Turn Up The Flame Homily Part 1

by Fr. Michael A. Van Sloun

THE FIRST SUNDAY OF LENT, Year A

Official Readings for the First Sunday of Lent
Gen 2:7-9; 3:1-7; Ps 51:3-6,12-14,17; Rom 5:12-19; Mt 4:1-11

 

Special Readings for this Exceptional Occasion
Prov 13:1,3-5,9; Acts 2:1-4; Mt 25:1-13

Saturday, February 9, 2008, 5:00 and 6:30 p.m. Masses
Sunday, February 10, 2008, 8:00, 9:30, and 11:15 a.m. Masses, 6:00 p.m.

 

Guess what?
We’re out of debt!
It’s time to start another building project!
It’s time to start another capital campaign! (“Boos” if you like!).

 

Since I have been at St. Stephen’s we have had five,
yes, FIVE, capital campaigns.
The first two were when I was associate pastor to Fr. Mike Paquet:
Building to Serve (1997),
Fulfilling the Dream (2000).
Since I became pastor in 2001,
I have had the special honor of spearheading three capital campaigns in six years.
How lucky could I be?
Growing in Faith (2002).
Going to the Well (2003).
Comfort for the Masses (2006).
You would think that I had been ordained to raise money!

 

Something is out of whack here!
The reason that God called me to priesthood,
was not, first and foremost, to raise money.

 

The primary reason that I am here as your servant is not to build the church building but to build the faith of the people who are in the building.

 

My primary vocation is not a fund-raiser;
it is to raise faith, to help us be closer to God,
to be better disciples of Jesus Christ,
and to know and live our faith better.

 

I’m sick and tired of fund raising!

 

My spiritual dreams have had to go on the back burner
because I was “forced” to be a fund raiser.
Now, going into my seventh year as pastor,
finally, at long last, we get to do what I was hoping to do in my first year,
to conduct a “capital campaign” that is not about money.
This campaign won’t cost you a nickel,
but it will cost your time,
and it could save your life.

 

“Where did Fr. Mike come up with this crazy idea?” you may ask.
There is a wonderful woman in our parish,
her name is Lori.
She has a son, Michael, who is a priest in the Duluth diocese.
Anyway, Lori was in a religious bookstore
and came across a book by Bishop Fulton J. Sheen,
the book is entitled The Priest is Not His Own
(New York: McGraw-Hill, 1963; San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2005).
She read it over and thought, “This will help my son be a better priest,”
bought a copy, gave it to him, and ordered him, “Now you read this!”
Then she thought to herself, “What other priest who I know needs a little guidance?”
I can’t tell you why, but she told me that I came to her mind.
She marched off the to the book store, bought a second copy,
brought it to Bible study, and presented it to me with the same orders.

 

I would be a fool not to obey a good and holy mother.

 

I must humbly confess to you that I don’t always do my spiritual reading,
but one night, before I dozed off, I picked up this book and started reading.
Bishop Sheen wrote (liberal paraphrase, pp. 62, 63, 104, 177):
“Parish fund raising is a mystery to me.
Pastors, parishes, get all revved up over capital campaigns for building projects.
It is amazing how much time and energy gets put into fund raising.
They have special committees, special homilies,
donor receptions, door-to-door visits, special mailings,
slogans, banners, pledge cards, thermometers.
They go for three years, sometimes five.
The whole parish gets highly motivated for a long time to raise the money.”
And then Bishop Sheen asked his big question:
“Why don’t folks devote as much time and energy to their spiritual lives?”

 

Bishop Sheen is right!
We should devote far more energy to improving our spiritual lives
than we do to building buildings and raising money.

 

So the plan is to have spiritual revival at St. Stephen’s,
and to model it on a capital campaign.
It will go for three years.
There will be pledges.
We hope to devote even more energy to this revival
than we have given to the past capital campaigns.
You see, we might be out of debt financially,
but we are never out of debt to God.

 

The name for our spiritual campaign is Turn Up the Flame.
You and me, we’re all baptized, we all have the flame of faith.
Those of us who are confirmed,
we have received the flame of the Holy Spirit over our heads
just like Jesus’ apostles received tongues of flame on the first Pentecost (Acts 2:3).

 

But there is a big problem!
Sometimes our flames burn rather dimly,
or they burn dirty,
and we don’t give off very much light.

The spiritual inspiration for our renewal
comes from Jesus’ parable of the Ten Bridesmaids that we just heard (Mt 25:1-13).

When the Master came at midnight (Mt 25:6),
the wise bridesmaids got up and trimmed their lamps (Mt 25:7).

Let’s look at an ancient oil lamp.
Ancient homes were small – one room.
They had no windows, just the door, and no electricity.
So people used oil lamps.
They were made of harden clay.
They were small, three inches long, two inches wide.
There was a bigger hole on one side for the fuel which goes in the bowl: olive oil.
There was a smaller hole on the other side for the wick,
a white thread or cord made of cotton or flax ,
round, slender (not too thick),
that soaked up fuel, was lit, and had a flame.
It was placed on a stand where it gave light to the house (Mt 5:14-16).

