Sunday, January 24, 2016

Daily Thoughts - 01/24/2016



Daily Thoughts: A few weeks ago I could not sleep so I wandered down to our TV room and to my surprise found one of my favorite movies just starting the "Shawshank Redemption." Needless to say it was a very late night.

There is one scene that I always wait for, Andy is sitting out along one of the walls of the prison and Red comes and sits with him. They have a conversation about life, specifically Andy's life. At one point Andy says, "I guess you either get busy living or get busy dying!"

This phrase has always stayed with me from the first time I saw the movie I think because it states a real truth about life. A truth that I believe Luke and Jesus ask us to think about in today's Gospel. We do have choices in life, they have been with us since the first moment of creation and the choice Luke, asks Theophilus to make and the choice Jesus makes is to "get busy about living!"

The breath of Jesus' life and ministry centers on the living of life, being the person God has created us to be. I have often preached on this passage of Luke's Gospel and said it presents two pictures, one of a day in the life of Jesus and the other of a day in the life of each of us. The difference between the two pictures is that we know the end of Jesus' story, we know that he fulfilled all of the words of Isaiah the Prophet that he read in the synagogue that day but we do not know the end of our story. What will we do with our life? What words of a prophet, of an evangelist, of an apostle, a saint, of Jesus will we fulfill?

We have two choices in this life to either be "busy about living or busy about dying." Which choice will you choose today? I hope it is to be busy about living!

Have a blessed and holy Sunday everyone and don’t forget to give God a little time today!

Daily Prayer: O God, Creator of all good things, enliven your love that is within us so that we will always be busy about living. Busy about living our faith in you. Busy about living in your hope for us and our world. Busy about living your love which brought us into being and walks with us every step of this journey of life. Busy about living a life in which all life and all people are reverenced as your creation. Busy about living in your peace which means respect rather than judgment. Amen!

A Runner's Thought: “Some runners judge performance by whether they won or lost. Others define success or failure by how fast they ran, whether or not they matched their time expectations. Still others judge performance by how good they felt running, focusing on the experience. Only you can judge your performance. Avoid letting others sit in judgment of you.” (Hal Higdon) Remember each run helps you embark on a pilgrimage of the ordinary which often leads you to the extraordinary and sacred!

Daily Blessings: Sunday greetings and blessings to all. If you live here in the northeastern part of the United States, I hope you have survived the last couple of days. For me it was a long day inside watching the snow come down yesterday. Every once in a while a car would show up across the street and kids would get out to go play in the snow on the golf course but they didn’t stay long as it was really cold with the wind!

It looks to be a sunny day here in Pelham today. I will head out around 10:30 am for the noon Mass at St. John and St. Mary’s Parish in Chappaqua. Hopefully by then the road will be clear. This is my last free weekend until May so I am going to try and enjoy it the best I can. Next weekend I will be on the road hopefully busy about living by proclaiming the Good News.


I would like to send a special shout out to my Great Niece Kristina Marie who celebrates her sixth birthday today! Happy Birthday Little One – Special K! May you have a great day and may it be a day of many blessings! Much Love…Great Uncle Paul or Uncle GUP

My prayer for all today is – this is the Day that God has made let us rejoice and be glad. May there always be work for us to do.  May our pockets and purses always hold a coin or two. May the sun always shine warm on our windowpanes. May a rainbow be certain to follow each rain. May the hand of family, a loved one and a friend always be near and may God fill our hearts with gladness and love that we in turn can share! May God’s blessing be upon us all today and always.

May you get a little time to relax if the busyness of life allows you some. May you find the gift of life and peace in all you do today! Peace in Christ's Passion...Fr. Paul

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