Father Paul Weinberger, Pastor
St. William the Confessor Catholic Church
Greenville, Texas
18th Sunday in Ordinary Time
August 5, 2007
But God said to him, “You fool, this night your life will be demanded of you and the things you have prepared, to whom will they belong? Thus will it be for all who store up treasure for themselves but are not rich in what matters to God.
In the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit
Amen
Last week was my mother’s birthday; she is one of seven children. The circumstances of the birth of these children are quite remarkable. My grandparents were married and wanted children but for years they had none. My grandmother saw a doctor and he told her that she should be able to have a child but it was possible that she may never have one. The first one came and the doctor said that after this child there will be no possibility of any more children, and then six more came along. Thanks be to God!
There was much love in the home of my grandparents but my grandfather had to work very hard to provide for the family and that is what he did. When my mother was little, the family moved and bought land where they were going to build a house. The land was in a neighborhood. They did what we cannot do today; they put up a tent in what would be the backyard and lived there a year. They started to build a home made of cement blocks, building as they could afford to do so.
One day my great grandmother, my grandfather’s mother, came over and said to her son,
“Edwards, a Koller has never lived in a tent!”
She was objecting to the fact that they were going to be in that tent for a year while the house was being built. It was a very large tent. My grandfather just smiled at her and said,
“Well, one is living in a tent now.”
When the house was built every room in the house was used for sleeping except for the kitchen and bathroom, THE bathroom. Look at how things are different today. We need so much more in order to provide for so fewer individuals.
What Our Lord says today should be arresting to us, as arresting as a heart attack. Yesterday, just before I came in for the 4 pm Mass I learned that Deacon Davis was hospitalized for a possible heart attack. All of a sudden when something like this happens to a person, all the things that are unimportant just seem to fade into the background, and what is most essential comes to mind, like the next breath! Right? That is the most essential thing and then after that, the next breath.
Today’s Gospel is connected to last week’s Gospel concerning the “Our Father.” The Gospel before that one is when Our Lord said those words, which should give us a heart attack.
Martha, Martha you are anxious and upset about many things; Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be denied her.
There is a connection to that Gospel and last week’s Gospel centering on the Our Father asking the Lord to teach us how to pray. This Gospel fits in quite beautifully. If you look at the First Reading it says,
Vanity of vanities, everything is vanity.
The word “vanity” has a different connotation for us, but if you think of the word as meaning that all things are passing away then you come to realize what Quheleth is saying;
Here is one, who has labored with wisdom, knowledge, and skill and yet to another, who has not labored over it, he must leave property.
You will never see a funeral procession where an armored car is following the hearse. If the Pharaohs of Egypt could have all those stones pilled up as pyramids, loaded with treasure and it isn’t enough to keep the treasure safe then what is possible. First of all, if you go there to steal the treasure you have to survive the desert and then you have to figure out how to get to it. You are not going to be able to take anything with you when you die. Just as a little pop quiz. Later on today when you go home, pack a bag with all the things that you are going to take with you when you die. That will be the easiest quiz you have ever taken; there will be nothing in the bag. The idea of this Gospel is that we have so much given to us, piled up for us. What are we going to do with it?
Speaking of pop quizzes, this is a good time to consider what happened last week. Perhaps you saw on television the collapse of the bridge in Minnesota. I spoke to people after the last Mass, who have driven over that bridge to see family. There is a family here right now that drove over that bridge a few weeks ago when they visited relatives there. It is amazing to be able to watch all this on television. If you did watch, did this happen to you? Did you watch the story about the bridge for an hour or so and then just turn it off because you were tired of watching it, and then just go on about your business?
There is a temptation to consider and that is, that television watching is having done something. And at the end of them talking about the same thing for two or three hours, you just brush your hands and decide you are done with this news story. All you have ended up being is a spectator. Up to that point did all of that move you to this? Were you so moved and anxious and upset by what you saw that you actually did something that matters to God? Did you pray?
