Daily Thoughts - 05/04/2013

Daily Thought: In some ways the image created by John in his Gospel today can be a bit confusing. In today’s Gospel Jesus talks about “the world.” He says. “If the world you hates you, realize that it hates me first.” We might be led to believe by this statement that “the world” is bad, that there is nothing good about “the world.”

If we look at Jesus’ statements about “the world” in this section of John’s Gospel in this way then how do we reconcile this image of “the world” with Genesis 1:31, which tells us that God created our world good or John 3:16, which tells us that God so loved the world.

“The world” that Jesus speaks about in the Gospel today are those who have rejected Jesus. In Jesus’ time and in our time there is good and bad in “the world,” there is life and death, there is good and evil. There are some in “the world” who will and do hate us. Rejection of Jesus and his message is alive and well today. There are people who reject the Gospel, who reject Jesus, who reject faith.  They are “the world” that Jesus warned us about.

Just because it has been over 2,000 years since Jesus it does not mean that rejection and hate have gone away. It does not mean that we are immune from the hate and persecution that Jesus encountered. We might not have to carry a wooden cross through city streets and die on it, but we will be hated and persecuted because we believe.

The question might be how do we deal with this? I think Pope Francis has given us a clue, he says that our “weapons” of self-defense are the Gospel, humility and meekness. In other words we are not to be like those in “the world” who hate, persecute, those who sling mud, criticize and judge. We are to be people of the Gospel, people of compassion, forgiveness and love. We are to be Gospel people in humility and meekness.

You might say these “weapons” go against every human instinct. When challenged, when persecuted our instinct is to strike back but that is not Jesus’ way and as people of faith it is not our way.  If we truly know Jesus, if we truly believe then hate and persecution does not matter what does is bringing life to the presence of God through forgiveness, compassion and love!

Daily Prayer: Loving God make us instruments of your love, compassion and forgiveness. When we are hated, help us not to lash out with hate. When we are persecuted by word or action, help us not to sling mud back. When we are not respected or made fun of, help us not to be disrespectful and arrogant. When the way people talk about us or report about us does not seem fair, help us to be your faithful, humble and meek servants who bring your presence to the world. For if we are compassionate and loving people we will keep alive your Good News and help all to know just how much you love the world. Amen!

Runner’s Thought: Remember running can be humbling and elevating at the same time. When we run and see the beauty of creation we realize how insignificant and tiny we really are when it comes to all of creation, yet God did create each of us as “very good.” Each of us carries the image and likeness of God within us. So as we run let us run with God helping to create a better world and a better person!

Happy Saturday everyone! I hope your weekend has started off well. Yesterday I celebrated a Confirmation Retreat Day with some students from St. Barnabas Parish in the Bronx. It was the second half of the Confirmation class. I had given a retreat day to the first half two weeks ago. I was a great day the students were spirited and full of energy.

Today I am getting ready to journey to Midland Park, NJ and Nativity Parish where I will begin an Easter Parish Mission this evening. I will be preaching the masses this weekend and then celebrating the mission Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. If you are in the area come and join us!

Have a great Saturday and Sunday everyone. If you are betting on the Kentucky Derby I hope your house comes in, if not just have another mint julep and it will not seem so bad! Blessings on your weekend, may you find some rest and relaxation and may you be gifted with family, friends and the presence of God! Peace in Christ’s Passion and Hope in the Risen Christ…Fr. Paul

Daily Thoughts - 05/02/2013

Daily Thought: “So that my joy might be in you and your joy might be complete,” the closing words of the Gospel today. Have you ever noticed that Jesus always seems to be thinking about others? He always seems to want the best for the people around him. All he asks is that we believe in the value of love; the love of God for us, the love of Jesus for us and our ability to love others in the same way.

The communities of faith that we hear about in the Acts of the Apostles are challenged over and over by Jesus’ commandment to love. They value God’s love, they value Jesus’ love thus how they live, grow and change as a community of faith demands that they extend this love to others. The laws, the rules, the regulations change because the community tries to be inclusive and loving. The community tries to look beyond its small world to a larger world. It is not easy. It takes openness, dialog, discussion and sometimes change.

