Homily

Homily: 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time, YR A

“Give to God What is God’s”

by Fr. William Holtzinger

In the Scriptures, we are reminded that God is deeply involved in our lives, though we may not always see it. Furthermore, the question is asked, so what should you give back to God?

The context of the Isaian reading is important. The Jews had been exiled into Babylon, modern day Iraq, and their temple and beloved city of Jerusalem had been destroyed. Later the Persian empire conquered the Babylonians and let the Jews return to their home. The Persian King, later to be called King Cyrus “The Great,” subsidized the rebuilding of the temple as well as the entire city of Jerusalem. King Cyrus was not Jewish and in fact worshiped a pagan god Marduk. So, God worked through Cyrus even though he didn’t know Yahweh, the God of the Jews.

The Pharisees connected with the Herodians in order to trip up Jesus. They didn’t recognize him as Lord but rather as a trouble maker. Yet, God used them in order to teach future generations that Christians are called to give back to God a measure of what has been give to us.

So, therein lies the question again. If we truly think about it, we are not our own. We are not here for ourselves. God created us. We are God’s people. We use the term Christian for we follow God in the person of Jesus Christ. Paul gave thanks for all that God had done through the Thesalonians. The Psalmist clearly understood that we are to give to God. He wrote:

Give to the LORD, you families of nations,

give to the LORD glory and praise;

give to the LORD the glory due his name!

Bring gifts, and enter his courts.

And so we recognize that God is in our lives and has made all the realities around us possible. Our spouse, children, pets, employment, home, car, entertainment, rest, days off, days to labor, time to worship, time to pray, our clothes, food, friendships... the list is endless. All these things are realities because God wants to delight in us. In return, we are being asked to give him glory and honor.

How can we do that? Well, we are right here. We do it in this very space and time. Many of you volunteer in our ministries for our children, youth, adults, infirmed seniors, our liturgy, our finances, our pastoral visioning, and again the list goes on. All of these are ways to give back to God some measure of what has been given to you.

Thank you for giving of your time, talent, and treasure. These are the true marks of a good steward. St. Anthony’s is a special parish with many people who give in a variety of ways.

As a way to ensure that our ministries can continue, each year I come before you to ask you to pledge an amount that you can give during our collection time. Next week we will be spending the homily time to do just that. But, before then, I want to share that while your financial giving is an important part of being part of our parish, so too is your giving of time and talent. And so, when we take out time to offer our pledges next week, be aware that the card you will receive will also allow you to pledge a commitment of time in an area you may have talent within our ministries. Our approach is, therefore, more holistic.

This week, all parishioners will be receiving a brochure with a letter from me, some details about our budget, and some information about how you might discern how you can give back to your family of St. Anthony’s. Each year, your life takes on different responsibilities and roles. And so it is only just to let you spend time rethinking how you might want to give back to God given your current living situation. Some may discern that they need to give less, others may choose to stay the same as the previous year, while others may decide to give more. Be aware that you have the freedom to give in a variety of ways. So while you may traditionally give once a month, twice a month, etc., our pledge card will be asking you to calculate what your giving looks like in terms of weekly giving, particularly in the collection during the Preparation of the Gifts at Mass. Some of you have chosen to use the services at your banks to make automatic electronic payments. And while that means that you may not be actually giving money during the collection time, our envelope system allows you to check mark that option and still participate in the collection by offering your empty envelope. You see, the Preparation of the Gifts is a liturgical movement where we are all called to participate as we can. Some of you may forget your envelope, so we have put extras in our pews. We are also discerning putting a check mark box on the envelope which allows each parishioner to make a gesture recognizing that they are also making a gift of time and talent tot he parish that week. No matter how you give, in time, talent, and treasure, everyone can participate in the collection by use of the envelopes. It is our obligation as Catholics to be active in the liturgy. And so while you may struggle to sing the music, almost all of us can offer some kind of stewardship and thereby participate in the Preparation of Gifts at Mass.

We are to give to God was is God’s. This is St. Anthony’s: God’s Church. Thank you so much for all you do to make St. Anthony’s your parish family, a welcoming and diverse community sent to love and serve the Lord. Amen.