Daily Thoughts - 08/06/2016

Daily Thoughts: “You do not need to know precisely what is happening, or exactly where it is all going. What you need is to recognize the possibilities and challenges offered by the present moment, and to embrace them with courage, faith and hope.” (Thomas Merton)

I used these words from Thomas Merton not long ago in another one of my daily reflections but I thought they spoke to our scriptures today on this Feast of the Transfiguration. We might not know how or why but by God’s grace our lives can be transformed into something wonderful if we are willing to embrace this moment with courage, faith and hope.

We also need to remember that on this day 71 years ago an atomic bomb was dropped and three days later another one was dropped. We live today in the hope that Jesus’ transfiguration will always remind us that, despite our human tendency toward acts of violence and death, our lives, the world, can be changed by God’s power to give new life!

Blessings on this Feast of the Transfiguration to everyone and please pray for an end to all war and violence in our world. Have a great Saturday everyone.

Daily Prayer:

Great God, who has told us "Vengeance is mine," save us from ourselves, save us from the vengeance in our hearts and the acid in our souls.

Save us from our desire to hurt as we have been hurt, to punish as we have been punished, and to terrorize as we have been terrorized.

Give us the strength it takes to listen rather than to judge, to trust rather than to fear, to try again and again to make peace even when peace eludes us.

We ask, O God, for the grace to be our best selves. We ask for the vision to be builders of the human community rather than its destroyers. We ask for the humility as a people to understand the fears and hopes of other peoples.

We ask for the love it takes to bequeath to the children of the world to come more than the failures of our own making. We ask for the heart it takes to care for all the peoples of the world as well as for ourselves.

Give us the depth of soul, O God, to constrain our might, to resist the temptations of power to refuse to attack the attackable, to understand that vengeance begets violence, and to bring peace--not war--wherever we go.

For You, O God, have been merciful to us. For You, O God, have been patient with us. For You, O God, have been gracious to us.

And so may we be merciful and patient and gracious and trusting with these others whom you also love.

This we ask through Jesus, the one without vengeance in his heart. This we ask forever and ever. Amen! (Prayer by Sister Joan Chittister, OSB)

A Runner’s Thoughts: “Experienced runners learn to respect the changing needs of their bodies. That's the wisdom that comes with time, and–for good or bad–with age.” (Fred Lebow) So to in the spiritual life – experienced pilgrims on this journey of faith learn to respect the changing needs of their spirits and souls. This is the wisdom that comes with time.

Daily Blessing: Saturday greetings and blessings to all! I hope your day is starting off well, if not take a deep breath, and continue your journey with the hope that this too will pass! It looks to be a cloudy morning here in Pelham with I believe rain on the way at times today. I hope your day will not be a wet one especially if you have things planned for the outdoors.

Shout out today to Fr. Michael Greene, C.P. on his birthday - Happy Birthday Michael! Many blessing today and always. Have a great day!

I leave you with this thought for the day think of it in terms of life if you are not a runner - "If you never have a 'bad' day, you're probably doing something wrong; if you never have a 'good' day, you're definitely doing something wrong.” (Mark Remy) May this day be blessed with the richness of God’s presence and may God touch you with the grace of joy, hope and peace. May this grace transfigure you into a wonderful gift to the world you encounter today. Peace in Christ’s Passion…Fr. Paul

Daily Thoughts - 08/05/2016

Daily Thoughts: The disciples left behind rather normal lives, fishing, collecting taxes, among other things and they did it all in order to follow Jesus. As we here in Matthew’s Gospel today now comes the hard part. The kingdom that Jesus speaks about will not be established by might but by suffering and death. Jesus is not a political or military leader. His power is not to take things by force. His way is not the way of the world. It is to die to self. It is to let go of what the world think is important. It is to grab onto a relationship with God and not let go.

Following Jesus and dying to self, letting go, is not an easy task. The cross presents itself to us daily in many different ways. As Dietrich Bonhoeffer once put it “Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.” 

So we are called today and every day to find that place deep within each one of us, where God is calling us, through the paschal mystery, into a relationship of love – and it is that relationship that holds the promise of a joyful, rich, and never-ending life in the kingdom.

Have a holy and blessed Friday everyone.

