Daily Thoughts - 04/26/2013

Daily Thoughts: “Characters welcome,” it is the calling card of the USA network. As I listen to the stories of the early Church as they come to us through the Acts of the Apostles I am reminded that our Church, our community of faith is made up of characters, faith characters. Some very familiar to us like Peter and Paul others not so familiar just names or people who appear for a moment yet they played a role in the development of the early Church.

What is it that makes a “character of faith?” Well, I think our answer is in today’s Gospel. We hear that famous passage from John’s Gospel where Jesus says, “I am the way and the truth and the life.” Thus, a “character of faith” is someone who does not let her or his heart be trouble. A “character of faith” has faith in God and faith in their friend Jesus. A “character of faith” follows Jesus and believes that in following Jesus they will make their way in truth and life.

One thing is for sure because we are “characters of faith” we will not live life the same way and every once in a while we will need to stop and like Thomas say, “Master, we do not know where you are going, how can we know the way?” But as a faith character we take comfort and have hope that Jesus will always take the time point us in the right direction.

The sad thing is that like in the early Church, like during the time of Jesus, characters are not always welcome. We have all been gifted by being created in the image and likeness of God. Each of us are different, each of us are unique and special. Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. There are many dwelling place in the eternal home. There is room for every character!

Daily Prayer: O God, author of life and freedom, hear us as we call upon you to help guide us through life today. Help us to trust in your loving presence so that we will be true to the “character” that you have created us to be. May we never be afraid to ask for your help especially when we are not sure which way to go. Give us the strength to not be troubled by the anger and negativity of the world, but to have faith and hope in you. Grace us with the energy to live life with truth and authenticity.  Amen!

Running on Faith: A Runner’s Thought: Oprah Winfrey once said, “Running is the greatest metaphor for life, because you get out of it what you put into it.”  So as we run today let us put God into our run.

Friday Blessings to everyone! Yes, we have made it through another week and we can breathe a shy of relief and say, “Thank God it is Friday!” I hope you have had a good week and that your weekend will be a reward for all your hard work this week. If not, if this week has not gone so well or the weekend means no rest and more work just hang in there, better days are ahead!

I am trying to catch up today so that I can leave tomorrow for a short trip to Chicago. I am heading out for an overnight to see one of my thespian nieces, Kelly, gift the world, or at least the faith community at St. Edna’s Parish in a production of “Somebody to Love.” It should be a wonderful Saturday evening and perhaps a star will be born, though she is already a star in my book!

So where ever you are and whatever you are doing have a great weekend, may it be blessed with rest and relaxation. May it be graced with good people and may God gift you always with his love! Peace in the Christ’s Passion and Hope in the Risen Lord…Fr. Paul

Daily Thoughts - 04/25/2013

Daily Thoughts: We celebrate the feast day of St. Mark, the evangelist, writer of the earliest and shortest Gospel. We meet Mark also known as John Mark, in the Acts of the Apostles and in the First Letter of Peter which is the first reading for today’s mass. Mark was a companion of St. Paul for a time and Peter refers to him as his son, most probably meaning his spiritual son.

Mark took the account of Jesus’ Passion and Death and formed his Gospel around this main event in the life of the faith community. Mark gives us nothing of Jesus’ birth or early life. He gives us the years of Jesus’ ministry and public life. As stated the center of Mark’s Gospel account is Jesus Passion and Death.

The tradition of Mark’s Gospel has helped to spread the Good News. His Gospel has helped to sustain our faith throughout the centuries. It has helped the Church keep alive the story, the life, the ministry, the love of Jesus for the world. As we celebrate Mark today let us be reminded of the Good News. Let us take a moment out of our day to read a few word, a story, a passage from his Gospel. Let us remember the story of Jesus and let us proclaim that story in the way we live our life!

