Our readings today from Exodus and also from Matthew speak to the concept of fidelity to God's call, obeying God's words. We hear in our first reading that God is saying to Moses, "If the people obey My commands, if they listen to My voice, then they will be blessed."

This morning when I came in to preach at the 7 o'clock Mass, I met Father Brian Timoney in the sacristy before the Mass began, and he said to me, "Deacon Ben, you don't know what a great sacrifice it is for me to preside at this Mass." And I said, "Oh, why is that, Father?" And he said, "Well, you know, the Irish and the Spanish are playing today in the soccer game. And there's fifteen minutes to go, and Iım here." So, I was very pleased to see that he had listened to God, in terms of answering the higher call to be here instead of watching TV. But, then, I was dismayed at the 8 oıclock Mass when Father Jerry told us that, "Well, it looks as if the Irish lost to the Spanish, 3 - 2." And I thought to myself, "Well, you know, it was probably pre-ordained because it was probably a warm-up game, and I can imagine it kind of like this:

Before the game, we see the Spanish soccer player and he has the ball on the ground, and he lines up on the goal and he kicks, but then it goes wide, and he said, "Jesus, I missed!" And the Irish player, good Catholic that he is, would have turned to him and said, "Now, now! we should not use the Lordıs name in vain." The Spanish player probably said, "Oh! Donıt worry about that. Letıs try it again..." Puts the ball down, lines up on the goal, kicks, and it goes wide again. And he said, "Jesus, I missed!" And the Irish player said, "Please. Please. The Lord's name is to be used in reverence." The Spanish player says, "No. No. I need to practice." He puts the ball down one more time, lines it up on the goal, kicks.... It goes wide, and he says for the third time, "Jesus! I missed!² And the Irish player says, "Oh, God! I tried to warn him..." And then, you can imagine, big clouds would come over that arena. And there would be a peal of loud thunder, and there would be a bolt of lightning coming down to the ground. Smoke would be everywhere. But after the smoke would lift, what would we find? The Spanish player would still be standing there, a little bit shaken. But, where the Irish player was, there is nothing but a smoking hole in the ground. And then from the skies and from the heavens comes a loud voice that says, "Jesus, I missed!"

So, faithful as we might be to Godıs call to honor His name, sometimes it doesnıt always work out.... But, going back to the Scriptures..... In our first reading from Exodus, it actually comes just before God gives the Ten Commandments to Moses to give to the Israelites. And He is reminding Moses that it is God Who has taken the Israelites out of their bondage in Egypt, brought through the desert to now wander for forty years until they reach the Promised Land. And God is saying, "I only ask these people that I have picked to now be faithful to me. They need to just listen to My word, be mindful of the Covenant, and I will bless them. As a treasured possession, they shall be a royal priesthood. They shall be a holy nation."

What we find in reading Exodus, of course, is, during the forty years, the Israelites do try to be faithful to the Covenant, but sometimes they donıt always hit the mark. Sometimes, they miss. And, although they love God, they don't love consistently. Athought they strive to obey Godıs command, they donıt do it perfectly. And we see that God is still faithful, nevertheless, in leading them to that Promised Land. But His love is demonstrated when they are imperfect in different ways. Sometimes God can be a harsh disciplinarian. Sometimes God can be very demanding. Sometimes God can be curiously absent in their time of need. But God still loves nevertheless.

After the Jewish people got to the Promised Land, they began to reflect on the great mercy and providence of God, Who had led them out of slavery to this place where they could be their own people. And they began to formulate many, many more rules besides the Ten Commandments. Scholars say that there were more than six hundred rules about how to eat, how to dress, how to worship. And if you didnıt follow all these rules "to the T," your relationship with God was in jeopardy.

By the time Jesus comes into the picture, a thousand years later or so, we find that Jesus is looking at the vast throng of people who are hungering and searching for God and He sees them as lost and abandoned sheep because they are so anxious. They are not sure of what their relationship is with God. Theyıre not even sure of what their relationship is with each other. And God, Jesus, says, "I come to simplify the message. I come to break it down so that all can understand it." And He leaves us with basically two fundamental commands. I bet everybody knows what these are now that Jesus said we should do if we truly are to be in Godıs kingdom. They are, number one, love God with your whole heart, mind, soul and strength. And the second is like it. Love your neighbor as yourself.

