August 29, 2010

Twenty Second Sunday in Ordinary Time
Fr. Jim Deiters

When I was working on my business degree in college, one of our professors drilled into us the importance of reading about successful business people who have been truly effective leaders. One of the many books that has helped me develop my leadership skills as a pastor was written by Jim Collins, called “Good to Great,” which summarizes what makes an organization successful.

Among the many characteristics that distinguished thriving companies from others is that they all had leaders who direct their ego away from themselves to the larger goal of leading their company to greatness. The leaders of these successful companies had a balance between desiring greatness AND having extreme personal humility. The author Collins highlighted one such leader who epitomized humility as David Packard, the co-founder of Hewlett-Packard. Collins found out that Mr. Packard was a man of the people, practicing management by walking around and listening to his employees.

Without making him into a saint, I bring up this modern day, corporate level example of the word ‘humility’ to help us think ‘outside the box’ about the virtue of humility that is driven home in our scripture readings today. I think that many of us grew up thinking that humility was the opposite of being great. Rather, since God actually desires us to achieve ‘greatness,’ by being our greatest self as he created us to be, we have to learn ways of achieving the ‘greatness’ of sainthood, while still being humble during the process of getting there.

The word humility comes from the word ‘humus’ or earth; therefore humility in its basic sense means to be grounded in the earth, rooted in who we truly are, with no false pretenses. Humility is about knowing and appreciating the TRUTH about our self; it is integrity, sincerity, and honesty. It neither overestimates nor underestimates our talents, our abilities, and who we really ARE. The humble person knows his or her strengths and weaknesses, and chooses to develop the talents he or she possesses. In accepting the truth about our SELF, we give the credit to God for how great we are, since it is God who endows us with the talents we have.

If we look through the Gospels at each of the encounters that Jesus had with people, he always looks for a way to raise people up to their inherent greatness and their proper dignity. In his day, not much different than our own, he noticed how certain people were put down for either their gender, their economic status, or what country they were from. He demonstrated that God sees within every human the potential of each person to be their greatest self! The lives of the saints reveal examples of people who found that balance between being humble and doing great things for God.

Catholic evangelist and author Matthew Kelly coined the phrase, ‘Becoming the best version of yourself,’ to describe the Christian vocation of greatness. Too often we sell ourselves short and settle for mediocrity, thinking greatness is for someone else. But there is no patron saint for mediocrity! The huge challenge we have is to erase many of the images of what our culture defines as being the greatest. The magazine cover stars and red carpet evenings of Hollywood keep showing us a version of greatness that is based on Botox and wealth.

A balance between greatness and humility can be found in such examples as: a parent who makes self sacrifices to read bible stories and lives of the saints to their children; a military officer who accepts a higher rank while keeping their Christian values in the office or field; and a retired parishioner who uses their time to serve in one of our outreach ministries. St. Benedict reminds us that humility begins by recognizing our ‘smallness’ before God…, but it develops by realizing that God has created us for some specific purpose in his Kingdom, called to be our greatest in leading others to Christ and our eternal home of heaven.

As we move into a new week, let us pay attention to moments when we are living to our greatest potential, while humbly giving God the credit for all we are. Here at the Altar, God raises up each of us to be humble and great servants of others. May our encounter with Christ’s selfless humility and greatness in the Eucharist be seen in our actions and attitudes toward others when we leave here today.

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August 22, 2010

Twenty First Sunday in Ordinary Time
Fr. Jim Deiters

This past Thursday night at our parish pastoral council meeting, we used this Gospel as our prayer reflection and had a very interesting discussion about what we were each taught about who will be ‘saved’ and how one gets into heaven. When we were children, there seemed to be a common thread of fear about not getting into heaven and how it sometimes helped us behave better for our parents and teachers. It also seems ironic to me that even though we will be spending an eternity in either heaven or hell, we don’t really talk about it much as adults. And how often do we factor our judgment day before God into the decisions we are making with our life?

We need to be grateful that the disciples occasionally brought up to Jesus their own concerns and questions about salvation and who gets into heaven. Today’s Gospel certainly helps us get a better understanding of how Jesus took this issue very seriously and gave us plenty of warning. While Jesus did not want to instill fear into people, he did make it clear several times in his preaching that the ‘gate is narrow’ to get into heaven and those who think they are included better not sit back too comfortably on such assumptions. At the same time, Jesus finishes his warning with the Good News that God’s Kingdom is very inclusive of many people from around the world that we may least expect God to welcome into heaven.