Daily Prayer: To you, O loving Creator, of nature, humankind, truth and beauty we pray today. Hear our voices, for they are the voices of the victims of all wars and violence among individuals and nations. Hear our voices, for they are the voices of all children who suffer. Hear our voices when we beg you to install into the hearts of all people the vision of peace, the strength of justice, the joy of friendship and the embrace of your love. Amen (Adapted from a prayer by St. John Paul II)

A Runner’s Thoughts:  Why do we run – well I suppose there are many reasons. We run because if we didn’t, we would be lazy and negative and spend too much time on the couch. We run to breathe the fresh air. We run to explore. We run to escape the ordinary. We run to savor the journey of life. We run to connect with God through creation, through being in touch with ourselves, through the experiences and people we encounter on the run. When we run our relationship with God and life becomes a little more vibrant, a little more intense, a little more real and hopefully we like that. (Inspired by a reflection by Dean Karnazes)

Daily Blessing: Friday greetings and blessings to all. I hope your week has gone well or if not may it end on an up note and allow you to enjoy the gift of a weekend.

This is my last morning to head out to Chappaqua to celebrate the 8:30 am mass. The pastor has returned from his vacation and will take back his duties as of Saturday morning. I will head back to Chappaqua on Sunday to take one of the Sunday masses as we always do. I will also be heading to the Wartburg Home again today for the 11 am mass. I try to keep busy and out of trouble and so far this week I have been successful most of the time.

We are to have another beautiful day here in Pelham and throughout the metropolitan New York area. These last few days have been very nice with the temps in the low 80’s and low humidity. I hope the weather is treating you well wherever you are!

I hope all of you will have a great Friday, blessed by God’s unrelenting presence and unconditional grace. May your day be rich in the goodness of others, the joy of tasks completed and the peace of safe travels. May you share the gift you are with everyone you meet. I also pray that your weekend will be one filled with family, friends, laughter, fun, rest and relaxation. If you need some non-people time, quiet time, I hope you get that too. Enjoy everyone and be safe! Peace in Christ’s Passion…Fr. Paul

Daily Thoughts - 08/04/2016

Daily Thoughts: In or first reading for the Book of the Prophet Jerimiah, God says he will be in our hearts. He will not be external. He will not be pages in a book. He will not be rules to memorize. He will be an integral part of us. He will be our hearts. Meaning that God is an internal force. When God is in our hearts, we can ‘think’ like God. We will not have to learn how to know God or have to teach others. We will know God because he is in our hearts.

In our Gospel, we encounter what can happen when we let God into our heart. Who does Peter say that Jesus is? “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” When Peter lets Jesus into his heart, he recognizes Jesus’ divinity. However, as we discover later in our Gospel, Peter returns to his old way and begins to think like a human being again, not like God. He does want Jesus to suffer and die. He does not want his friend to talk in such a way, to go through that. He does not want to lose his friend. He is thinking like a human being with earthly limits, rather than thinking like God. Peter fails to see the bigger picture.

When we see religion, church, faith as an external construct, as the accidentals rather than the essentials, we get caught up in earthly thinking, with inexplicable puzzles, and problems. When we accept that God is in our hearts, we see beyond our small little world, we see a much bigger picture. If we let God in our hearts, we can begin to think like God, to see like God and that can make all the difference!

Have a great Thursday everyone.

Daily Prayer: O God, it is you alone I love, you alone I follow, you alone I seek, you alone I am ready to serve. Heal and open my ears that I may hear your voice. Heal and open my eyes that I may see your will. Tell me where to look that I may see you, and I will place my hope in doing your will. (Prayer by St. Augustine of Hippo)

A Runner’s Thoughts: “I wanted change. If you don’t do that, you will stagnate. Not just in running but in life as well.” (Noah Droddy)

Daily Blessing: Thursday greetings and blessings to all. I hope your day is starting well. In about a half hour I will begin my morning trek to Chappaqua for the 8:30 am daily mass then I will return to Mount Vernon for the 11:00 am mass at the Wartburg and then on to La Guardia Airport to pick up some friends who are in for the weekend. A busy day ahead with a few little changes that I had not anticipated. Hopefully everything will turn out great for all involved.

It looks to be another beautiful day which hopefully will make my traveling around a little easier. Though traveling around New York is very rarely easy! I hope your travels and encounters today will be blessed with safety, easy and most importantly the presence of God!

My prayer of blessing today is that God will bless your day with the richness of His presence 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!

