Daily Scripture

Scripture:

Ephesians 3:2-12
Luke 12:39-48

Reflection:

"God indeed is my savior; I am confident and unafraid. My strength and my courage is the LORD, and he has been my savior. With joy you will draw water at the fountain of salvation." Isaiah 12: 2-3

When I was growing up my family took a trip each year to Salem, OR to go to the eye doctor. You only got to go on this trip if you couldn’t see very well, so I remember the year I finally got to go. I was in 7^th grade, and couldn’t see the black board at school anymore, so it was time for me to get glasses. On the way to Salem we passed a billboard that I will never forget. It said, "Where will you spend eternity?" It scared me, because I didn’t know the answer to the question!

I was being raised catholic, and was a very good student at catechism classes, which I loved. But somehow in those classes I caught the notion that I had to earn my way to heaven. As the years went by and I grew up and went on to college and then married and started a family, the message on that billboard continued to haunt me. I was living my faith, but I sincerely believed I might go to hell.

Finally, in a women’s bible study, I heard on a tape, "Salvation is a free gift. There is nothing you can do to earn it." I said, rewind the tape, play it again! They did, and I heard again words that set me free: "Salvation is a free gift. There is nothing you can do to earn it." As the truth of those words began to sink in, I found such relief! I learned that Jesus paid the debt for me, and that my part was to receive that gift and then live my life in gratitude for such an awesome gift!

We can’t earn our way to heaven, but we are still called to strive to be holy and to live a life of compassion and service. I do good deeds not to gain merit, but out of love for the one who gave His life and His all for me. Thank you Lord for the amazing gift of salvation. May we rejoice everyday and live the abundant life that Jesus died to give us!

 

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.

Scripture:

Ephesians 6:1-9
Luke 13:22-30

Reflection:

Geography is important to the Gospel writer Luke. Notice in this passage that Jesus is making his way down through towns and villages to his ultimate destination, Jerusalem, where he will face his own suffering and death. It was during this trip that someone asks him a question many who believe in God have asked themselves before and since: "Lord, will only a few be saved?" Jesus responds: "Strive to enter through the narrow gate…For behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last."

While at first glance, we may have preferred a more direct "Yes or No" response from Jesus; I think the tone of the passage, as well as the story Jesus tells deserves a prayerful look. 

Jesus tells the questioner to "strive." Luke uses the Greek term "agonizomai" which originally meant to "engage in an athletic contest" or "to fight, struggle." So what is the "striving" Jesus is talking about? He makes it quite clear that evil doers will not be able to enter, nor those who claim friendship with him due to eating and drinking in his presence. Not even those who knock and cry out: "Lord, open the door to us." In fact, in a startling ironic twist, Jesus says that those who will recline at table in God’s Kingdom will be the least, the last, and the lost.

In this parable, the good guy (or gal) finishing last, actually does win!

And they win because they possess the key to open the door. And that key is one of "metanoia" – repentance- striving daily to change ones heart and mind to Kingdom based values and actions, rather than those based on ego, power, wealth, and prestige.

For those who strive in this way, the last line of today’s gospel is truly "good news" – "some who are last will be first and some who are first will be last."

 

Patrick Quinn is the director of Planned Giving at the Passionist Development Office in Chicago.

Memorial of St. Ignatius of Antioch, bishop and martyr 

 

Readings:

Eph 1:11-14

Lk 12:1-7

 

Reflection:

Being a Christian is not for the faint of heart. Although our contemporary American faith life may only expose us at its worst to painful disagreements with children, relatives or politicians, we can be fairly secure in knowing that our Christianity will not lead us to death or exile.

 

But that was not the case in Jesus’ time, it was not the case for the martyr St. Ignatius whom we honor today, and it is even not the case today in India and Iraq where Christians have been killed or are fleeing for their very lives.

 

Last night I heard a Jesuit priest speak about his personal commitment to the non-violent Jesus. He has been arrested 75 times for civil disobedience and has served time in jail for his actions.  I listened intently, hanging on every word, wishing I could possess that kind of bravery and clarity. But inside me there was also that voice which summoned up all the injustices in the world and said, “Yes, but what about when such and such happens, and there seems to be no other choice…”, and then again, “but what about the need to confront bullies…”, and my internal qualifiers to non-violent actions continued.

