Daily Scripture

Scripture:

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

Reflection:

In the reading from Acts, we see the beginning of the first of three missionary journeys that Paul the Apostle will undertake. Paul (he is still called Saul at this time) and Barnabas had just returned from Jerusalem where they had brought relief supplies for the Jerusalem community suffering from a famine. Such support for others in need is an essential element of our Christian vocation.

They had returned to Antioch where we hear about prophets and teachers. Prophets were not fortune tellers, but people sensitive to the presence of God in prayer, worship and daily life. They helped interpret God’s desires for the Christian community. Teachers were those gifted in the ability to faithfully pass on the traditions of the Christian community and to instruct others about Scripture. These two roles are indispensable to the life of the Church.

As we continue to give thanks to God for the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, we might also want to give thanks to the prophets and teachers who have helped us understand Scripture, revealed to us new methods of deeper prayer, encouraged us to be faithful, guided us with their wisdom, showed us effective ways to be sensitive to God’s presence in our life, reminded us of our true vocation as Christians and in times of confusion pointed us in the right direction. We might not have called them "Prophets" or "Teachers." Maybe we called them mother or father, brother or sister, uncle or cousin, friend or co-worker, pastor or associate, author or preacher. By whatever name we called them, they were God’s way of reaching out to us.

Who are the "Prophets" and "Teachers" in your life? Do you "see" – like Jesus in the Gospel reading today – God’s active and loving presence in your life? Let us thank God for these special people.

 

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

Scripture:

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

Reflection:

Perhaps it is commonplace to want things in black and white. When things are in black-and-white we don’t need to deal with certain ambiguities.   It certainly simplifies the complexities of life.  The problem with this is a black and white world can not embrace color.  And look how much beauty enhances our world because of color.  The readings of today are colorful readings.

Acts of the apostles witnesses to the persecution which arose of those early believers.  Recall the martyrdom of Stephen.  Because of this incident, the community of believers disperses to some quite distant places and peoples; even to the Greeks.  Because of this, psalm 19 is fulfilled, "Their message goes out to all the earth".   This first reading ends with our ancestors finding their new identity apart from Judaism.  We are no longer Jews who believe in Christ, our identity has been changed.  We are now, "Christian".  This does not happen in Jerusalem, it happens in Antioch, a place to which Jesus never went.  Interestingly, we don’t find our identity in the places where Jesus was, we find them in the person of who Jesus is.   

Colorization continues in the Gospel.  The Jews push Jesus for a black and white answer. "How long are you going to keep us in suspense?  If you really are the Messiah, tell us so in plain words."  And Jesus’ palette is filled with multitudes of colors.  He invites them to look at the consistency of his life and his works, to draw conclusions for themselves.  He paints metaphors of sheep who understand and follow.  They even seem to know the color, of the tone of his voice. 

Paradoxically, the Gospels show us that those who can ponder the colors of Jesus’ palette, and the way the divine artist paints the portraits of life, are those who listen and understand and accept his message. They are the ones transformed, and they hold a certain amount of joy in their heart.  Contrast this to the numerous stories by which the biblical people in the Gospels insist on reducing the colors of life to merely black-and-white.  Even the story of the wealthy man concludes with, "He went away sad…"  In these books of "Good News" these small minded thinkers merely end up reducing the value, beauty, and significance of life.  

Throughout this day I would invite you to reflect a little more deeply on the colors of life in the people around you, and your participation in the palette of the divine artist.    What happens to you when it feels like you are the one holding the palate of colors?  How do you treat those who also have color palates?   What impact do those who only have black and white have on you?   And what happens to you when you look down and discover that your palate is black and white?  

 

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

Scripture:

Acts 4:8-12
1 John 3:1-2
John 10:11-18

Reflection:

The Word

Please, contemplate, carefully, the first line of St. John’s letter today: "See what love the Father has given us."  When I am asked questions like," How do I know that I am following Jesus?," or, "How do you love God?" I respond by saying: "Do you take time each day to me mindful of the ways that "things somehow go through." All the worries, the tensions, the setbacks, the chaos; somehow "things go through."  Somehow decisions get made. Somehow, even, the failures and flaws (like the beautifully hewned stone that "the builders" rejected, fit into the plan of God.

Jesus, the Good Shepherd, does not run away from the challenges that threaten the quality of peoples’ lives. Rather He lays down His life for the sheep.  Is not "being evangelized" primarily this realization that deliberately, and providentially we are channels of the same grace that "gets us through"?  We are instruments of God to help others "get through".  I have always appreciated Pope Paul VI explanation of salvation: "the gift offered to all of creation through the deliberate, suffering love of the Son of God which frees us from whatever oppresses us and delivers us from sin and the Power of Evil."

