GOING HIS WAY

REFLECTIONS FROM HOMILIES THIS PAST YEAR:

1. Things don’t always turn out the way we would like. Don’t bemoan, don't get angry, move on and…LET IT GO!

2.  No God, no peace. Know God, know peace. To know God, look for the good in you and in others.

3. God is in us...and we are in God. This is the truth, whether or not we realize it. We become more aware of this truth as we open our heart to one another.

4. When we are on fire with the Spirit of God...the spirit of peace and joy and love, it is the culmination of humankind.

5. To be set on fire means a new way of seeing and being.

6. Our primary work is to reflect the image of God. This week, how will you make God’s presence visible in you?

7. What do my actions say about what I believe?

8. Faith is not about behaving better; it’s about seeing reality differently.

9. God is one. Better still, we and God are one.

10. We are not alone. God is with us. God is with all whom we encounter. Pass it on. With your words. With your actions. That's our mission.

11. If we could remember (especially when tempted) that GOD IS HERE - WITH US, we could never sin.

12. Do we seek to keep God's commandments in the hope of a heavenly reward or to avoid eternal damnation, or do we do it out of love?

13. Nothing explains God’s incarnation in Jesus and his ministry as much as these words: My house is your house. He came to tell us, Mi casa es su casa!

14. More than what we do, our Good Shepherd is concerned with who we are...to become the person God has created us to be.

15. The way to God: true hospitality.  Ask yourself, “What do they need?”

16. God is a mystery. God is incomprehensible. Rather than seeking to understand God or prove the existence of God with our brain, let us simply be drawn to God as a baby is drawn to its mother.

17. We have won the biggest lottery! We have received a heart transplant! We have God's heart...God's spirit within us...to give us new life!

18. Why do we kill each other…with words if not guns? Because we fail to see the holy presence of God in each other.

19. Is Jesus really the Son of God who died for me? How different is my life because I know him?

20. Perhaps, nothing makes us feel fully alive as kids at play.

21. We are the unique, unrepeatable manifestation of God.

22. The altar is the well where we encounter Christ ...who quenches our thirst...and we quench his.

23. Ingratitude is the genesis of all our sins. We aren’t satisfied in what we have, and who we are.

24. Discipleship: a desire and commitment to return to our truest self. As Jesus said, “The truth will set you free.”

25. Not by accumulating riches, but by giving away that which we have, shall we become the Christ we seek.

26. Wherever we are is holy ground because God is with us wherever we are.

27. Integrity: if you have it nothing else matters; if you don't have it, nothing else matters.

28. Each day write one word - a virtue - on your palm to remind you of the person you want to be.

29. Think about a couple of words you'd want on your tombstone. Then live a day that way. Live every day that way.

30. The desire to gain wealth and the fear to lose it are the worst moral disease from which our world suffers.

31. We continue to be as one with God as we were with our mothers in their womb.

32. We are most like God when we break down the walls that separate us into "us' and "them".

33. The first step of peace, which is the most important, is to remember that God dwells within each of us.

34. Christmas expresses God's great joy of getting the Christmas present God wanted and wants...to be one with us.

35. Look for the good and you will discover God. I am convinced that the word ‘good’ is an extension of the word ‘God’.

36. Giving the best of ourselves. That's the best present for God...and for ourselves. You cannot receive what you don't give.

37. Seek more fully the guidance of the Lord - our spiritual GPS.

38. We are pregnant with God!

39. I would like to hear God say to me, "Thank you". What would you like God to say to you…today?

40. What if God wants us all in paradise? They why be good? Why love all 'sin limites', unconditionally? Perhaps to discover and enter the kingdom...here and now.

41. We are beautiful caterpillars now. The butterflies we will become, we can only imagine.

42. Imagine if Jesus were to come to your home. And if anyone complained he'd defend you. He'd say, “She's my sister...he's my brother. I love them.”

43. When we realize that God's love and our talents are unearned, we act differently; we start giving unearned love to others.

44. What is most important in prayer? AWARENESS! GOD IS WITH US! When we become aware, no words are necessary. And the best prayer: saying “Thank You” to God.

45. The ultimate test to obtain the greatest joy is love of neighbor.

46. We come to the Eucharist to be cleansed...to be healed. And we are. Just like that. What good news!

47. "Christians are fine at talking, but what do we do?" Christianity is not about ideas but about deeds inspired by love.

48. You should forget about knowing God, unless you are willing to love the world with great abandon.

49. The best gift you can give another is not from your own treasure but to help them discover theirs.

50. We are all stewards of God's bounty...which includes our gifts and possessions.

51. Death leaves a heartache that no one can heal...but love leaves a memory that no one can steal.

52. Home is where Mom is. Jesus came to show us the love...the way...of mothers so that we would know the way home.

53. We are all living gospels. If we could teach the world one thing, what would it be? What about seeing God everywhere?

