What are you willing to die for? What happens when we die?

I recently heard two teenage girls commenting on a rather good-looking guy that had their undivided attention:  “Isn’t he just gorgeous?  He’s to die for.”  (They weren’t talking about me.)

So my question for you today is:  “Just what are you willing to die for?”  I realize this is a rather heavy question, especially if you haven’t had your first cup of coffee this morning.  This is the question the Scriptures invite us to consider.  Just what is big enough, important enough that I would give my life for it?

As we edge toward the end of another liturgical year and the beginning of Advent, the Scriptures address our deepest fears and offer our profoundest hope.  What happens when you die?

In the first Scripture reading from the Book of Maccabees:  “It happened that seven brothers with their mother were arrested and tortured with whips and scourges by the king to force them to eat pork in violation of God’s law.  One of the brothers, speaking for the others, said:  “What do you expect to achieve by questioning us?  We are ready to die rather than transgress the law of our ancestors.”

The brothers and their mother had drawn a line in the sand.   Their trust and faith in God was that important to them.  Their trust in a resurrection faith was non-negotiable.  It was to die for.

The Scriptures today invite to reflect on the lives of people who place God first in their lives.

This weekend we are not only moving toward the end of the liturgical year, we are called to pray about and ask for the wisdom of God as we prepare to vote this Tuesday for our nation’s leaders.  We ask the questions:  how does our faith influence our political life; how do we act on the conviction that we desire to place God first in our lives; how best do we hold sacred our deepest values on the dignity of all human life; and how best are we as a nation to preserve the beautiful and sacred values that we most treasures as Americans?   Abortion is the termination of human life.  This is a most important political question.  I would have you expand on Abortion – the ending of human life – to see Abortion in terms of War, Poverty, Euthanasia, and the Death Penalty.  These too are situations that terminate human life.  Even more than party loyalties, may we vote this Tuesday for the candidates who best reflect our core human and spiritual values.  May we hold in prayer the voters of this nation and the leaders we elect.

Additionally, this is our annual Stewardship Commitment Sunday.  There is a second collection today in which we are asking you to place your stewardship commitment card indicating your stewardship to time, talent, and treasure.  If, by the slightest chance, you did not bring your stewardship commitment card this morning, all is not lost.  There are extra cards in the pews, and we ask that you take a couple of moments before the collection to put your name on one of the cards and fill it out and place in the second collection.

I invite you to think about your commitment to stewardship and filling out a commitment card in the context of placing God first in your life.  The choices we make reflect our level of commitment.  It may seem that prayer, service, and finances, that is, a stewardship of time, talent, and treasure is a demanding commitment.  Know that the Scriptures place our stewardship commitment in the context of our ultimate stewardship – to give our whole life back to God.  As proclaimed in the first Scripture reading from the Book of Maccabees, the stewardship of the brothers and their mother was not just 10%; it is about giving our whole life back to God.  We belong to God.  How much of ourselves can we afford to give? 

The Gospel answer to that question is clear and unmistakable.  As long as our loving continues to give to us, we are never to stop giving in the service of one another.

If we our honest in embracing a commitment to a spirituality to stewardship, we as a parish have room for improvement.  Last year we had less than a 100 families hold themselves accountable to a stewardship commitment.   As of this date, we have only 186 families who have contributed to the Diocesan Catholic Ministries Appeal.  Yes, there is room for improvement.

Thanks be to God.  I am an eternal optimist.  But Jesus is clear on the message that the way we place God first in our lives is the love we have for one another.  Jesus said:  “All shall that you are my disciples by the love you have for one another.”  We ask for your support so that together as the Faith Community of the Church of the Holy Spirit, we reflect a spirituality of stewardship in which we affirm that God is first in our lives; that we gather at this mystery of the Eucharist to give thanks to the Lord our God; and that we go forth from this Church in peace to glorify God by living a life of stewardship in our love and service of one another.

The Sundays of November bring us to the conclusion of the Church Year and the conclusion of the year of mercy.  Today’s readings also call to our minds the conclusion of our own years on earth.  The mystery of life and death, like holy twins, reside within each one of us.  Both of these holy twins have voices for those who have ears willing to listen.  Death speaks of the urgency of growing one’s soul larger and larger by acts of love.

The spirituality of stewardship enables us to live with grateful and generous hearts that call us to share our blessings with one another.

Have a blessed day.