Daily
Thoughts:
Recognizing and responding to God seems to be the tread that connects out two
readings today. In the first reading from the Book of Jonah, Jonah is finally
convinced by God to go to Nineveh and preach his message. Before Jonah gets
half way through the city the people begin to repent. They proclaim a fast and
put on sackcloth. As the word of God's message gets to the king, he puts on
sackcloth and sits in ashes. In other words, much to Jonah's surprise the
people hear God's word and respond to it right away. There is no debate, no
bargaining, no resistance, the people hear the word of God and repent!
In the
Gospel Jesus uses the example of Jonah to make his point to the people he is
preaching to. His point is that God is in their midst but they are missing this
gift. Other people, people you would not expect, people outside the faith
community hear the word of God and respond but people in the faith community do
not. They want signs and yet God in right in their midst.
Recognizing
and responding to God, that is always the challenge. It is certainly the
challenge for us today. How many times is God present in our lives and we fail
to recognize him? How many times does God speak to us and we fail to hear or
listen?
God is
profoundly compassionate and forgiving but we have to recognize him, we have to
hear and respond. This was the biggest problem for the religious leaders of
Jesus' time, God was right in their midst and they did not recognize him; they
did not hear and respond to him. Let us not make the same mistake. Today let us
be open and aware to the many ways God enters into our lives and invites us
into his mercy and love!
Have a
blessed Wednesday everyone!
Daily
Prayer:
O God, look kindly on us today. Help us to recognize you in the many ways you
will be part of our life today. Enable us to hear your word and respond to it
with energy and enthusiasm. Grace us with humble and contrite hearts open to
your presence and word. Fill us with your hope so that we may live always in
your love! Amen!
A
Runner's Thoughts: Life like running contains elements of challenge,
difficulty, and pain...life like running hurts, it wounds, it calls on us to
rise above conditions that seem beyond what we are capable of doing...life like
running is a thing worth living and doing not just because of the future
rewards, but because of how it feeds our bodies and minds and souls in the
present and makes us aware of God's presence.
Daily
Blessing:
Wednesday greetings and blessings to all! I hope you will all have a great day
wherever you are and in whatever you will be doing. We will be bringing the
mission to a close here at St. Raphael/Holy Angels Parish in Hamilton, NJ
today. It has been a spirit filled three days and last night because of the
change in weather we had a much larger gathering. Again I ask your prayers for
this final day of mission, for the faith community and the preacher.
It was
nice waking up to warmer temperatures yesterday. Even though it rained most of
the day it was still a welcome relief to the bitter cold. Today looks to be a
little colder than yesterday but nothing like last weekend. We might even get
to see a little sun today though I cannot tell at this moment because it is still
dark out.
I pray
that God will bless us with the richness of his grace so that we can navigate
through this Wednesday of the First Week of Lent. May we all be blessed with
the gift of God’s loving presence, a presence we will find in our encounters
with others, in our travels and journeys, in our moments of quiet and within
ourselves! Blessings upon all today. Have a great day everyone and know you are
in my prayers! Peace in Christ's Passion...Fr. Paul
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