Hearing God

“It's a paradox that people will often miss, I think. Identity for the sake of mission. Separation, if you want, but for the sake of connection.”

“May we all be stirred today to the same kind of passionate action that we see in Ezra the priest. May we all resolve today and strive to preach and to teach and to remember.”

“When the walls of the Church become too porous, when they're compromised, the Church can lose its identity, it can forget who it is”

“if we are to have this transformative influence on the world, we must know who we are. If we are to change the world, we must have a strong identity and purpose.”

“It takes faith to believe in Christ’s vision of who we are to one another. But as people of faith, Paul challenges us to believe that every person that God has made is necessary. Every person is a part of us.”

“We are not baptised into an organisation that happens to be structured rather like a human body. We are baptised into CHRIST.”

“Let us find that excitement as we wait to listen to Christ. Let us find time and stillness to hear him speak to us. Let us embrace our liturgies and our prayer with joy as we see in ourselves the fulfilment of God’s promise.”

“It’s terribly important that we don’t overlook what God is doing in us just because it doesn’t fit in with our own ideas of how God should work in our lives”

“If we want to convince people of the truth and the beauty of our Catholic tradition, we would want to model for them the fruit of being faithful, a spirit that is generous, that is kind, that is merciful, that is patient with everyone wherever they may find themselves”

“We're called to enter into the 'today' of Jesus himself. And that means allowing ourselves to be transformed by God, to receive God's healing power in our lives, God's forgiveness, God's care for us in our everyday concerns.”

“We are all captives in some way to some thing. What is it that captivates you?”

“I realized, in fact, that I am the blind person that Jesus is referring to. And it is only through finding my compassion, again, and again, and again, (because I constantly forget), that I am ever able to see.”

“Ezra, speaking for God, told them not to cry, but to rejoice. The recovery of understanding that came with truly hearing God’s Word meant they were returning to God and God’s way. That was cause for joy”

“His healing power, and specifically his offer of forgiveness of sin and freedom for those held captive by evil, is still available to us, if we will have faith in Him and in his promises”

“We have to keep our heads up and see that bigger picture in our lives, and keep trying to serve Him through the gifts He gave us and the One True Gift – the One that is staring us right in the face, trying to lead us Home”

“As a Maryknoll Lay Missioner, I try to serve those in need, but also to realize my own needs and open my heart to receive in humble gratitude from my “siblings” in the “new family” of the reign of God”

“Perhaps what we need most, especially in the public domain, is a conversion from a shrillness and hardness of heart to a discerning and compassionate spirit”

“We all go through spiritual winters from time to time. Yet he’s always there, never leaving our side. It’s just about persistence through the struggle, and doing it together, as one body in Christ.”

“Christianity is centred around the living and crucified Lord who comes to us in word and in sacrament and also in the poor, the imprisoned, the hungry and the naked, the broken hearted and the lost”

“We live in a world where we can easily encounter many people that we ourselves don’t notice or respect...It is so easy to dismiss other people because they are not like us!”

“If we keep division in perspective and fully appreciate the unity around us, then Christ’s saving work will take place”

“What is at the heart of the gospel is not that we believe that God will bring an end to poverty, oppression, and blindness, but that we believe that such a destruction of evil has begun”

“if you've allowed your identity to become compromised then you won't have a word to announce”

“You are members of the body. When you fulfill your characteristic function you are doing now what Christ intends.”