"FIRST IMPRESSIONS" 25th SUNDAY (A)

Isaiah 55: 6-9 Philippians 1: 20c-24, 27a Matthew 20: 1-16

By Jude Siciliano, OP

Dear Preachers:

[PRENOTES:

The reflections for four weeks in September are being written by one of the Dominican participants in the "FAST FOR PEACE AND NONVIOLENCE" at Union Square in New York City. This is the fourth week of the fast and our reflections today are by Sheila Provencher. If you want more information on the fast: www.dominicanfastforpeace.org]

September 22, 2002

Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Listen . . . I want to tell you a story . . .

My name is Benjamin. I was there – I was in the vineyard that day . . . . hired at the last hour, I could not believe the blessing! How could he have known how desperate I was, walking the marketplace since dawn in the heat, praying that I would not have to go home to my children empty-handed. But no one would hire me . . . . .

Please forgive me for what I am about to tell you, but you see, I used to be a tax collector. It was despicable work, cheating my own people, and over the years I came to despise myself, although the money fed my children and family. But I can no longer hurt my people, and two weeks ago resolved to seek honest work. How I regretted my past then! No one would hire me . . .

they spit in my face and laughed at my need. My children are hungry, and today I promised my wife that if I did not find work I would relent and return to my shameful employment. And so you cannot imagine my joy when the owner of the vineyard gave me a chance. And to be paid a full day's wage!

This is beyond my dreams. It has been salvation for me and for my family. And now I must go to them . . . What might have happened if the other, resentful laborers had known this story? What if they had bothered to come close enough to ask Benjamin and the other latecomers why they had been in the marketplace all day – and learned it was "because no one hired us"?

Can you picture them wanting to help this brother who is trying to start a new life – and spontaneously reaching into their pockets to share their hard-earned wages? Perhaps they would even realize that their "usual daily wage" is neither "usual" nor "theirs" at all – but is a gift from the ever-generous vineyard-owner . . . a gift to be shared. Their resentment could turn to rejoicing that they and their fellow workers really have been given all they truly need.

How easy it is for us, initially, to identify with those disgruntled, angry laborers. After all, we live in a culture that teaches us: "Survival of the fittest! It's mine, I earned it! I worked hard for this, I have a right to it!" We live in a world torn by the violence of competition and misunderstanding, as we battle over money and power, land, culture, images of God. We worry about our national security, our economy, and we too easily turn to violence to protect what we grasp. My possessions. My land. My God.

It is easy to feel threatened by the "other" – the foreigner, the different, the marginalized. Matthew's community was apparently no different in this regard. A Jewish community only recently joined by Gentiles, they had to learn that their generous God welcomed the outsider, the latecomer, and called the stranger to be brother and sister to the community laboring in the vineyard of the kingdom.

The Gospel invites them, and all of us, to allow our God who knows all hearts to open our heart to the other – and to transform our perception. From entitlement to gratitude . . . . from resentment to rejoicing . . . from anger to understanding. Thich Nhat Hahn, a Vietnamese Buddhist monk, tells us:"When you understand, you cannot help but love. You cannot get angry. To develop understanding, you have to practice looking at all living beings with the eyes of compassion. When you understand, you love. And when you love, you naturally act in a way that can relieve the suffering of people."

For my thoughts are not your thoughts . . . . as high as the heavens are above the earth, so high are my ways above your ways and my thoughts above your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8-9) The God of mercy is inviting us to see with the eyes of compassion – with God's own eyes, with God's own thoughts -- to know the "others" in our lives and world just as the vineyard owner knew

those desperate, grateful latecomers.

Even in the midst of tremendous suffering and grief, there is a group of courageous people in the United States today who are striving to know the "other" in this way. Families for Peaceful Tomorrows are family members of victims who died in the terrorist attacks of September 11th. Last spring, a group of them traveled to Afghanistan, to meet families of innocent civilians killed when our country unleashed its bombing campaign. They came close to their Afghan companions – bereaved mothers, fathers, sisters and brothers. They came close enough to know their stories, and to share their own stories of loss. They came close enough to understand, and so to love.

Strangers and foreigners no more, they recognize that they are fellow laborers in the vineyard, striving and yearning for a world of peace. What would our world be like if we responded to God's invitation to know and welcome the stranger? If U.S. citizens and the Iraqi people could come together to share our stories, our fears, our hopes. If bereaved families in Israel and Palestine could sit down and weep together and share their loss. If we each could reach out and come close enough to know the stories of the marginalized people in our church, our workplace, our society.

What stranger, what latecomer are you invited to open your heart to, today? And what mystery of transformation might our generous God work in that sharing?

