“‘Rejoice in the Lord, always again, I say, rejoice, your kindness should be known to all the Lord is near,’ St. Paul tells us. Now, John says he’s preaching the Good News, but some of his messaging doesn’t sound so joyful. Just prior to this passage we had today he says, ‘produce good fruits as evidence of your repentance.’ He has the feeling that some people coming out to him are just going through the motions. They haven’t really had a change of heart. They haven’t truly repented. Repentance, always requires change, not just going through the motions, not just looking good on the outside and he must suspect that they’re not really having repentance because he says even now, ‘The ax lies at the root of the trees.’ And so the people, the crowd, the section we heard today, they ask him, ‘Well, well, what should we do then?’ And he he says, ‘If you have two cloaks share with the one who has none. Do the same with your food. Tax collectors say, ‘What do we do?’ They basically he says, ‘Start being honest.’ Soldiers, the same thing. ‘What should we do?’.
‘Stop misusing your power.’
He wants them to have a change of heart. He wants them to change from the inside out. He wants what prompts their actions, what prompts their choices to change.
I don’t know if you’re blessed or unfortunate, you will have to decide after this Mass, but this Mass and the 8:15, the ones that I’m doing, you didn’t have the stewardship talk before mass because I’m going to give it in my homily. So, you’ll have to decide whether you’re blessed or cursed later, but John is calling for a change of heart. Every year our parish sends out about this time asking for it back in January. I think we’re a little later this year than normal. I think it’s normally before Advent, but asking you to make, to prayerfully consider how you’re going to be a good steward of your resources. You’re basically time, talent and treasure. You know, the dictionary defines stewardship as ‘the careful and responsible management of something entrusted to one’s care.’ For a Christian, that means seeing that your time, probably the most precious thing you have, your talent, your gifts and whatever financial blessings you receive that those are all gifts from God and they’re to be used in accord with his purposes. That’s the kind of the Christian notion of stewardship and it’s really invites a way of life. This year and every year we do this, it’s been happening here for a long time I understand, primarily not only to make sure we have the time, talent and treasure in our parish to have to do what we’re called to do, but also to invite people to have that change of heart, to actually choose to live as what’s called a stewardship lifestyle, to see everything is gift and to live accordingly and to to use those gifts for God’s purposes. Sometimes stewardship gets a bad name because it’s it seems to always be equated with money, with fundraising. And it’s certainly that’s part of it. You know, no money, no mission. You have to have finances to keep the lights on and all those kinds of things, but stewardship really is much more. It’s really a way of looking at life and seeing everything you have as blessing. And then prayerfully considering how am I to give back now, how am I to work, use my time, talent and treasure for God’s purposes? How am I to live my life in accord with these blessings I receive?
You know, we began this year, each year we do this and we always look at our parish and despite all the challenges of the past year or two, we’ve continued to maintain our our financial resources pretty well. You’ve been very generous, but as just like you have to do with your home, our parish is continuing to age. We have to make sure our buildings are taken care of. We have to make sure that we keep upkeep and maintenance and they’re starting to get older. There’s a long list of things that needs to be done, but this year we want to focus more, not so much on the finances, but in the time and the talent, because that’s really what’s taken probably the biggest hit from COVID. You’ve been very generous financially through all of this, but because of the fears of the virus, many have kind of pulled back and withdrawn. And while we, thanks to many volunteers, we’ve been able to keep a lot of our programs going. We want to challenge you in this coming year to think of how you might give of your time and talent, how you might share your your gifts that you have with others. Money is great, you know, we need that, but the best thing you have to give is you. The gift of yourself is the best gift you can give. There’s nothing more precious you have. There’s no amount of money that you have that is as good as you because you are unique, your ability to contribute, your ability to do one on one with another person, your ability to somehow have some ownership and share who you are and what gifts you have. That’s the best thing you can have. So you’ll be getting something in the mail, your annual appeal and there’s a financial part of that, but also there’s the time and talent part. Prayerfully consider and if you don’t know what ministry you might be called to, call us, call the office, call the ministry and say, ‘What exactly does your ministry do? How does this work? What does this demand?’ We’ll be glad to answer those questions.
You know, being part of a family requires participation. Being in the family isn’t a spectator sport. If you have a family member who’s just a spectator who doesn’t engage in family life, you usually end up taking into the doctor or the psychologist, right? Something’s wrong. Being part of a family, a spiritual family means that you’re engaged and you’re involved somehow and we have so many opportunities. I’ve never seen a parish that has so many opportunities as this place, whether it be large scale, big investments or even small ones, little ways you can help and rub elbows with one another. That’s probably the best thing, because how does evangelization happen? Through relationships, through getting to know people, through getting to know your brothers and sisters in Christ and by sharing the Gospel with them just by the way you live your life? And so consider all that when you get that stuff in the mail in the next couple of weeks.
John, the Baptist is inviting his people to have a change of heart, to not just go through the motions, but truly change to have a new foundation through which they see the world in. That’s true change, true repentance. Stewardship really invites us to do the same thing, to do the same thing. St. Paul in this whole theme for this Sunday says, ‘Rejoice in the Lord, always again, I say, rejoice.’ How can you how can he say that it’s actually a command, it has an exclamation point not inviting us to rejoice, he’s telling you, ‘Rejoice!’ Well, how can you tell someone to rejoice, right? Isn’t rejoicing coming from what happens in life? Well, I think Paul understands. I think John the Baptist understands and I think the notion of stewardship also understands that life goes through cycles. Father Robert Barron, well now Bishop Barron, he was one of my professors. Whenever this passage came up, he would talk about something called the Wheel of Fortune, not the TV game show, but in art and especially in windows, in ancient churches. There’s also been a wheel of fortune. It shows at the top of the wheel a king, maybe. And then at three o’clock, the king loses a battle and gets deposed. His life has gone. He’s had some misfortune. And then at six o’clock, he’s now a beggar. He’s not the king anymore. Now he’s hit bottom. And then at nine o’clock, he’s beginning to build his way back up. He’s beginning to dig himself out of the mess he’s been in. And then back at 12 o’clock, he’s riding high again. But in the middle of that wheel that shows all the ups and downs of life, the successes, the failures, the having to build back at the center of it is something that never changes. And that’s the image of Jesus Christ. Stewardship is that kind of life where Christ is always at the center. The sense of gratitude is always at the center. Whether my life is thriving now and I’m making millions or whether I’ve just lost my job and I can barely make ends meet. The Lord is at the center of my life. That’s stewardship. That’s what Paul is talking about when he says, ‘Rejoice in the Lord always’ because on the outside of that wheel it ain’t going to always be joyful, folks, right? There might be joyful periods, but there’s going to be some sad ones, but in the middle of that wheel, if you’re grounded in Christ, you can indeed rejoice in the Lord always. You know, the rest of the story. You know that nothing on the outside has permanent implications. Only what’s at the heart. That’s what John is asking the change of heart. That’s what stewardship is asking, a change of heart. That’s what this Sunday, Gaudete Sunday, ‘rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I say, rejoice.’ That’s what it’s inviting us to do as well. Change at the center and be joyful always there.”