Today’s Thoughts: I have a couple of thoughts about our Gospel today...
Perhaps my first thought is not directly related to today Gospel, but it is a good starting point for my thoughts today. I was wandering around the internet a couple of years or so ago and came across a video of Denzel Washington giving a commencement address at a college. In his talk he gave the students 5 or 6 suggestions or principles for living their life. His first principle or suggestion was – “Put God first, make God a part of everything that you do!” He told them a story about his college days and how he was not doing well, his grade point was 1.7 and he had an experience in his mother beauty shop that changed his focus. Since that time, he has tried to “put God first” in everything that he has done. I think Mr. Washington’s principle reminded me of one of my own principles of life that God asks of me each day, "stay in love with me and live out of that love!" At a community mass a couple of years ago one of my brother Passionist reflected on today's Gospel and he challenged us with the point that sometimes we would prefer not to see. The blind man in the Gospel wants to see but sometimes we find it easier not to see, it means less responsibility, less hurt or pain, less expectations on us. If I look at my own life, I would have to say his observation is true. I think there have been times when I really didn't want to see, it was easier not to! If we can “put God first,” if we can find and enliven our first love for God, others and ourselves then we will always want to see! Or perhaps if we ask God in faith to see then our first love will once again come to life! May this day be one of seeing, of putting God first and rich in energy grounded in love! Have a blessed and holy Monday everyone.
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Today’s Thoughts: “You do not need to know precisely what is happening, or exactly where it is all going. What you need is to recognize the possibilities and challenges offered by the present moment, and to embrace them with courage, faith and hope.” (Thomas Merton)
Perhaps this is the spirit of today Gospel (Matt. 25:14-30) that we take the chance and invest our life. There are always risks involved but, in the end, wouldn't it be great to hear God say to us, "Well done good and faithful servant, come share my joy!" The word talent or talents that we find in our Gospel today at one time had the meaning in English of a “large sum of money,” which is its meaning in Greek. However, through the years influence by this parable the meaning came to be a “natural capacity for success in some mental or physical activity.” Thus, we think of a talent as a special gift that we have for sports, art, music and many other things. Our scripture today, however, is not talking about special gifts, but talent as the challenge to use our God given ability to be compassionate, understanding, wise, forgiving, merciful, loving. We are challenged to be the person created in the image and likeness of God by using our God given talents to make this world a better place not just for ourselves but for all. We are challenged today to take a risk with our lives by not keeping them safe and hidden away. I have always said when we hear or read one of Jesus’ parables and at the end of the parable someone is outside, “You don’t want to be that person!” Today, the third servant in the end because he fails to take a risk, because he safely buries his talent ends up “outside where there is wailing and grinding of teeth.” We are asked today to trust in the gifts, talents, presence of God in our lives and take the risk so that when we meet God face to face, we will hear “Well done good and faithful servant…Come share my joy!” Have a blessed and holy Sunday everyone and don’t forget to give God a little time today! Today’s Thoughts: I was struck today by Jesus’ closing words in the Gospel today, "But when the Son of Man comes will he find faith on earth?" (Luke 18:1-8) My guess is that Jesus’ question in today’s Gospel is always the underlying question when it come to our human condition. There are so many experiences that seem to make faith difficult. So many experiences that direct our attention away from our relationship with God.
In the Gospel today, Jesus reminds us to pay attention and be persistent especially in prayer. In many ways it is these two qualities that will help keep our faith alive so that when Jesus does return he will find faith! ... Key thought for our journey of life today..."Being attentive to God especially through persistence in prayer!" Have a holy and blessed Saturday everyone! Today’s Thoughts: In our Gospel today, we are presented with a difficult lesson. Jesus emphasizes over and over to his disciples and to those listening to him that they will not know the day or the hour that the Son of Man will be revealed. Jesus stresses that they will be going about their normal routines when they will need to stop what they are doing, leave their belongings, there stuff, leave loved ones and friends to take note of his coming.
Jesus implies that they will otherwise be lost as the people in Noah and Lot’s time. “One will be taken, the other left.” The people, it seems, were confused by Jesus’ words, and respond, “[taken] where, Lord?” Jesus says, with a bit of frustration, “Where the body is, there also the vultures will gather.” This passage, I think, might just be saying to us that our true future, eternal life, is not about the body, but more about the spirit. If we do not take note of the coming of the Lord and ignore Jesus’ warning that we must put matters of everyday life aside to follow him, we will be subject to death. The “vultures” will gather around us. We do have a choice, to “Stand erect and raise your heads because your redemption is at hand.” Today, let us choose to lose our life and follow Jesus. Have a blessed and holy Friday everyone! Today’s Thoughts: “The Kingdom of God is among you.” These are Jesus’ words in today’s Gospel (Luke 17:20-25). What do they mean?
