Go into the Vineyard

                                      

                                                              

 Deacon Tom writes ©

"Go into the Vineyard"

Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

Rachel and I had an exciting weekend (that’s why I am late in getting this out – Mea culpa!).  We were in Chicago with deacons from across the country that are sharing in Maryknoll’s mission work in various ways.  As we gathered, we reflected on the words of Pope Francis in his Apostolic Exhortation, “Evangelii Gaudium, the Joy of the Gospel”. Pope Francis writes “The Church which “goes forth” is a community of missionary disciples who take the first step, who are involved and supportive, who bear fruit and rejoice. An evangelizing community knows that the Lord has taken the initiative, He has loved us first (cf 1 Jn 4:19), and therefore we can move forward, boldly take the initiative, go out to others, seek those who have fallen away, stand at the crossroads and welcome the outcast!”  What a beautiful image for our Church. Pope Francis reminds us that Jesus gave us an image of how this community of disciples should be modeled when He washed the feet of His disciples. We are a community of disciples in service to others.

In our readings today, a father tells each of his two sons to “go work in the vineyard today.”  One says, “Yes” but does not go; the other says “No” but goes. Beyond the routine homily that is common for this reading, there is another fact. That is, both are sent into the field. Our faith, like the sons sent to work in the vineyard, has this notion of being “sent” and Pope Francis is making this point in Evangelii Gaudium. We are all active players in the work of spreading the Joy of the Gospel. There are no passive players, no benchwarmers. Spreading the gospel, being missionaries, and evangelizing – being joyful transmitters of the faith that we believe - is a requirement imposed upon us by our baptism.

Many Catholics resist this notion of being “missionaries” or of being “sent” to engage in “missionary activity.” That is primarily because so many of us have a limited understanding of the word “mission”.  We associate it with going to the far reaches of the earth to preach the faith. True, many have done this – vis-a-vie the Maryknoll Fathers over the past century. But in many ways their experience has led to a better understanding about the nature of mission work… You don’t have to leave you home… Any work that you do to “gossip the gospel” that is, to tell others how the gospel is alive and working in your life, is missionary work. Any effort we do to help a neighbor because of our willingness to be a “servant” as demonstrated by Christ, is missionary work. Any sacrifice we make for others because of our love of God is a sacrifice that makes us a “missionary”.

What we know about mission from the profound writings of recent popes is that the Church doesn’t have a mission; rather, the mission has a Church… So, when Jesus tells his disciples, “Go, make disciples of all nations”, that’s what we are to do… How are we to do that?  As a community of missionary disciples sent out by our Church to whom that mission has been entrusted.

I hope to continue reflecting on this challenging work of Pope Francis.  Please let me know your thoughts.

Enjoy the day and may God bless the work of your hands….

Deacon Tom

A Change of Mind

 Deacon Tom writes ©

"A Change of Mind"

Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

Most of us tend to dismiss the story we hear in today’s gospel. We don’t like its message; it rubs us the wrong way; it’s contrary to the way we were brought up and our sense of “fairness".  We rationalize that the person who puts in an 8-hour day should earn more than the person who shows up on the job an hour before quitting time. I confess that I would feel cheated if that happened to me. How about you?  Can you blame those who worked all day if they began to protest or for harboring a grudge against the landowner?

“God’s ways” are not “our ways” are they?  We know this in our heads. We know that God has a different way of seeing things. In today’s reading we see this element of justice from God’s viewpoint. We are a work-oriented society in America today. I say that grossly aware of the many unemployed and the chronic employment that we are experiencing. Work is essential to our economic survival and our personal identity. No work equals not only no money but also no identity. And once chronic unemployment sets in, one begins to suffer the degradation of the human spirit, which is a fully unjust condition.

Today we read about a landowner who continues to send workers into the field throughout the day. They work, and if you have ever worked on a harvest, you know they worked hard!  At the end of the day they must provide for their family. An hour’s wage isn’t going to provide adequately for the family. The landowner knows this… and so how does the landowner act?  With justice and compassion.  He pays the going daily wage to each and every worker regardless of the number of hours they spent under the sun.

Unjust? What if tomorrow you weren’t hired until 3 o’clock in the afternoon?  What if you were the recipient of this landowner generosity…. his sense of justice?  Would your attitude change if you were able to provide for your family in good times and lean times? 

Jesus teaches us in many ways that we have to rethink our attitudes in how we treat one another. God’s way is the best way to build and sustain a just society, one where everyone shares fairly in the work and rewards of labor. We see that intention and opportunity are as important as pure productivity in the kingdom for which Jesus laid the foundation. 

