Today’s Thoughts: In our Gospel this morning Jesus turns to the disciples in one of their private moments and says, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see. For I say to you, many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, but did not see it, and to hear what you hear, but did not hear it.” (Luke 10:24)
Perhaps the question we should ask ourselves today is, “What do we see and what do we hear as we walk through life?” As we walk to work and encounter a homeless person on the street do we see someone who is broken and needs our help or do we see someone who should just “stop drinking and get a job.” When we listen to the homily on Sunday and hear the call for action does it resonate with us; or do we say, “Let someone else in the parish take up that cross, I have way too much to do.” We are gifted each day with the opportunity to encounter God, perhaps not exactly like the disciples in the Gospel. Jesus is not standing physically right in front of us. However, in the living of life we have the opportunity to encounter, Jesus, the Holy Spirit and the Father each and every moment of our life if we just take the time to listen and to see. If we just take the time to be open to the presence of God in our life. In other words, we just have to open our eyes and ears to God as we journey through life! Today is the Memorial of Our Lady of the Rosary. I would have to say that I have never been a big fan of the rosary mainly because of the communal experiences that I have had with it. People try to out yell others, some praying fast others slow, adding prayer after prayer rather than holding to the simplicity of the rosary. In August of 2014 I had the great gift of traveling to Lourdes and praying the rosary each evening I was there in the candle light procession. It was an amazing experience even though it was in many different languages. I walked away from that experience with a greater appreciation for the rosary and I realized that the simple prayers of the rosary, the Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory be… have often kept me grounded and on the right path. The rosary is often the formal prayer that I pray when running because of its simplicity and power. So perhaps if you have the time today a simple rosary of an Our Father, ten Hail Marys and one Glory Be and prayed in this sequence five times might just enliven your journey through life today! Have a great Saturday everyone!
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Today’s Thoughts: In today’s Gospel the towns of Chorazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum have stepped on one of Jesus’ nerves. Towns that are so much a part of his life and ministry just don’t seem get it. They don’t recognize the presence of God in their midst. Jesus has done all kinds of great things for them and yet they are slow to respond to his message. They have had the advantage and done nothing with it.
I am always struck when this Gospel passage comes around that the towns of Chorazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum exist no more. If you go to the Holy Land and visit the places where these towns once existed all you will find are ruins. For various reasons these town no longer have life, could it be because when they had the chance to be blessed, to celebrate the gift of God in their life, to follow along the everlasting way they missed it? We often get focused on our own needs, thoughts, feelings, dreams and desires. In these moments at times we miss God invitation. We think we know better. We think we have it all figured out. We think we are in control, but we are not! O God, I know I haven’t walked in your shoes. I know you have the words of everlasting life. Help us to see beyond ourselves. Guide us today and always along your everlasting way! Have a great Friday everyone! Today’s Thoughts: Our readings are rather straight forward today. In today’s gospel, Jesus sends seventy-two disciples out to announce the Kingdom of God to all the places that Jesus intends to visit. Jesus asks the disciples to go, to travel with nothing. They are not to be independent, but dependent. Not an easy way to travel. They are to be dependent on the places they go and the people they encounter. They are to be dependent on Jesus even though he is not there with them physically. They are to trust in their relationship with Jesus. This is all part of their learning process.
In today’s first reading from the Book of the Prophet Nehemiah. Israel had returned to Jerusalem after years of the exile in Babylon. Israel begins the process of recommitting to God and to living out once again their covenant with God given to Moses on Mount Sinai. The priest Ezra is publicly proclaiming the Torah before Israel’s leaders and people. Like the disciples Israel once again learns to be dependent rather than independent. They must learn to once again place their trust in God. We are also asked in our journey of faith to move from independence to dependence. We are asked to trust in our relationship with God. As I mentioned above and as we know for our story of faith this is not an easy process and like Israel and the disciple we will fail at times. We will place more trust in the world or in ourselves. Our challenge is always to let go and let God! Have a great Thursday everyone! Today’s Thoughts: “No one sets a hand to the plow and looks to what was left behind is fit for the Kingdom of God.” (Luke 9:62) For me this closing verse of our Gospel today says it all. Looking back is not an option in our journey of faith. Yes, we can recall stories, experiences and moments of our past but we cannot be about our daily life always looking back.