And so, in our Gospel reading today, we see that Jesus commissions His twelve Apostles to go forth and tell Godıs word anew. And itıs interesting who he picks. He doesn't pick the high and mighty of society. He doesnıt pick the most intellectual, the most erudite. He picks common, working people, ordinary people, just like you and me, people who He will empower to have that vision of what Godıs kingdom is meant to be, and to have that divine confidence that comes from knowing and from walking the talk, they will always be sustained by Godıs mighty power. And so the disciples then go forth into the world, and we see the result now, two thousand years later.

All of us are part of that rich legacy of what those disciples took on when Jesus gave them the invitation. And the wonderful thing today, two thousand years later after Jesus, is that each and every one of us who are here today are also called to be the same kind of disciples, because even though we live in a world, especially in our country here, where there certainly is an abundance of everything, we know that we have brothers and sisters among us, in our own country, who have needs far greater than we. We have people who suffer from not only material lack, but certainly spiritual lack, a sense of not really knowing what is their purpose in life. Why am I here? And without the groundedness of really understanding "Why am I here?" people can spin off their time and their energy in many misdirections. And we see it all the time in the news. And we also see that we are becoming a country very much like those third world countries where there are the haves and the have-nots.

I think what God is calling us to do, especially Americans, is to realize that the blessings that each and every one of us may have been given are primarily meant to be passed on to others. We are called to be conduits of Godıs grace. We are called to be like transparent panels of glass where God's mercy, God's love can shine through us so that others who need to be lifted up, who need to be cured of their demons may find that solace through Jesus working through us. And so, this day, Jesus tells us in the Gospel that we are called to pray. We are called to pray that there may be more laborers to work the harvest, because the laborers are few. I think Jesus knew in His own day that He was starting off with twelve. But He had great confidence in His heavenly Father that, from the work of those twelve, many many more hands would come into play. And as that old saying goes, "Many hands make for light work." And so we ask God to bless us this day with a sense of yearning, a sense of yearning to be among those laborers in God's vineyard, always seeking to reach beyond our comfort envelope, always seeking to reach beyond our sense of security, our sense of the way things are to seek after the way God wants things to be, to try to be an active participant, an active actor, in that great drama of life.

As you know, this is going to be my last weekend at Christ the King Church. I have really, really enjoyed my time here with you. I came from St. Joseph Church in Pinole, which is a very large parish just like Christ the King. And after working there for seven years, I thought, "Iıve seen just about the best there is in terms of a parish." But people had told me, "Christ the King really has their act together. You should check that out." So, when I came over here, I was really, really amazed and really pleasantly surprised to see how active and how vibrant this parish is, in terms of its liturgy, in terms of its social justice work, in terms of its community activities. I like to tell my friends, when I tell them that I work at Christ the King, that I work for a "party parish." Every week, there is something going on, where there are hundreds of people turning out, be it for adult education, or for an auction, or for a festival, or for a dance, or for some kind of salad luncheon. There are so many things that go on here, and itıs a sign, and a tribute to all of the wonderful people who have come before you, good priests, the people before you who helped to start this parish, and now it is your turn to leave that same legacy.

For myself, I have had a mountain-top experience, kind of like going on that Transfiguration journey, and I see what Church can really be. And so now God calls me to go down into the valley. And so, on July 1st, I will begin working for Catholic Charities of the East Bay. I am going to be acting as the director of the employment and training services division which seeks to help people who are on welfare, people who are refugees, who are immigrants learn the skills that they need so that they can be employed in this wonderful economy and society that we have, so that they can become economically sufficient and thus begin making a contribution in their own right to this wonderful country that we have.

So, in closing, I would like to thank the many dozens, maybe hundreds of people I have had an opportunity to work with and get to know over this past year. I will always remember you in my prayers, and I ask you to please remember me in yours. Thank you very much. God bless you.