We see God in today’s scripture as one whose generosity is beyond our comprehension. We know from our knowledge of scripture that God is good to everyone, that “he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust (MT 5:45).”  This is an amazing thought! For Jesus constantly challenges us to imitate Him and see things the way that God sees them and to act accordingly… with justice, mercy, and compassion.

God Bless you.

Enjoy the day!

Deacon Tom`

The Triumph of the Cross

                                          

Deacon Tom writes ©

"The Triumph of the Cross"

Feast of the Exultation of the Cross, Year A

Syria, Iraq, Palestine, Somalia, and the Ukraine… are just a few of the places where violence rages on such an enormous scale. How are people who have seen and suffered such extreme suffering able to forgive those who have brought such pain and suffering into their lives?  How can man, women, and children whose memories are forever scarred by such violence able to put their lives back together and not follow the ancient paths of revenge and retaliation? Is it possible for such victims to forgive their oppressors in order to end the violence and not pass it on like a virus to future generations?  

The people of South Africa and Ireland seemed to have met with some success in ending the violence that destroys people and villages. In the case of South Africa ending apartheid, the legalized segregation of the population into black and white, was crucial in stopping the brutality. In the case of Ireland, years of economic domination gave way in the late 1980’s to a period of economic growth and stability that has been a significant factor helping build a bridge to a new error of peace and cooperation between former adversaries.

I don’t think we will ever understand the mystery of suffering, the suffering inherent in our humanity such as sickness and disease or the suffering that is the product of our human desires that causes and imposes suffering on others through war, poverty, physical / sexual / mental / substance abuse.  But I do think that we Christians have a unique way to view suffering, our own or the suffering of others… and that is through the prism of the Cross. If you look at Christ as the victim who represents all the victims who have ever suffered throughout time, before Him and after Him, then we can see in His death that there is no need for further victims. The message of the cross is this:  NO MORE VICTIMS.

This message has been slow to take root, but as fragile as that root may be, it is showing signs of life. For we could not experience the reconciliations that have happened in Ireland or in South Africa and in other places where former adversaries now live side by side, unless you have people living the message we hear today in our gospel, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son.” We are called to love others as God loves us. This is the only way we will have a future. If we are not able to get beyond the violence, the violence WILL consume us. For Christians, violence stops at the cross.

This is the real Triumph of the Cross: that we are learning how to forgive others as Jesus did. May God give us the courage, strength, and wisdom to be quick to forgive those who injure us.

Enjoy the day!

Deacon Tom   

Seeing How the World Turns©

Deacon Tom writes ©

   "Seeing How the World Turns"

Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

My daughter, Mary, has a globe of the world that is about 8 inches around. It sits on a small tripod and magically rotates somehow. I wasn’t able to see what powered it, although I look for some energy source. As I watched the world spinning there on its own, I noticed the continents as they passed by… then I began to see the countries…Egypt Spain, Chile, the USA, Australia, Indonesia, China, Russia. It was then that I began to think of all the people in those far away places…

I wonder what God sees when He looks down at the world. Does He see all of those man-made borders sketched out by that dark line on that fascinating globe I described above? Does He see us as Chileans, Jamaicans, Americans, Swiss, or Kenyans? No, I doubt that very much. From whatever vantage point God observes the earth, I believe all He sees is His children, and not as a group but individually. That is the mysterious, profound, unimaginable power of God and indeed, that is a wonder to behold.    

Once we grasp the spiritual reality that we are Children of God, we, like God, in whose very being we live and move and have our being, must see one another as our brothers and sisters and not as citizens of different nation states. We Catholics, especially, as Eucharistic people, must see the world as God sees the world and recognize that in Him we are one people, one Body of Christ.   

The question I ask myself today and ask you to consider is this: Is it possible to see the different peoples of the world as our brothers and sisters in Christ? Is it possible for us to “Love our neighbor” in the broadest sense of the word as Jesus taught us? When we look at or read what is happening in Syria, Iraq, the Sudan and the Ukraine can we honestly be faithful to Jesus’ command to love our enemies and to pray for those who persecute us? These are some of the most difficult of Jesus’ teachings and I don’t think there is any way we can follow them UNLESS...unless we are filled with the power of the Holy Spirit.

As summer is drawing to a close in these next several weeks, we will notice the beauty of nature around us begin to change. This provides us a chance to reflect on how we see the world around us and consider how God, the author of all that is, sees it. May He grant us the grace to see with eyes filled with a deep and profound love for all His Children.

Enjoy the day!
Deacon Tom