Today’s Thoughts: When I read the accounts in today’s first reading from the Acts of the Apostles about the things that happened after St. Stephen’s death. I am always caught by the fact that even though Saul was hell bent on destroying the Church, but God was able to change his heart and lead him to become the great Apostle Paul. It gives me hope that someone so focused on the negative, so wanting to destroy, so against the presence of some people in the world was able to become a person of joy, of peace, of love and of hope.
God did not fight Saul’s attack on his Church with vengeance, with force, with power, with war. God did not seek to destroy Saul. God did not seek to judge Saul. No God dealt with Saul’s attack through truth, compassion, love and with an invitation to be a part of the community. Somehow with words of kindness, with words of compassion, with words and gestures of love God turned Saul’s heart and created someone new Paul. Often as we encounter our world and all its problems we think we must fight, we think that we must eliminate our enemies. We think that making fun of them, that degrading them with our words, that attacking them with half-truths, cartoons and witty jokes we will overcome them. We think that pointing to their faults and failings, that being hurtful we are doing God’s will and that we will win the battle and the war. Yet, God has always showed us that power, vengeance and war never works. These are not the solutions to our problems or the avenues to peace. In Saul’s case God invited him to become part of the community. God invited Saul to see God in his life in a different way. God invited Saul to choose life not death. God invited Saul to a change of heart. God invited Saul to be a man of hope and love. God turn Saul’s energy of violence and hate into an energy of love, compassion, hope, mercy, joy and peace. If we truly want our world, our culture, our society to change then perhaps rather than waging war, rather than fearing those we see as enemies, rather than attacking, rather than dismissing or making fun of those we don’t like, we should invite them into the conversation. We should extend the hand of friendship. We should invite them to be part of the community. We should show them the value of faith, hope and love. We should help them to see the light of life! Have a great Wednesday everyone!
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Tuesday Greetings and Blessings to all!
Join us today, Tuesday May 14, 2019 at 3:00 pm for our Livestream program Through The Cross - The focus for this show will be "Getting Away – Passionist Retreat Centers!" Our special guest today will be Fr. Paul Wierichs, C.P., Director of Our Lady of Florida Retreat Center in North Palm Beach, FL. Remember, if you cannot be with us today at 3:00 pm you can always watch the program at another time by visiting The Sunday Mass Web site and clicking on Through The Cross... https://thesundaymass.org/en/live Today’s Thoughts: The story of St. Stephen’s death in the Acts of the Apostles make me think about what often happens in our world every day. Stephen is just being a good and faith filled person and a crazy mob comes along and stones him to death. A mob of people not thinking about life, about goodness, about being positive but a mob of people only thinking about themselves. A mob of people focused on selfishness, on fear, on evil. Stephen remained the “bigger person” through his struggle, Stephen remained the faith filled person, Stephen remained the person of life not death.
In our world there are many people about life, about hope, about joy, and about all that is good in our culture and our society and like Stephen they often pay the price. Some with their lives, some with the burdens of life and all with what anger, terror and violence can take away from our bodies, our spirits and our souls. Sometimes it is not a mob, it is just one or two miss guided, angry people, who are more about themselves than life, who are about negativity, fear, death and evil. They often think they are about what is good, that they are doing God’s work however they are doing the work of evil and unfortunately as good people we are often reminded by the misguided of how much evil is still present in our world. But like Stephen we need to remain the “bigger person” amid a world of anger, violence and terror. We need to remain faith filled people, we need to remain people of life and not death. We need to remain people of light not darkness. We need to remain people of trust and freedom not fear. We need to remained people of hope not despair. As we journey through this day may we continue to be remained of and to live on the Bread of Life, Jesus who is always in our midst. Have a great Tuesday everyone! Today’s Thoughts: Today’s readings are preludes to tomorrow stories, the martyrdom of Stephen and Jesus’ discourse on the “Bread of Life.” In some ways we can say that today’s readings are about seeing, and hearing and we learn that some people only see and hear what they want to see and hear. When we live life this way we open ourselves to the possibility of missing the gift, the presence of God in our life.
