Daily Thoughts - 11/25/2015

Daily Thought: "The Lord speaks of peace to his people and his holy ones and to those who turn to him.” the entrance antiphon for today mass. What a wonderful thought, “The Lord speaks of peace…” to consider as we enter a new day. However if we read on in our Gospel for today I am not sure Jesus is speaking of peace. He tells us, that persecution, pain, struggle and difficult time are ahead if we believe. He says these struggles and persecutions will come from everywhere they can even come from our family.

This seems a far cry from peace! It seems that believing, having faith takes a tremendous amount of trust in God and trust is not always easy. However, if we have that trust then peace can happen!

In the midst of our daily struggles, in the midst of everything that makes it hard to have faith, to hope, to love can we are asked to trust in God presence and action in our life and if we do we will encounter the peace that the Lord speaks of for his people today and always!

Have a great Wednesday everyone!

Daily Prayer: O God, let us have hearts ready to trust in your abundant kindness and mercy that we might always be ready to say great and wonderful are your works, Loving God!

A Runner's Thoughts: “Every day is a fresh start; don't measure yourself by yesterday's troubles.” (Dagny Scott Barrios) So always run with imagination and see as you run God is running towards you!

Daily Blessing: Wednesday greetings and blessings to everyone! I hope your Wednesday has started out well. I made it to Fairfax, VA yesterday evening and I am enjoying the beginning of what looks to be a beautiful day here. If you are traveling today please travel safe I think the weather in most of the country is supposed to be pretty good but even in good weather you still need to travel safe. There were some crazies on the road yesterday. I guess they are there everyday!

My prayer of blessing today is that everyone will have a truly blessed and joyous Thanksgiving. May your gatherings tomorrow be blessed with family, friends, good food, funny stories that will create a joyous feast of love! May God’s great and wonderful love touch your life today, tomorrow and always! May God’s blessings be upon your travels, your gatherings, your meals, your conversations and all who gather with you. Don’t forget to give God thanks in some way! Have a wonderful Wednesday wherever you are and whatever you are doing! Many blessings as you journey through life today. Peace in Christ's Passion...Fr. Paul

Daily Thoughts - 11/24/2015

Daily Thoughts: One might say that reading today’s Gospel (Luke 21: 5-11) is like watching the evening news or tuning into one of the many 24 hour news stations at any point in the day.  Bad things are a happening, for sure!

Yet, Jesus doesn’t say – run, hide, give up. He says don’t be terrified. Don’t follow all the doom and gloom proclaimers.  Why should we not be terrified? Why should we not hang on every word of the gloom and doom proclaimers? Why - because God’s grace is at work. The question is how do we believe that God’s grace is at work?

Jesus has always said that the things of this world, the things we think so important are not important. Even something like the great temple of Jesus’ time will not and did not last. Our focus, our trust, our faith needs to be placed in God. If not then we will be sucked in by the terror, the doom and gloom of the world. As St. Ignatius of Loyola said, God’s grace is enough.

Our challenge today and every day is to look around and find God’s grace at work in the world and in us. It is there – we just need the eyes of faith to see it!

Have a great Tuesday everyone and if you are traveling today like me, please travel safe!

Daily Prayer:

Take, Lord, receive all our liberty, our memory, understanding, our entire will. Give us only your love and your grace, that's enough for us. Your love and your grace, are enough for us.

Take, Lord, receive all that we have and possess. You have given all to us, now we return it. Give us only your love and your grace, that's enough for us. Your love and your grace, are enough for us.

Take, Lord, receive, all is yours now.  Dispose of it, wholly according to your will. Give us only your love and your grace, that's enough for us. Your love and your grace, are enough for use. Amen.

(Prayer adapted from prayer by St. Ignatius Loyola and the lyrics of Fr. John Foley’s song)

A Runner’s Thoughts: “I don't think about the miles that are coming down the road, I don't think about the mile I'm on right now, I don't think about the miles I've already covered. I think about what I'm doing right now, just being lost in the moment.” (Ryan Hall) As Jesus tells us today in the Gospel it is the same with faith. We don’t think about the past or what might happen ahead of us. We live in the present moment and find God there!

Daily Blessing: Tuesday greetings and blessing to all! I hope your day and your week are going well and that things are falling into place for your Thanksgiving celebration. I hope if you are traveling you will not run into and bad weather and that all of your travels, whether by plane, train, bus or car will be safe this week!

Later today, I will be making my way south to Fairfax, Virginia to enjoy Thanksgiving with family. It has become a little tradition in my life and it is one I look forward to because the journey and time gives me great joy!

As Thanksgiving approaches my blessing prayer today for all of you carries the theme of thankfulness. Perhaps it is a prayer you can use when you gather with family and friends on Thanksgiving. Today I pray that you will always find the blessing of thankfulness in your life. – God of all blessings, source of all life, giver of all grace. We thank you for the gift of life: for the breath that sustains life, for the food of this earth that nurtures life, for the love of family and friends without which there would be no life.

We thank you for the mystery of creation: for the beauty that the eye can see, for the joy that the ear may hear, for the unknown that we cannot behold filling the universe with wonder, for the expanse of space that draws us beyond the definitions of our selves.

We thank you for setting us in communities: for families who nurture our becoming, for friends who love us by choice, for companions at work, who share our burdens and daily tasks, for strangers who welcome us into their midst, for people from other lands who call us to grow in understanding, for children who lighten our moments with delight, for the unborn, who offer us hope for the future.

