Daily Thoughts - 07/23/2016

Daily Thoughts: Today’s gospel is about a farmer who sows wheat in his field and at night his enemy sows weeds in the same field so when the plants sprout there are weeds among the wheat. When the workers ask the farmer about removing the weeds, he tells them pulling the weeds could pull up the wheat so wait until harvest when they can be separated without losing the wheat.

We might say that in this parable we are the field and God has sown the wheat within us, but there are weeds among the wheat. God will not pull the weeds of our field because we have free will.  God will always provide the love and support that we need, but it is up to us to choose to nourish our relationship with God so it becomes strong and crowds out the weeds.

Perhaps looked at another way, the point of this parable is that the farmer allows the wheat and the weeds to grow together to maturity, which is just what God does for us.

In the four Gospels Jesus tells us in many ways that we have to choose between living joyfully with God forever and being forever separated from God, in great pain over our loss.  This aspect of this message is not new.

The special spin that Jesus puts on this question of our choice here is that we have a whole lifetime to make it in.  God provides us with all that we need to make a choice and to make the choice concrete in our life rather than just a vague wish or orientation, and we need to make this one central choice of life in terms of the small daily choices that inch us closer to God or away from God.

One other aspect here is that while the "harvesters" are able to tell the difference between the weeds and the wheat, we often remain in some uncertainly about whether we truly have chosen God enough, whether we have loved God enough.  Any certainty about whether we are "saved" or not can be a form of self-delusion and lead to pride, laziness, and a fatal assumption that we are "good enough."  This can be deadly in my human relationships, and it is no different in my relationship with God. 

We simply do not know whether we are weed or wheat while we are alive, and the fact is that we are both --- but which is the dominant side of who we are?  While we are responsible for the choice, it is up to God to decide what we have actually chosen.  And that is where the virtue of hope comes in.

Have a great Saturday everyone!

Daily Prayer:

Loving Jesus

 We give you our hands to do your work

 We give you our feet to go your way

 We give you our eyes to see as you do

 We give you our tongue to speak your words

 We give you our mind that you may think in us

 We give you our spirit that you may pray in us

 Above all, we give you our heart

 that you may love in us

 your Father and all humankind

 we give you our whole self that you may grow in us

 so that it is you Loving Jesus

 who lives and works and prays in us.

Amen! (Adapted from the Grail Prayer)

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: Saturday greetings and blessings to all. I finally made my way to Scranton, PA yesterday afternoon and in an hour or so I will be beginning a long day helping out at the St. Ann Solemn Novena. My first task of the day will be to celebrate the children’s mass. I will need your prayers! It is day seven of the novena and I am sorry I missed the first six but I here now and glad that I am. If you have any special intentions that you would like me to bring to the novena send them along and I will make sure they are included in my novena prayers the next four days!

It is going to be a hot one here in Scranton as I guess it is going to be in most of the country. I know there are many places in need if rain these days. If you are out and about, please be careful during these hot and humid days. Heat and humidity can be tough.

I would like to remember my classmate, Fr. Melvin Shorter, C.P. who unfortunately had a heart attack on Thursday. He seems to be fine at this time but my prayers and thoughts are with him as he goes through this uncertain time!

My prayer of blessing today for all of us is that God will grace us with the strength to somehow help the world take a step closer to peace by living our life with compassion, love and joy today! Please my friends don’t begin this day with hate in your hearts. Don’t see the world through the eyes of the 24-hour news stations. Don’t point your figures and blame. Don’t disrespect others not like you. Allow God’s blessing to touch your life and be a person of peace, of compassion, of hope, of joy and of love today. Be this person today for your family, for your friends, for your faith community, for those you work with, for those you meet, for the world, and for yourself.

