Daily Thoughts - 07/05/2013

Daily Thoughts: Whenever I hear or read today’s Gospel (Matt. 9:9-13) I think of all those times when current religious leaders refuse to attend something, a graduation, dinner, fundraising event or some other gathering because a certain person is going to be there or be honored. Often the objection centers on an issue like abortion, contraception or other political/faith issue. I am sure the religious leader has good reasons; reasons often intensified by some of the faithful who believe it would bring scandal to attend.

Yet, Jesus often sat, talked, ate and was found in the company of public sinners and people at odds with the faith community. Situations that the religious leaders of his time thought were bringing scandal. Jesus’ statement to the Pharisees today seems to indicate that these are the very people he came to encounter and help. Why is that not the same today? Why are we not willing to be present to people who need help today? Do we not trust God’s presence? Do we not trust that people can change? Do we not think that people can be affected by what we bring to a moment though faith? Must people always believe first before we are willing to talk to them or be in their presence? Do we really not value our own witness of faith?

Jesus did not convert every person he met. He did not change the attitudes, the opinions or the actions of every person he encountered. Jesus simply was willing to listen, to share, to be present to and to treat all people as God’s children. He was willing to break bread, to share a meal and hope that through the encounter a person’s heart might change.

I realize that none of us are Jesus, however if we are true disciple should we not humbly follow in his footsteps and trust in our faith, in our witness to the Gospel?

Daily Prayer: Compassionate Jesus, you are alive and at large in our world, help us to follow and find you as we live our life today. Help us to find you in the people we meet; the place we go; the work we do and in the plans we make. Gift us with the grace to be one of your disciples so that we might see with your eyes, hear the questions you ask and welcome all people with your trust and love. Give us the patience, compassion and wisdom to change the things that contradict God’s love through the power of the cross and the freedom of your Spirit. Amen! (Adapted from a prayer by John V. Taylor)

Runner’s Thought: As we run today let us listen to ourselves, let us run with hope and joy, let us make each step an offering of our heart in which the imprint of God in our life is made present.

Happy Friday everyone! I hope you had a nice 4^th of July yesterday and enjoy the gift of the day. I am making ready to leave for Mount Holly, NJ later today as I will be helping out at Sacred Heart Parish beginning tomorrow morning until next Saturday evening. It will be a nice change of pace for me in the midst of a slow summer. I look forward to celebrating mass each day and helping the faith community of Sacred Heart in any way possible.

I would bet many of you are enjoy a day off today because of the holiday yesterday. It makes for a nice long weekend. I hope you will use this time well to enjoy family and friends, to rest and relax and perhaps just to take a deep breath and slow life down a little. If you are some place like the west or now the east where the temps are hot and the heat index is high please be careful. Here in Pelham we have a heat advisory today so my workout will be at the gym!

Have a great Friday! Peace in Christ’s Passion…Fr. Paul

Daiy Thoughts - 07/04/2013

Daily Thoughts: “When God is going to do something wonderful, [God] always starts with a hardship; when God is going to do something amazing, [God] starts with an impossibility.” (Anne Lamott, Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith)

In some ways I think both our readings today speak to Anne Lamott’s thoughts about God. The story of Abraham told by God to sacrifice his son Isaac, (Gen. 22: 1b-19) has always been an intriguing one. I was thinking this morning of all the parents I have encountered in my life and I would have to stay 99% of them would have found God’s request troubling if not impossible. But as Lamott says, if God is going to do something amazing and or wonderful God starts with hardship and the impossible. It was certainly a hardship for Abraham and maybe if you think about it from a parent’s perspective it was an impossibility. Yet, that is where God started and from Abraham’s faithfulness and trust something wonderful and amazing unfolded.

We might look at the Gospel (Matt. 9:1-8) in the same way. Jesus seemly, at least for the scribes, starts with an impossibility, forgiving sins which leads to another impossibility the healing of a paralytic. Yet from these two seemly impossible actions the hardship of sinfulness and a physical disability are taken away, in other words something amazing and wonderful takes place.

The key to both of our stories is faith and faithfulness, Abraham’s faith, the paralytic and his friends’ faith and God’s faithfulness. Perhaps faith and faithfulness are key words for our celebration as a nation today. On this Fourth of July we honor and value the faith and faithfulness of those who founded this country. They began with what seemed like an impossibility and a great hardship and here we are 237 years later celebrating a nation which at times is truly amazing and wonderful.

