Most Reverend Vincent Long Van Nguyen OFM Conv DD STL, Bishop of Parramatta
Homily for the 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A
Readings: Is 5:1-7; Phil 4:6-9; Matt 21:33-43
Feast of St Francis of Assisi – We are not owners but stewards
Dear friends in Christ,
As I began the Jubilee Year of St Francis at the Conventual Franciscan Parish in Kellyville, it is only fitting that today I am here in a Capuchin Parish of Plumpton to mark its conclusion. We are inspired by this great saint to live the Gospel more deeply and to become God’s instruments for the transformation of the world. Thanks to his prophetic insights and the accumulated wisdom of the Church, we realise increasingly that we cannot conduct our business as usual if we are to flourish into the future. The Season of Creation helps us to renew our relationship with the Creator God and nature around us through ecological conversion and action. It is a matter of intergenerational justice that we pass on a legacy that is life-flourishing instead of life-diminishing to our children and grandchildren. We must have the courage to move to the new future where God beckons.
Each of us can begin to live life simply and poorly. We must do our part in protecting the integrity of God’s creation. There are practical measures that we all can do reduce our carbon footprint. Invest in renewable energy; divest from fossil fuels; consume less and waste less must be the way for us Christians to give new expressions to the first beatitude: to live the spirit of poverty and simplicity.
The Word of God that we have heard encourages us to live a life that is deeply relational and reciprocal. It calls us to abandon the self-centred way of life and to embrace a mode of living that fosters relational harmony and communion with everyone and everything. It challenges our innate sense of possessiveness and power-control. Community building is only possible when we recognise we exist in relationship with one another rather than without one another.
In the first reading, we listen to Isaiah’s “Song of the Vineyard” which is a metaphor for the chosen and beloved people. God the owner of the vineyard has planted, cultivated and nurtured it. But contrary to God’s expectation, the vineyard only produces sour grapes. Here the song turns tragic: God will dismantle the vineyard because he has received bloodshed instead of justice. The song is an indictment to a people that has lost its way. The Jewish society has failed to be a model nation after the Exodus. Instead of being the home of freedom and solidarity, Israel has become corrupt, oppressive and toxic for the poor. The song sounds a warning that the exile is imminent.
The Gospel elaborates on the same theme, using almost the identical characters in the Old Testament’s song of the vineyard. A man plants a vineyard, reminiscent of God’s care in Isaiah. He leases the vineyard to others and then wants his share of the produce. He sends three servants to collect his due. But the wretched tenants abuse and kill them. More are sent but they are treated the same way. With incredible logic, the owner thinks that if he sends his son, they will respect him.
But here comes a twist in the plot. The suffering and death of the son does not mean that the tenants will have their wicked way. God turns his plan to triumph by raising his rejected servant. The stone rejected by the builders becomes the corner stone. Just as he embraced life through rejection and death, each of us is called to live the powerlessness and vulnerability of Jesus.
The servants in this parable worked the land, but they treated the land as if it was their own. These wicked tenants forgot that they were merely stewards or managers. We sometimes forget too. We are under the delusion of ownership. We think we own things, when in reality God is the owner of all things. All we have belongs to God. We are stewards.
St Francis intuitively understood that we cannot live our lives disconnected from nature. Poverty and simplicity for him didn’t mean to wear shabby clothes or to live in derelict conditions. It is to claim nothing as our own. It is not to be possessive. It is to live without appropriation and domination. In its deepest sense, to live simply and poorly means to be a steward, guardian and caretaker of all the gifts we are given in trust. It means to be in relationship, partnership and solidarity with everyone and everything around us.
Dear friends,
As a Franciscan, I endeavour to take ecological conversion seriously. I find that when I am more gentle and caring with nature, I am gentle and caring with myself. I still drive a car mostly on my own but I learn to reduce my carbon footprint as much as I can. Humility and poverty are not just esoteric virtues. They bind us to nature and one another as one.
Let us pray that we may become catalysts for global action in the way that Pope Francis has so prophetically challenged us. The world we live in is on a trajectory that needs to be courageously corrected, if we are to flourish into the future. God calls us to become a community of disciples and pilgrims of hope with our fellow human beings. Let us form ourselves into a force for the common good and social transformation. May we become the leaven in the dough, so that we can influence others for the sake of a better world and a better future for all.
