My friends, I would like to begin today with a little story that I heard recently to set the tone for looking at this week’s chosen readings.  We have all heard, witnessed, and participated in young people setting up lemonade stands during the hot days of summer to earn a bit of personal spending money.  Recently the news on CBS carried a story on the segment,  On the Road, with Steve Hartman telling of a young boy with a little twist to the familiar lemonade stand.  Rather than offering a cold drink on a hot day for a price, a 9-year-old boy set up a stand in his neighborhood offering “compliments” for free.

   At first, he didn’t get too many takers, but over time, more and more people stopped and even came from a distance to receive a compliment.  When Hartman asked the boy why he was doing this, and especially for free, he simply said that he thought people needed to hear good things and that he wanted to be the one to do that.  In speaking with his parents, Steve found out that their son just came up with this idea on his own. 

   And because good stories are the easiest way I believe to connect us to “hard sayings” in the Scriptures, I will share another story from this past week.  This one from PBS introduced viewers to, The Tiny Chef – a little green person who speaks as through he/she may have been born deaf, and had to learn to speak without hearing.  The Tiny Chef  was seen for several years on Nickelodeon until recently canceled.

    The creators of  The Tiny Chef, two women, thought it important to show “someone” not necessarily perfect offering easy recipes for people to follow, along with good advice – wisdom really, and even common emotions that are part of life, basically, as this little green person said, “Feel the feels” – when the show was canceled, supporting the fact that life isn’t always easy, he had a “good cry” before moving on to what might come next.

   Our Scriptures for today flow right into these stories:  The Wisdom writer tells us, “The perishable body presses down on the soul,” and “clay houses weigh down the restless mind” – poetical ways to say that our human bodies often get in the way of “doing our best,” when it comes to daily life and our encounters with others.

   I have mentioned before that I am reading, Freeing Jesus, by Diane Butler Bass, and in a section, I was reading this past week where she was recounting her own, personal faith-walk, she made a statement that I thought, was really compelling!  She said, [those who go to the seminary are taught] “to ignore the promptings of your own heart, and that your experience does not matter.  Theology is a matter of submission to ideas shaped by men smarter than you.”

   Now Butler Bass and your pastor would have to disagree with this type of teaching, because if, “the promptings of our own hearts, and our experiences in this life don’t matter,”  in the ways we live our lives of faith, then what does that say about the psalmist’s words in number 104 that, “the Spirit is continually renewing the face of the earth?”

   The Wisdom writer today continues, letting us know that “wisdom” or the Spirit, shows us the way, and that through other sources, we have come to know, that this wisdom, the Spirit, comes through our hearts. I always give credit for my homilies to the Spirit, and have said to some of you, “it is what she (the Spirit) and I do together each week. 

   The less known letter to Philemon today places its writer, Paul, in prison, and he is trying to let Philemon, a slaveholder, know that by the baptism he shares with his unnamed slave, Onesimus, the two, slave, and slaveholder, become equal.  In other words, Paul says, even though it was common practice at this time to hold slaves, you can’t say that you believe in Jesus and are his follower and do so – that is just wrong.  Knowing this piece, that it was common to hold slaves, Paul’s earlier words about our “perishable bodies” and “clay houses” getting in the way of doing the good we could and should do, makes more sense, and Paul seems to be saying if his convert Philemon, would lay this issue, “on his heart,” the solution would be more clear.

   And finally, the gospel message today from Luke seems rather harsh at face value and if we come at it through our hearts taking a broader view, than through our minds alone, its true meaning is more understandable. 

   Exegetes often explain away Jesus’ apparent harshness in this reading suggesting his belief that his time on earth was short and that he wanted his hearers to know the importance of once accepting belief in his message, there should be no turning back – it was and is that important! 

   Now, does that literally mean leaving family and loved ones behind? No, especially if we keep in mind, and heart all of Jesus’ words of how important each person is to God. 

   Following Jesus’ “way, truth and life” certainly meant caring for all people, family included.  Where the “rubber meets the road,” so to speak, is when the challenge to be true to Jesus’ call is pitted against our family’s wishes to live in an alternate way.  I always give my own personal call to ordination as an example of this, as many of my family of origin did not support that decision and felt they couldn’t attend this event – but regardless, I knew God’s call had to take precedence.

   So, my friends, there you have it – following Jesus isn’t always easy, and sometimes when we do the “hard thing” we may have support, and sometimes not, but the fruits will tell us if this is of God, or not.  If peace, love and joy, for the most part are present, then, it is of God.  If we can answer the question, “Is love being served,” by what I am about to do, then again, we know we are doing the right thing. 

