31^st Sunday in Ordinary Time C.  November 4, 2007.  Our Lady of Grace – All Masses – Stewardship Sunday.   Wisdom 11: 22 – 12:2.  2 Thessalonians 1: 11-22.   Luke 19: 1-10.

Experience tells me that there are three things necessary for a deeply happy life:  We must dance as if no one was watching.  We must love as if no one ever hurt us. We must give as if life and everything in it was a gift from God.  The freedom and the courage to give ourselves completely to goodness is the secret to deep peace and pure joy.  Only the gift of 100% of ourselves to the God who loves us totally will make us completely happy.

As Jesus stood at the edge of the total gift of himself on the Cross he pointed out the way to the fullness of life and joy that we all seek.  Jesus said, to his friends, “Peace I give to you, my peace I leave with you.  I do not give it to you in the way the world gives peace”. (John 14:27)  “I am going to prepare a place for you, and then I shall come back to take you with me, that where I am you also may be.  You know the way that leads where I am going.”   Thomas said, “Lord we do not even know where you are going, how can we know the way?”  Jesus responded out of the fullness of his humanity and the depths of his divinity with the most mysterious and powerful words even spoken: “I am the way, the truth and the life.” (John 14:2-7)  Jesus alone is the source of eternal joy!  If we want true joy we must open the doors of our hearts to Christ- now!

The great Saints of our Catholic Tradition experienced the wonder of Christ’s love and its power to transform our lives.  Saint Francis of Assisi, the poor man filled with peace and joy, gave us a prayer meant to be lived in daily life.  Francis prayed: “Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; and where there is sadness, joy.”

“O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;

to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.” Living in union with Jesus is the way to pure joy.

St. Ignatius, the founder of the Jesuits, saw very clearly that the way to a holy life, a reformed Church and a God-fearing world was the way of total surrender to God and his plan for our lives.  Ignatius prayed, “Take, O Lord, and receive my entire liberty, my memory, my understanding and my whole will. All that I am and all that I possess you have given me: I surrender it all to you to be disposed of according to your will. Give me only your love and your grace; with these I will be rich enough, and I will desire nothing more.”  Living our lives in total self-giving and faithfulness to the will of God is the path to pure joy.

The great mystic and doctor of the Church St. Teresa of Avila prayed, “Lord, I am yours and for you I was born: What do you want from me? I am yours because you created me,

yours because you redeemed me…See, here is my heart. I place it in your hand, together with my life, my body and my soul, my inmost feelings and my love; dear Husband and Redeemer, since I have given myself to you, What do you want from me?’  Teresa had wasted much of her life on lesser things; later in life Teresa discovered that giving ourselves totally to Christ is the path to pure joy.

Zaccheaus, a tax collector and a wealthy man, was fascinated with Jesus. Zaccheaus climbed a tree to see Jesus better.  Seeing Jesus transformed the life of Zaccheaus in an instant. As soon As Zaccheaus saw Jesus clearly, something mysterious and very powerful took hold of Zaccheaus.  The response of Zaccheaus to having met the Lord was so overwhelmingly that Zaccheaus said to Jesus, “Behold, half of my possession, Lord, I shall give to the poor and if I have cheated anyone I will repay it four times over.”   Giving himself and what he had was the way to joy for Zaccheaus.

It is not enough to know about Jesus. It is not enough to give Jesus some of our attention or a percentage of our income.  If we want pure joy we must give ourselves totally to Jesus and to his plan for our lives.   The language of love is always the language of total gift.  I ask you to join me in showing our love for Jesus by giving generously to the support of Our Lady of Grace. My responsibility as your pastor is to lead us to holiness.  My primary responsibility is not to build buildings or to balance the parish budget.  My responsibility is to lead us to holiness and to pure joy.

 I have asked Greg Schmidt, the chairman of our Parish Finance Council to speak to you about the financial needs of Our Lady of Grace.  (Introduce Greg.)

(After Greg’s talk)   For almost two years the leadership of this parish has been discerning the will of God for Our Lady of Grace and planning our future.    It is your plan. It is rapidly reaching its final stages.  Today I want to tell you that I endorse the plan formulated by your parish leadership.  I will do what your parish leadership has asked us all to do.  I promise you that I will pledge 2% of my disposable income for the coming year to Our Lady of Grace Parish.   I prefer to use automatic bank withdrawal because it allows me to figure out the amount I have pledged to Our Lady of Grace now and then know that that amount will be automatically deducted from my bank account at regular intervals.   This week you will receive a pledge card in the mail.  If at all possible, please join me in pledging 2% of your disposable income to this parish that we all cherish. Your pledge is absolutely essential to our parish efforts to love Christ and respond to the will of God for us.  Please, join me in making a pledge.  Giving in thanksgiving is the way to joy and peace.  For the gift of pure joy we give God thanks and praise.