XXV Sunday of Ordinary Time

Readings:

• Wis. 2:12, 17-20. The just person, characterized by gentleness and patience, is tested, persecuted and even killed by the self-confident wicked.
• James 3:16-4:3. Jealousy and strife beget inconstancy, conflicts and vile behavior. Wisdom is innocent, peaceable, impartial and sincere.
• Mark 9:30-37. Jesus’ announcement of his passion and death leaves the disciples speechless. In the meanwhile they argue who was the most important among themselves. Jesus’ reply: whoever welcomes a child for my sake, welcomes me.

Thoughts for your consideration: By Fr. Sebastian MacDonald, CP

There is a saying to the effect that, should a butterfly flap its wings in one part of the world, there will be repercussions of that infinitesimally small action elsewhere in the world.  This assertion is based on the principle that everything is connected, so that nothing happens in isolation.

There are concerns of Justice, Peace and the Integrity of Creation (JPIC) associated with this assertion.  And today’s biblical readings lend themselves to an illustration of this principle, and this example.

For instance, the gospel depicts Jesus in a teaching mode regarding His disciples.  Having just warned them about what lay ahead for Him (sufferings, death and Resurrection) He discovers, surely to His chagrin, that there was absolutely no linkage whatsoever between His remark and the disciples’ receptive capacity, as they focused on their advancement in His company.  So He decided to do some linkage of His own, advocating a sense of  lowliness on their part, by esteeming the value of an insignificant child whom He embraces, for  achieving status with Him and His Father by their doing likewise.  He suggests an interconnection here between their external behavior and an interior mindset.

St. James, likewise, focuses on relationships in the behavior patterns of his correspondents.  He notes the foul practices and disorders erupting in their midst, escalating into wars and conflicts.  In his opinion, they derive from within: their passions, their ambitions, and their jealousy.  Like Jesus before him, he appeals to a matter of the heart (the wisdom of prayer) as a solution for these external troubles.

The author of the book of Wisdom gives his own witness to the interconnections prevailing between the inner and the outer phases of our lives, by posing the case of a just person who criticizes others for their transgressions and violations of their training, thereby rousing their anger.  So they decide to try his/her gentleness and patience by violations and torture, to see whether such a one’s interior trust in God will suffice to sustain abuse from without.

Each of these scenarios is an instance of a butterfly flapping its wings, impacting another phase of life.  Such was the case when Jesus embraced a child so as to change the disciples’ conduct; and when James proposed to his correspondents that they secure a bit of wisdom so as to improve the way they acted; and when the Wise Man praised the example of the just person’s patient, trusting relationship with God before the persecution undergone for upholding righteousness.

There are JPIC issues at stake here: interpersonal rivalries threatening comradeship, disorders escalating into wars and conflicts, social disruptions deserving criticism.  None of these exist in isolated fashion, separated from the rest of life.  They emerge out of ambition, passion, and hatred.  They too resemble the flapping of a butterfly’s wings, but instead of initiating values of harmony, peace and order residing within they are initiating a negative set of values which will also have powerful repercussions. What we do here and how we behave in the moment is crucial. Immediate actions and attitudes may seem insignificant but whether we realize it or not, they are impacting our internal mindset and external surroundings.

Questions for your Reflection:

• What set of values dictate our behavior and attitude toward ourselves, each other and the world? Can we name these values? How do we maintain consistency in applying these values?
• None of us can claim to be impervious to negative attitudes. Prayer, solitude, meditation and retreats are organized ways to process these moments. How do we integrate these methods to specifically address our own negative attitudes? Should we consider promoting these methods within our own family and local community?  

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XII Sunday of Ordinary Time

Readings:
Job 38:1, 8-11
2 Cor. 5:14-17
Mark 4:35-41

Thoughts for your Consideration:
The sea is an awesome image that reveals the great power of creation. On the one hand the sea is turbulent and destructive. Yet the sea is also life-giving and calming. The early apostles who lived around the Sea of Galilee were very much aware of this awesome power.

I myself live by the Atlantic Ocean. I am privileged to witness the great power of the Sea. In the morning as I head over to work I can see the various shipping boats as they are heading out. As we near the middle of summer most of us become attentive to weather forecasts reporting indications of hurricane patterns. In the two-thousand years that we have progressed from the days of those early fishermen, we still can connect with their ambivalence over the destructive power of the sea.