Well, 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

Daily Thoughts - 08/03/2016

Daily Thoughts: “Prayer is not asking. Prayer is putting oneself in the hands of God, at His disposition, and listening to His voice in the depth of our hearts.” (Blessed Teresa of Calcutta, MC)

The Canaanite woman in the Gospel (Matt. 15:21-28) today is a woman of prayer. She puts herself in the hands of God. She is at God’s disposition and she knows it. But she remains persistent, she hears God’s voice deep in her heart and because of her faith her daughter is healed.

Will we have faith enough today to put ourselves in the hands of God? Will we have faith enough today to listen to God’s voice in our hearts? Will we have faith enough today to bring hope to those we love?

Have a great Wednesday everyone!

Daily Prayer:

O God, Give us this day the Love that leads the way.
Give us this day the Faith that nothing can dismay.
Give us this day the Hope no disappointments tire.
Give us this day the Passion that will burn like fire.
Let us not sink to be a clod, but make us your fuel, O Flame of God. Amen!
(Adapted from a poem by Amy Carmichael)

A Runner’s Thoughts: “Whatever you may be missing right now - a person, a place, a feeling, maybe you are injured and missing running - whatever it is, have peace and take heart - remember that any goodbye makes room for a hello.” (Kristin Armstrong) In other words run with faith and hope!

Daily Blessings: Wednesday greetings and blessings to all! As I look out my bedroom window it looks like the sky is clear and we are beginning a day that will be full of sunshine. It has been about a week since we last had a day full of sunshine. I hope the weather is good by you and that your Wednesday is starting off well. I hope you will encounter many blessings as you journey through your day.

In about 20 minutes I will be leaving for my morning journey to Chappaqua for the 8:30 am mass and then on to the office. We have a number of projects in the works at The Sunday Mass office some I hope that we can move along today. It will be a busy Wednesday.

My prayer for all of you today is that God will truly bless your day with many wonderful encounters of God’s presence, grace and love. That your day will be enlivened with God’s joy and peace and may God make you a blessing to the people you encounter today because you are truly God’s blessing! Peace in Christ’s Passion…Fr. Paul

Daily Thoughts - 08/02/2016

Daily Thoughts: If you have ever made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land chances are that when you visited the Sea of Galilee you took a little boat trip out on to the sea with your group. During you voyage today’s Gospel story might have been read. Now I am guessing when you took your trip it was a beautiful sunny day and the waters were calm but the tour guide or perhaps the priest with you after reading today’s Gospel asked you to pause and think about being in the boat on a stormy sea. They might have asked you to put yourself into the story. What would your reaction be? How would you feel being tossed about in a stormy sea?

It is a stormy scene in today's Gospel and it might be worth taking some time to reflection on the personalities whom we find in today’s story. First, there is Jesus. He has left the disciple and taken some time to pray. Yet ever the Good Shepherd he comes to them in the midst of the storm by walking on the water. It's useless to quibble about what, why and how this walking was accomplished. It is just important to know that Jesus was watching over his sheep like any Good Shepherd.

Our next character is Peter. As we learn throughout the Gospels, Peter is always the impulsive one, he wants to be with Jesus on the water. Is he testing Jesus? Does Peter’s ego get the best of him thus at this moment he wants to be special, he wants to do something miraculous? Who knows what going through Peter’s mind at this moment! What is important is that Peter finds out that he cannot do it alone. So he has to ask Jesus for help – “Lord save me!” It is a lesson that we all have to learn in times of crisis, we need to put our trust in God and God will save us, perhaps not exactly as we would like but in a way that will ultimately be best for us.

Finally, we have the other disciples who must have just holding on in the boat for dear life totally awe by what was happening. Imagine their reaction as the winds and waves suddenly stop and the boat became perfectly calm. What was the purpose of this moment in their journey with Jesus? Perhaps it was a moment of faith building. If so I think Jesus’ mission was accomplished because in the Gospel we hear, "Those who were in the boat showed him homage, saying, 'Truly, you are the Son of God.'"

Now just like on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land standing in the midst of a calm boat we might ask ourselves – If we had been there in the storm, would Jesus' words been directed at us? "O you of little faith, why did you doubt?"  Many of the disciples were fishermen by trade. They knew the sea. They knew its power. They probably had been in a boat before during a storm. Fear can cause even the best of us to doubt. We are asked today to trust in the presence of God in our lives even in the midst of life’s storms. Jesus is the Good Shepherd; he always comes to the rescue of those he loves. Why is it that we like the disciples often find it so difficult to trust that Jesus is with us even in the midst of the storms of our life?