Getting into heaven really comes down to a very personal commitment to live our life as a true follower of Jesus Christ, doing our best to make this Gospel of life and justice a part of our daily living. Part of the reason we promote stewardship so much here in our parish is that it is meant to guide each of us to make good decision about what we are doing with our life in terms of preparing for our ‘accountability report’ we will need to hand God on our judgment day. How we use our time, talents, and treasure for God’s Kingdom on a day-to-day basis is the one sure way we can feel confident that we are on the road to salvation. As we bring forward in a few minutes our commitment cards with ways that we will use part of our time for God’s Kingdom, it is a good ‘first step’ of showing God that we are followers of his Son Jesus.

The "narrow gate" that Jesus talks about is an image for Jesus' way of living and his example of being selfless. It is a special kind of self-sacrifice he invites us to enter: for example, to forgive is a narrow gate; to give my time in service of others is a narrow gate; to put aside my schedule to listen to another's pain, is a narrow gate; to live more simply in order to give more away, is a narrow gate; to speak out for those who have no power or authority, even if it makes us unpopular, is a narrow gate; to give our time to right wrongs is a narrow gate.

One of the many things I love about being Catholic is that our Church teaches that only GOD will judge who is saved or not. Different from fundamentalist Christians who believe that you have to be baptized into their denomination in order to be saved, we follow Jesus’ teaching that only God is the ‘gate keeper’ who decides who is worthy to sit beside Abraham and all the prophets in heaven. Jesus simply warns us not to assume that because we claim the name Christian and say we are baptized, God will know us on judgment day.

God WILL know who we are on our judgment day… IF God can see in us the image of his Son, Jesus Christ. May this Eucharist help change our lives to look more and more like the life of Jesus. Then…we can have no fear about being with God when we die.

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August 8, 2010

Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Deacon Dennis Vander Ven

This morning we heard a reading proclaimed from the 11th chapter of Hebrews – this is sometimes called the faith chapter. In fact, the word faith occurs 24 times in this chapter. It is a wonderful chapter to read in its entirety, and the author gives many examples of the faith of our fathers. The reading opens with a definition of faith: “Faith is the realization of what is hoped for and evidence of things not seen. Because of it the ancients were well attested.” Another translation states: “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for.” And many examples of this faith are revealed in this chapter of Hebrews. We heard about Abraham this morning, but chapter 11 also reminds us of the faith of Noah, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Rahab, and many others. Faith is our response to God, and these ancients responded to God’s call and direction. And you know what? God still speaks to us today.

For our closing hymn we will sing “Faith of our Fathers.” Listen to it as you sing: “Faith of our fathers! Living still!” This hymn reminds us that the faith of the ancients as described in Hebrews, the faith of the early Christians, some martyred and persecuted, and the faith of our mothers praying for us all, that faith is with us and is still alive today.

Now I want the youth and younger people to really listen up with the rest of us. God may be speaking to you now, at this early stage in your life. He may be asking you to go on a journey, like Abraham, to a place he will show you. I am talking about the religious life and becoming a brother or a sister, a nun or a priest. At first you may simply feel a nudge in your spirit – and if you do, have faith that this nudge may be coming from the Lord. So take that step and test it. Visit a convent, a seminary, or a monastery. Explore the many lay ministries. Talk with a priest, or a religious brother or a religious sister. Read some biographies of saints, sisters, nuns, and priests. All of these things will help you discern what the Lord’s plan for your life is. But you cannot do this without faith.

We profess our creed at Mass right after the homily. And that is our faith, the faith of the Church. In this creed we assert that Jesus will come again to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end. We accept this by faith; it is the realization of what will come and it is the certainty of what we do not see. We know Jesus will come again, but we are reminded in the Gospel reading this morning that we do not know when. Jesus tells us: “You also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.” By faith, we know he will come. And because of our faith we remain watchful and ready. By obeying His commands, we show our love. And Jesus will be here physically, in the Eucharist, to help us be constantly watchful.

