Today’s Thoughts: In today’s Gospel, we find Mark’s account of Jesus sending his disciples out on their first mission adventure. The word “mission” comes from the Latin word for “send” and so Jesus sends his disciples out into the world with instructions about how they are to go about mission, how they are to proclaim God’s Kingdom.
Their basic instruction is to trust in God’s care, fidelity and mercy as they go about their mission. They are to place their full trust in God by taking nothing with them. They are to trust in Jesus’ words. They are to take no food, nor money. If they are willing to trust then they will cure many, drive out demons and preached God’s call to believe. This is their mission. Jesus tells them it is not going to be easy. They can expect rejection or at least not to be accepted just because he sent them to do something good for others. The disciples are told to expect rejection but when it comes, don’t give up! Just keep on doing and saying what they have seen and heard from Jesus. In other words, they are to keep moving, to keep proclaiming the Good News. In last week’s Gospel, Jesus returned to his hometown and was rejected and so he had to move on. This week the disciples, the early church and us, are given the same message. As we go about God’s work in the world today, with all of it divisions, hurt, anger, and hate we should not expect to be welcomed with open-arms and acceptance. In the first reading today, Amos tried announcing God’s word and he gets rejected. Jesus always seems to get people angry by his teaching and curing. Modern-day prophets have spoken the Good News and offered graceful assistance and have often gotten early entrances into eternal life for their efforts. We as Church and as individuals on mission are called to leave the mass, to leave our moments of prayer, to leave our comfort zones and live the Good News. We are to trust in God to do the rest. We are to reach out, challenge, and comfort the needs of others and to know that at times our offerings will be rejected, and our extended hands slapped away. The early disciples had to trust Jesus’ word, they had to trust in God’s faithfulness. We later disciples must do the same! Have a great Sunday everyone and don’t forget to give God a little time today!
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Today’s Thoughts: In our first reading today Joseph’s says to his brothers, "Have no fear. Can I take the place of God? Even though you meant harm to me, God meant it for good, to achieve his present end, the survival of many people. Therefore, have no fear.
I will provide for you and for your children." With these words Joseph embraces the spirit of Jesus’ words in the Gospel this morning that he was important to God. God knew everything about him, all the hairs on his head. Joseph knew that God valued him far more than a couple of sparrows. With this understanding, with this knowledge of God Joseph was able to move forward to volunteer for the journey of a lifetime. Perhaps the challenge of our scriptures today is to look at our own life, to acknowledge our own sinfulness and to trust in the presence, the care and the love of God all the while moving forward, to volunteer for the journey of a lifetime with God. Yes, there is an evil one lurking out there ready to claim our body and soul, but we must trust in God’s care, concern and love to guide us through the challenges and the struggles that come our way. We need to trust that we, like Joseph, are important to God. As we journey through this day let is ask God for the strength to believe more deeply in God’s love for us so that we can live more peacefully in God’s presence around us! Have a blessed, holy, and healthy Saturday everyone! Today’s Thoughts: “For it will not be you who speak but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you” (Matthew 10:20). There is great comfort in these words from the Gospel today especially for someone like me, a preacher. However, they are words that are also demanding. They demand dependence not independence. They demand dependence on God, a willingness to let go and let God.
Now before I go any further with my reflection I would just like to say something about this phrase “let go and let God.” I know I use it often and at times people have commented that they don’t quite understand it. When I use the phrase “let go and let God” what I am referring to is the human condition known as being in control. We all like to be in control, to call the shots. We all like to have a sense that we have got things covered, that we know best. However, if we pay close attention to Jesus in the Gospel we are reminded time and time again that it is about God not about us. Jesus often asks the disciples to trust, to not depend on themselves but the presence of God in their lives. This was not easy, and the disciples often fail. It was when they were able to let go of their way and trust in God that they found themselves on the right path. Letting go and letting God simply means that life is not about “me” it is about God. It is about letting go of the enticements of the world and letting God be present to us as we journey through life. This theme of trust, of letting go has been an ongoing theme in our Gospels this week. We have been told of the great power that the disciples have been given to proclaim the Kingdom of God in the Gospel. And we have been directed in many ways through the responsorial psalm that our focus in life should always be God. We have heard how Jacob and Joseph have trusted in God’s plan for them and Israel. Thomas Merton wrote, “You do not need to know precisely what is happening, or exactly where it is all going. What you need is to recognize the possibilities and challenges offered by the present moment, and to embrace them with courage, faith and hope.” Jesus remind us today of the same thing. It is through the courage of our friendship with God that we will always be able to bring the Kingdom of God to each moment of life. So, as we make our way through this day let us have the courage to let go and let God because we trust in God’s unrelenting love for us, a love that impels us to proclaim the Kingdom of God because the Spirit of God speaks through us! Have a blessed, holy, and healthy Friday everyone! Today’s Thoughts: Today’s Thoughts: Perhaps today’s thought or focus might be the response from today’s responsorial psalm, “Remember the marvels the Lord has done.” Certainly, the two readings, the continuing story of Joseph and his family and Jesus’ sending of the twelve remind us of some of the marvels that God has done over the centuries.
