Fr. Patrick Gonyeau reminds us that we are created in God’s image and called to reflect His love. Discover a simple daily practice — TSA: Thoughts, Speech, and Actions — to invite the Holy Spirit into your life and give God what belongs to God.
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From this gospel, we have the famous saying, give to God what belongs to God. In October, we have Respect Life Sunday, and there’s a very famous scripture that I want to ask you to complete the end of. I’ll start it, and you’ll end it, and everybody knows it.
Jeremiah chapter 1, verse 5, before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. Every life is God’s idea. Each person, there’s no accident or coincidence.
Every life is a gift from God, and every life is made in God’s image and likeness. And so when Jesus says, give to Caesar, here’s his image, give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, his image was on it. Give it to Caesar.
But we bear the image of God. We’re made in God’s image and likeness. You were made to be able to look upon Jesus and the Father and the Spirit.
And when you were baptized, you were filled with the Holy Spirit. Filled with the Holy Spirit, so that you could know how loved you are by the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, always in this intimate relationship. So give to God what belongs to God.
We get to give God a life full of God. We get to give the world a witness of the love of God, because of God’s loving presence inside of us, and always with us. And now when we come, there’s no way I’d be a priest if this were just bread.
It’s truly Jesus. When we come to Jesus, he’s waiting for us, body, blood, soul, and divinity. The risen, glorified Lord looks upon each of us.
You’re still worth my blood. I love you. Come, let me fill you.
He knows if you’re seeking, I want you to be the center of my life. Then we’ll be renewed in the life in Christ, in the power of the Holy Spirit, to give to God what belongs to God. A life full of God’s love.
And here’s one tip for the week ahead, okay? One simple tip. You get to walk with God. God is in you.
That the Holy Spirit is the advocate, and that also means the Holy Spirit defends you. The Holy Spirit wants to help you say, do not do that, buddy. Or, hey, change the channel.
Or, hey, hold back. You don’t need to snap on him. The Holy Spirit is always giving us perfect love, helping us walk the way of the truth and the life of Jesus.
I’m here to protect you. I’m here to make sure the good stuff comes out, not the bad. And I’m here to help you keep the good stuff coming in, not the bad.
So here it is. TSA, thoughts, speech, actions. Can you say it? Thoughts, speech, actions.
Yeah! And don’t beat yourself up if you have a bad moment or you forget, oh, I forgot about the TSA thing. Holy Spirit inside of you wants to shine the love of God into you, shine the love of God through you, as you give to God what belongs to God, a life full of God. Simple this week.
I invite you to put it in your mirror. Put it on your fridge. TSA, your thoughts, your speech, and your actions.
And this week, we can give to God what belongs to God, being mindful of doing those things with the love of God. And, Mother Teresa said, holiness is doing the will of God with a smile.