In the first reading we find God using the image of the sea to humble the arrogance of Job. But in this passage God uses the image of the sea to convey two ideas. First, God affirms the Divine power to control the sea. Secondly, we get a sense that God’s own power is very much like the sea’s. The book of Job is about a human who is trying to comprehend the destructive power of God in allowing a good man like him to suffer. In this light we, like Job, become aware of the fact that we are only one component in a great fabric known as creation. For us to make the attempt to accept the will of God we must place ourselves in a mystical relationship with the rest of this great fabric. Then and only then can we hope to comprehend what St. Paul of the Cross called, “the greater Good.”

In the Gospel reading the disciples become aware of Jesus’ divine essence in that he has some control over the force of the sea. And yet Jesus admonishes his disciples for not having enough faith. What is Jesus calling us to do in this passage? Are we expected to have such power as to control and dominate the sea itself? Or is Jesus challenging us to reconsider our relationship with creation so that, through the prism of faith, we may be able let go of our fear of the sea and begin relating with this awesome power in a way that allows us to coexist. Such a challenge is baffling when we consider our traditional relationship to this force of nature, and yet this is the challenge that Jesus places on us.

In the second reading, St. Paul places this overall invitation to relate with creation in an historical perspective. We are called to be witnesses to Christ who for our sake died and was raised. And now all of creation is asked to be renewed under the transformation that began with Christ. That calls us to a special relationship with all of creation. It calls us to adopt a new vision of solidarity. We are familiar with the need to be sensitive to the global human family and begin to at least attempt to see events from the perspective of others. But today we are called to relate in a new way to the rest of the great fabric known as creation. Fr. Thomas Berry (who died on June 1st, 2009), once said:  “We often marvel at other people, particularly impoverished peoples.  Why are they so happy amid such difficulties of life?  They have developed a way of dealing with life creatively from within the structure of their own inner development.  What do we do?  We decide that we cannot accept the disciplines that strengthen from within.  We want to control the outside, we want to change things.  We want to control the very structure and functioning of the natural world.” (Befriending the Earth, p. 116.)

Today, rather than fearfully oppose the sea, we are invited to extend our empathy towards it.  A couple of Berry’s quips, for which he was famous, might help us with this new challenging perspective: “People say you can’t treat people as things; I say you can’t treat things as things.”   -and- “We are literally cousins to every living being”.  So many of them live in the sea.

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Trinity Sunday

Readings:
Deuteronomy 4:32-34,39-40
Romans 8:14-17
Matthew 28:16-20

Thoughts for your Consideration: by Fr. Phil Paxton, CP

One night this past week I was watching a TV program. It was entitled “2100,” and aired on ABC. It was basically a program that tried to shed light on what would happen to the world for the rest of this century, based on the choices made by individuals, communities, and nations. On the program there were many opinions and projections given by various scientists. But what I found most engaging was the approach used to tie all these forecasts together. The program used the form of a narrative, following the life of a fictional character named Lucy, born in 2009. Not surprisingly, there was no mention of God or faith or spirituality in Lucy’s story.

Is there a faith dimension when discussing ecological issues? Yes! In fact, there are many theologians and spiritual writers who have dedicated themselves to these very issues for many years. One of them is Tom berry, a passionist, who just recently died. He had written much on the Passion suffered by the world. As you may remember last month, there was an announcement about the U.S. Catholic Bishops encouraging people to take the “St. Francis Pledge” with regards to climate change and its effects on the world, especially the poor.

I am neither a scientific expert nor a theologian on ecology, but it seems to me that the mystery of the Trinity has much to say about these issues. When we think about God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, we are led to the conclusion that God is a God of love and relationships. This is how God chose to reveal the Divine Self to us. When we look at our Scripture readings for today, we see that out of love, God chooses to be in relationship with us.