Have a great Saturday everyone, put a smile on your face and trust that you are loved by God even in those moments of struggle. May God bless you today and always and thanks for being the person that you are because you certainly make this world a better place and life worth living! Peace in Christ’s Passion…Fr. Paul

Daily Thoughts - 07/22/2016

Daily Thoughts: Today is the feast of St. Mary Magdalene. She is referred to as the Apostle to the Apostles. Mary was the first proclaimer of the resurrection a story we read today from John’s Gospel (John 20: 1-2, 11-18). The interesting thing about Mary’s encounter with Jesus is that at first she does not recognize him. You might think that after following Jesus for so long it would be hard not to recognize him.

Now some might say it was because of his resurrected body but I think it was because Mary did not expect to see Jesus alive.  Have you ever been in a situation when you did not expect to see someone? When the person surprises us with their presence there always seems to be a moment when we don’t recognize them. They haven’t changes, they are the same person but our eyes and brain just were not expecting them. Then they do or say something that is familiar and we recognize them. It doesn’t make sense and once we realize our mistake, we wonder how we did not recognize her or him but yet it happened.

The element of surprise can often catch us off guard. Perhaps today that is a good way to think about the presence of God in our life. We have a God of surprises and at any moment of our day God can walk into our midst. Are we ready? Or will we miss the moment because we are not expecting God to be there?

Through the intersession of St. Mary Magdalene may we be open today to be surprised by God! Have a great Friday everyone!

Daily Prayer: God of surprises, we thank you for the gift of your presence in our life today. We thank you for the way you bring us to new life in ways that surprise us, liberate us, celebrate us and give us hope.

We ask you to be presence in our life today; helping us to show that here and now, you are at work bringing healing, wholeness, and justice and that by the grace of your Holy Spirit of love, we your people may share in the surprising work of your presence today.

God surprise us today with your hope and love that we may be your faith filled people who proclaim the Good News to a world that does expect to encounter your love. Surprise us today, God! Amen!

A Runner’s Thoughts: Remember running is an opportunity to search for God amid the commonplace, humdrum and ordinary activities that most often occupy our life. That is ultimately the point of meditative running – we are trying to find a way to mix the mundane with the mystical, to blend the sacred with the profane, to find heaven on earth. If running is sacred time to us, then we have the opportunity to encounter the gift of God while we run! (Adapted from Roger Joslin – Running the Spiritual Path)

Daily Blessing: Friday blessings and greetings to all. I hope your day has started off well and that it will be blessed in a special way as you journey through it. If you are finding life a struggle today, please know as always you are in my prayers and I will say a special prayer that it gets at least a little better as the day goes on.

Later today I will finally be headed to Scranton Pennsylvania and our St. Ann’s Novena. I had originally planned to be there for the whole novena but I had to change my plans because of other work related issues. However, things are now worked out and I will head out this afternoon and be in Scranton help out with the novena until next Wednesday morning. I always look forward to my time at the novena. It is an opportunity to pause and encounter God in a unique way.

I hope your week has gone well and that you have encountered interesting things in your own life. We all cannot all be celebrities or travel around the world but all of our lives are important and special. All of our lives give us the chance to encounter God and bring God to others all of our lives are a gift!

In the spirit of St. Mary Magdalene may God's blessings be upon your life today and as you live out this day may you encounter Jesus in a special way. May you come to know that you are loved and that you bring the love and grace of Jesus to others. Peace in Christ’s Passion…Fr. Paul

Daily Thoughts - 07/21/2016

Daily Thoughts: “A skilled listener can help people tap into their own wisdom.” (Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM) We might apply this thought to our Gospel reading today. The focus in Matthew 13: 10-17 seems to be on the difference between hearing and listening.

We all hear unless we have some physical impediment to hearing but often we fail to listen. I believe that is what Jesus is getting at in the Gospel. People hear his parables but they don’t listen to them. They don’t take them to prayer. They don’t reflect on them and thus they miss the point of them. We can always hear things as Isaiah is quoted in the Gospel but unless we listen we will not understand.

