TWENTY-EIGHTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

15 OCTOBER 2023

 

          Isaiah speaks of a mountain on which God will provide for all peoples a feast of rich food and choice wines, juicy, rich food and pure choice wines.  On this mountain, he will destroy the veil that veils all people.  He will destroy death forever and wipe away the tears of every face.

            Ironically, this prophecy is not fulfilled on the top of a glorious mountain filled with light and glory.  It is fulfilled on Mount Calvary, when Jesus is stripped of his clothes and crucified like a common criminal.  It is a very dark day.  Most of his closest disciples have abandoned him.  There seems to be no hope.  As he dies, Jesus laments that his Father has abandoned him.  The power of death and sin seems to have prevailed.  But, three days later, in the light of the resurrection, it becomes clear that Jesus has destroyed the power of death by entering into it.  His Father has not abandoned him.  Jesus has won the victory by his utter faithfulness to the will of the Father.  He promises that those who die with him will rise with him.

            Jesus tells this parable of the wedding feast to the chief priests and elders of the people in the temple during the last week before his crucifixion.  His parable states that everyone is invited to the kingdom of God, which he has been proclaiming and which he will seal with his death and resurrection.  But the invited guests make all kinds of excuses for not coming.  Then, the king sends out a second invitation, which is also ignored.  So, the king sends his servants to invite anyone whom they encounter in the streets to come to the wedding feast.

            Saint Matthew records this parable after the Romans destroyed Jerusalem and the temple in the year 70, some forty years after the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  The parable makes it clear that Jesus has invited everyone, even the chief priests and elders of the people, to be part of the kingdom of God and share the rich feast of his death and resurrection.   However, they have refused the invitation, along with all those who had heard the prophecy of Isaiah and continue to wait for it to be fulfilled.  Gentiles have taken their place and participate in the Eucharist, sharing fully in the Paschal Mystery; the Lord’s dying and rising.

            It is easy to hear this parable and judge those who rejected the invitation.  “They really blew it,” we might say.  But this response is missing the point of the parable, the living Word of God, spoken to us today.  The last thing we need these days is any kind of antisemitism.  We may have been joined to the Kingdom of God when we were baptized.  But there have been times when we received a call from the Lord to spend more time in prayer or give ourselves in humble service.  There are other times when we walked away from an opportunity to be a good neighbor to someone.  We make excuses or claim to be too busy.  That is why it is important for us to pay attention to the man who is thrown out in the darkness.  He does not violate some strict dress code.  By neglecting to wear the wedding garment, he does not engage in the work of the kingdom.  When we were baptized, we were clothed with a white garment.  We were told to wear that garment.  We wear our baptismal garment when we put our faith into action.

We gather today at the Eucharist, a feast of rich food and choice wines, juicy, rich food and pure choice wines.  The Mystery of the Lord’s dying and rising is made present here as we remember it.  The Lord feeds us to strengthen our resolve to put our faith into action.  At the end of time, the Lord will enter the world for final judgment, just as the king entered the wedding feast.  He will expect us to wear the wedding garment of repentance and participation in the life of the Church.  We thank God for inviting us to be part of the Kingdom.  We must choose to be intentional disciples and put on Christ as on the day of our baptism.

 

TWENTY-SEVENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

8 OCTOBER 2023

 

          In his last week before his crucifixion, Jesus is in the temple and tells this parable to the chief priests and elders of the people.  They are the religious leaders in charge of temple worship.  They are skeptical of his teaching authority.  They understand the context of this parable.  They know that Israel is often pictured as God’s vineyard.  They would pray the same psalm which we just prayed, thanking God for transplanting his vine from Egypt to the Promised Land.  They would know the song which Isaiah sang as our first reading:  that God planted his people on a fertile hillside and did all the work for the vineyard to produce good grapes.  They would agree with Isaiah about the reason for the wild grapes.  Their ancestors had been unfaithful to the Covenant mediated by Moses at Mount Sinai in the Exodus.  They would see the destruction of the Kingdom of Israel by the Assyrians as the result of their infidelity.

