what do I want?

Homily

17th Sunday in Ordinary Time AII

St. Lawrence Catholic Campus Center at the University of Kansas

26 July 2020

AMDG +JMJ +m

What do I want?

This question is the best.  It cuts to the heart of what it means to live.  I pray that I am more excited everyday to answer this question.

What do I want?

God loves to ask us this question!  He asked Solomon.  Jesus too asks over and over in the Gospels - what do you want?  What are you looking for?  What is your pearl?  What is your treasure?

I'm 46 years old.  I don't know what I want.  

When I was a kid I wanted to be like Mike - Michael Jordan that is.

When I went to seminary I wanted to be like John Paul II.

Now I'm less sure what I want.

If I could play baseball like Adalberto Mondesi for the Royals,

I might trade in my priesthood.

I know that's terrible - I wouldn't do it,

but as you can tell, I'd think about it.

What do I want?

I think I want to compete for what matters to God,

because I love Him and I want to love Him more.

but I'm not convinced or completely convicted with my answer.  

And I think that's ok, 

as long as I am excited to let God ask me the question.

I don't know is a good answer, 

as long as you are fully engaging the question.

The question is less of a test,

and more of an invitation to explore the meaning of life.

For the most engaging questions are those we don't have the answers to yet.

Don't get me wrong.

There's lots of right answers out there.

What do I want?

The Scriptures are chock full of right answers.

Solomon wants a discerning heart so that wealth and power will not destroy him.  Great answer.

Jesus, greater than Solomon, suggests we ask for the Holy Spirit, a package deal that includes Wisdom and 6 other gifts!

St. Paul says the Holy Spirit will reveal the wisdom of God is the cross, and that our happiness is in our predestination to be conformed that that image.

He also says faith, hope and love endure - if we get three wishes.

The pearl and the treasure are the kingdom of God, not the kingdom of me.

The saints have right answers too.

John Paul wants to be totally Mary's.

St. Therese wants to be love in the heart of the Church.

Mother Theresa wants to thirst.

St. Thomas Aquinas - I want nothing but you Lord.

St. Faustina wants divine mercy.

What does Jesus want? Might be a good idea to check his answer - The Father's will.

What do I want?

There are lots of right answers to choose from.

But today I want to challenge myself, and you if you accept,

not to steal the right answer from somebody else.  

The biggest mistake I can make,

is to answer too soon,

or be so afraid of failing the test,

that I cheat and steal the answer from someone else.

What do I want?

Whatever my answer is, I have to make that answer totally mine.

I have to own it, and improve upon that answer every day.

God is asking me because He wants to make a particular gift to me.

I pray He never stops asking,

and that I never stop trying to answer.