Trust God and follow His Plans!

Homily originally presented on September 20, 2020

by Monsignor Deering

Trust God and follow His Plans!

Early in my career with Eastman Kodak, I worked in Product Development up in Rochester, New York where I had a fine boss by the name of Lew Mariotti.

Lew told me a few times that whenever he got overloaded and weighed down with the many pressing and urgent things that he had to do ... he would visualize himself rising up out of his desk chair and just looking down on his work from above.

He said that it helped him to see things from a more lofty perspective and

to see possibilities that he didn’t see before ... when he was so close to his work.

I’ve thought of his process several times through the years

and I’ve found it to indeed be a source of help in trying to wade through

the many challenging situations that are part of everyday life.

And, each time I use this technique, I can’t help but see a Theological dimension

... for as we rise above our desk, we gain a higher perspective for sure ...

and if we were to rise high enough, we’d have the very perspective … of God!

You know, we commonly think of God as being high up in Heaven and looking down on all of us from above ... which would indeed give Him a lofty perspective.

We get a glimpse of that when we see satellite images taken from outer space.

On the Weather Channel this past week, we saw images of Hurricane Sally,

taken from Satellites orbiting many miles above the Earth.

To the people in Gulf Shores, Sally was a huge, cataclysmic experience.

To us in West Central Alabama, who were viewing a satellite image from space,

Hurricane Sally was just a small swirling cloud on a big map!

The lofty view from above gave the same event a much different appearance!

And that’s the very message that God reveals to us in our readings today.

He wants us to understand that ... His ways ... are way above ... our ways …

In our First Reading today from Isaiah, God says,

“As high as the heavens are above the earth,

so high are my ways above your ways and my thoughts above your thoughts.”

God sees the Big Picture. He sees things from an eternal perspective. We do not.

We live in a world of space and time and our intellect is limited.

God is not bounded by space and time and His intellect is unlimited!

We will never fully comprehend the wisdom and mind of God.

And that’s ok. All we have to do is trust in His great love for us ...

and follow the wisdom that He has revealed and wants to reveal to us.

We see a powerful example of this in the life of St. Paul who had so completely embraced the love and wisdom of God that he declares today:

“For to me life is Christ, and death is gain.”

Wow! Those are incredible words.

They show that Paul clearly understood that God is God and he was not.

And with that understanding, Paul was ready to fully entrust himself to God’s plans.

And one of God’s many plans that we may not see the wisdom of ...

from our place here on earth ... is God’s plan

for how we serve and support our parish and diocesan Church family.

God revealed His plan very early in history ... in fact it was right after

He created Adam and Eve and they brought about the first family.

God instructed them to offer Him the first tenth of the fruits of their labor.

This was to be consecrated to the Lord and used for religious purposes.

God called His Plan ... Tithing. It’s spoken of 46 times in the Scriptures.

For example, the Prophet Malachi emphasized the importance of Tithing

when he told the people that they robbed God when they withheld their tithes!

To this day, nothing has changed. God’s plan is still in place.

He still expects us to offer Him the first fruits of our labor ...

specifically ... a tithe ... which means 1/10 of our income.

I preached on this at the start of the year.

It was probably a gentle reminder to some ... and new news to others.

It’s one of God’s Plans ... where we might not see the wisdom of it ...

when we’re seated at our desk ... paying our bills.

Rather it’s one of God’s Plans ...

where we need to trust in God’s lofty perspective from above ...

and follow the Plan for our own good & the good of all His Church.

I wrote a brief review of God’s Plan of Tithing in today’s Sunday Bulletin.

I point out that it has a 2-fold purpose:

#1. Tithing is a way of thanking God for His many blessings.

#2. Tithing is the way of sustaining our Church (local, regional and worldwide)

I also describe how the Catholic Church suggests we follow God’s Plan of Tithing.

give 5% of your income to this Parish
give 1% of your income to the Diocese (through Catholic Charities)
give 4% of your income to the Charities of your choice

That adds up to a total of 10% of your income given to God in various ways.

Converts coming into the Catholic Church from the Protestant Church will notice this difference: Many Protestant Churches ask for 10% be given to their church, meaning that any other charitable giving would be over and above that amount.

The Catholic Church asks for half of the Tithe, 5%, to be given to the local church and the other 5% be given to the charities you choose.

Many of us give to Charities.

So following the Catholic Guideline gives you the freedom to continue to give to them and counting your support as part of your Tithe.

I have some 40 different Charities that I give financial support to;

I group them into 4 Categories:

Schools:

I give to my Seminary, Notre Dame Seminary, my Catholic High School, Notre Dame High in Chicago, Holy Spirit School, St. Bernard High School, and others.

Community:

I give to the American Cancer Society, Habitat for Humanity,

Veterans of Foreign Wars, Disabled American Vets, Paralyzed Vets and others

Pro-Life:

I give to American Life League, 40 Days for Life, March for Life,

Human Life International, Priests for Life, Students for Life, and others.

Religious:

Archdiocese of the Military, Benedictine Sisters in Cullman, Dominican Sisters of Nashville, Dominican Sisters of Michigan, Covenant House, EWTN, Franciscan Friars of the Eternal Word, FOCUS campus Ministry,

Salvation Army and others.

I’m sure you have your favorite Charities that you give to.

But what exactly is “Catholic Charities”?

It is the Diocesan Umbrella Organization that governs the successful operation of 56 agencies within the Diocese of Birmingham (the northern half of the State of Alabama)

It includes 6 Catholic Centers of Concern such as we operate right across the street that assists the poor and needy with food, clothing, furniture, diapers, medicine, and assists on the payment of bills such as rent, power and gas.

It includes 3 Catholic Family Services locations that assist people with counseling and other family services such as adopting children.

Here are a few more valuable apostolates and ministries that receive financial support with funding from Catholic Charities:

Black Catholic Ministry

Campus Ministry

Catholic Schools Office

Deacon Formation

Hispanic Ministry

Nazareth House for those with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

Religious Education

St. John Vianney Residence for Retired Priests

Youth Ministry

Vocations Office (9 men in studies right now)

Please recognize the local impact of your pledge.

Your contributions will be used to fund programs throughout the Diocese,

that often times end up right here in the Tuscaloosa/ Northport area.

Some of this money may go toward serving some of our Parishioners … like you!

For those of you who are registered in our Parish, you should have received your personal pledge card and a brochure in the mail last week. I hope that you will take time to pray about how you will participate in this important opportunity.

For those of you who are not registered, please take a Pledge Card and Brochure in the vestibule. Think about and pray about this opportunity.

Perhaps you will decide to 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, please fill out your Pledge card and do one of three things:

Make your pledge on the Diocese of Birmingham Web Site.

you can choose to make full or partial payment or be billed monthly next year.

Mail your Pledge card to the Diocese and you can include full or partial payment

Bring your Pledge card to Mass next week and place it in the Collection Basket.

We simply couldn’t run our Diocese without Catholic Charities!

Remember, no gift is too small – when given from the heart!

And realize that charitable deductions are one of the few remaining deductions that we can use to reduce our taxes if we choose to itemize.

No payments are needed at this time, unless you’d like to contribute now.

Monthly payments can be made beginning in January and ending in December, and reminders will be mailed out.

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