05/10/2008 - 27th. Sunday Ordinary
Time - Year A
1st. Reading Is 5,1-7 Psalm 79 2nd. Reading Fil 4,6-9 Gospel Mt 21,33-43
"I believe the Church". There is a change at this article of faith.
We don't say that I believe "in" the Church, but that I believe 'the'
Church. We trust ourselves to God alone. We trust our lives to the Father and
to Jesus, who is obedient to the Father, and to the Holy Spirit, who is the
Spirit of the love of both the Father and the Son. Trusting ourselves to the
three divine Persons we trust ourselves to the one love, to the only God who
purifies us, who saves us, who value us and welcomes us to the fullness of his
life. So now we say "we believe the Church": this means that I know
that God works in the world bringing together those who accept Jesus and use
them for the transformation of the humanity. Those who are called form the Church.
I believe that the Church is the work of God, willed by the Father, brought
together by the Son and lives by the Holy Spirit! The prophets of the Old Covenant
have said that God wants to bring together the men of all the peoples like a
shepherd gathers the sheep that went lost. Before Jesus came, God could not
fulfill this project, because his will was not understood by the leaders of
the people of Israel, who were suppose to fulfill it. Unity costs a lot of dying,
always, to all, even to the peoples: that's why it was not possible before and
without Jesus! It is he that with his passion and death, a living sacrifice
of love, and the gift of the Spirit, opens the way for men to be united. It
is from him that the Church is born as the new people of God, of the loving
and merciful God. Jesus starts by called the disciples, from whom to choose
those to be apostles, form them by his teachings, give them his Spirit and bring
together around them all those who believe in him. Thus was the Church born,
as an instrument which God wants to use to bring to all the peoples the news
of his gift of love. Jesus left important teachings regarding the Church. When
he multiplied the bread for the five thousand and then again for the four thousand,
he wanted his disciples to give it out. Who wants the bread of Jesus is not
to take it directly from him, but through the hands of his disciples. This is
the will of God: all are to ask the Church if they want to receive his gifts.
The parable of Jesus and the canticle of Isaiah speak of a vineyard. In both
readings the vineyard is a reality that needs love. In Isaiah it is "my
beloved" who owns it and who works is with faithfulness. In the parable
it is the master who has many servants and one son. In Isaiah the vineyard disappoints
the owner, who even decides to order the clouds not to rain on it. Thus the
owner is God himself, he planted it and he cared for it, but God himself was
disappointed. It is clear: the vineyard is the people of Israel, who do not
answer to the call of God, and therefore, to his expectations with a loving
obedience. The same with the parable, one can see as the story develops, that
Jesus is speaking of his people who did not answer back with love to the Father,
because his leaders didn't urged him to this, neither by words, nor by deeds.
The leaders, through the centuries, have even rejected the Word of God proclaimed
by the prophets. They have rejected it, mistreating the same prophets, and now
they even come together to kill the Son, the only Son whom the Father has sent
them. In this way Jesus speaks of his passion and the meaning of his death to
be, but shows also the intention of God, that is, that the kingdom was to be
given to others, to another "people who bear fruit".
As we think of what happened in the time of Jesus, we see that it is all clear.
But as we think that the same Word is being proclaimed to us today, we are to
ask what it wants to tell us. In fact it is an event that cannot leave us at
peace. Many times during the history of the Church it happened in those places
that when the life of the Church became "insipid", that is the Christians
got carried away by world things and its pleasures, there all Christian presence
and with it the possibility of trust in one another disappeared. Our society
all over Europe has lost or is gradually loosing the joy of the Gospel: wants
to exclude the presence of Jesus. It doesn't want to be called people of God,
bearer of his Kingdom. This will be given to other peoples, who enjoy from the
presence and the fruits of the Gospel and will offer to the Father works of
mutual love and of peace. We are not to accept this situation: let us fill our
lives with the Word of Jesus, welcome him as the one sent by the Father, and
be still salt of the earth and light of the world to give life to our society.
The situation in which we are living is serious, but, as the apostle Paul tells
us today, we are not to be let down but we are to double our prayer, our thanks
giving to God, and the listening to his Word, so that his thoughts fill our
hearts and minds. We shall be still as yeast in the world, able to give new
life and to bring out that goodness that makes the heart of God rejoice because
we would contribute to a beautiful and holy life of his sons and daughters!