide a modicum of comfort—ground us in reality and give a measure of sustenance that we need and appreciate.

 

But Jesus challenges the crowds, and us, to confront the fleeting needs and satisfactions of our human flesh and instead find eternal Life through the Flesh and Blood of the Son of Man.  It is our communion with Christ that gives life everlasting.

 

Living as we do in a world waging war with itself over how to keep or get goods to survive, I can relate to how crazy Jesus’ words must have sounded to the crowds who were being asked to put their faith in the nourishing power of a different kind of “food.” Could there truly be something even more filling than the loaves and fishes that had taken away their bodies’ pangs of discontent?

 

Yes, Jesus assures us. If we go to Christ, if we become one with Him, we will be seated at the banquet of God’s love. It is at this table that the hunger in our hearts is finally satisfied and where we find the place that we can truly call home.

 

 Nancy Nickel ([email protected]) is director of communications at the Passionist Development Office in Chicago, Illinois.    

Scripture: 
Judges 9:6-15
Mtthew 20:1-16

Reflection:

"Are you envious because I am generous? Thus, the last will be first, and the first will be last." (Matt. 20:16)

This is how Jesus sums up his teaching in today’s Gospel. For us who are brought up with a "First World" notion of fairness, this teaching does not make much sense. Many of us were brought up with the expectation that the more personal effort we put into something, the more reward we should expect. Personal worth is very much tied up with the personal investment we give to our job, our life and into whatever we do. The more work we do, the more pay we should receive.

Jesus certainly challenges this understanding of how life is to be lived with his teaching in today’s Gospel. Our salvation, our saving grace is a generous gift given to us by a loving God. And that tenet of our Catholic faith tells us that it is through this generosity on the part of God that we become heirs of the Reign of God, that is, God’s children and Jesus’ brothers and sisters and, thus, brothers and sisters to one another. God’s generous reward for working in God’s vineyard is absolute communion with God and with one another.

Our human tendency is not to measure our worth by God’s standards, but by our own measuring rod. Our human way of doing things is to measure our rewards according to the efforts we put into our work, into our life, even into our salvation. This approach to spirituality will ultimately lead to quantifying our spiritual exercises. Those who fall into this temptation will want to do more in order to accumulate more reward, yes, even a higher reward, like those workers who began working at the first crack of dawn.

On the other hand, those who get invited to enter into God’s vineyard at the last minute may be tempted to think that their last hour of work is not worth the effort, and so they may decline the invitation to come and work. In this parable, we are not told of how many workers decided not to go with the owner just to do an hour’s work. It is our desire to respond to God’s invitation that leads us to eternal life. That is what all of the workers of the vineyard have in common. They said yes to God and to the work that God had them do.

The owner of the vineyard in this parable asks the key question of this Gospel passage: Are you envious because I (God) am generous? During the course of our lives, we sometimes find ourselves complaining to God as to how unfairly God has treated us. We see people who seem to have more even though they have lived a more sinful life than we have. We see people lie and cheat to get ahead in this life and they seem to get away with it. We think we work hard every day, trying to resist temptation, seeking forgiveness when we fail and doing everything the Church tells us to do, and yet less "worthy" people get the attention they don’t deserve. Envy dehumanizes us. Envy makes us less forgiving, less charitable and less Christ-like.

This Scripture today invites us to deal with this sinful attitude of envy, often overlooked in our Spiritual lives, and often glossed over because of its implications. Today, we are invited to pray for total acceptance of God’s generosity, because that is what makes us Children of God and heirs of the Reign of God.

Fr. Clemente Barron, C.P. is a member of the General Council of the Passionist Congregation and is stationed in Rome

Scripture:

Judges 6:11-24a
Matthew 19:23-30

Reflection:

Both readings bring us face to face with some basic challenges. 

Gideon puts his concern right out there: "For now the Lord has abandoned us."  The Midianites are about to annihilatethe Israelites.  The fact that God boughtthem through all the trials and ordeals in Egypt seems to mean nothingnow.  And the solution of having Gideonlead the Israelites to conquer the Midianites doesn’t make too much  sense. "My family is the lowest and I amthe most insignificant."  Not toopromising!  God reassures him, however,that all will work out.  "Be calm, do not fear.  You will not die" in the upcomingstruggle.  The challenge is for him torealize and accept that he is not alone.

In the gospel we find Peter seeking recognition:  We havegiven up everything and followed you. What’s in it for us?"  Jesusis very honest in His reply: "Foreverything that you have given up, you will receive a hundred times more."   Peter is looking ahead.  Reality, however, will settle in as thingscontinue to unfold day by day.  Jesus,the popular one, irritates the Jewish hierarchy.  Ever so slowly yet convincingly the truthbegins to dawn on the Apostles that Jesus is the suffering servant foretold byIsaiah (Chapter 53).  And then, comes theplea, "Take up your cross and come followme."    Peter will have to endure a real humblingpurgation.  What happened in thecourtyard of the High Priest at the trial of Jesus—his denial of anyassociation with Jesus—would lead to an outburst of tears as he realize whathe had done.  That scene evidently neverleft his memory.  Later he would ask thathis own death on a cross be such he would be hung upside down. 

Can you and I resonate with Gideon and Peter?  To honestly be myself is of greatimportance.  It brings peace.  To wander through life envying others is tofail to live.  Giving up things, lettinggo of things is not to contradict what has been given to us.  It has to do with making choices as to how I will use my gifts andtalents.  And no matter what vocation inlife we choose, there is the ongoing challenge to let nothing get in the way ofmy loving God, my brothers and sisters, and myself. 

 

Fr. Peter Berendt, CP, is on the retreat team at Holy Name Retreat Center in Houston, Texas. 