 

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

 

Feast of St. Joseph the Worker 

Scripture:

Acts 9:1-20
John 6:52-59

Reflection:

"Is he not the carpenter’s son?  Where did Jesus get all this?" 

Today’s feast was established by Pope Pius XII in 1955 to emphasize the dignity of Christian labor over the annual May 1^st celebration of the atheistic view of work and workers in communist countries.

This is a good day to remember in prayer the dignity of all working men and women as well as those who are presently unemployed and seeking work due to the world wide financial crisis. These troubled times also call each of to share our spiritual and temporal goods with our brothers and sisters in need and together work for the social justice that the gospels call us to.

 As we enter the familiar scene of today’s gospel, we are reminded of the work of the carpenter and the work of Jesus, Son of the Father.  The people of Nazareth had known Jesus as the carpenter’s son.  Joseph was remembered as the honest, hard working provider for his family and a faithful member of the synagogue.  Jesus had just returned to his home town from a successful Galilean ministry.

Going to the synagogue, Jesus begins to teach.  The townspeople are astonished!

Why?  They have known Jesus, his mother and his relatives.  They take offense at Jesus.

We can just imagine their comments:  "Who do you think you are, Jesus?  You are one of us!  We all grew up together and you are acting as if you ‘know it all’.  So they close their eyes, ears and hearts to Jesus by their own self-grandiose attitude and limited experiences.  Basically, their response to the presence and teaching of Jesus is: ‘We know him and he can’t be anyone out of the ordinary.’  And so they reject Jesus.  They refuse to see, that Jesus as Son of God is doing the work of His Heavenly Father in their midst. 

 The first reading from Colossians 3:16 reminds us to… "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, as in all wisdom…."

 A question to ponder:  What openness, attitudes and areas of my closed mindedness stand in the way of what Jesus is teaching us in today’s readings?

Sr. Marcella Fabing, CSJ, is the Associate Director at Christ the King Passionist Retreat Center, Citrus Heights, California.

Scripture:

Acts 8:26-40
John 6:44-51

Reflection:

When we are about to receive Holy Communion the priest or Eucharistic Minister holds up the host and says, "The Body of Christ," and we respond "Amen."  What other words could the priest or minister say?  They could say, as in today’s gospel, "This is the Bead of Life," or "This is Bread from Heaven," or "This is the flesh of Jesus for the life of the world."  They could also take words from other sections of the gospels and say, "This is the Good Shepherd," or "This is the Light of the World."

In chapter three of John’s gospel we read the famous words, "God so loved the world that he sent his only Son."  That means, when the host is presented to us, the priest or minister could correctly say, "This is the Love of God."   Yes, we receive the love of God.  The love of God dwells within our very being.  "If anyone eats this bread he shall live forever."  What an infinitely great gift is the Holy Eucharist!

What is to be our response to this great gift?  Let’s take our cue from St. Peter.  We know that he didn’t do very well along the way of the cross.  He denied Jesus three times.  But he was sorry.  And after the resurrection, Jesus appeared to Peter and asked him a question.  He asked, "Peter, do you love me?"  What does Peter reply, "Yes Lord, I love you."  Jesus asked him again, "Peter, do you love me?"  Again Peter stated, "Yes Lord, you bet I love you."  A third time Jesus asks him, "Peter, do you love me?"  I can see Peter shouting it out this time, "Yes, Lord, with all my heart."  Peter was totally committed to Jesus. (cf. John 21:15-19)

That’s what our "Amen" means when we receive Holy Communion.  "Amen, Yes Lord, I love you.  Yes Lord, you bet I love you.  Yes Lord, I love you with all my heart."  When we say "Amen" we proclaim our commitment to Jesus.  Love responds to love.  Love unites with love.  Then we are sent forth to spread love "for the life of the world."

 

Fr. Alan Phillip, C.P. is a member of the Passionist Community at Mater Dolorosa Retreat Center, Sierra Madre, California.

