am I rich or poor?

Homily

6th Sunday in Ordinary Time C2

St. Lawrence Catholic Campus Center at the University of Kansas

13 February 2022

AMDG +mj

Am I rich or poor?

That's the pivotal question I hope to answer later.  But first, I want to answer this one.  Am I am winner or a loser.

I don't know which I am, but I know this.  I like to win.  I really like to win.  My grandpa used to say one learns more from losing than from winning.  My uncles replied they wanted to be dumb then, cause winning is so much more fun.

I gave up the fear of losing long ago.  I can't stand KU fans who are afraid of close games.  Get a life, I say.  I don't let the thought of losing even enter my mind.  We are KU, who do you think you are?  Arrogant, I know, but that's my attitude.  When my team in fact does lose, like the Chiefs two weeks ago, I go into denial.  Today is not Super Bowl Sunday, and if it is, I do not care.

I like to win, you see?

Yet in this I am not a disciple of Jesus.  Jesus doesn't prefer winning to losing.  He cares living and dying! So however you get more life, that's what He prefers.  Jesus invites me his disciple to not be afraid to be a lovable loser, so long as I'm trying my best.  For He knows what my grandpa did, that failing early and often is key to learning how to truly live.  For only when I lose do I see in perfect contrast how I must change for the better.  When I win, there's always a chance that I got away with something, and became entitled.  In his Beatitudes, Jesus teaches it's better always to get caught in our mistakes, and stay hungry.

Again, Jesus is more interested in living than winning.

Now to the pivotal question.  Am I rich or poor?  Darn it, anyway, I have to say I'm rich.  I'm really rich, which by the standards of the Beatitudes means I am not happy.  I could have anything I want in this world, but the Gospel reveals that if this is so I am not dreaming or desiring nearly enough.  

If I won the lottery tomorrow, I would take the money.  What is worse, I don't think the money would destroy me. Which by the standard of the Beatitudes means I am an idiot.  I am not the exception to the rule.  I can rationalize all day long that I am 100% detached from my things, but it's a lie.  As soon as I got the money, it would occupy a place in my soul.  I would fear losing it.  The Beatitudes say that if I have a fear or losing, my soul is already lost.

All this is just to say I need to worry less and laugh and play more.  St. Luke uses the world laugh in His Beatitudes, the only time this word appears in the Gospel   How do you tell a person is beatified, that he or she is happy?  By their laugh, says the Gospel!  The Gospel standard of poverty, emptiness, availability, readiness, hunger and humility are seen in those who don't take themselves too seriously.  Those who can laugh have a lightness of heart and pure joy that will not be taken from them.

Do I laugh as deeply and as often as I could?  The key to this question lies in the Beatitudes.  Am I rich or poor?