Daily Thoughts - 05/22/2014

Daily Thoughts: “So that my joy might be in you and your joy might be complete,” the closing words of the Gospel today (John 15: 9-11). Have you ever noticed that Jesus always seems to be thinking about others? He always seems to want the best for the people around him. All he asks is that we believe in the value of love; the love of God for us, the love of Jesus for us and our ability to love others in the same way.

The communities of faith that we hear about in the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 15: 7-21) are challenged over and over by Jesus’ commandment to love. They value God’s love, they value Jesus’ love thus how they live, grow and change as a community of faith demands that they extend this love to others. The laws, the rules, the regulations change because the community tries to be inclusive and loving. The community tries to look beyond its small world to a larger world. It is not easy. It takes openness, dialog, discussion and often change.

I remember reading an article about a year ago in which church leadership reflected upon the challenges of being a community of faith these days. This leader used an example from his childhood about having to wash his dirty hands before eating. It was a rule in his family and even if there were guests they had to wash their dirty hands before eating. A simple story and one that I certainly could relate to as hand washing before meals was a rule in my house too.

However, to use the washing of dirty hands to address the complex struggles of inclusion in the church seemed a bit simplistic and perhaps even invalid. Imaging people dealing with weighty issues like sexuality, sexual orientation, birth control, marriage, divorce, just to name a few, as simply people with dirty hands seems a bit crude. Equating the washing dirty hands with some profound struggles in life seems disrespectful to people created in the image and likeness of God.

Yes, we have many challenges to the community of faith today. Yes, there are no easy answers which makes the job of leadership and the living out our faith difficult but to say all people have to do is wash their hands make no sense to me!

God’s love, Jesus’ love is a gift and yes there is a condition, the condition is our love for God, for others and for ourselves. The condition is not easy within the human context and it is certainly not as simple as washing our hands. The early church knew this and I think so do we!

Happy feast of St. Rita everyone, I always pause on this day to remember my mother, whose name was Rita. .Have a great day and don’t forget to make a joyful noise with your life today!

Daily Prayer: O God of great love, open our hearts to the gift of your love this day and always. Help us to see your image and likeness in ourselves and in everyone we meet. Grace us with the wisdom to learn, to listen, to discuss, to discern and to grow. Enable us to move beyond what stifles growth so that your joy will always be within us and that our joy will always be complete through the hope of a world made new. Amen!

A Runner’s Thoughts: When we run today let us remember that our breath comes from God. At the moment of creation God breathed life into us. That breath started our heart. So as we take the first steps of our run today and everyday let us once again breath in the breath of God. Let us make God part of our run, let us make God part of our life!

Daily Blessings: Thursday blessings to all and happy feast of St. Rita to everyone! I always pause on this day to remember my mother, whose name was Rita. St. Rita is the patron of desperate causes and although I don’t find myself desperate today I know that many people are and so I offer a prayer for all who struggle today through the intercession of St. Rita or should I say the intersession of both St. Ritas!

I hope this finds you well and having a good day. I returned home yesterday after a great four days in Harrisburg. Today I will make my final preparations for my talk this evening at St. Ann’s Parish in Garden City, NY. If you are in the area, the talk starts at 7:00 pm. It is part of St. Ann’s Healing Symposium. This is the third and final presentation in this spring section of the symposium. I am looking forward to it, though I am a bit nervous. I am just hoping that the focus that I am taking on healing will be one that resonates with people. Well, tonight we shall see!

As I pause for my morning prayer today, I remembered a little saying that I ran across some time ago, “Prayer may not change things for you, but it for sure changes you for things.” So my prayer of blessing for all of you today is to simple say a little prayer for you today that you will be ready for the things you face today and that whatever you encounter will be a blessing from God that will enliven, energize and gift your day! If you are traveling today, travel safe; if you are working today work with energy and enthusiasm, and if you encounter struggles and difficulties today remember you are not alone God always walks with you! Peace in Christ’s Passion and Joy in the Risen Lord…Fr. Paul