We have faith in the Eucharist. We have the realization and understanding that the body and blood of Jesus is really here, for us. As I was discerning my personal journey from the Protestant to the Catholic faith, the Eucharist was a big stumbling block. I saw the bread and wine, but I did not have the faith to accept that evidence of things not seen. But then about 12 years ago during one October evening at Our Lady of the Snows, I was visiting a Mass during a couple’s retreat, and at that place the Lord powerfully gave me the gift of faith that I was searching for. By faith, at that moment, I knew that Jesus was fully and truly present in the Eucharist, yet the appearance of bread and wine remained. Once I had that faith, I was entirely Catholic, and my life has been continuously enriched since then.

We know about the faith of the ancients and early Christians, we proudly profess the faith of the Church with our creed, and faith can give us the courage to go to that place where God wants to lead us. Faith is a gift from God. This morning, the Sacrament of the Eucharist will help us strengthen our faith.

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August 1, 2010

Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Fr. Jim Deiters

In thinking about Jesus’ image of barns, whoever IS in the ‘barn building’ business… to help people build bigger things for all their stuff, the one new client they would certainly be going after this week is Sam Bradford. Just in case you have not read the news, Sam Bradford is the new quarterback for our St. Louis Rams football team who, recently out of college and just 22 years old, was just given $78 Million dollar contract! Now, one can give all kinds of reasons for the value of a quarterback’s arm and mind, but that is a LOT of money that can do either a lot of good for the world… or lots of damage to his personal life.

We have all seen the ‘power’ that money has. It can be used to gain fame or win an election… or used to bring electricity and sewer to a poor village in Central America. Sometimes money is the main argument in a marriage… or it can also be used by a parish to offer marriage help resources. Too much money has led some to suicide, and others have used to benefit the lives of millions of people.

Money, wealth, and possessions are very sensitive issues to preach on. And a preacher runs the risk of losing parishioners since several of the mega-churches down the street or on television take a very different approach to money as they preach a ‘prosperity’ gospel in which blessings are given from God only IF you have lived righteously. If you are poor or have problems they preach, then something must be wrong with you.

Jesus touches on the very sensitive issue of our ‘possessions’ in the parable he tells to us today. He is well aware of our human need for certain things, but he wants us to be well grounded in what really counts. He says, “one’s life does not consist of possessions." Then he tells his disciples to be rich "in what matters to God." But if we are to become ‘rich in what matters to God,” we have to seriously study the Scriptures and pray about What DOES matter to God? To really KNOW what matters to God means we have to ask God this question in our prayer… and reflect on the Scriptures –where God DOES speak to us about what really matters.

The key insight into this ‘Parable of the Rich Fool’ is that in the story he only talks to himself about what matters. As the man is thinking about what to do with his life of riches, his only dialogue throughout the parable is with himself. Jesus is not condemning the person for having many possessions. But he chides the person planning for a wealthy life without thinking of how he could use it benefit the lives of others! In his self-centered conversation, God's voice intervenes with reality, reminding him that today may be his last and that all of his possessions will mean nothing when he is gone. It is a real ‘wake-up call’ for all us, even though most of do not think ourselves to be ‘rich.’

On a retreat I made last year, the director challenged us by saying, “If you want to know what ‘matters’ to you, take a monthly review of your credit card bill and put it into categories of where your money is going.” It was a question that got me thinking about my own priorities…and how many of us really ARE ‘wealthy’ in comparison to the average income of people around the world

To get back to the question, ‘what matters to God,’ we have to keep asking God what GOD desires for our life and what to do with the things God has given to us. This parable then raises three important things to think about:

1. Each day we have to remain aware that this very day could be our last day here on earth. Given that each 24-hour period of life is a precious gift from God, we need to keep seeking God’s Wisdom about what we are to be doing with this life and the resources that God has given to us.

2. We need to be aware of ourselves as STEWARDS of everything God has given us in life, meant to be used for the good of others and the Kingdom of God.

3. Thirdly, we have to stay in daily prayer-dialogue with God about ‘what really matters’.


It is important to remember that the abundance the man has is not the issue. The problem Jesus is getting at is while the man kept accumulating MORE, he forgot to share the abundance that God has given to him.


As we face a new week, with our own anxieties about money, health issues, or family problems, one way to approach each issue in our prayer is to ask, "What matters to God?"

As we pray this week about "What really matters to God…” let us pray for God's Spirit to guide us in our life choices. This could be our main petition to bring to this Eucharist today, a prayer for WISDOM…about what really matters…and for God to give us the COURAGE to make any changes that are needed.