Daily Prayer: O God, let us draw upon the inspiration of St. Mark today, a character of the early Church who proclaimed the Good News through his preaching and writing. May we be characters who remind the world of the Good News today by our own words and actions. May we keep Jesus’ story alive through the living of our own lives. Give us the strength to proclaim your love, your hope and your presence to the world we encounter today. Help us to find your presence, your image and likeness within ourselves.  Help us to be your grace to a struggling world today and always. Amen!

Runner’s Thought: Remember as you run today that the difference between the possible and the impossible is our determination, is our faith and our friendship with God, because with God all things are possible.

Happy Thursday Everyone! I hope your day has started off well, with a little sunshine and warmer temperatures! If not I pray the morning setbacks are only temporary and things will be humming along by the afternoon. My mission at St. Jane Frances de Chantal in Wantagh, NY finished up last night with a very spirit filled closing. It was truly a great week with the faith community there. I am grateful for their faith and hospitality.

I wandered home last night and today I am doing wash and getting caught up with mail and emails. I head out for Chicago on Saturday. May you all have a great Thursday filled with many blessings and graced with many moments that put a smile on your face. Please know that you are in my prayers today and always. Peace in Christ’s Passion and Hope in the Risen Lord…Fr. Paul

Daily Thoughts - 04/24/2013

Daily Thought: Once again we are privy to the life of the early Church. In today’s first reading Barnabas and Saul set apart from the others and the Holy Spirit comes upon them, sending them to their ministry to the Gentles. We meet Mark and other characters in the story of the early Church. We begin to see how the faith communities identified people alive in God’s Spirit and called them forth to proclaim the Good News.

We might say that this little section from the Acts of the Apostles is a practical example of what Jesus speaks about in John’s Gospel today. Jesus continues to remind us of how important his relationship is with the Father. He reminds us that we need to listen for the words of God as they come from Jesus and as they come from those who the Spirit sends. The Good News comes from God, it is alive with God’s Spirit, and it is the light that will guide us on our journey of faith.

The challenge is always our willingness to hear and see the gift of God in our life. The challenge is to be open each day to the many ways in which God becomes present to us. The challenge is to take the Word we hear and the Light we see and make it known to the world. The challenge is to be the voice and light of God in our world today!

Daily Prayer: O God, strength of the faithful, grace us once again with your light today. Help us to see your presence around us and within us. Gift us with your Word, a Word that we not only hear but also proclaim. May we become your light of hope to a world darkened by terror, tragedy, violence, anger, evil and fear. May we be directed by your light of life today and in the living of life always praise you! Amen!

Runner’s Thought: Remember when we run, we are brought into an interaction with something greater than ourselves; we are brought into the presence of God. Our run is a direct, physical way of getting in touch with who we are, of getting in touch with our authentic selves. Our run is a way to getting in touch with our Creator. Let us run today with an openness to the unlimited opportunities to connect with God, to be touched by God, and to create with God!

Happy Wednesday everyone! I hope your week has been a good one so far. If not I pray that there will be a little warm sun and goodness in your day today. Today is the final day of our mission here at St. Jane Frances de Chantal. So far it has been a spirit filled journey. I look forward to the same today. As we bring our time together to a close I ask God to bless all who have taken the time out of their busy lives to enter into the journey this week. I would ask you to please say a prayer for the faith community here and for their preacher also!

Please know of my prayers for you today. I pray that God will bless you with the gift of life in all that you are doing today. I pray that you will bring God’s presence to all you meet. I pray that you will encounter the gift of God’s love as you journey through this day. Be well and safe in your journey of life today! Peace in Christ’s Passion and Hope in the Risen Lord…Fr. Paul

Daily Thoughts - 04/23/2013

Daily Thoughts: It is always interesting to me to hear the stories of the early Church as they are presented in the Acts of the Apostles. We hear about the struggles and the joyous moments of the early Church. We meet the people who made up the early Church and helped it to move forward. We hear about the wonderful faith filled moments and the dark moments of persecution and challenge.

Each time I hear the stories of the early Church I am reminded that as much as things change they also remain the same. The characters are different, the events are different but the struggles and joys are the same. Today we face many if not all of the same challenges of the early Church. We have communities of great faith; we have preachers on fire with the Good News. We have challenges inside and outside the Church and at time we have persecutions.

