Twenty-seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time [A]

Readings
Isaiah 5:1-7
Philippians 4:6-9
Matthew 21:33-43

Calendar
October 2: Respect Life Sunday
October 4: Feast of Saint Francis of Assisi
October 4: Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year)
October 5: Start of Ramadan (the Islamic month of fasting)

Quotes
It is not wrong to want to live better; what is wrong is a style of life which is presumed to be better when it is directed towards "having" rather than "being", and which wants to have more, not in order to be more but in order to spend life in enjoyment as an end in itself. It is therefore necessary to create life-styles in which the quest for truth, beauty, goodness and communion with others for the sake of common growth are the factors which determine consumer choices, savings and investments.
John Paul II, Centesius Annus, 36

Do not let a desire for wealth cause you to become so consumed by your work that you prevent happiness for yourself and your family.
Thich Nhat Hanh

The steward is a manager, not an owner. In an era of rising consciousness about our physical environment, our tradition is calling us to a sense of moral responsibility for the protection of the environment--croplands, grasslands, woodlands, air, water, minerals and other natural deposits. Stewardship responsibilities also look toward our use of our personal talents, our attention to personal health and our use of personal property.
William J. Byron, SJ

The Bible, from the first page on, teaches us that the whole of creation is for humanity, that it is men and women's responsibility to develop it by intelligent effort and by means of their labor to perfect it, so to speak, for their use. If the world is made to furnish each individual with the means of livelihood and the instruments for growth and progress, all people have therefore the right to find in the world what is necessary for them.
Paul VI, On the Development of Peoples, 22

By its very nature private property has a social quality which is based in the law of the common destination of earthly goods. If this social quality is overlooked, property often becomes an occasion of a passionate desire for wealth and serious disturbances, so that a pretext is given to those who attack private property for calling the right itself into question.
Vatican Council II, The Church in the Modern World, 71

Thoughts for Your Consideration
The story of "the vineyard and the tenants" reminds us that "all is gift." As human beings we have been generously gifted. As the human race, we have been given a "great vineyard." We are called to respect creation as wonderful gift. We are called to care for it well and to share its fruits generously.

In other words, we have a responsibility to treat our gifts as gifts í¢â‚¬" things to be treated well and things to be shared. Jesus tells the story to get his hearers to realize how they have not responsibly dealt with the gifts they have been given. They have not given "back to the creator" for what they have received materially and spiritually. "The giver (the owner í¢â‚¬" God) is disappointed."

We might ask: How do we make use of the gifts of our world í¢â‚¬" our environment, our natural resources, our economic prosperity, our talents and skills, our cultural resources, etc.? Have we held on to them as our private property and individual security blanket or have we used them with respect and shared them with God and others?

We might ask: What makes for responsible consumption, the appropriate possession of private property, and an ethical sharing of wealth and resources? How must we share our gifts with one another? What is the fruitfulness that God is looking for?

Paul writes: "í¢â‚¬Â¦ think about these things. Keep on doing what you have learned and received
and heard and seen in me. Then the God of peace will be with you."

Questions for Reflection in your Faith Sharing Group
What "special vineyard" have you been given?
What unmerited gift have you been given?
From the viewpoint of justice to all how have you made use of this gift?

Actions - Links
Below are a few links to brief articles that may be of interest as you try to apply Catholic Social Teaching to our world:

• Find "Ten Commandments for Sustainable and Just Lifestyles" at http://www.justpeace.org/10com.htm

• Find "Uninsured numbers reach another all-time high" at http://salt.claretianpubs.org/sjnews/2005/09/sjn0509d.html

• Find "Millennium Development Goals quietly being dropped?" at http://salt.claretianpubs.org/sjnews/2005/09/sjn0509f.html

Prayer í¢â‚¬" Meditation

Prayer of Saint Francis of Assisi

Lord, make us instruments of your peace.
Where there is hatred let us sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is discord, union;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
Where there is sadness, joy.

Grant that we may not so much seek
To be consoled as to console;
To be understood as to understand;
To be loved as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive;
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

* * *

(The following is taken from a speech by Martin Sheen at Marquette University on Sept. 19, 2003. At the end of the speech he said the following prayer, which is a combination of the Prayer of St. Francis with a poem by Tagore, India's poet laureate.)

Lord, make us instruments of your peace.

We are left empty and trembling at the level of confidence placed in the power of violent weapons and the level of arrogance they have inspired in our national leadership. But you have taught us, Lord, that arrogance is ignorance matured and "what we sow, also we reap", so Lord, make us instruments of your peace.

Descend with us into the depths of our powerlessness and fear and awaken the power of non-violent transformation as we discover your fire for the second time!

Then, Lord, let the light and heat from that fire make every thought, every word, and every deed a reflection of loving non-violent resistance to every wretched form of violence so that we may be made worthy of the long promised blessing reserved for the Peacemakers and for those who show mercy.

Lord, make us non-violent instruments of your peace, so that we may lift up the world and all its people to a place where the heart is without fear and the head is held high, where knowledge is free; where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic calls; where words come out from the depth of truth; where tireless striving stretches its arms toward perfection; where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert sands of dead habit; where the mind is led forward by Thee into ever widening thought and action -- into that heaven of freedom, my God, let my country awake!