• Genesis 12:1-4. Abraham is promised to be a great nation and a model of blessings for all nations if he obediently goes forth “to a land that I will show you.”
• 2 Timothy 1:8-10. Not by our own merits but by the grace in Christ Jesus has God saved us. Therefore, we ought to bear our share of the hardships which the gospel entails.
• Matthew 17:1-9. Jesus, wondrously transfigured, is joined by Moses and Elijah; a voice out of the clouds says: “This is my beloved Son on whom my favor rests. Listen to him.”

Thoughts for your consideration:

The Good News of Jesus Christ is to spread the love that God has for all humanity. Jesus demonstrated God’s love in word and deed to all who suffered every malady and hardship. In accepting God’s love we are also invited to share that same love to all of God’s people. By word and deed we must also offer the radical love that Jesus had in feeding the hungry, healing the sick, preaching peace, and forgiving all who sin against us. This is the “hardship for the gospel” that St. Paul describes in the second reading for this weekend. The hardship can seem unbearable and indeed it is but for “the strength that comes from God.” In the second reading St. Paul shares his own witness of the risen Christ as a glorious reminder that through Christ comes the promise that death is defeated and immortality is achieved. This is the promise that gives fuel for the early Christians to live a countercultural lifestyle and to face the persecution that so many of them faced.

The first reading and the gospel passage both offer an epiphany moment to Abraham and the disciples of Jesus that gives them great hope in a divine promise that will bring fulfillment to a hardship that they must bear. For Abraham he is being asked to uproot himself in his old age to a foreign land with the unlikely promise that he will be a great nation. In the gospel passage Jesus just predicts his passion and death and then goes on to tell his disciples that they too must carry their own cross. The disciples may have had second thoughts with regards to the messianic mission of Christ so he takes the three leaders of the early church and offers them a secret epiphany moment through the transfiguration.

Our Christian duty is to continue this tradition of demonstrating God’s great love to all people by word and deed. We face different challenges than either Abraham or the Apostles but the gospel message is as countercultural today as it was back then and our prophetic message will still create amazing hardships for many of us. Preaching social policies that address life, hunger and healthcare to a highly individualistic and competitive market society will not bring us social popularity. We may not be persecuted outright but many of us can feel marginalized or even ridiculed when we preach a policy of peace and nonviolence. Just like Abraham and the Apostle we need these epiphany moments that God gives us to give us strength and fortitude to continue the mission of Jesus as we dare to share God’s great love with one another.

Many of us can attest to having either visions or inspirational moments where we become aware of God’s presence in our lives and experience a sense of recollection. They may not be cosmic events such what the Apostles witnessed but they are moments, sometimes fleeting, where we feel a sense of peace and purpose. These moments will come to us periodically through moments of prayer and reflection. Some have shared with me personal visions that they have had, for my part I can attest to inspirations that usually accompany a spiritual reading or a fervent prayer. The point is not to get hung up on these moments, like Peter tried to do in the gospel passage, but to allow ourselves to be transfigured during those moments so that our own faith in God is nourished as we face the hardships that we are called to. In this way we will collaborate with God in fulfilling a divine purpose and not our own self-interest. For that reason it is often suggested that we have a spiritual director who can help us with counsel and resources to have a balanced spiritual life and to help us discern these inspirations or visions such as they are. The founder of the Passionist community, St. Paul of the Cross, offered spiritual direction to many lay men and women as well as clergy and religious. In one letter written in 1735 he gave this important counsel regarding the difference between holy and unholy inspirations.                

“The things of God, his gifts, bring a great knowledge of his Infinite Majesty and a great knowledge of one’s own nothingness… The things of God cause a great detachment from everything, a great love of the cross and of suffering, a great acceptance of everything that is not sin, and exact obedience. They cause a great peace and heavenly understanding. They bring on a great inclination to holy prayer…

The work of the devil, on the contrary, at the beginning may bring some peace and devotion, but it does not last. They principally generate a secret presumption and opinion that one is important, and bring on, if not immediately, at least after a time, perturbation of spirit, arousal of the passions, stubbornness of mind and one’s opinions.”

God gives us moments of transfigurations where he offers us a sense of the divine mystery and a purpose for the countercultural hardship that we will face in preaching the Good News. St. Paul of the Cross suggests that we should be humbled by such an experience and open towards offering a compassionate love to a suffering world. But if our inspirations drive us to opinionated stubbornness and a false sense of preeminence then we need to keep those self-inflating desires in check. We cannot hope to demonstrate God’s great love to the world if we do not allow ourselves to be open to His own transforming influence in our own lives.

St. Paul of the Cross, the founder of the Passionist Community, experienced a time of great social upheaval and turbulence. Europe had just stemmed the tide of the Turkish war which threatened the continent at the Battle of Vienna. The Protestant and Catholic division continued to disrupt European stability. The old aristocratic order was being attacked by the emerging systems of nationalism. Several philosophies attempted to make sense of this new European reality from John Locke’s liberalism to Edmund Burke’s conservatism. And yet, amongst all this activity and development, the poor were in large parts ignored and left to focus on their own survival and left with few options like thievery or brigandry.

