Today’s Thoughts: “How does this happen to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” Words uttered by Elizabeth in today’s Gospel (Luke 1:39-45). Yet I think they are also words uttered by us at times when we recognize Mary’s presence in our life.
Yes, I firmly believe that I have been visited by Mary at moments in my life. Mary has come to me at times when I needed a mother’s presence either to comfort me or put me back on the straight and narrow. Times when I needed that hug or when I needed a stern but loving word to set me straight. Mary has come at times when the gift of family was strong and ever present and when I was alone and needed to know that family was still there. Mary walks into our lives often and like Elizabeth we often recognize her presence and God’s presence at once because something inside us leaps for joy. However, there are other times when it takes us a little longer to recognize her presence and the presence of God. Sometimes it is long after they have visited us that we are able to acknowledge their presence. Mary reminds us today that mothers are so important. They not only give us life. They carry us until we can face the world. They protect us. They nurture us. They teach us and they make Mary and Christ present to us throughout our lives! Perhaps like Elizabeth today as we think of our own mothers, as we think about pregnant mothers, as we think about all mothers, we should remember how gifted we are that the mother of our Lord should come to us. We celebrate this day in gratitude for all the mothers! Have a blessed and holy Tuesday everyone.
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Today’s Thoughts: In these last days until Christmas, we are reminded over and over how the Christmas story came to be. Yesterday we heard about Mary’s journey to Elizabeth and today the Mary’s encounter with the angel Gabriel. Each story is a snapshot of the greater story of God’s human presence in the world. In today’s Gospel (Luke 1:26-38) we are reminded that Mary was truly a believer. Even though she did not know the full extent of her “yes” she proclaimed it anyway. She trusted in God. She had faith and she staked her life in the promise of God something Ahaz, in our first reading (Isaiah 7:10-14) was unwilling to do.
Not having a clear vision of the road ahead is not always an easy way to live. It demands trust, it demands faith, and it demands a sense of hope in all that one does. Mary certain defines this way of living. She did not know the implications of her “yes”, but she had trust, faith and lived by an unrelenting hope. There is a quote by Calvin Miller that I have often used. It is from his book The Christ of Christmas: Readings for Advent. I find it a wonderful way to think of the gift of Mary in our life and so I share it with you again today – “We must look to Mary's example to know how to deal with the glorious impossibilities of God. Look how she turned the world upside down by making one simple statement.” Mary’s one simple statement was “yes” to God. Today we remember another moment from the Christmas story. It is a moment that reminds us that if we trust, if we believe, if we live by hope we will encounter God most often when we least expect it but always when we are most in need! Have a great Monday everyone! Today’s Thoughts: Many years ago, I decided that the Christmas after my mother died, I would not go anywhere for Christmas. It had been over 30 years since I had woken up in my own bed on Christmas. It had been over 30 years since I had not travel during the busy holiday season. Yet, when the time came, I once again chose to pack my bags and wake up in a bed other than my own on Christmas, I needed to be with the important people in my life!
There are some people who like to have people around them all the time, while others often prefer solitude. At times in life all of us like doing things by ourselves. We do not want any interruptions and we find that we can get the task done faster if we have the time to ourselves. However, there are moments in our lives when we need people there. In the Gospel today once again, we are told that Mary makes her way to Elizabeth. The story does not say why Mary went, just that she went in haste. I think Mary realize that this is one of those moment when she and Elizabeth did not want to be alone. When the gift of family and friends was very important. We might look at today’s Gospel as an ordinary moment in life. Two people, two family members connecting, yet Luke reminds us that it is often in ordinary moments that we encounter God’s grace. A simple greeting of hello and the movement of a child in mom’s womb happens all the time but for Elizabeth it was the grace of the presence of God. In a few days, we will begin celebrating the gift of Christmas and some people will make haste to be with others, perhaps not as many as in years past because of the virus, but some will travel, and others will zoom. Because there is something in each of us that knows that at this time of the year, we do not want to be alone. We can be with many or just an important few. We can be physically present with them but if that is not possible, we look to other ways to be present, because there is something special about this time of the year. Perhaps it is the need to hear the voice of God in the people we love. Perhaps it is the chance to be enlivened by the presence of God by celebrating with people important in our life. Perhaps it is being reminded that God has chosen us no matter how unimportant we think we are. Perhaps it is because we need to believe that God is truly with us! Have a blessed and holy Sunday everyone and don’t forget to give God a little time today! Today’s Thoughts: The point of Advent and of Christmas in many ways comes down to being reminded that “God is with us!” Sure, we might say that is the point of every day, but during Advent and Christmas – Emmanuel – become a special focus, a special refrain. The great Dominican mystic Meister Eckhart gave a Christmas homily in which he said that Christ is born three times. Christ was first born over 2,000 years ago. Second, Christ will be born at some point in the future when he comes again and thirdly Christ is born every day in our hearts.
