Daily Thoughts: Before I
reflected on our scriptures today I was checking my Facebook page and ran
across a friend’s reflection on his morning. It went like this – “Warm sun, hot
coffee, pipe, swing, dog by my side, geese on the lake.... Mornin y'all !” Now
I know my friend to be a spiritual person but I am not sure he was thinking spiritually
this morning when he wrote his post but I think he has grasped the essence of
our readings today!
On the one hand the reading from Hebrews
we encounter the closing of this letter. It seems to be a prayer and blessings
that the writer wished to impart on all who would read or hear these words. It
is a prayer and blessing with which to go forth into the journey of life.
The Gospel provides us with another
insight into the life of Jesus and his disciples. Jesus knew that his time was
short and his message was important. He knew that it was vital that his message
should be spread as swiftly as possible. However Jesus knew it was also
important to take time away from proclaiming the Good News. He knew it was
important to rest. Even Jesus himself often took time to rest and pray. It was
in these moments of rest and prayer that Jesus found the inspiration and wisdom
to continue his journey to Calvary.
The message of our readings today is
clear. We need to remember that we journey through this life with God’s
blessing and we need to remind ourselves of this blessing each and every day
and the best way to be reminded of God’s blessings in our life is to pause from
the busyness of life – to take some time of rest and prayer. In other words we
can discover the blessings of God when we spend some time in prayerful silence.
It we don’t we can become overwhelmed by the busyness of life, the busyness of
the world and miss the helping presence of God in our lives.
We are all well aware of how life can
often overwhelm us. We have many responsibilities, family, friend, work,
ministry, shopping, preparing meals; getting places we need to be through
traffic, bad weather. We face many
pressures each and every day and sometimes they can be more than we bargained for.
Our Gospel today reminds us to pause in
the midst of the busyness of our lives and take a break, rest a little, pray a
little and stay connected with God. This can make all the difference!
Try and have a restful Saturday
everyone!
Daily Prayer: Loving God, who
are the light of the minds that know you, the joy of the hearts that love you,
and the strength of the wills that serve you: grant us so to know you that we
may truly love you, and so to love you that we may fully serve you, who to
serve is perfect freedom, in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen! (St. Augustine of
Hippo)
A Runner's Thoughts: Try to
transform your run today from just a run to a sacred experience by letting God
run with you!
Daily Blessing: Saturday greetings
and blessings to everyone! It is a cloudy, cold day here in Pelham. One of
those days that doesn’t seem to produce much energy yet I have got a lot of
things to do before I hit the road on Monday. So even though our Gospel today
says don’t forget to rest that will have to wait until Monday afternoon and I
need to find some energy now!
I pray your Saturday will go well and
that you unlike me will have the chance to take a little time off and get away
from the busyness of life. If you cannot I pray that you will have a chance to
do so soon! I also pray that you are able to navigate through whatever Mother
Nature and life are throwing your way these early days of February.
My prayer of blessing for you today is
this wherever you are today, whomever you are with or will encounter and
whatever you are doing or will do - I prayer that you will be blessed with the
grace, love and presence of God. May the God of Peace, who shared with us the
great Shepherd, Jesus, furnish all of us with all that is good, so that we may
always do what God has created us to do. And may we always take some time to
rest and enjoy life. May we find our own moment of – warm sun, hot coffee,
pipe, swing, dog by my side, geese on the lake! May we remember to pause for a
moment of prayer each day. Enjoy your day, think positive thoughts, wear a
smile and trust that God journeys with you! Blessings to all on your journey
through this Saturday and every day! Peace in Christ's Passion...Fr. Paul
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