In our first reading from Deuteronomy, Moses reminds the people of all that God has done for them, leading them out of slavery in Egypt. In our second reading from St. Paul’s letter to the Romans, St. Paul reminds his fellow Christians that in the Spirit they can cry out to God just as Jesus did: “Abba, Father!” He also tells them that they are children of God, “heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ.” And in our Gospel reading from Matthew, Jesus sends out His disciples to “make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” Jesus also promises them (and us) that he will be with them always, “until the end of the age,”

As one of my professors in the seminary said to us, if we believe that God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and that we are made in the image and likeness of God, we are meant to live in community. He could have said that we are meant to live in relationship. In fact, we are created that way; created in relationship with God, with each other, and with all of creation. It is in recognizing our connectedness to God and to all of creation that we can be willing to make the necessary choices for peace and justice and the sustainability of our environment. And it is in the love of Christ for us that we can be willing to make the sacrifices necessary for the good of all. For sacrifices will need to be made.

The doctrine of the Trinity, like all the tenets of our faith, calls us outside of ourselves to love God and the world. As we recognize more and more our connectedness in Christ, we will find ourselves more and more willing to forego the ways of violence and exploitation. Instead, we will seek the ways of the Gospel: peace, justice, reconciliation and cooperation.

 
Questions for Reflection in your Faith Sharing Group:

• How do you see relationships that are “out of whack” or unhealthy in our global world?  
• What needs to be renewed?
• Paul in Romans reminds us that we are children of God and heirs with Jesus Christ.  What experience has helped you to realize that we are all children of God?  What experience has shown you that we still have things to do to make sure that everyone is treated as a child of God?
• How has God’s Spirit called you into being part of a community?  
• How does the Spirit of God help you to live in community with others?  
• How is your community called to connect to other communities?

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Good Friday

Readings:

• Isaiah 52:13–53:12
• Hebrews 4:14-16; 5:7-9
• John 18:1–19:42

Quote:

Jesus’ death on the cross was a death in the cause of justice. He was executed because he challenged accepted values. He sided with the poor and the outcasts. He condemned oppressive structures. Jesus was a prophet and prophets meet strong opposition.

His cross reminds us that Christians must listen to the cries of the poor. We are in solidarity with those whom society may forget or even exploit. The cross is a sign of justice. To remind the world about the cross is to challenge the world for its injustice and neglect. Passionists are pledged to that challenge.
-Fr. Don Senior, CP

Thoughts for your consideration: By Fr. Ronan Newbold, CP

We are coming up to Good Friday, the day that we recognize the Passion, crucifixion and death of Jesus. Isaiah is the most dramatic in his horrible description of the physical wounds of the Servant of Yahweh. It is not a question of our compassion for Jesus anymore. Indeed, he was so beat up and battered that no one could recognize him. The terror and trauma that he experienced in his Passion and Death represents the greatest demonstration of God’s being with humanity in the face of evil.

What part of humanity is God with? Is it not in those who are beat up and battered today? Or could it be the earth that continues to take a beating from humans who are not aware of what they are doing. That is what we have to think about.

On this day, Good Friday, we bring all of our sufferings, our anxieties, and our worries to the Lord. There, in the Kedron valley, we walk with the Lord, Jesus. With our own sufferings in mind, we can look at the Lord and both of us can sense what is going on.

Our redemption did not take place through the construction of a new building, a new plan for fighting poverty, or from someone’s theory of justice in the world today. It took place through the cross of Christ. But Christ did not suffer and die for just me or for just a few people. He redeemed us all. And this redemption took place under the social injustice that Christ suffered in being executed by the governing social and religious powers of his time. Through the Cross our dignity has been reconciled with God the Father. Our redemption is to live and celebrate the dignity of all creation amidst the social and personal injustice that continues to compromise this message.

“We adore thee, O Christ, and we praise thee.

Because by thy holy Cross, thou hast redeemed the world.”

Questions for Reflection in your Faith Sharing Group:

• Who is experiencing the passion today?
• Share your list with others in the group.
• After you share your lists, make them the focus of your prayer.

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Lectionary Reflection: Fifth Sunday of Lent

Readings:
Jeremiah 31:31-34
Hebrews 5:7-9
John 12:20-33

Thoughts for your consideration: by Fr. Sebastian MacDonald, CP

JPIC concerns are universal ones, expressing themselves differently in particular settings.   Justice, Peace and the Integrity of Creation continually attract our attention.