   The boy with the “compliment stand” somehow sensing that he was fulfilling an “unmet need,” and the two women who created The Tiny Chef,  serving up not only good food, but wisdom for living a wholesome life, “feeling the feels,” as the little green person said, could honestly say, “Love is being served here.” 

   And what about us – life is short, and as Sister Joan Chittister says, reflecting Jesus’ words to do our part, “If not us – now – who will answer – and when?”  Amen? Amen!

   My friends, this Sunday brings us to the reality that we live in a country where little kids can be shot while going to church.  There really aren’t words to express the sadness and grief that we feel when such a reality is the truth, and this is probably why I haven’t addressed this latest, senseless taking of life with you.  I realized my inaction when I read Pastor Danielle’s bulletin this past week where she said basically the same, “that there aren’t words!”  So, my friends, I wanted to begin here today with my omission and my commission to once again say that we as a country must follow other countries and put into law that arming our population with weapons of war is wrong, and simply must stop! 

  The mayor of Minneapolis said as much in addressing the vice-president of our United States’ comments uplifting, “thoughts and prayers.”  And again, this issue is bigger than politics—it is about humanity, about our deep spirituality, our values, Christianity among them.  It is bad enough that there are individuals out there who are so wounded, that they are filled with hatred for seemingly, “everyone;” but worse that we as a country give them “the right” to purchase and use weapons of mass destruction to express their woundedness, basically, no questions asked. 

   Let us turn then to today’s Scriptures to find some direction, some hope going forward.  The prophetic words of Sirach today are a guide to follow: he instructs us to “be gentle,” to “behave humbly,” and to “listen to our teachers.”  The writer to the Hebrews seems to be saying to turn toward God with our troubles that at times can seem insurmountable – we do have a God who is “touchable.”  And finally,  in the Gospel from Luke our brother Jesus encourages us to come to know who we are and who we are not – “those who exult themselves will be humbled, and so on.”

   So now, let’s look deeper…I believe Sirach in encouraging gentleness in our lived actions, humility in considering who we are and who we are not, knowing our place in all of creation, and listening to those more learned than us, speaks to the preparation that we must take before we act. 

   Sirach continues along this vein – “our hearts [are called] to discern the parables.” In other words, listening to others to find our way, must necessarily go through “our hearts.”  As someone said, “the heart is wiser…”  As we ponder the issue of  the “gun epidemic” in our country, it seems it will take, “all of our hearts,” united, to find a solution that we can literally, live with.  To that point, one of the parents, a dad who has children at Annunciation Catholic school in Minneapolis, who weren’t injured, spoke to a reporter, and was in tears over the grief he felt for the families of the dead and injured children, expressing the confusion he was experiencing in never expecting someone to target children in a church. 

   My friends, I think “the hope” that we each look for at such a time of bewilderment has to come from a bigger place, from forces stronger than us, whether we call that “God” or some other, and from each other to keep choosing what is best in all of us.

   Our brother Jesus has shown us the way in his own personal, human life, speaking truth to power, even when he knew it might bring his physical downfall.  We can look  to our nation’s capital in the past few days to see examples of folks doing just that – speaking their truth to bring change. For those of you who have written Congress people about your disgust over detention centers for innocent victims whose only crime seems to be that they have the wrong color of skin, one such center, jokingly named after flesh-eating animals, appears to be closing soon due to your advocacy and that of many others across our country. 

   Again, the words of Sirach come to mind, and hopefully, to heart also – know who you are and who you are not – “the greater you are, the more you should behave humbly.”  Being “humble” seems to me to have a sense that, “I am not in control” – I, like others, have a part to play, but all is not in my hands.  In other words, this is not about “dictators” but about “being servants,” for all.  Keeping our eyes on Jesus and following his way seems the best “way” to go. 

   Looking back once more to the letter to the Hebrews, we read that the people needed to be reminded that their God wasn’t “untouchable, nor gloomy,” but in fact, just the opposite.  We may wonder why the people had this negative view of God, that the writer of this letter, one of Paul’s disciples, would have surely shared, was one they could confidently turn to for help. 

   The truth is no doubt a situation that many believers, us included, find ourselves in from time to time.  The Hebrews had made their bountiful God in their own image, perhaps not very “approachable,” even “gloomy” at times.  If their God is “less than approachable,” that gives them permission to be “less” too in their actions with others.  But if indeed, our God loves us in an over-the-top way as described by Jesus in parables such as The Prodigal and the Good Shepherd, then we are called to much more as well. 

