Daily Thoughts - 09/12/2015

Daily Thoughts: Today we celebrate the memorial of the Most Holy Name of Mary. Mary was a popular name among the Hebrews, in memory of Miriam, the sister of Moses and Aaron. Thus some scholars think that this name is perhaps related to an Egyptian word for “beloved.” Out of love, God chose Mary to be the mother of Jesus. I have known may women with the name Mary in my life and all of them have had a wonderful impact on my life. As we celebrate the name of the most important Mart in our lives of faith let us always call upon her in our time of need.

“Bringing the gospel is bringing God’s power to pluck up and break down evil and violence, to destroy and overthrow the barriers of selfness, intolerance, and hatred, so as to build a new world. Jesus Christ is counting on you! The Church is counting on you! The pope is counting on you! May Mary, mother of Jesus and our mother always accompany you with her tenderness: Go and make disciples of all nations.” (Pope Francis)

These words from Pope Francis seem to bring together our scriptures and our feast today. Jesus asks us to be people who are trees who bear good fruit and who build our lives on a strong foundation. Pope Francis asks up to bring the gospel to the world so that we can overcome the evil that at times seems to surround us. In order to do so we must produce good fruit with our lives and lay a foundation in a friendship with Jesus and his mother Mary.

Have a great Saturday everyone.

Daily Prayer:

Circle us, O God.

Keep protection near and danger afar.

Circle us, O God.

Keep hope within and keep doubt without.

Circle us, O God.

Keep light near and darkness afar.

Circle us, O God.

Keep peace within and keep evil out.

Please, circle us, O God.

Keep our hearts in your loving hands and let us hear your voice!

Amen. (Adapted from a prayer by David Adam)

A Runner’s Thoughts: “Running, much like life, [faith and the spiritual life], has its hills and valleys. On any given run, and particularly in most marathons, we come across easy stretches and seemingly impossible challenges. I have learned to just keep going. The tough moments never last, and the easy stretches are always a joy. The same is clearly true in life [in faith and the spiritual life], if we just keep going we'll get to that finish line with water, massages, and bananas! [And friendship with God!] (Main part of quote by Will Starr, Runner's World – I add what is in the brackets)

Daily Blessing: Saturday greetings and blessings to all! I hope your day has started off well and that you will have a nice relaxing weekend. It has started out as a beautiful day here in Pelham but I believe rain is in the forecast for later today and perhaps even into tomorrow. We cannot complain it has been a beautiful summer with not a lot of rain and they say we are a bit behind so the rain is welcome these days. I hope you are encountering what you need today.

May you have a wonderful Saturday and encounter many blessings and much peace today. My prayer for all of you is that you may be graced by God in whatever you do and may you bring God’s grace to whomever you meet! Work, pray, travel, study, laugh, cry, talk, be silent, be intense or relaxed today rich in the blessing and presence of God. Peace in Christ’s Passion…Fr. Paul

Daily Thoughts - 09/11/2015

Daily Thoughts: My friends today I offer you two reflections one on our Gospel for today and the other remembering the events of September 11, 2001…

“No one can grow if he [or she] does not accept his [or her] smallness.” (Pope Francis) With this thought Pope Francis seems to get at the heart of what Jesus is saying in the Gospel today. If we don’t deal with our own faults and failings, if we cannot see our own humanness how are we ever going to be able to grow into the person God has created us to be and help others.

We cannot just look at others faults and failings we need to start with our own. If we do we will have a better, more compassionate understanding and view of the world. We will truly be able to help not hurt others. The starting point for looking at and dealing with the problems, struggles and sinfulness of the world is always ourselves. When we can proclaim our faults, failings and our need for help, our need for forgiveness we are on our way to being able to help and forgive others.

St. Augustine perhaps put the focus of our Gospel today a little differently when he said, “God is always trying to give good things to us, but our hands are too full to receive them.” So let’s put down what fills up our hands in this world, anger, resentment, the faults and failings of others and receive the grace that God offers us and live in the joy and love of God today!