They emerge in today’s biblical readings.  Jeremiah, the prophet, for instance, celebrates a new moment in the history of the Jewish people, by noting a major development in  their covenantal relationship to God.  Throughout their history they have had to renegotiate, usually unsuccessfully, a series of covenantal arrangements with God.  Humanity has never been able to execute these arrangements very well.  As a result, God was forever formulating another version of His relationship with us.  Today represents a new wrinkle in this age-old institution.  The covenant, from here on in, is no longer an external device or instrument, but it’s to be an internal phenomenon-something fashioned within the very flesh and blood of the human community.

In this highly creative gesture, God incarnates a token of justice between Himself and His people, enfleshing a hint of equality between Himself and the Jews.  Covenants are always efforts at equality between parties, like contracts.  But past efforts at this equality have been hard to come by. But this time, as Jeremiah graphically points out, it becomes an embodied achievement, as God refashions the very hearts of this people so that a semblance of equality is within them.  At long last, something approximating justice prevails in this new covenant.  The people’s self-esteem is uplifted.  A certain equality prevails between them.

JPIC further engages the day’s scriptures in the spelling out of peace (P).  We note this in the letter to the Hebrews.  We usually think of peace as a combination of well-being and harmony with others, providing a sense of serenity.  The author of this letter, in describing what Christ achieves through His sufferings, observes that they help Him achieve perfection, while securing salvation for us who believe in Him.  Salvation is appropriately described as a state of safety and security, or, in other words, an instance of the peace that is so meaningful to us all.  The letter to the Hebrews traces this elusive quality of life to the death of Christ for us on the cross, from where it works itself out into various segments of life.  The violence so visibly evident in the viciousness of crucifixion to the wood of the cross recalls the blood-letting practices of physicians long ago, which were credited with healing and saving results: salvation.  Faith helps us share in the saving procedure provided by Christ Jesus on the cross, offering the remedy of peace we desire for our corporate body.  By sharing this faith with others, we make this remedy available on a large scale, and so stem the spreading contagion of war and violence.

The integrity of creation is a not-to-be-overlooked element in the formula, JPIC.  This integrity is evident in the restorative cycle of nature around us.  Jesus reminds us, in the day’s gospel, to heed the role of nature’s rhythm in regulating our lives.  He points to the grain of wheat falling into the depths of the earth, and dying, then re-emerging.  He suggests this familiar process to the Greek visitors, inquiring of Philip about Jesus.  In doing so, He makes a point about the cyclical rhythm of nature, which death does not conclude.  Rather, death is part of a process enabling new growth to occur again.  Nature’s capacity to “come back to life” is its God-given charter that Jesus finds useful in offering a human counterpart of the cycle of life and death, to be so powerfully illustrated in His own death and resurrection.  The grain of wheat conveys Jesus’ message to the inquiring visitors, knowing they will appreciate it.  It conveys the message of our co-existence with nature as well as our life of faith in God.  How often Jesus would have been hampered in imparting His message to us without the opportunity to appeal to the skies, the earth, the depths of the sea, as explanations of His mission on behalf of His heavenly Father.

JPIC is a window opening into our lives, and into our faith in God.  As justice, it points out a semblance of equality with God gained through His covenantal arrangements with us (J); as peace, it traces our well-being and serenity to the blood-letting of the cross (P); as integrity of creation, it provides an incessant circle of death and life that describes our way to God (IC).  Justice, peace and integrity of creation can combine with prayer, fasting and almsgiving as Lenten practices helping us to celebrate the Easter event.

Questions for Reflection in your Faith Sharing Group:

• How often do you hear about our Church’s social teachings?
• What thoughts or feelings surface as you consider the acronym JPIC? How does a spirituality of JPIC help deepen your own relationship (contract) with God and Christ?
• How does a spirituality of JPIC help you reflect on the financial crisis and unfolding scandals that we hear about almost daily?

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Lectionary Reflection: Fourth Sunday of Lent

Readings:

• 2 Chronicles 36:14-16, 19-23
• Ephesians 2:4-10
• John 3:14-21

Thoughts for your consideration: by Fr. Stephen Dunn, CP

Last Sunday’s Gospel re-lived Jesus’ surprising and prophetic act of “cleansing” the Temple which had been magnificently re-built by King Herod. Today’s reading from Chronicles takes us further back in the history of the Temple. Back when its destruction triggered the Israelite Babylonian captivity. It had been laid waste because “all the princes of Judah, the priests, and the people” had become unfaithful, despite the preaching of the prophets. The author remembers one of Jeremiah’s prophetic warnings. The exile will last: “Until the land has retrieved its lost Sabbaths, during all the time it lies waste it shall have rest while seventy years are fulfilled.”

