Daily Thoughts - 05/09/2015

Daily Thoughts: In some ways the image created by John in his Gospel today can be a bit confusing. In today’s Gospel Jesus talks about “the world.” He says. “If the world hates you, realize that it hates me first.” We might be led to believe by this statement that “the world” is bad, that there is nothing good about “the world.”

If we look at Jesus’ statements about “the world” in this section of John’s Gospel in this way then how do we reconcile this image of “the world” with Genesis 1:31, which tells us that God created our world good or John 3:16, which tells us that God so loved the world.

“The world” that Jesus speaks about in the Gospel today are those people who have rejected Jesus. In Jesus’ time and in our time there is good and bad in “the world,” there is life and death, there is good and evil. There are some in “the world” who will and do hate us. Rejection of Jesus and his message is alive and well today. There are people who reject the Gospel, who reject Jesus, who reject faith.  They are “the world” that Jesus warned us about.

Just because it has been over 2,000 years since Jesus it does not mean that rejection and hate have gone away. It does not mean that we are immune from the hate and persecution that Jesus encountered. We might not have to carry a wooden cross through city streets and die on it, but we will be hated and persecuted because we believe.

The question might be how do we deal with this? I think Pope Francis has given us a clue, he says that our “weapons” of self-defense are the Gospel, humility and meekness. In other words we are not to be like those in “the world” who hate, persecute, those who sling mud, criticize and judge. We are to be people of the Gospel, people of compassion, forgiveness and love. We are to be Gospel people in humility and meekness.

You might say these “weapons” go against every human instinct. When challenged, when persecuted our instinct is to strike back but that is not Jesus’ way and as people of faith it is not our way.  If we truly know Jesus, if we truly believe then hate and persecution does not matter what does is bringing life to the presence of God through forgiveness, compassion and love!

Have a great Saturday everyone!

Daily Prayer: Loving God make us instruments of your love, compassion and forgiveness. When we are hated, help us not to lash out with hate. When we are persecuted by word or action, help us not to sling mud back. When we are not respected or made fun of, help us not to be disrespectful and arrogant. When the way people talk about us or report about us does not seem fair, help us to be your faithful, humble and meek servants who bring your presence to the world. For if we are compassionate and loving people we will keep alive your Good News and help all to know just how much you love the world. Amen!

A Runner’s Thoughts: Remember running can be humbling and elevating at the same time. When we run and see the beauty of creation we realize how insignificant and tiny we really are when it comes to all of creation, yet God did create each of us as “very good.” Each of us carries the image and likeness of God within us. So as we run let us run with God helping to create a better world and a better person!

Daily Blessing: Saturday greetings and blessings to all! I hope your weekend has started off well. It is a cloudy day here in Pelham but that will not get my spirits down as the colorful flower abound and it is not cold so it is a good day!

Have a great Saturday everyone. Blessings upon this first day of your weekend, may you find some rest and relaxation and may you be gifted with family, friends and the presence of God! Peace in Christ’s Passion and Hope in the Risen Christ…Fr. Paul

Daily Thoughts - 05/08/2015

Daily Thoughts: As I was reflecting on the Gospel for today these two thoughts came to mind.

The first was a quote that I have always liked from Fr. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, SJ. – “Someday, after mastering the winds, the waves, the tides and gravity, we shall harness for God the energies of love, and then, for a second time in the history of the world, [humankind] will have discovered fire.”

And the second is a prayer written by St. Ignatius of Loyola, SJ. – “Take Lord, receive all my liberty, my memory, my understanding, and my entire will, all that I have and possess. You have given all to me. To you, O Lord, I return it. All is yours, dispose of it wholly according to your will. Give me only your love and your grace, for this is enough for me.”

Perhaps this is my Jesuit day with these two quotes but in reading the Gospel this morning these words of two great Jesuits came to mind. In the Gospel Jesus tells us to love one another and in doing so he uses the example of his own love for us. He tells us that there is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends and we are his friends. Yes, Jesus is talking to his disciples some 2,000 plus years ago but if we believe the scriptures are alive then Jesus is also talking to us.

