Luke 16: 1-13 9-18-2022 (As built, Amite #512)
- Famous last words…
- The year is about nineteen hundred… Henry lives in Michigan… actually he lives in Michigan city… kind of a small city… he is one of four children… they live on a farm in Michigan… he will tell you that his mom and dad were immigrants… I think they were from Ireland and Belgium… and he will tell you that the farm on a good day was a break even… on it’s best day maybe marginal… he said man he loved the farm… his dad notices something though… he said there’s something about Henry that’s different… he said somewhere around the age of ten or twelve he noticed that Henry is lightyears better than everybody else… he said he’s got that Mensa IQ… he said it just resonates… he said it’s off the charts… he said people are coming to him for everything… fix their watches… their timers… their equipment… their this and that… he said he’s a mere teenager… he said man he just knew there was something special about Henry… he said but by the age of twenty well… there’s a tragedy… his mom dies… and he goes to his dad Henry does and he tells him you know it’s time for me to go… and he’s saying go… that’s why we have the farm… this is why you’re here with your bothers and sisters… he said the only reason I was here was because of you and mom… but now that mom is gone I want to be an engineer… he said I really want to go to college… I want to go to Detroit… I want to work for the Edison Company… he said I tell you what… famous last words… you can go… you make it you owe me nothing… you don’t make it… you come back and pay me the debt to getting you to school and getting you to the Edison Company… a deal is made… he goes to the Edison Company and let me tell you… he’s lights out… he’s so good at what he does man Westinghouse is knocking at his door… he no sooner get’s Westinghouse knocking on his door then the Cadillac brothers are talking to him… he got this bike and he put a motor between it… yeah that’s right the motorbike… then he decided well if I can do it with two then well we can do it with four… he called it a quadricycle… that horseless carriage… yeah you probably guessed by now that it’s probably Henry Ford… he said man tings grew so fast for Henry… he was building one car a day… then two cars a day… three cars a day… he was up to over a thousand cars a month… and he told them you can have any color you want as long as it’s black… he said man we are growing leaps and bounds.. I’ve got more employees than I know what to do with… he said then tragedy strikes yet again… a paradigm shift… he said man somebody just started a rumor… like Amite… and man it grew legs and had a heartbeat before they could get started… he said you’d be driving down the road and all four wheels at one time… would just shoot off the road… leave you stranded right where you were… days on end… he said people believed it… he said my sales started to tank… and quickly… he said if that wasn’t bad enough he said had another one… he said they told us that their car just spontaneously exploded… killed everybody in the car… family miles away… he said I was back down to two cars a month… he said we were starving to death… he said I couldn’t keep my employees fed… he said I didn’t know what to do… I lamented he says to his secretary… man if we could just get one person… one… to stand up on my behalf… on our behalf… and say truly… he does good… she said Mr. Henry you need to pray for it… he said Well I’m going to pray for it but in a week the board of directors need to meet we need to solve this… I got to let people we go… this is a do-over… we’re going under… he prays for one solid week… next thing you know he comes back in… his secretary says uh Mr. Henry… Mr. Ford could you read this… he said I don’t have time to… you’ve got the letter… you got somebody… this couple… this man and woman stood up for you… you got the letter… somebody else stood up for you… he said oh that’s great… one couple stood up for me… I’m sure it will change the world… famous last words… Dear Sir, I’d like to tell you that you make a dandy of a V8… for sustained speed and durability you have them all beat… as a matter of fact when I steal one I try to steal yours… signed Bonnie and Clyde… true story…
- My brothers and sisters in Christ if I were to tell you this quote would you know whose famous last words… it’s not so much what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country… you’d say oh Father that’s JFK… if I told you that there was a president one time that stood up when somebody asked him what are you going to do with all the AWOL soldiers… are we going to hang them for tyranny… for being traders… he said I always found that men six feet above ground do more than men six feet below… Abraham Lincoln… if I told you there was a General one time that said… you know you don’t win a war by dying for your country… you win a war by making the other SOB die for his… ah some of you would know General Patton… if I told you my brothers and sisters in Christ there was a young boy in New Orleans grew up saying some day I will get in the Superbowl and I will throw a touchdown pass for the New Orleans Saints… would you know it was Walter Payton… no… it’s the other Payton… Payton Manning… you know what’s ironic… he was playing for the Colts when he threw the touchdown pass for the Saints but I digress on that issue… my brothers and sisters in Christ if I told you in scripture her famous last words were do whatever he tells you… then you’d know it was the most Holy and Blessed Mother… If I were to tell you his famous words in scripture… Truly that man was the son of God… would you know it was Longinus… would you know it was the Angel Gabriel who said Hail full of Grace… not highly favored… poor translation… well let me ask you my brothers and sisters in Christ do you know these famous maybe not so famous last words… they are the last words on the document… they are the last words on