Today’s Thoughts: Each time I encounter today’s Gospel, Jesus teaching the disciples to pray the Our Father, I can feel the emotions well up within me. For you see I have two special memories that center on this prayer.
The first is that the Our Father was one of the last prayers I prayed with my father before he died 35 years ago. It was a December night in 1982, I was in my father’s hospital room late that night and as I was about to leave he asked me to pray with him. I was more than happy to do so and I asked him what prayer he wanted to pray and he said, “The Our Father.” I began to say the words and notice that my dad was not praying so I stopped and asked what was wrong. Dad said, “I don’t remember the words.” His illness had begun to affect his mind. So, I said, “No problem” and suggested that I say a few words of the prayer and that he repeat them after me. Do you know how hard it is to say the Our Father when you have to stop and think about what you are saying? Well, we got through the prayer and dad became very peaceful and for the most part remained peaceful over the last few weeks of his life. I have always remembered that moment. The second is that this Gospel was the Gospel for the very first mass I celebrated the day after I was ordained a priest. The last prayer I prayed with my Father, the first Gospel I had an opportunity to reflect upon as a priest. Do you think my dad had something to do with it? You bet! I have never prayed the Our Father at mass, during the rosary or at any other time and not thought about these two moments in my life. What power there is in this simple prayer, what a gift this simple prayer is to all who pray it. I would invite you at some moment today to pause and slowly, deliberately pray the Our Father. Listen to the words. Realize what God offers you through the words of this simple prayer and what God asks of you. By the way thanks Dad! Have a great Thursday everyone!
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Today’s Thoughts: “God loves the cheerful giver.” This little sentence from our first reading today, St. Paul’s Second Letter to the Corinthians, seems to really sum up today’s Gospel (Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18). Jesus challenges us to be humble people of prayer and service.
In the Gospel, we hear those familiar phrases. “Do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. When you pray, go to your inner room, close the door, and pray to your Father in secret.” In each case the most important reward comes not in the world knowing that we do things but in God knowing. I think the grace and the challenge of the message of our Gospel is that what we have is a gift from God and in sharing this gift it becomes far more profound than we ever thought it could be. However, for this gift to have power, impact and abundance we need to share it – not for our glory and praise but for the glory and praise of God. Have a great Wednesday everyone! Today’s Thoughts: “Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned.” A simple refrain we encounter from time to time in responsorial psalms at mass might be a key to understanding and living out Jesus’ words in today’s Gospel (Matthew 5:43-48). To love one’s enemies, to pray for those who persecute us, we first must realize that we too are sinners; we too have hurt others and at times made life difficult for others.
There are no perfect people out there in the world, no one can claim perfection, thus if we wish mercy and forgiveness we need to be willing to offer it too. Now I am not saying it is easy, if it were Jesus would never have included it in his teaching and I would not be writing about it this morning. Living a life of faith is often difficult and always challenging. Perhaps the key to making it work is prayer. If our first response to a challenge, to a difficulty, to a struggle is prayer rather than anger, resentment, and judgment then we have the chance to imperfectly live the Gospel message. Today’s Gospel is not about excusing offensive acts or being lenient with people who hurt us. It is not about looking the other way and letting people just do what they want. Today’s Gospel is about how we trust in the presence of God as we live in the midst of an imperfect world. It is about how we react to people and situations that hurt us. Do we seek vengeance, do we expect to extract our pound of flesh or do we pause and through prayer place the person, the situation in God’s hands? Prayer can be a way of offering another Christian love. It can be a way of seeking mercy and forgiveness and also offering mercy and forgiveness. Prayer is not going to make our world perfect but it can be a starting point for us becoming the people of faith that Jesus asks us to be today! Have a great Tuesday everyone! Today’s Thoughts: As we look around our lives, our country, our world having a willing heart is not always easy and sometimes is downright frustrating. At least it seems that way to me. I truly want to follow the words of Jesus in today’s Gospel (Matthew 5: 38-42), “Give to the one who asks of you and do not turn your back on the one who wants to borrow.” Yet, time and time again I struggle with the Gospel way that Jesus outlines today.
