So You Think Our Country's A Mess...Really! Daily Thoughts - 07/05/2014

Daily Thoughts: “The Lord speaks of peace to his people.” This is the response for the Responsorial Psalm of today mass and it is from this simple phrase that I offer my reflections this morning.

I have picked two quotes from one of my favorite writers, thinkers and spiritual guides, Thomas Merton. I pick these two quotes because of some things I saw on Facebook and Twitter yesterday. It amazes me how much people hate! It also amazes me how often people only look for the negative rather than the positive.

We celebrated the Fourth of July yesterday. We remembered the beginnings of our country and how far we have come since those first days in July of 1776. Yet I saw a number of post and tweets bemoaning the status/condition of our country at this point in history. Everything isn’t going the way they would like it. The wrong people are in power. There are problems, issues, difficulties and challenges. I get the sense most of these people spend most of their time listening to 24 hour news stations that they have anointed as the “be all and end all” of information and truth.

The postings and tweets might not say it directly but one senses a hate that goes much deeper than politics and economics. You sense people who want it all, control, power, war and the elimination of anyone who does not think or see life as they do. You sense people not at peace with themselves maybe that is why I don’t unfriend or unfollow them.

However when I experience these posting or tweets it creates a sadness within me. We have come so far as a nation, no we are not perfect, but we have come so far. Yet, some cannot pause for even a day and look around at the goodness and blessing that there is. Some cannot envision a country and a world where everyone is cared for, free and has the opportunity to live in peace. Some cannot share what we have. Some can only hate!

In the quotes below Merton talks about two things, not hating people but the hating the things within ourselves that don’t allow peace to flourish and having a sense of gratitude because that is what brings about peace and helps us recognize the presence of God in our lives.

Perhaps a few moments of reflection on the words of Thomas Merton might help us enter into the peace that God speaks to us today. For those who see only the negative our country is not the way it is today because the wrong people have been elected down through the years, our country is the way it is because of the attitudes of hate that rest within us because we fail to be grateful people!

“Instead of hating the people you think are war-makers, hate the appetites and disorder in your own soul, which are the causes of war. If you love peace, then hate injustice, hate tyranny, hate greed - but hate these things in yourself, not in another.”

“To be grateful is to recognize the Love of God in everything He has given us - and He has given us everything. Every breath we draw is a gift of His love, every moment of existence is a grace, for it brings with it immense graces from Him.

Gratitude therefore takes nothing for granted, is never unresponsive, is constantly awakening to new wonder and to praise of the goodness of God. For the grateful person knows that God is good, not by hearsay but by experience. And that is what makes all the difference.” (Thomas Merton)

May our living of life as grateful people today bring us closer to the peace that God speaks to us! Have a great Saturday everyone and don’t forget to make a joyful noise!

Daily Prayer: Loving God, bless our beautiful world with its wonderful variety of people, races, cultures, and languages. May we be a people, of laughter and joy, of justice and reconciliation, of peace and unity, of compassion, caring and sharing. We pray this prayer for a true gratitude in the powerful name of Jesus our Lord. Amen (Adapted from a prayer by Archbishop Desmond Tutu)

A Runner’s Thoughts: Running can be a time for finding out who we really are, it is time on the road, the sidewalk, the trial with no one to measure our distance but ourselves.  Running can be finding out our true character as we run lap after lap. It can be not giving up when exhausted and journeying to the finish. Running can help us to trust in ourselves and know somehow that God’s grace is enough for us.

Daily Blessing: Saturday greetings and blessings to all! I hope you had a nice Fourth of July and that you are settling into a nice weekend. In about an hour I will celebrate the closing mass of the retreat and soon after begin my journey back east. It have been a very nice two weeks here in Manitowoc. Please offer one final prayer for the sisters who have been on retreat this week as they return to their various ministries. May they be refreshed and renewed and may their preacher travel safely today and tomorrow!

My prayer of blessing for all of you today is that God will bless you with the grace of kindness and truth, justice and peace that will reach far beyond our own journeys of life, out into a world that is desperately in need of it. May God bless us with the strength to speak his peace to the world today and always! Let us be people who make a joyful noise today! Peace in Christ’s Passion…Fr. Paul

A Fourth of July Prayer

Fourth  of July Prayer: Loving God, bless our beautiful land with its wonderful variety of people, races, cultures, and languages. May we be a nation, a  people, of laughter and joy, of justice and reconciliation, of peace and unity, of compassion, caring and sharing. We pray this prayer for a true patriotism in the powerful name of Jesus our Lord. Amen (Adapted from a prayer by Archbishop Desmond Tutu)

Daily Thoughts - 07/04/2014

Daily Thoughts: Whenever I hear or read today’s Gospel (Matt. 9:9-13) I think of all those times when people, often times leaders, especially religious leaders, refuse to attend something, a graduation, dinner, fundraising event or some other gathering because a certain person is going to be there or be honored. Often the objection centers on an issue like abortion, contraception or some other political/faith issue. I am sure those who protest the presence of this person have good reasons; reasons often intensified by some others who believe it would bring scandal to attend.