Yesterday when I told the congregation before Mass about the deacon’s possible heart attack I asked them to pray. I asked them after Holy Communion to pray. I again asked for prayer at the 6 pm Mass. Later when I drove into Dallas to see Deacon Lee, he looked fine. I wasn’t mad that he looked fine but I figured it was an answer to a prayer; God does answer prayers. There is precedence. But it is like turning off a news story.
” Oh, the deacon will be fine; people go to hospitals, get better, and they come home.”
In some cases that is true and in some cases it is not. We have more free time in this country than any generation in the history of the world and we are going to just be spectators?
You will recall that the pope went to Brazil in May and I published part of a talk that the pope had given to the young people of the world who’d traveled there to see him. The Holy Father used the parable of the rich young man, the man who was inquiring about Eternal Life. Jesus told him to go and sell all that he had, give it to the poor and then follow Him. The young man went away sad because he had many possessions. Can you imagine leaving the company of Jesus for possessions? The pope said,
Youth itself is a singular treasure and by extension we can see the truth, that free time is a singular treasure as well. The Holy Father said later,The Gospel assures us that the man, who went to meet Jesus, was very rich; we may understand this wealth not only on the material level. Youth itself is a singular treasure.
The best examples I have of someone who is living intensely are parents, who by necessity focus on their children. I should say “good” parents. Good parents follow the progress and lack of progress of their children every day. They take their temperature spiritually and in other ways. If a child is ill this means that a parent is staying up late at night or early into the morning and then going to work the next day, or staying home and working there the next day. This is what is referred to as pulling long shifts and the pay is lousy. Fortunately for my parents, at least they had one perfect child and so it was easy for them to spend themselves in this manner knowing that they had at least one perfect child.My appeal to you young people present at this gathering is this; do not waste your youth; do not seek to escape from it. Live it intensely.
Father Paul points to himself as he says this and of course, he is joking
This is what good parents are like and I think there is even a higher interest rate for grandparents; at least there was from my grandmother. I am sure my dad’s mom is in heaven because she must have gotten a real boost having me for a grandson.
There is truth to all of this and that is that we must be about what matters to God. We see in the Gospels again and again, Jesus welcoming children. He is so intent on children and they matter to Him, whether they are children coming to embrace Him or ones growing up or those growing old. According to God we are all children…His children! We are all of interest but we don’t merely exist as bodies. What fascinates God is that the soul and the body is a union, which will eventually end with our last heartbeat. Perhaps there won’t be a heart attack but the heart will just stop beating and that will be the end of this life. What interests God is to see souls brought to Him and to live with Him forever in Heaven. This is what matters to God and that is how the Gospel ends.
Thus will it be for all who store up treasure for themselves but are not rich in what matters to God.
If we are absorbed with the world then we are absorbed with immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire and the greed that is idolatry. I don’t know why Saint Paul mentions all of those; he could have just said, “TV”, except there wasn’t TV back then. Isn’t that a great synopsis of what you are going to see on television with immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire and the greed that is idolatry? So many hours are spent watching TV when real live people are in need of material assistance but also in need of this (prayer).
“Father, I don’t have time to pray!”
Here is a challenge. Before you ever say that to me or anyone else, say it to yourself three times while you are locked in the bathroom looking in the mirror. See if you get to number three without laughing at yourself. We have time but we are too interested in the world.
Today we read about the man who had his barns full of his crops and possessions and then he got a super abundant blessing, which he could have shared with others in the neighborhood. He could have been generous but instead he used the approach that had probably helped him amass so many things. He just kept it to himself and there was nothing for him to take along when he went before God.
There is a story of a woman, who was very wealthy; she did public acts of charity here and there in her life. She died and went before St. Peter, who would take her to her mansion. Jesus says that in the Father’s House there are many dwelling places. St. Peter and the lady started walking through Heaven to her mansion. She had lived very nicely and so she was interested in this Heavenly mansion.
She and Saint Peter approached this huge mansion; the driveway was miles long and she was excited about this mansion, but as she started down the driveway St. Peter stopped her and told her that mansion belonged to St. Francis. They kept walking and the next mansion was a bit smaller than the previous one and she thought that this one must be hers, but St. Peter told her that one belonged to Mother Teresa.
