Have we buried our God-given talents in the ground or have we used them to make a difference in the lives of others?

Today’s scripture readings prepare us for the end of the year and challenge us to understand our life in terms of its ultimate purpose.  On this the second last Sunday of the liturgical year, our prayer centers around the accountability the Lord will ultimately ask of each of us.  In terms of the Gospel parable of the various talents given to the three servants, we too have been generous recipients of blessings and talents from our loving God.  Have we buried our talents in the ground or have we used them to make a difference in the lives of others?

The second Scripture reading from St Paul tells us the Day of the Lord is coming like a thief in the night.  We know not the day or the hour.  But what really matters on the Day of the Lord is not weather is know the day or the hour but what we are doing with the graces and talents that have been given to us.

In today’s Gospel, the master went away for a while after entrusting his servants with various talents.

For us as well, Jesus appears to have gone away for a while after he ascended into heaven.  He does not leave us orphans.  We have been blessed with talents and blessings.  Our prayerful question is one of accountability.  What are we doing with the talents God has given us?

For me, I was baptized at Our Lady of Good Counsel Church when I was just three weeks old.  At age 14,  I entered St. Andrew's Seminary and began my 12 year path in the seminary that led to my ordination to the priesthood on June 1, 1968.  Bishop Fulton Sheen ordained me a priest.  

As important to me as the day of my ordination was, a far greater blessing for me was the day of my Baptism.  I received the life of Christ for the first time.  I was welcomed into the family of the Church.  I became God’s beloved son.  I was missioned to share the love of God that was given to me.

For many of you who have celebrated the Sacrament of Marriage and the blessings you enjoy as a husband or wife, and as a dad or a mom, yet it was on the day of your baptism that you received your most significant talent – the life of Christ Jesus that is within you.

The question for all of us is have we buried the love of God within us or is the mystery of God’s love that is within us the defining talent of who we are as a disciple of Jesus?

As we fast forward to the present moment in our lives, many years may have passed since the day of your baptism.  What kind of accountability will we give back to Jesus on the coming of the Day of the Lord for us?

Have we recognized and claimed and valued our God-given giftedness?  Do we live our lives knowing we are God’s beloved sons, God’s beloved daughters?  Is the source of our confidence and self-esteem flow from the reality that we have within ourselves the wellspring of eternal life?  God goes with us 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Yes, we all live busy lives.  We are consumed by so much stuff to do; we all have our own set of fears and anxieties; we have trouble balancing the priorities of our lives.  The challenge for all of us to place God first in our lives.  It’s too easy to bury our baptismal talent in the midst of a life that is filled with activity from one moment to the next.

This past week on Thursday I was at St. Mary’s Seminary in Baltimore as one of our seminarians, Jorge Ramirez, was receiving the rite of candidacy for the clerical state – an important step on his way to priesthood.  It made for a bit of a hectic schedule but the challenge for me and all of us is to keep a center to our lives in the midst of life’s busyness -- that center is found in the mystery of God’s love that is within us.  May all of us keep our inner compass of leading God-centered lives

I must say that I am at the stage in the life cycle that I really have to work at it to stay in reasonably good physical shape.  It doesn't just happen naturally anymore.  So, I try to stay committed to regular exercise and watch my diet.

So too, in the spiritual life, we need to remain committed to using the talents and the blessings we have been given.  It just doesn't happen naturally.  The Gospel message speaks of accountability.

So, we ask ourselves have we buried in the ground any of our God-given talents – perhaps out of fear that something might go wrong.  So we do nothing.  This is the story of the servant in the Gospel who did nothing with the talent given to him?  In what ways have we not gone out of our comfort zone to reach out in the service of others?

Where have we doubled the investment that God has made in us in the blessings we have received?  We can rightly say that being here at Mass is our beautiful way of giving thanks to the Lord our God for the blessings of life?

But in all honesty, this one hour a week is only the beginning of what the Lord asks of us.  Love is the first requirement of ourselves as disciples of Jesus?  For example in our parish life, we have developed six leadership teams in the various areas of ministry.  We would most welcome you using your talents on one of these leadership teams.

In the Gospel parable, we are told that we cannot just sit back and wait.  We are called to give and to share the talents that have been given to us.  We are called to serve not only in the life of the Church, but in our community.  May we continue to develop outreach initiatives that serve our wider community.

