Daily Thoughts - 05/31/2014

Daily Thoughts: “How does this happen to me?”  We have used some form of this saying at times in our life; probably most often out of frustration. “Why is this happening to me?”  The frustration of bad things happening to good people or the frustration of being in a situation we would prefer not being in. Seeing something bad happen to family, friends or seemingly good people in life struggle. These words echo each time we encounter the tragedies of life; natural disaster like tornados, powerful storms, floods or unnatural disasters like terrorist bombs, gun violence, war, tragic accidents and we say “why is this happening?”

Yet these words spoken by Elizabeth today, “How does this happen to me?” are spoken out of excitement and joy. This ordinary woman encounters the mother of God, what a great gift! It is such a wonderful moment that all present are moved to celebrate even the child in her womb. It is not a time of frustration or struggle; it is a time of joy and hope.

I have been to Israel many times and one of my favorite stops has always been the village of Ein Karem. There your find the Church of St. John the Baptist and to the southwest high on a hill the Church of the Visitation. Even though it is a rather steep hill and a difficult walk the Church of the Visitation is always a great treat and the words that always come to mind are, “It is good for us to be here!” As you enter the courtyard of the Church there is a statue of Elizabeth and Mary two pregnant women joyfully greeting, embracing each other.

Seeing the status of Elizabeth and Mary is always a moment of hope for me because seeing any pregnant woman is a hopeful gift. It is a sign of life, a sign of the future, a sign of hope. With today’s Feast of the Visitation we are reminded to be a people of life because it is in and through life that we encounter the gifts of hope and love and come to know the blessing of, “how this life happens to us!”

Happy Feast of the Visitation and have a great Saturday everyone and say a special prayer for all pregnant women that Elizabeth and Mary will walk with them as they bring new life and hope into the world! And don’t forget to make a joyful noise today!

Daily Prayer: Loving God, we come to you this day as a people in need of hope. There are times when because of the experiences of life we feel helpless, when we feel weak and overwhelmed. So today we pray for your gift of hope. We need hope so that we might build a better future. We need hope that we might live a better life. We need hope that we might be a people of love and kindness.

It is often said that the sky is at its darkest just before the light. And so we pray that this is true, because often life seems dark and we need your light, O God, in every way. We pray that we will be filled with your light from head to toe. So that we might find the joy and hope that Elizabeth found when visited by Mary. That we might say with excitement not frustration or struggle, how does this life happen to me?

Help us to be people of hope today that all is right in the world, as you have planned, and as you want it to be. Help us to walk in your light, and live our lives in faith and hope. Amen!

A Runner’s Thoughts: I always use as my running theme, “I run for Life!” Wherever and whenever you run today run in the spirit of Elizabeth and Mary, run for life! Let us as we run be signs, witnesses and proclaimers of just how wonderful life is and can be!

Daily Blessing: Saturday blessings everyone! On this Feast of the Visitation I send special greetings to all mothers, especially those who are carrying life at this time and in a particular way I remember my niece, Sarah. Through the spirit of Elizabeth and Mary I ask God’s blessing upon all of you for the gifts of hope and love you give to the world. Mothers are truly special people.

In about an hour I will be heading to the airport to begin my journey to San Angelo, Texas. I will have a busy week ahead as I celebrate retreat with the priests of the Lubbock Diocese. Please pray for the priests who will be on retreat and if you feel generous say a little prayer for their preacher!

I hope everyone has a great Saturday and that you continue to have a wonderful weekend. I pray for blessings upon your work, your ministry, and your experiences of life today. I also pray for blessing upon those you love, those your encounter and especially upon you today! Peace in Christ’s Passion and Joy in the Risen Lord…Fr. Paul

Daily Thoughts - 05/30/2014

Daily Thoughts: “Do not be afraid. Go on speaking, and do not be silent, for I am with you.” – “Whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give you.” Perhaps these are two of the hardest statements in the scripture to trust.  They come to us today from the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 18: 9-18) and John’s Gospel (John 16: 20-23). The first the Lord speaks to St. Paul one night in Corinth and the other Jesus speaks to his disciples.

How often have we asked God for something and yet it doesn’t happen, we don’t get it, we have to settle for life as it is not as we want it to be? How often are we called to speak or we feel compelled to speak because of our faith but the words just will not come out because we are afraid of the consequences?

Living by faith is no easy task, it wasn’t in Paul’s time, and it wasn’t in Jesus’ time. The world is often a cruel place, a place where words and actions can cause us pain, sorrow and problems even if they are true and right. The feelings and emotions of the mob are usually what rules. The Gospel message is not for the weak or afraid because many leave it at the church door on Sunday, if they have heard it at all.

Our faith tells us that God is with us. That whatever we ask in Jesus’ name we will be given, then why is there so much sickness, death, pain and sorrow in the world? Wars and violence happen every day, 300 young women are taken from their homes. Did no one ask for the violence to stop, for the women to be returned in Jesus’ name?

It is easy to say that we are Christian and call ourselves Catholic but living out our faith is never easy. In some way God is always there, God always responds to us, God always gives us what we need, God always stands beside us when we speak the truth. However the world always makes it hard to hear, feel, see and know God’s presence in our life.

