The Cost of What We Believe

It was once again my turn, this past weekend, to give the homily at St. Bridget. It also happened that this weekend was "Stewardship Commitment Sunday," which usually means that the homilist devotes some or all of the homily time weaving together the theme of the scriptures with the theme of Stewardship. Stewardship is not really about "fundraising" -- it's about approaching life with the attitude of a disciple, so that God's blessings to us will be offered for God's purposes.

The First Reading was from the 7th Chapter of Maccabees, which tells the story of a widow with seven sons, all who suffer severe torture and death rather than break God's laws. It's hard to think of greater cost ... and I imagine that those who have suffered so terribly for what they believed would think that our "burden" of being generous is a pretty light load to carry. Here it is:

32nd Sunday of Ordinary Time, C; Stewardship Sunday

Good morning! It’s a pleasure to be with you once again, and share a few thoughts. As Fr. Tim announced last week, this is Stewardship Pledge Weekend (Sunday), and you should have received this past week a parish mailing with a letter from Fr. Tim, and your Stewardship Pledge Card. I hope you brought your own card with you to turn in, later today, but if not, there are extra cards in all of the pews.

Today’s Gospel and our First Reading both revolve around a woman and seven brothers who die. Unfortunately, I don’t think I’ve ever had much interest in today’s gospel reading about the wife with seven successive brothers as her husbands, because it’s an archaic theological point that’s being used by the Sadducees to trap Jesus. If you dig more deeply into the reality that Jewish men of that time considered their wives to be their property, then the question of whose wife she would be in heaven becomes more interesting; but really, I don’t think most of us consider this question to be very important.

However, our First Reading, I think, is very interesting. It’s not for us the importance of the dietary law against eating pork that the seven brothers all refuse to break That’s not a law that is important to us 21st Century Christians. What is very moving though, to me, is that all seven of these brothers, one by one, endure horrible torture and death. They hold fast to the end, true unto death, to their God, trusting that God will be faithful to them, and to their people. The passage quoted in the today’s Lectionary is too tame! The bishops who shortened this Scripture for our Sunday reading cut out the R-rated parts. In the actual passage, the executioners cut off the tongue of the first son, who had spoken up for the others, then scalped him and cut off his hands and feet, and then they carried him over and fried him alive in a pan. And they forced his brother and mother to watch all this; but that backfired, because the other family members encouraged one another in faith, saying things like “Our God sees us, and he will strengthen us!”

The 7th chapter of Maccabees describes the death of each one of these seven brothers. Most amazing of all, I think, is the final brother, the youngest one, because the king was finally getting desperate to break someone, and so under oath he offered the final brother riches and happiness, even high office, if he would only abandon his God and his customs. And when the young man refused, the king appealed to the mother, to advise her son to save his life. And finally, the mother went through the motions of persuading him, and said “Son, have pity on me, who carried you in my womb for nine months, nursed you for three years, brought you up, educated and supported you to your present age.” And then she said, “Do not be afraid of this executioner, but be worthy of your brothers and accept death, so that in the time of mercy I may receive you again with them!” And with that, the son said “What are you waiting for! I will not obey the king’s command! Like my brothers, I offer up my body and my life, and implore God to show favor and mercy to our people, and by afflictions and blows make you confess that Yahweh alone is God!” And at that, Maccabees tells us, “The king became enraged and treated him even worse than the others. Thus he too died undefiled, putting all his trust in the Lord. And the mother was the last to die, after her sons.”

I don’t know about you, but I want to trust in the Lord with that kind of heart and faith. I want to be guided by that kind of trust in God in every area of my life. And I can’t help thinking after considering this scripture on this particular Sunday, that filling out a Stewardship card and making a generous and faith-filled pledge, is really a pretty easy and small thing compared to that.

I hope you read the letter that Fr. Tim sent with your card. If you didn’t please go home today and read it right away, as soon as you get home. Especially read the paragraph at the top of the second page. We’re facing difficult choices here at St. Bridget, choices that go right to the core of our mission as a parish. This year’s Stewardship pledge is really about these kinds of things: Are we going to continue to support our liturgies – having three Masses, trained ministers, and good music? Are we going to continue to support parochial education? Are we going to continue our pastoral outreach to Children’s Hospital, and pastoral outreach to our parishioners? Are we going to continue to support our Sacramental Education and Formation for children, families, adults? Are we going to continue to support an active Youth Ministry program, which we have for over 20 years? Do we want to continue to have a parish office open, and maintain a parish center available for parish use? And are we going to continue to offer the support that makes most of our parish Outreach efforts possible?

Fr. Tim says in his letter that Stewardship is not about responding to a crisis. All of us in the parish leadership know that, and so we’ve been reluctant to talk about our situation as a crisis. Perhaps we should be alarmists, but we would rather that all of us look at our lives, the gifts we’ve been given by God, everything we are and everything we have, all that God has done for us, and then respond from THAT place. For me, I’m so thankful I don’t face the choices and situations that so many others face – people who are homeless, or jobless, or with sick young ones down at Children’s. I’m grateful for my continued health, for my family, for my faith and for my parish community. And I’m so glad I don’t face the kind of injustice and persecution that the mother and her seven sons endured in our scripture today, and I do long to live my life as wholeheartedly and as faithfully as they did. God has abundantly blessed my life, and God has blessed every one of us here, in individual ways. God has been faithful to us. These blessings will guide me as I fill out my Stewardship card today, and I hope they guide you.

I’d like you right now to pick up your Stewardship card. (There are pens in the pews, too.) I don’t want to walk you through every line, but I want to mention a couple of things, and then we’ll give you a few moments to write, or to pray and consider, and then write.

First, turn to the back of the card (Stewardship of Treasure: Taking a Step). There’s a little chart there -- you know you approximate annual gross income, and I know those of you who gross over $100,000 a year know how to figure those numbers for your income. We’ve always encouraged givers over time to make steps toward eventually making a tithe of ten percent, 5% to their parish community and 5% to other charities. There’s also a place to make payments by Electronic Fund Transfers or by credit card. On the front of the card (Parish Stewardship of Treasure) -- there are spaces to fill in your name, address, phone, and e-mail – please write those even if you think we already have them. And finally, there’s a place for the amount of your pledge, whether it’s weekly, monthly, or something else.

Finally, I want to thank you in advance for everything that you and so many others have done, over the years, to make this a wonderful parish. I love being here at St. Bridget. But even more, I love you all of you – those of you I know well, and those of you I see less often. God bless you all.

Deacon Denny Duffell
November 7, 2010