Daily Scripture

Scripture:

Acts 16:22-34
John 16:5-11

Reflection:

The Holy Spirit Empowers

“But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the ^aHelper (parak’laetos) will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you.” -John 16:7

One of the many beautiful words in the inspired Greek New Testament for prayer is parakaleo.   Kaleo in Greek means to call out to someone.   It can often mean calling for help.   The word para means to stand by,  or around me.      So the frequent word for prayer is para+kaleo or to call someone to be around me to help.  It is a wonderful call to God for Him to be close to me for help or comfort in His loving presence!   

Paraclete is someone who comforts us by His closeness.    The word for comfort in Greek is parak’lasis.   So the etymology of the Greek word for prayer or call for help is a great aid to understand what Scripture means for comfort and even a name for Holy Spirit.   He is called The Comforter, or the Advocate, as a good lawyer is a great help when we are in trouble.

The Holy Spirit has many vital functions in our life.  Perhaps the simplest one for us to understand is that He comes to our side when we desperately need help and call for assistance. 

I fell the other day and could not get up from the pavement.  I was helpless for about half an hour till I finally yelled for help when I saw somebody, and they kindly answered my call.  

The last words of Jesus in Luke’s Gospel He tells His Apostles don’t get started in evangelizing until I send the Holy Spirit to empower you.  The first thing we need to follow Jesus is empowerment from Holy Spirit!    “And behold, I am sending forth the promise of My Father upon you; but you are to stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.” Lk 24:49  Jesus repeats the same need in Act 1:8  “you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.”  “No one can say “Jesus is Lord” except in the Holy Spirit.”  1 Corinthians 12:3  

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

Scripture:

Acts 16:11-15
John 15:26-16:4a

Reflection:

You’ve probably heard the sad commentary about people who faithfully attend Mass on Sundays. Yet in the parking lot immediately after Mass, it’s as if none of what they heard, did, or sang at the liturgy “stuck” or made a difference in their lives. Attending Mass is just a rote exercise so they can fulfill the requirements for being a “good Catholic”, but their faith doesn’t change their hearts or affect their day.

Paul had the opposite experience in Phillipi. He and his companions went outside the city in search of a place to pray, but instead encountered a group of women and proceeded to talk with them about Jesus. Lydia, a prominent woman of the town, really let it sink in. She converted, had all the members of her household converted, and then opened her home to the disciples, begging them to stay with her. Think about that for a minute. When is the last time you celebrated Mass in the community and allowed the message to so deeply sink into you that it changed your plans and actions going forward?

It may seem unrealistic that such a conversion could happen every Sunday. But is it? Jesus’ teachings are deeply challenging, especially to those of us in privileged Western society. If we aren’t changing our actions and plans as a result, then we aren’t listening. It won’t always be such a major change as Lydia experienced. Although we need to remain open to that possibility, it is admittedly less frequent. Yet we need to constantly be growing and changing in our faith or risk having it die.

I am trying to better track the lessons I learn each week. I reflect on them, pray with them, open my heart to God, and challenge myself to let them affect my life in at least some way. I find that often the lessons build on each other, which means that over time I am learning significant lessons and making necessary adaptations. I am constantly being confronted with ways I fall short of the Gospel. It is humbling, sometimes to the point of discouragement. Yet God calls me on.   

Take some time today to think and reflect. What have you learned during Lent and Easter? What challenges do these Gospels and scripture readings hold for you? How can you let the scriptures sink in deeply and change your life? Let’s consciously try to be a little more like Lydia and a little less focused on getting out of the parking lot!

Amy Florian is a teacher and consultant working in Chicago.  For many years she has partnered with the Passionists.  Visit Amy’s website: http://www.corgenius.com/.

Scripture:

Acts 8:5-8, 14-17
1 Peter 3:15-18
John 14:15-21

Reflection:

In our first Scripture reading for this Sunday (Acts 8:5-8, 14-17), St. Luke writes: “Philip went down to the city of Samaria and proclaimed the Christ to them. With one accord, the crowds paid attention to what was said by Philip when they heard it and saw the signs he was doing.” How I wish that would happen to me wherever I go to preach, but the thing I need to remember is the phrase “when they heard it and saw the signs he was doing.” As a disciple, I cannot just “talk the talk,” I have to “walk the walk.”

The question I need to ask myself is “Is what I’m saying or doing a sign of God’s love in Jesus Christ?” A sign of God’s love doesn’t have to be some miracle of healing or some other supernatural feat. In our Gospel reading (John 14:15-21), Jesus says, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” The signs we can do simply have to do with following Jesus’ commandment to love one another as He has loved us (John 13:34 and John 15:12).