Jesus is teaching his disciples to listen. Jesus is teaching us to listen. I very much enjoy using the parables of Jesus when I preach because if we really listen to them that have a lot to tell us. Often, if not always, when I use a parable in my preaching I learn something new because while preaching I am also listening.

Jesus was certainly a skilled listener, the most skilled listener and that is why he helps us tap into the wisdom that God graces us with each day, all we have to do is listen!

Have a great Thursday everyone!

Daily Prayer:

Loving God, we pray:

We hold a treasure - Not made of gold - In earthen vessels, wealth untold

One treasure only, the Lord, the Christ - In earthen vessels.

Light has shown in our darkness - God has shown in our hearts

With the light of the glory - Of Jesus the Lord.

We hold a treasure - Not made of gold - In earthen vessels, wealth untold

One treasure only, the Lord, the Christ - In earthen vessels.

He has chosen the lowly - Who are small in this world

In his weakness His Glory -In Jesus the Lord

We hold a treasure - Not made of gold - In earthen vessels, wealth untold

One treasure only, the Lord, the Christ - In earthen vessels.

Loving God help us to believe and live these words today and always! Amen! (Words from Earthen Vessels by John Foley, S.J.)

A Runner’s Thoughts: As prayerful runners let us not run with a sense of expectation that something significant will happen spiritually. Let us run only asking that our run be in the presence of God and that we will run with a heightened awareness of God’s presence. If we run this way occasionally insights will come our way and we might feel a special closeness to God, but usually we will simply know that we are not running alone and we will carry with us the sense of a shared journey long after we have finished our run! (Adapted from Running the Spiritual Path by Roger Joslin)

Daily Blessing: Thursday blessings and greetings to all. I hope your day has started off well and that it will be blessed in a special way as you journey through it. If you are finding life a struggle today, please know as always you are in my prayers and I will say a special prayer that it gets at least a little better as the day goes on.

It looks to be another beautiful day here in Pelham though they say the humidity is coming back today along with more heat. Then again it is summer! I hope you are enjoying good weather wherever you are.

Have a great day blessed with the presence of God. May God bless you in a special way today with a strong faith to believe in the treasure that you carry within you and that you are! Peace in Christ’s Passion…Fr. Paul

Daily Thoughts - 07/20/2016

Daily Thoughts: “Someday, after mastering the winds, the waves, the tides and gravity, we shall harness for God the energies of love, and then, for a second time in the history of the world, [humankind] will have discovered fire.” (Fr. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, S.J.) This is one of my favorite quotes and I thought of it today in terms of the Gospel (Matt. 13:1-9). Perhaps in a different way Jesus is saying to us that when we can get past all the things that seem to get in the way of our relationship with God we will discover love, the good soil. The things of the world are enticing but it is God’s love that makes all the difference!

Have a great Wednesday everyone!

Daily Prayer:

Take, Lord, receive all my liberty, my memory, understanding, and my entire will.

Antiphon - Give me only Your love and Your grace, that's enough for me. Your love and Your grace, are enough for me.

Take, Lord, receive all I have and possess. You have given all to me, now I return it. (Antiphon)

Take, Lord, receive, all is Yours now. Dispose of it, wholly according to Your will. (Antiphon) – (Song by John Foley, S.J. based on prayer by Saint Ignatius of Loyola)

A Runner’s Thoughts:  Bart Yasso of Runner’s World says, “Never limit where running can take you. I mean that geographically, spiritually, and of course, physically.” And I say especially spiritually!

Daily Blessing: Wednesday greetings and blessings to all. I hope your Wednesday has started off well and that you will find the rest of the week downhill so to speak.

It was a beautiful day yesterday, not very humid or hot and today we are to have more of the same. I hope the weather by you is enlivening your day too!

Today will be a busy day for me as we bring on a new employee in the Sunday Mass office and as we finalize the electrical and lighting plans for the new local for the Sunday Mass tapings. Lots to do before September!

