Daily Reflection with Fr. Tomas Del Valle-Reyes



Dear Friends: Praying is not easy. Our daily routine calls for our full attention. And the world around us puts little value on prayer; our lives are full of material things but at the same time are getting emptier in God’s value.

For this reason, I will post a daily reflection and as you visit this site may the Holy Spirit within you come to your aid and guide you gently to the God who loves you
.


Monday, May 25, 2020

UGLY THE TOMCAT

Everyone in the apartment complex I lived in knew who Ugly was.  
Ugly was the resident tomcat.
Ugly loved three things in this world: fighting, eating garbage, and, shall we say, love. 
The combination of these things combined with a life spent outside had their effect on Ugly. 
To start with, he had only one eye, and where the other should have been, there was a hole. 
He was also missing his ear on the same side. 
His left foot appeared to have been badly broken at one time and had healed at an unnatural angle, making him look like he was always turning the corner.
Ugly would have been a dark gray tabby, striped type, except for the sores covering his head, neck, and even his shoulders. 
Every time someone saw Ugly there was the same reaction. "That's one UGLY cat!!!
All the children were warned not to touch him, the adults threw rocks at him, hosed him down, squirted him when he tried to come in their homes, or shut his paws in the door when he would not leave. Ugly always had the same reaction.
If you turned the hose on him, he would stand there, getting soaked until you gave up and quit. If you threw things at him, he would curl his lanky body around your feet in forgiveness."

Whenever he spied children, he would come running, meowing frantically and bump his head against their hands, begging for their love. 
If you ever picked him up he would immediately begin suckling on your shirt, earrings, whatever he could find.
One day Ugly shared his love with the neighbor's dogs. 
They did not respond kindly, and Ugly was badly mauled.
I tried to rush to his aid. 
By the time I got to where he was laying, it was apparent Ugly's sad life was almost at an end.
As I picked him up and tried to carry him home, I could hear him wheezing and gasping, and could feel him struggling. 
It must be hurting him terribly, I thought. 
Then I felt a familiar tugging, sucking sensation on my ear. 
Ugly, in so much pain, suffering and obviously dying, was trying to suckle my ear. I pulled him closer to me, and he bumped the palm of my hand with his head, then he turned his one golden eye towards me, and I could hear the distinct sound of purring.
Even in the greatest pain, that ugly battled scarred cat was asking only for a little affection, perhaps some compassion. 
At that moment I thought Ugly was the most beautiful, loving creature I had ever seen.
Never once did he try to bite or scratch me, try to get away from me, or struggle in any way. 
Ugly just looked up at me completely trusting in me to relieve his pain.
Ugly died in my arms before I could get inside, but I sat and held him for a long time afterwards, thinking about how one scarred, deformed little stray could so alter my opinion about what it means to have true pureness of spirit, to love so totally and truly.
Ugly taught me more about giving and compassion than a thousand books, lectures, or talk show specials ever could, and for that I will always be thankful. 
He had been scarred on the outside, but I was scarred on the inside, and it was time for me to move on and learn to love truly and deeply -- to give my total to those I cared for.
Many people want to be richer, more successful, well liked, and beautiful -- except for me. I will always try to be Ugly. 
- AUTHOR UNKNOWN -

Fr. Tomas Del Valle-Reyes
Discovering 21 Century /Descubriendo el siglo 21
P. O. BOX 1170
New York, NY 10018
212.244-4778

Monday, May 18, 2020

The Fabric Of Love

A loving heart, a gentle smile, A warm and tender touch.
We give so many things in life, But nothing means as much.
A little inspiration, When someone loses hope.
A kind word of encouragement, When they no longer seem to cope.
A simple phrase - I Love You- When no one else is there.
Taking hold of a hand, In a heart-felt prayer.
Love is never silent, It has so much to say.
And is it our greatest blessing, When we give it away.

Fr. Tomas Del Valle-Reyes
Discovering 21 Century /Descubriendo el siglo 21
P. O. BOX 1170
New York, NY 10018
212.244-4778

Monday, May 11, 2020

The Lord was alone ! ! !