Perhaps was we journey through this day all parents should give pause to look at their children and realize by having them God has tested your faithfulness, may the hardships and the impossibilities of watching them grow be the very faith and hopefulness of amazement and wonder.

And that we as a nation might take pause to look at our life through the lens of hardship and impossibility and realize what we have because of the faithfulness of those who have gone before us.

Daily Prayer: Search us today, O God, and know our hearts; test us and know our thoughts and action. See if there are any wicked ways in us. If there are forgive us. If there are heal us. May we always be truly faithful so that you can lead us down the path of wonder and amazement. Amen!

Runner’s Thought: Let’s make our run today be footprints around God’s world!

Happy 4^th of July everyone! Have a wonderful day hopefully with family and/or friends, with good food, good drink, good fun and that a little time to be thankful for all the gifts you have around you. Try at least for one day to not look are the negative but at the positive. Try to see hope and disappear. Try to believe that the impossible can become of the possible. Look around you with wonder and amazement and not cynicism and negativity! Party, celebrate and drive safe today. Enjoy the fireworks if they are near you. And know that were ever you are, whatever you are doing and whomever you are with – you are in my prayers today and always! Peace in Christ’s Passion…Fr. Paul

Daily Thoughts - 07/03/2013

Daily Thoughts: “Cheap grace is the grace we bestow on ourselves. Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession.... Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.” ― Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost Of Discipleship

Perhaps in celebrating the Feast of Thomas the Apostle today we are reminded that there is no cheap grace. Faith is a struggle, with doubt around every corner, with reason to wonder and question often making an appearance. We only prevail; we only remain faithful because of grace, grace that was born out of the passion, death and resurrection of Christ. It is not cheap grace but grace grounded in the marks of struggle and love.

Today let us by the grace of God not be unbelieving but believing!

Daily Prayer: O God, give us a heart that is humble, quiet, peaceable, patient and loving and give us the wisdom of your Holy Spirit in all our thoughts, words, and deeds. Give us a lively faith, a unyielding hope, a passionate love of you. Take from us all halfheartedness in life. And give us fervor and delight to be embraced by you, your grace, and your tender compassion. Give us the grace to work for the things that really matter. Amen!

Runner’s Thought: Today accept your run for what it is, remembering that this is a spiritual practice that, like any discipline, requires persistence through experiences of success and seeming failure. (Adapted from Roger Joslin – Running the Spiritual Path)

All right let me see if I can get this right. It is Wednesday right? Soooo… Awe Oh! Guess what day it is? Guess what day - it is? Anybody? Come on somebody guess what day it is? A voice from Facebook says - “It’s Hump Day!” Woo Whoo! Yes, we are happier than a camel on Wednesday! Happy Hump Day everyone!

Alright I know I am using this a bit too much, last time a promise! Happy Wednesday everyone and I guess you might not call today Hump Day because of the holiday tomorrow but we do find ourselves at the midpoint of the week. It is just that this week we have the added bonus of a day off tomorrow for the 4^th of July. Perhaps some of you are off for the week or maybe will get an extra day off Friday because of the holiday. However your week is shaking out I hope it is a good one.

Have a great day today and if you don’t hear from me tomorrow have a wonderful 4^th of July. If you have to travel this week please do so safely! Blessings today and always and may these days be filled with family, friends and fun! Peace in Christ’s Passion…Fr. Paul

Daily Thoughts - 07/02/2013

Daily Thoughts: Calming the storm. We have all been there; things are going along just fine. Sure there are a few bumps in the road but that is to be expected in the living of life but we have got things under control. Then it happens, all hell breaks loose and we are hanging on for dear life. All our planning, all our preparations, all our good intentions seem to go right out the window. We are now hanging on by our finger tips any moment life will come crashing down on us. We followed our plan. We did the right things. Why is this happening to us? Our life is simply out of control and we are doomed!

“Why are you terrified, O you of little faith?” Why are we terrified? Have we lost faith? Have we lost faith in God, faith in others, faith in ourselves? Have we forgotten all the hard work we have put into life? Are we unwilling to trust ourselves any more just because a storm has entered our life? Are we really that fragile? Have we forgotten to trust who has brought us to this moment?

Storms in life are fearful moments. They seem to take control, if we really ever had it, away from us. They bring to the surface all kinds of doubt from the dark reaches of our hearts. They scare us and sometimes make us think the worst. They take us out of our comfort zone. Yet, we are reminded today that no matter what, we never face the storms of life alone. Paraphrasing the words of Thomas Merton’s famous prayer, “We should not fear because God is always with us and will never leave us to face our storms alone.”

