Homilies+

One of the most difficult acts of Faith the Lord asks of us is to believe what He says in our Gospel today from Luke, "There is need of only one thing."

The many tasks and demands of life can tend to make life disjointed in our minds, losing the unity and harmony that only God can bring.

There is only ever one true need, the presence of God.

Where do I easily forget about the Presence of God in my day?

The Lord is inviting us, like St. Bruno, to live lives that make sense by remembering always our deepest need is for His Presence, and supplies this need throughout the day.

Let us not be afraid to remain in the Presence of Christ, to listen for the beautiful harmony God is wanting to make today with the many circumstances and demands on us.

Perhaps the most dangerous word we say to God is not, "no", but, "mine".

We tend to confuse freedom with control, treating our life as our own project rather than God's gift to us.

Our Lord reveals to us that our lives are not our own, but rather are like vineyards He has planted and entrusted to us to produce the fruit for which we are made.

Where in my life have I decided what I want, and am not asking God what He wants?

The Lord is inviting us to live in true freedom, in the joy and adventure of living the life He has planned for us.

We discover life's deepest meaning and greatest adventure when we stop saying to God, "Mine", and being saying, "Yours."

We tend to depict angels with wings because they fly to do God's Will.

We have feet that often walk slowly toward God, or stand still, or even run in the opposite direction.

While we cannot imitate the amazing nature of the angels, we can imitate their readiness to do God's Will quickly with all our hearts for the good of the Kingdom.

Am I ready to respond to God's Will immediately like the angels?

The Lord is inviting us to have a relationship with these Archangels, Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael to benefit from their protection and imitate their readiness to serve the Kingdom.

Mary stood at the Cross. Imperfect love recoils from the pain of the one we love. Perfect love suffers with the beloved.

Our Lord has given Mary to us as our mother so that we might learn from her what he learned from her, how to love.

Mary has a unique and unrepeatable vocation, like all of us. Hers is to be the mother of God. She is Our Lady of Sorrows because her sorrow at the Cross of Christ is the greatest of kind and degree.

Where am I running from my vocation by running from the pain it will cause me? Where am I running from the Cross?

Our Lord is inviting us to learn from his mother, from our mother, what our vocation is, to love through suffering, and to embrace the Cross in our lives for the salvation of the world.

Happy Birthday to the Blessed Virgin Mary!!

We should be different, especially when people do wrong to us. But we know as Catholics that belonging to the Church does not mean that we always live that way. But there is Good News for us, as Christ gave us a Church in which we can learn how to live a life that is pleasing to God. In the Gospel today Our Lord teaches us a simply but profound way of handling when others sin against us. His invitation is to discover the peace, joy, and purpose in our life that comes from actually living as a Catholic when in conflict with others.

Every personal sin begins as something we choose, and eventually becomes something that chooses for us.

Sin initially feels like freedom, but we soon discover that habitual sin, no matter how small, is a type of slavery that we can feel powerless to stop.

Our Lord teaches us that whatever we have allowed to have authority over us does not authority over Him.

What do I keep choosing that I am no longer truly free not to choose?

Our Lord is inviting us to bring our attachments under his authority and experience true freedom.

One of the best ways to love God more is to love ourselves less. St. Louis, King of France, lived a life totally devoted to God and His Kingdom. We often act with mixed intentions, and even our most pious acts may be a mix of sincere love of God but also ourselves seeking to feel righteous, needed, appreciated, or superior to others. We can't always distinguish between our love of God and our love of self.

Our Lord teaches us that in performing good and pious works we must be diligent to care for our interior life so that our exterior life may be properly ordered, but it doesn't work in the reverse.

Lord, where am I seeking myself in seeking you, and where can I love myself less so that I may love you more?

The Lord is inviting us to purity of intention in loving him, to place him and his glory as the greatest good in our lives and actions.

Every one of us is rich enough to live a worldly, vain life. Since the Fall, we all have a tendency to misuse earthly goods to provide for ourselves instead of using them to give glory to God in dependence on His Providence. The purpose of earthly, temporary wealth, is to build up heavenly, eternal wealth. What are my worldly desires that keep me from being fully committed to the Kingdom? Our Lord is inviting us to give him all the possessions we have, so that we are 100% dedicated to Him.

I takes a very rich person to want to be poor. In order to love material poverty we have to understand the value of spiritual wealth. Our Lord teaches us that the greatest in his Kingdom is the childlike, the most dependent on the Heavenly Father. Love of poverty is not so much a denial of self, but an investment in our eternal home rather than our temporary one. The Lord invites us today, like St. Clare, to turn and seek poverty in this world to the greatest extend we can while still accomplishing His holy Will for us.