Homily

For almost all of this week, there has been a word that seems to be stuck in my head and showing up around me again and again. That word is "materialism." How would you answer if people asked you the question: "Are you materialistic?" Of course the short answer we'd all like to give is, "Absolutely not! I am not materialistic!" But first it would be important to find out what it means to say that a person is materialistic.

Probably for most of us materialism is about placing an improper value on material things, an attitude where people are very concerned about getting wealthy or at least financially better off, people who are greedy to one degree or another and who invest themselves into a way of living where they can enjoy the maximum amount of goods, comforts and easy living maybe even better than what priests can achieve. That's probably the first definition that comes to most people's minds. Think of the Rich Young Man who couldn't give up his goods and follow Jesus even if it would mean perfecting his life—Materialism.

But that's not the type of materialism that has been on my mind this week. It's not the materialism that is stuck on material goods, but rather, looking at it from the other side of the coin, it's a materialism that has no place for God or spiritual values in daily life. Faith does not play any significant role, and more accurately perhaps, doesn't even find ANY role, any place, or have any voice in the daily affairs of these materialistic people. They may not deny God, in fact I'm sure most of them would say that they believe in God according to one fashion or another. It is not the materialism of atheists who believe there is nothing outside of the material, physical universe. It's the materialism of people who have no need for God, or know nothing about God, or find no place for God in their regular, daily lives. They may be fine with trying to get a priest to do a baptism, or a marriage, or want a priest to anoint them when they or a relative are sick. They may believe in God, but He's just not that important in the way they conduct their lives. Quite frankly they tend to view God as a service provider. When your cable is not working, you call Comcast, if you need a wedding done you call the church. I get called to Sacred Heart every once and a while to go and anoint someone and nine times out of ten when I ask the family what parish they belong to, the answer is, "We used to go to ________." If we started a parish and named it, "St. We Used To Go To," we would have to rent out Matthew Knight Arena for services.

Why do so many people, even people who we know, live with so very little faith, if any faith at all? Well there are lots of causes and reasons I am sure but I'm just going to mention one area that I think is important. As a nation, as a people, we are very, very comfortable, especially if you compare us with most of the world. Now there's nothing wrong with being comfortable and we should surely thank God for all the comfort we have—but there are certain dangers that accompany comfort. People who live lives of poverty and hunger, filled with illnesses and maybe warfare and oppressive governments—such people hope for days when they might be comfortable, and if they find some comfortable times, they know it will not last for too long. But people who are comfortable, well-fed and clothed and enjoy freedom such as we have—such people are tempted to believe that comfort is their right, and they are very concerned about anything that might diminish their comfort. And, I think it is a very strange thing but very much a sign of our fallen natures that no matter how comfortable we might be, we're always tempted to want even more comfort. That's where the problem can begin. The time and effort that can be put into staying comfortable and even becoming more comfortable is meant to satisfy a hunger that exists within every human heart. But that hunger is not a desire for more and better things, or for satisfying our emotions and our passions. That hunger comes from our need to be spiritually satisfied, it is the cry of our souls to connect with our Maker and realize that we are more than just flesh and bones passing a brief time on planet Earth. We are spiritual creatures, not products of DNA design.

But when people set their highest priority as being comfortable, their greatest goal as becoming more comfortable and their greatest fear is losing that comfort, there naturally will be little time or desire to seek out what will satisfy the soul, and a life of comfort and pleasure becomes the greatest attraction. There is no time for God, there is no need for God, and especially not for any moral law that might stand in the way of my getting what I want. They become more and more closed to others and more and more focused on themselves. The desire for the comfort of our bodies and our passions, at the expense of true comfort for our souls, has led to tremendous changes in the way we see ourselves, our families, our marriages, our neighbors and the purpose of our existence on this planet. When this desire overtakes the care of our spiritual lives, it will only lead to every sort of danger, corruption, degradation and inhumane violence. Our society today is not in such a wretched state because everyone wants to be bad. But without God how can we know what is good? Without Christ how can we find the strength to be good?

When I Googled the word "material," one of the top selections suggested was, "Material Girl," that song of 30 years ago with the refrain, "You know that we are living in a material world, and I am a material girl." That was a huge hit for the now elderly pop-star, Madonna. But we celebrate today the birth of another Madonna, who was not a material girl but a daughter of God, and though she lived in this material world, she prized her citizenship and placed her hope in a kingdom that will never end. I beg her intercession today for all of us that we may never be harmed or lost by placing our hopes in this material world, but rather may we continue to become the people who, like Mary, delight in saying, "My soul extols the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior."