Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

For the past few weeks and again this week, we’ve been hearing in our readings at Mass on Sunday about the dangers of riches and materialism. And while these are perfect readings for us to reflect on as we continue to think about stewardship and prepare for the continuation of our “On This Rock…We Build Our Church” campaign, there’s a spiritual element to these readings that I want to make sure that we don’t miss. We do not have an easy job as Catholic Christians in the world, most especially where we live. We live in one of the wealthiest areas of the wealthiest country on the face of this earth. Even the poorest amongst us, have it considerably better than the vast majority of people in the world. We are all rich. We are all extraordinarily blessed. And all of us, from the richest to the poorest, have a very real threat to our souls in both greed and materialism. These readings, again, including today’s, are warnings to us. And just because we’re talking at Mass today about stewardship and our capital campaign, I would not be a good priest if I ignored the important lessons from these readings and failed to point out to all of us just how risky it is to be under the influence of greed and materialism. All of us, including myself, desperately need to hear these warnings. These Gospel texts are trying so hard to get us to realize that if we are not careful, we can lose our souls to our money and our things.

Remember the First Commandment? God said, “I am the Lord your God and you shall not have false gods before ME!” Do you remember that? As a child, I always thought that He was talking only about people worshipping golden calves. Today, our “idols” are many, and they’re not all made of gold. It is not that our money or our things are bad or evil, it is our attachment and the priority that we give to our money and our things, that separates us from God. And greed and materialism can also separate us from one another. Both greed and materialism turn us in towards ourselves. And it’s not long at all then, that our selfishness separates us from others. Our money and our things cannot come before our brothers and sisters. Our society and our culture have that dangerously wrong. We must be so careful that we don’t buy into that same line of thinking. It is a road that has led many straight to hell.

Do you think that this doesn’t matter? Do you think that this doesn’t affect, or should I say “infect” our lives? Let me tell you a true story. Two months ago I happened upon one of our young people in the hallway here at St. Maria Goretti. The young person was crying. Here, I’ll let you in on a little secret: Crying whether you’re male or female, young or old, Catholic or non-Catholic, ALWAYS gets the attention of this Italian-American priest. I’m sure this is because I’ve been known to shed a few tears myself now and then, but it also comes from a firm belief that the tear ducts in our eyes have a direct connection to our hearts. If someone is shedding tears, the heart is trying to speak. In this case, I asked the young person what was wrong. Through sobs and halting words, I heard the story of how the child had put a big scratch in Dad’s car, while it was parked in the garage, with his bicycle. The scratch was an accident. And from the tears, I believe that the child was telling the truth. The boy said that his father was furious. He said that his father said that, “I will never forgive you for what you’ve done.” I’ve learned over the years to take young people’s words cautiously. This was probably not what dad said. But very clearly, this is what the child heard. And even more clearly, the message that the boy picked up from the whole experience, was that dad’s car was more important to him than he was.

Think about this story! Could that have been your son or daughter? And maybe it isn’t your car or truck, but what if it is your furniture, or your lawn, or your computer, or your money, or crystal egg collection? How many things in your life do others feel you treat more importantly that you do them? And if even one person feels that way, doesn’t God feel even more neglected and less important than they do?

The world has it wrong. All of our things, all of our money, all of so much that our world tells us is so important are passing away. Our things and our money won’t matter at all a hundred years from now. What lasts is our Faith, our relationship with God, and our relationships with each other. Life is about people, not things. And certainly, it’s not about money. We’ve got to get this straight now. Tomorrow might be too late.

In Christ,
Fr. Kevin

If you’re living your life like there is no God, you’d better be right!