November 15, 2020

Post date: Nov 16, 2020 4:49:22 AM

November 15, 2020 Homily by Fr. Karl Schray

Once upon a time there was wealthy miser who melted down his hoard of

gold into a single lump which he secretly buried in his garden.

Every day he went to look at it and would spend hours gloating over it.

Then one of his servants discovered his secret

and came by night and stole the gold. When the miser discovered

that his treasure had been stolen, he was heart-broken.

But a friend said to him, “Don’t take it so badly. Just put a brick into the hole

and look at it every day. You won’t be any worse off than before,

for even when you had the gold you never used it.”

Do we sometimes bury some of our talents,

so they are of no use to us or anyone else?

What God give us—time, talent, money, opportunity, faith, love—

is meant to bear fruit for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

You probably remember Fr. Bill Ryan saying many times St. Augustine’s

famous quote that grace builds upon nature.

By this is meant that God’s graces and His natural world work together

for God created it all and so all is sacred.

God’s desire is for us to develop to the fullest of our capacity and talents.

These talents may be hidden, and we may have to dig for them.

But we must overcome every difficulty to develop them.

It is worth everything to broaden our knowledge, the horizons of our nature

so as to allow God’s Grace, to have room to grow and expand.

By our wise choices we develop our character.

Holiness builds on character. That’s grace building on nature.

Let this sink in for a moment:

As Jesus said, “You have not chosen me; I have chosen you”.

Don’t think of God as faraway, hard to find

and that we have to impress him. Rather,

imagine God is a helicopter hovering over you, wanting to land.

We must clear the clutter of excessive attachments

so he can land in our hearts.

Every day take 5 minutes to pray-

“Lord, I believe you are seeking a relationship with me.

I will stop running away.”

Every day be grateful.