On this lazy summer day whether we find ourselves in the midst of a calm day, looking at a horizon full of storm clouds or right in the middle of an all-out storm, let us have faith in God, faith in those important in our life and faith in ourselves so that no matter what this day brings our faith will see us through.

Daily Prayer: While I have often suggested it I will again because I think Thomas Merton’s prayer is appropriate for today. - “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: Remember that if we are meditative runners, if we are runners at prayer then with each run we are fortunate to have found a way to refreshes not only our bodies but also our spirits. You might say with each run we give ourselves the change to be born again in friendship with God! (Adapted from Roger Joslin – Running the Spiritual Path)

Ah, let me see today is Tuesday – I hope – so Happy Tuesday everyone! I am checking myself after last week. I hope your day has started off well. Here in Pelham the clouds and humidity remain but at least no rain as of the moment and the sun is trying to peek through every once in a while.

I wish there was a way to transfer our rain to the west so the fires could be extinguished and the heat could be broken because believe me we can spare the water!

On a serious note my thoughts and prayers today are with the families of the firefighters lost in Arizona a few days ago. May the firefighters be at peace with God and may their families somehow find peace!

My brother Passionist, Fr. Jim O’Shea, C.P. got 30 seconds of TV time last night on CNN. He said it was an interesting experience. I am just sorry he did get more time because I think he had a lot to add to the discussion. So now I live with two TV stars.

Have a great day everyone where ever you are. Blessing upon your work, your ministry, your experiences, those whom you encounter, those whom you love and especially upon you! Peace in Christ’s Passion…Fr. Paul

PS Just a few reminders about my life and ministry – Please visit my web site preacherman.org – If you want more information on my Lourdes Pilgrimage in August 2014 drop me a line. – If you would like to contribute to my NYC Marathon Run visit my Fred’s Team page http://mskcc.convio.net/site/TR/FredsTeamEvents/Freds_Team?px=1984802&pg=personal&fr_id=1930

Daily Thoughts - 07/01/2013

Daily Thoughts: I ran across a quote by the English theologian Austin Farrer, many years ago that I use in my prayer from time to time.  Farrer said or wrote, “God forgives me, for he takes my head between his hands and turns my face to his to make me smile at him. And though I struggle and hurt those hands – for they are human, though divine, human and scarred with nails – though I hurt them, they do not let go until he has smiled me into smiling; and that is the forgiveness of God.”

I turned to these words today as I was thinking about the first reading at mass from the Book of Genesis (Gen 18: 16-33). Perhaps this story about Abraham’s bargaining with God to save the people of Sodom and Gomorrah like Farrer’s words is a way to talk about or explain the forgiveness, compassion and love of God. Whether we image it as our idea, Abraham bargaining with God, persuading God not destroy the two cities or the intimate image of God hold us in his hands the point remains the same, God is a loving, caring and forgiving God.

There is human side to the story of Abraham’s bargaining, it is a place we all have been. Perhaps not in the same way but at some point all of us have done a little bargaining, a little negotiating with God. The scene has a little comedy in it to with Abraham and God going back and forth. I am reminded of Bill Cosby’s famous Noah routine. You might say the story can put a little smile on our face!

Farrer’s image speaks to the personal side of our relationship with God. In his words we can almost feel Jesus holding us, holding us so tenderly and lovingly that in the end we have to smile. At first it is an uncomfortable smile as we think about how often we have hurt, disappointed or turned away from him. However, in his hands all is well, all is forgiven and all are loved.

So today we can chuckle at Abraham’s persistence and we can feel God embrace but most importantly we need to smile!

Daily Prayer:

Gentle and loving God,
  we place before you today our worries,
  all the hurts, struggles, fears, faults and failings of our hearts.
They burden us cluttering our hearts and at times making us hopeless souls.
Life becomes heavy; a frown is sometimes the only thing we can muster.

Reach out to us, O compassionate One.

Hold us in your hands. Smile on us,

  because we believe your gentle smile
  works miracles, heals and brings hope
  when all seems hopeless.

Remind us that you never give up

  and breath into us the spirit and power of your smile,
  so that we can share it with everyone we meet.
Smile on us today, O God. Amen!

