Are We Up to the Task?

One of the biggest challenges of being the new guy is that everyone else knows so much more than you and why about everything that’s been going on long before you came along. This prior knowledge carries a respectable sense of local history and brings a gravitas that a newcomer has no right whatsoever to question or doubt. There was Fr. Who-Founded-This-Parish who said this was how we do things. No one since has dared to ask why. Then there was Fr. Whom-We-All-Love-and-Adore who made it known he preferred everything a particular way. So we just went along because we all loved and adored him. How could we not? He was just so loveable and adorable. And when I ask sincerely the reason for doing things the way they were done, I am often left with more questions than answers. It is perfectly acceptable to want to know “why?” Knowing “why” provides a starting point from which to pose the question “why not?”

I suspect most pastors, bishops, and popes are given a pass early for not knowing any better. You think the last guy would have left a map of hidden treasures and secret passageways and potential potholes and landmines. I know I tried at the last two places I was pastor. What those who came after me chose to do with that information was not up to me. And yes, Fr. Kevin left behind not nearly enough information. But I inherited a wonderful parish staff that continues to put faith in me and fill me in on hidden treasures and secret passageways and potholes and landmines and everything that goes on in this place. I learn a lot of things at the parish office every day. And the hair on my neck is slowly getting used to standing on end. And now I could use a vacation.

Three Sundays in a row now we are presented the image of a vineyard. Two Sundays ago, we heard about a landlord who paid each laborer a just wage for helping gather the harvest. The essential point was that our job is to gather the harvest, and not quibble instead about how other people are doing their jobs. Last Sunday, we heard about a father who sent his 2 sons to work in the vineyard. In the end each of them did differently from what they said they would do. The essential point was that our actions should match our words. Knowing and living our faith are 2 entirely separate realities. We can always learn what we don’t know. But having to undo damage we cause by our attitudes and actions opposed to God’s will can have far-reaching consequences.

And this weekend we hear about the rebellious tenants in the vineyard, a much darker story more suited for mature audiences for containing graphic violence and strong language. Jesus tells a parable patterned after a similar story from the prophet Isaiah, who speaks on behalf of a “friend,” a vine grower and his favored and pampered vineyard that produces only brambles and wild grapes. Eventually, Isaiah clears up any doubts. “The vineyard of the Lord is the house of Israel, and the people of Judah are his cherished plant; he looked for judgment, but see, bloodshed! For justice, but hark, the outcry!” And Jesus makes little attempt to soften the blow. He is obviously disappointed with the harvest. “Therefore, I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that will produce its fruit.”

Jesus may have meant his warning for Israel when he spoke the parable. But he means it for us today as well. We are that favored vineyard from which the Lord expects and demands an abundant and worthy harvest. We can claim blessings from the heritage of Abraham, the patriarchs, and prophets of our Jewish roots, to the apostles and martyrs of the early church, the great theologians, and mystics, the founders of religious orders, the reformers, and visionaries of ages past. We bless God for the beauty of creation, for life, our families, the community of nations, our rich natural resources. We bless God for his great mercy through the saving death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus, for sharing with us his very life through the sacraments, for entrusting us with the building of the earthly city. We bless God for revealing his wisdom in sacred scripture, that his Spirit is alive in the church today, that the covenant of reconciliation is renewed again and again in our lives, that he continues to speak and reveal to us the beauty and wonder of God’s heart and mind. We can claim the legacy of countless holy women and men through the ages who have shown us the true meaning of mercy, justice, and truth. We profess unwavering faith in the one true God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, in the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church, in the communion of saints, in one baptism for the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. We uphold the primacy of conscience and the freedom to respond to God in a personal faith. We recognize God’s hand in the service of leadership rendered by the bishop of Rome, our local bishops, and our pastors in the unbroken line of apostolic succession. We recognize the call to holiness in the struggle of daily life, the call to live concretely the gospel values of Jesus Christ, the call to continued conversion, to love as Jesus loved, unconditionally, absolutely, eternally.

Then where is the harvest God expects and demands of his vineyard? We can claim all we want that the Roman Catholic Church throughout the world continues to be a beacon of unwavering truth and selfless service to a broken world torn by poverty and injustice, ignorance and violence. But we can probably also point to specific persons and institutions active in this actual work of gathering the harvest. What about the rest of us who take up space in the vineyard, especially if all we do is lament and criticize and demoralize those who do the hard work? Pope Francis and the delegates at the Synod in Rome are hard at work discerning the voice of the Holy Spirit. And critics have just been crying wolf and predicting failure because they disagree with any effort to gather the harvest that does not coincide with their personal vision.

Where is the harvest God expects and demands of his vineyard right here? We can claim all we want that the Church of St. Therese is welcoming and loving, that we reach out to the poor and serve those in need. And we can probably point to specific persons and groups active in this awesome work. But what about the rest of us who sit on the sidelines, taking up space in the vineyard, yet unwilling to do the hard work of weeding and watering and pruning and fertilizing? St. Basil of Caesarea called money the devil’s dung. So yes, dropping some change in the collection or writing a check is helpful, like adding fertilizer to the soil. But what we need is more hands in the dirt. We don’t need more idle spectators and critics on the sidelines. Jesus means business. Either we produce the harvest that God expects and demands, or we admit defeat. Do we have what it takes to get the job done? Or is it time to entrust the vineyard to someone else?