This month we've been focusing a lot on stewardship: that is, how we use our time, talent, and treasure; and this weekend we held our "Stewardship Drive" to invite our parishioners either to "re-up" their commitment or to make a new commitment to put their gifts at the service of God and the Church. This year, we decided to have the parishioners fill out the forms in Mass (or before Mass, if they preferred) and invited them to place their commitments in the offering as a sign that this isn't just "not-for-profit" volunteer work, but truly a sacrifice that we make for God. This is the homily that I gave at all of the Masses this weekend just before everyone was given the chance to make their commitment.
Homily: 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Cycle A
Friends, it’s true that we know that
someone loves us because of what they do as much as by what they say. For example, we know that grandma loves us,
not just because she says so, but because of her incessant hugs and kisses,
because she bakes us cookies, because she takes care of us when mom and dad are
away, because she gives us fun and thoughtful gifts for birthdays and for
Christmas, and because she celebrates all of the special occasions in life with
us. In other words, we know she loves us
because she not only tells us that she loves us, but because she demonstrates
her love in actions; and we know that it is in these actions that the love that
she professes is, in a sense, authenticated.
We also know that someone loves us
when they, too, come to love the things that we love, right? For example, perhaps you’re not a baseball
fan, but you become a fan of your spouse’s favorite team; or, you learn to love
reading books so that you can share the experience of reading a good book with
your best friend; or, you open yourself to liking your significant other’s dog
or cat (even if you aren’t a “dog” or “cat” person) so that your significant other
doesn’t feel divided between the two. In
this case, we demonstrate love for the person by going beyond words and by demonstrating
love for the things that our beloved loves.
In our Gospel reading today, Jesus is
challenged to declare his opinion about the “greatest commandment”. The Pharisees were thinking of the 613
precepts of the Jewish law and were hoping to expose him as a fraud if he tripped
up and picked a less important precept as the greatest. Jesus answers, however, with the obvious: that
the greatest commandment is the most important thing that we could possibly do
in life (and he quotes the most fundamental prayer of the Jewish people, the shema): that is, to love God (the
Almighty) with your whole being. Notice,
Jesus says with your whole being. In
other words, don't just say it: put your whole life towards demonstrating it. This, Jesus replies, is the greatest
commandment.
Then Jesus adds to his response:
stating that the second greatest commandment comes in the form of the second
sense of demonstrating love (that is, loving what God loves). In the first reading we heard how God
declared his love for all people, especially for the poor and destitute: saying
that the alien, widow, and orphan who cried out to him would be especially
heard by him. And so, when we love our
neighbor, especially those most in need among us, by serving their needs, we
demonstrate our love for that which God loves; and, in doing so, we demonstrate
our love for God, once again.
From this, we can come to a right
understanding of stewardship.
Stewardship, my brothers and sisters, is not a burden of guilt that the
Church imposes on us. Rather, it is a
response: it is a response of gratitude from one who acknowledges the
undeserved gifts he/she has received from God.
It is a response of love from one who acknowledges that he/she was,
indeed, first loved by God. Stewardship,
therefore, is “loving God back”. By
giving of ourselves to serve his Church, we demonstrate
our gratitude, and, thus, our love, to God.
By serving those less-fortunate than us, we emphasize our love by loving those whom God loves.
Over the last week's we've asked you
to consider how you are "loving God back" by your stewardship. Today, I am asking you either to renew your
commitment to the ways to which you've already committed or to make a new
commitment—perhaps a “first-time” commitment—to serve in our parish and in our
community. The ushers will now begin to
pass out the "Time and Talent" forms.
Please be generous in what you mark.
It's not a life-long commitment. Just an acknowledgement that this might be a
way in which God is calling you to “love him back”.
After you've completed the forms,
please fold them and place them in the collection basket along with your
monetary contribution (if you have one to make). These will then be presented with the gifts
as our demonstration of gratitude and love for our Good God, who has loved us
by giving us so much. Thank you. And may God bless you for your generosity.
Given
at All Saints Parish: Logansport, IN – October 28th & 29th,
2017
No comments:
Post a Comment