Faith or Money?

Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time

            My dad’s trade is business.  As long as I have known him, my dad has been running the financial operations of a company: first Friedland Industries, a recycling/scrap processing company in Lansing, and now the operations manager for St. Jude parish in DeWitt.  And yet, I would also say that my dad, like so many parents, is also a de facto teacher.  He never went to school to get a teaching certificate, but he’s taught me a lot about what he knows, especially finances.  Whether it was not buying Gushers because they were too expensive and too extravagant, or cutting out coupons for our regular grocery needs; or when I was getting ready to leave for college and he was teaching me the importance of building credit, and how to apply for and properly use a credit card; or when he would make sure that I didn’t spend more than I have, my dad taught me how to use money well.  And it has paid off for me when I lease a car, or when I’m deciding how I want to invest my money to save up for retirement (if I’m ever allowed to retire).

            Whether we like business or not, most of us are very particular about how we spend our money, especially if we are adults.  And we try to teach the next generation the same lesson.  I even found myself this summer, after I returned from school, talking to a Lansing Catholic alumnus about the importance of a credit card, as long as it is used responsibly.  We tend to treat money as a precious commodity, because without it we don’t have a roof over our head, clothes on our back, and food in our bellies. 

            In our Gospel today, Jesus invites us to treat our life in God with the same cunning as we treat our money.  He commends the dishonest steward for making sure that he was taken care of, even after he found out that he was being fired for squandering the master’s property.  This parable comes right on the heels on the parables we heard last week, and they’re in the context of Jesus speaking to the Scribes and Pharisees who were upset with Jesus spending so much time with sinners and tax collectors.

            And Jesus tells the Scribes and Pharisees that the sinners and tax collectors are to be commended, not because of what they have done in the past, but because of how they are changing their life when confronted with their sins.  They are honest enough to realize that their life is not godly, and so they decide they better take faith and religion quite seriously.  Just as the master in the parable was impressed by the dishonest steward making sure he was taken care of after his employment had ended, so Jesus was impressed, not by the sins of those who were following him, but by how seriously they were taking Jesus’ call to conversion, to turn away from sin and be faithful to Him.

            Our culture does not deal with sin very seriously.  How many times have we seen on TV, whether from a politician, or a rock star, or an athlete, “I am sorry if…” or “I apologize if…”?  That is not the message of someone who realizes the severity of the offense.  That’s someone who is not really concerned and just wants to get away with whatever was done.  That’s not the message of repentance.  That’s the message of excuse.

            If we are to be commended, then we have to face our sin head on, and make changes.  We have to truly turn away from our sin and give it the gravity it deserves, especially those grave sins which destroy our relationship with God and make us His enemies, rather than His beloved sons and daughters.  A lot of times people face their sins near the time of death.  When faced with mortality, and recognizing that a judgment is coming, people get very practical about how to make sure they’re not going to suffer.  But, as Jesus said so often, “Stay awake!  For you do not know the day nor the hour.”  We don’t know when our time to be judged will come upon us.  And, to quote Francis Cardinal George, “Jesus is merciful, but he is not stupid.”  

When faced with our sin, and this doesn’t only happen on our deathbed, what is our response?  Are we like the sinners and tax collectors of the Gospel who leave behind their past evils in order to follow Jesus?  Do we do all we can to make sure we are spiritually taken care of, just as the dishonest steward did all he could to make sure he was materially taken care of, or do we figure we’ve got time to keep living it up, and we can always repent later?  Do we treat our spiritual life as seriously as we treat our financial life?

If we do, then God is not just a three-letter word.  Our faith is not restricted to these walls.  It is something that changes the decisions we make.  It guides the way we vote.  It guides what we watch in the theater, on TV, and what we listen to.  It changes the way that we spend our time so that we are giving of our time and talents so that they’re not just used for our work to earn us money, but are used for the benefit of our Catholic family to show our acceptance of God’s grace and love.  It even changes the way we handle our finances: which charities we give to; how much we spend on niceties; how much we give to the Church.  We realize that, just because we don’t personally benefit from the Undergraduate Retreat, Alternative Spring Break, our Catholic schools, Senior Ministry; Youth Ministry; etc., does not mean that we do not volunteer our time or the things we do well, and even our money to these worthy causes. 

Jesus today confronts us with our sins, not to beat us up, but to give us the opportunity to make the changes so that we are taken care of spiritually in the life to come.  Make the change so that you will not be left outside of the gate, where there is wailing and gnashing of teeth, but will be welcomed to the wedding feast of the Lamb in the banquet hall of heaven.

