Daily Thoughts - 06/07/2014

Daily Thoughts: “Joy is the infallible sign of the presence of God.” (Fr. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, SJ) – So make a joyful noise with your life today and bring God’s presence to everyone you meet!

Daily Prayer: O, God, to know you is life. To serve you is freedom. To praise you is the soul's joy and delight. Guard us with the power of your grace here and in all places. Now and at all times, forever. Amen. (Adapted from a prayer by St. Augustine of Hippo)

A Runner’s Thoughts: “Run when you can, walk if you have to, crawl if you must; just never give up.” (Dean Karnazes)

Daily Blessing: Saturday blessings everyone! Today is a travel day for me. I am headed back to Pelham, NY. I will get there around 9:00 pm tonight. My journey will be back through Dallas. I hope your Saturday has begun well and that you are enjoying the beauty of God's creation wherever you are. My prayer of blessing is that this will be a day blessed in God's presence, grace and love. That it will be a day bless with wonderful experiences, safe travel, if you are traveling, and the rest and relaxation that will help you to enjoy the gift of your life! Peace in Christ's Passion and Joy in the Risen Lord...Fr. Paul

Daily Thoughts - 06/06/2014

Daily Thoughts: As I was reflecting on the readings this morning getting ready for the closing mass of the retreat two thoughts came to mind.

The first was a quote that I have always liked from Fr. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, SJ. – “Someday, after mastering the winds, the waves, the tides and gravity, we shall harness for God the energies of love, and then, for a second time in the history of the world, man will have discovered fire.”

And the second is a prayer written by St. Ignatius of Loyola, SJ. – “Take Lord, receive all my liberty, my memory, my understanding, and my entire will, all that I have and possess. You have given all to me. To you, O Lord, I return it. All is yours, dispose of it wholly according to your will. Give me only your love and your grace, for this is enough for me.”

Perhaps this is my Jesuit day with these two quotes but in reading the Gospel this morning these words of two great Jesuits came to mind. In the Gospel Jesus asks Peter three times, “Do you love me?” and three times Peter says, “Yes!” Our relationship, our friendship with God centers on love, God’s love for us and our love for God.

This exchange between Jesus and Peter along the shore of the Sea of Galilee after the Resurrection puts an exclamation point of their relationship and sends Peter out into the world to discover the energies of love, to discover fire once again all in the service of God!

Love is only realized, only understood in terms of action. How we live it out determines it power and presence. If Peter loves Jesus then he must live that love out, he must share it with the people of God and so must we!

Have a great day everyone and don’t forget to make a joyful noise as you share your love for God today with others!

Daily Prayer:

Take, Lord, receive all our liberty

Our memory, understanding, Our entire will.

Give us only your love and your grace, that's enough for us

Your love and your grace are enough for us.

Take, Lord, receive all we have and possess.

You have given all to us, now we return it.

Take, Lord, receive, all is yours now

Dispose of it wholly according to your will.

(Adapted from the song Take Lord Receive by Fr. John Foley, SJ)

A Runner’s Thoughts: 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!

Daily Blessing: TGIF everyone! I hope your day is starting out well. The retreat here in San Angelo, TX is coming to an end this morning. It has been a good week but a long one for me. Eleven talks and four homilies is a workout! I don’t think I have another thought left in my brain. But that is the life of an itinerant preacher and I will find another thought to share with those gathered for the retreat as we celebrate the closing mass in a couple of hours.

Again I ask you to keep these good men in your prayers as they return to their parishes hopefully nourished and enlivened with the Spirit of God’s love. If you could also say a little prayer for me that I will catch the Spirit of God’s love myself and give it life on this last morning of retreat. I will be traveling back to New York tomorrow!

May God bless all of you this day with the Spirit of Love and through your work, your travels and your interaction with others may Jesus truly know that “Yes, you do love him!” Blessings on your Friday and may it lead to a restful and peaceful weekend. Peace in Christ’s Passion and Joy in the Risen Lord…Fr. Paul

Daily Thoughts - 06/05/2014

Daily Thoughts: “Lifting up his eyes to heaven, Jesus prayed saying: ‘I pray not only for these, but also for those who will believe in me through their words….’” There is comfort for us in today’s Gospel (John 17:20-26). While we still find ourselves listening to Jesus talk about his and our relationship with the Father as we have been for most of the Easter Season, today Jesus let us know that his prayer is not only for his disciples but for us, those who believe because we have heard.

