Daily Thoughts - 07/18/2014

Daily Thoughts: “Something greater than the temple is here.” A line from our Gospel today (Matt. 12:1-8) and we might be tempted to think it was meant only for those to whom Jesus is speaking. But it is meant for us here and now. We might not have Jesus standing in our midst but we have his Spirit with us and it is greater than any temple, any church or any cathedral. The challenge is the same for us as it was for those who gathered to listen to Jesus; we have to recognize the presence and the Spirit of God in our midst.

Jesus gives us a clue on how to make sure that we don’t miss the presence of God. The clue is to be people of mercy. People a tune to and compassionate towards the struggles, challenges, difficulties and failings of others and ourselves. People willing to help and not judge; people willing to be compassionate and not self-righteous. People willing to include not exclude.

Living life from a stance of compassion and mercy is not always easy; it can be difficult and challenging. However being a compassionate and merciful person does help us to be ready and open to encounter something greater than ourselves the presence and friendship of God.

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

Daily Prayer: Loving God, thank you for the abilities that you have placed in our life. Help us to acknowledge these gifts and give us the courage to develop and use them in helping to make your presence known. Help us to be merciful and compassionate people who are always aware of something greater in life. We pray this so that we may never miss the gift of your presence in our life and that we may share it with the world around us. Amen!

A Runner’s Thoughts: When we run in a spiritual way, we are brought into the process of God-ing. Meaning as we run we are not moving toward God but interacting with God along the way. Our run becomes a direct physical, emotional and spiritual way of becoming who we are, our authentic selves. In the process we open up vast and unlimited opportunities to connect with God in new, life giving ways!

Daily Blessing: TGIF everyone! It looks like another beautiful day here is Scranton, we could not ask for better weather at the moment!

It is also a very beautiful day in St. Louis, Mo because ay 4:47 am the world welcome a new member, Natalie Anne! Yes, my niece Sarah and my nephew Dominick welcomed their daughter into the world. I do not have a picture yet but here is a quote from the father, “She’s got five fingers and five toes and she’s beautiful!!!” As only a father could put it. So we as a family, as a world welcome Natalie Anne and we offer a prayer of thanksgiving this morning for her safe arrival and we ask God’s special blessing upon her, her mom and dad as they begin the journey of life together as family! By the way I am a very proud great uncle for the third time!

Here in Scranton our first day of novena was inspiring and the spirit is alive here as we make this ten day journey of faith. I am still taking prayers and petitions so if you haven’t sent yours in there is still time to do so. And to all who have please know that I am including your intentions each day in my novena prayers!

My prayers today go out to all the families of the people lost on Malaysian Airlines Flight 17. My heart and prayers goes out to them. What a tragedy! What a world! It is at times hard for me to believe we could be so cruel to one another, however each day we are confronted with violence, bigotry, racism, terror, hate and uncaringness. I think of little Natalie Anne and her arrival in the world today. I am so glad she has loving parents who will help her navigate through this world but if she could read the headlines today she might want to head back into the womb.

My prayer of blessing today for all of us is that God will grace us with the strength to somehow help the world take a step closer to peace by living our life with compassion, love and joy today! Please my friends don’t begin this day with hate in your hearts. Don’t see the world through the eyes of the 24 hour news stations. Don’t point your figures and blame. Don’t disrespect others not like you. Allow God’s blessing to touch your life and be a person of peace, of compassion, of hope, of joy and of love today. Be this person today for your family, for your friends, for your faith community, for those you work with, for those you meet, for the world, and for yourself. I am going to be this person of peace, compassion, hope, joy, and love today for little Natalie Anne!