We thank you for this day: for life and one more day to love, for opportunity and one more day to work for justice and peace, for neighbors and one more person to love and by whom be loved, for your grace and one more experience of your presence, for your promise: to be with us, to be our God, and to give salvation.

For these and all blessings, we give you thanks, eternal, loving God, through Jesus Christ we pray. Amen. May the blessing of thankfulness be with you as you journey through this day and always!

Have a great Tuesday everyone! Peace in Christ’s Passion…Fr. Paul

Daily Thoughts - 11/22/2015

Daily Thoughts: The Feast of Christ the King has never been one of my favorite feasts. I think it is because kings have never really been a positive image for me during my life time. I have grown up in the age of democracy, kings and kingdoms seem to be part of the past. I have read about kings and kingdoms. I have studies them in school. Over the course of history one can find a lot a positive images, stories and experiences of kings and kingdoms however from a personal perspective they are part of days gone by, not the reality of my life experience. Truth be told, kings and kingdoms for me often symbolize a time when ordinary people meant nothing and there was a great divide between the “haves” and the “have nots!”

So what am I, what are we, to do today, faced with Christ honored, celebrated, as a king. Well, first, we need to look at the reality of Jesus' kingdom; it is a kingdom that is not of this world, meaning it is different kind of kingdom, one we have never seen or experience before. It is a kingdom of truth, and a truth that can set us free. We also know from the life of Jesus that it was not about the “haves” and the “have nots,” it was about community, it was about people. Jesus’ kingdom is a kingdom of caring for the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the naked, the ill and the imprisoned. In other worlds it is a kingdom where we recognize the king amongst us.

In my homily today I used the image of Pope Francis and an image of Jesus as King. I asked the question, “What most intrigues us about Pope Francis?” Well I think it is the way he has gone about being Pope. He chose not to live by himself, but to live amongst others. He chose not to eat by himself, but to eat with others. He chose not to celebrate Mass by himself, but to celebrate with others. Pope Francis has chosen to be part of the Church not just the head of the Church and I think that makes all the difference.

Jesus chose to be part of us, to be amongst us and that has made all the difference as we celebrate his Kingship today.  Jesus' kingdom is not of this world, it is beyond, government, power, authority and institution. It is a body, a living body made up of many members working as one for the good of all, for the salvation of all, for the love of all. Jesus' as king rules to bring out the best in us so that truth, life, holiness, grace, justice, love and peace will be lived. Jesus rules here and now. So may we follow the example of Jesus, the true shepherd, and be the Body of Christ, and be the Kingdom of God, a kingdom that truly honors its people by not walking past the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the naked, the ill, the imprisoned, or anyone who becomes Christ for us by challenging us to care.

Let us honor Christ our King today by becoming instruments of his justice, peace and presence in the world today. Bringing love where there is hate, bringing pardon, where people are hurting, bringing faith to moments of doubt, bringing hope to hopeless times, bringing compassion when uncaring is the norm and bringing the light joy to an often joyless world. Let us honor Christ our King, by giving, pardoning and loving so that one day all may be born in to the true Kingdom of eternal life!

Have a blessed and faith filled Sunday everyone and don’t forget to give God a little time today!

Daily Prayer: Loving God, may we look beyond the earthly images of king and find your loving presence in our life this day and always. May it lead us to truth, life, holiness, grace, justice, joy and peace. May it make us true workers in your eternal kingdom of love! Amen!

A Runner's Thoughts: “Fear of trying causes paralysis. Trying causes only trembling and sweating. (Mason Cooley)

 "Happiness is an inexpressibly misleading and temporary thing, decides nothing; the true stations of joy are on the road which lies through simple endurance." (Rainer Maria Rilke)

Daily Blessing: Sunday greetings and blessing to all and happy Feast of Christ the King! As the morning starts of it appears that we are going to have a cloudy day. I will not complain because I know some areas of the country are shoveling snow and I am happy not to be fighting the white stuff today!

I am also celebrating today the 62^nd anniversary of my baptism. Yes, 62 years ago on November 22, 1953, 20 days after I was born I was welcomed into the Church. Thanks to my parents I was dedicated to God this day and welcomed into this wonderful faith community called Church.

And just 52 years ago we mourned as a nation the loss of our president. Yes, 52 years ago today President John F. Kennedy was shot and killed in Dallas, TX. Unfortunately, we still mourn people being shot in our nation not by terrorists, but by one another. Still no gun laws, still no respect for human life, still no peace!

And so as we journey through this last Sunday of the Church year, as we remember important events of life, as we remember tragic events of life and many events in between let us offer a prayer for peace. A prayer for peace in everyone’s heart, in everyone’s soul, in everyone’s life!

Have a blessed and holy Sunday. May we celebrate this day with joy and peace for this is the Day that the Lord has made so let us rejoice and be glad. May there always be work for us to do.  May our pockets and purses always hold a coin or two. May the sun always shine warm on our windowpanes. May a rainbow be certain to follow each rain. May the hand of family, a loved one and a friend always be near and may God fill our hearts with gladness and love that we in turn can share! May the blessing of Christ the Shepherd and Servant King be upon you today and always. Don’t forget to give God a little time sometime today. Peace in Christ’s Passion…Fr. Paul