Our faith is constantly in question, challenges, under attack. We are faced with change, differences within and a changing, struggling world around us. Like the early Church we are a community of believers listening for the voice of the Good Shepherd. Sometimes we hear it and sometimes the noise of the world around us tries to out shout it.

Our challenge is to hear the Good Shepherd’s voice, to recognize it in the midst of all the other voices and to have faith, to trust and to believe that the Good Shepherd will always be with us and will never leave us to face our perils alone!

Daily Prayer: Good Shepherd, speak to us words that will comfort and strengthen us today. Grace us with your loving and hope filled presence. Help us to always hear and recognize your voice among the many voices of the world. Guide us to the right path of life. Enliven us with your Spirit to be people who always bring hope to the world around us. Love us with your everlasting love. Amen!

Runner’s Thought: Remember when running as a pilgrim, as a friend God, we do not just log miles, witnessing the run as it happens. Our run becomes an act of devotion, a spiritual renewing. Our pilgrim run is not mere sightseeing or getting from one point to another, it is the development of the capacity to see what is sacred, what is of God!

Happy Tuesday everyone! I hope your day is going well. The second day of the mission here at St. Jane Frances De Chantal has started will. The community is spirit filled and open to the journey. Please offer a prayer for the faith community here during the mission and for the preacher and know we are praying for you!

Once again through my own prayer I ask God to bless all of you today, to bless your endeavors, to bless the people your encounter, to help you when you struggle and most of all to help you know God’s love even when it doesn’t seem to be there! Peace in Christ’s Passion and Hope in the Risen Lord…Fr. Paul

Daily Thoughts - 04/22/2013

Daily Thoughts: I was struck by the last sentence of today’s Gospel, “I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly.” Jesus’ hold purpose for coming into the world was so that we might have life and have it more abundantly. In the midst of the chaos of last week both in Boston and Texas I wonder how many of us hear the words of the Gospel today and say yes, I believe! I think sometimes we look around at life and say why not thanks. Sometimes we wonder what kind of life we have and it is certainly not a life in abundance.

Yet if we really stop and take an inventory of our lives we might find great treasure and great abundance. Yes, there is struggle, pain, sorrow, challenges and evil. Yes, there are people, moments and experiences that seem to take life away from us. However if we are truly honest that is a lot of goodness to life, to our lives. God is truly present in the world and there is an abundance of God’s presence.

I see, I encounter, it every day. The goodness of people, the care, concern and desire of people to make God present, to share the gift of God with all they meet. I see and encounter God’s stamp on many things each day. I see it in people, in place, in experiences and within myself.

Even though there are awful things that happen in our world there is a tremendous amount of good that also happens. There is a richness and an abundance of God in our world all we have to do is stop and look around. As John tells us, “God so loved the world that he gave us his only Son.” A Son who came into the world that we might have life and have it abundantly, all we need to do is believe and live with hope!

Daily Prayer: Lord Jesus, you have brought us the gift of abundant life. Give us eyes that can look beyond the glamor and trivia of the world to the richness of your loving presence as it comes to us in others, creation and ourselves. Grace us with hope so that we will not give into despair, anger, vengeance and fear but through hope we will find the joy, grace and life you came to give us. May we come to know the full measure of life that you have promised! Amen!

Runner’s Thought: Run with a strong heart today. If you run in the midst of the ordinary, you will often find yourself touched by the extraordinary presence of God. Run strong today, run Boston Strong today, Run Strong into the heart of God today!

