Today’s Thoughts: “So that my joy might be in you and your joy might be complete,” the closing words of the Gospel today. Have you ever noticed that Jesus always seems to be thinking about others? He always seems to want the best for the people around him. All he asks is that we believe in the value of love; the love of God for us, the love of Jesus for us and our ability to love others in the same way.
The communities of faith that we hear about in the Acts of the Apostles are challenged over and over by Jesus’ commandment to love. They value God’s love, they value Jesus’ love thus how they live, grow and change as a community of faith demands that they extend this love to others. The laws, the rules, the regulations change because the community tries to be inclusive and loving. The community tries to look beyond its small world to a larger world. It is not easy. It takes openness, dialog, discussion and sometimes change. I read an article a couple of years ago in which a member of our Church leadership used an example from his childhood about having to wash his dirty hands before eating. It was a rule in his family and even if there were guests they had to wash their dirty hands before eating. A simple story and one that many of us can relate to I certainly can as hand washing before meals was a rule in my house too. However, to use the washing of dirty hands to address the complex struggles inclusion in the church today seems a bit simplistic and invalid. Imaging people dealing with weighty issues like sexuality, sexual orientation, birth control, marriage, divorce, just to name a few, as people with dirty hands seems a bit simplistic. Equating the washing of dirty hands with some profound struggles in life seems disrespectful to people created in the image and likeness of God. Yes, we have many challenges to the community of faith today. Yes, there are no easy answers which makes the job of leadership and faith difficult but to say all people have to do is wash their hands make no sense to me! God’s love, Jesus’ love is a gift and yes there is a condition, the condition is our love for God, for others and for ourselves. This condition is not easy within our human nature and it is certainly not as simple as washing our hands. The early church knew this and I think so do we! Have a great Thursday everyone!
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Today’s Thoughts: There are two things that strike me in today’s readings. First in the Acts of the Apostles we encounter a moment of struggle within the early Church. Some want to keep things as they are. They don’t want to break with tradition, while others see no need for past tradition. The struggle focuses on past Jewish traditions and the emerging new Church into which gentles are entering. Paul and Barnabas decide to go to Jerusalem and talk about the problem. What a novel idea, sitting down and talking about issues, problems, struggles and differing views of Church. Perhaps Pope Francis has taken a page from the Acts of the Apostles over the last five years!
My second thought comes from the Gospel. Not too long-ago Jesus offered us the image of the Good Shepherd – God as the shepherd always watching out for us, always taking care of us, always walking with us. It is a comforting image of God’s presence in our life. Today the image is of God as the life-giving vine extending out into the world through us the branches. God becomes the vine running through our life offering us grace by which we grow into the person we have been created be so that we can produce the fruit of God’s presence and love in the world. As a branch of God’s presence and love in the world we don’t have to know everything. We are a branch running from the Vine. It is the Vine that offers us everything that we need as long as we stay attached. We cannot do it on our own we must depend on the Vine – God’s presence, grace, love, mercy, forgiveness and joy to produce good fruit. Jesus through the image of the vine and the branches reminds us today that the more we are connected to God, the more we lean on God, and the more we learn from God and experience God’s presence in the world around us, the better we will be at living life – the more fruit we will produce! Have a great Wednesday everyone! Today’s Thoughts: Today has an optional memorial on the Church calendar honoring St. Joseph the Worker. My reflections today, focus on the readings of the day, but I would first like to pause and honor, remember St. Joseph for a moment. The parish I grow up in was named St. Joseph. One of my grandfathers and my only uncle had the name Joseph. So, St. Joseph was a pretty important image in my early life. I have always liked this memorial honoring him and as our readings today focus on the gift of Jesus’ peace, we can certainly say that St. Joseph was a man of peace. May St. Joseph walk with us today and every day as we search for peace in our own lives!
And now on to my reflection for the day… Peace is one of the most elusive gifts whether we are searching for it personally or as a family or a culture and society. There are so many things that can get in the way of peace in life. It can be the minor irritations of life like traffic, construction, a person on a cell phone sitting next to us or spring allergies. It can also be the major realities of life, civil war, civil unrest, injustice, warring nations, terrorism and natural disasters. There are many things that can get in the way of a peaceful moment and a peaceful life. Jesus in the Gospel today offers us peace. Yet he reminds us that the peace he offers is not of this world. In fact, the peace that Jesus offers cannot be found in this world. His peace lies beyond this life and flows from his relationship with the Father, the Creator of peace. Jesus reminds us that we need not be troubled or afraid that even though we cannot encounter his peace in this world, he will not forget us. In other words, to encounter the peace that Jesus offers we need to somehow let go and let God! Peace is what we all want in our personal lives and in our world. We encounter it occasionally, for a moment, however it doesn’t last. Something always comes along to disturb the peace. Thus, we need to be people of faith; we need to be people of hope. Amid life’s struggles the early Church continued to move forward. They did not get down they did not give up. It was through God’s grace that the Good News was preached. It was because the early Church had faith and hope in God that their hearts were not afraid or troubled. They were on the journey towards the peace that Jesus offers. Let us be people of faith and hope today. May we not be troubled or afraid because we are willing to let go and let God! Have a wonderful Tuesday 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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