~Homily~
I’ll bet that those of you who are my age or older remember watching, years ago, the game show “Let’s Make a Deal.” Remember Monty Hall walking down the aisles of that auditorium setting with all the people dressed up in all kinds of costumes and then picking one out and simply asking whether he wanted what was in a box or behind the curtain, whether they’d want to keep that gift or then exchange it for the unknown amount of money he had in his pocket. Remember the end of the show, how the contestant had to pick whether he or she wanted door number 1, door number 2 or door number 3. The game was not based or dependent upon each guest possessing any great particular knowledge or skill; all they had to do was make a choice.
In a way, it is like that in our life of faith.
We certainly need some level of knowledge; this is the content of our faith disclosed to us by God and through the teaching of the Church. These basic teachings are critical and necessary, but they are all relatively accessible to us. On a practical matter, there is no need for us to be experts in theology, although certainly that background can be most helpful, our life as Catholics is not some intellectual pursuit reserved for only a few. It is a life meant for and accessible to all – that basic understanding of our God who is love shared among Father, Son and Holy Spirit, how the Son has come to save us and establish the Church and how we are called to share in that love in living out this treasure of God’s life given to us in the Church.
And so, it all boils down to making choices.
In our First Reading from the Book of Deuteronomy, Moses delivers this most fundamental truth about the call God gave to His People, the same call that you and I have received. There is, set before us each day of our lives, this basic choice, this blessing and curse, “a blessing for obeying the commandments of the Lord, a curse if we do not obey them.”
It is this simple. We are called to do good and avoid evil. This is the basis of the entire moral life. And morality, like any other field of study that God has given to us in the material world must be intelligible and understandable. As it is with math or physics or chemistry, there will always be a right answer that, when we get it, then allows us to continue to engage the particular situation clearly and correctly and there will always be a wrong answer that, if we choose that one, will only impede our understanding, that will stymie us in proceeding with addressing an issue or problem.
But this is not just any issue or problem with varying levels of significance. We are talking here about eternity. Our moral life, the choices we make every day, how we live out this faith that we profess here, will determine whether or not in the never ending life that awaits us once we leave this world, we enjoy the timeless glory of heaven or suffer the equally permanent desolation of hell.
This is what our Gospel so clearly tells us today. Jesus says to his disciples, “Not everyone who says to me, “Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.” See, it is not what we think or what we believe or what we say that has significance, but it is what we do.
If we hear these words today, I think they should trouble us a bit. Certainly they challenge us, since I know for myself and am guessing that for most of us, we know we do not do all that we should. We know that oftentimes we are selfish and lazy and lustful and envious. We know that we are slow to forgive, but quick to judge. We know that we get angry and hold grudges. And every time we do any of these things, we are not doing the will of the Father. We know that every time we sin, we become more weakened. Each time that we refuse to follow a moral commandment, we move away from that rock that is the constant teaching of the Church founded on Peter and the Apostles and then the “house” that is our lives becomes shaken and unstable, able to be completely ruined amidst the storms in life that will most assuredly come.
But none of this
is a cause for dread or despair. In our
Second
You see, here is the cause for our joy. God gives us second chances. He offers to us His infinite mercy and forgiveness so that each day can be a totally new day with new choices to make, with new blessings that can be ours if we wholeheartedly seek to follow Him.
Let us take to heart these words that we hear today. Let us acknowledge that, indeed, there is set before us a blessing and a curse. Just like “Let’s Make a Deal”, all we have to do is choose wisely.
Let us do that so that we might “live out” this faith that we here profess, following all the statutes and decrees of the Lord that are set before us, so that we might enjoy most fully the blessings that He desires for us, the redemption and the eternal life won for us in Christ.