Apostrophe S

1:35 May you have a seat. so in in 1870 there was a little girl born in 1870 in Darfur Sudan and we don't we don't know her name we don't know we don't know the name that her family gave her because when she was seven years old Arab slave traders came and raided her village it killed most of her family and she was sold into slavery at seven years old and and we don't know her name because that event was so traumatic to her that she literally forgot her own name it was so traumatic that she forgot the name that her family had given her and so the and her Arab slavers they gave her a nickname they called her lucky which is it seems pretty cruel to name a seven-year-old Lucky, who's now a slave. They spoke Arabic, and so Lucky in Arabic is the word Bakita, so that was her name. Her name was Bakita, and for the next 12 years, she was treated as people's property. For the next 12 years, she was beaten regularly and whipped.

2:51 For her entire life, for the rest of her life, she carried the scars of those 12 years. but even still, even though she was never told about God, she had this like innate religious sense. She even describes, years later, she describes being a kid and looking up at the night sky and she had this thought, she said this, she said, seeing the sun, the moon, and the stars, I said to myself, who could be the master of these beautiful things? She knew that even implicit, even though here all she ever knew was master and slave, she knew that, my goodness, there is something about these incredible beautiful things someone must be. Who could possibly be the master of these beautiful things? Again, even though she had the lens of someone who's enslaved, yet somehow she had hope. Somehow she knew that this all belongs to someone. we'll come back to her, but I want to switch tracks. Um, and it's kind of a big jump.

3:51 So my favorite comedian, my favorite comedian, uh, one of my favorite comedians is a man named Mitch Hedberg. I don't know if you know who Mitch Hedberg is. Um, I, uh, disclaimer, I met, I learned who Mitch Hedberg was when he was on like late night shows. And so all that I knew of him was his clean stuff. And then I recommended him to a bunch of friends and they're like, Father, do you know that he has, he kind of swears a lot. I'm like, so that's my disclaimer. He oftentimes swears. But Mitch is from St. Paul, so he's kind of a local guy. And he's one of those like observational comedians who has one-liners. So I know this is not going to work, but I can't help myself. I need to give you a sample. So Miss Shedberg. And also his delivery was like someone who was like stoned. So I'm going to do that a little too. No, he would do like he'd say things like I haven't slept for 10 days because that would be too long. An escalator can never be broken.

4:49 It can only become stairs. There should never be a sign that says escalator out of order. It should only say escalator temporarily stairs. We apologize for the convenience. It says rice is a great food when you're really hungry and you want to eat 2,000 of something.

5:10 I'm against picketing. I just don't know how to show it. my fake plants died because I did not pretend to water them okay that was the last one that was the last one there's going to be one more I just want to let you know this but here's the thing Mitch uh in 2005 he tragically died of an overdose at 37 years old this man who had suffered a lot in his life had been tormented interiorly and some external battles but I pray for Mitch all the time because there's I mean because he's funny and all those things he's brought a lot of joy to my life but also he has this one joke and it's a joke I think of every single time I hear today's gospel every single time I read today's gospel in fact every time I read many of the gospels this one joke comes back to me here it goes this last one I promise he says I get the Reese's candy bar if you read the name Reese's there's an apostrophe s so it's Reese, apostrophe S, on the end of that name.

6:10 That means the candy bar is his. I didn't know that. He said, next time you're eating a Reese's candy bar and some guy named Reese comes by and says, let me have that, you better hand it over. I'm sorry, Reese, I didn't think I'd ever run into you. I love that line. He says, apostrophe S, that means it's his. Again, I pray for Mitch because again, not only is there pain when it comes to the life that he lived, but I just think that simple joke, apostrophe s that means it's his has everything to do with the gospel today right here's here's jesus the pharisees come we heard the story pharisees come to him they try to trap him in their speech is it lawful to pay the temple tax no here's the census tax here's what i want jesus to say when they ask him is it lawful to pay the census tax i want jesus to say no taxes are bad taxation is theft that's what i would say but jesus doesn't say that jesus is better than me Jesus can't be trapped.

7:03 What does he do? Show me one of the Roman coins. If you've ever seen one of those Roman coins, you know that on that Roman coin, there's an image of Caesar Augustus. On that Roman coin, there's an inscription. Caesar Augustus, his name, his inscription. So when Jesus says that, say, whose image is this? And they say Caesar's. That's Caesar apostrophe S. That means it's his. Jesus says, yeah, that means it's his. Let him have it.

7:28 Easy. It's his. let him have it. And I think about that and I think, if only it was easy, if only it was that easy. Like when it comes to, when it comes to our stuff too, I think so it's so easy to become convinced that, that what we own is ours. Even though, even we know this, we know that none of us will take any of what we have with us when we're gone. And so, yeah, we have it now, but the question is, whose is it really? Well, it's mine. And we have to ask the question like, is it? I mean, sure, in some sense, for now, temporarily.