 

It is Jesus Himself who has called upon us to turn the other cheek. It is Jesus who tells us in today’s Gospel, “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but after that can do no more…” St. Ignatius was brought to the Coliseum in Rome to be killed and eaten by lions. “Suffer me to become the food of wild beasts, through whom I may attain to God. I am God’s grain, and I am ground by the teeth of wild beasts, that I may be found the pure bread of Christ.”

 

I went home last night knowing I would not have to face down lions. But I also knew I must face down a different "beast." I must have more faith in non-violence even in difficult world arenas, and I must ask myself personally in what corners of my heart am I angry and hurtful, impatient and judgmental? How does the lion inside me wound others? How do I act, even in a small way, with violence in my heart? And is it possible for me to have the courage to speak up against violence without engaging in it myself? 

 

Perhaps today with so many people suffering from hostility and oppression in our world, we can say a humble prayer for non-violent action and for peace, and in the words of the song we have heard a thousand times, “Let it begin with me.”

 

Nancy Nickel is the Director of Communications for Holy Cross Province

Feast of St. Paul of the Cross, Founder of the Passionists.

Scripture:

Ephesians 2:1-10
Luke 12:35-38

Reflection:

St. Paul of the Cross, Founder of the Passionists, was born in 1694 in a small town called Ovada, in Northern Italy.  He was one of sixteen children, only five of whom survived infancy.  His father, Luke Danei, owned a small clothing and tobacco shop that barely supported his large family.  His mother, Anna Maria, was a faith-filled woman, whose devotion to the Passion of Jesus was the source of her courage and strength as she endured the grief and loss of so many of her children.

From his earliest years Paul, by the example of his Mother, had a deep devotion to the Passion of Jesus and at the age of 19 had a vivid experience of the depth of God’s love.  As a result of this experience Paul became determined to give himself totally to God.  Due to family need, however, he stayed at home, helping to support the family by working in his father’s shop.  At 22 he joined the crusade against the Turks though it took only two months for him to realize that the army was not for him.  Returning home, he once again worked in the family business.

When he was 26, the circumstances of the family became a bit better and Paul finally felt free to pursue his own personal dreams. Bidding good-bye to his family, he went to Alessandria, where Bishop Gattinara, Paul’s spiritual director and confessor, clothed Paul in a black tunic on the day of his arrival and then sent him to the parish of St. Charles in Castellazzo for retreat.  In the small sacristy of the parish church Paul made a 40 day retreat.  It was during those 40 days that Paul had the most extraordinary experiences of union with God and wrote the Rule of Life for the congregation he hoped to found.

After his retreat Bishop Gattinara sent him back to his home town where Paul lived in various hermitages for several years.  In 1721 Paul made his way to Rome in hopes that he could get his Rule of Life approved by the Pope.  He was turned away by a Vatican guard so Paul returned home, discouraged but determined.  On his return, his brother, John Baptist, joined with him to try living according to Paul’s Rule of Life.  Paul and John Baptist became well-known catechists and Paul was even invited to give spiritual talks by various groups.

In 1725, the brothers returned to Rome and this time Paul was given verbal permission to gather companions to live according to his Rule of Life.  Cardinal Corrandini asked the brothers to work in a newly established hospital there in Rome.  The president of the hospital was so impressed by Paul and John Baptist that he arranged for them to be ordained to the priesthood.

As more men joined with Paul and John Baptist, they moved the whole community to Monte Argentario, a promontory about 150 kms northwest of Rome, where they established the first Passionist monastery in 1737.

While contemplation and prayer were at the very heart of Paul’s life and the life of his new institute, Paul himself soon became a very famous popular preacher, spiritual guide, writer and mystic.  For Paul the Passion of Christ was the most vivid witness to God’s love for us and he constantly called upon his followers to remember the sufferings of Jesus.

During his lifetime Paul founded thirteen monasteries of Priests and Brothers throughout Italy as well as a monastery of Passionist Nuns.  Today the Passionists live and serve in 59 countries of the world and are enhanced by other religious and lay groups who find inspiration in the Charism of St. Paul of the Cross.

