Twenty-eighth Sunday in
Ordinary Time
The story is told about a
tourist who went to a distant land. And
he was searching for a Rabbi that he had heard was a very learned person, a
very holy person. And he finally found
the town where this Rabbi lived. And he
went into his dwelling. And he was
surprised because he expected to see a place with all kinds of nice furniture,
lots of book, pictures on the walls and everything. But it was very stark, very plain. Hardly anything. And he said to the Rabbi, “Rabbi, Rabbi,
where is all your furniture?” The Rabbi
looked at the man with gentle eyes and said, “Well, where is yours?” And the tourist said, “Well I’m just a
tourist. I’m just passing through.” And the Rabbi looked at him again with gentle
eyes and said, “So am I. So am I.”
So are we. We’re all just passing through. We are visitors to this planet earth. We are here for only a short time, you know
when you compare it with eternity. We
are only here for a very short time. But
something inside tells me, and I do this too, I think we believe we are going
to be here forever on this earth.
How do we do this? We’ve all got stuff, right. Possessions.
Things that we keep holding on to.
And I think we maybe have this in our mind that I have to hold on to all
this stuff because I’m going to be here for a very long time. But you know, every funeral that I have done
over the many year, I have looked inside the casket and I haven’t seen all that
stuff. We come into this world naked, we
will leave this world naked. We will not
carry our possessions with us.
And that’s really what this
gospel I think is talking about. Here’s
this man, he comes up and he says, “Good Lord, what do I have to do to inherit
eternal life?” Jesus says, “Keep all the
commandments.” And the guy comes back
and says, “Been there, done it. I’ve
done it all Lord. Keep all the
commandments. Done everything. What
else?” And Jesus says, “Okay, you want
to go for the gold? I’ll give you a step
further. Sell everything. Give it to the poor. Then come follow me.” That next line in the gospel. “At that statement his face fell and he went
away sad, for he had many possessions.”
He went away sad. He didn’t go away bad. He went away probably still very sincere, but
he went away sad. He blew it. He could have had it all, but he didn’t go
for it. She missed a golden opportunity
in her life. How sad. We talk about people who messed up their
lives with drugs, alcohol, got in with the wrong crowd of people. We say, “How sad. They messed up their
life. Oh how sad to see.” Even the word sad is sad. But that’s the reality of the gospel. He went away sad.
What is it about you and I
as human beings that makes us want to hold on to all these things, these
possessions. You know the more we hold
on to them the more they block and hinder our spiritual journey. What was the thing in the gospel again? Jesus said, “Look if you’re willing to follow
me and let go of all this I will give you a hundred times more brothers and
sisters, lands, children, and persecution and eternal life. I’ll give you it all.” But you know the only way to get to heaven is
what? To let go of earth. The only way to get to heaven is to let go of
earth.
And what Jesus is asking
that man to do, and I believe what He asks you and me to do too, is to trust
Him. Do I realize my need for God in my
life? Do I realize my dependence upon
God? Not what do I do to inherit eternal
life but was has God given to me.
I think the greatest sadness
really is not being a saint. The
greatest sadness is not being a saint.
Because that’s what Jesus calls you and me to be, to be saints. You know the call to greatness is not the
measure of how much we have. Our call to
greatness is the measure of how generous we are with what God gives to you and
to me. The measure of our greatness is
not in how much we have but rather our greatness is our generous we are with
what God entrusts to you and to me now much that is.
That’s the call of the
gospel. To have that deep trust in the
Lord. And just as Jesus in the gospel
looked at this man with love, He cared about him, this morning Jesus looks at
everyone of us here at this Mass and He looks at us with love. And He calls us to greatness. I don’t want you and me to go away sad
today.
These things, these
possessions, all our stuff. We need them
right? They’re not bad in
themselves. If we didn’t have clothes on
you’d be standing up looking at me being naked before. Now that boggles the imagination I know. But I’d be looking out at a group of naked
people too, and I don't want to do that.
So we need clothes, we need food, we need shelter, we need cars, we need
all these things that God gives to you and to me. They’re fine, they’re wonderful. But do we need so much? And how willing are we to be generous with
others?
The call to greatness.
Now during this past all of
you sitting here this morning and every registered member of St. Alphonsus
Parish received a letter from me talking about our stewardship appeal. You know we as a parish literally do live
from collection to collection. We don’t
have any reserves. Like many of you, you
wait from paycheck to paycheck. Our
Sunday offering is the main source of our income to keep the lights on, provide
for the viability of our many wonderful ministries, provide the staff to
minister to these programs, to do our maintenance, to do preventive
maintenance, the necessary repairs, to provide for the future. All of those are the reasons for this
stewardship appeal. And you know I’ve
been here 10 years and this is the first time that I’ve come before the parish
community to ask for money. And I’m coming
before all of us. You all here this
morning know very well that there are a lot of people who are not here. You know there are a lot of people we don’t
see, maybe only twice a year, Christmas and Easter. And they’re good people, but they’re not
here. They’re going to get a letter from
me as well. So it’s not just you who come
here every Sunday, that have gotten a letter asking for this appeal. Every registered parishioner is going to get
this request to be placed before them.
And if they don’t respond the first time, they’re going to get another
letter from me. I’m going to give them
five letters, alright. I’m going to wear
them down because I want them to be a part of St. Alphonsus Parish.
So went you get the first
letter next week respond right away. And
those who do respond we will sent you a thank you. And this leads me to something else. I want to really sincerely say, “Thank you
for all the sacrifices and all the support you’ve given over these many
years.” You know the people of St. Al’s
have responded so well over the last few years especially since I’ve been here
too to specific needs and requests. And
I want to thank you for your generosity and for your support.
But this is something coming
before our whole parish community. So I
ask you to do a couple of things here.
First of all I want you to pray.
I want you to pray in thanksgiving for your personal blessings. For the blessings that God has given to you
and your family, in your own personal life.
The gift of life, your health, your well-being, whatever it might
be. Take out a little time and say, “Thank
you God for the blessings in my life and our family.”
Then secondly I want you to
pray for all your fellow parishioners, for all the people of St. Alphonsus
Parish. Here at the Eucharist this
morning put all those people on the altar too.
Pray for all these people who have journeyed with you and me over these
many years.
Then thirdly I want you to
pray, take a Q from the second reading from Hebrews, praying for that wisdom,
that wisdom from God to decide what is it that I believe I can do. What is the measure of my generosity to St.
Alphonsus? Can I increase, by how
much? I know that there are many people
who have lost their jobs. Many people
are struggling to put the basic necessities into their families, food and
clothing and shelter. You know what you
can do, what you cannot do. I am asking
you to do what you believe you can for the goodness of St. Alphonsus
Parish. Maybe your part is to pray, do
that.
As I said next week you will
all get another letter in the mail and I’d ask you to respond as well as you
can. You know over these many years
again the parish community has answered this call to greatness, definitely over
50 year, responded to the call of St. Alphonsus Parish, and all the other good
things about you as a people of St. Al’s reach out and touch other people. And you know I believe and I know that this
morning you and I will not go away sad.
May God continue to bless us
with His deep peace and His joy every day.