the document… hopefully now they will become famous… with a firm reliance on divine providence… we mutually pledge our lives… our fortunes… our sacred honor… with firm reliance on divine providence… God… Jesus Christ… with firm reliance on divine providence… we mutually pledge to each other our lives… our fortunes... our sacred honor… declaration of independence… my brothers and siters in Christ did you know that our founding fathers at the declaration of independence… started declaring their independence with God… and ended with God…we hold these truths to be self-evident… that all men are created equal… endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights… that among these life… liberty… and the pursuit of happiness… and then they conclude… with a firm reliance on divine providence… we mutually pledge our lives… our fortunes… our sacred honor… it begins and ends with the Messiah... do you find it ironic that they built our country and declared their independence with God and in God and ended with Him… and today… our people in Washington… our president… our speaker… our vice president… the powers to be are taking God from the courtroom… the classroom… the conference room… the house of congress and soon our own homes… and you’re wondering why we’re not on the road to perdition… the road to hell… do you think it’s ironic that they started the country based on God and now we’re destroying a country based on evil… I digress… my brothers and sisters in Christ many of you and I would agree that we started our country on July fourth seventeen seventy-six… our country was born on July fourth seventeen seventy-six… however it was conceived on June eleventh seventeen seventy-six… oh but it was… my brothers and sisters in Christ fifty-six men… fifty-six great men… men of courage… men of resolution… men of means… notwithstanding the men and women and children that stood behind them so they could attend… fifty-six men… great men… have come to the Pennsylvania state house… Philadelphia Pennsylvania… Independence hall… to declare their independence… they are men of means and education… there are at least twenty attorneys and jurist… there are numerous land owners… not to mention several merchants… doctors as well as surveyors… they have come my brothers and sisters in Christ because they have come to declare their independence… there is no more listening to tyranny from overseas… there is no more listening to the redcoats… as a matter of fact the stream of freedom has been damned and we have come to light the fuse… the stream has become small murky and muddy… but I have come… we have come to undo it… we are men of means and of direction and of education… we are willing to give up our fortunes for our freedom… oh my brothers and sisters in Christ you know there was a guy there by the name of Mr. Hart… boy did he nail it… he told the people there make sure you understand that we are forming a partnership... we are forming a partnership for the living… for the dead… and for the unborn… oh that’s right did you listen to the start of the declaration of independence… we hold these truths to be self-evident… that all men are created equal… created in the womb… that’s where creation begins… that’s why they didn’t say born… because you and I know that evil takes over once we are born… they knew it back then that abortion is wrong… he said we have formed a partnership… seventeen days later Jefferson produces the declaration of Independence… can I tell you how King George the third responded… he responded that all rebels in America… are traders… they are of high treason and they should be hung… all rebels in America are traders and therefore dictated by treason and should be hung… it seems like just two weeks ago… I watched our president call many of us traders… or terrorist… you know if you don’t study history you’re doomed to repeat it… I digress even further… my brothers and sisters in Christ these are people of means they are willing to give up their fortunes for our freedom… so my brothers and sisters in Christ… may I introduce you to several of these great fifty-six men… Carter Braxton… a man of means in Virginia… as a matter of fact he’s got so much money he has decide to mortgage all of his land… all of his crop… all of his houses… everything he has to build ships for the army… for their Navy… and also to supply goods for the colony… my brothers and sisters in Christ he loses everything… his reward for signing the declaration of independence… Carter Braxton you will die in rags… and so it happen… my brothers and sisters in Christ if I were to tell you that there was a Thomas Lynch… and Thomas Lynch has decided that man his health is not good…his wife’s health is not good… that they must run from the redcoats… and as a result of running from the redcoats him and his wife are both caught… they are actually on a ship and the ship was sunk… their reward for signing the declaration of independence… drowning… Thomas McKean… man that guy spent his entire life on the lamb… he was running from hill to there just to stay away from the redcoats… to get to Philadelphia to cast his vote… and suggest that nobody get paid… for he was not getting paid to do his duty… he lost his land… his farm… his cows… his cattle… he lost everything… his reward for signing the declaration of independence… destitution in rags… my brothers and sisters in Christ the same holds true for Mr. Clymer and Mr. Hall... Mr. Walton… Mr. Heyward… Mr. Rutledge… Mr. Middleton… Mr. Lewis… my brothers and sisters in Christ they lost everything… Francis Lewis his reward if you will… was that his wife is thrown in prison and she will die there… so for signing the declaration she is thrown in prison and he will die shortly thereafter as she dies in prison he dies of a broken heart… there’s also another Thomas… he decided that he’s going to come up with two million dollars to give to the French fleet to defend the country… as a result