1. “There is more joy in giving than in receiving.” Never doubt the truth of our Lord’s promise
that whatever we give Him of our creativity, our resources, our persons, will
come back to us in abundance.
2. As the source of our new life in Christ, the Holy Spirit is also, in a
very real way, the soul of the Church, the love that binds us to the Lord and
to one another, and the light that opens our eyes to see all around us the
wonders of God’s grace.
3. A Catholic would be guilty of formal
cooperation in evil, and so unworthy to present himself for Holy Communion, if
he were to deliberately vote for a candidate precisely because of the
candidate’s permissive stand on abortion and/or euthanasia.
4. A society that is not at all concerned with God destroys itself.
5. The ways of the Lord are not comfortable, but were not created for
comfort, but for greatness, for good.
6. According to the teaching of the Church, men and women with homosexual
tendencies must be accepted with respect, compassion and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their
regard should be avoided. They are
called, like other Christians, to live the virtue of chastity. The homosexual inclination is however
objectively disordered and homosexual practices are sins gravely contrary to
chastity.
7. The intrinsic dignity of each person must always be respected in work,
in action and in law.
8. Life is not governed by chance; it is not random. Your very existence has been willed by God, blessed
and given a purpose.
9. Life is not just a succession of events or experiences. It is a search for the true, the good and the
beautiful. It is to this end that we
make our choices; it is for this that we exercise our freedom; it is in this –
in truth, in goodness, and in beauty – that we find happiness and joy.
10. Material possessions in themselves are good. We would not survive for long without money,
clothing, shelter and food. Yet if we
refuse to share what we have with the hungry and the poor, we make of our
possessions a false god.
11. People sometimes treat others as objects to satisfy their own
needs. How easy it is to be deceived by
the many voices in our society that advocate a permissive approach to sexuality,
without regard for modesty, self-respect or the moral values that bring quality
into human relationships.
12. Truth is not determined by a majority vote.
13. Music forms part of all cultures and, we could say, accompanies all
human experiences, from suffering to pleasure, from hatred to love, from
sadness to joy, from death to life.
14. If you follow the will of God, you know that in spite of all the terrible
things that happen to you, you will never lose a final refuge.
15. We are not some casual and meaningless product of evolution. Each of us is the result of a thought of God.