The Scales of Giving!

Homily given by Monsignor Michael Deering
September 18, 2022

This past week, my State Farm Insurance Agent described a situation that

car insurance companies battle all the time that I didn’t know even existed.

It’s where people open an insurance policy on their car that includes liability coverage ... just to be able to show the Department of Motor Vehicles they have the required coverage that let’s them get their Annual Sticker for their Car Tag ...

And then, once they have their Tag for the year, they cancel their insurance and drive their car without ... liability insurance.

This creates a paperwork and billing nightmare for the Insurance Company.

And if there’s an accident, it creates a nightmare for those who are hurt ...

as there is no insurance funding to assist them in their medical care.

This is a case of cheating and stealing.

Both are offenses against the moral Law of God ...

    as God clearly declared in His 7^th Commandment:   “You shall not steal.”

This is similar to the sin that the Prophet Amos is chastising the people for in our First Reading today.    He accuses the people of “fixing their scales for cheating.”

And Amos was calling them to stop it by reminding them that God sees everything … that He sees their every misdeed ... and that ...

another scale is going to be used against them … the scale of Divine Justice!

People who secretly cheat their neighbor may be able to pull the wool over their eyes at the time, but the day will come when all the misdeeds they’ve done in this life will be placed into God’s scale and then they’ll see how wrong their actions were in God’s eyes.   God warns, “Never will I forget a thing they have done.”

Yes, the opportunity to cheat is still with us today.

How else do people cheat?

People cheat on their company expenses. (talk about biting the hand that feeds you!)

(putting down more than they’ve spent for food, lodging or travel.)

People cheat on their income taxes. (putting down less than they made or claiming

                                                          more deductions than they really deserve)

People cheat by misrepresenting the true condition of things … selling used goods as new, or damaged goods as ok, or turning back the speedometer on vehicles.

Well, any gain that they receive will be short term. And their dishonest act

will be placed on the wrong side of God’s scale of Justice!

Our God is all good and all just and he wants us His creatures to demonstrate

His goodness and His justice in everything.

Cheating is unacceptable to God because He treated us more than fairly …

when He paid the full price of Redemption for all of us.

Yes, all of us were ransomed from death … we were purchased by God …

and at a Huge Price … nothing less than the Blood of His Only Begotten Son!

Paul reminds us of this in our Second Reading from First Timothy when he writes

“the man, Christ Jesus, gave himself as ransom for all.”

You see there was no way that any man could balance the scales for the offenses that man committed against God. It took the God-man, Jesus Christ, to pay the full price for our sins … by offering Himself up to death … for our salvation.

So, God didn’t cheat us … He paid the full price of our redemption.

And so He doesn’t want us to cheat any of our neighbors.

And … He certainly doesn’t want us ... to cheat Him!

In our Gospel today, Jesus calls us to think about this.

He says:

If you’re going to be dishonest with the passing wealth of this world,

How could you ever expect to be worthy to have the true wealth of heaven?

It’s clear that there are many ways to cheat our neighbor.

But you might ask, how does anyone cheat God?

Well, it’s right there in the Book of Malachi where God says,

“Dare a man rob God.    Yet you are robbing me!

How you ask … In tithes and in offerings.

Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house!

How do we rob God?     By not paying tithes on our income!

The word tithe means “tenth” ... it’s the amount of our income we are to give God.

Tithing is mentioned 46 times in the Bible … as God’s measure that all people are to give back to Him ... it’s the first tenth of their food, their flocks and their funds!

How do we give 10% of our income to God?

We do it by giving it to His Church.

By giving 10% of our income to the Church ... we’re reminded that ...

everything we have is from God.

And so ... tithing is a sign of our gratitude to Him.

And secondly, our giving to the church is the way that the Church sustains itself

and ... is able to help the less fortunate in their need.

Each and every day people come to the Church looking for assistance.

• they may need money to pay ... part of their rent or a utility bill.
• they may be need of food or clothing or furniture or lodging.
• They may require care or medicine or diapers for a child.
• They may need counseling to work through difficult family situations.

These are just some of the requests that come to the Church.

And all of us can play a part in helping with these situations. Here’s how:

Each year in mid-September ... we are invited to make a pledge of support

to the Diocese of Birmingham’s Catholic Charities & Communities for next year.  

This enables us 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 the Catholic Charities and Communities Annual Appeal for the calendar year 2023.

The 2023 goal for our Holy Spirit parish family is $ 115,000.

The 2023 goal for our whole Diocese of 50 parish families is $4.6M.

Thanks to you ... we make both goals every year!

Yes, and in the last 5 years, we were the first Parish out of 50 to make our goal!

Thank you for your past and your future generosity.   I’m so proud of you!

Please continue to favor our Parish and our Diocese with your financial support. 

Where does that money go?

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

We currently have 14 Seminarians studying to become Priests of the Diocese of Birmingham … with the tuition totaling $30,000/ year for each of them!

We currently have 25 men studying to become Deacons of our Diocese ... with monthly instruction, food and lodging being provided. 

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 38,600 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 the St. John Vianney Residence for Retired Priests.

Realize that Catholic Charities is actually our Annual Diocesan Appeal.

It’s not simply a Second Collection like we have during the year for special groups.

No, this is a most important Appeal ... the Diocese couldn’t operate without it!

Just as we pay taxes for the operation of the different levels of ...

City, County, State and Federal Government,

So too, monies are needed for the operation of the different levels of ...

each Parish Church and the union of 50 Parishes & 26 Schools of the Diocese

For 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 ... Holy Spirit Church ... for the running of our Parish

1% of your Tithe to ... Catholic Charities ... for the running of our Diocese, 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,

8 different Pro-life Groups like Choices Pregnancy Center here in Tuscaloosa ... plus 20 other 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 your 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 Catholic Charites are performed for ...

people in our own Church and in our own Community.

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

 your personal pledge card in the mail 2 weeks ago.

Please take time to pray about how you’ll participate in this important Appeal.

I put a little reminder in my Pastor’s Desk column in the Bulletin ...

where I suggest that the word TITHING could be an Acronym for:

Transferring Income To Him In Never-ending Gratitude.

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.

Trust God in His plan of tithing. He calls us to give back to Him the first fruits of our labors. And we know that if we do, God will never be outdone in generosity!

Remember, God didn’t cheat us … He paid full price for our Redemption!

So, let’s not cheat God out of His due!           He asks for 10% of our income.

Let’s give him His Tithe with gratitude and designate 1% of it ... to

Catholic Charities and Communities.

Thank you and God bless you!