Fr. Leo's Benevolent Blog!

I’m fascinated by science and space exploration.

       Thus I took great interest that in preparation for the colonization of the Moon and the eventual mission to Mars, NASA and Space X had recently put several cows into orbit…It was the herd shot round the world. 

       Don’t laugh, the steaks have never been higher!  

But it was not well done. They burned up on reentry.  It was udder disaster. 

       (I’m going to get some searing comments about that one.) 

Anyhoo, I like a good steak.  Even more I enjoy having a good steak or any good meal with the friends in my bubble around a nice table. The parish house is very blessed to have a nice set of china donated by Helen and an equally nice set of silver. 

       Incidentally, as a COVID survival technique.  I encourage you to break out the good China and crystal at least once a week, maybe for Sunday dinner and cook up an outrageously elaborate meal and share it with those in your bubble.

       There are lot of reasons for doing this. 

       1.  It’s fun.

       2.  It brings elegance and class into an increasingly drab world.

       3.  It’s a good way to give thanks to God for his generosity.

In a way, that’s a lot of what our Lord is getting at today in the Gospel with the parable of the Wedding Banquet.

First, let’s look at the first reading.

       What’s the lesson here?

              THE LORD WILL PROVIDE…IN ABUNDANCE!

Listen to the language

       On this mountain the LORD of hosts

              will provide for all peoples

              a feast of rich food and choice wines,

              juicy, rich food and pure, choice wines.   

 Then he goes on to say that the Lord will establish peace among peoples, and destroy even death itself

       What Isaiah is describing this the “messianic age” when the world and everyone in it will reconciled to God and live in harmony in accord with God’s plan. In a word, everything will be as it is intended to be. 

The 23^rd psalm echoes this sense of harmony and abundance.

       “He spread the table before me in the sight of my foes.

He anoints my head with oil – my cup overflows. ”

Paul also speaks to the abundance of God’s generosity  In this case, he downplays the role of the material in this world. For him, it just didn’t matter,

       I have learned the secret of being well fed and of going hungry,

              of living in abundance and of being in need.

But he is very clear that God is not stingy, especially when it comes to bestowing his grace and spirituals gifts on his beloved (that’s us). 

       My God will fully supply whatever you need,

              in accord with his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.

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So, now that we understand that God does not just give us what we need, but far more than what we need, especially when it comes to the grace and power we need to live the life to which we have been called, let’s dive into the parable.

Like all parables, it lends itself to multiple levels of interpretation. But the context of this one is pretty clear. Like last week, it is addressed to the chief priests and the elders.  In short, those who have been entrusted with the spiritual heritage of God’s people. 

With this in mind, the intent of the parable is clear. Jesus is chewing them out for being poor stewards of their heritage

The King who throws the banquet is the Lord God.

       Those first invited are the religious leaders.

The wedding feast is the Kingdom of God and the very messianic age described by Isaiah in the first reading.

A word about wedding feasts in ancient Palestine.

       They were outrageously lavish affairs.

       Remember there were four parts to the wedding ritual.

              The contract,

              the betrothal,

              the transfer of the bride to the household of the groom,

              and the wedding banquet. 

These wedding banquets went on for days.

       It is surmised that the wedding at Cana had been going on for three days before they ran out of wine. Imagine that.

You can imagine how elaborate a royal wedding feast could be. That is the image that Jesus wanted in people’s minds when he was talking about the heavenly banquet.

The King sends out the invitation.

       The messengers or the Old Testament prophets.

Surprisingly, the invited guests don’t come. 

       And we know from other places in the sacred text that many prophets were rejected, and some, like Jeremiah, were actually killed.

       Here, he is scolding the religious leaders of his day for doing the exact same thing as their forebears. 

So, echoing last week’s words: “tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the Kingdom before you,”

       the parable continues with the invitation to whomever they can find. 

       It’s sort of a messianic “come as you are party.” 

And that’s pretty much what we try to do as well as the Church. The call to discipleship is universal. 

       It’s not about being worthy, it’s about being called.

       The Church is a hospital for sinners, not a rest home for saints.

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But now we get to the troubling part of the parable. The casting out of the fellow without the wedding garment.  

It’s very intriguing because it seems so harsh What’s Jesus trying to say here?

Jesus knew the human condition better than just about anybody.  And he knew his disciples were not immune from the same tendency.

