Daily Thoughts - 01/22/2013

Daily Thoughts: My thoughts today center around a single phrase in the Gospel, "Jesus looked around at them with anger...." It is comforting to know that Jesus was angry from time to time. That he got frustrated with others, particularly others who should have known better. Today it is the religious leaders once again they still don't seem to get it. Life, the quality of life, is much more important than rules and regulations.

Today, for that matter every day, we as people of faith are focused on life. It is profoundly important to us. It is a gift from God that we do not want to see life abused, neglected, devalued, taken, lost or discarded. We pray for it, we walk in support of it. We cherish it in our own lives and families. Life is primary to what we believe. Yet, at times we get so focused on one aspect of life we miss many others. We miss many opportunities to honor it, acknowledge it, celebrate it and heal it because of rules and regulations!

Jesus was always about life, honoring it, acknowledging it, celebrating it and certainly healing it. May we find a way like Jesus to turn anger into healing, to turn anger into life!

Think life today and every day! Have a great Wednesday everyone!

Daily Prayer: O God, as we live this new day, please send the gift of your hope into our hearts so that we can turn our moments of anger into healing, life and your loving presence. May we always be people who celebrate life in the midst of a world that often seem focused on taking life. May we never let anything stand in the way of an opportunity to heal and celebrate life. Amen!

Runner's Thought: As you run today, "Seek God, and you will find God and everything good as well. Yes, with such an attitude you could tread upon a stone, and that would be a more godly thing for you to do than to receive the Body of our Lord." (Meister Eckhart)

Daily Blessing: Wednesday greetings everyone and Happy Hump Day! I know some of you are digging out from the snow yesterday. Hopefully it is not too difficult a task and soon things will be back to normal or as normal as they get in your life! We are into our third day of retreat and all seems to be going well a few bumps in the road here and there but for the most part all seems to be well.

May prayer of blessing today will be a simple one as the busyness of the day will soon be upon me. I would like to first remember all those who are in Washington, DC today for the annual right to life march. I assume the march will be happening even with yesterday’s weather. I just would like to pray for all who attended that their journey will be safe and that the gift of life will be celebrated and honored in a life giving and respectful way.

I pray today for God’s blessing on all of us that we will come to know and honor the gift of life from the first moment to conception to the last breathe and for all and every moment in between. May we all truly see life as a gift from God. Bless all of us today, Loving God, with the reverence and respect for our own life and all life around us.  

Have a great Wednesday everyone! Be safe, stay warm if you are in the midst of the cold weather and smile. Please continue to prayer for the Oblate brothers and priests on retreat here in San Antonio and for their preacher too! Blessings on all your endeavors today, on all your meetings, on all your travels and on all your moments with others. Peace in Christ's Passion...Fr. Paul

Daily Thoughts - 01/20/2014

Daily Thoughts: I read a short quote from Pope Francis this morning just after I return from mass, “Sing to the Lord a new song. (Psalm 95:1) What is this new song? It does not consist of words, it is not a melody, it is the song of your life, it is allowing our life to be identified with that of Jesus, it is sharing his sentiments, his thoughts, his actions. And the life of Jesus is a life for others. It is a life of service.”

I read this after hearing the Gospel (Mark 2:18-22) in which Jesus says, “no one pours new wine into old wine skins…. Rather, new wine is poured into fresh wineskins.” So if we are singing a new song it cannot be the same old life that sings. It has got to be a new life, a new way of looking at the world. It has got to be a new way of looking at ourselves and others.

Often we are afraid of new, afraid of change, afraid of different yet both Jesus and Pope Francis and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. tell us not to be afraid, but to pour, to sing and to dream new.

Happy Martin Luther King, Jr. Day – Happy Monday – and Happy New Wine, New Song and New Dream – Everyone!

Daily Prayer: Loving God, you call us today to sing a new song, to be new skins for the grace of your new wine, to be your people of a new dream of freedom, of justice, of equality for all. Help us today to look beyond the fears, the obstacles, and the sinfulness that often prevents us from sing, holding and dreaming the newness of your life and love. Give us the hopefulness of new dreams, the faith of a new song and the love which we can carry in a new life to others. Amen!

Runner’s Thoughts: “Never underestimate the power of dreams and the influence of the human spirit. We are all the same in this notion: The potential for greatness lives within each of us.” (Wilma Rudolph)

Daily Blessing: Happy Monday, Happy Martin Luther King Day and greetings everyone from sunny and warm San Antonio! I hope this find you well and into your Monday morning without too much difficulty. I had an uneventful trip here on Saturday and a nice relaxing Sunday. Today I will do my final preparation for the retreat which will start this evening after dinner. The Oblates have a beautiful Renewal Center here is San Antonio. I am a bit jealous because I wish the Passionist had built our retreat centers this way many of them might still be open especially my beloved Riverdale! But this is focusing on the old or perhaps I should say the past and we are called to the new, the present in the Gospel today.

So with that in mind I pray that God blesses us all today with the grace to be new wines skins that hold the new song of God for the world. May we share that new song with everyone we meet today in our own gifted way. May we smile, may we laugh, may we share our wisdom, may we dream, may we believe, may we hope and may we always love! Blessing upon everyone today and I ask your prayers for the 35+ Oblates who will be making the retreat this week and for their preacher! Peace in Christ’s Passion…Fr. Paul

Daily Thoughts - 01/18/2014

Daily Thoughts: Good Morning friends, I hope you are rising to a wonderful Saturday in your life! Today is a travel day for me as I am headed to San Antonio, TX via a very short say in Charlotte, NC. I will be in San Antonio from today until next Saturday. I will be giving a retreat to a group of Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate at the Oblate Renewal Center in San Antonio. The retreat runs from Monday until Friday. I am looking forward to the retreat but I am also very nervous – prayers would be appreciated!

