Homily originally presented on August 25, 2019

It pays to know the Lord!

There was a guy named Mike who made it his business to know a lot of people. And he did such a good job ... that it seemed everybody knew him.

One day Mike’s friend, Bob, said to him, “You seem to know a lot of people.

But I bet don’t know the Governor of Alabama.”

Mike said, “Well it just so happens I do.”

Bob bet Mike $100 to prove it. So they drove down to the Governor’s mansion in Montgomery and sure enough, when Governor Kay Ivey came to the door, she gave Mike a warm greeting & they immediately began to ask about each other’s family.

Well Bob was quite amazed at this and said,

“That’s pretty good, but I bet don’t know the President of the United States.”

Mike said he certainly did.   And Bob bet Mike $500 to prove it.

So off they went to Washington D.C. After clearing security at the White House, they were led into a private office where, sure enough,

President Trump stopped in between meetings to spend a few minutes with Mike.

Well, Bob was beside himself with amazement and said,

“Here’s $1000 that says you don’t know the Pope.” 

Mike said, “Well it just so happens that I do.”

So they both flew to Rome and were soon standing on the plaza out in front of the Vatican. Mike says to Bob,

“You wait here while I go in to see if we can have a few minutes with the Pope.”

About 10 minutes later, Bob sees Mike and Pope Francis come out onto the balcony overlooking the plaza arm in arm chatting with each other and Mike waves to Bob. Well, this is all too much for Bob and he proceeds to faint right there on the plaza.

Moments later, Bob is brought back to consciousness by a fellow tourist that saw him faint. The tourist asks, “Hey mister are you all right?”

Bob says, “Yeah, I’ll be all right.”

Then Bob says to the tourist,

“Hey, you see those two guys up on the balcony, do you know them?”

The tourist looks toward the balcony and says, “Well I know one of ‘em. ….

That’s Mike; I don’t know who the heck the other guy is!”

How’s that for being well known? It seems that everybody knew Mike, the Governor, the President, the Pope and even a Tourist! They all knew Mike.

There’s tremendous power in being well known.

As you could see from our story, it even pays to be well known. Our friend Mike won $100, $500, and $1,000 from Bob because he knew important people.

Well, there’s one person in particular that all of us should get to know …

and that’s Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Knowing Jesus on a personal basis is sure to pay off for us ... big time.

In our Gospel today, Jesus warns us, that there will be those left standing outside

the doors to the Kingdom of Heaven expecting to come in ... only to be told,

“(Away from me); I do not know where you are from!”

What could be more painful ... than to hear those words directed to you?

On one hand, Our Lord certainly does know where you’re from in that He created you and He knows your every thought and action. But what Jesus is referring to here is the degree to which you’ve gotten to know Him ...

and have successfully established a living and loving relationship with Him.

You see, really getting to know the Lord doesn’t happen the minute you’re baptized.

Baptism is the launching pad that puts you in a right relationship with the Father. After that ... you have to freely participate in ... a lifelong process of ...

    really getting to know and building your friendship with your brother, Jesus.

It’s not about just showing up at Mass and fulfilling your Sunday obligation.

It’s about coming to Mass with the intention of giving praise and worship to God. It’s about bringing an open heart and mind so that the Holy Spirit can enter in ...

and empower you and guide you to build your friendship with Jesus.  

As a Priest, I never refer to myself as saying Mass.

    Rather, I speak of myself as praying Mass.

There’s a difference ... subtle but profound between “saying” and “praying”.

Praying signals that there’s meaning and intentionality to what I’m doing.

There’s a similar difference between saying the rosary and praying the rosary.

It’s not just about “what” you’re doing ... it’s about “why” you’re doing it!

Is the time you invest in prayer mechanical or intentional ... dry or heartfelt?  

When you finish Prayer or The Mass ... do you feel empty or enriched?

A lot depends on whether you went to prayer or came to Mass with an intention.

Was your intention to build your relationship and friendship with Jesus?

Did you look forward to this time and then later revel in having had that time?

Just think what your demeanor would be if you were going out tonight

 to meet your best friend.

You’d have happy anticipation about being able to pour out your heart to them

and ... listen to everything your best friend had to share with you.

Well, realize that Jesus is the Best Friend you’ll ever have,

and you get to meet Him every time you go to prayer ... but most especially

when you come to pray the Holy Mass and receive Him in Holy Communion.

Coming to Mass is no time for casualness or for being numbed by routine.

This is privileged time to be in intimate communion with Jesus, your Redeemer!

You see, the people in today’s parable were right when they said ...

 they ate and drank in the Master’s presence and watched Him teach in their streets.

But you see, they never opened their hearts to really connect with the Lord

and have a meaningful relationship with Him.

And what were the consequences?

The Gospel says that those who were not known by the Lord were kept outside the Master’s House.            Here, Jesus speaks to us of separation!

Let me give you an example of how painful “separation” can be.

In the early 1980’s, a good friend of mine, who had a 2-yr old daughter, excitedly shared with me a new method of disciplining children. It was called “1, 2, 3 Magic”!

Here’s how it worked. When you caught your child acting badly, you corrected them and told them, “That’ 1!” If they persisted in their bad behavior, you corrected them again and said, “That’s 2!” If the child persisted with their misbehavior yet again, you told them “That’s 3!” This signaled that they needed to take a “Time-Out” which meant that they had to go off and stand by themselves in the corner for 10 minutes.             That’s where the Magic takes place!

Never have I witnessed more intense crying and seen more tears

than when a child is told to take a “Time Out”.

Why?    It's because the feeling of being separated is so awful.

Without even laying a hand on the child, they experience the very real pain of being separated from your love and attention and it hurts them so much

that it moves them to change their behavior

so that they won’t have to go through that discomfort again!

And that occurs in just 10 minutes.

Can you imagine the agony if that separation were to go on longer?

Well, that’s exactly what Our Lord is referring to in the Gospel when He says that

those who are not allowed into the Kingdom ... will be left outside ...

where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth. 

I’ve often thought that even if there were no fire in Purgatory or Hell, the misery of being separated ... from those that we loved would itself be unbearable.

Jesus links the pain even to missing our forefathers saying,

“There will be wailing and grinding of teeth when you see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God and you yourself cast out.”

While that would be pretty bad, how about being separated from people that you personally knew: your Mom, your Dad, your Husband, your Wife your Children?

How about being separated from Love Itself ... Who is God? And then consider that that separation won’t be for just a few minutes, but possibly for forever.

And you can easily see why there will be much wailing and grinding of teeth.

Jesus tells us that many will try to enter through the narrow gate of Heaven.  If you’ve ever flown on an airplane you experienced what it’s like waiting at the Gate.

Once they announce that boarding will begin, everyone stands at the same time and tries to get on at once. But there’s only one ticket agent

and he requires the proper boarding pass to get by.

The only “Boarding Pass” that will get us into the Gates of Heaven ...

is having a living and loving relationship with Jesus Christ.

Do you have that?    Would Jesus recognize you standing alongside the Pope?

Why do you think that God wants you to get to know Him?

Well, have you ever heard the phrase,    “To know Him is to love Him?”

It’s a saying we use to encourage people to want to meet someone special, so it definitely applies to God. Because once you even begin to know Him and experience His friendship ... you’ll fall in love with Him ... and live in relationship with Him

which will prepare you to enter into everlasting union with Him in Heaven.

In our pre-Gospel Alleluia today, we heard Jesus declare,

“I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father except through me.”

Jesus is the Narrow Gate and you have to know Him to get thru.  

Remember the popular guy Mike, in our opening story ... there are rewards for knowing others. And the greatest reward of all comes from knowing ...

our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.