Will you entrust your Salvation to Skill or Chance?
Homily preached Sunday, July 2, 2023
by Monsignor Michael Deering
What kind of games do you like to play … games of skill or games of chance?
For example, if you go into a Casino, you’ll find games such as Poker & Blackjack. Those games require a level of skill to play.
A person who studies those games and has a good memory has a pretty good chance of beating the house and being a winner. Those are games of skill.
A Casino also has games like Craps and Roulette and Slot Machines. No skill is required to play. You see, no matter how carefully you roll the dice or spin the Roulette wheel or pull the Slot Machine lever ... the numbers that come up ...
that determine whether you win or lose ... come up in a purely random way.
Your role on the outcome is minimal. Those are games of chance.
I myself have always preferred playing games that involved more skill than chance.
For example, years ago, I spent countless quarters playing arcade games such as Pac-man, Asteroids, Centipede and Space Invaders. I was drawn to these games
because my score was based on the skill that I developed for playing them.
Winning wasn’t based on luck ... I played an important part in my success.
Moreover, those arcade games promised a nice reward if you played them well.
In Pac-man, each time you cleared a screen successfully, you were given the chance to play through another screen of slightly higher difficulty, on and on, until you made it through all 12 different screens. If you were good at Pac-Man, your reward was getting to play this game for something like 20 minutes on one quarter!
In the same way, once you became proficient at playing Asteroids or Space Invaders, you were rewarded with additional playing time, and you could go
on and on playing these games for quite a while ... for the cost of a quarter.
Fast forward to the early 2000’s, I remember taking my nephew, Fr. Charles, when he was age 11, out to play the arcade games at Chuck-E Cheeses, and I was disappointed to find that none of my favorite games from years ago were there.
They had all been replaced by new games .... that cost 4 quarters to play ... and
they all carried a high level of chance ... and they offered no reward for success!
I quickly lost interest in playing those games.
The conditions for playing & the rewards for winning just weren’t attractive to me.
You know, virtually everything that we do or don’t’ do ...
is based on our perception of ...
the conditions and the rewards involved.
For Example, When you try to decide:
- should I study hard in school or not? Your decision will be based on:
- the conditions needed for success and the rewards promised for winning.
- should I play sports or not? (practices, training, time, travel ... letter, scholarship)
- what kind of summer job should I get? (full time, part time, hours... pay, benefits)
- what kind of college degree should I go after? (difficulty, hours ... position, pay)
In each of these decisions, it all comes down to our understanding of the conditions that must be met and the rewards that are available for those endeavors.
Using this process, we come to recognize... what’s involved in playing and winning
... the game that everyone plays … the Game of Life.
It’s here that we need to be real clear on the conditions and the rewards involved.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus lays out the conditions and the rewards associated with
playing and winning the Game of life! He speaks of three Conditions.
The First Condition He gives is that nothing can ever rise above our love for God.
Jesus says,
“Whoever loves father or mother, son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.”
Think of that!
Think of how strong our feelings of love are for our family members ...
and yet, Jesus says that our love for God must be even greater than that!
Can you honestly admit to that? Is your love for God greater than ...
your love for your spouse, your children and your parents?
Well, that’s the first condition for being successful in the game of life ...
that we love God ... above all else.
The Second Condition He gives involves carrying our crosses and following Him.
Jesus says,
“Whoever does not take up his cross and follow after me is not worthy of Me.”
Each of us has our own crosses to bear in this life. They might be physical, mental, or spiritual crosses. And there’s a natural tendency to want to run from our crosses … we want so badly to be happy and healthy and have things go our way.
Can you honestly say that you’re striving to carry the crosses you’ve encountered
while striving to follow after Jesus?
Well, that’s the second condition for being successful in the game of life...
The Third Condition involves receiving others with kindness and care.
Jesus says,
“Whoever receives you ... or a prophet ... or a righteous man ... or a child ...
will surely not lose his reward.”
Can you honestly say that you treat others ...
people you know ... and people you don’t know ... with kindness and care?
Well, that’s the third condition for being successful in the game of life.
So, you can see ... from these Three Conditions ... that success in the Game of Life
... does not come by chance ... but by playing with skill and determination.
Life is not a slot machine where you just pull the lever and hope for the best.
Life is this great adventure where we get to grow in love for God and others ...
with the assurance of receiving the best prize ever ... the Prize of Heaven!
This is truly the kind of game that I like to play ...
one that is based not on chance ... but on my participation ... and
one that offers an attractive reward.
For those who follow the Three Conditions for Christian Discipleship,
Jesus promises,
“Amen, I say to you, (you) will surely not lose (your) reward.”
We heard a fine example of this in our First Reading from 2nd Kings ...
where after a Shunemite woman showed repeated hospitality to Prophet Elisha,
God bestowed a great favor upon her … promising this barren woman
that she would soon bear a son. What a wonderful reward for her loving actions.
Do you like to be rewarded for the things you do? I certainly do.
Even when it comes to playing games ... I prefer to play ones ...
where my skill can make a difference and where the rewards are worthwhile.
What’s the reward for playing the Game of Life well? Heaven!
God’s reward for loving Him and following His Son is Eternal Life in Heaven.
There’s no other game in the world that offers that kind of reward.
There’s no other reward that even comes close.
So, the question to ask yourself is: “Where am I going to be 100 years from now?”
Will you be in possession of the Prize of Heaven or not?
Realize, the Game of Life has begun and ... you’re in the game.
This is not some arcade game that you can just walk away from.
No, you’ve already played a number of screens over the years of your life ... and the idea is to keep playing ... with ever increasing skill and determination.
Are you going to use all your skill to achieve the reward of Heaven,
or are you going to leave your arrival in Heaven up to chance?
Just as you increase the odds of success in playing arcade games ...
with study and practice ...
You similarly increase your odds of success in playing the Game of Life
with study and practice ...
namely ... study of the Bible ... and practice of the Faith!
This is one reason why we faithfully gather together each Sunday ...
to study the word of God ... so we can ...
go out into the world and put Faith into practice in our daily lives.
Heaven is not attained by ... “the roll of the dice” ... or “the luck of the draw”!
Heaven is attained by skill ... not by chance.
You and I play an important part in winning the Game of Life.
Remember the conditions for success:
- we must keep God number one in our lives
- we must take up our cross and follow Jesus every day ... and
- we must treat others with kindness and care.
Knowing these conditions for success ...
let’s pray for the determination to fulfill them.
The reward is way beyond our wildest imaginings …
way beyond making it to the 12th screen of Pac-man ...
or getting to play Space Invaders for another 20 minutes.
Winning the Prize of Heaven means experiencing supreme happiness ...
where the playing time ... never ends!
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