Daily Thoughts - 08/10/2013

Daily Thoughts: “A sacrifice to be real must cost, must hurt, and must empty ourselves. Give yourself fully to God. He will use you to accomplish great things on the condition that you believe much more in his love than in your weakness.”
(Mother Teresa)

Perhaps, Blessed Teresa of Calcutta give us another way of understanding our Gospel (John 12:24-26) today. The cost, the struggle, the giving of ourselves might seem like weakness but when lived in friendship with God it becomes the power of wonderful things. Let us believe in God’s love so that our weakness will become our strength!

Daily Prayer: May God the Holy Spirit move within us and give us eyes to see with, ears to hear with, and hands that God’s work might be done. Amen! (Prayer by St. Dominic)

Runner’s Thought: “Running is just such a monastery-- a retreat, a place to commune with God and yourself, a place for psychological and spiritual renewal.”

(George Sheehan)

Happy Saturday everyone! I hope your weekend has started off well. The humidity is still hanging around here in Pelham but they say a break is coming later today. But the sun is out and the sounds of summer are all around so you might say life ain’t so bad today!

I hope your Saturday and Sunday will be blessed with what you need it to be for you and those you love. If you need a little smile today – “Think left and think right and think low and think high. Oh, the thinks you can think up if only you try!” (Dr. Seuss)  Peace in Christ’s Passion…Fr. Paul

Daily Thoughts - 08/09/2013

Daily Thoughts: “They left behind a normal life, fishing collecting taxes, in order to follow Jesus. Now comes the hard truth. This kingdom that Jesus had talked about would not be established by might but by suffering and death.

Dying to self is no easy task. The cross presents itself daily in many different ways. But deep within each one of us, God is calling us, through the paschal mystery, into a relationship of love – and it is that relationship that holds the promise of joyful, rich, and never-ending life in the kingdom.” (From Living with Christ – August 9, 2013)

Friday blessings to everyone!

Daily Prayer: May the Passion of Jesus Christ be always in our hearts!

Runner’s Thought:  Why do we run – well I suppose there are many reasons. We run because if we didn’t, we would be lazy and negative and spend too much time on the couch. We run to breathe the fresh air. We run to explore. We run to escape the ordinary. We run to savor the journey of life. We run to connect with God through creation, through being in touch with ourselves, through the experiences and people we encounter on the run. When we run our relationship with God and life becomes a little more vibrant, a little more intense, a little more real and hopefully we like that. (Inspired by a reflection by Dean Karnazes)

TGIF everyone! I hope your week has gone well or if not may it end on an up note and allow you to enjoy the gift of a weekend.

The funeral for my brother Passionist, Fr. Malcolm Cornwell, C.P., in Scranton, Pa went very beautifully yesterday and I was honored to be part of the celebration of his life.

I would like to give a shout out to my niece and nephew, Mindy and Paul as they celebrate their 10^th wedding anniversary today.  May the richness of their love be blessed today and always and may it grow and continue to touch the lives of all you know them and encounter them. Here is to you Mindy and Paul who always show us that there are three things in life faith, hope and love and the greatest is love!

I hope all of you will have a great weekend, one filled with family, friends, laughter, fun, rest and relaxation. If you need a little non-people time, quiet time, I hope you get that too. Enjoy everyone and be safe! Peace in Christ’s Passion…Fr. Paul

Daily Thoughts - 08/07/2013

Daily Thoughts: “Prayer is not asking. Prayer is putting oneself in the hands of God, at His disposition, and listening to His voice in the depth of our hearts.” (Mother Teresa)

The Canaanite woman in the Gospel (Matt. 15:21-28) today is a woman of prayer. She puts herself in the hands of God. She is at God’s disposition and she knows it. But she remains persistent, she hears God’s voice deep in her heart and because of her faith her daughter is healed.

Will we have faith enough today to put ourselves in the hands of God? Will we have faith enough today to listen to God’s voice in our hearts? Will we have faith enough today to bring hope to those we love?

Daily Prayer:

O God, Give us this day the Love that leads the way.
Give us this day the Faith that nothing can dismay.
Give us this day the Hope no disappointments tire.
Give us this day the Passion that will burn like fire.
Let us not sink to be a clod, but make us your fuel, O Flame of God. Amen!
(Adapted from a poem by Amy Carmichael)

Runner’s Thought: “Whatever you may be missing right now - a person, a place, a feeling, maybe you are injured and missing running - whatever it is, have peace and take heart - remember that any goodbye makes room for a hello.” (Kristin Armstrong) In other words run with faith and hope!

