Preached on Sunday, September 17, 2017

A friend of mine, who was Head Usher years ago at Our Lady of Sorrows Church in Homewood, Frank LaRussa, gave me a copy of a prayer that he used to pray.

It goes like this:

Dear Lord, so far today, I’ve done alright!

I haven’t gossiped, haven’t lost my temper,

 haven’t been greedy, grumpy, nasty,

selfish or over-indulgent.

And I’m really glad about that.

But in a few minutes, Lord,

I’m going to get out of bed,

and from then on

I’m probably going to need a lot more of your help!

Thank you in advance, Dear Jesus!

Amen!

What a marvelous prayer!        It’s true isn’t it?

We all do a pretty good job of staying away from sin while we’re sleeping and before our feet hit the floor. It’s once we get up and get going, that we constantly need God’s grace to help us in the way we interact with the people around us.

I remember the years when I was off studying in the Seminary, where each day was pretty much consumed with prayer and study. From morning to night we were either in Chapel, or in Class or in the Library or in our Room.

That meant that our interaction with others was greatly limited ...

and so the chance to be unloving to our neighbor was very limited as well.

But when it was time to go home for a holiday or summer break we could just feel the tension rise as the opportunities to be greedy, grumpy, nasty and selfish rose as the level of contact with friends and family rose.

God made each and every person different and unique, and for that reason ...

   it’s not always easy to get along with others ...

there will always be things that we’re not going to like about others.

So thank goodness, God never told us that we had to like our neighbor!

Nowhere in Scripture did God ever say, “You have to like your neighbor!”

No, what does He say?    In many places, God says we have to love our neighbor.

And that’s means loving people that we don’t necessarily like.

It means that we’re going to have to look past some things that we don’t like about others in order to love them for the love of God.

This was the very directive we heard in our First Reading from the Book of Sirach. where God says, “Think of the commandments … and overlook faults.”

As you well know, it’s not easy to do. When we see the faults and limitations of others, there’s a real temptation to hold onto our dislike of them and use it as an excuse for getting angry or unpleasant with them. Sirach refers to this when he says,

“Wrath and anger are hateful things, yet the sinner holds them tight.” 

Given that each person is different in their appearance, their intelligence, their personality, their habits, their thoughts, and their opinions, it’s understandable and a reality of life that people are going to offend us, either knowingly or unknowingly.

And the only way we’re going to be able to fulfill God’s command ...

“to love one another” is to be able to forgive them for their faults and offenses.

Today Sirach says, “Forgive your neighbor’s injustice.”

And Jesus says “(Forgive your neighbor), not 7 times but 77 times!”

God’s guidance is consistent and clear:

 we’re to forgive the faults of our neighbors ... over and over again.

You see, if God’s mercy is without end,

then the mercy we show as His disciples must be without end too.

When Peter asked Jesus how many times he needed to forgive an offender ...

he suggested the number that signified completeness ... the number 7.

Picking up on the symbolism, Jesus no doubt shocked Peter by expanding it to ...

an extraordinary level of forgiveness of ... 77 times ... or 70 x 7 (490 times)!

In other words, Jesus was declaring that forgiveness has no bounds!

We Catholics know what it’s like to formally ask for forgiveness in Confession.

          And there to receive God’s full forgiveness … each and every time!

And Jesus expects us to do the same ...  forgiving others ... each and every time.

We’ve talked before about the need to become like God in the way we love.

Today, we’re called to become like God in the way we forgive.

For when our forgiveness is without limit, it reflects the eternal mercy of God!

A third way that we can grow in our reflection of God is by caring for others.

St. Paul announces this in our Second Reading from Romans, writing:

“None of us lives for oneself, and no one dies for oneself.”

He’s pointing out that once we’re baptized, we no longer belong to ourselves ...

but to Christ, as members of His body.

Yes, our adoption into God’s family brings us into a very big family ...

a family with many needs.

Some of those needs come as a surprise ...  like the Hurricanes that brought

great devastation in recent weeks to communities in Texas and Florida.

Many people responded with material and financial assistance ...

And I’m so proud of our Holy Spirit and St. John people ...

who provided 2 trailer loads of supplies and water ... and over $11,000 in funds!  

Thank you, thank you for your care and generosity!

Yes, some needs come unexpectedly  ... but there are many needs that we plan for.

