St. Maria Goretti

Two weeks ago, I was on my monthly pilgrimage to the Meijer store to shop for toiletries. And please don’t call me asking me why I didn’t mention Target or Wal-Mart instead. It just happened to be Meijer this time. We haven’t started advertising or product placement in homilies… yet. So I’m in Meijer, and I get everything I need, and I go up to the checkout line to pay for my shampoo. And I love buying shampoo. You know why? It is because buying shampoo means that I still have some hair left to wash. And in front of me, is one of the cutest little girls with her mom. The little girl must have been about three or four years-old. And as I’m waiting behind them, the little girl wants a pack of gum. Simple enough, right? But them mom explains everything that the little girl has already gotten on this trip to Meijer. And the list was long. “Remember when you wanted that cereal, and when you wanted your favorite pop, and then you wanted those cookies?” And you got all of that, didn’t you?” said the mom. But right then, she wanted the gum. She had forgotten all about her victories in getting the cereal, and the pop, and the cookies. Right at that moment, the little girl was focused, like a hunter, on that gum. And she had to have it. So the tears started, and the pleading continued. And the mom looks at me and all those in the line in front of her and behind her, and she says, “Sometimes it’s just not worth the fight.”, as she tossed the pack of gum into their cart.. And I wanted to say SO badly, “But mom, sometimes it IS worth the fight.” And I know, I don’t have kids. But it’s like the farmer said, “You don’t have to be a chicken to know about laying eggs.” And I know that as parents you do have to pick your battles. And I also know that we have lots of parents that are simply exhausted from everything on their plate. Seventy-five cents for a container of gum is worth for a few more moments of peace. But we are raising perfect little consumers. And what’s scary now is, our parents did it for a lot of us, and now we are doing it for our kids. It becomes what we value. We want more and more and more. And there’s never enough. And you know it is somewhat cute when a little child throws a tantrum to get what they want, what they think is going to make them happy. We justify it by saying that they sure are “determined”, aren’t they? Well, it’s not so cute any more when they’re sixteen or seventeen years old and they are still throwing fits over getting what they want. And it’s downright ugly when they’re forty or forty-five years old, and they’re still pouting to get their way. When are we going to learn, that our things are never going to make us happy. Never. You can have ALL the things in the world, and it’s not going to make you a happier person. Look at the lives of so many of the super rich of our culture and society. Would anybody here really want to be Paris Hilton? I don’t think so. Then should we really have the same values as she does?

Today, in all three of our readings, Jesus calls us to live very differently from our consumer-oriented society. Jesus is saying that there definitely IS an enough. And most of us have it. We have enough. And in our relentless pursuit of getting even more, we are losing our souls. Our values are messed up. We’re not looking forward to Heaven. We’re looking forward to what we can buy next at Target or Wal-Mart or Meijer. And this crazy consumer way of living doesn’t work. Jesus says today, “One’s life does NOT consist of possessions.” Remember hearing that in our Gospel just a few minutes ago? And yet, how many of us really believe that? How many times do we judge people based upon what kind of house they live in, or what kind of car that they drive, or what kind of clothes that they wear? None of our possessions are going to matter at all on the day that we die. And then to really make that point, Jesus tells one of the most haunting parables in the Gospel, the Parable of the Rich Man. This guy has got it made. He’s got wealth for years to come. He’s got everything he wants. And now, thanks to his huge, shiny, new storage barns, he has wealth stored up so that he can continue having everything he wants for a long, long time. But what doesn’t the wealthy man know? He doesn’t realize that he going to die that night! And then his barns, his harvest, his wealth, his toys, all of his “things” are not going to matter at all. And what’s he going to be left with. What if you died tonight? What’s going to happen to YOUR things? Are your possessions really what you want to stake your soul on? I don’t think so.

We need to learn the meaning of the word “Enough”. We have enough. We have more than enough.

What are we doing with it for others? That’s the question. How are we making this world a better place with what we have? Now that’s what God is going to care about on the day that we die.

Let us be ready and prepared, and may God bless us, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit… AMEN !!!

St. Maria Goretti… Pray for us !!!