Daily Scripture

Scripture:

Sirach 2:1-11
Mark 9:30-37

Reflection:

God’s Love for little Ones.

"And he took a child, and put him in the midst of them; and taking him in his arms…" Mark 9:36

Two times Jesus is said to take someone in his arms in the Gospels.  Both of them were with little children. We must become like children to feel this embrace of Jesus.  Children have not lived long enough to have accomplished anything. We have a tendency to think that God has to be impressed with our accomplishments before He can love us.  We forget a mother or father is head over heals in love with their babies.

od primarily loves us because we are his babies.  Little children do little for their parents except to demand total attention and service. Still they have the total love of their father and mother.  And so it is with God and us.  We are his children.  He desires our obedience and being conformed to the image of His Son.  But always at the heart of his affection for us is that we are his children.

This is the basis of his love for us.   At Baptism we were made his children in a very special way. George Burns and Gracie Allen wanted to adopt a child.   They were shown a room full of healthy, beautiful babies.  They had their choice of any one they wanted.   One of the babies was terribly ill and for three months they were not sure if it would live or die. George Burns when he first saw it said it was the ugliest baby he had ever seen.  He said it looked like Winston Churchill.  

Long after Gracie’s death, George said Gracie picked their son Ronnie rather than the other healthy babies in the room because he was the one that needed her the most.   Maybe, at the heart of God’s love for us, is our terrible condition.  Humility draws God’s love to us, whereas our pride and arrogance repeals God.  "He took the children in his arms, and blessed them, laying his hands upon them." Mark 10:16

 

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

Scripture:

Isaiah 43:18-19, 21-22, 24b-25
2 Corinthians 1:18-22
Mark 2:1-12

Reflection:

…your sins I remember no more. IS 43: 25

God’s love is so amazing. He offers us His mercy brand new every morning! He even says that He doesn’t remember our sins! Never doubt God’s forgiveness. He always invites us back with open arms. This is a story of that gift.

Just as I was starting my freshman year of college, I found out I was pregnant. I had dated one guy all through high school and right before I left for college, we got drunk and I slept with him (3 years of firm resolve out the window in one night). We went to Planned Parenthood because I didn’t know how to tell my parents. We were told it was just a blob of cells and that my problems would be over quickly. I didn’t see any other option, so I shut off my emotions and just went ahead with it. Little did I know that the "quick fix" would cause many other problems, which would last for years.

The weekend after we aborted our baby I went home with my roommate. Her mother was ranting and raving and threw a magazine down on the table for us to see. It was the picture of an aborted baby at 10 weeks. It was a picture of my baby. I almost got sick. I couldn’t believe what we had done. I went straight to confession, but I didn’t feel forgiven. I just couldn’t believe that God could forgive such a horrible thing. I was convinced that He would never forgive me and that no one could love me if they knew what I had done.

After that, whenever the topic would come up, I would spiral into a place of self-hate and fear of God’s judgment. Finally, eight years later, when I went to a priest for the umpteenth time to confess my sin, he explained to me that God had forgiven me the first time I went to confession. He said that I just hadn’t forgiven myself. He read me this verse from Isaiah and helped me to believe that God could and did forgive me. It was the beginning of my healing and of finding peace. What a wonderful day that was!

I think it’s very important for people to be careful how they talk about this subject. Let’s help women (and men) find healing, not heap condemnation on them. Many people believe that God can’t forgive the wrong they’ve done, but He can and He will and He does! Don’t let your past or present mistakes rob you of God’s total forgiveness and love for you. Believe the truth and let it set you free!

 

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.

Solemn Commemoration of the Passion

Scripture:

Isaiah 53:1-12
I Corinthians 1:18-25
John 19:17-30

Reflection:

Today we Passionists celebrate a very special feast, The Solemn Commemoration of the Passion.  This is the titular Feast of our Congregation and we celebrate it each year on the Friday before Ash Wednesday.  St. Paul of the Cross instituted this feast as a celebration of the great love that Christ has for us as witnessed by His self gift in the Passion.  We are forgiven our sins and have eternal life with God because of Christ’s great love for us.

