24th Sunday A
St. Andrew Mass and Dinner
September 12 2026
My Apps
I stand before you this afternoon as a luddite. It’s true: I don’t get along well with technology. My iPhone is where apps go to die, especially apps preceded by the word “my” – for example, “my-Arby’s”; “my-Bank” and yes, there’s even one called “my-Buick”. I don’t like the prefix, “my” because it panders to self-centeredness, an unrelenting focus on “I, mine, and me”.
This focus on self takes many forms, but I’ll just mention two. First is the culture of self-invention. My generation was told that if we worked hard, we could do anything we set out to do. Today the message is different. It’s not just that we can do what we want, but also that we can be whatever we want. We can re-invent our identity, almost at will. Nothing is “a given”. Who we are and what we are is entirely in our hands.
A second unhealthy focus on the self is found in “the disconnection paradox.” The more digitally connected we are, the more isolated we’ve become. And isolated people think mostly about themselves. Those who tell everyone on Facebook what they had for dinner probably had dinner alone, with only an I-phone for companionship. Lots of people today are disconnected. They are isolated and lonely. Lacking friendships and healthy relationships, they focus on themselves.
Belonging to God and to One Another
Writing to the Church at Rome nearly 2,000 years ago, St. Paul speaks directly to our times; he says: “None of us lives for himself … whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s.” What is St. Paul saying? He says we belong to the Lord, each of us and all of us. And because we belong to the Lord, we also belong to one another as members of Christ’s Body, the Church.
That’s what is lacking in our culture: a sense of belonging. There’s a nagging fear that belonging to the Lord and to one another compromises our personal freedom, our dignity, our right to self-determination. Yet, it’s by belonging to the Lord that we are set free: free from the tyranny of self and from sins that mar our dignity. It’s the Lord who sets us free to become the persons we were created us to be, to love others selflessly, and to embrace the vocation, the pathway in life God has in store for us. It’s the Lord who sets us free to discover the joy of living not for ourselves, but for him and for others.
A Culture of Anger and Resentment
But let’s take this a step further. People wrapped up in themselves are often resentful. Everything is taken personally. Disagreement quickly turns to conflict. Our politics is resentful. Social media is often angry and cruel. And it’s easy to be swept up into this culture. You and I may find echoes of this angry culture even in our own hearts.
If so, today’s reading from the Book of Sirach should hit home; he says: “Wrath and anger are hateful things, yet the sinner hugs them tight.” Sirach urges you and me to chart a different course: “Forgive your neighbor’s injustice, then when you pray, your own sins will be forgiven.” And he adds: “Could anyone nourish anger against another and expect healing from the Lord?”
Leave it to Jesus to illustrate Sirach’s message. He tells us about a servant who was forgiven a large debt by his Master; but that same servant wouldn’t forgive a much smaller debt that a fellow servant owed him. The master was merciful. The servant was self-centered. His self-centeredness cost him the good will of his master. Confined to prison, that servant lost his freedom and his dignity. What a powerful message! When we refuse to forgive others after God has forgiven us so much, our hearts can become self-made prisons of regret and self-condemnation. Many people need to be liberated from the prisons they have created for themselves!
The Antidote
The key that unlocks prisons of our own making is God’s mercy. When we allow the Lord to gaze on us with the eyes of mercy, we recover our own ability to look upon others with the eyes of mercy. To forgive. To seek forgiveness. To be peacemakers. This is an essential part of belonging to one another in Christ, and helping the Church be “a sign of contradiction” in our angry, resentful culture.
All around us are the fonts of mercy – the confessional, the altar, ministries of mercy. We are blessed with many good Archdiocesan parish priests who have dedicated their lives to being instruments, channels of Christ’s mercy. They play an indispensable role in the lives of countless people every day. As you go to Mass and Confession, as you pray before the Blessed Sacrament, I’ll bet some of you have wondered whether God is calling you to be a priest, a parish priest who opens the doors of mercy to those looking for something better than our culture offers. Preaching the Word, celebrating Mass, hearing confessions, anointing the sick, helping people in difficulty, guiding souls to holiness. in these and other ways priests are ministers of mercy, antidotes for a culture that permits everything and forgives nothing. I’ve been a diocesan priest for nearly 50 years, and I can tell you nothing could have brought me more joy and satisfaction than this vocation!
Thank you for attending the St. Andrew Mass and dinner. I hope you will have the opportunity to talk to our many seminarians who are being formed to become priests, ministers of God’s love and mercy. Ask them about their call to the priesthood. Ask them about their formation. Consider signing up for the Vocations Discernment Retreat in January. Give Fr. Roth or Fr. Lenin a call. See if the Lord is calling you to be one of his priests. Ask the Lord to guide you and to give you the courage to say “yes” if and when he does call you to be a priest who will work side by side with your archbishop and brother priests in building communities of holiness and mercy, virtue and loving service. God bless you and keep you always in his love.