Daily Thoughts - 04/02/2016

Daily Thoughts: Today I am going to offer you a few Easter thoughts from some other people to reflect on as you journey through your day…

"We must restore hope to young people, help the old, be open to the future, spread love. Be poor among the poor. We need to include the excluded and preach peace." (Pope Francis)

“Everywhere I looked, hope existed - but only as some kind of green shoot in the midst of struggle. It was a theological concept, not a spiritual practice. Hope, I began to realize, was not a state of life. It was at best a gift of life.” (Sr. Joan D. Chittister, O.S.B.)

"To maintain a joyful family requires much from both the parents and the children. Each member of the family has to become, in a special way, the servant of the others." (St. John Paul II)

“Totally love Him who gave Himself totally out of love for you.” (St. Clare of Assisi)

"Stupidity is also a gift of God, but one mustn't misuse it." (St. John Paul II)

“My strength returns to me with my cup of coffee and the reading of the psalms.”

(Dorothy Day)

"Consult not your fears but your hopes and your dreams. Think not about your frustrations, but about your unfulfilled potential. Concern yourself not with what you tried and failed in, but with what it is still possible for you to do." (St. John XXIII)

“Without love, deeds, even the most brilliant ones, count as nothing.” (St. Thérèse de Lisieux)

"See everything, overlook a great deal, correct a little." (St. John XXIII)

Have a great Saturday everyone!

Daily Prayer: Soul of Christ, sanctify us. Body of Christ, save us. Blood of Christ, inebriate us. Water from the side of Christ, wash us. Passion of Christ, strengthen us. O good Jesus, hear us. Within your wounds, hide us. Never let us be separated from you. From the malignant enemy, defend us. At the hour of death, call us; and bid us come to you. That with the saints we may praise you forever and ever. Amen (Adapted from the prayer Anima Christi)

A Runner’s Thoughts: “Endurance comes to those who put in the time, the effort, and the heart.” (Kristin Armstrong) So to in the spiritual life…

Daily Blessing: Saturday greetings and blessings to all! I hope your Saturday is starting off well. It looks to be a cloudy and rainy Saturday here in Pelham with cold weather on the way for next week. We seem to be in that uneven time of the year when one day it can be in the 70’s and the next in the 40’s and 30’s. This too will pass and soon we will be enjoying consistently warm days.

I pray today that your life and day will be enliven with the blessings of God’s Easter presence in the people you meet, the places you go and in the things you do. May you come to know God today through the living of life and may your living of life today grace you with much joy!

Have a great Saturday everyone - enjoy your day wherever you are and in whatever you do.  Peace in Christ's Passion and Joy in the Risen Lord...Fr. Paul

Daily Thoughts - 04/01/2016

Daily Thoughts: Periodically you hear people asked the question, “If you could meet, have dinner with, spend time with anyone in history who would you chose?” I am sure there is a different answer for every person asked. As we listen to our Gospel today we might ask the question, “If you could have breakfast with anyone from history who would it be?”

I know what my answer would be – Jesus! First of all, I would choose Jesus because he brings and prepares breakfast which is always a plus in my book. But more importantly I would choose Jesus because having breakfast with him means my day could not start any better!

Even though they have encountered the Risen Christ a few times since Easter Sunday the disciples find themselves back in Galilee trying to figure out what to do next. Peter believes getting back to his usual routine is the best way to put life and the events of Jesus’ Passion, Death and Resurrection into perspective. So off he goes, to do some fishing, with the others tagging along.

However, the night doesn’t go as planned. No fish after a long hard night’s work. Enter Jesus. “Have you caught anything to eat?” “No!” is the rather tired answer. “Well then try dropping your nets again but do it on the other side of the boat.” What do you think went through the disciples’ minds? Probably some resistant thoughts to what the man on the shore proposed or a few choice words muttered under their breath toward the man on the shore. Perhaps they were just too tired and said what have we got to lose. Whatever they felt or thought they at least went with the flow and cast their nets one last time and the rest is history. They encountered a catch so big that it was now a struggle of joy to get it to the shore. They encountered a catch so big that it could only be one person, “The Lord!”

Yes, if I could have breakfast with one person from history it would be Jesus because when he enters our life whether it is breakfast, lunch, dinner or anytime in between good things have a chance to happen. The struggling disciples learn that the Risen Christ will enter their lives at any moment and is always willing to nourish them for the journey; they just have to be willing to have faith and trust that all things are possible.

As an Easter people this story is a good reminder to us that in the midst of our struggles, our unsteadiness in life, at those times when we feel our nets are empty all it takes is for us to recognize the presence of God to steady us, fill our nets and make all things possible on this journey through life.

Perhaps as we begin this day or any day, for that matter, we should consider inviting Jesus to breakfast. And as we enjoy his company we might ask his advice as to where we should cast out nets.  Because as our Gospel story reminds us great things are possible especially when Jesus makes breakfast!

