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Ben Durskin is nine years old. For almost four years, he has been
treated for acute lympho | blastic leukemia. During a punishing protocol of
chemotherapy, he passed the time with his Game Boy and Play Station. Last
summer, Ben came up with his own videogame, designed especially for kids
with cancer. In Ben’s Game, a boy (modeled after Ben) zooms around a
screen on a skateboard, blasting cancer cells in order to collect “shields” that
protect against the usual side effect of chemo: fever, chicken pox, colds,
vomiting, hair loss. A player can’t lose – “you just keep fighting,” explains
Ben.
The Make-A-Wish Foundation and software engineer Eric Johnston of
LucasFilms worked with Ben to create the game. Ben’s Game has won raves
from the 200,000 children who have found the game, available free on line.
Not only is the game fun but children learn about the “monsters” attacking
their bodies and how they can best beat them.
For eight years, 15-year-old Sasha Bowers and her family were
homeless. Sasha, her little sister and her mother spent most nights in
Columbus, Ohio, shelter, fighting hunger and bugs and kept awake by snores
and screaming. Two years ago, Sasha’s mom landed a job with a cleaning
company and the family was able to move into an apartment.
But Sasha hasn’t forgotten where she came from. She’s been the
driving force behind a summer day-camp program for 175 homeless kids in
Columbus. “When I was in shelters, there were no safe places to play,”
Sasha explains. “I wanted to create a place that was fun, where kids could
stay out of trouble while parents find jobs and housing.”
When Ryan Hreljac was in the first grade, he was shocked to learn
about African children having to walk five miles to get a bucket of clean
water. Ryan did odd jobs around the house and for neighbors for four
months to raise $70, the cost of digging a well.
That was six years ago. Since then the Canadian teen’s foundation,
Ryan’s Well, has raised $750,000 to build wells in seven African nations.
Relief and development agencies in Canada say of Ryan: “He’s such a
regular kid – that’s what makes him so powerful… He believes everyone
should have water, and he’s not going to stop until they do.”
These remarkable young people, Ben, Sasha, and Ryan possess the
faith of the mustard seed: they have taken their own “Mustard seeds” – seeds
of creativity, empathy and dedication – and have done the hard work of
planting and nurturing those seeds until each one has realized an enduring
and rooted harvest of hope, of compassion, of life itself. Christ calls us to
embrace “mustard seed” faith – to believe that even the slightest act of
goodness, done in faith and trust in God’s presence, has meaning in the reign
of God. The mustard seed challenges us to grab hold of the opportunities we
have for planting and reaping a harvest of justice, compassion and
reconciliation in our own piece of the earth.
Ben, Sasha and Ryan – remarkable young people – they planted their
tiny mustard seed, worked hard, and God did the rest.
You, you, you, all of you, remarkable people. Plant your tiny mustard
seeds wherever you find yourself in life, work hard and let God do the rest.
Mustard seed faith – to believe that even the smallest act of goodness,
kindness, done in faith and trust in God’s power, can have an unbelievable
effect on many, many people. Please, don’t sell yourself short – don’t sell
the power of God short!

Our TV remote controls are very interesting contraptions. If you do
not like something on TV, you just click it off. You might be tempted to
click off this gospel and possibly my homily. Put the remote down for just
a few minutes and please listen. In 1950, a committee representing 17
different nations voted Albert Schweitzer, “The Man of the Century.”
Three years later, in 1953, Schweitzer was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
Schweitzer has been acclaimed the world over as a genius. He was
an outstanding philosopher, a theologian, a respected historian, a concert
soloist, and a missionary doctor. But the most remarkable thing about him
was his deep Christian faith. It was a faith that influenced even the
smallest details of his life. At the age of 21, Schweitzer promised himself
that he would enjoy art and science until he was 30. Then he would devote
the rest of his life to working among the needy in some direct form of
service.
And so on his 30th birthday, on October 13, 1905 Albert Schweitzer
dropped several letters into a Paris mailbox. They were to his parents and
closest friends, informing them that he was going to enroll in the universal to get a degree in medicine. After that he was going to Africa to work
among the poor as a missionary doctor. The letters created an immediate
stir. He says in his book, Out Of My Life and Thought: “My relatives and
friends all joined in to rebuke me on the folly of my enterprise. I was a
man, they said, who was burying the talent entrusted to him. A lady who
was filled with the modern spirit proved to me that I could do much more
by lecturing on behalf of medical help for the natives, than I could by the
action I contemplated.” Nevertheless, Schweitzer stuck to his guns. At
the age of 38, he became a full fledged medical doctor. At the age of 43,
he left for Africa where he opened a hospital on the edge of the jungle; he
died there in 1965 at the age of 90. What motivated Albert Schweitzer to
turn his back on worldly fame and wealth and work amongst the poorest of
the poor in Africa? He said that one of the influences was his meditation
on today’s Gospel about the rich man and Lazarus. Schweitzer said: “It
struck me as incomprehensible that I should be allowed to live such a
happy life, while so many people around me were wrestling with
suffering.”