Yes, each day we have the opportunity to give birth to Christ. We have opportunity to bring to the world like Mary and Joseph, Emmanuel, God with us! We do it by following in Mary and Joseph’s footsteps, by saying yes to God’s invitation to be part of this journey of faith called life. We do it by living our lives to the fullest, by sharing the image and likeness of God in which we have been created with the world. We do it by trusting in God’s love and by living in hope. My friends today is a new day so let us give birth to Emmanuel today through the hopeful living of our lives. Have a holy and blessed Saturday everyone! Today’s Thoughts: In today’s Gospel (Matthew 1: 1-17), we are reminded that Jesus was part of the great human family. A family made up of saints and sinners and everything in between. It might seem tedious to read this long list of names many of whom we know nothing about and some that seem very familiar. I used to get so nervous when Matthew or Luke’s genealogy would appear as the Gospel, but over the years I began to feel comfortable with it and now I even look forward to proclaiming this Gospel. I guess I have grown familiar with the case of characters!
Isn’t that what life is about growing accustom to life. Seeing people and things differently, telling the stories that reminds us who we are and from where we have come. Remembering the characters good and bad that make up our lives and molded us into the people we are today. When we read or hear the genealogy of Christ whether from Matthew or Luke we are reminded that even though Jesus is God, he is also human, also part of this great human family and the characters, the women and men, who believed, who struggled, said yes and sometimes no, who embraced a relationship with God and sometimes didn’t, who lived life making it possible for Jesus to come into this world to embrace us with his love. Here’s to the characters in all our lives. Here’s to the characters of the human family. Here’s to Joseph and Mary the last characters in our Gospel story today who said yes that we might celebrate Jesus the Christ! Have a blessed and holy Friday everyone! Today’s Thoughts: In today’s readings we realize that God can speak tenderly and harshly! It is a fearful and scary moment when we allow God the freedom of approaching us in any way that God judges best for us. God may reach out to us tenderly or severely.
God’s “Advent” may involve a long preparation, the way that Isaiah drew upon centuries old traditions and carefully composed an elaborate doctrinal poem that we find in today’s first reading. Or God can burst upon us like the prophets who come into our lives without even a conventional “how-do-you-do?” – like John the Baptist. We realize in today’s Gospel that John had a profound attraction to all in his time expect the religious leadership. They were unwilling to let go and let God! Our readings remind us that God can act dramatically or philosophically and allow us time to think things over. Or God can demand an immediate “yes!” God uses each of us uniquely, yet we need to be ready and willing. That is what Advent and life in relationship with God calls us too. Have a blessed and holy Thursday everyone! Today’s Thoughts: As I read the first reading from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah (Isaiah 45: 6c-8, 23c-25) yesterday evening a song by Fr. John Foley, S.J. came to mind. The song is “Turn to Me.” The refrain for the song comes right out of our first reading today, “Turn to Me, O turn, and be saved, Says the LORD, for I am God, There is no other, none beside me, I call your name.” (Fr. John Foley, S.J. – Turn to Me) Isaiah tells us today that there is one God, who created the heavens and the earth and everything in them. There is no other, and the best thing we can do is to turn to God, acknowledge our creator, and praise our God with all our heart. If we do this Isaiah tells us, we will be saved.
In our Gospel today from Luke (Luke 7:18b-23) we encounter a scene between Jesus and two of John the Baptist disciples who have been sent to ask Jesus if he is the one that they are waiting for or should they look for another. Jesus simply says look around, tell John what you see happening. “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind regain their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have the good news proclaimed to them.” (Luke 7:22) In other words, actions are speaking louder than words, the one God that Isaiah has told us about in the first reading, has brought forth a savior for his people. And those who acknowledge him will be blessed. Each Advent we wait, but perhaps like John we know we have found the answer. We know that Jesus is the one to come and we do not have to look any other. We just have to “turn and be saved…I call your name” for we know our God and are blessed in this knowledge. Have a blessed and holy Wednesday everyone! Today’s Thoughts: “To be grateful is to recognize the Love of God in everything He has given us - and He has given us everything. Every breath we draw is a gift of His love, every moment of existence is a grace, for it brings with it immense graces from Him.
