WEBVTT

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In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and

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of the Holy Spirit. Glory to Jesus Christ. There's

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a book called The Sunflower. And in it, one of

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the author, St. John of Tobolsk, who is the related,

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the great grand... Father, I can't remember exactly,

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of St. John of Shanghai in San Francisco. He

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tells us that whatever we desire, that becomes

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our self, our true essence. That becomes our

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personality. Now, obviously, he's not talking

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about such things as, after liturgy today, I

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hope to have a cup of coffee. I'm not going to

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become a caffeine addict. I'm not going to become

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coffee. When my car breaks down, I hope to get

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it fixed, or I hope to get a new car. It's more

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like I desire that our former parishioner, Kathy

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Dodges, Cousin Heidi recovers from COVID -19.

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I desire that all of you stay well. I desire

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that all of you experience the peace and love

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of God. I desire good things. And then we orientate

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our mind and our heart. When we desire an enemy

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to suffer, someone we don't like to experience

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something bad, then our attention is going towards

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our passions. Today, we hear this parable, which

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Jesus spoke to those, it says, well, it starts

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off with this, with verse 11. It would be nice

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if the lectionary started with the 13, but it

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doesn't. It says this. One of the companies said,

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when Jesus was speaking about life and about

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forgiveness and about standing firm for the faith

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no matter what would come before us, and he said

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something about blaspheming against the Holy

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Spirit. One of the companies said to a master,

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Speak to my brother, please, that he would give

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me my share of the inheritance. And Jesus said

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to him, man, and this is ironic because, of course,

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man, who made me a judge or a divider over you?

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And he said to them, take heed, be careful, and

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beware of covetousness. For a person's life does

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not consist in the abundance of the things which

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he possesses. Well, what's covetousness? I had

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to look it up. I think I know what it means,

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but actually looking it up in the dictionary

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is quite revealing. It means desiring something,

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a lustful desire for something, even at the expense

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of someone else. Even if you hurt someone else.

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You've got to have that thing. So Jesus tells

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a parable, no doubt spoken to the brother who

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would not divide the inheritance and to the brother

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who wanted the inheritance. To be careful. And

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what does he say? He speaks about the ground

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of a certain rich man. This rich man was successful.

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That's good. That's a good part of the parable.

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He says, I'm so successful, I need to store this

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stuff. God has spoken to us, brothers and sisters,

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through his word, Jesus Christ. The most profound

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word he could give is on the cross in silence,

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with his arms outstretched. It's the word of

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love. It's the word of salvation. He speaks to

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us in the gospel accounts. God speaks to us through

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the lives of the saints and what they say. Through

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the liturgical life, the church services, the

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hymns, the gospels you hear. But still, we want

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a word from God on high personally. How about

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our rich man? God spoke to him on the last night

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of his life. God spoke to him. Thou fool. What

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a thing to hear when God speaks to you. Thou

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fool. Why a fool? Well, the ground of a certain

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rich man produced a good crop. This man is portrayed,

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not as a sinner, but as an honest, hardworking

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man, like any of us whose labor was blessed by

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God with abundance. And truly, the abundance

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of the rich man was a good thing. It was a blessing.

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This is the catch to the parable. The earth is

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the Lord's and the fullness thereof. And all

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that dwell therein. It all belongs to God. It

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is a blessing to work hard. It is a blessing

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from God when that work leads to honest, yes,

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success. It is a blessing to plan for your retirement

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and for your children. It is not a sin to build

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a bigger barn. This parable is not about getting

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ready for death. It's not about building bigger

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barns and being successful and working hard.

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It's about covetousness. The parable... given

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by our Savior doesn't criticize those things

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that that man was successful for. But as the

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parable progresses, we see that there's something

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terribly wrong, seriously wrong with the man.

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I, my, I will do this, I will do that. With the

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increase of his wealth, there was no corresponding

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increase in his heart. Maybe he was fearful he

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would lose it all. His desire was focused. He

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had no corresponding generosity. Covetousness

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is what? It's the lustful desire to acquire something

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even at the expense of someone else. In this

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case, no acknowledgement of God's hand at all.

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My crops, my this. my that, and ultimately he

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says, the stupidest thing of all, which makes

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him the fool, my soul. And I will do this, and

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I will do that. Dear friends, let me encourage

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you every morning so your mind doesn't go like

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this foolish rich man. Let me encourage you to

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say the prayer before work. Every day before

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you start. And what does that prayer say? Oh,

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Jesus Christ, thou hast said with thy most pure

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lips that without me ye can do nothing. Oh, Lord,

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we embrace these words. So it was at the height

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of this man's prosperity that he died after he

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was spoken to by God. You know, our prayers of

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Thanksgiving and Thanksgiving's coming ought

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to outnumber the prayers of request. As much

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as we request, much more should we say thank

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you to God. Prosperity is not a virtue. It is

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a blessing. Wealth is not a virtue. It is a blessing

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to be shared. The parable reminds us of the truth

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that, as Dr. Martin Luther King said, money is

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a good servant, but a bad master. Again, when

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the coffin is lowered into the ground at the

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cemetery, it's my duty as a priest to take a

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shovel full of dirt. And say the words of the

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psalm to remind us that we come from the same

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place. God fashioned us out of the dust of the

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earth. And we only exist because he breathed

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into us the living spirit. And we've been redeemed.

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We've been saved. We heard about a temple on

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Friday and yesterday morning. And today we hear

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about a barn. We're being built up. We are stones

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of the temple of God. And what I say at the grave

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with my shovel full of dirt as I put the dirt

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on the coffin in that six -foot hole is the words

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from the psalm. The earth is the Lord's and the

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fullness thereof. It's all his. Everything we

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have, dependent on Christ our Savior. Indeed,

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our death and our resurrection. Right now, we're

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dust and ashes. But in the age to come, we will

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be immortal. So the saint tells us, again, whatever

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we desire, that becomes our self, our true essence.

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Do we desire? goodness, the peace and wisdom

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of God. We have to examine our conscience daily

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because we're in flux, we move around, we live

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in troubled times, we're not sure what we want

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one day or the next. I know for me that's true.

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What do we deeply desire? To be with Christ,

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to live in the light of his love, to be his apostle,

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his disciple, his follower. his servant? If that's

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it, then we have no fear of covetousness because

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those things are eternal. But if we've got our

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mind, our heart, our desire fixed on that which

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is of this earth, and fear is one big thing,

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those things aren't eternal and they will pass

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away. Let's not be fools. Let's be servants of

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God. Let's desire the one thing needful that

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Jesus has about Mary. One thing needful. The

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salvation of our soul. And God will take care

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of the rest with our hard work and our cooperation

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with him. So you see, this isn't a parable just

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about morals and ethics. This is a parable about

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the state of our soul before God. To him be glory.

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and majesty now and ever to ages of ages. Amen.