Daily Reflection

September 4, 2010

Who is your hero?

Do you idolize someone other than God?

St. Paul reminds us today that when we idolize someone we can create divisions.

We believe that someone else is better than.

Someone else speaks the truth.

Or even our own opinions and desires are superior to anothers.

We must rid our lives of idols and see the beauty in God alone.

August 3, 2010

Yet again, Father Larry’s homily deeply struck me this AM. 

Today we heard the gospel the common story of Peter trying to walk on water.

So many times when i hear this ready i can’t help but think of the time God has called me out into the storm.

To continue to walk towards him and follow him despite the storm brewing around me.

However, this morning Father Larry pointed out something else.

Do you realize that Peter would not have started to drown if he would have just stayed in the boat.

Jesus wasn’t asking him to come towards him on the water. 

In fact, Jesus was coming to the boat in the midst of Peter’s storm.

Jesus was coming to where Peter was.

If Peter had just stayed in the boat all would have been well.

Is the Lord asking you to stay in the boat?

July 22, 2010

Happy Feast of St. Mary Magedelene!

What an awesome witness for each of us to conversion of heart and dedication to Christ!

I was reflecting on her encounter with Jesus at the tomb today.

What struck me was her deep desire to find the Lord and her inability to see him standing in front of her.

It reminds me a lot of our own lives. 

We go through times where we are desparately searching for God.

We don’t know where he is.

We think is has abandoned us in our time of need.

But, this experience of Mary tells us right where God is.

God is standing right in front of us calling our name but we don’t recognize him.

what was stopping Mary from recognizing Jesus, the one she was seeking?

What stops you from recognizing God’s nearness to you?

June 14, 2010

Good morning!

I feel like i have been in another world for a few days!

Life has been very busy!

But, yet again the Lord has used the scriptures to speak to my heart!

Todays first reading really struck me.

Ahab, King of Samaria, saw something he wanted and would let nothing stand in his way.

He and his wife were willing to “kill” whoever was standing in the way of what they wanted.

Aren’t we like that sometimes?

Can we misuse our own wills and stubbornness?

Many of the great saints were stubborn people.

They set there minds to becoming a saint and they did it.

St. Therese of Lisuex, St. Clare, St. Theresa of Avila, St. Catherine of Sienna to name a few.

They used their stubbornness, their own wills for good.

That is the choice that is place before us.

Do we use and align our wills with God’s or not? 

June 10, 2010

I feel like God has hit me over the head this morning!

First at mass, Fr. Larry spoke of the fact that anger is like a weed that grows slowly in our hearts.

It may start with a little hurt here or this, perhpas a misunderstanding.

We ignore that little seed of anger and move on with our day.

Then, another and yet another seed of anger is planted in our hearts.

And soon enough we realize that we have become an angry bitter person.

After hearing Father’s homily this morning, i was driving to the post office.

Well, the same thing was being discussed on the local christian radio stations.

This is the season for weeding.

Have you weeded the garden of your heart lately?

Perhaps it is becoming over grown with anger, bitterness, hatred, jealousy, etc..

June 9, 2010

In today’s Gospel, Jesus talks about following the Law. 

The scribes and the pharisees thought that Jesus was going against the law.

And one could argue that he did go against the law.

For example, he cured on the Sabbath didn’t he.

But, the reality is Jesus always followed the law, the spirit of the law.

Laws are written with a certain spirit or intent behind them.

And sometimes the laws need to be “fudged” so the spirit of the law can be maintained.

However, in today’s world it is easy for us to rationalize our need to follow certain church laws.

Well, Jesus meant that hten but not now.

Or that really doesn’t apply to me and my circumstances.

How often to you rationalize your way out of God’s law?

Do you take God’s law seriously?

May 31, 2010

Can you believe that today is the last day of May?

I can’t believe it.

Where has the time gone?

Today we celebrate the feast of the visitation.

The visitation is when Mary went to visit her cousin Elizabeth.

Mary was pregnant with Jesus. 

And Elizabeth was pregnant with John the Baptist!