Happy “Hump Day” everyone! Yes, it is that day again, that middle of the week day that is “two days” from either weekend. That day when camels walk through offices asking the question “Do you know what day it is? – Do you know what day it is? May you have the right answer when the camel walks through your office today. No, office too bad because a camel walking through an office always puts a smile on my face! Well in any event, I hope your Wednesday has started off well and has many blessings in store for you today.

Later this day I will be headed to Scranton, Pa for the funeral of Fr. Malcolm tomorrow. Please continue to keep his family and the Scranton Passionist Community in your prayers.

Truly have a great day and may God make you a blessing to someone today because that is what you are! Peace in Christ’s Passion…Fr. Paul

Daily Thoughts - 08/06/2013

Daily Thoughts: “You do not need to know precisely what is happening, or exactly where it is all going. What you need is to recognize the possibilities and challenges offered by the present moment, and to embrace them with courage, faith and hope.” (Thomas Merton)

Perhaps Merton’s words reflect the message of our scriptures today on this Feast of the Transfiguration. We might not know how or why but by God’s grace our lives can be transformed into something wonderful if we are willing to embrace this moment with courage faith and hope.

We also need to remember that on this day 68 years ago an atomic bomb was dropped and three days later another one was dropped. We live today in the hope that Jesus’ transfiguration will always remind us that, despite our human tendency toward acts of violence and death, our lives, the world, can be changed by God’s power to give new life!

Happy Feast of the Transfiguration everyone and please pray for an end to all war and violence in our world!

Daily Prayer:

Great God, who has told us "Vengeance is mine," save us from ourselves, save us from the vengeance in our hearts and the acid in our souls.

Save us from our desire to hurt as we have been hurt, to punish as we have been punished, and to terrorize as we have been terrorized.

Give us the strength it takes to listen rather than to judge, to trust rather than to fear, to try again and again to make peace even when peace eludes us.

We ask, O God, for the grace to be our best selves. We ask for the vision to be builders of the human community rather than its destroyers. We ask for the humility as a people to understand the fears and hopes of other peoples.

We ask for the love it takes to bequeath to the children of the world to come more than the failures of our own making. We ask for the heart it takes to care for all the peoples of the world as well as for ourselves.

Give us the depth of soul, O God, to constrain our might, to resist the temptations of power to refuse to attack the attackable, to understand that vengeance begets violence, and to bring peace--not war--wherever we go.

For You, O God, have been merciful to us. For You, O God, have been patient with us. For You, O God, have been gracious to us.

And so may we be merciful and patient and gracious and trusting with these others whom you also love.

This we ask through Jesus, the one without vengeance in his heart. This we ask forever and ever. Amen! (Prayer by Sister Joan Chittister, OSB)

Runner’s Thought: spirituality for running - the miracle isn't that we finish. The miracle is that we have the courage to start and bring God with us! (Adapted from a quote by John Bingham)

Happy Tuesday everyone! I hope your day has started off well and if not take a deep breath, and continue your journey with the hope that this too will pass! It is a beautiful day here in Pelham I hope the same is true for you.

I leave you with this thought for the day think of it in terms of life if you are not a runner - "If you never have a 'bad' day, you're probably doing something wrong; if you never have a 'good' day, you're definitely doing something wrong.” (Mark Remy)  Peace in Christ’s Passion…Fr. Paul

Daily Thoughts - 08/05/2013

Daily Thought: “Jesus teaches us another way: Go out. Go out and share your testimony, go out and interact with your brothers [and sisters], go out and share, go out and ask. Become the Word in body as well as spirit.”  (Pope Francis I)

Perhaps this is what Jesus meant when he asked the disciples what they had when they were confronted with such a large crowd. Yes, the miracle of the loaves and fishes took place that day. Yes, Jesus took a few loaves and fishes and fed over five thousand people. But before he did it he asked the disciple what they had. Jesus asked the disciple to give out what they had.

God always provides and most of the time it is through us. Often we look at ourselves and think, “There is not much here! I certainly don’t have enough to satisfy the crowd!” But we do and as Pope Francis says, if we go and share, if we go and become the Body of Christ then great things will happen. Miraculous things will happen. The world will be fed!