Remembering the 14th Anniversary of the tragic events of September 11, 2001

“There is nothing that can replace the absence of someone dear to us, and one should not even attempt to do so. One must simply hold out and endure it. At first that sounds very hard, but at the same time it is also a great comfort. For to the extent the emptiness truly remains unfilled one remains connected to the other person through it. It is wrong to say that God fills the emptiness. God in no way fills it but much more leaves it precisely unfilled and thus helps us preserve -- even in pain -- the authentic relationship. Furthermore, the more beautiful and full the remembrances, the more difficult the separation. But gratitude transforms the torment of memory into silent joy. One bears what was lovely in the past not as a thorn but as a precious gift deep within, a hidden treasure of which one can always be certain.” (Dietrich Bonhoeffer)

As Dietrich Bonhoeffer says above there is nothing that can be said or done that replaces the loss of someone dear to us. But hopefully Bonhoeffer’s words can help to give comfort to all who lost loved ones fourteen years ago in Lower Manhattan, Washington, DC and Pennsylvania.

Perhaps, Bonhoeffer’s words can help all of us deal with what we as a city, a country and a world lost thirteen years ago. May his words give us pause to be grateful for the silent joy that all who gave their lives continue to give us. May those who lost their lives continue to be a hidden treasure for all of us, a treasure that we can always count on.

“In normal life we hardly realize how much more we receive than we give, and life cannot be rich without such gratitude. It is so easy to overestimate the importance of our own achievements compared with what we owe to the help of others.” (Dietrich Bonhoeffer)

To the people who gave their lives, to the families who gave their loved ones we say thank you!

Have a blessed Friday everyone and may the Passion of Jesus Christ be always in your heart!

Daily Prayer:

God of all peace and conciliation,

For those who went into danger, we give thanks.

For those who remained behind with the infirm and injured, we give thanks.

For those who thought of others first, we give thanks.

For those who offered comfort to others, we give thanks.

For moments of unknown, grant us courage.

In times of fear, grant us courage.

When called upon to stand for the rights of others, grant us courage.

When others call for our destruction, grant us courage.

When the enemies of freedom lash out, bless us with your peace

When the darkness of hatred descends, bless us with your peace

When we feel the urge to trample and destroy, bless us with your peace

When we look to the future of your universe, bless us with your peace

Through the living of life, let us be your peace

Amen! (Adapted from a prayer by Rabbi Matt Friedman)

A Runner’s Thoughts: “I run because if I didn’t, I’d be sluggish and glum and spend too much time on the couch. I run to breathe the fresh air. I run to explore. I run to escape the ordinary. I run…to savor the trip along the way. Life becomes a little more vibrant, a little more intense. I like that.” (Dean Karnazes)

On this day when so many lost their lives some of whom were runners let us run to breathe fresh air. Let us run to explore. Let’s us run to experience more than the ordinary. Let us run to savor the trip along the way. Let us run to remember and in remembering make our run a prayer for peace. Let us run to bring God’s presence to the world!

Daily Blessings: Friday greetings and blessings to all! May we pause this morning to remember what happened that Tuesday fourteen years ago and how it changed our lives. Perhaps you will think about where you were and what you felt as the tragic events of that day unfolded. Yet, here we are thirteen years later still searching for peace!

My thoughts and prayers today go out to all affected by the events of that day especially to the children who lost mothers and fathers. Nothing can fill the void of their loss. May what remains unfilled always keep them connected to the gift of the person, the treasure they lost!