That caught my eye. The Sabbath is the day each week when the devout are focused on the worship of God. When that focus has integrity, it means refraining from work — not just human labor, but also the work of cattle and even of the soil in the fields. Even the land is not to be forced to work for human gain. So there is a great irony in Jeremiah’s prophecy: “all the time it lays waste it shall have rest”. For seventy years, the people endured slavery for their sins, but the land, though laid waste, “shall have rest”… the rest entitled to it by the Sabbath.

Since Divine creativity pervades the Universe, it is fitting to understand our Earth as, in its own way, God’s Temple. In this century, we have (or surely ought to have) great apprehension about the growing threat to this Temple, due to the severity of climate change. I remember, some years ago, a musical lament called “Song for the Earth”. It grieved over what is happening to the trees, to the air, to the animals, and very plaintively, to the Oceans. The reference to the Oceans explained the mood: “When she dies, everything dies”. Current information affirms that the dying is well underway. For us, the land of “lost Sabbaths”, the land “laid waste” is the entire planet! The author of Chronicles, however, ends his account more positively. The destruction need not be final.

As we mark the middle of Lent today, our Liturgy too, is meant to be positive, to give us courage. Today is traditionally known as “Laetare Sunday”—“Rejoice Sunday”. Can there be rejoicing for the Temple of the Earth?

Many years ago, concern for the Earth at the United Nations inspired an observance called the Eco-Sabbath. It established an interfaith project to prayerfully begin allowing the land to regain its “lost Sabbaths”, as Jeremiah had expressed it.

 John the Evangelist takes up the theme of Jeremiah’s complaint about unfaithfulness. His comment is “people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil.” But, in his conversation with Nicodemus, when Jesus describes how that can be changed, he does not suggest a punishment, such as exile. He says, simply, when people see “the Son of Man lifted up” they will be cured of their evil, just as people were cured in the desert by gazing on an uplifted serpent. What will they see when they see Jesus lifted up on the Cross? Suffering, surely, but as St. Paul declares in the reading from Ephesians, “mercy [and] great love… By grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing: it is the gift of God”. It seems so little to do in order to “raise up” the shattered Temple. We are to fix our gaze on “the gift of God”.

A recent book has discussed the implications of that kind of gaze. It urges us to look deeply at the gift in all dimensions of life, and especially of the Christ event. A shallow appreciation of gift won’t do. But a radical openness to the reality of gift can melt the life destroying tendencies that generate human destructiveness. In today’s Gospel, the Temple of Christ’s body is our major focus of gift-awareness. However we have every reason to extend this gaze of gratitude to the Temple of the Earth. The book makes that connection in its title: Gaia and Climate Change: A Theology of Gift Events.

Learning to gaze appreciatively at the gift of Earth may lead us perhaps to contemplative practices we would have avoided previously, feeling they were not overtly religious. To gaze at the Earth as a living organism (Gaia Theory) is to become astounded by the complexity of eco-systems, but especially to rejoice in their ability to weave the web of life. Together they provide the gift of life we know and enjoy as the biosphere. Cyrus was a pagan king. Nevertheless he was the catalyst to a renewal of faith among the Israelites. We have neglected the Temple of the Earth for too long. Although to some this wonder may seem merely secular, it can lead us back to religious reverence.

Abusing the Temple leads only to destruction and exile. Respect and gratitude for the Temple brings joy. Our Liturgy began: “Rejoice, Jerusalem! Be glad for her, you who love her.” This is Laetare Sunday, let us rejoice that our Biosphere is indeed God’s holy Temple.

Questions for Reflection in your Faith Sharing Group:

• How is the environmental crisis affecting you and your community? 
• How is it affecting farming or coastal communities? 
• Is the image of environmental degradation affecting your spirituality and prayer life? 
• How do your public officials respond to the issues of the environment? 
• How are you demonstrating your commitment to promoting the integrity of creation?

