19th Sunday of Ordinary Time - Year C - 2013

I have to admit I’m kind of surprised that my homily last week generated so many comments both positive and negative.

I don’t mind the comments at all, everyone who emailed me or spoke to me or facebooked me, was very considerate.. It is OK to have different opinions as long as we are respectful.

You know when your friars or deacon preach it is not our task to tickle your ears.

When we preach it is not always meant to make you or even ourselves feel good or comfortable.

Many things that Jesus said did not make his disciples feel good at all.
In fact some of his followers left after they heard him preach just read the Gospel of John Chapter 6 which we call the Bread of life discourse.

I can’t promise you that you will not be offended when I preach.
I can’t promise you that you will find it entertaining,
Some priests can be like a stand up comedian most cannot.
Is it really fair to expect us to entertain you like Jay Leno?

I can’t promise that my delivery will always be great, sometimes I have a lot on my mind or I’m just having a bad day. (Priest’s have those too)

What I can promise you is that I take this privilege I have of speaking to you,my ministry of preaching  very seriously.

I prepare my homilies and and trust me  my preparation for next week’s homily will begin tonight.

I will also promise you that I always try to find some way to bring the God’s word and our lived experience together .

I always want to  say something that relates to our lives and is not just a bunch of sweet nothings.
And finally I  promise you that my homilies will be the fruit of my prayer.

I will do my best to let God speak through me, we all know that I am far from perfect, a very broken vessel to be sure.

If what we say touches you then it a gift from God not a gift for me.

If what we say does not relate to your experience in anyway I assure you it’s not for lack of trying.

Now let’s take a quick look at today’s readings.

Once I heard a story about a little boy who was trapped on the second floor  balcony of his apartment building by a fire.  His Dad somehow got out and was on the the ground yelling for him to jump.

The little boy yelled back I can’t jump because I can’t see you. There was just too much smoke and fire for him to see his father.

The father yelled back It’s ok to jump I can see you I’ll catch you trust me and jump.

When he heard this the boy jumped safely into his father’s arms.

That little story speaks to today’s readings really well because all of them speak about faith, having faith.

Almost everyday God calls us to jump into his arms even when we are afraid and can't seem to see him.

Just like the little boy had to have faith in his father.

Abraham had to have faith when God called him to leave all that was familiar to him and go to a strange and foreign land.

Abraham and Sarah had to have faith when God promised them a child after years and years and years of disappointments. There are a number of young couples who find themselves in the very same situation.

Today’s Gospel also speaks about faith.
It calls us to have faith that this life is not all there is and reminds us to invest in our heavenly future.

It reminds us to store up our treasure for our journey home to heaven and place our trust in God not things or wealth or riches.

Sometimes we say to ourselves If I just had a little more in my retirement fund.
If only my nest egg could be just a little bigger....

So many of us worry and worry and worry.. about our  retirement investments.

We make a grave mistake if all we do is worry about balance  in our earthly 401ks.

We must never forget to build up our treasure in our heavenly retirement fund. 
We all know you can’t take our money with us.

The only thing that we can deposit in our heavenly investments are  good deeds and acts of love.

One day when we knock on the pearly gates may we present to God a beautiful treasure of generous lives well lived and well loved.

How much is in our heavenly Pension Fund.

That’s a very important question indeed.
Amen