Yet, Jesus often sat, talked, ate and was found in the company of public sinners and people at odds with the faith community. Situations that the religious leaders of his time thought were bringing scandal. Jesus’ statement to the Pharisees today seems to indicate that these are the very people he came to encounter and help. Why is that not the same today? Why are we not willing to be present to people who need help today? Do we not trust God’s presence? Do we not trust that people can change? Do we think that people cannot be affected by what we bring to a moment though faith? Must people always believe first before we are willing to talk to them or be in their presence? Do we really not value our own witness of faith?

Jesus did not convert every person he met. He did not change the attitudes, the opinions or the actions of every person he encountered. Jesus simply was willing to listen, to share, to be present to and to treat all people as God’s children. He was willing to break bread, to share a meal and hope that through the encounter a person’s heart might change.

I realize that none of us are Jesus, however if we are true disciple should we not humbly follow in his footsteps and trust in our faith, in our witness to the Gospel?

Have a blessed Fourth of July everyone, please be safe and don’t forget to make a joyful noise with your life today!

Daily Prayer: Compassionate Jesus, you are alive and at large in our world, help us to follow and find you as we live our life today. Help us to find you in the people we meet; the place we go; the work we do and in the plans we make. Gift us with the grace to be one of your disciples so that we might see with your eyes, hear the questions you ask and welcome all people with your trust and love. Give us the patience, compassion and wisdom to change the things that contradict God’s love through the power of the cross and the freedom of your Spirit. Amen! (Adapted from a prayer by John V. Taylor)

A Runner’s Thoughts: As we run today let us listen to ourselves, let us run with hope and joy, let us make each step an offering of our heart in which the imprint of God in our life is made present.

Daily Blessing: Happy Friday and Happy 4th of July everyone! Have a wonderful day with family and/or friends, with good food, good drink, good fun and a little time to be thankful for all the gifts you have around you.

This is our last full day of retreat here in Manitowoc. Please keep the sisters on retreat in your prayers and if you have a chance say a little prayer for the preacher too! Tomorrow I will begin my journey back east. I will be in New Jersey next week covering a parish for the week so I will not be getting home for another 10 days or so.

My prayer of bless for you today is that God may bless you today with a day that will help you to look at the positive in life not the negative. May God bless you with a vision of hope and not despair, with the grace to believe that the impossible can become of the possible. May God bless you with the time today to look around you with wonder and amazement and not cynicism and negativity!

Party, celebrate and drive safe today. Enjoy the fireworks if they are near you. And know that were ever you are, whatever you are doing and whomever you are with – you are in my prayers today and always! Peace in Christ’s Passion…Fr. Paul

Daily Thoughts - 07/03/2014

Daily Thoughts: I have always felt that Thomas has gotten a bad rap. If we look at the Gospel stories especial those around the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Jesus it seems that everyone doubts and everyone needs to see, taste, touch, hear or smell Jesus before they believe!

Perhaps John includes this little story about Thomas just to remind us that everyone doubts and everyone need the sacramental experience of Jesus to keep us going on the right path. In celebrating Thomas today we are reminded that there is no cheap grace. Faith is a struggle, with doubt around every corner, with reason to wonder and question often making an appearance. We only prevail; we only remain faithful because of grace, grace that was born out of the passion, death and resurrection of Christ. It is not cheap grace but grace grounded in the marks of struggle and love.

I have a favorite quote by Fr. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, SJ that I visit often; “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.”  Perhaps our story of Thomas today reminds us of what we all want to discover and when we touch, taste, smell, see or hear it we too can say, “My Lord and my God!”

Today let us by the grace of God not be unbelieving but believing! Have a great Thursday everyone and don’t forget to make a joyful noise with your life today!

