August 7, 2022

Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time Cycle A

Wisdom 18:6-9; Hebrews 11:1-2, 8-19; Luke 12:32-48

There was a priest, Father Smith, who received a frantic phone call from a parishioner one afternoon, insisting that he saw Jesus in their town, on a corner near city hall. Father Smith was skeptical, but soon there was another parishioner that ran into the church office, reporting the same thing. So Father Smith went to check this out himself, and found to his great astonishment that it was true. Not quite sure what to do, he grabbed his cell and called his bishop. He was finally able to get the bishop out of a meeting, and told him about the situation, and anxiously asked him what he should do. The bishop, knowing that Father Smith was normally level-headed, didn’t know what to recommend, so he told him that he would call him back. The bishop then called the Vatican, and after speaking with many people in the various offices he was finally put through to the pope. The bishop relayed the situation and asked the Holy Father what he should tell Father Smith to do. There was a long silence on the line, and then pope spoke up: “Tell Father Smith to make sure he looks busy!”

Of course, this is good advice to all of us, since we believe that our God is always present with us, is always there to help us, that the Spirit lives within us, so we should always look busy, and be busy doing our level best. Equally true, we don't always act like we believe this. Jesus reminded us of this last week in the Gospel when he told the parable of the man who was going to rebuild all of his barns, only to lose his life that very night. He was very busy alright, getting ready to store his earthly riches, but not his heavenly ones. Today's Gospel is the very next passage in Luke, where, in the longer version that I didn’t read, Jesus tells his disciples, and us, to “Provide money bags for yourselves that do not wear out” [Luke 12:33 NABRE]. Is the lesson therefore to assign time each week to storing up riches with God? As a child, I hoped that the hour that my mom made me come to church would make me look busy enough – that gave me the rest of the week to do the things I wanted to do. But I was thinking as a child, and not as a child of God.

An old legend has it that Saint Francis was asked, one day when he was out tending his garden, what he would do if he knew the world would end tomorrow. He replied, “Continue hoeing my garden.” I think this story has several lessons that we should apply. The obvious one is that we should live our lives in such a manner that we are always prepared to account for ourselves on the Day of Judgment, and have the confidence of a Saint Francis that we are ready. Christ knows and tells us that doing so, that is living by God’s law, rather than reducing the joy in our lives because we can’t do some sinful things that we would rather do, actually increases the joy in our lives because we are relieved of the stress and anxiety that come from worrying about the consequences, both eternal and earthly, from behavior that doesn’t meet a Christian standard. This is true, and we all know it, but still we end up listening to the forces of evil convincing us that this is “fake news.”

There is a second lesson from the story of Saint Francis that is not so obvious. When informed that the earth would be ending, he didn’t say that he would go and pray. He said he would hoe. He said this because hoeing is also the work of God. We have a tendency to differentiate religious or church activities from secular, everyday activities. But nothing could be further from the truth. At work, we provide for our families, we do necessary activities which enable our society to function, we bless our work associates with society, guidance, and assistance – that is to say, the work of God. At home, we teach and play with our children and spouse, we socialize with our neighbors, we help those in need in our community when they are in trouble – that is to say, the work of God. At school when we are young, we learn about the way God's creation works, we make friendships and encourage and help others, we learn to take direction and work together to accomplish things – once again, the work of God. At church, on vacation, when playing in a sports league – all part of our life doing God’s work.

I don’t think we do ourselves any favors when we draw a line separating our religious life from the rest of our life. As a Christian, there is no separation. Christ’s assurance that we share in God’s plan of salvation should enable us to live our lives without fear of the future, in all aspects of our lives. Psalm 27 puts this ideal beautifully:
     One thing I ask of the LORD;
     this I seek:
     To dwell in the LORD’s house
     all the days of my life,
     To gaze on the LORD’s beauty,
     to visit his temple. [Psalm 27:4 NABRE]
What the writer of this psalm, ascribed to King David, is asking for is not to spend his life in a church, the “Lord’s House,” but to live his life in the glory that is the Lord’s. Of course, we all know that David did not live his life without grave sin, failing to live up to this ideal, and so will we. But we would do well to keep this ideal always in front of us, trying each day to conform more and more to it as we gain wisdom in our lives through our everyday experiences.

As we continue with the Mass, let our Eucharistic celebration be a part of what King David just called his desire “to gaze on the Lord’s beauty,” a wonderful metaphor for Eucharistic Adoration as we continue with our National Eucharistic Revival. May we continue to find ways to do the work of the Lord in all aspects of our lives, whatever our vocation or stage in life might be. Let us pray that the return of Christ will find us not just looking busy, but actually being busy, building the Body of Christ, hoeing our garden and doing the work of God.