Today’s Thoughts: Our readings today provide us with much food for thought. In St. Paul’s Letter to the Galatians, we encounter the early struggles of the Church. Paul confronts Peter because he says one thing and does another. the early Church leadership acknowledges Paul’s vocation as Apostle to the Gentiles but when it comes time to be among that community the leadership, especially Peter, fears what other might think.
 
Sometimes in our lives we come to an understanding of God’s Word, we embrace the challenges of the Gospel but then we give in to others. We fear disapproval of our actions, the living out of our faith. You might say we give into peer pressure often in our life.
 
St. Paul give us an example today of sticking with what we value especially when we have discerned that this is what God really wants of us. Living by faith is not easy and it will often leave us open to criticism and ridicule, but like St. Paul we must trust that God is walking with us on this journey.
 
How do we come to this trust? Our Gospel today reminds us that it is through prayer. Simple prayer not complex prayer. Jesus did not create a profound, theologically complex prayer. His teaching of prayer to his disciples was a simple six-line prayer.
 
Father, hallowed be your name,
your Kingdom come.
Give us each day our daily bread
and forgive us our sins
for we ourselves forgive everyone in debt to us,
and do not subject us to the final test. (Luke 11:2-4)
 
Nothing fancy, complex, or formal just a simple conversation, a simple asking for God’s presence in our life. A praise of God, a desire for God’s Kingdom, a need for God’s daily presence and bread, a forgiveness for our sins, because we are willing to forgive too, and a desire to not face the final test. In a way I like Luke’s version of the Our Father a little better than Matthew’s. It is simpler and more to the point of what I want to say to God each day.
 
Often, we load up our days, our life, with all kinds of prayer yet whether it is Luke’s version or Matthew’s version all Jesus asks is one simple prayer to Our Father!
 
Have a blessed and holy Wednesday everyone!

​Today’s Thoughts: Here we are once again beating up poor Martha. Is that really what today Gospel is about? (Luke 10: 38-42) Is Martha really doing the wrong thing? I think not!
 
I have often felt that Martha has gotten a bad rap because of the way we have looked at this Gospel over the centuries. We seem to think that a person who is hardworking, hospitable and concerned about her guest is somehow less faithful, less holy than a person of formal prayer and that is just not true.
 
Martha is a good and faithful person, her mistake in the Gospel today is that she focuses on someone else; she is concerned about what someone else is doing rather than focusing on what she is doing. If Martha had just done her work with joy, enthusiasm and unselfishness this story in Luke’s Gospel would have never taken place.
 
Let us for a moment reverse the roles. Suppose Mary had come to Jesus to complain about Martha. “You know Jesus she is always working, always running around being hospitable. She should stop when you come into the house and sit and listen to you!” What would Jesus have said? My guess is that he says, “Mary, Mary, you are anxious and worried about many things. There is need of only one thing. Martha has chosen the better part and it will not be taken from her.”
 
You see each woman in the story chooses her journey. Chooses what she does best and that becomes her better part. Martha is a worker, she does it well. Mary sitting at the feet of Jesus, she listens, and she does it well. There will always be tension between action and contemplation, between ministry and prayer, between work and quiet time. But the challenge is to pick what is best for us at that moment. What is our better part at each moment or stage of our life? What will help us to recognize God?
 
Martha and Mary remind us that there are many gifts and that each gift is important. We just need to recognize what is important for us and not be worried about what is important for others!
 
Have a blessed and holy Tuesday everyone!

​Today’s Thoughts: Who is our Neighbor? “The Samaritan lifted him up on his own animal, took him to an inn, and cared for him.”  (Luke 10: 34) The scholar in our Gospel story today thought he was being clever. He asked questions to enhance his self-regard.  Jesus told the Good Samaritan story so that the scholar could recognize the right answer himself.  No country or religion or border defines our neighbor.  When we look up from our daily struggle or busyness and take the time to stop, look and listen, the lives of others come into focus and compassion stirs.  When we hurry to the other side of the road, indifference wins.
 
The Jesuit teacher and author John Kavanaugh, S.J., wrote in his book, Following Christ in a Consumer Society, that that we all inhabit a gospel that reveals who we are.  In our society of capitalism, the reigning gospel measures worth by what we produce, consume, and possess.  People without money, jobs, health, home, education, or status do not count for much. St. Paul in his letter to the Galatians today, warns us that a false gospel is a curse.  To measure life solely this way can smother us in emptiness.
 
