Homily notes 3rd Week of Lent 2019

Sunday of the Third Week of Lent.  “Standing on Holy Ground”

Having a purpose one of the most important things in life. In fact, people live longer who do. How many of us can describe succinctly what our purpose is in the world?

            A story is told of a young man who lived in Colorado.  The young man was despondent about finding a purpose in life.  When he was on a hike in the mountains.  He ran across an old prospector.  The old man could tell that the young man was despondent, so he asked the young man what was wrong.  The young man described his dilemma.  “I just can’t find a purpose in life.  What do I do?” The old man said, “Follow me.”

            He took the young man down to the river.  At the river, were dozens of miners panning for gold.  The old prospector said, “Study these men’s lives.”  “What good will that do?” the young man asked. The old miner explained.  He said, “You will notice three types of miners.  The first group are those who strike it rich right away.  Such people are like people who find out at young age what their purpose is.  People like this set out in life, never looking back, and they are happy.  The second group are people who have not hit the mother lode yet, but they have found just enough gold, so they keep searching.  The second group believes they have a purpose in life. But their purpose may not be the same at all times, and they keep enthusiastically searching, moving from one goal to the next.”

            The last group are those who start to mine for gold in the stream, but when they do not find it, they grow discouraged.  And they give up.  The last group just wanders through life. Usually there is a sense of despondency as well as boredom.  Such people fall into bad habits. Life is a trial for them, but what is most troubling is that they begin to believe life has no meaning” The young man left, not knowing what his objective in life was, but realizing that he had one, that he only had to discern what it was.

            Moses was like the young man in the story.  As we meet him in the book of Exodus today, he is living in exile.  He seems like a real loser.  He is a convicted murderer.  He is a fugitive.  He has to depend on his father-in-law, who gave him a job herding sheep.  Moses is not very motivated. He does not think much of his own abilities.

            But then comes the moment, when he sees the burning bush.  He finds out that God has a mission for him.  Moses is told to go down into Egypt. He is told that he will lead the people of Israel out of slavery in Egypt. 

            Moses, at first, refuses.  We don’t hear about that in the shortened form of the first reading, but that is, in fact, what happens.  He tells God he is not a leader. He tells God that he is not an orator.  But God insists.  Moses could have walked away in doubt.  He does not.  He takes up the impossible task as did so many famous figures in the Old Testament.  He comes to see that he must not rely on his own abilities.  But he can rely on God’s grace.  Which is what all of us must come to see. When we cooperate with God’s grace in our lives, we find a path.

            We all can feel aimless at times.  The young often feel that way.  Perhaps young people are searching for a career, but nothing really satisfies them, nothing seems noble enough.  If we are in the middle of our working life, we can feel aimless.  Does making our sales goal for the cooperation we work for satisfy us?  Are we happy if we buy that new car we want? When we make the last house payment have, we achieved our reason for living?  Retirees can have that same dilemma.  Thomas Merton said it well one time, “We spend our whole life climbing the letter of success only to find that when we get to the top, we have placed our letter against the wrong wall.” Each of us, no mater where we are in life, can have that same feeling.  Is this all I am here for? 

            When we wonder, we need to remember that God has given us a set of goals that can bring us meaning no matter what our stage of life.  Faith tells us that our purpose is to know, love, serve and worship God.  St. Ignatius Loyola tells us that when we fall into despondency, we need to remember what the foundation of our Christian life is.  We are here to engage with the divine. No one knows all there is to know about God.  No one will every serve all those in need.  We always can love others better.  And no amount of worship will ever satisfy our spiritual hunger. 

            Some people, unfortunately, never learn what their original purpose is.  Many young people today don’t encounter religion in any significant way. The church often fails them. The dominant culture lies to them. Is it any wonder that depression among adolescents is an epidemic? And then there are those who are older, who feel they might be walking a religious path, but feel they have lost the map.  We all can live life on the surface satisfied with superficial objectives. Or worse yet, we trade real gold that says we are on a mission from God for fool’s gold.  And we find ourselves asking, “What is the meaning of it all.”

            God created us to fulfill a dream.  God’s dream for us is that we would enter constantly be in relationship with the divine.  When we seek friendship with God, we are on the right path. We also stand on the holiest of ground.