            But Jesus is not talking about their ancestors.  He is addressing this parable to them.  In the parable, he reminds them that God has sent prophets through the centuries to speak the truth to Israel, the tenants of the vineyard.  But their ancestors had ignored the true prophets and killed many of them.  Now, he speaks of God sending his own son to the vineyard to obtain its produce.  When they agree that the tenants should be put to a wretched death, Jesus quotes Psalm 118 and points out that he is the stone rejected by the builders.  He is the cornerstone.  Because they refuse to listen to him, the kingdom of God will be taken away from them and given to a people that will produce good fruit.

            We can easily make the same mistake that the chief priests and elders made.  We can say, “Wow, those religious leaders really blew it.  They were blind to the message of Jesus.  We are glad that the kingdom is given to us.”  But Jesus is addressing this parable to us.  This is the living Word of God.  We are the current tenants of the vineyard, of the Kingdom of God.  Jesus challenges us to see whether we are producing good fruit.

            This month of October is dedicated to the respect for human life.  It might provide some questions about how we are tending the Lord’s vineyard.  How are we helping mothers to make the decision to give life to their unborn children?  In what ways do we support families who are raising children with disabilities?  What are we doing to welcome the immigrant fleeing from oppression?  How do we make sure that elderly people are not alone in bearing their burdens?  How do we support the terminally ill and give them the courage to face death with faith?       

            These are just a few ways we can bear fruit in a culture which does not put much value on the sanctity of human life.  We live in a polarized society that is often hostile to faith and discourages genuine dialogue and respect for each other.  In the first century, the community of faith in Philippi faced similar challenges.  Saint Paul gives them and us good advice.  He says that worry and anxiety are wastes of time and energy.  They drain the hope of believers.  Instead, he tells us to engage in prayer and petition, giving thanks for all that has been given to us.  When we follow his advice, then we can see the Kingdom of God already present more firmly in our midst.  With eyes of faith, we can embrace what is true and honorable, what is just and pure, what is lovely and gracious. 

            Unlike the listeners of the parables of Isaiah and Jesus, we can listen to the Word of God proclaimed and change our ways.  The Lord has carefully planted faith, hope, and love in our midst.  He is looking for good fruit.  And our culture needs the fruit that we can provide.

 

TWENTY-SIXTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

1 OCTOBER 2023

 

          To understand today’s parable, it is important to put it into context.  Jesus has just entered the Temple in his last week before he will be executed at the order of the religious leaders. They demand to know on whose authority Jesus is teaching.  Instead of responding, Jesus asks them a question.  “Where was John’s baptism from?  Was it of heavenly or of human origin?”  They discussed this question among themselves and realized its implications.  If they say “of heavenly origin,” Jesus will want to know why they did not believe him.  If they say “Of human origin,” they will fear the crowds who regarded John as a prophet.” 

When they say that they do not know, Jesus answers their question with this parable.  Tax collectors and prostitutes did shameful things.  But they listened to John the Baptist and changed their ways.  With true repentance, they did the Father’s will and accepted the Baptist’s word that Jesus is the long-promised Messiah.  They are like the first son.  In refusing to obey his father, he acts very shamefully in an honor and shame society.  But he changes his mind, obeys his father’s will, and works in the vineyard.  That is exactly what the tax collectors and prostitutes do when they recognize the truth about Jesus Christ.

            The religious leaders act honorably in public.  They lead the worship in the Temple and offer sacrifice and retain their positions as respected leaders.  They are like the second son.  He honors the father with his words but refuses to work in the vineyard.  They refuse to listen to John the Baptist and do not follow the will of the Father in recognizing the truth about Jesus Christ.  Instead, they condemn him to a cruel, public, and horrible death.

            Jesus speaks this parable to each one of us.  Sometimes, we are like the first son.  Maybe we’ve had a bad day, or maybe we are busy, or maybe we are tired.  Someone has asked us to do a favor.  And we have turned them down.  Then, we might realize that we are not as busy as we had thought.  Or maybe we feel bad about a look of disappointment on the person’s face.  Or maybe we felt guilty.  Whatever is the case, we change our minds and hearts and did what we were asked to do.