As we live today, as we wonder through this life trying to believe, trying to speak, trying to trust in God remember love casts out fear. It makes us able to speak even in the most difficult times and it makes present the most profound gifts that God gives to us!

Friday blessings everyone and don't forget to make a joyful noise with your life today!

Daily Prayer:  Take, Lord, and receive all my liberty, my memory, my understanding, and my entire will, all I have and call my own. You have given all to me. To you, Lord, I return it. Everything is yours; do with it what you will. Give me only your love and your grace that is enough for me. (St. Ignatius of Loyola)

A Runner’s Thoughts: As runners in faith, if we embark on the path of praying while we run we can expect surprises, missteps, and perhaps great leaps toward a personal relationship with God. We might think of running as our escape from the struggles, tensions, problems and issues of life but through prayer it can also be a moment, a time, when God will reach out to us in unique ways!

Daily Blessing: TGIF everyone! The sun has risen in Pelham and it looks and feels like it is going to be a beautiful warm day. I hope that is true wherever you are too! In about eleven hours the weekend will officially begin and I pray you are looking forward to a restful and fun filled weekend.

This is my last day of preparation here at home tomorrow I head to San Angelo, Texas where I will begin a retreat for priests on Monday. I am heading out a little early mainly to save money and make sure I am there on time for the retreat. The early start will give me a little time to settle in and be at my best for the week long retreat. Next week please keep the priests of the Lubbock Diocese of Texas in your prayers and if you get a chance say a little prayer for their preacher too!

I offer a simple prayer of blessing this morning for all of you on this final Friday in May. May you be found rich today in the grace and presence of God. May your travels, your endeavors go well and be safe. May your interactions with others be blessed with the presence of God. May you enjoy your day and may it lead to a great weekend! Peace in Christ’s Passion and Joy in the Risen Lord…Fr. Paul

Daily Thoughts - 05/29/2014

Daily Thoughts: Being in one of the few places in the States that still celebrates the Ascension today I am working off the readings for the Feast of the Ascension of the Lord.

“Men Galilee, why are you standing there looking at the sky?” I have always liked this little phase at the beginning of the Acts of the Apostles. For me it sets the stage for everything that Luke is going to tell Theophilus about Jesus and this community call Church. Perhaps this question directed at Jesus’ followers just after he ascended into heaven sits at the center of our life as Church.

Sometimes as a Church I think we are standing there look up at the sky. We are looking at the past. We are looking at what use to be and not what is. We are looking back hoping the past will be the present and the future.

The angel’s question to the disciples perhaps was not just a question but a challenge. Are you going to continue to stand here and just look up at the sky? Are you going to live in the past, put your hope in the past? Or are you going to get busy and be about the ministry Jesus has entrusted you with, are you going to get busy about living of life.

In the movie the Shawshank Redemption Andy at one point tells Red, “I guess it comes down to a simple choice, really. Get busy living or get busy dying.” Perhaps that is what the angel is asking Jesus’ disciples the day of the Ascension. What are they now going to do with the mission, the ministry that Jesus has entrusted them with? Their choices are to stand here and keep looking up at the sky, waiting for Jesus to return, thinking of the past or they can get busy living the life, the faith, the hope, the love that Jesus has entrusted to them.

We might say that this celebration of the Feast of the Ascension challenges us in the same way. Are we as a Church just going to stand around looking, waiting for Jesus, are we going to stand in the midst of the past and wait or are we as a people of faith going to get busy living out our faith through the gifts of the Spirit?

Happy Feast of the Ascension everyone whether you celebrate it today or this coming Sunday, may you truly be busy about living your life with faith, hope and love in God!

Daily Prayer: O God of all life, enliven us with the gift of your Spirit to be busy about living not busy about dying today. Help us with your grace to live life to its fullest and not stand gazing back into the past hoping for what was. Today is a new day and may we live it with energy, enthusiasm and faith. Grace our hearts with the fire of your love that we might bring the gifts of faith, hope and love to a world so in need of them. Amen!

A Runner’s Thoughts: Let us think of each run we make as having two distinct parts. I will call them the outward run and the inward run. The outward run is what we encounter as we run, creation, people, sounds, experiences, how we feel, the distance involved. The inward run is what we encounter about ourselves as we run. How we are feeling. What struggles we have physically, emotionally and spiritually. What we bring on the run that is within us, good and bad. Both parts of our runs are physical, emotional and spiritual. So let us be aware, let us listen, and let us focus outwardly and inwardly because each part of our run can bring us to God.

Daily Blessing: Ascension blessings everyone, whether you are in the part of the world celebrating it today or on Sunday! May we always be people who are busy about living!

I off this morning to St. Barnabas Parish in the Bronx to celebrate the 9:00 am mass for the school children. Then it is back home and my continued preparation for my journey to Texas on Saturday. The sun is out here in Pelham and it should be a nice day at least weather wise! I trust your day will be a good one rich in the grace of God.