   My friends, in the times in which we live, the words of the psalmist today in number 68, are especially compelling, letting us know that “our God has a special interest in the poor and downtrodden.”  Our brother Jesus reflected this interest of his Abba God to care for the “poor and downtrodden” and we as Jesus’ followers must do the same with love, mercy and justice.  The Scriptures can’t just be “nice stories,” but as our call for truth, when we hear lies, our call for humility in those who are in positions to lead, and our call to expect moral behavior, whether in Church or State. 

   In conclusion, friends, we humans, I believe, for the most part, strive to be our best, but sometimes the sheer immensity of problems we face, can be overwhelming.  So, just for today, I want to share some wise advice that our grandson Elliot and his class heard from their third-grade teacher, Mrs. Ratz a few years back – that seems good advice for today, for all of us as well.

   When you think, “I can’t do this, I don’t want to do this—or in groups, we can’t, they won’t—any of these negative, defeatist words, invite in the word, “yet” to help bring growth.  So, when you feel like, “I can’t make a difference in all that is wrong in our world, think, “yet!”   We are always called to more my friends, and together, with God’s help, we can do it!  Amen? Amen!

My friends, I have often said in the past, that the season of the Church Year that we are in, “Ordinary Time,” should really be re-named, “Extra Ordinary Time” because of the great challenges that we are presented with during these months, basically, to be our best.  I believe those who named this time “ordinary,” were simply looking one-dimensionally, thinking these many Sundays aren’t about the major, reflective feast times – Advent, Christmas, Lent, and Easter, thus just, “ordinary.”  It is my belief that living in our brother Jesus’ footsteps is never for the most part, “simple,” so “ordinary” doesn’t adequately name what should be happening during this time. 

   So, why am I spending time today discussing the “ordinary” naming of a time in our spiritual-religious lives, when so much, it seems, that is going on in our world, needs to be addressed?  My answer is, because the way we name our reality has at least something to do with how we act in our world. 

   If we fail to see that our presence in the here and now as followers of Jesus, as Christians is more than ordinary – ho hum, than we forfeit the strength and power that we have to make a difference in our present-day world that seems to be operating and stressing, from the top-down the lowest common denominator that we humans are capable of.  And please hear these comments, not as political – as it seems our world is moving, in its present configuration, way beyond that, showing us if we care to really focus, what is lowest in our common humanity:  arrogance, selfishness, lack of vision beyond the moment, pride, rhetoric filled with lies – lack of justice, caring for the least among us, and more…

And Jesus told his 1^st followers when they asked whether some people could be counted among them – “check the fruits” – if goodness, love, mercy and justice are present, then “they” can be considered part of us. 

   Looking then to the Scriptures, Isaiah tells us today that [our God] “is coming to gather the nations of every language” –to me, that says, everyone, everyone is welcome.  A present-day example for those who demonstrate on Winona’s main streets every Monday is the fact that there are no people of color out there because they know, in the times in which we live, that they are susceptible to the worst that we humans are capable of – yet these same people of color, drive by and applaud the action of demonstrating on their behalf. 

   The psalmist in 117 today would agree with the prophet Isaiah that “our God is coming to save us all,” as this person instructs those who are listening, [to] “go out to all the world and tell the Good News” – clearly, this is a statement that says, “we are all welcome!” 

   The writer to the Hebrews seems to seal the deal – “we are all God’s children.”  This begs the question then of why so many in positions of power within our country, who claim to be Christians, followers of Jesus, fail to act as we would expect Christians to act. 

   This is true for those who lead our Church as well.  Except for a few; the likes of Bishops, Peter Baldacchino in Las Cruces, NM, Gustavo Garcia-Siller in San Antonio, TX, and John Wester in Santa Fe, NM, who have been demonstrating at the borders about the United States present policies concerning deporting immigrants in our country, our bishops are silent on the abuses done to others in our world, and our bishop, Robert Barron is included here.  Any rhetoric about “uplifting the Eucharist” devoid of seeing Jesus’ body and blood in our world is useless in the long run! 

   So my friends, as we look at our human condition, our default stance, we could probably agree, is to take care of ourselves, and this is especially true when we are tired, discouraged, frustrated, thinking that we have no power to make change.  But the truth is, and we know this in a whole other part of ourselves, we are capable of so much more. 

