Sunday, August 8, 2010 Fr. Pat Grile

Fun Fest Sunday, Multicultural Mass

So who wants to give the homily today? Well actually you are giving it. You are the people of God. We are the people of God. We come from many different parts of the world, from all the continents of the world, Asia, Africa, Europe, North America, South America, Central America, all from all over the world. And as Jesus told us in that beautiful gospel reading, “We have an inexhaustible treasure.” Because the treasure of St. Alphonsus Parish is not in its buildings, it’s not in the beautiful grounds and the flowers outside or the plants here around the altar. It isn’t the money that we have. It isn’t in all those things that we are blessed with. The treasure of St. Alphonsus Parish is sitting right in front of me, and next to you, and across from you. The many different faces, ages, peoples of so many different generations and upbringings. You are the treasure of St. Alphonsus Parish. And it is by our giving, our sharing of our times and our talents, our visiting the sick, our teaching in our programs, singing in our choirs, volunteering at the Fun Fest, and all the many different activities and programs and ministries that we have, are because of you, the people.

And that’s why Jesus said, “Don’t put your treasure in something that can be eaten away by moths.” No moth can eat away our hearts. Deep in our hearts God has planted His love and we are here today to say, “Thank you God for the beautiful gift of Your love in each and every one of us.”

Thank God for who you are. For your culture. For your traditions. For your many blessings. For the people around you, here and in other parts of the world. But thank God also for every person sitting in this church and every person that claims membership in St. Alphonsus Parish.

But it goes wider than that. It isn’t just St. Al’s, because we are a part of something bigger. We are a part of the Kingdom of God and that goes beyond the boundaries, the walls of this church. It goes beyond the boundaries of St. Alphonsus Parish and embraces the whole Archdiocese, the whole state of Minnesota, the United States, the whole world, every continent that we come from and represent. There’s who the Kingdom of God is.

So give thanks for who you and I are, and that God wants, I believe this with all my heart, God wants you and me to be here right now in this parish, in this community making His presence felt and know by our love.

Take the treasure of who you are, each and every one of us, and be so grateful. And all good treasures can’t be kept inside. They have to be shared and given away. Then the treasure keeps growing because our hearts keep expanding with the love for one another. The more you and I give to one another the more we can receive, the more we are able to keep giving and the bigger our hearts grow and the treasure becomes more beautiful.

Take a good look at everybody today at this Eucharist and the Fun Fest afterwards. We have something wonderful and beautiful here. It’s even hard to put into words but you feel it in the music, you feel it in the presence of everybody here. We are the treasure, we are the heart of God.

I want to see if Fr. Bill can capture all that in Spanish. Somehow he will rise to the occasion.

Translation into Spanish by Fr. Bill.