Sirach 35 : 12-14, 16-18

The book of Sirach was written by a wise teacher who lived 200 years before Christ. It is a loose collection of thoughts on various concerns in the life of a believer. In today’s section, Sirach describes how God relates to us and how we are to relate to God.

2 Tim 4 : 6-8,16-18

Today we hear the concluding lines of the second letter to Timothy. This letter was written in Paul’s name sometime after his death. Today’s passage depicts Paul’s thoughts as, in prison, he awaits martyrdom.

Luke 18:9-14

Bishop Untener’s Homily

Mass for the Alumni of Our Lady of Perpetual Help School, Chesaning

This alumni gathering is a time of memories that go back many years.

I want to take you back to 1968. It was the year the Tigers won the pennant and then the World Series. It was about this time of the year, toward the end of the regular season. The Tigers had clinched the pennant and they were playing their last home game of the year against the New York Yankees. Mickey Mantle was at the plate in the late innings, and the Tigers were leading 5 to 1.

Mickey Mantle had announced that he was retiring from baseball, and everyone knew that this was his last at-bat in Tiger stadium. Denny McClain was pitching.

When Mickey stepped into the batter’s box he smiled at McClain and motioned with his bat to a spot right down the middle of the plate, belt high. He was kidding, saying, "Serve up a pitch right there for me to hit."

The first pitch was right down the middle, belt high, and Mickey was so surprised he didn’t even swing at it. McClain got ready for the next pitch, and he nodded his head saying, "I’m going to do it – put it right there where you want it." He did, and Mickey Mantle hit it into the right field bleachers. The crowd went wild and gave Mantle a standing ovation as he trotted around the bases. As he rounded second he turned toward McClain and tipped his hat, saying "Thank-you." It was one of those great moments in sports.

Now if Mickey Mantle had bragged about this – saying how he hit a home run off Denny McClain when he was at the peak of his pitching career – it would have been the wrong thing to do. The pitch was served up to him right down the middle. In a sense it was "an unearned run." But Mickey didn’t brag about it. He thanked Denny as he rounded second base.

The trouble with the Pharisee in today’s Gospel is that he thought he was earning God’s love by fasting twice a week, and tithing, and leading a good life. He didn’t realize that this was all the result of God’s grace which God served up to him right down the middle.

The tax collector on the other hand knew he didn’t earn anything on his own. He simply turned to God and asked for mercy. He knew that the love God had for him was unearned.

We have to open ourselves to God’s grace and respond to it. When Mickey Mantle got that first pitch he didn’t swing at it. But he did on the second one. Goodness doesn’t happen automatically. We have to do something. But the source of any good thing we do is really God. We receive God’s unearned love, God’s unearned grace, and God serves it up to us right down the middle

It can help to understand this and come to know God better if we think about the unearned love we receive from other people. For example, from our parents. Think of a parent, especially with a little child, and think of all the unearned love the child receives. Grandparents are another example. Their love for their grandchildren is something to behold, and it is a good example of spontaneous, unearned love.

Teachers are another example. I know that in my twelve years of school at St. Charles parish on the east side of Detroit, I received a great deal of unearned love from my teachers. They invested a lot of time and caring and patience in me. Good teachers do that. I’ll bet that you alumni can think of a thousand examples of the unearned love you received from your teachers here at this school.

When we think of that kind of love, then we catch the good news of this Gospel. We recognize and we celebrate God’s unearned love for us. And when we realize this, then we act differently. We realize that God’s own love is in us, even though we could never earn it. We realize that because of this we can rise to heights that would otherwise be impossible.

If we really catch hold of this truth with a down deep awareness, then we start giving unearned love to others – not just to children or grandchildren, but people who aren’t easy to love and who certainly don’t "earn" our love. Instead of trying to put them down – trying to "strike them out" – we serve up unearned love right down the middle

Actually there is another example of this in our lives: Class reunions. Now you can decide if this is true for you. But I noticed a big difference in my own high school class reunions – the class of 1955. At the early reunions – 5 years, 10 years 20 years – I think we were all trying to sort of impress one another about what we had accomplished in our lives. We weren’t interested in their home runs... we wanted to strike each other out with our own one-up-manship. You may have noticed the same thing in your reunions. But then... I don’t know exactly when it happened... perhaps after about 30 years... the reunions took on a different tone. We had all had our ups and downs, and we were just plain happy to see each other, and we were kind to one another. And we simply served up compliments and concern and caring to one another, right down the middle.

You alumni are here this evening to say thank-you for all that was done for you in your school years. And it is good of you to do that.

We’re all here this evening around this Eucharistic table to say thank-you to God. That’s what the Greek word "eucharist" means – thanksgiving. We thank God for serving up his love to us, and serving up his grace to us right down the middle.

And since we are God’s daughters and sons, made in the image and likeness of God, made to look and act like God – we go out from here and do what God does: We extend to anyone and everyone the same unearned love that God gives to us, right down the middle.

Originally given on October 28, 2001