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.
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.
