It hit me recently how good our parish is. I’ve been blessed to have been flown to five cities this year for conferences, and sadly, I see many parishes struggling, and then I see what we have here: Our commitment to Mass is strong, there are a lot of Confessions here, and our discipleship programs are well attended and expanding. At the end of this year, we will have been blessed to journey with 11 adults who have become Catholic, which is our largest number ever and by far. We have received so much, and this is why Archbishop Miller, last January, tasked us with sharing what we’ve been given with others.
In the First Reading, there’s a three-part dynamic of giving: God gives, then the person gives in return, and then God outdoes the person in generosity: “When David, the king, was settled in his house, and the Lord had given him rest from all his enemies around him, the king said to the Prophet Nathan, ‘See now, I am living in a house of cedar, but the ark of God stays in a tent.’ Nathan said to the king, ‘Go, do all that you have in mind’” (2 Sam 7:1-3). At this point, David had been fighting wars for 28 years. Now God gives him peace. So David wants to return the favour by building a Temple for God; he now wants to focus on the spiritual!
So God responds: “That same night the word of the Lord came to Nathan: ‘Go and tell my servant David… “Are you the one to build me a house to live in? … The Lord declares to you, David, that the Lord will make you a house… I will raise up your offspring after you… I will be a father to him, and he shall be a son to me’”” (2 Sam 7:4-5,11-12,14). God offers David three gifts: 1) a kingdom, which is what’s meant by the word ‘house,’ (as in the house of Tudor); 2) an heir, who, for the first time in the Bible is referred to as Son of God; 3) a covenant, making David part of God’s family.
The message of today is: God will not be outdone in generosity. Whatever we give Him, He will give back more. In October, I asked if everyone would consider increasing their donations to support our spiritual mission, and the collection really went up in October, so thank you! Because of this, we’ve been able to hire Angel Jose Cavasinni as executive assistant to me and to our Managing Director, Catherine. Thank you for this!
Now that Angel’s saving me at least an hour a week, I can increase weekday Confessions and add evening Confessions every Saturday night, which is about two more hours per week. This is where I should be, just as you all need to be in the world evangelizing and sharing Jesus. We’ll start the new Confession schedule in the new year because no one sins during the Christmas holiday.
We also see the three-part dynamic in the Gospel: 1) “And he [Gabriel] came to her and said, ‘Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you’” (Lk 1:28). We know there’s a great gift here because this is the only time in the Bible that an angel addresses someone by title, not by name. The title full of grace is actually one word in the original Greek, kecharitomene, which means that she’s been filled with grace since the beginning of her life. This unique word is part of why Catholics believe that Mary was created without sin and never sinned in her whole life. 2) How does she respond? “Then Mary said, ‘Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be done to me according to your word’” (Lk 1:38). These famous words mean, ‘Whatever you want God, I’m all Yours.’ 3) And how does God outdo her in generosity? By giving her a son Who is God.
A couple in our parish has given me permission to share that they’ve wanted to have children of their own. God’s given them almost everything except this gift. Only recently have they started to accept that God wants them to be a spiritual mother and father for now. In response, they’ve decided to give God their whole selves, embracing whatever His plan is. And this year six people have asked them to be their godparents. The wife said that she’s finally at peace, and doesn’t feel like she’s missing something.
By the way, we’ll be speaking about in vitro fertilization in mid-January, 2024. Many people ask about this topic, so we’ll cover it in our annual pro-life homily series.
Now, for those of us who haven’t experienced God’s generosity, think about what’s called the parachute analogy (Fr. Jacques Philippe, Searching for and Maintaining Peace, 28): Once you jump, God’s parachute will catch you. Why is this important? Because one reason some of us have never experienced God’s amazing care in our lives is because we never jump in faith.
I think most of us here will go to Mass tomorrow and twice next week, knowing that, if we give God our time, He’ll give us more time to do His will. However, some people never experience God’s giving them enough time because they say, ‘I’m too busy.’ By trying to control the schedule, they leave no room for God to act.
Years ago, I told you about a man who was one week away from getting married, and how he cancelled it to discern the priesthood. He said, ‘I gave up a family and now have a bigger one’. By leaping out in faith, God took care of him.
I’ve been asked many times by wonderful Catholics about which universities they should choose, and when I say to choose the one that will bring you closer to God, I usually hear partial acceptance. In other words, ‘I’ll go to the university that will bring me closer to God… provided that I can afford it.’ But I’ve met many families from the Fraser Valley who aren’t well-off and shop at thrift stores, and they take out loans to go to the best Catholic universities in the United States.
The vast majority of parents who send their children to a Catholic school know that God will give back more in return. So remember, if you want a Catholic education for your children, don’t let money stop you. Just come speak to us, and we will do our part.
Finally, did anyone see the Jim Caviezel movie The Sound of Freedom, about child trafficking? It’s based on the life of Tim Ballard, who, with six children, was a few weeks away from getting a government pension worth over ten million dollars, but his wife challenged him to let it all go in order to save more children from trafficking, and to be faithful to God. He did it, and now has even more money than what his pension offered. More importantly, he now has nine children, and his family is firmly focused on Christ. (Please watch 1:17:55 & 1:20:03).
God gives so much, and so we give back, but He will never be outdone in generosity.