I hope your week is going well and that you are encountering interesting things in your own life. We all cannot be celebrities or travel around the world but all of our lives are important and special. All of our lives give us the chance to encounter God and bring God to others, all of our lives are a gift!

May God's blessings be upon your life today and as you live out this day may you come to know that you are loved and that you bring the love and grace of God to others. Peace in Christ’s Passion…Fr. Paul

Daily Thoughts - 07/19/2016

Daily Thoughts: At first hearing we might be taken aback by today’s Gospel (Matt.12:46-50), how could Jesus be so rude to his family? Why would he not go out and at least speak to Mary?  It seems disrespectful. It seems to go against everything Jesus teaches. What about the commandment, “Honor your father and mother?”

We can look at this Gospel story through these questions or we can see it another way. Perhaps Jesus was not being rude or disrespectful; perhaps he was just taking the opportunity to expand our understanding of family. Perhaps he was taking the opportunity to help us understand better what it means to be community, to be church, to be family, to be the Body of Christ!

As people who believe we are not on this journey alone, we traveling as community, as church, as family, as the Body of Christ. Jesus is just reminding us that we are connected and we can draw upon the strength of the many to help us in those moments of doubt, struggle and challenge. Believing in, valuing and living out our relationship with God makes us part of a great family of believers.

As we journey through this day let us trust in the presence of a family of faith that means we are never alone, that we are always loved by God.

Have a great Tuesday everyone!

Daily Prayer: Loving God we have often abandoned you but you never abandon us. Your loving hands are always outstretched toward us, even when we stubbornly look the other way and your gentle voice constantly calls us, even when we persistently fuse to listen. Touch us today, call us today, bless us today and be with us today so that we may know that we are never alone, that you are always with us and you will never leave us. Help us to walk by faith and proclaim it by the life we live. Amen!

A Runner’s Thoughts: As we let us imagine that God is at our side, running along with us. Imagine how God might look with kindness into the faces of all whom the two of us might meet as we run. Imagine how God would find good in everyone we encountered. Let’s us look for good in everyone we meet today. Let us look for good in ourselves today. Have a great run!

Daily Blessing: Tuesday blessings and greetings from Pelham! I hope your day has started off well. It is a sunny day here and it feels like it is going to be hot and humid. I hope things are a little better where you are. If not, I hope you have a cool place to take refuse in from time to time.

Wherever you are I hope your day goes well. May this Tuesday be one of many graces and blessings for you and those you love. May God bless you today with many wonderful surprises so that you will know you are loved and that you always make the world a better place by the gift of your presence. May you be blessed with the grace of God’s love and may you share it with everyone you meet. Peace in Christ’s Passion…Fr. Paul

Daily Thoughts - 07/18/2016

Daily Thoughts: “There is something greater than [Jonah and] Solomon here.” Today in the Gospel we once again find the scribes and Pharisees seeking more from Jesus. They want a sign. We can hear the frustration in Jesus’ words as he tells them that the only sign they will get is the sign of Jonah.

If I had been in Jesus’ shoes I might not have been so patient. I might have said, “Come on guys there are signs all around you. Every day I am preaching healing, forgiving, raising people from the dead, turning water into wine what more do you want! If you don’t realize who I am and what I am about by now I don’t know what else I can do.”

Our Gospel while addressed to the scribes and Pharisees many years ago is also addressed to us. On any given day we are just like them asking God for a sign. We want God to assure us that he is with us and that we are on the right path. We want to see, hear, taste, smell and touch God because if we don’t then it seems impossible to believe. Yet, like the scribes and Pharisees we miss the point the signs of God are all around us. We are reminded time and time again of God’s love for us in creation, in caring family and friends that are a part of lives, in the gift of the Eucharist, the acts of kindness, care and concern that touch our lives each day and the crucifix on the wall which reminds us of God’s greatest act of love. Yes, there is something greater than Jonah and Solomon in our life every day.