54. The test of faith is in the storms of life. How does faith affect our storms? How do storms affect our faith?

55. Life is full of blessings, but at times it can also be one battle after another. Our greatest blessing and weapon is God within us.

56. When we let our light shine, we transform the world.

57. God (like beauty) is in the eye of the beholder. What we see determines how we live.

58. Living based on having is less free than lives based on doing and being.

59. Living without passion is no life at all. FALL IN LOVE!

60. How we walk with the broken speaks louder than how we sit with the great.

61. Giving is not just about making a donation; it's about making a difference.

62. Whoever takes life, kills self; whoever gives life, gives life to self.

63. We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.

64. More important than whether we receive Holy Communion is how we live holy communion.

65. Prayer - talking to God heart-to-heart - can move God and make miracles happen. 

66. The key to happiness: "Thank you".

67. Jesus Christ, Prince of Peace and King of Kings, doesn't want followers. He wants imitators!

68. The question is not whether God is real, but whether belief in God makes a real difference in our lives.

69. Reach out to help another, and bring out the best in both.

70. Live most fully and give life; give life and live most fully.

71. The best medicine for an ailing relationship: an attitude of gratitude. Find the good in you and the other, and give thanks. Guaranteed to soothe and heal.

72. What people say about us, or do to us, often says more about them than about us. Be careful before you change your self-image or behavior.

73. Discover and affirm the best in yourself. Don't let anyone or anything change you from being that person.

74. The miracle of our transformation into the Body of Christ requires our full and active commitment.

75. Jesus did not come to change bread and wine into his body and blood; he came to change us!

76. “Take and eat”…become what you receive, and transform yourself and this world.

77. What makes us most like him? Loving. Loving as he loved…loving especially those who are not lovable. It is these who need our love most.

78. The best way to be the Body of Christ is to be so transparent that Jesus is visible in us.

79. Every step in imitating Jesus, makes us more and more the Body of Christ. 

80. The three golden rules for encountering God - AWARENESS, AWARENESS, AWARENESS.

81. There is a hunger in all of us for authenticity!

82. We are loved…by God. Period. Nothing in life is more important than this.

83. Our call to be socially responsible is about opening our heart to those who hurt. Thus, the question for us is, To whom do I give my heart?

84. There is a mysterious connection, it seems, between the will of God and our own heart’s desire. We discover who we are only by becoming conscious of the most authentic desires, loves, and longings of our heart.

85. To dine with others is to be in solidarity with them…to say to them, I want to be friends with you.

86. “Be not afraid.” The most spoken words in the Bible – 365 times – by God, no less. We are very precious to God.

87. If Jesus were sitting in your living room, asking, “What do you want?” What would you say?

88. And if you were invited in Church to Come on down! to renew your total commitment, would you?

89. Jesus said, “I go to my Father and your Father”. In other words, “You are what I am.” We have God’s life within us.

90. If you want to hear God's voice, listen to the cry of the poor.

91. The reality of the world is this: 20% have more than they need, while 80% lack what they need. 

92. God says to us, "I have no hands but yours."

93. We were created to make music - to be in harmony with each other, and with all creation.

94. Jesus says to us, "If you want to follow me...if you want to be like me, just do as I do. Give your all."

95. The key of life is to be one with him. All our burdens and tribulations are lifted.

96. “The Church has always venerated the Divine Scriptures just as she venerates the Body and Blood of Christ.” In the Word it is God who is speaking to us personally.

97. Lest we judge ourselves, or others, as weeds, let us remember that God's loving eyes see us as flowers in God’s flower garden.

98. The treasure which is God is found in the soil of our being; the great pearl, which is also God, is in the midst of the challenges and hum-drum, routineness of our day.

99. We are like Superman, who came from another world with super powers to eradicate evil. We came from God, with even greater powers and with the same mission. Why do we choose to act like Clark Kent?

100. As we sail through the storms of life, let us invite Jesus into our boat - our life - and we'll discover the peace that only he can give.   

101. We have, running through our body and soul, a life force that is God's own life. We are Church - called together by Jesus to discover and manifest God's love and presence.

102. More than love...more than faith...the best way to be Christ-like is to be "moved with pity".

103. Like twins or triplets in a mother’s womb, we are all in God’s womb.

104. In silence God speaks to us…and in silence we also encounter ourselves.

105. Whatever you do, do it because of who you are…who you want to be.

106.  Mercy and forgiveness begin with the recognition of our own failings.

107. The true path of life: do no harm; help as many, as often as you can; and take time for self-knowledge and self-improvement.

108. Life is measured not by its duration, but its donation.

109. The measure of discipleship is not how much we give, but how much we hold back.

110. Happiness doesn’t result from what we give, but from why we give.

111. God is of no importance...unless God is of supreme importance. 

112. The main thing...is to keep the main thing...the main thing.

113. The way to holiness is kindness – loving people more than they deserve.

114. We are God's ma-caroni.  We are very dear to God!

115. Where are we going? Do we have our ticket?