Making a Joyful Noise through Lent 03/15/2014

Making a Joyful Noise through Lent – 03/15/2014

“[St.] Thomas [Aquinas] thus explains that, as far as external works are concerned, mercy is the greatest of all the virtues: “In itself mercy is the greatest of the virtues, since all the others revolve around it and, more than this, it makes up for their deficiencies. This is particular to the superior virtue, and as such it is proper to God to have mercy, through which his omnipotence is manifested to the greatest degree”.” (Pope Francis – Evangelii Gaudium – The Joy of the Gospel)

The words that I have chosen from Pope Francis today are taken from the foundational stones of our Gospel (Matthew 5: 43-48) for this Saturday in the First Week of Lent. When we hear words from Jesus, “love your enemies…” the question always arises, “How?” Well I think that Pope Francis through the thinking of St. Thomas Aquinas gives us a direction to look in. The underlying joy of the Gospel is that we are to be people of mercy. If mercy is at the center of our life then finding the good in others is possible.

"Love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you..." Probably some of the hardest words of the Gospel to put into practice. Perhaps on an intellectual level some of us might understand them. Maybe when we heard them proclaimed at mass we might give them some thought. However when it comes to living, the vast majority of the time, these words do not find their way into how we look at life.

Enemies are not people to invest love in. People who persecute us do not find their way into our prayers. Most of the time these days we trash them on Facebook or Twitter, we gossip about them and find any way we can to discredit them, to demonize them. The 24 hour news stations like FOX, MSNBC and the like will give you all the ammunition that you need! Living Jesus' words is leaving one's self open to all kinds of bad things. It reflects weakness in a world built on strength, power and being number one. We can point to many examples were others tried to be nice, try to follow Jesus' advice and were persecuted, hurt, overrun, sent into slavery, exiled, lost all they had and end up worse than they started off. We can point to wars and conflicts that escalated into world problems because people didn't act with strength, force and might.

Living by Jesus' words seems to make us vulnerable and weak in the eyes of the people around us and the eyes of the world and to be honest with you I cannot dispute it. However, if we read a little further in the Gospel we might say in some ways Jesus is not talking about world problems and issues between nations or complex situations. Jesus is talking about our daily lives, greeting people, caring about people around us, treating people with honor and respect as we encounter them in the living of life. In other words bring the joy of the Gospel to all our daily encounters.

Perhaps the point that Jesus is getting at is if we bring joy to the little things, if we respect, honor and care about people in our one on one encounters. If we see a person who has hurt us or who does not value our point of view, our beliefs with love and respect and hold them in prayer, then perhaps our world problems would not be such a challenge. In other words if we live the words of Jesus in our everyday lives then our world might have the chance of being a better place. If we do the little things with faith the big things might be easier to overcome!

Have a blessed Saturday everyone and don’t forget to make a joyful noise with your life today!

Daily Lenten Prayer: Loving God, help us to live by your words. Guide us in the way of compassion, respect, caring, forgiving, mercy, joy and love. Keep us focused on Jesus' way of disarming the evil in our life. Do not let us give in to a world view of power, might and right. Grace us so we can forgive when forgiveness is needed. Grace us with the humility to seek forgiveness when we have hurt others. Renew in us the Spirit of your joy so that we might see today as the acceptable time to live by your words! Amen!

Runner's Thoughts: Let us today run in the present moment, not from something and not to something. Let's strive for a grace-filled and well and as a graceful run. Do not run for time but run for form, run for grace, run for God!

Daily Blessing: Blessings to all on this Saturday morning! I hope you had a restful night, one that has allowed you to rise refreshed and ready to begin a new day.

I made my way home yesterday and spent the evening getting caught up on my paperwork from the past week. This evening I begin a new mission at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish in Pelham Manor, NY. It is only about a mile away from the our residence so even though I will be celebrating a time of mission I will get to sleep in my own bed each night. It will be a nice little break from the grind of being on the road. For in the Pelham, Bronx, West Chester area the mission will be Monday thru Wednesday at 9:00 am and 7:00 pm. The morning mission talk will be with mass and the evening talk will be a prayer service except for Wednesday which will be mass. If you are in the area come and join us! As always I ask your prayers this coming week for the faith community at OLPH and for their preacher!

