Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church: Catholic Sunday Homilies

This is a brief explanation of the examination of conscience, both a general and specific, and penance,  as part of a regular prayer life.

The story of the 4th Wise Man (Artaban) can show us our common vocation and mission in Life. Our common mission is the first step towards our unique mission, and is the most important part of any vocation: To know and then love God, and to love others. 

Our families are sacred because the reflect God's design. Our desire to be holy is itself holiness, but we also must have a plan and practices that help us become more holy. This homily suggests six practices to help your family become more holy.

Es su familia santa? Para ser una familia mas santa necesitamos tienen practicas para ayudarnos. Esta homilia sugiere seis maneras en que una familia puede ser mas santa. 

Some people think our faith is just an empty box, nothing in it. But our whole world is God's gift to us given out of Love. More, he gave us His Son, to allow us to See His Love. But we don't see the love behind creation, and we rejected the gift of His Son. Even today we focus on the material and don't see the Love of God All around us, in the many miracles, in our families, and the perpetuation of the Incarnation, God still with us, in the Eucharist. But God is a Lover, and He hasn't given up on us. He is still waiting, like a Lover, for us to respond. 

The fourth Sunday of Advent prepares us to welcome the Light of Christ into our world at Christmas. The spiritual principle of death to self is explained using a lamp lit by an extension cord as a demonstration. In Mass Christ offer's himself as the perfect sacrifice (pouring out of self). We can join ourselves to His sacrifice, thus purifying our offering by Christ's, and further dying to self, so that He lives more, His light shines more brightly, in us. And nothing can distinguish that light of Christ that is in us. 

John the Baptist Gives a Simple Formula to Solve All the World's Problems: Be Generous, Just and Filled with the Holy Spirit.  For God to fill us with infinite gifts, we must empty ourselves of the material things, and we must not grieve the Holy Spirit by sin. Then, God can give us the Holy Spirit. And it is not only for us, but is meant to be given, so God can again fill us. In this way we become like a faucet, a channel of his Holy Spirit and Love in the world, given through us, for others. This is our greatest Joy!

In the last workshop we talked about a metaphor for prayer by St. Teresa of Avila. In this workshop we talk about a metaphor for prayer from St. John of the Cross. We started these series of workshops introducing a way of praying by meditating on the Gospels. Now we are talking about quiet prayer. I call contemplation. Where we do not think about God, but allow God to dwell and love in our hearts. His presence transforms our hearts, to be more like His heart.