Daily Scripture

Scripture:

Exodus 32:7-14
John 5:31-47

Reflection:

Our readings today begin with the story of the Golden Calf.  You remember this episode in the life of Israel as recorded in the Torah.  Moses was spending 40 days upon Mount Sinai, growing in intimacy with God.  During his absence, the people of Israel reverted to their previous practice of idolatry. Moses returns and is justifiably angry and throws down the precious tablets.  Then God, feeling betrayed by their ingratitude, threatens to show real wrath.  Moses intercedes-imploring God not to give up on the people of Israel.

One might wonder how the faith of the people of Israel could lapse so quickly.  God had been more than generous to them-protecting and blessing them during their exodus from Egypt.  But, how quickly they forgot!!

Haven’t we all experienced such lapses in faith-forgetting the many ways God has been active and present in our lives?  Perhaps you have even experienced such a lapse during our current 40-day period of Lent.  Upon entering Lent, did you make grand plans to increase your intimacy with God?  Just like the people of Israel, we too can succumb to modern forms of idolatry.  (Maybe I should just speak for myself!)   

In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus emphasizes that he has come into this world that we may know eternal life.  It seems to Jesus that many of the Jews of his time were unwilling to make this choice-this leap of faith.  The true freedom God offered the people of Israel was now revealed in Jesus.  Why could they not grasp this revelation in their midst?  In all fairness, we hear this chapter of the Gospel, knowing "the rest of the story."  (God bless Paul Harvey!)  Maybe if we did not know "the rest of the story", we too would be lacking in faith and understanding-just like some of the Jews in Jesus’ time.   This we cannot know.

On Ash Wednesday, as the sign of the cross was inscribed with ashes on our foreheads, we heard the words "Repent, Believe in the Gospel".  Through our Scripture readings today, we are invited to confess our faith in Jesus and the life he has revealed for each of us.  The choice is ours…let us choose life!!

 

Angela Howell is a retreatant and volunteer at Mater Dolorosa Passionists Retreat Center in Sierra Madre, California.

Scripture:

Ezekiel 47:1-9, 12
John 5:1-16

Reflection:

"There lay a multitude of invalids, blind, lame, paralyzed."

The Greek words indicate how we often feel ourselves. We feel blind in that we don’t see clearly or are in a smoky fog. We experience lameness in that we can’t seem to move in life. We feel paralyzed in that we feel ourselves dried up as in the original Greek meaning of the word "zeros". Then Jesus asked the magic question, "Do you want to be healed?" This is an idiom in the Greek meaning, "Do you want to be healthy?"

The man in the Gospel was not very ambitious and probably preferred to lay there another 38 years blaming others for not helping him. But it was a scam for him because he really had no desire to be healed. Jesus lost patience with him and told him to "rise, take up your palette and walk." Far from being thankful the man told on Jesus for healing on the Sabbath and caused him lots of trouble with religious leaders.

They tell the story of three fishermen – Bill, Ron and Bob. Jesus appeared to them on the water. Bill said, "Is that you Jesus?" "Yes, my son" Jesus replied. Bill said, "Can you heal my back?" Jesus touched him and healed him. Ron seeing this said to Jesus, "Can you fix my shoulder. I can hardly cast a line." "Certainly" Jesus said and touched his shoulder and healed him. Now all the while, Bob is getting very nervous and said to Jesus, "Don’t get any closer and don’t touch me because I am on total disability."

Jesus does not want us on total disability. It takes the boldness of the Holy Spirit to ask for healing. We probably prefer to lie around and do nothing. With healing there must come a sincere desire for life and holiness.

 

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

Scripture:

Isaiah 65:17-21
John 4:43-54

Reflection:

In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus returns to Galilee, and when He is there, a royal official comes to Him and says, "Sir, come down before my child dies." Jesus replies, "You may go; your son will live." Then John tells us that "The man believed what Jesus said to him and left." The Gospel passage goes on to recount that the man’s faith was justified; his son was made well, at the time Jesus told him.

What strikes me about that story is the man’s faith. What Jesus tells him is enough for him. He believes, and goes home to his son. Is what Jesus tells us enough for us? Perhaps some of you may be thinking, "Jesus hasn’t told me anything. I have not seen any apparition, nor heard any voice coming out of the clouds. There hasn’t been any dramatic demonstration of Jesus communicating with me." That hasn’t happened to me, either. But if we look at the Cross, Jesus is speaking His love to us. If we take the time to look at our lives, we may recognize various times during which Jesus spoke His love to us, even when we didn’t hear Him then.

But is that enough for us? I think sometimes we look to all sorts of people in all sorts of places for a guarantee that we are loved. Yet all we need to do is look at the Cross. We will not find  judgment there so much as mercy! We will not find despair there so much as hope! We will not find defeat there so much as victory! Most of all, we will find love. This Lenten season calls us to trust in that love, just as the royal official did. May God’s words of love in Jesus Christ be enough for us to turn us back to Him.

