Daily Thoughts: The Jesus we find in the Gospel today (Luke 19:
45-48) was an observant Jew. He valued his community of faith. Sometimes it is
the Jesus who ate with sinners and crossed the boundaries of his faith that we
are drawn to, but we also need to remember the Jesus was profoundly respectful
and observant of his faith.
Jesus was also zealous as we see today, his anger at the
commercialism of the temple area had its roots in a deep respect for the
purpose and place of the temple in the life of the people. It was to be a place
of prayer. It was to be a place to go to get away for the everyday busyness and
business of life.
What we learn from today’s Gospel is that no matter what
approach to life that Jesus took it was not going to be good enough or right
for the religious leadership. If we was eating with sinner or healing on the
Sabbath or talking to women, he was wrong. If he was driving out merchants for
the temple area he was wrong. The religious leadership did not seem to like the
zealousness of Jesus for life and his faith.
Our challenge today is to learn from Jesus - when, why and
how to be zealous. When, why and how to bring energy, enthusiasm and spirit to
our life. We need to be observant Christian, we need to value and respect the
places and structure of our faith community. We also need to be about life and finding
ways to include everyone in the journey no matter what the cost!
Have a great day everyone!
Daily Prayer:
Lord Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace, make us all witnesses
of truth, justice and neighborly love. Banish for our hearts whatever might
endanger peace. Enlighten our leaders that they may guarantee and defend the
great gift of peace. May all peoples of the earth become sisters and brothers.
May longed-for-peace blossom forth and reign always over us. Amen (Adapted from
a prayer by St. John XXIII)
A Runner’s Thoughts: As prayerful runner we always seem to find
it inadequate to sit and wait for the Spirit to appear. As prayerful runners,
we always want to run towards God but if we are prayerful runner’s what we
always find is that God is running toward us at twice the speed! (Adapted from Roger Joslin – Running the
Spiritual Path)
Daily Blessing: Friday greetings and blessings to all! I hope
your day has started off well. It looks like the rain has passed and we are in
for a beautiful sunny day here in Germantown. I think this will be the last
mild day for a while and the cold will be moving in over the weekend. I hope
you will be enjoying a beautiful day wherever you are.
The retreat will close this morning with mass at 9:00 am.
The sisters will renew their vows during mass. I will be headed home short
after mass ends. It has been a very enjoyable week here at Avila. It is such a
peaceful place and it has been a joy spending some time along the Great River
once again. Please remember the sisters in your prayers today that their
journey of retreat was a good one and that they now will return to their
ministries and local community life refreshed and renewed.
My prayer of blessing for all of us today is – Loving God
keep us alert today and always to your unpredictable answers, to your
unexplainable surprises and to your unrelenting presence. By your grace and
love, make us ever grateful that we are one of your surprises each day of our
lives. Bless us today and always with a faith, that moves mole hills and
mountains, has often an unseen healing touch, lives everyday stories,
celebrates simple suppers, and carries Crosses of Life which turn into
Resurrections of hope. Help us to be people of faith, hope and love who are
positive, respectful and open to all that is good and life giving. Amen.
Blessing to all today! Peace in Christ’s Passion…Fr. Paul
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