Daily Thoughts - 06/18/2016

Daily Thought: At first glance the readings today from Chronicles and from Matthew do not seem to fit together. The reading from Chronicles relates a paints the picture of an angry God, who is focused on providing his chosen people with the lesson they will never forget. Don’t buy into the Lord’s commands and you will find yourselves crashed by your enemies. 

Jesus in Matthew’s Gospel provides us with a more spiritual message. Disconnect yourself from the things that the world finds important like material goods and wants, and become more trusting of God, like the birds of the sky and the flowers of the fields. 

However, in taking a second look at our readings, we might be able to say that in a certain way they are related.  The leaders of Judah are involved in conduct that shows that they have lost focus, that they have taken the easy way. They have misjudged the value of their gift from God and they have placed immediate gratification over long-term growth.  They stopped being focused on their relationship with God and became more selfish.

Jesus invites those listening to focus on things that really matter and not those that are distractions.  Jesus challenges those listening and us to live more simply, less materialistically, and more spiritually.  Jesus encourages us to be more faith-filled and less troubled by the things we are powerless to change.

In other words, it is not the temporary and fleeting things in life but the consent presence of God that can help us come to the source of real power. It is coming to the realization that we cannot serve two masters. It is making the conscious choice to put God at the center of our life. It is trusting in the reality that when we are weak we are strong. It is not worrying about tomorrow but living today!

Have a great Saturday everyone!

Daily Prayer: Take, Lord, and receive all my liberty, my memory, my understanding and my entire will, all I have and call my own. You have given all to me. To you, Lord, I return it. Everything is yours; do with it what you will. Give me only your love and your grace. That is enough for me. (A prayer by St. Ignatius Loyola)

A Runner’s Thoughts: Running can be a time for finding out who we really are, it is time on the road, the sidewalk, the trial with no one to measure our distance but ourselves.  Running can be finding out our true character as we run lap after lap. It can be not giving up when exhausted and journeying to the finish. Running can help us to trust in ourselves and know somehow that God’s grace is enough for us.

Daily Blessing: Saturday greetings and blessings to all! I hope your Saturday has started off well? It is a sunny morning here in Chardon, Ohio. I hope the beginning of this day is a beautiful one foe you?

This the last full day of retreat with the Sisters of Notre Dame. In a little while we will have mass and then a morning and afternoon conference. As I have said all week the retreat seems to be going well and there is a nice spirit here. Hopefully at some point I will get out for a run. Please continue to keep the sisters and their preacher in your prayers.

I would like to send a shout out to my brother, Jim, as he celebrates his birthday today. His last year in the 50’s – enjoy it bro! Have a great day and do something nice for yourself you deserve it after struggling with those kidney stones! Happy Birthday and have a great day!

Well friends I hope this day will be a good one too. I pray that God will bless your day. May you be gifted and blessed with smiles, laughter, family, friends, fun and peace today! And be safe out there if you are traveling!  Have a great day and may you be blessed with God’s joy in whatever you do and wherever you go. May God’s joy be found in the people you meet today and within you! Peace in Christ’s Passion…Fr. Paul

Daily Thoughts - 06/17/2016

Daily Thoughts: There is a poem by Fr. Pedro Arrupe, SJ, who was the Superior General of the Society of Jesus for almost 20 years, which I like very much.

Nothing is more practical than

finding God, that is, than

falling in love

in a quite absolute, final way.

What you are in love with,

what seizes your imagination,

will affect everything.

It will decide

what will get you out of bed

in the morning,

what you do with your evenings,

how you spend your weekends,

what you read, who you know,

what breaks your heart,

and what amazes you with

joy and gratitude.

Fall in love, stay in love,

and it will decide everything.

I thought of it as I read today’s Gospel (Matthew 6:19-23). Where is your treasure? Who or what do you love? Seem to be the questions of the day. Is it God? The words of the Gospel today challenge us to find our treasure in God, but also to move beyond simple academic statements about God and love.  Jesus asks us to allow our living of life to reveal to us what we really believe and value. The path we take in life can be a helpful, important, and challenging window in helping us recognize where our hearts are, what and who we are in love with, and where our treasure truly lies.

Have a great Friday everyone!

Daily Prayer: O God, we thank you this day for loving us and we open our hearts and ask you to come in. Please make our hearts your home now and forever. Teach us where our hearts must be and be the true treasure in our life. Help us to always make you the center of our life. Amen!