8:05 I think this is funny, though. It's all temporary. everything we have is just temporary. And sometimes we realize that sometimes we know it, like you don't treat a rental car like it's yours or a hotel room or an airline seat. I mean, no one, when it comes to rental car, you've never seen anyone change the oil on a rental car. What you do with a rental car is you accelerate as fast as possible and break as hard as possible just to see, you know? No, you've never seen anyone remodel a hotel room, redecorate it. You've never seen anyone reupholster an airline seat. Because why? Because we know it's not mine. We say that's my seat, but we know it belongs to Hertz. It belongs to Holiday Inn. It belongs to Delta. We have to pay attention to the apostrophe S. There's a preacher and a pastor of a megachurch down in Atlanta. He heard him give a talk to middle schoolers years ago. And in it, he was talking about labels. He's talking about the labels that, you know, we get when we're growing up.

9:02 Like someone says something about us and we just carry that label with us. Someone says, oh, you're really smart. Or someone says, hey, you're not good at math. Or someone says, you're lazy. Or someone says, you're slow. We sometimes carry those labels with us. And he asks the question, who has the right to put a label on you? Who has the right to claim you? And he uses the example of a t-shirt. He says, you know, in a t-shirt, in the back inside collar of a t-shirt, you have the label. And he says there's only three entities that have the legal and logical right to put their name on that label. He says one is the manufacturer, the person who made it. Secondly is the purchaser, the one who bought it. Third is the owner, the one who possesses and takes care of it. You think about that, that when it comes to the t-shirt, the only the three entities that have a legal and logical right to do this, the manufacturer, the purchaser, and the owner. I recently had a conversation with an evolutionary biologist. It was a fascinating conversation. He's not a believer, but he has a lot of respect for religious people. And so we were talking about God, talking about what God is like now. Here as Christians, as Catholics, we know this. We know that God, like the true God, is absolutely unique, right? We know that God is one of one. That's it.

10:19 He's not just one other powerful being in the universe, and even the most powerful being in the universe. He's the ground of all being. In fact, Isaiah 45, the first reading today, says this. I am the Lord God. There is no other. He says, there is no God besides me. So we know that God is completely unique, but this evolutionary biologist was, we were talking about God and talking about the creation of the universe, and he tossed out this idea. I thought, he thought it was really compelling. I thought it was compelling too. It was the idea that he said, maybe, what if, what if this, what if God created the universe? He knew God existed, but he didn't know much about him. He said, what if God created the universe in order to be, among other things, surprised and delighted in how it turned out? he said I mean just what if what if that what if God just you know he's like I'm gonna make this world I'm just gonna let it go and see what happens because and I will in turn be surprised and delighted by how it turns out he said what like the platypus who would have thought the platypus with with a bill of a duck has a tail like a beaver has a body like an otter it has this electro reception where it goes underwater it closes its eyes and like sends out like, wah, wah, wah, wah, it can like, it shoots poison from its feet. Like that's, that's pretty delightful and surprising. And so his thought was maybe that's why God did this.

11:34 He wanted to be delighted and surprised by how it turns out. Now, here's the thing. As, as Christians, we know this. As Catholics, we know that yes, God delights in his creation. Absolutely. In fact, scripture says this. The Lord God delights not only his creation, he delights in you. But he didn't do it to be entertained. He didn't create the universe to escape more than or because he needed attention. It's not like God was out there somewhere and just like, I'm lonely. I'm bored. No, in fact, the first line of the catechism, it's in the prologue of the catechism. It says this about God. It says, God, infinitely perfect and blessed in himself. Meaning here's God who does not need anything. He's not lonely. He's not bored. He doesn't need to be entertained. He's infinitely perfect and blessed in himself. goes on to say, in a plan of sheer goodness, freely created man to make him share in his own blessed life. So here's God, not lonely and not needing or wanting anything from us. He just wanted to create this world for us. He created us. And remember, who can label us? Who can name us? Who can claim us? The one who made us. The one who made us has a claim on us. In fact, the Bible says that. It says, he made us. We're his.

12:53 we are his even if we don't realize it. Like Bakita, she's staring up at the night sky going, there's someone who made this world. Could it be possible that I belong? Could it be possible that I was made by him and that I belong to him? So I don't know if you caught this. In the first reading, again, Isaiah 45, there's a name that's mentioned. It's the name of King Cyrus. I don't know if you know the story of King Cyrus, but here it goes. So Isaiah 45 was written 150 years before King Cyrus was born. It was before the Babylonians took Israel into exile. Israel is in exile for 80-ish years. After about 80 years or so, Persia invaded Babylon and conquered them. The name of the king, after a bit, was King Cyrus of Persia. And so here are the Jewish people, they're in Babylon, they're exiled, and they're like, wait a second, you're King Cyrus. So your names in our Bible. It was written down 150 years ago that the king of this conquering army would set us free and send us back home. You're the guy. And Cyrus is like, I'm the guy. It is one of those remarkable things where even before King Cyrus knew that he belonged to God, he belonged to God.