My prayer of blessing on this Saturday is that your love may more and more abound both in understanding and wealth of experience and that through the blessings of God love you will always value the things that really matter. May God blessing us all with the joy of the Gospel this day and always! Remember to make a joyful noise with your life today. Peace in Christ’s Passion…Fr. Paul

Making a Joyful Noise through Lent 03/14/2014

Making a Joyful Noise through Lent – 03/14/2014

“The Church which “goes forth” is a community of missionary disciples who take the first step, who are involved and supportive, who bear fruit and rejoice. An evangelizing community knows that the Lord has taken the initiative, he has loved us first (cf. 1 Jn 4:19), and therefore we can move forward, boldly take the initiative, go out to others, seek those who have fallen away, stand at the crossroads and welcome the outcast. Such a community has an endless desire to show mercy, the fruit of its own experience of the power of the Father’s infinite mercy. Let us try a little harder to take the first step and to become involved. Jesus washed the feet of his disciples. The Lord gets involved and he involves his own, as he kneels to wash their feet. He tells his disciples: “You will be blessed if you do this”” (Pope Francis – Evangelii Gaudium – The Joy of the Gospel)

Pope Francis words today might not seem like they touch on our readings but they do. Pope Francis challenges us to be people of the world, to be people who get down and dirty with those around us. We are to be people of mercy and compassion. We are to be people who find the good in others even if they have done us wrong. We are to be people who bring joy to the world.

Sometimes this can be a difficult task. When others hurt us our natural response is to keep them at a distance, to wait for their apology, to seek justice, to wait for repayment, to hold on to the hurt. However, Jesus challenges us to be people who seek reconciliation, who offer forgiveness, who move beyond the hurt, who are people of service and joy.

In today’s Gospel (Matthew 5:20-26) Jesus teaches us about sin. He does not talk about mortal sin and venial sin. Jesus just talks about sin. The things we do, don’t do, the things we say or don’t say that hurt our relationship with God. Sin as Jesus speaks about it is not hierarchical it is on a continuum, anger at one end, killing someone at the other. If we do not deal with our anger we are headed down the wrong road. So in the Gospel today Jesus asks us to look at all our faults, our failings, our struggles with others whether they are small or great. He asks us to seek forgiveness and to be compassionate so that we remain on the right road.

In other words we are to reach out to others, to serve other, to bring the gift of god’s joy to others. And if we live life this way we will be blessed!

Have a blessed Friday everyone! And remember make a joyful noise with your life today!

Daily Lenten Prayer: Good Jesus, have mercy on us for we are sinners but even as sinners we desire to answer the question of who you are in our lives with the conviction of St. Peter. You are the Christ, the Son of the living God and you are never far from our hearts. Guide us, through the struggles of this day. Make us aware of your presence and enable us to trust in that presence. You are our Shepherd and knowing that means we will want for nothing. Grace us with the strength stake our life on this promise today and always by helping us to make a joyful noise. Amen!

Runner's Thoughts: “We run to undo the damage we've done to body and spirit. We run to find some part of ourselves yet undiscovered.” (John Bingham)

With this in mind let us run no matter what circumstances we encounter. There are lessons to be learned from running in various emotional states, just as there are when running in different environmental settings. Let's not shy away from running in an unaccustomed state of mind or an unusual situation. Opportunities for encountering God often are found in the unfamiliar.

Daily Blessing: TGIF everyone! I hope you will have a wonderful end to the work week that will lead you into a relaxing and restful weekend.

In a little while I will leaving Fairfax, VA and heading back to Pelham. This coming week I will remain at home but also I will be celebrating a mission at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish just a mile away from home in Pelham Manor. So I get to work this coming week but also sleep in my own bed! I little treat in the midst of Lent!

Yesterday I had the good fortune of having lunch with my Aunt Betty and my cousin Anita in Fredrick, MD and then dinner with the Grabowski clan in Fairfax, VA, in our words I had a very blessed day! A corn beef sandwich at an Irish Pub in the afternoon and pizza with my two grandnieces in the evening and a day with family I don’t know how today could be any better.