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July 25, 2010

Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Fr. Jim Deiters

In one of my Confirmation classes I was teaching, I asked the junior high students to write down a prayer to the following question: “If you could ask the Holy Spirit to help you with one thing, what would you ask for?” They took the exercise quite seriously and spent a good amount of time thinking and writing down their prayer to God. At the end of the session, one of them came up and said to me, “That prayer exercise got me wondering… about what each of my divorced parents would ask of the Holy Spirit?”

His question got me thinking about the huge variety of prayer requests that must come to God at any given moment. From a teenager’s prayer for answers to life’s pressures…to the petitions of a grieving widow; from the beseeching needs of an immigrant about to be deported away from her documented husband and children living here…to a young woman begging God to take away the torment she feels after having had an abortion; from a spouse asking God to mend their strained marriage…to the single woman wondering if the Spirit will send her a life partner.

Many times our prayers to God are asking the Spirit to ‘fix’ something for us. According to Jesus’ words in the Gospel today, he is encouraging us to ask God for anything we want. But at the end of his story, Jesus clarifies that if we are persistent with our prayer it is the Holy Spirit that will be given to us as an answer to our prayers. Remember, the Holy Spirit is the love of God!

Maybe part of the reason we might get frustrated with God when it seems like our prayers are not being answered is that while we are waiting for God to ‘fix’ our problems, God IS GIVING us the Holy Spirit to help us with the trials we are facing. The challenge for us then is to notice the ways that the Holy Spirit is helping us in the struggles we are dealing with. The best way to identify the workings of the Spirit is to become more AWARE of the seven gifts that the Holy Spirit gives to us. And I am sure that our recently confirmed youth remember those seven gifts of the Spirit which in reality… ARE the answers to our prayers!

When Jesus says that the Holy Spirit will be given to whoever asks, he is promising those seven gifts to help us. If we really think about it, each of those seven gifts ‘match up’ with the prayers we have been raising up to God lately. Let’s review those seven gifts for a minute. For example, think about how many of our relationship problems could be solved with the Spirit’s gifts of Wisdom, Knowledge, and Understanding! Think about how the Spirit’s gift of COURAGE and FORTITUDE can help us when we are ready to give up on someone or something. Think about how much our prayer life would improve with the Spirit’s gifts of PIETY and AWE of the Lord!

In reality, all the things we really ‘need’ from God fall under one of these seven gifts from the Spirit. How helpful it would be to have this list of the Spirit’s gifts, either downloaded from a Catholic website or copied from the Catechism, and placed in a prominent place in our home and car. Then, each time we are facing a new challenge during our day, we can focus on one of the Spirit’s gifts for our prayer to God.

Imagine how many of our relationship conflicts could be helped if we each took the time to pray for the Spirit’s gift of Understanding. Imagine how many of our sinful choices could be avoided if we daily prayed for the Spirit’s gift of Wisdom! What the Scriptures and the Church define as the ‘seven gifts of the Holy Spirit’ are exactly what Jesus wants us to be filled with when he makes his promise that God will provide for all our needs.

While our Scriptures today encourage us to be persistent in our prayer requests, it makes a big difference if we are asking for the right thing…that fits into God’s Will for us. If we are not used to praying to God the Holy Spirit, the Third Person of the Trinity, this week will be a good time to start since it is the Spirit who will give us exactly what we need in many of life’s challenges. The Good News is that the gifts of the Holy Spirit are free to anyone who believes…and asks.

Three things to work on this week: 1. Let us make an effort this week to become more familiar with those seven gifts of the Spirit; 2. In our prayer time each day let us practice praying to the Holy Spirit; 3. Let us pay more attention to the ways that the seven gifts of the Spirit are indeed helping us on a daily basis.

Imagine now…all seven gifts of the Holy Spirit are about to stir within us through the Eucharist we receive from Christ Jesus. “Come Holy Spirit…and enkindle within us the fire of your love.”

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July 18, 2010

Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Fr. Jim Deiters

One of the more humbling experiences in my life happened about ten years ago when I tried to expand my exercise routine and I took a six week yoga class and learned how weak and uncoordinated I was. While I used to think yoga was for the ‘lightweights’ who couldn’t handle weight lifting, I discovered an amazing intensity of the sport that tested my abilities in completely new ways. What really struck me on the first day was when the instructor said, “Every thing we do in this class is about bringing greater ‘balance’ to our lives.” I hadn’t really thought of my life as being ‘out of balance,’ but by learning how much my physical abilities were out of balance (when I could not stand on one foot for very long), it got me to reflect on other areas of my life that might be out of balance as well. And that led to some great discussions with my spiritual director.