My prayer of blessing today comes from St. Anselm of Canterbury. O God, let us know you and love you today so that we may find our joy in you; and if we cannot do so fully in this life, help us to at least make some progress today and every day, until at last we may know the fullness of your joy and love! O God, bless us this day make it a day rich in your joy and love. May we not stand just looking but may we bring you to the world! Peace in Christ’s Passion and Joy in the Risen Lord…Fr. Paul

Daily Thoughts - 05/28/2014

Daily Thoughts: “In [God] we live and move and have our being.” A simple phrase that Paul uses as he speaks to the crowd in Athens, (Acts 17: 15, 22 – 18:1) it seems to have been a phrase use by a poet that Paul applies to our relationship with God.

Paul is right this phrase very simply reflects our life as people of faith. If we believe then our life is in God and from our relationship with God, we live, we move and have our very being.

I have often imaged faith as being the breath we take every second of our life in order to live. We cannot do anything without that breath, nothing. Whether we are resting, running, alone or with people we need to breathe in order to live. From my perspective that is what faith is all about. I think that is what Paul was trying to tell the people of Athens. I think that is what Jesus was reminding his disciples of in the Gospel (John 16: 12-15) today.

As people of faith, we breathe in the presence of God, the Spirit of God, with and in that presence, that spirit, we live, we move and we become our very self, we have our being, our life, our purpose, our meaning. Today let us let our faith, the breath of God, enlivens us, strengthens us, inspires us and guides us on our journey through life.

Hump Day blessings to all!

Daily Prayer:  O God of all life, direct our hearts throughout this day in your wonderful Spirit of hope, so that we may know it is you at the center of all we are, all we want, and all we are meant to be. Keep us always faithful to your everlasting Spirit of Life and remind us that in your Spirit that we live, that we move and that we have our very being. Help us to take your breath of Life and live it to the fullest.  Amen!

A Runner’s Thoughts: Let us remember as we run today that if we run towards God, God runs twice as fast towards us. Thus, to draw closer to God it is only necessary to move in God's direction!

Daily Blessing: Wednesday, “Hump Day” greetings to all! We have fallen back into an overcast and chilly day here in Pelham. In some ways I think the warmth of the 80’s came too soon we need to easy into summer and enjoy some day without the heat or the air conditioning being on!

I hope your day has begun well. May God bless your day today with the richness of life and may all that you do be within the presence of God’s love. Remember as you live today, live, move and be with God! Peace in Christ’s Passion and Joy in the Risen Lord…Fr. Paul

Daily Thoughts - 05/27/2014

Daily Thoughts: Sometimes we need to remember that God has the power to transform our loss into gladness and our sorrow into joy. In the reading from the Acts of the Apostles today the jailor finds himself at a moment of decision. He thinks that all the prisoners have escaped. He considers taking his own life because it would be quicker and less painful then the death he would have to endure for such a folly under his watch. However, he finds that his worst fears are unfounded and that God has given him and opportunity through Paul and Silas to change his life. Thus rather than death the jailor and his family experience new life!

In moments of tragedy, struggle, disappointment and sadness we at times get an opportunity to grow, to see life in a different way, to change. It is not easy, it can be challenging and perhaps our first thought is to not even try, to continue to feel what we feel. Yet, God is waiting for us to step up and bring the presence of God to each moment of our life, moving beyond worry, fear, anger, resentment and sadness to the Spirit of God.

Pope Francis over the weekend wandered into a very tense part of the world and broke the tension by simply treating people with respect, love and joy. He put smiles on people’s faces and by his simple actions of prayer gave people pause to think. Did anything profoundly change? Probably not, but perhaps Pope Francis provided the opportunity like Paul and Silas for something new to happen.

My hope is always that we as people, as nations, as Christians, Jews, Muslims, we will at some point grasp the moment like the jailor in the reading today and allow God to transform our lives from fear and hate into peace and hope!

Have a great Tuesday everyone! And don't forget to make a joyful noise with your life today!

Daily Prayer: Loving God we once again draw upon the inspiration of St. Francis. Please help us to be your instruments. Please helps us to be your presence in this world, to be your people of Faith.

Lord, make us instruments of your peace today and always, where there is hatred, let us 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 we 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. (Adapted from the prayer known as the Prayer of St. Francis)

A Runner’s Thoughts: Let us remember in the midst of our run when running gets harder, when we get tired, when we are climbing a steep hill, when we don’t feel like continuing, when it just don’t seem worth it, these are reminders to come home to our breath, to the awareness that God is running with us! (Adapted from Roger Joslin)

Daily Blessing: Happy Tuesday everyone! I hope your day is beginning well after a long weekend. I hope the sun is out and you feel awake, energized and ready for a new day and a new work week ahead. If not you are in my prayers with the hope that your day will get better!

I will be spending the next few days getting ready for my journey to Texas on Saturday and the priest retreat that I will be giving next week. This starts another busy time so I am going to try and enjoy the next few days.

I pray this morning for blessings upon your day wherever you are today and in whatever you will be doing. May your day be rich in the presence of God. May all you do and everyone you meet be gifted by your energy, your goodness, your love, your faith and your joy. Have a wonderful day everyone. Peace in Christ’s Passion and hope in the Risen Lord…Fr. Paul