A Runner’s Thoughts: If we approach each run as a pilgrimage and believe that the realizations of our goals of this running pilgrimage happens with each step taken, then we are truly wandering down a sacred path. Our runs become holy. If we run with a sense of the sacred in our heart, we transform the earth beneath our feet into holy ground. If we run with the intention to find God, then we become pilgrims. If we have the pilgrim’s sacred intention then we change a simple, humble run into “God’s Run!” (Adapted from Roger Joslin – Running the Spiritual Path)

Daily Blessing: Friday greetings and blessings to all. May this be a day of many blessings. The day looks to be a sunny one here in Chardon. Yesterday we had rain off and on all day but this morning the skies look clear at least for the moment. I hope your day is staring off well wherever you are.

We are entering the sixth day of retreat and once again I ask for your prayers for the sisters who continue to journey on retreat. And if you could add a little prayer for the preacher it would be greatly appreciated.

I hope your week has gone well and that you will get a chance to enjoy the weekend that is almost upon us. Have a great Friday everyone and may God bless you as you journey through this day. May today be rich in God’s grace for you, your loved ones and everyone you meet. May your work today be blessed with the richness of God’s presence. May any traveling you might be doing be safe and bring you home this evening to those you love. Enjoy your day everyone and may your Friday be filled with God’s love, mercy and peace! Peace in Christ Passion…Fr. Paul

Daily Thoughts - 06/16/2016

Daily Thoughts:  Each time I encounter today’s Gospel, Jesus teaching the disciples to pray the Our Father I can feel the emotions well up within me. For you see I have a special memory that centers on this prayer. The Our Father was one of the last prayers I prayed with my father before he died 34 and a half years ago. It was a December night in 1982, I was in my father’s hospital room late that night and as I was about to leave he asked me to pray with him. I was more than happy to do so and I asked him what prayer he wanted to pray and he said, “The Our Father.”

I began to say the words and notice that my dad was not praying so I stopped and asked what was wrong. Dad said, “I don’t remember the words.” His illness had begun to affect his mind. So I said, “No problem” and suggested that I say a few words of the prayer and that he repeat them after me. Do you know how hard it is to say the Our Father when you have to stop and think about what you are saying? Well, we got through the prayer and dad became very peaceful and for the most part remained peaceful over the last few weeks of his life. I have always remembered that moment.

I have never prayed the Our Father at mass, during the rosary or at any other time and not thought about that moment. What power there is in this simple prayer, what a gift this simple prayer is to all who pray it.

I would invite you at some moment today to pause and slowly, deliberately pray the Our Father. Listen to the words. Realize what God offers you through the words of this simple prayer and what God asks of you.

By the way thanks Dad! Have a great Thursday everyone!

Daily Prayer: Our Father, who art in heaven hallowed be Thy Name; Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen.

A Runner’s Thoughts: “I run because long after my footprints fade away, maybe I 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 I did: I run because it always takes me where I want to go.” (Dean Karnazes)

Daily Blessing: Thursday greetings and blessings to everyone! I am getting ready to begin our fifth day of retreat with the sisters here in Chardon, Ohio. In a little while I will head to breakfast and then I will have a little time before the morning conference. The retreat seems to be going well, the sisters have a good spirit about them. Please keep the sisters who are on retreat in your prayers today and if you could say an extra prayer for the preacher it would be greatly appreciated!

I hope your day has started off well. The weather people are calling for thunderstorms today and the humidity has certainly gone up and I guess we are in for some rain along the way today. As I sit here writing this reflection the sun is rising and at least at the start it looks to be a beautiful day. I am hoping the storms will hold off enough for me to get a run in. Whatever the weather I hope your day is filled with the presence of God and your journey through it is guided by God’s grace.

My prayer of blessing for you today is that you will have a great day and that you know that all of you continue to be in my prayers. May God’s blessings be upon your work, your travel, your encounters with others, your struggling moments, your smiling moments and upon all that you do and all whom you meet…Peace in Christ’s Passion…Fr. Paul

Daily Thoughts - 06/15/2016

Daily Thoughts: “God loves the cheerful giver.” This little sentence from St. Paul’s Second Letter to the Corinthians seems to really sum up today’s Gospel (Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18). Jesus challenges us to be humble people of prayer and service.

In the Gospel we hear those familiar phrases. “Do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. When you pray, go to your inner room, close the door, and pray to your Father in secret.”  In each case the most important reward comes not in the world knowing that we do things but in God knowing.

