The Danger of Entitlement (21st Sunday, Year C)

To listen to this homily, click here.

I got to spend some quality time with one of my younger sisters this week. We were working on her car and talking and the conversation turned, as it often does in my family, to politics and the upcoming election. I honestly didn’t know what to expect. My sister is undergrad student at Mizzou and I am, how shall we say, a traditionally-inclined Catholic priest. We actually had a great discussion and agreed on far more than I would have imagined. A major concern for both of us was the issue of entitlement and how that drives the choices many people make for their next leader. 

This notion of entitlement is a good place to begin for our homily. There are certain things we are all entitled to. The Declaration of Independence asserts that all men are entitled to "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” As Catholics, we believe every person is entitled to things like food, shelter, a fair wage, affordable health care, safety and freedom which build and maintain basic human dignity. However, there are many who consider luxuries and comfort as basic human rights, which is not correct. Many parents have had to remind a young driver that a car and the ability to drive is a privilege not a God-given right. The same would be true for cell phones, college, allowances, and money to go out with friends. Entitlement is not limited to teenagers. There are priests who feel they can make unlimited demands on others just because they are priests. Many marriages never become permanent unions of life and love because one or both of the spouses felt entitled to take and not responsible to give. I am sure you all have had to deal with people who believe the world owes them a very comfortable living, owes them respect, with little to no effort or sacrifice on their part.  

When a person’s life and mindset is driven by entitlement, it not only influences their relationship with people, it also affects their relationship with God. That entitlement mentality becomes the spiritual deficiency known as presumption. There are many people who refuse to serve God, refuse to live Godly lives, refuse to worship and forgive and yet, at death, presume that they and those like them are entitled to full union with God. Jesus speaks about the sin of presumption in today's Gospel. Some people are not willing to make any sacrifices for the Kingdom of God. They have plenty of opportunity throughout their lives, but they ignore the call to follow Christ along the narrow way, and instead choose the wide path, the pagan way, the way of the "everybody is doing it” crowd. When they knock on the Master of the House's door, it is too late. The door has been shut. Their lives on earth are over. They demand entrance into heaven. They feel entitled to enter into His Eternal Presence. But they have presumed His Mercy would be there for them without their ever lifting a finger to serve Him. Instead they hear the Master saying, "Depart from me you evildoers.” 

When we act entitled, when we presume the mercy of God, it is because we have not fully recognized what it means to be a Christian. We have not embraced the cost of discipleship. To be a Christian means we are willing to take up our crosses, deny ourselves, and follow the Lord. To be a Christian means that we are willing to endure whatever the pagan world throws at us rather than walk away from the Lord. Standing for the truth, standing for the Lord's way, is difficult. It is the narrow gate. This is the way to the Lord, at least some of the time. Sacrificing ourselves for others is also difficult. Making time for someone who is hurting, sick, or lonely, means denying ourselves the small breaks we have in our busy lives. But these acts of charity are life-giving if our lives are centered on the Lord. I have never met anyone who has regretted sacrificing themselves for others. Instead, those who choose the narrow gate, the way of giving instead of taking, always respond, "I got so much more out of that than I gave.” There are tremendous gifts showered upon us every time we embrace discipleship, no matter what its cost. We need to count the blessings Christianity brings, both to us and to a sick and suffering world.

Then we can be part of the glory of the people who are honored in the heavenly Jerusalem. No one can make a claim on God. No one is entitled to union with God. People who presume God will extend mercy to them while they refuse to extend His Love to others are committing a sin that is devastating to their spiritual lives. But people who embrace discipleship, people who accept the cost of following Christ, receive the all consuming joy of union with Him. Let us not lose sight of Jesus, who leads us in our faith and brings it to perfection.The entitled see themselves as the center of the world. They presume that God agrees, or at least will close an eye to their selfish existence. The Christian realizes that Jesus Christ is the Center of the Universe. We don't presume we will have a heavenly reward. We don't claim that we are entitled to eternal glory. We just fix our eyes on Jesus, live His Life, and follow Him wherever He leads us. He is trustworthy and if we are faithful, he will lead us through the narrow gate to a place of eternal happiness and peace.

Agents of God's Fire (Year C)

I don't have a full text of this homily to share but you can
listen to it by clicking here.

Trust in God (year C)

To listen to this homily, click here.  

