Daily Lenten Thoughts - 03/09/2013

Daily Thoughts: In today's Gospel we are reminded that it is not the quantity or style of our prayer. It is not the position we hold or all the things we can point to that we do. It is the quality of our prayer and how we live our life that counts.

The Pharisee had all the right words, all the right actions but not the right intention. He knew the law but the not the spirit. The tax collector on the other hand certainly struggled in his life but when it came to prayer, when it came to speaking with God he was right on.

Humility is a valuable gift yet one that not many people have. We grow up trying to develop our self-confidence; we try to be independent, self-assured and self-reliant. We are often told that we must promote ourselves in order to get anywhere. Yet, humility can help us recognize God, in ourselves and others. Humility can help us recognize the presence of God in the living of life.

The response to the responsoral psalm today is "It is mercy I desire, and not sacrifice." I have a merciful person we must be humble. We must realize that we are not perfect, we are human, with faults and failings just like everyone else. If we are willing enough and humble enough to seek God's mercy then we will be able to offer mercy and compassion to others.

As St. John Chrysostom put it, "We cannot be saved by seeking just our own individual salvation. We need to look first to the good of others."

Daily Lenten Prayer: Loving God, help us to live as humble, compassionate people today and always. May we always pray with openness to your mercy and love just like the tax collector. Grace us with hearts that recognize your gifts in our lives and an openness to share these gifts with others. Amen!

Runner's Thought: Running is a lot like life, sometimes it is energizing and sometimes it isn't but it always has meaning!

Happy Saturday everyone! Remember as tomorrow begins we lose an hour of sleep tonight so set your clocks ahead one hour as you go to bed tonight and remember tomorrow will have more daylight! Spring take another step closer.

I head out this afternoon for Stony Point, NY and Immaculate Conception Parish where I will be celebrating a Mission this week from Monday to Wednesday. I look forward to my time there and to getting a chance to see the Great Hudson River once again. I have to stay that I miss it after being able to look out my window so many years as watch it flow by. I ask you prayers for the faith community at Immaculate Conception and for their preacher this coming week!

I also ask your prayers for Fr. Edward, one of my community members, who leaves today for Rome to report on the conclave and the election of a new pope for CNN. And I certainly ask your prayers for the Church and the cardinals who will be meeting to elect the new pope, may they elect a man of compassion and vision, humble and open to God's Spirit of love.

Well friends have a good Saturday. May it be a restful one and may it be gifted with the presence of people you love! Peace in Christ's Passion...Fr. Paul

Daily Lenten Thoughts - 03/08/2013

Daily Thoughts: I have always been a bit jealous of the scribe in today's Gospel because Jesus says at the end of the exchange that the scribe is not far from the Kingdom of God. For me it would be a comfort to know that I was not far from the Kingdom. It is one of my greatest worries. I try to live a good and faithful life but there are times when I look around and wonder if I have missed the boat! I listen to people talk about their faith, I see their actions, I am aware of what they think is important and valuable in terms of faith, church, belief and religion and I wonder if I have taken the wrong path.

Sometimes I wonder if what I believe brings me close to the Kingdom? The Church as it stands today seems a far cry from the Church that Jesus seems to be putting together as we read the Gospel. Our religious leaders often, not always, seem to be closer to the scribes and Pharisees than to the disciples of Jesus. The institution we call Church often seems closer to the institution that Jesus often challenged and confronted during his ministry.

We seem to take some words in the scriptures at face value but others are glossed over and interpreted in ways other than what they say. We seem to be absolutely sure of what Jesus said, meant or wanted in certain situations and yet we discount or ignore other things because they don't seem to fit into the institution.

I pray. I try to love whomever I meet. I truly value my relationship with God. I care about people no matter who they are and what they have done. I try to find God in all people. I value life in all forms. I want to be of help to people who struggle. I want to be a welcoming, forgiving person, religious and priest. I want to help people know and believe in God. Yet at times I am not sure whether I am on the right path. I don't always pray in traditional ways. I am more willing to accept a person where they are even if they don't fit into the laws of the institution. I want to dialog. I want to find a way for all to be close to the Kingdom. I don't want to judge. I don't want to be self-righteous and I certainly don't have all the answers.

I want to live Hosea's words today, I want to return to the Lord, but I am not always sure the institution takes me in that direction. I live to be a man of faith, I live to be a man of hope and I live to be a man of love. I pray that like the scribe I am a man close to the Kingdom of God!

Daily Lenten Prayer: O God of all good gifts, fill our hearts with your loving presence. Grace us with the wisdom to recognize the way to your Kingdom. Enliven us with your word, your spirit that we may walk the path you have set before us. Give us the understanding to live your commandments of love. Help us to get beyond ourselves and value the gift of others. May we always be a people who seek your Kingdom by living in the hope of your love. Amen!

