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“Are you the one who
is to come,
or should we look for another?”
Matthew 11:3
I’m quite sure that
all of us at one time or another have placed our faith in another
person—someone who promised the fulfillment of everything we’ve ever
dreamt about—only to wake up one day discovering that we’ve come up way
short of our fanciful dream of “living happily ever after.” Given what
the philosopher Hannah Arendt calls “the human condition,” our penchant
unfortunately is look to other human beings to provide for everything we
want and to blame them when we they don’t deliver as promised.
Scripture teaches otherwise: we should look to God, Who alone is capable
of providing everything we need and of saving us from the self-inflicted
misery we experience when we look for saviors in everyone other than
God. The challenge we confront in our misery is to turn away from
sin and to return to God, Who alone can save us.
This message, so
evident in the ancient prophecy of Isaiah, is not one that is easily
dismissed as irrelevant to us “moderns.” Just this past week, for
example, I received a sad email from a fellow who now finds himself in
an almost tragic predicament. Successful in business, this fellow
recently purchased a $2.4 million dollar house with one of those teaser,
“jumbo” rate mortgages. Then, when this fellow learned about the
microcap stock “opportunity of a lifetime,” he took out a home equity
loan using his mortgaged house as collateral to purchase a boatload of
the stock. But, after more than one year, the stock didn’t rise as an
prognosticator had predicted. And, as this fellow’s mortgage and loan
bills were coming due, the happiness he falsely believed would soon be
his was suddenly transformed into a nightmare.
Here’s what the
fellow wrote in his email:
The simple reality
for me will be that I am going to have to start selling my position just
to live….It’s sad because based on [the projected] timeline, I have held
this stock in lieu of paying my mortgage for 14 months. So here I
am now whereas per [the] timeline, I am supposed to have money to get my
house current and to live happily ever after. But, instead, I am in
foreclosure, going to be physically removed from the house any day.
Now, my 7-month-pregnant wife, my 2-year-old, and myself are going to
have to find a new place to live. On top of it, I am going to have to
start rapidly selling the stock just to survive. I am so p----d off
with this guy, because his lies have me now in a situation that is
nasty….[I am so] sick to my stomach that I am going to be broke because
of his greed.
“If only that guy
hadn’t lied to me,” we think, “then I wouldn’t be in this position.”
“I am so sick to my stomach...because his greed,” we say.
That’s a plain old
bunch of hogwash and we all know it. Just who was duped by whom? Just
who was so greedy in the first place? It’s always easier to blame
someone else for our mistakes, isn’t it, when we know deep in our hearts
we made the choices which have resulted in the misery in which we
currently find ourselves?
It seems so simple a
lesson. Yet, we continuously allow ourselves to be suckered by our
fellow human beings who promise to “save us” with some big “payoff”
scheme.
Young people do this
all of the time. The dream of making it big—especially in terms of
popularity—motivates young people to do many things they otherwise
wouldn’t ordinarily do. But, believing that salvation consists in being
liked by their peers, all too many of our young people all too willingly
turn to their more-popular peers, who then dictate what has to be done
in order to “be saved,” meaning for most young people, being “accepted”
or “liked” by those who are the most popular.
But, that’s as
stupid a thing to do as investing in risky microcap stocks. Why?
Because oftentimes this means taking “short cuts” that end up being
nothing more than “dead ends,” leaving young people almost always
feeling dissatisfied and incomplete. Why this outcome? Because these
young people were looking for the big payoff in other people whom these
young people believed would make them happy, not in God Who alone has
the power to save. Searching for salvation in people and not in
God, all too many young people forget all too quickly that the quality
of one’s life isn’t built upon the ash heap of mere acquaintances,
possessing the same bundle of trinkets and toys that everyone else has,
or dressing just like everyone else. No, the quality of one’s life is
built upon the rock-solid foundation of discovering and, then,
fulfilling one destiny as a child of God. That’s why so many young
people today find themselves feeling lonely and isolated. They’re
always being something for someone else instead of being someone for
themselves and God. As John the Baptist’s disciples asked Jesus:
“Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?”
Ironically, these young people then blame everyone else but themselves
for their self-inflicted misery.
Then, too, how many
young people, infatuated with one another and the thrill they experience
when they’re around each other, decide to live together? Foolishly,
they delude themselves with the belief that the bliss and ecstasy they
are currently experiencing will be theirs all of the days of their
lives.
In today’s world, it
sounds so commonsensical, even to the parents of these young people.
But, living together because two people are infatuated with each other
is just as stupid a thing to do as investing in risky microcap stocks.
Why? Because anyone with one-half of a brain knows that a rock-solid,
life-long relationship isn’t built upon infatuation. No, a rock-solid,
life-long relationship—it’s called “marriage”—is built upon persevering
in love. If you’re not willing to persevere in love, then just what are
you doing living together? After all, the moment those feelings of
infatuation erode—and they do in most every relationship—so too does the
bliss and ecstasy. The only power strong enough to bind together two
human beings for a lifetime is the power of love. And, we are told by
St. John the Evangelist, “God is love and those who abide in love abide
in God and God in them.” Having built their relationship upon the sands
of infatuation, it should come as no surprise that so many couples today
never become living sacraments, with their relationships dissolving as
the tides of differences and hurt feelings wash up on the shore, only to
drag both partners out deep into the cold and dark ocean where they,
along with their dreams of “living happily ever after” drown, all the
while blaming each other for their mortal predicament.
What is of true
value in life doesn’t result from any “quick payoff” type of scheme.
No, what is of true value in life comes only from God.
The fellow who
invested in that risky micro-cap stock should have asked, “What is God
asking me to do as a husband and father in order to best provide for my
family’s needs?” After all, is that not his primary responsibility as a
husband and father? Young people who look for happiness in popularity
should be asking themselves, “What has God created me for?” After all,
is that not their primary responsibility as a young person seeking to
grow up and mature? And, women and men who find themselves no longer
infatuated should be asking, “What does love require of me?” After all,
is that not what a true commitment means?
Today is the third
Sunday of Advent. The color of the vestments and candle in the advent
wreath suggest something is different. In place of purple—reflecting
John the Baptist’s call to conversion—we see the color rose—reminding
all of us of the hope we have in Emmanuel, the God who is
with us.
If we reflect upon
all of those dumb choices we have made that did not bring the happiness
we hoped for, we can better grasp what it means to celebrate this
Sunday, what’s called “Gaudete Sunday” (or “The Sunday of Rejoicing”).
We aren’t to grovel around feeling sorry about the past. No, we
are to rejoice because the consequences of those choices—what we call
“sins” and which have had their negative effects upon our lives—are
those important “life’s lessons” where we can learn from our failure
that only God can save us. In turn, this provides the impetus we need
to turn away from sin and to return to Emmanuel, the God who
is with us.
The fellow who is so
far in debt that he will have to move his family out of their home
hasn’t yet realized the consequences of his choices. Young people who
believe popularity among their peers will make them truly happy haven’t
yet realized the gift God has created them to be. And, women and men
who live together without commitment in the Sacrament of Marriage
haven’t any understanding of what love requires.
While we run around
asking other people “Are you the one who is going to save us?”, Matthew
reminds us, “Emmanuel, God is with us…He alone is
the Lord who saves us.”
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HOMILY
