Today’s Thought: There are perhaps many ways to interpret today's Gospel; one way that I have often used is to ask the questions, "What is your image of God? And are you afraid of God?" In the story the man gives his servants gold coins and says go out and trade with them. Some of the servants go and trade and make more coins. One servant hides the coin in a handkerchief, so he has it ready when the master wants it back. The servants who traded are rewarded and servant who stored the coin in the handkerchief has the coin taken away. The servants who trade took a risk, they could have lost. The third servant took no risk, why? As the story tells us because he was afraid of the master!
We are given many gifts from God and all we are asked to do is use them as we live out our life. I have come to the conclusion that our image of God makes all the difference in how we use our gifts. If we are afraid of God, afraid of making a mistake then we probably will not take any risks with God's gifts. We will hang on to them, hide them away. If we see God as a friend, a companion, someone who takes risks, who wants us to take risks then we will probably invest God’s gifts. For example, if we see Jesus as someone who took one risk after another; if we see him as someone who invested his life every day then we hopefully will do the same. So, I believe that it comes down to how we envision, understand and live out our relationship with God. Another question I often ask is, "What if the first two servants had traded with the coins and lost them?" I cannot answer the question for sure, but my guess is the master says the exact same thing, "Well done, good servant!" Why because no investment is ever lost it is always out there working in some way. Thus, the challenge for today is to ask ourselves the question, "Are we willing to take a risk and bring God to the world today or are we going to hide God safely away?" Have a great Wednesday everyone.
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Today’s Thoughts: We encounter the famous story of Zacchaeus in today's Gospel (Luke 19:1-10). Zacchaeus had to liabilities, one he was short, and the other was that he was a tax collector.
Now he could not do anything about his shortness that was with him to stay. Being a tax collector seemed to be his choice. We do not know how he got the job or why he wanted it but it put him in a bad light with many people and the religious leadership. He was seen as a sinner, someone who sold out to the Romans and someone who was cheating his own people just to get ahead in life. However, there was something honest and interesting about Zacchaeus. When he heard that Jesus was in town, he wanted to see him, catch a glimpse. So as the story goes he climbed a tree and we might say the rest was history. Jesus saw him and invited him down for a closer look. We find out through the conversation between Jesus and Zacchaeus that Zacchaeus is trying to be an honest man and he is willing to go the extra mile if he has hurt or harmed anyone by his position and he is rewarded for his honesty and good heart as Jesus comes to his house. Zacchaeus was able to take his shortcomings, his liabilities and turn them into strengths. He was able to make a positive situation out of what seemed to be a negative. All he needs to do was seek out God in his life. With this story Jesus once again reminds us that good things, faithful things can come from unexpected situations and people. Like Zacchaeus we need to be on the lookout for the presence of God in our life and be bold when our chance comes to encounter that presence! Have a great Tuesday everyone. Today’s Thoughts: I have a couple of thoughts about our Gospel today...
