Daily Thoughts - 06/22/2013

Daily Thought: “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:1-10). I have come to realize just how true this statement is. God’s grace is enough and power is much more powerful when it comes out of weakness.

We spend a good portion of our life seeking some sort of power; the power of love, the power of fame, the power of important, the power of success, the power of accomplishment,, the power of wealth, the power of comfort, the power of self. There are many powers that we seek, yet it is only when we realize that we are powerless that the true power, the power of God is be recognized.

It is at the moments of our life when we let go and let God that we are truly powerful people. It is at the moments of our life when we trust in the grace of God that we are truly powerful people.

Now this is not an easy answer to come to, sometimes it takes a life time. Just look at St. Paul’s life. It took an experience of the Risen Christ along the road to Damascus for Paul to begin to understand real power in his life.

Often for us, it is not a profound experience of the Risen Christ but the ordinary struggles, challenges and sorrows of life that can help us come to the source of real power. It is coming to the realization that we cannot serve two masters as Jesus points out in the Gospel (Matthew 6:24-34). It is making the conscious choice to put God at the center of our life. It is trusting that when we are weak we are strong. It is not worrying about tomorrow but living today!

Daily Prayer: “My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road though I may know nothing about it. Therefore will I trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.” ― Thomas Merton, Thoughts in Solitude

Runner’s Thought: Running can be a time for finding out who we really are, it is time on the road, the sidewalk, the trial with no one to measure our distance but ourselves.  Running can be finding out our true character as we run lap after lap. It can be not giving up when exhausted and journeying to the finish. Running can help us to trust in ourselves and know somehow that God’s grace is enough for us.

Saturday greetings to all! I hope your Saturday has started off well? It is a beautiful day here in Pelham as it has been for the last few days. Yes, summer has arrived in all its beauty.

I was sitting out in our backyard last evening waiting for the other community members to get home for dinner and my thoughts went back to my days in Riverdale. I realized if I were there I would have been sitting on the roof yesterday evening enjoying the beauty of the Great River. It saddened me for a moment but then I was glad to have the memory still alive within me.

Well friends have a great day wherever you are. May you be gifted and blessed with smiles, laughter, family, friends, fun and peace today! And be safe out there! Peace in Christ’s Passion…Fr. Paul

Daily Thoughts - 06/21/2013

Daily Thoughts: “For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be.” In other words what you value in life is what will be most important. I have always liked these words of Jesus in Matthew’s Gospel (Matt. 6:19-23). I have often used them in my preaching and also as a self-examination.

What do we/I value? What do we/I hold important? What is most important to us? What is the center of our life?  What do we give ourselves to heart and soul? What can we not do without? When we strip away all the trappings of the world, when we are truthful with ourselves, what is it we really value? Not what do we say we value, but what do we really value? If we can answer these questions then we will know just what our treasure is.

I think it is important from time to time to answer these questions in our own life and to answer them as Church, as a faith community. The world is constantly after us to value things, things that will not last. The world entices with “bigger is better,” “the one who has the most toys wins,” “life is about me.”  So from time to time we need to ask, we need to know where out heart is.

Today can we answer the question, “Where is our heart?” Perhaps more importantly when we answer the question do we like our answer?

Daily Prayer: O God, we thank you this day for loving us and we open our hearts and ask you to come in. Please make our hearts your home now and forever. Teach us where our hearts must be and be the true treasure in our life. Help us to always make you the center of our life. Amen!

Runner’s Thought: If we approach each run as a pilgrimage and believe that the realization of our goals of this running pilgrimage happen with each step taken, then we are truly wandering down a sacred path. Our runs become holy. If we run with a sense of the sacred in our heart we transform the earth beneath our feet into holy ground. If we run with the intention to find God, then we become pilgrims. If we have the pilgrims sacred intention then we change a simple, humble run into “God’s Run!” (Adapted from Roger Joslin – Running the Spiritual Path)

Happy Summer everyone! Happy longest day of daylight! Happy Friday! Yes, there is a lot to celebrate today. We have a day rich in daylight, a season in which to find rest and relaxation beginning and we have made it to the end of another work week. So find a way to celebrate at least a little today.

