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Browsing Father Michael Deering's Sunday Homilies

No reserve … no retreat … no regret!

Homily originally presented March 31, 2019

 

 No reserve … no retreat … no regret!

 

What does it take to be successful in selling ice cream?

 

It seems like you have to have a company name that begins with the letter “B”.

 

Walk down the Ice Cream aisle at your store and you’ll see :

Bresslers, Breyers, Barbers, Ben and Jerrys, Baskin- Robbins, and Blue Bell!

 

Well, there’s another popular brand up in Chicago where I grew up ...

and its name also begins with the letter “B” … the Borden Dairy Company. 

 

And I’d like to share a story about William Borden, the heir of the Borden company.

 

During a high school trip around the world, William felt a strong call to become ...

a missionary for the Lord. He had seen so much poverty in his travels ...

that he wanted to dedicate himself to reaching out to those who were suffering.

 

When he made that decision, Borden wrote in his Bible, “No reserve”.

 

After graduating from college, he turned down a number of job offers

because all he wanted to do was be an overseas missionary.

When he made that decision, he wrote in his Bible, “No retreat”.

 

Shortly after he completed his ministry training, Borden traveled to Egypt.

There, he was struck with a fatal case of spinal meningitis and died at the age of 25.

When he learned of his condition, Borden wrote in his Bible, “No regrets”.

 

Wow! What a model of how to live your life … no reserve, no retreat, no regrets.

 

When God calls you down a certain path, you respond fully committed: no reserve.

When obstacles rise up in your path, you keep going forward: no retreat.

So that when you get to the end of your life and look back you have: no regrets!

 

The life of William Borden seems to be a good model for Sainthood

it’s so similar to the life of St. Paul.

 

You know, after Paul got his blinding light call from the Lord, he lived the next 25 years of his life showing no reserverunning wide open for the Lord.

In the face of countless obstacles such as stonings and starvings and shipwrecks, he continued to go on from town to town preaching the Good News of Jesus Christ, showing no retreat.

And when the day came of his beheading ... he could honestly say he had ...

no regrets … for he spent his life in testimony to Jesus Christ.

 

What title would we give to St. Paul?

 

Well, in his writing today from 2nd Corinthians,

Paul calls himselfan ambassador for Christ!

 

What do you think that means?  What exactly is an ambassador? By definition,

an ambassador is an official representative of an organization or movement.

 

Well how very special it would be ... to be an Ambassador ... of Jesus Christ!

Imagine ... being an official representative of ... Jesus, the Son of God!

 

For two years, I was Chaplain to a group of business Presidents in Birmingham who met monthly with the desire to more fully represent Jesus Christ to all their employees and customers. They were all part of the nationwide organization of Catholic Company Presidents called Legatus.

 

The word “Legatus” is Latin for Ambassador, and it indicated that all of these Business Leaders desired to be like St. Paul ... and be ... Ambassadors for Christ.

 

Actually, all of us, by Baptism ... are called to be an Ambassadors for Christ

within the context of our particular profession and vocation in life.

 

We tell our 8th Graders preparing for the Sacrament of Confirmation that with ...

 the gifts of the Holy Spirit, they will be equipped to be ...Ambassadors for Christ.

 

To do this, you don’t have to go to Egypt … as Willam Borden did,

or to Turkey … as St Paul didor to any other foreign country.

No, there’s a great need to represent the Lord Jesus Christ right here ...

in our own city, state and country.

 

Why do you think that is so?

Certainly we’re not a 3rd world country, where people never heard of Jesus.

 

No, most people today have heard of Jesus … but sadly,

a great many of those who have heard of Himhave walked away from Him.

 

Jesus describes this situation today in His parable of the Prodigal Son.

 

Here, the younger son was initially with his Father.    But then, Jesus says,

“(he) collected all his belongings and set off to a distant country.”

 

He was therewith his Father (God) … and he left Him and went away!

Where did he go?

 

 

The Greek words for “distant country” are “chora makra” which literally mean,

“the great emptiness”.

 

So, this son left His Father and went away intothe great emptiness!

 

This is exactly what happens today ... when people lose their Faith

when people stop praying ...

when people stop having a relationship with God ...

when people leave The Church.

 

Where do they go?         They go away into a great emptiness!