On the one hand Jesus could be talking about himself. He is the Kingdom of God at that moment. The religious leaders are looking around for God and signs of God, yet God is in their midst. The Kingdom of God is among them, and they are missing it! Another way of looking at Jesus’ words is that Jesus does not say that the Kingdom of God is in us or above us or around us; Jesus says the Kingdom is among us. Perhaps Jesus is saying that none of us alone possesses the Kingdom of God. Each of us shares in the Kingdom, thus we need each other for the Kingdom to be fully appreciated. With these two understandings of Jesus’ words today our challenge is to be on the lookout for marks of the Kingdom. We need to be on the lookout for the presence of Jesus in our life. And what will help us not miss the marks of the Kingdom and the presence of Jesus? Well as the first reading tells us (Wisdom 7:22b-8:1) the gift of the spirit of wisdom and remember wisdom produces friends of God! Have a blessed, holy, wise and wonderful Thursday everyone. Today’s Thoughts: In our Gospel (Luke 17:11-19) Jesus responds with mercy to the ten lepers who asked for mercy. Yet it is the Samaritan in the group who returns to offer thanks. How often do we get caught up in the attitude that “Life is about me!” How often do we forget that all we are and all we have comes from God? When those good moments happen; when life falls into place for us; when things work out just as we had planned, how often do we remember to pause and say thank you?
If we look at the history of the world, the history of life, the history of the Church, great decisions have been made but so to have great mistakes and poor choices. Things have constantly changed sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse yet what has endured is the presence of God. As Jesus tells us in the Gospel today, faith and thankfulness are key ingredients in the journey of life. We need to have faith, to trust in God’s mercy. We also need to be thankful for that mercy each and every day of our life. Blessings and peace to all today! Enjoy your Wednesday everyone! Today’s Thoughts: There is a quote from St. John of Damascus that goes, “What is more precious than to be in the hands of God? God is Life and Light, and those who are in God’s hands are life and light.” There is something very beautiful and comforting about these words as there is about the words in the Book of Wisdom (Wisdom 2:23-3:9) our first reading today.
We most often hear this reading or at least part of it at a funeral mass. I always find it comforting to think that the person that I have come to remember is now in the hands of God and that they are at peace. I think back to my mother’s death and the years of struggle that proceeded that moment. She struggled with dementia for over ten years. She was not herself. She was not the woman who brought me into the world or raised me to be the man I am today. At times she did not know me or anyone else in the family. Her life memories were all jumbled up somewhere in her brain. The expressions on her face were often those of confusion and struggle but at the moment that I celebrated her funeral mass I was comforted by the fact that she was now with God, she was now at peace! The words of the Book of Wisdom and St. John of Damascus comfort us today especially as we think of those important people in our life that we have lost. Yet, Jesus, in the Gospel (Luke 17:7-10), reminds us that throughout our life good works are expected of us. Living life in relationship to God is what is expected of us. We are not special because we do good things; we are simply God servants, no more no less. The gift of being at peace, the gift of being in God’s hands, the gift of being life and light are just that gifts given us by God. We should not expect praise and honor because we live a life of faith. It is expected of us. Yet in living a life of faith we are comforted by the end of the journey when God, who is Life and Light, will hold us in peace! Have a blessed and holy Tuesday everyone! Today’s Thoughts: Our readings today are point and counterpoint to each other. They warn of the inherent pitfalls of sin. In the Book of Wisdom, we hear “think of the Lord in goodness, and seek him in integrity of heart.” Yet we also hear a warning to be spiritually fit and be free of sin and injustice. Without being in that state we can be shut out from the grace of God.
Luke’s gospel continues to talk about sin, which is not a topic that most of us like to embrace with vigor. Perhaps it is because we have been influenced too much by societal norms which seem to reject the notion of sin in the modern world. As we reflect on the readings today, the words of Pope Francis come to mind when he asks, “Who Is Jorge Mario Bergoglio?” and he responds, “I am a sinner.” Perhaps it is good to know that we are the same company as the Pope. Our readings not only dwell on the effects of sin but also the resolution to bring us back into the light of the Spirit. We hear in Wisdom that the all-embracing God knows our heart and will acquit us if we are truly repentant. In Luke we hear a lesson on how to forgive others. If someone wrongs us seven times a day, we are called to forgive seven times. Yes, we are called to constantly forgive, God in his unquantifiable love forgives us if we truly have a repentant heart. The work of forgiveness is never finished. It is an ongoing process until we meet God face to face. Have a great Monday everyone. Today’s Thoughts: We might say that our Gospel parable today is about waiting and watching but perhaps it is more so about actively living our faith. The parable presents us with five wise and five foolish young women who are waiting for the bridegroom to arrive.
