Isn’t
that often the case, wonderful things can be happening yet people only focus on
the negative. Whether we are talking about faith, church, religion, culture or
society there can be many signs of hope, many actions that are good yet for
some reason what is wrong, the negative, becomes the focus. We tend to look for
what is wrong with a person, an experience or situation rather than what is
right and good. At times it seems like we can make every positive story,
situation, experience or person into a negative just give us time.
How can
we overcome this? How can we be a positive life giving person today? How can we
find the good and the hope in life? Well I think Jeremiah and Jesus give us the
answer.
Jeremiah
in the midst of his struggle says, “But the Lord is with me….” Yes, life isn’t
exactly the best at this moment, things are not going so well, but God is with
me! Jeremiah turns a negative into a positive. Jeremiah finds hope in a
struggling moment.
Jesus
reminds the crowd to look for and believe in good works. In other words, find
the goodness in the actions and works of yourself and others. Find what is
right with the world, not what is wrong!
This is
certainly a different way to live life and living this way will be challenged
every day. The media and I realize that it is not just the media or all the
media’s fault, but with its twenty-four hour a day focus, its need to create
news, it has helped us to constantly look for the negative. Let’s face it we
like negative, we like seeing people’s faults and failings, negative stories sell.
The stories that most often seem to capture the attention of the viewers are
those that focus of the negatives of life. We search and hunt for all that is
wrong. We seem to take delight in pointing the finger, in bringing a person
down rather than finding the good and building up.
Perhaps
our challenge today is to look for the good work in ourselves and others and to
believe that God is always with us!
Have a great
Friday everyone!
Daily
Prayer:
Loving God, we thank you for this holy season of grace. Help us through your
grace to see the goodness in ourselves and in others. Give us the strength to
believe that you are always with us even when we struggle. Enliven our hearts
with the gift of hope, a gift that we through the living of life can bring to
the world. May your spirit of life, love, joy and hope always be within our
hearts and help us to celebrate each and every day of our lives! Amen!
A
Runner’s Thoughts: If we become meditative runners, prayerful runners, then
we will be fortunate enough to find ways that refresh our bodies, our minds and
renew our spirits, thus we might say we will be born again with every new run!
Daily
Blessing:
Friday greetings and blessing to all. I hope you have had a good week and a
good celebration of St. Patrick’s Day yesterday. I would guess that you are now
ready for the weekend.
Yesterday,
I celebrated mass at the Wartburg Home and then made my way two hours north to
Germantown, New York and the Carmelite Sisters. In a few hours I will begin a
Day of Recollection with them. It is always a pleasure to come here and spend a
little time along the Great Hudson River. My bedroom window looks out on the
Great River. What a beautiful way to greet the morning! I am hoping for a nice
weather day though there are some dark clouds over the river right now. Please
keep the sisters and their preacher in your prayers today.
I pray
today that God will bless all of you in a special way not just today but
throughout the coming week of Holy Week. May this time be rich in the presence
of God and that you will find time to make today and the coming week holy in
your life. May you be blessed today with the joy, faith, hope and peace of our
God who so loved the world that he gave us his only Son and if we believe God
will give us the gift of eternal life. Blessings upon all today!
Be well
everyone, have a great Friday and a restful and peaceful weekend. Peace in
Christ’s Passion…Fr. Paul
No comments:
Post a Comment