Scripture:

Philippians 3:3-8a
Luke 15:1-10

Reflection:

The Pharisees and scribes were enjoying their time with Jesus until the tax collectors and sinners started joining the crowd to listen to Jesus. In fact, the gospel story says the tax collectors and sinners were "drawing near" and that made the Pharisees and scribes very uncomfortable. Jesus should know better than to associate with or to have meals with tax collectors and known sinners. When they complained, Jesus told them three parables: the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son (not included in today’s reading). Each of the parables is a story about God’s attitude toward sinners, which was in opposition to the attitude of the religious leaders.

It’s a matter of motivation. The Pharisees and scribes were looking out for themselves. They didn’t want to be contaminated by sinners. They looked upon sinners as non-people to be ignored and rejected. But Jesus tells us God is very willing to be with sinners; in fact, that is why God sent his only Son in the world. Jesus thought of the other person, the one who was lost and needed help. The sinner doesn’t need to be rejected, but included with compassion, understanding and forgiveness.

With these parables Jesus is teaching the religious leaders that God loves and searches for lost and sinful people. These tax collectors and sinners were of infinite value to God. Jesus understood this and that is why he reached out to sinners. In fact, Jesus said: "I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance."

It’s exciting and reassuring to know that our God’s circle of love is infinitely large and embraces saint and sinner. To believe this is critical when I know myself to be a sinner! I’m not rejected, but valued, searched for and invited back into the Kingdom.

The parables challenge us to enlarge our circle of love.

 

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

 

Scripture:

Philippians 2:12-18
Luke 14:25-33

Reflection:

As we move toward the end of the Liturgical Year, the liturgical readings become very strong and the challenges are quite focused. This is always a time where the eschaton, or the end times becomes the energy which challenges the church.  Just as it did in the apostolic period, so too, we are challenged and asked if we are taking Jesus’ coming seriously.  And today is no different, as the church invites us into our reflections on discipleship.

In the Gospel today, we see a strong sense of division.  Jesus says we have to turn our backs on our fathers and mothers, wives and children, brothers and sisters, and indeed our very self.  Otherwise we can not be his followers.  This is a rather strong statement.  But I think it touches the very seed of free choice and thus discipleship.  In order to freely choose something for my life means something else will get excluded.  Saying "Yes" to something means I must also say "No" to something else.  So turning our backs toward something means we also turn our faces toward something.  This is what discipleship is—taking a radical stand against what might be popular or profitable to say "Yes" to the call of Jesus and the challenge of the gospel.

Certainly Jesus isn’t speaking literally here because there is no possible way for a person to turn their back on themselves. So what is it that we need to turn our backs toward would be those things that hinder or obstruct our growth.  In doing so our eyes and ears are now focused toward the one who calls us.  (Have you ever noticed how deep and rich the call of the Lord is in Scripture?) 

Luke reminds us that this call to discipleship has a price.  As the man who builds the tower, or the king who marches into battle do their calculations previous to accepting the task, so too does a disciple know of the price.  Are you aware of what price you pay to be a disciple of Jesus?

Paul the apostle certainly knew the price.  He asks the Philippian’s community to get in touch with the goodness of God which had been poured out upon them.  Reflection upon this doesn’t leave room for grumbling and complaining because it is more prone to honor, gratitude and thanksgiving.   Paul’s instruction challenges one to choose the things which are good and right.  In doing so, there will be no room for grumbling or arguing.    Again, turning towards something means turning one’s back towards something else.
 
Paul of the Cross used to teach the same truth.  So frequently in his letters he invited people to know the divine good in their life and want it, pursue it, desire it.  In doing so you choose that which is good.

When I know and understand divine good, it is something I pursue.  It is then easier to turn my back towards whatever hinders this pursuit; simply because the light, goodness, truth, wisdom and beauty of the grace calling me is so loud and so profound that it is worth the ultimate sacrifice–my life.

 

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

Scripture:

Philippians 2:1-4
Luke 14:12-14

Reflection:

We understand that there is a direct relationship between how we relate to God and how we relate to others with whom we live, work and play. To be "of the same mind, with the same love" as St. Paul, we are to "do nothing out of selfishness or out of vainglory." The constant challenge is to want to do our own will and to have others do the same. It is a control thing. Relationships are not healthy when my control of you is the order of the day. We think, for example, that we know what the poor need. We may give, in charity, when we do not understand in which way the needy are really in need. Dolling out charity does not empower. But "looking out for the interest of another," means that I am willing to let go of my control of the situation and outcome! Is not that which Jesus asks the Pharisee to do when He asks him to "invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind?" Control needs are our desire for a certain outcome. The poor cannot repay with the outcome I want. Example: what happens when they don’t need me anymore? To be one with Christ through the example of Paul, let’s look at our willingness to see the other as "more important than ourselves", and let God work in this relationship.  Is not our daily prayer "your will be done, your kingdom come?"