I cannot help but reflect upon where we find ourselves today with the reality of so many wars, so many violence acts, so much anger, so little tolerance, so much need to blame, so much finger pointing, so much yelling, so much hate, so much condemnation, so much arrogance, so much self-centeredness, so little compassion, so little caring, so little chance for peace it seems – so my prayer of blessing for all of you  all today is - to ask God’s blessing upon you, may it be a solemn blessing rich in peace, strong in courage and graced by love. And may it be a blessing that you will bring it to those you love and to the piece of the world that you will touch today. May God bless you with the insight to see the gift, the treasure that you are and that you will share it with the world! Peace in Christ’s Passion…Fr. Paul

Daily Thoughts - 09/08/2015

Daily Thoughts: As we celebrate the feast of the Nativity of Mary we are reminded in the Gospel (Matthew 1: 1-16, 18-23), we are reminded that Mary, Joseph and Jesus are part of the great human family. A human family made up of saints and sinners and everything in between. It might seem tedious to read the long list of names at the beginning of the Gospel many of whom we know nothing about. As I began my ministry many years ago I would get so nervous when the genealogy of Matthew or Luke would appear as the Gospel. However over the years I have become comfortable with them and now I even look forward to proclaiming either genealogy. I guess I have grown familiar with the case of characters and what they remind me of concerning my faith.

Isn’t that what life is about – remembering the stories of life, honoring those stories and growing accustom to life. Seeing people and things differently, telling the stories that reminds us who we are and from where we have come. Remembering the characters good and bad that have made up our lives and molded us into the people we are today. Today we remember Mary’s birth into this world. We remember Joseph’s “yes” to God that kept the story going. We remember two faith filled people who celebrated and honored the gift of family and made it possible for all of us to be people of faith today.

When we read or hear the genealogy of Christ whether from Matthew or Luke we are reminded that even though Jesus is God, he is also human, also part of this great human family and the characters, the women and men, who believed, who struggled, said yes and sometimes no, who embraced a relationship with God and sometimes didn’t, who lived life making it possible for Jesus to come into this world to embrace us with his love.

Here’s to the characters in all of our lives. Here’s to the characters of the human family. Here’s to Mary as we remember her birthday. Here’s to Joseph and Mary the central characters of our story today who said “yes” that we might celebrate Jesus the Christ!

Have a great Tuesday everyone!

Daily Prayer: O Mary, when you were born the world was made light. In your great love be merciful to us who are often sinners, and give us strength and perseverance as we journey through this life. O joyous Mary, just as your nativity announced joy to the entire world, may it fill us with true joy and enliven our hope. Intercede for us, O loving Mary that the gift of your nativity may enliven God’s grace within us and help to say yes to his invitation to love. Amen. (Adapted from a prayer by St. Ambrose of Milan)

A Runner’s Thoughts: “Running taught me valuable lessons. In cross-country competition, training counted more than intrinsic ability, and I could compensate for a lack of natural aptitude with diligence and discipline. I applied this in everything I did.” (Nelson Mandela)

Daily Blessing: Tuesday greetings and blessings to all. I hope your Tuesday which probably feels like a Monday has started off well. I also hope you had a nice Labor Day weekend and got to enjoy a little down time perhaps with friends and family.

I certainly enjoy my five mile run yesterday in Long Beach. About 300+ people ran the race and I was able to stay under a 9 minute pace running the five miles in 42 minutes. Not profoundly fast but also not too bad for an old man.

On a sad note when I got back home yesterday I was greeted with the news that a good friend and Passionist brother, Fr. Michael Greene, C.P., lost his brother Dennis to cancer over the weekend. Dennis was Fr. Michael’s older brother, who during the 1960’s was a member of the singing group Sha Na Na. Dennis was a wonderful man who had a great command of the English language. He was a law professor at the University of Dayton when he died. His battle with esophageal cancer was a short one as he was only diagnosed a few weeks ago. Please keep Fr. Michael and his family in your prayers during this very difficult time. Mr. Dennis Greene touched many lives with his music, his intelligence, his kindness, his humor and his faith. He will be truly missed. May he now rest in the loving hands of God! – Peace to you Fr. Michael…

I pray that God’ blessing will be upon you today and always. For some it is the beginning of a new school year, for others it is the beginning of a new work week and for still others it might be just another day – nothing special. May God’s blessing be with you wherever you are and upon whatever you are doing. May God bless you with the grace, peace, joy and love you need to live this day and in living this day may you bring God’s presence to all you meet! Peace in Christ’s Passion…Fr. Paul