Runner's Thought: Remember running can give us spiritual focus. When we run we have the time to be a person of prayer. It can be a prayer of few or many words. It can be one prayer or many prayers. It can be a simple breath that brings God into our being and it can be the exhaustion of give all to God as we finish our run.

TGIF to all today! I hope you have had a good week. The snow the missed me in Bethesda has found me here in Pelham today. We have about five or six inches but it doesn't bother me today I am home doing my laundry. Tomorrow's forecast, sun and 50 degrees, I don't think the snow will hang around very long! It is nice when you can look at snow and it is not bothering your day! But if it is I hope you will be able to get through it without too many problems.

Remember friends we spring ahead on Sunday as daylight savings returns. This means longer days ahead, which I really don't mind, though it is always tough losing the hour of sleep especially when you are on the road. I pray your weekend will be a restful one even with losing an hour!

I will be at Immaculate Conception Parish in Stony Point, New York this weekend and coming week. I am looking forward to another mission. So far it has been a wonderful Lent for me. I have been in many different places and I know the Church is alive no matter what the media says at time!

Be well and safe friends, have a great day and a wonderful weekend where ever you are and whatever you are doing. Please remember me and the people who will have to put up with me in your prayers! Peace in Christ's Passion...Fr. Paul

Daily Lenten Thoughts - 03/07/2013

Daily Thoughts:  "If today you hear [God's] voice, harden not your hearts." The response for the psalm today seems to say it all. In the first reading the faith community has harden their hearts toward God. They are not listening or responding to the word or presence of God. In the Gospel there are some who have hardened their hearts for they cannot recognize God in their midst.

In the opening talk of my missions, I talk about how we at times harden perhaps not our whole heart but pieces or areas of our hearts. The primary reason is because we have been hurt and we harden ourselves so that we cannot be hurt again. Sometimes the hurt comes from another person, or a group of people, or an institution or from someone or something outside of us. Yet often we think the hurt comes from God and we harden our hearts to the grace, the word, and the presence of God. In doing this we very often miss the opportunity to experience the presence and the gift of God in our life.

Jesus reminds the people today that bad things do not come from God. God only wants good for us. God loves us, created us and desires a relationship with us. It is the world around us that can hurt. It is often the world within us that can hurt.

We don't want to make the mistakes of our ancestors that are talked about in our first reading from Jeremiah today. We don't want to make the mistake of the people who question were Jesus is from in today's Gospel. We want to open our hearts, make our hearts places of nothing but good soil so that when we encounter God, when we hear God's voice the grace, word, strength, blessing and presence of God will be planted within us and grow producing a harvest that is hundred fold.

Please as you journey through this day do not harden your hearts but be open to hear God's voice and encounter God's presence in your life!

Note: Today is the feast day of two very strong and important women in the early Church, Perpetua and Felicity. They were two women who did not harden their hearts to God even in the midst of what was going on around them, even when the world took everything from them. These were women of great strength and great faith. We call upon their spirit to be with us as we journey through this day!

Daily Lenten Prayer: Almighty and eternal God, may we always walk in your ways but especially as we begin this new day. Enliven our hearts so that they will not be hardened by the struggles, hurts, pains and difficulties of life. Help our hearts to remain open to hearing your Word and recognizing your presence. Too often because of life we begin to wander away from you, too often do we fail to hear you or recognize your presence in our life. Help us today to walk, to live in the spirit of Perpetua and Felicity so that we will always have the strength to walk, to live in your ways and hear your voice. Bless us with the gift of your Holy Spirit of hope this day and always! Amen!

Runner's Thought: Running can give us an inner strength that can change our life. Just putting in the time, finishing a run can have an enlivening effect on your confidence and self-esteem. Running can also touch us in a spiritual way that makes us aware of God's presence in our life!

Happy Thursday everyone! I trust that if you were in the midst of the storm yesterday you made the best of it. If you were not I hope you had a great day. We were able to finish the mission last night it was a smaller crowd but yet a great closing celebration! In a couple of hours I will be headed back north to Pelham so that I can stop at home, do laundry and repack and regroup to leave on Saturday again for my next mission. Lent is a busy time but at least I am staying out of trouble for the most part!

