Daily Thoughts - 05/23/2013

Daily Thoughts: Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is out light not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves: Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous?

Actually, who are we NOT to be? We are children of God. Our playing small doesn’t save the world. There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around us. We were born to make visible the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us, it is all of us!

And as we let our own light shine we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our fears, our presence automatically liberates others.

So let us not allow our salt, our flavor, to become insipid. Today let us live as the person that God has created us to be rich in the gifts of faith, hope and love, rich is all that matters to God. (Adapted from an Unknown Writer)

Daily Prayer: Loving God, in you is found the fullness of life and unconditional forgiveness and love. We place ourselves in your hands each day, asking that you make holy all that we are, all that we have, and all that we offer you. Keep us firm in our faith and strong in your service. Create in us a new heart, that we might find a peace that always welcomes us home. Amen!

Runner’s Thought: Not every run need to be a search for life’s deeper meanings. Sometimes when we run we need to just “cruise!” Approach your next run with openness to the moment. Try to run unencumbered by the stress and strains of life. Look for the unexpected, look for the expected in a different way. Just cruise with God at your side!

Thursday greetings to everyone! I have been a bit busy the last few days and it is nice to have a chance to sit down and share a few thoughts with you today.

The sun is shining for the moment here in Pelham but we have been warned that storms are a possibility today and tomorrow. My thoughts and prayers remain with the people of Oklahoma, for they truly know what storms are about. It was nice that the death toll went down but certainly not comforting to those who lost loved ones! I pray for peace in their journey back to a normalcy of life!

I also keep all of you in my prayers today as I do every day. I am hoping your Thursday has started off well and will continue to be a good day. Blessings upon your work, your relationships and most importantly upon you today! Peace in Christ’s Passion…Fr. Paul

Daily Thoughts - 05/20/2013

Daily Thought: “I do believe, help my unbelief!” In many ways all of us look at ourselves as people of faith, people who have values and in most cases can say we are believers. Yet, perhaps like the man in today’s Gospel (Mark 9:14-29) we need help with our unbelief, we need help in those moment, those situations, those circumstance when it is hard to believe.

Belief at times can get away from us, our emotions, our feelings overrun us and cause us to doubt God’s presence in our life. Situations don’t go our way, the burden of all that life throws at us seems to overwhelm us and we let go of what is most important. We become part of a faithless generation.

Perhaps we might take our lead today from our first reading from the Book of Sirach (Sirach 1:1-10). We need to go in search of Wisdom, God’s gift that was created before anything else. It is a gift to possess because if we do we become friends of God. Wisdom is the gift that can guide us through the struggles of unbelief. Wisdom can be the very presence of God that helps our unbelief.

Wisdom is the experience of life, the doing, seeing and listening of life that enables us to encounter the presence of God when we most need it. Wisdom can be found in every living thing and thus so can God. It is a gift of the Holy Spirit that we often recognize when we take the time to pray.

Let us be believers today and trust that God’s wisdom will always help us in our moments of unbelief!

Daily Prayer: O God, so many sick; so many starving; so many deprived; so many sad; so many hurting; so many bitter; so many fearful! When we look at You, We hope again. We do truly believe, help our unbelief. O God of infinite compassion, O ceaseless Energy of Love, O Eternal Wisdom grace us with your friendship and hear our faith filled prayer today so that we may help You to reduce the world’s pain. Amen! (Adapted from prayer by George Appleton)

Runner’s Thought: One of the things about running is that our greatest runs are rarely measured by great achievements or racing success. They are moments in time when running allows us to see how wonderful our life is. They are moments in time when running enables us to encounter the presence of God. (Adapted from a quote by Kara Goucher)

Monday greetings to all! I truly hope your weekend was a good one and that your new work week has started off in a positive way. The clouds remain here in Pelham with a coolness to the air but they say there will be sun and warmth this afternoon. My prayers are certainly with the people of Oklahoma and other parts of the Midwest as they encounter these violent storms of spring, may things calm down a little so that the storms and flood waters can take a break!

