2005

Malachi raises a question that catches my attention. “Have we not all the one father?” He then goes on to ask, “Has not the one God created us? Why then do we break faith with one another, violating the covenant of our fathers?”

When you stop and think about it, the entire Bible is a response to Malachi’s thought-provoking questions. In the New Testament, Jesus invites us to participate in his own eternal relationship with God, the Father.

Jesus tells us to call no one on earth “father” because we have only one father in heaven. For this reason, I have been confronted by some fundamentalists with the question why Catholics call their priests by that title but that isn’t the point Jesus is making here. He wasn’t speaking against the practice of using titles of respect and affection. Rather, he wants us to honor our fathers by seeing in them a reflection of divine fatherhood.

What image comes to mind when you think of God the Father? For many people, I suspect their perception is heavily influenced, for better or worse, by their own father. While in the seminary, I read the book, The Road Less Traveled, by Scott Peck. I will never forget what he said about parenting. The most awesome undertaking anyone could do, yet few parents ever go to school to learn how to be a parent. Instead, for better or worse they most likely learned about parenting from their own parents. That insight prompted me to reflect long and hard on how my father was parented by his parents.

While my father may not have been as expressive of his love as I may have wanted him to be, I came to realize based on what I could learn about his childhood that he parented and loved me the best he could. I recall those times when ill with asthma how he would get up in the middle of the night to administer my medicine, caring for me however he could.

God wants to do the same for all of us, carrying us in the palm of his hands, especially when we may be feeling unloved. Simply put, God, like most fathers, desires to provide us with our legitimate needs. He gives us everything. Without God, we would have nothing. In return, how grateful are we for all that God has given us?

Perhaps about as much as this one family whose story you may have heard before. Coming out of Mass one Sunday, the husband said to his wife, “That wasn’t much of a sermon that Father gave.” The wife replied, “Yeah, I agree, and the choir sang off key.” Meanwhile, their young son was listening to their conversation. Finally, he spoke up. “It seemed all right to me, considering that it only cost us a dollar!” What that family gave doesn’t show much gratitude yet their example provides all of us with food for thought. Just how grateful are we for what we have and how do we express that gratitude? Although it has never really been the Catholic practice, the biblical tradition has long been to set aside the first portion of what we have for God. If your approach to supporting the parish was like mine was years ago, I imagine it is more of an after thought, like “What loose change do I have to spare?”

Sometimes, people will say, “I will give God more time when I get older; now I am too busy.” Or they will say, “When I get on a better financial footing, then I will start tithing, giving that ten percent to God.”

The notion of tithing can seem a tad bit scary. What will happen to me or what will happen to my family if I give up that much for God? I cannot answer that question, but I can give you an example which might surprise you of someone who made that choice early in life: John D. Rockefeller. All his life he made a point of tithing. He came from a modest family. His first pay check was $1.50. He took the money home to his mother who told him that she would be happy if he gave a tenth of it to the Lord. He did and from that day onward, Rockefeller tithed every dollar he earned. He said, “If I had not tithed the first dollar I made, I would not have tithed the first million.” The important thing about stewardship is to get started, to take that leap of faith. Many have discovered that once they have given back that first portion, be it ten percent or five percent, it seemed like the natural thing to do. I am not saying that tithing will make you a millionaire. No, what I am asking is that you join me in recognizing the great blessings that you and I have received from our heavenly Father. Think about it, the gifts of energy, talents, abilities, opportunities, and of time itself. We really do owe much to God, when you stop to think about it. In the weeks ahead, as we reflect on the role of stewardship in our lives, I urge you to consider how you can return some of your talents, time and treasure to God.

At a glance, the lesson in the gospel was on hypocrisy. Jesus challenged the Pharisees for not living up to what they professed. Could he say the same of us? If we are motivated solely by our love and gratitude to God, then all is well. But if our hearts are far from God and self-glorification is our motive, we are likely to be humbled as the Pharisees were. We reaffirm our covenant with God best by taking on an attitude of gratitude, never forgetting that God owns it all and we are called to share.

30th Sunday of the Year October 23, 2005 In his letter to the Thessalonians, Paul made a statement that catches my attention; “You became a model for all the believers of Macedonia and Achaia.” Hmm, could Paul address such a letter to us? Have we become a model for all the believers of South Whidbey? He went on to observe that the Thessalonians had turned from idols to serve the living God in whom they have grounded their new faith. Have we done the same thing?

Years ago, I read about a man who went to an exhibit on idols, expecting to see idols from India, Africa and the South Seas. Instead he found several large panels. One was covered with tobacco and numerous cigarette labels; the second was covered with labels from assorted liquor bottles; the third was covered with pennants from different football teams, and the last one was covered with dollar bills. He realized that idols were everywhere, not just in distant lands. Many people value idols of power, money, alcohol, drugs, tobacco, that piece of pigskin known also as a football, and/or that appliance given various names such as the boob tube which can command our undivided attention for several hours each evening. Do any of these idols stop us from serving the one true God?