Having ‘balance’ in one’s life is a huge part of one’s spiritual development. As soon as we start to feel a lot of stress, anxiety, or fear, it usually means that something is out of balance in our life. But finding a balance between our many roles of family, work, friendships, prayer, exercise, and rest is no easy task. With so many things to DO from our various obligations, we rarely reflect upon whether our ‘busyness’ reflects what is most important to us.

I think our Scriptures for today are challenging us to think about our priorities and finding a balance between all the things that demand our attention. Martha, in the story we just heard, certainly represents many of us who get ourselves into a state of anxiety about the many things that are asked of us. Once again, anxiety is usually a sign that something is out of balance. Of course, it is not that we can all of a sudden eliminate some of our commitments in our life, but we have to find a way in which we can keep God number ONE in our life in the midst of all the things that consume our time and attention.

The author Luke places this story of Martha and Mary directly following the story we heard last week about the ‘Good Samaritan’ to emphasize the balance of the Christian life between loving others and loving God. The Good Samaritan parable answered the first part of the great Commandment about loving neighbor; today's Gospel account addresses what loving God with our whole heart, being, strength and mind entails---attentiveness to the Lord's Word. Neither story is complete without the other. The two stories put together emphasize the balance needed in our Christian life between helping others… and making time for God in prayer.

Another kind of ‘balancing’ that the author Luke is highlighting in these two stories is the way that Jesus reached out to those who are usually marginalized in society - in these two cases it was Samaritans and women. By making a Samaritan the hero in the first story and Jesus going to the home of two women and teaching them, he demonstrates how ‘out of balance’ is the mentality of anyone who segregates or marginalizes certain kinds of people.

Countering the culture of his day, Jesus chose the most unlikely teachers to make his point, one a hated Samaritan and the other, a lowly woman – to teach us that ‘loving our neighbor’ and listening to God’s Word go together. The point of the two stories together is that we are challenged to both hear and do the Word of God in order to be faithful disciples. If we are so busy doing that we can't stop, regularly and long enough, to listen for God in prayer, then our lives, as Henri Nouwen says, will remain full, but unfulfilled.

The story of Martha and Mary does not mean that we are to stop everything we are doing and sit in prayer all day. But if we are anxious about many things…or find that our life is too busy to make time for quiet prayer each day, then we must ask our self what our ‘busyness’ is all about. Since both of these stories are centered around the great Commandment to “love God with all our heart and mind, and love our neighbor as our self,” then we have to daily examine if the things we are busy doing fits into one of those three categories: God, the needs of others, and taking care of our own well-being.

It is here in the Eucharist that the Holy Spirit comes inside of us to help us sort out and find balance between what is most important in being faithful disciples of Jesus Christ.

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July 11, 2010

Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Fr. Jim Deiters

As some of you know, once a month I celebrate Mass at our local prison for the men who are there for drug abuse and rehabilitation. I was visiting with one of the guys after Mass one day and he said to me, “You know, Father, I came in here for my stupid mistake of dealing drugs; but the bigger change I am going through is that the program here is helping me become a more caring person toward others.” He went on to say with amazing courage, “I have finally admitted to myself the prejudices I had toward anyone who looks or thinks differently from me.” As I was leaving the prison, I got to thinking about how great it would be if every person, at some early stage of adulthood, had to go through some ‘program’ to deal with their prejudices. At some point we all need to review the kinds of people we were told to like or dislike by our parents, our culture, or our friends.

If we really think about it, most of Jesus’ challenging teachings are asking people to change the way they think and let go of their prejudices in order to be more loving and inclusive of others. This is what is happening in this popular story usually known as the “Good Samaritan.” It is a parable Jesus uses to get us thinking about our own journey through life and about how we treat other people along our daily road.

