Today’s Thoughts: My thought for today is drawn from today’s readings, (Gospel Mark 1: 29-39), our constant 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 today’s passage 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 daydreaming, 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 so 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 [or her] heart, but believes that what he [or she] says is going to happen, it will be granted him [or her]." (Mark 11:23) In other words the power to heal and cast out demons is within our grasp we just need to believe and not doubt. Perhaps, all we need to do is have faith and remember as we go through this day, “the force," the power, the presence of Jesus is with us to heal and to cast out demons, our job is to believe! Have a blessed and holy Wednesday everyone.
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Today’s Thoughts: On the day in Capernaum, which we hear about in today's Gospel, (Mark 1: 21-28), Jesus taught as one having authority, in fact he taught every day that way. Perhaps that is the problem today that often those teaching really do not teach with authority. They think they do but they don't.
Authority comes from living an authentic life. We cannot say one thing and then do another and expect to have authority. We cannot say life is important and then only value life at the time of birth. We cannot say children, women and men are created in the image and likeness of God and then protect people who hurt them. We cannot talk about freedom and then limit it for certain people. We cannot talk about shepherding and service then live as one who is privileged and entitled. We cannot say human life is most important and then treat inanimate objects with more reverence than people. We cannot say community is important and then restrict the participation of the community. In the Gospel we are reminded that Jesus lived an authentic life. A life focused on others, a life of authority! We long for teaching with authority today but everywhere we turn it seems to be missing. Jesus knew what he was talking about. He knew that people were more important than things. He knew that boundaries could be crossed if it meant life. He knew that people were more important than ritual, dress and mystery. Jesus offered all who listened to him the chance to allow God to change and shape their hearts into a new way of life. If we listen to Jesus and follow his way we will come to know true authority, we will come to live an authentic life! Have a blessed and holy Tuesday everyone. Today’s Thoughts: My reflections on this Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, once again take me to the moment in our Gospel when God, the Father, proclaims Jesus as beloved. Now in growing up I was a middle child, not a true middle child because I only had an older sister and younger brother and supposedly you need two older and two younger siblings to be a true middle child. However, I have proclaimed myself a middle child. I never got any attention! I was neglected! Mom and Dad always like them best. – Not really!
For most of my childhood I sought the attention of my parents and I guess I was not good in sharing it with my sister and brother. I was also a "pleaser." I wanted everything to be affirmed by my parents, I didn't want to do anything that displeased them, believe me it was an impossible task. Now my parents were not the most demonstrative people in the world. They had grown up through the Great Depression, World War II and where serious people. Sure, they could have fun and enjoy themselves, but they certainly did not gush over anyone or anything. My father worked long hours at times and my mother was a stay-at-home mom. It was not until I went to high school that we got a second car. My parents were busy about many things, work, their faith, their family and could not always be present at the things we, the children, were involved in. They rarely came to my baseball games, my swimming meets, my basketball games. I was in one play during high school, and they didn't make any of the performances. I ran cross-country and track my junior and senior year, but they never saw me run. At the time it seemed like a big deal to me, I wondered if I was really a good son? If they really loved me? Now let me say my parents were great people, the best parents and they loved me very much but as we all know parents seems so "dumb" when we are in our teens, but they get very smart when we get to our 20's. As I look back now my parents were always present at the most significant moments of my life. They were always there at times when it really mattered. I have two images that will always stay with me, the first image is of my father at my profession of vows. He sat with my mother in one of the first two pews and a friend took a picture of him as I was professing my vows, the look on his face was priceless and you can even see a few tears running down his face. If I could have heard his heart at that moment, I am sure I would have heard, "This is my beloved son, in whom I am pleased!" My father died four months after I took my vows. The second image is of my mother at my ordination. The day before my ordination