BEFORE YOU BUY THAT TERM PAPER ONLINE...

Greetings readers! Here is my homily given at the Newman Catholic Campus Ministry at Montclair State University Mass on September 28, 2008 – the 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time. The readings can be found at http://www.usccb.org/nab/092808.shtml - Thanks as always for reading and all your feedback.

HOMILY:

Curtis Martin, who is the founder of the group called FOCUS (The Fellowship of Catholic University Students – who our friends at Seton Hall and Ramapo College have working on their campuses, and we hope will be here soon as well) wrote a book called Made for More. In it, he shares an interesting story. He tells how he was asked to give a lecture on ethics at the University of Colorado and the topic of the day was "Is it ethical to buy a term paper online?"

It seems to be a pretty straight-forward issue and we can all very easily say "absolutely not." But Martin had an interesting way to dig into that question deeper. He asked "Imagine that you have never bought a term paper, never cheated on an exam, and you are weeks away from graduating. It is just before final exams and term papers are due. You have three major papers due all in the same week. Something unexpected comes up - and despite your best efforts, you can get only two of the three papers done. If you don’t get the third paper in, you will fail the course. If you fail the course, you will not be able to graduate. What then? Would it be all right to go online and buy a term paper?"

The students seemed kind of stunned into silence so he put it to them - "Why would you want to buy the term paper?" to which someone finally spoke up and said "To pass the class." Martin said "That’s a good reason - why do you want to pass the course?" someone else chimed in "Because I want to graduate." Martin continued and said "That’s a good motivation - Graduating from college is an important goal - why do you want to graduate?" A third voice from the crowd spoke up "Because a college degree is an important part of a solid resume." "A solid resume seems like a good thing. Why do you want one" Martin asked. "Because I want to get a good job." "Great! A good job is a really good thing. Why do you want one?" "Because I want to make a lot of money." Martin kept pressing them "Why do you want a lot of money?" "Because I want to buy nice things." "Makes sense to me," Martin added, "why do you want nice things?" And a final student added "because I want to be happy." [Curtis Martin Made for More, p 2-3]

That does seem to be a motivating factor for many of our decisions, doesn’t it? And Curtis Martin correctly identifies that we are in a sense made for happiness. In the example he shared, passing a class, graduating, building a resume, getting a job, making money, getting things - they’re all good thins - but that first step - we have to go back to that first step - does that choice of cheating lead to happiness? All of a sudden the question on whether it’s okay to buy a term paper or not isn’t as easy a question to say No too.

Not that we don’t know it’s wrong. It’s just that we can understand now why someone would do it. We can imagine the stress. We make allowances for bad decisions, for unethical choices... Maybe it’s human nature - but at one time or another, all of us seem to look for the short cut, or the "easier way" to get something.

Today, Jesus gives us a pretty straight forward parable. These two sons, their Father has asked them to do some work in the vineyard. One says No and then has a change of heart and decides to go do it and the other says Yes but never shows up. Jesus asks, who did his father’s will? And we look and say, well that’s easy - it was the first one.

But we have to look deeper at what Jesus is pointing out to us. Because this isn’t about easy answers to straight forward questions, like, is it ethical to buy a term paper online.
Jesus is telling us that he knows it’s hard to do the right thing. We give ourselves reasons, explanations, things that make my particular case different.

So, in a way, we can relate on some level to both of these sons in this parable: It’s hard to choose to do the right thing. We want to do the right thing on one level - the level that identifies right

and wrong, ethical or not immediately - instantly, we know it in our bones. So we say "Yes" to the Lord with our lips, we are going to turn away from the bad choice and turn towards what the Lord is asking of us - but then we struggle finding our way out there to the vineyard. It’s kind of hard to do what the Lord is asking me to do, when I got so much else to do, so many other things weighing on me.

But truth be told, there are probably times that we know what the right thing is and we’re like the other son. We’re a bit more honest and say "No" - I know what I’m being asked to do, I know what the right thing is, and I know it’s difficult - so "No" I’m not interested - I don’t want to do it. Because we’ve bought into the lie that "the right thing" is a nice ideal - nice guys finish last.

The challenge that Jesus presents to us is can we look at him and see beyond the here and now. Jesus’ mission is to make God so real and present to us here and now so we will look for Him and be pointed towards eternity. To realize all of the decisions and choices we make on a daily basis contribute to whether we want to be with Him or not - whether we want to be a part of his Kingdom, his vineyard - or not.

All of a sudden, that one term paper seems to matter more.

But this isn’t about a "follow the rules or else" - it’s about Jesus reaching out to you and me and showing us the bigger picture. Saying, don’t get tied up in these little things that we seem to think are so important - but keeping our eyes focused on Him. Living for Him. Following Him.

And yes, that’s hard to do.

Which is why it’s beautiful that the one Jesus holds up as an example for us is the son who said "No" to the Father’s request but then changed his mind and went. Jesus doesn’t use examples of people who never stray, who never doubt or question. In fact it’s quite the opposite – The gospels are filled with examples of people who struggle, who disappoint, who fall away. And consistently, Jesus rejoices in the moment of conversion, holds up as an example the time when the person realizes they’ve messed up and turn back to him.

