You can see Amy's story (which I mention in my homily) here.
-----------------------------------------
Homily:
22nd Sunday of Ordinary Time – Cycle C
I remember fondly, back in the day when I was a kid in
Joliet, how my brother and my sisters and I always used to fight for the front
seat of the car on whatever kind of trip we were taking. It could have been an out of town excursion
up to Gurnee to see my aunt and uncle or just around the corner to the grocery
store, but if there was more than one of us going along there was bound to be a
battle for the coveted “front seat”.
Sometimes those battles were short and victory was decided quickly when
one of us would grasp the advantage of foresight and yell “front seat!” as soon
as mom or dad announced the trip. Other
times the battles were drawn out, the “calling” of the front seat happening
almost simultaneously, usually resulting in a mad rush to the car door knowing
that the unspoken rule was that if there was a tie in calling it, whoever got
there first could claim victory.
Sometimes, however, that victory would be short-lived. Depending on where we were going, we might
pick up my grandma or one of my aunts, thus deposing the victor of his or her
throne and relegating him or her to the back (sometimes even to the “way-back”
if we were driving the old station wagon with the rearward facing back seat). If the victory had been hard-won, this move
to the back was a disgraceful moment and the other siblings who tasted the
bitterness of the loss had no sympathy for the now deposed victor: often
forcing him or her to sit on the “hump seat” in the middle and thus serving him
or her a healthy serving of “humble pie”.
(By the way, since kids these days practically have to be
driving themselves before they can even approach the front seat of a car, I
feel justified in labeling my experience “back in the day”, even though I am
still quite young.)
I don’t think that it is much of a stretch to say that
Jesus is teaching a similar lesson today.
In a way he is saying that if you try to take prestige and honor (thus exalting
yourself) you will likely fall from it when one who is more deserving
arrives. His lesson is that we should
instead learn humility and practice it before we are humiliated for having
stepped beyond our station in life. For
my brother and sisters and I, we witnessed this when, after grandma or auntie
was dropped off, my mother would choose someone to sit in the front seat for
the return home. Needless to say, it
almost never was the one who fought tooth and nail to win the right to sit
there in the first place. Speaking of my
experience alone, I remember being happier about having the front seat in those
moments than if I had won the position outright. Thus, practicing humility in this way reminds
us of something: that all that we have is gift. ///
Recently I encountered the story of Amy; a mom probably in
her late 30’s or early 40’s who has three children. She relates how she and her husband, not
long after getting married, decided to move from their suburban home to a more
rural setting. The move was a very
smooth one and both Amy and her husband found jobs right away making everything
seem like it had worked out just fine.
After a couple of years, however, when the economy tanked, both Amy and
her husband lost their jobs. Obviously
this was a big blow to the young family.
Amy relates that, while she never lost faith in the statement “God will
provide”, she did start to question how exactly he would provide. “Maybe God’s providence won’t include health
insurance or a job or lights next week” she thought to herself. In that she came to a realization that she
said changed her whole perspective: that if all of these things that we claim
to be our own in this world—our houses, our jobs, our insurance, even our
family members and friends—can be lost or taken away from us, then none of it
was ever really ours to begin with;
and that, thus, everything must be
gift. Everything. ///
In the reading from the book of Sirach today, it states
“conduct your affairs with humility…” and “…into things beyond your strength,
search not.” For Amy and her family,
this meant accepting that the gifts they had been given had been taken away and
that to claim somehow that they were entitled to restitution was a false
notion. For Amy this acceptance was a
freeing experience; for she knew that she no longer had to scratch and claw to
keep what she had, but rather could remain detached from it: receiving it with
joy as a gift when it came and letting it go to others whose need appeared to
be greater. And in doing so she learned
something about God’s generosity with us.
In the second half of the Gospel reading, Jesus exhorts the
host of the dinner to consider who he invites to his dinner parties. Instead of inviting his friends and relatives
or wealthy benefactors, Jesus tells him to invite the poor, the crippled, the
lame and the blind, because these would never be able to repay his kindness and
thus he would find favor in the eyes of God.
In making this statement, Jesus is teaching us God-like generosity. God gives abundantly to us, even though we
have no way to possibly repay him.
Therefore, we must do the same.
Many families are in the same position as Amy’s family
was. They’ve worked to build a secure
home for their families only to find that their jobs had been cut because of
the recession. Our Scriptures today,
however, show us how to cope with this kind of loss. If we can see that all that we had was a
gift—i.e. that it wasn’t something that we were necessarily entitled to—then we
can give thanks, even though we no longer enjoy the gift. And if we can see what we still have as a
gift, then we can give thanks for it, too; and we will be open to sharing that
gift generously with others, especially those who may have no means to repay
us. By doing so, we humble ourselves and
thus make ourselves available to be exalted by God’s generosity to us.
This weekend our nation celebrates our labor by taking a
national day of rest. I’m sure many of
you will either host or participate in cookouts or other celebrations. Perhaps in light of Jesus’ words today we
should ask ourselves two questions: “Who have we invited?” and “Who have we
left out?” My brothers and sisters, as
God has invited us—who are poor, crippled, lame, and blind—here to this banquet
of grace—a banquet that we could never hope to reciprocate—we, too, must invite
those who are far from us—those on the margins of society, as Pope Francis
calls them—to enjoy the many gifts that have been bestowed upon us: most
especially this gift of the Holy Eucharist.
Let us set ourselves to this good work, then, and let us invoke the help
of the humble Virgin Mary, who always comes to the aid of her poor children, so
that we, too, may know God’s favor now and eternal blessedness in heaven.
Given at All Saints Parish:
Logansport, IN – August 31st and September 1st, 2013
No comments:
Post a Comment