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

Daily Thoughts - 05/20/2014

Daily Thoughts: Peace is one of the most elusive gifts whether we are searching for it on a personal level or community level. There are so many things that can get in the way of peace in life. It can be the minor irritations of life like traffic, construction, a person on a cell phone sitting next to us or spring allergies. It can also be the major realities of life, civil war, warring nations, terrorism and natural disasters. There are many things that can get in the way of a peaceful moment and a peaceful life.

Jesus in the Gospel today offers us peace. Yet he reminds us that the peace he offers is not of this world. In fact the peace that Jesus offers cannot be found in this world. His peace lies beyond this life and flows from his relationship with the Father, the Creator of peace.

Jesus reminds us that we need not be troubled or afraid that even though we cannot encounter his peace in this world, he will not forget us. In other words in order to encounter the peace that Jesus offers we need to somehow let go and let God!

Peace is what we all want in our personal lives and in our world. We encounter it every once in a while for a moment however it doesn’t last. Something always comes along to disturb the peace. Thus we need to be people of faith; we need to be people of hope.  We need to have faith and hope in God.

In the midst of all life’s struggles the early Church continued to move forward. They did not get down, they did not give up. It was through God’s grace that the Good News was preached. It was because the early Church had faith and hope in God. Their hearts were not afraid or trouble they were on the journey towards the peace that Jesus offers. Let us be people of faith and hope today. May we not be troubled or afraid because we are willing to let go and let God!

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

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; 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. Amen. (Adapted from the Prayer known as the Prayer of St. Francis)

A Runner’s Thoughts: As you run today remember with each plant of your foot you feel firmness under you. Feel that firmness as the presence of God.  Trust in that firmness. Know that God is running with you!

Daily Blessing: Tuesday Blessings to everyone! I hope your day has started off well and if not know that I am praying that it gets better!

We had a very nice gathering last night here at St. Patrick’s. It was a service of the Word with benediction. It was a beautiful evening and a nice time and place to spend some time in prayer. Tonight we have a Vespers service with the bishop presiding. Please keep the faith community here at St. Patrick’s in your prayers and if you get a chance offer a prayer for their preacher too!

My prayer this morning is that your day will be blessed with the presence of God. May your travels, your encounters, your work, your interactions with others be touched with the grace of God and may your living of life today bring you a little closer to the peace Jesus has left for us. Peace in Christ’s Passion and Joy in the Risen Lord…Fr. Paul

Daily Thoughts - 05/19/2014

Daily Thoughts: “Not to us, O Lord, but to your name give the glory.” The refrain from today responsorial psalm seems to be the focus of our readings today. This journey of faith is not about us, it is about the glory of God.

We certainly see this in the drama of our first reading (Acts 14:5-18). Paul and Barnabas go from nearly being stoned to being honored as gods. Yet as they both point out it is not their work it is the work of God. The man who hasn’t worked from birth is healed not because of Paul and Barnabas but because he has faith. His faith in God enables Paul and Barnabas to lead him to healing. They bring God to the moment so that healing can take place. It is not about Paul, Barnabas or the man who is healed it is about the glory of God.

The same focus can be found in our Gospel today too, (John 14: 21-26), Jesus speaks about his relationship with the Father and how it can be life-giving in our lives, for this to happen our focus has to be on God. We have to buy into the relationship with the Father that Jesus is offering us. We need to have faith in God and faith also in Jesus. If our life is about the glory of God and not stuck in selfishness then the grace, blessing and presence of God will abound in us.

In a world were so much focus can be placed upon self, our scriptures today ask us to place our trust, our faith and our hope in God. We are challenged to not make life about us, but about the glory of God!

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

Daily Prayer: Grant us today, Lord, the wisdom to know what is worth knowing, to love what is worth loving, to praise what delights you most, to value what is precious in your sight, to walk away from what is not of you. Do not let us judge by what we see, nor pass judgment by what we hear, but help us to choose rightly between things that differ and above all to search out and do what pleases you. Help us to make this day and our life about praising you. Amen!

A Runner’s Thoughts: “Our toughness is made up of equal parts persistence and experience. We don't so much outrun our opponents as outlast and outsmart them, and the toughest opponent of all is the one inside our head.” (Adapted from the words of Joe Henderson)

Daily Blessing: Monday blessings to all! I write to you from Harrisburg, PA where I have been since Saturday. I find myself right downtown just a block from the state capital building. The Cathedral Parish of St. Patrick’s is a beautiful church with a small but very faith filled community. The masses over the weekend went very well and I had a first, at the 9:30 am mass I had a person stand beside me and sign my homily. The pastor also signed the whole mass. It was a wonderful experience to be a part of a mass that let everyone participate.

Today and tomorrow we celebrate the annual Eucharistic Devotion here in the parish. I will be celebrating the noon mass today and preaching the vespers service tonight. Tomorrow the bishop will preside at the vespers service and I will preach so I guess I should be on my best behavior and make sure I am using approved theology!

It has been nice to re-connect with the Harrisburg area. I spent one very wonderful year here back at the end of the 1960s. While the area has changed greatly over last 44 years since I lived here, I do have fond memories of that year and it is just nice being back. I also had the chance to re-connect with some retreatants from Riverdale, a fine group of women who made the journey from Harrisburg to Riverdale every year for retreat. They now travel west each year to our retreat house in Pittsburgh. They had a little gathering for me yesterday and it was nice to be with them once again!

Well as you can see my life remains busy, this is good, because for the most part it keeps me out of trouble. I hope your life is not as busy and that you are enjoying the beauty of spring through the gifts of sun, warmth and colors.

I pray for God’s blessing upon all of you today. May your day be blessed with the richness of God’s presence, hope, joy and love. May you find the energy to make a joyful noise for God with your life today! Peace in Christ’s Passion and Joy in the Risen Lord…Fr. Paul