• Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer

The Passionists of Holy Cross Province

The Love that Compels

  • Online Masses
    • Passionist Online Masses and Services
  • 300th Jubilee
    • Jubilaeum Video
    • Opening Mass of the Passionist Jubilee Year
    • Video: 300th Jubilee – English
    • Video: Jubileo Pasionista – Español
    • Jubilee Icon Itinerary
    • Jubilee Resources
    • Jubilee Song
  • Pray
    • Lent 2021
    • Daily Reflections
    • Prayer Request
    • Sunday Homily
    • Passionist Spirituality and Prayer
    • Stations of the Cross
    • Prayer and Seasonal Cards
  • Grow
    • Journey into the Mystery of Christ Crucified
    • Celebrating the Feast of St. Paul of the Cross
    • Subscribe to E-News
    • Passionist Magazine
      • Passionist Magazine, Spring 2020
    • Passionist Ministries
      • Preaching
      • Hispanic Ministry
      • Haiti
      • Parish Life
      • Earth and Spirit Center
      • Education
      • Fr. Cedric Pisegna, CP, Live with Passion!
    • Retreat Centers
    • Passionist Solidarity Network
    • Vision Fulfillment Newsletters
    • Sacred Heart Monastery
      • History of Sacred Heart Monastery
      • A Day in the Life of Senior Passionists
      • “Pillars” of the Community
  • Join
    • Nicholas Divine, CP, Ordination to the Diaconate
    • Are You Being Called?
    • Discerning Your Call
    • Pray With Us
    • Passionist Vocation Directors
    • Lay Partnerships
  • Connect
    • Find a Passionist
    • Passionist Websites
    • Fr. Cedric Pisegna, CP, Live with Passion!
    • Passionist Alumni Association
      • Reunions
      • 2019 Passionist Alumni Reunion
      • Welcome
      • Letter from the Provincial
        • These Men We Call Our Brothers
      • Mission Statement
      • CrossRoads Bulletin
      • Alumni Enrollment Form
        • Alumni Survey
      • Reunion Photo Gallery
  • Support
    • Donate
    • Monthly Giving
    • Leave a Legacy
      • Giving Matters
      • Ways to Give
      • Donor Relations
      • Testimonials
    • Prayer and Seasonal Cards
    • Privacy Policy Statement
  • Learn
    • Our Founder
    • History
    • The Letters of St. Paul of the Cross
    • The Diary of St. Paul of the Cross
    • Mission and Charism
    • Saints and Blesseds
    • FAQs
    • Find a Passionist
    • STUDIES IN PASSIONIST HISTORY AND SPIRITUALITY
  • Safe Environments

Daily Scripture, January 27, 2016

Scripture:Sunrise Praying

2 Samuel 7:4-17
Mark 4:1-20

 

Reflection:

 I will not withdraw my favor!

I was really fortunate to have great teachers in college and graduate school (seminary). One of my favorite classes centered on sacramental theology, and the professor was also a Jungian analyst; he used Grimm’s Fairy Tales and other mythological literature to help us understand the mystery of Baptism, Eucharist, Reconciliation and Marriage. Repeatedly he had to remind us, however, of our proclivity to get mired in analysis. We always wanted to know, “What does it mean?” and his usual response was, instead, “Stay in the story.” Nocturnal dream analysis is similar: don’t move too quickly into finding out the dream’s meaning, but stay in the narrative!

Jesus often instructs his disciples in a similar fashion. They want a plain and simple explanation, and he asks them to be patient with the metaphor, and not to get too cerebral!

And I suppose most of us are like David, too, in our first reading. We want to confine God to our categories, our horizons, our temple. God’s response is that the Divine dwelling place is in peoplehood, not brick and mortar. As much as we attempt to grab the Lord by his divine ankles and pull him into our domesticated, little world, God is elusive. While King David seeks to build a house for God, God tells David that God will be doing the building for David!

I reverence that passage in John 4 when Jesus is speaking with the Samaritan woman at the well.  As she professes, “Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain; but you people say that the place to worship is in Jerusalem.” Jesus said to her, “Believe me, woman, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.” Obviously, Jesus is speaking on a deeper level.

Yet, the core of today’s readings moves beyond this challenge to not limit ourselves to the heady or analytic. So, God tells the prophet, “I will correct him with the rod of men, and with human chastisements; but I will not withdraw my favor from him.” We may get snagged with our propensity for control, but God’s love — indiscriminate, unconditional, without boundaries — eclipses even our longing for control!


Fr. Jack Conley, C.P. is the director of the Office of Mission Effectiveness.  He is a member of the Passionist formation community at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago.

Footer

Facebook Feed

Support the Passionists

Contact the Passionists

The Passionists of Holy Cross Province
660 Busse Highway | Park Ridge, IL 60068
Tel: 847.518.8844 | Toll-free: 800.295.9048 | Fax: 847.518.0461
Safe Environments | Board Member Portal | Copyright © 2021 | Log in