Our readings for today are full of joy! 

Both Mary and Elizabeth are rejoicing at the goodness of the Lord.

“Shout for joy, O daughter Zion!

Sing joyfully, O Israel!”

“Fear not, O Zion, be not discouraged!

The Lord, your God, is in your midst,

a mighty Savior;

He will rejoice over you with gladness,

and renew you in his love”

We have so much to be joyful about!

Our Lord is indeed in our midst. 

He is in ever tabernacle in every Church.

He is present on the altar at every mass.

He is present to us through his Holy Spirit.

And he dwells within each one of us.

We have to be joyful.

we have to be grateful.

For our God loves us so much he is with us always.

And think about all the th

May 28, 2010

Both the first reading and the gospel for today speak to us about the importance of prayer in our lives.

So, as a good priest friend of mine likes to say,

“How’s your prayer life going?”

In the first reading we read,

“Therefore be serious and sober-minded

so that you will be able to pray.”

This strikes me in that it tells us that we need to be in the proper conditions in order to pray.

We can’t just expect prayer to happen.

We have to choose to pray and set up the right conditions for our prayer.

In what conditions do you pray more effectively?

In the gospel, Jesus says,

“Therefore I tell you, all that you ask for in prayer,

believe that you will receive it and it shall be yours.”

When you pray do you believe that Jesus hears you?

Do you have faith that he loves you and wants to give you all you need?

Curl up with God today, the love of your life.

Spend some good time with him!

May 26, 2010

In today’s Gospel, James and John are kind of letting their pride get ahead of them.

Isn’t it natural though?

Here they are following the Messiah.

The one everyone was longing for.

And they can count themselves as the chosen one.

Doesn’t that make them special?

Doesn’t that give them a special place at the right and left of Jesus?

I’d have to say as i read this that that is exactly what i do too.

i want to be recognized. 

I want people to tell me how great i am.

I want to be on a pedastal.

I want to be “great.”

But,w hat does Jesus say to us when our pride gets the better of us?

He says that if we want to be great we need to serve others.

If we want to be great we need to be “unnoticed”

We need to forget ourselves and put others first.

To be great is not to be popular or thoguht well of.

To be great is to love and serve others for God’s sake.

Lord, help us to realize that the only good inside of us comes from you.

May 25, 2010

O.K. as a new vocation director,

i can’t help but dive into this gospel reading.

It is so amazing!

Do you hear what Jesus is saying?

If you come and follow me,

if you give all for me,

you will be given much in return.

you will be given all that you gave up and more.

Oh, let me tell you how true this is.

How many of you think that following your vocation means giving up things?

Giving up perhaps all those things that are the most dear to you.

While Jesus does acknowledge that following him requires great sacrifice.

it also tells us that following him gives you great rewards too.

I have found this to be so true in my vocation.

i know longer see my vocation as a sacrifice,

but as a wonderful gift and blessing from God.

So consider following him.

consider giving all for him.

 

May 24, 2010

Good morning! 

So, today’s Gospel is beautiful!

Can you tell that i love Scripture?

What does Jesus say to us today?

He speaks to us about what it means to follow him, about what we need to do to be with him forever in eternity.

First, he tells us to follow his commandments.

The basis, the foundation of our life with him.

Simply, he says, have you followed my commandments.

Second, the Gospel tells us that he looks at this young man and “loves him”.

So, we need to follow the commandments.

We also need to know and experience God’s love for us.

And finally Jesus tells the rich young man,

that he needs to sell all things and give to the poor and then come follow him.

We need to be willing to risk all, to lose all to follow the Lord.

Three things Jesus tells us today.

1.  Follow the Commandments.

2.  Know that I love you.

3.  Being willing to risk all to follow me.

May 22, 2010

Happy Saturday!

So, what to reflect on today?

Did you notice in today’s Gospel, Jesus’ reaction to Peter?

Peter wanted to know what would happen to Judas.

And Jesus basically says to him it is none of your business, whether Judas stays with the group or leaves.

