Daily Thoughts - 02/13/2016

Daily Thoughts: "Repairer of the breach...Restorer of ruined homesteads." Do we not have a picture of these titles in the Gospel today? Jesus invites Levi (Matthew) to follow him. Jesus invites a tax collector a profession that made the people involved hateful to society. Yet, Jesus brings them into the community of faith. Jesus eats with tax collectors and sinners and the religious leaders are taken back, Jesus brings those who are thought to be outside the community into the community. Yes, Jesus in the true "repairer of the breach and restorer of ruined homesteads.

However, these words and this story are not just about Jesus. Isaiah is speaking to us. Jesus is laying down an example for us. We are to be the repairers of the breach and restorers of the ruined homesteads. It is our job as members of the faith community to reach out and make those on outside welcome within the community. It is our job to offer God’s mercy.

So often we find within the faith community people who find it much easier to judge, to exclude, to criticize, to question the actions of people then to reach out and help, then to be merciful. So often we find people within the faith community who create the breach and ruin the homesteads.

As people of faith we live with the hope that the words of Isaiah are fulfilled in the person of Jesus but we also live with the challenge that as a disciple of Jesus we need to keep that hope alive. It has been said that through what God "does" we come to know who God "is." I think this can also be said about us. Through what we do for others as a people of faith people, people will come to know who we are.

As we continue this journey of Lent let us respond to Jesus' invitation to follow and give life, mercy and hope to life as repairers and restorers!

Have a blessed Saturday everyone!

Daily Prayer: Almighty and ever-loving God, look with compassion and mercy on our humanness, on all our struggles and weaknesses. Strengthen us for the journey ahead. Give us the wisdom to follow your call. Enliven us with the grace to be repairers and restorers of your love. Help us to be people of mercy and hope and to bring that mercy and hope to all we meet. Amen!

A Runner's Thoughts: As we run today let us find the grace and strength to choose the narrow road, the steep uphill climb, the rocky trail, the muddy path because these choices are made by few and these choices can at times make all the difference!

Daily Blessing: Saturday greetings and blessings to all. I hope you will have a restful and peaceful Saturday though I think if you live in the eastern part of the US it will be a cold one. If it happens to be a busy Saturday may you find a little time in the midst of today to at least take a little breather. If you are in the midst of this bone chilling cold may you find a place a warmth.

I head out this afternoon for Trenton, New Jersey where I begin a mission this evening at St. Raphael/Holy Angels Parish. I will be preaching all the masses today and tomorrow and then the mission with be from Monday to Wednesday at 7:30 am and 7:00 pm. If you are in the area come and join us.

My prayers are with Pope Francis these days as he visits Mexico. May his journey be safe and life giving. May the people of Mexico find peace and God’s mercy in Pope Francis’ presence and may all the loud mouth politicians, especially in the United States, be silenced by his joyful spirit.

My prayer of blessing for us today is that no matter what we are doing today, whether it be resting or busy about many things that God will bless us with the wisdom and grace to recognize the present of God within us and in the people around us. Blessings to all and again, enjoy your day; enjoy your weekend. Do not forget to give God a little time this weekend! Peace in Christ's Passion...Fr. Paul

Daily Thoughts - 02/12/2016

Daily Thoughts: Who shall know the mind of God? No one really, God's thoughts are not our thoughts; God's ways are not our ways. I find the reading from Isaiah rather interesting today. It confirms for me something about my faith that I have struggled with for many years, the idea of doing things to be seen rather than doing things to make a difference.

In recent years there has been a movement among some to kneel down or bow profoundly when receiving communion. There are those in high places who commend this practice and there are others who think all should be doing this. Now I truly believe that when we receive communion we should do it reverently. That said there are many ways to be reverent. If we were to apply Isaiah's words in the first reading to the action of receiving communion, they might sound something like this, "Do you call receiving communion in this way what I want? This rather, is the receiving communion that I want, I want you to receive and then take me into the world, help others, be the presence of God everywhere you go. In other words, as Isaiah reminds us God is not about rituals, God is about actions.

However, we receive communion is not the point – it is what we do once we receive the Lord. It is how we treat people that makes all the difference. God does not put a lot of importance in the "show" of things, in the "how" we do it, in the "what" we look like when doing it, in how many people see it, in the how reverent it is. God puts value in the way we live our faith, the way we interact with the world, the way we treat others, the way in which we bring God's compassion and mercy to the world.

In The Gospel, the religious leaders are once again hung up on the rules, regulations and rituals but Jesus is about the living of life. Jesus is about recognizing God in our midst. Lent keeps reminding us that our thoughts are not God's thoughts and our ways are not God's way, yet we have the opportunity to recognize the presence of God in our life and change the way we think and the way we act so that we are about God and not ourselves.

Have a great Friday everyone.

Daily Prayer: O God, help us to walk in your ways. May our lives be about the gifts of your love and may our words, actions and works bring life to others and ourselves. May we never do anything for show but for the honor and glory of the kingdom. May what we do always reflect a concern for others. Be with us always and when we struggle may we always hear your voice say "Do not fear, here I am!" Amen!