Memorial of St. Pius X

Scripture:
Ruth 1:1, 3-6, 14b-16, 22
Matthew 22:34-40

Reflection:

Patterns of migration are commonplace throughout the contemporary world.  These occur both within nations, as population groups move from one part of a country to another, as happened in our nation during the 1920s and 1930s, with African-Americans, especially, moving from southern, agricultural, states, northward, to industrial states.  And it also occurs between nations, as is happening now, in the movement of peoples from Mexico to this country, again, largely for economic reasons.

Most of these migrants think of their moves as temporary, allowing them enough time to earn some capital for themselves and their families, so that they can then return home, to lead a better life there.  Of course, it doesn’t always work out that way.

We hear of a similar move, in today’s readings, on the part of Elimelech, as he and his wife Naomi and sons, left Bethlehem for the plains of Moab, whether for economic reasons or not is unclear.  Tragedies intervene for Naomi, as she loses to death, first, her husband, then her two sons.  So she decides to go home to Bethlehem, and one of her daughter-in-laws, Ruth, accompanies her.

How familiar a scene, both biblically and contemporaneously: exile, tragedy, return.  These are the makings of disintegration and fragmentation, and yet something prevails to bond the pieces together: love-the love of Ruth for Naomi.  Ruth will not leave Naomi alone.

So Ruth anticipates Jesus’ reply to the somewhat intrusive lawyer, inquiring about the law and its center-piece.  Love, Jesus instructs him, is at the heart of things: love of God, love of one another.  Jesus notes the powerful bonding force of love, uniting the more than 600 pieces of a fragmentary law, plus many prophetic injunctions, into one whole cloth.  Jesus may have remembered Ruth.

Pius X went about this process in his own way: he opposed what he judged to be the disintegrating impact of Modernism on his flock; and he offered what he thought to be the answer: the unifying force of the Eucharist, extending it to young children, and encouraging adults to approach it more frequently.  Fr.Roger Mercurio venerated Pius X for this reason: he loosened pastoral practice on the Eucharist.

As we journey through life, we can well look to a love nourished in the Eucharist, to prevent us from wandering too far off, by bonding us more closely with one another.

 

Fr. Sebastian MacDonald, C.P. is a member of the Passionist formation community at Catholic Theological Union, Chicago. 

 

 

 

Scripture:
Joshua 24:1-2a, 15-17, 18b
Ephesians 5:21-32 or 5:2a, 25-32

Reflection:

In today’s Gospel reading, we come to the end of Jesus’ "bread of life" discourse, and we find that many of His disciples are unwilling to accept His words about coming down from heaven and giving His flesh to eat. And so they leave Him. When they do, Jesus turns to the Twelve and asks, "Do you also want to leave?" Peter replies, "Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God."

As Christians, we believe that Jesus is the Holy One of God, the Son of God come down from heaven to give us eternal life. To whom shall we go? And yet, many times we are tempted to go elsewhere. This temptation has been with us for a long time. In our first reading, after Joshua has led the people into the Promised Land, he asks them whom they will serve. He declares his choice by saying, "As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord." The people  respond, "Far be it from us to forsake the Lord for the service of other gods." And yet, there are many instances when the people did just that.

So what is it that takes us away from following Jesus? For some, it may be the implications of getting close to Jesus. The closer we get, the more likely our lives will change. For others, it may be the challenge of the Gospel. In our second reading, St. Paul writes, "Be subordinate to one another out of reverence for Christ." When we also hear, "Love your enemies; Forgive seventy-seven times; or, Deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow me," we may want to resist.  And for others, it may be hard for them to believe anyone would love them that much, and they push Jesus away.

Whatever the reason, we need to remember that Jesus does have the words of eternal life for us. We can trust in His love for us. He is the one to whom we can go. By grace we can persevere in following Him, and be with Him forever.

 

Fr. Phil Paxton, C.P. is pastor of St. Mary’s Parish, Fairfield, Alabama.

 

Scripture:
Revelations 21:9b-14
John 1:45-51

Reflection:

"Here is a faithful Israelite in whom there is no guile."  John 1:48    The word for guile is dolos in Greek and it originates from the meaning of decoy. Hunters place wood ducks in the water to trick live ducks to come down to a safe place to rest.  They then shoot them.  In the epistle of 1 Pet 2:22 Jesus is described:  "no guile was found in his mouth".   Jesus loves sincerity because He is sincere.  He is the truth that abhors falsehood.  We should not use so much makeup when we approach the Lord!

We live in a world of guile.   Packaging is more important than contents.   We spend three times more for an attractive box than for the contents of breakfast cereal.  Looks dominate reality.   We can easily believe that if we look young, we are young.   Truth always threatens falsehood.   Moderns are terrified by truth.   They love to live in a world of relevancy.   God is the great Absolute, the destroyer of makeups and masks.  

Guile is a not so subtle form lying. In the movie North by Northwest Cary Grant says: "In the world of advertising there is no such thing as lying, only expedient exaggeration!" We must approach the Lord without guile.   Jesus can only help us if we bring our real selves to him.  Perhaps we can fool others, and certainly we can fool ourselves, but we can never fool God.   Nathaniel was sincere and was chosen as a key person in the Church. 

Our English word sincere comes from Latin.  Sine means without: cere means wax.  Dealers used to try to sell statues that were chipped by covering the damaged parts with wax so that it would not be noticed.   We must be sincere, without wax, when we approach God and neighbor.   It is a consoling truth that God is the only one we can and must approach without guile!

 

Fr. Bob Weiss, C.P. preaches Parish Missions and is a member of the Passionist Community in Detroit, Michigan.