At times, I want justice or maybe more so revenge, yes, I want an eye for an eye. I don’t like to get hit at all and I certainly don’t want to turn the other cheek. I am happy at times to go the extra mile but not always. You can have my jacket or coat as long as it is an old one and I have another. And it seems at times there are people on every street corner and subway stop if I give to everyone I will be broke within a day! Yes, often I fail when it comes to Jesus’ words in today’s Gospel and that bothers me! How can I be a person of faith, how can I be a Christian, a Catholic and fall so short? Jesus’ words are haunting words today and I have no answer. Sure, I have often rationalized – I can’t give to everyone; the money will surely be used for drugs or drink; they got what they deserved; somebody has to teach them a lesson; it’s too cold; I don’t have time; somebody else will help them; and on and on! But Jesus doesn’t give conditions or excuses he just says offer no resistance, turn the other cheek, give your coat, go the extra mile and don’t turn your back! So, I am still faced with my imperfection, I am still face with how to act and live. I have no intelligent answer, no sage wisdom of many years. All I can say is that it is perhaps good to pause and listen to or read Jesus’ words in Matthew’s Gospel today knowing that we are not perfect but also reminding ourselves that there is still much to learn, much to do. Perhaps, Jesus’ words make sure that we see the world around us and that we don’t close our eyes to it! Have a great Monday everyone! Some Father’s Day Thoughts: I have always liked the poem IF… by Rudyard Kipling. I first learned it when I was in 8th grade and I read it as part of my homily at my father’s funeral mass 35 years ago. Today on Father’s Day I offer it to you, read it and remember what your father has given you, taught you and how he has loved you whether you are a son or a daughter. If you are a father, read it and remember what you are about in helping your daughters and sons become the special people they are. Being a father is a great gift with great responsibilities. We pray for and ask God to bless all fathers today that they will always share their gift and always make a difference in our lives. And we ask those fathers who have passed on to watch over us and guide us down the right road. Happy Father’s Day… IF... IF you can keep your head when all about you Are losing theirs and blaming it on you, If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, But make allowance for their doubting too; If you can wait and not be tired by waiting, Or being lied about, don't deal in lies, Or being hated, don't give way to hating, And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise: If you can dream - and not make dreams your master; If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim; If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster And treat those two impostors just the same; If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools, Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken, And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools: If you can make one heap of all your winnings And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss, And lose, and start again at your beginnings And never breathe a word about your loss; If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew To serve your turn long after they are gone, And so hold on when there is nothing in you Except the Will which says to them: 'Hold on!' If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue, ' Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch, if neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you, If all men count with you, but none too much; If you can fill the unforgiving minute With sixty seconds' worth of distance run, Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it, And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son! (By Rudyard Kipling 1865–1936) Happy Father's Day – Dad! Thanks for the gift of life and all that you taught me over the years! Thanks for watching over me these last 35 years from your eternal home! I will love you always...Your Son, Paul Jr. Today’s Thoughts: There are many ways to look at the Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ which we celebrate today. The most obvious is the gift of the Eucharist, the institution of which we encounter in the account we hear in today Gospel. We encounter that special moment just before Jesus Passion and Death when he gathered his disciples together and gave them the central focus for the rest of their lives. The Eucharist is our most cherished gift, it is the center of our lives as people of faith, as Church. The Eucharist offers us, like it offered the first disciples, the physical and spiritual nourishment needed to live this life of faith. The real presence of Christ in the Eucharist that we receive demands our lives, it demands that we bring Christ’s real presence to the world.
Another way of looking at this feast comes from another Gospel story. Fr. James Martin, S.J. writes, “God can do a lot with what we think is a little.” Just think of what Jesus did along the Sea of Galilee when he multiplied the loaves and fishes. His disciples wanted to give up. They said all they had were five loaves and a few fish. As we have learned God makes possible the impossible while doing a lot with little; or as Teresa Whalen Lux put it, “God often takes something small and insignificant and turns it into the extraordinary.” When you think about the Last Supper and the story of the Multiplication of the Loaves you think of Jesus taking simple ordinary things and doing extraordinary things with them. Along the Sea of Galilee, he fed many and at the table of the Eucharist each Sunday, each day, Jesus feds many. Day in and day out Jesus takes something small, insignificant and ordinary, bread and wine, and does the extraordinary. I have often in my preaching reflected on receiving the Eucharist as a moment when God, when Jesus says to us, I demand your life! I have given you mine so now go and give it to the world. Our celebration of the Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ today reminds us of just how blessed we are, of just what God can do and of our challenge each day to live, to trust in God and bring the real presence of God to the world! Have a great Corpus Christi Sunday and a Happy Father’s Day everyone! Today’s Thoughts: “Let your ‘Yes’ mean ‘Yes’ and your ‘No’ mean ‘No.’” Words of wisdom from today’s Gospel (Matthew 5:33-37). Yet, they are also words that at times are hard to live out. I know at times in my life I tried to hedge my bet, not wanting to commit because something better might come along. Not wanting to be honest because it felt like it might hurt someone. Not wanting to be straight forward because I might look bad.