A Runner's Thoughts: As we run today let us think of our breathing as inhaling God and exhaling extraneous thoughts, ideas and struggles. Let us allow all those thoughts that are buzzing about in our heads to move through our bodies and be expelled through our breath so that God has more space to be within us!

Daily Blessing: Friday greetings and blessings to all. Are you cold enough? I have decided that I have had enough of winter and I am ready for spring. I hope Mother Nature is listening. I hope you are weathering the cold or that the weather is a bit nicer and warmer where you are.

I hope you have had a good week. I hope you have had a good beginning of Lent, because like winter it is going to be a long journey. In a few minutes I will be heading into Manhattan for a day of taping of the Sunday Mass at St. Francis de Sales Parish. It will be a long day as we will be taping seven masses today. Then it will be back home so that I can get ready to head out tomorrow as I begin a Lenten mission at St. Raphael/Holy Angels Parish in Trenton, New Jersey. I am looking forward to this mission and all of my missions during Lent.

I pray today for God’s blessings on all of you who stop to journey with me through this life and through Lent may today be a good end to the work week and may it be the beginning of a restful and relaxing weekend. Peace in Christ's Passion...Fr. Paul

Daily Thoughts - 02/11/2016

Daily Thoughts: "Today I have set before you, life and prosperity, death and doom...I have set before you, life and death, the blessing and the curse. Choose life..." Moses in the Book of Deuteronomy presents to the people, presents to us two roads for the taking and suggests to us that we choose the road of life.

Many years ago as I was entering religious life my sister gave me a gift; I think it was for Christmas. It was a picture of a road sign, with an arrow pointing in two directions. It is the kind of sign that you find as a road comes to an end and as a driver you have to make a choice to go either right or left. Beneath the picture were the last three lines of Robert Frost's poem The Road Not Taken.

"Two roads diverged in the woods, and I -

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference."

The picture has hung on my wall wherever I have lived over the years and has been an inspiration; it has been a reminder that the journey that I have traveled even though difficult at times has been the right journey.

We might say that Moses is presenting to us two roads that diverge in the living of life. That we stand before those two roads that Moses calls Life and Death, blessing and curse, prosperity and doom. There are no signs just the choice of two roads, two ways to live life and we have to choose. Moses suggests that we choose life. In many ways this suggestion is the road less traveled because it is not always comfortable, it is not always self-gratifying, it is not always easy and it is not always the road everyone else is traveling. The road of life can be filled with crosses, struggles, challenges, steep hills and selfless responses.

The road of life has none of the allurements that you often find on the other road, power, wealth, instant gratification, self-importance, status and greatness in the eyes of the world. Yet, on the road of life you also do not find loneliness, judgmentalness, selfishness, greed, anger and death. On the road of life, you will find a community. It is a community ready to help, ready to walk with you. It is a community with a vision, a purpose beyond this life. It is a community of faith, of hope and of love. On the road of life faith will be strengthened, hope will be enlivened and love will be the order of the day!

Yes, as we begin Lent we are presented with two roads diverging in front of us. There is a great crowd walking down the one, no so many on the other. Which road are we going to choose? My hope is that we choose the road less traveled, my hope is we choose life because that will make all the difference!

Have a great Thursday everyone!

Daily Prayer: O God of Life, as we stand before the roads that this day presents to us, enliven us with the wisdom to choose the road of life. As we walk this road less travel keep us ever mindful that we are not alone that you walk with us. Strengthen us for the crosses, the challenges of this road. Grace us with the hope that we will always find your presence, your forgiveness, your mercy, your truth and your love as we make this journey. May we choose the road of life today and let it make all the difference in our life and in the lives of all we meet! Amen!

A Runner's Thoughts: Perhaps as we run today we too should choose the road less traveled: the road of awareness as we run, the road of revelation as we run, the road of intention as we run, the road of mindfulness as we run, the road of imagination as we run, the road of prayer as we run. Today let's pick a road we have not traveled lately and let it make a difference in our life today!

Daily Blessing: Thursday greetings and blessings to all. I trust you made it through Ash Wednesday and are now ready to set sail through Lent. I cannot yet tell what kind of day it is going to be here in Pelham though I do know it is going to be a cold one. We are headed for the deep freeze over the next few days but I don’t think we will have any more snow just wind and cold. I hope the weather is a little better wherever you are. We all live in the hopefulness that spring is not too far away.

Today will be a busy day as I prepare for our monthly taping day for the Sunday Mass tomorrow. I am also headed to the Wartburg Home for mass at 11 am this morning. I will be offering the Sacrament of the Sick during mass on this memorial of Our Lady of Lourdes. Many things to do today with another mission on the horizon for the weekend and next week.

My prayer of blessing for today is that God will bless us with the energy to be joyful people today. That we will see the gift of the road that we have chosen and celebrate that gift with all we meet. May we choose life and blessing all day today, through the strength of our faith, the energy of our hope and the richness of our love! Blessing to all today. Peace in Christ’s Passion…Fr. Paul