The first reading, taken from the Prophet Isaiah, describes how complete was the Suffering Servants self gift.  "He was spurned and avoided by men, a man of suffering, accustomed to infirmity, one of those from whom men hide their faces, spurned, and we held him in no esteem."  Ultimately, he is destroyed.  Yet, because he was innocent and had given his life for others, God, recognizing the love at the heart of his sacrifice, overcomes the guilt of us all.

Paul, in his first letter to the Corinthians, testifies to the power of Christ’s sacrificial love and reflects on how different the wisdom of God is from that of men. 

In the Gospel we hear again the stark re-telling of the final events of Christ’s life: his painful struggle to Golgotha with the burden of his cross, his crucifixion and death on the cross, the witness of the soldiers and the gift of his Mother to us.  The final brutal death accepted with gentle love that expresses so eloquently Christ’s desire to bring all of us to life.

The details are hard to hear, but the overwhelming message of God’s love for us shines through clearly.  How grateful we are to be so completely loved by our saving Lord.

 

Fr. Mike Higgins, C.P. is the director of lay formation for Holy Cross Province and lives in Chicago, IL. 

Scripture:

Genesis 8:6-13, 20-22
Mark 8:22-26

Reflection:

Jesus, whenever I read of your curing of the blind man I am reminded of a visit to the Shrine of Our Lady in Lourdes, France.   It was at the grotto that Mary appeared to St. Bernadette.  I joined the many pilgrims were present there. Everyone there was praying either for themselves or for others who were ill.   There was a prayerful atmosphere which was very tangible. 

I went to the baths, was totally submerged in the pool of water and prayed for by a priest and layman. I don’t think I have ever heard such fervent prayers, begging for healing.  A young crippled boy was brought in by two men.  As the little fellow was placed in the pool of water he let out a little scream of surprise…the water was not that warm!  Watching and listening to the priest and layman again, you knew that this little guy was their sole attention, begging for a miracle. 

I wandered around the grounds afterwards.  Approaching the old church I saw a piece of statuary, depicting a woman sitting on a stretcher placed on the ground while two men stood at either end.  They were stretcher bearers.  I looked at the woman and noticed that around her head, covering her eyes was a piece of cloth.  I didn’t quite understand what that meant.  Then I looked down and saw an inscription on the side of the stretcher.  "I came here seeking sight for my eyes, and left with sight for my soul."  I have never forgotten that line.  It has given me a broader picture of what prayer is all about. 

Never would I tell anyone not to pray for a healing, for a miracle. The people in the gospel narrative for today brought the blind man to You.  He wanted to see, and You healed his blindness. . 

What comes to mind is that all of us are asked to be open to the answer You give to us.  Any loved one or friend is often challenged by a request that starts, "I want…."   That’s honest.  But not the total picture.  Isn’t the need I have the most important part of any request.  And that need that I see might also have to be filtered through "…but I leave it in Your hands as to what I really need."  Jesus, You said in Your own words, "Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me, but not my will but Yours be done."   I wish that I could say that this was easy for You.  It wasn’t.  But neither were You alone.  The Father was with You.  

Can I/you who are reading this put into the Father’s hand my/our need when we pray…"Our Father, who art in heaven…Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven…"

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

Scripture:

Genesis 3:9-24
Mark 8:1-10

Reflection:

Talk about a packed feast!  Today we celebrate the hearts and flowers feast of Valentines Day across America and, at the same time, in our liturgical life, we celebrate the feast day of two brothers, saints Cyril and Methodius.  Cyril was a monk (but not for very long in actuality) and Methodius was a bishop (with a very stormy tenure to say the least!)  And in addition to these already colorful themes of the day, we have very dramatic readings from the book of Genesis and the Gospel of Mark which give us amazing images of God who is both a generous giver of good things as well as the sole arbiter of what is good and evil.  Let’s look at some of the images for this special day, February 14^th, 2009.