You see, God’s love for us in Jesus Christ is the reason for our hope (See our second reading: 1 Peter 3:15-18)! To know that God holds nothing back, even to the point of the Son of God dying for us on the Cross, means that we can trust in God’s love for us; the love that is the source of a mother’s love for her child, which we celebrate Sunday on Mother’s Day. To know that Jesus left the tomb empty on Easter means that we can trust in the power of God. And to trust in the love and the power of God means we can live in hope for the coming of God’s kingdom. It means we can do our part in helping build up that kingdom, even, as we hear in our second reading, that we might “suffer for doing good.”

We are called to work for justice and peace. We are called to work for a world in which every mother’s hopes for her children can be fulfilled, and every child can pursue his or her dreams. And thus we, like Philip and the early disciples, can do signs demonstrating God’s love, so that others can be led to Jesus and to hope.

In the love of God in Jesus Christ, I would like to end with a prayer for mothers:

We pray in thanksgiving for all mothers and grandmothers and great-grandmothers and beyond! We remember all those mothers who have gone before us. We pray for step mothers and those mothers who have adopted children. We pray for those grandmothers, who, because of varying circumstances, are raising their grandchildren.

We pray for those mothers who have lost a child, or are on the verge of losing a child. We pray for those in certain parts of the world whose children have “disappeared.”

We pray for expectant mothers, and for those who hope to be mothers.

We pray for those women who are pregnant, and are weighing what to do with their pregnancy. Some of them may not feel ready to be mothers, as their pregnancies were not planned or hoped for or even forced upon them. Others may feel that their options are very limited, and feel that there is no way they can raise a child. We pray that there are people who will not condemn them, but are willing to help them. And we pray for those women who are willing to adopt and take someone else’s child into their home.

And we pray for those who, like the character Big Mama in “Soul Food,” are considered everybody’s Mama.

Mary, our Blessed Mother, pray for us!

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

Scripture:

Acts 16:1-10
John 15:18-21

Reflection:

The Easter liturgical season reminds us of our church and its radical Spirit-led beginnings. Today’s first reading from the Acts of the Apostles offers us the missionary focus and challenges of Paul and Silas. It is a lesson in perseverance for what we plan and an invitation to trust the possibilities of change. One might even suggest it highlights the tension between the two postures. I wonder what that “prevention” which Paul recounts looked like? For Paul, we will see in the next section of this chapter that the mission took a turn orchestrated by the Holy Spirit. Even though he didn’t plan this voyage, he brought the Gospel to Europe. Going beyond Paul’s scope at the time, the mission grew exponentially from there.

Have you ever been “prevented” from doing something you believed necessary for your life’s journey? How can we perceive the difference between a challenge to persevere and the insight to change course? Sometimes, we may think the challenges and radical new ways presented to the early church were just “back in those days” and irrelevant today. I might suggest that is not the case.

Jesus in our Gospel offers the message of radical engagement in mission that is suitable for today. After all, this is the living word of God. Jesus’ words give reassurance and even a challenge in confusing times. We must remember that we are the chosen people he saved from sin for his purpose. It is both communal and personal, regardless of how convenient or inconvenient. For the sake of the world, we must become Christ’s presence. We find the strength and the gifts best expressed within community. Combined with the power of the Holy Spirit, we will move mountains. Today is no different than in the time of Paul. Perhaps we are not called to blaze a trail in the way of Paul but instead are invited to embrace the “Way” in our lives for the good of the mission of Christ.

Today we remember Our Lady of Fatima. Her life is a prime example to us. Her yes to the Angel Gabriel set off a chain of yesses that still has relevance today. She has continued to stay close to her children throughout history. To teach, to heal, and to inspire us. Paul was inspired to go a different way in a dream and knew this was a further call in his mission.

May we be ready to change our plans and go a different way for the glory of the Kingdom.

May our plans always align to the plans of the Holy Spirit for the greater glory of God. Alleluia, amen.

Jean Bowler is a retreatant at Mater Dolorosa Passionist Retreat Center in Sierra Madre, California, and a member of the Office of Mission Effectiveness Board of Holy Cross Province.

Scripture:

Acts 15:22-31
John 15:12-17

Reflection:

Jesus said to his disciples:

This is my commandment: love one another as I love you.
No one has greater love than this,
to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. -John 15: 12-14

I often struggle with the above simple command from John’s gospel. What does it mean for me today to love one another and do as Jesus did, i.e., lay down his life for his friends?

I like to think that what I am living for today is also what I am dying for today. That came across very clear to me the other day when I saw the movie: Street Gang: How We Got to Sesame Street which is the story of how Joan Ganz Cooney talked Jim Henson of the Muppet’s fame into doing a Public TV series attempting to teach children basic communication skills of reading and numbers. Reluctant at first, Jim and the people involved reflected on their endeavors years later and realized that while they started out to teach the children, it was the children who taught them and that working 15-hour days was not work, but a joy.