Think of someone pushing a plow or driving a car or running a race or doing anything that asks for our attention to what is in front of us. If we turn to look back bad things can happen plowing the field, driving the car or running the race. In our Gospel today, Jesus asks us to live in the moment and yes sometimes living in the moment can be hard if not next to impossible. Yet living in the moment is what is going to make all the difference in our journey of faith. I don’t know too many people who would not want to bury their mother or father or say good-bye to their family if they were leaving but I don’t think Jesus is saying that we cannot do these things. Remember Jesus’ word are often more for effect rather than hard and fast rules. If our family is valuable to us shouldn’t God be also? Living in the past, focusing on the past does not allow us to move forward. It can often cause us to miss the presence of God when we most need it. If we are going to follow Jesus we need to focus on what is right in front of us not what is behind us. Have a great Wednesday everyone! Today’s Thoughts: “Lord, do you want us to call down fire from heaven to consume them?” As I read this sentence from the Gospel (Luke 9:51-56) today I thought of the situation in our country, in our world with so much hate and violence. I wish we could call down fire to consume it and start all over again and I am thinking Jesus might give the request just a little more thought this time! But in the end, we would get what the disciples got a rebuke.
Jesus never confronted violence with violence, for him there was always another way, a better way. It isn’t always the easy way but in the end, it is better than violence, anger, negativity and abuse of power. It is the way that will invite, welcome and make God present to the people around us and to the world. Are there risks to Jesus’ way? Absolutely! But the risks are worth it. Jesus shows us in the Gospel today that meeting rejection with rejection, or hate with hate, or violence with violence is not the way. When we are treated poorly, when we are disappointed, when we are attacked, violence, anger, hate is not the way forward. Jesus’ suggestion is to take a deep breath, and then take our next step in faith. This is the way all disciple can complete their journey of faith. In living life this way, we can give meaning to the words we find in first reading for today from Zechariah (Zechariah 8:20-23). If we live as people of faith, then others will grab hold of us and say, “Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.” Isn’t this Pope Francis’ message on how to be a Christian, a person of faith? It is our action, our treatment of others. It is our making God present so others can see and experience God that will change the world. But Jesus couldn’t you make just one exception and call down fire to consume all preach hate and violence! Have a great Tuesday everyone… "How often we say: 'I must change, I can't go on like this. … My life, on this path, will not bear fruit, it will be a useless life and I will not be happy'. How often these thoughts come to us. … And Jesus by our side, with His hand outstretched, says to us, 'Come, come to me. I will do the work: I will change your heart, I will change your life, I will make you happy.' … Jesus is with us and invites us to change our life. It is He, with the Holy Spirit, Who sows in us this restlessness, to change our life and to become a little better. Let us follow the Lord's invitation without resistance, because only if we open ourselves up to His mercy will we encounter the true life and true joy. We must merely throw open the door, and He will do all the rest. He does everything, but we must open the door of our heart so that He can heal us and help us go ahead. I assure you that we will be happier." (Pope Francis)
Today’s Thoughts: I have a special affection for our feast today, the Feast of the Holy Guardian Angels. Perhaps it goes back to my childhood, when in the first and second grade we always had to save room at our desk for our guardian angel. It was one way that the good Felician Sisters taught us about the spiritual life but it also helped them keep order in classroom, for you see if we kept a space on our seats for our guardian angel then the theory was we would not bother the person sitting next to us. I have to say, sometimes it worked but most of the time it didn't!
