Homily for this Sunday

Today is the first half on a series getting us ready for the Bishops Annual Appeal. You know the situation, I give a homily on the need of the appeal and then Bishop Farrell speaks to us next week. I would like to start however by preaching about our need for stewardship of our resources and how this applies to our Church, this appeal, and other charities.

Our culture often talks about Money in a way of saying how much can I get. Think of the famous phrase from Jerry McGuire, “Show me the Money.” It basically means, I will only play if you give me all the cash. Or take the song by the Steve Miller band that is edifying a lifestyle like Bonnie and Clyde, “Take the Money and Run.”

And if we dont have a means to get the money quick then we will start asking God for ways to get the money. How many of us had a lottery ticket in our hands and have said, “Lord, if I win I will give half of this money to the Church.” Its like we are the old man on the Fiddler on the Roof singing out, “Oh I wish I were a rich man, ya ha deedle, deedle, bubba, bubba, deedle deedle dum. I wouldnt have to work hard.”

We talk about money all the time like this. But let’s really look at what money is about. Money is a symbolic item that refers to an exchange of wealth. This leads us to ask what is wealth? The answer to this question is very important and very Catholic. There is not a finite amount of wealth that we have to redistribute around. NO! God has given all of us opportunities to grow in wealth. Remember when God created man and woman, he then blessed them by giving them dominion over all the animals, plants, and resources of the planet. This is God’s original gift to us. If you will its our birthday gift and thus is part of God’s plan. Remember this phrase. I am going to repeat it three times.

Gifts of God with our work and collaboration creates wealth.
Gifts of God with our work and collaboration creates wealth.
Gifts of God with our work and collaboration creates wealth.

What does this say?
1) Any type of work that we do increases wealth. This could be like cleaning out the sacristy closet for the first time in 15 years or sweeping the floor for the fifth time in a week. This creates wealth because it maintains the items. It could be something bigger like a computer program or constructing a building. It could be teaching or coaching someone to discover something new and good. These all create wealth.

2) Second and more important is where this all comes from. It ultimately is all a gift from God. Our ability to do work is a gift God gives us. The resources this planet has is a gift that God gives us. Our ability to clean, create, or educate all comes from God. It is all a gift.

Sometimes this is hard for us to understand so I will make an analogy. When I was in 6th grade my twin brother and I started upon our first business venture. We decided to mow lawns. We went to the different houses around our neighborhood and put up fliers and knocked on doors. We learned real quickly the lawns that we wanted to keep and the ones we wanted not to mow in the first place. That lawn that had not been mowed in 2 months was not worth the $15 they gave us. But the lawns that we mowed every week was worth all the extra efforts we could muster to make them look beautiful. We could obviously not do this without the help of my dad. He supplied the equipment, he taught us how to mow the lawns, and he even took us to each lawn-mowing job. He provided us with the means to make the money. When he lost his job several years later, we gladly gave him money for gas which helped him find a new job. By freely giving the money which we earned, we were acknowledging our gratitude for the gifts that he provided us so that we could work in the first place.

This idea is the same for us with the Church. God has blessed us with so much. He has given us the ability to grow in wealth. We need to give back some of this as a way to say thank you. And you know what the Lord will bless us for this. He will bless us with greater peace, joy, generosity, love, trust, and faith. I guarantee it!

This is what is called the theology of stewardship. We are to give the firstfruits of our gifts to God. So often we catholics give the left overs. We give what is in our wallet and pull out a couple of bucks. Is this a way to be thankful and live a life of stewardship? No! If we want the fruits of a life of the committed Christian we need to give the first fruits.

When I was in Waxahachie, I was surprised after a Mass when a man drove up with his boat and asked Fr. Guadagnoli if he would want the first-fruits of the fish he had just caught. Man, I thought I was in some bible story. But, this guy understood what it meant to live according to the theology of stewardship.

So how can we do so? We need to be proactive, thoughtful, and charitable in our givings. We need to think and pray with each new year and with a reassessment every month in what ways that God has blessed us. We then will want to give back to the Church, the diocese, and other charities as a way to say thank you. We will do so not from leftovers but first fruits and so we will give God a percentage of our income. We will make that decision and continue that throughout the year. Now, I am not as concerned about how much you give as much as that you give through the first-fruits theology because I want you to have greater peace, joy, trust and all the other good stuff. You may decide 1% or 5% or the traditional 10% or you may be like me and go way over that because you know how much God has blessed you. For me, I realize all is a gift from God which He continuously provides for me and when I realize this then I am free in giving to others.

So now that we have talked about the theology of stewardship, lets look at the annual appeal. The Bishops Annual appeal is the only time that the diocese asks us to give of our resources to benefit the people outside of the diocese. There are 5 main categories that appeal sustains within the diocesan level. They are the schools, vocations, youth and married ministries, Evangelization and catechetics, and helping the poor through Catholic Charities.

I would like to focus briefly on the vocations part. I would not be here if it was not for the Bishop’s Annual Appeal. My 8 years of seminary formation was paid for completely by the Bishop’s Annual Appeal. Our diocese has made the decision to take on the cost of the education of seminarians to give them the complete freedom to say yes or no to the priesthood without debt swaying them one way or another.

Currently, the annual cost for a seminarian’s education is around $50,000. After 8 years of formation the total adds up quickly. We have been blessed by over 45 new seminarians in the last three years who have started studying for the diocese of Dallas. These numbers are the fruit of your prayers and your decision to be excited that your son or grandson would become a priest of Jesus Christ for the Catholic Church. All of these new guys have their seminary education paid for by the Bishop’s Annual Appeal. You can see how the money adds up. This appeal also helps continuing education for priests and those priests who are sick. Certainly investing in the appeal is an investment into the future priests of our diocese.

So you know my people what next week will bring. We will have the pledge cards and we will listen to the bishop. For this week, I ask you my brothers and sisters to think and pray about what kind of first-fruits that you can give to Immaculate Conception Catholic Church, what you can give to the diocese, and what you can give to other charities. Then find a way to sacrifice and give to the Bishop’s Annual Appeal.