The Good Samaritan was an outsider.  He was familiar with insults: people moving away to avoid contact.  No surprise that a person at home on the margins would notice a stranger sprawled in a ditch.  Privilege, wealth, power, importance, anger, and fear had not compromised his vision.  He was willing to stop, to look, and to listen. He was willing to act.
 
Transformation often begins when we allow others into our life, when we are willing to allow the world around us to touch our life in real was.  No wonder that the poor often open their doors to those in trouble, they are not afraid to let the world in.  Up close, suffering and injustice become real.  As our moral vision grows, the situation of those at a distance become visible.  When children fleeing violence show up at our border, we must find ways to help.  God says: you will find me in the poor.  That road will lead us home.
 
Perhaps a question we might ask ourselves today is, “If Jesus told this parable today, instead of the Samaritan, whom do you think he might describe as acting mercifully?
 
Have a blessed and holy Monday everyone!

​Today’s Thoughts: Our readings today present to us an interesting challenge. At first glance we might say that our readings especially the first reading from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah and the Gospel selection from Matthew have not a lot to say to us. Isaiah is speaking to the Israelites of his time and Jesus is speaking to the religious leadership of his time and seeing the readings in this light is right. However, if we look beyond the historical and theological context of the readings. we might see what they have to say to us.
 
The passage from Isaiah gives us a good starting point. I have always liked this passage because Isaiah says, “My friend had a vineyard….” (Isaiah 5:1) Isaiah is speaking about God. He calls God his friend. Friendship with God holds a special place in my own spirituality. As a preacher, I enter my moments of preaching with the understanding that I like Isaiah am going to speak about my friend, I am going to share my friend, God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit with all who are willing to listen.
 
Isaiah is speaking about his friend, Jesus in the Gospel is speaking about his Father. Yes, they are challenging their respective communities, leaderships to see life differently, but they are also challenging us at this moment in history.
 
We see our faith as a collective journey by the community called Church with a collective responsibility, but faith also means an individual journey and responsibility. God, our friend, has created us and in creating us has given us many good gifts. The gifts of life, insight and inspiration; the gifts of hope and ambition; the gifts of loving others and being loved; the gifts of sharing life and participating in life with others; the gifts of prayer, Eucharist, and contemplative silence; the gifts of strength and conviction to preserve goodness in ourselves and others.
 
God, our friend, has showered us with all these gifts and more each according to our own ability. The question our readings pose to us today is what do we do with them? Do we invest them? Do we work at making our vineyard the best it can be? Do we take care of God’s gifts? Or do we lazily sit back and allow weeds to grow? Do we neglect God’s gifts to the point of our vineyard producing nothing?
 
Our readings today challenge us to recognize the dignity of our gifts, the beauty of life and our lives, the joy that has been planted in family, others and ourselves. We are asked to live our gifts to the best of our abilities. In other words, we are asked to produce good fruit.
 
How can we live this challenge by following St. Paul’s advice to the Philippians that we hear in our second reading, “…be wholly directed to all that is true, all that deserves respect, all that is honest, pure, admirable, decent, virtuous, worthy of praise.” (Phil. 4:8) If we can care for the vineyard God, our friend, has planted within us as individuals and as Church, “Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” (Phil. 4:7) And most importantly God will welcome us into the Eternal Kingdom as a good and faithful friend!
 
 
Have a blessed and holy Sunday everyone and don’t forget to give your Friend a little time today!

​Today’s Thoughts: In our Gospel this morning Jesus turns to the disciples in one of their private moments and says, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see. For I say to you, many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, but did not see it, and to hear what you hear, but did not hear it.” (Luke 10:24)
 
Perhaps the question we should ask ourselves today is, “What do we see and what do we hear as we walk through life?” As we live this day and encounter people along the way. Let’s say a homeless person on the street do we see someone who is broken, struggling, in need of some help or do we see someone who should just “stop drinking, or drugging and get a job.” When we listen to the homily on Sunday and hear the call to faith filled action does it resonate with us; or do we say, “Let someone else in the parish take up that cross, I have way too much to do.”
 
