I received the information about a seminar that’s taking place this Friday, this Friday, August 17, only 16 miles from here up at the parish activity center in Holy Trinity Parish in Corn Hill.  And it’s a seminar put on by our dioceses and pro-life office, a seminar on an addiction with emphasis on pornography. 

Something’s in our culture.  Things are changing.  You’re seeing signs of this shift.  We saw, within this past year, pictures of Miss America gone a little wild, and then pictures of Miss New Jersey gone a little wild.  And then there was the American Girl who went a little wild, and then the recently pictures of Miss Nevada gone a little wild.  A mother told me that her daughter, teenage daughter, had put inappropriate pictures of herself on her MySpace page.  There’s something happening in our culture. 

Some statistics.  Average age of first internet exposure to pornography is eleven years old.  Nearly one out of three youth have a computer in their bedroom, and one out of five have an internet connection.  Youth between the ages of twelve and seventeen, it says here, are the largest consumer of internet pornography.  Ninety percent of eight- to sixteen-years-old have viewed pornography online, most of it while doing homework.  And here’s a frightening one, 26 children characters have been linked to thousands of porn sites.

A mother was telling me last night that her children like to send email pictures of things, little kids – little puppies or kitties, or something, and they found that somehow hitchhiking on that was some kind of a link to a porn site.  There’s something that’s going on.  Things are changing.  Things are different. 

And so the dioceses has brought in this seminar.  They’re bringing in two psychologists from Texas Tech.  They’re gonna address various issues.  I draw to your attention, especially parents, this Friday, 9:30 to 3:00 p.m., there’s these fliers in the back by the welcome center.  They do ask if you’re thinking of attending.  Please give them a phone call so they can have enough lunch and enough materials ready for everyone who shows up. 

Last week, our Scriptures asked the question, “What do you treasure?”  There was the story about the man who had a really good harvest and he said, “I’m set.  All I got to do is build a few bigger warehouses and I’m set.  I have arrived.”  And that very night, God says, “Oh, no, you are departing.”  And he became rich for himself, but he did not become rich in what mattered to God, oh vanity of vanities.  And so last week, the question was, “What do you treasure?”  I think this week the question is, “Where is your home?  Where is your home?” 

Round Rock, we are people on the move.  I would imagine most of us above the age of 25 were not born here.  We are a people on the move.  Our country, right, we are people on the move, a nation of immigrants.  Our ancestors – most of us came from various places.  And once we get here, we’re on the move.  My parents grew up in Pennsylvania, and Dad joined the military and retired in Omaha.  And I’m here in Texas.  My brother’s in North Carolina.  My sister’s in Chicago.  No wonder that the day before Thanksgiving is the most congested day in our highways and airports as people are trying desperately to go home. 

So where is our true home?  We look to our readings.  The first reading from the Book of Wisdom, Chapter 18.  It takes place at night.  Now at night, most people were sleeping.  But that night, there was some people who were awake and were busy getting ready.  They had clung to a promise for 200 years that one day they would leave that land of exile and go home. 

Now I imagine some people had give up on the promise.  They just gave up.  It just would have been too long.  Forget about it.  And there might have been other people who said, “Well, I’ll get ready, but I’ll get ready tomorrow.  I’ll get ready later.”  Of course, the door shut on them.  They lost their opportunity.  But for those who were prepared and ready that night, that Passover night, the promise was fulfilled and they were able to begin their journey back home. 

In our Gospel, Jesus tells his disciples that, “We are to spend this time – we are to spend this time getting ready for our master’s return.”  And we’re cautioned not to get too at home with this world.  When we get too at home, that’s when we start to eat and drink, get drunk, and beat up one another according to Jesus in his teaching. 

I’d like to look at the second reading, the Letter to the Hebrews, Chapter 11.  The Letter to the Hebrews was written to Christians who had begun to get discouraged.  Initially, they thought that Jesus was gonna return anytime, anytime, maybe this Easter, if not this Easter, certainly by next Easter.  And so there was an anticipation and the enthusiasm.  But year after year and hardship was added to hardship.  And a lot of these people had given up hope and were losing heart. 

And so the author wrote this letter to say, “Let’s look back to our history.  Let’s go back to Abraham and see how our ancestors clung to God’s promises, hung in there, kept the faith generation after generation.”  Abraham, he listened, trusted, and followed.  He left his home in Ur of the Caldese and sent out for a new homeland.  Abel offered a sacrifice pleasing to the Lord.  Enoch walked with God as others were walking in their ways.  Noah was busy making preparations and many mocked him, “Why are you building a boat in the middle of land?  Are you crazy?”  But he made his boat.  He was busy getting ready.  Isaac lived in tents, wasn’t settled.  He was a man on the move.  Jacob wrestled with God for faith is wrestling with God.  Joseph found God in the land of his exile.  Moses led Israel up to the edge of the Promised Land.  And Joshua brought them into the Promised Land.