May the Passion of Jesus Christ be always in our hearts.

 

Fr. Michael Higgins, C.P. is the director of lay formation for Holy Cross Province and is stationed at Immaculate Conception Retreat in Chicago.

Scripture:

Wisdom 3:1-9
Romans 5:5-11
John 6:37-40

Reflection:

Today’s feast of All Souls summons powerful waves of memory for each of us and recalls the richness found in human relationships. As we pray for our beloved departed we are immersed in the recollection of so much shared with those who have walked ahead of us into the mystery of eternity. This is a day for gratitude, for sorrow and grief, for deep prayer. More than all else, this feast invites us to renewed hope.

Death severs the cords of relationship binding us to others. In loss we are reminded of how deeply our own lives depended upon theirs. Sharpened awareness underscores how much richness and blessing friends, relatives and even common strangers brought to our lives. In grief we are brought up short in humble awareness of how little we can do, accomplish or achieve without the support of others. The power of death is real and unkind; loss diminishes us.

Thanks be to God for the gift of our Christian faith! Today’s readings sound notes of joy, of triumph, of victory. Our true focal point is the Resurrection of Jesus. The source of our hope is God’s stunning power that broke the chains of death. And faith holds the promise of reunion with all who have gone before us. We are reminded of those invisible bands of divine love that keep us and our dead bound together. For, truly, they are not dead, but eternally alive by his triumphant love. We and they are one people, one church, held together in His eternal heart that flames with life and joy. He works so that, one day, all who have believed will be united and eternally praise His unsurpassed goodness.

 

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

 

Scripture:

Ephesians 2:12-22
Luke 12:35-38

Reflection:

We are in the fall of the year, when the harvest is being gathered from the fields. This is the final stage of a process that started in the spring, when the fields were plowed, and the seed was sown. It’s a foundational experience of the familiar departure-return scene.

The scriptures address this today, in their own way. St. Paul tries to establish a sense of belonging among his gentile converts in Ephesus. Uprooted from their origins in an unbelieving milieu, they have been replanted, like so much seed, in the new soil of the Hebrew world, but they have not yet taken root. So they are like aliens, belonging neither here nor there.

St. Paul tries to give them a sense of belonging, as they take root in their new-found faith in Jesus Christ, Who becomes their link to the Chosen People with their long history of association with God. He assures the Ephesians that they are in process of gaining access in one Spirit to the Father in heaven, and thereby becoming a temple and dwelling place of God. They will take root in their new faith.

Jesus had earlier addressed the same concerns of His hearers in comparing them to servants awaiting their master’s return after a long absence: again, the theme of absence and separation emerges. This provides the necessary groundwork to hear, as Good News, that the Master will return, and re-establish the household where the servants can reclaim their sense of rootedness in a familiar place.

The sense of separation, of being scattered like seed in a barren field, primes us to appreciate the prospect of a harvest awaiting us, a gathering in, where we will have reason to engage in thanksgiving, which we anticipate each time we participate in the eucharist.

 

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

 

Scripture:

Isaiah 45:1, 4-6
Thessalonians 1:1-5b
Matthew 22:15-21

Reflection:

The Gospel reading for today is written by a professional who understood perfectly what was going on, Matthew the tax collector! The differences between the Pharisees and the Herodians of the day were far more antagonistic and volatile than the conflicts between our political parties of recent times. Their positions were intensified by the occupation by Rome. The Pharisees were religious conservatives who wanted to preserve the status quo in religious customs and values. The Herodians were committed to another status quo that had come into existence through the Roman treaties with King Herod and his father before him. One rigidly protected what they had inherited by ritual and prayer. The other fiercely guarded what they had purchased by involvement in the Empire.

Both the Pharisees and the Herodians were afraid of Jesus because He stood as the Compassion of God for the people of Israel as well as the many foreigners with whom He had contact during His lifetime and public ministry. On this day neither of them wanted Jesus to survive unless He was willing to play by their rules and somehow justify the
convenience of their lifestyles.. It was unbearable that His teaching called everyone to task in one way or another. Pay the Roman Tax and be hated by the Zealots. Refuse to pay the Tax and be ultimately destroyed by the Power of Rome. He was surrounded by people who were willing to sacrifice Jesus rather than make any sacrifices themselves!

