Homily: 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Cycle C
About halfway through my time
in seminary, I took a silent retreat 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 go outside each day and walk.
At that time, I was struggling with my sense of calling to the priesthood
and so I spent a lot of time on that retreat praying about whether priesthood
was the vocation to which God was calling me.
Part of the farm next to the
retreat house was cow pasture and I remember sitting and watching the cows near
the end of one particular day and thinking that this stressful life of
preparing for a stressful life of ministry was for the birds. I longed for a more simple life—like one I
imagine I could find on a farm—in which my daily work would be defined and I
could put in an honest day of work, every day, and return home to peace and
tranquility.
I became 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 the
seminary, Fr. Guerric. Fr. Guerric is
originally from the New York and his accent shows it. He also has a great “New York” way of telling
you what he thinks: which means, straight to your face. Thus, when I revealed to him that I was
becoming 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!” This was his response. He could see straight 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. ///
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 ready to fire him, actually commends him for his shrewdness. In both, Jesus seems to be presenting this in
such a way as to show this steward in a favorable light. Naturally, our minds automatically rebel
against the idea of commending someone who is dishonest, so it begs the
question: what is the point?
The point that Jesus seems to
be 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,
and so gain advantages. 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 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 (as I tried to do during that retreat, thirteen
years ago), but rather to engage the world and deal shrewdly with it. This is Bishop Doherty’s pastoral Plan, Uniting In Heart, 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 become 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 to prepare for our Master’s coming (and for the accounting to which he will
call us when he comes). The Uniting In Heart plan is a chance for us
to renew and strengthen our stewardship of God’s household; and so I hope that
you will all continue to support your pastor [insert pastor’s name here] and
the pastoral vision plan of your pastorate so 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 so that we,
too, can be well prepared to enter the “eternal dwellings” that Christ, our
Savior, has prepared for us.
Given in Spanish at St. Paul Parish: Marion, IN – September
17th, 2022
Given in Spanish at St. Joseph Parish: Delphi, IN and Our Lady
of Mt. Carmel Parish: Carmel, IN – September 18th, 2022
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