Captain Jack Sparrow's Compass

Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
    When the first “Pirates of the Caribbean” movie came out in 2003, I was a bit skeptical.  How could you make a good movie based upon a ride at Disney World?  But, the movie was quite good, and led to a number of even decent sequels following (some better than others).

    One of the main characters is Captain Jack Sparrow (played by Johnny Depp), who is a pirate.  He always seems to get in and out of the oddest types of trouble through the strangest set of circumstances.  His goal, especially in the first movie, is to get back his beloved ship, the Black Pearl, of which he was mutinied when he was commanding.  To aid him, he has a strange compass, which doesn’t point north.  It’s not until later that we learn that this compass always points to what his heart desires most, which makes it a little complicated when he falls in love with one of the female leads, Elizabeth Swan (played by Keira Knightley). 
    Jesus today in the Gospel talks about the kingdom of heaven as a great treasure, or a pearl of great price.  Once a person finds it, they give up everything in order to have it.  To those in the parables, the compass would have pointed to heaven (if that were possible).  There is something about heaven that makes it worth everything else that we have. 
    And in some sense, we all probably can intellectually agree with that evaluation.  Heaven is eternal happiness with God.  We no longer experience pain, sorrow, death, or any of the fallen realities of this life.  We see God face to face, and God, who is love, surrounds us and embraces us eternally.  We worship God in His majesty with all those who are saints, whether canonized or known only to God.  That sounds pretty good.
    And yet, like Captain Jack Sparrow, the compasses that reflect the desires of our hearts, do not always point to heaven, but sometimes go every which way.  Perhaps we feel that no one else knows about the treasure in the field, so we figure we can do some other things before getting back to the treasure.  Or we tell the pearl merchant to hold the pearl on lay-away, and will come back some other time to pick-it up.  But we start to value other things ahead of heaven, and we chase after those these, even when we’re not sure what we will find, or if it’s even worth it.

    Part of our call as disciples is to ever-purify our desire for heaven.  I think the last time I preached on this Gospel I referenced the Kenny Chesney song that sings, “Everybody wants to go to heaven / but nobody wants to go now.”  Whether we’re parents training our kids, or simply training ourselves, we have an important role in making sure that we’re fixed on the trail of heaven, like a bloodhound seeking out an escaped convict, or Captain Jack Sparrow looking for his beloved ship. 
    Sometimes, the call to make sure that we’re on the road to heaven means ignoring the other sirens (Greek mythology, not emergency alerting devices) that call to us, and seem very attractive, but actually lead to destruction and death.  There are so many things that we, as followers of Christ, do not need to see or hear, because they lead us away from God.  Of course, we like to think that we are stronger than we are, that we can handle those sirens without being led astray.  But more often than not, we’re weak, and we will run headlong to destruction given the chance.
    At other times, we cannot avoid things that distract us from heaven, because they are all around us, and so we train ourselves to remember just how precious heaven is, or focus on other things that will not lead us astray.  I remember being in college seminary, which was on the campus of a small, Catholic, liberal arts co-ed campus.  As soon as it started to warm up in Minnesota, the college girls would bring out their towels and soak up the sun in the quad.  Our priests would sometimes remind us that, as we walked to class on those warm, sunny days, it was often good to examine just how beautiful the sidewalk could be, how many cracks were there, what weeds were popping up through the concrete, etc., just so that we wouldn’t be tempted to take that second, interested, lustful, sinful look. 
    Our hearts are often a mixed bag.  Age has a way of purifying that which we desire.  Older people tend to be quite serious about where they are going after they die.  But God doesn’t promise us that we will reach 80 or 90 years.  He promises to give us sufficient grace each day to say yes to heaven, and then we, in response, have to decide if we want to accept that grace or not.    Yes, at church, if we had Captain Jack Sparrow’s compass, our hearts would (hopefully) point to heaven.  But our goal is that the compass always points to heaven, not just for an hour on Sundays.  May we truly recognize how precious heaven is (and how sad and easy it can be to lose heaven), and have the strength to give up lesser realities and lesser desires for the eternal happiness of heaven.