 

When the wick burns for a while,
the end gets blackened with char, soot, and carbon residue.
If a lamp goes out, and then gets relit with the soot on it,
the flame will be smaller,
it will give off less light,
and burn dirtier, give off more smoke.
Therefore, if the owner wants the lamp to burn brightly,
it is necessary to trim the lamp,
to use a knife or a scissors to cut off the char or soot,
and then re-light the wick, which will Turn Up the Flame!

 

The wick is a symbol for each person.
We’re clean to start with.
When we were baptized, our lights burned brightly,
but over time, when we have sinned,
char and soot has built up on us.
If we want our lamp to shine brightly,
from time to time we need to trim the wicks,
to cut away the sin,
so we can Turn Up the Flame,
and shine more brightly before others (Mt 5:14-16).

 

The same principle applies to a kerosene lamp.
The fuel is not olive oil, it is kerosene.
The wick is not a round cotton thread, it is wider, flat cotton fiber.
If the edge of the wick is covered with soot, the flame is smaller and bad.
I have a kerosene lamp here with a charred wick.
It needs to be trimmed.
I wanted to demonstrate for you how bad the flame is when the wick is not trimmed.
We did a practice round in the office on Friday afternoon.
This thing gave off so much smoke and it stunk so badly
that we had to open all the windows,
and we were afraid the fire alarms would go off.
I would like to light if for you,
but I don’t want the sprinklers to go off,
and I don’t want the Anoka-Champlin Fire Department to come.
We’ll have to pass.
But, trust me, when the wick is trimmed, it Turns Up the Flame.

 

Here is a kerosene lamp with a trimmed wick.
The spiritual goal is to Turn Up the Flame brighter and brighter and brighter!

I would like to invite you to Turn Up Your Flame,
to increase your light (gradually increase light of flood light),
to grow in your faith.
Not only that: but to have your light shine so brightly,
that the light will beam out from you and reflect to those around you
(attach the globe, flip the switch so the globe will revolve and light reflect).

 

It is very important to have a plan or strategy for how to Turn Up the Flame.

 

I would like to invite the ushers to come forward now to pass out the bulletins.
One bulletin per household, please.

 

The front page is a summary of the overall plan.

 

Tucked inside is one adult pledge form.
There are many categories on the pledge form:
the key spiritual dimensions of our lives.
Please read it over carefully.
Pray about it.
Ask yourself: “What could I do that would help me Turn Up My Flame?”

 

This is not about quantity, it is about quality.
It is better to check off a few things that you are firmly committed to doing,
than too many things, and then not follow through.

 

The goal is to have every single person to make a pledge.
There is one adult pledge sheet with every bulletin.
There is another adult pledge sheet in the letter coming to your home this week.

There are two other kinds of pledge sheets that are not in your bulletin,
and will not be in the home mailing:
the Youth/Teen Pledge Sheet for Grades 6-12,
and the Children’s Pledge Booklet for pre-school to fifth grade.
These forms are on the tables at the exists
and you are asked to take as many as you need for every person in your home
as you leave after Mass.

 

Notice that the pledge form is a double sheet,
that it has a carbonless form underneath.
The top sheet is to be kept by you as a reminder.
Put it up on the refrigerator, wherever!
The bottom sheet of the adult and teen form,
or the back tear-away page of the children’s booklet,
is to be returned to the parish as a sign of your commitment,
and we will be having Commitment Sunday in two weeks.

This is only a one-year commitment.
Because our lives change so rapidly,
we will pledge anew in Year II and Year III.

 

The parish staff is going to try to help in many ways,
to provide suggestions for spiritual books, adult ed offerings, retreats,
and a rich variety of other ways to revitalize our faith.

 

The goal is for a tremendous response.
In our previous campaigns,
the number of pledge cards returned has ranged between 1000 and 1500.
Our goal is 6000 pledge sheets,
which is roughly how many parishioners worship here every weekend.

 

Another great thing:
there are also wrist bands on the tables.
They are fiery red-orange.
They are lettered, Turn Up the Flame.
They are intended as a reminder to ourselves and as a witness to others.
Take as many as you’ll use when you leave.

 

As far as I am concerned,
this sixth campaign outranks all of the others.
When it comes to relative importance
it is not the church building,
but the people inside;
not the structural strength of the building,
but the strength of our faith.

 

My primary ministry is not to raise money, it is to raise faith!

 

Hopefully this will be the biggest and best campaign in the history of parish,
an opportunity to:
trim our lamps,
Turn Up the Flame,
have our lights shine much more brightly before others
all to the glory of almighty God.

Let us ask God to bless this endeavor.

Let us pray.

Almighty God,
you are the source of all light.
You call us during Lent, and throughout the year,
to trim away all that is sinful and to grow in your grace.
We ask you to bless our parish during this renewal
with fantastic spiritual growth.
Help each person and the entire community
to turn up the flame of faith
so our lights may shine more brightly before others
and that we might be more pleasing to you.
We ask this through Christ our Lord.
Amen.

God bless you.