However, more importantly for us today it might not be a bad idea to pause and just remember of the marvels of God in our own life. We all have experienced wonderful, awesome, and marvelous things in our life, things that if we stop and think about can tell us about God’s presence in our life. Take a few moments sometime today and think about your life, remember the marvelous things God has done for you, children, spouses, friends, experiences, occasions and moments that mean something special to you. Think of the wonderful and awesome places you have been and the people who journeyed there with you. Yes, God has done marvelous things for us and sometimes it is good to stop, remember and give thanks for them! Have a blessed, holy, and healthy Thursday everyone! Today’s Thoughts: “A man knows when he has found his vocation when he stops thinking about how to live and begins to live.” (Thomas Merton) I think this is a good quote for our Gospel reading today. The 12 apostles (Matt. 10:1-7) begin to live today and in doing so they find out what God has in store for them.
Isn’t this true for all of us? In living we uncover, we find, we experience, we become who God calls us to be. A verse from John’s Gospel came to mind as I reflected upon today’s Gospel, “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit – fruit that will last” (John 15:16). The twelve were chosen by Jesus and in the Gospel today they take their first steps in living out that call, they bring the gift of God to the people that they encounter. The challenge today for us is – Are we living out our call? And what gifts are we offering the world today? Have a blessed, holy, and healthy Wednesday everyone! Today’s Thoughts: I think we have all been where Jesus seems to be today. It might take place within family, friends, the place where we work, the neighborhood or our faith community, but we have been in those situations when we look at people and their struggles and our “hearts go out to them!” We see them overwhelmed by life and we wonder how they will survive, how they will make it. At times we even feel helpless because the struggle, the problem, the issue just seems so overwhelming.
In the midst of Jesus’ ministry, even though he is healing everyone in sight he looks around and it is overwhelming. He sees the struggles of life, of health, of emotions, of faith. How these people going to make it?” He wonders. His heart goes out to them! On the plus side, Jesus sees a great harvest. He sees possibilities; he sees gifts, talents, abilities. He sees hope and a future, but he knows people cannot do it alone the whole community must work at it. Sometimes we think this passage just refers to vocations. If we just get enough priests everything will be fine. Vocations are only a piece of the challenge that Jesus presents to us today. The challenge is for the whole community to be involved. The whole community needs to work together to bring in the harvest, not just a so called chosen few. Yes, there are a lot of things wrong however a harvest of faith, hope and love is right in front of us and it is our responsibility to bring that harvest in. We are in this journey of life together and we all have something to add, to give so that the full rich harvest of God’s presence can be realized and made present. Have a blessed, holy, and healthy Tuesday everyone! Today’s Thoughts: The verse from the responsorial psalm seems to capture the essence of our readings today, “The Lord is gracious and merciful.”
In our first reading from Genesis (Genesis 28:10-22a) Jacob is blessed by God. Even though Jacob has received the blessing of his father Isaac by trickery God is still gracious and merciful toward him. At Bethel, Jacob encounters God and he is gifted with the same blessing Abraham and Isaac received to be the father of a great nation. In the Gospel, (Matt. 9:18-26), we witness God’s graciousness and mercy through Jesus. It is a graciousness and mercy that comes about because of the faith of two people, the official and the woman. Both the official and the woman have unconditional faith, unrelenting faith. Even though his daughter is dead the official still searches out Jesus. He knows that even in death an encounter with Jesus can mean life. The woman who has struggled with health issues for many years just wants to touch Jesus’ clothing that simple action will make all the difference. These two faith filled people teach us the value, the gift of unconditional, unrelenting faith. They teach us that when we place our trust in God wonderful things, sometimes even impossible things happen, both encounter God’s graciousness and mercy! Today we are challenged not pass up any opportunity to encounter a place, a person, an experience that will help us to know of God’s active presence in our life, to know God’s graciousness and mercy, to know God’s loving presence. Let us be people of unconditional, unrelenting faith so that as we journey through life there is always the possibility for wonderful if not impossible things to happen. Have a blessed, holy, and healthy Monday everyone! Today’s Thoughts: “Is he not the carpenter?” Yes, we know this guy. We know what he can and can’t do. We know what he is capable of and it is not the wonderful things that we hear he is doing. It must be “fake news!”
