Daily Thoughts - 12/19/2015

Daily Thoughts: I had a little sadness in pondering the readings today. Two stories of hope about women who were unable to have children and God blessed them, especially Elizabeth in her advanced years. We have two wonderful stories today alive with the theme that anything is possible with God.

My sadness comes from thinking about all the women who would love to have children but cannot. Perhaps they do not struggle with cultural shame like Samson's mother and Elizabeth, women of their time who were married and without children bore a heavy burden of embarrassment and shame, but I think women of today do struggle with a personal sadness, a personal burden, a personal loss, a personal grief.

My own sadness comes from the fact that so many women today who don't want children look to end their pregnancy when so many others would give anything for the chance to bring a child into the world. Perhaps it would be a wonderful miracle from God, the making of something impossible, possible if all who do not want children and become pregnant would just carry the child to birth and offer the child to those who cannot have children but truly want them. What a beautiful story, what a wonderful story of hope that would be.

Through the intercession of Samson's mother and Elizabeth today I pray for all women who want to be mothers and all women who do not want to be mother that they might help each other make the life of children possible!

Have a great Saturday everyone!

Daily Prayer: Loving God, graciously reveal your love to the world today. May we embrace with integrity of faith the gift of your life and help make the impossible, possible.  Help us and our world to find peace. Help us and our world to value all life. Help us and our world to find your presence within us today. O God be with us today! Amen!

A Runner's Thoughts: “How you do anything is how you do everything.” (Kristin Armstrong) So make your run today about life, about the impossible becoming possible, about taking advantage of God's presence in your life!

Daily Blessing: Saturday greetings and blessings to all. We find ourselves in the midst of the last week before Christmas. I am sure the coming days will be busy and here in Pelham the temperatures are at least for the time being getting colder. There are Christmas cards to finish, countless trips to the post office to mail Christmas gifts, lots of traffic and long lines. I hope you will survive this last week until Christmas. I hope as today begins you are not too stressed and will be able to enjoy the gifted of a new day and the true spirit of Advent.

Most of my ministry responsibilities are done for the year except for various weekday and weekend masses from now to the first of the year and anything else that might come up in the next 10 days or so. I hope that this weekend will give you a chance to get things done and thus be ready to celebrate the gift of Christmas at home or wherever you will travel to. May this Christmas truly be a blessed and holy one for all!

It is in the spirit of the “O Antiphons” that I offer my daily blessing – O Root of Jesse's stem, bless us this day with the confidence, the faith, the trust and the hope to always respond with a “yes” to your invitation to live life. Help us to be people of joy, of peace and of commitment. Grace us with the strength to move beyond negativity of this world and see the possible in the impossible. Protected us today, in our travels, our endeavors, in our busyness and gifted us with many experiences of your love. Loving God, bless us all this day and always. Amen. Peace in Christ’s Passion…Fr. Paul

Daily Thoughts - 12/18/2015

Daily Thoughts: The point of Advent and of Christmas in many ways comes down to being reminded that “God is with us!”  Sure we might say that is the point of every day, but during Advent and Christmas – Emmanuel – become a special focus, a special refrain. The great Dominican mystic Meister Eckhart gave a Christmas homily in which he said that Christ is born three times. Christ was first born over 2,000 years ago. Second, Christ will be born at some point in the future when he comes again and thirdly Christ is born every day in our hearts.

Yes, each day we have the opportunity to give birth to Christ. We have opportunity to bring to the world like Mary and Joseph, Emmanuel, God with us! We do it by following in Mary and Joseph’s footsteps, by say yes to God’s invitation to be part of this journey of faith called life. We do it by living our lives to the fullest, by sharing the image and likeness of God in which we have been created with the world. We do it by trusting in God’s love and by living in hope.

My friends today is a new day so let us give birth to Emmanuel today through the hopeful living of our lives. Have a great Friday everyone!

Daily Prayer: O God of Eternal Love, fill our hearts with the light of your Holy Spirit so that we might not be afraid of your word, your invitation to live. Give us the humility to hold fast to your will and thus allow Christ to be born with in us today and every day.  We also continue to pray for families in grief; for little ones whose lives were too short; for teachers, administrators and responders who put others first; for a community that must find a way to live; for all of us who seek a world of lasting peace! For we believe nothing is impossible for You our loving God! Amen!

A Runner's Thoughts: As we run today let us think of the impossible made possible through hard work, dedication and the pray that we allow our runs to become.

Daily Blessing: Friday greetings and blessings to all today. I hope your Christmas busyness is done so that you will be able to enjoy the days ahead! It is to be a sunny but cold day here in Pelham. I guess winter has finally found us. I you’re your Friday is starting off well and that you are looking forward to the final weekend before Christmas.

Before I offer a blessing for today I would just like to say Happy Birthday to my oldest niece and goddaughter, Alice. Alice, may you have a wonderful day and a year filled with many new experiences and blessing!

In the spirit of our readings today I pray that God will bless us with a spirit of wisdom today so that we can understand the “dream” that God has for us and that we will be blessed with the grace to live out that dream! May God gift us with compassion and generosity today so that we might bring Emmanuel, God with us, wherever we go and to whomever we meet. May we always be a family, a Church, a faith community bound together by a dream of mercy, justice, forgiveness, reconciliation and love. Blessing to all today and always! Peace in Christ’s Passion…Fr. Paul

Daily Thoughts - 12/17/2015

Daily Thoughts: In today’s Gospel (Matthew 1: 1-17), we are reminded that Jesus was part of the great human family. A family made up of saints and sinners and everything in between. It might seem tedious to read this long list of names many of whom we know nothing about and some that seem very familiar. I use to get so nervous when Matthew or Luke’s genealogy would appear as the Gospel, but over the years I began to feel comfortable with it and now I even look forward to proclaiming this Gospel. I guess I have grown familiar with the case of characters!

Isn’t that what life is about 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 make up our lives and molded us into the people we are 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 Joseph and Mary the last in the story today who said yes that we might celebrate Jesus the Christ!

Have a great Thursday everyone!

Daily Prayer: Loving God, creator of all the times and seasons of our lives. Grace us with a faith this day that is grounded in the characters of our lives who have made it possible for us to be the women and men we are today. Gift us with the wisdom to remember the stories of our life and help us to life the story of today and make you presence once again. Amen!

A Runner’s Thoughts: “Your body will argue that there is no justifiable reason to continue. Your only recourse is to call on your spirit, which fortunately functions independently of logic.” (Tim Noakes) Thankfully our spirits run on faith, hope, love and the presence of God!

Daily Blessing: Thursday greetings and blessings to all. Today we begin the “O Antiphons” during evening prayer of the Church and we are a week away from beginning our celebration of Christmas. So you might say that we have begun the downhill roll to Christmas and the New Year!

It looks to be a cloudy and rainy day here in Pelham and the temperature has certainly gotten cool but the say the 60’s will return by Christmas go figure. I hope wherever you are that your day has begun well and that it will be a good day throughout.

I pray for God’s blessing on all of us today. O God of Mercy enliven us with your Wisdom and touch our spirits with your grace, so to enable us to bring the Good News in word and deed wherever we go and to whomever we meet. O loving God bless us so all our travel is safe, and through your Wisdom help us to live this day in your presence and rest this night in your peace. Peace in Christ’s Passion…Fr. Paul