Note Today's Readings:  http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/070314.cfm

Daily Prayer: Breathe in us, O Holy Spirit, that our thoughts may all be holy. Act is us, O Holy Spirit, that our works, too may be holy. Move our hearts, O Holy Spirit, so that we love only what is holy, Strengthen us, O Holy Spirit, to defend all that is holy. Guard us, O Holy Spirit, that we always may be holy. Amen! (Adapted from a prayer by St. Augustine of Hippo)

A Runner’s Thoughts: Today accept your run for what it is, remembering that this is a spiritual practice that, like any discipline, requires persistence through experiences of success and seeming failure. (Adapted from Roger Joslin – Running the Spiritual Path)

Daily Blessing: Happy Thursday everyone and blessing to all! I am a little slow in getting my musings out today because the wireless was down here for about twelve hours or so. But we are up and running again!

In many ways we can say today is the close of the work week as we will celebrate the 4th of July tomorrow. So we thank God for the blessings of a short work week and we look forward to the blessings of a time of celebration tomorrow. Perhaps some of you are off for the week or maybe are taking an extra day off this week because of the holiday. However your week is shaking out I hope it is a good one.

A special shout out today to Mary O'Donoghue on her birthday, “Happy Birthday Mary,” many blessings today and always! Have a great day.

Have a great day today with many blessings in whatever you will be doing, working, relaxing, having fun or even traveling. I pray that God will be with you throughout your day today and bless you with the richness of his presence and love. If you have to travel this week please do so safely! Blessings today and always and may these days be filled with family, friends and fun! Peace in Christ’s Passion…Fr. Paul

Daily Thoughts - 07/02/2014

Daily Thoughts: I find our scripture readings rather interesting today (Amos 5: 14-15; 21-24 and Matthew 8: 28-34) In Amos we are asked to “Seek and not evil.” And we are also reminded what will happen if we choose not to go down this road, or if we choose to try and bribe God. The outcome is not good! As our psalm response reminds us, it is the upright who will see the saving power of God. In other words if we seek good and not evil, if we are honest in our relationship with God we will encounter God’s saving power.

Yet as we learn in the Gospel this saving power of God can be overwhelming, so much so that we might ask God to leave. Jesus frees the two Gadarenes who have been plagued by demons, yet when the town hears about this healing they ask Jesus to move on. I guess the saving power of God was a little too much for them!

Perhaps it can be a little too much for us at time also because often the saving power of God asks us to change, to live our life differently. We might say Jesus doesn’t heal and forgive and then expect life to go on as usual. Jesus’ saving power is life changing for those who received and for those who see it.

Archbishop Oscar Romero puts it this way, “Those who want to bear the marks of the Spirit and the fire that baptizes with must take the risk of renouncing everything and seeking only God’s reign and justice.” In other words, if we wish to receive and encounter the saving power of God then we always need to seek good not just for ourselves but for others. Our focus, our commitment, must be about the love of God and it must be a lifelong focus and commitment!

Our challenge today and always is to accept the grace of God in as much as humanly possible and be up to the difficulties, the struggles, the trials that might arrive. If we put all our efforts into responding properly to Christ’s presence in our lives life, great things will happen, the impossible will become possible!

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

Daily Prayer: Eternal and loving God, it is so easy for us to worship ourselves, to do things so that others see and think highly of us. If we live our life this way, forgive us. If we trust in our possessions, in our things, in our actions that are seen and in the glory that they bring us rather than in you, forgive us. Heal the fear, the doubt and the insecurity that may create faith in the wrong things. Restore a wholesome perspective that put you at the center. We pray that through your grace you will help us to live life around the lasting values of humble prayer, cheerful service and our hope in you, our loving God. Amen!

A Runner’s Thoughts: Let us run today with a spirit of gratefulness. Before we begin our run, let us declare our intention to look upon all we encounter with the freshness of the unexpected. Let us run with a sense of miraculous expectation and allow a feeling of gratitude for the extraordinary and the ordinary to flow through our being. (Adapted from Roger Joslin – Running The Spiritual Path)

Daily Blessing: Who could be happier than a camel on Wednesday? Yes friends, it is Hump Day!  And hopefully we are at least as happy as a camel today. Here in Manitowoc the day has started out cloudy and rainy but I live in the hope that the sun will return at some point. I hope wherever you are the day has started off well, if not I truly pray that it will get better and that you will come to enjoy the gift of this day, because your presence makes this day a gift!

In my ministry of prayer I pray for God’s blessings upon your journey through this day. May this day be rich in experience, in people, in smiles, in laughter, in fun, in love, in strength and in God’s grace and peace. Remember seek good and avoid evil and the saving power of God will be with you!  Peace in Christ’s Passion…Fr. Paul