Daily Scripture

Scripture:

Acts 15:22-31
John 15:12-17

Reflection:

In the immediate context before our current gospel reading Jesus announces that he is the vine and we are the branches. (John 1-11) He tells his disciples to remain always connected to him as branches that share the life force of the vine stock. He invites us to "abide in my love."  Whoever remains in him bears much fruit. As is characteristic of the Fourth Gospel what is emphasized is an individual, personal relationship of the disciple to Jesus as the source of his/her life. The perspective widens with verse 12 with the new commandment, "love one another as I have loved you."  Now we see that it is not just Jesus and me. We are invited to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters as he did. But almost immediately we are called back to that personal relationship of being friends of Jesus. He has revealed to us everything he learned from is father. He has shared his mind with us, and has opened his heart to us. He has personally chosen us and then commissioned us to go out and bear fruit. We are his ambassadors. The fruit we are commanded to do goes out into the community as the passage comes to a close. "Love one another."

The Fourth Gospel does not give us those practical guides to loving as we find in Paul’s hymn to agape in 1 Cor 13. We are on a deeper level. John’s basic idea of love is the sharing of life together in concern and understanding. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit share their life together in love. This is what every married couple is called to. This is what every community of believers is to strive for.

 

Fr. Michael Hoolahan, C.P. is on the staff of Mater Dolorosa Passionist Retreat Center in Sierra Madre, California.

Scripture:

Acts 15:1-6
John 15:1-8

Reflection:

Harold, of the Trappists in Vina, California told me that their yield last year was about four and a half tons per acre.  I was impressed.  Think of all the wine they could sell! 

When I made retreat there in March, some of the community were pruning the branches from last year in advance of this year’s new growth.  I was able to join them in this work.  Pruning is an art, getting the branch trimmed at just the right spot to insure good growth.  Then, we raked the trimmed branches to the end of each vine row.  I’ve thought since of how God prunes us…by the insight of a friend or spiritual director, by an insight in prayer.  Usually, this pruning is gentle, yet sometimes it might be difficult, like staying with an exercise/diet program.  Jesus tells us to remain in Him as branches on the vine…branches that are pruned daily by prayer, eucharist, family and community life.    

In our first reading from the Acts of the Apostles, Paul, Barnabas and all of the early church had to deal with the issue of some wanting to insist on circumcision for the new members of the church.  They had to discern God’s will through prayer and discussion…what was absolutely necessary to be a member of the church and what was not.  Paul would later say in Acts that this burden was not necessary for new converts.

Today is the optional memorial of Our Lady of Fatima.  Mary told the young shepherds to offer their prayers and sacrifices for the conversion of sinners and for world peace.  This is a gospel way of realizing that we are all branches connected to the vine.

 

Fr. Bob Bovenzi, C.P. is a member of the Passionist community stationed in Chicago, Illinois. 

Scripture:

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

Reflection:

The early Christian community struggled to establish itself amidst many conflicts. Not only were there external threats, but the community was susceptible to internal animosity, bitterness and greed. Yet in the midst of skirmishes and scuffles, as the Acts of the Apostles assures us, the Spirit surged forth in new life and new forms. The Spirit of Christ was continuing to shepherd the community.

Perhaps that is why Psalm 23 is the favorite prayer of many people. "The Lord is my shepherd" is the go-to-psalm when life feels overwhelming, when adversity seems to be crushing our hopes, or when we sense we have lost our way. The images in Psalm 23 are graphic and gripping metaphors of peace. It promises the pleasure of abiding in verdant pastures; the delight of relaxing beside restful waters; the assurance that a table of plenty will be provided amidst our foes.

How do we get there? How do we find that place of tranquility and satisfaction promised by the good shepherd and manifested in the early Christian community? How do we come to experience the peace which Jesus promised?

The answer is revealed in the second line of the psalm – "I shall not want."

The wanting-mind is the cause of so much agitation and misery. By simply observing our mind we will discover that whenever the mind wants something to be different than it is, we suffer and we are miserable. Two conditions provoke this insatiable wanting: when we have something we do not want or when we want something we do not have. Either situation creates a tension in the mind called misery.

When life goes our way and we get what we want, the mind is peaceful. But do not confuse that with the peace which Jesus promised. Yes, the world gives us peace when we get what we want. But Jesus promised a peace which the world cannot give. That is the peace which comes when the wanting in the mind stops before we get what we want.

