Daily Thoughts - 09/19/2015

Daily Thoughts: I have often used the parable of the Sower and the Seed that we find in today Gospel in my mission preaching. And even though Jesus explains it to his disciples I usually use a different interpretation. Jesus talks about the different kinds of soil in the parable as being different kinds of people however I often use the different kinds of soil to represent different conditions of our hearts.

If we say that Jesus is the sower and our hearts are the field, then as Jesus sowers the seed his word, his grace, his blessing, his hope, his love in our life the seed encounter four different kinds of soil. Three of which do not allow the seed to grow and one of which does. In other words, perhaps our parable today asks us to look into our own hearts to see what might not allow God’s grace, God’s blessing, God’s hope or God’s love to grow within us.

It might be the hardness of the foot path. The place of our heart that have been hurt, stepped on by the struggles of life. All of us have been hurt in life, by words, actions, the lack of words or the lack of actions in life. When we are hurt we harden so that we don’t get hurt again.

We might have some rock, stones, pebbles or boulders in our hearts that take up room and don’t allow the seed to grow. Rocks and boulders you ask? Our sinfulness, our faults and failings, our character defects, the sins in our life that take up space in our hearts and do not allow anything to grow with in that place of our hearts.

Then there are the weeds and thorns, the stuff of life, sometimes good stuff that is over grown and chokes of whatever God plants. The things of life that often become more important than our relationship with God. Sometimes good things that become gods and choke off the grace, the blessing, the hope and the love that God offers us as a gift.

We want our hearts to be all good soil. Soil ready and willing to accept whatever God plants so that it will grow and produce fruit a hundredfold! Why not take some time today and look into your heart. What is not allowing the grace of God to be planted, take root and grow within you? What places in your heart need a little word so that they become good soil?

Have a great Saturday everyone!

Daily Prayer:

O God, seek us, O God, find us

In your patient care;

Be your love before, behind us,

Round us, everywhere:

Lest the god of this world blind us,

Lest he speak us fair,

Lest he forge a chain to bind us,

Lest he bait a snare,

Turn not from us, call to mind us,

Find, embrace us, bear;

Be your love before, behind us,

Round us, everywhere. Amen!

(Adapted from a prayer by Christina Rossetti)

A Runner’s Thoughts: “Running transported him, taking his mind to another place, very deep within. Like prayer.” (Richard Christian Matheson, "Third Wind") Will be dare to let running and prayer take us to another place deep within ourselves today?

Daily Blessing: Happy Saturday and blessings of rest and peace to all today! I hope your day has started off well. I am sitting in the Cormaria Retreat House getting ready to give the first conference of the day to a group of women. Yesterday was a rather long day. I did not get to Sag Harbor until 7:55 pm so I was on time for 8 pm mass to open the retreat. We had taped 6 masses early in the day so you might say by 9 pm I was “massed out.” But today is a new day and it is a beautiful one here in Sag Harbor and I am looking forward to the gifts that it will bring. Please keep the women on retreat in your prayers and if you could remember their preacher it would be appreciated.

I would ask your special prayers for my niece and grandniece they had a little accident in which they both fell the other day and had to spend the night in the hospital. All seems to be well and they have returned home but a few extra prayers for them, especially for my niece “the mom” would be greatly appreciated!

My prayer of blessing for all of you today is that God will bless all your endeavors, your encounters, your times of solitude, your moments of busyness and your times of rest today. May this day be what you need it to be. May it be a gift from God that enables you to find the present of God in your life, especially within yourself! Have a great Saturday and don’t forget to give a little time to God this weekend. Peace in Christ’s Passion…Fr. Paul

Daily Thoughts - 09/18/2015

Daily Thoughts: “If you want to identify me, ask me not where I live, or what I like to eat, or how I comb my hair, but ask me what I am living for, in detail, ask me what I think is keeping me from living fully for the thing I want to live for.” (Thomas Merton)

In today’s Gospel (Luke 8:1-3) w are reminded of the importance of women in Jesus’ ministry. They were their supporting, taking care of, helping Jesus with their resources, their gifts, their talents, their faithfulness and their faith.

I ran across a reflection was very interesting in terms of today’s Gospel here is a reflection on the Gospel by Kevin Perrotta – “What is it about Mary of Magdala that cause so many misconceptions to sprout up around her? Some mark her as a great sinner; others suggest she had a romantic relationship with Jesus. Hacking our way out of this underbrush of speculation, we do know Mary had some wealth, since she supported Jesus and the male disciples. No husband is mentioned; was she widowed? Perhaps she ran her own fish business – a trade that flourished in Magdala. Rather than a repentant floozy, Mary may well have been a solid family and business woman – like many of the women in church on Sunday. Seeing her [this] way makes her a model for many of us today!” (Living with Christ)

Kevin certainly makes us stop and think about Mary Magdalene. Yes our Gospel says seven demons came out of her, but who hasn’t fought with seven or more demons in life? In paraphrasing Thomas Merton – When trying to identify Mary Magdalene let’s not ask where she lived, or what she liked to eat or how many demons came out of her but let’s ask how she lived, what she lived for and what got in the way from time to time? If we ask these questions Mary becomes a woman of strength and great faith just like the others who followed Jesus and attended to his needs in daily life.

