I suspect that there are some out there who have purchased Lottery tickets. Remember the Mega Millions drawing about one month ago? It was over 1 billion dollars. I bought a ticket. It was all very exciting.
Lots of people can become mistaken of the purpose of Lottery tickets of any gambling. They take it so seriously. You know what I mean if you have ever been to a Bingo game and observed serious players who have all many cards laid out. Don’t you dare talk and crack a joke, this is serious business.
Now I’m not trying to promote gambling. Although we do have a Fall Fest raffles available after Mass. But for those of you who have indulged in buying a lottery ticket you have to take it for what it is. It is not meant to fix all your problems; It’s not meant to give you eternal happiness. It’s not meant to make you successful or influential. It’s a game. It’s meant for fun.
We can get mistaken by lots of things. [JOKE] For instance, once there was a new employee standing before the paper-shredding machine, looking very confused. A secretary passed by and asked, “Do you need some help?” “Yes, how does this work?” “Simple,” she said taking his pile of sheets and feeding them into the shredder. Totally puzzled, he asked, “Thanks, but where do the copies come out?”
Oh, I’ve made lots of mistakes. For example, some years ago I had two funerals in one day. Which is overwhelming. Both funerals were for elderly widows. And as you know I try to personalize each funeral. At one of homilies, I said, “And Gladys (not her real name) sure missed Charlie.” But it wasn’t’ until the Petitions that I realized that Charlie was the name of the other widow’s husband. Whoa, bad stuff. But the family was OK with it, we all had a good laugh.
Many of us are mistaken by some of the gospel challenges. For instance, with the gospel today on who gets to go to heaven? That’s a biggy especially for some of our fundamentalist friends or struggling with scrupulosity. The question: who’s going to heaven? This gospel nails it; it starts off by asking if only a few will be saved? Jesus answers by saying the door is narrow, but then he adds, but people will come from all over, the east and west. Meaning, people will come from far off places. The point is …. wake up it’s not just the people who think like you or act like you who are getting into heaven.
Maybe it’s that family member who no longer goes to Church. Or the person who was tail-gating you recently, or that mean kid from school last year, or that gay couple down the street…or even (gasp) non-Catholics!!
I say to all of you, “I’m glad you are here at church.” But your purpose for coming to Church (and this could anger some of you) is not to get into heaven. Our purpose is not to get into heaven, but to create heaven here on earth. To make this world better. We have no idea how God will close the door, as in the parable, or who gets in. But Jesus says it probably will “blow your mind” of who gets in … the last will be first, the first will be last. Meaning, the ones you thought have NO chance, might be the first. And the ones you thought were “shoe-ins,” maybe not.
My advice is don’t worry about it. But DO worry about the people who are living in hell right in your own neighborhoods, in your families, in the other parts of the world. Maybe it’s how you can offer financial support, or give comfort, bring over a plate of brownies and listen. Or to you who are getting ready for the school year, if you’re not worried about it, great . . . but look around there are kids who are terrified. There are many who don’t think about heaven or hell, because they are living through hellish situations.
Well, I predict some of you out there will win with a raffle, at Bingo, and maybe even the Lottery. But what if, as you fantasize about how your winnings will make you happy…. think of how your winnings could make everyone else happy.