as my mother was traveling to New York, she fell and broke her arm. My brother took her to the hospital and the doctor suggested that she have surgery. As my brother tells it, my mother said, "No way, just set it, my son is being ordained tomorrow and I have to be there!" The doctor set her arm and by the afternoon she continued on her way to New York. She was in a lot of pain for the next week or so, but she was there. In her presence that day I heard the words, "This is my beloved son, in whom I am pleased!" We all have these moments when our parent’s presence speaks volumes to us, when their presence proclaims us as beloved daughters and sons. That is what we celebrate on this Monday honoring the Baptism of the Lord. Today we remember that important moment when the Father and the Spirit needed to be there for Jesus. This moment sends Jesus on his way. This moment sends Jesus into his ministry. This moment sends Jesus to the Cross and the Resurrection. It is a moment that gets played out over and over again in our important moments of faith through our parents, families, friends and faith community, God proclaims us as beloved daughters and sons. Moments like Baptism, First Communion, Confirmation, Marriage, Ordination and any sacramental moment in our life. God claims us as a daughter or son who is beloved and sends us on our way. Let us pray for our mothers, our fathers, our families, our friends and to our God today so that when we next receive communion, we might hear those words in our heart, "You are my beloved daughter, you are my beloved son, I am so profoundly pleased!" Have a blessed and holy Monday everyone. Today’s Thoughts: I have always liked the short story by Henry van Dyke call The Other Wise Man. It was made into a movie starring Martin Sheen called The Fourth Wise Man. The premise of the story is that there were not three wise men, magi, from the east but four, the fourth one's name was Artaban. Now Artaban was late to the meeting place from which the magi were to start their journey of following the star, so he was always playing catch-up to the other three magi. He never catches up to them and so he does not meet the baby Jesus in Bethlehem. By the time he gets there the others are gone and so is the Holy Family.
Artaban is determined to meet the Christ so from Bethlehem he sets out on a journey to catch up, to meet the Christ. He wants to give him some rare stones, jewels, that he has brought along however Artaban is late for every opportunity to meet Jesus because he is always stopping to help someone in need. He finally ends his journey after many, many years in Jerusalem. He is old and tired, and he has given all his precious stones away to help others. He is dejected because he now has nothing to give Jesus if he meets him. Artaban finally does meet Jesus as Jesus is carrying his Cross to Calvary. Jesus tells Artaban that he is thankful for his many gifts. Artaban doesn't understand because he thinks he has no gift to give. Jesus tells Artaban that his life has been his gift. Every time he stopped to help someone it was a gift and Jesus is very pleased with the gift, in fact it is the best gift! I always think of this story on the Feast of the Epiphany of the Lord, because I think Artaban represents all of us. At birth we all begin a journey to meet the Lord it is called life. We have many opportunities to encounter Jesus. Sometimes we miss him and sometimes we don't. Our gift is our life and how we live it. Each time we help others we add to our gift, each time we help others encounter Jesus we add to our gift, each time we live life to the best of our ability we add to our gift! We find ourselves in the midst of a world that often does not recognize Christ and does not give the gifts we have been entrusted with. We live in a world that often does not see the needs of others around us. We live in a world that often disrespects the gift of life. We live in a world that often fails to see people in need because we have our backs turn and we think only of ourselves! The Feast of the Epiphany of the Lord reminds us that Christ's presence and message is universal, Jesus came for all. Again, let me repeat that – Christ’s came for all of us! Our challenge is to bring that message to the world for Jesus by not turning our backs, by not holding on to our gifts but by sharing our gifts with whomever we meet! Let's continue our journey to find the Christ today, let's live our lives, let’s give our gifts! Happy Epiphany everyone and have a blessed and holy Sunday! Today’s Thoughts: In our Gospel today from John we have a very familiar passage, the Wedding Feast at Cana. There are many things that I could say about this moment in the life and ministry of Jesus. For John, it is the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry. It is a moment when others, especially his disciples, first encounter his glory through the miracle of changing water into wine. It is a moment when we are reminded of Mary’s presence in the life and ministry of Jesus. I could go on and on reflecting on John’s mysticism, his theology and countless theological reflection on what this passage means, however I am going to take a different approach.