Scripture:

Acts 9:31-42
John 6:60-69

Reflection:

Today’s readings continue the "work" of the Easter Season – that of deepening our faith in the Risen One, Jesus.  In the Gospel Reading, taken from St. John, Peter gives voice to the confession of faith, " Lord, to whom else 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."  Peter’s words capture the fire of faith that has burned in the hearts of martyrs and mystics.   This is the same faith of the holy ones whose lives we so admire, of  our personal heroes, our admired family members, and the church’s official  ‘saints’.  These men and women, living human lives like Peter’s and like ours, found in the work and words of Jesus a key to help solve the riddles of existence, to navigate the storms of mind and spirit that life can sometimes stir up.  Through faith in the Risen One, the victor over sin and death, a new Light shines within the human experience.  This light, faith’s gift to us, has a way of clarifying difficult or puzzling situations, of illuminating the shadowy parts of the human heart, of revealing the hard-to-find path that leads to joy and contentment, of penetrating the fog and gloom of despair and meaninglessness.  For this is the light that shone from the empty tomb, a tomb not powerful enough to resist the life-giving power of the Father’s love and goodness.  May Peter’s conviction and deep faith engender the same in us as we ponder the wondrous mystery of the Risen One, the everlasting Word of Life.

 

Fr. Jim Thoman, C.P. is the director of St. Paul of the Cross Passionist Retreat Center, Detroit, Michigan.

Scripture:

Acts 7:51-8:1a
John 6:30-35

Reflection:

In today’s Gospel, Jesus is asked:  "What sign can you do, that we may see and believe in you? What can you do?’  The crowd was saying, give us some proof!  Frequently our prayer sounds like that.  I believe in you, Jesus, but I’ll really and truly believe if you just help me with this one thing, just cure this one illness, solve this one problem.

How often do we hear (or say) "God was with me when I avoided that accident, got a good grade in school, recovered from an illness.  But Jesus tells us that God is with us all the time.  It is when we can know God’s presence in the bad times, the suffering, in life’s problems, in all things, that we can comprehend the meaning of the last verse of this reading. 

Jesus promises us that if we believe in him we will never hunger and never thirst.  He was talking about hungering and thirsting for oneness with God, for spirituality, for the Kingdom.  Many people today suffer from this hunger.  They are looking for healing, for something to hold things together, for an explanation for the universe.  They are looking for God.  Frequently they are looking in the wrong places.   Jesus tells us He is the bread of life. Jesus is the bread the Father gave us and in Jesus, we are fed.  If we believe in Christ and follow His path, we will have our spiritual hunger fed.  Jesus’ way is outlined clearly for us in the Beatitudes, the works of mercy and in the commandment Jesus has given us to love God and love your neighbor as yourself.

If we can be as certain as Jesus was of God’s existence and of God’s love and goodness,  we will begin to experience oneness with God and we will do God’s work.  Then we will no longer hunger for the Kingdom, we will, with Jesus, be living it.

 

Mary Lou Butler is a former staff member and is now a member of the Mater Dolorosa Passionist Retreat Center Board, Sierra Madre, California. 

Scripture:

Acts 6:8-15
John 6:22-29

Reflection:

"Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves." John 6:26.

In today’s gospel, we meet Jesus the day after he performed the miracle of the loaves.  When the crowds realize Jesus has left, they impatiently begin to look for him.  In fact, the group seems rather desperate to find Jesus-they look near the shore, they look on the docks.  They go so far as to get in boats and begin a full blown search.  Let’s remember, these are the same people who just ate their fill after Jesus took just a scarce amount of loaves and fishes and fed the masses.  It’s not surprising they would be curious to seek Jesus out, but, the question is, to what end? 

And what happens when these folks locate our Lord?  When the anxious group finally finds Jesus, he is not exactly thrilled.  He is blunt about questioning their motives.  This mob seems to be looking for more bread, not for the man who provided it.  They look for more miracles, not for the God behind those miracles.  In other words, they are interested only in what Jesus can do for them, what he can provide them with.  And our Lord calls them on it.  Maybe we shouldn’t just seek out our Lord when we are hungry for something.  Maybe we should go to him even when our bellies our full.  Our hunger should be for the food that feeds the soul.

This is what strikes me most about this passage-here we are thousands of years later, and how many of us are still on a rather frantic search for Jesus?  We’ve sadly seen people barricaded on communes, guns at the ready, who proclaim to have found Jesus.  How many of us know Catholics who have left the Church for one of the many non-denominational Christian churches that have proliferated in recent years?  How many reading this right now have waned in our attendance at Mass because we weren’t hearing what we wanted to hear?  We seem to have run off in a million different directions all with the same apparent goal-to find Jesus.  But are we truly looking for eternal salvation, or just a quick fix?  We want Jesus’ comfort, his reassurance, his healing, his strength, his nourishment. . All these things, we believe, will bring us peace.  But all these things are momentary. 

Let us ask ourselves what our search for Jesus means for us in our daily lives.  When asked what we must do to accomplish the works of God, Jesus replies, "This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent."  This is the true search-the search for eternal life through belief in and service to our Lord, Jesus the Christ.

 

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