Daily Thoughts: “We have never
preached violence, except the violence of love, which left Christ nailed to a
cross, the violence that we must each do to ourselves to overcome our
selfishness and such cruel inequalities among us. The violence we preach is not
the violence of the sword, the violence of hatred. It is the violence of love,
of brotherhood, [of sisterhood,] the violence that wills us to beat weapons
into sickles for work.” (Oscar A. Romero, The Violence of Love)
Jesus and Paul in our readings today (1
Corinthians 3: 1-9 and Luke 4:38-44) tell us that they have come to proclaim
the Good News. Jesus does it directly and Paul indirectly. Their goal is to
bring the Good News to whomever they meet, whether it is the community of
believers at Corinth or the people in Capernaum or the many towns beyond.
The Good News that Jesus and Paul bring
is the same Good News brought by Bishop Oscar Romero many centuries later. It
is the Good News of love. It is the Good News of the Cross. It is the Good news
of community. It is the Good News of no more war!
I believe there comes a point in a
believer’s life when we need to say enough. Enough violence! Enough war! Enough
hate! Enough disrespect for life! If we are truly a great silent majority, if
we truly want a world based on peace then it is time to say enough with one
great voice! It is time to proclaim and live the Good News.
Have a great day everyone!
Daily Prayer:
Lord, take us where You want us to go;
Let us meet who You want us to meet;
Tell us what You want us to say; and
Keep us out of your way. Amen
(Adapted from a prayer by Fr. Mychal
Judge)
A Runner’s
Thoughts:
“There are no standards and no possible victories except the joy you are living
while dancing your run. You are not running for some future reward-the real
reward is now!” (Fred Rohe, The Zen of
Running) And you are not running for some experience of God in the future
when you run you are running with God now! So enjoy the company!
Daily Blessing: Wednesday, “Hump
Day” greetings to all! I know I have been away from my musings for the last few
days but I think I have a good excuse. Last Saturday I finished my drive to St.
Louis having completed most of it on Friday. Saturday I celebrated the 4:30 pm
mass at St. Joan of Arc Parish and then after mass I had the privilege of
celebrating baptism of my Great Niece Natalie Ann. It was a wonderful moment
the kind that makes all the struggles and challenges of life just disappear at
least for the moment. Sunday we had a party in honor of Natalie Ann. A good
time was had by all and the weekend for me was the gift of family time which I truly
enjoyed. So hopefully you see that I had a pretty good excuse for being absent
from internet highway and why I took a little break from posting!
On Monday afternoon I made my way over
to Belleville, Il which is about 20 miles east of St. Louis to begin a week long
retreat with the Oblates of Mary Immaculate. They have a retreat
house here in Belleville, called Kings House. We began the retreat Monday
evening and are now beginning our second full day. There are about 35 brothers
and priests on retreat and it seems to be going well. At least they haven’t
thrown anything at me or asked me to leave and they keep showing up for the
talks! Please know that as I journey with the Oblates on retreat you are in my
prayers each day and I would ask you to keep the men on retreat in your prayers
and if possible say a little prayer for their preacher.
I hope all of you are fine and survived
your first days of school or work after the long Labor Day weekend. I hope you
have gotten back into the swing of things wherever you are.
My prayer of blessing for all of you
today is that as we move into the busyness of September, these last formal days
of summer, God will bless you with some time to pause and take into account
your blessings, your gifts. The hopelessness of violence seems to be all around
us but as I learned over the weekend if we pause and take some time away from
the busyness of life often we encounter God’s gifts in very real and wonderful
ways. To hold my great niece Natalie, well to me there is nothing better to
remind me of God’s presence in the world. God’s presence is all around us we
just have to not let the noise of the world distract us from God. May God bless
you with the gift of his presence today is some small way so that you know you
are loved and not alone!
Have a great Wednesday – Hump Day
everyone and please know as always you are in my prayers! Peace in Christ’s
Passion…Fr. Paul
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