Like his philosophical contemporaries St. Paul of the Cross recognized that one of the fundamental problems affecting his turbulent times was a lack of meaningful existence. Unlike his contemporaries Paul did not believe that the emerging social meaning had to come from outside the traditional Christian faith. Rather, as the above quote suggest, Paul believed that the greatest of personal and social messages was in the mystery of the Passion. What better message of empathy could there be to a world steeped in the midst of suffering then the message of the suffering servant. With the powerful meaning that this message could convey one could understand Pope Benedict XIV enthusiasm in making the supportive comment, “This Congregation of the Passion of Jesus Christ should have been the first to be founded and it has arrived at last.”

St. Paul of the Cross did not deny the immense suffering that was afflicting his world. In his massive correspondence we catch a glimpse of the numerous forms of personal and social suffering that he ministers to as a spiritual companion. For Paul one of the great problems of his world is that with all the suffering that was being experienced and the naturally imperfect condition of humanity, especially in its lack of humility, there was a growing tendency towards human arrogance, unbridled anger, and violence. People and society needed to come to an understanding of their suffering and find meaning in what they were experiencing. St. Paul of the Cross, like St. Paul the Apostle, believed that in understanding the suffering of this world through the prism of the Passion would condition humanity towards a compassionate love for one another rather than the antagonistic hate that prevailed. In that sense he would accomplish what St. Paul the Apostle wrote in his letter to the Romans “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”

St. Paul of the Cross is well known historically as a mystic and a preacher of the Passion. However another point of his life that should be emphasized is his focus on the poor and marginalized. He wanted his community to minister to the poor and marginalized people who lived in the malaria infected regions of Italy known as the Maremma. He undertook a number of direct service ministries including as a hospital chaplain. We also know that during the Austrian-Spanish battle at Orbetello around the late 1730’s St. Paul of the Cross and his early community tended to the soldiers from both sides and as he developed a trusting relationship with both armies he participated with the negotiation of a truce between the two armies. This truce spared the city from a naval bombardment. As a result the city helped St. Paul of the Cross build his first retreat.

In his vast correspondence one can see St. Paul’s orientation towards the “preferential option for the poor.” He used to say “Look at the poor, there you will find the name of Jesus Christ written on their foreheads.” In fact during his early design for a religious community he initially went with the name “the poor of Jesus.” While the community eventually became known as the Passionist this exhortation to be with the poor always remained as a part of his mission.

Following the teaching of the Prince of the Apostles, and that before everything else holy charity may flourish in the Congregation, especially toward the poor sick, we ordain that these are to be cared for with all charitable attention to the extant that our poverty permits. May 20 1775; letter to the Passionist Religious

We ought to be grateful and correspond to his divine benefits by loving justice, truth, and exercising charity and the works of mercy towards our neighbor, especially to the poor. December 26 1772; letter to a gentleman

As the preaching fame of St. Paul of the Cross developed the founder found himself traveling throughout Italy preaching missions wherever he went. There are a number of testimonies that discuss how he integrated this justice for the poor. One amazing example of this is offered by his own biographer St. Vincent Strambi, CP.

As this true disciple of his Divine Master, all love and charity, could not do alone what he wished for the poor, he labored in their favor as much as he could, making use of the opportunities that the giving of holy missions and similar employments afforded him. On one occasion, when Father Paul was giving the exercises publicly in a city in 1759, he found out that the poor were in distress because they were obliged to pay back the loan of wheat received for their nourishment during the past winter from the public deposit, without having the means of repaying it, as the harvest had been very scanty that year. The law was just going to be carried into effect against them, and the poor creatures were reduced to extreme distress. Father Paul, moved with compassion for them and their misery, recommended so earnestly and forcibly from the platform to those gentlemen that governed this public office to grant some delay. Showing so tender and cordial a compassion, he moved the hearts of the Vice President and all the gentlemen who had anything to do with the affair, and obtained that payment should not be called for until the following year, to the universal consolation of the poor. He grieved deeply when the poor were abandoned.

Here we witness St. Paul of the Cross applying the scriptural mandate for debt relief to a community that was suffering from the social calamity of an arduous debt crisis. This example along with his mediation of the battle at Orbetello and his constant advocacy towards the poor demonstrates how he saw his mystical spirituality resonate with his own social responsibility. On October 18, 1775 St. Paul of the Cross passed on from this world and was canonized a saint in 1867. As we take the time to celebrate the feast of St. Paul of the Cross let us also remind ourselves of the social as well as spiritual implications of his inspiring mysticism.

2000 years later we seemed quite removed from this message of hope and this spirituality of finding meaning in suffering. If anything we seem to avoid suffering altogether and look for ways of escaping the great challenges that suffering poses. Instead of looking for authentic healing we choose to overmedicate ourselves. Instead of being reflective and honest with ourselves we escape through substance abuse or isolation. Instead of dealing with the interpersonal challenges of relationships and families we retreat to the safety of virtual social networks. Instead of addressing the social needs of one another we fight for our own self-interest and refuse to support any social services.

Suffering is brutal and painful and it is almost impossible to make sense of intense suffering that in many cases seems very meaningless. It is a daunting task to ask anyone to truly engage with their own suffering. And yet, for those of us who are Christians, a symbol of intense suffering continuous to be the central image in our lives. That is because at the heart of our spirituality is the concept that God loves us with such great intensity that he shared in our suffering through Christ to demonstrate how the power of God’s love can overcome even death itself. For members of the Passionist family this is not merely an historical exercise. It is our fundamental belief that God continues to be present in all the personal and social pains that the world experiences. If we allow God to guide us through we will find a moment of grace in the trials and tribulations we face throughout our lives.

