Homily

Thinking about St. Nicholas, one of the ideas that comes to mind is that he was a man who knew how to give. There is the story of how he saved three daughters from a life of prostitution by his gift of gold. He also sold all of his inheritance and donated it to the poor. But he was not just a giver of material things. He had a more important treasure that he gave away freely: the teaching and the sacraments of Jesus Christ.

What happens when we talk about giving in the church? What happens? People get uptight and start thinking about money. Well, our church needs money to carry on our work and pay the bills. We all know that. But the most important donation that we make in this church is not about cash, but about the giving, the offering of ourselves to Christ our God, in prayer, in worship, in reverence, in obedience, in humility and in gratitude. The greatest gift I can give to the Lord is the gift of myself. But what happens when I give the gift of myself to the Lord?

Normally, if I give you a gift, let’s say five dollars, two things happen. I have less, because I am now five dollars poorer, and you have more because you are five dollars richer. But when we give ourselves to God something very different happens. The Lord is God. He is perfect in every way. Nothing I can do or offer to Him will make Him more than He is right now. God does not become greater because of my prayers, my worship, or my obedience to His word. Instead, I am the one who becomes more than I am right now. By giving to the Lord what is due to Him, by offering myself, I am the one who grows richer. I am the one who grows holier and comes ever closer to fulfilling my life as a human being and as a child of God.

I think there is a similar truth in family life. Unlike God, Who is perfect beyond measure, most of our family members are not. So, when we give of ourselves to them in love, honor, service, and patience, they can become richer because of our giving. They can become holier, healthier, happier, and even more fully human because of my offering. It’s not guaranteed. They are always free to choose how they want to respond, but whether they value the gifts I offer or neglect them, or even, God forbid, despise them, it does not take away from the value of the gifts of myself that I have offered to them. And, once again, even if my giving is sometimes or always shunned and abused, I still grow in holiness and human maturity by having offered it. It can be a very difficult thing to experience our offerings to family members being rejected or unappreciated. But that does not lessen their value. At the same time, let us also remember that we may have not always valued their gifts to us.

What about life in the parish? Christ calls us individually, but He has not called us just as individuals, in some kind of “me and Jesus” relationship. He has also called us to be members of His Church, His community, His congregation, His parish. It is here that He calls us together to offer ourselves, first to Him and then to one another. It’s not like we all came here today to watch a play that is happening here, up front, paying for a ticket and getting a show. It is here that when we come to pray together, when we try to serve and help one another, either through our prayers or some other kind of active help or encouragement, or even the gift of friendship, it is here that when we give of ourselves for the sake of Christ that we do not become poorer but richer. I hope you have experienced that, even if you may not have thought about it.

We are bound and united here not in natural ties of family and friendship but because of the power of the love of Christ Who has called us. He has not called us here to make us poorer. He has called us here to enrich our lives and draw us closer to Himself. We are surely imperfect people and I think we understand that it might not always be easy for other people to like us, to love us, to accept us completely just as we are. And yet, because of our willingness to sacrifice, we find ourselves overlooking many of the faults and weaknesses in other people, since we all have our own; overlooking them and forgiving them so that we can maintain and even build the bonds of unity between us in Christ. Two things have allowed this parish to grow and stand firm for the past 40 years: First, the grace of God. Second, the willingness of people to give of themselves for the sake of Christ and for the sake of one another. Those two elements together are extremely powerful. They are life-giving.

Look outside and what do you see? People increasingly calling attention to themselves, demanding that everyone accept their ideas, their viewpoints, their self-proclaimed identities, no matter how absurd, illogical or evil those things might be. More and more they threaten that there will be hell to pay if their demands are not met, and I have to say, their insistent demands that their egos be rewarded and that the claims of self-proclaimed victims be recognized are indeed paving the road to hell. Who can stand up against false claims and the idea that self-identity is all that matters?

It has to be us. It has to be us as a parish, and that parish as a part of the Church and that Church as the Body of Christ. It has to be in love and hope and faith. It has to be us standing together with one another, so that we may worship and live and love in Christ. Right now some of our unity is temporarily hampered by the virus that roams the world, but it cannot destroy it. Let us continue to offer ourselves to Christ, and to one another in this parish, because it is this giving that truly makes us rich.