Today’s Thoughts: Pope Francis said – “Always remember this: life is a journey. It is a path, a journey to meet Jesus…. A journey in which we do not encounter Jesus is not a Christian journey. It is for the Christian to continually encounter Jesus, to watch him, to let oneself be watched over by Jesus, because Jesus watches us with love; he loves us so much, and he is always watching over us. To encounter Jesus also means allowing oneself to be gazed upon by Jesus. “But, Father, you know,” one of you might say to me, “you know that this journey is horrible for me, I am such a sinner, I have committed many sins... how can I encounter Jesus?” And you know that the people whom Jesus most sought out were the greatest sinners; and they reproached him for this, and the people — those who believed themselves righteous — would say: this is no true prophet, look what lovely company he keeps! He was with sinners... And Jesus said: I came for those in need of salvation, in need of healing. Jesus heals our sins. And along the way Jesus comes and forgives us — all of us are sinners, we are all sinners — even when we make a mistake, when we commit a sin, when we sin. And the forgiveness that we receive in Confession is an encounter with Jesus. We always encounter Jesus.”
Jesus asks the crowd and his disciples to live in our Gospel story today – “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself [or herself], take up his [or her] cross, and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his [or her] life will lose it, but whoever loses his [or her] life for my sake and that of the Gospel will save it.” In other words, our lives are ground in our relationship with Jesus. By our words, our living of life and by our faith we are to strive to bring Christ’s presence, the grace of Christ’s love to every person we meet. Sticking with our Gospel story and the words of Pope Francis, we seek to bring the struggles of our life to Jesus because he does all things well and is always willing to forgive! My prayer for all of us today is that as we journey through this day and every day, we will not forget that Christ loves us and that Christ will always be faithful and present! Have a blessed and holy Friday everyone.
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Today’s Thoughts: In today’s Gospel, Jesus asks his disciples, "Who do people say that I am?" Their response is to mention various prophets that represent important aspect of his mission. Then he asks, “But who do you say that I am?” Ok, you have heard what people are says, but you have been with me, seen the things that I do. Heard the things that I have said. What do you think? Peter immediately responds, "You are the Christ." Well done Peter! You are catching on, you are listening. You seem to understand.
However, as Jesus continues to talk about his mission, he brings up the fact that he “must suffer greatly and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and rise after three days.” Jesus’ self-image reflects the notions of suffering, death, and resurrection. This reflection of who Jesus is does not go well with Peter. Peter’s image of Christ didn’t include a suffering and death. I can see Jesus hanging his head in disappointment. Peter doesn’t understand. More work needs to be done! Sometimes I think our images of Jesus as Christ would trigger the same reaction from Jesus. Perhaps, like Peter, we think “not as God does, but as human beings do.” After all that is what we are. Maybe we read something into Jesus instead of listening to what Jesus says about himself. Perhaps, it is always good to pause every so often and see whether we are on the same page with Jesus. Who do we say that Jesus is? Is he the Christ? Are we willing to listen to him talk about his suffering and death and understand that this is who Christ’s is? Our question for this day might be – Who do we say Jesus is? Have a holy and blessed Thursday everyone! Today's Thoughts: In our Gospel today, we have the story of Jesus’ healing of the blind man of Bethsaida. It is a unique story because it only appears in Mark’s Gospel and because it takes Jesus two tries to accomplish the healing.
In all the Gospels, we have stories of Jesus physically healing people. However, with every healing there is a deeper meaning. It is not just about the person’s physical struggles it is also about the spiritual struggles of those who are present and us who are listening. This is easy to grasp when the healing is of blindness. In our story today, just before Jesus heals the blind man, he chastises the disciples for failing to understand his reference to “the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod." A number of times in yesterday’s Gospel Jesus asks the disciples, “Do you still not understand or comprehend? Are your hearts hardened? Do you have eyes and not see?” Jesus is not talking about physical blindness. He is using sight as a metaphor. For Jesus the reference to seeing is understanding. With this focus in mind we get a sense of why Mark placed this story of the healing of the blind man right after the disciples struggle to understand and right before he asks them about who people think he is which we will encounter tomorrow. Today’s healing story corresponds to Peter’s situation when Jesus asks, “Who do you say that I am?” Peter gets it half right. That is, he correctly identifies Jesus as the long-awaited Messiah, but he fails to understand what Messiah means in Jesus’ case. When Jesus mentions rejection and death, Peter rebukes him. In other words, Peter shows that he “sees” half way. Seeing, understanding is a process, a journey. Like the blind man today it takes a while until he sees clearly. It is going to take a while for the disciples to see clearly. Throughout Mark’s Gospel the disciples struggle to understand, to see clearly the mission and ministry of Jesus. Each time Jesus talks about his Passion and Death the disciples seem to miss the point. Faith is a journey. It is not something we come to in a single moment or because of one event in our life. It is a journey that must be taken every day. The disciples did not understand, they did not see yesterday. The blind man today at first did not see clearly but then did. We are all like the disciples and the blind man in our story today. Seeing clearly in not always easy. But if we take the time to listen, to understand and to have faith things will become clear. Have a blessed and holy Wednesday everyone! Today’s Thoughts: “Do you still not understand?” The closing words by Jesus in today’s Gospel are directed at the disciples with him in the boat but they could easily be directed at us today. We just don’t seem to get it at times do we?