       They can see what he is doing, putting the religious leaders in their place. I could imagine Jesus disciples getting pretty smug as they listened to the parable about the feast.

       So, the second part of the parable is for them

              and for us.

In a word…don’t get smug!  Don’t get complacent just because you’ve been invited to the feast.

So what’s the deal with the wedding garment?

       Well, apparently in those days, especially at royal functions, as a courtesy to elevate the dignity of the guests and to make sure the decorum of the gathering was maintained, the host would give to each guest a garment to be worn.

       It was a gesture of hospitality. The host wanted to you to look good for the occasion, and so he gave you the means to do so.

This would have been the case at the wedding feast described in the parable.

       The implication here, is that this particular fellow was given the wedding garment when he arrived, but had removed it at some point, thus insulting the king. 

       The implications for us are profound. 

       For us, the wedding garment is the white garment placed on us at our baptism. Very much like the one (the server), Deacon Mick, and I am wearing now. 

       We are wearing them, of course, on your behalf.  But if you wanted to, I suppose you could wear one every time you came into the church. Wouldn’t that be something to see? 

      
We are each given on of these at our baptism, but like this fellow who removed his wedding garment, when we sin or when we even fail to identify ourselves as disciples of Jesus by our actions or inactions, in effect we remove the baptismal garment given to us by the King of Kings and Lord of Lords when he invited us to this Eucharistic feast. 

       Think about your physical baptismal garment.

       Where is it? What does it look like now?

Now thing about your spiritual baptismal garment, the one you wear on the inside, next to your heart and soul.  

Is it worn or stained?  Is it moth-eaten or musty for lack of use?  Does it need a good mending or washing in the sacrament of reconciliation to make it presentable at feast?  

       I could go on. But my point is clear.

In the abundance of God’s love and mercy, we have each been invited to the feast.

       Have we been good stewards of this great gift of faith? 

       Have we cherished our baptism in and worn the our baptismal garment in gratitude and steadfast faith?

       If so, then as Paul says, we can do all things in him who strengthens us.

       If not, then it’s time to get to the confessional.

Let me close by reminding us all of the words that were said to us at our baptism when we were clothed in white garment symbolizing that our sins are always washed clean in the blood of the Lamb.

My dear friends in Christ in St. Patrick’s Parish (and beyond),

you have become a new creation,

and have clothed yourself in Christ.

See in this white garment the outward sign of your Christian dignity.

With your family and friends to help you by word and example,

bring that dignity unstained

into the everlasting life of heaven. All: Amen     

Once again, Deacon Mick has given an excellent homilly – this time on Respect Life Sunday. His text is below. – LAW

The parable of the vineyard, to a certain degree
sums up the story of redemption.
The leaders of Israel were given care of the vineyard but
they didn’t produce for the Lord.
They rejected and killed the Son
who came to help, assist and guide them
in producing a yield for the Lord.
Finally, the vineyard
was then given to new stewards and keepers.
These new stewards, these new keepers,
these new managers of the vineyard in todays world
are you and me.

The vineyard is our world, our society.
It is rich in abundant blessings.
So—what are we doing with the vineyard?
How are we caring for it?
You see, within this vineyard is the most precious gift of all,
the gift of human life.

Do we reverence life?
Of course, we reverence life when we see a beautiful baby,
a young married couple,
a person at the height of his or her powers.
If something should ever happen to such individuals,
all the medical resources of this society
would be gathered and mobilized to help save a life.

The real challenge
we bring to our vineyard, our country
is to ask not
whether we reverence life in the beautiful,
the healthy, the talented
but whether we care for all human life.

Now, some people say the Catholic Church is preoccupied with abortion, with protecting the unborn.
Once a baby is born, they say,
the Catholic Church disappears.
This is absolutely false!
If there is any institution on earth that
for the twenty centuries of its existence
has looked after the poor, the sick,
the orphans, the hungry, the uneducated,
those afflicted with cancer, aids, Covid-19,
the homeless, addicts,
refugees and immigrants (even when unpopular),
it’s the Catholic Church.

This massive commitment by the Catholic Church
to the works of mercy
is true not only in the United States but around the world.
Today, however,
the Church focuses especially on the unborn because
that is where a major threat resides today.

To disregard life at its most vulnerable,
when you can’t see it, can’t tickle it,
can’t touch it, can’t look into its eyes
is the beginning of the dehumanizing
and trivializing of all human life,
the start of the slippery slope
to the disregard for all human life
that we see escalating today.

