Daily Thoughts: I have always liked our
Gospel reading for today (Luke 4:16-30) though I have spent most of my time
with the first half of the story rather than the second half.
I have done a lot of Confirmation
retreats over my 29 plus years as a priest and if the retreat ended with the
celebration of mass I almost always used the first half of today’s Gospel. In
my homily I tell those who have made the retreat the Gospel calls to mind two
pictures and if I include the second half of today’s Gospel I might as well say
three pictures.
The first is a day in the life of Jesus.
He has returned home, perhaps for a long weekend, and like a good young Jewish
man he goes to the synagogue on the Sabbath to pray. Because he has gained some
importance as he has begun his pubic ministry he is asked by the leader of the synagogue
to do the reading. Jesus stands up, takes the scroll of the Prophet Isaiah and
reads those now familiar words to us, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me…” The after finishing the reading he sits down and
everyone is focused on him. Perhaps feeling uncomfortable, perhaps feeling inspired
Jesus then tells all those gather that “Today this scripture passage is
fulfilled in your hearing.” In other words, this is what my life from this
moment forward in going to be about. This is why I have come into the world,
this is my mission!
Now in painting my first picture on a
Confirmation retreat day this where I would stop however today there is a
little more to the picture. Yes, everyone is excited and amazed at Jesus’ words
but doubt quickly becomes part of the picture. How can this be? We know him he
is Joseph’s son, a simple carpenter. We know his family. We watched him grow
up. How can he be this smart, this wise, this self-assured? They have put Jesus
into a box and all he can do is challenge their perception of him which only
makes them mad. So a day, a picture that started out so well becomes a day, a
picture that has Jesus’ leaving town because people think they know best.
The second picture painted by these
words is a day in our life. Perhaps our Confirmation Day or our Wedding Day, or
our Ordination Day, or the day we took vows in religious life or some other
important day in our life of faith. We like good women and men of faith
gathered with others for a celebration of faith and when the celebration end
people spoke highly of us. It was a day like Jesus’ day when we began our
journey of faith by choosing a path, a mission, a vocation, a ministry that we
would fulfill by the living of our life like Jesus.
The only difference between these two
pictures is that we know the end of Jesus’ story. He did fulfilled all that he
read from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah that day by the living of his life,
however we don’t know the end of our story it is not complete. What words will
we fulfill in the living of our life? However will we make God’s presence known
to the world?
The third and final picture is that in
the living of our life we woo will have moments when doubt, preconceived ideas,
notions and perceptions of us will make the journey difficult. We too will
encounter people who doubt our gifts, our abilities, our faithfulness. We too
will encounter people who see us as nothing special and refuse to accept the grace,
the blessing, the gift of God that we bring to that moment of life. So the
question is how will we respond to these moments of challenge, disappointment
and disrespect? Will we give up or trust in the presence of God?
Have a great Monday everyone.
Daily Prayer:
Loving God,
Enlighten what is dark within us…
Strengthen what is weak within us…
Mend what is broken within us…
Bind what is bruised within us…
Heal what is sick within us…
And lastly – revive whatever peace, joy
and love that have died within us…
Amen!
A Runner’s Thoughts: “Being a runner
means you are now "free" to win and lose and live life to its
fullest.” (Bill Rodgers)
Daily Blessing: Monday afternoon greetings and
blessings to all. We find ourselves making our way through the last day of August and getting ready to welcome September – my how time flies when you are having fun. In just a week we will
celebrate Labor Day, a day some call the end of summer. I know many are already
into the school mode but for most in the New York area they get a reprieve until
next week. Well regardless of place, age or state of life summer is ending in
the northern hemisphere and perhaps if we can we should take some time to enjoy
it.
It is a rather humid and muggy day here
in Long Beach. I did make it here safely last night just a note of assurance for
all those concerned about my travel yesterday. My morning began with a funeral
which is why I am a bit late with my reflections. I hope your Monday has
started off well and that you are enjoying a good day weather wise and all
other ways.
There were a number of requests on my
Facebook and Twitter feeds over the weekend for prayers especially for people
dying or who had died. Please know anytime you ask for prayers for any reason
they become part of my daily prayer. So to all those who requested prayer and
who are burned by loss in some way please know of my ongoing prayers for you
and those whom you mentioned.
I pray that God will bless all of you on
this Monday afternoon. For some it is the beginning of a new school year, for
others it is the beginning of a new work week, for others it may be the last
week of your vacation and for still others it might be just another day – nothing
special. May God’s blessing be upon you wherever you find yourself. May God
bless you with the grace you need to live this day and in living this day may
you bring God’s presence to all you meet! Peace in Christ’s Passion…Fr. Paul
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