Have a great Friday everyone, put a smile on your face and trust that you are loved by God even in those moments of struggle. May God bless you today and always and thanks for being the person that you are because you certainly make this world a better place and life worth living! Once again, welcome Natalie Anne, it is great to have you with us for the journey of life! Christ’s Passion…Fr. Paul

Daily Thoughts - 07/17/2014

Daily Thoughts: As our novena to St. Ann begins today here on the west side of Scranton I couldn’t help but think how well this morning’s Gospel fit. In the Gospel (Matt 11:28-30), Jesus reminds all of us that we should always come to him, come to God, when we are troubled and find life burdensome and difficult. He reminds us that he will give us comfort and rest. With Jesus, the struggles, difficulties and burdens of life can be eased. They can be shared and carried together.

What a wonderful image for the beginning of a novena. I have been coming to this novena off and on since the year before I was ordained. I have always enjoyed my time here. This is the 90^th year of the novena and over the 90 years people have come with heavy burdens. They have come with the struggles of life, of family, of work, of health and of uncertainty. They have come with personal and inner struggles. For them this time of novena has given them the opportunity to share those burdens and struggles, with God, with Jesus, with the Holy Spirit. It has helped them to share their lives with God through the intersession of St. Ann.

I believe that over the 90 years that people have walked away from this novena with the strength to keep going even in the midst of heavy burdens and struggles because they come to know that they are not alone. Throughout the novena they come to know that they walk with many others and most importantly they walk with God and this share of the burdens and struggles of life makes the going just a bit easier. This sharing helps them to walk through life with a strong faith in their relationship with Jesus, with God and at times that makes all the difference.

So my friends in the midst of all that the world throws at us, whether we are here in Scranton making the novena or not let us continue to walk by faith by trusting in our friendship with God! Let’s us trust and that relationship and be always willing to share our burdens and struggles with God and one another.

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

Daily Prayer: Take, Lord, and receive all our liberty, our memory, our understanding, and our entire will, all we have and call our own. You have given all to us. To you, Lord, we return it. Everything is yours; do with it what you will. Give us only your love and your grace that is enough for us. (Adapted from St. Ignatius of Loyola’s Prayer)

A Runner’s Thoughts: We need to always remember that there are different forms of prayer, of communication with God and that they are possible in everything we do, even when we run. So as I have often said, let us allow our run today to be a prayer – a prayer of thanksgiving, a prayer of petition or intercession, a prayer of praise, a prayer of struggle, or a prayer seeking help or perhaps just a prayer that says hello God how are you today?

Daily Blessing: Happy Thursday everyone and greetings from cool and very comfortable Scranton, Pa!

We are off to a good start here at the St. Ann’s Novena in Scranton, Pa. For those of you who don’t know what a novena is, it is ten days of prayer usually taking place to honor a saint of the Catholic Church. This novena is in honor of St. Ann the mother of Mary, our Blessed Mother. There are nine days of prayer before the feast day of the saint then the tenth day is the feast day. Thus we began today and we will end with the feast of St. Ann and St. Joachim on July 26th. Now you might ask why would we have a novena to St. Ann and why do we leave out St. Joachim, her husband, until the feast day? Well that would be a very good question and my answer would be too long to put in these lines. Let’s just say that there is a long tradition of praying to God through the intercession of St. Ann here in Central Pennsylvania which dates back to the days of the coal mines.

As I said yesterday you are in my prayers in a special way during these ten days and if you have any special intentions please let me know. I have already received a few I am keeping Trisha and Sal in my prayers. All of your prayers, needs, struggles and challenges are in my prayers these days so let me know how my prayers might be of help! Remember we are carrying our burdens and struggles together!

Keep you petitions and prayer requests coming. I am writing them all down and bringing them with me as a wander through each day of the novena. If I haven’t responded back hang in there I will get to your comment or email. The novena is going well, the weather is cool and clear, crowds are good so far and the spirit is great!

