Daily Scripture

Scripture:

Exodus 14:5-18
Matthew 12:38-42

Reflection:

Life’s journey can be confusing.  In our first reading, the Israelites are free from the enslavement of the Egyptians. The Egyptians paid the Israelites reparation for the years of forced labor.  The Israelites had both freedom and wealth. The king of Egypt reversed his decision to let the Israelites go. When the Israelites saw the Egyptian army coming after them, they panicked. Moses told them to fear not and stand still and God told Moses to move forward. Imagine how confusing! 

The journey of life is arduous, challenging and most confusing.  Like the Israelites, when that journey becomes challenging, do we panic and want to return to our old ways?  God’s message was “Don’t fear, move ahead.”   Our future is somewhat uncertain, but do we trust and have faith in God?

The first step to freedom is to realize that we are enslaved.  What does this mean for us?  This means that we need to be aware of and acknowledge those areas in our life where we aren’t free but enslaved to wealth, work, prejudice, fear,  and other addictions.  As we walk along the uncertain winding road of life it can be confusing. God calls us to freedom and to be free from sin and various forms of slavery. 

We can’t stand still, but with faith and courage we move forward. O God of the journey,  You rescued the Israelites, please rescue us from things of this world that might enslave us so that we journey in freedom with our faith and trust in you. (Sr. Melannie Svoboda, S.N.D., Today’s Good News, Living With Christ, published by Bayard, Inc. p. 154)

Carl Middleton is a theologian/ethicist and a member of the Passionist Family.

Scripture:

Genesis 18:1-10a
Colossians 1:24-28
Luke 10:38-42

Reflection:

The Gospel reading for this Sunday (Luke 10:38-42) teaches a lesson I often need to hear. Our reading is about a visit Jesus makes to a village where a woman named Martha welcomes Him. Marta has a sister named Mary. And so Martha is busy attending to the needs of Jesus along with other guests. But Mary sits at Jesus’ feet, listening to Him. When Martha sees this, she complains to Jesus: “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me by myself to do the serving?” and Jesus replies, with an answer I’m sure Martha was not expecting, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things. There is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken from her.”

Now many of us, especially those who grew up with siblings, may be very sympathetic to Martha’s complaint. After all, at a big event, it’s usually “all hands on deck.” For me, Jesus is not choosing sides between working and not working. He calls us to action, otherwise we wouldn’t have the parable of the Good Samaritan we heard last week. But He also calls us to prayer, as He often went by Himself to pray.

I think the “better part” that Jesus is talking about is related to what He says to Martha: “You are anxious and worried about many things.” The “better part” that Mary chose was not so much resting instead of working, but resting in Jesus. Martha was so anxious and worried in her busyness that she could not listen to Jesus nor abide in His love for her.

There are times when I can get so caught up in worrying about what I need to do, or get anxious about how I’m doing, or whether I’m making too many mistakes, or if I’m doing enough, or if people appreciate what I’m doing, or so many other thoughts of self-absorption, that I forget to trust in Jesus’ love for me, which prevents His love shining through me to others.

When I can trust in His love for me, and let go of all those concerns about me, then I can do what He calls me to do, and serve Him and the world that He loves. The founder of the Passionists, St. Paul of the Cross said it well in one of his letters: “Do the things you have to do. Work, but without haste and anxiety. Work diligently, but with peace of heart and a quiet spirit, remaining in the presence of God.”

When we trust in the love of God, we are able to show the hospitality that Abraham and Sarah showed to the three visitors that came by in our first reading from Genesis (18:1-10a). We can even rejoice in our sufferings for the sake of the gospel, like St. Paul, in his letter to the Colossians (1:24-28).

These words came to me as I was reflecting on these readings: Listen-Trust-Love-Serve.

Fr. Phil Paxton, CP, is the Pastor of Holy Family Parish in Birmingham, and St. Mary’s Parish in Fairfield, Alabama. He is the Local Superior of the Passionist Community in Birmingham, Alabama. 

Scripture:

Exodus 12:37-42
Matthew 12:14-21

Reflection:

In today’s Old Testament and Psalm readings, we are drawn into the story of the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt. Scripture recalls the mighty works the Lord did to save His people from captivity. From the perspective of the Jews, God’s actions were glorious miracles. Yet, if we look at it from the point of view of the Egyptians, they were occasions of suffering and death. It is difficult to reconcile these two realities. Are the enduring mercies referenced in the Psalm only for certain people?

