Homily for August 5, 2007 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Gospel
 Lk 12:13-21


Someone in the crowd said to Jesus, teacher, tell my brother to share the inheritance with me.” 
He replied to him, “friend, who appointed me as your judge and arbitrator?” 
Then he said to the crowd, “take care to guard against all greed, for though one may be rich, one’s life does not consist of possessions.” then he told them a parable. 
“There was a rich man whose land produced a bountiful harvest. 
He asked himself, ‘What shall I do, for I do not have space to store my harvest?’ And he said, ‘This is what I shall do: I shall tear down my barns and build larger ones. 
There I shall store all my grain and other goods and I shall say to myself, “Now as for you, you have so many good things stored up for many years, rest, eat, drink, be merry!”’ But God said to him, you fool, this night your life will be demanded of you; and the things you have prepared, to whom will they belong?’ Thus will it be for all who store up treasure for themselves but are not rich in what matters to God.”

 I tell this story in my letter in the bulletin. Many years ago I had a friend who wanted to be a stockbroker, and so he was studying to take the Securities exam. And his kids were in a parochial grade school. This was back in the days when nuns taught in the schools. So every day, or every so often, they would go to school and ask Sister to pray for their father who was studying for his Securities exam. Well, one day he was going to Mass on a holy day and he met their teacher, and she said, "Ah, yes, Mr. So-and-so. We've been praying for you. You're studying for your Securities exam. Tell me, how is that going?" And he said, "Well, I took it and I passed it." And she said, "Ah, very good!" Then she stopped and she said, "Tell me. Now that you've passed your Securities exam, in what will you be secure?" Well, it brought him up short, and I think it points to the relevance of the Gospel today and of the readings. In what will we be secure? Well, how many of you -- let's be honest now -- how many of you have fantasized about winning the lottery, and winning the lottery and being secure and independently wealthy and you dream about all the things you would do? And I should have raised my hand, too. Yet, I think studies have been done on people who have won lotteries. Very few of them have found that their lives are better for having done so. Many of us, well, we rightfully plan for our future, don't we, and yet, how many of us have seen people who worked hard their whole life, built up savings, retired, and you know what's coming and everything went bad. And they did not get a chance to enjoy everything that they'd worked for. How precarious is our financial security today, no matter what our job. I talk to people who just hope and of course I talk to more people my age but I talk to people my age who have very good jobs and who hope that they will be able to hold on till retirement, and that some force beyond them their company being bought up or some economic forces will not force them out of their job before they get there. Is that real? Or how many people have worked hard and suddenly find themselves out of a job, because, you know, it used to be you went to work at a place, and if you kept your nose clean and did your job, you could count on being there until you retired. Is that true today? I mean people are forced into unemployment all the time. Or how many people find that everything they've worked for can be wiped out by an illness that isn't covered by insurance? Our security is very precarious. And it's worth heeding the warning in the Gospel today to take care where we place our hope for security and to try to grow rich in the things that really matter with God. And yet, I think the readings, they're relevant but they're really not very helpful to us. Because for most of us we have to navigate our life along a grid where there are a lot of tradeoffs that we have to make. You know, I was reading a commentary on this Gospel that mentioned four dimensions, and I think we could think of many more. But we all want work that is fulfilling, and we want work that compensates us well. We want work that gives us a feeling of contributing to the welfare of society, and we want work that enhances our sense of belonging and our sense of community. Yet I talk to a lot of people who do tradeoffs all the time. They trade fulfillment for the security of compensation, and they hold onto jobs that are less than fulfilling because they need the money. Or they do jobs that leave them feeling that they're not contributing much, or depending on the demands of the social relationships that they have. Do you know what I mean? It is very important, because we do need to work, we do need to plan, and we all struggle over those issues. What I'm struck by, this past May I went to a series of meetings, and I've invited four of our parishioners to join me with another series of those meetings in the fall, about faith, money, and giving. They talked about a lot of things that I found very interesting. One, they pointed out when we talk about money in church it's usually because we're asking for it, and so the minute we talk about money everybody goes [gasping sound], and they tune out. And yet money is very important. They also mentioned that money is taboo today. People don't like to talk about money because our sense of self worth, our sense of importance is wrapped up in that. They pointed out that we clergy are uncomfortable talking about money because most of us are such bad managers of our own money that we just don't feel secure talking about money to other people, and so we are embarrassed about it. But it's important, isn't it, to talk about money? It's important to ask us and to have the conversation with ourselves. And by the way, did you notice in the Gospel today, this man in the parable? Who is party to his conversation? It's all about himself: What will I do? I have no place to store my possessions; I know what I will do; I will say to myself. Nobody else is involved in that conversation with him. The community isn't involved, there is no sense of his family, there's no sense of anyone else being important. Maybe that's why God said, "You fool." But it's important to ask us, what really matters to me? What is really important in my life? Where do I seek my security, and what are the trade-offs that I am making in my life? And what is it costing me? And where would I like to be? I think the answers to those questions will be different for all of us. They will be different for all of us at different times in our lives. They're different if you're young and just starting your career, or if you're my age and nearing the end of your career. They're different depending on the circumstances of your life. But they are important questions. I just urge you, as we worship today, to hold the questions in your heart. Hold them before God as you see the bread and wine brought forward and offered. Imagine that your life is there with them, and pay attention to the questions that might be there in your life. And above all, honor those questions. And maybe I'll end with what I began Mass with, with the quote to my friend. "Now that you've passed your securities exam, in what will you be secure?"