Once again I add a special prayer of blessing today upon Sarah and Theresa as they continue their journey toward motherhood. As I mentioned yesterday Sarah’s due date is tomorrow, July 18^th so a very special prayer of blessing upon her today! Theresa is due the first week of August. Today we ask God’s blessing, through the intercession of St. Ann upon Sarah and Theresa that they will be blessed with Mary and Elizabeth’s spirit of joy and excitement as they prepare to bring the gift of new life into the world. May they have the faith, the hope and the strength to make it through these days. We also offer a special prayer of blessing through the intercession of St. Joachim upon Dominick and Jason the waiting fathers, may they have the strength and grace of Joseph and Zechariah.

As for all of you may God bless your day with the richness of His presence wherever you go and in whatever you do. May you find the gift of joy within you and may it energize your living of life today. And may you know the strength, the joy and in the hope of God’s love as you live this day!

Well, friends stay well and have a great day! Please know as always you are in my prayers and may you always know that you are truly a gift. Peace in Christ’s Passion…Fr. Paul

Daily Thoughts - 07/16/2014

Daily Thoughts: A friend of mind often says, “It is hard when you are the smartest man in the room!” His point is that often people with smarts often have a hard time with those of us who don’t. They believe they know it all or at least they know more than everyone around them and they find it frustrating when things don’t go their way or at least the way they think things should go.

I thought of this today in terms of our Gospel (Matthew 11: 25-27). Jesus says, "I give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to the child like.” In other words, sometimes the smartest, the wisest, the most learned among us have no clue!

We are all aware of just how open children are. They want to learn. They want to experience new things and they haven’t yet decided what the right way to do things is. They are open to trying new ways, learning new things and exploring life around them. I think the point that Jesus is getting at in our Gospel today is that if we are open to the word, the experience and the presence of God in our lives just like children are then we will have a better chance of hearing, encountering and recognized God in our life.

Intelligence, smartest, knowledge and wisdom are wonderful gifts however they can often get in the way of God’s presence in our life. It is often better to be like a child rather than the smartest person in the room.

Let us live, let us embrace today in a childlike way so that we don’t miss any of what God send our way! Have a great Wednesday everyone.

Daily Prayer:  Loving God, create in us an ever-growing faith, with hearts open and centered in you. Awaken within us the fire of your Spirit, so that your love may fill us more fully, and flow throughout our lives. 

Increase within us a desire to reach out, to invite and to share, to welcome and accept. Awaken the faith of all your people, especially those who have grown distant from you, those ready to hear an invitation to the love you alone can bring. 

Awaken us, loving God, to see the fullness of your grace and peace. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen. (Awakening Faith is a ministry of Paulist Evangelization Ministries)

A Runner’s Thoughts: Mother Teresa saw Christ in the face of everyone she met; it is possible to conduct a run that models her behavior. So as we run, let’s place a smile on our face and thus offer a blessing to everyone we meet on our run today!

Daily Blessing: Happy Hump Day and Wednesday blessings to everyone! I trust were ever you are you are staying dry and cool for the most part. The storms and rain were strong yesterday and it is overcast this morning but I am hoping we will be experiencing some cooler, dryer weather over the next week or so.

I head to Scranton, Pa today, I will be at our Monastery and Parish there St. Ann’s for our long standing solemn novena to St. Ann which will begin tomorrow and run ten days, nine days of novena and the celebration of St. Ann and St. Joachim’s feast on the tenth day, July 26th. Please offer a prayer for our preachers this year, Father Rick Frechette, C.P. and Father Jack Conley, C.P., for all the Passionists who will gather to help throughout the ten days and for all the people who will come from far and near bringing their struggles, sorrows, hopes and joys. Please pray that it is a faith filled and graced time for all.

Please know as always you will be in my prayers but over the next ten days you will get special attention as I journey through the novena. If you have any specific needs or prayer requests let me know and I will include them in my daily prayers.

A special prayer of blessing goes out again to Sarah and Theresa, as they journey toward motherhood. Sarah hopefully only has a few more days until she and Dominick welcome their new addition while Theresa and Jason have a couple more weeks. May God bless all of them in these final days of waiting. May Sarah and Theresa be blessed with the grace and joy that was a part of Mary and Elizabeth’s waiting. May Dominick and Jason be blessed with the grace and joy of Joseph and Zechariah.