 

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

Feast of St. Charles Borromeo 

Scripture:

Philippians 2:5-11
Luke 14:15-24

Reflection:

Jesus’ skill as a prophetic story-teller reaches across the ages to challenge us in the 21^st century:  what does it mean to follow him as his disciple?  Our response is based on both faith, a generous heart, and the example of fellow believers.

Our reading from Philippians 2 is "classic":  this "Song of the Philippians" highlights Jesus’ free gift of himself in the great plan of salvation.  He came among us, humbled himself — even to death on the Cross!  The words of verses 10 and 11 are used by many Passionists to begin their praying of the Liturgy of the Hours; indeed, we bend our knees and confess that Jesus is Lord!  No doubt these deeply meaningful words regularly guided the prayer of our Holy Founder, St. Paul of the Cross.

Luke’s Gospel selection contains Jesus’ parable of the great dinner to which many were invited, but few willingly came.  Their excuses "I’ve purchased a field…I’ve purchased some oxen…I’m newly married…" all border on the ridiculous for such a great dinner invitation.  Others were then invited — the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame — and the banquet hall was filled.  No doubt, quite a party — as only Jesus could "throw"!

Jesus, our Crucified Savior, invites us to join in His Banquet of Life, to follow Him in the 21^st century by lives of Christ-like virtue and civic responsibility.  Faith, generosity, and determination help us to say "yes" each day — summarized by those few words of the Lord’s Prayer:  "your Will be done".

In the 16^th Century, St. Charles Borromeo was invited to use his personal and spiritual talents to help reform the Church.  As a bishop, he encouraged good example and an apostolic spirit in the lives of the religious leaders of his day.  He himself sacrificed greatly, giving his time & treasure, caring for the poor and sick of his own day.  Charles saw Jesus Crucified in his neighbor, and responded generously to the invitation to selfless love and service.

Today, may Jesus — and St. Charles Borromeo — inspire us in our service of God and one another, especially the faith-witness of our responsible voting.  Jesus is Lord!

 

Fr. John Schork, C.P. is the local leader of the Passionist community in Louisville, Kentucky.

Feast of All Saints

Scripture:

Revelation 7:2-4, 9-14
1 John 3:1-3
Matthew 5:1-12

Reflection:

Who are these wearing white robes, and where did they come from?" (Rev. 7:9)"

 As we ponder the vision of the great multitude of holy men and women from every nation presented to us in our first reading on this feast of All Saints, let us focus our reflection on "… where do saints come from and how do the readings today help each of us to become saints.

 As we pray our Psalm response together this day, we come before the Lord as "…the people who long to see your face."  What a beautiful and ancient prayer of yearning, seeking, expressing our desire to receive the Lord’s blessings in His holy place! Yet, we are called to come with hands that are sinless, a heart that is clean and our desire not for what is vain…

John, in our second reading, reminds that we are beloved of God… God’s children now… and in this reality is our hope.

 But it is in our Gospel today that Jesus himself teaches us where saints come from … and how each of us… everyday people become saints. His teaching is a summary of how to live the whole gospel… They are the foundation statements for the life and community of his followers, his disciples…that’s each of us! They are a summary of living the whole gospel. We know them as the Beatitudes. They invite each of us to examine our lives and values carefully and honestly; to look at what is important and what is not; to experience what brings real happiness and what does not. 

  As each of us pray these reading together today, let us pray for one another as we are all in the process of becoming "Saints"!

 Sr. Marcella Fabing, C.S.J. is on the staff at Christ the King Passionist Retreat Center, Citrus Heights, California.