In my flawed perspective perhaps the most interesting part of this Gospel story is the fact that Jesus was invited into the life of these two young people. The story tells us that Mary was invited to this wedding and so were Jesus and his disciples. We don’t know who the young couple were. Friends of the family? Prominent families in Cana? Childhood friends of Jesus? We just don’t know. All we know is that they invited Jesus to their wedding and life would never be the same again. In fact, we are still remembering and telling their story. For me the question that this story should cause us to ask is – “Have we invited Jesus into our home, our story, our life?” When you think about it everyone who invited Jesus into their home, their life was never the same again. Peter invited Jesus into his home and the first thing Jesus did was heal his mother-in-law. Think of Jairus, the leader of the synagogue, he invited Jesus into his home and his daughter was healed. Think of Zacchaeus, the hated tax collector, he invited Jesus into his home and was never the same again, and the examples go on and on. Inviting Jesus into our home, into our life can change things forever! All while I was growing up our family had a portrait of Jesus in our living room. It was a print of a painting done by Warner Sallman. It was always there right in our living room for everyone to see who entered our house. It traveled with us to every house we lived in and even traveled with my mother when she entered assisted living and ultimately memory care in the last years of her life. I don’t ever remember talking about the picture with my family or others. It was just always there. I am sure I walked by it, hundreds of thousands of times. I don’t remember ever stopping to acknowledge it, but I am sure that I did. I don’t know what the rest of my family would say, but I believe this simple portrait had an impact on all our lives, for the better. At some point in the journey of life my mother and father invited Jesus into our home, and it made all the difference. Perhaps the simple truth, simple question of our Gospel today is – “Have we invited God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit into our home, our life?” Have a holy and blessed Saturday everyone! Today’s Thoughts: Our readings today from the First Letter of John and Mark’s Gospel are as full of symbolism. Water, blood and the Spirit are symbols of the sacraments of initiation, Baptism, the Eucharist and Confirmation. We see all these sacraments in our readings today.
John in his First Letter tells us that water, blood, and the Spirit, who is truth, witness to the humanity, mission, and divinity of Jesus. In the Gospel, we encounter the scene of Jesus’ baptism by John the Baptist. We hear about the descent of the Holy Spirit that then sends Jesus into the desert and ultimately into his ministry, and his confirmation as the Beloved Son of the Father. In the Christmas season song, the Twelve Days of Christmas we hear the refrain - My true love gave to me…. Perhaps, from our reading we might say that God, is our true love and life the song God has given his love to us abundantly. God has given us his Son, his love, his Mercy, his Truth, his Spirit. God has given us faith, hope, freedom, life, contentment, security, and peace. What does God’s true love ask of us? To continue Jesus’ mission, to set the captives free, give sight to the blind, forgive debts, to bring glad tidings to the poor, and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord. We are to ‘be Christ’ to others through our gifts. We are to be people of faith, hope and love. We are to take what we believe put it into action, daily, for life. We are called to bring forth God’s love abundantly. Have a blessed and holy Friday everyone! Today’s Thoughts: In today's scriptures I find two interesting thoughts. The first centers around Jesus' conversation with Nathanael. Jesus sees Nathanael as a truthful, genuine person, he had no duplicity, in other words "what you see is what you get." What Nathanael says is what he does. For Jesus that is refreshing, if we could encounter it today it would be refreshing for us also.
In our world it seems that saying the right thing at the right time is the norm, it is very hard to find a person with duplicity. Very few people say what they really mean. We say what we think people want to here because it gets us power, influence, authority and status. I believe we really want to be truthful but at times if we are, there is so much to lose. Yet repeatedly in the scriptures we are reminded that truth is what sets us free. It might not get us power, authority, influence, wealth and status in this life, but this life is not the only thing we are living for, we are living for a life of eternal love. Truth, authenticity, genuineness are the hallmarks of Jesus' mission and ministry, yes, they took him to the Cross, but they also took him to the Resurrection. In the first reading today, John tells us that our journey of faith will not be easy, that we will be hated. However, we shouldn't fear, we shouldn't worry if we make the journey as people with love in our hearts. It is another way of saying that love as we see it and encounter it in Christ casts out fear! Thus, we are challenged today to live as people with duplicity, to live as people whose actions match our words, to live as genuine people of truth with love in our hearts. The journey will not be easy in fact sometimes it will be downright difficult but the love of God, others and self that we carry in our heart will cast out all our fear! Have a holy and blessed Thursday everyone! Today’s Thoughts: There is a very important question asked in today's Gospel, "What are you looking for?" Jesus asks this question of the two disciples of John who are following him, one of whom we learn later is Andrew, Peter's brother. However, back to the question, "What are you looking for?" It is a question that perhaps each of us should ask ourselves every morning before our day begins.
