(School Mass): Friday, October 8, 2004

Maggie and I really enjoyed ourselves Monday morning at the pet blessing service in the parking lot in honor of St. Francis. Pets are sure lots of fun!

Take Buster, for instance. He’s a hamster that’s owned by a couple of my friends. Buster has a little cage and a warm nest of cedar shavings to curl up in, a water bottle to drink from, and best of all, a wheel he can run inside of. He has everything a hamster could want or need.

But Buster refuses to run inside his running wheel. Instead, he has come up with what he thinks is a better idea. Buster climbs up on top of the wheel, on the outside of it. He carefully rolls over on his back on the top of the wheel, and stretches out. Gradually, the wheel starts to turn, and Buster’s entire body rolls with it, head first. The wheel picks up speed and spins faster and faster until clunk! Buster’s head smacks on the bottom of the cage. Buster gets up, shakes himself around because he hurt himself from the unexpected sharp blow on his head.

But what does Buster do? Why, he climbs right back up on top of the wheel, turns over, stretches himself out, and gets ready to clunk his head again. Why? Why would a hamster who has everything he needs completely ignore the right way to use his wheel and do something that only hurts himself? And why, even after that, would he do it again and again?

The bigger question is: why do we human beings, who are supposedly a lot smarter than hamsters, sometimes do the same thing?

How do we do that? you may be wondering. The answer is, we do it by our bad habits and sins.

I think you all know that a sin is something that God doesn’t want us to do—or say—or think about. The reason that something bad is a sin is because God loves us so much, that he doesn’t want us to do anything that can hurt us.

Sometimes, we try to stay away from committing sins, because we don’t like the way they make us feel. Nobody likes what it feels like when you’ve had a fight with somebody, and everyone is angry and tries to avoid each other. We can’t wait to make up and be friends again. Or who likes to get into an argument with your parents, when there’s shouting and door-slamming and saying lots of mean things? That doesn’t feel good either.

But other times, a sin may not feel bad at all. Your Mom may tell you not to ride your bike across a main street or over the railroad tracks. She’s afraid you’ll get hurt. But you and your friends think it’s cool. Or, you may think that it’s not so bad to tell a lie now and then—or cheat on a test—to get out of a tight spot. But disobedience and dishonesty are never OK, even if they might seem to be a good idea at the time.

The thing to remember about sin is that it’s easy for it to become a bad habit. Tell a little lie today, and it is even easier to tell another one tomorrow. And for some people—maybe even some kids you know—lying or cheating or stealing or cussing or being disrespectful—becomes a way of life… a bad habit. And just like Buster the hamster, time after time, that person rolls right off the wheel onto his head. Jesus certainly doesn’t want that to keep happening to anyone He loves—especially you!

Let’s say that maybe you have some kind of bad habit like that in your life. What can you do about it?

Do you know that the one of the most powerful gifts that God gave us is the gift of prayer? So find a time that you’re all alone and can talk to God a little bit. It can be in your room or outside. It can be when you’re riding your bike or skateboarding… when you’re shooting baskets or taking the dog for a walk or drying the dishes after dinner. In your own words, just think about God and tell him, “God, I know you love me and want the best for me. I want to be good. I don’t want that bad habit any more, but I can’t break it by myself. Jesus, please help me!”

The minute you say a prayer like that, something amazing happens. Sin is no longer the boss of you! Like in the Gospel we just heard, you throw out the demons—and in their place, the Holy Spirit takes over to help you and protect you.

Now, even if you don’t break your bad habit immediately and all at once, don’t worry about it too much. Just keep trying. Jesus loves that you’re trying, and your effort will make you stronger and holier—and happier, too!

Maybe one day, Buster will learn not to use his wheel the wrong way and keep falling off. And maybe one day, we’ll learn our lesson about God’s love and not sinning, too. Let’s pray for each other today so we can all do better in God’s eyes.