Perhaps my first thought is not directly related to today Gospel, but it is a good starting point for my thoughts today. I was wandering around the internet a year or so ago and came across a video of Denzel Washington giving a commencement address at a college a couple of years ago. In his talk he gave the students 5 or 6 suggestions or principles for living their life. His first principle or suggestion was – “Put God first, make God a part of everything that you do!” He told them a story about his college days and how he was not doing well, his grade point was 1.7 and he had an experience in his mother beauty shop that changed his focus. Since that time, he has tried to “put God first” in everything that he has done. I think Mr. Washington’s principle reminded me of one of my own principles of life that God asks of me each day, "stay in love with me and live out of that love!" At a community mass a couple of years ago one of my brother Passionist reflected on today's Gospel and he challenged us with the point that sometimes we would prefer not to see. The blind man in the Gospel wants to see but sometimes we find it easier not to see, it means less responsibility, less hurt or pain, less expectations on us. If I look at my own life, I would have to say his observation is true. I think there have been times when I really didn't want to see, it was easier not to! If we can “put God first,” if we can find and enliven our first love for God, others and ourselves then we will always want to see! Or perhaps if we ask God in faith to see then our first love will once again come to life! May this day be one of seeing, of putting God first and rich in energy grounded in love! Have a great Monday everyone. Today’s Thoughts: “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.” (Thomas Merton)
These few words from Thomas Merton might help us understand our readings especially our Gospel today. In today’s Gospel Jesus advises his disciples and anyone who will listen about false prophets and silver-tongued teachers. Jesus knows that external appearances and teachers can be deceiving. We are challenged each day to discern the true and often underlying meaning of many teachers of faith. However, not all false prophets are religious. Much of the noise of information we are exposed to on a regular basis includes things that are false. We see get-rich-quick schemes that preach a gospel of stocks, bonds and real estate. There are all kinds of schemers out there, who will prey on the elderly and the less fortunate in society. We are called to practice active discernment as a habit of our spiritual life and not just in a religious context but in all parts of our life. A second challenge by Jesus today is much harder to hear. He tells us that we are not promised a worry-free, easy life on earth. In fact, Jesus explicitly makes it clear that his disciples and us will be hated and persecuted—but those painful moments are wonderful opportunities for us to show our witness to the Gospel. We who believe in and serve Christ in the world will inevitably face resistance, recrimination for our faith and even persecution. However, we are promised hope, strength and support from God in those moments—if we have the wisdom to trust in God. The Holy Spirit will carry us with God’s thoughts and words when on our own wisdom and effort is empty. Jesus’ message today is that we can always be comforted by the fact that we are not pioneers, the first to encounter these struggles but we are followers and that God will hold us in his heart throughout our journey through this life. Have a blessed Sunday everyone and don’t forget to give God a little time today. Today’s Thoughts: Early this morning as I spent some time in prayer I was struck by Jesus’ closing words in the Gospel today, "But when the Son of Man comes will he find faith on earth?" (Luke 18:1-8) My guess is that Jesus’ question in today’s Gospel is always the underlying question when it come to our human condition. There are so many experiences that seem to make faith difficult. So many experiences that direct our attention away from our relationship with God.
In the Gospel today, Jesus reminds us to pay attention and be persistent. In many ways it is these two qualities that will help keep our faith alive so that when Jesus does return he will find faith! ... Key thought for our journey of life today..."Being attentive to God especially through persistence in prayer!" Have a great Saturday everyone. Today’s Thoughts: In our Gospel today, we are presented with difficult lesson. Jesus emphasizes over and over to his disciples and to those listening to him that they will not know the day or the hour that the Son of Man will be revealed. Jesus stresses that they will be going about their normal routines when they will need to stop what they are doing, leave what their belongings, there stuff, leave loved ones and friends to take note of his coming.
Jesus implies that they will otherwise be lost as the people in Noah and Lot’s time. “One will be taken, the other left.” The people, it seems, were confused by Jesus’ words, and respond, “[taken] where, Lord?” Jesus says, with a bit of frustration, “Where the body is, there also the vultures will gather.” This passage, I think, might just be saying to us that our true future, eternal life, is not about the body, but more about the spirit. If we do not take note of the coming of the Lord and ignore Jesus’ warning that we must put matters of everyday life aside to follow him, we will be subject to death. The “vultures” will gather around us. We do have a choice, to “Stand erect and raise your heads because your redemption is at hand.” Today, let us choose to follow Jesus. Have a great Friday everyone! Today’s Thoughts: “The Kingdom of God is among you.” These are Jesus’ words in today’s Gospel (Luke 17:20-25). What do they mean?
