When I get depressed about the world, I always try to remind myself that it is in some of the darkest places in our world that most love is shown, and that it is in places like this where the Church is growing fastest, despite its decline in rich countries like my own. You can see and hear me give this Homily on Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IygGLGZoI0Q
This is surely what St Paul is talking about in our 2nd Reading. (Phil 4:6-9) The tiny groups of Christians, gathered in places like Philippi in northern Greece, faced hardship and possible persecution every day and Paul knows this, not least because he writes his Letter from prison. Thus he insists that they think about things differently, asking God to guard their hearts and thoughts. He writes : “Fill your minds with everything that is true, everything that is noble, everything that is good and pure.” Earlier in this Letter he has said this about the bad thoughts we can have about others who are different from us. Just like today, some Christians wanted to condemn those who were not clearly on their side. Paul agrees that some (I quote) “Preach Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing that they can stir up trouble.” But, he wants them, and us, to think about it differently, saying: “What does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice.”
I am in touch with two priests in Malawi. They tell me that their country is in a terrible state with many starving people. Yet in the midst of all this, people are not giving up the faith, rather they are becoming more fervent; and from this struggling people, hundreds of young people are offering themselves to train as priests or religious sisters. Of course, their motives may not be absolutely pure. They may see it simply as a path to an education and a better life, but despite this many of them will become good priests or sisters serving the people and bringing the message of God’s love to others. It is startling to discover that it is where people are struggling most that the faith is strongest.
Of course, I shouldn’t really be surprised, for Jesus did not promise us prosperity, but called us to follow him on the hard road to the cross; and to find God in sacrificial love, and not necessarily in beauty and tranquillity. That is precisely why St Paul does not promise us peace as we humans understand it, but “that peace of God which is so much greater than we can understand.” This peace, which is of God, is not a static absence of war and conflict, rather it is the presence of God in the midst of such things, and so we need to remember that every time we offer that Peace to other people during Mass. Yes, a lot of smiling goes on, and it might be mistaken as shallow jollity, but below the surface we are all people struggling with this problem or that difficulty. As we share the Peace therefore, we are affirming our solidarity and support for one another. Knowing we are all together offering this to God is a very strengthening thing.
Our Gospel, (Matt 21:33-43) and the Old Testament Reading it is linked to, (Isaiah 5:1-7) remind us that our greatest danger as Christians is actually when everything is going well for us. The tenants in the Vineyard have had a great crop and are ready to begin making some wine and reaping the benefits. Their mistake is not their failure to work hard and produce good things. No, their mistake is their failure to acknowledge who the Vineyard belongs to. The people Jesus is addressing have forgotten the prayer of King David who when he was most successful and prosperous prayed: “Blessed are you, O Lord, the God of Israel our father, for ever and ever... In your hand are power and might, and in your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all. And now we thank you, our God, and praise your glorious name” And here is the crunch line. “For all things come from you, and of your own have we given you”. (1 Chron 29:14) Yes, they have been so busy being successful, just like so many people in the prosperous parts of the world today, that they have forgotten the source of all life and goodness, without which we would all be like dust that blows away in the wind.
Some people don’t like the bits of the Gospels where Jesus threatens people like this, but we have to remember that the threats (I prefer to call them warnings) aren’t really addressed to us, but to people like the Pharisees who thought they were holy and close to God and that everyone else was condemned. The hopeful part of this story is that some Pharisees did heed what Jesus said. And how do we know that? Because one of the strictest Pharisees who condemned others was St Paul himself; and he says as much a little earlier in this Letter to the Philippians. He writes : “If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence.. I have more… a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church….. But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.” (Phil 3:4-7 passim). There is our hope, putting our trust not in ourselves, as the Tenants in the Vineyard did, but in the love God brought close to us in and through Jesus Our Lord.
All this reminds me of St Francis whose day we celebrated last Wednesday. Here was a young man living in prosperity who realized that this very prosperity, enjoyed by him and by those around him, was preventing them from being close to God. In his case he knew that he had to choose a life of simple poverty, not just to be close to Jesus himself, but also so he could share the faith with so many ordinary people in his world who, unlike his family, had to struggle just to survive, and had very few possessions. I like to think that this was why he taught people to praise God for the natural things that they could see around them – sun and moon, wind and air, water and fire, birds and animals; and even for sickness and death which was for them an escape from their struggles into the glory and peace of heaven. The Vineyard in our stories today symbolizes all that God gives us that we can so easily take for granted. Learning to thank him for all things, learning to think about life in a different way just as St Francs did, is an absolutely vital part of our Christian faith.
Comments