 

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

The Annunciation of the Lord

Scripture:

Isaiah 7:10-14, 8:10
Hebrews 10:4-10
Luke 1:26-38

Reflection:

St. Irenaeus, a second century bishop, records the importance of this feast.  There is also another ancient tradition that marks the death of Jesus on March 25^th.  Today this feast day comes as we are in the midst of Lent, and it brings something of the ineffable season of Christmas. 

In Luke, God works among ordinary people.  Zachary the elderly priest is going about his temple duties.  Elizabeth is a faith filled wife.   Mary is a young maiden betrothed to Joseph, the carpenter.  They live in an insignificant village, in an unimportant outpost of the Roman Empire.  There the angel Gabriel appears to Mary.

Luke focuses on the words spoken by the angel and Mary’s response.  Luke does this because it is God who is the principle actor in this scenario.  Gabriel’s parting words are: "Nothing is impossible for God!"  He is right: a barren couple bear a child.  A virgin conceives a child.  God becomes human.   A tomb will beget the resurrection.  The Spirit of God will inspire the Church. 

Like Mary, God enters our life at half stream and turns it around.  Gabriel waited for Mary’s answer.  God waited for Mary’s answer.  We all carry the promise of salvation within us.  God awaits our answers. Mary had no idea what was in store for her.  She entered into the imagination of God. Her whole life, body and soul, was caught up in God’s grace.  She was led by the Spirit into the full truth of Jesus’ suffering, passion, death and resurrection. 

Mary’s yes enlivened history, and changed the future.  Mary’s example teaches us that God interrupts our lives when we least expect it.  Mary’s honor and dignity come from her relationship with Jesus and her faith filled response to God’s call.  To accept interruption becomes a principle of our life.  Thus peace and salvation come into the world.

 

Fr. Kenneth O’Malley, C.P. is the archivist at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago.   

Scripture:

Hosea 6:1-6
Luke 18:9-14

Reflection:

Our Lenten scripture readings are heavy ones today: sin.  Hosea the prophet is excoriating the sinful ways of his fellow Jews, and the publican, in Luke’s gospel parable, is acknowledging the failures in his life.

We Catholics get upset when there is too much ado about sin.  Older ones among us celebrate the liberation we have enjoyed in recent decades from an obsession with sin that made of the sacrament of confession/reconciliation such a formidable chore, and from what we regarded as silly ways of gaining unintelligible "indulgences" from the punishments that had piled up in our account, to be rendered to the Divine Judge at the proper time.  We were happy to be about the good life and get off this dour preoccupation with the bad life.

A bit of this recent mindset has been imbedded in our current economic predicament.  Ever since we had broken free of the depression era of the ‘30s-the bad times-we’ve been on an upward swing in and through some good times, till recently.  Then someone cames along like Hosea the prophet, in today’s readings, condemning us: "For it is he who has rent…he has struck us…I smote them…I slew them…"  We obviously took a wrong turn in the road somewhere.  We must have resembled the Pharisee in today’s gospel, quite pleased not to be like the rest of humanity, greedy, dishonest, adulterous, since we fasted twice a week and paid tithes on our whole (note the emphasis on "whole") income.  The Pharisee lived the good life.

Unlike the tax collector who was in the temple with him but really didn’t have much to say for himself, at least in terms of the good things he had done, but he was pretty good at remembering his failures: O God, be merciful to me a sinner.  This seemed good enough to win him an indulgence: he went home justified.

Too much of the good life ill prepares us for a publican-like confession of our bad life, that might open us to Hosea’s message that it is love God desires and knowledge of Him, more than sacrifices and holocausts, good meals two less days a week and 10% (how about 8) on our whole income.

 

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

Scripture:

Deuteronomy 4:1, 5-9
Matthew 5:17-19

Reflection:

"However, take care and be earnestly on your guard
not to forget the things which your own eyes have seen,
nor let them slip from your memory as long as you live,
but teach them to your children and to your children’s children."

Jesus, the readings today bring several  pictures to mind.  A child with puckered lips being scolded by a parent.  A teenager blurting out, "So I did it.  Big deal.  I’m not the only one who makes mistakes."   An adult screaming at another adult with no sign of backing off.  Something went wrong.  Someone was wrong.   But no immediate sign of admission.    It’s tough to face up to being wrong, refusing to deal with the truth, forgetting one’s promise…anything that points out a weakness.  

Jesus, the second thing that the readings bring to mind is that the law in itself isn’t going to do it for me.   There has to be realization that behind the law is the love that is necessary to give meaning to the law.  The scribes and the Pharisees were looking at externals most of all.  You had hard words for them: they looked beautiful on the outside like the mausoleums but were full of dead men’s bones on the inside.  I know how You, Jesus, found external conformity alone among the Scribes and Pharisees to be shallow. 

Who among us would not wish that the anger, the pride, the selfishness, the greed, the jealousy and envy, and the whole host of other things would just go away.  For many it is only laws and prohibitions, warnings and penalties that prevent injury and hurt to all of us.  But to live by the law only, trying to set up a smoke screen so nobody sees me, is to be short sighted.   Life is found in the underlying love that needs to permeate our thoughts, words and actions.