I think the grace and the challenge of the message of our Gospel is that what we have is a gift from God and in sharing this gift it becomes far more profound than we ever thought it could be. However, for this gift to have power, impact and abundance we need to share it – not for our glory and praise but for the glory and praise of God.

Have a great Wednesday everyone!

Daily Prayer: Eternal and loving God, it is so easy for us to worship ourselves, to do things so that others see and think highly of us. If we live our life this way, forgive us. If we trust in our possessions, in our things, in our actions that are seen and in the glory that they bring us rather than in you, forgive us. Heal the fear, the doubt and the insecurity that may create faith in the wrong things. Restore a wholesome perspective that put you at the center. We pray that through your grace you will help us to live life around the lasting values of humble prayer, cheerful service and our hope in you, our loving God. Amen!

A Runner’s Thoughts: Let us run today with a spirit of gratefulness. Before we begin our run, let us declare our intention to look upon all we encounter with the freshness of the unexpected. Let us run with a sense of miraculous expectation and allow a feeling of gratitude for the extraordinary and the ordinary to flow through our being. (Adapted from Roger Joslin – Running The Spiritual Path)

Daily Blessing: Wednesday greetings and blessings to all! It is a cloudy start to the day here in Chardon. The weather people say there is a chance for isolated thunderstorms today. Hopefully, they will only be isolated and I will still be able to get out and enjoy the beauty of this place at some point today.

I hope the day has started off well where you are. If your day has not started off so well I truly pray that it will get better and that you will come to enjoy the gift of this day, because your presence makes this day a gift!

The sister’s retreat here in Chardon seems to be going well. The sisters on retreat seem to like it and they haven’t asked me to leave or thrown anything at me so I am thinking all is well. I once again ask that you offer a prayer for the sisters on retreat and if you could also include their preacher it would be greatly appreciated!

I pray today for God’s blessings upon all of you and your journey through this day. May the day be rich in experiences, in people, in smiles, in laughter, in fun, in love, in strength and in God’s grace, in joy and in peace. Peace in Christ’s Passion…Fr. Paul

Daily Thoughts - 06/14/2016

Daily Thoughts: “Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned.” Perhaps this simple refrain from our Responsorial Psalm might be a key to understanding and living out Jesus’ words in today’s Gospel (Matthew 5:43-48). To love one’s enemies, to pray for those who persecute us, we first must realize that we too are sinners; we too have hurt others and at time made life difficult for others.

There are no perfect people out there in the world, no one can claim perfection, thus if we wish mercy and forgiveness we need to be willing to offer it too. Now I am not saying it is easy, if it were Jesus would never have included it in his teaching and I would not be writing about it this morning. Living a life of faith is often difficult and always challenging.

Perhaps the key to making it work is prayer. If our first response to the challenge, to the difficulty, to the struggle is prayer rather than anger, resentment, and judgment then we have the chance to imperfectly live the Gospel message.

Today’s Gospel is not about excusing offensive acts or being lenient with people who hurt us. It is not about looking the other way and letting people just do what they want. Today’s Gospel is about how we trust in the presence of God as we live in the midst of an imperfect world. It is about how we react to people and situation that hurt us. Do we seek vengeance, do we expect to extract our pound of flesh or do we pause and through prayer place the person, the situation in God’s hands?

Prayer can be a way of offering another Christian love. It can be a way of seeking mercy and forgiveness and also offering mercy and forgiveness. Prayer is not going to make our world perfect but it can be a starting point for us becoming the people of faith that Jesus asks us to be today!

Have a great Tuesday everyone!

Daily Prayer: God of all hope, renew in us today the courage to live life to its fullest. Help us to especially stand for and live out the values that Jesus taught us, humility, courage, compassion, mercy, forgiveness and love. Grace us with your wisdom to know how to best live our life in you. When opposition comes our way help us to not give in to fear and cowardice, help us not to strike back with violence and anger, help us not to react out of pride and judgment. Help us to be humble, prayerful people of faith, humble people alive with hope and ready to offer your love. Amen!

A Runner’s Thoughts: “Now bid me run, and I will strive with things impossible.” (William Shakespeare) “Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” (Ralph Waldo Emerson) Can’t these thoughts be found in how Jesus is asking us to live? – Have a great day!