Yet to be honest, straight forward, committed is what we are asked to be as people of faith by Jesus today. We are asked to let go of what others, what the world thinks and be faithful to ourselves, to others and to God. It might not be the easiest way but it is God’s way. Jesus invites us to trust the new life. He teaches us to simply be honest, to be women and men of integrity. In Jesus, we come to know that trusting in God means letting go of the need to prove ourselves, whether by fancy oaths, cunning wordplay, or otherwise. Instead, we allow God to be our guiding light, always before us. So, let’s go all in today and make a joyful noise with our life! Have a great Saturday everyone! Today’s Thoughts: I have always like the image that St. Paul uses in the first reading today (2Corinthians 4:7-15), “earthen vessels.” The St. Louis Jesuit song by the same name introduced me to the image many, many years ago, but it has been my ministry and the living of life that has made the image “earthen vessels” so important and lasting.
I remember during the Holy Year in honor of St. Paul I was reading an article by a scripture scholar who said the Paul was not very imaginative with his examples and images. Back then and now I would disagree with that scholar. When you look over Paul’s letters and consider the images he used in order to make his point often they are images that come out of everyday life. They are images that every person listening would be able to relate to. Paul spoke to the common person and in doing so tried to make his ideas, his words understandable through the images of everyday life. Everyone would have known what an earthen vessel was. The probably saw them and used them daily. A simple earthen container with weathered by life with chips, cracks and flaws. Fragile pieces of pottery formed out of the clay of the earth by skilled and loving hands. Yet, Paul takes these simple objects of everyday life and turns them into wonderful images of our relationship with God. We are the earthen vessels, formed by the Great Potter’s hand out of the clay of the earth. We have our faults, failings, our chips and cracks but within us is a great treasure, the presence of God. What a hopeful and wonderful way to think of ourselves. Yes, we are fragile, yes we have our faults and failing, yes we are chipped and flawed but because of God’s presence, God’s grace, God’s love we are never alone. As Paul puts it, “We are afflicted in every way, but not constrained; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.” We carry within the dying of Jesus and the life of Jesus. We carry within us the profound love of God. May we carry within us, may we live, this special gift today in these earthen vessels to the glory of God! Have a great Friday everyone! Today’s Thoughts: I ran across a quote by David Benner the author of Healing Emotional Wounds, “Forgiveness…is letting go – letting go of the anger, letting go of the right to retaliate, and letting go of the right to savour any of the emotional consequences of the hurt." I have always reflected with people who were struggling with forgiveness that forgiveness is about letting go. It is about moving beyond the hurt. Yet often people think that forgiveness means forgetting.
The wisdom in Brenner’s reflection is that he is not saying that we forget that we let go of the experience itself but that we let go of the human effects of being hurt that can often paralyze us. Perhaps said another way we need to let go so we can get beyond being a victim. I think this is what Jesus is getting at in the God today (Matthew 5:20-26). In order for the commandment of love, which we reflected on yesterday, to be fully part of our life we have to let go of the anger, retaliation and the victimization that being hurt can often bring about. Jesus talks about taking the high road. Jesus speaks about being the bigger person. Jesus teaches us the importance and power of love. However, there is one thing we always need to remember none of this is easy and sometimes taking the high road, being the bigger person, living by love can open us up to be hurt once again. It can also mean being rejected. The commandment of love requires that we be forgiving people, to seek forgiveness and to offer forgiveness whether it is successful or not. So, we pray for the strength and the grace to be people willing to seek forgiveness and be forgiving! Have a great Thursday everyone! Today’s Thoughts: After reading today’s Gospel (Matthew 5:17-19) one might ask the question, “What law is Jesus speaking about?” At first glance, we might be tempted to say that Jesus was about abolishing the law rather than fulfilling it. His life and ministry often seemed to challenge Jewish law rather than support it or fulfill it.
However, we might journey back to a conversation Jesus had with a scribe (Mark 12:28-34), the scribe asked Jesus, “Which is the first of all the commandments?” Jesus’ responds “to love God and to love your neighbor as yourself, these are the two great commandments.” Now, if we think of this conversation in light of today’s Gospel then we might begin to have a real understanding of what law Jesus is talking about. All of law flows from these two great commandments, love of God and neighbor. Jesus’ life was about fulfilling these commandments, his life, his actions, his teaching and his ministry all centered on living a life in love of God and others. All that Jesus said and did was to bring fulfillment to the great law of love. Jesus showed us the way to fulfill the law, to change the world. Thus, the challenge for us in today’s Gospel is about how we live our life. Do we live our life in order to help bring fulfillment to the law of love? Do we live life loving God, others and ourselves? 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
May 2023
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