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27th Sunday in Ordinary Time Mt. 21/33-43 |
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| Background: In the Gospels of October we witness Jesus doing intellectual and
religious battle with his redoubtable foes, the scribes and the Pharisees – the
scholars and the religious enthusiasts of his time. Doubtless the edge of the controversy
in the early church was shaped by the fact that some of the Jewish leaders had thrown
Christian Jews out of the synagogues. Hence the writers of the gospels reached back into
the traditions which had come down from Jesus which emphasized his skills in rabbinical
argument. However, there can be no doubt that he did argue effectively with some of the
leaders of the Jewish people and that these arguments were occasions for teaching that
impacts on us even if the original controversial context has waned. Thus the parable of
the vine and the vineyard, deeply rooted the imagery of the Jewish Scriptures can just as
easily be applied to Christians who are not responsive to the teaching of Jesus. |
read the padre |
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Story: Once upon a time, a young certain priest worked very
hard in establishing a program for the teens in his parish. He scheduled dances (at which
no one danced, save girls with other girls, of course), basketball leagues softball
leagues, volley ball leagues (for both genders, naturally), picnics, skating parties,
retreats, plays, concerts. He did most of the work (along with some parents) because while
the teens enthusiasms were great, their memories were not so great. Everyone one flocked
to the teen club, not only from his parish but from the parishes all around. The priest
often went back to the rectory at night after the teens had departed and the parish was
safe again, almost too tired to sleep. Since the teems told him that the summer was
boring, he set up a big summer program for them. You know what happened? Sure you know
what happened? No one Came! Too busy lolling around the park and complaining about the
heat. So he shut the whole operation down and began to work with senior citizens.
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