Apparently St. Paul of the Cross was able to capture meaning of the suffering to the people he corresponded with. In almost every case his message was that their suffering was a spiritual moment for growth and change. His ultimate doctrine of suffering which in his correspondence he called the “science of the saints” is that it is in suffering that one has the chance to experience extreme humility in the knowledge that ultimately the suffering person is not in complete control of their ultimate destiny. Through this humbling moment the person has a chance to let go of their own pride and surrender themselves to the “Supreme Good” who alone could offer a redemptive value to their painful experience. Here are some excerpts from St. Paul of the Cross’ correspondence on this subject.

…The Sovereign, Infinite Good has drawn you to the state in which you find yourself, that is, to a naked suffering and a satisfaction in being deprived of joy, to a love stripped of happiness, so that your soul, utterly deprived of satisfaction, places its satisfaction in uniting itself to the Good Pleasure of the great Heavenly Father, who is the satisfaction of our satisfactions. -1743

Truly these little sufferings both of body and soul are the first steps of that high and holy ladder by which great and generous souls ascend. Step by step they climb to the top where they find pure suffering, devoid of consolation either in heaven or on earth. If they are faithful in not seeking comfort from creatures, then from this pure suffering they arrive at the pure unadulterated love of God. - 1736

In these quotes St. Paul of the Cross indicates that suffering, whether physical, emotional or spiritual, can guide us towards a fulfilling life where we submit to the author of creation. Having emptied ourselves of our own need to control and define who we are we would then be filled with a great mystical sense of love and unity. This journey however is painful on many levels, especially in that ultimately we must let go of everything we hold dear (family, social standing, materiel goods, security etc.)

Although we don’t know how this message or consolation was received by those who where spiritually directed by St. Paul of the Cross the testament of his ever increasing correspondence and mystical fame towards the end of his life suggests that this healing message was well received. In today’s day and age it does not seem like people will be as receptive to this message. We live in a very ego-centric society and its appreciation towards elements of mysticism and the patience that it demands seem out of the social norm. Not to mention that the very idea of letting go has become counter cultural.

Yet contemporary writers remind us that this message is all the more needed today because it offers meaning to the very element that dominates our reality but which we, because of our social values, choose to ignore. That element of course is suffering, an element that all humanity at one time or another faces. When we can value the meaning of our own suffering we begin to value the various sufferings that the rest of the human family undergoes. In the Catholic ministry of promoting social justice the Passionist spirituality of redemtive suffering lends itself as a critical lens for promoting authentic human development. That is because in our own journey with personal and social suffering we develop an ethic of compassion where we can relate with our suffering human family through our own empathic response to the suffering that they are undergoing.  Here are three contemporary perspectives that touch on this point.

The work to relieve suffering and to deliver people from it is critically important and receives full emphasis of Jesus. But it is not the primary. First live openly, live to receive and to give, live so that you do not have to identify yourself in terms of what you are and have and do over against others, live by sharing even the agonies of suffering. When the separative walls are removed, when we have learned to suffer with and to let our commitment to others be stronger than our fear of affliction, then we may give our help with love and not out of fear. Then the passion of Jesus shapes and guides our own existence.  -Dr. Arthur McGill, Human Suffering and the Passion of Christ 

“Is it at all possible to understand the desire for suffering and the yearning for even more suffering? I think that it is possible only in conjunction with the other basic Christian concept, compassio (suffering with Christ and all who suffer). Mystical love for God makes us open to God’s absence: the senseless, spiritless suffering that separates humans from all that makes life. The privation and eclipse of God ought at least to be felt and suffered. The nausea caused by this world of injustice and violence ought at least to be perceptible; it ought to increase to the point of physical vomiting, as it is told about Catherine of Siena to Simone Weil. That kind of nausea is an experience of compassio. John of the Cross says that “the suffering for the neighbor grows the more the soul unites itself through love with God.” - Dorothee Soelle, The Silent Cry 

The true measure of humanity is essentially determined in relationship to suffering and to the sufferer. This holds true both for the individual and for society. A society unable to accept its suffering members and incapable of helping to share their suffering and to bear it inwardly through “com-passion” is a cruel and inhuman society.

… The Christian faith has shown us that truth, justice and love are not simply ideals, but enormously weighty realities. It has shown us that God —Truth and Love in person—desired to suffer for us and with us. Bernard of Clairvaux coined the marvellous expression: Impassibilis est Deus, sed non incompassibilis —God cannot suffer, but he can suffer with. Man is worth so much to God that he himself became man in order to suffer with man in an utterly real way—in flesh and blood—as is revealed to us in the account of Jesus’s Passion. Hence in all human suffering we are joined by one who experiences and carries that suffering with us; hence con-solatio is present in all suffering, the consolation of God’s compassionate love—and so the star of hope rises.  - Pope Benedict XVI, Spe Salvi

Considering these reflections and the Passionist spirituality how do this help us in quest for finding meaning in the suffering of the human community?