Daily Blessing: Tuesday greetings and blessings to all! I hope your morning has started off well and that this will be a good day for you in every way. We look to be moving toward another beautiful day here in eastern Ohio though I think clouds are to be with us most of the day. It is hard to tell right now as the sun has not arrived quite yet.

I continue to keep the Orlando shooting victims, their families and friends in my prayers. I continue to pray for decisive leadership when it comes to assault weapons. I also continue to pray that the loud mouths and bullies take a break from their hollow rhetoric and senseless bluster. Let us be a nation that seeks peace not one that live in anger!

As you take time to pause in prayer today I would ask you to remember the sisters that are on retreat here in Chardon and their preacher. I will be greatly appreciated.   

I hope you are finding these middle days of June which are leading us towards summer enlivening and life giving. My prayer of blessing today is that your day will be rich with God’s blessings upon your work, your travel, your encounters with others, upon those whom you love and upon you! Peace in Christ’s Passion…Fr. Paul

Daily Thoughts - 06/13/2016

Daily Thoughts: Colored by the violence of this past weekend in Orlando living with a generous and willing heart is not always easy and sometimes is downright frustrating.  At least it seems that way to me. I truly want to follow the words of Jesus in today’s Gospel (Matthew 5: 38-42), “Give to the one who asks of you and do not turn your back on the one who wants to borrow.” Yet, time and time again I struggle with the Gospel way that Jesus outlines today.

At times I want justice or maybe more so revenge, yes I want an eye for an eye. I don’t like to get hit at all and I certainly don’t want to turn the other cheek. I am happy at times to go the extra mile but not always. You can have my jacket or coat as long as it is an old one and I have another. And it seems at times there are people on every street corner and subway stop if I give to everyone I will be broke within a day!

Yes, often I fail when it comes to Jesus’ words in today’s Gospel and that bothers me! How can I be a person of faith, how can I be a Christian, a Catholic and fall so short? Jesus’ words are haunting words today and I have no answer. Sure I have often rationalized – I can’t give to everyone; the money will surely be used for drugs or drink; they got what they deserved; somebody has to teach them a lesson; it’s too cold; I don’t have time; somebody else will help them; and on and on!

But Jesus doesn’t give conditions or excuses he just says offer no resistance, turn the other cheek, give your coat, go the extra mile and don’t turn your back! So I am still faced with my imperfection, I am still face with how to act and live. I have no intelligent answer, no sage wisdom of many years. All I can say is that it is perhaps good to pause and listen to or read Jesus’ words in Matthew’s Gospel today knowing that we are not perfect but also reminding ourselves that there is still much to learn, much to do. Perhaps, Jesus’ words make sure that we see the world around us and that we don’t close our eyes to it!

Have a great Monday everyone!

Daily Prayer: Loving God, we thank you for wanting to enter our lives. Help us to let go of the things we think are so important yet they always seem to stand in the way of your presence in our lives. Grace us with the strength to open the door of our hearts today, so that as we ask you to come in nothing will stand in the way of our love for you. We want you to make our hearts your home, today and always. Amen!

A Runner’s Thoughts: As you run today try to make you run a God-centered run. In other words, make your run a run in which you honor God through the voices of nature. Let yourself experience all the sounds of nature around you as you run; the wind, the trees, the leaves. Listen to the sounds of water if you run near a creek, river or the ocean.  Smell the scents of nature around you. Remember in the Psalms, the rivers clapped and the ocean roar in praise of God, so join in the chorus with your run. Look, purposefully, for signs of God’s creation, offering praise. Become one among the many voices of creation to give praise as you run today! (Adapted from Roger Joslin)

Daily Blessing: Monday greetings and blessings to all! I hope you had a great weekend and that your Monday is starting off well. I find myself in Chardon, Ohio at the motherhouse of the Sisters of Notre Dame. Our retreat started last evening after dinner. There are 25 sisters on retreat. There seems to be a good spirit and I am looking forward to the week. I would ask your prayers for the sisters who are on retreat this week and also for their preacher!

As seems all too often these days we are pausing to pray for the victims of tragedy. Let us remember the shooting victims in Orlando today and those who grieve their loss. I wonder if this violence will ever end? I wonder if there will ever be a day when anger and hate will be replaced by love and peace? To be honest I really wish politicians, especially one with a really big mouth, (though I guess they all have big mouths) would stop fanning the flames of hate, anger and violence with their senseless rhetoric. May those who lost their lives in this senseless act of violence now be at peace with God and those who remain behind be comforted by God’s mercy! And may one day we beat our tools of violence into life giving tools of peace.

