Homily for February 1, 2009 5th Sunday of the Year

I have to confess that, when I prepare for Sunday, I don't always read the second reading. How many of you listened to it today? [The second reading from Corinthians had the phrase that the married man is concerned with the world while the unmarried man is concerned to please the Lord.] How many of you had a problem with it? I don't know what to say about it other than somewhere in Corinthians Paul says, "On this I have no instruction from the Lord, but this is what I think." So Paul risked venturing into murky waters that maybe he should have stayed out of. I hope I don't get struck down for saying that.
In the Gospel, Jesus drives out demons. In last Sunday's Gospel Jesus called Peter and Andrew and James and John, and immediately they followed. In next Sunday's Gospel, people will bring all who are sick to Jesus, and he will cure them.
By the way, next Sunday we will do a communal celebration of the anointing of the sick in celebration of this reading.
I've been reading commentaries on those Gospels for 42 years, and I've never read one that satisfied me. If you believe in demon possession, then you say yeah, he drove out demons. If commentators don't believe in it, they say well, it must have been something else. If you believe in miracles, you say yeah, he worked miracles. If you don't, you say, well, something else was at work. Do you know what I mean? We tend to read into those Gospels whatever it is that we think and believe.
What can we read out of them? I think Mark says, very clearly, that Jesus mediated the presence of God in a way that was astonishing, in a way that conveyed authority, and in a way that was effective. Nobody doubted that Jesus drove out demons; they questioned in whose name he drove out demons. Nobody questioned that he worked miracles; they questioned what does it mean that he works miracles.
And it means either that God's power is in our midst in a truly remarkable way, or it means something else. I think as we live down through the ages, we, God's Church, are called to mediate God's presence in ways that are powerful and effective in people's lives.
I'm always intrigued by the question, "What does it mean to speak or to teach with authority." Who speaks with authority in our eyes? Somehow what that connected with me today is our current economic crisis.   What I want to do today is listen to what you have to say. Several things kind of led me to this point  I got a phone call a couple weeks ago from a Bill Enright at the Lake Institute asking me how the economic downturn, if that's what you call it, has affected our giving.
I hadn't even thought of it, but I'm happy to tell you  and I just want first of all to thank you for that, that our giving is ahead of what we budgeted and our income is ahead of what we budgeted. Our expenses, for the most part, are below what we budgeted. So, anyway, we're in pretty good shape, and I want to thank you for that and your part in that.
Then, also, I was asked for a comment on a seminar I went to on faith, money, and giving. And as I thought of what to say, I realized, you know, for 40 some years as a priest, when I think of money in the church, I've always thought of what the church needs from you by way of money. Do you know what I mean? And yet in this seminar I went to, the focus was on what do people need to hear from the church by way of talk about money.
So let me ask you how many of you are adversely affected by what's happening in our economy? Practically all of us, right? If you've got money in investments or retirement funds, they're suffering. We see today people who've played by all the rules and done everything right finding their jobs in jeopardy. And we see people who've gotten us into this mess getting bonuses. But I just wanted to take time today and ask, what do you think we need to hear in terms of our faith by way of talk about money and the economy? Any thoughts?
Yes?
I heard the distinctions between giving people what they deserve and giving people what they need. And it seems that in God's Kingdom we give people what they need and we do not judge. We simply say this is it.
So, focus on what people need, not what they deserve. What else might we need?
(inaudible)
We need to support education. By the way, somebody told me that somebody referred to funding for education in the economic stimulus package as pork. When did education become pork?
Anything else we need? Maureen?
(inaudible)
How to be supportive to people who've lost jobs and are looking for jobs.
Female voice:
I guess I need to hear that, as a people, we are going to support our government in its efforts to help this economy and not undermine what the government is trying to do. And maybe that translates into praying for our President and his cabinet and all of the legislators.
Thank you. Maureen?
(inaudible)
So, there's an opportunity to reexamine how we use money. What is it for and how we live?