Paul tells the Thessalonians that the Word of the Lord has echoed forth from them resoundingly, not only in Macedonia and Achaia; but also throughout every region where their faith in God is celebrated.

The Thessalonians were like megaphones. By their lifestyles, people elsewhere could see how these onetime pagans accepted and lived the word of God. The success of their approach doesn’t surprise me. Aren’t we often sold on a product because someone has convinced us to try it out?

Within a year after it was first introduced into this country 25 years ago, sales for the Pentel felt-tip pen were phenomenal. All this happened without any advertising except by “word of mouth.” People in all kinds of offices across the country advertised the pen by introducing it to others.

Most anyone in business will tell you that to sell any product well, you have to believe in what you are selling. The Thessalonians believed in what they were selling. Could Paul commend us for convincingly selling the Word of God? Maybe you don’t see yourself as a salesperson, much less an evangelist, but most likely you do sell to others what you personally believe in including your favorite brand names, TV shows, and political candidates. How then can we best sell God to others? Today’s Gospel gives us that answer.

When asked what the greatest commandment was, Jesus was quick to tell his listeners, “You shall love the Lord your God with your whole heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.” Knowing that they would need some pointers on how to fulfill this commandment, he added another for good measure. “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” That added line makes sense for love of neighbor tests the reality of our love for God. Our love for God cannot be something only thought or even only said, such as in prayer. It must be carried out by loving actions.

Being human, none of us are perfect. We all have shortcomings especially when it comes to love. More than once I have been confronted on my own shortcomings as a person of love. What matters is that we never give up trying to be the lovers that God is calling us to be.

In his renowned book, The Road Less Traveled, the late Scott Peck defines love as “the will to extend one’s self for the purpose of nurturing one’s own or another person’s spiritual growth.” Love’s primary task, he notes, is attention giving. We cannot claim to love someone when we fail to pay attention to that person.

Often people will complain to me that they cannot love a certain person. What they come to realize is that they don’t like the person. Liking and loving are not the same thing. Dr. Peck observes, “Liking or affection is primarily a feeling; love is primarily a matter of decision and action.”

How we pay attention to others, to God, and even to ourselves is what makes us unique. In case you are at a loss for ideas on how to love, here are a few tips that you may find useful written by an anonymous author.

“Mend a quarrel. Search out a forgotten friend. Dismiss suspicion and replace it with trust. Write a love letter. Share some treasure. Give a soft answer. Encourage youth. Manifest your loyalty in word and deed.

“Keep a promise. Find the time. Forego a grudge. Forgive an enemy. Listen. Apologize if you were wrong. Try to understand. Flout envy. Examine your demands on others. Think first of someone else. Appreciate, be kind, be gentle, laugh a little more.

“Deserve confidence. Take up arms against malice. Decry complacency. Express your gratitude. Worship your God. Gladden the heart of a child. Take pleasure in beauty and wonder of the earth. Speak your love. Speak it again. Speak it still again. Speak it still once again.”

To understand today’s gospel, it will help to consider the context. We just heard a dispute between Jesus and the Pharisees on the question of paying the census tax. Every adult in the Roman Empire under the age of 65, regardless of gender or status had to pay this tax, which for many people was the equivalent of a day’s wages. They returned to Caesar something that already belonged to the emperor, a coin bearing his image. For the Jews, that was scandalous for unlike the Romans, they did not see Caesar as a deity.

Instead of taking sides, by saying yea or nay to the question about paying the census tax, Jesus replies with one of his unforgettable lines, “Repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.”

What belongs to Caesar is easy enough for us to know. The many different government agencies, from the county auditor to the IRS, find ways to tell us what we owe in taxes. But what do we repay to God? That is a question that a fair number of us pay little attention to.

At the moment I suspect you are thinking, “There goes Father, talking about money again,” and for good reason. We owe God much more than the loose change in our pockets. We owe God our very existence. What to repay God is an expression of our gratitude for all that God has blessed us with.

Admittedly, many people think of stewardship simply as a way for the parish to raise money. I won’t deny that, but more importantly, stewardship should be seen as a personal and spiritual journey, not just another fund-raising technique. You could say that stewardship is an attitude of gratitude.

The contrast of Caesar and God is a timeless reminder of the world we live in, a clash between the earthly and spiritual powers that compete for our attention. As people of faith, we are continually challenged to travel a road less traveled. That means seeing our relationship with God as an ongoing daily journey, fully conscious of the many spiritual and worldly blessings that we have been given. Such a lifestyle is a dramatic departure from our society’s consumer mindset with its emphasis on wealth, materialism, and individualism.