The grace we ask for this weekend to for us to make an investment in our Church, an investment in the service of others, and, most of all, may we make an investment in God -- the God who has loved us into life.

Do you not know that you are the temple and the spirit of Christ Jesus dwells within you?

I was baptized at Our Lady of Good Counsel Church on Brooks Ave in Rochester in April of 1942.  Seven years later I made my First Communion at Our Lady of Good Counsel, and a few years after that I was confirmed at this Church.  Then on June 2, 1968, I celebrated my first Mass as a priest – of course, at Our Lady of Good Counsel Church.  This was my spiritual home as it was the spiritual home of my family and my parish family who supported me on my journey to the priesthood and, even more importantly, witnessed to me how to be a disciple of the Lord Jesus.

The church of Our Lady of Good Counsel was not memorable as an architectural masterpiece.  The building still stands but it is no longer a Catholic church.  This Church is very memorable to me not because of its brick and mortar but because it was the spiritual home of our family.

In 2010 we celebrated the 150^th anniversary of St. Joseph’s Church.  Our parish Church is our spiritual home and it has been for many, many families over the last 154 years.  We have a great history.  The most important thing we have done as a parish community over the last 154 years is that Sunday after Sunday after Sunday we have gathered to give thanks to the Lord our God in the mystery of the Eucharist.  We have celebrated the presence of Christ among us.  We have been fed and nourished at the table of the Lord with Jesus’ Body and Blood.  

We are proud of the bricks and mortar of our Church building, the beautiful stained glass windows, the baptismal font where we receive the life of Christ Jesus for the first time, and our altar which is at the center of our life in Christ.

However as beautiful as the architecture of our Church, it is only the building that houses the Church.  The Church is ourselves, the people of God, you and I  are the living temple of God’s presence among us.

Jesus did not live and die for this building, as beautiful as it is.  Jesus lived and died out of love for us who are made in his own image and likeness.  It is we, each and every one of us,  we who are messy, sinful, a bit off-centered at times, who are the beloved of God.

St Paul in the second scripture reading proclaims:  “You are God’s building… Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? The temple of God, which you are, is holy.

As I now look back at my first spiritual home at Our Lady of Good Counsel -- by the way, I am so grateful that the example and the intercession of Mary has always been a most important part of my spiritual journey, but as I look back at my first spiritual home, I now recognize more fully that the building is not what was most important.  In fact, the building is no longer part of my life.  But Good Counsel, that is the people who loved and supported me and who I loved were my spiritual home.

 

I see more clearly that 72 years later here at St Joseph’s Church in Penfield that my spiritual home has not changed.  Our spiritual home is all of us who are brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus and who pray together to God who is the Father of us all.

My spiritual home has been has been and will always be being a member of the community of the baptized, the disciples of the Lord Jesus who live in gratitude for the ways our life has been blessed and who seek to share the love we have been given by our merciful and loving God who is the Father of us all.

All of this is a long introduction to the feast we celebrate today – the dedication of the Lateran Basilica in Rome.  It is the cathedral of the bishop of Rome and mother church of Roman Catholicism.  I have had the opportunity several times to pray at this magnificent Basilica of St John Lateran.  My nephew Jason studied at the Lateran Seminary on the campus of this great basilica.  You could fit many, many St Joseph Churches into the nave of this expansive basilica.

But the point of this feast is not to be edified by the magnificence of the architecture, but rather to reflect on how it is through Rome that we Catholics connect with all other Catholics throughout the   world.  Pope Francis at St Peter’s Basilica and the more ancient St John Lateran are the source of our unity in Christ Jesus.  Yes, Rome’s failures are our failures, and Rome’s glories are our glories.  We are family connected in Jesus Christ to one another.  It is Pope Francis seated at the Basilica of St John  Lateran who is our center of unity.  As Roman Catholics, we are one people despite our many native languages, our diverse races and ethnicities, and the different and diverse ways our lives are gifted.  We are united as one family

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This feast of the dedication of the Lateran Basilica is a feast that celebrates unity and the diversity of the whole people of God – the young and old, men and women, the ordained and the lay, the rich and the poor, black and white, urban, suburban and rural, Latino and all other cultures, gay and heterosexual, into one people of God.  We are all family.  We celebrate both our diversity, our uniqueness; and we celebrate that we are family, a people of God united in Christ Jesus with God as the Father of us all.

