Daily Scripture

Scripture:

Revelation 21:9b-14
John 1:45-51

Reflection:

Meeting Jesus

Philip in the beginning of Jesus’s ministry tells Nathaniel: “come and see” Jesus!  The first step of religion or of a meaningful relationship with the Lord is to meet Him!   This fact is so obvious in the Gospels that it can easily be missed.   It is expressed by a plethora of words and expressions.    Just one word “to come near” (pros-erxomai in Greek NT) alone is used for approaching Jesus 29 times in Matthew. 

In today’s Gospel Nathaniel becomes a lifelong follower of Jesus only after experiencing His word and presence.   He needed to be brought face to face with the living Christ.    We see a frequent pattern in the Scriptures of encounters with the Lord.   A beautiful example is found in Mt 28:9 “And behold, Jesus met (Greek NT upo+anti up close) them (women) and greeted them.   And they came up and took a strong hold of His feet and worshiped Him.” Mt 28:9

The experience of meeting Jesus must begin with Him making the first move.    In the post resurrection appearances, no one sees Jesus unless He first shows Himself.   So, we see in Mt 28 Jesus first “meets” (upo+anti up close) the women.  It is only then that they approach (pros-erxomai) and throw their arms around His feet, so He won’t get away!   In prayer we must be humble and realize we are way out of our ability to contact Jesus by our own power. 

The Cure of Ars beautifully comments: “My little children, your hearts are small, but prayer stretches them and makes them capable of loving God.” To touch the Living Christ is the biggest stretch of our lives!  How many people have experienced not only is it hard to pray but it is impossible to do so without Himself revealing His presence?  

How often in Scripture the Psalmist begs God: “Do not hide Your face from me,Ps 27:9  “You hid Your face, I was dismayed” Ps 30:7    The face of God was a beautiful expression for the presence of God.  God is the deciding factor whether we can meet Him in prayer or not!   In the Divine Office we wisely begin by saying: “Open my mouth and (then) I shall declare thy praise!”

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

Scripture:

Judges 9:6-15
Matthew 20:1-16

Reflection:

In our Gospel reading for today, Jesus tells a parable about the kingdom of heaven. It is a parable about an owner of a vineyard hiring workers at different times of the day, and winding up paying them all the same, the “usual daily wage.” In the parable, the workers who worked in the vineyard all day take exception to the fact that the ones who only worked an hour or two get the same wage.

For those of us listening to this parable, we can find ourselves sympathizing with those ones who were offended. But we need to remember that this is a parable about the kingdom of heaven, not a discourse about just labor practices.

If we think about the kingdom of heaven, about our salvation, does it matter whether we are first or last or somewhere in-between? Are there different levels of heaven, or different levels of being forever with God? I think that very often we’d like to think there is. But once again, Jesus reveals to us that God’s way of thinking is not the human way of thinking. God wants us all to enter the kingdom of heaven.

When we are in touch with the generosity and grace and love of God in our lives, and are willing to do God’s will and follow Jesus, I think we’ll find that we are just happy to get in, and we will willingly let go of any concern about rank and privilege in heaven. Think of your favorite saint. Do you not hope that he or she will welcome you with joy, no matter when you came? He or she will not be jealous of you being in the presence of God as he or she is. What more privilege can we receive than to spend eternity with the God who loves us more than we can imagine?

While we are here on earth, following Jesus involves working for justice and peace. Laborers deserve a just wage for the labor they provide. But when it comes to the kingdom, the “prize” of being with God cannot be added to or segmented into different levels. By the grace and love of God in Jesus Christ, may we all enter the kingdom.

Fr. Phil Paxton, C.P., is the local superior of the Passionist Community in Birmingham, Alabama. 

Scripture:

Judges 2:11-19
Matthew 19:16-22

Reflection:

A rich young man of the ruling class who owned a lot of property runs up to Jesus.  He was very influential and a person of authority, moral and kept the commandments and probably very devout.  The young man asks Jesus what he must do to gain eternal life.  Jesus responds: “Keep the commandments”.  The young man asks: “Which ones?” (Matthew 19:18)

And Jesus said, “You shall not commit murder; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness; ¹⁹ Honor your father and mother; and You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” ²⁰ (Matthew 19: 18-20). 

It is interesting to note that these commandments pertain to our relationships with others.  The young man replies: “All these things I have kept, what am I still lacking?” (Mathew 19:21) We know Jesus answer next: “Go sell what you and give to the poor and come follow me.”  (Matthew 19:22)

The young man went away grieving because he could not give up his love for possessions and earthly treasures. 

There are many of us who could sound like the wealthy young man.  We have observed the commandments most of our lives, gone to mass frequently and put our envelope in the collection basket. The young man asks Jesus what he is lacking.  He knew that something was missing in his life, but he couldn’t quite identify that missing element. This gospel challenges us to take a few moments today and talk to Jesus about what might be missing or lacking in our spiritual life.  Like the young man, do we need to do more for the poor and vulnerable in our communities?  Are we lacking a daily prayer life or have we elderly relatives in nursing homes whom we never visit?  Try and figure out what more we can do to gain eternal life and then put together a plan to do it. 

Lord, today help me to discern what I am lacking and give me the grace and strength to go and do it. 

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

*Biblical  quotes have been taken from https://thebiblesays.com/about/ and some elements adapted from the same source.