As we are bombarded on a daily basis with decisions and choices to make, it is difficult to navigate through them all, to consistently make the "right" choice. And all of those decisions and choices small as they might seem on the surface, are important ones. We tell ourselves, that one term paper isn’t the biggest thing in the world, and it’s not like I killed someone, and everyone does it. But, if we want to truly be happy, the Father’s showing us the only way to truly get there. Living for Him. Following Him.

. . .And just in case you wondering, I didn’t buy this homily online!!

WHY WOULD YOU WANT TO REMEMBER THAT?

Here is my homily for the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, September 14, 2008. The readings can be found at http://www.usccb.org/nab/091408.shtml - Thanks for reading and all your feedback!

HOMILY

What is one of your greatest achievements? Think back to something that was an amazing success in your life, a terrific moment that you like to remember - what would it be? Maybe it’s one special memory - or maybe you have a couple that come to mind.

- Was it the day you scored the game winning touchdown?
- Maybe it was your taking your bows at the curtain call for a play that you had that role you really wanted to play?
- Could it be getting that exam back that you worked your butt off for and found out you aced it?

Whatever that accomplishment, that great success, that triumph you’ve experienced - it’s something that is pretty easy to recall in your mind. You probably remember almost every moment of that day. Images of the people who were there immediately pop into your head. You might be able to remember even the seemingly most insignificant details like what the weather was like, what song you heard on the radio when you got in the car to leave the site of your great day. It’s something that takes you to your "happy place." We want to hold onto and treasure those moments forever.

It’s why the athlete who "letters" in a sport, buys a jacket and wears it everywhere. It’s why we videotape performances. It’s why we frame certificates - I even have term papers that I wrote in college that I worked hard on and got a great grade in, just because I was so grateful for the affirmation.

The reverse side of this is probably true. We can all remember our worst days too... we try to bury these memories too but they’re right there, easily and painfully recalled- the stories of the day you didn’t make the team or get cast in that play... the times you thought you had worked really hard on that paper or project but the teacher obviously didn’t agree with you. Or even worse, when you dropped that football, flubbed those lines, failed that test. More than likely you can recall those pretty clearly.

One (of many) such memories come to mind for me. When I was a junior, in High School I had one of the best teachers I could have ever had. Mr. Epps, was terrific one of my all-time favorite teachers (and an MSU alumni as well). So I couldn’t blame this on him. I had been struggling with some of my classes - and I did try to study. I can’t remember for the life of me what the test was on. But I do remember it was a multiple choice test. And Mr. Epps had a rule that you didn’t just write the letter to the correct answer, but you had to write out what the answer was as well. Too many people had tried to get away with that "no that B was a D" or "can’t you see that A is a B" trick." On the front page of the test, I think I had gotten two out of 25 questions wrong. And Mr. Epps would always put the tally in the bottom right corner. But the problem was, I hadn’t written the answers out, just the letters. So in the bottom right corner, I can still see the red ink that said "2x" with the note "Mr. Chern, what sort of punishment would you propose for your failure to follow directions???" Page two I happened to get 24 out of 25 questions wrong. And in the corner of that page it said (will never forget it) was my grade a 48 ... perhaps that’s punishment enough.

Yep, I remember that failure pretty vividly. That’s something I’m embarrassed about. And at the time, I was upset about it - and my parent’s - THEY were upset about it. And that is most definitely a test paper that I did not save - nor want to look at much.

Today we celebrate the feast called the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. The day when St. Helena discovered the actual cross that Jesus was crucified on. Often times people wonder why would we want to remember that moment. Why do we seem to put so much emphasis, so much focus on a moment where Jesus is brutally, savagely killed?

In fact, for the first centuries of the Church, especially as Early Christians were being crucified the same way - they wouldn’t want to see any cross, they wouldn’t want to be reminded of what could happen to them. They preferred other symbols- like the fish - because the greek word for fish could be an acronym for Jesus Christ, Son of God..

Sure these Early Christians believed that Jesus rose from the dead, that he was ultimately triumphant, ultimately victorious - but the Cross - why remember such a terrible moment.
In time though, with the maturity of the faith among God’s people - the Cross became the symbol for Jesus. And we have this crucifix front and center before us always - and for an important, essential reason - which we hear in the Gospel today - For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that he who believes in him might not perish, but have eternal life.
God became one of us, became one with us in Jesus Christ so that we would know that he loves us, so that we would know that he is with us - always - not just in our moments of triumph, and moments of great success, moments we’re proud of - but that he is with us when we struggle, when we fail, when the whole world seems to be turning against us - when we think we will perish - physically, emotionally, spiritually.

The crucified Jesus - the beaten, rejected, sobbing Savior is the greatest equalizer. We can’t look at that cross and not believe that God doesn’t understand what we are going through.

And that’s why the cross becomes the symbol for us to exalt and to look up to - to keep before us always, everywhere thru all that we are going thru - that God loves us and has not abandoned us - and in our calling out to him in our moments on the cross, we too can experience that resurrected life.

So we exalt that cross and look up -Look up and see God is with us in the times of betrayal. Look up and see God is with us when we’ve failed and are rejected. Look up and see how much God loves us. Look up and see the cross, and see how even our apparent failure can, in reality, become our greatest success