None of us want to be orphans.  We long for home.  We long for family.  We wish to be loved and to love.  This longing for family is deep-seated within all of us.  This is a spiritual longing that all of us share.

The other day I was talking to someone who recalled very vividly being alone in the emergency room of the hospital at night with no one by his side and facing an uncertain medical diagnosis.  By all accounts, this was a frightening situation to be in.  And yet, it was a profound moment of grace for him.  He had a deep awareness that he was not alone.  Jesus was by his side.  He didn’t have to be afraid.  As I listened to his story, I knew it was the real deal.  He was a man who knew Jesus.  He knew the invitation and the words of Jesus speaking to him:  “Make your home in me as I make mine in you.”   He was spiritually at home with Christ Jesus in the midst of an hospital emergency room.

He lived the words of St Paul who said:  “Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?”

On this feast of the Lateran Basilica in Rome, we pray for two graces:  that we know deep in our hearts that the Spirit of God dwells within us, and that we as Catholics of St Joseph’s parish value our own personality, but we value that we are connected to, in fact, we are brothers and sisters, to all other Catholics throughout the world.  We are family – the family of God.  Thanks be to God.

What happens when we die? ... In dying we are born into eternal life.

On Thursday, October 9, I visited my sister, Mary Elizabeth, who is 13 months older than myself, she had just entered home hospice and has been dealing with MS for 45 years.  It was clear she was soon going home to the Lord in a few days.  I anointed her, sharing with her the Sacrament of the Sick.  I kissed her and told her I loved her.  My sister, in her frail body and beautiful eyes, expressed her love for me.

The following Thursday, October 16, I celebrated her funeral liturgy entrusting my sister to the fullness of God’s eternal life.  To preside and preach at my sister’s funeral liturgy, while very difficult, is what my sister wanted and I certainly counted it a privilege to pray my sister into the fullness of God’s life.

 I prayed with her husband Don of 52 years, her children, Donna, Mary Ellen, and Mark, and her seven grandchildren, my brother, and my sisters that we would experience the peace that only God can give as we mourned my sister Sue (that was her nickname) in her going home to God.

My sister’s death confirmed in me once again that faith in Jesus does not make death easy, but makes it meaningful if viewed with the eyes of faith.  For those who believe, death is not the end but a beginning of a whole new kind of life.  It is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

Today we celebrate the Feast of All Souls.   We have celebrated Halloween, All Saints’ Day, and now we celebrate All Souls Day.  On Halloween our question was:  Who am I going to be on Halloween.  Yesterday on All Saint’s Day, we ask:  “How am I going to be a saint?  How am I going to live as a disciple of Jesus?  Today on All Souls’ Day, we wonder, “What happens when we die? Where do they go?”

While we naturally have questions about what happens when we die,  today’s feast is about the hope we have in God’s promise of eternal life.  How does my Catholic faith sustain me in my time of loss?  And how does your Catholic you  in your time of loss?

We gather on this Feast of All Souls to remember our loved ones who have gone home to God.  Yes, we need to face the reality of death.  Death of a loves leaves an emptiness.  We experience a loss that deeply touches our hearts and our spirits.  We also stand as a people who believe in life, the life of Jesus Christ.  With a faith that comes from the life of Jesus that is within us, we are a witness to hope and to love that are gifts of the Risen Lord to us.

In today’s first Scripture reading from the Book of Wisdom, “The souls of the just are in the hand of God, and no torment shall touch them.  They seemed, in the view of the foolish, to be dead; and their passing way was thought an affliction.  But they are in peace.  For if before men, indeed, they be punished, yet is their hope full of immortality; chastised a little, they shall be greatly blessed, because God tried them and found them worth of himself.”

Yes, it is our faith that says the souls of the just are in the hand of God, and they are at peace.  And for us, the psalmist says:  “The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want…Though I walk in the valley of darkness, I fear no evil, for you are with me.”

Yes, death can seem like the darkest of the dark valleys of life, but the word of the Lord is to fear no evil as the Lord is with us both in the green pastures as well as the dark valleys of life.

