Homily for the Twenty Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time - Tear Out the Page: There Is No Ledger in Heaven

You know, um, memory is one of greatest God's gifts to us.

Memory.

That we can remember things, uh, uh, and that we can relive them in a, in a positive way.

Like, uh, you might remember the, the book I mentioned that we used at the men's group, uh, some time ago called Die With Zero.

Uh, and Perkins, the author, uh, the premise of the book was to, um, that we invest in, in experiences that give us memory, uh, good memories, because, uh, like an investment, you, you can pay a div- continue to pay dividends long after the event itself.

So when you've got this great experience, you remember it, and that pays dividends of goodness over and over again.

What the book doesn't say, but I say, is the reverse is true too.

That when we invest in resentment and unforgiveness and grudge, it also pays dividends.

But those dividends are toxic for the soul, and they keep paying, and they keep paying.

And so the irony of it is, is that it all is where you invest your memory and how you want to move forward in those memories.

Uh, uh, the challenge for us is that we all have hurts.

There's nobody here who hasn't been wounded by somebody, um, or indeed, if we're really honest, that we haven't wounded somebody.

That we make mistakes, and we hurt each other.

Now, sometimes that's on, on smaller stuff, and sometimes it's on bigger stuff.

I, I know many of you are dealing with, with very difficult situations.

Some of you are, are dealing with trouble in your marriage.

Some are dealing with trouble in your family, and you just can't get past, uh, what that sibling or that parent said, uh, twenty years ago, and you just can't seem to let it go.

Or all of us are dealing with why is it that, uh, you lost your job and they didn't even talk to me, they sent me an email.

Uh, how devastating it was to get that.

And, and, and, and, and all of us are, are dealing with the bigger issues of, of the world, uh, of these countries at war with another, whether it be in Iran or, or whether it be in, in Palestine and Israel, or whether it be in Ukraine.

It, it...

Or whether it be just our local, why is it the AI companies refuse to pause instead of endangering all humanity? And we-- this anger rises up, and there's a tendency to invest in resentment, to invest in grudges, to invest in unforgiveness.

But please hear me.

That is gonna be, uh, toxic for your soul.

It will do no good.