We are gifted each day with the opportunity to encounter God, perhaps not exactly like the disciples in the Gospel. Jesus is not standing physically right in front of us. However, in the living of life we have the opportunity to encounter, Jesus, the Holy Spirit and the Father each and every moment of our life if we just take the time to listen and to see. If we just take the time to be open to the presence of God in our life!
 
Have a holy and blessed Saturday everyone!

​Today’s Thoughts: I have always had a special affection for our feast today, the Feast of the Holy Guardian Angels. Perhaps it goes back to my childhood, when in the first and second grade we always had to save room at our desk for our guardian angel. It was one way that the good Felician Sisters taught us about the spiritual life, but it also helped them keep order in classroom, for you see if we kept a space on our seats for our guardian angel then the theory was we would not bother the person sitting next to us. I have to say, sometimes it worked but most of the time it didn't!
 
A year or so ago another childhood memory came to mind. One of my favorite movies as a kid was Angels in the Outfield, (the original 1951 version with Paul Douglas, Janet Leigh, Keenan Wynn, the voice of James Whitmore and cameo appearances by Ty Cobb, Joe DiMaggio and Bing Crosby, just to name a few). I loved the movie because it took place in Pittsburgh and centered around the woeful Pittsburgh Pirates and how the Pirates overcame their last place woes with the help of Heavenly Choir Nine, a celestial team of deceased ballplayers, who began bestowing "miracles" upon the Pirates—but only on the condition that their loud mouth manager Guffy McGovern put a moratorium on swearing and fighting. It is a wonderful and funny story. I sometimes wish the Heavenly Choir Nine would return to help the Pirates once again – I can dream can’t I!
 
The point of my walk down memory lane is that the spirits of God's presence which we honor and celebrate today, Guardian Angels, play an important role in our life. Whether we acknowledge them by saving them a seat at our desk or laugh and cry with them as Hollywood brings them to life in movies like Angels in the Outfield or It's a Wonderful Life, we all have had moments and experiences in life when we sense that God has sent someone to help us.
 
It might be a special person from our past, whose loss we have grieved but who seems to continue to walk with us helping us overcome a struggle, an obstacle, or a difficult moment. Someone whose spirit whispers in our ear a good word that sends us on our way in the right direction. A loving spirit who lets us know that we are not alone, we are loved, we are important, we are special and that makes all the difference at that moment in our life.
 
Throughout the scriptures God sends his spirits, his messengers, to help people on their journey of faith. Why should this moment in time be any different? Why shouldn’t we believe that God sends his spirits, his messengers into our lives from time to time to help us on our journey?
 
Many years ago, I was running the Boston Marathon. It was my second time running that marathon. I was at mile 25 and out of gas. I could barely walk. I was just trying to find any strength so that I could keep moving forward. A young woman stepped off the sidewalk and began to walk alongside me. I didn’t know her. She asked me my name and then put her hand on my shoulder and said, “You can do this! Let’s run!” She began to run and so I began to run. She asked me if this was my first marathon and I said “no.” She said, “Then you know that you can do this so let’s run!” And we began to run faster. In the next moment as I seemed to get new energy I looked to my side and she was gone. I never got a chance to ask her name or to say thanks! I am sure it was my guardian angel just making sure I kept going. It is something that she has done now for 72 plus years in many different ways. You might say I have gotten her, “her wings,” many times over!
 
In the Talmud there is a saying, “Every blade of grass has an angel that bends over it and whispers... Grow, Grow!"
 
In the Gospel today (Matthew 18: 1-5, 10) Jesus reminds us that our angels are always looking upon the face of God. In other words, they have got a special connection with God that someday we just might need. So, as you journey through today remember to save a little space for your guardian angel and take a moment to thank her or him for the journey so far!
 
Have a blessed and holy Friday everyone!

​Today’s Thoughts: Our readings are rather straight forward today. In today’s gospel, Jesus sends seventy-two disciples out to announce the Kingdom of God to all the places that Jesus intends to visit. Jesus asks the disciples to go, to travel with nothing. They are not to be independent, but dependent. Not an easy way to travel. They are to be dependent on the places they go and the people they encounter. They are to be dependent on Jesus even though he is not there with them physically. They are to trust in their relationship with Jesus. This is all part of their learning process.
 