There is the wonderful story of a young boy who was watching a sculpturer working on a large block of marble.  The chips of marble were flying in whatever which direction.  The boy became bored after a while and went away.  A week later the boy returned and saw a magnificent lion that was formed out of the block of marble-- the work of the sculpturer.  The young boy then asked the artist:  How did you know the lion was inside the block of marble.

The genius of the sculpturer was that he could see the lion in his imagination and in the block of marble.  In a similar way, we, in faith, view the reality of death and see in it the possibility of new life.  Death is not a defeat.  With a spiritual sightedness, death is the birth into the fullness of eternal life.

As I looked at the frail body of my sister Sue, I knew this was not the end.  She was soon going to be home with God.  Indeed, this a greater miracle than the genius of the sculpturer who could fashion a beautiful lion out of a block of marble.

In the Gospel, Jesus said:  “Everything that the Father gives me will come to me, and I will not reject anyone who comes to me…  For this is the will of my Father,  that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him may have eternal life, and I shall raise him up on the last day.”

The God revealed by Jesus is not a vengeful God.  Rather, God the Father is a loving God.  He even sent His Son to live and die for us, showing us his infinite love. 

Jesus declares, far from rejection, resurrection and eternal life await anyone who comes to me.

As we gather to celebrate the Eucharist on this Feast of All Souls, we gather as a people who are reminded again and again that our future is full of hope. This is God’s promise to us.  We gather to rejoice in God’s infinite mercy and unconditional love.

 

In this Sacrament of the Eucharist, we gather to celebrate the paschal mystery – the mystery of the Lord’s dying and rising.  It is through the experience of the cross and death that Jesus enters into the fullness of His Risen Life.  So too for us who are the disciples of Jesus, the fullness of sharing in the Lord’s risen life is preceded by the experience of the cross and death.

It is in the Eucharist that we now experience the power of the crucified-risen Jesus.  He helps us realize that Christian death results in heavenly life.  Earthly sadness will be transformed into eternal joy.

The two great commandments are the guts of Catholic morality.

One of the Pharisees, a scholar of the law, tested Jesus by asking:  “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?”

The humoroous part of this Gospel was that this particular scholar of the law was giving Jesus a religion exam and using a trick question to catch Jesus in an embarrassing theological mistake.  As in last week’s Gospel in asking Jesus:  “Is it lawful to pay the census tax to Caesar or not,” the Pharisees seek to engage Jesus in debate and to win the argument.  Good luck with that.

Jesus responded:  “You shall love the Lord your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.  This is the greatest and first commandment.  The second is like it:  You shall love your neighbor as yourself.  The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.”

These two commandments are the currency of God’s kingdom, a currency completely different from last week’s Roman coin and completely  different from the self-centered transactions that too often characterize our contemporary way of life.

Jesus summarizes in the two great commandments  the two stone tablets on which God was said to have engraved the ten commandments.  The first tablet set out the three laws concerning the love of God – such as the command not to take His name in vain; the second tablet contained seven commands regarding love of neighbor, such as stealing and adultery.

Love is the hinge that binds the two tablets of the law.  For we can’t love God, whom we can’t see, if we don’t love our neighbor, whom we can see.

Jesus is not attempting to do away with the law and the prophets by reducing everything to the so-called new commandment.  This commandment becomes the lens through which everything is to be seen.  It is the interpretative key for understanding all of revelation.

The love command is the guts of Catholic morality.  Church practices and rules are there to help us avoid everything that is opposed to the “love command.”  Sin in our lives is when we do not live up to our baptismal commitment, to our discipleship witness of loving God and our neighbor.

If you ask yourself, what does God want of us, what is God’s priority for us?  God’s priority for us is that we love our neighbor as ourself.  For Jesus, our neighbor is anyone and everyone, unconditionally, no exceptions.  To say again, for Jesus, our neighbor is anyone and everyone, unconditionally, no exceptions.

Jesus teaches that we only love God as much as the neighbor we love the least.  Since Jesus teaches that we only love God as much as the neighbor we love the least, whom do I need to begin looking at differently this week if I hope  looking more – and acting more – like God?

