31st Sunday in Ordinary Time 2007

[Fr.Paul Weinberger]

Homily by:
Father Paul Weinberger
Saint William the Confessor Catholic Church
Greenville, Texas
31st Sunday in Ordinary Time
November 4, 2007

And Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this house because this man too is a descendant of Abraham. For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save what was lost."

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Amen

I have to be careful. At the last Mass there was a state trooper present. Now, hypothetically, suppose I was driving into Dallas recently and I was really paying attention. Now up ahead I noticed that the car on the side of the road has those lights on top and suddenly I started praying intensely. “Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee…” I know what happened next. The Virgin Mary had the state trooer look the other way as I was going by. The lights on that car were not turned on and he did not come in my direction. Later on I was making the return trip and somebody was being a rather difficult driver. I understand that no everyone can drive as well as I do and be the perfect driver that I am…So I said, “Go ahead buddy, God bless you!” I was extending mercy after mercy was extended to me earlier that day. The intensity of prayer when I needed it, “HAIL MARY!” I am not making a joke. It was an intensely focused prayer. I believe that the Blessed Virgin told the trooper to look over there and he did. The fact that prayer is something that should be part of our lives as Catholics is obvious.

I, however, have figured out that Catholics do not eat in restaurants. As Catholics we know that we pray before and after we eat our meals and I have been in restaurants and rarely do I see folks saying Grace Before Meals or Grace After Meals. I have since concluded that Catholics do not eat in restaurants. We know that that is what we are supposed to do but we fail to do it. It is like eating between meals and not saying Grace with the exception of water. We know what we should be doing but we don’t.

Last Sunday in reference to Heaven I noted that we do not teach our children about Heaven. We don’t repeat it enough. It needs to be right up there with the regulars. “Do your chores…do your homework…share with your brother or sisters and then you can go play.” Last week I mentioned that it took me 18 years for those rules to sink in. As adults I contend that we are children who should be following the same regular, stable advice. “Do your chores… do your homework… help your brothers and sisters… and then you can go out and play!” The great thing about this is also the down side. We never finish these. Unfortunately we don’t help our brothers and sisters in need. We go right to play even though that garage is a mess or the whatever needs to be cleaned. Later on today you know that as Catholics you are going to have to turn on the leaf blower or the lawn mower or the weed eater. You will also need to turn on something really loud like the stereo. You see it is Sunday and there are things we are all supposed to do. Of course not! We know what we should be doing but we jump right passed it. The temptation is to come home from work, sink into a chair and click, go right to play on the TV or the computer or both. I can’t do my chores or my homework and I can’t share because I am busy playing. This is the convoluted thinking that is not from God.

I mentioned that I was driving into Dallas and had to get it serviced. When asked how it runs I said that it runs like a top. It is a 1994 Mercury Marquis. I always mention that in order for me to get this car a priest had to DIE! Their eyes get really big and all of a sudden I get real good service. “No, no, no,” I tell them, “I have an alibi.” I was in Dallas and Monsignor Bodick was in Lubbock. He was the pastor of Christ the King in Dallas for 25 years. For 25 years he was treated as if he were a king and then when he retired at the age 75 he came to live with me. I used to call him Monsignor Rodney Daingerfield because he go no respect from me. He and I used to do this back and forth chiding jokingly. He was a good sport. Many a time I would tell people that I had to hurry and get back to church because Monsignor was there and I left the gate open. Monsignor was so meticulous with his car. Every week he would have it washed and vacuumed. He took really good care of it. When he died he left it to me. About a month or so ago I was at Calvary Hill Cemetery burying a very dear friend on mine. Afterwards I went over to stand on Monsignor’s grave and I told him that his car was here and that it had been months since I washed it and inside it needs to be vacuumed really badly. I was expecting a hand to reach up from the grave and pull me down. Of course it didn’t happen. I did however get the car washed and vacuumed since I was kidding Monsignor about this. Monsignor and I would talk about serious things as well. The topic of death did come up. I asked him if he wanted me to ask people to pray for him when he dies. He always answered yes. Monsignor was a very holy man but he didn’t waste any time answering whether or not he wanted prayers offered up for him when he died. He was very wise. I was talking to a friend of mine, Father Guadanoli, the pastor of Waxahachie. He was talking to his parishioners awhile back about praying for the dead. He asked them if they wanted their children to pray for them when they died. He then asked if they had told them to pray for them and been explicit. It is right up there with doing chores, helping brothers and sisters, sharing…

Thanksgiving is just days away and families will come together from across the country and spend the day at their mother’s or mother-in-law’s house. Sometime during the meal a daughter will say that when mom dies I get the statue or the son says that he gets the Model T when dad dies. Pass the cranberries, pass the dressing please. I have seen this at homes where you could pick up any object and there is somebody’s name. I am sure that people go around changing names too. Nobody knows, right? People make preparations years in advance of their death about objects like statues or cars or the lifetime audio series of Father Paul’s homilies. Oh, there will be fighting for those? Something as practical as asking for prayers when you die is only mentioned once in a while. We do not pound, pound, pound it into their heads. We still end up as adults not doing our chores, not doing our homework, not sharing with our brothers and sisters in need and instead jumping right to play. This is wrong but so prevalent.

This is my favorite day of the year because we got an extra hour of sleep! And for many of you during the homily you could add that hour to this hour of sleep during the homily. It was so great to get that little extra hour of rest. Now let us make the progression from this rest to Eternal Rest. Yes, when we die we go to our Eternal Rest. Now they tell you that at the funeral home and they also tell you that it will be $10,000. That is part of what they do as a business. “Welcome to the Garden of Eternal Rest.” Yet you and I are pulled into the direction of believing that as we lay our head down and breathe our last breath that we will go to our eternal rest. That is not so. We may go to our eternal rest if we go from this life straight to Heaven. That is where Eternal Rest is. Are the holy souls resting in Purgatory? No, they are suffering in Purgatory. Are the souls in Hell resting? No, they are ROASTING in Hell. It is eternal. Eternal Roast. Those in Purgatory are indeed suffering. Is there something we can do for those holy souls? Now when it comes to animals we hate to see them suffer but the souls in Purgatory…oh forget it. We have to see the need to pray for the dearly departed.