And that brings us to the Gospel story itself. The sin of the rich man
was simply that he never noticed Lazarus. He accepted Lazarus as part of
the landscape of life. The sin of the rich man was not a sin of commission,
which is doing something he should not have done. The sin of the rich man
was a sin of omission, which is not doing something he should have done.
The sin of the rich man was basking in his own personal wealth and not
lifting a finger to help Lazarus in his dire need. The sin of the rich man
was the same sin that is being committed over and over today. And it is
this sin that is beginning to cause grave concern not only because of what
it is doing to the poor but also because of what it is doing to society. John
F. Kennedy referred to this concern when he said, “If a free society cannot
help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich.” In other
words, our lack of concern for the poor is destroying not only the poor but
also the very moral fabric of our society.
The Gospel today is an invitation to us as individuals and as a parish,
to meditate on the story of the rich man and Lazarus and to ask ourselves
the same question that Schweitzer asked himself: How can we live a happy
life while so many other people are suffering? As we reflect this week, let
us close with these words of Pope John Paul II. He delivered them during
his first visit to the United States in a homily at Yankee stadium in New
York on October 2, 1979:
“In the light of the parable of Christ, riches and freedom mean a
special responsibility. Riches and freedom create a special
obligation. And so, in the name of the solidarity that binds us
together in a common humanity, I again proclaim the dignity of
every human person. The rich man and Lazarus are both human
beings. Both of them equally created in the image and likeness of
God. Both of them equally redeemed by Christ at a great price.
The poor of the United States and of the world are your brothers
and sisters in Christ. You must never be content to leave them just
the crumbs of the feast. You must take of your substance, and not
just of your abundance, in order to help them. And you must treat
them like guests at your family table.”

After many years and several thousand miles, Dad traded in the
family station wagon for his dream car – a sleek, silver sedan.
He immediately laid down strict rules for the car. He would
carefully monitor its use. No more joyriding to the beach or leisurely
drives to the mountains. Trips to the corner market could be made on
bicycle or on foot.
There would be absolutely no eating anything in the new car.
Trips for ice cream and fall “tailgate” parties were history.
And this car was not going to be used like a truck as the old wagon
was: there would have to be another way to haul new trees and flowers
for the yard, shuttle the kids to their activities, move the older ones into
their dorms in September.
And the child who accidentally spilled her coke on the bumper will
never ever do that again! Every weekend now Dad spends hours washing, waxing, and detailing his pride and joy. He faithfully sees to the oil and maintenance. He never takes the car out of the garage in the rain or
snow, terrified that salt should start to eat the paint or that mud should
destroy the interior.
Yes, Dad finally owns his dream car. But the other family
members miss the old wagon and the happy times it made possible – and
they begin to wonder: Does the dream car own Dad?
In our gospel today Jesus warns all of us, his followers, about the
dangers of money and possessions. Notice he does not say that money
and possessions are bad, they can be very good things if used properly.
The serious warning has to do with this: We can become so
obsessed with the pursuit of wealth and the manipulation of power that
we seem to give up a piece of our humanity in the process.
As computer printouts and balance sheets become the center of our
existence, we unconsciously push the people and relationships dearest to
us into the margins of our lives.
Our scripture reminds us that one has to be concerned about
money, our possessions. But a thin line divides concern and being
controlled. You have heard that old saying, “Money is the root of all
evil,” and everyone thinks it comes from the bible. It does not! 1Tm
6:10 is one of the most misquoted passages in the whole bible. It
doesn’t read, “Money is the root of all evil,” it reads, “The love of
money is the root of all evil.”
I would like to give you a little bit of homework for the week. I
would like you to think/pray about/discuss these three questions:
1. How much does the love of money play a part in our life?
2. How can we use our money, talents and time to help God’s
work?
3. Name some valuables in our life that money can not buy?
I close with this: In the last century, a tourist form America paid a
visit to a renowned Polish rabbi, Hofetz Chaim. He was astonished to
see that the rabbi’s house was only a simple room filled with books, plus
a table and a bench. “Rabbi,” asked the tourist, “where is your
furniture?” “Where is yours?” replied the rabbi. “Mine?” asked the
puzzled American, “but I am only a visitor here. I’m only passing
through.” The rabbi said, “So am I. So am I.”
Do our possessions own us, does the dream car own Dad? I hope
not. Remember, we are all only passing through!