You probably will only hear from me off and on this week as my full attention will be given to the retreat. When I get a chance to share a few thoughts or a prayer I will.

As I celebrate this week of retreat with the Oblates I will hold all of you in my prayers hoping that your week goes well and is filled with many graces and blessings that will help you and that you will also share with others!

Have a great Saturday everyone – I pray you will get a little time from the busyness of life to rest, relax and just enjoy life. May your team win this weekend and may you be rich in the gift of family and friends. Many blessing everyone and the next time you hear from me hopefully I will be in warm sunny San Antonio! Peace in Christ’s Passion…Fr. Paul

Daily Thoughts - 01/16/2014

Daily Thoughts: In today’s Gospel (Mark 1: 40-45) Jesus encounters a person with leprosy and the following exchange takes place. "If you wish, you can make me clean. Jesus was moved with pity, he stretched out his hand and touched the leper and said to him, I do will it. Be made clean. And the leprosy left him immediately."

In my reflections on this Gospel I think the key elements of this story are the person's faith in Jesus and the willingness of Jesus to heal and to touch. Maybe the most important element is Jesus' touch, his willingness to be connected with someone who is unclean by the standards of culture, society and religion.

Today whether we are talking about our culture, society or even our church the usual response is to disconnect ourselves from someone defined as unclean. Yet, Jesus sought to be connected. He did not want to push them away from the community but to bring them into the community.

Jesus reaches out to one who has been pushed out of the community. It is a profound moment; it is a challenge to all of us who proclaim we believe. Do we wish – do we will – that all belong to the community no matter what? Jesus does and he was willing to step across a boundary to make sure that it happens. Are we?

Perhaps it is a commitment to prayer that will help us to, wish it and will it. It is through prayer, our conversation with God, that we will find the strength to walk with Jesus across the boundaries imposed and bring others to the community, to friendship with God!

Give a little time to God today – say a prayer – talk with God. Have a great Thursday everyone!

Daily Prayer: Loving God, help us today so that we will not be people with hardened hearts but people with compassionate hearts. Help us to be people willing to reach out across the boundaries of life that all might have the opportunity to be part of you community of faith. Enliven us that we will always hear your word with an open mind and an open heart! Amen!

Runner's Thought: Think of every run as an opportunity to be born again. Let each run refresh your body and renew your spirit and bring you into God's Presence once again!

Daily Blessing: Happy Thursday everyone! In my life this has been a rather quick week. On Saturday I will head out to San Antonio. It will be the beginning of a long stretch on ministry that will almost be continuous until Palm Sunday. Sometimes these days my life seems all or nothing. It would be nice to have a little more balance.

I hope your week is going well and that your life is in a little more balance than mine. I pray that you feel supported by God and have encountered the presence of God throughout your journey of life this week. As always I pray for God’s blessings upon all of us today that whether in balance or not we may find the gift of God’s touch in our lives; the touch of healing if we need it, but most importantly the touch of love to carry us through the day. Have a great day everyone. Peace in Christ's Passion...Fr. Paul

Daily Thoughts - 01/15/2014

Daily Thoughts: There are two things that I draw from today’s readings, (Gospel Mark 1: 29-29 and First Reading 1 Samuel 3: 1-10, 19-20).

The first is that we never know when we will be called. At first we run to an obvious person, place or situation thinking that is where the call came from but if we really stop and listen often the call comes from God.

The second thought is about the need for healing. Healing and casting out demons, seem to be the work of the day for Jesus. I was thinking of another line in the Gospel as I read this Gospel passage at mass this morning. The line I thought of was, "The poor you will always have with you." (Matthew 26:11 and Mark 14:7) I thought Jesus could have easily said, "The sick and demons you will always have with you!"

There is always healing that needs to be done, people struggling physically, emotionally and spiritually. Sometimes when I am day dreaming I wish Jesus would walk into our midst and begin to heal or that he would give me the temporary power to heal because there are some many people who could use it!

And demons, they seem to be everywhere these days, if only Jesus were here to cast them out what a different place the world could be. It amazes me that the demons always seem to know Jesus and yet often the people in his presence don't.

Yet, there is another Gospel passage that also comes to mind, "Truly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Be taken up and cast into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says is going to happen, it will be granted him." (Mark 11:23) In other words the power to heal and cast out demons is here we have just got to believe and not doubt.

So remember as you go through this day, God just might be calling so be listening and the "force," the power, the presence of Jesus is always with us to heal and to cast out demons we just have to believe!

I have a great Wednesday everyone!

Daily Prayer: O God, we are a struggling people, we want to believe, we want to hear and respond to your call. Help us to be your servant who listens and grace us with faith so that in our moments of unbelief we might truly bring your healing presence to all who need it in this world. Amen!

Runner's Thought: As you run today remember that running is something that only you can do, no one can do it for you.  So make it part of your faith take God with you!

Daily Blessing: Happy Hump Day everyone! I hope you have settled into the journey of this week and that things are going well. For me today is not so much “Hump Day” but “Fast Day” as I am fasting every Wednesday this year to keep me more aware of the people in our world that go without food each day. My “Fast Day” is a choice but many in our world have no choice and they suffer from and struggle with the pains of hunger. May we someday be a world who provides for all!

My simple prayer of blessing today is that God will bless all our endeavors, all our interactions, all of our challenges, all of our travels, all of our meetings, all of our ordinary tasks, all of our relationship, all whom we love and us. May we bring the gift of God to our world today! Have a great day everyone! Peace in Christ's Passion...Fr. Paul