One of the great insights of the spiritual life is to understand the cause of suffering and how the mind can be free. It all comes down to a simple statement: I shall not want. The cessation of desires in the wanting-mind is a central feature of Easter peace. It is experience as the absence of fear and manifested in a heart that is not troubled.

 

Fr. Joe Mitchell, CP is the director of the Passionist Earth & Spirit Center in Louisville, KY.  

 

Scripture:

Acts 14:5-18
John 14:21-26

Reflection:

A retreatant recently shared with me his aspiration.  "I want to recapture the great feeling I once had of God’s love in my heart."

Several weeks later, a middle-aged man told me that his marriage of less than 20 years had grown stale.  The couple no longer felt any love for each other.  He also admitted he had strong "feelings" for a co-worker.

Though they faced different challenges, their solution was essentially the same: to recapture a "feeling" of love.

Our Lord however didn’t tell his disciples that those who love him would have a warm "feeling" in their heart.  He said:  "Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him.

To that well-meaning retreatant, the Lord is saying: stop searching for feelings in your heart.  I won’t be there.  To that middle-aged man ready to jettison a "stale" marriage, the Lord is saying:  When the Father and I are dwelling with you we can even revitalize your "stale" marriage.

To all of us, the Lord is saying don’t be misled by feelings.  They come and go.  Instead, every day in whatever the circumstances of our lives, keep his commandments.  And the Lord and his Father will dwell with us.  Love is not something we feel; it’s a Christ-like self-surrendering choice we make.

 

Deacon Manuel Valencia is on the staff at Mater Dolorosa Passionist Retreat Center, Sierra Madre, California.

Mother’s Day

Scripture:

Acts 9:26-31
1 John 3:18-24
John 15:1-8

Reflection:

I am fascinated by the theme of connection that runs through today’s readings.  We are connected to Christ, the vine in whom we live and to whom we offer praise.  We are connected in love through the vine to all the other branches.  There is something very reassuring in this talk of abiding intimacy and love. 

Yet there are deep implications lurking below the feel-good surface.  For instance, just this morning I was talking to a friend about someone for whom I have lost respect.  I will not choose to work with him again, and I am saddened by all the people he has hurt.  Yet I am connected to him.  He is part of the vine, too – one of the branches just as I am.  And Jesus asks me to love him, that God may be glorified.  Ouch.

Of course, Jesus doesn’t ask me to be a doormat.  I can take reasonable precautions, as the apostles did with Saul before they allowed one who had been killing their friends to walk freely in their midst.  I don’t have to work in an unhealthy or abusive relationship with anyone.  I don’t have to make myself vulnerable to almost certain hurt. 

But I do have to love.  I do have to honor my connection through Christ even to those who have hurt me or acted in ways I cannot condone, in fact, even to those who have caused me irreparable harm.  This kind of love is not a warm, fuzzy feeling.  It is a choice that stretches me to the limits and makes demands that sometimes seem beyond my capacity.   

 No matter how deeply I have been wronged, can I work through and express my feelings until I am ready to let go of my anger and hurt?  Can I release my desire to see the other person suffer as much as I have suffered?  Can I shed revenge and my human definition of "justice"?  Can I free myself from another’s bad choices, refusing to hang onto grudges, hate, and bitterness?  Am I willing to no longer hold negativity toward the other, but instead actually pray for their happiness and healing?  In other words, can I engage in the difficult and emotional process that eventually leads to forgiveness, whether or not the other person ever asks for it?

Suddenly, abiding intimate connection is not so easy.  In fact, sometimes I’m not sure I want to be part of that vine.  I hug my hurt and anger to my chest too tightly.  The demands are too great. 

Yet if I refuse the call to love, I punish the wrong person.  I cut myself off from the vine, from the Source of all mercy and grace.  Instead of choosing love, I choose to remain bitter, narrow, angry, and alone.  Is that what I want?

Therein lies the challenge.  As I look at the hurts in my life, as I determine the kind of person I want to be, as I consider the formidable example of Christ, what do I choose?

 

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 13:26-33
John 14:1-6

Reflection:

Easter is a season of 50 days. We need time to grasp and soak in the reality of the resurrection. During this season, we enter into "mystagogia." This word means "led into the mystery." We continue to journey with the newly baptized and those who have come into full communion with the people of God at the Easter Vigil. We too are led into the mystery of life in Christ.

