Friday, May 20, 2016

Daily Thoughts - 05/20/2016

Daily Thoughts: In today's gospel, Jesus rather than debating the issue of indecency, he addresses the hardness of people’s hearts. He makes it clear that unless we invite God into our relationships, more specifically our marriages, then we enter relationships, we marry for all the wrong reasons. God offers his love and his Spirit to us so profoundly that we often find it hard to comprehend. Should our love in any personal relationship call for anything less? The capacity to do so, results from a call to a close relationship with Jesus in the Spirit.

By contrast, the majority of today’s marriages in our imperfect world end in divorce. We all witness this daily. It is hard to find anyone who has not been touched by the struggles and sadness of divorce. As much as we make an honest effort to console family and friends caught in the struggle of broken relationships often it is hard to find the right words, or any words at all. Divorce causes God deep sorrow. In our Church, the issue of divorced and civilly remarried Catholics is a painful pastoral problem which Pope Francis has tried to address but change is slow and not without its own struggles.

St. Paul felt the preservation of peace was a greater value than the preservation of an unpeaceful marriage. How many of us, know of someone, who spent more than half of their adult life working dutifully on their marriage only to watch it fall apart. As challenging and difficult as divorce and broken relationships can be, it is also hopeful when encounter people who move on to a place of diminished pain and hope for new life.

Have a blessed Friday everyone!

Daily Prayer: O God, give us insight into our friendships. Help us to see your gift of love, your presence in them. Help us to be faithful friends to others, loyal, generous and kind. Grant us the gift through our friendships to love and be loved. Bless our friends this day and always with the richness of life and the faithfulness of our love. Amen!

A Runner’s Thoughts: If we run as a spiritual runner let us remember that it is being a runner that matters, it is not how fast or how far we go. The joy, the gift is in running, in the journey and not always in the destination. We have the best chance of encountering our friend God, in the midst of our run when we remain focused in the present and don’t think too far ahead! (I adapted this from a quote by John Bingham, the author of No Need for Speed: A Beginner's Guide to the Joy of Running.)

Daily Blessing: Friday greetings and blessing to all! In a little while I will be off to Manhattan and a taping day for the Sunday Mass. This will be a special one as I will take over the role of host. It should be an interesting day to say the least. I would ask your prayers for our taping especially for patience for the production staff.

I hope your Friday will start off well and that your day will be a short one that will take you into a relaxing and fun weekend. Today is to be a sunny day here in New York and it is to be a pleasant one temperature wise too. I hope the skies will be bright, the sun will be out and the air will be warm wherever you are today.

My prayer today is that all of us will encounter the wonderful tiny whispering sound of God’s presence in our life today. That all of will be renewed in our journey, our mission in life and that in being honest with ourselves we will overcome fear, hurt, anger, loneliness, jealousy and fatigue to be the person of joy, hope and love that God has created us to be!

Enjoy your Friday and know you will all be in my prayers today and always. May your day be safe and when evening finally comes may it be blessed with rest and peace! Peace in Christ’s Passion…Fr. Paul

No comments:

Post a Comment