Kenny Chesney the Theologian

 Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time

    Since I’ve been a priest for ten years, people ask me if I just recycle my old homilies.  Generally, the answer is no, as each time I preach I am in a different place, and so is the parish to which I’m preaching.  And yet, as I heard this Gospel passage, and saw the theme developing, especially from the first reading and Gospel, my mind kept going back to a Kenny Chesney song that I knew I had used before in a Sunday homily.
    So I went to my blog where I keep all my homilies to see how I had used it, and if I had used it here at St. Pius X.  And lo and behold, I have used the song…twice…once in 2012 when I was at St. Thomas Aquinas parish in East Lansing, and once in 2014 when I was administrator of St. Joseph parish in Adrian.  So, now I guess it’s your turn to hear the words of this Kenney Chesney song that my previous two parishes had heard.
    The song is from the album “Lucky Old Sun,” and was written by Jim Collins and Marty Dodson.  It became Kenny’s fifteenth number one hit.  The song is entitled, “Everybody Wants to Go to Heaven.”  Country music has long been known for its lyrics, and was described by Harlan Howard as “three chords and the truth.”  The lyrics I’ll highlight today are from the refrain and a little from a verse.  Kenny sings:

Everybody wants to go to heaven,
Have a mansion high above the clouds.
Everybody want to go to heaven,
But nobody want to go now.
[…]
Said preacher maybe you didn’t see me
Throw an extra twenty in the plate.
There’s one for everything I did last night
And one to get me through today.
Here’s a ten to help you remember
Next time you got the good Lord’s ear,
Say I’m coming but there ain’t no hurry
I’m having fun down here.

The lyrics are even better with the melody.
    There is truth in those lyrics, as in there are people who would say those words echo their sentiments.  There’s this general desire of people to go heaven, that mountain of the Lord about which the Prophet Isaiah spoke in our first reading.  But, if pressed, there are things that they would prefer to do while on earth, items to check off their bucket list, however saintly or devilish, that they want to do first.  Everyone wants to say with Psalm 23, “and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord / for years to come,” even if they don’t always want to follow the lead of the Good Shepherd and go to the pastures He points out.
    So there’s this cognitive disconnect.  When we hear the parable that Jesus tells, the one we hear today about the wedding feast to which the king invited guests, we think they’re crazy to say “thank, but not thanks,” especially for something as simple as farming or doing business.  But, if pressed, we often RSVP in the negative, but for worse or flimsier reasons than for farming or business.  
    The excuses become even more mundane if we look at the Mass as the foretaste of heaven.  Each week I say: “Behold the Lamb of God.  Behold him who takes away the sins of the world.  Blessed are those called to the supper of the Lamb.”  This is as close to heaven on earth as we can come.  And yet, even without COVID, we have all sorts of excuses why we can’t make it.  
    But truly, each day we are RSVPing to the King’s invitation for the wedding feast for His Son, Jesus.  Each day we make choices that say, “Yes, I’m coming,” or “Nobody want to go now.”  And what the Gospel reminds us is that a simple desire to go may not be enough.  Jesus, in the parable, tells of a guest who came, but one was not in a wedding garment (and in the parable it’s a man, which isn’t surprising, since men often wouldn’t know how to dress for a particular occasion).  The king says to him, “‘My friend, how is it that you came in here without a wedding garment?’”  The man has no answer.  So he is bound and cast outside into the darkness.  
    When we were baptized, we were given a wedding garment, a white cloth which represented the cleanness of our soul.  The priest said, “you have become a new creation and have clothed yourself in Christ.  May this white garment be a sign to you of your Christian dignity.  With your family and friends to help you by word and example, bring it unstained into eternal life.”  When we make a choice against God, when we deem something other than God a higher and more important good, we stain that garment.  God, in His mercy, can cleanse it for us in the Sacrament of Penance, but we still have to hold on to it (symbolically speaking) and not throw it away by our choices.  
    It is so easy to fix our hearts and minds and attention on what is earthly, on the physical things that scream for our attention.  It is so easy to go day-to-day with an earthly mentality, that we don’t want to go to heaven, yet.  But that is why St. Paul reminds us to set our minds on what is above.  That is why, as we will hear in a few minutes, we are invited to lift up our hearts, so that we are, once more, reminded that getting to heaven is our top concern so that, at our time, we are ready for the wedding feast of the Lamb.

Everybody Wants to Go to Heaven

Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed

           

Kenny Chesney, the country singer, wrote a cute song entitled “Everybody Wants to Go to Heaven.”  Perhaps you’ve heard it.  Like many country music songs, the lyrics are really what make it so great:

Preacher told me last Sunday mornin

“Son, you better start livin right

You need to quit the women and whiskey

And carrying on all night

Don’t you wanna hear him call your name?

