Daily Thoughts: In today’s
Gospel (Mark 1: 40-45) Jesus encounters a person with leprosy and the following
exchange takes place. "If you wish, you can make me clean. Jesus was moved
with pity, he stretched out his hand and touched the leper and said to him, I
do will it. Be made clean. And the leprosy left him immediately."
In my reflections on this Gospel I think
the key elements of this story are the person's faith in Jesus and the
willingness of Jesus to heal and to touch. Maybe the most important element is
Jesus' touch, his willingness to be connected with someone who is unclean by
the standards of culture, society and religion.
Today whether we are talking about our
culture, society or even our church the usual response is to disconnect
ourselves from someone defined as unclean. Yet, Jesus sought to be connected.
He did not want to push them away from the community but to bring them into the
community.
Jesus reaches out to one who has been
pushed out of the community. It is a profound moment; it is a challenge to all
of us who proclaim we believe. Do we wish – do we will – that all belong to the
community no matter what? Jesus does and he was willing to step across a
boundary to make sure that it happens. Are we?
Perhaps it is a commitment to prayer
that will help us to, wish it and will it. It is through prayer, our conversation
with God, that we will find the strength to walk with Jesus across the
boundaries imposed and bring others to the community, to friendship with God!
Give a little time to God today – say a
prayer – talk with God. Have a great Thursday everyone!
Daily Prayer: Loving God,
help us today so that we will not be people with hardened hearts but people
with compassionate hearts. Help us to be people willing to reach out across the
boundaries of life that all might have the opportunity to be part of you
community of faith. Enliven us that we will always hear your word with an open
mind and an open heart! Amen!
A Runner's Thoughts: Think of every
run as an opportunity to be born again. Let each run refresh your body and
renew your spirit and bring you into God's Presence once again!
Daily Blessing: Happy Thursday
everyone! In my life this has been a rather quick week. A play on Monday,
rehearsal for our new TV Mass taping site and tomorrow our first taping of The
Sunday Mass at St. Francis de Sales. In the past days I have been in Manhattan
five days. I am getting to be a pretty good commuter!
I think tomorrow is going to be a very
long day. Changing sites for The Sunday Mass has its challenges and we are
going to be dealing with those challenges all day tomorrow. I am sure in the
end things will go great but please keep us in your prayers as we make this
transition.
I hope your week is going well and that
your life is a little less chaotic than mine. I pray that you feel supported by
God and have encountered the presence of God throughout your journey of life
this week. As always I pray for God’s blessings upon all of us today that
whether busy or not we may find the gift of God’s touch in our lives; the touch
of healing if we need it, but most importantly the touch of joy, hope and love to carry us through the
day. Have a great day everyone. Peace in Christ's Passion...Fr. Paul
No comments:
Post a Comment