Most of us today would agree that both "taxes" are necessary. The "Temple Tax" of yesteryear or "Tithe" of today help the churches continue to be a focal point for the community of faith in their prayer and in their ministry. The current civil taxes help provide the services necessary to support the needs and protect the lives of our people especially in difficult times. Jesus stands in the middle and calls both to be sure and remain focused on their real purpose "to bring the Compassion of God to the people". Don’t we find in scripture the equivalent of "We repay God by doing what we can for the most challenged of the brethren (the people of God)!

 

Fr. John Patrick, Day, C.P. is pastor of Holy Martyrs of Japan Parish, Sullivan, Missouri.

 

Scripture:

Isaiah 25:6-10a
Philippians 4:12-14,19-20
Matthew 22:1-14

Reflection:

Jesus never explicitly says what the kingdom of heaven is. Instead he says it is like such and such. In this parable, the kingdom is likened to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son. A generous invitation to the nuptial festivities is extend to some, then to all. But the ending of the parable is rather disconcerting. What a temperamental king, expelling a guest who disregarded the dress code! For not wearing a wedding garment, the unwitting fellow is tossed out into the night. How do we make sense of this bewildering snit? It leaves us with a harsh and cruel image of the king.

A wedding is an occasion when opposites are united – when a man and a woman become one. We live in a world of dualities, often describing ourselves and others with comparative opposites: success/failure, attractive/ugly, strong/weak, useful/useless, important/insignificant. Within ourselves we erect boundaries between what we like (creating a persona) and what we do not approve (material which becomes our shadow). The persona is fashioned as we attempt to deny the existence of certain tendencies within ourselves such as anger, erotic impulses, hostility, certain desires, aggression, and so forth. Simply because we deny these tendencies does not mean they go away. Instead, the banished features retreat into the shadow and from there they frequently emerge to torment and tease us. The result is a life of alienation, fragmentation and conflict. A world of opposites is a world fraught with conflicts. As we try to eradicate more and more unwanted dimensions of ourselves, a battle of opposites rages within.

We are inclined to imagine that life will be heavenly wherever all the positives hold sway; for hell is where we believe all the negatives have been deposited. By likening the kingdom of God to a nuptial gathering, Jesus underscores the unitive feature of Spirit’s reign. Heaven is not a state of all positives and no negatives. God’s Kingdom is not a state where rejected features are unwelcome, but where they are transcended and united. It is a marriage achieved by overcoming the illusion of separateness.

Christian mystics often make use of the marriage metaphor to describe the spiritual life. The invitation goes out to the separate ego-self: "Come to the wedding of the son." But egos tend to become ensnared in the pompous self-importance of their persona, too busy to respond. Those who are convinced of their self-sufficiency do not enter the kingdom because they remain caught in the agenda of their own little world.

When the invitation is put forward to the "bad and good alike," we are assured this is not a merit badge system where the perfect are preferred. However, we notice that the snobbish egocentric personas never come near the nuptials, while the wounded and discarded parts of ourselves that have been banished to live "on the streets" accept the invitation. They are eager to participate in the wedding; they prefer unity in place of the battle of opposites.

A decisive moment occurs when one guest appears without a wedding robe, only to be tossed out into the frosty darkness. To make sense of this ceremonial eviction we need to realize that the groom within the parable, obviously, is Christ. But where is the bride? Surprise – the guests were invited to the wedding because the intention was for each them to marry the bridegroom. That is why a wedding gown was expected. The judgment goes harsh on the person who participates in the festivities without any intention of being, like unto a bride, united to Christ.

Eventually, we find ourselves abiding in darkness if we remain with the illusion that opposites can and should be isolated. A hopeful future lies not in separating the opposites and making "positive" progress. Rather, the kingdom of heaven is experienced whenever we unify the opposites within. Then we will become peaceful people who can harmonize the opposites of the world.

This is exquisitely affirmed in the Eucharistic Prayer for Mass of Reconciliation II: "In the midst of conflict and division, we know it is you who turn our minds to thoughts of peace. Your Spirit changes our hearts: enemies begin to speak to one another, those who were estranged join hands in friendship, and nations seek the way of peace together."

 

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