• Habakkuk 1:2-3; 2:2-4. To the prophet’s questioning about the success of the wicked, God finaly replies that the just person lives by faith.
• 2 Timothy 1:6-8, 13-14. Stir Into flame the grace given to you. It is no cowardly spirit. Guard the rich deposit of faith.
• Luke 17:5-10. The apostles pray, “Lord, increase our faith.” Faith Jesus replies, can remove mountains. Yet when you have done all that is commanded, say, “We are useless servants.”

Thoughts for your Consideration: By John Gonzalez

This Sunday’s lectionary readings instruct us on the concept of faith. Faith is absolutely vital. With Christianity, as with all the great religious traditions, we are grasping at Divine mysteries and revelation. Unlike empirical observation we cannot come to an absolute awareness of these mysteries through the scientific method. Moments in human history occur where the Divine breaks into our reality and the guidance we receive from this revelation gives us hope for a better and more meaningful future. We rightfully engage our best reasoning to try to understand what took place; this after all is what the study of theology is about. But in the end, we are left with mystery and for us to make the final leap will ultimately take faith.

As a child I was highly influenced by the Star Wars saga and especially with the mystical beings known as the Jedi. I remember hearing this Gospel passage about having the faith to move mountains and somehow equating faith with the mystical element in Star Wars known as “The Force.” Through “the force” the Jedi had amazing supernatural powers. They could levitate, move objects with their thoughts, and have superhuman reflexes. For whatever reason I thought that Jesus was inferring that this fictional ability was possible. I suppose I desperately wanted to believe that it was possible and being a 5 year old when the movies first came out the lines between reality and imagination where still a bit blurry. So there I was, with a glass of juice at the other end of the room, and with my arm outstretched trying use faith to bring the glass to me. As you can imagine that did not work, but it began my journey of wonderment about faith. 

Part of this journey is to question faith. The prophet Habakkuk is full of questions to God with regard to faith. Why should he believe in a just God when injustice is all around? God advises Habakkuk to have patience. The great truth is that “the just man, because of faith, shall live.” We need to put aside our expectations of justice and eternal life and simply accept with faith that by living a just life we will attain a meaningful existence that we will share with God and all creation. “If it delays, wait for it.”

Paul reminds us of the power of our faith. We are instructed to pray to the Holy Spirit for the strength and courage to grow in our faith in Christ and love for one another. Faith is a gift that we cannot measure or in any way quantify but its power is strong. Jesus affirms the power of faith in his metaphor of the mustard seed.   

But then one could continue asking the questions like Habakkuk and wonder, how does this faith work? It is great that faith is strong and true but how do I go about relating to and growing in faith? 

Jesus responds to this by offering the attitude of the servant. Faith is a power, but it is not our power. Unlike the Jedi of Star Wars we cannot wield it as a supernatural weapon for our own use. We may all have our own will, passions and desires but as there is one creator for the universe there can only be one Divine Will that is guiding this universe. Faith is at the service of God and it functions in a way that is consistent with His plan for creation. Faith becomes the power that brings us into alignment with Him who is the Master of all, and once we shed our own individual will and self-interest we will become servants who can participate with the power of faith to bring about the salvific justice that God promises Habakkuk.

St. Paul of the Cross, our Passionist founder and mystic, was a great spiritual instructor of faith. His spiritual direction led people towards a journey where they would leave behind their own self interest for the great mystical union in which, through our faith, we become one with God, “the Infinite All”

What is the evil wild beast if not self-love, love of one’s ease and above all, that pride and the high concept of self that destroys every good, while knowledge of one’s own nothingness is the foundation stone of the other virtues?…Therefore, you should be growing in your knowledge of your own nothingness, in order to have it disappear in the Infinite All.   

So faith will not give me the power to levitate a glass of juice from one end of the room to the other since that action is not at the service of God. Leaving behind my own petty desires I struggle to serve the great and “Infinite All” and to participate with good people all over the world who serve the Gospel and help bring about the Kingdom of God.

Through faith I can serve God in bringing about the justice of right relationship and calling all members of the human community to live in peace and respect the integrity of all creation.

• Ecclesiastes 1:2; 2:21-23. Vanity of vanities! All things are vanity! For what profit are all the toil and anxiety of heart?
• Colossians 3:1-5, 9-11. Set your heart on what pertains to higher realms. Your life is hidden with Christ in God. You are formed anew in the image of the Creator.
• Luke 12:13-21. Possessions do not guarantee life. Grow rich in the sight of God. Avoid greed in all its forms.

Thought for your Reflection: By John Gonzalez

Scripture is consistent in its stance against greed and all forms of self-indulgence. In today’s readings and especially in the Gospel we are presented with a very strong case against the hoarding of possessions. But what struck me as curious when I read the Gospel for this Sunday is the specific case that was brought to Jesus’ attention which launched his exhortation against greed. In this case a person in the crowd does not seem to be making a greedy petition. Instead he is asking Jesus to advocate for a fair and balanced distribution. Jesus rejects the case as a symptom of greed.

Many of us who work on issues of economic justice are usually in favor of regulations or some methods of systemic economic redistribution. We don’t advocate for this because we believe that if everyone had their fair share that all would be right with the world, that solution would be a bit simplistic. We advocate for policies of economic justice because everyone has the right to a basic and sustainable lifestyle and because people should have the opportunity to develop their potential without economic impediment. But the challenge of this week’s readings is not to advocate against greed and self interest in favor of a plan for economic redistribution. This will miss the point completely. The challenge is to face a basic human attitude that corrupts us all. The extent of one’s greed is not always measured by how much one possesses. It is an attitude of self centeredness that transcends the measure of our possessions. As some say, “it is not how much you have, but what you do with it that counts.”    