Of course, Valentines Day is meant to be a time of sharing notes of love and friendship with special people in our lives.  As commercialized as this day may be, it is still a great day that gives us all a chance to say "I love you" to a few or even many people who come into our lives.  But where can you find a Valentine greeting any better than the message found in the Gospel of Mark where Jesus, "heart moved with pity", sees the needs of his hungry people and miraculously provides an abundance of food for them, and all from only a few fish and seven loaves of bread?  Now there is a Valentine that says "I love you" and in which we can really place our trust!

For me, personally, however, it is the Genesis account of the "great fall" of our "first parents", Adam and Eve, which really captures my attention this Valentines Day.  Through his creation and the offering of a blissful life in the Garden, God shows how great his love and hopes are for us, his beloved children.  Yet, we sin even against a God who is so generous and gracious; we eat the forbidden fruit; we suddenly become aware of our nakedness with uncharacteristic self-consciousness; and we know for the first time what it means to be embarrassed, ashamed, and sorrowful.  Milton captured this moment so dramatically with his great masterpiece, Paradise Lost.  How terribly true: by turning away from God in our pride and sin we have lost Paradise and the joy of the Garden.  We will never be the same again and the snake will forever crawl on his belly!

Of course, we are wiser now!  We discover that we cannot give up on ourselves because God has chosen not to give up on us.  A Savior is promised, a Messiah is awaited.  And just maybe, if we really try to do it right this time, we will rediscover the promise of the Garden and find passage beyond the cherubim and the fiery revolving sword.

 

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

Scripture:

Genesis 6:5-8, 7:1-5, 10
Mark 8:14-21

Reflection:

Jesus was a person of tremendous contemplative intuition.  I would guess, that as he was growing up, he was often the observer, silently watching people and their interactions; the eruptions of their feeling and emotions; how they acted in response to different stimuli that touched them.  His contemplative intuition began to reveal the inner hearts of those he was observing.

The very fact we grow older and have many experiences in life, helps us develop an ability to see underneath a lot of commotion.  Children who are experiencing many things for the first time in their young lives, have no idea that the adults watching them can often see right through them.  As an adult we may be chuckling and saying to ourselves, "Been there.  Done that."

Teenagers may be a little more difficult to read.  They often feel that they are surrounded by a secret shield that makes the adult world stand in shock and a state of dumbfoundedness.  Parents, because of their emotional involvement with their own teenagers, can lose some of this adult perception and begin to pull out their hair in frustration.  It may take a little more intuitive ability, but teenagers are not that hard to read with regards to their basic patterns of growth.  Each new generation seems to need to reinvent the wheel.

A certain contemplative ability comes with age and experience.  However, there are much more profound levels of life harvesting intuitions that must be developed with prayer and reflection and the guidance of the Holy Spirit.  We need to dwell with suffering; get inside and abide in the human heart; feel the pain and loneliness of others; meditate on the passion and death of Jesus; learn more about other cultures and how people feel and live their lives there.  We try not to let life just pass us by as a blur.  We try to intuit the heart of what is happening.

Our readings today reveal this contemplative ability in God.  In the Genesis passage, God not only sees how great was the external wickedness of man but he also saw "how no desire that his heart conceived was ever anything but evil, he regretted that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was grieved."  But God, able to read hearts, knew the goodness of heart of Noah and his family.

The disciples, in the boat, were all befuddled when Jesus began speaking about the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.  They concluded that Jesus spoke these words because they forget to bring enough bread for the crossing.  As he did so often, Jesus must have shook his head in amazement at their lack of understanding.  But reading their hearts and seeing their inner darkness and confusion, he responded, "….. Are you hearts so hardened?"  Do you have eyes and not see, ears and not hear?

The eyes we use to see and the ears we use to hear must lead us beyond the mere externals and help us to read the inner dimensions of what we are experiencing.  We are all called to this kind of contemplation.  True, some seem to be highly gifted in this area and we love to read their reflections on life.  But don’t underestimate your calling to do the same.