Each morning that we arise and look in the mirror we are reminded that there is something greater in our life – it is the continuing presence of God. We just have to stop, listen, look around and be attentive to life and we will see, taste, smell, hear and touch God.

Perhaps as we journey through this day our prayer might be – “Lord, I believe help my unbelief.”  Have a great Monday everyone!

Daily Prayer: Loving God, strengthen us with the grace of your Holy Spirit and give your peace to our souls that we may be free from all needless anxiety, apprehension, and worry. Help us to desire always that which is pleasing and acceptable to you, so that your will may be our will. Amen.

A Runner’s Thoughts: “If you need help getting motivated, turn to fellow runners. Often, they have been there, done that and can help you move along.” (Hal Higdon) So to in the spiritual life…If you need help or motivation in prayer turn to a fellow traveler in faith because often they have been there and done that and are more than willing to help you on your journey of faith. We are all in this together whether we are running and believing.

Daily Blessing: Monday blessings and greetings to everyone! I am back in Pelham after a long day’s journey into the night and the early hours of the morning. I arrived home this morning at 2:30 am. It was a very short night of sleep and in about an hour I will head to the office. I am moving kind of slow this morning and I have a feeling this will be a long day. But the gift of my nephew’s wedding and my great nephew’s baptism was well worth the tired Monday that I will have!

I hope your Monday has started off a little better than mind and that you are well rested and ready to meet the day. It certainly looks like a beautiful day out there though I think here in the New York area it is going to be hot and humid. Perhaps it is a little cooler by you!

I would like to send a special shout out to my little grandniece Natalie Ann who celebrates her second birthday today. Happy Birthday Little One! Many blessings today and always. Have a safe travel day and a great birthday day!

As seems to be a standard part of my daily prayer and blessing these days we once again pause to remember those touched by tragedy. I pray today for the police officers killed and wounded in Baton Rouge over the weekend. I pray for healing for those wounded and for peace for the families and friend of those killed. May God hold them now in his eternal hands. And I continue to pray for an end to this violence and hate. We need Lord to find your peace!

My prayer of blessing today is that this will be a good day and the beginning of a good 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 way. Enjoy your day and blessings to all! Peace in Christ’s Passion…Fr. Paul

Daily Thoughts - 07/17/2016

Daily Thoughts: In the first reading from the Book of Genesis, we encounter a story which emphasizes the transcendence of God and the tenderness of this God’s embrace of our humanity.

Abraham is resting in the late afternoon and he encounters three visitors. He didn’t see them or hear them coming, they seem to have just appeared. From his immediate actions of welcome, we assume that Abraham did not have many visitors or he would have soon run out of cattle and run his wife to an early grave.

Abraham invites his guests to be treated by Sarah’s hard labors and he seems to entertain the guests while dinner is being prepared. After dinner, one of the guests asks where Sarah is. When told, the guest foretells a promise. The guest knows the name of Abraham’s wife and blesses her, even though she is advanced in years, she will receive the ultimate blessing for those times, a son.

God knows, God visits, and God makes promises and keeps them. The transcendence and the tenderness of God plays out in our story of Abraham and Sarah. A few questions we might ask are, was God good to Abraham, because he and Sarah were so welcoming? Does God come to bless, because of us or because of Who God is? It is quite impractical for Sarah to have a child at her age, but a very practical promise is made. This kind of story helps us to encounter the mystery of God.

Abraham and Sarah had to trust what they heard. Sarah is not rewarded for being the good wife and cook. She is blessed to have a child, because of God’s love. She might have been thinking that God was angry with her and so she could not be blessed with motherhood. Is God good only when we have been good, welcoming, keeping the traditions and laws? These are the ancient questions which have modern echoes.

The Gospel is a rather simple little story, but within it are some very important features of God and what is expects of us. Jesus is welcomed. Martha is doing the practical things of getting a proper meal ready for Jesus, her guest. Mary is doing nothing except listening. Martha complains about her sister lack of help. Jesus responds with something simple and important. End of story.

