Free money! Come and get it! (Sunday homily)

Let’s talk about money:
the thing we all work for, the thing that buys us what we need.
In this country, we have the dollar. In Europe, it’s the euro;
in Mexico, it’s the peso.
What about heaven? What money do they use there?

Grace.

You might say, wait a minute, grace isn’t money. Grace is free!
Yes; but just as it takes money to buy the things we need,
just as we store up money to have security in this world,
it is grace that gives us security in eternity.

And it’s isn’t true to say, grace is free.
It’s free to us--but it came at a great cost.
Our Lord went to the Cross,
which he makes present for us in every Mass.
Every Mass we are confronted with the true price of grace.
He paid the price of our admission.

Grace is our golden ticket to heaven. Do we have it?
Or have we lost it, traded it away?
That’s what we do when we sin.
We trade the gold of God’s grace
for some cheap thrill on the Internet,
or the cold satisfaction of an act of revenge,
or for the false security of a lie.

And as we heard in the Gospel, hell is real.
It’s not a good place.
We don’t want to go there, or help anyone else end up there.

But I’ve good news!

When we trade the gold of heaven for a worthless sin,
there way to make an exchange. That’s what confession is!
 If you go to Macy's for a 90% off sale, there's a catch: no returns!
That's why they give you the discount--they don't want that junk back!
But we have a better deal.*

In churches all over downtown and around the area, at various times,
a priest is here waiting for you.
At Saint Rose, it’s every Friday and Saturday at 11 am.
At the Cathedral--listen to this--
you can come after the 7 am Mass on weekdays,
and again at noon to 12:30 pm, and again at 4:30 to 5;
and on Saturdays, noon to 3!
Bring all that worthless stuff here!
Get a full measure of God’s grace, the gold of heaven!

Moses said, oh that God would bestow his Spirit on them all!
He does! Come and get it and get you some!*

* Added extemporaneously.