 

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

Scripture:

Genesis 3:1-8
Mark 7:31-37

Reflection:

 Antoine de Saint-Exupery wrote: "What is essential is invisible to the eye."

Today’s readings are deeply immersed in the human senses, especially those of sight and hearing.  What gifts all of our senses are!  When all of our senses are working well, we are able to "make sense" of our world (at least the small world of our immediate family, community and friends). The deception of Adam and Eve by the serpent was a case of trying to go beyond their human senses, to a place reserved only for God.  After they ate of the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil, we read, "then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized that they were naked."  In going beyond the only limit God had imposed on them, they knew shame, and even worse, fear of God’s presence.

In the Gospel, Jesus heals a deaf man who had a speech impediment.  Jesus orders the stopped-up ears: "BE OPENED!", and immediately the man could hear and speak plainly. 

Perhaps our readings are asking you and me a couple of simple questions today: "What in me (in us, as church, society) is stopped-up, or deaf?  Are we deaf (even partially so) to the sufferings/needs of others?  How can we (I) help others to open up more fully to God’s healing love in and around them?

"What is essential is invisible to the eye."  Indeed.  Only by taking on Jesus’ heart as our very own, will we be able to see, hear and then do God’s loving will fully.

 

Fr. Bob Bovenzi, C.P. is stationed in Chicago, Illinois.

Scripture:

Genesis 2:18-25
Mark 7:24-30

Reflection:

Today is the 200th anniversary of the births of two men who significantly changed the course of history: Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin.  Interestingly enough today’s first reading from Genesis relates a section of one of that book’s accounts of creation.  The conjunction of these events prompts a reflection on humanness-what it means to be human. 

Human, humus, and humility-they all derive from the same root meaning "of the soil" or "of lowly origin". In the first reading we have the image of God taking earth (humus) and fashioning all manner of creatures.  But the only worthy mate for the human was the one of common origin. 

Inspired by Darwin, scientists have begun to explain the "how" of our beginnings as humans.  While we may think of humus (the common soil beneath our feet) as being of lowly origin, in fact its richness demands that (as astrophysicist Carl Sagan would put it) it is made of "star stuff".  The complex organic compounds that make up earth in fact come from elements that result from exploding stars.  So this stuff that makes up dirt is here only because distant stars have met their demise.  The stuff that makes us up, carbon and other elements came from cosmic events.  Our bodies have literally been billions of years in the making.  Human beings are creation conscious of creation.  God has created us in a most wondrous way. 

Humanity has not consistently recognized the inherent dignity of us all.  Some factions constantly plot to suppress other groups.   Is this competition for survival run amuck?  Is this the "original sin"?  God became incarnate to bring the Good News that we are to love one another.  Still, the United States Constitution actually counted slaves as less than a full persons.  Abraham Lincoln came along at a point in time when we needed to be reminded that all races deserved equal treatment.  His insights help us recognize that the very nature of human beings means that all share a common dignity.  His efforts led eventually to the Constitution’s encoding the recognition of the dignity of all people.   

Humility is truth. Our physical origins consist of the common stuff of the earth, and that stuff itself has cosmic origins.  Possessing the virtue of humility means accepting our strong points and our weaknesses as well. We neither falsely put ourselves down nor falsely exalt ourselves as someone we are not.  The Gospel reading is a story of Jesus driving out a demon.  Not all our "demons" are outside us.  For example, the twelve-step programs tell us we cannot "cure" or drive out many addictions.  We live a virtuous life by learning to live with them.  Being naked with no shame can mean facing fault or addiction and knowing we are dealing with it.  We can modify our behavior but the addiction is still there.  That requires a lot of humility. 

So today’s readings remind us that God has created us in a most wondrous way, and bestowed upon us a fantastic dignity.  Let us walk humbly with God.

 

Brother John Monzyk, C.P. is a physicist and a member of the Passionist community in Louisville, Kentucky.