Choosing to Tithe is following God’s law!
Homily preached February 12, 2023
by Monsignor Michael Deering

Tell me if any of these statements sound familiar.

Unless you finish all the vegetables on your plate … there’ll be no TV tonight.

Unless you do all your homework … you won’t be playing any video games later.

Unless you clean your room … you’re not going out to play with your friends.

If you’re a parent, you’ve probably said those words to your kids …

and quite likely ... you heard those same words ... from your parents.

Yes, through your life,  you’ve probably heard these or similar statements from

your parents ... or your teachers ... or your coaches.

These type of statements are called “conditional” statements.

That means that a certain desired outcome is only available …

on the condition that some other activity is performed first.

Adults hear conditional statements too!

For example, potential employers will say:

Unless you have a college education & pass a drug test,

you can’t work for us.

And we hear the Church say:

Unless you complete Child Protection Training,

you cannot be with our kids on retreat.

And we hear the Government say:

Unless you have a valid Drivers License, Car Tag and Liability Insurance,

you cannot drive a car.

And today we hear Jesus say:

“Unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees,

you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.”

Wow!    That’s some conditional statement!

“Unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees,

you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.”

Hopefully that got your attention!  That consequence is way more than missing out   

  on watching TV ... or playing a Video Game ... or playing with your friends!

The desire impressed in the heart of every person is the desire to go to Heaven.

The smallest of children will tell you ... that they want to go to Heaven.

God has hardwired us to want to be with Him forever and Heaven is where He is.

So for Jesus to declare that unless such and such is done,

    you’re going to miss out on going to heaven …,

we should be anxious to know and then fulfill whatever condition is required!

Is getting to Heaven worth the effort?

Well, what is Heaven like?

St. Paul tells us in our Second Reading, stating:

“Eye has not seen, ear has not heard, (nor has it even) entered the human heart,

what God has prepared for those who love him.”

Heaven is like something we’ve never seen.

Heaven is above everything we’ve ever heard.

The design of Heaven is way beyond what our human mind & heart can consider.

Yet, this surpassing reward, called Heaven, can be ours if we let God guide us there.

It’s important to note that while God offers us the reward of Heaven,

     He doesn’t force us to go.

No, God always respects the great gift He’s given to us; the gift of our Free Will.

          To every decision ... we have the freedom to say Yes or No.

God doesn’t force us ... He invites us.

And He delights when we freely choose ...

to accept His invitations and obey His guidelines.

We heard several of God’s guidelines today (do not kill, commit adultery, bear false witness)

and today, I’d like to focus on another very important one.

It has to do with giving thanks to God in a tangible and very effective way.

God has spoken of this Guideline 46 times in the Bible. The Guideline is Tithing.

The first time was right after Adam & Eve were thrown out of the Garden of Eden

and their children, Cain and Able, had to labor for their food,

God commanded Cain, the farmer, to give Him the first fruits of his harvest ...

  and He commanded Able, the rancher, to give him the firstlings of his flock.

As we know, God looked with favor on the offering that Abel made ...

       but God did not look with favor on the offering that Cain made.          Why?

Because Able offered God ...  one of the best animals of his flock ...

whereas Cain offered God ... second best fruits from his fields.

It did not end well for Cain for in his jealousy & resentment, he sinned gravely ... by killing his brother, Able ... and was banished to become a restless wanderer.

Through the years, God continues to call people to give Him the first fruits of their labors and He quantified it by calling man’s offering “a Tithe” meaning Tenth.

With the building of God’s Temple in Jerusalem in 1000 BC ...

 the full meaning of God’s call for mankind to Tithe became clear!

Not only would Tithes be:

the tangible sign of the people’s gratitude for their livelihood,

Tithes would actually provide the funding needed to maintain the Temple!

This 2-fold Plan of God continues in effect to this very day!

You see, we have a most beautiful Temple right here in Tuscaloosa ...

Holy Spirit Church ... and it needs to be maintained ...

and ... attending it are some 1200 Families ... that need to be cared for.

This takes money!

Yes, just like maintaining the house you live in ... takes money ...

so too ... maintaining the house you worship in ... takes money.

And God has given us the perfect plan to insure a steady stream of money ...

it involves every person giving 10% of their income to God ... with

5% given to the Parish Church ... and 5% given to the charities of your choice. 

All Employers and Charities are required by law to send out statements of wages received and gifts given by the end of the month of January.

I have now received all of mine ... and hopefully you’ve received all of yours.

Now we can begin to prepare and file our State and Federal Income Tax forms.

Once you do this, you will know the Gross Income that you received in 2022.

Which is why I choose to preach God’s Plan of Tithing to you in February.

You see, once you know the total income you received last year ...

you can use that number to establish your giving to this Church this year.

My hope and desire is that you will choose to give ...

at least 5% of last year’s income ... to this Church during the year!

Here’s why: not only

• will you be following God’s Plan, and showing gratitude for having
• you’ll be helping this church to stay Open and

In the Bulletin, you’ll find a 1-Page Summary of our Church Finances.

It lists the Church’s Income and Expenses for all of last year (2022).

And it shows that ... thanks to the generosity of many parishioners ...

our income was sufficient to pay all our expenses!

To understand how great that is ... recall the Summary Statement you received for

          our last normal year before COVID ... the year 2019 ...

showed that our income was insufficient to pay all our expenses!

Yes, 3 years ago, we were $100,000 in the red on a smaller budget!

But last year, we were $100,000 in the black on a bigger budget!

Thanks be to God ... and thanks be to those of you who are tithing!

Yes, we want to operate in the black so that we can meet our growing needs:

these include maintaining and expanding our Beautiful Church

and caring for the needs of our growing number of Families.

We have enough people ...

What we need is more people giving their first fruits to the Church.

It’s Gods command to Tithe ... and like Him, I can’t force you to tithe.

Both He and I respect your Free Will ... praying that you’ll choose wisely

The Prophet Sirach states this today writing:

If you choose you can keep the commandments, they will save you,

if you trust in God, you too shall live.

And we expressed the truth of this in our beautiful Psalm where we sang 5 times:   “Blessed are they who follow the law of the Lord!”

verse 2:        “You have commanded that your precepts be diligently kept.

        Oh, that I might be firm in the ways of keeping your statutes!”

Between our English Speaking and Spanish Speaking families ...

we have 1,200 families in our Parish.

If we use the amount, $30,000 a year, as the average income for all 1,200 families

5% of that income would bring in $1,800,000 to our Church.

which would be twice the income we received last year.

I implore you ... to Tithe your income to God ...

with at least half of your 10% Tithe ... going to our Parish Church.

Now, those who are just entering the work world after college, and

those who have just gotten married ...

knowing the goal of your giving, ramp up to it as you adapt to your new situation.

And teach your children to get in the habit of giving to the Church too!

Please do pick up a copy of our Weekly Bulletin

and take a look at the enclosed “Financial Summary” for our Parish

and read my Pastor’s Desk for more information on the importance of Tithing.

If you are currently Tithing, I sincerely thank you and ask you to continue.

If you’re not currently Tithing, I implore you to begin.

Remember the words of Sirach ...

“Blessed are they who follow the law of the Lord!”