In the beginning, Lord I was alone
Like the earth, before your Spirit
moved over the waters.
I was formless and empty
and darkness filled the depths of my heart.
Then, it was as if you declared
'Let there be Light'
and out of the darkness
I began to see hope like a shimmering ray of love
breaking through the parting clouds at the conclusion of the night.
In the beginning, Lord I was alone
but when I saw you in the light
I was no longer afraid.
You held out your hand and though I had a choice
I had no choice 
because to refuse was to embrace again the darkness.
In the beginning, Lord I was alone
Now I feel a part of your creation
loved, wanted, needed, family.
In the light of your presence
I hold out my heart that others
might glimpse your reflection through it
and be drawn from the darkness
that I once embraced
into the light of your sunrise
the brightness of your face.

Fr. Tomas Del Valle-Reyes
Discovering 21 Century /Descubriendo el siglo 21
P. O. BOX 1170
New York, NY 10018
212.244-4778

Monday, May 4, 2020

Teach us how to Pray:
Luke 11.1

The disciples asked Jesus to “Teach us how to pray,"
He just answered by teaching them the prayer we call the
Our Father or The Lord's Prayer.
The Lord's Prayer is a basic Christian prayer.
As a model of prayer, every Christian learns it by heart.
It appears everywhere in the church's life: in its liturgy and
sacraments, in public and private prayer.
It 's a prayer Christians treasure.
Though we memorize it as a set formula, the Lord's Prayer shouldn't be repeated mechanically or without thought. Its purpose is to awaken and stimulate our faith. 
Through this prayer Jesus invites us to approach God as Father. 
Indeed, the Lord's Prayer has been called a summary of the gospel.
Our Father, who art in heaven,hallowed be thy name.
When Moses approached God on Mount Sinai, he heard a voice saying, "Do not come near; put off your shoes from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground."
An infinite chasm separates us from the transcendent God.
In the Lord's Prayer, Jesus invites us to draw near to God who is beyond human understanding, who dwells in mystery, who is all holy. 
We can call God "our Father".
Calling God "Father" does not mean that God is masculine. 
God is beyond the categories of gender, of masculine or feminine. None of our descriptions of God is adequate. 
God, who is "in heaven", whose name is holy, cannot be fully known by us.
By calling God "Father" we are more rightly describing ourselves and our relationship with God.
Jesus teaches that we have a filial relationship with God; God sees us as if we were a daughter or a son. 
And we, on our part, can approach God in the familiar confident way a child approaches a loving parent.
What is more, we approach God through God's only Son, Jesus Christ, who unites us to himself.
Thy Kingdom come,thy will be done,on earth as it is in heaven.
God's kingdom. Jesus often said that God's power would appear and renew all creation.
God like a mighty king would rule over the earth according to a plan that unfolds from the beginning of the world. God's kingdom would be marked by peace and justice.
Good would be rewarded and evil punished.
The kingdom, according to Jesus, is not far off, but already present in our midst, though not yet revealed.
In the Lord's prayer we pray that God's kingdom come, that God's will, which is for our good, be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
We are God's children. What can be more childlike than this petition in which we pray for our daily bread, a word that describes all those physical, human and spiritual gifts we need to live. 
With the confidence of children we say: "Give us this day what we need."
Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.
This petition of the Lord's Prayer is a demanding one. 
Not only do we ask God's forgiveness for our daily offenses, but we link God's forgiveness of us with our forgiveness of others.  
Forgiving others is not always easy to do. 
We need God's help to do it. But it must be done or we ourselves cannot receive God's mercy.
And lead us not into temptation,but deliver us from evil.  
Amen.
 Life is not easy. It is a daily battle. Trials like sickness and failure can crush our spirits. 
False values and easy promises can entice us and even destroy our souls. 
And so we ask God to keep us from failing when we are tested, to help us to know the right thing to do, to deliver us from the evil which awaits us in life.
The Lord's Prayer sums up the teaching of Jesus. It is also a prayer that offers the grace of Jesus: his reverence for God, his childlike confidence in his Father, and his power to go bravely through life no matter what comes. When we pray his prayer, his spirit becomes our own.

Fr. Tomas Del Valle-Reyes
Discovering 21 Century /Descubriendo el siglo 21
P. O. BOX 1170
New York, NY 10018
212.244-4778