The love that we receive in the Eucharist is the love that we are called to share with the world.
We’re living in a society where more and more of our neighbors go through their daily lives without even thinking about God. They live as if there is no God, or as if his existence doesn’t make any difference.
But we’re coming to realize that we can’t live without God — not as individuals and not as a society. We’re finding out that when we lose our sense of God, we lose the “thread” that holds our lives together. We lose the answers to the questions that help us make sense of the world: What kind of person should I be? Why should I be good? What should I believe in? What should I be living for — and why?
if we are not allowed to talk about God anymore in our politics or civic life then it becomes very hard to talk about human rights and human dignity.
The Church is not like any other institution in the world — or in history. Because the Church is not only a human institution. The Church is also divine. Just as there are two natures in Jesus Christ — who is “true God and true man.
Our conversion to Christ is never finished. It is the work of our lifetime.
And in our times, we can’t afford to take our faith for granted anymore.
There is richness to our Catholic faith that embraces all of life — from our private conversations with God in prayer to our participation in society.
The challenge we face — now and always, as individuals and as a Church — is to resist the temptation to only follow Jesus “half way.” We should never settle for mediocrity or minimum standards in our life of faith. There are no “good enough” Christians, only Christians who are not doing enough good.
Our world today needs saints. Not “other-worldly” saints — but saints in our cities, our families, our parishes and schools, our media, our businesses, legislatures and courts.
We can’t wait for others. We need to become those saints ourselves. We need to inspire others around us to want to be saints.
For me, this is an amazing truth to contemplate. That the God who created the sun and the moon, the stars and all the earth — that this God wanted you and he wanted me to be born. That this God knows my name and he knows your name and he has a plan for each one of our lives and for our world. A plan of love.
This is how much our Father loves us, my brothers and sisters! He wants to be in conversation with us. Like a Father talking to his children in love.
The family is our future — as a Church and as a society.
It is true: we do not all share the same beliefs. But we do share that conviction that our faith matters more than anything else. We need to support one another. And we need to defend one another’s freedom — to hold our beliefs and to live according to those beliefs.
All those children who die by abortion — they have a name that only our Father knows. They are precious in his eyes.
Jesus came as a “Son of David.” That is, he came as a child of the Jewish people. But at the same time, he came as the “Son of Man,” as a child of all humanity.
His coming this way is a sign of his Church and his Kingdom. And it is a sign for our own identity as Catholics. We are all children of some people or another.
Penance is the sacrament of self-knowledge. The more we examine ourselves in the light of God’s teaching and Christ’s example, the stronger we grow in understanding our weaknesses and gifts.