And we strive to satisfy these needs through what’s called Catholic Charities.

Catholic Charities is the name of our Annual Diocesan Appeal for funding

 to serve the needs of many throughout the Diocese for the coming year.

Each September, we have the opportunity ...

to make a  pledge of support to Catholic Charities for next year

so as to provide tangible help and assistance ...

to others ... especially the most needy in our Diocese.

Next Sunday, we’ll have the chance to give or pledge financial support

to Catholic Charities for the calendar year 2018.

How much is needed?   Well the Diocesan Goal is over $4.3 Million dollars.

And within that our Parish goal ... based on our Parish size ... is $78,000!

Please know that together we made our goal of $75,000 for last year!

And so, I’m confident that, together, we can make our goal for this year!

The reason it’s slightly higher this year is because our Bishop is planning a Eucharistic Congress at the BJCC in June 2019 for the 50^th Anniv. of our Diocese.

Where does that money go?

Part of it will go to fund the training of our Seminarians!

We ordained 2 men to the Priesthood in June and we currently have 7 Seminarians continuing their studies to become Priests of the Diocese of Birmingham …

with the tuition totaling $30,000/ year for each of them!

While we don’t have any men from our Parish in Seminary at this time ... contributing to the education and formation of our Seminarians enables them ...

to serve the Church and quite possibly this parish in the years ahead.

Our Diocese operates 11 Catholic Centers of Concern across the northern half of the State of Alabama ... including Birmingham, Huntsville, Anniston & Tuscaloosa

Last year, we helped 36,000 people with food, clothing, prescriptions, rent and utilities! That’s about 150 people per day or 14 people per location per day!

Our Diocese funds Catholic Family Services that have their 4 main offices in Birmingham, Huntsville, Florence and Tuscaloosa.

Last year we helped 2,300 people with counseling sessions, foster care for children, assistance for unwed mothers and placement of children for adoption!

Last year we continued to offer assistance to 135 persons with intellectual and developmental disabilities with ongoing religious education and pastoral care.

It’s through Catholic  Charities that we’re able to provide Diocesan-wide support for Black and Hispanic Ministry, Campus Ministry, Evangelization activities and operate the St. John Vianney Residence for Retired Priests.

Yes, it’s through your Catholic Charities contributions that we receive the funding needed to run all of the many ministries of the Diocese for the following year.

Please don’t look at this as money given over your tithe ... but within your tithe.

Yes, I ask you to consider giving 5% of your Tithe to this Parish Church ...

     1% of your Tithe to Catholic Charities ...

        and 4% of your Tithe to the Charities of your choice.

Like you ... I give to many educational and community charities such as:

6 different Schools, 3 different Veterans Groups, 5 other Community Organizations like Habitat for Humanity and the American Cancer Society ...

6 different Pro-life Groups like the American Life League, Her Choice Birmingham and Choices Pregnancy Center here in Tuscaloosa ...

plus another 15 charities like ...

the Nashville Dominican Sisters, Mercy Home in Chicago,

Covenant House in New Orleans, and EWTN in Irondale. 

These Charities of your choice all fall within our 10% Tithe ...

          ... giving to charities is giving to God.

Realize that what we do for the least ... we actually do for the Lord ...

and the bonus is that ultimately we do it for ourselves ...

as many of the services of Charites are performed for ...

people in our Church and our Community.

For those of you who are registered in our Parish, you recently received ...

... your personal pledge card.

I hope that you will take time to pray about how you will participate in this important opportunity. I give you a little reminder in my Pastor’s Desk column in the Bulletin.

For those of you who are not registered, please take a Pledge Card and Brochure in the vestibule. You too, think and pray about this opportunity to honor God’s plan. 

Perhaps you will commit to give 1% of your income to Catholic Charities.

Perhaps some of you will choose to give more or less than that amount.

Whatever your decision, even if you decide not to give, I ask you to fill out your Pledge card accordingly and bring it to Church next week.

At the offertory, you will have the chance to bring your pledge card forward to the altar and place it in a basket as a sign of giving of your first fruits back to God.

Please give prayerful reflection to your giving decision.

God calls us to take care of our neighbors in need ...

and Catholic Charities enables us to do that in a united and powerful way.

Thank you for your past generosity!

Please join us in continuing the good work we’ve begun!

God bless you!