25th Sunday in Ordinary Time
By Deacon Dick Kostner
Today Jesus gives to us a new parable to ponder and think about. God gives to his followers the responsibility of being the body of Christ, a visible flesh and blood team of his to carry out the 11th Commandment Jesus gave us to “love as he has loved us.” His parable story tells us that one of his stewards was cheating and was caught. He was called to account for his dealings and knowing that he would lose his job he gave gifts of his master’s assets to debtors owing the master in hopes that the debtors would give him a place to stay after he lost his job. He was in a sense providing for himself and his future.
The master, instead of condemning his actions, commended the steward for acting prudently and taking action to provide for his future welfare. Once again Jesus tells us to spend our life doing things that will gain us a place to stay with him in heaven after our earthly life ends. Things that will give us a high place in heaven and a room to be proud of at the Father’s house. The responsibility is great for all of us to be good and faithful stewards of God’s heavenly assets. But why does God ask for our help in building the Kingdom of God here on earth?
I am reminded of a story that Fr. John Heagle told our Parish during a talk on Stewardship many years ago. He is the brother of Larry Heagle the song writer of the Wood Tick Song we all enjoy listening to every spring. He told the story of attending a party at his Nieces house one evening. His Niece had a young daughter and had sent her to her upstairs room to go to bed before the party started. After the party got going, the child came downstairs and told her mother she could not get to sleep and that she was afraid. The mother took her upstairs but after the third time she came down, the mother was getting impatient with her and said, “Why are you afraid? Don’t you know that God will protect you?” The child looked at her and finally said, “I know Mama that God will protect me, but sometimes you just need to have someone with ‘skin on’ to feel safe.”
God knows that as humans we sometimes need to have someone to grab a hold of, someone with skin on to give us a hug and get us through our difficulties of life. The solution was to send his son, Jesus, a divine human being, to teach us and help us get through the crosses of life. And when Jesus went up to heaven to join the Father, Jesus gave us His Church, to be the Steward for His children who need someone to grab a hold of when the crosses of life get too heavy for us to carry it alone.
Recently I had one of our Parishioners stop to thank me while I was smoking pork roasts to serve people who work at the Pavilion. She knew that I had been praying for her to come back to our parish as her attendance at Mass has been missed by our Parish family. She said, “I just can’t believe that a Deacon, would be praying for me to come back to Church!” I told her that she was missed not only by me but by other Parish members, and that I pray for all people who have left and for one reason or another not come back to join us, to give thanks at Mass, for all the gifts we have received. She thanked me again and said, “Can I ask one more question? Can I have a hug?? I told her sure, but I probably smell like smoke.” We hugged and I told her that I hope to see her at Mass at St. Paul’s soon.
As humans, we all will encounter difficulties in life but one thing is for sure, we all need to seek help from a higher power to get through difficult times. We have all witnessed and seen how suicides have sky rocketed in the last few years. And I am sure that the Church Parishes in our world have seen a drop in church attendance especially in younger adults. People need their Church, and God, a higher power, to overcome depression. Priests continue to be in short supply for many communities. Many are saying that the answer for the priest shortage is caused by priests not being allowed to marry. If you want my opinion on that I believe that priests would not be able to take on any more responsibility than what they now have. They have more than enough people to care for without adding a spouse and children to the list of people they care for. Yes, a spouse can and is support for her husband. And yes I would miss my wife keeping me proper, like telling me I have holes in my tee-shirts or that my socks don’t match, or I am getting too “heady” with my homilies, but I also know that priests already have an army of gals in any parish they serve at, that will take care of any problems pastors run into trying to be successful in their chosen vocation. I believe that’s why God gifts women with what I call extra Holy Spirit to take care of our deficiencies.
Back to the rise in suicides. Young and old alike, my take is that cell phones and Zoom will never be able to compete with or replace a good hug from a steward mentor of Christ, in helping us get through and overcome all the challenges of life. And for that I say: “Amen!”
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