Find a peaceful start to your day with spiritual self care and divine inspiration.
Morning Reflections
Pentecost Sunday | June 8, 2025 This gospel reflection is based on John 20:19-23.
Peace Deacon Andy Cirmo
We feel so alone and frightened As we wait secretly day after day Our fear grows more and more Wondering if we should go or stay
We look at each other in wonder What will we do after this wait What will happen to us all now Wondering about our pending fate
We are in hiding, locked into this room As we fear the Jews will come for us too Will our fate be that of our Jesua We pray and cry out “Lord what do we do”
Yet in this dark time of our fear We are awakened by a holy wind As a figure has appeared to us And we wonder what is now to begin
“It is he” cried out John, his closest friend As we all fall to our knees in awe Can it be…we all wonder in fear But none can deny what we saw
For it is he Jesua, our dear Lord Greeting us with his familiar peace Revealing himself and his wounds As our fear and joy both increase
Speaking and showing us hands and side It is clearly Jesua returned to us all How can this be unless it is true We see and believe this, one and all
With a breath of grace he sends us To tell of his love and of salvation To overcome our fear and go forth With the Spirit at our side to all nations
To tell of his love and to forgive All in his name to all his love A mission guided by the Spirit From his holy breath from above
Dear Jesus help me to go forth Give me the strength of mind and will To overcome all fear and doubt To tell all of your life, love and grace Through my words and life and love Being the image of your loving face With strength and courage from above
Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord | June 1, 2025 This gospel reflection is based on Luke 24:46-53.
What Joy Deacon Andy Cirmo
What we have all now witnessed Is so very much beyond our word For he has done as He promised And now reminds us of all written It is now clear what we have heard
For this we will preach to the nations That our sins have been forgiven all As the Father above has foretold His promise will now come upon us As we go forth with a powerful call
His parting blessing to us he now gives We have wondered how long he'd stay For he told us of His glorious return To the Father from whence he came Leaving us now with a bright new day
Oh he has left us but still remains In our hearts afire with his Word We will now boldly proclaim his name Unceasingly to all nations near and far Teaching of all we’ve seen and heard
And as He gave us a final blessing He has gone to the Father above And has created us anew as he promised With the grace to boldly praise him And teach without fear his gospel of love
With joy we now return to our world Full of the spirit and holy fire To proclaim to all, the joy of salvation In Jesus the Son of the Father Who with grace, we all will now inspire
Sixth Sunday of Easter | May 25, 2025 This gospel reflection is based on John 14:23-29.
Leaving Deacon Andy Cirmo
Jesua speaks to us today of love Yet he tells of his leaving Oh that this is not true Oh, that we are not left alone In fear, confusion and grieving
His words are like fire to our ears Burning our souls with holy heat And he speaks of an Advocate A spirit of truth and of hope As we sit, in hope, at his feet
We are troubled and anxious For what will become of us now How will we then carry on without Yet he goes soon to the Father Telling us of the Spirit he will endow
Of this we do not understand We know of his word and his love As he has been with us this while And we long for this peace he gives As we await this Spirit from above
He tells us all now of his leaving Of his going to the Father above And of his return someday soon To be with us again then forever In his eternal kingdom of love
He wants us to now rejoice Yet his absence we all fear And tells us of his coming return A day we will always live for In a time and place we will hear Dear Jesus be with us As we live in holy anticipation Of the time of your return Longing to be with you again We rejoice and live our lives With holy determination
Easter Sunday - The Resurrection of the Lord | April 20, 2025 This gospel reflection is based on John 20:1-9.
Arisen Deacon Andy Cirmo
I have followed him for years For when I was lost, he came He reached out to save me And I’ve never been the same
Listening to his every word This man who braved all insult To pull me from the edge of life From the death which would result
For I had led a darkened life Full of sin and risk and evil Yet he reached out his hand So even now I follow him still
In their hatred they killed him For in him they saw loss of power Threatened by this man of God They did not understand his hour
I helped Mary through our tears As we wrapped and washed him Yet had to leave for the sabbath So now our preparation can begin
Yet we find him not in the tomb Where they had lain him to rest And fear he has been taken At the Pharisee’s ill request
We told the chosen of this And run back with Petra to see Only to find that he is gone As he said it was to be
You said you'd be raised But we did not understand But at seeing this we rejoice For the fulfillment is at hand
But where has he gone He said he'd never leave Yet the tomb is empty We cannot help but grieve
Yet soon joy overcomes us As we remember his words In three days he would come Of this we all clearly heard
As the others come to see We look into eachother’s eyes Remembering what was said With joy we share our cries
But what of us all now We wonder as we are left Are we also to leave here And what of all the rest
Our joy is beyond words He has done what he has said Gone to the Father yet here And with us still, not dead
Yet now I see a new spirit here Who calls me by my name Just like he told us clearly Nothing will ever be the same Dear Jesus, You have raised us up From the depth of our sadness To a new life of hope And left all sin in your tomb To bring us all home Help me now rise to new life In the light of your grace And spread the joy of your love AMEN
Palm Sunday of the Lord's Passion | April 13, 2025 This gospel reflection is based on Luke 22:14—23:56.
