The first
reading is astounding today. Let’s hear it once again:
The community of believers was of
one heart and mind,
and no one claimed that any of his possessions was his own,
but they had everything in common….
and no one claimed that any of his possessions was his own,
but they had everything in common….
There was no needy person among
them,
for those who owned property or houses would sell them,
bring the proceeds of the sale,
and put them at the feet of the Apostles,
and they were distributed to each according to need.
for those who owned property or houses would sell them,
bring the proceeds of the sale,
and put them at the feet of the Apostles,
and they were distributed to each according to need.
This is amazing to me: there was no needy person among them.
No needy person. And why? Because the
community of believers was united. They were of one heart and mind. They were
Catholics; they held themselves to be personally responsible for those around
them. And so they shared and sold what they had in love for one another.
My children, you are becoming of the age where you are learning more about the world
and how it works. And there’s something that you should know about it before
you go to high school.
And it’s this: the world thinks it
is owed something. It’s called the Entitlement Culture.
There are
many people going around the world today thinking that they deserve this and that. That society owes
them. Their rallying cry is “It’s not fair.” In today’s culture, our rights and
our rewards are what are emphasized. “I have a right to free speech!” “I have a
right to do this!” And since I’ve done my fair share, I should be rewarded!
Notice the subject of each of these
sentences. It is not “you” or “me” or my neighbor. It is “I.” The self. That is
where today’s culture is focused: on itself: what it can get, what it deserves
to get, and what it believes it has a right to get. And when it doesn’t get
what it wants, it cries like a baby, saying “It’s not fair!”
So let me tell you about what is
not fair. A few years ago as I was preparing to become a priest, I lived in Mexico City . And next to Mexico City was sprawling
area called Chalco. Pope John Paul II visited there when he was Pope and he
called it one of the poorest areas in the world—poorer, even, than Calcutta where Mother
Theresa was.
I went to Chalco. I saw the muddy
roads and the dirt floors on which kids slept. I saw the crumbling concrete
walls of “houses.” I saw where the kids went to school and I knew where the
kids went afterwards: places where there wasn’t electricity or flushing toilets
or even daily food. I look back on my brief time there and I see what is before
me here and it’s night and day.
You go to school in a palace. This
school is an absolute palace. You don’t have to worry about whether or not you’re
going to have food today; we’re gonna feed you; we have enough for you. You don’t
have to worry about where to go to the bathroom or how you’re going to get your
next drink of water. You don’t have to worry about going to a school where you might
get shot; you don’t have to go to a school with barbed-wire fences around it.
No, this school has everything you need to live and to thrive.
In fact, if there is a place where
you should be able to love your neighbor, this palace is it. This is one of the
last places where you have to worry about yourself and your survival. And since
worrying about yourself isn’t vital to your survival here, worrying about your
neighbor should be so easy!
But we do worry about ourselves—what
we look like, what people think of us, what technological things we do or do
not have that could serve our social status—and we realize how quickly we fall
into the trap of the Entitlement Culture. We focus on what we don’t have
instead of what we do have.
So let me ask you: why are you
entitled to an iPhone when there are kids your age who, through no fault of
their own, are wondering at this moment where they are going to sleep tonight.
What makes you better than them? Is that fair?
I’m not saying iPhones are bad. What
I am saying, however, is that when we spend money on something that we don’t
need, we are making a decision not to spend that money on something that is
needed. We have decisions to make. And if we’re always choosing ourselves, it
means that we are rarely choosing others.
Our culture has forgotten about its
duties and responsibilities. The culture has forgotten that the world is bigger
than our own ego. And we have a responsibility to that world. We are
responsible for one another. We have a duty to take care of one another. We cannot
go around thinking “I deserve this and I deserve that” because such thinking
enslaves us to selfishness. And selfishness and love don’t go together. You can’t
be both focused on yourself and love others at the same time.
