Daily Thoughts: Today is the
Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes. Lourdes has always been regarded as a place of
peace, a place connected with the sick and struggling. I, myself, found Lourdes to be a truly remarkable
place when I spent two days there last August.
Pausing to honor Mary is always a good
thing to do. Today we honor her visit to Lourdes back in the middle of the 19th
century to a simple little girl named Bernadette. We also honor the ongoing gift
of healing through Mary that has taken place in Lourdes since her appearance. As
I have shared with you many times I am always very much aware of the role Mary has
played in my own family’s life. My father visited Lourdes during World War II
and asked Mary for a special favor. He asked Mary to keep him safe so that he
could return home to my mother and begin a family. He dedicated his first
female child to Mary and said he would name her Bernadette. My father made it
home, my sister’s name is Bernadette and thanks to my mother and father my
sister, my brother and I were given the gift of life. Mary is truly a special
person.
Our first reading (Genesis 2:4b-9, 15-17)
focuses us on the story of creation and the beginning of our relationship with
Gods. Our Gospel (Mark 7:14-23) focuses
us today, like yesterday on the essentials and the non-essentials. What is
essential for a person of faith is how they live from their heart. In other
words the essence of a person is what is in their heart.
Thomas Merton once wrote that “You can
tell a saint by the way he [or she] sits and stands, by the way he [or she]
picks things up and hold them in his [or her] hands.” I think Merton was
getting at what Jesus was talking about in the Gospel today that being what we
are on the outside is determined from what we hold in our hearts.
Mary certainly lived from her heart and
that heart touched St. Bernadette 18 times back in 1858. St. Bernadette took
Mary’s gift to her own heart and brought it to the hearts of the world. How
each of the women lived is the gift we celebrate today. What they believed,
what they held in their hearts is how they lived.
Our challenge today is to be people of
the heart. It is to ground our life in our relationship with God. The world
around us cannot hurt us if we are grounded in and live by the Spirit of God.
Have a great Wednesday everyone!
Daily Prayer: O God, through
the intercession of Mary, under her title of Our Lady of Lourdes, grace us with
the gift of your goodness, your healing and your love. Help us to be people of
the Light. Give us the courage to live this
day amidst the craziness that this world often creates. Bless us with the hope
that in living life today when evening comes you will help us to say how good
it is! Amen!
A Runner’s Thoughts: Run in a new
place today, for new places can stretch our capacity for finding the presence
of God as we run!
Daily Blessing: Wednesday
greetings and blessings to all! I hope this finds you well and not struggling
too much with weather or the stresses of life.
My prayer of blessing is once again
simple I pray today for God’s blessing upon all of us and I pray in the hope
everyone will have a great Wednesday. However if our day has started slow, or
disorganized, or in a panic, may we not worry and may it all come together by
day's end! If our day started with peace and purpose may these two graces see
us through to the end of the day! If our day started with struggle and tension
may we find moments of peace and calm that sustain us through the day. If our
day has started without God, may we let God find us so that we will not walk
and work alone! And may Mary’s healing and loving presence be a blessing for us
today too. Blessings to all! Peace in Christ's Passion...Fr. Paul
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