When you’re standing at the pearly gates?”
I told the preacher, “Yes I do

But I hope they don’t call today.

I ain’t ready.”

Everybody wants to go to heaven

Have a mansion high above the clouds.

Everybody wants to go to heaven

But nobody want to go now.

The song continues:

I said, “Preacher maybe you didn’t see me

Throw an extra twenty in the plate

There’s one for everything I did last night

And one to get me through today.

Here’s a ten to help you remember

Next time you got the good Lord’s ear.

Say I’m comin but there ain’t no hurry

I’m having fun down here.”

Now, if this is the mentality of most of you today, I’ve got my work cut out for me in this parish!!  But while we probably don’t think of all these things, there is a sneaky way in which these lyrics, or some of them, may ring true.  First and foremost, we all probably want to go to heaven.  If you didn’t, you wouldn’t be here.  But, it’s all too easy to think that we can live a double life as a Christian: we sin all we want, and then try to buy our way into heaven with a last big donation or a last-ditch effort at living on the straight and narrow. 

            Jesus says in our Gospel, “‘Everything that the Father gives me will come to me, and I will not reject anyone who comes to me…And this is the will of the one who sent me, that I should not lose anything of what he gave me, but that I should raise it on the last day.’”  This is sounding pretty good!!  We’ve been baptized, we belong to the Father, so we must go to heaven (unless we’re Hitler or Osama bin-Laden).  Jesus isn’t going to lose us, and if we come pleading at the last minute, Jesus will not reject us. 

            St. Paul, too, gives us lots of hope: “Are you unaware that we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?  We were indeed buried with him through baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might have newness of life.”  Baptized into death? Check!  Share in the resurrection? Check!  Sounds good!!  But if everyone is in heaven (except the really evil people who are in hell, the exceptions to the rule), then what in the world are we doing today?!?  Why would we take a day to pray for All the Faithful Departed?  And why would this day trump our usual Sunday of Ordinary Time celebration?

            Jesus and St. Paul give us the answer.  Jesus later says, in this same passage, “‘everyone who…believes in him may have eternal life.’”  Belief is necessary.  But belief is proven through our actions.  That is why St. Paul has the conditional statement: “if we have grown into union with him through a death like his, we shall also be united with him in the resurrection.”  Our share in the resurrection is based upon how much we are sharing in the crucifixion.  Specifically, how much are we putting our sinful self to death? 

            We pray today, and the tradition of Catholics to have Masses said for the deceased (though they can be said for the living as well) should be continued, because we never know how much a person has died to their sinful self and so risen with Christ.  That’s easy to say for other people, right?  ‘Oh yeah, Mrs. Magillicudy?  She was a wonderful old woman, but she may have still had some sins that she was attached to.  It’s good to offer Mass for her.  But mom and dad, they were saints to put up with us!  There’s no way they didn’t go straight to heaven!’  I’m certainly not denying that our family members may be in heaven.  I hope they are!!  I think of a dear friend of mine from East Lansing, whom I called Uncle Bill.  He was, in the time I knew him, a saintly man, and his family told me about the great things he would do for the faith, including a daily rosary.  And I know that God is merciful and will not reject anyone who comes to him.  But I also know he was human, and probably had some sins, no matter how little.  So I, as well as his family, continue to offer Masses for the repose of his soul.  Until he’s canonized a saint, we never know for sure.  And if he is in heaven, then I know God will apply those graces to someone else who needs it more.  I’m sure that Uncle Bill will be in heaven long before me, but I’m not the judge of who gets into heaven and when, so I keep praying for him.  And that’s what we do today.  We pray for all of the faithful departed and ask God to receive them into heaven through the merits of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection.  But, I want to encourage you not to leave praying for them only to the Mass.  There is a beautiful Catholic custom, and I know some of you here practice it, to pray for the souls of the faithful departed at each meal, or at least at dinner.  What a great thing to say, at the end of grace: May the souls of the faithful departed through the mercy of God rest in peace.  Amen. 

            Everybody wants to go to heaven.  God wants us to be in heaven.  May our life on this earth, as well as our Mass and daily prayers, show God that our sinfulness has been crucified on the cross, so that we can rise with Christ to new life in the eternal happiness of the blessed.  Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them.  May their souls and all the souls of the faithful departed through the mercy of God rest in peace.  Amen.  

