Today’s Thoughts: I know many of you probably look at today as just Friday. And you are right in doing so along with most of the rest of the world but in the Passionist world today, the Friday before Ash Wednesday is the Feast of the Solemn Commemoration of the Passion. It is one of the most important and special feast days that we have in the Congregation of the Passion. It is a day when we can truly celebrate the Passion of Jesus Christ which is the lens through which we view and live our lives as Passionists.
The first reading for today takes us almost to the end of the creation story which we have been reading since Monday. In today’s episode the serpent convinces Adam and Eve to eat from the tree is the middle of the garden which God has asked them not to eat from. The serpent convinces them that God has not told them the whole truth. His hook is that if they eat from this tree they will become like gods! Adam and Eve go for it hook, line and sinker. However, they find out that they are not like gods but rather their eyes are opened to the harsh realities of life – struggle, shame, illness and evil. They come to know the shame, hurts, disappointments and sins of life in the world so much so that now they are even ashamed of themselves and they hid from God. In the Gospel we encounter the beautiful story of Jesus healing the man who could not hear and had a speech impediment. Jesus heals the man because the people have faith in Jesus’ healing powers and bring their friend to Jesus. Jesus’ compassionate act of healing so astonished the community, even though he asks them to say nothing, they cannot stop talking about it. They proclaimed the Good News that Jesus “does all things well.” There is such a contrast to these two stories. On the one hand Adam and Eve place their faith in a talking serpent and not in God. They have everything. There is nothing they lack; there is not struggle, disappointment, illness, shame, hurt, death or sin in their lives. They are in paradise! Yet I guess you might say they didn’t have everything. They didn’t have faith! They didn’t trust God. In the Gospel story a community has faith in Jesus and their friend is healed. This story tells us a lot about Jesus and his journey to Calvary. Because of Adam and Eve’s lack of faith, sin, struggle, illness, shame and death entered the world. But as our faith story tells us that – “God so love the world that he gave us his only Son that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16) Faith is always the key. As Passionists we celebrate this day with the faith that God truly does love the world and Jesus’ journey to Calvary is the ultimate sign of that love. The choice by Adam and Eve in the garden set in motion God’s greatest act of love for us and on this Friday before Ash Wednesday that is what we remember and celebrate. Perhaps in a way we, Passionists, are like the deaf man’s friends in our Gospel story today. Our lives are dedicated the remembering the Passion of Jesus Christ which reveals the power of God’s love for the world and through our special vow we bind ourselves to the memory of the Passion of Christ. By our words, our ministries, our living of life and by our faith we strive to bring this gift, this grace of God’s love to every person we meet. Or perhaps stick with the story we seek to bring the struggle to Jesus because he does all things well! My prayer for you on this special Passionist feast is that as you journey through this day you will not forget that God loves you that you will always be faithful and that the Passion of Jesus Christ will always in your heart! Have a great Friday everyone and may the Passion of Jesus Christ be always in our hearts!
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Today’s Thoughts: Where is your heart? This might be the question that connects our two readings today. In the first reading from the Book of Kings (1 Kings 11: 4-13) Solomon’s heart is in the wrong place. It is not with God, it is with the world around him. He has given his heart of other things. In the Gospel (Mark 7: 24-30) even though the woman a Greek, a Syrophoenican by birth her heart was with God. In placing her heart with God her daughter is healed.
The focus of these readings today reminds me of a verse in Matthew’s Gospel (Matthew 6: 21) “for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” In other words what we find important, what we place value in, what is the focus of our life that is where you will find your heart. Solomon finds importance in other gods, in the things of the world that is where he puts his heart. The woman in the Gospel put God at the center of her life that is where her heart is, and she is blessed with the healing of her daughter. Perhaps our question for today is – What is important to us? Where is our heart? Is it with God? Have a great Thursday everyone! Today’s Thoughts: Today, like yesterday our Gospel (Mark 7: 14-23) focuses on the essential and the non-essentials. What is essential for a person of faith is how they live from their heart. In other words, the essence of a person is what is in their heart.