Jesus’ disciples didn’t seem at times to be very good at connecting the dots between Jesus’ words and actions. Jesus was always asking them if they understood and at times like the Gospel today, we hear the frustration from their lack of understanding in his voice. Even though we have the reflections and the insights of many before us we often find ourselves just like the disciples in the Gospel today. We think Jesus means one thing when it is really about something altogether different. Like the disciples we need to be reminded again just who we are as people of faith and that we are called to live lives for the glory of God. One place where we can revive our calling as people of faith is the Eucharist. Here we listen once again to the Word of God, we retell the story of Jesus, and we are nourished by the gift of Eucharist, and we are forgiven for those times when we fail to understand, when we fail to live out the Gospel. The Eucharist is the table that always invited us to understand, to come back, be connect even when like the disciple we just can grasp the message! Have a blessed and holy Tuesday everyone! Today’s Thoughts: In the Gospel (Mark 8:11-13) today Jesus gives us an example of patient perseverance. He is once again tested and challenged by the religious leaders. They want a sign. Now Jesus could have engaged the Pharisees in a heated argument. He could have performed a miracle for them, but he didn’t. Jesus just asked them a question. Why do you need a sign? Why can’t you just believe? Why can’t you recognize God in your midst?
Throughout Jesus’ ministry he was challenged, frustrated and questioned. Each time he confronted the situation differently drawing upon a wide range of human emotions. In today’s story it is the emotion of patience. He feels sorrow for the Pharisees. He is frustrated, but he takes a deep breath and simply asked them to think for a moment. Perhaps today’s challenge in the Gospel is that being patient and persevering is good food for thought for us. Can we be patient with those around us, with ourselves and with God? Can we persevere in this journey of life? Have a blessed and holy Monday everyone! Today’s Thoughts: On this Sixth Sunday of Ordinary Time, particularly in our Gospel from Luke and our reading from the Prophet Jerimiah and from St. Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians, we might say we are confronted with these questions – Where do we put our faith? or using Jerimiah’s words, “Where are we rooted?” Is our trust in the Lord or elsewhere Who or what commands our loyalty?
Jeremiah in the first reading uses the images of a tree and a bush to reflect the options we have in living life. On the one hand we can be like the barren bush in the desert, or the tree planted near the running stream. We can be cursed or blessed. We can trust in human things, in the things of the world or we can trust and hope in the Lord. The question is where are we rooted? In whom have we placed our trust? St. Paul as he writes to the Corinthians wants to know – in what is their faith grounded? If they don’t believe in the resurrection. If their faith is only about this life, then they have lost. Why are they part of the community? Jesus askes these same questions but differently. In Luke today we listen to the Sermon on the Plain a counterpart to the Sermon on the Mount but different. Where Matthew in the Sermon on the Mount provides us with eight Beatitudes, Luke in the Sermon on the Plain provides us with four Beatitudes and four “woe-to-you”, or curses. The basic question I started with is still there – “Where do we put our faith?” “Where are we rooted?” With whom do we stand? Are we willing to let go of the world, of riches, of plenty, of adulation? Are you willing to identify with the poor, the hungry, those dealing with loss and the fact that we are not the most important? The Hebrew word for “poor” that Jesus uses has an interesting history. It went through four stages of development before reaching the meaning that Jesus had in mind when he uses it. The first usage of poor referred to people who were without material wealth. This is the most common usage of the word – perhaps the one we most identify with. The second stage of the development of the word poor is people who are without influence and power. They had no clout. The third stage referred to people who were exploited. And the fourth stage because people were without wealth, without help, and without protection the only person they could turn to was God. Thus, Jesus uses the word poor in this sense they are the people who put their total trust in God! Thus, we might say that Jesus is painting a picture of what it means to be a disciple. This is often not a glamorous job, journey, ministry or life. It demands commitment, perseverance and patience. We have got to sink our roots as Jerimiah tells us into God’s ever flowing stream of grace, mercy and love for the long haul. As we hear over and over again in the scriptures, the life of a disciple, the life of a prophet is challenging at best with no worldly reward. It doesn’t allow us to be comfortable. We are asked today in our readings to see life through a different lens. We are to look and see life through the eyes of faith. If we are willing then we must also have a willingness to let go of what the world proclaims is important! Have a blessed and holy Sunday everyone! Today’s Thoughts: Our first reading today is all about selfishness. Jeroboam is only thinking of himself and his position. He wants to maintain his power, so he creates false gods and tempts the people to worship him and his idols instead of God. He creates priests randomly to give people a false sense of power and security. He is sinning and causing the people to sin.