Gratitude therefore takes nothing for granted, is never unresponsive, is constantly awakening to new wonder and to praise of the goodness of God. For the grateful person knows that God is good, not by hearsay but by experience. And that is what makes all the difference.” (Thomas Merton) I thought of this quote from Thomas Merton as I read our readings today. Zephaniah (3: 1-2, 9-13) reminds us that no matter how much we think of ourselves, there is someone greater in the life than humanity. And in our Gospel (Matthew 21: 28-32) Jesus confronts us with the question, what is more important the words we speak or the actions through which we live? Merton reminds us that it comes down to being grateful. If we are grateful for our live, for the people we encounter, for everything that is around us then we know something, someone is greater. If we have gratitude, then we are open to the wonder and grace of God. If we are grateful, then our actions will always be a positive response to what we are asked to do and whom we are asked to be. Thus, the key word for our journey through this Tuesday and every day is gratitude. May we truly be grateful for life today because that will make all the difference! Have a holy and blessed Tuesday filled with joy, mercy and gratitude everyone! Today’s Thoughts: In the book, Thoughts in Solitude, Thomas Merton writes, “If our life is poured out in useless words, we will never hear anything, never become anything, and in the end, because we have said everything before we had anything to say, we shall be left speechless at the moment of our greatest decision.”
Merton’s words remind me of the chief priests and elders in the Gospel today. They always had a lot to say to and about Jesus. They constantly questioned him, trying to catch him in a “slip of the tongue.” Yet, in today’s Gospel they were left speechless. I have always thought these religious leaders were not bad people. They were just fearful people. They were people afraid to stop long enough to listen, to hear and to recognize God’s gift in their midst because it might mean they would have to change. Perhaps our reflection today might be to ask ourselves if we are willing to stop and listen. Each day we encounter God in many ways. Are we like the chief priests and elders afraid to listen to, and acknowledge God’s presence? Are we afraid that if we do, we might have to change? Advent can be a busy time, perhaps not as busy as in years past, but there are still lots of things to do before Christmas. Even in this unusual year do we dare stop the rush and take some time to listen, to hear, to recognize God’s presence? Let’s hope so because if we do this just might be one of the greatest moments in our life! Have a blessed and holy day everyone! Today’s Thoughts: I ran across a story a few years ago day about a boy who stumbles across a butterfly trying to emerge from the cocoon. The boy watches the butterfly struggle. At one point the butterfly seems stuck. Concerned that the butterfly might be in trouble the boy runs into the house and gets a small knife from the kitchen and returns and carefully cuts away the cocoon. The butterfly’s body was swollen, and its wings were all shriveled. The boy waited and watched, he expected at any moment the wings would begin to expand and the butterfly would take flight. But it never happened.
Why, because a butterfly needs to struggle through the restrictive cocoon because the struggle forces fluid into the wings, giving them stability and strength so that the butterfly is ready to fly. The boy did not realize that the butterfly's freedom and flight are only possible because of the struggle and hardship it must undergo! This little story made a lot of sense to me considering this season of Advent and our journey of faith. We are all very much aware of the pitfalls of getting things easily in life. When we do not have to work for something while the initial feeling is good it often wears off quickly and has less meaning in our life. When we truly work for something it stays with us. When struggle, difficulty and work is involved it becomes a source of strength we draw upon at other moments. It becomes part of our story of life. The great prophets like John the Baptist and Zephaniah, the great apostles like Paul understood the need to struggle, to work, to build a life. Their messages today talk about hope and life but also the struggle that is needed to maintain hope and life in the face of our everyday world. They tell us it is not easy but possible. The only way we are be able to Hope in God's Promises, to Rejoice in God's Love is to work, to struggle, to live our relationship with God. It is never easy. There are always challenges, struggles, expectations, disappointments, actions of the world that make no sense or have no meaning, but God is still with us. Entering the struggle to make the presence of God known will give us stability and strength so that we can live the gift of this life and proclaim good news! Remember as Emily Dickinson wrote, "hope is that thing with feathers that perches in the soul and sings a tune without the words and never stop at all." Perhaps at no other time do we need to be like the butterfly and put everything into the living of life so that we can release the beautiful gift of hope to a saddened and struggling world. It will not be easy, but we have the Spirit in our souls that will never stop singing! Have a blessed and holy Sunday everyone and don’t forget to give God a little time today! |
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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