We can recall the story of the Good Samaritan to remind us that our neighbor is everyone who is in need in any way.  This is a call to universal love.  It is not an invitation to try to figure out those whom we don’t have to love.  Our Church is still struggling with how to love those who don’t follow the rules, how to love who do not conform, how to love those who reject the teachings of our Church.  This is all part of learning how to love.

May the next rosary we pray be for those it is difficult for us to understand and for those it is difficult to love.

In a family or in a religious community or in a parish community, it is not easy to love those who reject the way of life of the family, of the religious community or of the parish.  Loving these people does not mean rejecting the way of life handed down by the Lord.  It does mean seeking ways to love those who reject it.   This is part of the ongoing challenge of following Jesus Christ.

Indeed, the love we are called to is far more than a simple affection or warm sentiment.  We must give ourselves totally to God – loving with our whole beings, with all our heart, soul and mind.  Our love for  our neighbor must express itself in concrete actions.

In the second Scripture reading, Paul speaks to the Thessalonians about being examples for others.  He see that the Thessalonians have followed the example of Paul and Jesus, and have themselves become examples for all other Christian communities.  We don’t do it for our own glory, but we also don’t want to put  this light under a basket since it may inspire others to do more.

A beautiful example in our parish life of showing love in concrete terms is our baby shower benefitting the Focus Pregnancy Help Center.  We need to help people choose life with concrete actions so that they choose life giving solutions rather than abortion.

Our generosity with the diocesan Catholic Ministries Appeal helps in a concrete way for the Church of Rochester to respond to the needs so many needy people.

When we see our neighbors as God sees them, we will treat them with the clarity of God’s compassion.  How can I see my neighbor as God sees them?

The law of love has compassion at its base.  Compassion means feeling or suffering with others.  Unless we have some sense of the needs of our neighbors, the sufferings of our neighbors, we cannot really be compassionate.  We can give because this is what we are told to do, but my hope for us today, is that we can be compassionate as God  is compassionate, love as God loves, and show that love by treating everyone as we would want to be treated were we in the same situation.

May we be transformed by God’s grace, who desires us to care for all among us who are in need, not just because particular laws govern us but because the love of God and love of neighbor burns in us.

In the divine economy, money is not the currency of God. Rather, love is the currency of God.

As we reflect in today’s Gospel on how the Pharisees tried to entrap in speech, we ask the simple question:  Who in their right mind starts a debate with Jesus and expects to win?  It isn’t going to work.  On second thought, maybe I try to debate with Jesus when I seek to adjust the demands of discipleship to suit my own way of life. Can anyone honestly say we do not debate with Jesus a bit when it comes to the Gospel demand to love even our enemy, to be willing to forgive seventy times seven, and when it comes to the words of Jesus:  “Go, sell what you and give to the poor, and then come and follow me.”

The Pharisees’ henchmen try to trap Jesus by entering that dangerous territory of mixing politics and religion and so they asked what they thought was a “gotcha”  tax question:  “Is it lawful to pay the census tax to Caesar or not?”    Answering this question usually is a no-win situation.  For example, do you know any candidate for political office this November whose campaign message is to raise taxes?

Jesus responds by asking them to show Him the coin used to pay the census tax.  Showing him the coin, Jesus then asked:  “Whose image is this and whose inscription.”   They responded:  “Caesar’s.”  Jesus then narrows his response to the need to pay the census tax.  “Repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar.” 

Then note carefully the second half of Jesus’ response:  “And to God what belongs to God.”  There is one crucial question for us to reflect upon that is not asked in the Gospel conversation.  If Caesar’s image is on the coin, where do we find God’s image?  For we are to give to God that which bears the image of God.  What do I owe to God?

We will find God’s image in all of creation, on each human person and each human work.  All of us are made in the image and likeness of God.

Speaking very personally, this past Thursday I celebrated the funeral liturgy for my sister Sue who was just 13 months older than myself.  My sister Sue courageously and lovingly lived with the illness of MS for 45 years.  Clearly she was made in the image and likeness of God, and the cross of her life – MS – was a very visible dimension of her discipleship of the Lord Jesus Christ.  For me, clearly the image of God was imprinted in who she was. 

