The Passionists of Holy Cross Province

The Love that Compels

Daily Scripture, December 7, 2008

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.  

Ash Wednesday

On March 2, the Church celebrates Ash Wednesday. 

Most of us learned early in our Catholic lives that Ash Wednesday is the beginning of Lent, and that is a time of special sacrifice in preparation for the Easter celebration of Jesus’ Resurrection.

Dear brothers and sisters, every moment of our lives is a time for believing, hoping and loving…. These words of Pope Francis, taken from his Lenten Message of last year, 2021, and echoing the virtues of Faith, Hope and Charity, can still inspire our answer to the question: “What am I giving up for Lent?” 

We can draw our Lenten sacrifices out of our daily life: 

Share our faith in God’s presence by sharing in prayer with our family or with those in our parish community.
Share our hope in God’s promises by encouraging positive and respectful dialogue in our family circle and among our friends. 
Share the charity God has bestowed on us in the Passion of Jesus, with those whose sufferings are ignored or aggravated.

Let us pray for one another as we enter the season of Lent. Our Passionist “motto” can be our daily prayer during Lent, “May the Passion of Jesus Christ be always in our hearts.”