If I were a rich man,

Yubby dibby dibby dibby dibby dibby dibby dum.

All day long I'd biddy biddy bum.

If I were a wealthy man.

I wouldn't have to work hard.

Ya ha deedle deedle, bubba bubba deedle deedle dum.

If I were a biddy biddy rich,

Idle-diddle-daidle-daidle man.

Ok that’s enough. You all know where this comes from, “Fiddler on the Roof” where the main character wants to be rich.

Today, my friends, I want to talk about everyone’s favorite subject: MONEY. Raise your hand if you like money - we all like money.

Ok. Just to put you at ease, today I am not going to ask you to give for a particular project or something like that. This is not a money-pitch - but its about the role money plays in our lives as Christians.

How many times have I heard - If I could win the lottery, I would do this for the Church. Or If I were rich, I would do that. Lord, allow me to win this casino and I will give half to the poor. There is an error already.

How? You are already rich. You live in one of the wealthiest states, in the wealthiest countries that the world has ever known during the most wealthy period of the world’s history. We have food, clothing, a roof over our heads, a bunch of stuff, the ability to go where ever we want and do whatever we want. This is amazing wealth. Guess where it all comes from. It comes from God.

God has given to us everything we have and possess. That nice job as a carpenter where we use our hands to make a piece of furniture. This comes from God. Our ability to compute numbers in our heads and do quality control checks, these are given to us by God. Everything we have and possess are given to us by God.

Our society will tell us the opposite. It will say. This is yours. You have done it yourself. And we begin to believe. This is mine. I made this happen. It is my hard work that made this happen. This is my money. Mine, Mine, Mine. This is so wrong.

What God says is the opposite. He says I have given all these things to you. I share it with you and I ask that together we make this gift grow.

This is a huge difference in thinking and will change your life. Try to imagine this. Your money is not yours. It is God’s. He has given it to you so that you can be a good steward and allow it to grow. But all of this money is God’s. Wow - think about how different your life would be if you truly lived this out. One implication of this is that it would change the way we think about money.

In the Church, we hear in the Gospel - you can not serve two Masters, God or mammon. What does this mean? We either serve the Lord of all the universe or the almighty dollar. Which god do we choose. Of course, everyone here is going to say God. Really, do you really serve God.

Some may even say or get the idea that money is evil. Have you ever gotten that sense? Well, that’s just plain wrong. Money is not evil. Money is a good. The definition of evil is the lack thereof or a deprivation. Money is a good. What is evil is the lack of money, particularly DEBT.

Debt is a deprivation. One of the wealthiest cities in America is my home-town of Plano. It is also one of the most indebted towns. Through debt, people are enslaved to the god of money. They have to always think of money, they have to think of what to do with it, how to pay the bills off, etc. We sometimes are in the exact same place.

Money is a good and a gift in which our cooperation with God’s gift allows us to be generous - but we cant do so, if we are enslaved to debt.

This is where today’s Gospel comes in. Today, we hear the beginning of the 6th chapter of the Gospel of John. Most will read into this an example of the Eucharist and over the next several weeks, we will have a series on the Eucharist. But today, I want to focus on the boy who gave to Jesus the five barley loaves and two fish. I imagine an early teenage boy who is there in the crowd caught up in the excitement of being around this miracle worker, Jesus Christ.

Who knows why he has the bread and fish? Perhaps he has the bread and fish because he is on a journey. Perhaps he was on an errand. But the important thing is that he had the fish and he was free to give this fish to Jesus Christ.

Imagine however, if the boy owed someone a couple loaves of bread. What if he actually owed 6 loaves of bread to someone and was looking to trade his two fish for another loaf. Would the boy been free to give his bread and fish to Jesus. No, he would have been wandering how he could get more bread. Perhaps he would offer 1 loaf or two, but not all. Oh, how the Gospel would change. Perhaps there would not be the multiplication of the bread and fish. Perhaps there would be no miracle at all. The debt would have kept Jesus Christ from doing what he intended.

You all know of Dave Ramsey’s plan of getting out of debt. He says that the reason to get out of debt is so that we can ultimately be generous with what God has given to us. So he says we should do all these sorts of things so that we can get to the position of being debt free. I think though that Dave Ramsey has one thing out of place. Instead of waiting until the end to give, I think, we need to begin to be generous. By tithing from the beginning, we will quickly realize what was our incorrect attitude that got us into debt. If you want to get out of debt, therefore start tithing.

So we need to tithe. If you want to start following God and not serve mammon, start tithing. What is tithing? Tithing comes from scripture and it basically means to return to God a portion of what He has entrusted to us. A tithe is meant to be sacrificial and an act of gratitude.

You see, in my own personal life and in working here in the Church with the pastoral council and the finance council, I have discovered something. Our priorities are really defined by what we spend our money on. The priorities of the parish are set-in stone by the finance council - where the money is spent. In our own lives, we too are saying about whom we serve by where are money is spent. If we spend three dollars a day on our Starbucks coffee and put $2 in the collection basket, then this tells us our priority.

If you begin tithing a percentage of your income, you will begin to see what you are spending your money on. Other things that are not as important will be exposed for what they are, shallow, and you will begin saving money and soon will be out of debt. I say it again, if you want to get out of debt and stop being enslaved to mammon, start tithing.