To break it down to nuts and bolts, the Holy Father, on November 5th, will be praying for all the deceased Cardinals and Bishops who have died over the last year. The month of November is set aside to pray for the poor souls in Purgatory. You and I are able to help them.

Look at the Gospel today. Jesus visited Zacchaeus in his home. And you see that after meeting Jesus Zacchaeus is indeed a changed man.

"Behold, half of my possessions, Lord, I shall give to the poor, and if I have extorted anything from anyone I shall repay it four times over."

Now what are the odds that anyone who is a tax collector has ever extorted money? In this life we know that if we steal anything you have to pay it back either in this life or in the life to come. So the men and women, boys and girls that in Purgatory now are paying back for that which they took in this life. Now if you took something that wasn’t yours and don’t give it back. You swallowed it. You can either pay for it in cash equivalent or if you did not want to fess up you would have to give it charity or to the poor anonymously. You could not donate a building at a university with your name on it to pay for what you had stolen. No, it has to be at least the amount of the thing you stole and it has to be anonymously. The people who have died and are in Purgatory are just like you and I. They may have forgotten to pay back what they had stolen. You and I can make restitution and intervene for them because they are our brothers and sisters. I talked about this last week in regards to the movie, Bella and adoption. We are adopted sons and daughters of God the Father. We are brothers and sisters in Christ by adoption not by nature. You and I can intercede for the poor souls in Purgatory. Pray for the dead is of great benefit for ourselves because it is a Work of Mercy. It benefits us.

Remember what Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount. We heard it recently at the All Saints Day Mass.

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the land. Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the clean of heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers,for they will be called children of God. Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and utter every kind of evil against you falsely because of me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven.”

As a side note I need to mention that I think that at least 70% of St. William’s attended Mass for the Holy Day of Obligation. I would say percentage wise we are the top in the Diocese of Dallas. That is my opinion. Maybe the other 30% went closer to work. And the Gospel for that day was the Beatitudes. If I am merciful and I share with my brothers and sisters in Purgatory with my sacrifices, and the graces that Christ gives to me in Holy Communion and Confession or thru pray…then mercy shall be shown to me.

I remember talking to Monsignor one cold and rainy night. I finally went down and let him in. This going back and forth with Monsignor was common. He once said that I “burned” him up and that he was really “suffering” because of me. I told him that that “suffering” was going to help him get to Heaven. He agreed. I then asked him to picture himself in Heaven and worshipping God for all eternity and praying for all the people who helped you get to Heaven and you will be praying for me. He just grunted.

Seriously though, if we help the poor souls in Purgatory when they get to Heaven they will help us get where they are. Heaven is assured if you make it to Purgatory. Zacchaeus is an example of one who was shown mercy; he made a radical change in his life.

Zaccheaus was very much like the town dog who would tear up everyone’s trash and make a giant mess. Mercy however changed him. Instead of tearing down people and extorting money from them he now is going to do his chores, do his homework and share with his brothers and sisters. This is so necessary and we need to recognize that now that we are not children any more we need to get to work.

The day I was born I was immediately weaned. In fact, after those first couple of days when my mother was in the hospital, I nursed her back to health. I was an excellent cook since the day I was born. If you believe this you have drifted off. In 1959, disposable diapers had not yet been invented except in the case when the diaper was mine.

“Oh, that must be Paul’s, throw it out!”

Somebody had to take care of my every need.

My grandmother, my mom’s mom, and my dad’s dad where my godparents. When I was 18, they both died not that far apart from each other. I really love my godparents. I could never estimate the things they did for me. I always remember to pray for them.

When we actually get down to it, we did not create ourselves. We have received so many acts of mercy, from God and from so many others. For us not to pray is for us to be completely proud beyond belief. For us not to pray for the dearly departed is for us to be spoiled beyond belief. For us to whine and cry about spending too much time praying is like us saying “we spend to much time doing our chores, homework and sharing.” Just try and be very convincing. Go over to the mirror at home and look right into it and say those words, without laughing. It’s just not convincing. You could not convince your closest friends or relatives, and somehow, you think you will be able to convince God. Praying for the dearly departed, in this month of November, helps us because Christ accepts any act of mercy done to someone else, even a soul in Purgatory. Jesus says,

“Whatever you do the least of them you do unto Me.”

There is not eternal rest in Hell. There is not eternal rest in Purgatory, but there is eternal rest in Heaven. And for us to believe that some how with all of our weaknesses, problems and difficulties, that we are just “prayer-machines”. We are just so incredible with the program of Jesus Christ and therefore, we won’t spend anytime in Purgatory. I mean I pray I don’t spend time in Purgatory, but I am telling you right now when I die, I hope you pray for me.

Parents have to be especially explicit about this. We don’t understand when our parents tell us to do our chores. We won’t understand when they tell us to do our homework. We won’t understand and we refuse to understand when our parents tell us to share. So automatically parents roll-over and believe it that their children know to pray for them when they die. It’s beyond belief. Yet Jesus has extended to Zaccheaus such incredible mercy and then that mercy starts to get extended to others.

Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house because this man too is a descendant of Abraham, for the son of man has come to seek and to save what was lost.”

When we seek and try to save what was lost by praying and sacrificing for the poor souls in Purgatory we are being merciful in imitation of Christ.

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Amen

transcribed by Lori and Nora