I remember watching a Billy Graham crusade on TV. The words of Jesus in today’s Gospel were on a huge banner as a backdrop to the stage. "I am the way, the truth and the life." Jesus is certainly the way to heaven, but he is also the way for us right now. When we talk about mystagogia, we are really referring to the way of discipleship. Before the early disciples were called "Christian" they were called "the way."

I saw an interview with the rock star "Slash." He said that rock and roll is the way of life for him, it comes with a personality and has a lifestyle. For us, it is not rock, our culture or sports, but Jesus who is our way of life. His way is our lifestyle. As we learn and grow we develop a Spirit-filled personality. Discipleship is really a journey where we give more and more of ourselves to Jesus. The way of discipleship includes discipline, worship and passion. Jesus’ way isn’t the only way in our world, but his is the way to the peace he offers in today’s Gospel. Mystagogia is not only a time when we learn about discipleship, but strive to live it.

As I live this lifestyle of worship, I am struck over and over again by the reading we have each Saturday morning during the liturgy of the hours. It is apropos for any who would live the Christian lifestyle and follow Jesus’ way: "None of us lives as his/her own master. While we live we are responsible to the Lord, and when we die we die as his servants. Both in life and death we are the Lord’s. That is why Christ died and came to life again, that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living." (Rom. 14:7-9)

 

Fr. Cedric Pisegna, C.P. is a missionary preacher, author of 12 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:

Acts 13:44-52
John 14:7-14

Reflection:

There comes a time in the life of almost every woman when she looks at her reflection in a mirror and sees not herself but another woman she knows well.  This encounter is inevitably accompanied by a small gasp, an expression of shock and the realization that "I have become my mother."  This insight is not necessarily a negative or positive judgment on herself or her mother or the quality of their relationship. Rather it is the sense of the unstoppable passing of time and the rootedness of qualities and characteristics ,  both physical and personality,  that have made her who she has become.  No one can be insulated from absorbing the genetic, cultural and environmental background from which they came.  But a person can be blind to recognizing the effect these influences exert in life and the connectedness we have with others.

Jesus seems to be both surprised and disappointed by Phillips request , "Lord, show us the Father."  Jesus knew that the purpose of his life, relationships, teachings and way of being with people was to be a mirror of  his Father’s presence.  He was in his Father and his Father was in him.  God was present to others in the person of Jesus.  But Phillip had not yet had the "aha" moment, the gasp of insight and recognition that the person he knew as Jesus was actually more than the man who was obviously apparent.  Phillip did not yet have the faith to see who was really reflected in the mirror that was Jesus.

Maybe heaven begins for us when we each look in a mirror and gasp with the realization that "I have become the Lord".  The Lord lives in you and me, speaks through you and me, loves through you and me just as he promised.  Our faith is not perfect nor is our reflection of the Lord untarnished but as we become more and more absorbed in the qualities and characteristics of Jesus we each, in our own way, become a mirror of God’s presence to others.

 

Cathy Anthony is on the staff of St. Paul of the Cross Passionist Retreat and Conference Center, Detroit, Michigan. 

Scripture:

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

Reflection:

From this day until Pentecost, our gospels come from the Book of Glory, the discourses of the Lord that St. John locates after the Last Supper.  We begin as Jesus faces his coming betrayal and death as he dismisses his betrayer but then takes up his heart-to-heart farewell with the faithful ones.  His words are overflow with the love he has for his own as his public life is reaching an end. 

As you let his words come alive for you, be sure they were spoken for you and are spoken again as you read them.   Jesus had all his future followers in mind and heart that night.  He spoke to the eleven but mentions all those who will come to believe in him.  Though you may not have been in the Upper Room, you were deeply in the heart and mind of the Lord Jesus.

We are celebrating the enduring triumph of Easter, and now we know that all that Jesus promised that night before he died has come to pass.  He is "with us all days".  Each gospel section of the Book of Glory gives us not only the words of Jesus but brings us into his presence and surrounds us with his love.  This is the time to know him in his glory and strength, a glory and strength he shares with us now and promises to expand for us in all of eternity.

This is time to savor our union in his joy.  He told us that no one could take that joy from us.  Even in the midst of our nation’s financial crisis, Jesus is our surety of ultimate happiness.  Do not be afraid to listen as did the Beloved Disciple. 

 

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