I am and I have been and it is great!

The traditional tithe is 10% of your gross income. Its the first-fruits. It is rooted in the Old Testament, reinforced by the New Testament teaching on generosity and exemplified in the lives of the early Christians. Here are some verses.

From the book of Sirach, chapter 35 verse 8-9. “Glorify the Lord generously, and do not stint the first fruits of your hands. With every gift show a cheerful face, and dedicate your tithe with gladness.”

In the New testament in the book of Acts, we read. “In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'”

MOST CATHOLICS DONT UNDERSTAND THIS. The average Catholic gives from his leftovers. He pulls out his wallet and says what do I have in here to give. He pulls out a 5 or 10. And dont get me wrong, there is good in that but that’s not ultimately a tithe. That’s a small fragment of one’s income. Most catholics spend more on beer or eating out, then they do in gifts to God or to other charities. To them the reading of Malachi applies.

I the Lord do not change. So you, O descendant of Jacob, are not destroyed. Ever since the time of your forefathers you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you,' says the Lord Almighty.

But you ask, 'How are we to return?'

Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me.

But you ask, 'How do we rob you?'

In tithes and offerings. You are under a curse–the whole nation of you–because you are robbing me. Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,' says the Lord Almighty, 'and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.

John Paul II even states, “ We cannot stand idly by, enjoying our own riches and freedom if, in any place the Lazarus of the twentieth century [or any century] stands at our doors.”

In High School, I had this friend Will. He was an only child and was a bit spoiled. I remember his parents gave him an ATM card and he could go to the money machine basically whenever he wanted. To him, it was like free money. But, once he got into college he began to have a change of character. He began to follow his Christian faith and began to take seriously God’s call to tithe. He and his wife determined that no matter what, he would give 10%.

Then, the unthinkable happened. He lost his job. He decided to continue to keep up the tithe. Tithing his unemployment check and any other miscellaneous income he might receive. One day he was at church with his tithe. He knew fully that he didnt have any diapers at home for the babies and that this was the rest of the money for the day. Now, I can understand why he might decide to not to give the full amount, but he decided to be faithful.

On his way home, he wondered how he was going to manage without diapers, when his wife met him at the door. She said, you never would guess what happened. Our neighbors next door were cleaning out there garage and noticed that we had young children. They came over with boxes and boxes of diapers that they no longer needed. You see God had provided for my friend because he was faithful. This is a true story.

Okay now I would like to have a little contest. (I Walk from the ambo to the front of the people and pull out a $20 bill.) Whoever answers this question correctly will get this $20 bill. Who wants it? Ok, the question is. What are the 5 precepts of the Church? What are the 5 precepts of the Church? No one wants $20. Ok, maybe this might help. A precept is the minimum action that Church asks for someone to be considered a good catholic. So what are the five precepts (I went around getting answers.)

Ok so the five precepts are 1) To attend Mass on Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation, 2) To observe the days of abstinence and fasting. 3) To confess our sins to a priest, at least once a year, 4) To receive Our Lord Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist at least once a year during Easter Season, 5) To contribute to the support of the Church, and of course 6) to do whatever Fr. Jason says. Just kidding on the last. So those are the 5 precepts of the Church. Now, I dont want you guys to focus to much on them because I dont want you to do the minimum. I want you to strive for greatness.

The point I wanted to make is that the number 5 precept says to the support the needs of the Church and the poor. It is a precept to give. (Return to ambo.)

In the Code of Canon Law, we read, “The Christian faithful are obliged to assist with the needs of the Church so that the Church has what is necessary for divine worship, for apostolic works and works of charity and for the decent sustenance of ministers. They are also obliged to promote social justice and, mindful of the precept of the Lord, to assist the poor from their own resources.”

So, it is part of our responsibility to tithe. Now, I dont care necessarily on where you tithe. Whether it is to the Church, the Hope Center, Minsterial Alliance, another charity, or some family that is need. I just care that you tithe. Likewise I dont care that much about how much you tithe. Whether you tithe, 2%, 5%, 10% or 20%. What I care is that you make a deliberate choice that each week, month, and year that you give a percentage of your income. Remember this should be a sacrifice in gratitude for what God has given to you. I want this for you because it will demonstrate that God is truly the priority of your lives. Remember, where your money goes is what your priority is.

Finally, by tithing you will receive enormous spiritual rewards. The following is some that you can expect to receive. 1) A sense of serenity and satisfaction that comes from generosity; 2) an awareness that God comes first, even in decisions about money; 3) a recognition that one has eliminated the practice of making contributions that are mere leftovers; 4) an ability to distinguish between wants and needs; 5)a deeper consciousness of society's materialism and consumerism; 6) A keener appreciation of the world's poor and how we should and can alleviate their pain and poverty; 7) a quiet confidence in the Lord's protective care, and 8) Finally, it will help you to get out of indebtedness.

You see my friends, I want you to be able to give so that you experience these spiritual treasures. Indeed you are rich men and women. Choose today to be thankful for what God has given you. He has given so much. Give and be generous and be thankful!