Thomas Merton once wrote that “You can tell a saint by the way he [or she] sits and stands, by the way he [or she] picks things up and hold them in his [or her] hands.” I think Merton was getting at what Jesus was talking about in the Gospel today that being what we are on the outside is determined from what we hold in our hearts. The Queen of Sheba in our first reading today (1 Kings 10: 1-10) was impressed by Solomon’s wisdom and how he lived his life. His relationship with God showed in his court, his servants, his hospitality and his prayer. The queen was able to encounter God because Solomon shared his heart. Our challenge today is to be people of the heart. It is to ground our life in our relationship with God. The world around us cannot hurt us if we are grounded in and live by the Spirit of God. Have a great Wednesday everyone! Today’s Thoughts: Today our first reading (1 Kings 8:22-23, 27-30) focuses us on the temple that Solomon builds for God and our Gospel focuses us on the fact that the Pharisees and scribes the religious leaders of Jesus’ time put more importance on the accidentals of life rather than the essentials. I think our readings have something to say to us today.
In our first reading Solomon dedicates the temple but reminds the people and reminds us that God is much larger than any building. A temple, a church, a chapel are sacred and holy places to go to but we must always remember that God is much larger than any building, any place. We must always remember that God is always with us, God is always within us! And our Gospel reminds us that there are essentials in faith and there are non-essentials. We need to be able to recognize what is important and what is not. Sometimes we forget, or we place more importance on the non-essentials than on the essentials. Solomon remind us what is important the presence of God. The Pharisees and scribes always seem to remind us what is not. Have a great Tuesday everyone! Today’s Thoughts: Today's Gospel (Mark 6: 53-56) focuses on the sick coming to Jesus and the first reading (1 Kings 8:1-7, 9-13) from the Book of Kings talks about the presence of God in the community. I was thinking that when we can recognize God’s presence in the community then healing can take place.
When we know or feel God’s presence sometimes all it takes is touching the tassel on Jesus' cloak and healing takes place, things, life gets better. God's goodness is not gone we can encounter it each and every day of our lives, but it takes work because there is so much "non-goodness" out there! But if we believe in the presence of God, if we believe that Jesus walks by then we are given the opportunity to touch a tassel and encounter his Goodness. Let us pray today for the gift of God's goodness and mercy in our lives. Let us pray for the wisdom to recognize those moments when Jesus is near and the courage to reach out and touch his tassel. Let us live in the hope today that God dwells within us because we have truly build a house, a life where God can dwell forever. Have a great Monday everyone! Today’s Thoughts: In our Gospel today, we continue watching Jesus in the early days of his public life. He is curing people helping them to overcome illnesses which are preventing them from living life fully.
In today’s snapshot Simon’s mother-in-law, after being touched by Jesus, rises from her bed of fever and to begin being the host that she has always been in the past. So many more are healed that Jesus needs to get always, he needs to find some alone time, he needs to pray. However, his friends, his disciple search him out because everybody in town was looking for Him. But Jesus wants to push on. The Good News needs to be proclaimed to all. Jesus’ mission, his purpose, the meaning of his life is to be and to live the Good News. He does not do what is usual, Jesus does the unusual too. In other words, Jesus does not just do what is expected he does the unexpected too. Often, we, as people of faith, are called to continue the unusual, the unexpected ways of Jesus. Jesus did not come into the world to be celebrated and attract people to a worldly cult of physical healing and wellness. Yes, he healed but only to help people get beyond what was holding them back from becoming all God had created them to be. Jesus healed not to make someone feel better but, so they could become an active part of the community of faith. Jesus as a healer was not unusual for him. Jesus believed in what he knew himself to be. We, as people of faith, are invited to that same uniqueness. What are our lives all about? Our lives are about the uniqueness of what God has called each one of us to be. We can live this uniqueness by taking time like Jesus to pray and to trust in the presence of God as we journey through life. Job, in our first reading today, must find his uniqueness. He must learn to trust in the presence of God. Like Job, we can question and sometimes even doubt because of the struggles, misfortunes and challenges of life that we often face but if we pause to pray. If we pause to find God’s presence our uniqueness will come shining through. Have a great Sunday everyone. Today’s Thoughts: The Gospel provides us with an insight into the life of Jesus and his disciples. Jesus knew that his time was short, and his message was important. He knew that it was vital that his message should be spread as swiftly as possible. However, Jesus knew it was also important to take time away from proclaiming the Good News. He knew it was important to rest. Even Jesus himself often took time to rest and pray. It was in these moments of rest and prayer that Jesus found the inspiration and wisdom to continue his journey to Calvary.