 

There’s many people today, like the younger son, who have taken their God–given gifts of time, talent, treasure and freedom and misuse them on sinful activities ...

and are hurting so much in their spirit ... that they don’t know where to turn.

 

I get emails and phone calls ... 1 or 2 a week ... from people who say they’re lost.

What should they do?      Where should they go?

Do they need to remain apart from God in the great emptiness forever?

 

Fortunately no!

Because you see, God’s greatest attribute is His incredible, lavish mercy ...

that brings people back into full union with Him.  

 

How does one receive this mercy?

 

Jesus stated it best in His parable when He described the younger Son as ...

coming to his senses … and thinking … I shall get up and go to my Father”

 

That’s what’s requiredcoming to our sensesand returning to our Father ...

realizing that being apart from God places us in a land of emptiness ...

when we could be enjoying a land of fullness.

 

Is it a risky thing to do ... to return to God after you’ve turned away from Him?

 

It may seem that wayas it must have seemed to the Younger Son.

 

But Jesus describes a return experience that should dissolve any remnant of fear.

 

The Father didn’t just forgive the younger son and treat him like a hired hand.

 

No! He did way more than that!         He restored his sonship in the family!

This is signified by wrapping him in the Royal Robe, putting the Ring on his finger, and placing sandals on his feet.     Hired hands don’t have thatsons do!

 

And then to top it off, the Father celebrates his son’s return with a banquet ...

where He feeds his son with the best of food, the fatten calf.

 

This was a preview of what God would eventually do when He would give us access to His Divine Son Jesus in the Eucharist and feed us with the Best of Food!

 

It’s this loving embrace of God that moved the Psalmist to say in Psalm 34,

“I sought the Lord and He answered me, and delivered me from all my fears.”

 

Lent is the time to honestly assess where we have wandered to in our life.

Have we gone away into a land of great emptiness that involves sin and separation?

 

Then now is the time to come our senses and get up and go to God & repent.

 

When we get up and go to God, who is our Father, seeking his forgiveness,

He treats us just as in this parableHe lavishes us with mercy and love.

 

Yes, God delights in bringing us from a great emptiness ... to a great fullness!

 

The word “prodigal”, by definition means lavish or profuse or extravagant.  The younger son is called the Prodigal son because he was lavish, profuse and extravagant in spending his inheritance money on the world & on dissolute living.

 

But this parable could also be called the Parable of the Prodigal Father because of the way He was so lavish, profuse and extravagant with His mercy and His love!

 

Forgiveness and reunion with God is ours for the asking! All we have to do is ask!

And yet so many people don’t ask.

So many Catholics have access to the Sacrament of Confession and they don’t go.

It makes no sense at all.

 

Here they have the assurance of mercy from the Prodigal Father,

and they refuse to get up and go get it.

 

All of us are sinners so all of us need to “get up and go” … to Confession.

 

It’s there you will find the welcoming embrace & kiss of our Heavenly Father.

 

As Jesus said in the parable, the Father is looking for you with great expectation,

patiently waiting for you ... to come to your senses and return to Him.

 

Is this important?          Hear the urgency in St. Paul’s words today:

“We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.”

 

 

Why? Paul tells us ... “so that we might become the righteousness of God.”

Recall how Jesus said, “Unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Scribes and

  Pharisees, you will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven.”

 

Lent is a great time to listen to our consciences.

If we listen to our consciences, we too will come to our senses,

like the younger son and realize that we’ll be

much better off if we return to our true home, which is our Father’s house.

 

We come home when we get up and go to Confession. It’s there that our Father

runs to us ... embraces us ... kisses us and forgives us of our sins

 

God prefigured this in our First Reading from the Old Testament when He reminded the people of how he had freed them from their slavery to the Egyptians saying,

“Today I have removed the reproach of Egypt from you.”

 

In an even more powerful way, God removes the reproach of Satan from us ...

each time the Priest says the words, “I absolve you from your sins!”

 

It’s then that God frees us from slavery to sin and returns our family dignity.

 

Don’t miss this chance to receive the Prodigal love of the Father.

 

As we continue our Lenten Journey remember the words that William Borden wrote in his bible.

 

no reserve, no retreat, no regrets

 

God calls us to be His Ambassadors … lets’ do that with no reserve!

 

God calls us to follow Him on the road to Heaven … let’s do that with no retreat!

 

Then, when our lives are over we’ll be able to look back with … no regrets!

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