I pray for God’s blessing on all of you today that in some way you will have a day graced with the wonderful spirit of God like I did yesterday. It might not be lunch, dinner and time with family but my prayer is that you will be blessed with the richness of God’s presence in your life in some way today. My your day be blessed with successful travel, wonderful interaction with people, quite refreshing moments, nourishment that energizes you and moments that remind you of God’s love and joy! Be well everyone and if you can take some time to enjoy life by making a joyful noise! Peace in Christ's Passion...Fr. Paul

Making a Joyful Noise through Lent 03/13/2014

Making a Joyful Noise through Lent – 03/13/2014

“The word of God constantly shows us how God challenges those who believe in him “to go forth”.” (Pope Francis – Evangelii Gaudium – The Joy of the Gospel)

Pope Francis’ words today remind us about what each and every page, story and word of the Gospel challenges us to be and do. Jesus was always asking us through his words and deeds to go forth. Pope Francis asks us to go forth with joy!

"Do to others whatever you would have them do to you," advice given by Jesus to his disciples, advice given to us today. What a different world it would be if we just followed this simple wisdom. I do not think there is a person among us who does not want good things to happen to them. Who does not want to be treated with respect and dignity? Who does not want to be valued for who they are? It is a basic human emotion, feeling and need. We want to be accepted, we want to be loved.

Yet over and over a scene is played out in our world today that runs counter to the wisdom Jesus gives us in the Gospel today. Just think of how many times and how many different ways each day we hear about, read about and even witness people disrespecting, belittling, devaluing, making fun of and hurting others, with words, actions, or in actions. Just think of all we endured leading up to any kind of national or local election. The millions of ads that attacked the other candidate, we rarely hear about how qualified or well suited somebody would be for an office we usually hear how bad the other person is or will be.

Just take a trip some time online through Facebook, Twitter or one of the other social media sights. Reading the comments at the bottom of some article or news story post on the internet and you will encounter, hate, bigotry and profound disrespect. We seem to be about tearing down not building up. If we take Jesus' words at face value it would seem we all want people to disrespect, dishonor and devalue us because that is the way we seem to treat others.

I think we need to remember that we value life because each of us, all of us, are born in the image and likeness of God. There is good in all of us. Perhaps we first need to find that goodness in ourselves and allow our words, our actions to originate from that goodness.

In the first reading Queen Esther (Esther C: 12, 14-16, 23-25) prays for God's help. In the Gospel (Matthew 7: 7-12) Jesus tells us to ask for God help. Today I am praying, I am asking God to help us see and concentrate on the goodness, the image and likeness of God within us, the joy of God within us, so that we may see it in others and continue the work of the prophets of old in making this world a better place , a joy filled place. Making it a world of respect, reverence, joy and love!

Have a great Thursday everyone and don’t forget to make a joyful noise today!

Daily Prayer: Gift us O God, with a spirit that always contemplates what is right, what is good, what is worthy, what is decent, what is honorable, what is joyful, what is of value, the goodness, within ourselves and others. Help us to treat all we meet in the same way we want to be treated. Grace us with patience when we are not. Enliven us with trust in you so that we will always have the strength to ask, seek and knock. Knowing that if we do we will always be given, we will always find and the door will always be open! Amen!

Runner's Thought: Let us run today with a spirit of gratefulness. Before beginning our run, let's declare our intention to look upon all we encounter with the freshness of the unexpected. It has been said that "surprise leads us on the path of gratefulness." So let us run with a sense of miraculous expectation and allow feelings of gratitude for the extraordinary and the ordinary to flow through our being!  Adapted from Roger Joslin

Daily Blessing: Have a great Thursday everyone! We finished the mission last night in Rockville, MD at St. Elizabeth Parish in a wonderful way except we did have a few anxious moments as the electricity went off in the midst of mass due to the very strong winds but it return in the moment or too. Again a great spirit and I now take that spirit with me as I ready myself to head out back to New York and my next mission in Pelham Manor on Saturday. Though before getting back on the road I will take a little break and visit with family in this area.