When the lawyer asks, "Who is my neighbor?" Jesus’ story reverses the question by asking the man, “What kind of neighbor are YOU to others?” Who would qualify under the definition of "neighbor" is not the point. Instead, Jesus wants us to do what the Samaritan did and prove ourselves to BE neighbor by treating others in need with compassion. The issue is: what kind of person am I? NOT what kind of person needs me? Do you see the difference? Or another way to ask it is NOT "Who is my neighbor?", but "To whom do I act like a neighbor?" That's what Jesus is getting at when he asks, "Which of these three, in your opinion, was neighbor to the man who fell in with the robbers?” Therefore, the word "neighbor" suggests relationship; God has made every person a "neighbor" to us… and our response to God is to be a neighbor to each person in need.

A true Christian, when coming upon people in need would respond spontaneously without first checking a person's bank account, diplomas, quality of clothing, the school their kids attend, national origins, or status of citizenship. Once we change our question from ‘who is the neighbor I am supposed to help,’ TO ‘how can I BE a neighbor to everyone in need?’ then the “Good Samaritan” story takes on another level of import since the answer to BEING a neighbor is by having compassion… toward any person in need.

In one sense, if we are lacking in compassion toward someone, we are probably in denial of how we related to the other members of Christ’s Body. If we shut off any feelings of empathy with a person in need like the man in the road, we are somehow denying that person's connection with us, and therefore denying any responsibility we might have to help them. When we behave like that priest or Levite in the story, we are essentially denying the other person is a human like us. When we turn away from someone in need, it is usually based on our faulty assumption that there is some difference in them that does not make them a "neighbor" to us. And this is why the story is connected to the greatest commandment to “love others as we love our self.” Therefore one might say that the opposite of compassion is denial – denial of our connection to the WHOLE Body of Christ.

Jesus comes to empower us to be compassionate toward those we thought were different from us. On one level Jesus himself became like that man in the road, a victim to violence. But Jesus is also the Good Samaritan who teaches us to care for everyone, including those we thought were ‘unlovable.’

In one of my preaching courses, we had to reflect on and acknowledge certain prejudices we had that would affect our preaching. It was the first time I had to admit that I grew up in a time and place that taught me to be prejudice against black people. Becoming aware of our prejudices is the first step of conversion toward becoming a more compassionate person toward all.

Here in the Eucharist Jesus feeds us with his own Body and Blood, that we might be empowered to be as compassionate as he is. Here at the Altar, ‘our way’ of ‘denying’ our unity with others…is transformed into Jesus’ way of compassion.

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July 4, 2010

Fourteenth Sunday
Fr. Jim Deiters

In my bulletin article each week I try to acknowledge the parishioners I am aware of who have recently been generous with their time and talent. It is always a risk in trying to thank some people since there are always so many others who are doing a lot of volunteering around the parish. I hope that my own words of gratitude are supplemented by your own gestures of thankfulness to a parishioner whom you see lending an extra hand around the parish.

Another area of gratitude I am working on is how to acknowledge all of our parishioners who, over the past nine years, have generously donated toward the building of our church. There are various options we are researching to create some kind of 'memorial donor wall' in our gathering space that will be tasteful and worthy. I also know that most of the people who give regularly to our building development fund have no need to have their name engraved someplace. However, I think there is value of having names of donors listed someplace, NOT to show ranks of generosity, but to display how we work together to do God’s work. Since time, talent, and treasure work hand-in-hand, all areas of people’s stewardship need to be celebrated!

There is a basic human need to be acknowledged for the things we do. For example, marriages are strengthened by spouses giving daily compliments and words of thank you; parents love to get a card of gratitude from their children; and those of us who are employees become more dedicated with an occasional sign of appreciation. People simply need to know that what they are doing is making a difference.

Jesus’ disciples had similar needs and some of them occasionally asked Jesus if, after all their work for him, they would be
guaranteed a place in heaven with him. This kind of question lurks in the back of most of our minds, wondering if there really is a heavenly reward for ‘being good.’ In the classroom, junior high students who are questioning God’s role in their life, will sometimes ask me if following all the Christian rules is really ‘worth it’ in the long run. And the only thing I tell them, with a smile on my face, is that ‘eternity’ is an awfully long time and I would rather side on the ‘God Option’ just in case Jesus was right.
While Jesus does not get into any details about the rewards of what heaven will be like, in today’s Gospel he does make a promise to his disciples that their “names are written in heaven.” When I read this passage one time to a group of fifth graders, I remember their eyes lighting up as I could see their artistic minds trying to imagine what that ‘memorial wall’ in heaven might look like.
The main reason that Jesus makes this comment is in response to the disciple’s excitement about the power that Jesus had given them over “demons.” They were overjoyed by the powers they had by using Jesus’ name. Jesus wants his disciples to know that the powers they have are not ends in themselves, for their own glory and honor, but for the Kingdom of God! I think this is a great scripture passage for us to reflect on our own ‘powers’ that we have as Christian disciples. They may not be the kind of ‘power’ that gets our name at the top of a building or on a marquis, but we ARE given the power of the Spirit to conquer such incredible forces as hatred and fear.

