Daily Thoughts - 10/09/2013

Daily Thoughts: Fox News doesn’t have all the answers. In fact it has very few if any of the answers and I can say that for pretty much all of the 24 hour news programs that one might find on their cable or disk networks. How do I know this? Well because Jonah tells me so or perhaps more accurately God through Jonah tells me so! This short little Book of Jonah is full of twist and turns that one never expects. It is a story about God taking Jonah on a journey of just how to understand and not understand God’s presence and action in the world. Just like Fox News, Jonah thinks he has it all figured out. Jonah thinks he knows what is right and what is wrong. Jonah thinks he knows exactly what God should and shouldn’t do.

Yet at each turn, through each experience, Jonah finds out that God’s ways are not Fox News ways. God sees things differently. God responds to things differently. God’s world is much larger than Jonah’s world and for that we are most grateful!

I might be stretching things a bit but in the story of Jonah I hear not only God’s words, but the voice of Pope Francis speaking God’s words. Much like Jonah, the news outlets, religious commentators and news pundits think they have Pope Francis figured out. They think they know what he should say and do. They dissect his words and proclaim him liberal one moment and conservative the next. Yet at each turn Pope Francis challenges people to see God in their life differently. He challenges us not to box God in but to see the many ways God is present and active in the world and our lives.

God challenged and taught Jonah to live. Pope Francis continues the lesson with us today. Fox News doesn’t have the answers but God does. We just need to pay attention and live!

Have a great day everyone!

Daily Prayer:

O most kind and merciful God, into your Hands we place our hopes and fears, our likes and dislikes, our happiness and unhappiness, our joys and sorrows today.

Great are our faults and failings, but so too is our hope in you. It is stronger than our weaknesses; it is greater than our difficulties, and more powerful than death.

Though at time overwhelmed by worldly desires, we continue to hope in you; though at times we may falter because of our weaknesses, we continue to trust in you; though at times we do not live up to our promises, we try always to be open to the grace that you offer us.

You are our God, the ground, the center point of our salvation. We place ourselves in your loving arms today and ask your blessing. We place all our trust in you and live by the grace that we will not be forgotten. At times we might be bewildered but we will never be far from your loving care. Amen.

Runner’s Thoughts: Not just exercise, but a way to get in touch with and reclaim myself in an often fragmenting world, running also serves as a powerful antidote to clinical depression, a metaphor for the creative process, and, in its most profound moments, a spiritual practice.  (Alison Townsend)  Be spiritual today go for a run!

Daily Blessings: It is Wednesday everyone also known as “Hump Day.” Midpoint of the week and a day when all camels are happy! So let’s be happy too! If you are bogged down by struggles, problems or challenges today just pause for a moment and think of a camel walking through your office, your home or wherever you might be at this moment saying, “Guess what day it is…Guess what day it is! A smile should come to your face and perhaps that is all you will need to make it a better day.

If that doesn’t work I pray that God blesses you at some point today with a better day. And so for all of you I pray this morning that the peace of God which is beyond all understanding will keep your hearts, minds and souls in the wisdom and love of God today and always. Have a great day everyone!  Peace in Christ’s Passion…Fr. Paul