Who Is This Man Deacon Andy Cirmo
This is to be my last day on earth
Having stolen so many times
For I have been found with guilt
That a terrible reputation for theft
Oh God what a sad legacy I have built
For years I have deceived and robbed Seeking every opportunity to steal Taking advantage of rich and poor Regardless of rank and role in life As the life of a thief had such appeal
And my companion so did with me As we planned and schemed our crimes And looked for every chance we could To make others’ things belong to us Never respecting brothers as we should
After so many years of this wasted life Our time has finally come to pass And our debt is to be paid in full For all we have stolen and deceived Yes it has come, our final time to pull
The pain has grown by the hour We have hung here on this awful hill As our own weight pulls us down And numbness turns to terrible pain As agony is now our final crown
Alone on this dark and frightening day With no one to mourn or for us to care As we hang on these Roman trees For all to see and to curse aloud And yell at us as they would please
As on our way the people cheered on And rejoiced that we have been caught Our crimes finally and sadly displayed Our debt to so many for so much allowed As at our feet our lives of crime are repaid
On this fateful and frightening last day No one mourns or cries for us For our crimes have been too real Our lives have been full of deceit And all we did was callously, to steal
Yet a crowd comes, we can hear Jeering a man of whom we’ve heard The one who crawled alongside this cross Now being nailed to it instead like us tied All for us and he today is terrible loss
Yet as he is hung he says so little As people cry and the sky becomes dark He says only few words at this time Yet there is a power, a presence I feel One of more than simply a man of crime
This must be the man some call the One As his presence and His followers cry On his cross a sign (YHWH) it bears As my partner cries out at this man So you there, “King” let us down from here
With laugh and scorn my partner laughs Yet I cannot divert my eyes from him Bleeding out his life, as like us he hangs He has little to say but I sense goodness We know why we are here but this man
Looking into his eyes with great surprise I saw pain, but also such love and peace “We know what we have done” I cried "But this man, why?" I asked out loud Not he, but for our sins we will rightly die
And with a slight turn to hear this Jesua Heard my heartful cry for my wasted life Saw my guilty, sorrowful, crying eyes And to my wonder and joy welcomed me That day together, with him, into paradise
Dear Jesus, you died for all our sins and brought us new life with you. We too are sinners all, and call out for your divine mercy. We know and believe in your longing for us to be with you in heaven, and pray that in admission and sorrow for our sins and know that by your blood on calvary, we are forgiven, for all times.
AMEN.
Fifth Sunday of Lent | April 6, 2025 This gospel reflection is based on John 8:1-11.
Judgement Deacon Andy Cirmo
I pray I am a faith filled man Dedicated to following the law But that day I so will remember Never forgetting what I saw
In the heat of the dusty day I heard the crowd so cry “This woman has sinned” “For her sin she has to die”
I am a zealot and believer And condemn all who do not I followed the running crowd Until in an alley they stopped
For there was a holy Pharisee Calling out a woman of sin Condemning her as dead to us As her stoning had to begin
As I listened to the accusers My rage joined up with theirs As we picked up heavy stones To put an end to her affairs
A sinner, worthy of death Yelled out the priest and crowd As she cried and begged for mercy And pled for her life out loud
We waited for the priest to throw Just then a man knelt in the sand Blocking her from our vengeance Drawing some words with his hand
We could not read what was there And raised our arms to throw The penalty was death to her But this man we did not know
He then looked up and spoke Words which caused us to pause Asking which of us was pure Who of us was without cause
As he asked who was without sin We all looked down and away As our spirit quickly reminded us That never sinning, we could not say
He looked at this sinful woman And told her to go on her way And sin no more he said As she lived beyond that day Dear Jesus, I am a sinner And dare not accuse one else I know of your loving mercy And you know my hurt and pain Help me to never accuse A heart other than my own For I thank you for your love And the forgiveness you have shown
Fourth Sunday of Lent | March 30, 2025 This gospel reflection is based on Luke 15:1-3, 11-32.
A Father's Cry Deacon Andy Cirmo
Oh my son why did you do this
For here you were safe and whole
Yet you wanted more and right now
And I lamented your unholy goal
You demanded it all right then
Lovingly yet reluctantly I gave in
For your happiness is all I wanted
But I did not want this to begin
You had left me and I yearned
Every day, pining for sight of you
For my love for you is eternal
And I longed to have you in view
Oh my young son, you wanted all
To live now in luxury was your goal
Yet leaving me broke my heart
Not angry but surely not whole
Yet I watched daily from a high hill
Every day dreaming of your return
Longing without any anger but love
Hoping that in time you would learn
Oh my son each day I prayed
That you would mend your ways
That you would finally come home
And heal those painful days
As I climb this high hill again today
And long for your safe return
I watch, I wait, I pray to see
That Your life would righteously turn
Yet now in the distance, a figure
Appearing weak, sad and forlorn
He limps forward, I can finally see
Oh joy of love it is he, my son, reborn
I cannot wait and run to him
As he falls helplessly at my feet
My joy and sadness mix as one
As in my dream our eyes now meet
Oh son you have finally returned
Battered and ill and so weak
All you had been given now is lost
Yet you are here; my joy is complete
I do not see your tattered life
Nor the wasted gifts I did give
I only see you with eyes of love
And rejoice that you now live
My son who left has returned
And my joy is now complete
For all wealth given is never lost
As our eyes just now do meet
I will celebrate his safe return
And his wounds I pray soon will heal
For my son was lost and is now back
And love and joy is all I feel
His brother has such anger at this
No forgiveness in his heart
I pray that mercy can heal his wound
And true brotherhood can now restart
For love continues through it all
It heals and bridges all that’s ill
And forges new beginnings
And hearts it so does fill
Dear Jesus,
Your love heals us all
Whenever we return to you
For your heart longs for us all
To be with you no matter what we do
Second Sunday of Lent | March 16, 2025 This gospel reflection is based on Luke 9:28b-36.