Today’s Thoughts: I think sometimes we struggle because God doesn’t seem to be present in ways we would like. We cannot take God fishing like Peter and the other disciples did. We cannot invite God in for a meal like Zacchaeus did. We cannot stop in the midst of our daily work and have a conversation about life like the woman at the well did. We cannot argue a frustration like Martha did. We cannot ask a question and get an immediate answer like the disciples often did. We cannot feel that loving embrace like Mary and others surely did.
We have to live by faith and hope not personal contact. Our time is a time of trusting in God’s presence and having faith that God is at work in us helping us make the right choices, helping us live a good life. We might say that throughout his time as pope, Pope Francis has challenged us to take up the “yoke” that Jesus mentions in the Gospel today (Matthew 11:28-30). It is the “yoke” and “burden” of the people around us who do not have the necessities of life, who are hungry, cold, homeless, suffering, immigrants without a home, children born and unborn without a voice, women not respected, people fleeing war and violence of all kinds. Yes, seeing these people, encountering them, perhaps even being one them is a burden and a yoke that is heavy, difficult to carry and a problem which often seems impossible to solve. Yet, Jesus says pick it up, carry it, but not alone. Like Jesus, Pope Francis, knows that if we do this we will learn from Jesus and we will come to know that the impossible can become of the possible. Perhaps our challenge today is to be “humble of heart” and trust in God’s strength to help us help the world. Have a great day everyone! Have a blessed Advent Wednesday everyone!
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Today’s Thoughts: Years ago, I ran across a quote by the English theologian, Austin Farrer. I often use it for my own personal prayer. “God forgives me, for he takes my head between his hands and turns my face to his to make me smile at him. And though I struggle and hurt those hands – for they are human, though divine, human and scarred with nails – though I hurt them, they do not let go until he has smiled me into smiling; and that is the forgiveness of God.”
Perhaps these words by Austin Farrer can be useful for our reflection today. In the readings today from Isaiah (Isaiah 40: 1-11) and Matthew (Matthew 18: 12-14) we hear about the compassion and love of God. The prophet Isaiah and the evangelist Matthew embrace the image of a shepherd in telling their story of God. Isaiah’s shepherd is feeding, holding and caring for his sheep. Matthew’s shepherd is tirelessly searching for that one lost sheep. Both images communicate the unrelenting and timeless care and concern of a God for his people. The Good News which Isaiah and Matthew impart on us today is that God is always loving, caring and forgiving. The image that Austin Farrer paints engages us in a personal way to encounter God’s care, love and forgiveness. We are asked to feel Jesus holding us, holding us so tenderly and lovingly that in the end we have to smile. At first it is an uncomfortable smile as we think about how often we have hurt, disappointed or turned away from him. However, in his shepherding hands all is well, all is forgiven, and all are loved. Have a blessed Tuesday everyone. Today’s Thoughts: As we celebrate the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception today our focus might be on two things, God’s gift to Mary and us by bringing her into the world untouched by sin and Mary's gift to God and us in her response of "Yes" to the angel Gabriel.
We celebrate the vision, the plan of God from the first moment of creation to touch us with the beauty, joy and faithfulness of Mary. We celebrate a simple response of “yes” by Mary. “Yes” is a response, word, we make and use many times in life. Sometimes our “yeses” are simple responses to easy questions but at other times our “yeses” become responses that change our lives forever. Mary’s “yes” changed her life and our lives profoundly because it paved the way for Christ, the gift of perfect love, to come into the world. Mary’s “yes” was not an easy "yes" because before she could utter it, she had to deal with fear. What was God asking? What did all this mean? How could this happen? Why me? But Gabriel asked Mary to not fear. So, Mary with faith and trust in God moved beyond her fear to God’s perfect love. Remember as St. John tells us, "Love casts out fear!" Enlivened with God’s love Mary stepped beyond fear and said "Yes!" And this made all the difference for her and us! As I pause to celebrate God’s gift of Mary to us today, I am thinking back to my trip four plus summers ago to Lourdes, France. It was there one hundred and sixty years ago that Mary appeared to a frightened teenager, Bernadette Soubirous and told her not to fear because "I am the Immaculate Conception.” St. Bernadette like Mary chose not to fear and thus brought healing waters to a world in most need of healing. If nothing else our feast today challenges us to not live fear. It asks us to welcome God’s gift of Mary into our lives. Our feast reminds us to be like Mary and say “yes” to God because when we do impossible things happen for as Gabriel reminds us “nothing is impossible for God.” Blessings to all on this Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception! Have a great day everyone and may you find peace, hope and joy throughout your Monday! Today’s Thoughts: “The voice of one crying out in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.’” Words of hope offered to those gathered as Church over two thousand years ago and those gathered as Church today. They are Isaiah’s words, John the Baptist’s words, Matthew’s words, St. Paul’s words and our words of hope.