That is why the Church today is the voice of the unborn,
as she was for the lepers,
the disabled, and the orphan in the past.
The wider issue, of course,
is not only what is happening to the unborn
but what is happening to us.

There are groups around that
take care of the environment
because the environment can’t take care of itself.
There are groups of people dedicated
to the taking care of wildlife,
following the mandate of Genesis,
because wildlife in today’s world can’t protect itself.

So what about the care of human life,
especially unborn life?
These human beings cannot protect themselves either.

God gave us a beautiful world
in which we can come to grow
in His image and to know Him.
The crown of this vineyard is human life.

If this portion of the vineyard, human life, is ravaged,
it won’t be from outer space,
it will be from neglect here on earth.
It won’t be from some outside invasion
but from within,
as human life is wasted and destroyed by our action or inaction.

My friends, choose some dimension of human life,
the elderly, the disabled, or especially today,
the unborn and make that your area of special care,
your way of serving the Lord and caring for the vineyard.

The month of October and specifically this Sunday
has been designated
Respect Life Month
by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

It’s a time for us to evaluate
how well we are doing in the vineyard
to respect life of —
all ages, races, colors, and creeds from conception to natural death.
To respect the precious gift of life
especially for those who are unable to protect themselves
or speak for themselves.

God has given us a vineyard,
the only one like it, as far as we know, in the universe
blessed with the miracle of human life.
The Lord has sent his Son to help us
through the power of the Holy Spirit.

The Lord has truly given us a beautiful country,
this vineyard called the United States.
Whether it’s a place where
all human life has a chance to grow and thrive
is up to us — up to you and me.
Whether the future holds a respect for human life
is not decided by the stars,
it will be decided by ourselves.

We have been given a job to do by the Lord.
None of us can do everything.
We all can do something
to restore respect for human life
In our vineyard —- in our time of stewardship.

Or as we heard in today’s gospel——-

“Therefore, I say to you, the Kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that will produce its fruit”

Last week I talked about how every sin we have ever committed or ever will commit has already been forgiven by God. Our response to that grace is to place ourselves at the foot of the Cross in the Sacrament of Reconciliation (Confession). This week sort of follows up on that with the parable of the generous vintner. 

       It was a common thing in the ancient world (and even the modern world in some places, like Home Depot) that day laborers would gather in central square and those landowners and contractors who needed workers would go there to hire them for the day. The usual daily wage was a silver coin worth ten donkeys called a denarius. (Hence the name, for you Latin scholars out there.) A typical workday was from dawn to dusk.

       Given the brief hiring process, the owner usually had to keep an eye on the workers so that they didn’t slack off or steal his stuff. The odd thing about the story is that he keeps going there at different hours of the day. This should be the first hint to the listener that my thoughts are not your thoughts/nor are your ways my ways, says the LORD. (Is 55:7)

       This is an important thing for us to keep in mind, especially in a parish like this. Alaska is one of those places where longevity brings credibility and status.  People will introduce themselves to you and immediately tell you how long they have been in the state, in the parish, in the neighborhood, etc.  There is a temptation to think of oneself as a bit more important or deserving simply because one has been here more than one winter.

       At the same time, we Alaskans and St. Patrick’s folks are pretty darn good at welcoming the newcomer. We love our state, our town, our neighborhood, and our parish. We want other people to love it too. So we bring cookies to new neighbors, help folks out with furniture, get them connected to things going on in the local scene that might interest them. In many ways we do this better than in other places. Probably because most of us came here from somewhere else too.

       This is the virtue that Jesus is talking about in the parable. In this sense, the denarius represents our relationship with God and each other. What matters is that at some point we have been invited into the vineyard. When we get there is meaningless. 

       This is because the Kingdom of God is about relationships. Sometimes you will hear me talk about “Our parish family”. This is very intentional. Think about your own immediate family, such as it is?  Is the last child any less a part of the family than the first child, simply because they arrived on the scene later?  No.  In the same way, none of us is less a member of the parish, less a member of the Church, less a member of the Kingdom because we got here later than someone else.

       Let us strive then to welcome others into this little part of the vineyard we call St. Patrick’s Parish, and to invite as many as we can into this gathering of holy goofballs we call the St. Patrick Parish family.