           Earlier this summer, I allowed myself to be convinced to get on some of the rides for the parish picnic. Waiting for the ride to start, I was moved to deep, philosophical thoughts, mostly involving faith. I couldn’t help but think of the tremendous amount of faith that I was about to put in some latches, a lap bar, and two carnival workers named Bubba and Squawker, who operated the ride and would be in a different city the next day. I was literally entrusting my life to some simple devices and some strangers I didn’t know. Now, don’t get me wrong, this little reflection didn’t stop me from being flung around on a couple rides but I think it can give us good reason to stop and ponder the role of faith in our everyday lives. 

Faith is an important part of each and every one of our lives. I am not just talking about a religious sort of faith but a general trust we rely on everyday in order to be happy and productive. We constantly put our trust in all sorts of people and things. We trust the roads we travel on and the many different bridges we cross to be safe and stable. We have faith in the people around us on the road; that they will stay in their lane, stop at red lights and go in the proper direction of traffic. We trust that the money we receive at the store, from the bank, or from others is genuine and not counterfeit, just to name a few examples. In other words, we make use of faith often, in little and large ways each and every day so that we can be people who are happy, productive, and sane.

But oftentimes, when it comes to trusting God we are a little hesitant. While we may readily put our faith in other people, things, and systems, we can often draw the line when it comes to placing our trust in God or what he is asking us to do. Often the will of God seems unfamiliar or overly difficult and when we are face to face with what he asks us, -- we chose to ignore it or do something else. But we are called to be a people of faith, a people that trusts God in all things.

Our second reading today, the letter to the Hebrews, calls us to this life of faith in God. And the author of the letter to the Hebrews gives us the person of Abraham as our example and model. He highlights three different incidents in the life of Abraham that demonstrate his extraordinary faith and trust in God. If we look closely at these stories, we see three distinct areas where Abraham’s faith was tested: the humanly impossible, the journey into the unknown, and the challenge to give back to God.

The first instance of faith is when Abraham and his wife Sarah are told by God that they are going to have a child -- even though they are both well past the age of childbearing. Despite the fact that this would normally be humanly impossible, Abraham believes and they have a child named Isaac and they become the parents of the great nation of Israel.

The second example of great faith that Abraham demonstrates is when he leaves the land of his ancestry and journeys to a foreign and unknown land. Why does he do this? Because God tells him to. And what is the result? Abraham is blessed with even greater prosperity and establishes a new home in a new land where he receives the inheritance promised to him by God.

The third and final example of faith that is given to us by the Author of the Hebrews is the story of Abraham and the sacrifice of his son Isaac. Yahweh asked Abraham to take his only beloved son, Isaac, up a mountain and offer him in sacrifice to Lord. God was testing Abraham, to see how much he loved him and to see the degree of faith that Abraham had in the Lord. When Abraham was ready to sacrifice Isaac, the Lord told him to stop and sacrifice a bull instead. Abraham was considered faithful and righteous in God’s eyes because he was willing to offer back to God his very own son, that which was most precious to him.

This faith of Abraham is not just a nice story. It demonstrates the faith we are called to have as Christians and children of God. At different times in our lives, our faith will be tested in the same three ways that Abraham was.

Perhaps God is asking us to consider things that we might think humanly impossible. This could mean being open to the possibility of another child. Or maybe looking at our schedules and finding ways to commit more of our time to our family, our community, or our parish. It could even be that God wants us to dig a little deeper to support some charity, our parish, or a person in need.

Like Abraham, most of us will also have to journey into the unknown at some point in our life. This could be the foreign land caused by the death of a close friend or family member. It could be the loss of a job or a change of career. Our journey into the unknown might even be some sort of sickness or loss of health.

Because God has blessed us so abundantly, we can be sure that he will ask us to offer something back to him, as a sign of our love and faith. For some of our young people, God is asking you to give yourself to his Church as priests, religious brothers, and sisters. For parents, God may be calling you to encourage and support your children to consider such a call. In addition to our hearts, God will ask all of us to offer some of our precious time and material resources back to him and to the service of the gospel.

Abraham was a man of great faith and it was this faith that enabled him to follow God and do his will when it came to the humanly impossible, the journey into the unknown, and giving back to God. As God's children, we will encounter the same challenges and tests. The challenge for us today is to pray and listen for the guidance of God that we may be people who respond to such challenges with the faith of Abraham. God will reward our faith, just as he did with Sarah and Abraham, with blessings beyond what we could ever expect or imagine.

