What Are You Missing in Your Life? Gratitude for God's Gifts

The Feast Begins

This life is a wedding banquet.

It’s a feast.

Well, my dear brothers and sisters, I hope you had a chance to come to our fall festival where there was great food.

Great food.

And food that you can’t even pronounce from different cultures, from different countries.

And it reminded me of this first reading.

A feast of rich food and choice wines.

Juicy, rich food, and pure choice wines.

I love how Isaiah emphasizes that, right?

Juicy, rich food.

Fat, tasty, greasy.

The state fair, the state fair.

Come to this feast.

Wouldn’t it be amazing?

Like if life was like that, like you can, anything you want, or actually everything that you want.

Imagine in life, everything you want.

Everything the way you want it, when you want it.

That would be, what kind of life would that be?

That would be what, like heaven?

That’d be amazing.

The relationship you want, you’re loved exactly the way you want to be loved.

You don’t have to ask your spouse.

You don’t have to ask your girlfriend or boyfriend.

No, no, they know already.

Like this is what you like.

You go to the restaurant.

The food is exactly what you dreamed of.

You imagined.

Wouldn’t that be great?

Isaiah, the Gospel, and St. Paul

Well, in the first reading, Isaiah, like this is a beautiful banquet and everybody comes.

Perfect scenario.

In the gospel, unfortunately, it’s like everything is ready.

Everything is beautiful and nobody wants to come.

Like everybody’s too busy with life to come to this thing, to this banquet.

And in the middle, we have the letter of St. Paul to the Philippians where he says, I know how to live in humble and I know how to live with abundance.

With humility and I know how to live with abundance.

In humble circumstances and with abundance.

I think the key word is I’ve learned, I’ve learned.

I’ve learned how to navigate in this life.

Learning the Rules of Life

Well, in the first reading, I don’t think we have to imagine if I had everything the way I wanted to have it.

I remember when I was in college, my first semester I was struggling because I could not reconcile partying all night and going to class at 8 a.m. Did not work with me.

Didn’t work, right?

Partying and then 8 a.m. Mass.

Not 8 a.m. Mass, no, no. 8 a.m. class, class, right?

Not Mass, never went to Mass in college.

So imagine, so of course I either didn’t show up for the class or I arrived late.

And then the second semester I learned, like St. Paul, I learned.

I said, okay, my first class is going to be at 11 a.m. Okay, I put together the perfect schedule.

I did and you know what?

I was late to every class.

I was late.

So what does that tell you about life?

It tells you that you have to go into it understanding the rules, the rules of life and appreciating it and looking at life like it really is a banquet.

This life that we live is an absolute banquet.

Can you imagine all the people you can meet?

All the relationships that you can have?

All the wonderful things that you can discover?

All the amazing things that you can experience?

The Spot on the Wall

This life is a wedding banquet.

It’s a feast and the problem is with us is that if we don’t realize it, if we don’t accept it, if we don’t appreciate it, if we’re constantly looking at the negatives that blind us from this beauty, especially in the gospel today.

I’m too busy for what?

I’m too busy for what?

You have a beautiful opportunity here.

I’m too busy with life.

And what are you busy with?

That someone, that someone, some one person that has ruined it, that has given me such a hard time, that one person and I stay focused on it.

Like that girl that broke up with me or that boy that broke up with me or that marriage or that friendship, my friend, my friend, my best friend, that one, that someone, that person that broke my heart.

If I stay focused on it, it’s almost like, imagine this beautiful wall, right?

And there’s this one black spot, this one gray spot, this one spot that sticks out and all you see is that one spot.

You’ve missed, you’ve missed the banquet.

You’ve missed the beauty of life.

And I’m not, please, please believe me when I tell you, these are real emotions.

When St. Paul says, I’ve learned to live without, I’ve learned to live with, don’t think he’s just like, I’ve learned to live with pain, I’ve learned to live with, no.

He’s not making light of anything.

What he’s saying is I’ve learned, I’ve learned to live with gratitude that the Lord has blessed me in all circumstances because if we only had what we wanted, when we wanted, how we wanted, how would we ever grow?

If the only thing I ask in this world is that you hand it to me, that you give it to me, and that earned, how am I going to grow?

How am I going to learn?

How am I going to learn how to appreciate the beauty, the wonders that if that one person, that someone, that one thing, that one person, that one event, that one situation, and it blinds me of everything else in my life.

Too Busy for the Banquet

But this is the problem, this is what happens in the gospel.

We get too busy for life.

So the Lord is inviting us to open our eyes to the beauty of everything, that if one door closes, another opens.

We’ve heard it before, if one window closes, another one opens, that the Lord is with us, that the Lord is not going to abandon us, and that good, great things will happen for us in this life that will help me to appreciate more and more how amazing this banquet is in life.

We just have to make sure that we have the right attitude.

The Boy and the Plant

And let me tell you something.

Yesterday was a great reminder.

At the Fall Festival, I saw these two kids, two kids coming from one of the stands that was selling plants.