            At other times, we are like the second son.  We faithfully come to Mass every Sunday and are recognized as practicing Catholics.  But we can easily give lip service to the demands Jesus makes of us in the Gospel.  When we are sent from Mass to act as members of the Body of Christ, we might refuse to work on forgiving injuries.  Or we make excuses for entering into humble service. On this Respect Life Sunday, we may speak eloquently about being pro-life.  But, we ignore the invitations in the bulletin and do nothing to be part of our parish respect life ministry.  Or, we simply detach ourselves from the Mystery we have just celebrated.  In failing to do the Father’s will, it is easy to look down on the “tax collectors and prostitutes” of our day – those people who do not do profess the values we extol with our lips.

            Whether we find ourselves in the position of the first or second son, the Lord Jesus calls us to repentance, to a complete change of heart.  That is what Saint Paul recommends to the Church at Philippi and to us.  We must assume the same humility that we see in Jesus Christ, who did not deem equality with God something to be grasped (as Adam and Eve had done).  Rather, he humbled himself, taking on the form of a slave, coming in human likeness, humbling himself to the point of death, even death on a cross.  If we can imitate his total self-giving and obedience to the Father, we can share in the exaltation bestowed on Jesus by the Father.  We can offer more than lip service to the Father’s will.  We can put words into action.

 

 

TWENTY-FIFTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

24 SEPTEMBER 20

 

          The Prophet Isaiah says that God’s ways are not our ways.  In the Gospels from the last few Sundays, Jesus has made that point clear in his teachings and parables.  He has been talking about God’s endless mercy and stated that we must imitate that mercy.  Today’s parable takes another step in reminding us that God’s ways are not our ways.

            He does not say why day laborers are still waiting to be hired throughout the day.  We automatically think that they are lazy and wanted to sleep in.  But, maybe they do not have the skills that caused the landowner to hire the workers at dawn.  Maybe they had some kind of disability.  When the landowner pays the laborers, who had worked only one hour the usual amount, the word goes up the line, raising the expectations that those who had been hired at dawn would receive more.  However, they grumble against the landowner and accuse him of being unfair.  The landowner calls one of them “friend,” and defends his incredible generosity to all, even to those who have worked in the vineyard all day or just one hour.

            This parable makes it clear that Jesus is not talking about an earthly kingdom.  The United Auto Workers would never have hired him to negotiate with the auto makers!  Jesus explains that we are all invited to share fully in the eternal joy of the Kingdom of Heaven, whether we have practiced our faith all our lives or come to faith at the very end.  In the Kingdom, God is more interested in generosity than in fairness, in mercy more than justice, and in the surprises of graces more than predictable rules of precedent.

            We who preach the Gospel in our parish on a regular basis are entrusted with the task of making sure that everyone is invited to be part of the Kingdom of Heaven.  We are not alone in an isolated parish.  We are supported by the Bishop and the wider Diocese.  Please turn your attention to this video and listen as Bishop Rhoades explains how our funds for the Annual Bishop’s Appeal are used.

 

TWENTY-FOURTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

17 SEPTEMBER 2023

 

          Last Sunday, Jesus gave instructions on handling conflict in the Church.  He told us to go to the one who has offended us and bring the matter with love and directness.  If the person responds, then the matter is solved.  If that does not work, we are to bring the matter before two or three other members of the Church, much like an intervention for an addicted love one.  If that does not work, we need to bring the matter to the Church, which has the power to loose and bind.  If that fails, we need to treat the offender like a Gentile or a tax collector.  In other words, if the offender chooses to leave the Church, we must continue to make sure that there is an openness for that person, just as Jesus pursued Gentiles and tax collectors in his day.

            Jesus had given Peter the authority to bind and loose.  He has obviously understood the process Jesus has outlined for reconciliation and forgiveness.  So, he asks Jesus the question:  “How often must I forgive?”  He knows that he must forgive many times.  So, he adds, “As many as seven times, the Biblical number indicting that we must forgive many times?”  But Jesus comes back with an incredible number:  “Not seven times, but seventy-seven times.”  In other words, Jesus insists that we never give up the process of forgiving.  We must imitate God’s endless cycle of forgiving over and over again.