Hope can often seem like an endless wait or a fleeting moment, just ask any Pirate fan or small market baseball fan or football or basketball or hockey fan whose team hasn’t won in many years. Fans who religiously try to capture the spirit of hope every spring, summer, winter or fall only to give in to the utterance, “wait until next year” when the end of the season arrives. In our own time of uncertainly, we often try to hold on to the hope that things will change, that things will get better, that anger, hate, disrespect, violence will be a thing of the past. That Congress will work together for the good of the country and all people. That our president will should leadership. Instead, hope often seems to be that elusive thing with feathers to borrow a phrase from Emily Dickinson. She wrote a poem about hope – “Hope” is the thing with feathers – That perches in the soul – And sings the tune without the words – And never stops - at all (The first stanza from the poem “Hope” is the thing with feathers - By Emily Dickinson) Isaiah, St. Paul and John the Baptist know all about the elusiveness of that “thing with feathers” called hope however that did not stop them from proclaiming it and challenging people to embrace it. Isaiah reminded the Israelites about God’s peaceable kingdom filled with compassion and forgiveness. He proclaimed the hopefulness of a loving God who in the end will make all things right. Isaiah sang the song of hope and never stopped – at all. St. Paul reminds us that our story of faith, the Scriptures are enduring and encouraging but also challenging because they call us to peace, respect and harmony. Again, like Isaiah, St. Paul’s message is one of hope. St. Paul sings the song of hope that can never stopped. John the Baptist challenged those who followed him into the desert to look for hope in their lives by trusting in the compassion and forgiveness of God. John’s challenge was one of urgency, of being ready, of living a good life that would produce good fruit. As we continue our journey through Advent we have the simple hope that Christmas will come but we are also challenged like many before us to hang on to the elusive hope of Isaiah, St. Paul, and John the Baptist in a world that often tries to take it from us. Today Isaiah, St. Paul and John remind us to look for and hold on to that thing with feathers within us the sings a tune and never stops at all! Have a blessed, holy and hope filled Sunday everyone! Today’s Thoughts: “Be prepared at all times for the gifts of God, and be ready always for new ones. For God is a thousand times more ready to give than we are to receive.” (Meister Eckhart)
These thoughts from one of the great Dominican mystic of the Middle Ages, Meister Eckhart, sum up the focus of Advent. It is a time to prepare, to be ready for the coming of God in our life. It is a time to prepare and be ready for the grace of God in our life. As Eckhart says God is always willing and ready to give – it is us who need to be willing and ready to receive. Here in lies the problem we are often not ready or willing to receive. Perhaps it is because we are looking in another place. Perhaps we are distracted by the things of the world. Yet God is patient, compassionate and merciful. God is willing to wait until we are ready. As we journey through this first Saturday of Advent it might be a good time to stop for a moment and look around at our life. Are we prepared, are will ready for the gifts, the grace that God sends into our life? Are we ready the new gifts from God that we might encounter today? Let us be ready for any way, any gift, of the mystery that will touch our lives today. Have a great Saturday everyone! Today’s Thoughts: "Let it be done for you according to your faith. And their eyes were opened." The healing words of Jesus that we find in today’s Gospel. Two men wish to see and as we are told it is their faith that heals and enables them to see. The words Jesus speaks to them seem to echo Mary’s words to the angel Gabriel which we will hear tomorrow, “May it be done to me according to your word.” Two acts of faith, one that heals and one that brings the Eternal Healer into our midst.
Faith always seems to be the center point of our journey through life. Time and time again in our faith story we are reminded just how important faith is. It can move tree and mountains. It can make crooked ways start and turn destructive things into life giving things. Faith can heal and raise the dead. Faith can enliven hope so that we can see the possibilities when things too often seem impossible. Many of our readings throughout Advent remind us that faith is the touchstone to encountering the presence of God in our lives. A question our scriptures ask of us today is – “What kind of faith do we have?” Is it a faith that heals and proclaims the Good News? In having faith in Jesus, the two blind men in our Gospel receive the gift of sight that sends them on a journey proclaiming the Good News. What healing can our faith bring us that will send us on a journey of proclaiming the Good News? Have a great Friday everyone! Today’s Thoughts: In today's Gospel Jesus speaks about the Wise and the Foolish Person. The question is – on what foundation is our faith, our relationship with God built.
