October 1, 2017 Twenty Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time Homily

To begin today, let’s recap our Gospel reading from Matthew. In the parable of the two sons, Jesus tells a simple story of two imperfect sons to illustrate the way of God’s kingdom. Everything the father had belonged to them as well. The father allowed his sons to work in his own vineyard. He expected them to show him gratitude, loyalty, and honor by doing their fair share of the daily work.
The “rebellious” son told his father to his face that he would not work for him. But, afterwards he changed his mind and did what his father commanded him. The “good” son said he would work for his father, but didn’t follow through. He sought his own pleasure, contrary to his father’s will. Now I ask: “who was really the good son?” Both sons disobeyed their father – but one repented and then did what the father told him. Jesus makes his point clear – Good intentions are not enough. And promises don’t count unless they are followed through and performed.
Today, I want to talk about choice’s in life and how it affects us in our everyday living.
Have you ever gone on the Internet, pulled up Google, Bing, etc. and put in “Shoes?” The Internet will come back and give you pages and pages of choices that you don’t have the time or patience to go through all of them! You will get every color and style under the sun and then a few more. Then you have to differentiate between Women’s, Men’s, and Child’s. And the process starts all over again until you can narrow it down to the size, the color, the width, tie, Velcro, straps, slip-on, and etc. Then, you have to make a decision… You settle for next best – A choice… Do I go ahead and order the shoes? If I order them will they get here in a timely fashion? Will they fit? The bigger question is; will I like them? What do I do if they don’t fit or I don’t like the color or I plain, just don’ like them? Or you can make an easier choice, shop locally, find what you like, buy it and wear it!
This is how we live our everyday lives. We live our life by making choices. This is where God comes into our lives. We were given the grace of “Free Will,” by God to help us make these everyday choices so that we can live our lives as we see fit.
What kind of future are you preparing for? Jesus encourages us to think – to think about the consequences of our choices, especially the choices and decisions that will count not just for now but for eternity as well. The choices we make now will affect and shape our future, both our future on earth as well as in the life of the age to come.
Let’s look at a more current idea of “choice”. Let’s look at the NFL and the choices made by the players, the fans, and just about everybody else with an opinion. Our country is in an uproar about whether the players stand at attention for the National Anthem. This has become a very contentious issue which is mostly playing out on Facebook and other social media sites. It has come down to the following: If you stand for the National Anthem, then you are an American. If you kneel or use some other form of not honoring the flag, then you are a hater.
Karl Keating on the issue of standing or kneeling for the National Anthem:
“More than anything, all this has been a morality play showing how easily the American people can get worked up about a topic that, objectively, is of far less importance at the moment than hundreds of other topics such as people’s lives affected by hurricanes, earthquakes and other natural disasters; hunger in third world countries; and how people of different faiths’ treat each other on a daily basis around the world.”
The issue is to conform or not to conform – to be the same to show unity or to be different to get a point across. The issue is choices and “choices have consequences.” This show of unity and defiance reminded me of other silent protests that still continues to reverberate almost 50 years later.
First, the 1968 Olympic’s in Mexico City, where U.S. Olympians Tommie Smith and John Carlos won gold and bronze respectively in the 200-meter sprint. They took off their shoes to protest poverty. They wore beads and a scarf to protest lynchings. And when the national anthem was played, they lowered their heads in defiance and raised their fists in a Black Power salute that rocked the world. They were also protesting the plight of the working man who used their hands to perform the menial tasks of everyday living. 50,000 people in the stadium and they got booed with the playing of the National Anthem.
Second, the protesting at military nuclear installations by lay people, Religious Brothers and Sisters, and multidenominational
clergy. Many of these protests and demonstrations were led by Catholic Priests Fr. Daniel Berrigan, Fr.
Karl Kabat, and former priest Philip Berrigan. They made a choice along with millions of people around the world to use
civil disobedience for nuclear disarmament and peaceful solutions. This is still going on today, but it doesn’t get much
press because “it isn’t news.”
St. Paul reminds us in our second reading from Philippians, “Do nothing out of selfishness or out of vainglory; rather,
humbly regard others as more important than yourselves, each looking out not for his own interests, but also for those of
others. In other words, we must not “grasp” for the glory the world offers but, like Christ, empty ourselves for the sake of
all. Christ shows us once more that “my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways”
God didn’t call us to live a life of mediocrity. God in the form of his son, Jesus Christ told us to reach out and “love one
another, as I have loved you.” We don’t do this by bashing each other with expletives and threats of violence. In this
life, as short as it is, we have choices. That is the beauty of free will and the grace of God present in our everyday lives.
We can choose to watch football, basketball, or any other sports or not. We can choose to watch celebrities tell us how
we are to live our lives or not. We can choose to be entertained sports, movies, tv, going to the bar in our idle time. Or,
and I say this very emphatically, “we can choose to get off our butts, go to the streets, and help to offer a hand up to the
least among us. Because, at the Last Judgment God will not say to me: “Ah yes, you’re a Deacon. Enter into the joy of
your Lord!” NOT GOING TO HAPPEN!
If we believe the Gospel of Matthew, Christ will want to know what I did when his belly was bloated with hunger, his
tongue tortured with thirst; when he had no pillow for his head, no clothes for his nakedness; when he was alone with his
sickness or a faceless number in a jail (cf. Mt 25:31—46). A life with Christ is choosing to move beyond mediocrity.
“Consequences are a result of your choices.”
I have the following prayer I say every morning after I do Liturgy of the Hours. It helps me to start the day, to realize I
have choices I will make during the day. It goes like this:
You have a choice,
each and every single day;
I chose to feel blessed,
I chose to feel grateful,
I chose to be excited,
I chose to be thankful,
I chose to be happy.
Responsibility, Happiness,
Choices we make,
that is how
we are to live our lives.
I am in the process of
positive changes…
“You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.” C.S. Lewis
Today, as in every day of our life, the message is about conversion, about turning away from what is wrong and doing
what is right. Conversion is something we work on every hour of every day. Think of the two sons in today’s parable: one
gave lip service to doing good while not doing it; the other, refusing to work, relented and turned to what was right. Let us
remind ourselves that the Lord is merciful and shows us the way of truth and justice. If we seek his way, he will guide us
to justice and life.
God wants to change our hearts so that we will show by our speech and by our actions that we respect his will and do it.
He also wants us to show by our speech and actions that we harbor no ill will to our fellow man. God offers each one of
us the greatest treasure possible – peace, joy, and friendship with him in his everlasting kingdom. We can lose that
treasure if we refuse the grace – the free gift of God’s blessing and strength – which the Lord Jesus has won for us through
his victory on the cross. The Lord Jesus fills us with the gift of the Holy Spirit who works in and through us for the glory of God. Allow the Holy Spirit to to fill your heart with the peace, joy, and righteousness of God’s kingdom (Romans 14:17). I leave you with this. Remember, that our choices have consequences…