The message of our Gospel today is clear. We need to remember that we journey through this life with God’s blessing and we need to remind ourselves of this blessing each and every day and the best way to be reminded of God’s blessings in our life is to pause from the busyness of life – to take some time of rest and prayer. In other words, we can discover the blessings of God when we spend some time in prayerful silence. It we don’t we can become overwhelmed by the busyness of life, the busyness of the world and miss the helping presence of God in our lives. We are all well aware of how life can often overwhelm us. We have many responsibilities, family, friend, work, ministry, shopping, preparing meals; getting places we need to be through traffic, bad weather. We face many pressures each and every day and sometimes they can be more than we bargained for. Our Gospel today reminds us to pause in the midst of the busyness of our lives and take a break, rest a little, pray a little and stay connected with God. This can make all the difference! Try and have a restful Saturday everyone! "And through good works, that we do for our neighbor with love and good cheer, our faith germinates and bears fruit. Let us ask ourselves, is our faith fruitful? Does our faith produce good works? Or is it barren, and therefore more dead than alive? Am I a neighbor, or do I simply walk on by? Am I one of those who choose people according to my taste?" (Pope Francis)
Today’s Thoughts: Good day everyone and happy feast day! Today is the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord, "Feast of the Meeting" and sometimes known at Candlemas Day as candles are blessed on this day. Some say this is the true end to the Christmas Season. It is certainly a day of blessing.
The Gospel (Luke 2:22-40) today tells the story of Anna and Simeon two people waiting for the Lord. They were waiting for the consolation and redemption of Israel and they both recognized it in the child Jesus. Simeon's now famous words, words recited each evening near the end of Night Prayer, words reflecting the joy Simeon has in being granted the gift of seeing Jesus. Anna too is grateful for this opportunity. An opportunity that both Anna and Simeon have prayed and waited for a long time. Perhaps, Anna and Simeon reflect for us the journey of faith that all of us are on. We long for the Kingdom of God, we long for a day when the struggles, the times of sadness in life, the difficulties of life will be gone, when will we see the gift of God in its fullest. At that moment perhaps, we will utter the words of Simeon. However, until then we wait, and we journey in faith, we keep the faith like Anna and Simeon, and we go about life hoping to encounter God's many gifts in simple ways. Being on the lookout for an opportunity to hold God in our hands and feel the blessing of God in our life. May we truly be blessed this day knowing that we are on a journey of faith that will bring us to the Kingdom where we can truly give thanks! Have a great Friday everyone. Today’s Thoughts: Our readings today talk about faithfulness and trust, especially in the promises of God. In our first reading from the First Book of Kings David reminds his son Solomon to be faithful to God. David is dying, and he is handing over the kingdom to his son. If Solomon remain faithful to the statutes, commands, ordinances, and decrees as they are written in the law of Moses then he will succeed in whatever he does. God will bless him and the kingdom.
David knows a thing or two about faithfulness and trust on God. He knows that it takes faithfulness and trust to make the relationship work. He made a number of unfaithful choices throughout his kingship. At times he struggles in being faithful and trusting in God. Being faithful and trusting is something we have to learn. For us human beings that is not always easy. We want to be in control and yet as we have learned God's ways are not always our ways, so faith demands trust in God. We need to trust that God is leading us down the right road. Jesus in the Gospel today is trying to teach the twelve the value to trust. He sends them out to preach, teach and heal but they cannot take anything with them. The have to trust, trust the communities that they go to and trust that Jesus will be with them. The twelve find out that if they trust good things happen. They cast out demons, they heal, they are able to proclaim the Good News. So as we journey through our day let us take each step today with faithfulness by trusting in God so as we live this day good things will happen. Have a great Thursday everyone! |
Fr. Paul R. Fagan, C.P. "Preacher on the Run"Just a few thoughts to help you on your journey through life...let me know from time to time what you think... Archives
April 2024
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