That is my job Peter! 

Do you ever find yourself wanting to know someone else’s business?

Or wanting to tell someone what you think is best for them to do?

Somehow we have the right answer all the time don’t we?

Jesus address this with Peter and says “I’m God, and you are not”.

The next time we find ourselves wanting to tell someone else what they need to do.

Or the next time we judge someone.

We need to remember that we are not God.

Perhaps instead of judging or advising we can lift that person up to God in prayer.

 

 

May 16, 2010

What struck me today?

What was God saying?

Today is Ascension Sunday.  The day our Lord went up to heaven to take his seat at the right hand of God, the Father. 

However, did you notice that the angels told the apostles to stop looking up into the sky?

why would they say that?

Because the real work, the real presence of Christ is now here on earth.

Jesus wanted the Apostles to continue his work on earth, not to stare up at the sky longing for Jesus, being paraylzyed with fear.

He wanted them to go and bring him to the world.

We too are called to be God’s hands and feets on this earth!

How were you God’s hands and feet today?

 

May 17, 2010

Jesus Has Conquered the World

In today’s gospel passage, Jesus tells us that we will have trouble in this world,

but we should not be afraid because he has already conquered the world.

What does that mean to our every day lives?

It means that we don’t need to fear anything because Jesus has already fought the battle for us and won.

No matter what we are facing, there is HOPE.

Jesus is our HOPE and he will led us through all things.

 What “troubles” has Jesus seen you through?

 

 May 18, 2010

“Knowing God is not enough. For a true encounter with him on must also love him.  Knowledge must become love.”

Pope Benedict XVI

This quote really struck me today.  Is this not true? 

We need to come to know God with our minds, that is so important to our spiritual life.

However, we can’t let the knowledge just stay in our minds. 

It has to move from our minds to our hearts. 

Our knowledge of God must allows us to love him more intensely.

How often do you allow God to speak to your heart? 

How do you live out your love for God? 

 

May 19, 2010

In today’s Gospel, Jesus is praying for all of us.  And in his prayer he asks the Father that we might all be consecrated in the truth.

What does it mean to be consecrated in the truth?

I believe it means to try to fully understand teh answer to the question:

“who are you God and who am I?”

Do you realize how many lies surround us every day? 

Some come from within us.

Lies we tell ourselves.

“you are worthless.”

“you can’t do anything right.”

“you will never find a job.”

“You will never succeed.”

“No one loves you.”

Some lies come fromt he outside:

“The more money you make the happier you will be.”

If you drive the right car and have the best cell phone you will be loved by all.”

“The number of friends you have on facebook determines your worth.”

“Remaining chaste until marriage is for losers.”

With all these lies bombarding us how do we stay consecrated to the truth?

We meditate daily on who God is and who were are in relation to him.

 May 20, 2010

You know what struck me today from the Gospel.

God’s amazing love!

Do you realize how intense God’s love is for us?

I don’t think we every grasp the complete, total, and unconditional love of God for us.

In the Gospel today Jesus is still praying for us.

And he prays over and over again that we will experience God’s love for us.

He came to earth to show us his tremendous love.

He showed us, literally, that he would do whatever it takes for us to know his love.

He was willing to die, so that we would understand and get it through our thick skulls.

God loves us.

God loves us and wants us to experience that love so deeply.

How do you experience God’s love?

Do you believe that he loves you?

Do you run from his love?

Or do you allow him to embrace you?

May 21, 2010

Today’s Gospel is one of my favorites. 

Jesus asks Peter three times if he loves him.

“Peter, do you love me?”

“Yes Lord you know that I love you.”

Jesus knows that Peter will not be able to fully follow him unless he forgives himself.

Peter denied Christ three times in his passion.

Christ’s ask Peter three times if he loves him.

Jesus presents Peter with an opportunity of forgiveness.

Jesus had long forgiven Peter.

But, Peter had not forgiven himself.

Peter was stuck.

But, Jesus wanted him to be free.

How about you?

Have you forgiven yourself for your past sins/failures?