As we are told in John’s Gospel – God so loved the world that he gave us his only Son and all we have to do is believe. Well Jesus with his words today puts an exclamation point on God’s love for us. Our job, our task, our command is simply to follow the example of Christ and to discover fire, to discover the energies of love in each other!

Love is only realized, only understood in terms of action. Jesus so loved us that he gave his life for us. How we love determines the power and presence of God in our life. If we love God then we are called to live that love, we are called share it with one another.

Jesus reminds us today to discover the fire of love in our lives and in the world and to turn over everything to God because God’s love for us is always enough. 

Have a great day everyone!

Daily Prayer: O God, author of life and freedom, hear us as we call upon you to help guide us through life today. Help us to trust in your loving presence so that we will be true to the “character” that you have created us to be. May we never be afraid to ask for your help especially when we are not sure which way to go. Give us the strength to not be troubled by the anger and negativity of the world, but to have faith and hope in you. Grace us with the energy to live life with truth and authenticity.  Amen!

A Runner’s Thoughts: Oprah Winfrey once said, “Running is the greatest metaphor for life, because you get out of it what you put into it.”  So as we run today let us put God into our run.

Daily Blessing: Friday greetings and blessings to everyone! Yes, we have made it through another week and we can take a deep breath and say, “Thank God it is Friday!” I hope you have had a good week and that your weekend will be a reward for all your hard work this week. If not, if this week has not gone so good or the weekend means no rest and more work just hang in there, better days are ahead!

It is another beautiful day here in Pelham. It is so nice to see all the flowers out. It is the kind of day that is hard not to enjoy! I pray your day will be one filled with color, sun and warmth and that you will be blessed by God wherever you are and in whatever you are doing. May you be blessed with the thought and reality that rest and relaxation is the order of your weekend and that you will get through today with a sense of accomplishment that your week has been a good one. May it be graced with the presence of good people today and may God gift you always with his joy and love! Peace in the Christ’s Passion and Hope in the Risen Lord…Fr. Paul

Daily Thoughts - 05/07/2015

Daily Thoughts: “So that my joy might be in you and your joy might be complete,” the closing words of the Gospel today. Have you ever noticed that Jesus always seems to be thinking about others? He always seems to want the best for the people around him. All he asks is that we believe in the value of love; the love of God for us, the love of Jesus for us and our ability to love others in the same way.

The communities of faith that we hear about in the Acts of the Apostles are challenged over and over by Jesus’ commandment to love. They value God’s love, they value Jesus’ love thus how they live, grow and change as a community of faith demands that they extend this love to others. The laws, the rules, the regulations change because the community tries to be inclusive and loving. The community tries to look beyond its small world to a larger world. It is not easy. It takes openness, dialog, discussion and sometimes change.

I read an article a couple of years ago in which a member of our Church leadership used an example from his childhood about having to wash his dirty hands before eating. It was a rule in his family and even if there were guests they had to wash their dirty hands before eating. A simple story and one that many can relate to I certainly can as hand washing before meals was a rule in my house too.

However, to use the washing of dirty hands to address the complex struggles inclusion in the church today seems a bit simplistic and invalid. Imaging people dealing with weighty issues like sexuality, sexual orientation, birth control, marriage, divorce, just to name a few, as people with dirty hands seems a bit simplistic. Equating the washing of dirty hands with some profound struggles in life seems disrespectful to people created in the image and likeness of God.

Yes, we have many challenges to the community of faith today. Yes, there are no easy answers which makes the job of leadership and faith difficult but to say all people have to do is wash their hands make no sense to me!

God’s love, Jesus’ love is a gift and yes there is a condition, the condition is our love for God, for others and for ourselves. This condition is not easy within the our human nature and it is certainly not as simple as washing our hands. The early church knew this and I think so do we!

Have a blessed Tuesday everyone!