They kept going and there were so many mansions that were huge but after a while the mansions started to get noticeably smaller. They walked a long time and then the road stopped. There was a dirt path and at the end of that there was just grass so they walked along to a clearing in the area. There were some twigs there and St. Peter told the lady that this was the place prepared for her. The woman looked at St. Peter and told him that this was just a bunch of sticks. St. Peter told her that they could only work with what she sent them while she was still alive.
After that last heartbeat there is no sending anything along.
We are in charge of our lives and possessions and we are in charge of our time; if we aren’t then who is? The saint on the bulletin cover is the one you see here and it is of St. John Vianney. I got the statue in Ars in 1997, where he lived as the Cure of Ars. Ars is a little town in the South of France. The statue is about three feet tall and weighs about three hundred pounds. It is very fitting for a Diocesan Priest to have him as a patron saint.
St. John Vianney went to Ars and spent himself getting his parish to Heaven. This saint had the ability to read hearts and souls and so people would go to him for confession. Now, this is counterintuitive for many people who go to Confession. Most people want to go to the priest, who is about to have a heart attack or, who is so old he is deaf. Right? Now, would you go to a doctor like that? Would you go to one who could not read an x-ray? People would stream to St. John Vianney because he could read hearts. It was not uncommon for him to spend eighteen hours a day in the Confessional. Think of it; think of you sitting somewhere for that length of time.
I remember once when I was coming back from Rome I walked up to the stewardess and asked her to please give me a parachute and open the door or just shoot me. [Laughter] I can guarantee that I was not in first class. Even if I had been it would not have mattered, I would still be sitting in a chair that long. I have seen the “chair” that St. John Vianney sat on and it was not really a chair but a wooden bench from which would hear the confessions of the many that streamed toward Ars.
Eighteen hours should not surprise anyone who is a good parent. For you, eighteen hours might be a short day, right? I remember more than once when we were little and saying, “Mama, mama, mama.” She would say she was going to change her name. [Laughter] I don’t blame her. So, eighteen hours might sound like a short day to a mother or father.
After children are raised there is no stopping because you have to help raise other people’s children. As I mentioned, I was the perfect child. [Laughter] It sounds like some of you don’t believe that. Today people want perfect children. The doctor tells some parents that their child is going to have red hair and freckles. Do you know that there are people who have aborted because the parents are told that? My sister has beautiful red hair and freckles. If this were true, at the last Mass it would have wiped out a whole bench here. All the girls have red hair and freckles. How sad that we can be so frivolous. If the child isn’t perfect and has disabilities, well I have actually heard people approach others who have disabled children and they ask these people if they couldn’t do something about it, which is code for doing the “right” thing and abort the child. How sad that there are the living dead amongst us, who will say these kinds of things. There are no perfect children, not in this Church and not in the world. There was one perfect child and His mother was without sin, but since then the record is pretty straight.
The Cure of Ars worked tirelessly to show how we have to be raising children or helping others to raise their children. St. John Vianney had no biological children and I have no biological children but, I have to help raise a lot of children, so spiritual children are possible. This is not pretend like a tea party in the backyard with muffins made of mud and imaginary tea. No, these are real children. Spiritual children should demand as much attention as biological children and not just in work but also in prayer.
Here is something that St. John Vianney wrote and it is very helpful in understanding this Gospel in light of the two previous Sundays.
So to “pray and love” is a more beautiful way to say what St. Benedict stresses, “pray and work”. Pray and love, that is where a man’s happiness lies. A lot of people today are not happy because they don’t pray or love. Is there some other source or font of happiness for us in this life? No! Those sins that St. Paul points out don’t bring happiness; they may bring pleasure, but illicit pleasure is very different from happiness. St. John Vianney continues.My little children reflect on these words; the Christians treasure is not on earth but in Heaven. Our thoughts then, ought to be directed to where our treasure is. This is the glorious duty of man, to pray and to love. If you pray and love, that is where a man’s happiness lies.