The religious leaders surrounding Stephen today only see and hear what they want to see and hear. They miss the very gift from God that Stephen brings to them, the very gift of God that Stephen is. They miss a chance to grow, to see and hear thing differently. They have already decided who and what Stephen is thus God has no chance. The people following Jesus in today’s Gospel are caught up in the miracles that Jesus has performed. They are not listening to his words, they are not open to the presence of God, they want more miraculous things. Jesus reminds them that in order for good things to happen they have to be open to the gift and presence of God in their lives. They are challenged to believe not in what they see and hear but in the presence of Jesus in their lives! Often, we only see and hear what we want. God can be speaking to us, calling us down a new path but we miss it. Today let us open our eyes, our ears and our hearts to the many different ways that God can be present in our lives especially those ways beyond what we want to see and hear! Have a great Monday everyone! Today’s Thoughts: “A Christian can never be sad! Never give way to discouragement! Ours is not a joy born of having many possessions, but from having encountered a Person: Jesus, in our midst; it is born from knowing that with him we alone, even at difficult moments, even when our life’s journey comes up against problems and obstacles that seem insurmountable, and there are so many of them! And in this moment, the enemy, the devil, comes, often disguised as an angel, and slyly speaks his word to us. Do not listen to him! Let us follow Jesus!” (Pope Francis)
In our First Reading today we encounter the jealous religious leaders confronting Peter and the others with their being disobedient to the previous orders to be silent. After reviewing how Jesus had been silenced by being hanged on a cross at the hands of these very leaders, Peter and the others leave in high spirits, because they have been proven worthy by being treated in almost the same way as Jesus. In other words, they know they are on the right path. The Gospel today provides us with a touching scene. Peter and his companions decide to return to the life from which Jesus had called them, fishing. Now Jesus, who had told them at the washing of their feet that apart from him they could do nothing, so it is nothing that they do. They fish all night and catch nothing. Dawn comes and the Great Fisherman appears and with him they catch a boat load of fish. In this Resurrection encounter we have one of John’s favorite themes, bad things happen at night and Jesus the light does great things during the daylight. They come to the realization that it is the Lord and the catch becomes secondary, at least for a while. As the scene continues, we encounter their reunion with Jesus at the breakfast. Peter who warmed himself by a charcoal fire while betraying Jesus, is now invited to bring some of his catch to be cooked on the charcoal fire where Jesus was already cooking fish and bread. The scene is thick with tension as Peter and the others are not sure how to act or what to say. Jesus breaks the tension by distributing the bread and fish to them. Earlier in their relationship, Jesus had taken loaves and fish to distribute to them and many others. This scene ends with that symbolic gesture of reconciliation. They know who he is in the sharing of the bread. Finally, our Gospel scene focuses in on the recommitment of Peter and his missioning by Jesus. Peter is invited to follow Jesus once more and this time for keeps. Our scene ends with Peter's following Jesus to a life which will imitate that of Jesus even to the manner of his death. Jesus had a challenging habit of meeting people where they would rather not be met. A person who has been fishing does not want anybody to ask, “How many fish?” When none have been caught, when the nets are empty. Jesus meets his friends today fishless. After the Resurrection, Jesus went about connecting with his friends, both women and men, in the social and spiritually awkward settings. He continues doing the same thing in our lives. He wants to know what is going on inside of us. He does not check what we have but where our lives are empty. He emptied himself by living his whole life even to his last breath. He emptied his tomb to fill our emptiness through the gift of his Eucharistic presences. Have a great Sunday everyone! Today’s Thoughts: Sometimes we find it hard to step out of our comfort zone. We are happy with the little life we have created for ourselves and we become aggravated and sometimes angry when that little life is disturbed.