And God’s blessing on all of you today! May you all find today rich in the presence, joy, hope and love of God. May each encounter and journey add another piece of the mystery of God to your life. And may you all be alive with the joyful grace of God’s presence that will become the gift of you to the world today!

Have a great day everyone! Stay cool and dry may this day be one of many blessings for you and those who are important in your life! Peace in Christ’s Passion…Fr. Paul

Daily Thoughts - 07/15/2014

Daily Thoughts: We might say our Gospel today is about missed opportunities. In the Gospel (Matt. 11:20-24) the cities of Chorazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum have missed their opportunity to encounter the presence of God, they have missed their opportunity to be people of faith.

I think if we all stop and think about our lives we can look at moments when we to missed opportunities. Perhaps we missed an opportunity to help another person, we missed an opportunity to be a compassionate friend, we missed an opportunity to help someone with their struggles or we missed a moment when God was truly present in our life. In looking back at our life we probably recognize many opportunities that we missed.

Now in looking back at our life we have two choices; we can choice to learn from our missed opportunities or not. In the Gospel today the towns of Chorazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum chose not to learn from their missed opportunities. These three towns no longer exist; there are just piles of rock, archeological digs sitting in the hot sun wait for people to come and walk through them. There is no life in any of these towns today.

Today is the feast of St. Bonaventure, a doctor of the Church, a Franciscan, a philosopher, theologian and a mystic. He was a biographer of St. Francis, a contemporary of St. Thomas Aquinas, a teacher and a bishop. We might say Bonaventure was a man of many gifts and talents and what made him great was that he used these many gifts and talents to proclaim the kingdom. We also might say that St. Bonaventure was a man who learned from his missed opportunities that is why he is a saint today!

Perhaps in the spirit of St. Bonaventure we might take of the challenge of the Gospel today by learning from our missed opportunities rather than not learning from them and finding ourselves like Chorazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum today.

Thus, our challenge today is to ask ourselves if we as individuals, as families, as communities, as Church, as cities, as nations, as a culture and society are willing to learn from our mistakes, our missed opportunities? If we chose not to our fate will be like the fate of the three towns in the Gospel. What choice will we make?

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

Daily Prayer: Loving God, strengthen us with the power to love through your Spirit in our inner most being. Fill our hearts with your presence and please do not leave us even when we seem to choose to go our own way. Help us to learn from our mistakes and missed opportunities so that we might grasp fully how wide and long and high and deep your love is for us. Above all, enable us to know this love that surpasses all knowledge so that we may share it with others. Amen!

A Runner’s Thoughts: Shakespeare once wrote, “Now bid me run, and I will strive with things impossible.” Jesus said, “…with God all things are possible.” Thus if we run with God then as we strive with things impossible they will become possible! Have a great run today and stay cool.

Daily Blessing: Happy Tuesday everyone! The humidity is tough this morning after last night’s rain. They say we are in for some cooler temperatures towards the end of the week but I gather things will also be a bit unstable so we could be in for some storms too.

Today I wait for the boiler cleaners to come and I continue my catch up on paperwork and preparing for the Lourdes Pilgrimage next month. As I mentioned yesterday I leave for Scranton, PA tomorrow so I need to get things in order so that I am not rushing around at the end of the month.

My prayer of blessing today for is all is that your day will be rich in the grace, joy and presence of God. That you will encounter the grace you need to navigate through this day successfully and peacefully. That you will be blessed with a joyful heart that you will share with everyone you meet and that you will encounter the presence of God throughout your day helping you to have the confidence that your presence in the world today is a gift to everyone you meet and to us all! Blessings upon all today and stay cool! Peace in Christ’s Passion…Fr. Paul