Well friends, I hope your day will be filled with many positives and that the negatives will only be fleeting moments. Please know I am trying to do my part for you by asking God’s blessings upon all you do, upon everyone you meet and upon everyone you love! Peace in Christ’s Passion and Hope in the Wisdom of God…Fr. Paul

Daily Thoughts - 05/19/2013

Daily Thoughts: “Different gifts but the same Spirit!” It is hard sometimes to trust in the gifts that we have. We always seem to look across the fence at the other side and think it looks better. We tend to see what other people do and think, “If only I could be like Mike!”

The key to overcoming our struggle with the Spirit is remember, that every gift comes from the same Spirit. In other words we all have a common origin, we all are gifted. The challenge is not, are we the best, the brightest, the most powerful, the most important, the most well-known, the strongest, the most gifted. The challenge is how do we give life to the gifts we have? How do we speak and act so that when others hear and encounter us they come to know the might acts of God?

St. Paul was very creative when he used the image of the body to represent our relationship with God, our relationship with Jesus. It is one body with all of us as members, as parts. All of us are necessary for the body to work, to function, to have life, with each member, each part valuable and important. Some members, some parts may stand out more than others, but it is the sum of the parts working together take makes the body visible, strong and life giving to others.

Yes, today we celebrate the gift of the Holy Spirit in our lives. We celebrate being one of the many gifts of the Spirit. We celebrate being a part of Christ’s body. We celebrate being a member and hopefully like the disciples on the first Pentecost we give life to the gifts of the Holy Spirit that we have received so that all will hear through us in a language they understand the mighty acts of God.

My friends, peace be with you today and always and receive the Holy Spirit, letting the Spirit fill your hearts and bring to life the fire of God’s love within you!

Daily Prayer: Breathe in us, O Holy Spirit, that our thoughts, our ideas, our words, may all be holy. Act in us, O Holy Spirit, that our works, our labors, our actions, our living of life too, may be holy. Embrace our hearts, O Holy Spirit, that we may love and be love in a holy way. Strengthen us, O Holy Spirit, that our lives may represent all that is life giving and holy. Protect us, O Holy Spirit, that we always may be your gifts of hope and life in this world. Amen! (Adapted for a Prayer to the Holy Spirit by Saint Augustine)

Runner’s Thought: Running is about the physical, the mental and the emotional sides of our lives. It challenges us in physical, mental and emotional ways. Will our bodies respond, will they hold up, will they take get us back home or to the finish line? Will our minds let us move beyond the pain and the struggle? Can we overcome the fear? Will we give in to what seems easier? Yes, running is about the physical, the mental and the emotional sides of our lives, however running is also about the spiritual. It is about breathing in the breath of God, the Holy Spirit. Running is about giving life to the gift of who God has created us to be!

Happy Pentecost everyone! I hope you are having a good if not great Sunday. We are running through the rain drops here in Pelham with the air once again a little on the cool side. I hope you are able to enjoy this day especially with family and or friends. That it is a day which will offer you some rest and relaxation so that you might enjoy the gifts of the Holy Spirit within and around you!

I will leave you today with this thought from Thomas Merton, “Love is the guarantee that the life of the Spirit is growing in us. Love is the sign of the Holy Spirit at work in the Church and in the world.” So love much today my friends! Peace in Christ’s Passion and Holy in the Gifts of the Holy Spirit…Fr. Paul

Daily Thoughts - 05/16/2013

Daily Thought: “Lifting up his eyes to heaven, Jesus prayed saying: ‘I pray not only for these, but also for those who will believe in me through their words….’” There is comfort for us in today’s Gospel (John 17:20-26). While we still find ourselves listening to Jesus talk about his and our relationship with the Father as we have been for most of the Easter Season, today Jesus let us know that his prayer is not only for his disciples but for us, those who believe because we have heard.

Jesus looks ahead with his prayer today, ahead to all those who will come after him and somehow, in some way, come to believe. Jesus prays for people like you and me who have listened to the words of parents, relatives, teachers, preachers and come to know and believe in Jesus.

St. Paul in the first reading (Acts 22:30; 23:611) is an example of the power of Jesus’ prayer. Paul knows human nature and he used it to his advantage today so that he can continue to proclaim the Good News. St. Paul is a witness to the presence of God in the world and because of his witness we to have a chance to believe.

As we journey through this day let us be thankful for Jesus’ prayer that we too might be included in God’s love if we have the courage to believe in the Good News that we hear!

