Great homilies to improve the faith and understanding of Christians
Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount is so important that the Church devotes five weeks to it during the year. In the Beatitudes. Jesus talks about how to be happy. Why wouldn’t we just listen to Jesus instead of innumerous self-help gurus.
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The temptations Jesus faced in the desert are symbolic of the temptations we face in our lives. Let’s recognize when we fall into these traps that lead us away from God. Be they sensual pleasures, the pursuit of power, and obsessions with fame, glory and honor. In looking at each of these more closely we have the opportunity to maintain our path to God.
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Do you view God as distant, demanding and not easily impressed? Likewise, do you feel you need to get your act together to warrant his love and attention? This is getting our spiritual life backwards. In fact, whatever enthusiasm I muster for the quest for God, there is an infinitely greater enthusiasm on God’s part to find me. Jesus has already been knocking at your door! The implications of this fact are important for your spiritual life.
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Should we believe that economic and political institutions are corrupt? Should we seek to tear them down in line with today’s wokeism? Or is political and economic authority necessary for an ordered life? Catholic social teaching holds that neither extreme is fully justified. Power can be good but power can also be corrupted.
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What does it mean to be inclusive? Our society seems to think that this means being passive and permissive. But these are not how one should describe how God’s love is inclusive. Passive – no. Permissive- not either. A useful analogy is to think of parents looking for a child they would like to adopt. Active not passive. They are willing to invest their time, money and hearts in the pursuit. Not having that child affects them. And when they get the child, they cannot imagine their family without that child. They are not the same without that child.
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What happens when we do things that we have to do? The likely response is to go through the motions. If you are going through the motions with your religious life then you are not likely growing in Faith. With a lesson from The Karate Kid, Fr Mike gives us a powerful lesson on how to grow our Faith in God.
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So much of our dignity comes from work. And yet, we vilify work. Our society romanticizes 4-hour work weeks and early retirement. However, our being is deeply impacted by what we spend our time doing. In work, God allows us to collaborate with Him. We should therefore give careful thought to how we approach our work.
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