You’ve heard me say before, that when I am writing a homily, I try to look for a common theme that will tie the readings together. It took me a little while with these, but I think I found it. RELIANCE.
1st reading – Sirach
“The one who serves God willingly is heard; his petition reaches the heavens. “
When you serve God, you have a close relationship and are often reliant upon his wisdom and guidance.
2nd Reading – Timothy
“But the Lord stood by me and gave me strength”
Saint Paul tells us how the Lord stood by him and strengthened him, and not for the first time, he has told us before, that it is only when he is weak, that he is strong through God – that grace is one of the fruits of reliance.
As a people, we’re sometimes not unlike the Israelites we read about in the bible, we have a strong tendency toward independence. Sometimes that can be a good thing, but all too often we channel that to the wrong areas, or perhaps to the exclusion of help. You recall in scripture, that Jesus has told us that unless we are like children we cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. What he means by that, is that unless we are willing to lose some of that independence, and instead rely on him, we risk being lost to Him. When we rely upon Him, we are instead prone to a closeness and intimacy that will not allow that loss to happen. We will reflexively look to God for our answers in virtually everything we do, instead of only exercising our own independent thoughts and methodologies. When we think we have all the answers and are better equipped to take care of ourselves on our own, we are no better than the Pharisee we hear about boastfully contrasting himself with that tax collector in today’s gospel. The Pharisee thinks he has it all together, unfortunately, he misses the whole point of prayer, because it is through humility in our prayers, that we are justified. It’s at times like these that the Pharisee’s words illustrate when we’ve gotten caught up in our own pride, that we tend to put God to the side. He’s relegated to being a nice idea for Sundays and perhaps Christmas and Easter, rather than really being our every day Father whom we should be listening to and depending upon for His wisdom. He certainly is not where He deserves to be, which is at the center of our lives. We often seem to talk about wanting a greater faith and to be closer to God. We complain sometimes about how He seems distant, or that we don’t feel His presence. Can we really be surprised at this? Everyone else in our lives that we don’t bother to spend much time with, probably seems a bit distant too, perhaps by design. If we would rather live our lives our way, as opposed to following God’s law, I suspect He is kept at a distance by design as well. Here’s the thing, He’s already proven to us that He loves us and wants to be included in our lives – he was willing to suffer and die for us. How much more do we want Him to prove it? More than anything else, He wants us to love him. He’s told us this. To love means to trust, and to include, and to value the other individual. It also means to spend time and to desire the others company. This Father that we have in heaven, let’s be real clear, He doesn’t actually need us, but he does desire us. He desperately wants that closeness, like any other parent with their child. However, he’s not going to accept it only on our terms. We need to obey Him, to show that we respect and value Him, as a Father. If we’re going to hold out conditions on our love and participation in our relationship, we’re behaving like self-centered brats, and the fact is, not only will this displease our Father, the irony is, we will be comparatively miserable as well from those limitations.
I’m reminded of a trip to a local restaurant a while ago. I watched a young couple with their child, who was perhaps two or three. It was very obvious from the start, who was really in charge. The parents were actually asking this two or three-year-old to make a choice about what they would like to eat and tried to explain what was on the menu. Obviously, this was more than the child could really handle, and he reacted the way a lot of kids do at that age when they are frustrated. He was frustrated because he had too many choices and not enough direct guidance. On the other hand, I’ve seen more seasoned parents tell their child what their choices are from a very short list, and the children are perfectly content because there is a framework of guidance in place. They don’t want to be overwhelmed, and frankly when it really comes down to it, neither do we. We are actually at our most miserable when all of life’s choices confront us, and we have no clear sense of direction. It scares us, and overwhelms us, even though we claim to have wanted the freedom of all those choices. Talk to the contrary, is usually bravado. So, why do we do this to ourselves? Why do we not want to accept a constant guiding presence in our lives? We need to spend some time in contemplation on that one. Are we really that arrogant to not want God’s input? Or are we living our lives in such a way, that perhaps we might not like the answers from that input? We live but once here on earth, and the future beyond that is to either be in God’s house or not. If that’s the case, why would we not spend our time here in such a way that we can eventually go to where a room has been prepared for us, and we can rejoice in the Father that we already know intimately?
The Deacons Bench 