   Many of us have lived long enough to realize that the time we have left is far less than the years we have lived.  This was brought home to our family rather clearly this past week, as we lost Joan Redig’s husband, Wayne, and two other of our brothers-in-law, ended up in the emergency room with age-related conditions.  If we have the personal habit of “reflecting on the past” in order that we might do better in the future, we are aware of those times when we have been our best, stood up for those “less fortunate” perhaps; and even though what we did in those times may have been hard, not knowing the possible outcome, it is those same times that ultimately gave us the most joy. 

   Jesus in today’s gospel tells us “to try and go in by the narrow gate,” a command that made perfect sense when he lived, as it was speaking about the “ease of a camel getting into the city through the Needle’s Eye Gate,” as opposed to a “rich person getting into heaven.”  Now the camel would have had great difficulty with the Needle’s Eye Gate, so we can take it from there. 

   I look at Jesus’ command that, “we try to go in by the narrow gate to simply mean, “try to be your best.”  Our world isn’t always accepting of that stance though: of not returning violence with violence, turning the other cheek, which may be about, “giving no power” to violence, but simply trying to love the one doing the violence, which becomes truly hard when that person may simply, drive us crazy.

   I don’t know about you, but when I give in to the “hate,” a word, by the way that I really hate, and don’t like to use, — afterward there is no satisfaction that I feel; whereas when I try “the narrow gate,” LOVE, there is peace. 

   Very often here I talk with you about living our spiritual journey, in search of God, trying to see this entity, however we personally see God, in bigger than black and white ways, breaking open the “small boxes” we have placed God in. When we keep our God “small,” we give ourselves permission to love in small ways too.  Keeping God small allows we humans to write laws in Church and state that direct us to the lowest common denominator of action in our human sphere.  So much of what I hear in the daily news is about this very thing…

• “I can’t trust because the other is untrust-worthy,
• I can’t stop going to war until they do,
• We can’t seem to do anything about the gun epidemic in our country because we consider the rights of gun owners more important than the rights of our children to stay alive,
• We can’t give the Body and Blood of Christ to others until they believe our narrow thought processes,
• We can’t respect how someone says they were created and called to love in our world, because it isn’t in our narrow way,
• Our Church hierarchy sees our loving God as loving very exclusively, and in narrow ways when it pontificates that God calls those who serve at our tables of prayer and blessing worthy only if they have certain body parts.”

And the list of narrowly loving, if at all, goes on. 

   Why do we as Christians persist in seeing and acting in our world in narrowly conceived, black and white ways, when as someone said, “Our God sees in technicolor?!  Amen?  Amen!

My friends, being that we usually don’t meet for scheduled “holy days” outside of our usual Sunday gatherings, I wanted to take the opportunity of remembering Mary, our mother, sister, and friend for the journey, along with the 20^th Sunday in Ordinary Time.  It has often seemed to me, over the years, that Mary, being a woman, and remembered solely by men in pulpits, gets less than she is worthy of.  While it is wonderful to remember her as a “faithful woman” who said, “yes” to God, it is equally important to remember her strength of character – her willingness to proceed into the unknown, which was what her “yes” truly meant.  It took great strength and courage to give the world a son who would do much to change the entire world – one who we would say today was about making, “good trouble,” so that each of us, and all, could hopefully enjoy a good and meaningful life. 

   Jesus found his world, much as we find our world today –  the powerful versus those with no power – mainly women and children, and he said “no” to that! Of course that got him into trouble, and not, “good trouble” for speaking up against the “powers” of his time.  Life in our present-day world looks much the same, I think we all could agree. 

   Interestingly, Mary’s “yes” in being willing to walk-in-faith, not knowing the outcome of giving the world such an amazing son, who would challenge the powers of his time, would bring great “trouble” into her life as well. 

   Beginning with her conception of a child outside of marriage – something she could hardly explain in a way that would make her human neighbors understand anything other than that she was a wanton woman.

   Mary was complicit with her God in giving the world Jesus, and she had the strength of character to say, “yes” and stand beside her son through all the disbelief and misunderstanding of others, all the way to the cross, in order that, as we will sing again later, in the beautiful canticle – her Magnificat, [they] “would pull the mighty from their thrones.” 

   These are the actions of a strong, vibrant, and formidable woman, not one to place on a pedestal, out of sight and mind.  If one woman’s “yes” could bring the “powerful down,” this is not something those with power in our Church today would want to lift up going forward, thus we often, most often do not hear of this Mary.  And this reminds me of the double standard, not only in our Church, but in our world in general of seeing the strong actions of women in a negative way, whereas the same actions by a man are seen as positive – a point in fact that was quite well demonstrated in the movie, Barbie, which we viewed recently. 