I am hoping all of you have a blessed day. May it be rich in many life-giving experiences, in many faith filed people and touch with the gifts of hope and love. Be well and safe my friends, enjoy your day and know you are in my prayers! Peace in Christ's Passion...Fr. Paul

Daily Lenten Thoughts - 03/06/2013

Daily Lenten Thoughts: Sometimes we see laws, rules and commands as unnecessary. Sometimes we think they are burdensome. At times we look for ways around them or think, what is the least we need to do to follow them. Take going to mass as an example, people often ask me for what parts of the mass do they need to be there for in order to fulfill their obligation? Well, as I was growing up it was often said you had to be there before the Gospel and stay until Communion was given out. Certainly if you go to church on Sunday you can see the people who observe the law, the rule of going to mass in this way, they show up just before the Gospel and they are out the door at Communion. The letter of the law!

However, I do not think that is what Moses and Jesus are speaking about today. They are talking about living a life of faith, living a relationship with God that does not seek to do the minimum. It seeks to live the maximum. Moses tells the people to live their relationship with God and pass that living on. Jesus tells the people he has come to live his relationship with God, to be an example to the fullest extent of this relationship.

Often people ask what they can do to get their adult children to return to their faith. How can they get them to live a life of faith? My answer to them is to pray for and love their children and grandchildren, but most importantly to live their faith. The best was to make God present to people is by living out our relationship with God as authentically as we can, no short cuts! If we are fully invested, if we live out our relationship with God each day, we become an example; we pass on the gift sometimes not even knowing that we do.

Yes, rules, laws, regulations, commands can be bothersome, they can place us in opposition to culture and society. They can seem hard to live out. They can frustrate us. But in living by the rules, in being faithful to our relationship with God we keep the story alive. We enhance the community of faith. We bring the gift of God's presence to all we meet. We pass on our faith!

Daily Lenten Prayer: Loving God, nourish us with your Word this day. Teach us your statutes and decrees. Enliven our hearts with a spirit of love for you and your presence in our life. Challenge us to be more than people who do just the minimum. Grace us with the strength to do and be our very best selves for you. Make our lives true examples of your loving compassion in the world. Amen!

Runner's Thought: Remember running can be a kind of medicine that helps us to change physically, emotionally and spiritually. Running can be an elixir that enlivens our life with health, hope and the presence of God!

Good morning everyone! I hope this day has started well for you and you will find many blessings as you journey through it! Not much snow here in Bethesda and unless there is a lot more on the way I think the weather people missed this one at least for this area! I am hoping that our mission services will happen today though I think we will probably have less people because of all the hype, but we will celebrate no matter how many are there. It has been a good mission so far with a wonderful community of faith. The schools are closed so I think that will keep people at home. I had hoped the storm would wait until Thursday but it didn’t. Oh the joys of wintertime parish missions!

Again, I hope your day is starting out well. If you are in the midst of the storm celebrate it as a time to take a deep breath and just enjoy where you are and the people you are with. If your day is not disrupted by the storm, lucky you, enjoy! Many blessings on everyone today, especially little Lucy in Shelby, NC who fighting a temperature of 101, may it break and may you feel better! Peace in Christ’s Passion…Fr. Paul

Parish Missions and Retreats

Looking for a Parish Mission or Retreat Preacher?

My calendar is currently open for Parish Retreats and Mission for Summer of 2013, Fall of 2013, Winter 2014, some weeks in Lent 2014, Easter/Spring 2014 and beyond. Please contact me by email, phone or through my web site (www.preacherman.org) for further details. I look forward to hearing from you and to celebrating a time of Retreat or Mission with you!

If you run a retreat house and need a retreat preacher please let me know. If you looking for a Day or Eveneing of Recollection presenter I am available for any kind of program.

Peace in Christ's Passion,
Fr. Paul

Daily Lenten Thoughts - 03/05/2013

Daily Thoughts: "Your ways, O Lord, make known to me; teach me your paths, guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my savior." This is the opening line of today's psalm and perhaps words that sum up our readings for us.

In the first reading from the Book of Daniel, Azariah prays for God's forgiveness not just for himself but for the community. He reflects on the social sin of his time. Not just something an individual has done but what the community had done or failed to do. Azariah seeks God's forgiveness. Often we do not think this way we worry more about individual sin rather than looking at ourselves as a community of faith who at times sin together by our action or our lack of action. We rarely take into consideration social sin and yet we, as a community, are responsible for what we do or don't do.

We might think the Gospel turns us back to individual forgiveness but in a way it carries through with our first reading's theme. The other servants see the injustice of the one servant and look to correct the problem. We might say it is the community that deals with the injustice.

Forgiveness and being a forgiving person, a forgiving community, was a constant theme in the life of Jesus. It is not an easy way to life. We would rather seek revenge than be forgiving. We would rather hold the hurt in our heart than be forgiving. It takes hard work and a heart of compassion. Jesus taught us how to have such a heart. He taught us how to be forgiving people and he also taught us how to take responsibility for our sinfulness. He showed us how to be people of faith. He showed us how to take responsibility and also how to be compassionate and forgiving. He taught us that forgiveness is an ongoing process.