Jesus looks ahead with his prayer today, ahead to all those who will come after him and somehow, in some way, come to believe. Jesus prays for people like you and me who have listened to the words of parents, relatives, teachers, preachers and come to know and believe in Jesus.

St. Paul in the first reading (Acts 22:30; 23:611) is an example of the power of Jesus’ prayer. Paul knows human nature and he used it to his advantage today so that he can continue to proclaim the Good News. St. Paul is a witness to the presence of God in the world and because of his witness we to have a chance to believe.

As we journey through this day let us be thankful for Jesus’ prayer that we too might be included in God’s love if we have the courage to believe in the Good News that we hear!

Have a wonderful Thursday everyone and don’t forget to make a joyful noise with your life today!

Daily Prayer:

God be in our head and in our understanding today.

God be in our eyes, and in our seeing today.

God be in our mouth and in our speaking today.

God be in our feet and in our traveling today.

God be in our hands and in our embracing today.

God be in our ears and in our listening today.

God be in our soul and in our believing today.

God be in our hearts and in our loving today.

God be in us and everything we do today. Amen!

                                    (Adapted from a Celtic Prayer)

A Runner’s Thoughts: If we chose to be a spiritual runner we can learn three things about ourselves.  We can learn how to keep moving forward through whatever life throws at us. We can learn who we truly are, our best self. We can learn that we are never alone and always love because we have God running with us!

Daily Blessing: Happy Thursday everyone! I trust your day has started off well. If not please know you are in my prayers and I will say a special prayer after finishing this post that your day will get better.

We are waiting on a day that may reach 100 here in San Angelo. The sun is making its way into the morning sky and at this moment it is a very pleasant day. We are beginning our four day of retreat. Spirit seem good and I have received a few complements about the retreat and my preaching which help to keep me going as I enter another day in which I will give three talks and a homily. Please continue to prayer for the bishop and priests of the diocese of Lubbock, TX as they journey on retreat with me and if you get a chance a little prayer for the preacher will be greatly appreciated!

Have a great Thursday everyone and blessings upon your work, your rest, your interaction with others, your loved ones and you! May God truly be with you, around you and within you today and always! Peace in Christ’s Passion and Joy in the Risen Lord…Fr. Paul

Daily Thoughts - 06/04/2014

Daily Thoughts:  I have to say that I will be glad when Sunday comes and goes and we are no longer in the Easter Season. I say this not out of disrespect or because I don’t like the Easter Season, I love it but by this point we have heard the Gospel of John especially chapters 14-17 so much that it is a little hard to focus. Throughout these chapters John goes round and round about Jesus’ relationship with the Father and our relationship with him and the Father. Sometimes I just want to say, “Ok, I get it!” I also think John may have been reincarnated in the people who wrote and translated the Roman Missal. If it is not John then it must be somebody who studied under him or a distant relative of him.

However, with my frustrations stated I was thinking very early this morning as I spent time in prayer preparing for mass today that perhaps these chapters in John are really the words of a person in love.

In my teenage and young adult years there were a few times when I was in love. Obviously they didn’t work out but I can still remember the women and how I felt. I can also remember that it was hard to explain my feelings to myself and others. It was hard to talk about my feelings; the words would get all jumbled up. I would repeat them over and over again until I am sure my friends were tired of listening to me. When I would speak about my feelings to the one I loved or tried to explain them to my friends often I didn’t seem to be making much sense.

Perhaps that is my struggle with the words of Jesus in John that we have been listening to throughout the Easter Season. Yes, they are Jesus’ words, but it is John who is trying to communicate them to us. It is John in the writing of the Gospel who is now the person in love. He is a man in love with the Father, a man in love with Jesus, a man in love with us.  Both Jesus and John are trying to explain this love. Jesus to his disciples and John is trying to explain this love to us but in both cases words don’t always come out that clear. They explain this love over and over again, hoping we will understand and hoping that we too will fall in love!

Have a great day everyone and don’t forget to make a joyful noise with your life today!

Daily Prayer: O God, strengthen us with the power to fall in love through the gift of your Spirit in our inner most being. Fill our hearts with your presence and please do not leave us. Help us to grasp how wide and long and high and deep your love is for us. And, above all, enable us to know this love that surpasses all understanding and knowledge so that we may share it with others this day and always. Amen!