The question for today, “What do we have?” The challenge “go and share!”

Daily Prayer:
Lord, make us instruments of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let us sow love,
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
And where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master, grant that we may not so much seek

 to be consoled as to console,
 to be understood as to understand,
 to be loved, as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive,
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
(Adapted from a prayer attributed to St. Francis of Assisi)

Runner’s Thought: “[We] run because long after [our] footprints fade away, maybe [we] will have inspired a few to reject the easy path, hit the trails, put one foot in front of the other, and come to the same conclusion [we] did: [we] run because it always takes [us] where [we]want to go.” (Dean Karnazes)  And we prayer because it always takes us to whom we want most in our life. So today run and pray!

Happy Monday everyone! I hope your weekend went well. In looking over your Facebook posts I saw many of you did some interesting things over the weekend. I hope in the midst of all your travels and activities you found time for a little rest and relaxation.

On a sad note one of my Passionist brothers died last night, Fr. Malcolm Cornwell, C.P. Fr. Malcolm was a fine man and he will be greatly missed. Please keep his family and the Passionist Community in Scranton in your prayers over the next few days as they celebrate Fr. Malcolm’s life.

Have a great week everyone! May it be a fruitful one filled with many blessings upon you and those you love. Don’t forget to share the gift of who you are today because believe me it will make a difference! Peace in Christ’s Passion…Fr. Paul

Daily Thoughts - 08/04/2013

Daily Thoughts: “You fool, this night your life will be demanded of you, and the things you have prepared, to whom will they belong?” One of the closing verses of our Gospel today (Luke 12:13-21), and when I hear or read this Gospel it is the verse that always catches my attention. Not because I have a lot of wealth in the traditional sense or because I fear that I might die soon. This phrase catches my attention because I have long thought that each time a receive communion God says to me, “I demand your life of you!”

Perhaps this is stretching Jesus’ words but for me each time I receive communion God demands my life of me and all the things I have are now to be used to proclaim the “Good News.” My life is not here to comfort me, but to be of service to God. My life is about faith; a faith is to be lived.

Faith is not a word that defines or described my relationship with God. It is not something that only comes into play when I am in Church or doing Church related things. Faith is like taking a breath. I need to breathe every moment of my life. I need to breathe in order to do anything. It is the same with faith, it is a part of my whole life, and faith is a part of everything I do or say.

Jesus asks us to live our lives through faith today. He asks us not to be caught up in what the world defines as valuable, important or necessary but to be caught up in the things that matter to God, life and people. Yes, today God demands our life of us. What will be our response?

Daily Prayer: Lord God, we have no idea where we are going. We do not see the road ahead of us. We cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do we really know ourselves, and the fact that we think that we are following your will does not mean that we are actually doing so. But we believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And we hope we have that desire in all that we are doing. We hope that we will never do anything apart from that desire. And we know that if we do this you will lead us by the right road though we may know nothing about it. Therefore will we trust you always though we may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. We will not fear, for you are ever with us, and you will never leave us to face our perils alone. (Adapted from a prayer by Thomas Merton)

Runner’s Thought: “There is something magical about running; after a certain distance, it transcends the body. Then a bit further, it transcends the mind. A bit further yet, and what you have before you, laid bare, is the soul.” (Kristin Armstrong)

Sunday blessings to all wherever this day finds you! I hope you are having a good weekend and have or will dedicate a little time to God today. It is a beautiful day here in Pelham and I hope the same is true where you are.

Hopefully, on this date next year I and at least 32 others will be in our final stages of preparation for our journey to Lourdes and other holy places in France. If you have ever wanted to make a pilgrimage to Lourdes and see France let me know and I will send you information about the trip. We still have plenty of space available!

I am sitting at my desk this morning looking at my many pictures of Roberto Clemente which are on the wall next to my desk and thinking how great it is that the Pirates are in first place but every time I turn on Sportscenter all I hear is Alex Rodriguez, suspensions and steroids. Will it ever just be baseball again? Probably not!

Well, friends it is National Friendship Day. Who knew! So happy Friendship Day to all my friends! And to everyone else, Happy Everyone Else Day! Have a great Sunday everyone, enjoy. May it be blessed with family, friends, fun, laughter, rest, relaxation and much love! Peace in Christ’s Passion…Fr. Paul