Homily:
25th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Cycle C
Just about halfway through my
time in seminary, when I was in my first year of theology studies, our annual
retreat was to be a silent one at a retreat house run by the Ursaline Sisters near
Owensboro, Kentucky. Their house was
outside of the city, right next to a farm.
It was early spring and so cool temperatures were still the norm. Nonetheless, I made it a point to get outside
each day and walk. I was struggling with
my vocation at that point and spent a lot of time on that retreat praying about
whether or not this was really the vocation to which God was calling me. Part of the farm was cow pasture and I
remember sitting and watching the cows near the end of the day one day and
thinking that this stressful life of preparing for a stressful life of ministry
was for the birds; and I longed for a more simple life—like one I imagine I
could find on a farm—in which my work would be clear and I could put in an
honest day of work, every day, and return home to peace and tranquility.
I became somewhat convicted by
this idea and so decided to speak about it to my spiritual director for the
retreat. He was one of the monks from
Saint Meinrad, Fr. Guerric. Fr. Guerric
is originally from the East Coast (New York or New Jersey, I can’t remember)
and his accent shows it. He also has a
great “East Coast” way of telling you what he thinks: which means, straight in
your face. Thus, when I revealed to him
that I was becoming more and more convinced that a life of ministry wasn’t my
call, but rather a life of simple labor and quiet simplicity, his response
was... how should I say it... direct.
“Oh, get over yourself, Dominic! That is not what God has called you to
do”, was his response. He could see
right through my over-romantic notion: primarily because it involved giving up
on the world; and he knew that a true vocation is never one that leads someone
to give up on the world, but rather one that leads someone to give him/herself
more fully for the world. My frustration
with dealing with the world, therefore, was no sign that I was wrong about my
vocation; but rather a good sign that I was on the right path. (“Spoiler
alert”: I think that you all know the rest of this story, because here I am
today...)
In our Gospel reading today,
Jesus presents a somewhat troubling parable.
There a household steward (today we might call this person a “personal
asset manager”) is about to be fired for not doing his job well. This causes him great consternation, of
course, since he realizes that he’s about to lose his livelihood and be out on
his rear end. He knows that manual labor
is not for him and so he devises a plan: “I’ll garner favors with my master’s debtors
so that one of them will take me in once I’m homeless and so I won’t have to
resort to manual labor.” Two great
ironies emerge: 1) the bad steward suddenly shows talent and the ability to
work an advantageous deal as soon as his meal ticket is on the line, and 2) the
master, who is getting ready to fire him, actually commends him for these
“slick moves”. In both, Jesus seems to
be presenting this in such a way as to show this steward in a favorable
light. Our minds kind of automatically
rebel against the idea of commending someone who is dishonest, however, so it
begs the question: what is the point?
The point, it seems, that
Jesus is trying to make to his disciples is that they must learn to be shrewd
in their dealings with the world. Jesus
knew that his disciples would be sent out to proclaim this Gospel message in
the everyday life of society; and that, if they weren’t shrewd in dealing with
the world, then they would be ineffective and, thus, fail in their mission (for
even those who are dishonest show themselves to be shrewd in dealing with the
world… as the dishonest steward was). In
fact, in the early centuries of the Church, sects called “gnostics” promoted
that the goal of life was “mental enlightenment”, after which one no longer
really needed to deal with the world: because, through enlightenment, they
would be living on a “higher” plane.
Jesus’ teaching squarely contradicts this, however, when he says, “Make
friends for yourselves with dishonest wealth”, meaning, “Deal shrewdly with
this world and its riches”. In other
words, it’s as if Jesus is saying, “I am not calling you to remove yourselves
from the world, but rather to go out into it—dealing with it prudently, of
course, yet nonetheless dealing with it—so as to bring this message of salvation
to all peoples.”
Friends, we have to remember
that Christianity is a religion: which means that, in part, it is a way of
living in and interacting with the world.
This as opposed to a cult: which typically demands that people separate
themselves from the world and from interacting with it. Because of this, we need to heed Jesus’ words
and not try to pull back from the world (like I tried to do during that
retreat, ten years ago), but rather to engage the world and deal shrewdly with
it. This is what I feel like the Uniting
In Heart 2030 Pastoral Plan does for us: as a diocese, it provides us with a
roadmap of how to be more shrewd in how our parishes live in and interact with
the world, which will allow us to be more effective in fulfilling our mission
to proclaim the Good News of eternal life through Jesus.
My brothers and sisters,
Jesus, the Master, is calling us to be good stewards of his household, the
Church. The parable of the dishonest
steward is a warning and a challenge: a warning not to get lazy in our stewardship
and risk losing our position all together, and a challenge, thus, to deal
shrewdly in the world, while we are in it, so as to build up the Church and
prepare for our Master’s coming (and for the accounting to which he will call
us when he comes). Uniting In Heart 2030
is a chance for us to renew and strengthen our stewardship of God’s household;
and so I hope that you will all join me in committing yourself to doing what
will be necessary to see it come to fruition for Christ and his Church.
It is true what Saint Paul
said in his letter to Timothy, that “God wills everyone to be saved and to come
to knowledge of the truth.” Therefore,
strengthened by this Eucharist, let us take up this good work so that more and
more men and women can come to know Christ and his salvation; and that we, too,
can be well prepared to enter the “eternal dwellings” that Christ, our Savior,
has prepared for us.
Given at Saint Mary’s Parish: Lafayette, IN – September 22nd,
2019
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