Vanity of Vanities (18th Sunday, Year C)

To listen to this homily, click here.

The readings today begin with Ecclesiastes' rant against those whose lives revolve around meaningless goals. "Vanity of Vanities,” the author says, "All things are vanity.” In the Gospel, Jesus tells a parable about a farmer whose goal is to be rich, who stores up far more than he needs, and plans to save even more with bigger barns, only to die that very night. "Seek that which is above,” Paul tells the Colossians and us, and then he lists some of the things that hold us back in seeking God: immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, greed and lying. The readings ask us to consider our priorities in life. What is it for which we work so hard? Certainly, we need to work hard to provide for our families. That is important. But what is the priority there? Why do we work, day after day, for our families? What is it that we are so determined to provide? We want a decent home. We want food and other necessities. We want to provide for a better future for our children. Why? Why do we want all these things? The basic goal we should have as Christians is to provide homes full of true love, the sacrificial love of the Lord. That has to be our basic goal for us as individuals: we have to grow in the love of the Lord, expressed according to our vocation in life: single, married, religious, or ordained. The problem is that we often forget our priorities and put our energy into attaining those things that don’t last. 

What is a successful life? We work hard for something we always wanted. Once we have it, we enjoy it for a while, and then we work hard for the next thing. We often work in vain. Is a person's life successful if he or she is making a certain amount of money? That is the way many people calculate success. But are they correct? The readings for this Sunday force us to take a closer look at the whole concept of success. In the Gospel reading, the man is convinced he is a success because he is a rich farmer. 

What should the farmer do now that he has succeeded in harvesting more grain than he can store? Build another silo, of course. The basis of his success is his grain. When he suddenly dies, his success remains here, and he goes on to God empty handed. There is a reason why we never find a luggage rack on the roof of a hearse. The mindset that success is predicated on possessions is based on a fallacy that was very clear to the author of the first reading. 

A doctor is successful not if he or she has a prosperous practice but if he or she becomes the healing hands of Christ for the sick. A lawyer is successful not if he or she is part of a profitable firm, but if he or she uses their learning, knowledge and talent to protect people, to do good for others, and, to be just. Many times an incorrect view of success is based on honors and titles. Is a priest a success if he becomes a Monsignor or a Bishop? Not at all. I sometimes find myself tying the success of my ministry here to things like the collection, mass attendance, the Beyond Sunday campaign, fixing buildings and getting people involved in ministries and prayer. All good things but not necessarily the right way to judge success. A priest is truly on the road to success if he can draw closer to God each day of his life while also bringing his parishioners he serves nearer to God along the journey. How can we determine if a marriage is successful? Is a marriage successful because a woman and a man have been together for twenty, thirty, forty, or fifty years and have avoided both divorce and homicide? Anniversaries are important, but do they point to the success of a marriage or only to its longevity?

A marriage is successful if the man and woman are better people, more loving people, because of the marriage. The sacrament of marriage is celebrated when the husband and wife become the means of salvation for each other. How about parenting? What are the signs that people are good parents? Success in parenting is certainly not based on what your kids have, but what they have been given in terms of values and formation. For example, many of you have begun shopping for school clothes. Perhaps, some of you are shopping at Walmart or Target. Maybe others are shopping at Macys or Nordstroms. The cost of the clothes you put on your children has nothing to do with the success of your parenting. If your example shows them the face of God and his love and mercy, then you have done something extraordinary.

The concept of success accepted by most in society is faulty. Success is not predicated on what we have, what honors we receive, what jobs we hold, or anything like that. True success is based on how each of us becomes more and more the reflection of God we were created to be. Success is our ability to assume the person of Jesus Christ. St. Paul says in the second reading that our lives are hidden with Christ in God in such a way that when Christ appears we appear. The personality of a Christian ought to be so entwined with the person of Jesus Christ that Christ and the Christian are one. That is success. Success is not a present reality, it is a goal, the goal of Christian life. The goal is reached, the life is successful, when every aspect of life reflects the person of Jesus Christ. We may not do this perfectly all the time, every day but with God’s help our life will slowly be defined by that effort and we will focus on things that are most important and everlasting. That is success. That is heaven. All else is vanity.