Tag Archives: First Epistle to the Corinthians

An Attitude of Gratitude

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Click here for today’s Scripture readings.

Is 63:16b-17, 19b; 64:2-7
1 Cor 1:3-9
Mk 13:33-37

A number of years ago I read a novel about a young woman growing in the Canadian Prairies. She lived in a totally dysfunctional family and attended a totally dysfunctional church. Her social life was a mess. Yet in the midst of all this mess she made this amazing statement; ‘my life is an embarrassment of blessing.’ I think St. Paul had that same conviction, and for good reason. From his experience on the road to Damascus he knew he was gifted by Christ to bring the good news to the Gentiles.  He would honestly say of himself, “by God’s grace/gift I am what I am and God’s grace/gift has not been in vain. Paul knew he did not deserve he did not earn the love and grace of Christ. He never forgot that he had persecuted the followers of Christ. Yet Paul was gifted with this deep relationship with Christ.

Whatever happened to the attitude of gratitude? What ever happened to the word ‘thanks’? Have you ever held a door open for a person and they walk right through and don’t even give you the time of day? It’s annoying. People feel entitled to such things. Maybe we feel entitled to such things as good health, good sight, the ability to hear and see, the ability to mobility. Do we ever see these ordinary activities as gifts, gifts for which we should be thankful?

In this season of Advent do we ever stop to thank God for sending His Son into the world, not to condemn the world but to embrace our humanity? Are we grateful for the greatest gift of all, Emmanuel, God with us?

- Father Paul Cusack, C.P. is the pastor of St. Gabriel Passionist Parish in Toronto, Canada.

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The Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary

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Giotto's Birth of Mary in the Scrovegni Chapel...

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Click here for today’s Scripture readings.

Micah 5:1-4a or
Romans 8:28-30
Matthew 1:1-16, 18-23

The Dawn of a Perfect Day

The birth of every child renews hope that the world can become all that God wishes it to be. The birth of some children, it seems, makes the fulfillment of that hope even more possible. But always there remains one important factor without which even the most promising children will not realize the hope we place in them. They must embrace that hope generously even at the cost of great personal sacrifice.

The day on which Mary was born probably seemed quite like any other day for the people of the little hill town of Nazareth just north of the famous Highway to the Sea. Exotic caravans of merchants passed by there from Damascus to the Mediterranean coast, then south to Egypt. Nazareth was close by, but definitely not in the fast lane of life in that part of the world.

Mary was born in relative obscurity by today’s celebrity standards. Yet, in God’s providence, her birth was the dawn of a new era. “Mary the Dawn, Christ the perfect day.”

Her parents certainly must have had much joy at her birth, and a renewal of their hope in God whom they loved faithfully. They could not know for certain that first day of her life, but she would indeed live up to and even surpass their hope. The day would come, still early in Mary’s life, when she would generously say to the angelic visitor, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. Let it be done to me according to your word” (Luke 1:38).

Over the centuries, this much beloved birthday of Mary has become special in different ways. Some communities of religious women invite new candidates to begin their formal life in community on this date. More personally, I was by the side of my mother as she passed away peacefully at 10 AM ten years ago today, just days before the terror of 9/11, which has thrust all of us into a new era of challenge.

May the feast of Mary, which we celebrate today, remind us again of the hope we have through her Son because she said “Yes,” even while not knowing what cost it might require of her. Today we reaffirm our faith that Christ is the light which scatters the darkness of our world still walking in darkness in many ways.

(Father Paul Zilonka, C.P. is a member of the Passionist Preaching Team of St. Paul of the Cross Province).

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The Holy Spirit Comes Everyday

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Acts 2:1-11
1 Cor 12:3b-7, 12-13
Jn 20:19-23

I used to picture Pentecost as a dramatic, unrepeatable experience. The scriptures describe strong winds and tongues of fire coming upon the disciples of Jesus in the Upper Room,  the Cenacle,  fifty days after the resurrection of Jesus,  filling them with energy and joy.

Then, immediately, confidently, filled with new knowledge and new words they preached the gospel to people from the ends of the earth.

Certainly, the Holy Spirit gave them a burst of new enthusiasm that day.  We marvel–as their listeners once did– how these ordinary Galileans were transformed by the gifts they were given.   Peter eventually made it to Rome. John may have gotten to Ephesus in Asia Minor. Maybe Thomas got to India. Inspired by the Holy Spirit, “their message went out to all the earth.” Transformed, they began a universal church centered on Jesus Christ.

But, like the other mysteries of our faith, Pentecost is repeatable, on-going.  It’s not one burst of enthusiasm, a jump-start never to happen again. Maybe we experience no strong wind or tongues of fire, but the Holy Spirit comes to us too, maybe in quieter ways.

Behind the Chair of St. Peter in the Vatican Basilica, the artist Bernini, created a beautiful alabaster window where a steady light pours into the dark church through the image of the Holy Spirit,  in the hovering form of a dove.

Day by day, the light comes quietly through the window. Day by day, the Holy Spirit dispenses light for the moment, graces for the world that is now. As Jesus promised, the Holy Spirit dwells with us.

“Lord, send out your Spirit and renew the face of the earth…Come, Holy Spirit, and fill our hearts with the fire of your love.”

Fr. Victor Hoagland, CP is the Director of Passionist Press and a member of the Passionist Community in Union City, NJ.

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