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Lectionary Reflection: Ash Wednesday

Readings:

• Joel 2:12-18
• 2 Corinthians 5:20—6:2
• Matthew 6:1-6,16-18

Thoughts for Your Consideration: by Fr. John Bucki, SJ.

Lent is a time to make faith real in practices which are a source of growth, life and even joy. Growth and new life are possible. It is possible to move beyond earning religious credits or spiritual merit badges to freedom, joy, justice, peace and new life. It is possible to move beyond a spirituality of showing off to a spirituality of awareness and new life for the whole community. It is possible for the whole community to be renewed with a spirit committed to the common good of all God’s people – a spirit dedicated to justice and peace.  It is possible to live a spirituality which is in touch with the real world and its problems – especially the poor. The prophet Joel calls the whole community to renewal and writes: “Even now, says the Lord, return to me with your whole heart…”

What type of “return to God” is called for this year – in our generation – in this time and place – in the midst of our world’s issues?

• Is it a call to live more simply as we deal with the realities of our economic problems?
• Is it a call to change our way of living, so we stop human activities that are destroying the earth with global warming?
• Is it an end to greed?  An end to the greedy practices that created the “sub-prime mortgage crisis” and the “financial collapse of our banking system” and the loss of jobs and income for so many people?
• Is it an end to the practices that pay executives hundreds of times more than the average worker, even when their companies are not doing well?  [In his message for Lent last year, Benedict XVI writes “According to the teaching of the Gospel, we are not owners but rather administrators of the goods we possess. … In the Gospel, Jesus explicitly admonishes the one who possesses and uses earthly riches only for self.”]
• Is it an end to the use of torture and other such practices by various governments?  An end to practices like “extraordinary rendition” or “torture by proxy?”
• Is it creating policies and practices that give all men and women access to quality health care?
• Is it bringing to an end the excess power of lobbyists and wealthy special interests in and around our government?  Is it working to be sure that the needs of ordinary people are heard by our Congress?
• Is it bringing to an end the excessive spending for war and preparation for war by our nation and almost every nation in the world?  Is it working to bring to an end the wars in the Middle East?
• Is it changing the way we live so as to respect the environment and limit our over consumption of limited resources?
• Is it becoming more reflective and prayerful as we experience our world?
• Maybe returning to God will involve moving toward putting the common good before our own good!

In his message for Lent this year, Benedict XVI reminds us that “At the beginning of Lent, which constitutes an itinerary of more intense spiritual training, the Liturgy sets before us again three penitential practices that are very dear to the biblical and Christian tradition – prayer, almsgiving, fasting – to prepare us to better celebrate Easter and thus experience God’s power that, as we shall hear in the Paschal Vigil, “dispels all evil, washes guilt away, restores lost innocence, brings mourners joy, casts out hatred, brings us peace and humbles earthly pride” (Paschal Præconium).”

For Reflection in your Faith Sharing Group:

• What kind of fasting will help you get your values in order this Lent?
• What kind of prayer will help you be more aware of those in need?
• What kind of almsgiving and good works will help you move away from selfishness?
• In May of 2000, John Paul II said, “Solidarity is learned through ‘contact’ rather than through ‘concepts,’ and should permeate the sphere of being before that of acting.”  What events have helped you to have contact with those in need?  What events during this Lenten season will help you have a healthy contact with those who are in need?

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Lectionary Reflection for February 8, 2009

Readings:

• Job 7:1-4, 6-7
• 1 Corinthians 9:16-19, 22-23
• Mark 1:29-39

 

Thoughts for your consideration:

 

The gospel of Mark depicts Jesus getting His public ministry underway in dead earnest.  In doing so, Jesus shows it “pays” to be His friend, for He does a special favor for Simon Peter.  On Simon’s behalf, He cures his mother-in-law, ill in bed.
 
Jesus is trying to gain peoples’ attention, so He decides to address a major concern of theirs, which is the presence and power of evil among them.  He realizes that most of us first prefer to handle the problems and difficulties of life, before turning our attention to procuring a better life for ourselves.  Or, to say it differently, He knows that we are free to achieve the good life only after putting behind us the bad life.  So, as He looks over the situation, He realizes that a major instance of evil in peoples’ lives, then as now, is ill health.  So He rolls up His sleeves, so to speak, and confronts this evil by curing Simon’s mother-in-law.  It worked.  By evening, the gospel recounts that word had gotten around, and a large number of townspeople gathered at Peter’s front door, with their infirm and sick.  And Jesus proceeded to stymie the inroads of this particular misery among them.
 
