Homily for the Week of September 21, 2008

HOMILY: Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time A, 2008
Ez 18:25-28; Phil 2:1-11; Mt 21: 28-32
Most of you are familiar with the concept of U-Turn. We make U-Turns, either with our cars and trucks, or in our life when we decide that we are going in the wrong direction, turn completely around, and head back in the same direction from which we came. Let's look at the U-Turns in our Bible readings for today. In our first reading Ezekiel speaks of God's justice in dealing with the people who make a U-turn in their spiritual lives. The Lord says that if people who do what is good and right make a U-turn and begin to do what is bad and sinful, they shall suffer eternal death. but if those who live lives of sin and wickedness, make a U-Turn from their bad life, they shall live.
In a similar fashion, Jesus challenges the chief priests and elders of the temple with a story about a father who asks his sons to work in the vineyard. One says no, changes his mind, and then goes to work in the vineyard. The other says yes, but does not go. Each of them made a U-turn. When Jesus asks them: Which of the two did his fathers will? the answer was obvious -- the one who originally said no. Each of the persons in Jesus story made a U-turn in their life. The chief priest first adopted God's law, and then turned around; those who were sinners changed their way of life. For this reason Jesus promised that the sinners would enter heaven before the religious leaders would be admitted.
But we understand a little better when we hear the words of Saint Paul: Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus. Jesus who was the son of God did not use that relationship to impress or control others. He died as a criminal because he knew that he had to do what God wanted him to do.
Do we come to Mass on weekends because we have to? Or do we come because we want to be part of that great prayer of the Church, where we are gathered up into Christ's own offering to his Father? Do we love our enemies providing they are hundreds of miles away. Do we decide to get rid of our bad habits and addictions only when the doctor tells us that they will kill us? Do we feel guilty or ashamed of what we are doing only when someone happens to see us? Many of us may say Yes to these questions.
In the Lord's prayer, we say Your will be done. How often we repeat these words, but how hard it is to accept what happens today in our own lives! The measure of the way we keep our promises to God is mirrored in the way we keep our promises to others. If we give our word and we must keep it, then we are walking in the truth. The more our faithfulness mirrors God's own, the more we are able to share God's great love with the world.
One of the difficult aspects of religion is that it very often talks about the mysteries in our life. In so doing religion often uses objects and symbols to describe these mysteries. When you leave this church today until you return next week none of you will see a pulpit, an altar, church pews and kneelers, colored glass windows, the clothes I am wearing, the bread for communion. But these are all symbols that tell us something of our Catholic religion.
How many of you are aware that the ''Golden Arches'' of McDonald's and the logo for Coke are more recognized throughout the world than the Cross? Yet, as I said last week I always impressed whenever I see a young person have a cross on a neck chain, and they wear it so it can be seen. One day in talking to a person who does tattoos, he mentioned that to his surprise, one of the most requested tattoos was that of some form of the cross.
Many persons will leave more per week as a tip for a meal than they will give each week to their church or to charity.
Last year an Insurance Company conducted a survey that found that 45 percent of married Americans listed their car as more important to them than their children. We must see the world with different eyes -- with eyes that love God. And how the eyes of God are with us every minute of every day. Ezekiel talks about this.
Ezekiel wrote at a time when the people found that God's system of reward and punishment seemed unfair. They observed that God seems to punish the righteous and reward the wicked. In the words of Ezekiel, God asks, ''Are my ways that are unfair, or is it really your ways that are unfair?'' Ezekiel presents two individuals. He presents first a person who has been good through most of his life, but who at the end turns away from God's virtues. The second person has lived a wicked life but at the end turns toward God.
According to our scorecard of justice, the almost-all-good person will go to heaven and the almost-all-bad person will not. Ezekiel tells us no, that, regardless of how much good he has done, the person who turned away from God will not be saved, while the person who, after a lifetime of evil, turned to God will be saved.
Ezekiel says to us that God neither judges us by our past or by our future. God judges us by our present. Where are we right now? What is the life we will present to God at the moment we meet Him?
This reality will lead Jesus to say that we know not the day nor the hour, so be like bridesmaids waiting for the groom. Jesus will also ask what the master will do when he unexpectedly returns and finds some servants doing their job and some not.
In Our Psalm verses today are a prayer that we will come to a better understanding of God: 'Your ways, O Lord, make known to me; teach me your paths. If God looks to the current situation of our heart, what will He see? Will he find that we have been consciously waiting and attentive to our love?
All of us must be heading in the direction of everlasting life, hopefully all together in heaven. If we desire to get there, we may need to look at the areas of our lives where we need to make U-turns.
Do I need to make a U-turn in our prayer life?
Do I need to make a U-turn in our charitable giving?
Do I need to make a U-turn in our fantasies and pleasures, some of which may have become addictive?
Do I need to make a U-turn in the ways in which we deal with others: in how we respect and support one another or in the examples that we give to children?
Do I need to make a U-turn to pick up my clothes, do the dishes and make my bed?
Do I need to make a U-turn to give an honest compliment to someone who is not expecting it?
We must ask ourselves: What U-turns must I make this week?
As we look at our life, no matter our age, we may detect that it has a lot of zigzags. It is normal for us to be either happy or unhappy about the spiritual quality of our life so far. An example of living as God wants is the life of St. Therese of Lisieux. When she was just six years old she had learned to love God and made God part of her life. When she became a teenager she mentions that she had tried to act as if God was watching her, not in fear of punishment, but because she loved God. And before she died at the age of 24 she mentioned that the only thing she wanted was to love God.
On the other hand we have the example of St. Augustine. He is the picture of the wandering person. He knew that God loved him, but for many years he got involved in self centered love of himself rather than complete love of God. But, finally, with the help of Monica, his mother he made the U-Turn to God.
We are given the freedom to make U-turns in our lives. In that freedom we can turn away from any sinful patterns we have developed and move toward God or we can turn away from God. We may have said no to God in the past, but we can turn our lives around and say yes to God now. Very often we need a spiritual doctor to help us make that turn. Most do not like to go to doctors, whether they are medical doctors or spiritual doctors. Deciding it is time to get spiritual help may be the most important U-turn that we can make.