October 2, 2011

Readings for The Twenty-Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time: Is 5:1-7; Phil 4:6-9; Mt 21:33-43

Today's Gospel continues parables that Jesus taught to the Pharisees and Jewish leaders just before they conspired against him and led him to his death on the cross. Jesus reminds the listeners that God is the owner who planted the vineyard, put a hedge around it, dug a wine press and built a tower. God has done everything possible to provide for us, to love us and invite us to share in the fullness of his bounty. We are the ones who often turn away and reject him. We claim that we are seeking a relationship with God or searching for God, but it is the opposite. Recently I heard a talk from the late Archbishop Fulton Sheen where he said, "it is not us who are searching for God, it is God who is searching for us."

A "letter from God" often circulating through e mails expresses this through the course of most of our days, the following is a summary: "As you got up this morning, I watched you and hoped you would talk to me, even if it was just a few words, asking my opinion or thanking me for something good that happened in your life yesterday - but I noticed you were too busy trying to find the right outfit to put on and wear to work. I waited again... At one point you had to wait fifteen minutes with nothing to do except sit in a chair. Then I saw you spring to your feet. I thought you wanted to talk to me but you ran to the phone and called a friend to get the latest gossip. I watched as you went to work and I waited patiently all day long. With all your activities I guess you were too busy to say anything to me. I noticed that before lunch you looked around, maybe you felt embarrassed to talk to me, that is why you didn't bow your head...You went home and it seems as if you had lots of things to do. After a few of them were done you turned on the TV...I waited patiently again as you watched the TV and ate your meal... but again you didn't talk to me. Bedtime - I guess you felt too tired. After you said goodnight to your family you plopped into bed and fell asleep in no time. That's okay because you may not realize that I am always there for you. I've got more patience than you will ever know...Well you are getting up again and once again I will wait with nothing but love for you hoping that today you will give me some time."

God patiently desires to be an intimate part of every moment in our lives. He has provided all of the tools and given us every means to respond to Him and more often than not we are blind to his presence in our lives. Through our actions and lack of actions, through our words an lack of words, through our thoughts and lack of thoughts we often fail to place God in the center of our lives. And God does not desire to be just a passing thought, a occasional acknowledgement. It is God Himself who is the author of all things, the Giver of all things, the Lord of all things. His desire is to be at the center of our lives, the cornerstone on which the whole structure of our world is built upon.

Today if you look upon the ruins of the Temple of Jerusalem you will notice that the stones are of the same size and shape. Legend has it that at the building of the temple one stone arrived that was different. The builders thinking that it was poorly cut threw it down a hill into the Kedron valley. Many years later, when the temple was nearing completion , the builders sent a message requesting that the stonecutters send the cornerstone. Only then did they realize what they had received and rejected. Jesus, our cornerstone, wants us to build our lives around Him. He is searching for us, He desires to be the foundation of our lives.

As we celebrate Respect life Sunday we remember that as a community we have rejected God through the smallest and most innocent, the unborn children. God entrusted us His vineyard, and we have rejected its fruit. One of my most moving moments as a priest occurred many years ago after a Christmas Midnight Mass when a young lady considering an abortion asked to talk to me. The same lady approached me with tears on Ash Wednesday the next year holding her child expressing how the baby had changed her life. We still have about 1.2 million abortions in the United States every year. From 1973 to 2005 more than 45 million legal abortions have occurred in the U.S. That is more than the population of California, Oregon and Nevada combined. Through our inaction and by supporting politicians who favor abortion, we are all held responsible. Today's Gospel reminds us that we will all be held accountable collectively and individually for our rejection of all of God's gifts.

• I will be away this Sunday at the Meeting of the Equestrian Order of the Knights of the Holy Sepulcher. This organization works to preserve and promote the Christian presence in the Holy Land. Christians in the place of the birth and ministry of our Lord are often caught in middle of the conflict between Muslims and Jews. I am proud to be a part of this great organization that fights for the preservation of our faith in that region of the world.   
• I strongly encourage you, however, to please join those who will be standing together as a witness to our love for all God's Children today on Pro-Life Sunday. Our parishioners will be united with Christians throughout San Pedro from 2:00 to 3:00 P.M on Gaffey. The "Life-Chain" will be centered on Gaffey and 9th.       
• The Bookstore has on display the book, Unplanned by Abby Johnson, her compelling story of how she left her work as the director of a Planned Parenthood clinic and became involved in the Pro-life movement. A good read for this month of October.          
• I will begin a twenty-week series on the History of The Church on Monday, October 10th at 7:00 P.M in the Knights of Columbus Room.

God Bless,

Father John Provenza

Pastor