And so these were all held up as examples of faith, as role models, as inspirations to these believers who are getting discouraged.  We heard the classic definition of faith, that faith is the realization of what is hoped for, the evidence of things unseen, the evidence of things unseen.  For a believer, there’s always a tug-of-war taking place between the seen and the unseen.  The world focuses on the here and now.  And the believer is willing to gamble that there is more than here and there is more than now. 
The fundamental choice in life is, “Do I live for God, or do I live for the world?  Do I live for the future, or do I live for the present?  Do I live for the seen?  Do I live for the unseen?”  The person of the world says, “Why refuse the pleasures of the moment for an uncertain future?”  But the faith answers that, “The future is not uncertain because it belongs to God.  If we are true to God, God will be true to us.”

Nineteen hundred and forty years ago, there was an emperor named Nero and a convicted criminal named Paul.  A few generations later, men were naming their sons after Paul and naming their dogs after Nero. 

There’s a section that was omitted in our reading today, our selection for today, in Hebrews 11.  In Hebrews 11:6, it says that, “Faith believes that God is, and that God rewards those who seek him.”  Faith believes that God is, that God exists, and that God rewards those who seek him, that his existence makes a difference in our life.  There’s a lot of folks who have a head for knowledge who would nod their head at the concept of a supreme being.  But the real question is does that concept affect the way they live or not?

We do have to make a choice.  Do we choose to live our live these few days that we’re giving, seeking God or seeking other things?  Do we seek the kingdom first, or is that a little lower on the list?

There’s a quote, “The man who goes out into the unknown and keeps going will arrive at God.”  People of faith never feel completely at home in this world.  We seek a homeland that lies beyond our present passing existence.  And each moment of our life should be shaped and influenced by our longing for eternity.  Each moment of our life should be shaped and influenced by our longing for eternity, to live our life, but with an eternal perspective. 

See, when we forget that, that’s when we lose our way.  That’s when we start living for the here and now.  That’s when we drink and get drunk and beat up one another.  The Wiseman knows that this life is but a bridge and so he doesn’t build his home here.

I want to use Hebrews, Chapter 11, to talk about our Catholic devotion to the saints.  So you walk into a Catholic church and you see we’re surrounded by all these people, all these – not every church is like that.  You go into other churches, they have plain walls, nothing to distract you from the pulpit right in the middle, nothing to distract you from the word.  Yet I have a saying.  We’ve heard the saying, “Nature abhors a vacuum.”  And my colliery is Catholic churches abhor a blank wall. 

So what is the meaning of this devotion?  During the reformation, there was a critique that you Catholics are so wrapped up in your devotion to the saints that you almost ignore the Lord.  Now it’s true that any good thing can be abuse, can be exaggerated.  There are medicines that are good for us that can be abused and be harmful.  And so even in spirituality it’s possible that we can kind of wander astray a little.  But that doesn’t mean that it’s bad in itself. 

See, let’s start with – well, let me ask.  The concern is this, that by giving attention and honor to the saints, somehow that’s robbing God, that God’s ending up with less, that God is somehow dishonored.  But I would ask parents, “Are you dishonored when people compliment your children?”  And the answer is probably no because your child is a reflection of you and your parenting.  And so the saints are God’s children, children of extraordinary faith, hope, and love.  The saints are God’s masterpieces.  Would an artist be insulted if we praised his masterpiece?  We go and look at his work of art, we praise it, and he gets offended, “Hey, don’t praise the art.  Praise me.”  And of course, by praising his masterpiece, we are praising the artist. 

Remember that our devotion to the saints wasn’t created in a committee some day.  It grew organically in the history of the church, and it grew by devotion to the martyrs.  For the first three to four centuries of Christianity, there was persecution.  People were put to death.  They had to make a choice, “Are you going to be faithful to Jesus whom you say is the Son of God?  Are you gonna do worship to the emperor who we claim is the Son of God and is a deity?  What are you gonna do?”  And many Christians were willing to lay down their life, “Greater love has no man that he lays down his life.”  The early church admired that. 

If you read in the Acts of the Apostles, the account of when St. Stephen was martyred, you can see how there’s reflections there of Jesus’ own passion and death.  And so the early church saw these martyrs as kind of a mystical repetition of the mystery of our own Lord’s passion, a great devotion, great admiration and respect for the martyrs.  And that’s the origin, the organic development of our devotion to the saints.

My brother who has a degree in engineering, not in theology, put it this way, he said, “Well, every group has their hall of fame.”  Keen insight, right, that you take certain people and kind of hold them up to inspire that others would aspire to their accomplishments as examples. 