            Then, he tells this parable.  The debtor owes the king 10,000 talents, a staggering amount.  A single talent was the unit of money equal to the wage-earning potential of fifteen days of daily labor.  It would have taken this man over 150,000 years to repay.  He orders him to be sold, along with his wife and children and all his property. Then the servant falls down, does him homage, and says, “Be patient with me, and I will pay you back in full.”  The king knows that he could never repay that debt.  Moved with compassion, he lets him go and forgives his debt.

            Then the servant seeks out a fellow servant who owes him a much smaller amount.  100 days’ worth of labor would repay it.  Ignoring the incredible mercy that he has just received, he chokes the other servant and demands repayment.  He makes the same statement:  “Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.”  But he refuses and puts him in jail.  The other servants are so shocked, that they report this to the king, who treats his servant as he had deserved.

            In telling this parable, Jesus demands that we never give up on forgiving.  He echoes the advice of Sirach, who points out that wrath and anger are hateful things when we hug them tight.  Jesus tells us that we must continue to forgive and not count the offenses against us.  We must do this, because Jesus himself has ransomed us from the cycle of sin that we can never repay.

            This process of extending to others what we have received in our redemption is very difficult.  Forgiving another who has hurt us profoundly does not mean that the offense is justified.  It means that we must move beyond the hurt and anger caused by the offense and let go of our wrath.  The process may take time.  I have worked to let go of a hurt inflicted on me quite a long time ago.  I have brought my inability to forgive to the Sacrament of Reconciliation and asked for the grace to forgive, as I have been forgiven.  Others have found that when the offense involves some kind of abuse, professional therapy is needed.

            Our human tendency is to write off the offending party from a relationship.  We cling to the saying, “Fool me once shame on you.  Shame me twice, shame on me.”  However, Jesus insists that the authentic life of the Christian community of faith is more important than counting what is right or wrong in a dispute.  We ask for the grace to forgive as we have been forgiven and move beyond our desire for revenge.

 

 

TWENTY-THIRD SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

10 SEPTEMBER 20

 

          In the passage just before today’s Gospel, Jesus tells the parable of the lost sheep.  He asks the question:  “If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them goes astray, will he not leave the ninety-nine in the hills and go in search of the stray?”  The answer, of course, is that no human shepherd would leave ninety-nine of his flock to search for one irresponsible sheep gone astray.  However, that is not God’s attitude.  Jesus continues with his parable:  “And if he finds it, amen, I say to you, he rejoices more over it than over the ninety-nine.  In just the same way, it is not the will of your heavenly Father that one of these little ones be lost.”

            Today, Jesus applies that same principle of the Father’s love to Church.  Jesus knows that conflict is an unavoidable part of life, even among disciples who share the community life of the church.  In dealing with conflict, we need to approach anyone who has strayed away with the same love and mercy as we have experienced from the Lord when we have strayed away. 

            The first step, Jesus says, is to approach the member who has sinned against you.  The Greek word for sin is hamartia, which is a term from archery indicating that the person has missed the mark.  The person who takes the first step in reconciliation is not the one who has missed the mark.  It is the one who has been offended.  The fault may be something trivial, which the offending person may not even be aware of.  Or it can be something more serious, like gossip or character assassination.  The offended person needs to lay open or uncover the offense in private.  If that person listens, then we have won him or her over.  Our mercy has carried the lost sheep back into a full relationship.

            If that does not work, Jesus urges us to take the next step.  Bring one or two others from the community and present the facts.  Many of us have experienced this next step when we bring a loved one with a serious addiction to other people who loves that person.  We know this as an intervention.  Together, we present the facts as clearly and lovingly as possible.  With witnesses who truly care about the person, there can be a negotiation.  Sometimes this process works.

            However, this process of negotiation is not always successful.  So, Jesus tells us to take the matter to the church.  A couple of weeks ago, we heard Jesus give to Simon Peter the ultimate authority to bind and or loose in the universal church.   In a parish, that authority rests with the pastor.  If this third step does not work, then Jesus tells us to treat the person like a
Gentile or a tax collector.  Even in those cases, we need to imitate the example of Jesus, who continued to love and reach out to Gentiles and tax collectors. 

