eternity

God on your to-do list: 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

/ Dean / Leave a comment

Note: The following is an edited version of a homily I delivered at the Sacramento State Newman Center. My parish homily was a bit different due to a capital campaign we are currently conducting. The readings can be found here.

Have you made time for God in your schedule lately? Yes, of course, we all know when we need to be at Sunday Mass, but do you carve time out for Him in your daily schedule? Is your relationship with God a priority in your life?

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Ah, the good ‘ol days of seminary…

Recently in a newspaper article entitled, “The Trivial Tasks that Haunt Our To-Do Lists”, author Emma Brockes writes about how all of these little tasks pile up on our to-do lists and can slow us down and even grind us to a halt to the point that we don’t get them done. In Emma’s case, it was a broken vacuum cleaner that sat in her home for a few weeks. Recently, I was pushed to look at my own “to-do” list after making a comment to our seminarian that I had 25 tasks left to do in the week and yet later in the day, I postponed (in other words, procrastinated) on several of them. We all have long to-do lists and packed schedules and sometimes I wonder if we couldn’t thin them out a bit in order to place God on our calendar, in order to make time for Him because, honestly, He is a lot more important than some of the items that we absent-mindedly place on our to-do lists.

The Sunday readings during November have an eternal focus and here I am talking about mundane things like to-do lists and calendars but if we do not carve out time for God now, here in the present moment, how can we hope to have the time to spend with Him in eternity? One day the Lord will come: sooner than we think, “the sun of justice with [His] healing rays”[1] will come to renew the world, even though He will start as a small child in a far off manger. “The Lord comes to rule the Earth with justice” and if we are not ready for Him, if we don’t make time for Him now, how can we hope to recognize Him when He does come?

This daily preparation, this daily striving to build a relationship with God, a relationship that He so desperately wants with us, is the key to recognizing the presence of God in our lives. By placing God first in our lives, we will recognize His presence, the prompting of His Holy Spirit in even the smallest moments. In our world today, there are all kinds of strange teachings that surround us. Many even come in the name of Jesus, saying, “I am he”[2] but they are false prophets. There are people and even organizations that set themselves up as saviors for us all, but we must never be fooled. Politicians, celebrities, gurus, and all sorts of people will set themselves up as “the next best thing.” Instead of following them, we need to follow Jesus Christ and take to heart the exhortation of Saint Paul, working quietly, earning our keep, and building a relationship with God.[3]

How do we build that relationship? Again, we go back to the need to carve out time for God in our daily lives, to build a true and lasting relationship with Jesus Christ. Is it easy? No, certainly not: people will hate us because of the name of Christ, but not a hair on our heads will be harmed if we only stand fast for the truth, justice, and mercy of our Lord. The only way to recognize where we must go, to discover God in our lives, is to build a relationship with Him in the first place, and the only way to do THAT my friends is to make time for Him each and every day.

“The days will come when there will not be left a stone upon another stone that will not be thrown down,” when all of this that we have here will be taken away and we will be left with nothing but a face to face encounter with God.[4] When that time comes, what will we say? Will we have to explain how we had more important things to do than to spend time with Him? Or will we take peace and consolation in the fact that in our life’s highs and lows, we turned to Him, we made time for Him, and we sought Him out?

Many of us here are in the midst of midterms or even starting to look toward finals. For my own part, I have an unfinished thesis hanging over me that beckons to be completed. We have so much to worry about and so much to do, but in the big scheme of things, isn’t God more important? Yes, we have many things in our lives that demand our time, talent, and treasure, but God should take pride of place among it all. I am not saying that we should shirk our responsibilities, but imagine if we came face to face with God and said, “Oh Lord, I don’t have time this week – next week I will stop and spend some time with you.” My friends, the time and place is now. Here in this moment, we are about to be face to face with God in the Eucharist. In our daily lives, surely, we all have time, talent, or treasure, myself included, that we can dedicate to Him. Let’s make our Blessed Lord more important than that big exam, that soccer game, or our next purchase at the Amazon and place Him first in our lives. If we put him first, everything else will fall into place.

“But Father!” I can hear you saying, “I have too much to do or too much to worry about!” Our Lord answers that by saying, “By your perseverance you will secure your lives.” We worry too much about needless things, forgetting that our Lord tells us, “I myself shall give you wisdom in speaking.” Elsewhere in Scripture, He says, “Do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ Your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.”[5]

Let us set aside our worries and trust in God’s providence. Yes, we all have many important things to worry about in our lives, but now, as we come face to face with God in the Blessed Sacrament, let us worry about the only thing that matters: eternal life with God. Let’s re-examine our to-do lists and calendars and make time for Him, even making Him the first priority in our lives because we will find that, in the end, eternity is a lot more important than that broken vacuum cleaner.