I was told by a friend that someone in church leadership recently wrote an article about the challenges of being a community of faith these days. (I must say I have not read the article.) This leader used an example from his childhood about having to wash his dirty hands before eating. It was a rule in his family and even if there were guests they had to wash their dirty hands before eating. A simple story and one that many can relate to I certainly can as hand washing before meals was a rule in my house too.

However, to use the washing of dirty hands to address the complex struggles inclusion in the church today seems a bit simplistic and invalid. Imaging people dealing with weighty issues like sexuality, sexual orientation, birth control, marriage, divorce, just to name a few, as simply people with dirty hands seems a bit simplistic. Equating the washing dirty hands with some profound struggles in life seems disrespectful to people created in the image and likeness of God.

Yes, we have many challenges to the community of faith today. Yes, there are no easy answers which makes the job of leadership and faith difficult but to say all people have to do is wash their hands make no sense to me!

God’s love, Jesus’ love is a gift and yes there is a condition, the condition is our love for God, for others and for ourselves. The condition is not easy within the human condition and it is certainly not as simple as washing our hands. The early church knew this and I think so do we!

Daily Prayer: O God of great love, open our hearts to the gift of your love this day and always. Help us to see your image and likeness in ourselves and in everyone we meet. Grace us with the wisdom to learn, to listen, to discuss, to discern and to grow. Enable us to move beyond what stifles growth so that your joy will always be within us and that our joy will always be complete through the hope of a world made new. Amen!

Runner’s Thought: When we run today let us remember that our breath comes from God. At the moment of creation God breathed life into us. That breath started our heart. So as we take the first steps of our run today and everyday let us once again breath in the breath of God. Let us make God part of our run, let us make God part of our life!

Thursday blessings to all! I hope this finds you well and having a good day. I ran across a little saying the other day, “Prayer may not change things for you, but it for sure changes you for things.” I will say a little prayer for you today! Peace in Christ’s Passion and Hope in the Risen Lord…Fr. Paul

Daily Thoughts - 05/01/2013

Daily Thought: I opted to celebrate the Feast of St. Joseph the Worker this morning at mass and I used the readings for the feast. This feast in honor of St. Joseph always takes me back to my childhood. Our parish in Port Vue, PA, was named St. Joseph. It honored St. Joseph as the worker. Out in front of the school building (our church we in the basement of the school) was a statue of St. Joseph with the tools of the trade in his hands, carpenter’s tools, the tools of a man who worked with his hands.  

It was a wonderful image for the parish as most of the people in the parish worked for the steel industry. They worked in the many steel mills that ran long the rivers of Western Pennsylvania. It was a blue collar town, a town of families, a town of workers. The ethic of family life and working hard was a daily part of my world growing up. This is not to say that I lived in “Camelot,” that everything was perfect and life for everyone was wonderful. There were struggle, problems, heartaches and sadness along with the joys, hopes and the good times of life. But St. Joseph the Worker as the patron of the parish spoke to a simple vision of life that the people of Port Vue and many other town tried to live out.

I returned to my hometown many years later. The church building was still there and so was the statue of St. Joseph.  However, like in many places it was no longer St. Joseph’s Parish; it had been merged with another parish in the area and was now called St. Mark’s. The statue was in disrepair do to years of neglect, much like my hometown which was now struggling because the steel industry was long gone. It was still a blue collar town; it was still a town of families but also a town struggling to find hope and a vision for the future. Perhaps more than ever my home town needed St. Joseph’s spirit.

The feast we celebrate today honors the spirit of St. Joseph, a simple man who in a quiet, yet strong way, responded to God’s invitation. His skill as a worker and a father was not always honored or valued as we hear in the Gospel reading today. Yet he lived on, he said “yes” to God’s invitation. He lived his life with honor, hard work and love for those around him. He was a blue collar worker, a family man, an ordinary person who let God do extraordinary things with his life.

As a Church we sometimes let his image fall into disrepair. He becomes an afterthought in a world of glitz and glamor saints. Yet, St. Joseph will always remind us that everyone is created in the image and likeness of God which makes each of us special and important to the work of God in the world!