Scripture:

Isaiah 40:1-5, 9-11
2 Peter 3:8-14
Mark 1:1-8

Reflection:

St. Mark probably produced his gospel in Rome around the year 60. So a learned convert of Peter’s or Paul’s might have cherished reading an early copy. He would have noticed that opening line – St. Mark was calling his document "An Announcement of Good News." That was the meaning of the Greek Mark took over. ("evangel") As St. Mark reviewed the life and ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ, he saw it as another inbreaking of the goodness of God into a needy world. Some five hundred years earlier a prophet whose name has not come down to us was inspired amid the depressed and discouraged Chosen People to deliver a message of hope: "Comfort, my people, your guilt is expiated…" One hundred years earlier the great Isaiah of Jerusalem had warned, "Jerusalem and its temple will perish in flames, its people will know exile and death." The message and the messenger were mocked. But the People confined in Babylon experienced its fulfillment. Now came another prophet with a message of hope and deliverance, and his words were added to the scrolls of the First Isaiah.  St. Mark knew those words and now found them realized even more truly in John the Baptist the prophet who was the forerunner of the very Son of God, come as our Supreme Comfort!

Our Liturgy tells us the message of Isaiah and Mark is meant for us today. The "Good News" is meant for us. Handel’s "Messiah" sets the words of "Comfort" to superb music, but we need to let the words themselves be music in our hearts. We are facing hard times. The Almighty $ has failed us, banks have been swallowed up, civil leaders are facing great difficulties. We are not in Babylon, but we may feel confined and trapped. What is life offering us? Our God is with us, our God is for us. Isaiah and Mark affirm that. Our God delivered the Chosen People. Our God saw the Church in Rome emerge triumphant over Rome’s vaunted power. Our God saw the tiny American Church emerge strongly in this country. John the Baptist tells us our part is to believe and open ourselves to the God who comes, Emmanuel!

 

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

Scripture:

Philippians 3:17-4:1
Luke 16:1-8

Reflection:

"My brothers…I so long for you who are my joy and my crown…"   Here we see the great St. Paul, God’s Chosen Vessel, the Mystic at home in the "Third Heaven" as a man of great sensibility who was a faithful, loyal, loving friend!

Earlier in his life, Paul was going from town to town in Asia Minor, the area we now know as Turkey and proclaiming the astonishing word God’s love for us human beings.  He intended to continue working in that area, but the Holy Spirit sent him to Europe.  So we find him at Philippi in Macedonia converting a Jewish business woman, and later rebuking an evil spirit.  That got him flogged and imprisoned.  An earthquake loosened his chains and converted his jailer.

The judges found out they had flogged a Roman citizen and were relieved to escort him on his way with honors.  The Christian Community at Philippi was the only one that Paul allowed to provide financial aid for his missionary work.  It is ten or so years later that Paul writes the letters we know as Philippians.  Paul was in prison, probably in Ephesus, where the Philippians sent him aid along with the person of the slave Epaphraditus.  Paul writes his thank them. 

A second letter takes up a problem that plagued Paul all his career.  Some Christians, former Essenes perhaps, claimed Paul was delivering only half the Gospel.  They demanded that Gentile converts needed to be circumcised as well as baptized if they were to be Christian.                                        

Paul had refuted that teaching in Jerusalem and Galatia.  He mounts a fierce frontal attack in defending himself.  His defense gives us his wonderful testimony: "My righteousness (comes) from God, depends on faith to know him and the power of his resurrection, the sharing of his sufferings by being conformed to his death, if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead."  (3/9-11)

Paul invites his followers, and that includes us, to share his grace and calling: "Join with others in being imitators of me, conduct (yourselves) according to the model you have in us."  He concludes by reminding us: "…our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we also await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.  He will change our lowly body to conform with his glorious body by the power that enables him to bring all things into subjection to himself."

We all are meant to be "the joy and crown of the very Son of God! 

                                                                                                              

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

Scripture:

Philippians 1:1-11
Luke 14:1-6

Reflection:

Today, we begin readings from the letter of St. Paul to the Philippians.  Paul appears to have a great love for these converts because of how they welcomed him and because of their generosity to the poor.  Paul seems convinced that God had begun good work in them and that he would bring that good work to completion, and Paul takes time out of his life to acknowledge his appreciation in this letter to the faith community in Philippi.

The Philippians were moved from conversion into service.  This is in direct contrast to the attitude of the Pharisees in today’s Gospel who objected to Jesus’ healing of the man with dropsy on the Sabbath.  They were more concerned with legalism than with the spirit of the law.  Jesus demonstrates that coming to the help of others in need is what he calls us to do. 

We all need to know that we are truly appreciated.  God has begun good work in us and in others.  He wants to bring it to completion by forming us into a people who reflect his kingdom here on earth. 

Lord…….Help us today to offer words of love and encouragement to those who come into our lives today.  Many people may come and go during our day.  Help us to be especially grateful for those who leave footprints on our heart.

 

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