28 OT B : Give!

Friends

Peace be with you. 

Generally around this time of year, priests give a sacrificial giving homily. I haven’t done one since coming to St. Patrick’s so you’ll have to forgive me if this sounds a little clunky. Some priests, in fact, feel so uncomfortable about talking about money that they ask a lay person to do it. In a previous assignment, the pastor would give the lay presenter talking points but they’d have to make them a part of  their own story. One of the talking points was to talk about a time you received something unexpectedly after giving something. People would universally talk about a time they were down to their last twenty dollars and they saw a poor person and gave it to them only to get paid a hundred dollars by a person who owed them money or to find some forgotten cash in a pocket. My concern was that people may get the wrong message about why it’s important to give. 

Our gospel for today tells a story that has provided a lot of discussion for me throughout the years. The question people ask me is if I think this is the last interaction Jesus had with this rich young man. Some are convinced it is not, that he went away but eventually came back willing to give up all that he had to follow Jesus. It may even be that, the reason that the man’s name is not mentioned but his youthfulness is is because he was known to the community Mark is writing to but that he is older at the time. This is, therefore, seen as a moment of youthful indiscretion. However, I’m not convinced. Maybe I’m just a pessimist but I think the reason the man’s name was not mentioned was because he walked away and is now seen as unmentionable by the community. Imagine being the person who walked up to Jesus and asked what he had to do to inherit eternal life and was told that he was already doing it, just follow the commandments. But, that’s not a good enough answer so you ask if you can do more and, when you were told what you could do in order to do more, it’s too hard so you just give up. You abandon Jesus as he is surrounded by people who HAVE given up everything to follow him. Remember, this is the time when it’s easy to follow Jesus. I don’t get why people would think the man would come back when people are screaming “crucify him, crucify him” and he’s being nailed to a cross.

We stand in the footsteps of those apostles who have given up everything in order to follow Jesus. Some of this has to do with giving our time and talents to help serve the fish fries or sit for an hour in the reservation chapel at adoration or help teach Catechesis of the Good Shepherd or volunteer in some other way. But the parish also has financial needs and I would ask you to prayerfully consider how much you can give. As a parish, we have worked to live within the means we have while we do the improvements to our campus like repairing cracked and broken sidewalks and driveways and adding to our parking lots. We have made sure that when things wear out, we replace them with high quality materials that we can afford. I’m exploring the possibility of putting solar panels on the parish hall anticipating that energy prices will continue to rise and we will benefit from the affordability and reliability of the products that are out there. However, as you have undoubtedly experienced, inflation has affected us in things like garbage bags, toilet tissue and other staples. And we need to continue to work to pay our great staff salaries that are a living wage. So, I ask that you look at your financial situation and consider if you are able to increase your overall tithing. You can give electronically or in person, that’s up to you. Also, please consider talking to the Catholic Foundation to include this parish in your will. If, when you die, you want to contribute to St. Patrick’s parish endowment fund, it will ensure that you leave a legacy that will help this parish pay bills long after you have passed. 

Jesus challenges us to give today. We can’t do so expecting that we’ll receive more money afterwards. What we will receive has to do with being unburdened with the distraction of chasing after more and more money and, instead, being rewarded with the freedom of being able to focus on Christ.