Daily Prayer: 
God be in our head and in our understanding today.

God be in our eyes, and in our seeing today.
God be in our mouth and in our speaking today.
God be in our feet and in our traveling today.
God be in our hands and in our embracing today.
God be in our ears and in our listening today.
God be in our soul and in our believing today.
God be in our hearts and in our loving today.
God be in us and everything we do today. Amen!
                                    (Adapted from a Celtic Prayer)

Runner’s Thought: If we chose to be a spiritual runner we can learn three things about ourselves.  We can learn how to keep moving forward through whatever life throws at us. We can learn who we truly are, our best self. We can learn that we are never alone and always love because we have God running with us!

Happy Thursday everyone! I trust your day has started off well. If not please know you are in my prayers and I will say a special prayer after finishing this post that your day will get better.

We are waiting on a warm one here in Pelham today. The sun has just popped through the morning clouds and I can feel the warmth in the air. I was slow moving today as I was awakened at 3:42 am this morning by some young folk who decided either to begin our end their day with a little party and some music not too far from my bedroom window. Awe to be young again, if I was I would have gotten up and joined them instead I wished bad things upon them!

Have a great day everyone and blessings upon your work, your rest, your loved ones and you! Peace in Christ’s Passion and Hope in the Risen Lord…Fr. Paul

Daily Thoughts - 05/15/2013

Daily Thought: As I said at our community Eucharist this morning, I will be glad when Sunday comes and goes and we are no longer in the Easter Season. I say this not because I don’t like the Easter Season, I love it but by this point we have heard the Gospel of John especially chapters 14-17 so much that it is a little hard to focus. Throughout these chapters John goes round and round about Jesus’ relationship with the Father and our relationship with him and the Father. Sometimes I just want to say, “Ok, I get it!” I also think John may have been reincarnated in the people who wrote and translated the Roman Missal. If it is not John then it must be somebody who studied under him or is a distant relative of him.

However, with my frustrations stated I was thinking very early this morning as I spent time in prayer before mass that perhaps these chapters in John are really the words of a person in love.

In my teenage and young adult years there were a few times when I was in love. Obviously they didn’t work out but I can still remember the women and how I felt. I can also remember that it was hard to explain my feelings to myself and others. It was hard to talk about my feelings; the words would get all jumbled up. I would repeat them over and over again until I am sure my friends were tired of listening to me. When I would speak about my feelings to the one I loved or tried to explain them to my friends often I didn’t seem to be making much sense.

Perhaps that is my struggle with the words of Jesus in John that we have been listening to throughout the Easter Season. Yes, they are Jesus’ words, but it is John who is trying to communicate them to us. It is John in the writing of the Gospel who is now the person in love. He is a man in love with the Father, a man in love with Jesus, a man in love with us.  Both Jesus and John are trying to explain this love. Jesus to his disciples and John is trying to explain this love to us but in both cases words don’t always come out that clear. They explain this love over and over again, hoping we will understand and hoping that we too fall in love!

Daily Prayer: O God, strengthen us with the power to fall in love through the gift of your Spirit in our inner most being. Fill our hearts with your presence and please do not leave us. Help us to grasp how wide and long and high and deep your love is for us. And, above all, enable us to know this love that surpasses all understanding and knowledge so that we may share it with others this day and always. Amen!

Runners’ Thought: Remember running can be a sacred act, sacred time. Sacred is a Latin word sacraficium, meaning to cut up, or sacrifice. If want our run to be spiritual we need to sacrifice time, energy and comfort. It requires that we face life head on, live wholly in the present, taking on joy and suffering, savoring each emotion, every experience while offering it all to God. (Adapted from Roger Joslin)

Daily Thoughts - 05/14/2013

Daily Thought: “You are my friends….It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you.”  Two reflections by Jesus in John’s Gospel (John 15:9-17) this morning that I have always given me pause for thought.

On the one hand there is something comforting about being a friend of Jesus. Yes, this friendship demands a lot and is not always easy, but being identified as a friend of Jesus often helps me to know that I am never alone. When you think about it someone who is willing to and did lay down his life for me is not going to walk away from me. The only person who can walk away from this relationship is me!

