Storing treasures has nothing to do with the message of God. This passage speaks so well of how we are careless to focus on the earthly, worldly things of wealth. On this thin day of All Souls Day or the Day of the Faithful Departed I am called to focus on the other worldly.
As a gay man I would not be willing to say it's my defining characteristic but I would also be loath to deny it. It is not a worldly sexual characteristic as some would posit. Rather it goes to the essence of who I am that involves both spiritual and physical. Even though I myself did not come to a full awareness of my sexuality until about the age of 50, the characteristics and expression was surely always there. Perhaps some saw it, others did not. In my expression and interpretation of facts, in my empathy for the marginalized and oppressed, the expression and feeling were there. It was there as I skipped and whistled down the block as a child.
On this Holy thin day, it seems only natural that I reminisce, gives thanks and recall those who nurtured and loved the entire spirit of me however they knew me. Their lives of love, the building and revelation of who I am. So in no special order, here is a litany of a few of those I have been able to recognize as Saints, lovers, arbiters and gifted people in my life on this thin day.
Mom and Dad - I always explained the 'benny' of having divorced yet devoted parents. Each perhaps thinking the other was falling short in some way offered me unlimited and abiding love and in the process, I feel as if I received more than anyone from a 'normal' home. Thank you Mom and Dad.
Anna C. Schuster - Teacher, one we would call a "cripple", convert to Catholicism. Her life of simplicity and acceptance was a defining example of how God is alive in our daily experiences, no matter what happens to us.
Johanna - the first to be mother-in-law who while alive gave me a good example of God's love in action and family. Johanna may have been the first to knock at the door of my unrecognized sexuality. As a mother of 9, she proudly wore a button to work ( a University with a large LGBTQ community ) that proclaimed "Don't presume I am straight". Love her still. She may have had no idea how that affected me.
Marilyn - gifted me with her son as a life companion and soul mate, my second mother-in-law. Not second place that is for sure. How can you thank someone for giving life to the one who completes you? How can you say thank you for the unlimited love and acceptance, the generosity and the joys of all things that are Marilyn. Some people pass through your life quickly and it is very sad but that does not in any way mean to say that their love, her love, was small or not appreciated. I miss you Mom.
Matthew Shephard - I was always seeking God but perhaps in the routine of raising kids, work and school I was distracted. Yet I was profoundly touched by the Death of Matthew.
I was loathe to explain why his death jarred me so deeply, shaking me to the core. Thank you Matthew. You will always be honored and you are a Saint, a holy person.
Sister Pat - You always accepted me and respected me in a way I never thought that perhaps I deserved. Always there and complicit in the next major jolt to my sexuality at a time when I questioned even deeper who I am. The story of my Glacier experience has been oft recounted in the power of God's world to emerge relentless, regardless of our attempts to confine it, closet it or categorize it. If there was a slippery slope to my coming out, the 'glacier experience' was certainly the leading edge - and it scared the crap out of me.
Sarah - oh what a lady to have as landlord! Never relinquishing her brogue or her loving generosity, she gave me a fine example of grasping one's roots, celebrating life and love and never giving up on faith. She did not have a particularly easy life but she was a treasure and had a truly magnificent family and so my own daughter Sarah honors her in more ways than I can count without tears and thankfulness.
Joe - a friends friend, a good soul. Had I known you longer I would perhaps have been able to tell you that I am gay. You would have seen that as an non-defining part of who I am. I know this because you loved me and accepted me as family as much as your wife whom you surely miss, even in heaven.
Donald - Of all the souls I have met and had the privilege to know, you were a real character. In every way, a character of good nature, generosity, faith, humor and even in anger. A fine example of the translation of Jesus' life in our modern crazy world. You are missed. You left us way too soon.
Thank you God for the gift of others who come into our lives and grace us with your real presence and love.
Luke 12:13-31
Someone in the crowd said to him, ‘Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.’ But he said to him, ‘Friend, who set me to be a judge or arbitrator over you?’ And he said to them, ‘Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.’ Then he told them a parable: ‘The land of a rich man produced abundantly. And he thought to himself, “What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?” Then he said, “I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.” But God said to him, “You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?” So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich towards God.’
He said to his disciples, ‘Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat, or about your body, what you will wear. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds!And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? If then you are not able to do so small a thing as that, why do you worry about the rest? Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you—you of little faith! And do not keep striving for what you are to eat and what you are to drink, and do not keep worrying. For it is the nations of the world that strive after all these things, and your Father knows that you need them. Instead, strive for his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.
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