Daily
Thoughts: In
the Gospel today (Matt 11:28-30) Jesus reminds all of us that we should always
come to him, that we should always come to God, when we are troubled and find
life burdensome and difficult. Jesus will give us comfort and rest. With Jesus,
with God, the struggles, difficulties and burdens of life can easy. What makes
them easy is having faith in our relationship with Jesus.
A few
years ago I ran across a definition of faith that went something like this –
Faith is staking your life on the promises of God. Think about that for a
moment – staking your life on the promises of God. In the Gospel Jesus promises
that if we have faith we will always have comfort and rest even in the midst of
troubles and challenges. Having faith is the key. Life is never easy and each
new day brings challenges, struggles, burdens and difficulties but knowing
where and with whom to stake our life can make all the difference.
Today is
the feast of St. Kateri Tekakwitha, the first Native American saint. She was
canonized in 2012. She is known as the “Lily of the Mohawks” and is patroness
of ecology and the environment. St. Kateri had a strong devotion to the
Eucharist which helped to strengthen her faith in the midst of struggles and
challenges. May we be touched this day by her spirit of faith in our own
journey through life! We also might say that St. Kateri was a young woman who
didn’t miss her opportunity to encounter God and that is why he is a saint
today!
So my
friends in the midst of all that the world throws at us, let us like St. Kateri
Tekawitha continue to walk by faith trusting in our friendship with God and
staking our life of God’s promises.
Have a
great Thursday everyone.
Daily
Prayer:
Take, Lord, and receive all our liberty, our memory, our understanding, and our
entire will, all we have and call our own. You have given all to us. To you,
Lord, we return it. Everything is yours; do with it what you will. Give us only
your love and your grace that is enough for us. (Adapted from St. Ignatius of Loyola’s Prayer)
A
Runner’s Thoughts: We need to always remember that there are different forms
of prayer, of communication with God and that they are possible in everything
we do, even when we run. So as I have often said, let us allow our run today to
be a prayer – a prayer of thanksgiving, a prayer of petition or intercession, a
prayer of praise, a prayer of struggle, or a prayer seeking help or perhaps
just a prayer that says hello God how are you today?
Daily
Blessing:
Thursday blessings and greetings to all. I am not sure what kind of a day it
will be as the sun has not risen just yet. It is still very dark outside my
window. Hopefully in an hour or so I will hit the road. I am off to Louisville,
KY today for a family wedding on Saturday and a baptism on Sunday. Today will
be a long day as I make the drive through, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Kentucky.
I am hoping the weather will be nice and there will not be too much
construction. It is a 700 plus mile drive so most of my day will be on the
road. In the solitude of my journey today you will be remembered in my times of
prayer. I hope wherever you are it will be a beautiful day for you. If you are
on the road like me, please be safe!
I pray today
that you will be blessed with the richness of God’s presence, wherever you are,
wherever you go and in whatever you do. May you find the gift of joy within you
and may it energize your living of life today. And may you know the strength,
the joy and in the hope of God’s love as you live this day!
My
friends stay well and have a great day! Please know as always you are in my
prayers and may you always know that you are truly a gift. Peace in Christ’s
Passion…Fr. Paul
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