Wednesday, September 23, 2015

Sunday homily: late report

Sorry for no post of a homily on Sunday, but it was one of those weekends where I didn't have a text; and, to boot, I had a tight agenda for the weekend:

> Saturday after Mass, I was at a parishioner's house for dinner, and then stopped by a Catholic Social Services fundraiser.

> Sunday I had the first two Masses, then drove down to Cincinnati for the Bengals, then Oktoberfest. I got home Monday evening.

So what did I preach about?

I decided to zero in on the second reading, and I talked about serenity as the disposition we need, in order to keep from either the problems of ego and self-importance, as shown in the Apostles in the Gospel, or from the anger and envy and greed that the Apostle James talked about in the second reading.

I gave examples of anger and greed that we are all so prone to, in contrast to a serenity that comes from accepting our smallness, and not trying to grasp too firmly on either possessions, or even life itself. I cited the example of the saints, particularly those who embraced the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience; along the way I said that some present were surely called to that life, and they would not be fully happy until they answered that call. And I talked about the one, and only one, possession we can be sure we will never lose, and that is Jesus Christ himself. I closed with the Serenity Prayer: "God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; the courage to change the things I can; and the wisdom to know the difference" -- as both a worthwhile prayer to pray, and also as a plan of life.

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