   So, my friends, completing our thoughts on Mary – mother, sister and friend – I would like to lift up, along with her courage and strength as a woman, attributes our Church so needs today, her “purely human nature,” the reason that we can name her as, “a friend for our journey” whether female or male. 

   Beginning with the conception of Jesus, a reading we didn’t use today, we see her being extremely human, “How can this be, since I have never been with a man?”  Then, in the 1^st reading selected for today from the gospel of Luke, her pure humanness is seen again as she and Joseph lose Jesus for a few days on a trip to and from Jerusalem.  Jesus we need to remember was only 12. 

   When they finally find him, teaching the “learned men” in the Temple, we hear the very human Mary say, “Son , why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been so worried!”  Jesus’ response should not be seen as a smart-alec one from a teenager, but as a response that clearly shows his “otherness,” his unique mission on this earth, and I would submit that this is how Mary took what he said, as Luke tells us, “Mary treasured all these things in her heart, “ not truly understanding, which shows I think, her patient faith in awaiting God’s time.  Additionally, this patient faith, awaiting what would come next was something she and Joseph would deal with again and again through this “precious life” that was given into their keeping. 

  And really, when we think about it, is this any different from what other human parents experience in raising their children? – one never really knows if what they teach and instruct their children to do, in order to “become their best” is what will indeed make this a reality. 

   We see that Mary and Joseph are blessed as “Jesus returned to Nazareth and was obedient to them” – an action that no doubt confirmed their faith and, “as he grew in wisdom and grace,” their hope as well. 

   So, what of us my friends – how are we to make sense of Mary’s journey as we reflect on our own, attempting to walk, not only in hers, but also her son’s footsteps?  In today’s actual feast, the 20^th Sunday in OT, we heard the writer to the Hebrews say, “Let us not lose sight of Jesus,” [so that] “You will not grow weary and lose heart.”  To this I would add, Mary’s name specifically, and Joseph’s name too, because as most theologians and Scripture scholars attest, “Jesus had to have come into this human would as we all do, as quite a blank slate,” and we can be sure that his mother and father taught him many good things for navigating in his world. 

   Last week we talked about how we each have a “creative spark” within us, given by God – we might call that our “spiritual self.”  And we can be sure that Jesus was so endowed. 

   Then, moving into the actual gospel reading for the 20^th Sunday in OT, we hear Jesus’ question to the people in his time, and to us, “Do you suppose I have come to bring peace of earth?” to which he basically responds, “I have not!” We can only imagine that Jesus’s words were disturbing when he first uttered them, and in all truth, we probably have to admit, these words disturb us too!  So again, what are we to see here? 

   We humans, even though, spiritual, tend to pick the easiest thing to do, another part of being human – basically taking care of ourselves.  The thing is though; we are spiritual beings too and that calls us to, a bit more.  Jesus, in today’s gospel from Luke 12 reminds us that following him, truly following him, will bring dissention in our families, putting sister against brother and so on. 

   This “Jesus-following,” walking a faith-filled, courageous life as his mother Mary did, will ask us at times, to stand alone in order that all of created life is respected and cared for.  And we can gain hope from remembering that our brother, Jesus, even at 12, “amazed” others “at his understanding and his answers,” speaking truth to power.

   So, I would like to conclude with a short, true story that happened to me this week, which points to us keeping the faith, holding onto hope in the face of what we can’t fully understand.

   I arrived home after making some visits and doing errands.  I was unloading the car when another car drove in behind me.  It was an extra for FedEx I believe and he had a package for me.  He noticed our yellow and blue colors representing Ukraine on our garage and asked, “Are you Ukrainian?  I said no, but we are supportive. He answered in an excited tone, “I am Ukrainian!” to which I said, “God bless you!”  Amen? Amen!

My friends, there is much wisdom and challenge in the readings the Church has given us this week – let’s take a deeper look.  The Wisdom writer says to the Israelite people, “And this was the covenant [you all] made with God – that the holy people would share all things – blessings and dangers alike.” A little play on the words, “holy people” would be to say, “people who are holy,” indicating I think, that action is required from those who are indeed, “holy.”  As the writer says, those who are “holy” share in both the [joys and sorrows] of others.  And as we learn in watching our brother Jesus, it is what we who claim to be his followers – Christians that is, are called to do!

