Daily Thoughts: Pope Francis early
on in his ministry as pope challenged all priests to bring the healing power of
God’s grace to everyone in need, to stay close to the marginalized and to be
“shepherds living with the smell of the sheep.” This challenge by Pope Francis
came to mind this morning as I reflected on the first readings from the Book of
the Prophet Jeremiah. God challenges the
leadership of Jeremiahs time to be good shepherds something they are not doing
just as Pope Francis challenges the priests, the shepherds of this time to
bring God’s grace to the world.
In order to life out God’s challenge and
Pope Francis’ challenge we must take some time to hear and be with God. The
Gospel provides us with insight on how we might do this. Jesus knew that his
time was short and his message was important. He knew that it was vital that
his message should be spread as swiftly as possible. However Jesus knew it was
also important to take time away from proclaiming the Good News. He knew it was
important to rest. Even Jesus himself often took time to rest and pray. It was
in these moments of rest and prayer that Jesus found the inspiration and wisdom
to continue his journey to Calvary.
The message of our readings today is
clear. We need to remember that we journey through this life with God’s
blessing and we need to remind ourselves of this blessing each and every day
and the best way to be reminded of God’s blessings in our life is to pause from
the busyness of life – to take some time of rest and prayer. In other words we
can discover the blessings of God when we spend some time in prayerful silence.
It we don’t we can become overwhelmed by the busyness of life, the busyness of
the world and miss the helping presence of God in our lives.
A few months ago as I was checking my
Facebook page, I ran across a friend’s reflection on his morning. It went like
this – “Warm sun, hot coffee, pipe, swing, dog by my side, geese on the
lake.... Mornin y'all !” Now I know my friend to be a spiritual person but I am
not sure he was thinking spiritually that morning a few months ago when he
wrote his post but I think he has grasped the essence of our Gospel today!
We are all well aware of how life can
often overwhelm us. We have many responsibilities, family, friend, work,
ministry, shopping, preparing meals; getting places we need to be through
traffic, bad weather. We face many
pressures each and every day and sometimes they can be more than we bargained
for.
Our Gospel today reminds us priests, us
shepherds and us people of faith to pause in the midst of the busyness of our
lives and take a break, rest a little, pray a little and stay connected with
God. This can make all the difference!
Have a restful and prayerful Sunday everyone!
Daily Prayer: Loving God, who
are the light of the minds that know you, the joy of the hearts that love you,
and the strength of the wills that serve you: grant us the grace to know you
that we may truly love you, and so to love you that we may fully serve you, who
to serve is perfect freedom, in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen! (St. Augustine of Hippo)
A Runner's Thoughts: Try to transform
your run today from just a run to a sacred experience by letting God run with
you!
Daily Blessing: Sunday
greetings and blessings to everyone! It is another beautiful day here in
Scranton however the humidity has moved in and it looks to be a rather hot one
by days end. I hope your Sunday has
started off well and that you are staying cool if the humidity and temperatures
are on the raise where you are.
As I have mentioned the last few day if
you have a need, intention, petition or prayer that you would like me to
remember in my novena prayers please send them along to me through Facebook,
Twitter or my web site – www.preacherman.org. I will make sure to include them
in my novena prayers each day.
I pray your Sunday will be blessed with
good weather and a little rest and relaxation that today will be a day when you
take a little time off and get away from the busyness of life. If you cannot I
pray that you will have a chance to do so soon! I also pray that you will give
a little time to God and this summer Sunday.
My prayer of blessing for you today is
this wherever you are today, whomever you are with or will encounter and
whatever you are doing or will do - I prayer that you will be blessed with the
grace, love and presence of God. May the God of Peace, who shared with us the
great Shepherd, Jesus, furnish all of us with all that is good, so that we may
always do what God has created us to do. And may we always take some time to
rest and enjoy life. May we remember to pause for a moment of prayer each day. May
we find our own moment of – warm sun, hot coffee, pipe, swing, dog by your side,
geese on the lake or whatever you need to celebrate another day created by God!
Enjoy your day, think positive thoughts, wear a smile and trust that God journeys
with you! Blessings to all on your journey through this Sunday and every day!
Peace in Christ's Passion...Fr. Paul
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