Homily for June 1, 2008 9th Sunday of Ordinary Time

I think the Gospel today raises a very practical question for all of us, and its images are very real if you look at the world around us. We had a small tornado in our town Friday night, small but very destructive. If you lived on the east side in a certain apartment complex, you would be homeless. We have images of earthquakes in China and the great destruction there, of cyclones in Myanmar, tornadoes throughout our country.
And so the question I think the Gospel raises for us is, how do I make my life stormproof? I don't know of any prayer or any magic that will guarantee that you won't have storms in your life, that you won't have earthquakes, that you won't have huge upheavals from time to time. But how do you make yourself storm proof? How do you build your life on rock so that it will withstand whatever storm comes along?
Well, Jesus gives us a hint in the Gospel: If you hear his words and act on them, you will be like the person who built their house on rock. I think the hint  and I'm going to use the experience many people have in recovery from different things and the wisdom of 12step programs to explain some of this. There's a prayer in the book Alcoholics Anonymous that goes with the third step. And it says, "God, I offer myself to you to build with me and to do with me as you will. Relieve me of the bondage of self, that I may better do your will. Take away my difficulties, that victory over them may bear witness to those whom I would serve, of thy power, thy love, and thy way of life."
The wisdom of many recovery programs is that if we build our life on self-will, what we have is self-will run riot, and our house will utterly collapse. If we build our house on the knowledge and the desire and the hope to do God's will, then our house is built on rock. And it's true, by the way, of every spiritual tradition, that it's all about surrendering to God's will and building our life on what we perceive to be God's will for us.
Last Sunday I was at Mass at the women's prison and the chaplain wasn't there, so one of the guards had to come and open the chapel for me. And they were counting the inmates, and it takes a long time to count everybody and make sure they're still there. The guard and I were talking, and I found it quite enjoyable, because often I don't have a chance to talk to the guard when I go to the prison.
This was a young man, and he was telling me that he likes to get up at 5:00 in the morning and sit in his garage, and look at the alley and listen to the birds sing, and sometimes he writes. And he realizes that everybody is obedient to something. And he said to me  and this is the message he tries to bring to the women here "You're all going to obey something or somebody or some rule, and what is it you want to obey?"
Isn't that true in our life? We all obey something. It could be the popular culture, it could be the expectations of family and friends or that we think other people have on us, it could our own desires, but all of us are obedient to something. I think the Gospel hints to us as to what that should be, not only for our personal lives, but for our life together as a church.
John and Melba and I went to a workshop on Friday about megachurches  you know, the big churches with 12,000 people  and what can we learn from them, and how did they get to be that way. And I found the answer very interesting. The guy putting on the workshop said -- who's a sociologist of religion -- if people come to him and say, "We want to make our church grow," he says, "Go away. I have nothing to offer," because no church ever grew because it wanted to grow.
The question to begin with is who is God calling you to serve? And what is God calling you to do? Very simple. And if you know the answer to that, then other things unfold. And of course, sometimes we have to be very deliberate and very intentional about that and not leave it to chance, not say, "If it happens, it happens," but say, "What do we need to do to make it happen?"
You know all of us pray, don't we? I'll make a confession. Sometimes when I pray, I realize I've already decided what I want, and I'm asking God to help me bring it about, and I'm asking God to make me firm in my resolve, and I'm asking God to strengthen my steps. Sometimes when I pray, I'm asking God to do my will. Do you know what I mean? In fact, the other day I made a list of things that I never pray about. There are things that we don't pray about, because we're maybe not so sure that we want to hear what we might hear if we pray about those things. Do you know what I mean?
Well, just let me conclude today by asking you, what are you building your house on, and if you had to review your life, if you had to look at all of your concerns, all of the things that occupy your time and attention, and answer truthfully from the evidence that is before you, what are you building your life on? And what is your rock? And just ask yourself that question, and be with whatever answer comes.