READINGS: IS 5:1-7, PHIL 4:6-9, MT 21:33-43
Another week has passed by as we enter into this 27th week of Ordinary Time. The events of this week have continued the pattern of that of the past three years, namely, disruptive, unsettling and generally horrific for our nation, and the rest of humanity. The scriptural readings for the past four or five weeks has been eerily prophetic for our time.
Through the prophet Isaiah, God warns the people of Israel that they must not be complacent about being the Chosen People of God. Their self-righteousness will be their downfall and they will be destroyed by their enemies unless they repent and transform their lives. They have a choice to make. Repair their relationship with God, and live by the statute of God’s justice and peace, or choose to continue to follow their own path and suffer the consequences. As world history informs us, they chose to abandon God and go their own way. The Babylonian King, Nebuchadnezzar, invaded Judah, leveled Jerusalem, destroyed the Temple, and enslaved all but the poor of Judah, exiling them to Babylon.
Jesus in the Gospel tells the parable of the Landlord and his Vineyard. It is clear that the rebellious people who torture and kill the messengers of the Landlord, and later, kill the son of the Landlord, is Jesus’ thinly veiled reference to the Jewish religious leaders of his time. Jesus warns them, as did Isaiah did the Judeans of his time, that their self-righteousness and their complacency will be their downfall. He concludes the parable by stating that the Reign of God will be taken from them and given by God to those who are more worthy, namely, the people they despise the most. Jesus often tells the religious leaders of his time that the most despised people, the prostitutes and tax collectors, will be first into the Reign of God.
I spoke much about the danger of self-righteousness in last week’s homily. Again, self-righteousness is just selfishness and self-centeredness disguised in respectable clothing. In this time of great political unrest, most of us, including myself, are tempted to clothe ourselves in self-righteousness. The question that raises itself for myself is whether in my speaking out on important events, is this being outspoken motivated by self-interest or motivated by interest in others? The intent behind being outspoken is extremely important.
In Catholic theology around the reception of sacraments, the intent of the one receiving the sacrament is equally important as the sign of the sacrament. For instance, in receiving the sacrament of reconciliation (formerly known as confession), it is equally important that the one receiving absolution for his/her sins, is truly repentant of the sin being absolved, as it is in receiving absolution from the priest. If the recipient of the absolution is not repentant and intends to keep on committing that particular sin, all the absolutions given by all the priests in the Church will NOT absolve that sin. In the baptism of children, it is the intent of the parents that their child to be raised according to the laws of Christ and the Church is as important as the pouring of water and speaking of the baptismal formula by the deacon or priest. In fact, in baptism, the parents are asked three times in the ceremony whether they know what they are getting into, what that intends, and how that will impact their raising of their child. In the sacrament of matrimony, it is the couple who actually do the sacrament. The priest or deacon merely witnesses that sacrament for the Church, and in the United States, witnesses the marriage for the State. It is the three questions of intent that the couple do prior to the exchange of vows and rings that is the MOST important part of the sacrament. The couple MUST FULLY intend to: 1. freely and without reservation enter into this sacrament; 2. promise to remain faithful to one another for the rest of your lives; and, 3. open their lives to have children and raise them according the laws of Christ and his Church. If either the bride or the groom do not intend to live by these three intentions, the sacrament does NOT happen.
The bottom line is that the intent behind our words and our actions is as important as the words we speak and the actions we take. Are the words and the actions we take fueled by a desire to better the lives of others, or is it fueled by only desiring to better ourselves to the detriment of others. Is it about others, or only about me? This is the question we must ask ourselves as we take our stance on issues. If it is only about me, than St Paul in the 11th chapter of his first letter to the Corinthians would label me a “noisy gong.” Jesus tells us over and over and over again in the Gospels, that self-glory was not the reason why he incarnated as a human being. He didn’t come to BE served, he came to SERVE others. The first will be last and the last will be first, he teaches the self-righteous of his time. Pope Francis has told the Catholic self-righteous that atheists will get into heaven before the self-righteous.
Now reexamine the events of this past week and the players in those events and evaluate to your best the intent behind what they did. Was it all about self-glory, or was it about serving others. Now we must do the same for ourselves. If our intentions were true, if our words and actions were more about the common good for others, then we will rest in the peace of God, of which St Paul writes in his letter to the Philippians, that surpasses all understanding, which guards our hearts and our minds.
