Daily Thoughts - 02/07/2014

Daily Thoughts: The readings today are interesting on the one hand we have the famous story of Herod and John the Baptist. It is a rather gruesome story, it is hard sometimes to think of a young girl being presented with some one's head and then turning and giving it to her mother. Yet, I guess gruesome things happen in life every day, thankfully not in my life.

I am always struck in this story with the fact that Herod is moved by John, that he likes to listen to him, yet he gives in to the worldly pressure around him. I get the feeling Herod knows that John is right, but his power, his self-importance; his ego will not let him say yes. Herod has surrounded himself with people who push him in the wrong direction, he give in to the peer pressure of his time!

There is a great line in the Letter to the Hebrews that says, "Do not neglect hospitality, for through it some have unknowingly entertained angels." It is great advice! Perhaps it is advice that Herod should have heard or heeded. He certain had one of God's angels, John the Baptist in his presence.

We need to be aware that God can come to us, be present to us in many ways. We need to trust that God is with us always. We need to remember that we are a community of faith not just individuals and we need to always be aware of the struggles and joys of others because they can often bring God into our midst.

Let us today live by the phrase, God is my light and my salvation, whom should we fear? Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever!

Have a great Friday everyone!

Daily Prayer: O God, help us to always love and reverence your presence in ourselves and others. Keep us always trusting of your presence and love and help us to be hospitable to all we encounter especially the angels you send into our life! Set out life today on a firm foundation of your love so we may live with the hope and trust that you will never forsake or abandon us because you are with us always! Amen!

Runner's Thoughts: Let's make our run today a God centered run. Let us honor the voice of God in nature, experiencing all the sounds and sights of nature as we run. We can let our breath join in the chorus and we look purposefully for all the signs of God in nature because if we do this we surely will not be running alone!

Daily Blessing: Happy Friday everyone! Well we have made it to the end of another week. For many it has been a long week of battling snow, rain, ice and cold and the forecast is for more of the same come Sunday, however we have survived and will continue to survive knowing each day brings us a little closer to spring!

Late this afternoon I will be blessed with a journey to Tampa, Florida. Yes, for the next two weeks I get to escape the cold wintery weather for what I hope will be the warmth of the Florida sun. I have two missions, one in Punta Gorda, FL and the other in Inverness, FL. Yes, it is a tough job and someone has to do it! I am going to enjoy the warmth!

It was a wonderful retreat here in Jamaica, NY this last week and I was honored to celebrate it with my brother Passionists. I came into it with a great deal of anxiety but it was truly a blessed time. I would like to offer many thanks to the Jamaica community and their wonderful spirit and hospitality.

My prayer today as I prepare to travel is for God’s blessings upon all of you wherever you are and in whatever you will encounter today. I pray you stay safe, warm, and have a great day. May you find the richness of God’s presence in your life today and always. Also I pray that the end of this day will bring you to the beginning of a restful and enjoyable weekend. Peace in Christ's Passion...Fr. Paul

Daily Thoughts - 02/05/2014

Daily Thoughts: We celebrate today the Feast of St. Agatha, one of the early martyrs of the Church. What we know about her is mostly legend. I find it interesting that as we celebrate her spirit, her faith today we hear in the Gospel (Mark 6: 1-6) about a town that doesn’t seem to have the same kind of spirit or faith. I guess in different ways our remembrance of St. Agatha and our Gospel give us much food for thought.

The contrast between our Gospel and our feast today seems to be about on the one hand a saint, a young woman of the Third Century who held on to her faith at a time in the Church of great persecution. She did this rather than giving in to the pressures of her culture and society.  Agatha held on to her belief and faith in God even though it brought her mush suffering and ultimately death at an early age.

On the other hand the people in Nazareth, Jesus' home town are so closed minded, so sure they know Jesus that they have very little faith. Their faith is so weak that the wonderful things Jesus does everywhere else could not happen in their town. They have put Jesus into a box and they are not open to the unpredictable answers, the unexplainable surprises and the unrelenting love that Jesus brings!

Our feast and Gospel tells us in different ways that faith is profoundly important but is not easy, that it is work and at times has grave consequences. Yet, we need to hang on.  We need to keep working at it. We need to not give up hope because we never know when the grace of God will be in our midst and we do not want to miss it!

So today let us live out our faith, let us not fear, because God's kindness is everlasting and God's grace in always right around the corner! Have a great afternoon everyone!

Daily Prayer: O God of all strength, help us to hold on to the courage of faith as we live our life. Keep us from forming opinions about ourselves and others that cause us to miss your grace, your presence and your love. Keep our hearts open to the many ways you enter our lives so that in faith you might bring healing and love to our life and to all those we encounter this day. Amen!