We underestimate the power of comfort we have when we sit with a friend who has a terminal illness or is grieving. We forget about our power to actually love and forgive someone who has hurt us. We can tap into the Spirit’s power of peace when the demon of revenge wants to rule our heart. The powers that Christ has given to us can truly change the world into the Kingdom of God…with each personal encounter we have with another person.

When we finally give up our addiction to wanting the kind of honor and fame that our culture gives to sports and movie stars, we can begin to realize that we have greater power to change the world with our Christian values, which will also grant us an eternal honor beyond our imagining. And this is where the gifts of faith and hope come into play, in which we actually trust that Jesus has prepared a place in heaven for all those who put into practice on a daily basis his virtues of love, patience, kindness, humility, and forgiveness.

While Jesus promises that his faithful disciples will have their “names written in heaven,” we also find that part of that gift of heaven is experienced in the here and now each time we stretch ourselves to love beyond what we thought we were capable of. It comes down to re-thinking about how we interpret the words ‘power’ and ‘reward.’

And that leads us to the Eucharist…an intimate encounter with God…in which we get a glimpse into our eternal reward of heaven…AND here we receive a power over things we thought were overpowering us when we arrived here today.

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June 27, 2010

Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Fr. Jim Deiters

In our present capital campaign, I have been so inspired by the sacrifices people are making in order to make their pledge. We all make sacrifices for the things that are important to us. As a single person and priest, my greatest amazement is at parents, who give up so much for the sake of their children’s needs. I truly stand in awe of the amount of energy and patience it takes to be a parent. Whether our vocation in life is marriage, being single, or religious, we each make decisions on a daily basis that require a sacrifice - which means in order to choose one thing, we must let go of the other options. A young man who visited with me about the priesthood talked about his uncertainty of being able to ‘give up’ his option of being married. While I understood his concern, I also asked him if he realized what he would all be ‘giving up’ if he chose to be married?

In reality, a vocation is not just about ‘giving up’ something, but rather about making a prayed-over, conscience choice FOR something that we feel will be the best thing for our life and the life of others, in service of God.

At certain points, people’s life choices seem very clear: for example, on the day the young couple makes their marriage vows, or the day the priest is ordained, or the bright young woman begins law school; they know where they are going and they feel they are willing to make the sacrifices needed. At the ‘beginning’ of the journey…it seems very clear and simple. Then time passes, and the price begins to be paid — and paid, and paid! And the vocation and career we chose is very different than we expected. The beautiful baby turns into a difficult teenager; each spouse takes on age lines; and after thousands of homilies, the spirited preacher may feel worn out.

Doubts and questions about our commitments come to the surface like: I didn't know it was going to be this difficult; did I make the wrong choice? Can I handle this for the rest of my life? Jesus understood this part of our human experience, what we might call a ‘mid-course weariness’ that tempts us to maybe give up when our commitment takes a lot of work. Similar doubts and questions arise in terms of being a disciple of Jesus Christ. The joy and excitement of our First Communion day fades into the real challenges of living as a Christian adult in a culture that does not support our values. Like the people in the Gospel story who had a variety of excuses of why they could not follow Jesus, we have our own list of things we are busy doing…thinking they are more important than our ultimate call to live as a follower of Jesus.

Pope Benedict recently said quite poignantly that most people today have forgotten that our ultimate goal is to live a life with Christ in heaven. We forget about our future life united with Jesus and what we need to do to prepare for that life in heaven…and instead cling to what gives us instant pleasure in the present life. Rather, all of our choices now need to be made in the context of how they will help us be prepared for our future life with Christ.

This Gospel story reminds us that our spiritual journey of moving uphill toward God, involves letting go of many things - some things we actually no longer need. That letting go, however, can be difficult…but it also makes room for something more, something better. Turning away from things that we thought were important before… can allow us the space to grow into entirely new ways of living and loving as Jesus’ disciples.

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