Our psalm echoes this idea about peoples forgetting the God who saved them and worshiping false gods and idols instead. This selfishness was sin and dragging others down also. In our Gospel today, Jesus acts with compassion. It is the exact opposite to Jeroboam’s This is the opposite selfishness. When Jesus realizes the people have all traveled far and have run out of food, he is concerned for their well-being. He knows he cannot send them home to eat because they do not have sufficient food for the trip home. So, what can he do? There are a lot of people and not nearly enough food. I have always believed this to be one of Jesus’ miracles, but it also reminds me of the story, “Stone Soup.” As a single person, none of Jesus’ disciples has enough food to feed everyone, however when everyone adds a little something, a garnish, a bit of carrot, a potato, a drop of broth, together it ends up a flavorful meal, and enough to feed everyone. The Gospel says there were seven loaves of bread and a few fish. Not nearly enough to feed the huge crowd, but they broke the bread and shared the fish. Miraculously, there were seven baskets left over – more leftover than they started with. It is always tempting to hold on to what we have. What will I have if there is not enough. However, if everyone contributes to the ‘soup,’ and no one being satisfied, everyone wins. Instead of selfishly sinning, we selflessly shared, and God makes the impossible possible! Have a holy and blessed Saturday everyone! Today’s Thoughts: Today is the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes. Lourdes has always been regarded as a place of peace, a place connected with the sick and struggling. I, myself, found Lourdes to be a truly remarkable place when I spent two days there last August.
Pausing to honor Mary is always a good thing to do. Today we honor her visit to Lourdes back in the middle of the 19th century to a simple little girl named Bernadette. We also honor the ongoing gift of healing through Mary that has taken place in Lourdes since her appearance. As I have shared with you many times, I am very much aware of the role Mary has played in my own family’s life. My father visited Lourdes during World War II and asked Mary for a special favor. He asked Mary to keep him safe so that he could return home to my mother and begin a family. He dedicated his first female child to Mary and said he would name her Bernadette. My father made it home, my sister’s name is Bernadette and thanks to my mother and father, my sister, my brother and I were given the gift of life. Mary is truly a special person. In our 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.” The Gospel story presents us with a community that has faith in Jesus and their friend is healed. This story tells us a lot about Jesus and his journey to Calvary. Our Gospel story tells us once again – “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) We might say as we begin our day’s journey that faith is always the key. Today is also the World Day of Prayer for the Sick. So, as we celebrate the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes today, we are reminded that Mary lived from her heart by showing the essentials of faith, compassion, mercy and love. She touched the heart St. Bernadette 18 times back in 1858. St. Bernadette took Mary’s gift to her own heart and brought it to the hearts of the world. How each of these women lived is the gift we celebrate today. What they believed, what they held in their hearts is how they lived and the faith they shared with the world. Have a great Friday everyone. Today’s Thoughts: In our Gospel today we might consider the question - Where is your heart? This might be the question that we can ponder from our Gospel story today (Mark 7:24-30). Even though the woman is a Greek, a Syrophoenican, by birth her heart is with God. In placing her heart with God her daughter is healed.
The focus of today’s Gospel 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 our focus is in life – there is where we will find your heart. Perhaps another way to consider our Gospel today is in the words of Thomas Merton - “Ask me not where I live or what I like to eat . . . Ask me what I am living for and what I think is keeping me from living fully that.” The Syrophoenican woman is living for God. She puts God at the center of her life thus that is where her heart is and she is blessed with the healing of her daughter. Perhaps our questions for today are – What are we living for? What is keeping us from living fully? What is important to us? Where is our heart? Is it with God? Have a blessed and holy Thursday everyone. Today’s Thoughts: Today, like yesterday our Gospel (Mark 7: 14-23) focuses on the essential and the non-essentials. An 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 her or his 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 blessed and holy Wednesday 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
May 2023
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