By Deacons Dan McAuliffe
and Wayne Walker.
Welcome to the fifth and final week of a series we’ve been calling, “The Harvest Principle.” The principal is that you reap what you sow. You plant a seed and, if it receives proper nourishment, eventually you will get the rewards. If you sow good seeds, you can expect a good harvest. If you sow bad seeds, expect a poor yield. It’s true that not everything in our lives is a result of what we ourselves have sown, but nearly everything we sow does yield something either for us or for someone else.
Throughout the series, we’ve been talking about two principles that go along with the harvest principle. The first one is: you reap what you sow, but it’s always later. You don’t plant a seed today and expect to harvest tomorrow. It takes time. That’s why this principle can be frustrating. It takes vision, and it takes patience.
The second is: you reap what you sow, but it’s always greater. The sowing and reaping, in fact, multiplies over time. The more you plant the more you reap, for good and for bad. We applied this principle in the course of this series regarding our character. When we’re making the right and the prudent choices, we can expect blessings in return.
We also applied this principle to our finances. The wisest and most prudent use of our money is not to spend it, but to sow it. We sow seeds with our finances by giving, and by saving and investing. Give first, save and invest next; then, spend.
Last week we looked at this principle when it comes to wisdom. Wise people sow seeds anticipating the inevitable troubles in life. They prepare themselves so that, when trouble comes, they are able to survive and even thrive.
The Church plants seeds for the future common good of all people. What we do as the Church matters; it is critically important for the life of the world. Think about it. It is here, at our parish, that we gather to give true worship and praise to God—that perfect sacrifice that Jesus Christ offered to the Father on our behalf. Our liturgies are inspiring and done with care and reverence; our music is beautiful and uplifting. Our weekly worship aids have increased our awareness and participation. Great things are happening here at Saint Mary as we grow in discipleship and love of the Lord Jesus.
And surely you have noticed the physical improvements around our parish campus: the new walkways at the school; fresh paint in the church; repairs to the administration building; our sound system has been greatly improved and the old worn out doors to the Church have been replaced with new ones that actually open, close and lock properly. We’re not where we want to be, but we’re getting there.
It is here at Saint Mary School where 392 young students are not only studying academics but also being formed to be better persons, better citizens, better Christians. Through the efforts of our school community, 3 truckloads of supplies, as well as textbooks, were donated to St. John School in Panama City which was substantially damaged in Hurricane Michael. Now reopened in temporary facilities, their principal said they couldn’t have reopened without that support. The School Council Food Drive is aiming to fill the pantries at Catholic Charities in anticipation of the holidays when many families in our town depend on help.
It is here that we help families to fall in love with their Faith, here that we provide Christ-centered direction and support for young people—high school and middle school youth active in our youth ministry—we’re connecting kids back to their Heavenly Father and getting them excited about that relationship. And they’re becoming responsible adults in the process—a few weeks ago a bus load of adults and teens volunteered with hurricane recovery in Panama City and spent the day serving hundreds of people who are struggling to get their lives back in order. Our parish staff went as a group and joined in that same effort.
It is here at our parish, through our Mother Teresa Outreach program, that we provide temporary relief to families who have fallen on bad times. Every Thursday folks are assisted with gas vouchers, utility assistance for those living without power or water, temporary lodging including single mothers with young children, assistance with ID cards and driver’s licenses that are needed to find and maintain work, prescription help for families who cannot afford needed medicines, as well as other services. Our Outreach serves the entire community as a safety net and the funds, over $60,000 last year, helped almost 600 families.
The spiritual, physical, and financial support that has come from St. Mary has made all this and much, much more possible. The seeds that were sown here in the past are reaping a rich, wide harvest of changed lives now and in eternity.
Recall, though, that Jesus told us that the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. (Mt 9:37) You and I are those sought-for laborers. We are the ones who need to support what can be an even more generous sowing and even more bountiful harvest.
This weekend we celebrate the feast of Christ the King. Mankind’s first gifts to our Child-King were gold, frankincense, and myrrh. It was our first recognition of the glorious and triumphant entry of our Savior into human history. Today we hear of Christ “coming amid the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him.” (Rv 1:7) Unlike the humble child in that manger, when the Lord returns, everyone will notice; everyone will understand that He is worthy of all praise. And everyone will see—in a whole new way—how wise it was to have made that investment. What gifts might we now give to our King who has “received dominion, glory, and kingship”, whom all peoples, nations, and languages will serve? (Dn 7:14)
As it happens, we are also celebrating stewardship weekend. We could talk about any number of genuine needs and plans for our parish. But that’s not at the core of being sowers of seeds, that’s not about us investing the talents that God has given to us individually and as a community of faith; we are looking to an ever-greater harvest in the future. We are celebrating the harvest of life-change that God has grown up right here in our midst in this parish. And we are inviting you to join in that sowing, to make a commitment, to make a commitment to sow more seeds, especially when it comes to your finances, to give to the work of our parish not just now but also for the coming years.
Specifically, the commitment that we are inviting you to consider today is this: to give-- to invest—1% more of your household income than you are currently giving--not gold, or frankincense, or myrrh—just 1% more than you are presently giving. If you’re currently giving 1% of your household income, make it 2%. If your regular offering is 5%, make it 6%. If you think you can do even a little more, God bless you for it! If every family, if every household accepted this invitation, that harvest alone would yield an astounding transformation in the life of our parish, increasing our outreach and impact, taking us to a whole new level. To quote from the Scriptures: “Other seeds fell upon good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. He who has ears, let him hear.” (Mt 14:8-9)
The Lord gives to each of us according to our ability to receive. When our sovereign King comes again in all His glory, when we stand before the throne and give an account of our stewardship, may we be the good and faithful servants who invested the Master’s talents wisely and show what increase we have made with the gifts with which He has so abundantly blessed us, and so enter into the joy of our Master (Mt 25:11-30; Mk 4:8; Lk 8:8). You reap what you sow.
Listen to this homily here:
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