Seven years ago, here in New York and along the New Jersey coast we had a very profound example of the power of the wind and the sea. Homes that were built near the shore took a big hit; many were ripped from their foundations. We found out firsthand the power of nature. Jesus uses the image of the power of nature to remind us that there are many things in this life that can pose a threat to our faith, our relationship with God and if we don't have it anchored well, if we have not build our relationship with God on a strong foundation the challenges, the struggles, the difficulties of life are going to ripe our faith from its foundation. As we learned from yesterday's Gospel God will take care of us, but we have got to trust, and we have got to be willing to share. So today let us not be foolish, let us be wise so that our faith does not collapse but that it stands firm amid of the storms of life! An extra thought to keep our faith rooted on rock...St. John Chrysostom says: "Prayer is the place of refuge for every worry, a foundation for cheerfulness, a source of constant happiness, a protection against sadness." Have a great Thursday everyone! Today’s Thoughts: Both of today's readings talk about a holy mountain. For Isaiah the holy mountain is the place of a wonderful feast, a banquet of rich food, of choice wines, a place where tears are wiped away. Jesus' holy mountain is a place where people are healed and feed. It is a place where all the excluded people can come and be included, the lame, the blind, the deformed, those that cannot speak and many others. Both holy mountains, or should I say, the holy mountain is a place of mystery and a place of great mercy, love, forgiveness, it is God's place!
Perhaps, today's readings are a reminder to all of us that God does not discriminated, in fact God goes looking for all who are often not included so they should be included. Perhaps today's readings remind us that none of us are perfect, we are all in need of healing and of nourishment, and we are all in this journey of life together. Let's us welcome the miracle of God's healing and love and may it be what we share during this holy day! Have a great Advent Wednesday everyone! Today’s Thoughts: Around this time each year, I get to spend a little time with two of my grandnieces. They are growing too fast, growing into young women with unique personalities! I could not help but think recently about earlier times when I have been with them, when they were younger. Did you ever take time to watch little children? When I am with my grandnieces, I get a chance to spend some quality time with them. When this has happened, I have gotten a chance to sit back and just watch them. When they were younger it always amazed me how they often made anything they had into a simple play toy, boxes, board games, a piece of ribbon or string, everything seems to come to life.
When my grandniece Kristina, was about three years old, she often played for hours on the floor by herself with board games, like Risk, Trivial Pursue, and others. She had no real understanding of how these games were played but that didn’t matter. She was content to just sit there moving pieces around, building things and imagining a whole different world. There was a joy and contentment on her face as she enjoyed a moment of life. I was often jealous of her freedom, her joy and her excitement. Both of my grandnieces have the gift of allowing their imaginations to enliven their lives. In reflecting on these experiences with my grandnieces I could hear Jesus' words in the Gospel today. God truly does reveal many things to children that we adults miss. Children seem to know the joy and the love of God. Through their imaginations I truly believe they often see the hidden gifts of God that we adults at times miss. We can learn a lot from children, if we let them be children and if we stop to watch and celebrate the gift of their presence in our life. Children also keep alive the hope that Isaiah talks about in the first reading today. If we use our imaginations as children do, we will be able to see the wonderful life that Isaiah envisions, where the wolf is the guest of the lamb and the leopard lies down with the kid and the baby is at play right next to the cobra’s den and all is well. In other words, if we are not afraid to use our imaginations, we have a chance to encounter the Spirit of wisdom, understanding, counsel, knowledge, strength and wonder and awe and we have a chance to live in a world were justice and peace flourishes. We have a chance to make this life God’s Holy Mountain. Yes, I know it seem farfetched but perhaps all it takes is a little imagination! Have a great Tuesday everyone! Today’s Thoughts: Today in our Gospel we have the familiar story of the centurion who asks Jesus to heal his servant. Did you ever realize when reading the Gospels that many of the people whom Jesus encounters with life changing faith are not part of the faith community but are seen as outsiders. This centurion has great faith, a faith that ultimately brings healing to his servant. This Gospel story and others like it should remind us that God's presence, God's healing, God's grace, God's work can come from anywhere and from anyone. Dismissing people for any reason is not a good practice because by dismissing them we may just be dismissing God and an opportunity to be healed!
So, as we begin this first Monday in Advent let us invite God to enter under our roofs even though we might feel unworthy and commit ourselves to renewing the gift of hope in our lives, strengthening our own faith and respecting the gift of others in life so that we never give up on peace or miss a chance to encounter God’s healing presence. Have a great Monday everyone and a blessed Advent! |
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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