As many of you know, I was up north last weekend at our Sister Parish, St. Mary’s Mission of Red Lake. We had a pulpit swap. I was up there and Fr. Jerry Roger was down here. But it was quite an eventful weekend for me.
Fr. Jerry actually has two parishes, St. Mary’s and also Sacred Heart in Wilton (which is a small town just outside of Bemidji). St. Mary’s is on the reservation and is also quite small.
Anyway, last Sunday, when I returned home I had to air my car out.
I had to air my car out because smelled.
It smelled because I was bringing my Mass vestments home and they smelled.
They smelled because the church at Red Lake smelled like a skunk.
It smelled like a skunk, because a skunk had wondered in earlier that week.
Well the Church had all the windows and doors open, but it still reeked.
Anyway, I stayed overnight at the Red Lake rectory, which is just on the edge of town.
On Sunday Morning, I had 9AM Mass in Wilton (about half hour away) but I had to walk into
town about 6:30AM to ask someone to give my car a jump. And I got someone to help me.
I needed a jump because my battery was dead.
My battery was dead because I left the headlight on the night before.
I left the headlights on the night before because I need those lights to shine on the front door of
the rectory so that I could see the door to get in.
Well I have a newer car, so the highlights are supposed to go off by themselves eventually.
The headlights didn’t go off because my car was run into on Friday, as I was parked getting the
keys and talking to Fr. Jerry.
My car got run into because the parish janitor had just driven over from the Church (about a 100
yards away).
He was driving over to tell us that they live-trapped the skunk after they shot at it in in the
church.
And so I had to air my car out on Sunday . . . and clean my vestments, and get my car repaired . .
. .all this so that we can deepen our relationship with our sister parish.
Was it worth it? Of course it was. That is what love does (as we heard about in the gospel). Love brings out the best in us. That’s what our faith does, it encourages and challenges us to bring out the best of ourselves.
Now, we have many kids dressed up today [last night] for our annual Trunk or Treat festival.
[Name some of the costumes ... e.g. a ghost, a princess, etc.] It is fun to dress up. It is fun to pretend to be something that we are not. Yet no matter how often we hide behind a mask or make-up, we can never hide from the fact the God loves us.
And God loves us, not because of how we look, or how we act. God just loves us. That’s what God does . . . love. The first letter of John 4:8 says, “God is love.”
And this love is incredible, for we cannot earn more of it because of something we do. Nor will we lose some love from God because of what we do. It is sort of like the goodies that you kids are getting after Mass. The parishioners, who have volunteered to give you a treat, give you one “just because.” There is no way to get more treats because of what you are wearing, or what you do. And you won’t get less treats because your costume isn’t as colorful as someone else’s. You all will receive equally. That is how God’s love works.
And what is our response to this great gift of love? Well, you just heard it in the gospel . . . we are invited to love God in return with our whole heart, soul and mind. That means to live as God wants you to live. For example, stop doing the things that you know are not healthy and continue (or start) doing the things that are healthy. Be the person who God wants you to be . . . don’t pretend to be someone else (like wearing a costume).
Also our response to God’s love for us . . . is to love others. Which sometimes gets tricky, because we can fooled in getting “caught up” with the masks that other’s wear. Sometimes people act like a monster or a devil [point to various costumes]. We are invited to look past the outer shell and see them for who they really are.
So think of someone that you don’t particularly care for . . . maybe they act that way because they are hiding. Maybe what we don’t like is really a costume, or mask. Maybe what we are invited to do . . . is to look underneath the masks. Maybe to put down the pitchforks, or capes and look at them in a new way. That is, not to stop at the outer shell, but to see inside.
And then, as Jesus said in the gospel . . . to love as we want to be loved.