The other day another childhood memory came to mind. One of my favorite movies as a kid was Angels in the Outfield, (the original 1951 version with Paul Douglas, Janet Leigh, Keenan Wynn, the voice of James Whitmore and cameo appearances by Ty Cobb, Joe DiMaggio and Bing Crosby, just to name a few). I loved the movie because it took place in Pittsburgh and centered around the woeful Pittsburgh Pirates and how the Pirates overcame their last place woes with the help of Heavenly Choir Nine, a celestial team of deceased ballplayers, who began bestowing "miracles" upon the Pirates—but only on the condition that their loud mouth manager Guffy McGovern put a moratorium on swearing and fighting. It is a wonderful and funny story. Perhaps it came to mind last night as earlier in the day my Pirates finished out another losing season. I think they are going to need a little angelic help for next year. The point of my walk down memory lane is that the spirits of God's presence which we honor and celebrate today, Guardian Angels, play an important role in our life. Whether we acknowledge them by saving them a seat at our desk as a kid, or laugh and cry with them as Hollywood brings them to life in movies like Angels in the Outfield or It's a Wonderful Life, we all have had moments and experiences in life when we sense that God has sent someone to help us. It might be a special person from our past, whose lost we have grieved but who seems to continue to walk with us helping us overcome a struggle, an obstacle, or a difficult moment. Someone whose spirit whispers in our ear a good word that sends us on our way in the right direction. A loving spirit who lets us know that we are not alone, we are loved, we are important, we are special and that makes all the difference at that moment in our life. Throughout the scriptures God sends his spirits, his messengers, to help people on their journey of faith. Why should this moment in time be any different? Why shouldn’t we believe that God sends his spirits, his messengers into our lives from time to time to help us on our journey? Many years ago I was running the Boston Marathon. It was my second time running that marathon. I was at mile 25 and out of gas. I could barely walk. I was just trying to find any strength so that I could keep moving forward. A young woman stepped off the sidewalk and began to walk alongside me. I didn’t know her. She asked me my name and then put her hand on my shoulder and said, “You can do this! Let’s run!” She began to run and so I began to run. She asked me if this was my first marathon and I said “no.” She said, “Then you know that you can do this so let’s run!” And we began to run faster. In the next moment as I seemed to get new energy I looked to my side and she was gone. I never got a chance to ask her name or to say thanks! I am sure it was my guardian angel just making sure I kept going. It is something that she has done now for 63 plus years in many different ways. You might say I have gotten her, “her wings,” many time over! In the Gospel today (Matthew 18: 1-5, 10) Jesus reminds us that our angels are always looking upon the face of God. In other words, they have got a special connection with God that someday we just might need. So, as you journey through today remember to save a little space for your guardian angel and take a moment to thank her or him for the journey so far! Have a great Monday everyone! Today’s Thoughts: Our Gospel today is another parable from Jesus that is slowly getting him in trouble with the religious leaders of his day. The important thing is that Jesus just keeps speaking the truth, he keeps pushing forward with his mission.
In last week’s parable the “vineyard” which those listening know to be the scriptural image for the nation Israel leads into our parable today. You might say that today’s parable is a cross between last week’s parable and the parable of the Prodigal Son in Luke’s Gospel. Today we have a parable about a vineyard and two sons. The first son is asked to go into the vineyard, but says “no.” He later changes his mind and goes. The second says “yes,” but does not go. Jesus then asks the question which of the two sons does the father’s will. The answer is the first son which once again challenges those listening with the reality of their lives. As religious leaders, as people of faith are they doing the Father’s will? Once again, Jesus has put them in the crosshairs of the truth! Those listening to Jesus are the second son, they say “yes” but it really means “no.” They had seen and heard John as he invited them into the “new vineyard” of which he was the announcer but said “no.” And they continue to say “no” to Jesus, but tax collectors and prostitutes who in former times had said “no” have changed, and are living their “yes.” Here is essential Christianity, of being people of faith. The tax collectors, prostitutes in their pasts, said “no” to God’s call, however they are now responding to Jesus’ invitation. Is it true of us too? We often in our lives say “no” to God, but then in the end we “act justly, love tenderly and walk humbly with God.” Perfection is our origin and goal, but not how we live our life. As people of faith and by believing in Jesus’ call of mercy we admit that at times we say “no,” but with the grace of mercy we can also welcome Jesus into our life so that we at times can more eagerly go into his “vineyard.” With us it is sometimes “yes” and sometimes “no,” but for Jesus it always was, is now, and ever will be, “yes!” Our futures do not redeem our pasts; Jesus is the Redeemer. Our futures will need redeeming as well and Jesus’ “yes” allows us to walk with him and not fear our stepping on anybody’s toes nor tripping over our own perfectionistic feet. So often we say “no” to God’s call, because we struggle to trust. With prayer and reflection our actions reverse our natural fearful hesitations and we say “yes.” Trusting in God’s love does not do away with our human fears. However, because of Jesus’ eternal “yes,” because of the grace of God’s mercy we can often turn our fearful “no” into a “yes” that frees us to get up and go into God’s waiting vineyard. Have a blessed Sunday 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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