Deacon Mike Meyer / Sunday, September 25, 2022 / Categories: Blog, Homilies Fat, Dumb, and Unhappy Homily for the 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C A wild duck was flying North through Europe with his flock one spring when he decided to land at a farm in Denmark. He quickly made friends with the domestic ducks in the barnyard, and he very much enjoyed the fresh corn and water they shared. He decided to stay for a while. A few hours turned into a few days, then a few weeks, and then a few months. One autumn day, he saw his wild duck friends flying overhead on their way south. He was so excited to rejoin his flock that he began flapping his wings enthusiastically. Much to his dismay, he could only lift himself a few inches off the ground – he had grown too fat to fly. Though disappointed, the duck conceded that he was comfortable at the farm, so he waddled back to the barnyard, unaware that a fat, domesticated duck makes a wonderful Christmas dinner. The wild duck had grown fat, dumb, and unhappy, three spiritual conditions that have no place in a truly Christian life. Let’s see if we can figure out why. Fat – When I say fat, I’m talking about the deadly sin of sloth, a lack of physical or spiritual effort. When we grow complacent in our faith lives, worship becomes routine and boring, we neglect our responsibilities to God and neighbor, and become careless in word and deed. In today’s Gospel, the rich man’s sin wasn’t that he did something wrong, but that he didn’t do anything at all. “He could look on the world’s suffering . . . and feel no . . . grief [or] pity pierce his heart; he looked at a fellow human being, hungry and in pain, and did nothing about it.”[1] Christianity commands us to do something about it. Saint Paul encourages Timothy in our second reading to “compete well for the faith” because ours is an active faith. Jesus’ commandment to love God and neighbor is a battle cry, a call to action that demands a response. We nourish ourselves with God’s Word and the Eucharist at Mass so we can glorify the Lord with our lives. Christianity is a challenge, for sure. It isn’t a comfortable, tame religion. It’s a wild, seemingly foolish life of active service to God and neighbor. It isn’t meant for sitting ducks. Dumb – Complacency numbs the mind and dulls the senses. When we’re content with our lives, we see no reason to change them. We get stuck in our domesticated ways and become insensitive to the world around us. Just look at the two painful examples in our readings. Comfortable on their couches, their bellies full of lamb, veal, and wine, and their heads anointed with the finest oils, the Judeans and the Samaritans grew oblivious to the coming Assyrian assault on the northern tribes. Similarly, the rich man in our parable was so caught up with his fine clothing and sumptuous food that he ignored the poor, sore-ridden beggar right at his doorstep. The Judeans, the Samaritans, and the rich man were dumb. They couldn’t figure out that they needed to attend to the tremendous despair around them and paid the price for their complacency with their lives. Christianity is a religion of faith and reason, the “two wings on which the human spirit rises to the contemplation of truth.”[2] God gives us both to help us identify the needs of others around us and discern God’s invitation to respond. Christians must be eagle-eyed, resourceful, and wise as an owl. The bird-brained need not apply. Unhappy – When we’re comfortable we tend to feel content. But are we happy? Complacency is a poison that kills us slowly because it deadens our minds and hearts to the presence of God’s Kingdom in our midst. God made us to know him, to love him, and to serve him in this world, and to be happy with him forever in Heaven.[3] As I’ve already said, complacency impedes our ability to know, love, and serve God. Without those three, we’re no different than the Judeans, the Samaritans, or the rich man in our readings; we’ll never attain the happiness of Heaven either. The lesson here isn’t that our “God is a God of damnation and punishment, inasmuch as it gives us an example of how much of a role we play in our [own] salvation.” As Abraham explains in our Gospel, we have Moses and the prophets; the path to the eternal happiness of heaven is laid out for us in Scripture and Church teachings. Whether we listen and choose true happiness is up to us. We have no excuse. There’s no shortage of opportunities to know, love, and serve God. We can read scripture daily, actively engage our minds and hearts in worship, spend time with the Lord at First Friday Adoration, and join the adult enrichment programs that follow. We can search out, visit, and include people who are lonely, offer the elderly rides to Church or appointments, and comfort people who are physically, mentally, or spiritually ill. I could go on and on. The point is that “this is our moment to meet and greet the ‘other,’ the migrant, the beggar and whoever will enlarge our circle of concern.”[4] This is the moment to get our ducks in a row, shake our tail feathers, and experience the only happiness that can fulfill us—the happiness found in knowing, loving, and serving God. You, know, I recently heard another story about a group of ducks who waddled into St. Cuthbert’s Catholic Church to hear their new deacon preach. The deacon waddled to the ambo and quacked, “Ducks: God has given us wings! With wings we can fly; we can mount up and soar like eagles. No walls can confine us! No fences can pen us in! God has given us wings. Fly!” The ducks all quacked a rousing “Amen” and marveled at the wonderful homily. Then they waddled home on their two webbed feet. What will we do? Will we waddle home after Mass fat, dumb, and unhappy like those ducks, or will we fly? Christians are meant to fly! [1] William Barclay, The Gospel of Luke (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2001), 254. [2] John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Fides et ratio (14 September 1998), https://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_jp-ii_enc_14091998_fides-et-ratio.html, 1. [3] Third Plenary Council of Baltimore, Baltimore Catechism No.1 (Rockford, IL: Tan Books, 1933) 1:6. [4] Mary M. McGlone, “Escape the Insider Trap,” National Catholic Reporter 58:25 (September 16-29, 2022), 15. Getting Our Priorities Straight Seek-and-Seek Print 601 More links ReadingsAmos 6:1a, 4-7; Psalm 146; 1 Timothy 6:11-16; Luke 16:19-31 Please login or register to post comments.