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The Love that Compels

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Daily Reflections

Daily Scripture, May 9, 2025

Scripture:

Acts 9:1-20
John 6:52-59

Reflection:

Daring to Enter the Conversation

As Jesus concludes speaking of Himself as the Bread of Life, John notes that Jesus was teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.

In Houston, Texas, the Rothko Chapel – dimly lit and quiet, with paintings by Rothko on the walls – is an inviting space where you can be enfolded in silence for reflection and prayer.

At the University of Texas at Austin, a building that offers space, explicitly described as not a chapel or religious space by artist Ellsworth Kelly, fills with color as the sun comes in through stained glass windows during the day and glows at night from within. It is a joyful place where mystery can be encountered in light.

A final and fourth space is spoken of by Edith Stein, St. Benedicta of the Cross, who would die in the Auschwitz concentration camp with her sister Rosa and many others of ‘her people’. She says that, of her own volition, as a young Jewish woman, she stopped praying. She brilliantly moved through school, served in a field hospital during WWI and graduated summa cum laude with her doctorate in 1917. During that time, she went to Frankfurt Cathedral and saw a woman with a shopping basket go in and kneel for a brief prayer. “This was something entirely new to me. In the synagogue and Protestant churches I had visited, people simply went to services. Here, however, I saw someone coming straight from the marketplace into this empty church, as if she was going to have an intimate conversation. It was something I never forgot.”

Edith would become a Catholic and a Carmelite religious. How such a simple act of faith and prayer by a woman, stopping by a church to pray, so profoundly influenced her. It is something she never forgot!

Today, Jesus speaks to Saul of Tarsus. What a surprising gift that changes his life for the better. Unimaginable. In the spaces of a synagogue, a chapel and a simply sacred space, God speaks to the hearts of people who seek, and knock and ask.

But Edith was sensitive to a woman whose prayer was an ‘intimate conversation’. In that church the Eucharist was celebrated, reserved in reverence and for the ministry to the sick. It was a place of meeting with Jesus the Bread of life, the one who promises us that we will not go hungry or thirsty.

The Holy Spirit is at work guiding the Church along its path following Christ; taking our offering of bread and wine along with ourselves to the Father, giving us the Body and Blood of Jesus as our spiritual food; and yesterday blessing and surprising us with our new Pope, Leo XIV. No space is so empty that our God cannot fill it, or our hearts with the surprise of overflowing love. Not all continued to walk with Jesus; they found his words hard. Let us listen to the one who is here to share himself with us. Let us notice those in empty places. God is there. But especially may we see those who come into the church on shopping day for a brief visit. Like them let us enter the conversation.

Fr. William Murphy, CP, is a member of Immaculate Conception Community in Jamaica, New York.

Daily Scripture, February 18, 2025

Scripture:Genesis 6:5-8; 7:1-5, 10Mark 8:14-21Reflection:Imagine, if you will, these two striking statements taken from our reading today found in Genesis, chapter six:“When the Lord saw how great was man’s wickedness » Continue Reading.

Daily Scripture, February 17, 2025

Scripture:Genesis 4:1-15, 25Mark 8:11-13Reflection:Today’s first reading from Genesis, the infamous and always unsettling story of Cain murdering his brother Abel, is a case study in the pernicious effects of envy, » Continue Reading.

Daily Scripture, February 16, 2025

Scripture:Jeremiah 17:5-81 Corinthians 15:12, 16-20Luke 6:17, 20-26Reflection:In our Gospel reading for today (Luke 6:17, 20-26), Jesus gives some reassurances and some challenges. The reassurances come in the form of beatitudes. » Continue Reading.

Daily Scripture, February 15, 2025

Scripture:Genesis 3:9-24Mark 8:1-10Reflection:What were Jesus and his disciples to do with a large crowd in a deserted place, and very hungry after spending three days with them?  There just wasn’t » Continue Reading.

Daily Scripture, February 14, 2025

Memorial of Saints Cyril, Monk, and Methodius, BishopScripture:Genesis 3:1-8Mark 7:31-37Reflection:Jesus often told people not to publicize his miracles. This might seem counterintuitive – wouldn’t miracles be the most obvious way » Continue Reading.

Daily Scripture, February 13, 2025

Scripture:Genesis 2:18-25Mark 7:24-30Reflection:Our Gospel for today picks up as Jesus once again travels into Gentile territory from the traditional lands of Israel. As far as we can tell from the » Continue Reading.

Daily Scripture, February 12, 2025

Scripture:Genesis 2:4b-9, 15-17Mark 7:14-23Reflection:Today’s first reading from the Book of Genesis is a wonderful reminder of how good God has been to mankind from the beginning of creation and how » Continue Reading.

Daily Scripture, February 11, 2025

Scripture:Genesis 1:20 – 2:4aMark 7:1-13Reflection:Genesis 1: Curtain-Raiser to the Drama of Salvation HistoryWith the sweep of near poetic language, Genesis 1 introduces the major themes that will be developed throughout » Continue Reading.

Daily Scripture, February 10, 2025

Scripture:Genesis 1:1-19Mark 6:53-56Reflection:This world exists because God’s love could not be contained even by God, and so it burst forth and poured out in creative action. Although neither we nor » Continue Reading.

Daily Scripture, February 9, 2025

Scripture:Isaiah 6:1-2a, 3-81 Corinthians 15:1-11Luke 5:1-11Reflection:Here I am Lord; Send MeGod’s invitations, callings, or vocations give unity to our Sunday readings. Can we look at the familiar in a less » Continue Reading.

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