I hope your week has gone well and that you will get a chance to enjoy the weekend that is almost upon us. I know some of my followers have been resting and relaxing all week as they got started on the summer early. They may be traveling today or this weekend so I pray for safe travel for all who will be one the road, on the sea or in the air!

If you are wondering about my day yesterday on the golf course, I hit the little white ball often and I left the house with 6 of them and returned home with 1. Enough said, but I was with some great people!

Have a great Friday everyone and may God bless you in your journey through this day! Peace in Christ Passion…Fr. Paul

  

Daily Thoughts - 06/19/2013

Daily Thoughts: “God loves the cheerful giver.” This little sentence from St. Paul’s Second Letter to the Corinthians seems to really sum up both reading today (2Cor. 9:6-11 and Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18). St. Paul talks about being a person of generosity while Jesus challenges us to be humble people of prayer and service.

In the Gospel we hear those familiar phrases. “Do not let your left hand know what your right is doing.”  ‘When you pray, go to your inner room, close the door, and pray to your Father in secret.”  In each case the most important reward comes not in the world knowing that we do things but in God knowing.

St. Paul seems to be saying that we need to remember that the things we do come from God and the more cheerful we are; the humble and open we are with the giving of our gifts then the more abundant God will make our giving.

I think the grace and the challenge of the message of these two readings today is that what we have is a gift from God and in sharing this gift it becomes far more profound than we ever thought it could be. However, for this gift to have power, impact and abundance we need to share not it not for our glory and praise but for the glory and praise of God.

Daily Prayer: Eternal and loving God, it is so easy for us to worship ourselves, to do things so that others see and think highly of us. If we live our life this way, forgive us. If we trust in our possessions, in our things, in our actions that are seen and in the glory that they bring us rather than in you, forgive us. Heal the fear, the doubt and the insecurity that may create faith in the wrong things. Restore a wholesome perspective that put you at the center. We pray that through your grace you will help us to live life around the lasting values of humble prayer, cheerful service and our hope in you, our loving God. Amen!

Runner’s Thought: Let us run today with a spirit of gratefulness. Before we begin our run, let us declare our intention to look upon all we encounter with the freshness of the unexpected. Let us run with a sense of miraculous expectation and allow a feeling of gratitude for the extraordinary and the ordinary to flow through our being. (Adapted from Roger Joslin – Running The Spiritual Path)

Who could be happier than a camel on Wednesday? Yes friends, it is Hump Day!  And hopefully we are at least as happy as a camel today. Here in Pelham it is a beautiful day. The air is fresh and energizing. I hope that same is true where you are. If your day has not started off so well I truly pray that it will get better and that you will come to enjoy the gift of this day, because your presence makes this day a gift!

In my ministry of prayer I pray today for blessing upon your journey through this day. May the day be rich in experience, in people, in smiles, in laughter, in fun, in love, in strength and in God’s grace and peace. Peace in Christ’s Passion…Fr. Paul

Daily Thoughts - 06/18/2013

Daily Thoughts: My thoughts today center around two quotes from Thomas Merton. The first is from his book, New Seeds of Contemplation and the second is from the book, Thoughts in Solitude.

“Our vocation is not simply to be, but to work together with God in the creation of our own life, our own identity, our own destiny....To work out our identity in God.” - New Seeds of Contemplation

“Ask me not where I live or what I like to eat . . . Ask me what I am living for and what I think is keeping me from living fully that.” - Thoughts in Solitude

I picked these two quotes today because it is the 27^th anniversary of my ordination to the priesthood and I am hoping that over my life time especially these last 27 years I have worked with God to find my identity and that I am truly living for Jesus even though at times my humanness, my struggles, my faults and failing get in the way of my friendship with God and in my service to others.

As I celebrate this day, I turn to my good friend, St. Paul, for guidance and strength in the hope that I will always live every aspect of my life in faith, discourse, knowledge, all earnestness, and in the love of God as it is found in our Lord Jesus Christ. And that I will always excel in the gracious act of love that God has given to me by making sure my love for God and others is always genuine.

As I celebrate today I pray for all who have touch my life especially during the last 27 years! Thank you all for helping me be the man of faith, the Passionist and priest I am today even in the midst of my faults and failings. May I always serve you out of God’s love.