Let us have faith and trust today and always in the Good Shepherd, the Faithful Sea Captain – Jesus! Have a great Tuesday everyone.

Daily Prayer: O God, fill our souls with holy joy, courage, and strength to serve you. Enkindle your love in us and then walk with us along the next stretch of road before us. We do not see very far ahead, but when we arrive where the horizon now closes down, a new prospect will open before us, and we shall meet it with peace. Amen (Adapted from a prayer by St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross)

A Runner’s Thoughts: Spirituality for running - The miracle isn't that we finish. The miracle is that we have the courage to start and bring God with us! (Adapted from a quote by John Bingham)

Daily Blessing: Tuesday greetings and blessings to everyone! I hope your day is starting off well, if not take a deep breath, and continue your journey with the hope that this too will pass! We are looking at another cloudy day with possible storms throughout. You can feel the humidity. At least this is helping our drought situation a little. I hope the weather is treating you better these days.

In a half hour or so I will be heading to Chappaqua for the 8:30 am mass and then on to Rye Brook for a day at the office. I am still not use to heading to the office each day but I will be away for a couple of weeks in August so I have to make these days in the office count.

My prayer of blessing today comes from a prayer by St. Dominic – May God the Father who made us bless us. May God the Son send his healing among us. May God the Holy Spirit move within us and give us eyes to see with, ears to hear with, and hands that our work will get done. May we walk and proclaim the Word of God to all by the living of our life this day. May the angel of peace watch over us and led us by God’s grace to the Kingdom.

Enjoy your Tuesday everyone and may it be a safe and peaceful one. Peace in Christ’s Passion…Fr. Paul

Daily Thoughts - 08/01/2016

Daily Thought: “Jesus teaches us another way: Go out. Go out and share your testimony, go out and interact with your brothers [and sisters], go out and share, go out and ask. Become the Word in body as well as spirit.”  (Pope Francis)

Perhaps this is what Jesus meant when he asked the disciples what they had when they were confronted with such a large crowd. Yes, the miracle of the loaves and fishes took place that day. Yes, Jesus took a few loaves and fishes and fed over five thousand people. But before he did it he asked the disciple what they had. Jesus asked the disciple to give out what they had.

God always provides and most of the time it is through us. Often we look at ourselves and think, “There is not much here! I certainly don’t have enough to satisfy the crowd!” But we do and as Pope Francis says, if we go and share, if we go and become the Body of Christ then great things will happen. Miraculous things will happen. The world will be fed!

The question for today is “What do we have?” The challenge is to “go and share!” Have a great Monday everyone!

Daily Prayer:

Lord, make us instruments of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let us sow love,
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
And where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master, grant that we may not so much seek

 to be consoled as to console,
 to be understood as to understand,
 to be loved, as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive,

It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
(Adapted from a prayer attributed to St. Francis of Assisi)

A Runner’s Thoughts: “[We] run because long after [our] footprints fade away, maybe [we] will have inspired a few to reject the easy path, hit the trails, put one foot in front of the other, and come to the same conclusion [we] did: [we] run because it always takes [us] where [we]want to go.” (Dean Karnazes) And we prayer because it always takes us to whom we want most in our life. So today run and pray!

Daily Blessing: Monday greeting and blessings to everyone! It was a busy day for me yesterday as I celebrated all the masses at St. John and St. Mary Parish in Chappaqua, NY. Actually I was there both Saturday and Sunday as I had three masses on Saturday which included a funeral and three masses yesterday. It was nice to be out and about. It was also nice to be part of Church this weekend. In fact, in about an hour I will be headed to St. John and St. Mary Parish for the Monday mass as the pastor is away and I have all the weekday masses this week too.

I hope your weekend went well. I hope in the midst of any travels and activities you found time for a little rest, relaxation and that you gave God a little time.

I think we are going to have more rain today at least if feels like it this morning and the sky is rather cloudy. Hopefully these days of rain are easing our drought conditions.

I pray that God will bless all of you with a great Monday and a beautiful week. May your day and your week be a fruitful one filled with many blessings upon you and those you love. Don’t forget to share the gift of who you are today because believe me it will make a difference! Peace in Christ’s Passion…Fr. Paul