Marana tha! or Dies Irae?

Thirty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time

            It’s clear that our readings today focus on the end times.  And perhaps this subject is already on our mind with the impending arrival of December 21, 2012 (though, we should pay close attention to our Lord’s words at the end of today’s Gospel: “‘But of that day or hour, no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father’”).  But whether we have been thinking about it or not, the Word of God calls us to remember that this world is passing away, and a new world is coming where the Kingdom of God will be revealed in its fullness.

            Because the end of the world as we know it means the beginning of the world as God intends it, we should want the world to end.  In Sacred Scripture, the response of the Christians to the world ending is Marana tha!, an aramaic phrase that means, “Come, Lord Jesus!”  The Book that we associate with the Final Judgement, the Book of Revelation, is precisely a book of consolation.  St. John consoles the early Christians by assuring them that the persecutions and sufferings of this age will end, evil will be vanquished, and the reign of Christ, the Lamb who was slain but lives, will be ushered in.  It will be the time when “[Jesus’] enemies are made his footstool,” as our second reading from the Letter to the Hebrews stated.

            But there is another response besides Marana tha! which is also associated with the end times: Dies irae in Latin, or “Day of wrath,” in English.  This is the response of those who have put themselves at enmity with God, and for whom the coming judgement is feared because the establishment of the fullness of the Kingdom of God means the destruction of their own kingdom.  As Dies Irae states, “Tearful will be that day/ on which from the ash arises/ the guilty man who is to be judged.”

            What is our response to the second coming of Christ?  For those who are following the will of God in their lives, it is likely, Marana tha!  For those who are following their own will, it will likely be a Dies irae.  Even our first reading sets up the dichotomy of two responses to the end.  The Lord tells Daniel that when St. Michael comes, the great angel (that is, messenger) of the judgment of God, for some “‘it shall be a time unsurpassed in distress since nations began until that time.’”  And yet, the just “‘shall escape,’” and the wise, “‘shall shine brightly likely the splendor of the firmament, and those who lead the many to justice shall be like the stars forever.’”

            Some of you may be thinking right now, “Why so morbid?  What exactly happened on that pilgrimage to the Holy Land?”  But reflecting on the end times is a perennial call of the Church, to remind us of the eternal consequences of our actions.  Let’s be honest, sometimes we need a little fear in our life to do the right thing, because we still labor under the effects of original sin.  Some people like to speed while driving, so I’m told.  But when they see a police car on the side of the road, they are reminded to slow down.  Some students would much rather take the short cut of copying off a neighbor’s test, but the watchful eye of the teacher or professor can help us to avoid that temptation.  Being reminded of the end times reminds us that, while we may get away with just about anything here on earth, we will be called to account for our actions before the judgment seat of God who is Truth itself, and no amount of sweet-talking or rationalizing will change the truth of what we have done.

            That is why the Church recommends a regular examination of conscience and frequent confession, to call us back to the Lord, and to have our sins forgiven while they still can be.  Because once we have died, there is no more time for conversion: we have either said yes to God and will be welcomed by the saints into heaven (even if we need a little purifying from our attachment to sin in Purgatory), or we have said no to God and will be welcomed by Satan and the fallen angels into Hell.  We either receive the reward of eternal happiness as the consequence of our good choices, or we receive the punishment of eternal damnation as the consequence of our unrepented sin. 

            So we can ask ourselves: do I enjoy spending time with God?  Do I attend Mass each Sunday and Holyday?  Do I take time each day to pray?  If so, Marana tha!; Come, Lord Jesus.  Or do I go throughout my day without giving God a thought, and make excuses why Mass is inconvenient for me or just plain, old boring?  If so, Dies irae; Day of Wrath.  Have I made a god out of power, prestige, sports, influence, money, or any other created good?  Dies irae.  Or do I seek to serve and to put all things in their proper order, so that God is first, others are second, and I am last?  Marana tha!  Am I greedy?  Do I keep things from the poor and those in need, and therefore keep them from Christ, especially clothes or other goods that I will never use?  Dies irae.  Or am I generous with what I have, especially my time and the gifts that God has given me to share with others?  Marana tha! 

            May the coming judgment, which will find us individually at our death, and universally at the second coming, be for us not a day of wrath, but an invitation for the Lord Jesus to come.  And as even Dies Irae states, “O you, God of majesty, gracious splendor of the Trinity, join us with the blessed.  Amen.”