What’s in Your Heart?

A homily by Fr. Brendan McGuire for the 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time (year A)

Many of you have seen that advertisement on television for credit cards
that always ends with "...What's in your wallet?" 
The premise behind that advertisement 
is to suggest that our credit card in some way defines who we are. 
In some way, how we spend our money does say something about us. 
To a certain extent what and where we spend our money tells us
what is important in our lives.

Probably a better indicator of what defines us as people 
is how we spend our time. 
If we want to know what defines a huge portion of our lives
it is where we spend our time. 
More importantly with whom do we spend our time? 
Or on what do you spend your time? 
If we spend time with this group of people 
then we are saying they are more important versus this group of people.
Students at school know this reality all too well.
There are other ways in which we could understand what defines us. 
Yes, it is what we spend our money on; 
and yes, it is what and where we spend our time. 
But it is also with whom we spend our time. 
The "who" is important.
Even more than that, what defines us is who we are willing to stand up for. 
Who are we willing to defend? 
Who are we willing to be vulnerable for?
That tells us a lot about ourselves. 
All of these, in some way, all of these together in their complexity 
will tell us about who we are and what we are.

In today's gospel, we hear this story about paying taxes to Cesar or not. 
People have often misused this scripture to talk about 
the justification to pay taxes or not pay taxes; 
or separation of church and state. 
That is a complete misreading of the scripture. 
Even the most unscholarly approach can figure out that.
Right from the beginning Jesus calls them hypocrites. 
We know by the way they ask their question that is a trick question.
There is a part of us that has to at least enjoy it a tad bit.
How Jesus takes on these most unlikely adversaries; 
he just cuts them down with two phrases:  
Show me the coin. Whose head is this on the back? 
And he just cuts to the quick really fast. 
We might not be distracted by the brilliance of Jesus' answer 
but by what is actually happening in the context here. 
The religious leaders and Herodians were enemies. 
Yet these two enemies came together 
to trick Jesus into saying something that they could hold against him.

But what does Jesus do? 
Jesus reframes it completely. 
Then asks, "What is their priority in life?" 
This is not just about the money. 
It is an indicator. Sure. 
It is time. It is an indicator. 
But what in fact is our highest priority? 
Time, money, who you spend your time with and who we stand up for. 
All these are indicators. 
But in the end, we have to ask the question of ourselves;
"What is the top priority in our lives?" 
Everything else flows from that.

My fear is that as Catholic Christians, 
we do not think about that, half nearly enough. 
We get caught up in the busyness of life. 
We just churn from day to day. 
We go almost like on automatic pilot. 
We do not ask the questions of what is the most important thing in my life.
What is the most important reality of my life? 
And until something actually happens, 
when we get sick or somebody dies, 
then all of a sudden our whole reality gets woken up 
and then we start asking that question.
Must we wait for that moment? 
Is that what has to happen? 
Is that the only way we are going to wake up 
from our secular slumber? 
I plead with you to not.

In some way, shape or form, your faith has made a difference 
because you are here on a Sunday morning 
when most of the world is in bed or at home relaxing. 
Somehow you know that it is a priority of something in your life. 
And this one hour has made itself a priority; 
whether it is the community; 
whether it is the environment; 
whether it is the Mass; 
There is something. 
It got you here. 
But one hour is not enough guys. 
One hour out of 168 hours will not make a difference. 
Oh, I would love if it would make that much of a difference. 
I would cherish that I could stay up here for 10 minutes of preaching
and somehow that would radically change your life for the rest of the week. 
But I am not that foolish. 
I know that fundamentally it takes more than one hour out of 168 hours 
to make changes in your and my life. 
And we have to commit to that extra time.

That is what I am asking you to commit to. 
The one hour is just simply never going to be enough. 
That is why I keep pushing you to pray every day. 
We want to be at 10 hours every week. 
That does not mean that you have to be at your desk 
praying for one hour a day. 
But you ought to be working towards something like that; 
and in the other hours, you ought to be working at being charitable,
giving your heart and soul away to someone else.
Why? Because that is what defines us. 
That tells us who we are because we are standing up for somebody. 
We are spending our time with them. 
And yes, we are spending our energy and who we are with them.  
That will make all the difference.

Today, the question is not what is in our wallet. 
But what's in our heart. 
What is our top priority? 
When we come to Eucharist, 
we come to renew ourselves in our number one priority, 
which is to follow Christ. 
It is easy for us to say it here but
when we walk outside those doors, we have to live it. 
And that is the work we spend 167 hour doing. 
And we need the help every day. 
And that is why I am asking us to find some time to say;
"This remains a priority for me."
What's in your heart?