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 Thursday!
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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 amid 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 must 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 and holy Wednesday everyone! 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 must 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 and holy Tuesday everyone and Happy St. Nicholas Day! Today’s Thoughts: Today provides us with two wonderful readings. The first from Isaiah, within it we find a wonderful image, a world where everything is about life. A world where every obstacle is overcome. My favorite part of this reading is, "A highway will be there called the holy way...It is for those with a journey to make, and on it the redeemed will walk." Once again, Isaiah provides us with the gift of hope. Whenever I get the chance, I watch the movie "The Way" with Martin Sheen. I have watched this movie five or six times now, but each time I enjoy watching it because the story is a journey that started out as a struggle but ended with redemption. It like Isaiah's reflection today is about faith and hope made possible by God's mercy and gracious love.
The Gospel presents us with a two-part story. One Jesus' struggle with the religious leadership and the other is the graced story of the man who cannot walk, and his friends bring him to Jesus. They cannot get to Jesus because of the crowded house so the open a hole in the roof and lower the man in so that he might be healed by Jesus. The great gift of the second part of the story is that the man is healed because of the faith of his friends. We might say that these two readings work together for us today. The image of Isaiah's wonderful world is hopeful only if we work together, only if we journey together. Community, friendships, relationships bring about life and help us overcome what is not life. They often make healing and forgiveness possible. Perhaps today we might get a little closer to the world of Isaiah if we get on the holy way and bring someone else with us so that we can make the journey to God's love together! Have a blessed and holy Monday everyone. 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 in Matthew’s community over two thousand years ago and those of us gathered as Church in this faith community today. They are certainly John the Baptist’s words to those gather in the desert, but we might also say they are Isaiah’s words to the Israelites, and St. Paul’s words to the community in Rome and our words of hope.
Hope can often seem like an endless wait or a fleeting moment, just ask any sports fans, especially those in the small market teams of baseball or football or basketball or hockey team whose team hasn’t won in many years. Fans who regularly, perhaps even 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 journey through life when things around us, things in the world, in our country, in our Church, in our family, in our life seem to get out of sync, we often try to hold on to the hope that things will change, that things will get better, that anger, hate, disrespect, violence will become a memory of the past. That Congress will work together for the good of the country and all people. That those who find themselves in leadership positions will show leadership, will be leaders. 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 knew 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 the Christian community in Roman, a community in the epicenter of persecution, that their story of faith, the Scriptures are enduring and encouraging but also challenging because they call them and 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 working at living a good life that would produce good fruit. As we once again, make a journey through Advent we are asked by Isaiah, St. Paul and John the Baptist to perhaps be like that sports fan at the beginning of every season, to have the simple hope that Christmas will come, that joy is not lost, that God’s Spirit is always present. And to also allow ourselves to be 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. Simply put today, Isaiah, St. Paul and John the Baptist remind us to look for and hold on to that thing with feathers within us, down deep in our souls, singing a tune and never stops at all! Have a great Second Sunday of Advent and make sure you give God a little time today! 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 mystics 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 holy and blessed 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 holy and blessed Friday everyone! Today’s Thoughts: Welcome to December everyone!
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. Ten 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. We have many examples from around our country and world that show us and remind us of the power that nature has and that we rarely, if ever have power over it. 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 the Gospels 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 blessed and holy Thursday 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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