In the midst of this violent world I pray that this will be a good and safe day and week for you wherever you are and whatever you are and will be doing. May you find some time to enjoy the gift of God’s creation and may whatever challenges you face be solved quickly and in a positive life giving way. Enjoy your day and blessings to all! Peace in Christ’s Passion…Fr. Paul

Daily Thoughts - 06/12/2016

Daily Thoughts: In our first reading today, David is spoken to directly by God through the prophet Nathan. David had abused and misused his God-given powers as king. He had lusted after another man’s wife.  He has brought her to his palace and she became pregnant. If this wasn’t bad enough David compounds his sin by having Uriah, Bathsheba’s husband, placed in the front line of a battle where he is killed. All so he can take Uriah’s wife as his own. In time the child grew ill and David prayed and fasted, but after seven days, the child died.

Nathan speaks to David, words from God. It is an accounting of God’s goodness to David and David’s abuse of his power and manly gifts. Nathan is giving David’s confession for him and David makes the simple and honest response. He has sinned. Nathan then after hearing David’s response offers God’s mercy and forgiveness. Even though the sins of misused-power and violence were so terrible, God’s response is gentle and life-giving. 

In our Gospel today we witness the ebb and flow of the life of Jesus. He is invited by a Pharisee, but not welcome. He welcomes a sinful woman who is not invited. This is one instance from a prominent theme in Luke’s Gospel and we will be encountering more of it in the coming weeks.

Luke’s presentation of the “Kingdom of Heaven” is that it belongs to the welcomed-poor.   Those who are rich in stature or possessions are responding to the invitations of other kingdoms. Simon the Pharisee has invited Jesus to dine, but less as a guest and more as a test. The scene in today Gospel is painted like a court-scene. Simon the Pharisee is the prosecutor, the others guests are the jury and Jesus is the one on trial.

A surprising element of evidence appears in court. A sinful woman kneels for mercy. Jesus welcomes her into His Kingdom of the forgiven and in so doing confronts the kingdom of the unforgiving. Jesus raises her and sends her back to a new life. He points to her attitude and contrasts that with the attitude of Simon. Luke is not subtle in contrasting between the Kingdom of Heaven and the ways of the worldly powerful.

Our Gospel today ends quite significantly with the naming of those women who were also friends and disciples of Jesus. In the culture of that time, women’s power was limited. Jesus invites, welcomes and dignifies them by his loving embracing of their presence. They are finding in Jesus a power that is used - not abused. In the Kingdom which Jesus preaches women are empowered to give him birth, care, and sent to proclaim the good news from the experiences of their own lives.

Perhaps a question from our readings today is – How do we use our power? Does our power like David’s lead to selfishness and sin or do we let our power give life like Jesus so we become gentle and loving?

Have a great Sunday everyone!

Daily Prayer: O God, search us and know our hearts; test us and know our concerns. See if there is any crooked way in us, and lead us in the everlasting way. For we truly do believe so our prayer to you is help our unbelief. Amen!

A Runner’s Thoughts: “The advice I have for beginners is the same philosophy that I have for runners of all levels of experience and ability—consistency, a sane approach, moderation, and making your running an enjoyable, rather than dreaded, part of your life.” (Bill Rodgers) So to in the spiritual life…

Daily Blessing: Sunday greetings and blessing to all. I hope this finds you enjoying your Sunday. I find myself in Clarion, PA. I stopped here last evening after driving for about six hours. I have about a two hour drive today to Chardon, Ohio where I will begin a retreat for the Sister of Notre Dame this evening. It looks to be a beautiful sunny day again. They say the temperature will be a little cooler than yesterday. May your Sunday be blessed with good weather.

As I prepare for a week of retreat preaching I would ask that you keep the sisters who will be making the retreat in your prayers so that they will have a good retreat with many blessings for their journeys of life. If you could add an extra prayer for their preacher as always it would be greatly appreciated!

My prayer of blessing today is that you will be blessed with the spirit of faith to help you on this journey of life. May you be blessed with the spirit of hope to get you through the rough times. May you be blessed with the spirit of love to remind you in whose image and likeness you are created in, how special you are and that you are never alone. As you journey through this day may you know that God is with you always and will never leave you to face your struggles alone! Sunday blessing to all and don’t forget yo give God a little time today! Peace in Christ’s Passion…Fr. Paul