Jesus taught us the ways of God. He showed us the path to walk. The question is; are we willing to learn and walk down the path that Jesus has set before us?

Daily Lenten Prayer: Loving God, enliven in us your gifts of compassion and forgiveness. Teach us to walk in your way of truth and love. Grace us with the wisdom to recognize our own faults and failings as individuals and a community. Enable us to seek forgiveness and to be forgiving. Help us to walk humbly through life as you show us the paths to walk! Amen!

Runner’s Thought: Endurance is not just the ability to bear a hard thing, but to turn it into glory. (William Barclay, Scottish Theologian)

Welcome to Tuesday everyone! I hope today will be a good day for you, one filled with many blessings. We sit here in the east and wait for a storm that is supposed to hit us late tonight, I don't know what is going to happen to my final day of the parish mission here at St. Bartholomew but I cannot control the weather so we will celebrate today and enjoy today and then see what tomorrow brings and if you are not in the path of the storm, lucky you. If you are hang in there, it is March and spring is not far away! At least I hope it isn't!

Our opening day of the mission when every well though I have to say I was a little nervous last night at 7:25 pm there were only 8 people in the church, however by 7:35 pm there were over 100 people in the church. Apparently people wait until the last minute around here. I had a good crowd in the morning and evening and I am looking forward to today's sessions. Please continue to pray for the faith community here at St. Bartholomew and for their preacher.

Again, I pray you will have a great day filled with many graced moments. May any struggles be minor ones that quickly are solved. I would also like to send a shout out to my nephew, Paul, on this his birthday...Have a great day Paul! Have a great day everyone! Peace in Christ's Passion...Fr. Paul

Daily Lenten Thoughts

Daily Thoughts: I am back...sorry for missing my daily thoughts and prayers yesterday but often when I am on the road and have a big schedule of Sunday masses it is hard to get to my personal prayer, thinking and writing.

The readings today talk about expectations. We all have expectations for our life, for experiences we enter into, for relationships we have, for our jobs and ministries, for the world around us. Sometimes our expectations are met even exceeded, however other times we are disappointed. Now at times our expectations can be unrealistic and there is no way they can be met. At other times our expectations cloud our ability to enter into a situation and get the best out of it. Our expectations of people, place, things and experiences can at times hold us back from realizing the graces or blessings of a particular experience or moment.

This is the case in our readings today. Naaman seeks healing for his leprosy from Elisha the prophet. When told to go to the Jordan River and wash seven times he becomes indignant. He thinks Elisha should do something spectacular, that there should be a great event that brings about his healing. Naaman is finally convinced to let go of his expectations and healing comes.

The people of Nazareth have certain expectations for Jesus. They think they know him. They think they know what to expect from him. Thus they make it difficult for Jesus to be the healing, loving forgiving person he is everywhere else. The people of Nazareth cannot let go of their expectations and Jesus must move on.

Our scriptures remind us today that God works in mysterious ways. If we have expectations for God, for Jesus, for the Holy Spirit, then we might be disappointed, however if like Naaman we can put aside our expectations, if we can let go and let God, then great things can happen. Most importantly we will be able to recognize God's presence in our life when we most need it.

Daily Lenten Prayer: Loving God, open our hearts to the endless possibilities of your love and your presence in our lives today. Help us to let go of our expectations and be open to the many mysterious ways you touch our lives. Grace us with the strength to let go and let you guide and direct us today. Heal us with your love and grant us the wisdom to recognize you today and always. Amen!

Runner's Thought: Remember, as we run, it is not as if God is waiting at the finish line, or the end of the block or back in the driveway or at the side door. Rather, each step takes us closer to the realization that God's presence - God's grace - is with us already, and we need only to pay attention to that presence. In other words, let us let go of our expectations today as we run and let God! (Adapted from Running the Spiritual Path by Roger Joslin)

Welcome to Monday everyone! I know Monday's are not always easy but hopefully you can ease into today without too much struggle, however if today is a difficult beginning to this new work week for you please know my prayers are with you!

In about an hour I open the mission here at St. Bartholomew Parish in Bethesda, MD. My preaching at all the masses over the weekend went well. The faith community here is very friendly and I am looking forward to the three days and evenings of mission. Once again I ask your prayers for the community and their preacher these days!

I will pray for all of you as you begin this work week. May it be one filled with many blessings for you, your loved ones and all the people you encounter on your journey through the week. In those moments of struggle this week take a deep breath and know that God is with you because God is with you always. Peace in Christ's Passion...Fr. Paul