The Sunday Sermon Archive

Dear Friends in Christ,

We are all stewards of God, not true masters or owners of anything God has entrusted to us. It is our fallen nature that seeks to possess and control all that comes into our hands as if it were always to be ours. The reality is that nothing is permanent in this world, and all things pass away. We are given the goods of this world for a time and to be appropriately used. Our very life in this world is only for a little while. Whatever enters into our hands in this world will require that we give a good accounting of it before we enter the next world.

While we are corrupt, we often fail to understand that all that God gives us is for us to use to bring greater honor and glory to Him. The pride and vanity of riches or dominion is an attempt at robbing God. Or it is the idolatry of making ourselves to be God.

The question we should often focus upon is: What does God want me to do with this? Or how does God want me to use this? This applies to everything we are or have, whether we perceive it as good or bad. Our health and wealth are perceived as good things, and we should truly consider how God wants us to use them in this world. Sickness and poverty are often perceived as bad things, but these too are gifts from God, and we should consider how we are to use our sickness or poverty to give greater honor and glory to God.

Our goal should be to use the things of this world as if we did not use them. That is, we use them not for ourselves but for God. God does not need anything. However, He loves all of His creation, and He desires that we love one another as well. Because we love God, we must love our fellow creatures. God gives an abundance of certain things to certain people, so that they may participate in God's love by supplying the needs of others from their abundance. Those who receive them should receive them as coming from the Hand of God, but also reciprocate God's love by loving their human benefactors. It often appears that those who are on the receiving end of material goods have nothing with which to repay their fellow men, but they actually have within their power to give much more than they received through their prayers and love for others.

Whether we are rich or poor, young or old, healthy or sick, learned or ignorant, we all have gifts from God. These gifts belong to God and are for our temporary use only. It is God's will that we use what we need for our life and service to God, and that our abundance should be spent in helping the lives of our fellow men to love and serve God.

It is perhaps easy to comprehend almsgiving from the perspective of what the world considers good things. It seems a little less clear how we can give others the abundance we consider bad things. We must first understand that the only evil is sin, and sin is the absence of some good that should be there and is not.

Many young people consider their youth to be a heavy burden and anxiously await the day of their maturity. Many older people look back on their youth with nostalgia, as a treasure they feel they lost or wasted. We see the energy and vitality of youth and conclude that youth is wasted on the young. Old age is often perceived as a heavy cross, but it, too, has its positive aspects: maturity, wisdom, and often freedom from the heavy burdens of one's younger life.

With every stage or condition in life, there are graces and crosses. Those who are injured or are sick carry a heavy cross. Still, it is made sweet and light when they carry it for the love of God, in reparation for their sins, for the aid of the Poor Souls in Purgatory, for the conversion of sinners, for priestly and religious vocations, for the freedom and exultation of the Church, for the greater honor and glory of God. We may even venture to say that those suffering more in this world have more to give than those who are not suffering as much.

While it may be humbling for us to accept the material charity of others, and this is indeed a great cross, we should also realize that we have much to give to others by showing them or giving them the example of loving God with joy in our hearts, even with the physical or material burdens weighing us down.

May the Immaculate Heart of Mary inspire, guide, and protect us.

email: father@friarsminor.org Franciscan Benefactor Seraph Subscription Vocations Have you remembered God?

Would you like to make a donation?

Or, just log onto PayPal.com, after signing in you can send your donation to us at: Friars@friarsminor.org .

Blog with audio downloads

Return to Menu.

Return to Homepage.