Kenny Chesney & the Rich Young Man

Twenty-Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time

            This may come as a surprise to some of you, but I’m a fan of country music.  Others may have noticed my cowboy boots and country hat that I have worn.  One of the popular country stars in these days is Kenny Chesney.  He has such hits as “Boys of Fall,” “You and Tequila,” and “She Thinks My Tractor’s Sexy.”  Lesser known is his song, “Everybody Wants to Go to Heaven.”  The words of the refrain are: “Everybody wants to go to heaven/ Have a mansion high above the clouds/ Everybody wants to go to heaven/ but nobody wants to go now.” 

            Today’s readings also focus us on what our priorities are: are they earthly or are they heavenly?  In the first reading, the Sacred Author, traditionally regarded as King Solomon, says that he prayed for prudence and wisdom, and he received it.  He wanted it more than “scepter and throne, and deemed riches nothing in comparison with her, nor did [he] liken any priceless gem to her; because all gold, in view of her, is a little sand, and before her, silver is to be accounted mire.”  He didn’t care about good health and being attractive, and even about sleep.  Solomon here is not just talking about being book smart or street smart, but is talking about the wisdom from above, the wisdom from God so that Solomon could know what is important, and what is less or unimportant.  But, even though Solomon talks about only wanting the wisdom of God, he also says, “Yet all good things together came to me in her company, and countless riches at her hands.”  Having the wisdom of God did not deny Solomon the good things, but, instead, brought the truly good things to him.

            Jesus, in the Gospel, talks about obstacles to heaven, as seen in the Rich Young Man.  The man had kept all of the commandments, and so Jesus told him that he lacked just one thing: “‘Go, sell what you have, and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.’”  But the man couldn’t bring himself to make that radical step.  The Word of God, Jesus Christ the Divine Word, was sharper than any sword for that man, penetrated between soul and spirit, joint and marrow, and was able to discern reflections and thoughts of the heart, and that Rich Young Man’s heart loved his possessions more than he loved Jesus.  Now, to be clear, Jesus did not condemn wealth.  But, Jesus did condemn making wealth a god, and preferring it to following Him.  He also warned how easy it is for riches to become an obstacle to salvation, going so far as to say, “‘It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for one who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.’”  Money so easily becomes a god unto itself which beckons like a siren to be loved and treasured above all else, and to try and make more and more and more.

            Now, money isn’t an obstacle for all people.  It’s so easy to place other lesser goods between us and the Lord, so that the demand isn’t so great.  We could prefer status to Jesus; or vacation; or power; or prestige; or even just our own will.  Each of those things, and so many more, can be things that we feel we cannot let go, even if the Lord is calling us to abandon them in order to follow Him more deeply.  Our relationship with Jesus, truly knowing Him and loving Him, has to be first, with no excuses why anything else is more important.  If today Jesus appeared right in your midst, in His glorified body, and said to you, “You can spend two hours with me here, or I will give you the winning Powerball numbers so you can win $50 million dollars,” what would we say?  I know what I should say.  And maybe you’re like me, and want to immediately rationalize what we could do with $50 million dollars.  But the only right answer is Jesus.  And even if money isn’t your temptation, it could be good grades, a good job, a nice vacation getaway, or, again, maybe just having your own way.  But, the key is, what comes first for us?

            What’s interesting is that the choice isn’t: follow Jesus and be miserable, or follow whatever little god is important to you and have pleasure.  After St. Peter tells Jesus, “‘We have given up everything and followed you,’” Jesus replies, “‘there is no one who has given up house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands for my sake and for the sake of the gospel who will not receive a hundred times more now in this present age…and eternal life in the age to come.’”  Now, Jesus is also clear that with following Him comes persecution.   But you also receive a lot more, even in this age, not to mention eternal life and happiness with God.  Bl. Teresa of Calcutta attests to that; she preferred nothing to Jesus.  And even though she didn’t even own the sari on her back and went through intense spiritual darkness, she was truly happy.  Venerable Solanus Casey is another good example.  He was ordained a priest, but he was not allowed to hear confessions or preach sermons.  Most of his work was opening doors to the monastery, and serving the poor.  Yet I dare you to find a happier man, who also brought such joy to those he met. 

            Nothing is more important than our relationship with Jesus.  Nothing even comes close to its worth.  The Lord asks each of us today: what is an obstacle to our relationship?  What keeps us from drawing close to Him?  “‘Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given you besides.’”