The second reflection by Jesus is a little more of a struggle. I guess I would prefer to think that I am in control, that I am the one doing the choosing and to a certain extent I have chosen God. However, when I look back over my life I can see the signs of God’s hand, of Jesus’ invitation. I can see God’s plan at work in the story of my life. I am who I am today not because I chose God but because God chose me!

I have come to believe that it is God who does the choosing, extending the invitation to be friends. After all we can put Jesus’ words together with Psalm 139. “O God you probe me and you know….You formed my inmost being: you knit me in my mother’s womb.” Yes, God did the choosing long ago. God chose to create me and Jesus chose me as a friend.

God so loves the world that each of us are fearfully, wonderfully made so as we live this day let us trust in our friendship with God and live the gift that God has created us to be!

Daily Prayer:  Loving Jesus, you have no body now on earth but mine, no hands but mind and no feet but mine. Mine are the eyes through which you look out with compassion on the world. Mine are the feet with which you go about doing good. Mine are the hands with which you bless people now. Jesus you have no body now on earth but mine so through me bless the world today. Amen! (Adapted from St. Teresa of Avila)

Runner’s Thought: “There is a lesson to be learned from running in various emotional states, just as there are lessons to learn from running in a wide range of environmental settings. Don’t shy away from running in an unaccustomed state of mind or an unusual situation. Opportunity for enlightenment often waits in the unfamiliar.” (Roger Joslin)

Tuesday greetings everyone! I hope your day has started off well. Here in Pelham we woke up to a bit of a chill, the good things is that it is May and the chill will not last long. The sun it out and it looks to be another beautiful day. I hope that is the case wherever you are.

I have a lot of paperwork that needs to get done and I have to say I am procrastinating. Writing letters is not my strong suit but thank you letters need to be sent and promotion letter need to be written if I want my ministry to be successful. So if you could offer a little prayer up today for this procrastinators I would appreciate it!

Have a great day everyone, blessings upon your work, your travel, your encounters with others, upon those whom you love and upon you! Peace in Christ’s Passion and Hope in the Risen Lord…Fr. Paul

Daily Thoughts - 05/13/2013

Daily Thought: “In the world you will have trouble, but take courage, I have conquered the world.” The last sentence of today’s Gospel from John (John 16:29-33). It reminds us that being a person of faith is not easy, that we will find ourselves struggling with many things about the world, culture and society. In fact we will struggle with many things within our own faith community because as an institution it is part of the world and run by human beings who are imperfect. Living this life will give us trouble from all sides.

However, we are not to fear because Jesus has conquered the world. He has made this life only part of the journey. There is more to life than this world; there is more to life than what we face each day. There is an eternal life where there is no more pain, no more sorrow, no more death just the eternal presence of God. As people of faith that is where we are headed but there is still this life, this world to navigate through.

Each day we need to look for the Spirit. We need to look for those people like St. Paul who can help us connect with the Spirit, because it is the Holy Spirit who will guide us through the troubles of this world. It is the Holy Spirit who will bring to life the gift of God within us.

So be on the lookout today for the gift of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit can come to us in many different ways, through creation, through the people we meet, through the people we love and yes, the Holy Spirit can even come to us through ourselves. Let us be the breath, the life, the Spirit of God today!

Daily Prayer:  Come, O Holy Spirit of Life and help us in our weaknesses, in our troubles and in our struggles.  We do not always know how to pray as we should, so we ask you to intercede for us. Grace our prayers with your groanings too deep for words and set our hearts on fire with your love. Help us to be re-created in your love so that we might renew your hope throughout the face of the earth this day and always. Amen!

Runner’s Thought: When you finish your run today or any day, take a moment to reflect on the sense of balance, the sense of energy, the sense of renewal that results from your run. Think of the moment when you felt God’s presence. Think of the ways you felt God presence. Now take that energy, that balance, that presence with you throughout the day!

Happy Monday everyone! I hope all the mother’s among us had a great day yesterday and were blessed with the loving presence of others throughout the day!  

To all, I hope your Monday, your new work week, has started well. We are on the chilly side here in Pelham but the sun is shining. I pray that your day, your week will be blessed with many wonderful and life giving experiences. Take some time today to smell the flowers, to enjoy the colors of creation and to let yourself be loved! Peace in Christ’s Passion and Hope in the Risen Lord…Fr. Paul