Daily Thoughts - 05/31/2015

Daily Thoughts: A few years ago I read a book entitled Leaving Church: A Memoir of Faith by Barbara Brown Taylor. She is one of my favorite authors, I love the way she writes and how she tells a story. In the book Barbara tells a little anecdote about life as pastor/rector of her first parish in northern Georgia. After services one Trinity Sunday she found a miniature Three Musketeer Bar and a note on her car. They were from an eccentric woman who lived across the street from the church. The note read, “One for all and all for one, Happy Trinity Sunday.”

I could not help but laugh as I read the story again last night, it has stuck with me over the past year and I keep coming back to it. Taylor writes the story as she is talking about settling into her first parish as a pastor/rector. It wasn’t easy, there were challenges and struggles, but this story seemed to reflect an acceptance, a fitting in for her.

Perhaps that is what this feast of the Holy Trinity is all about. We celebrate the mystery of God as Trinity, three persons but one God. Just saying it seems odd. How can we have three persons but just one God? How can we talk about three individuals yet still only be talking about one God? In human language it is impossible yet that is what we believe. We celebrate the gift of three person so connect, so intimate, so focused that they are one. Believing means that we are part of that one, members of the relationship, accepted.

We believe in, we celebrate our God today who is all for one and one for all. Happy Trinity Sunday everyone!

Daily Prayer: Eternal God! A Trinity of persons, Father, Son, and Spirit, yet one in being, whose presence in our life we honor today. You are the beginning and end of all things and it is in and through you that we live and move and have the very breath of life. So today we come before you in body, mind and spirit to honor and thank you for the gift of your presence in our lives. What can we offer you, O God, that will reflect and give thanks for all that you have done for us? All we can do today is give thanks for your Trinity of Love, and serve you all the days of our lives. So let each of us bless the Lord, with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our being and let all that is within us give God thanks this day and always. Amen!

A Runner’s Thoughts: Remember running in a different place every once in a while can bring with it a different set of experiences. Each new setting can provide an opportunity to practice our spiritual running by helping us to be aware of not only new things around us but also new things within us. Running in a new place stretches our ability to find God in our runs, in life and in ourselves!

Daily Blessing: Sunday greetings and blessings to all on this feast of the Most Holy Trinity! I hope this finds you in the midst of a blessed and relaxing Sunday. The sun is out here in Pelham for the moment but they say showers and perhaps even thunder storms are on the way. I will be leaving in a little while for Chappaqua, NY to celebrate the 12 noon mass at the parish of St. Mary and St. John. I was in Manhattan last night to celebrate the 5 pm mass at St. Francis de Sales. So it is a busy weekend for me.

I pray for God’s blessings upon all of you today and always. I hope you will be blessed day rich in family, friends, warmth, peace and rest. May God truly be with you and those you love, keeping you safe as you enjoy the many gifts of God’s creation this day. Remember to spend a little time with God today because after all, “One for all and all for one!” Peace in Christ’s Passion…Fr. Paul