POSTCARDS TO DEATH ROW INMATES

Inmates on death row are the most forgotten people in the prison system. Each week I will post in this space several inmates' names and locations. I invite you to write a postcard to one or several of them to let them know that we have not forgotten them; are praying for them and their families; or, whatever personal encouragement you might like to give them. If you like, tell them you heard about them through North Carolina's, "People of Faith Against the Death Penalty." Thanks, Jude Siciliano, OP

Tommy Adams

Francis Marion Anthony

Terry Ball

Jim Stasheff

Their address:

Cental Prison, 1300 Western Blvd. Raleigh, N.C., 27606

ONE GOOD BOOK FOR THE PREACHER

Luke Timothy Johnson, LIVING JESUS: LEARNING THE HEART OF THE GOSPEL. (San Francisco: Harper, 1999), 210 pages, $15 paper ISBN 0-06-
064283-1

This is a brief study of the New Testament and more. It is also is a study of basic Christian spirituality. From both perspectives it is a good book for preachers. Johnson reflects on what it means to "learn Jesus," to follow the resurrected Jesus. He says that faith is not learning about a dead person in the past, but is a continuous and complex process in which we "learn" about the living Lord now. Since this learning is a dynamic process with a living being, it undergoes many changes in the course of our lives. In the first part of the book he examines the tradition that includes the canon of Scripture and the rule of faith. In the second he turns to the New Testament writings to discover how we can come to "learn" Jesus through them.

QUOTABLE

"Nowhere in the New Testament writings, for example, is Jesus simply a figure of the past who is remembered because of the things he said and did. Jesus is everywhere a figure whose past words and deeds are remembered because and in light of his present and continuing power. The present power of Jesus as risen Lord, moreover, anticipates his future role as thriumphant judge of the living and the dead. In one way or another, the New Testament writings witness to Jesus as sharing in the life and power of God.

----page 199 Johnson.

JUSTICE NOTES

(These weekly quotes may be helpful in your preaching or may also be added to your weekly parish bulletin as a way of informing your faith community on some social issues.)

Anyone who stands within the Judeo-Christian tradition is challenged by the biblical witness that the quest for justice is the sine qua non for the religious life. The best summary of what God requires of us is "to do justice, love mercy and walk humbly with God." Obeying this demand, Christians and Jews have always supported organizations that help the poor, the hungry, the sick and the victims of war. Advocates of the social gospel were at the forefront of the civil rights and antiwar movements and liberation theologians have been among the most vocal critics of the excesses of capitalism and advocates of land reform.....

My hunch, or working hypothesis, is that something is askew in the current spirituality movement. To be concerned with spirituality but ignore the quest for justice is as much a contradiction as "compassionate egotism." Spirituality centered on cultivating a sense of personal well-being is an example of what the existential philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre called "bad faith."...

The quest for radical justice goes beyond the civic virtue we owe our neighbors. It is not satisfied by mere fairness or the obligation to share a minimum of wealth and power . It demands that we work toward the possibility of fulfillment and a harmonious life for neighbors and distant strangers.

---Sam Keen, "The Quest for Justice" in SPIRITUALITY AND HEALTH, Summer, 2002, page 48ff.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

1. CD Available: "FIRST IMPRESSIONS: PREACHING REFLECTIONS ON LITURGICAL YEAR A." The CD contains two reflections for almost all the Sundays and major feasts of the year. In addition, there are helpful essays for preaching during the liturgical seasons (Advent, Lent, the Triduum, etc.),ten book reviews and essays on various aspects of preaching. The files are in three formats (Microsoft Word, WordPerfect and Adobe Acrobat Reader) so you should have no trouble opening them on your computer. To purchase go to: http://www.preacherexchange.com click on the "Year A–CD" button on the right and follow the instructions.

2. I get notes from people responding to these reflections. Sometimes they tell how they use "First Impressions" in their ministry and for personal use. Others respond to the reflections, make suggestions and additions. I think our readers would benefit from these additional thoughts. If you drop me a BRIEF note, I will be happy to add your thoughts and reflections to my own. (Judeop@Juno.com)

3. Our webpages: http://www.preacherexchange.com and http://www.opsouth.org/ (Where you will find "Preachers' Exchange," which includes "First Impressions" and "Homilias Dominicales," as well as articles, book reviews and quotes pertinent to preaching.)

4. "Homilias Dominicales"-- these Spanish reflections are written by three friars of the Southern Dominican Province, Jose David Padilla, OP, Wilmo Candanedo, OP and two Dominican sisters, Regina Mc Carthy, OP and Doris Regan, OP. Like "First Impressions", "Homilias Dominicales" are a preacher's early reflections on the upcoming Sunday readings and liturgy. So, if you or a friend would like to receive "Homilias Dominicales" drop a note to John Boll, O.P. at: Jboll@opsouth.org or jboll@preacherexchange.org

5. "First Impressions" is a service to preachers and those wishing to prepare for Sunday worship. It is sponsored by the Southern Dominican Province, U.S.A. If you would like "First Impressions" sent weekly to a friend, send a note to John Boll at the above Email address.

DONATIONS

If you would like to support this ministry, please send tax deductible contributions to Jude Siciliano, O.P., whose address is listed below. Make checks to: Dominican Friars of Raleigh. Or, go to our webpage to make an online donation: http://www.preacherexchange.com

Thank you.

Blessings on your preaching,

Jude Siciliano, O.P., Promoter of Preaching, Southern Dominican Province, USA

P.O. Box 12927, Raleigh, N.C. 27605, (919) 833-1893, Email: judeop@juno.com