Daily Thoughts: First let me say I had a wonderful day at the Bishop Molloy Passionist Retreat House. I saw a number for friends from my days at Bishop Molloy and also my days at the Passionist Spiritual Center in Riverdale. It was a great group of about 70 people, the sun was out and I think, I hope, it was a good day of faith building during this Year of Faith!
In my homily today I talked about the story in the Gospel, that moment in Jesus' early ministry when he returns home perhaps for a weekend visit. I said the story always paints two pictures for me, one of a moment in the life of Jesus and the other a moment in our own lives.
The moment in Jesus' life is pretty straight forward, he returns home and like a good young man honors his faith by going to the synagogue on the sabbath. He is now a wise young man with a reputation as a preacher so he is honor by being asked to do the reading. So he stand up and is handed the scroll of the Prophet Isaiah and proceeds to read the passage where Isaiah says, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me..." A very familiar passage to us and the community gather for prayer that day. After the reading Jesus just sits down but everyone there is in awe and all eyes turn to Jesus. After what probably was a few moments of awkward silence, Jesus simple says, "Today this Scripture passage if fulfilled in your hearing." Perhaps in other words, "Folks, this is what my life is going to be about, today my ministry starts!" After with those words everyone is even more amazed! A pretty straightforward picture wouldn't you say?
Now as for the second picture of us. Everyone of us have had a moment like Jesus. We have been in our own parish church perhaps for a sacrament, baptism, confirmation, first communion, marriage and a community has gathered. At some point during that sacrament all eyes are on us, watching us receive baptism, receive communion, take our vows, be anointed with oil. After the mass or the service people have come up to us and congratulated us and spoken highly of us because of this special moment in our lives.
The difference between Jesus' picture and ours is that we know the end of Jesus' story. We know he did fulfill the words of Isaiah by the way he lived, died and rose for the death. However, we don't know the end of our story! Will we fulfill the words of our baptism, our confirmation, our marriage, our priesthood, our religious life, our Eucharist?
Today we are asked once again to love and in doing so to live that love as best we can by bringing the gift and presence of God to the world. We are asked to stand up and proclaim the Good News with our life and let that proclamation be fulfilled in the way we live our faith! So my friends, stand tall, love richly and live fully today and always!
Daily Prayer: O God, help us to live life to its fullest, loving richly, acting justly and walking humbly with you our loving God. Help us to bring life to the Good News that we proclaim by our lives so that all who hear and see will know the gift of your love. Amen!
We continue to pray during this Christmas Season for families in grief; for little ones whose lives were too short; for teachers, administrators and responders who put others first; for a community that must find a way to live; for all of us who seek a world of lasting peace! Amen!
Runner's Thoughts: Always run open to discovering the strength that you did not know you had, let that strength be the very Spirit of God's presence in your life!
Again, thanks to all who came to Bishop Molloy Passionist Retreat House today. Have a restful and peaceful evening everyone. Again sorry my reflections were late today but perhaps they will make for some evening prayer! Peace in Christ's Passion...Fr. Paul
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