Another way of saying that would be to say that it is something that matters to God. The first words of God to us through Adam and Eve were to be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it. People say all the time that the world is over crowded. Have they never been on the other side of Ft. Worth? And what is after Ft. Worth? West of that, you have so many states that have scenic overlooks but you can’t see another human being for miles.Prayer is nothing else but union with God. When one has a heart that is pure and united with God, he is given a kind of serenity and sweetness that makes him ecstatic, a light that surrounds him with marvelous brightness. In this intimate union, God and the soul are fused together like to bits of wax that no one can ever pull apart. This union of God with a tiny creature is a lovely thing; it is happiness beyond understanding.
God wants us to cooperate with Him so that life can be brought into the world and be drawn to Him for all eternity. St. John Vianney says,
Have you noticed how saints are always talking about what matters to God and not what matters to the saint.We have become unworthy to pray but God in his goodness allowed us to speak with Him. Our prayer is incense that gives Him the greatest pleasure.
That is why prayer is so much like Jesus. Prayer is Heaven come down upon us. Look at how Jesus emptied himself for us. The model for our prayer is Jesus. The focus of our prayer is Jesus. St. John Vianney said “when” we pray and not “if” we pray. It is so necessary to see that prayer and love guide our actions otherwise it is nothing but production and we are merely machines in God’s plan; God is the clockmaker and He just winds us up and then we wind down, stop and die. No!My little children your hearts are small but prayer stretches them and makes them capable of loving God. Through prayer we receive a foretaste of Heaven and something of paradise comes down upon us. Prayer never leaves us without sweetness; it is honey that flows into the soul and makes all things sweet. When we pray properly sorrow disappears like snow before the sun.
We have a man right now in the diocese, who is about to be ordained next Saturday; he is going to throw his life away in service to others. How is that different from being a good parent? There are some differences of course but you can see that the similarities are profound. We have a man from our parish, Aaron Fowler, who is going to join the Franciscan Order up north, to be immersed in prayer in order to learn to love and act as Christ prayed, loved, and acted.Some men immerse themselves as deeply in prayer as fish in water because they give themselves totally to God.
And boy, do we talk to one another! You can’t drive the car now without seeing someone swerving into you because they are on the phone. I am waiting to see someone on two phones at the same time while driving along in the car.Some men immerse themselves as deeply in prayer as fish in water because they give themselves totally to God. There is no division in their hearts; oh how I love these noble souls. St. Francis of Assisi and St. Colette used to see our Lord and talk to Him just as we speak to one another.
This saint lived to be seventy-three and then his heart stopped. He died in 1859, a hundred years before I was born in 1959. I saw his body in 1997; it is in Ars beneath the Altar. His body was not embalmed and it is incorrupt and has not disintegrated into ashes. That piece of flesh there is flesh that God drew very close to Himself and the saint drew very close to God in prayer, in love, and in action.St. Francis of Assisi and St. Colette used to see our Lord and talk to Him just as we speak to one another. How unlike them we are. How often we come to Church with no idea of what to do or what to ask for. Yet, whenever we go to any human being we know well why we go. Still worse, there are some who seem to speak to God like this. “I will only say a couple of things to you and then I will be rid of you.” I often think that when you come to adore the Lord, we would receive everything we ask for if we would ask with living faith and with a pure heart.
See photo and information here
http://romansacristan.blogspot.com/2007 ... latin.html
If we fail to model our lives on Christ, to pray as Christ taught us and to live as Christ taught us, then we are merely piling up things for ourselves, which cannot go with us when we die and then we are teaching others to do the same thing. Along the way we are anxious and upset about many things. I pray that this doesn’t happen to you or to me, that when the last heartbeat comes for us that we will not hear God’s words,
, “You fool, this night your life will be demanded of you and the things you have prepared, to whom will they belong? Thus will it be for all who store up treasure for themselves but are not rich in what matters to God.
In the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit
Amen