St. Dominic Catholic Church

Homilies

2019-9-8-23rd Sunday-Yr C-Fr. Roberto English

 

 

Homily for 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year C

Fr. Roberto Corral, OP

St. Dominic’s Church, Los Angeles, CA

September 8, 2019

 

Title: It’s All about Jesus!

Theme: Jesus invites us to make our lives all about him.

Readings: Wisdom 9:13-18b; Philemon 9-10, 12-17; Luke 14: 25-33

 

I am sure some of you have been wondering what this chair is doing up here in front of the altar. Well, I put it there, because I want you to imagine that this chair is actually a throne. It represents the throne of your heart. In other words, it represents what is at the center of your life, what your number one priority is. So, my question for you is who or what sits on this throne in your heart? In other words, what is at the center of your life, what is your number one priority?

 

In 1976, when I graduated from Occidental College right down the street, the center of my life, my number one priority in life was to play professional basketball somewhere. I had played for Oxy for four years, and I wanted to keep going. I knew what I wanted, and I was willing to do just about anything to achieve that dream. In other words, I was sitting on this throne because my life was all about me and what I wanted to do with my life. Well, I knew I was not good enough to play for any professional team in the U.S., so, when a friend of mine invited me to consider playing for a professional team in Mexico City – as he had done after he had graduated from Oxy – I put all my energy and hopes into that possibility and decided to give it my best shot. I called the coach in Mexico City, and he told me to come down to Mexico in three months at the end of the summer to try out for the team.

 

I was so excited! I trained hard for that entire summer, and then I called the Mexican coach to finalize the details of my coming down there to try out for the team. He did not remember me, and he did not remember our conversation. After an awkward couple of minutes on the phone, he vaguely remembered me, but then he told me not to bother coming down because he did not need me, and then he hung up the phone.

 

I was stunned. All that hard work, all those hopes and dreams of my entire youth of playing pro basketball came crashing down in an instant. To make things worse, at the same time, everything else in my life also seemed to be going wrong: my girlfriend had just broken up with me, I hated my job, I had moved back home after four years away at college and was having hassles living at home with my parents again…okay, okay, the reality was that they were having hassles living me…and my car was broken down. My life was a disaster and I was really depressed.

 

It was in the middle of that dark time that my best friend from high school invited me to come over to his apartment and talk. He knew I was going through a tough time and wanted to help. So, one night I went over to his apartment and we began to talk. At a certain point of our conversation he asked if he could pray with me, and I said yes. So, we sat down on the floor of his living room, held hands and began to pray. As he was praying a beautiful and moving prayer for me, I looked above his head and noticed, up on the wall, a crucifix hanging there. As I looked at that crucifix, I began to cry as I had never cried before. For the first time in my life I realized that Jesus died for me, not just for everyone else in the world, but for me personally. And it hit me like a ton of bricks that he really loved me. Yes, I was going through a rough time, but deep down in my heart I knew I was going to be okay because he loved me. I also realized that, up to that point, my life had been all about me: my needs, my wants, my dreams and my priorities. It dawned on me that I really needed Jesus and that I needed to change my life. It was from that moment on that I decided I wanted to live my life for Jesus and not just for myself. That was the moment I moved myself from this throne and put Jesus there instead. That was the moment that I decided to make my life all about Jesus.

 

In today’s Gospel, Jesus is saying that all of us have to do the same thing I did on that night long ago: we all have to put him on that throne of our hearts. Now, of course you do not have to do it exactly the way I did it, but you do have to do it somehow. That is what he said in our Gospel today: “If anyone comes to me without hating his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.” Now, obviously, Jesus does not want us to hate anyone; quite the opposite – he wants us to love everyone, especially our family. However, he is using this harsh and demanding language to emphasize how important it is for us to make him the number one priority of our lives: before our family, before our possessions and before ourselves. In other words, Jesus is telling us we need to make our lives all about him. It’s like the image on the first page of your worship aid: Jesus has to be at the center of everything in our lives; it just does not work any other way. It’s all about Jesus!

 

I have chosen the theme, “It’s all about Jesus,” for this four-week preaching series because that is what Jesus says to us today, and it’s what he says again and again in different ways in all four gospels. It is why Jesus founded our Catholic Church to begin with; it is the core of what our Church has taught for 2,000 years; it is why you were baptized and confirmed; and it is why you exist. Jesus wants us to make our lives all about him. Not because he has a gigantic ego or because he wants us to be his slaves, but because he knows this is the only way you and I will find the happiness and meaning in our lives that we hunger for. The problem is, so often we can forget that. Like me as that young college graduate wanting to play professional basketball, we so often think that we will find our ultimate happiness and meaning if we just find the right job or career, if we just have enough money or things, if we just find the right person to be with, if we just have the right body or looks, etc. Now, please understand that none of those things is bad, it is okay to work hard to try to achieve them, and they can certainly bring us some happiness and fulfillment. But none of these things is meant to be on that throne of our hearts because none of them, and not even all of them together, will provide us with the lasting and ultimate happiness and meaning we were created for.

 

So, what does it mean to make your life all about Jesus? Well, that is what we are going to be looking at in this preaching series for this month of September. But let me tell you right now what making your lives all about Jesus does not mean. It does not mean that you have to be a religious fanatic and make people feel uncomfortable, or that you have to become a priest or a religious brother, sister or deacon. It does not mean you have to be in church all the time or that you have to sell everything you have or that you have to give up all your relationships. What it does mean is this: Jesus, and only Jesus, gets to sit on this throne of your heart. It means that Jesus has to be at the center of your life. All of your other relationships, all that you are and all that you have are determined, shaped and flow from your relationship with Jesus. To make your life all about Jesus means you have to have a relationship with him that is personal, intimate, ongoing and the priority of your life.

 

So, let me finish by giving you something to think about today and throughout this preaching series. It is on page 3 of the worship aid you were given when you came in to church. So, I invite you to look at your worship aid right now and follow along. On a scale of 1 to 10 – with 1 being “pretty bad,” 5 being “so-so” and 10 being “it could not be better,” where on that scale is your relationship with Jesus right now in your life? Are you struggling, are you lukewarm, or do you really love Jesus? Be honest! Now, the next question is what do you need to do to move your relationship with Jesus to a higher number on that scale? What is keeping you from making your relationship with Jesus more important in your life?

 

My brothers and sisters, life is not all about you or me; it’s not about money or things or job or career; it’s not even about our family or friends or our country or our church. It’s all about Jesus. Jesus is the foundation and the center of our Catholic faith, and he has to be the foundation and the center of our lives.