St. Dominic Catholic Church

Homilies

9/24/2017 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time (A)

I was sent one of the new iPhone 10s to test.  They want to see how older people will handle the technology. For example, instead of inputting a code to unlock the phone, it will actually recognize your face and then unlock itself. Pretty cool, right?  Let’s try it. [The preacher holds the telephone in front of his face, and in a moment a voice from the phone says,] "You are Michael Fones. I recognize your ugly face."

I liked my old iPhone just fine.

Why does Apple keep improving their products?  I suppose it’s because they want to make more money. And they can make more money because we’re accepting - even demanding - the changes and "improvements". That’s what successful companies do – they are constantly improving, which means they are constantly changing.

What about us, though? I find that often that changing is the last thing we want to do. I hear it in my own voice when I say things like, “I have a sweet tooth – I’m just like my dad that way.” Or “I’d get exercise if I weren’t so busy.” We make excuses all the time to not change, even when we know it’s good for us. That’s because there’s a kind of gravitational pull to do what’s easier and more pleasant until we find what’s easiest and most pleasant. Jesus calls this the wide road that many choose, but, he says, it leads to destruction. And many of us are being destroyed by the lifestyle our culture encourages. We’re stressed out, overworked, anxious, angry and frustrated.

In our first reading, we hear God telling us to seek Him, whose ways are different from our ways and whose thoughts are different from ours. We may not think of ourselves as scoundrels or particularly wicked, but remember last week Jesus compared us to servants who are so indebted to our master that thousands of lifetimes of work would not pay off the debt. So we are in need of change, from God’s perspective. We’re God’s adopted children, and He wants us to be happy and make good decisions, just like the parents here want for their own children. Change is hard.  There are people we don’t like, people we don’t want to forgive, aspects of parenting or our job or marriage that we could do without.

But we have the freedom to change, and here are SOME things that can help.

1. Make a spiritual change – by putting God more and more in the center of our life, everything else will fall into place.

2. Begin small and simple.  Make it something you can actually do, realizing that if you’re busy, you will likely have to not do something else. 
Maybe it means spending five minutes less with the morning paper so you can read the day’s gospel.  Start somewhere, and start small.

3. Start today.  If you wait till tomorrow, you’re less likely to start.

St. Paul says the Christian life is like the training of an athlete.  The only time I have consistently worked out was when I had a partner.  I learned from him, and he offered a lot of encouragement. On days I didn’t want to go to the gym, our friendship was a good motivation – and a little guilt helped, too.

4. So my fourth suggestion is, if possible, have a partner.  Following Jesus is not meant to be a solitary endeavor.  Invite someone to help you be accountable to the changes you make.

A final word about change and conversion.

Jesus says the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner with a variety of day laborers. Some work hard all day, some only work for an hour, but all receive the same wage. The parables of Jesus are always about God, not us, so focus on the actions of the landowner. The parable indicates that it doesn’t make any difference if we experience conversion late in life or early. It doesn’t make any difference if we’ve worked harder at following Jesus than the person next to us. It doesn’t make any difference if we are theologically sophisticated or have a simple trust in God. Fundamentally, salvation – the wage the landowner gives at the end of the day - is a gift, not something earned by hard work – or by works. The utter generosity of God will not be outdone and only needs to be accepted as gift. His ways are not our ways, thanks be to God. His ways are better. So rather than making sure your phone recognizes your face, make sure God recognizes your face. Put down that new and improved Apple iPhone.  After all, tradition says it was an apple that got us into trouble in the first place.