Thirty-second week in Ordinary Time

In a week I will be celebrating the 8^th anniversary of my diaconal ordination, which I think is about 40 years short of Fr. Paul. Since my first assignment was at St. James Cathedral, and I am a small town boy who lives in the woods, the thought of proclaiming the Gospel in front of 1,000 people was terrifying. The fear got the best of me, and the Saturday night before my first Mass, I dreamt that I was carrying the Gospel book in the procession from the altar to the ambo, as I stepped up from the first ambo step to the second, my alb got caught under my foot, I tripped forward, hit my head on the ambo, fell off the step to the floor and died. The next thing I knew I was standing before St. Peter. As he was looking up my name in the Book of Life, I commented that I didn’t see the Pearly Gates. Handing me a piece of chalk, he pointed to a ladder behind me that disappeared up in the clouds. Answering my unasked question, St. Peter said that the height of the ladder depended on me. All I had to do was write down one of my sins on each rung and when I got to the last of my sins, I would be at the top of the ladder at the Pearly Gates. So up I went. After some time of climbing and writing, I was aware that someone was coming down the ladder. I moved over to the side and as the person got closer, I recognized that it was Mother Theresa. As she came beside me I greeted and she welcomed me, by name. I asked where she was going to which she smiled that grin of hers and said, “down to get another piece of chalk.”

There were two revelations I had when I woke from that dream; the first was that I am nowhere near as good and holy as I thought I was. If Mother Theresa needed a second piece of chalk, I would no doubt need a box. And the second revelation was that if each and every person in history has to climb this ladder and write down their sins, the cost of salvation is staggering. The price that Jesus paid to redeem our souls for God is beyond our comprehension. In today’s reading from Hebrews, St.  Paul reminds us that Christ paid the price to “remove [our] sin by the sacrifice of himself.”

As followers of Christ, we are also called to pay a price. Today we call that cost, Stewardship. We offer ourselves to Jesus, and the Church, through the giving of our Time, Talent, and Treasure. In September, we asked you to give of your time and talent, which you did generously and abundantly. Now, we are asking for you to give as generously of your treasure.

In your bulletin today you will find Christ Our Hope’s annual report. There are many numbers in the report, and I don’t want to spend a lot of time just reading them to you. Rather, I would like to highlight what the numbers mean to the mission of the Church. At the end of St. Matthew’s gospel, at His ascension, Jesus told the disciples, “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” From this, we can see there are two main functions of the Church; first is to reach out and evangelize those outside the church, especially those on the margins of society; and second is to offer the grace of the sacraments to those who come to Christ.

On the left hand page inside the report, you will see that Christ Our Hope has brought Christ’s grace through the sacraments fully and completely. Of the seven sacraments of the Church, all were preformed here this past year except one, which is a sign of a healthy parish. We are growing, not only by new people registering, but also through Baptism of both infants and adults, through RCIA and the Rite of Reception. Four members had the blessing to receive the Body and Blood of our Lord in the Eucharist for the first time. Twelve received the sealing grace of the Holy Spirit through Confirmation. And in a culture that seems to be anti-marriage, 13 couples celebrated Holy Matrimony this past year and 20 more are preparing for this coming year. Not listed in the report are the Sacraments of Reconciliation and Anointing of the Sick which are provided regularly both here in the parish, and resident facilities. As I mentioned, there is one sacrament that we have not celebrated here, Holy Orders.

Fr. Paul is still young enough to be made a bishop which would allow him to ordain a priest or deacon, but short of that, Christ Our Hope can be a parish that fosters vocations. If you are single, and haven’t already done so, I encourage you to pray and discern, whether God is calling you to the priesthood or religious life.

Before we can offer the sacraments, we must evangelize, reach out to those around us, and that is found on the right hand page. At the top of the page you see the numbers for our outreach both inside and outside of our doors, and also around the world. It is important to note that our outreach is not for Catholics only, but for those in need. In Matthew 25, Jesus tells us “whatever you do for the least of these, you have done for me.” We are able to do the outreach and evangelization here, because of the numbers at the bottom of the right hand page. The generous giving of your treasure, and the careful stewardship of your gifts by the staff and leadership of the parish, allows Christ Our Hope to touch many more lives than could be done without you.

And that brings us to today and the renewal of our Stewardship of Treasure. In our first reading from Kings, and our Gospel reading from Mark, we see two examples of offering, both from widows. Throughout the entirety of scripture, we see that widows and orphans hold a very dear place in God’s heart.  They lacked opportunities, resources, a future, and they were at the very bottom of the social order. But in both readings, the widows’ offerings, while very small, in one case a muffin, her last scrap of food; and in the other, her last two pennies, far outweighed the large sums put in by the rich. Each of these widows gave, not from their surplus, or leftovers, but from their very being, their future. The widow of Zarephath had one morsel of food left and then she and her son were going to lie down and die; but she gave to the man of God when asked. Of the widow in the temple Jesus said, “she gave of her livelihood,” but she gave it all the same.

It is important for us to not add to scripture what is not there. In the Gospel, Jesus did not condemn, or criticize the rich for putting in their large sums. Indeed, the Church today, or at any time in history, could not offer so much to the world were it not for the generosity of the wealthy. Jesus simply noted, and praised the widow for giving everything, her life, which is exactly the price that Jesus has paid for us. Jesus is calling us to do the same by offering ourselves through our Time, Talent and Treasure.

If you have already turned in your Stewardship of Treasure card, thank you. If not, I would like to encourage you to pray about taking a step, or two, farther away from your surplus, and closer to your livelihood.  When you do, like the widow of Zarephath, you will see that God does not abandon us. And when it’s all said and done, and you get to the last rung of that ladder in the sky, you will see the treasure that has been stored up in heaven through your faith and generosity.

Deacon David Olsen