Weekly HOMILY for November 20, 2011: There Will Be an Ultimate Audit

The Feast of Christ the King, Cycle A
St. Margaret Church, Bel Air
November 20, 2011

There Will Be an Ultimate Audit
By (Rev. Msgr.) Nicholas P. Amato


THE ULTIMATE AUDIT

I have never been audited by the IRS. Actually, the very idea strikes fear in me. Why?

Perhaps I wonder if my deductions were correct; if my income amounts were accurate; if I filled out the tax forms properly.

This is the last Sunday of the liturgical year. Next Sunday we begin a new Liturgical year with the 1st Sunday of Advent. The readings give the same feel of being told that you’re going to be audited by the IRS.

Jesus instructs us that upon his return, each of us will be called to “render an accounting of ourselves” as to how well or how poorly we have made use of our gifts.

Yes, we shall all one day be faced with life’s “ultimate audit.”


TRANSITION

I would like to suggest that we face that possibility today with a sense of calm and see how things stack up “for” or “against” us.

Last week’s gospel about the three servants and how each of them used his gifts is helpful as a frame of reference for appreciating this week’s “audit” of our lives, which gets into how, what we have received, is used in the service of others.

Each of the three servants last week received a gift and each was responsible for making the best use of that gift for his master.

I would like to suggest an image to better understand what I mean by making the best use of the gift we’ve been given.


A BAR OF IRON

Take a long 1-inch bar of iron worth about $5. (Demonstrate with hands)

This very same bar of iron, in the hands of one person could be used to make $50 worth of horseshoes. In the hands of another, $500 worth of sewing machine needles, and in the hands of a third person, $5,000 worth of watch springs.

Yes, one bar of iron in the hands of three different people, doing different things to it, could create different products and different profits.

God has blessed each of us with a share of this world’s goods. So also, each of us has been challenged to make the best use of these goods by furthering the interests of our master.

From our Master we learn that what we do with our bar of iron isn’t to be based on making the most money from it but on what is needed.

We need to acknowledge 1st that we each have our bar of iron and 2nd that our life has called us into relationships with others in our family, workplace, school, and church where there are real needs to be satisfied.

Those needs must be served best with a bar of iron God has given me.

And, yes, those relationships might include, as Jesus says in today’s gospel, feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, giving drink to the thirsty, sheltering the homeless.

The two factors – namely, my bar of iron and the needs in my relationships – are the criteria that will determine how well I will fare at my ultimate audit before God.


REACHING OUT

I downloaded last week’s bulletin just to see how my bar of iron might get shaped to serve my relationship to this parish where I help out from time-to-time.

So what did I find? For starters, Pat Stasiak who heads up “Thoughtful Wishes” our
Card Ministry that sends monthly cards to folks in area nursing homes is in need of volunteers to help write 25 cards a month to the shut-in and homebound.

What might I do with my gift as I become aware of this need? Make horseshoes, needles, or watch springs? It doesn’t matter. What does matter is that the sick are getting cared for!

Then I read that Janet Gentry needs volunteers tomorrow to deliver Thanksgiving basket to needy families.

What might I do with my gift as I become aware of this need? Make horseshoes, needles, or watch springs? It doesn’t matter. What does matter is that a hungry family is fed!

Finally I read that St. Margaret’s Ministry of Consolation held its last drop-in Bereavement Group session this past week until January. Are there people in my life who have suffered the loss of a loved one and who are not being compassionately supported in their need to mourn?

What might I do with my gift as I become aware of this need? Make horseshoes, needles, or watch springs? Yes, by now you know, it doesn’t matter. What does matter is that those who mourn are being consoled!


CONCLUSION

In the new Roman Missal that we will begin using next Sunday, there are new words for the consecration of the wine. They speak of Jesus’ blood being shed “for many” instead of “for all” as the present translation says.

This does not mean that Jesus did not die for everyone. The new translation points to the reality that we need to welcome and accept the gifts God has given us and to use them as God has asked us to, for the needs of all.

On that – accepting the gifts given and how the gifts were used – will rest our final audit. Are you ready?