Friends, hear me: entitlements and
selfishness enslave us! And I love you all too much to send you out into the
world thinking how wonderful you are without also telling you that you now have
a duty!
And it is a duty. A self-less duty.
A few weeks ago, I was talking with
some of the 8th grade parents about the upcoming Mystery Trip. And
it’s gonna be a great Mystery Trip. But I was talking to the parents and I
asked what they thought if the kids did some service in the middle of the trip
or, at least, to donate some of the money to a good cause and not to spend it
all on ourselves.
Someone said to me, “Father, these
kids deserve a good mystery trip. They’ve worked hard all year and have given
to the poor. They’ve earned this trip.” I don’t doubt that you have. I know you’ve
worked hard.
But this made me think a few
things. First, if we have not taught you that service is good and should be
sought out at all times—and not just when you are doing a Confirmation project—then
we have failed in our duty to teach you right. Isn’t it really true that it is
in giving that we receive?
Doing service—no… Doing our duty…
is something that we should do even if we get no reward from it. We do
something kind not because we get a “thank you” for it, but because we know it
is the right thing to do. And good people do the right things—no matter what happens
afterwards.
You come here to school and do your
work. Why should we reward you for something that you should already be doing?
Why rewards for doing our duty? That’s the Entitlement Culture.
Awards don’t go to marines who
clean their guns well. Awards go to marines who go beyond the call to duty and
enter into the face of danger. Awards aren’t given to people who show up and do
their job. Awards are given to people who go beyond their job description and contribute
an achievement beyond they receive a paycheck for. That our culture gives
awards for attendance and for virtues that we should, as Christians, be
exhibiting bespeaks our culture’s fall from Christianity.
Yes, 8th grade, a
Mystery Trip is not a reward for what you have done here at St. Joe’s. You
receive a Mystery Trip because your parents love you. And that is—or, at least,
it should be—the real reason.
Friends, if there should be someone
who should receive a reward for what he did, it would be this guy *point to
Jesus.* He went beyond his duty. Shouldn’t he receive the praise? Shouldn’t he
receive our admiration and our emulation?
If the world was a fair world, then
praise wouldn’t be given to us, it would be given to him! But it is unfair; so
this hero is often forgotten. Praise is mumbled.
A final
thought: there is a fine line between entitlements and fulfilling one’s duty
without expectation of reward.
This past
week, the Bishop of Wichita was made Bishop of Dubuque. I read into what this
bishop had done in Wichita .
Do you know what he did? He made Catholic education in Wichita free of charge. Practicing, active Catholics
do not have to pay tuition to go to school.
How is this
possible? It is because each and every Catholic in that diocese sees it as
their personal responsibility to give others a Catholic education. This is not
an entitlement. This is our duty. We have a duty to pass on to others what has
been bequeathed to us—and to pass it along all the better, with added shine and
glory—not with added tarnish, stink, or destruction.
Why can’t
we do that here? Why can’t we all take personal responsibility not just for our
own glorification, but for the glory of our neighbor?
Seventh and
eighth grade: you are personally responsible for the person next to you and for
the generations that come after you. If you become a slave to your selfishness
and to the Entitlement Culture, then you will become precisely that: a sullen slave
who finds life unfair.
But if you
recognize your duty and fulfill that call to personal responsibility, then you
will be free. Yes, love is what frees us! Love is what frees us!
Hear again
that first reading:
The community of believers was of
one heart and mind,
and no one claimed that any of his possessions was his own,
but they had everything in common….
and no one claimed that any of his possessions was his own,
but they had everything in common….
There was no needy person among
them,
for those who owned property or houses would sell them,
bring the proceeds of the sale,
and put them at the feet of the Apostles,
and they were distributed to each according to need.
for those who owned property or houses would sell them,
bring the proceeds of the sale,
and put them at the feet of the Apostles,
and they were distributed to each according to need.
With great power the Apostles bore
witness
to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus,
and great favor was accorded them all.
to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus,
and great favor was accorded them all.
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