14:08 He was God's. That's God apostrophe S. Same thing is true about us. We belong to God before we even realize we belong to God. because the one who made us has the right to claim us. The second one is the one who's purchased us, right? That's why Ephesians, second reading today, St. Paul writing to the Ephesians, he says, brothers and sisters, you are brothers and sisters loved by God and actually you've been chosen by him. I mean, it's the reason why we have a crucifix in the center of every one of our churches, this deep and profound truth that God himself surrendered all that was his in order to claim us as his. the God, the one to whom everything belonged, allowed himself to be stripped of everything so that we could belong to him. That's why St. Paul says, you've been purchased at a price and your life is no longer yours. It's God's. That's God, apostrophe S.

15:12 So the one who made us has a claim on us. The one who purchased us has a claim on us. and that means he also owns us. And I know that sounds really, really weird to say that God owns us because of all the negativity that could be in there. But consider the alternative. When I was back in seminary, every floor had its own lounge and every lounge had its own kitchenette and every kitchenette had its own refrigerator. You probably have seen that if you ever lived on a dorm or lived in an apartment building. You have that lounge, kitchenette, and refrigerator. The refrigerator was common for everybody. You could put your stuff in there if you wanted it. But here's the thing. We had a rule, and probably the same rule that every person living in common has. If you put your food in there, you need to put your name on it, if you want to keep it. In fact, we had a little rhyme in the seminary. It was, no name, fair game.

15:58 Because if you put that food in there, please use it. If you put your food in there and name it, it's yours. But if you leave it unnamed, what you're basically saying is, I don't want this. You can have it. I don't care about it. This is unwanted. It's unchosen. It's unclaimed. and imagine, imagine the pain of never knowing that you've been chosen. Imagine the pain of going through life and never knowing that you're not your own.

16:25 And never knowing that you're not on your own. I think that's one of the reasons why the gospel today is so profound. Jesus asks, whose image is on the coin? Caesar's. Oh, then give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar. Then he goes on to say, and give to God what belongs to God. And when he says that, he's hearkening back to Genesis, right? because in the story of Genesis, how does God make us? It says very, very clearly, he made them male and female in his own image.

16:51 So in whose image have you all been made? In God's, that's God, apostrophe S. That means it's his, that means we're his. And that's what the thing is. This isn't about like stewardship. This is definitely not about taxes. It's also not about, you know, like, hey, give God your life. this is first a proclamation of an objective reality no matter who you are or what you've done you are already gods you are already his and here's what the Christian life is the Christian life is learning to live the apostrophe s that's already there that's all you've already been claimed and the Christian life is learning to live the apostrophe S that's already there so back to Begita this is the last thing as I mentioned Begita was a slave for 12 years she was a slave from when she was 7 years old to when she was 20 years old and at one point they brought her to Italy and when she was in Italy she ran into an Italian Catholic man slightly before she was declared free who presented her at one moment, one day, he presented her with a gift, a gift of a small silver crucifix.

18:10 The gift of a crucifix, the image of a man on a cross who had been treated as property, who had been stripped, who had been beaten. And he took it and he kissed it before he placed it in the palm of her hand. and explained to her that the man on the cross was Jesus Christ, the Son of God who died for us. and he placed, again, he placed that crucifix in the hands of a woman who had been treated as property, in the hands of a woman who had been beaten. She placed that in the hands of a woman who had been stripped,

18:55 and she looked down and she saw the image of God himself who had been beaten and whipped and stripped, and she saw the image of the God who had claimed her that allowed himself to have been wounded for her. She said this, she said, I remember how as I looked at the crucifix, I experienced a strange feeling I could not explain.

19:23 Ultimately, she fell in love with this God who made the sun and the moon and the stars. Shortly after that, she was baptized and she took the name Josephine, Josephine Paquita. after that she had her first holy communion was confirmed and then a bit later she became a religious sister we know her as Saint Josephine Bakita.

19:48 And this crazy, this woman, when in response to becoming a daughter of God, she used to walk by the font, the baptismal font, where she was actually baptized. And what she would do oftentimes as she passed it, she would do what that man did with the crucifix. She would often bend down and she'd kiss the baptismal font and she would say this. She said, here I became a daughter of God. this woman who had been kidnapped by slave traders, who had been sold and claimed by masters. She was given a name she had not chosen. And then one day someone placed a crucifix in her hands and she discovered something incredible.

20:24 There was a God who did not demand that she suffer for him because he had already suffered for her. And she belonged to him. towards the end of her life, she has experienced all these trials and struggles. She always had hope. In fact, one of my favorite quotes from St. Bakita, St. Josephine Bakita, is she said this, in the midst of her trials, in the midst of like darkness, she said this, I am definitively loved.

20:54 So whatever happens to me, I am awaited by this love. And so my life is good.