Actually, our school was offering plants that the children had planted from the greenhouse, and they were offering it at the Fall Festival.

And so you have people picking up plants, and I saw these two kids with these plants, pots of plants, and I looked at the youngest girl, the little girl, she was younger than her brother, the little girl had bought a plant that was beautiful, like, had grown.

And then I looked at the little boy’s, the boy’s plant, the older kid, and it was like this tiny little, you know, bud, this tiny little thing.

And I was like, what are you doing with that plant?

And he goes, well, and I said, well, look at your sister’s.

Why don’t you get a bigger one?

Well, I want to see it grow.

And in the back of my mind, I was thinking, you’re gonna see it die.

Yeah.

This thing ain’t growing.

Wait, you see, like, some of us have this tendency to see the negative, the spot, the blotch, but this kid, this kid, yeah, he’s willing to accept the challenge of life and willing to learn from it.

That is the lesson for all of us today.

We’re not, we will have heaven, but right now, we get to work and we learn.

Amen.

What St. Paul Truly Learned

And I’m not sure if I said it, I can’t remember now, but in my homily, when I said, you know, the lesson that St. Paul teaches us is that he’s learned, right?

He’s learned in the good times and the bad times and the tough times and the easy times.

What did he learn?

What did he learn?

He learned that in all times, God is with you.

God is with you.

That’s the great lesson that he’s learned, that God is with you.

So someone, something, somewhere will never replace everyone, everything, everywhere.

Okay, never, which means nothing will replace God.

Okay, the Lord be with you.

May almighty God bless you, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, amen.

God Never Rejects You.

 

A Word of Thanks

Good morning, everyone.

I’m sure you know who I am because I’ve come here at least once a year to promote our school, Mary Immaculate Catholic School. My name is Father Alphonse, and I’m the pastoral administrator at Mary Immaculate.

I want to thank Father Ignatius for inviting me this year to speak, to give the homily, and to celebrate mass with you in this beautiful community. We have many families from St. Catherine who send their children to our school, and I believe we have one of the best schools in the diocese. So thank you, Father Ignatius, for being so gracious and giving me this opportunity to be with you all and to share a reflection on today’s readings.

The One Thing to Remember

What’s the main point? What’s the one thing I don’t want anybody to forget?

No matter what you’re going through, no matter what challenges you’re facing, no matter what difficulties you’re experiencing — don’t worry. That is the message from God today. Don’t worry.

From St. Paul: “Have no anxiety.” Brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious — stick to these things.

If you are the outlier, if you are the weirdo because you’re being good and kind, if you’re the outcast, if you’re going against the flow — don’t worry. Everything will work out. Just stick with me.

What Isaiah Is Saying to the House of Israel

This is the challenge, because in the first reading from the prophet Isaiah, God is essentially asking: “What more do you want, house of Israel? Look at what I have given you.”

God helped the Israelites escape Egypt. He helped them cross the Red Sea. He helped them reach the Promised Land and gave them a beautiful country. And still they looked elsewhere. “What more do you want from me? Haven’t I given you everything?”

That’s what Isaiah is saying. Why are you letting other people influence you more?

You have to remember that Israel was a tiny nation, surrounded by empires — the Babylonians, the Egyptians. These great powers were constantly trying to influence the Israelites, and the Israelites wanted to be like everybody else. But the question God keeps pressing is: why do you want to be like everybody else? Why don’t you want to stand out? Why don’t you want to be better, to make a difference for what’s right and good and beautiful?

Everything Changes Except What Matters Most

I’ve been reading a book on Ulysses S. Grant — about a thousand pages. He lived 160 years ago. And you know how many things have changed in 160 years? Everything. Everything changes.

There’s a young boy here. How old are you? Ten? Imagine in 10 years he’ll be 20. And you know what’s going to happen? He’ll call his parents and say, “Mom, Dad, I’m going on vacation.” They’ll ask where. He’ll say, “The moon.” And his parents will say, “Again?” Maybe he’ll even check out the other side.

You think that’s impossible in 10 years? Or imagine he gets in the car and says, “Take me to Grandma” — and he doesn’t even have to take a driver’s test. Everything is going to change.

But today the Lord says this: everything changes except my love for you. That will never change.

The meaning of love will never change. The meaning of honor will never change. The meaning of truth will never change. The meaning of graciousness will never change. The meaning of purity will never change. All that is true, all that is good, all that is right, all that is beautiful — that will never change.

So stick with me. That’s what the Lord says. Stick with me. Stop letting other people influence you.

The Same Problems, 160 Years Apart

Like I said, I’ve been reading about Ulysses S. Grant. And you know what? All the problems he had, I could have today.

The backstabbing. The gossiping. The murmuring. People talking badly about you. People not liking you. People getting jealous of you. That happened 160 years ago, and it happens today.

So the question is: am I going to be like everyone else?

Have no anxiety. Have no fear. What is good, what is true, what is honorable, what is just, what is pure, what is lovely, what is gracious will never change. And it will always be good.

Stick with me. Amen?