And He did more.  He noted another form of evil infesting their lives: demonic possession.  Following through on His conviction that eliminating evil is the best way to gain peoples’ attention, He commences to expel the demons from the possessed, further showing His mastery over the forces of evil in their lives.
 
Only after winning this initial campaign against evil does He commit Himself to the pursuit of the good: His fundamental purpose.  In this instance that amounts to time for prayer to His Heavenly Father, and for preaching the Good News He came to proclaim.

 

It is understandable why Jesus so vigorously engages the power of evil in peoples’ lives: evil is paralyzing and debilitating.  We have only to recall Job’s lament in today’s first reading: “Is not man’s life on earth a drudgery?…I have been assigned months of misery.”  Job is not a hypochondriac.  The poor man has undergone major problems.  Evil is no joke.
 
We also note St. Paul picking up on Jesus’ penchant for preaching as a favored way of promoting goodness, once the ravages of evil in peoples’ lives have been corralled.  As he explains to his Corinthian converts: “If I preach the gospel, there is no reason for me to boast, for an obligation has been imposed on me…”  These are the words we just heard at mass.
 
These reflections hint at how to go about our own Passionist vocation, whether we be vowed or lay.  Given the concern of our Constitutions with the distress (evil) people are suffering, our recent General Chapter (2005) takes its cue from Jesus by surveying the  evils facing us, and realizing “…that the power of the Cross offers us the strength to discern and to alleviate the burden of suffering experienced by the poor and the marginalized of our world.”  And it then becomes specific by citing “the ecological crisis of the world”.   We might recollect too that Abraham Lincoln, whose birthday we celebrate this week, had the gift of seeing slavery as the neuralgic evil afflicting the American society of his day, and deciding to put an end to that, before anything else.

 

We note the linkage the Chapter sees between the cross and the power of discernment.  This leads to a focus on the poor and the marginalized.  The provincial, Donald Webber, has just circulated remarks of Adolfo Lippi, CP, the scholarly provincial of the (Pieta?) province in Italy, which acknowledge the appropriateness of contemporary Passionists centering their concerns on issues of justice, peace and the integrity of creation.  And, as Jesus before him, he situates the suitability of addressing these issues through our traditional pursuit of our mainline commitments to prayer and preaching.

 

Questions for Reflection in your Faith Sharing Group:

• When in your life have you felt the need for healing or when did your community need healing? How did healing come about?
• How does our nation need healing?
• How are we being called to promote such healing?

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Lectionary Reflection for February 1, 2009

Readings:

• Deuteronomy 18:15-20
• 1 Corinthians 7:32-35
• Mark 1:21-28

Thoughts for your consideration:

This week God is asking us for our undivided attention.

 

God offers the post-exilic Jewish community an ongoing prophetic tradition. However he warns them that a prophet is not infallible. If the prophet is committed to God alone then his prophesies will be credible and true. Any prophet who is divided in his commitments will deliver false prophesies that will not come to pass.

 

The Prophet Micah sheds light on these false prophets “Thus says the Lord regarding the prophets who lead my people astray; who when their teeth have something to bite, announce peace, but when one fails to put something in their mouth, proclaim war against him. Therefore you shall have night, not vision, darkness, not divination.” – Micah 3: 5-6

 

Moses and Micah warn against prophets who are corrupted by riches. Paul is nervous that his early Christian community could be corrupted by their short sighted marital obligation. Jesus is outright angry at the evil influence that has corrupted a poor soul. In each case the ultimate spiritual and social purpose of humanity is being compromised by overpowering temptations.

 

While we may not have a prophetic industry in our modern society we do have organizations and think tanks that fulfill a similar function but with a more scientific approach.  Some think tanks follow certain ideologies. Others monitor certain data or gauges. On the other hand many religious communities and organizations, including the Catholic Church, offer social analysis through theological reflections based on our spirituality.

