Today’s
lectionary presents us with several readings about a vineyard. The psalmist declares that the vineyard of
the Lord is the house of Israel, that the Lord transplanted a vine of people
who were in bondage in Egypt, that he put this vine forth as far as the sea and
the river. The Gospel reading from
Matthew talks about a vineyard, about how the servants and messengers the
vineyard owner sent out to the tenants were either killed or treated with
hostility. Then we have Isaiah’s prophecy
about God’s vineyard, how the choice grapes that the Lord planted and tended
with love and care became wild grapes, how this foretold about Israel’s
upcoming destruction due to the failure of the people of Israel to do what God
expects of them.
Since today’s readings allude to God’s
creation and our response to God, and since the feast day of St Francis of
Assisi is coming up on October 4th, I thought it would be good to
reflect upon today’s readings in light of the spirituality of St Francis. Francis of Assisi is such a popular figure in
today’s world not only for his love of nature, but also for the brotherhood and
sisterhood he saw in all of creation, for the way he saw everything in our
world coming forth from the love of God, our creator.
As Isaiah tells the people of Israel
that they have not lived up to God’s hopes and expectations, I wonder how
we fare under such an appraisal. Look at
all of the gifts the world has to offer us, at the individual talents and gifts
each one of us has been given from God.
We can all ask ourselves if we are good stewards of these riches and
talents, if we as individuals and as a society use them according to God’s
desires for us, or if we squander these talents and resources in ways that are
against God’s will. We are indeed the
body of Christ gathered together as the Church, but in many ways Francis
thought of nature and all of creation as God’s body as well. Francis gloried in the beauty of God’s
creation that was all around us.
I have told you all many, many stories
about my missionary travels before I became a priest. I would travel all over
the rain forest jungles of Ecuador in a canoe, on foot, even sometimes on
horseback. Almost every weekend for the three
years I was a missionary in Ecuador, I would travel about 4 or 5 hours in a
canoe to a village called San Francisco – how appropriate that I am telling you
about this village on the day we are talking about the spirituality of Francis
of Assisi, after whom this village was named.
Even though I would take this journey every weekend, I never tired of
traveling through the vast rainforest jungle.
I was in absolute awe of its presence, of the trees and plants and
animals that made up such a fascinating ecosystem. Yet, when I saw how fast the lumber companies
were cutting down the many acres of trees there in the jungle without
replanting or caring about what they were destroying, it made me wonder if we
were really good stewards of God’s creation.
Many of the poor in Ecuador had very
little opportunities for education, or work, or to be able to follow their
dreams, so it made me appreciate even more all of the opportunities and
resources that we have here in the United States. Yet, just look at last week’s Mississippi
Catholic newspaper, how on the very front page there was an article in there by
Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York, the president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, urging us
priests to preach to our congregations about the effects of poverty and job
loss in the economic downturn that is affecting our country and most of the
rest of the world. We are still a very
rich nation, but there are many in our country who are suffering a great deal
and who are having great difficulty paying their bills and providing for their
families. Archbishop Dolan stated that
he did not want to make excuses or place blame for these problems, but rather
wants us all to take responsibility to help create jobs and overcome poverty,
to work together in trying to correct those structural elements in our society
that are creating and perpetuating such conditions.
And in the midst of this, we as the
Catholic Community here in Yazoo City are looking at ways in which we are
called to be stewards to our Church, to share our time, our talents, and our
treasures in order to support our faith community here in Yazoo City. I have been here almost a year now as your
pastor, and I am so happy to be here with all of you, to share in our
community’s rich faith traditions. I
think of how St Mary’s was established 160 years ago, how you and many of your
ancestors sacrificed so much over the years and gave so much in order for the
Church to prosper here. I think of how St Francis parish was started here in
Yazoo City by the SVD priests from Chicago and by the School Sisters of St
Francis from Milwaukee, how the school and the parish nurtured so many children
and youth and adults throughout the decades.
Our reality is a lot different today than it was when these two parishes
were established, but we bring our hopes and our dreams to the Lord for the
future of our faith community. We put
our faith and hope in God, but we also need to respond appropriately to the
Lord, to meet his hopes and expectations, just as Isaiah tells us in his
prophecy today. We want the Lord to be
able to say that we have truly followed him as disciples of Christ, that we
have lived up to the values of the Gospel through the midst of the reality of
our modern world.
Francis of Assisi saw all of creation
bound together by the Spirit of our Lord, seeing all of creation as a part of
the brotherhood and sisterhood we have in Christ, to see the fire and the wind
and the sun as our brothers, to see the moon and the water and the earth as our
sisters. May we see the holiness that is
present around us, the holiness and the spirit and the beauty of God that is in
all of creation. And let us discern the
stewardship and responsibility to which God is calling us as a part of this
message.
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