Comeback Victory / Respect Life Sunday (2020-10-04, Sunday-27)

2020-10-04 _ 27^th Sunday

● Isaiah 5:1-7   ● Psalm 80 ● Philippians 4:6-9 ● + Matthew 21:33-43 ●

Title:  Comeback Victory

 [_01_]   It is a fact of life in our educational system that children are grouped by grade – according to their date of birth.

          This is the West Orange Board of Education policy: “To be eligible for Kindergarten, a child must be 5 five years of age on or before Oct. 1, 2018.”

          If you are trying to remember when was your first day of school, just add 5 years to  the year you were born.

[_02_]       Being left back, being asked to repeat a grade may not be perceived or received as good news. This is, of course, because a children expects that “age in years” = equates to the numerical grade.

         Not knowing any better, I had the personal audacity to ask my elementary school principal why one of my classmates was NOT promoted from 1^st grade to second grade. I figured the principal would know.

          So, right there in the parking lot, I asked him about the situation of why this young person – my classmate – was not in second grade. Why was he left back?

To be honest, I only recall the situation because my parents were mortified / embarrassed that I would ask such a question to such a person at such a public place and time.

          Could any good come of this? Could there be any good news of being left back?

[_03_]        I suggest that the parable of the tenants in the vineyard is a reminder that we are being taught the good news each day.

          That is, we are taught about the virtue of forgiveness, just at the moment we are tempted to surrender to resentment or retaliation or anger…as though my anger can change the past or punish another person.. But, “forgiveness” is does not hold us back, but helps us to move on….

          We are taught about the virtue of self-sacrifice just at the moment we are seeking our own comfort or consolation. But, giving something up for someone else’s good does not really hold me back…

          And, in this regard, the parable of the vineyard workers and the tenants applies to you and me.

          What happens in the parable is that the vineyard workers/tenants want to reject or eliminate the prophets and preachers of God’s word to them.

          Or, in the language of the Church and Christians, we could say that they do not want to be evangelized. They do not want to hear the Good News. They feel they are being “left back.”

[_04_]            Our Savior is trying to teach us, through this parable about God’s patience with each of us.

          He is patient because He forgives our sins. On the other hand, we can behave like the wicked tenants who believe that they have no sins or that they cannot be forgiven.

          God is patient, believing in the talents we all have to share. And, though we may -- at times  -- reject even the compliments that come our way, the Lord is sending us the Good News that each of us has something to give.

          This is the good news of God’s patience.

[_05_]       Could anything good come from being left back? Could anything good come from my question?

          What good came of it, according to my parents, was the care and gentleness and compassion with which the principal endeavored to answer my question.

          I don’t remember what he said, but I do recall that my mother was impressed with both his competence and compassion,  not only toward the young boy who was not promoted but also toward me who was a bit out of line in my questioning.

          “None of your business” could have been his response.

          He did not try to remove me from the vineyard or from the conversation.

The Lord also desires that we would remain and be part of his vineyard.

 [_06_]        This Sunday is also Respect Life Sunday and a special moment of devotion with and for our Rosary Altar Society.

          We give thanks or their devotion to our Blessed Mother and to praying the Rosary.

          This month – in fact – every night of October at 6:30 pm – a group of parishioners gathers outside at the Grotto to pray the Rosary as October is a month dedicated to Mary and the Rosary.
          This month, we are also holding a baby shower or fundraising drive as part of a Respect Life initiative to raise money for “Mercy House” in the Archdiocese of Newark and in the city of Newark, a place for mothers and families raising their children in difficult financial and family circumstances.

          The mission of the Respect Life in the Archdiocese is to promote Catholic teaching on the care of human life from conception to natural death.

          This is not because all children and families are equal in “wealth”  or “health” or “status” or “resources.” Truly, there are many inequalities.

          Nevertheless, we can say as Christians that we truly have a natural and God-given right to life – and that we are all equal because we are all loved by God.

          And, do we not believe that children have a right to be loved? And a right to live?

[_07_]        We also give thanks for our Blessed Mother for her fidelity and response to God as Creator – for a mother and father too – are called to recognize that a child both belongs to them and also their responsibility to give them away… not to hold him back.

          As the mother of our Savior, Mary recognized that Jesus was her Son, but also hers to give to us as the Body of Christ… Receiving Communion, The-Body-of-Christ Amen…this was also made possible through Mary’s guardianship of his life.

          We are also guardians of our own lives and lives of our loved ones which we did not create or control.

          God creates life.

          God creates the right to life.

          And, this give us also the freedom, the right to liberty and the right to a new citizenship and new grading system in which are all equal. [_fin_]