October is Respect Life Month. This Sunday, the 27th of Ordinary Time Year A, we are presented in both the first reading and the gospel with parables using the image of a vineyard. A vineyard is a place of life. It is meant to be fertile, to be carefully cultivated, and thus to bear a rich harvest of grapes. However, in both parables, instead of life, we find violence and death. The first reading: ”The vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, the people of Judah, his cherished plant; He waited for judgment, but see, bloodshed! for justice, but hark, the outcry!” (Isaiah 5:7) The gospel: “Finally, he sent his son to them, thinking, ‘They will respect my son.’ But when the tenants saw the son, they said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and acquire his inheritance.’ They seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him.” (Matthew 21:37–39)
If we look at our world today as God’s vineyard, we see not much has changed. There is still bloodshed, injustice, and a lack of respect of life. We see this in all of today’s life issues: abortion, human trafficking, abuse, hunger, lack of education and health care, crime, war, capital punishment, euthanasia, a throwaway culture, and more. In all these issues there are common roots of a lack of seeing the dignity of each and every human person and a deep spirit of competition instead of cooperation. Instead of valuing life above all, often something material or a lesser thing is valued and fought over.
A spiritual remedy can be found in this year’s Respect Life theme, “Radical Solidarity.” Saint Pope John Paul II defined solidarity as, “not a feeling of vague compassion or shallow distress at the misfortunes of so many people… On the contrary, it is a firm and persevering determination to commit oneself to the common good…to the good of all and of each individual, because we are all really responsible for all.” (from On Social Concern, no. 38)
Pope Francis says of radical solidarity that it “refers to something more than a few sporadic acts of generosity. It presumes the creation of a new mindset.” A culture of radical solidarity “gets involved by word and deed in people’s daily lives… and it embraces human life, touching the suffering flesh of Christ in others.” (from The Joy of the Gospel) We each have our particular gifts, role, and obligation within the Body of Christ to help build a culture of life. We must honestly ask ourselves, “What radical, out-of-the-ordinary, actions have I taken to help a pregnant or parenting mother in need, or to proactively contribute to a culture of life in some other way?”
I’d like to highlight just one new ministry POP is taking on, Foster and Child Adoption Ministry. See more details about it in a special graphic in our publications. Let us remember we are one family with one Father, and we are called to love one another, to put one another’s needs first, to live “radical solidarity.” Only then will the vineyard truly be a place of life, care, and fruitfulness.
Peace,
Fr. Greg