Happy Monday everyone! I hope your Monday, your week, has started off on the right foot. If not I pray your fortunes will change as the day and the week goes on. The mission here at St. Jane Frances de Chantal in Wantagh has gotten off to a great start. We had a very nice and spirit filled crowd this morning and I now look forward to the evening service. The sun is out, yes there is a chill in the air but today is a beautiful day. I hope it is for you also. Blessings upon your day, upon all that you are doing and upon all you meet! Peace in Christ’s Passion and Hope in the Risen Lord…Fr. Paul

Daily Thoughts - 04/21/2013

Daily Thoughts: Well, it has been a long day. Just a little while ago I finished my seventh mass since yesterday at 4:00 pm, two yesterday evening and five today. You might say I had a lot of time to think about today’s readings.

One theme that has been with me most of this week is the fact that all of the readings remind us to be hope filled people. We are to be people of hope in the midst of at the struggles and challenges that we fact in life. Certainly that is an important message for us as perhaps we think back to the events of this week particularly in Boston and the city of West in Texas.

Paul and Barnabas face a challenge in Antioch some of the people in the community do not want challenge. They do not want these outsiders; they do not want their life changed. So they stir up a persecution against Paul and Barnabas. But the Spirit of God is alive in Paul and Barnabas, the Good News will be proclaimed. Those who read and hear the stories of the Acts of the Apostles are reminded that the Spirit of God will not be held back, it is a Spirit for all!

John in the Book of Revelation reminds the churches he is writing to, to stay strong, to remain hopeful. Even though they are struggling and evil is around them God is with them. They journey through this life to something greater, to a place of plenty and peace, but they must remain strong. They need to trust always in God even in the midst of struggles, challenges and evil!

These two readings are words we need to hear today. The events of this week bond us to Paul, Barnabas and the early Church. The events of this week have been about struggle, sadness, challenge and evil. The events of this week call us to be strong and remain hopeful. The events of this week perhaps made us wonder and ask why? But in the spirit of Paul, Barnabas and John we are called to remain faith filled because we are on a journey to something better.

Perhaps in a similar way the events of this week have challenged us to listen for the voice of the Good Shepherd. Sometimes the noise of our world gets very loud but the Good Shepherds voice is always calling us. Sometimes the leadership of our world, our country, our church, our culture and society is all about power, authority, money, influence and self-interest. Jesus in John’s Gospel today reminds us that true leadership is about service and being a Good Shepherd. Jesus’ image of leadership is about compassion, forgiveness, understanding, care, support and selflessness!

The readings today call us to listen to the voice of the Good Shepherd. A Good Shepherd who is always there especially in the midst of struggle, challenge, fear and evil. A Good Shepherd with a Spirit that cannot be denied. Let us listen, live and be God’s faith filled people of hope!

Daily Prayer: O God, help us to throw ourselves into your loving arms because we know that you are always with us and will never leave us to face life alone. Enable us to trust in your presence even in the midst of struggle, difficulty, sadness, challenge and evil. Grace us with a spirit that is always hope filled. Help us to hear the voice of the Good Shepherd in the midst of all the noise in our lives. Strengthen us with the fire of your love so that like you and your Son Jesus we may be one in faith, hope and love. Amen!

Runner’s Thought: Perhaps you have already run today or maybe you are thinking about tomorrow, so as we ready ourselves for a new week let us once again make the commitment to run strong this week for Boston and Texas and all who are in need of strength. Let us remember those who have died and their families. Let us remember those hurt physically, emotionally and spiritually. Let us remember all the runners who didn’t get the chance to finish their journey. Let us remember all those who helped anyone who was injured or hurt. Let us run strong this coming week. In the words of the prophet Isaiah let us “run and not grow weary,” (Isaiah 40:31) because we run with God!

Happy Sunday Evening Friends! It has been a long day but I wanted to connect with you before turning in. I preached seven masses this weekend and hopefully my invitation to the parish mission here at St. Jane Frances de Chantal Parish will be accepted and we will have a good mission this week. The people seemed enthusiastic so I am hopeful. Again if you are in the area come and join us in the morning at 9:00 am or in the evening at 7:30 pm Monday thru Wednesday. To all who cannot join me have a restful Sunday evening and a great week with many blessings! Peace in Christ’s Passion and Hope in the Risen Lord…Fr. Paul