Luke presents Jesus as a model for his disciples whom he has sent out relying on the hospitality of others and thereby, relying on God. Luke presents Martha as the righteous welcomer who does the practical things according to the Jewish religious and cultured ways. Luke presents Mary as a person of the Good News. She does the impractical thing of “listening to him speak.” She has chosen “the better part”, which is allowing the Good News to be heard.

The story of last week’s Gospel, the Good Samaritan, immediately comes before these final verses of this chapter in Luke’s Gospel. The reader or listener to the Gospel would understand that the very practical thing the “Good Samaritan” did, is what everybody would have to do if they sat at the feet of Jesus and listened to the whole Gospel. Martha is righteous by her expressing her religious traditions. Luke is presenting Mary as how each of us continues the life of Jesus, by listening and then getting up and doing all that the Gospel of Luke has offered.

This is not a family dispute, a sibling rivalry, but a call to a radical way of living. We so easily listen to what we want to hear. What Jesus is saying in all the Gospels is not exactly all we want to hear. Jesus’ conversation with us, if we listen, will change, convert us and we would rather “get out in that kitchen and rattle those pots and pans.” We would rather justify ourselves by listening to our ways and doing our thing in the hope that God would be pleased and satisfied.

It would be interesting to underline all the verses in the Gospels which we find hard and or inconvenient. The Gospel would probably get quite a bit shorter if we were to be so selective. The verses we would underline are the ones we don’t want to hear, because they call us to change images of ourselves, of others, of life and of God. The really good news is that Jesus just keeps at it, speaking to us in the pages of the Gospels, in the stories he tells, in the experiences he has waiting for us to tune in, to listen and to respond by living our life with trust and hope in God.

Have a great Sunday everyone!

Daily Prayer: Loving God, you are the light of the minds that know you, the joy of the hearts that love you, and the strength of the wills that serve you: grant us the grace to know you that we may truly love you, and so to love you that we may fully serve you, who to serve is perfect freedom, in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen! (St. Augustine of Hippo)

A Runner's Thoughts: “The difference between the impossible and the possible lies in a person’s determination.” (Tommy Lasorda)

Daily Blessing: Sunday greetings and blessings to everyone! It is the beginning of another beautiful day here in Louisville. I hope your Sunday is starting off well and that you are staying cool in these July days of summer.

We had a very nice family wedding celebration yesterday. It was a beautiful wedding mass and a very spirited and festive celebration afterwards. Our prayers throughout the day were for Kristy and Paul as they begin a new journey of life together. Like Abraham and Sarah in our first reading today may they be truly blessed by God’s wonderful love!

Today we have another family celebration as we welcome Michael John into the faith community. I will be baptizing my great nephew this afternoon and I am so looking forward the celebration. He and his sister made it through a long day yesterday and they will have another long day today but it will be a special one. My time of celebration will be cute a little short today because after the baptism I need to hit the road so I can be back in New York by Monday morning. But I will have the joy of celebrating with Michael to keep me going. If you are on the road today travel safe!

I pray your Sunday will be blessed with good weather and a little rest and relaxation. That today will be a day when you take a little time off and get away from the busyness of life. If you cannot I pray that you will have a chance to do so soon! I also pray that you will give a little time to God on this summer Sunday.

My prayer of blessing for you today is this – wherever you are today, whomever you are with or will encounter and whatever you are doing or will do - I prayer that you will be blessed with the grace, love and presence of God. May the God of Peace, who shared with us Jesus, his Son, furnish all of us with all that is good, so that we may always do what God has created us to do. And may we always take some time to rest and enjoy life. May we remember to pause an listen for and to the presence of God if our life.

Enjoy your day, think positive thoughts, wear a smile and trust that God journeys with you! Blessings to all on your journey through this Sunday and every day! Peace in Christ's Passion...Fr. Paul