Homily

I think it’s true that our country suffers from a huge addiction to materialism. I think for most people materialism is about placing an improper value on material things, an attitude where people are very concerned about getting wealthy or at least being financially better off. It’s about living lives that put a huge value on money and goods. And that is indeed a good definition of materialism.

But I would like to talk about it in a different way today. 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 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 find they have little need for God, no substantial 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, and they may want a priest to anoint their sick relative. 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 Hospital every once and a while to go and anoint someone who is near death, 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," it would be the largest parish in the county.

Why do so many people, even people who we know, live with so very little faith, if any faith at all? Well certainly 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 packaging.

But when people set their highest priority as being comfortable, their greatest goal as becoming more comfortable and one their greatest fears is losing that comfort they already have, it’s not surprising that there is no desire to seek out what will satisfy the soul, as a life of comfort and pleasure becomes the ultimate good. There is very little, or no time at all for God, no apparent need for God, and especially not for any moral laws that might stand in the way of my getting what I want. Such people become more and more closed to others and more and more focused on themselves. The desire for the comfort of our bodies and the pursuit of our passions, at the expense of true comfort for our souls, and growing in virtue 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 only leads people to every sort of danger, corruption, degradation and inhumane violence.

No matter what you may think about gun control laws, there is a bigger issue to be addressed, but it is not spoken of. There were plenty of guns around in 1960 but nobody was worried about school shootings. But today every school district in the country must pay huge attention to protecting students from campus shooters. Why has this situation changed? It’s not a question that is asked.

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 and why should we even want to be good? And without Christ how can we find the strength to be good?

There was a popular song being played 40 years ago, called “Material Girl” which some of you are old enough to remember. The words to the refrain were "You know that we are living in a material world, and I am a material girl." That was a huge hit for the 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."