Let’s hear it for women today and every day! Friday blessings everyone!

Daily Prayer: Loving God help us to be grateful today. Help us to recognize your love in everything you have given us, because we know, we believe that you have has given us everything. Every breath we draw is a gift of your love, every moment of existence is a grace, because it brings with it immense graces from you.

Gracious God, in gratitude we must never take anything for granted. We must never be unresponsive to your love.  We must constantly be awakening to new wonder and giving praise for your awesome goodness. We want to be grateful people because we know that a grateful person knows that God is good, not by hearsay but by experience. And this is what makes all the difference. Amen!

(Adapted from words by Thomas Merton)

A Runner’s Thoughts: “Finally, I could see with startling clarity that the time I had spent experiencing pain on a run was outweighed by the amount of time that I felt good about it. I was aglow. I was invincible. I was thinking I might be able to do it again.” (Alexandra Heminsley – Running Like a Girl)

Might we also say this about our faith, our relationship with God? Yes, we do experience pain, struggle, doubt and difficulty but they call can be outweighed by the grace, the blessings and the joy we encounter with God. In the glow of God we become aglow, we become invincible, we want to continue the journey. So if you are a runner think of your runs as those times when we have a chance to get some clarity in our relationship with God. When we have some time to pray, when we have a chance even in the exhaustion of the end of a run to feel aglow in the presence of God, to feel invincible and to continue our journey of faith!

Run strong…run with God!

Daily Blessing: Friday greetings and blessing to all. I hope your Friday has started off well and that today will be a somewhat easy day for you. If not and you have many challenges and/or struggles ahead before the day is done hang in there and know of my prayers for you. Remember it is only a day there is a lifetime ahead!

In a few moments I head into Manhattan to begin a long day of taping fro the Sunday Mass. I will be ending my day in Sag Harbor, NY beginning s retreat with a group of women so my prayer of blessing for all of us today will be short and to the point so I can be on my way.

For all of you I offer a prayer of blessing as your journey through this day. May whatever kind of roads you take today be smooth and not crowded for your journeys, may the wind be gentle and always helping you along, may the sun shine warm upon your face helping you to smile, and if it rains may it fall gentle as you journey and, until the sun rises again tomorrow, may God hold you and all you whom you love in the palm of His hand so nothing will harm you. Amen! Peace in Christ’s Passion…Fr. Paul

Daily Thoughts - 09/17/2015

Daily Thoughts: “If I wait to be perfect before I love myself I will always be unsatisfied and ungrateful. If I wait until all the flaws, chips, and cracks disappear

I will be the cup that stands on the shelf and is never used” (Joyce Rupp)

May we live our life remembering that God is a merciful God, always willing to forgive. As we learn in the Gospel today it is our faith that will save us, so let us trust in God today, be faithful in living our life and know that God will bless us with peace.

A little wisdom to begin your day with. Have a great Thursday everyone!

Daily Prayer: Loving God, sometimes we look in the mirror we are not too happy with what I see. We see imperfection, self-centeredness and ego. Please help us to see the person you created in your own image and likeness, a person of beauty, compassion and love. Help us to hold this image in our mind and heart as we live the journey of life in our own unique way. Allow others to see your image within us as we live with confidence, grace and a smile on our face. Amen.

A Runner’s Thoughts: “The task ahead of you is never greater than the strength within you.” (Unknown)  Our journey of faith through life is never without the presence of God.

Daily Blessing: Thursday greetings and blessings to everyone! From the morning sky outside my office window it looks to be another beautiful September day. I hope that is true were you are too.

Well the day might be starting out rather nice it will be a busy one for me as I get ready to hit the road again. Tomorrow we have the first taping of our new season for the Sunday Mass and then once that is finished I will head to Sag Harbor, NY to begin a weekend retreat for women. On Sunday I will leave Sag Harbor and head to Tarrytown, NY to begin a week long retreat for sisters and the end of which I will fly to Halifax, Nova Scotia for a parish mission at Saint Augustine's Parish in Chester, Nova Scotia. So today I need to get things in order for the next few weeks and packed at least for my first two journeys. In the midst of all my preparations today I have mass at a local assisted living home.

In the midst of all the busyness of life I am happy for the gifts of life, ministry and faith. My prayer for all you today is that God will touch your day whether it is a busy one or not with many blessings. May God bless your work, your travels, the people you encounter, the people you love and you with the grace to find hope, joy and love in life this day. Please know as you live life today you are in my prayers! Peace in Christ’s Passion…Fr. Paul