Runner's Thought: Remember it is possible to begin a meditation run simply by stepping on to the side walk, the street, the track, the path, a treadmill and putting one foot in front of the other. In fact, the simplicity of this is one of the great joys of running!

Daily Blessing: Happy Wednesday, Happy Hump Day everyone! Once again we are at the hump day of the week, thus in theory it should be all downhill from here! Well perhaps not but we can always hope!

Another sloppy, awful day here in New York and I am glad that I am in and do not have to travel. My prayers are with all who are out and about in this weather today, please be safe in your travels.

My prayer of blessing today is that wherever you are, whatever this day has brought your way and will bring your way I pray in the hope you have found and will continue to find many blessings as you live this day! Enjoy your afternoon, the people you meet, the things you do and the time you spend being the gift you are! Blessings to all! Please if you get a chance say a prayer for the Passionists on retreat here in Jamaica, New York and also a little prayer for their preacher. Peace in Christ's Passion...Fr. Paul.

Daily Thoughts - 02/04/2014

Daily Thoughts: Today we heard in the Gospel (Mark 5: 21-43) about two women, one who is cured and the other who is brought back to life. The women in the Gospel story are different, one is just a child of twelve who faces death, and the other has lived many years but for the last twelve years has faced a great physical struggle. For one woman it is the faith of her family, in particular her father, that makes all the difference, for the other it is her own faith that makes the difference. This is what brings these women together, faith. Faith if lived out can give us the opportunity to be cured; faith can also give us life!

The focus of the Gospel is the thread of faith. The two women in our Gospel relied on faith to bring about comfort, relief and life. We, the community of faith, rely on the faith of those that journey with us, our own faith and the faith of those who have gone before us, "the cloud of witnesses" to keep us going, to support us on this journey of faith we call life.

Faith can be a comfort, faith is always a challenge but remember it can bring healing, it can bring support and it can bring life. Let us be faith filled people tonight and always so that we to can be a source of healing, comfort, support and life to all we meet! Have a restful and peaceful night everyone!

Daily Prayer: O God, give strength to our faith, so that we can be a source of support, comfort, healing and life as we make our journey through this evening to a new day tomorrow. Help us to draw upon the faith of all who have gone before us, trusting that they are always with us. Give us the courage to reach out and touch you when we most need it today. Make us aware of those in need of life tonight so that we may bring you to them. May we not grow weary or lose heart. Amen!

Runner's Thought: Let us accept our next run for what it is, remembering that this is a spiritual practice that, like any exercise, requires persistence through experiences of success and what seems like failure.

Daily Blessing: Good evening everyone! I am a little late with my posting today because it has been a busy day. Our retreat here at the Passionist Monastery in Jamaica, New York is in full swing and I was busy about making sure that I offered the men Good Words today. Please keep the men in your prayers and I would ask special prayers for Fr. Tom Joyce, C.P. this night. He has struggled with Parkinson’s for a number of years now and his condition seems to be getting worst. Please hold him in your prayers. As I away please keep the preacher of the retreat in your prayers so that the Good Word may be preached!

My prayer tonight is that all of us may be blessed with a restful and peaceful night so that we can rise refreshed to live a new day! Have a great Tuesday evening everyone!  Peace in Christ's Passion...Fr. Paul

Daily Thoughts - 02/03/2014

Daily Thoughts: "Let your hearts take comfort, all who hope in the Lord!" This line from the Psalms came to mind as I we reflecting on the Gospel (Mark 5:1-20) today. I have often found this Gospel story a strange story. There are many layers to it: Jesus in foreign territory; the man who lives among the tombs; the unclean spirits named legion that are sent into the swine; the swine that throw themselves into the sea; the fear for the people so much so that they ask Jesus to leave and finally the man once possessed becoming a preacher of the Good News.

It seems that the possessed man in the story is the only one who can take comfort in Jesus. He has struggled all his life. He has been chained and broken out of the chains only to find little peace. It is only Jesus who can finally free him totally. I think we all have parts of ourselves that get possessed by the demons of life. Things that we cannot let go of that hurt us in a personal way and sometimes even hurt the people around us. We sometimes free ourselves only to be caught by them again. Perhaps like the man in the story it is only through Jesus that we can find comfort and hope.

Often as we live life we tell Jesus to move on, to leave, we do not want our life disrupted even if it not going so well. We likes things the way they are even if our life a awash with struggles, chains, tombs and a lack of peace. Yet all of us have the opportunity to recognize Jesus in our life and become free of the things that possess us but first we need to overcome our fears and trust in God's presence. Trust that change can be good.

