HOMILY for November 26, 2017: The Feast of Christ the King, Cycle A

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The Feast of Christ the King, Cycle A

St. Mary Church, Laurinburg, NC

November 26, 2017

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. The auditor’s job is to analyze and judge me.

This is the last Sunday of the liturgical year. Next Sunday we begin a new Liturgical year with the 1^st 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 their 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 and what our talents are.

We need to acknowledge 1^st that we each have our bar of iron and 2^nd 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.

My talents and 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 three factors – namely, my bar of iron, my talents, 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 of the parish I belong to in order to see how my bar of iron might get shaped to serve my relationship to the parish where I help out from time-to-time.

So what did I find? For starters, a gal named Marge who heads up “Thoughtful Wishes” which is a 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 a fellow named Jerry needed volunteers to deliver Thanksgiving baskets 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 our parish 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

One bar of iron — many uses. Based on my skills and talents, and others’ need — on that will rest our final audit.

The question that remains is would you be ready if you had to report today?