Daily Prayer: Loving God, help us to be persuaded today and always that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, not height, nor depth, nor any other creature, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen! – Adapted from St. Paul’s Letter to the Romans 8:38-39

Runner’s Thought: “Running is real. It’s all joy and woe, hard as diamond. It makes you weary beyond comprehension, but it also makes you free.” – Jesse Owens

Happy Tuesday everyone! I hope your day is going well and we find ourselves in the midst of the afternoon. If things have not gone to well today hang in there I pray in hope that they will get better before evening.

A shout out to my brother, Jim, on this his birthday! Happy Birthday, Bro, many blessings today and always. I hope you will take a little time to celebrate.

I offer my prayers for everyone today. May God’s blessing be upon all of you as you journey through this day, in all that you do and upon all whom you meet. Peace in Christ’s Passion…Fr. Paul

Daily Thoughts - 06/17/2013

Daily Thoughts: Thomas Merton wrote that “Pride makes us artificial; humility makes us real.”  Perhaps he was thinking about our readings today (2Corinthians 6:1-10 and Matthew 5:38-42). Both Paul and Jesus challenge us to be humble people, to be real people but in different ways.

For Paul now is the acceptable time and today is the day of salvation and in order to be ready we have to be humble people of faith.  We are going to be confronted with all kinds of struggles just like Paul was but the question is how will be deal with them? Will we trust in God’s Holy Spirit to bring us through the struggles?

In a different way Jesus challenges us to be humble people in the face of struggles by not striking back out of anger and judgmentalness but by showing a spirit that is humble, hardworking and dedicated; a spirit more willing to take the high road, a spirit more willing to be the bigger person even if it means we lose the battle and sometimes even the war.

Both Jesus and Paul do not want us to forget that we live by the grace of God and that no matter how complicated life gets God always offers us life in the fullest. We only need to take up God’s offer and live it.

Daily Prayer: God of all hope, renew in us today the courage to live life to its fullest. Help us to especially stand for and live out the values that Jesus taught us, humility, courage, compassion and love. Grace us with your wisdom to know how to best live our life in you. When opposition comes our way help us to not give in to fear and cowardice, help us not to strike back with violence and anger, help us not to reach out of pride and judgment. Help us to be humble people of faith, humble people alive with hope and humble people ready to offer your love. Amen!

Runner’s Thought: “Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson – Is that what Jesus is asking us to do? – Have a great run today!

Happy Monday everyone! I hope you had a great weekend and enjoy however you celebrated Father’s Day. Things are quiet these days here in Pelham. We find ourselves moving toward the first day of summer later this week and the weather certainly has begun to feel like summer. I hope the weather by you is warm and sunny also.

I pray this will be a good day and week for you wherever you are and whatever you are and will be doing. May you find some time to enjoy the gift of God’s creation and may whatever challenges you face be solved quickly and in a positive way. Enjoy your day and blessings to all! Peace in Christ’s Passion…Fr. Paul

Father's Day Thoughts - 06/16/2013

Father’s Day Thoughts:

I have always liked the following poem by Rudyard Kipling. I read it as part of my homily at my father’s funeral mass many years ago. Today on Father’s Day I offer it to you, read it and remember what your father has given you, taught you and how he has loved you whether you are a son or a daughter. If you are a father read it and remember what you are about in helping make good daughters and sons. Being a father is a great gift with great responsibilities. We pray for and ask God to bless all fathers today that they will always share their gift and always make a difference in our lives. And we ask those fathers who have passed on to watch over us and guide us down the right road.

Happy Father’s Day…

IF.....

 IF you can keep your head when all about you

 Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
 If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
 But make allowance for their doubting too;
 If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
 Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
 Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
 And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
 If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
 If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
 And treat those two impostors just the same;
 If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken

 Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,

 Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
 And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings

 And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
 And lose, and start again at your beginnings
 And never breathe a word about your loss;
 If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
 To serve your turn long after they are gone,
 And so hold on when there is nothing in you
 Except the Will which says to them: 'Hold on!'

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,

 ' Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch,
 if neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
 If all men count with you, but none too much;
 If you can fill the unforgiving minute
 With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
 Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
 And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!

By Rudyard Kipling 1865–1936