In the first reading the philosopher Qoheleth uses the mantra “vanity of vanities… all things are vanity” as an exhortation to moderation in this life. Focusing your efforts on any of the glories of this world is a vain effort. In this week’s reading Qoheleth critiques financial profit as a vain effort but throughout his twelve chapters he also critiques pleasure seeking, pursuit of wisdom, retribution and justice, as vain efforts as well. If we are to focus our single attention on any of these then we will commit ourselves to an unfulfilled life. Ecclesiastes ends by telling us “the last word, when all is heard: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is man’s all.”

In the second reading Paul continues to emphasis this ultimate goal within a Christological framework. “If then you were raised with Christ, seek what is above… Put to death then, the parts of you that are earthly.” This is the attitude adjustment that Jesus is requesting of us in the Gospel reading. To put aside our own desire and will for earthly riches whatever they may be. Christians like other people of faith believe that there is a higher power and we humbly accept the fact that we are not the highest order of creation. In pursuing the ultimate goal for our humanity we are attepmting to integrate our lives with the Divine Will which will give us the greatest meaning and purpose to our existence.

Passionist founder and mystic St. Paul of the Cross centered his spirituality on the element of mystically dying to oneself in the way that St. Paul the Apostle presents it to us in the second reading for this week. In a spiritual direction he gave in 1752 St. Paul of the Cross says:  

Why not leave the care of everything to the blessed God. Why not allow these anxieties and these fears to disappear in the fire of divine charity where they will be quickly annihilated? Why not live abandoned and reposed as a baby on the bosom of the Heavenly Father, feeding yourself entirely on his Divine Will and leaving to him the care of everything? Do you believe that you have to make the foundation by your force of arms? Either God wills it or he does not will it. If he wills it, all the world and all of hell are unable to block it. If he does not will it, and all the world struggles to force it, nothing will happen. Or if something comes out of it, it will be building on sand and quickly be brought to earth. Who can resist the Will of God?

This selection is not a call for us to be passive. Instead, along with the readings for this weekend, we are challenged to focus our orientation on a greater vision that is beyond our own self-interest. We each have our own possessions, gifts and responsibilities. Rather than comparing what we have and competing with our neighbors we are called to use our resources to build up a world based on the love that God has for us all and a love which we are asked to freely give to one another. This is God’s will and our ultimate purpose.    

Economic Justice is very much a part of the Christian social agenda, however true justice will not be addressed merely with policies of economic redistribution. For us Christians justice flows from an attitude that is based on love. It is an attitude of self giving and self sacrifice for the sake not of our own will and desire but for the universal Divine Will that calls us into an intimate and shared union with all humanity and creation.  As St. Paul the Apostle tells us this week, “[you] have put on the new self, which is being renewed, for knowledge, in the image of its creator.”

The mainstream Christian Churches have not sat idly in the midst of this development and debate. Many churches including the Catholic Church have gone on to offer positions and to integrate these positions within the official teachings of the Church. In Catholic Social Teaching the principle of being good stewards of creation or promoting the integrity of creation has been developed as a foundation to base the Church’s stance on the environmental issues of our day. The Catholic Catechism has this to say on the topic of the moral imperative to respect the integrity of creation:  

The seventh commandment enjoins respect for the integrity of creation. Animals, like plants and inanimate beings, are by nature destined for the common good of past, present, and future humanity. Use of the mineral, vegetable, and animal resources of the universe cannot be divorced from respect for moral imperatives. Catechism #2415

While many Christian churches have turned to scripture to examine their position with regards to the environment the Catholic Church has the added benefit of having a tradition of natural theology. Early Catholic theologians have positioned that the natural world also reveals the moral principles and the Divine purpose of our lives. This of course is attributed to the fact that creation comes from God and that it serves the ultimate good. In the Eastern tradition St. Basil the Great tells us:

 I want creation to penetrate you with so much admiration that wherever you go, the least plant may bring you the clear remembrance of the Creator. …One blade of grass or one speck of dust is enough to occupy your entire mind in beholding the art with which it has been made. … The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof. O God, enlarge within us the sense of fellowship with all living things, even our brothers, the animals, to whom Thou gavest the earth as their home in common with us. …We remember with shame that in the past we have exercised the high dominion of man with ruthless cruelty so that the voice of the earth, which should have gone up to thee in song, has been a groan of pain. May we realize that they live, not for us alone, but for themselves and for Thee and that they love the sweetness of life.

St. John of Damascus clarifies the object of our worship within our respect for creation:

The whole earth is a living icon of the face of God. … I do not worship matter. I worship the Creator of matter who became matter for my sake, who willed to take His abode in matter, who worked out my salvation through matter. Never will I cease honoring the matter which wrought my salvation! I honor it, but not as God. Because of this I salute all remaining matter with reverence, because God has filled it with his grace and power. Through it my salvation has come to me.

