Homily 28th Sunday Cycle B – October 11, 2009
By Deacon Darrell Pagels at Christ the King Church
A college’s star baseball player went up to Jesus and asked: “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
Jesus replied, “Go to the local playground and help set up an after-school program for kids at risk.”
The baseball star’s face fell, and he went away sad, because his focus was on the making it to the majors.
The owner of a small business asked Jesus: “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
Jesus said, “Go and create job opportunities for those who have lost their jobs and whose families are struggling.”
The business owner’s face fell, and he went away sad, because he was barely keeping his own company going.
A woman who had just buried her sister who had died of cancer asked Jesus: “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
With great compassion for her, Jesus said, “Go, put aside your grief for your dear sister, and give your time to help raise money for cancer research.”
The woman’s face fell, and she went away sad, because the loss of her sister was still too painful.
We know how the rich young man feels in today’s Gospel. Yes, Jesus asks everything of us as the cost of being his disciple, but Jesus ask only what we have, not what we don’t have. Each one of us possesses talents and resources, skills and assets that we have been given by God for the work of making the kingdom of God a reality in the here and now. We are often unable to choose the things of God over the things we own, things that have come to us only as a result of God’s providence. Jesus is inviting the rich young man to strip away all that hinders him from true discipleship.
For the rich young man, it was his possessions. For us, it is other
things. Perhaps it's gossip or sinful habits of addictions. Perhaps it’s our
refusal to turn away from impure and lustful media outlets and so-called
"recreation." Maybe it’s pride of life or the respect for life, today our
parish observes respect for life Sunday, when people use the phrase “Respect
for life.” , more often than not, they are understood to be talking about
the issue of abortion. But this is a limited understanding as far as the
Catholic Church is concerned. Abortion is one of the many issues that are
involved in the “right to life.” The Catholic Church teaches that every
human being has a right to a full human life from the moment of conception
to the moment of natural death. And, under this broad umbrella, the Church
reflects not only on the issue of abortion, but on issues such as quality of
human life, the death penalty, war, assisted suicide for the terminally ill,
and others.
Now, the Catholic Church teaches that abortion is sinful because it is the destruction of human life. The Catholic Church teaches, through the voices of our present Pope and our bishops, that the death penalty cannot be morally justified unless it is the only means to preserve the integrity of the state. The Catholic Church teaches that war can only be justified and morally acceptable under clear and very restrictive circumstances. The Catholic Church also teaches that the “right to life” embraces the right to decent shelter, food and a basic quality of human life.
We know that the law says that dogs must be provided with a certain level of warmth, comfortable shelter, and adequate food and drink. And there are legal penalties attached to failure to provide these things. Now, I do believe that animals should be cared for and treated well. In fact, I think it is a certain measure of our humanity that we do so.
But is there an ordinance in any city that declares that human beings have a right to warm, comfortable shelter, and at least one nourishing meal a day? Are there legal penalties attached to failure to provide these things? “Right to life” does not end with the birth of a baby. The Church calls us to embrace ALL the issues that concern life and judge them on moral principles that are taught by our Church.
My own personal experience about the preciousness of life come from the loss of 3 pregnancies my wife and I endured. The 1st loss came in 2001 at 8 weeks in the pregnancy and our last two came 2 years ago in 2007, the last two gave us a more vivid look at the beginning of life. The 2nd child was 4 months along and he died of amniotic band syndrome, I will explain for those who don’t know what that is. They are strands of fluid-filled sacs that surround the baby in the womb. This is what causes baby’s to come out with out arms, legs, fingers and toes. Well these bands happen to trap around the arm and the neck and as the child grew it suffocated him. The last child was almost 6 months and he died of placenta abruption. The placenta is a structure that develops in the uterus during pregnancy to nourish the growing baby. If the placenta peels away from the inner wall of the uterus before delivery — either partially or completely — it's known as placental abruption. Placental abruption can deprive the baby of oxygen and nutrients and cause heavy bleeding in the mother. This puts both mother and baby in jeopardy.
And that’s what it did, it put both the child and my wife in jeopardy. I had to make a decision, the doctor asked me if I wanted him to take the baby; the baby was still alive at this time but the bleeding wouldn’t stop, my wife was crying telling me not to kill the baby, begging for just a little more time. She had been bleeding for a long time, and I was scared for both her and the baby because I knew what we went through when we lost Noah. So I asked the doctor to give it awhile and he respected our decision. Few hours later the bleeding stopped but so did the baby’s heart.
We had the opportunity to hold both baby’s Noah and Roman. We saw first hand the beginning of life, what a baby looks like at 4 months and at 6 months, they were just as precious as the rest of my kids. There little hands and feet, Roman was further along he had hair on his head and eyebrows, his bones were fully developed and his features. 2007 was the worst year I ever had, I was in my 2nd year in the deaconate program and my oldest daughter was also diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. My faith was shaken I was confused about my life and what God wanted from me, I know Satan was trying his best to draw me away from God, but I did what I always do when I am lost or looking for answers, went to the scriptures and in them heard the words of Christ, saying, “who ever wishes to be my disciple must deny himself, take up his cross and follow me.” and “I am the way the truth and the life.” and just like the Gospel today: what must I do to inherit eternal life? Go, put aside your grief and be my servant, serve my people and be a great witness to those who have lost their children, and be the voice of the innocent children being killed and for ALL of the qualities of life.
God calls all of us to be his disciples even in the greatest tragedies in our lives, to give what we do have and not what we don’t. authentic discipleship demands more than token contributions and following of rituals and traditions; our baptism into the life of Christ compels us to focus every dimension of our lives on the things of God. To be the disciple of Christ we need the reordering of our priorities, a restructuring of our days to make time for the things of God. May we return to God the gifts he has given us in order to embrace eternity in the life to come.
AMEN!