I did not preach today due to the Ministry Weekend we held in the parish, so here is an excerpt of my homily from these readings three years ago.
What belongs to God?" Do our hearts belong to him? Our thoughts? Our actions? Our words? Notice that part of the word "belongs" is the word "long". There should be a longing in our hearts to offer up all that we have and all that we are to the glory of God's name. Every blessing that we have in our lives comes from the Almighty and that is why we owe him everything. If we truly want to give to God what belongs to God, then we must spend our lives working for his Kingdom Yes, we can build up his kingdom in our jobs, schools, and homes. Separation of church and state doesn't mean we check our beliefs, our religion, our convictions, and our morals at the door when we leave this church today. That really doesn't make us very good Christians, it makes us, yep, Jesus calls us out in the gospel, just as hypocritical as the Pharisees. If we truly belong to God, the world will know. Unfortunately, we spend most of our time worrying about what the world thinks of us than worrying if we are indeed doing God's will. If we all gave to God what belongs to God, by totally serving Him and our neighbor, maybe the dire picture of our society that [we see on TV] would become a little more hopeful. I don't know. Maybe I'm a dreamer, as John Lennon says in "Imagine." Maybe I'm overly optimistic about the possibilities we have within us, about what Christians could actually accomplish if we were, well, really Christians. Well, so what if I'm a dreamer? I've been called worse.
