Homily Talking Points

WEEK 1 - CRUX

• If mortal life can sometimes seem meaningless, in what do we place our hope? If we can have no hope, then where do we find joy? If life is just a random collision of events, and people, and experiences, how do we not despair? We are more than simply material beings. Deep down we know there is more to this life. Deep down we know our final home is not here.

• If we live in the present moment and find the beauty, truth, and life there, that is God calling us to a relationship with him. Silence is important to cultivate this relationship with God.

• God could have saved us in any number of ways, but he chose the hardest way, to come into the world as a man give his life on the cross.

• Love is the deepest part of our human existence; it is the meaning of our lives. The life of Jesus reveals the deepest meaning of sacrificial love.

WEEK 2 - KENOSIS

• Jesus sets aside the glory of his divinity and comes into the world in poverty.

• We see in Jesus the fullness of the invisible God made visible. He is the human face of God.

• Jesus enters into our human experience in order to redeem us from within our own humanity.

• If we desire to find God, we don’t have to go beyond the stars, to the mountains; or to a different country. We simply need to look for him in every person around us.

• In Jesus, we see God reaching out with his merciful heart to the poor, the broken, and the suffering. To act in Jesus’ name is to strive to do the same.

• It is in Jesus’ Death and Resurrection that we come into the very life of God.

WEEK 3 – BLAZE

• Jesus’ saving mission begins as a newborn child and culminates in his Death and Resurrection. But it does not end there. He sends the Holy Spirit to continue his mission in the Church after his Ascension.

• It isn’t so much that the Church has a mission, because it has been given to her by Jesus.

• Just as the mission of Jesus is to be God in the world, so the mission of the Church is to be Jesus in the world.

• The Church has three fundamental purposes: to proclaim the Word of God; to celebrate the sacraments; and to perform works of charity and justice.

• Jesus Christ reveals the fullness of humanity to each human person. The Church reaches out to all human persons because of their dignity in Christ.

• The Church is the Bride of Christ, which means that we are here on earth to fall in love with God.