On the one hand Jesus could be talking about himself. He is the Kingdom of God at that moment. The religious leaders are looking around for God and signs of God, yet God is in their midst. The Kingdom of God is among them and they are missing it! Another way of looking at Jesus’ words is that Jesus does not say that the Kingdom of God is in us or above us or around us; Jesus says the Kingdom is among us. Perhaps Jesus is saying that none of us alone possesses the Kingdom of God. Each of us shares in the Kingdom, thus we need each other for the Kingdom to be fully appreciated. With this in these two understandings of Jesus’ words today our challenge is to be on the lookout for marks of the Kingdom. We need to be on the lookout for the presence of Jesus in our life. And what will help us not miss the marks of the Kingdom and the presence of Jesus? Well as the first reading tells us (Wisdom 7:22b-8:1) the gift of the spirit of wisdom and remember wisdom produces friends of God! Have a wise and wonderful Thursday everyone. Today’s Thoughts: In our Gospel (Luke 17:11-19) Jesus responds with mercy to the ten lepers who asked for mercy. Yet it is the Samaritan in the group who returns to offer thanks. How often do we get caught up in the attitude that “Life is about me!” How often do we forget that all we are and all we have comes from God? When those good moments happen; when life falls into place for us; when things work out just as we had planned, how often do we remember to pause and say thank you?
If we look at the history of the world, the history of life, the history of the Church, great decisions have been made but so to have great mistakes and poor choices. Things have constantly changed sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse yet what has endured is the presence of God. As Jesus tells us in the Gospel today, faith and thankfulness are key ingredients in the journey of life. We need to have faith, to trust in God’s mercy. We also need to be thankful for that mercy each and every day of our life. Blessings and peace to all today! Enjoy your Wednesday everyone. Today’s Thoughts: There is a quote from St. John of Damascus that goes, “What is more precious than to be in the hands of God? God is Life and Light, and those who are in God’s hands are life and light.” There is something very beautiful and comforting about these words as there is about the words in the Book of Wisdom (Wisdom 2:23-3:9) our first reading today.
We most often hear this reading or at least part of it at a funeral mass. I always find it comforting to think that the person that I have come to remember is now in the hands of God and that they are at peace. I think back to my mother’s death and the years of struggle that proceeded that moment. She struggled with dementia for over ten years. She was not herself. She was not the woman who brought me into the world or raised me to be the man I am today. At times she did not know me or anyone else in the family. Her life memories were all jumbled up somewhere in her brain. The expressions on her face were often those of confusion and struggle but at the moment that I celebrated her funeral mass I was comforted by the fact that she was now with God, she was now at peace! The words of the Book of Wisdom and St. John of Damascus comfort us today especially as we think of those important people in our life that we have lost. Yet, Jesus, in the Gospel (Luke 17:7-10), reminds us that throughout our life good works are expected of us. Living life in relationship to God is what is expected of us. We are not special because we do good things; we are simply God servants, no more no less. The gift of being at peace, the gift of being in God’s hands, the gift of being life and light are just that gifts given us by God. We should not expect praise and honor because we live a life of faith. It is expected of us. Yet in living a life of faith we are comforted by the end of the journey when God, who is Life and Light, will hold us in peace! Have a great Tuesday everyone. Today’s Thoughts: First of all let me say to all who stopped by the web site looking for my reflections yesterday, I am sorry they were not here. I got busy and had a morning mass that I was not originally scheduled for and never got back to writing down my reflections.
Our readings today are point and counterpoint to each other. They warn of the inherent pitfalls of sin. In the Book of Wisdom, we hear “think of the Lord in goodness, and seek him in integrity of heart.” Yet we also hear a warning to be spiritually fit and be free of sin and injustice. Without being in that state we can be shut out from the grace of God. Luke’s gospel continues to talk about sin, which is not a topic that most of us like to embrace with vigor. Perhaps it is because we have been influenced too much by societal norms which seem to reject the notion of sin in the modern world. As we reflect on the readings today, the words of Pope Francis come to mind when he asks, “Who Is Jorge Mario Bergoglio?” and he responds, “I am a sinner.” Perhaps it is good to know that we are the same company as the Pope. Our readings not only dwell on the effects of sin but also the resolution to bring us back into the light of the Spirit. We see in Wisdom that the all-embracing God knows our heart and will acquit us if we are truly repentant. In Luke we hear a lesson on how to forgive others. If someone wrongs us seven times a day, we are called to forgive seven times. Yes, we are called to constantly forgive, God in his unquantifiable love forgives us if we truly have a repentant heart. The work of forgiveness is never finished. It is an ongoing process until we meet God face to face. Have a great Monday 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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