The fact is there are many Sue’s in the world – people living with illness and struggles and deprived of many of life’s blessings we take for granted.  To the question, to what do I owe to God and to what do you owe to God.  My sister and anyone else who lives with some limitation bears the image of God’s love.  In the divine economy, money is not the most important currency.  The currency God expects of us is love and the sharing of our talents with all who bear the image of God in their hearts.

 Our parish theme for the next few weeks is to rediscover our Catholic Faith.  A key part of this rediscovery is to be mindful of the tradition of Catholic Social Teaching.  This is rooted in our deep belief that every single human being on planet earth is made in the image and likeness of God.  We are to have a profound reverence for the dignity of all human life – life in the womb of a mother-to-be and life after birth in all its stages.

A key role for us as Catholics in the midst of a chaotic and consumer-driven society is always to ask the question:  How are the poorest and most vulnerable among us being treated?  If, in good conscience, we cannot say that our society is doing all it can to feed the hungry and provide shelter to the homeless, then we have work to do!  I think it’s safe to say, we have a lot of work to do.  Our Holy Father, Pope Francis, is continually challenging us to be mindful of the poor.

Moreover, all of God’s creation bears the image of God.   Our care for our environment, our stewardship of the earth is giving back to God what belongs to God.

Even though none of us enjoy paying taxes, in the big picture, giving to Caesar what is Caesar’s is not the demanding component of today’s Gospel.

Where we are challenged is:  Giving to God what is God’s.

You may ask then:  Well what then doesn’t belong to God?  This is such a good question.  There is no aspect of our lives that God is not present.  There is no aspect of our life that God is not present, and there is no dimension of our life that does not belong to God.

It is important to note that the response of Jesus:  “Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God” can be taken out of context and be used to justify a “two-kingdom” theology, which divides life into two autonomous realms, the secular and religious.  While the separation of Church and State can be a very useful principle in our Bill of Rights as Americans, it is essential that we seek to be very aware of the spiritual dimension of all of life.  The truth of our lives is that there is no dimension of our lives in which God is not present.  This is not to say we are always aware of God’s presence, but may we seek to be more and more aware of the God dimension of all of life.

The image of God is found in all of life and in all of creation.  If we are to repay to God what belongs to God, we need to be mindful of the pastoral care and love we provide for each other in our parish community.  We are not a group of isolated individuals who come to worship on Sunday.  We are called to be a community of faith who love and support one another.  We are all made in the image of God.

But, as beautiful as this is, it is not enough.  The social outreach dimension of our parish life demands that we repay to God our commitment to God’s poor, to God’s anawim anywhere and everywhere. 

As stated in our Catechism:  God created everything for humanity, but humanity in turn was created to serve and love God and to offer all creation back to him.  To the question what do I own God, is a one hour commitment on Sundays enough?  The Sunday Eucharist is essential but it is only the beginning of what we owe back to God.  As long as the Lord loves and forgives and heals us from day to day, from moment to moment, we are to give back to God by loving and honoring all those who bear the image of God in their hearts, and by the way we reverence and serve all of creation that is God’s precious gift to us.

In what area of your life is Jesus not yet Lord?

My sister Sue went home to God. Alleluia, Alleluia.

This weekend I am participating in my annual retreat at the Linwood Spiritual Center in Rhinebeck, NY.  This beautiful retreat center is in the Hudson Valley with a magnificient view of the mighty Hudson.  It is an eight day silent Ignatian retreat with my retreat director being Fr Jack Repolgie, SJ.  I need this time to be still and to increase my awareness of our loving God's presence in my life.

My retreat experience was cut short by the sad news that my older sister Sue had gone home to God Sunday morning.  I immediately left the retreat to be with my brother-in-law Don and their three children, Donna, Mary Ellen, and Mark, and my brother John and my sisters Anne and Jean.

My sister Sue has been dealing with MS for over 40 years.  She has experienced the cross in her life.  She has always been a giving, loving person.  She and her husband Don have shared a beautiful love story of marriage for 52 years.  She is a mother and a grand mother.  Her children Donna, Mary Ellen, and Mark generously share their love for their mom and dad in ways that show their gratitude for the love that have been given to them.