   And granted, the days in which we are presently living challenge us as never before to be our best selves – naming the lies when we hear them, speaking truth to power, especially for and with those who seemingly have no voice.

   In today’s 2^nd reading we find confidence and strength for this awesome task in the writer to the Hebrews:  “Faith is the confident assurance of what we hope for, the conviction about the things we do not see.” 

   “Faith,” we know, is what allowed all of us to begin and/or form a community, which in our 17^th year is still attracting new people – and none of us knew in 2008 whether this venture would be something that would be good for people or not, but we “walked ahead” in faith anyway.  The “unbelievers,” primarily the hierarchy of our beloved Church said that we were “playing” at ordaining a women as priests, and that this action along with forming communities of believers was “confusing” to those not a part of us. 

   But yet, here we are, 17 years later and it would seem that the only ones “confused” were the hierarchy.  Faith, coupled with hope gave us the strength to move ahead, not knowing the end result, working at being, “holy,” at being our best selves. 

   Some of the early members of All Are One have “gone home” to God, and I believe are praying for all of us, still.  This past week I visited Sue and Bob in their home, and I shared about our Mary Magdala Mass on the Farm, to which they said, “We were with you in spirit!”  When I visit Jim at St. Anne’s in Winona and share that we continue to pray for him, he tells me that he prays for and remembers us as well.  Several weeks back I gave Patte, now living with her son and daughter-in-law in Cincinnati, a phone call and let her know too that she is still in our warm thoughts and prayers with her responding in like manner to Jim, that she remembers us too!  My friends, these attempts on our parts to stay connected to those of our community whose life situations have changed is all about, as the Wisdom writer says, “sharing in the blessings and dangers alike” – it is what “holy people” do!

   The writer of Psalm 33 today touches on another aspect of “this being holy.” Happy are the people who are chosen to be God’s own.  I believe most of us have heard this reading over the years, thinking of the Jewish people as the “Chosen Ones,” but in reality, we know from our brother Jesus, that we are all chosen.  The psalmist prays then for all of us, “May your love be upon us [God] as we place all our hope in you.” Before leaving this section, I think it is important to lift up, that it is one thing, “to be chosen,” but quite another “to respond,” to being chosen! 

   A  few examples from this past week that I noticed of some of the responses being made: 

• People lining both sides of the streets on the corner of Main and Broadway here in Winona, speaking their truth  — hoping for a renewed time when “lying will again be wrong,” when democracy, not autocracy will live again, when “kindness, not meanness” will be the action of the day, and when those in power will again act for the good of all.
• A group of perhaps 50 or more meeting this past week in Winona to organize a rapid response to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), or as some have labeled, “the Gestapo” coming into our community.  This meeting educated those present about the basic rights that anyone, citizen or not, have in our country. 
• A great many, folks meeting in a local coffee shop and eatery, writing postcards to all in power, asking them to live up to our Constitution – which they promised to be faithful to – basically serving all in our country. 

   There are, no doubt, more examples of people in our world trying to be their “best selves,” responding appropriately to the awesomeness of being “chosen” by our God to make this world better, but you get the idea. 

   We probably all smiled to hear today in the 2^nd reading from Hebrews, that from one woman and one man, “as good as dead” came descendants “as numerous as the stars in the sky and the sands of the seashore.”  It is truly a great history that we are part of! Many of you, have, no doubt, traveled to the sea or even to a favorite beach and walked along the sandy shores as well as looking at the heavens in star-filled skies and know of the wonder of the above statement of the writer to the Hebrews.  Our brother Jesus has told us that “with God, all things are possible,” – good words to remember in the times in which we live when it seems that every day there arises an issue of greed, and selfish  meanness that we must address. 

   So, my friends, moving on to today’s gospel from Luke, we receive one more piece of wisdom from Jesus to point us in the right direction – “wherever your treasure lies, there your heart will be.”  Said another way, attempting “to be holy,” we will strive every day, with all our strength, to be our best selves, which will not only benefit us, but all others who need us to act, to care, in this way.     Additionally, Jesus encourages us, “to be ready,” to do the right thing, not to wait for a future date, but to act now, today, and every day.

   In conclusion, when our faith and hope seem low and hard to hold onto, it would be good to once again remember our parents in the faith, Sarah, and Abraham, “as good as dead,” as the writer to the Hebrews says, but in actuality, began a family of descendants, “as numerous as the stars in the sky and the sands of the seashore.” 

And finally, as our brother Jesus reminds in the gospel today, we have been given much, and “much is required” as well. It is what Christians are called to…

Amen? Amen!