In our reading from the Acts of the Apostles today the early church community is confronted with a problem, an aggravation perhaps even a little prejudice. Some of the windows are not being taken care of, they happen to be Greek/Hellenist widows, the new commers. The apostles are aggravated because this takes them always from their important ministry of preaching, teaching and leadership of prayer. Perhaps some in the community are aggravated because it is the new commers who are complaining. Their comfort zone has been violated. The community must confront the problem, the issue. They gather and look at the situation and come up with a solution. They create a new ministry. A new ministry that will free the apostles to continue their leadership of prayer, preaching, teaching and help the community meet the needs of all. They create the ministry of deaconate, a ministry of service and care for the community. The Gospel provides an important insight to accompany the activity of Acts. It's not a post-Easter Gospel, but it speaks to a post-Easter reality. The disciples, frightened, face the uncertainty of darkness. Winds swirl and waves rise as this group looks to proceed without the physical presence of Jesus. They face a challenge to their comfort zone. But Jesus reminds them of his presence and the need not to fear change. “It is I, do not be afraid." It may seem at times like Jesus is not with us, but he is! When our comfort zone is challenged by the struggles and fears of our world we need only to trust in the presence of the Risen Lord! Have a great Saturday everyone. Today’s Thoughts: “I am the way and the truth and the life…. If you know me, then you also know my Father.” These are familiar words of Jesus spoken to Thomas and found in today Gospel (John 14: 6-14) on this the feast of Sts. Philip and James. They are words that remind us that our Christian faith is a very profound experience; only those who have faith come to know that God, the creator of the universe, chose to enter our life, to be part of human history and in doing so reveal a profound love to all creation.
Jesus seems to be responding to the age old question, is there a God, and if so what is this God like? Jesus’ answer is look at me, know me, because if you see and know me then you see and know my Father. As we find earlier in John’ Gospel, “God so loved the world that he gave us his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.” (John 3:16) So if we take a good look at Jesus, if we get to know Jesus then we will know God, we will know the Father, the God who so loves the world! In coming to know God it always comes down to a relationship, a relationship with Jesus, a relationship with the Father, a relationship with the Spirit. Relationships take work, relationship can be difficult and demanding, relationship demand time and investment. Yet in the end a relationship is the only way we can come to know the love, mercy, joy and faithfulness of God! Happy Friday everyone! Today’s Thoughts: In our Gospel today, John, the disciple whom Jesus loved, the Evangelist, testifies to Jesus. He calls us to believe in person of Jesus, in the complete person, of Jesus the Christ or, as he refers to him in today’s Gospel, the Son.
The entire Gospel of John focuses on this act of faith, for in John’s Gospel Jesus offers very little in the way of specific moral teachings or insights. He indicates that we must cling to Jesus and entrust ourselves to the love that God has revealed by sending his Son to be one of us. John’s Gospel calls us to a letting go of self. It calls us to a trust that places us in the Father's heart and hands right along with Jesus even if it leads us to death to this world. This letting go of self is not a matter of earthly wisdom: "The one who is of the earth is earthly, and he speaks on an earthly plane." The one who comes from above calls us to something beyond earthly values and reasoning. The one from above calls us to trust in love that leaves the merely reasonable far behind. It is a wisdom that calls us to allow the Spirit to fill us and to generously share the riches we have from the Father through the Son and his Spirit. Have a great Thursday everyone! If you did not get a chance to join us yesterday at 3:00 pm for our Livestream program Through The Cross - Remember, you can always watch the program at another time by visiting The Sunday Mass Web site and clicking on Through The Cross... https://thesundaymass.org/en/live
Today’s Thoughts: In the readings today, we find the simple message - God saves us! However, it is only those who believe will be saved. Perhaps more importantly if we want to be saved, we need to acknowledge the need for God’s presence in our life in order to gain the gift of deliverance.
In the first reading from Acts, the Apostles are imprisoned, and the angel of God comes and releases them and sends them to the temple area to continue preaching. They are released from their imprisonment because God is with them. In the Responsorial Psalm we hear the echoes of God’s response to those in need - Lord hears the cry of the poor. All who believe in God and call out to God will be aided in their time of struggle. God does not abandon his people. But there needs to be a request – God needs to hear the cry of the poor. God’s responds may not always come as quickly or as directly as it did for the Apostles in jail but down through our faith story God has always responded to the cry of those in need. In the Gospel we encounter Jesus as the ultimate delivery of God’s response to those in need. God so loved us that he gave us his only begotten son. Out of this profound love God made the ultimate sacrifice for all of us. Only through Jesus can we truly understand God’s love and be welcomed into the Kingdom. Whether God instantly saves us, as he did the apostles from the prison, or whether it is through the Cross of Christ, God love for us ultimately will save us. It is through belief in Jesus that we have salvation, but we must be open to God’s love and not be afraid to ask for God’s help! Have a great 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
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