of giving two million dollars to them and mortgaging everything he owns… not only do they lose because of the British warships… he dies in rags and riches… as a matter of fact my brothers and sisters in Christ his tomb is unmarked and unknown… thank you for signing the declaration of Independence… Richard Braxton he dies in prison at fifty one after they beat him to death… for singing the declaration of independence… Tom Horn spent so many days in the woods that he spent over one year living in caves… his reward for signing the declaration of independence… you will never see your thirteen children again… and you will be run from your wife’s bedside when she is sick… you will die alone and in a cave… for singing the declaration of independence… and what about that John Hancock signature… so that everybody can see… yet very few know that he wrote it so that the king could see… the wealthiest landowner in all of the colonies… he lives in Boston… Washington comes to him and says everything you own is in Boston… we must burn it to get the redcoats out… “burn it to the ground… I will give everything I own so that our people can live free…” my brothers and sisters in Christ these are not malcontent… these are not rebel rousers… my brothers and sisters in Christ these are patriots… these are people that are true to our Savior Jesus Christ… in divine providence…
- So here we sit two thousand years later… let me ask you… do you feel that if we took the declaration of independence… and we took all of our legislators… our president and his cabinet… and we went back in time… how many of them would have signed and declared their independence… for in we believe with firm reliance in Divine providence… we mutually pledge our lives… our fortunes… and our sacred honor… how many do you think would have signed that declaration… if I were to bring that declaration of independence today… and asked them to sign it today… with a firm reliance in Divine providence we mutually pledge our lives and our fortunes and our sacred honor... how many of them would sing it today… I think not… well my brothers in Christ here you and I sit… the time has come for you and I to declare our firm reliance on a Divine providence…you and I must stop kicking the can … it has gotten to a point where you and I can only worship at times and in-betweens… everything else has pulled us away… if I were to bring you back to July fourth seventeen seventy-six… would you sign it or not… would you say I rely on God alone… and I will give up my life… my fortune and my honor for you…would you sign it today… well guess what… one way or another you’re going to make that decision in our day… and the time has come for you and I to do such… we need to stop praying once a week because that’s all we got time for… we got to stop saying well I just cant get to the sacraments… Father I just got travel ball… kickball… I got work… I got a job… you don’t have enough time not to bend that knee… you don’t have enough time left not to go to confession… you do not have enough time not to go to adoration… time is of the essence… look at the world that we are in… how much time do you think we have… my brothers and sisters in Christ… and for all those of other faiths that listen… it’s time for you and I to pray as a community... it’s time for you and I to gather and pray… not once a week… every day and all day and twice on Sunday… that has got to be the measure of our resolve… in firm reliance in Divine providence… we are going to uphold our end of the vineyard… starting October first… we are going to begin with Monday through Saturday from 6 A.M to 6 P.M as Catholics we worship our savior Jesus Christ… and we believe the Eucharist to be his body blood soul and divinity… my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink… and if you are not in me and I am not in you then you do not have eternal life… we are going to do adoration from six to six Monday through Saturday… don’t tell me you don’t got the time… I’m looking for one hour a week… you got a family of five members… you don’t have to go but once a month… tell me you can’t find time to give one hour a week… if you spend more then one hour on your phone that’s disordered… before you leave church today I am begging you… to take that paper… find out what day… call the number of the person that’s going to be watching… and sign up for an hour… if you can’t make it then you call back and tell them I can’t make it get someone in my spot… but for the love of God and our country I only want you to pray for two things… two things only… everything else must be secondary… you pray for our country and you pray for our church… because if we don’t do it… we will not win this game…we are on the road to perdition and we’re well on our way to hell… and I’m telling you if you don’t suck it up and get in the game we ain’t going to win it… I’m telling you the day is coming… where we need to protect our vineyard… so that others will protect theirs… and pretty soon… you know what we got… thirteen colonies… who’ve declared their independence… my brothers and sisters in Christ starting October first… Monday through Saturday… 6 A.M to 6 P.M we’re going to stand in front of that host… we adore you O Christ and we praise you… because by your Holy name you have redeemed the world…
- My brothers and sisters in Christ I will leave you with this… Ben Franklin on the verge of tears… stood up… in front of fifty-six great men… as they were starting to wane as if possible maybe they shouldn’t sign… and he was abundantly clear… my brothers who have come… I leave you with this… we will either hang together… or you will surely hang separately… to my brothers and sisters in Christ… I assure you if we do not hang together we will hang separately… with a firm reliance on Divine providence… I promise you my life… my means… my fortune… and my sacred honor… we will adore him… starting October first and from then thereafter…
- Amen.
