Jesus says, and we must say: everyone counts! (Sunday homily)

 I don’t know who said it, but someone said this about the Bible:

So many people try to read between the lines, 

when maybe just focusing on the lines themselves 

is enough of a project!

So it is with today’s readings. They aren’t mysterious. 

No codebook needed.

Jesus is clear that all the laws of God boil down to: 

Love God first and more than anything else; 

And treat your neighbor as well as you want to be treated.

Then the first reading adds this: 

God measures our devotion, our religion, our love of him, 

by how treat the least, the last and the lost. 

In Bible times, they spoke about the widow, the orphan, 

the poor and the foreigner. 

In our times, who counts as the least and left-out?

Again, it’s not mysterious. 

You and I can figure it out, if we really want to. 

We have a very important decision to make in about 10 days – 

Will we continue to provide some protection for unborn children, 

Or will we go backward and render them completely vulnerable?

Those who are sick or elderly are increasingly being pushed just to die.

In nine states and the District of Columbia, 

it’s now legal to kill people who are sick, to help people kill themselves, if they ask.* 

God also says, “Do not molest or oppress an alien, 

for you were once aliens yourselves in the land of Egypt.” 

We all know there are challenges associated with immigration.

It’s a complicated subject. We want to be generous and we ought to be.

At the same time, nations have the right 

to regulate migration and to have borders.

Fixing the problem with our borders is not permission to be callous.

And the same point applies to assisting people in poverty.

You and I could talk all day about root causes and best approaches.

Just because it is a really hard problem doesn’t mean we give up. 

There is a saying: “better to light one candle, 

than to curse the darkness.” 

So we light a candle. We do what we can.

For one, you and I can pray: pray for our hearts to open wider, 

and that we seek out ways to make a difference. 

We light a candle when we vote. 

Vote this November to defend the vulnerable!

And each day, each of us can be a candle-lighter in the easiest of ways.

When you go to a restaurant, tip well. Really well.

The servers aren’t all poor, but some are, or they are just climbing out.

They don’t get paid much. Tip them well.

If you ever go to a Mexican restaurant, 

there’s a very good chance the people fixing your meal 

and cleaning up after you are not only poor, 

but they are our fellow Catholics. 

Do you realize that they often don’t come to Holy Mass?

Why don’t they come?

For one, they don’t speak English and they feel out of place. 

For another, many of them are working all day on Sundays.

We do have some Spanish Masses in some places.

But you know what would be an extra helping of justice and love?

Invite them! Welcome them!

Maybe write a note on the check -- along with a good tip! – 

that says, “You are welcome at St. Henry Church on S.R. 741.”

What I say next may upset someone, I’m sorry.

But I’d love to see the empty places in our pews 

filling with people speaking different languages.

Maybe we’d have to adjust. Maybe we’d use some Spanish.

Perhaps that wouldn’t sit well with everyone.

Will Jesus object to you and me stretching to make room?

You’ve heard mention about the future project of evangelizing. 

That’s the full purpose of the “Beacons of Light” project. 

Reorganization is a preparation for sharing our faith.

And it’s not only future; it’s now, with a lot more coming.

People wonder, how do we evangelize? That sounds complicated!

It’s not. The examples I just gave, those are ways to evangelize.

Invite people. Include people. Show compassion in concrete ways.

In the early church, pagans said of us Christians: “see how they love!”

It was the zeal of Christians to treat strangers 

and even our enemies with compassion 

that helped conquer the Roman Empire for Christ.

Jesus sends you and me to tell our community: everyone counts!

We don’t leave anyone behind.

* I changed this after the 9:30 am Mass for precision; but I would insist that legal assisted suicide is morally almost the same as killing people who are vulnerable to pressure. If it makes someone feel better about themselves to stand on that distinction, I say, "good luck with that."