Deacon Mike Meyer / Sunday, August 3, 2025 / Categories: Blog, Homilies What Matters to God Homily for the Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C Millard Fuller rose from humble origins in Lanett, Alabama to become a self-made millionaire by the time he was 29 years old. The success of his direct marketing business led him from one new venture or investment to another, bringing him even more money and fueling his greed. By age 34, Millard’s health, integrity, and marriage were failing. When his wife, Linda, unexpectedly announced that she was leaving him, Millard realized that he needed to reevaluate his life and the things he’d lived for. I suspect that Millard Fuller may have read today’s readings, because he soon became rich again, but this time, in what matters to God. It’s the rare occasion when all three Sunday readings share the same theme, as they do this week. Qoheleth, Paul, and Jesus all emphasize that the things of this world are fleeting, while the things of heaven endure forever. In short, there’s no profit in being greedy; there are no pockets in a shroud. Our Gospel crystallizes this message in the parable of the rich man blessed with a bountiful harvest. He concentrates so intensely on how he’ll protect his superabundance of grain that he never thanks God or turns his mind to what matters to God. “The one thing that never entered his mind was to give any away. His whole attitude was the reverse of Christianity. Instead of denying himself, he aggressively affirmed himself; instead of finding his happiness in giving, he tried to conserve it by keeping.”[1] No other parable has so many instances of the words I, my, and myself (10 in all).[2] But the Christian message in a nutshell is that life isn’t about me; it’s about others. So when Jesus implores us to be “rich in what matters to God,” he’s speaking of just one thing—love. Not an “I love my mother’s meat loaf” kind of love, but agape, the selfless, unconditional love that Jesus lived and preached. That Greek word translates into Latin as caritas, which is the root of our English word charity, a charity so generous that we would lay down our lives for a friend. Remember, Christians die with Christ in the waters of baptism and rise again with him to new life, a life that values “giving above getting, serving above ruling, and forgiving above avenging.”[3] So what matters to God is that we become rich in love—generous to others with our resources and worldly possessions and, most of all, generous to others with ourselves. Fortunately, generosity comes naturally to us. In 2023, researchers tried to find out just how generous people are. So they partnered with the TED organization, which gave away $10,000 each to 200 participants, and asked the participants to spend all of the money within three months in any way they wanted. The researchers found that, on average, the participants spent $6,431 (almost 65% of their windfall) on other people.[4] I’m not surprised because I see so much generosity right here at St. Catherine’s. When we needed a bigger Church to accommodate our growing community, you generously gave so much that we could retire our debt in a miraculously short time. When we needed a parish center to support our ministries and religious education programs, you contributed again, allowing us to complete construction debt-free. Our Social Concerns Committee makes sure that our neighbors have everything they need. Our Rosary Society delivers all the fixins for a sumptuous Thanksgiving dinner to people who otherwise would go without. Our Knights of Columbus Council collects money for Arc and offers scholarships to our youth. These are just a few examples of the wonderful ways this faith community gives of itself. But this wouldn’t be a homily if there weren’t a challenge woven into it. We’re not building anything else, other than the wet bar in my office, so don’t worry about that. We’re looking for ideas to take our charitable work to a new level. Father Chester, Dawn Salerno, and I have been talking about how we might enter into a deeper, ongoing relationship with another faith community or organization, perhaps a school, orphanage, or parish. We want them to be part of our faith family. We want to help them with their needs, engage with them on a personal level, and pray with them as members of the Body of Christ. We want this relationship to be a lasting, parish-wide initiative, involving everyone from our Little Sprouts to our most seasoned seniors. This new effort won’t replace or displace the wonderful charitable works that our ministries already do; it’ll help enrich our parish all the more in what matters to God. This next step in our Christian journey begins with your ideas, so please share them. At his age, Fr. Chester will never remember if you tell him after Mass, so please send your ideas to me in writing; my email’s in the bulletin. After much discernment, Millard and Linda Fuller sold all of their possessions, gave the money to the poor, and searched for a new way of life. They joined a farming cooperative called Koinonia, which means fellowship, and developed a program to build low-cost, no-interest housing for people with low incomes. We know the program today as Habitat for Humanity. When Millard died in 2009, Habitat for Humanity had built 300,000 houses, providing shelter for 1.5 million people. Millard and Linda found that while greed led them to isolation and unhappiness, generosity fostered connection and well-being. They became rich in what matters to God, and so will we. Readings: Ecclesiastes 2:2, 2:21-23; Psalm 90; Colossians 3: 1-5, 9-11; Luke 12:13-21 [1] William Barclay, The Gospel of Luke, The New Daily Study Bible (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2001), 195. [2] Id. [3] William Barclay, The Letters to the Philippians, Colossians, and Thessalonians, The New Daily Study Bible (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2003), 171-2. [4] Max Alberhasky, “Are People Fundamentally Greedy or Generous with their Money?” Psychology Today (September 27, 2023), https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/psychology-money-and-happiness/202309/are-people-fundamentally-greedy-or-generous-with-money. Time to Get Weird Again Print 250 Please login or register to post comments.