The five foolish young women do not have enough oil to keep their lamps burning and the groom is about to arrive, and the “short sighted” ones ask the “well prepared” ones for help. Now given what Jesus often challenges us to be caring people and do good things for others you might ask, “Why don’t the five who have, give to the five who don’t have?” Isn’t that what Jesus would want us to do. He often asks us to share! Doesn’t Jesus say that all are welcome, the haves and the have nots? Perhaps, this parable is meant to scare us all into behaving lest we get caught short. From scriptural point of view the images that the parable provides for us are clear, the groom is the Christ. The young women are the Church, the believers. The oil is faith. All of us are gifted, graced with faith. So, the next question might be, the five who do not have enough oil, what or who do they represent? Well, faith is a virtue, a grace, a gift, but it is strengthened by action. Faith cannot be passive; it must be active. Faith is not enough just to have; it must be lived. Faith-watching, faith-waiting, faith living is always active, lively, expressive of our relationship, our friendship with Jesus, the Father and the Spirit. Those who ask for more oil, in our parable, have not been exercising, living out the light of their faith. The reason the five wise women cannot give their oil is that God alone gives faith. I cannot give faith to anybody. I can only be an example of the gift of faith, by the way I live out my faith as it influences my life and my living. The five did not spend the watching, waiting, living of life well and they ran out of oil, they ran out of time. A few years ago, I was reading an article about how Pope Francis sided with Pope Benedict in one aspect of the liturgical wars that always seem to go on within the Church. This specific issue goes back to the present translation of the Roman Missal. Now you might not be aware of it but during the institution narrative of the Blood of Christ, under the current translation, the priest prayers, “For this is the chalice of my blood, the blood of the new and eternal covenant, which will be poured out for you and the many…” The previous translation was, “For this is the chalice of my blood, the blood of the new and eternal covenant, which will be poured out for you and for all…” Now since the new translation has come out there has been an ongoing debate between translators, liturgists, theologians and many others. Up until the time I read the article, I took the side of those that said, “for all.” Jesus died for all. I truly believe that. However, Pope Francis has cause me to pause and look at things differently. Pope Francis said, “The ‘many’ who will rise for eternal life are to be understood as the ‘many’ for whom the blood of Christ was shed.” He added that “for many” better expresses the idea that people have a choice to make in this life – whether to be for God or not. In other words, faith must be lived. Yes, Jesus died for all but not everyone lives their faith, not everyone chose Christ. Jesus poured out his blood for those who live their faith. So, we wait, watch, listen, but we do these things actively. We will be found when we live expecting to be found. Waiting involves living actively by faith so that our oil increases and the light of our lamps enlightens our hearts and souls. So, it is not just saying “Lord, Lord”, but it is about living our faith brightly in a world that is often dark, ready and waiting of Christ and the feast to come. Christ is worth the wait, but as we find out today, waiting is more than just standing around. Have a great Sunday everyone and don’t forget to give God a little time today! Today’s Thoughts: “No servant can serve two masters.” (Luke 16:13) No we cannot divide our focus when it comes to living life, when it comes to our faith. And so, offer the following reflection so that we might focus on what really matters today…
Celebrate each moment as it comes to you…with faith, trust and gratitude. Because all that happens in our life has God’s mark on it. Each day offer a simple fiat…It can be as simple as taking a breath, or the beat of our heart, but let it say thanks God! Seek God each day, not in some far-off place, not in the trappings of history but in the world around us. God is always right here, in this place, in our hearts. God is right here, where we stand, where we walk, where we run, where we sit, where we lie down, in everything we do. God is right here, in our family, in our friends, even in strangers we meet. God is in our workplace, our homes, our yards, our living rooms, our family rooms, our bed rooms. Because these are all places, altars where we offer and receive love and thankfully God is there! Celebrate life; celebrate life with gratitude and thankfulness today and always! May we also remember Saint Martin of Tours whose feast we celebrate today. Have a holy and blessed Saturday 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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