Homily for the Week of October 2, 2011

RESPECT LIFE SUNDAY, 2011

Is 5:1-7/ Phil 4:6-9/ Mt 21:33-43

Jesus had a way of getting peoples attention. He spoke about things in which people were vitally interested. Today it is about a vineyard that was no longer producing. This weekend known as Pro-Life weekend throughout the United States, we remind ourselves of the dignity of all life. If Jesus were living in our country today he would probably talk about the wars in parts of our world; he would talk about unemployment and taxes and the increase of violence in all parts of our society. He would talk about the billionaire abortion industry. He would talk about the ageing mother whose children have forgotten her; about the single mother abandoned by the father of their child. He would talk about the littlest, the weakest and the most vulnerable among us. All of these and all of us are part of his vineyard.

Sometimes our country seems like a vineyard which has gone to seed. It is much like the Roman Empire 2000 years ago when Jesus lived, and Herod had all the new born babies killed thinking that the baby of Mary and Joseph might be one of them. Our country was founded on the belief that God has granted every American an inalienable right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Yet the availability of abortion on demand, our lack of concern for the elderly and those most vulnerable, the billion dollar pornographic industry, seem to be signs of a nation gone astray. Such was the condition of Jerusalem in the time of the prophet Isaiah, when God asks them what he has done to deserve this sad state of affairs. He threatens to let the thorns and the briars take over this wild vineyard.

In today's Gospel Jesus tells the story of the landowner who planted a vineyard, put a hedge around it, dug a wine press in it, and built a tower. Then he leased it to tenants and went on a journey. Of course, the tenants neglect the vineyard, but worse, when the landlord sends his son to inspect the vineyard, the tenants kill him. What will the owner of the vineyard do to those tenants when he comes? Jesus asks his disciples. It does not take a Bible scholar to figure out that they will be punished for their mismanagement of the vineyard.

In his letter to the Philippians today, Saint Paul gives us good counsel on how to promote the Gospel of Life. He advises thatwhatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

More and more protection of life issues have been advertised as a private choice. A choice that has no connection with what is right. Some of our most challenging moral decisions come at the beginning of life, or in the final months and even hours of life. Advances in medical science have made it possible to extend life, even those with incurable illnesses. How we deal with persons in the beginning of life or in the last stages of life, says a great deal about the kind of society we live in and the kind of persons we are. In a civilized society the law exists to protect life. When it also begins to make legal the taking of life, then we can ask what lies ahead for our lives in such a society. We can begin to ask how do we relate to one another humanly and spiritually, especially towards those that have the least power to defend themselves; the very young and the very sick.

We must continue to witness by deed to linking caring for life and defending life. We have usually done well in caring for life as is evident by the many works of charity done by Catholics. I commend those who have supported single mothers, those who work in health care facilities and programs that care for the dying and give them hope in the face of a long, painful dying process, those who volunteer in soup kitchens, those who bring food for our Food Shelf. But as people of faith, regardless of the circumstances, we must see death as a friend, not an enemy; and the experience of death is going from one life to another life.

The truth is, that each life is of infinite value. Protecting and promoting life, caring for it and defending it, has no simple or easy solutions. The story told by Jesus today is a teaching about the providence of God. The landowner has a purpose for the land, and having put everything in place for the desired result, he entrusts the project to others, giving them an interest in its success. But the tenants snub the attempts of the landowner to reclaim the project. They even go so far as to murder the landowner's own son. Even then, the landowner is not controlling but seeking to influence by good will, persuasion, enticement. When this fails, he intervenes decisively, handing over the vineyard to other tenants.

The story suggests that the solution to any Christian dilemma is already present in the problem, but the solution has either been disregarded or overlooked. As Catholics we must have hope about life.

We believe that all will be well, not because it seems to be well, or because we need to believe it will be well, but because we know and trust there is a God that will make it well. In adversity, in temptation, in illness, and even in death, we know that the cornerstone of life is before us in the presence of Jesus Christ. We are taught by the words and life of Jesus that true concern for others leads us to sharing another person's pain; it does not kill the person whose suffering we cannot bear.