Daily Prayer: O God of Great Love, open our hearts to the gift of your love this day and always. Help us to see your image and likeness in ourselves and in everyone we meet. Grace us with the wisdom to learn, to listen, to discuss, to discern and to grow. Enable us to move beyond what stifles growth so that your joy will always be within us and that our joy will always be complete through the hope of a world made new. Amen!

A Runner’s Thoughts: When we run today let us remember that our breath comes from God. At the moment of creation God breathed life into us. That breath started our heart. So as we take the first steps of our run today and everyday let us once again breathe in the breath of God. Let us make God part of our run, let us make God part of our life!

Daily Blessing: Thursday greetings and blessings to all! I hope this finds you well and having a good day. For the first time since Lent began I am home and I have a day to relax and rest. I don’t have work that needs to get down. I don’t have to prepare for another mission, retreat or confirmation day. I don’t have to pack my suitcase and hit the road again. It is a nice felling but it will not last long so I am going to enjoy my day!

I ran across a little saying the other day, “Prayer may not change things for you, but it for sure changes you for things.” So I will say a little prayer for all of you today! May God bless your day with warmth, sun, good people, smiling face, kind words, safe travels, easy decisions, productive meetings and much love. May God enliven your day with his loving presence, grace and joy. Peace in Christ’s Passion and Hope in the Risen Lord…Fr. Paul

Daily Thoughts - 05/06/2015

Daily Thoughts: There are two things that strike me in today’s readings. First in the Acts of the Apostles we encounter a moment of struggle within the early Church. Some want to keep things as they are. They don’t want to break with tradition, while others see no need for past tradition. The struggle focuses on past Jewish traditions and the emerging new Church into which gentles are entering. Paul and Barnabas decide to go to Jerusalem and talk about the problem. What a novel idea, sitting down and talking about issues, problems, struggles and differing views of Church. Perhaps Pope Francis has taken a page from the Acts of the Apostles over the last two years!

My second thought comes from the Gospel. Not too long ago Jesus offered us the image of the Good Shepherd – God as the shepherd always watching out for us, always taking care of us, always walking with us. It is a comforting image of God’s presence in our life. Today the image is of God as the life giving vine extending out into the world through us the branches. God becomes the vine running through our life offering us grace by which we grow into the person we have been created be so that we can produce the fruit of God’s presence and love in the world.

As a branch of God’s presence and love in the world we don’t have to know everything. We are a branch running from the Vine. It is the Vine that offers us everything that we need as long as we stay attached. We cannot do it on our own we must depend on the Vine – God’s presence, grace, love, mercy, forgiveness and joy to produce good fruit.

Jesus through the image of the vine and the branches reminds us today that the more we are connected to God, the more we lean on God, and the more we learn from God and experience God’s presence in the world around us, the better we will be at living life – the more fruit we will produce!

Have a great Wednesday everyone!

Daily Prayer:  Loving Jesus, you have no body now on earth but mine, no hands but mind and no feet but mine. Mine are the eyes through which you look out with compassion on the world. Mine are the feet with which you go about doing good. Mine are the hands with which you bless people now. Jesus you have no body now on earth but mine so through me bless the world today. Amen! (Adapted from St. Teresa of Avila)

A Runner’s Thoughts: “There is a lesson to be learned from running in various emotional states, just as there are lessons to learn from running in a wide range of environmental settings. Don’t shy away from running in an unaccustomed state of mind or an unusual situation. Opportunity for enlightenment often waits in the unfamiliar.” (Roger Joslin)

And another thought, “Run often. Run long. But never outrun your joy of running.” (Julie Isphording)

Daily Blessing: “Hump Day” greetings and blessings to everyone! I hope your day has started off well. I had a good Confirmation Day with the students of St. Barnabas Parish yesterday and I will be leaving shortly for the second day with of other half of the Confirmation class. I would ask you to please say a prayer for the students today and for their preacher!

My prayer for all of you today is that you will be have a great day, one filled with many blessings. May God bless your work, your travel, your encounters with others, may God’s blessings be upon those whom you love and upon you! May God bless you so that you can get over any “hump” today in peace and joy! Peace in Christ’s Passion and Hope in the Risen Lord…Fr. Paul