I have
always liked this quote from Fr. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, S.J. and I think
it ties into the thinking of Jesus in today’s Gospel (Matt. 22: 1-14).
The story
in the Gospel today is about the coming of the Kingdom of God. It is about the
end time. Who will accept God’s invitation? Who will be ready? Everyone is
invited but do we accept the invitation? Are we ready to enter the banquet of
eternal life?
The
invited guests get caught up in the things of the world that they think are
more important. One is not prepared, not ready. We to sometime get caught up in
all the things the world defines as important and we lose sight of what God
finds important. We think there is always tomorrow to get ready. If we think
this way we will find ourselves just like the invited guests and the person not
appropriately dressed, outside. However, if we can tap into God’s energy, if we
can accept God’s invitation and be ready to enter the Kingdom we will not find
ourselves outside in the end when it comes!
Have a
great Thursday everyone!
Daily
Prayer: Grant, O God, that we may never fall away in
success or in failure; that we may not be prideful in prosperity nor dejected
in adversity. Let us rejoice only in what unites us and sorrow only in what
separates us. May we strive to please no one or fear to displease anyone except
you, our God. May we see always the things that are eternal and never those
that are only temporal. May we shun any joy that is without you and never seek
any that is beside you. Loving God, may we delight in any work we do for you
and tire of any rest that is apart from you. Gracious God, let us direct our
hearts towards you, and in our failings, let us always seek forgiveness with
the firm purpose of being better people. Amen! (Adapted from a prayer by St. Thomas Aquinas)
A
Runner’s Thoughts: “Sweat cleanses from the inside. It comes from places a
shower will never reach.” (George Sheehan)
We might say that prayer is the sweat of the spiritual life and it too cleanses
from within and it touches places no rituals can reach. So if we pray while we
run we can cleanses our total self!
Daily
Blessing:
Thursday blessings and greetings to all. I hope your day has started well? It is
cloudy here in Long Beach this morning but I think we are to get some sun as
the day progresses. Hopefully it will be a little less humid.
My prayer
of blessing today is adapted from the Irish tradition - May God bless all of
you today so the road rises up to meet you and makes your journeys swift and
easy. May the wind be always at your back. May the sun shine warm upon your
face. And if the rain has to fall may it be soft upon the fields and upon you.
And may you be truly blessed by God holding you in the palm of his hand
throughout this day and always!
Have a
great day everyone! May it truly be blessed with many wonderful experiences,
may gifted and loving people and perhaps even a piece of chocolate or an ice
cream treat! Oh go ahead it is still summer you can work on those extra pounds
in the fall! Peace in Christ’s Passion…Fr. Paul
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