Oct. 4, 2020 27th Sunday A
Oct. 4, 2020 27th Sunday A
Having listened to parents speak about their children throughout the years, I believe parents desire to see their children grow to be happy, healthy, productive, and loving adults. Giovanni’s parents made sure that their son received the best upbringing and education that the money could buy. One could say that his parents were grooming their son to be the heir to their successful business enterprise. Giovanni wore stylish clothes, spoke and wrote foreign languages, and impressed those he encountered. He lived his life without much worry, for everything was provided for him. Then something drastic happened in his life.
After he was arrested and spent a year in prison, he was disillusioned and became a changed young man. He no longer felt happy with the material comforts and privileges afforded by his parents’ business. The prison introduced him to the harshness of life. He discovered that the world was filled with darkness and suffering; with poor, hungry, ill, and marginalized people. In that prison, he discovered the value of the human person and human life, irrespective of wealth or social standing. He began to feel a deep inner kinship with the whole of humanity, especially with the poor and the outcast. One day he rode his horse in the countryside and caught sight of a leper walking toward him. Ordinarily he would run from such a person, yet on that occasion, he rode directly toward the man and dismounted from the horse. Then Giovanni felt the inspiration to warmly embrace and kiss the leper. He later realized that it was Christ himself whom he embraced and kissed. This experience led him to abandon his former way of life and to embrace a life of prayer, care for lepers and the poor. His parents tried to bring sense to their son with threats and punishments. However, Giovanni decided to renounce his father and his wealth, laying aside even the clothes on his back to pursue a life completely dedicated to God. Giovanni was none other than Francis of Assisi; his birth name was Giovanni, but his father later changed his name to Francis.
Parents may be able to identify with the parents of Francis of Assisi. They recognize the preciousness of life in their child, and this realization inspires them to provide their beloved son or daughter the best upbringing and education. They sacrifice and spend much of their resources on them hoping that they will bear good fruit later on in their lives. Despite parents’ wishes, each child of God has received the free will to make choices in their lives. Sometimes parents feel like the landowner in the Parable of the Tenants who provided everything necessary for a good harvest, and yet the tenants refuse to provide the fruit nor the gratitude.
In the parable, the greed and the pride of the tenants drove them to mistake the vineyard and its fruits as their own. They mistreated the landowner’s servants and even murdered his son in hopes of inheriting what belonged to the son of the landowner. In the context of the audience listening to Jesus at that moment, the Scribes and the Pharisees were the wicked tenants refusing to listen even to the Son of God and be converted. Because of their pride and selfishness, they were not receptive to God’s calling in their lives. They lived their lives convinced of their righteousness. Yet, this parable also speaks to us today about the important truths about God and His Kingdom.
God is the sole creator and owner of this beautiful world we live in. We are unique in all creation: a unity of soul and body, in God’s own image; we are both mortal and immortal. We have the capacity to reason, a conscience, and free will, which enable us to choose what we believe and what actions we will take. We have the capacity to know the truth that every human life is sacred, from conception until natural death. Therefore, the life and dignity of every person must be respected and protected at every stage and in every condition.
St. John Paul II and Mother Teresa reminded us of our responsibility to proclaim the Gospel of Life. St. John Paul II said, “Christ needs you to enlighten the world and to show it the ‘path to life’ (Psalm 16:11). The challenge is to make the Church’s ‘yes’ to Life concrete and effective. The struggle will be long, and it needs each one of you. Place your intelligence, your talents, your enthusiasm, your compassion and your fortitude at the service of life!” (Homily on the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, 1993)
How can we place our talents and compassion in service of life? We as the Church have a unique obligation to act as a defender for those who cannot defend themselves. We must persevere and work to protect the lives of those who cannot speak for themselves or who feel as if their lives are not worth living. We need to advocate for the unborn, the poor, the abandoned, the imprisoned, and the unwanted. When we neglect these precious ones of God, our whole world loses peace. Our call is to be saints like St. Francis and St. John Paul II, bringing light into the darkness, to recognize the dignity of every human being, and place our lives in service of life.
