25th Sunday

Where do each us place our energy, our focus?

Listening and reading this Gospel with some care asks us this.  

“Where is our energy?”

Because clearly, Jesus is not telling us to act unethically.  

Rather, he tells us that if people had spent as much energy into doing selfish, unethical activities as they did in compassionate, ethical behavior, a lot of our messes could be avoided

And we could make our lives better.

This means we need to think differently, imagine differently.  If we can allow our thought process and our hearts to be converted, then so will our behavior.  So will the world.

Of course, I hope we realize that the guiding principle for our our hearts and thoughts, our imaginations needs to be salvation, the freedom to do what is good for others.  Salvation, the freedom to love and be loved.

Imagine if we truly placed our efforts and energies into living the Salvation of Jesus Christ?

Now, this is critical.  

We as a Church, not only in Northern Nevada, but all of the United States, and I would suspect a lot of the western world, are in a mess.

Our young persons are leaving the faith.

I am not talking about merely not coming to mass, I am saying they are turning away from Christianity.

We are going to have a mess on our hands.  If we cannot re-think about how we live and pass on our faith.

Why?  This again is not about having people merely to fill pews and place money into the collection plate.  That is superficial, selfish and limited thinking.

Rather, it is at the core...Salvation.  

Jesus has given the world the path so that we can live in a world that is not controlled by suffering and violence;

caused by people living selfishly, people concerned only about their own needs, wants and desires, all world about protecting their “rights” their desire to “Choose” want they want to do, regardless of others.

People ask why does God allow bad things to happen to others.

God does not.  We do.  

We choose to let people die of hunger, war, violence; we choose to poison our air, water and soil and thus make others sick.  We choose money, profits, the bottom line, over people.

Jesus Christ says that this does not have to be!

God certainly does not validate this kind of thinking!

We, his disciples, are called to live differently, think differently, and make changes.

We are called to think and imagine a different world.

And we are not.

So our young persons say “why bother?”  “What difference does it make?” They leave because they do not see disciples, believers of Jesus Christ.

They may see us attending mass faithfully, praying faithfully, but...living it out?

We need to imagine differently, then act differently.

We need to place our energy, our efforts into being good disciples, into sharing our faith, including our struggles with it, with those young persons, young adults and to be frank, all others.

By the way, this is called Evangelizing.  It is owning the faith given to us, and it is sharing it.

It means parents actually talking with their kids why being Catholic is important to them and the world.

It means us clergy, not just simply preaching, doing the sacraments, but the challenge for us too, living it well.

It means parishes re-thinking religious education as more than memorizing 10 commandments and some prayers, but cultivating a relationship with Jesus Christ.

Imagine the effects of placing our energy, not into arguing about Dems, Repubs, walls, taxes, who gets to sit where, how long the mass it, which way do we stand at mass…

But in saying, how can we help others not be hungry, we can help others to find decent work, we can help others not be alone in homes, nursing homes, hospitals,

We can help others to choose for life;

We can place our energy into working on forgiving others and asking forgiveness; listening to other people,

We can truly heal other people

Imagine if we put our energy into living out the Eucharist that we consume, and make part of our lives?