I hope your week has been going well and perhaps coming to an end in a good way so that you can enjoy the weekend ahead. For all those not having a good week, and I have heard a few story of people who are not, I am asking God for a special bless upon you today that things will turn around and that today will be a truly blessed day for you.

I pray today for God's blessing upon all of us, that the richness of God’s presence will touch our lives in many ways so that we can live to fullness of life in all we do and with all we meet. Remember within you is a treasure the treasure of God’s presence, trust yourself, find the goodness in yourself and live today with a joy filled heart! May God bless the gift that you are and everyone you meet! Peace in Christ's Passion...Fr. Paul

Making a Joyful Noise through Lent 03/12/2014

Making a Joyful Noise through Lent – 03/12/2014

“The Church which “goes forth” is a community of missionary disciples who take the first step, who are involved and supportive, who bear fruit and rejoice. An evangelizing community knows that the Lord has taken the initiative, he has loved us first (cf. 1 Jn 4:19), and therefore we can move forward, boldly take the initiative, go out to others, seek those who have fallen away, stand at the crossroads and welcome the outcast.” (Pope Francis – Evangelii Gaudium – The Joy of the Gospel)

Once again we might say that Pope Francis’ words echo the thoughts and challenges of our readings today. In each reading we are reminded of the task of those who have a relationship with God, that task is to share that relationship joyfully. It took Jonah a little while to understand this and as Jesus points out not everyone will accept it and sometimes it will be those you least expect. However we are to still joyfully share our friendship with God!

In our readings today recognizing and responding to God seems to be the tread that connects them. In the first reading from the Book of Jonah, (Jonah 3: 1-10) Jonah is finally convinced by God to go to Nineveh and preach his message. Before Jonah gets half way through the city the people begin to repent. They proclaim a fast and put on sackcloth. As the word of God's message gets to the king, he puts on sackcloth and sits in ashes. In other words, much to Jonah's surprise the people hear God's word and respond to it right away. There is no debate, no bargaining, no resistance, the people hear the word of God and repent!

In the Gospel (Luke 11: 29-32) Jesus uses the example of Jonah to make his point to the people he is preaching to. His point is that God is in their midst but they are missing this gift. Other people, people you would not expect, people outside the faith community hear the word of God and respond but people in the faith community do not. They want signs and yet God in right in their midst.

Recognizing and responding to God, that is always the challenge. It is certainly the challenge for us today. How many times is God present in our lives and we fail to recognize him? How many times does God speak to us and we fail to hear or listen?

God is profoundly compassionate and forgiving but we have to recognize him, we have to hear and respond. This was the biggest problem for the religious leaders of Jesus' time, God was right in their midst and they did not recognize him they did not hear and respond to him. Let us not make the same mistake. Today let us be open and aware to the many ways God enters into our lives and invites us into his mercy and love! And when we encounter God in our live let us make a joyful noise!

Have a blessed Wednesday everyone!

Daily Prayer: O God, look kindly on us today. Help us to recognize you in the many ways you will be part of our life today. Enable us to hear your word and respond to it with energy, enthusiasm and joy. Grace us with humble and contrite hearts open to your presence and word. Fill us with your hope so that we may live always in your love and make a joyful noise for you! Amen!

Runner's Thought: Life like running contains elements of challenge, difficulty, and pain...life like running hurts, it wounds, it calls on us to rise above conditions that seem beyond what we are capable of doing...life like running is a thing worth living and doing not just because of the future rewards, but because of how it feeds our bodies and minds and souls in the present and makes us aware of God's presence.

Daily Blessing: Blessings upon your journey through Wednesday everyone! We have been graced the last few days with warmth and a bit of sun at least we have here in Rockville, however by the end of this day it looks like winter will return at least for a short period of time. I guess it is just another reminder that we should always live in the moment and enjoy blessings when they come!

I hope you will all have a great day where ever you are and whatever you will be doing. We will be bringing the mission to a close here at St. Elizabeth’s here in Rockville, MD today. It has been a spirit filled three days. Yesterday was a busy day but a faith filled day as many people shared their faith and struggles with me and even sought God’s forgiveness. I was very tired at the end of yesterday but it was a good tired! Again I ask your prayers for this final day of mission, for the faith community and the preacher.