I have to admit from my own life that seeing the "whole picture" is my salvation.  And You are part of that picture along with family, community and friends, as well as myself.   You made it clear.  You have asked each and all of us as a condition of our life here on planet earth "to love the Lord, our God, and to love our neighbor as our self."   

Love is a two way street.  I see it in the recognition of the love that comes to us from others; I see it in the love that goes out from us to others.   To set up a one-way street is to block out either the love that comes to us or the love we offer to others.  It does happen.  I stand above everybody else, meaning that I’ll use you but I don’t need you.  Or I get so dependent on others that my sense of self worth is practically zero.  There is no self esteem. 

Fullness of life comes with the ongoing increase of love on a two way street.  Pay attention.  I’ll be giving you a honk, and also expecting one from you!

 

Fr. Peter Berendt, C.P. is on the staff of Holy Name Passionist Retreat Center, Houston, Texas.

Scripture:

Micah 7:14-15, 18-20
Luke 15:1-3, 11-32

Reflection:

Almost always I find myself lost in thought when I read or hear proclaimed the amazing parable of the "prodigal son."  There is so much richness; so many applications that pertain to my own life and ministry as a Passionist.  The compassion and mercy of the wonderful father is incomparable, only not really.  For he mirrors for us the very love of God in Heaven!

This time, however, interestingly, I found myself caught up with words from the very first reading from the prophet Micah, when he declares,

             "Who is there like you, the God who removes guilt and
               pardons sin?  You will cast into the depths of the sea all our sins."

In these words I found a kind of summary of our entire Lenten experience, especially at this time when ponzi schemes are revealed, when greed seems to be so pervasive, and when the innocent suffer at the hands of those who have done wrong.  Through all of this, dear friends, I continue to see my own sinfulness and realize that healing and a return to a more intense love must begin first within myself in spite of what others have done.  It is I who must stand humbly before God and be full of amazement at his amazing mercy.  It is I who must trust in his incomparable love, just like the father in our parable.  Who can love us like our God?  And who can love us so much that his greatest delight is to cast even our shame, our guilt, and our sinfulness into the depths of the sea?

 

Fr. Pat Brennan, CP is the director of Mater Dolorosa Passionist Retreat Center in Sierra Madre, California.

Feast of St. Patrick

Scripture:

Daniel 3:25, 34-43
Matthew 18:21-35

Reflection:

In today’s first reading from the Prophet Daniel, we find Azariah (Abednego), in the fiery furnace, praying, not for himself but for the entire Jewish Community.   "We have in our day no prince, prophet, or leader, no burnt offering, sacrifice, oblation, or incense, no place to offer first fruits, to find favor with you. But with contrite heart and humble spirit let us be received."

Throughout both the Old and New Testaments, we see God, on occasion, getting frustrated with the way His people could make the externals of their religion, the heart of it all.  Dogmas, sermons, symbols, songs and high liturgical celebrations are not seen as being in the service of the heart, calling it to a radical openness and union with God.  They become veneering ends in themselves, humanly controlled ways of assuring myself "I am right with God", ways of playing hooky from the call to the heart.

It is no wonder then, that Jesus often went into the desert, to be alone, away from all the commotion and excitement of raw emotion, ever so ready, at a whim, to slide one direction or another.     In the wilderness, Jesus, stripped of externals, consumed, devoured, in silence, the will of His Father.

In Azariah’s prayer, we see a people in exile, devoid of the comforting externals of their religion, being left with nothing but a contrite heart and humble spirit.  Can’t you just picture God jumping up and down with glee, seeing his highest creation, the human heart, plowed open like broken ground, ready to just soak in God’s grace.  That is what all the externals are suppose to help happen.  Sometimes, God has to strip us of those things and test our ability to just let go and let Him be Lord of our lives.

Mother Theresa, near the end of her life, went through a terrible time of doubt and temptation.  All the wonderful truths of her faith, the years of dedicated service to the poor and dying, all began to seem like an illusion.  They seemed as empty as a pop can on side of the road, fading under the unrelenting rays of the sun and disappearing into oblivion from the realm of usefulness.  She was before her God in dire starkness, uncomforted by externals, but unfettered by them as well.  This final test enabled Mother to be embraced by God’s unconditional love in its most powerful reality and turned into a saint.

The servant, in today’s gospel, was clogged with external garbage.  Even though his master forgave him his debt, he was unable to let that forgiveness now flow through himself out to his fellow servant.   He probably felt deep down, that he really deserved to be forgiven.  He could have come up with a long list of his "forgivableness" qualities.  If he could have seen himself as an empty bowl, needing to be filled by sheer love and mercy, then he probably would have seen the emptiness in his fellow servant as well and rejoiced that he now had this flow of mercy within, to give to another.

 

Fr. Blaise Czaja, C.P. gives parish missions and retreats.  He is a member of the Passionist Community in Detroit, Michigan.