Maybe it means I don’t have to call the scavenger service that wakes me up at 5:00 am emptying the trash containers right outside my bedroom window? Maybe instead, I could see this intrusion to my sleep as an opportunity to say thanks for the young person who got up much earlier this morning just to make my world a little safer and healthier.

Maybe it means I can listen intently to that person who just seems to go on and on and on and on, insisting that what they have to say demands more time than the rest of those gathered to discuss an idea or issue?

Maybe it means I have to read some goofy reflection like this one, just because I get to be part of a community that is much bigger than my narrow view of “the saved” or “the righteous”?

Thank you, Jesus, for all these reminders to love—Love especially those individuals who initially give rise to resentments in me, but more often than not offer just what I need today.

Dan O’Donnell is a Passionist Partner and a longtime friend of the Passionists.  He lives in Chicago.  

Scripture:

Acts 15:7-21
John 15:9-11

Reflection:

In our Gospel reading, Jesus tells His disciples to “remain” in His love. There are other translations that use the word “abide,” and I favor that word because it implies for me resting in the assurance of God’s unconditional love. Part of remaining, or abiding in Jesus’ love is to share that love with others: “If you keep my commandments you will remain in my love.” We keep Jesus’ love in our hearts by responding to it in loving others.

We see this in our first reading from Acts, where the early Christians seek to resolve a conflict brought about by differing opinions on how the Gentiles should be brought into the Christian community, which we heard in yesterday’s reading. We see in the resolution of this conflict that there was no violence or force used upon others. Instead, the disciples who met were intent on discerning where the Holy Spirit was leading them. And after much debate and testimony from Paul and Barnabas and Peter and James, they discern not to require of the Gentiles that they be circumcised, i.e., become like Jews first. This is done in love, as Jesus commanded.

Another way to put this is to look at what Jesus says at the end of our Gospel reading: “I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and your joy might be complete.” Real, deep, joy is founded on the overwhelming love God has for us in Jesus Christ. But we can’t just hold onto that love for ourselves. The only way that joy is complete for us is to share it with others, so that they might experience the joy of knowing beyond any doubt how much God loves them.

Without any hesitation, we can abide; we can rest assured of the extent to which Jesus loves us. In that “blessed assurance,” may we extend that love and the joy it brings to others.

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

Scripture:

Acts 15:1-6
John 15:1-8

Reflection:

Like many others, I’ve experienced a lot of losses, disappointments, and instability in the past year or two, and the future remains uncertain in many ways. On my own, I can sink into fear and worry. I can get anxious about things, with churning stomach and restless sleep. I try so hard to control the life that I think I’m in control of, when clearly, I am not!

In the midst of it, I’ve turned again and again to my faith. When I sit in the presence of God, I am reminded that even though I am unworthy, imperfect, scarred and broken, I am perfectly loved in every moment and I always have been. I am held in warmth, and gently guided on my path. Even when there is death in its many forms, we have a God of resurrection and life, waiting to lead us out of the tomb. Isn’t that what this season of Easter is all about?

I’ve been reinforcing this belief by utilizing a breath practice I learned from James Finley. Sitting in stillness, I become aware of my breathing. Then I consciously and deeply inhale the unbelievable, undeserved, and total love that God has for me. When I slowly blow the breath out, I breathe myself in trust and surrender into the arms of that love. In and out, in and out. Over and over the cycle repeats, until my every breath is the giving and receiving of God’s presence and love.

It is such a calming and centering practice. I experience what Jesus taught – that I am the branch, and it is only by staying connected to the vine that I can bear fruit. It is only by turning over my fears and trusting in the vine-grower that I know I will be OK. No matter what happens, no matter what is taken away or given to me, no matter how I am pruned or what tomb I may have to enter, I am a beloved daughter of God and I, in the deepest and truest part of me, will be OK.

It is hard to maintain that level of trust! I keep coming back to wanting certainty, wanting control, wanting things to be how I wish them to be. I continually need to reconnect to the vine and draw life from there. God will not leave me alone. God has guided me, sustained me, and been at my side my entire life. So many little miracles surround me when I am willing to see.

How do you stay connected to the vine? What can you do to surrender the control that honestly you don’t really have anyway? As you look back on your life, where do you see God’s guiding hand and little miracles? Perhaps you can make one small change today to recommit yourself to knowing the love of God deep in your heart, and turning yourself over to the One in whom you live and move and have your being, the one true Vine.

Amy Florian is a teacher and consultant working in Chicago.  For many years she has partnered with the Passionists.  Visit Amy’s website: http://www.corgenius.com/.