A Passionist Blog

Once we have faithfully supplied what little we can to feed our lamp, then we can “sleep” with confidence that our Father will provide for us in the midst of our weakness.

“You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind … you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” But what exactly is love?

God can and does make use of everything and everyone in accomplishing His loving Will! St. Paul of the Cross often exhorted his spiritual directees to “take everything directly from the hands of a loving God.” Even in adverse circumstances, He is working for our good!

The First Reading from Ezekiel and the Gospel from Matthew have the same overarching message: God sees us as we are, not as we were.

The Apostles themselves are certainly the first “laborers in the vineyard,” yet they must not for that reason consider themselves superior. They must, rather, be prepared to rejoice in God’s equal generosity with those who are not called to such strenuous labors on behalf of the Kingdom of God.

Writing as he is to potential martyrs, the Apostle wants to instill in them – and in us! – what the saints have often called “holy indifference.” That is, we can be at peace and even joyful in both good and bad circumstances, since we see in all of them the will of our Heavenly Father Whom we trust with all our hearts.

It is the Passionists’ particular mission in the Church, as well as our great joy, to teach people in our deeply wounded world how their pain has meaning when united with the Passion of Christ

“The gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” On the one hand, this could be seen as an assurance that the Church will have impregnable defenses against the Evil One. In the other hand, it could mean that the powers of darkness will be unable to resist when the Church goes on the offense!

“It is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs.” What on earth could have prompted Jesus to respond in such an uncharacteristic fashion?

At first glance, St. Peter’s “bid me come to You on the water” in today’s Gospel seems like a crazy request. Should he, storm-tossed and terrified, be asking to leave behind the last scrap of safety he has by stepping out of the boat?

Not only are we searching for God, but He is searching for us! And if we “sell everything we have” to embrace the Kingdom, it is only because He first “sold everything” in the Incarnation and Redemption to purchase the priceless “pearl” that is each human soul!

The complexity of the human heart means that our ability and willingness to receive the Word vary tremendously.

At first glance, today’s readings can seem a bit intimidating – persecution, betrayal, fear, and “fiery Gehenna!” A closer look, however, reveals some beautiful lessons about how to endure suffering in this life with peace and even joy.

This Sunday we celebrated the most central and yet hardest-to-grasp mystery of our Christian faith: the Holy Trinity. This inner secret of the life of God, though only revealed in its fullness through Christ, is foreshadowed in many hidden ways even in the Old Testament.