June 5, 2005: Stealing and Honesty

+THE TENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

A few months ago, the Bishop asked all the priests of the diocese to set aside two days and gather together at Jumer’s Hotel in Peoria for our annual “Assembly Days.” It’s also time for the clergy to have a little R & R, pray together and enjoy each other’s company. One morning, I was up a little early, so I went down to the lobby of the hotel where I staked out an easy chair near the fireplace. A bellman came by with a complimentary copy of USA Today.

USA Today always has interesting news tidbits. That day, I found a poll that the paper had conducted on honesty. The poll concluded that only 56% of Americans teach honesty to their children. I paused for a few minutes to digest what that suggested: that the other 44% of parents—almost half!—evidently turn a blind eye to stealing, lying and cheating.

Those findings swirled around in my brain. Could this be true? When I got back home, I set to work on Google to see what else I might find on this subject.

I discovered that Louis Harris, a well-known pollster, had conducted another survey in which two-thirds of high school students said that they would cheat on an important exam.

And listen to what a respected psychologist had to say: “Lying is an important part of social life, and children who are unable to do it are children who may have developmental problems.” Can you believe it? Not sinning makes you abnormal and slow!

So there you have it. If we can believe these polls, then a majority of our fellow American people think it’s basically OK to steal supplies from work or fudge on your expense report… to overstate your qualifications on your résumé… to call in sick when you’re really not sick… to keep the extra change a cashier hands you… to claim trumped up deductions on your tax return… to plagiarize work or assignments in school… and who knows what else.

Dishonesty may not be the oldest profession, but it’s certainly close. Our Gospel today tells of Matthew, the tax collector. In Jesus’ day, tax collectors were the worst lowlifes and scoundrels. To begin with, they were Jews who worked for the Roman occupiers. Not only did they exact taxes from their countrymen, but the way they got paid was by adding a steep commission on top. No doubt Matthew and his cronies traded war stories on how best to squeeze the most out of their “customers.”

So what turned Matthew around and turned him into an evangelist and a saint? That’s simple. It was Jesus Christ.

Jesus came up to Matthew, looked him in the eye and said, “Follow me.”

Wouldn’t it be great to have that kind of irresistible magnetism! Well, actually we do to some extent… as disciples of Christ, we have a share of His divine life within us. It’s what we call “grace.” The more we can connect ourselves to the Lord through the sacraments, our life of devotion and prayer, and our faith-filled works of charity and mercy, the more Christ’s power will resonate in us and through us. That’s the beautiful promise of our psalm today: “To the upright I will show the saving power of God.”

Every Catholic with even a rudimentary understanding of the teachings of Christianity knows that dishonesty is sinful. It’s wrong to steal, to cheat, to lie, to be reckless or negligent with other people’s property, to worm your way out of legitimate debts… Yet if we can believe the polls, a majority of us are willing to ignore the commandments—and not even bother to teach honesty to our kids! Why?

It comes down to faith. People are rational. If they lie or steal or cheat, it’s because they think it’s the best way to get what they want. But think about that! What this says is that I don’t trust God enough to simply be honest and let Him take care of my needs. You see, it’s all a matter of a shaky faith.

Matthew put his faith on the line. Jesus said, “Follow me,” and Matthew followed Him. And lo and behold, the blessings of conversion and a powerful relationship with the Lord followed. Christ offers the same to each of us.

So the place to start is praying for a deeper faith. That is the foundation for every other virtue.

There’s an old story about two brothers who were tried and convicted for stealing sheep. For their punishment, they were each branded on the forehead with the letters ST, which stood for “sheep thief.”

One of the brothers was so ashamed, that he fled to a far-away place to live. But people were always asking him about the strange mark on his forehead, and he couldn’t stand the stigma. He finally committed suicide.

The other brother reasoned to himself, “I can’t escape from the fact that I stole sheep, but I can stick around and try to win back my self-respect and the respect of my neighbors.”

And so, over the years, he turned his life around and earned a reputation for honesty, respect and love.

One day, a stranger saw the old man with the letters branded on his forehead. He asked someone what the letters stood for. The townsman replied, “It all happened a long time ago. I can’t remember the details, but I think the letters are an abbreviation for ‘Saint.’”

As He did with Matthew, Jesus invites us today to turn from our sins of dishonesty—and our sins of neglect in teaching honesty to our children—and start fresh here and now. May the Lord bless you with a deeper faith and fill you with His power and love! Amen.


Today’s Readings:
Hosea 6: 3–6
Psalm 50
Romans 4: 18–25
Matthew 9: 9–13