The answer comes to us in the Gospel reading. Here, we find the descendants of the very people the Lord saved in the time of Moses seeking to put Jesus, the Giver of Life, to death. As awful as this seems, the prophet Isaiah tells us why it is God’s will. In Jesus’ death at the insistence of the Jews, he will bring victory and hope to the Gentiles. The death that was allowed to free Israel from Egypt will be atoned for by Jesus, God’s Beloved Son, in His Passion. In His death, we come to know that God’s love is for all people.

In our own lives, when suffering comes, let us remember that the sorrows of the present time are not the whole story. The Lord is at work for good even in our pain. No matter how dark a situation might seem, there is a greater truth that exists. For every people, in every circumstance, God’s mercy endures forever.

Megan Silas is a Lay Passionist at Holy Name Passionist Retreat Center in Houston, Texas.

Scripture:

Exodus 3:13-20
Matthew 11:28-30

Reflection:

“I love you. I care about you. I will be with you.” These are words all of us hunger to hear because they offer the heartfelt reassurance we need to get through life, and they are powerfully proclaimed in both of today’s readings.

In the first reading from Exodus, a clearly rattled Moses asks God to reveal his name and God answers: “I am who am…I AM sent me to you.” God’s response is not a philosophical riddle designed to baffle the Israelites, but a pledge of faithful love. In Hebrew, “I am who am” essentially means, “I will be with you, I will accompany you and never abandon you.” In ancient Israel, to know a person’s name was to know their innermost identity and spirit, it was to glimpse into their soul; thus, faithful love is who God is. Faithful love is not peripheral to God but is the very being of God.

Later in the reading, God says to Moses, “I am concerned about you and about the way you are being treated in Egypt.” It’s pretty astonishing, isn’t it? The God of the universe, the creator of all things, is not a distant, indifferent deity who is too far removed from our lives to care about us, but a God of faithful love who draws near to us, walks with us, and is so intimately close to us that the slightest details of our lives don’t go unnoticed by God. We matter to God. A God who says, “I am concerned about you,” is like the loving friend who offers us compassion, encouragement, and support whenever life is hard for us, whenever we feel overwhelmed, shaken, and uncertain, and especially whenever we are suffering.

Maybe that is why all of us love today’s gospel so much, this familiar but tremendously reassuring passage where Jesus says, “If you are troubled, if you are having a hard time, if you feel tired, burdened, and maybe even hopeless, come to me and I will help you, turn to me and let me refresh you.” Jesus is the care, concern, and compassion of God in the flesh. Jesus is God’s befriending love in person. Jesus is the incarnate confirmation of God’s everlasting faithful love. That, too, is something pretty astonishing that we should never forget.

Paul J. Wadell is Professor Emeritus of Theology & Religious Studies at St. Norbert College in De Pere, Wisconsin, and a member of the Passionist Family of Holy Cross Province.

Memorial of Saint Kateri Tekakwitha, Virgin

Scripture:

Exodus 1:8-14, 22
Matthew 10:34-11:1

Reflection:

The Enduring Shadow of Cruelty

When we look back at history, as far back as the oldest writings of the Old Testament, the patterns of human cruelty are stark and undeniable. From the ancient Egyptians’ subjugation of the Jewish people to the systematic genocide perpetrated by the Germans in the last century, the echoes of injustice reverberate. We see it in the brutal enslavement of Africans by 17th and 18th-century plantation owners in the Americas, and in the genocide inflicted upon indigenous peoples by settlers across the continent. Today is no exception. Tyrants and the people who support them unleash invasions and bombs, indiscriminately murdering innocent civilians.

A Call to Action: Choosing Compassion

Given this enduring legacy of cruelty, how can each of us contribute to nudging human behavior away from it, starting within our own families and communities? Is it truly so difficult to love both our neighbors and our enemies?

Every moment presents a choice. When we have a stressful thought or when someone causes us stress, what can we do to transform our thinking into positive thoughts and action? Or when we feel offended, don’t we have an opportunity to transform that offense into deeper understanding? We can choose compassion over contempt, and empathy over animosity. By making these conscious choices, we begin to dismantle the roots of cruelty, one interaction at a time.

.Jack Dermody is President of Share Our Gifts, Inc., a Passionist alumni organization dedicated to assisting those who live in poverty; he is also editor of CrossRoads, the Passionist Alumni Association’s newsletter.