Give God All Glory and Honor

(homily originally given on Sunday, October 19, 2014)
 
There is a common theme to all of the readings that we hear today: Give God all glory and honor. All that we have, all that we are, comes from Him. And we give that glory and honor when we praise God for being God, and by following His will for us. We are called by God – BY NAME - to a purpose – a mission – in our lives and what we receive from God is everything we need to accomplish our mission.

Do you know your Purpose in Life? Do you think it is Impossible to follow Jesus and accomplish that mission?

I’m not sure how many of you remember the original Mission Impossible series on TV – before the Tom Cruise movie franchise. Every episode would begin with Jim Phelps, the leader of a band of special agents tasked with accomplishing impossible tasks, receiving a secret packet of information with a scenario of evil and the admonishment that “Your mission, Jim, should you decide to accept it, is to (… do something impossibly crazy...) . As always, should you or any of your IM Force be caught or killed, the secretary will disavow any knowledge of your actions. This tape will self-destruct in five seconds. Good luck, Jim.” Predictably, at the end of an hour the task would be completed and no one was disavowed.

Well, we too are sometimes called to what seems to be impossible missions in our lives. But unlike the TV series, God will not disavow us if we fail in our mission – He is always with us, with His infinite mercy. However, I doubt we can accomplish it in an hour. Most certainly, it won’t be during the hour we spend in church each Sunday. Our mission extends far beyond the four walls here.

Part of our struggle is the conflict we face because our immediate reality is the world within which we live, while our goal – our mission – is to bring about a new world that is at odds with what we know and hear and see. Today’s Gospel reflects this as we hear what we think defines the separation of Church and State – “RENDER THEREFORE UNTO CAESAR THE THINGS WHICH ARE CAESAR’S; AND UNTO GO THE THINGS THAT ARE GOD’S.” As if they are two separate things.

But are they? If we look at this a little deeper, we see that it isn’t as black and white as it first seems. Remember, the Pharisees were trying to trap Jesus into making a political decision. If he said “YES”, that people should pay tribute to Caesar, they could accuse him of being a collaborator with the enemy that was occupying their land and who were often cruel and unjust, depriving them of their freedom. A Roman sympathizer.

On the other hand, if he said “NO”, then he could be seen as encouraging rebellion against the Romans, promoting violence and maybe even getting the Romans to eliminate him.

But instead of answering YES or No, Jesus forces them to look inside themselves for the answer and then points out the proper orientation – Earthly treasure is meaningless in the Kingdom of God and they still must give to God what belongs to God – their lives, their very being.

Look at the first reading from Isaiah. Cyrus was the powerful King of Persia who came to power during the Babylonian exile of the Jews. Cyrus was not Jewish; not of the “chosen people of God.” Yet in today’s reading which some say written almost 150 years before Cyrus came to power, we see that God indeed calls everyone by name – and he calls us by name, too.

ALL POWER AND AUTHORITY ARE GOD’S. Jesus reminds us of this when he stands before Pilate and tells him that “you would have no power over me unless it had been given you from above”. We are called by God and given certain gifts with which we are to use in building God’s Kingdom; unfortunately we all too often apply those gifts for our personal use.

We do not have to agree with the policies and decisions that are made by those who are in authority. In fact, we may be called to disagree with them. However, we ARE called to look first to God and to follow His will in our life, no matter the consequences.

This is Mission Sunday: where we join with the rest of the Catholic Church at large in offering our support for Catholic parishes and mission churches around the world that are not able to provide worship space or ministry support for their parishioners living in poverty or under persecution.

What is our Mission? We should keep some things in mind as we try to discover our mission and accomplish it.

1. We all serve someone. Whether it is our boss, our spouse, our children – ultimately we serve God in all. We are all called to the mission of service to one another.

2. There is no such thing as impossible odds with God.

3. We must give God glory. Remember in “How the Grinch Stole Christmas”, the people of Who-ville lost everything and could still sing their joy to God? No matter where we are in our lives, praise God.

4. Finally, DO NOT BE AFRAID. There is a lot of unreasonable fear in the world today, and even here in this area we are afraid of exotic illnesses and the acts of violence caused by those who are filled with hate. No reaction to that fear will overcome the problems unless we first bring God’s love into the picture. Remember Father Damian with the lepers; someone must minister to God’s children in spite of the dangers of the world. After all, we fight for souls for heaven, not earthly existence.

The Psalm prayer from this morning’s Liturgy of the Hours Morning Prayer is a prayer which we should pray each morning: Father, creator of unfailing light, give that same light to those who call to you. May our lips praise you; our lives proclaim your goodness; our work give you honor, and our voices celebrate you forever.

Give the Lord glory and honor. Amen.