• 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
    • 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, October 21, 2019

Scripture:

Romans 4:20-25
Luke 12:13-25

Reflection:

“Take care to guard against all greed, for though one may be rich, one’s life  does not consist of possessions” (Luke 12:15)

What Matters Most to God—A Villanelle by Rita A. Simmons

Though our lives are undone by greed and fraud,
yet we grapple with some deep, unfulfilled need,
warned only to be rich in what matters to God.

But what is true gain in this place where we plod,
disgraced as we are from the time where we seed?
What is earth but plot after plot of greed and fraud
where a castle is craved for its glittering façade,
where payments are squeezed and invested with speed?
And yet we know that such riches don’t matter to God.

Let His Spirit then strike like a lightening rod,
re-claiming the lives that His dying had freed.
We were not meant to be servants of greed and fraud

but His children, together; there’s a path we must trod
though our footsteps can stagger, stray or stampede;
we walk in the  riches that matter to God

Who emptied Himself for His creatures, poor and flawed,
fulfilling our lives with Communion and Creed.
Oh happy the faults of greed and fraud!
Redemption is rich in what matters to God.

(Meditation of the Day,  Monday, October 21, 2019; Magnificat, October 2019, Vol. 21 No. 8, pp 337-338.  Rita A. Simmons is an award-winning poet, and author of three books of poetry:  Souls and the City, Bitterness and Sweet Love, and Greeting the Seasons.)


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

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