Runner’s Thought: Remember, let’s not run as if God is waiting for us at the finish line. Rather let’s run with the sense that each step takes us closer to realizing the presence of God, the grace of God that is with us already. (Adapted from Roger Joslin – Running the Spiritual Path)

Happy July everyone! Oh yea, happy Monday too! I hope your weekend was a good one. This will be a short week with the Fourth of July on Thursday which I am sure will be made into a long weekend by many. I hope it will be a productive week for everyone, one filled with many blessings.

If things are a struggle at this time in your life I pray in a special way that God will send a little smile your way. To my nephew-in-law, Jurek, I hope you are getting your tooth looked at today?

If you are interested one of the Passionists that I live with, Fr. Jim O’Shea, C.P. will be appearing on CNN this evening between 7 and 8 pm. Fr. Jim wrote an article for the Huffington Post called “All the Good People.” He will be on CNN tonight discussing it with Don Lemon and others. If you would like to read the article follow the link http://www.huffingtonpost.com/father-jim-oshea-cp/all-the-good-people_b_3519241.html?utm_hp_ref=religion

Have a great Monday everyone and many blessings today and always! Peace in Christ’s Passion…Fr. Paul

Daily Thoughts - 06/30/2013

Daily Thoughts: My mother had a favorite saying that I often heard because it was mainly directed at me. Her saying was, “But you’re not everybody!” I usually heard this simple phrase when I would come to her asking for something that I desperately wanted, a certain style of jacket or coat, a certain kind of sneakers, a certain party or place I wanted to go to. My standard argument in order to get what I wanted always ended with the emphatic statement, “But everyone has one! Everybody is going! Everybody is wearing them!” After a pause I would always hear, “But you’re not everybody!” Which you guess it meant, “No!” Later in life I learned not to use the “everybody” argument and much to my surprise there were a few “yes” responses!

Perhaps the focus of our readings today especially the first reading from the Book of Kings (1 Kings 19: 16b, 19-21) and the Gospel (Luke 9: 51-62) can be summed up in my mother favorite saying, “But you are not everybody!” Being in relationship with God has a tremendous upside but it is also a challenge, a challenge that sometimes means we are not everybody. To be a prophet like Elijah or Elisha, to be a disciple of Jesus sometimes means that we have to let go, that sometimes we end up not being like everybody else. Sometimes the choices that we are confronted with are not between good and evil, right or wrong but between two things that are good. Yet the call to be a prophet, the call to be a disciple asks us to choose the more important good at times even if everyone else goes the other way.

Being a Christian has a price, one that is not always easy to understand. It is a price that can make us feel alone in our choices and decisions. Many a time a walked away from my mother angry, I felt she had done me wrong. I felt that she didn’t understand that she was ruining my life. Yet, here I am and most of who I am and what I believe I owe to my mother and father. They taught me faith and how to live life. The lessons where not always easy, they didn’t always make sense at the time and I wasn’t often not part of the crowd.

Yes, we are reminded today of the challenge of being a disciple, of being a person of faith. It is a challenge that at times calls us to make decisions that are not easy and at the moment don’t make sense. It is a challenge that often reminds us that we are not everybody!

Daily Prayer: O God, you love us not in some aloof, impersonal way, but with the cherishing love a good mother pours out on her children; with the adoring love a good father delights to give the children in his life. With the disciplining love good parents give their children; with the protecting love shepherds shower on their lambs. Your love for us now is gift-love, faithful, committed, unchanging, inextinguishable. Grant us the grace to believe, to follow, to choose, to experience this love even when it is difficult, even when it doesn’t make sense, even when everyone else says differently. Grant us the hope of your eternal love so that we can keep our hands on the plow always look ahead. Amen!

Runner’s Thought: Let us remember that if we run the spiritual path, God is the source of our strength, God is our footpath, and God is the finish line. If we run consciously, with the intention to move closer to the presence of God, then our movement, the sound of our breath becomes a profession of our faith! (Adapted from Roger Joslin, Running the Spiritual Path)

Sunday blessings to all! I will make this short as I will be leaving in a few moments to celebrate the noon Mass at the Church of St. John and St. Mary in Chappaqua, NY. I hope and pray your weekend is going well. May this last Sunday in June and this last day of June be one blessed with family, friends, love, laughter, rest, relaxation and much peace! For those out there struggling today especially my nephew-in-law, Jurek, with is painful tooth, hanging in there, my prayers are with you, may the struggles, the pain end soon! I would also like to send a shout out to my niece, Sarah who finished first yesterday in the Macklind Avenue Mile Race in St. Louis. Yes, she is my niece! Peace in Christ’s Passion…Fr. Paul