Scripture:

Joshua 24:14-29
Matthew 19:13-15

Reflection

Imagine yourself smack in the middle of today’s first reading. Joshua has “gathered together all the tribes of Israel at Shechem,” and you are right there with them. The purpose of the assembly is for all those present to renew their commitment to God. Joshua exhorts the Israelites to make a decisive confession of faith by publicly declaring who will rule their hearts. Will they give themselves to Yahweh, the only true God, or align themselves with “the gods your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt” or “the gods of the Amorites in whose country you are dwelling”? After asserting that they will never “forsake the LORD for the service of other gods,” you hear the tribes of Israel recite a stirring litany of God’s saving actions for them, beginning with their ancestors’ deliverance from slavery in Egypt up to their present life among the Amorites. That liturgy of remembrance enables them to jubilantly declare: “Therefore we also will serve the LORD, for he is our God.”

It is easy to picture ourselves participating in this covenant renewal ceremony because we all give our hearts to something. We can even say that we are naturally lovers because we hand ourselves over to whatever we think will complete us; whatever we believe will satisfy the deepest hungers and yearnings of our lives. This story from the book of Joshua reminds us that every person worships some god even though it may not be the true God. Joshua warns the Israelites about serving “strange gods.” Today those “strange gods” could be money and possessions. They could be our successes and achievements. Or maybe our strange god is making sure we always get what we want and always have our way. When we look back over our lives, we discover that we forsake the true God for strange gods all the time.

And whenever we do, we learn that no matter how alluring those strange gods might be, none can offer us the life and peace and goodness and joy and hope that the only real God can and always has. And so today, let us join our ancestors in the faith in joyfully proclaiming: “As for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.”

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.

Scripture:

Joshua 24:1-13
Matthew 19:3-12

Reflection:

A Living Commitment to Companionship

“Love consists of a commitment which limits one’s freedom – it is a giving of the self, and to give oneself means just that: to limit one’s freedom on behalf of another” (John Paul II, Love and Responsibility).  The above words of John Paul II can help us understand better the anthropological and theological meaning of today’s scripture readings. In effect, in light of such papal statement, we can say that God’s life-giving plan of creation and salvation is all about living a mutual commitment to companionship.  That is why today’s gospel alludes to the Book of Genesis by telling us, in Jesus’ words, that: “From the beginning the Creator ‘made [humankind] male and female’ . . . [so that] ‘a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh'” in order to populate the earth and be God’s stewards of creation.

For the above theological and anthropological reasons, Jesus reminds us of the gospel words that are central to the Rite of the Sacrament of Matrimony, that is, “what God has joined together, no human being must separate.”  Therefore, a married couple is to be “one flesh” living, under God’s grace-giving blessing, a mutual commitment to companionship.  For the purpose of marriage is that the couple gives each other their selves by mutually limiting their freedom on behalf of each other.

In a similar way, we see God being faithfully married to the people of Israel, whom Joshua summons at Shechem just to remind them that their living God has limited his own freedom on behalf of them.  In other words, because God is good and “his mercy endures forever,” as the Psalmist prays, we find in the first reading a saving God who is fully committed to accompanying his chosen people, from Terah’s to the Patriarchs’ to Joshua’s to our times.  For God reminds Israel that, “it was not your sword and your bow,” but I who “gave you a land that you had not tilled and cities that you had not built, to dwell in; you have eaten of vineyards and olive groves which you did not plant.”  Likewise, we are reminded that it is not by our merits that we have what we possess, especially the most valuable nonmaterial things, such as faith, hope, love, unity in diversity, and peace, but by God who is just and merciful.

In conclusion, today’s readings, especially the gospel, tell us that any God-given Christian vocation is to be lived in communion with God and one another, as well as in service to God and one another.  We are to live a living commitment to mutual companionship, a sacramental communion in and through Jesus Christ, who is true man and true God.  Out of love, we are to live, as John Paul II suggests, a commitment which limits our own freedom on behalf of others.  For Jesus states, “whoever can accept this ought to accept it . . . for the sake of the Kingdom of heaven.”  We should therefore reflect on and evaluate our own Christian commitment to love and serve God and one another.

Fr. Alfredo Ocampo, C.P., is a member of St. Vincent Strambi Community in Chicago, Illinois.

Scripture:

Joshua 3:7-10a, 11, 13-17
Matthew 18:21-19:1

Reflection:

To be a Christian is to live a forgiven and forgiving life. It is to extend to others the liberating mercy that God always extends to us.

That’s the message of today’s gospel, a passage that begins with what may well be the most famous question posed in the scriptures. Peter asks Jesus if it is ever permissible to stop forgiving. Can we put limits on forgiveness? Can we cease being merciful? As he often does, Jesus responds with a parable. It’s the story of the unforgiving official, the man who had been rescued by mercy but who brazenly refused to show a servant the same mercy the king had extended to him. Both the official and the servant’s future absolutely depended on the gift of forgiveness because neither could pay back his debt. Both the official and the servant fell to their knees and begged for mercy. But the one who had received it, instead of imitating the mercy he had so lavishly been given, had the servant jailed until he could repay all that he owed. The parable ends with the unforgiving official, now stripped of the mercy he had received, tortured and tossed into prison, and with Jesus’ ominous warning that the same fate awaits us if we withhold forgiveness to anyone.

Each of us has a mission of mercy. Each of us is to be a living sacrament of God’s merciful love in the world. It is a vocation every Christian shares, a calling to which no follower of Jesus is ever exempt. That is because God has been endlessly and patiently merciful to us. God’s extravagant mercy is the gift that makes all of us equal and all of us one; indeed, God’s mercy is the foundation of our lives. Thus, to withhold mercy—to refuse to offer it whenever we can—is not only to be horribly ungrateful and scandalously unjust, but also to blaspheme God.

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