Six to One

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Photo by Collamer @unsplash

                                                                                                    
One day of prayin and six nights of fun.

The odds against goin the Heaven— six to one.

Words from an old 1960’s hit.

Hopefully not a description of our prayer life.

We don’t pray just on Sunday and ignore the other six days.

But Sundays are special.

And today, the 33^rd Sunday in Ordinary Time,

Is the last numbered Sunday of this year.

Next Sunday leads off the 34^th and last week of Ordinary Time,

The final week of the liturgical year.

But next Sunday won’t be numbered the 34^th Sunday,

It will be called the Feast of Christ the King.

All that to note that we’re at that time of year again.

In both our liturgical year and our secular year.

We’re nearing the end.

And our Scripture readings are looking to the end times.

Looking to Death … and Judgement … and Resurrection.

We know when the year is scheduled to end.

But we don’t know the schedule for the more important endings.

No one knows the day or the hour.

Not for the glorious coming of the Son of Man,

Jesus’ second coming.

And not for his private comings for each of us.

That could be today or, for some of the younger folks, 90 years from now.

But it’s definitely coming, and relatively soon.

With our attention drawn to endings and judgement,

It’s a good time to step back and consider how we’re doing.

How we’ve done this past year.

A good time to begin formulating some New Years resolutions.

We know we’re called to more than just praying one day a week.

And even more than praying seven days a week.

We’re called to live each day well.

To actively follow and support and spread the teachings of Jesus.

A few weeks ago, I attended an annual deacons meeting.

And the main speaker was Msgr. Ensler

The head of Catholic Charities here in DC.

He asked if we could recite the seven principles of 
Catholic Social Teaching.

We couldn’t.

In our defense, we were all familiar with all the underlying concepts.

But we couldn’t recite how the Church had selected and

Enumerated and worded them into the Seven Principles.

You’re no doubt familiar with these concepts too.

But you may not know how the Church has formalized them.

So, as a quick summary, let me run through the seven with you.

Just identifying them and giving a very brief explanation.

The first principle of Catholic Social Teaching is:

Sacredness of Life, and Dignity of the Human Person.

Human life is sacred.

And every person has dignity and the right to be treated with respect.

This principle is the foundation of our Catholic vision for society.

And all the other principles flow from it.

We’re called to respect and protect human life and dignity.

To support efforts that promote life and dignity.

And oppose efforts that threaten life or dignity.

To work to avoid the death penalty and war, and abortion.

Work to eliminate poverty, hunger, prejudice and injustice.

The second principle is the 
Call to Family, Community, and Participation.

This recognizes that we are social beings.

We’re called to build strong families at the core of our society.

And to organize our society—its laws, economics, politics and policy—

To promote the common good and the well-being of all.

Next is Rights and Responsibilities.

Every person has a fundamental right to life.

And a right to those things required for human dignity—

Like food, shelter, medical care, and education.

But along with those rights each person has duties and responsibilities,

To one another, to their families, and to society.

The fourth is the Option for the Poor and the Vulnerable.

Jesus spoke often of our duty to help the poor and the vulnerable.

He told of poor Lazarus lying, dying, ignored, at the door of the rich man.

He told us to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, welcome the stranger,

Visit the sick and the imprisoned.

Next is the Dignity of Work and the Rights of Workers.

This includes the right to a fair wage.

The right to safe work conditions.

The right to equal opportunity.

The sixth is Solidarity.

We are one human family—throughout the world.

We are our brothers’ keepers and our sisters’ keepers.

And finally, the seventh principle is Care for Creation.

We’re called to show our respect for our Creator and all that he made.

To be good stewards of all that he has put at our disposal.

The animals, the land, the waters, the air, the minerals—the planet.

Those seven principles might seem like a lot to take in.

But it can all be boiled down to that first principle.

Sacredness of Life, and Dignity of the Human Person.

And that first principle is just an expansion on the all-encompassing

Two Great Commandments that Jesus gave us:

Love God, and love your neighbor as yourself.

Following these Social Teachings of the Church isn’t 

Just a nice thing to do.

It’s a duty, a requirement of our faith.

And it’s all too clear that, as a society, we’re not doing a stellar job.

We’re doing better than many societies today and throughout history.

But we’re far from our goal.

We’re each called, individually, to follow and promote these principles.

And to join in collectively guiding our society toward those ends.

That guiding is not a simple task.

We differ as to what’s the best path to those ends.

But we each need to ensure that the path we’re favoring

Is in fact an honest and sincere effort toward Social Justice.

As another year winds down to an end.

As we each assess where that year has brought us.

And as we contemplate our own ending,

Aware that we can’t know the day or the hour.

There’s a lot to consider and a lot of questions we might ask:

Am I making every day count?

Am I progressing in my prayer life?

Am I living well?

    Spreading the Good News?

    Building the Kingdom?

    Modeling and promoting Social Justice?

Are the odds against my going to Heaven far better than six to one?

Am I doing all I can to get those odds a lot closer to a sure thing?

What can I do to improve them even further in the coming new year?

33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Mk 13:24-32  Read this Scripture @usccb.org