            Dealing with conflict is never easy, whether that conflict is within a human family or the family of this parish.  The two years of the pandemic produced the most conflict I have ever had to deal with as a priest.  We were accused by some of being too strict, and by others of being too lenient.  People left the parish because they disagreed with the way we were handling directives from the county health department.  They may be gone, but we treat them with respect.

Avoiding all conflict makes matters worse.  As difficult as dealing with conflict may be, we need to take the steps outlined by Jesus.  It is much easier to complain about someone who has offended us.  It is much more difficult to deal with that person directly with love and truth.  That is why Jesus assures us that he is present wherever two or three are gathered in his name, even in the midst of our conflict.  His promise is especially comforting  as we face the divisions and polarizations in both our Church and in our society as a whole.  There are quite a few of us in this assembly who number more than two or three.  The Lord is in our midst, giving us the grace to deal with the conflicts that come our way.

 

TWENTY-SECOND SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

3 SEPTEMBER 2023

 

          Last Sunday, Simon Peter correctly identified the identity of Jesus of Nazareth:  “The Christ, the Son of the living God”.  Jesus affirmed his answer and stated that Simon Peter had not made a good guess.  He has received this revelation from the Father.  In response, Jesus named Simon the “Rock,” and promised that he would build his Church on the rock of Peter’s faith.  He gave to Peter the keys of the kingdom, signifying the authority over the Church.  He promised that the gates of the netherworld would not prevail against it.

            Today, Jesus begins to clarify his mission as the messiah.  Jesus knows that his disciples share the popular vision that the messiah would be a new David who would be victorious in battle and restore the ancient kingdom of Israel.  He tells them plainly that he would not be using force or violence to expel the Roman occupiers.  That cycle of force and violence would repeat itself when other major powers came to occupy their land.  Instead, he is committed to his Father’s plan of salvation a plan of forgiveness and sacrifice and mercy and love.  As a result, he will go to Jerusalem and suffer greatly from the religious leaders of the people.  He will be killed on a cruel Roman cross.  But in three days, he will be raised.

            Peter takes him aside and rebukes him.  He cannot imagine that these horrible things could happen to a promised messiah, especially to the one whom Peter has loved.  He tells him that no such thing could happen to him.  Jesus is very blunt with him:  “Get behind me, Satan.”  The Rock foundation of the Church has become a stumbling block.  Satan had tempted Jesus in the desert with the same argument.  Satan wanted to convince him that he could have all the comforts, all the power, and all the authority without the scandal of the cross.  It is the same temptation.  Only, there is a difference.  In the desert, Jesus had commanded Satan, “Get away with you.”  To Peter, he commands, “Get behind me.”  In other words, he has resisted Peter’s temptation, because Peter has been speaking from a human perspective.  Despite this obstacle, Jesus wants Peter to continue to get behind him and follow him to learn the truth.

            Then Jesus turns to the rest of his disciples and tells them that they will have to follow the same path.  They will have to deny themselves.  In other words, they must love themselves less and give higher priority to others.  They will have to take up their own crosses, as he will do.  They will follow after him through their crosses and eventual resurrection with him.

            This is a very challenging message, not only for those original disciples, but also for us.  Saint Paul tells us that we cannot conform ourselves to this age.  Instead of carefully planning the best steps and avenues for our success and wealth, we must lose ourselves for the sake of others and trust that the Lord knows what he is doing in our lives.  Instead of doing everything possible to avoid pain or suffering, we need to embrace the crosses that cause us humiliation and pain.  Instead of choosing a political party or a particular ideology that might seem to save us, we need to recommit ourselves to being disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ.

            When we make these choices, we might find ourselves in doubt and self-pity.  That is what happens when we endure ridicule and hostility from those who reject God.  That is what happened to the Prophet Jeremiah.  God had commissioned him to speak the truth to his people.  He had to tell the people that their infidelity to the Covenant would bring them to ruin.  They hated him for telling the truth.  But in spite of all of that hatred, he could not refrain from saying the trust.  Through the power of the Holy Spirit, the same is true for us.