The Western Medieval tradition continued to accept this natural tradition. In the works of mystical spirituality we have the teaching of St. Hildegard of Bingen who boldly said:

Do not mock anything God has created. All creation is simple, plain and good. And God is present throughout his creation. Why do you ever consider things beneath your notice? God’s justice is to be found in every detail of what he has made. The human race alone is capable of injustice. Human beings alone are capable of disobeying God’s laws, because they try to be wiser than God.

Another mystic St. Bernard of Clairvaux offered us this powerful statement:

Believe an expert: you will find something far greater in the woods than in books. Trees and stones will teach you that which you cannot learn from the masters.

St. Bernard’s belief was by no means an isolated position when you place it next to a statement made by one of the great doctors of the Church, St. Augustine of Hippo, who in an earlier time (410 AD) stated:

Some people, in order to discover God, read books. But there is a great book: the very appearance of created things. Look above you! Look below you! Read it. God, whom you want to discover, never wrote that book with ink. Instead He set before your eyes the things that He had made. Can you ask for a louder voice than that?

When you consider some of the pioneering works of eco-theologians like Fr. Thomas Berry, CP or Sr. Miriam MacGillis, OP who suggest that we may benefit from developing a theology that is based on the revelation of creation as well as the revelation of scripture it would seem that they are not so unique in their thinking from this early tradition of our faith. After all, it was St. Paul the Apostle who wrote in the first chapter of the epistle to the Romans:

 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them.  Ever since the creation of the world his eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the things he has made.

Fr. Thomas Berry, CP died last year. He was a Passionist priest and ecological scholar. His work on developing an ecological spirituality that is based on the emerging cosmology has caused some controversy because it is thought to be unique and outside of the recent tradition of our faith. But as we can see his work is not so much new and unique as much as it is reviving an older tradition which has been lost to us since the late 1800’s. A tradition that St. Paul of the Cross, the founder of the Passionist, believed in when he poetically said:

 Listen to the sermons of the flowers, the trees, the bushes, the heavens, the sun, and all the world. You will find they preach of love and praise of God, and invite you to magnify the greatness of the Sovereign Artist, who gave them being.

• Micah 5:1-4. Not from mighty Jerusalem but from insignificant Bethlehem would come the ruler of Israel; his origins reached back to most ancient promises.
• Hebrews 10:5-10. What was prefigured in Israelite sacrifices reached a fulfillment in the body of Jesus and his desire to do always the will of the Father. By this “will” we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for everyone.
• Luke 1:39-45. At the Visitation, Elizabeth declared to Mary: “Blessed is she who trusted that the Lord’s words to her would be fulfilled.”

Thoughts for your consideration: By John Gonzalez

In a spiritual pamphlet that St. Paul of the Cross wrote and shared with members of religious life entitled “Mystical Death” the founder of the Passionist community describes a difficult process as the ultimate goal of a Christian: Union with the Divine Will.

I will be resigned and ready to do the Divine Will by desiring nothing, and I will be equally happy with His every will. I will strip myself of everything by a complete abandonment of myself to God. I will leave the care of myself entirely to Him.    

In the Gospel reading for this Sunday we celebrate Mary’s visitation of Elizabeth and her joyful reception by both Elizabeth and the unborn John the Baptist. In the readings Jesus and Mary are noted for accepting the Will of God. The Prophet Micah reminds the reader that the restoration of Israel will come from the humble origins of Bethlehem. It will be from this unexceptional region that the servant of the Lord will follow the Divine Will, “[he] shall reach to the ends of the earth; he shall be peace.” In the letter to the Hebrews the author describes how the sacrifice of Jesus has replaced the sacrificial rituals of the Priests which had been the mediation for the people with their God. And how does Jesus become our salvation?  “Behold, I come to do your will.” …By this “will,” we have been consecrated through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.”

This week we celebrate the actions of Mary and Jesus who said the ultimate yes to God — which is to fully adopt the Divine Will in lieu of their own passions and desires. What St. Paul of the Cross is telling his religious and the lay people to whom he offers spiritual direction is that this exercise is not restricted to Jesus and Mary. As part of our baptismal calling we are all called to say Yes to God and to resign ourselves to a cosmological Will that is beyond our own passions and desires. It is part of our faith not only to accept that through the Word of God creation came into existence, but also that creation has a Divine purpose and an ultimate plan.  

In Catholic teaching we are offered the social principle of the “common good” as a way for us to comprehend in our society how our social goal is not the good that we individually seek and want but the common good that serves us all and from which we can all truly benefit. This weekend lets us contemplate the Divine Will that Mary and Jesus followed and which we too are called to follow. This being a traditional season of peace let us consider the social issues that concern us and adopt the framework of the “common good”, considering those issues not from our own self-interest but from the interest of the Cosmological Christ who, we pray, will become incarnate again in us.

Khalil Gibran’s  ‘Prophet’, when asked to speak about pain, says: “Pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding. Even as the stone of the fruit must break so that its heart may stand in the sun, so must you know pain” Awakening to the terrible reality of human suffering breaks open our heart. Then love and action in the service of justice becomes possible. 
 