 

In 2002 many Christian organizations advocated for greater diplomacy in foreign policies. They also advocated for better regulation of financial institutions because of the unsustainable nature of the global economy. As Christians we advocated for carbon regulations and renewable energy because our environment was becoming unsustainable. The Catholic Church prophetically spoke on all these issues. Yet think tanks that had other social priorities outweighed us. Today we live with the repercussion of short sighted policies that were developed for material or corrupt purposes versus a divine vision to promote the common good.

 

Now the economic, political and environmental system is being shaken to its core. Many of us seem to be willing to consider a more holistic vision for our common purpose. The Church and its religious communities continue to function as modern day prophets by advocating for policies based on Christian social principles. These promote the dignity of all humanity, address the common good, and engage in global solidarity and caring for God’s creation.

 

However this time we would like to ask you for your undivided attention.

 

Questions for Reflection in your Faith Sharing Group:

• Think about some of the think tanks or organizations that you pay attention to, what is the mission or ultimate value for that organization?
  
• Is that value consistent with your Christian faith and the social teachings of your church?
• Are you aware of Christian organizations that provide analysis on social issues?

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Lectionary Reflection for January 18, 2009

Readings:
1 Samuel 3:3-10, 19
1 Corinthians 6:13-15, 17-20
John 1:35-42

Thoughts for Your Consideration:

This week’s readings offer us two interrelated themes: the call and the temple. The first reading sets these two themes together with Samuel’s experience of being called while he is serving in the temple. Samuel’s experience seems unique but in some ways it reflects something many of us can relate with. Just as God is calling Samuel, we as Christians know that God, through Christ, also calls us to service. Like Samuel many of us feel confused by this call and many times we assume that this call must be coming from the familiar sources that are calling us to the typical responsibilities and tasks that we are used to following. However Samuel, with Eli’s guidance, opens himself to the service of something greater. But as the story continues, Samuel becomes aware of how challenging it is be at the service of God and at first Samuel does not know how to respond to the challenging prophesies that God is imparting on him.

 

God calls Samuel to a prophetic ministry beyond his duties to the Temple building. In fact this first prophetic wisdom that God shares with Samuel is directly related to the unjust actions of Eli’s sons. They not only defile themselves in their own personal lives but they are defiling the community by their own corrupt practices. Paul’s letter which reflects on the image of our body as temple helps us to understand the sacred dignity of the human person by describing it as a temple. How we treat and respect ourselves and others is the priority for God with Israel, The early Christian community, and indeed the whole of creation.

 

The Gospel reading demonstrates this priority. John, being a prophet, is aware of Jesus and his sacred mission. As he identifies the “Lamb of God” two of his own disciples go forth to follow Jesus although at first we get a sense that they are not sure what they are in for. They curiously ask him “where are you staying?” and Jesus gives the simple response “Come and see.” As we know from the rest of the gospels Jesus does not settle himself in the Temple or any one particular synagogue or house. Throughout his ministry Jesus centers himself with the suffering human community. He preaches the good news to many who are suffering from an empty existence. He heals those who suffer every form of physical or mental condition, he raises the dead, he protects those who are marginalized and at every step he promotes the peaceful unity of the human community. This then is the temple that Jesus is rebuilding. The ultimate temple of God becomes a sacred creation that is living in justice and peace. And this is what we as disciples are called to establish.

 

How shall we respond to this call? As Paul reminds us we begin by looking at ourselves. If we do not respect our own scared dignity as being “members of Christ” then how can we possibly begin to respect the true dignity of the rest of humanity and creation? This ought to be a humbling exercise. In discovering our own relationship to the mystical body we also become aware of the other members of the body. While this will call us to appreciate our freedom and rights it will also call us to be engaged in the struggles and issues of the world. It is a call to engage in the social and political issues of our time. It is a call to ask questions and search for answers. It is a call to be part of the global human community. It is a call to create structures of justice and peace and to celebrate the integrity of all creation.

Questions for Reflection in your Faith Sharing Group:

• When have you experienced a call from God?
• When and how did this call involve a concern for peace and justice in our world?
• What call do you hear for our nation as a new administration takes over?
• What Christian values must we focus on as a nation?
  

Please share any comments or thoughts you may have on this reflection.

Peace,

John

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