Daily Thoughts - 08/01/2016

Daily Thought: “Jesus teaches us another way: Go out. Go out and share your testimony, go out and interact with your brothers [and sisters], go out and share, go out and ask. Become the Word in body as well as spirit.”  (Pope Francis)

Perhaps this is what Jesus meant when he asked the disciples what they had when they were confronted with such a large crowd. Yes, the miracle of the loaves and fishes took place that day. Yes, Jesus took a few loaves and fishes and fed over five thousand people. But before he did it he asked the disciple what they had. Jesus asked the disciple to give out what they had.

God always provides and most of the time it is through us. Often we look at ourselves and think, “There is not much here! I certainly don’t have enough to satisfy the crowd!” But we do and as Pope Francis says, if we go and share, if we go and become the Body of Christ then great things will happen. Miraculous things will happen. The world will be fed!

The question for today is “What do we have?” The challenge is to “go and share!” Have a great Monday everyone!

Daily Prayer:

Lord, make us instruments of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let us sow love,
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
And where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master, grant that we may not so much seek

 to be consoled as to console,
 to be understood as to understand,
 to be loved, as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive,

It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
(Adapted from a prayer attributed to St. Francis of Assisi)

A Runner’s Thoughts: “[We] run because long after [our] footprints fade away, maybe [we] will have inspired a few to reject the easy path, hit the trails, put one foot in front of the other, and come to the same conclusion [we] did: [we] run because it always takes [us] where [we]want to go.” (Dean Karnazes) And we prayer because it always takes us to whom we want most in our life. So today run and pray!

Daily Blessing: Monday greeting and blessings to everyone! It was a busy day for me yesterday as I celebrated all the masses at St. John and St. Mary Parish in Chappaqua, NY. Actually I was there both Saturday and Sunday as I had three masses on Saturday which included a funeral and three masses yesterday. It was nice to be out and about. It was also nice to be part of Church this weekend. In fact, in about an hour I will be headed to St. John and St. Mary Parish for the Monday mass as the pastor is away and I have all the weekday masses this week too.

I hope your weekend went well. I hope in the midst of any travels and activities you found time for a little rest, relaxation and that you gave God a little time.

I think we are going to have more rain today at least if feels like it this morning and the sky is rather cloudy. Hopefully these days of rain are easing our drought conditions.

I pray that God will bless all of you with a great Monday and a beautiful week. May your day and your week be a fruitful one filled with many blessings upon you and those you love. Don’t forget to share the gift of who you are today because believe me it will make a difference! Peace in Christ’s Passion…Fr. Paul