Vine Country (2011-10-02)

This is my homily for Sunday 2 October 2011. I am a Catholic chaplain in Teaneck at Fairleigh Dickinson University (FDU) campus and for the FDU Newman Catholic Association. We celebrate Catholic Mass - during Fall and Spring semester - every Sunday Mass (7:30 p.m.) at the Interfaith Chapel, 842 River Road, Teaneck, NJ.

● Isaiah 5:1-7 ● Psalm 80 ● Philippians 4:6-9 ● Matthew 21:33-43 ●
27th Sunday (year A)●

[__01-RL SUNDAY OCTOBER 2 INTRO]

On this Sunday (October 2, 2011) in Catholic parishes of the United States, we observe Respect Life Sunday, a time for explicit reflection on our call to guard life at all stages, lives of children in danger, the hungry, the homeless, lives of those entrusted to us.

Such guardianship could be more complex than the wine-making process in the vineyard described by our Lord and by Isaiah the prophet.

In either case – the guardianship of human life – and the guardianship of a vineyard – not everything which is technologically feasible is necessarily good for us, or good for the soil in which the vine and branches are.

Life, birth, death are complexities in which we participate as stewards are caretakers and caregivers, just as doctors, nurses, mothers, fathers take care of the lives entrusted to them. We need no special training to be such a caregiver.

We may invent technology … but we did not invent life. God invented it, and asks us to guard his creation, take care of his vineyard.

This includes – at times heroic sacrifice, heroic virtue – for others.

[PAUSE]

On Respect Life Sunday, we also recognize that many have suffered due to choices surrounding unborn children. We may need time to heal. Respect Life Sunday is a time for all of us to pray for reconciliation and resurrection. A ministry of the U.S. Catholic Church is also a program called Rachel’s Vineyard – Rachel’s Vineyard – which was started by a Catholic pscychologist, Dr. Theresa Burke, to help this healing process. Information is available online – Rachel’s Vineyard-dot-O-R-G.

[__02] The vineyard remains an image of life and of creation.
By our own efforts, we are trying – the best we can – to take care of God’s vineyard.

And, vineyards are everywhere.

[__03-FDU] Consider – that here on campus we are in a vineyard… a vineyard on the Hackensack River … called FDU.

A challenging part of college or graduate study is not only the individual work we need to do … but also, the group projects or team projects or lab work we may need to do with others.

That is, not only do I have to worry about my own performance but also those of a team member. My team might not be helping me. To *[__03.01]

[__03-SPRE] Imagine – young people, boys and girls -- that your mother or father have asked you to help around the house …

And, perhaps, while receiving this instruction, you are reluctant to do it …because it just has no reward.

We want something back. In this regard, we resemble the tenants of the vineyard in the parable, or we resemble the sons of the landowner in last week’s parable.

That is, 1 of the 2 sons wakes up in the morning intending to:
• help around the vineyard
• rake leaves
• mow the lawn
• clean his room

But, in the end, he decides against it. Sometimes, we don’t want to work either.
At our house, my brothers and I would disagree at home over who should cut the lawn, who cut the lawn last week, or should mow the front or the backyard..and which of the two were larger.

We wanted equal pay for equal work in our “vineyard”

[__03.01] These are questions that divide us or distract us, not just questions about grape harvesting, vineyard maintenance but also, the care, guardianship of:

• parents, loved ones who are ill
• care of children
• division of the many labors within the home

Sometimes, we might also wish we wee in a completely different vineyard … it’s not easy to work in a vineyard. As Isaiah portrays it, the vineyard presents a challenge because the work is

• UPHILL -- planted on a hillside, planted where other things do not grow so easily. It’s not easy to work going UPHILL

• BELOW GROUND – the vineyard owner has to clear the stones, work in the soil, the dirt …

• And, we also may find ourselves buried or working underground at times, working in places where we are not noticed or appreciated.

As we know, vineyards are often known by their place – their region – Napa, Sonoma, Bordeaux. The wine has its authenticity not only because of the winemaker’s expertise but also because of the God-given soil, the location, over which the human maker has little control. You have to be in Sonoma County to get a Sonoma wine, right?

And, true winemakers simply manage what is already in the soil, rather than trying to make the soil – artificially – into something else.

In fact, an old saying about the process and the vineyard – the worse the soil, the better the wine.

And, the inherent dignity of all human life calls us to accept the vineyard, our lvies, our children, our parents, our work as they currently are … as we hear in the Serenity prayer.

For years I only knew the first part, the entire prayer reminds us of God’s love for us, his mercy, and his challenge, sending us into his vineyard:

God grant me the Serenity to accept the things I cannot change,the Courage to change the things I can, and the Wisdom to know the difference; Living one day at a time; Accepting hardship as a pathway to peace; Taking, as Jesus did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it:

Trusting that you will make all things right if I surrender to your will;that I may be reasonably happy in this life and supremely happy with you forever in the next.

[__fin__]