Daily Thoughts: One might say that reading today’s Gospel (Luke
21: 5-11) is like watching the evening news or tuning into one of the many 24
hour news stations at any point in the day.
Bad things are a happening, for sure!
Yet, Jesus doesn’t say – run, hide, give up. He says don’t
be terrified. Don’t follow all the doom and gloom proclaimers. Why should we not be terrified? Why should we
not hang on every word of the gloom and doom proclaimers? Why - because God’s
grace is at work. The question is how do we believe that God’s grace is at
work?
Jesus has always said that the things of this world, the
things we think so important are not important. Even something like the great
temple of Jesus’ time will not and did not last. Our focus, our trust, our
faith needs to be placed in God. If not then we will be sucked in by the
terror, the doom and gloom of the world. As St. Ignatius of Loyola said, God’s
grace is enough.
Our challenge today and every day is to look around and find
God’s grace at work in the world and in us. It is there – we just need the eyes
of faith to see it!
Have a great Tuesday everyone and if you are traveling today
like me, please travel safe!
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 that we have and possess. You have
given all to us, now we return it. 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 is yours now. Dispose of it, wholly according to your will.
Give us only your love and your grace, that's enough for us. Your love and your
grace, are enough for use. Amen.
(Prayer adapted from
prayer by St. Ignatius Loyola and the lyrics of Fr. John Foley’s song)
A Runner’s Thoughts: “I don't think about the miles that are
coming down the road, I don't think about the mile I'm on right now, I don't
think about the miles I've already covered. I think about what I'm doing right
now, just being lost in the moment.” (Ryan Hall) As Jesus tells us today in the
Gospel it is the same with faith. We don’t think about the past or what might
happen ahead of us. We live in the present moment and find God there!
Daily Blessing: Tuesday greetings and blessing to all! I hope
your day and your week are going well and that things are falling into place
for your Thanksgiving celebration. I hope if you are traveling you will not run
into and bad weather and that all of your travels, whether by plane, train, bus
or car will be safe this week!
Later today, I will be making my way south to Fairfax,
Virginia to enjoy Thanksgiving with family. It has become a little tradition in
my life and it is one I look forward to because the journey and time gives me
great joy!
As Thanksgiving approaches my blessing prayer today for all
of you carries the theme of thankfulness. Perhaps it is a prayer you can use
when you gather with family and friends on Thanksgiving. Today I pray that you
will always find the blessing of thankfulness in your life. – God of all
blessings, source of all life, giver of all grace. We thank you for the gift of
life: for the breath that sustains life, for the food of this earth that
nurtures life, for the love of family and friends without which there would be
no life.
We thank you for the mystery of creation: for the beauty
that the eye can see, for the joy that the ear may hear, for the unknown that
we cannot behold filling the universe with wonder, for the expanse of space
that draws us beyond the definitions of our selves.
We thank you for setting us in communities: for families who
nurture our becoming, for friends who love us by choice, for companions at
work, who share our burdens and daily tasks, for strangers who welcome us into
their midst, for people from other lands who call us to grow in understanding, for
children who lighten our moments with delight, for the unborn, who offer us
hope for the future.
We thank you for this day: for life and one more day to
love, for opportunity and one more day to work for justice and peace, for
neighbors and one more person to love and by whom be loved, for your grace and
one more experience of your presence, for your promise: to be with us, to be
our God, and to give salvation.
For these and all blessings, we give you thanks, eternal,
loving God, through Jesus Christ we pray. Amen. May the blessing of
thankfulness be with you as you journey through this day and always!
Have a great Tuesday everyone! Peace in Christ’s Passion…Fr.
Paul
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