I pray that God will bless us with the richness of his grace so that we can navigate through and of the Hump Day of our week. May we all be blessed with the gift of God’s loving presence, a presence we will find in our encounters with out, in our travels and journeys, in our moments of quite and within ourselves! Blessings upon all today. Have a great day everyone and know you are in my prayers! Peace in Christ's Passion...Fr. Paul

Making a Joyful Noise through Lent 03/11/2014

Making a Joyful Noise through Lent – 03/11/2014

“The real newness [of the Gospel]is the newness which God himself mysteriously brings about and inspires, provokes, guides and accompanies in a thousand ways. The life of the Church should always reveal clearly that God takes the initiative, that “he has loved us first” (1 Jn 4:19) and that he alone “gives the growth” (1 Cor 3:7). This conviction enables us to maintain a spirit of joy in the midst of a task so demanding and challenging that it engages our entire life. God asks everything of us, yet at the same time he offers everything to us.” (Pope Francis – Evangelii Gaudium – The Joy of the Gospel)

These simple words from Pope Francis today seem to sit at the heart of our readings from Isaiah and Matthew today. What God offers us, what God does for us, what God expects or asks of us. God is the first to love and it is God the helps us grow as people of joy.  If we think about the words of the Our Father as we pray it we are simply reminded the God asks everything of us but at the same time God offer us everything!

The joy of God's Word in our life is like nothing else. As our first reading from Isaiah (Isaiah 55:10-11) remains us it cannot return to God without nurturing, correcting, healing and inspiring us. God's Word is just like the rain, it refreshes us, it softens us up and helps life to go within us and around us. God's Word is always going to grow our challenge is to allow it to joyfully grow within us.

The Our Father has always been one of my favorite prayers, perhaps because it probably was one of the first prayers I learned. It keeps me connected with the beginning of my life. It is also important to me because it is the last prayer I prayed with my father. It happened one night in the hospital not long before he died. I asked him if he wanted to pray and he said yes. We said the Our Father together and when we were finished a great feeling of loss came over me and I began to cry. My dad reached out and comforted me. I think the feeling of loss came from the fact that all that the Our Father speaks about my own father did for me in life and in praying it that night I recognized the loss that was about to take place in my life.

The hopefulness of the Our Father is that God will never leave us. That each and every day we pray this simple prayer, its promises us, its challenges us to believe that we will always be taken care of by Our Father, God. Our daily bread will always be there. Forgiveness will always be there. The care, compassion and presence of God will always be there. We just have to trust, give life to, be proclaimers of the joy that the Word of God has planted within us!

As St. Augustine puts it, "If you run through the petitions of all holy prayers, I believe you will find nothing that is not contained in the Lord's Prayer."

Have a great Tuesday everyone and don’t forget to make a joyful noise with your life today!

Daily Prayer: Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen! (Say the words slowly and deliberately, listening to each word as you prayer!)

Runner's Thought: Running is an intensely physical activity, so the body is brought directly into play and cannot be ignored. Thus, if our run becomes a prayer, our bodies with their direct connection to the earth, the wind, the heat, the cold, the scents and the noises around us become the stimulus that brings us closer to God, reminds us of God's presence in our life and gives spirit and energy to our prayer!

Daily Blessing: Happy Tuesday everyone! I hope this find you well and off to a good start. I not hang in there my pray for you is that you day will be productive and grace filled!

Well our mission here at St. Elizabeth Parish in Rockville has gotten off to a great start. We had to great session yesterday and I look for more of the same today. There is a lot of energy and enthusiasm here which make my job, my ministry rather easy. Please continue to keep the faith community here and the preacher in your prayers!

I am thankful for the last two days of sun and warmth but I sense these days are short lived and we are heading back to the cold. Well I am thankful for the small blessings of life! My prayer of blessing for all of us today comes from our readings at mass that God’s blessing will be upon us all this day, so that the Word of God may be planted and nourished within us throughout this day and that we may bring this joyful word wherever we go and to whom ever you meet! May God’s bless us with a good day, with at least a little sun and a little warmth. Peace in Christ's Passion...Fr. Paul