Daily Prayer: Loving God, today we honor and remember Joseph, who by the work of his hands and the sweat of his brow, supported Jesus and Mary, becoming an image of a loving father, husband and faithful worker in your kingdom.

Teach us through St. Joseph’s spirit to work as he did, with patience and perseverance, for you and for those whom you have given us to support and love in our lives. Teach us to see in all workers, Christ, that we may always be gracious and forgiving towards all.

Help us to look upon the work of life with the eyes of faith and hope, so that we can recognize in it our share in your own creative activity and Christ’s work of our redemption, and so find joy and meaning in all the work we do.

When our work is satisfying and productive, remind us to give you thanks. And when it is burdensome, teach us to see beyond the struggles and hardships to the hope of a world made new that our work through you can bring. In St. Joseph’s spirit make us workers for your kingdom. Amen! (Adapted from a Prayer to St. Joseph)

Runner’s Thought: Remember running is not just conquering, hills, distance, weight, injury, illness or pain. Running is most often conquering ourselves. We can try to do it alone but it is so much easier when we let others journey with us and we are always at our best when we run with God!

Happy Wednesday, “Hump Day,” everyone! I hope your day has started out well, with a little sun and warmth. If not hang in there and I will pray that it gets better! May has arrived so have the colors and the pollen! For those of you suffering with runny noses, itchy eyes and sneezing I am with you. I have never had spring allergies this bad in my life. Thank goodness the Claritin has finally kicked in. Oh well, I guess I should not complain life is good these days in many ways!

Many blessing today everyone, enjoy this first day of May where ever you are and let all your work, all your labors, all your ministry today be a gift to God, others and yourself. Peace in Christ’s Passion and Hope in the Risen Lord…Fr. Paul

Daily Thoughts - 04/30/2013

Daily Thought: Peace on the most elusive gifts to find whether on a personal level or community level. There are so many things that can get in the way of peace in our life. It can be the minor irritations of life like traffic, construction, a person on a cell phone sitting next to us or spring allergies. It can also be the major realities of life, civil war, warring nations, terrorism and natural disasters. There are many things that can get in the way of a peaceful moment and a peaceful life.

Jesus in the Gospel today offers us peace. Yet he reminds us that the peace he offers is not of this world. In fact the peace that Jesus offers cannot be found in this world. His peace is lies beyond this life and flows from his relationship with the Father, the Creator of peace.

Jesus reminds us that we need not be troubled or afraid that even though we cannot encounter his peace in this world, he will not forget us. In other words in order to encounter the peace Jesus offers we need to somehow let go and let God!

Peace is what we all want in our personal lives and in our world. We encounter it every once in a while for a moment however it doesn’t last. Something always comes along to disturb the peace. Thus we need to be people of faith; we need to be people of hope.  We need to have faith and hope in God.

In the midst of all life’s struggles the early Church continued to move forward. They did not get down, they did not give up. It was through God’s grace that the Good News was preached. It was because the early Church had faith and hope in God. Their hearts were not afraid or trouble they were on the journey towards the peace that Jesus offers. Let us be people of faith and hope today. May we not be troubled or afraid because we are willing to let go and let God!

Daily Prayer: Lord, make me an instrument of your peace, where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master, grant that I 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. Amen. (Prayer known as the Prayer of St. Francis)

Runner’s Thought: As you run today remember with each plant of your foot you feel firmness under you. Feel that firmness as the presence of God.  Trust in that firmness. Know that God is running with you!

Happy Tuesday everyone! I hope your day has started off well and if not know that I am praying that it gets better!

I am in the midst of paper work and trying to get caught up with things that have taken a back seat while I have been on the road. I am working to get out the news about my pilgrimage to Lourdes in August of 2014 and my upcoming fall marathon runs. Yes, I said runs! This fall I will be running three marathons in the span of six weeks. I will either make it to age 60 or I will not! I will have more news of these events later.

Whatever this day brings may part of what your encounter be God’s love for you and may each experience and each person your encounter today bring you a little closer to the peace Jesus has left for us. Peace in Christ’s Passion and Hope in the Risen Lord…Fr. Paul