As people of faith, we are called to share what we have, serve others, and be actively engaged in a faith community. In the typical family setting, its members usually come to realize that each person has an important role to play if the family is to thrive. In the family setting, we can see stewardship at work. When everyone pitches in, life on the home front is richly blessed.

Speaking of families, the late Danny Thomas shared how he was introduced to stewardship as a young man. At a time when his wife, Rosie, was expecting a baby, he lost his life savings of $600. Danny worked part time jobs so Rosie could buy groceries. It was a tough time in his life.

A week before the baby was born, Danny had the grand total of $7.85 to his name. What would he do? “My despair led me to my first exposure to the powers of faith.” That Sunday morning, Danny went to Mass. When the collection basket was passed, he put in his usual one dollar. But something unexpected then happened. The priest announced that another collection was being taken up for missions. Danny felt that he had to give something. “I got carried away and ended up giving my seven dollars.”

He had given away all his money that day. What was he to do? After Mass, he walked up to the altar rail, got on his knees and prayed aloud, “Look, I’ve given my last seven bucks. I need it back tenfold because I’ve got a kid on the way, and I have to pay the hospital bill.” He went home with 85 cents in his pocket…all the money he had in the world.

“You won’t believe this,” Danny later wrote, “but the next morning the phone rang.” It was a job offer for a part in a commercial. It wasn’t much but the pay was good…$75. “I literally dropped the telephone receiver,” Danny related, “First I whooped for joy; then an eerie feeling came over me. The $75 fee, unheard of for me at that time was almost exactly ten times the amount of money I had donated to the church.” Those who remember Danny Thomas will recall that he continued to repay God many times over, raising funds for St. Jude’s children’s hospital in Memphis, TN.

Giving of their time, talent, and treasure may seem a bit overwhelming to most people since they have so much going on in their lives, yet repaying God is something we must all do if we are in fact grateful for all that God has given us in this lifetime.

A married couple in our diocese gave a beautiful testimony to this. They talked about their financial struggles and the decisions they were faced with in the family budget. Worries and troubles overwhelmed them until they started to look at things differently. When all is said and done, they realized, everything comes from God. It all belongs to him. On their
checks, right above the signature line, they had these words imprinted: God owns it all. What a difference that made!

Consider how different your life and mine would be if that truth could penetrate our hearts. God owns it all so, as Jesus said, repay to God what belongs to God.

Earlier this year, Oprah Winfrey, one of the most popular talk show hosts on television, hosted a party to end all parties in honor of the people she considered her heroes. Each person on the exclusive invitation list was instructed to wear white. The event was a smashing success; it was clearly the most coveted invitation in town, so to no one’s surprise, almost every guest showed up.

Imagine if none of the guests had accepted the invitation? “No way!” you would say, “That would never happen in a million years!” And you’re right. How could anyone pass up the opportunity to attend such an opulent affair?

Yet that is the scenario Jesus painted in this parable. The host in this instance was not a popular television personality, but a king. If there was ever a command performance, this was it, yet his guests turned him down. To make this story even more absurd, some of those guests did more than just decline the invitation. They went so far as to mistreat or kill the king’s servants.

This was Jesus’ way of pointing out that many people in the course of history had rejected the prophets who repeated called them to repentance. But God wasn’t about to cancel the party. To the contrary, the invitation to this great feast is now extended to everyone. “Go out, therefore, into the main roads, and invite to the feast whomever you find,” the servants were told. So they gathered up all they could find, good and bad alike.

Amongst all the guests who filled the hall was a man who was not dressed in a wedding garment. “My friend,” the king asked, “how is it that you came in here without a wedding garment?” When the guest could provide no excuse, he was cast into the darkness outside.

If this outcome sounds strange to you, try dining at some fancy restaurant that requires a coat and tie and if you have neither, the maitre d’ would gladly provide you with one. In biblical times, guests who came improperly attired were provided with wedding garments. For some reason, the guest, even when given the chance, chose not to wear one.

The issue here is not the article of clothing, but the meaning behind the garment. As the saying goes, clothes make the man. Wearing purple and gold, for example, sends the message to anyone at Husky stadium that the person with such colors is a Husky fan. Many others are there to enjoy the game, but not necessarily to see the Huskies win, especially those who might be wearing crimson and gray!

The point Jesus is making here is that God is a generous host who has thrown open the doors to anyone who cares to come to the heavenly banquet: the good, the bad, and the indifferent. But as we are told, many declined the invitation for any number of reasons ranging from apathy to having been offended in some way by someone claiming to be a Christian.

Being invited is easy enough, but getting to stay is a different story. Through the sacrament of baptism, we accept God’s invitation to the heavenly banquet, but as the ousted guest learned, having the invitation in hand is no assurance that one gets to stay and enjoy the heavenly feast.