May this day be one when we recognize Jesus passing by and allow our hearts to find comfort and hope in his presence! Have a great Monday everyone!

Daily Prayer: O God creator of all good things, you are our light and our salvation, whom should we fear. Loving God, you are the stronghold, the rock of our life, of whom should we be afraid? Help us as we live this day to discern what is right, to take comfort and to always hope in you. Guide us along your right path knowing that you are always with us and you will never leave us to face life alone. Amen!

Runner's Thought: Let us try to make our run a spiritual one today, remembering as we run God is our strength, God is the breath we take, God is our footpath, and God is our finish line!

Daily Blessing: Snow, snow, snow, snow, what a difference a day makes. We are up to about 5 inches so far and we are on our way to 8-10 inches. If only this came yesterday it might have made the game more interesting! Well friends, welcome to Monday! Let me first say congrats to all Seahawks fans and condolences to all Broncos fans! I saw an interesting fact on the internet this morning this day more than any other is when the most people take a sick day or a personal day because of a Super Bowl. Well today they can blame it on the weather! Also there is a movement by some to make the day after the Super Bowl a National Holiday. Not sure I agree with that, couldn't we just play the Super Bowl on Saturday evening. I think just as many people would watch it!

I have to say I didn't party last night and I didn't watch the game so I am up and ready to go! I have a busy day ahead as in a few hours I will head over to our monastery in Jamaica Queens, New York to begin the community retreat tonight. I will be giving the retreat there all week and then I will head to Florida for two missions. So I have to get things in order here because I will be away for three weeks. Much to do and I want to get out of here earlier than I intended before the weather gets too bad!

So my prayer of blessing today will be a simple one.  If you are home or at work, if you are dealing with bad weather or not I pray that this day will be one of many blessings for you! If you are hung over but happy may the pain in your head leave soon so you can enjoy being happy. If you are still crying in your beer may today ultimately end in you finding some peace remember there is always next year. I pray that today will be the beginning of a great week for everyone! As you journey through this week take comfort and hope in God and let God cast out the demons that might try to possess you! Blessings to all!

If you have a chance please offer a prayer for the Passionist Community at our Immaculate Conception Monastery as they enter into a time of retreat and also say a prayer for their preacher! Peace in Christ's Passion...Fr. Paul

Daily Thoughts - 02/02/2014

Daily Thoughts: Good day everyone and happy feast day! Today is the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord, "Feast of the Meeting" and sometimes known at Candlemas Day as candles are blessed on this day. Some say this is the true end to the Christmas Season. It is certainly a day of blessing.

The Gospel (Luke 2:22-40) today tells the story of Anna and Simeon two people waiting for the Lord. They were waiting for the consolation and redemption of Israel and they both recognized it in the child Jesus. Simeon's now famous words, words recited each evening near the end of Night Prayer, words reflecting the joy Simeon has in being granted the gift of seeing Jesus. Anna too is grateful for this opportunity both of them have prayed and waited a long time.

Perhaps, Anna and Simeon reflect for us the journey of faith that all of us are on. We long for the Kingdom of God, we long for a day when the struggles, the times of sadness in life, the difficulties of life will be gone, when will we see the gift of God in its fullest. At that moment perhaps we will utter the words of Simeon. However until then we wait and we journey in faith, we keep the faith like Anna and Simeon, and we go about life hoping to encounter God's many gifts in simple ways. Being on the lookout for an opportunity to hold God in our hands and feel the blessing of God in our life.

May we truly be blessed this day knowing that we are on a journey of faith that will bring us to the Kingdom where we can truly give thanks! Have a great Sunday everyone and if you are into the Super Bowl may your team win!

Daily Prayer: O God, bless us today with the gift of your love. Help us to take the time to recognize you as we journey through this day. May we find you in ourselves, in others and in the world around us. Give us the privilege to welcome Christ into this world as we live life through your unrelenting grace! Amen!

Runner's Thought: Remember run in a way that allows you to find pleasure in the experience and helps you to know the presence of God is with you!

Daily Blessing: Happy Sunday – Happy Feast of the Presentation of the Lord – and if you are in to it Happy Super Bowl Sunday! I hope your day has started out well and that there are many good things ahead! If it is going to be a busy Sunday make sure you find a little time for God! If you have a Super Bowl party in your future today and have to travel please be safe. If you can make this Sunday a day of rest may it be one that refreshes you in every way. If it is a day of work may you find God’s blessing in the work you must do. Blessing to all on this Sunday and may God’s blessing help you continue your journey of faith in the spirit of Anna and Simeon. To all have a great day and many blessings in whatever this day brings! May your team win or if not may ti be a good game! Peace in Christ's Passion...Fr. Paul