Yes? Any other thoughts? Jackie?
(inaudible)
We need to realize as money gets tighter, there are other ways to serve, and become creative.
Thank you.
Any other? Yes?
(inaudible).
We need to remember to show mercy.
Female voice:
He knows I always ask for it. I'm not sure just how to put this, but it kind of ties in with what Margie was saying, and that's, I think what I need from the church is probably more direction on how to  I'm not saying this well  on how to prioritize what I, you know, my beliefs with support, what the church would expect of me, what God would expect of me, more guidance along that line, on prioritizing where I should be putting my money.
Male voice:
I think the thing that occurred to me was that from a spiritual based avenue, all things are possible with God, first of all. And I think there is an expectation by a lot of people to have somebody do things for them. I think there's a element of giving back to the people that need it the most, and there's also an element of advocacy and also voluntarism that I think makes a big difference in our world, and not to expect somebody to do it for you, but do as God calls us to do and know that all things are possible if we go out and act in our own right to help the people in our own communities and those nearest and dearest to us.
Thank you. Yes?
(inaudible)
What can we do to explain to the children today that as you are growing up, discounting or dismissing basic values at the expense of other people and this country are not right. So to me I want it to be simple, I want to be clear, I want to be concise, and I ask every day for God's prayer and mercy on this country so that we can see everybody's face, God's face in everybody that we meet, everybody that's in a foreign country, that they are not our enemies, that we look to find the goodness in people. And I think that's what's missing in this world.
Thank you. So return to basic right and wrong in terms of how we do things.
I just want to say that me and my husband went to the McCain rally, and his military record and everything and a man like that didn't get elected. And now we've got a man that believes in trimester abortions. I mean, it's so hard to pray, even though Senator McCain says we need to do that, support our President, it's so hard. How can you do that? I mean, I don't understand.
Thank you.
Any other thoughts?
(inaudible)
So, Melba was saying maybe an ongoing dialogue. Do you think it is important that we talk about money and where 
Male voice:
I think the point of what Melba was saying, to think of it in the cycle of the Church, with Lent coming up, which is traditionally a season of sacrifice and of reflecting on how we consume, that maybe that's an opportunity that the Church presents of framing this in a different light, of looking at the Church's traditions of thinking of our consumption and our sacrifice and our connection to others in that light.
Thank you. And we are going to try to put together a Lenten program around that theme of how do some of our traditional Catholic values  sacrifice, fasting  what other values  living simply  how do they relate to some of these questions and issues that we struggle with today, that are very important.
Well, thank you. Oh, Jay?
I think we have grown too used to making tactical changes rather than systemic changes. We need systematic change of our handling of finances. The CEO of WellPoint Insurance is paid 18.87 million dollars a year, and people seem not to be phased by that, but they are very much phased when you suggest that people who make the beds and mop the floors in our hospitals and hotels should be paid twenty dollars a hour. And there is a disconnect there, I think, and certainly not giving according to need but rather according to  desserts?
Thank you.
Well, I was going to preface this asking your opinion, by saying I really do need your help and your input on this, because I don't have a family to raise, I don't have kids to feed, I don't have their education to provide for. I don't make a lot of money, but I have pretty good job security. There's not a surplus of priests, and we're not standing in the unemployment line, and I'm a kept man in that church provides for all of my needs. So, much of the struggle that people have day in and day out I realize how much I am insulated from that. So we really do need that input from all of you about what does it mean to rethink and to sort through our values.
And the other thing, by the way, if I was a TV evangelist I would say, "Have faith, and none of the bad things you worry about will happen. But that's not the Christian message. The real message of the Gospel is many of the bad things you worry about might happen, but you'll be okay, because God will be with you and God will sustain you.
And anyway, I hope this has been helpful and maybe an invitation to think about our own priorities and what's important to us and to feel the need to be engaged in the discussion that takes place in our country about all of these things.