The theme of the novena here at St. Ann’s
is faith and the two preachers over the first two days have asked those coming
to the novena to look at their faith. The first preacher, Fr. Paul, (not me)
talked about faith in terms of how important it is and the challenges that it
presents to us. He focused on the difficulties people of faith have been
challenged with over the years and that we continue to be challenged today. He
talked about the obstacles to faith and sometimes even the harsh consequences
of being a person of faith.
Our preacher today, Fr. Phil, focused
more on the power of faith and even though there are obstacles, challenges and
difficult consequences God is always with us, helping us even when we struggle
with the obstacles and challenges.
His reflection on faith fit nicely with
the Gospel today (Matt 11:28-30). Jesus reminds all of us that we should always
come to him, to 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.
So my friends in the midst of all that
the world throws at us, let us continue to walk by faith by trusting in our
friendship with God!
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)
Runner’s Thought: 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?
Happy Thursday everyone and greetings
from hot and steamy Scranton, Pa! The sun, heat and humidity are tough today.
The heat and humidity was even tough last night as I went for a run around 8:30
pm. They are saying things will break sometime on Saturday but right now it is
hot!
Some of you commented yesterday that you
missed my usual Wednesday greeting about hump day; all I can say is that I am
trying not to be so predictable. No worries we will visit with our friend the “Hump
Day Camel” in the future!
Keep you petitions and prayer requests
coming. I am writing them all down and bringing them with me as a wander
through each day of the novena. If I haven’t responded back hang in there I
will get to your comment or email. The novena is going well despite the heat,
crowds are good throughout the day and the spirit is great!
Well, friends stay cool, have a great
afternoon and evening. Please know as always you are in my prayers and may God
bless the rest of you day, evening and night! Peace in Christ’s Passion…Fr.
Paul
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