What are we looking for today? Some might answer this question very quickly and confidently, peace, security, love, relationships, family, wealth, power, forgiveness, etc. while for others the answer might be difficult; I don't know; I am not sure; I will never find it! There are many things we want, some are simple and obtainable while other things are more complex, and they often seem out of reach. For the two disciples in the Gospel the answer was simple they want to see where Jesus was staying. perhaps the question and answer for us is equally as simple, deep down all of us want to see God in our life. We want to be in the presence of God as we live our life each day. With John's recommendation the two disciples sensed something special about Jesus. As people of faith directed by Mary, John, Peter, Paul and many others we sense something special about Jesus, we want to know where he stays. We want to be in his presence. We might say that is the journey of faith is all about. It is about putting ourselves in the presence of God as we live each day of our life! So, let's answer the question as we begin this day, "What are we looking for?" Hopefully the answer is Christ, finding the presence of Christ in our lives! Have a blessed and holy Wednesday everyone! Today’s Thoughts: Today we celebrate the Most Holy Name of Jesus and our scriptures, especially our Gospel, once again focus us on our relationship with Jesus. What might we take always from the celebration of this feast and our scriptures today?
For me the focus today is on the Name of Jesus. I have always found a name to be important. I am very proud to be named after my father and I think one of my sadness's of life is that I never had the chance to continue the tradition and name a son, Paul Raymond. I also struggle with names, especially remembering the names of people that I have met. I am in awe of people who can and do remember names. Names identify people, names honor people, names define people and place people in the context of history and life. I have always wondered why over the centuries Jesus' name became such a focal point of disrespect. Often when I lead young people in an examination of conscience before the Sacrament of Reconciliation, I will talk about how our words often hurt. I ask those present this, "How would we like it if every time something went wrong, every time someone got angry, every time someone expressed anger, they would use our name?" The answer is always a universal, "I would not like it at all!" Yet, isn't that what we do with Jesus, with God? Why is that? What causes us to say, "God dammit!" or "Jesus Christ!" with anger and disrespect? As I said yesterday if we know ourselves, we have a better chance of knowing God. If we respect ourselves, we have a much better chance of respecting God and others! I am sure all of us value our name. It is important to us to be respected for who we are. It is important for us to be known by our name. It is important for our name not to be disrespected. Likewise, it is important for God, for Jesus to be respected too! As we live this day let's make a conscious effort to honor, respect and cherish The Name of Jesus! When we use it let us use it to grace life with hope and love – not fill it with anger! Every morning and evening I begin prayer in the Passionist tradition by praying, "At the name of Jesus every knee must bend in heaven, on earth and under the earth and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God, the Father." It keeps me focused; perhaps it can for you too! Have a great Tuesday everyone! Today’s Thoughts: Our readings today focus on Christology, who Christ is for us. The saints we celebrate today St. Basil the Great and St. Gregory Nazianzen have a smile on their faces as they spent a lot of time talking, writing and defining Christology – the humanness of Christ and the divinity of Christ, or perhaps said differently the mystery of Christ. Who exactly is Christ in our life? How have we come to know him?
For me one of the interesting aspects of our readings is not so much the presentation of Christology, who Christ is but it is the reality of coming to know Christ for ourselves. John the Baptist shows us the way; to know Christ we need to know ourselves, know who we are and who we are not. John knows himself and in knowing who he is, he knows Christ. John the Evangelist in the first reading tells his community to remember who they are and in doing so they will remember and know Christ. It is an age-old process; it is the foundation of our journey of faith – to know ourselves is to know God! Perhaps in these early days of the New Year it might be good to pause and do a little self-reflection, not in a narcissistic way, but in an honest way. Who are we? What do we value? What do we believe? What are our struggles? What are our faults and failings? What are our joys and hopes? As we once again come to recognize and know ourselves, we will once again come to recognize and know our God! Have a holy and blessed Monday 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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