References:

[1] First reading

[2] Gospel reading

[3] Cf. second reading

[4] Gospel reading

[5] Matt. 6:31-32

Time to Declutter: 18th Sunday in OT

/ Dean / Leave a comment

Below is an adaptation of the homily I delivered this past weekend. In case you need a refresher, the readings can be found here.

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Not my clutter, thankfully!

Vanity of vanities, all things are vanity, so Qoheleth! We are called to always “seek what is above” and to keep our focus on things that really matter: namely, God and what comes after our mortal journey here on Earth. Yet, I think that we can have a lot of “clutter” in our lives that can keep our focus from being where it needs to be.

Decluttering definitely seems to be “in vogue” at the moment. There is no shortage of methods, books, and even T.V. shows that purport to reorganize your life and get rid of unnecessary attachments. One such method, created by the popular Marie Kondo from Japan, focuses on keeping only those items that “spark joy” in our lives. To some extent, this is true: we should closely examine those things that we have in our lives and take an honest inventory if they bring joy and happiness, and this rule of thumb can be applied not just to material things but to habits, relationships, and any number of different types of “clutter” we might have in our lives.

Our Lord, as always, challenges us to move deeper than to simply find those things that make us feel good. Our Lord challenges us to stay focused solely on what is above, rather than on Earthly attachments, and so we have the parable of the rich fool who simply could not let go of his earthly wealth.

Perhaps we have all stood in the place of the rich fool at one time or another. I certainly know I have – packing my room from the seminary was evidence enough that I was holding on to too many things! What does the rich fool do when he runs out of space? Somewhat comically, he decides to tear everything down and build a bigger barn, a bigger storehouse for all his things: “This is what I shall do: I shall tear down my barns and build larger ones. There I shall store all my grain and other goods and I shall say to myself, “Now as for you, you have so many good things stored up for many years, rest, eat, drink, be merry!”

Now at first glance, it might seem that the rich fool does the right thing: after all, he is simply being responsible with his possessions, right? In fact, he even makes a resolution to enjoy his time, to rest, but being who he is, this is an empty promise. He will not rest, eat, drink, and be merry: eventually, his possessions will continue to grow, and he will run out of space again. He will have to rebuild again, and the cycle will continue. How often have we been stuck in similar cycles? Jesus teaches us, however, to separate ourselves from some of these attachments, to not be like the rich fool. If we follow the way of Jesus Christ, “Our detachment from worldly goods should mean we have no anxiety about our basic” needs (Didache Bible commentary). In order to live the life we are called to live as disciples of Christ, we must rid ourselves of these unnecessary things and seek things above.

Let’s go back to the modern “decluttering” method mentioned above. We now see that simply asking ourselves whether or not something gives us joy is inadequate. We must respond to the call of Christ to move deeper into our faith. We must ask ourselves whether or not something keeps us from seeking things that are above. We must ask ourselves if whatever it is we are contemplating ridding from our lives gives glory to God. That is the test we are looking for, the question we must ask ourselves: “Does this give glory to God?” If Jesus called me home right this moment, would I hang my head in shame over this thing or would I be joyful that our Lord could see what I have done with this particular part of my life?

Remember that we’re not talking simply about material things. We are talking about applying this rule of thumb, “Does this give glory to God?” to everything in our lives. Let’s look at a few examples: does spending time with a particular person give glory to God in what we say and do together? Will a desired trip to the coast give glory to God? Does buying a new car give glory to God? If you notice, all of these questions can have a yes or a no answer: does the friendship exist to support and encourage each other, or is it spent in gossip and using the other person for gain? Does the trip to the coast consist of spending quality time with family or enjoying God’s creation, or does it consist solely in gorging our mouths and emptying our pocketbooks? Does the new car represent a true need to support myself and family, or is it something that I am buying just so I can keep up with my next-door neighbor?

Glory to God in the highest…

And what is the most profound way that we can give glory to God? Of course in the Eucharist. There is nothing else on Earth so important than being in the presence of God Himself. When we come together in the Eucharist, we more fully become who we are created to be as sons and daughters of God. Our Lord tells us, “If today you hear His voice, harden not your hearts.”  In the Word of God in Scripture and the Word made present in the Eucharist we hear His voice – what more could we ask for than to give glory to God in what we do in the sacrifice of the Holy Eucharist?

In some sense, the rich fool was correct: I believe we are to “eat, drink, and be merry,” – God wants us to be happy, healthy, and holy, but the fool simply did not live out his promise to himself. The key, my friends, is to take what we have, and in the words of Saint Paul, “Think of what is above, not of what is on earth.” Our time on Earth is limited and we cannot take any of our riches with us, yet we are still called to be a joyful people. Perhaps it would be good to remember these words from Hilaire Belloc: “Wherever the Catholic sun doth shine, / There’s always laughter and good red wine. / At least I’ve always found it so. / Benedicamus Domino!” Live life to the fullest, stay focused on things above, and if today you hear His voice, harden not your hearts!