who is my god?

Sunday | 25 | OT | C
Vancouver, September 22, 2019

Do you know that people do not like to be forgotten? Have you ever realised that? I have often wondered: why don’t we like to be forgotten? Why is it so important to be remembered?
 
Now could you imagine, how your children would feel if you say you will pick them up after school at St. Mary’s, and there they are waiting, and waiting, and finally, they go to the principal to say, my mommy or daddy did not come to pick me up?
 
How would that seem? The the parent later tells the principal, I forgot I had to pick up my children today? The husband thought his wife was going and the wife thought her husband was going. A child does not like to feel -- or want to be -- forgotten. What about when a husband forgets his marriage anniversary? Or his wife’s birthday? Or a wife, forgets, now what do wives forget: the husbands better not say anything… And parents: what is their common complaint. My children do not come to visit me. I never get a call. I don’t get to see my grandchildren… Again, feeling forgotten.

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The other side of not wanting to be forgotten is that we want to be remembered. And why do we want to be remembered? Could you imagine at the end of the Mass if the priest were to thank just one person for the Mass or just one ministry -- and not others? There are many different individuals and ministries that build our community.
 
Actually, I’m still not sure why that’s important for us -- not being forgotten. In the Litany of Humility this beautiful prayer, we pray, “deliver me Jesus from the fear of being forgotten.” I remember a priest I met once said, he prayed the Litany of Humility -- but he said he prayed to be remembered, not forgotten. By being remembered, perhaps we feel acknowledged, validated, or simply -- loved.
 
The reading from the Prophet Amos, tells us, simply that God does not forget the needy. The needy are who? The needy are all of us here. Each one of us. And every one outside… Humans are needy creatures.
 
I was watching yesterday a father bringing a baby in the baby’s little baby car seat to the Church. It was an incredibly beautiful moment as he passed by. This desire to bring his child to the House of God, to the presence of Jesus, to be with Mary and the Saints, and the community of believers. How extraordinary. This father recognised and understood how his baby depended and needed him as a father; and as he brought his baby to Church, because his baby also needed God the Father. Now this was a wise man. The effort, the sacred moment of bringing his child to Church. That was probably the most beautiful sight I had yesterday. I want my child to know God, to remember, to know His Son, to know God’s family, and not to forget. We are needy.
We depend on God. And God does not forget us, nor does He forget our needs. He is there. And He intervenes, often we do not see how. Because we do not look. But as the prophet Amos tells us, God knows our needs. And He responds.
 
As Paul’s 1st letter to Timothy tells us the community -- us -- we are here to offer prayers of intercession for everyone.Including all those who are in high positions. Sometimes we feel annoyed or angry or we disagree with people how they conduct their office as politicians – as elections approach – we have strong views… St. Paul is saying we should be praying for our leaders. And this is what we do following the Creed we always pray for our leaders, as St. Paul instructs as, as they need our prayers.
 
So, we can see the intercessory value of prayer -- to bring our needs before God the Father. And prayer is meant for all of the community – we pray for each other – and we ask each other for prayers. Because we need each others’ prayers. We ask the Saints to prayer for us: Virgin Mary, St. Joseph, St. John Paul II, St Dominic -- we can just look around us, the images, of the Saints, sacramentals to remind us they are praying for our needs.
 
We pray for political candidates that they will promote endorse and sustain a culture of life from conception to natural death, a society of Christian values is what we desire, where children learn that God has created them in love, as we are taught in Genesis -- and in Natural Law -- that only a man and a woman, are united to become one flesh in marriage, with a natural capacity towards procreation. And that we ourselves promote these values that are not only Biblical but are found in the Eternal Law of God, that Law which is Divine, that Law which nobody can change -- even if governments change laws, the law of God does not change -- no man -- regardless of his authority -- can change the law of God.
 
What happened in Genesis is that Satan attempted to falsify the command of God making God out to be a liar. And the tragedy in the book of Genesis, is that the woman and the man, were deceived into believing Satan and not God. If what was true last year is no longer true this year, it means, there is no truth. There are simply changing ideas. Public opinion, the voice of the media, that tells us how to think. No longer the word of God. But public opinion, news broadcasts, the music industry are not the Gospel. Jesus Christ is the Way the Truth and the Life.
 
This is what we are called to teach: the way of Our Lord, because as sinners, we need a Saviour. One of the ongoing condemnations of the prophets in the history of Israel is that the Israelites assimilated to the local pagan cultures and began to worship the pagan gods. The people are quick to abandon the truth for false gods, local practises and customs, which do not honour God. But disrespect God. Instead of seeking holiness, we breakdown and justify sin.
 
Catholicism is fundamentally a way of life -- as Christ had taught, built on truth and love leading to salvation.
 
We hear in in St. Luke’s Gospel  if we cannot trust someone in small things, how could we trust them in bigger things. As Jesus tells us, the person’s heart is divided, the person’s loyalty is torn, and so, can I trust this person who has a divided heart? That is why even after Confession we soon discover it’s like these battles of divided loyalties: whom do I listen to? We desire holiness, but our desires are often unholy. Whom do I serve? Who is my god?
 
Let us ask the blessed Mother of God to strengthen our loyalty to her Son, Jesus Christ, Our Saviour, on Jesus we depend, for our salvation. Jesus I love you. Jesus I need you. Amen.