We are asked in our journey of faith to move from independence to dependence. We are asked to trust in our relationship with God. As I mentioned above and as we know from our faith story this is not an easy process. Job somehow found a way, but often Jesus’ disciple did and like them we will fail too at times. We will place more trust in the world or in ourselves. Our challenge is always to let go and let God!
 
Have a holy and blessed Thursday everyone!

​Today’s Thoughts: “No one sets a hand to the plow and looks to what was left behind is fit for the Kingdom of God.” (Luke 9:62) For me this closing verse of our Gospel today says it all. Looking back is not an option in our journey of faith. Yes, we can recall stories, experiences and moments of our past, but we cannot be about our daily life always looking back.
 
Think of someone pushing a plow or driving a car or running a race or doing anything that asks for our attention to what is in front of us. If we turn to look back bad things can happen plowing the field, driving the car or running the race. In our Gospel today Jesus asks us to live in the moment and yes sometimes living in the moment can be hard if not next to impossible. Yet living in the moment is what is going to make all the difference in our journey of faith.
 
I don’t know too many people who would not want to bury their mother or father or say good-bye to their family if they were leaving but I don’t think Jesus is saying that we cannot do these things. Remember Jesus’ sayings are often more for effect rather than hard and fast rules. If our family is valuable to us shouldn’t God be also?
 
Living in the past, focusing on the past does not allow us to move forward. It can often cause us to miss the presence of God when we most need it. If we are going to follow Jesus, we need to focus on what is right in front of us not what is behind us.
 
Have a blessed and holy Wednesday everyone!

​Today’s Thoughts: Perhaps these words from Pope Francis are what Jesus is getting at in the Gospel today. “Before all else, the Gospel invites us to respond to the God of love who saves us, to see God in others and to go forth from ourselves to seek the good of others.”
 
Jesus sees God in Nathanael and he calls Nathanael to follow him. Jesus see God in all of us. All of us are invited to respond to God’s love!
 
Today we honor the Archangels Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael. May these trusted servants of God protect, guide, and bring comfort and healing to us. The images that we find in the Book of the Prophet Daniel and the Book of Revelation today are human images of the place of heaven. Being in the eternal presence of God like Michael, Gabriel and Raphael is beyond our understanding but it is the goal of our journey through life may these three servants of God always be present to us in this journey!
 
Have a blessed and holy Tuesday everyone!

​Today’s Thoughts: The dangers of living out an arrogant self-importance life are captured in the readings from Job and today's Gospel from Luke. At first, I struggled to find a connection between these two readings, but after careful reflection it finally dawned on me.  Satan’s challenge for God to test Job’s faith and the desire of the disciples to be ranked on personal greatness are two powerful examples of how the abuse of “ego” can easily divert one’s focus from God and his love.
 
The story of Job has been repeated thousands of times in the past but taking a different approach and interpreting the message from Satan’s perspective provides a new opportunity to shed light on another aspect of human nature.  Job’s faith and devotion to God speak for themselves, but Satan’s obvious abuse of ego deserves attention.  Satan accompanied the angels of the Lord with specific intent to place a challenge before God.  His own ego could not bear witness to Job’s relentless faith to the Lord so he eagerly accepted God’s offer and exerted his devious will to bring Job harm, especially to his family and personal possessions. The result was treacherous but in the end Job ultimately wins God’s favor and thus defeats the misguided ego of Satan.
   
In the Gospel we find the disciples of Jesus, out of sheer stubbornness exerting their own egos of self-gratification, putting Jesus to test by questioning who is the greatest among them. As the story unfolds, we quickly learn that in the eyes of God personal humility is held to a much greater value than actively seeking public self-recognition and acclaim.  In today’s world, humility of this nature seems highly impossible given the perpetual attention by TV and news media to endlessly advertise mundane gimmicks which promise to enhance personal appearances, wealth, and self-gratification.  But where should our loyalties lie? In the eyes of humans, or in the message of faith and devotion as experienced by Job, and expressed by Jesus in his reaction to the disciples?
 
We might say that our readings today challenge us to always live in the present because the future does not yet exist, and the past is gone forever. All we have is the present moment and the many ways this present moment will help us to encounter the presence of God within ourselves and others.
 
Have a blessed and holy Monday everyone!