I look forward to presiding at my sister's funeral liturgy this Thursday at 10:00 am at St Joseph's Church and to celebrate my sister's sharing in the fullness of God's eternal life.  I have celebrated the funeral liturgy for my mom and dad and my brother Bill and will now do for my sister Sue.  I will once again affirm the deep truth that death is not a defeat.  Death is not the end.  Death is a birth into the fullness of God's eternal life.


My retreat continues...in a different sort of way.

Our real treasure is not in what we possess but in what we give away.

Today’s Scripture readings use the imagery of a vineyard to describe God’s love for us.  In the first Scripture from the prophet Isaiah, the house of Israel is God’s vineyard.  In the Gospel parable the vineyard is the reign of God.  God goes to great length to prepare wondrous blessings for the vineyard.  But the tenants to whom the vineyard is entrusted got greedy and wanted everything for themselves.  The message is that God’s reign will be transferred to new tenants -- both Jews and Gentiles.  The Gospel states the God’s blessings will endure, even if bestowed on other people.

A key message to this Gospel parable is who are the tenant farmers with closed and greedy hearts?  Who are the people that the Kingdom of God will be taken away from and given to other people who will produce its fruit?

It’s easy to identify the tenant farmers as the chief priests and the elders of the people in the time of Jesus – the unfaithful Israelites?  But we also need to recognize ourselves in the Gospel parable.  In our prayer where are we in this Gospel parable?

How about the vineyard of our own lives?  Just as God cares for the vineyard in Isaiah, so God cares for the vineyard of our lives.  We are nurtured by God’s Word, fed at God’s table, helped by the commandment of love.  All we need do is let God tend us and bring us to produce good fruit.  All we need do is be faithful; God will take care of the rest.

My question for your reflection: What is the produce from your vineyard?  How do you give it back to God, the landowner?

The following are some questions for us to ponder as we reflect on the vineyard of our own hearts that God has blessed.

This is RESPECT LIFE SUNDAY.  In the words of Pope Francis, each of us is a masterpiece of God’s creation.  Do we stand for the dignity of all human life?  Do we clearly and unmistakably stand against abortion as the unjust taking of precious human life?  Do we stand for the dignity of human life before birth?  Do we stand for the preciousness of human life after birth as well -- in all its forms?

Today the Extraordinary Synod on the Family begins in the Vatican.  How do we as individuals and as a parish support family life?  Do we everything possible to encourage families to come together to worship at our Sunday Eucharist?  How can be even more family friendly?  In our faith formation programs, how do we encourage family prayer and family faith formation? How can we do it better than we do?  Is our parish known as a family friendly parish?

Bishop Matano has called to be financially generous in supporting the diocesan Catholic Ministry Appeal (the CMA).  Again, going back to the tenant farmers in the Gospel parable, are we greedy and want to reject our support of the vineyard of the kingdom of God or do we wish to give back to the God who has generously loved us?   How we use our financial resources is very much a spiritual question.  All we have been given; we have been given to share.

In today’s second Scripture reading, St Paul writes:  “Have no anxiety at all, but in everything by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God.

Ask for what we need, and ask with a thankful heart….Jesus insists that gratitude must be an accompaniment to our prayer, and that if we approach him with a grateful spirit, God's peace will keep our hearts and minds safe.

The diocesan theme for the CMA is taken from the spirituality of St. Paul.  We are to live life with an attitude of gratitude.  We are to give to the CMA with an attitude of gratitude.  We are to support  pro-life values from birth to death with an attitude of gratitude.  We are to prayerfully support the Vatican Synod on the Family with an attitude of gratitude.  Our family life is a precious, precious gift that has been given to us.  We gather at Eucharist so that we can give thanks to the Lord our God.

Our lives are a vineyard that God entrusts to us.   Each of our lives, each of our vineyards, is richly blessed.  The voice of God’s son calls out to us to share our talents, our riches, our giftedness with those around us and with those who have less.  We may we be conscious that like the tenant farmers in the Gospel we are tempted to be greedy and provide only for ourselves.  When we excuse ourselves from generous sharing and love of others, when we become more interested in security rather than a Gospel commitment to sharing, we fail to respond to the call of God in our lives.  The vineyard of our own heart is ripe for the harvest, and God calls out to each one of us:  “Come, share what you have and discover that the real treasure is not in what you possess but in what you are willing to give away.