Appreciating and trying to live our first vow as Passionists to keep alive the Memoria Passionis should offer a clue as to how that shell may be broken. It should also give us some tools for critical reflection on our contemporary experience
 
Paul of the Cross began his great work in a world in transition. The Peace of Westphalia in 1648, less than 50 years before his birth, marked the waning of the political influence of papacy and empire, the two major medieval powers. “Enlightenment” ideas began to make themselves felt. The church would no longer set the agenda; religious communities,   dislodged from the center, would find themselves ‘at the edge’. In this world Paul found the drawing force of his life in contemplating the Crucified God. From here came his passion for life. The Crucified One led Paul to the ones he saw as the poorest, those who did not know God’s love and had no hope. Paul saw the name of Jesus on their foreheads.   
 
We are called to continue the great work in a world still rocked by massive change. At the start of the 3rd millennium, “to see reality in our time is to see the world as crucifixion.” 
 
Our world is marked by a virulent form of economic globalisation that leads to massive imbalances in the economic order. This affects body, soul and spirit. Access to the basic necessities for living is controlled by a powerful minority. The North, especially the US, and multinationals control and direct the lives of the majority of people in a way that was unknown in the past. 
 
Our minds have been colonised by the dominant values of individualism, consumerism and success. But the Cross reminds us that “success is not a name for God” (M. Buber) Living joyfully our relatedness as brothers and sisters is the antidote to individualism. Solidarity is the word chosen to describe a new way of being together as Passionists in mission for the life of the world. New realities call for new responses in faith.
 
The addiction to consume can heal when it learns “I am more than what I have” and longs to know that I am loved beyond all doubt. The addiction to success, and to its servants – domination, violence and ruthlessness, can only be healed in the compassion and mercy flowing from the Cross for the victim of such acts.
 
Early in its life the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, December 10, 1948 as an emphatic “NO” to the horrors of the 2nd World War. “Recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world…All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood”.(art 1) But Jesus had already announced this from his Cross!
 
Do we have anything to say to our world and to our brothers and sisters today and is it likely to be able to be heard?
 
A world in the throes of enormous change, roiled by violence and new expressions of xenophobia; the demonising of the ‘other’ expressed in the ‘war or terror’, urgently calls us to reflect on the demands of Justice at the heart of any Spirituality of the Passion if it dares speak to the questions of today’s women and men.  
 
Our self understanding as Passionists has been slowly undergoing a shift over our lifetimes. It finds clear expression in the Constitutions and the General Chapters of the past 30 years. The 2000 General Chapter says: “Life, born from the cross, was the key for understanding all of the Chapter’s work under the dual aspect of ‘memory’ and ‘prophecy’. As memory, it drew our eyes to the cross from which new life flows, and as prophecy it asked us to look at the tasks of the new millennium with the eyes of Jesus Crucified”
 
Memory and prophecy constitute the two eyes of Passionist being – one looks to Jesus of the Cross where love first touched us; the other looks to the present, where His reconciling love becomes a reality here and now. 
 
This binocular approach to our living the Passion requires us to be centered – standing with Jesus in his Passion-moment; and also sent to the edge – to stand with and keep faith with our sisters and brothers as they seek meaning and hope in their crucifixions.  To be Passionist today requires that we are passionate about Life in each of its stages and in all of its dimensions – a commitment to care for, to promote and protect life from womb to tomb and in every part of the biosphere.
 
The foundation of Passionist identity is the realisation that we have flared forth from the burning heart of God. We are the same matter threaded through every atom, molecule and particle that constitutes our universe. Our life-force comes not from duty, obligation or responsibility, but astonishment and love.  
 
Paul of the Cross, in another time and place, was astonished at the overwhelming work of God’s love that is Jesus’ Passion. As for Jesus, so for Paul; as for Paul, so for each one of us! To be drawn into the heart of our Passionist charism is to be called to live the Passion of the Christ as passion for life in its every dimension and part. 
 
As for Jesus, as for Paul, so for us! Passion for Life calls us to move from the centre to the edge there to find Christ in the suffering earth, in his suffering brothers and sisters, young, old, poor, migrant, displaced, gay, indigenous, misunderstood. Paul, with insight strengthened from gazing on the face of the Crucified, when he turned to look outward he saw the name of Jesus written on the foreheads of the poor.
 
The outflow of our contemplation of the Passion of Jesus will always call us to stand with the marginalized and the crucified ones who, without fully understanding it, thirst for life. Our contemplation of the Crucified One will always lead us to look to the edge and notice who is left discarded by the way. Sometimes this will involve ‘breaking the silence’.
 
We are called to live today in such a way as to make present of Christ’s death as liberation for the people who are crucified today by hunger, injustice and the absence of hope. We are to be ‘Memory-makers’ that the Crucified/Risen one is hope for the poor and for all of creation.
 
“Jesus will be in agony till the end of time’ said Leon Bloy. As we face the agony of the world today, it suggests to me that this is the Passionist moment. In a world marked more and more by the inequalities of possession, our approach to justice must be more than mere resourcefulness.
 
We must offer the justice of right relationship. What is needed in this polarized, fearful and ‘crusading’ world filled with a sense of its own resourcefulness and with a toolkit of solutions, is a ‘crucified mind’ formed beneath the Cross.
 
Such a sense of justice is indeed countercultural – one that embraces our own various experiences of being emptied of ego, of solutions and moved to the sideline of significance. Similar experiences shaped Paul of the Cross, brought him out of the army and away from the Crusades and brought him to be embraced by and then to proclaim the life-giving paradox of the powerlessness of the crucified God.