If you have witnessed an infant’s baptism, you may recall the words spoken by the celebrant after the baptism. “You have become a new creation, and have clothed yourself in Christ. See in this white garment the outward sign of your Christian dignity. With your family and friends to help you by word and example, bring that dignity unstained into the everlasting life of heaven.” In other words, we are told to arrive at the gates of heaven with our dignity unstained by sin as a sign that we are still wedded to Christ.

We cannot expect to be seated at the heavenly banquet if we make no effort in our lifetime to reject Satan, and all his works, and all his empty promises. In effect, when we sin, we put aside our wedding garment. Those who will be chosen are those who have made their peace with God.

This parable is a metaphor for sin in our lives, addressing the reality that sin weakens our relationship with God. It is dangerous to presume that when the moment comes for us to stand before God, we will be ready. As the news media points out often, death can come when we least expect it.

Have you ever responded to a request with the line, “I’ll get a round to it?” Well, I have more than once. One day, a dear friend handed me a cross section of a tree branch, about the size of a thick poker chip, on which were written the letters, t,o,i,t. I asked her what was the meaning behind this and she explained, “Well, you keep saying that one of these days you’ll get around to it, so I figured you needed one!”

How often do we say that we will get around to doing something, only to discover that time passes and the resolution remains undone? Perhaps that resolution was breaking a bad habit like smoking, losing weight, simplifying one’s lifestyle, become more prayerful, spending more time with loved ones, getting more exercise, or writing that long overdue letter. Yes, our good intentions often remain good intentions that have yet to be carried out.

Beginning with Adam and Eve, people have long made excuses when, for whatever reason, they chose not to follow the will of God. Many made the promise to, as did the second son in today’s parable, but they never carried out their good intentions.

Jesus shared this parable of the two sons with the chief priests and elders to rebuke them for acting holy, yet inwardly failing to do their part in bringing about the kingdom of God. Like the second son in the parable, the chief priests and the elders made their promises but in Jesus’ opinion, they were not obeying his Father’s will.

Jesus undoubtedly startled them when he said, “Amen, I say to you, tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God before you.”

“Excuse me?” must have been their immediate reaction. “You question our holiness?” Indeed Jesus did for they were not backing up their words with any credible evidence of holiness. Like the son who agreed to go to the vineyard, they were not carrying out their promise.

On the other hand, Jesus praised the tax collectors and the prostitutes, whom the chief priests scorned, for being the ones who ultimately did what God asked of them. You could say that they got around to it. They heeded the call of John the Baptist to repent and change their ways. They were doing the will of the Father.

By changing their lives, Jesus pointed out that sinners were entering the kingdom of God. He didn’t say they were going to at some future date. He said they were entering. In other words, through conversion, Jesus tells us, we can enter the kingdom of God in this lifetime. The choice is up to us.

At baptism, when we entered into a faith relationship with God, we promised to work for the coming of the kingdom, to make God real in our lives. Our very presence suggests that we hold a common belief in God, but are we willing to obey God in all that he asked of us? Have we the attitude one finds in Jesus Christ?

I suspect not always. We tend to be selective in what we believe and what we do, so far as the teachings and commands of our faith go. Claiming that the Lord’s ways are unfair, we sometimes ignore God’s will, regarding it as being old fashioned and out of touch with reality. Consequently, we do sin and in those instances, our selfish ways prevent us from making the kingdom evident to those around us.

Do you remember Mary Poppins? In the 1964 movie, she is the magical nanny hired to care for Jane and Michael Banks. At the end of the first spectacular day, she is putting her new charges to bed. Jane asks Mary, “You will never leave us, will you?” Her younger brother quickly adds his own rash pledge; “Will you stay if we promise to be good?” Mary Poppins smiles and replies, “That is a pie crust promise. Easily made. Easily broken.” Jesus sees this tendency in his own “pie crust promise” disciples, who are slow to repent and believe. Does he see this in us, too?

If we want to enter the kingdom of God, then we must imitate the good son. We can choose to make a difference today in making the kingdom of God very real. How? For starters, we could choose to love, rather than hate. We could choose to smile, rather than frown. We could choose to build, rather than destroy. We could choose to persevere, rather than quit. We could choose to praise, rather than gossip. We could choose to heal, rather than wound. We could choose to give, rather than grasp. We could choose to act, rather than delay. We could choose to pray, rather than despair. We could choose to forgive, rather than curse.

When asked what remedy there was for the evils in the world, St. Francis of Assisi observed that we must first be what we ought to be; otherwise, evil would remain as a disorder everywhere. Each day brings us opportunities to choose between doing God’s will or doing evil. Do you see yourself being what you ought to be and taking on the attitude of Jesus? If not, when will you get around to it so that others can see the attitude of Christ in you?