A Runners’ Thoughts: Remember running can be a sacred act, sacred time. Sacred is a Latin word sacraficium, meaning to cut up, or sacrifice. If we want our run to be spiritual we need to sacrifice time, energy and comfort. It requires that we face life head on, live wholly in the present, taking on joy and suffering, savoring each emotion, every experience while offering it all to God. (Adapted from Roger Joslin)

Daily Blessing: Wednesday, “Hump Day” greetings and blessings to all! Also Happy National Running Day! If you are so inclined get out a put in a mile or two today!

We continue our retreat here in San Angelo. It seems to be going well As I have the last two days I would ask you to keep the bishop and priests of the Lubbock, TX diocese in your prayers as they journey with me on retreat. And if you get a chance to add a second prayer for the preacher, believe me I could use it!

On a sad note, I received word this morning that Fr. Fidelis Connolly, C.P. died this morning. “Old Fid” as we use to call him was the director of students for many years and he touched the lives of many of us in a very loving and faith filled way as we made our way through formation. He always had a smile on his face and a twinkle in his eye. Fr. Fidelis will be greatly missed but he is at peace and offering his wisdom to God now! Please remember Fr. Fidelis and all Passionists in your prayers today and we mourn his loss.

My prayer for all of you this morning is that God will bless you day with energy, enthusiasm, purpose, meaning, grace and much love! Be well and safe in your journeys today and may you be blessed with many encounters of the presence of God. Peace in Christ’s Passion and Joy in the Risen Lord…Fr. Paul

Daily Thoughts - 06/03/2014

Daily Thought: I thought I would wonder away from today’s scriptures because I have been reflecting lately on the following verses from John’s Gospel. “You are my friends….It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you.”  Two reflections by Jesus in John (John 15:14, 16) that I have given me pause for thought as I prepare for my morning retreat conference.

On the one hand there is something comforting about being a friend of Jesus. Yes, this friendship demands a lot and is not always easy, but being identified as a friend of Jesus often helps me to know that I am never alone. When you think about it someone who is willing to and did lay down his life for me is not going to walk away from me. The only person who can walk away from this relationship is me!

The second reflection by Jesus is a little more of a struggle. I guess I would prefer to think that I am in control, that I am the one doing the choosing and to a certain extent I have chosen God. However, when I look back over my life I can see the signs of God’s hand, of Jesus’ invitation. I can see God’s plan at work in the story of my life. I am who I am today not because I chose God but because God chose me!

I have come to believe that it is God who does the choosing, extending the invitation to be friends. After all we can put Jesus’ words together with Psalm 139. “O God you probe me and you know….You formed my inmost being: you knit me in my mother’s womb.” Yes, God did the choosing long ago. God chose to create me and Jesus chose me as a friend.

God so loves the world that each of us are fearfully, wonderfully made so as we live this day let us trust in our friendship with God and live the gift that God has created us to be!

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

Daily Prayer:  Loving Jesus, you have no body now on earth but mine, no hands but mind and no feet but mine. Mine are the eyes through which you look out with compassion on the world. Mine are the feet with which you go about doing good. Mine are the hands with which you bless people now. Jesus you have no body now on earth but mine so through me bless the world today. Amen! (Adapted from St. Teresa of Avila)

A Runner’s Thoughts: “There is a lesson to be learned from running in various emotional states, just as there are lessons to learn from running in a wide range of environmental settings. Don’t shy away from running in an unaccustomed state of mind or an unusual situation. Opportunity for enlightenment often waits in the unfamiliar.” (Roger Joslin)

Daily Blessing: Tuesday greetings and blessings everyone! I hope your day has started off well. Here in San Angelo I woke up about 4:00 am and have been up ever since with thoughts for three talks and a homily dancing in my head. It is one of the occupational hazards of being a preacher in the midst of a retreat. I will not sleep well all week!

As I mentioned yesterday I have found summer here in San Angelo. The sun is out, not a cloud in the sky and it looks to be another beautiful day but it is going to be hot once again. I hope you have the sun and blues sky but not 90s heat!

The retreat opened last night and I think we are off to a good start. There are about 40 priest here and the bishop. They seem to have a good spirit and I am looking forward to the next few days even though I will not be sleeping! So if you could I would ask that you continue to pray for the bishop and priests on retreat and it you get a chance please offer a little prayer for the preacher too! Believe me I would greatly appreciate it!

Have a great day everyone! I prayer for God’s blessings upon your work, your travel, your encounters with others, upon those whom you love and upon you! Peace in Christ’s Passion and Joy in the Risen Lord…Fr. Paul