As with all the Passionist communities worldwide the Asian members are by no means strangers to social ministries. We had the opportunity to hear so many of the unique social ministries that these communities have organized in light of their own local realities. In India we were able to visit some of these powerful ministries in a poor village called Randham. Social ministries refer to ministries of the Passionist communities that serve the society in which they exist. In Randham we were fortunate enough to visit a number of these ministries, some which are traditional and others which are new and innovative. A traditional yet very powerful social ministry that they offer is education. The goal being to give the emerging generation the real opportunity to gain a quality education that will allow them to improve themselves and their own community in this highly competitive world while integrating the spiritual dimensions of social responsibility.

Other more unconventional ministries included a micro-credit Cow Loan program, a rice and peanut farming project and housing development. The cow loan program is particularly creative. The aim is to supply the local villagers with a natural resource that can sustain them. In India the cow is a very sacred animal, part of this is the religious tradition of Hinduism, but another part of this is that the cow is a great resource for the community. The Passionists have created a loan system where the villagers will have access to a 0% interest loan to purchase a cow. The villagers will then go to the Passionist milking station to sell the milk and a percentage of the milk will go to repay the loan for the cow while the rest go to them. After the cow is payed off they then keep the entire profit of the milk.

This is one example of a Passionist social ministry in Asia that is helping the poorer members of our society by giving them a number of opportunities through work, education and basic services. At the meeting we heard how diverse the social need is with the other Asian communities which include Japan, Korea, Australia, Indonesia, Papa New Guinea and Vietnam. The issues where diverse but we heard a commitment from these communities to promote a network of solidarity so that at a global level we can all support each other in promoting the Christian work of true charity which Pope Benedict XVI reminds us in his recent encyclical is justice. The Passion for Justice blog will become more diverse as we develop further solidarity with each other and sometime soon you will hear other voices throughout the world sharing our issues, concerns and social spirituality.   

As we go off to celebrate Thanksgiving here in the United States I would ask that all of us adopt the spirit of solidarity with the poor members of our human community and to offer a prayer for them and the missionaries who serve them. Consider and reflect on this spiritual quote from Saint Paul of the Cross and may all of us celebrate is the true spirit of Thanksgiving.

Therefore, let us love the dear God, who loves us so much placing everything in the Wounds of Jesus and offering them to the Divine Father, begging him through the grace of his most holy Son that he give remedy to all the evils and send his faithful servants so that the power of the Cross and Passion of Jesus Christ will triumph.

It is with the lens of the social spirituality, articulated in the last blog post, that the regional and international Passionist community has taken to develop these offices or ministries of JPIC. Through JPIC, the Passionists have set three objectives or tasks.

Promote Social Ministries: Engaging in social ministries is not a new initiative for the Passionist family. We can trace early expressions of social ministries from the Passionist founder himself. St. Paul of Cross is known to serve the community as a hospital and military chaplain. He was known to advocate for the poor and to use the opportunity of his missions to organize social charity for the poorer members of society. He also advocated for peace in the midst of a battle during the “War of the Polish Succession.” He was also known to value the integrity and wisdom of the environment and believed in having Christian retreats in places where people had the opportunity to enjoy the presence of God through the beauty of God’s natural creation.

The Passionists have continued to organize various aspects of social and ecological ministries. Through JPIC we look to further these expressions by promoting these isolated ministries into the visible life of the community. The office looks to develop relationships with these social ministries and our institutional ministries like parishes and retreat centers. The JPIC office is also looking for opportunities for the public to engage in these ministries or to create new ones through the Passionist communities and spirituality.

Coordinate Advocacy: The second objective is to empower our Passionist family to engage in the world as a member of civil society and to offer its spiritual wisdom on social issues that concern us. Based on our spirituality we are concerned with social policies or actions that cause tremendous suffering to humanity and creation. We are organizing to be in solidarity with those who suffer. Whenever possible we will walk with those who suffer from the injustices of our global society and we will tend to the needs of those that may be marginalized. Where the dignity of human life and the integrity of the environment are being violated we will be advocating against policies that cause such violations.  

In working with civil society the Passionist JPIC Office will be working with the Catholic Church and several other faith based organization to promote policies that will transform the world into a vision of Justice and Peace that respects the integrity of all creation. This is a vision that we consider to be based in scripture and reflected in that vision which Christ called, “The Kingdom of God.” At the international level we are fortunate to have our own UN organization, Passionists International. At regional levels we will have a number of JPIC offices that will advocate on domestic and foreign issues.

Education and Formation:  The third objective for the office is to develop and create resources on the Passionist spirituality of JPIC. We start by emphasizing Catholic social teachings and principles which are powerful aspects of our faith and tradition which are sadly neglected. On top of this we will promote the social and ecological dimensions of our own spirituality which again is focused on the memory of Christ’s Passion.

Through JPIC we will develop resources for lay and vowed formation. We will also develop liturgical resources on social spirituality either in observance of Holy Days or in observance of social issues. Using some of newest forms of technology like blogs or social networks we will also promote this spirituality along with the other objectives of Passionist JPIC. In North America the JPIC Office is also developing workshops and retreat programs for our retreat and parish ministries.

May the Passion of Jesus, Be Ever in our Hearts