Have a great Friday everyone!

Daily Prayer: Loving God, it is your desire that all should be saved. Great is your compassion and mercy because you gave us your only Son and Christ died for us all. Teach us to recognize you in all things and love you as you love us. Our prayer of deep faith today is that through the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Christ you will send workers into the vineyards of life to proclaim the Good News. That through your Holy Spirit of hope you will enkindle in our hearts an ardent love that can help us to do all things, to be all things and to live in your love. Be for us the Good Shepherd today and guide us along the right road to your tender love! Amen!

A Runner’s Thoughts: We need to always remember that there are different forms of prayer, of communication with God and that they are possible in everything we do, even when we run. So as I have often said let us allow our run today to be a prayer of thanksgiving, or a prayer of petition or intercession, or a prayer of praise, or a prayer of struggle, or a prayer seeking help or perhaps just a prayer that says, “Hello God how are you today?”

Daily Blessing: Friday greetings and blessings to all! It looks to be another quiet day here in Pelham. I will head to the Wartburg Home later this morning for mass but other than that not much going on in my life today. I think it is to be a rainy day here in Pelham so perhaps it will become a day of cleaning for me. I hope today will be what you need it to be for you.

I pray for all of you today that you will once again be touch by the joy of Easter. May you be gifted with many life giving experiences, with many encounters of God through the people you meet. May you have safe travels if you are traveling and may you be gifts with much joy and peace as you journey through this day! God's Easter blessings to all today! Peace in Christ's Passion and the Joy of the Risen Lord...Fr. Paul

Daily Thoughts - 03/31/2016

Daily Thoughts: Pope Francis in an address on April 1, 2013 said the following: "The grace contained in the sacraments of Easter is an enormous potential for the renewal of our personal existence, of family life, of social relations. However, everything passes through the human heart: if I let myself be touched by the grace of the Risen Christ, if I let him change me in that aspect of mine which is not good, which can hurt me and others, I allow the victory of Christ to be affirmed in my life."

In our first reading today from the Acts of the Apostles Peter and John challenge the people about not being open to the presence of God in their lives, about not being open to the Easter mystery, the Easter sacraments as Pope Francis put it. They ask those gather to open their hearts to the grace of the Risen Lord, to let it pass through their hearts and change them.

In the Gospel the disciples at first are afraid of the presence of the Risen Lord but Jesus offers them peace and the assurance that he is really with them so that by the end of his visit they have opened their hearts to the grace and the spirit of the ultimate Easter sacrament, Jesus. Their transformation has begun. They have become the witnesses of this great sacrament and the power that it can be in a person’s, a community’s life.

Our readings and Pope Francis ask us to be open to the awesomeness of Easter, to be open to the countless ways in which God becomes present in our lives each and every day. Openness to the grace of the sacraments of Easter, openness to the presence of the Risen Lord, openness to the awesome potential that God’s presence and grace offers us can make all the difference in our journey through life.

Thus perhaps the question or the challenge at the beginning of this new day is – Are we open to the grace of the Easter sacraments? Will we allow that grace to change us?

A great Thursday everyone!

Daily Prayer: Be with us today O God, be with us as we wake, be with us as we watch and live this day, be with us if we weep and morn, give your angels and saints charge over us when we sleep. Tend to us, O Lord, if we are sick today, help us if we are weary to find rest today, journey with us through the last steps of life today if you are calling us. Comfort us if we are suffering today, give compassion to us if we are afflicted today and celebrate with us as we live today in your joy. We ask all of this in the grace of your love and live this day for the sake of your love for us! Amen (Adapted from a prayer by St. Augustine of Hippo)

A Runner’s Thoughts: “Go fast enough to get there, but slow enough to see.” (Jimmy Buffett) Thus, as we run let us look at our run in this way today, everywhere we put our foot today we will feel the presence of God. God is our friend and our closeness to our friend God is in the placement of our foot with each stride we take during our run. We run today knowing that God is underneath us, beside us, with and within us!

Daily Blessing: Thursday greetings and blessing to all. I hope this last day of March is getting off to a go start. Yes, it is hard to believe that March is over and tomorrow we will be in April though in some ways it seems like we should already be in April because of the early warm weather and the early celebration of Easter. Just remember be smart today so you don’t get fooled tomorrow!

I think here in Pelham it is to be a sunny and warm day which I am looking forward to, it will give me a chance to get out for a much needed outdoor run. I have been inside on the treadmill for a while now. I have the 11 am mass at the Wartburg Home but other than that today is a free day for me. The Day of Recollection with the Ladies of Charity went well yesterday so I thank you for your prayers.

My prayer of blessing today is that you will have a blessed day rich in the grace of Easter. May the Risen Christ touch your life with the joy of the first Easter. May you be touch by the newness of life as you encounter others, journey through your day and celebrate the gift of life by living this day to the fullest. Peace in Christ's Passion and the Risen Lord...Fr. Paul