As I was a kid growing up in our town, we had Judson Baptist Church here and I knew there was a Judson Baptist College, and then I found out there was a Judson publishing house.  And I’m like, “Who is this Judson?”  And I did a little research and I found out, very admirable, one of the early circuit writing preachers to the pioneers, went through many hardships to serve the pioneers out on the prairie, very admirable.  And so do you see what they did by holding him up as an example was to inspire future generations to aspire to the life of faith, hope, and love.  And I would say the dynamic is the same among our saints except we tend to go back a little farther in history, the same motivation. 

Our devotion to the saints rests on two theological foundations.  No. 1, the reality of the resurrection.  And No. 2, the mystical Body of Christ.  The reality of the resurrection.  So here, we have statues of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.  In the eyes of this world, they died a long time ago.  But our belief in the resurrection tells us that they live in the presence of God.  Indeed, they are more alive now than they ever were.  They have the fullness of life, a belief in the resurrection that these four men here live in the presence of God.  So that’s No. 1, the belief in the resurrection.

No. 2, the mystical Body of Christ.  St. Paul says that the believers form the mystical Body of Christ and that he has the singular, not multiple mystical bodies, not a mystical body in heaven, a mystical body on earth, and a mystical body in purgatory.  There is one mystical – we as members of the church, as members of the Body of Christ, are organically united with those believers of the earlier generations.  The saints and us here on earth, we are united in that one mystical body.  And so we can communicate with each other through prayer, just as we believe it’s good that we pray and intercede for one another, ask each other’s prayers.

In a few minutes, the deacon’s come and we’re gonna intercede and pray for people, and it’s good that we do, so to these heavenly prayer partners, these heavenly intercessors.  St. James says that, “The prayer of a righteous man is very effective.”  Well, certainly those who are in the presence of God, the fullness of righteousness that a human being is capable of, very effective. 

We say in the Hail Mary, what, “Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death.”  Now it is true that sometimes our devotion to the saints can go a little far field.  Every now and then I’ll see fliers in the back of the pews that say, the never failed novena, “Make nine copies this novena and leave it in church for nine days.”  And I’m the first to gather those up and throw them in the trash.  Not that I disrespect the prayer that the person is offering, that’s not good Catholic spirituality and theology.  The devotion to the saints is not a chain letter.  And so we do need to keep some – keep our focus and be careful that we don’t go too far.  But my point is this, that proper devotion to the saints inspires us to live as they did, of great faith, great hope, and great love. 

And so, what is the importance of this for us?  I think it tells us the importance of examples in role models and faith, the importance of examples.  The Letter to the Hebrews.  Devotion to the saints.  Importance of examples and role models in the faith.

There’s a saying that faith is more caught than taught.  I can teach you doctrine, but I can only hope and pray that you will really give yourself completely to Christ.  In my own life, it was high school and college.  When I saw other young people who had given themselves completely to Christ and I was still rather lukewarm, that challenged me and encouraged me to take that same step of faith. 

So the first thing I would say, parents, “Parents, you are the most important examples of faith for your children.”  Occasionally, you get parents who want to outsource that responsibility, drop the kid off at church and, “Here, you make them holy.”  Parents, you’re gonna spend more time with your child in a week than we will all year.  So parents, you are the most – generally, parents, your children are not gonna be much holier than you are. 

No. 2, the importance of godparents.  In our parish, I’m pretty strict about this, that godparents – being a godparent for baptism isn’t an honorary position.  It’s an important ministry, to be a role model, an example, a living definition.  So your brother might be the greatest guy in the world, but if he’s not actively living and practicing his faith, he’s no good as a godparent.  The nonbeliever can be a great guy, but the nonbeliever isn’t suited to be a godparent.  Godparents must be those kind of living definitions, role models, examples.  And so if your brother is not living the faith, I’m gonna turn him down and say, “No, your child deserves a better godfather than that.”  It’s important, especially in our day and age. 

In our Gospel today, Jesus said, “Much is expected of the person entrusted with much.  More is expected of the one entrusted with more.”  When I was a little kid, these words scared me.  I was like, “Here, take some back.” 

And so what have we been entrusted?  What have we been given?  As believers here in this land, at this time, what have we been given?  What have we been entrusted?  What opportunities, blessings, benefits, have we been given?  And so my last question is what are we doing with them?  We should be a force.  Christianity, are we a force?  Are we a force in our culture, a force in our society, even a force in our community with all the blessings and benefits?  Opportunities were given. 

How about this?  Let’s get more personal.  What has God entrusted to you?  And what is God expecting of you in return?  What has God entrusted to you?  And what is God expecting of you in return?  Which is kind of another way of saying, where is your home?  What are you seeking?  Are you living for heaven, or have you made yourself rather comfortable here on earth? 

Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob lived in tents.  They were people on the move, people going somewhere.  They were passing through this life on their way to heaven.  And so are we.