Seems that even in Jesus’ day there were people who calmed “fake news.” We hear in the Gospel today (Mark 6: 1-6a), about Jesus’ home town that doesn’t seem to believe in what they hear about Jesus. They think it is fake news. They do not have faith in Jesus which perhaps gives us a little food for thought. The people in Nazareth, seem to be so closed minded, so sure they know Jesus that they have little faith. Their faith is so weak that the wonderful things Jesus does everywhere else could not happen in their town. They have put Jesus into a box and they are not open to the unpredictable answers, the unexplainable surprises and the unrelenting love that Jesus brings! Our Gospel reminds us that faith is profoundly important but is not easy, that it takes work. We cannot always depend on what we know. History is helpful but at times it can get in the way. We need to be open to the possibilities of something new. We need to keep working at letting go and letting God, in other word, in having faith. We need to not give up hope because we never know when or where the grace of God will be in our midst and we do not want to miss it! So today let us live out our faith, let us not fear, because God's kindness is everlasting and God's grace in always right around the corner! Have a blessed and holy Sunday and a Happy 4th of July, but don’t forget to give God a little time today. May the Passion of Jesus Christ be always in your heart! Today’s Thoughts: I have always felt that over the centuries, St. Thomas the Apostle has gotten a bad rap. If we look at the Gospel stories especially those situated around the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Jesus it seems that everyone doubts, and everyone needs to see, taste, touch, hear or smell Jesus before they believe!
Perhaps, St. John includes this little story about Thomas just to remind us that everyone doubts, and everyone need the sacramental experience of Jesus to keep us going on the right path. In celebrating St. Thomas today, we are reminded that there is no cheap grace. Faith is a struggle, doubt is around every corner, with reason to wonder and question often making an appearance. We only prevail; we only remain faithful because of grace, grace that was born out of the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Christ. It is not cheap grace, but grace grounded in the marks of struggle and love. I have a favorite quote by Fr. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, SJ that I visit often; “Someday, after mastering the winds, the waves, the tides and gravity, we shall harness for God the energies of love, and then, for a second time in the history of the world, [humankind] will have discovered fire.” Perhaps our story of Thomas today reminds us of what we all want to discover and when we touch, taste, smell, see or hear it we too can say, “My Lord and my God!” Today let us not be unbelieving but by the grace of God let us believe! Have a blessed, holy, and healthy Saturday everyone! Today’s Thoughts: Whenever I hear or read today’s Gospel (Matt. 9:9-13) I think of all those times when people, often times leaders, especially religious leaders, refuse to attend something, a graduation, dinner, fundraising event or some other gathering because a certain person is going to be there or be honored. Often the objection centers on an issue like abortion, contraception or some other political/faith issue. I am sure those who protest the presence of this person have good reasons; reasons often intensified by some others who believe it would bring scandal to attend.
Yet, Jesus often sat, talked, ate and was found in the company of public sinners and people at odds with the faith community. Situations that the religious leaders of his time thought were bringing scandal. Jesus’ statement to the Pharisees today seems to indicate that these are the very people he came to encounter and help. Why is that not the same today? Why are we not willing to be present to people who need help today? Do we not trust God’s presence? Do we not trust that people can change? Do we think that people cannot be affected by what we bring to a moment though faith? Must people always believe first before we are willing to talk to them or be in their presence? Do we really not value our own witness of faith? Jesus did not convert every person he met. He did not change the attitudes, the opinions or the actions of every person he encountered. Jesus simply was willing to listen, to share, to be present to and to treat all people as God’s children. He was willing to break bread, to share a meal and hope that through the encounter a person’s heart might change. I realize that none of us are Jesus, however if we are his disciples so let us humbly follow in his footsteps and trust in our faith, in our witness to the Gospel? Have a blessed, holy, and healthy Friday 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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